Well we have been here for about a week now - we travelled over to Dublin and have spent the last few days touring the country, taking in the Boyne Valley, Cork and Galway county. All in all a beutiful country - at some point I will upload some photos!
Anyway - today is the day before my last race of the season, Ironman 70.3 Ireland. I have just finished my last brief run - a quick spin up for the legs.
To the race, the swim looks cold and tough - it is a sea swim in Galway Bay, which looks quite choppy this morning! The bike leg looks amazing - the only real concern is the road surface which is, to be honest, quite shocking. We drove the bike course yesterday and there are some great bits but some a truely awful...at least the scenery is beautiful! As for the run well it is totally flat but very exposed....if the weather is nasty it is going to be a slog...all in the lap of the Gods I suppose! At least it looks likely that for the first time Lizzie and the kids might be there to see me off and back in :-) fingers crossed!
One positive note is the awaerness and support this race is getting. It is frankly amazing (for a non mainland Europe race). It is in all the papers, the villages have got the bunting out and loads of support looks likely.
On the fundraising front I am only £40 off my final target of £750 - if you can spare anything for the UA please click on the donate button on the right of this page :-)
Well wish me luck, I am in the 7.05am wave race number 1426 - go to www.ironmanlive.com to follow my progress. I would love to say a sub 6:30 is on the cards but it all depends on the sea, weather and road conditions!
See you on the other side.
BWs
I.
So...where are we 14 days out....
21 August 2011
So......after a weekend of testing myself in my race kit - will all the trimmings including the pointy wizard hat (my Lazer Tardiz helmet) how do I feel?
Swim (yesterday)
Felt really good – smooth flowing and fast. I lost my pace a little in the middle but it all came together at the end – happy with 23:08 for the 1500m as that was in pretty weed infested water with noone else to pace me :-)
Bike
WooHoo!!! an average of >30kph!!! First time I have ever managed it and that was including traffic and traffic lights in Cambridge!! Everything worked well (although I do need to reindex the gears and probably change my chain – it is a little short now (going from a compact to a full size...)), the nutrition side of things was good however I am seriously pondering just using bottles on the race as I seem to take in air as well as fluid when using the straw....hmm...I can carry 3x bottles on my frame (2 in my Xlab wing and 1 on the frame itself), 1 will be for gels but that leaves 2 – will it be enough for a 70.3, not sure 1550ml??? (plus I would be able to pick up extra water (but not nuun) en route at the aid stations if needed...
Anyway physically it felt good - knees and ankles all okay. The hills were hard seated - I didn't stand once on them :-) but my knees did not feel like they were going to explode which is good!
Run
Not quite as positive...good things first:
Pace was good off the bike, and I didn't feel rubbish off the bike, I felt fresh! I kept a good pace throughout (6:00-6:30) and ankles were totally fine
However....bad things:
My knee started to ache and get sore at about 7.5km so I cut the run rather than push it. Also I tried the same formula with gels as I do on the bike (50ml water+gel in a bottle) and I felt fine GI wise before taking any gel on but felt ropey after (about 1/2 a gell (by vol))...I think coke/water on the run may be the way forward...
and finally – I am tired!! This week will either be a hard week or a gradual taper depending on what my coach says....and then at the end of the week I head out to Galway to prep for the race! :-)
The last few weeks and today's swim
20 August 2011
The last few weeks have been hard, after coming back from illness and injury following the UK 70.3 I have been builing solidly. This week was a rest week - not that it felt very restful as work has gone nuts (probably because I finish my current role in a week!!).
Well after a long amount of consideration I decided not to do the Marlow Mile based on the expected water quality - I don't want to get amoebic dysentry two weeks before the Irish 70.3!
So instead I tried out a new OW venue - Redrick's Lake (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116356055056128) just outside of Sawbridgeworth in Herts. It is a nice, small, friendly lake with good parking and showers (albeit a little basic). The lake has fabulously clean water although at the moment there are times when you could almost walk across the lake (due to weed growth!). Even with that to contend with I managed a 500m warm up, a 23:08 1500m TT - very happy - a faster pace than my race at the Great East Swim and not only did I feel less tired but I was solo swiming and sighting properly (as there were no big buoys!) and a 300m cool down!
Very enjoyable!
The TT GPS track is below:
Tomorrow is 70.3 practice day - 2:30 of Z3/4 TT bike followed by a 15km run...lets hope the knee/ankles hold up!
Well after a long amount of consideration I decided not to do the Marlow Mile based on the expected water quality - I don't want to get amoebic dysentry two weeks before the Irish 70.3!
So instead I tried out a new OW venue - Redrick's Lake (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116356055056128) just outside of Sawbridgeworth in Herts. It is a nice, small, friendly lake with good parking and showers (albeit a little basic). The lake has fabulously clean water although at the moment there are times when you could almost walk across the lake (due to weed growth!). Even with that to contend with I managed a 500m warm up, a 23:08 1500m TT - very happy - a faster pace than my race at the Great East Swim and not only did I feel less tired but I was solo swiming and sighting properly (as there were no big buoys!) and a 300m cool down!
Very enjoyable!
The TT GPS track is below:
Tomorrow is 70.3 practice day - 2:30 of Z3/4 TT bike followed by a 15km run...lets hope the knee/ankles hold up!
The long road back...
28 July 2011
Well with just over a month gone from Wimbleball and five weeks to go to Galway I am starting the long road back to fitness and racing!
The past three weeks have taken a lot out of me (I had bacterial laryngitis followed by oral candidiasis and parainfluenza) so it is going to take a bit of time to get back. The plan is a recovery week this week (all going well so far) and then a two week build followed by a rest week and a final strong week before a short taper and race.
This week I have managed to get out on the TT twice, once in beautiful Cornish sunshine and the other in pouring rain (18.5km in 51 very slippery mins!Good practice for Ireland I am sure!!), managed one 30min run (no pain :-)) and a swim.
The swim was the most interesting as I used to train and race with/for a Truro team (in the old swimming pool) and I met up with some of my old friends from swimming when I went to the new pool for an early morning swim! The Truro pool runs coached sessions early in the morning four days a week and these have four lanes each with 5-8 people in. The sessions are hard, really hard as in full on Masters session hard....I started in my own lane warming up doing 4x300s (well I arrived a little late as I overslept) but got fed up with the slow people in my lane so I jumped over, straight into 12x100 descending pace and holding for the last 8....I started at the back of the lane and ended up one off the front...hard work but good fun...I might do another session tomorrow!
Today I am taking a rest as we are going to the seal sanctuary and out for lunch (to celebrate my new job!!). Tomorrow we are heading home but I will probably get in another swim and over the weekend a run and a bike (maybe a run off the turbo...)
Apart from that everything else seems to be going quite well.....touch wood!
Later
I.
The past three weeks have taken a lot out of me (I had bacterial laryngitis followed by oral candidiasis and parainfluenza) so it is going to take a bit of time to get back. The plan is a recovery week this week (all going well so far) and then a two week build followed by a rest week and a final strong week before a short taper and race.
This week I have managed to get out on the TT twice, once in beautiful Cornish sunshine and the other in pouring rain (18.5km in 51 very slippery mins!Good practice for Ireland I am sure!!), managed one 30min run (no pain :-)) and a swim.
The swim was the most interesting as I used to train and race with/for a Truro team (in the old swimming pool) and I met up with some of my old friends from swimming when I went to the new pool for an early morning swim! The Truro pool runs coached sessions early in the morning four days a week and these have four lanes each with 5-8 people in. The sessions are hard, really hard as in full on Masters session hard....I started in my own lane warming up doing 4x300s (well I arrived a little late as I overslept) but got fed up with the slow people in my lane so I jumped over, straight into 12x100 descending pace and holding for the last 8....I started at the back of the lane and ended up one off the front...hard work but good fun...I might do another session tomorrow!
Today I am taking a rest as we are going to the seal sanctuary and out for lunch (to celebrate my new job!!). Tomorrow we are heading home but I will probably get in another swim and over the weekend a run and a bike (maybe a run off the turbo...)
Apart from that everything else seems to be going quite well.....touch wood!
Later
I.
No Henley :-(
8 July 2011
So I will not be racing at Henley this weekend for the Challenge swim. I have been desperately trying to get over this bug but unfortunately I still have a bit of a hacking cough :-( also I did a short swim set yesterday (5x200m) and whilst it felt okay, a bit slow but okay, I was shattered at the end of it. Mike and I discussed it and concurred that recovery was more important at the moment :-(
Maybe next year - now to focus on Ironman 70.3 Ireland :-)
Maybe next year - now to focus on Ironman 70.3 Ireland :-)
Recovery and Illness.....
6 July 2011
So another blog post so quickly on the heels of my 70.3 race report - what has happended!
Well I am ill....first proper bug in ages and a nasty one too...bacterial laryngitis...fever, headaches, unbelievably sore throat, no voice and gunky green stuff...euch! So it has been lots of paracetamol, ibuprofen, strepsils and klaricid.....fun...
I managed to do a couple of recovery sessions before I was wiped out by the lurgy last week and things felt surprisingly good post Wimbleball, in fact less painfull than post Marshman...really suprising.
I had a long discussion with Mike the coach last week and we decided that the order of the day (possibly month) was no running until the ankle heals assessed through no pain on pushing off the wall during swimming (which is essentially decelerated bouncing/jumping) but focus on swim/bike. We have also discussed the race season for next year and there will be no IM in 2012 - I will be a father again (no.3) and that combined with work/life doesn't leave time for the long sessions for full IM.
As for Henley Challenge swim ...that is up in the air...I really want to do it (I love open water swim races) but if this bug has not cleared it will be off :-( I might just have to find another single OW race to do later in Jul/Aug...
Anyway just a short post today...have to sort things out for a busy work day today and tomorrow before heading to Austria
Later
I.
Well I am ill....first proper bug in ages and a nasty one too...bacterial laryngitis...fever, headaches, unbelievably sore throat, no voice and gunky green stuff...euch! So it has been lots of paracetamol, ibuprofen, strepsils and klaricid.....fun...
I managed to do a couple of recovery sessions before I was wiped out by the lurgy last week and things felt surprisingly good post Wimbleball, in fact less painfull than post Marshman...really suprising.
I had a long discussion with Mike the coach last week and we decided that the order of the day (possibly month) was no running until the ankle heals assessed through no pain on pushing off the wall during swimming (which is essentially decelerated bouncing/jumping) but focus on swim/bike. We have also discussed the race season for next year and there will be no IM in 2012 - I will be a father again (no.3) and that combined with work/life doesn't leave time for the long sessions for full IM.
As for Henley Challenge swim ...that is up in the air...I really want to do it (I love open water swim races) but if this bug has not cleared it will be off :-( I might just have to find another single OW race to do later in Jul/Aug...
Anyway just a short post today...have to sort things out for a busy work day today and tomorrow before heading to Austria
Later
I.
Finally a Wimbleball 70.3 Race report!
5 July 2011
UK IRONMAN 70.3 – 19th June 2011
The days before….
So five weeks before my planned “A” race of the season (A race being the highest priority of the year) I overcooked the running…I put four sessions back to back whilst I was at EULAR in London, the weather was lovely, I had St James’ and Green Park to run through and running was going really well – however resilience was not on my side so I managed to tear both of my Achilles tendons on a hill set at the end of the week (not major tears but enough to impact my training). So, this meant lots of ice packs, massage, ultrasound and no running until the Wednesday before UK 70.3 and then the first run was a test to check whether I could even do the race! Everything worked fairly well – both ankles stiff but no needle sharp pains – a green light to start Wimbleball.
I wanted to practice my nutrition plan again so from Friday I started to cut out fibre – evening meal sausages with mash. Saturday was white bread and honey for breakfast, fish and chips (no peas) for lunch and pasta with green pesto for evening meal. All of this was okay, but, I think I had too much pasta – I was camping in the back of the XC90 and it was hard to measure properly! The plan on race morning was porridge made with water, Zipvit Recover (250ml) and the two gels 30 and 40mins out from race start. Once onto the bike I planned to use Nuun and ZipVit gels (with caffeine on lap 2 before the big hills) with a Biestmilch Booster (Colostrum and Gurana) for both the bike and run. On the run the plan was Nuun and a gel sipped slowly over 15mins every 45mins.
Time to race…..
So after quite a good night’s sleep in the back of the XC90 on an airbed – surprisingly comfy!! – I got up at 0350 to warm up and have breakfast – all done I went to transition to sort out the bike, that done I got into the wetsuit and warmed up. As usual at Wimbleball there was no warm up and the 10mins spent in the water before the race seemed to go on forever…..
The national anthem played and the horn went off – we were going. My plan on the 1.2mile swim was to keep wide on the left side and hammer the first 200m to keep with the lead pack. This worked really well and I kept on the heels of the second group of about 30 or so people behind the pros. The race to the first buoy was perfect, as was the turn but then I could not see the buoys and it was just “follow the feet in front”! At the second turn I was still with the group and that is where the swimming to plan finished…I headed for the next buoy, all good, but then I started to loose the swimmers to my right but I thought I was holding a better line as I could see what seemed to be three buoys which I assumed indicated the chute to come out of the water (no big IM arch which is normally there). Unfortunately I was wrong – after the second buoy on the return leg is was a straight line to shore and I had messed up and gone beck to where the start was – it really wasn’t clear if you were swimming!! After realising this and swearing a lot to myself I corrected and headed for the shore – I reckon it added 200 or so to the swim – I came out the water in 31:49 in 108th place…not the top 100 I was looking for…
Out of the swim and a quick run up the (amazingly steep) hill to T1 – grab my swim bag, change into bike kit and then I was out onto the bike. The bike was my biggest fear in 2009 and this year as it is a really, really challenging course climbing 5905ft over the 56miles with most of the climbing done on three hills in the second half of the course, these are done twice as it is a two lap course.
I had planned to use the first 10miles of so (with its two big(ish) hills) as a warm up before pushing and this worked well, I tapped up the first hill and overtook a fair few people on the next whilst keeping my HR below 165. The course then runs over and undulating section finishing in an insanely steep hill that descends to Machine Cross – the point at which I hit 58mph – great fun if a little scary!! Once the flatish undulating section was over the route hit the hills with short steep hill up to Morebath – I was amazed to see people off and walking their bike up on the first lap! I used a cadence of 10 pedal strokes seated, 8 standing which seemed to work to keep cramp and pain at bay – all looked good! The next big hill is the hardest on the course – with a max gradient of 17% and an average of 14% for 1.5km. All went well and kept to plan using standing/seated pedalling routine, right up to the point I changed down (I was about half way through the 11-28 block) and shifted my chain into my wheel disc (the spokes)...the pedals stopped turning and I only just managed to not go over the handlebars instead falling ungracefully to my right, bruising my hip and knee...after swearing at the bike a couple of times I got up checked over the bike (looked okay) and reseated the chain, spun the wheel and changed up and down a few times – no problems...preplexed I began the long walk up the hill...I had come off at the 17% section so there was no chance to get back on...
After an agonisingly long walk up the hill, watching all those I have previously passed zip past me , I got back on the bike and headed off for Haddon Hill the last big hill of the lap – again all went well, screaming down the downhill sections , tapping up the hills until the last section of Haddon Hill (it has two climbs with a short flat section in the middle) where I managed to repeat my chain debarkle this time not falling over but holding the bike upright until I had unclipped (to cries of “well held” from the surrounding competitors!)...again I reseated the chain and decided that changing from mid block to my lowest gear at the top was a bad idea for the rest of the bike – so I didn’t...I used the 11-25 gears...challenging up the hills but I didn’t come off again
Once up Haddon Hill I zipped round the rest of the lap before starting on the second. The first short sharp hill of the lap is a killer but I went up it fairly smoothly (in 09 I cramped both quads on this hill!) and got into the lap – the second lap was fairly uneventful compared to the first - enjoying the downhills and pushing the hills. Overall I found the bike challenging but not half as hard as I found it in 09 – all the training with Mike from The TriLife has paid off!
As I got back into T2 I was pleased to see I had smashed my previous PB on the course finishing the bike in 4:06:02 in 09 I did it in 5hrs! T2 was fun – the standard process of look for red bag – run to chair and change into running kit...however once I had found my running kit I looked down at my wrist where I should have put my Garmin 310XT watch (after I had taken it off the bike) and it was not there...ARGH! I had left it on my bike, so I had to run back out into the racking area, find my bike, recover my Garmin and then get changed :-( very unhappy....
The run started like all 70.3 runs – painfully!! The first section of the run at Wimbleball is downhill to the shore of the lake before it loops up to the finish before going back to the shore before going back past the finish and up a 100m hill...you get the idea. Most people worry about the bike at Wimbleball, me included, but it is the run which is the hardest bit – there is over 1300ft of climbing over the course and most of the underfoot conditions are more reminiscent of a school cross country race than a half marathon. My half marathon run was really over before it started, as soon as I hit the first hill I knew I would be walking most of it – I tried running up the first hill and both my Achilles tendons developed the sharp needle like pain that I had in training, very unhappy, but I decided rather than DNFing (Did Not Finish) I would get round and get my medal. As it was I would have had issues regardless of the ankles, after the first hill I developed stomach cramps and these proceeded to vomiting after I tried running again. So I made my way painfully round the 13.1 miles of the run, walking the hills, running the flats and downhills until the GI cramps got to bad and occasionally being sick...it was very reminiscent of 2009...
Except this time I was not the last person, all on my own out on the course with no-one to talk to, instead I met a variety of people (some much fitter than me!) who had been humbled by the Wimbleball course and either had injuries or GI problems but were resolute in their determination to finish. In some ways this is the “real” bit of long distance triathlon racing. Whilst we would all like to be like Chrissie Wellington or Tom Lowe (the two current UK (and World for Chrissie) IM record holders) hammering round a 70.3 circuit in 4hours something or an IM course in just over 8hours the simple fact is we (the vast majority) probably won’t - I have a dream I could go sub 6hours on a 70.3 race and sub 13 or an IM one, both a achievable but equally a race where I come in 1.5hours after my PB is important, not for the time but for the fact that rather than giving up when my ankles hurt I decided (like those other racers) that come hell or high water I would get across the line and get my medal. In some part it is that place I push myself beyond in the really dark moments when I think “I could just stop now” that keeps me doing this, because very little – apart from my family – gives me as much sense of achievement and happiness. Ultimately I crossed the line in 8:04 – 53 minutes faster than 2009 – I would love to say I will be back to get that sub 7 at Wimbleball but I feel I have done it twice, the course really doesn’t suit me and there are lots of other IMs and 70.3s out there -this one has taken quite enough of my time and energy!
The days before….
So five weeks before my planned “A” race of the season (A race being the highest priority of the year) I overcooked the running…I put four sessions back to back whilst I was at EULAR in London, the weather was lovely, I had St James’ and Green Park to run through and running was going really well – however resilience was not on my side so I managed to tear both of my Achilles tendons on a hill set at the end of the week (not major tears but enough to impact my training). So, this meant lots of ice packs, massage, ultrasound and no running until the Wednesday before UK 70.3 and then the first run was a test to check whether I could even do the race! Everything worked fairly well – both ankles stiff but no needle sharp pains – a green light to start Wimbleball.
I wanted to practice my nutrition plan again so from Friday I started to cut out fibre – evening meal sausages with mash. Saturday was white bread and honey for breakfast, fish and chips (no peas) for lunch and pasta with green pesto for evening meal. All of this was okay, but, I think I had too much pasta – I was camping in the back of the XC90 and it was hard to measure properly! The plan on race morning was porridge made with water, Zipvit Recover (250ml) and the two gels 30 and 40mins out from race start. Once onto the bike I planned to use Nuun and ZipVit gels (with caffeine on lap 2 before the big hills) with a Biestmilch Booster (Colostrum and Gurana) for both the bike and run. On the run the plan was Nuun and a gel sipped slowly over 15mins every 45mins.
Time to race…..
So after quite a good night’s sleep in the back of the XC90 on an airbed – surprisingly comfy!! – I got up at 0350 to warm up and have breakfast – all done I went to transition to sort out the bike, that done I got into the wetsuit and warmed up. As usual at Wimbleball there was no warm up and the 10mins spent in the water before the race seemed to go on forever…..
The national anthem played and the horn went off – we were going. My plan on the 1.2mile swim was to keep wide on the left side and hammer the first 200m to keep with the lead pack. This worked really well and I kept on the heels of the second group of about 30 or so people behind the pros. The race to the first buoy was perfect, as was the turn but then I could not see the buoys and it was just “follow the feet in front”! At the second turn I was still with the group and that is where the swimming to plan finished…I headed for the next buoy, all good, but then I started to loose the swimmers to my right but I thought I was holding a better line as I could see what seemed to be three buoys which I assumed indicated the chute to come out of the water (no big IM arch which is normally there). Unfortunately I was wrong – after the second buoy on the return leg is was a straight line to shore and I had messed up and gone beck to where the start was – it really wasn’t clear if you were swimming!! After realising this and swearing a lot to myself I corrected and headed for the shore – I reckon it added 200 or so to the swim – I came out the water in 31:49 in 108th place…not the top 100 I was looking for…
Out of the swim and a quick run up the (amazingly steep) hill to T1 – grab my swim bag, change into bike kit and then I was out onto the bike. The bike was my biggest fear in 2009 and this year as it is a really, really challenging course climbing 5905ft over the 56miles with most of the climbing done on three hills in the second half of the course, these are done twice as it is a two lap course.
I had planned to use the first 10miles of so (with its two big(ish) hills) as a warm up before pushing and this worked well, I tapped up the first hill and overtook a fair few people on the next whilst keeping my HR below 165. The course then runs over and undulating section finishing in an insanely steep hill that descends to Machine Cross – the point at which I hit 58mph – great fun if a little scary!! Once the flatish undulating section was over the route hit the hills with short steep hill up to Morebath – I was amazed to see people off and walking their bike up on the first lap! I used a cadence of 10 pedal strokes seated, 8 standing which seemed to work to keep cramp and pain at bay – all looked good! The next big hill is the hardest on the course – with a max gradient of 17% and an average of 14% for 1.5km. All went well and kept to plan using standing/seated pedalling routine, right up to the point I changed down (I was about half way through the 11-28 block) and shifted my chain into my wheel disc (the spokes)...the pedals stopped turning and I only just managed to not go over the handlebars instead falling ungracefully to my right, bruising my hip and knee...after swearing at the bike a couple of times I got up checked over the bike (looked okay) and reseated the chain, spun the wheel and changed up and down a few times – no problems...preplexed I began the long walk up the hill...I had come off at the 17% section so there was no chance to get back on...
After an agonisingly long walk up the hill, watching all those I have previously passed zip past me , I got back on the bike and headed off for Haddon Hill the last big hill of the lap – again all went well, screaming down the downhill sections , tapping up the hills until the last section of Haddon Hill (it has two climbs with a short flat section in the middle) where I managed to repeat my chain debarkle this time not falling over but holding the bike upright until I had unclipped (to cries of “well held” from the surrounding competitors!)...again I reseated the chain and decided that changing from mid block to my lowest gear at the top was a bad idea for the rest of the bike – so I didn’t...I used the 11-25 gears...challenging up the hills but I didn’t come off again
Once up Haddon Hill I zipped round the rest of the lap before starting on the second. The first short sharp hill of the lap is a killer but I went up it fairly smoothly (in 09 I cramped both quads on this hill!) and got into the lap – the second lap was fairly uneventful compared to the first - enjoying the downhills and pushing the hills. Overall I found the bike challenging but not half as hard as I found it in 09 – all the training with Mike from The TriLife has paid off!
As I got back into T2 I was pleased to see I had smashed my previous PB on the course finishing the bike in 4:06:02 in 09 I did it in 5hrs! T2 was fun – the standard process of look for red bag – run to chair and change into running kit...however once I had found my running kit I looked down at my wrist where I should have put my Garmin 310XT watch (after I had taken it off the bike) and it was not there...ARGH! I had left it on my bike, so I had to run back out into the racking area, find my bike, recover my Garmin and then get changed :-( very unhappy....
The run started like all 70.3 runs – painfully!! The first section of the run at Wimbleball is downhill to the shore of the lake before it loops up to the finish before going back to the shore before going back past the finish and up a 100m hill...you get the idea. Most people worry about the bike at Wimbleball, me included, but it is the run which is the hardest bit – there is over 1300ft of climbing over the course and most of the underfoot conditions are more reminiscent of a school cross country race than a half marathon. My half marathon run was really over before it started, as soon as I hit the first hill I knew I would be walking most of it – I tried running up the first hill and both my Achilles tendons developed the sharp needle like pain that I had in training, very unhappy, but I decided rather than DNFing (Did Not Finish) I would get round and get my medal. As it was I would have had issues regardless of the ankles, after the first hill I developed stomach cramps and these proceeded to vomiting after I tried running again. So I made my way painfully round the 13.1 miles of the run, walking the hills, running the flats and downhills until the GI cramps got to bad and occasionally being sick...it was very reminiscent of 2009...
Except this time I was not the last person, all on my own out on the course with no-one to talk to, instead I met a variety of people (some much fitter than me!) who had been humbled by the Wimbleball course and either had injuries or GI problems but were resolute in their determination to finish. In some ways this is the “real” bit of long distance triathlon racing. Whilst we would all like to be like Chrissie Wellington or Tom Lowe (the two current UK (and World for Chrissie) IM record holders) hammering round a 70.3 circuit in 4hours something or an IM course in just over 8hours the simple fact is we (the vast majority) probably won’t - I have a dream I could go sub 6hours on a 70.3 race and sub 13 or an IM one, both a achievable but equally a race where I come in 1.5hours after my PB is important, not for the time but for the fact that rather than giving up when my ankles hurt I decided (like those other racers) that come hell or high water I would get across the line and get my medal. In some part it is that place I push myself beyond in the really dark moments when I think “I could just stop now” that keeps me doing this, because very little – apart from my family – gives me as much sense of achievement and happiness. Ultimately I crossed the line in 8:04 – 53 minutes faster than 2009 – I would love to say I will be back to get that sub 7 at Wimbleball but I feel I have done it twice, the course really doesn’t suit me and there are lots of other IMs and 70.3s out there -this one has taken quite enough of my time and energy!
A quick update on UK 70.3 - full report to follow!
20 June 2011
I survived just...this is the short version the long version is to follow
Swim was okay but slow for me as I sighted off the wrong one of the three buoys near the end of the swim (where was the exit IM hoop they always have) and added a fair distance to the swim doh!
T1 was the usual run half way up the hill from the lake and die and then try and find the bag
Bike was okay apart from shifting my chain into my wheel on the Morebath hill and Haddon hill on lap one and only just not go over the handlebars - I held it on Haddon Hill (and fell off gracefully) but came off properly on Morebath - damaging my (SRAM Force carbon ) gear/brake lever...lap two was good but why did they put no overtaking on the biggest hill - I got stuck behind a slow coach.....
T2 was a BCTTT cluster - managed to leave my Garmin on my bike when the helper took it...I realised in the tent and had to wander around all the bikes to find it again....
and the run...well that is best forgotten...I only decided not to do a planned DNF on Wednesday (I put small tears in my Achilles tendons about five weeks ago) when a test run went okay only to find they were not on the run course - every hill was painful...add to that the normal GI probs (nausea/vomitting/etc - I need to see a nutritional bod I think) and I had a dreadful 1/2 marathon...
but hey I PBd by 53mins coming in at 8:01....a bit gutted not to make sub 8 - I will not be back though...I think less hilly courses are more my thing.....also due to the comms blackhole that is Wimbleball Lizzie had no idea whether I was alive or dead until I got back to civilisation...not popular...on Fathers Day (who chose the date...)....a full report will make it on here when I find the time to write it
Swim was okay but slow for me as I sighted off the wrong one of the three buoys near the end of the swim (where was the exit IM hoop they always have) and added a fair distance to the swim doh!
T1 was the usual run half way up the hill from the lake and die and then try and find the bag
Bike was okay apart from shifting my chain into my wheel on the Morebath hill and Haddon hill on lap one and only just not go over the handlebars - I held it on Haddon Hill (and fell off gracefully) but came off properly on Morebath - damaging my (SRAM Force carbon ) gear/brake lever...lap two was good but why did they put no overtaking on the biggest hill - I got stuck behind a slow coach.....
T2 was a BCTTT cluster - managed to leave my Garmin on my bike when the helper took it...I realised in the tent and had to wander around all the bikes to find it again....
and the run...well that is best forgotten...I only decided not to do a planned DNF on Wednesday (I put small tears in my Achilles tendons about five weeks ago) when a test run went okay only to find they were not on the run course - every hill was painful...add to that the normal GI probs (nausea/vomitting/etc - I need to see a nutritional bod I think) and I had a dreadful 1/2 marathon...
but hey I PBd by 53mins coming in at 8:01....a bit gutted not to make sub 8 - I will not be back though...I think less hilly courses are more my thing.....also due to the comms blackhole that is Wimbleball Lizzie had no idea whether I was alive or dead until I got back to civilisation...not popular...on Fathers Day (who chose the date...)....a full report will make it on here when I find the time to write it
I am racing on Sunday!
16 June 2011
Well after a worrying few days - will I, won't I do the run at the 70.3 on Sunday I am happy to report that I survived the test run yesterday morning!
Basically this week (touch wood!!) has been going fairly well. I am a little pressed for time today (as I have a load of work to do and I still need to pack! So just a quick update on training -
Monday - Power hills on the turbo (basically 350W for 1 min/off for 1min x lots) – went really well – got the saddle position dialled in (I think...)
Tuesday – Swim 10x100s and 6x50s – all around 1:16-1:19 and 37s, felt a little fatigued but still good – managed 2x4mins deep water running too
Wednesday – make or break day – turbo was a good set – all nice and smooth followed by a 20min out and back run....I kept the pace to waterver felt good – and although the HR was a little high (155-160) the pace was fine (5:45-6:00/km) and as for the ankles...well no needle pains apart from one bit where I went from pavement to road – ankles a little stiff and calves were stiff in the evening but otherwise good so I think the run at Wimbleball is on...in the evening I spent 40mins or so working out the niggles with my grid roller – ooooow!
Today – deepwater start 5x200s – all in around 2:46-48 felt super good – I pushed the first 100 and cruised the second at race pace – then 3x4min deep water running and just been for a quick 10km spin to sort out the bike – all good although I did spend a few mins trying to work out why I could not go above 25kph – my brakes were rubbing! indexing and brakes sorted....
Overall feeling I am feeling pretty good – I am icing and ultrasounding my calves nightly and (almost) generally feeling ready for Wimbleball....
I have a meeting en route and will be staying Friday night with the folks in Truro but I am camping on site Saturday night. If anyone is about at the Race I will be around from about lunchtime Saturday probably wearing an IMCH finishers shirt - I will be the short stocky one with a naked carbon Isaac bike :-) – maybe see you there!!
If not - check back Sunday/Monday for a race report - wish me luck!!
Later
I.
Basically this week (touch wood!!) has been going fairly well. I am a little pressed for time today (as I have a load of work to do and I still need to pack! So just a quick update on training -
Monday - Power hills on the turbo (basically 350W for 1 min/off for 1min x lots) – went really well – got the saddle position dialled in (I think...)
Tuesday – Swim 10x100s and 6x50s – all around 1:16-1:19 and 37s, felt a little fatigued but still good – managed 2x4mins deep water running too
Wednesday – make or break day – turbo was a good set – all nice and smooth followed by a 20min out and back run....I kept the pace to waterver felt good – and although the HR was a little high (155-160) the pace was fine (5:45-6:00/km) and as for the ankles...well no needle pains apart from one bit where I went from pavement to road – ankles a little stiff and calves were stiff in the evening but otherwise good so I think the run at Wimbleball is on...in the evening I spent 40mins or so working out the niggles with my grid roller – ooooow!
Today – deepwater start 5x200s – all in around 2:46-48 felt super good – I pushed the first 100 and cruised the second at race pace – then 3x4min deep water running and just been for a quick 10km spin to sort out the bike – all good although I did spend a few mins trying to work out why I could not go above 25kph – my brakes were rubbing! indexing and brakes sorted....
Overall feeling I am feeling pretty good – I am icing and ultrasounding my calves nightly and (almost) generally feeling ready for Wimbleball....
I have a meeting en route and will be staying Friday night with the folks in Truro but I am camping on site Saturday night. If anyone is about at the Race I will be around from about lunchtime Saturday probably wearing an IMCH finishers shirt - I will be the short stocky one with a naked carbon Isaac bike :-) – maybe see you there!!
If not - check back Sunday/Monday for a race report - wish me luck!!
Later
I.
Swimming and a good end to week one of the taper!
12 June 2011
So the theory goes that tapering is all about winding back the distance so you don't hurt yourself before the race whilst uping the tempo a little to push yourself and reinforce the neuromuscular pathways you will be using in race....
Well I hope I haven't peaked a week too early is all I can say! Yesterday was one of the best races I have ever done, swimming or tri! I entered the Great East Swim (GES) 1 mile swim (1600m) on a whim a couple of weeks back just to hone the competitive swimming element of tri. During Marshman I had a panic attack, the start was more challenging and competitive than IMCH and other more recent tris combined with having my goggles pulled off, so I decided I needed more OW swimming and racing practice so two weeks ago when I managed one OW swim (the second this year) I thought well lets combine an OW swim with a race - the GES looks good :-)
Wind forward to yesterday morning and we (the family) arrived at Alton Water for the GES, my first competitive swim since I was racing Masters pool swimming during my PhD - nearly fifteen years ago! The onsite organisation was a bit of a cluster - lots of tents and signs for spectators but a lack of direction to the start....anyway I eventually found it and waited to be logged in. Our warm up time arrived and we got into the (frankly tiny) patch (about 10mx10m) of water to try and warm up - we had a whole resevoir why such a small warm up area???? I kept waiting for more orange hatted people to turn up for our wave but we ended up with most of the 60 entered in the wave - apparently I had entered the top Age Group (AG) wave - the next wave was the elites....as far as I know I was the only triathlete there all the others were OW swim specialists...oh dear, this could be a disaster I thought.....we had an "interesting" warm up led by a fitness instructor and the starting klaxon was set off (by the German chap who came 2nd in the elites). Prior to the race I had not really thought about the difference of swimming races vs triathlons that much, i.e. in a triathlon the klaxon or gun starts the time for everyone, in this OW race the time started when an individual went over the timing mat - hence I could have waited at the end and gone over on my own and into clear water, but I didn't instead I was in the second row and sprinted in to the water. A short session of aqua-ruck later I was in clear water and heading for the second buoy. After a pretty uneventual swim - which involved a fair amount of drafting two other swimmers and trying not to kill people from the previous wave (who were soooo slow and just appeared from nowhere doing breaststroke....) I rounded the last buoy and headed for the exit chute. In a triathlon I would have controlled my pace a little more and thought about T1 from about 400m out but this was a straight thrash for the end (and it shows on the video) - I jumped up onto my feet as soon as my fingers hit the bottom and sprinted for the mat - over the line in 24:44! Sub 25mins is a pretty good time for an OW 1 mile race to give some idea I was 38th overall out of 1285 swimmers, 32nd Male and 4th in my Age group (and gender), all without specific training for the race - I guess if I get bored with triathlons I could always make a go of racing OW swimming!!!
Well I hope I haven't peaked a week too early is all I can say! Yesterday was one of the best races I have ever done, swimming or tri! I entered the Great East Swim (GES) 1 mile swim (1600m) on a whim a couple of weeks back just to hone the competitive swimming element of tri. During Marshman I had a panic attack, the start was more challenging and competitive than IMCH and other more recent tris combined with having my goggles pulled off, so I decided I needed more OW swimming and racing practice so two weeks ago when I managed one OW swim (the second this year) I thought well lets combine an OW swim with a race - the GES looks good :-)
Wind forward to yesterday morning and we (the family) arrived at Alton Water for the GES, my first competitive swim since I was racing Masters pool swimming during my PhD - nearly fifteen years ago! The onsite organisation was a bit of a cluster - lots of tents and signs for spectators but a lack of direction to the start....anyway I eventually found it and waited to be logged in. Our warm up time arrived and we got into the (frankly tiny) patch (about 10mx10m) of water to try and warm up - we had a whole resevoir why such a small warm up area???? I kept waiting for more orange hatted people to turn up for our wave but we ended up with most of the 60 entered in the wave - apparently I had entered the top Age Group (AG) wave - the next wave was the elites....as far as I know I was the only triathlete there all the others were OW swim specialists...oh dear, this could be a disaster I thought.....we had an "interesting" warm up led by a fitness instructor and the starting klaxon was set off (by the German chap who came 2nd in the elites). Prior to the race I had not really thought about the difference of swimming races vs triathlons that much, i.e. in a triathlon the klaxon or gun starts the time for everyone, in this OW race the time started when an individual went over the timing mat - hence I could have waited at the end and gone over on my own and into clear water, but I didn't instead I was in the second row and sprinted in to the water. A short session of aqua-ruck later I was in clear water and heading for the second buoy. After a pretty uneventual swim - which involved a fair amount of drafting two other swimmers and trying not to kill people from the previous wave (who were soooo slow and just appeared from nowhere doing breaststroke....) I rounded the last buoy and headed for the exit chute. In a triathlon I would have controlled my pace a little more and thought about T1 from about 400m out but this was a straight thrash for the end (and it shows on the video) - I jumped up onto my feet as soon as my fingers hit the bottom and sprinted for the mat - over the line in 24:44! Sub 25mins is a pretty good time for an OW 1 mile race to give some idea I was 38th overall out of 1285 swimmers, 32nd Male and 4th in my Age group (and gender), all without specific training for the race - I guess if I get bored with triathlons I could always make a go of racing OW swimming!!!
Lizzie recorded a videos of the swim finish http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150284244735522&comments - and a photo too!:
A good day's work! Very happy and slightly surprised!!
So why is this blog post not just entitled - a good swim? Well this morning I did a turbo 10mile time trial, basically a 25min warm up and then flat out for 16km of the last section of the Marshman route. My previous best for 10mile TT was 27:42 this morning I managed it in 26:01 :-) Okay it was the turbo but I have it fairly well dialed in for accuracy as I managed 535W max/237W av and HR 186 max/162 av which is pretty close to what it should be!!
So there you go - taper 2/52 done - two swims, three turbo sets one rest day and a race - DONE! Next week is the final taper week to UK 70.3 IM in Wimbleball - turbo x2, swim x2 and 1 road session to test the bike. Also I have my mid week test run - my biggest fear.....why well three weeks ago I put some small tears in my Achilles tendons and I have been icing/ultrasounding/resting them as much as possible - if they are not 80% on Wednesday then Wimbleball will be a swim/bike and probable/planned DNF on the run....it was my A race but it is now my B race with Ireland 70.3 as my main focus....fingers crossed.
Finally if you find this interesting and want to sponsor my efforts please go to http://www.justgiving.com/Iaindoesthreehalfironmanracesin2011 and donate some money for the Urostomy Association - they helped my mother - a really worthwhile cause!!
Keep well
Iain.
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