Finally I have managed to get the forwarding working on my web domain so in future please point your browser or link to husbandfatherironman.com :-)
Also illness (D&V) is now gone so training has started again....the virus made me feel like a 5st weakling going up stairs....so far I have managed a30min turbo set, yesterday, and a short run...this morning's run was laughable as I got to 3km of the 5km and felt like walking...oh well small steps.....
Wow - February already....
4 February 2013
It is amazing to think it is Feb already and this is the first post since Oct...
It has been a busy few months - I spent some time falling out of love with training and working on triathlon fitness after IM 70.3 Ireland and after nearly a week off work with a horrible GI bug I feel I need to draw a line in the sand and get fitter again.
So what has ahappened since October? Well I finished off a marathon travel year flying just over 250,000 miles in one calender year (I hope I don't repeat that it was a killer), and put on 10kgs over my race weight in Ireland...not good. I did start the year intending to do something about that (more training, less bad food, less wine) but that seemed to fall flat on its face out of the starting blocks, so I am starting February as I intend to continue - with an aim - I want to compete in more than one 70.3 this year :-)
Last year was a terrible year for racing - I manage one OW swim and one 70.3 - failing to compete in my other OW swims and triathlons through a mix of bad weather (most River Thames races were affected last year due to the speed of the current), illness and injury. This year I hope to compete in a couple of 70.3s - one I hope will be the Monster 70.3 which is based around Ely (relatively flast and fast (if it isn't windy)) and the other may be Marshman in late May - again quite fast and flat but it was seriously windy there when I raced it a couple of years ago...
Lets see what the months bring....
On the kit side of things I am now looking for a new wetsuit as my Alpha needs to retire after seving me well from 2009-2012 (too many holes reparied with Black Witch adhesive), so a Huub looks like a good option. Also I have been playing with a CycleOps Powercal - an interesting development of the HR monitor - it looks like a standard Garmin HR dongle but it has a rather cool algorithm which derives a "calculated power output" from the speed and rate of change of HR and outputs both HR and Power. I was highly sceptical but I got it on a deal for about £20 more than a replacement HR monitor and after playing with it for a month I am fairly amazed by it. It is rubbish for short sprints (below 30s) but to be honest over 30s it reflects my power output on my turbo (which is calibrated off my VO2max data) pretty accurately. I have taken it on several rides and it gives some fairly interesting data - it doesn't just reflect HR but goes up and down a bit (it is a 30s smoothed version...) - have a look at the data in the Strava link below:
Anyway first blog for ages so lets leave it there...
Later
I.
It has been a busy few months - I spent some time falling out of love with training and working on triathlon fitness after IM 70.3 Ireland and after nearly a week off work with a horrible GI bug I feel I need to draw a line in the sand and get fitter again.
So what has ahappened since October? Well I finished off a marathon travel year flying just over 250,000 miles in one calender year (I hope I don't repeat that it was a killer), and put on 10kgs over my race weight in Ireland...not good. I did start the year intending to do something about that (more training, less bad food, less wine) but that seemed to fall flat on its face out of the starting blocks, so I am starting February as I intend to continue - with an aim - I want to compete in more than one 70.3 this year :-)
Last year was a terrible year for racing - I manage one OW swim and one 70.3 - failing to compete in my other OW swims and triathlons through a mix of bad weather (most River Thames races were affected last year due to the speed of the current), illness and injury. This year I hope to compete in a couple of 70.3s - one I hope will be the Monster 70.3 which is based around Ely (relatively flast and fast (if it isn't windy)) and the other may be Marshman in late May - again quite fast and flat but it was seriously windy there when I raced it a couple of years ago...
Lets see what the months bring....
On the kit side of things I am now looking for a new wetsuit as my Alpha needs to retire after seving me well from 2009-2012 (too many holes reparied with Black Witch adhesive), so a Huub looks like a good option. Also I have been playing with a CycleOps Powercal - an interesting development of the HR monitor - it looks like a standard Garmin HR dongle but it has a rather cool algorithm which derives a "calculated power output" from the speed and rate of change of HR and outputs both HR and Power. I was highly sceptical but I got it on a deal for about £20 more than a replacement HR monitor and after playing with it for a month I am fairly amazed by it. It is rubbish for short sprints (below 30s) but to be honest over 30s it reflects my power output on my turbo (which is calibrated off my VO2max data) pretty accurately. I have taken it on several rides and it gives some fairly interesting data - it doesn't just reflect HR but goes up and down a bit (it is a 30s smoothed version...) - have a look at the data in the Strava link below:
Anyway first blog for ages so lets leave it there...
Later
I.
My longest run in ages
22 October 2012
So this was a fun jaunt from the hotel to the Arc, round the tower and up the French equivalent to Oxford Street - all rather nice :-)
Galway 70.3 Race Report
5 September 2012
So where do I start? I have written the beginning of this several times, I have started it in the bar of the Salthill Hotel in Galway, the departures lounge at Dublin Airport, the departures lounge at Heathrow T5 and now I am starting (again, as the computer crashed and lost my previous drafts) on the TGV platform at Geneva Station.
Let's start at the beginning - how did the preparation for the race go? Well it has been a busy year. If you have read my previous blog entries you will know that I have had a hectic time running around the world with my work - I have visited over twenty countries in the past eight months (some of them multiple times) and this plays havoc both with the body clock (when changing time zone) and life in general. This has not led to building a good platform for middle distance triathlon performance. In addition, at home, Evie has led me to change priorities as well, I try and help out when I can, although this is not always possible. Through it all Lizzie has been unbelievably understanding and supportive and the children have not complained too much when I have not been there for breakfast (again) and then when I turn up from a run or ride, run away, as apparently, I am "all sweaty". Also I have a fantastic coach in Mike, he is excellent at adapting the training program to my work travels and has helped keep me injury free all year.
So enough of the reasons why the year has been hard, what about the build up itself. In the last few weeks before Galway the session intensity increased, Mike put in a few of the (30EZ, 30 Tempo, 30EZ, 30 Tempo+) sets and one of the 'put it in the highest gear and just go for it' sessions on the bike, the runs got longer and the swims (when I could fit them in) were more pace focused. Finally a week out from the race and after a week in Chicago hammering the treadmill in the middle of the night I started tapering, and worrying about how to transport my bike on a plane. I eventually opted for the soft bike bag option, building a foam former to hold the crankset and BB housing in place and then using high density pipe lagging to protect the farm - I am glad to report it worked (see the pictures below).
After a great week of very little training (and finding somewhere to live for the next six months!) I flew out to Dublin on the Friday, checking my bike into the hold and taking all the important bits (bike shoes, pedals, running shoes and helmet with me in hand luggage. The flight was good and I was delighted to meet my bike off the plane very quickly at the other end. However, at that point, the day went downhill, I had booked my flight myself but everything else, transfers, hotel, etc through Nirvana Europe. My BA flight got in 10mins ahead of schedule however they had booked several of us on the same transport back from the airport to Galway (it is a 2+hr drive) and the others were coming with Ryanair - it was scheduled to arrive 5mins after my flight, but when I landed it had not even taken off! Steve, from Nirvana, bought me some water and a coffee and apologised a lot - eventually nearly 2hrs after we should have, we left Dublin for Galway. When we arrived on the west coast we checked into the Salthill Hotel, which I can recommend for this race - very well placed, just make sure you get a room at the front (as I did for the night before and after the race) as the room I had on arrival (at the back) was directly above the events room and as they have a lot of weddings there the noise level was awful. I built my bike (everything was fine), ordered a sandwich from room service and went to bed at midnight, the end of a long day.
The following morning I headed over to registration, or rather I was blown to registration as overnight a gale had hit the city, the wind was a steady 25mph and gusting up to 40mph....this was not in the plan. I registered, watch the race briefing PowerPoint presentation - without the worst bit of the build up as the race briefing always gives the race itself a bit of a "gee up" and a start point with all the athletes in the room - and headed back to the hotel to get my kit for the practice swim. This is the first time I have made a practice swim as I normally have family with me and the pre race day tends to be a register, rack and get away from it experience. So this was different. I was really glad to have made the practice as I have not swum in the sea properly since Galway last year, the conditions were absolutely awful, the waves were about 2m high (almost the height of last year's ones) and as a result we were only allowed to swim about 200m out to a buoy and back - but it was enough to calm my nerves of sea swimming and get my head in the right place. I exited the water and went back to the hotel to fix all the new hole in my wetsuit (it is old!), organise my bags for transition and my bike.
Once I had sorted the blue (bike/T1) bag with all my kit for the swim to bike transition and my red one (T2) with all my bike to run kit I took the bike out for a quick spin to check my rebuild before racking it. As soon as I started riding I thought OMFG what have I done, I have brought HED3 trispoke wheels to one of the windiest places around! For the uneducated trispokes are wheel made almost entirely of carbon with a deep (50mm) rim and three big spokes, each about 40mm wide. They are phenomenally fast in most conditions but are hard to control in really high winds, think about being pushed across the road with each gust of wind....terrifying practice spin over I racked my bike, hung my bags in transition and collected my chip - I was ready to race.
I headed back to the hotel, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon (after a quick 15min run and a short swim in the hotel's amazing 25m pool), gave Lizzie a call and watched a film. In the evening I did the BCTTT required thing and had the compulsory pre race meal fish and chips (with an optional pint of Guiness). I went to bed early hoping for a break in the weather.....
The Race
I woke up aground 5am and headed down to transition, as I left the hotel, I breathed a sight of relief - no wind - as forecast the storm had passed completely. I did my final check on my bike, dropped some of my kit back at the hotel and headed to the swim start.
The sea was calm and I watched the pros and the first wave leave from Black Rock just as the sun rose over the headland - magical. The course looked fairly different from the plan at registration, there seemed to be orange and yellow buoys (not just yellow ones...) oh well I guessed I would not be at front so I could 'follow the herd'. The 35-39 and the 50-59 AG waves were mixed together, we were an eclectic bunch of about 200 heading into the water at 7:05am.
Once we had hung about for 15mins bobbing about near Black Rock the horn went and we were off! I had intentionally placed myself on the far left of the pack and to at the front - this paid off, I swam over a few people to get clear on the left side and headed for the first buoy. the water was pretty calm and the wave fronts were pushing us back towards the beach at a frequency of about ten strokes (ie one went over you every ten strokes) but they were not that strong. At the first buoy I avoided trouble swam in close and exited for the 1km swim, straight down the beach, keeping the yellow buoys on my left. This was easier said than done as the waves kept pushing you in towards shore, however the current/tide kept pulling you back as you tried to move forward - this maybe the reason for the relatively slow swim times (either that or the course was long). I got into my rhythm and just swam my own race, keeping pace with one chap to my left. We caught the back markers of the 7am wave about 300m from the turn buoy and chaos ensued as they were engulfed by the faster wave. I kept mostly out of the ruckus and just carried on swimming my own race towards the turn buoy (which I had worked out what the orange buoys were). I turned and immediately thought "where do I go now?" eventually after swimming toward the only buoy I could see (a yellow one) a helpful kayaker pointed me and the small group I was with in the right direction (the big red buoy) about 200m off to our left - a schoolboy error - it probably cost me around 2 mins in total. Eventually we turned the buoy and headed for the beach. Once out of the sea we headed on the long run (about 800m) to T1 - the transitions in Galway are long.
Into T1, I got my bearings grabbed my bag and headed for a chair to change -
Wetsuit off, quick dry of the feet with a towel (sand everywhere!), socks on, shoes on, race number on, helmet on, pack wet kit in bag, eat a haribo sweet (to take the salt taste away), Oakleys on and away!
The T1 was in a tent, to exit T1 you left the tent, went up some stairs, all the way round the outside of racking and then in to collect my bike, the Joule Aerotic - I found it first time, grabbed it and did the long 300m or so run to the out line. I jumped on and started cycling, but I could not engage my left cleat. I stopped a few hundred metres up the road to take all of the grass and mud out of my cleats, this sorted I thought, 'right let's get going!' as I crested the first hill I hit a pothole and the velcro holding my toolkit let go, my X-lab toolkit bag sailed into the air and landed about 100m back - did i want to carry on and hope that i did not get a puncture? Nope i guessed that would be a bad idea! I I stopped and ran back to get it, fun in cleats! Toolkit reattached I headed off (subsequently I found these two events cost me nearly five minutes).
The bike itself was fairly uneventful - it is a rolling (500m climbing) course with a few short, steep climbs. It is an out and back which means you get to see everyone on the course - including the pros and they were flying! The bike just sang, I wound it up to an easy(ish) average of 31kph, and just started overtaking people I was blasting along, attacking on the hills, cruising down the descents - awesome fun, and all into a light headwind. I tried to keep the RPE around 12-16 throughout and the cadence natural. I spent most of my time playing tag with a couple other guys in my AG, a grumpy French guy called Marcel whom I passed over ten times (and vice versa) but not once did he respond to my 'hello', and another Brit with with a wierd name that I cannot remember. Throughout the race I had no power, HR or cadence (the power was usual, the HR intentional but the cadence unplanned).
The crowds were not as big as last year at either Moycullen or Oughterard however they still blew their vuvuzelas with enthusiasm and shook their cowbells with fervour. The turn around was at Maam Cross this year which was much better, After the turn the wind was with us and my average pace jumped to 32-33kph, with little effort, I shot back to town - everything felt fantastic!
On coming back into T2 I felt good the legs worked. I ran my bike in, dropped it at the racking and for the first time was ecstatic to see that there were LOTS of people not back off the bike! No time for that though, I ran into the T2 tent, grabbed my bag and got ready for the run:
Helmet off, bike jersey off, shoes off, change socks, running shoes on, turn number around, running visor on, different Oakleys on, repack bag and run out!
I headed down to the three lap course of 21.1km, heading past the finish just as the male pros finished - they were that fast - sub 4hours for the top few. The first couple of kms of the run are usually hell as the legs get used to running not riding, but I felt good and was turning in 5:44/km (above my anticipated pace), however it was not to last. Just after the aid station at 3km I turned into the headwind and all the energy drained out of my legs - I felt awful, really....truly....awful. I had to slow to a walk until the gel I had taken on in the aid station kicked in, even after this hit the blood stream I found it hard to run again, I had 'blown up' properly. For the next 15km I ran as fast as i could, developed cramp in both legs (localised in my quads which came on and off for the rest of the run) and walked the aid stations, after 9km I could not take on gels so I switched to coke/water and that kept me going - just! As I came back into Salthill for the last 2km I just upped the pace as much as I could....it hurt...a lot....I was up to 5:40/km at one point, and as I turned through the last aid station with 1km to go I could feel myself slowing, I knew sub 6hrs had slipped away and I just pushed the last 1km doing high 5s for the many kids who put their hands out.
As I turned that last corner and came down the finish chute I was quite emotional, I am again as I write this, I kept giving the crowd high f5s and as the only person in the finish chute I got quite a build up from the announcer, I crossed the line in 6:07 - I had missed my target of sub 6 by seven minutes but I had a new PB (Personal Best) by 28mins, I had swum my own race, ridden one of my best 90km TTs and run one of the most painful 21.1km ever - I was an IRONMAN 70.3 finisher again! :-)
Will I go back and race Galway again? Probably not, like the UK 70.3, I have done it twice now and they both have their own challenges, but I want a new challenge next year. In summary, would I recommend it to someone? Yes and no...this is why:
Pros
It is a genuine M-dot race
Fast flat bike - one for the TT freaks (surprisingly challenging though)
(Apparently) Fast flat run
Good support on the bike and run
Hard sea swim
Cons
Sea swim can be VERY tough
Lots of drafting on the bike (as it is flat)
Run can be hard if it is windy
Support was less than last year - will next year be better?
Locals put all the prices up for the race (according to the hotel)
It is a long way to go without using Nirvana or another company like them
It felt as if the WTC has pulled money out of the event after last year - less M-dot buzz
So there you have it, my thoughts on the race and my experiences from it. I love racing, it is one of the reasons I do the training - the Type A personality in me coming out! I hope you have enjoyed it, if you have please click over to my justgiving page and support the charity I am raising money for. This year has not been a good year for fundraising which has been unfortunate as the charity I am supporting this year is a good one (A Smile for a Child). They support families with children who are very disabled and need help with adapting homes, buying mobility devices etc. One of my friends has a young daughter, Beatrice, who has Type II SMA, an incurable disease which causes wasting of the muscles that control the spine and as such she will probably never walk in addition, as her muscles controlling her lungs are affected too, she is prone to serious chest infections, one of which she only just survived earlier this year. Bea has been helped significantly by this charity and I wanted to help raise money to give something back.
I know it is one request amongst many but if you could spare the price of your next sandwich, glass of wine, cup of coffee I would be most grateful.
Please click over to http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea and have a look.
Thanks for reading,
BW
I.
Let's start at the beginning - how did the preparation for the race go? Well it has been a busy year. If you have read my previous blog entries you will know that I have had a hectic time running around the world with my work - I have visited over twenty countries in the past eight months (some of them multiple times) and this plays havoc both with the body clock (when changing time zone) and life in general. This has not led to building a good platform for middle distance triathlon performance. In addition, at home, Evie has led me to change priorities as well, I try and help out when I can, although this is not always possible. Through it all Lizzie has been unbelievably understanding and supportive and the children have not complained too much when I have not been there for breakfast (again) and then when I turn up from a run or ride, run away, as apparently, I am "all sweaty". Also I have a fantastic coach in Mike, he is excellent at adapting the training program to my work travels and has helped keep me injury free all year.
So enough of the reasons why the year has been hard, what about the build up itself. In the last few weeks before Galway the session intensity increased, Mike put in a few of the (30EZ, 30 Tempo, 30EZ, 30 Tempo+) sets and one of the 'put it in the highest gear and just go for it' sessions on the bike, the runs got longer and the swims (when I could fit them in) were more pace focused. Finally a week out from the race and after a week in Chicago hammering the treadmill in the middle of the night I started tapering, and worrying about how to transport my bike on a plane. I eventually opted for the soft bike bag option, building a foam former to hold the crankset and BB housing in place and then using high density pipe lagging to protect the farm - I am glad to report it worked (see the pictures below).
After a great week of very little training (and finding somewhere to live for the next six months!) I flew out to Dublin on the Friday, checking my bike into the hold and taking all the important bits (bike shoes, pedals, running shoes and helmet with me in hand luggage. The flight was good and I was delighted to meet my bike off the plane very quickly at the other end. However, at that point, the day went downhill, I had booked my flight myself but everything else, transfers, hotel, etc through Nirvana Europe. My BA flight got in 10mins ahead of schedule however they had booked several of us on the same transport back from the airport to Galway (it is a 2+hr drive) and the others were coming with Ryanair - it was scheduled to arrive 5mins after my flight, but when I landed it had not even taken off! Steve, from Nirvana, bought me some water and a coffee and apologised a lot - eventually nearly 2hrs after we should have, we left Dublin for Galway. When we arrived on the west coast we checked into the Salthill Hotel, which I can recommend for this race - very well placed, just make sure you get a room at the front (as I did for the night before and after the race) as the room I had on arrival (at the back) was directly above the events room and as they have a lot of weddings there the noise level was awful. I built my bike (everything was fine), ordered a sandwich from room service and went to bed at midnight, the end of a long day.
The following morning I headed over to registration, or rather I was blown to registration as overnight a gale had hit the city, the wind was a steady 25mph and gusting up to 40mph....this was not in the plan. I registered, watch the race briefing PowerPoint presentation - without the worst bit of the build up as the race briefing always gives the race itself a bit of a "gee up" and a start point with all the athletes in the room - and headed back to the hotel to get my kit for the practice swim. This is the first time I have made a practice swim as I normally have family with me and the pre race day tends to be a register, rack and get away from it experience. So this was different. I was really glad to have made the practice as I have not swum in the sea properly since Galway last year, the conditions were absolutely awful, the waves were about 2m high (almost the height of last year's ones) and as a result we were only allowed to swim about 200m out to a buoy and back - but it was enough to calm my nerves of sea swimming and get my head in the right place. I exited the water and went back to the hotel to fix all the new hole in my wetsuit (it is old!), organise my bags for transition and my bike.
Once I had sorted the blue (bike/T1) bag with all my kit for the swim to bike transition and my red one (T2) with all my bike to run kit I took the bike out for a quick spin to check my rebuild before racking it. As soon as I started riding I thought OMFG what have I done, I have brought HED3 trispoke wheels to one of the windiest places around! For the uneducated trispokes are wheel made almost entirely of carbon with a deep (50mm) rim and three big spokes, each about 40mm wide. They are phenomenally fast in most conditions but are hard to control in really high winds, think about being pushed across the road with each gust of wind....terrifying practice spin over I racked my bike, hung my bags in transition and collected my chip - I was ready to race.
I headed back to the hotel, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon (after a quick 15min run and a short swim in the hotel's amazing 25m pool), gave Lizzie a call and watched a film. In the evening I did the BCTTT required thing and had the compulsory pre race meal fish and chips (with an optional pint of Guiness). I went to bed early hoping for a break in the weather.....
The Race
I woke up aground 5am and headed down to transition, as I left the hotel, I breathed a sight of relief - no wind - as forecast the storm had passed completely. I did my final check on my bike, dropped some of my kit back at the hotel and headed to the swim start.
The sea was calm and I watched the pros and the first wave leave from Black Rock just as the sun rose over the headland - magical. The course looked fairly different from the plan at registration, there seemed to be orange and yellow buoys (not just yellow ones...) oh well I guessed I would not be at front so I could 'follow the herd'. The 35-39 and the 50-59 AG waves were mixed together, we were an eclectic bunch of about 200 heading into the water at 7:05am.
Once we had hung about for 15mins bobbing about near Black Rock the horn went and we were off! I had intentionally placed myself on the far left of the pack and to at the front - this paid off, I swam over a few people to get clear on the left side and headed for the first buoy. the water was pretty calm and the wave fronts were pushing us back towards the beach at a frequency of about ten strokes (ie one went over you every ten strokes) but they were not that strong. At the first buoy I avoided trouble swam in close and exited for the 1km swim, straight down the beach, keeping the yellow buoys on my left. This was easier said than done as the waves kept pushing you in towards shore, however the current/tide kept pulling you back as you tried to move forward - this maybe the reason for the relatively slow swim times (either that or the course was long). I got into my rhythm and just swam my own race, keeping pace with one chap to my left. We caught the back markers of the 7am wave about 300m from the turn buoy and chaos ensued as they were engulfed by the faster wave. I kept mostly out of the ruckus and just carried on swimming my own race towards the turn buoy (which I had worked out what the orange buoys were). I turned and immediately thought "where do I go now?" eventually after swimming toward the only buoy I could see (a yellow one) a helpful kayaker pointed me and the small group I was with in the right direction (the big red buoy) about 200m off to our left - a schoolboy error - it probably cost me around 2 mins in total. Eventually we turned the buoy and headed for the beach. Once out of the sea we headed on the long run (about 800m) to T1 - the transitions in Galway are long.
Into T1, I got my bearings grabbed my bag and headed for a chair to change -
Wetsuit off, quick dry of the feet with a towel (sand everywhere!), socks on, shoes on, race number on, helmet on, pack wet kit in bag, eat a haribo sweet (to take the salt taste away), Oakleys on and away!
The T1 was in a tent, to exit T1 you left the tent, went up some stairs, all the way round the outside of racking and then in to collect my bike, the Joule Aerotic - I found it first time, grabbed it and did the long 300m or so run to the out line. I jumped on and started cycling, but I could not engage my left cleat. I stopped a few hundred metres up the road to take all of the grass and mud out of my cleats, this sorted I thought, 'right let's get going!' as I crested the first hill I hit a pothole and the velcro holding my toolkit let go, my X-lab toolkit bag sailed into the air and landed about 100m back - did i want to carry on and hope that i did not get a puncture? Nope i guessed that would be a bad idea! I I stopped and ran back to get it, fun in cleats! Toolkit reattached I headed off (subsequently I found these two events cost me nearly five minutes).
The bike itself was fairly uneventful - it is a rolling (500m climbing) course with a few short, steep climbs. It is an out and back which means you get to see everyone on the course - including the pros and they were flying! The bike just sang, I wound it up to an easy(ish) average of 31kph, and just started overtaking people I was blasting along, attacking on the hills, cruising down the descents - awesome fun, and all into a light headwind. I tried to keep the RPE around 12-16 throughout and the cadence natural. I spent most of my time playing tag with a couple other guys in my AG, a grumpy French guy called Marcel whom I passed over ten times (and vice versa) but not once did he respond to my 'hello', and another Brit with with a wierd name that I cannot remember. Throughout the race I had no power, HR or cadence (the power was usual, the HR intentional but the cadence unplanned).
The crowds were not as big as last year at either Moycullen or Oughterard however they still blew their vuvuzelas with enthusiasm and shook their cowbells with fervour. The turn around was at Maam Cross this year which was much better, After the turn the wind was with us and my average pace jumped to 32-33kph, with little effort, I shot back to town - everything felt fantastic!
On coming back into T2 I felt good the legs worked. I ran my bike in, dropped it at the racking and for the first time was ecstatic to see that there were LOTS of people not back off the bike! No time for that though, I ran into the T2 tent, grabbed my bag and got ready for the run:
Helmet off, bike jersey off, shoes off, change socks, running shoes on, turn number around, running visor on, different Oakleys on, repack bag and run out!
I headed down to the three lap course of 21.1km, heading past the finish just as the male pros finished - they were that fast - sub 4hours for the top few. The first couple of kms of the run are usually hell as the legs get used to running not riding, but I felt good and was turning in 5:44/km (above my anticipated pace), however it was not to last. Just after the aid station at 3km I turned into the headwind and all the energy drained out of my legs - I felt awful, really....truly....awful. I had to slow to a walk until the gel I had taken on in the aid station kicked in, even after this hit the blood stream I found it hard to run again, I had 'blown up' properly. For the next 15km I ran as fast as i could, developed cramp in both legs (localised in my quads which came on and off for the rest of the run) and walked the aid stations, after 9km I could not take on gels so I switched to coke/water and that kept me going - just! As I came back into Salthill for the last 2km I just upped the pace as much as I could....it hurt...a lot....I was up to 5:40/km at one point, and as I turned through the last aid station with 1km to go I could feel myself slowing, I knew sub 6hrs had slipped away and I just pushed the last 1km doing high 5s for the many kids who put their hands out.
As I turned that last corner and came down the finish chute I was quite emotional, I am again as I write this, I kept giving the crowd high f5s and as the only person in the finish chute I got quite a build up from the announcer, I crossed the line in 6:07 - I had missed my target of sub 6 by seven minutes but I had a new PB (Personal Best) by 28mins, I had swum my own race, ridden one of my best 90km TTs and run one of the most painful 21.1km ever - I was an IRONMAN 70.3 finisher again! :-)
Will I go back and race Galway again? Probably not, like the UK 70.3, I have done it twice now and they both have their own challenges, but I want a new challenge next year. In summary, would I recommend it to someone? Yes and no...this is why:
Pros
It is a genuine M-dot race
Fast flat bike - one for the TT freaks (surprisingly challenging though)
(Apparently) Fast flat run
Good support on the bike and run
Hard sea swim
Cons
Sea swim can be VERY tough
Lots of drafting on the bike (as it is flat)
Run can be hard if it is windy
Support was less than last year - will next year be better?
Locals put all the prices up for the race (according to the hotel)
It is a long way to go without using Nirvana or another company like them
It felt as if the WTC has pulled money out of the event after last year - less M-dot buzz
So there you have it, my thoughts on the race and my experiences from it. I love racing, it is one of the reasons I do the training - the Type A personality in me coming out! I hope you have enjoyed it, if you have please click over to my justgiving page and support the charity I am raising money for. This year has not been a good year for fundraising which has been unfortunate as the charity I am supporting this year is a good one (A Smile for a Child). They support families with children who are very disabled and need help with adapting homes, buying mobility devices etc. One of my friends has a young daughter, Beatrice, who has Type II SMA, an incurable disease which causes wasting of the muscles that control the spine and as such she will probably never walk in addition, as her muscles controlling her lungs are affected too, she is prone to serious chest infections, one of which she only just survived earlier this year. Bea has been helped significantly by this charity and I wanted to help raise money to give something back.
I know it is one request amongst many but if you could spare the price of your next sandwich, glass of wine, cup of coffee I would be most grateful.
Please click over to http://www.justgiving.com/DoingGalwayforTeamBea and have a look.
Thanks for reading,
BW
I.
Recent days
24 August 2012
I lead a fairly good life....I write this sitting in the front of a 747-400 heading from O'Hare to London Heathrow- in First Class...not that I paid for F but because I am a loyal customer and currently it seems that pretty much regardless of ticket I get upgraded...in the last eight flights I have been upgraded on five...two of which have been transatlantic.....happy days...
The other fab bit about this is I need to adjust from US time (I have been in Chicago for four days) back to UK ASAP as I have one last push this weekend before that fun bit of LD racing - the taper!!
The past few weeks have been odd to say the least...I have been to Hong Kong, the West Coast of Scotland, Chicago and rural Surrey......all of which have not made the best build for a 70.3 but that is life....this year has just been odd, period. I have done more travel than I though possible (nearly 150k air miles) and a lot of EUROSTAR trips, no triathlons and only one competitive race (an OW 1.5km race which was not good...)...
All of this is not good practice for a race most people would consider insane (well at least all of my colleagues), thankfully I have (now) lots of experience and a good base in the tank, I.e. I did a lot of loooong bikes and runs this winter/spring and I have been working on the power, however I have had a very limited chance to swim (usually less than one swim per two weeks)...all a little concerning...For those who either follow me on Strava or look at this web page it should be fairly obvious I have put some good hours in but I am still more worried about this 70.3 than any other I have done, purely because whilst I know I could do a sub 6 on paper I am just not feeling it at the moment....add into it the issues with ICS which I have had (see the older post) and I am taking nothing for granted...
Keep praying for me I can pull the proverbial cat out of the bag :-)
Later
I.
The other fab bit about this is I need to adjust from US time (I have been in Chicago for four days) back to UK ASAP as I have one last push this weekend before that fun bit of LD racing - the taper!!
The past few weeks have been odd to say the least...I have been to Hong Kong, the West Coast of Scotland, Chicago and rural Surrey......all of which have not made the best build for a 70.3 but that is life....this year has just been odd, period. I have done more travel than I though possible (nearly 150k air miles) and a lot of EUROSTAR trips, no triathlons and only one competitive race (an OW 1.5km race which was not good...)...
All of this is not good practice for a race most people would consider insane (well at least all of my colleagues), thankfully I have (now) lots of experience and a good base in the tank, I.e. I did a lot of loooong bikes and runs this winter/spring and I have been working on the power, however I have had a very limited chance to swim (usually less than one swim per two weeks)...all a little concerning...For those who either follow me on Strava or look at this web page it should be fairly obvious I have put some good hours in but I am still more worried about this 70.3 than any other I have done, purely because whilst I know I could do a sub 6 on paper I am just not feeling it at the moment....add into it the issues with ICS which I have had (see the older post) and I am taking nothing for granted...
Keep praying for me I can pull the proverbial cat out of the bag :-)
Later
I.
HK, travels and and interesting discovery
3 August 2012
So Hong Kong....I am glad the coach did not put anything more ambitious in the program than
one run – running in HK was almost impossible, I have never been so
hot....ever....the temp ranged from 32-40 and the humidity was between 85-99%
(99% was the last night if you left the safety of aircon it just looked like you
had showered in your clothes!), when I went running it was somewhere in
the low 30s but the humidity was in the low 90s...I died after about 30mins (I
know it was planned for 45- no chance!)..also there was nowhere nice to run...I
was stuck with the harbour front as apart from that it was crowded
streets...Kowloon is not big!
Next week if gets more fun though! Tuesday is an early
start to get to Olympics for the mens tri in Hyde Park and then we are heading up to Scotland to see my new niece (she was born two weeks
ago!)... but I
plan to take kit for S, B &R as my brother lives on the edge of a Loch so I
might try and get in a swim (possibly to Bute it is the other side of the Loch!)
but certainly will get a bike in....however training might need to be a little more
flexi than set out on the program...frustrating but life gets in the way sometimes!!
On another note something rather
interesting....over the past six month I have struggled with weight gain/fat
deposition and I have been bemused as to why this is... I was at a Psoriatic Arthritis
conference in Stockholm a few weeks back and there was a talk around Iatrogenic
Cushinoid Syndrome in people who use steroids in the chronic setting, the
symptoms are characteristically central obesity, a “moon” face, damage to the
collagen structure leading to thining of skin and development of striae, high
blood pressure and dyslipidamia can also be symptomatic. This is more common
with the more potent inhaled steroids (e.g. fluticasone – in flixonase and
seretide)...On the flight back I had a ponder about it as previously I developed
cushinoid symptoms when on prednisolone I worked out that I was on 600mcg of
fluticasone per day (100mcg from seretide and 400mcg from flixonase) for my asthma
and alergies...this is a high dose (equivalent to 1200mcg of beclamethasone) and
doses of over 500mcg/day are known to impact adrenal function. So I have started
to withdraw the flixonase and there seems to be a change my weight has dropped
for around 93.5kgs to 91.7kgs in 14 days and I am starting to loose the moon
face appearance...I may not be back to my normal shape for Ireland but maybe
before next year!
I will pop the trace from the HK run up later - another in my series of runs around big cities!
Later
I.
The last few days and my longest ride this year!
24 July 2012
So this was my longest ride (and possibly THE longest ride before the 70.3 in Galway!) - the plan was:
60min RPE12-13 rpm around 95(EZish)
30min max effort/top gear (54-12 on my bike)
40min RPE12-13 rpm around 95 (EZish)
20min max effort/top gear
30min spin down
All was good, the bike felt amazing I was riding the HED3s front and rear on this ride with no problems (well apart from how hard they are compared to spoked!!) and I came in to home just as my daughters were going out for a walk with my parents and the dogs - so they got to see me on the bike too :-)
Nutrition went well too - 1200ml of ZV Zero drink (no cals/rehydration) and 4 ZipVit gels (60g of carbs/gel) diluted 50:50 with water - 1/30mins.
Immediately after the ride I went out on a ascending brick run:
10min @ 6:10/km pace
10min @ 6:00/km pace
10min @ 5:50/km pace
it felt great - I really struggled to hold the pace back on the first 2km :-)
So that was the weekend - good training and on Sunday I became Godfather - to one of our friends little boy, Jonathan - v proud!
If only yesterday's swim could have gone as well! the training was planed for and aerobic skill/effort set:
WU: 400m, 300 Ez, 50 moderate, 50 tempo
DR: (Ez!) (400)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time)
1 x 50 3/4 catch up
1 x 50 Single arm
1 x 50 6 beat kick and switch with fins
1 x 50 swimming with fins
1 x 50 Paddles and fins
1 x 50 Paddles (keep kicking)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time).
MS: (1800)
9 x 200 TEMPO +
20s rest in b/t
CD: 100 - put stroke back together, EASY
....nice and complex!! however I got through the warm up and the drils and then the wheels came off...I am still not sure what happened but I developed pain in my distal biceps area which radiated down my arm - not good! I had to pull up on 200 number 2 and I limped back to the shallow end - i swam down doing 200m of 6beat kick with fins - very unhappy. I saw my GP and I am now referred to the physio - I reckon it is a nerve impingement or cramping/spasming in the long head of triceps (more likely) - more stretching before swimming needed I think!
This morning I got out for an aerobic run - again at ascending pace. This time the plan was:
15min @ 6:10/km pace
15min @ 6:00/km pace
15min @ 5:50/km pace
Which for some reason I found harder than after 3hours on the bike!! Really strange but there you have it - sometimes I just cannot get my head into it and today was one of those days!
Oh well busy few days coming up, I have lots of swimming and running left for the week but then at the weekend I am off to Hong Kong for a short meeting (fly out Sunday, Arrive Monday, Meeting Tuesday/Wednesday and fly home - arriving back on Thursday!) so training WILL be limited...
Later I.
60min RPE12-13 rpm around 95(EZish)
30min max effort/top gear (54-12 on my bike)
40min RPE12-13 rpm around 95 (EZish)
20min max effort/top gear
30min spin down
All was good, the bike felt amazing I was riding the HED3s front and rear on this ride with no problems (well apart from how hard they are compared to spoked!!) and I came in to home just as my daughters were going out for a walk with my parents and the dogs - so they got to see me on the bike too :-)
Nutrition went well too - 1200ml of ZV Zero drink (no cals/rehydration) and 4 ZipVit gels (60g of carbs/gel) diluted 50:50 with water - 1/30mins.
Immediately after the ride I went out on a ascending brick run:
10min @ 6:10/km pace
10min @ 6:00/km pace
10min @ 5:50/km pace
it felt great - I really struggled to hold the pace back on the first 2km :-)
So that was the weekend - good training and on Sunday I became Godfather - to one of our friends little boy, Jonathan - v proud!
If only yesterday's swim could have gone as well! the training was planed for and aerobic skill/effort set:
WU: 400m, 300 Ez, 50 moderate, 50 tempo
DR: (Ez!) (400)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time)
1 x 50 3/4 catch up
1 x 50 Single arm
1 x 50 6 beat kick and switch with fins
1 x 50 swimming with fins
1 x 50 Paddles and fins
1 x 50 Paddles (keep kicking)
1 x 50 (Record stroke count and time).
MS: (1800)
9 x 200 TEMPO +
20s rest in b/t
CD: 100 - put stroke back together, EASY
....nice and complex!! however I got through the warm up and the drils and then the wheels came off...I am still not sure what happened but I developed pain in my distal biceps area which radiated down my arm - not good! I had to pull up on 200 number 2 and I limped back to the shallow end - i swam down doing 200m of 6beat kick with fins - very unhappy. I saw my GP and I am now referred to the physio - I reckon it is a nerve impingement or cramping/spasming in the long head of triceps (more likely) - more stretching before swimming needed I think!
This morning I got out for an aerobic run - again at ascending pace. This time the plan was:
15min @ 6:10/km pace
15min @ 6:00/km pace
15min @ 5:50/km pace
Which for some reason I found harder than after 3hours on the bike!! Really strange but there you have it - sometimes I just cannot get my head into it and today was one of those days!
Oh well busy few days coming up, I have lots of swimming and running left for the week but then at the weekend I am off to Hong Kong for a short meeting (fly out Sunday, Arrive Monday, Meeting Tuesday/Wednesday and fly home - arriving back on Thursday!) so training WILL be limited...
Later I.
Beatrice Howden
19 July 2012
Poor Bea is back in hospital with another chest infection - the last one left her in PICU on a respirator - fingers crossed this time!
If you can please follow the link on the right of the page -------> and support her by sponsoring me for the 70.3 race (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run) in Galway.
Thanks
I.
If you can please follow the link on the right of the page -------> and support her by sponsoring me for the 70.3 race (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run) in Galway.
Thanks
I.
A perfect run :-)
For the first time in ages running was enjoyable this morning - it all just felt right. The first 2 miles was a bit creaky but after about 16mins it all freed up and felt good - evening managed a sub 9min/mile - which for me is v good!
The aim was 21min EZ out and 19min MOD back with 6x30s strides to tempo pace - executed to the second! :-)
The aim was 21min EZ out and 19min MOD back with 6x30s strides to tempo pace - executed to the second! :-)
A relatively easy 10km
17 July 2012
So this what was planned this morning:
OBJECTIVE: Ez - Aerobic Run
FOCUS: Focus on good form and 95RPM
30mins Ez - 70% (6:10min/mile)
15mins Mod - 75-80% (6:00min/mile)
15mins Tempo - 80-85% (5:50min/mile)
CD: Walk and Stretch - 5mins
and when I woke up I was greated by a beautiful morning :-) however I didn't feel great before I headed out, I will spare you the detail but guts were just not right (there is a bugdoing the rounds at the moment) but went out and focused on holding pace as set out (of course Mike meant /km not mile :-O- felt it went pretty well (although I was a little fast at times...) :-)
OBJECTIVE: Ez - Aerobic Run
FOCUS: Focus on good form and 95RPM
30mins Ez - 70% (6:10min/mile)
15mins Mod - 75-80% (6:00min/mile)
15mins Tempo - 80-85% (5:50min/mile)
CD: Walk and Stretch - 5mins
and when I woke up I was greated by a beautiful morning :-) however I didn't feel great before I headed out, I will spare you the detail but guts were just not right (there is a bugdoing the rounds at the moment) but went out and focused on holding pace as set out (of course Mike meant /km not mile :-O- felt it went pretty well (although I was a little fast at times...) :-)
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