Here's some editorial from FHM this month around the Virgin London Marathon.
Showing posts with label taper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taper. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Countdown to Kona
Its mid-afternoon, the day before Kona. My beautiful orange Trek TTX is racked, the bags are in. The final prep was done first thing, a very short swim/bike/run set with some 30 sec pick ups in each section. I’ve done the most part of the carb loading, out for a small meal in about an hour or so, but now its just about winding down before getting an early night.
To everyone racing: have a great day, especially those in Timex kit!
Toby
Checkout the Timex Team here
To everyone racing: have a great day, especially those in Timex kit!
Toby
Checkout the Timex Team here
Monday, 25 August 2008
Bedford Olympic Race Report
2 weeks to IMUK. This weekend featured the usual race prep olympic distance - essentially an intensity brick session at the end of a tough week. Despite the rain and nearly going back to bed before race start, it turned out to be a worthwhile hit out.
The purpose of race prep is two-fold: a key brick session in race conditions, and to try out all the kit and transitions as if in an A race. So I was out in full orange kit, Trek, Bontager race wheels, Rudy project aero helmet, the works. A bit overkill for a training day, but that's the point! And the rain probably made it quite race specific training for IMUK too (though I hope not!).
The race turned out to be very pleasant. Despite the rain and some slippery roads, and a few badly signed roundabouts and a missed turn (!), the ride was flat and fun. The swim was simple to navigate, and included at least one of your five a day on the return leg in the form of river weed. The run was a well supported 3 looper, complete with steeple-chase water opbstacles in the underpass thanks to the wet start :) And the club champs for the Serpies made it a sociable one too. Lots of red and yellow out there on the course doing well. And to get 11th out of 400ish overall wasn't a bad result too.
The purpose of race prep is two-fold: a key brick session in race conditions, and to try out all the kit and transitions as if in an A race. So I was out in full orange kit, Trek, Bontager race wheels, Rudy project aero helmet, the works. A bit overkill for a training day, but that's the point! And the rain probably made it quite race specific training for IMUK too (though I hope not!).
The race turned out to be very pleasant. Despite the rain and some slippery roads, and a few badly signed roundabouts and a missed turn (!), the ride was flat and fun. The swim was simple to navigate, and included at least one of your five a day on the return leg in the form of river weed. The run was a well supported 3 looper, complete with steeple-chase water opbstacles in the underpass thanks to the wet start :) And the club champs for the Serpies made it a sociable one too. Lots of red and yellow out there on the course doing well. And to get 11th out of 400ish overall wasn't a bad result too.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Difficult choices
I've been a bit quiet on here for a few weeks - mainly because I don't like writing about the bad stuff. But I guess its time to come clean. I've been nursing an injury for a couple of weeks. Shin splints - the version where the membrane on the medial side of the lower shin bone gets inflamed and painful. It started out very innocently, and caught early I figured it would be dealt with pretty quickly. Ironically, a mate back home emailed me when it all started off with his own injuries, and I remember thinking how lucky i was to be getting it sorted early! Little did I know that it was going to become a bit of an extended episode. Tried a few things/various experts advice, most recently just having 4 days completely off training (just ice and anti-inflammatories) to let them settle. Having already missed most running sessions from the 10 days prior, and even the bike sessions becoming a little soft as my mood got worse, this didn't come as a complete surprise. I wasn't even allowed to swim! This is not exactly how I had wanted the last few weeks before the first race of the season to be, but you gotta roll with the punches, right? Feel a bit sorry for the poor house amtes who have t bear the brunt of an injured athlete not allowed to train!
So it seems that in the next week I will have to make a few decisions based on whether I'm recovered at all/enough to race (I sure as hell don't fancy a marathon with shins and then a few months of no running to pay for it!), or just to do the swim/bike or not even start. Am still hoping that it all settles down and its fine come next week. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Luckily its just one of many races, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Will be taking advice from coach and sports doc in the next few days and see what is/isn't possible.
No sign of bike. At least that's one less thing to worry about - getting a new bike set up the week before an IM! My cervelo's in for a service instead.
Will check in over a few days!
So it seems that in the next week I will have to make a few decisions based on whether I'm recovered at all/enough to race (I sure as hell don't fancy a marathon with shins and then a few months of no running to pay for it!), or just to do the swim/bike or not even start. Am still hoping that it all settles down and its fine come next week. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Luckily its just one of many races, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. Will be taking advice from coach and sports doc in the next few days and see what is/isn't possible.
No sign of bike. At least that's one less thing to worry about - getting a new bike set up the week before an IM! My cervelo's in for a service instead.
Will check in over a few days!
Sunday, 5 August 2007
Finally summer's arrived...
... and just in time to keep me motivated through a couple of hard weeks. So far, the experiment with 6 weeks between IMs is going to plan - the hard fortnight is now done. Totals for the fortnight came to 62 hours, with approx 42 k swimming, 950km riding and 200km running, with some decent key sessions met, including some intensity sessions. What was surprising was that the running was consistently of good quality - in part because I was running mainly in the mornings and not too much off the bike - but I only had one 'recovery run' where I was suffering and hitting survival pace the whole way round (at the end of the first week... I was quite tired that weekend!!). Had been concerned about generally sluggish riding since IMAustria, which I'd put down to a longer recovery for the bike (I had expected the running to take longer to come back), but the end of my 5 hour ride yesterday gave me a bit more confidence that I've come through that, finishing strongly. Only one run over 2 hours (2:30, last weekend) so relying on early season long distance to carry through.
Whether this is going to be good for IMUK, who knows... we'll find out. Mentally its been a good exercise for me just to know that the fitness is still there, and to keep me from idling through race season. Second, as Austria was my A race, I'm prepared to be a little more cavalier with preparation for UK. At the back of my mind I am considering ditching the marathon if the bike isn't going too well... which may be either due to lack of time since Austria or too heavy a schedule in between. Hopefully, of course, this block will have been just what the doctor ordered and I'll be in good shape come race day. Will be interesting to find out. Otherwise, there's always Vitruvian to finish the season with! ;)
Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow...
Whether this is going to be good for IMUK, who knows... we'll find out. Mentally its been a good exercise for me just to know that the fitness is still there, and to keep me from idling through race season. Second, as Austria was my A race, I'm prepared to be a little more cavalier with preparation for UK. At the back of my mind I am considering ditching the marathon if the bike isn't going too well... which may be either due to lack of time since Austria or too heavy a schedule in between. Hopefully, of course, this block will have been just what the doctor ordered and I'll be in good shape come race day. Will be interesting to find out. Otherwise, there's always Vitruvian to finish the season with! ;)
Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow...
Friday, 22 June 2007
Countdown to IMAustria
Just over two weeks to go... a fair few club mates are off at the races this weekend at Nice and Switzerland, so there's been a fair amount of IM talk recently - means that I'm starting to get excited :)
I went out to Austria last weekend with Jen for a look at the new bike course and more or less my last long ride, also to try out the new bike. The course has changed to 2 loops pf 90km since I did Austria 2 years ago - it seems to be a bit slower now than before (here's hoping I've not slowed down!) but still beautiful. The new bike rode like a dream. The main difference from my old P3 being that its a lot more comfortable - the full carbon frame helps on that front compared to the aluminium of my old bike - and I've not put the aerobars quite as low (only marginal) as I've been training on for aan extra bit of comfort for race day. Plus, even with 808 rear and 404 front, the handling's still better than the P3 with just training wheels!
Its looking like it may get hot again for the race... and perhaps even to the point where the organisers will have to declare a non-wetsuit swim. I'm happy with that - either way it'll be a pleasure in that lake.
Just off up to Rutland Water this pm for an olympic hit out tomorrow - tranistion practice only!! No pace involved... actually I'm just going to see how the legs feel on an easy run - I am a bit fried this week, so we'll see if I even run tomorrow. A bit more hard work sun/mon but then taper kicks in properly!
Looking forward to seeing some good IM race results from this weekend...
I went out to Austria last weekend with Jen for a look at the new bike course and more or less my last long ride, also to try out the new bike. The course has changed to 2 loops pf 90km since I did Austria 2 years ago - it seems to be a bit slower now than before (here's hoping I've not slowed down!) but still beautiful. The new bike rode like a dream. The main difference from my old P3 being that its a lot more comfortable - the full carbon frame helps on that front compared to the aluminium of my old bike - and I've not put the aerobars quite as low (only marginal) as I've been training on for aan extra bit of comfort for race day. Plus, even with 808 rear and 404 front, the handling's still better than the P3 with just training wheels!
Its looking like it may get hot again for the race... and perhaps even to the point where the organisers will have to declare a non-wetsuit swim. I'm happy with that - either way it'll be a pleasure in that lake.
Just off up to Rutland Water this pm for an olympic hit out tomorrow - tranistion practice only!! No pace involved... actually I'm just going to see how the legs feel on an easy run - I am a bit fried this week, so we'll see if I even run tomorrow. A bit more hard work sun/mon but then taper kicks in properly!
Looking forward to seeing some good IM race results from this weekend...
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Taper Hell
Backing off on training, putting my feet up, relaxing more... sounds like it should be fun. So how come I don't really like taper??? Motivation went through the floor so that as soon as I realised I was on taper, I was practically doing nothing. Seems like I can only do large volume of nothing. But I hope its working. After 2 really laid back training days, swim this am and this eve felt good for the first time in a while. I just need to make it to race day whole and uninjured, right? There's started to be some more athletes arriving in Port, so race day really is next week!
Getting in an early ride tomorrow before bike goes in for a pre-race service. 9 days to go! :)
Getting in an early ride tomorrow before bike goes in for a pre-race service. 9 days to go! :)
Monday, 19 March 2007
Sleepless night
Man, its hot here tonight. I'm finding I can't sleep - probably because I was trying out some caffeinated nutrition on my last long ride earlier... but WOW when they say its long-acting, they mean it! The heat's not helping much either. I'm not allowing myself to use the air-con because I want to acclimatise. I guess I'm as acclimatised as I'll ever be after 5 weeks here, but damn do I still sweat.
So its Monday, well - Tuesday now, a little under 2 weeks out from IMOz - taper time. Not quite sure how I feel about that... less training is always the difficult choice when there's no injuries!! Also means I get to see if I've made any progress over the winter. I don't even know if the base work I've been doing will show up yet. This long distance malarky sure does make you play the long game.
Time to see if I can slepe yet. I'm knackered... guess the 6am swim squad is out of the window: that'll count towards the taper then ;)
So its Monday, well - Tuesday now, a little under 2 weeks out from IMOz - taper time. Not quite sure how I feel about that... less training is always the difficult choice when there's no injuries!! Also means I get to see if I've made any progress over the winter. I don't even know if the base work I've been doing will show up yet. This long distance malarky sure does make you play the long game.
Time to see if I can slepe yet. I'm knackered... guess the 6am swim squad is out of the window: that'll count towards the taper then ;)
Friday 16th March
I'm enjoying the sun in Port Macquarie and trying to get ahead on some work. I am taking it easy today as I'm feeling the peak intensity (and the yoga... ouch!) - but just another couple of long hard sessions before taper really sets in next week.
It'll be an interesting race here at IMOz. On one hand, the course is going to be quite tough, so the times won't be directly comparable to IMAustria or IMGermany - some estimates put the course at 20 mins slower than the races I've done before. On the other hand, my last IM race was back in July, and I've had some decent blocks of consstent high volume training (and some decent rest) since then, as well as Epic Camp NZ where I did more volume than I ever thought possible. The choice of equipment is pretty much whatever I have: luckily I brought out my race bike back in October, but with training wheels. I'm hopefully borrowing a set of race wheels from Charlsey, but he's racing too, so I get whatever he doesn't think is right for the course!!! O well, beggars can't be choosers... I'll take whatever I can get. If it turns out that its the disc, then it'll be an interesting experience!
Did my last longish run back on wed, hitting 30kms including a complete lap of the run course. It reminded me that this may (fingers crossed) be the most injury free run-wise that I've ever been in the run up to an IM. Previously I have always had problems with shin-splits: before IMAustria I was on a near complete running ban for 2 months (except for a couple of races) and before Germany I was still quite variable with running consistency. I haven't been doing any massive mileage, but the consistency's been good so far this year. Plus I got myself some Brook's Beasts back when I arrived in Port nearly 5 weeks ago, and they seem to be helping - I finally admitted to having THE flattest feet and went for the most supportive shoes on the market. You gotta work with what you got I suppose!
It'll be an interesting race here at IMOz. On one hand, the course is going to be quite tough, so the times won't be directly comparable to IMAustria or IMGermany - some estimates put the course at 20 mins slower than the races I've done before. On the other hand, my last IM race was back in July, and I've had some decent blocks of consstent high volume training (and some decent rest) since then, as well as Epic Camp NZ where I did more volume than I ever thought possible. The choice of equipment is pretty much whatever I have: luckily I brought out my race bike back in October, but with training wheels. I'm hopefully borrowing a set of race wheels from Charlsey, but he's racing too, so I get whatever he doesn't think is right for the course!!! O well, beggars can't be choosers... I'll take whatever I can get. If it turns out that its the disc, then it'll be an interesting experience!
Did my last longish run back on wed, hitting 30kms including a complete lap of the run course. It reminded me that this may (fingers crossed) be the most injury free run-wise that I've ever been in the run up to an IM. Previously I have always had problems with shin-splits: before IMAustria I was on a near complete running ban for 2 months (except for a couple of races) and before Germany I was still quite variable with running consistency. I haven't been doing any massive mileage, but the consistency's been good so far this year. Plus I got myself some Brook's Beasts back when I arrived in Port nearly 5 weeks ago, and they seem to be helping - I finally admitted to having THE flattest feet and went for the most supportive shoes on the market. You gotta work with what you got I suppose!
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