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.
Monday, 25 August 2008
Monday, 4 August 2008
Nottingham Photos
Here's some photos from the day courtesy of Ian and Sally - of me, Jenny on the bike and Andrew running. Then all four of us on the podium :) And check out in the background of one of the photos is a guy riding with a pink skirt on - he was one of a team called the 'lady boys'... think they were racing as a mixed team, but not sure on the specifics....!! And behind the podium shot the man with the flag I believe is Neil!
Club Racing at Nottingham
Following the success at the local sprint a fortnight ago – in terms of getting me to do some intensity, have some fun and finally getting me back into the racing groove – I signed up for a mixed team for the UK Triathlon Club Championships. Our club, Serpentine, had entered quite a few teams, and I got involved as part of a ‘fast mixed team’, with Jenny (tapering for Norseman next weekend), Helen and Andrew (both short course studs). The format to the Club Champs is a 500m swim, with each team member going in sequence, then a 15km bike, and a 5km run, with a band being passed between team members until the distances are complete.
Having not done the race before, I must admit to not realising how big the event was, and how seriously it was taken. All the major UK tri clubs were represented, and a few ‘pro’ teams were entered as well. Most clubs had branded tents, flags, kit etc – it all looked very slick! With several hundred teams competing in the morning (mixed and women’s teams) and the afternoon (mens), it made for a packed venue up in Nottingham.
Race morning was wet and miserable. Spirits were low, given that we’d driven up the night before and gotten lost for a while round the city looking for our accommodation, so were a bit under-slept. The format of the race meant that race morning as I usually do it was not necessary: it was only short course, and there would be plenty of time between legs to eat, get out of wetsuits, change kit and find toilets. With no previous experience of the event, I was pretty clueless as to how the handovers worked, where we passed the band and even the distances! Luckily, there are many organised individuals amongst the Serpies to fill in the blanks!
The swim start came round quick and I think I started a bit far over in the pack, even if I was right at the front. The sprinters were off like a shot, being well practiced at short course starts, so I was chasing through a rough pack from the outset. Out of the water probably around 20th, I handed over to Jenny who made good headway. Helen was third and got a little dazed at the handover – even 500m of swimming can heavily disorient you – and almost couldn’t find Andrew amongst all the bodies in neoprene waiting for handover.
Soon Andrew was done with the swim and I got to ride. We’d finished the swim leg in 15th, so there was some work to do. I lost my bike computer on the way out of transition, so had to do the 3 lap course on feel. This was completely experimental – not knowing how a 15km time trial should feel and not even having any speed data was going to make it interesting. So I concentrated on catching people ahead. I was trying not to think about my poor ears that were being squeezed by the aerohelmet I'd borrowed from Helen for the race (I was short on packingspace for the trip so hadn't brought my own beautiful - and comfortable - Rudy Project aerohelmet up from home!). For the first lap at least, it was easy to see who was ahead, before the hundreds of teams behind crowded onto the 5 km loop. The sun was out finally, and the wind was up, so most of the puddles were drying nicely. About 22minutes later, I handed over to Jenny and we were in 5th place. We made up another 2 places by the time Andrew steam rollered round the bike, and then we were onto the run. That was 5km of pain. The end of a long week of fairly high vol and intensity had left my running legs a little worse for wear, and I never found a top gear. Instead, I quickly overheated and just concentrated on getting round in one piece and damage limitation on the time we were probably losing on the team ahead – not that I saw anyone else on the entire run! Jenny hit out onto the run with tight calves following the bike, and we were a little concerned that she may have to jog some or all of the run, but she clearly warmed in quick and had no issues. Helen had a battle with the team in 4th on her leg, and the Andrew finished off the run with a sub-17min 5km on a tough course to put a big gap in on 4th. Given the highly standard of teams racing, 3rd was a fantastic result.
Good work team!
Finished off training for the day with a 2 hour run and then watched the racing in the afternoon. Unfortunately we missed the BBQ and partying that evening as we returned to London that eve, but it was a great day, and great fun to race with the Serpies – seeing some of the guys I’ve known a few years, and meet new faces.
Photos thanks to Ian and Sally Hodge - great pics of the entire day are here.
Having not done the race before, I must admit to not realising how big the event was, and how seriously it was taken. All the major UK tri clubs were represented, and a few ‘pro’ teams were entered as well. Most clubs had branded tents, flags, kit etc – it all looked very slick! With several hundred teams competing in the morning (mixed and women’s teams) and the afternoon (mens), it made for a packed venue up in Nottingham.
Race morning was wet and miserable. Spirits were low, given that we’d driven up the night before and gotten lost for a while round the city looking for our accommodation, so were a bit under-slept. The format of the race meant that race morning as I usually do it was not necessary: it was only short course, and there would be plenty of time between legs to eat, get out of wetsuits, change kit and find toilets. With no previous experience of the event, I was pretty clueless as to how the handovers worked, where we passed the band and even the distances! Luckily, there are many organised individuals amongst the Serpies to fill in the blanks!
The swim start came round quick and I think I started a bit far over in the pack, even if I was right at the front. The sprinters were off like a shot, being well practiced at short course starts, so I was chasing through a rough pack from the outset. Out of the water probably around 20th, I handed over to Jenny who made good headway. Helen was third and got a little dazed at the handover – even 500m of swimming can heavily disorient you – and almost couldn’t find Andrew amongst all the bodies in neoprene waiting for handover.
Soon Andrew was done with the swim and I got to ride. We’d finished the swim leg in 15th, so there was some work to do. I lost my bike computer on the way out of transition, so had to do the 3 lap course on feel. This was completely experimental – not knowing how a 15km time trial should feel and not even having any speed data was going to make it interesting. So I concentrated on catching people ahead. I was trying not to think about my poor ears that were being squeezed by the aerohelmet I'd borrowed from Helen for the race (I was short on packingspace for the trip so hadn't brought my own beautiful - and comfortable - Rudy Project aerohelmet up from home!). For the first lap at least, it was easy to see who was ahead, before the hundreds of teams behind crowded onto the 5 km loop. The sun was out finally, and the wind was up, so most of the puddles were drying nicely. About 22minutes later, I handed over to Jenny and we were in 5th place. We made up another 2 places by the time Andrew steam rollered round the bike, and then we were onto the run. That was 5km of pain. The end of a long week of fairly high vol and intensity had left my running legs a little worse for wear, and I never found a top gear. Instead, I quickly overheated and just concentrated on getting round in one piece and damage limitation on the time we were probably losing on the team ahead – not that I saw anyone else on the entire run! Jenny hit out onto the run with tight calves following the bike, and we were a little concerned that she may have to jog some or all of the run, but she clearly warmed in quick and had no issues. Helen had a battle with the team in 4th on her leg, and the Andrew finished off the run with a sub-17min 5km on a tough course to put a big gap in on 4th. Given the highly standard of teams racing, 3rd was a fantastic result.
Good work team!
Finished off training for the day with a 2 hour run and then watched the racing in the afternoon. Unfortunately we missed the BBQ and partying that evening as we returned to London that eve, but it was a great day, and great fun to race with the Serpies – seeing some of the guys I’ve known a few years, and meet new faces.
Photos thanks to Ian and Sally Hodge - great pics of the entire day are here.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Metabolic Testing
Last weekend saw my first metabolic testing since January 2007 in Christchurch just before Epic Camp – it was long overdue! I did a bike test with Pete Byworth from www.vo2fortri.com – I’d highly recommend him: he knows his stuff when it comes to sports science, is a cyclist, and has done metabolic testing on something like 4000 people – age groupers and elite athletes alike. Critically, he can give you lactate threshold/anaerobic threshold (and associated power on the bike) from which you can work out where you should be training and racing. You can choose to test on a bike or on the treadmill. The results were pretty much in line with what I had expected, but provide a much more precise baseline from which I can retest in the future to see how everything’s going. The test also carried power data, so this means I can use my new powertap a lot more effectively! The other bonus is that unlike a test I had done quite a few years back, blood isn't taken for lactate readings, its all done by gas exchange (COs, O2 balance), so there's no sore fingers or earlobes etc! Hope this has been phased out from most testing!
We did the test at Swim For Tri’s HQ in Liverpool Street (also where I do Endless Pool sessions), but Pete also does testing in Canary Wharf at The Cycle Doctor (Kev’s place – www.cycledoctor.co.uk). Its becoming a bit of a triathlon mecca down there at Cannon Workshops in Canary Wharf with Kev’s tri/bike shop, another Swim for Tri Endless Pool and even a yoga centre. The Docklands have got it good!
Following the testing on Saturday morning, I went and joined in a local sprint tri run by tricoach and ironman addict Mike Shaw (coach and founder of www.triperformance.co.uk) down in Raynes Park – great fun, and a bit of a change to the normal. Luckily I still managed a quality long run afterwards, and topped the week off with an overdistance bike plus run on the Sunday. This week’s been more of the same, with a little consolidation on the mileage.
Here’s some photos from the testing – apologies for the low quality, but they were taken on Pete’s phone. Luckily the low quality hides the fact that I am DRIPPING with sweat! Managed to form a large lake during the course of the testing – always attractive! ;)
We did the test at Swim For Tri’s HQ in Liverpool Street (also where I do Endless Pool sessions), but Pete also does testing in Canary Wharf at The Cycle Doctor (Kev’s place – www.cycledoctor.co.uk). Its becoming a bit of a triathlon mecca down there at Cannon Workshops in Canary Wharf with Kev’s tri/bike shop, another Swim for Tri Endless Pool and even a yoga centre. The Docklands have got it good!
Following the testing on Saturday morning, I went and joined in a local sprint tri run by tricoach and ironman addict Mike Shaw (coach and founder of www.triperformance.co.uk) down in Raynes Park – great fun, and a bit of a change to the normal. Luckily I still managed a quality long run afterwards, and topped the week off with an overdistance bike plus run on the Sunday. This week’s been more of the same, with a little consolidation on the mileage.
Here’s some photos from the testing – apologies for the low quality, but they were taken on Pete’s phone. Luckily the low quality hides the fact that I am DRIPPING with sweat! Managed to form a large lake during the course of the testing – always attractive! ;)
Friday, 11 July 2008
Getting back on the wagon
I thought I’d finally commit to the blog with some good news: I finally got a clean bill of health from the sports docs. :) For the first time since January I am finally 100% free of injury. Long may it last!
Just to summarise - as I knowI miss out some of the key pieces of info (especially if they're not good news) from the blog normally... I had hit a bit of a setback in early January when a virus wiped me out completely for a fortnight – the result of long-hauling it back from Oz to the UK for Xmas and not breaking from volume training – and then had very little recovery prior to going on Epic Camp NZ and beasting myself for 8 days. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best part of the next 4 months were a blur of training ups and downs, cramping and muscle pain, fatigue and moodiness! Finally, a pile of normal blood tests later, it was given a name: post viral fatigue – though luckily not as severe as some cases I’ve since seen or read about. To add insult to injury – or perhaps injury to insult – I had also picked up shin splints in March as I continued to try to drill my body through excessive fatigue and general tightness (and a questionable pair of trainers too). Luckily for me the solution to both problems was pretty similar: rest, rest and more rest. So much of March and the whole of April was pretty much a write-off, and even in May, though my appetite for training was starting to return, the running was still on hold.
So, a load of rest, a few tonnes of ice, hours of massage, aquajogging and core, a handful of physio and podiatry sessions later (and did I mention orthotics?), I started to run with trepidation at the start of June – just a few kms a week to start, and gradually building (despite a small setback when i got totalled by a bus in London!). I even went to IMCdA knowing I wasn’t running the marathon – that was tough mentally! (But great to finally meet some of the team and Tristan, as well as ride the beautiful orange Trek in a race scenario). But this week I’m hitting 70kms running – a milestone for me as it is what I generally consider a weekly floor to run volume in ‘normal’ training.
I am finally back in training properly as of next week. Touch wood I’ve not jinxed the recovery process! But you can’t blame a guy for being positive! It is amazing how great such a simple thing as being able to run properly again, and enjoy training fully can make you feel. Its not to be taken for granted! With just under 7 weeks to IMUK, looks like my season will be starting a little later than anticipated, but better late than never.
Happy training!
Just to summarise - as I knowI miss out some of the key pieces of info (especially if they're not good news) from the blog normally... I had hit a bit of a setback in early January when a virus wiped me out completely for a fortnight – the result of long-hauling it back from Oz to the UK for Xmas and not breaking from volume training – and then had very little recovery prior to going on Epic Camp NZ and beasting myself for 8 days. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best part of the next 4 months were a blur of training ups and downs, cramping and muscle pain, fatigue and moodiness! Finally, a pile of normal blood tests later, it was given a name: post viral fatigue – though luckily not as severe as some cases I’ve since seen or read about. To add insult to injury – or perhaps injury to insult – I had also picked up shin splints in March as I continued to try to drill my body through excessive fatigue and general tightness (and a questionable pair of trainers too). Luckily for me the solution to both problems was pretty similar: rest, rest and more rest. So much of March and the whole of April was pretty much a write-off, and even in May, though my appetite for training was starting to return, the running was still on hold.
So, a load of rest, a few tonnes of ice, hours of massage, aquajogging and core, a handful of physio and podiatry sessions later (and did I mention orthotics?), I started to run with trepidation at the start of June – just a few kms a week to start, and gradually building (despite a small setback when i got totalled by a bus in London!). I even went to IMCdA knowing I wasn’t running the marathon – that was tough mentally! (But great to finally meet some of the team and Tristan, as well as ride the beautiful orange Trek in a race scenario). But this week I’m hitting 70kms running – a milestone for me as it is what I generally consider a weekly floor to run volume in ‘normal’ training.
I am finally back in training properly as of next week. Touch wood I’ve not jinxed the recovery process! But you can’t blame a guy for being positive! It is amazing how great such a simple thing as being able to run properly again, and enjoy training fully can make you feel. Its not to be taken for granted! With just under 7 weeks to IMUK, looks like my season will be starting a little later than anticipated, but better late than never.
Happy training!
Monday, 23 June 2008
Ironman Coeur d'Alene
What a great event. Early start, very leisurely swim (the downside to the pro start being 35mins earlier than the mass start is the lack of feet to choose from) - I chose badly andafter the first loop, there was no group in sight ahead to bridge up to, so I just sat in and took it real easy. The bike is beautiful, and fairly challenging - its undulating through the middle section of each of the two loops and there was a headwind on the flat return which slowed it down a bit too. The Trek got tested in earnest today and it passed with flying colours. What a sweet ride! Given there were a few teething problems - I'd only managed to ride it for about 4 hours since I arrived on friday with the race set up, so there's still some tinkering to do, and i managed to knock the front derailleur on mounting so I had a grizzly sound coming out of it in the big ring for the whole 180km. Oops.
And despite nearly talking myself into the run leg yesterday (and putting shoes in T2 bag and some gels etc, 'just in case'...) I managed to control myself and only ran the first 2 miles just to cool the legs down after the ride, and get the benefits from doing the race sim. Very proud of myself for showing such self-discipline! There was a BIG part of me that wanted to carry on, but that would have defeated the point and probably ruined me! Thought I rode OK given lack of race prep and no taper (though given some time off to let the bruising go down after monday's clash with the bus/road... does that count as taper?), so thumbs up for the nice intensity training ride today. Power meter (powertap) also makes for interesting viewing - having never trained with power before, I was very interested to see the live feedback. Not looked at the detail yet, but the average was 2 watts off what I'd figured I rode at (or what I 'targeted' for the ride as normal effort). Think the variability around this might be horrendous though! Something to work on at least.
Great to meet Blake, Gabriela and Emily - and Tristan in person from Team Timex. Blake (Becker) came 10th pro, Gabriela 6th woman pro, and Emily wa 7th I think in her age group. Good day! Headed back to the finish area in a little while to watch the finishers up to Midnight... amazing stuff. Saw Mark P and Albert briefly too - they are both ANIMALS! :)
And despite nearly talking myself into the run leg yesterday (and putting shoes in T2 bag and some gels etc, 'just in case'...) I managed to control myself and only ran the first 2 miles just to cool the legs down after the ride, and get the benefits from doing the race sim. Very proud of myself for showing such self-discipline! There was a BIG part of me that wanted to carry on, but that would have defeated the point and probably ruined me! Thought I rode OK given lack of race prep and no taper (though given some time off to let the bruising go down after monday's clash with the bus/road... does that count as taper?), so thumbs up for the nice intensity training ride today. Power meter (powertap) also makes for interesting viewing - having never trained with power before, I was very interested to see the live feedback. Not looked at the detail yet, but the average was 2 watts off what I'd figured I rode at (or what I 'targeted' for the ride as normal effort). Think the variability around this might be horrendous though! Something to work on at least.
Great to meet Blake, Gabriela and Emily - and Tristan in person from Team Timex. Blake (Becker) came 10th pro, Gabriela 6th woman pro, and Emily wa 7th I think in her age group. Good day! Headed back to the finish area in a little while to watch the finishers up to Midnight... amazing stuff. Saw Mark P and Albert briefly too - they are both ANIMALS! :)
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Exciting riding on Park Lane
An eventful few weeks... apologies for radio silence. Still 'easing' back into training, being careful not to overdo anything, but generally seem to be coping fine. Running still seriously capped, and orthotics on their way, and there's even a (more dedicated) core programme and a splash of aquajogging going on, so hopefully I will remain injury free from now on! So why am I not at the pool at this time in the morning? Mainly as there's a rather large chunck of my right palm missing, and quite a lot of skin from my right knee, hip and elbow now being used as new road surface on Park Lane after being wiped out by a The Big Bus Company last night. Ouch. Right hip has swollen up nicely. But I got away lightly - could have been MUCH worse - nothing broken :) Bike a bit messed up and will have to see how the swelling goes for training etc this week.
Swimming's got a bit of a lift in terms of technique - started twice monthly sessions at the endless pool with Swim for tri. Noticed the difference already - turned my Tooting 5km swim from a wallow into something resembling swimming again. My stroke seems to deteriorate quite quicly without fairly regualr attention - and video analysis and one-on-one seems to be doing the trick right now. Hoping that with some work and more coaching, I might be able to make some real gains on the swim.
But off to Idaho this week for IMCdA. Rather unfortunate timing for the race for me all in all; we'll see what the weekend brings. Agreed with Steve that this one is NOT for racing! If hip allows, I'm just just going to try to train through and fingers crossed do the swim and bike (there's NO WAY I want to just watch it - that would drive me insane!) - I really want to try out the new orange Trek TTX in race conditions too. Trip should be fun even if I'm not racing as I'll get to meet a few of my team mates from Timex - will be good to put names to faces, having missed the team camp back in the Spring.
And I've managed to omit the fact that I've been running some Timex ironman clinics at Pure Sports Med (with the support of PSM and Serpentine) - the last one of which is tonight - 6:30, Threadneedle St, Bank. Let me know if you want to come along. Ironically this one is on injury prevention for ironman athletes - you'll be glad to hear that I am not giving the talk!!! Three specialists from PSM are presenting and it should be really interesting. I'll certainly be taking notes!
Swimming's got a bit of a lift in terms of technique - started twice monthly sessions at the endless pool with Swim for tri. Noticed the difference already - turned my Tooting 5km swim from a wallow into something resembling swimming again. My stroke seems to deteriorate quite quicly without fairly regualr attention - and video analysis and one-on-one seems to be doing the trick right now. Hoping that with some work and more coaching, I might be able to make some real gains on the swim.
But off to Idaho this week for IMCdA. Rather unfortunate timing for the race for me all in all; we'll see what the weekend brings. Agreed with Steve that this one is NOT for racing! If hip allows, I'm just just going to try to train through and fingers crossed do the swim and bike (there's NO WAY I want to just watch it - that would drive me insane!) - I really want to try out the new orange Trek TTX in race conditions too. Trip should be fun even if I'm not racing as I'll get to meet a few of my team mates from Timex - will be good to put names to faces, having missed the team camp back in the Spring.
And I've managed to omit the fact that I've been running some Timex ironman clinics at Pure Sports Med (with the support of PSM and Serpentine) - the last one of which is tonight - 6:30, Threadneedle St, Bank. Let me know if you want to come along. Ironically this one is on injury prevention for ironman athletes - you'll be glad to hear that I am not giving the talk!!! Three specialists from PSM are presenting and it should be really interesting. I'll certainly be taking notes!
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Check out a great interview with Charlesy (from Epic) on xtri Can't wait to hear the stories from Epic Italy ;)
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Cesenatico 2
Got back from Italy on tuesday... the last couple of days had been a bit rainy, so it wasn't too hard to leave. The second week was great fun, and I even got quite a bit of work done - a good test of whether the training-work balance will work out long term.
The good news is that I have a new hobby for the next few weeks- aquajogging. The bad news, then, is that I was a bit hasty in saying my shins were recovered. After the first week, they didn't bear up too well so I'm off running again and going to see the physio/podiatrist etc - whatever it takes. What this means for the season is that I won't be racing IM CdA, which is a big shame. I'll still go over tho, so I might well do a race prep brick there. Good practice. Hoping that I'll be all sorted and back on track for IMUK in September, tho it seems my race season is slipping and slipping. At least my ride and swim will get some quality time :)
All in all, the camp was a great fortnight, with some amazing people on it. Was also great to catch up with the legend that is my coach, Steve, swim coach Dan (www.swimfortri.com) and even Kev was there (www.cycledoctor.com). Good luck to everyone else for the race season ahead - especially for the Ironman first timers!
Photos of aquajogging thanks to Julian.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Cesenatico 2008
I'm finally feeling better. Until last week wednesday I was still pretty much off training, but now that period seems a world away. I've just got off the phone from one of the specialist sports docs from Pure Sports Medicine (amazing integrated sports medicine outfit in London - www.puresportsmed.com) who confirmed that I've probably been suffering from post-viral fatigue, following my miserable January virus which knocked me out for 2 weeks. Epic camp off the back of 6 days recovery after that probably wasn't the best way to recovery, and hence I found Feb and March hard going, and April a complete write-off training (and racing-wise). The shins are doing ok ... the rest helped that too - and the fatigue was probably the main reason that they kicked off in the first place.
But now that's all in the past, and I've just finished a week's solid 'test' training here in Italy to make sure I am back on form. Only my run feels a bit sluggish, unsurprising given 6 weeks of little or no running, but my cycling and swimming are feeling good. With another 6 days in Italy (and GLORIOUS sunshine so far) I'll see how I cope with some longer sessions :) I love this stuff! Its also with a great group of people (and some incredible athletes), and all very relaxed. Just finished my rest day (total 6kmin the pool and that was it!), now we're headed down the beach to a local pizzeria for dinner. Ciao!
But now that's all in the past, and I've just finished a week's solid 'test' training here in Italy to make sure I am back on form. Only my run feels a bit sluggish, unsurprising given 6 weeks of little or no running, but my cycling and swimming are feeling good. With another 6 days in Italy (and GLORIOUS sunshine so far) I'll see how I cope with some longer sessions :) I love this stuff! Its also with a great group of people (and some incredible athletes), and all very relaxed. Just finished my rest day (total 6kmin the pool and that was it!), now we're headed down the beach to a local pizzeria for dinner. Ciao!
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