The blog is now continued on tobyradcliffe.com - the blog is on the Triblog page. Hope you enjoy the new site! (it is a little overdue!)
Toby
Friday, 12 December 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Dave Harju interview
Dave is from Team Timex, and quite frankly he is a legend. Watch this interview and find out! It was recorded the day after Ironman Florida (2008) - apologies for the delay in posting it, but I've had a few technical issues (aka my IT incompetence). There's a few more interviews to follow too, but for now, a brief chat with Dave Harju
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Sydney-siders do cycling
En route to Geelong I spent a couple of days in Sydney (thanks Lyndsey!), to get over jet-lag and finish off the off-season. Saturday morning, a local Sydeny tri squad, HERT, very kindly let me join in a group ride. This was an eye-opener in several ways. First up, it was a 6am start (something I don’t normally associate with cycling!) – on a Saturday morning, I wondered what I was getting myself into. We met at Centennial Park just after sunrise, and headed out southbound. I was impressed by their motivation so early on the weekend, but even more surprised by the route out of the city. After a leafy minute or two getting through the Park, we basically turned out onto a highway which fed into the motorway rolling south towards the airport. There were some hairy moments crossing feeder lanes, fly-overs, going through tunnels and with some early morning and rather less than understanding drivers, but once it started to rain again, and the ride really got entertaining. By the time we’d done the Botany Bay route and found our way back to a Paddington cafe, we were covered in grit and mud and soaked through. Luckily it was warm enough for this to be amusing rather than a soul destroying couple of hours on the road. My colleagues assured me that we hadn’t taken the scenic route that morning – a relief for the local riding! I’m sure there is good riding near Sydney, but that morning did remind me of the troubles of city living and the pain of getting out to any decent routes.
Much happier about riding now I’ve made it back to Geelong. A couple of minutes and out of the Great Ocean road seems like a good deal to me!
Much happier about riding now I’ve made it back to Geelong. A couple of minutes and out of the Great Ocean road seems like a good deal to me!
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Ironman Florida Race Report
What can I say? In absolute terms, I finished with a PB and came half way up the pro field – not a bad day’s work. But I was gutted at the finish line – it felt like waste of a fast race... I’d underperformed and had a few mechanical issues to add to the mix.
So this one gets chalked up to experience, or perhaps rookie inexperience given that I had problems with my front brake pads working loose and then routinely slipping onto the rims every time I hit a bump in the road (even when released). I’d not tightened them enough pre-race and meant I ended up having to ride any bumpy sections with one arm on the aerobars and one hand holding the brakes off the front rim. Dammit. In hindsight I should have stopped and tightened them, but wasn’t sure if the tool I was carrying had the right size key (and this was a good thing as I’d have tried tightening the mech from the front, when actually the right place was behing the front fork... the things you learn..!). But it was fine for the most part once I’d realised and released them, so I kept on going, just with heavy cursing through the few kms of rough roads. The ride was flat and fast. Kms 20-80 were into a fairly solid headwind – that’s my excuse for not hearing the rubbing pads, or realising why it was such hard work. My moment of realisation was on a short gentle downhill through an undulating section somewhere around the 60km mark where I was peddling and a couple of people overtook freewheeling. That was a bit of a clue! Luckily this happened just in time. I was starting to break mentally with the struggle and seeing people pass me fairly regularly. I’d been putting it down to purely eroded bike fitness, which is definitely true at least in part, but alleviation of the mechanical issues gave a bit of a boost. Things picked up in a big way after that. At the 80km point, we turned a corner and the tailwind kicked in for a while. By the 120km mark, and just pasted the dog leg, I was starting to overtake a few people again, and the packs of age groupers behind who had been gaining steadily through the first sections were starting to fall away again. Finally feeling like I could ride again, I beasted the last 80km to try to make up some of the time I’d lost.
That meant that the start of the run was not pretty. The first 5km was a slog, and it wasn’t until the 8 mile sign that I finally found a decent rythym, but by then the effort earlier seemed to have limited my running speed. A 5 hour bike split and a 3:05 marathon were both a bit off schedule, but in the big scheme of things, not too bad.
All in all, the week was awesome fun. We stayed in a condo at the Boardwalk – right next to transition. Very convenient. Vicky, Stel and I were all racing – coincidentally all coached by Steve Trew. All of us had PBs, so thanks Steve! Kev Worster, Vicky’s other half, was also with us – and this was like having a team mechanic as Kev happens to be the Cycle Doctor (Canary Wharf), so was very handy for tools, servicing, changing cassettes etc. (If only I’d got him to check my breaks and not fiddled with them myself!). Thanks Kev! I learnt a few things about Florida too - the Waffle House is evil; Walmart is like being on a set from a reality TV show; November is definitely off-season, despite some beautiful weather - we managed to be the only people in an entire restaurant on the thursday night pre-race!
But its done, and I’m actually happy after the ups and downs of this year just to have finished another race! The swim was solid and felt fairly easy (except for the ‘running’ halfway!), I got to try out a disc wheel for the first time, and had an interesting experiment with a series of close races and how to / not to train in between them. Lots of lesson s learned.
And now? I’m taking 2 weeks easy, not least as there’s some substantial flying time in there – I’m off to Australia for the winter next week, and then its back into training. I’m actually feeling really good post Florida – I was running and riding the next day, and seem to have bounced back quickly. So the two weeks ‘off season’ are actually having to be enforced! I am remarkably up for the next phase in training already which is a good sign... looking forward to putting in some hard miles over the next few months. I’ve scraped the idea of any major races in the next couple of months, definitely feeling the erosion of base fitness as my last decent training block was now back in July!
Notable mentions for the girls from Team Timex – between them racking up 4 of the top 10 spots, Tamara in 2nd, Gabriella in 4th, Marie in 6th and Amanda in 9th (I think I got tat right!). Good work Team! And for Rachel Joyce – 5th at her first pro IM finish!
So this one gets chalked up to experience, or perhaps rookie inexperience given that I had problems with my front brake pads working loose and then routinely slipping onto the rims every time I hit a bump in the road (even when released). I’d not tightened them enough pre-race and meant I ended up having to ride any bumpy sections with one arm on the aerobars and one hand holding the brakes off the front rim. Dammit. In hindsight I should have stopped and tightened them, but wasn’t sure if the tool I was carrying had the right size key (and this was a good thing as I’d have tried tightening the mech from the front, when actually the right place was behing the front fork... the things you learn..!). But it was fine for the most part once I’d realised and released them, so I kept on going, just with heavy cursing through the few kms of rough roads. The ride was flat and fast. Kms 20-80 were into a fairly solid headwind – that’s my excuse for not hearing the rubbing pads, or realising why it was such hard work. My moment of realisation was on a short gentle downhill through an undulating section somewhere around the 60km mark where I was peddling and a couple of people overtook freewheeling. That was a bit of a clue! Luckily this happened just in time. I was starting to break mentally with the struggle and seeing people pass me fairly regularly. I’d been putting it down to purely eroded bike fitness, which is definitely true at least in part, but alleviation of the mechanical issues gave a bit of a boost. Things picked up in a big way after that. At the 80km point, we turned a corner and the tailwind kicked in for a while. By the 120km mark, and just pasted the dog leg, I was starting to overtake a few people again, and the packs of age groupers behind who had been gaining steadily through the first sections were starting to fall away again. Finally feeling like I could ride again, I beasted the last 80km to try to make up some of the time I’d lost.
That meant that the start of the run was not pretty. The first 5km was a slog, and it wasn’t until the 8 mile sign that I finally found a decent rythym, but by then the effort earlier seemed to have limited my running speed. A 5 hour bike split and a 3:05 marathon were both a bit off schedule, but in the big scheme of things, not too bad.
All in all, the week was awesome fun. We stayed in a condo at the Boardwalk – right next to transition. Very convenient. Vicky, Stel and I were all racing – coincidentally all coached by Steve Trew. All of us had PBs, so thanks Steve! Kev Worster, Vicky’s other half, was also with us – and this was like having a team mechanic as Kev happens to be the Cycle Doctor (Canary Wharf), so was very handy for tools, servicing, changing cassettes etc. (If only I’d got him to check my breaks and not fiddled with them myself!). Thanks Kev! I learnt a few things about Florida too - the Waffle House is evil; Walmart is like being on a set from a reality TV show; November is definitely off-season, despite some beautiful weather - we managed to be the only people in an entire restaurant on the thursday night pre-race!
But its done, and I’m actually happy after the ups and downs of this year just to have finished another race! The swim was solid and felt fairly easy (except for the ‘running’ halfway!), I got to try out a disc wheel for the first time, and had an interesting experiment with a series of close races and how to / not to train in between them. Lots of lesson s learned.
And now? I’m taking 2 weeks easy, not least as there’s some substantial flying time in there – I’m off to Australia for the winter next week, and then its back into training. I’m actually feeling really good post Florida – I was running and riding the next day, and seem to have bounced back quickly. So the two weeks ‘off season’ are actually having to be enforced! I am remarkably up for the next phase in training already which is a good sign... looking forward to putting in some hard miles over the next few months. I’ve scraped the idea of any major races in the next couple of months, definitely feeling the erosion of base fitness as my last decent training block was now back in July!
Notable mentions for the girls from Team Timex – between them racking up 4 of the top 10 spots, Tamara in 2nd, Gabriella in 4th, Marie in 6th and Amanda in 9th (I think I got tat right!). Good work Team! And for Rachel Joyce – 5th at her first pro IM finish!
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Birmingham Half Marathon
To end my peak period for IMFlorida, I did my last mixed tempo run today - combining with the work schedule, this happened to be in Birmingham - the EDF Energy Birmingham Half.
Its difficult to be in a race and not intend to race it, but today was not a day for racing - that will be next weekend. To ensure I didn't blow my load in Brum, I made sure that I was pretty tired heading into it, this week having been fairly high on the intensity scale (for ironman anyhow!), including a full on training day yesterday. I also ran with the ipod to make it seem more like a training run, and (purely by accident as my number didn't turn up) raced under a pseudonym, which took the pressure off having my name next to a slow result in the listings! So Chris Gowland (yes, I'll admit to it!) put in a solid 1:21 (and 33rd out of 9000!)- which was an easy-steady-hard build run. Overall pacing wise this was quite easy thanks to the codl start, so the first few kms had to be a warm up. What did take me by surprise was the course was unulating throughout - which made it seriously fun! All in all a great training day.
Good to catch up with Martin (first timer) and Chris there to - both posting awesome times! Well done!
Its difficult to be in a race and not intend to race it, but today was not a day for racing - that will be next weekend. To ensure I didn't blow my load in Brum, I made sure that I was pretty tired heading into it, this week having been fairly high on the intensity scale (for ironman anyhow!), including a full on training day yesterday. I also ran with the ipod to make it seem more like a training run, and (purely by accident as my number didn't turn up) raced under a pseudonym, which took the pressure off having my name next to a slow result in the listings! So Chris Gowland (yes, I'll admit to it!) put in a solid 1:21 (and 33rd out of 9000!)- which was an easy-steady-hard build run. Overall pacing wise this was quite easy thanks to the codl start, so the first few kms had to be a warm up. What did take me by surprise was the course was unulating throughout - which made it seriously fun! All in all a great training day.
Good to catch up with Martin (first timer) and Chris there to - both posting awesome times! Well done!
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Monday, 13 October 2008
Kona Race Report
We’ve just got back from a very wet awards party... cut a little short due to torrential downpours. Despite this it was very entertaining – mostly Brits remained to the end enduring the rain or under temporary shelters constructed with tables!
As for race day: My body decided that the race wasn’t meant to be. Shame, but not completely unexpected. The timing of the race was always a bit of an experiment, and the 2 week lay off running into one week taper between IMUK 5 weeks ago meant that I was seriously underdone. The result was no ‘on button’, leading to a slack swim and about 30kms on the bike trying to find the next gear, and then I basically pulled the pin. I was having trouble getting anywhere near race wattage let alone holding it for 5 hours. I kept plugging away initially to see if something would come right – there were moments in the first 30km that felt good, but around 90 mins in I knew I was underperforming too badly to be able to pull it back even with a small miracle. The next four hours were a slog of a training ride... at the very least I was here to see the bike course and experience it first hand. That achieved, I’m concentrating on getting back on plan for IMFlorida in 3 weeks – the main reason I didn’t go run the marathon just for the sake of it. As its not the end of my season, I felt no compulsion to put my body through a sloppy run just to finish the race. For me, it was a choice of finishing poorly and ruining myself for the next month or pulling the pin and cracking on with training and the rest of the season. I chose the latter. This was actually my ‘b’ scenario – ‘a’ being that I was recovered and ready to race and knocked out a good day. ‘B’ was blowing early and not having to ruin myself running. The worst case was blowing on the run and finishing with both a slow time and ruined.
Despite the fact that my body wasn’t playing ball, the experience has been AWESOME!!!! I got my first pro start at Hawaii, lining up with the famous faces of IM triathlon, and got to soak up the race week atmosphere. As part of the long term plan, the trip achieved everything it needed to: got my head round the week, the logistics and how everything works; rode the course and felt the Hawi winds; enjoyed the atmosphere.
So now I’ve got to get on with prep for Florida, again the ‘bonus’ race here has messed up the schedule substantially, but its all good experience, and interesting trying out new race prep regimes.
Timex had some notable results, and great performances (and a lot of guts) all round. Its been a realy pleasure meeting a few more of the team and having the camaraderie that goes along with it.
Thanks go to Rotary, without whom this trip was probably not going to be possible for another couple of years. You guys are awesome! Thanks also to Swim for Tri, Cycle Doctor, Timex (of course!) and Steven (Lord) and his family for amazing support.
As for race day: My body decided that the race wasn’t meant to be. Shame, but not completely unexpected. The timing of the race was always a bit of an experiment, and the 2 week lay off running into one week taper between IMUK 5 weeks ago meant that I was seriously underdone. The result was no ‘on button’, leading to a slack swim and about 30kms on the bike trying to find the next gear, and then I basically pulled the pin. I was having trouble getting anywhere near race wattage let alone holding it for 5 hours. I kept plugging away initially to see if something would come right – there were moments in the first 30km that felt good, but around 90 mins in I knew I was underperforming too badly to be able to pull it back even with a small miracle. The next four hours were a slog of a training ride... at the very least I was here to see the bike course and experience it first hand. That achieved, I’m concentrating on getting back on plan for IMFlorida in 3 weeks – the main reason I didn’t go run the marathon just for the sake of it. As its not the end of my season, I felt no compulsion to put my body through a sloppy run just to finish the race. For me, it was a choice of finishing poorly and ruining myself for the next month or pulling the pin and cracking on with training and the rest of the season. I chose the latter. This was actually my ‘b’ scenario – ‘a’ being that I was recovered and ready to race and knocked out a good day. ‘B’ was blowing early and not having to ruin myself running. The worst case was blowing on the run and finishing with both a slow time and ruined.
Despite the fact that my body wasn’t playing ball, the experience has been AWESOME!!!! I got my first pro start at Hawaii, lining up with the famous faces of IM triathlon, and got to soak up the race week atmosphere. As part of the long term plan, the trip achieved everything it needed to: got my head round the week, the logistics and how everything works; rode the course and felt the Hawi winds; enjoyed the atmosphere.
So now I’ve got to get on with prep for Florida, again the ‘bonus’ race here has messed up the schedule substantially, but its all good experience, and interesting trying out new race prep regimes.
Timex had some notable results, and great performances (and a lot of guts) all round. Its been a realy pleasure meeting a few more of the team and having the camaraderie that goes along with it.
Thanks go to Rotary, without whom this trip was probably not going to be possible for another couple of years. You guys are awesome! Thanks also to Swim for Tri, Cycle Doctor, Timex (of course!) and Steven (Lord) and his family for amazing support.
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
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Article in Birmingham Post
Getting ready for the Birmingham Half-Marathon
Oct 6 2008 By Emma Brady
With just three weeks to go until the inaugural EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, Post Health Correspondent and regular runner Emma Brady joined top triathlete Toby Radcliffe to find out if she is ready for race day.
With more than 8,000 people preparing to take part in the city’s first half marathon on October 26, getting the right training is vital if all is to go to plan on race day.
Having run a personal best time of 1:50:48 in the Wolverhampton Half Marathon last month I had lulled myself into a false sense of security, thinking all was going well.
But if my eyes had been opened to the challenge at hand during a training trot along part of the route, then a hardcore session of intervals with professional triathlete Toby Radcliffe shattered any remaining illusions I had over my fitness levels.
Having asked for my running history, the 30-year-old’s eyes lit up when I told him my times. “So I can push you hard then!”
After a gentle jog around Cannon Hill Park, in Edgbaston, and some strange-looking dynamic stretches, which no doubt amused the patrons of the coffee shop as we swung our arms and legs about, it was down to serious business.
On paper the main session may look easy: 5 x 1 min (5k pace)/30 sec recovery jog, 3 x 90 sec (5-10k pace)/45 sec recovery, and finally 3 x 30 sec (as fast as possible)/30 sec recovery.
But after the first set of reps I was puffing and panting like a pensioner. Toby assured me this just meant I was working to my V02 max, giving my lungs a good workout. Then again, he barely broke a sweat.
“Come on just two more sets to go,” he said cheerily. I looked on in disbelief, having really pushed myself, but dogged determination and professional pride would not let me quit.
While I do not mind being shown up by professional athletes, I will not tolerate being effortlessly overtaken by plodding pensioners or fun runners in fancy dress.
Even with this in mind, after three sets all I wanted to do was collapse in a world of pain, but I knew that was just a sign of old fashioned hard graft.
After the session, Toby said: “You’re in great shape for the half marathon so now’s the time to work on your body’s effectiveness, which you know after getting a PB in Wolverhampton.
“But that kind of session isn’t just for experienced runners, it’s all about tailoring it to your own pace, the important thing is it should feel like you’ve really worked whatever your ability. It should be a challenging session.
“It’s always good to challenge yourself, not just physically but mentally, so if you make this a hard session it will give you the psychological tools to help push through those last miles of the course on race day.”
Organisers of some of Britain’s major running events, including the Flora London Half Marathon, produced an advice sheet following serious concerns by medical teams at the lack of preparation by runners. This can be found at www.runnersmedicalresource.com
Toby will fly out to Hawaii this month to compete in the Ironman World Championships for Timex Multisport Team – which involves a 112-mile bike ride, 2.5 mile swim and a full marathon of 26.2 miles.
As a sustainability consultant for Athletes for a Fit Planet and Birmingham Half Marathon’s race sustainability director, he knows how hard it can be to timetable sessions.
“For me training is a full time job which I can fit my consultancy work around, but I probably train about 25-30 hours a week across all three disciplines, so it takes a lot of dedication,” said Toby. “I know how hard it can be for people to fit even half of that around their own working lives, but anyone taking part in the half marathon, whether they are club runners or first timers, should not get complacent in their training now, even though there are less than four weeks to go.”
He added: “I think the Birmingham Half Marathon has the same ability to inspire people to exercise in the same way the London Marathon does.
“The city has great sporting facilities but that doesn’t mean people are using them, so events like this are important in turning people on to sport and exercise, especially if it makes them think about improving their nutrition and looking after their health better.”
The EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon starts from Alexandra Stadium, in Perry Barr, and finishes in Centenary Square, in the city centre.
Oct 6 2008 By Emma Brady
With just three weeks to go until the inaugural EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, Post Health Correspondent and regular runner Emma Brady joined top triathlete Toby Radcliffe to find out if she is ready for race day.
With more than 8,000 people preparing to take part in the city’s first half marathon on October 26, getting the right training is vital if all is to go to plan on race day.
Having run a personal best time of 1:50:48 in the Wolverhampton Half Marathon last month I had lulled myself into a false sense of security, thinking all was going well.
But if my eyes had been opened to the challenge at hand during a training trot along part of the route, then a hardcore session of intervals with professional triathlete Toby Radcliffe shattered any remaining illusions I had over my fitness levels.
Having asked for my running history, the 30-year-old’s eyes lit up when I told him my times. “So I can push you hard then!”
After a gentle jog around Cannon Hill Park, in Edgbaston, and some strange-looking dynamic stretches, which no doubt amused the patrons of the coffee shop as we swung our arms and legs about, it was down to serious business.
On paper the main session may look easy: 5 x 1 min (5k pace)/30 sec recovery jog, 3 x 90 sec (5-10k pace)/45 sec recovery, and finally 3 x 30 sec (as fast as possible)/30 sec recovery.
But after the first set of reps I was puffing and panting like a pensioner. Toby assured me this just meant I was working to my V02 max, giving my lungs a good workout. Then again, he barely broke a sweat.
“Come on just two more sets to go,” he said cheerily. I looked on in disbelief, having really pushed myself, but dogged determination and professional pride would not let me quit.
While I do not mind being shown up by professional athletes, I will not tolerate being effortlessly overtaken by plodding pensioners or fun runners in fancy dress.
Even with this in mind, after three sets all I wanted to do was collapse in a world of pain, but I knew that was just a sign of old fashioned hard graft.
After the session, Toby said: “You’re in great shape for the half marathon so now’s the time to work on your body’s effectiveness, which you know after getting a PB in Wolverhampton.
“But that kind of session isn’t just for experienced runners, it’s all about tailoring it to your own pace, the important thing is it should feel like you’ve really worked whatever your ability. It should be a challenging session.
“It’s always good to challenge yourself, not just physically but mentally, so if you make this a hard session it will give you the psychological tools to help push through those last miles of the course on race day.”
Organisers of some of Britain’s major running events, including the Flora London Half Marathon, produced an advice sheet following serious concerns by medical teams at the lack of preparation by runners. This can be found at www.runnersmedicalresource.com
Toby will fly out to Hawaii this month to compete in the Ironman World Championships for Timex Multisport Team – which involves a 112-mile bike ride, 2.5 mile swim and a full marathon of 26.2 miles.
As a sustainability consultant for Athletes for a Fit Planet and Birmingham Half Marathon’s race sustainability director, he knows how hard it can be to timetable sessions.
“For me training is a full time job which I can fit my consultancy work around, but I probably train about 25-30 hours a week across all three disciplines, so it takes a lot of dedication,” said Toby. “I know how hard it can be for people to fit even half of that around their own working lives, but anyone taking part in the half marathon, whether they are club runners or first timers, should not get complacent in their training now, even though there are less than four weeks to go.”
He added: “I think the Birmingham Half Marathon has the same ability to inspire people to exercise in the same way the London Marathon does.
“The city has great sporting facilities but that doesn’t mean people are using them, so events like this are important in turning people on to sport and exercise, especially if it makes them think about improving their nutrition and looking after their health better.”
The EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon starts from Alexandra Stadium, in Perry Barr, and finishes in Centenary Square, in the city centre.
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