Holiday

Posted on January 23, 2011 by lord_lordy

MilfordSound.jpgFollowing Challenge Wanaka Jo and had a bit of a holiday. One of the first in a long while where we’ve not trained … though we did sneak out for a fun bike ride at one point. After the race we travelled down to Milford Sound and spent a morning Kayaking. That is one amazing place and we were so lucky to paddle with dolphins and seals. I feel pretty lucky when it comes to seeing dolphins – it seems whenever I’m somewhere where there’s a chance I end up seeing them. Milford Sound is one of the few places in the World where you really want it to rain. It rained a little whilst we were there the transformation was wonderful; suddenly waterfalls appear everywhere. I was just wanting it to rain torrentially. The road in and out the sound is something else as well. Whatever possessed someone to think it was possible to cut a road in there. You’d think when they got to several hundred metres altitude and were face my an impregnable wall of rock continuing up to 1,500+m they’d give up. Not these Kiwi’s … the answer was obvious just dig a tunnel through over 1km of some of the hardest rock on earth. Then after all this, at the end of the road they build next to nothing. A ferry terminal, a bar, a motel and a lodge… all nicely hidden. It’s a real credit to this nation that they’ve completely resisted any significant commercialisation of the Sound.

We’d enjoyed Wanaka so much we decided to return there for the last couple of days. Coming back I got stopped for speeding and fined. I felt absolutely rotten and embarrassed. It made me think about it a lot. For starters other than on motorways in the UK I would never speed having been on a speed awareness course. Yet here in NZ I was speeding. The funny thing was Jo and I had been discussing what the speed limit was on these roads as other then on exiting towns you didn’t see single sign. I wondered whether there was a national speed limit like in the UK. When you hire a car in a country I think they should inform you of “unusual” road rules (in NZ the bizarre give way to someone turning right if you’re turning left) and speed limits. Anyway, I was caught and I was guitly, no two ways about it. I find it interesting that prior to being caught I was still speeding but it was only the act of being caught that made me feel embarrassed and depressed.

We stopped in Queenstown which didn’t really help my mood. It was so commercialised we just didn’t want to hang out there. Getting to Wanaka, checking in to our lovely little friendly backpackers place and then heading out for steak night at the Wanaka Ale House did cheer me up. It was like going to Wetherspoons Steak Night in Taunton … only better. Steak was better, view was better (the beer wasn’t better) and Jo was treating ;o)

Next day we did the ride round to Cromwell and over the Crown Range. We’d been told this was the highest tarmac’d pass in New Zealand. We’d also been told that Takaka hill was the highest when we did that. Now we’ve done both to be sure. It’s a great ride that has everything. Flat riding to Cromwell, udulating riding through an amazing gorge. Alpine like switchbacks, that Arthurs Pass ‘esque steep climb then a full throttle decent. Great ride and already we’re hoping to get back to Wanaka before heading down to Taupo. Ended up close to 6 hours of riding .. not exactly a recovery week ride. Though Jo would probably argue because it was just for fun it wasn’t training.

It’s twice now that I’ve done a pretty solid ride close after an Ironman and noticed how well recovered I’ve felt after. I went riding a week after the race and felt great, then ran yesterday and felt like I’d not race the weekend before. All bodes well for doing Roth a week after Ironman Austria if thats what I decide. Still going easy now though for a couple more days then on Wednesday I’m back in the Saddle getting ready to nail Ironman Taupo. For now I’m just sitting around in my finishers t-shirt enjoying the feeling of finally having won my age group.

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Challenge Wanaka 2011, Review

Posted on January 16, 2011 by lord_lordy

wanakaAnalysis3Race Report here

The picture tells it all ! I won my age group. So pleased and achieves two of the goals I originally set at the start of the season when I snapped my tendon. Back then I thought it was going to happen so easily and just under 2 years on I’ve finally managed it. This is going to be a bit of analysis on the race.

Having qualified for Kona at Busselton it allowed me to change my view on this race. Originally with Taupo so important I planned to train right in to this race and just have fun. In fact, originally we’d have being doing Epic Camp so I’d have been pretty tired. The plan instead was to prepare myself to race as well as possible and try out some things I’d got as feedback from Busselton:

  1. Pace the swim and bike more conservatively
  2. Increase calories both before the race and during the bike

In the run up to this race I’d been feeling on and off almost daily. It seemed shaking the efforts at Busselton was proving tricky. Swimming was definitely coming on really well but biking was all over the place culminating in last Sundays ride to Mount Cook where I couldn’t even hang on Jo’s wheel when she was cruising. The following day I rode long and felt 1,000% better. Another big day followed and then I eased off completely and finally a couple of days out from the race started to get really excited, I just felt ready. Running was going to be interesting as I committed to addressing my run technique after Busselton and how long it would take me to progress was unknown. I probably got on better than I’d hoped and quickly progressed from 1 mile run 1 day off sequence. Even so the most I’d run with this new technique was 22.5k and my calves complained for days after. That said I was convinced that the change was for the better and even without the amount of running I’d have liked I was confident it would hold together.

RACE NUTRITION

Following Alberts advice I concocted a mix of ~1,500 cals that I managed to force down. I was trying to make it minimally grain based. I squashed 2 bananas with peanut butter, added some muesli, a large helping of strawberry and rhubarb full fat yogurt and then covered it generously with cream. It tasted fantastic Thursday morning when I checked it out, on race morning it tasted slightly less than OK but it went down fine. I had about 1,800 cals of gels and it was a right old mix – 3 x strawberry banana, 2 x tangerine, 2 x apple, 3 x vanilla, 2 x double latte, 5 x tropical crush. Thats what comes of being a hard up triathlete you just mix up what you had … it tasted not so bad especially as it didn’t seem to mix properly so through the ride the main flavour changed. I emptied 3 salt tablets in. I started the ride by munching a mars bar as I went through transition and for the first few KM on the bike.

During the run I took a gel at every aid station bar two which is 12 gels. I drank water till about halfway then had coke and water at each station.

So:

~1,500 cals race breakfast

~2,000 cals during bike

~1,200 cals during run

I also got hydration better than normal … I’m saying better because 10k in to the run I had to stop to pee. I hardly ever have to pee in a race. It made me smile, (sigh of course) and added to my positive thoughts. During the bike at most aid stations I grabbed a bottle took several big swigs and dumped it. I never refilled my speedfill instead I steadily sipped through it getting it finished as I approached T2. The speedfill was perfect for the conditions on the race as I could drink without taking a hand off the bars.

Did this change work. Well it’s the first time I’ve even splitted the run. I also had energy to really push the pace in the second lap and had some of my fastest splits in the final third of the run. Very rare for me and a real pleasure to be racing like that. I’ll cover more on the run later. I didn’t have any stomach upsets so it makes me wonder whether I could be eating even more.

SWIM

Very pleased with this. I bridged quickly to the pro pack at the start. Sat in for 3/4 of the first lap then went to the front and swam comfortably. I didn’t feel I was working overly hard at any point and was able to easily bilateral breath. I know in a pool if I’m pushing the pace I can’t normally bilateral breath. Given the VERY tough conditions 54 minutes is very pleasing indeed.

BIKE

I feel I did well to adjust my tactics for the race given the prevailing circumstances. It was clear early on that the wind in the final 70k was going to be absolutely brutal and during that whole section there would be only two stretches (one of about 3k and another of 5k) with the wind on your back. mostly it would be in your face or at best a cross wind. Over doing the first half would cost big time later. With this in mind I left the pros go as they went by they were cranking it to try and bridge up.

wanakaAnalysis1

I took set my garmin to take splits every 20km which the above graph shows. The power figures are normalised and I was surprised to find my overall normalised power for the ride pretty much the same as Busselton – 242 for a HR of 141. I eased back with the tail wind (80 & 100k above) and get ready for the push into the headwind. This allowed me to push 258 in the worst of the wind without feeling it was killing me. In hindsight it looks like it was a good approach. I had the fastest bike split in my age group but for the first 90km I had the 4th fastest split. I came in to T2 with legs feeling in pretty good shape.

RUN

wanakaAnalysis2

The focus here was to maintain my technique and try and run comfortable for at least the first lap ( 2 lap course). I found myself at sub 5 min / k pace without much effort. I also felt like I was running on different muscles to those I used cycling which is a bit of a first. This improved my state of mind even more as that seemed a really good thing. I felt pretty fresh and was enjoying running. The course is beautiful which I’m sure helps with my running. Along the river the track underlates a lot and I just enjoyed the fun of the sort of roller coaster ride. There was a big hill around the 12 / 13k mark on the run. I should note now that my splits are from a foot pod which over stated the distance by a KM so I was slightly slow than each of these splits and the line up of the splits is slightly off – so the slow split on km 12 in lap one alines with the most of the km 13 one in lap two. The graph gives the right impression of my pace between the two laps. The course was also pretty tough from KM 16 to 18 on each lap with lots of up and down.

Though I suffered most early in the second lap I was able to pick up the pace and my HR after the first 6km. From that point on my HR and KMs splits were more of less higher and faster than the previous lap it was only on the steep uphills where I consciously capped my efforts that this wasn’t the case. What a buzz to be running like this. My splits for the two laps were: 1:51:35 and 1:51:51. Not blistering but given the course and where my running is I was chuffed to bits.

The other great thing was I didn’t get even the sniff of an inkling of cramp in my calves. I can’t even remember the last time that was the case. THis allowed me to push without fear of cramping up. When I crossed the line and Richard Ussher asked to see the soles of my “bad boys” (Vibram FiveFinger Treks) my hamstring twinged with cramp. That seemed to confirm I must have run with far better technique than previously as I’d actually been using my hamstrings.

The big question is why did I run so much better, it certainly wasn’t due to the massive training I’d done in the past six weeks. It seems there are several possibilities:

1.I was just further rest following Busselton and it was down to the work I’d put in prior to that

2.The course was very forgiving

3.My new run technique

4.Better nutrition meant I still had the fuel available to run hard.

My feeling is that the last three all contributed and it was mostly down to the last two. I certainly hope so as Taupo is a tarmac run. It’s really exciting to think if I manage to build up my running with this new technique by then I could run like a dream. If I run like I felt yesterday but seeing 4:30 splits I will be finally cooking on gas again.

Winning my age group has brought up a dilemma though. I got a slot in Roth – this is exactly a week after Ironman Austria. It’s not really a dilemma as I wouldn’t miss the chance to race such an iconic race and it’s one I’d had at the back of my mind for 2012. I may see if I can defer my entry till then but otherwise I will have to have a go at back to back Ironmen !

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Challenge Wanaka 2011, Race Report

Posted on January 15, 2011 by lord_lordy

WanakaFinish

Time: 10:14:19
Swim: 54:15
T1: 2:48
Bike: 5:32:23
T2: 1:26
Run: 3:43:27

Race analysis here

This is a race I’ve wanted to do for a few years. Described as the most beautiful in the World and having spent nearly a week in the area ahead of the race I had no doubts it was likely to fit that description. My first Challenge event and it had just the friendly atmosphere I’d expected. The day before the race there’s a sprint triathlon including Elite racing in the evening. A very nice touch. Another nice touch is that on race day there is not only the Full Challenge event but a Half as well and relays in both. This allows a huge variety of people to be involved in the race which is great.

Race morning and already a strong wind was blowing. The wind predicted to arrive after most had finished the bike had arrived already and seeing as the winds tend to pick up in the afternoon this was likely to get tough. The good news was the wind was warm and the water was the warmest it’s been all week. I had the least nerves ever for a race and slept well the night before. I was looking forward to getting racing and was excited that finally in this last week I had started to feel recovered from Busselton. Not only recovered, I was feeling good.

The race plan was simple; be conservative on swim and bike then see how that affects my run. Since Busselton I’d been changing my run technique to forefoot running. This had involved initially just running a mile then a day off. Only in the last two weeks had I run over 20k and only once. The run felt like a journey into the unknown but I was looking forward to it. The other thing I was trying out was increased nutrition. Firstly I forced down at least 1,500 calories for breakfast: two bananas mashed with some peanut butter, 75g muesli added, big dollop of full fat strawberry and rhubarb yogurt covered in about 300ml of cream.

Stood on the beach for the start with Jo 10m ahead for the Pro start I had mixed feelings. It was seriously rough. This was great for me as a strong swimmer but it wasn’t the best for Jo. First goal was to bridge to the Pros and when the gun went off I raced in and within a minute was at the back of the Pro pack. I sat in there super comfortable. Suddenly we’re passing a swimmer, it looks like he stopped to take off his cap probably realising he was going to be too warm (the water had been very cold so many had neoprene caps on), I had two caps but would have been better with one. He then swam through, I tried to get on his feet but couldn’t. It looked like 2 or 3 got away and the rest of the Pros were accompanied by myself and another age grouper.

The sighting of the pack was terrible so I followed my own line. It’s a fact, I’m better than average at sighting ;o) .. I think it’s because I comfortable sight every stroke. At one point a pro tried to cut across me to get to the pack which was way off course I couldn’t believe it. I knew who it was – Belinda Harper who we’d met at the VIP drinks (yes we get to these things now Jo races pro !). It’s funny because I think my reaction was to shout something like “where the hell are you going” and talking to her after the race she heard !! At each buoy the pack came back together and swam over each other. It was ridiculous so after the 4th buoy I surged to the front managing to break up the pack and do the second lap with just a single swimmer on my feet. I relaxed into the massive chop. I reduced my sighting as it felt like you swam more easily through the waves with less head lift. I focussed on long powerful strokes making the most of every arm recovery. I really enjoy the rough conditions and kept reminding myself I was leading the age groupers and almost certainly my competition were suffering more than me. I wondered about the poor buggers that are already scared of the swim and struggling to make the cutoff, these conditions are likely to make it impossible for them. I came out of the swim and the guy on my feet ran by and thanked me. Daniel shouted that I was in 5th … it was quite motivational seeing how excited for me he seemed to be. I felt good, that had been a comfortable swim in very tough conditions.

Got my wetsuit stripped and was out on the bike in no time. Another part of my nutrition plan was to have a mars bar in my T1 bag and eat it in transition and at the start of the bike. Not only calories but also I felt it would force me to not get over excited at the start of the bike. I got the whole thing down and it kept me at an appropriate effort for the first few KM by when my excitement had reduced and my brain was engaged. There was the usual shake out at the start of the ride. I resisted the temptation of trying to go with the Pros’ who were hammering to try and bridge to the front group. A couple of age groupers came by but again it looked like early enthusiasm so I let them go. A third age grouper came by and I immediately wondered whether it was an over enthusiastic inexperienced Ironman as he belted by me on the hill but I closed on him on the downhills / flats. I decided I wouldn’t let him go. I also decided that I was really going to keep my efforts down for the first 100km or so. The reason being the wind was REALLY strong and the nature of the course was it started with 50-60km with decent pinches, then about 60km with this gale on your back but the final 60k would be almost all into the teeth of this gale. Anyone over cooking early on was going to seriously suffer.

Petr Vabrousek came by me during the pinches I remember noting how he passed on the flats but on each hill he didn’t pull away. It checked my efforts as it was clear even going easy I was going too hard up the hills.

The 60km with the tail wind was awesome increasing my average so I got through 110km in 3 hours (sub 5hr pace). The age group dude ahead was doing a good job and keeping my efforts down but he was showing signs of having overcooked it – he kept freewheeling, stretching. I spent a lot of time sat up as it seemed to make no difference being aero with such a strong wind on your back. I was also preparing mentally for the return and getting food in. getting ready. The guy ahead was getting quite annoying with how much he slowed for aid stations, at the final one before the turn he slowed ridiculously so I decided to start to up my effort, I gapped him and never saw him again.

Turning into the wind was unreal. Down on the aero bars pushing 240 watts or so and at times not even managing 15km/h. If you are ever in this position remember what I am about to tell you – my perception of how slow I was going was way worse than how slow I was going which i found out in hindsight. The reason is the tendency to look at your figures during the extremes. So it was when I was pushing hardest and going slowest I’d think “I wonder how bad this is” and look at my speed and see 13.x km/h. I felt for the weaker riders behind me and how they’d cope (I heard later some ended up pushing on sections) and how many marginal Ironman completions would be scuppered by making the bike cut off in these condition. I went by Luke Dragsta like he was standing still, he was clearly having a bad day. I was now on my own trying to gauge my own efforts, no one in sight ahead or behind. It was so hard mentally, just kept reminding myself this was the same for everyone and because I’d beens conservative early on I felt really strong and I convinced myself I would be coping better than my competition. At around the 140k mark a friend Paulie came by. He was riding strong. I’d ridden with him on the Five Passes and felt he’d be good to pace off. We exchanged a few words and said “Not much more of this” and despite I really should have known this was a fib (there was about 30km in total more of it) it really perked me up. I couldn’t match his pace but held him in sight for the next 20k and it really motivated me. Every so often there would be a lull and I urged myself to ramp up the pace as quick as possible to make the most of it. The final decent hill up to the airport was a welcome relief – it was nice not to be fighting a headwind. There were also the slower Half competitors to real in which added interest. Before I knew it was flying down the hill into town.

T2 was pretty quick. My Vibram Fivefinger Treks are a little easier to get on. I was racing in them because a lot of the run is off road. I was looking forward to this run. I was out on the run course before another cyclist had come in. i could just see Paulie ahead and wondered whether I could catch him. Almost immediately running with my new technique felt good. In fact, it felt like a revelation as it seemed I was using different muscles to those used on the bike. With my old technique it felt like I was using the same ones. Very quickly I felt like I was running fresh. I was running easy and knocking out 4:50 km/h. I stayed relaxed and didn’t push it. The outlet track along the river was gorgeous. Rough, up and down and seriously fun. It wasn’t till 9km that I hit a split above 5 min and hit 10k in 49 mins. I then climbed the first major hill – I relaxed and thought about my fell running, maintain the cadence, reduce the stride length. In fact, it felt nice running up it. In the past such a hill would have robbed my pace for after but I relaxed and found myself at 5 min /k again. I felt as comfortable as in the early KMs. The final part of the lap is cruel – some steep downhills which are slow and painful and you get with clear view of the finish but have 4k to go and have to turn away. I’d run the whole lap without seeing another soul that was on my lap. As I ran the turnaround I felt I was starting to suffer but was still at 5:10 pace …it wasn’t falling apart. Now was my only chance to check out the competition. Only 4 minutes or so back out on my lap and I saw the first guy in my age group. He looked determined and running well. It’s funny how whenever you see someone chasing you you feel they’re looking good and running better than you. Also you assume they’re not going to crack. The first 6 kms that 2nd lap took 32 minutes. I was battling in my mind. I felt if I ran like that he would have to run well but not great to catch me. I then hit the really nice trail and never before has this happened but I was able to really push the pace and my heart rate up. Normally at about this stage my legs start failing and I’m unable to raise my HR above 130. This time however I got through the next 5km in under 25 mins at an average HR of 145. I was now thinking if the guy behind catches me he deserves it, every KM I did in 5 mins meant he’d have to do one close to 4:30. I started thinking this was mine to lose. Up the big hill an then hit the next 4 km in 20 mins. 6 k to go and I’m still feeling strong. As I approached the last aid station with 4k to go I was starting to struggle with the pace. I decided to walk through and get 4 cups of coke down me ! I felt I was struggling but still got through those final 4k in 21 minutes. It seemed that with this new technique even when my legs are aching I can relax and still tick along easily. The other great thing was not even the slightest hint of cramp in my calf – the first time in probably 3 years or more.

Coming in to the long finish chute I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The atmosphere was superb and I was experiencing that rare but amazing feeling of knowing you’ve executed an excellent race. I ran strong throughout, even splitting so perhaps I could have gone a little quicker but the way my legs felt as I came towards the finish I reckoned i’d measured it just right. I also knew I’d won my age group … two of my years goals achieved in the first race. Not bad.

The race organiser Victoria was there and congratulated me – she seemed genuinely pleased for me. I was given my medal by Richard Ussher; you don’t have to be long in New Zealand to view this guy as a legend. He looked at my shoes and said “Look at those bad boys” and asked to see the sole. I lifted my foot up bending the knee and cramped my hamstring briefly. Never had cramp there before I took as a sign of my good technique ! We chatted for a while, there was no rushing you from the finish line, all super friendly just like the whole race had been.

Entering the recovery area I was weighed and sent to medical as I’d lost 4kg! Thats service but I felt great and after 10 minutes in there was let out for massage and food … though it took a good hour before I could face anything other than soup.

I want to race this again. It’s a beautiful course which makes the most of the wonderful surroundings, it’s efficiently organised and super friendly. It’s a pretty big race which feels like a local race. Well worth the trip out to New Zealand to avoid the northern hemisphere winter. Certainly if I could afford it it would become an annual trip for the next few years.

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Wanaka

Posted on January 13, 2011 by lord_lordy

Wanaka11.jpgThats the view from our balcony. This is one BEAUTIFUL part of the world. Can’t believe it’s taken me four visits to New Zealand to get down here. The Challenge Wanaka organisers really take care of their pro’s – they’ve sorted and paid for great accommodation for Jo (and hence me) right in the centre of town, mere minutes from the race start. We’re already discussing possible changes in plans for post race. We had hoped to travel up the West Coast but now are thinking of coming back here and to spend a day walking up  a local mountain and a day riding over the Crown Range to Queenstown … it will probably depend on how chipper we’re feeling.

Today I rode out to Hospital Flat to check out the first out and back section of the course. Yet more beautiful riding with awesome scenery. It went passed a camp site which made me laugh. Not a site full of little backpackers tents like I’m used to. No, it was more like a tented village. Massive, bus sized trailers with gazebos and other tents pitched around, multiple BBQs. It looked like on arrival most campers must have spent a day of heavy engineering to construct their holiday home.

Ran along the run course to double check the surface. Yesterday I’d run in my Vibram Bikilas which as OK but marginal. Today I ran in my Vibram Trek’s which I think I will use. Again, a lovely looking run with the majority on trails. I feel it will be good for my run performance as the surface should help curb initial enthusiasm and the softer surface together with having to vary your stride length should help keep your legs fresher towards the end.

The swim this morning was COLD. Amazing how it can go from lovely yesterday to face numbingly cold today. Plan to swim tomorrow to check it out again. Warm weather today and tomorrow should help heat it up.

It’s like a reunion down here – keep bumping in to friends from Christchurch or from Epic camp or a local lady who was brought up near Maltby in North Yorkshire and even bumped into an old Tri Londoner I knew from something like four years ago. All this and good coffee makes for a great event ;o).

I’m really looking forward to this race and starting to get quite excited. A week a go I thought I was pretty zonked and enjoyment was the main aim but now I’m starting to feel in pretty good shape so I’m visualising a good race. My running the past couple of days has felt comfortable so I’m hopeful that, despite spending the time since Busso focussing on technique and doing very little volume, I will have a good run.

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Mount Cook

Posted on January 11, 2011 by lord_lordy

MountCook.jpgWith the cancellation of Epic Camp Jo and I decided to a little road trip down to Wanaka for the race and then have a small holiday afterwards. We had thought of doing our own little Epic Camp but without the motivation of other campers I’ve found that I’ve seen the race coming close and started to err a little on doing less rather than training hard right in to it.

On Saturday we drove down from Christchurch. I did my run by running to collect the car whilst Jo headed to the squad swim. I dropped Jo and her bike off at the top of Burkes Pass whilst I drove on to Twizel and then rode back to her. The views of Mount Cook were awesome. On Sunday we did a 130k round trip riding to Mount Cook village and back. What a beautiful ride with Mount Cook centre view the whole way getting ever bigger until as we got real close we couldn’t see it due to other mountains in close proximity. I felt utterly terrible ALL day on the bike. Jo was dropping me without any effort whatsoever. A cookie and a bar of chocolate at Mount Cook didn’t do it. A large coffee, afghan cookie and packet of sweets seems to help a little. Jo wondered whether she’d given me the decaf coffee this morning by mistake. I still went for my run but wow was I off form.

This sort of thing makes me realise how tour riders can have a crap day one day and ride superbly the next. I didn’t juice up unless you count swigging a litre of “whole” milk ( a misnomer if ever there was one) made more “whole” by adding 200ml of cream to it. Anyway… it meant Monday morning when I rode from Twizel to Lake Hawea via Wanaka I felt awesome. I was going so well Jo reckoned she must have somehow missed me in the car and turned round and went back 20k before realising I must have been ahead.

It is truly beautiful country down here. This is my fourth visit to New Zealand and I must be into my eighth month here in total and it’s only now we’ve come down to this part. I could spend a lifetime here I’m sure and not grow bored. The mountains are so enticing … make me reminisce about years ago when all my holidays were spent fell running / walking and climbing.

Today I headed with Dave and Douglas to Wanaka to swim in the Lake. We’d heard a lot of scare mongering about how cold it is. Well… it’s the coldest I’ve swam in a long while but then again I’ve been chasing the sun for a few years now. It’s certainly not the coldest I’ve ever swam in and once I had my breathing under control I thoroughly enjoyed the swim – the view with every breath was out of this world and the water was soooo pure. I do wonder on race morning whether it will take a time for my hands to warm up on the bike. Swimming tomorrow earlier so we will see.

Then we all headed out for a ride on the course. The chip is rough on the roads but again not as bad as you’re lead to believe. Well… it is bad compared to a lot of roads in Europe, but for New Zealand it’s not OTT and for sure you just get used to it and it becomes the norm. Ended up riding just over 90k taking in all the hilly parts of the course and doing some pretty solid intervals. Feeling a little excited about the race now. Just need to check out the run course tomorrow.

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Eddington Review

Posted on January 6, 2011 by lord_lordy

Eddington11-1This has been a while coming due to the incredibly slow internet connection we’ve had here in Christchurch for the past couple of weeks. I think I’m perhaps the only Eddington Number fan in the world so readers have to humour me once a year as I do a public review of my numbers.  The progressive increase in difficulty of these numbers intrigues me but I also track annual numbers which means each year I have some achievable targets to go for.

Previous reviews: 2009, 2008   

TRAINING TIME

It’s been a pretty consistent year reflected by one of my best weekly training EdNums – 28 weeks of 28 hours or more and 52 weeks of 52 minutes or more. The latter shows I took no weeks of complete rest. My daily number of 9 hours shows I didn’t do too many mega days as I didn’t manage 10 days over 10 hours. A lot of the life to date figures are pretty much at their terminal figure. Daily hours is 11 requiring 6 x 12 hour days to go up one. I’d guess I’ll get to 12 in the near future but 13 seems a long way off unless I continue Ironman till I die and start getting 16+ hr finish times. Weekly hours is getting pretty tricky to move at 43 hours. This year I’m unlikely to move it given my new fewer hours approach but in my heart I’m hoping that figure will get to 50 in my lifetime – if only because I want to do more Epic Camp / Epic Camp like weeks. My whole triathlon career I’ve done these mega weeks – initially on my own staying in a pub in Scotland and then as part of Epic Camp. The 427 daily minutes is pretty pleasing – 427 days of over 7hr7mins !! Can I get that to 500 in my lifetime?

Targets for next year: 210 for daily minutes. Thats it as nothing else would fit with my 100hrs per month cap.

SWIM

Eddington11-2

My swimming has really come on this year and I think it’s a straight reflection of the work put in. My annual figures this year include some of my best. At least 7 7km days, 48 weeks of over 48 minutes and at least 6 weeks of 6 hours or more.

Life to date figures see some looking pretty much unmoveable. 9km per day, 6 miles per day, 4 hours per day all look unlikely to move unless I get some training time at Club La Santa and get enticed into double training days.

Targets for 2011: LTD weekly KM to 23 (it’ll only take one week of 23k). Daily km 7 or more. With Rolly’s Ironman sets I will probably get 7 x 7k swims before I leave ChCh. Will I get any 8k swims though !

BIKE

Eddington11-3

This is where it all started with the bike. Cycling fits best with this statistic as the numbers for distances are the right sort of size. I feel these are the ones I’m really chasing.

This year I managed for the first time to get an annual weekly mileage number of 52. This is harder than it seems as it means 52 miles EVERY SINGLE WEEK. This was really tough the week after the European Long Course … I remember heading out for a ride with Jo to get just 12 miles … it’s the toughest 12 miles I’ve ever ridden. Then post Busselton I forced myself out for three short rides to try and make the 52 easier to get but on the Sunday (the last day of my week) I had to crank out 39 miles to keep on track. Again a very hard 39 miles.

There was a period when I thought I was on track to beat 2007 101 mile EdNum but I think Epic Camp and recovery from that put me behind. Yes Epic Camp held me back ;o) not through lack of total miles but lack of rides over 101 miles. By the build to Kona I realised it was not possible. 88 looks close, but in practise I needed 32 rides of 102 miles or more to get there. Instead I moved to the 117 KM and got darn close but no cigar.

Life to date mileage is getting tough now though I have moved it to 128 on 2nd Jan when I rode my 53rd longest ride of 150 miles. Classic route going across both summit roads to Akaroa and back. Bizarrely I did it because I wanted to get the follow altitude graph:

Eddington11-4

It would have been easier to just draw it though probably less fun.

Targets for 2011: Beat my annual best daily KM of 117. Get daily mile number to 130 and get KM over 190.

RUN

Eddington11-5

There’s not much to say with the running numbers since the past two years have been relatively conservative. The years prior to injury put a lot of these number seemingly out of reach. The daily miles is going to take some shifting as it’s stuck at marathon distance though the plan is to race the OMM next year which should get me some ultra distance runs, at least in training.

The consistency of my running this year is pretty pleasing with my weekly figures getting close to previous years.

Targets for 2011: LTD daily KM improved … should be easy as my Ironman racing will do it. Annual Weekly KM over 40 and miles over 30.

GYM

Eddington11-6

For completeness here are my gym figures. With my new approach non of my gym sessions are planned to be more than an hour which more or less means most of these figures won’t be moved on.

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Changing Plans

Posted on January 1, 2011 by lord_lordy

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Sure thing Einstein, but then isn’t the basis of (endurance) training an adaption to physical demands by the repeated application of similar demands? The insanity then is not to give an approach enough time to bear fruit. The problem is when do you need a change? Clearly not after a week if no improvement is seen. But how long? A month? Six? A year? Several years?

When I started out in triathlon I had a clear weakness with cycling. I felt I had to get miles in my legs and quickly decided it was not possible to get those miles in a single year. A multi year plan was required. I never really decided how many years but plucked out a pretty arbitrary figure of 100,000 miles. No worrying about precisely what was done just get out and ride lots. Come rain or shine I was out there. It naturally followed on from my previous life as a fell runner and together with this found me falling in to a simple approach of training long distance at mostly steady pace.  Those who know me will vouch for the fact that I took this approach to the extreme, but it was fun and I progressed pretty rapidly to become one of the strongest cyclists in my age group. Naturally I felt that continuing with this approach would yield continued improvements. Certainly in the first three years it did. But the three years following appear now to have been a plateau. At the time, this was very difficult to see, and having a major injury in the middle of it masked the possibility my protocol had run it’s course.

My Kona performance this year to made me question it. Post injury I’d progressed consistently through to qualifying for Kona in Lanzarote. I did a big block of training in the summer and expected to race better at Kona. Despite having a comfortable enjoyable swim and arriving on the bike in a awesome frame of mind I just didn’t have any juice. My race was a huge disappointment.

Finally I questioned my approach. I asked for advice where I could get it. One piece of advice struck a cord with me and gave a change in mindset: cap my monthly hours to 100. A new challenge.

Time became a limited resource. Having maneuvered my life to provide time and flexibility to train, I’d just trained lots. Now I had to think about what I did. Keys changes were:

  1. Fewer swim sessions, all HARD. Find the minimum required to maintain my current form.
  2. Less riding. Focus on time at race intensity and intervals above
  3. Running has been reduced since my injury so this may increase. Focus is on running at target pace, track sessions and some specific work on my run technique.
  4. More efficiency in the gym

It’s important to not look at this new protocol in isolation. It’s easy to look at an athletes approach for the last season and attribute their success to that, ignoring the accumulated effects of previous seasons that laid the foundations. I look on this as my super macro plan. I’ve had 6 years of triathlon build and am now going into a season of specific race preparation.

For Ironman Western Australia I’d applied 6 weeks of the new regime. Not long enough to assess its impact but plenty of time for me to be fully rested. There were doubts. Time spent not training felt like time getting unfit. Several days each week had minimal training, which was fun but required real faith in my decision. However, I managed a rare race where I didn’t feel I could have gone much faster. My swim and bike rank with the best I’ve achieved. My run was way off my pre-injury form but pleasing. It’s early days yet for sure, but this strong performance has given me reassurance that the changes I’m making are at least not detrimental…and the fresh outlook and refined focus to my training is already beginning to play out in my racing.

Perhaps a better quote is: “A change is a good as a rest”

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Bike And Run Review

Posted on December 28, 2010 by lord_lordy

BikeReview10-2

 

I had planned to do separate reviews of bike and run but time has rather whizzed by so I’m going to combine them. Jo and I did an awesome ride on Christmas Day. Similar to last year but this time we headed out over the Port Hills and did the summit road on the way back. The profile of the ride is quality:

BikeReview10-1

What amused me even more than this graph was the climb from Akaroa to the Summit road. This has to be the toughest climb in these here parts. I took a split from leaving the main road to the top (so I missed the first 10 minutes of climbing) but as I left Jo I’d decided my aim was to ride the hill as easy as possible. This is something I often tell my athletes when I know they’ll get an appropriate workout from a hill without trying. So doing this hill as easy as possible resulted in the following:

5km covered, 507m ascent in 33 minutes. Average HR 150, average power 278 watts, average cadence 46. Giving me a more or less best every CP30 ! And that was going as easy as I could. Already have in mind to get back there and ride it hard … not sure it will be that different.

Ok lets get to the review.

BIKE

So far I’ve ridden 15,141 miles this year only the second time I’ve managed more than 15,000. Thats an average of 291 per week with an average ride length of 74 miles. (Eddington Numbers will be covered in a separate review). My numbers were really heading to be massive until the change in approach after Kona cut back my love (obsession?) with riding long.

Overall my cycling has been pretty solid all year though I’m not convinced it’s moved on since this time last year. In racing I’ve had a couple of rides that have been disappointing but both times I feel the reason lies more generally than my biking. In both cases I felt I was in great shape but with hindsight I was tired. At Ironman new Zealand I’d just not got over Epic Camp and at Hawaii I was darn tired. Almost certainly due to serious lack of sleep in September combined with my highest monthly training hours. Following each of these disappointments I backed up with a solid ride at the next race but the approach was different.

My initial reaction following New Zealand was it was lack of long riding. I’d been so tired post Epic Camp that I’d not done much over distance riding. I felt this was lacking so in April I just put my head down and rode long and steady. I did 19 rides that month covering 1,838 miles ( an average of ~ 97 miles!). This was often in bad weather with lots of it up in the North Yorkshire Moors. It served me well as I rode my easiest Ironman bike at Lanzarote to get 5:20 and set me up for my Kona spot.

Following Hawaii I was pretty convinced I was just tired. So the month after that I did 18 rides covering 1,122 miles (an average of ~62 miles) but with much more purposeful intervals. All long rides include 6 x 5 mins @ ~ 300 watts in the first half and a long Ironman interval in the second. I rode great at Busselton again setting me up to get my Kona slot. What was really pleasing was I almost matched last years split (in harder conditions) whilst knowing I could run and was planning on running hard. It put aside thoughts that the previous years split had only been possible because I knew I wouldn’t be able to run fast.

I’m fully committed to the new approach this year and feel that provided I feel fresh I will be able to hit good solid interval sessions and improve the wattage I can hold for Ironman. Fingers cross it will continue to be fun.

The most enjoyable riding this year has ranked as some of the best riding I’ve done and that was at Epic Camp and on the Five Passes Tour. Both involved lots of hard group riding and I just got such a buzz from pushing hard and long on the front as well as trying to just hang on when the pack surged. I had the sense to give myself the time to recover after the Five Passes.

RUN

So far I’ve run 1,606 miles this year my lowest mileage other than last year. Thats 31 miles per week with an average run length of 7.4 miles.

The year started well with Epic Camp. I went into that thinking that there was no way I could win the Yellow Jersey as there were no bike add ons so running lots was required. My competitive side kicked in and I ran lots anyway and discovered that my foot was up to running more.

I’d been slow in my return to running. I was aware of how injury free I’d been post the years in my later 20s early 30s when I’d been unable to run and had 3 knew surgeries. When I finally ran again I went 2 years without doing any interval work. I just ran for fun and ran at a comfortable pace. Following that I was injury free and put it down to the patience in my return allowing my joints, tendons, ligaments etc… to gain resilience.

I continued this post Epic and ran well at Taupo for 24k and afterwards felt it was just a matter of building my run stamina. I continued this with lots of longer runs in the run up to Lanza and managed a 3:33 run which was (just) enough to get the last Kona slot. As with the bike the run at Hawaii was disappointing. It was due to a combination of general fatigue together with my move to racing in vibrams. Coming in to Busselton I made a change to my approach. I started running with a Garmin so I could run at specific paces. All my running was faster and targetted at improving my ‘default’ speed. There was progress and probably as good as I’d hoped. Half marathon in 1:39 then big fade. The latter not surprising given my overall lack of running. Enough to get my Kona spot and as such remove the pressure on the up coming races which has allowed me to step back now and look at my technique. Since Busso I’ve been slowly building back my running with better technique thats hugely to the help from Helen at Ten-Point who has generously given her time and reviewed loads of video footage of my running that Jo’s taken. It’s made running a real pleasure and certainly been interesting. Now my calves ache and seem to be the limiter. In a race it’s always been my quads that have failed me. Discussing with Jo, who clearly runs forefoot striking, it’s always her calves that limit her performance. Anyway, it’s going to take patience and will means the run at Challenge Wanaka in just over 2 weeks will be interesting. The hope is though that I’ll run strong at Taupo and super strong at Austria.

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DCM Sport Beer Mile

Posted on December 23, 2010 by lord_lordy

SHORT REPORT

Third last in a little under 10 mins

LONG REPORT

I have new found respect for these people that have run fast beer miles. By fast, I would rate anything under an 8 minute mile. Last night I think I ducked under 10 mins and with training I’m sure I could be quicker. I would have to focus on my weakness and thats chugging beer.

Daniel sent out an email the morning of the race saying he was organising it and by the 7pm start there were about 20 racers all lined up in fancy dress. Jo and I helped make it an international field, there were also a couple of top New Zealand ITU guys and lots of other strong age group Triathletes. On the way over Jo and I had got an 18 pack of New Zealand Lager 4 for the occasion. Quality stuff. Why 18 cans ? For one, we weren’t sure whether we needed 4 or 5 cans each and secondly we wondered whether we may want a can to warm up with.

So .. the rules. Neck a can, run a lap, times 4. Penalties for chucking up. SIMPLES

As we all hold our cans waiting for the start I start to get the giggles. Alternative pre race nerves I’m sure but not ideal when you have to skull a beer. Suddenly a 330ml can of beer seems like an awful lot of beer.

We’re off. Skull a third, stop for breath. Jeez some of the guys are off at pace. Skull a bit more. Jeez Jo is off.  I knew she’d beat me but at this rate she’s going to lap me. Skull rest and I’m off. Keep it steady, feel bloated, already realising some of the times I’ve heard people doing this in are worthy of respect. Already belching and realising the alcohol ain’t the issue as it won’t hit you in time, it’s the volume and gas.

Lap 1 done. Catch breath, pleased to see others are still there. Start to skull. Kay asks if I’m on my third can (clearly having seen me at Epic Camp she assumes I’ll be good at this). I tell her it’s my second to which she retorts “It’s not a Sunday BBQ you know”. At this point, not only am I looking like I’m gonna be chicked but I’ll be the last bloke. I can see Dave Lawson and knowing his enthusiasm is likely to have him heading off quick and “going out the arse” later I feel I’m unlikely to be last. I also spot Evil Knievel and his helmet looks heavy.

Off again, more belching, more focussing on my running form (there are people watching). Third beer. This one’s not so fun. Bleedin hell I’m about to be lapped by my housemate Andy (he goes on to win in 6:22 !!!) He was excited leading in to the race, he knew he had a chance and seemed pretty knowledgable on the finer arts of beer drinking. Talk of shotgunning and wishing it could be a yard of ale per lap certainly sounded like fighting talk to me and I felt pretty sure it was borne from experience rather that trying to psyche out an unlikely competitor in me. He’d clearly had a ‘misspent’ youth which perhaps now may not be viewed quite so ‘misspent’.

Evil Knievel is holding me back, arm tightly around my shoulder,  saying he doesn’t want to be last. He’s strong despite the beer, I point out Dave is behind and muscle free. I’m off again, it’s now a blur. Running is OK but drinking is not so good. I think I even resorted to spilling a bit of the last one down my best Hawaiian shirt. Final beer… oh no, drink quick or Jo will finish and can claim lapping you. DONE ! Phew, enjoy the moment, run the lap, soak up the atmosphere, you’ve trained years for this moment, don’t just let it pass. And then it’s all over.

As the minutes post finish tick by it seems slowly everyone is starting to get a little tipsy.

If I can sort out sponsorship to cover flights and expenses I’ll be back next year to try and better third from last. Jo won the ladies by over a lap so she’ll probably be invited back ;o)

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Swim Review

Posted on December 17, 2010 by lord_lordy

SwimReview10-1It’s that time of year when I do a review of each discipline and consider changes for next year. It’s been a pretty good and consistent year with my swim performances at Ironman: 51:19 (NZ), 52:31 (Lanza), 57:39 (Kona) and 50:21 (Busso). I also did a 56:36 4k at the European Long Course in June. Kona rather sticks out but it’s generally a slow swim and is non wetsuit. It still would be nice to manage sub 55 there but that would require big improvements in my swim fitness if I am to do it without busting a gut.

SwimReview10-2

Lets look at a few stats.

So far I’ve swum 621km this year. By year end it will be around the 650km. This makes it my second biggest swim year only being beaten last year. The average weekly swim distance is 13.9km and the average length of a session was 4.3km.

Given the overall consistency of those swims it’s interesting to see that my training approach has varied quite a lot through the year.

Leading in to New Zealand I was training regularly with the squad in Christchurch. Not only getting some very hard sessions done but normally over 15k a week with many over 20k. This lead to a very good swim on what tends to be a fast course but swimming in a small pack.

I had an ease off from swimming ahead of going to Lanzarote where I then hit the swimming hard. A 30+k week in Club La Santa but other than that all open water swimming. Virtually none of this swimming involved formal main sets. Generally it was long steady state efforts.  Following this I managed a great swim at Lanzarote which i think tends to be a slightly slow swim.

Ahead of Kona we moved to Taunton and weren’t able to get in the squad there. So instead I was training in the public sessions and felt it was less disruptive to just swim continuously. I did lots of steady state 4ks. Six out of eight weeks of build I did over 20k with the other two over 15k. Lots of steady state swimming. I had the most comfortable Kona swim.

SwimReview10-3

Then leading in to Busso with my new approach I really reduced my swimming but very session was super focussed. If I didn’t feel I’d be able to execute a session at appropriate pace I wouldn’t do it. I was doing 3 sessions a week and no more than 12k in total but big chunks were at Ironman pace or above. I had a great swim at Busso.

The only below par swim was the ETU but it was still good. I was first out of the water, I swam on my own and it was comfortable. But 57 minutes isn’t great however given my bike and run following it was perhaps appropriate pace. The graph shows I did very little swim training in to this race.

Very pleased with this years swimming. It’s shown a variety of approaches can produce a good result. It was reassuring to see I swam well at Kona despite a whole summer without a squad to swim with. Next year I will continue trying to establish just how little time I can spend on my swimming and maintain my current form.

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