Steven Lords Website

IMWA Post Mortem

Posted on December 14, 2010 by lord_lordy

This race is quite a nice one to think about post race and decide what I could have perhaps done different / better since I am pleased with it and am not convinced that doing anything different would have produced a better time. Even so, it’s worth looking at and considering what might have been done differently. Thanks to Gordo and Albert for making me think about certain things.

The main problem with my race was my big fade second half of the run. A common problem for many of us. My gut reaction is to blame it on my lack of running. It’s nice to have an injury 18 months a go as an excuse but really is that valid ? My run mileage may be low compared to my pre injury days but it was still pretty decent. In the build up I averaged 36 miles per week and managed numerous runs over 15 miles and six of 20 or more with the later long runs done at pace – generally 4:45 / km or better.

IMWAPostMortem1

This begs the question if it wasn’t lack of running what was it ? Two things come to mind. Pacing and Nutrition. Given that what did I do and what could be done different in future ?

PACING

My ride was done for 2/3 at ~ 240 watts and 142 HR. The final lap was closer to 220 but for a similar HR. That surely suggests that I went out too hard. Interestingly enough it didn’t feel like I was fading as most of the people around me for the first two laps were there for the last one, including Kate Bevalaqua (the womens winner). With hindsight though I can see that the two guys that pulled away weren’t putting on a spurt they were just not fading. I can even visualise the precise point it started to happen.

The other question is whether I swam too hard ? Compared to Ironman swims in the past this was relatively easy in terms of perceived effort but perhaps this is difficult to judge when you’re just focussing on staying in a pack.

Looking back to some of my harder training rides I find that I did a 90 minute interval at the end of a 130k ride at an average power of 271 watts with an average HR of 143. Certainly would appear that right from the outset my watts were low for my HR. A proviso though – the HR data for the first lap has been ignored as it was clearly wrong (have the time being well over 220).

Overall, it would seem I swam too hard and rode too hard !

Given the race again and this knowledge would I race differently. Not sure. Once on the bike I was with the front age group pack and to lower my effort would have meant a conscious decision to drop off. Pacing is mentally so much easier in the group. Similarly, in the swim I would have had to drop off the front group. It’s probably a sign that I was working hard that I did consider this during the race but told myself to stop being so soft ;o). If I’d dropped to the next group I would probably not have made the front pack on the bike and perhaps have paced the ride more evenly. In 2009 I didn’t make the front swim pack, swam 2 minutes slower but rode 3 minutes quicker with 3 almost (to the second) identical laps !

Challenge Wanaka is my next race. A much smaller field will probably mean I swim and bike on my own so it’s an ideal time to try racing more conservatively during the swim and bike.

NUTRITION

In the lead up to this race I was a little more free with my carbs. Not carbo loading by any means but I had toast with my scrambled egg each morning and ate more than normal carbs the night before. Breakfast was a couple of slices of toast with an obscene pile of butter and marmalade on top. At most it would come to 400 cals I reckon. During the bike I managed to get down my 1,800 cal gel mix in my bottle plus one banana and one bottle of coke. I’m guessing a little over 2,000 cals in just under 5 hours. I suffered no gastro problems. On the run I had a gel per aid station missing only I think three the whole course. Thats 13 gels or ~ 1,300 cals. Plus I had cups of coke in the latter half of the run. At most I would think thats 1,500 cals in 3.5 hrs. This means I went the first hour without cals, then got about 400 per hour down on the bike and about the same on the run. Not even an inkling of gastro problems throughout.

Perhaps I just didn’t eat enough. At Wanaka I will definitely push this up a little and see what happens:

Will force more breakfast down. I could eat double what I had perhaps more. I will need to practise this ahead of time as I don’t each much bread in general so need to ensure my stomach can handle so much grain.
On the bike I will load up at least 2,500 cals in my bottle. Wanaka is a slower course so imagine that will end up at about 500 per hour. I will think about this further and perhaps try and bolster it.
On the run, continue with the gel per aid station (assuming they’re about every 2k) but will hit the coke earlier whilst I’m still running well.

As I say this is all speculation. I was thoroughly happy with how I performed on the day but any fade like that on the run shows that I mis-paced the race for my given level of fitness. There was an element of going for it on the run to at least try for sub 9 hours. In fact, going through 10k I was on pace for 8:53 (a bit ambitious!), at 21k was on for 9:02 and by 32k needed a mere 39 minute 10k to round it off. Yes, I definitely hit the run too hard but perhaps I also hit the swim and bike too hard. I’ll never know for certain but a big part of the fun of this game is trying to figure it out.

It’s unusual this close after a race but I’m already up for racing hard at Wanaka.

Posted in Race Review | Tagged Busselton, Ironman, Race Nutrition | Leave a comment

IMWA Race Review

Posted on December 10, 2010 by lord_lordy

Whenever things change there’s a natural tendency to be negative about it. That was definitely the feeling following last years race knowing the race was being taken on by the WTC. Certainly there’s a feeling that they will be looking to maximise profit. When we registered and found no competitors t-shirt this time it did make us wonder but now having completed the race I feel that overall the changes have definitely improved an already excellent race.

Firstly the swim was switched round so it went round the jetty the other way. This removed the ambiguity there used to be in the course. The transition was still pretty short and compact.

The bike course changes made the course slower and added a dead turn and some extra rises. It’s still fast but not as fast. There was a reduction in turns through town which was good. Overall I think the bike course was as good as last year.

The run course was much improved. 4 laps weaving a course along the sea and through town. There was never more than about 3km without something of interest. It made the run seem more manageable. It also went in to town each lap right past the finish and right by transition. It made it fantastic for supporters and for seeing your fellow competitors. The many out and back sections meant you could keep an eye on competitors within about 15 minutes of you but beyond that not necessarily. This was the only real negative of the course. I only saw Jo twice the whole run and at no point saw the leaders of the race. Overall though I think it was a better course, I’d sacrifice seeing the leaders for such a fun interesting course.

As for goodies – think it was better overall. The transition bags were mesh reusable bags. The finishers t-shirt was a nice technical shirt. Great finishers towel and one of the best medals I’ve had. They even made the bands you got for each lap those “Livestrong” style bands. The grandchildren of the people we stayed with thought they were superb. The number on the bike racking was a fridge magnet for you to take. M-dot branding gone bananas but a weirdly nice touch.

To cap it all was the awards banquet. Last years was good but they managed to improve on it. The marquee was very long with four sets of orange chinese lantern style lights running along the length. This gave a great feeling of perspective. The stage was in the middle and by the stage the lanterns had a big “M” hanging below so the lantern was the dot. It looked great. The Stage in the middle helped the flow of events as the presentations alternated between sides. There were massive screens periodically along the length which meant everyone had a great view. The food was really good with no queues. We never ran out of beer or wine. The speeches weren’t over long and the video of the race was excellent. I don’t know how they manage to put it together it such a short time. As the video ended, Mike Reilly appeared on a little stage at one end, spot light on him, he shouts “You are an Ironman” and the curtains behind him part, smoke rises, disco lights come on, loud music and we see the dance floor. SUPERB. Mike does an enthusiastic dance (I’ll leave it at that). I say to Jo – let’s go and dance. I know these things just need someone to start it and everyone will dance. So we walked up hand in hand in our Hawaiin shirts and danced for a couple of minutes before loads of other people came up. Good times !

Really … all awards banquets should be like this. Right out of the top drawer. It was made all the better when I found out the podium was down to 5th so I got a trophy.

This is really one top notch event. I think I would probably rank it as the best Ironman event I’ve done. We would both love to come back again next year but unfortunately the entries open up really early (ie next Wed) and I don’t know whether we will be able to afford to come, definitely won’t know whether we can by the time entries have closed. It’s a race I would do every year if it were closer to home. I fully recommend making the effort to get out and do this race.

Posted in Race Review | Tagged Busselton, Ironman | Leave a comment

Ironman Western Australia Analysis

Posted on December 6, 2010 by lord_lordy

Race Report here

Held off writing this until after the Hawaii roll down. I am pleased (very) to say I got my Kona slot. Chuffed to bits. Felt it was marginal whether I would qualify here and getting it in the bag at the first attempt this season makes me feel like normal service is starting to resume. It was a funny old roll down with loads of people not taking slots. For instance in my age group (M40-44) there were 4 slots and the top 4 all didn’t take them so I ended up getting the first slot. Then an older age group slot rolled in to our age group. A lot of happy vets. In the womens an older age group slot rolled down to the biggest age group but there was a tie. Both F30-34 and F35-39 had same number of finishers. So they checked starters. The same again. So they checked entrants. F30-34 had 52, F35-39 had 51 … at which point one particular lady erupted. There was a great vibe.

This post is really to review my race. I’ve written a report here. I’ll have more thoughts once I’ve had time to ponder the race but I find it worth while to record my initial feelings.

First and foremost I feel I had a great race and don’t feel I could really have gone much faster on the day. The only real area that may have made decent time difference was pacing on the run. By the finish I was content to have been run out of third as I gave it my all and the guys that chased me down deserved it. I gave my best and they beat me.

PRE RACE

I got my usual nerves but used a lot of visualisation to keep them in check. Didn’t help me sleep but did get me to the start line in a very relaxed frame of mind.

SWIM

Don’t think this could have gone better. Looking at recent swims it seems the difference for me in a wetsuit swim between 50:xx and 52:xx is whether I manage to get on a fast group. In this race I’d decided not to redline but just to go fast enough to keep towards the front. I managed to merge with the lead pack early and must have draft for 80% of the swim. First half was cruisey with little wasted energy. I had my usual doubts about 3/4 through … at that point I tend to start feeling the swim is hard work and my mind starts to ponder the enormity of the day ahead. I regularly have thoughts of some legitimate reason to pull out. It happened this time but I did self talk during the swim and got myself back on track. Cruising on my own for the final few 100m helped me really get in the right frame of mind for the bike.

BIKE

My split was 3 minutes slower than last year but I feel it was a far better bike split. For one I was in the front age group pack the whole way which I didn’t manage last time. I also feel the course is slower. The changed bit has more undulations and is pretty rough service. Speaking to Matt Illingworth (he went 4:18 here a couple of years back and 4:30 this weekend) he felt the new section was slow. Also there was a much stronger wind and it rained making the corners very slick resulting in very slow tentative turns. I stuck to my guns of not letting any age groupers get away and it worked a treat. Ended with a pretty evenly paced ride. Looking at my power afterwards showed:

Lap 1 – Av power: 246w – Normalised power: 248wAv – HR: weird readings

Lap 2 – Av power: 245w – Normalised power: 247wAv – HR: 143

Lap 3 – Av power: 218w – Normalised power: 221wAv – HR: 142

The final lap didn’t feel like I’d eased up probably because no one caught us and we actually dropped some people. However, I do remember feeling relieved if whoever was at the front of the paceline wasn’t pushing it whereas in earlier laps that would have made me ride through. Also, two guys rode off the front. At the time I didn’t realise but they probably weren’t actually going harder.

Overall I was very happy with my bike ride. I executed my plan and got a good split without completely demolishing myself. In hindsight I wonder whether I should have gone easier early on but my belief is the advantages of establishing myself in the front group far outweighed the impact of the extra watts early on. The big thing it confirmed my feeling that Kona was an anomaly probably due to tiredness rather than lack of fitness.

Deserves a mention because it was 40s quicker than last year and I was putting vibrams on !

RUN

I started the run with 5:44 on the clock just like last year. So 3:15 would have be sub 9. I set off comfortably and seeing the 4:20 – 4:30 splits just rolled with it since it was keeping me on target for sub 9. 10k in 45 minutes meant it was still on the cards. By half way I was a minute of so off. It the really fell away. I was pleased to have gone for it though I believe this is where most time could have been save if I’d been able to go easier for that first 10k. I was in a race though and running into first. I was motivated to try and the last time I had that sort of motivation I ran 3:08. This time I wasn’t in that sort of run shape. I was found out.

You can see my splits steadily increased through the race. Note I ran this with a footpod which gave a marathon distance of 42.47k … pretty accurate I thought. I did monitor when it beeped my KM splits verses the KM markers to make sure I was aware of how accurate it was. There’s is a notable downshift in my HR. I’ve commented to Jo in the past that I always feel my run is limited by my legs, I never feel like I’m taxing my aerobic system. This graph shows it. In the race for the first half I was aware of my breathing for the second I wasn’t out of breath. Part of this I feel is my inability to focus and keep pushing. When I thought I was fighting for 3rd (in hindsight it was for 4th) every so often I pushed the pace and it was possible to hit low 5 min /k but then it felt like I wimped out at the feeling it was creating. The other part is just lack of hard running. November started to address this but it’s going to take many months of this.

For sub 9 I need to sort it out. A lot of guys run 3:15 in my age group. It’s not a ridiculous goal to run that and on a course like this it’s all I need. I feel this race has re-asserted my belief I have a sub 9 hour race in me just itching to get out.

Finally, it was quite pleasing that before the race I predicted my total time within a minute ! (admittedly I got the splits a little wrong).

Posted in Race Review | Tagged Busselton, Ironman | Leave a comment

Ironman Western Australia, Busselton 2010

Posted on December 5, 2010 by lord_lordy

Time: 9:20:57
Swim: 50:21
T1: 2:20
Bike: 4:49:43
T2: 1:40
Run: 3:36:54

Race Analysis here.

Though pretty nervous coming in to this race I managed to keep my nerves in check despite waking every 30 minutes throughout the night. This race starts early so the alarm went off at 2:45am. Couple of slices of toast with marmalade and two black coffees before wandering in to transition for just after 4am. Bike ok so found somewhere to relax. Was lucky to find a chair in the marquee and just hung out there.

This race has got to have one of the most beautiful starts. The ocean always seems to be calm, the beach faces north so the sun just rises to the right and with the crowd on two sides (the shore and the jetty) it gives a great atmosphere. Jo was off in the pro start at 5:30am then us at 5:45am.

The course went round the jetty the opposite way from other years, making for a simpler course. I placed myself slap bang in the middle of the start as both sides looked sketch; by the pier gave a slightly longer route and on the right a line of buoys with a rope between angled in across the straight line to the turn around which I thought would cause some argy bargy. As we approached the start loads of swimmers were edging forward. One guy in front of me was exchanging banter with a load of ozzies behind me which made me feel perhaps he was fast. How wrong was I. Gun goes, I go comfortably hard (not redline) and was past him in 10 strokes despite him having a body length start on my.

What a civilised start, stood in chest deep water, loads of room and within seconds I’m on my own. To the left I can see a solo swimmer and to the right I can see a mass of swimmers the front ones slightly ahead of me. I move over and merge with them. I can’t believe my luck – there’s one guy leading and then three guys side by side apparently all fighting for his feet. I tucked in behind them and had an awesome draft. Very soon we’ve broken clear.

It was seriously cruisey sat in there to the turnaround. The only frustration was the guy leading couldn’t sight for toffee. If he’d took a straight line like I can we’d have been a fair bit quicker I reckon ! Nearing the turnaround when he went off course again I chose to go on my own to get some relief from the concentration. I got back on them at the turn buoy. This was confusing as we’d been told to turn at the white and go to the blue but the blue was just in a direct line after further on with an arc of smaller buoys connected with ropes between them. The lead guy just swam over them looking like he was going to cut the course. A few of us bobbed our heads up and exchanged some comments before we all followed the buoys round, the leader having to come back across the rope. Confusing. We’d been joined by another small pack that had started on the left.

Coming back it was harder work to stay in the pack as it had become single line and with the same guy on the front there was a fair bit of zig zagging. If I just kept my head down I’d keep losing them and have to surge to get back on. It took a lot of concentration. So once we got to the kink in the jetty (about 500m to go) and they veered off I decided to leave the group and cruise in on my own. The seconds I’d lose I felt were worth it to just be able to relax and get my mind ready for the bike. I really enjoyed those final minutes of the swim. Seeing the clock as I came up the beach I was VERY pleased indeed.

A I was getting my bike when I heard the announcer mention Jo Carritt was exiting transition. It wouldn’t be long before I caught her. Following last years bike I felt confident I would be one of the faster age group bikers so I’d decided to go comfortably hard but not let any age grouper go by without trying to latch on. The only one I’d let go was Matt Illingworth – he’s been 4:17 here a couple of years ago ! For the first 15k I passed a few age groupers some formed up behind me. Then Kate Bevilaqua (subsequent female winner) who also latched on … in fact for more or less the entire ride if I looked over my shoulder there she was 12m behind. Our group hauled her right through to the front of the womens field. All the time we could see poor old Rebekah Keat coming back along the other side, on her own, with us clearly reeling her in.

Anyway… back to my race. Just after the 15k mark an age grouper came by. He seemed to be going a lot faster than me but I stuck to my guns reminding myself he has to go by quick as he has to get past in 25s so probably sped up. His pace eased pretty soon and it was comfortable. For the the next lap and a quarter (to halfway) we had a few others AGers bridge up and had a decent sized pace line working well with someone always coming through if the person at the front eased off.

At 65k Matt Illingworth came by. He was shifting. At IM NZ earlier this year I went with him for a minute to see what it was like. This time it didn’t cross my mind. I was second in the line and was interested to see what the guy up front would do. He didn’t appear he knew who Matt was as his pace picked up as he went by. I put my foot down not wanting to lose him. Luckily he thought better of it very quickly. Matt told me afterwards we were quite a big group so he put his foot down.

At the turnaround just after halfway I could see Bradley Hoskins at the back of the group. He’s won my AG the past few years going under 9 hours every time. I came off the bike just before him last year. I readied myself that if he went by I would go with him. The next 10k or so was in to the wind and I was on the front. I kept the power steady but I could now really feel it in my legs. It wasn’t easy anymore. At the next turnaround it was good to see we’d dropped a few and now were just 6 riders. We’d dropped Bradley, in fact by the end he was ways off and I reckon we put 15 minutes on him in the second half.

We stayed together till about 20k in to the final lap. Two guys pushed the pace on the front of the pace line and I tried hard to go with it but couldn’t. I settled back and found the remaining four working at the right effort for me. As with last year everyone I saw was clearly trying to ride legal, sitting up and stretching legs / eating if they found they were closing on the person in front or speeding up to pass and take up the front position. In doing this though there are definitely occasions where you enter the draft zone (12m at this race) but ease up and thus don’t pass. Strictly a drafting infringement but I feel it’s people doing their best in the circumstances and is within the spirit of the rule. Anyway as we head back along Tuart drive the ref comes along beside me, I sit up for him to have a word.

He tells me he’s seen me several times getting to 9m and that this is officially a warning. I thank him (though I must admit that 9m or 12m is difficult really to judge) and he tells me other groups have been “complaining” about our group. I did wonder who they were as I saw much bigger pacelines and the odd pack going the other way that didn’t look noticeable further apart from each other than we were. As I’d slowed it meant Kate Bevilaqua had more or less caught me. The ref told her to go through and told her she’d better pass our whole group as she can’t sit back there the whole ride. I then saw him talk to her and the other two guys. For the rest of the ride I must have kept 20-30m gap not wanting any possibility of drifting into the draft zone.

The wind had picked up the last lap which made for hard going. I did the first two laps in 1:35:xx and the final in 1:38:xx to get me just under 4:50.

The aid stations on the bike were expertly manned. They had loads of young kids lined up perpendicular to the road ready. When you shouted water the front one would peg it along beside you. At one point the lad went a little early and a little quick and had to ease up for me !! I didn’t miss one bottle whole ride !

Transition was quicker even with putting my Vibram Bikilas on. The faster swim meant I was out on the run in more or less the same time as last year – 5:44 on the clock. So an 3:15 required for sub 9. More on the cards than last year, still very challenging but not beyond the realms of possibility.

I’d decided I’d show willing. Last night Jo and I had discussed this tendency of both of us to head off fast and we agreed that you need to try it as today could be the day you have it in you. First 5k in 22:xx and it felt comfortable.Through 10k in 45:xx and was thinking this is game on. There are lots of turnarounds and in the early laps it was easy to spot my age group. I was in second with Matt ahead and I was closing. I passed him at about 18k and was in the lead. Through half in 1:39 which was now slightly off pace but still heading for low 9 hours.

The support was superb. The new course definitely helped weaving around the town and water front. A guy we’d met on The Five Passes came by a lap behind and exchanged a few words. There was also this chap on the course, who I guess was an IMTalk listener, has he gave me a big cheer and even said “Go Madman”. At one point he said something like “3 Epic Camp win, this is nothing” to which I said “yeh, in theory it should be a walk in the park” which got a laugh from a lady nearby. Each lap Mum, Lorraine and all there family and friends gave me a massive shout. It was just near one of the turnarounds. So I got big shout, then through the aid station Neil was on (so I got another shout), then back by prepared for the next spell of them going bananas. It’s great and helps really make the race.

After halfway it started to fall apart. My legs just wouldn’t allow me to raise my HR. I had to fight for 5 min /k. Then for 5:20, then 5:30 and even saw the odd one close to 6 minutes. Those behind started to catch. Brad Hoskins went by at 22k (he went on to run 2:57), Tim Bishop went by at about 26k (he went on to run 3:14). I was now in third. I felt there’d be 3 slots in my age group. I was in an automatic one but Tim had told me he wasn’t taking his and last year Bradley didn’t take his (and I heard someone say he never does) so I felt that the slot was there for me to lose. There was a guy in my age group who’d been probably 1.5k behind me for the first couple of laps but I knew was closing.

On to my final lap I saw there was 8:21 on the clock. 5:30 Ks and I’d be close to a PB. I tried but I just couldn’t do it. Whenever I picked up the pace my heart and lungs could easily take it but I very quickly felt like my calves would cramp. Carle came by and told me to run with him, I did for a bit but again I could see myself just grinding to halt with cramp if I did. I ran to the final turnaround thinking the pass was going to happen any time but it didn’t. As I headed back I could see the guy 50m behind. Clearly he was suffering. 3k to go and I try to pick up the pace thinking it may demoralise him to see me pull away a little. I can’t sustain it without twinges of cramp.With the 40k marker in sight he comes by. I try to go with him but same problem. He ended up putting over a minute into me.

I was worried about another guy catching me as I’d lost track off him as the route got crowded. So entering the finish chute I kept looking over my shoulder to check for the need for a sprint finish. There was no one there so I enjoyed it.

9:20 – an M-dot PB and I really feel that was as fast as I could go on the day. I was pleased as I felt I’d got 4th and a Kona slot. Later my mum told me I was fifth. Some one must have gone by me and I didn’t realise. So … fingers crossed for 2 roll downs.

[Later – there were 4 slots, the first 4 didn’t take them so I got the first slot !]

Posted in Race Report | Tagged Busselton, Ironman | Leave a comment

100,000 Miles

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lord_lordy

Earlier this week I hit a milestone of 100,000 miles on the bike since I started Triathlon. It’s been this back of my mind milestone since starting since biking was my weakness and I felt I needed “miles in my legs” (it’s what all the cyclists seem to say) and 100,000 seemed to be a decent number of miles.

Before I write my thoughts about this weekends race I thought I’d relax by pulling together a few stats and graphs. The graphs above show the distribution of riding over the course of the last 6 year and 11 months of keeping a diary. 2003 was when I started triathlon but didn’t keep a diary though I did record the 2,551 miles on the bike computer for that year. It seems such a minuscule number, however, I did win my first triathlon on such limited mileage. I could really run back then.

Time Taken – 7y 11 months
Average ride length – 67 miles
Average day – 35 miles
Average week – 243 miles
Average Month – 1, 053 miles
Average year – 12,637 miles
Longest ride – 207 miles done twice – once on my Merckx and once on my Indie XS
Shortest Ride – 2 miles – recorded 3 times (Moots, Indie, P3C) … yes I record all riding. Just shows that average is probably better than it looks as all these 2 or 3 miles are just pulling it down.
Biggest Week – 765 miles recorded at Epic Camp this year. My week runs Monday to Sunday.
Biggest Week To Date – 822 miles the week ending 7th Feb 2009. This was during my monster training in Christchurch in the run up to snapping the tendon in my foot ! There has been only one other occassion where my week to date has been bigger than my biggest week – 781 miles for the week ending 31 Aug 2007. A thousand miles in a week is still a big of a goal of mine though it doesn’t fit with my 100 hours a month cap.
Shortest Week – 0 miles (on 17 occasisions)
Biggest Month – 2,577 miles in August 2007
Shortest Month – 0 miles in March 2009 when I was in a wheelchair. It’s the only month I’ve not ridden.
Biggest Year – 18,569 in 2007
Shortest Year – 2,551 in 2003 – first year of triathlon.
Number of Centuries – 414
Most Centuries in a Year – 104 in 2007 this started my Eddington Number addictions
Number of Double Centuries – 7
Number of 200k rides – 140
Most Ridden Bike – Merckx with 27,067 miles
Least Ridden Bike – P3C – 2010 with 199 miles (the warranty replacement frame I’ll probably sell)
Average Bike Mileage – 7,695
Number of bikes used – 13 – this includes a few demo bikes I’ve tested.

I think thats enough stats. Why put them up here ? Well I’ve found it fun and I know when i first put up Eddington numbers it got a few people thinking about their own. Perhaps this will do the same.

Should be blogging tomorrow about the race.

Posted in Big Rides, Race Review | Tagged Bike | Leave a comment

Busso Pre Race

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lord_lordy

BussoPreRace10-1 It’s become a little bit of a habit now to post up a picture of my bike ready to go. Only needs it’s race number on and it’s ready. I’m feeling nervous about this race which is normally a good sign as it means I feel I should race well. That said, I need to keep it in check. Before New Zealand this year I was horribly nervous and didn’t sleep a wink. Don’t want that this time and I keep reminding myself that I’m ready for this, I do it for fun, it’s a Time Trial … all things that have a calming effect on me.

Sleep is something I’ve been getting a lot of recently. 10 hours last night and

[it’s now a day later. At that point I decided to check my average sleep for November and get a graph of my sleep from my training diary and in doing so found that I’d lost the past 8 days changes to files due to a mess up with Apple iDisk. Seriously upsetting … meant I couldn’t face going to the opening dinner last night and the briefing afterwards which is a first for me.]

So… I had 10 hours sleep Thursday night and in November averaged 9.1 hours per night. Here’s a graph of my sleep for the past year:

BussoPreRace10

This hadn’t really dawned on me till recently but through the summer my weekly average sleep rarely got above 8 hours per night and on several occasions got below 6 hours. Through July and August I was busy moving in to a new house and in September I got engrossed in building a new training database which saw me having lots of late nights but my motivation got me up most mornings to swim at the cost of sleep. In September my average sleep was a mere 6.6 hours per night. I do wonder whether this contributed to me just not having an oomph at Kona.

I’m hoping so because it you look at my sleep for the past two months it’s been great. I should at least be rested.

The nerves are kicking in today but I must admit that a big part of that is due to all the loss of data on my computer and me trying to work out how I’m going to manage my files in future to avoid it. It took my mind off the race which can be viewed as a good or bad thing … so may as well take the former.

I’m feeling nerves about the race for sure and I’m never really sure why I do. It’s a fun day and I’ve done it loads. I feel a little worried that I won’t live up to my expectations and I feel a little pressure to match last years bike split which would be good going. So here’s my hopes / guesstimates for the race:

Swim: 55 / T1: 3 / Bike: 4:50 / T2: 4 / Run: 3:30 TOTAL TIME ~ 9:22

I would be very pleased with that but as with Kona the most important thing is the run. I need to get my running back if I really want to perform next year.

Now to rack…

Posted in Race Preview, Race Week | Tagged Busselton, Ironman | Leave a comment

Eddington Numbers

Posted on December 1, 2010 by lord_lordy

Trust me – like many things in life, this may sound complex to begin with but it’s really quite simple, it’s just a little tricky to describe in words. A couple of years ago, I noticed that I’d done 100 rides of 100 miles in a year. A friend commented that this was an Eddington number. Little did I know what he’d started by telling me this.

Some may think Sir Arthur Eddington’s biggest contribution to the world was his work on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, but for me the bigger impact came from his love of cycling. He devised a measure of a cyclist’s long distance riding achievements. Your Eddington number is defined as the largest integer E, where you have cycled at least E miles and at least E days. For example an E of 60 means that you have ridden 60 miles or more on 60 or more days. Simple.

Be warned this is a hugely addictive measure. The Eddington number has the wonderful quality of progressively getting harder because not all the rides contributing to your current E number will count towards the next one. It’s a target to chase, not just a moving one, but one that accelerates!

When I first discovered this my E number was 116 and since then it’s increased to 127. It’s getting tougher. A solitary ride of 128 miles takes it to 128 but nine rides of 130 or more to get it to 130 and a whopping 97 more rides of 150 or more to reach 150. It makes me wonder what my lifetime limit is? Can I reach 150, 175 or even 200?

Like so many triathletes I have an obsessive side. What started as a solitary numeric marker soon snowballed. The principle can be applied not only to daily numbers but also to weekly and monthly figures. It can be applied in miles, kilometres, hours, minutes, across all disciplines and not only lifetime scores but also annual ones.

Before I knew it I was tracking 36 lifetime numbers and 24 annual numbers. This isn’t a simple task and certainly requires your training data in electronic format. As I tell my athletes who I coach, it’s worth collecting your training data now, as you never know, in seven years you may find yourself a triathlete with time on your hands wanting to play with the numbers.

It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about motivation. Targets in training can be helpful and this makes all of your training numbers valuable. It can also encourage doing that extra mile or even minute. I’m careful to use this motivation appropriately, and this year stopped my charge towards a new best annual bike Eddington number when I realised it was compromising appropriate training towards my racing goals. Sometimes, though, I feel I could train purely for the pursuit of Eddington numbers.

Some numbers are easier to improve than others. I wanted a measure of this and came up with maturity for each number. An example of a completely immature (maturity = 1) number is monthly bike kilometres, the estimate being that in a month I will have increased it. That’s not a challenge currently but as I age it may be the only one left to pursue. By contrast a massively mature (maturity = 2,504) number is daily hours. At 11 hours it’s already almost out of reach.

The Eddington number throws up some interesting challenges. For instance, my best ever annual weekly bike mileage is 50, this is 50 weeks of 50 or more miles in a year. The maximum for this is 52 so I decided to chase it this year. Easy you may think. Most of the time yes, but it’s those odd weeks, post race or in recovery where 52 miles seems a huge distance. Mid year I found myself struggling round a 12-mile ride like it was 150 just to get to 52 miles for that week. Only four more weeks and I’ll have it.

Yes, it’s addictive… I call it “training by the numbers”. I’ve even registered the domain EddingtonNumbers.me.uk, although I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet…

Posted in Eddington Review, Triathlete Europe | Leave a comment

Is Kona Really The World Championships?

Posted on November 28, 2010 by lord_lordy

WorldChamps

RED LINE percentage of whole field that are US.
BLUE BARS for that percentile (5% blocks) what proportion are US.
GREEN AREA percentage of top X% that are US. If you read along the X access that number is the top X% reading up and across to the Y axis tells you what percentage are US. Eg – 30% of the top 35% are US.
? CLEARER ?

Currently I think it is but I think it could be under threat. Unlike most World Championships where countries send teams and they decide on selection, Kona is the culmination of a private, for profit, race series. Entry into the qualifying races is first come first served and as such the best people potentially may not even get to the start line. The validity of it being thought a world championship is purely down to the best people turning up. Currently I believe it is and in terms of just competing I would say it’s far harder to qualify for, in the UK, than any ITU World Champs.

There’re a few things recently that got me thinking about this:

The change of the Pro Qualifying procedure. This does, in theory, mean that the top guys will be there and will remove the randomness of the old procedure where some races were far weaker than others. It does however tie pro’s in closer to the WTC races and I wonder whether it could backfire. All it takes is some top pros, or reigning Champion to decide not to do the races to qualify and a question mark would be raised as to whether it’s the World Championship.
The statement that Chrissie’s time at Arizona was a World Record. Give me a break. That’s like me setting up a Taunton 10k race and saying the course record is the World Taunton 10k Record. Completely ridiculous – she’s been faster twice at that distance so it’s NOT a World Record. If they want to call it a WTC record then I’m happy with that. Of course, it’s no surprise, WTC is american and they have several World Series / Championships where only American (and perhaps Canadian) teams are allowed in. No rational person can say it’s a World Series… just self centred.
Arizona again – I noticed that in my age group 10 hours would have qualified you for Kona ! If there was roll down it would be slower !! Now this is a fast course yet I’m about to do Busselton where 9:15 may not be good enough. I did Lanzarote getting the last slot in a time of 9:52. My word … it was easy to qualify at Arizona in my age group.

This final point kicked my arse in to gear to do some analysis I’d thought about doing. It resulted in the above graph. Each time I’ve been to Kona and they’ve stated the stats about number of Americans and then they go in to number from each state. You’re calling this a World Championship so why are you telling us about individual US states. The audience cheers when you find that 45% of the field is US and when you find that California has more than any other country you get another cheer. This give a false impression as of course there’s a cheer: 45% of the audience are american. The rest of us are thinking – if this is a world championship then it’s not something to be proud of to see how skewed it is.

So I took a look at the details. In my age group M40-44 45% were American. However – if you look at the top 50% of finishers only 28% of finishers are US. This means the bottom 50% is 62% american. If you look at my graph of those finishers in the 80th to 95th percentile of finishers a whopping ~84% were american. Now this is almost certainly influenced by the lottery where 75% of slots were only open to US Citizens which, thankfully, has been changed this year but still confirms what I always believed and experienced that it’s easier to qualify at US races. It also shows that the skew towards US is actually lowering the standard of the overall race. If you finish in the top 25% possibly top 50% your position is probably a fair reflection of your position in the World but below that I reckon you run the risk of getting your ass kicked by some European that didn’t manage to qualify.

konaslotsbyrace Why is this ? It’s pretty clear that the sport is US centric – loads of new races there. Not only that, but new races in the US are getting 65 slots (eg Texas, St George) whereas new races elsewhere are getting 50 (eg Wales, Regensburg). Also, non American races appear to be getting slots cut – New Zealand had 80 slots in 2008 when I first did it, this year they have 60. Germany had 125 in 2008 but are down to 100 now. 125 is hell of a lot and resulted in 25 in my age group but it certainly didn’t make qualification easy still requiring sub 9:30 to get a slot. Switzerland I remember having 60 in 2007 and now is 50. UK bucks the trend moving to 50 next year from 30.

The biggest proportion of slots are in the US and they have many races with a high number of slots. Looking at the table on the right we see 42% of slots (excluding Lottery Slots) are allocated to American races. To make matters worse they have a ridiculous entry system which more or less excludes non americans. If you can enter the day after the race at the venue in priority to those online then it’s going to prove very difficult for non americans to enter.

My feeling is the effect of this entry procedure is that though the cutting edge of each age group is a high standard the standard falls quickly (there isn’t the depth of field). That combined with the races having more slots results in easier qualification. I advise my athletes that if they’re really keen to qualify they should make every effort to get in a US race. My experience is that qualification has been easier when I’ve gone to the US to do it.

[I should say here as an aside that I don’t know how slots are allocated to races. My gut says the races buy them which would mean it’s not strictly the WTCs “fault” but if races buy the right to have qualification slots for the “World” championships surely that just undermines even further the right of Kona to be a World Champs.]

What can be done ? I see a couple of things. Either / or both would help:

American races should hold entries back for non Americans. This used to be the case when the races were run by NA Sports. I got in to Florida and Wisconsin (and qualified at both) by means of an “International Entry” which was never really publicised. I understand now the WTC have taken over this is no longer the case.
Reduce the number of slots in American races and reallocate to races elsewhere in the World.

The other issue I see becoming more prevalent is something that women and those in the very old or very young ages groups already suffer from and thats the rather random nature of qualifying. If there is only one slot in your age group for a race then all it takes is one superstar to turn up and you’re out of luck. You could be top 5 at Kona one year and fail to qualify the next if you’re chosen race has one of those 4 head of you there or some new unknown fast person.

Does this happen ? Certainly. The first year Jo tried to qualify she did Lanzarote as her first race. Only one slot and knowing this randomness she felt that her second race Switzerland was the more likely place to qualify as there would be two, possibly three slots. At Lanzarote Jo won and got the only slot. Who was in 2nd ? Only the girl that had come 5th at Kona the previous year. So that years Kona almost certainly was missing one of it’s best performers in that age group just out of randomness of the selection process which undermined that age group being the “World Champs”.

As more Ironman branded races are introduced the number of slots will be spread thinner and thinner and this randomness (or luck) of qualification will increase and become more apparent in all age groups. I’ve been lucky, being in the biggest male age group most of the time provided I select a race with a reasonable number of slots then the averages work out and prediction of qualification times are generally pretty close.

What is a solution to this ?

I feel that they should reduce the number of races that you can qualify from and thus increase the number of slots at those races. There would need to be a method in place to ensure that competitive age groupers could get in to these races. Perhaps some sort of good for age giving priority into the race (I will discuss good for age later). At the qualifying races entries could be opened first to those that meet the good for age criteria then open to any. It does mean first time Ironman would not have a good for age time and would either get an entry as a non good for ager or could enter another race to get a time. Just like getting in to the London Marathon.

Establishing what good for age is would be tricky but not insurmountable. A possible approach:

You’re good for age if you’ve competed in the last Ironman World Championships
You’re good for age if you’ve qualified for the next Ironman World Championships
You’re good for age based on a time. This is slightly tricky as you need to set this so you don’t get too many people eligible but you ensure enough are eligible so that Kona can be as strong an age group field as possible. The time would need to take account of some courses being faster than others. As such it is probably best to set it as within a certain percentage of some reference time. The reference time could be, say, the average of the top 5 in an age group (this would of course need adjusting for really small age groups). This percentage would be different for qualifying and non qualifying races to reflect the higher standard in the qualification races. After the first year adjustments could be made as the results of the model are seen (just like they’re planning to do with the Pro qualification process). Remember there isn’t a right or wrong answer just something to ensure good age groupers can get in to the qualification races. You could instead just say something like you’re good for age if you finished in the top 10% of your age group in a qualification race or top 5% in a non qualification race.

I feel coming up with a workable solution for good for age is just a matter of spending time analysing the finish times across races to come up with an approach. The practicality of checking people meet the criteria really just requires some standardisation of results and how to reference athletes. You could give each athlete a unique ID when they enter their first Ironman event which would mean finding their results and checking if they are good for age would be trivial and could be automated.

{it would be easy to go on a tangent into how standardisation of results and athlete identification is relatively easy and would allow the provision of some really cool tools and data – perhaps for another post}

Part of me feels it’ll be a real shame to complicate the whole system (it’s nice and simple right now) but to maintain Kona as a World Championship changes such as this may be required.

This hits on the problem of a World Championship being run for profit. The motivation of the WTC is not to make the World Championship legitimate and competitive but to make money. The current system of entry ensures they have the full entry fees sitting in a bank account a year ahead of the race and I would imagine months ahead of the first major expenses for the race. The spreading thin of the slots also means that many age groupers that are keen to qualify but aren’t superstars for their age end up entering multiple M-dot races to the exclusion of other race series (eg me!).

Having said all this I still believe Kona is a genuine World Champs – at the top end of the field it is highly competitive and top 20 at Kona is an awesome achievement. The expansion of races, the change of Pro qualification and the continued (and increasingly) US centric nature of the series just makes me worried that they’re slowly eroding Kona’s credibility. This is coming from someone that absolutely loves the Kona experience and can’t get enough of it !

The ITU World Long Course is the genuine World Champs in that national teams are entered and national bodies select but it’s not really viewed as a World Championship since participation is so low. If it were an Olympic event it would be taken more seriously and I sometimes wonder whether that would give it more credibility with age groupers or would the pull of Kona and Hawaii being where it started mean it remained the pinnacle for age groupers? Similarly with the growth of Challenge and other Series, if they introduce their own “Series Final” (perhaps also calling it a World Championship) it will force people to chose perhaps diluting the talent choosing Ironman perhaps resulting in Kona being a “Series Final” rather than a World Championship.

Posted in Qualification | Tagged Ironman, Kona | Leave a comment

Feeling 100% ?

Posted on November 23, 2010 by lord_lordy

I’ve decided to write this ahead of Ironman Western Australia as I feel it adds more weight. It’s easy to wait for a result and then analyse events leading up to it and make them fit. Results in great analysis but doesn’t necessarily truly reflect what you felt ahead of the race.

Over recent years I’ve said to many people that we often don’t realise grains aren’t good for us because we’ve never had a period without them in our diet. You may never realise that you’ve always just felt 80% since that’s how it’s always been so you assume thats what 100% feels like. It’s not until you give up grains for a decent period that you start to realise just what healthy really feels like.

This morning as I did my easy swim and felt like a million dollars a penny dropped. I just wondered whether over the years of just doing loads of stuff I got used to the norm being being tired. Now with recovery from Kona and not getting back in to big hours I’m starting to feel refreshed. { should I pause now for all the “less is more”, “quality not quantity” (god I HATE that phrase) brigade to tweet and hold this up as conclusive evidence } Joking aside, the last 3 weeks has seen me do 24,25 and then 30 hours of training and much at a great click. It’s big volume by most standards but compared to the week in week out 40 hours I did ahead of Kona it’s low. I’ve had time to rest, relax (there are few distractions here in Christchurch) and I feel really good.

Most sessions now seem easier but the numbers I’m seeing are better. Heading out for 5 min intervals @ 275 watts and I find myself hitting 300 no problem. In the pool I’m managing 5:20 for 400m in a 50m pool at the end of a set of 7. 1:15 100m with paddles (I’m normally slower with paddles). At the South Island Half Ironman this weekend I swam the swim leg in a team getting first out of the water in 23:18 ahead of guys I wouldn’t normally beat (our team of James Gibson and Jo went on to claim the team prize ;o)) Then running – I head out for bricks and find myself at 4:30 / KM pace or below, long runs at 4:45s. I’m looking forward to the Busselton run now. I’m not promising miracles but I feel I should be able to demonstrate some of the fitness I felt I had heading in to Kona.

The picture above is my target basic week. I say target because so far I think every week has seen this tweaked. I’ve moved the long run to Mondays on occasion and with various events we’ve had at weekends I’ve moved things around. Overall this is what I’m aiming to get done. In a 31 day month this is the limit of what I can get done. The overall aims of this are:

Ensure I can get enough sleep. Only one morning do I feel I have to get up – thats for squad swim. Other mornings I will go swim whenever I wake. This will change once I’m not in Christchurch since pool time is far more limited elsewhere
Aim for 2 consecutive days off running each week. This is giving my foot a nice rest. In fact, my aim is to give my legs a decent rest
My own swims tend to be either a 1h solid swim aiming for distance or at least include a decent main set of 200s or 400s for at least 2k. I’m trying to figure out how little swimming I can do and maintain my current speed. Doing main sets like this allows me to monitor how my swimming is going. I know the times I should be able to hit if I’m on form.
All my running is meant to at slowest be 5 min /k. I want my default pace to be at least that fast
Easing myself in to track running – so far I’ve been going to get in the habit but not done anything above 4 min /k. Tending to do 400 or 800 repeats. This served me well when I was running my fastest times. Going to ease up my pace for these sessions.
All runs aimed at negative split. Long runs often done in thirds – getting faster each third
The balance of my runs targeted as bricks though sometimes I find I leave them till later in the day to ensure I run them well
Gym limited to 1 hr covering full body. This has been achieved through a small reduction in exercises and only doing one set of each. Aiming for ~ 20 reps.
Key session of the week is the Wednesday Brick. The ride, so far has been tough. In the first half I break it up with shorter intervals at threshold watts. 5 minutes repeats generally. Second half is aimed at long interval at Ironman wattage. Generally have a short break for food and fluid between.

It’s on the record. I’m feeling good and confident right now. We head off to Busselton on Friday. Tomorrow I have my final big session and from there it’s all pretty chilled to the start line. It will be interesting to see how I go but I certainly don’t feel it will be any real evidence for or against this approach as it’s just not been long enough.

Posted in Training Review | Tagged Christchurch, New Zealand | Leave a comment

South Island Half Ironman, Lake Hood 2010

Posted on November 20, 2010 by lord_lordy

Time: 4:10:37 1st TEAM
Swim: 23:18 (me)
T1: 0:26
Bike: 2:16:38 (James Gibson)
T2: 0:26
Run: 1:29:49 (Jo Carritt)

Since I only did the swim this may be a little swim focussed (you have been warned). Lake Hood is a little south of Christchurch so the day before the race Jo and I did a great ride down there having secured a lift for our bags and the race organiser had sorted accommodation for us with Moira (who we’d met on the Five Passes) who lives right on the Lake. We could see the swim start from our bed ! Perfect set up for the race.

A very well organised and friendly race. It helped we knew most of people organising it. You were able to register at various locations and times which made it pretty relaxed at the race venue the night before as Jo and I helped out a little. I got to ride the measure the run course which was fun.

Race morning, I was relaxed and looking forward to blasting the swim. As I put my wetsuit on I rip a massive tear in the left leg.

Daniel thought he had something to tape it up with but couldn’t find it so I had to swim with this hole. Once in the water it was clear it wasn’t going to make any difference.

Had a great spot for the start and hammer from the gun trying for clear water. I was clear within half a dozen strokes but had someone on my feet. This last till the first turn buoy then I was on my own. At the end of the first lap someone bridged to me. I wasn’t bothered about someone on my feet as I just wanted the fastest time I could do so when they came alongside me but not to the front I thought it a little odd. They’d come on my inside so if we stayed side by side I would get blocked out at the next buoy. There was no way I was allowing this so as I neared the buoy I aggressively held my line going tight to the buoy forcing them to ease and go behind me. As I went round I got caught in the ropes which I guess they did as well as I could see they’d dropped off as I swam away.

Kept pushing and approaching the finish could see this person kicking hard and sprinting to the finish. I had my usual hobble and loss of balance as I came out and running to the timing mat this person came sprinting up and I reckon they got a toe ahead across the mat though it was close enough we were given the same time. They tried to push by in transition but I held my line making them go by so we were first to exist T1. At this point I realised it was a lady… not sure it would have made me less aggressive if I’d known. Bevan had great fun with this later on the PA as he interviewed me and talked about how I’d got ‘chicked’ … me and the rest of the field !

I relaxed now whilst James headed out to hammer out the fastest bike split of the day and set a new bike course record in the process. He came in completely wasted, he could hardly run his bike to Jo to tag and spent the next 10 minutes almost doubled up. He’d given is all. Good to see how hard you need to go in a bike TT. He said his HR average was 175 … thats my max on the bike.

Jo had 9 minutes on the next team and 10 minutes on the lead men including our house mate Andy. My hope was we’d manage to hold on to win outright but with 10 minutes it was going to be a race. After a lap Jo was still looking super quick and in control and had only lost 2.5 minutes to the lead men. The second team was now nowhere near. And of the second lap (of 3) Jo still looked strong but had lost 5 minutes to the lead men. Andy was now running on the shoulder of the leader looking super relaxed and clearly this was making them shift along. It was pretty unlikely Jo would hold on.

It turned out they caught her with about a mile to go. Andy broke away from the leader to win by about 30s, Jo came in 3rd a further minute behind to take the team win.

My first experience of being part of a relay and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A nice combination of being part of the event and having time to chill out, support and enjoy the atmosphere. A lovely race which I would do again.

Posted in Race Report | Tagged 70.3, New Zealand | Leave a comment