New Approach

Posted on November 17, 2010 by lord_lordy

ChangingApproachThe picture may look like the last entry but it’s not. This is the “official” graph of my lactate test results not the one I hacked together.

Even though my previous post was merely stating a change in approach I was amazed to get some comments already that seemed to take it as evidence of “less is more” and that sort of thing. I’m flattered by the confidence in me that my merely deciding to change guarantees it will make a difference but as yet I’ve only changed I’ve not improved !

Thanks for all the encouraging comments. I will be looking to read Talent is Over-rated – the mere title appeals to me in the same way long endurance appeals because I reckon the longer the event the more results reflect the hard work put in. Whether thats talent or not is open to debate as perhaps the ability to put the hours in in training is a talent in itself. The mention of Deliberate Practise and it not being much fun rings true with me. Saying I was looking forward to bike sessions was a big reflection of my generally positive outlook and the fact that since I don’t ride as often I tend to be keen to get out there. That said the harder sessions are intimidating. I can imagine getting to a point where it’s not so much fun. In the past I’ve ridden, explored, if I felt good hammered, if I haven’t I’ve pootled and stopped for coffee. That is fun and  it’s what I’ll return to in the off season (if I ever have one).

ChangingApproach2

Currently my typical week is around about 25 hours. Not sure that fits many peoples definitions of “less” and for sure with all my athletes that would be a big week. For me though it feels like a small week giving loads of recovery time. This is probably a reflection on what I’ve done prior to this point preparing me for this to feel like low hours. The graphs show the distribution of my monthly and weekly hours for the last 7 years. Most months being over 100 hrs and most weeks over 25. It certainly removes a lot of stress from fitting training in and it finds me more willing to not do a session if I don’t feel like I can perform. Last week I skipped a planned swim because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hit the times I wanted. It seemed pointless to get in and “waste” that time. I banked the time for later ! In the past I would have just got in and swum believing that it was a still a benefit if I was working hard but not hitting the times. I still believe that but with my time restriction I have to make choices on such things. I also realise that when I start to get some results it may change my beliefs.

I was asked about how my time is split. Most weeks seems to be something along the lines of:

  • swim: 10 – 15 %
  • bike: 48 – 64 %
  • run: 20 – 28 %
  • gym: 7 – 10 %

Weeks aren’t always the time frame I work on and particular week totals can look large or small due to small changes. For example – this weekend I switched my long run from Monday to Sunday and my long ride from Sunday to Monday. It meant that last week I ended up with 2 long runs six days apart which gave me 50+ miles running but only 200 miles on the bike, then this week I will end up with less than 30 miles running and 400 biking. Overall for the two weeks my training has been pretty consistent. The change though fitted nicely with my prep for Busselton getting my final long run 3 weeks before the race and allowing a 3 week run taper whilst sticking a big bike week in 3 weeks out giving a two week bike taper. Next week will probably be slightly higher on the swim side leading to a one week swim taper. My biggest goal for my Busselton taper is to arrive at the start line fresh. I’m intentionally using up a big chunk of my November hours in the first three weeks as extra insurance that I will rest up substantially from 2 weeks out. I still can’t be trusted to do it on my own ;o)

Already I’ve seen some good signs. I’m swimming less but I feel the recovery and rest was the reason my 1k TT time came down from 13:23 to 13:13. This is definitely me being positive as there’s really not been enough time for the change to really hit though the rest may be what it comes down to. I’ve not been setting an alarm and so far in November I’ve averaged 9.3 hours sleep per night with not a single night of less than 8 hours.

I’m also looking at doing regular testing. Thanks to Alan Couzens post I’ve added VDOT to my training diary. Only just started getting figures for that and can’t back date as it needs normalised power and average heart rate which are things I’ve only really started to record regularly recently. I’m getting in to the habit of putting the HRM on but still I forget sometimes (like todays track session). I’m still trying to figure out the testing I should do in each sport. I want something thats long enough to reflect the fitness I’m trying to improve but not so stressful that I can’t repeat  regularly.

  • SWIM – had considered doing a 1hr swim test but find that mentally thats pretty tough to do properly. I still plan to do this once in a while but not as my regularly test. Instead my regular test is going to be a 1k TT. Already done it twice as mentioned above. Did it in quick succession really to try and sort out my ability to pace it correctly. I certainly feel a pace clock in sight helps a lot which could be tricky in Taunton
  • BIKE – Again a best effort 1hr TT would be ideal but mentally this would be too tough to repeat regularly and my state of mind would probably be more reflected in the result. I’m still undecided but feel a 20 min best effort would be good. In Christchurch I can get to a hill where I can do this and back home in Taunton I think one of the hills up on to the Blackdowns may be long enough for a 20 minute climb. I may move to Rachels suggestion of 2 x 20min best effort on the turbo when I get back to Taunton. This has the advantage of being a completely controlled environment.
  • RUN – pretty much undecided here. If I was back in London I would use the clubs 5k handicap series. Can’t decide whether to go for a short all out effort or to do regular MAF Tests. Erring towards the latter.

Also been looking in to and working on my running technique. My blisters in Kona may have been partly due to bad minimalist running technique (nearly said barefoot). I’ve noticed a similar problem when running track sessions in Classics and think it may be partly my foot moving forward in the shoe when I strike the ground when running at pace. Jo managed to get some decent video of me (I was surprised had good my iPhone was for this) and there’s a clear “slapping” and I land on my heel. I’m having someone look at these and hopefully give me some tips on improving.

Other than that the running is going pretty well. In my Bikilas I’m running well and without any blisters. My pace on long runs has increased and yesterday I did a very solid brick session. I did a 180k ride – 1hr steady, then 6 x (5 min @ 300w, 5 min steady), 1hr steady. Break for food and liquid. Then 1hr @ 240w, 10 min steady, 10 min @ 260 watt and steady final hour or so home. Immediately ran just over 13k in just over an hour. A slow first K then I settled in to low 4:40s per K. Felt reasonably comfortable and was very encouraging. If I can run that sort of split at Busso I’ll be more than happy.

This weekend I’m getting my first taste of being part of a Triathlon relay. We’re doing the Lake Hood Half Ironman. I’m doing the swim, we’ve got a seriously quick biker, James Gibson, and then Jo is doing the run. It’s quite exciting getting to just hammer the swim without any thought of the rest of the race. Then I can grab a coffee, a muffin and kick back to cheer on the rest of the team !

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New Plan Of Attack

Posted on November 11, 2010 by lord_lordy

NewPlanOfAttackSo far with my Ironman racing I have followed the path of maximum fun. Much of what I enjoyed doing (long exploratory rides and runs) happen to fit nicely as the backbone of an Ironman training programme. I became a consistent performer – always qualifying for Kona and regularly getting on the podium. Though in 2008 my performances didn’t really progress I continued to back my protocol believing that it was only a matter of time before the sheer volume of work I was doing would pay off. I was backing myself, feeling that any approach needs to be given time.

Heading in to New Zealand 2009 I did the biggest block of training and was excited as to how I would race. Regular readers will know that I never found out due to a major injury. I still sometimes wonder what I would have done back then and whether I will ever have the motivation to repeat such a block just to see. In that five week build period I completed 253 hours of training.

Recovering from that injury I steadily progressed through to qualifying for Kona in Lanzarote this year. This was a big milestone for me proving that my post surgery foot was up to the the task of qualifying. I was just following my old methods. I felt it would still produce the results I was capable of. However, following a very disappointing Kona I started to doubt it. Now I think that the injury obscured my view and made it difficult to spot the pattern that my protocol of have fun and enjoy the process had plateaued. I’d got as far as I would with that approach.

Kona was seriously disappointing. I asked for help from Gordo. His first question was very insightful – “why change?” It made me think. A LOT. As he said I was having a blast 360 days of the year and had 5 days (races) which were OK but not brilliant. Yep… thats quite a good life. I realised I at least wanted to try out something else focussed on getting a stella performance and find out whether I would still enjoy it. I have ideas about what I will do post getting an Ironman performance approaching my potential but thats not for this post. I thought and decided that I would have giving a change in approach a go. Gordo gave me some suggestions on how to change. One of which was limit myself to 100 hours per month. A quick look at my log showed that in 7 years about 10% of my months have been under that cap. Simple to say but a big change. Again, this was pretty insightful into my psyche as making myself time limited got my brain switched in to gear. It got me excited.

I realised something about myself and my move through part time work to totally flexible working. I’d never performed as well as I did when I was working normal hours. The penny dropped. Perhaps it was because back then time was a limited resource so I was careful how I used it. Now time is more or less limitless (if you see what I mean) so I just do more. Yeh I can ride 8 hours today as I have loads of other days to do other stuff. It was fun and it certainly made me superbly aerobically fit and fit to perform day after day (and win three Epic Camps) but probably not ideal for racing as fast as you can for almost 9 hours (ever the optimist !).

I started pencilling out a plan through to New Zealand and immediately found myself changing my thought process.

  1. I had to decide how to allocate my time each month. It’s less than 25 hours per week. i could evenly split it or have bigger weeks and easier weeks. All had their place and I would vary it depending on the phase of training.
  2. Gym time was reduced. No faff time allowed these days
  3. Swim time was reduced. I can still swim well enough on less but I’d been focussed on being one of the BEST age group swimmers. Really not a sensible focus when I don’t need to be one of the best swimmers do be one of the best come the finish line.
  4. Bike sessions became more focussed. Intervals were scheduled. Long rides reduced to one per week with specific long intervals included. Super long rides are now scheduled as treats when time permits.
  5. Running was scheduled beyond just getting out and running. Paces, HR’s targeted ahead of time.
  6. There’s still that chasing numbers part of me but for the moment it seems content with the challenge of achieving appropriate load in limited time. It’s a new day to day challenge.

I’ve been following this since Kona and soon saw positives. It’s early days and as a natural optimist most of these are probably just in my mind rather than based on hard evidence but for now I’ll take it.

  • it immediately became clear I would have more time on my hands. That sounded good. My feeling was I would be better rested and therefore more able to hit the targets I set for each session
  • Over the long term I felt this was going to help just because I would be fresher when I race.
  • I’ve been getting tonnes of sleep. Most nights I’ve slept straight through 10 hours. Probably a sign that I was pretty run down.
  • When I swim now, even if I’m on my own, I do solid swims. I still like long steady efforts on my own, believing them appropriate for Ironman, but now they’re harder steady ;o)
  • Riding is even more fun. It’s more novel now with only riding about 3 times a week and being that little bit fresher means putting the hammer down is all the better.
  • Running has  been really slow to return after my injury. This change of approach really made me face up to some hard truths. I was deceiving myself that I was doing the right thing to get my running back (not only back but better). It takes some (lots of) uncomfortable sessions. I was running well before but that was after several years of chasing fast 10k, half and full marathon times. I just don’t have the speed now (as evidenced by the track sessions I’ve started doing again). Now I’m running with HR and pace all the time. My long run this week was done at 4:45 km/h – not as fast as I’d like but definitely a massive step up from what I was doing. I felt it afterwards and the solid ache in my legs lifted my mood that I was doing the right thing. I don’t feel it’s likely to influence Busselton too much but I’m hoping by Ironman New Zealand I will be getting close to running a good Ironman Marathon

All my training previously has largely been on feel. I did use a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) in my early days but haven’t really for 5 or 6 years. I do believe there’s a real benefit in understanding how your body feels when it’s doing appropriate efforts and using a HRM and power meter all the time can hinder you becoming attuned to your body. Now though I am going to monitor with HRM, pace, power and be more formal in calculating my training loads. Before I was just going on Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE) to work out load. Now I will work with average HR, normalised power and critical swim speed.

The last piece is that I’m going to do testing. Finally I’ve had a lab test done. Yesterday I went to the University of Canterbury’s sport science department to have a lactate test done on the bike (thats the graph above). Very interesting, quite painful and thankfully didn’t throw up any surprises instead confirming what I’d deduced from feel. My aerobic threshold is ~ 260 watts, 130-140 bpm. My anaerobic threshold is ~ 310 watts, ~ 150 bpm. My test terminated at 375 watts ( I managed at most a minute) with a HR of 170. Prior to this I was always guessing what my maximum heart rate was. Now it’s an educated guess, which, for the moment, is punted as 175 for the bike and 185 for the run.

As well as lab testing I’ll be doing regular formal testing of myself. Already I’ve done a couple of swim tests. T60 test getting 4.24km and a 1k TT in 13:24. I’ve done some best effort intervals on the bike of around 20 minutes. I will shortly do a run MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) test and hope to start doing regular 5k run races (depends on if there are any in this neck of the woods).

It has been, and is, a bit of struggle getting my head round this. It was easy just to fill my days with training in the belief if you out work the competition you’ll out race them. With more time not training I have more time thinking I should be training and thinking that I’m losing fitness. Now I tell myself is you still have to out work the competition but it’s more complicated (isn’t it always!) than just logging more hours.

If this works will there be any conclusions to draw? As a lover of high volume I may be held up as evidence that that doesn’t work if my performances improve on less hours. It’s more complicated than this though. It’s easy to look at training on a season scale – thats natural as it fits to our lifes but there’s nothing to say thats the macro level that actually fits with physical adaptations. I started out on this thinking it was a multi season plan (though I admit initially I felt it was only my biking needing multi season) and if you look on it at that scale I’ve done 5-6 years of solid base training and am now entering a year of “build” or “race prep”. If it works I’m not sure how many people will sign up to this 7 year plan.

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Tough As Nuts

Posted on November 3, 2010 by lord_lordy

ToughAsNuts.jpgThis is my trophy for getting the “Tough as Nuts” award during the Five Passes Tour. What a superb event which you can read all about in my race report. It was my first experience of bike racing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a nice little bunch in A Grade with one guy way stronger than the rest of us and Richard (my teammate) a little behind him but still a lot better than the rest of us. It really highlighted my strengths and weaknesses. If I got on the front and really pushed the pace then a lot of the guys suffered but few would be dropped. However, I just didn’t have the turn of speed to easily cover all the surges and attempts to break away so every so often I would let a gap grow and I’d have to TT back on. One of the guys riding with us was 63 and he never got dropped. Damn impressive.

I did make some attempts to get clear but again just didn’t have that massive burst of power to get clear but also it seemed clear that I would not be allowed drift off the front and get away.

It’s funny how once you have a reputation you can find yourself living up to it. Several of the guys in A Grade had ridden with me and experienced me doing massive pulls on the front. There seemed to be an expectation of this. On the first day I did just such a pull and earned a beer that night from some of the guys. The rest of the tour I felt I had to live up to it. Day 2 saw me TT back on to the group which was trying to drop me on numerous occasions. Then day 3 I did a huge chunk of work to get us through the 50km stage 10 mins faster than anyone else. That evening, Daniel awarded me the above award. He explained how he’d ridden with me on Epic camp and explained some of the massive days I’d done. I’ll be honest I was chuffed but it’s just further cemented my reputation.

We’re now firmly settled back in Christchurch. it’s nice to be back. It feels like a lovely little community which was really hit home at the awards dinner for The Five Passes – so many familiar faces. There seems to be this core of people that organise, help, take part in all these events. The scenery in New Zealand and facilities may be awesome but it was is this feeling of community here in Christchurch that most makes me feel I could live here.

I would love to do this event again and am already wondering about coming here from Hawaii next year just for the event. If you’re thinking of coming to New Zealand I would fully recommend co-ordinating with this event. You won’t regret it.

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Five Passes Tour, South Island New Zealand

Posted on November 1, 2010 by lord_lordy

8th in A Grade GC

12:52:44 ~ 14 mins behind winner

The Five Passes Tour is a 5 day cycle race starting and ending in Christchurch taking in 5 local passes in a big loop over the Southern Alps and back. Everyone races as part of a 4 person team. There are various grades and competitions in each for General Classification (GC – best overall time), King of The Mountains (KOM) and Sprint together with a prize for fastest team – this is worked out by the total of the best 3 times for each stage. Jo and I were lucky enough to get onto the Scotty Browns (a local bike shop) team. It was made even better that we were in the team with David and Richard Lawson who we’d met riding here last year. Like us David had raced in Kona. His son Richard (age 17) was clearly hoping to do quite well and is a regular road racer.

DAY 1 – Evans Pass Individual Time Trial

The tour starts with The Prologue – an individual time trial up Evans Pass in Christchurch. This is  a 2.5km climb probably to a couple of hundred metres. I knew this was going to be painful as it’s really not the sort of efforts I do these days. It did not disappoint. 8:15 of balls out, lung bursting effort. Quite a buzz and made me remember how good 10 mile TTs were ! I was pretty pleased with this as though it put me in the bottom half of A grade it was not way off and certainly climbing isn’t my strength especially on my TT bike. The fastest time was a blistering 7:11. It was clear from some of the B grade times that some of those guys should be in A grade.

I started behind Dave and in front of Richard (both my team mates). Knowing how quick Richard would be as I hoping to hold him off for the 30s he started behind me. I did by 2 seconds and that was only because the last few 100m the gradient eases off and becomes just the sort of hill I’m good at powering up.

Great way to start the event.

DAY 2 – Christchurch to Hamner Springs, 160km over Weka Pass

Each day includes various stages. Some are Neutral (ie the time for these does not contribute to the race), some are Open (ie we’re racing) and others are Team Time Trials. We started day two with a 47km neutral stage to get us out of Christchurch and onto the lovely quiet roads we were to enjoy for the rest of the tour.

We cruised North and the weather worsened to a light drizzle that was to accompany us the whole day. After a brief stop for drinks and snacks the first Open Stage got underway. 20km including a sprint after 15km. Immediately there were attacks, lots of surges in speed and then slowing. Just the sort of thing a triathlete isn’t the best at but it was great fun. I wondered to Richard as we went along why people do this early on when the terrain wouldn’t let them get away. Next minute I’m doing it myself and it’s just because it’s fun to try. Eventually Paulie got away probably because the rest of us just got sick of chasing at that time as did Dave. A single person from two teams meant we didn’t chase. Paulie took the sprint with Dave second. We all came back together to finish as a bunch for lunch.

There was another neutral stage to get us along the small section of state highway 1 before a 40km open stage over Weka Pass. There were again lots of attempts to get away before Andy managed to get off the front to take the KOM points and we all came back together. The attacks continued and eventually Mike Crawford (7:11 on the TT up Evans) got away and everything rather broke up. I got on the TT bars and hammered collecting everyone onto my wheel and pushed like mad all the way home. There was tonnes of thanks from everyone for my effort which limited the losses to Mike though he still gained nearly 2 minutes on us. I got a bought a beer for my troubles at dinner.

Finally it was the individual TT – a 7km blast. Jo, the third member of our team, was wanting to try and hang on for as long as possible. Our tactic was simple – I was going to sit on the front and hit it as hard as I could whilst the others hung on. If I tired I would peel off and Richard would take over then David. Jo started at the back and I think missed clipping her pedal. I looked back saw she was already off and had to make a split second decision which was to get going. From her perspective it looked a little different. I absolutely hammered. We had Team Rolf Prima (all guys I knew and another local team so we were keen to beat them) starting 30s ahead of us. By ~4k Scotty (owner of Scotty Browns) was telling us we were only 10s down on them. We could see them ahead and it was so motivating. I plummelled myself more and after about 5k I knew I had to hand over. I peeled off and Richard came through super strong, upping the pace. For a moment I thought I was going to get dropped which would have been highly embarrassing. I dug deep, had to work harder than when on the front just to get back on. I then sat in and regained my breath. Richard pulled strong for a little over a KM. Then his dad gave it his all before we streamed through the finish just 11s behind Rolf Prima giving us the team TT win. I was very pleased.

We arrived in Hamner Springs in good time. loads of time to relax and get to know the other racers over a BBQ and beers. Really good fun. I even managed to run up Conical Hill before a fantastic dinner and hilarious prize giving courtesy of Daniel McDonald.

DAY 3 – Hamner Springs to Greymouth, 214km over Lewis Pass

The first 19km were neutral before a 74km open stage including heading over Lewis Pass. The first high pass of the race though I’d been told it was a kind of rolling climb and it was very long. There was some serious fun and games early on as people tried to get away. I made a concerted effort on a couple of occasions reasoning that my best bet was to get out on my own and Time Trial. I was having great fun trying and realised how enjoyable bike racing was but I am way off having the power to break away from the group. In fact, it seems really that for someone to get away more or less requires the group to let them go and I had the feeling there was no way they were going to let me go.

We hit the start of the climb and again there were various attacks. I dug in and covered each one. Slowly a few people dropped off. It was killing me these massive surges which then just eased off so on the next one I decided not to follow with a burst but instead to try and steadily ride back. Rookie error – turned out it was the decisive one, we were only 3km from the top and they never eased. I was off the back over the summit with 20k to go to the end of the stage.  This was going to be fun – a massive decent then hammering along the flat to try and catch back on.

The decent was fast, terminal velocity stuff so there was no catching to be had. This left me about 12k along the flat slightly downhill section to try and bridge up. I was pretty sure Andy and Paulie would be doing there utmost to work together and get others helping to stop me catching ( they did) which would make them very difficult to catch. Down on the aero bars I was hammering like my life depended on it. I came up to a guy in our grade that had not made the group, I eased up slightly, then full throttle past at about 60 km/h hopefully ensuring he didn’t jump on. It was great fun but each group I saw ahead was from an earlier grade and by the end I was down over 2 minutes.

We had lunch then a neutral stage with a single KOM which most of us didn’t contest. The final open stage was 45km slightly downhill with some decent “pinches” and a couple of sprints. Right from the off Paulie and Dave got off the front. As Dave is my team I decided not to chase at all. Soon Paulie was out of sight and we realised that he was probably in yellow on the road which put Dave in green. We got the word round and no pushed the pace. At some point Mike Crawford (in yellow) would have to give chase and being by far the strongest rider in the group it would cause some fun.

There started to be a few surges and it was getting hard when up a particularly steep pinch Mike hit the hammer and got a gap, people surged and in that moment I just decided enough was enough and sat up (funny how that happens). Mike sat up, looked round to us and said “only kidding” – it certainly made me laugh. Mike started to push us along to close the gap but after the second sprint Paulie sat up and it all came together. Then the fun really started, loads of attacks each needing chasing down. One I just didn’t have the turn of speed to cover so decided I needed to slowly TT back. 3 others were on my wheel and it took an age to get back on then when we were about 100m off up a rise one of the guys just jumped off the front to bridge the last bit. We got on minutes later but he’d really hacked me off that he didn’t help. The next time a small gap appeared and this guy was behind me I intentionally gave a little longer for the gap to really build. I then jumped away from him and spent 15 minutes bridging back up but I’d at least popped him off the back for the rest of the day (nasty I know ;o)). It was a tough hours riding but I hung on (well kept bridging back when dropped) till the end.

DAY 4 – Greymouth To Arthurs Pass, 100km over Arthurs Pass

The night before I’d spoken with Daniel and established that the top three teams were all B-Grade teams. We realised this was down to the pee stops we’d done as a group on timed stages but that didn’t matter we didn’t want that to be the case at the end so some work had to be done. The first stage today was a 51km very gently rising stage with two sprints. Paulie had green sewn up so it was a chance to work together for time. Initially I thought it wasn’t going to be a group effort so I just got on the front and picked up the pace. Soon Paulie, Andy and Daniel all came and helped with Dave doing some good turns once in a while. We were really shifting and I enjoyed some long pulls on the front. Whilst on the front I was able to look around at the truly astonishing scenery. Jo and I are certainly very lucky that for our first visit to the West Coast we got clear blue skies the whole time. For each sprint we let Paulie go through first and just rode through. Despite being stopped for several minutes by a farmer with a herd of cows we completed the stage in 1:20 some 10 minutes faster than the B Grade guys. For the team event this translated to 30 minutes and ultimately put A grade teams in the top two spots.

The final stage of the day was the climb of Arthurs Pass. A 9km climb to over 900m. Now this is a climb. I’d been told that the road surface changes when it gets steep. i’d though this would be in the final KMs so was a little worried when the surface changed after a couple of KM. This pass is long like an alpine pass yet steep like a UK climb. Thats a bad combination resulting in about 6km of (I would guess) around 20%. My TT bike isn’t the lightest and my gearing isn’t the lowest so for most of that it was all I could do to turn the gear. There wasn’t really a thought of racing just of keeping upright. Jo was amazing – same bike, same gearing as me and she managed to get up. Awesome. I took 30:03. Mike won in an astonishing 24:40 !

Arthurs Pass Village is lovely and the weather continued to be stunning.  We all sat round drinking beer and enjoying the BBQ. It’s such a small place i reckon we must have been occupying more or less all the accommodation. I enjoyed a short run to see the Devils Punchbowl Waterfall before dinner. Yet again dinner was great run chatting with fellow racers. Then Daniel did yet another hilarious awards ceremony. Most people were having a few beers now as we neared the end and had cause for celebration having climbed Arthurs Pass. There were special awards this evening and I got the “Tough As Nuts” award for never giving up the day before and doing some long strong pulls for the group over the course of the three days. I was really chuffed.

Daniel also told the story of how one year he’d been the only guy in A grade so he road the final team TT on his own and (of course) won. He went home and made himself a trophy. He said his kids love this trophy but he’s putting it up now for the fastest team in the TTT tomorrow. He also told us how he’d put together a team that he felt could win it. It certainly motivated everyone. Since our team had the fastest first TTT we felt we had a shot.

DAY 5 – Arthurs Pass to Christchurch, 129km over Porters Pass

First stage was 44km over the Craigieburn cutting. The first bit was not only super fast but freezing cold. We really belted along as a group with it only splitting up on the climb. As soon as the attacks started on the climb I just sat up wanting to save myself for the TT. I’d stuck to my guns and, for once, not sat on the front all stage. The stop for snacks and photos was in the most amazing place. All around were snow capped mountains. Considering we were within 15km of Porters Pass (where I’d been to before) I couldn’t believe how different the scenery felt here. In future I will ride over Porters Pass at least to this point.

The final open stage was those 15km to the top of Porters Pass. Apparently it was not a tough climb. It proved the case and was my sort of terrain. I stuck with the group and was even pushing the pace along with 500km to go then the true climbers took off. Before I knew it the top B Grade guys came by catching us for 3 minutes. Completely confirming that they should have been in our grade. Jo told me later they’d joked about catching A grade at the start of that stage. I felt that was a little off – the A grade competition would have been better with them in it and from what I can gather the B grade would have had a proper competition rather than them dominating GC and KOM.

From Porters Pass I knew the road and knew it was a lot more with your foot down. No one seemed to want to share the work other than the usuals so I just got on the front and didn’t worry about it when I was one my own. I just kept it comfortable and enjoyed the scenery.

A long lunch and then another fast cruise down the Old West Coast Road to the start of the Team TT. Pete rejigged the order so that we started last a minute behind Rolf Prima. We would get that trophy if we caught them or even got them in sight. The Rolf Guys all pulled out aero helmets … they meant business.

Our plan was to make sure Jo got on the group and she would hang as long as she could. We wanted to win so there’d be no holding back. The time is on your third rider so you can drop one. Jo did a great pull out the start and we rotated through with Jo on my wheel. I got on the front gently opened the throttle and picked up the pace. I heard ease, looked under my saddle, no wheel so I eased up a little … before I know there’s a wheel there and off we go. I do a decent pull and peel off to find no Jo. “shit”. Richard is super strong and does some long fast turns on the front. Scott is there giving us splits

“45 seconds down” – I took to mean we’d gained 15

“level”

“level”

“level but they’re breaking up” – great sign

“level”

“great riding guys”

God knows how many were true but the last clearly meant we no longer had a chance. We absolutely gave is our all completing the 21km in 31:30 which was good enough for a clear 2nd place but was 1:39 behind the Rolf Guys. They were clearly very chuffed. It was well deserved because we’d really not left anything out there.

That night was the awards dinner.  Jo won the yellow jersey which was superb. If someone wins two jerseys they take the most prestigious one and the other goes to second place. It shows the spirit of the event that in the womans D grade one girl won all the jerseys. The two girls that came up to take a jersey from second place both insisted the other lady had won them and handed them on. In fact, when “Attitude Matters” came up to take the win for overall team they acknowledged how important Rolf Prima and my efforts the previous day were in their victory and handed over half the beer they’d won !! Yes we did help but boy those guys climbed owesomely. One guy on their team was 63 (I believe) and I didn’t beat him to the top of one climb and I think only once was he dropped. Amazing.

This ranks as one of the best events I’ve done and is well worth the trip to do. I’m already trying to work out whether i could afford to come here straight from Hawaii next year just to do this again.

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Leaving Kona

Posted on October 20, 2010 by lord_lordy

LeavingKona10Todays photo is from Ron. I don’t his surname but he was kind enough to send me this photo he took of me in training on the Queen K. I feel I’m back in to training now. Yesterday Jo and I headed up from Waikaloa to the Belt Road and along to Waimea. We reversed the route which was great fun as we had a tailwind for 18k and then dropped about 2,500 feet in the next 18k. Again I was riding strong and had a normalised power for the whole ride of 212 watts. I’m hoping with a little hard work in November I could be ready for a cracking race in Busselton.

It almost feels like we’ve arrived in Kona a few weeks ahead of the race. We’re swimming each morning with just a pleasant number of people. This morning the water was so clear it was beautiful. As I bobbed around in the Pacific at the first turn buoy I knew I wanted to come back. Felt like the sea was putting on a special show for my last swim to ensure I remembered how beautiful it is.

I could get used to this routine. Went for a swift run along Ali’i Drive ending at the pier for my swim. I’m now running in Bikila’s and they feel great. In fact, i feel good running. Today I ran from the hotel to the 1.5 mile marker and back in 21 minutes. I ran from the marker to the pier in 9 minutes. Jo is pretty adamant thats 1.5 miles … I hope so !

I’m resolved to try and qualify again for next year. I’ve got to keep coming back till I at least work out how to race well here.

Been updating some bits of this site including the Eddington Number page – I will blog to explain more towards the end of the year but for now there’s more stats on there than you can poke a stick at … I love it ;o)

Next post will be from Christchurch.

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Chilling In Kona

Posted on October 19, 2010 by lord_lordy

ChillingInKona10.jpgIn previous years I’ve always dashed off from Kona to another Island but this year we’ve just stayed in Kona. With the lack of flights to Auckland we ended up having a 10 day break following the race. It’s nearing the end now and we’ve both got so in to the rhythm of the place we’re not keen to leave. Jo has mentioned several times how she’d like to live here.

I’ve been swimming each morning from the pier and though there is still the odd Ironman around the locals have reclaimed their turf. We’ve seen them aqua jogging and even seen a little dog in a life vest head out with the locals. Apparently it regularly swims the full course. It’s wonderful way to start the day so I’ve been getting in just to perk me up for the day ahead. The furthest I’ve been is the 1.2 mile buoy (about half course) but this morning I was in for a chilled 10 minute pootle.

Our breakfasts in Tantes have been super chilled. The staff seem more relaxed now and almost encourage us to stick around. I don’t think we;ve managed to complete breakfast in less than an hour so far.

The slow departure of friends has been nice. We’ve got to hang out and say goodbye and Kona has slowly returned to (what I guess is) it’s normal vibe. We finally got round to hiring a car and yesterday drove round the Island a bit and headed up the Saddle road and up to 9.000 feet on Moana Kea to the visitors centre. We’d hoped for a sunset but realised it wasn’t going to happen from there so headed back. We both slept like logs last night so I’m guessing the wandering around at that altitude took it out of us.

On Saturday night we had a celebratory meal together in the Outback Steakhouse and then headed to Sams Hideaway. What a great little spot. They were doing Karaoke but not as you’d imagine. it was so laid back and not in your face. One lady was such an awesome singer I think it prevent any but the talented from having a go. We’ll be back to this little bar.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my race. I’ve had some great advice and suggestions for adjustments to my training. I’m quite excited now about getting back in to it and seeing what impact it will have on my performance. Today, Jo and I did a decent ride and it seemed to add weight to me just having an off day or perhaps my taper being a week out. We rode from Kawaihae to Waimea to Hawi to Kawaihae. This kicks off with a 3,500 foot ascent. We did this in about 90 minutes. The first 2,000 feet I took it pretty steady just sticking with Jo and after that I rode solidly though I would not say busting a gut. In that 90 minutes I had a normalised power of 252 watts (same as at the European Long Course) and it included a best ever 20 minute CP (well best since I’ve had a power meter). The rest of the ride was more or less downhill and I still ended up with a NP of 216 for the 3 hr ride. Thats the same as in the race yet at the end of it I felt like I’d just done a steady ride. It’s almost a bit of a relief as I’m hoping it shows I’m not that far off the mark for a good performance in 7 weeks in Busselton.

I found the ride plot quite funny. I can see the surge I made to 400 watts when I thought the summit was round the corner but soon found it wasn’t. Anyway … thought I’d end this entry by sharing it with you.

ChillingInKona2

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Post Race Thoughts

Posted on October 15, 2010 by lord_lordy

KonaPostRace10.jpgFinally Lava Java feels like a civilised place to hang out. It’s the Thursday after the race and things are really starting to settle down. It’s noticeable how much friendlier staff in restaurants and cafes are now. I’m guessing it’s nice for them not to be rushed off their feet.

Todays photo is of Captain Cooks monument. After 5 visits I’ve finally managed to visit the sister monument to the one that dominates the skyline where I’m from. I’ve done innumerable long fell runs to the one back home so it was apt that we did a pretty solid swim to see this one. On Tuesday Richard, Jenny, Rachel, John, Jo and myself had a little expedition to swim the mile or so across the bay to Captain Cooks monument. Getting in from the rocky shore through the breakers looked far more intimidating than it was. The swim turned out to be harder than it looked. It was great though and I felt strong swimming.

Today I finally got back in to a little exercise with a 20 minute swim first thing and a nice steady ride for just under a couple of hours. Sods law I felt great on my ride today. Didn’t feel I was pushing it, just cruising along and I had a normalised power of 190 watts. Just adds weight in my mind that Saturday was just one of those days.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my performance and I clearly see it as my most disappointing performance here yet. I felt I’d really put the work in. Admittedly I didn’t feel on fire in the final week but with the work I’d done I thought I’d be alright. Heading out on the bike in the best frame of mind I’ve been in at that point in this race so I don’t think it’s I just wasn’t ready to race. I almost feel embarrassed that I put all this work in and get such a crap performance.

Not sure how organised these thoughts will be but here they are:

SWIM

My build to this race was rather like an experiment brought about by circumstance. We didn’t get access to a squad in Taunton (thats another story) so Jo and I were training on our own in the public pool. We got to know the locals and they were very good and considerate in trying to keep out of our way. I manage to swim most mornings and consistently got 20k a week in. It also allowed me to be a guinea pig on a little theory I’d had about swim training. Everyone believes that swimming hard intervals is the right approach to getting strong for swimming in Triathlon. I wondered whether this was really the case, especially for Ironman. My thinking was:

  1. With a large squad the only practical way to use the pool is to have a formal session off set times – it keeps everyone in the lane together, preventing too much over-taking
  2. Intervals are more interesting. They help keep focus and teach swimmers pacing by giving regular feedback on pace

I wondered whether the actual best approach, provided the athletes was disciplined enough was regular long continuous steady to hard swimming. This made sense on many fronts

  1. It’s the approach for a large proportion of bike and run training
  2. It would teach the focus required to maintain pace and effort for an hour or so swim
  3. The swim in an Ironman should really be a pretty steady effort. Nothing too hard at all so why do a shed load of threshold work

Now, don’t get me wrong … if I have a squad I will attend as I love it BUT I think adding in long steady swimming is good.

So back to Taunton pool. I was by far the fastest in the lane and I find that if I do a continuous swim it’s easier for the others in the lane. They tend to be able to judge when I’ll pass etc… So my sessions were one of a few types:

  1. Continuous 4 or 5 k build TT. I’d get in a start with my steady warm up for about 1k I would then build through to 4k or 5k. It would include bursts of speed when passing the faster swimmers in the lane which mimicked covering surges in the pack. My target was 1hr / 1h15 and normally I hit that bang on. Though I did have a 56  min 4k and a 1h12 5k at points.
  2. Pull session – 1k swim, 1k pull buoy, 1k pull buoy and band, 1k swim – thats the typical pattern.
  3. 200s. Just to ensure I wasn’t losing my pace i would do regular (more or less weekly) set of 200s off 3 minutes. I would do at least 10 but sometimes up to 20. It’s a 33.3m pool and my target was controlled even pace. Early on I was hitting 2:50s but as I neared Kona I started getting low 2:40s

Given my swim on Saturday – it’s the strongest I’ve swam and the easiest I’ve swam at Kona. Though it’s 2 minutes off my best, given the lack of swim skins and the ease of my swim I would rank it as my best swim. I am very pleased with this.

BIKE

God knows what happened. I just did not have it at all. I’ve really no idea why. One thought is I was just plain depleted. It felt like two years ago when I’d done Wisconsin 5 weeks before. Perhaps I just hadn’t recovered enough. This however, doesn’t fit with other races where I’ve done similar volumes / work up to the race and been on fire on the bike. For now I just wonder whether I had some sort of bug. Not bad enough to make me feel ill but enough to stop me being able to raise my HR.

RUN

What an experience running in Vibrams. It certainly gave my feet a workout and if I’m honest I’d underestimated just what it would be like. That said I still find it bizarre how people want to blame the vibrams. From what I can see a huge proportion of people get blisters that they don’t normally get during this race but no one says to them you better change from running in trainers and start running in vibrams, dunlop green flash or whatever. Having said that, I’m not normally one to really get blisters bad when running in flats. I sometimes do and sometimes don’t. I think Jo had a feeling of “Welcome to my world” as she always has trashed feet at the end. So what could have caused it. In order of likelihood here’s what I reckon and how I’d address it in future:

  1. RACE CONDITIONS – this race is hot. Your feet get hot, perhaps swell, get wet on the bike from sweat and using water to cool your legs. This means your feet get soft before the run. On top of this whereas normally I would make sure I didn’t get sprayed by the hoses and would put ice down my tri shorts rather than pour water this time I used water a lot. I believed the vibrams would be ok when wet so I conciously aimed to get them wet to keep my feet cool. I wore a pro cool top that needed to be kept wet. Every aid station I doused it in water and accepted hosed water every time. Also I was in running shorts so no ice down my legs instead used sponges. Net effect is my feet got far far wetter than normal. I think next race I will look to try and keep my feet dryer
  2. LACK OF RUNNING IN VIBRAMS – I have only had 3 months pure running in vibrams and though that made me feel committed it perhaps is not enough time for the feet to adapt. More running in them will help and I’m pretty sure moving to using Bikili’s will also.
  3. GRIT IN THE SHOES – from the riding barefoot on the bike. As I’ve said the shoes felt rough from the outset totally unlike any other race. The amount of questioning I’d got about running in these shoes counted against me here. I know it got in my head and at the time I remember thinking I can’t stop and spend minutes sorting them out as everyone will be thinking “look at that idiot running in those shoes. Clearly a mistake as he’s had to stop to sort them out”. I don’t like admitting I was so bothered about what other people (people I don’t know) thought but I was. Next time I will take more care in transition to ensure the soles of my feet are clean before putting the shoes on.

I learnt a lot from this experience. It was never about running the fastest Ironman Marathon. In the run up I probably still felt that I’d run quicker in racing flats. Though I told everyone it wasn’t wise to change as I’d only run in vibrams that explanation was really just to avoid a load of quizzing. Thats the advice everyone is given and everyone believes without thinking. I could have raced in flats without any problems I am sure. Why didn’t I ? The move to barefoot is a long term plan that will take time to really reap the rewards. I fundamentally believe in it but also understand, like a training plan, you need to give it time to come to fruition. You need to back yourself and your beliefs. This race was a key stepping stone. I had to see what it was like. Everyone that has done a marathon has a first one, it’s a first time they’ve ran that distance in whatever shoes they chose to run it in. This isn’t anything special, it just happens the first time I’ve run a marathon in vibrams isn’t my first marathon. Having done it once I believe I will be a lot better equipped next time.

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Triathlete Europe Interview Kona 2010

Posted on October 11, 2010 by lord_lordy

KonaInVibramsArticle

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Kona 2010 Analysis

Posted on October 10, 2010 by lord_lordy

Kona2010Analysis.jpgI certainly feel like I did a race yesterday. I have two lovely sunburnt one inch bands on my back marking the edge of my tri suit. I did get them to put suncream on for the bike put I reckon it must have moved once I was aero ! You can read about the race here.

Yesterday ranks as one of my most enjoyable races at Kona and it was nice to realise I was enjoying it as it happened. My result is a little baffling. Normally when I see that sort of consistent training I get a good result. I didn’t feel on fire these last two weeks but I trusted it would come good on the day. Initial thoughts on possible reasons why:

  1. I’m depleted from the training. This is something Gordo tweated to me after a comment about carb intake. This result was very similar to 2008 when I raced just after Wisconsin and I felt plain tired.
  2. Bike position isn’t quite right. In the second half I spent a lot of time on the drops. Of course causation here is tricky. Could be being off form caused this lack of comfort or vice versa.
  3. I was just under the weather for some reason. Perhaps have a bug that doesn’t manifest itself unless I’m trying to push.

The day started with the roughest first minute of any race I’ve done. Luckily I think I got the best of it and ended up with a thoroughly enjoyable swim. In past years with Swim skins there was some speculation about whether or not the increased speed would be enough to offset the extra time in transition. This year I swam in a one piece Tri suit … my swim was about a minute slower (this probably equates to a better swim to be honest) but my overall Swim + T1 was only about 10s slower !

On the bike I just didn’t have it at all. No oomph. I thought I was working hard but would look at my power meter and see sub 200 watts. I knew it wasn’t going well. The conditions seemed tough but lots of people got fast bike splits. Roger and Russell both had great rides and caught me before the run. I’m hoping it was just one of those things and by Busselton I will be back on fire.

The run was seriously good fun. The first 10 miles was super comfortable and ok pace. Then through to the end of the Queen K was hard work but I kept going. Then mile 21 it fell apart. Luckily within 2 miles Rip came along and got me going and we ran in together.

Racing in vibrams was very interesting. The first thing is my legs don’t feel that trashed at all.  However, my feet are in a bit of a state. How is it on race day things rub like they never rub otherwise. It’s probably a combination of the heat and perhaps the feet swelling a little. On top of that I have got some monster blisters under the toe next to the big toe. This has never happened before even on 3.5 hr runs. My feeling was it was my own fault. The vibrams never felt quite right from the off and I think there was small lava grit in there. Between now and Busselton I will be doing more running in the Bikilis and my feet should have toughened up a little more. It does mean I’ve got a proper post Ironman hobble but it’s not due to sore legs but very sore feet.

I posted my Kona Goals and I’m pleased to report I managed the first one. I really felt I was in shape to get the second but pretty much after the bike that was out of the question. For 10 miles I thought I might get a 3:30 marathon but that soon disappeared on the Queen K. This is one tough race and other than the first time I’ve not race well here. Was it 6 attempts it took Mark Allen to finally nail this race ? Well, next year (assuming I qualify) will be number 6 for me.

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Ironman World Championship, Kailua-Kona 2010

Posted on October 9, 2010 by lord_lordy

Kona2010-2

Time: 10:27:28
Swim: 57:39
T1: 2:16
Bike: 5:21:40
T2: 4:17
Run: 4:01:46

Race Analysis here

Triathlete Europe Interview here

This year the Pro’s started 30 minutes before the age groupers at 6:30am. This added a dilemma for me of what time to get in the water. I got down on the beach

just after the pro’s went and stood in the water trying to judge leaving it as late as possible but still getting close to the front line.

I headed in at just after 6:40 and got to hang on a surf board with some guys that were already shivering. The water is cold at that time on a morning if you’re not swimming. At 6:45 they moved us forward and had the surfers going backwards and forwards across the front trying to keep us back. It slowly got more and more congested having to tread water with only your feet, getting a deadleg the off time from someone with a rogue kick. I happened to end up by Albert and Petro – we chatted and it helped calm me.

There is no warning for the gun and it felt it went early with two surfboard perpendicular to us. I was, luckily, by the gap between. An annoying guy in speedos wasn’t and I was pleased to see him get his come-uppence – he tried to duck under it, as he did it turned and the people either side of him swam forward and over him as did I. He must have spent the first 15s underwater ! Last year I commented this swim gets rougher and rougher – this time was no exception. My first half a dozen strokes connected with shoulders rather than water which i think was total luck and it got me clear water. I stuck to my guns of not pushing too hard and it seemed to work giving a change of pace to clear trouble. I almost immediately had decent swimming and even had the time to notice these amazing long thin fish slipstreaming a guy to my left.

The rest of the swim was a pleasure. What made it nice is thats not only in hindsight but at the time I can remember thinking I was enjoying it. Had a decent draft for much of the time, was swimming comfortably and felt swimming quite strong. 57:39 for the swim is slower than last year but I think given the lack of posh swim skins and how much easier it felt it was a much better performance.

T1 was a dream. I ran in grabbed my bag and by the time I got to the tent I had everything out of it I needed so just handed the guy my bag and ran straight on. I got a big cheer from the volunteers for not heading in the change tent. Paused slightly to get sun cream on my shoulders and out on the bike.

I was out on the bike in 59:55 compared to 59:46 last year. I was feeling super positive about the rest of the race having had such a calm but fast swim. As we headed up to the Queen K a spectator shouted “you guys are in the top 50”.

I kept my eye on my power meter through town to hold down my efforts – 250 watts felt so easy at that point. My HRM had come undone so I decided to stop to fix it. Hitting the bottom of Palani (the steepest section on the route) I focussed on steady effort and all the guys around me flew by. I wondered if I was going too easy so glanced at my power which read 310 ! I eased off a little and wondered what wattage those guys would have been pushing.

Out on the Queen K I settled into my rhythm… well I tried to. I felt reasonable but looking at my power meter I could see I just wasn’t pushing the way I should. Guys were going by all the time and sometimes in packs that were a little too tight and a little too organised. I saw marshals alongside them but they did nothing. That was very disappointing to see especially considering some of these guys were probably gunning for age group podiums.

Though I didn’t have any oomph I stuck to my guns of not pushing too hard to Hawi. I re-assured myself that I’d gain a lot back by being strong after the Hawi descent. Unfortunately this never came. The descent from Hawi was interesting with some serious cross winds. Luckily with people ahead you could see when they were leaning 45deg into the wind and get ready for it. There were some seriously hairy moments.

I struggled to reel in Jo and when I did she re-passed me on the next hill and indicated it was in my head. That helped and I tried to push a little but I was struggling to hit 200 watts. It turns out my normalised power was 216 watts (134 BPM) bit different from 253 (149 BPM) at the European Long Course.

Luckily, with the planned run in Vibrams I was really looking forward to getting out on the run. T2 was a little slower as I changed completely in to running shorts, Craft Procool top and my vibrams. If I’d had to guess I would have thought minutes slower but as it turned out less than 40s longer than last year.

Out on the road the vibrams just didn’t feel right. I stopped after about half a mile to remove some grit and continued. They still didn’t feel quite right – a little rough in the fore foot but as I’d just checked them just thought it was one of those things. With hindsight (and looking at my feet this morning) there was something got in them and I should have sorted it out as I’ve a couple of quite impressive blisters now under the toe next to my big toe on each foot !!

Despite this, running in them was a joy and for the first 10 miles I felt super relaxed and was hitting ~8 min miles comfortably. I had a variety of comments from “Ouch” to screams of “Awesome, vibrams!” After Pay and Safe hill I never got my rhythm back. I know this is a problem but I’ve never quite cracked how to get my rhythm back. I kept running till I was at mile 21 but then I started to really suffer. Some walking through aid stations. At mile 23 Rip came by and I managed, with his encouragement, to speed up and run with him. We chatted, he walked with me in aid stations and agreed to run in together, It is down to him I got under 10:30. I reckon on my own it would have been 10:45. It was great to catch up and he’s so positive it helped me massively to finish strong. We agreed to cross the line together. Given the help he gave me I think it only right that the chip times gave him the “win”.

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