Back In The UK

Posted on March 17, 2010 by lord_lordy

3TBarsLife is so much simpler away from home. All your belongings are in a box and a bag and none of your mail reaches you. Back home there’s a tonne of mail to sort out and suddenly I have “stuff” knocking about all over the place. It’s mere presence makes me want to find something. It has been good to be back. The flight wasn’t too stressful and I managed to make it home before my nephews went to school. That was really nice.

There was all the usual sorting through mail and getting my life back in order. Being away 4 months certainly allows a few things to back up though it does feel good to get it sorted out.

3TBars2Been getting some great advice and thoughts on my performance. Given me a lot to think about. I’ve managed to work out how to fix it! Just change my tri bar set up ! Only kidding. I have changed it though. I’d been planning on getting some drops with flat tops and was going to go with Ovals bars but given what happened with them again I’m a bit nervous to do that. I think their design is great but I won’t go back to it unless I feel reassured they won’t snap. Instead I’ve gone for 3T bars. They are superb. So comfortable. I’ve switched to a longer stem which has provided a more comfortable position when on the hoods or drops as I’m not so cramped but it’s also allowed me to leave the position when on the tri bars the same. The top picture shows it with the tri bars mounted without pads. This makes it great for road riding but with the gel inserts on the top of the bar allows TTing though probably not comfortable enough for racing. I will use this setup for periods when I’m training on this bike exclusively. The two pictures right show the set up I’ve going to race with at Lanza – this uses my old oval extensions and pads. Will play with it a bit to get the pads in the right position. Very pleased with it.

Been slowly getting back in to training. Couple of social rides over the weekend. Monday I ran to and from the squad swim and felt good. During the swim I was cruising 400s pull in just under 5:25 which felt great.

I’ve certainly got thoughts about how I will approach Ironman Lanzarote and I’m seriously considering forking out for SRM Cranks and possibly a GPS / HRM watch so I can race with both and get data on what I’ve done during the race. This is quite a change for me.

I think what’s happening here is I’m finally becoming more bothered about my performance. I was bothered before but only to the extent that I wanted to perform ok. For me enjoying training was far more important and as long as I got decent results I was happy. Now though I’m starting to feel I’d really like to see what my absolute best performance can be. Given the level of training I’m willing and able to do I reckon I’ve not done a performance in recent years commensurate with the training I’ve put in. I’d like to correct that. I’d like to absolutely nail at least one Ironman.

The million dollar question is how do I achieve that…

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Final Thoughts On Leaving New Zealand

Posted on March 9, 2010 by lord_lordy

FinalThoughtsNZ10.jpgHere’s the great sign Jo designed for me. She wrote after my first lap on the bike… luckily during the run I only managed to read the first line. Jo and I only have one day left in New Zealand before heading back to the UK. We’ve enjoyed it more this time round than last and are likely to be back again next year. I’ve left my Epic Camp wheels which is a sign of intent and I’d like another shot at Ironman New Zealand. This post is further thoughts on my race. Bear with me I’m just getting off my chest. When I’m back in the UK the focus will be getting ready for Lanzarote.

Thanks for all the comments on the previous post. It’s very nice to know there’s people out there in the ‘ether’ that are bothered ! I’ve been thinking a lot about the race and the comments have certainly helped me think through stuff.

My disappointment really boils down to my bike split. Ultimately this was pretty close to a satisfactory performance – 5 mins quicker on the bike and I think my feelings would be dramatically different. Realising that, I should not beat myself up too much about it. It has knocked my confidence a bit. Kona and Busselton really made me feel like and believe I am a strong biker. I felt I’d worked out what I needed to do to ride well but now I have a poor ride. Having always felt riding to power would remove something from the experience of racing it’s now quite high in my mind that perhaps thats what I need to do. That said, I need to be careful not to go changing stuff just because of one slightly off performance. Backing yourself and giving your approach time is often what’s needed and for that patience and belief is key.

The swim was good – it was fast and easy just as I’d want. The run was within expectations. Given my circumstances predicting the time with any accuracy would have been tricky. The bike though … a real mystery. There seems to be a few potential reasons:

BAD PACING – I went out too fast. I commented about my first 50k being fast but that was with the tail wind and by halfway my average speed was 36.3km/h. That was inline with the split I thought I could do. Looking at the splits I went through 90km in 2:22 and most people around that time for the split ended with low 5 hours. If I look at the splits at the final turnaround (135km) it seems that I actually lost the majority of my time in the final 45 km back in to the wind. I was approximately 7 minutes down on the field and thats definitely the difference between my split and what I would have thought was respectable. A very strong headwind in the final quarter will hit those that went too hard early on a lot harder as they have less in reserve to battle it. It suggests that it was mispacing. Was a sub 5 hour split realistic? In the conditions it would have been one of the top few age group times. However given my pacing in the first half (the conditions got worse in the second half) it would seem I was on course (without a fade) for 5:01 or 5:02 which would have been the top 20 age groupers. Thats definitely in line with my Busselton performance. I was 5th in my age group off the bike here and I was 7th in my AG off the bike at Kona which also suggests my bike split wasn’t of the same quality.  My conclusion is my target was realistic but for some reason on the day I was just not up to it.

Jo pointed out the similarities of this bike performance with her run here last year. Both of us really believed we could do the splits we set off for and both suffered later but not so much as to completely blow. At the time I kept telling Jo that it was a pacing problem not a fitness one. Quite rightly she’s softly reminding me of this. I was so confident of sub 5 hours I just hammered off to get it. Like Jo I should take the lesson do be careful with my expectations. Don’t let them drive me on too fast too early.

POOR NUTRITION – I replied with a comment to my previous post what I had pre race and during the race. The day before the race was as normal – omelette breakfast, light lunch, salad dinner followed by fruit salad (I missed this off yesterday). Not the normal “carbo load” but inline with virtually all my races since my first season of Ironman. My theory behind this is that your body can only store a very limited about of Carbs – you hear estimates of 2,000 cals … whatever it’s not that much and provided the week before has been easy (it was) and you’ve eaten fruit and veg you’re glycogen stores will be full. Surplus carbs will go on as fat and I don’t want to do that the day before the race. Also, too many refined carbs (bread, pasta etc…) don’t sit well in my tummy. Really little was changed in the day before the race. Two things were different:

(i)Thursday night carbo party – there was only pasta and I was hungry. I had two plates of pasta. Not done that at a carbo part ever … normally I just have salad and meat.

(ii)No breakfast pre morning.

Certainly at my next race I will not be eating pasta at the carbo party and I will be eating the morning of the race.

Something thats been a problem the last few races has been cramp. This time I never quite got it but it was very close in the last few KMs of the run. I rarely need to pee during the race yet others talk of peeing multiple times. Am I drinking way too little?

NOT RECOVERED FROM EPIC – Since Epic Camp I have been sleeping LOTs ! In the 6 weeks or so since Epic I’ve averaged over 9 hours a night. Regularly waking and just not being able to get myself out of bed to swim. At the time I reassured myself it was a good thing. My body needed it. I’d never averaged this much before it must be great to be so rested. Now, with a poor performance, I see a different interpretation. I was very tired. I was not recovered from Epic.

TRAINING CHANGES – Since Epic camp I change my bike training from my usual becoming more in line with what some people have suggested. I did no over distance rides (in the past I’d be riding over distance, massively sometimes, weekly). I did some solid sessions – a longer hard ride, interval ride, hilly ride and a social group ride. I rarely hit 300 miles. Compared to previously where 300 was a gentle week. Given my fade in the last quarter of the bike perhaps I was missing this.

I think I’ve mentioned this in my blog before. Recovery from this injury finds me “forced” into comparisons of what could have been. It’s something I always find slightly amusing – “I would have won if I’d run faster”. It’s tantamount to saying “I could have won the Olympic 100 freestyle gold if I was a quicker swimmer”. I don’t particularly like finding myself doing this but guess it’s inevitable when you analyze your performance and assess what would have been required to achieve your goals thus working out how close you were and what improvements are required.

I didn’t achieve any of the goals I’d set myself for this race but here’s how close I got to some of them:

GOAL: Qualify for Kona

Even with my poor bike split a 3:45 run would have got me a slot (without roll down). 3:45 is what I’d told Jo I would have been happy with and I wasn’t far off – 3:52. I walked a few times so it makes me wonder whether if I’d just toughened up I could have managed it. At 24k if I’d managed to limit my drop in pace to 50s a KM (ie slowed to 5:50km) I would have come in on 3:45. I won’t dwell on that as I have no intention of needing to toughen up to get a 3:45, I’m aiming far higher than that

If I’d done a bike split close to what I should have been capable of I would have got a spot with my run split of 3:52

GOAL: Do better than 2nd in my AG

A 3:30 marathon would have got me 2nd, in fact a 3:32 would of. So unbeknownst to me during that first 24km I was actually closing in on 2nd place. Earlier in my Ironman career 3:30 would have been what I did on a bad day. I’ve said this before but I need to get back to that form.

GOAL: Win my AG

My run split last time here of 3:22 would have still placed me second about  3 minutes behind the winner. So not enough. I would have needed that sort of run split together with a low 5 hour bike split. I can safely say I need to continue to work hard to achieve this goal.

This recovery from major surgery feels pretty drawn out. In the press you often hear of sports people making pretty quick recovery and getting back to their previous best and I reckon this made me feel that I would just be the same. Like getting back to running in the summer, I have to get my mind around it will take longer. I think a combination of the severity of the injury and surgery together with my age means it will take longer. At least following the race my foot felt no ill effects whatsoever other than blisters that I never used to get. I was warned about this as a likely consequence by the surgeon.

I was attracted to the neatness of coming back a year later to the same race and racing at my previous level. It would have neatly closed that chapter. It seduced me. Unfortunately it was probably unrealistic. Now it’s head down to Lanzarote. I’m not looking for roll downs I’m looking to qualify directly. With a few days to gain balance I had a good swim and an encouraging run. I’d like to get to the bottom of the bike performance but though I felt it was poor it was still pretty good and with improved run it would have been good enough to meet some of my goals. It may boil down to something as simple as missing breakfast or slightly more complicated bad pacing – both I can work on improving and correcting next time.

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Ironman New Zealand – Analysis

Posted on March 7, 2010 by lord_lordy

IMNZAnalysis10.jpgIt’s fair to say I’m pretty disappointed with my race yesterday. My race report can be found here. It’s Sunday morning and as usual I’ve not been able to sleep and I find it quite therapeutic to think the day through and write down thoughts. I’ll put them here but I’m likely to mull it over more and my view will change. It’s changed since last night already !

The night before this race was the worst nights sleep I’ve ever had ahead of a race. I can’t believe how nervous I felt and I kept waking either way too hot, sweating under the covers or way to cold because I’d fallen asleep with the covers off. I felt utterly awful. However, historically I’ve race really well when seriously nervous. I think because my nerves are a sign I feel I’ve prepared well and I feel pressure on myself to do myself justice. Thats what I thought going in to this. I was pretty sure the run was a bit of an unknown but I felt my swim and bike had moved on since Busselton and therefore I would go seriously well. Yesterdays performance didn’t feel like I’d done my preparations justice at all. I have a table of my Ironman performances and I’ve marked my execution down, though that really is all due to the bike.

I was too nervous to eat breakfast. I’d read, a while back, from a reputable source that given the choice between extra sleep and breakfast go for the sleep as after a nights sleep it’s only a small amount of liver glycogen been used and though you may feel hungry your muscles are still fully charged and ready to go. I started Longest Day hungry and raced well. Last night we’d chatted about it and Russ said he’d seen research that showed no correlation between eating breakfast and race result it came down to race nutrition. The long and short of it is I drank a cup of coffee and felt quite calm about not eating.

Once in transition I felt more relaxed and my tummy wasn’t it’s usual rumbling self. Wondered whether it was helped by not having breakfast.

SWIM

Most satisfying part of the race. Pretty conservative. Easiest swim I’ve ever done. Sat in a pack for huge chunk of it and got out in 51 minutes. One of my fastest swims and definitely the least energy expended. I was slightly worried about that I’d let my squad swimming tail off in favour of sleep the last few weeks but it doesn’t seem to have had a big impact.

BIKE

Clearly I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was.

I genuinely felt I was in shape to go under 5 hours. In good conditions I felt it could be 4:50. The conditions weren’t good. In fact, second lap was very windy. We saw Cam Brown interviewed on the news and he said it was the hardest conditions he’d seen on the bike. I was confident and with such an easy swim I went for it. My initial thoughts last night were I went out too hard on the first 50km but I’m not so sure. I was on 4:40 pace at 50km but 40k of that was with a tailwind. By 90km I was on 4:56 pace which was bang on. However, even at that stage I could tell from the feeling in my legs I’d done a little too much. There were guys I caught and passed that clearly just paced it better and came back by me and managed very low 5 hours. I faded big time compared to those around me at halfway. I was in the lead pace-line and if I’d been able to stick with them would have got very low 5 hours. Hugely disappointing.

Of course, it gets you thinking ‘why has it dropped off so much’. My preps since Epic Camp for this race have been substantially different on the bike than in the past. Gone were the big over distance rides and riding most days. Instead I did focussed sessions with plenty of rest between. I think I succumbed to a lot of feedback I get that you need more quality and less quantity. I felt I had the base now I should add quality. Hell, I rode IM distance in 5:11 mere weeks ago in training and here I only manage 5:09. What’s up with that ? I’ve been able to absolutely hammer in training and then fade here. It’s nice being that strong in training but I’d go back to being weaker in training and racing well any day. I think about how strongly I rode at Epic Camp and how even when tired I could still crack on. I didn’t feel like that yesterday. Something was definitely missing (was it breakfast ? … only kidding). I’d lost something on the bike between Epic I now. I can’t believe I’d lost that much fitness so perhaps it was a pacing thing. Maybe  I need to start racing on a power meter ? Only way to do that really is SRM cranks… pricey !

My gut reaction is I need to build some volume on the bike again ahead of Lanzarote. Luckily I’ll be resting for a week or so before starting training for that so I won’t necessarily go with my gut.

RUN

This was a reasonable positive. 5;16 marathon at Kona, 4:30 at Busselton and then 3:52 here is a pretty steady improvement in very little time. You just can’t hide from lack of run training. I really only had 2 months proper training for this. I ran target pace for 24k then dropped off big time.

Here are my run splits. The view is the 11 and 14k markers were misplaced. Anyway – after an initial overly fast start I settled to pretty consistent running then at 24k it dropped off. You can see some pretty chunky splits followed by slightly better ones where I pulled myself together but couldn’t hold it.

I certainly hoped i could go 3:30 and there was some evidence to back that in training but as I think I hinted on this blog I really didn’t know. it’s pretty clear I’ve still got a ways to go. It’s easy to fall in to my old habits and just going long but I am going to resist that. Not only because my toe just may not handle that but also because I need to give this new approach time. So the plan is to continue with a focussed long run each week after days of running rest. Negative splitting long runs, hilly runs and then one or two shorter fast runs. Whilst I’m in North Yorkshire I will make the most of the hills.

I am gutted I didn’t manage a Kona slot. This time I was only about 6 minutes or so off. If I’d held my first 24k pace for the full distance (a big if I know) I would have 3rd ! Thats positive since despite what I consider a poor bike I was in position to do well and even managed to maintain an appropriate pace for the run for over half course. That said, 3:30 is not the split I’m aiming for. I want to be consistently under 3:20.

Last night I got to use Davids Normatec boots for 45 minutes and boy oh boy they helped A LOT. If they come up with some at a more reasonable price I’ll be in the market for them. The guys said it was better than the post race massage.

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Ironman New Zealand, Taupo 2010

Posted on March 6, 2010 by lord_lordy

IMNZ2010.jpgTime: 9:57:51
Swim: 51:19
T1: 4:55
Bike: 5:09:01
T2: 0:55
Run: 3:51:41

Race Analysis here.

I was so nervous for this race. I had the most disrupted night’s sleep ever and then couldn’t face any breakfast so only had a coffee. This did make me much more comfortable immediately pre race and I felt that no breakfast or a very light breakfast was the best approach. Once in transition and checking my bike I felt much more confident. In the past bad nerves have been a precursor for a good race. Inside I felt quite confident.

I lined up at the front of the swim. My swimming had been going well and I’d judged that in this race the depth of strong swimmers wouldn’t be huge and felt there was no need to absolutely blast off the start. When it gone within a minute some guy just move about 5 metres forward of everyone else which I thought was a bit off. When within seconds of the gun I was on top of him ,

I though ‘bloody idiot’ and had no qualms about swimming straight over him. I soon found myself leading the middle surge of swimmers. Over the course of a few buoys I merged over to the main pack. I’d missed the front few age groupers but was clearly in the next pack. Throughout the swim the leader of this pack would veer off after each buoy as he seemed to initially sight off the buoys on the other side of the course. This was annoying and very so often I would take the straight route merging with them later. It was clearly harder work doing this and I wasn’t getting ahead so I spent most of the time in the pack swimming very comfortably. I’d prepared myself for a 55+ minute split and reconciled it in my head that it would set me up for the bike this easy swimming. I was nicely surprised when I ran out of the lake on saw the time was 51 minutes.

I was looking forward to the bike. I’d biked really well the previous two races and felt with Epic Camp followed by lower volume with a focus on quality including some Ironman Distance rides at pace I’d improved from then. I set off at a good pace up the hills out of town and with the tail wind really kept the pressure on. No one came by me and I was catching everyone. About an hour in I was told I was the leading age grouper. At the turnaround I saw that the last 3 guys I’d passed had formed a paceline behind me. I hit 50km with an average speed of 38.3 km/h (that included the pushing the bike out of transition!) thats 4:41 pace ! I now had the headwind but was in a nice line of 4 all the way back. We got passed by Matt Illingworth but knew he’d be off (he did 4:41 for about the fastest split of the day). The little group worked well to keep the effort up with someone moving through if the person on the front slowed. I really felt in a good position. We hit 90km at an average of 36.4 km/h which was bang on what I’d set out as my target pace. Just needed another lap like that. I was a bit gutted that our little group got split up and coming out of town a big paceline was bearing down on me. It went by on the hills out of town and I didn’t manage to get on. My legs felt like I’d pushed a little too hard on the first lap and now the wind (REALLY) picked up and I suffered. Spent the lap riding on my own or with just a couple of others and I dropped off to a 5:09 bike split. Very disappointing.

I flew through T2 in under a minute and out on the run. Didn’t feel great or fast but I hit each of the first 4 kms in 4:30 despite trying to ease up. I was seriously choked up as soon as I hit the run, literally in tears. Running on this course after last year was a lot more emotional than I’d thought… well I’d not actually thought about it. It was pretty positive as I wasn’t feeling great but running a decent pace. After 4kms I managed to get the splits more at the 5 minute mark and I just sat at that waiting for my run legs to kick in. I felt I’d done enough training to at least have a period of running freely. This continued like this till I’d hit 24km in 2hrs (bang on 3:30 pace)  then my body skipped the running free stage and went straight to the sufferfest stage. It felt like I was about to fall apart but pleasingly I (more or less) held it together. Splits went up to closer the 6 minutes mark, I walked some aid stations and even had to walk at random spots a couple of times but each time I pulled myself and got going again pretty quickly.

I was getting close to cramping in both calves and left quad so was popping the salt tablets and gels to try and keep it under control. At the last turnaround I decided to give popping a few Ibuprofen a go (Jo does it quite a lot). I had four with me so took two. Then a couple of minutes later though “what the hell” and took the others. Not sure it was them or getting nearer the finish but from 7km to 2km I ran a lot better and then the cramp really started to get close to halting me. I had to nurse myself all the way down the finish shoot. I was pretty choked up as I finished and when I saw Jo in the finish tent after I burst in to tears. Great to finish this race but still feel I need to come back and do it properly.

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Ready, Steady, GO!

Posted on March 5, 2010 by lord_lordy

ReadySteadyGoAll my bags are checked in, my bike is racked. All that is left to do now is munch my monster steak and salad then try and get some sleep. Boy am I nervous. Last two mornings I’ve woken so nervous. It’s funny. I’m massively nervous in bed but if I get up I feel ok. I lay there feeling nervous deciding whether I’ll manage to fall back to sleep and once I’ve decided no more sleep is possible I get up. This is generally a good sign I think. It’s not nice being so nervous and for many races I’m not but  I distinctly remember feeling like this for Lanzarote and Wisconsin and both went well. I will get another sign tomorrow morning when I eat breakfast. Sometimes I have to stop myself eating too much. Others (when I’m nervous) I have to force it down. I keep reminding myself that it’s not that important. I started Longest Day seriously hungry. I think sometimes it’s a good thing.

Why am I nervous ? I’ve thought about this a lot, not only now but on the previous occassions. I’m not that sure. Partly I worry about things out of my control but can get my nerves under control precisely because they’re out of my control. I think the nerves come from high expectations and I guess I have them now.

I’ve been visualising the race a lot as I’ve laid in bed slowly going to sleep. Slow because now I’m rested. I visualise the nerves before the swim start, the initial argy bargy, the high effort levels  then the settling in to my pace. With this race I see that this shouldn’’t be too bad with the pack thinning pretty quickly. On the bike I see being controlled out of town up the hills and then working hard after that – long downhill, likely with a tail wind, requiring focus not to cruise too much. After the turnaround seeing the pacelines coming. Don’t get concerned. Target keeping them at bay. If someone comes by use them to focus my efforts. I think about the flow build up of fatigue in my legs and the need to keep focus on pushing through the second lap. Then the run. Take splits, run comfortably for the first 5 – 10km observing splits and seeing how I feel. Hopefully I’ll be seeing sub 5 min KMs and will try and maintain them through to halfway. Then decision do  I push or maintain. it will be tough be ready for this. Anchor. Work through it.

The run is the exciting bit. I feel I’m running well but am keeping aware of my lack of run training and hopefully preparing mentally for a tough time out there.

It’s been a relaxing week.  On Tuesday Jo and I got the train from Christchurch to Picton and then hopped on the ferry to Wellington. We stayed with David. Jo set off Wed morning to to ride to Taupo over two days. I did a 30 minute run with Russ then relaxed at various coffee shops before driving up with David in the afternoon. We met with Jo for dinner on the way.

Yesterday I did a 25 min swim on the corse, 90 minute ride on the course and two runs on the course. 24 minutes in to town. Chilled out at Bodyfuel then did a 19 min run. Of all the disciplines running felt great. I visualised the race, tried to anchor this feeling and hoped I’d run like that come race day.

My aero bars were becoming a real worry. Various emails had been sent and finally it got to the right person and things started moving. Oval got a replacement faceplate to Top Gear bikes this morning and it’s now all fixed ! Great effort. The guys at Top Gear were chuffed to bits that I’d got it sent to them and not Avanti !

It’s great to have that off my mind so now I can just focus on getting ready to rumble tomorrow.

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Ready To Go

Posted on March 1, 2010 by lord_lordy

IMNZ10Preview.jpgIt’s becoming a bit of a tradition for me to take a picture of my bike pre race. This is quite early as I’m not sure what web access I’ll have from tomorrow. So here’s my bike all ready to rumble with it’s new race tyres. I rather like the look. It’s something nice about having a black and white bike … you can spice it up with a bit of colour ;o)

There is quite a worry though. The right aero bar is wobbling a little. As I remember this is how the snap started out at Ironman Germany in 2008. It really is a concern but there is little I can do bar changing aero bars. Not the cheapest option, especially in New Zealand, so the Yorkshireman in me is winning out. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and cable tying it up so that if it does snap it will (hopefully) still be usable. It’s throwing some doubt in my mind about my plans to try out the oval aero bars with this set up. Not sure throwing more money at this design is a good idea. I’ve sent an email to Oval but we’ll see whether I get a decent response. My other thought (more expensive though) is to use 3T’s new Zefiro bars. I think these could be set up with aero extensions. Enough, this is something to think about after the race.

I’ve completed my last weekend of decent training. On Saturday I did a full gym session, long swim (7+k) and a run. Then Sunday I did a long (188k) ride. It meant I did 30.1 hours for the week which is more or less bang on what I’d thought. From now it’s super easy. 5 days of pretty much rest, just get me moving some of the time and the odd bit of effort if I feel like it. Today I did a very gentle 1 hour ride and I felt frisky. I ran for 20 minutes and felt strong. Then a 30 minute steady swim followed by my final gym session. Full circuit but third the reps and on reduced weight.  Tomorrow we travel up to Wellington by train and boat which means no training at all. Wednesday morning I’m hoping to swim and will do a short run. Then we drive up to Taupo in the afternoon. Hopefully a bit of everything on Thursday, including checking out the bike course around town. Friday rest up ensuring I’m ready to seriously rumble on Saturday.

Neatly brings me to predictions. I feel it’s worth stating now what I think I should be capable of mainly as a record for myself to see whether I prove to be as ready as I feel I am.

  • SWIM: 52 minutes (couple of minutes slower than last time since Pros start 10 minutes ahead so I probably won’t be in such a good pack)
  • T1: 5 minutes (it includes something like a 500m run)
  • BIKE: 4:55 (want to be sub 5 which will be 8 minutes quicker than last time. Wind will be a big factor)
  • T2: 2 minutes
  • RUN: 3:30 ( still can’t decide whether this is what I’d like to do rather than what I’m trained to do. It may be wishful thinking but I hope [wish?] not)

That would get me 9:24 which would be a 3 minute PB for the course, would, almost certainly,  get me on the podium and pretty much guarantee a slot.

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One Year On

Posted on February 26, 2010 by lord_lordy

ONE YEAR ON ———————>

It’s one year to the day that I had my surgery. It really hit home to me today. I really shouldn’t care what happens at Taupo. The fact I’’m fit and able to race should be enough. Not only that, I’m coming into this race in great shape. Not sure I would have believed that was possible a year a go. The picture to the right is me in our new EverydayTraining race kit. If the shorts look tight it’s because they’re Jo’s ( mine haven’’t arrived yet).  Jo put in loads of work getting this kit sorted. Oomph made up the kit and JB Drax Honoré generously paid for it. I’m really pleased with it. It looks great and come Taupo it’ll be the first time I’ve not raced an Ironman in TriLondon kit.

I feel in pretty good shape at the moment but I can’t say I’m totally confident. I certainly feel I should qualify. The big question mark is my running. I’m running well but it’s difficult to truly judge. I’m running well compare to any time during the last year but really how much is that saying. If I look at my preparation it seems lacking. Again, that’s in comparison to what I’ve done before. I’ve not done enough to be sure  I will run strong. The last time I did this race I’d done a serious TONNE of running. The most running I’ve ever managed consistently EVER. I knew I’d run well and I did. It was the hardest I’ve ever managed to run the last 5k of a ironman marathon. This time I’m lucky if I’ve averaged half of what I did then. Looking impartially at what training I’ve done for the run I should feel reasonably confident. This year I’ve:

  1. Averaged 44 miles per week
  2. Done a long run every week at decent pace building to 3 hours
  3. Weekly hilly runs
  4. Weekly brick.

We will see in just over a week.

Now that I’m running again I seem to be getting some perspective on how my running developed pre injury. In order to get back some sort of shape I’ve found myself not only running faster in training but also running faster at the end of runs. Over coffee with Phil and Jo on Wednesday we touched on the topic and Phil said something along the lines of you can either suffer in training or suffer in racing. It made me think…

I chatted with Clas a lot about run training and what he did to be so fast.  There appeared to be a couple of things, neither being more volume. One was hilly runs and in particular downhill running, the second was negative split long runs.

I’ve been mulling this all over for quite some time now and realised that back when I was running really well there were some things I was always doing but at the time not realising there true benefit

1. Loads of running in the hills. Not week in week out but when I was at my mums, in the Peaks, on holidays in the Lakes, Scotland I was running everyday in the hills.

2. There would be some really strong bursts of running during sessions normally with them building through the session. I remember regular lunchtime runs with Rob where from about halfway we’d slowly increase the pace. It was unspoken but I’m pretty sure we were both trying to drop the other (I was!). By the time we’d be running back along Embankment or between the last couple of bridges on the canal it would have reached max effort.

As I tried to get more serious about Ironman I seem to have lost this fun aspect – just doing what felt right. I mistakenly changed what I was doing – looked for long mileage feeling it didn’t matter the pace just log big miles.

Scott leant Jo and I some books including “Running With The Legends” – reading that shows there are many ways to be very good. It also shows that those that run long ran those at a decent pace as well. I don’t believe that running long is necessarily bad but as your mileage increases it should not be at the cost of pace of running and some fast running. Thats my feeling now and as my running improves and weekly mileage increases (though I don’t ever imagine to what it was before) I will hopefully keep that in mind.

I’m into taper now and have become my usual taper procrastinator. I reckon there must be something physical going on that increases your lethargy. There’s definitely a mental aspect. During taper there’s an easy reason not to train. There’s a mental switch that now less is definitely more and erring on the side of rest is probably wise. This seems to translate to procrastination for me. Luckily I’ve largely nipped it in the bud and though training may start late I’ve got it largely done. I still feel this is where I really could improve – getting the last couple of weeks right. Unfortunately I’m not really that much wiser now as to whats right for me. I can plan it well but left to  my own devices I still tend to go by feel. A coach, an independent third party could probably help me but I still want to figure it out for myself.

For years now I’ve set the target of averaging 8 hours sleep a night. I’ve never managed it. This year I’ve currently averaged 8.8 hours ! I’m rather excited about this as I feel I’ve given my body the time to recover. I’ve persisted with this as I’ve tapered. Giving getting enough sleep a priority and not forcing myself out to swim. It means I’ve managed one squad swim this week and made up another. It’s concerned me a little but I’ve reminded myself that for many races (Kona in particular) when I arrive 2 weeks ahead I don’t do any squad swimming this close to the race. All my swimming steady state. So.. touch wood, it’ll be ok !

This is how the last 5 days panned out:

  • MONDAY – 2h45 hilly ride.
  • TUESDAY – Jog to pool. 5.3k squad swim, 3hr gym
  • WEDNESDAY – 1h30 long run.
  • THURSDAY – 5.5 mile run in my FiveFingers split to and from the gym. 1h30 gym (core and lower body). 2.1k swim. Did a 2k pull TT building the pace throughout. Ended with a 1:18 final 100 completing in 29 minutes. This was long course and was rather reassuring that I was still swimming OK despite missing squad sessions
  • TODAY – 4h30 ride followed by 30 minute fast transition run. It was done at 3hr marathon pace. Felt OK but certainly was faster than I could maintain for a full marathon.

Jo has managed to run a complete hour. That together with it being a year since my surgery prompted us to head out and have a couple of pints in celebration.

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About To Taper

Posted on February 20, 2010 by lord_lordy

AboutToTaper10Yesterday was my last ‘over distance’ ride pre Taupo. I’d been getting a little nervous that since Epic Camp I’d done no big rides. I’ve been riding strong but not really got out and ridden for longer than 6 hours. I felt yesterday was my last chance. With the weather superb and Jo having a big ride scheduled I took the opportunity. This picture above outlines the route a took. The only difference really was that I turned round at Little River to ride back and meet Jo who had started the day with a swim at Corsair Bay.

The weather was gorgeous and I took it steady for the first couple of hours. A coffee and YoYo biscuit at Little River before we headed up the first big climb – 476m to Hill Top. Then down and round the lumpy coastline to Akaroa. Jo had felt pretty jaded going up Hill Top but after some food and a sit in Akaroa was on for the climb up to the Summit Road. We’d been told this was the toughest climb in the area. It took me 40 minutes to climb the 660m and given the way I was puffing and blowing in my bottom gear I would guess significant chunks of it was 20%. Once on The Summit Road it was superb going. Much better this way round (we did it the other way on Christmas Day ) as there are numerous thrilling vast twisty descents. Back in Little River we had a super healthy snap stop … as I remember Diet sprite, banana, (here we go) crisps, king size picnic, cream egg and a caramel chew bar. Food of champions.

Now the 2+ hour flat ride back probably in to a headwind. 6 hours in to a ride and I was down on the aero bars belting out 40 km/h – very pleased. Confirming what I’d hoped. I still can ride long ! The wind picked up as we turned back towards Christchurch and it was tough going. We chatted with a german couple. We weren’t having it tough – they’d cycled back from Akaroa – she on a mountain bike with full panniers (two front, two rear, top of rack, bar bag), he on a mountain bike with nearly full panniers plus two kids in a trailer ! This was easy compared to the previous day when they’d gone over Port Levy (big climb), along dirt road to Little River then summit road to Akaroa. Jo concluded they were german uber cyclists and if they’d been on road bikes we wouldn’t have seen them for dust. I couldn’t disagree.

Ended up with 8.5hrs riding for 215km with (I’m guessing) about 2,000m ascent.

AboutToTaper10-1I’ve been really quite undecided about my taper for Taupo. My indecision started once I’d needed so much recovery from Epic. I wanted a reasonable block of training and have found that with the volume and intensity of Epic I’m finding that since my training stress balance (TSB) has hardly been negative. This feels like I don’t have a huge amount to taper from. This is particularly the case with riding. The chart here shows this year (thick) and last year (thin) TSB (yellow) with chronic (blue) and acute (red) training load. The Epic peak can be seen clearly but since then, once I’d recovered, TSB has been hovering positive.

Each week I’ve been doing about 300 miles made up of: a hilly ride, an interval session, a hard IM distance ride and a shorter social group ride. The graph would suggest that this is well within my current fitness and I am reasonably fresh. What I’m seeing during my rides confirms this. Whenever I want to I can really turn it on. When I’m really pushing the bike training this is not always the case.

I feel I have to be careful about tapering too sharply for the bike. As such I’m going to maintain a reasonable training regime this week. Same sessions as the past few weeks but not quite so long.

AboutToTaper10-2I’m in a similar position with my swimming (left diagram) largely because post Epic I was so tired that I missed a lot of squad sessions in favour of sleep. Many were made up on my own but the intensity is never as much. Normally I don’t taper massively for my swim and this needs to be more the case this time. This next week my swim hours is planned to be less but the plan is for all sessions to be with the squad which will mean higher load.

Running is another story (right diagram) since my running base is so AboutToTaper10-3low. Epic Camp really opened my eyes to the fact my foot was probably more recovered than I realised and since then I’ve managed to push it along. TSB for running has hardly been positive all year and I’m planning a full taper for running. In fact, following last weeks final long run I’ve already started. I’m hoping with a decent taper  I’ll be able to run well despite so little running over the last 6 months.

Pulling this all together means that this week will still be pretty high volume – probably about 30 hours with most of that in the first 5 days. From next weekend I will rest heavily. This is very similar to Busselton and partly is due to necessity since our travel arrangements up to Taupo will make systematic training after Monday of race week tricky. I must admit I do like the approach of serious resting up in the week of the race. It feels like the right thing to do.

For completeness here’s what I’ve done since the last entry:

  • SATURDAY – Jog to gym. 2.5hr gym. 9k swim session (incl 5k steady paddle and buoy), 8 mile run
  • SUNDAY – 4.5 hour group ride. 60 min 14km fast run
  • MONDAY – 6.3k squad swim. 2.5hr gym, 4.5 hour hilly ride
  • TUESDAY – REST
  • WEDNESDAY – 34k 2h55 run (final long run). 6k run to pool with Jo then 4.7k swim session.
  • THURSDAY – 6.5k squad swim, 3hr gym. 12k run. Tired so postponed bike intervals
  • FRIDAY – 180k 5h50 ride (with intervals in 2nd half), 10k (52 min) transition run
  • YESTERDAY – 215k, 8.5hr hilly ride.

Plan for today is a 3-4 hour ride, ~1 hr run and possibly (unlikely) a swim !

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Getting Taupo Ready

Posted on February 12, 2010 by lord_lordy

GettingTaupoReady.jpgIt’s over a week since my last entry. I was struggling with getting back in to things after the exhaustion from Epic Camp. I now call it exhaustion – hindsight allows me to see just how tired I was. If I’d had another day of Epic i could have hammered for another day but as it was my body just kind of switched off to recover. It shows how much the mind plays in terms of fatigue. You know how long you have to go for and you somehow meter out your efforts to cover it (Central Governor).

I thought I’d go through what I’ve done since then to get me to now where I’m feeling pretty positive about my level of readiness.

On Thursday I did my long run. I extended the Godley Head loop at start and end along the flats and also stuck by the coast rather than take the road. Managed to push the pace at the end. Despite feeling pretty jaded on the bus to the start I felt good running.

Friday I felt so tired that I didn’t get up for the squad swim. I ran to and from the QEII centre where I did my gym session. Motivation was low to swim but I got in just to loosen off and ended up getting in to it and did a 3.7km set.

Saturday I still felt so tired and knew when I woke I should knock on the head any ideas of a Big Day training. I got up and ran to and from the QEII again. I wore my Vibram Fivefingers. I’m doing this for my shorter runs, I really enjoy it and can feel my feet strengthening which means when I do my normal runs I feel really strong and run on my forefoot. At the gym I did upper body and weights. I’ve lowered the weights on my upper body because of a shoulder niggle but I can now feel that the niggle has subsided which is great. I got in the pool and did a 4k TT followed by a load of pull and kick work to give me a 7.6km swim. I chilled out till late afternoon when I headed out for a ‘push’ run – just over 14km in 69 minutes. Felt strong running.

Sunday Jo and I met up with Scott and Cam and various others for a lovely ride out through Cust to Oxford and back along the Gorges. It was a great bunch and we ticked it along at a decent pace. Along German Road I did a nice little 15 minute effort on the front. Coffee and bacon sarnie at Oxford then back along the gorges. Over the rollers I got a little disconnected from the main bunch and worked steadily to get back on. Cam told me after they were doing 43km/h and he could see me slowly coming back. I got on the back, took a few minutes to get my breath then went to the front. I’d worked hard to get on so didn’t feel I needed to be friendly. I went through at 50+km/h and continued when I hit the front. I heard after there was quite a combined effort for several minutes to close the 10m gap I’d got !! I stayed on the front for about 20-25 minutes all the way to Loburn pulling at 45+km/h the whole way. I felt pretty strong and wondered whether I’d finally recovered.

Monday – hoped to start a proper weeks prep. Fivefinger run to and from the QEII. Good 5.4km squad swim. Good in the sense I stuck it out but it was a struggle I didn’t feel great in the water. Full body gym followed. In the afternoon I was very pleased with myself that I got myself out for my hilly ride. Once out I felt good. Went through Sumner and up Mount Pleasant. Down Dyers and along up Gebbies and Coopers Knob. Then back down Dyers to Lyttleton and up over Evans.

Tuesday – rest day. 5.5km squad swim, still not feeling great. Managed to get lots of work done before heading out to relax watching “Edge Of Darkness” at the Cinema. It was better than I expected, which is always nice.

Wednesday – long run day. Slept in then worked till mid afternoon. This time I ran to Bottle Lake Forest Park for a slightly flatter run. I ran for 2h40 and managed to run faster and hard in the last 40 minutes.

Thursday – Lift to pool for squad swim. I felt great. managed a 200m swim in 2:27 at the end of the main set. Stayed in the pool after doing some paddle work and kick to make it a 6.3km session. Full body gym followed by a 30 minute tempo run.  I started my gym session today doing the “plank” and found myself thinking how these 90 second reps were helping me compete at an event taking 8+ hours. It’s the sum of all these little things done for lots of weeks that set you up for success. I think this is something some athletes struggle with. There’s no feedback that this will work but you just have to back yourself. Understand that those that decide there little 90 seconds aren’t important and regularly decide not to are those that you will beat. It all adds up, every little bit.

In the afternoon I headed out on the flats for some interval work. Did two lots of 20 minutes pretty much flat out with 5 minutes easy followed by 15 minutes of 15s MAX, 15s freewheel all staying on the aero bars in the same gear. Thats a tough set if you do it right! Very encouraging day as I felt really good on all three disciplines.

Today – Got up for the swim and a little rain was enough to get me back in bed. Felt really guilty when it stopped before I’d even fallen back to sleep. I slept a further 3 hours so it was probably the right choice. A great sign about my motivation is I didn’t let this ruin my day I just dropped in to my plans post swim. The idea was a big swim / bike / run day but now it was going to be a big brick. The plan was my extended Gorges Route (177km) at a solid effort followed by a transition run at a solid effort. It went awesomely. I completed the ride in 5h11 and then ran just over 14km in 67 minutes. Thats 3:17 pace. Very encouraging indeed with Taupo 3 weeks away.

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Hamner Springs

Posted on February 3, 2010 by lord_lordy

HamnerSprings.jpgIf any of you want a further Epic Camp fix I was interviewed by XTri here.

This week was my first week of getting in to serious training for Taupo but it all started with a real confidence boosting ride on Sunday. I went out to do the Gorges ride with a tack on down German road to Cust. The main purpose was to check the mileage as it’s the planned route for my Friday big training day. Pleased to confirm it is 180km. Thats not the moral boost though. I set off riding at a steady pace but not pushing it. I was slightly concerned about my complete detonation the Tuesday before. I felt pretty good on the bike though and it was clearly quite different from that time. Along to Ashley Gorge I couldn’t help but pick up the pace, the slight tail wind helped but that would be a slight head wind for the last 50km. Down German road I was flying (it’s a good road for this) and thoroughly enjoyed my coffee in Cust. From then on it was hammer down for the last 100km. Coming back along the Old West Coast Road with a slight head wind I was maintaining high 30s / low 40s Km/h. My legs were screaming but still working. This was complete contrast to last Tuesday. As I eased off coming into town I bonked pretty comprehensively. So I stopped, had a pie and Cookie Time cookie which sorted me out. Completed the ride in 5h31. I was so chuffed that I didn’t run off the bike purely because I didn’t want to risk ruining the buzz I was feeling.

So fully motivated I woke Monday morning ready for 3 weeks of solid training to get ready for Taupo. Rolly swim session… faded after about 4k to which Rolly said “Thats what happens if you train with rich folks”, referring to Epic Camp. I’d expected a reduction in my swim after Epic as there really isn’t much hard swimming. Tuesday morning I was already swimming better so it will come back.

I followed Monday swim by a heavy weights session. Well, heavy on the legs but very easy on the upper body as my left shoulder has been a little niggly. I’ve eased off and it is improving. Finally I finished the days training by a 3 hour ride in the Port Hills – went up Mount Pleasant Road, Summit Road, down Dyers, Up Gebbies and Coopers Knob and back home down Dyers. I felt really strong even climbing Coopers knob in a higher gear than when i was on the 11-23.

My plan had to be tweaked slightly as Jo and I decided to ride up to Hanmer Springs for the evening. So after swimming and breakfast on Tuesday we headed North. It was a beautiful day but for me after the first hour the riding was torture. I’d like to blame it on the rucksack I was carrying but I don’t think it was. My legs had absolutely nothing. Made the ride fun for Jo though as she was riding strong and thus was kicking my butt. I more or less flaked out at each stop and on arrival at the hostel didn’t want to move from the comfy seat outside the front door.

Jo and I of course discussed my loss of form for the day on the bike. I felt it’s due to the heavy weights on Monday. The last time I felt like this was on a Tuesday after Monday heavy weights. Jo felt sure I’d be back on form the next day. She also pointed out that I don’t need to do masses of training. If I get a few quality sessions in each week and recover properly I will be fine for Taupo. I’m definitely falling in the trap of feeling really strong and thinking with 3 more weeks to train I can get even stronger.

The hostel was cosy and had free fruit and ice cream ! We had a lovely relaxed evening enjoying fish and chips before going for a pint.

My legs ached so much Wednesday morning I was dreading the fact we had to ride back. In fact, if Jo didn’t have appointments Thursday morning we would have stayed another night. Another beautiful day. Once we started out I immediately felt better and by the final two hours I was firing on all cylinders again. It makes me realise that when you see a tour rider have a great day immediately after a crap day it’s not a sign that he took ‘something” the night before. For whatever reason that sort of thing happens.

This week has been rejigged slightly so this morning I slept in and the plan is to do my long run  once I’ve written this.  Big day training will be moved to Saturday.

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