End Of Another Year

Posted on December 31, 2009 by lord_lordy

EndOfAnotherYear.jpgAnother year comes to an end. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a year in as good a shape as I have this one. It’s quite amazing to think I’ve gone from being in a wheelchair to completing an Ironman this year. I was thinking on the bus back from the pool this morning (note I’m not running back from the pool these days) as I saw a guy running fast how I’m still recovering from an injury. I think this is almost the toughest time as it’s only me that really appreciates I’m still recovering. See that guy running fast made me realise it’s a long haul to get my running back and I need to bear this in mind for Ironman New Zealand and not try to rush things.

Epic Camp is almost upon us. I’ve had a pretty easy few days and today I’ve felt so fresh. I was strong in the pool, though it was an easy session. I did upper body weights and was the strongest I’ve been since the summer. Easy peasy spin on the bike. Not much tomorrow and then off for the camp.

Not sure of my goals for Epic Camp. Going for yellow has rather been removed from me as Gordo announced the points rules for this one and there are no points for additional riding. Given ride tack on’s have been a key aspect of my gaining points in the past and my other one – running long is unlikely due to my foot then it pretty much puts me out of that game. Can’t even go for the oldies jersey even though I’m over 40 now as thats a moving target … you have to be older than Gordo. I’ve thought and thought but for the life of me can’t work our how I’m ever going to be older than Gordo ;o)

People that know me well know I’m a lover of logic and rules that are logical. I think it’s this that makes the rule change for this Epic get to me so much, more than it putting me out  of the running. I understand it’s to stop people from getting themselves in a hole…. ie saving them from themselves. But it’s hand picking a particular thing to save people from – biking long. Now to rack up points you could swim long (not easy with limited pool time), run long / often, hammer the KOMs, go super fast in all races. The last few have more chance of putting someone in a hole than cruising an extra few KMs on the bike. For me Epic gives an environment to push your limits but this time they’re discouraging it. Why not fully inform people and let them chose how to approach it. I think fear has been placed in most people in the run up to this so can’t imagine too many people would be tacking on even if allowed.

Oh well … it’s not a biggie and to be honest it may be best for me. The jersey I’ve always thought looked nicest is the green one and that is now for “Play Of The Day, Coaches Award” – not sure you can have a strategy for that. Crossed my mind that doing a huge amount of pulling on the front across the whole camp could give you a chance. That will really depend on the strength of the other riders. If I find I’m one of the stronger riders, especially in the second week I think I could enjoy doing more than my fair share. The other thought was to tack on riding anyway … could I get 3,000k done in 15 days ? Average 200k a day. Not sure … would certainly take guts to do that with no points available as it would look pretty bloody stupid if I blew up completely doing it ! So no formal goals set … probably have some after the first few days.

It’s gonna be a blast that’s for sure. I’m planning to write an entry everyday and will post them as often as I can. I’m meant to be blogging on the Epic Camp blog. Depending on my time and enthusiasm it may or may not be different from this. Seems like everyone on the camp has said they’ll blog there so it could prove interesting.

Picture today is my Training Stress Balance for the year. I thought it looked cool ;o)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Run Review

Posted on December 30, 2009 by lord_lordy

RunRewiew09Seems a bit of a farce to be reviewing my running this year. It was pretty terminal. So instead I’ll let you know I’ve just had a rest day (other than squad swim)  and went to see Avatar in 3D – awesome movie. First time in a while I’ve thought a movie was worth what I for paid it. Last night I cooked Beef Wellington … here’re the before and after piccies:

Think there is work to be done on the presentation side but it tasted absolutely delicious and I’ll certainly be trying cooking it again.

OK. Back to the run review…

RunRewiew09-3

It’s not gone as well as I’d hoped ! Returning to running in the summer was just a string of niggles and false starts. Since Kona however the inserts in my shoes have appeared to be working and I’ve been running pain free. I’ve managed a couple of runs of around the 2+h mark and am starting to feel comfortable with my running. For completeness here are the stats:

Pace is slower and mileage slower this year. The plan is to get the mileage up but no where near what I’ve done previously. The target is more  consistency rather than the massive weeks I used to do.

So how to I become fast at Ironman Marathons without doing so much running I run the risk of screwing my foot further ?

1.I get bike fit. Big rides, big mileage. I want to be riding 5 hours without it being balls out

2.Build my long run up slowly. Target is running 3 hours most weeks. I did 2h40 before Busso and have managed 1h50 here in Christchurch. I will place higher importance on this run than I have in the past, viewing it as my key weekly run and resting up to do it if necessary.

3.Initially I will not run consecutive days. Currently I’m running three times a week but will try and progress to every other day. When I feel more confident with my foot I may try consecutive days on the odd occasion.

Epic Camp is about to start and requires 105km of running in two weeks merely to complete the camp. THat is more running than I’ve done in two weeks since my surgery and as such I need to be VERY careful. I can’t screw up my foot just to get the prize for completion. I need to be careful about the race on day 1 and not be enticed to go too hard because of the Yellow Jersey. In this context going for yellow does seem a little crazy but I’m not sure I can bring myself not to try and compete. Mantra to self “be sensible… head not heart”.

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Bike Review

Posted on December 27, 2009 by lord_lordy

BikeReview09.jpgQuite pleased to be doing a review of my biking because it seems to have improved so much this year. I feel so strong on the bike currently especially when riding on flats / false flats. Quite a change from just a year or so ago when these felt like my weakest terrains. Just yesterday I was out riding after several days of quite tough riding. My legs felt sore this morning but I headed out with Andrew on the gorges route pushing it along quite well. Andrew asked whether I’ve done any motor pacing … I haven’t. After about 3 hours we were heading back along the Old West Coast Road. It was still peeing down and it’s a long straight road that can prove quite soul destroying. I felt strong so got down on the aero bars and pushed it along keeping the pace at between 40 and 45 km/h. It felt about like Ironman effort. I did a 20min, 15min and 10min piece with Andrew hanging on my wheel. I felt great when he said he didn’t need any motor pacing when he has me to follow ! An ego boost is always nice.

Andrew asked me whether I felt that last 4 weeks before an Ironman were critical. This made me think. My conclusion was that I think they probably are critical it terms of getting that stella performance for your level of fitness but that I’ve never managed those last few weeks as well as I could. I feel my Ironman performances have generally been pretty much what you’d expect based on my preparations but far from getting the absolutely max out of my fitness and I wonder whether those last few weeks are where I fail. This is where a coach could probably really help. It also made me think about something Gordo said on his blog recently that no age group winner of the yellow jersey on Epic Camp had raced to their potential in a single day event. That includes me and I think I will ask him on this camp what he means by that and how it applies to me. I think I agree with that and I wonder whether it’s the tapering for an event I’m never quite nailing so I’m not peaking as well as I could.

So having got completely sidetracked now to the bike review.

It would be easy to put this years bike improvements down to the rest I had through injury and then the period of training without any running. Those that feel I do too much riding would also put it down to increased use of interval training. All that contributed for sure but I think the year on year consistency in my riding is now paying dividends. Below are a series of graphs plotting my 100+ mile rides each year. The vertical gridlines separate out the weeks.

bike100milers.jpg

Hope thats readable. 2004 was my start in Triathlon and I was pretty new to road riding. In 2005 I did my first Ironman, I was already hooked on triathlon and seeing biking as a clear weakness I made a long term commitment to myself to get the miles in my legs and catch up with those guys that had started sooner. I decided to ride and ride and ride. Didn’t matter how hard or how tired I was, get those legs used to riding. Good job I just love riding.

If you exclude 2004 that means in a 5 year period there were only 76 weeks I didn’t do at least one ride of 100+ miles. In that period I did 338 rides of 100+ miles. 219 over 122 miles, 50 over 150. In the early years I don’t think I saw huge increase in my outright speed but my strength at the end of long rides got more and more. I’d decided that to race Ironman 112 miles could not be viewed as a long ride. I remember realising I’d hit that point when some time in the summer of 2007 Jo and I got up one morning and said “At least we only have to ride 100 miles today”. Using “only” ahead of 100 mile ride is a good sign !

Since the build to Ironman Wisconsin I have started doing more interval work. Sometimes formal sessions but more often than not I ride a bike fartlek not out of some plan just for fun. It means most rides I do some sort of informal interval.

The table gives some stats.

bikeanalysis09.jpg

The most interesting one is the steady increase in my average speed per ride. This year has seen a real increase. Partly explained by time in Christchurch where riding is faster than from London though that is slightly counteracted by the time spent training in Lanzarote. Even so, the speed of my general riding is noticeably quicker without the need for stats.

My bike split at Busselton was a real confidence boost and made me feel like a real cyclist ! Hoping that that will help me move on further this coming year. The plan is pretty much in line with the volumes I did this year.  I still intend to be getting long rides in more or less every week. I plan to get more hill work done and in the final build phases towards races do formal interval work.

Goals for next year:

-sub 5 at IM NZ – this could depend on whether I follow Gordo’s  advice which in turn will depend on how my foot is for running.

-beat my IM Lanza bike split from last time. Despite my improvements I feel this is a tough call. So sub 5:22 at Lanza

-Sub 5 at Kona. Thats a stretch but how awesome would that be.

Now off for a ride ;o)

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Christmas In Christchurch

Posted on December 25, 2009 by lord_lordy

ChristmasInChChThats our Christmas dinner from last night. It was ruthlessly efficiently put together by Jo and I, whilst we got showered and changed, so that we were eating within 90 minutes of finishing our monster ride. This was the first plate of three. It was delicious. Roast beef and yorkshire pudding may not be a typical christmas dinner but we did round if off by eating a full ten person christmas pudding between us.

It will be no surprise to comment that spending Christmas day in 27c heat, clear skies and daylight from about 5am till 9pm was a little strange. No matter how I tried I didn’t feel Christmasy. Only when I spoke briefly to my family back home did a I feel like it was Christmas.

With the day to ourselves and no obligations we took the opportunity to try a big challenging ride we’d thought up last time we were here but never got the chance to do. My estimate was 8 – 9 hours ride time so we set off not long after 7am. We’d packed up a fair bit of food (3 bars each!) as we didn’t feel we’d find anywhere open.

ChristmasInChCh-1At that time on a morning there was so little traffic. It was quite pleasant riding through Christchurch and along the flats to the Banks Peninsula. This can be quite a dull section but we chatted for much of it, got blitzed by thousands of flies for a little and before we knew it we arrived at Little River just over 2 hours in.

Now for the first climb up Hill Top. I got in a good rythm on this lovely graded climb and made good time to the top. The it was on to the Summit Road. This was the reason for the trip and it did not disappoint. This is a view from the early part of the road. The road sticks pretty close to the ridge and weaves either side up and over various little cols. Absolutely stunning views throughout and non stop cruising down hill or grinding up hill.

ChristmasInChCh-2

By now there was more traffic out and about. I guess with such lovely weather at Christmas and it being the major school holidays you get a lot more Kiwis out of the house on Christmas Day than you would back home. I found it slightly reassuring that if we had a major problem we’d likely manage to get some help.

The road went on and on with us thinking it must be the decent soon. Finally when it arrived it was pretty obvious. The road dropped away steeply making for quite a tiring decent as there were more or less no places where you could just let rip and leave go of the brakes. We both agreed that coming back and climbing up this way would be a huge challenge. We’d been told it was the biggest climb in the area and I can well believe it.

We got down to Akaroa after about 4.5 hours ride time. It was quite busy and it was like Christmas (oh it was!) when we found a shop open. Icecream, chocolate, coke and a massive bag of crisps for our Christmas lunch. It tasted good. We agreed we’d made a good decision to do the Port Hills Summit Road on the return as the shop would have been shut if we’d one it on the way out.

The return around the bay was heavily undulating before getting back to the climb up Hill Top. I pushed this again and worked hard before we had the awesome decent back down to Little River. From here we had an hour’s flat riding round to the base of Gebbies and decision time. Jo did a great job heading up the road and TTing along. This kept me motivated and this, dullest, section of the ride was soon over.

Decision time with us both very tired. Jo said she knew she’d be disappointed if we didn’t do the summit road so off we headed up Gebbies and then Coopers Knob. This was probably the steepest climb of the day and definitely felt so at this point in the ride. Again I pushed up it and waited for Jo at the spring. Someone had left a plate of Christmas Goodies there but we didn’t feel like risking trying anything. The ice cold water was good enough.

ChristmasInChCh-3Now more or less downhill and home. I was utterly drained. I slept 10 hours last night and couldn’t muster the energy to get up and attend the special swim session for the faster swimmers that Rolly had included me in on !

Back home we prepared the great dinner you see above and enjoyed a few beers whilst preparing it.

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Swim Review

Posted on December 24, 2009 by lord_lordy

SwimReview09.jpgI’m starting to feel like a swimmer again. I feel strong in the pool and am hitting some good times. Before I get in to this a little about training recently.

I feel completely recovered from Busselton now and have been ramping up the training. Last week was high 30 hours and this week is looking like 40+. Next week I have 5 days before heading off on Epic Camp and will probably take the advice that Gordo has posted and back off a little. Now I have my training stress balance charts in my training diary I can better judge how much to back off. I don’t want to be tapering for this camp as the idea is to improve my fitness not approach it as a race. The past two camps I’ve done ok with just going easy for a few days before. I think thats what I’ll do this time aiming to be pretty fresh on the bike for day 1.

Been getting some great riding done. Initially did a couple of long fast flat rides but yesterday decided to test myself out on some hills. It was a gorgeous day. I headed out with Andy (our landlord!) over to Port Levy. Jo and I climbed to the pass but not down the other side. I ended up with a 5+ hour ride which included 4 climbs of 25+ minutes. I was pretty tired.

Running has been going well. Built up to a 1h50 run on Tuesday. More encouraging is I’ve felt strong running and been getting no niggles with my foot.

So swimming… great to start with this as it’s going so well. The start of the year went so well with the squad here in Christhchurch but 2 months of zero swimming had me worried that my hard earned improvements would be lost. That does not seem to have been the case. Through the summer I got some steady volume in and some decent sessions in La Santa and found myself swimming real well in the run up to Kona. Since then it’s improved further and a couple of weeks in the squad here has seen some times I’ve not seen since being a Triathlete.

For instance this week:

TUESDAY saw me hitting a series of 400s on 5:01, 5:01, 4:59, 5:03, 4:59. 4:59 is the fastest I’ve ever been since being a Triathlete and the last time I did it was in a dive start TT.

WEDNESDAY saw me complete a 4k main set in 56 minutes which included rest. The vast majority of the set was done on repeating times of quicker than 1:25 per 100m.

TODAY saw me do a set of 3 800s. 1st one I evenly paced to 10:45. 2nd was with buoy and paddles and I cruised to 11:00. The final one I did in 10:37 negative splitting it 5:20, 5:17.

Yes swimming is going well. With the squad here offering 6 morning sessions a week which last for the best part of 2 hours I should be able to improve. Back in my Uni days I could knock out 4:40 400s in training …. hoping I can get back to that form.

So whats the plan for next year:

To be honest it’s a bit of a no brainer for me with swim training. I need to get consistency and I need to get some good squad sessions. I can benefit from a period of up to a few weeks where I just swim (and swim long) but I need to get back to hard interval wok which can only really be done in a squad or a pool with lots of room (eg La Santa). The great thing for me with swimming is I’m still no where near the sort of times I used to do which means I’m pretty confident if I put the hours in and the effort in during those hours I will get faster.

This  year has been my highest volume year since I started triathlon. My plan for next year is to average over 15k a week. Which, when taking account of the time out in my cast, is equivalent to what I did this year. The early part of the year here in Christchurch I plan to make the most of the squad sessions here by making a minimum of 4 of those sessions. If I cope I will try and do all 6 some weeks or add my own swim. This should mean i regularly get close to 30k of swimming. Back in the UK TriLondon now has four 1.5 hour coached swim sessions which should help me maintain that quality and volume. When I’m in other locations using public pools / open water I will need to focus to try and ensure I still do some quality swimming.

For fun here’s my swim training stress balance graph or the year:

Already my Chronic Training Load (CTL) is above the levels I got to in Christchurch last year so I’m way ahead of where I was a year ago. Not approaching the peak before Kona though but that did involve 90k of solid swimming over two weeks. That said I’m probably swimming better now than then.

I’m feeling very positive about my swimming and enjoying it so much now. It is far more fun when I’m swimming well. There’s great motivation in the squad. People my pace to push me but also guys that were doing 4:35s for those 400s … gives me targets, get in the same lane as those guys and try to hang on.

As for goals next year.

-Sub 50 at IM New Zealand – this is a much bigger ask than in 2008 since the pro’s now go off 10 minutes before so I won’t be getting myself in a pro pack. This time it will have to be done largely on my own

-Sub 52 minutes at Lanzarote

-Sub 55 minutes at Kona

-Sub 51 minutes at Busselton.

Also wondering about entering the 1500m gala towards the end of next year and seeing if I can get under 18 minutes.

Now I may have a beer whilst I wait for Jo to finish her ride so we can head to Lonestar for our Christmas Eve tea. Will be having a nice big dessert to fuel me for tomorrow. Jo and I are on our own for Christmas Day so we can do what we like …. so what’s that? A fun ride. Not one we’re doing for training or for prep for Epic but a ride we want to do just for kicks. My estimate is it’ll take us 9 hours of riding !! I may get chance to write about it on Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas reader.

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Eddington Review

Posted on December 17, 2009 by lord_lordy

EddingtonReview09.jpgI’ve found myself with a free relaxed morning and given it’s getting towards the end of the year it’s time to start reviewing training and discussing plans / changes for next year. The starting point for this is Eddington numbers. I discovered this concept last year and discussed it in this entry. I must admit this little stat REALLY appeals to me. I just love it and it really helps motivate me. I just have to be careful to ensure it motivates at the right time since it’s a clear push to do more. In fact, some of the time I reckon I could motivate myself for the rest of my life just chasing Eddington Numbers. Could I get to 500 for weekly bike miles or 200 for daily ?

Firstly, why do I have a free morning? It’s because I felt sooo tired this morning I knocked the squad swim on the head. Actually, I got up and ready but our promised lift slept in after a Christmas party. This was a blessing as I went back to bed and slept like a log for a further two hours. Decided to move the swim and gym to Sunday and have an easy morning to make the most of my run. Yesterday was a great days training. Did a solid 2 hour squad swim. Then got out to do a testing long ride. I wanted to check out my recovery. Not sure of the validity in what I did but it was fun and I feel great. I headed out on the gorges route – a classic local ride running around the base of the Southern Alps. It’s mostly flat with a rolling section in the middle. This would get me to the Blue Duck (for a stop) and the far end of the Long Bays Route – a hilly ride round the Port Hills with 2 decent hills. My aim was to ride long and push it based on feel. After an hour I got in to my rhythm and felt strong on the flats, pushing at close to 38 km/h into the slight headwind on the return. Got to the Blue Duck in bang on 5 hours for 160 km. I needed the Carrot Cake (not as good as Ali’s though) and bowl of flat white. The head wind for the return around the bays was super strong. I went steady up the hills and all the aching in the legs from the race had gone. I managed to stay in the saddle in and in the big chain ring up Evans Pass. 209 km in 7 hours and I was pretty tired. Had one of those great nights sleep that you only get when you are really REALLY tired.

So time for the Eddington Review. In the picture above the bold numbers are improvements I’ve made this year.

An Eddington number is a number X where you’ve achieved some goal X at least X times. For example – daily bike mileage Eddington number of 50 would mean I’ve ridden at least 50 miles on 50 occasions. I track both daily and weekly numbers together with my number for Life to Date and my numbers for a given calendar year. If it’s not clear ask questions via comments and I will try and explain.

I had big ambitions to improve on numerous fronts but having 3 months completely out of the game made that tricky.

SWIM

Had some progress here despite the time out from the pool. I’ve managed much more consistent swimming and this is reflected in not only increasing my weekly number to 22km but also getting a new best annual weekly of 17km. I think  next year I should be able to beat this 17 again.

BIKE

Great years riding. Despite the non riding period I done more riding than 2008. My weekly number is now 188 though it will be several years before this becomes a challenging number to beat. Even in a relatively easy week getting 200 miles is normal. I’ve pushed on my daily number to 124. A small increase and reflects less focus on monster big rides. This is largely due to not only being careful about my foot but also a change in approach to more interval based work. I will continue doing BIG rides once in a while as I enjoy them. Moving this number on is now a real challenge. To get 125 I need to do 5 rides of 125 or more miles. To get to 130, 22 rides of 130 or more and to get to 150, 100 rides of 150 or more. This one is a life long challenge.

My annual daily number of 81 is pretty pleasing and will probably be 83 or 84 by the end of the year. It appears close to beating the 101 of 2007 but wasn’t really as I need a further 50 rides of 102 or more to beat that. I was keen to take this on and go for a number of 112 in a year. I’d still love to but for next year merely beating the 101 would be nice rather than chasing 112.

This year also went well for the weekly bike miles. I hit 42 which considering I had 7 weeks with no cycling is quite remarkable. My best is 50 and the maximum this could ever be is 52. It would be nice to beat it but it’s surprisingly hard largely because of the weeks immediately after a race. For instance after Hawaii we tend to holiday and the bike is packed so tricky to get any miles done. Most weeks it’s easy but to beat 50 requires focus on the few tough weeks of the year. Given how much better I’ve recovered from Busselton having ridden 196  miles the week after I will be trying for more easy riding the following week. You never know this one may fall next year. Getting to 52 would be nice because I can then stop ‘worrying’ about it.;o)

RUN

I was surprised to see I’d made one improvement. Not increased the Eddington number but have increased the count on my daily. I’ve now done 40 runs of 26 miles or more. Improving that figure now, given my foot, may never happen. I need 10 runs of 27 or more miles to improve it. I guess if I take up Fell Running again it may fall. Over the next year my run focus will be more on making the runs I do at a good pace / intervals. So unlikely to do monster mileage. My bigger weeks may allow me to move the weekly figure to 66. Looking back at my running over the years the big weeks has tended to result in much bigger swings in mileage. My hope is to get consistency around the 40 miles per week mark. As such I’ll be targetting the annual weekly record of 38 from 2005. Funnily enough this is back when I was running REALLY well.

HOURS

My weekly hours has moved on to 42.8. Had to move to tenths of an hour as it was proving too big a step incrementing by full hours. I’d love to get this to 50 but as thats 34 weeks of 50 away it’s not going to happen next year. My daily Eddington number is 11 and I’ve increased the count by 1 to 17. Moving this to 12 will take 6 days of 12 or more hours which given less focus on really long bike rides is unlikely to happen next year. I’ve only ever once done 13 or more hours so 12 may be the limit of this number.

Will look to review each discipline before the end of the year.

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Recovery

Posted on December 16, 2009 by lord_lordy

Recovery09.jpgI already feel settled here in Christchurch. It’s nice coming back and finding I remember bike routes, run routes, bus routes. I’ve bumped in to several people I know and heading to the squad swim the coach remembered me as did many of the swimmers . Made me feel welcome. On top of this we’re staying with Andrew and Ali who we got to know towards the end of our trip last year. They also have another house mate Rob. We’re a triathlete household. We’re all doing Triathlon. Ali is switching over from Multisport. Rob is also a sports scientist and helps out with the New Zealand Elite squad. It’s fitting with my thoughts about the ideal way to live (perhaps I’ll blog on that one day) and I’m enjoying it.

Jo and I have now got a proper logo for our coaching business:

www.everydaytraining.org.uk

We’ve also got race kit designed and should be getting it in time for Ironman New Zealand with luck. All very exciting.

So finally to the topic of this post, recovery. It’s 10 days post race and I feel recovered. It’s the best I’ve ever managed it. I’ve not even put on any weight. In fact, I lighter than I was race morning ! I think the key to this has been doing more than I would normally. Changing location really helped this as it gave an incentive to get out. Also, I managed to not blow out on the treats (other than the day after the race) which has meant when I’ve had them I’ve really enjoyed it. For instance, today returning from the supermarket I had the biggest bag of chips ;o)

Here’s what I’ve done since the race:

  • SUNDAY: 2.5 hour very easy ride including stop for ice cream and stop for cream tea
  • MONDAY: 30 minute easy open water swim
  • TUESDAY: nothing – travel
  • WEDNESDAY: nothing – travel
  • THURSDAY: 30 min easy swim. 1 hr light gym
  • FRIDAY: 2 hr steady bike on the flat, 30 min steady run
  • SATURDAY: 5.5 hr steady ride. Jo had intervals but I kept it steady. One stop. Very windy, so had a 45 minute section on the return where we cover well over 30km !
  • SUNDAY: 3h40 group ride. Felt good on the flats but suffered on the hills. Later 30 min steady run
  • MONDAY: Squad swim. Did just over an hour of it. 2hr gym light on the legs.
  • TUESDAY: Full squad swim. Tough session – 6k in just under 2 hrs. 4 hour ride. Start was very hilly to test out legs. Felt ok. Second half on flat and felt very strong.
  • TODAY: Long run  this morning – 18k in 90 minutes. Pretty chuffed with that. 40 minute very easy recovery swim. 2 hr full on gym though lighter on the legs.

I’m getting loads of sleep and my resting HR has come down. All good signs. Now hoping it continues so I get a few good weeks training ahead of Epic. My thoughts are turning to that now and whether I’ll be going for yellow. I’m pretty sure I won;t be able to resist trying but I think with my lack of running it will be difficult.

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Wonderful Busselton

Posted on December 10, 2009 by lord_lordy

WonderfulBusso.jpgI am now in Christchurch and though it’s great to be back I am rather missing my time in Busselton. Jo and I were made to feel so welcome by my mums friends Neil and Lorraine. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so comfortable and so relaxed so quickly in someone elses home. Given my lack of preparation pre arrival this was a key ingredient in getting me ready for the race. It allowed me to train hard but more importantly fully relax when not training.

I’d heard so many good things about this race that it was going to have a hard time to live up to expectations. Everyone that I knew that had done it had rated it the best Ironman they’d done and all, despite the expense, returned at least once to repeat the race. I am now one of those people and since IMG have now lost the license I’m just hoping that the WTC keep the race at Busselton as I would love to return and do this race again.

Why is it so good ? Many of the reasons are down to the location (Western Australia in general and some to Busselton in particular) and some are down how IMG run the event. The latter could be picked up by other races.

Western Australia is a lovely part of the world. I’d just not realised how beautiful it was. The riding in the run up to the race was great fun, if at times intimidating due to the lack of traffic and civilisation on the roads. This low population allows the race to have completely closed roads for the bike. Not only closed but Jo commented when cycling to see the race that the roads were closed at junctions prior to the race course to make it almost certain to get no traffic.

Busselton is a holiday destination for many which means that there appears to be lots of accommodation. Always a good thing for a race. The town itself is lovely with the most amazing endless white beaches and beautiful clear blue water. Though the locals like to tease foreigners about nasty creatures in the sea it seemed pretty clear this was just poking fun at the average foreigners fears of Australian seas I certainly got the impression there was no real danger swimming here. The swim course at Busselton has to the be the best in the world. Nice warm water but not so warm as to not need a wetsuit. Shallow enough to see the bottom the whole way. nice and salty for flotation and a great big Jetty to swim round which makes following the course and sighting a no brainer. The Jetty was being repaired but normally this affords spectators a view of the whole swim course not generally possible in other races.

The people of Busselton made us feel so welcome. Those that I talked to (and there were quite a few) seemed very proud of their town and the race they put on. There is an opening parade and though many athletes attended this more did not. I would encourage all that do it to come to the parade and give a little back to the community that is hosting them.

The bike course is flat. You’ll get a bike PB but don’t let this make you think it’s easy. Constant effort is required and that takes a huge toll. They’ve set it up as a three lap course that comes back through town. A lovely touch as spectators get a good chance to support as you do a u-turn and 2 90 degree turns in the town centre.

The run has to be the best supported I’ve been on. There’s is not a single spot without someone watching and giving a cheer. Your name printed on your run number helps so much.

The town also has a huge park that can be used for transition. There is so much space that they’re able to provide a lovely spacious well organised transition area.

Busselton is also a good place to come for pre race preparations. There’s the ocean to swim in, a local pool with two 25m pools (one outdoors) and a 50m pool about 50km away in Bunbury. The local Tri Club has sessions and make you feel so welcome. Three weekly group rides plus ocean swims.

The organisers of the race also added some nice touches. In no particular order:

1.Coloured swim caps based on your predicted swim time to allow better self seeding.

2.Coffee shop open right next to transition race morning

3.They will look after your track pump on race morning allowing you to collect it after the race. Don’t think any other race does that

4.Awards party is a proper party with  a band playing afterwards and dancing

5.Every competitor gets a free beer at the finish line party. This encourages athletes to return to support the final finishers

6.The organisers had loads of their staff in the finishers shoot at the end of the day dancing and building up a great atmosphere for those final few to come home. It also made it fun for spectators to hang around and watch.

7.Spectacular fireworks display to round off a great day.

8.Sensible time for the race briefing. Morning before the race rather than the usual post pasta party which normally results in a late start and a late night on the key night for getting a good nights sleep

9.Race photos – normally I feel I’ve done well getting 7 or 8 photos but at this race Marathon Photos took a massive 31 pictures of me ! Now that makes for good value.

I can’t wait to return and race again I only hope I get the chance. Thank you Busselton for putting on such a great event.

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Ironman Western Australian – Analysis

Posted on December 6, 2009 by lord_lordy

busso.jpgRead my race report here.

Firstly well done to Russell on getting second place in his age group and a Kona slot but most importantly for demonstrating he’s made a step change in his performance level now and shown he now expects to be on and can make the podium in any Ironman he does. With two more races entered and the slot in the bag he can can focus on winning his age group … lucky bugger.

You may think that focussing on winning your age group would get you the slot … yes it would be if your aim is a slot you will often be more conservative (in my experience). Take my race yesterday – a 3:52 marathon would have got me the last slot – not much of an ask for someone like Russell, Roger or me in the good old days.  A 3:08 would have got me the win (funnily enough the same time as got me the win at Longest Day … oh happy days ;o)). Heading off at 3:08 pace would run the risk of completely blowing up and not getting the slot at all. Having it the bag gives you the freedom to race.

All I had to run was a 3:52 to get to Kona. Makes me slightly gutted – can’t be many times you’d be in that position. Not sure gutted is quite right, just a feeling of what could have been without the injury. No point dwelling on that. Though I may have wanted the year to go differently it was what it was. Looking back and remembering being in a wheelchair and so helpless at my first race of the year, Taupo, I find it almost unbelievable to think I’m here now having completed two Ironman races.

I want this to be my last ‘it was good considering race’. I don’t like having to caveat a result or having to explain why I’m happy with it despite the slow time. I want again to have results that stand on their own good or bad.

There are lots of positives from this result

– firstly my bike split. I was only 11 minutes behind the top pros ! I think the time I’ve had this year not only without much running but also the extended period of rest have done my cycling the world of good. It’s even better that this wasn’t some balls out ride without thought of the run. I rode sensibly and at times conservatively allowing me to be strong throughout.

– I managed to ‘run walk’ the whole marathon. Admittedly the walks got longer at times but compared to Kona this was a marked improvement. I had numerous times where I felt good and strong running which brought memories back of running well. It was no where near what I’d hoped for (sub 4 hours) but with hindsight that was based on my heart and not my head.

– I coped with very tough conditions. At the awards they said it was the toughest of the 6 runnings. There was more wind on the bike than usual I understand but nothing too extreme. On the run though it was HOT. They had a 12% drop out rate ! Never heard of such a level. I had to work hard to stave off my cramp and thankfully managed it. Only just at times but I managed it.

– I now have a sub 9 “best” on my Ironman Times sheet – this is taking my best splits from any race and adding them up. With that bike it’s now down to 8:47:40. It doesn’t mean much other than now I’ve done good enough splits in every bit to get under 9 and only (ONLY) have to string them together.

On saturday I found myself in the position I’d visualised so many times. Heading out on the run after 5:45, saturday it was 5:44. It wasn’t as bad as I’d visualised though. I wasn’t as spent from the bike and the thought of a 3:15 marathon wasn’t quite as intimidating. That may of course be because it was totally apparent it wasn’t on the cards.

If the race comes back here, I really hope it does, Jo and I fully intend to return. Having been on the course I would hope that by then I can be a minute or two quicker in the swim and a few minutes quicker on the bike leaving me a 3:20 to achieve that dream goal .

To finish, here are my pre and “kind of” post race meals. I’m sure you can guess which is which.

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Ironman Western Australia, Busselton 2009

Posted on December 5, 2009 by lord_lordy 
Time: 10:14:20
Swim: 52:51
T1: 1:50
Bike: 4:46:54
T2: 2:22
Run: 4:30:23

Race Analysis here

Staying with friends of my mums in Busselton gave me not only the perfect environment for my final couple of weeks training but the immediate pre race was perfect. I’d had so much sleep all week including 8 hours on and off the night before. I also had just what I wanted to eat – a monster steak and salad the night before and the morning of the race I couldn’t face eating too much (I take this as a good sign now) so had a slice of toast and peanut butter with two scrambled eggs on top.

I felt very relaxed and despite the 6am start the transition area was bathed in daylight which seemed to help ease the tension.

It was a beautiful morning and the water look gorgeous. I got in for my warm up early and made sure I was one of the first in the starting pen to ensure I was on the front line. Warming up from there and looking back as over 1,000 wetsuit clad bodies filled the beach was pretty scary.

It was a water start but in standing depth water which made it easier for people to hold there positions. Once underway it was pretty rough for the first 5 or 10 minutes. It seemed the guys immediately to my left had decided that rather than sight to the kink in the jetty they wanted to go diagonally across to the main group. Why they didn’t start over there I don’t know. I stuck to my line eventually one of them decided to swim straight across my lower back which prompted a massive freestyle kick from me which seemed to connect.

Not my proudest moment but pleased that it further confirmed my confidence in these rough swim starts.

I found myself to the left of the main front pack and whatever I did I never quite got across and in to it. I think because I was sighting off the buoys thinking I’d join them there but they never went round them staying close to the Jetty instead. The last 500m or so was very choppy and slowed us up. On the return leg we’d been told the buoys were just for sighting until the final turn buoy. The Jetty has a big kink in it and the sighting buoys kept you close to the jetty. I left the pack and made a beeline for the final turn buoy thus cutting the corner. I was surprised no one else did so when a Kayak came alongside I thought perhaps they were pushing me back over but they were just for company. I enjoyed my solo swim even with having a heart attack when I suddenly saw this big pink Jelly Fish which I managed to swerve round. I reach the turn buoy ahead of the pack and exited the water in just over 52 minutes and 2nd in my age group. Pretty pleased with that.

I had 4 helpers in transition ! Was super quick and got thoroughly covered in sun cream getting out on the bike in under 2 minutes. Now to get my sub 5 hour bike split. I stuck to my plan of going steady for at least half an hour to warm up. Several guys went hurtling by but I just stuck to my guns. Riding the whole first lap on my own and often without anyone in sight. The wind was strong and after 15km I was a little concerned that this was going to be the one Busselton race with slow bike times. I needn’t have worried by the time I was coming in to town my average was over 37km/h. Through the town section I could see a pace line of maybe a dozen riders not more than 30s behind.

Leaving town on the second lap they started to come by. My initial reaction is to think they’re going a lot faster but I kept my head and reminded myself they’d have to put a spurt in to come by. I settled in the pace line at about 8th spot and happy that this would help me pace the next lap before I pushed on the last. Very interesting being in a pace line – everyone is clearly trying to keep it legal but every so often it would concertina up and you’d see people sitting up to keep the gap. Then it would kick off and you’d have to work hard to stay with it. I must admit I was  pretty pleased to note I was the only one in a normal (ie non aero) helmet and more or less the only one without a disc wheel. That said I was riding a P3C with Xentis so I can’t complain.

At times everyone entered the draft zone and if following the letter of law the whole line should have leapfrogged each other with last ending up first, 2nd last, 2nd etc… Eventually  a motorbike ref drove along the line I was told I was borderline drafting and should be careful. The horror of getting a drafting penalty kept me more than legal from then.

About 2/3rds in to the lap after the highway turnaround I decided I could go faster but didn’t want the pack with me. I was at the back by now so pulled out and pushed the pace to go straight by the whole line and then kept at that pace to try and ensure no one came with me. I was pleased to see they didn’t and in fact, when I got to take a look at the town turnaround either the pack was miles back or my move had broken it up. Either way I was really pleased.

Final lap and I felt I could push. My average was at 37.8km/h so I knew if I held it together I was on for a great time. I could see ahead a large group of riders but as I picked off lapped riders I started to wonder whether it was just perspective that made them look like a group. Then coming along Tuart drive I could see what looked like a pace line. I was catching them pretty quick and thought how strange there’s an organised pace line a full lap behind. As I got close I noticed a female pro and realised it was a paceline ahead of me that I’d caught. I slotted in at the back for a couple of minutes and noticed to my delight that the guys that had belted by me in the first 15 minutes were at the front of it. I’d caught them so quick I decided to just go straight by and none of them were able to come with me.

Spurred on by this I kept pushing in to town finishing with a 4:46 bike split and leading my age group. I headed out on the run in the position I’d dreamed about and visualised so often – just under 5:45 on the clock needing a 3:15 marathon to get sub 9 hours.

In the run up to this race I’d been running well but out on the run it was immediately clear that I’d been fooling myself about any sort of run form. You cannot hide from my lack of run training. After 4km I changed to run walk. On top of this it was HOT. It must have been hot as I’ve never before heading out on the run felt hot. It was sufficient for me to really focus on getting cooled down.

By the turnaround I was feeling pretty good and running fine between aid stations but was starting to get twinges of cramp in both legs. A little like Kona but not quite so bad. I’d got some pretty expert opinions on this after that race and given my lack of cramping previously I reckon this is almost certainly lack of run training. My focus now was to get it under control. Like Kona I took salts, gels and drank loads not knowing if it’s due to dehydration or lack of salts or both.

Over the next 90 minutes or so I had a gel at EVERY aid station and took 4 salt tablets and drank loads – way beyond any sensible advice on dosage for any. Finally I needed a pee and following that I had no sense of cramp.

I was running comfortably for a while and getting a real boost whenever I passed mum with Lorraine and her family. Also seeing Jo out on the course was awesome and she did just the right thing when with a big smile said something like “I’m taking a photo of the guy with the fastest bike split in his age group”

It wasn’t long before my lack of run training  tracked me down and my legs were shot. The walks through aid stations started to be extended a few minutes beyond. After the penultimate station I ran really strong, just like I’d hoped Id have run the whole race. What sparked this running hard was seeing a 50+ year old run by me. It wasn’t like he was the first to do this but for some reason at that point something snapped inside me and I decided I had to run hard to the finish. In sight of the final aid station I realised I would have to walk that one before running strongly down to the finish.

4:30 marathon for 10:14 overall. Chuffed to bits with swim and bike but overall a little disappointed

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