The Casual Ironman

Posted on May 1, 2009 by lord_lordy

CasualIronman.jpgI am happily settled in Lanzarote. Above is the beach at Puerto del Carmen. This is real Brits abroad territory and I’m loving it. The contrast between us doing serious training and then walking down the front here being enticed in to bars for beer is great.

I’m rather enjoying it. I’m getting back into a little training but also being relaxed about it all. I’m currently on my second pint in a cafe in the sun whilst I write this. Jo and Russ are off to register for the Volcano triathlon whilst I’m doing my bit resting up so I’ll be able to ride across and give them some monster support. Listen carefully at about 10:30am on saturday you may be able to hear me.

Russ is finding my current attitude to training rather amusing. I’ve had beers with meals, gone not only to grab dessert at the buffet but also gone for seconds. The best for him though was we went for “coffee’ and I decided what the hell I’ll have a beer. I’m so happy to be doing some training at the moment that I feel getting serious about beer and dessert can easily wait another week or so. At the Tri London BBQ on Sunday night Jo was even heard to comment I was more fun now I’m not training. I’m sure she didn’t really mean it but I understand the point she was making, seeing me tipsy is not something thats happened that often since we’ve been together.

I’ve been swimming the past three mornings. Lovely out in the sea though getting up has been a struggle. Yesterday I joined Jo on her 90 minute swim. I had ambitions to swim round to the next bay but the swell and tide conspired against us. Now it’s a goal for this holiday.

I’ve done a couple of rides slowly progressing on what I did before I came out here. On Tuesday I managed 40 miles in 3 hours. Then had a rest day. Yesterday I did 54 miles in just over 4 hours. The first 3 hours were tough – headwind for 2 hours then 50 minute climb up Tabeyasco. Awesome climb, managed to spin up it and it gives  a benchmark on my fitness. In the cafe at the top I was really quite exhausted, luckily the return was downhill with a tail wind. Resting again today as this weekend I hope to ride both days as I’d like to support at the Tri and meet some friends for lunch on Sunday …. we will see.

Starting back is filled with a mix of feelings. It’s rather gutting to get so tired so easily but that will pass. Dropping off the back and having people wait is rather humbling and makes me feel that returns to fitness are best done on your own or in the company of good friends. Jo and Russ are proving great friends as they patiently wait and give encouraging comments about being impressed with how I’m cycling. Beyond that I don’t think I’d be hugely keen to head out with some random group. I’ve been getting my small victories though managing to pass some cyclists on the road !

I’m clearly feeling more comfortable about training as I’ve been in and updated my plan for the rest of the year. I’ve put in a very gentle return to running. For me this important – having a plan that is in no way ambitious is a crucial piece in my not pushing things too early. That being said I’ve found an “Eddington Number” within my reach this holiday – bike weekly miles.

I’ve made some first steps for our future. I’ve signed up to do the ASA Level 1 swim coaching course the first week in June and also plan to do the BTA Level 1 course when I return from Kona. I’ve also taken on my first athlete to coach. It’s been really exciting constructing a schedule for someone else.

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Happy Chappy

Posted on April 23, 2009 by lord_lordy

HappyChappy.jpgAmazing how the small things can make all the difference. I’ve been out for a few rides on my bike and my mood has increased tremendously. Following a theme since my surgery above is another picture of my foot as it’s progressively improved. My splint is proving reasonably useful now as it fits over my shoe allowing me to ride but preventing my ankle bending up beyond 90 degrees. In the saddle it means I really don’t notice it, out of the saddle it clearly impacts how i’d normally ride … so minimal riding out of the saddle.

I started my riding on Saturday with just over an hour including a few laps of Regents Park. I felt like I’d just had my stabilisers removed when I first got on the bike. I was also hyper sensitive about any sensations in my foot. I chose my words carefully – there were sensations (note I don’t say pain) but it felt like it was the scar so I kept going. Really gentle riding and not much of it. All went well but my foot ached a fair bit for the rest of the day. I knocked the planned ride on the head for Sunday and on Monday chose not to try out a swim as that would have involved riding as well. I must admit to patting myself on the back for being so sensible !

Roll on Tuesday, gorgeous weather and with me currently living less than a mile from Vauxhall station I took the train out to Dorking, met John and did a little loop including climbing Box Hill …pleased I’d remembered it right and I was able to stay in the saddle and spin up it. Dropped in on the guys in Cycles Dauphin to re-tell my story one more time. It was nice to have so much time for the ride so John and I sat for ages in the sun chatting over our coffee and cake. I did 2 hours (28 miles) and was surprised how tired my legs felt. Immediately pre injury I’d have had to do well over 100 miles to get any where near that sort of ache.

Most pleasingly of all about this ride was zero foot ache after. In fact, I reckoned my foot felt better though that was probably just my improvement in mood.

Last night I went for the club squad swim. The 600 warm up had my shoulders aching like I can’t remember. It dawned on me the 8 week break I’ve had from swim and bike is the longest break I’ve had in over 6 years. I continued and comfortably managed 10 x 100 on 1:35 so all is not completely lost. I gave myself another pat on the back by getting out after 2k. I want to see how the foot reacts before I push on further also pushing off on one leg was becoming a bit of a chore.

Finally this morning I headed to Regents Park. Met up with Gabriel, Sparky and Stephen. It was like the old days, even did a couple of laps with Damien and Tim. The weather was gorgeous. Gabriel was doing 20 minute efforts. I joined in on his second and was pleased that I managed to comfortably stay on his wheel as he belted round at 21-23mph. I only did the one, again wanting to see how the foot reacts before trying too much. We all had a super leisurely breakfast sat in the sun. Despite not having been to that cafe since Christmas they still remember my ‘usual’, what was unheard of was my inability to finish it. All the previous times I’ve been there I could have eaten a second breakfast immediately after.

My riding this morning was so much better than Saturday that it’s encouraged me that my return to bike fitness could be rapid. Looking back at what I did in Christchurch it’s clear I established a monster bike base and 8 weeks can’t be enough time to stop me being able to tap in to that.

Now I’m back doing at  least a little bit I finally feel able to really think about what I’d managed whilst in Christchurch.

This graph shows activity for this year so far. It does not give volume merely the proportion of each days training in swim (blue), bike (green), run (red), gym (yellow), other (pink). Grey is nothing. Guess when I was in a cast on crutches!

Something I’ve had a discussion with friend this week is about some of the crazy things we do. It was prompted by his 100m / 20m brick with the run at race pace !! I think there’s still so much to learn about Ironman training (isn’t that a huge part of the addiction?). A lot of the advice out there is still based on the individual sports. Most swim training is done based on pool swim methods. Similarly training for the run. It means we each have the chance to be our own little trail blazers trying to find out what works. Often it’s viewed as crazy but perhaps in years to come it may not be.

Take swimming. I’ve never come across advice to do over distance long steady swim. I always wondered why. It’s suggested for bike and run (though not for marathon – more on that later). My conclusion was it’s never suggested because it’s felt no one could face it in a pool. So, back to the crazy thing topic, back in 2007 I did a 10k TT. In a 25m pool. I still do long steady swims, normally an hour and see how far I go. If it’s good enough for running and cycling it’s good enough for my swimming. Recently Jo has been given some longer continuous swims … she knew it would make me smile so sent the schedule through to me.

The marathon – don’t ever train over X miles where X is always a few miles less than 26. Why  is this ? I’m guessing it’s because advice is aimed at the masses and it’s got to be politically correct – we don’t want people to risk getting injured (and sueing). Well, as Ironmen we are not the masses thats for certain. I’m not suggesting everyone does this only that you don’t limit yourself based on this advice. So you’ve run 22 miles without harm, why not try 23, then 24…. 28, 29, 30 ?? I’ve been known to do 10 hour runs in the hills in the past. But this does not compare to another friend of mine who this winter built up to doing a 26 mile run every weekend. Yes, he got to the point where running 26 miles was not considered an issue. I took this view with cycling … 112 miles should not be a challenge if you want to race it. Hadn’t considered extending that to the run … there you go I’m limiting myself. So, for the person in question did it work. Gee whizz it did – he ran like the wind, getting 12th fastest run split overall and winning his age group !

[Given my current state I’ve no plans whatsoever to attempt to reproduce that sort of running]

How did I get on to this given the start was training in Christchurch. Well… I headed out there and my whole focus was consistency … I never expected that to produce anything crazy. However some of the consistency in those 47 days was pretty good:

✴ 28 Days where I did a swim bike and run

✴ 23 Brick sessions

✴ 3,950 miles on the bike

✴ 43 consecutive days riding.

✴ 88 miles on average per ride

✴ 390 miles of running which is an average of 8 miles per day

✴ 31 consecutive days of running

✴ 138k of swimming which is an average of 3k a day.

✴ 325 hours of training at an average of 7 hours per day.

The result … well I never got to find out but I felt I was biking the strongest I ever have and I know I was swimming fastest. If I knew that lot had caused my injury would I have any regrets ? I certainly wouldn’t. It was heaps of fun doing the above. As it is I’m certain the above didn’t cause the snap … the snap was waiting to happen and that volume made it happen sooner. In some respects it’s a good thing… if I’d trained lighter it would probably have snapped later in the year and ruled out Kona.

Can I ever manage that sort of level again and find out how I would race off the back of it?I really don’t know. Too early to say based on this injury but also whether I well get back into that place in my head where I can just keep cranking it out. I’d like to get the opportunity though.

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Aircast

Posted on April 17, 2009 by lord_lordy

Aircast.jpgIt’s not that my life currently revolves around what my current left foot wear is but here’s a picture of it. I saw Ioan on Tuesday and it was decided the splint wasn’t really that great so I was put in this aircast boot. It’s alot better for walking about on, I’ve managed to do 9 minute miles in this baby which is really encouraging…. only joking. That was for Ioan since he told me on Tuesday that he read my blog ! Thats probably a good thing. He said it meant he was wary of giving me too long a leash in case I’ll over do it. So what can I do now – I’m allowed to swim but mustn’t push off the wall. I am allowed to cycle but need to spin and ease back if there’s any discomfort. Unfortunately I have to walk around in this boot for another 6 weeks.

What have I done ? Very little. I must admit I’m a little scared as Ioan made it pretty clear that re-snapping this would not be good. So I’m being pretty wary erring on the side of a little extra rest will do no harm. That said the recovery is encouraging, the tendon moves ok and there’s no pain. I swam briefly in the Four Seasons at the weekend with the splint on – it felt weird. I was slow due to loss of fitness and the splint providing a lot of drag. I’ve not been out on the bike yet as I don’t feel I should do my first ride back in London weekday traffic. I’m planning to wear the splint to prevent my foot bending upwards. Hopefully will get out this weekend. If I can cycle OK I may manage some of the club swim sessions next week but will have to remember to only push off with my right foot.

Despite all this I’ve been pretty down in the dumps since returning from Provence. I think part of it is that it’s now a little scary facing starting back into things. I’ll not only find out what fitness I’ve lost but also now run the risk of finding that the fix isn’t so good or that it re-snaps. Also I’ve spent the past two days pretty much on my own. When you’re not very mobile company becomes even more precious. Just spending time in others company is great, it really doesn’t matter what you’re doing. Remember this when you have friends that are injured / immobile. I’ve been lucky in that lots of people have made an effort to meet up  and I have my family around each evening. So last night I did the right thing heading over to Regents Park for the club 5k race. It was more of a walk across Regents Park that I’d imagined but that in itself is a good thing. With time on your hands having to travel to hang out with people is abit of a bonus as it helps pass the time. It crossed my mind to travel across country to see Jo. There was a big turnout at the handicap followed by a couple of pints at the pub. It cheered me up no end.

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Splint

Posted on April 9, 2009 by lord_lordy

A few pictures of my cast progression ending with a light weight removable splint the nice lady at St Thomas’s fashioned for me yesterday. I must admit it was a huge disappointment. I had been under the impression it would be hinged at the ankle as I’d been told I’d be able to cycle with it provided I could get a cycling shoe on. At least I can get it wet and in theory I can swim. I will try it out this weekend (at The Four Seasons  near Nice !). I’d made the mistake of getting my hopes up. I was visualizing a great race following a restart to my training beginning with 6 weeks of swim and bike focus. I imagined riding 100 miles every day I was in Lanzarote (not likely whatever the splint …). When I got this on yesterday and walked out of the hospital I was slower and more awkward than with a cast. I’d imagined ditching my crutches but with this I will need them for another six weeks. I was distraught.

Luckily my consultant is very responsive via email and he got back to me and said I should come in and see him on tuesday. He’d hoped for something with a little more movement. He said we are looking to balance protecting the tendon and allowing some movement so I can get at least some training done.

It’s been quite an inspiring weekend of racing. I knew a few people doing Ironman South Africa and they all did awesomely. Firstly Roger. It’s been inspirational to see his progression from surprise qualifier in New Zealand last year to absolute contender now. Despite a puncture and two loo stops on the run he still managed to win his age group (12th fastest run overall !). This should be a lesson to us all – you race the race whatever it throws at you. I know that every time I’ve qualified I could have spent 10 minutes fixing a puncture and still qualified. Reckon I know two people now that can make the podium at Kona … hoping I can put the work in to join such excellent company. Next Mat. I met Mat my first year at Kona in 2005. We just bumped into each other (as you do) and spent the whole week hanging out. He had a great race that year (9:37 as I remember !) but pretty much stopped racing after that. In South Africa he managed 2nd in his age group and a Kona slot (which he turned down). Finally Richard. Ever since I’ve been racing Ironman Richard has also. In my first Ironman he gave me the great advice of not having coke till halfway through the run. This year you may have seen a comment he made on this blog that he’d see me in Kona. I love it when someone is open about their goals and willing to commit to say they’ll do it. It showed such confidence. I’m a firm believer in telling people your goals. Anyway he totally delivered,  having an awesome race, including a 4:55 bike, to get 2nd in his age group and a slot. Kona this year is shaping up to be more fun than last year – the more people you know there the better ! Splashers may not have enough room for all of us to enjoy a post swim breakie ! I’m sending my best vibes to all those people I know getting ready to try and qualify in Lanzarote.

Since this is a “Training Blog” I better mention what I’ve done – pretty much nothing. I’m learning something about my self. Bevan said to me during the Epic Podcast that I was ‘a man of extremes’. He is probably right. I felt a little pressure to do at least something as so many people say get down the gym etc… Initially I visualised heading  there and doing X amount of situps, getting to be able to do one arm chins. You can see it was also pushing the limits. However, I never quite had the motivation. Partly it’s because I feel for fitness it’s all or nothing. I wonder whether I could ever just do a little bit each week to stay healthy. Mostly though it’s because it feels like a drop in the ocean. Will what I do now make much difference compared to what I can do once I’m back on the bike. My attitude may change if it turns out I can’t get a splint that allows me to ride.

The other bit of advice I’ve had over the years is to give up the booze when you have an injury. This is pretty sound based on the fact you’ll put on weight if you booze whilst training. However, when training I don’t want to booze as it impacts my sessions. This is the one time where I can happily sleep in so I’ve chilled out. I feel that this complete break from training should be just that. Not only rest physically but also mentally, switch off and feel no pressure to do anything just because it’s good for performance. In this respect my timing has been pretty good. In the past two weeks I’ve been drinking with old school friends back up in Middlesbrough. Old university friends took me out a week ago. On Monday I was boozing at my sisters wedding (and will be doing the same at the wedding blessing this weekend) and on tuesday I had a beer with a new friend Martin over lunch and followed it with a quiet pint on my way home – I needed the rest !

I met Martin because I was sat doing a Su Duko wearing a Kona cap on the south bank. He was running and stopped for a chat because he saw I was an Ironman. This is why I wear things like that, especially in the run up to races. It’s such a great way to meet people.

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Still Learning

Posted on March 25, 2009 by lord_lordy

StillLearning.jpgEven in these dark days (ok, a little poetic license there) there is still stuff to be learnt. In recent years I’ve had some worries about my eating habits.Particularly the “carb binges” (my phrase) I’d undertake. We are talking serious serious calories in a single hit. It felt like an addiction. I’ve now gone over 4 weeks with more or less no exercise and my eating habits have completely stabilised. I’ve got no desire to eat between meals. I can eat the odd cake without having any desire for more sweet stuff. I can see how my weight could be stable without exercise.

This is rather reassuring and confirms a belief I was starting to develop that my disrupted eating habits were fully down to the level of activity I was doing and not eating enough at meals. This was difficult to believe given what I was eating. As an example, in New Zealand Jo and I would eat breakfast and dinner together and we would more or less split the meal in half.  We were both training big though I was doing more and I’m about 50% heavier than Jo. I was eating rather a lot of cake, chocolate, crisps on each ride and still over the course of our stay I became very lean. it’s pretty obvious now it’s written down that I need to eat much more than Jo at each meal. This means no longer will we share a 6 egg omelet we’re going to have to do an 10 egg one and split it by our body weight ;o).

My foot is starting to feel like a normal foot again. The swelling has gone and there is more or less no discomfort. This makes moving around easier as the worry of bashing the cast is removed. I’m able to wiggle my big toe just a little bit. Not a huge amount of control but clearly the tendon is connected ! Even the bit of the scar that can be seen is healing really well. It makes me feel like I’ve got a normal foot again which just adds to the frustration of not being able to do anything.

Luckily Ioan is keeping a tight rein on me. The cast as it currently stands is on for another week. Next week my foot will be moved into a neutral position at which point I will be able to put weight on it. Then after two weeks it will be removed and I will get a splint above my toe. This is a sign of how rare this injury is – there isn’t some standard splint for this they’re going to see if one can be made. I will continue in the splint for probably 6 weeks. This will give a total of 3 months with the toe protected. Lanzarote is clearly out. Once in the splint I should be able to do some cycling on a machine. If I can construct some sort of cycling shoe   can get my foot in with the splint then I can ride on my normal bike as well.

The reason for being so careful is the diagram above. Thats how my tendon snapped – there was a longitudinal tear in it. At the moment there is a risk of re-rupture and of it stretching and being too loose thus Ioan is being very careful. He reiterated that this sort of degeneration is just one of those things and nothing to do with my level of activity other than the  fact a sedentary person could have the same problem and never notice it. He said this is much more common in the achilles. Lets face it we all know someone with achilles problems. As for the repair the outlook is very good. Ioan said that often the tendon fully repairs – ie not just back to being a re-connected degenerative tendon but actually a good tendon. Often with tendon problems even when they’ve not snapped they will open them up to encourage growth of new cells. This is similar to my final knee surgery which did micro fractures on the back of the patella to encourage cartilage growth. This is the most positive thing I’ve heard in weeks.

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Reality Strikes

Posted on March 18, 2009 by lord_lordy

RealityStrikesBack in the UK now and it’s really hit home what this injury means. It’s not going to be a matter of getting the cast off and away I go. Rehab from this is going to take a fair amount of time. I’ve seen a couple of consultants now about this and to be honest the prognosis is worse than I’d originally hoped. There was tendinosis evident which means the tendon was degenerated. All thats been done is a degenerate tendon has been rejoined. This means we have to be very careful with my rehab to avoid it rupturing again. A rupture during rehab would more or less put me out of Kona.

This means I will be in a cast for quite a while. The above is the latest one. Here’s a little shot of my wound.

RealityStrikes2Slowly they are moving my foot back up to a ‘normal’ position. It was initially being held at 45 degrees but yesterday was moved up slightly. As expected my achilles was darn tight and it was pretty sore even moving it up. My foot was still worryingly swollen and I’ll probably go in for a scan today to check out my calf. For now I have to spend as much time with it raised as possible. Yet more days of getting bored in front of the TV ! I’m pretty sure that all the moving around I did in Taupo was not wise and wish it had been made clearer to me in NZ the importance of keeping the foot elevated.

This process will continue for several weeks now and then following that I will have something to stop the big toe bending up – probably some sort of splint. Total rehab is likely to be 3 months or so. Pretty much know Lanzarote is out now but still hoping I am in a position to go out there with Jo. This will depend on availability of physios in Puerto Del Carmen – there’s probably physios at Club La Santa but it may be tricky to get there. Even if I can only swim it would be great to be out there. Open water swimming would be ideal as I won’t push off a wall !

This leads me on to my biggest training concern and thats the loss of swim fitness. I know last year at Kona I enjoyed the race so much more by being one of the first out of the swim. I was determined to be even better this year and have been training hard. Though swimming is my thing since I did so much as a teenage, it’s the one that took most effort to make those final gains. Yes, with very little training I would be able to get to around 1 hour pace (at Kona) but to get down to sub 55 minutes took a couple of years of concerted effort. In this respect some swim focus in Lanzarote would not be a bad thing.

I had a good long chat with Ioan, the consultant that will be managing my rehab, yesterday. I must thank my friend Roz for the amount of effort she put in to ensuring I got the best treatment once I got back here. He was really interested in my injury and had clearly done some research into treatment options. He pointed out that, though this is an overuse injury, in a normal tendon you wouldn’t rupture it merely by doing lots of running and cycling no matter how much you did. For this to snap required the tendon to have deteriorated for some other reason. He said this happens sometimes but they don’t really know why. So … I am unlucky. I guess it’s reassuring but the fact is thats still a degenerate tendon and when I get back I will have to protect it somehow – in my mind I’ve already decided that my run volume will need to reduce.  Day to day I’ve no problem with that but the thought of not doing big days running in the hills is rather distressing. Ioan also said that some people do do without this tendon but end up with a big toe pointing upwards ! and it’s not really appropriate for an athlete.

My first consultation that day I returned was done privately but the latest was on the NHS. I pleased to report that the NHS treatment seemed better. The nurses were much better, they explained about the cast and how I should care for it.

I must admit emotionally I’ve been abit of a wreck since returning. I’d made all these plans to meet up with people assuming I’d be able to move around easily. I soon realised this would not be so easy when I couldn’t get on the escalator at Stockwell. Then I found I’d be non weight bearing for 4-6 more weeks so movement would be tricky for ages. Staying at my sisters I have to go on my arse to get up and down stairs. Going from being so active to this knocks you for six. Everything I would fill my days with has been taken and the weathers been awesome – it feels cruel to look out and not be able to go run or ride. At the moment, like during all my knee problems 10 years ago, I’d be happy if I got to the point I could do all the riding I want.

I am so lucky having such a loving family. My mum and sister have been so massively supportive. They understand the need just for company when someone is stuck like this. They’ve re-arranged so much so that I could get to and from my mums without using public transport. Yesterday morning Jane popped in before I left for work with 20 quid and told me she’d booked a cab for me to my appointment since she didn’t want me getting on the tube again ! My little nephews help so much as well – they’re not bothered about my leg just disppointed I can’t lift and throw them around so much. They make you realise that in the grand scheme this ain’t that important. Isaiah has developed rather too much of an interest in my big toe sticking out from my plaster … he’ll run over and try and grab it. Certainly keeps me on my toes.

I had a quick look back to find a point where I mentioned the pain in the ball of my foot. it was clearly a concern in this entry. Thinking back I feel I probably stuck my head in the sand knowing that the treatment would probably be rest and at that time I had Wisconsin and Kona coming up. I felt that rest post Kona would get it sorted. So … readers … get niggles checked out, don’t just put up with the discomfort.

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Leaving New Zealand

Posted on March 9, 2009 by lord_lordy

LeavingNewZealand09.jpgNo real reason for this photo other than to remind me of slightly happier times and motivate me to get back to top fitness. It also shows how quickly that sort of fitness can be taken away. So, when you have it don’t take it for granted.

Jo and I catch our flight back to the UK this evening. We’ve had such a great time here and both feel excited to return home and see family but sad to be leaving New Zealand. It feels so familiar here now and that’s nice.

Not quite the end to the trip we had planned. Not able to just chill out now together in Taupo and bask in our success. No looking back contented at a 9:14 and 1st M40-44 … that will have to wait till another time. Jo’s race was not as she’d hoped (read here ) and I do wonder how much the distraction and stress of my surgery had to do with it. She spent alot of time doing things for me, pushing my wheelchair and just not having her full focus on the race. Despite this I was proud to see how she went for it. The way she attacked the run was inspirational and something I would just not have seen had I been racing.

It’s been a tough few days and very emotional. The day before and after the race actually proved worst. Not getting nervous on Friday felt slightly bizarre. Then on Sunday not having that feeling of utter contentment at having done an Ironman was horrible. It was made worse by comments that the conditions were ideal, very little wind on the bike. People that had also done it last year confirmed the conditions were better. It fit in with what I saw from the results. I made the mistake of looking at the times of the top guys in my age group and I was gutted. The day of the race was actually pretty fun. I wrote a ‘race report’ on it here. I do know that in the grand scheme of things I am very lucky and this injury is really pretty minor but when you get emotional and upset you are not being logical. I will hopefully appreciate and savour my future Ironman finishes as they happen. Being ever one to love statistics it just hurts not being able to ratchet up the Ironman count another notch !

My friend Roz back in London has been working non stop to get me sorted out with specialists to see upon my return. I can’t thank her enough. One that she contacted recently told her how this tendon is incredibly difficult to snap. I’d done a little search on the internet and found hardly any cases of it. The sports physician in Christchurch said there had only been a handful of reported cases. I have a sense of being unlucky but the flip side is I’ve gone about 8 years now without any injuries to speak of. I’ve had niggles but nothing other than sprained ankles (always done at Mountain Marathons) that have stopped me training. I’m probably getting ahead of myself by thinking about this without having seen a specialist but I can’t help it. This is now a repaired tendon which to me means it won’t be as strong as before. Having snapped it once there will always be the thought of snapping it again at the back of my mind. It seems most stress is put on it when the big toe is up as thats stretching it and also when pushing off running. As such I wonder whether I should change my training approach to reduce my run mileage. It goes against the grain since last year in New Zealand I felt so strong running and this was off the back of the biggest run mileage I’ve done. On the other side running is the element I struggle most with from a motivation point of view. So feeling no pressure to do larger volume may actually make for a happier triathlete. Perhaps switching to make every run have a specific purpose and away from all miles are good miles. ;o) Jeez … I’m starting to sound like ‘conventional wisdom”. The thought I’m trying to steer clear of is that I may have to reduce my fell running. I should have more on this once I’ve seen the specialist back in London.

I always knew with the volume I did that if I ever got injured there’d be those that immediately said it’s due to the volume. Like non runners who see a runner injured and immediately say it’s because they run. [caveat here ! I have no medical training ;o)] I feel the snapping was due to all my running and cycling but the fact that my running and cycling was actually damaging this tendon is another matter. Normally the sesamoid bones would protect it. So if someone else mimic’d what I did the chances are they would not experience any of these problems. I’m desperately trying to think back to when the pain in the ball of my foot started. The chances are I did something that was pretty innocuous at the time but which put this tendon in a position to get damaged everytime I ran. My volume merely brought it on sooner. Since volume is easily measured it’s an easy target. If there was a clear cut way to measure intensity would that mean if the ‘norm’ was an intensity of 10 per week but someone was doing 20 and got injured then it would be – ah it’s because of your intensity. The reason I say this is because by looking at volume alone you only see part of the picture. This year I’ve started tracking intensity as well. Most of my volume is very low intensity. This is because I like going a long way. If I ride I like to just pick somewhere on the edge of the map and go there. When running I like to explore, see how many hills I can get over, I want to spend as much time in them as I can. I like the process of exercise. Unlike most who train because they want to do an Ironman, for me, it’s more accurate to say I do Ironman because I train. So will I reduce my volume ? No. I just don’t think I’d be able to.

I’ve had to start (re)thinking about my goals now. The main goal was better than third in my age group. I really felt I’d put the work in to crack this. I’d been so consistent with my training having identified this as the key (see the entries pre christmas analysing my training). Here’s  a graph of daily activity. Red – swimming, green – biking, blue – running:

This is by far best the best block of training I’ve ever had and I felt so fit. That main goal was a definite possibility at both New Zealand and Lanzarote. Luckily with the timing of this injury there’s a chance that I’ll still reap the benefits of this in the second half of the year but there’s no way I’ll be ‘racing’ IM Lanzarote. Here are some goals I now have for the year:

✴Be cycling by the time Jo and I are meant to go to Lanzorate. This gives me 6 weeks – perhaps 50:50

✴Be on the start line at Lanzarote. This is a tough one since if I start I’ll want to finish so I may have to bite the bullet and not start

✴Sub 9:30 at Kona. Reckon a tough one and weather outside my control. Clearly a massive step up on my best every Kona race requiring me to go 20 minutes quicker than that. Though my swim last year was already 7 minutes quicker so not out of the question.

✴Top 5 M40-44 at Kona. Ambitious but in line with the time goal based on last year.

✴Sub 9 at Busselton. This is dream goal. Is 52, 4:50, 3:10 + transitions realistic ? Doesn’t seem completely bananas. It’s a big step up in my bike strung together with near my best swim and runs.

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Ironman New Zealand

Posted on March 7, 2009 by lord_lordy

IMNZ09.jpgA report from the other side of the fence having snapped my Flexor Hallucis Longus tendon. I had a plan to meter out my efforts having discovered just how exhausting pootling around on crutches is. Luckily Cliff, the manager at our hotel, offered me a lift down to the swim start. It was amazing how many people watched, they seemed they came out of nowhere as the start approached and there must have  been people 3 or 4 deep along the cliff for maybe 500m. It seemed pretty dark and I wondered how the pros would see the first buoy. It was quite surprising how strung the pros got… there were clearly some poor swimmers. The age group start was massive, the noise awesome. I was surprised to see in that huge mass that there were areas with lots of clear water. It  made it obvious that there’s a deal of luck as to how rough your swim would be – clearly some swimmers had loads of open water from the start and others would have been getting hammered.

I had to get moving as I needed to get up the road and across the road before everyone got our on their bikes – if I found myself on the wrong side of the road at that point I’d have to wait till they’d all gone through to get across on my crutches.

I soon realised I wouldn’t make it to my planned spot and settled for a smaller hill soon and got my fold out chair out and settled in. Saw all the pros go by and then the fast age groupers – I was seriously envious when i saw the first age group guys, looking at my watch I knew I’d be there with them and they had so much space – it would be great riding with hardly anyone around. The main goal was to count the age group girls. Jo came out 10th about 7 minutes down on lead age grouper and she looked chuffed. It was clearly a good swim for her and it looked like game on.

Now … hobble back to the hotel. Breakfast, got a window seat so I could watch the race go by. Back to my room, update email to my and Jo’s family.

It was now raining, so I put the big plastic bag over my leg and got in my wheelchair. Now the real task – roll myself up the hill. You need to be on a up hill for  the bike. I got up the first little bit and decided that was enough. I had an offer to be pushed high but the thought of rolling myself back down rather scared me. I had so many people to cheer on and my little list of numbers soon proved useless as I realised since I’d not committed them to memory I’d have to check every racer against my list. I spotted some including Paulie – a guy I’d met in Christchurch who had been planning on lining up with me at the swim start. He was on fire on the bike right at the cutting edge of the age group field. I screamed as such.

Saw the age group ladies come through. Jo had moved up to 7th but had dropped time on the lead girls. I knew her plan was to try and be patient on the bike so I hoped this was the reason.

Back to the hotel, another update email before heading out on crutches now (I can’t do curbs at all in the wheelchair) aiming to get just beyond the bridge at T2 where I could see people twice in about 15 minutes.

I found a good spot, managed not to fall over trying to open the chair and got myself  settled. I saw the lead ladies go through and it seemed pretty clear that Jo Lawn would catch the leader but Gina Ferguson would catch Jo – thats how it panned out. Now the fun really started – cheering everyone on. I try my best to say something more than “keep going” but I want it to be honest. So I had lots of “nice rhythm, keep it like that”. First to come through was Paulie – he got a “you’re on fire” – he was. Then I saw Stephen Thompson – he’d had a great bike and was well up there. He was running faster than anyone around him and I’m thinking he’s gonna be close to 10 hours if he keeps at it like this. He looked so happy. When he came back round I scream “You’re on fire Stephen, you’re a joy to watch” and he was. The lead age group girls came through with the girl in first about 5 minutes up on Jenny and Jo about 11 minutes further back. Knowing Jo’s run is good enough to reel this in a shout to Jo “unleash it now”. I timed her gap through the first 2km and she’d closed a minute on Jenny. At this pace she would catch both of them. Jo was looking strong and going for it. Wonderful to see.

Now Jo was off out on the lap I hobbled along to hang out with Phil’s family abit closer to the finish. I got a good spot there and saw loads of the people I knew coming through. Murray hadn’t heard the news of my injury and virtually stopped to ask what had happened when he heard and saw me on the side line. Mike hadn’t seen me and was the process of starting to walk so I shouted something along the lines of “we don’t want to see that sort of thing” and he started running. Jenny came through to the end of the first lap in first place and looked to be working real hard. Jo was still 11 minutes down so clearly hadn’t stuck at the pace. She’d closed on the lead girl but now Jenny was out front and Jo was not closing in. As Jo came through I told her she was up to 3rd spot but didn’t tell her the split at that point as I’d see her again coming the other way in less than 10 minutes. I looked at my watch and realised that a 1:40 second lap would bring Jo in under 10 hours and would most certainly put her in with a shout of the win. It was not yet beyond her grasp. I shouted her split and said she could still do it.

Finally I could take a break – I headed off for a coffee and some lunch and then straight back just in time to see John heading through at the end of his first lap. He looked to be suffering big time and I felt he must be thinking how he was right next to the finish but had to set out for another lap. I shouted to him, tapped my temple and said “it’s all up here now. Keep that rythmn ” I hoped this would be enough to get him round the finish area and back out on the road – once there he’d get into a groove I was sure and keep going.

I saw Phil come through. I’d trained abit with him in Christchurch and we’d both had the same target of getting sub 9:20. He was running well heading towards sub 9:29. I heard the announcer say he was 3rd in his age group. I hoped he’d be happy with that. Jenny came through still in the lead but looking to be a real bad way with about a km to go. She was looking back and asking her sister who was on a mountain bike if she could see the girl in second. No. About 2 minutes later the 2nd placed girl came by. Seeing how she was I thought if there was someone in the crowd who knew the situation like I did who could shout to her the girl ahead is in a right state then she would probably catch her. I held my tongue but knew if it had been Jo I would have screamed blue murder. As it turned out this girl still managed to finish only 15 seconds behind Jenny ! Jo came in about 15 minutes later for 3rd. I knew she’d not be happy with that but she went for the win, ran at the pace required to haul them in and paid the price. That takes guts and is certainly the sort of attitude required to get some good results in the future.

It was fun to be spectating, especially knowing so many people in the race. It would be nice to be doing this in the future, intentionally and able bodied.

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Acts Of Kindness

Posted on March 5, 2009 by lord_lordy

ActsOfKindness.jpgI am feeling stunningly positive at the moment and I think a huge part of this is amount of kindness that has been shown towards me. Here’s a random list of various things that have happened over the past week… there’s always a risk in doing this of missing someone out I hope I don’t.

  • Sally, the owner of Bottle Lodge where we stayed in Christchurch. She brought Jo to pick me up and take us to the airport and once there hung around to ensure we got all our luggage checked ok. This was despite it being her daughters birthday and was missing out on paintballing.
  • Jo, what a trooper. It was such hardwork for her to look after me especially in the first few days and can’t have been great for her race preparations. Hopefully now I’m independent enough for her to get properly focussed on her race.
  • Roz, a friend back in London who has been working tirelessly to sort out specialist appointments and physio for me as soon as I return. She’s used verious of her contacts to help the process along. I can’t thank her enough.
  • Gabriel, another friend back in London, again offering help but also giving me great advice about why I shouldn’t tough it out with the pain and take my painkillers. I have a real aversion to taking drugs and would put up with quite a lot of pain to avoid it but he highlighted why for my recovery it was important to control the pain.
  • My mum  – what more can I say than she offered to fly out to New Zealand to look after me and help me get my bike and myself home
  • My sister – found a specialist for me in London which turned out to be someone Roz recommended as well and offered all the support she could
  • Jo’s mum and sister – such kind understanding emails. Really clear they understood what I was going through …. they brought me to tears (but in a good way!)
  • Roger – if you’re reading this reckon you should give up your current job and take on sports psychology – your regular “pep talk” emails have been a great boost. This just rolls on from all the positive vibe emails you’ve sent the whole time I’ve been out here
  • Scott and Tara – both emailed and pointed out that I would probably come back stronger following this en-forced rest. Scott even reckoned if this hadn’t happened I would probably of “nuked myself”
  • So many strangers offering me a lift in their cars when they’ve seen me struggling in to town on my crutches – this included a pro from Luxembourg and a frail looking old lady in a tiny car – when she said I looked like I was struggling it really rather struck home. I of course declined all offers a I wanted to get some exercise.
  • Stephen at BodyFuel – lovely free date and orange pudding despite Jo asking him not to let me have anything sweet as it would mean I was a fat blob by the time I got back to training.
  • The guy in the outdoor equipment shop who gave me a free buckle to replace the one I broke in my wheelchair – he reckoned I needed all the breaks I could get.
  • Cliff here at the hotel. Helping me out with internet access to keep me sane and getting me a fold up chair I can carry around when supporting on Saturday.

There were more but too many to mentioned them all. You get the gist. This sort of thing makes you realise how the vast majority of the human race are probably fundamentally kind people willing to help out when they can.

I’ve had a few comments that this enforced rest will really help but really I’m not sure how much rest it is. The past few days I’ve been in and out of town on my crutches and it’s been utterly exhausting. The first day it took me about 1h15 to get in, the following day 40 minutes … quite a PB. Think it’s about a mile or so into town. Both days however it must have taken several hours to get back. To encourage myself yesterday I started doing 100 steps before a rest. This worked for a while but then it got too tough so I hobbled between seats and sat and did a Killer Suduko puzzle before moving on. Towards the end I noticed I was getting a blister from my Berkenstocks so I removed them as I could go the rest of the way on grass and I could put it back on to cross the road to the hotel. It wasn’t until I got to that point I realised how difficult that would be without a seat ! Whilst I’m faffing without success a police car pulls up to offer a lift to my hotel. Turns out this policeman is from Wakefield !! (ie 50 miles from where I’m from in the UK). He then says he’ll stop the traffic for me. Just at this point Mike Williams (a fellow Epic NZ Camper) pulls up and on hearing whats going on happen pulls out his camera claiming this photo is going to be worth money. So, there is photographic evidence of a fit young man having to get the police to help him cross the road.

Today I registered to race ! Not that I’m going to but it of course provided some slightly funny moments. For instance as I was queue jumping thanks to a nice man who felt I should be cut some breaks, I say to him ” I reckon it’s going to take me 10 hours to do the run like this” Clearly numerous competitors thought I would be racing. Got a comment that my compression socks look pretty impressive.

It’s been a rather rambling entry this and will finish it by continuing in this vein as I’ve found it quite enlightening finding myself being so positive and quite enjoying my time in the run up to this race. I often think of myself as not chatty but am starting to realise thats probably only in comparison to my mum and sister. Having this cast on has meant I’ve had so many conversations with strangers and I’ve really not tired of if. I’ve loved it. OK, most start with the same thing – explaining my injury but that leads to talking about different stuff. For instance yesterday I chatted with this american. If i”d had I’d had to guess his age I would have put it at 50-54… he was 70-74 ! He said how normally there’d be 3 people in his age group but there were 10 this time.

I am generally an optimist which I think is what makes the initial phase of an injury like this so bad. It knocks all ideas of a good outcome from your sight. I was distraught and struggled for a positive spin on it. It didn’t take long for my optimism to come through. Getting the surgery done quickly helped since it moved me from being injured to getting recovered. Every moment now is moving me closer to fitness… in fact, I am getting fitter every moment of the day. OK I may be losing aerobic fitness but my overal fitness is improving since at the moment I may be aerobically fit but I can’t use it … each day I lose aerobic fitness but I’m moving closer to being able to use that fitness. Compared to previous surgeries I’ve had this is very positive. In those cases they really didn’t know whether the surgery had fixed the problem till I’d rehab’d … this time it was certain I’d snapped the tendon and the surgeon has rejoined it so I am positive it is fixed the only question mark is can I recover and will the fix be strong enough. Now the pain has all but gone I’m getting quite mobile. Both Scott and Tara commented that I would probably come back stronger because of this lay off. If there is a good time for this then this was probably it – the injury happened just as I was starting a taper – so right at the end of high volume period just when I was about to start a several week period of taper and recovery. OK, rather than doing lower volume I am doing nothing but at least it means the amount less I am doing is minimised and if I can start swimming / biking when this cast comes off it is possible I will have lost very little fitness. In fact, it could work out like I’ve just taken an easy spell in a periodised training programme.

The other thing that could be of great benefit is my running gait. I’ve had this pain in the ball of my foot for at least 18 months now on and off. It hasn’t been painful when running but thinking back it’s clear that was due to a change in my gait. I can remember starting running regularly with my foot feeling painful but soon it wasn’t. I’d move my gait so that I pushed off my toes not my big toe. This is why when the podiatrist looked at my running when I first snapped the tendon it look AOK. Now, if this is fixed correctly not only will I be pain free but it should also allow me to drive off my big toe again – that should hopefully make me faster on the run. Roll on Kona and Busselton !

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Being An Invalid

Posted on March 3, 2009 by lord_lordy

BeingAnInvalid.jpgWhat an eye opener the past few days have been. As an abled body person you sometimes notice where places are set up for disabled people. The ramped curbs, ramp alternative to   stairs, disabled loos. Being on crutches / in a wheel chair really makes you appreciate that things could be better. Today we got the above wheelchair and went out for a spin. Glad Jo came with me first time. Heading into the centre of town and virtually every road crossing was an epic – the ramps were so steep and into a gutter that I regularly got stuck, or had a wheel totally in the air. I guess it was quite comical but at times I had to get on my crutches to get across. In the hotel some of the fire doors are only just wide enough to get through. On top of this my wheel chair is like a shopping trolley – it just wants to go left. So to keep going straight on a straight flat piece of pavement involves me only pushing the left wheel. My left wrist if almost non operational now.

The crutches and wheelchair have helped keep my mind from going crazy. They’ve given me lots to learn and chilling out between isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s proving quite fun trying to get competent with each of them though I’m thinking I should focus all my efforts on the crutches especially when I think about the layout of my sisters house where I’ll be staying initially on my return to the UK.

Also, my foot is getting far less painful now which is helping my mobility. I can at least now have it below my waist for more than a minute without the pain becoming pretty bad. On top of that the  leg is getting stronger so I can hold the cast for longer. With the wheelchair disappointment I’m heading back to plan A of getting fit enough to go in on crutches. I managed to get from Bodyfuel to the swim start on crutches today so feel positive. Once there I got in the wheelchair to practice. Headed over a speed bump and got rather stuck as I hit it at the wrong angle, one wheel lost traction twisting me further and towards the post at the side. It was entertaining but close to embarrassing as it looked like I was going to have to wait for a passer-by to help me off. Luckily I managed to rock myself enough to get some traction. Back to plan A but with a small modification: look for a foldable chair that I can carry over my shoulder so when I get crutch tired I can get the chair out and rest. Will be perfect for being out on the course come race day.

Having an injury like this and looking like an Ironman in the run up to an Ironman race is like having a dog or a cute child: loads of people strike up conversations with you. I started asking people their names / race number planning on giving them a cheer but I’ll have to knock it on the head because I’ve only been out and about for an hour or so today and I’ve got too many people to remember already.

I read Jo’s account of the past few days and was quite touched. Read about it from her point of view here: http://velojoc.blogspot.com/2009/03/solo.html The focus is now on ensuring she is ready properly prepared for IM NZ. She’s looking lean and ready to race. I’m independent enough now that hopefully she can stop worrying about me and can relax and not have to help me out too much. She had a great opportunity to release any frustration when she kindly agreed to inject the blood thinning drugs into my tummy. I really not sure I could have got myself to do it. Jo sorted it out though. By the time we’re back in the UK she’ll probably be quite expert at it.

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