The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Posted on July 8, 2008 by lord_lordy

JoEuropeanChampThis is what a European Champion and a “pleased with a terrible race in sub 10 hours” Ironman look like.

It was a tough race. The facts of the race are in my report. This entry is going to be a little bit of on the hoof analysis for me so bear with it ;o). The mental battles I went through on the run are the toughest I’ve had and unfortunately I don’t feel I came through them as best I could, it feels I gave in and accepted a lesser result. I’m questioning whether I’m willing / able to give it my all.

“THE GOOD”

The swim was awesome. Two consistently good swims on the trot now. I’m feeling so confident going into these swims. Yes, I’m nervous, very nervous at the start but now it’s because I expect and want an excellent swim. This one involved two surges early on and I’m pleased I was willing to take on the second surge to try and get with the lead pack of pros. It seriously hurt but great to look back and see how within minutes of the surge I had settled down into a steady rhythm and was back in control. This just boosts my confidence for future races – during these surges I get severe doubts about pushing that hard – but now I’m getting more and more evidence that it works. This swim was sweet. I even enjoyed it as it was happening. I’m looking forward to the Wisconsin swim and really feel 55 minutes at Kona is possible.

“THE BAD”

The bike was bad. At least it was due to mechanical failure. I was riding well, as I’d hoped and expected following my performance on Epic Camp. I did a steady ride into Frankfurt in just over 20 minutes (on track) then pushed well on the first lap and despite my bars starting to fail during the lap so I didn’t keep aero for certain sections I still did 2:18 and was on course for sub 5 hours. The complete failure of the tri bars on the second lap was BAD. I worked hard to keep my focus but inevitably some had to be lost as I HAD to work out a solution to the bar problem. I must have lost some time slowing for the bike service though I decided against it. I also spent alot of time none aero as I either fixed the bars, refixed them, took a break from being aero (as the sheared carbon fibre dug into my arm) or just had to be off the aero bars because the road surface was bad since the other aero bar snapping would have been end of race. Also, not being able to change gear unless I was down on the remaining aero bar meant I was unable to change once i was on a hill which, in turn, meant I had to be a thug on alot of the hills and strain against far too big a gear. Pretty convinced that without this I would have been within a whisker of sub 5 if not gone under. Like the swim this gives me confidence.

“THE UGLY”

Yes the run was ugly. VERY UGLY. I knew I wasn’t in great shape for the run. Since a week before Epic I’d not done anywhere near the run volume I’d normally do and I was carrying serious extra pounds. This was similar to IM Switzerland last year where I had a pretty bad marathon for 3:24. So I felt that I could run badly and still run 3:30. This was worse. I didn’t feel good initially but thats not unusual. What is unusual is my taking my KM splits. I was so determined to just try for low 3 hours that I decided to check my splits each KM. My normal approach is to go the first lap (or 10 k) without looking at my watch. Run on feel and then see how I’m going. Being a complete muppet and reading my watch wrong meant I was under the impression that despite my best efforts and working hard my times were dropping off. Two days before, on my final run, my left glute was seriously hurting and was  restricting my running. No idea why – had done nothing un toward. It felt like a trapped nerve or something. By the day before the race it was feeling like tightness , I couldn’t even bend over and get my finger tips half way down my shin. Jo did her best to massage it with some antiflam cream and even to her unprofessional hands she could feel some knots. It felt better than the previous day but it was restricting how fast I could run and seeing the splits just deteriorate made me think the best option was to ease off and just finish. I was absolutely determined I would finish and that I would run every single inch of the run. The truly disappointing thing is that when I realised my misreading of the splits and that I was in fact running sub 50 min 10k pace (ie sub 3:30 marathon)  for those first 5k I didn’t pick the pace back up to that level. I was happy to stay comfortable and nurse it round. With hindsight this is the most disappointing thing about the race.

Jo running past me was filled with so many mixed emotions at the time and post the race. With how I was going I so wanted her to pass me as for her to achieve her goals she had to catch and pass me. Reading her race report it’s nice to see she thought I was a lap ahead: that would have put me somewhere about 8:50 to 8:55 pace ! She has a lot of confidence in me but I’m sure the evidence that I wasn’t in that shape must have been pretty clear ! It’s tough racing the same race as Jo since her performances in the womens field are better than mine in the mens but this time she was outright faster than me. I just didn’t know how I’d deal with it, still don’t.

So why the bad run ? I’ve addressed the mental aspect but reckon at best that would have got me around the 3:30 mark. Not where I want and think I should be but would have been enough for me to come away happy with my result. The second lap on the bike  climbing in higher gears than planned will have contributed but I can’t believe it would have been significant. The weight I raced at is something I know has been an issue for a while. Well, I believe it to be and had hoped to test it out here but didn’t have the discipline to get the weight down. To compare I was approximately 12lbs heavier than at Ironman New Zealand and more like 16 lbs heavier than when I raced Longest Day. This is massive and really I need to work out how to address it. As was said in a forum I consult alot I need to ‘Man Up’. The final bit is my run training. I rested up ahead of Epic and then during Epic I didn’t run as much as I would normally. If I look at the 4 week period ahead of the final 3 weeks to race day for New Zealand I averaged 101 miles per week, for Germany 56 miles per week.

So there you have it. A bad Ironman performance under my belt. My sister knows how to say the right things. She texted and pointed out how we’d talked about my Ironman performances. I remember this, I’d said I’d been “lucky” that I’d not had a bad one but one day I would. She told me this was my bad race.

Well… I’m glad I’ve got the bad race out of the way. Roll on Wisconsin. Sub 9 there would rock ;o)

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Ironman Germany, Frankfurt 2008

Posted on July 6, 2008 by lord_lordy 
Time: 9:58:15
Swim: 49:24
T1: 3:24
Bike: 5:08:22
T2: 1:17
Run: 3:55:15

Race Analysis here

Got myself in prime position for the swim – in amongst it with the pros about 15m ahead to aim for. From the gun I sprinted hard and was surprised at how quickly I got clear of the other age groupers. Before I knew it was swimming through (well I guess over at times) the slower pros, having got through them I came alongside 2 pros and couldn’t see anyone else ahead. I had a brief moment of disbelief looking ahead and seeing no-one. I gave a quick think through of the Pros in the race and realised this surely couldn’t be right. Looking left I could see a line of maybe a dozen pros steaming off about 5 metres to my left and 15 metres ahead. I couldn’t see anyone ahead of this group. Quick decision. Got to be worth trying to jump on the back of that. I went as hard as I could. Very like bridging in cycling, you have to totally commit and the last few metres to get on are agony. I managed it. Unfortunately for me by the time I got on the feet of the last person the back two had separated from the main pack. I soon realised I was going faster than these two so went by. Ahead I could see a lone swimmer (judging by the times and race footage ) probably Chrissie and ahead of her the pack. No way could I bridge that. I settled in to cruise speed and soon had an age grouper and pro on my toes for company. After about 2.2km you have a brief run on the beach. I eased up on the run to allow the two on my feet to go by, they kindly did and I dived in and jumped on their feet. Cursing their lack of directional sense I soon went my own way. We were swimming the same speed but I seemed to be edging ahead as they veered around. Coming to the turn buoy I started to move round and the pro just didn’t move, he kept his line and we started to have contact. Getting very annoyed I just veered for the turn and more or less man handled him round before a canoeist pointed out there was another buoy… OOPS !!  After the turn I pushed on not wanting to exit the water with him! I managed to get away and raced up the beach on my own to great shouts. I knew I’d had a good swim. I’d decided not to set my watch at the swim start as it just adds to the stress of the start and serves no purpose in the swim. My plan was to start it as I ran under the clock on the exit and I could make the time adjustment in my head.

Unfortunately the clock as you exited the swim showed actual time not elapsed time. I start my watch and reckoned i must have had a low 50 minute swim. Pleased with that especially as I’d not been able to draft.

Was pretty slick through T1 and out on the bike for the fast section in to Frankfurt. Got into town in about 20 minutes about 13km into the ride. I looked at my computer to see my average speed and what a bleedin muppet… I’d forgotten to reset it. Well, not strictly true, I’d remember during the swim I’d not reset it so as I decided I could do it as I ran out of T1. Clearly I’d only reset distance 2 not the main data so it included my ride out to rack my bike the previous day! I reckoned if I got the average to something decent with that included I’d  be doing well. Luckily because I’d started my watch after the swim it was pretty easy to assess whether I was on schedule for sub 5 hours. I WAS !! I pushed on, riding strongly but still seeing lots of guys fly by me. Boy, there are some strong age group cyclists out there. Up “The Hell”, the cobbled stone bit, on my first lap was unreal. I was virtually laughing, the support was just so amazing. The more I smiled the more they cheered. Amazing. I was still riding strong and feeling good. I spent alot of time on my own and then every so often a train of riders would slowly move by  each keeping the 10m gap. Referees were riding alongside these groups virtually the whole time making sure they were keeping it legal. I certainly didn’t see anything to complain about other than one or two occasions of riders pulling in too soon in front of me. About 2/3rds through the lap I noticed that my right tri bar was abit lower than my left and had some movement in it. With the system I use this is definitely not a good sign. The only way it can move is if something is broken. I decided that through towns (where there was some rough road surfaces) and over cobbles I would have to come off the tri bars and on to the drops. I also decided to drink all the water and energy drink in it to put less stress on the bars. Not ideal but couldn’t risk this getting worse. Even after spitting some out I felt a little bloated. Coming through Frankfurt I’d done the second lap in around 2:18 and was definitely on for sub 5 hours, in fact, by my reckoning I felt I could slow by a few minutes on the second lap and still make it. Riding “The Hell” the second time the tri bar snapped completely. It was hanging on by the gear cable and the aero bottle. This was a slightly bad dream (ie not a nightmare!). I could change gear but it was slightly tricky as the bar the shifter was attached to was just hanging freely millimetres above my front wheel. It involved getting down on the one remaining tri bar, carefully grabbing the other tri bar, holding it against the left tri bar with my left hand whilst shifting with my right. Slightly convoluted and it meant I had to pretty much select my gear ahead of the hills which resulted in rather more out of the saddle brute force ascents than I’d planned. I kept thinking to myself I must be able to fix this. In situations like this I find myself thinking “you’re an intelligent bloke, you must be able to work out a solution”, I am utterly convinced it is fixable it’s just a matter of time before I work out how. I also kept thinking to myself don’t less this distract from pushing. Inevitably it does since I had to work out a solution. I considered stopping at the bike service area and even slowed to pull in but seeing how the face plate of the stem had sheered I was worried they wouldn’t let me continue if they thought the bike was unsafe. Eventually I worked out I could (with a little brute force) wedge the tri bar over the other tri bar and my handle bars. This kind of worked, though any bumps knocked it off. It allowed me to be aero though my right arm was all bent at the wrist and the sheered carbon fibre dug in but it allowed easier shifting (still only by being on the aero bars). I pushed on and tried to focus. Still having to come off the aero bars due to the discomfort periodically and every so often having to sit up to reset my makeshift fix. I tried various ways of having the bars, twisting it this way and that, none ideal and none that wouldn’t come lose over a bump. Eventually I found the best approach and could refocus on my attention on racing with the adjustment of the bars just becoming automatic.

Thankfully I made it in to T2 though disappointingly the pace had dropped off. Heading out on the run I knew I was a little over 6 hours. My aim had been to be heading out on the run in under 6 hours. I knew I wouldn’t be running well but felt I could nurse out a 3.30 marathon and get close to 9.30. My legs didn’t feel great as I started running but this was not unexpected since the final lap of the bike had seen me climb the hills out of the saddle in much higher gears that I’d have liked. I tried to run relaxed and would just see what the splits were saying. They went something like this: 5:18, 5:23, 5:29, 5:34, 5:40. This was terrible I was just slowing every KM. Not great for my mental state. On top of this my left glute had been really bad 2 days before the race, had slightly improved the day before but still tight. Bad enough that for the first time ever I carried Ibuprofen on the race (thanks Jo) and I took one 4 kms into the run. With these sort of splits I knew it was not going to be a quick run and I should be careful about the glute. Ddecision made. Just take it easy round the run. After 5 or 6 K it finally dawned on me that when I hit split on my run the large figure is the total time since I started the watch and the split is the small figure above it. Since I’d started my watch after the swim the total elapsed time was 5hrsXX minutes but I was reading this as 5minsXX seconds ie my KM Split ! I had been running faster than I’d thought and definitely not slowing. In fact I ran the first 10.5k in about 52 minutes. With hindsight (ie post race) I’m pretty pissed off with my self and the lack of mental strength to get over this. Instead I stuck to nursing it round plan. Made for an enjoyable(ish) run since it was quite comfortable as long as I kept to a pace that didn’t make me feel the glute. I should have pushed on. The final lap was torture. I knew Jo would catch me. In fact I hoped she would as I was heading for close to 10 hours and if she didn’t catch me she would be disappointed with the time. Towards the end of the 3rd lap the inevitable happened Jo went by and she would beat me in an Ironman. Last lap. My legs died. Being an optimist I put this down to running at an unnatural pace and cadence. I was convinced I would be over 10 hours until Alyssa told me my swim split and I realised I had a few more minutes in the bag. This was a good thing.  Before the race and after the race I was / would be / am massively disappointed with just going sub 10 hours but for those few moments when I crossed the line thinking I’d be over I was pretty chuffed with it.

My sister texted me something after the race that really hit home and helped: “Just remember u said 2 me that u wld have a bad race at some point – this was it.” I was pretty glum all night and the amazing spectacle of thousands of Germans partying at the best finishers line party I’ve attended couldn’t get me out of it. It is a great race, the support is awesome, it’s a super fast course (shame I couldn’t make the most of it) and I did enjoy it for many many reasons. Just wished I’d enjoyed it for going fast !

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Ironman Germany Race Preview

Posted on July 1, 2008 by lord_lordy

IMGermanyBikeHere’s the bike all ready to go ! Pretty sure germany will be a disc course. I do hope so, I love the sound of a disc wheel during an Ironman

I’m all packed and ready to head off to Ironman Germany. Jo and I are driving there – we love a little road trip across Europe. It’s so much less stressful than flying. We can take spare wheels, don’t have to take our bikes apart and can pack as much kit as we like. There is a tendency to fill the space available in the car.

I’m looking forward to this race. Feeling pretty relaxed I think largely because I really don’t know how I’m going to go. I still feel unprepared for it. Don’t feel like there is zip in the legs. Stairs still make them ache. However, I look back at my preparations and they have been pretty good. Not as good as I’d planned but are they ever. I really just can’t complain. My biggest worry is that I’ve not done decent running since before Epic Camp. Even on the camp the running tended to be an afterthought. Means I’m going in to this race looking for strong swim and bike and then just see on the run. The aim is still a PB – ie sub 9.15 but I now feel I will be over the moon with that. If I’m over 9.30 I’ll be disappointed.

Had lunch with Jane, Mum and Isaiah today. Both Jane and mum separately (though I’m sure they are in cahoots) raised that they were worried I was doing too many Ironmen this year and that I shouldn’t jeopardize Kona. I assured them I wasn’t and that Germany was a race to enjoy and not one I’d completely focussed on. To back this up I gave a quick glimpse of my tummy – it’s far from lean at the moment and I’m certainly carrying between 10 and 15 pounds too much into this race ! Slightly later Jane asked about target times and after my comment she said something like “well you’re not going to go that fast on the run as you’re so fat at the moment” … thats what sisters are for, no pulling of punches just tell it how it is !

Yesterday Jo and I did a days course on “Neuro Linguistic Programming” Really was very interesting – the big thing for me was the stuff we did on ‘anchoring” – I feel this can help me in the Ironman run. I’ve started to practise some of the techniques and though it takes time I’m hoping it will help at least a little in Frankfurt. I know this is something that can get me going during the race so i plan to spend time over the summer working on the techniques and getting them in place and embedded by Kona.

I’ve spent some of today doing more analysis on my races and the tapers I’ve done. It seems pretty consistent that my best races so far have come off shorter tapers. Generally under 2 weeks. Also I tend to have raced best when I’ve maintained pretty high bike mileage up to the weekend before the race. I’ve reworked my Kona Push Training Plan to take account of this. Cut the Wisconsin taper to ultra short (remember Kona is the focus) – plan is to train hard till I get on the plane … no this doesn’t mean I’ll be pegging it through Heathrow to the plane but I will cycle long the weekend before. Similarly for Kona but since I’m flying out 15 days before the race it will result in a 2 week taper. Plan is to train reasonable volume in the first week especially as this will aid acclimatization but then in the final week really reduce the volume massively – far more than before. The only thing that would change this is an absolutely storming race this weekend. If I manage that I may end up repeating the build up I’ve done here ! If I was a betting man, though, I wouldn’t be betting on my definition of an absolutely storming  race this weekend.

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Tapers

Posted on June 30, 2008 by lord_lordy

TapersHere’s a graph showing my rolling week to date hours in the run up to various races. The yellow line shows the current run up to next weeks race. The pink line is the run up to Ironman New Zealand earlier this year and finally the green line is the run up to what was probably my best race The Longest Day just under 2 years ago.

Comparing, first, to New Zealand you can see that my peak volume was approximately the same volume and happened only a few days earlier. However, two notable things are the breadth of the volume leading into New Zealand – it lasted weeks whereas for this race is was really just a single week. Secondly the speed of the drop off in volume. The intensity of the weeks peak this time round was alot higher than for New Zealand and I needed much deeper recovery. What do I conclude ? Who knows, but in character I’m quite positive about it. This analysis looks alot better than I was expecting as I started it. My peak was short and sweet this time … VERY sweet and my taper / recovery has  been deep – though I don’t feel too sprightly running at the moment I still have 6 days to pull it together.

I then decided to look at the same period running up to The Longest Day where I did my pb of 9.15 running 3:07. Interestingly 3-7 weeks out my volume was lower. 2 years ago I was still racing mountain marathons and olympic distance races – in that period I race two olympic and The Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon – all took out weekends and it was in the days I was working full time hence the low volume. However, my winter was not disrupted by an Ironman that year and my base was long and massively consistent – from the last week in January through 2nd week in June (when I started racing ) my week to date hours only once dropped below 30 hours- the week including the London Marathon. I did my own version of a training camp late May up in Scotland. I was there on my own and trained in all weathers – in the week I did 61 hours – 727 miles of cycling and 70 miles of running (the vast majority being fell running over munros). Clearly this consistency paid massive dividends. Also – the racing – shorter distance – sharpeners ?? I know some of you reading this will probably smile seeing me write that ! Finally – look at the taper ? Less than a week ! A week out from the race and I’d clocked over 40 hours. The Sat, Sun and Mon before the race I totaled over 200 miles of bike and 36 miles of running. Even I’ve gotta say wow ! What was I thinking … well I was viewing that race as purely a benchmark for my progress towards Florida !

It’s making me think ! ALOT ! Perhaps I should try a similar approach for Ironman Wisconsin – currently I have a 10 day taper but I’m sorely tempted to train full bore till I get on the plane (the tuesday before the race)…. gotta think.

I had planned to put final thoughts here about IM Germany but will do that tomorrow.

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Heavy Legs

Posted on June 28, 2008 by lord_lordy

EpicItalyTT

Continuing with looking at motivational pictures from Epic. This is me about 1 metre from the finish of the 11km uphill TT on Day 1.

I CAN CYCLE QUICK ! ;o)

The legs still feel very heavy when I’m running. The motivation is back but this leaden feeling in my legs is worrying me. Still holding on to the thought that this is some dramatic taper taking place. I just feel heavy when I’m running and certainly don’t feel I’m going to be light on my feet during the marathon at the moment.

Last night I was back in Oxford for the college Gaudy. It was really good fun. Not only did I catch up with some good friends from my college days but there were also others I didn’t know that were going which is was really nice to see. The best Gaudy I’ve been to and now wish there was another dinner tonight as there are several people I just didn’t get a chance to speak to as much as I’d have liked – particularly some guys from the first eight who I really didn’t get much time to chat with.

I took the opportunity to have a great run this morning – along old stomping grounds – through Christ Church meadow to the Boat Houses then along the tow path to the start of eights. It was exhilarating how certain sights brought back such vivid memories and feelings – particularly the tension of the start and first few strokes of Eights.  Decided Jo and I should come visit for a day and perhaps come down for Eights Saturday one year.

Got some advice from Gordo about trying to relax when I’m running and improve my running economy. Had some feedback from Jo during a run  on when I was looking relaxed and when tense. It seemed I could feel when I was relaxed which is something I’ve not noticed before so am optimistic about over the long haul being able to make some progress on that.

This heavy feeling in my legs prompted me to do a bit more reading on tapering and reviewing various coachs approaches. It seems that there’s a school of thought that if u rest up long enough after a big build period your body goes into deep recovery that can take weeks – this seems to tally with a Mark Allen style 4 week taper. With this in mind a lot of coaches seem to suggest 10 day taper for mid season races as this gives some time for recovery but doesn’t let your body go into deep recovery that will require a lot longer. Hopefully what I’m feeling now is ‘deep recovery”. I’ve been further tweaking my plans for Wisconsin to Kona so that Wisconsin is a 10 day taper and Kona a 3 week one… can’t really fit a 4 week taper in it. Once I have it clear in my mind what I think I should do I think I’ll ask Gordo for his thoughts.

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Feeling Normal Again

Posted on June 26, 2008 by lord_lordy

ItalyWithGordo

Just got a load of photos from Epic Camp [Thanks Russ]. Here’s one that rather sums up the camp for me – trying to stay on Gordo’s wheel. I did my best most days and it was fun to try but it was pretty clear he could decide to drop me at will. Pleased he decided to allow me to hang with him for a while most days !

This morning I woke and felt like a changed man. My motivation was right up there, heart rate back down, I felt like I had a spring in my stride and I wanted to train. Amazing – only yesterday I was still knocking sessions on the head, dosing on the sofa in front of Wimbledon despite averaging over 10 hours sleep a night for 5 nights. I can’t remember a period of feeling so completely zonked.

Between doses I read Mark Allens description of a taper and it made me more positive. His second week described me perfectly and I consoled myself believing that I must be tapering (and recovering) awesomely well to feel like this.

The change started last night when I mustered the motivation to go swimming. As Germany may be none wetsuit I wore my Blue Seventy. I stormed in the pool, even taking into account the suit I was swimming well. We did a main set that was a broken set of 24 x 100m and I was nailing them close to 1:15 in the early part and even as I fatigued I maintained sub 1:20.

Yesterday I also managed a decent run at last. I met Jo at lunch time and joined her for her tempo run. She had “40 minutes at L4” – should be a nice pace but given my lack of running and the way I was feeling my goal was purely to hang. Hang on I did – just. My shoelace coming undone didn’t help matters but I managed to claw my way back. Jogging to swimming I felt so much better and then this lunchtime I ran with Steven and was starting to feel comfortable.

This morning, despite the sudden arrival of motivation I stuck to the advice of “don’t be tempted to test your fitness” and to just do small bouts of intensity. Gabriel was there hammering out some fast laps (see his blog for a great entry giving a bit of the history of the solstice 100 miler) – I joined him and decided to do some spurts. I’d drop back and then work hard past getting up to 27 or 28mph – felt really solid and cheered me up immensely. Plan was to head home after 25 miles or once Simon arrived (I had club kit for him) whichever was later. Simon turned up and we did a couple of chatty laps before I headed home.

Feeling a lot more positive but still this is an interesting tapering exercise. This is how the 4 weeks leading to IM Germany is looking like panning out:

•Week -4: 58 hours training

•Week -3: 8 hours – all on the bike

•Week -2: 28 hours

•Race Week: 12 hours

Not a typical taper and far from what I’d planned. It is how it is and now I’m feeling a lot more ready for the race and finally starting to look forward to it.

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Recovery And Advice

Posted on June 22, 2008 by lord_lordy

KonaGroup

Little motivational picture. This is from Kona last year, Jo had had an awesome race I’d had a pants one but you can tell from all the smiles it was well worth it anyway. Following that I promised myself I’d be properly prepared for next time. Come this summer I must remember this as I take on probably the toughest block of training I’ve ever attempted.

I can never remember being this completely wasted. Immediately after Epic I felt great and forced myself to take it easy. I felt I was going to completely nail the Thursday morning 100 miler and with that confidence I felt comfortable pushing it along. My collapse was horrible, being more or less unable to turn the pedals is not a nice feeling. It wasn’t hunger knock – Gabriel gave me a torq bar but it made no difference. It didn’t feel like I remember hunger knock feeling. I was just toast.

Since then I have felt so lethargic. Just look at my sleep – Thursday night 12.5 hours, Friday night 10.5 hours and last night 9 hours. On top of that if I’ve sat down and relaxed I’ve ended up dozing. I’ve done nothing since then. In fact, I’ve spent most of the time with a pair of running shorts on as I’ve always been thinking I’d go out for a run soon but each time just haven’t had the motivation to do it. You get doubts that you are losing fitness but my logical side keeps saying no – you’ll only get fitter if u let your body take the rest it clearly needs.

Today I felt lethargic when I got up and made no efforts to get out on the bike but after getting up I felt really enthusiastic. Feel like I want to train and have been considering a run. Part of me thinks I should leave it one more day from feeling like this. We will see… I am happier now as I feel I’m through the worst of this feeling and perhaps I made the right decision doing nothing since the 100 miler.

I asked Scott Molina on the final night of Epic for any thoughts on how I should change my training. He said that sometimes you have to be patient. I should stick with what I’m doing. I asked Gordo as well post camp and he concurred “Stick with what you’ve been doing… great advice from Molina. I would concur based on what I saw”. Very pleased with this. I’ve been happy with what I’ve been doing and felt that breakthroughs wouldn’t need dramatic change but just small things – especially consistency with my nutrition. However, I’ve been getting an underlying vibe from various training partners that I should cut the volume and increase the intensity. My gut reaction has always been my performances seems to be validating my approach for now, but it’s slowly got to me that I was having doubts. I’ve had a little rework of my training plan for Kona post Germany. Not major changes just put back some LONG rides – these are sessions I’d removed that I’d been a big believer in. Still included focussed bike sessions – ie specific repeats to do but now have some long steady rides with a run off as well.

The other advice Gordo gave was work on technique. Get my stroke video’d underwater – this just reaffirms what I’ve been told before. Work on overall flexibility to improve my position on the bike. This is a new one – the comments have generally been that my aero position is very good, I have a flexible back and can maintain a good aero position. I have adjusted my road bike to work on being more aero there. Finally Gordo mentioned removing the tension in my body when I run. This really hits a cord as I always look in agony when I run and my mum has often said I would run faster if I had the right facial expression. He says I could get big results from improving my running economy. Running economy is something I think about a lot when running but hadn’t made the connection with the tension that’s clearly visible in any photos of me running. I want to work on this. The question is how do I improve it (answers on a postcard please) as I’m really quire unaware of the tension when I’m running.

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Post Epic Italy

Posted on June 20, 2008 by lord_lordy

Continue to feel bombed today. Slept 12 hours last night and then snoozed this morning for 90 minutes. Knocked all training on the head, tried to eat well and just chilled for the day. Pretty sure now that the summer soltice all night 100 miler was not the best idea in the world though I must admit it was fun and I guess given the choice again I’d probably struggle to make a different decision.

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Mid Summer Madness

Posted on June 19, 2008 by lord_lordy

I think I can declare myself as bonkers. Last night I did my 3rd all night Regents Park 100 miler. This time was no messing about and we did it in one push with no mid way break to Brick Lane for coffee and bagels. Only Gabriel and I were doing it and the plan was to do it fast. As such, we met at 1am and the plan was 5 hard hours before timing the 20k time trial for the others and then heading for breakfast.

It all started well with some steadily increasing laps. The rain was intermittent but the wind was strong and it made for pretty uneven efforts through the laps. I was feeling strong after about 60k when Gabriel had a blowout. We were 2 hours in at that point and I felt I was getting stronger and Gabriel had weakened slightly. I was feeling good about it. We then started doing alternate laps pulling on the front. After the first one I started to suffer and it soon became clear Gabriels laps were a lot quicker than mine. It was approaching 4am and I was praying for Kevin to arrive as I’m sure that would result in some easier laps.

On my fifth pull Gabriel came through before the end of the lap and my mental grip just broke and I had to sit up and rest. The next lap we saw Kevin and it eased a little. As the speed built up again I suffered more and more – it was bad enough for me to accept a torq bar from Gabriel the second time it was offered.

Finally I just felt like my legs detonated. It was as good as I could do to turn the pedals a few times out of the saddle then freewheel. I was suffering BIG TIME. Self talk kept me going then without thinking I was sat down leaning against a bin. Soon I could feel myself nodding off (no sleep and 70 miles at 20mph will do that to a guy). I can’t remember ever feeling like this on the bike. Luckily I had enough sense to realise falling asleep at 5am leaning against a bin in Regents Park in the rain wasn’t a good idea and I got back on. The rain increased, I seriously thought I should go home as I couldn’t keep warm. Luckily I’d brought I hat and it did the trick.

Now looking forward to Jo’s arrival and the break the TT would afford and finally breakfast kept me going. Slow slow laps followed and my target edged closer. We started the TT and I managed a couple of lap whilst helping with the timing. By the end I had enough that the ride home would get me to 167km.

Just slept the deepest 2 hours sleep ever and my quads feel shot. Just praying this wasn’t completely stupid and they will bounce back with some rest. Can’t imagine racing the final 5k-handicap race today. Think I will just have to spectate.

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Epic Italy – Part II

Posted on June 18, 2008 by lord_lordy

EpicItalyPart2

Been out for a gentle 3 hour spin on the bike this morning. Nice breakie with John, dropped in to Cycles Dauphin for a chat. It’s helped lesson my post camp blues.

Here’s a piccie of Jo and  I atop the Stelvio – what a great day.

Second instalment of the Epic Camp entry. Had a couple of days of complete rest now and gone through a period of feeling pretty down following the camp. Getting back in to some sort of routine is helping. Yesterday I went and spent several hours with my sister and one of my nephews. Today some light training. This is making me think about how I can structure my life to continue with full time training indefinitely. I feel it must be possible…

So more on the camp.

Friday 13th June

HR: 51, Sleep: 8.25hrs, Motivation: 6, Fatigue: 8

Swim: 3km, Bike: 91km, Run: 6m, Hours: 4:59

Slept like a log last night. Yesterdays training completely wasted me. Jo had got up early to go for a long run. Was tempted to go with her but pretty clear that she wanted to go on her own. Her mood is being badly affected by the fatigue and I felt that some time on her own in the hills would do her no end of good. Also, today could be tough and I thought perhaps I should play it safe based on how much I’d done yesterday. As I layed in bed I could hear torrential rain. I felt for Jo out running in it, though running in the hills in the rain is a massive release… so part of me was jealous. I thought about the plan today – over a pass then over an hour of downhill riding, an aquathon then back on the bikes – in this weather we’d be frozen by the time we got to the pool … what to wear for the ride there ? keep warm clothes for after or start out in them and hope that the weather clears.

Over breakfast the rain did not clear up. The decision was made to drive to the pool. It was what Jo and I had said we’d do. Considering the sort of conditions I know we’ve both gone out in I was going to be seriously impressed with the Epicness of Epic Camp if they’d made us ride in that. As we drove over the pass the rain was torrential and the car was saying 2c … the decision was right.

For me this was a great help. I needed all the recovery I could get. I’d planned to just sit in on the ride but sitting in in the van was even better. Because of the weather the open air 50m pool was closed so we went to a  lovely indoor 25m pool instead. I took the opportunity to do the IM set. 12 x (100IM, 150 free). It was a fun relaxing set. Having these swim sets for points is a great way of giving some focus for a lot of the swimming. Without them it’d be tempting to just plod up and down for 3k. I can feel my swimming improving with swimming each day. It fits in well with my plan to get 5 swims in a week (20+k) per week right through to Kona – with luck will get my Kona swim split well under the hour and get me out of the bike a lot higher up the field.

The aquathon was changed to a 10k race since we were in a different pool. It was a ‘major” points race and there was a secondary ‘minor’ points race for predict your time. We couldn’t wear watches. I predicted 40 minutes, thinking it was achievable and if I went under that I’d be chuffed. Gordo and John shot off ahead of us. I ran the first half lap with Scott. After that he edged away. As I ran I considered how it’s interesting how someone can just edge away – the difference in speed would appear to be so little u should be able to stay with them but pushing that little bit more is just not comfortable so you don’t do it. It felt quite amazing that we’re so sensitive to such changes. I settled in and ran comfortably. I didn’t want to go all out for fear of trashing my legs and also after yesterday I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to be on the bike. I’d be happy with 4th so when Russ put in a second lap surge I had to keep a close eye and run pretty hard for the last 1km to hold him off.

As soon as we set off on the ride I knew I wasn’t as strong as I had been. Again, I had this feeling of a stage race and thought I mustn’t let anyone know I’m feeling pretty shot today. So when Gordo and John jump the group I surge and get on the wheels. It was a hard effort but worth it. We’re pushing along with someone on my wheel, just as I look over my should to see who it is (shocked to see it’s Jonathon not Scott) Gordo sits up in 2nd place and lets John go. Briefly I do nothing, then wonder whether it’s the coaches ganging up on me, so I dig deep again, go round Gordo and bridge to John. Gordo comes with me but not Jonathon. I then play the same game, sit up and see if Gordo goes through. He does, I look round and see we’re well away from the group which was my goal and let them go. Now I can just take a conservative climb up the Passo di Erbe, conserve my legs and get to the top 3rd in the KOM. This worked well and I got to the top 3rd with Mike and Scott only minutes behind which probably means the did the actual climb quicker than me.

The ride to Bolzano was awesome –  50+km downhill. I was on my own and could just do recovery riding… all focussing on getting recovered for the Stelvio tomorrow. The day had gone well … I’d managed to get a recovery day in and still score good points. No tacks on today.

At dinner I was quite chuffed when it was decided there’d be a prize for the first “normal” person to the top of the Stelvio and that I was grouped in with Gordo, Scott and John as the not normal people !

Saturday 14th June

HR: 42, Sleep: 8hrs, Motivation:9, fatigue: 6

Swim: 3k, Bike: 142km, Run: 5m, Hours: 7:43

Jo was keen to try for the normal person prize. She’d been first normal person on several climbs so had a shot. The problem would be ensuring she didn’t get dropped by the surges on the way to the climb. I decided that I would do my utmost to prevent this.  I would not follow any moves by Gordo / John and would ensure Jo stayed in the group. We discussed this early in the ride and even agreed I would try and pace her up the climb as best I could.

We all started with an easy run. I kept it steady, still thinking of letting the legs recover. Ran with Mike and Gordo and had a good chat. Another awesome open air 50m pool. I swam without a wetsuit and it was cold. Had to push it along – got my 3k done in 47 minutes which I was pleased about.

The ride to the start of the Stelvio was a lot more than expected – over 3 hours of pretty hard riding. I tried to keep behind Jo in the group and whenever a gap appeared in front of her wheel I filled it and pulled her back on before dropping back behind her. This worked well. Towards the end of this section Gordo jumps off and John goes with as well. I take the front of the group and manage to slowly bridge back to John. At the feed station at the bottom of the climb Gordo has hung around so we’ve kept everyone together for the climb. I was feeling really strong riding today and was looking forward to this.

At the start I stuck to my guns and tried to pace Jo, letting Gordo and John go. It was really difficult and made me realise what a skill this domestiques have. Jo soon just told me to head off as it wasn’t of any help anyway. I was pleased to be able to go and I soon bridged back to Gordo and John. I then decided to take it on and went to the front. I concentrated on my breathing pattern and pushed to the level of a steady heavy breathing. This continued for a fair while and we joked when we saw the first hairpin labelled No.48 !! Gordo gave a surge which I tried to go with, I look back and saw John was not quite with us. This encouraged me to continue trying to get Gordo’s wheel. I didn’t manage it but it gave me enough gap over John and I settled into my own rhythm.

The Stelvio is one awesome ride. Starting from about 600m and finishing at nearly 2,800m ! Great consistent gradient and views slowly revealing themselves to you. I could see John and Scott below and could keep them a few hairpins back getting me to the top in 2nd. It was about 2c with light snow once in a while. Putting everything on u still slowly got cold. Had a great lunch and then Scott treated us all to sausage sarnies with sauerkraut from a local vendor.The decision was made not to continue on to the Gavia – I must admit I was a little disappointed. John did say I could go on and do it and they’d give support but after such a good climb I felt it would be nice to enjoy a dinner with everyone else. Brilliant brilliant day. JO and I decided to ride down as well. It was awesome and we were gobsmacked by how long it was… going down it just hit it home.

Really enjoyed the ride back in the van. Jo was in the car so there was some banter from the boys about how I should “lock that girl down”, that we’ll kill each other with encouraging ever more outrageous training and finally Scott commenting on Jo and I going for a date and just riding round in the dark all night chatting ;o) He also found it rather amusing that after all the bad weather it was only on top of the Stelvio I pulled out my ‘just in case of bad weather jacket”.

After dinner I finally had a beer with Scott, Douglas and Mike. Jo came down after her massage and we enjoyed a couple more beers. It’s great to be feeling stronger as the camp progresses, I am so chuffed that I’m coping with riding pretty hard every day.

What a great finale to the camp. Just tomorrow to go. Long flat ride and being still in pink I’m determined to do more than my fair share of pulling on the front to get everyone home.

Sunday 15th June

HR: 47, Sleep: 7.5hrs, Motivation: 8, Fatigue: 6

Swim: 3km, Bike: 170km, Run: 3m, Hours: 6:35

Final day of the camp and the Pink is in the bag. A long flat ride back to Verano is ahead of us and I feel I should do some decent pulls on the front at some poin.

First up is an uphill 5k running race. Boy is it hard and as usual I go off relatively steadily. Jo is tenacious in the first k or so surging as I try to pass. Then Anthony provides resistance and re passes me on a slightly flatter section.  I have to push hard as the gradient increases to retake him. Douglas is next up but I can’t make inroads. End up finishing 5th behind Gordo, John, Scott and Douglas. Happy with the effort.

Nice breakie – all my best nutritional intentions are more or less out the window now … I’m so hungry. I munched loads of cereal, bread and cake. Off to the pool where I’d save the 200 fly for the last day. No messing – long course. The first 100 was tougher than the second as I go into a great rhythm and felt I could keep going. In fact, I continued on for an extra 50m it felt so good ! I was told I was the only Epic Camper to complete the 200 fly long course and that perhaps in future it would have to be 300 ! I fully intend to include fly in some of my training sessions now … so by next Epic Camp (if I do one) perhaps my fly may be halfway decent!

We had a very early lunch before heading off on the excellent cycle path to Verona. Gordo was doing long hard pulls on the front with a few of us others taking on shorter ones. Whilst I was on the front I managed to miss a turn and it split the group up. A group with Gordo at the front, then one with John, then Jo and I off the back. The groups were not letting up to allow us to regroup. I tried to help Jo back to Johns group but it wasn’t working so I bridged up alone. I sat at the back feeling sure John would get us back on but we were dropping behind. I took the front to try and pull us up. We then came to a bridge we had to cross. This slowed up the group in front and I decided this was my only chance to bridge. I went balls out sprint and got with 20m before their pace really upped and gaining those last few metres was hard. I kept thinking u must fully commit to this, don’t ease off with a couple of metres to go. I finally got on having redlined for minutes and breathing as heavily as I could as I sat on the back. They were doing 38kmh ! Douglas later said he thought there must be a rabid dog on the back. It turns out Gordo was doing 1km efforts. I sat in for a good 10 minutes before my breathing really settled and I decided I wouldn’t do any work on the front till after the feed station. The pace at times was incredible and there was no way anyone else was going to bridge to us.

Finally, rather relieved, we made the feed station. I stocked up on bars for my pockets as I didn’t feel the pace was going to ease up. It didn’t we continued along the cycle path but after a crash (Scott got a rather gashed elbow) we moved onto the road and seeing the 40km to go sign I took the front and decided I was going to pull the guys home. I kept the pace high not wanting anyone to take over on the front.  Reckon I averaged over 40kmh for that last section and whenever I felt slightly tired I pushed on, secretly hoping everyone was suffering on my wheel ! At least we would get home quick. By the time we got into the outskirts of Verona Gordo suggested I backed it up a little once we were in town – I was happy with the excuse to ease back. I’d felt great pushing hard and chuffed to bits to be so strong right at the end of the camp. Douglas commented he wasn’t in a happy place with that pace, Scott commented it was really fast and we’d dropped Mike. Sorry Mike, but I must say I was quite pleased to have dropped someone … guess most cyclists like the feeling of taking the front and riding hard till people beg for mercy !

Absolutely awesome end to the camp – it was a really buzz hammering along with people on my wheel !

Quick pack of bikes then a great final meal and out for beers. I asked Scott about things I could do to get my IM time under 9 hours. He said that sometimes you just have to be patient, keep on with what you’re doing and the improvements will come. This was quite different to what I hear in general where people tell me I should do more speed work etc… I guess this is the kind of thing I wanted to hear and coming from such a star of the sport I was chuffed. We will see … it’s been a few years now of cranking out some serious volume … with luck some  really decent times will  start to follow.

Epic Camp was certainly Epic even by my standards. I managed my highest volume week this year (just)… highest swim vol, highest bike vol this year. That’s not what made it Epic for me though – what did was the intensity on the rides. I had large sections of hard riding everyday and still felt strong throughout. This was an eye opener for me. Add to that some good solid swim sessions and the races / TTs made for an awesome (Epic) week of high volume good intensity training. Just hope I can afford to do another at some point in the future.

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