ITU Long Course Race Analysis

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lord_lordy

Just back from Lorient France where yesterday I raced in the ITU World Long Course Championships (click here for race report). I did far better than I expected going into the race coming 7th in my age group and 2nd Brit in my age group home. I managed sub 2 hours for a 80km bike ride and 1.20 for 20k run. The bike is awesome … feels like a real milestone. But overall it’s rather disappointing. It’s hindsight that make it so. Looking at the results I was in 2nd place heading out on the run only 30 seconds behind the leader at that point. The eventual winner passed me in the first lap and beat me by 5 minutes having gone 6 minutes quicker on the run. I look at the 1.20 split that I did and think about how I’d read somewhere that every ½ stone in weight was 10 minutes on your marathon time. A few years back I kind of proved this by bettering my marathon time by 10 minutes one year later and 7lbs lighter ! Anyway – a couple of years ago I was racing at 155lbs but going into this I was high 170s … I was definitely a stone over race weight – I have no doubts that’s 5 -10 minutes on that run. My sister even said I looked heavy on the run and my running was strong but laboured. I feel I should have been on the podium. Slightly less gutting is letting the GB guy go by me in the last KM. I stuck with him for 100m or so but when he upped the pace I just let him go. I didn’t know we were the top two Brits and certainly had no idea we were in the top 10. So when he pushed the pace I just thought – I’m not that bothered about this race and he’s clearly keen to be one place higher so I let him go. If I’d known it was a pass for 6th and first brit he would have had a fight on his hands. This is minor though – if I’d arrived here in shape he’d not have got close to me.

I’m hoping this is gonna be the kick up the backside I need. It’s satisfying that I still am in very good shape but I know how much better shape I could be in if I could just get my nutrition under the same control as my training.

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ITU Long Course, Lorient 2007

Posted on July 15, 2007 by lord_lordy

4:09:53 7th in Age Group (35-39)
0:44:30 – 3 km swim
0:03:00 – T1
1:59:39 – 80 km bike
0:02:05 – T2
1:20:38 – 20 km run

Race Analysis here

Having still not mustered enough motivation to get  a decent block of training done in the 3 weeks since Ironman Switzerland I arrived at this race in a relaxed mood and almost felt a little bit of a fraud having done no specific preparation for this. Having said this I knew I was swimming well, the last bike I’d done was 104 miles in 5.75 hours and the few runs I’d done had been at a good pace and I felt strong. I knew I was carrying between 14 and 20 lbs of weight into this. A flat bike meant I wouldn’t feel this till the run so my aim was strong swim and bike followed by an ‘effort’ on the run. Ie push hard, make it hurt and measure the performance on how hard I work rather than the time.

I also took the opportunity to try some new things out with regard to pre race. For this race I didn’t eat anything before the race. On the bike I had 500ml of carbo drink and some gels in my pocket (just in case) which, in the end, I didn’t use.

In the moments before the swim start I felt a little hungry but felt in great shape to race – it felt like skipping breakfast had worked. The start was hanging off a pontoon. I was in the first, and by far the largest wave, and there was hardly enough room for everyone to hang on. The initial minutes of this race were gonna be hectic to say the least.

BANG ! Not disappointed – it has hell, nah ! not hell it was fun … I’m learning to enjoy this but it was rough. I went all out … I tell you the sports psychologist has worked with this part of my race. I just redlined from the out and was not gonna stop till I had decent clear water. I had people grabbing my lower leg, swimming straight over my legs but I could see I was in the lead line and had a little clear water to my right with all the argie bargie to my left. I drifted over till I was up next to the swimmers off to my right. Still working hard, having to breath every two strokes and my lungs bursting. I was well up the field and after about 5 minutes had enough space to ease down to my steady state pace for the swim. From there on it was great – didn’t managed to get feet to draft but was able to swim at the pace I wanted. At the end of the first lap we had to run up a ramp onto the pontoon and then back in – I managed a running dive and discovered the joys of water rushing down the neck of your wetsuit. the slight break from swimming made the next 100m or so feel great. Another steady lap and exited in 44 minutes plus some seconds.

Raced to my bike and out. No dramas.

Round the first corner someone shouted I was 7th brit. Our wave was 20 – 39 but I’d only noticed 2 or 3 bikes near me gone … so I must be high up in the brits of my age. I was looking forward to this – good fast rolling course. It was awesome – I was seeing over 25 mph most of the time I looked at my computer until I hit the first speed bump and it stopped working. To use a phrase from the “Ginger Bullet” I felt like a god on the bike. I flick up a gear and still be able to spin it. I was motoring by people. Headed past a GB guy who’d run me down at Dambuster last year – afterwards he said I’d gone by him like he was stood still. This is such good fun – the work this winter has turned my bike splits around. Until this season it was a massive weakness, now it feels like a weapon and is my strongest discipline. It feels good – there’s something about powering by someone when you’re down and dirty on the tri bars. I was now just thinking “push push push’ – I needed to get a cushion for the run. Onto the second lap and I still felt so strong. I worked as hard as I could dreaming of the sub 2 hour bike split for 80km. Into T2 1:59:39 !!!!!

Unbeknown to me I was now in 2nd place in my age group a mere 30 seconds behind the leader. I headed out onto the run determined to push. Jane said that this was the only time she could notice I was carrying alot of extra weight and though I was running strongly compared to most she said I looked laboured – she was not wrong, I felt strong but I felt heavy of foot. A french guy came by me on the first lap  – it turns out he went on to win beating me by 5 minutes with a run split 6 minutes quicker than me. I kept pushing and felt I was running well… it was certainly hurting. The run course had taken everyone by surprise with 5 decent climbs every lap (3 laps). I think it suited me in the shape I was in as it gave variety and lots to focus on. Drive up the hills, relax and let the brakes off down the hills. With about a km to go a GB guy came buy me…. I stuck on his shoulder for about 100m and then he pushed the pace – I didn’t stick with him. I crossed the line having done just over 1.20 for 20km. Not bad given my shape to do more or less back to back 40min 10k but still a long way off the 36 min 10k pace I was managing last year in Olympic tris.

In Transition afterwards the guy that had come buy me told me he’d got a text saying he was in 6th and I was in 7th. I was chuffed to bits !

Now… with hindsight. I’m a little bit gutted

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Surreal Morning

Posted on July 12, 2007 by lord_lordy

My motivation has been massively up and down recently and I’ve certainly not felt in control of what I’m doing in my preparations. This has left me in pretty poor condition for the World Long Course Championships this weekend. Luckily it’s not a key race and with it been a funny distance I’m sure I’ll be able to take positives out of it whatever the outcome. Nothing too fancy in my approach – get in amongst it on the swim, aim for a fast bike and then focus on pushing the whole run whatever pace that turns out to be.

Given this lack of motivation I was feeling relatively good this morning following two tempo runs yesterday – 9 miles in morning in 64 minutes and 9 miles at lunchtime in 63 minutes – I was up this morning at 3.40am. I was in Regents Park on my P3 by 4.05am but unfortunately I wasn’t moving but had the bike upside down trying to locate the source of the creak and the wheel rub. In the dawn light I realised that the little bolt in the horizontal drop out on the drive side was bent. This is used to position the wheel correctly. No idea how it got bent but it was severe enough that I couldn’t remove it. I gentle rode home and took a look at it on the bike stand – no way to get it out. By about 5.45am Jo was up and ready to go so I joined her on my fixed and salvaged something of the morning. I took the bike into the local bike shop and he managed to remove it and find another bolt. We both agreed that the wheel must have slipped and bent the screw,

Thinking back this explains the creaking on the bike from the start of the second lap at Switzerland. The wheel must have slipped and started to bend the bolt. This morning was the first ride on it since then and the wheel was rubbing. Could this explain the drop off in my bike splits. It would certainly make sense, as I was rather surprised to not get under 5 hours on that course. We’ll never know. But good news is the P3 is up and running for this weekend.

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Training Tweaks

Posted on July 4, 2007 by lord_lordy

Following Ironman Switzerland I’ve had a decent rest – in 10 days only done a few days of light training. Now getting back in to it and focussing on Kona. Need a big block of training and a big reduction in weight ! That is perhaps a topic for another entry but this one I’m focussing on adjustments to my training. Somewhere, sometime I read that getting success often reinforces bad training habits since u just want to repeat what worked even though something different may have got a better result. This  has been something that’s concerned me for a while. I certainly suffer from continuing with what seems to have worked. For me this is ever more volume. To a point this gets improvement in results but continuing this almost certainly guarantees over training at some point.

So how does this translate into my next block of training

SWIM

Target is to attend all the club coached sessions. This means 3 x 90 minute sessions a week which will always include a long main set at decent pace. Together with this a single long steady swim on Mondays. This should translate into about 20k a week which is quite abit less in volume than what I was regularly doing through the winter

BIKE

This is the area I’ve seen most improvements and there is more to come. I’ve not read much that suggests getting the miles in isn’t what’s required. Thus I will continue with my long rides each week. The main tweak will be to include some interval work in one of the sessions. Thus the aim in my basic week will be 100 milers each of Sat, Sun and Tues. Sat and Sun would just be steady, if cycling with someone just stick with their pace, tea stops etc… Tues will be on the TT bike and will include some race pace intervals down and dirty on the Tri Bars. Thursday morning will be tempo riding on the fixed. On the build weeks I will up the mileage aiming for a double century or two before Kona

RUN

This is where I feel I need most tweaks. I think I succumbed to just plodding out the miles. It felt that last year it worked – a 3.07 marathon at the Longest Day being the high point. Since then my speed has decreased: 3:18 IM Florida, 3.20 IM Lanza, 3:24 IM Switzerland. I need to reverse this trend. Speaking to a friend that managed a 3 hours marathon at IM Switzerland I think brick sessions are missing. Also – compared to Longest Day I raced heavy at all of the above – losing pounds will definitely help. As for training my plan is to run post each of my 3 long rides. The idea is to get into the habit of running my 6.5 mile loop after each ride. I plan to re-instate the Wednesday morning run I was doing with Jo over the winter. The aim being to do some tempo running. Lunchtime runs will no longer be just go how I feel but will aim to increase the pace and have 5-10minutes tempo towards the end. Also plan to try and build up a long run on Mondays. Key with this will be to be aware of how my legs are feeling and avoiding getting injured.

Now just need to execute on this plan for the next couple of months !

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Planning 2008

Posted on July 3, 2007 by lord_lordy

When you race Ironman you end up having to plan so far ahead since the races fill up so quickly. This meant I spent from 2pm till 3pm yesterday afternoon online periodically hitting refresh on my browser till I finally got through to the online entry for Ironman Germany. This means I’ve already entered a race for the 6th July 2008 !! In fact my key races next year are already mapped out:

1st March – Ironman New Zealand

6th July – Ironman Germany

Early September – Ironman Wisonsin (assuming manage to get a place this september)

Mid October – Ironman Hawaii (assuming I qualify in New Zealand or Germany)

Is this ridiculous or what!

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Ironman Switzerland Race Review

Posted on June 28, 2007 by lord_lordy

Training has started again for me post Ironman Switzerland. This morning we did 18 miles on the fixed round Regents Park – really just an excuse to go for breakfast. Gabriel joined us and asked about Ironman Switzerland as well as discussing his plans / hopes for Ironman Austria in a couple of weeks. At lunchtime did a brisk 6.5miles – felt none too bad. Not a huge amount of training but it’s a start. Following the weekend feeling motivated to get back into and get all back on track for Kona.

        It’s funny I would describe Ironman Switzerland as my worst Ironman performance but it’s my fastest Ironman™ time. I didn’t have a bad race, in fact I would say that my performance on the day was good and I got as good a time as was achievable at that time. The disappointment is that following Ironman Lanzarote I really feel I should have been in a position to get close to 9 hours but the weeks since that race have not gone anywhere near according to plan. The main problem was my upset tummy (either from food poisoning or an infection) which troubled me during weeks 2 and 3 of the 5 week block. This certainly contributed to my lack of motivation to run. Only 52 miles of running in 5 weeks is not ideal preparation for an Ironman. If I’m honest the run went better than I’d feared. I didn’t really struggle till the final lap when it became a serious struggle.

        The swim was up to scratch and the bike was close. I faded on the last lap of the bike which I think was my own fault. I think I got complacent because it felt I was flying as I was passing so many people but of course these people were a lap behind. The run time wasn’t as I’d hope but the effort was. I certainly pushed harder and more consistently than in Lanzarote and my current leg ache certainly reminds me of this fact. This is great – if I can apply that mental focus when I’m in good running shape I will fly on the run.

        What difference 5 weeks can make. In Lanzarote a colleague from work beat me by 4 minutes. In Switzerland like in Lanzarote we finished the bike within minutes of each other. This weekend he went on to run a 3 hour marathon compared to my 3.24. He ended with a 9 hour time compared to my 9.24. This gives me serious motivation. Sub 9 hours is really not some unrealistic dream.

        Now the focus is on Kona with the small matter of the ITU Long Course in a couple of weeks. Key pointers for my training is muscular endurance work on the run and get my nutrition on track.

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Ironman Swizterland, Zurich 2007

Posted on June 23, 2007 by lord_lordy

9:24:44 – 42nd overall, 11th in Age group

54:07 / 1:18 / 5:03:43 / 1:17 / 3:24:19 (sw / t1 / bike / t2 / run)

Long Report

Going into this race I felt confident about my swimming and biking but the run was a real step into the unknown. The 5 weeks since Lanzarote had not really gone according to plan. My bike training had gone well, swimming was less than planned but had been of good quality but running had been close to non existent. I’d only managed 52 miles in total and really didn’t know what impact this would have. On top of this I’d had 2 weeks suffering from (I suspect) food poisoning and had a niggly calf which my physio sorted out with a couple of sessions of acupuncture.

With this in mind I did my final preparations for the race. Focussed on good swim and bike and then try and push on the run. I’d seen a sports psychologist a couple of weeks after Lanzarote and we discussed lots of things and came up with a few things to focus on in this race. Since it wasn’t an important race it was a great opportunity to try stuff out. The three things were:

1- Get in the thick of it in the swim and try and get some good feet to follow

2- Push on the run, try to keep focussed, don’t let the effort slip

3- In order to make 2 realistic it was important to get a good bike split

I checked out the swim course the day before to decide where I would  start and spent some time lazing by the lake meditating and visualizing the race.

I slept well the night before the race and had a good pre race breakfast. I have to be careful not to eat too much before the race and feel perhaps I over did it a little this time. 3 bananas mashed with more or less a whole jar of peanut butter.  We got to transition early and checked the bikes were ok, then headed off to the race start to try and relax a little bit.

Rather than place myself right to one side of the start this time I put myself in the middle. It was easier than i thought, so perhaps the sports psychologist really helped. I’d heard this swim start could be very rough  so I visualized the first few hundred metres. I saw myself swimming strong and keeping on pushing till I had clear water. I saw myself in amongst other swimmers, people going over my feet and arms interlocking. I was up for it, I was excited. BRING IT ON

BANG ! We’re off, my immediate reaction is not as quick as the guys either side or me. They have half a body length on me. I peg it down the beach. Spot the space between them and dive into it. They’re half a length up, I push hard, I’m level. 50m in I’m getting away. 100m in I’m ahead of them. 200m in I’ve got clear water and swimming like a dream. Bilateral breathing to check out how I’m doing. No one either side. Dream start. Over to the right I can see some swimmers level and just ahead of me. I slowly angle across to them. The focus is now find some feet. I mesh in with the swimmers to the right, still going strong. There’s about 10-20m of clear water between me and a small group of swimmers drafting each other. “there’re the feet I want’  decide it will be worth bridging the gap. I push hard. Into oxygen debt, pushing hard, making ground. Before the turn buoy I have the feet and I’m sitting pretty. This is where I sat for the the next 3km or so ! Every so often they pushed hard to try and break those drafting. The people on my feet eventually got dropped but each time I matched the push and stayed on the feet. Once or twice someone came along side and tried to muscle me off the feet I was following. I was having none of it and gave more than I got  “persuading” each person that tried that they’d be better off sitting back on my feet rather than trying to push in.

My best swim, I was working hard to stay on the feet and got round in 54 minutes. Dreamville.

Ran into transition … wetsuit off no problems. This is going unbelievably well. 1.18 and I’m out on the bike.

This is the bit I’d been looking forward to. If anything had gone well since Lanzarote it was the bike. I’d managed some of the best quality cycling I’d ever done. Couple of hard days at the tour of Wessex, two double century rides and a final tempo ride where I covered 109 miles in 6 hours. I felt massively confident to push hard on the bike. Coming down the side of lake Zurich I was cranking along at over 26 mph, by the start of the first climb of The Beast my average speed was over 24 mph and it was definitely game on. There was lots of clear road but also cyclists in view to pace off. Coming down off the Beast I hit 50.8 mph and was beaming. Back round the lake and up Heartbreak Hill. Oh my god ! This alone made the race worthwhile. It was like Alp D’huez in the Tour. The road was all chalked up. The crowds filled the road and parted just enough to let you through. I couldn’t help put click up a gear and get out of the saddle. Rattles, whistles, drums shouts – amazing. I felt choked up. I was beaming and the crowd responded. At the top my mum was there cheering – it just capped it off. I felt like a million dollars ;o)

First lap completed in 1.37 – GAME on big time. At this pace I’d be heading into the run in under 6 hours ! Second time around the lake was harder. No more of this 26mph malarky more like 25mph this time and it felt harder. Concentrate on pushing (keep it real as Ali G would say). Now I was in amongst the  lead ladies and on the ascent of The Beast I saw the lead change in the ladies race. Now there were also back markers to pick off. Second lap completed in 1.41. Pace had slowed but if I could maintain that I would still get the sub 5 bike split. Third time round and there’s alot more cyclists now on their earlier laps. This is a double edged sword – it’s good cause it gives you people to pass but bad cause it can give a false sense of your speed. ie you feel you are going fast enough since u are passing people but unfortunately the people you are passing aren’t the people u should be using to assess whether you are maintaining a competitive pace. On the beast this time I had to work hard. Just before Heartbreak hill Laurent Jalabert finally caught me. Final lap 1.45. My pace had  dropped further to give a 5.03 bike split. Slightly disappointing.

Into T2. Lovely fast dismount, spotted my racking spot immediately, patiently got socks and shoes on to ensure no rubbing of the laces. Out in 1.17 which meant I was starting the run in 6 hours. So just crank out a sub 3 hour run for a cracking time or just a sub 3.15 for a PB.

3.15 is totally achievable and something I’ve done before in Ironman. Unfortunately the lack of preparation meant I didn’t really believe I could do it. Coming off the bike I wasn’t looking forward to the run and really felt I would have to see just how it went. Felt terrible for the first couple of miles but then managed to focus and forced myself to push. My pace upped and I started to feel better. I felt I was running strongly through the first 3 laps. I passed Chris on my 2nd lap and we had a quick chat. I told him I was suffering and it was almost like that got it off my chest. I felt better and started runnning strongly. Coming into the 4th lap I felt I was on to at  least match my Lanza run split (which I would have been chuffed with). At the start of that lap you had to climb this ramp and pop! my pace just plummeted – it felt I was almost doing an Ironman shuffle. At least I had over an hour to complete it and get under 9h30. The whole lap was real up and down. Every so often I summoned the mental strength to push and the pace increased then I’d lose focus and it would drop. This kept going on. I counted down the KM. At 10km to go 10km seemed like a marathon but 6km sounded like nothing. At 6km  to go, 6km felt like a marathon and 4km sounded like nothing. At 4km to go … u get the impression. Even when I only had 1.5km to go it felt like miles and miles. I pushed. Some random cockney shouted “Go London” in the final stretch and I picked up the pace. Sub 9.30 in the bag. Turning into the finish straight – awesome. This is what it’s all about. The euphoria of finishing an Ironman is amazing, totally addictive. Looking up at the clock I realised I was getting sub 9.25. Managed a 3.24 marathon to give me my M-Dot PB of 9:24:44

So pleased with my race execution – I feel I got the best time I could on the day.

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Ironman Switzerland Race Preview

Posted on June 18, 2007 by lord_lordy

I’m finally feeling better. Heart rate has come right down, had a couple of massages and even done the odd run. Total run mileage since IM Lanzarote – 52m. Weekly average run mileage for the year 55.5m. That should give a clear indication of how little running I’ve done recently. In 4.5 weeks I managed less than my average per week to this point!

My swimming and biking are going great though. On the swimming front I’ve maintained my swimming – not done the big yardage I was doing through April, that will return after this weekend. I have been doing quality club sessions though. I am happily knocking out 100s in 1.20 and just under which is getting there. When that’s down to 1.15s I’ll be happy.

Cycling has gone as planned since Lanzarote. I’ve had a couple of weeks of over 500 miles but more importantly quite a few key sessions. The Tour of Wessex gave me some hard riding. I’ve managed two double century rides. On Saturday I went out and did a tempo 100 miler – managed 109 miles in 6 hours which included one stop after 3.30 for some food. Then yesterday Jo and I got out on the TT bikes and managed 60 miles in 3.20. During the ride I had several race pace bursts … well even above race pace – several extended periods of 25 mph – felt great.

But running …. Jeez it’s an unknown. Prior to Ironman Lanza I was confident in my running but now I have no idea. This combined with pretty poor nutrition of late which means I’m carrying a few extra pounds means I feel like I’m rather stepping into the unknown. Fully expecting a strong swim/ bike and to be heading into the run on course for a good time. At that point I just don’t know what will happen. I think my biggest worry is I’ll end by feeling I’ve blown a chance for a great time. My positive thinking is that both of the last two seasons I’ve had a period of low running (later in the summer in the past) and following that I’ve run well. So I’m rather banking on that.

Luckily this race isn’t of any real importance and perhaps if I experience my first bad Ironman race it will be for the best and kick my arse into gear for the summer where I need to train HARD for Kona.

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Hinsight

Posted on June 12, 2007 by lord_lordy

It’s a great thing hindsight. Each day in my training diary I track my weight, body fat %, amount of sleep and resting HR. The idea of this is to give me an indication if I’m overtraining or under the weather and should ease off. All the evidence can be staring you in the face but you don’t notice it. For the past couple of weeks I’ve started to get really worried about my lack of motivation and feeling lethargic. I’ve hardly done any running (two one hour runs) since Lanzarote and this was starting to become quite a concern. My resting HR has regularly been in the high 50s / low 60s (which is 20 bmp above the norm) despite less training and loads of sleep. Did I think “you must be ill” ? did I hell till today when I woke at 4am, resting HR 40 and jumped out of bed keen as mustard to get on the bike.

Clearly I’ve been ill.

Today was awesome – felt on top of the world. Lovely day so I made the most of it. Met john at 8am at Box Hill –  I’d got 50 miles done by the time I met him. We then did a great ride nipping into Hampshire at one point. It included a morning coffee stop, a lunch stop and an afternoon tea stop. I finished with my normal loop home getting back at 8pm having covered 201 miles !! Well chuffed. Last long ride before Switzerland. Now the hope is that tomorrow I feel motivated for a lunchtime run !!

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Goals

Posted on June 7, 2007 by lord_lordy

    This time between Ironman Lanzarote and Ironman Switzerland is far from going to plan. The hope had been weeks rest, 2 weeks build, 2 week taper. Into the third week of that and it’s all been a little bit random. I’ve not managed much running at all with only a couple of genuine running sessions since Lanzarote. Biking is going well since I managed the tour of Wessex then this last weekend piled on the mileage and then on Tuesday managed a further 140 miles. Swimming hasn’t been big on volume but the quality has been good largely due to the extra coached swim session the club has now got. It means I’m doing 3 x 90 minute coached session. Once in the swing of things I will add at least one long steady swim session to get a consistent 20+k a week.

    Unfortunately there have been some niggles. To start with following the Tour of Wessex I got a tummy upset and even now more than 10 days later it’s not completely cleared. I tried starving it out yesterday which seems like it’s helped but may have to go see the doc about it. Not feeling ill but not ideal for the energy levels. Also my calf has tightened up after the weekends cycling. It start on Sunday but Monday was pretty easy and it felt great on Tuesday till about the last 10 miles when it really tightened up. I managed to see the Physio Wednesday morning – she did a load of massage and acupuncture and it seems to have helped alot. I’ve had this in the past and riding the fixed has helped which I did this morning and again it seems to have helped ease it off. Seeing the physio again Friday afternoon so hoping it will be cleared up enough not to interfere with the Weekends planned cycling. All this massively disrupts my routine and when I’m not my routine my nutrition goes to pot. I’ve had more than my fair share of bad eating days and the pounds I put on after Lanzarote on not coming off very easily. I’m concerned now that far from racing lighter in Zurich I could end up racing heavier.

    Does this mean I should re-assess my Switzerland goals – I don’t think so. Each of the past few seasons I’ve had a spell of a few weeks without running for various reasons and I seem to have performed well off the back of it so am staying positive. At the start of the year I stated some goals for my key races (this translates to pinning them on my bathroom mirror and attaching them to the inside of my wallet). For IM Lanzarote it was sub 10 hours and top 3 – so I managed this. For IM Switzerland it was sub 9.15 and top 3. That is still the goal.

    As for specific focus for this race… I’m in the lucky position of being able to try stuff out with this race since it ultimately isn’t important. A couple of things I’ve decided to do:

  1. Get in the thick of it in the swim start. This means I fully intend to position myself to try for the best line to the first buoy. This will mean getting in amongst the worst of the argie bargie but the aim is to find some fast feet and get a good time.
  2. On the run I’m going to push from the beginning. What does this mean? The plan is to go just a little faster than I think is possible. I.e. I hit the feeling I know I can maintain for the distance and take just a little bit more of that feeling. I need to find out whether I am successfully accessing my limits in the run or whether I need to push harder.

It could get messy! Whatever the outcome the idea is to learn something useful for Kona later in the year

    I saw a sports psychologist this afternoon and spent a very productive 2 hours with him. My initial reaction is excellent. I feel I came out with some very good insights and potential techniques for use in races and in my preparation. I need some time to mull stuff over and try things out but at the moment it seems like a very good exercise. He also made me think clearly about my goals not just for this season but also for the longer term within triathlon and longer term about life in general and how they link. Not ready to fully articulate here but suffice to say we discussed goals and ambitions that were there but I’d never been willing to say aloud to myself.

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