First TT of the season

Last Sunday was the first chance for me to see how the winter training has gone. I went into it feeling pretty upbeat as I had  recently pushed out a new ftp highest value on TrainerRoad, and I had also dropped 4kgs. The event was the Kingston Wheelers’ Sporting 14. A two lap event that took in the Hungry Hill road just outside Ripley. It’s a steady, long drag rather than a hill and a felt that I should be able to power myself up and over it fairly well and with Simon starting 2 minutes behind me I thought that I should be able to keep him at bay fairly easily. Factoring in the last time I did this event a couple of years ago and the improvements that I have made since then, I thought a long 35 should be manageable.

I didn’t work out that way. I ended up riding 37:57, a long way from what I thought I would do. I can’t really explain it. I did have some mechanical issues with my shifting not working properly, but other than that I was just a lot slower than I should have been. Simon is probably a good 7-8 kgs lighter than me so I would have expected him to take some time out of me up the climbs, but when he overtook me halfway through the second lap, he kept pulling away from me on the downhills too. I just wasn’t generating the power tha5bi had been in training and it was very frustrating. Oh well, it’s only a hobby and it’s a very long season, so plenty of time to get my legs fired up again.

In other news, Mrs Wheezy and I have joined a gym. While I have been regularly bashing out 8-10 hours a week, Mrs Wheezy has been holding down a career and doing the vast majority of the childcare while I have been out riding my bike with my mates. We thought it was time that she had the opportunity for some health and fitness stuff and as our children are older and can look after themselves for a few hours,  joining a gym and doing a few things together seemed like a good idea.  So far, it’s been great. A 25m pool that’s usually deserted and has a lot less chlorine than other pools; watt bikes for me to do some interval sessions on, and some very funky treadmills, which hopefully will mean I can get back into some gentle running. Mrs Wheezy loves the pool and the cross trainers  so it mean we can do a few bits together, which is a bonus. It almost means that I’m a triathlete again.

Another pb

Another Kingston Phoenix 10 mile tt last night and my third tt pb within a month. I guess that I must be doing something right. 24:49,  so still quite a way from the sub 24 that I want, but I am getting there. The G10/42 course is quite rolling with a couple of the climbs at the end being the points where I have blown-up badly. Last night I felt a lot stronger on the climbs and I was able to maintain the tt position rather than having to get out of the saddle. I did have a problem early-on when I dropped the chain onto the small chainring and couldn't shift back and I had to brake for a car on the last roundabout, so there still might be some free time to take off yet. A pb's always a good thing, whatever.

By chance, a guest rider from another club turned up on an Argon 18 E-80 so I was able to look at it close-up and he even let me have a short spin on it. It was lush. I want one. I want one now.

2 up time trial

A warm and calm evening greeted us on Wednesday for the Phoenix 2 up tt, with me partnering Russell. The two of us are normally within 10-15 seconds of each other when doing a solo 10 so we seemed to be a good match, although we are very different. Russell is a good deal taller and bigger than I am and pushes a much larger gear, while I am more of a spinner. We decided to take turns of about a minute or more, rather than the much quicker turnover usually recommended. The less amount of swinging out into the traffic on the A24 we could do, the better.

I took the first turn and felt a bit guilty as I swung out about a third of the way up the first significant rise on the G42/10 course (no need to thank me Russell). Russell then took a really long turn on the front after that before handing back to me as we approached the turn at Beare Green. A nice rest for me as I tucked into Russ' slipstream, even having to dab the brakes now and again to avoid touching his back wheel. We crossed the line together in a time of 23:42, which is a good 40 seconds or so faster than my solo pb. It felt quite fartlekky, with a really hard effort followed by a good rest, just coasting. All good fun.

Buying some time

With it being half term I have been able to get out most days for a ride or a run. Running is hard work at the moment as I am carrying a few extra pounds and I just feel generally sluggish but I'm just aiming to get out 3 times per week at the moment. On Thursday I bimbled round Oxshott and Malden Rushett for an hour and by the end I was shuffling with a little more style.

To be fair, I had battered myself to bits the night before at the latest Phoenix 10 mile time trial and I had cycled over to the start and back giving me a solid 35 miles. I was wearing a tt helmet for the first time and that, combined with newly laid tarmac replacing the Somme-esque lumps and bumps that used to be on that section of the A24 gave me a quite respectable 25:13. The most remarkable thing about wearing a tt lid, other than the fact I look a complete twonk, is how hot my ears got. I still need to work on getting more aero on the bike (hard to do on one designed for sportive riding) so maybe as few cockpit tweaks might help me get a few more seconds. I paced it pretty well, feeling good until 7 miles but the penultimate hill at 9 miles always catches me out. I just never seem to hit it right and slowed far too much. Friday saw me head out for another 45 miles with Simon. He was taking it easy as he's got the Outlaw Half IM tomorrow; I was in bits just trying to keep up.

Ultimately, I just need to ride my bike a lot more and drop this weight so with that in mind and the thought of Embrunman I am going to make a concerted effort to start getting my long Sunday ride going again. Tomorrow's a 5.30am start to fit it in. I had forgotten what they were like.

Still here

For the past six weeks I have consistently run five times per week as part of my #Jantastic running and my build to the London marathon. Last year it all ended at approximately five weeks when my foot flared up with  a vengeance and at times it has seemed that my old legs might let me down again, but this time it's been my hamstrings and lower back which have been wound tight. However, last week, a funny thing happened . The aches went away. I was disconcerted, sure in the knowledge that my muscles were due to tear themselves to bits, but they didn't. I had my best week's running in a very, very long time. I can only put it down to my body adapting somewhat to the training stress at last.

An interval session, a 9 mile tempo run and a few easy 5 milers were capped off with a 19 mile run on Saturday morning. Up at 6am and on the pavement by 6.15 I  was expecting my legs to be tight and sore again, not liking the early start, but instead of the awkward hobble-shuffle I was pretty fluid from the off. Running to an easy rpe I took it steady for 15 miles and then picked it up over the last 4, mainly because that was what I had planned to do but also because if I didn't get to the loo pdq then I was going to have a lot of explaining to do. :-/   I covered those last 4 miles at around 7.05 pace which was good, but the real positive from it and the 18 miles I had run the previous weekend was not a hint of me running out of fuel. Yes, I was tired but not the king of tiredness you get from glycogen depletion. It looks like the speedwork and threshold work is really paying dividends on my long run. :-)

It was the Kingston Phoenix Awards Dinner on Saturday night. I was given a couple of gongs for some handicap wins last year while Simon didn't have enough arms for the amount of trophies that he won. It dawned on me I have not turned a pedal in anger in 6 weeks *embarrassed face*. I've got a duathlon to do next week. Maybe I should think about dusting off the Van Nic.

The best and worst of cycling

What with life proving hectic again, training has been commuting. This week just gone, I ended up cycling to work 4 days out of 5 and I have been finding that I have been tiring myself out because of it. I find I slip into the habit of battering myself at every opportunity when probably I need to take it easy, but towards the end of this week I was forced to slow down. Sheer weight of traffic made it almost impossible to attack any Strava segments so I settled for spining home instead. I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing a nasty motorbike accident on the way to work on Thursday. The rider was being attended to but looked in a bad way and it was a sobering experience. I pride myself on the fact that I am a defensive rider; I don't take stupid risks. No Strava segment is worth a trip to A & E. It just felt pretty dangerous out there. The next day, only a few hundered metres from where I had seen the accident the day before, there was another motorcyclist lying in the road after hitting a van. It genuinely shook me up. I really enjoy commuting on my bike but at some times the risk:reward balance seems rather imbalanced. :-(

The good news is that the regular cycling that I've been doing over the last few months has begun to pay off, despite it being fairly low in quality. This morning was the last tt of the season, the Consolation 25. Apparently, the handicap is closely guarded but the handicapper goes around asking, 'Have you won anything this season?' and those who answer 'no' stand a much better chance in the handicap prize. :-)Anyway, after warming up by spinning the 10 miles from Simon's house I was off at 9am. I planned to rein it in for the first part as I was unsure of what my endurance would be like, but I was hoping to keep Simon at bay for at least the first half, as he would be starting 2 minutes after me. The first few miles on the A24 went fine, catching my minute man, then it was a hard left turn onto the A29 Ockley Road. It was along here that I had detonated quite spectacularly in my first 10 this year but this time I felt much better; normal even.

It was at the end of the A29 after about 14 miles in that I didn't know the route, so after overtaking Ray (almost 80; legend) I then had to stop for 30 seconds to see which way to go. At the next roundabout Simon caught me and we joined a short section of dual carriageway. Knowing that it was the last stretch I put my head down and overtook him, only for him to come back at me. It was great fun and while I was feeling extended I was also feeling strong and thought I could take a significant lump of the 2 minutes back that he had put into me if I could work really hard. It was then that the route incorporates a couple of miles of significantly more lumpy hills and I had to work really hard to keep Simon in touch but gradually he  pulled away and by the time we hit the last few miles on the A24 again, he was some 200 metres ahead. Simon's always been stronger on hills than me but generally I have been stronger on rolling road and I managed to slowly reel him in towards the finish but the line came too quickly and he was still some 10 seconds ahead when we reached the finish. I celebrated by honking my breakfast up as Simon looked on. The perfect Sunday morning.

I am very pleased with it though. I was pretty strong over the the entire event and to bring Simon back in the last mile was a massive confidence boost. It's just a shame that the season's now over.

So, what to do next?

On and off track

Training got back on track last week and was then promptly derailled. I've been sticking to my 3 bikes, a swim and a paddle, and particularly on the bike I was starting to feel a little like my old self. This was confirmed on wednesday night when I cycled down to Dorking for another Kingston Phoenix evening 10. My first two 10s of the year had been dire but Wednesday was a float night and I ended up with a long 25, which in the circumstances I was really pleased with. Simon was starting off, 30 seconds behind me so although I knew that he would overtake me at some point I was hoping to hold him off until the turn at Beare Greene. With 150 metres to go to the roundabout he went past;  if I'd had a stick to put through his front wheel I would have used it; the joys of friendly rivalry. ;-)  He didn't pull out too much ahead initially but there are a couple of slightly sharper hills at about 8 miles and he put some more distance between us. I finished strongly and felt that I had paced it well overall. The ride to the start and back home gave me a useful 30 mile training ride and I had a good gawp at the BMC, Rabobank and USA team vans that I saw at the Burford Bridge Hotel at the bottom of Box Hill on the way back. I just need to keep my power moving up and my weight moving down; simples.

I was derailled later that evening when a nice snotty cold developed. I was able to go for a very gentle swim on Thursday, just doing some easy drills and technique work but I had to scrub my scheduled rides over the weekend. I feel a bit better today so will aim to do an easy hour this evening and see how I go.

That meant that on saturday and sunday we were able to catch the Olympic cycle road races. With Simon's family we headed to the A24 in Leatherhead, a familiar part of my cycling routes and watched the first 4 laps of the men's race, before my 2 started fighting with their foam hands. It's amazing how children can turn almost anything into weaponry.

big crowds on the A24

Chalking up some support for Cav and the boys

Show us those hands.

 It was a great atmosphere up there and I sincerely hope it helps to change people's attitudes towards cycling and cyclists. Only time will tell regarding the legacy of that one but by no means was it all hardcore cycling fans cheering the team on. After watching TeamGB drag the rest of the peloton around for 5 laps  we walked back to Simon's house for a barbie and to watch the rest of the race on the tv. It was so strange watching so many familiar places on there as they raced back to London. "Oh look, I lived there." "Oh look, mum and dad got married in that church." "Oh look, I worked in that building." And so it went on.... I blogged last time about how exotic previous Olympic venues had looked, however I have to say that Surrey looked absolutely stunning on the tv.

The next day, after doing my fair share of man jobs, we bundled into the car as the ladies race came off of Box Hill and drove down to Hampton Court Way to see them head back into London.  While there had been lots of attacks there had been no significant breaks and it was really exciting to see Lizzie Armitstead in the breakaway some 20 minutes later and they were working well together to make it count. As soon as the peloton had gone we were back in the car to watch the finish at home with a cup of tea and watch her get GB's first medal f the Games. WAY. TOO. COOL.  It was a most civilised way of watching the Olympics. Shame about the weather, but hey, it is Britain afterall.



The best news for me is that next week is my first appointment with the muscular skeletal clinic to start investigating my foot injury properly. I sincerely hope that I may be given the green light to start doing some gentle running and to finally find out what's going on in there. At the weekend I also have to learn how to pddle an open canoe. That could be rather interesting.

An interesting evening on the A24

Another 10 mile tt on the G10/42 course. I knew that I would be slow but I also knew that I needed to do some faster cycling and a 10 mile tt is a perfect way of flooding your muscles with lactic acid. It took me over an hour to get there due to a tree coming down and a motorist going off the road so the start was delayed. I did a quick warm up which tok in about 200 metres of the A24, which this course runs on only to hear an enormous bang. Looked around and there was a beehive box bouncing along the road next to me, which had somehow fallen out of a trailer as the car towing it went past. Missed me by inches. It got my heart rate up at any rate.

After my last tt which saw me put in a personal worst performance I decided to not go out as hard as I usually do as I simply do not have the stamina, endurance or lactic threshold to hit it that hard. After 3 miles we went through the most enormos cloudburst, complete with  thunder and lightning; it wasn't exactly a float night and I got really cold as a result. Felt a bit better on the way home and though I was passed by a couple of Kingston Wheelers I was catching the second one up as I went up the final climb. I think I did a mid 27, so my worst time on that course and my second worst time ever. But there were two positives. My times are moving in the right direction and I had fun, which is why I do it.

Tales from Teddington lock

DW 2010 - At Teddigton Lock

I was flicking through my old photos on the computer the other day and came across this one. It was taken at Teddington in the 2010 DW race and the funny thing is I remember very little about being there. I do remember the fact that I had spent the proceeding 30 minutes in tears, gently sobbing in the back of the boat sitting in a pool of my own wee, barely able to lift the paddle shaft above the cockpit. It was not a good place to be. As hard as that was and as low as I got it was still infinitely better to be there and ready to go into London than not there at all. For Adam and I, it is all about Teddington. Whether we catch the tide in the morning or have to wait until the afternoon then as long as we get there then we'll be ok.

Having to wait those few hours for the afternoon tide, should that be necessary, will however bring its own problems. Being members of the Royal which is only a stone's throw from Teddington Lock means that we've got a nice comfortable base in which we can refuel, change and get our heads down for a couple of hours in the warmth until we are let through onto the tidal section. If any members of the Royal are reading this and you see two people that look and smell like tramps lying down in the clubhouse on April 7th, then please do not be alarmed. It's just us. But then, after all our muscles and joints have nicely seized up, tendons have had time to get inflamed after the nurofen's worn off and blisters popped we'll have to get back in the boat and then paddle the tidal Thames in the middle of the afternoon on Easter Sunday, when every boat and everyone and their mother will be out on the river. We are reconciled  to the very real possibility that we may have to do that but we'll be doing our best to ensure that we catch the morning tide, even if that means squeaking through at 8 o' clock. We've got to know the area around the lock very well, with us pounding up and down the Kingston straight and the fact that we are both former Teddington School schoolboys also makes this quite a home from home for us.

On Friday night we headed out from the Royal. We were both clattered after a long day at work so we decided to do a DW paced effort. We paddled down to the lock first which we now use as a short warm up to get settled before we turn back to head up to Hampton Court. As we made our way down to Teddington there was a small group of boats moored on the bank. In front of them was a small speedboat and as we got within 5 metres of it we saw that there was someone in it and they suddenly gunned the engines causing an enormous wash that broke over the front of the kayak sending water into my cockpit. it was obviously done completely on purpose with the intention of capsizing us. We rode it out fine but we were screaming our heads off at him, only to then see another 2 speedboats waiting on the bankside with another 2 morons in them. What kind of dick would think that it's fun to try to capsize a kayak in the dark? They were gunning around well above the speed limit for this section of the Thames without any lights visible!!  Frickin' unbelievable.

We turned across the river and had a great paddle up to Hampton and back and as we got back to the clubhouse we saw one the boats right in the middle of the river. He saw us and started waving a light, not at us, which was the queue for the other 2 speedboats to come through at high speed causing another huge wave. Unfortunately this time we were beam on with a lot of reflection waves coming off of the hard bank from the sailing club next to the Royal, so we were really bounced around this time, but again we stayed upright pretty comfortably. I sincerely wish those 3 blokes a slow and lingering death. I am still wondering whether we should report it to the Police.

In other news......

I went with Mrs Wheezy to the Kingston Phoenix Annual Dinner and Awards evening last night and had a fab time. Had a few cheeky beers and got a couple of medals for some handicap places which was nice and I won a Phoenix mug in the raffle. Today I ran the Nonsuch Park 10k as one of Simon's relatives couldn't run it, so I had his number. As usual, I went out too fast and by halfway I was blowing hard, but I held on to take 4th place and just missed out on ducking under 40 minutes. Next time.......

Trials and Tribulations

After the 100 mile bike at the weekend I spent the early part of the week suffering for it with my body finding it hard to cope with the training stress. In the last 4 weeks I had only had 2 days off and this had rather caught up with me as I was not recovering enough. So I took a rest day on Monday with Tuesday being a bike to work with my longer route taken home, spinning gently up Boxhill to try to flush out my legs ready for a swim set in the evening to determine my critical swim speed. After a steady warm up I did the 400m effort in 6.34 but I had paced it badly, going through 200 in 3.12. After more steady swimming I then did the follow up 200tt and was really struggling, finishing that in 3.24, well down on pace. Putting those numbers into the Swimsmooth calculator that gave a 100m pace of 1.35/100 which I knew wasn't right and after some helpful advice from Tritalk I readjusted it to 1.41, which I know was more likely. Apparently, the CSS maths doesn't work if the 200 is slower than the 200 splits of the 400tt.

The next day I tried a gentle run at lunchtime and I got through it but it was a real struggle and I could tell that I was not firing on all cylinders. Everything ached, my calves were really sore again and I just felt generally beat up. So, the perfect opportunity to go out and batter myself at the Phoenix evening 10 on the G10/42 TT course then? Doh.... I probably should have knocked it on the head but hey, it's only 10 miles. ;-) Within the first 30 seconds I knew it was going to be ugly. As you join the A24 there's a very small rise and normally I can get my head down and pull up it in a relatively large gear (for me) but straight away I found myself snicking down through the gears with my legs burning brightly. uuugh. I actually had a better second half, I presume because I had warmed up a bit but I was not surprised to see a new, slowest time in what were not too bad conditions (27.12).

Last night I got back into the pool and did a 3km swim as;
10x100 as 25 full stroke, 25 finger drag, 25 full stroke, 25 catch up.
10x100 on 2 minutes at css pace (1.39, 40,40,41,40,40,40,40,42,42,) really tough but just about held it together.
1000m straight focusing on body roll and catch.
I felt much better and refreshed and hopefully over my 48 hour dip.

A busy few days are planned. A bike commute home tonight then tomorrow I need to fit in a 50 miler, preferably with a run off. Sunday I'm aiming to get to a lake to do a long swim in the wettie and then on Monday Simon and I are heading off to recce the Forestman bike and run course, so hopefully that will be another 100 miles with a 10 mile or so run off.

Replies
Cheers Hodge. I am very much just looking to get round, learn from the experience and then build on it. My aim is to work towards having a go at another IM next year but I will want to really do it justice and achieve a time. I know what I would like to aim for (not saying publicly though  ;-) but I will need to be consistent , which, unfortunately, is my weakness. Having said that, I've learnt a lot in the last 6 weeks and feel that I CAN do it. Also means that the DW will need a bit of a rethink. I just don't think it's possible to do both well. Oh, and I STILL want to do a sub 5 half IM; that's probably the thing that I will be working on over the rest of the season.