Outlaw Triathlon

Nice socks

Another go at an iron distance triathlon after my first and last attempt at the Forestman back in 2011. The fact it had taken me six years to summon the energy to give it another go speaks volumes about how hard that day had been. Until recently I had harbored thoughts of going under 11 hours, but as the months had progressed towards the Outlaw I had spent more and more time in the saddle and less time running and swimming. My focus for this race, quite simply was to enjoy it and come away having had a good experience, as I felt that this would be my last go.

I had forgotten how much kit and preparation doing a triathlon takes, but Simon and I enjoyed the buzz of the day before, mooching around the expo and eating lots of carbs before the rain came.

Swim

The Outlaw swim is as easy at it gets, at least in terms of sighting. Quite simply, one mile up the rowing lake in a straight line, a 200 metre leg across the top and then swim in a straight line back. I love a mass swim start; you can literally feel the energy in the water as everyone sets out, finding their own space. Simon and I seeded ourselves at the back of the second pen and that seemed ok as we had clear water for the first 300 meters, but then the swimmers for the other two pens to our right came across and there was a couple of minutes of breaststroke and  biff before it settled down again. I swam the entire leg on my own as I couldn't find any feet swimming straight, so gave up. I exited the water in 1:15:xx which was pretty much what I expected.

T1

 Saw Simon in transition, he had exited just 6 seconds before me. Lots of vaseline on my feet. I wore my one piece tri suit but put my favourite cycle shorts over them for extra cushioning and I wore compression socks for the first time. The weather forecast was for rain later in the bike so I wore my Kask helmet but without the visor. 7.5 minutes.

Bike

So this was going to be my strongest discipline but the plan was to bike really steadily to at least give my legs a chance to run afterwards, so the plan was to sit on 20mph which should give me a 5:35 ish bike split. Basically, that's exactly what happened and I ended up rolling back into Holme Pierrpoint in 5:38:xx. I really, really enjoyed it, but the first 40 miles were hard for a very different reason as basically everyone went past me and it took a lot for me to keep my effort reined in. Simon had mounted his bike at exactly the same time as me and he was off like a scalded rabbit and I was not to see him again for another 7 hours. From about 40 miles I started to steadily overtake other riders and as the miles went on I overtook a lot of people, many of them who I had seen go past me a couple of hours earlier. (I checked the results splits and in the end I moved up over 170 places).

As well as keeping to my planned easy pace, I was also conscious of ensuring that I was eating and I had a bit of an epiphany with this. I like simple, so I formed a simple plan. I filled up my top tube bag with 800 calories' worth of food, mainly crisps, jelly babies, crackers and snickers bars, so all I had to do was keep chomping on the items in there for the first 4 hours which would be my 200 calories per hour and then for the last hour and a half I would switch to High5 energy drink, so that I would not be consuming solid food immediately before starting the run. It worked a treat, although I would have liked more savory food. The crisps and crackers soon turned to dust and I was trying to scoop the remnants out although they coated the jelly babies well enough, so I had a ready made sweet and savory mix.

The big thing that time trialling has taught me has been to keep aero and I stayed on the bars pretty much the whole way. When the wind got up later in the morning there were a lot of riders on very expensive tt bikes sitting bolt upright in the wind, gaining no benefit from their machines at all, which just seemed completely daft. The course is very flat although there are a few very gentle rises over bridges and the like, but every time the road went up I put my chain onto the small chainring and increased my cadence. I really did try to defend my quads at every opportunity and I had no qualms about it. The last few miles I took it easy over the rough road back into Holme Pierrepont and started to mentally gather myself for the next 26 miles.

T2
Jelly legs getting off the bike, socks off, vaseline on my feet, socks and trainers back on. 7.5 mins

Run
I am used to that feeling of feeling great for the first few hindred metres of a triathlon run when ones legs haven't quite worked out what they are now doing and feel all light before the run muscles start to protest. Again, this happened, but weirdly, they didn't protest for another 13 miles. I set off feeling pretty fantastic actually, and by the time my Garmin found a satellite about 90 seconds later I was running 7:30 miles which was way too fast yet felt completely effortless. I had the common sense to immediately throw out the anchor but 8:15 miles felt about right, although still considerably faster than my 9 minute miles that I was expecting. So the plan was walk the aid stations and keep feeding little and often and just wait for the wheels to fall off and then do as little walking as I could manage. The first half felt really good and I kept to 8:15-30 miles depending on the spacing of the feed stations. When I gor to halfway and collected my second band the gantry clock was on 9:01, so amazingly a sub 11 finish was still quite comfortably on, but I could feel my legs and in particular my quads tightening. I was really chuffed that I had done everything right on the bike and I had started the run feeling very fresh, but ultimately I did not have the run conditioning in my legs to keep the pace going as cramp and muscular fatigue set in.

About half way around the second loop at 16 miles by Trent Bridge I caught Simon and this coincided with my first really bad spell. I took some coke on board and my stomach didn't like it, so I had a bit of a power walk while it settled, then started running again. As my quads tightened it just got harder and harder to get going as my legs were really painful before I settled into my shuffle, but I felt better as I was heading back to the lake and the final two laps of it. At 20 miles I had my worst part and I was in my biggest hole mentally. Everything hurt now and it was all I could do to keep my shuffle going between aid stations and I had to stop for a pee break and I tried to gather myself for the last 10km. I think by this stage it was getting a bit hotter and maybe I overheated, but I was feeling quite shaky, but a few handfuls of crisps, coke and electrolyte drink seemed to sort me out. Back to the shuffling.

As is the way with these things, I managed to pick up the pace a bit towards the end and even managed to finish with a 9:30 min mile. The finishing chute was very welcome and I stopped the clock at 11:28:09, a whole hour  less than the Forestman. Much more importantly than that, I had a real blast.

Taper time

So the Outlaw's at the end of this week, and I have finally got that big event feeling of excitement and anticipation. Up until now, the thought of doing a long course tri again has left me feeling a bit 'meh'. Even two weeks ago, I was talking to Suzie, a clubmate from Phoenix as she was feeling the same, although she was tackling Ironman UK in Bolton. It was as she was preparing for that event and I was following a few threads on Tritalk with many first timers excitedly building up to it that I started to feel something too. Then realisation hit; I had not done an open water swim since August 2014 when I did the Alpe d' Huez tri. Yikes; so over the last few weeks I have been down to Shepperton Lake to get a feel for open water again and see if I could get around 3.8km. Last Saturday I met up with Simon and we did 3.2km, so near as damn it, and while not fast, it was pretty comfortable and brought a smile to my face, although my sighting and swim lines were woeful.

So Sunday was spent fairly glued to the laptop, tracking those people I knew at Bolton, in particular Suzie. She had a blinding swim and bike and actually dismounted as second in her age group and therefore in a Kona slot, but she had a torrid time on the run and her lack of run training came back to bite her. 5:15 for the run when I think she did 4:30 last year. A few of the Tritalk guys had similar stories; feeling great on the bike and then hitting a brick wall on the run. I know this feeling all too well from the Forestman and while an IM marathon will never be easy, I am hoping that I can run off the bike. Is that likely though?

So here's the thing; I am probably in the best shape of my life on the bike. I am considerably faster now than I was six years ago ans I have consistently put in some big miles, including 4 century rides and many more over 60. I should, in theory, be able to get off the bike and have fresher legs than I have ever had before, if I pace it right. I could go out and smash it and probably be around the 5 hour mark and yes, this would be monumentally stupid. My last long ride at the weekend was 85 miles in just over 4 hours and I felt really good afterwards. This would be a 5:15 bike but that would still be far too fast. 5:30 pace would be a good target to aim for and hopefully leave me something in my legs.

I would love to run a 4 hour marathon off the bike but with so little running, this is unlikely. A 4:30 marathon would be more likely, but to be honest, it will be what it will be. Ultimately, my run will be dictated by the first 50 miles of my bike. So my mantra for Sunday will be 'Bike slow / run fast (ish)'

The best news is that the forecast weather looks almost ideal with 19 degrees and scattered cloud; compared to the 30 degrees at the Forestman, this is Utopian. If any of my 6 readers can be bothered, I'm number 887 and there's a tracker. It might make Sunday afternoon more entertaining.

Sub 11

My intention, when I entered the Outlaw Triathlon was to get under 11 hours and even up until a few weeks ago that seemed quite possible.  I am now looking at reevaluating my goals as just to finish. My cycling is fine. I know that I will be able to cruise around the 112 miles and knock out a fairly comfortable time around the 5:15-5:30 mark and that would normally stand me in good stead for a sub 11 time. More importantly I think I've managed to put the miles in for that type of time to be relatively comfortable and at a low rpe.  Once again, the issue is my running.  After aggravating my Achilles four weeks ago, it has not really gone away. I've been able to do some gentle 5 mile runs a couple of times a week, but anything more than this and I can feel my Achilles tightening again.  I am still hopeful that I will be able to get a few long runs of around 15-18 miles banked, but I will not have the run conditioning that I think I will need. My mindset has therefore changed, and changed for the better.  It's going to be a long training day and I intend to just enjoy it, stay relaxed and not worry about the clock. As I said last post, it's only a hobby.

In the meantime, I still have some things to get ready for.  This weekend is a family one so no training at all to speak of, but the weekend after next is the SCCU 50 TT. The plan is to ride there and back which should give me a good 100 ish miles. The SCCU course is quite hard with lots of junctions and climbs; not a sporting course but most definitely not a drag strip either.  Then the weekend after that it's the Newbury 12 hour TT.  I didn't realise that it was effectively the same course as the Charlotteville 50 that I rode a couple of weeks ago, except just lots more of it! There's a rumble strip section which I think is going to drive me insane by the end.  Both these events will give me the chance to practice eating and drinking on the bike and getting my nutrition right.  Happy days.

It wouldn't be triathlon training....

without an injury.

I tweaked my left Achilles last Sunday (not an official physiotherapy term, but one that we can all relate to and understand) last Sunday when I ran with Simon and Dale. It was fine at the time but was quite sore afterwards. The route we ran was considerably hillier than I have been used to recently and the additional stress ended up with the tweak. I left it a couple of days and it seemed fine so I ran home from work on Wednesday. It's a fairly flat 7 miles and with hindsight I should have taken the shorter route to test it out, but the need to get some run volume has been playing on my mind so I went for the longer option. With a couple of miles to go it was quite sore and I plodded on, again ignoring common sense and not walking. It's now settled down to a very mild ache and I have started to do my heel drops and calf stretching which I should have started weeks ago. I have been a good boy and been doing some core work though; the dirty dog, scorpion twist and plank are all back in my regular vernacular.

Cycling is going well with another couple of TR sessions in the week, a recovery 20 miles on Friday followed by 85 miles yesterday, riding out to Windsor and back with a bit of a loop around Surrey, avoiding the hills bar the climb up to Newlands. That's three 80+ mile rides this month so I think my aerobic endurance is hopefully growing along with my ftp. All this has been on the road bike so I am going to start to practice my pacing and nutrition on the TT bike over the coming weeks, starting with a 50m tt next weekend, if I make the start sheet.

I'm 12 weeks out from the Outlaw, so as long as I can get running again soon then I should still be on track. But, as usual, it's probably going to be a bit of a close run thing.

We go again

It was exactly  this time last year that I started to focus on being a better cyclist by focussing on turbo sessions and using trainerroad. Then, My first ftp test was 205 watts. Last night I tested myself again before starting on the sweetspot base programs and I have a ftp of 256 watts. This was really pleasing and quite a surprise as I have spent the month kicking back and not done any turbo work at all. Somehow my ftp has jumped from 233 to this new figure and I think there are a few things at play here.

 Firstly, temperature. All summer I have been slogging away in the shed when it has been at least 20 degree outside and I have not used any form of artificial cooling whereas last night it was barely above zero. It seems that I was dropping more watts than I thought in an effort to keep cool. I thought it might be a few but am surprised that it was almost 20. Secondly, freshness. My one criticism with Trainerroad programs is that they are quite intense and can leave my legs feeling dead when I need to do another tough session. I think the month's break while doing a little bit of exercise to tick over has actually left me feeling a lot fresher. Lastly, I am more practised at taking and pacing an ftp test which leads to a more accurate result. Anyway, it's all good and great for me to start the base phase with a pretty healthy ftp number.

I became a parkrun tourist for the first time last weekend. We had a weekend break in Weymouth so I decided to go along to the the Parkrun there in Lodmoor Country Park. I managed to squeak into the top 10 with a 19:16 but the weekend before I had achieved a Parkrun PB at Bushy Park and got under 19 for the first time with 18:55. Over the next few months I am going to tick over and try to incorporate some intervals and see if I can get down to a low 18, before starting to build a bit more endurance and try to remain injury free.

I'm still reeling a little bit from entering the Outlaw but I am excited about the challenge. I am going to race a bit less next year, particularly tting, but will focus on key events over the year to build towards the Outlaw triathlon at the end of July. I still feel there's a lot I can do to bring down my 10 and 25 times while my 50 and 100m tt times are still there for the taking and with another winter of focussed work I knw that I can have another good season.

Not sure how that happened...

I've gone and entered the Outlaw Triathlon next year. One minute I'm merely looking at the website and the next I have a congratulatory e-mail confirming my entry. I genuinely don't know what came over me but I'm quite excited. My basic plan is this:

Bike; lots, especially on trainerroad.
Run; a bit. Keep ticking over, enjoying PArkrun and think about some longer miles in March.
Swim; meh. That's cheating.

Fulfilling the prophecy

If you think to yourself  "I'm going to capsize" the chances are that you will. As I pushed away from the jetty early yesterday morning that was all that I was thinking to myself. I had gone early in the hope that I would be on my own because the day before I had had a bad time in the Ranger, capsizing twice and not settling down at all. So to turn up at the Royal and see Tim Brabants, the current K1 1000m metre Olympic Champion going through his paces was a tad off putting. The contrast between an athlete absolutely at the top of his game and me was particularly stark, especially when I decided to show him how well I could roll a boat and end up upside down in the water, sucking goose poo through my teeth like a blue whale eats plankton. I was not sure that he had seen how well I could capsize so I decided to do it again some 5 metres later. Boy, I was on fire. I've got this capsize thing absolutely nailed.

So last week I paddled 5 times, which for me is an all time record in consistency. That fact that I got consistently worse as the week progressed is vexing. I'm trying to get a handle on what I am doing wrong. It maybe core strength but I actually think that's one thing that I've got a lot of. I think that I have to get my legs cycling more and use my hips while keeping them relaxed. It might be that I have to increase my leg drive in order to become more stable because I'm too tense which means that a roll to one side is not conteracted with a fluid roll to the other. I don't know. Mybe it's just a lot more time in the boat is required.

In other good news, Simon did the Outlaw Triathlon yesterday and took an hour off of his time from the Forestman last year, coming home in 11:15hrs. A great performance and I am convinced that if he sticks together a solid block of training he can get down to sub 10:30. I hope that at some time in the near future I can join him.