My own Spring Classic

Spring. The time for the hard men and women of cycling to show their mettle; hit the cobbles, tracks and puddles of Flanders and the low countries. One day, I really must go. Yesterday's ride was a somewhat more modest affair, but with copious amounts of rain, extremely deep puddles that came up over my overshoes and very greasy roads it was my own little Spring classic. A 35 mile route with the only real test being a haul up and over Crocknorth, trying to stop the rear tyre from slipping all over the road. Absolutely the best ride I've had in a while.

Puddles over my feet

The blues

I'm desperately trying to summon up some enthusiasm to train but it's proving hard. I'm definitely not firing on all cylinders which obviously doesn't help but even with that as an excuse/reason, I'm just not very good at the moment. I tried to kick-start some mojo by going out with Simon on Sunday around a lumpy and scenic route that we have ridden quite a bit in the past. It takes in a lot of short, steep climbs up Coldharbour, Holmbury Hill, Coombe Bottom and Crocknorth, and we normally finish with Boxhill. It is a very pretty route and normally this is enough to take my mind off any problems that I might be having but this time I just couldn't get into any form of rhythm when going uphill; constantly changing gear, my position on the bars and even stopping on a couple of occasions to remove or put on items of clothing, just as an excuse to stop. It was a solid 50 miles which normally would leave me with a happy glow, but I wheeled my bike into the garage when I got home and was glad to see the back of it.

The organiser of the SCCU Sporting 21 TT which I (barely) completed a couple of weeks back, was kind enough to send me a picture of my suffering. It made me realise that I need to lose some timber around my middle if I want to get a bit faster this season.



Suffering

A slight change of fortune

After a few weeks of very little training I was going to get firmly back on the horse last week only for me to pick up a sore throat and ear ache. Nothing major, I think mainly due to feeling run down and stressed out at work, so I took the decision to kick back and let itself sort itself out before doing anything major. Thankfully I was over the worst of it by the time Sunday came around as we had a long ride to Worthing and back scheduled. This was going to be my first long ride of the year (over 50 miles at any rate) and with my dire performances in the time trials so far this season I was a little apprehensive about how it would go. The idea was that Kingston Phoenix would have 2 groups setting off, one 15 minutes before the other, with the faster group starting second and then hopefully catching the slow group en route. There was a healthy number set out in the slow group but the fast group consisted of only Simon and I, so situation normal. It was a shame that there were not more with us but it gave us the opportunity to work hard. I ensured that I was really fuelled up and ate loads of carbs the night before and had an enormous bowl of porridge in the morning. I didn't want to bonk again like I had a few weeks before.

The weather was grim; cold rain for nearly the whole ride and a stiff headwind all the way out. So it was a simple task of working at a good tempo effort for as long as possible, sharing the work with Simon and getting some good quality dual carriageway miles in the bank. I was fully expecting my legs to go pop quite soon but after the last few weeks I was in a fairly belligerent mood and just thought, 'stuff it'. No point sitting up taking it easy when I've got a full tt season to do and the Alpe d' Huez to climb. Do your worst A24.

I loved every minute of it. It was one of those rides where everything just clicked and even the hard bits felt good.  We caught the other group at Dorking after they had stopped to pick up a few more riders and then pushed on by ourselves. Simon is in great form and where I was able to be glued behind his wheel coming home with a healthy tailwind and clipping along at an effortless 27-28 miles per hour was a real blast. I took my turns on the front and they were tough but being hunkered down on the drops trying to make myself as aero as possible, forcing myself to push a bigger gear was what I needed.

Maybe it was being back on my road bike? Maybe I just expected so little from the ride and any form of improvement would be a blessing? Maybe it was just a change of attitude? I don't know, but I enjoyed every hour of it (especially the coffee and chicken sandwich on the way home) and it has been a massive confidence boost. I did tire quite a bit in the last 10 miles and Simon skipped effortlessly away from me as we climbed up and over the hill outside Dorking, but with 70 miles done already and the first signs of real fatigue in my legs I was a happy chappy. 80 miles in total in just over 4 hours were numbers that at this stage I am very happy with. Onwards.

Owned

With the sun shining it was time to get the Argon out of the shed and get some tt miles under my belt, So Simon and I headed out early this morning to take in part of the 25 route that will be the first tt of the year, next week. This was the closest I was able to get to Simon all morning.


On the Mickelham Bends below Boxhill

I had absolutely nothing in the tank at all and it's just down to not getting enough volume done on the bike, so the first few time trials of the season are going to smart a bit. Simon was looking pretty bombproof again, making it all look so easy. I'll be playing catch up again this season.


It was great being on the Argon though; the downhills were a lot of fun. A couple of hours with 36 miles on the clock including a stop for a bulging tyre. Very odd.

Running continues to progress with my legs feeling strong. Still not doing any speedwork and just concentrating on solid, easy miles.

Another tumble

On Thursday morning I spun over to Simon's house to get in a couple of steady hours on the bike but I just wasn't feeling the bike love and I guess the dire weather I was cycling into was giving me the heebeegeebees. I just knew it was going to go wrong; and it did. As we went through Leatherhead one way system I completely got a tight right hand turn wrong, taking the wrong line and going slightly too fast on the damp road. I clipped the curb and found myself on my back dumped on the pavement taking a hearty whack on the bonce and a nice line of gravel rash all down my left hand side. I felt pretty shaky but Simon went and got his car and gave me a lift home where I was able to lick my wounds. Thankfully no lasting damage done and the Van Nic was ok except for a few scrapes on the qr skewers.

We tried again on Sunday and got in a solid 3 hours with a climb of Whitedown and Boxhill at the end in much better conditions and no major reaction from the crash. I'm definitely not feeling as powerful on the bike as in recent months. It all just seems like quite hard work again when only 6 weeks ago or so it all felt so good and easy.

Some really good news is that I got three runs in last week. My Achilles is still letting me know it's there but I feel pretty good when running. Not fast but plodding comfortably, which I will take for the time being.

School's out

I have spent the last week sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee, watching Le Tour, doing a bit of diy and doing a bit of training. And the sun has been shining while all that's been going on, so at the moment it's all pretty good.

Monday was a scheduled rest day but I had already arranged to go for a ride with Lee as he was doing one of his last long rides before IMUK and he fancied seeing the Surrey lanes and climbing Boxhill. Coach Cox was ok with that, so Monday was a lumpy 91 miles in 6 hours. Lee had the disadvantage of having done his last long 3 hour run the day before, so the heat and the hills began to take their toll on him towards the end, but he looked really strong for most of the day and I'm sure that he'll have a great time in three weeks. I have to say that I felt pretty good too even though I had done the Kingston to Worthing time trial the day before, a 45 mile point to point race and apprently the only one on its kind left. It's pretty much a blat down the A24 which is an honest, rolling course. I was last man off and had a good ride and worked my way through most of the field in front of me. The only fly in the ointment was losing my bearings in the last 2 miles.

On Worthing Pier

I thought that I had gone off when in fact I had not and another club member, Jake went past as I was stopped checking my position. My delay cost me second place overall and I was once again, just over 2 minutes behind Simon although I was pleased to be one of three riders to duck under 2 hours. Overall, very pleased. We ended up having a picnic on the beach with the kids who had come down too and went onto the pier to play the penny arcades. Lots of fun.

Running's still hard and achy. Russell has got me doing some longer intervals at the moment and a weekly long run. I don't know if the heat's having more effect than I had realised but it's just not fluid yet and feels quite laboured.  Swimming is still a bit of comedy splashing about and trying to remember to count the correct number of lengths which I am finding quite hard to do at the moment. One of the problems of a mamil I guess. :-/ Tomorrow I am attempting a couple of laps of Heron lake with Simon before he heads off to do the Alpe d' Huez Triathlon next week. If I can do a lap without being dragged out by the safety boat then I'll be doing well.

100 miles.....

Well, almost. 98 actually and over 2 rides on Sunday and this evening. Basically the same hilly route taking in Combe Bottom (gyick gsnerk) and Crocknorth with a Boxhill aperitif. Sunday's ride was on smashed legs attempting to dodge the millions of people who were also out at 6.30am. What IS wrong with these people? Happy that I managed to burn a couple of them off my back wheel. Went out on the same loop with a couple of mates from work. It was a lot slower but good fun, good weather and good company. Also managed to burn a couple more off my wheel on the way back home. Something's happening. I seem to be getting competitive again and it feels good.

I have a couple of ideas for blowing a stupid amount of cash on triathlon related nomenclature but I need to tell Mrs W when it's the right time. When she's asleep?

Onwards.

There are worse commutes in the world

Half way up Boxhill with the sun actually shining.

Starting to enjoy myself

In the last couple of weeks I have noticed a strange sensation beginning to stir that I have not felt for a good few months. It's the feeling of wanting to be out there, doing some focussed work and training. It's basically come about through training with friends and finding enjoyment in just being outdoors. The weather's been horrific as we all know, but when you're mostly in the Thames anyway after throwing yourself out of a K1, pouring rain hardly matters.

Allied to that I caught up with Simon at the weekend after his great performance in the Outlaw. I had been feeling pretty guilty as I was meant to have done the race with him and then when that was not going to happen I was meant to have helped him train for it, but my foot injury and my resulting slump had not seen that happen either. Simon had some really supportive words for me and spinning around Surrey on Sunday morning with him, despite the atrocious weather, has helped me to start to get back on track. A bit of perspective goes a long way.

My ambition to run a sub-3 marathon in the Spring still seems very remote however. Until I know what's wrong with my foot I am not going to run. I had another GP consultation and now I have at last been referred to a clinic that will hopefully diagnose what's going on. Touch wood, by the end of the summer. With nothing to train for I have to get some kind of structure to my week so I've decided on a few simple steps to get the ball rolling. Firstly, my long weekend bike ride. I have simply got out of the habit of  getting into the Surrey Hills and a 2 to 3 hour bike ride, hitting Crocknorth, Whitedown, Ranmoor Common and Boxhill will go a very long way towards getting me some fitness back. I fully admit that watching 'Le Tour' over the last week has rekindled the desire to get back on my bike and to ride purely for the sake of it rather than training for something. That can come later. Some commute rides or evening tempo rides will hopefully provide a bit of quality to the bike work. 2 rides minimum per week, but hopefully 3. Thursday night is going to become swim night. My favourite pool stays open until 10.30pm so there really is no excuse. I have delayed and then delayed some more getting back into the pool because I have not had a tri to train for, but mostly because I was not looking forward to starting entirely from scratch again and frankly feeling pretty rubbish. I went last Thursday for the first time since July last year and the first few hundred metres were very ouchy. But gradually things started to come back and before I knew it I had a smile on my face. 15 x 100m done mostly as drills (catch up, fists, finger drag) with some full stroke in between. As I left the pool I was kicking myself; why hadn't I done this sooner?

So, 2-3 rides per week, at least 1 swim (2 if time and Mrs Wheezy allow) and 1 paddle. That sounds doable.

Onwards.

The Ups and Downs of training

It's been a funny 10 days or so since my last post. Quite a bit happening in the background, decisions being made and them almost as quickly being unmade. Somebody on tritalk commented on my wisdom focussing on marathon training when I have a foot injury. I had thought that I would be able to get it sorted fairly quickly, i.e. 8 week's rest and then I'd be back on the marathon trail but this foot problem is going to take longer than that, methinks. I had to cancel the podiatrist appointment as I still could not run on it for them to examine me on their treadmill by the middle of last week, so I have arranged another GP's appointment to try to get a scan and a further referral to a podiatrist. Not surprisingly, nothing showed up on the x-ray. Anyway, enough about my foot. I'm bored of talking about it, so onto other things....

Simon's six weeks out from the Outlaw and 2 club mates of his had spare entries to the Wiggle Up and Down ride starting in Dorking. Simon was going to do the 96 mile Epic route and asked me to tag along. With very few miles under my belt I was a bit nervous about it but thought 'Why not?' and it would be a good way to kick start some work on the bike and burn a few calories. (despite not doing an Ironman this year I am still eating like I am). We cycled the couple of miles to the start from Simon's house and by doing the same at the end that would bring us up to a nice century ride. My lack of fitness showed quite drastically. despite the title of the ride I didn't think that it was too hilly, but the climb out of Dorking onto Ranmoor got my heart rate up nicely. I made a conscious decision to spin as much as possible and for the first 30 miles or so I felt pretty comfortable. The ride was quite quiet; I don't know if this was because it had been rescheduled from when it was cancelled the month earlier and people had not been able to start but the feed stops were really well stocked with a good range of carbs to munch on and lots of water and maxifuel to top up on.

My ride started to unravel after the stop at approximately halfway. As we peddled out, the slightest rise began to feel like a major hill and Simon would skip away effortlessly as I hunched down on the bars trying to get out of the increasing wind. The ride flattened out between about 60-85 miles and I clung to the back of Simon's wheel along the flats taking full advantage of the draft. My bingo wings really started to ache. The Van Nic was set up in tt mode and all I had done was take the tt bars off, forgetting to put the seat and Stem back to how I normally have it set up for road use. As a result my arms were aching quite a lot and I enjoyed resting my forearms on the bars as Simon towed me along to flats. Simon would wait for me at the top of the hills but I felt bad about him having to be so slow because of me and told him to go on but he said he was happy to wait which was really good of him. The icing on the cake was Whitedown. The only thing that kept me going was seeing 2 other riders had already stopped and I really didn't want to stop as well. It was horrible but I felt pretty chuffed with myself for having got myself over the top and then able to freewheel back into Dorking. That's the thing when you do stupid stuff like Ironman and the DW; you think you can do anything.

In other news.....

I've sold my trek. :-(  The bike that got me fit again and got me back into tri. It had to go due to upcoming major renovation work at Casa Wheezy. It was like selling one of my children.

I've bought a boat! A Kirton Ranger. At wobble factor 4 it might be a bit on the tippy side, but we'll just have to see. The slight problem is that it's in Scotland so a family jaunt seems likely.

Struggling again

Two sundays ago I finally got out onto my bike with Simon for the first time this year. It was not pretty but as I kept telling myself as I struggled around the Surrey hills for two hours, what could I expect? Whitedown was particularly brutal with the last kick at the top of the hill almost getting me to dismount. I have never dismounted to get up a hill and I didn't intend to start now but I did need to coast easily for the next 15 minutes and spin gently home as a result. last sunday I was out with Simon again. This time it was a little easier and longer at 3 hours with 75 kms on the clock.

In the middle of the week I had a couple of gentle runs and more importantly I started a strength and conditioning program that I am hoping will allow me to run without getting injured. How ironic then that the same programme has now left me with my left foot in tatters. The exercises and reps are designed to strengthen my hamstrings and calves as well as working on my core strength. One of the exercises was to do jump squats and I think that it may have been these that are now responsble for my foot once again being swollen. Frustrating is not the word. I am booked it to see a podiatrist next week which will hopefully start the process of getting rid of this injury once and for all, although I am certain that it's going to be a lot of work before I can run freely again. In the meantime it's RICE, stretching and nurofen.

Staying indoors

We were due to go out in the mystere last night when a blizzard came through (well, by Surrey standards anyway!) so we hit the kayak ergos for 45 minutes, a bit of core work and then a 25 minute run on the rec next to the club. it was my first run in three weeks.

Turbo this afternoon followed by a paddle tonight now that it's a bit warmer.

Happy holidays

I had an absolute blast yesterday. It's been a good few weeks since I have got out for a long ride and with the weather perking up a bit, the kids at school and me on holiday I found myself with a couple of hours to spare. I was a bit worried about it because I have only been doing my commute rides with a turbo session once per week doing some threshold intervals so I felt that I had probably lost some aerobic endurance over the last month. During my commute rides I have been working very hard as well, at a rough guess I would say that I try to go at slightly sub-olympic distance pace, so definitely not dawdling, but at only 20 minutes in duration it seemed that this would not really be enough to maintain my bike fitness. I was only planning to do 2 hours but I soon found myself enjoying the hills around Dorking, sprinting up  them and revelling in the quiet and, for once dry roads that allowed me to stay off the brakes on the descents. The only problem was that I suddenly found myself still on the wrong side of Dorking and I was meant to be at home in 40 minutes time so I ended up getting my head down and time trialling home. 3 hours on the watch :-) I had only taken water with me as I intend to limit my calorie intake during these rides in order to stop me relying on sports drinks to see me to the end of the session and promote fat burning. I was pleased that I felt pretty fresh and strong at the end despite the lack of bike volume.
Swimming is improving and becoming more regular (couldn't really have become any more irregular!) I did my first 400m tt in a very long time (6.39 :-/ plenty of room for improvement) and this morning I completed another 1 hour set at Hampton. I am purely focussing on the catch phase and stroke length at the moment, slowing everything down and extending my  stroke as much as possible without over-gliding. I am going to do one more 400m tt as part of the #winterswim program and see if I can duck under 6.30 in the next 2 weeks.
Running's been 4 x 30 minute runs last week and will be much the same this week. Can't see me doing any speedwork for quite a while.