Process Goals

New Year brings with it a flurry of resolutions, targets and goals. I have made the classic mistake of having a goal outcome for Ironman Switzerland which is time based. I might as well share that with you now, although I had blogged about it before and that's a sub 11 time. Sub 10 is seen as being the kind of gold standard for a good age-group athlete, with sub 11 being a more modest but yet tough goal for most of the rest of us. It's one of those things that once you have a goal like this in mind it's really difficult to un-think it, but that's what I'm trying to do.

What if it's a non-westsuit swim, like last year? What if it's 35 degrees? What if I get a mechanical? What if I'm injured in the run-up to the race? There are plenty of other scenarios which could conspire to make it very difficult or even impossible for me to attain this goal and what if I have an amazing race and end up finishing in 11:00:01, is that failure? If I use this rather arbitrary and subjective time goal, then probably yes. Does anyone else on the planet really care if I do 10:59:59 compared to 11:00:01? The only person this will make any difference to will be me, so really, why worry or even bother with a time goal? Why not just hit the process as well as possible and see what that leads to? So I've used this new year with its enforced new beginnings to refocus on my process and defining what success will mean in those terms, rather than a time some point in the future. So here are my process goals for the next six months;

1. Eat right. I've tipped the scales in the new year at 76.6kg, which, for me, is pretty heavy. I've got a few hilly time trials coming up, a couple of half marathons and then the big one, which has a couple of tasty hills in the bike course. Some weight loss will make all of this a lot easier and is genuine free speed. I'm like a labrador, in that I'm a very greedy, quick eater. I just eat, really quickly, so I'm often on my second plate of food before the first one has hardly hit my stomach, so I overeat and then feel really full and bloated. So my process goal here is to eat much more slowly, eat consciously, i.e. be aware of what I'm eating and don't have seconds. I've cut out crisps and other crap and I aim to eat a lot more fruit and vegetables. With my IM training this should help a few kilos come off, ideally down to around 72kg, which for me, is a healthy weight. I was also reminded of the need to eat right when I did a turbo session last week and had to bail after 15 minutes.

2. Change the time when I train. Wheezy Junior is taking his GCSE exams this summer and as a teacher, this is usually my really busy time too and I want to be around in the evenings to support Junior and do my own work. I have traditionally trained in the evening as I have warmed up and don't mind burning the midnight oil to get the sessions done, but for the foreseeable future this is going to be much more difficult. Therefore I need to move my training sessions to the mornings. This is going to be a really big change for me because I'm a night owl rather than an early bird and I'm going to have to go to bed earlier, ideally by 10pm at the latest. While my turbo has been set up in the shed, it's a really uninviting environment to train in, particularly on a very cold winter's morning. Instead I will be cycling straight to the gym and will do a pool session or get on the wattbike (I've found I can sync my Trainrerroad sessions to the wattbike so I can still use my TR account; result). this means that I will be training once a day and during the working week if I haven't got my session done in the morning, then it's very unlikely to get done. I feel a lot more happy with this, to keep the family wheels turning smoothly over the next few stressful months.

3. Be consistent. I'm nailing this one already, but my basic goal for consistency is 2 sessions per week in each discipline, ensuring that I get my long bike and long run in every week (although currently, my long run isn't very, err, long)

4. Be triathlon focused. I get bored and distracted really easily which means when I have a longer term goal, I can very quickly find myself doing things that are not going to help, so I will need to keep my eye on the prize. I have already broken this one a little bit by entering LWL and WCW, but as long as I treat them as fun days out to get plently of base miles then they will work. A casualty of this goal is going to be my club Sunday ride with KPRC. Over the last few months I've really enjoyed the companionship and banter of the Sunday group, but I'm going to need to do some really hard and long miles in the next 5 months if I am to pace the bike leg well and run even better at the end. That started yesterday with a 65 mile smashfest,  trying to keep Simon and Dale in sight as we hurtled down the A24 and back. Simon was on his beautiful Canyon Speedmax TT bike, cruising easily at 20mph, and Dale, well, he's just Dale, pumping out a stupid amount of watts almost effortlessly. I was turning myself inside out while my mudguards clattered against the Van Nic's frame, chewing my stem to get as aero as possible. I ended up doing 65 miles at around 18mph, so a very useful ride, but I think it's time to get the Argon out of the shed and start getting some proper TT miles under my belt.

Next year

As I write, I am 8 miles from having ridden 6000 miles this year; by some distance the most I have ever ridden. To the purists, the fact that a big chunk of this has been done on the turbo may be a problem, but I'm pretty chuffed with having done this. I just need to tick off those 8 miles, or a few more within the next six days.  Also as I write, I have a streaming head cold, which is my first for quite a while. Just in time for Christmas; magic! So maybe a bit more miles next year would be good. 7000 miles would mean 135 miles per week. Which just means one slightly extended commute each week. I reckon I can do that.

Next season is starting to take a bit of shape.  My aim is to mix it up a little bit more. The Kingston Wheelers Audax series will give me some long distance events to focus on as a practice for qualifying for Paris-Brest-Paris in 2019, but I'm going to have a little dabble with some closed circuit road racing.  To be honest, I feel like I will be far too long in the tooth for it but there are some training days next month which I have booked up for which are compulsory for novices and 4th cat. riders to race in the local cycle league. If nothing else, it will give me some VO2 max workouts which will be useful sessions for the shorter time trials. I am either going to really enjoy it or really hate it. We shall see.  The other target that would be awesome is a sub 4 hour 100. I'm not sure that I've got it in me but maybe on a good course on a good day I might be able to get close.

Kingston Phoenix stuff has kept me very busy lately. Trying to ensure that we have a club run out every Sunday has been hard work. I have always been used to meeting Simon and getting a ride done by 10am, but the needs of the club has meant a later start.  It's been good to ride in a group and we are putting together a great little training group, which we hope will help to encourage new riders and develop the club.  That said, I do miss the solitude of riding sometimes, just being on my own or with one or two close friends, chewing the cudd, talking arse and taking in the scenery.


I'm also promoting my first Open time trial at the end of the season which is quite a large responsibility as we are using it to raise money for charity in light of the deaths of three of my club mates. I want to make sure that I do it right.

A change of heart

The fact I have not blogged for a month tells its own story in that this month has been a relaxed and lovely time with very little training. After the Outlaw I started some regular, easy running  only to get injured a couple of weeks ago. At the time it just seemed like a gentle Achilles strain but it soon got quite bad, not helped by the fact that we were doing a lot of camping and walking so I never really rested it properly. I cycled gently into work last week and it even hurt doing that, so I just put my bikes away and forgot about cycling and training for a while.

This two weeks though has given me a lot of headspace about what to do and how I want to do it. Another Ironman? Sub 53 for 25? Sub 1:55 for 50miles? Sub 4 hours for 100 miles? All good goals and all achievable with a lot of work. The thing is, my cycling has been all about one performance goal after another and all the training that they require, and somewhere along the way cycling has turned into an increasingly joyless affair, with me being more concerned about power outputs and CdA coefficients rather than the landscape I'm cycling through and the sheer enjoyment of turning a set of cranks.

As part of my time trialling targets I have been seeking out faster and faster courses, and this usually requires dual carriageways, with a net downhill, and fairly high traffic flow to push one along.  Not the nicest environment to be cycling on and an increasingly dangerous one. Two months ago, a club mate and friend was killed on the F11/10 course after being struck by a vehicle. It made the National news and our club is still in mourning.  A few weeks before, during my 50 TT where I set my pb, I had my closest ever pass by a van that left me shaken for some time after and in the same event a rider who finished only 20 seconds after me was hospitalised for a week after being hit by a car as he crossed the finish line. I guess you could say that I have lost my bottle, but the more I put myself in harms way, the more likely some idiot is going to hit me and at the moment, that's not a risk I am prepared to take. It's not a case of not time trialling any more, but I do intend to be a bit more selective as to what and when I ride a TT. I want my time trialling to be fun again rather than the feeling of being in some arms race, where I have to find the fastest courses, most areo helmet, buy the latest TT frame just to keep up.  I am just an average MAMIL after all and no one really cares if I I knock 30 seconds off my 10 mile time. Increasingly, I am becoming less bothered too and as I get older I'm going to have to put in significantly more work just to stay still.

So I want to change the way I ride and why I ride and I think I have found it.

 Audax.

 What on Earth is Audax? Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure.  It's described as something between touring and a time trial; a kind of long distance touring ride event with time requirements in order to get to the control points by a designated time.  They are usually fairly long with 100, 200, 300, 400 and even 600km events. The fact is that they are on more picturesque, quiet, hilly routes and they seem a bit more sociable. Not that the people I have met and competed in in time triallling are not sociable, just that when actually riding it. time  trialling is by its very nature an individual experience.

Every four years the premiere event in the international audax calendar takes place, the Paris-Brest-Paris audax and the next one is in two years' time. It's 1200kms long, which in anyone's book is a very long way. That's quite hard.  The other hard bit is that to qualify to ride it by ridding a 200, 300, 400 and 600km event in the run up to PBP. So a big goal but one I can do at a more sedate and sociable pace. The drawbacks? It seems that the most essential bit of kit an audax rider needs is a beard and I have always found one quite difficult to grow. Still, I've got a two year head start..

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.

Lack of volume.

I have had a really frustrating week as I have been ill again. I've been feeling very run down and supremely tired along with a gobful  of mouth ulcers.  Life has been very busy and while I have not exactly been burning the candle at both ends, I have been struggling to get enough sleep and combined with general life stress has been a bad combination nation. So this week has been a very low volume one and pretty much this weekend has been a weekend off rather than the two tts that I was entered for. Hopefully this rest break will give my immune system a chance to get a boost ready for a good block of hard training.

Race wise, I've entered the Cahlotteville 50 in May which could be a good opportunity to go under 5 hours for this distance. It's a pretty fast course so that could be a distinct possibility. I'm also thinking about the Newbury 12 hour which is quite early season and will help me get some big endurance miles before The Outlaw. I also need to do 100tt to get a BBAR qualifying time and this year the National 100 is the local Hounslow event. I'm not sure that my current best time will get me a start but I will ping off an entry and see.

Moving on

This year has been, well, meh.

The good has been completing some new events. My first 100 mile tt, my first 12 hour tt, my first go on a track. All that was good fun and has to some extent, made this season worth while. Other than that however, it has all been decidedly average. My speed on a bike has not actually moved forward at all this year with a paltry 4 second improvement over 10 miles and no improvement at all over 25 and 50.  As usual, not enough consistency with a smattering of bad preparation and bad luck has meant that what I have done has kept the status quo.

But, I now feel really good about next year. My recent switch to using Trainerroad with a KK road machine turbo has completely transformed my approach. I have spent the last 7 weeks following the Trainerroad medium volume  sweetspot base plan, hitting most sessions and enjoying them. I do most of my sessions quite late in the evening, after kids have gone to bed and I've watched The Apprentice or Bake-off with Mrs Wheezy, but with most of the Monday to Friday sessions only being an hour long (90 minutes max) I am usually done and dusted by 11pm.

 I have already started to see some improvement, with a small increase in my ftp after 6 weeks (205 up to 212watts), but a big improvement in my pedaling efficiency. When I started on TR I was 'mashing' the pedals at 65-70rpm, whereas now, spinning over at 85-90rpm feels much more normal and comfortable, working all the quadrants of the pedal stroke rather than just the downstroke.

I am just finding it really motivating having structured sessions, with a good mix of steady Z1-2, sweetspot and threshold work and I don't mind it being turbo based at all. It gives me a good excuse to catch up on a few podcasts or a new album or two, while generating the most enormous puddle of sweat. While my face is hardly rising like a rocket, it is moving in the right direction and bearing in mind that this phase is mainly about achieving an aerobic base and not focussing on ftp, I'm a happy man.

So next year, is all about the bike. No running, swimming or triathlon. I would rather be average at one sport than truly mediocre at three. The big goal next year is a sub 60 25 mile to, but I intend to be well under it rather than a 59:59. I'm going to target some fast courses in a bid to get this done rather than the relatively slow ones I have been riding the last couple of years. My other main goal is to move up in the British Best All Round table (BBAR). It takes your average speed and distance over 25, 50, 100 and 12 hr tts. I was 90th this year with a 21.2 mph average, despite an awful 50 mile time posted just after my op, so I should be able to move up and get a 22mph average which will also get me a certificate. (We all like certificates) 😄

So there it is. Just need to keep spinning those pedals this winter.

2015

I suppose that I should look back at the year and write a load of posts about the mileage and time that I have spent training, but I can't be bothered. :-)

The last 8 weeks have seen very little going on with my training and hence the lack of blog posts. I've been doing a couple of runs a week but nothing structured and cycling has been even more random and sporadic. My Van Nic lies broken in the garage after I managed to decimate one of my shifters owing to a very inconveniently sheared gear cable. So even if I wanted to get out and ride it, I couldn't. I have attempted a couple of very half-hearted turbo sessions as a compromise with mixed success. The turbo dungeon has been a particularly dreadful place to be this winter.

I have set myself one goal for the year and that's to do 30 Park Runs. My Saturday mornings are usually free and if I can commit to one 25 minute session per week then that's better than nothing. Yes, I want to ride a sub 60 25 tt and a few other things but I will worry about those things as and when and running is just a lot easier to do at the moment.

If anyone finds my mojo then please return it as soon as possible. Thank you.

2013

So it's the end of the year. Time to look back at what could have been, nearly was and what was  actually achieved. I have just logged onto my Training Peaks account to find out some numbers for this year.

 I have cycled over 2500 miles this year not including turbo sessions. I have spent 165 hours on a bike. This totalled 70% of my training time.  Baring in mind that I didn't really get onto a bike properly until around May I'm quite pleased with the bike numbers and I've enjoyed the training and tting that I have done. I knocked almost a minute off my 10 mile tt time this year so I must be doing something right. Next year I will be working hard to get my tt times down. In particular I would like to go under the hour for a 25 tt. That's quite a big target but I should get there or thereabouts. I am very confident of new pbs in all tt distances with me being on board a new set of wheels and with a very solid base of bike miles now in my legs. I won a few club events which was nice, but ultimately I have really enjoyed my time on the bike this year. It's been a real highlight of all the things that I have done.

I have run for 385 miles which has taken me 47 hours. This was 20% of my training time
The year started well with a comeback pb over a half marathon (1:27:50) but after that running has been very frustrating. Yes, I got round the London Marathon but it wasn't very pretty and I am still nowhere near achieving a sub 3 hour time. The vast majority of my running has been zone 2 steady running, which is ok, but I enjoy the faster stuff a lot more and my body responds well to it; well, the aerobic part of me. To be honest, I'm just not sure my muscles, tendons and ligaments have got it in it to cope with the training required to do this and gradually I am starting to see that this is a bit unrealistic at the moment. I think that I can cope with 3 gentle plods per week and at the moment that is going to have to suffice. That said, to do a much quicker Ironman race than my current best effort does not actually require a fast run off the bike, I just need to be able to run off the bike, slowly, and I'll get a pb.  My running fitness is going to have to be earned on the bike.

I swum 27,000 metres which took me 13.5 hours. This was 5.5% of my training time
I need to swim more.

In total I have averaged 4.5 hours exercise per week.
This doesn't sound very much and lower than I thought but there was quite a lot of inactivity between late February and April when my back injury flared up as I ramped up the mileage towards the London Marathon. This only works out at about 35 minutes per day, but it's been enough to see me keep my weight under control and stay relatively fit and healthy. I'll take that. The percentages I have quoted above are in the right ball park but skewed by the fact the first 3 months were run heavy and the last 6 months have been bike heavy. If I can get that more balanced throughtout the year then that will be a really good start.

Have I enjoyed it? Thankfully, yes. Despite not doing enough racing I have really enjoyed most of my training. It would be nice if I could start a training schedule and stick with it before injury strikes.

I am targeting going long again next year. It maybe that I have to be realistic and enter a half or two rather than the full IM distance. There are a couple of races that are grabbing my attention but at the moment nothing is entered. The Anglian or Cotswold 226 long course races looks like fun. To be honest, I'm still dreaming about Enbrunman but that looks like it's still on the back burner and will have to wait another year.


These were my targets for the year that I wrote at the beginning of 2013.

1. Marathon PB. Currently 3.18. Realistically, sub 3.10 should be doable, sub 3 on a stellar day, sub 3.15 for a London marathon 'good for age' time as a minimum.

Nope, not even close. But did run another marathon which is never a bad thing.

 2. Olympic tri; sub 2.20. Qualifying for the World's is very unlikely but sub 2.20 may well be within my grasp if I can....

Nope, not close to this one either. I didn't actually do a triathlon this year. My early season injuries just didn't give me the confidence or hope to try.

 3. PB my 10 and 25 mile tt times. Ideally 23.30 for a 10. I'll probably need to invest in some aero help to achieve that, but you can never own enough bikes.

Well, one out of three isn't too bad.  ;-) 

So, targets for 2014.

Go long again. No time to aim for, Just get to the start line. At the moment that will be enough.
Sub 1hr for 25m time trial.

Thanks for reading. Have a great new year.

Play to my strengths

My rubbish couple of weeks on the domestic and work fronts reached a zenith yesterday, but I've just kept telling myself, 'It could be worse; I could be Lance.' What a dick. Anyway, that's my thoughts on him and I'll leave it there. The big news this week is that I went back to the tri club on Monday night for the first time in 2 years. The club was more busy than I'd ever seen it but I skulked back into my usual swim lane which was more empty than the others. The 3 guys welcomed me back with a 'Where have you been?' A brief explanation about the DW only for Louise, who's feet I used to just about hang onto, to exclaim that she's just started paddling and thinking about doing the 4 day race. FFS, I Can't get away from it. :-0 Thankfully, it was a technique session so I didn't suffer too much, although I couldn't remember how to scull and my swim trunks seemed a little tighter than they used to be.

Unfortunately the day after I came down with a really sore throat which has hung on for the rest of the week and is now developing nicely into a chesty cough. I was meant to be doing a 2up TT with Simon tomorrow but I 've had to cancel which is a rubbish way to end the season. I suppose it's best that I get it out the way now before I get myself started into some winter training.

So, what of next year? I seem to have manged to get myself a London Marathon place so that's going to be an early season focus and use the marathon training as a way of laying some run base fitness. I will sort out my foot and I will make the start line and I intend to aim for sub 3.10. In terms of tri training I've had an idea. I don't want to tackle another ironman at the moment and the thought of training hard for only one race does not appeal. It also just doesn't fit in with what's going on at home. But most importantly, I don't think it's playing to my strengths. For a middle aged bloke I'm still relatively quick over 5 and 10 kilometres (when I can string some run training together, admittedly) and I love doing speedwork and higher intensity training, so Olympic distance triathlon is the way to go. And I've given myself a race to go for. It just so happens that  the ITU Age Group World Championships will be held in London next year, and the Dambuster Triathlon is a qualification event for it, so why not give it a really good go and see if I can have the honour of wearing a GB tri suit  with my name on it? It's a big ask, a very big ask and I am sure that every triathlete in this country and their mother will be giving this a go with the World Champs on their doorstep, but if I don't try I'll never know.  At the very least it'll make me work hard towards an Oly pb.

For any of this to happen I have to bomb-proof my legs over the next couple of months so I am going to re-new my effort with my stretches and work on my lower back and hip flexibility. Thankfully, I can do that even with a cold.

So, what to do next?

That is the question. Normally at this time of year I'll be setting myself a target event or race for next year and I would love to, but prudence is key at the moment. My main focus over the next few months is to get running again. It's as simple as that. I've been doing some gentle running over the last weeks but I have made a few ammendments to my shoes, including some orthotics to bring the overly concave part of my foot up and give it some support. I tend to tie my shoes very tight so I am also tying them more loosely and I have changed the lace pattern. Small and probably trivial changes but hopefully the British Cycling 'aggregation of marginal gains' approach might also apply to my feet. I ran for 30 minutes today. The first 20 minutes were really hard work; blowing hard, legs tight and lower back aching but the last 10 minutes were sublime and it felt really good to be running. I have no plans to commit to any form of marathon training, yet ;-)  What I am going to do is get myself back along to the running club and do a bit of cross country and have some fun. If I can get up to running for an hour and incorporate some speed, so much the better. But at the moment, it's just some gentle base.

The same will be on the bike. I'm going to keep the commuting and Strava segment hunting going, but it'll all be about base training and cake rides for a few weeks and then try to keep the cycling going through the winter, which is always a challenge.

Replies- Cheers Lee.

Focus

I've done quite a bit of soul searching in the last fortnight. With my mojo levels falling through the floor it gave me the opportunity to take a bit of a step back and make a few decisions about what I want and more importantly what I should do next. I've blogged before about how I struggle to fit everything in and as a result never quite feel that I have given of my best. This comes down to competing in long endurance events which take a lot of time to train for and are also quite specific in their demands. In the space of nine months I've completed an ironman tri, a marathon and the DW. I should celebrate this fact and I am proud to have done these things but trying to do all of them all the time leaves me constantly undercooked for the next race and fretting about not laying enough of a base to do the event as well as I would really like. I have constantly felt under pressure to get out the door, do something, anything to keep the momentum going. I have essentially been 'panic training' and to a point, it's worked but ultimately it's proved unsustainable and quite often, not very enjoyable.

So, I've decided to break the cycle and here's how...

For the next 18 months my aim is to concentrate on  marathon training and I will not be taking part in any triathlons in that time.  I really, REALLY want to go sub3 and unless I commit to it whole heartedly it will not happen. I've been speaking to a few people to get some advice in the last week or so and discussed the injuries that I have been suffering from and it's becoming obvious to me that I need to put in place a strengthening and conditioning program that will allow me to cope with the running load. I have good basic speed and reasonable endurance but I don't have the elasticity and strength to run consistently week in, week out. So, weedy old me will be going to the gym. Yikes. It makes sense. I'm not happy about it but the bottom line is that I do not have the legs of a 20 year old anymore so it's got to be done if I want to achieve a sub3 time.

Next year I'll also be taking a break from the DW. Mrs Wheezy was making some decidedly unsympathetic noises when the idea of a fourth successive start was mooted. I need a break from that BUT I really want to keep paddling without the pressure of having such a big goal in front of me. 2014 I will be back at Devizes and in the meantime I'm going to enjoy myself, work on my technique on the river and use paddling to keep my core strength high. I am trying to get myself a K1 boat at the moment but it's proving tricky to get a suitable one. There are plenty of second hand racing boats that are very wobbly and beyond my skill level but a mid-range boat like the Kirton Tor are much harder to come by second hand, but hopefully I can sort out something soon and make full use of the Royal and the Thames over the summer months. I have my coaching course to prepare for and I am hoping that a group of us can get together to train regulalry as I now there are some club members with the DW in their sights.

Without the need to train for tri this year I feel a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I am so much happier for making that decision. I'll commute on my Trek when the weather's good, do a bit of time trialling as training and meet up with Simon to support him (as I'm doing tomorrow). Like Pep Guardiola, this is going to be my sabbatical year. ;-)

The winter plan: part 2

I have been jotting down what my winter training is actually going to look like and this is what I have come up with so far.

Running. Following my really enjoyable run at Luton I want to build on that so in a fit of madness I went and entered the Edinburgh Marathon. It falls nicely at the end of May, meaning that I would have had a clear 7 weeks or so to get over the DW. I'm going to run 4 times per week, doing one long run up to 2 hours, a tempo run of about an hour and then whatever recovery or speed sessions I need to do. I don't think that this will be a problem as I am bloody loving running at the moment and I am extremely excited about Edinburgh. I will be aiming to get under 3.10 before having a crack at another marathon in the autumn. My immediate goal is the Tadworth 10 mile race on January 2nd.

Cycling. It's time to turbo. I did my first turbo session of the winter this evening and it was as rubbish as I feared, but thankfully I have all winter to improve my lactate threshold (lucky me!). Two of those per week and a road or mtb ride of about 2-3 hours at the weekend should see me right, plus a lot of commuting.  I've bought myself some mtb shoes and cleats which should arrive from Wiggle any day now (bday pressie from parents-  :-) so I might have to put my money where my mouth is and enter some mtb races. I will be rubbish but I am assured that they are fun. Hmmm.....

Kayaking. Adam and I are paddling again at the Royal and the aim will be 2 paddles per week. Up until Christmas it will be all K1 stuff in Laances. We've done a few already and so far all good, trying to slow down our stroke. We did a stroke counting drill which I nicked from swim training, trying to use as few strokes as possible to get to a distant landmark to try a glide the boat more and get our stroke higher. I have absolutely no idea if that's what we should do but it makes sense to me. It seems that the lads at the MPCC are kindly going to let us have the Mystere again to use for the DW, which we are extremely grateful for. We'll start up again in that proper in January, when we will start to think about the Waterside series. Yes, you read that right; the races that we swore we would never do again. I just think we need an interim goal between now and the DW and while the Watersides are not particularly DW specific, except being on the same course, they will give us something to train for. Also, with our level of ineptitude, completing them in their own right will be a considerable achievement.

GAME. ON.

The Luton Marathon, or....

how I finally learned to pace a long run correctly.   :-)

As this race drew closer and closer my confidence became a thinner and thinner veneer, but in many ways this was a good thing. Rather than me going out with the intention of smashing a big time, London 2008 and the last 7 miles of that run are still very fresh in my mind, so being conservative became all important. Get round in one piece at a low rpe and take whatever time was given to me. 3.30 or under was going to be nice, but not critical on what is generally considered a fairly slow course. I just wanted a positive experience. The day started well, travelling up to Luton with Simon and the thick fog gave way to blue skies and luke warm November sunshine; perfect running weather. A porridge and banana breakfast had been consumed and I had no aches or pains to worry about so I felt that everything was falling into place for a solid run. Simon and I placed ourselves in the 3.30 area and waited for the gun to go.

As soon as we started, Simon was off and ahead. I should state that he's a very good runner but had not done much specific marathon training in the lead up to Luton and there was a small temptation to go with him but right from the start it was important that I ran my own race. Luton is three laps, so while the first is slightly shorter, it meant that doing the maths was pretty easy; 3 laps, doing each lap at about 1.10 would see me home in 3.30. The lap is in three general parts. From the leisure centre at the start it winds out the back across a large playing field before hitting the 3-4 mile hilly section and then finally turning onto the main road which brings you back into the town centre. This bit is quite dull, eventually looping around another large playing field but the hilly country section was actually surprisingly pretty. As we went through the first couple of miles I could just see Simon pulling out ahead, already some 2 minutes up. I settled into a group and encountered the hills for the first time.

If I am honest, they really were not that bad but knowing I would be doing them three times I knocked it right back, conserving myself. I was really focussing on myself and quite simply, if I was breathing hard I was pushing too hard. In spite of this, I found myself passing a few runners who had gone out too hard early on and with only 6 miles or so done looked pretty tired. I came through the first lap and checked my watch to see 65:xx. If I am honest, I was a bit confused. I felt very, very comfortable but yet, hear I was, again going out faster than I had planned. I thought back to 2008 and I remember I was pushing harder than this, so I felt confident that I was on the right effort level and the right pace, but I made a mental note to slow up sooner rather than later if things looked like they were going to turn ugly. As I started the second lap I had a little wave of runners go past me who obviously had finished their warm up and were now going to push on. A wizened old runner went past with a painful yet economic gait, followed by another large bloke who went past me up the big hill. He was breathing hard as he went and I was impressed at the pace he had suddenly found but I felt confident that he probably would not stay away. On an open part of the course I could just see Simon up ahead, probably now some 3-4 minutes up on me and therefore running at around sub 3.10 pace. This was actually the lap where I had to exert the most self control. I was feeling very good and I wanted to start to pick up the pace, but for once I listened to the voice in my head and kept myself in check. If they were that much faster than me then I probably wasn't going to stay with them, and if they were not that much faster then they'll probably come back to me. Time would tell. The wind picked up a bit on the second lap and with the field strung out it was hard to shelter from it, but I found myself gradually pulling in those ahead of me, bit by bit. At 16 miles, towards the back end of the second lap there is a small narrow path that rises and it was here where I first started to feel some aching in my legs; nothing major but it made me keep a lid on it and not get too carried away.

So, I started the third lap and saw that my elapsed time was 2:11, so I had paced it exactly the same as the first. Woop woop me. I still felt really good and now I had another 8.5 miles or so to do and it was really important to me that I ran them well and didn't lose the mental game. Remember, the wall doesn't exist, it's only a badly paced run and I knew that I had paced it right. As the final lap started, I encountered more and more people who had blown up and were walking. Been there; done that; won't do it again. But also, there were other runners who were still running but their pace had slowed drastically, including wizened runner and the big bloke. As I ran around the first recreation ground I caught sight of Simon and I saw that I had almost halved the distance between us in the space of the second lap and I could see that I was catching him with every stride. I caught him at 20 miles as we approached the village of Streakley and the largest hill on the loop. This was where it started to hurt but I was still running at my goal pace whereas everyone else around me seemed to be slowing down and the fact I was overtaking people gave me the encouragement I needed to forget about my legs ('Fooosh my legs' as any Marathon Talk podcast listeners will be aware of) and to keep picking people off. At 24 miles I caught another runner. I had stupidly hit the stop button on my stopwatch at the end of lap 2 instead of the split button so I couldn't work out what sort of time I might be on for, so as he had a Garmin on I asked what finish time we were looking at. He said he thought we would finish in about 3.16. Crikey! While I was running much better than I could possibly have hoped for I really wanted to try to get under 3.15 and so upped my effort level. I felt like I was running quite fast but I had reached that point in a marathon of ever diminishing returns. My arms and legs were going as fast as possible but it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere. I ran into the finishing chute pretty spent and beginning to cramp up and saw 3.18.xx on the clock. Simon held on to finish in 3.23. A great run, on frankly, very little marathon training by him.

So, I am a very happy bunny. I feel that I paced it perfectly. On the day I do not feel I could have gone any faster or better and checking the results I worked out that I overtook 40 runners during laps 2 and 3. I am delighted to have finally laid the marathon ghost of London 2008 and knocked a very healthy 24 minutes from the time I set that day, but I am not satisfied, not by a long chalk. I now know that sub 3 is achievable. 18 minutes is still a lot of time to take off and I envisage that it will take me another 3 or 4 marathons to get there; but get there I will.

Cramping up at the end; ouchy!

I am pooped. I want to sleep most of the time so the next couple of weeks is going to be some rest time, but over the next 6 to 8 weeks I intend to get back into a boat and do some proper all over body conditioning. Running will continue after this week, but very gently along with commuting on the bike and a turbo session once a week. I am basically looking at it as active recovery with a strength and conditioning focus. Then onwards and upwards.

It was always going to happen

After spending most of the Christmas period with two poorly children who spent most of their time coughing and sneezing all over me, I was always going to come down with it at some point. I am in fact, quite surprised that it had not happened sooner so I guess that my immune system is actually a bit more robust than usual. Anyway, I am making up for it now with plenty of coughing and snot and in a weird way it's helped me focus on doing some work and preparing to go back. Every cloud, and all that...
Before it came on though I had a lovely, relaxed 40 minute run that felt really smooth, pain free etc. That was a good day! On Friday, I got out for my first outdoor ride in over 5 weeks, meeting up with Simon and doing two Boxhill ballbuster loops at a very comfortable pace. Another good day.

Obviously with the end of the year, it's been a time to look back at the highs and low and all in all, it's actually been a pretty good one.

The Highs

A new half ironman pb at the Cowman Tri (5.15). Still some way off a sub-5, which is still a big future goal for me but my first triathlon in a very long time where I felt that I had done myself justice and also left me with a feeling that there is still a lot more to come.

Doing the Devizes to Westminster Canoe race. One of the best things I have ever done, ever. A truly fantastic, eccentric, typically British event that tested our endurance, almost, to breaking point. Spending a lot of time with my brother Jamie and doing something completely out of my comfort zone when there was a high chance of failure. It's the type of event that you end up wanting to do again and again and again........

Time trialling. I was meant to do this ages ago and never got around to it or it just seemed a bit intimidating, but it's such an accessible, cheap form of racing that really makes you push hard all the time and the crowd at Kingston Phoenix have been great. Just what I needed to get a bit stronger on the bike and one of the small building blocks that led to the Cowman race. This has also meant that I have done more events this year which has given me some great intermediate goals and I am really looking forward to knocking off some time off my 10 mile tt pb this season.

The lows.

Running. Just not being able to string together a decent amount of training. The fact I ran a 1.40 half marathon at the Cowman off very little training shows me what I could be capable of. The problem is I have to have the discipline to do the boring stuff, like stretching and strengthening to bring that about which historically I have not done well enough.

Swimming. I just have not done enough. End of.

Now at this point I should make a whole load of resolutions about what I am going to do so that I can then break them all by mid-January. So I am not going to do that. That said, I do need to be consistent in my training and overall, this year, I have improved, but I need to be more consistent, every week in order to get where I would like. Watch this space....

A cunning plan

This week and the next week or so has been about planning for the next nine months or so in the lead up to my chosen long course event next summer. I have even been busy colour coding the various periods within the training cycle. Heck, I might even write the odd macro or two. ;-) All this is in the pursuit of what I would define as my 'perfect' race, which I know I am a very long way from. After the Little Woody I felt tired and needed a bit of a break, but I have kept ticking over and I have really enjoyed commuting to work on my Van Nic, absolutely spanking it past the stationary queues of traffic. I have ordered some goodies from Wiggle which I am going to use to give my old Trek a bit of an overhaul in preparation for what the worst of winter will throw at it while the Van Nic gets bolted to the turbo for the winter.

I am unfortunately a bit crocked again. I tried to go for a long run last week but had to cut it short to one hour when my left achilles flared up quite badly, which obviously is hardly good news for a serious sub-3 attempt at the Luton Marathon. Disappointing, but if there's one thing I've learnt then it's worth re-adjusting goals rather than just throwing them out the window. A marathon pb is still very much possible but I am going to have to work really hard on my rehab in order to be able to run for 3 hours plus.

I've had a great weekend up in Loughborough for a 20 year Uni reunion with friends visiting old haunts and playing the odd round of golf. I had not been back in 15 years or so and it was odd seeing the places after such a long time and I felt quite old :-( Quite sad to see that my favourite pub no longer exists and is now an estate agents' office. Bah!