That escalated quickly

My last post seems, literally, like it was different in a different time, in a different world. How everything has unravelled since then, with Ironman, injuries, cycling, ftp values and the like, seeming so irrelevant and frankly, quite a bit indulgent.  But, this blog has always been about those self-indulgent things and let’s face it, it doesn’t get much more indulgent than a middle age, middle of pack athlete writing a blog. A lot has changed.

I’m not now doing Ironman Copenhagen. Although not cancelled, yet, I really can’t see how it is going to go ahead. I sincerely hope it does, as I know of a few athletes who have sunk a lot of money into going already, with accommodation and flights booked, not just for them but for family too. Those for whom it would be their first IM, it is particularly tough. But my situation is very different. I don’t need to tick the ‘completion’ box; I’ve been there and done that, twice.  Copenhagen, for me, was always about proving to myself that I could put together a performance that I would be proud of and with this summer now being so disrupted, even if it does go ahead, it was the right decision for me to withdraw. 

The last couple of weeks have been beyond strange. Work was insanely busy and frenetic and like most people, training went from being very important, as a glue that held my days together and gave me a massive focus for this summer, to not being important at all. I had reached an all time high TSS, very nearly hitting the magical 100, and I was just about managing the load; getting lighter, getting faster. 

Luckily, my lack of organisation helped me out. My passport had recently run out, so I had not been able to book any flights and by the time it arrived, three weeks ago, it seemed crazy to fork out £250 on flights to an event that seemed very unlikely. Although I had booked accommodation, I could cancel without incurring a fee. The only fly in the ointment was losing 50% of the entry fee, a not insignificant sum. Why not defer until next year, I hear you ask? Well, Copenhagen doesn’t fit in with other family stuff and while there are other Ironman events throughout the year, as things stand, I’m not sure what 2021 will entail. I have a few ideas, but I will leave that for another post. 

The last couple of weeks have been a readjustment.  Instead of full on Ironman training, I’ve been focussing on a daily fitness session, while I figured out what I wanted to do. Running has been replaced with a walk with Sue, chewing the cud and using our Government allowed exercise time to catch up and chill out. With the lockdown in full effect, my turbo and TrainerRoad subscription is coming to the form, but I’ve also spent quite a bit of time on Zwift in my new and improved #palaceofpower. With absolutely no racing I the pipeline for the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to do nothing except improve my power to weight ratio. I’m still got my weight at around 70kg so the plan is to get back onto a TrainerRoad plan with a bit of Zwift racing and see if I can get my ftp over 300 watts. With my power pb being 288, this is going to be tough, but at the moment, I’ve got nothing better to do. 

Combing through the wreckage

After Ironman Switzerland, my plan was always to take at least two weeks off while I went on a family holiday and despite feeling quite bruised and emotionally battered for a good few days, I've managed to put things back into a bit of perspective and start to look forward. As a teacher I've often had to highlight to my pupils that failure is often necessary to move forward and that from failure, that's where personal growth happens. I don't know if it's a consequence of my safe existence but it's been a really long time since I properly failed at something. Adam and I dnf'ed at the DW back in 2011, but in our heart of hearts, we alway knew that we'd have to be really lucky to finish and often with a 50% dnf rate anyway, the odds were always against us. We bounced back and finished the next year and while 2011 was a failure for us, it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as this.

To be brutally honest, I never, ever expected that I wouldn't finish. That simply was not a scenario that I contemplated. I hope that that doesn't come across as too arrogant because it's not meant to be. I just always believed that even if I had to walk the marathon I would be able to do so. Getting my body to a point where I would not even be able to hold down water was just something that's never happened to me when doing anything athletic before; I just never saw it coming.

The sting

In my last post I gave some possible explanations about why this might have happened. I'll never truly know if the insect sting was what tipped my body over the edge of being able to process calories. Obviously I would hope that that would be the case. It's a lot easier to say that I dnf'ed due to something that was completely out of my control, but I think that it's important I have a good look at the other factors that might have been to blame and make sure that I rule them out in the future. I suppose the take away from the sting is to keep my top zipped up in the future.

My IMCH power file.

Was my bike pacing correct? In a word, yes. My power zones were accurate and set right on my Garmin. I stuck to my IF. In fact, I came in under this at 0.67. Looking at my power file there is a slight drop off over the last 90 minutes, but that was me knocking it back as the temperature climbed and particularly in the last 30 minutes, spinning more on the flats to get ready for T2. The thing that could have been improved was my variability index (VI) which was 1.16. This suggests that I was surging a bit too much. You can see this in the first 2 hours and was mainly due to being caught in packs and trying not to be caught in a draft zone. So other than this, I genuinely don't believe that by me reducing my power any more would have changed the outcome (well, except for having avoided the wasp completely!)

Was my nutrition correct? I did what I had always done when racing long course or HIM in the past. Mainly solids for the first 2/3rds, then switching to predominantly fluids as the bike progressed, taking on board water when I needed it. Two things that I could have done differently. Firstly, I didn't train with the on course energy drink which was Enervit. That said, I tried it the day before and it seemed no different to High5, which I do use. I didn't taste or feel any discernable difference, but maybe, it might not have agreed with me and I didn't realise? I don't think this is the case as I didn't feel sick at all on the bike, but this is something I can rule out next time. The other point is that I tend to train in a fasted state and too many of my long rides were done like this, so that I could train my body to burn fat as fuel, rather than carbs. Maybe, I relied on this too much and my stomach simply was not trained enough? It's something that is easily rectified and I should do more of next year. So nothing earth shattering or new, but maybe a couple of minor points that combined to send my race off the rails.

So I'm pretty certain I'm going to go long again next year. I want to capitalise on the work that I've done over the last 9 months but as yet I've made no firm decisions about which race I'll sign up to, but I'm more determined than ever not to leave Ironman racing like this. It's really important that I get running again and I have a plan for this over the winter.  I do know that I will aim to get some good 70.3 races in next year as I am a lot more suited to this distance than Ironman distance.

Ironman Switzerland

I have never been so consistent when training for any other event. In the last 6 months I have maintained my training hours. There were a couple of dips but 10 hours per week was always my goal and I often went over this. For a lot of people this is a relatively modest training budget, but it was what I was happy to commit to. We’re a busy family and with Wheezy Junior taking his GCSE exams this summer and my wife, Sue also having a busy and demanding full time job, I had to make my training as effective as possible in the time I had. I was also confident in the aerobic base that I had built up over the past 7 years. Long distance time trials, Audax rides, marathons and half marathons. I feel that I’ve developed a pretty good engine that would meet the demands of an ironman triathlon. My build wasn’t perfect, but then, is it ever?

Two things played out. The first was a niggling calf injury that on three separate occasions, stopped me running. When I was running, it felt good and I was able to clip along with easy 8 minute miles. Not fast, but a comfortable IM pace. But I just was not getting the run volume in that I needed. The second factor was a little harder to deal with. Every six to eight weeks I would get a feeling like the beginning of a cold. I would have a headache, sore throat, small mouth ulcers and be extremely tired. It would wipe me out for a couple of days before it would gradually fade. It took a couple of cycles of this before I realised that it was more likely life and training stress getting the better of my immune system.

So, not perfect, but despite these few issues, I was happy with how the last six months had panned out. I had always wanted to do Ironman Switzerland as I really liked the look of the bike course and I knew that it had been popular with a few folks in TT1.0. I had two long course finishes under my belt (Forestman 2011 and The Outlaw 2017). I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about with the Ironman branded races and to hopefully go under 11 hours. I’ve always believed that I’ve got a 10:30 ish time in me, but of course, talk is cheap. Bearing in mind I did no swim training or running before the Outlaw and pretty much on time trialling alone, I got my 11:27, I really believed that a sub 11 time would be very achievable. I did the Cotswold 113 and finished in 5:01. My bike pacing was at IM intensity and on little run training I ran. 1:36 off the bike. This gave me bags of confidence going into the last 6 weeks of training. My long rides were going well as I am very comfortable on my tt bike but a final calf niggle meant that I didn’t run at all for the last month.

 The really vexing thing was my swimming and I just seemed to be getting slower, the closer I got to IMCH. I’d spent a lot of time doing drills in the earlier part of the year but as spring turned into early summer I stopped in favour of more reps, but in hindsight I simply wasn’t doing enough CSS sets and ended up plodding at the same pace. Including the Cotswold 113 I swam 4 times in open water which was rather light, but bearing in mind before the Outlaw I only swam 4 times in total and swam 1:15, I couldn’t see any reason why 1:10 was not possible.

The Ironsquad out and about, the day before.

 It transpired that a group of five of us would make our way to Zurich to race including two former colleagues from work. Of the five of us, three had completed a long course triathlon before and with partners, parents and spectators there was a large group of us heading out and it was going to be a great weekend, with Sue coming out to see me race for the first time since I’d done the Beaulieu half back in 2008. She had decided then that triathlons with two small children was not a spectator sport, but we were going to treat this as a bit of a city break as our children were now older and a bit more self sufficient, with the help of very accommodating friends and parents back home.

Registering and signing in

 I guess I wanted to see what all the Ironman branded fuss was about as well. Other than the Alp d’ Huez tri five years ago, I’ve only ever done UK non branded events. To be honest, I was blown away by the slickness of the operation and I could see the effort that they put into catering for all the athletes and spectators. It was extremely impressive. The week before IMCH I’d had another bout of the tiredness, sore throat and headaches, but I hit the taper hard and necked ibuprofen and after a few days it subsided. I put it down to my last block of training and by the time of race morning, which was extremely wet, I felt relaxed and good to go and really excited.

Even in gloomy conditions, Lake Zurich is beautiful

 They did rolling start for the swim, releasing 8 athletes at a time, every five seconds. In terms of biff etc it didn’t actually work. I seeded myself correctly in the 70-80 minute pen and within 1 minute I was swimming over a guy who was very slow. Although there was a 2:20 cutoff for the swim, there were a couple of time of day cutoffs on the bike so I think there were quite a few slower swimmers who seeded thamselves far too fast to give themselves extra time. Every turn buoy was very congested and even on the long straight I seemed to be swimming into people or having to stop and breaststroke to sight and find gaps. I tried a few times to find feet but didn’t manage it for any length of time. All that said, the lake was beautiful to swim in. Only just wetsuit legal but the temperature was lovely and the water was really clean. The heavens opened again as I swam to the finish and I knew the time was at the lower end of what I was expecting but as I ran into T1, I was just glad to get it out the way and get onto the bike. Six months’ swimming has resulted in me being a minute slower when compared to my Outlaw swim two years’ previously. I put that thought to the back of my mind and headed into T1.

It was still drizzling at the start but the air was nice and warm. I settled in and focussed on my target IF of 0.7. which was my planned power target and initially I was well below that at around 0.63. I avoided the temptation to push as the first section was flat and fast and I didn’t want to get this wrong, so I was patient and slowly, over the first 90 minutes it gradually crept up as I warmed up and got my cycling muscles firing. Due to the torrential rain beforehand there were a lot of early punctures out on the course, one rider with his tub tyre off a disc looking like he was already waiting for the course mechanic and another rider in the first 10kms being treated by an ambulance. There were quite a few groups and avoiding drafting was nigh on impossible and I found myself soft pedalling and then surging to try to keep within the rules.

The second half of the course took in the big climb of the day and while I got up it easily enough, there’s no doubt I would have preferred another couple of teeth on my large sprocket. The drop down the other side was insanely fast, even on the base bars, almost reaching 50mph. It was very cool. Speaking of which, so was I. It was still cloudy and not particularly hot. My nutrition was a few cliff bars and then alternatively sipping the on course enervit and water in my saddle bottle and this was working well for me.  The lap was finished off with a climb up Heart-break hill. To be honest, it was not particularly challenging but being lined with a lot of supporters all the way up, for a couple of minutes it felt like being on the Tour. It was brilliant.


 I got onto the second lap comfortably and found myself on the front of a few riders, with one American blatantly drafting me for a good 10kms or so. Eventually we got to one small hill where I sat up and took a bottle while shaking my head and giving him the eyeball as he went past. The big climb the second time was tougher but I just gently ground out my smallest gear. It was here that the sun came out for the first time properly and I got a hotter and felt my effort level having to spike quite a long way, but still comfortably within the limits I’d set myself.



As I descended the second time I felt a very sharp pain on my chest. At first I couldn’t figure out what it was before realising that I’d been stung by a wasp or bee. It really hurt but after a few minutes I forgot all about it. With the efforts up the hills my IF pushed out to .71 but I was able to soft pedal and bring it back down as we rolled back towards transition.

 As I trotted out of T2 I was a bit surprised at how I felt. After the pacing of the bike I was really confident that I had got it right but I was not as sprightly as I though I would be. No bother, this is an Ironman after all. I got into my 9min/1min run walk. I had done this before in some of my early halves and had worked well, allowing me to break up the distance and cool down more easily during the walk. The first three went fine but I started to feel really unwell with a very queasy feeling in my stomach. I have guts of iron. I’ve done 100 mile rides while consuming pasties and sandwiches and all sorts and Audax rides where I have eaten a full English breakfast mid-ride. The only problem I have had with stomach issues in the past was the Buzzard-Exe Audax last year, when the temperature got up to over 35 degrees and I found it very hard to eat. As soon as I slowed down and cooled down, it was fine but this was not that hot and the feeling came on really suddenly. As I came back into a small park near the end of the loop my stomach convulsed and I brought up all the liquid I had consumed in the last couple of hours. Everything. That explained why I hadn’t felt so good in T2. I hadn’t been taking in any carbs on the last part of the bike. I’d gone into a bush and a couple of very kind spectators asked if I was ok Luckily I was only a couple of hundred metres from where I knew Sue was spectating in the shade.

Although not good, I felt that if I walked the next lap and got some water in I’d probably be ok. Any chance of a time under or around 11 hours or a 4 hour marathon had gone, but I was still confident of getting my medal and tee shirt. I’ve never not finished a triathlon. I started my second lap walk very gingerly and started to sip a small amount of water at each aid station. I’d been meticulously sponging, icing and using the water showers all during the event to keep cool anyway, but although I didn’t feel hot it seemed wise to keep this going. I was hoping that a one lap walk would be enough and that after that I’d be able to get some sort of shuffle going. Not what I’d wanted, but I was trying to wrestle back some kind of control and to realign my goals.

 The volunteers at the aid stations were simply superb and loads of people sunbathing, drinking in bars or just generally ambling about kept going ‘opp opp opp’. I’d give a thumbs up, head down, keep trudging on. I was in Audax mode; just keep moving forward and you’ll get there. During this lap I got passed by Mike and Jess who were in my group, both first timers they went on to finish brilliantly. I saw Jess with about 4km of the second lap to go and she looked like she was moving quite well, while I stopped to high five and walk on. Fifteen minutes later I was nearing the same shady tree lined avenue at the top of the lake. I felt my stomach heave and I was just about able to get into a bush, away from the families who were nearby, while I brought up all the water that I had been sipping over the last 90 minutes since I had last been sick. This time I kept on going, water, bile, the lot, that eventually led to a lot of dry heaves. It was pretty grim.

 With my hands on my knees, bent double, I knew that was me done for the day. Without even being able to keep down water and with realistically another 3-4 hours walking in the hottest part of the day, it was time to call it quits. It wasn’t an easy call but I knew that it was the right one. I walked up to Sue, sat on the grass verge and started to cry. That was me done. It was mainly just shear frustration. I’d been more prepared for this event than any other triathlon I’ve ever done and it had all unravelled in a couple of hours and with Sue sitting next to me, knowing all the support that she had given me so that I could do this, it was a really bitter pill to swallow.

 After an hour or so on the verge and after handing my tracker in, I picked up my bags and bike and we headed slowly back to the flat where we were staying, in the old town, just by the run course. I spent another hour or so, cooling and calming down before getting changed. By this time Mike and Jess has finished but my two other friends were still on the course. I didn’t want to sit around moping about so we headed back to where their supporters were, near where it had ended for me. A few weeks back, someone on Tritalk had talked about his race at Frankfurt going wrong and he made it his mission to boost and clap everyone who he encountered and this really stuck with me. As Sue and I walked back we ‘oop-oop’ed every runner. ‘Looking great’. ‘Running strong’ and trying to pronounce every foreign name we could. Those 4 hours were magnificent and in that time we both saw the power of the Ironman brand and its truly international feel. We were both pretty emotional anyway but we were so moved by what we saw. There was a Japanese guy who was one of the last to finish. We were clapping and cheering him as he went past and he put his hands together and bowed and it was I all I could do to stop bursting into tears again. I was a fucking wreck.

 My friend Sharon has only just been in front of cutoff all day. In fact, three riders 20 seconds behind her were pulled from the course and she had just made it out of T2 with about 20 seconds to spare. We were able to see her through her final two laps and then went to the finish line to cheer her home. I think she was the penultimate athlete home and she had all the support crew out for her. Seeing her come down the finish line was just one of the best sporting things I’ve been a part of and she deserved every second of it.

Spot the odd one out.

 It’s been really hard coming home on the plane and walking around Zürich with virtually everyone else in their finisher’s tees and medals. I now know home Cav felt coming home after the 2008 Olympics, the only member of the cycling squad without a medal. We all met up the next day for a drink and obviously everyone was really thrilled to have finished but I couldn’t help thinking whether I had made the right call. With a couple of days’ thinking time, I know I did but it didn’t stop a few more tears. I don’t think it was the insect sting on its own, but as I’d just completed the biggest climb of the day, with my heart rate at its highest and then getting stung was probably enough to start my stomach shutting down. I may also have simply gone a little too hard on the bike but as I had been training at that intensity with the same power zones for the last month or so with no ill effects, this is probably unlikely. I’ll have a good look at my Garmin file to see if there’s any clues.

 Two really surprising things as a result. As we were waiting in the departure lounge yesterday evening for our delayed sleazyjet flight back to Gatwick, Sue was looking through next year’s Ironman calendar. She seems pretty determined that I should go back, either to the new IMCH event or somewhere else and knock this off as we both know I can’t leave it like this. Whether it’s next year remains to be seen, but I’m pretty sure at some point I will finish what I started. The second thing and by far the best thing is that Sue was so inspired by the event she wants to start running and fancies having a go at entering a marathon, something that she’s always wanted to do but has always put off. Other than having an emotional wreck of a husband to deal with all weekend, she absolutely loved the whole experience and that has surprised us both. It’s only a race and it’s only a hobby. But it’s a hobby that I have realised is more important to me than I ever thought. That again, I suppose, is a good thing to realise.

All done, bar the shouting

Six days to go.  Starting to get keyed up, excited and a little nervous. My taper’s been a bit strange. Sunday week was my last long one, with the club’s Kingston to Worthing tt and I rode it pretty much at IM intensity. The 4 odd hours that I was out was the 4 miserable, rainy hours of the last month. It was a tired me who was cranking home, back up the A24 without company, while most of my club mates headed into Worthing for a Knickerbocker glory. I had more High5 energy drink.  That evening I went for a very lack-lustre swim; I was just absolutely shattered and after 30 minutes called it a day.

This week was my first taper week, but I actually ended up doing 10 hours. The big difference was that I had broken up for work so spent a good deal of the week on the sofa, asleep, trying to stay awake while watching the tour. I usually found myself waking up as the yellow jersey mounted to podium, such has been the fatigue that I have felt. And the 10 hours was all very low intensity and easy work, for example 3 hours riding at 13mph with a friend from work, gently spinning out my legs on a couple of Surrey hills. I had got to a point about 7 days ago where I had had enough and Improperly needed to lower the intensity of the work that I had been doing and it’s been great to get into the final fortnight.

Now my attention shifts to the logistics of getting myself,  my wife and all my triathlon gear across to Switzerland. I’ve had a fun afternoon trying to get my head around a bikeboxalan. Even with an engineering degree and over 20 years’ DT teaching, it took a while. More than all that though, there is one constant in the forefront of my mind; heat. The current forecast for Zurich on Sunday is 32 degrees in the afternoon. It is what it is, so I’ve got a few things l’m going to do,to try to make things as cool as possible.

1. I’m going to wear my standard road helmet.  My bambino’s pretty good despite not having vents but with my road helmet I can put water directly on my head as well as the vents giving improved air cooling. It just makes more sense and I’m happy to sacrifice the aero advantage. It won’t be an advantage if my head is boiling like a jacket potato in a microwave.

2. I’m not going to wear a tri suit. The plan is for me to wear my favourite bike shorts and calf guards under my wetsuit (it’s currently still a wetsuit swim).  In T1 strip off my wettie, bike top on, short socks on, and out onto the course.  In T2, I will do a full strip and put on my favourite running shorts and a baggy run vest, with a visor.  My reason for this is that I want to get as much airflow and cooling water directly onto my skin. I find that I get quite hot in my tri suit so I am hoping that this will help with cooling. That’s the plan, anyway.

Cotswold 113 Triathlon

Checking out the OW safety kayaks

This was my first tri since the Outlaw two years ago and was to see how things currently stand as far as my training and preparation for Switzerland is going. So, it was a great day and a frustrating one, all rolled into one.

This is now a well established event and would be the seventh HIM I've done. It's set in the Cotswold Water park and surrounding area and it was a very pretty course, and absolutely pan flat, so the bike leg would prove to be drag-strip fast, or so I hoped. What with my disrupted run training following a mild calf pull the weekend before, I was genuinely considering this as an aqua-bike training session and if my calf was sore then I'd drop out, saving myself for the big day in six weeks' time. So, how'd it go?

Stupidly early start rewarded with a stunning sunrise

Swim 34:59
I was hoping for a 33 minute swim, so was pretty disappointed when I got out the lake. I was in the 5th wave and so there was not very much biff at all, which was good. I'd made sure that my wetsuit was on properly and my shoulders were loose and after 10 minutes or so, I found myself in a group of three, sometimes leading, but often sitting on the feet of the lady in our group. I felt really good, except for the few times when the lake was quite whiffy and actually felt a little sick. I think it's because I felt good that I was pretty hacked off with a 35 minute swim. That said, it was about finding out where I am, and now I know!

T1 4:31
OMFG! The first rule of transition is, don't be in transition. The second rule of transition is; DON'T BE IN TRANSITION!

This was just terrible. I got 95% of my wettie off, only for the left leg to become stuck fast over my ankle transponder. I was stamping, rolling on the grass; I was almost considering getting my car keys and splitting the leg to get it off. Eventually the wetsuit was off, helmet on and I was jogging to the bike mount line.

Bike 2:40:44
The course was really flat, so the plan was to just sit on 0.75IF and that should bring me in around 2:30. So when I fired up my Garmin, I was surprised to see that all the data fields that I had on screen, including my power and IF were not there. I pressed all the buttons and went through the various screens but it was nowhere to be seen, before it dawned on me what had happened. On my long ride the week before, I had not been able to upload my Garmin to Training Peaks and Garmin Connect so I had eventually done a factory reset on it, and this of course had wiped out all my pre-set screens. That meant I had no power so would have to go on rpe alone. No bother, every single triathlon I have ever done before, this has been to case, so I just had to crack on with it. The other issue I had was that my xlab bar bottle covered the time and distance so I was not able to take time checks at quarter and half distance to compare with my rpe, and this was to cost me.

The bike was a pretty course and very flat. My main issue was that as I started in a late wave, there were a lot of competitors in front and I had to be careful going past and as the morning progressed, more cars were on the road, which at times got quite congested and I lost some time sitting behind cars who were (very considerately) waiting to go round other riders.  The weather ended up being perfect; a little wind towards the end but 16 degrees with some light cloud cover and not cold at all. It was really nice. I didn't see my Garmin time and it was probably just as well. Had I done so, I would have thrown a proper strop as it was my slowest bike in years. That said, it was around Ironman intensity, so pretty good on reflection

T2 1:48
That's more like it. Helmet off; shoes on. Go.

Run 1:39:51
This was great. The fact that I had underbiked meant that a good run was more likely on the cards, if my calf held together. I just felt really good from the off and was clicking along at 4:10-15kms. It was a three lap course with mixed trail under shade and some pavement. Again, it was pan flat with the only 'hill' being a little jump over a log before one of the feed stations. During the run, I lost count of the people I overtook and was only overtaken by three fast boys who were on their final lap or two.  At the end of lap 1 I was still feeling really strong but I really needed a wee, so managed to hold on until the portaloos before going, so I lost another minute there. Lap 2 was much the same, still going strong, but then about two thirds of the way round my bowels decided to rebel from the energy drink, which I think had caffeine in. I managed to just about get back to the portaloos before things erupted in a very dramatic way. It was an extremely quick poo, but still cost me another couple of minutes. The last lap was considerably tougher and I was gradually losing a little form, but the kms were ticking off until I got to 'a parkrun to go' which always helps me to see the last 25 minutes out. My actual moving time was 1:36, so I lost 3 minutes on the run for toilet stops, while it pretty much equalled my best HIM run from over a decade ago. Still a bit of life in the old dog yet, and even better, my calf was fine.

Final time 5:01:55

I queued up for my times, convinced that I was well under 5 hours, even possibly 4:50, as I still didn't know my bike split at that moment. When I saw my time I was like a child who had just dropped his ice cream on the floor; I was, as they say, gutted. But after a day or two to reflect, I have to be pleased. A really solid performance, in the middle of a training block, without a taper and I'm not injured.

So, things to work on.
1. I'm not as fast in the open water as I thought, so I need to get more practice in. To be fair, this was only my second OW  swim in three years, so not really surprising.
2. Re-sort my Garmin.
3. Need to ensure I have got some solids when fuelling on the bike. Just liquids seem to be a bit of an issue for my stomach.

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.

Hero to zero

Inadvertently, this week became a run week. 5 runs, with 4 of them being run commuting to and from work. I was very tired at the start of the week and was feeling the effects of the 12 hour week that had just gone. Monday was a much needed rest day and for whatever reason I just didn’t have the mojo to get on the turbo, I think because my legs felt really fried. While my runs were always slow to start I found that within 20 minutes I was running freely and comfortably.

I had decided to go back to Kingston Parkrun yesterday, for two reasons. Firstly it was the 14th anniversary of Parkrun so I wanted to get along and support, but also it was 8 weeks or so since my last one and I wanted to use it as a test for how my running is progressing. After an easy, slow warmup I went out pretty hard in the first couple of kms. I normally like to build through the run but this time I was blowing quite hard from the off. As a result the middle part was quite slow as I found myself a little alone, trying to chase down a small group in front. I eventually caught them and ran through and was really working hard by the time I got to a km to go. With a couple of hundred meters three of them came back last me and I let them go; I’m too old to sprint these days! Anyway, 16th and first in my age group and a comeback pb of 19:27. Cool! It was lovely to celebrate with some prosecco with friends afterwards. A very civilised way of conducting Parkrun!

It was in the evening that my hamstring and foot began to tighten and I knew I was going to get another attack of my foot problem. By this morning I couldn’t bear any weight on it at all, which meant my planned tt had to be canned. I’m frustrated, more at myself for not being a bit more conservative and doing too much. But that said, I’m not going to let myself get down about it.  My run training was going well and All I’ve got to do is deal with the problem and move on.

So next week could well be a turbo and swim week.  Swimming’s still going well with lots of drilling. The best thing is that I have nailed my tumble turns. As it was only me in the pool at one point this week, for a laugh I thought I’d try and tumble turn with the pullbuoy. In the past I’ve found it hard to plant my feet on the wall but with the buoy I had to really focus on this. Within a few lengths I had it nailed and now I don’t know what all the fuss was about. I guess it just clicked.

Anyway, it’s not time to dwell on what I can’t do, but what I can do. Onwards.

Twelve hours: boom!

Weekly summary. 
12 hours 04 mins  

It turned out to be  a surprisingly big week as 12 hours is the average weekly total I want to aim for when it starts getting into the build phase. This was mainly through my Sunday club ride which was 90 minutes longer than planned with a solo harder effort before joining my clubmates for 50 miles.

Swim - 2 sessions. 1:45hrs. Weirdly, my shorter session, 45mins was my endurance set, with the other hour devoted to drills. I'm going to be spending a lot more time devoted to various drills this winter. I really enjoyed the session and felt some benefit pretty much straight away. Lots of focus on a longer reach and pull and a kick set too, which is a real weakness.
This week. Same. in that aiming for 1 drill set and one endurance set. 



Bike - 4 sessions. 2x1hr  Trainerroad turbos, 1:10hr long commute home (very steady), long ride; 4:30hrs.

This week will cut out the long commute home so will be 2x turbo and my Sunday ride. It's meant to be a long TT but it might not fit in with family stuff. Will have to wait and see.

Run - 3 sessions. 2hrs 17. 2x 32min runs (one slow on with 6x2min intervals 2mins rec). 1x long run 8.8miles in 1hr11. Slow but with a fast finish over the last 1.5 miles. I can't remember the last time I ran 3 times in one week. It's been a very long time ago.

This week. x3 runs. Park run / long run (8 miles again) / Steady run to work. 
The plan is another short long run (if you get what I mean) and then I'm going to hit a parkrun hard on Saturday to see where I am. 

So will definitely knock back the training time a little. I don't think I've done too much but I don't think another 12 hour week would be a good idea. I didn't have a rest day this week so I've taken today off and feel much better for it.

Everyone I know is ill so I expect to be struck down with the lurgy soon. 

Adapting to being a triathlete (again)

This week's training

So last week was superbly busy. A couple of late nights courtesy of work and then Mrs Wheezy's birthday over the weekend meant that I was continually adapting the plan to fit everything in.
However, I didn't quite fit everything in!

Swim - Only the one session. 35 minutes of 100m reps. 1400m in total.
Bike- 2 rides. 1x trainerroad turbo and 1x long ride on Friday night. 3.5hrs total..
Run-2 runs. Both steady. 1x 35 mins, 1x 45mins. 1hr20 total.
Total 6hrs 20

Volume wise, hardly pulling up any trees, but it's quite a big adaptation that I have to get used to. For the last few years it's been all about the bike and that made training easy. With three disciplines to think about, there's more juggling going on. What I am going to do is to give myself key sessions every week that are a must, while others in the plan, although not optional, I will be a little more fluid towards when life gets in the way.

So this week, it's all about the runs. I have 4 planned. I am really enjoying my running at the moment and I look forward to these more than anything. I haven't felt as comfortable and secure in my legs as this for a very, very long time. I've also started to see a little bit of weight come off which should help my cycling power to weight ratio as the winter progresses. The big session will be the long run at the weekend as I have not run for an hour for quite some time. It will be very slow but I will aim to run the last couple of miles at my goal IM run pace.

42 weeks to go.

Failing to plan..

is planning to fail.

I'm usually pretty good at planning, in my professional life, anyway. As triathlon has usually been a hobby I've tended to be a lot more relaxed and taken things as they have come. With Ironman Switzerland being a major focus next year, I need to plan better in order to maximise the time I have available.

To that end, I've signed up to the premium version of Training Peaks. I've used the free version for years, well, before Strava came along. TP will help me generate my annual training plan and help me keep on top of the sessions that I will need to tick off.

Weekly Plan - Preparation

 So this is what a current week looks like. Mondays will stay a rest day as I think it's important I let my body have a break from the inevitable larger amount of work that will be done each weekend. The downside to this is that it means a double training day on Tuesday, but the swim is a shorter, drills focussed one, so should not be too strenuous.

This is an 8 hour week, which is perfect at the moment. As I mentioned in my last post, there's nothing in there that's too demanding, except a couple of early mornings to get the Trainerroad turbo sets done.

I've entered the London-Wales-London audax again; I think it was my favourite event that I did this year and it should be a nice long day out on the bike for a bit of endurance training, but as it's 10 weeks out from IMCH, so it should fit into the plan quite nicely. things are starting to take shape.

Crossing the Severn Bridge. copyright Guardian

Early Doors Ironman Training

At the moment, I'm just trying to establish a regular training routine. Over the last 4 weeks, things have pretty much settled into 2 runs, 2 rides (not including my very short commutes) and 2 swims. I'm going to make a real effort to do my shorter turbo sessions in the morning and get them out of the way, so that I can rest more in the evenings. I have also started to do one of my swims straight after work, again, so it's done and dusted.

I'm going to aim to avoid double training days. At the moment, so far out from IMCH, there is little point as I don't need the volume. I am aiming to be consistent; no big spikes in training, no stupidly big days and no stupidly hard sessions.

I'm excited about the race but I am as excited about the training, which is a good thing. I've  come to realise that I have always enjoyed the process as much as the final outcome and in a wierd way, despite having completed two long course triathlons before and numerous halves, olympics and sprints, this almost feels like a new challenge. The challenge being to get as much out of myself while aiming to maintain as normal a life as possible. I'm aiming to keep an average of 10-12hrs per week which should give me a good balance between doing enough and getting enough rest and sleep.

Swim - At the moment, I am doing a very simple diet of sets. Lots of 100 metre repeats. Usually between 10x100 to 15x100. The 100s are all front crawl, with some drills or some 25 metre sprints. I am doing a pyramid session once a fortnight for a bit more endurance work, but that's it. The aim is simply to keep drilling my technique and getting a feel back for the water.

Bike-So, this is now my best discipline. That's something I would not have said seven years ago. It's all about Trainerroad. I enjoy the sessions, but more importantly, I trust them and know they will get me into the shape I need. So, I am going to avoid the longer commutes that I  have done on the way home before, as that's padding. Do less, but do it with more intensity. One weekend ride, which will be pretty social until Christmas, before riding some more tt based efforts in the new year.

Run- I had my best run in years last week. Not injured, a good tempo effort that felt comfortable and relaxed. 10kms in 45 minutes so not quick but considering where I was just a month ago, I'm already making some gains. This is a great start. My golden rule is no runs on consecutive days and until Christmas I am not going to run longer than 8 miles. There's just no need and a focus on my 5km speed will keep things interesting.

Strength and Core- I've really enjoyed this and I never thought that I would, but so far it's been paying dividends and because of that, it will make me train better and be consistent. If it has a use, then I'll do it.

I did of course get completely carried away in my last post, shooting off about sub10. That shouldn't be my goal. My goal is consistency and as long as I am, then I will get my reward, whatever that may be. Enjoy the process. Do the training. Be happy.

Well, that escalated quickly!

I've entered an Ironman.

After realising that PBP was not going to happen next year, but being all psyched up and ready to head to the continent for a big event, I felt the need to put something in the calendar for next year. So, I've registered for Ironman Switzerland. No half measures; no faffing; no pontificating.

Sub 10 is the aim. Training starts now, in fact training has already been going on for the last 8 weeks.
I'm excited. I'm looking forward to the process. I have confidence in my ability to prepare as well as can be expected within the time budget that I have as a dad, husband and working bloke.

Bring. It. On. #Sub10

Minimal Ironman training

Up until a few weeks ago I was doing very little exercise and I was really missing it. When I did bimble out for a run to ride it really helped me to de-stress and I remembered what I have been missing, but when time's tight it's easy to take the easy option and junk the planned run or ride in favour of something else. I tend to dislike the threads that I see on various triathlon forums that are titled 'What's the least amount of training I can get away with and still get around an Ironman?' It just seems all wrong to me. Shouldn't it be 'What's the most I can do in the time I have available and get around an Ironman?' That said, I have been paying a lot more attention to these ideas and training methods if I am to go long again at any time in the future.

Then again, there's the question, 'If I want to go sub(17/16/15/14/13/12/11/10) hours, what's the minimum amount of training I will need to do?' I know that I cannot set aside 20+ hours per week to train and to be honest, I don't want to anyway, as there are too many other factors in my life which are important to me. But, I would like to race long again and work towards a time goal, sub 12 as a minimum and sub 11 hours as a bit more of a stretch target. But how can I do that on the limited time that I have? I've read Fink from cover to cover and while there's some good advice in there the thought of following a 30 week schedule with a lot of early doors long aerobic work is not for me. I just don't think I have the dedication to follow something like that so religiously for so long.


So I started looking around for other ways of approaching Ironman training and I hunted around the tinterweb for some advice. 'My Secret Sauce' by Sami Inkinen, a Kona qualifier with a sub 9 personal best  discusses some points which turns a lot of conventional IM training wisdom on its head and makes really interesting. This blogpost came up with some really useful stuff too.

The common threads are a) biking on a turbo trainer, b) no brick workouts and c) no long runs.

While I'm cycling everyday to work, it's a very congested and short ride so just not suitable for specific cycle training. Now it's winter my Argon is bolted to the turbo so I can jump on and do a 45-90 minute specific turbo session which is a lot more time efficient than trying to get out on the bike.

I found a couple of posts, like the one here written by the excellent Coach Cox that also gave some pointers on time crunched Ironman training. 7-10 hours per week is considered minimal, so just over an hour per day and when you factor in a weekend bike of 2-3 hours that's only 4-6 hours of training during the rest of the week. The other key factor here which would really help me is only one session per day, rather than trying to squeeze in two per day. This means getting an early session in before work is potentially doable, particularly if it's a turbo session in the garage.

So, my thinking for the next few months is this;

1. No swim training at all. Forget it. I can swim and when I get nearer to the event then I'll stick my wetsuit on. At the moment it just isn't time efficient. If I were to do two swim sessions per week it might make me 10-15 minutes faster over an IM race; in the grand scheme of things this is not worth my time.
2. Turbo twice per week. One long interval session (based around 2x20 intervals) and one short interval session (based on 8-10 repeats of 2-5 minute efforts.)
3. One long ride per week; this might be an hour on the way home or a 2-3 hour Sunday ride.
4. A long run, no longer than 90 minutes in duration. I will put some fartlek efforts in their to add some variability and speed.
5. One 30-40 minute run with intervals.

This will give approximately 7 hours per week, which in anyone's book is minimal Ironman training. The last three weeks have seen me start the process of adopting the above strategies. The turbo sessions have been hard work but they have already started to pay dividends. I went on a slow ride with Simon yesterday, just to catch up and have a coffee, but we climbed Crocknorth Road, one of my favourite hills and I felt pretty good the whole way up, even getting to the bridge before Simon, which has not happened in over a year. This year's season has given me the impetus to kick on next year and go long again. Let's see how little I can do to do it.

Watching an Ironman

A pretty standard week except for one notable exception. Two swims! Yes, I said TWO swims! Two slow and achy swims, but two swims nonetheless. The first was at Kingfisher Tri, with me using flippers for the first time in a long time and trying to perfect a drill called the 'broken arrow'. Apparently it helps with a high elbow in the recovery phase of the stroke. By the end of the session I had just about got it but the first half an hour saw me completely cocking it up with lots of over rotation and trying to breathe in while my face was underwater. The second swim was a Coach Cox set with 2x500 and 4x250 as the main set. The 500s were ok but I rapidly went downhill during the 250s mainly due to both feet cramping up. I could barely get out the pool at the end and cramped up again as I made my way to the shower. I don't think there can be a sight as unattractive sight in the world as a middle age man in budgie smugglers hobbling round the outside of a pool while almost every muscle in his legs refuses to work.

Last night I was watching the Ironman World Championships from Kona. I watched the swim and most of the bike before going to bed dreaming of trip to the Big Island, only to wake up eight hours later with it tipping down in greyand overcast Surrey. Simon and I had another steady three hour ride a la last week, taking it easy and having a chin wag. The only real effort was on the second half of Boxhill when a whipper snapper went past us. Anyway I got my head down and pushed on with him hanging onto my back wheel. I beat him to the top. He had a beard so I couldn't let him get ahead.

Ironman UK

So while I was away on holiday, the Ironman UK race was taking part in sunny Bolton. It's an event that usually attracts a lot of the Tritalk crowd and in particular I wanted to try to follow Lee's progress during the race. Unfortunately it was not to be with my phone conking out as soon as we arrived and due to a technical hitch, no way of charging it until the following Wednesday. I spent most of that Sunday, mentally ticking off where Lee should have probably go to on the course and hoping that his race was progressing as planned. It turns out that it had and then some.


I had been following Lee's progress on his blog for a couple of years and I  had given him some of my thoughts on how to go about it but I have to say that his approach was far superior to my rather haphazard approach to the Forestman and his dedication to his 30 week plan really paid dividends. I had told him that if he beat my Forestman time then I would double my sponsorship for his charity and needless to say that is precisely what I will now have to do. Can't say that I mind. :-)

Lee's written a great blog about his race here.

Another IMUK blog comes from another member of the Tritalk community, Dave Rowe. Again, it's a wonderful read, even though he is a pirate. ;-) It's encouraging to read about a couple of Ironman athletes where the wheels don't fall off and it proves that with the correct training, pacing and nutrition that it can be done.

In other news..

Yep, mullered my Achilles. I did a lot of stretching yesterday and tried a gentle run as it didn't feel too bad but I only managed 5 minutes before turning round and coming home . Thanks to Phil to pointing me in the direction of the Alfredson protocol which will become a focus over the next few weeks in place of running while I continue to bike and swim.

Onwards