Back in the saddle last week with a solid 13 hours of training and thankfully, I seem to be pretty much fully recovered from my Forestman exertions. It was finished off with a really enjoyable ride around the Surrey Hills with some of the peeps from Tritalk (thanks, again, for organising it Phil). 75 miles completed with some hard efforts up Coombe and Crocknorth but I was able to get towed most of the way round. ;-)
I had been chatting to Phil during the ride about getting my run legs sorted in preparation for a future IM race. I have almost become scared of running too often, feeling like my legs are made of glass and that I must constantly be vigilant in case I bring on an injury that curtails my training significantly. Once again, I think it's a state of mind that I have allowed myself to develop and I need to have a lot more confidence. The fact is, my 'run' legs have not been injured for well over 6 months, so what's holding me back? Simple answer; me!
Phil had 2 suggestions based on his experience. Firstly, go out and run every day and build up my run volume gradually. The second idea was to enter an ultra marathon!
Well, the first point is one that I am going to attempt and should be well within my grasp. I intend to run every day between now and August 31st which is a total of 53 days from when I started at the weekend. I will run primarily by feel; if I need to run short and slow then I Will do so; if I can do 3 hours, then I will. I also intend to ensure that it's not all one paced and get some speed work going on. Some of my runs will also be brick efforts off the bike, both long and short.
Being a keen listener of the Marathon Talk podcasts I was really interested in the Comrades Ultra marathon and the idea of having a go at one really appeals; I'm not entirely sure that I can get to a state where my legs are bomb proof enough to run for 56 miles from London to Brighton, but my self imposed summer running challenge will at least kick start the process and get me running properly again.
Three days in and all good do far.....
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
A week in Recovery and beyond
It was a strange week, last week. The preceeding two months had seen me completing more hours of training than ever before and I had seen real gains as a result, particularly in the swim and bike, so to spend a week doing very little in terms of training was hard to do. The Forestman went exactly as I had expected it to but that didn't stop me being a little bit dissapointed with the last 5 hours of it, though. However, what brought me back down to earth was the reaction from friends and family that knew about the race. Gradually, over the week people found out, the word spread and I got more and more attention. I have to say, it was nice. :-) There would be the usual glazed look as I explained the distances in each event; yes, completed one after the other; no, I didn't stop for a rest; yes, it hurt.
It didn't stop me struggling though. I went into work on monday and I was soooo tired, although not particularly sore. I ate and I ate and I ate some more. And I drank, constantly. I enjoyed that too! I had read a lot about people having post-event blues but other than the 'could do better' feeling, I have not had them at all and I have been itching to get back into some structured training, which has now, thankfully, begun.
But, I do want to do a lot better. I have learnt an awful lot from doing the Forestman and I have been genuinely surprised at the gains I made in a modest amount of time and it's shown me that I believe I can get a pretty fast Ironman knocked out; but talk is cheap. I need to put in the consistent hard work over the next year to achieve that and the last 8 weeks has taught me that it is possible for me to fit that in around work and family life. Not easy, but possible. Simon seems keen to do the Big Woody at the end of the season. I have decided that this is not for me. I am going to keep training, do a couple of Olympics and target an end of season HIM with a view to nailing that sub 5 hour time and then work towards an IM next year. I'd love to go abroad (IM Switzerland would be ideal if finances allow) but if not I would think that next year's Outlaw would be the race of choice.
I have always thought about what would be a perfect IM race for me and in light of the Forestman I have revised what I believe I can achieve. So, here goes;
Swim - Sub 1 Hour (Have done that at the Forestman but would like to get down to 57-58 mins)
Bike - Sub 6 (ideally 5.45). A tough one and if I am honest, I'm not entirely sure how to go about this. The long Forestman rides have really helped my speed endurance but I think I am going to need to keep the volume consistently high and introduce some really high quality sessions. Maybe I need to get out and ride in a faster group to push myself more?
Run. Sub 4 (ideally 3.50) I know I can do this but I have to keep my run volume consistent (3-4 runs per week), stay injury free and have quality sessions in there. I am plodding too much and not running regularly enough. I am considering getting a gait analysis done. It's obvious that I am very weak in certain muscle groups and this is causing me to get injured too often so I need to develop better strength and flexibility.
So basically, that leaves me wanting to complete an Ironman that starts with a 10. Yikes.
It didn't stop me struggling though. I went into work on monday and I was soooo tired, although not particularly sore. I ate and I ate and I ate some more. And I drank, constantly. I enjoyed that too! I had read a lot about people having post-event blues but other than the 'could do better' feeling, I have not had them at all and I have been itching to get back into some structured training, which has now, thankfully, begun.
But, I do want to do a lot better. I have learnt an awful lot from doing the Forestman and I have been genuinely surprised at the gains I made in a modest amount of time and it's shown me that I believe I can get a pretty fast Ironman knocked out; but talk is cheap. I need to put in the consistent hard work over the next year to achieve that and the last 8 weeks has taught me that it is possible for me to fit that in around work and family life. Not easy, but possible. Simon seems keen to do the Big Woody at the end of the season. I have decided that this is not for me. I am going to keep training, do a couple of Olympics and target an end of season HIM with a view to nailing that sub 5 hour time and then work towards an IM next year. I'd love to go abroad (IM Switzerland would be ideal if finances allow) but if not I would think that next year's Outlaw would be the race of choice.
I have always thought about what would be a perfect IM race for me and in light of the Forestman I have revised what I believe I can achieve. So, here goes;
Swim - Sub 1 Hour (Have done that at the Forestman but would like to get down to 57-58 mins)
Bike - Sub 6 (ideally 5.45). A tough one and if I am honest, I'm not entirely sure how to go about this. The long Forestman rides have really helped my speed endurance but I think I am going to need to keep the volume consistently high and introduce some really high quality sessions. Maybe I need to get out and ride in a faster group to push myself more?
Run. Sub 4 (ideally 3.50) I know I can do this but I have to keep my run volume consistent (3-4 runs per week), stay injury free and have quality sessions in there. I am plodding too much and not running regularly enough. I am considering getting a gait analysis done. It's obvious that I am very weak in certain muscle groups and this is causing me to get injured too often so I need to develop better strength and flexibility.
So basically, that leaves me wanting to complete an Ironman that starts with a 10. Yikes.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
The Forestman Triathlon 2011
While I have been competing in triathlons for a number of years now, having a go at an iron distance race had always been a large goal. Lack of consistency in my approach and a smattering of injuries in the last couple of years had prevented me from making the comittment but at the end of last year I made the decision to enter the Forestman, as I knew that if I entered an event then I would usually find my way to the start line somehow. I got sidetracked, again, with Adam and I entering the DW but I looked at it as good core and conditioning and the running I was doing seemed to help, but bike work and swimming was sporadic. Once the DW was out the way, it left me with approximately 8 weeks or so to get into some sort of shape and over those weeks I was comfortably averaging 11-12 hours per week (peaking at 15 hours 3 weeks out). Swimming and cycling suddenly clicked, but at the expense of any proper run volume. As the race approached it was obvious that it was going to be about getting to T2 and then get to the end as best as I could. A target time was out the window; it was just going to be about finishing and learning.
Simon had entered the event with me so we decided to share a tent at Sandy Balls. It's a great venue, but our pitch was sandwiched between a particulary noisy family, a set of bins and the children's playground; not exactly perfect A race preparation. We got the tent up and headed off to lunch and the race briefing where we caught up with a few TT'ers. The briefing given by Richard was thorough and good humoured and after sorting out all the pre-race stuff we racked our bikes and drove the bike route again. At 7pm it was heads down but I didn't drop off until gone 11pm, listening to the family next door arguing as they put the kids to bed. I ended up waking at 2.15am and dozed until the alarm went off at 3.15 and had a breakfast that consisted of a banana, bowl of cereal and a power bar and began sipping on weak energy drink. We got our own back as we noisily packed the tent and got ready to board the shuttle bus for Ellingham Lake.
At Ellingham we had a final check of kit (tyres were still inflated; always a good sign!) and then got the wettie on ready for the off, which was to be slightly delayed due to some mist. A chaplain said a blessing on the lakeside which got the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and brought a significant lump to my throat and then we waddled into the water, ready to go.
Swim 66.30 (including T1)
It's funny, I just felt so much more comfortable during this swim than any other OW swim that I've done before. In the past I have trained exclusively in the pool and only done the odd OW session to familiarise myself, whereas in the build up to the Forestman I actually trained properly in OW and it showed. I loved every minute of it. My sighting was great, so much so that I and a small group on the first lap seemed to be the only people at the time to do a full lap, with most of the rest of the field cutting off a corner. There was quite a bit of biff at the start but it really didn't bother me this time, the only real problem being leaky goggles due to getting a kick at the end of lap 1, which was easliy sorted. Simon and I started together and about 400 metres in I saw his distictive white goggles next to me; I was not to see him again until T2.
The mist made everything very atmospheric and monchrome and I was reminded me of Robert Capa's Omaha Beach photographs; it's weird how the mind works at times. I had made a conscious decision to find feet as often as possible, but I ensured that I kept my own sighting going and on the second lap I got into a group of 6 and I was right in the middle getting a great tow and we were all swimming straight, which meant I was not constantly worried about being swum over. At the end of the second lap I could see that we were not taking the same line as we had before but the safety guys in the kayaks were not making us change course so I followed on and had a strong last lap. As I was helped up the ramp I checked my watch and saw the numbers change from 59.59 to 1.00. To say I was happy would be an understatement as I was looking at a time of between 70 and 80 minutes. The day had started really well.
I went into the change tent and realised that there were not any screens to get changed behind and my towel was the size of a small beer mat, so I ended up getting stripped off in the corner while the marshalls tittered behind me. I had trouble getting my cycle jersey on over wet skin but after a bit of thrashing I had it over me, picked up my bike and made it to the mount line.
 |
| On the climb at the top of Ornamental Drive |
For me, the last 8 weeks had been all about the bike and I really wanted to put in a solid bike leg in the race. During HIM races I usually do something around 2.55-3.00 hours, so at IM intensity I was expecting to target something in the region of 6.30-40. It really helped having recce'd the course a few weeks before and the course very much suited me, with fairly rolling terrain. I took the first 25 minutes or so really easily, spinning out of Ellingham and letting my heart rate settle down before I started to take fluids on board. I had my own bottle of PSP and a bottle of nuun which I planned to consume on the first lap before switching to mule bars and water for the second lap and a half and then for the last hour going onto the Infinite energy drink from the aid stations. It turned out that while I was getting the energy on board in solid form, I was not taking enough liquid on, which would come back to bite me eight hours later. For most of the first lap I was with another chap on a full TT set up and we were swapping places but on any climb I would end up going past as he mashed up the hills, which looked quite painful to me. On every climb I would take the opportunity to spin and at no point did I feel that I was pushing too hard.
In the main, the bike was quite a lonely affair; the fast guys were well off the front and I only had a few people go past me. Slacko caught me at the end of the second lap and I could see that he had taken a nasty looking tumble. I asked him about it as he went past but he was travelling so fast that his words were whipped away by the wind. After that, I was on my own.
The third lap got a little tougher due to the wind picking up so I consciously kept in the small chainring for longer periods. I didn't feel that I particularly needed to but I was mindful of the fact I had a long run ahead of me and that I needed to not over exert myself. At Ornamental drive I overtook a couple of guys who had gone past me some 70 miles before and it was obvious that at least one of them had blown up quite badly. The final run-in was really good and I felt that I had paced it well. I saw 6.08 ish on the cycle computer as I turned in Sandy balls. faster than planned but in terms of RPE I felt I had hit it bang on. Woop woop me!
Back into the change tent, with more gsnerking from the lady marshalls as I got naked (I did warn them and apologise beforehand), before heading out past the finish chute, onto the run. As I headed out I got a shout from Simon who was just coming into T2, some 15 minutes behind.
Run 5.18 (ouch; including T2)
Ok, I am a runner, so I keep telling myself and anyone else that'll listen. despite lack of run training in the last 8 weeks, I geniunely felt that I should be able to muddle my way around a 4.30 marathon; maybe 5 to 5.5hours as the absolute worse case scenario. So after my really pleasing bike and swim, I was suddenly staring down the barrel of a potential 11.45 ish IM debut. Oh, how wrong could I be.
I had a terrible run, in fact, very little running was involved. Now the more experienced triathletes that may be reading this would say, 'You hit the bike too hard and paid for it on the run.' I genuinely don't think that was the case. The two things that made me come unstuck were the heat (but more specifically, not preparing myself for the heat) and not enough run volume in training. I really do not belive that had I been 15 or 30 minutes slower on the bike that it would have prepared me any better for the run. The point is, and it's a very important point that I forgot, is that 26 miles is a really long way and even a run walk strategy can be hard work; factor in the terrain and the run surface involved in this race and it was always going to end in tears.
I got onto the main loop ok, but then it all started to unravel pretty quickly. The slightest rise, let alone hill would see me grinding to a fairly rapid halt. The loop was basically in two parts; a hillier shady bit (which I could run more of) or a flatter, exposed section, which I could not. It was really disconcerting to find myself with my heart rate going through the roof while running along a flat section. Gradually, the walks got longer and the 'runs' got shorter and I was taking longer and longer to get going at each aid station. I would put 2 cups of water over my head, drink a cup and take about half a cup of infinite. Each time I would try to get running again but my stomach was having none of it and I would have to walk out the aid station for 5 minutes or so in order to let things settle down. I could feel myself overheating on the exposed section and longed to be back into the shade to get some respite.
While all this was going on and I was caught up in my own little world of misery there were a few things that were keeping me going. Simon was going great and it was obvious that he was going to pass me and it was great to see him, have a high five and encourage each other. He caught me at exactly half way and proceeded to put another 20 minutes over me; top bombing from the fella. The support at the aid stations and from the spectators was amazing and some really stick out; the Serpie guy with a hooter and the chaps from the Tri club who were marshalling the aid station where you collected your bands at the end of each lap. Top fellas, but there were so many people out there, encouraging, clapping, cheering. It was very humbling to be honest.
The really low point came as I came in to collect my second band. I had two of the three bands which of course seems like a long way into the run and as I came into the aid station I saw the mile marker that said I still had 12 miles to go. I definetley had a bit of a wobbly bottom lip moment, took the band and walked away onto my final lap trying to console myself with the fact that I was now heading towards my blue and final band.
I don't remember too much about the final lap but my one abiding memory from the day is the lady at the middle aid station. I don't know if I am reading more into this than I should be, but I went through that aid station 7 times and I am fairly certain that every single time it was her who handed me my water and infinite and asked if I was ok and I started to get a sense that she was looking out for me, which only now, a few days later, can I truly appreciate. On the last visit where we turned for home I was bent double as I poured water over my head and she asked if I wanted to sit down in the shade, but I felt that if I did that then that would be me out of the event. I knew I was not feeling great but I also knew I wasn't far from the finish so I politely said no and walked on. The medical cover was excellent and all the marshalls were doing a fabulous job, but if she's reading this then there's a massive thank youfrom me.
I had started the run with a guy called Tom, we had had a little chat right at the start and all the way through we had been passing each other but as we went into the last 5 km's he pulled out ahead and I saw him walking up the steep hill to the last aid station. I think he ended up finishing some 10 minutes ahead of me, which I guess shows how much further I was slowing down at the time. I finally got onto the road, past the pub, past the pom pom girls (thanks for the jelly baby and sympathy Mrs M) and then into the finish chute. I don't remember what I said to Richard as I crossed the line and shook his hand but again, there wasn't much emotion at the time except just being glad that I could stop putting one foot in front of the other and sit down.
Afterwards.
The next couple of hours were not pretty. Every other finisher around me was tucking heartily into the excellent food that was laid on. I put a single spoonful of rice on a plate which stayed there and ate half an apple, which I promptly brought straight back up. Simon went and got me more water from the med tent and an energy block chewy thing which took me a while to get through and I had a few crisps to try to get some salt back into me. I didn't appreciate how dehydrated I had become and it took me a good 36 hours to rebalance. I had a shower and slowy I bagean to feel better and realise what I had achieved. Simon's wife and kids had come down to watch him finish but they had to get straight back, so we drove back and swapped stories about our race, which was a great way to finish the day. I got home and I drank almost 2 pints of ice cold milk and demolished a quiche. It was, simply, heaven.
So the plan was to finish, which I did. But what now? Well, it's confirmed a couple of things. Firstly, I know that somewhere inside me there is a half decent IM race waiting to be run but it's a case of me stringing everything together and getting everything right at the same time and it comes back to consistency, again. Secondly, I have to get my running legs back and get some long runs in and prepare mentally to do 26 miles at the end of an IM. On reflection, I lost the mental battle to keep running when I could probably have done so. And lastly, the rules of the 7 p's. I need to prepare for the conditions better. I suffered in the heat on Sunday but it need not have been like that, so with some better consideration of clothing, equipment and nutrition then I reckon I can nail one.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
A few days to go
Slap bang in the middle of taper time and as usual I'm getting itchy feet. My 'taper madness' has mainly manifested itself in raiding the fridge, although I've tried to keep it to relatively healthy choices (almost). I find I tend to eat too much when I get stressed and the last couple of weeks at work and with family, have added to that; throw an impending Ironman race into the mix and it can start to get ugly. Taper madness also usually entails me heading to the shops for last minute 'essential supplies'. To be fair, I did buy gels and 2 new tubes which are essential. The tri top I bought? Not so much. But you can never have too much lycra, right?
Taper training has been much of the same as the last 8 weeks, keeping the intensity up but cutting back on the volume. At the weekend, Simon and I did our last OW swim at Heron Lake. 3km steady, although I upped the rpe a little over the last 2 laps. It was a comfortable, if unspectacular swim with much better sighting that last time. We did a long ride the day after, although it was only 2.15 hrs. We headed off on the hilly route that took in Effingham, Ranmoor, Cranleigh and Dorking, skipping out Boxhill. I felt strong and was not working hard. I think I probably fell into the trap of letting the ride be a little aimless and therefore didn't enjoy it as much. Both Simon and I had punctures which was annoying, but hopefully that's my visit from the puncture fairy for the week. *fingers crossed* I had a really encouraging run yesterday. A shade under 70 minutes, clipping along, low rpe, no twinges; fantastically boring!
I've had some interesting comments from people as I have gradually let the cat out of the bag about the race. A friend from work came in today from being on maternity leave. 'You've lost weight, in fact you look gaunt.' There was me thinking I looked rugged and athletic. :-/ Adam was giving me a grilling about what time I thought I would be doing it in. I genuinely don't know. I have purposely not timed myself when doing the OW swims, just ensuring that I get a sense of effort level and stroke rate. I have timed a couple of my long rides but again I have really tried to ignore the cycle computer and disengage myself from the outside, instead trying to focus on within, how I feel, what my effort level's like and how tired I am feeling. I have developed a pretty good sense for that now and I have confidence that I know enough to keep things under control.
The run is a completely different kettle of fish. As I have said before, that would normally be the bit that I would have most confidence in, but this is a long way from anything that I have ever done before. Under 'normal circumstances', I would like to think that I could knock out a 4 hour marathon relatively comfortably, but, having 112 bike miles and 2.4 miles of swimming already in my body is not normal. I think I could be run / walking for anything up to 6 hours or so, although I hope not. During my training runs I have tried to get into the habit of 'micro-chunking'. Looking no more than a few feet ahead and running to that point. Geez, it's boring, but it may be a strategy I can use when it gets tough to try to keep my legs turning over running, as opposed to walking. Talking of turn over, I have also tried to run with a shorter stride but keeping the cadence relatively high. When the wheels fall off, as they will surely do, it'll be a run / walk strategy, trying to ensure that I keep the walk breaks small and manageable. That's the plan; just gotta do the race.
Taper training has been much of the same as the last 8 weeks, keeping the intensity up but cutting back on the volume. At the weekend, Simon and I did our last OW swim at Heron Lake. 3km steady, although I upped the rpe a little over the last 2 laps. It was a comfortable, if unspectacular swim with much better sighting that last time. We did a long ride the day after, although it was only 2.15 hrs. We headed off on the hilly route that took in Effingham, Ranmoor, Cranleigh and Dorking, skipping out Boxhill. I felt strong and was not working hard. I think I probably fell into the trap of letting the ride be a little aimless and therefore didn't enjoy it as much. Both Simon and I had punctures which was annoying, but hopefully that's my visit from the puncture fairy for the week. *fingers crossed* I had a really encouraging run yesterday. A shade under 70 minutes, clipping along, low rpe, no twinges; fantastically boring!
I've had some interesting comments from people as I have gradually let the cat out of the bag about the race. A friend from work came in today from being on maternity leave. 'You've lost weight, in fact you look gaunt.' There was me thinking I looked rugged and athletic. :-/ Adam was giving me a grilling about what time I thought I would be doing it in. I genuinely don't know. I have purposely not timed myself when doing the OW swims, just ensuring that I get a sense of effort level and stroke rate. I have timed a couple of my long rides but again I have really tried to ignore the cycle computer and disengage myself from the outside, instead trying to focus on within, how I feel, what my effort level's like and how tired I am feeling. I have developed a pretty good sense for that now and I have confidence that I know enough to keep things under control.
The run is a completely different kettle of fish. As I have said before, that would normally be the bit that I would have most confidence in, but this is a long way from anything that I have ever done before. Under 'normal circumstances', I would like to think that I could knock out a 4 hour marathon relatively comfortably, but, having 112 bike miles and 2.4 miles of swimming already in my body is not normal. I think I could be run / walking for anything up to 6 hours or so, although I hope not. During my training runs I have tried to get into the habit of 'micro-chunking'. Looking no more than a few feet ahead and running to that point. Geez, it's boring, but it may be a strategy I can use when it gets tough to try to keep my legs turning over running, as opposed to walking. Talking of turn over, I have also tried to run with a shorter stride but keeping the cadence relatively high. When the wheels fall off, as they will surely do, it'll be a run / walk strategy, trying to ensure that I keep the walk breaks small and manageable. That's the plan; just gotta do the race.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
The hard stuff's done.
I didn't get the volume of training in this week that I had planned as more important family and work stuff took priority but I was able to get the most important sessions done this week. A couple of swims and yesterday's at Heron Lake saw me complete 4km and emerge from the water pretty fresh which was a massive confidence boost. Also managed to get my sighting sorted, (except for the bit where I swam into a buoy)Open water swimming, enjoyable? Who'd of thunk it?
Not as much cycling done as I wanted but Simon and I paired up for a 2up TT on Wednesday. The weather was atrocious with the heavens opening literally as we pushed off. I was really heavy legged at the start again but we managed a long 25, which in the circumstances was pretty good. The only other rides of mote was my 2 long Sunday rides last week and today. 4 of us went out last week and the plan was for me to have a recovery ride of around 50-60 miles. It became, unintentionally, a 70 mile fartlek ride. Simon had had a long run the day before so he was suffering for most of it, but I felt really good. Another member of the group, John, was a very strong rider but it was really good for me to be pulled along by him and to also take some extended turns on the front and sprint hard up hills. Lots. Of. Fun. Today was my last long ride before the race and we headed off the Ditchling Beacon again. We left early to try to beat the weather and for the first hour it was lovely, but once again, the clouds gathered, the temperature dropped and the light drizzle started. I am feeling really good about the bike at the moment. It's always been my particularly weak discipline but I think that in these long rides I have managed to learn to pace them really well. Once again today, my 92nd mile was as strong as my first and as long as I can do that on race day then I'll be pleased with that.
The worrying thing is my running, my supposedly strongest discipline. Lack of volume has meant that when I have run long, like I did on Monday it was very uncomfortable. I did 1.45 before I had to stop and walk. Once again, my foot began to ache and became painful, forcing me to stop and walk / run the rest of the way home. Having said that, that's what I'm going to do on race day and I can't do much about it now anyway. Which ever way you dice it, it's going to hurt.
Two weeks to go. Time to taper and not eat too much.
Not as much cycling done as I wanted but Simon and I paired up for a 2up TT on Wednesday. The weather was atrocious with the heavens opening literally as we pushed off. I was really heavy legged at the start again but we managed a long 25, which in the circumstances was pretty good. The only other rides of mote was my 2 long Sunday rides last week and today. 4 of us went out last week and the plan was for me to have a recovery ride of around 50-60 miles. It became, unintentionally, a 70 mile fartlek ride. Simon had had a long run the day before so he was suffering for most of it, but I felt really good. Another member of the group, John, was a very strong rider but it was really good for me to be pulled along by him and to also take some extended turns on the front and sprint hard up hills. Lots. Of. Fun. Today was my last long ride before the race and we headed off the Ditchling Beacon again. We left early to try to beat the weather and for the first hour it was lovely, but once again, the clouds gathered, the temperature dropped and the light drizzle started. I am feeling really good about the bike at the moment. It's always been my particularly weak discipline but I think that in these long rides I have managed to learn to pace them really well. Once again today, my 92nd mile was as strong as my first and as long as I can do that on race day then I'll be pleased with that.
The worrying thing is my running, my supposedly strongest discipline. Lack of volume has meant that when I have run long, like I did on Monday it was very uncomfortable. I did 1.45 before I had to stop and walk. Once again, my foot began to ache and became painful, forcing me to stop and walk / run the rest of the way home. Having said that, that's what I'm going to do on race day and I can't do much about it now anyway. Which ever way you dice it, it's going to hurt.
Two weeks to go. Time to taper and not eat too much.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Key Sessions
I managed to get my key sessions done this weekend but the extra bits that I had planned were scrapped. On Friday I arrived home from work after taking my now customary long route home via Boxhill, only to arrive and I just felt completely wiped out again. I then spent the next 24 hours with a scratchy throat which I know is usually the first sign that I'm trying to fight something off. I woke the next day feeling lethargic and very tired despite a solid 9 hours sleep, still with itchy eyes and throat, so instead of the 50 miler I had planned I took to the sofa, played with little wheezy and had some down time. By the evening, following an industrial amount of Vitamin C I was feeling a bit better so did a gentle hour on the turbo just to spin my legs out and then in bed by 9.30.The day after was to be our next key session, a long bike on the Forestman bike course with a run off. Thankfully I woke up feeling pretty good, despite spending 10 hours on my feet after the swim, at London Zoo with my 2 favourite girls. (Useless fact of the day; the collective noun for a group of Otters is a romp).
We found a place to park up near Sandy Balls, where T2 will be on race day, and headed off with a map and directions. The first lap was done at a pretty slow average speed because we had to keep checking our position and we took a couple of wrong turns, so it was really nice to stick the instructions away for lap 2 and just get our heads down. It was a very pretty course with a good mix of technical stuff, long open roads across the plains and on the A35 and pretty wooded roads but it drizzled on us all day and by the end we were quite cold and wet through. The course itself is not hilly at all, with only 2 short, sharp climbs to negotiate and the vast majority of it was spent on the tri-bars. Simon has found long bike rides hard in the past but he was looking much stronger yesterday. Usually, on the rolling hills I have the slight edge while he can climb much better than me when the gradient gets sharper but he's developed a lot more ME so he was pulling at the front really effectively. We were out for 6 hours of which 5hrs 40 was actually moving, the other 20 minutes were spent asking other people (who were also lost) where we thought we were. We ere both very cold and wet when we arrived back so scrapped the run recce in favour of getting back home. With 95 miles on the clock we had done enough.
The really good thing is that I feel relatively fresh today. I had a tinker with my bike position this week and raised my saddle by 3 mm's and it feels like it's made quite a difference. My hamstrings have been very tight and this has been compounded by spending a lot of time in a TT position but by opening my hip angle it's taken quite a lot of pressure off them. I am so pleased that I bought my Euros last year; a long 6 hour ride does not feel long at all.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Trials and Tribulations
After the 100 mile bike at the weekend I spent the early part of the week suffering for it with my body finding it hard to cope with the training stress. In the last 4 weeks I had only had 2 days off and this had rather caught up with me as I was not recovering enough. So I took a rest day on Monday with Tuesday being a bike to work with my longer route taken home, spinning gently up Boxhill to try to flush out my legs ready for a swim set in the evening to determine my critical swim speed. After a steady warm up I did the 400m effort in 6.34 but I had paced it badly, going through 200 in 3.12. After more steady swimming I then did the follow up 200tt and was really struggling, finishing that in 3.24, well down on pace. Putting those numbers into the Swimsmooth calculator that gave a 100m pace of 1.35/100 which I knew wasn't right and after some helpful advice from Tritalk I readjusted it to 1.41, which I know was more likely. Apparently, the CSS maths doesn't work if the 200 is slower than the 200 splits of the 400tt.
The next day I tried a gentle run at lunchtime and I got through it but it was a real struggle and I could tell that I was not firing on all cylinders. Everything ached, my calves were really sore again and I just felt generally beat up. So, the perfect opportunity to go out and batter myself at the Phoenix evening 10 on the G10/42 TT course then? Doh.... I probably should have knocked it on the head but hey, it's only 10 miles. ;-) Within the first 30 seconds I knew it was going to be ugly. As you join the A24 there's a very small rise and normally I can get my head down and pull up it in a relatively large gear (for me) but straight away I found myself snicking down through the gears with my legs burning brightly. uuugh. I actually had a better second half, I presume because I had warmed up a bit but I was not surprised to see a new, slowest time in what were not too bad conditions (27.12).
Last night I got back into the pool and did a 3km swim as;
10x100 as 25 full stroke, 25 finger drag, 25 full stroke, 25 catch up.
10x100 on 2 minutes at css pace (1.39, 40,40,41,40,40,40,40,42,42,) really tough but just about held it together.
1000m straight focusing on body roll and catch.
I felt much better and refreshed and hopefully over my 48 hour dip.
A busy few days are planned. A bike commute home tonight then tomorrow I need to fit in a 50 miler, preferably with a run off. Sunday I'm aiming to get to a lake to do a long swim in the wettie and then on Monday Simon and I are heading off to recce the Forestman bike and run course, so hopefully that will be another 100 miles with a 10 mile or so run off.
Replies
Cheers Hodge. I am very much just looking to get round, learn from the experience and then build on it. My aim is to work towards having a go at another IM next year but I will want to really do it justice and achieve a time. I know what I would like to aim for (not saying publicly though ;-) but I will need to be consistent , which, unfortunately, is my weakness. Having said that, I've learnt a lot in the last 6 weeks and feel that I CAN do it. Also means that the DW will need a bit of a rethink. I just don't think it's possible to do both well. Oh, and I STILL want to do a sub 5 half IM; that's probably the thing that I will be working on over the rest of the season.
The next day I tried a gentle run at lunchtime and I got through it but it was a real struggle and I could tell that I was not firing on all cylinders. Everything ached, my calves were really sore again and I just felt generally beat up. So, the perfect opportunity to go out and batter myself at the Phoenix evening 10 on the G10/42 TT course then? Doh.... I probably should have knocked it on the head but hey, it's only 10 miles. ;-) Within the first 30 seconds I knew it was going to be ugly. As you join the A24 there's a very small rise and normally I can get my head down and pull up it in a relatively large gear (for me) but straight away I found myself snicking down through the gears with my legs burning brightly. uuugh. I actually had a better second half, I presume because I had warmed up a bit but I was not surprised to see a new, slowest time in what were not too bad conditions (27.12).
Last night I got back into the pool and did a 3km swim as;
10x100 as 25 full stroke, 25 finger drag, 25 full stroke, 25 catch up.
10x100 on 2 minutes at css pace (1.39, 40,40,41,40,40,40,40,42,42,) really tough but just about held it together.
1000m straight focusing on body roll and catch.
I felt much better and refreshed and hopefully over my 48 hour dip.
A busy few days are planned. A bike commute home tonight then tomorrow I need to fit in a 50 miler, preferably with a run off. Sunday I'm aiming to get to a lake to do a long swim in the wettie and then on Monday Simon and I are heading off to recce the Forestman bike and run course, so hopefully that will be another 100 miles with a 10 mile or so run off.
Replies
Cheers Hodge. I am very much just looking to get round, learn from the experience and then build on it. My aim is to work towards having a go at another IM next year but I will want to really do it justice and achieve a time. I know what I would like to aim for (not saying publicly though ;-) but I will need to be consistent , which, unfortunately, is my weakness. Having said that, I've learnt a lot in the last 6 weeks and feel that I CAN do it. Also means that the DW will need a bit of a rethink. I just don't think it's possible to do both well. Oh, and I STILL want to do a sub 5 half IM; that's probably the thing that I will be working on over the rest of the season.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Another long one in the bank.
I am really pleased with how last week went and I currently have that achy tiredness you get from a sustained period of training. For me, last week included some pretty big numbers, mainly in the saddle. In fact I cycled every day and on four days, twice in a day. It's rather shocked my body but I have to say I already feel fitter, stronger and more comfortable on the bike, which bearing in mind I am going to be spending a lot of time on it during the Forestman, is a good thing. It culminated in two weekend bike sessions, the first being a one hour turbo in the garage followed by a long bike on Sunday. The turbo session was conducted while it was a balmy 22 degrees outside, light winds and broken cloud; the long bike, unfortunately was not.
I was up at 4.30am to get some breakfast in me (big bowl of cereal / banana / tea) and on the road by 5. I was dressed lightly for a sunny ride but within minutes of me stepping outside the door the grey clouds dumped on me and I stopped while I pondered whether to turn round and put more layers on. I decided against it hoping that it would perk up and also assumed that I wouldn't race with a waterproof on, so why train in one? Hmmm....
I took the long way round to Simon's house to meet him and had 40 minutes or so on the clock by the time I got there and then we set out on the A24 to Ditchling Beacon and back. It was pretty grim at first and I was cold and wet, in particular my feet were blocks of ice and I was having trouble shifting the gear levers because my fingers had started to numb up. Oh well, no one said it would be easy. Towards West Grinstead the sun started to make an appearance and my top half began to warm up but my legs felt like wood; I just couldn't get them warmed up, mainly because of my sodden feet and once again, on every slight incline I'd find it hard to maintain my cadence and have to downshift, trying to get my legs to revolve. It seemed that I was going to have a pretty grim day ahead of me. It was however, really good to be cycling on new roads and in new countryside and once we were off the A24 everything became very pretty and it helped to take my mind off how I was feeling. We approached Ditchling and as soon as we hit the bottom, Simon was off and before I knew it I was in the granny gear, pulling myself up. I normally like to sit in the saddle when climbing but I really needed to get out and stretch my legs and I was changing my position constantly; a sure sign that I was not very happy. Simon was waiting for me at the top and we had some food (Elevenses bar; food of Champions;-) and some PSP before turning around and heading back.
Although there was a stiff wind, I felt much better almost straight away. I had been feeding properly on the outward leg but I was just much warmer now and the short rest combined with now dry feet and warmer muscles meant that I was able to maintain my cadence much better. As we made our way home I was really enjoying the fact that I was not now feeling particularly fatigued and even had that nice feeling a couple of times on a rolling road where even though the road is going up it doesn't halt your cadence or speed and there's no need to change down gear. It doesn't happen often, but it's nice when it does. :-)
Simon and I swapped being at the front as we time trialled back home (no drafting btw) and by the time I got back home I had exactly 100 miles on the clock in 5.47.xx including a couple of stops. Not earth shattering, but not too bad either.
As I mentioned in my last post, I've been getting to grips with Training Peaks and the really useful that I have found with it is how it can tell you quickly the ratios of how much you're doing in the different disciplines. I have had a big bike focus over the last 3 weeks that has begun to pay dividends but I need to put some more time into some swim sessions in order that I can arrive at T1 not feeling completely wiped out.
I was up at 4.30am to get some breakfast in me (big bowl of cereal / banana / tea) and on the road by 5. I was dressed lightly for a sunny ride but within minutes of me stepping outside the door the grey clouds dumped on me and I stopped while I pondered whether to turn round and put more layers on. I decided against it hoping that it would perk up and also assumed that I wouldn't race with a waterproof on, so why train in one? Hmmm....
I took the long way round to Simon's house to meet him and had 40 minutes or so on the clock by the time I got there and then we set out on the A24 to Ditchling Beacon and back. It was pretty grim at first and I was cold and wet, in particular my feet were blocks of ice and I was having trouble shifting the gear levers because my fingers had started to numb up. Oh well, no one said it would be easy. Towards West Grinstead the sun started to make an appearance and my top half began to warm up but my legs felt like wood; I just couldn't get them warmed up, mainly because of my sodden feet and once again, on every slight incline I'd find it hard to maintain my cadence and have to downshift, trying to get my legs to revolve. It seemed that I was going to have a pretty grim day ahead of me. It was however, really good to be cycling on new roads and in new countryside and once we were off the A24 everything became very pretty and it helped to take my mind off how I was feeling. We approached Ditchling and as soon as we hit the bottom, Simon was off and before I knew it I was in the granny gear, pulling myself up. I normally like to sit in the saddle when climbing but I really needed to get out and stretch my legs and I was changing my position constantly; a sure sign that I was not very happy. Simon was waiting for me at the top and we had some food (Elevenses bar; food of Champions;-) and some PSP before turning around and heading back.
Although there was a stiff wind, I felt much better almost straight away. I had been feeding properly on the outward leg but I was just much warmer now and the short rest combined with now dry feet and warmer muscles meant that I was able to maintain my cadence much better. As we made our way home I was really enjoying the fact that I was not now feeling particularly fatigued and even had that nice feeling a couple of times on a rolling road where even though the road is going up it doesn't halt your cadence or speed and there's no need to change down gear. It doesn't happen often, but it's nice when it does. :-)
Simon and I swapped being at the front as we time trialled back home (no drafting btw) and by the time I got back home I had exactly 100 miles on the clock in 5.47.xx including a couple of stops. Not earth shattering, but not too bad either.
As I mentioned in my last post, I've been getting to grips with Training Peaks and the really useful that I have found with it is how it can tell you quickly the ratios of how much you're doing in the different disciplines. I have had a big bike focus over the last 3 weeks that has begun to pay dividends but I need to put some more time into some swim sessions in order that I can arrive at T1 not feeling completely wiped out.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
I should be worried, shouldn't I?
Last couple of weeks have been quite strange. I have been quite relaxed and relatively unfazed by the thought of doing the Forestman in a few weeks. I should point out that I am not saying that in a 'look at me, I'm so blase / aren't I cool' kind of way, but, shouldn't I be freaking out a bit? On a number of occasions and in a number of different contexts I have heard or read people saying 'respect the distance'. It's a phrase that has just kept popping up while I have been listening to podcasts and reading a few blogs and every time I hear it I think to myself, 'You're being too calm, you 're not respecting what you are trying to do'. But no matter what I don't seem to be rising to the bait. I am going to take that as a good thing.
It's taken a while but I'm really enjoying being back on the bike and in the pool and I think a big part of that is because I am genuinely not worried about pace / HR etc. Everything is on feel, RPE and duration of effort and it's liberating to just be out there enjoying a swim, bike or run. I really do feel that I can do the Forestman and most importantly enjoy it. I want to finish it and feel that I want to go and do another one, but only better.
Anyway, what's been going on? Lots of cycling. Commuting to work and then taking a longer route home with a Boxhill ascent has been a real pleasure and gives me a nice 1hr 20 ride home. On Sunday I was up at 5am to meet Simon for us to do a long ride. Simon had already done a 75 mile ride the day before and was remarkably strong as we completed approximately 80 miles. I kept a cork in it and let him skip up the hills ahead of me and towards the end of the ride he was feeling it and I was really pleased that my economy of effort saw me finish the ride strongly. A massive boost. This Sunday we're heading off to Ditchling Beacon and back. Might have to stop for an ice cream. ;-) The next day I went out for a long run to try a 9/1 run walk strategy. I am very much in the camp that says ' run the run' when it comes to the marathon leg of an Ironman but common sense has to prevail. It's a tough course anyway and I do not have the volume to run 26 miles so this seems like it could be a reasonable compromise. With a well paced bike leg (read slow) I am hoping that I can put in a pretty good run. I was quite surprised at how long 9 minutes felt and of course how short 1 minute is, but it gave me enough time to stretch my hamstrings (jeez they get tight) and powermince for a bit before getting going again.
Swimming is improving and while my technique gets ropey very quickly (my catch no longer exists) endurance is coming back and the bad cramps I was suffering have all but gone. I'm stroke counting again and just trying to keep it loose, relaxed and long, but the fact that I am on 21-22 strokes per length highlights my lack of technique and fitness.
I have discovered Training Peaks. It looks pretty good and I have started using it to log my sessions and can see that it could be a really useful tool. Something to tinker with anyway.
It's taken a while but I'm really enjoying being back on the bike and in the pool and I think a big part of that is because I am genuinely not worried about pace / HR etc. Everything is on feel, RPE and duration of effort and it's liberating to just be out there enjoying a swim, bike or run. I really do feel that I can do the Forestman and most importantly enjoy it. I want to finish it and feel that I want to go and do another one, but only better.
Anyway, what's been going on? Lots of cycling. Commuting to work and then taking a longer route home with a Boxhill ascent has been a real pleasure and gives me a nice 1hr 20 ride home. On Sunday I was up at 5am to meet Simon for us to do a long ride. Simon had already done a 75 mile ride the day before and was remarkably strong as we completed approximately 80 miles. I kept a cork in it and let him skip up the hills ahead of me and towards the end of the ride he was feeling it and I was really pleased that my economy of effort saw me finish the ride strongly. A massive boost. This Sunday we're heading off to Ditchling Beacon and back. Might have to stop for an ice cream. ;-) The next day I went out for a long run to try a 9/1 run walk strategy. I am very much in the camp that says ' run the run' when it comes to the marathon leg of an Ironman but common sense has to prevail. It's a tough course anyway and I do not have the volume to run 26 miles so this seems like it could be a reasonable compromise. With a well paced bike leg (read slow) I am hoping that I can put in a pretty good run. I was quite surprised at how long 9 minutes felt and of course how short 1 minute is, but it gave me enough time to stretch my hamstrings (jeez they get tight) and powermince for a bit before getting going again.
Swimming is improving and while my technique gets ropey very quickly (my catch no longer exists) endurance is coming back and the bad cramps I was suffering have all but gone. I'm stroke counting again and just trying to keep it loose, relaxed and long, but the fact that I am on 21-22 strokes per length highlights my lack of technique and fitness.
I have discovered Training Peaks. It looks pretty good and I have started using it to log my sessions and can see that it could be a really useful tool. Something to tinker with anyway.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Too little too late?
Not surprisingly the couple of weeks after the DW saw me doing very little as regards training. I had that typical post event blues which was compounded by not finishing the race. The massive upside was that we managed to raise almost £900 for 'Born too Soon', a charity particularly close to Adam's heart, so that made it all very much worthwhile. Immediately afterwards I really didn't fancy doing the DW ever again but within a couple of days I had changed my mind and this race is still unfinished business, so over the next year the focus will be with us losing as much weight as possible, both off of us and the boat and really nailing our technique. It's those two factors I feel that really killed our race this year. Adam took a few days, but again he really wants to nail it, so he's going to focus on some running at the moment and he's aiming to run a half marathon in the autumn, which is just great.
But, I now have the not inconsiderable hurdle of a long course triathlon to get through. It's fairly obvious to anyone that knows me or has read this blog that I have constantly been putting this race on the backburner, but with less than 7 weeks to go I obviously have had to start thinking about doing some effective training. My expectations for the race are low; VERY low. All I want to do is to get around safely and enjoy the day. I really am just trying to treat it as a long training day and if it goes relatively well and I don't hurt myself (a constant worry) then I will probably enter another Ironman towards the end of the season.
So last week I headed off to the pool and in an effort to keep things simple I just wanted to cover an IM distance swim over the course of the evening, so it was 8 x 400m reps with 90 seconds recovery. It was truly horrific, not surprising after the best part of a 6 month layoff from any structured swim training. My form and aerobic fitness where non-existent and after the first 3 reps I found myself propped up against the side of the pool with the other swimmers looking on in bemused fascination as I took large, heaving breaths. I plugged on, my 'stroke' slowy deteriorating and then the second half of the swim was effectively ruined as cramp in my calves began to get more frequent and more painful. I went back on tuesday night and it was better, it really could not have been much worse. I was not able to complete the 3.2km swim I had planned due to cramp coming on again but the 2.5km that I did do felt easier and I was able to maintain my form a little.
On wednesday I did the Kingston Phoenix evening 10 and managed a long 26 which is a fair way down on my best ime from last year and the conditions were perfect. As I freewheeled to the Holmwood roundabout I had the usual metallic taste in my mouth and some dry heaving, all signs that I had at least given it a good go. The next one's in two weeks and I must remember to take my HRM along and collect a bit of data. Simon and I drove over to Dorking pool afterwards and attended a masters' swim session. Very tough with lots of fly and breastroke, funnily enough, not my best disciplines. :-/ I came out feeling like I had had a good workout though.
This morning I had a 25 minute warm up by cycling over to Richmond Park and then did 3 flying laps. Well, 'flying' about as well as a penguin, but I laid down a time with even splits and was within myself so again, it'll give me a session that I can do to give me a marker. Tomorrow is a long bike session, hopefully up around 100 miles and then a longish run in the evening.
I'm really trying to spend as much time on the bike as possible and even though it's been a while coming the mojo is returning. I'd forgotten how much I like riding my bike. My main worry is not the distances as such or the aerobic requirements, but my lack of body conditioning. Earlier on this week everything ached even though I was only completing a relatively modest training volume and some of my muscle groups are extremely weak. Tight hamstrings seem particularly bad and are having some serious stretching sessions to alleviate the tightness. Strong heart, weak legs. It'll all be fine.....
But, I now have the not inconsiderable hurdle of a long course triathlon to get through. It's fairly obvious to anyone that knows me or has read this blog that I have constantly been putting this race on the backburner, but with less than 7 weeks to go I obviously have had to start thinking about doing some effective training. My expectations for the race are low; VERY low. All I want to do is to get around safely and enjoy the day. I really am just trying to treat it as a long training day and if it goes relatively well and I don't hurt myself (a constant worry) then I will probably enter another Ironman towards the end of the season.
So last week I headed off to the pool and in an effort to keep things simple I just wanted to cover an IM distance swim over the course of the evening, so it was 8 x 400m reps with 90 seconds recovery. It was truly horrific, not surprising after the best part of a 6 month layoff from any structured swim training. My form and aerobic fitness where non-existent and after the first 3 reps I found myself propped up against the side of the pool with the other swimmers looking on in bemused fascination as I took large, heaving breaths. I plugged on, my 'stroke' slowy deteriorating and then the second half of the swim was effectively ruined as cramp in my calves began to get more frequent and more painful. I went back on tuesday night and it was better, it really could not have been much worse. I was not able to complete the 3.2km swim I had planned due to cramp coming on again but the 2.5km that I did do felt easier and I was able to maintain my form a little.
On wednesday I did the Kingston Phoenix evening 10 and managed a long 26 which is a fair way down on my best ime from last year and the conditions were perfect. As I freewheeled to the Holmwood roundabout I had the usual metallic taste in my mouth and some dry heaving, all signs that I had at least given it a good go. The next one's in two weeks and I must remember to take my HRM along and collect a bit of data. Simon and I drove over to Dorking pool afterwards and attended a masters' swim session. Very tough with lots of fly and breastroke, funnily enough, not my best disciplines. :-/ I came out feeling like I had had a good workout though.
This morning I had a 25 minute warm up by cycling over to Richmond Park and then did 3 flying laps. Well, 'flying' about as well as a penguin, but I laid down a time with even splits and was within myself so again, it'll give me a session that I can do to give me a marker. Tomorrow is a long bike session, hopefully up around 100 miles and then a longish run in the evening.
I'm really trying to spend as much time on the bike as possible and even though it's been a while coming the mojo is returning. I'd forgotten how much I like riding my bike. My main worry is not the distances as such or the aerobic requirements, but my lack of body conditioning. Earlier on this week everything ached even though I was only completing a relatively modest training volume and some of my muscle groups are extremely weak. Tight hamstrings seem particularly bad and are having some serious stretching sessions to alleviate the tightness. Strong heart, weak legs. It'll all be fine.....
Monday, 25 April 2011
Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race 2011
Well, the bottom line is that after 8 solid months of training we didn't finish, which is obviously disappointing but at the same time, we can hold our heads high with what we achieved. Most of our training had been conducted in the dark in cold temperatures which I thought would be perfect DW preparation but this turned out to be completely wrong. On the morning of the race when we set off at 10.30am it was already 23 degrees and by mid-afternoon it had risen to 26. We had both ensured that we were fully protected from the sun with factor 50, peaked caps (apparently mine made me look like a camp Frenchman) and fully topped up water bottles with nuun. Over the course of the next 17 hours we were to consume over 20 litres of liquid between us and we only stopped for a pee twice. Adam lost 7 pounds!
After our soul-destroying races at the Waterside A and D races where we had capsized 8 times in total our first goal was to get to Newbury dry, which would do wonders for our confidence. But as we set off I could tell that the conditions were going to fully play their part and we were really finding it hard to get the boat moving through the water as fast as we had in training. Speaking for myself my RPE seemed much higher than I would have expected for that speed and can only attribute it to the heat and trying to keep cool. We were on a 25 hour schedule which I thought would be easily obtainable for us, but with hindsight and looking at the results that was far too optimistic, but at the time it seemed more than doable. However after getting the first pound to Wooton Rivers out of the way we were already 5 minutes down on schedule; an ominous sign that was only to get worse as we progressed. From the off we were overtaken by a steady stream of crews, but more worryingly, crews who we had left with would pull away from us easily, although we usually were able to catch up at the portages only to see them pull away from us again.
The weed early on was a real problem; our boat just seemed to be able to hook it with ease and it was very frustrating to clear it only to have it clog up again. One helpful female paddler ( I think she was an Aussie) helpfully pulled some weed away as she effortlessly glided past. She made it look all too easy. Savernake was bumpy but we took it carefully and got through relatively easily and we walk / jogged the Crofton flight trying to ensure that we didn't send out heart rates through the roof in preparation for the feed stop that was waiting for us at the end. By then we were 7 minutes down.
The next four hours or so saw us plugging our way up to Newbury and this was the part of the course that had kept me awake at night, fretting about the number of capsizes we had during WA and WD. We past each capsize point from these races, mentally ticking them off but neither of us saying anything for fear of jinxing it. I coined a new phrase 'dib dab', so as we went under a bridge, got overtaken by a faster crew or hit a particularly narrow section of the canal with hard banks 'dib dab' would be our cue to be more aware and not do a full stroke if the water seemed to have lots of reflection waves from the banks; it seemed to work and ensured we stayed upright; better for us to lose 5 seconds that way rather than 5 minutes sorting out a capsize. We continued ticking off the locks but the sun beat down on all the crews relentlessly and I was finding that my eyes were getting very sore at times from the light reflections off the water and spent most of my time squinting. My 'camp' hat and nurofen ensured that any headaches were kept at bay.
Getting to Newbury was a massive boost despite now being over 40 minutes down and we had another good feed and bottle change there and got our spray decks back on. We had inadvertently pulled up one metre before the check point so the marshall in the tent was literally waiting for us to cross her line of sight for 5 minutes before she logged us at Newbury. We were now on a fresh bit of the course and our tails were up with our capsize free paddle so far, so we upped the tempo, got our hands higher and in the words of the marathon talk podcast, 'zipped up our mansuits' and got on with it. It was great seeing some new scenery and the next couple of hours was the best bit of paddling we did all race, with an 8 hour warm up and not unduly fatigued. During this phase we saw some of the heartbreak that can befall DW competitors. One crew was on the bank with one bloke holding a footrest that was now in two pieces and later on, I watched as the rear crew member who had portaged with us dropped his boat and the rudder sheared clean off. My brother and his wife were also taking part in the race and they had powered past us a few hours earlier and we then saw them sat on the bank with Jamie nursing a completely smashed paddle. Thankfully I had a spare so they were in the process of waiting for it to arrive and it wouldn't be long before they came past us again once it had arrived.
We got into Aldermaston and we had managed to to claw back 10 minutes or so, in fact Paul and Phil our support were busy looking at another crew and they had no idea we had arrived as we were earlier than they had expected. We eventually tracked them down, got our lights on and headed off to the next few portages before Dreadnaught. Those next two and a half hours got progressively harder. It was great that we were now out of the heat, but as we made our way through Reading at chucking out time, we were both becoming quite weary and needed to kit change and food that was awaiting us. As we approached Reading we ere treated to the most amazing light show as an electrical thunderstorm skirted the town.
Unlike last year, Dreadnaught was much quieter as we were so much later but as soon as I had some home made chicken soup (thanks Margaret!) and got some fresh kit on I was good to go and was really looking forward to the next section to Marlow. Adam, however, was having a tough time. For the last hour or so our portaging had been getting slower. I was finding it really hard to get out the boat; Adam was finding harder to get back in. ;-) His right arm and shoulder was starting to protest and his back was really bothering him and our nurofen was not taking the edge off of it and I could tell from his body language at Dreadnaught that he was worried. By upping our work rate to stay within an hour of our schedule we had kept ourselves in the game but it had come at a price. Anyway, I felt that we could now get a little bit of help from the limited flow on the Thames and begin to tick of the locks towards Teddington.
Unfortunately, the conditions didn't help. A very heavy mist descended making navigation really difficult and we had to turn off our head torches in order that I could see anything ahead. At one point I was genuinely worried that we would turn through 180 degrees and end up paddling back to Devizes.
Adam was getting quieter and quieter and while my food and nurofen had given me a big boost, the same had not happened to him. Aware that the mist was slowing us up further I was trying to keep the tempo up whereby we could still achieve the tidal window at Teddington, but Adam had to back off in order to protect his shoulder. Our progress slowed and by Hambleden we were down to almost 90 minutes behind schedule and we were only going to slow further. As we pulled into Hurley, we had decided to assess the situation at Marlow and make a decision there and as we portaged across we found Jamie lying on the ground, being attended to by his support crew. He had suffered a back strain as they left Hambleden and they had struggled to get to Hurley. As he had been lifted out the boat they took the sensible decision to retire. We let a couple of fast crews through the portage and after we got in we had a chat on the way down to Marlow. It was obvious that Adam was not fit to carry on and the thought on him battering himself to pieces for the next 8 hours with very little chance of making the cut off, it was the right call to stop. We pulled up at the checkpoint and the marshall asked us if we were sure that we wanted to retire. Yep. Quite sure.
It was a disappointing end but with 17 hours, 75 miles, only 3 working arms and no capsizes on the clock we'd given it a really good go. There's always next year.
A few mentions.
Jamie and Jo; Great effort guys. Well done and I really hope you get to smack it next year.
Lee and Richard; Boys, I was biting my nails on Sunday waiting to see if you'd made it. Massive congratulations. Can't wait to read your report.
Phil and Paul; Thanks boys, you were terrific, even when you insisted on shouting 'We love you' as we pulled out of every portage.
Ad; Said it all already mate. Next year?
After our soul-destroying races at the Waterside A and D races where we had capsized 8 times in total our first goal was to get to Newbury dry, which would do wonders for our confidence. But as we set off I could tell that the conditions were going to fully play their part and we were really finding it hard to get the boat moving through the water as fast as we had in training. Speaking for myself my RPE seemed much higher than I would have expected for that speed and can only attribute it to the heat and trying to keep cool. We were on a 25 hour schedule which I thought would be easily obtainable for us, but with hindsight and looking at the results that was far too optimistic, but at the time it seemed more than doable. However after getting the first pound to Wooton Rivers out of the way we were already 5 minutes down on schedule; an ominous sign that was only to get worse as we progressed. From the off we were overtaken by a steady stream of crews, but more worryingly, crews who we had left with would pull away from us easily, although we usually were able to catch up at the portages only to see them pull away from us again.
The weed early on was a real problem; our boat just seemed to be able to hook it with ease and it was very frustrating to clear it only to have it clog up again. One helpful female paddler ( I think she was an Aussie) helpfully pulled some weed away as she effortlessly glided past. She made it look all too easy. Savernake was bumpy but we took it carefully and got through relatively easily and we walk / jogged the Crofton flight trying to ensure that we didn't send out heart rates through the roof in preparation for the feed stop that was waiting for us at the end. By then we were 7 minutes down.
The next four hours or so saw us plugging our way up to Newbury and this was the part of the course that had kept me awake at night, fretting about the number of capsizes we had during WA and WD. We past each capsize point from these races, mentally ticking them off but neither of us saying anything for fear of jinxing it. I coined a new phrase 'dib dab', so as we went under a bridge, got overtaken by a faster crew or hit a particularly narrow section of the canal with hard banks 'dib dab' would be our cue to be more aware and not do a full stroke if the water seemed to have lots of reflection waves from the banks; it seemed to work and ensured we stayed upright; better for us to lose 5 seconds that way rather than 5 minutes sorting out a capsize. We continued ticking off the locks but the sun beat down on all the crews relentlessly and I was finding that my eyes were getting very sore at times from the light reflections off the water and spent most of my time squinting. My 'camp' hat and nurofen ensured that any headaches were kept at bay.
Getting to Newbury was a massive boost despite now being over 40 minutes down and we had another good feed and bottle change there and got our spray decks back on. We had inadvertently pulled up one metre before the check point so the marshall in the tent was literally waiting for us to cross her line of sight for 5 minutes before she logged us at Newbury. We were now on a fresh bit of the course and our tails were up with our capsize free paddle so far, so we upped the tempo, got our hands higher and in the words of the marathon talk podcast, 'zipped up our mansuits' and got on with it. It was great seeing some new scenery and the next couple of hours was the best bit of paddling we did all race, with an 8 hour warm up and not unduly fatigued. During this phase we saw some of the heartbreak that can befall DW competitors. One crew was on the bank with one bloke holding a footrest that was now in two pieces and later on, I watched as the rear crew member who had portaged with us dropped his boat and the rudder sheared clean off. My brother and his wife were also taking part in the race and they had powered past us a few hours earlier and we then saw them sat on the bank with Jamie nursing a completely smashed paddle. Thankfully I had a spare so they were in the process of waiting for it to arrive and it wouldn't be long before they came past us again once it had arrived.
We got into Aldermaston and we had managed to to claw back 10 minutes or so, in fact Paul and Phil our support were busy looking at another crew and they had no idea we had arrived as we were earlier than they had expected. We eventually tracked them down, got our lights on and headed off to the next few portages before Dreadnaught. Those next two and a half hours got progressively harder. It was great that we were now out of the heat, but as we made our way through Reading at chucking out time, we were both becoming quite weary and needed to kit change and food that was awaiting us. As we approached Reading we ere treated to the most amazing light show as an electrical thunderstorm skirted the town.
Unlike last year, Dreadnaught was much quieter as we were so much later but as soon as I had some home made chicken soup (thanks Margaret!) and got some fresh kit on I was good to go and was really looking forward to the next section to Marlow. Adam, however, was having a tough time. For the last hour or so our portaging had been getting slower. I was finding it really hard to get out the boat; Adam was finding harder to get back in. ;-) His right arm and shoulder was starting to protest and his back was really bothering him and our nurofen was not taking the edge off of it and I could tell from his body language at Dreadnaught that he was worried. By upping our work rate to stay within an hour of our schedule we had kept ourselves in the game but it had come at a price. Anyway, I felt that we could now get a little bit of help from the limited flow on the Thames and begin to tick of the locks towards Teddington.
Unfortunately, the conditions didn't help. A very heavy mist descended making navigation really difficult and we had to turn off our head torches in order that I could see anything ahead. At one point I was genuinely worried that we would turn through 180 degrees and end up paddling back to Devizes.
Adam was getting quieter and quieter and while my food and nurofen had given me a big boost, the same had not happened to him. Aware that the mist was slowing us up further I was trying to keep the tempo up whereby we could still achieve the tidal window at Teddington, but Adam had to back off in order to protect his shoulder. Our progress slowed and by Hambleden we were down to almost 90 minutes behind schedule and we were only going to slow further. As we pulled into Hurley, we had decided to assess the situation at Marlow and make a decision there and as we portaged across we found Jamie lying on the ground, being attended to by his support crew. He had suffered a back strain as they left Hambleden and they had struggled to get to Hurley. As he had been lifted out the boat they took the sensible decision to retire. We let a couple of fast crews through the portage and after we got in we had a chat on the way down to Marlow. It was obvious that Adam was not fit to carry on and the thought on him battering himself to pieces for the next 8 hours with very little chance of making the cut off, it was the right call to stop. We pulled up at the checkpoint and the marshall asked us if we were sure that we wanted to retire. Yep. Quite sure.
It was a disappointing end but with 17 hours, 75 miles, only 3 working arms and no capsizes on the clock we'd given it a really good go. There's always next year.
A few mentions.
Jamie and Jo; Great effort guys. Well done and I really hope you get to smack it next year.
Lee and Richard; Boys, I was biting my nails on Sunday waiting to see if you'd made it. Massive congratulations. Can't wait to read your report.
Phil and Paul; Thanks boys, you were terrific, even when you insisted on shouting 'We love you' as we pulled out of every portage.
Ad; Said it all already mate. Next year?
Friday, 15 April 2011
From flab to fab
 |
| Waterside D. Before it all went wrong. |
Then it turned to worms.
In the next hour we capsized four times. On the fourth one, Adam and I just stood at the ends of the boat looking at one another saying to each other, "What is going on?" We genuinely just didn't get it and were completely bemused. We were not feeling unstable, twichy or nervous at all. We did the hard stuff without any problems; Savernake was negotiated well, despite the end of the tunnel being completely blotted out by the narrowboat in front of us which also produced a shed load of chop for us to deal with. The Crofton flight was fine; uncomfortable, but fine. But paddling on a flat canal? That seemed beyond us. As we approached Froxfield we decided to quit. We'd been paddling for 5 hours and I had started to shake and quite frankly, we used that as an excuse to bail, along with the other tried and tested one that we were not going to make the cutoff.(despite a load of other competitors finishing well after 7 hours.) There's no two ways about it, we quit when we didn't need to and that's left a bad taste in our mouths.
A few days later Adam text me and said that it was strange that we seemed to have problems as soon as we started portaging and that got me thinking that we still have not sorted out our seats moving about (every roll was to the right). I hope that he's right otherwise it's going to be a very long canal section.
Hopefully, we can draw on this for next weekend. Quitting was wrong and it's given us new resolve. We were not cocky but speaking for myself I was beginning to think that Westminster was going to be comfortably in the bag, whereas the D has reconfirmed that we are going to have to really work for it. I have started dreaming at night about the event but there are no mental images of passing under Westminster Bridge; all my dreams currently revolve around getting to Newbury. Let's just get off that sodding canal and then take it from there.
I'm not going to blog again before the event as the next week is going to be very busy, but I feel it only fitting that my last bit of a post is about Adam. He has been frickin' amazing. While I've been wittering on about our training on here, really this DW attempt has been about him. By his own admission he's been a couch potato for the last 25 years with a predeliction for fine lagers and when he asked me 9 months ago if I'd have a go at this race with him, while a readily accepted I always knew that it was going to be a very big ask. It has been very hard for both of us times and often it hasn't been very enjoyable. Not because of Ad's rubbish sense of humour (I'm used to that, ;-) but the seemingly constant problems that we have faced and in the main, overcome.
Not only has Adam stuck at the paddling, which on its own is a big technical hurdle to overcome but more than that he's put the running miles in, cycled to work, cut out the crap food and all but given up beer (he's even developed a taste for non-acoholic lager!!) and as a result he's now the best part of 3 stone lighter than he was in June. That's the real success story here irrespective of what happens next weekend and because of that we shouldn't fear what happens. He's done his very best and more, he's going to give it a really good go and that's all that anyone can ask. I have been in the fortunate position that I was able to do the DW with my brother last year and this year I'm going to do it with my best mate, two of the best blokes I know, and that for me is enough.
Good luck to all DW competitiors.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
The Final Countdown
Not long to go now. All of a sudden we have realised that the DW is only 3 weeks away, so there's not much paddle time actually left. Having said that Adam and I have felt for the last few weeks that we are pretty much as ready as we are going to be and any training at the moment is merely the icing on the cake. We just want to get on with it and do it.
Yesterday was a great day. We were going to do the Royal CC's Marathon race from Windsor to Teddington but we knew that our pace would probably only just see us within the cutoff and that we would have to work well above DW effort, so we decided it would be a lot more useful to instead try to do a recce paddle from Marlow to Old Windsor. We went to pick up the Discovery from the Royal and we were really glad we made the decision that we had. Some seriously hardcore paddlers were coming in, in very skinny K1's and K2's. I think we would have been out of our depth quite badly. None of our support was available so mum and dad really kindly dropped us off at Longridge Scout Camp and then went to Windsor to pick us up. We put in, only to realise that we were not entirely sure which way we had to paddle. :-/ Luckily Adam knew from supporting last year which way it was and as soon as we got going I spotted a big house that had battlements that I recognised and it was on the correct side of the river.
I had accidently left my cag at home but even just in a base layer I was perfectly comfortable and the weather was glorious, only the southerly breeze being a bit of a problem later on. Lots of river traffic but they were all behaving and it was easy to get through. We had assumed that with so little rainfall we would have to deal with some high portages but they were all perfectly manageable. We got a bit confused at Boveney as they were repairing the rollers so it was a portage on the left as opposed to the right, but it was quite simple once we had worked it out.
Again, we really focussed on DW effort with the boat at race weight (dry bag in with all DW compulsory kit). At times it was a bit of a slog; the long pound to Boveney being a bit more hard work than expected with very little flow along that stretch to help us along. We took it really easy at the portages, just trying to keep our heart rate down and feeding and drinking (nuun in water bottles / nuts and raisins / cheese sarnies / tracker bars) It was a great paddle and a missive confidence booster. The best bit though was a surprise; as we pulled the boat out of the water mum and dad handed Adam and I a quarter pounder with cheese each; heaven!! That means we have now paddled the course from Marlow to Teddington, so we are hoping to do Dreadnaught to Marlow the weekend before the DW as our final long paddle.
But before that we will be doing the Waterside D. After the A we both swore blind that there would be no way we'd do this but we decided a couple of weeks ago that we just needed to HTFU and do it. But, we must do our own race, that is treat it as the first 7 hours of the DW; nothing more, nothing less. Do our own thing in our own way and let everyone else get involved in the biff. I am actually quite looking forward to it now.
Replies
Hodge - Sounds tough mate, but keep throwing the kitchen sink at it. Three weeks is a long time....
Yesterday was a great day. We were going to do the Royal CC's Marathon race from Windsor to Teddington but we knew that our pace would probably only just see us within the cutoff and that we would have to work well above DW effort, so we decided it would be a lot more useful to instead try to do a recce paddle from Marlow to Old Windsor. We went to pick up the Discovery from the Royal and we were really glad we made the decision that we had. Some seriously hardcore paddlers were coming in, in very skinny K1's and K2's. I think we would have been out of our depth quite badly. None of our support was available so mum and dad really kindly dropped us off at Longridge Scout Camp and then went to Windsor to pick us up. We put in, only to realise that we were not entirely sure which way we had to paddle. :-/ Luckily Adam knew from supporting last year which way it was and as soon as we got going I spotted a big house that had battlements that I recognised and it was on the correct side of the river.
I had accidently left my cag at home but even just in a base layer I was perfectly comfortable and the weather was glorious, only the southerly breeze being a bit of a problem later on. Lots of river traffic but they were all behaving and it was easy to get through. We had assumed that with so little rainfall we would have to deal with some high portages but they were all perfectly manageable. We got a bit confused at Boveney as they were repairing the rollers so it was a portage on the left as opposed to the right, but it was quite simple once we had worked it out.
Again, we really focussed on DW effort with the boat at race weight (dry bag in with all DW compulsory kit). At times it was a bit of a slog; the long pound to Boveney being a bit more hard work than expected with very little flow along that stretch to help us along. We took it really easy at the portages, just trying to keep our heart rate down and feeding and drinking (nuun in water bottles / nuts and raisins / cheese sarnies / tracker bars) It was a great paddle and a missive confidence booster. The best bit though was a surprise; as we pulled the boat out of the water mum and dad handed Adam and I a quarter pounder with cheese each; heaven!! That means we have now paddled the course from Marlow to Teddington, so we are hoping to do Dreadnaught to Marlow the weekend before the DW as our final long paddle.
But before that we will be doing the Waterside D. After the A we both swore blind that there would be no way we'd do this but we decided a couple of weeks ago that we just needed to HTFU and do it. But, we must do our own race, that is treat it as the first 7 hours of the DW; nothing more, nothing less. Do our own thing in our own way and let everyone else get involved in the biff. I am actually quite looking forward to it now.
Replies
Hodge - Sounds tough mate, but keep throwing the kitchen sink at it. Three weeks is a long time....
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