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

Holibobs

Last week was a much needed family holiday to Cornwall. I was in two minds about how much training I was going to try to squeeze in and the decision was eventually made for me with my right Achilles reacting badly to a gentle run just before going.  So the plan of putting in a few runs along sun drenched Cornish beaches were scuppered as was the idea of taking my wettie and doing a few open water kilometres when the bottom literally fell out of my wetsuit. I found the most enormous tear in it and it was time to pension it off. So I had a whole week off doing nothing except a few stretches, lots of frisbee throwing and some endurance pastie eating. Pretty good.

The Achilles continues to be problematic. I had a very comfortable and gentle 30 minutes' running yesterday and felt great but it was a different story when I woke up this morning as it was stupidly tight and tender. More stretching and then a hour's ride before breakfast; it was good to be back on the bike again. I have my last 10 mile tt on Saturday and then a couple of 25 tts which I would like to round off the season with a pb if possible before I get down to some hard work over the winter. TheBournemouth  Marathon looks doubtful unless I can shake this injury off soon.

In the words of Nenah Cherry.....

7 seconds away.

It was another evening 10 last night and once again, as I set out on the ride over to the start on the other side of Dorking, my heart was not really in it. A strong evening wind was going to make slow times likely, but just like last time as I pedalled over the temperature dropped slightly and so did the strength of the wind And my mojo picked up. There's nothing quite like pining a number on your back to make you increase your work rate. I was hoping to take a few more seconds off my current pb set 2 weeks ago and I set out harder than last time, intending to commit much earlier to a faster pace. At the turn around I was working hard but still felt in control except for the copious amounts of snot and mucus pouring out of my head. I had a few guys to chase in front and used them to focus on, over the last couple of miles.

It turns out it must have been a pretty fast night as I recorded a time of of 24:07, a pb of over 40 seconds!kaboooom. It seems that the hard work I have been putting in on the bike over the last 3 months is really starting to pay off and a sub 24 time is now well within my reach, although there is only 1 club 10 left to do it. I might have to enter a few more and try to find a faster course.

A fly in the ointment has been I have pulled my lower right calf. An easy 45 minute run on Tuesday became a 15 minute achy shuffle and a  15 minute walk. No major damage done but once again I have neglected my strength, core and stretching work and this is the result. Hopefully I can do a very gentle run tomorrow and another swim tonight. Onwards.

School's out

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

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

On Worthing Pier

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

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

Another pb

Another Kingston Phoenix 10 mile tt last night and my third tt pb within a month. I guess that I must be doing something right. 24:49,  so still quite a way from the sub 24 that I want, but I am getting there. The G10/42 course is quite rolling with a couple of the climbs at the end being the points where I have blown-up badly. Last night I felt a lot stronger on the climbs and I was able to maintain the tt position rather than having to get out of the saddle. I did have a problem early-on when I dropped the chain onto the small chainring and couldn't shift back and I had to brake for a car on the last roundabout, so there still might be some free time to take off yet. A pb's always a good thing, whatever.

By chance, a guest rider from another club turned up on an Argon 18 E-80 so I was able to look at it close-up and he even let me have a short spin on it. It was lush. I want one. I want one now.

Piccy from SCCU 50

Almost smiling with 10 miles to go.

A great day for British sport

Because I set a personal best time for a 25 mile time trial at the Bec 25. 1:04:45. Very pleased with that, beating last season's time by 2 minutes. Oh, and apparently some Scottish bloke won a tennis match.

Not often I am number 1

I received an e-mail earlier this week from the organiser of the SCCU 50mile time trial that I took part in a couple of weeks' ago and it turns out that I won the handicap! My prize? A whole £20. I am quite chuffed and I can put this towards my tt bike; it should buy about one eighth of a seat stay. I think this does actually qualify me as a professional athlete. ;-)  Unfortunately the only reason I won it was because when I last did this event I went over 3 miles off course, therefore I was always going to get a significant pb. Oh well, a win's a win.

My first week following Coach Cox's training plan has gone well, except for the swimming, which was laughable. Russell has scheduled me to do one swim session per week for the next month to get me back into it. Arrogantly, I have always thought that because swimming is so technique driven and my technique is pretty good, that I could jus pick it up again, no problem. I was truly rubbish. What technique I have has seeped out of my body over the last 18 months. The set that Russell wrote for me was quite gentle with only 1500m of swimming and with long rest intervals but I felt like I was swimming in soup. My 100m times I can barely think of without breaking into a cold sweat at how far I have fallen. At least there can only be improvement from now on. The only other error on my part was that I had organised a ride with some friends from work on Tuesday when the schedule stated I should be doing turbo intervals, so Tuesday became my longer ride, doing 44 hilly miles while my 'interval' session will be the Bec 25 mile tt tomorrow.

Talking of tts, I am starting the process of getting myself a tt bike. Planet-x had a great offer on their Stealth bike with Sram groupset, but the only problem was it was going to be pretty difficult to get to actually sit on one. I cannot spend a fortune on one and it will be really important that I get a good fit, so I am going to get a bike fit over the summer and then see what frames might suit me (long legs, short body, average height, therefore I seem to fall exactly between most manufcturers small and medium sized frames. Small if I want full on tt mode over short distances, medium if I want something more comfortable. Decisions decisions) The Planet-x does offer great value but if I am honest I would like something a bit rarer and at the moment, one of these is very tempting;

An Argon 18 E80. It's an aluminium frame, with internal cabling, hidden brakes and very aero. There are some good deals on complete bikes and framesets at the moment with a Shimano 105 groupset (I like Shimano) and with a set of Planet-x wheels like this one pictured, I think I would have a pretty fast bike to tt on (if it fits of course). Anyway, I 'll get the fit done and then take it from there.

2 up time trial

A warm and calm evening greeted us on Wednesday for the Phoenix 2 up tt, with me partnering Russell. The two of us are normally within 10-15 seconds of each other when doing a solo 10 so we seemed to be a good match, although we are very different. Russell is a good deal taller and bigger than I am and pushes a much larger gear, while I am more of a spinner. We decided to take turns of about a minute or more, rather than the much quicker turnover usually recommended. The less amount of swinging out into the traffic on the A24 we could do, the better.

I took the first turn and felt a bit guilty as I swung out about a third of the way up the first significant rise on the G42/10 course (no need to thank me Russell). Russell then took a really long turn on the front after that before handing back to me as we approached the turn at Beare Green. A nice rest for me as I tucked into Russ' slipstream, even having to dab the brakes now and again to avoid touching his back wheel. We crossed the line together in a time of 23:42, which is a good 40 seconds or so faster than my solo pb. It felt quite fartlekky, with a really hard effort followed by a good rest, just coasting. All good fun.

Backing myself

Another good week's training with a solid 10 hours in the bag. Cycling is improving well while running continues to be a bit of a struggle, because the cycling's going well I guess. The culmination was yesterday's SCCU 50 mile time trial, which was my first 50 tt in two years. With the windy conditions and a long run in my legs from the day before I took it fairly steady, only really pushing hard over the last 8 miles or so. 2:19:03 plus a couple of minutes going off course was a very solid, if unspectacular result with me being some 6 minutes or so behind Simon. Me on a road bike with clip-ons and him on a full Cervelo P3 tt rig; I'll take that. To be fair, Simon is in the last block of training for the Outlaw and he's been looking quite tired and in need of his taper, so while it was also a pb for him I think that he's got a lot more in the tank when he's rested.

So the news is this. I have gone and got myself a coach. Let's go back a stage or two.

Anyone who has shown the remotest interest in this blog, (Mum, Dad and errrrr..) will have realised from my ramblings that the thing most lacking in what I do is the C word. No, not cake, my life most definitely does not lack cake, but my training does lack consistency. Every week I am out doing something to keep the cake from hitting my middle too hard but with little regard for an overall plan. I do make plans but they are quite short term, usually some race in the next few months where I end up over-cooking it too soon, get injured and  then beat myself up over not reaching a fairly modest target. The cycle then repeats itself.  I know about periodisation, training blocks, specificity, tapering, drills, race simulation etc but I seem unable to put all this different stuff into practise and make it work for me, so the time has come to ask for help.

So what do I hope a coach can do for me? Well I know what he's not going to do and that's turn me into a pro, Kona qualifier or age group winner. My expectations are a good deal more realistic and limited than that. But what I think a coach can do is help to give me some focus and get me enjoying my training, get me trying new things and ultimately progressing towards a better me. Hmm, that sounds pretty deep and very pretentious but it's heartfelt. I seem to operate best when I pick a big target and work towards it. I like targets and I like to work towards a biggie and then nail it, like I did with Ad and Jamie in the DW. Embrunman is a biggie. Running a sub-3 marathon is a biggie. Combining them together seems virtually impossible for me at the moment and so I am waving the white flag and admitting that I need some help to get there.

So I've spent the last month or so looking at coaches who I could use, and again, readers of this blog will not be surprised that I picked Russell Cox. Russell was a regular poster on the TriTalk forum and he was always ready to give constructive advice to those who asked. His website has been a mine of useful information and has given me a lot to think about and when I was training for the Forestman two years ago; it was one of his Ironman schedules that I used as a basis for my training. His blog tends to be remarkably candid, despite him being an Ironman Kona qualifier himself he has not shied away from describing the downs, as well as ups, of his own training. He's also a data and numbers man. I am not. Percieved effort, feel, all that stuff is my modus operandi and therefore a little bit more of a scientific approach could well increase my training efficacy. Ulitimately, I am paying Russell to rustle me up some plans (see what I did there?) and as such I am investing in myself; backing myself to be better and do better while I have the chance. The very fact I am paying for this means that I will put more effort into following the structure that he's laid out for me. If this doesn't work then I probably will only have myself to blame.

Cycling; lots of.

I have had two solid weeks of training, just getting back into the habit of running and cycling. Most of the running has been pretty steady and achy. Yesterday was different; an interval session while waiting for Wheezy Junior to finish a tennis lesson which was a 1 mile warm up followed by 6 x 3 minutes hard. I felt pretty rugged towards the end and was trying to focus more on running tall rather than fast, running from the hips. It was my first interval session since I got injured back in February and it showed. I binned today's steady run in favour of a rest from running but it was a faster than planned commute into work as I got into a race with another commuter. Pathetic I know but after going past him I found him latched onto my wheel so I ended ripping my legs off while he sat up behind me, although he dropped off as soon as we went up a rise about a mile later. The n this evening it was a steady long commute over Boxhill and home. I almost felt the warmth of the sun on my face.

I had a good ride out with Simon on Sunday with another 50 miler taking in a few new roads. I was pleased that I was able to stay with him, most of the time and even got the jump on him on the last bend at the top of Boxhill although he flicked past me within a few wheel lengths while my quads twitched like a bag of rabbits with myxomatosis. Still, some improvement which is all good. I have the SCCU 50 mile tt on Sunday. Unless I have a mechanical I should be guaranteed a pb as the last time I did this event I went 4 miles off course. So I 'd better read the course map a lot more closely between now and Sunday.

Got a plan in the pipeline and I will reveal all next post. No, it's not a new tt bike but hopefully it will have even more benefits than that.

100 miles.....

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

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

Onwards.

Buying some time

With it being half term I have been able to get out most days for a ride or a run. Running is hard work at the moment as I am carrying a few extra pounds and I just feel generally sluggish but I'm just aiming to get out 3 times per week at the moment. On Thursday I bimbled round Oxshott and Malden Rushett for an hour and by the end I was shuffling with a little more style.

To be fair, I had battered myself to bits the night before at the latest Phoenix 10 mile time trial and I had cycled over to the start and back giving me a solid 35 miles. I was wearing a tt helmet for the first time and that, combined with newly laid tarmac replacing the Somme-esque lumps and bumps that used to be on that section of the A24 gave me a quite respectable 25:13. The most remarkable thing about wearing a tt lid, other than the fact I look a complete twonk, is how hot my ears got. I still need to work on getting more aero on the bike (hard to do on one designed for sportive riding) so maybe as few cockpit tweaks might help me get a few more seconds. I paced it pretty well, feeling good until 7 miles but the penultimate hill at 9 miles always catches me out. I just never seem to hit it right and slowed far too much. Friday saw me head out for another 45 miles with Simon. He was taking it easy as he's got the Outlaw Half IM tomorrow; I was in bits just trying to keep up.

Ultimately, I just need to ride my bike a lot more and drop this weight so with that in mind and the thought of Embrunman I am going to make a concerted effort to start getting my long Sunday ride going again. Tomorrow's a 5.30am start to fit it in. I had forgotten what they were like.