Another Competitive Event...

The Americans have been doing some renovation work to the indoor pool here and they celebrated the grand re-opening with a biathlon. 400 yard (yes, yards, remember them?) and a 5km run that started at the unholy hour of 6am! I surprised myself on many counts just by getting to the start line - it was very early, swimming was involved, running was involved, cycling wasn't involved! It was a very civilised event as well; we started in waves but the following wave didn't start until the last person in the previous wave had finished - how nice was that?

I went off in the last wave due to signing up late rather than an indicator of my swimming prowess and cracked the 400 yards in 6:15; not bad I thought for someone that hasn't been near the water for 3 weeks. Transition was as smooth as ever (LOL!) and I was onto the run in 6:58. The run course was the same as the 5km Fun Run from a couple of days ago, with a little added on to get from the pool to the run course. My run took 22:15 for an overall time of 29:13; I was happy with that. The winner was some young racing snake in a time of 26:20something and he was a good 45 seconds ahead of second place.

So another good day and the mojo is definitely returning.

Christmas Day 5km Fun Run

Just a quick note to say that I managed to get myself out of bed in time for the Christmas Day 5km Fun Run (a complete oxymoron; running is NEVER fun!). Well, well, well, I surprised myself by finishing in 20:44, my fastest 5km run time since I left IOT in 1999. I feel somewhat more motivated now so perhaps the New Year will bring some discipline on the nutrition front and get that half stone shifted.

As an aside, the family sent me a nice bundle of Christmas gifts, one of which was a picture of my daughter and the dog, taken in the living room of our house. In front of the TV. A BRAND NEW VERY LARGE WIDESCREEN TV!!! Apparently my face was an absolute picture! The trade off for that has got to be a new bike, surely?

Train smart folks.

And a Merry Christmas. Again!

Training in Qatar

So how is the training going out here?

It started really well; after 2 weeks of acclimatisation and getting back into the training mindset, I had a good 8 weeks of what I called "strength & conditioning", basically doing weights, core, stretch and flex with a little bit of general aerobic work and some swimming. Nothing too strenuous. Then the turbo trainer and bike arrived and I got into some good old fashioned turbo sessions.

And then it went horribly wrong. I suffered a severe back pain whilst, of all things shaving, and the muscles in my lower back stiffened up considerably for no apparent reason. It took over a week of gentle exercise and stretching for me to be able to train properly again. And then the mind proved weak. I walked to the pool one day and when I got there had absolutely no inclination to swim - stuff it. So went cycling instead. Haven't been to the pool now in 3 weeks, that particular aspect of training has been set completely aside for the time being. I've done some running but that has also fallen foul of the "Can't be Bothered" Fairies and so my time is spent cycling, either outside on my borrowed MTB, on the spin-bike in the gym or on the turbo trainer, and core, stretch and flex work.

Following the threads on the forum it seems you can't mention turbo training without mentioning tabata at the moment. And I blame Sags and Neill G entirely for the additional pain I am putting myself through. As if the 30-minute FTP test wasn't bad enough (especially when the results showed an 8% drop in peak power since the Summer), doing the 6 x 6 min session and then adding the 6 x tabata set on the end was just AWESOME. The plan is to ride a bike of some description every day, with a turbo session at least every other day (done as Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 sessions, then repeat) with recovery rides or gim sessions on the inbetween days. If the mojo returns then I may do some gentle swimming and running as well on these days, but only after the bike stuff has been completed.

So what bike bling have I bought? I have a ceramic bearing bottom bracket and rear jockey wheels ready to fit when I get home, and should also be collecting an 82mm deep front wheel. I'm on the lookout for some new tribars to complete the bling for 2009 and have narrowed it down to 2 choices - all will be revealed in due course.

In the meantime, keep training smart. For those of you in the UK, be careful out on the roads. It can be dangerous out there.

It's been a while ...

since I managed to get on here. But adversity being the mother of all creation (is that right?) we had an IT faff on our usual system (that prevented me from getting on here) but the alternative seems to let me. Bravo!

Life out here is OK; yes, separation from the family is not good but comms are excellent, much better than on previous dets I have done so am in regular contact with them all.

Training started really well, but over the last few weeks we have been busy at work making gettin to the gym difficult. And I was sidetracked for a couple of days with some very good news from the Desk Officer. I'm averaging a little over 10 hours a week since I started my training diary at the beginning of November and I'm now into a cycle specific period; unfortunately I'm just not getting the volume in that I had hoped for. Still, it's better than what I have done in previous winters so I should emerge in the spring a better cyclist. The ice cream and cookies are proving VERY hard to resist; so hard in fact that I'm not managing it.

So HMS Centurion in Gosport is my next destination towards the end of February. Not sure what my plans are for 2009 other than the Quelle Challenge Barcelona; I did say on the forum that I wouldn't do Dambuster, mainly because its a long way away, but I'm already reconsidering that, especially if all the quick guys head off to Northumberland for the day. Will definitely be getting in some cycle-sportives and 10, 25 and 50 mile TTs. I've been doing some retail therapy whilst I'm out here and although I will be riding the Prince of Darkness again in 2009 it will have some upgrades from the 2008 version, hopefully they will make me faster.

Today is 22 December so all that remains is for me to wish all you fellow Bloggers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and look forward to seeing you all in 2009.

It's not goodbye...

...just au revoir.

Off to BZN later today and I leave for Qatar tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Have fun in your cold and wet UK winter and I will do my best to come back a lean, mean cycling machine (who can maybe swim and run a little bit better as well!).

If anyone is down Brampton/Wyton way give Sags a call because I don't want him getting lonely on his weekly long bike rides.

See you later folks - and train smart! Or in your case Sags, train harder and more often!!! :-)

That's All Folks!

This morning I completed my last training ride before heading out to Qatar next weekend. As well as my long standing training buddy, Sags, it was great to have Debs along as well. She was visiting Brampton for some Loggie Dining In night and was in remarkably good form considering the time she had got to bed the previous evening. It was a nice gentle run with a few efforts up the hills (OK, inclines). Sags was on his singlespeed but was moving along at a fair old pace. We had one particularly hair raising moment as we descended at a fairly rapid pace and came across a dog wandering in the road; I was travelling at close to 60kmh and the consequences of hitting a dog at that speed don't bare thinking about. We all got round it safely but whether the dog avoided the cars following closely behind us I don't know. In the end I clocked just under 63km in 2 hrs 16 minutes.

With the boys home from boarding school for the weekend we are having a nice family dinner tonight; it's surf and turf and I've been to the local butcher and have some lovely looking sirloin steaks sitting in the fridge. Pudding will be birthday cake as my eldest has his 15th birthday in a couple of weeks and of course I rack up my 45th in mid October.

At last, a flight date

Yes, the wait is over. My flight date has been confirmed as Saturday 4 October so I can now do my final prep and get my head around everything. I have packed my turbo bike and turbo and am sending it through the freight system so will take a few weeks to get there. But that's OK, as I have a strength and conditioning phase to work through for the first 4 - 6 weeks. Sags has helped with getting this programme together so I can expect some serious pain. I've not done a dedicated strength programme at the beginning of the winter before so it will be interesting to see how this works. When the turbo arrives I will move into a bike specific phase for the remainder of my det, building up the mileage on the LSD rides and hopefully increasing the power on the L3 and L4 sessions. I know what figures I was pushing out this year so if I can improve these by 20 or 30 watts I believe I will be in a good position to seriously challenge that sub 5 hour target at Roth and Barcelona. Based on this year's performance I know I can comfortably hold 36kmh on a flat smooth road for an hour, all I need to do now is to be able to hold that for 5 hours. Easier said than done I imagine!

After my fitness test on Monday I have taken to comfort eating. There have been a few cakes and doughnuts going round that I have found hard to resist, so didn't! And very nice they were too.

Fitness Test

Pre-deployment fitness test today and it was time for another PB - 12.6. Well happy with that Only light blue but in 3 weeks time I reach the grand old age of 45 and it would be deep blue. Press ups and sit ups were both deep blue as well so I guess I'm in pretty good shape for my age.

So here's a question for you - is there any relationship between your MSFT score and how fast you can run a 10k race? ie if I can reach 12.6 on the MSFT should I be able run 10k faster than 43 minutes?

The Toughest Middle Distance Race in the UK

What I mean, of course, is the toughest Middle Distance race in the UK that I have completed in 2008.

So, in reverse order:

5th Place - Cowman. It was very close between Cowman and the Vitruvian for 5th place, but the additional pressure I placed on myself to do well at the Vitruvian just edged that race ahead of the Cowman. Don't get me wrong, the Cowman is a good event and had an excellent goody bag (2XU calf guards were included) and it is a proper HIM distance race as well. But other than one serious hill on the bike (that you do 3 times), it is the distance rather than the course that presents the challenge. The weather was pretty grim, though, which didn't help.

Toughness Factor - 6 (out of 10). Enjoyment Factor 8

4th Place - Vitruvian. Sorry Pacesetter Events, you put on a great event but tough? Not even close. The Rutland Ripple on the bike leg (that you do twice) is over with very quickly; indeed I find the long drag and the "lumps" towards the end of the lap more challenging. The back part of the bike course is also very fast, especially this year with a fair tailwind pushing you along. I got my first sub 5 hour Middle Distance race this year, hence the high Enjoyment Factor rating.

Toughness Factor - 6. Enjoyment Factor - 10

3rd Place - Aberfeldy. The first 3 were by some margin tougher than the other 2, but were very closely matched between themselves, as the challenges each of them offered was different. It was tough to split the first 3 but after much deliberation 3rd place goes to Aberfeldy. The swim was cold this year, certainly colder than I remember it from previous races, but was OK once you got going. The bike leg is tough and I recorded my slowest bike split of the year at just over 3 hours for 92km; the first hill is some 8km long! The run was undulating and although I felt good I overcooked it on the run, making it a very tough end to the race for me. But that was my fault, not the course's, hence 3rd place.

Toughness Factor - 8. Enjoyment Factor - 10

2nd Place - Bala. At 2km, the swim is (officially) longer than the other races and the weather had been kind in the lead up to the race so the water wasn't that cold. The bike leg is only 80km but man, what an 80km they are. Traditionally, the course goes up and over the mountain then has a fast run back alongside Lake Bala to T2. Due to road subsidence the route was changed this year; up and over the mountain until you reached 40km, then turn round and go back the way you came, up and over the mountain again. And it was tough. And if you survived the bike (and many did not) then there was the run. The race organiser described the run as having no flat bits other than the run out of T2. He was quite right! After a few kms the road goes left uphill, and keeps going uphill until the turnaround point, and then it's downhill for a couple of km and the undulating run home. The weather did it's bit to make it tough as well; it was scorchio hot and many competitors were quite badly sunburned during the course of the day. Yes, a tough one, but not the toughest.

Toughness Factor - 9. Enjoyment Factor - 9

1st Place - Half Ireman. So what does a Middle Distance race need to be considered the toughest one I did this year? Firstly, it was full HIM distance. Secondly, it was a sea swim, and a long one at that. Post race analysis showed the fastest swimmer was some 10 minutes slower than the previous year - 1900m? General consensus seemed to be that 2.2km might be a closer estimate. And then there was the temperature - it was cold - and the swell; look up at the wrong time and all you saw was the forthcoming wave about to hit you. And salt water tastes horrible. The bike is also long, at 93km. It is a strange bike leg as there are no long, steep hills. What you do get, though, is constantly changing gradient meaning you are forever changing gear and cadence and it was very difficult to get into a rhythm. There are some very good stretches of tarmac, but there are also some of the worst roads I have ever raced on, and you really do get a bit of a beating. And then there's the run. A course change this year took it up from 20 to 21km for a proper HIM distance and this is no easy tarmac course. You run along a coastal path, single track for some distance, with rocks etc to negotiate, before you get to a couple of sections of beach, complete with soft sand. And you do 2 laps of that. But it's a very well organised event (certainly as good as The Vitruvian) and there were lots of supporters out on the course cheering you on which made it a really enjoyable event to do as well.

Toughness Factor - 10. Enjoyment Factor - 10.

So there you have it, my 5 Toughest UK Middle Distance races for 2008.

So what's on the agenda for 2009? So far, the only things I have agreed to are:

Quelle Challenge Roth - 12 July
Quelle Challenge Barcelona - 4 October

Others I would like to do, subject to work, family etc etc are:

Dubai Half Ironman - late January. I will be in Qatar and will have a solid 4 months of training behind me so why not?
The Wensleydale Big Cheese - early to mid August. Daz says it's a toughie and accuses me of not being tough enough to complete it. Sounds like a challenge to me; difficult not to pick up that particular gauntlet.

I would also like to fit in the IS races, so duathlon, Olympic and middle distance events are on the "possible/maybe" list. And maybe event the RAF sprint series.

Hell's teeth, that's 10 events already, even before I start adding other events like 10, 25 and 50 mile TTs and a couple of cheeky sportives I want to do in prep for Roth and Barcelona.

And let's not forget I will be posted somewhere when I get back from Qatar in February so will have to wait and see where I end up. You never know, I might not be able to do any UK events ...

Now is the time to rest smart folks; take some time off, do something different, recharge the batteries, get some quality coaching in your weakest discipline (one I will be ignoring!), spend some quality time with the family etc etc. If I don't see you before I head east, have a good winter training and I look forward to meeting up with you all again in the New Year. 2008 was great, can 2009 be better?

That Was The Year That Was!

What a fantastic year 2008 has been. Only a few of you may know that I came very close to giving up triathlon in 2007 because I just wasn't enjoying it, and so for 2008 I decided to do something different. I didn't want to do another Ironman race; the training commitment was just too great. I had enjoyed the middle distance races I had completed because they offered a challenge of pace and endurance and still had the "wow" factor when you told people what you did at the weekend. So middle distance it would be; but which race, or races? I had completed the Aberfeldy and Vitruvian races before so I would need to look elsewhere. But let's be honest, one middle distance race is not all that special, so there would have to be more than one. But how many more? And which races would they be? And then it happened - enlightenment. What better way to combine triathlon with the opportunity to visit new places in the UK at the same time? The HIM UK tour was thereby born (in hindsight it should have been called the UK Middle Distance Tour but there you go). Some serious internet research followed and the following races were selected:

Bala, Wales
Cowman, England
Aberfeldy, Scotland
Half Ireman, Northern Ireland

Training and completing one middle distance race is not too difficult; the distances involved do not require a massive step up in training volume from standard distance races. But 4 races would require careful management of both training and recovery to ensure I remained focussed over 3 months from the first to last race.

Having decided on the tour I floated the idea around a few RAF Tri members and Reg Swallow agreed to join me. He was unable to do Cowman so changed his English race to the Big Half at Trentham. Reg was a great companion to have on such an undertaking; along the way we have had great ups, massive downs, learned a lot and laughed even more. It has been tough, and there has been some pain, but ticking off the races one by one has been awesome. Hopefully my race reports have given some idea of the enjoyment we have got out of this.

Whilst the Middle Distance Tour was certainly my focus for the year, I managed to fit in a few other events along the way. My events for this year were:

1 duathlon
1 standard distance tri
1 10 mile TT
1 Cycle Sportive (82 miles)
2 sprint distance tri
5 Middle distance tri

5 Middle Distance tri I hear you say? Yes, I decided 4 wasn't enough so threw in a 5th and did the Vitruvian as well. This was a really good decision as I managed my first ever sub 5 hour middle distance race - just awesome! Other highlights were: having the fastest bike split at the Brize Norton sprint triathlon, ahead of the Mighty Sags; a new PB in the 10 mile TT; and being on the winning team again at both Brize and Cranwell sprint tris (again!).

No analysis of the year is complete without a look at the training diary. I started my training record for this year on 1 Oct 07, meaning there was 50 weeks until my last race of 2008. Over those 50 weeks I averaged 7 hours and 19 minutes of training per week, with a peak of 16 hours and 15 minutes in early January. That was a special week though; the next biggest week was 11 hours and 15 minutes. My average week would consist of 1 hour 13 minutes of swimming, 3 hours 39 minutes of cycling, 1 hour 51 minutes of running, and 37 minutes of core, stretch and flex. Not a great deal of training to go sub 5 hours at the Vitruvian; if I could regularly add a couple of hours a week to that who knows what I could achieve in 2009?

Ah yes, 2009. On the list so far are the bike leg at Quelle Challenge Roth and Quelle Challenge Barcelona. These will be my A races for 2009 so I plan to be doing a lot of cycling this winter. I am due to be posted when I get back from Qatar in February so, subject to being posted somewhere that is tri friendly, I hope to be able to add to that the RAF sprint series, the Dambuster and the Vitruvian. There is also the Dubai Half Ironman at the end of Jan 09 that might, just might, be an outside possibility of doing.

Well that's all for 2008 folks. I have had a brilliant year and doing something other than racing around Rutland Water was what really put the spark into it for me. So go on, dare to do something different and challenge yourself at the same time. As the motto of the Half Ireman race said: Why? Because I can.

Half Ireman Race Report

This was it, the final leg of the UK HIM Tour.

Swim 1.9k
Bike 93k
Run 21k
Why? Because I can.

Well that's what the race motto was, and very apt it is too.

Let's start with the event itself; set in Groomsport, on the east coast of Northern Ireland, it is a wonderful setting. The organisation was great, very slick and the goody bag was by far the best I have received this year - Brooks running top, beanie hat, mug, drink, gel, discount vouchers - you get the idea.

For the only time of the tour, Reg had home advantage. Kelda had also flown over to join us on our final leg; it was going to be a tough race but we were all looking forward to it.

The weather leading up to the race had not been good, and race day dawned overcast and grey, although the forecast was good. Emma Davies, Ireland Olympic triathlete sounded the horn, and 212 triathletes and team members were off.

So how did it go?

Swim - 2 laps. Firstly, it's a sea swim and I would be losing my sea swimming virginity in this race. And it was cold. Once away from the shore there was a noticeable swell that made sighting difficult, and I reckon I swam much further than the advertised 1.9k. The water tasted horrible as well; made me yearn for the chlorinated stuff in the local pool! Everyone was being very polite and there was a noticeable lack of biff, although that might just be because I was well off course! End of lap 1 and you get out, run round a marker on the beach and then back in for lap 2. Whilst I can't say that I enjoyed the sea swimming experience it is something else I can now tick off my tri list. A time of 48.17 did not impress me much, but it seems that even last year's winner was 10 minutes slower this year so something was definitely up.

T1 - What can I say, another leisurely T1 but over a minute quicker than the Vit at 3:09 and then it was Hammer Time.

Bike - 3 laps. I was disappointed with my swim time and reckoned the only way to address this was to go hard on the bike; if the wheels fell off, so be it. Unfortunately, a couple of events had conspired against me. Firstly, those nice baggage handlers at Flybe had trashed my wheel skewers and as I use a Mavic Wintech computer with the sensor in the skewer handle I would be without my computer. I had also managed to stop my stopwatch in T1, so I had no time data at all for how I was progressing until the end of lap 2. I hit lap 1 hard and was determined to get back the time I thought I had lost. Some of the roads were really good, but other parts were very poor quality and the road was constantly changing gradient - it was either up or down, with very little flats and it was certainly challenging, but I was giving it my all and overtaking people like it was going out of fashion. Kelda was some 6½ minutes ahead out of T1 (although I didn't know that at the time) and I was surprised to catch her after about 16 miles. I timed my 2nd lap at 55:43 but as I started lap 3 I was not feeling good. I know I had raced hard and fast but that effort was now catching up with me; my mood was not helped by getting badly held up at 2 of the roundabouts, including a full on stop, unclip and foot down at one point. However, I took on some nutrition and had a word with myself, but it took another 10 miles or so before I felt comfortable, smooth and fast. I timed the last lap at 59:43 so using the amazing power of post race analysis my first lap had been completed in 52:49 for a total bike time of 2:48:15. Interestingly, Reg posted an identical time.

T2 - Slick and fast here, 59 seconds.

Run - 2 laps. By now the sun was up and it was quite warm, maybe even hot. The run is "interesting", as it includes roads, pavements, single track coastal paths, soft sandy beaches, promenades etc etc. It certainly isn't a run course for setting a PB! My bike exertions had taken their toll and I was not feeling great, so set off at a steady pace with a view of getting to the finish. I saw Kelda cycling in after I had been running for about 6 minutes and worked out that by the time she cycled the rest of the course and got through T2 she would be about 9 minutes behind me; nowhere near enough for me to stay ahead. Through the coastal path and across the soft sand for the first time and you go passed the transition area again and the first feed station, and there was the delightful Emma Davies handing out the drinks - well done to her. Heading out to the turn around point and I saw Reg running in the other direction; he was looking comfortable and I timed the gap; he was about 5 mins ahead; unless he had another nutrition disaster I wasn't going to challenge him today. Onto lap 2 and I decided that I would take full advantage of the aid stations; water, coke, jelly babies, sweet bananas etc, I felt like I needed a rush and these made me feel better. Just after the first aid station on lap 2 Kelda cruised passed looking very strong. I reckoned that Reg was about 8 mins ahead at this point. I eased through the coastal path section and the transition area, enjoying the support; it seemed like the whole town was out to support the race. Reg's wife Caz was also there, giving support and encouragement and some time checks to allow us to monitor the gap. It came as no surprise to me that the gap to the others was getting bigger all the time. After the final aid station I fuelled up just about everything they had to offer and felt much better and even managed to increase my pace towards the finish. I crossed the line and was met by more enthusiastic helpers, received my medal and recovery drink in a suitably logo'd drinks bottle (Why? Because I can). My run time was an unremarkable 2:04:51 but, amazingly, was 88th fastest on the day.

My overall finishing time was 5:45:29 for 58th overall and an amazing 4th in my AG. Reg was 10th in his AG and managed to stay ahead of Kelda by just under a minute and a half. Kelda finished 2nd female and 1st in her AG.

Results:

Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total AG Position
Reg 46:57 01:43 02:48:15 01:48 01:52:36 05:31:17 10th
Kelda 43:03 01:39 03:04:00 01:11 01:42:49 05:32:41 1st
Mick 48:17 03:09 02:48:15 00:59 02:04:51 05:45:29 4th

We ended the day at a fabulous restaurant in Belfast and even James Nesbitt popped in to offer his congratulations (well maybe I made that last bit up but he was sat just 2 tables away).

So that's it, the tour is over and what a fantastic experience it has been. I have been to places in the UK I haven't visited before and raced some great courses, and ticked off a few new things on the way. A full review will follow in due course, including Turbo Man's Guide to the Toughest Middle Distance Races in the UK (that he completed in 2008).

Half Ireman - Quick Report

Reg 5:31:17, 37th overall, 10th in AG
Kelda 5:32:41, 38th overall, 1st in AG
Me 5:45:29, 58th overall, 4th in AG

Yes indeed, 4th in AG.

It started grey, the water was cold, the bike course was tough, the sun shone, and I left my run legs at home.

What a great race and a marvellous end to a brilliant season for me. Full report to follow soon.

Vitruvian - Final Results

Final results for The Vitruvian are now on the Pacesetters website. Looks like I was 166th overall out of 700 finishers, and 14th out of 82 in my AG. I am very happy with that.

I haven't done any training at all since the Vit. I have eaten a lot of the wrong things, including cakes, ice cream etc, but mentally I feel refreshed although physically I don't think I have properly recovered yet.

And what's all this talk fellow Bloggers about the season being over - not yet it isn't. But it soon will be; I fly tomorrow so will post an update when I get back on Sunday.

Rest smart. (How do you do that?)

Thanks

To all you nice people who have posted here or texted me after The Vit; very much appreciated.

The funniest, though, goes to Reg. As you probably know, we have both been aiming for a sub 5 race this year, and Reg came oh so close at Trentham. His response to my text with the good news that I had gone sub 5 was (with apologies to my Mum if she reads this!):

"u f***er"

Legs are still sore today so it's been another day of complete rest. I have cleaned the bike and got it packed away in its new bag ready for the journey on Thursday. I can't believe that this weekend the season will be over - it's all happened so quickly.

Recover well folks.

The Vitruvian Race Report

Vitruvian 6 Sep 08 - Race Report

Another race at Rutland Water and once again the weather forecast was rubbish - high winds and rain. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad.

As is traditional for The Vit it was pitch black in the car park when I arrived, but I got through registration without any hassle and got my kit into transition in good time. I then planned to go and chat to all the other RAF Tri folks but had to rush back and retrieve my wetsuit and goggles from transition before they closed it. I was in the 45-80 year olds wave - how old did this make me feel? The water was not too cold but there was an awful lot of weed at the start line - yuk! Unusually for me, I decided to start at the front and was surprised that I didn't get beaten up and found clear water straight away. The first turn was only about 200 metres away and with insufficient time for the field to spread out this was a bit of a bunfight. However, after this there was plenty of space and I was able to get into a good rhythm. At the end of the first lap you get out of the water for a short walk/jog/run and then get back in the water again. This at least gave me an opportunity to empty out the water that had once again leaked into my goggles. The second lap was fairly straightforward and I exited the water and over the timing mat in 35:16, just about on schedule. T1 was a long, drawn out affair. To start with the Old Gits and the laydeez were situated beyond the main transition area, meaning a slightly longer run, and then I had a long list of things to do: take off goggles, take off swim hat, take off wetsuit; calf guards on, socks on, shoes on, neoprene overboots on, cycling top on, number belt on, glasses on, helmet on, and, finally, gloves on. Yep, all suited and booted and ready to go. Only took 4.30 to do all that! Onto the bike and I found it hard going to start with. I was putting in the effort but the speedo said I wasn't going very fast; turns out the wind was in our face at this point and payback was, quite literally, just around the corner. I felt good going up the ripple for the first time and shortly afterwards I passed Big Bob going steadily. After the left turn at the roundabout the wind was at our backs and it was hammer time. Lots of big gear action and for large parts of it I was in the 53-11 gear doing 60kmh+. Fantastic. I caught Coach Roy on the long drag 2/3rds of the way round the 2nd lap; he was smiling but I sensed he wasn't happy. We chatted for a bit and then I did the sporting thing and left him behind! I completed the first lap in about 1:15 and whilst my RPE went up on the second lap I managed to go just a fraction faster to come in just under 2:30. Very happy with that. The Prince of Darkness is one damn fast machine when the conditions are favourable, although I do struggle to drag the extra weight (of both the bike and Mr Muffin-top who rides it!) uphill, but the choice of 11-21 cassette was spot on.

T2 went by without incident and it was onto the run. I really (as in REALLY) wanted to go sub 5 hours in this race and I was onto the run in 3:12, meaning I had to run faster than 1:48 to achieve my aim. My HIM run PB is 1:43 so there was some flex, but not much. Unlike Aberfeldy there were going to be no heroics today. I reckoned that if I could run the whole way I should be able to go sub 5. Usually I stop at the first big tree on the left for a wee but I managed to get across the dam before needing to stop. I was feeling really good at this time and was confident I could do it. After my problems at Aberfeldy with drinking on the run I had a different nutrition plan this time. In short, I would not drink anything on the run, instead I would trust that I had drunk enough on the bike and take 4 Go gels on the run to see me through. Would it work? Who knows, I hadn't bothered trying it in training! I managed to drop one gel so only had 3 to see me through; no worries, I'm sure I would be fine (I told you I was feeling confident). The first lap was completed in about 51 minutes, so I had 57 minutes to do the second lap to achieve my target time. Seeing the other RAF Tri guys around the course was very motivating; some were looking very good, others less so. After the last turnaround point my plan was to step up the pace and see what I could do. Unsurprisingly, my legs were very tired and my increased pace lasted for about 500 metres before I decided that was not a good idea and a steady run for home was the order of the day. So far I had run every step but over the dam for the last time I took a jaffa cake from the feed station and walked whilst I savoured it - it was delicious and made me feel great. Across the grassy knoll and up the hill and I could hear the PA announcer and I knew I was nearly home. As I passed the 1.5km to go marker I could feel my hamstrings tightening up but the threatened cramp never materialised. I really hate that short, steep slope as you come back to the Sailing Centre; that really hurts. But it's all downhill from there and by this stage I knew I was going to crack 5 hours so I enjoyed the last couple of hundred meters. Across the line I felt great but within a few seconds my body reminded me what I had just put it through, and I sat with fellow RAF Tri member Peter Wankowski at the finish line eating crisps and chocolate. Frank sent me to stand in the water for 10 minutes to help the recovery process and it certainly worked; I couldn't feel my legs at all after that!

This was possibly my greatest race. OK, 4:56.40 is not brilliant by some people's very high standards but it was a significant achievement for me. And that, to me, is what triathlon is all about. I'm never going to be winning races so it's about pushing my own boundaries and challenging myself. The challenge now is to recover quickly and be fit enough to give Reg and Kelda a decent race at Half Ireman in 7 days time on the final leg of the UK HIM tour.

Splits:

Swim T1 + Bike T2 + Run Total Position Overall Position AG
35.16 2.34.12 1.47.10 4.56.40 156/566 14

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!

4.56.40.

I am so, so chuffed; this result alone has made my season.

Splits are as follows:

Swim - 35.16

T1 + Bike - 2.34.12

T2 + Run - 1.47.10

Based on my pre race targets I almost achieved my swim target, achieved my bike target (T1 was a very tardy 4:30ish by my watch!), and missed my run target by about 5 mins (assuming 2 mins for T2). To be honest, I ran to achieve a sub 5 hour result and took it steady and, apart from walking through the final feed station at the end of the dam whilst I enjoyed a motivational jaffa cake, I ran all the way. I am very pleased with that.

Expect a full report in the next day or so.

And this is for Lonsy:

He had a great race today and thoroughly deserves the cake. Unfortunately he went AWOL after the race and I was unable to pay my debt. I will, of course, make it up to him next time we meet. Well done buddy.

And what about Mike Scott? People that old should not be able to go that fast. Simply awesome.

The Vitruvian Weather Forecast

Another race at Rutland Water on Saturday and it's looking like it's going to be another wet and very windy day - oh deep joy. Average 20mph winds with gusts up to 36mph should certainly challenge people's bike handling skills. And heavy showers are also forecast.

But I'm prepared for it. The weather at Cowman was not great (although not as bad as forecast for Saturday) so I know I have the right kit to wear if the weather is grim, and I know I can race whilst wearing it. I suspect if it is as bad as predicted then my sub-5 hopes may not be achievable, but I will not give up until the clock says 5 hours are up and I'm still running. And even then I have to get to the finish line ahead of Lonsy as there is the small matter of pride and post-race cakes riding on the outcome.

And I will be riding the disc come what may - woo hoo!

So much for a solid week of training

I had great plans for training over this last week, but for a number of reasons it didn't happen. After a good weekend of training last week, Monday was another good day with a 2 x 20 minute session on the turbo at 95% FTP/300 watts (a small increase on recent weeks). Tuesday was always going to be an easy day but it ended up as a rest day. Wednesday started well with a really good, hard and fast 8.65km run first thing in the morning. Wednesday night was supposed to be another hard turbo session but I was feeling tired so changed it to a 40 min fat-burning recovery session (70% of FTP/220 watts). Thursday I was working in Luton and Friday I was at PJHQ for pre-deployment briefs so didn't get the chance to train on either days. Saturday was the 10 mile TT (see below) and today my legs were sore so I didn't do anything this morning and I also had to work so no chance of anything during the day. So, a grand total of just 3 hours training this week. Would have been a great taper, just 1 week too early. I don't have any plans for this week so it will be interesting to see how my proper week of taper turns out. I would suggest that with this level of training I have been doing this year (average 7.5 hours per week) there is no need to taper, just carry on as before but take Friday off. I'll see how I feel.

10 Mile TT

Oh man that was hard. 10 mile TTs are hard, they are supposed to be, and I was very close to the vomit threshold for most of the last 3 miles. You must know the sensations, that horrible taste in your mouth, the lack of saliva, the feeling of "Please make it end". So how hard was it? Well my last max HR test gave me a figure of 182; I peaked today at 186!


And all for what? 24:44. I shouldn't be too disappointed as this is a course PB by 15 seconds, at a speed of 24.24mph, but I was hoping to be quicker. To be honest the conditions weren't great; although it was a balmy 24 degrees and dry there was a noticeable cross wind which seemed to be in your face all the time. The course is not a fast one; I think "rolling" is the best description for it, and there is a killer slope (it's not really a hill) about 250m from the finish line. You have given your all and then the road kicks up and really hurts, your legs are burning and your lungs are screaming and you see your speed slowly bleed away - how painful is that?

So a course PB but not the sub 24 mins I had set myself for the season. Lets hope I go better at The Vit next weekend.

As if 2 HIMs in 8 days isn't enough ...

I am going to do a 10 mile TT this Saturday - looking for a PB and sub 24 minutes. This was one of my targets at the beginning of the year but I just haven't done any TTs (other than a 2-up 2 x 10 mile TT with Sags), so it will be time to enter the Hurtbox, HTFU and give it some stick. Lets hope for a calm day. And for extra motivation, the guy who finished 6th in the Brit 10 mile TT champs is also racing; any bets on how close I can get to him? Last time I raced in the same event as him it was about 3:30 - anything around 3 minutes would be good I guess.

I've also been doing some retail therapy of late. I have an aero seatpost for The PoD, some new wheel magnets for the computer (after spending 30 minutes trying to work out why the computer wasn't working, changing all the batteries, swearing at it (which unsurprisingly didn't work!), I realised the magnet had fallen off!), and a new bike bag - Polaris bike pod. Looks really good and will give it a trial run out to Ireland in 2 weeks time (2 weeks today actually, getting excited!). Retail price in UK is £299 but ProBikeKit have them on offer at £175 delivered; now that's a bargain even my wife can (almost) understand.

3 Weeks in Autumn

OK, perhaps not quite Autumn but lets not get pedantic.

The next 3 weekends have some quite intensive RAF Tri involvement. Next weekend (31 Aug) is the World Long Course champs in Almere with several RAF Tri guys and gals racing. Best of luck to you all.

The following weekend (6 Sep) is The Vitruvian and the Inter Services Long Course champs and there will be a lot of RAF Tri guys and gals taking on the challenge around Rutland Water. The race is always well organised and marshalled but it's not my favourite venue; quite simply I think I have raced there too often now.

The weekend after that (13 Sep) is my final race of the year, across the water in Northern Ireland at the Half Ireman event. I am really looking forward to this race for a couple of reasons: it will be my first sea swim race; it will be my first visit to Northern Ireland; I am looking forward to celebrating the end of the UK HIM tour by tasting some proper Guinness.

I was surprised how well I have recovered after last weekends race at Aberfeldy. For a recovery week I had some gentle sessions early in the week in all 3 disciplines and this weekend I have managed a moderately hard 60km ride in 1 hour 51 mins and a steady 10 mile (approx) run in 1 hour 21 mins. Am now looking for a quality week of biking with a couple more long runs and 2 or 3 technique sessions in the pool and then a gentle taper into the Vit weekend.

And the weight keeps creeping down, which is just great.

Train smart folks.

Recovery

I find it fascinating how different people react after a race; how their body's respond to the challenge of something tough like a Middle Distance effort. Although Reg and I finished in very similar times at Aberfeldy last Saturday and in similar degrees of pain, by Tuesday I was back swimming and cycling (albeit very easily) and I also swam and ran on Wednesday. Reg I understand, in comparison, is still in absolute bits and hasn't done any training at all this week. I'm now looking forward to getting a long bike and a long run in this weekend as I aim for a good 10 day block of training before tapering for The Vit.

Talking of The Vit, this has now achieved "A" status for me this year, and my season's success will depend very much on how I do at this race. At the start of the year I set myself a few goals and, to be honest, I haven't ticked many of them off; two of them were "a sub 5 hour Middle Distance race", and "a sub 1:40 HIM run". I've therefore decided to go public on my aims for The Vit:

Swim - 35:00
T1 - 3:00
Bike - 2:29:59
T2 - 2:00
Run - 1:39:59

Total 4:49:58

There is some flexibility in there to allow for a bad day at the office but I feel that these times are within my capability although I will need to be close to the edge to achieve them. Any support along the way will be much appreciated.

Stuff

OK, I know I've posted this image before but I was looking at it this evening when it struck me. We all know how Tinman has been nagging people about not having their trisuits/tops done up when racing etc etc, well look closely at the picture above, and next time he starts nagging remind him of this one. The 2 elder statesmen being properly attired and done up but the young whippersnapper clearly letting the standards down. Touche mon ami!

I was feeling quite good today after Saturday's race effort so started the recovery process with a 50 min swim this morning, concentrating on good quality full stroke with a few drills thrown in for good measure, and a very easy 30 min spin on the turbo this evening (very easy as in ave power 211 watts ave HR 128). I feel really good now and will aim to step it up a bit tomorrow.

And to balance my opening statement here is me at the Aberfeldy finish line clearly letting the standards drop. Sorry Tinman but I was completely spent and zipping up never ocurred to me; it was warm by this time as well. As you can also see, the muffin top has reduced (although Kelda seems to disagree), and I am wearing my 2XU calf guards (from the Cowman goody bag - best gizzit of the year so far). It's not a great look I admit but I have to say that I think I actually noticed a difference. Certainly post race there was less aches and pains than usual but without actually trying Coach Roy's scientific experiment (wear a calf guard on one leg only) I will never know for sure. I am, though, convinced, and will be wearing them at all future MD/HIM races.

Train smart folks.

You Don't Know How Hard is Too Hard...

... Until You Blow!

Or, Fortune Favours the Brave!

Or (Reg's particular favourite) Stupid is as Stupid does.

Don't worry, all will become clear. This weekend was the 3rd leg of the UK HIM Tour for Reg and I; the Aberfeldy Middle Distance race in the Highlands of Scotland. Whilst Reg had the easy option of flying to Edinburgh and a couple of hours drive I was faced with a 900 mile round trip; the things we do for our sport.

I love this race and don't understand why more people don't do it; it beats the pants off The Vitruvian in every respect apart from the travelling aspect. The swim is in Loch Tay; although dark the water is crystal clear and this year it was officially 12.5 degrees. Cold enough to take your breath away when your first got in but OK once you were swimming. The bike is 92km of the complete cycling challenge; tough climbs that are both steep and long; technical descents; amazing descents; scary fast descents; constantly varying terrain; some flat bits (but not much); and stunning scenery. The run is 21km of undulating Scottish scenery. In short, it is a brilliant race.

Kelda had travelled down with her husband to give us some support and we took full advantage of them by having them carry spare drinks bottle for us to the feed stations so we didn't have to carry the extra weight up the big hill on the bike. Weight Weenies - you've got to love them! Seriously though, the support was great and very much appreciated.

So how did it go?

The swim was fine and I was out of the water in a little over 35 minutes; very happy with that considering how little I have been swimming lately. As is usual I had a lengthy T1, made longer this time by the addition of putting on calf guard compression thingies for the first time in a race. And no, I hadn't practised it beforehand. And no, they don't slide easily over wet skin. Reg had had a good swim and a better T1 than me (no surprises there) but I just edged him out of T1 although he got to the mount line before me.

Onto the bike and I quickly put Reg in his place by overtaking him after a few hundred metres. There is a couple of miles of flat and fast road and a chance to get a gel and some drink down before you hit the first hill (is Schiehallion a hill or a mountain?), all 8km of it! The gradient varies and there are a couple of false summits and brief down hills but it is essentially skywards for 8km. I was riding my road bike with a compact chainset and made plenty of use of the 34-25 lowest gear, spinning easily up the hill and avoiding going "into the red". At the top you head towards Loch Rannoch but there is some more climbing before you start the descent; this is a very technical descent with a lot of blind corners and hairpin bends, meaning you never get a chance to really build up speed and your bike handling skills are well tested. Alongside the loch and I was amazed how comfortable I felt and the speed I was travelling at; I wanted to reach the far end of the loch (approx halfway point) in less than 1:30 and I got there in 1:24:30. Woo hoo! However, my joy was shortlived; as I turned the corner I realised I had been pushed along by a fairly sizeable wind and simply hadn't realised it, and this wind would now be in my face for almost the whole of the return leg. Never mind, head down and get on with it. It was about this time that I felt the need to pee, and I tried really hard to "let it go" on the downhills, but my subconscious wouldn't let me. "You've paid for these shoes, I'm not going to let you p**s in them", seemed to be the message, so eventually I had to stop. Whilst stopped, Reg came whizzing by offering some wise words of encouragement, or at least that's what I thought they were. He was clearly having a good ride. As we all know, once you start, you just can't stop, and I was at the roadside for what seemed like an eternity before I was able to get going again; Reg now had a sizeable lead on me and I was going to have to work hard to pull it back. But again, I got my head down and got stuck into the task and eventually caught him up on the steepest climb back up Schiehallion. This is tough and Reg and I climbed it together (with due respect for the drafting rules, of course, although what draft effect is there at 13kmh?). Reg got to the top about 10m in front of me and we headed onto the 8km descent; the first part is fairly open with good visibility of the road, then you get a short uphill before a steeper, more technical descent with tight, blind corners. On the first part Reg had a clear edge; his 53-12 standard gearing had a distinct speed advantage over my compact top gear of 50-12, although I was spinning like a dervish to try and keep up. For this first part, the speed never dropped below 50kmh and was more often above 60. After the short uphill we hit the technical part and my better knowledge of the course allowed me to get ahead; this is an AWESOME descent, banking the bike into corners at 60kmh and trying to accelerate out of them, trying to make it flow smoothly. At the bottom of the hill there is about a 5 mile run in to Aberfeldy and T2, and I decided to make a break for it and got my head down for some serious TT action. I quickly dropped Reg and blew passed another competitor and shortly afterwards realised I had seriously underestimated just how far away T2 was. Oh well. I got to T2 about 15 seconds in front of Reg and left with about a 10m advantage.

Onto the run and Reg was off like a scalded cat, setting a seriously hot pace straight out of the trap (please note that all references to speed are based on Reg and my abilities and no way infer we are in Daz's or Sags' league). Within the first mile he must have pulled out some 200m or so and after stretching it a little more in the next half mile it started to stabilise. And then reduce. Yes, I was catching Reg. To be honest, I felt great, better than any other time this season when starting on a run. With markers every mile I hit my lap timer at mile 1 and the next miles were reeled off in 7:43, 7:42, 7:46, 7:48. Slowly, ever so slowly I was catching Reg; I was feeling really good and even began to contemplate whether my HIM run PB may be on. By this time I had just about caught Reg and after going passed him decided it would be a good idea to put in an effort to try and break him, and ran the next mile in 7:40 with the main effort being on a long incline. But all was not well. At the 1st feed station I had taken some water and as it hit my stomach I had some stomach cramps that were only relieved by a large "release of pressure", if you know what I mean. Shortly after my effort we hit the 2nd feed station and I again took on water. Again, as it hit my stomach I was affected by stomach cramps, but more severe this time, and as well as a large "release of pressure" had to stop for a wee that allowed Reg to pull ahead once more. I reached the turnaround point in a little over 51 minutes so my run PB was certainly on. After the turnaround point there was a short downhill and then a long gentle incline, but as I demanded more from my body to catch Reg up the hill the stomach cramps returned and it was impossible to continue running hard and I was reduced to a walk. It seemed that every time the cramps subsided and I tried to run they would return; my race was effectively over and I could only watch as Reg ran into the distance and the wheels came off my race. The next miles were covered in 13.33 (the worst of the cramps), 9.29, 9.29, 9.38, 11.09 (more bad cramps) but then eased off to allow me to finish with a bit of a flourish with a mile of 8:11 before a final "sprint" into the finishing chute, and sanctuary. There is, though, an interesting postscript to this. My efforts in running down Reg, overtaking him and then pushing on had forced Reg to compromise his own race strategy and he increased his speed to stay with me. What I didn't know was that a mile after my race fell apart then so did Reg's, in similarly spectacular style!

At the finish I was completely spent. Reg told me later that Kelda was speaking to me at the finish line but I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of this - sorry! After a little time collecting my thoughts Reg came and told me his own sorry story and we both had a right laugh about how stupid we both were. My HIM run PB is 1:43:03 (not 1:40 as I thought - I've just checked) or 7:52 per mile so I was running well under that until I decided to "go for broke"! But, I now know that I should be able to run at this sort of pace and provided I am sensible and don't go mad then a run PB should be achievable.

Splits:

Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total Position Overall Position Age Group
Mick 36:19 3:46 3:03:10 1:07 1:53:42 5:38:07 79 22
Reg 37:17 2:50 3:03:27 1:03 1:50:06 5:34:45 71 29

I have gone to The Edge and stared into The Abyss. How hard is too hard? Well 7:40 per mile is clearly too hard for me at the moment. On this occasion fortune did not favour the brave; or perhaps it wasn't bravery but stupidity. And how stupid was I (or indeed, were we?) to try and make a break for it when still 7 miles from home? At least I tried.

I have 2 more races this year - The Vitruvian on 6 Sep and then the final leg of the HIM UK Tour at the Half-Ireman on 13 Sep. The Vitruvian has been given A status for me with sub 5 hour race, sub 2:30 bike and sub 1:40 run times being targeted. Sounds easy when you say it like that. I have a 2 week block of training now to work on something (I haven't worked out what yet) and then it will be 2 weekends in September to summarise my whole season.

Looking forward to it.

(Hopefully there will be some pictures to follow)

You know your training is going well when...

...you spend longer doing your intervals than you should.

OK, maybe it's because I'm stupid but tonight was supposed to be a 2 x 20 min turbo session at 95% of FTP (290 watts for me) (only 2 x 20 because I have a race this weekend). I duly warmed up, calibrated the turbo and cracked on with the session. 20 minutes later, did 2 minutes recovery, so elapsed time now 22 minutes. Then into the 2nd interval (of 20 minutes remember) and so what time did I stop? 42 minutes? That would be the logical answer but today I went on to 44 minutes. Anyone who has done this session knows it is mentally hard and yet I was quite happy spinning away.

I don't know what I've done recently but my ave HR was again well down for this session. It's supposed to be Level 3 but last week when I did 3 x 20 my ave HR was only 147 and today it was even lower at 143. I thought last week's reading was a fluke but tonight's session suggests its time to re-do the FTP test. Unfortunately its the middle of the race season so that's not going to happen; I might just add 10 watts to the L3 and L4 sessions and see if that hits the predicted HR zones and re-test at the start of the winter training season.

I also went swimming this morning for the first time in 10 days; it was horrible, the water was like treacle and I really didn't enjoy it. So I'm going again tomorrow.

Train smart folks (unlike me at the moment!).

It's all about balance

No, this is not another swim thread, it's all about the work-life balance. Or more specifically the work-rest-family-tri life balance.

This week I have been on leave and the kids have enjoyed a week at the King's Camp at Wyton. For those that don't know, King's Camp is an activity based club for the kids, where they do sports and craft type stuff. The eldest age group also get involved with helping supervising and organising the kids, so developing new skills. All 3 of my clan were involved and absolutely loved it. With them away, I foolishly thought I would get loads of training in but it just didn't happen. I found myself catching up on chores that Mrs Turbo had planned for me and whilst I got some really good sessions in on the bike and running (yes, you read that right, running) I just didn't manage the volume. And there has been no swimming whatsoever! I did get my core bike sessions in - the Level 3 (3 x 20 mins) and Level 4 (only 3 x 6 as I didn't get out until late) turbo sessions, and a short and hard road ride (53km in 1:39 - it was very windy!). Managed a long steady run with Sags this morning; the dogs came as well and we all seemed to enjoy it.

On the family front, on Friday night we went across to Molesworth for the "Tops in Blue" concert. This is a very professional song and dance show where all members of the cast are serving USAF personnel. Apparently they have a year out of work to tour the world visiting all places where the USAF are currently deployed. Nice work if you can get it. Great show as well. Saturday we went to Cambridge for a "Ghost Tour". It started with a punt ride on the Cam and then a guided tour of the haunted sites in Cambridge City Centre. It was raining very persistently whilst we waited for our punt but it eased off and was a very enjoyable trip.

I managed a large Dominos Pizza on Friday evening; half Hot'n'Spicy and half Vegetarian Supreme. Delicious. We've also been comparing doughnuts this week. First up was the local bakers sugar strand iced doughnuts, then some American iced doughnuts and finally the traditional jam doughnuts. For me, keeping it simple works and I preferred the traditional jam doughnuts. Interestingly, none of the test team voted the American doughnuts in first place; the local bakers being the overall victors.

Reg and I have the Aberfeldy HIM next Saturday, the 3rd leg of our UK HIM tour; this is a proper HIM distance race (1900m-92km-21km) in the Highlands of Scotland with perhaps the toughest bike course I have ridden, although I have painful memories of Bala so will confirm which race has the toughest bike course after next weekend. I've done this race 3 times before so am hoping to beat my course PB which is about 5:24 (I'm not very good at keeping records); sub 5:20 will be a real result.

That's all for now; lots of family activities planned for this week including going to watch the new "Mummy" movie and a day out in London (London Dungeon and either the Natural History or the Science Museum). And maybe some training as well.

Train smart folks.

What do you think of this?

I really like the look of this bike; £1500 for a full carbon aero frame with 105 10-speed. The same frame as used on Cannondales's £3500 bike so plenty of upgrade potential. Would look fantastic with a disc and a deep rim front. I posted this on TriTalk and it's caused a bit of a fuss with one individual; apparently it's not as good as a Cervelo because neither Fabian Cancellara nor Chrissie Wellington ride it, therefore it must be rubbish. Not sure I follow his logic.

As for training, today was one of those days that make you feel really good, I took Bandit for a run in the park and did a nice easy first 15 minutes and then stepped it up a notch over the second 15. After that I took the kids to Summer Camp over at Wyton and then came back and jumped on the turbo for 3 x 20 minutes @ 95% of FTP (290 watts for me). I felt really strong and got through the session without any thoughts of giving up and an average HR of just 147. Legs are feeling it now though. Tomorrow is an easy day; maybe another 30 min run and then core, stretch and flex.

Train smart folks.

Run Update

I was up early again this morning and took Bandit for a stroll round the block; the weather was a bit grim but I was determined to run this morning. I then had breakfast and after a short period to let it settle I headed out for my run. Fortunately, the weather was nice and it got better whilst I was out and I finished in pleasant sunshine. It took a while to get into my stride but after about 20 minutes I felt good. I had to run a little extra loop towards the end to make sure I did an hour but I felt strong at the end.

Another good week. 2 weeks to Aberfeldy and I'm feeling good.

Another Good Week

The plan this week was to reduce the cycling and build up the swimming and the running; it's sort of worked but perhaps not quite as I planned.

Swimming. Well I swam more than last week, just not much more, managing just 1 hour this week (2 x 30 min sessions). The sessions were good though, with some full stroke focussing on good technique and some drills to address known weaknesses. The aim is to not get any slower at this stage of the season, rather than searching for new speed.

Cycling. I've certainly reduced the cycling; no turbo sessions this week just a commute to work on Tuesday (40km each way) and then a 3 hour ride with Sags today clocking up 91km. The weather today was windy and after an hour or so the rain started and by the time I got home I was soaked to the skin. It wasn't cold though and I really enjoyed the ride. Total ride time this week was a little over 5.5 hours.

Running. So far this week I've ran for 1 hour 26 minutes compared to 1 hour 16 minutes last week. However, I have another run planned for tomorrow (Sunday) which will hopefully clock up another hour or so which will meet my planned target. I find running in the muggy heat we've been experiencing lately really difficult; on Wednesday I just couldn't seem to get any air into me and really struggled. It was quite pathetic really. I suppose I could say that the 80km of cycling I had done the day before had left me somewhat fatigued but it shouldn't have been as bad as it was.

Training Totals. I've notched up a tad over 8 hours so far compared to 10.25 hours last week. Another hour running tomorrow and I will be a Happy Hector.

2 weeks to Aberfeldy and I'm happy with the mileage I'm clocking up on the road bike. This next week will be difficult as I'm on leave with the kids at home so I will just have to fit in what I can. Hopefully I will manage some good bike mileage with some short runs off the bike. Might try to get 1.5 hours of swimming in as well. We shall see.

Train smart folks.

Mission Accomplished

This week was all about the bike, getting out and riding it. In both the Bala Middle Distance and the Cowman races I was conscious of my legs lacking strength endurance towards the end of the bike course and with the Aberfeldy Half Ironman coming up on 16 August and the hilly nature of that course I am determined to be able to ride hard all the way. The hilly nature means I will be leaving the Prince of Darkness at home and taking my trusty Litespeed, so all the road riding this week has been on this bike. I've throughly enjoyed riding on the road this week (the great weather has helped) but the turbo sessions have not gone so well, so hopefully I can build these up over the coming fortnight. I also need to increase the swimming and running as well. A look at this week's training stats will explain:

Swimming - 40 minutes
Running - 1 hour 16 minutes
Core, stretch & flex - 30 minutes
Cycling - 7 hours 49 minutes
Total - 10 hrs 15 minutes (compared to an average of 7 hrs 27 minutes so far this season)

So this week I will reduce the amount of time cycling, add in another swim session and a long run and hopefully get a better balance in the programme. This week was all about cycling, so Mission Accomplished there.

The second aim was to lose a few pounds before Aberfeldy, and I'm pleased to report that I am going well. I raced Cowman at about 11st 9lbs and yesterday morning I was 11st 7lbs. Target weight is 11st 4lbs and if I can get close to that it will make getting over those Scottish mountains so much easier.

Train smart folks.

Fat Mick

You're a cruel lot. 70% "of those who expressed a preference" reckon I deserved Chairman Pete's "Muffin Top" comment. That's it, I will retreat from all forms of gluttony and subscribe to the super model diet of water and thin air until I am leaner than a very lean thing. Unfortunately I will probably lose all my strength and be a lesser person, but that's OK because I will be thin. And Lonsy will probably beat me and then there will be nothing left for me but to slope off into inglorious retirement, but no-one will notice because I will turn sideways on and be lost to you. I hope you're pleased. And thanks to all those who voted "foul", even though I suspect my Mum voted more than once!

For the sensitive souls out there please note that the above was written with TVFIC!

It's Still Not Happening...

I got on the turbo last night and after a 10 minute warm-up got stuck into the 6 minute reps at 330 watts, with 2 minutes easy recovery at about 200 watts. Again, though, I just didn't seem to have the heart for it. It was hard (as you would expect) but whereas in the past I would just grit my teeth and get on with it I found myelf once again contemplating climbing off. I battled with these demons for a while and not even Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" on the ipod could dispel them. In the end I did 3 reps of 6 minutes and just to confirm the strange state of mind I currently find myself in I dashed inside, put my trainers on and went for a run. Now this is most unlike me! It wasn't quick and it wasn't long but for me to run instead of ride my bike is almost uheard of.

So today I have taken a rest day and taken the opportunity to review my training diary. I have done 7.7 hours of training over the last 4 days; in comparison my weekly average has been 7.3 hours this winter. The last 4 days consists of 40 minutes of swimming, 30 minutes of running, 30 minutes of core and 6 hours of cycling! Am I really traning for middle distance races?

The good news is that I have a late start tomorrow so plan to take Bandit for an early morning run in the park; will hopefully be out for at least an hour. Which leaves Saturday and Sunday for a couple of long bike rides; Saturday will be a steady ride out to Cambridge and back and Sunday will be a couple of hours of hill efforts. This will hopefully give me some confidence in my bike endurance that was lacking at both Bala and Cowman and allow me to balance my training a bit better over the next 2 weeks.

It's the Trentham Gatorade Big Half (or whatever its called) this weekend so best of luck to Reg, Sags and Jase.

The Meanderings of a Turbo Man ...

It's good ... It's bad ... It's good ... It's bad ...

What is? Training. Since Bala training has been somewhat sporadic and completing 3 races in 10 days recently meant I was either trying to recover from one race or not wanting to overtrain prior to the next race. So last weekend I tried to ease myself back into a decent training programme. I had an enjoyable Sunday morning on the bike but on Monday went to the gym to swim but the pool was closed. OK, flexibility being one of the keys of Air Power I did a 30 minute core, stretch and flex session and in the evening headed for the garage for 2 x 20 minutes on the turbo. However, halfway through I climbed off. Legs were good, breathing was OK, but my heart just wasn't in it. Was I listening to my body that needed a rest, or should I have just HTFU'd? In the past I have been in both camps but this time I didn't feel that, physically, I needed to rest, so perhaps it was just a case of HTFU. Tuesday, though, I decided to commute to work on the bike; just over 25 miles each way and really enjoyed it. And this morning I went to the pool (open now) and had a really good 40 minute session. So all seems well, although I think the crunch will come this evening when it's back on the turbo for the 6 x 6 session.

Train smart folks.

Getting back in to it

After my exertions on Wednesday and Thursday my legs just weren't up to doing anything on either Friday or Saturday, so instead of training I rested and got my Litespeed sorted into "Aberfeldy LD" spec - this included adding clip-on tribars, seat bag with puncture repair kit, one bottle cage and handlebar box (for gels and energy bars).

Today I went for a short(ish) ride just to get my legs moving again; I did 2 hours and 10 minutes and 65km. I did some repeated hill efforts (or at least the best hills that Cambridgeshire could offer) and it was nice to be out in the sunshine, although it was well windy; struggling to do 25kmh into the wind and then 48kmh+ with it. Legs were tired afterwards so I've worn my calf guards all afternoon. Legs feel good now.

Looking ahead I now have 3 weeks of training before tapering for Aberfeldy. Plan is to do some serious bike mileage and get a half marathon in at some point every week whilst keeping the swimming ticking over. There are some work and social commitments that will mess things up a bit but the key will be flexibility, and do what I can when I can. I also plan to try and get the weight down and lose one pound per week; by Aberfeldy that would see me very close to my IM race weight of 2006 and will certainly help on the hills of Scotland.

Train smart folks.

"Fat Mick"

This is the picture of me at the Inter Services that prompted Chairman Pete to make the "muffin top" comment.

Fair or foul?

Please vote now.

Now that was a really good idea ...

Wednesday I raced at the Inter Services standard distance triathlon (see below) so a day of rest would be well deserved on Thursday. Or so you would think. Instead, I had arranged to do my fitness test followed by a "friendly" game of unihoc. Unsurprisingly, I didn't record a PB on the fitness test and only managed 11.10; my legs were feeling a bit leaden and tired. I did manage 52 press ups and 53 sit ups though, which I think is OK for a 44 year old. The unihoc game was great fun, but after 40 minutes I was absolutely knackered and dripping with sweat. Am very tired now and will have a rest day tomorrow. I'm working Saturday but should have time for a long run first thing in the morning and will hopefully get a long ride out on Sunday. With Aberfeldy my next race on 16 Aug it's all on the road bike now, and I need to find some hills as well.

Train smart folks.

Inter Services Standard Distance Triathlon 2008

(OW 1500m swim, 44km bike, 10km run)

OK, lets start with the gossip. Jamie Elliott woke our whole room up (all 8 of us) at 0230 last night to try and remove a foreign object from one of his orifices. Now I wouldn't wish to speculate what it was or what he was doing, although it's fair to say that when Nurse Vicky removed said foreign object first thing in the morning it wasn't buzzing. Jamie, you certainly missed an opportunity there - I understand Vicky had her nurse uniform with her and surely when carrying out a surgical procedure she should have been encouraged to wear it? Just a thought.

On to the race itself, the weather was mild and a little blustery, but generally conditions weren't too bad. A lot of racing recently had meant I hadn't done a great deal of training but I was feeling OK.

Swim - I found a start place to the right of the pack and at the hooter I let the fast swimmers get going before following them. The first 3 or 400m were an absolute bunfight; I don't think I have been punched and kicked so much in my whole triathlon career as I was today. After the initial fisticuffs it settled down and I found some clear water and settled into a nice rhythm. The turns were uneventful and I was almost enjoying it. Almost. I was absolutely amazed to see Westy alongside me as I came out of the water. A quick look at my watch confirmed I had swam at roughly my expected pace so what on earth was Westy doing this far back?

T1 - Went OK, yes I'm a girl and put socks on. Get over it.

Bike - I really enjoyed the bike course and when I was going I was going well. It was unfortunate that there were roadworks with a contraflow on the A15 that we had to negotiate twice, and athletes bike splits were heavily influenced by whether they got through these unhindered or did not. I was badly held up on lap 1 but got through OK on lap 2. The last part of the bike course was absolutely great, really fast on quite good roads and I got down to some serious 11-tooth action.

T2 - No problems here, and onto the run.

Run - Out of T2 I picked up an energy drink. I have no idea what it was but within a few steps I regretted it, as it hit my stomach and seemed to expand to something like 10 times its original volume. I struggled on and suffered the ignominy of being overtaken by Reg after about 2km. Seriously, well done mate for finding your run legs today. At the end of the first lap things improved a bit and I am pretty sure I managed a negative split so am happy with that.

Race total was just under 2:30 (maybe 2:29:40) and initially I was somewhat disappointed. However, the Vet winner recorded 2:20 so it perhaps wasn't such a disaster (and yes I do know that there were Vets racing in the Senior team that went MUCH faster, Sags being one of them). The RAF Vet team came second so I have another trophy for the office cabinet. Happy with that.

The BIG news is that Lonsy once again finished behind me. Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!!

It was nice to meet up with everyone today and well done to all those who raced well. It was great to see Dale racing again, even if he had to hobble round the run being overtaken by a number of Army guys after kicking their butts in the swim and on the bike.
And a final comment - I was advised by Chairman Pete to stop wearing a 2 piece tri suit due to suffering from a "muffin top". Apparently, there is photographic evidence to support this but I'm pretty sure it has been photoshopped. Either way I guess I need to lean out before Aberfeldy.

The Madness Has Taken Over ...

In a moment of absolute madness today I sent off an e-mail to Mark at Pacesetter Events to put my name down for one of the Services slots at the Vitruvian. Why mad? Because it's 7 days before the last leg of my UK HIM Tour in Ireland. But, there is a reason for my madness. At the beginning of this year I set myself a target of going sub 5 hours at a Middle Distance race and after blowing it at Cowman I decided to return to the location of my fastest time so far, where I did 5:01:15 in 2007. I reckon I can find 76 seconds this year.

Doing the Vit may well affect my race in Ireland but that's OK; Half Ireman was always planned to be a bit of end of season fun and to sample some proper Guiness, preferably at a pub afterwards and not at the aid stations on the bike. And 5 HIM races in one season will be worth a beer or 2 I reckon.

So Lonsy, there will be another opportunity for you to kick my butt before the end of the year.

Cranwell Sprint - 9 July

3 days after the Cowman HIM it was the RAF Sprint Distance Champs at RAF Cranwell. Unsurprisingly, my legs had been stiff and sore since Cowman and so I felt there was no pressure to perform at Cranwell; I had a ready-made excuse if it all went badly.

I hadn't pre-entered, as I wasn't sure how I would feel after a HIM at the weekend, but I was feeling OK so decided to race. The weather forecast was grim, but fortunately the rain held off until the finish. Or at least until after I had finished! It was a bit windy but certainly not enough to cause any significant issues. I put in a somewhat conservative swim time but nevertheless found myself in Wave 11 out of 14. The swim went OK; I had some minor leakage in my goggles but not enough to cost me time and I was out of the pool a few seconds after Super Bev. T1 was OK; it's a sprint race so no socks or gloves and with the dry weather there was no need for the cycling top. Out onto the bike and it took me a few hundred metres to get into my rhythm, but across the airfield I started to pick off competitors. It was just after the dip out the back of the Station that I caught Bev and I worked hard along that seemingly endless piece of road; the effort did not seem to be translating into speed though. After the right turn the wind got behind me and I found my bike legs and really started to motor. This was fun. Not only was I catching people but I was overtaking them travelling significantly faster. The course is a bit lumpy and the road surface isn't great but I kept the cadence up and was really enjoying it. The price, of course, is that you turn round and face into the wind again, and the slight uphill drag after the turnaround seemed to suck the life out of my legs. I thought after I turned left for the long straight back to Cranwell there would be a friendly tailwind but that didn't seem to materialise, although I was travelling pretty swiftly I never touched the Secret Weapon (the 11-tooth sprocket). I caught Simon Covell (from the previous wave) through the FQ patch; this would be very useful later on. Into T2 and after asking a poor lady novice if she would mind getting out of my way (I apologise if I may have come across as a bit rude) I racked the bike, grabbed my trainers and was off. Onto the run and I had a feeling I don't think I have ever had at this stage of a triathlon before. I felt like I was actually running. I was overtaking people. Simon came back passed me across the airfield and quickly opened a gap of 60 or 70 metres but then it stabilised. We were overtaking a number of people but I was determined to not let that gap grow any further. This was hurting. A lot. I don't think I have ever run so hard in a race before; I usually get into my comfort zone and just plod round, but this was certainly much different. Back across the airfield and would you believe it, I think the gap between Simon and I is getting smaller. Along the main road and the gap has definitely shrunk; it's maybe 20 metres now. Could I catch him? Passed the gym and its now 10 metres but I am completely spent and that's how we finish. I looked at my watch and I've finished in 1:08:12, some 1 min 20 secs faster than last year. I am thoroughly delighted with this, especially just 3 days after a tough half-ironman distance race.

At the sharp end and behind Andy Fisher, the racing at the front was extremely close and we have an excellent core for the Inter Services; whether we have enough depth to challenge the Army we will have to wait and see. Expect to see a whole bunch of RAF Tri members circulating almost together on the bike and the run, just watch out for Tinman and his draft busters.

Well done to the organisers of the RAF Sprint Series and everyone who helped out. I know how much effort goes into putting on an event and it is very much appreciated. Thank you. And another BIG well done to the guy who suffered a puncture but bravely put the bike over his shoulders and ran back to T2. Top marks. Anyone know who this person was? Certainly deserves a special mention.

So there you have it; the way to Sprint Distance joy, it would appear, is to race a half-ironman just 3 days before. Go figure.

CowMan - Long Report

CowMan HIM - 6 July 2008

This was Leg 2 of the 2008 UK HIM Tour. Bala was tough due to the heat and the hills. CowMan was tough because of the extra length, the wind and the rain.

Let's get the disappointment over with first - I didn't crack 5 hours. In fact, I wasn't even close. I finished in 5:14:47, but it wasn't all bad news. But we'll come to that later.

The race is based in Emberton Park, near Olney (between Milton Keynes and Bedford); it's a proper HIM distance race with a swim of 1900m, a bike of 94km and a 21km run. The swim is in a lake and is over 2 laps; I thought the water was quite dirty and the banks rivalled Rutland Water for the quantity of duck/swan/goose poo! It was an early start too; first wave was due off at 0700 with my wave (male vets and juniors) at 0705 and the last wave (ladies and teams) at 0710. Consequently, I was up at 0420 to get there in good time. The weather forecast was grim: rain, maybe thunderstorms, and high winds. Oh deep joy!

After parking and registering you had to queue to get your cycle helmet checked, goody bag (including 2XU compression calf things, nice) and your race chip. It was raining and the queues were getting longer by the minute and there were a few grumbles as race start approached. Nevertheless, I was racked and ready in good time and made the short walk to the race start feeling good.

The race began a few minutes late and as usual I found some space towards the back of the pack and quickly got into a nice rhythm. The first buoy was only a couple of hundred metres away and the pack hadn't really had a chance to spread out so it was a bit chaotic but I got round without incident. My goggles then started to steam up which caused me to head off course a bit but they cleared after a few hundred metres of meandering and all was well after that. I exited the swim in 36.48 and was happy with that considering the additional distance I had completed.

T1 was a long drawn out affair (as in 3.46 long drawn out!) as I dressed for the elements. My RAF Triathlon cycling top got its first race outing and I also put on neoprene overboots and winter gloves with full fingers - there was no way I was running a half marathon still wearing my helmet! Onto the bike and I overtook about 10 people down the narrow track to the road - what were these people doing? Out onto the road and it was hammer time. The course is undulating with a couple of hills but I stayed in the big ring and honked up these. I felt good and was drinking and eating - maybe the colder weather was suiting me? I got round the first 36km lap in just over an hour, but payback wasn't far away. The hills that I had bullied my way up on lap 1 were now biting back and I found myself spending more time in the little ring. Indeed, there is a fairly tough hill at the end of the lap and I was certainly struggling second time around. The 3rd lap is shorter, at about 22km long, and by this point I seemed to have lost all power, and I was mighty relieved to get to T2. 2.48.39 for the 94km so a tad over 33.6kmh - I was a bit disappointed with this but considering the windy conditions I guess it was OK.

I had a pretty good T2 (1.31) and I was feeling OK, not great, but OK. My legs were certainly feeling the effects of the bike but they were carrying me along at a reasonable pace (note this is measured against my own pathetic run standards and not against the likes of Daz Sharpe!). The run is a 4-lap affair, taking you through the village of Emberton onto a lumpy cross country route before returning to the Park and running round the lake. Lap 1 was completed in 27 minutes with over a minute spent by a tree whilst I answered a call of nature. Lap 2 was completed in 25 minutes although I was beginning to struggle. On lap 3 I had a little walk before I had a word with myself although I still managed the lap in 27 minutes. At the beginning of lap 4 I was passed by Wayne O'Brien from the Army whilst I was refuelling at the feed station, I quickly caught him up again but my legs let me down up the hill and he got away again. On the downhill stretch I really pushed myself and caught him up and then made a real effort as I went passed him - there was no way he was going to beat me. That last lap was the fastest one I did, at just under 25 minutes, making a total run time of 1.44.01, just 3 minutes off my HIM run PB. I was really chuffed with that.

So I finished in 5:14:47; I had hoped that this would be the race I went sub 5 hours for the first time, but the extra length on the bike course and the weather conditions put paid to that. I'm not disappointed, I reckon I did the best I could on the day, and that's what counts. OK, maybe I pushed too hard on lap 1 of the bike but unless you do this you will never know what is too hard.

Splits:

Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total
36.48 3.46 2.48.39 1.31 1.44.01 5.14.47

Position Overall AG
77 out of 324 26

I'm happy, I'm tired, and it's the RAF Sprint Distance Champs on Wednesday. Will my legs recover in time to give some of the quick bys something to think about on the bike? We shall see.

Thanks to everyone who sent me texts both before and after the race, the support from RAF Tri members is very much appreciated.

Next stop on the UK HIM Tour is Aberfeldy in the Highlands of Scotland on 16 August. This is another tough race with a beast of a bike course; I've only gone under 3 hours on the bike once in 3 attempts and my course PB is 5 hours 24 minutes. Reg will be with me on this one and no doubt seeking revenge for his defeat at Bala.

CowMan - Quick Report.

It was windy. It was raining. I raced. I finished. I didn't break 5 hours. I finished in 5:14 something. I'm very tired.

Full report to follow. Sometime. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Can My Preparation Be Any Worse?

I've already documented that my training since Bala hasn't been great, but that I was addressing that this week, albeit with a sense of panic. But it's been worse this week.

On Tuesday I took the dog out for his evening run (note his, not mine). As usual, he chased the rabbits and the squirrels and then we headed to a small lake for him to lay down in and cool off. I walked out onto the wooden pontoon and then Bandit (my dog) decided to jump up onto the pontoon. No problem, other than he got his leg trapped between 2 of the planks of wood that made up the pontoon. The more he pulled, the further his leg became trapped. He was squealing like a stuck pig and was clearly very distressed and in some pain. There was nothing I could do apart from get stuck in and try and pull him free. I managed it but in doing so Bandit decided to try and take a chunk out of my back - OUCH!

So my back was bloodied and sore but I was determined to keep training. Wednesday I did an abridged version of what is becoming the famous 6 x 6 session, in that it was 4 x 6 (well it is taper week!) at 330 watts. No problem with the session, other than it was hard and I was suffering from some discomfort in the saddle region. On closer inspection I had some sort of [censored to protect the children]. Anyway, the upshot of all that is that I was at The Doc's this morning and am now on a double dose of penicillin and have some cream to apply to the affected area. Hopefully, it will clear up before Sunday; I have an easy spin with some short race pace efforts planned for Saturday morning so I'm hoping I will be able to sit on the bike by then.

Can it get any worse for me?

Panic Cycling

It's my A race of the year on Sunday and I'm having a little panic about my poor preparation since Bala. I just haven't managed the volume of training that I wanted to, although what I have managed has been good quality. I have been doing a lot of running (by my low standards) and have managed to lose a kilo so it's not all bad, I've even been doing some swimming. But I've just not been getting out on the bike, which has been bothering me.

So it's now taper week so what do I do? Turn the screw on the bike. Yep, entirely sensible thing to do that. No running at all, swimming every morning and cycling every evening. Monday was a 2 x 20 min Level 3 session, Tuesday was out on the road on my TT bike doing seated sprint efforts, and this evening was 4 x 6 min Level 4 session. All good quality stuff and the sessions were kept fairly short so not to wear me out. Legs feel really good at the moment, having lost the heavy, lead weight feeling they had when I ran 5 days in one week.

Tomorrow I have another swim and an easy recovery spin on the bike. Friday will be a complete day of rest. Saturday will be another easy ride with some short bursts at race pace and then Sunday is race day - the CowMan half ironman distance race at Emberton Park near Bedford, leg 2 in my UK HIM Tour.

Fingers crossed for a dry day with no wind; what are the chances of that?

To Clip In or Not to Clip In? That is the Question.

The original article was somewhat longer than this but in the interests of not boring you to death I have edited it down. Hopefully the point hasn't been lost in doing this.

As mentioned in a previous post (or 3!), I spent 20 or so minutes at the exit of T1 at the Dambuster, and what I saw was absolutely amazing. So many athletes had their shoes pre-clipped on their pedals but only a handful made proper use of this potential time saver. In fact, I reckon many actually lost time. So why do they do it?

I watched one athlete do it properly and he was really slick. He ran out of T1 and managed a smooth running mount, landing very gracefully on the saddle (take note Jamie), his feet went straight on the shoes that were held in the horizontal position with sensible use of elastic bands and he pedalled away. He was out of sight before he even attempted to get his feet into his shoes but having got up some decent momentum I doubt he had a problem. And that's how to do it.

So why on earth did I see athlete after athlete running out of T1, stopping, getting on their bike and then trying to their feet into their shoes with barely half a turn of the pedals on an incline? Many did not have elastic bands holding their shoes so the shoe opening was facing the ground. What on earth was going through these people's minds? Not a great deal I would imagine! I lost count of the number of people that went into the barriers and one character even managed to go through the tape in the centre of the road and only just missed the barrier on the far side. One guy put so much pressure on the pedal trying to get his foot in that the shoe flew off the pedal and landed a metre or so behind him. There was almost total carnage as he stood astride his bike, trying to walk slowly backwards and bending over trying to pick his shoe up whilst other athletes attempted their own version of "The Running Mount". Even The Mighty Sags made a bit of a pigs ear of it - 4/10 could do better buddy!

I reckon people see the elites doing it and think that is what they have to do, but completely ignore the fact that the elites practice this over and over again to get slick at it. I'll be honest I don't do it. I tried and was rubbish at it so now put my shoes on in T1 and then run to the mount line wearing my shoes, get on my bike in the usual way and then pedal off. Yes, I'm slower than the super slick athlete I mentioned at the beginning, but I am quicker than many of those I saw (if we ignore my traditional "can't get the wetsuit off faff" and "I'm a girl and need to put my socks on") and I usually overtake a fair few in the first 4 or 500m of the bike leg who are still faffing about trying to get their feet in.

Coming back into T2 is a different matter. You have momentum and it is relatively easy to get your feet out of your shoes, place your feet on top of the shoes and pedal towards the dismount line. As you approach the line you lift one leg over the saddle and then execute a perfect running dismount. It is smooth and slick and takes very little practice to become reasonably good at (but a lot more to become very good) and save a bunch of time. You need to make sure you don't knock one leg onto the other or let the pedal whack the back of your calf, as this will guarantee a face full of tarmac - not pleasant! Not to mention embarrassing!

So there you have it. The benefits of pre-clipping your shoes on in T1 are potentially many seconds saved, but unless you are prepared to practice, practice, practice then consider very carefully whether it actually saves you or costs you time. From what I saw at Dambuster, I suspect for many people it was the latter.