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.