Feeling a bit glum...

It happens to us all occasionally. Domestic and/or work issues mean that training takes a back seat and before you know it your main targets for the season ar eupon you and you are under prepared. That's certainly where I am at the moment and with the Inter Services Sportive due next weekend I had my doubts about being able to cycle 202km. I did 75km today in glorious sunshine but towards the end my legs were letting me know that they had done some work, but the reality was that next weekend we (my legs and I) would have been just over a third of the way through the course. I am really enjoying cycling at the moment, I do it because I enjoy it and it keeps me fit and able to eat and drink almost what I like. It shouldn't be a chore and struggling through 202km next weekend felt like a chore. So I have today e-mailed the organisers and asked them to change me to the 77 mile/124km route. I feel confident of doing this and also that I can do it in a reasonable time. A weight has been lifted.

The other dark cloud is Quelle Challange Barcelona. I know it shouldn't be and if I was just going to get round it wouldn't be. But I've set myself a target and I have my team mates to consider (final make up of the team members still TBC though!) and this is weighing heavy on my shoulders at the moment. Hopefully I can get some good training in over the next few weeks and these clouds will be blown away; I really hope so.

I'm also considering what I want to do next year. The cycling has been great so far this year, just riding for the sake of riding, no pressure to achieve PBs etc and now that I am closer to 50 than 40 then perhaps this is the way forward. I've thought about selling all my kit at the end of the year to fund the purchase of my dream bike (Parlee Z4 if you're interested) and then just riding Sportives and going away for cycling holidays abroad (a bit like Sags recently), maybe even try L'Etape du Tour one year (if I can get an entry). We shall see.

Hopefully the blues will pass soon and the competitive mojo will return.

On a lighter ote, has anyone got this year's cycling tan yet?

Take care folks, and don't forget your sun cream.

Race Analysis

So your race is over once you cross the finish line, but that's not the end of the event. There is the post race analysis to do, and in my experience triathletes spend almost as much time trawling over the data as they do in preparing for an event. And if you have a Powertap or similar it is even worse!

Anyway, in fine triathlete tradition I have been doing some race analysis. By a stroke of good fortune it appears that the official timing was taken at one end of transition while I was hitting my lap timer at the other end. As a result, I have a full set of results, as follows:

Swim 7.20.
T1 1.46
Bike 29.13
T2 0.33
Run 23.18
Total 1.02.10

This was 3.32 slower than my time at the same event last year, but in my defence I was swimming and running at that time, and was also well into my speed work on the bike, so that result is not entirely unexpected. What did surprise me was that my run was only 55 seconds slower than last year. The downside was that my bike AND T2 last year was 28.12; I was over a minute slower just on the bike bit - eek!

Anyway, enough of that triathlete analysis nonesense, today I was out on the bike on what was a glorious morning; the number of other cyclists I saw confirmed this. With only 2 weeks to the Inter Services Sportive at Highclere Castle I decided that I would ride as I will be doing on that day, taking it easy on the hills, riding sensibly on the flats and relaxing downhill. I really enjoyed it and covered 75km in 2hrs 40 mins. I'm glad to say that the hills are getting easier, although I still anticipate being in bits after the 200 hilly kms at Highclere!

Reviewing my training diary is casuing me some concern at the moment. The training I am doing is good quality stuff, but there just isn't enough of it. The last 2 weeks are showing red, which means I have failed to get more than 6 hours per week in on each of these weeks. I really need to increase my training volume or the sub 5 hour target at Barcelona is going to be a pipe-dream.

Looks like I need to train smart, so there's no good wishes for you lot this time! :-)

Brize Norton Sprint Tri

Today was the first of 2, possibly 3, sprint tris that I will be doing this year. As I've mentioned previously, I haven't swam this year so the first discipline was going to be tough. I was looking forward to the bike leg although as I'm still only in my first phase of base training I wasn't expecting fireworks. I was not looking forward to the run at all.

So how did it go? I was completely calm beforehand as there was no pressure on me to perform at this event. I had put an estimated swim time down of 8 minutes so was in Wave 13 (of 24); into the water with 30 seconds to go and then the hooter to start our wave. Setting off I had no idea what to expect, but was very pleasantly surprised as my stroke seemed to be pretty much as I remembered it (not that it was ever anything special, of course). The first 4 lengths seemed to fly by and I was feeling really good. However (you just knew there was going to be one, didn't you?), my lack of swim training came back to haunt me. After 200m my arms were becoming heavy and after 300m my arms felt very heavy and it was a real effort to keep any sort of form. It was soon at an end, though, in approx 7:30 which I was absolutely delighted with.

They say that transition is the 4th discipline, and as you can imagine, I haven't practised these either, which was clearly evident as I struggled to get my top on and then made a hash of getting on my bike, much to the amusement of Neill G and the crowd.

Onto the bike and I tried to push right from the start, although my legs seemed a little reluctant for the first 10 minutes or so. They say you should never try anything new in a race, so my new, untested position and my new, untested deep rimmed front wheel were getting acquainted in a most unorthodox manner. It was a little windy but the deep rim didn't cause me any particular handling issues. I caught a couple of athletes from the previous wave but was keeping an eye out for Jackie Wren, who had also started in the wave ahead of me. With a mile or so to go I saw Jackie ahead, battling with another cyclist. I caught them at the last right turn towards BZN and passed Jackie just after the speed hump into camp.

A credible attempt at a running dismount into T2 and I managed a reasonable bike to run transition and was out onto my least favourite part of the race. Jackie overtook me as we left camp and I offered some words of "encouragement". She quickly opened a gap of 50m or so but either I speeded up or Jackie slowed down as it settled at about that distance. I had planned to just jog round the run course but after Jackie overtook me something in my head switched to "competitive" mode and I made a determined effort to keep her in sight. There were several occasions when I really wanted to stop; this was hurting. The small hill by the roundabout was a killer; I dug in and made an effort but it really hurt and I tried to recover at the top without losing too much speed. I really wanted to stop. Heading back towards camp and I thought I was catching Jackie - not by much and not by enough to catch her before the finish line. But it was hurting. Across the line and I was absolutely spent. I got myself a drink and sat down while my body tried to recover. I think I finished in about 1 hour and 2 minutes; a couple of minutes down on last year but I was not really surprised by that.

It was a good day; the weather had been threatening but other than a bit of wind the rain held off and there was even a bit of sunshine. The organisation seemed to be slick and managed to cope with some 40 athletes turning up unannounced on the day. It almost went pear-shaped when there was a technical glitch that prevented the start lists being produced, but this was overcome. It was great to see some of the best athletes in RAF Tri turning up for a try-a tri event; Mike Westwell (who I believe won the event in an amazing time of 53-something - I'm afraid I couldn't stay for the pize giving so can't confirm this), Mat Stephenson Brad Goggin and a number of up-and-coming athletes of all ages. 96 people turned up to race - fantastic!

And no race report would be compete without mentioning Reg, who managed to "forget" his helmet. When questioned, it turned out that he had brought his aero helmet but didn't want to bring it to transition until he had checked whether anyone else had brought one, in case he looked like a ****! I believe Reg had a good race - his Spesh Tarmac is just awesome and I really can't believe what he paid for it. Some guys have ALL the luck!

I'm very tired now. Time for bed. Recover well folks!

Triathlon - Yes, I remember it well...

The Brize Sprint Tri, the first race in the RAF Sprint Series 2009, is in 2 days time. I'm at High Wycombe (again!) tomorrow before heading to Brize for the Committee meeting in the afternoon, so I thought I better do something other than cycling. I haven't swam since 2008 (no, seriously, I haven't) so thought I'd better get wet again. And running? It's a natural action so who needs it. Anyway, back to the swimming, after a short time rehearsing balance and rotation drills I did some technique work. A felt a bit stiff in the shoulders and upper arms but I think it should be OK. Anyway, after 10 minutes or so I was bored so got out of the bath. As for running, well it was raining this morning so I had a quick jog from the car to the office. It's only a sprint so I'm sure all will be just Dandy.

I thought it would be a good idea to get my kit together as well. The bike stuff was easy, although I still haven't got round to setting up the brakes or the gears on PoD yet, so hopefully the Committee meeting won't go on too long (hint, hint Debs!). I had to peel off the Half Ireman sticker from my helmet and remove the number from the number belt. I spent 15 minutes trying to find my swimming goggles; I eventually found a pair that have yellowed with age and I don't have a great deal of faith that they won't leak. I will just cross my fingers and hope. I knew where my trainers were so recovered them from underneath the disused wellies and trainers the kids have grown out of, took them outside and banged them together to remove the dried mud that even the mould had given up on.

All in all some sound preparation for a sprint tri. Now cast your minds back to the first tri you ever did - was your preparation somewhat more meticulous?

Looking forward to catching up with all you triathletes on Tuesday/Wednesday. Hopefully my desertion to RAF Cycling won't be held against me.

It's turbo-tastic time!

After a work-induced training break I had to get back into it this morning. After walking the dog along the seafront (a bit fresh and breezy this morning) it was time to hit the turbo. The programme said "Warm up, one hour at FTP, warm down", however, there is a race on Wednesday so I thought I would see how much the legs could withstand, so changed it to the classic 6 x 6 minutes @ 105% of FTP. I'm glad to announce that I completed the session with ease (well, not completely "with ease", but I think you know what I mean). So, 36 minutes at 105% of FTP means I should be able to cycle OK on Wednesday; my power figures are currently lower than last year so whether I can get another one over on Sags at the Brize Sprint we shall have to wait and see. I suspect that is unlikely as Sags is going like a train at the moment. And there are some other tasty contenders signed up as well. Should be a good race at the head of the field (which most certainly won't include me) and I'm hoping I will be finished, showered and changed before the leaders get on their bikes. Yes, having not been near a swimming pool this year I will be entering with a very slow swim time, hope to scare some other athletes on the bike leg, before jogging around the run at IM pace.

Am certainly looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Guess who I bumped into?

I was on my way to a meeting at Glasgow and had just parked my car in the long term car park at Southampton airport and had boarded the bus to the terminal building when I was aware of someone else getting on the bus. He sat on the seat opposite with a cheery "Hello". Only then did I realise who it was - Ex-England cricket captain and now TV personality David Gower. Where was he off to, I asked, expecting it to be somewhere glamourous like the Caribbean or Australia (I'm not a cricket fan so have no idea whether there is a series on at the moment or not). Not exactly - Durham! Oh well, you can't have everything.

As I expected, my 2 days of meetings at High Wycombe and Glasgow have prevented me from doing any training. It was expected, so I'm not too disappointed.

Train smart folks.

One hour at FTP...

...is chuffin' hard. But on the positive side, I got through it and I was pretty well spent at the end which means the level was probably about right. Mentally it is a tough session but I can't think of better preparation for a 5-hour TT.

On the downside, I have a meeting at High Wycombe tomorrow and then catch a flight to Glasgow for another meeting on Thursday. I suspect that I will be unable to get any training in on either day which will be disappointing in Week 1 of my new training programme. But that's the life of an age group athlete I guess.

Train smart folks.

What a beautiful morning for a bike ride

Wasn't this morning lovely?

I took Bandit out for a walk first thing and spent nearly an hour strolling alongside the sea. It was really nice. After that I went home and had breakfast and then headed out on my bike. The plan was to ride 70km today but after another navigational error I clocked up 73.6 in just over 2.5 hours. I made a basic nutrition error (I didn't have any!) which made the last 10km somewhat difficult. Live and learn I know, I should know better).

The first "proper" training week starts tomorrow and I'm really enthusiastic about it. I hope my work/domestic commitments enable me to train properly - I have trips to High Wycombe and Glasgow this week which will force some adjustments to the programme but hopefully only the recovery ride will be lost. We shall see.

FTP Test

New Beginnings.

Before getting back into proper training there was one particular session that needed to be completed before proper training could recommence - the FTP Test Session. For those that haven't done one of these it means cycling as hard as you can for a fixed period and yes, it hurts. There are 2 accepted methods of doing this - the 20 minute test and the 30 minute test. Well that's easy then, I'll do the 20 minute test, after all, that's 10 minutes less pain. Right? Wrong. The 20 minute test requires a specific warm up routine to be followed (including some full on sprints) for the results to be accurate, whereas the 30 minute test just requires you to warm up thoroughly. So I do the 30 minute test.

After a few days of light training to ensure I was fully rested (like I need an excuse!) I was ready for my test this morning. I warmed up, calibrated the turbo, and then was off. I thought I might be able to ramp the effort up towards the end but when I tried there was little left in the tank which probably means I was quite close to doing the test properly. So how did it go? Pretty good actually, in fact I was well pleased. The result was the same as the results when I returned from Qatar in February, so although my training has been a bit hit and miss it would appear to have been sufficient to maintain my fitness level. Compared to my peak last year, I am some 10% down, but I reckon that with some specific bike focussed training I will recover that 10% in fairly short order and then move on to new highs. At least I hope so.

Moving on to domestic matters, we went car shopping this morning for a new car for Mrs Turbo Man. The Zafira is too big for the narrow and congested streets of Gosport so something smaller and more manouverable was required. To cut a long story short, we found a 2 year old Ford Ka in Zetec spec (air con, heated front screen, alloy wheels etc etc) in shimmering metallic apple green with just 7200 miles on the clock and in immaculate condition. Although it was a little more expensive than we wanted to pay it was too good to miss so a deal was done and we pick it up next weekend.

Happy training folks.

Training Advice

Different sports, different training requirements.

Since leaving my tri career behind I have been basing my cycle training on what I did when I was also swimming and running, and just planned to do more of it. It occurred to me that perhaps this was a flawed plan and so made contact with Dave Green, the Head Coach of RAF Cycling, for some advice. Oh my, what a change! To start with, I was hugely impressed by his positive attitude and enthusiasm that was clearly evident (even over the phone) and his scientific approach to training. Needless to say I have totally revamped my training plan and drawn a line under what has gone before. I will spend the rest of this week getting back into the routine of training and then do an FTP test this weekend to set my targets for the next 4 week block of training. I will then follow a plan of 3 weeks progressive training with one easier week, re-do the FTP test to set the targets for the next 4 week block. All quite simple really.

I will also be reviewing my planned events for this year, with a view to dropping the sportives and replacing them with 100 mile TTs in July and August.

This is the start of a completely new sporting journey for me, and I am really looking forward to it. Perhaps I need to rename my blog?

A beautiful morning

But I had set myself an hour on the turbo so after a lovely hour walk along the beach with Bandit, watching the sailing boats bobbing around and the Isle of Wight ferries crossing in the Solent, I jumped on the turbo for a moderate session. Unfortunately I only managed 50 minutes before the call of "Breakfast's ready, come and get it before the dog does" but it was a worthwhile session nonetheless. I included some tabata efforts as well, but this only served to demonstrate my woeful lack of speed and endurance at the moment - I only managed 4 reps at a pathetic max (Tacx) power of 411 watts. There is clearly lots of work to do over the coming weeks. A CP30 power session is on the cards to set a baseline for the remainder of my base training period (6 weeks).

Yesterday we had a "Patch BBQ", a nice opportunity to meet our neighbours and enjoy some sunshine (although the sunshine was also patchy!).

Train smart folks, and enjoy the weather.

The simple joy of a bike ride

Well I actually managed to get out this morning and covered 62km in a little under 2 hours and 10 minutes. It was great to be out, I hadn't set myself any time target, just to ride for 60km so it was out for 30km, then turn round and head home. The only caveat was that I wanted a negative split, but within a couple of minutes of heading out it was apparent that that would not be a problem, as I headed off into a strong headwind I knew it would be on my back on the return leg. Other than a small navigation error on the return leg that added 2km to the journey it was a very pleasant ride with some hills, a nice change from Cambridgeshire. I reached the 30km turnround point in 1:09 so did the 32km back in a touch over the hour. My body needs time to adapt to riding again after my lack of cycling over the last few weeks, but here's hoping that I have turned the corner and can get some serious training done now.

Train smart folks.

I don't believe it

Got off my fat lazy butt today and cleaned my trusty Litespeed ready for a ride tomorrow morning - I was shocked to find a number of cobwebs on it! I know I haven't been riding much since we moved house but cobwebs? Anyway, the weather is looking good for tomorrow morning so hopefully I can start to get back into a proper training regime.

Tomorrow I hope to get the Prince of Darkness finished so I can start doing some local TTs, and maybe the Brize sprint as well. I'm thinking that a predicted swim time of 8 minutes will reflect by performance level at the moment.

This week has been a training disaster

I have spent this week on a PRINCE2 course in Milton Keynes. Unfortunately, the hotel I stayed at didn't have a gym so the plan was to do lots of running and core work. Unfortunately, the course was fairly intensive with 2 - 3 hours of homework each night on the first 2 days. By Wednesday my head was spinning and, to cut a long story short, I have done very little training and did my best to consume my own bodyweight in food every day.

On the plus side the hotel food was very good and with a buffet style breakfast it would have been rude not to have the fruit juice, cereal, a cooked breakfast and maybe some toast or a croissant to finish off, all washed down with a couple of mugs of steaming hot, strong coffee. We were spoled for hoice for dinner, with a Loch Fyne fish restaurant (I'm not usually a big fish eater but the food here was outstanding - we ate there twice) and a Blanc Brasserie (very good as well) all within a 2 minute walk from the hotel.

Another plus side, I did get a chance to plan my next 6 weeks of base training so at least I know what I am doing over the next few weeks. No science involved, just "Get on your bike and ride" as Freddie Mercury once sang!

Any news on the IS duathlon?