Bike - CrossFit - Bike; the new duathlon!

Or at least it is my new regime for the foreseeable future; hopefully I will be able to do this 2 or 3 times a week, and back this up with a couple of standalone CrossFit sessions and some more bike miles, including a hardcore turbo interval session.

I measured my bike route to the CrossFit gym this morning; 12.5 miles door-to-door. The outward leg seems to be into the prevailing winds and there is the big hill to get up as well. But it makes the ride home very pleasant, especially after a hard session. Talking of which ...

Today was:
100 Sumo deadlifts (I think that is what they're called) - 16kg kettlebell for me
50 Thrusters - 15kg bar
30 pull-ups - blue band for assistance

So a good session and 25 miles on the bike as well. Legs are somewhat sore now. Hopefully I can get another Bike-CrossFit-Bike session in tomorrow before my rest day on Monday when I have to take the kids back to school.

Train smart folks.

The years have not been kind ...

Sags has just sent me the results from the 2008 IS duathlon, that was the last time I did this event, and on the same course. The first run this year was a bit longer as the start line had been moved back down the start/finish straight by a couple of 100m or so, but the comparison makes interesting reading:
Run 1 + T1: 2008 20:08 2011 22:33
Bike + T2: 2008 31:55 2011 38:15
Run 2: 2008 10:23 2011 10:40
Total: 2008 1:02:26 2011 1:11:28
So, 9 minutes slower overall! Eek!!! The run is a relatively minor slowing down but my bike pace is massively slower. I think I know what I need to work on for 2012, but I should not underestimate the effect of a full on TT bike with disk wheel, aero helmet etc that I rode in 2008, compared to a standard road bike, helmet etc this year.

As I said, interesting (at least for me!).

Duathlon Photos

Thank you to Ben Lonsdale for the photos; he's made me look not too fat and even made it look like I was enjoying myself! Why the mixed dress? Because after 2 years of not needing it I couldn't find my RAF Tri top!

Penance

The day after a race I would normally rest, maybe some stretch and flex to ease off sore muscles, but nothing too strenuous. But today was different. Today I was reflecting on a very poor race even by my general MOP standards. So I could mope about and say to myself 'What do you expect, you're not getting any younger you know' or I could take the first step to improving. I chose the latter.

At lunchtime I headed to the gym, did a 10 minute warm up on the rower, 20 minutes stretch and flex and finished off with 10 minutes of high cadence work on the bike. Excellent.

This evening, though, it was back to the CrossFit gym because (as they said in 'Fame'), 'this is where you start paying ... in sweat'. But not even that was enough, oh no! I decided to cycle to the CrossFit gym; it's about 15 miles away and, if you know Fort Purbrook, you will know it's at the top of a chuffin' big hill. And there was a significant headwind as well. An excellent 55 min effort before the session started. And then we did the Filthy Fifty session. This is a very simple session; 50 reps of 10 exercises, as follows:

Box jumps

Jump pull-ups

Kettlebell swings

Walk lunges

Knees to elbows (or Hanging Baskets)

Push press

Back extensions

Wall ball

Burpees

Double unders (or 150 of normal skipping)

It took me a little over 27 minutes to complete that; it was very hard work.

And then I had to cycle home; predominantly downhill with the wind behind me and I was home in 42 minutes. A quick shower and something to eat and I feel really good now, although no doubt I will feel it all over tomorrow morning.

So there you have it; Turbo Man is going to redeem himself at the Odiham Sprint Tri (where a road bike without tri bars will not be such a disadvantage). You have been warned!

Train smart folks (unlike me!).

Duathlon

Today I was at Hullavington for the Inter Services duathlon. I haven't done this race for 4 years, if my memory serves me correctly, and I recall that it was a world of pain, which is one of the reasons why I haven't done it for so long. I have been out of the RAF Triathlon circle for a couple of years so it was really good to meet up with some old mates. What was more surprising, though, was the number of new faces - RAF Tri seems to be thriving at the moment, and they are not all old duffers like me; indeed, several are very able athletes. And it was great to see a full Ladies team as well! No doubt a lot of the new faces were looking at me and thinking 'What's that old man doing here?', and the answer came more or less as soon as the gun went off - I was following them all!

The race was a sprint distance duathlon, meaning 5km run (2 x 2.5km laps), 20km bike and, finally, a 2.5km run. It was a bit windy, blowing directly into your face along the start/finish straight but was warm(ish) and dry. At the start I positioned myself behind Coach Roy, but as the plane went overhead I looked up, the gun went, and when I looked back Roy, and most of the rest of the field, had gone. I didn't see Roy again until I finished! I started off steadily and found myself running alongside or just behind Queen Bev. Bev continues to amaze me with her ability to continue to race at a very high level, year after year (and all fuelled by red wine apparently!), and I was happy with the pace she was going at. We were towards the back of the field but, as usual, many had started too quickly and we slowly started to overtake one or 2 strugglers. Towards the end of the 2nd lap I was feeling good and eased passed Bev and found a clean run into T1. I glanced at my watch - 21:53, much quicker than I had anticipated! Helmet on, trainers off, shoes on, grab bike and away, T1 done and dusted in 38 seconds, quite content with that. I started the bike leg easy and planned to push a little harder each lap; as it turned out the effort level went up each lap but the lap times were strangely consistent. And slow! Bev passed me out of the first corner and then rode away from me, and it wasn't long before the leaders came passed going very quickly indeed (and it was great to see so many RAF riders going well). I felt OK, I was working moderately hard but was not in any particular distress, but the speed just wasn't there, no doubt a symptom of my lack of bike miles over the winter and having done no speed work whatsoever this year. I arrived at T2 after 37 mins 48 secs of cycling (19.7 mph), executed a fine example of a running dismount (even if I say so myself, I've still got 'it'!), racked bike, trainers on and out of T2 in 26 seconds. Very happy with that, too. Out on the second run and for about 100 metres I was OK, and then I felt the first twinges of cramp and so eased back until they went away (maybe 30 seconds or so) and then picked up the pace again (pace is, as always, relative). I was passed by a couple of people but also picked off a couple of stragglers myself. I was working hard and finished the 2nd run in 10 mins 40 secs for an overall time of 1:11:28.

I hadn't set myself any particular targets (other than to finish) but my times provided me with plenty of food for thought. CrossFit is definitely improving my running; I haven't run this well for many years, but CrossFit (and consequent lack of bike miles) has had a significant, and detrimental, effect on my cycling. I need to get a better balance in my training programme, and maybe introduce a turbo session at some point each week.

I left before the awards ceremony so have no idea how the RAF Teams did; can anyone enlighten me?

Lonsy was there taking plenty of photos and I was good enough to be going sufficiently slowly that he should have several excellent pictures of me.

When I got home I had a nice soak in the bath and, in hindsight, I actually quite enjoyed the event. Now if I could just get my 5km run time down to sub 20 minutes, and get my cycling back to the level it was at last year, I might just be able to not be the last RAF male finisher next year (and most of the ladies were in front of me as well!). I'll post some pictures when I can get them.

An interesing sub-plot (or maybe not!). As we chatted at registration I recognised a member of my CrossFit club was also there, representing his Army unit, and after a bit of banter the gauntlet was thrown down and picked up. I had experience on my side, he had youth, being some 25 years younger than me. Needless to say, he pulled out a reasonable lead on the first run but this disappeared completely in T1 while he dilly-dallyed like the novice he is, and I was just a handful of seconds behind onto the bike. I passed him halfway round the first lap but he re-took me at the end of the lap, although this must have taken a lot of effort and after I overtook him again shortly afterwards I pulled out a comfortable lead that I held to the end of the race. Chalk one up for the wily old fox and bragging rights when we next meet at the CrossFit gym!

Nice to see you all. My next race is the Odiham sprint tri; see you there.

Tabata

I was up bright and early this morning for another moderate-paced hour on the bike. I then followed this with some 'moving about slowly' by washing both cars. And then tonight it was back to the CrossFit gym for today's WOD - Tabata. A relatively short word but one that can strike fear into the hearts of those who know what it means. The CrossFit Tabata session was 32, yes 32, x 20 seconds effort with 10 seconds rest. The first 8 20 second bursts were pull-ups, followed by 8 intervals each of press-ups, sit-ups and squats. The 'joy' of this session is that 8 intervals of pull-ups leaves your upper body (or at least mine!) exhausted, and when I attempted the first press-up I almost face-planted the mat as my arms and shoulders failed to obey the messages sent by my brain. Needless to say, the press-ups were extremely painful and I was grateful to get to the sit-ups; but not for long. And then the squats, no weights invloved, just body weight, and again by the time the 8th interval arrived I was in some distress. Needless to say, I was grateful when the end came.

With the duathlon on Wednesday I'm not sure what to do tomorrow (Tuesday). I have packed my bike in the car to take to work and if its sunny I will go for an easy 45 minute ride along the coast, if nothing else this will help develop the tan lines!

Looking forward to seeing a few of you on Wednesday; all the best.

Pros and Cons ...

I made it to the CrossFit gym for an interesting session, but more of that later. On the way there I was reminded how vulnerable cyclists are. As I went round the roundabout to join the M27 from Fareham the exit slipped road was closed, an ambulance with blue flashing lights was blocking the sliproad but it was clearly a cyclist lieing in the road, and it seemed to me that he was lieing exactly where he had landed after the car (or whatever it was) had hit him (I'm putting 2 and 2 together here and it is quite possible it may be adding up to 5). I could see gravel rash on his legs but that seemed to be the least of his problems. I sincerely hope that whoever you are you are OK and make a full and swift recovery.

As for the CrossFit session the requirement was to do 3 lifts and to record the total weight lifted. The lifts and the weight I managed were as follows:

Back squat - 60kg
Shoulder press - 45kg
Deadlift - 110kg

This was the first time I had done this session so there was a bit of trial and error whilst I found my limits. I was happy with my shoulder press and deadlift but thought I should have managed more in the squat, maybe its a technique thing but I'm surprised that I could only squat 15kg more than I could press above my head.

This afternoon I prepared my bike for the forthcoming duathlon. First, though, I had to clean it following the sportive of 2 weeks ago - very bad skills. I swapped the seatpost again after the slipping I experienced last time out, and fitted new pedals. It's ready. But am I?

Its Easter Sunday so we have had the obligatory Easter eggs, but I have been good and am sharing a single egg with Mrs TM, and there will be plenty left over for tomorrow as well.

Tomorrow I ride again! Train smart folks.

Realisation...

Reluctantly, a little bit like a prisoner heading to the gallows, I approached the scales this morning. I knew the news wouldn't be good, although I don't feel to lardy I know I have added a few pounds of late.

11 stone 10 pounds. Oh dear! I raced Barcelona last year at 10 stone 12 pounds so that gives an indication of the added bulk. Some of it is no doubt due to my new-found love of CrossFit but I doubt that's more than 1 or 2 pounds at best, the rest is all down to red wine and cake I suspect.

With those numbers ringing in my ears I went out on the bike for a brisk 50 minute ride, and I'm hoping to get to the CrossFit gym later on, although I'm not sure whether there's a session on today as it's Easter Sunday - fingers crossed. Bottom line is that I suspect I will be mixing it at the back of the pack on Wednesday; no shame in that, the nicest people tend to be at the back! How about a quick sweepstake on what my weight will be on Wednesday morning?

Holiday = Cream Teas, Ice Cream and Sunshine

Just back from a week away in the Isle of Wight, and what a glorious week we had for it. Rather than holiday park or B&B we had chosen to rent a house, and a very nice house it was too (that's it in the picture above), with 3 double bedrooms, a south facing lounge with a view down to the sea, and located on the south-west of the island, away from the madding crowds, and some 4-500m from the beach. I made the point of getting up at 0700 every day and runing on the beach, including some basic exercises along the way (press-ups, squats, sit-ups, dorsal raise, burpees etc), except for Thursday when I had a real ale induced hangover and only managed a brisk walk.

The weather was fantastic, with brilliant sunshine every day. The house was just over half a mile from a pub with an award winning restaurant that we ate at regularly and we did the tourist bit in the mornings (Osborne House, Roman villas, Carisbrooke Castle as well as tourist places like Blackgang Chine), usually arriving back at the house mid afternoon to sunbathe on the lawn.

The house didn't have an internet connection; once we got over the shock this turned out to be quite pleasant, and I listened to music and read. The book was 'Life', the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards; I've not quite finished it but it's been a fascinating read. I've also re-discovered a number of albums I've not listened to for many a year, such as 'The Kick Inside' by Kate Bush, the early Undertones albums and some of Morrisey's early solo stuff. Not everyones cup of tea but it was nice to be able to sit quietly in the sunshine (did I mention the fabulous weather?) and listen.

And yes, I did fall off the primal wagon a little, as I indulged in one of my favourite holiday pastimes of samplig as many cream teas as possible; fresh scones, clotted cream and jam - DELICIOUS!!! And of course no holiday is complete without the odd '99' thrown in for good measure, so we also had a few of them.

The upshot of all this is that there are 5 days to the Inter-Services duathlon and I'm am a long way from being fit and lean, let alone race fit and at race weight. So I'm looking forward to the social side of meeting everyone next Wednesday, and expect the race to be a whole world of pain for me.

All the best.

Holiday

We leave this morning for a week away in the Isle of Wight. It was supposed to be all 5 of us but No 1 son is at Nottingham University this week for potential Medical Students learning about the different aspects of medicine. Never mind, the 4 of us will enjoy a relaxing week away from the pressures of everyday living; nothing much planned except for a visit to Osborne House, the holiday home of Queen Victoria, and we have packed a bundle of board games, cards etc for those rainy days and evenings. Have a good week; see some of you at the duathlon in 11 days time.

Another 'Proud Parent' moment

Our No 2 son is coming towards the end of the first year of his GCSEs and yesterday received the results of the exams that he took a few weeks ago. He managed A* in Maths, Physics and Chemistry and a B in Biology; needless to say that Mum and Dad are very pleased. :-)

More CrossFit

Today's WOD called for 400m of lunges, but we decided that wasn't hard enough (!) and so agreed that we would do lunges up the hill that is conveniently located adjacent to the gym. And, for good measure, we would do 20 kettlebell swings at the top before running/jogging/walking back down the hill and starting again, with the aim of doing as many sets as possible in 15 minutes. Ace! My legs are somewhat sore now. Tomorrow I hope to get out on the bike at lunchtime before packing for our holiday on Saturday.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Not having a major event to train for has been somewhat of a relief, and means I can train more or less as I please. Sunday, for example, I chose to have a lie in, watch the Grand Prix, then have a family trip out enjoying the sunshine and a piece of cake. Monday I was back at the CrossFit gym for a nails session. The WOD called for 10 x 2 reps of 'Press'. Stand with feet close together, barbell on the chest and press straight above your head (remembering to move your face out of the way of the bar as it moves upwards of course!). The idea is that you lift the maximum weight you can manage for 2 reps, and this is very likely to change as the sets progress. After that we agreed that we didn't feel like we had worked out, so decided that we would add a little 'extra', as follows: 3 x (30 kettlebell swings, 30 burpees, 30 sit ups) This was hard, very hard, and brought out the competitive edge in all of us; I thoroughly enjoyed and certainly knew I had worked out afterwards. Tuesday, with the sun shining, I headed out on the bike at lunchtime for a hard 50 minute ride. I had to work hard to get warm as despite the sunshine there was a definite chill in the air. But once warmed up, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Last night I had a night out with some colleagues, no real reason but I thoroughly enjoyed myself, had way too much Guiness and jumped about like a mad thing when the news came through that the Mighty Seagulls had beaten Dagenham & Redbridge and guaranteed themselves promotion. Go Brighton! Today, as you might have guessed, I did no phys!

A few abstract thoughts ...

I saw the photos this evening of me riding at the Meon Valley Riser last Sunday; no wonder I struggled, I seemed to be carrying rather a lot of ... er ... excess baggage, if you know what I mean. Black can be such a cruel colour my dear!

Tonight I ordered the final bits to finish off my Litespeed; new pedals and a 12-25 cassette will do just nicely I think. The gears will be sorted this weekend and I am actually looking forward to the IS duathlon, maybe not for the event itself but certainly to catch up with a few buddies.

Today I had a very pleasant session at the gym; 10 minutes on the rower getting progressively harder, then into the weights area to practice my technique, then onto the bike for a 10 minute effort. Training is, as you may imagine,a bit haphazard at the moment. CrossFit is my guide and if I can't get to the CrossFit gym I will try and do the WOD in the gym at work, if at all possible. And if not, I will improvise.

The next couple of days will be difficult from a training perspective; work is very busy at the moment and tomorrow evening will be spent tidying up ready for the kids coming home for Easter hols. And on Friday I head off to Leeds early in the morning to collect the kids from school. I don't mind the journey and I've recently purchased an ipod that now lives in the car with my favourite tunes, all controlled through the car stereo's remote control that makes the miles seem to pass a lot quicker. And if I get bored with my ipod I also have DAB radio as well as normal radio. Unfortunately, DAB radio reception can be a bit hit or miss with the windscreen mounted aerial so I really need to get a proper roof mounted DAB aerial.

I've been very good on the eating front this week, so I'm hoping that by the time of the IS duathlon I will have shed some of the excess baggage I winessed last Sunday.

All the best folks.

Onwards & Upwards

The results of Sunday's sportive have been published and I finished 61st out of 159 male finishers over the 88 mile route. The organisers have readjusted the standards meaning I was in the Bronze category, but only just. My ride buddies did really well; Andy IM got gold, Jockey John and Hamish got silver. So well done guys, I promise to HTFU! I had a rest day on Monday and at lunchtime today I did a 15 minute easy session on the rower followed by some core, stretch and flex. This evening it was back to the CrossFit gym for today's WOD, 3 rounds for time of: Run 800 meters 50 Back Extensions 50 Sit-ups I managed this in 18:55 that I was very pleased with (especially as I whooped my 17-year old son's ass by over 3 minutes!). I also had a piece of cake this afternoon to celebrate being free from oppressive long distance sporting commitments. As I said in the title, onwards and upwards! Train smart folks.

Realisation...

I had many titles for this blog but none seemed quite appropriate. Today was my first event of the year, the Meon Valley Riser sportive. This is a new event run by the people that do a number of events I have attended in the New Forest, so I expected slick organisation. What I wasn't expecting was a completely nails course. I met up with my ride buddies at the start, including IM Andy, Jockey John (he's not a jockey but is built like one!), my Titchfield Terriers buddies Hamish and Chris, and Tinman.

I was struggling almost from the off, not helped by needing to stop early on and adjust my seatpost that had slipped; I had ignored one of the golden rules of not changing anything on your bike the day before an event and had swapped the seatpost over. Lesson re-learned! Andy had very kindly waited for me and paced me back to Hamish, Chris and Tinman. John was off the front and Andy went after him; we never saw either again until the finish line. The course had some brutal climbs in its 86 miles; Old Winchester Hill, Butser Hill and twice over Portsdown Hill to name but a few. Chris was soon struggling; he had had an accident whilst out riding last week when a Land Rover braked immediately in front of him and he ran into the back of it hard enough to break his titanium frame, and the injuries were clearly bothering him and he called it a day after about 30 miles.

I am clearly not bike fit and the hills were taking their toll. Hamish broke away before the first feed station and although Tinman and I caught him up there was no way I was going to keep up and we let him go. Early on, I thought Tinman was struggling, but into the second half and he was powering up the hills leaving me in his wake, so maybe he was pacing himself sensibly early on. But I would always make up ground on the descents; Tinman must be the most cautious descender I have ever ridden with! After the 2nd feed station we met up with an old boy and then a younger chap and we rode to the finish as a 4, with Tinman usually at the front into the wind as we headed back towards the coast. I was struggling on the hills but had the legs after the last hill for a head down TT effort that saw a couple of the guys drop off, but we re-grouped before the finish. About half a mile from the end we passed Andy who was just coming to the end of his post sportive run! And Tinman won the sprint to the finish line!

So how hard was this event? The organisers had set gold standard at 4 hours 40 minutes; Andy had ridden it in 5 hrs 5 minutes and was fairly close to the sharp end of the field, as no-one it seemed had hit the gold standard! Ouch!!! I think my finish time was about 5 hrs 48 mins but will have to wait to confirm.

This was supposed to be one of the tests for me to see whether I am going to be up to doing The Outlaw in July. And my conclusion was a resounding 'No'! So I'm out. Yes, I have withdrawn from The Outlaw. And do you know what, I feel relieved and happy at this decision. I will still do the IS duathlon and Odiham will be my last triathlon. I won't say last ever because I might still turn out and support the RAF series because they're quite good fun. I can now focus on CrossFit and doing a hard turbo during the week with a 2-3 hour ride at the weekend. This is me now; CrossFit Man!

In case you were wondering, the wheels were AWESOME today, they have transformed the bike and are a significant improvement over the Mavic Ksyriums I was using before. They are just so smooth and comfortable to ride.

All the best to you all. And train smart.