Post 110 - First 2-week block done

This week, I finished reading Chris Froome’s book (2-time recent Tour de France winner). He was born in Kenya, and started cycling in Kenya, with all the crazy stories and obstacles that entailed. He has overcome a lot to get to the top of his sport. It was a good read. I’ve moved on now to Geraint Thomas’s book (also an elite cyclist). I thought this would be just another autobiography, but he has taken a different slant and has broken his book down into lots and lots of short chapters, each taking a funny look at a certain aspect of cycling. For example: Bib shorts. Training on Tenerife. Shaving your legs. Not drinking alcohol and not eating anything even remotely junkish. Trying not to go mad. Not having any energy for anything due to huge training loads. It’s also a good read, and I can relate to a lot of it.

I tried a pair of bib shorts for the first time this week. Steve gave me a pair. I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous. They’re like a cross between tight-fitting dungarees and a Borat mankini. Not something I’d usually choose to wear. They are like a normal pair of cycling shorts with two straps that go up over the shoulders, the idea being that the straps keep the shorts well pulled up, so they don’t slip down and crease up while riding. Normally you wear a jersey over the bib bit, so no-one really knows you’re wearing them, and you don’t look quite so ridiculous. But Steve and I were doing a turbo session together in the kitchen and so we were strutting around in our bib shorts with no jerseys on (as we were training indoors and it gets hot and sweaty quite quickly), getting the bikes set up, and looking ridiculous. This is what normality has become.

The bib shorts felt terrible while strutting around. They were tight and the shoulder bits were tight and they felt stupid and looked stupid. Steve assured me they were designed not to feel comfortable when walking around, but they were cut to feel comfortable when bent over a racing bike. Having wriggled and jiggled and got the bib shorts adjusted and aligned the shoulder straps so they weren’t rubbing on my nipples (what do females do?! Their straps must go around...), I went to put on my heart rate monitor. And of course I had to take off the shoulder straps to get the heart rate monitor strap on, and then go through the whole the whole process of getting comfortable and adjusted all over again.

We did our turbo session. Sure enough, the bib shorts did feel pretty good. But then halfway through, I needed to stop and go. So I got off the bike and waddled to the bathroom in my cleated cycling shoes and ridiculous bib shorts. And then I realised another practical, non-cosmetic disadvantage of bib shorts. You can’t just pull them down and go. I was sweaty and breathing hard and wrestled with the shoulder straps to get them off my shoulders, then pulled the whole thing down, and went. Then I hoiked them back up and wrestled with the straps again to get them on and waddled back to the bike.

Then I thought, what if you were out cycling on the road and had bib shorts on? You would have a jersey on over them. So if you needed to stop and go you’d have to wrestle out of your tight-fitting jersey, bare your upper half for all to see, then fight with the bib shorts to get them down, then do what you have to do, then struggle to get everything put away and pulled up and put on again. You’d probably just not be bothered with any of this hassle, and you’d end up just going on the go…!

Not a good look. I did pose to make it look as terrible as possible.

I felt quite good in the pool this week, and did 2km averaging around 1:40 for each 100m. It has been interesting to run with my new heart rate monitor, and what I’ve learned so far is that what seems like an easy run to me is actually quite tough in terms of heart rate. So maybe that’s another lesson, to tone down the intensity of my runs. I did a 2-hour turbo session at roughly Ironman intensity (or maybe slightly lower) and again felt good. I’ll just build up gradually so that by April or May I am hitting really tough and/or long sessions, rather than getting straight into them in January.


Anyway, that's my first two-week block done. Next week, I'll be in Italy and will be having an easier week. There are only about 9 more such blocks left until Ironman UK. If only I knew that I could get through to July without having to travel anywhere, without getting sick, without getting injured. I'd fancy my chances. I can manage myself and be sensible to minimize the risk of injury. But travelling disrupts everything, and hugely increases the risk of getting sick. I hate the feeling of busting my ass, day in and day out, only to have to go to Italy and sit in a hot meeting room with coughing, spluttering people. It ruins everything. Could I quit my job and not work for 6 months? Arguably yes, probably a lot of other people aiming for Kona work part-time for 4-5 months of the year leading into big races. But I do want to be working, I want to have income, and part of the challenge is to fit it in around working. I just wish I didn't have to travel to Italy...

2 weeks down, a few more to go...

My rough racing plan for the year (assuming I keep my job and that travelling to Italy doesn’t interfere too much) is as follows:

January: Highbury Fields 5K
February: Northern Ireland/Ulster cross country
March: Tenerife “training camp”
April: Titanic 10K, Belfast
May: 50 or 100 mile time trial
Early June: Bristol triathlon
Mid/late June: 100 mile time trial
July: Ironman UK

Beyond this, I really don’t know. If Ironman UK goes to plan I will go to Kona in October and I will work out a plan to allow me to recover from Ironman UK and get me to Kona in great shape. But September will see a trip to Ironman Wales, hopefully as a supporter for Matt who I will be going to Tenerife with and who is doing Ironman Wales. He has a blog too: http://tri4pies.blogspot.co.uk/

Some people wonder why I don’t just leave London now and get set up somewhere else. There are a few reasons. I have a decent financial incentive to get through until 1st April at work. I may as well try to make it until April if I’m not made redundant. I’ve come this far. Also, I live in possibly the best house in Britain in terms of my training set up. There’s great company, like-minded people, it’s very secure for my bikes, I can train indoors without feeling like I’m putting any anybody out. We watch cycling and running on TV. It’s brilliant.

Leaving London will mean the end of such a set-up, as I know for a fact that houses like this are very few and far between. If you are looking for a house-share or a place to rent, and you have bikes, and you start to talk to landlords/other housemates about turbo trainers, and explain what they are, and ask if you can use them indoors in your bedroom, most landlords are not interested. You may as well ask if you can keep a couple of sheep as pets. So, I am going to have to stay put until this season is over.

My definition of normality has changed somewhat, and I saw a few pictures this week that illustrate this:

Been there, done that

Hmmmmmm

Indeed

Training done this week was as follows:

Mon 11 Jan: Rest
Tue 12 Jan: 40 minute turbo (2 x 10mins: 288w/153bpm, 295w/160bpm)
Wed 13 Jan: 30 minute fartlek run
Thu 14 Jan: Rest
Fri 15 Jan: 2 hour turbo (201w/131bpm)
Sat 16 Jan: 40 minute run (30 minutes hard)
Sun 17 Jan: Swim 2.1km

Totals: Swim 2.1km, Bike 58 miles, Run 12 miles