Post 28 - Easy training and massage

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Tri4Kona2014

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 23^rd June 2014: Rest
Tuesday 24^th June 2014: Rest
Wed 25^th June 2014: 1 hour turbo, 20 minute run
Thurs 26^th June 2014: 30 minute turbo
Friday 27^th June 2014 Swim 3.3km (with 13 x 50m hard), 1 hour turbo (single leg drills, 9 x 2mins left, right, both)
Saturday 28^th June 2014: 2 hour turbo (30 minutes harder), 30 minute run
Sunday 29^th June 2014: Swim 3km, 30 minute run

Totals: Swim 6.3km, Bike 88 miles, Run 11 miles

This was intended to be an easy recovery week, following two tough weeks that finished off with a “metric Ironman” training session last Sunday. This metric Ironman was a session that took quite a lot out of me, and it left me feeling pretty drained and tired for the first part of this week. During the metric Ironman, I taped up one of the toes on my left foot, as the toenail had been sore. Taping up this toenail and then running for 17 miles induced a bit of a blister on the big toe of my left foot, which was painful in the first part of this week. My leg muscles were very tight as well, in particular my left iliotibial (IT) band.

So, I didn’t do much in the first half of this week. I paid my usual visit to my osteopath, Paul. He seemed pretty happy with how my treatment is going. My mobility is improving, my back is freer and it’s not as tight as before. My hips are moving better too. It will be interesting to have another scan of my back done in the next week or two, and compare it with my initial scan that was done a few months back, at the start of my treatment with Paul (see post 19).

In the second half of the week, the little niggles thankfully improved and I did some easy training, nothing overly long or overly intense. Two of my toes still have a bit of healing to do, but I hope that in the next week or two these niggles will completely clear up. Next week I will do my final tough week of training, followed by a 2-week taper before the race. It looks like I will go into next week fairly fresh and hopefully I’ll get through the last tough week OK. Then, that will be it. All the training will have been banked, and it will be a case of getting through the final two easy weeks, getting to the start line, and getting through the race itself.

I bought a couple of books during this week – one called “A Life Without Limits” by Chrissie Wellington, who is a multiple Ironman world champion and arguably the greatest female athlete ever. Paula Radcliffe would also be a strong contender for this title. Both would be right up there on a list of greatest athletes ever, male or female. Chrissie and Paula both pushed their respective sports of triathlon and running to levels that would have been unthinkable in years gone by. I also bought a book called “I’m here to win” by Chris McCormack, who’s a double Ironman world champion.

I thought I’d read these books to see if there’s anything in there that I can learn about Ironman training and racing: race strategy, nutrition tips, training routines, stretching, mental preparation, whatever. Chris McCormack’s book in particular seems to give advice on how to race at Kona… Hopefully before Ironman UK race day I will have read both of these books, and maybe there will be some lessons to learn from the best in the business.

I’ve recently started up a Twitter account. I took a photo of both of these books and mentioned the authors by name in a tweet. Chris McCormack “favourited” the comment – good man Chris!

 

I had been thinking that with three weeks to go until race day, I need to get a couple of good sports massages. Nothing too deep or painful, as I don’t want to jeopardise anything at this stage, but equally I need something more than just a cursory rub-down.

I’ve always been a bit sceptical about physios and osteopaths, particularly those who I don’t know and those who don’t really have an endurance sports background. I’ve come to trust Paul, who is doing a good job with my back. Paul is a cyclist as well, we were in Flanders together, and he is a friend of my housemate Steve. I’d been on the look-out for a good physio/massage therapist, with a background in endurance sport. Steve suggested I could get in touch with a guy he knows named Des, who’s also from Northern Ireland. Des has an impressive record of working with high-level cyclists and sportspeople, and seems to have already made a decent name for himself. He’s a cyclist as well and so can relate exactly to things that I say.

I agreed to meet Des on Saturday after training. I had an initial assessment, where the diagnosis was that my muscles were extremely tight and also that my back is in a bit of a mess. Nothing I didn’t already know! However, he did stress that everything was treatable and could be improved a great deal, with regular sessions. There’s no quick fix. His analogy was that a good muscle should feel like a defrosted chicken breast. My muscles felt like frozen chicken breasts… Des then spent a very thorough 4 hours working on my back, answering questions, explaining things and giving me confidence that there are a lot of improvements and gains that can be found by getting my muscles loosened out and getting everything in better balance, both in the next 3 weeks and in the longer term.

I was very impressed with Des and his holistic, patient approach. We intended to get my entire body ironed out on Saturday, but after 4 hours spent working on my back and shoulders it was getting late, so he suggested coming back the next day to work on my legs. So I headed home, and the next day went for a swim. My arms felt fatigued after the treatment, but Des had said this would be normal, particularly given that I am not used to sports massage. I can only envy the pros who have unlimited access to specialists every day, this must make a huge difference. After my swim, I then went for a short run, and headed back to see Des. He took a couple of pictures of my back, and I was pretty shocked to see just how misaligned it actually is. But again he stressed that it is treatable.

He then spent the best part of 5 hours working on my legs, warming them up, massaging them, stretching them, and generally ironing them out. A lot of it was torturous. He’s been called a few choice names by his patients during treatments. I managed to bite my tongue, but some of it was pretty sore. At this stage, so close to race day, I am not looking for really deep, tough massage. I am not looking to be fatigued and sore for days afterwards. Des understood this perfectly. On the pain scale, he told me that it wasn’t to go beyond a 7 out of 10, and if it did, I was to let him know. I let him know a lot of times…

Des has the same approach as my osteopath, that achieving good results, loose muscles, and better mobility requires an ongoing commitment. I’ll see Des another two or three times before race day and he is confident he can make some big improvements. At my level, every little improvement makes a difference, so I’m really pleased that I’m working with Des now in the run-up to race day. His time, expertise and work have already been invaluable. I will also be continuing to see Paul, my osteopath in the coming weeks.

As of now, I’ve just finished the leg treatment and I’m writing this blog while on the train home. We’ll see next week how the legs will feel. For now, I’ll get home, get this uploaded, and get to bed. It’s already well past my bedtime and I am tired as usual…

As a final thought, here’s a quote from an Ironman highlights show I watched when I was on the turbo trainer earlier this week: “Realising that if it is really going to matter, it may be something no-one understands except you.” I quite like this.

 

Athletes at Kona...

 

Post 27 - The shortest and the longest

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Tri4Kona2014

Training done this week was as follows:

Monday 16th June 2014: Rest
Tuesday 17th June 2014: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard), 20 minute run
Wed 18th June 2014: 1 hour turbo (single leg drills: 2 x 10mins left/right), 30 minute fartlek run
Thurs 19th June 2014: 2 hour turbo (pyramid intervals), 20 minute run
Friday 20th June 2014: Swim 4km (approx 65 minutes, 1:37/100m)
Saturday 21st June 2014: Swim 3.3km (250/500 normal/drills)
Sunday 22nd June 2014: Weights, 3:40 turbo, 2:10 run

Totals: Swim 7.3km, Bike 170 miles, Run 27 miles

This was the second week of another tough 2-week training block. After my long run last Sunday, I developed a sore toenail, so in the earlier part of this week I eased back on my running to give it a chance to recover. I still intended to train hard this week, and assuming my toenail didn't restrict me, I intended to do a "mini taper" towards the end of the week, followed by a "metric Ironman" on Sunday.

A metric Ironman is a 112km (70 mile) bike ride (on the turbo trainer of course), followed by a 26.2km (16.3 mile) run, as opposed to a "normal Ironman" of 112 miles on the bike and 26.2 miles of running. It's totally unfeasible to do a full Ironman in training as it would take far too long to recover from. Ideally the metric Ironman would be preceded by a swim, but logistically it is very difficult to do this, so I intended to do a weights session immediately before getting on the bike.

Training in the early part of the week went well, and I cut back on my running distances a little. This helped my toenail, and by the end of the week it felt good enough to try to do the long run. During the week I spent two days at a business/work course in Westminster, which was a break from the regular routine. This break from routine had its good and bad points, and I made sure that on both days my backpack was loaded with fruit and bottled water, in addition to the notebooks, documentation and other course material. The 45-minute lunch breaks allowed me to have a little wander in St James's Park in the sunshine, where I saw this cyclist:

Because I needed to do a mini-taper before the metric Ironman, my training routine was compromised a bit, and I swam two days in a row on Friday and Saturday. These swims were my taper as I didn't cycle or run on either of these swim days. I had a lane to myself on Friday, and was in the water at 2:55pm. I knew that there were lessons at 4pm, so my swims on Friday always finish at 4pm. I decided I would just swim at a reasonably hard pace and see how far I got in 65 minutes.  

I started off at an easy pace. Pacing is so important in races, particularly in long-distance races. Starting "slowly" and easing my way into a race, or into each discipline in a triathlon, is the best way to be strong and deliver the best results. So, I felt strong right through this swim, and completed 4km in 65 minutes, still feeling fresh. I was pleased with this, and had averaged about 1:37/100m. Seven seconds make a big difference: when I am doing my critical swim speed intervals, my target pace is 1:30/100m, and after only 2km of intervals I am totally knackered and wrecked. There's a fine line between going too hard and going at a good, sustainable, strong pace.

Saturday 21st June was the summer solstice, the longest day. Back in Northern Ireland, it's bright until about 11pm, here in London it's dark by 10pm. Saturday 21st June was also my "shortest day": I went to bed at 10:30pm on Friday evening and got up at 12:20pm on Saturday 21st June. On this longest day I rested as much as possible, tried to stay off my feet, did a swim, and went to bed at 10pm. There were 18 hours of daylight, and I was up and awake for about 10 of them. Such is the Ironman life, and need for sleep...!

Sunday 22nd June was a different matter. Training-wise, this was my "longest day". Metric Ironman day. A metric Ironman is seen as a good session to do in the run-up to race day. I'm 4 weeks away from race day, so it was now or never. I thought my toenail would be OK, but I taped it up just in case. I got up at 8am, and by the time I had eaten breakfast, got my drinks and gels/bars ready, stretched, done my weights, and got on the bike, it was 10:30am.

I did 3:40 on the bike, with 3 x 10 minutes of very high resistance every hour. This was to simulate the hills I'll have to climb on race day. I eased into it, as with the swim two days ago. While on the turbo, I watched "Chasing Legends", an absolutely brilliant documentary about the Tour de France. It's well worth a watch, even for someone with little or no interest in cycling. Totally gripping and spellbinding. It's on YouTube, it's just over 90 minutes long. Great show.

Chasing Legends on the turbo, in more ways than one

I got through the turbo, and probably did close to 80 miles. Then it was straight out to run. It was really warm, with a strong sun. Again I eased into it, with a few forced "slower" miles, then without any further effort, my pace slightly increased. The new Garmin watch I wear tells me my pace, distance and heart rate, and really helps with pacing. Like on the bike, I'm constantly telling myself to ease back - Ironman is a long day and you want to be strong after 16 miles of the marathon, not falling apart.

I got through the run, my toenail didn't give me any trouble, and I was pleased with the day. I got back to the house and went into recovery mode: First thing was to get a protein milkshake and a banana. Then I got my legs elevated, then into the shower for cold water treatment on the legs. Then more food and drink, and rest. Oh, and writing this blog too... It'll be an early night tonight, and an easier week next week - it's been a tough two weeks and I am pleased to have come through them. 

Post-training recovery snack

Post-training recovery dinner: sweet potatoes, cabbage, 

broccoli, chicken breasts, mixed beans, ginger and chilli

Interestingly, I weighed myself a couple of times during the metric Ironman day - I weighed myself just before starting the session, and then again immediately after the session was over. It seems that a good way to lose weight is to train for nearly 6 hours in the heat...

Before...

...and after

There is a lesson to learn here. I lost nearly 3kg despite drinking about 3 litres of fluid and taking a good few gels and bars. This equates to a sweat rate of about 1kg per hour, which is a lot. This means I'll need to take on about litre of fluid per hour at the Ironman, and I know that Ironman day will be a lot longer and tougher.


Taking electrolyte drink and gels non-stop for hours on end makes you feel pukey. You do horrible, pukey, acidic burps, and sometimes you actually do puke, particularly in the later stages. I'll try to limit my consumption of electrolyte drinks and take on plenty of water during the Ironman, which should be easier to stomach. I'll also try to wash down the gels with water rather than electrolyte drink, again hopefully this will limit the pukey feeling.

Anyway, another block of training ticked off, another week down. 4 to go. It's getting close... One final video: I've been watching quite a few YouTube videos of the Kona Ironman while on the turbo trainer, this is the best one I've seen. Looks good... Here's hoping...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUCrTrnt1jE

Post 26 - Unchartered territory...

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/tri4kona2014

It’s been a tough week, and I’ve trained well. I’ve clocked up some good miles, and completed some intense sessions. I’m pleased with how the week has gone. It’s fair to say that I am in good shape, and I’m pushing my limits further than ever before. Into unchartered territory. I'm in a better position now than I thought I would be at the start of the year.

On Monday this week I had a rest day, as usual. After work I had my regular Monday evening trip to the osteopath to get loosened up. I still don’t enjoy these osteopathy sessions, they are physical and painful, but they are a necessary evil. My osteo seems pleased with how things are going. I got home after the appointment and I made a pile of food for the week. Plain pasta and sweet potatoes day in and day out can get a bit tedious, so I’ve started adding ginger, chillis and garlic to my food take make it a bit more exciting. Ginger is supposed to be very good for you. I’ve started eating more alkalising foods too – raisins, cabbage, lots of broccoli, lemons.

 

I thought that in the next few weeks I would try to lose some weight and drop a couple of kilograms. If the photo below is anything to go by, and if the scales are accurate, then maybe I don’t need to… It would have been a sub-66 reading if I hadn’t eaten a banana and had a protein milkshake just before I weighed myself. 
 

 

On Tuesday I was on the turbo for a tough session. This was the first time I’ve ridden hard on the bike since the Icknield 100 mile time trial (a gap of 9 days) and I felt good. My legs felt fresh and strong. I did an hour at a consistent, hard pace, then a short run. Wednesdays are usually easier days and I did a fartlek run – fartlek apparently means “speed play”, so it was a mix of some fast and some slow running. It’s nice to be out in the warm, bright evenings. I have structured my week so that the really tough, longer stuff comes later in the week. This means I am at my most tired at the weekends, when I can sleep as late as I like.

On Thursday evening I was on the turbo trainer doing intervals. I did 1 hour and 40 minutes, with 5 x 10 minute repeats at high intensity. These were tough intervals, particularly the last two, with my heart rate up at 180bpm. Again, I followed this with a short run. By the time I had got showered and had eaten my dinner, it was well past my ideal bedtime – it was about 11pm before I got to sleep, but I knew I only had Friday to get through. Had Monday or Tuesday been a “late” night, then there would still be a whole week to get through before the weekend.

During the week I took delivery of yet another pair of running shoes. These are the ones I will race in at Ironman UK:

On Friday after work I got straight in the pool. I’m lucky that I can leave work at 2pm on Fridays as long as my hours are done, and being in the pool from 2pm to 3pm is good because it’s very quiet and I can usually get a lane to myself. I did a tough 10 x 200m session, each repeat in 3 minutes, with only a 20-second recovery. This was a “critical swim speed” session, at just below threshold pace. There are other “critical swim speed” sessions that I do: 20 x 100 in 1:30 with 10 seconds recovery, 10 x 200m in 3:00 with 20 seconds recovery, 5 x 400m in 6:00 with 40 seconds recovery and 3 x 600m in 9:00 with 60 seconds recovery. They are tough, tough sessions. I generally don’t pace them very well, and usually start off faster than target pace, meaning by the end I am slightly slower than target pace.

I’ve noticed that my legs start to cramp up really badly at the end of these sessions. I don’t tumble turn, and the pain is initiated by turning and pushing off. So I think I will keep an eye on the bigger picture and finish off with the critical swim speed sessions for now. There are other sessions I can do. After my Friday swims, I get on the turbo trainer for some single leg bike drills – pedalling with one leg only to promote a smooth pedal stroke throughout the entire pedal revolution. Pedalling efficiently isn’t just about pushing the pedals; it’s about kicking back at the bottom, pulling up, and kicking over the top, as well as pushing down. I’ve done a single leg session almost every week for the past 5 months, and they have been really beneficial. On Friday night, I cooked for the weekend and got to bed as early as possible.

On Saturday morning, I got up late having slept for 12 hours straight. Bliss! I got on the turbo trainer for a tough 4-hour session, with the intensity increasing throughout. By the end, I was hanging off that bike. Hard work! Then a 30 minute run. The recovery after such a tough session is important – jog to cool down, have a protein shake, banana, lie down for 10 minutes with legs elevated, shower, cold water on the legs, and a good dinner. On Sunday I did hand paddle drills in the pool to strengthen my arms, and a run of 2 hours and 10 minutes. I was a bit apprehensive about this run because my long runs are the “riskiest” sessions I do in terms of the possibility of getting injured, but thankfully I got through it with no problems.

Also, 5 or 6 times per week I stretch, do core strength work and weights. A full programme of stretching, core work and weights takes about 45 minutes. Time management is of the essence…! Last year, I thought I was doing everything I could, but I have really taken it up another level this year. No excuses… If I don’t qualify for Kona, it won’t be through lack of trying. At least I can say I’m doing everything possible.

This all bodes well for race day, which is now only 5 weeks away. However, when you are fitter than you’ve ever been, when you’re in good shape, when you have put so much in, this brings additional pressures and stresses. Highly-trained athletes talk about being on the “knife-edge” or “walking the tightrope” – the fitter you get, the more stressed and depleted the immune system, and the greater the susceptibility to picking up an illness, and indeed an injury. I really, really can’t afford to catch a cold or a cough, get a sore throat, pull a muscle, or get a sore knee. It’s tough. I was really asking for it at the Crisis relays last week (see post 25), but thankfully I seen to have gotten away with it.

Ideally for the next 5 weeks I would train and spend the remainder of the time resting - on a sofa with my feet up, or sleeping. I’d love to know that I’ll get through the next 5 weeks without a hitch. Indeed, I’d pay money to know that I will get through the next 5 weeks and get to the finish line without a hitch. I can take comfort from the fact that I’ve been in a similar position last year, and I got through it. All I can do is keep trying to be as sensible as possible, keep eating well, keep well hydrated, and keep the fingers crossed. I’ve got to get through another tough training week next week, then an easy week, then one more tough week, followed by a 2-week taper. It’s getting close. And yet it’s still so far away. 5 more weeks. Only 2 more tough weeks.

I’ve got a few things to think about in the coming weeks. After the disaster of last year, it’s essential that I am able to eat my own food when at the hotel in the couple of days before the race. I need access to a fridge, microwave and toaster. I put in a quick phone call to the hotel I will stay at during race weekend – they aren’t willing to let me put my own food in their kitchen fridge, and there is no fridge in the room. Hmmmm. I’ll need to work something out. I’ll also need to see about getting the bike serviced again, and having everything checked. It’ll need new tyres and a new chain. In particular the wheels, gears, brakes and bearings will need fully checked. I need to do a couple of wetsuit swims.

While on the turbo trainer, I’ve been watching (amongst other things) a couple of videos of the Ironman World Championships in Kona. It would be amazing to go there and compete. It is the ultimate. It is so tough. It’s been a heck of a journey so far. It will take a heck of an effort at Ironman UK to achieve a qualifying slot, but I believe it’s within reach. This absolutely doesn’t mean it’s a cert and I take nothing for granted. There is so much that has to go right, and my best might end up falling short, but I have a chance. What a prize. The Ironman World Championships. Hawaii. These pictures look pretty good to me…

Swim start, Kona pier/transition area at the top, tropical fish underwater...

 

Biking in the lava fields, being battered by crosswinds

 

The ultimate finish line, Ali'i Drive

Training done this week was as follows:

Monday 9^th June 2014: Rest
Tuesday 10^th June 2014: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard), 30 minute run
Wed 11^th June 2014: 30 minute fartlek run
Thurs 12^th June 2014: 1:40 turbo (with 5 x 10 minutes hard), 30 minute run
Friday 13^th June 2014: Swim 3km (with 10 x 200m in 3:00, 20 second recovery), 1:05 turbo (single leg drills: 10 x 2 minutes left leg, 2 mins right leg, 2 mins both legs)
Saturday 14^th June 2014: 4:05 turbo, 30 minute run
Sunday 15^th June 2014: Swim 3.3km, 130 minute run

Totals: Swim 6.3km, Bike 170 miles, Run 35 miles

Post 25 - Tough rest

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/tri4kona2014


My plan for this week was to have a nice, easy recovery week, so that the following week I would be fresh, well-rested, with good legs, ready to launch into the final stretch, the last few weeks of tough training before Ironman race day. The plan for this week was to do some easy training, lots of stretching, foam rolling, have an ice bath and wear my compressions socks as much as possible.

In the middle of the week, on Thursday evening, the Crisis charity running relays were being held on a 2-mile course by the Thames. Crisis are a charity who look after homeless people, providing them with a safe place to stay, food, medical care, washing facilities and so on. Crucially, they also provide education and training for the homeless, to help them find meaningful employment and ultimately help them to get off the streets for good. London is quite an inhospitable place at the best of times, and I can’t imagine being homeless here. I’m a big fan of Crisis and the work they do.

Corporately, I have helped to develop really worthwhile links between Crisis and the company I work for. I’ve organised quite a few events/fundraisers/donations of old computers, and last year we took part in the Crisis charity relays, raising money for them. From an Ironman training point of view, running hard for 2 miles is fairly pointless and risky. I don’t train to be able to run at 5 minutes per mile for 10 minutes, I train to run at 7 minutes per mile for 3 hours. There’s a big difference between the two. The problem is, I’m still more than fit enough to run at a fast pace for a short distance, but my legs lack the conditioning to do this.

Years ago, I could have blasted out 2 miles and my legs would feel completely fine. However, if I blast out a few hard and fast miles now, my leg muscles will get really sore and it’ll take days for the pain and tightness to subside. Last year at the Crisis relays, we had quite a few company and client teams participating, and I ran hard and I paid for it. It’s a busy course, with lots of pedestrians to dodge and sharp corners to negotiate. Last year at the relays I tweaked my knee and had to take 4 weeks off running in the lead-up to Ironman UK 2014. I was only able to start running again a few weeks before race day, so I told myself that at the relays this time around, I absolutely would not run hard. I would just jog around, and treat it as an easy run day. Plus, it was only a few days after the Icknield 100 mile time trial and I didn’t need to be running hard.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I was very fatigued. I didn’t have painful legs, it was just a deep tiredness that would need a few good, long nights of sleep. So earlier this week it was a case of getting home from work, eating, doing some stretching/foam rolling/hot and cold shower treatments, and getting to bed as soon as possible. I did a short spin on the turbo on Wednesday evening followed by a short run, and then Thursday night was relay night.

From a corporate point of view, it went really well. We got all our teams down, no-one got lost, everyone completed the run, the sun was out, conditions were good, and we did some reasonable fundraising for a worthy cause. We had seven company/client teams participating, with each person on each team of 4 completing a lap of about 2 miles by the Thames.  

The "Stunner Runners"...

 

From a personal point of view, it was a bit of a different story. I started off as the first runner on one of our company teams, thinking that I would get the run out of the way and then jog around the course to support the rest of the runners and thank the marshals. I did a short warm-up, then lined up at the front, thinking that even a slow run for me would probably still be faster than a lot of others who were also toeing the start line. The old start line feeling built, the run started, and I went with the leaders. I didn’t run flat out, but I was running harder than I should have been. I knew it was only a ten-minute run, and I thought I would hang with the leaders and see what happened. One by one they dropped off and I was left leading the run after about 5 minutes of running. So I carried on at my hard-enough-but-not-flat-out pace.

 

Don't run hard, he said

 

Coming into the final stretch on the south bank of the Thames was like the dodgems, or some sort of pedestrian gauntlet. There were so many pedestrians to avoid. I was very conscious that I didn’t want to twist my knee or my ankle, and I tried to pick my way through them as best I could, occasionally giving a shout, but it’s not an easy thing when running at 5 minute mile pace or faster. I skimmed a couple of people, and then with about 2 minutes left to run, my right quad smacked into someone’s hand. It hurt a little. Anyway, I finished off, grabbed a bottle of water and went for a warm-down, thinking I would jog out any stiffness or tightness in my legs, while giving a cheer to the other runners and doing some stretching.

What I really wanted was to have a banana and a protein shake, but I had only planned to run easy and hadn’t planned to need any post-run nutrition. I got to the far side of the course and was stretching with my bottle of water sat on the wall beside me. Participants were streaming past. A big, sweaty guy came lumbering up and before I even had a chance to say anything he had gasped “Do you mind…” and grabbed my bottle and helped himself to a big swig. I watched in disbelief. No more water for me – I couldn’t risk drinking out of that bottle after he had slobbered all over it.

I didn’t want to just leave the bottle, so I carried it with me as I jogged on, thinking I’d drop it in the next bin I came to. Aaaaaand, stupidly, without thinking, after a few minutes I had opened the bottle and taken a drink. A second or two later, when I realised what I was doing, I had spat it straight into the Thames in disgust. What a way to put myself at risk of getting sick. I jogged back to the start/finish area, got myself another bottle of water and gave my mouth a good rinse out. At this point, my leg muscles didn’t feel too bad and I thought I might have gotten away with the unnecessarily hard run. However, I was worried/annoyed/angry about the water incident, and also about the blow I’d taken to my quad.

Anyway, the event finished and I got home, and went straight to the freezer for the big bag of frozen peas that I keep there for emergencies like this. I got the peas straight onto my quad and gave it the ice treatment. I got some good nutrition down me, including a dose of vitamin C, echinacea and a few oranges to try to help my immune system. Then I went to bed.

I woke up the next day and my legs felt a bit worse. I winced every time I coughed, fearing a cold or a cough. I was a bit peeved with myself. I shouldn’t have ran so hard. Idiocy. So I stretched, foam rolled, took on more vitamin C, ate oranges and iced my quad. The next day my legs were no better. So it was more foam rolling, stretching, and I “treated” myself to an ice bath. It was so cold that it hurt, but I thought it would help. The next day, today, my legs did feel a bit more normal, I don’t have sore knees, and I still haven’t developed a cough, cold or lurgy. However, I haven’t really exerted myself and pushed my legs hard.

Bags of pain

 

Next week sees the start of another tough 2-week training block that will start with a day off on Monday to cook food for the week, so I will have one more day of rest and I hope this will be enough to get my legs back to normal. I hope I don’t get sick after the bottle incident, I hope there is no damage to my quad, and I hope that I will be able to train as I want. Fingers crossed. And while Ironman training, I will never run a short hard event ever again. Ever.

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 2^nd June: Rest
Tuesday 3^rd June: Rest
Wed 4^th June: 1 hour turbo, 20 minute run
Thurs 5^th June: 30 minute run (10 minutes hard: Crisis relays)
Friday 6^th June: Swim 3.3km
Saturday 7^th June: 1 hour turbo, 20 minute run
Sunday 8^th June: Swim 3.3km (single arm drills), 1:05 turbo (single leg drills, 4 minute intervals)

Totals: Swim 6.6km, Bike 60 miles, Run 11 miles

Post 24 - Sub 4!

Today I did 3:59:39 for the Icknield 100 mile time trial. That's 15 minutes better than last year, in very similar conditions. And I'd have said that the 4:14 I did last year wasn't bad. This year, I was on for 3:56 after 75 miles, but the final 25 miles were tough. It nearly slipped away, but I squeaked under the 4 hour mark. A massive improvement.

Tapping it out

More to follow - I need to get to sleep!

UPDATE: More below...

UPDATED: I’ve now got a Twitter account:

http://twitter.com/tri4kona2014

“The calm before the storm” would be a good description of Saturday. The “calm” being the few hours between getting up and getting everything ready for the Icknield 100 mile time trial “storm” on Sunday morning. So, I used this time to set up a Twitter account…

This week was geared towards tapering for the Icknield 100 mile time trial. I did it last year, and was fairly satisfied with my 4:14:15 clocking in what were perfect conditions. I went through half distance last year in 2:04, so I lost 10 minutes in the second half. It’s as fast a 100 as you can get, being up and down the A1 dual carriageway: flat and smooth. It’s a tougher second half, with the last 15 miles being off the A1 and on more undulating roads. My 4:14 clocking last year translated into a 5:30 Ironman bike at Ironman UK, and I got off the bike feeling strong. It wasn’t a ruinous 5:30, I still had plenty left.

I had hoped that this time around at Icknield, I would improve on last year’s 4:14. I certainly hoped to get under 4:10, and thought realistically I would do something like 4:07. I honestly felt that a sub-4 time was maybe a little out of reach, and that if I wanted to do a sub-4, I would have to commit to another year of training.

I thought about renting a disc wheel for Icknield, but there were none available. I wasn’t too sorry, because not having a disc wheel gave me a good opportunity to have a like-for-like comparison with last year. Plus, I’m unlikely to race a disc at Ironman UK – the course is too twisty and hilly to justify a disc. Discs are also prohibited at Kona for safety reasons, because of the infamous crosswinds. However, at Icknield, a disc would be worth something like ten minutes, so I thought that with a disc, a sub-4 clocking might have been feasible.

Anyway, I felt I had trained well, I’d made some aero tweaks to the bike and to my clothing, I’d got a Garmin with heart rate monitor, and I’d learned some lessons from Norfolk two weeks ago. My plan was to cross my fingers for good conditions and no bike-related problems, to get to the race headquarters in good time, to do a good warm-up, and to arrive on the start line well before my start time of 6:11am. I planned to ride conservatively for the first half, keep an eye on my heart rate and cadence (I planned to keep my cadence at around 90rpm and heart rate at around 150 beats per minute), and leave a bit in the tank for the tough final 15 miles. I hoped not to lose too much time in the second half of the race, compared with the ten minutes I lost last year. I didn’t have a target average speed, I just planned to keep to the numbers mentioned above, and let the average speed be whatever it would be – hopefully it would be higher than last year’s 23.6mph.

AM, not PM...

The weather kept its side of the bargain – conditions were perfect, if a little chilly in the early hours. Riders were starting at one-minute intervals from 5:15am. I was off at 6:11am. I got to the start line with no stress, having eaten well, prepared well and warmed up well. The guy who started a minute in front of me went off like a man possessed, I told myself to keep it nice and easy for the first hour. There’s plenty of time for it to get tough. As I started, my heart rate was 85bpm – almost half of what it was when I started Norfolk. A big difference.

Just before the start, fully loaded

And so I rode. During the first hour, my average speed built from 23mph, then to 24, and as I went through 25 miles, I was just under the hour. My heart rate was averaging around 153bpm and everything felt good. In the second 25 miles, my overall average climbed higher still, to 25.4mph. My heart rate was still under 160bpm. I went through half distance in 1:58, 6 minutes up on last year. But I knew all the hard work was still to come. I kept telling myself to back off, kept eating, kept drinking, kept pedalling, kept standing up every ten minutes, and kept going. The third 25 miles was still steady and my overall average stayed at 25.4mph. My heart rate was climbing to over 160bpm, but I still felt reasonable. If I’d stopped at 75 miles, I wouldn’t have been in the slightest bit fatigued.

Occasionally I would pass someone who started in front of me, and occasionally, some of the real heavy hitters would pass me. These guys have got amazing bikes, disc wheels, full skin-suits, power meters, uncompromising aero positions, and they have the power and strength and endurance to match. They probably don’t do Ironman triathlons though, but they do ride 100 miles in 3:30 or 3:40 or something.

After 75 miles I knew that I was going to be close to sub-4. Sub-4 for the ton is a big barrier in itself, never mind that going under 4 hours would show that I was in great shape, and I remember saying to myself, “Now we’ll see what you’re made of…” I knew how hard the last quarter of the ride was from last year…

 

Working up a hill

Every roundabout became a nightmare, hoping that no traffic would break my rhythm. The traffic was building as the morning wore on. A flat tyre at this stage would have been a tough thing to take. Eating and drinking became tough. The heart rate crept up. The legs started to protest. After the final left turn off the A1, the last 10 or so miles are on smaller, more undulating roads. There are two “mini laps” of about 5 miles each to finish. My average speed was creeping in the wrong direction: 25.4mph, 25.3mph, 25.2mph, please don’t go to 25.1mph, come on legs, give me more speed, but they don’t, you can’t, you are fading, grit the teeth, keep pumping those pedals, stay in the aero position.

With 5 miles to go there is a horrible, horrible hill, maybe only 30 seconds to get up it, but it feels like forever, crawling up at 12mph or something. Usually I’m good at getting back up to speed after a hill, but the speed didn’t want to come. The legs weren’t sharp. Another mini lap of this torture, come on, 5 to go. 4 to go. Come on legs. Come on. Average drops to 25.1mph. No more margin left, 3 miles to ride. Heart rate pushing 170bpm. It’s not every day you have a chance to get under 4 hours for the ton. Come on. 2 miles to go. Up the slip road. Another hill. The Garmin reads 3:58:something. 180bpm. The finish is close. But so far. I’m still at 25.1mph average, but my current speed is just over 20mph. This is going to be close. Scowl. Grit teeth. Push. Come on. There it is. 3:59:something. Another 15 seconds and I’m there. I cross the line. Sub 4! 3:59:39. Awesome! But damn, that last 15 miles were tough going.

In Flanders earlier this year I spent ten euros on a pair of aero shoe covers. I wore them at Icknield, and it’s feasible that they could have made the difference between my 3:59:39 time, and a slower-than-4 time. Ten euros well spent!

Aero... looking cool...?

It’s a 4 mile “warm down” to the race HQ. I don’t have much left. I’m in pain. I’m making funny grunting noises. But I’ve done sub 4! I “only” lost 3 minutes on the second half, so it was well paced and far better than last year. I cruise very slowly back to the race HQ and recover on the way. I get the bike into the car and get away for a run. I hope to do about 30 minutes. The first mile passes OK, heart rate at 140 and pace at 7:30/mile. A perfect replication of how I want my Ironman marathon to start. Then I feel a twinge in my gut. And now comes some toilet talk… I need the toilet, and it’s not a pee… I learned the hard way in Bolton last year at Ironman UK that these toilet urges can become disastrous in a very, very short space of time. So I do a U-turn and start to head back to the race HQ. The toilet is maybe 8 minutes away. Nope, I’m not going to make it. So I resort to the bushes, and jog/walk back.

I wasn’t too worried about this for reasons that are described using more toilet talk. The “pre-race dump” is a term that’s often used and indeed discussed amongst cyclists, runners and triathletes, and I’m sure among other sportspeople too. Normally, I would make sure in the week(s) before a big event that my pre-race dumps are properly timed so that my guts are totally emptied about an hour before a race start. My pre-race dump this time hadn’t been properly timed for 5am, like it will be for the Ironman. That, combined with the tough sub-4 effort (a much tougher effort than I will do on the Ironman bike) made me need to go pretty soon after getting off the bike. But no worries, I can manage it better at Ironman UK. I still did sub-4… nothing was taking the shine off that. 15 minutes faster than last year in what was as accurate a like-for-like comparison as it could have been.

I hung around the race headquarters until they posted the results on a big board, and I took a photo of it. Then it was back home to a quick round of applause from my housemate Steve, I dropped the gear off, left the rental car back, made dinner, did my washing, ironing, had a shower, and got to bed as early as possible. I got to bed at 9pm, and was absolutely and totally zonked until the alarm went off at 6:22am for work the next day.

Result

I’ve since had a bit of time to digest this sub-4 and consider the implications. I’m not easily pleased, but I’m pleased with sub-4. It was better than I was expecting. It’s a sign that the training is paying off, along with all the other things too – the strict diet, sacrifices, osteopathy, equipment tweaking, core strength work, stretching and everything else.

If I did another 100 next year in similar conditions with a disc wheel and with the advantage of some power meter data to work with, and with an out-an-out aerodynamic time-trial bike position rather than a compromised Ironman bike position (to allow me to run well off the bike), there’s no reason why I couldn’t do 3:45 or better for 100 miles.

At Icknield last year, I did 4:14 which translated into a 5:30 bike at Ironman UK, and I felt great getting off the bike and starting the run. A 3:59 clocking at Icknield this year, with a similar translation to the Ironman UK bike time, would see me biking something like 5:10. The pro that finished 5^th overall at Ironman UK in 2013 biked 5:10.

Last year at Bolton, I swam 55 minutes, biked 5:30 and was on target for a 3:15 marathon at 16 miles before I had to pull out with sudden vomiting and diarrhoea. Adding a conservative ten minutes for transitions, and assuming that in the final ten miles my marathon pace would have stayed constant (perhaps a false assumption), then I would have finished in 9:50. My age group (25-29) last year was won in 9:47, so I have reason to believe that I could have won my age group last year. 10:10 would have qualified for Kona in my age group last year at Ironman UK. In Wales 5 weeks later, I missed out on qualifying by one position.

In my current shape, if I had done Bolton last year with a swim of 55 minutes, a bike of 5:10 and a run of 3:15, I would have finished somewhere between 9:30 and 9:35. This would have won the 30-34 age group (the age group which I will compete in this year), and I think it would have been the first of the non-pro finishers.

So, I know I am in shape and I know I have a good chance of getting that elusive Kona slot. It’s frustrating that the Ironman UK bike course has changed this year, at fairly short notice. Some of it is the same, but it’s now a 2-lap course, so I can’t do a like-for-like comparison with last year and base this year’s target bike time on last year’s. The two-lap bike course has facilitated an extra 400 competitors, but there are no extra Kona slots. And I can’t control the weather, or getting a flat tyre. Neither can I control who turns up to race – it could be that my age group turns out to be really competitive, and even if I execute as good a race as I possibly can, it may not be good enough.

But at least I know I am in good shape, Icknield confirmed that. If I’d done 4:08 in Icknield, I’d still have been thinking I have a chance, but not a great chance. A 3:59 means I’m entitled to think I have a good chance. If I was still competing in the 25-29 age group, I would have a really, really good chance, but the fact that I turn 30 (what?!??!?!) at the end of the year puts me in the 30-34 age group and reduces my chances a bit.

I just need to get through the next 6-and-a-bit weeks, have a few more tough training weeks, keep everything together, not get injured or sick, hopefully not go on any trips, not lift anything heavy and keep my fingers crossed. I got through it last year, so I know I can do it. It’s tough though, so near and yet so far. So much effort put in. So much to lose. High stakes. Pressure. The sub-4 was a good boost and a reward for the effort. I hope the next 6-and-a-bit weeks goes well, and that the Ironman goes well. If they do, and if it does, I reckon I’ve got a good chance of qualifying. So near and yet so far…

I haven’t yet found any photos from Icknield, but they will follow.

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 26^th May 2014: 2:10 turbo, 30 min run
Tuesday 27^th May 2014: Rest
Wed 28^th May 2014: Rest
Thursday 29^th May 2014: 30 min turbo, 20 min run
Friday 30^th May 2014: Swim 3km, 40 min bike
Saturday 31^st May 2014: Rest
Sunday 1^st June 2014: Icknield 100 mile time trial (3:59:39) plus warm up/down, 2 mile run

Totals: Swim 3km, Bike 170 miles, Run 10 miles