Post 63 - A lot happens in a week

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Training done this week was as follows:

Monday 19^th January 2015: Rest
Tuesday 20^th January 2015: Rest
Wed 21^st January 2015: 6 x reps: 3:16, 3:12, 3:10, 3:09, 3:10, 3:12
Thurs 22^nd January 2015: 1 hour bike
Friday 23^rd January 2015: Rest
Saturday 24^th January 2015: 2 hour turbo
Sunday 25^th January 2015: Swim 3.1km, 45 minute run

Totals: Swim 3.1km, Bike 55 miles, Run 13 miles

A lot happens in a week…

This was a planned easier week, following two tougher weeks. My mileages were a lot lower than they’d usually be, with a couple more rest days than usual thrown in. I need these easier weeks to rest and recover, and allow my legs to get stronger – the strength comes when resting, not when training.

Monday started badly, as my neck locked up on the way to work. Never a dull moment, and never plain sailing… I don’t know why this happened. Maybe it was the cold air, maybe I slept funny, maybe I bent over, twisted or lifted something in a bad way, although this is all speculation. Some things you just can’t explain. Anyway, I spent Monday in literally excruciating pain, unable to turn or lift my head. I had visions of last year, when my back locked up horrendously at around the same time. I struggled through the day, and then after work I paid a visit to a chest specialist, to get my breathing and chest checked out.

Two GPs had already said I seemed fine. The specialist did the usual cursory checks, which again were all fine. She was puzzled when I said I couldn’t get off the bed and would need a helping hand – my neck really was that bad. I did a spirometry test – basically blowing into a tube as hard as possible, for as long as possible. It wasn’t quite what I expected, as the mouthpiece of the spirometer had a large diameter – try opening your mouth wide, taking a deep breath, keeping your mouth wide open, and forcing all the air out of your lungs as hard as possible. It’s very different to blowing through a straw or doing a breathalyser test. My spirometry values were all fine too, but the specialist claimed that she likes to play Sherlock Holmes and find things that are wrong with people. She wants to do a whole range of detailed and time-consuming tests, so I’m currently weighing up whether to go ahead with everything or to accept the opinion of two GPs, one set of spirometer results and one set of detailed cardiologic test results that everything is fine…

On Tuesday I travelled to Italy again with work… A planned small meeting at a supplier had turned into a large and complicated meeting, so armed with laptops, notes, shirts, ties and exercise gear, I headed off. At least the trip was during a planned easier week.

I’ve been asked to run in the Garioch 10K race in Inverurie (close to Aberdeen) at the end of March, as a two-time previous winner. It’s the tenth anniversary of the race, and so hopefully I’ll be off to Aberdeen for this event in March. I don’t expect to win the race, but I’d love to get under 33 minutes. Part of me would like to train specifically for it, but I’ve got to think of the bigger picture and keep focussed on the big goal of qualifying for Kona. But I do think that doing a few faster running races and training sessions will help my Ironman marathon.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, still wearing it!

I’ve also been asked to go back to Northern Ireland to run in the provincial cross country championships in mid-February. Our club are reigning champions, and we picked up gold medals last January. I don’t want to go and make up the numbers though, and the club will have a strong squad. So on Wednesday night in Italy, in the cold and rain, I told myself that my neck was “better”, and I dragged myself out of the hotel to an industrial estate, where before Christmas I had run 6 repetitions of approximately 1km (or approximately 0.621371192 miles if you’re that way inclined KB!) I stress “approximately”, I’ve no idea of the exact distance. Each lap was something a little over three minutes when running reasonably hard. I did the same 6 x 1km on Wednesday night, on what was a terrible night for running. A comparison follows:

10/12/14 -  3:25, 3:20, 3:16, 3:16, 3:16, 3:15
21/01/15 -  3:16, 3:12, 3:10, 3:09, 3:10, 3:12

It was much better running this week than in mid-December, on average 6.5 seconds per kilometre quicker. I was pretty happy with this, although the final interval was tough and I was really struggling to keep the time from falling away. I rewarded my muscles with a hot bath in the hotel room (much better than an ice bath!) followed by grilled beef and vegetables in the restaurant with two of my colleagues from Korea and Sunderland.

Camera phones are terrible things

I used to relish this sort of training at university, going and doing a timed interval session, writing it down, carrying on with training, and then a few weeks later going back and doing the same session and being markedly faster. It’s a good feeling. These times would give me a bit of confidence that I could go back to Northern Ireland for the provincial championships next month and at least give a better performance than what I showed in the two races I did over Christmas.

Thursday evening saw a fairly pitiful exercise bike session in the hotel gym where I didn’t push hard at all for fear of hurting my knees on an ill-fitting bike that could hardly be described as adjustable. On Friday I flew back, with the clearer weather affording some spectacular views of the Alps from the plane. And such blue sky too… I have to work out a way to live somewhere like this…

The Alps from the Alitalia flight. Awesome.

On Friday I had an early night, thankful that I hadn’t gotten ill following the Italy trip – lots of attendees were coughing and spluttering. On Saturday, I had the second of two appointments for the cardiology study I have volunteered to take part in. This study is being sponsored by the British Heart Foundation, and is analysing the impacts on the heart of prolonged endurance sports training and racing. So essentially I am guinea-pigging myself to contribute to ground-breaking medical research, while also essentially having my heart tested in detail. My first appointment was last week and involved an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram, a blood test, and a VO2 max fitness test.

My second appointment was for a cardiac MRI, in the Heart Hospital in central London. Being the wimp that I am, I was dreading this, as I knew I’d be getting a cannula stuck into my vein, and I knew I’d be getting injected with gadolinium (a dye), then shoved into a noisy, clunking, tight magnetic tube for an hour. Part of me really wanted to bail out, but I’m not like that. So I found myself in a hospital gown, lying on a reclined chair, looking the other way, gritting my teeth, while listening to the doctor’s small talk, knowing he was armed with a needle and a cannula that were meant for me. I’m convinced that medical people are trained to engage in small talk just before they do something unpleasant to you.

So true. These people are priceless.

In went the cannula, the small talk stopped, and onto the MRI table I went. Two other doctors started bustling about over me, strapping me down, putting electrodes on me, putting stuff under my legs, and putting earphones on. And into the tube I went. Being naturally curious and inquisitive, I wanted to look around, to see where these noises were coming from, but I wasn’t allowed to move. For the next 30 minutes I shut my eyes and followed the repeated instructions to “take a deep breath in…. and out… and stop…” as the machine scanned my heart and legs.

On “stop”, as I held my breath out, the machine kicked into life to capture the images, clunking, beeping and whooshing as it did so, also causing a funny vibration above my left eyebrow. For a count of 13 of 14, the machine would make its noises and do its thing, then I’d hear “and breathe normally”. And with a gasp, I’d breathe normally again. After about half an hour, they told me they were going to inject the dye. The worst bit. They’d told me all the risks beforehand, how it can cause anaphylactic shock in a very small percentage of people, what the adverse reactions could be, how the kidneys and liver could fail to remove it from my system. I hoped I wasn’t in the unlucky small percentage of people, and tried to take reassurance from the blood tests last week that showed my kidneys and liver are functioning normally.

“You might feel a cold sensation and a metallic taste in your mouth… here we go…” and I clenched my teeth and braced for it. I didn’t feel too much, and then the breathing instructions started again. The machine started aggressively honking this time, like a pissed-off goose. I guessed it was operating a bit differently now that the dye was pumping around my arteries, veins and heart.

After a few minutes, one of the doctors came over the headphones. Laughing this time, not the usual cool, reassuring business-like demeanour. I thought, “What the heck is going on here?” She was properly laughing her head off. “We forgot to connect you up to the dye machine!” I didn’t quite see the funny side. Maybe I'd have started honking and flapping if I hadn't been tied down inside a magnetic tube, The doctor came in, and the table moved me out of the tube. I got hooked up, and moved back into the machine. “Here we go again…”

“Uuuurgh, gurghhhh, aaaaa, sssssss…” My reactions to the dye being injected. Not a nice feeling as the gadolinium went in, too quickly for my liking. I felt burning in my arm, and this feeling continued for the rest of the scan. I guess my heart rate went up quite a bit. I just wanted to get out of there. Finally it was over, and they got me out of the tube and unhooked. I was pretty relieved. They seemed to want to get the next patient in as quickly as possible. He was an older guy, not part of the study, who probably did have serious heart problems. Health is so important. The most important thing. I got changed out of the gown and waited in the reception area.

When the results were ready, the doctor and I had a chat. The bottom line is that my heart is fine and healthy, and within normal parameters, which is great. He said I have an athlete’s heart, meaning that it is slightly enlarged although not beyond normal parameters. This is normal for endurance athletes. He also made the point that I have got a low resting heart rate, in the low 40s, and because of this, when at rest, my heart is a little bit “sluggish”. Again, this is normal for endurance athletes, and nothing to worry about. When my heart rate increases, my heart becomes less sluggish. Maybe a bit like a big new car on a motorway: at 50mph the car feels slow and sluggish, at 70mph it opens up and feels great.

One thing in particular the study was looking for was the presence of scarring on the heart. The heart is a muscle, like all other muscles. Training causes muscular break-down at micro-level, and these break-downs scar and heal, and in this way the muscles become stronger. He said that I show some scarring between my left and right ventricles. These are the biggest chambers of the heart and they touch together. Where these ventricles touch, especially when I am exercising at a high heart rate, some friction is created, and this has resulted in some scarring. This scarring is common, and manifests itself in around one-third of endurance athletes. It is harmless. They were looking for other types of scarring on the heart, and didn’t find any on me. So, all good. Some images are below.

Leggies

I've got loads more pictures on a CD. They are pretty amazing.

Thankfully the gadolinium didn’t cause any side-effects, so I was discharged. I got home and got onto the turbo for 2 hours, just fairly easy spinning. I had another early night, and then got up and headed for the pool. I did a fairly easy 3.1km. I checked my pace a couple of times, and I was doing my 100s in around 1:35 to 1:40. Not bad for so early in the season, and I haven’t even started doing hand paddle or pull buoy drills yet, nor have I started doing any sprints in the pool. An easy 10km run followed, and the temperature was just warm enough that I didn’t have to wear my jacket. I even saw the first daffodil shoots sprouting, so hopefully we are moving into spring and won’t see any snow, ice or storm chaos.

Two tough training weeks will follow…

Post 62 - Testing, coconuts, Guinness

My commute to work has become a whole lot worse, as they have decided to partially close the main station my train passes through, as part of a rebuilding process. It’ll re-open sometime in 2018 or 2019. I’ll be long gone by then. So, for now, this means that my trains are absolutely full to bursting. It’s no fun. People can’t get on or off, so they bang the windows in frustration and desperation. It also means that the trains are running a lot slower than usual, with more frequent delays and cancellations. So my already limited time has become just a bit more limited. Another challenge to overcome. Something to look forward to is the day when I will be able to cycle to work in a clean environment, a long way from London. But anyway.


I got through the week but not without the usual trials, tribulations, and issues to manage and overcome. By the time I get home from work on Thursdays, the working week is almost done. I work longer days during the week, so I don’t quite work a full day on Friday. I’d say by Thursday night, about 85-90% of my working hours for the week are done. But my training week still has a long way to go. By Thursday I’ll have done an hour of hard cycling on the turbo, usually followed by a short run, and also a 5-mile fartlek run. Plus all the stretching, weights and core work. Before I start training on Thursday evening, I still have the following ahead of me in the week: A tough interval turbo session followed by a run, swim sprints, single leg bike drills, a long bike ride followed by a run, a swim drill session, a long run, and all the stretching, weights and core work. Tough weeks! And always a bit of a mental challenge to know that the working week is almost done, but the training week still has a long way to go.

2-week block done

 

I’d been eating coconut oil over Christmas. My brothers eat it, and I’d pinched some almost every day, with no adverse effects. It’s meant to be very good for you. Coconuts are apparently a super-food, so I’d been thinking about introducing coconut oil and coconut water into my diet. On Wednesday at lunchtime I bought a litre of coconut water, and drank about 400ml of it. A colleague at work, who also does triathlons, saw it on my desk, and exclaimed, “What are you doing, drinking that?! It’ll just make you shit!” But I felt fine. I got home from work, trained, and after 5 miles of running and nearly an hour of weights and stretching, I was very hungry. But I couldn’t eat immediately, as although I had pasta and vegetables ready in the fridge, I had to cook some turkey. So I had a spoonful of coconut oil while I was waiting.

In the 30 minutes of waiting for the turkey to cook, my stomach started to tie itself in knots. When my dinner was ready, I was almost doubled over in pain. I could hardly eat – very abnormal for me. I left half my dinner and thought, “This could be a long night…” I had an emergency toilet stop before bed. Not pretty. Spray-painting comes to mind. I went to bed and hoped for the best. Literally 2 minutes later I was bathroom-bound again. Not pretty. It felt like food poisoning, except I wasn’t vomiting. After a third trip to the bathroom, which left me with zero liquid and zero nutrients inside my body, I went to bed and stayed in bed. I knew I had a VO2 max test coming up soon, and wanted to be strong going into it. I was anything but. I was freezing, dehydrated, de-electrolyted, and de-nutritioned. I felt awful. I didn’t have much sleep, but thankfully had no more bathroom trips. And that was the end of it. Next day at work, I drank a lot of electrolyte drink to try to replenish.

I tried to work out what had caused it. It must have been the coconut oil. I didn’t do anything else out of the ordinary. But I could hardly believe that one spoonful of innocuous-looking white stuff could cause so much damage. Taking it on an empty stomach was probably my error. Lesson learned… 

Innocuous but deadly

My VO2 max test was on Friday. There is a study going on a the minute, being backed by the British Heart Foundation, looking at the effects on the heart of prolonged, intense, endurance training and racing. This is something I’m interested in, and something I had begun to think seriously about while I was in hospital last year. Is prolonged high-level Ironman training and racing really good for long-term health (from many points of view including the heart and joints)? Is it good to have such an elevated heart rate for the 9 or 10 (or 17) hours it can take to complete an Ironman?

I had a raft of tests done on my heart last year, all of which concluded that my heart was fine and within normal limits. Late last year, I happened across an email that was looking for endurance athletes to volunteer for a heart study. I seemed to fit the bill, I was interested in being tested again, I was keen to find out my VO2 max, and also keen to help the doctors in their research, as I think it’s an interesting topic. So I sent off an email, and found myself heading for St George’s hospital, having been accepted as a guinea pig.

The idea is that a number of people will be tested, including young, middle-aged, and older athletes, and also less fit people. All the data will be analysed, and a report published. Having talked with one of the doctors, so far they have found a trend that there is some evidence of greater scarring of the heart muscle in older endurance athletes. Hmmm. I don’t intend doing Ironmans when I’m 50, and I have no aspirations to run 100 or 200 marathons like some of the people who had been tested, so hopefully I’ll be OK.

After a good chat with the doctor, where my inquisitive nature saw me ask lots and lots of questions, testing started with an ultrasound scan of my heart. This really does make you realise just how amazing the heart is, when you can see it on a screen, beating away. The 4 chambers were all easy to see, all pulsing to my own internal rhythm of 40-45 beats per minute at rest. The valves between chambers were opening and closing metronomically. Sound enhancement allowed me to hear the whooshing of the blood as it filled the chambers and was pumped out and around my body, transporting the things that keep me alive and well. All the while, pumping and pumping, 24 hours a day, for an entire lifetime, hopefully without as much as a single problem. Amazing. And absolutely worth taking care of.

A comprehensive ECG (electrocardiogram) followed, where I was hooked up to loads of electrodes. They went on my back, on my neck, on my chest, and even on my legs. I was told to lie back and get comfortable, and that it would take about 5 minutes. The doctor really stressed how important it was to be as relaxed as possible. He even turned the lights off. But he couldn’t get a reading on the machine. My feet were hanging off the end of the bed, and he said this might be having an effect, so I shuffled up the bed. Still no signal. He had a look at the electrodes on my chest. I don’t have a very hairy chest, but one was stuck to some hair. “Ahhhhh”, the doctor said, and whipped it off. “AAAHHHHHHH”, I yelped. He replaced it.

Wired up

Finally, the machine started picking up a full signal from all the electrodes, and 5 minutes later, the doctor approached me. “Don’t worry,” he said, seeing me recoil. “We’ll keep the electrodes on until after your bike test. They are easier to take off when you are sweaty…” Then I got measured and learned that I am 186cm tall rather than 184 as I previously thought. I got weighed too and was 68kg. That is pretty light, considering it’s so early in the season.

Then it was onto the exercise bike. I had brought my own pedals, spanner, allen keys, cycling shoes, bike set-up measurements and tape measure to ensure that I was riding in the correct position, with proper cycling shoes. There were two reasons for this: one was to try to avoid injury, and one was to try to maximise my performance. Anyway, it turned out that I ended up just using the toe-clip pedals that came with the bike, and my trainers. The bike was really basic, and the pedals were much wider apart than on a normal road bike, making the riding position seem a bit like something Kermit the frog would adopt. The seat didn’t move fore and aft either, so it would have been impossible to get a good position using my own pedals and cleats, as I couldn’t then have moved my feet back and forwards on the pedals.

I fiddled about with the bike for a while, and got myself into a reasonably good position. I asked about VO2 max values. It’s basically a measure of how much oxygen your body can use, measured in millilitres per minute per kilogram of bodyweight. The higher the value, the greater the body’s capacity to use oxygen, and therefore the greater the fitness potential. There is some debate about how “inherent” it is. Some people are born with high VO2 max capacities. Training can improve it, but not a huge amount. The record is held by a Norwegian cross-country skier, at 98. Tour de France rider Chris Froome comes in at 96. These are freakishly high values, and when combined with perfect training, nutrition, recovery and hydration, you get world-class athletes. The average for people of my age is 47. I hoped to have a value of about 70. Good Ironman age-group athletes typically have values of 50-70.

Then I got all the “gear” put on by the doctor: the blood pressure monitor, electrodes, wires, and face mask. So both myself and the bike were now wired into the computer. I started warming up, and as I did so, the doctor explained what would happen. I was to pedal at 80-90rpm, and the computer would increase the resistance at a rate of 6 watts every 12 seconds. I was to go for as long as I could. A quick mental calculation told me that 15 minutes would have me pedalling at 450 watts. I thought this should be possible, but I knew I hadn’t been well earlier in the week and was still a bit depleted. Plus I was a bit worried about hammering myself on a bike that didn’t fit perfectly. I didn’t want to hurt my knees, or anything else.

 

On the bike

The test started. I was spinning air. It was easy. My heart rate was on the screen in front of me. 60 bpm. I thought this was meant to be difficult?! I could see the wattage. 6 more watts every 12 seconds. I got to 200 watts and it was still easy. 300 watts came, and the doctor then started getting vocal. It’s in his interests for me to go as long as possible. “Come on, dig deep,” he said. But I was still comfortable. My heart rate was something like 160. I held 160 for 4 hours last year. But I knew once I hit 180, I wouldn’t have much left. Every 6 watts now made a big difference. Breathing hard. 170bpm. “Keep going John!” Hammer time. 175bpm. Well over 400 watts, but I could no longer see the screen as I was working so hard. My heart rate hit 180. Every 12 seconds it got 6 watts tougher, but it felt like a million watts tougher. Finally, my cadence just petered out, and that was it. Test over. I didn’t decide that I couldn’t hack it any more. I just literally could not spin the pedals.
 

Warming down

I recovered quickly, and then had a blood test. The worst part of the day. I hate having blood taken. I looked away, felt the “sharp scratch” inside my elbow (I am sure the doctors are told to say that every time), and about a minute later it was over. Then we discussed my VO2 max results. My value was 63.1ml/min/kg. I thought I’d be a bit higher than this, but I’m sure the depletion after the diarrhoea just 2 days previously didn’t help. Neither did my lack of tapering, and I was also at the end of a two-week training block, with fatigue in my legs. My heart rate maxed out at 184bpm. I thought it would hit about 187 or 188, but my legs said no before my cardio system did.

My lactate threshold was even more surprising. This is the point where the body stops working aerobically and starts working anaerobically, with the associated build-up of lactic acid. My lactate threshold was only at 125 beats per minute. I expected it to be much higher. But this relatively low value is indicative that I am early in the season, and arguably at my most unfit. I haven’t done much high-intensity work in the last few months, but will be building this up. Lactate threshold can change with training much more than VO2 max can. The doctor and I ended up discussing my 100 mile time trial last year, where I held and average of 162bpm for 4 hours. I asked him what he thought I had maintained for the 4 hours, he guessed 145-150. So I think my lactate threshold will be a lot higher in the summer, and the doctor offered to repeat the test. I’ll be very interested to compare results. I left hospital with a 24-hour heart monitor attached - more wires, a recording box, probable sleep disruption, and no showering for 24 hours...

There is another set of tests next weekend, one of which is a cardiac MRI scan. I don’t mind being put into a claustrophobic tube for an hour or two, but I do mind having a line put into my vein, and I do mind being flushed with dye. So, I’ve got that to look forward to next week…

On Friday night, I was out for dinner. I had a steak burger, chips, a pint of Guinness, and a banoffee pie. My discipline went down the pan, for one night only. I have to say it was very nice, but given my coconut problems, my VO2 max test, my steak burger, Guinness, dessert, poor sleeping, and given that I was at the end of my first two-week training cycle and was fatigued, didn’t expect much from training on Saturday and Sunday.  

As it turned out, on the turbo on Saturday I felt great. On the run that followed, I was bouncing. In the pool the next day, I was zooming. And on my longer hilly run, I felt I had good strength. I had no right to feel so good, but for some reason, I did. Maybe Guinness is the answer… or coconut oil? Or steak burgers? Or banoffee pie? It reminded me of summer 2006 in France. I used to run regularly when I was working in the Pyrenees. My final mile before I got to my accommodation was a steep, steep uphill mile. I used to always run this as hard as I could. The fastest I ever ran it was the morning after I had been out with all the staff and had drank a few beers. I’d even say I was a bit hung over. I had no reason to run well. And yet I blitzed that final mile, it was the fastest I ran it all summer. Maybe I’ll load my bike up with booze at Ironman UK…!

Training done this week was as follows:

Monday 12^th January: Rest
Tuesday 13^th January: 1 hour turbo (50 minutes hard)
Wed 14^th January: 30 minute fartlek run
Thurs 15^th January: 1:05 turbo (15 x 2 mins hard, 2 mins easy)
Friday 16^th January: Swim 1.6km easy (1500m in 25:09), 30 minute bike (VO2 max test)
Saturday 17^th January: 2:20 turbo, 25 minute run
Sunday 18^th January: Swim 3.2km, 60 minute run (9 hills)

Totals: Swim 4.8km, Bike 110 miles, Run 18 miles

Post 61 - Here we go again...

...And so the 2015 season starts. I’ve been playing catch-up all week after the flight nightmare last Sunday. It’s been straight back into typical London chaos, into regimented days, long commutes, tough times at work, and trying to train and do everything else I need to do. I hope the weeks that follow aren’t as crazy as this week has been… I hope also that this will finally be the year…

The delayed and diverted flight meant I didn’t get anything done last Sunday evening, and I only had 3-and-a-half hours of sleep, which I didn’t manage to properly catch up during the week. On Monday after work, I prioritised getting food into the house, and then cooking for the rest of the week. The unpacking could wait.

From a training point of view, I had planned one moderately intense week this week, not doing too many miles and not pushing too hard. This would ease me back into it, and allow my body to re-adjust to the 6:20am alarms and to the training load. Then I planned an easy week, and after this I’d be back into my usual two tough weeks followed by one easier week. However, a planned work trip to Italy has scuppered this plan, and so I’ll be doing two tough weeks in a row followed by an easier week which will be spent in Italy. I’d rather not do two tougher weeks in a row for my first two weeks, but I’ll just have to be very careful in listening to my body and not overdoing it.

On Tuesday after work, I prioritised training. The unpacking could wait. I usually do a tempo ride - basically a hard blast on the turbo for anything between 60-80 minutes, followed by a run. On Tuesday, I did a 5-minute warm-up, then cranked it up. I went hard but not too hard for 50 minutes, and then cooled down for 5 minutes. I’m annoyed that my power meter hasn’t yet been delivered, I ordered it ages ago and should have had it before Christmas. I wanted to start off this year with the power meter installed onto my bike. It’s currently estimated to arrive by the end of January. Bah.

I didn’t follow this tempo-turbo with a run, as it was freezing outside and I want to avoid getting a cold. I also wanted to make sure I didn’t go too hard this week, overdo it, and end up injured. Then I ate, and then I went straight to bed with nothing unpacked yet. My legs did not feel normal at all after this ride, they were very tired and heavy, and my muscles were aching. They are usually fine after this type of session. I hadn’t done much hard riding for a good long while, and my legs just weren’t used to it. They will come good again soon…

Ready for the first session of the season

 

On Wednesday I had an early medical appointment before work to see about my chest and breathing. This meant I was a bit later getting into work, and therefore had to stay a bit later at work in the evening. The doctor thought I had costocondritis – unexplained inflammation of the cartilage linking the ribs to the breastbone. Apparently nothing to worry about. I ended up using my medical insurance to get a referral to see a specialist in a couple of weeks, and hopefully this will put my mind at rest.

So, I didn’t get home until late on Wednesday. Fortunately, my schedule only called for a 5-mile fartlek run, so I was able to get this done, shower, eat, and then unzip the suitcase to dig out the new shirts and trousers I bought over Christmas – over £200 spent on something I didn’t particularly want to buy, but sort of had to. Think what else I could have bought… £200 would not be much more than one-third of the cost of entering an Ironman triathlon. Anyway, the shirts and trousers had been crumpled up in a suitcase for four days and so needed a bit of treatment. Try ironing six shirts, two pairs of trousers and a couple of t-shirts, when all you want to do is go to bed. It took ages. It’s OK though, I am an iron man… Then it was off to bed, I still hadn’t unpacked and my room now looked like a hurricane had just hit it.

Chia seed stuff that arrived during the week. I'm interested to see what they are like.
"Chia" means "strength" in Aztec parlance...

 

On Thursday I got home after work, stretched, got on the turbo trainer, and did my training. Thursdays are usually bike intervals done on the turbo, followed by a short run. I did seven sets of 5 minutes hard and 5 minutes easy. I was able to push a fairly high resistance without elevating my heart rate too high, which was a positive sign. But again my legs were painfully letting me know how unused to this punishment they were, and how much they wanted to stop. It was the old “mind versus body” argument. The mind won. As Jens Voigt says, “Shut up legs!”

Again I didn’t run after this bike session. I showered, ate, and finally got unpacked. I got through Friday at work, and then hit the pool. I planned to cruise through 2.5km, maybe even 3km if I felt good. It was tough to get into the pool, it was cold and I was being my usual wimpy self. Once I got going though, I felt really good in the water, and ended up doing 3.1km. On the turn at the shallow end, I’m able to get a glimpse of the timing clock which hangs over the deep end. So this means I can get an idea of my pace. Towards the start of the session, I was doing 1:34 per 100m. This dropped to 1:38 and 1:39 per 100m by the end, but I was pleased that I felt good in the water.

Then I bought more food at the shop, got home, and forced myself onto the turbo for my single leg drills. These are both tough and tedious. I hadn’t done single leg drills for about 4 months and wasn’t sure how they would go. The idea is that you pedal with one leg only, with the other leg resting on the turbo trainer frame. This promotes a smooth pedalling action, right through the full circle, ensuring that you push down, pull back at the bottom, lift up, and kick through the top, fluidly and without any “dead spots”, where no power is being transmitted. The dead spots come when you are not engaging any power through the cranks, and the goal is to eliminate these dead spots. You know you’ve hit a dead spot when you hear the “clunk” as the drivetrain re-engages transmitting power to the rear wheel. When I started doing these single leg drills last year I was clunking away, particularly with my left leg. As I persevered, I became much smoother and the clunks stopped.

I thought I might be clunking regularly again on Friday evening – don’t I live the dream? I was actually pretty good, only a couple of clunks. I was happy with that. I somehow managed to summon the energy to cook for the weekend. It was either cook or go hungry. By 9:30pm on Friday night I was flopped in bed, looking forward to a 13-hour sleep. Truly living the dream.

I did the sleeping justice, and over 13 hours later, clambered out of bed, had my breakfast, did my stretching, and got on the turbo. Saturdays are usually long rides followed by short runs. The Saturday turbo rides are sometimes over four hours. I did just over two hours this time, trying to make sure that this week was not too tough. Following the 25 minute run after the turbo, I was knackered and felt my left knee was a bit niggly. Perhaps my body was saying “What the heck has this week been all about?!” After all, it has been over four months since I did this kind of rigorous training.

I was grateful I had another opportunity to catch up on my sleep and having lived the dream on Friday night, I set about doing the same for Saturday night. It was good… On Sunday morning I got up and headed for the pool. It was so quiet. Brilliant. I did sets of 250m, reasonably hard, with a 1-minute break. By the last set, I was swimming slower than 1:40 per 100m, which was a bit disappointing, but probably more an indication that my swim pacing is really poor. Then I went out for a run. I did 60 minutes, with the middle 30 minutes a bit harder. I did a lot of this in a local park, and was only assaulted by one dog. I can’t believe how irresponsible some dog owners are.

Hopefully I’ll get an early night again tonight. Work was absolutely crazy this week and it looks like it’s going to be crazy for a while. But in terms of how I’m positioned from a fitness point of view, I’m looking better off now than I was at the same time last year. I know that if I can get back to the same level that I reached in the summer last year, I’ll have a good chance of qualifying for Hawaii. If I can get into better shape (and I’d like to think that this is possible), then I’ll have an even better chance. So far so good. After my last training session this week, I weighed myself. My current empty weight was 67.2kg.

 

67.2kg is quite light for this time of year. I’ve got through the off-season well. I didn’t have to put on my “winter” trousers (with a larger waist size) in the run-up to Christmas. In the previous off-season, in late 2013, I had to get bigger trousers as my weight was maybe something like 73kg. So I’ve kept the weight off well, and I’ve kept a good level of fitness. I will need to be very careful not to peak too soon, and not to get too light. My swimming is stronger than this time last year, when I was struggling to do even 1km without a break. During this week, I did 3.1km easily without a break.

My cycling feels good, and with living in such a good house with my turbo trainer in my room, I’ll be able to spend all of January and February doing really good, regular turbo sessions. In January and February last year, I was in a different house-share, with the turbo in the freezing cold garage. This meant that I wasn’t able to properly structure my training until late February last year when I moved house. Again I’ll need to be careful not to do too much too soon, and be careful to avoid burn-out.

My running is a bit of an unknown. I had two disappointing races over Christmas that were worse than the year before, but then I had the really good run on the beach at the very end of the Christmas holidays this year. The 17:56 run. If that’s a true indication of where I’m at, I’ll take it. I’ve had another look at my diet. I’ve added a few things, and taken a few things out. I hope to set up a regular session with a sports physio. I hope I can stay injury-free and illness-free, no colds, no coughs. Let’s see what happens.

Morning fuel: porridge with banana, almonds, brazil nuts,

dates, raisins, chia seeds, flax seeds and honey.

Training done this week was as follows:

Monday 5^th January 2015: Rest
Tuesday 6^th January 2015: 1 hour turbo (50 minutes hard)
Wed 7^th January 2015: 30 minute fartlek run
Thurs 8^th January 2015: 1:15 turbo (7 x 5mins hard, 5mins easy)
Friday 9^th January 2015: Swim 3.1km, 1:05 turbo (single leg drills: 10 x 2mins left, right, both)
Saturday 10^th January 2015: 2:05 turbo, 25 minute run
Sunday 11^th January 2015: Swim 3k (12 x 250m), 60 minute run (30mins harder)

Totals: Swim 6.1km, Bike 120 miles, Run 17 miles

Post 60 - Christmas and New Year 2014/15

I had 2-and-a-half weeks off work and away out of London over Christmas. I went back home to Northern Ireland, with the intention of keeping myself ticking over, doing a few swims, a few bike rides, a few runs, a couple of races, some stretching and weights, eating sensibly and not drinking. For the past month or two I had been doing some high-intensity running training: hill repeats and fast tempo runs, in an effort to be fit for the Christmas racing in Northern Ireland.

The hill repeats are tough. You go and find a big hill, sprint up to the top, turn and jog back down, and repeat up to 14 times. You’re smashing yourself, by the end you are in pieces. It’s dark and freezing and the lungs and legs really burn. But to be able to race well over Christmas, I did a good few hill sessions in November and December.

I got home late on Thursday 19^th December. I dragged myself out of bed on the Friday morning and went for a swim. I literally had the whole pool to myself, it was awesome. There’s something cool about getting into an empty pool and breaking the stillness of the water. I was soon ploughing up and down, and I hammered out 2.6km, with no-one in my way. I saw the town's tree as well...

The next day was the North West Cross Country in Derry. I did this race last year in 19:38. I had been surprised to be running right at the sharp end throughout the whole race last year, but in the end my lack of speed told and I finished 6^th. Still, I was only about 10 seconds off the win, so I had been really buoyed by this. Going to the race this year, I was annoyed I had left my red club vest behind in London. From the off, it was clear I wasn’t going to be running at the very sharp end, and it was a tough slog of a race. I didn’t feel strong at all, and finished over a minute behind the winner, and 20 seconds slower than last year. I was a bit disappointed with this.

 On the go on the country

 

On Sunday 21^st I went out for a nice easy bike ride along the coast. I had sore legs from the previous day’s race, so I only clocked about 30 miles. It was great to ride outside in clean, fresh air. On Monday 22^nd I went down to the beach to do some long interval running. I’ve ran that beach so many times. Several hundred times, I'd say. My PB from a long time ago was 17:47, long before I was doing triathlons and Ironmans. I’d have said I was pretty fit when I did 17:47. I’ve only been sub-18 once. In recent years, I have tended to do the long intervals on the beach – sprint up to the far end (anything from 8 minutes to 10 minutes depending on the wind, tide and sand hardness), take a 5-minute recovery, sprint back, take another 5 minute recovery, then sprint up and down again. These are tough sessions. This time out, my legs were stiff and sore and I only did two repeats, up in 9:34 and back in 8:53. It was a windy day and a rough sea.

The next day, I went in for another swim. Christmas Eve was a longer bike ride of about 2:30 with my dad. The man is still fit! We went out past the Giant’s Causeway to Whitepark Bay, being blown out by a strong westerly wind. We then turned back inland to avoid the worst of the headwind, but it was still tough going. A big sting came with about 5 miles left to ride, up a steep incline that must have been about 20%. By and large, we beat the weather, having only had a couple of short showers to contend with. A good spin.

Whitepark Bay, Christmas Eve...

 

On Christmas Day I tried so hard not to eat too much. It was about 3pm before I got away on the bike. I had to get out, to burn off some of the dinner. I knew I was going to race the next day, so I didn’t want to do too much, but I had to do something. I did an hour and a half, out through Portrush, lapping the town. It was surreal to be out with no-one about and no cars anywhere to be seen. I made it to Portballintrae and Bushmills, then the weather closed in and it started to rain. The ride home was into a strong headwind and driving rain. It got dark before I got back, but the last few miles were streetlit. Job done, calories burned.

Dunluce Castle, Christmas Day...

Chasing Legends DVD, Christmas Day...
The best thing I have ever watched, highly recommended

 My next race was the Greencastle 5 mile road race in the Sperrin mountains, on Boxing Day. It was forecast to be freezing, with possible snow. It’s a hilly, tough course, attracting up to a thousand runners. It’s a great event. This was my third outing to Greencastle. In 2012, on a horrible cold and wet day, I ran 27:00 for 5^th place. In 2013 I was a bit disappointed to run 27:42 in what were much better conditions. However, this was still good enough for 4^th place, for which I picked up a nice trophy and pocketed a few pounds. I had mixed feelings about the run this year, having been a bit disappointed with my showing at the cross country a few days previously.

 Snowy start line

 

Just before the race began, it started to snow. Quite heavily. I ran the first mile in 5:00 – it’s downhill all the way. The second mile was 5:15 or so. By this stage I was dropping back, nowhere near the top 5, not even in the top 10. I didn’t have the legs. Mile 3 flattened out a bit and I went through in about 5:45. Then there’s a right-hand turn and the road rears up. The famous hill. The awful hill. It goes on and on and on. Mile 4 was 6:50 or so. That hill. It really is like running through treacle. Then you reach the top, the road turns right again and you have 1400m of downhill, straight to the finish line. Every 200m is marked off on the road. 1200m to go. 1000m to go. Flat out, hammering down the hill. 800m to go, what’s that, 2:20 or so left to run, come on. 600m… 400… the gantry is there but it seems miles away. 200 to go. 100. 10 seconds. Over the line. 28:12. 14^th place. Pretty rubbish. Followed by a long and snowy drive home.

I tried to work out why I hadn’t been running well. I thought I was in better shape than my performances showed. My legs weren’t fresh, there’s no doubt about that. Maybe the Ironman training over the past couple of years has really sapped my speed and sharpness for these shorter distances. Also, in the last couple of months, I’ve noticed that my breathing hasn’t been quite right. So much so that on Christmas Eve, I went to the hospital to see what they thought. After a quick examination, I was told that my chest sounded clear, but I will be pursuing this when I get back to London, because something doesn’t feel quite right. Maybe 3 years in London’s polluted air is catching up with me. It won’t be too much longer before I’m out of there for good.

The next few days were really easy days. On the 27^th I had a rest day. On the 28^th I did a short 90-minute bike ride. On the 29^th and 30^th I rested. I say “rested”, but I was still stretching and doing weights in the garage. I got my old turbo trainer down from the garage rafters, but I decided I was better off just resting my legs. There were a couple of races on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day that I was eyeing up, and resting my legs was the smart thing to do. In the end, I decided not to race any more. On New Year’s Day I ran for an hour along the coast path and felt terrible: sore and sluggish legs and no zip or spark at all. The next day I went out on the bike again with my dad, we did another 2-and-a-half hours. We went out along the coast for about an hour, battling swirling, gusting winds. I crested a hill at 10mph, and then sat up and let the wind take me. Without pedalling, and within about 10 seconds, I was up to 25mph. We took a pit-stop for coffee and cake. This was the only cake or dessert-type thing I ate for the whole holiday. It powered us home, and again we had done well to dodge the weather. We even had some sunshine, and it almost even felt warm on my face.

I wanted to do one more hard run, to see if I really was at such a low level. The only thing for it was the beach. I decided I’d go down there and hammer it as hard as I could. Then I’d really get an idea of where my performance was. I first timed myself on the beach in 2001. My first run was 23:49. I remember breaking 20 for the first time and being really happy with the 19:54. I got down to 19:13 and couldn’t improve on that for ages. I remember my first sub-19, finally. It was 18:48. I wondered would I ever see 17-something. Having moved away from home I had limited opportunities to try, and even then, on the occasions when I was back, conditions on the beach are rarely perfect. You need a calm, windless, dry day, the tide needs to be out and the sand needs to be hard. I managed to do a few more 18s, my times got a bit faster, and one day I finally got my sub-18. 17:47. A great run. Probably done in the days when I was running 15-minute 5k races and 71 minute half marathons.

So I found myself jogging down to the beach. The tide was halfway out, and the sand was reasonably firm, but not quite perfect. There was a breeze coming off the sea, slightly from the west. It would be into my face on the way up, but blowing me back down. I thought I would get under 20. I wondered if I’d get under 19. I wouldn’t have been surprised with something like 19:30. I would have taken 18:55. I ran. I didn’t feel fast, but I told myself to hold back in the first 5 minutes. Maybe that’s another fault on my part. I used to be a faster runner than I am now that I’ve started doing Ironmans. I still want to think I’m a faster runner than I am, so maybe I still go out at the pace I feel I should be able to maintain, or that I used to be able to maintain. And I end up wrecked, struggling in the second half of the race, with no strength and the damage done by poor pacing discipline.

So I started off easy on the beach. There was a bit of a headwind. I got to the far end in 9 flat. I’m usually slower on the way back down, but I thought I was on for at least a sub-19. I kept running. I didn’t feel at all fast. It was strange. My breathing was laboured but I didn’t feel my pace dropped too much. I could see my footprints from the way up, and I could see that my stride on the way back was longer than it had been on the way up. Due in part to the tailwind, and possibly due in part to feeling reasonably good. With a couple of minutes left, I knew I was close to sub-18. My pace hadn’t dropped. Come on. I managed to lift it, and hit my finish point, stopped the watch, and collapsed onto the barrier. Wrecked. I looked at my watch. I saw the 17. Wow. Almost a PB! Where did that come from? 

 

I felt a bit better for having done that, the day before flying back to London. The sub-18 meant I finished the holiday on a bit of a higher note. It was a good break. I didn’t have to do any cooking (thanks mum) or think too much about things, or plan my days to the last minute. I had time. I played some snooker. I read some books. I slept late most days. I caught up with my brothers and parents and family. Now, I’m on the plane and 2015 is about to really start I anger. I’m back at work tomorrow. The road to Hawaii starts on Tuesday, when focused training begins. It’s going to be a tough year: finishing off my project at work, finishing off my Chartered Engineer programme, training for Ironman UK, hopefully getting out to Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships, and hopefully getting out of London for good. 12 months from now, it will be interesting to look back on 2015…

Footnote:

I wrote this in the airport and on the plane. When I finished writing, we were circling over London. We were due to land at 7:05pm, and I thought I'd be back in the house by 8:30pm, with time enough to unpack, do my ironing, make some dinner, eat the dinner, take a shower, publish this blog post, and generally get organised before getting to bed at a reasonable hour to be fresh for work the next day. 

After much circling, I started to think we might be getting low on fuel. It's an hour-long flight, and we'd been in the air for coming up to two hours. All of a sudden, the plane lurched forward as the pilot put on full power. Great, I thought, we're getting onto the approach. Then the pilot came on the intercom and said we were diverting to Bournemouth. Bournemouth! There are 6 London airports, and we diverted to Bournemouth, a 3 hour drive away. As we were coming in to land, we were then told we were landing at Southampton. On landing, we sat for ages on the plane while the airline and the airport tried to work out what to do with us. Finally, we got onto a bus back to London. I got to bed at 2am. Grrrrr.

That's the second year in a row this has happened. Last year I was due to fly to Gatwick, got diverted to Southend, got to within about 10 feet of the runway, then the pilot aborted, and ended up hot-footing it to Stansted.

Anyway, I'm back, I'm tired, I've got one day of work done, I've got my food made for the week ahead, I will start serious Ironman training tomorrow, 28 weeks to go. Now I will go and unpack and be an iron man and iron my shirts...

Finally, some images from Belfast City Airport - the iconic David and Goliath dominating the skyline...

Post 59 - Review and Preview

Another year has passed. From the point of view of Ironman and Hawaii, it’s been another disastrous year, to follow after a disastrous 2013. I put everything I could into qualifying for Hawaii, 2 years in a row, and both years turned out badly, for reasons beyond my control and beyond anything I could have foreseen. That’s frustrating, because I put a lot of effort into being the best athlete I can be, and also into trying to control everything I possibly can. Every decision, every thing I do, I’m asking myself, “Will this benefit the Ironman goal?” The sacrifices you make are made with the goal in mind, with the point of view that it’ll all be worth it. It hasn’t been worth it yet…

It has been suggested to me by quite a few people that I should just pack it in and get some sort of normal life back. It has also been suggested that I should go and get counselling to help me to deal with the disappointment and stress. I’ve never thought of this. Maybe if I was a professional sportsperson, I’d be ordered to talk to a sports psychiatrist. I’m mentally tough and resilient, and this had never crossed my mind. I’ll just keep trying until I get to Hawaii. I’ll keep learning and keep striving. If there’s one thing I do know, it’s that I have the physical and mental ability to do this.

The positives from 2014

Let’s have the positives first. I can take a couple of positives from 2014. In early January 2014, I ran the Northern Ireland/Ulster cross-country championships. This event combined the Northern Ireland International Cross-Country race with the Northern Ireland/Ulster cross-country championships. This was one of the only races I’ve done where I toed the line with a reigning world champion. There were quite a few high-level international athletes in this race, as well as the best of Northern Irish. A few days before this race, I’d had a wisdom tooth taken out. I had hardly slept, I was in pain, I was on lots of painkillers, and I had no idea how I would go in the race. As it turned out, I had a really good run, arguably amongst the best races I’ve ever done. On the team, it’s the top 6 to score. I was surprised to be 3^rd finisher, 5 minutes off the leading African over the 10km course. I ran strongly the whole way round, and we won the team prize with gold medals for the 6 scorers on our team. Nice one, and very unexpected.

IAAF Northern Ireland/Ulster international cross-country championships

 

Another positive was the Icknield 100 mile bike time trial in June 2014. I had done this race in 2013, in a time of 4 hours and 14 minutes. I deemed this to be a solid performance, and it set me up for a 5:30 bike at Ironman UK in 2013, which left me leading my age group after 16 miles of the marathon. Then it all went wrong. I went back to Icknield in 2014, and I knew I was measuring myself against my 4:14 time from a year previously. Almost all of my bike training had been done indoors on the turbo trainer, so it was good to get out on the road and see how my training translated into actual real-world performance.

The weather was perfect, as it had been in 2013. So, it was a true like-for-like comparison with 2013. I had hoped that all the training would have paid off and that I’d go quicker than 4:14. Realistically, given that I had moved into a tougher Ironman age group, I knew I needed to be quicker, otherwise I could forget about going to Ironman UK 2014 with aspirations to qualify for Kona. So there was a bit of pressure. I had made aerodynamic improvements to my clothing, and now sported a very tight aero jersey and aerodynamic shoe covers. I had cleaned up my bike. All my frame-mounted water bottles had been removed, and two bottle cages had been mounted behind my saddle and out of the wind. I also had my front handlebar-mounted aero bottle. I had bought a Garmin bike computer, which uses satellites to determine speed. This meant my magnetic wheel sensors had been removed. Another small aero improvement. I was also riding with a heart rate monitor for the first time. These aero tweaks were probably worth a few minutes, but had my own performance and fitness improved?

I had hoped to get under 4:10. I thought maybe 4:06 or 4:07 was realistic. I didn’t think a sub-4 was possible. I wasn’t riding a disc wheel, and my position on the bike was not super-aero. The Ironman riding position is a compromise – you want to be aero, but you also want to be able to run easily off the bike, which means sitting a bit more upright on the bike that someone who doesn’t need to follow 112 miles on the bike with a marathon. I went through 50 miles in a couple of minutes under 2 hours. I was watching my heart rate and judging my effort, and I felt everything was under control. I got to 75 miles in under 3 hours, and I knew the sub-4 was possible. The final 20 miles were the most undulating, and I knew I was going to lose time. I was hanging off that bike. Maximal effort. Legs and lungs screaming. It was going to be close. My computer read 3:59. I had 100 miles on the clock. Where was the finish?! I crossed the line in 3:59:39. I was shattered, but very pleased with that. A full 15 minutes faster than last year. It had really positive implications for Ironman UK, and should translate into a bike time that would be starting to get into the territory of some of the pros.

Full gas at Icknield

Another cool thing this year was getting back to France after an 8-year gap, and riding some of the big Alpine mountains that I hadn’t managed to tackle in 2005 and 2006. Memorable rides included a blue-sky day over the Col d’Izoard, a flat-out assault on Alpe d’Huez and a grey day on Mont Ventoux. Another epic day was hammered out on Tenerife, up over the Teide volcano and almost making an entire lap of the island before darkness set in, with 14000 feet of climbing in total.

The negatives

After such a good 100 mile time trial, I knew I had the potential for a great showing at Ironman UK. I got through the next few weeks of training and as I was starting my taper, 2 weeks before the big day, I went for a sports massage. And the rest is history. My legs got infected and went septic, I got really ill, and I ended up staying a few days in hospital hooked up to IV drugs. An awful, awful time. This was when I knew the whole year, all the time, effort and sacrifice had been for nothing. Losing even 1 or 2% of performance would probably rule me out of the running for a Kona slot. What would 3 days in hospital do?

 

I debated pulling out of the race. I had so many conversations with so many experts, and in the end I decided to start and see. My legs still looked a mess and I was hardly in shape to do an Ironman. I felt flat throughout. I had a mediocre swim, a mediocre bike, struggled to get my heart rate down, and called it a day after 10 miles of the marathon. I went to Ironman Wales a few weeks later but had another disappointing day there. Hindsight is a great thing – I should probably have pulled the plug on Ironman UK, and maybe I’d have gone into Ironman Wales in better form. I’ll never know.

Goals for 2015 and how to achieve them

The obvious goal is to qualify for Kona. I’d take it, however I got it. Top 5 in my age group would guarantee it. Top 6 would probably do it. Top 7 and I’d be looking at going to the roll-down ceremony the following day, and keeping my fingers crossed that a qualifying slot would roll down or be allocated in the event of someone else choosing not to take theirs. I don’t want to be in this position again. I’d love to cross the finishing line at Ironman UK knowing that I’d done it. I’d love to get a podium in my age group and finish in the top 3. I think this is possible. Winning my age group would be a heck of a thing, and to win my age group (M30-34, arguably the toughest age group) would put me in with a chance of being the top amateur, competing with the pros. I don’t know if I’ll win my age group. That’s a huge ask. Top 3 in my age group is a huge ask. It’s so difficult. I’d settle for 6^th. But who knows, the next 7 months is going to be a heck of a 7 months, anything can happen. All I can do is do my best, as I’ve always done, and do everything I can to minimise the chances of things going pear-shaped.

I’ll overhaul my diet again. For breakfast I’ll cut out bread/toast completely. I’ll eat porridge, honey, raisins, almonds, brazil nuts, peanut butter, and drink fresh lemon/lime water (through a straw because the acid is bad for tooth enamel). I’ll continue to eat fruit through the day, but I’ll try to eat a bit less fruit because I will try to cut down on my sugar intake. I’ll supplement the fruit with raw cabbage, spinach and kale, and snack on this during the day. For lunch, no more meal-deals containing horrible processed meat. I’ll eat low-fat houmous, sardines and raw vegetables (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower). No more fruit smoothies, chocolate or flapjacks. I'll drink loads of water through the day. My pre-training snack will be porridge and/or a banana. I’m going to get natural energy gels and bars. Dinner won’t change much – chicken/turkey, raw vegetables, pasta or sweet potatoes, and loads of turmeric, chilli, ginger and garlic. I’ll continue with the vitamins, and try to limit the amount of protein shake I drink. Instead of protein powder mixed with milk, I’ll just drink milk. Clean eating and drinking. Here’s a photo of a list of good, natural, unprocessed healthy food. Some of these are alkalising, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. All good. I spent a lot of time researching and compiling this list.

 

I’ll be training hard. Monday is a rest/cooking day. Tuesday is a hard tempo bike and run. Wednesday will be running intervals. Thursday will be bike intervals and an easy run. Friday will be swim sprints, single-leg bike drills and cooking. Saturday will be a long bike followed by a run. Sunday will be swim drills and a long run. I’ll do this for 2 weeks and then ease back during the 3^rd week. And repeat for 7 months. My bike training will be enhanced by using the power meter that I’ve just bought.

I’ll add in regular sports massage. I’ll have to shave my legs for this. Whatever it takes! I’ll be sleeping lots. I’ll be doing all my stretching and core work and weights. Everything I have learned will be applied. It will be a tough 7 months, but if it goes well, I’ll deliver something pretty good at Ironman UK.

Watch this space…

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