Post 64 - Itchy legs and a stolen statue

Training done this week:

Monday 26^th January 2015: Rest
Tuesday 27^th January 2015: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard)
Wed 28^th January 2015: 40 minute fartlek run
Thurs 29^th January 2015: 1:25 turbo (13 x 3mins hard, 3mins easy)
Friday 30^th January 2015: Swim 3.1km, 1:05 turbo (7 x 3mins right/left/both legs)
Saturday 31^st January 2015: 2:30 turbo, 25 minute run
Sunday 1^st February 2015: Swim 3.2km (paddle/band/float drills), 14 hill repetitions
                                                (70, 72, 71, 70, 71, 70, 70, 72 70, 71, 72, 72, 70, 70 seconds)

Totals: Swim 6.3km, Bike 128 miles, Run 17 miles

My seized-up neck finally decided to unlock towards the end of last week, so this meant no pain any time I looked round or turned over when trying to sleep. But no sooner had that problem subsided than my skin got really itchy.

This week I’ve had such itchy skin. No idea why. Maybe it’s the cold air combined with the chemicals in the swimming pool. Maybe some washing powder didn’t wash completely off my trousers. I sometimes do get itchy skin when I’m training, but this week has been off the scale. In particular, the backs of my calves and thighs, and the insides of my upper arms. I could have scratched until I bled, it was that bad. I was waking up at night, scratching like a flea-ridden dog, then checking myself and dousing myself in E45 cream. Which didn’t really help the itching that much, and left me raging that my sleep was interrupted. I rate sleep very highly…

Thankfully, over the weekend, everything seems to have calmed down and I no longer have the urge to rip my skin off. I wonder what problems await next week… I dread to think!

I received a funny picture recently. Go to any running or triathlon event, or any club training night, and you’ll see people wearing commemorative event finisher’s T-shirts: Bristol half marathon finisher 2013. London marathon 2012. North Coast Triathlon 2013. Ironman Austria finisher 2010. Inverness half marathon 2009. Some t-shirts go way back. I’ve still got my Belfast marathon t-shirt from 2003. I’m sure lots of people have loads of these t-shirts. I’ve got a decent collection. The image below is not far wrong. I could probably work out what I’ve spent during my Ironman Hawaii journey, but I’m not sure I want to…

Hmmmmmmm...

From a training point of view, I’ve had a reasonably good week. I’m back training reasonably hard again, fully in the groove. In mid-February, I’ll be running in the Northern Ireland/Ulster provincial cross-country championships. This is a big event, especially for my club, and I want to have a good run at it. So, I’ve tweaked my training to put a bit more focus on faster running. I did a longer fartlek run during the week, and today I did 14 hill sprints. Last week in Italy I did 6 x 1km sprints, and the Sunday before that I did a hard 60 minute hilly run.

I wouldn’t say I am training specifically for the cross-country – that would mean doing barely any swimming or cycling, and really upping my running mileage – I have to make sure I keep my attention on the bigger picture. But I have changed my Ironman training to be a bit more run-specific at the moment. This will also continue next week, and then I’ll have a week to taper down prior to travelling back to Northern Ireland.

I ordered a Stages power meter about 2 months ago, thinking I would have it installed by Christmas, and then it would be ready to train on from the start of January. I ordered it from a German supplier. Delivery was delayed, and delayed, and delayed again. It was getting ridiculous. I contacted them to say how disappointed I was, and they promised to send me a special gift along with my power meter, to make up for the slow delivery. It seems these Stages power meters are in high demand. They are the cheapest power meters on the market (still pretty expensive though!), but are used by Team Sky, so they are obviously a quality product. The only real downside is that they measure left-leg power only. My power meter finally arrived this week. I’m sure I’ll write in a bit more detail in the next week or two about my thoughts on it, and on training with it.

Box of tricks - looking forward to using it

And the special gift? I didn’t know what to expect. A few energy bars? Some energy gels? Maybe a small pump, or some CO2 cartridges? A pair of sunglasses? Delivery had been delayed by 2 months after all…

They sent me a crappy, flimsy, paper-thin mudguard, maybe worth a couple of pounds. It’s designed to slot into the rails of the saddle. It looks like a gust of wind would blow it away. So this means it’s pretty much useless, because almost every cyclist who takes to the road will have a small saddlebag under their saddle, attached to the saddle rails. This saddlebag will contain spare tubes, tyre levers, maybe some food, a waterproof top, keys, maybe a phone, some cash… All arguably more important than a flimsy mudguard!

My hill sprints today were tough. I planned to do 14 of them, and I managed to do 14 of them. Before Christmas, when I was getting back into some sort of training after some downtime post-Wales, I could only manage 8 repetitions. Then I did 10, then 12. Today I did 14. After I had done 13 and was jogging back down to start the final one, I passed an old boy walking his two dogs. He shouted after me, “I wish I had half your energy!” This was almost funny – my energy levels at this point were zilch, I couldn’t even raise the energy to think up any sort of a reply, and I wouldn’t have been able to get any words out anyway, I was breathing hard.

The hill times were a fraction down on what I’d hoped they would be, but it was a windy day and the entire uphill was run into the wind. Plus I’m at the end of a tough week of training, and I could certainly feel the tiredness in my legs. Plus, during yesterday’s run, after the 2-and-a-half hour turbo session, I bonked. Ran out of steam. Hit the wall. Whatever you want to call it. Not fun. Usually I get on the turbo soon after breakfast on Saturday (so, about midday!), but yesterday, after a lot of hassle installing the power meter, it was after 4pm before I started. Breakfast had been a long time ago, and I should have eaten again before I started. I also didn’t eat enough while on the turbo. Just 2 gels and some water.

After the turbo session, I headed out straight away to do an easy 25-minute easy run, but after 15 minutes, it got really tough. I needed a hit of food or a gel or something to give me a boost. My energy levels crashed. It was a heck of an effort to keep plodding for the final ten minutes to get home. Then I flopped onto the bench, ate a banana, some porridge, some rice cakes, and took some water, and I came back to life. I noticed that my left knee felt a bit niggly (yet again), but it hasn’t really given me any further problems, and it got me through the 14 hill sprints.

I noticed this week that the daffodils are starting to sprout, so hopefully this means that spring isn’t too far away, bringing lighter nights, warmer weather, and then it’ll be summer. Maybe later rather than sooner, but it’ll come…

On a final note, regular readers of this blog will know that in Northern Ireland there’s a mountain (OK, a big hill, not quite 400m high) called Binevenagh. I love cycling on Binevenagh. The views up there are awesome, looking over Donegal, Inishowen, Lough Foyle, the Magilligan peninsula, Castlerock and Portstewart beaches, away along the north coast of Northern Ireland to Knocklayde mountain in the east, with the hills of Kintyre in Scotland in the background. On a good day, the Scottish islands of Jura and Islay are visible, 70 miles across the sea. It’s awesome.

Regular readers will also know that there’s a statue at a viewing point atop this mountain – a life-sized figure, standing in a boat, arms aloft, as if to say “behold!” This is Manannán Mac Lir, a mythological sea god. He’s intertwined with this history and landscape of this place. I’ve been cycling up there for years, long before Manannán appeared. When he was installed, there’s no doubt he made an amazing place even better. One day, the Tour de France will visit Northern Ireland, and it would be amazing to see the peloton pass over Binevenagh and underneath the watchful Manannán. He’s also very photogenic (especially when the Northern Lights are out):

The two above pictures are mine. Quite like them. Like he's just won a race.

These two above aren't my pictures, but give an idea of the scenery.

Credit as stated in the photo. And what a photo!

Well, in the last week or so, he was stolen. Unbelievable. He would have taken some stealing – several people, with tools, and plenty of time, in the dead of night. Hopefully this mystery will be resolved and he’ll be restored to what has become his “home”… It’s a sad sight up there with him gone…