Post 128 - Ah go on, keep doing the miles, you will

There are exactly two weeks between the 50 mile time trial on 22nd May and the Bristol Olympic distance triathlon on 5th June. I’m placing a bit more importance on the Bristol triathlon than the 50 mile time trial. The 50 miler was purely training, but I want to go to Bristol and do well. I was third overall in Bristol last year and I’d like to go and be competitive again. Whether or not I am in the same shape as I was for Bristol last year is another thing – I had trained at a high intensity for months before Bristol last year, but that hasn’t been the case this year, in an effort to peak in July for the Ironman, not in May as in previous years.

Anyway, with two weeks between the events, I figured that a couple of days off after the time trial would be enough to recover from a tough block of training (which ended with the 50 miler and a good 10K run). I figured also that I would then be able to do a good, tough week of training, with a few days to taper down for Bristol. Although I am hoping to go well in Bristol, I am not targeting it as an A-race and not basing my whole season around it, so I don’t want to compromise my training too much in the run-up to Bristol.

So, after Monday and Tuesday off after the 50 miler, I got back on the turbo on Wednesday. I did 3 sets of 20 minutes at 90% of functional threshold power. This was a tough session, but not deeply fatiguing and not pushing the absolute boundary of my limits. I stretched, warmed up well, and did the sets. The first set averaged 280 watts at 153bpm and wasn’t too uncomfortable. After a short 4-minute recovery, the second set averaged 282 watts at 160bpm and again I got through it and kept it under control. The third set dragged a bit, but I held 282 watts at 165bpm. If I’d wanted, I probably could have done another set, maybe two at a push, but doing this would have been counter-productive.  It would have fatigued me, I’d have been late to bed, and recovery would have taken longer. I wanted to be fresh again for the next day, not knackered and energy-less. I finished with some weights, but noticed that my left arm and shoulder were sore, for no real reason.

Stretching my arms the next day was sore and difficult. Lifting my arms above my head wasn’t easy and my muscles and shoulder were giving me bother. I’d have to see how it went, but I tried not to lift anything or raise my arms for the rest of the week, and hoped I’d be OK for my Friday and Sunday swims.

On Thursday evening I went out for a 10-mile hilly run, at a decent (but not flat-out) tempo. I did the 10 miles (with 12 up-hills and 12 down-hills) in 64 minutes, averaging 157bpm. I doubt I could have done this a couple of months ago, so I am progressing. Things do seem to be moving towards full fitness, further evidenced by the fact that my body fat is down, my weight is down (65-68kg depending on whether I have just trained or just eaten), and my appetite is through the roof. I’m hungry all the time now. I eat so much, and it just burns straight off, so I am hungry again straight away…

Struggling for photo inspiration this week

On Friday, I ordered a new pair of running shoes, half a size bigger. I’m disappointed in my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 shoes. I’ve always run in the 13 series, in size 44. They fit perfectly. But they are not available any more, so I have had to buy the 15 series, and the size 44 in the 15 series is too small, giving me toe problems when I run. So I bought a size 45 and I hope they will be OK. I also bought some more aero tops, trying to find one that isn’t made from mesh material and will protect from the sun. My left arm and shoulder were still sore on Friday, so I told myself that if they were sore in the pool, I’d just stop.

I wanted to do 5 x 400m in the pool, with each 400 in 6 minutes, based on a critical swim speed of 1:30/100m. Recovery would be 40 seconds. My arms and shoulder weren’t sore enough to call the session quits, but they didn’t help, and maybe my estimate of 1:30/100m for my critical swim speed is a little ambitious. In the end I averaged 6:15-6:20 for the 400 sets. Not super quick. I wish I had more time to invest in my swimming, but with the time I have available, I do what I can. Is it worth fighting to fit in another hour or two of swimming per week, likely compromising my bike and run training, when all that extra time invested in swimming might only save me a few minutes in the Ironman…? I think the time is better spent trying to make gains on the bike and in the run. If I become a 10% better swimmer, that’s around 6 minutes saved. If I become a 10% better biker, that’s over 30 minutes saved. Become a 10% better runner, and that’s 20 minutes saved. It’s all about the bigger picture…

I was tired after this pool session, so I didn’t bother with my Friday night single leg bike turbo trainer drills. I just went to bed. It was a bank holiday weekend. I wanted to do a long bike on Saturday, a long swim on Sunday and a long run on Monday, but I was concerned by how tired I was. Looking back over my training log, I’ve been in tough training for a while now without more than a few days of rest and recovery. I told myself if I could just get through one long bike on the Saturday, one long swim on the Sunday and one long run on the Monday, then I would have six days to take it easy before Bristol, and then I would have a few more days after Bristol to take it easy. So I had a long sleep on Friday night, but it was a struggle to get up at 6:30am on Saturday morning to go out on the bike…

But I got up, there was no decision to be made. I had to do it. 100 miles. My objectives were to ride at a consistent pace, to feel strong and not knackered at the end, to not spike my heart rate and power, and to get miles in the legs. This bike ride didn’t need to be a flat-out maximal effort. A nice, steady, smooth 100 miles would be fine. I was trialling maltodextrin drink, rather than “proper” sports drinks which have often left me feeling pukey and burpy. I bought some simple maltodextrin powder on the advice of someone from an internet forum, and mixed it with water and a drop of squash. I’d drink 500ml per hour of this, and alternate between an energy gel and half an energy bar every 30 minutes. Let’s see how that goes…

I checked the forecast immediately before I headed off. Cloudy, but no rain. That’ll do. If rain had been forecast, I’d have stayed indoors and put the time in on the turbo trainer. I’d just had my road bike serviced and didn’t want to get it clarried in rain and muck and filth. Within 10 miles of leaving, it was raining. It rained for the next hour. The roads were soaked. My bike was getting clarried in rain and muck and filth. Spray was going all over my backside, and the pad on my cycling shorts was soaking. Try sitting on a wet sponge for 6 hours… My feet were soaking. It was miserable. But I carried on, and kept cycling southwards, thinking I might make it to Eastbourne and get a glimpse of the sea before turning back.

As I left the Downs and their valleys and hills behind, things flattened out, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and everything dried up. I picked up speed on the flatter roads. This was good. The maltodextrin drink was good. I thought I’d get to the sea. But then within 5 or 10 miles, a police diversion meant I ended up not really knowing where I was headed, and I ended up looping towards Brighton before deciding it would be more sensible to head home. I planned to do 100 miles, not 140…

Zooming along a fairly busy, straight stretch of road, I passed a lay-by on the opposite side. There was a snack van parked. It grabbed my attention. I really wanted to take a photo of it, but I was going too fast to get my phone out on the move, and it was too busy and dangerous to do this. I couldn’t just stop at the side of the road, because I’d have had to cross over, and it was a fast and busy road. I saw a roundabout maybe a couple of miles up ahead. I’d do a U-turn there. The few extra miles were worth it…

Would you rather die of thirst, sleep outside in the ditch,
or go up in space doing important work for NASA...?

The day had improved a lot and it was warm and dry going back through the Downs. I felt good, and had paced the ride well. I felt like I could have kept riding for hours. It crossed my mind that I could push on and do 200km, but I knew I was running low on gels, bars and drink. I didn’t plan on doing a 200km on this occasion, but I will try to do a 200km ride before the Ironman. I thought better of an extra hour or two, but I did reckon I had enough food and drink to do just a few extra miles, so when I came down off Ide Hill, I looped back and did the Toys Hill loop, and then back down Ide Hill, and then home. 109 miles. Well-paced. No surging. Very consistent. Good.

The maltodextrin drink had been good, and I hadn’t done a single pukey burp. OK, the intensity of this ride had intentionally been down a little compared to what I would aim for in the Ironman, but in my next long ride I can up the intensity a bit and hopefully my body will still be OK with the maltodextrin drink. The higher the intensity, the more likely you are to have stomach and gut and puke problems, as the body takes blood from the stomach and intestines to the muscles. Blood is needed to process and digest food. Go too hard, and you relocate that blood to the muscles, and you end up erupting, out of one or both ends…

I went straight out for a run after my 109 miles on the bike, and this felt really good, I was running strongly. But after 109 mile son the bike and 30 minutes of running, I was glad to be finished. It had been a long day and I had to force myself to do the other stuff that needed doing, like showering, making food, stretching, foam rolling, and even cleaning my bike. I managed to find the energy to do all these, and ate solidly for the rest of the day.

I was even thrown a couple of sympathy/reward/friendly jaffa cakes when eating my post-training porridge, so I mashed them in along with honey, chia seeds, banana, peanut butter and walnuts. Pretty nice. I followed this with squeezed lemon and lime juice, then followed this with toast and peanut butter topped with scrambled eggs, ginger, peppers and spinach. I followed this with a pint of Guinness, then followed this with rice, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and salmon, then followed this with more porridge, an apple and a kiwi fruit. Then I went to bed.

Yum? Yum...

I churned out 4000m in the pool on Sunday morning at quite an easy pace, around 75 minutes for the 4000m. Normally I’d be 10 minutes quicker, but I wanted to do a slow endurance swim and not a flat-out effort. After a flat-out hour in the pool, my heart rate is usually up at 170bpm. After a slower 75 minutes, it was only 130bpm. Maybe I need to slow down my Ironman swim…

My shoulder didn’t feel quite right in the pool, but it didn’t feel bad enough to stop. I spent the rest of the day eating and feeling very tired. I debated going for my long run that afternoon and getting it over with, and then having Monday off training, but I decided to get a good sleep and do the long run feeling a bit more rested on the bank holiday Monday (I was off work). Long runs are probably my least favourite training session, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. But I only had this one more session to get through, and then I could have a couple of days off. So I put Vaseline on my toes and got going, still in the stupid too-small shoes (the bigger ones hadn’t arrived yet). 2 hours to do. I broke it into 3 sets of 40 minutes, with a gel and a drink at the end of each 40-minute spell. “All you have to do is keep running…”

I kept running. At Ironman pace. At 7:40/mile. If I can average 7:40 per mile in the Ironman, I’ll run a 3:20 marathon. I’d take that, I think. I got through the two hours, having thrown in some hills and off-road bits, and having averaged 134bpm. Compared to previous long runs, my pace was similar but my heart rate was down a little, which is another sign that my fitness and endurance are moving in the right direction. I had been playing tricks on myself, telling myself that after the long run, that was it, no more. But then I got back to the house and forced myself to do more: my weights and core work and foam rolling. Then, that really was it.

That’s another tough training week done. In the week between 22nd and 28th May, between the time trial and the 100 miler, I rode over 200 miles. I put in some good running miles. I did what I wanted to do. I was tired, but not to the extent where I felt I needed to stop training and take extra recovery days. Things aren’t going badly. I have learned a lot in the past couple of months about nutrition and pacing, both of which are essential. I just need to have 7 more good weeks, no disruptions, no work trips, no relocations (temporary or permanent) and no curve balls. How long have I been saying this for now? Just let everything fall for me and hopefully the result will be good…

Training done in the last week-long block since the 50 mile time trial was as follows:

Mon 23 May: Rest
Tue 24 May: Rest
Wed 25 May: 1:25 turbo (3 x 20 mins, 4 min recovery: 280W/153bpm, 282W/160bpm, 282W/165bpm)
Thu 26 May: 10 mile hilly run (64:15, 6:25/mile, 157bpm)
Fri 27 May: Swim 2.5k (5 x 400m in 6:15, 0:45 recovery)
Sat 28 May: 109 mile bike (6:40, 131bpm), 30 min run (7:13/mile, 149bpm)
Sun 29 May: Swim 4.1k
Mon 30 May: 2 hour run (7:42/mile, 134bpm)
Tue 31 May: Rest

Totals: Swim 6.6km, Bike 142 miles, Run 30 miles