Post 159 - The build up to South Africa (half-Ironman world championships)

Since the European sprint triathlon championships, I have been continued to try to get my Achilles better. I’ve got pain in my right Achilles, and on the top of my right foot, when I run. It just is not getting better quickly. I’ve done everything for it. It just needs time. Time has run out. So I’m off to South Africa tomorrow for the half ironman world championships, something I should be really excited for, and really well-trained for, and I’m neither unfortunately. I’ve managed about a mile of running per week for the last 6 weeks. I’ve no idea how my Achilles will react to running a half-marathon in the half-ironman. I’ve been sorely tempted to just pack this race in. But it’s a world championships…

So I’ve continued with cycling training, it has been going OK, and I’ve continued with swimming training – it has actually been pretty good – a possible best-ever swim session last week was 6 x 200m repeats, averaging 2:57, with recovery up to 4 minutes. That’s not bad pace – and still without tumble turning – I can tumble turn, but not confidently enough to do it super-fast and also not in shallow water. I’ll get there, hopefully.

One good thing this week - took the hybrid for an easy spin, saw a nice sunset

But I am tired, it has been a long season, and to be honest I am looking forward to it being over – I’m going to bail on all my September and October events (excepting one duathlon which I will do for fun) in an attempt to have a mental and physical break, and allow my Achilles to recover before a winter of cross-country running.

I managed to borrow a bike box for South Africa. It’s falling apart. Most of the clips are broken. I thought I’d do it up with parcel tape. I bought a pile of stuff – masking tape, parcel tape, parcel wrap, race nutrition, pipe lagging, bubble wrap, bottle cages, travel adaptor, South African money, cable ties, fork spacers, everything I could think of to protect the bike.

Official advice - "how to react when attacked/hijacked" - "when", not "if"...

It was a complete nightmare to dismantle the bike. I hate working on bikes at the best of times. I thought it would be a case of taking the pedals off (fairly easy), taking the handlebars off (fairly easy) and taking the wheels off (fairly easy) and putting everything in the box, and closing the box, and taping it up with parcel wrap and tape.

Nothing would fit. I had protected the bike and components with pipe lagging and bubble wrap, but this added a couple of inches to the height. The box would not close. It’s not as if I could sit on it – the contents are delicate. I could see I would have to dismantle the entire handlebar set-up. A monumental pain in the ass. Particularly when the bike was already in pieces in a box on the floor. I had to call in a friend to help holding nuts with a spanner while I unscrewed bolts with an Allen key.

The whole front end of my bike was so precisely set up and tailored for me – with various different spacers, cable ties, bottle cages, computer mounts, pads, measurements etc etc. It’s complex. And it was all butchered to fit it in the box. And it’ll all have to be put back together in South Africa, and then dismantled all over again to travel back, and then built again. I questioned very hard if this was more trouble than it was worth – particularly as I’m not up for the race at all.

Oh well, I was committed. Everything got taken apart. It was still a horribly tight fit. I was wincing and grimacing as we pushed the lid down over the wheels. Please don’t let the wheels get bent. Please let this box hold. We lifted it up. It was obvious if someone lifted it by the handle that the whole thing would fall apart, leaving the bike scattered everywhere – possibly in the hold of an aeroplane. We sealed it up as best we could with cellophane parcel wrap and parcel tape, and I stuck my big “fragile” posters on the side of the box. Please, customs, do not make me open this box for inspection. This will be a disaster.

I couldn’t even fit the saddle into the box, so I hope they will let me carry it as hand luggage – more stress – I’ve checked the airline policy for what is allowed, and “blunt objects” or “crowbars” aren’t – I hope they don’t interpret the saddle (or more specifically the foot-long seat-post) as either of those. And now I’ve got 6.5kg of luggage allowance left to fit everything else in – all my tri gear, personal gear, clothes, documents, gadgets, accessories, you name it. I will never do this again. I’d sooner drive to South Africa with the bike in the back of a car.

I had a terrible sleep that night – the box got closed at midnight, and I already had a sore neck – I tweaked it in the pool dodging an inconsiderate swimmer who was swimming continuously, slowly, in the middle of the fast lane. Then bending and contorting over a bike in a bike box on the ground for hours has ruined my back. I could barely lie down.

I’m not looking forward to having to re-assemble it – due to the intricacies, it will have to go to a bike shop. Hundreds if not thousands of people will be trying to get their bikes serviced in the bike shops before the race. We have been given official advice that we shouldn’t train alone and that if we want to go for a bike ride we should join the police safety convoy at 9am each morning before the race. The swim is at Shark Point Pier. The sharks are waiting. The weather forecast is for high winds. I’ve heard that the wind is blowing thorns from the African scrub onto the road and people are getting flat tyres.

I’m not in a great frame of mind for this. It shouldn’t be like this. One day, one, day, I dream of going into a big race, saying “training has gone brilliantly”, and then following that up at the finish line by me saying “that was as good as it gets”. I’m getting very sick of triathlon summers being ruined.

Oh well. It’ll all be over in a week. And then I’ll have to dismantle the damn bike, pack it up again, get home, and re-assemble it. And then wait weeks if not months for my Achilles to heal. I do sometimes question myself.

South Africa here I come. Living the dream. Pah.

Training done was as follows:

Mon 13 Aug: Rest
Tue 14 Aug: Bike 6 AS full reps: 5:54, 5:46, 5:34, 5:42, 5:41, 5:47
Wed 15 Aug: Swim 1.7k (6 x 200m: 2:56, 2:57, 2:58, 2:57, 2:57, 2:57, rec to 4mins)
Thu 16 Aug: 1:30 turbo
Fri 17 Aug: Swim 2.1k, 20 min turbo (single leg drills)
Sat 18 Aug: 3 hour turbo (2:40 at 215/212W, 140bpm)
Sun 19 Aug: 2:50 turbo (4 x 4 x 10mins build), 15 min run

Totals: Swim 3.8k, Bike 180 miles, Run 2 miles

Mon 20 Aug: Rest
Tue 21 Aug: Bike 4 x AS hills (4:08, 3:59, 3:47, 3:51)
Wed 22 Aug: Swim 1.6k
Thu 23 Aug: 1:15 bike
Fri 24 Aug: Rest
Sat 25 Aug: 3:05 bike (54.3 miles, 201/190W, 134bpm, 2732ft)
Sun 26 Aug: Swim 1.1k, 15 min run

Totals: Swim 2.7km, Bike 95 miles, Run 2 miles

Post 158 - European sprint triathlon championships, Glasgow 2018

The European Sprint Triathlon championships. Held this year, just down the road in Strathclyde Park, just outside Glasgow. Probably the biggest race I’ve ever been in for. A genuine aspiration to finish in a podium position. And I got injured 4 weeks beforehand, with an Achilles strain. This meant I couldn’t do any running. I did everything possible to get it better – ice, rest, compression, physio, massage, foam rolling, rehabilitation, strength work, stretching, hot baths in Epsom salts, Arnica cream, anti-inflammatories, you name it. That was all well and good, but what it really needed, and still needs, is time, and I didn’t have time, and still don’t have time

I trialled a 5K run a week before Glasgow. I had to know how it would hold up. I got through the trial. It was very painful but not really restrictive while running, I wasn't compensating or favouring my good side, or at least I didn't seem to be. The restriction came from lack of training. The legs had lost conditioning, I'd lost top-end sharpness. The trial run set my recovery back too, as it was a lot sorer afterwards. But not cripplingly sore.

I’ve got a trip to South Africa at the end of August for the half-ironman world championships. I didn’t want to ruin my Achilles for this trip. In the end, I decided that if I came through Glasgow similar to how I came through the trial 5K run, I’d settle for that. So I went to Glasgow. 6-8 weeks ago I was really excited about what I could achieve there. But as I was with the injured Achilles, I just couldn’t raise much enthusiasm at all – I knew I’d be compromised, I knew my top-end fitness was down, I knew I was a couple of kilos too heavy, my season was over the hill.

For me, if I’m not going into a race knowing I’m perfectly prepared, I find it difficult to get excited. A conversation with a clubmate about performing when under the cosh, and performing when the chips are down and when things aren’t 100% (and let’s face it, when are things ever 100%?) helped a little, but again I kept wondering about what could have been if I hadn’t picked up the injury. Whatever. I'd do what I could. The new helmet was decent. I taped up the vents to make it more aerodynamic and stuck a shamrock sticker on it.

With a race start at 8am, and transition closing at 6:45am, it was an early start. But at least the weather was dry. I had watched the elite female race on TV the day before – the bike course looked narrow – it would need full concentration. There was a big crash in the female race due to lack of space on the road. I’d have to be on the ball on the bike.

When racking my bike the day before I had noticed a wobble in my front tyre – I brought it to the on-site mechanics, who fixed it. When they were re-inflating the tyre, the valve core came popping out. So they replaced it. But the next morning, on race day, it had gone flat. A stress I could have done without. I legged it over to the mechanics who put it right, and I got on with getting ready. I was in my wetsuit a good 45 minutes before the start, limbering up in the changing tent and trying to stay warm.

There’s nothing like the feeling of peeing in your wetsuit to warm you up when you are cold – the only shame is that the warmth follows gravity down onto your legs rather than up to your core where you need it the most. I’ve often wondered about doing a head-stand or hand-stand wetsuit pee before a swim start to stay warm… what a way to christen my new Ireland triathlon suit under my wetsuit…

I knew we would start at bang-on 7am, as there were a number of events on during the day and they’d need to keep to time. 2 minutes before 7am and we were all still standing 100m away from the pontoon. I was at the back of the queue as I knew it was an in-water start, and I figured the less time I would spend treading water before the start, the less cold I would get.

We then got rushed into the water, and being almost last onto the pontoon, I had literally nowhere to climb in – wetsuit-clad bodies were jam-packed in the water. There were 10 seconds to go. I had to just pile in. The race started. It was total and utter carnage. There were 100 racers all in a very small area of water, aiming for the same first turning buoy just 150m away.

I got an absolute beating, swallowed half the loch, struggled to breathe and keep going, and got one particularly bad smack to my right eye that left me blind and seeing black in that eye for about 5 minutes. Tough going, and nothing like the benign Edinburgh half ironman swim a few weeks previously, where athletes were fed in gradually, 3 in every 5 seconds. It was more like Ironman Wales in 2013 where I spent half an hour fighting to stay afloat and gasping for breath in the melee.

Working as I do for Scottish Water, I know of the efforts that were put in to ensure the water quality was high in Strathclyde Park Loch for the triathlon racing. I’m pleased to say that I haven’t come down with illness, so all involved have done a great job.

The swim calmed down after around half distance but I spent the whole swim on the back foot, and exited the water in 11:40-something. A minute down on what I thought I was capable of doing. I've done quicker 750m swims in the pool, with the 29 turns that entails, and without wearing a wetsuit (wetsuits are faster than skin swims). I got through transition as quickly as I could, the wetsuit came off nice and easily, the new helmet went on nice and quickly and comfortably, but I lost a bit of time (maybe 10-20 seconds) putting on my bike shoes in transition.

Most others attach their bike shoes to their pedals and run to the mount line barefoot, jump on their bikes and then wiggle their feet into their shoes and do up the straps. This is faster getting through transition but I think it loses a bit of time at the start of the bike – I already have my shoes on so all I need to do is clip in and I’m away. I’ve seen people half a mile down the road still trying to get their shoes and straps secured. Plus, doing it “my way” means you can ensure that the soles of your feet are fairly clean and grit-free when putting on the shoes.

It’s the same coming into transition – I hammer it right to the dismount line, brake hard, and run through with bike shoes on. Most others also start undoing their shoes a good few hundred metres out from the dismount line, and leave them clipped to their pedals when dismounting, running through transition barefoot. My way means again my feet are grit-free (and dry if the ground is wet) when putting on my runners. Which way is best? What even defines best? Fastest? Most comfortable? What defines fastest? Does the comfort save you time on the bike and in the run? I don’t know. Maybe I should trial the “conventional” way and see how it goes.

I got away off on the bike and with the amount of loch water I had taken on, and with how hard I was working, I spent most of the bike trying not to spew up. Parts of the course were very fast and narrow, there were a few big braking areas, but by and large I got through the 3-lap course OK. I think my power was fractionally down on what I’d hoped it would be, but I’d say my bike wasn’t bad. I think it was the fourth-fastest overall bike split time. There were a good contingent of Irish supporters and it was always enjoyable to speed past them. I could see the leaders coming back down the hill in the opposite direction when I was climbing up to the turn. A very visual representation of why I need to get better in the water. That's the difference.

Then it was off the bike and onto the run. Usually my strong point. But even though I did the second-fastest run of the race, and did under 18 minutes for the (hilly) 5K course, I was a minute down on what I thought I could have done. I ran the Stirling sprint triathlon 5K, a much tougher course, in almost 17 flat, so had reasonably hoped to break 17 in Glasgow. So narrow was the course that a guy I was about to overtake lost his footing on a tight turn just ahead of me and he hit the deck quite hard. At one point I got trapped behind a bottleneck of maybe 3 runners, going a little slower than me. I wanted to scream at them "hurry up or move over", but caught myself just in time - no point in being the Irish four-lettered word to them - I tucked in for maybe 10 seconds and waited for a gap to open and then cruised past.

My Achilles was hurting. I knew every stride was doing it more damage but I was committed to running as hard as I could. I could feel the lack of training in my legs, and I wasn’t running as strongly as I wanted, I knew I had been stronger in races earlier this year. I had no socks on, and I could feel the undersides of both my little toes were rubbing raw. I finished eighth overall in Europe in my 30-34 age group. I’d hoped to challenge for a podium, and looking at the results, with the time I felt I lost in the water and in the run, this wasn’t unrealistic. But, a few weeks ago I didn’t even know if I could compete at all. I raced as hard as I could with what I had on the day, and that was it.

I could barely walk after it – the undersides of both my little toes were raw and bleeding. My Achilles hurt. Walking was not easy. I got talking to a few competitors who had yet to start. One Dutch man-mountain asked me about the swim. I said it was a massive dogfight for the first 200m. He looked so happy. "I love the fight, ja!" He looked like he would drown you if it would give him a position. I think he was almost tempted to shadow box me on the spot.

I treated myself to some junk food (cheesecake for lunch, a few drinks for dinner, and more cheesecake for breakfast the following day). I really wish I could train properly as I’ve now got less than 3 weeks before the half ironman world championships in South Africa. This is going to be massively compromised too, as I’m not going to be able to do any running training. I hope the Achilles gets better soon.

Always takes a while to clean up and tidy up after a triathlon

I am going to have to bail on the other races I’ve entered, but it was a busy schedule even if I hadn’t been injured: in July I was meant to do the Edinburgh half ironman and 2 olympic distance races (I bailed on both Olympic races due to injury), and in August/September I was meant to have the European Sprint championships, the Kelso sprint tri, the Haddington sprint tri, the world half ironman championships, the Scottish national Olympic triathlon, and the Peebles duathlon. I think I am going to have to bail on everything except the half ironman world championships, and I really hope that my Achilles reovers quickly after Glasgow, and that the half-marathon to finish the half-ironman doesn’t destroy it completely. 

Then that’ll be the end of the triathlon season… bring on next year – I like these shorter races… short races only next year. If nothing else I have learned this year that I can be realtively competitive at them, so I suppose when I look back, I'll say that this first season of short course racing probably went better than I would have thought at the start of the year. Even if the end of the season has been frustrating.

Training done was as follows:

Mon 30 July: RestTue 31 July: Bike 6 x Arthur's seat reps: 3:22, 3:27, 3:32, 3:35, 3:32, 3:34
Wed 1 Aug: Swim 2.6km (single arm drills)
Thu 2 Aug: Rest
Fri 3 Aug: 35 min turbo (single leg drills)
Sat 4 Aug: Swim 2k, 1 hour bike, 5k run
Sun 5 Aug: 2:45 bike (Talla loop - 138bpm, 230/236W, 51.1 miles, 2370ft)

Totals: Swim 4.6km, Bike 95 miles, Run 3 miles

Mon 6 Aug: RestTue 7 Aug: 1 hour turbo
Wed 8 Aug: Swim 1.1k
Thu 9 Aug: 30 min turbo
Fri 10 Aug: 10 mile bike
Sat 11 Aug: European sprint triathlon: 11:44 750m swim, 2:16 T1, 33:08 bike (272/284W)), 1:38 T2, 17:50 run
Sun 12 Aug: 1 hour turbo

Totals: Swim 1.9k, Bike 50 miles, Run 3 miles

Post 157 - Trying to get over injury

My Achilles is injured. I was casually throwing basketballs at hoops, and the action of tiptoeing up to shoot made my calves tight, which then led to an Achilles injury. I risk assess everything I do, and there is a lot I don’t do, so that I stay injury free – no tennis, no golf, no football, not much else. I didn’t think that casually throwing basketball shots would do such damage. Such terrible timing as I’ve the European sprint triathlon championships in Glasgow on 11 August and the world half ironman championships on 2 September. So I’ve been doing everything for my Achilles. I’ve been talking to a few different people and implementing lots of recommendations. Throwing everything at this Achilles. Doing things I normally wouldn’t do.

I now bath often in Epsom salts, eucalyptus oil and lavender. Doing things I normally wouldn’t do. I smell like a granny’s boudoir and so does my flat. I use loads of arnica cream on the injured Achilles and calf. I’ve had loads of physiotherapy. I foam roll lots. I’ve done a lot of rehab, strength work, stretching. I use compression. I use ice – the emergency frozen peas (kept in my freezer for such a scenario) are getting their money’s worth now. I haven’t ran for weeks. I want to give it every chance.

Went to watch/support at a track 5k on a humid night, this was the aftermath

£2 entrance fee for spectators, includes all you can eat - dangerous

I was meant to enter two Olympic distance triathlons in the interim – one a sea swim event at Gullane which I was keen on, and one a freshwater Scottish loch swim in the middle of nowhere in the Borders, again I was keen on this – both would not involve tumble turning and so I had hoped to do well. I bailed out of both. I was gutted. I did a trial run the night before the first one, lasted about a minute, and knew immediately it wasn’t happening.

I was wondering about giving up on Glasgow, but 6 weeks ago I was in great form, I was lean, I was keen, I was excited for the race, and I genuinely thought I could challenge for a European medal. I have no idea if I go to Glasgow and manage to get through it, if I will cripple myself and end up missing out on the bigger trip to South Africa. Should I go for Glasgow, destroy myself to try and get a podium, and risk missing South Africa? I won’t challenge for a podium in South Africa, would I let it go? I’l not qualify for another half world championships again though, and it’s likely I will qualify for shorter world and European championships again. No idea how to play it.

After another week of intense treatment, with Glasgow looming large and me having no idea whether I’d be competing or not, I decided I had to bite the bullet and properly try it out. I needed to know. So, perhaps stupidly, I went out and ran a 5k, fairly hard, at roughly the pace I’d hope to run a 5k in a sprint triathlon. It was sore (very sore) running, but I don’t think it restricted my running, it was just painful. My legs were deconditioned and I’ve missed weeks of running training. I needed to see how it would react and how it would feel 24-48 hours later. No doubt it set my recovery back because it was much sorer afterwards than beforehand, but I wasn’t completely crippled.

So I decided to go for Glasgow, on the basis that if I could run like I ran in the test run, and come off it without being crippled, as was the case after the test run, I’d take it. OK, I’ve missed three weeks of running and that’s not great, but I’ve been training hard on the bike and in the pool. My running was strong anyway. Hopefully I won’t have lost too much. I expect my muscles will be very sore afterwards for a few days due to being deconditioned.

I think I’ve maintained bike fitness quite well, as I’ve now been doing more biking due to not running. It’s a nice time of year in Scotland, when you can get out and explore new roads and new scenery. I recently got a power meter for my road bike, so it has been interesting to watch and analyse my power over a 60-70 mile training ride, and to see what is feasible to be able to hold. All I can say is, no wonder the Edinburgh half ironman went so badly this year.

The Wall of Talla in the distance - still the steepest road I have ever ridden up

Could easily be France

I’ve been doing some really good swim sessions too recently, and would say I’m swimming as well as ever, if not better. I did 2 x 10 x 100m sprints, averaging 1:25 and 1:29 – really positive to average sub-1:30 on the second set. Another set of 20 x 50m sprints averaging around 41 seconds was decent too.

So I will go to Glasgow and see how it goes. I hope it won’t set me back. I know I won’t do as well as I could had I not been injured, but I’ll do what I can. If I’d been as fit and lean as I was going into the Stirling triathlon in June, I’d be really excited. As it is, I just can’t get excited for Glasgow, which is a shame. Same for South Africa. I got my Ireland team triathlon suit and t-shirt in the post, I finally decided on a new aero helmet (a Bell Javelin, with integrated visor, fits great, feels great), and yet I can’t help but feel my season is over and I peaked in June. Oh well. Let’s see what happens.

New aero helmet, different positions

Had to try it on

Training was as follows:

Mon 23 July: Rest
Tue 24 July: 1:05 turbo (3 x 10 mins, 5 min rec: 304W/160bpm, 304W/168bpm, 303W/172bpm)
Wed 25 July: Swim 2.6k
Thu 26 July: Bike 10 hill intervals: 2:37, 39, 37, 44, 41, 36, 34, 32, 37, 31
Fri 27 July: 35 min turbo (single leg drills)
Sat 28 July: Swim 1.5k (20 x 50m: 40-42 seconds, rec to 1 min), 2 hour turbo
Sun 29 July: 1:30 turbo (1 hour: 244W/149bpm)

Totals: Swim 4.1km, Bike 135 miles, Run 0 miles (not often this happens)

Mon 30 July: Rest
Tue 31 July: Bike 6 Arthur’s Seat hills: 3:22, 27, 32, 35, 32, 34
Wed 1 Aug: Swim 2.6km
Thu 2 Aug: Rest
Fri 3 Aug: 35 min turbo (single leg drills)
Sat 4 Aug: Swim 2k, 1 hour bike, 5k run (17:52)
Sun 5 Aug: 2:45 bike (Talla loop, 51.1 miles, 138bpm, 236W, 2370ft)

Totals: Swim 4.6km, Bike 95 miles, Run 3 miles