I have a 3-week training block after the Lausanne short-course world championships and before the Ironman world championships. I need to focus on endurance training, and on heat training. I got through the first week of this block last week. This was week two. I usually train in blocks of two weeks, with the third week being easier for recovery purposes. I used to be able to do 3-week training blocks, with the fourth week being easier. 3-week blocks are now too risky/tough. So how to play it over these three weeks? Have an easier middle week, to set up a full and tough third week? Or have a tough second week and hope to get through a third week?
I told myself I would take it easier in this second week, and then have a big third and final week. It was easy to take it easy on Monday, as Monday is my rest day. It has also become my massage day, which helps.
Tuesday evening was a fairly nice evening, and my friend Natalie was in Edinburgh with work, so we took to the hybrid bikes for a spin out to the Forth bridges. It’s nice out there, but the hybrid bike is heavy and it was a tough enough push. When the sun went down it got chilly and dark and we ended up pushing quite hard to keep generating heat and to get back before it was pitch dark. So what was supposed to be an easy couple of hours turned into a slightly more difficult almost-3 hours. But it was good. You don't really remember the endless indoor turbo trainer sessions individually. You do remember scenes like below:
On Wednesday I got on the turbo and did an hour of tempo riding, over 260 watts at an average of 151bpm. Then dinner. I eat a pretty good clean diet. Plenty of raw ginger, garlic, tumeric, peppers, chillis. All good stuff. All naturally anti-inflammatory. It works for me. Not many others can stomach it. Natalie did her best to eat it, probably out of politeness and hunger more than anything else... A bit of research on heat adaption training yielded the following:
"This may be a little long but what I am about to say just might be of interest in relation to thermoregulation. Firstly, I am a registered nurse, secondly, I train horses for extra cash, thirdly, I train humans, mainly half marathoners.
I am in no doubt about the literature that makes the African men and women such great runners. However, I would like to say this, I have trained many from Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Thermoregulation, and dehydration are explicably linked. Observations are a nurses bread and butter, temperature, pulse, respiration and more. I have done my own little study from over more than 20 years of experience.
Everybody, appears to be worried about the top end of the range of thermoregulation at about the 40 degree mark as you say in the post. However, what would you say about the lowering of core body temperature. Let’s say you could start a race knowing that you were as fit for purpose as any one in the race, but your core average body temperature was up to 4 degrees less then others in the race.
PERHAPS, it may take longer for you to reach that temperature mark that inhibits performance.
Capsaicin lowers core body temperature. Saunas tend to have the same effect through different mechanisms. In my humble opinion, the sauna is the reason that athletes from Finland have won more olympic gold medals during summer and winter games PER HEAD of population due to thermoregulation training. Individuals in hot countries tend to eat, hotter spicier food to lower core body temperature ie the African runners. No I am not going to give the references here, just Google thermoregulation and capsaicin.
My interest was first sparked by this when an Australian athlete was brought to hospital unconscious from a car accident, many, many years ago, with a pulse of 13 beats per minute. Imagine my surprise when he woke up and smiling stated upon my questioning that his pulse was normally 13 beats per minute. His racing days were well over, his average temperature, throughout 2 weeks in hospital was a little over 32 degrees, one of the men I train has won many small half marathons around Europe, average resting temperature, 34 degrees, Ethiopian, the number two in the camp close to 33 degrees, but out of shape due to his escape from Eritrea.
I also agree that the capsaicin in the blood assists in pain management! When was the last time many Caucasians had a dish that consisted of extra strong chilli powder, turmeric, paprika, pepper, curry, and ginger, yes all together. Check out the research!"
This caucasian (me) eats dishes consisting of chillis, tumeric, peppers and ginger every day. It seems to work.I am well used to it, but first-timers find my meals a bit weird...
On Thursday I did 26 hill repeats. 26 is the number of miles in a marathon and I need to get used to counting to 26… It was a nice evening and the sun was setting, lighting up the castle and Arthur’s seat, before turning the clouds pink over Arthur’s seat. Watching the changing light helped me to get through the 26 repeats. A tough session mentally, but the Ironman marathon is also a tough session mentally… I was happy with how it went, my legs felt good and it was one of those great end-of-summer evenings where it was brilliant to be out.
I got back to the flat, climbed the stairs as usual, bent over to take my running shoes off as usual, and was then almost screaming in agony. Horrific pain in the tendons/ligaments on the inside of my right knee. From nowhere. I’ve no idea what triggered it. It was very debilitating pain, and I couldn’t bend my knee, and could barely walk. How could it have happened? Was 26 hills too many? Did I bend over awkwardly? Climb the stairs awkwardly? Twist awkwardly? I had no idea.
I took a couple of ibuprofens and got out the emergency bag of frozen peas to ice it. I’ve been lucky this year with injuries. But please, not now, 2 weeks before Kona… I had no idea what had happened, or what would happen. It really was panic stations. I went to bed and woke up wondering what on earth I would wake up to. Broken dreams? Again?
I woke up and it tentatively felt OK. It was a swim day and I did 3500 yards doing various drills with my “toys” – hand paddles, leg floats, hand floats, rubber bands etc. Then I sat in the sauna for 40 minutes. It was so tough in the sauna. So, so tough. My heart rate was higher in the sauna than it was in the pool. I am well used to tough training. I am less used to tough saunas, but hopefully the efforts I am making at heat adaption will be worth it when I am competing in the heat of Hawaii. I flexed my leg repeatedly. The knee felt OK. The mind was racing. What do I do? A week off? Two weeks off? Try to cycle? Try a run?
I got home and tried some single leg turbo drills. Again it felt OK. I completed 20 minutes. The forecast was good for Saturday. Sunny, light winds, no clouds. If I knew my knee was 100%, I’d go out and ride for 4 hours at a fairly tough pace. So that’s what I planned. If my knee was sore I would turn and come straight home. I’m not going to risk anything at this stage.
So I got the road bike ready. It hadn’t been used since Lausanne. I put the frame pouches and bags and bottle cages and wheels on. I checked and tightened everything. I got the drinks and gels and energy bars and energy chews ready. I wore short sleeves and shorts and used the suncream I will use in Hawaii. The suncream was a very fine spray and it stank. I am sure it didn’t do my lungs any good – I will spray it outside in future.
The power meter needed updating and needed a new battery which took a bit of time to sort out, and I was later getting away than I hoped. I cruised out of town, nice and easy, for a 15-minute warm up. The knee felt OK. I carried on with it. It continued to feel OK. It seemed I would get away with the bike today, but how would a run be tomorrow…?
So much for the “light winds” forecast, it was very breezy indeed. Good practice for the trade winds in Hawaii… My average power crept up from 200 to 210 to 220 watts over the first two hours. I wondered if this was too much, and if I’d fade in the second half. I was enjoying it. Feeling decent. I’d keep pushing. Out of the blue, my gears started to grind and jump. There wasn’t much I could do, but they weren’t changing well. It was annoying. I was minimising my gear changing which meant I was pushing some big gears up the hills, which was good for leg strength, and for testing my knee, which continued to feel fine. My power went up to almost 230 watts average, with an hour to go.
I had to try to maintain this power average, to maximise the benefit of the session. If I could maintain, it would be a good session. I was running out of liquid. My legs were flooding with lactic. It was getting tough. I forced it hard. Push through the lactic and the pain. I maintained the average (227 watts in the end), and did 20 minutes longer than I thought I would. 4 hours and 20 minutes of hard enough riding, at 228 watts (3.65 watts/kg), at an average of 144bpm (starting out at about 120 and rising to 170 by the end…). 1300m climbed, 82.4 miles covered. I’d take it. I had planned it to finish just outside Edinburgh and then cruise the downhill all the way home to cool down.
I stopped at a pub on the outskirts to fill my empty bottles – I was dying for a drink. I lifted my bike as if to bring it inside the pub, then thought I’d just leave it at the door. As I was setting it down, there was the crashing sound of metal on pavement, as if I had a flat tyre. But I didn’t have a flat tyre. What was making the noise?! I lifted the bike again and the rear wheel pretty much fell out. The skewer was loose. I had tightened it that morning, and now it was really loose. I was shocked. I had been riding with a loose rear wheel… that’s probably why the gears had been clattering. This was very, very bad. In the worst case, the wheel could have become detached when descending or cornering, and bad things could have happened. I was very lucky indeed.
I tightened the damn thing up again, got my water, drank an entire litre (I needed it) and cruised home. I will need to get the wheel and skewer looked at. Then I sat in a hot bath for 30 minutes. Somehow I managed to force myself to do my core work, squats, and stretching. This was a day that felt worse after getting off the bike than it did on it (and that’s saying something, because the final hour on the bike was a tough push). On the plus side, my knee seemed OK.
Sunday was to turn wet at midday so I got up early and got out for my long run. Something around 2 hours at just under 8 minute miling pace. Nothing too difficult, as this had been intended to be an easier week. I layered up again to make it hot: a thermal base layer, two coats, a ski hat, gloves and thermal leggings. I carried two gels and a bottle of water, all of which were much needed. I did 2 hours and 20 minutes, up 4 long hills, covered 18 miles at 7:47 per mile. If I can do that pace at Kona I will be happy. It started to rain just as I was finishing, but I was so soaked in sweat that rain couldn’t have made me any wetter.
I was so dehydrated afterwards. I had lost nearly 4kg. I had a sore head. I drank some recovery drink, had a few eggs, some toast, some vegetables. Some more drink. My knee was OK. I just don’t understand how it can go from being fine, from running up 26 hills, to being so sore that it brings me almost to tears, to being seemingly OK again in such a short space of time. I will need to be careful with it.
Then I had to face the shopping centre. I’ve decided to get a new phone and a waterproof camera for Hawaii. My old phone doesn’t have the capacity for the hundreds of photos I am sure I will take out there, and I would love to have a small hand-held waterproof camera I can take underwater. The trouble is, I really, really, really hate shopping.
But it had to be done. It was hard work, especially considering I was totally goosed, dehydrated, tired, sore-legged. You think you can sort the shopping stuff in an afternoon, but you can’t. That’s so frustrating. It takes a couple of days to change the phone number over to the new phone. It takes ages to transfer all the old photos over. The camera needs formatted. It needs a separate hand grip and a wrist band. And a memory card. I wish you could just buy stuff that works first time. Oh well.
I think all the Kona purchasing is starting to frustrate me. My list is huge. It’s certainly not a cheap endeavour. Most of the list is ticked off. I’m getting there with it all. It is coming together. I’m trying to justify buying a swimskin. Wetsuits aren’t allowed in Kona as the water is too warm. So people wear fabric swimskin suits instead, over their tri suits. They are supposed to make you a little bit faster and more buoyant in the water. Maybe a minute quicker over an hour. Sounds good? Well, yes, until you realise what they cost… £250-odd quid. For something I would use once in my life. I am struggling to justify it. I will keep an eye on ebay to see if anything comes up. If that fails, I will see what is available at the race expo in Kona – maybe I can borrow or rent one. If that fails I can swim in my bare skin, with just my tri shorts on.
I have had to make a list of deliveries I am expecting, based on the master list, to keep track of it all. I have also made a list of things to do while in Kona. List after list. It’s a full-time job to sort it all out. But I’m not complaining! I just need to keep things together and I just need the body to give me a few more weeks without any issues. Fingers crossed.
This week was a tougher training week than I intended, so I will see how I feel next week. I hope for a full week of training next week but I won’t risk anything. Doing bike reps at 290 watts instead of 310 watts, doing a 2 hour run instead of 2:20, doing 4:30 on the bike instead of 5:30, none of these things will do my fitness much harm but will go a long way to minimising injury risk. I’ll see how it goes.
Training done this week was as follows:
Swim 3.2km, Bike 170 miles, Run 31 miles
I told myself I would take it easier in this second week, and then have a big third and final week. It was easy to take it easy on Monday, as Monday is my rest day. It has also become my massage day, which helps.
Tuesday evening was a fairly nice evening, and my friend Natalie was in Edinburgh with work, so we took to the hybrid bikes for a spin out to the Forth bridges. It’s nice out there, but the hybrid bike is heavy and it was a tough enough push. When the sun went down it got chilly and dark and we ended up pushing quite hard to keep generating heat and to get back before it was pitch dark. So what was supposed to be an easy couple of hours turned into a slightly more difficult almost-3 hours. But it was good. You don't really remember the endless indoor turbo trainer sessions individually. You do remember scenes like below:
On Wednesday I got on the turbo and did an hour of tempo riding, over 260 watts at an average of 151bpm. Then dinner. I eat a pretty good clean diet. Plenty of raw ginger, garlic, tumeric, peppers, chillis. All good stuff. All naturally anti-inflammatory. It works for me. Not many others can stomach it. Natalie did her best to eat it, probably out of politeness and hunger more than anything else... A bit of research on heat adaption training yielded the following:
"This may be a little long but what I am about to say just might be of interest in relation to thermoregulation. Firstly, I am a registered nurse, secondly, I train horses for extra cash, thirdly, I train humans, mainly half marathoners.
I am in no doubt about the literature that makes the African men and women such great runners. However, I would like to say this, I have trained many from Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Thermoregulation, and dehydration are explicably linked. Observations are a nurses bread and butter, temperature, pulse, respiration and more. I have done my own little study from over more than 20 years of experience.
Everybody, appears to be worried about the top end of the range of thermoregulation at about the 40 degree mark as you say in the post. However, what would you say about the lowering of core body temperature. Let’s say you could start a race knowing that you were as fit for purpose as any one in the race, but your core average body temperature was up to 4 degrees less then others in the race.
PERHAPS, it may take longer for you to reach that temperature mark that inhibits performance.
Capsaicin lowers core body temperature. Saunas tend to have the same effect through different mechanisms. In my humble opinion, the sauna is the reason that athletes from Finland have won more olympic gold medals during summer and winter games PER HEAD of population due to thermoregulation training. Individuals in hot countries tend to eat, hotter spicier food to lower core body temperature ie the African runners. No I am not going to give the references here, just Google thermoregulation and capsaicin.
My interest was first sparked by this when an Australian athlete was brought to hospital unconscious from a car accident, many, many years ago, with a pulse of 13 beats per minute. Imagine my surprise when he woke up and smiling stated upon my questioning that his pulse was normally 13 beats per minute. His racing days were well over, his average temperature, throughout 2 weeks in hospital was a little over 32 degrees, one of the men I train has won many small half marathons around Europe, average resting temperature, 34 degrees, Ethiopian, the number two in the camp close to 33 degrees, but out of shape due to his escape from Eritrea.
I also agree that the capsaicin in the blood assists in pain management! When was the last time many Caucasians had a dish that consisted of extra strong chilli powder, turmeric, paprika, pepper, curry, and ginger, yes all together. Check out the research!"
This caucasian (me) eats dishes consisting of chillis, tumeric, peppers and ginger every day. It seems to work.I am well used to it, but first-timers find my meals a bit weird...
On Thursday I did 26 hill repeats. 26 is the number of miles in a marathon and I need to get used to counting to 26… It was a nice evening and the sun was setting, lighting up the castle and Arthur’s seat, before turning the clouds pink over Arthur’s seat. Watching the changing light helped me to get through the 26 repeats. A tough session mentally, but the Ironman marathon is also a tough session mentally… I was happy with how it went, my legs felt good and it was one of those great end-of-summer evenings where it was brilliant to be out.
I got back to the flat, climbed the stairs as usual, bent over to take my running shoes off as usual, and was then almost screaming in agony. Horrific pain in the tendons/ligaments on the inside of my right knee. From nowhere. I’ve no idea what triggered it. It was very debilitating pain, and I couldn’t bend my knee, and could barely walk. How could it have happened? Was 26 hills too many? Did I bend over awkwardly? Climb the stairs awkwardly? Twist awkwardly? I had no idea.
I took a couple of ibuprofens and got out the emergency bag of frozen peas to ice it. I’ve been lucky this year with injuries. But please, not now, 2 weeks before Kona… I had no idea what had happened, or what would happen. It really was panic stations. I went to bed and woke up wondering what on earth I would wake up to. Broken dreams? Again?
I woke up and it tentatively felt OK. It was a swim day and I did 3500 yards doing various drills with my “toys” – hand paddles, leg floats, hand floats, rubber bands etc. Then I sat in the sauna for 40 minutes. It was so tough in the sauna. So, so tough. My heart rate was higher in the sauna than it was in the pool. I am well used to tough training. I am less used to tough saunas, but hopefully the efforts I am making at heat adaption will be worth it when I am competing in the heat of Hawaii. I flexed my leg repeatedly. The knee felt OK. The mind was racing. What do I do? A week off? Two weeks off? Try to cycle? Try a run?
I got home and tried some single leg turbo drills. Again it felt OK. I completed 20 minutes. The forecast was good for Saturday. Sunny, light winds, no clouds. If I knew my knee was 100%, I’d go out and ride for 4 hours at a fairly tough pace. So that’s what I planned. If my knee was sore I would turn and come straight home. I’m not going to risk anything at this stage.
So I got the road bike ready. It hadn’t been used since Lausanne. I put the frame pouches and bags and bottle cages and wheels on. I checked and tightened everything. I got the drinks and gels and energy bars and energy chews ready. I wore short sleeves and shorts and used the suncream I will use in Hawaii. The suncream was a very fine spray and it stank. I am sure it didn’t do my lungs any good – I will spray it outside in future.
The power meter needed updating and needed a new battery which took a bit of time to sort out, and I was later getting away than I hoped. I cruised out of town, nice and easy, for a 15-minute warm up. The knee felt OK. I carried on with it. It continued to feel OK. It seemed I would get away with the bike today, but how would a run be tomorrow…?
So much for the “light winds” forecast, it was very breezy indeed. Good practice for the trade winds in Hawaii… My average power crept up from 200 to 210 to 220 watts over the first two hours. I wondered if this was too much, and if I’d fade in the second half. I was enjoying it. Feeling decent. I’d keep pushing. Out of the blue, my gears started to grind and jump. There wasn’t much I could do, but they weren’t changing well. It was annoying. I was minimising my gear changing which meant I was pushing some big gears up the hills, which was good for leg strength, and for testing my knee, which continued to feel fine. My power went up to almost 230 watts average, with an hour to go.
Probably the last day of summer... until I get to Hawaii
I had to try to maintain this power average, to maximise the benefit of the session. If I could maintain, it would be a good session. I was running out of liquid. My legs were flooding with lactic. It was getting tough. I forced it hard. Push through the lactic and the pain. I maintained the average (227 watts in the end), and did 20 minutes longer than I thought I would. 4 hours and 20 minutes of hard enough riding, at 228 watts (3.65 watts/kg), at an average of 144bpm (starting out at about 120 and rising to 170 by the end…). 1300m climbed, 82.4 miles covered. I’d take it. I had planned it to finish just outside Edinburgh and then cruise the downhill all the way home to cool down.
I stopped at a pub on the outskirts to fill my empty bottles – I was dying for a drink. I lifted my bike as if to bring it inside the pub, then thought I’d just leave it at the door. As I was setting it down, there was the crashing sound of metal on pavement, as if I had a flat tyre. But I didn’t have a flat tyre. What was making the noise?! I lifted the bike again and the rear wheel pretty much fell out. The skewer was loose. I had tightened it that morning, and now it was really loose. I was shocked. I had been riding with a loose rear wheel… that’s probably why the gears had been clattering. This was very, very bad. In the worst case, the wheel could have become detached when descending or cornering, and bad things could have happened. I was very lucky indeed.
I tightened the damn thing up again, got my water, drank an entire litre (I needed it) and cruised home. I will need to get the wheel and skewer looked at. Then I sat in a hot bath for 30 minutes. Somehow I managed to force myself to do my core work, squats, and stretching. This was a day that felt worse after getting off the bike than it did on it (and that’s saying something, because the final hour on the bike was a tough push). On the plus side, my knee seemed OK.
The suncream is a magnet for flies
Again I wonder should I shave my legs to go faster in the water and on the bike...
Sunday was to turn wet at midday so I got up early and got out for my long run. Something around 2 hours at just under 8 minute miling pace. Nothing too difficult, as this had been intended to be an easier week. I layered up again to make it hot: a thermal base layer, two coats, a ski hat, gloves and thermal leggings. I carried two gels and a bottle of water, all of which were much needed. I did 2 hours and 20 minutes, up 4 long hills, covered 18 miles at 7:47 per mile. If I can do that pace at Kona I will be happy. It started to rain just as I was finishing, but I was so soaked in sweat that rain couldn’t have made me any wetter.
I was so dehydrated afterwards. I had lost nearly 4kg. I had a sore head. I drank some recovery drink, had a few eggs, some toast, some vegetables. Some more drink. My knee was OK. I just don’t understand how it can go from being fine, from running up 26 hills, to being so sore that it brings me almost to tears, to being seemingly OK again in such a short space of time. I will need to be careful with it.
Some Kona inspiration photos. Top is the transition area on the pier. Bottom is the swim start.
The turnaround point is the big boat to the top left of the photo.
Then I had to face the shopping centre. I’ve decided to get a new phone and a waterproof camera for Hawaii. My old phone doesn’t have the capacity for the hundreds of photos I am sure I will take out there, and I would love to have a small hand-held waterproof camera I can take underwater. The trouble is, I really, really, really hate shopping.
But it had to be done. It was hard work, especially considering I was totally goosed, dehydrated, tired, sore-legged. You think you can sort the shopping stuff in an afternoon, but you can’t. That’s so frustrating. It takes a couple of days to change the phone number over to the new phone. It takes ages to transfer all the old photos over. The camera needs formatted. It needs a separate hand grip and a wrist band. And a memory card. I wish you could just buy stuff that works first time. Oh well.
I think all the Kona purchasing is starting to frustrate me. My list is huge. It’s certainly not a cheap endeavour. Most of the list is ticked off. I’m getting there with it all. It is coming together. I’m trying to justify buying a swimskin. Wetsuits aren’t allowed in Kona as the water is too warm. So people wear fabric swimskin suits instead, over their tri suits. They are supposed to make you a little bit faster and more buoyant in the water. Maybe a minute quicker over an hour. Sounds good? Well, yes, until you realise what they cost… £250-odd quid. For something I would use once in my life. I am struggling to justify it. I will keep an eye on ebay to see if anything comes up. If that fails, I will see what is available at the race expo in Kona – maybe I can borrow or rent one. If that fails I can swim in my bare skin, with just my tri shorts on.
I have had to make a list of deliveries I am expecting, based on the master list, to keep track of it all. I have also made a list of things to do while in Kona. List after list. It’s a full-time job to sort it all out. But I’m not complaining! I just need to keep things together and I just need the body to give me a few more weeks without any issues. Fingers crossed.
This week was a tougher training week than I intended, so I will see how I feel next week. I hope for a full week of training next week but I won’t risk anything. Doing bike reps at 290 watts instead of 310 watts, doing a 2 hour run instead of 2:20, doing 4:30 on the bike instead of 5:30, none of these things will do my fitness much harm but will go a long way to minimising injury risk. I’ll see how it goes.
Training done this week was as follows:
Swim 3.2km, Bike 170 miles, Run 31 miles
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