Nice training

I went to Nice, the location for my Ironman France event coming up soon, to try a bit of proper hill climbing. While the memories are farly fresh - here's a little bit about the trip.

Packing
After much deliberation, bought a bike bag from Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields. Boxes look a bit big for train journeys and lugging around when I also have another suitcase. I took my wheels off, deflated the tyres, and put them in the padded wheel bags supplied. I took off the derailleur and encased it in bubblewrap and taped it up between the back forks. Took off my handlebars and did my best to put them flat against the bike, then taped and bubble wrapped them too. Pedals are very hard to take off with a common-or-garden bike tool - I gave up and stuck some bubblewrap round them too. For good measure, I bubblewrapped everything else that I thought was sticking out or liable damage from pressure. I kept the saddle on and put the bike inside a large sheet of cardboard upside down inside the bike bag. This left the spokes from the front chainring sticking up, and so more bubblewrap and the cardboard from a cornflakes packet was used to protect this. Padded wheel bags then went inside too and the whole lot zipped up nicely.

Cycling
My accommodation in Nice was actually approximatrely 20km along the bike course. My brother-in-law Jon and I decided to backtrack a bit and then head back as a warmup. We did about 15km and then hit the 500M steepest part of the whole course. It goes straight up, but is quite manageable if taken slowly.

I haven't studied the map much, and the town's names still don't mean anything to me, that's what happens when you are with someone who already knows where they are going. But we turned left at the top of thee hill, and did a bit of gently climbing for a while. Before long we were hurtling down hill on quite a wide road which was very pleasant iand into and through a town. Around then, the proper climbing started, and continued for the next 90 minutes or so. This was the bit I'd dreaded - I've never climbed for more than five or ten minutes before. Strangely enough, I managed to keep going - slow at times, but never stopping. The views were spectacular, and it was quite hot, but even though I occasionally had climb out of the saddle and step on the pedals, and my speed dipped to 12km/h, I never felt as if I couldn't make it.

At the top, after seeing the landscape get more brown and arid for some time, I was very suprised to find a valley of farmland up in the hills. A bit of undulating road led to a pleasant descent through trees and cooler temperatures. I'm a bit hazy on the next bit, I think we had a windy descent - no chance to get much speed up if you want to be careful on corners, I think I maxed at around 45km/h. We found a small shop and refilled our water bottles. Reached the bottom of this section and then started a long and pretty boringly straight 8-9k ascent through trees. I found this very dull, nothing to look at, just pumping the pedals.

I watch my average speed a lot, and by now it was way down at 22km/h or so. I do not want to spend 8 hours on the bike leg, and know that a nice fast stretch can pick up an average a lot. Some decents, and the fairly flat out-and-back followed, and then it was downhill to Carros where we finished the day. Total time was a fraction less then 6 hours for 150km and an average speed of just over 25km/h. The 30km we missed is flat, and I believe I can easily average 25km/h for that. So from being totally in the dark about what kind of time I might achieve, I'm now looking at 25km/h average to give me just over 7 hours. I never pushed really hard on this training ride, using my breathing as a guide, and think this time is a realistic target. Race days are different, but I believe the smart thing for me to do is stick to this kind of pace no matter how I feel in the heat of competition; there is a lot of running to do afterwards after all.

Running

Feeling guilty about missing 30km, a mini brick session was in order, and though quite tired at the end, we did a quick change and set off for a run. It was about 5pm, and hot, and after 12.5 minutes headed back - still, 5km in 25 minutes isn't bad (ipod nano measurements 4.95km, 24:07mins, 4.52mins/km)

All in all a very good day. The weather was fantastic, the roads superb, looking forward to trying it 'for real'.

Week 16 summary 2007

Monday 16th April - 15Km Brompton cycle, rest otherwise
Tuesday 17th April- Biked into work and back home again. 58.5km * 2.
Wednesday 18th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, Run with Carol and Jon in Richmond Park. Don't know the distance as I didn't have my Nike+ trainers on, but the time was 43:41.
Thursday 19th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, swim 50 lengths = 1250M
Friday 20th April- 15km Brompton cycle, swim 50 lengths = 1250M.
Saturday 21st April- Run up round Sunninghill again. Better time than last wednesday evening, 59:26 mins and ipod says 12.68km with 4:41m/km average. Nice hot day.
Sunday 22nd April - Bike at 8am over to Richmond Park and three times route it then home again. time 3:55:28 and average speed 26.58 equals 104.3 km.

A 5:45am rising time to go and cycle about 60km is pretty hard, but worth it and good practice for the real event in June. It wasn't sunny, and I was a little chilly in my shorts and short sleeves, but not too bad. Coming home was good, but in the last hour my lower back started to ache. I guess with Sunday's >100km only 2 days ago, I was getting a bit of over work there. Again, no real trouble with the legs, and a quick recovery time.

Had to swim twice later in the week as my Tuesday cycle messed up my routine. Fridays swim was harder, my arms were tired. I've never noticed this before as I've never swum two days in a row.

Week 15 Summary 2007

Monday 9th April - 15Km Brompton cycle, rest otherwise
Tuesday 10th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, 50 lengths = 1250M swim.
Wednesday 11th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, Long run, ipod says 13.14km in 1:03:35 giving a 4:50 min/km pace. Went over to Sunninghill on a warm evening.
Thursday 12th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, Bad me, drinking instead of training
Friday 13th April- 60 lengths = 1500M swim.
Saturday 14th April- Run Ascot Loop2 on Saturday morning, ipod says 8.01km, in 37:23 mins, giving 4:39 min/km.
Sunday 15th April - Long bike with Jonathan over to Virginia Water, and then back up to Henley. total time 3:45 and 104km approx

This was a good weeks training, with a longer run than I've done in ages, and similarly for my bike. I actually didn't feel that tired and can do more, which is encouraging. I just need to get a couple of hours in the pool to really push my distances in there.

Week 14 Summary 2007

Monday 2nd April - 15Km Brompton cycle, rest otherwise
Tuesday 3rd April- 15Km Brompton cycle, 50 lengths = 1250M swim.
Wednesday 4th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, Run Ascot Loop 2, ipod says 8.19km in 36:08
Thursday 5th April- 15Km Brompton cycle, Spin bike for 40 minutes at the gym
Friday 6th April- Good Friday - had a break
Saturday 7th April- Bike - 3 hours 10, average approx 27.6 for nearly 90km.
Sunday 8th April - Run in Swindon, ipod says 7.57km in 36:57 giving 4:52 min/km

Ramping my swims up to 50 lengths minimum now.
Bank holiday Easter weekend, so went for a long ride on Saturday morning. Felt OK, had an excellent drafting stretch behind a big tractor (only for a couple of minutes)

Week 13 Summary 2007

Monday 26th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, rest otherwise
Tuesday 27th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, 40 lengths = 1000M swim.
Wednesday 28th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, Run Ascot Loop 2, ipod says 8.16km in 36:45
Thursday 29th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, Spin bike for 40 minutes at the gym
Friday 30th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, 50 lengths = 1250M swim
Saturday 31st March - Run - Ascot Loop 3, ipod says 10.18km in 48:14
Sunday 1st April - Bike, 2:10 hours at approx 27 km/h average makes 60km

Back out on the bike this Sunday morning. Also, my longest run since my calf injury. Calves are still very tight, but surviving.