Triathlon Training

Reading Half Marathon 2011

2011-03-20T18:00:00.002Z

I have a semi-serious aim this year to do at least one race every month. Not only is this the March entry in that challenge, it's also my 'A' race of the year and I trained very hard for it.

I've been doing track sessions on Monday evenings to give me more speed, medium runs on Wednesday evenings with the club, and long runs of up to 15 miles at the weekend. I've never had this much preparation for a long run and though I was nervous, I did feel ready to tackle my 1:30 target time. I needed to take over four minutes off my Windsor HM personal best time. Reading is supposed to be a faster course, and I am fitter, so it should be doable.

There was a huge turnout from the Evolution club. I walked down to the club to meet and we set off in a car convoy. We parked in Jo's works car park which was convenient - and were in plenty of time to make toilet stops and get to the start line for 10:05am

With my new Garmin 205 GPS on my wrist, and the sun creeping out from behind the thin cloud, we were off.

I didn't really know how to work the watch, but had average speed prominently set. I only managed the first mile in 8 minutes. This was due to congestion and once I realised my time and the crowds thinned a little I pushed through harder. I was assuming something around a 6:55 minute mile would get my target. and even though I'd studied charts, forgot quite how small the increments were.

6:40 1:27:24
6:50 1:29:35
7:00 1:31:46
7:10 1:33:57
7:20 1:36:08

6:55 wasn't going to do it.

However, I kept running and checking my average pace and it kept going down. By about 15k I think it was down around 6:50 and I was happy - I was even thinking I was going to smash 1:30 and relaxed a little. I did actually speed up some, but should have tried even harder. I missed a lot of mile/km markers somehow so never really know where I was, and I couldn't press any buttons on the watch as I didn't know if I'd be able to get it back to the correct setting again. So I kept going. At the final kilometer mark I felt my first pain of the day - my inner thigh. It didn't slow me much, and then I was entering the football stadium and all there was to do was sprint to the finish.

Really hoping I would have beaten 1:30, I had a worried few minutes until I eventually pressed some buttons and got my answer 1:29:28 - I'd done it (official time 1:29:24). I was a little shocked at how close to 1:30 it was - I could easily have missed it when I'd even mistakenly thought I was in the 1:27 region. Note to self - prepare target speeds better.

1351 Robert Shiels M 45 01:31:51 627 01:29:24

F3 Duathlon 2 - 5k/20k/5k

2011-02-27T18:00:00.006Z

Full results here

I've done a lot of sprint run training recently, and have managed an unofficial but pretty accurate 19:40 time - on the 400M track at Thames Valley Athletics Center.

I hadn't planned to race today, but spoke to a few people from Evolution triathlon club and thought I would give it a go if the weather was nice.

The weather was very nice for February.

Got down to Dorney in plenty of time and paid my £40, registered and racked my bike. Spent a long time thinking about what gloves I'd wear - left long gloves and fingerless ones beside the bike just in case.

Met up with Kevin,Sally,Tomas and Caroline before the race and we did a warm up together - feeling quite relaxed even though I knew this was going to hurt.

This was my first race in my new Newton running shoes, so I was wearing my calf compression guards just to be sure. I also don't have quick release laces, so I left my Asics by the bike for a quick change for the second 5K run.

Run 1 - 19:59
The first 5K was a 2 loop out and back along a very dirty track covered in sheep's droppings. Very slippery on the turns so we had to slow down a lot. I managed to run well, deliberately slightly below my fastest pace, and came in right on my 20 minute target.

T1 - 0:44

Pretty fast, wasted a second or two by running down wrong aisle. Feeling quite warm from the run, decided not to wear gloves at all. This was the right decision.

Bike - 35:19

Six loops at Dorney is quite soul destroying. As usual there is a fast wind assisted section followed by an uphill struggle into the wind. I never did feel great, and was quite dispirited to see lots of fast cyclists frequently race past me. It was impossible to really tell my place though. In the end 34km/h average is quite good - I'm still disappointed though as I wasn't actually aerobically tired - just couldn't make my legs push harder. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was contemplating the second run.

T2 - 0:34

Quite fast - even though I got the wrong aisle - again - and had to duck under the railing with my bike.

Run 2 - 20:21

My legs hurt from the bike ride and after nearly an hour I was tired. It took me 1/4 lap to get into any kind of stride. At the first turnaround I suddenly spotted Tomas right on my shoulder. This shocked me out of my mental reverie - I hadn't seen him on the bike anywhere and thought he must be quite a bit behind me, but there he was challenging. It hurt but I upped my pace a bit. This is where I started to really want to just stop and walk. Once lap done and Tomas was still right there. Started looking for people ahead who looked like they might be over 40 and in the VET category. There was a remote possibility that I was chasing a top 3 position and I didn't want to lose it by a few seconds. So I speeded up again and by the third and final turnaround I saw Tomas and knew I'd made enough of a gap between us that he wouldn't catch me. I think I overtook about six people in that final push. I always feel OK once I've mentally decided I can sprint as far as the finish line which I did for about the final kilometer. I think I should have been able to manage another 20 minute run, but I lost it all in that first bit just after the bike. Coming out of T2 I did notice a lady runner - I have finished at around the same time as the 1st place lady before and wondered if this might be the case here. However she sprinted way ahead of me right off the bike when I was just settling in - that was my worst section of the whole race. I must do more brick sessions. I've checked and she did go on to win the ladies race in a time 15 seconds faster than me (Felicity Cole)

Result: 1:17:00
19th overall out of 110 finishers
5th VET out of 34

Quite disappointed that I didn't make the top three in my category. Fourth place was over a minute ahead so at least I know I didn't lose out narrowly on the second run. But first place was seven minutes ahead - finding it hard to imagine any way I can make up that kind of time. The race was won on the bike - he did a 40km/h average - that's what I have to do.

Found out later that Tomas had punctured on the bike and didn't manage to finish all the laps, but made it back to transition in time to start the run just behind me. Wonder if I'd have run quite so fast without him spurring me on like that :)

Brutal 10 - 2010

2011-01-03T18:00:00.000Z

Not many people decide to race through mud and freezing water on a January Bank holiday, fewer still do it on their birthday. Today I decided to do both.

It was all Scott's fault anyway, and he kindly gave me a lift in his car down to the venue on the M3 in Longmoor. We also met fellow Evolution Club member Will there.

With face paint applied and a very light snow starting to fall, we were ready to go.

This was the same place as Hellrunner late last year. Fortunately there were no Bogs of Doom with deep smelly water up to our necks. There was plenty of water however and it was icy cold.

I wore my birthday present, a Livestrong t-shirt, and my calf guards as my legs were feeling pretty tight. A skullcap topped off the ensemble as it was a really cold day. It stopped snowing and wasn't windy so actually it was fine for running. The course was good and I ran well - I was pleased it was 10k and my time of around 54 minutes shows how tough it was - I can do 10K on the flat in around 42 minutes.

Crossing the river was really tricky, due to the depth and the uneven footing. I really did not want to trip and go headfirst into the water, so took it very cautiously. There was a thin rope trailing across to show the way - not sure why people were holding it as it would have given zero support. I held it too though :)

I think we had about four water crossings, and all had floating ice in them. I was pretty careful around the ice, and at the finish saw quite a few people with blood pouring down their shins from cuts they had gotten from it.

I'm pleased with my result - 43rd overall out of 211 runners, 35th male. I did hesitate a bit at the start, wondering whether to have a fun run, or race it, so lost a few places before my competitiveness kicked in and I went for it. Because I didn't get to the first river crossing near the lead, there was a bit of a queue and it was single file across.

Getting used to this sort of running, but if I do any more, I think I will replace my heavy Nike trainers with something more suited to total submersion in water. Once wet, the shoes really hurt my toes running down the steep hills.
Results currently here.

Photo Here plus search for others.

Place 43 Robert Shiels Time 54:54,6 Male Category Place 35 Bib Number 233

Pudding Catcher 2010

2010-12-12T18:00:00.016Z

Race result here

Following on from the Hellrunner I was expecting this race to be a little less crazy, and at 12km a bit shorter and easier. Little did I know that it would turn out to be possibly the hardest running race I can remember doing.

We started at the top of a hill field on a very frosty Sunday morning with quite a lot of ice on the paths. Would have preferred a single loop, but discovered at the start that we would be doing two laps.

The 'Pudding' is a fast runner in fancy dress. He sets off with a two minute head start and whoever is first to catch him gets £100. I had no ambitions on this score - all I wanted was to do well amongst the other members of Evolution triathlon club - we had about nine or ten people entered.

From the start we hurtled down a steep hill which just kept on going. It wasn't easy to slow down at all, and about four minutes later I found myself in about 7th place at the bottom of a steep incline.

I've often thought I'd like to try a race this way - start fast and try and hang on to a good position. I'm more of a slow burner, gradually getting warmed up and usually doing a bit better near the end. That strategy however will seldom win any races. So by accident nearly, this was my chance to try to lead from the beginning.

I survived the first hill, I barely survived the rest of the course. There was a short run on the flat past some grazing ponies, and then we were running fast downhill again. The next hill I don't think I managed to run all the way up. After that, it only got worse.

I was ahead of everyone in the club except Christophe, who looked unassailable up ahead. But as we finished the last lap, staggering up through the long grass to the half way mark, my left calf gave way, and something happened to Christophe as well, and we crossed the line together. Some mutual support and we were off again.

Knowing what was in store and being sore and tired made the second lap so much more difficult. I was now limping and hoping my calf wouldn't completely give up on me, and walking more and more up the hills. Christophe pulled away again and I overtook another runner, and I knew I was still doing well in the placings.

Then Christophe stopped - something was too painful to continue running. I had less than 10-15 minutes to go to the end and hating every second kept on going. I kept thinking I was going to get caught by a group of runners who had been stalking me about 1 minute behind, being most scared when walking up the steep hills. They must have been walking as well as they were still a manageable distance behind as I rounded the corner and looked up the hill towards the finish line. I think I could have run if I'd had to, but thankfully I'd seen nobody ahead for ages so no point chasing, and there was enough of a gap behind me that a walk/jog strategy got me to the line without losing my place.

In the end it turned out I'd been racing those people behind me for first place in the veteran's race. And I had actually won! I came 4th overall as well making this the best race of my recent career. I think I last won a race when I was about 15 years old.

My time was 01:10:15. A normal 10K should take me about 42 minutes, so you can see how much harder this course was. The people ahead of me were a long way in front: around nine minutes to 3rd place, and another seven minutes to 1st. I don't know how they did that.

I had some hot custard at the end (I don't like Christmas pudding) which was a nice touch. Then after my presentation (I won the chance to come back and do another race on this insane course) we all went to the pub for a well deserved slap up lunch!

Hellrunner - Hell Down South 2010

2010-11-27T18:00:00.000Z

Results currently here

I'd heard of this race as being a bit extreme. Not quite a Tough Guy, but well on the way there. So when some people in the Evolution triathlon club said they would do it, I has happy to sign up. It sounded a bit like Grim challenge which I did last year, but with extra water.

I've done some fairly long runs including a half marathon in Windsor recently so wasn't too worried about the 10-12 mile distance. It was a fairly tough race. But it had some flat running, and some narrow paths uphill that it was impossible to run up due to the people in front blocking the way, so there were opportunities to get your breath back.

I enjoyed the race and didn't mind the lake crossings, though of course that then meant very cold squelchy trainers.

The "Bog of Doom" was something else though. The water had been ice covered as I walked past on the way to the start line, and I heard later than the leaders had had to break it as they went through. To say it was cold would be a savage understatement. I was quite prepared mentally, but when I'd waded in up to my shoulders it even became a bit tricky to breathe. Not to mention the slippery mud on the bottom and the uneven footing that threatened to drop me under completely at any second. It smelled completely rank as well. But I tried to keep smiling (for the cameras - you can see me right in the middle of this photo here) and made it out in once piece.

After that I knew the worst was past, so even though there was a bit more water, and my feet were a bit sore from being so soggy (got some cuts on my ankle from the trainers) I was going fine until one of the officials said "only 2km to go". I was expecting about another 5km so started to push hard to the finish. The last hurdles were some sand dunes, but the sand was completely frozen so rather than being difficult to push through, they were more like hard rocks that jarred my legs.

So my result was a time of 1:31:12 giving me 25th place in my age group and 240th place overall. Not bad in a field of nearly 2000 runners. I think I could have placed a little higher if I had known the distance properly beforehand, and if I'd not had to push my way past so many people in the first 10-15 minutes. Really ought to make more of an effort to get to the front at the start. Think I've said that before :)

Robert Shiels 6219 Male Finished Vet40+ 1:28:19 240 219 25 0:02:53 1:31:12

Grim Duathlon 2010

2010-10-23T18:00:00.013+01:00

Oddly enough, this was my first duathlon of any kind. Rather than pick some nice easy flat tarmac event, I've ended up running and biking round a very challenging course. But I think this is much more fun than a standard race.

The race takes place on an all terrain army training ground near Aldershot. I've been there before as I did the Grim Challenge last year - so I knew what to expect. I expected to get quite a bit more tired, but in the end it was about the same really.

I was very pleased to have fellow Evolution Triathlon club members Zoe, Hank and Elliot for company - I had a great time last year on my own, but it's even better with friends. We all met up in plenty of time on a sunny morning and racked our bikes in the muddy transition area. Some heavy rain during the week and overnight ensured that we would have a very messy day.

We warmed up with a bit of a run - and got to near the front of the start funnel. This was a very good move - I've been caught out too many times behind slower runners.

As usual, I was fine for the first fice minutes of the race, then struggled a little wondering why I was there. Settled into it quickly though, especially once my feet got completely soaked in the knee high water.

I finished strongly in a time of 21:32 - good for a tough 5K.

Out on the bike I was feeling good, when only 2-3K into the first 10K lap (a two lap bike course) someone overtook me and said my tire looked flat. Sure enough, I'd punctured and had to stop. I was not properly prepared for this - never really expecting it to happen on a brand new bike. I had a spare tube, but no pump. Sod's Law states that it must be the rear wheel, which it was. Decided I had to do whatever I could - my 'race' was over - but the day wasn't finished yet. I changed the tube and started running with the bike.

Hadn't gone too far when I turned a corner and found a couple of fellow competitors by the side of the track. They were very helpful, and pumped my tire up for me. Sadly there wasn't anything I could do to help them, and so I was on my way.

A few minutes later I overtook Hank, and Zoe, both with punctures - what a day. With no spare tube or pump, unfortunately I couldn't help them either. Hank did manage to get his bike fixed though and completed the race.

Loved the course, so much variety. Some scree covered hills, lots of watery gravel tracks, covered in mud and grass and even clay in places so that you just had to get off and push. Even a bit of cycling through the trees. I was way back due to the puncture but never got overtaken again and steadily made my way through the field. This was very difficult, as the person in front was always taking the easiest route, and to overtake them I had to pull out into more marshy track and really push. The second lap was better as there were a few less bikes to contend with and I knew what was coming up so could plan my overtaking spots a bit ahead.

Got back to transition for the interesting bit - how would I cope with another 5K run. My running has been good this season, so I expected to be OK, and I was. It was tiring, but I maintained my overtaking and passed quite a few more people - never being passed myself - very much like my triathlons where I come out of the swim near the back of the pack.

Was a little surprised by the crawl under the camouflage net for the second lap. This time it was covered in wet mud and I got plastered! How can you finish a Grim race NOT covered in mud :-)

Very pleased with my 22:58 time for the second 5K, and also with my final time of 02:05:51 - which placed me 106th out of nearly 350 competitors. If I hadn't punctured and lost 10-15 minutes I think I could have done very well - I definitely want to go back with stronger tires to have another go next year.

So even though this was a 5K/20K/5K duathlon, it felt similar to last years 8 mile pure running race - different muscle groups for the bike, and pacing myself, meant I was less tired this year in fact, even though it took an extra hour. Could be that I'm also fitter. Maybe my next race, the Puma Hellrunner, will show which of these options is true :)

Note: things to remember. Nutrition is much more difficult to handle - I didn't get much chance to eat of drink (my drink was a bottle in transition which I only went through twice). It was much too difficult to open gels on the bike. I need a proper plan for this for next time.

[Currently you can see the full results here]

Windsor Half Marathon 2010

2010-09-26T18:00:00.001+01:00

This was my second half marathon race. I had quite a nice run in Stockholm a year ago, finishing in about 1 hour 43 minutes. I was pretty sure I was faster this year, but a little worried by the hills and by my lack of much distance run training.

I have managed a few one hour runs in the last two weeks, and though my calves are tight, they have survived.

I actually had a sort of race plan. I had tried to hydrate and carb load for two or three days before the race - mainly orange squash and pasta. I had porridge and wholemeal toast and some flapjack in the morning (1pm start). I had a large glass of water about an hour before leaving home. I had decided not to try and take on board any water out on the course - it never works very well for me and I only do it because everyone else is. Instead I had three gels, not the small thick pasty ones, the gels like SIS Go that are fairly watery. I aimed to take one of these every 20-25 minutes and had three in my pockets. Note to self - should have taken four gels and had one 15 minutes before the start.

I met everyone from Evolution Triathlon Club at the football ground car park and we headed to the start in plenty of time. I even managed to find my friend Andi in the crowd and we started together.

The crowds were terrible - and even though I was positioned in the 1:30 - 1:45 pace section I had to fight my way through the slow runners, and didn't actually get to run my own race until mile 3. Note 2 to self - push your way nearer the front next time.

But I was feeling pretty good and seemed to be doing around a 7:15 minute pace per mile - maybe a little faster. Poor preparation meant that I mentally thought I would be on for a 1hr 30 min finish at that pace - assuming a decent negative split.

Took my first gel on queue at 25 minutes and really think I felt the benefit about 10 minutes later. Took the second gel at 50 minutes. At about mile nine my leg started to ache - not the calf - a new problem with upper right thigh. This, combined with a fairly nasty hill at around mile ten, and my left knee starting to feel weak, scuppered my chances of speeding up. But I think I kept the pace steady - my endurance is quite good, I just had to try and ignore the soreness in my leg.

Thought I may as well take the last gel at 1:15 - maybe I'd get some benefit for the finish. There was a bit of a headwind at times, but this was cooling and not a real problem. The weather was almost perfect really.

Hit the Long walk for the final mile - and though I know this course so well from training - the length still surprised me. Started my final sprint a bit too soon, and had to reign myself back in again. But I finished strongly and got under 1:35 for a great time for me of 1:34:30 - around nine minutes faster than Stockholm for a harder course. I was also 231st in a field of over 4000 runners.

I have now entered Reading Half Marathon next March - if I can train properly, and race fast I want to get under 1:30. It should be possible.

Results Here

MDCC 25TT 12/09/10

2010-09-12T22:00:00.010+01:00

It's lucky that I'm writing this post a few days after the event. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it was my very first 25 mile time trial, I was disappointed in my time and placing.

I started the day at 7am with a 1500M swim in the lake at Liquid Leisure. It was a glorious morning for the time of year. I didn't kick much knowing I needed my legs for the bike race in the afternoon.

Decided that I never properly warm up - so cycled to the start at the far end of Drift Road - approximately 7km. I hadn't prebooked a place and was pretty pleased to get number 12 (out of an eventual field of 19). Still, had a bit of waiting around which I didn't use properly. Need to really investigate the science of warming up - I'm always afraid to make myself too tired, but I think I suffer in the early stages of the race.

Anna and Andy were there from Evolution, it was sunny and warm, and there was a great friendly atmosphere. There was a bit of wind however, and in the 'wrong' direction.

My plan was to try and do the first lap (of the 2 3/4 lap course) in an average speed of about 35km/h. I was hoping that once properly warmed up, I could then push a little harder and hopefully get that up to 36-37km/h. I had no illusions of being able to do 40km/h - but I really did hope for a time of around 1:06.

The plan worked initially - I even got my average up to 35.7 at one point - but I suffered pushing into the wind on the downhill portions of the course that should have been fast, and so the losses in speed that are inevitable when climbing took far too long to recover from. I felt tired too and took my only gel at about 19 minutes. I think this helped a little - but I think I needed even more energy intake during the race. I also had some PSP22 drink which was mostly just to stop my mouth from getting too dry.

My average dropped to 34.9km/h on lap two, which I managed to get back to 35.1km/h by the end, but this was difficult to achieve.

Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't manage to cycle fast enough to get my speed average up past the 35km/h mark after it's dip to 34.9km/h again at the Bird's Hill golf course ascent.

I passed Anna and some horses (slowed down a little - not much) about 5 minutes from the finish. Even in the final straight where I wanted to sprint, I couldn't get above 40km/h.

I completed the course in 1:08:30 - a couple of minutes outside my target - and I was a bit disappointed. I guess I did learn a lot - and it isn't the easiest 25TT course around, and it was my first try, so I shouldn't beat myself up too much about it.

Result here.

Then I found out that there was a handicapping system that was applied afterwards to allocate the prizes. And by some magic I've been awarded 3rd prize in the race. My time is given as 00:55:12 which i really don't understand - I'll need to talk to the other club members about this at the awards dinner!

I'm really pleased about this, though a little baffled - I'm guessing that as it was my first go I get bumped up the standings a bit. I'm not going to complain though, and I will be getting a medal, which is the first one I think I've won for anything since I was at school :-)

Thanks to MDCC organisers, and to Andy again (who I pipped into 4th place in the handicaps!) for promoting the club and getting me involved in something I've been wanting to do for about five years but never got around to.

Handicap Result here.

Peter Bell took a photo of me last Thursday before the 10TT with my bike - reproduced here.

MDCC 10TT 9/10/10

2010-09-09T22:00:00.004+01:00

Another Thursday evening, another time trial. This is the final one of the season as sunset is getting too early. It was a marvelous warm and sunny evening.

My excuse for my rather less than marvelous performance is a recent ramp up in my run training. My calf injury is in remission, so I did one hour Tuesday, one hour with Evolution club including three Legoland hill repeats on Wednesday, and a 6k lunchtime run today.

A good turnout from Evolution tonight - Anna, Andy and Sarah all competing, and Amanda supporting.

I went off a reasonable No 17 at 6:32pm, and within 3 minutes realised my legs were just not going to perform. Number 18 passed me half way round powering up an incline still in the saddle when I was getting up to push.

I gave it my best shot but even on the downhills I didn't have the strength to push my average speed up over 36km/h.

Finished with an approximate average speed of 35.5km/h - 27:04 - my slowest TT so far.

Results here.

Finished off the season with a pleasant pint and a bowl of chips (food of champions!) at the local pub The Beehive in White Waltham.

MDCC Track Day

2010-09-04T20:00:00.007+01:00

This was a new experience for me - riding around a cycle velodrome. It's in Palmers Park in Reading, and isn't terribly glamorous like the steep sided ones with the shiny wooden floors you see on TV, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun. The event was organised by MDCC and we had a very pleasant Saturday afternoon - warm, a little sunny, with only a slight breeze.

There were about twelve riders in total, five of us from Evolution Tri club having our first experience on the track. We started off with some group riding in pairs. Every lap the front two riders would move aside and rejoin the pack at the rear. We try to do this on the Sunday rides but it's much harder on the pothole ridden roads with tailgating cars intimidating you. It was good to get some practice riding close with constant speed.

We split into groups of four for a team pursuit. The groups rode around the track until they were equidistant from each other a third of a track apart and then the whistle went. The idea is to ride as a team and try and catch the group in front. Harder than it sounds as all riders need to stay together - my group managed to drop a member.

Next were individual 200M sprints. You cycle round the track until you get the nod and then that is your time to race. There are markers 200M from the finish line, and the aim is to use the slope of the track to help you get to your full speed my the time you hit those markers. The timekeepers starts his watch at that point, and you have to pedal like crazy until you get to the line. I can't remember my time exactly, but it was approximately 15.6s. However, as I was on my TT bike, and used my tri-bars, I got disqualified and had to go round for another go. I didn't mind too much - I knew I'd not quite got it right the first time. I managed to get my speed up a bit higher at the start line for my second go, and beat the first time without tri-bars with an approximate 15.16 I think.

We got paired off next with our closest timed riders for a Kierin Race. This is a full lap race, but if you have ever seen it on TV, you'll know how odd it is. Riders start off really slowly, trying to use tricks to intimidate their opponent. Then suddenly one rider decides to go, and the race is on properly. I spent the first 150m messing with my gears, going slowly. Having chosen the second lowest gear, I was ready and decided to go - patience exhausted already :) I didn't look back, and my opponent didn't catch me. It's actually quite difficult to go that fast (approximately 47km/h for me) around a bend without veering out of the lane. He later told me that I'd caught him in the wrong gear - in a race like this that kind of advantage is almost impossible to recover from.

I hadn't realised that they were timing the final 200M for each race - and this time mine was even faster at 15.06 I think. Very pleased with that.

We finished off with a bit more group riding - quite a nice 30-33km/h pace depending on who was in the lead. By now I was pretty tired, having done 10 mile TT races on Thursday and Friday as well.

But the day wasn't quite finished - Anna, Amanda and I demonstrated our triathlon credentials with a few laps of the running track to test our legs. No running shoes, so went barefoot. This was also a lot of fun to try as I'm working on my forefoot striking technique.

A big thanks to MDCC and Andrew Crawshaw for organising (and taking the photos).

MDCC 10TT 02/09/10

2010-09-02T22:00:00.003+01:00

Result here

After having had almost two weeks away from cycling due to holiday, and very little running too, I wasn't sure how my legs would hold out tonight.

It was a new time and course - 6.30pm (though as number 40 I went off at 7:10pm). HCC234 course has two laps with three shallow hills each - including two bridges over the M4.

Tonight was the Medium Gear 10 Mile Championship. I didn't have my Langster bike, but was able to measure out the correct gear on my Planet X and decided to give it a try. I didn't fancy chasing a PB tonight.

Beautiful evening with the sun setting and I felt quite good initially, getting a reasonable speed up - then realised I'd been going downhill and it got harder :) Nevertheless I maintained a fairly consistent cadence throughout the two laps and came in in a fairly creditable 27:53. This is only 90 seconds under my PB.

I even overtook number 39 on the first lap - though it was his first ever TT!

Checking the official results now I see I was quite far down the field, there were a number of MTB riders who I'm not counting. Still - 5th out of eight MG (medium gear) riders so all is not lost.

Physiotherapy

2010-09-01T10:02:00.000+01:00

At the best of times, I have at least one, and usually two or three aches or pains that affect my triathlon training.

For the record - here are the current main ones and what I'm doing about it.

Calf(s)

Recurring calf problems, which I'd gotten rid of for over a year, have come back. On the Wednesday evening run following Windsor triathlon, my left one went, and left me limping home. I rested it and fairly quickly was ready for Worthing Triathlon. Then, the Wednesday after that 20 minutes running made it happen again. After a week's rest, I still had pain even walking, so went to John Cooke for some analysis.

I have scar tissue between the 'bellies' of my calves. He also mentioned the soleus but I'm not very good at remembering these details. This has probably been there for years he said, which doesn't surprise me, I've had the problem for years.

He took out some medieval torture implements and pummeled the area on both legs for a while. A week later, this was still very painful to touch. I also have to do some heel drop exercises on stairs.

The good news is that it should be fixable. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this injury, as it stops me from doing the endurance running training that I need for Ironman races.

Shoulder

I did something to my right shoulder upwards of 10 years ago, I can't even remember now what or when, but it has never recovered. I asked the doctor, and got referred to the local hospital physio department where I went and had it looked at by a young lady called Lorna.

I described the issues; problems lifting my arm up to take off t-shirts, a weakness when swimming that makes it difficult to breath on the left when doing front crawl and a complete inability to do backstroke at all, pull-up and press-up issues. It's the swimming that's a real problem now - I just can't pull hard with my right arm, and it is affecting both my stroke form, and my pull speed. I have to get faster at swimming, and I've made good progress in the last few weeks, but this could be a limiting factor.

She tested it and said I have a muscle imbalance and need to work on exercises to rebalance this. I will try and do these, but I'm not confident, the exercise was quite difficult to understand and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.

Knee

I twisted my left knee on the stairs about 9 years ago - it never recovered and I'm aware of it almost all the time. The pain isn't severe and is actually more evident if I'm sitting or walking around than when exercising. It's much better now than it was before I started triathlon training - I attribute that to stronger muscles around it helping it out, but I've noticed it a bit when doing hard cycling recently.

I asked the doctor and she said not to worry about it. She didn't suggest any treatment, just painkillers. She said I was perfectly free to exercise hard on it, so I'll keep on doing that and see what happens. I may try for a second opinion on that sometime though if it restricts my training.

That's about it - I'll moan about my ankle and hip some other time :-)

National National Club Relay Championships

2010-08-21T22:00:00.011+01:00

Got a last minute entry to this event to be 4th man in a team of three girls - Becky, Sarah and Anna. Quite an early start in Nottingham so went up the night before in the car. Lots of Evolution Tri club people were competing, and had decided to make a camping weekend of it, so I took my tent.

The weather on Friday night turned very wet, but I stayed dry under canvas. Saturday morning was nicer and Sarah And I went over to the registration to pick up our numbers and t-shirts early. We met the rest of our team at the start line.

I've never done an event like this so wondered what to expect. All team members swim first, then we all bike, and finally all run. This means no worries about transitions - except handing over the 'baton' to the next person. It also means that you can put a little more effort in as you get a rest between disciplines. Would this translate into faster times? Unfortunately, for various reasons, this doesn't seem to have been the case.

Becky was off first on the swim - then Anna - then Sarah was off and it was time for me to go to transition to wait for her. Had to run to the lake and start swimming from a cold start - no chance to get acclimatised to the water. got kicked in the face right at the start and lost my right goggle so had to stop and put it back on. Not used to much argy bargy and there was quite a lot here. Also lots of weeds near the surface. I felt though that I was doing OK - not too tired, swimming as well as training. So I was pretty disappointed to see my time was over 11 minutes for the 400M. Maybe I lost more time than I thought with the goggle episode. Later in the evening I found that I had a bit of a black eye from it too.

After a leisurely change I had nearly one and a half hours to wait for my bike leg. The weather was still holding out and little bit of sunshine even peeked through.

Bike was three laps of the 5km lake. I started really well, but know that it was wind assisted. Just like Dorney, this rowing lake is exposed, and coming up the back strait the headwind took my speed right down to 30km/h. I tried to keep the average up, but I'm still not good in the wind so finished with a lower average speed than my 10 mile time trials. I did 24:15 with an average speed of 35km/h (course slightly short?) Not bad, but hoped to get 36km/h average.

Another long break before the run. This was my worry. My calf hasn't really recovered. I've rested from running for about three weeks, and did a short trial during the week to see if I could run at all. I survived it then - but went very slowly. Decided to 'go for it' as much as possible - but did feel less strong than a few weeks ago due to the inactivity. My leg did hold out, but the course was pretty empty by this time, so I was running on my own a lot with no one to get pace inspiration from. There were no markers to tell me how I was progressing, and as the rain started on the return from the single lap around the lake, it was very late in the day before I realised I wouldn't make my 20 minute target. But I did manage a final sprint to come in under 21 minutes at 20:51.

As a fun event this is a winner. I'm glad my team weren't competing for prizes as I was a bit slower than I hoped on every section - I should have been faster swimming, biking and running having had a good rest between them. Due to timing chip problems we don't have any official times for the team - except that we finished in 4 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds. Well done everyone in Team Evolite (Number 16) and EvoTri club for what was a really fun day.

results currently stored here.

(Photo (c) Alan Davies)

MDCC 10TT 12/8/10

2010-08-12T22:00:00.002+01:00

Results here.

Some heavy rain in the afternoon, and no promise of it stopping for good, but it was clear at 6:15 so I headed up to Drift Road to add my name to the list for my 3rd cycling time trial with MDCC. Their rules say that if you do four races you should join the club - so I took my cheque for £15 along tonight - one week early!

I managed to grab the number 20 slot - and had a few chats with the others there. Anna from Evolution Tri Club turned up at the last minute and headed off as number 8.

This week I did some checking, and spotted that number 21 beat me by around three minutes. This meant I'd certainly get overtaken this week. Number 19 was of a similar standard to me, but he had brought his spare bike (not wanting to get his good bike wet) so I stood a chance of catching him.

Had a good start, 40.2km/h average before the gradient got to me.

Disappointed with my hill climbing - pushed a harder gear and got out of the saddle a bit more than last week. I think this is a better style for me.

Got overtaken about 2/3 of the way round, and had to slow a little to let the rider get away from me as he wasn't exactly flying past.

As I turned into Drift Road for the final push down to the finish - I had number 19 in my sights, and chased him down. I overtook and got well away from him before the line. His start was delayed by a few seconds by problems with his chain - so I only really went 1 minute and 3 seconds faster.

My result was 26:45 - a bit disappointing to be slower than last week - but many people were. A quick analysis of the 13 people who did both weeks shows that all except two were slower, and the faster pair were 1 and 7 seconds faster which is hardly significant. It must be the weather. It did rain a little on me during the ride.

Once again, I'm good at the beginning, and at the end, but lack focus in the mid race.

10 Mile Time Trial 5/8/10

2010-08-05T22:00:00.002+01:00

Results are up on the website here

Did my second 10 mile Time Trial with the Maidenhead Cycling Club.

The route start has moved from the A4 over near Maidenhead to Drift Road, which is a short 10 minute warmup cycle from my house.

I just turned up at the line and paid my £2 and got number 37. This left me quite a while to wait, but the evening was fairly warm and I cycled up and down a bit to try and keep my legs stretched.

Quite a few Evolution Tri club members turned out - Zoe, Anna, Amanda, Andy and Simon - which was nice.

Had a great start - mostly downhill - got my average speed up to almost 40km/h before the inclines started to bite into it. I had the advantage of knowing the course very well - but I've never tried so hard at some points and really noticed the quite small hills eating into my speed.

The final few minutes are downhill, so even though my average speed was down to roughly 35km/h at one point I was able to pick it up and finished with 36.53km/h average - that's a time of 26:26 for the 10 miles.

This is a few seconds slower than my first TT where I got 26:23, but I'm assured that it is a more difficult course, so I'm pretty happy with the result.

[How to get faster: work on the shallow inclines - losing a lot of speed on those. Smooth action pulling up and pushing down throughout the whole pedal revolution]

Worthing Triathlon 2010

2010-07-18T18:00:00.018+01:00

Where to start?

Should I start at 5pm on Saturday, having driven down to Worthing to register, looking at the sea, being very scared and driving back home again.

Or should I start at 3.15am on Sunday morning, waking up before the alarm and stumbling out of the house to the car in the dark.

Maybe it would be best to start at the beginning - 6:19am (only 3 hours after waking up) - standing on the shingle beach in my neoprene suit waiting for the klaxon, looking out at the murky and choppy English Channel.

The womens race had already started, so I could see how the waves and currents were throwing everyone off. Rather than the controlled flow of swimmers approaching the first turnaround buoy, there were bodies everywhere. When I got into the water I realised why - it was very difficult to see where I was going, and even when I tried a few strokes, I very quickly veered off course.

The first five minutes were the worst. The second five minutes I didn't like at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline. I randomly couldn't breathe because a wave was blocking my air, got lost in the swell, and frequently switched to breaststroke just to try and survive. We had to swim straight out into the channel, turn right at a huge orange buoy then swim down to another similar marker and finally just make our way back to the start.

I did make progress though, and from past experience knew I'd settle into things, and was bilaterally swimming fairly happily when I turned around for home. The water wasn't cold, but even so, it would have been nice to get out of it before the following wave of swimmers started overtaking me.

I was quite pleased to check into T1 in 35:26 - an OK 1500M time for me. I knew I was quite far back the field though, so headed out on the bike course with purpose. Unfortunately, I never got into my stride here either. My chain came off changing gears at the bottom of a steep incline. I just didn't seem to have the strength to push my average speed over 33km/h - which is pretty much what I finished with. The course was fairly standard - out some residential streets, through some country lanes, then out onto a big dual carriageway. Traffic at that ungodly time of a Sunday morning was light, and the turns were well signposted and marshalled. I made some good gains on the hills, but there were not nearly enough of them, or steep enough, for me to make a real dent in the placings. 1:14 was the finish time - it should have been faster.

After a pretty speedy 49 second T2, I ran out onto Worthing promenade for the dead flat 10K run. Started with 3K wind assisted to the first turnaround, then 2K back into the wind which was pleasant as I was getting quite hot and the breeze was very welcome. I'd finally found my pace for the day and targeted people in front - picking them off one by one. Turned around again to get the tailwind and picked up the pace. I knew from my timings that I would need to do a sub-40 to get a 2:30 result. I didn't aim for that at all, but I could see people plodding in front of me, and wanted to beat them, so chased as many down as I could. One guy in an air force trisuit blatantly tried to draft me as we ran into the wind - I was able to give an extra kick to get rid of him :)

My running has been steadily improving all season - but I wasn't prepared for today's good result - 40:34. I did do a sub 20 5km time trial with my triathlon club on Wednesday, but that wasn't preceded by almost 2 hours of swimming and biking. I'm quite surprised at getting what is in fact my best ever 10K time by quite a large margin! Not complaining though :-)

I even broke my Olympic triathlon record set in Windsor this year by about a minute with 2:32:15. So overall I had a great day out - I conquered the sea swim and ran faster than I ever have. My placing isn't great (21st in age group of 33 competitors) but that's partly due to a significantly high turnout of good people as this race is part of the Taut Triathlon National Ranking Series. I was 154th of 302 people who started the race.

It was great to meet up with fellow Evolution triathletes Zoe Spain and Oliver Perez. Zoe did brilliantly in her first ever Olympic triathlon, and Oliver missed a 3rd place in his age group by a very narrow margin. We even had team support from Charlotte Maurissen who took cheered us on took photos and brought refreshments to tired survivors. Thanks so much to her; it was all most welcome.

Executive summary - I survived it, and got an Olympic personal best time, and also a 10K PB. Not a bad day at the office.

Results are currently here.

10 Mile Time Trial 8/7/10

2010-07-08T22:00:00.003+01:00

Result 26:23 is recorded here

My first ever official 10 mile (or any distance for that matter) cycling time trial.

Prompted by Andy Crawshaw from Evolution Tri Club, and because I've been wanting to try this for years, I put my trusty TT bike in my car, and after misreading the directions several times made it to the A4 near Maidenhead for the start.

I hadn't booked, and I wasn't expecting to get an early start time, but was fairly surprised to be setting off last as number 32. Quite pleased though - at least there wouldn't be hordes of riders speeding past me :)

The start is a wide side road that is almost traffic free. I rode up and down it a bit, not sure how much to do to keep warm but not get tired. It was a lovely evening, with loads of midges swarming above our heads but not settling.

I've been getting faster at our Tri club TTs which are 15.5 miles, so I expected I could manage an average speed of 35-36km/h. It's shorter so I was hoping I could increase that - but the course was unknown and that makes a difference.

The course along the A4 was very straight and had no significant inclines. This meant my speed rarely fluctuated from the average. It was very hard work and I found it very different to a triathlon where there are many people around to judge your effort by. Just me against the clock. Couldn't seem to get above 40km/h even on the downhill sections. Quite a tough last 2 or 3 minutes to the end.

I was very pleased with my 26:23time, but when I saw everyone else's results I realised I have a lot of work to do if I want to move up the leader board.

Had a great evening; the club are a very friendly and very focussed lot. I'll be back!

[improvements: need to find long flat stretch of road, and see if I can cycle at 38.6km/h along it. This is my goal average speed for a TT to give me a 35 minute time - but it's quite ambitious I know.]

Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2010

2010-06-13T18:00:00.000+01:00

This was my 4th Windsor triathlon in 5 years. It was also the one I felt most prepared for. I've been cycling like a demon for two years and running steadily all winter. I've also recently joined a local triathlon club Evolution and the regular sessions with them have really helped me to understand myself better, and assess my capabilities. More of that in another post.

My plan was simple. A standard swim would get me out of the water in about the same as last year - 37 minutes. Bike at 34-35 km/h for a 1:10. Then hopefully my run fitness would get me through in a tough 42. With reasonable transition I was hopeful that I might just beat my enduring Windsor target of 2:30 - but anything better than last years 2:42 would make me happy.

White swim cap this year in the 45-46 year old 6.55am wave. The morning was dull but not cold. I got up at around 4:45 (woke before the alarm) and had a banana and half a cup of coffee. Had an easy drive down to the cricket ground car park and got to transition with plenty of time to spare. Had a chat to another Robert racked next to me who I'd chatted to before at the Eton Supersprint. 6:35 had a gel according to plan.

Swim - 36:55 (174th of 189 finishers)

Have some nice new Zogg predator goggles, only worn twice, and double-hatted them. Got to the start and on cue slipped into the Thames. Quite warm. Felt rubbish as usual for 10 minutes, knew it would pass. Watched my wave disappear into the distance and may even have been in last place at one point.Got into a bit of a rhythm, only breathing to the right as to the left makes me dizzy these days. Think the gel kicked in around 20 minutes in as I was fighting through the weeds on the right bank.

Got to the turnaround buoy without much incident and kicked the pace up a little on the way back - passed a few white hats which was nice. Annoyed that people in waves behind me managed to swim across me as they passed. Reached the end feeling fine and checked my watch which said just over 35 minutes - pleased with that.

T1 - 1:47

Decided to take my wetsuit off right away while it was full of water. Think this worked well. Carried it through to T1 and stupidly ran down the wrong aisle. Only lost a couple of seconds though as I was able to duck under the bar to get across to my bike. Decided that I would take a spare inner tube after all and stuck it in the back pocket of my trisuit. Another wasted second.

Bike - 1:09:38 (27th of 189 finishers)

I've been doing this bike route in Evolution TT training so was pretty confident about my pacing. Hit the A308 hard - need to try and keep up at around 38km/h on this stretch. Straight away passed a few people trying to put their feet into their shoes and others just not trying hard enough :-) Once I got up to speed I had a gel and a sip of water to wash it down. Kept to the pacing plan, passed loads of people. some people passed me, but I overtook them again. Later on some serious cyclists with deep carbon rims and aero helmets overtook me and I could see the sweat dripping off their noses. I'm not quite that hardcore yet.

At the Drift road turnaround I had another gel. I had occasional sips of water and drank maybe 300ml during the whole race. This was part of my plan to improve on minor stomach problems I've had previously. No solids. No energy drinks. Nothing on the run.

Halfway back along Drift road was overtaken by a pair of cyclists who seems stuck together. To avoid drafting them I slowed a little, but they didn't pull away. So I speeded up again and told them they were drafting as I overtook. The lead cyclist complained, but I didn't wait around and never saw them again.

As usual there was a stupid driver getting his car in the way. He was sitting behind some cyclists refusing to overtake, hogging the middle of the lane, and just generally being annoying. Made me very pissed off as he was doing ~30km/h in a zone I know I needed to do at 36km/h. So I overtook him. After that it was plain sailing, though I was a little disappointed I couldn't push as fast as I wanted to up Mount Hill. Got back into town along the new route, spinning my legs a little and slowing down getting ready for the run.

T2 1:36

Had a job getting past slow people getting off their bikes. Note to self, do not let anyone sneak past just before the entrance to Alexandra Gardens. Not a bad transition, but could have saved a few seconds by having my laces looser. I dismissed socks totally this year and my feet didn't slide that easily into the trainers. Stupidly picked up a Nutrigrain bar, and as I put it in my back pocket running, felt the inner tube in there, so had to backtrack to throw it down. didn't even eat the bar.

Run 43:31 (17th of 189 finishers)

I've had a good year of injury free running. I've never done Windsor before without some kind of leg worry. My left knee has felt a bit weak, but mostly when sitting and walking, and I knew running wouldn't be a problem for it. No distractions with hats or sunglasses either today.

Got going immediately with a nice fast cadence - no wobbly legs. It was hard, but I felt in control. Kept an inner mantra going "This is what you came here for - you're ready" I did the whole course (all 3 loops) on Wednesday night. I'd managed 14 minute loops which give me 42 minutes for the course, and I hadn't been racing full speed. However, on Wednesday we'd neglected the extra section out past Browns. This is definitely what threw my estimate out.

I felt tired after the swim and bike, but I also felt strong and confident that I could do it. The hours and hours of running in the past year, especially all the lunchtime runs at Stockley Park (thanks guys) mean I know exactly what I'm capable of in a way I never have before. So I kept to a steady pace and enjoyed the many Evolution cheers of encouragement - sorry if I was too tired to acknowledge them all - I tried to give a smile and a wave. I lost track of time and only realised I wouldn't quite make 2:30 coming into the end of the second lap. I did know I'd get a PB, so pushed on to make it the best time I could and my HR shows increased effort on the final lap.

Total 2:33:27 (61st of 189 finishers in Age Group 45-49. 421st overall.)

Very pleased with everything. Once more I'm faster at every discipline than last year, and my run is 5 minutes faster which is really great. I am disappointed to be 61st though - I didn't look beforehand at past results, and thought a time like this would give me a better showing. It's phenomenal how fast those old people are :-) Obviously my swim lets me down badly and I will never catch the leaders unless I can take at least 5-7 minutes off that. I have been getting faster on the bike every week for 4 weeks in a row, and think with more TT practice I can improve there too. I could have gone a little faster - especially on the flat later sections - but will need to consider how that would affect the run. A run after doing the swim/bike feels weird. Mentally you are ready, and the run muscles are ready, but the tiredness keeps you from getting to your proper run speed. I'm much better than I was, but I don't think I'll ever get to 40 minutes on the Windsor course. But I only need to go 2 minutes faster to make Top 10 in my age group.

So if I managed to train properly, next year I want:

Swim 30, Bike, 1:06, Run 41:30 - 2:21 maybe with transitions - just outside the AG Top 10. I can dream !

Shiplake Triathlon Henley 2010

2010-05-30T18:00:00.011+01:00

Results link here

My triathlon Club send an email during the week that I could get a reduced price entry to this local triathlon if I turned up on the day. Couldn't resist a bargain, and wanted to try out F3 events, and my new Evolution tri-suit, so got up stupidly early on Sunday morning and drove over to Henley to register.

Compared to Human Race or Ironman events this was very low key and informal. Nice if a little disconcerting. For example, bike racks were set up, but it was just a case of first come first served on where you put yours, unlike the strict numbering I'm used to. Not a problem though.

The swim was in an open air 25M heated pool. My first triathlon in a swimming pool. I can't say I like it :-@ People were setting off at seemingly random intervals and I was waiting around when a gap appeared - Martin the organiser asked me if I was ready - I was - so I took the place.

16 laps in a lane with four other people was a bit weird - I got overtaken a couple of times, and swam into the lane dividing rope which was pretty difficult to see, and emerged in average time. I think the 11:23 time includes the up hill run to transition to get my bike.

I really liked the bike course. An undulating road with very few cars. We headed left out of the college and down to a roundabout about 4km away. Then we rode back past the start and another 3km further on to a different roundabout where we did another u-turn and returned to the start. Two laps of that. Being able to see other riders so often is great and lets you judge your progress. I wasn't overtaken once and enjoyed sprinting up a few small hills past other people. My hill work recently has been my best riding. I've lost quite a lot of weight which helps with that.

I did make a schoolboy error though - I imagined that it was a 20km bike section. I got a bit confused when I realised the first lap was about 14k and had to shout to an official. Completely my fault and luckily I wasn't too tired to push on for slightly more than I had expected. Cycling is Ok for that find of mistake - running would be a disaster. Time of 50:35 is good I think.

The run was very pleasant - through some fields, and country lanes - almost flat. The weather was also fine, sunny but not yet hot. I calculate my time at 19:30 by subtracting the splits from the total. It must have been a bit less than 5km, and others commented that the route was slightly shorter than the one advertised. Very happy with that time and felt strong. Caught a few people in this stage too.

Overall time was 1:21:28 - can't compare this with any other races as the bike distance is unusual, but I came 11th out of 61 which is great. Some extra analysis shows I came 2nd in my age group - only 4 seconds behind the leader. This is by far my best result in any race since I was about 15 and came 1st in a local Boy's Brigade cross country championship (a feat never to be repeated!)

It was a really fun event - well done to Zoe Spain and Mark Hyde as well from Evolution Triathlon club - Mark came 2nd overall even though he ran a bit farther than he should have. And thanks to Martin the organiser - it would be great if I could always get a discount - I just can't bring myself to pay £45 for a sprint triathlon that often.

[bib no 179. 11th place out of 61 competitors]

Eton Supersprint 2010

2010-05-16T18:00:00.003+01:00

16th May 2010 - link to results here

My A race this year is Windsor, but I like to do this sprint about a month before to see if everything is working OK.

I've had my best winter ever training, and have avoided injury. I've done more running than ever in my life - at one stage I ran on 8 consecutive days. My biking to work all winter has also given me strong legs. I'm still a slow swimmer unfortunately.

The lake water has been very cold, but I've braved it and survived in training at Liquid Leisure, so when I got in today the shock wasn't too great. Felt very calm and set off at my moderate pace. Came out of the water in a reasonable 9:41 (2008 9:49)

No idea what went wrong in T1 - struggled to get my wetsuit off. 2:28 is a poor transition time but maybe not too bad considering 2008's 2:52.

Out on the bike for 4 laps of the rowing lake. Pushed the pace and passed a lot of other riders. Lots of other waves of competitors on the course so it was difficult to judge position. A few people went past me, but not many. Happy with 36:48 (2008 37:44).

When I took my bike shoes off in T2 I discovered my socks were still sodding wet - so I dumped them and ran in sockless trainers. Decided there and then to not wear socks at all in Windsor. Time a passable 1:18 (2008 1:14).

Felt great going out to run - no wobbly legs. This is a soul destroying course however. 1.25km flat straight out, then back again - two laps for the full 5k. Obviously I was tired, but I knew from training that I could go hard for the distance. I trained a lot over the winter with no socks, and my feet can handle it, so I didn't even think about that. Again - I was seldom passed, and overtook a lot of people. Time 20:30 is I think my PB for the 5K - even non triathlon ones. (2008 22:14)

Total time 1:10:47 (2008 1:13:56)

In my age group I came 18th out of 108 people who started. This is a great result for me so I'm very pleased with my race - a good tryout for Windsor.

[bib No 879. 192nd overall out of ~1100 competitors]

RunKingston 2009

2009-10-11T21:37:00.010+01:00

After my half marathon, and quite a lot of lunchtime runs and cycles to work, I thought I was ready for this 16 mile race. I wasn't. But anyway, RunKingston had been paid for, so there I was.

The weather was fairly perfect, and I got a good position near the front of the starting line for the 8.30am start. I knew I needed to beat 8 minute miles, and felt this would be doable. The first 8 mile loop (of two) began with a nice run along the Thames on the gravel path. I felt fine, and took it fairly easy - there was a long way to go after all. I was under 7 1/2 minutes for the first mile, and easily under 15 for the second.

At around mile three, the route goes over the Bridge at Hampton Court. Then it's a 5 mile return trip to Kingston along uneven footpaths and crossing side roads. This part I didn't enjoy. However I managed to keep up a good pace and hit the half way point at just over 1 hour.

Back along the nice Thames path, and even though I was feeling a bit of a stitch in my shoulder, some steady, focussed breathing helped. However, by the time I reached the bridge at mile 13, I was really struggling. My ankle hurt, my left knee hurt, and worst of all my thighs really started to get painful. I still thought I was on for 2 hours, but I had to stop for a short walk at the final water station, and even though I pushed on I realised with 1 mile to go that I'd missed it.

I still finished with an official time of 2:00:27 - which I'm really pleased with. What I'm not pleased with is how sore I felt at the end. I've never experienced this kind of aching during a race - after a race, always, but never during. Maybe it was the distance, and I'm just not trained for 16 miles. This hasn't given me a huge amount of confidence to do a marathon (btw, I lost the ballot for a London Marathon place, so am on the hunt for something else).

But taking something positive from it - I have gotten much stronger aerobically and mentally. It really hurt, and I pushed myself on to do a negative split on the laps (2nd lap faster than 1st). And I wasn't actually that tired - the only thing slowing me down in the final 3-5 miles was my legs, the rest of me was OK.

Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge - Cannock Chase Calling 2009

2009-09-20T20:00:00.000+01:00

I have decided to mix it up a lot more with different kinds of races - different distances, and a lot more competitions. So after my very first Half Marathon last weekend, this weekend something completely different. Adventure challenges are something I knew little about, but I got a leaflet in my triathlon magazine for the Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge series. (it would be nice if that link works in a years time, but I suspect not).

It is a team event, and I persuaded a couple of people from work to do it with me, Roy, again, and David. The first in the series was in Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. This is near my brother Alan, so as I do not have a mountain bike, I decided to ask him if I could borrow his. This worked out well.

The exact race details weren't available beforehand, except that there would be up to 10km off road running, 25km mountain biking, and some kayaking and other challenges. This didn't sound too onerous to me - it's not that long since I did an Ironman race remember.

The day dawned, bright and sunny and warm. We headed off at 10am for the first stage - what I think was a 5km run. This was a lot of fun, with some challenging climbs, and quite tricky terrain to get over. This took us 30 minutes.

Next came mountain biking. Again, lots of tricky hills, covered in gravel, and still a very congested course. We had to wait at some parts for several minutes. I am not an experienced mountain biker, so went very carefully. I'm not sure how dangerous this would be in the wet. We biked for 1.5 hours and then there was a very welcome drinks stop. I wasn't carrying any drinks - this was a mistake.

We knew kayaking was next, but didn't anticipate the long run to the river. This is where things started to go wrong. David is very fit, but it's more upper body fitness for karate rather than aerobic endurance fitness. His legs started to cramp up and that was the end of our running. We had to stay together so we had a long walk.

Kayaking wasn't as difficult or as long as it might have been - except Roy decided to take the plunge and had a bit of a swim in the river trying to get out of the boat.

Then we walked back to the bikes. Another section of mountain biking, maybe 45 minutes, took us back to camp where we did some short activities to finish.

These were a lot simpler than they could have been.

We finished in almost exactly 5 hours. It was a great day. Because of all the walking, I didn't find it too difficult, though the mountain biking did use some muscles I wasn't used to.

I would definitely love to do this again, but need some new teammates as these ones don't want a repeat performance !

Stockholm Half Marathon 2009

2009-09-12T20:00:00.000+01:00

Went over to Stockholm on the Friday night for the 2009 Half Marathon

Met my fellow competitors Amar, Roy and Barbara for dinner in Gamla Stan on Friday night, then got talked into a pub crawl. Oh well, the race wasn't till 4:50pm Saturday afternoon - I had plenty of time for a lie in and a rest and some rehydration the next day.

Spent Saturday as planned, and went over to register at 2pm. It was a lovely sunny day - bright and crisp, but not too hot.

Met my friends, and by 4:30 we were lined up in our separate waves. I was starting last, 20 minutes behind Roy, and my aim was to try and catch him :-)

My calculations gave me a target - less than 5 minute kilometres - for maximum 1:45 finish. I hoped I could shave a few seconds off this to take it down to 1:40. I was aiming for a controlled start, and a negative split.

Being in the final wave of runners made it very difficult to make headway through the pack to try and make up time. I spent a lot of effort moving sideways to try and get past people with their elbows pumping. Nevertheless I don't think that affected my time. I struggled to go faster than my target, I was just about doing it and felt OK, but felt any faster wasn't an option if I wanted to actually finish fast. The course was nice but I didn't get much chance to take it all in. There were a few inclines, but nothing much to affect my speed. I was amazed at how fast everyone was running, it was a struggle to overtake anyone.

It's a 20km race and I passed Barbara at about 15km. Still feeling OK at 1.5km out I was raising my pace when I got to Amar and just after that caught Roy. I still had quite a bit of energy so was sprinting quite fast by this stage and crossed the line strongly.

My result -
Race Number 10766 Position 2229 Time 1.43.39

It was a really fast race - everyone looked very fit; I think about 8000 people finished. I would have expected to be a bit further up the placings, but the competition here is just too good :-) 37000 people finished the Great North Run last weekend, and my time there would have placed me 3294 - so in the top 10%. The Scandinavians take their running a bit more seriously.

I'm really pleased with the time though, and I think I can do 1:40. More rest in the days beforehand, and more courage to push the pace after I've warmed, say at the 5km mark. And as usual - better nutrition in the days beforehand.

Stockholm Half Marathon 2009 Preview

2009-08-07T11:47:00.005+01:00

I've never run more than about eight miles - except the two marathons at the end of my Ironman races. And those don't really count as I walked quite a lot of them.

I would like to test myself and, also see what these longer races are really like.

so the opportunity to run the Stockholm Half Marathon with some friends, followed up by some good food and drink with them, seemed ideal.

My 10K personal best is about 44 minutes, but I'm probably a bit off that right now. I think I should be able to manage a time of 1:40 - and so that is what I'm aiming for.

Ironman Austria 2009 - Race Report

2009-07-08T11:23:00.006+01:00

[the very long and boring version - details to help me if I ever try something like this again. You have been warned]

When I signed up for Austria, over a year ago now, I suspected that the course wouldn't suit me as well as the Ironman France one did. I was right. The long lake swim was very unforgiving, unlike the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Nice. The rolling roads, and steep climb near the end of the bike course made it both a less interesting route, and a more stressful one. The run, though predominantly flat, had enough little inclines to be annoying, and the horizon was never very far away so there was little feeling of making any progress.

I did beat my France Ironman time, but not by nearly enough.

Pre-Race
Preparation on the weekend went OK. I don't get as much sleep as I need due to some kind of sinus problem that wakes me up in the night so I'm always pretty tired. Getting used to that. On Saturday night I also woke up approximately every hour from 11pm - 4am when I had to get up for breakfast and the coach trip to the start. Had some water and a banana; the only other food I planned was a caffeine gel about 30 minutes from the start. I stayed in a camp with the travel company Nirvana, and it was really nice to head off together on the coach. The pre-dawn weather was perfect.

Borrowed a pump from my friend from work Nigel(1412), and said hello to my brother-in-law Jonathan (1411). Taped a blister pack of pro-plus tablets to my frame, and an energy bar, got changed and was ready to go. Decided to check my gears as I'd not actually done it properly, and panicked a bit when the rear derailleur locked up as I spun the chain backwards. I finally got it to spin freely, but knew it just wasn't right...

Swim - 1:40:48
Stood at the back and calmly walked into the water when the fireworks started the race. Kept very calm and sighted the first blue buoy. Had no problems swimming the 1500M straight out into the lake to the turnaround buoy. Once there the water got a bit more choppy and there was a smell of diesel from the nearby ferrys which wasn't pleasant. After the next and final turnaround buoy we were swimming back into the rising sunshine, and trying to find a narrow canal entrance. I think I went off course, too far right, and lost a few minutes getting back on track. My arms were tiring now and when I entered the canal, it was a very long, slow final 800M to the exit.

Time was 15 minutes off my target and 10 minutes slower than France. I had some catching up to do.

T1 - 6:32
In France, I had a relaxing transition, but today I had decided to storm through as fast as I could. A helper pulled my wetsuit off for me and applied some suncream while I got my socks/shoes/helmet/sunglasses/gloves/race belt on, and after a short toilet break (I must have drunk a lot of lake water) I was off. Pleased with my time.

Bike - 5:54:12
The race plan was clear - 30km/h average. The race plan was wrong. Looking at everyone elses results, I see I should really have been about 30 minutes faster for this course. I'm not saying that I found my bike section easy - far from it - but there were times when I settled for 30km/h when I should have been pushing more. And people were passing me on the downhill sections. It's a race, not a training ride. Having said that, I was tired from the swim, and my arms hurt when I stood up to climb the hills. but I don't think a faster bike would have made my run any slower.

I had 8 gels in a 750ml bottle topped up with water. I sipped this all through the ride. I took on about 4*500ml of water, some banana sections, ate my energy bar, and had a couple of portions of powerbar. I'd planned on eating more bananas, but couldn't face them. My stomach never felt very good, and all the eating I did was force feeding stuff I didn't really want.

Did I enjoy the bike ride? - sorry to say I didn't. The first section along the lake should have been easy, but I was pushing hard as if there was a headwind to try and get my speed up to target. It was quite fun going up the first steep hill at Egg - with a real Tour de France atmosphere from the supporters at the top. But the big climb at Rupertiberg was very unsatisfying - no spectacular view as a reward at the top - unlike the hill climbs in Nice. Passing the halfway mark, and knowing I had to do it all again on the second lap was also dispiriting. I did enjoy some of the descents - reaching 63km/h at one point - and the final push for the finish was OK. Pleased that I slightly beat my target time.

T2 - 6:59
How I managed a longer T2 than T1 i'm not sure. Perhaps my toilet break (the first for 6 hours) was longer :-) Still, it was much better than France, and faster than I expected.

Run - 4:53:50
This is where the race completely fell apart for me. I started running and immediately wanted to stop. In France I ran to heartrate of 150bpm, and I was instantly 156bpm here. So I slowed down and walked a bit. Then my left hamstring started to hurt, so I stopped to apply pressure to that, to avoid it cramping. Finally, an aid station. Another walk and some water and banana. I repeated this performance for the whole race. My hamstring gradually stopped hurting and was OK by about 15km. I took coke/infinit/water and either gel/orange segment at each stop. I just couldn't manage to run for more than about 500m without stoppping. The track consisted of short stretches then a turn then another straight bit, then a turn, so you could never see very far into the distance. In France the aid stations were every 1 mile and you could see the whole course at all times - this worked for me well in terms of planning and expectations. The meandering nature of the Austrian course in Klagenfurt, and the irregular stops for nutrition, meant I was unable to plan as well, and gave myself more excuses to stop than I should have. My stomach was feeling uncomfortable all through the run, and I made a toilet stop at about 16km. However, I was complately dehydrated, so that wasn't it. I just kept eating and drinking to try and keep energy levels up - perhaps there is some other strategy I should have followed - just regular sips of water from a bottle or something.

Checking my watch, I noticed I was going to struggle to beat my IM France time (12:55). I would rather have not finished than be slower. So I kept trying to run more than walk. A heavy thunderstorm broke the 32 degree heat for a while which helped. Finally with 2km to go I said no more walking, and ran to the finish. It's interesting I was able to do it. Could I have done 3km, or 4km? Do I need to be mentally tougher?

Finish - 12:42:21
Beat my France time by 13 minutes, on a faster course when I should have beaten it by 40 minutes. I was very disappointed and have been analysing what went wrong constantly since.

Update: Feeling a little better. I did what I could on the day, and i did finish it, which would have been a top result for me just two years ago. Think my whole nutrition strategy was rubbish. Didn't eat enough pre-race, particularly breakfast. Didn't drink enough on the bike. Ate too much on the run. Didn't get nearly enough rest in the weeks preceeding the race. Also, before attempting anything like this again, I have to make sure I can run a long way. My training for this was as good as injury allowed, so i shouldn't kick myself over that, but next time I need to either run more in training, or lower my expectations.

PS - I wrote another race report on TriTalk - it is slightly less pessimistic :)

IM Austria Preliminary

2009-06-30T11:56:00.005+01:00

This weekend I will be attempting my second Ironman race. Last time in 2007 I did IM France. This time I'm going to Klagenfurt for IM Austria.

My previous time was 12:55, and inevitably I'm hoping to try to beat this. But am I as fit? And if so, where can I shave the minutes off?

I read an interesting document recently that took some averages of all the Ironman age-group times from events around the world, and estimated what course was the hardest. It even put times in. All things being equal, it says that I will be about 40 minutes faster on the Austria course than in France. However, I'm not so sure.

Swim

France was a sea swim, which is my favourite. Extra buoyancy from the salt water, which I also find tastes better. It was two laps, so maybe I'll save a minute there, but I'm fairly sure I'll be around the 1:30 mark again. I'm more confident in the water, and not so scared of the distance, and haven't had any cramp problems with my calfs so far - maybe I can push it a little and save 5 minues.

Bike

Austria doesn't have the long slow climbs that France had. However, I'm a fairly good climber and passed a load of people on that section. I may be atypical and so the time advantage wouldn't apply so much for me because of this. I'm not fast on the flat, and I'm not even very fast descending. My bike time for Windsor triathlon this year was only marginally faster (about 1 minute) than three years ago so time will tell if I can do any better. But I guess 1 minute over 40k equates to nearly 5 minutes over 180k.

Another thing to consider is that in France, I was aiming for 25km/h pace. and so I actively slowed myself down at times. The reason was to avoid overdoing it and not finishing. I did beat that average, but I think I'll be a little more ambitious this time. An average of 30km/h would give me a 6 hour bike time - I'd like that, and depending on the conditions, it is achievable.

Run

Both runs are flat. France was very open and simple to plan - 5K up to the airport, 5k back, and repeat 4 times. I liked this, as it made it very easy to maintain a steady pace. Austria has two laps, but I believe they meander through the town. It will be harder to keep track of my progress maybe. I'm not that confdent in beating my 4:26 time - though I have slightly better run training behind me this season. Time will tell.

Barring accidents or injuries, what it really comes down to I think is how hard I want to push it. I think I am more than capable of 13 hours again. I might be capable of 12 physically, but can I mentally make myself do it. I think this is unlikely. I'll try and do a better estimate soon, but right now, I'm hoping for 12:30.

2009-06-17T20:19:00.003+01:00

Found an Ironman France 2007 video on YouTube.

Here is the link.

...that's me in the background, at 50 seconds, smiling :-)

Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2009

2009-06-15T10:38:00.010+01:00

While it's all fresh in my mind, a race report.

Summary: I had a great day and finished with a time of 2:41:32, beating my PB from three years ago (which was 2:47:55) by over six minutes.

Detail:
My training regime this past year has involved a cycle commute to work. I normally set off at 6:55am, so my 6:50am start was no problem. I woke up before the alarm clock, and easily navigated the 5 minute drive down to the car park. Having said that, I didn't appreciate the time I needed to get ready; getting the wetsuit on, taping gels to the bike, cracking open a new pair of Zogs Predator goggles, pumping the tyres. I ended up slightly rushed and almost forgot to take my swimming hat to the start. I had to run to get there in time as my bike was positioned as far from the swim start as it's possible to get almost.

Swim:
The water wasn't cold, and the current in the Thames was hardly noticable, unlike last years torrent. I started off slow as usual at the back of the pack, breaststroking until I got some space. I really enjoyed the swim up the river, in the bright sunshine. The people in the waves behind didn't seem to be catching me as fast as last year, though I had no real idea of my time. At one point early on, I thought I was doing really well, and had a quick glance behind to see that there were only two green hats behind me. This was a bit of a disappointment, so I tried to swim a bit faster. Turned around at the buoy, and swam back, and oddly this shorter section seemed to take ages. I never felt particularly tired - always my aim in the swim section. This is good as in three weeks I have to do a 3.8Km swim. Worried that I'd miss the hidden exit, I kept looking up, which was a bit silly. Nevertheless I was really pleased when I got out and looked at my watch:

Swim 37:12

Long run down to my bike, managed to get the wetsuit half off as I went, and did a fairly standard time for T1. Could do better with the wetsuit

T1 2:17

Bike:
Hoping for big things from new Planet-X Stealth carbon bike, but interestingly the technology doesn't seem to have made any significant difference to my time from three years ago. However, it was a lot of fun out there, and I passed a lot of people. Too many people passed my though - I can do better with some specific speed training. I'm training for an Ironman race, so have been more interested in endurance. Slightly annoying was a car that got in the way and appeared to be tracking cyclists rather than trying to overtake. I actually had to pass it myself. As usual, one cyclist seemed to be doing my exact pace, so we leapfrogged each other the whole course. Non-drafting makes this complicated and annoying. I was happy to keep the pace brisk, but not kill myself anywhere - ~34km/h on the flat, and ended with an average 33.4km/h

Bike 1:11:55

I don't think there is really anything I need to work on for T2. Perhaps taking my feet out of my shoes before dismounting would shave a few seconds, but I don't like the extra risk of this, and the loss of speed whilst I'm freewheeling.

T2 1:33

Run:
The run is always harder then I expect it will be. I've done quite a few brick sessions so I didn't suffer from wobbly leg syndrome and felt happy running right from the start. I did feel tired, though not too bad, but didn't feel fresh obviously. I had to put a new elasticated lace on my left shoe and it wasn't correctly tightened. During the second lap, my foot didn't feel right, so I had to stop and tighted the lace. I was fine after that but that lap time is a bit slower and I blame worrying about the foot and stopping to fix it for that. But I was consistent at approximately 16 minutes a lap, with a slight negative split, which is nice. I had enough left for a strong finish - maybe I should have pushed sooner (really got going at the second water stop by Eton College)

Run 48:35

Total Time 2:41:32

Conclusion:
All my times were faster than three years ago (I'm going to try and forget last year's race ever happened :-) ) My overall position was 725th - but considering my swim position was 1444th, I know where I have to improve. I've always known this though. For the record, bike position was 336th which is very pleasing, but run was 601st. I need to keep cycling as I am, and get swim coaching, and do some speedwork for running, before i do this triathlon again.

Nutrition:

For the record.

Pasta dinner the night before, obviously :)
Small banana for breakfast, a few sips of PSP22
SIS caffeine gel as I made my way to the swim start.

2 SIS gels on the bike, and ~400ml of Go electrolyte drink. This was too much - I felt a bit bloated. I usually cycle for an hour before even touching any liquids.

Grabbed a banana in T2, forced down two big bites as I ran. This made me feel worse in fact, but maybe the energy kicked in later. Should have had a gel instead perhaps. Had one sip of water on lap 2.

2009-06-09T09:09:00.002+01:00

Only five days to go to the Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2009.

This will be my first triathlon of the year, a small barometer of my fitness. I expect to have a really hard swim (it's been raining heavily so the river will probably have a strong current). I have a new bike and would like to shave a few minutes off previous cycle times. I haven't managed to injure myself yet this year, and if that continues, I am planning on putting in more of an effort on the run.

I'd love to beat my PB, but weather permitting, will settle for beating three hours. I am pretty fit, but I've neglected my swimming, so that's probably going to be the deciding factor.

This is only my 'B' race - Ironman Austria 2009 in under four weeks is my 'A' race, so I need to do what I can to prepare for that.

Equipment - Helmet - Giro Atmos

2009-03-16T10:26:00.005Z

I decided to do triathlon properly after my first sprint attempt. I used a pretty crappy mountain bike helmet in that event, and it only just passed inspection (didn't even realise at the time that they did helmet inspections).

So I went down to my local triathlon shop, SBR in Windsor, and had a long look at the helmets. I wanted something light, strong, sleek and black (in my black phase, other colours are available). I wasn't quite prepared for the price I would have to pay to get all these features in one package, but it quickly became obvious that the Giro Atmos was the helmet for me.

Here is a very positive review of the Atmos.

I've been very happy with the Atmos. I hardly know I'm wearing it except for the chin strap which I might have done a bit on the tight side. As the review says, it is very light, it has a lot of ventilation (has been used in 35-40C in the south of France), and I'm assured it is strong though, hope never to put that to the test. I've also worn it all winter in rain/sleet and snow - it's probably pshchological, but it also seems to keep my head warm.

Me and my Atmos at the Windsor Triathlon.

Do yourself a favour, and get a helmet like this one, not some cheap alternative from Halfords.

September's cycle commute to work

2008-10-02T09:39:00.002+01:00

So I've completed my first full calendar month of commuting to work by bicycle.

"How has it been Robert?" you ask.

Well, it's been pretty good actually.

Temperature:
At the start of the month, I was cycling in shorts and short-sleeved jersey. Very quickly discovered I needed an undershirt, especially in the mornings, and also long sleeves, and then a warm shower-proof jacket, and ginally, running tights over my shorts. So now I'm in full autumn gear. Even wearing fingerless gloves is a bit on the chilly side, and my feet were cold this morning too. i don't really mind what the temperature is when I'm cycling, just as long as I'm dressed appropriately.

Funnily enough, when it was warmer, I'd get home in the evening feeling parched and drain a can of Fosters lager in about 5 minutes. I kept that up for a few weeks, but lately I'm not that thirsty at all, so I've given the lager up.

Rain:
I've only managed to get properly soaked about 3 or 4 times. I haven't got any mudguards, so if the road is very wet, I get wet anyway from the spray even if it isn't actually raining. I honestly don't mind cycling in the rain. It's just annoying getting my clothes dry again, and putting on damp clothes to cycle home.

Sunshine:
I had to buy some lights for my bike. I leave home at ~6.55am, and by the end of the month, this time is before when the sun comes up. It's not so dark that I can't see where I'm going, but I need to be seen by car drivers. I just have a front and rear light on in blinking mode. I cycle towards the east in the morning, andtowards the west in the evening. This is a bit problematic at about 5.30pm at the moment, as I'm going straight into the setting sun and cars behind me are blinded and have difficulty seeing me. In a couple of weeks, this won't be a problem any more - it'll be dark. i will have to buy a proper light I think for the front, as some of my commute is along a country road withno street lighting and quite a few deep potholes.

Wind:
More than hills. More than rain. Cycling into the wind is what I hate most. Prevailing winds seem to be westerlys. So I get a bit of a push to work, and have to struggle home. It would be nicer the other way round I think. My times to work are about 5 minutes faster than those home, though traffic also plays a big part in that difference. (Record for coming in is now just over 43 minutes, done today, 2/10/08)

Route:
I take the same route every day. If I leave at 6:55am, I never get stopped at the level crossing in Datchet. Five minutes later, and I do. So I leave at 6:55am. It's more difficult to leave the office at a set time, so occasionally a train is blocking traffic in Datchet on the way back. If this is the case, then I go round by Eton instead. This adds only about 0.5km to the journey.

My route is mostly flat, only briefly made interesting by a climb over a railway line, and over the M25 and M4 motorways, and in the mornings, up past Windsor Castle. This suits my bike well.

Fitness:
I'm riding my Specialized Langster exclusively now, in fixed gear mode. Having only one gear, and not being able to stop pedalling, is great discipline, and I'm positive that my legs are far stronger now than they have been since Ironman France. I am still easing myself into things, not pushing all out. Even so, my times are generally getting faster and I'm feeling less tired afterwards and recovering more quickly too. In fact, I find the whole experience less tiring than my London commute
on the Brompton was. My plan is to continue like this until at least Christmas (that's if my contract gets renewed of course). Ironman Austria is not until July, and there will be plenty of time in the spring to increase my endurance.

An unfortunate side effect seems to be that I feel less interested in other training, especially swimming. I'm only managing about one 30 minute run a week on top of the cycling. Again, I don't think this is a problem at this stage. Once my body is fully used to the commute, I will factor the other exercising into my schedule.

Enjoyment:
Not getting bored yet. Feel very virtuous. On Sundays, even if I've had a ride in the morning on my Ridley, I'm itching for Monday morning so I can get on the Langster again - it's a great bike.

Fixie

2008-09-13T19:53:00.002+01:00

I popped down to the local bike shop (Stowes of Windsor) and they helpfully flipped the wheel of my Langster over for me.

I'm now riding a fixie !!

I've only ridden back from the shop so far, and my practice over the last few weeks seems to have paid off as I didn't find it too bad. Time will tell, when I head off to the normal rush hour traffic on Monday morning.

It's fun though, I can't wait :-)

Commuter Bike

2008-09-09T14:21:00.003+01:00

DSC03868
Originally uploaded by se71

For the rest of my current contract, or at least while it's in it's current location, I'm cycling to work every day. No more trains!

It's about 13 miles each way, and is quite flat, so rather than ruin my Ridley triathlon bike, I thought I'd use the money saved from Southwest Trains and get a new steed.

Fixed wheel bikes are all the rage, and have a lot to be said for them. My new bike, pictured above, is a Specialized Langster, which can run as either a fixed, or a single speed, depending on which way round you put the rear wheel. For those not in the know, the difference is that riding as single speed means that you are able to free-wheel, whereas with fixed, you have to pedal all the time, and pedalling backwards would mean actually riding backwards. Fixed wheel bikes are what those Olympic gold medallists ride in the velodrome.

It has only one gear in either configuration, so you will struggle up steep hills, and have legs like a spin-dryer going back down them. But there are many advantages. On the flat, the gearing is such that you have a cadence (leg revolutions per minute)
higher than you would probably pick on a geared bike. Spinning at 90-100 revolutions per minute is supposed to be good for triathlon training and I think I'm in that range for most of my commute. Having no gears means less maintenance and a lighter bike. I've also noticed that my bike is a LOT quieter than I'm used to.

I'm sticking to single speed for a week or two to get used to the gearing, and I'm thinking seriously about switching across to fixed soon. The disadvantages to fixed are that it's challenging to stop especially in emergency situations, and it's not possible to rest at all y free-wheeling. That latter point is also an advantage, in that you get a much better workout on your cycle trip.

I'm on my second day cycling so far, and am really enjoying the simplicity of this bike. It's also for some reason much smoother over the bumps than the Ridley. I'm trying to pretend I'm on a fixed wheel, pedalling all the time, which is especially hard down hills, coming up to traffic lights, and clipping my left foot in on the move. I have the old fashioned clips and am cycling with trainers, but I will probably change this to a different style of pedal once I work out what I want.

Definitely recommend the experience so far.

Ironman Austria 2009

2008-07-14T23:29:00.002+01:00

Well, I've put my stake in the sand, or something, and entered next year's Ironman Austria. Woo-hoo.

One Ironman is never enough!

Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2008

2008-06-23T13:39:00.007+01:00

All my high hopes for this year had fallen away over the last month or two, as injury, and a persistent cold, effectively put a stop to my training.

Nevertheless, I really wanted to be part of the day, and so turned up at 6.15am by the river Thames for the 6:50am start of my race - Wave 12 - blue swim cap. The weather forcast has been iffy all week, but it turned out to be a great day, with blue skies and very little wind.

I was hoping to improve on previous swim time, but the conditions were extremely unfavourable. There was a strong current to swim against, apparently the strongest since this triathlon began. I'm a weak swimmer at the best of times, and I really struggled up to the turnaround buoy. It didn't help that many people decided to walk in the shallow water instead of swim - and the were walking faster than me, and getting in my way.

When I got to the buoy, I mistakenly drifted into the middle of the river far too soon. I had my head down, and didn't realise for perhaps a minute that I wasn't even moving forwards. So I had to try and push really hard to reach the buoy, raising my heartrate by 30 beats per minute to over 170.

29 minutes to get up river, then back down in about 11, some of it just floating on my back getting my breath.

Hit transition, and faffed around again with the wetsuit and wet socks. Gotta ditch the socks and save about 30-60 seconds. Felt OK on the bike at the beginning, though nowhere near as good as last time. I had a Go energy bar in my trisuit pocket, but it fell out 10 minutes into the ride, so I had to make do with just the PSP drink. After 15 minutes my thighs started to ache, and this never went away. Kept good time though, and it was fun being overtaken just after Maiden's Green by Jenson Button, No 1111, with his motorbike film crew. Sadly, my Polar HR monitor ran out of memory so I don't have a record of the last half or T2 or the run. Got annoyed a couple of times by people cycling in the middle of the road downhill, thinking they were going fast, when I was easily able to go past them. Most people who passed me seemed to be on tri/TT style bikes, and I didn't even have aero bars. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I must fix that.

I put in a fairly respectable bike time which I think went well (no splits were recorded by HumanRace, which is disappointing). I grabbed a banaba, and headed off for the run, and my supporters had turned up, which was nice. Up until now, I could possibly have matched my 2006 time. Unfortunately, half way round the second lap of three, my old calf injury came back. The muscle felt really tight and painful, as if it would snap on every step. I tried stretching it, which almost put my left thigh into cramp, so gave up on that. I massaged it a bit, and walked/limp ran for a bit, and took a full cup of water at the Eton water station. Kept this up till the end of the lap, and got another drink just below the castle. Checked my watch here, and decided that even though I was slow, I could still beat 3 hours if I ran, so I started running again. It was painful, but not much more so that the walk/limp strategy, and I made it round in just over 2hr 58min.

Jonathan was also competing, and he had a great race, especially his bike split.

This was my worst performance to date, and I can't help being disappointed. I know I shouldn't have expected much, but I hoped it would work out better on the day. My only consolation I guess is that I know the olympic distance is something I can easily finish without that much preparation. When my leg is better, and my cold goes away (yes, I still have it) I'd like to do a few more to really try and nail the pacing and transitions.

I'll be back at Windsor again, hopefully next year if it fits in with whatever plan I come up with (IMA is a possibility), and I still think 2hr 30 is a possibility.

Result: Swim+T1 00:44:09 1341 (4 minutes in t1 I think)
Bike+T2 01:18:10 651 (that's 690 places better than the swim)
Run 00:55:43 1301 (real slow due to injury)

Overall 02:58:03 1212 (11 minutes slower than 2006)

Pre-Windsor Thoughts

2008-06-14T21:36:00.002+01:00

Windsor triathlon tomorrow.

Not very confident. This will be a test to see if an averagely fit person can take a month off and then do a triathlon. I've had a cold, and haven't done any swimming or running, just a bit of cycling, since Eton Sprint 4 weeks ago.

I have a feeling, if I take it easy in the swim, like I did last time I was at Windsor, I might be OK and do 40 minutes again. Problem is, it might drain me for the rest of the event, but if not, I could match I think my 2 hr 47 min time. It's all about the swim I think.

Eton Supersprint 2008

2008-05-19T13:40:00.008+01:00

My previous post was certainly a bit on the optimistic side. Trying to convince myself that I could just knock off a few minutes from the swim and bike on my 2005 sprint time just didn't work in practice.

My overall time was 1:13:56, which is over two minutes slower!

It's not all bad news though, as I came 36th in my age group out of 82, which is better than half way.

Here's a graph of my heart-rate, and supposedly my speeds on the bike and run.

I was feeling quite good about my pool swimming, got into the water, and it felt OK temperaturewise. Unfortunately, once the race started, my bilateral breathing plan went totally to pot, I had to breathe every second stroke, and oddly enough only felt comfortable doing this on the right. Anyway, I was smimming happily along, thinking I was doing OK, but quite soon was surrounded by people doing breaststroke and trying to kick me. By the first buoy I knew I was trailing, by the second I was still struggling, and in the end I only finished faster than about ten people. Back to the drawing board. Oh, did I mention that I was hating every second of it too.

My bike was situated close to the swim exit, and I hadn't thought to try and get my wetsuit off by the time I got there. So I struggled finding the cord to pull the zip down. Then, I struggled to try and pull my socks onto wet feet. For some reason I thought they were ankle socks, but they were really only trainer socks, so even though they were on as far as they would go, I was still trying to pull them up further. Doh! Had to pick up my energy bar and gel - this was poor planning too, they should be taped on the bike. Nearly three minutes in T2, but quite a long run in bike shoes to the exit, then onto the bike leg.

Felt very comfortable on the bike the whole way round. Passed a lot of people, and nearly the only people who passed me were in a different wave I think. My graph shows that my speed hovered around 25-30km/h mark, which I can't agree with. What's up with the Polar anyway, it kept losing the signal too down the back straight and beeping at me. My time was 37:44, which is an average speed of approximately 32km/h. I should have pushed a bit faster I think. Maybe it was the chilly breeze, but I didn't even raise a sweat.

T2 was much better, as it should be. 1:14 is a good time so no real work needed there. I had a 500ml PSP drink (wrong flavour - get a nicer one next time) on the bike which I almost finished. During the run I did feel a bit thirsty, so I need to think about that, maybe a small gel. I was tired, but OK on the run. My left calf felt very tight and I was worried in case it got worse, but it didn't. My heart rate started as it had been on the bike, around 160bpm. I didn't much want it to go higher, but I needed to go faster, so gradually pushed it up, especially in the last 2km where I got it to a max of 186bpm by the finish line.

Again, I'm not happy with the polar foot-pod timing attachment. It's supposed to measure speed, but even though I'm obviously going faster, there is no indication of this on the graph. I have even had to adjust the graph manually for both the bike and run speeds to remove places where it completely dropped to zero. It's going back to the shop on Saturday if I can find the receipt.

Final results are as follows then.

36th out of 82 in the 42-44 age group. 44%
60th out of 189 people in my BTA 40-44 category. 31%
344th out of 945 overall on the day . 36%

400m Swim 9:49 - place 771
T1 2:52
20Km Bike 37:44 - place 240
T2 1:14
5km Run 22:14 - place 283

and comparing like with like for 2005 results

Swim 00:12:46 (new 12:41)
Bike 00:37:42 (new 38:58)
Run 00:21:22 (new 22:14)

it seems I'm slower on the bike and run, but the same on the swim. Hmm. It was a colder day, maybe that contributed to it.

Eton Supersprint Pre-Race Feelings

2008-05-16T12:43:00.003+01:00

I have my first triathlon of the year tomorrow. It's my first competition of any kind since Ironman France last year.

Luckily, this is just a sprint, and one I've done before, three years ago, in my very first triathlon. Here are my results from that day.

Category position 63 out of 130 entrants

Swim 00:12:46
Bike 00:37:42
Run 00:21:22

Total 01:11:52

My swim was terrible, breaststroke all the way, and I only beat one or two people. I hope to improve on that tomorrow, and if my pool swimming is anything to go by, two or three minutes is possible this year without being any more tired. I've consistently trained in the pool, and never do breaststroke any more. Of course, if I am faster, I won't be in the relative calm at the back, but right in the middle of the 'washing machine'. ( from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article2595015.ece, "The start of a triathlon has been likened to swimming blindfolded in a washing machine as hundreds of swimmers kick, punch and scratch for position" ). That'll be fun!

I'm actually quite happy with my bike time from 2005, and also my transitions (T1 included in swim time, T2 included in Bike time), but according to my race report from then, I didn't push on the bike as hard as I could. So depending on the windspeed, I'd like to take off two or three minutes there too. The bike average speed was in the 32km/h region, hard to tell without removing transition times, so I need to move that up to 34 km/h. The course is completely flat and a bit different to previously, there is no turnaround any more, just 4 long circular laps. So I have to put more effort in all the way. We'll see if my bike commute to work has given me any competitive advantage, if it's possible anywhere, then a 20k bike race is it.

Running is always the scary part, where it really hurts. If I push hard in the first two disciplines, I might start the run knackered. 21:22 is a great time for 5k for me. I'm unlikely to beat that, in fact, I'm still a bit surprised I did it. I have to hope I can match it. Even on a bad day, barring injuries, I think I can manage not to lose more than a minute.

My heart rate monitor is really playing up. It will measure time OK, and altitude, and running pace, though I can never see that while I'm actually running as I'm moving my arms around too much to see the small figures. But the HR itself is very dodgy. I put a new battery in the chest sensor, but on my last cycle, the HR only kicked in about 2/3 of the way through. I like to check my pulse while running (swimming is impossible, and on the bike it's always very low anyway). But I fear I'm just going to go for it by listening to my body - that's not so bad, after so many training sessions I know how I'm getting on.

(this is just a small idea of the multitude of things that go through your mind before a triathlon. I have to manage to get to the event on time (10am start) with bike and optional family. I need to maintain the bike, I need to plan nutrition (not so hard on a short event), bring appropriate clothing (it might pour with rain and I have no experience of that). Putting your head under icy water is not pleasant, so this year I'm thinking of wearing two smimming caps (but this breaks the rule - don't do anything in the race you haven't tried in training) to seem if a double layer helps. Whew!)

If I could take 3 minutes off my time, I could go up about 20 places assuming the same distribution of times as before. If I could take 6 minutes off, I'd get into the top 20 for my age group. That's got to be the aim. But if I just match my time and place, I'll be happy - I will be competing against people three years younger than me this time.

Equipment - Bike Box

2008-03-05T14:00:00.003Z

I bought a bike box. I should have done this last year, but I tried to save a few quid and got a bag for taking the bike on the plane instead. This worked, but was a bit hard to push/pull, and I'm pretty sure bike frame got bend in the airplane's hold on the way out to France last year.

But I've now picked up a fairly new SciCon Aero Tech Evolution from a friend who doesn't need it any more, and it looks really good.

The plan is to take my bike on any holiday, and get some nice warm cycle practice when abroad. We'll see. Other than that - I'm now ready (equipmentwise at least :-)for my next Ironman.

February 2008

2008-03-05T13:16:00.002Z

Brief summary of the year so far.

I've been feeling really tired. Not sure why I'm quite so low, as I'm doing exactly the same as I did last year, except less training! Oh well, not getting any younger perhaps.

I've been doing a regular 30 minute run on Wednesday evenings and a fairly regular 40 minute run on an Saturday. I've been swimming 50 lengths (750M) on a Friday afternoon. I've been cycling for around 2 hours on a Sunday, but have missed a couple of these. This is the hardest for me recently, and I've struggled with my pace a lot. Of course, I'm still cycling to work every day, which comes to around 45 miles a week.

So, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are rest days - two more than I got last year when Ironman training.

I've had a lot of trouble with the Polar heart rate monitor. First I thought I was pre-soaking the chest strap in too much water, so stopped. This didn't help. Now I'm wetting it a little bit, and even that isn't working all the time. It's annoying, but at least I'm getting the times of the exercises recorded, if not the HR, and I'm also using my foot pod to record speeds. I will post this information when I work out how to do it in a sensible way.

I am feeling quite strong, just too exhausted to exercise every day. Unlike the last three seasons, I am not scared this year of finishing my events. I'm doing races I've done before, and my goals are completely different now. I have to beat my previous times (weather conditions willing), and I really think I can do this. Unfortunately, the place where I can save most time is in the swim, which I'm still not fast at. I can swim crawl now instead of breaststroke, but amazingly the two are about the same speed for me. I do get less tired though, and can be more consistent, so by the end of my swims, I should be more ready for the bike and run than before.
I've also incorporated a fairly steep hill in my training run this year which really gets my heart pumping, and should be good practice for the climb up to the castle in the Windsor Triathlon.

So the plan is to keep on keeping on, and then get more rest in the weeks approaching my events. Spring is coming and the cycling always gets easier then. I think the training is enough to get me through, and to be honest, ramping it up much would probably cause me to injure myself.

2008 Pre Season

2008-01-15T13:09:00.001Z

I'm not sure whether to keep this blog going or not, but as I have no other easy public place right now for triathlon related stuff, I'll make my sporadic updates and see how we go.

Since the last post I have been running once or twice a week, swimming about once a week on average, cycling to work every day on my Brompton bike, and every few weekends going for a longer ride, but never more than 2 hours. So basically, I'm maintaining a fairly average level of fitness.

I'm not to worried, as the cycling really does keep my legs strong, and I am hoping now that we have settled down a bit since Christmas that I'll get out more at weekends. I have decided however that my gym membership has to go. I am a member of Virgin Active at the Broadgate club, but it is very expensive, and I really only needed it for the 25M pool training. I'll miss having a whole lane to myself for the duration of my session, but work allow me to go to LA Fitness 17M pool for free. That pool is much smaller and busier, but I can't justify the expense.

I am now living in Windsor. I enjoyed running in the Great Park in Autumn, but the route is so water-logged now that I'm forced back onto the pavements. I've used my Polar heart rate monitor, but it's behaving very badly, often losing the signal. It has produced quite a few good graphs of my runs/cycles and hopfully I'll find an easy way of getting them online and linking to them.

In the year to come, I have decided to try a few short/standard triathlons, and maybe some other runs/cycles. So far I am entered in these:

Eton Super Sprint - 17th May 2008

Nokia Royal Windsor Triathlon - 15th June 2008

Aiming to keep the running training to short distances, to see if that manages to prevent the calf injuries I've got the last two years. Crossed fingers.

Bike

2007-09-09T17:21:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time, and the reason isn't my uselesslessness in updating the blog, it's actually that I haven't done any meaningful exercise.

I've been cycling on my Brompton every day to work, except for the two weeks in August when I was on holiday. I did a bit of swimming in Spain, but not really an awful lot. I still haven't done any running since the painful experience in Richmond park. ( a week or so after my Ironman, I went for a run, but it was so painful I limped most of it)

So I pumped my very flat tyres, and strapped on my HR monitor, and set off today at about 11am on a nice sunny day. This was my first cycle from my new house, so I've got to think about different routes now. I wanted to turn right at the end of the road, but the traffic was terrible so I took the easier option and turned left down the hill.

This road has one of those terrible combined footpaths/cycle paths. It's the kind that has a side road every 50 meters and a steep slope in the pavement down and back up again as the path crosses the road. You practically have to stop unless you want to risk a car careering into you. These are actually much more dangerous for cyclists, and pedestrians for that matter, than just cycling down the road.

I was cycling on the road, when straight away someone in a left-hand drive car, someone with little knowledge of cycling or the rules in the highway code, pulled alongside me, leaned over, and tried to tell me through their window I should be on the cycle path.
I was only able to get out a "This is a public road and I can cycle on it if I like" before they pulled away. I think that was really rather restrained of me.

I meandered around Windsor, up to Ascot, and and back through Windsor Great Park. Not wanting to overdo it, I only stayed out for around 1hr 20mins.

It felt good, with hardly any wind and bright sunshine (was wering my newish Maui Jims).

Full stats to follow.

Ironman France 2007 - The Result

2007-07-02T15:46:00.000+01:00

Well, I did it, I'm an Ironman!

Long and rambling race report coming up. Believe it or not, this is the edited version, the full account will be expanded in due course, with photos.

My plan was always to take it easy, and just to finish. My estimates were really very accurate, whch I'm pleased about. They assumed no cramping in the swim, and no mechanical problems on the bike, and no pulled muscles in the run. I was lucky, I avoided all these.

Swim: Estimate 1:45 (actually calculated 1:42 but rounded up): Real 1:31

Got into the water and after 30 seconds thought "What the hell am I doing here, I'll never make it round those buoys, they are miles away. Best to just stop now." I always feel bad for the first few minutes of a swim, so recognised this, and tried to just get into a rhythm. I started at the very far right, and had plenty of space, and soon was happily doing my bilateral stroke, breathing smoothly every third stroke. I actually love sea swimming, and the buoyancy meant I didn't have to kick my legs at all. When I hit the first buoy I knew I could make one lap. when I finished the first lap in only 44 minutes, I knew I could do another and beat my estimate. I eventually came out in under 1:30, but messed around in the showers and struggled to get my wetsuit off before going through the timer. Place was now 1283 overall.

T1:

Pulled my trisuit top down and liberally covered myself with sun cream. Ate a gel and some PSP22. Ran to my bike and took a comfort break in the handy cubicle. T1 was almost empty by now. Didn't think it was so long, but took almost 12 minutes

Bike: Estimate 7:00 : real 6:35

This is what I was looking forward to. I wanted to average 25km/h, so reigned myself in on the way to the hills. Met Ironchamp who had been having tyre trouble. Hit the first hill, the only steep one, and was surprised to see many people walking up it. Rode past them all. My recent bike training has been great, and I knew I could take the hills as I came out in April for a practice. Sure enough, it all went to plan and I passed many people on the way up to the top. Still sticking to my plan, I never went flat out on the descent, giving my legs some time to rest. The final 30km against the wind on the flat was not pleasant, I though this might happen. I have never trained with tribars, and didn't have any now, so just stayed as low as I could until T2. It was pretty lonely out there by now, I only saw 2 other bikes.

I drank my two 750ml bottles of PSP22, and two 500ml of water. I tried the coke (thinking I'd taken energy drink) but poured it on the road to save weight in the last 20k. I ate loads of bananas, a few gels, and a some powerbar segments. Had a tropical Go bar but just couldn't face finishing it.

In the end I gained 292 places and was now up to 991

T2

Another fairly empty transition area, another comfort break, some more sun cream, and again, nearly 12 minutes.

Run: Estimate 4:30 : Real 4:26

My longest run ever before today was about 1 hour 10 - maybe 8-9 miles. My estimate was just an extrapolation of this, with a bit on top as it's after the swim/bike. I hadn't run for nearly 3 weeks due to pains in my calves, so I was very apprehensive about how this would go.

My plan was to jog along at a rate that wouldn't make me puff for breath. I noticed that a heartrate of 150bpm seemed to be working, so tried sticking with that. I only bought the HRM last week, and haven't been using it in training at all. The first lap was OK, under 1:04. I caught up with Jim66 here and someone else (whose name I didn't catch, sorry) and we ran the next 5k together. I lost them an an aid station and went back to my constant plodding. I walked every aid station, drinking 1/3 cup of water and maybe some energy drink, and taking some kind of food. I tried banana on salty biscuits washed down with coke, which tasted pretty good. I tried dried apricots, but they didn't agree with me. I tried washing off the copious amounds of salt that were building up on my trisuit with sponges, but it didn't work. At least it cooled me down. At the third turnaround I put in a bit more effort - I really wanted to hit that 13 hours and it was in sight. My feet were very hot, my knees were starting to hurt, and starting running again after only a short break for water was soooo hard. 5 minutes from the end my right leg started to wobble like a loose wheel on a car. I had planned to miss that last aid stop, but stopped to gather myself for the final push. Headed off again and the music was getting louder. Suddenly I heard the announcer say my name, and my daughter grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards the finish line down the blue carpet. "Slow down" I whispered to her breathlessly, "I can't go that fast" as the crowd cheered on either side. And then it was over, I'd done it, I was an Ironman in 12:55:51.

I'd passed another 124 people in the run to take my place to 867, which I'm really pleased with. (187/292 in my age group).

Lessons learned:
Swim faster. Get some coaching and do some drills. 1:10 next time
Change Faster: 24 minutes in transition isn't good enough
Cycle faster: get some tri bars to reduce wind resistance, pump tyres harder, and pedal down the hills
Run faster: try and skip every other aid stop.

Just downloaded my Polar heart rate stats:

Packing For Ironman

2007-06-20T10:38:00.000+01:00

First of all, let's analyse the race:

(PS if I miss anything obvious, can you add it in the comments for me please :) I'm constantly updating during today)

Preswim:

Banana
SIS Energy gel
Water: will drink plenty of salty water whilst swimming, but maybe a bit now too

Swim:

Wetsuit
Goggles * 2
Swim cap - supplied by IMF
Bodyglide - only need on neck really
Tri-suit

T1:

Weak 500ml energy drink
Energy gel
Suncream
Spare contact lenses - in case I lose one and decide to put a new one in

Bike:

Bike!
Helmet
Bike Shoes
Black Nike Socks
Cycle computer
Pump
Behind saddle bag containing:
2 spare tubes
Packet of self adhesive patches - last resort
tyre levers
Fingerless cycling gloves - cheap ones, if they annoy me, chuck them.
Sun Glasses * 2 - prescription ones in case I lose a contact lens in the water
Bar bag containing:
4 Energy bars - 2 powerbar, 2 Go
4 Gels - 2 SIS, 2 powerbar
Small suncream to top up
2 750l bottles of mid strength energy drink

Special Needs
2 more energy drink bottles. - chuck the first 2 away :(

T2:
Another SIS gel

Run:

Training Shoes
White running socks - dry socks for run
White hat
T-shirt - in case my shoulders are burning and I want to cover up.
Shorts - in case I want a complete change out of tri-suit
2 gels - that's all my pockets can take

now, what else do I need to pack.

BTA License
Passport
Flight + Hotel ticket vouchers
phone
phone charger
PSP
PSP Charger
Soap bag with usual stuff
T-shirts/Shorts/sandles/
wear long sleeve shirt with pocket + chino type trousers
Oil for bike
Wallet/keys/money

Preparation - Ironman France

2007-06-19T16:49:00.000+01:00

I've been very remiss in my postings here. I just never seem to get time. Here's some information on how my training preparation for Nice has gone and how I see the day going.

Swim:
I've been having a few problems with my legs cramping after about 40 minutes in the water. It's not exact, and I have only noticed it on longer swims. I'm a little worried about cramping in Nice, but once it subsides, I am able to get back swimming again, and it doesn't affect the muscles I use for cycling. It does affect my running muscles however, so that's a problem. To date, my longest swim is only about 2/3 the Ironman distance (100 lengths). I felt OK afterwards, but my arms were a bit tired. So I'm confident I can do the first lap as long as I stay calm and stick to my (slow) pace. The second lap may be a bit daunting, but again, I have to not panic even if I'm way near the back of the pack. As long as I've done the first lap in under one hour, I can still finish it in time not to miss the cutoff time of 2:15. I'm hoping for a 53min 1st lap, and my swim stroke is consistent, so the same for the second.

Estimate - 1 hour 45.

Bike:
This is the only area where I feel fairly confident that I can do the distance. Of course, I've never cycled 110 miles (top ride is 100 so far), and I've never done a long ride after a long swim. But I have been to Nice and done the difficult 80 miles climbing portion of the race, and that gives me some confidence that I can do it again. I averaged ~25km/h that time, and on the flat I should be able to keep to that or more.

Estimate - 7 hours

Run:
Really apprehensive about the run. If the swim and bike go OK then I'll have 7 hours to finish it. If my calves hold out, and I hydrate properly, then a slow shuffle in the afternoon sun should be OK. Of course, my training has been broken twice with calf injuries, and I've only ever run a maximum of about 8-9 miles in my life, which is only about a third of a marathon, so this really is unchartered territory.

Estimate 4-7 hours.

Total of the estimates gives 13-16 hours, depending on my legs. I'd really like to beat 4 hours for the marathon, and I'm putting some painkillers in my bag at T2 and shall chomp on those if need be. I have no idea how the exhaustion of being active all day will affect me, again, a completely unknown factor. I know that I can cycle fairly hard for 7 hours, I know that I'll get a bit of a rest on the back leg of the Nice course, and I'm hoping I can just keep going.

All that sounds a bit negative I know, but there are positive aspects. It's not long ago that I thought 2 lengths of the pool without stopping was an achievment, and I remember collapsing onto the sofa after my first 3 hour ride and not getting up again all day. I only took up triathlon in November 2004, and I'm actually happy at how far I've come. I'm really looking forward to getting out there - I wish it was tomorrow - I think the bike course is amazing, and even if I'm tired, I'm going to be thinking that it's great just to be able to attempt something like this. I really will be gutted if I don't finish. I don't care if I cross the line with seconds to spare, the time isn't important, but I do want to finish inside the 16 hours.

Time will tell.

Nice training

2007-04-29T20:56:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-23T11:37:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-16T11:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-09T16:55:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-02T18:10:00.000+01:00

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.

Week 12 Summary 2007

2007-03-26T18:10:00.000+01:00

Monday 19th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, rest otherwise
Tuesday 20th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, 40 lengths = 1000M swim.
Wednesday 21th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, Run Ascot Loop 2, ipod says 8.27km in 37:25
Thursday 22th March - 15Km Brompton cycle
Friday 23th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, 40 lengths = 1000M swim
Saturday 24th March - Run - Ascot Loop 2 , ipod says 8.18km in 38:15
Sunday 25th March - Bike, Turbo trainer for 45 minutes.

Back to almost normal - no proper long bike on the Sunday.

Week 11 Summary 2007

2007-03-19T18:00:00.000Z

Monday 12th March - 15Km Brompton cycle
Tuesday 13th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, 40 lengths = 1000M swim.
Wednesday 14th March - 15Km Brompton cycle, Run Ascot Loop 1, ipod says 6.67km in 30:12
Thursday 15th March - 15Km Brompton cycle
Friday 16th March - 15Km Brompton cycle
Saturday 17th March
Sunday 18th March

A very poor week, as I was preparing myself for moving out of my house, and then doing the actual moving, so had no time or energy to train.

I guess I can count emptying my loft of a multitude of heavy boxes as strength training

Week 10 Summary 2007

2007-03-12T13:48:00.000Z

After several weeks of not posting, I'm again in catch-up mode.

Monday 5th March : 15Km Brompton cycle. Off otherwise

Tuesday 6th March : 1500M swim at Broadgate, 5th set of ten laps breaststroke.

Wednesday 7th March : 15Km Brompton cycle. 30 minutes at 6.1mph on the treadmill at Broadgate.

Thursday 8th March : Biked the whole way to work from Ascot. Then back as far as Staines on the way home. 60Km in 2:25:00, then 40km in 1:30:00 approx.

Friday 9th March 15Km Brompton cycle. 1000M swimming

Saturday 10th March: Nothing - packing and moving in Datchet

Sunday 11th March : Nothing - packing and moving in Datchet

Week 3 Summary 2007

2007-01-22T17:46:00.000Z

Monday 15th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Rest

Tuesday 16th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : 1000M swimming at Broadgate, 40 lengths

Wednesday 17th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Ascot loop 2 anticockwise again in the dark. Was running quite relaxed, when after about 25 minutes, my right calf suddenly stretched very badly. Had to limp/jog painfully home the rest of the way.

Nikeplus - 8.12km, 39:11 mins, 4:49 /km. 572 Cals

Thursday 18th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Rest as my leg is sore, though I can still cycle.

Friday 19th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : 1000M swimming at Broadgate

Saturday 20th - Can't run as my leg hurts :-(

Sunday 21st - Normal cycle. Went to Kingston and back. Got rained on a bit in the beginning, but it cleared up and I got dry again. Met Jon a couple of times, the first I thought he was with a group so I didn't stop, and the second we rode together for about 10 minutes.

This has not therefore been a good week, I will probably not be running properly for ages now.

Week 2 Summary 2007

2007-01-15T10:19:00.000Z

Another week, another summary.

Monday 8th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Rest

Tuesday 9th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : 1000M swimming at Broadgate

Wednesday 10th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Ascot loop 2 anticockwise. Dark, but not too cold and not raining for a change. Need to find a longer evening route, but it's really hard as there aren't many footpaths around the side roads. 36:41 minutes. 8Km and 4:34 min/km according to NikePlus

Thursday 11th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : Rest when I should really have been on the Turbo.

Friday 12th - Brompton 9 miles bike commute : 1000M swimming at Broadgate

Saturday 13th - Running at Ascot racetrack three laps in drizzle. 1:06:54 hours. 14.51K and 4:36 min/km according to NikePlus

Sunday 14th - Various roads cycling up to Henley and back. clear sunny winter weather - not cold. Some big hills - need more of these. 2hours 15 mins, 27.25 km/h avg, 61.31km.

Not a bad week. Saturday was my longest run ever. No joke, I didn't even do runs like this at school as far as I can remember. Aiming for a 90 minute run every weekend.

No injuries though sharp left knee pain occasionally and tightness in my left achilles today following the Sunday ride. Also my usual sore back twinges. Swimming needs to be longer, though getting the time from work is tricky. I know I can do more and am not particularly tired after my sessions now.

Bought new swimming trunks and goggles on Sunday at SBR. Met a guy I have cycled with there, and he was recently returned from doing an Ironman in Australia in December.

Week 1 Summary 2007

2007-01-08T11:52:00.000Z

New year, new blog format, new will to post more regularly.

Mon 1st Jan Rest

Tue 2nd Jan 9km Brompton Commute

Wed 3rd Jan 9km Brompton Commute. Evening run of 29.19 minutes in nasty blustery wind and rain. NikePlus says it's 6.45km, 4.32 min/km pace.

Thu 4th Jan 9km Brompton Commute

Fri 5th Jan 9km Brompton Commute. 40 lengths (1000M) swimming at Broadgate

Sat 6th Jan Rest

Sun 7th Jan Bike for 1 hour 45, average speed 28.25 km/h

This week I've been recovering from the Christmas break when I had a mild cold and took a few days off.

Bike/Swim

2006-10-25T15:29:00.000+01:00

30 minutes bike, 20 minutes swim.

Finally made it to the gym this morning in the hotel (Hyatt, Lisle, Il.). Had a really excellent exercise bike with touch screen, heart rate monitor, and even a TV. Did a variable program cycling 9 miles and using up about 275 calories.

The pool is about 15-20 metres long, and I did 40 lengths.

All before breakfast too!

Bike/Run

2006-10-17T15:57:00.000+01:00

12K Brompton bike commute. (Went to Carol's so missing 4K there)

43 minute, approx 8K run in Richmond Park. This is my first night run there of the winter, and we're on the road only route and carrying torches to avoid getting run over by cyclists. Taking it easy tonight as my legs are sore from Sunday's race. This course is definitely shorter than the summer one, we did that in 48 minutes last time and I think we ran at a similar pace tonight.

Bike

2006-10-16T18:54:00.000+01:00

16K Brompton normal bike commute.

Legs suffering again from yesterdays race.

Event - Princes Trust 10K

2006-10-15T18:48:00.000+01:00

Another Sunday, another 10K; this is becoming a bit of a habit.

Went to Windsor with the family this morning for a run through Windsor Great Park and bits of Legoland. The children also ran in a 4K and did very well, finishing together.

My 10K was through a lot of woods, and I wasn't really expecting the rough terrain. I started off quite well, but the rough, muddy paths played havoc with my left ankle so I had to be really careful. It's hard to concentrate on the horizon to try and forget how tired you are when you have to watch your feet all the time.

Unlike last week's quite level course, there were many small hills on this one. I'm just not used to running on hills, something I hadn't really realised. The final 500M are all uphill, quite steep near the end. I let a few people overtake me just before this last bit, and managed to retake my position with a sprint which was good - it hurt though.

Top 50 placing! - 49th with an official time of 44:37. (860 finishers)

Bike

2006-10-14T21:34:00.000+01:00

1 hour - Z1 - Z2

Even though I have a 10K run tomorrow morning, I couldn't resist having a proper go on my new Elite turbo trainer.

Got all dressed up in my cycle gear and pedalled away for one hour at a fairly moderate pace. Listened to podcasts on my Nano, and got really hot from the cooking in the kitchen. Will definitely setup a fan and a DVD player for future longer sessions.

I liked it though, and think it will really aid my winter Ironman training.

Equipment

2006-10-14T19:38:00.000+01:00

Finally, after wanting one for nearly two years, I went out and bought a Turbo Trainer.

It's a Elite Crono Mag ElastoGel Turbo Trainer and I got it at my local Triathlon shop - SBR Sports in Windsor. In the end, it wasn't a very scientific decision. I needed to be able to pick one up in my car, and they are very near a carpark. I didn't really care whether I got Elite or Tacx, and SBR only had Elite. I wanted a model with a resistance adjuster, but didn't want all the digital gizmos. I expected to pay about £100-£150 - and got it for £130 minus 10% for being a regular customer.

I got a very overpriced piece of moulded plastic for under the front tyre too (£12.95) and a band of sweat catching towelling (eeugh), also a bit of a waste of money really.

[time limited link to details of the turbo here ]

Bike

2006-10-13T15:44:00.000+01:00

16K Brompton normal bike commute

Bike

2006-10-12T18:44:00.000+01:00

16K Brompton normal bike commute

Bike/Run

2006-10-11T18:43:00.000+01:00

16K Brompton normal bike commute

10 minute warmup on the rowing machine, then a 30 minute treadmill run at LA Fitness. Legs just recovering from Sunday's 10K in Hyde Park, and I've got another coming up this Sunday too.

Swim/Bike

2006-10-10T17:55:00.000+01:00

16K Brompton normal bike commute

900M swim in LA Fitness pool

Did 50 lengths (750M) straight off in 21 minutes.
After a suana break, did another 10 lengths (150M) as a cool down.

Bike

2006-10-09T18:10:00.000+01:00

16K normal Brompton bike commute.

After yesterday's run (or maybe it was the really painful massage) my legs are aching very, very badly today.

Event - RunLondon 10K

2006-10-08T18:00:00.000+01:00

10K run in 44 minutes and 01 second. This is actually a new personal best for me.

It was a really nice day for running in my opinion, bright and only very slightly chilly, so that I wasn't cold before the start, and didn't overheat too much running around.

Due to iPod problems, and a very poor analog watch, I was only vaguely aware of how fast I was running. Well, that's not actually true. I've done so much running in the last two years, that I can now feel my pace quite accurately. I knew I was having a fairly good on target first 5k at a very even pace. I knew I really struggled from 5.5k - 8k after picking up my water and as usual getting some up my nose while trying to drink it on the move. I really picked up the pace and knew that my last 2K were pretty good. I knew I'd done quite a good time, and was expecting a match of my 45 minutes from last year, so was really pleased though not too surprised to get 44:01.

Run training has gone really well over the last few weeks since I got back from Cuba. I started slow, and have done well to keep away from injury. I'm pretty fit from cycling to work, and this shows where I need to inject pace briefly. I'm so used to pushing off fast from the traffic lights on my bike, that those muscles can get me past a small group of people in my way, or propel me up a slight incline. So I was feeling quite confident about doing well in this race, as I was feeling quite fit.

I'm not so good with longer hills though. I think the period when I ran slowest from 6-8k was mostly uphill.

Nike measured some split times, which is really nice. Here they are:


2k  08:46  08:46  4:23
4k  17:33  08:47  4:23
6k  26:26  08:53  4:26
8k  35:42  09:16  4:38
10k 44:01  08:19  4:10

As you can see, my sprint finish was pretty impressive :-)

Bike/Swim

2006-10-06T18:00:00.000+01:00

Commuting by Brompton - 10 miles.

Swimming in LA Fitness. 60 lengths of 15M = 900M

Blocks of 10 lengths as usual, one block was breaststroke; the final 10 was done as a cool down after going into the sauna.

Bike

2006-10-05T18:00:00.000+01:00

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles - plus Bank - Belgravia via the Apple Store on Regents street, and then back down to Vauxhall. This was due to me buying an Applle Nano MP3 player, and then going to the Star Tavern for a London perl Mongers meeting.

Bike

2006-10-04T21:09:00.000+01:00

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles + (Bank - Oxford Circus - Waterloo) - approx 5 miles, to pick up Nike RunLondon T-Shirt. I also bought some new trainers. I got Nike Plus Air Zoom Special Edition 10/2 Lance Armstrong ones on grey/yellow. Very nice, £65.

12 miles in total, some very fast as I made it from Oxford Circus to Waterloo in 13 minutes.

Bike/Run

2006-10-03T16:08:00.000+01:00

Commuting by Brompton - 9 miles

LA Fitness Gym - treadmill - 40 minutes and exactly 7km

Bike

2006-10-02T16:05:00.000+01:00

Commuting by Brompton - 7 miles. (no ride home as picked up in Datchet)

Bike

2006-10-01T16:01:00.000+01:00

Early morning cycle, with a day threatening rain so I wore my blue rain jacket, but it never materialised so I get really hot.

Circled around from Ascot to Virginia Water, Chobham and Bracknell for a near 70K ride.

Didn't look at my average speed at all, I think I concentrate too much on that. Still managed over 28km/h average.

Goals: Ironman

2006-10-01T14:19:00.000+01:00

I have entered and been accepted to compete in Ironman France 2007

This is a pretty big step, and a big jump from my previous triathlon, an olympic distance at Windsor.

Nevertheless, I've decided that it's now or never, and I have Jonathan also doing it with me, so that will help a lot with moral support.

Today I'm officially starting my training, though a proper plan will be drawn up over the next few weeks.

Summary

2006-09-30T11:19:00.000+01:00

Since the last post (14th August) I've still been exercising fairly regularly, but not recording the results here. So here is a quick summary, though I know I have some bike times written down that I can hopefully upload later.

Went to Cuba for a holiday, and swam in the sea every day. My swimming really improved, perhaps not in technique, but in arm strength.

I also cycled on a stationary bike in the gym maybe 6 times, for 30 minutes a time. There were no readouts, and I was checking just my calories from my polar heart rate monitor, and this ranged from 320 to 360.

I didn't run at all. My ankle sprain really scuppered my running this year.

Since returning back to work I've been doing weekend cycles of between 50 and 90 km. I've been going to the gym and cycling shorter times obviously. I've done a few treadmill sessions, trying to get my legs working again without crapming up my calfs. I've done a run in Richmond park with Carol and Jon which was very slow at 48 minutes, and left me very sore for two days. However, I think I've gotten over the pain now and am back to almost normal running.

I've been swimming about once a week - 30 - 60 lengths in the LA Fitness 15M pool. Once I went to Windsor Leisure Pool and managed approximately 1500M of mostly crawl, but this took me nearly one hour.

Of course, I've been cycling to work as well on my Brompton, and along with various other journeys, am averaging about 50 miles a week on that (two trips to the passport agency in Victoria in the pouring rain being particular high(low)lights.

So, all in all, I've been maintaining fitness in a rather haphazard way, and need to get more structured for the coming winter.

Swim

2006-08-14T15:20:00.000+01:00

Thinking it might help my back, went for a non-impact swim and a bit of a stretch in the sauna/steam room at LA Fitness instead of a lunch break.

Did 4 * 10 of the 15M lengths, then had the stretch break, and finished off with another 10 lenghts to cool down a bit.

Did feel a bit better by the end.

Total 750M

Bike

2006-08-13T10:54:00.000+01:00

From Datchet - the cycle3 route.

Trp - 43.11km
Rid - 1:25:50
Avg - 30.14

Started off with a light drizzle and the wind against me.

Fared much better speed wise when the rain got heavier and the wind was on my back on the way back through Dorney.

First day wearing my blue coat for a long time. -Soaked when I got in but felt I had a good ride.

Row/Run/Bike

2006-08-11T17:48:00.000+01:00

LA Fitness, mixed session.

10 minutes rowing 2000M

10 minutes running. Quite pleased I can actually run a bit now. Didn't push it very hard, only 8.5km/h

10 minutes bike, where I tried to push really hard while watching my power output. Watched my heartrate too, and realised I never actually push enough on the bike. Only managed at the peak today to get up to 161bpm - when running this is easy to do. Aim to try for more short power sessions on the bike.

Row/Run

2006-08-08T17:46:00.000+01:00

Fairly disappointing session in LA Fitness gym.

15 minutes rowing used up ~175 calories.

My back is still sore from trampolining, and I only managed a slow 4 minute jog on the treadmill before I had to stop.

Bike

2006-08-05T15:03:00.000+01:00

I have been training regularly the last few weeks, justnot filling in the details here. Will tryand backfill.

Today I set off from Ascot at around noon, and headed over to Henley. Was feeling quite good, and went up the steep hill there ending up at the top near Nettlebed, and then hammering down the A4130 back into town. I reached a top speed of 66km/h.

Back the usual way to Datchet.

Only half a banana before I left, a Go bar and 500ml of PSP en route - not enough really for this long ride.

Lovely warm day though, really enjoyed still being quite strong at the end.

Trip	Ride	Average
85.3km	2:48:46	30.34km/h

Event - RunLondon 5K

2006-07-16T14:31:00.000+01:00

Last autumn Nike started their "I will Run a Year" campaign with a 10K race in Hyde Park. They have followed this up with 5K races every two months, and I've only missed one due to a sprained ankle.

Today was the final race and it was up in north London, in Finsbury Park. I elected to go at 11am instead of running in the first wave which is what I usually do. This was lucky as the aerliest train from Ascot was 8.22am, and once I'd got to Waterloo and cycled up to the venue it was spot on 10am. I just missed seeing the first lot start.

It was a swelteringly hot day, but I quite like running in the heat. This was my first race since the Windsor Triathlon, and though my left calf has recovered now, I haven't trained enough to be confident enough of it to go all out. I decided to try for 4 minute 15 second kilometers. This is a pace I'm fairly comfortable with and should return a 21:15 time. If I'm feeling good and manage to keep up that pace, then there would be a chance in the final half kilometer sprint to beat 21 minutes.

The course was a loop which started about 600M from the finish, and from there continued on for two full laps. This 600M section therefore had to be run three times, and it was uphill. I made good time though for the first km, wasn't far off the mark for the second one, and it was only on the second ascent that I think I slowed a little.

Paula Radcliff was running - not at her serious pace though, she ran in the first wave too, and she's just announced that she is pregnant. I got a good position near the front for the start, and she must have joined a bit behind me, because she overtook me at about the 3.5k mark. We were actually running at not too dissimilar a pace, and we finished about 100M apart, with only three other runners between us. I did manage a pretty strong last 500M.

I felt good throughout the race, so I obviously wasn't trying hard enough, and sure enough, my time of 21:52 bears this out. It's still not a bad time, but quite far from my best time in March which was 21:05.

I walked down to the Nike stand an exchanged a few words with Paula. I got my T-shirt signed, and got a signed postcard for the girls too. She was very pleasant and generous with her time.

I had a good day out, and got some good cycling in as well as I had to race back to Waterloo (about 6 miles) because of an semi-emergency at home

Bike

2006-07-14T20:19:00.000+01:00

Another week of biking to work on the Brompton.

[Bike: 60Km]

Swim

2006-07-13T18:15:00.000+01:00

Back to LA Fitness' 15M pool.

I've decided that endurance swimming is something I don't need to do quite as much as I did before. I know now that I can swim 1500M (even if half of it is breaststroke).

But I need to be able to swim faster.

So I swam 3 lots of 20 lengths today, putting a lot more effort in so that I was really tired by the end of each session. I know this isn't perfect training, but it's a start.

[total 900M)

Row/Run

2006-07-12T14:54:00.000+01:00

Went to LA Fitness for a treadmill session.

I finally found my HR monitor which has been missing for a while, and used that. (it was in the pocket of my winter cycling jacket)

After a 5 minute rowing warmup (58kcal), started running and gradually speeded up from 10km/h to 13km/h.

Stupidly lost my HR history so can't put it here.

Ran for 21 minutes, and playing with Excel, make it approximately 4km in total.

It's really hard to go fast on the treadmill. My HR only went up to 154bpm at 13km/h which felt very fast, whereas on the road I find it difficult to stay below 160bpm so I must be running faster there. Maybe the treadmill is just reporting the speed/distance incorrectly. I should do a trial running the same distance each at the same HR and seeing if the times are the same.

Bike

2006-07-09T14:47:00.000+01:00

My bike was in Datchet, so drove over and managed to get on the road at just after 9am.

Went to Windsor, and did the majority of the Windsor Triathlon course, veering off at the end over to Old Windsor and back to Datchet. I would have had a longer ride, but it was raining a bit, and there was some wind resistance, and after yesterday's run I thought this would be enough. Rain cleared near the end, and it was never really cold, so I got home quite dry.

???Approx stats???
Time 1:40
Diatance 48k
Average speed: 30.5 km/h

Run

2006-07-08T14:38:00.000+01:00

Decided to risk a longer run for the first time since hurting my leg running in Richmond Park.

Went on the clockwise reservoir route, which is about 5 miles. There is a slight extra bit now where Thames Water have built a new road around a big hole, so I cannot compare my time exactly with previous runs.

It was a really hot day, and I rain at lunchtime. I felt really quite good, especially in the last 10 minutes where I wanted to go faster, but held back.

Time - 41 minutes

Run/Swim

2006-07-06T17:30:00.000+01:00

Went to LA Fitness planning to swim really, but it was busy, so I had a run first.

I ran at a sedate 10km/h for about 20 minutes, legs felt fine.

Decided to check the pool, and there were only two people in there, so went in and knocked out 20 lengths (300M).

So, with my usual cycling commute to work, I almost did a sprint triathlon today :-)

Planning

2006-07-06T09:02:00.000+01:00

My plan all along, since starting triathlon training, has been to do an Ironman event.

Last year was the sprint, and this year I did the olympic distance. Originally I thought a Half-Ironman would be the next logical step. But the training required would be very similar to the full Ironman training, and as I'm not getting any younger, I think now that it makes sense to go straight for the full distance event.

This logic may be flawed - I don't care!

So I thought that maybe a half marathon would be a good mid-term goal to get me on my way. And I discovered one in Windsor, in September. Perfect. Except that it's closed to 'normal' entrants now. I have to pay £125 for the pleasure of a Charity Golden Bond. This is crap. I can understand closing entries when capacity has been reached, but reserving places like this is just rubbish. This is as bad as the charity muggers you see on the high street, manipulating people into signing direct debits to charities they probably don't even care that much about.

The charities involved here are not ones I would ever give money to. Yes, I can't even nominate a charity I do care about, I have to give money to the homeless (CRASH) or to The Prince Philip Trust Fund which last year paid for a church kitchen to be refurbished for gods sake!. It's not cheap either - £125.

It annoys me a lot that this seems to be the case for a lot of running events. The London Marathon is practically impossible to get into unless you wear a chicken suit and say it's for 'charidee mate'. These events have big name sponsors, and every runner pays too, so why do they think they have to play the charity card? Does Madonna refuse to sell you a ticket to her concerts unless you give an extra £100 to charity? Does Manchester United have a compulsory charity tax at their grounds? No, that would be ridiculous. By all means use some of the profits from a race as donations to charity - everyone will contribute equally and still have a fair chance of competing. If the entry fee is too large the event will attract too few runners and not continue in following years, so that should keep things economically priced.

Just open the registration on a certain date, and when you've sold out your capacity, then close it. This is how triathlon works, and I really hope as it becomes more popular they don't go down the charity route too.

So I'm now looking at Humanrace and considering the Kingston Festival instead. It's not 13 miles, its either 8 or 16, and I'm leaning towards the longer distance today.

Events

2006-07-05T17:34:00.000+01:00

I've signed up for another 5K run from the Nike RunLondon lot. It's on 16th July, and if I manage to make it there, I'm not going to try for a PB. I'm more interested in the chance of a free T-Shirt, and a preferrential place at the front of the 10K race later in the year.

Row/Run

2006-07-04T17:02:00.000+01:00

I really wanted (needed) to swim today, but the pool at LA Fitness was packed, probably due to the very warm and humid weather we're having.

So I warmed up with 10 minutes (110kcal) of rowing, and decided to see if my left calf could stand a bit of gentle jogging.

It did!

I ran at a very sedentary 7 km/h (I think it's set to km on those machines) for 20 minutes and my legs were fine. Great news. I'll try a little faster/longer next time.

Bike

2006-07-02T14:11:00.000+01:00

Set off very early this morning as I knew it would be a really, really hot day.

Left Ascot at 7:50am and headed out to Bracknell and around from there to Twyford/Henley (Regatta today)/Marlow/Bourne End/Maidenhead/Eton and home to Datchet.

Interestingly, met Martyn in a group of (presumably) SBR riders as I was approaching Eton Wick. It was after 10am, a bit of an odd time for them to be setting off.

I was still a bit tired from last night I think, and struggled to maintain my target 30km/h pace. At the lights in Eton it dipped below to 29.3, but I managed to push it back up before reaching home.

Riding in this way is quite good I find for short distances (~40k), but on longer rides modifying your pace upwards to try and raise the average gets harder and harder and more frustrating.

Wore my new jersey (bought yesterday in SBR, actually wore last night too). It's a Giordana in Black/Orange/Grey. I wrote a review of it on the new SBR website, but it hasn't appeared (Note - it has now), so I'll put it down below in this post too. It cost £40 - 10% - and as it's £34.99 on the website, I could have saved a quid!)

Average speed - 30km/h
Time - about 02:30
Distance - about 75km.

[note, watch out for Powerbars, one took a bit off my tooth off this morning)

---
Review: Giordana Tecnical Blend Jersey in Black/Orange/Grey: £40

I wanted something a bit brighter that would make me more visible to motorists, so the orange stripes on this jersey appealed to me.

A benefit I hadn't considered was the zip - unlike my other jerseys, it goes all the way down and opens at the front like a jacket. This means that when you take it off you don't have to pull it over your head spilling your keys/wallet/mobile phone/spare tube all over the floor! There are the usual three open rear pockets, but inside one is a small extra pocket which has a velcro fastening. I can't really think of a use for this - if it was waterproof it would be great to put a phone inside.

It's comfortable, wicks away moisture, and also feels like it's performing some wind protection in the front.

So overall, a great jersey.

Bike

2006-07-01T21:55:00.001+01:00

Did what has become my usual Saturday evening ride over from Datchet to Ascot. Went round through Wraysbury, Staines, then Egham, and up the A30. Turned right before reaching Sunningdale this time up round the edge of Windsor Great Park and into Ascot.

Approx 52 minutes, at 29 km/h

Swim

2006-06-29T17:56:00.000+01:00

After yesterday's disaster, I thought today wouldn't be too hot either.

I was wrong.

I went swimming in LA Fitness, and did 60 lengths easily in their 15M pool. 900M. I was trying to swim faster, but was still slow. 20 of those lengths were breaststroke, and I had to stop and demist my googles every 10 laps It took about 30 minutes altogether.

Left calf muscles are feeling a bit better actually.

Goals: Part 2

2006-06-29T11:58:00.000+01:00

So I've decided I need some goals. Short term goals are fine, but I need som medium and longer term goals to really get this thing going. I need to work out what I really want from this sport - what would make me happy, after all, isn't that what doing this exercise is for in the first place.

Having done two triathlons now, what I most enjoyed about them was being out there on the bike racing loads of people, and passing a lot of them. Once was a closed road, almost like a racetrack. The other did have traffic, but it was early on a Sunday morning, and the police were on hand waving us through junctions. Both days were bright and sunny.

I just wanted to finish those races, to say I'd done it, but the good weather definitely enhanced the experience a lot.

So I think I'd like to do more races in nice weather, preferrably on roads with little or zero traffic. I think I'll have a better chance of this if I do them abroad, in a warm country. This will obviously cost me more in time and money, but maybe I can make mini holidays out of it.

I thought I'd found a good one here - Seattle Escape From the Rock. The cycle over that bridge looks awesome. But it's not a dry place - some of the photos on the Brightroom website for this event from previous years look a little grim.

The search is on though.

Goals

2006-06-29T10:47:00.000+01:00

I have far too few goals. Now I've done my Olympic Distance Triathlon, I don't have anything on the calendar. I think this is a mistake.

I've been doing some searching on Blogger for triathlon, and found a community of people who seem to know each other and all have training blogs. They are all in the US - here are a few I've read a bit of:

http://curlysu.blogspot.com/
http://lanasmarathonjourney.blogspot.com/
http://tri4ever.blogspot.com/
http://trirunning.blogspot.com/

There is a very positive, upbeat feel to these blogs. Very American in the "Have a nice day" vein with a lot of mutual support and back slapping. I like it really, and the blogs are all very readable, almost addictive. It would be nice to find a similar group in the UK to join.

Another thing they all have in common, is a list of goals for the coming year. 10K races, sprint and olympic triathlons, 1/2 Ironmans and Ironman races too, with dates and estimated times. Some have a nice table of these dates, some keep weekly and monthly training summaries. It's all a lot more interesting than my blog, but of course, a lot more work. So I'm going to try and get myself entered into some more events, and put a calendar online, to see if I can structure my training better and achieve more.

Talking of goals, would *love* to be able to do this http://www.envirosports.com/events/displayevent.php?eventid=1547

Run/Row/Swim

2006-06-28T17:26:00.000+01:00

Sounds like a tough session from the title, but it really was a bit of a disaster.

Went to LA Fitness gym, and walked on the treadmill for a few minutes, trying to warm up my left calf. Took the speed up to a jog, and after only 2 minutes, my leg was throbbing and I had to stop.

So I gave up and did 100kcals on the rowing machine. Unsure what to do next really, and not having swum for a week, went to the pool and did 20 lengths. I tried to put more strength into my pull, but I'm still going far too slowly. Ran out of time.

Really must book more sessions with SwimForTri

Bike

2006-06-27T13:27:00.000+01:00

Yes, Bike again.

Decided that I need to build stamina, and a 3 hour ride was in order. Despite making up the route as I went along, I managed to do almost exactly that.

Started in Ascot and finished in Datchet:

Time 3:02:??
Distance 89km
Average 28.34 knm/h

I didn't have any food, only one gel and 500ml of PSP22. This was a mistake. After 1 hour my average speed was 32km/h, but it gradually waned as I got more tired. I did a series of big hills outside Henley too, which slowed me down, though the ride back down the other side was pretty fast. In the last hour I just couldn't keep the pace any more even on the flat. I haven't done any rides this long for ages though.

On finishing, I could hardly get off the bike - back a bit stiff. Also, the suncream on my forehead had some flies stuck in it.

(Route, over to A30, then zig-zag up to Drift road. Over to Twyford and up to Henley. As mentioned, went up big hill there for a change and to add distance, past places like Rotherfield Greys and Shepherds Green and turned around at Nettlebed for a long downhill back to Henley. Then round to my usual journey home to Datchet through Marlow, Bourne End, Maidenhead, Dorney and Eton. Must do that Henley bit again soon.)

Bike

2006-06-24T21:12:00.000+01:00

After a whole day spent ferrying family around, and seeing all the cyclists out enjoying themselves in the sunshine, I just had to get out there.

So as Dr Who was starting in Datchet, I got on my bike and cycled round to Ascot. Went via Old Windsor, Egham, A30.

Went up through South Ascot, and into the town which was full of drunk people trying to get home from the last day of the races.

Was careful with the tightness in my left calf, though there wasn't that much need - cycling doesn't affect it that much.

Bike/Injury

2006-06-23T20:01:00.000+01:00

Another week of commuting, another 45 miles or so on my Brompton.

Arrived in Datchet this evening, and pedalled really hard back to the house.

Feeling OK, I started running up the stairs, when suddenly my left calf exploded, and I was brought to my knees just like the scene in Terminator 2 where the silver terminator gets frozen and tries to keep running and his legs fall off. I'd thought this injury from last night was feeling a bit better. It doesn't really hurt when cycling.

Put an ice pack on it and did some stretching.