It’s Not About The Bike
So yet another long break between posts! Mainly due to the combined incompetence of myself, BT and O2, I know finally have internet in my new house, nearly 2 months after moving in!
It has been a time of ups and downs since the last post. I have had a spate of bad luck. First of all, I got a foot injury about 4 weeks caused by running in my FiveFingers with absolutely dead legs and doing a tempo run. For some reason my leg just didn’t seem to want to work, and 25 minutes in, my foot started slapping against the ground. Being and our and back run, only way home was to run, so 25 minutes later, I hobbled home with a foot strain. This now appears to be a 6 monthly occurrence as I had one the exact same time, this time last year! Though that one was from standing on a plug… With 6 weeks to prepare for an ultra-marathon, it wasn’t exactly the best preparation!
The other bit of bad luck was a bike crash. As part of my training regime (more later) I was out with University Of Manchester Cycling Club and there was a touch of wheels in the group, someone went down in front of me, and I went over the top. Thankfully, I escaped with only a bit of road rash, but unfortunately my beloved Specialized didn’t fare so well, with a crack straight through my downtube:
I am looking at getting this repaired, and hopefully I can, but in the meantime, it means I am training on my old commuting bike, which is proving to be a great winter trainer, as it is bombproof, as also weighs a ton!
Tour of the Peak
So last weekend I set off in the dark, and freezing cold to take part in the Tour of the Peak, which I did last year. However, with my ultra less than a week away, I opted to go for the short version, as I know how I felt at the end of the long one last year! I had a great ride, and really showed my improvement on the bike from 3 big rides a week. I rode constantly within myself, didn’t walk (and that was TOUGH lugging the brute of the commuter bike up Winnats Pass!) and had an enjoyable day. I finished in 4:45, which put me 36th out of 350! Not bad for a rusty bike! It was also nice to do a sponsored ride, as I enjoyed stuffing my face with Soreen at the food stop, and finished the ride with more gels than I started the race with!
Training
Despite my foot injury, training of late has been great, and I am really enjoying being back in Manchester. Despite being the off-season, I am putting in consistent big weeks, and feeling fine for it. My weight is also much better than it has ever been at this time in the season, which is encouraging. In cycling and swimming, I am surrounding myself with better people so I have to up my game. I have joined the Uni Cycling Club, which gives me 2 hard rides a week on Wednesday and Saturday, which generally involves smashing each other for a few hours, and I am seeing the benefits of another year in my legs. Average speed and endurance are all up, and the amount I eat on rides is all down! I also ride with the Tri Club on Sundays, which is more controlled and a chain gang effort, giving me the option of having another hard ride, or switching to a recovery ride.
If you include commuting, I haven’t had a day off the bike since sometime in September! Thankfully I feel fine, and am just enjoying being back in training.
In swimming, I am enjoying being back in squad swims, which really forced me to sort out my technique and up my game from a year of plodding up and down the local leisure centre. Whilst there is still a lot of work to do on my stroke, yesterday I got 500m into the set before I was told to move up a lane. This now puts me in the same lane as the winner of the Outlaw and in the lane next to people who were basically born into a pool and professional triathletes! I have basically as many swims a week as I want, and will put in an endurance set once I switch back to triathlon training after my ultra, which should see me go close, if not under the hour for Roth.
Despite the fact, I have the Pembrokeshire Coastal Challenge in 3 days now, my run training hasn’t been as much as I would have liked. I did however manage nearly 2 hours, half off-road yesterday, so I am confident my foot will hold together. With being used to 2 hard, consecutive days on the bike now, I know my legs recover fairly well, so maybe there is hope after all! I will put another post up just before, outlying training, aims and kit.
The Final Build
Wow really has been a long time since my last post! Well since then, my stomach started working again after a few days, though it took a week to get back to normal, I went to Manchester for a stag do, end of exams party, and general mental refresh, and I have hit training HARD!
The week after the last post (so 2 and a half weeks ago), I started my final build for Switzerland. What was planned was 3 and a weeks of intense training, followed by a mini taper for Llandudno Triathlon to recover, a couple of final main sessions, then my final taper. So far it has been interesting, with mega bike hours, good swim sessions and a running injury…
Week 1
The first week went pretty much to plan, with around 22 and a half hours done. Totals were:
Swim: 9k
Bike: 295k
Run: 54k
I felt good and the long rides after the office really started to help, and I began to see improvements. Having an easy office ride on the tuesday, and a long, hilly ride on Wed has given me vast improvements in my bike, mainly with fuelling and stamina. They have helped me be able to ride for long hours on little food and still feel fairly good. Also I have been riding pretty knackered recently, so hopefully when I am fresh I should fly!
Swimming was plodding along nicely, and I was getting my feeling back for the water, and times were improving. I also upped the distance to 3.5k so the full swim should be fine, and leave me with plenty left in the tank. My running had a big improvement in mileage, and I was beginning to feel it click. I did my long run after work on the Friday (due to a wedding on the Sat) and again had little food, but felt great. I was running smooth, light footed, and my endurance was good. Unfortunately it went wrong in week 2.
Week 2
So having had a big week, I decided that having done a weights session in the morning too, that I would do a speed run session in the evening! This was a 20 min run, 10x 1min on, 1 min off, 20 min run. Given that this was the first speed work I had done for a long time, and my legs were knackered, meant that by the last few reps I wasn’t exactly running light-footed! The Newtons don’t offer too much support or cushioning either (deliberately, and this is how I like it), so my feet were slamming into the ground. The end result was some sort of tendon strain in the outside of my left foot between the heel and arch. I couldn’t walk, let alone run, so I didn’t run again the rest of the week!
However, this did allow me to put in a mega bike week. Hitting nearly 450k for the week, including a 230k ride on Sunday really boosted my confidence for the IM. Granted it wasn’t exactly quick, but now I know I can ride 50k over the distance, with tired legs (and having been out the training before, no drinking of course!) puts me in good stead. I just have to wait for the fatigue to lift in my taper so I can push harder.
So totals for the week, 26 and a half hours:
Swim: 10.5k
Bike: 445k
Run: 12.6k(!)
Coming Up
So entering the third week of my ‘supercompensation’ training, and I am beginning to feel it! I had a good massage last week, which cleared out a lot of the knots, but exhaustion is beginning to set in. Part of the problem is a calorie deficit, the weight is dropping off me with all the training, a big part is lack of sleep; I seem to have an inane ability to go to bed late, with training late and working long hours so I have been lacking in sleep lately (hopefully will help correct that tonight!). But the biggest reason is I am putting in more hours than some pros do! I haven’t built up to it gradually, more using the crash training approach, which works for me. Hopefully with my foot on the mend, I can start to ramp up my run training up until Llandudno next weekend, and afterwards I will have a swim week, as this takes the shortest to taper, hopefully with a trip to a lake at some point, one long bike session, and a longish run before I scale it way back to recover. Meanwhile, I am doing the Manchester-to-Blackpool bike ride for a bit of fun with the office. I am mixing it up though, I riding to the start (I live nearish to Blackpool), doing the ride, then riding home! This should give me another big day of cycling, and as this one starts early, hopefully I will have time to run after!
Hopefully will get around to writing a blog before Llandudno as my training scales back!
Train safe,
Tim
Becoming An Athlete Once More
Wow it’s been a long time since my last post, apologies for that! Life, travelling, injury and illness all managed to get in the way. As such, this could prove to be a rather long post, as well as having lots of non-training parts so I will try and structure it so you can pick and chose as you please.
From Russia With Flu
As mentioned in the previous post, I had thought my foot had healed, however a run soon after the other post soon proved me wrong. I managed a good half an hour, but anything over that was pushing it. However, I had a nice few days off to make sure it was healed when I headed off to Russia to see my girlfriend. However, a couple of nights before I was due to go, I wasn’t feeling too good, and then waking up in the middle of the night, all the colds/night sweats/chest infections I have had over the last couple of months hit me and I had the full works. My head felt like it was about to explode, all my muscles felt like I had done 4 IMs back to back flat out, and my throat felt like it had been replaced by a few sets of razor blades. I attempted to sleep until the morning, when I called into work sick and slept for another few hours. At this point, I had to drive down to my Dads to go to the airport in the morning. Let me tell you 250 miles with flu, dosed up on drugs is not good fun! However, as I hardly ever take any painkillers etc, the paracetemol had a good effect on me and I felt much better, flying the next day might be possible! After the drugs had worn off, I looked like death according to my step-mum, so an early night was in order for the 4 o’clock start to get my 6 o’clock flight! Waking up, I didn’t feel too bad, getting out of bed I felt terrible! More paracetmol, a drive to the airport, then some neurofen and onto the plane I got. By the time I reached zurich for my change I was feeling ok, and then it was just a couple of hours to Russia. Getting off the plane in St Petersburg, I hoped to God that the drugs had reduced my fever as I was met by a very stern looking woman with a thermal camera. Having decided that I wasn’t going to spread the plague across Russia I was unchallenged and breathed a huge sigh of relief as I stood at Passport Control desperately trying not to cough!
St Petersburg is a very interesting country, and we got a taxi from the airport and took the ‘scenic’ route back. Within 2 minutes of being in the taxi, we nearly got hit at a junction and as far as I can work out, Russians obey traffic lights to the degree that they refuse to go through if its even on orange, and then after that it’s a free-for-all! Health and safety hadn’t reached them yet, which made for a refreshing break throughout the trip. Having arrived at Meri’s appartment, I met her hostess and stood there smiling and nodding as she gabbered at me in Russian. I knew I should have brought that phrase book in the airport! A night out was non-negotiable and I was treated to the Russian cure for illnesses: vodka. And they don’t do single shots either. However, other than one episode the next morning where I was just curled up in bed with no energy having not eaten properly for 3 days, I seemed fine. An ice cream with lots of toppings and sugar soon sorted this, and then I was left to enjoy the trip.
This is the square James Bond drove the tank through!
It is a very beautiful city, with lots of churches, palaces and buildings that they have plied a lot of money in to make look good, which really pays off. As well as the amazing builings and squares, there was the obligitory Russian quirks: pet bears: 
and a stuffed animal museum: 
It was a fantastic trip, despite being too short, and next time I’m out we’re off to Moscow for a few days as well as more time in St P to see how much of the language I can learn.
Preston 10 Mile Road Race
On my return, with 6 days until the race, I decided that it would be a good idea to actually see how my legs were. 20 minutes later I discovered that although I felt recovered, my lungs and my legs were still suffering the effects of my illness. So it was more rest, until the day before when I went out to make sure I wouldn’t be stale for the race. I did a few minute pick-ups and felt ok.
The race itself wasn’t too bad. The idea of having a massive triple-chocolate cookie half an hour before the start was certainly a bad idea, as this just sat in my stomach complaining the entire race, but other than that I felt pretty good. I set off hard, clocking the first couple of miles at 7 minute/mile pace, expecting to settle into a nice rythym and the HR to drop down from the 185 bpm it was sat at. 4 miles later, this wasn’t happening but I decided to go for it anyway. With only 4 runs in the 3 weeks leading up to the race, my form was never going to be good, but I should have been fairly recovered, and know I can hold 180 for an hour or so, so pushed it. After a few miles the pace dropped to 7:30 min/mile but it stayed around there for the rest of the race. At about mile 7 I caught up with a woman who I had been yoyoying with for half the race and ran with her, holding good pace. Although it had dropped by a couple of seconds, sub 1:15 looked good as long as I had a good last mile. So at the mile 9 marker I just opened the legs and went for it. For the first time in the race I felt good and like a runner with a fluid technique, it’s just a pity my HR had to be at 190 for it to happen! I clocked off the last mile in 6 minutes and came home in 1:14:27 according to the official results, which put me in the top half of the field.
All in all, given the circumstances I was happy with this. My foot was fine with only a slight discomfort for the last third of the race, which didn’t get any worse as I went on. I certainly need some new shoes soon though, my blisters were bad at the end! With actual training, and finding a good rythym I reckon I could hold this pace for an entire marathon, though with the HR where it was, not for an IM marathon. For switzerland as long as I don’t fracture my collar bone 9 weeks before(!) I reckon 3:30 should be achievable.
Getting ‘Badged’
In between coming back from Russia and the Preston 10 mile road race, I had a nice visit to Manchester. Half of the reason of visiting was to watch Michael McIntyre at the MEN Arena, and I have not laughed that hard in a long time (well since I saw Lee Evans there last year!). Absolutely brilliant show, and certainly recommend the DVD if you haven’t seen in.
The other reason was to go and get my Ironman tattoo. This is something I had planned from about month 2 of training for IMUK, and I booked it during Fresher’s Week in September and the nearest appointment was November! (She’s a good tattoo artist!) So an hour of pain later, here is the finished product:
My Mum hates it, so it must be good! I absolutely love it, and it will serve a reminder to me that no matter what you are told, anything is possible as long as you believe it is. It also reminds me that if I really want something, I don’t have a pain barrier! And let’s face it, it’s good for showing off in the pool/in shorts (which I wear all year round)/at races. It will fade as it heals, and the scabs have no nearly all come off and it looks awesome! The only downside to the tattoo is that it has put me out of the pool for a few weeks while it heals…
The Training Plan
So as I put the final touches to my new, revised training plan, it’s intersting to see how it has changed from what I had in mind a couple of months ago! It is quite a simple plan, all below AT for now. In essence I have a yoga session every week, 2 weights sessions a week (time-dependant) to help avoid injury. The rest of my training is then based around what I want to achieve for that block. With swimming not being a big part of an Ironman, and with my running seemingly OK with little training, I am going to spend a lot of pre-season on my bike. Given that it is the biggest chunk of the race, and that the fresher I come off the bike, the better I will run, I believe it is one of the biggest limiters for all but the best cyclists in an Ironman. So for the few weeks I will do lots of time on the bike, around 6 sessions a week, with the usual long bike at the weekend. I will most probably move my long run (which at this stage is only an hour and a half) from the weekend to Wednesday, which will allow me to have 2 long rides a week, at the weekend. For the beginning it is all about getting back into the rountine of regular training. I will have a couple of runs a week, possibly only my long run and running off both long bikes and a couple of swims a week, when I can get back in the pool.
I have a swim course on the 5th December, which among others, has video analysis of my stroke. This should prove interesting, and I am reluctant to spend lots of time in the pool until this as it is far easier to iron out bad habits after time off than in the middle of a season. Once I have had this, I will spend a couple of weeks working on my running and working on drills in the pool up until Christmas week. Christmas week provides unknown pool opening times (along with the usual questions of when does the post come, when are the bins collected, what day is it, what time is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and when do the sales start!) and also Welsh mountains. So I will do a heavy week, with lots of time in the cycling making the most of being at home for the week. I am then down south visiting my Dad and girlfriend while she is home for Christmas so will shift training back to swimming and running until I start work again in the New Year. I will then have a few weeks of lots of cycling, but tapering down towards the end of January for my training camp in January in Lanzarote and regular visits to/from my girlfriend until she goes back in February.
I want to absolutely run myself into the ground in Lanzarote and hope to make big gains in fitness over this week with all my time solely for training. We also have use of a 50m pool I think every morning, so depending on the training schedule provided, I am going to aim for an Epic Camp style training week, with swim, bike and run every day.
After the training camp, I will have a week and a half of recovery and then Ironman specific training starts and I get to experience the joys of juggling a job/life/training that almost every age grouper has to do. I miss being a student! I will follow a similar format to last year, though will shedule the week slightly differently. It will be a week of a long bike with run afterwards, a long run, 3-4 swims and filled in with yoga, weights and short runs and bikes. I will be out visiting Russia again in April so will have a big build and then use that week as a R&R week before beginning a final build.
I aim to make the most of living by the sea when it warms up with regular sea swims to get used to the wetsuit and will spend a lot of work on technique. Cycling will be all about volume, and running frequency for good form. So far the only other race next year I have planned it Weymouth Middle Distance, though I’m sure there will be a few more dotted about! Anyhoo, it is looking to be a good season hopefully, building upon everything I learnt last year and I am certainly looking forward to it, which is encouraging after the massive lack of motivation I have had at points over the last few weeks.
I did warn you it was going to be a long post! Next time won’t be as long and there won’t be as long a wait, promise!
Train safe,
Tim
Injured, Ill and Fed Up
Well as I sit here comtemplating on all the training I am missing, I thought why not blog about it! It’s been a while afterall…
As you can tell from the title, I am not exactly having the best pre season so far. First of all, at the start of last week I stood on something in my room, which I think was an upturned plug (I didnt pay much attention at the time) and hurt my foot. Nothing major happened, just a small strain I think. However, with my usual sensible mindset I decided it would be a good idea to go for an hour and a quarter run the day after with one of my training partners who I am training up for the Preston 10 mile road race. Felt fine for 20 mins and then the muscles protecting my foot got tired and I was in a lot of pain! Consequently I still can’t walk properly and have done a 10 min run since to try it out. It is taking a long time to heal this, mainly as you can’t really get much rest as no matter what you do, you have to walk. But it is slowly getting there.
The other problem I have is I have gotten ill, for the 2nd time in a month and I think it is the same bug, certainly the same symptons. The reason for this I suspect was that I had possibly a bit too indulgent weekend with not enough sleep and a far too large binge on sweets at a party. I am rather hoping it is not a chest infection, but with the symptons and the recurrance it could be possible. Having asthma I think I may have to nip to the GP in the next week or so for my Swine Flu vaccine, so can ask him them. So I am off training for the moment in an attempt to recover quickly, and sticking to my diet to give myself the best chances. Slight problem in that I have the Tour of the Peaks, over 100 miles now of cyclling in the Peak District, on Saturday, which means I need to recover quickly!
There are a few positives from this however (though I am scraping the barrel a bit!):
- If I am going to get ill and injured, at least its at the same time at not seperately so I don’t miss even more training
- It explains why I have been feeling so flat recently, especially in my long ride at the weekend when my legs have just been refusing to fire
- It is the off-season, so not the end of the world missing a week of training or so
So when I am finally recovered, I will need to rewrite my training program. I am going to keep my runs short, and try and get some interval work in there. I have been doing a lot of runs at easy pace lately, mainly whilst I switch my technique, but as that is getting there, I need to inject some pace, because at the moment I have none! Whilst in the run block, I will keep my formula of 6 runs, 2 bikes, 2 swims and 2 weights a week. Oweing to me getting a tattoo (yes I am following the norm and having an M-dot tattoo done) I will be out of the pool for another week or so after the 10 mile race, so will continue my running for another week, or have a transitional week depending on how I feel. One thing I have noticed when I actually was training and running 6 times a week, was how my knees felt. Usualy I always have a few niggles in my knees, especially when doing lots of running, and in all honesty I haven’t been doing my knee exercises as much as I should. But I have had absolutely no problems from then! I think the reasons for this are partly actually doing some exercises, even if not enough, recovering properly from last major training (my IM), and my diet. With the Paleo diet I am getting enough protein in my diet, and I suspect that all my stabilisers and muscles can actually recover and repair themselves properly, saving my ligaments! So that is certainly good news. Another massive improvement from the diet is muscle strength, muscle strength in my jaw that is! Boy do you have to chew a lot!
I have alse finally got round to starting yoga, and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. It is very easy stuff (well theoretically) so nothing too complex and I can get most of the poses, though I do need to work on my flexibility. Given that the room was full of middle-aged woman who look like they do it every other day, giving this 21 year old man with shaved legs dodgy looks as they wondered what on earth he was doing here, I was pleased that I could do all the poses and was more flexible than a few of them. I also found some muscles that were incredibly tight, most notably my lats, and it seems to have helped my neck a lot, so a trip to the doctors may not be required. Finally, I have found a new massage place, conveniently based in the gym which offer an hours sports massage for under 20 quid! I may need to ask for a loyalty card…
Anyhoo, that is all for now, hopefully next time I will be writing about settling back into training and how my running seems to be coming together… unless things take a turn for the worse, so fingers crossed!
Tim
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