The Aftermath of IronmanUK – Challenge Henley
The past 6 weeks since IMUK have been a rather busy affair! The week after I spent recovering and beginning to pack up my life in a suitcase once more (having only moved a month earlier!) for the move down south. I then started my new job, being put up in a hotel for the week, before carting all my stuff off to my dads. I have since moved house again(!) and am hopefully settled in London and in the same house for more than a few weeks.
Work has been a bit of a shock to the system, although not a complete shock thankfully, with memories of my placement year still reasonably fresh. But having lived the life of a student and then full athlete having to work full time (imagine that!) was certainly a significant change! I soon settled in, and while I never fully got used to spending 2 and a half hours a day cramped on a train, which is now down to an hour after my most recent move, I began to feel my active self rear its head. I don’t like sitting still, I am a total fidget, and sitting behind a desk all day really does not sit well with me, so I started running at lunch. After a few seriously horrible sessions, thanks to doing nothing for a few weeks after cramming together 2 IMs, I decided I needed a carrot to motivate me. With the Maidenhead Half Marathon filling up the local paper for the last few weeks, and it being on my doorstep, I decided to enter, and had 2 weeks to recover some sort of shape.
This was Friday morning, and about an hour later I got a text of Chris Weeks asking if I was doing Challenge Henley. It had been in the back of my mind ever since IMUK, ever since Chris said he was doing it as we both had unfinished business after that race. Although I had a solid day, I didn’t have that top end speed, and know I can run quicker than that. And frankly, finishing my season in July is tough, as I did it after Switzerland and it was another 10 months until I raced again. So anyway, I text back saying ‘Nah probably not, gonna see how I feel after the weekend, but not looking likely’. I then see a tweet saying entries are about to close (even though that later got extended) and next thing I know, I’m stood in a sandwich shop in central London entering the race on my phone! So Chris, I blame you for the pain I will be in at the weekend, and also for making me double up at IMUK… ha!
So Challenge Henley will be my 3rd Iron-distance race in 10 weeks – and I am scared! Even at IMUK, I could feel the fatigue wasn’t too bad, and with a 3 week gap, I wasn’t going to lose much fitness. With a 7 week gap, especially after such after 2 IMs, I have finally had a chance to let the fatigue and exhaustion, and I am tired. And not the ‘I need a lie-in’ tired. I feel physically spent, and am carrying around constantly knackered legs. The main reason for this is my recovery post-IMUK – or lack of. If I had planned Henley a bit further out I could have planned a bit better, but I have let things slip. Mentally I am out of the game in terms of discipline and have lost focus on my training, which has been impacted by work, commuting, moving house and burst water pipes. My diet has also fallen completely by the way side. Having Ben & Jerrys on special offer the week after IMUK really did me no good, and adjusting to the long hours with free access to unlimited bad foods, and a week on hotel buffets has seen my gut ever-expanding, and I am certainly carrying around more than a few extra kilos than I would like. I am certainly looking forward to having some proper time off, recovery properly and enjoying a bit of a social life and a chance to recharge the batteries, especially the mental ones.
Having said all of that, I am fired up for Henley, even though it has yet to sink in that I will be toeing the start line once more in a few days time. I am not expecting to break any records, or post a decent time, but I am looking for a good end-of-season blow out, and I want to leave absolutely everything on the line.
There have been flashes of good form in training though. My cycling doesn’t seem to have slowed down, and I certainly feel the best I have in the pool for a long time, well before Roth. I am just hopeful that the body will come through, and the endurance is still there.
Despite a niggling calf issue, I know my running form is good, as evidenced by Maidenhead Half Marathon. I entered the race with low expectations, and not having run with my Garmin since IMUK, had no idea of the speeds I was running. The race plan was set off hard and then settle into an easy rhythm, and try to come home under 1:40 and as close to 1:30 as possible. I slightly exceeded that, by hammering it and crossing the line with a massive PB of 1:25, placing myself 45th out of some 2000 runners. I put myself close to the front, and set off hard. Despite a slight organisational error, where you run a short loop back to the start and half the runners were still waiting to start by the time we came back round, forcing us off course for a bit, we reeled off the first km in about 3:35, and then the next kilometre passed by in 3:50. At this point I was still in contact with the front group, but knew if I kept this up I wouldn’t last 10k so slowed down. However, I only settled down to around 4:10 pace, which felt REALLY comfortable, and just held this until I ramped it up again with 5k, with a final k flat out. Doing 2 IMs close together, gives you one hell of a base! I just hope it is there come Sunday! This has at least given me a target of breaking 1:20 next season for a half, which I should be able to do, fresh, trained and at race weight!
These final few days before Henley will be spent trying to get the body moving again and making sure all those neuro-muscular pathways are still active, as well as trying to sort out my calf issue, before coming up with some sort of race plan. At least Sunday will be ‘fun’, I appear to know about half the field racing! So make sure you give me a shout when you see me struggling!
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
Coming into form?
Hello all,
Well it’s been a while since my last proper post. It is now 4 weeks since I did my Ironman and rather annoyingly I feel great! My knee has almost completely healed now. It is still a little weak at times, but as I continue with my exercises and increase the intensity of them, then it should get better. The good thing is I know the pain of it now, and know how to fix it all! The back of my knee where the tear was can be a little tight the day after a heavy session but you can’t really blame it, and if I stretched properly it probably would be fine!
So as the title of the post suggests, I appear to be peaking now. I am slowly easing myself back into full training, though still holding back as I am going to have some sort of life through September, which includes the odd drink or 10 for my 21st! My swimming has been going from strength to strength as I spend more time in the pool, and ignoring the long break I will have had over the last few days, I have been getting into swimming 3/4 times a week. I now feel much more comfortable in the pool, and am feeling as good as I did before my crash at points. My splits still have a bit of coming down to do, but I am back to about 1:42 average for 100m. Way down on what I was about 5 weeks ago, though still not quite close to the 1:30s I was swimming pre-crash.
Running is good as well too, I have done a few 1 hour runs and feel good on them. The HR is still a little high but it will settle down over the coming weeks as I get back into shape. In fact, the only sign that I did an IM a few weeks ago is my slightly dodgy knee and a little fatigue when I go back about 2 hours on the bike! On the bike my power seems to be up massively, and I am holding good pace, even in bad conditions. Which all leads me to suspect I am peaking a tad too late! I’ll put a post up at the end of Sept with a review of the year, and there will be lots in there about managing a big crash. However for now, I am just going to make the most of my current form, have a good race at Fleetwood, and use it as a springboard into a solid winter.
The Manchester 100 is going to be put on hold for this year I think, as I don’t see the point in paying 15 quid to do a 100k training ride essentially on my own, as I don’t think I know anyone doing it, so I shall just have a long ride on my own at home instead.
Still need to get round to sorting out my training plan for next year. The Training Bible appears to have fallen to the bottom of the reading list, though I am being more and more swayed by the Paleo Diet. Over the couple of weeks or so I have altered my diet dramatically and cut out all junk, and increased my fruit and salad and even thrown a few veg in! I can certainly tell I am a bit lethargic when I have had a big carbs binge, so I think it is certainly something worth looking at.
But right now, I am looking forward to a good final race, a nice 21st, a bit of a social life and then lots of improvement for the Winter.
Tim
Knees – passive, reactive, proactive
Well it is the weekend, I can’t train, there’s nothing good on tv for a while so what better way to spend it than update my blog!
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