Event Planning

I have been reviewing my event plans for next year and it is clear that there are too many events and they are spread from March to September. I need to focus, or at least decide on my priorities. The method for event planning in Triathlon is to tag events in order of importance with the most important events being tagged as “A” races and the rest as “B” or “C” events. This need comes about due to the way athletes train. The theory is that an athlete cannot stay at a peak for an extended period of time and thus need to plan a single or small number of peaks throughout the season. Training sessions are structured around “A” races with a goal to be peaking at that time.
So I need to identify my “A” races and my “B” and “C” events used primarily for training and a bit of fun. The first stage to prioritising will be to define my goals. After a bit of thought, my primary goals are:

a) Break 75’ for a Sprint Triathlon
b) Complete L’Etape du Tour (ideally in sub 8 hours)
c) Complete a Middle Distance Triathlon (ideally in sub 6 hours)

I have ignored a Standard Distance Triathlon goal which may appear strange as I have never entered one. The reasoning around this is as follows: Swimming is my poorest discipline and I have never swam 1500m before (the Olympic distance swim), a middle distance Triathlon includes 1900m of swimming which is longer but I feel that if I could swim 1500m then I could do 1900m at a similar effort or pace. The middle distance bike leg is 90Km compared to 40Km in the Olympic and the run moves from 10Km to 21Km when stepping up. The middle distance event doubles my two strongest disciplines yet the swim only increases by around a quarter. This means that in theory I will be more competitive in a middle distance Tri than in an Olympic Tri.
So my “A” races become:

The timing on these are good in that they are separated by 6 weeks each and thus allow time for a short break and then build up to a peak for each event. So my season plan is looking like this:

All I need to do now is revise my training plan based around peaking for the “A” races. A task for the Xmas break I think.

Speeeeed

How much gain is there in speed/effort when riding in a group as opposed to on your own? That is the question I have been asking myself this week, a quick trawl through the inter-web wasn’t very informative. Why is this important? My primary objective when completing L’Etape is avoiding the Broom Wagon; the minibus that rides behind the pack during the race and picks up riders going too slowly. The speed the Broom Wagon drives at is published just prior to the event and this year during a mountainous L’Etape it was set at 17.5Km/h. So if I assume that next year the Broom Wagon will be set at a similar speed then I need to work out my target minimum speed. There are several unknowns for me here: How does 17.5Km/h over the profile of the stage compare to a typical ride around Hampshire and how much speed will I gain by riding in a pack? A colleague of mine rides on the track regularly and is confident that track cyclists gain between 6-8Km/h when riding in a line vs. riding on their own. I quick check on the Beijing Olympic Track Cycling results shows that the team pursuit winners rode their 4Km at 61.7Km/h whereas the individual winner rode his 4Km at 56Km/h that equates to a gain of around 10% which is not bad at all. I would assume that Track Cyclist get a better draft gain than road cyclists as they are much closer to the wheel in front so maybe a road cyclist could gain 7.5%? It is not very scientific but good enough for me.

If I now look at Mountain stages vs. Flat stages that may give an indication of what speed I should be riding on my training rides. If I take a couple of stages on this year’s Tour de France to compare:

Flat Stage 13: Nimes, 182Km won by Cavendish in @ 40.5Kmh
Mountain Stage 17: Alpe D’huez, 210Km won by Sastre @ 34Kmh

That equates to a loss in speed of around 20% on a mountain stage vs. a flat stage; much lower than I would have expected to be honest.

We could combine these to estimate the net gain/loss which means you would expect to ride approximately 12.5% slower on L’Etape compared to riding on your own around the Home Counties, so to beat 17.5Km/h on L’etape then I need to be targeting around 20Kmh. A much slower speed than I am currently training at. I feel great today!

I wonder how accurate that is...

Lunch, Lunch, Lunch

It is that time of year again. It is the office Christmas lunch today which is usually a long affair ending up on the last train home after too much food and drink, hopefully I shall wake up at my stop or it will be another long night sleeping on a bench at some remote railway station waiting for the first train in the morning again. After five client lunches in Sydney last week, a client lunch yesterday and 3 more lunches booked for this week, I am feeling a little unhealthy. I seriously under-exercised last week with only two runs and a light gym session so all those restaurant meals are beginning to take their toll. A brisk hour on the Turbo this morning made me feel much better, a little tired in the legs and much more comfortable around the waist. Only four more lunches to go till Christmas.

Heart Rate Zones

How intense should a session be? How do you measure intensity? There are several schools of thought on this, I personally combine Heart Rate and perceived exertion (PE) to assess my intensity, others go on power but that requires a power metre on the bike which I cannot afford. Even when using Heart Rate for measuring intensity there appears to be numerous systems. I use a simplified Jo Friel categorisation:

The trick is to accurately calculate what heart rate zones are relevant to you; they change with improved fitness so need to be revised every now and then. They are also different depending upon the type of exercise you are doing, so heart rate zones for running and cycling generally differ. My calculations are based on some recent runs and rides with a slight tweak based upon how I felt at the time of the tests.

I estimate my current zones to be:

So if I am going for a Tempo run (to improve Muscular Endurance), my target Heart Rate should be 145-152bpm. I read on Lance Armtrong’s Twitter that he competed in a 2 hour Mountain Bike race recently and kept his heart rate at 180bpm throughout; I have no idea how anyone can keep their HR up at that level for so long, it really does demonstrate the difference in class that some people have.

Knowing your heart rate when training enables you to ensure the session is specific. So if I was training for building my endurance then I need to be training in Zone 2 to. Working in Zone 4 will not have the same effect on endurance as working in Zone 2. Likewise, if I am looking to improve my lactate threshold (which will enable me to stay at a higher intensity for longer when racing) then a session may be an interval based workout whereby my HR is alternating between zones 3 and 5.

Back in Blighty

Well it felt like it this morning, I went for a run around the gardens today in the drizzle. The harbour was quiet for a late December day with the tourists opting for indoor activities. The Bridge Climbers must have been cold in the wind and rain, they looked sodden from where I was by the Opera House but then my eyesight is not that good anymore. I got back to the hotel and found the concierge waiting for me with a towel and a bottle of cold water, that is what you pay $250 a night for!

I did a fast tempo run for 30 mins which felt good, I wanted to keep going but my hamstring feels a bit tight and my knees are sore, this is an ongoing problem I have had for a year or so which ironically my Physio attributes to running in Sydney straight off the plane, running with tight Hamstrings caused Patella Tendonitis apparently. I need to stretch the Hamstrings more and do some Glute work which I have neglected over the last few months.

I am not feeling physically on top of the world right now. Getting up for 2am conference calls has stopped me from getting any good sleep since being here and too many client lunches and Xmas drinks have made me feel unhealthy. I need to go out for a long bike ride when I get home, that will help re-dress the balance. I have a game of golf planned in Malaysia with some mates on Saturday, which will be fun. I am a terrible golfer and play so rarely so I set quite low expectations and generally meet them. It will be a long day, I get in to Singapore about 10pm on Friday night then off to some friends for a night cap. We leave Singapore by car at around 6am and tee off at 8am, I have a feeling there will be lots of beer consumed which makes my Sunday ride even more needed.

Sydney

I set my alarm for 3am for a conference call during my first night in Sydney. Unfortunately I had miscalculated my time zones and missed the call by an hour which was a little disappointing. That also meant that I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and found it impossible to go back to sleep. I went for a run at first light; I normally run around the Royal Botanical Gardens, it is really a beautiful place to run and so calming. I have spent many a Saturday afternoon lying in the gardens listening to my iPod and just doing nothing, I can highly recommend it as a way of passing a few hours. This morning as I rounded the Opera House there was a huge liner coming into port, with the rising sun peeking out behind the advancing ship it was a sight to behold. The decks were full of holidaymakers getting their first view of the Harbour Bridge, taking pictures and waving at the many joggers pacing up and down the harbour side. Great stuff. A one hour gentle run did a lot to shake out the cobwebs but I could feel the legs were stiff after the flight so lots of stretching was in order.

“Hill Training”

The tube station nearest to the office in London is a deep station with lifts and stairs; it takes 102 steps to climb them. I know this because more often than not I walk up them to get to street level; it is faster than the lift and sets me up for the day if I get to the top before the crowd files out. After several years of doing this I have noticed my legs are as tired today when I get to the top as they were the first time I climbed them. Surely all those previous climbs would train my legs to be less tired each time? Isn’t this a little like Hill Training? I need to do some research.

My second swim in two days today which is a record, I may even go tomorrow as well but I suspect I may have to take a client out for lunch instead. I actually enjoyed it and it felt (there is that term “feel” again) much easier than it has in the past. I am off to Sydney on Saturday and there is a 50 metre pool close to my hotel so I shall have a crack in there and see how I get on. The first time I swam in that pool I struggled to do 2 lengths without stopping so it will be interesting to see how I fare this time around. It is a great pool, right by the harbour overlooking Woolamaloo. The lanes are marked out as slow, medium and fast just like in Blighty but there they also include a time estimate for completing a length so there is no ambiguity. The first time I swam there I was chuffed to see that my usual length time put me in the fast lane. It was only after observing all around that I remembered I was counting my 25 metre time and not my 50 metre time. I had to move straight over to the slow lane to avoid potential embarrassment.

Training Done: - Swim: drills and easy lengths. Will try and get up early tomorrow.

Ugh – The Swim

Quite a good swim session today in the pool: Balance drills and then some kick drills followed by a few lengths focussing on breathing. I am trying to “swim smooth” at the moment as I am conscious that my swimming probably looks like a teenager on speed; throw some washing up liquid in the pool with me and before long the whole room would fill with bubbles. One of the guys at the pool commented that I was “not very smooth” and he is right, I can feel it when I swim. I am hence making an effort to slow down my action and break the water steadily; I think I can feel a difference in that I do not tire as easily when I focus on this, I do wonder if I am getting slower though. My kicking feels much better, slower and more powerful; I still need to slow it down as I can sense that my stroke is much stronger with this slow strong kick coming from the core.

I have noticed how much I use the term “feel” when I think about swimming, it really is a complex action that requires feel for the water. The old saying goes: “If you want to run faster then run more, if you want to bike faster then bike more and if you want to swim faster then get lessons". It is all about technique; six months left to hit my target of a sub 15 minute 750m swim.

I had to get up for a 5am conference call yesterday, I bounded out of bed in fine fettle and speculated as to why I can’t bound out of bed in the morning to go swimming. I can do it to go for a run or a cycle but the thought of jumping into a pool makes me turn over and pull the duvet back over my head. I wonder if that will change as I improve.

L’Etape du Tour 2009

l’Etape du Tour takes place on July 20th and is a 172Km cycle race starting in Montelimar and finishing with the utterly compelling Mt Ventoux. A climb I have been fascinated with ever since I read about Tom Simpson many years ago. This involves 22Km of climbing with an average gradient of 7.43% (that extra 0.43 makes a difference), all that after already riding for 150Km: The ride will be twice as far as I have ever ridden before in one go.

Here is a profile of the last climb taken from Wikipedia:




The profile of the whole race is here:




L’Etape takes place 5 days before the big boys tackle it on the penultimate stage of the Tour du France, perfectly poised to be the Tour’s denouement this year.

First Ever Blog

Righto, hold on to your hats here we go.

This blog is intended as a personal diary recording my training and other aspects of my life in the run up to my Grand Summer of Sport 2009.

What is included in the Grand Summer of Sport 2009? I am still unsure but the main events are: L’Etape du Tour and I hope a Middle Distance Triathlon along with a few fun events thrown in for good measure.

The blog is intended to chart my training (hopefully demonstrating progress) and my thoughts on where I am and how I feel during the run up to summer.