Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

I went out with a friend on my Mountain Bike for a few hours on Sunday in the snow flurries, it was great. I have not been on it for ages and I missed it, we went over to an old quarry with some man-made tracks, no mud and a hard dry base to ride on. Some of the hills were pretty sharp and I was happy to get up them easily without using my “Granny” chain-ring; I guess all that training is paying off. There is another XC race this weekend which I may enter for a bit of fun.


We had loads of snow on Monday; over 7” in the garden, all the trains and schools were cancelled so I had to work from home. The kids played at snowball fights all day in the village and we walked over to the pub for a drink by the fireside for lunch. After a tentative start the dog loved running around in it and came home with “snowballs” built up around her legs and feet. I had a rest day as I was sore from playing rugby again, I need to start playing less as it is affecting my training.


Training Done: - Rugby; Bike: Mountain Bike 2hrs; Bike: Z2 75’; Run: 60’Z2; Run 4x5’ Intervals; Swim: Drills.

Not enough time

I am currently in my “Base Training” period (AKA the General Preparation Phase of my Mesocycle!) This is the time to put base aerobic fitness sessions in the bank in preparation for strength and speed sessions later in the year; all planned to peak for my key events. One challenge with Base Training is that as it progresses it requires more and more hours per week before moving onto the shorter more intense sessions. This brings in planning problems as it becomes more difficult to train during the lunch break and hence eats into family time and requires training in the dark. I will start to get up early and plan my long sessions prior to work, this will get easier as it gets light in the morning, and my plan to cycle into work will also help that.
I have decided to take a break from Cricket this year as Saturdays will be dedicated to long rides in the summer. Midweek games may be OK as they are shorter and more of a social event.

I keep checking L’etape website for more up to date info but nothing! Nada! Rien! Very disappointing, I am not sure what they should be putting there but I check with anticipation every now and then anyway. I received my free entry to the London Triathlon this week which I may not bother taking up, I won it in a competition last year and successfully requested a deferment; I just don’t fancy swimming in a mucky dock in East London, getting into Central London for a 7am start would also be a pain.

Training Done: - Rugby; Bike: 60Km Z2; Swim Drills; Bike 70’ Z2; Weights Session.

Bah Humbug

Injured again! I have a sore leg after playing rugby on Saturday. It just appeared near to the end of the game, I think it may be a fatigue problem caused by going for a 60Km ride immediately before the game and playing on a very heavy mud sodden pitch. I do not recall getting a knock on it and it just appeared whilst I was trying to run. The back of my knee has cramped up which makes it hard to walk. No running for a couple of days I think which means the focus will again be on Swimming and Riding.

We had a great group ride on Saturday morning but it was cold and it turned out that there was some black ice lingering on the road which took out 4 members of our group. One poor girl has fractured her elbow and will require surgery on it to ensure it heals well. I feel very sorry for her, she did look in pain and went a bit white to boot. We managed to get a good speed up and kept the group together on a few of the long drags which was great to see. We decided that we shall try and get closer to each other riding next time out and rotate the head which will be good practice and will help me for next time I am out with the cycle club!

How Much?

I was planning on entering a X-Country Mountain Bike Race last Sunday organised by Gorrick MBC, they put on some great races and organise the Enduro event in May that I plan to use as a training ride. I ended up opting out of the ride for a couple of reasons: firstly I was pretty sore after rugby and secondly we had a heavy downpour on Saturday night and I didn’t fancy lugging my bike through the mud all morning. As it turns out, the race organisers cut short the route as the mud was causing problems so I feel vindicated in my laziness! Instead I dithered between swimming and a long run and ended up doing nothing, or shall I say “having a rest day”. We popped over to the pub for a drink at lunchtime and parked next to an old Ferrari, apparently it was worth over £3m and the owner is some kind of “Oilman”, glad to see some people are coping OK with the credit crunch.
Missing out on the race did make me want to plan a few more over the next few weeks; Gorrick have one planned for the 8th Feb so I shall enter that hopefully. With a bit of luck it will have dried out by then and we can have a bit of fun.

Training Done: - Run: 30' Z2; Bike 30' Z3

Woo Woo, I am getting faster

All that training seems to be working! According to my geek records, I am a faster runner and rider today compared to June last year; I can both run and ride at higher speeds for longer. It is highly motivating to see progress as training takes effect. If I cannot see improvements then I find it difficult to motivate myself to train, if I see progress then it makes it all worthwhile. I would imagine that this is a universal human trait? I am still in the base training period and have not started strength or speed training yet and I have 4 months to go till the first Triathlon of the year therefore I am feeling pretty positive.

The days are gradually getting longer and I plan to cycle to work at least once a week throughout the spring and summer, which is a 140Km round trip which I will split over two days initially. I will need to map out a route fairly soon, I think I will look at a more scenic route as opposed to the most direct. There should be some options that follow the Thames which could be nice.

Training Done: - Bike: 45’ in Z2; Run 4x4’ Intervals in Z4; Swim Drills.

Swim Improvements?

Swimming is not natural to me, I don’t really enjoy it and I am a poor swimmer. I have always said that and thought I always would. I do however sense light at the end of the tunnel the more I get in the pool. Last year I probably swam less than 15 times which explains why I am so slow, I think that 4 of those occasions were in races, it is not a surprise I finish the swim in the bottom 5%. Having high expectations on the swim with that level of training would be like getting on a bike ten times and then expecting to finish in the top 10% of L’etape.

The practice drills (swim stroke exercises) I have been doing have really helped how comfortable I feel in the water, I have been doing them consistently for several weeks now in the pool at work. The pool is small, maybe 12 metres long which makes it not terribly suitable for doing long swims, there is too much turning and not enough distance on each length to get into your stroke and breathing pattern. For this reason I have been focussing on my drills in this pool and saving straight swims for the local pool in the town. Doing most of my swimming in London, I have spent a good deal of time on my drills: Balance, Kick and Breathing. The drills I am doing are focussed on addressing the weaknesses in my stroke highlighted by the weekend video session down in Bath. I managed a swim in the 25m pool this week and it felt pretty good, the first 20 lengths did, before I started to tire. I could feel I was a lot smoother and glided much more than I previously have done. The down side is that I was not really much faster than I was before, 35seconds per length which equates to a 17.5 minute 750m swim; that would actually be my fastest Sprint Triathlon swim and bearing in mind that in a Tri I would be quicker due to the wet suit and potentially drafting for a small time then in hindsight that is pretty pleasing! 30s per length is my target so I have a good deal of work to do.

Some research online indicates that the first step to getting fast is to build reliable stroke at easy pace and then work to increase that speed. I am still building that stroke but I am much more comfortable with it now than I was 6 months ago and with a couple more months I should be able to maintain that stroke without having to concentrate on each element the whole time and hence it could be solid enough to withstand a gradual increase in stroke rate and hence speed.

Training Done:- Swim: Drills; Bike 30' Z2; Swim: 1K; Rugby (But scoring a try counts double so that makes 2!). A pretty poor week really.

My first "Double Salto" of the year

I joined the local cycling club group ride this Sunday, a rugby team mate rides with them and he has been encouraging me to go along for a while. The club have an A group ride and a B group ride; I was confident I could hold my own on the B ride with a goal to moving on up to the A ride as I improve. I have done a number of group rides recently around the Surrey Hills and was pretty sure I could handle the ride rules and etiquette OK. The benefits I hope to gain from this ride are: A longer ride, they are at 60miles right now as opposed to my lowly 60Km (35miles) and improved group riding skills prior to L’Etape.

It did not exactly go to plan but I was happy to have go out all the same, I hope I will be welcomed back and was not too much of a hindrance. The club was very friendly and after checking out how often I rode etc. they were happy for me to join them. Unfortunately no-one from the B group turned up – I assume due to the overnight smattering of snow which meant I was with the A group, before we left we agreed that I would be OK to get dropped at any point if I was off the pace.

We started out well and after a few Km we hit the first hill, to say it was a hill would be a bit of an overstatement, a piddly 4% climb for around 1Km, I rapidly fell off the back as the peloton disappeared into the distance, it took me over 5Km to catch up again and they had slowed to wait for me. My heart rate was up at 160bpm as I worked hard and when I finally grabbed the tail it was a relief to have the relative rest within the slipstream. The group was riding a lot closer and a lot faster than I was used to and it took a while to get confident enough to stay the 20 odd cm behind the wheel in front at speeds over 20mph whilst chatting to the person next to me. A peloton is quite graceful in the way the front riders alternate fluidly in a natural flowing movement. I had agreed with the ride leader that I would not take the front at any point; this was the cause of my first undoing . As the guy behind me pushed through the middle of the column to take his place at the head I was forced to the left and onto the verge: slush, rocks and grass awaited and all of a sudden I was bouncing around on and off the saddle and struggling to keep the bike under control. I opted to hit the verge and only damage myself and not my newly found teammates and ended up flying over the handlebars, doing what David Coleman would probably call a Double Salto and landed on my feet legs spinning in a successful attempt to stay upright. The group waited for me to mend my resulting puncture and check out the bike which took a couple of minutes. Suitably humbled I set off again and picked up the pace. On the next hill I was adamant I was not going to get dropped and had at least two riders behind me when my chain slipped and became jammed, I was done for; I was not going to get this fixed quickly. Again, I watched the peloton disappear into the distance and that was the last time I saw them. Chastened but still confident enough to think I can hold my own in the B group next time out, I only hope they welcome me back!

Training done: Bike: 65Km LSD; Run: LSD 16Km.
Next week: Recovery Week

Mt Ventoux in August

Here is a great article on riding the Mt Ventoux: http://www.everydaycycling.com/edc/news/news2009/20090105_ventoux.aspx

There is a nice piccie in there which I have pasted and shall be using as motivation for the next few months:

Niggles

One thing that is a constant amongst Triathlon Forums (or is that Fora? I just checked on http://www.dictionary.com/ and it can be either) is the number of endurance athletes carrying injuries or niggles. I think you just accept them as part and parcel of the hobby. I have several niggles right now. I have taken advice on all of these on various occasions, some more professional than others, in each case, these niggles are effectively symptoms or by-products of other problems:

• Tight hamstring on right leg

A lingering from a rugby injury to my knee. I left it so long that I have muscle wastage in my Quad and Glut (backside) and it puts stress on the hamstring. I had neglected the recovery exercises for a while and it shows, so I need to get back in the Gym and do some bum work!

• Patella Tendonitis on the right leg

This is related to running with a tight hamstring. Who’d have thunk it. This originally appeared after a long run in Sydney 18 months ago straight of the flight, apparently this is inadvisable as your muscles are all tight.

• Numb Toes when running

I am still not sure on this. I think this is due to my running shoes no longer suiting my evolved running gait. I have a feeling that it will require new shoes.

• Shoulder Impingement

From an old cricket injury to my Rotator Cuff which is slowly getting better. My physio has prescribed a series of shoulder exercises that are helping a lot and have enabled me to get back swimming with no problems.

I wager that this a standard length of injury list for an endurance athlete. I think the key is to not let them get you down or you will be forever worried about one injury or another. My shoulder injury stopped me from swimming for around 6 months in the run up to last season which had a significant impact on not only my Triathlon swim times but also it meant I was tired coming out of the swim which impacted my Bike and Run times as well. Not so this year as I have already exceeded the total number of last season’s swim sessions – and I even quite like it. I still cannot get up at 6am to swim but I am getting there slowly.

Training Done: Bike: Spinning; Rugby Match (does that count? – need to check), Run: 60’ Easy run (Long Slow Distance); Swim drills; Bike: Tempo 20’; Run 40’ LSD; Bike: 60’ LSD; Swim drills.

Base Training

After two weeks without a post, finally there is time to sit down and write a few notes. Christmas was over so quickly it is difficult to believe it was almost a full two week holiday this year. We had a great time, ate and drank too much, similar to most Christmas breaks. Training was sporadic in the run up to Xmas with work being very busy, plenty of entertaining and just lacking in time to get out. Finally when it came, the break enabled a full set of Bike and Run sessions, this means that swimming will be the focus over the next few weeks in an attempt to get back to where I was before the break.

There is often a trade off in Triathlon training when it comes to picking a discipline to focus on; I shall focus on the Bike and Swim this year whilst trying not to neglect running too much. The thinking behind this is three fold:

1) The swim is my weakest discipline with the greatest room for improvement in the short term.

2) With L’Etape, I need to work on my bike skills which will also help my triathlon.

3) In terms of age group ranking, the run is my best discipline with smaller gains possible as I improve, in fact even if I lose run time at the expense of bike time there will probably be a net improvement in finishing time as the bike leg of a triathlon takes up roughly half the event time.

So if there is a decision required then I shall go for the Bike or Swim as opposed to the Run. I have a ½ marathon scheduled in March which will indicate whether there has been a critical drop off in run performance which will hopefully allow time to recover the situation before my first “A” race three months later.

The weather over Christmas has been very cold and generally sunny, long rides and runs in the early morning have been refreshing with the sun rising over the fields on the horizon and the freshness in the air makes the sessions so much more enjoyable. This time of year is the time to focus on Base Training: this means focussing on aerobic fitness and endurance as opposed to speed; speed training comes later in the year in the build up to the racing season. Base training generally takes place at the lower intensity Zones 1 and 2. LSD or Long Slow Distance is the order of the day during base training with long runs and long rides taking up most of the training.

Once “A” races have been identified then the annual training plan can be structured with a goal to peak for each event. Typically most well organised “Age Groupers” aim to peak up to three times a year with a good four week gap between each peak. The triathlon season typically starts in May in the UK which means winter and early spring are set aside for Base Training, nine weeks of “Specific Conditioning” or more speed focussed or intensive sessions will start in Mid February before moving to peak sessions for the four weeks up my first “A” race.

Training Done: -
Last Week (New Year week):- Bike: Muscular Endurance (ME) Intervals; Bike: 60Km group ride (so cold my water bottle froze); Tempo Run (Z3): Bike: 70' Z2 on the Turbo.
Week Before (Xmas Week):- Bike: 20' Z3; Run: ME intervals; Bike: 30Km Z2; Run: 45' Z2.