It's been a month or so since I posted last.
In that time I have been increasing my running steadily and also getting some good bike rides in. I turned 35 and became a Veteran at Parkrun and PO10. I also got food poisoning and lost 4.5km in one week!
This obviously affected my energy levels, but they're getting back up there. Slowly slowly catchy monkey. I'm looking forward to the cross-country season and some winter duathlons. Just need to build some run speed up.
My wife has also embraced running and she Parkruns every week without fail!
Showing posts with label Bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bike. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Time trialling - Interclub, Club champs & a PB
Last Thursday was another TT on the H10/2 in Berkshire. TVT club champs and also the annual inter-club between MDCC and TVT.
I cam straight from Heathrow, and would have been very early though by the time I'd found a cashpoint I was running late and ended up with #28 - a 2013 start time.
A good warm up on the course with a few others then a little time to relax...
Soon enough I was on the line and being counted down. After the last TT where I smashed the first few km despite trying not to, I kept a lid on it, watching HR and time to ensure I'd got about 4 minutes in before laying down the power. It is at this point that I suddenly feel like I'm not moving and everything is hard work. Well, it is and I had to get on with it.
The outbound run is downhill but in to wind It wasn't very long before I overtook my minute-man. The turn point is always a question of up on the base bars or stay aero; managed aero on the warmup but after 7 km ended up on the base bars for the TT - I think I can corner better and lean over more.
The inbound leg is uphill but downwind, so some help, but the upflats are noticeable. I caught a club member a few km after the turn point. Up the lumps and still feeling strong. Round the large roundabout near the start.
One other thing that helped this time was my Garmin 310XT. IN previous weeks it has stopped recording at 2-3km. I have a speed/cadence sensor on the bike but don't run a magnet on the rear wheel. The Garmin should default to GPS but for some reason does not. This only happens on the TT bike though strangely on the road bike the speed sensor is broken so only picks up cadence and does use GPS for speed... This time I'd fitted a wheel magnet and had a good record of my distance and how far to go. This enable me to pace much better and then really give it the beans for the last km, half of which is an upflat with the final effort flat.
Bars gripped tightly, mouth wide open trying to get oxygen and push push push.
Official time was 24:15 and 18th overall. Of the TVT members I came 5th. Happy with that result and an obvious improvement due to the TrainerRoad sessions earlier in the year. TrainingPeaks data here. This also includes the ride back to HQ. Note that the best 20 minute power is also the first 20 minutes. The downhill I guess.
Watching the Tour de France TT today I was intrigued to see that the riders all sit up for the final push. I wonder what difference this makes?
I cam straight from Heathrow, and would have been very early though by the time I'd found a cashpoint I was running late and ended up with #28 - a 2013 start time.
A good warm up on the course with a few others then a little time to relax...
Soon enough I was on the line and being counted down. After the last TT where I smashed the first few km despite trying not to, I kept a lid on it, watching HR and time to ensure I'd got about 4 minutes in before laying down the power. It is at this point that I suddenly feel like I'm not moving and everything is hard work. Well, it is and I had to get on with it.
The outbound run is downhill but in to wind It wasn't very long before I overtook my minute-man. The turn point is always a question of up on the base bars or stay aero; managed aero on the warmup but after 7 km ended up on the base bars for the TT - I think I can corner better and lean over more.
The inbound leg is uphill but downwind, so some help, but the upflats are noticeable. I caught a club member a few km after the turn point. Up the lumps and still feeling strong. Round the large roundabout near the start.
One other thing that helped this time was my Garmin 310XT. IN previous weeks it has stopped recording at 2-3km. I have a speed/cadence sensor on the bike but don't run a magnet on the rear wheel. The Garmin should default to GPS but for some reason does not. This only happens on the TT bike though strangely on the road bike the speed sensor is broken so only picks up cadence and does use GPS for speed... This time I'd fitted a wheel magnet and had a good record of my distance and how far to go. This enable me to pace much better and then really give it the beans for the last km, half of which is an upflat with the final effort flat.
Bars gripped tightly, mouth wide open trying to get oxygen and push push push.
Official time was 24:15 and 18th overall. Of the TVT members I came 5th. Happy with that result and an obvious improvement due to the TrainerRoad sessions earlier in the year. TrainingPeaks data here. This also includes the ride back to HQ. Note that the best 20 minute power is also the first 20 minutes. The downhill I guess.
Watching the Tour de France TT today I was intrigued to see that the riders all sit up for the final push. I wonder what difference this makes?
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Man up, cupcake!
It's been a while. After more Achilles problems I decided to not run for a month. This led to a training funk where I just CBA with anything.
A swim, a walk and a cycle, followed by some days of nothing. I wanted to TT, but had had enough of wet and windy TTs. I finally made it back out on the Friday, after committing to 16 km (10 miles) on the bike per day during the week, and something longer on the weekend.
After a great day out with the family on the Saturday at Beale Park (in the rain, grrrr!) I got out on the bike. The next day I went over to Pangbourne via Bradfield, and went up Whitchurch Hill. Not as bad as I thought, and a good 70 km.
Throughout the week I swam, and did easy 16km rides. Tuesday was a hard club chaingang, starting with the fast group. After a stint of the front it was my turn to rotate to the back, unfortunately I missed the join and fell off the back. By the time I caught up with the 'last-man' she'd been dropped too. Then a third man. We had a good effort round the course until we were down to two of us. A final sprint back to the start and probably a better workout that hiding in the bunch.
Thursday was a local TT on H10/2. The pre-TT warmup saw me and two other club members in a team-time-trial style ride. Great fun! For the actual TT I knew not to go out too hard, but ended up doing so anyhow. I was a bit worried about that and also concerned I had overcooked the warmup. Luckily not. Despite a positive split by 24s I managed to set a new PB (again!) coming in at 24:36 for the 10 mile course. There may be some pictures too; I'll have a look.
Yesterday I volunteered at my local parkrun whilst wife and kids ran. In the afternoon I rode to a friend's bbq, via a lumpy 60 km route: Frimley, Guildford, Shalford, Godalming, Millford, Elstead, Frensham, Alice Holt. Instead of loading a route up on the Garmin I simply wrote the town names on toa piece of paper and taped it to my top tube. No route to follow, no path to lose. Make it up on the way.
Today I went for an easy 40 km around the back of Bracknell/Ascot. We're moving over that way later in the year so I thought I'd have a quick look-see.
One takeaway from the recent riding is that my hill climbing seems to be getting stronger, and I don't need a large cassette as I once thought. Little lumps don't exist and the long ones can be spun up fairly quickly with ease. The wind and rain don't seem to be too much of a problem either, once I'm out the door.
~228 km this week alone, without much thought or effort.
A swim, a walk and a cycle, followed by some days of nothing. I wanted to TT, but had had enough of wet and windy TTs. I finally made it back out on the Friday, after committing to 16 km (10 miles) on the bike per day during the week, and something longer on the weekend.
After a great day out with the family on the Saturday at Beale Park (in the rain, grrrr!) I got out on the bike. The next day I went over to Pangbourne via Bradfield, and went up Whitchurch Hill. Not as bad as I thought, and a good 70 km.
Throughout the week I swam, and did easy 16km rides. Tuesday was a hard club chaingang, starting with the fast group. After a stint of the front it was my turn to rotate to the back, unfortunately I missed the join and fell off the back. By the time I caught up with the 'last-man' she'd been dropped too. Then a third man. We had a good effort round the course until we were down to two of us. A final sprint back to the start and probably a better workout that hiding in the bunch.
Thursday was a local TT on H10/2. The pre-TT warmup saw me and two other club members in a team-time-trial style ride. Great fun! For the actual TT I knew not to go out too hard, but ended up doing so anyhow. I was a bit worried about that and also concerned I had overcooked the warmup. Luckily not. Despite a positive split by 24s I managed to set a new PB (again!) coming in at 24:36 for the 10 mile course. There may be some pictures too; I'll have a look.
Yesterday I volunteered at my local parkrun whilst wife and kids ran. In the afternoon I rode to a friend's bbq, via a lumpy 60 km route: Frimley, Guildford, Shalford, Godalming, Millford, Elstead, Frensham, Alice Holt. Instead of loading a route up on the Garmin I simply wrote the town names on toa piece of paper and taped it to my top tube. No route to follow, no path to lose. Make it up on the way.
Today I went for an easy 40 km around the back of Bracknell/Ascot. We're moving over that way later in the year so I thought I'd have a quick look-see.
One takeaway from the recent riding is that my hill climbing seems to be getting stronger, and I don't need a large cassette as I once thought. Little lumps don't exist and the long ones can be spun up fairly quickly with ease. The wind and rain don't seem to be too much of a problem either, once I'm out the door.
~228 km this week alone, without much thought or effort.
Monday, 29 April 2013
Some time to relax
I have been in northern California now for 5 days. I flew out to San Francisco on the Tuesday from Heathrow and up to Thursday hadn't done much other than work; absolutely intentional. It's always good to get some time off after a period of build|peak|race.
I hired a road bike locally on the Thursday. It turned out to be an Saxo Bank Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL2 ex-team bike that belonged to Jurgen Van Goolen. BLING! I rode it to work and back on Friday; my second ever bike commute (first was many many years ago)!
After dumping my bag back at the hotel on Friday I explored the local area by bike.
Saturday was the big tourist day and I went in to San Fran by the BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit. Even though the sun was shining I'd chosen to not wear shorts, and when I got to the coast it paid off as it was a little chillier. I walked from the Embarcadero, past the San Fran Ferry Terminal (below) and I had some lunch at the famous Bubba Gumps on Pier 39, then took an open bus tour around the city.
By the time we got to the Golden Gate bridge I was freezing. Note: I am no longer known for my photographic skills. The towers of the bridge were enveloped in fog.
The bus rolled back in to town, and I jumped off at Pier 33 and wandered through Union Square. As I was still cold I got back on the BART to go home. Once I was back in the car I drove to the ASICS outlet in Livermore where i picked up some Tri Noosa trainers for racing in. I also got a couple of shirts. Dinner was a large Pizza Hut meat feast (or local equivalent). This would last me until Sunday's dinner too. Don't fret my suite has a kitchen with fridge.
Sunday I braved the waffle machine at breakfast, then drove to Pleasanton (nice place!) to meet with the Tri-Valley Triathletes crew for a swim session. They're all tapering for the WildFlower next weekend so the swim session was a chilled one. More so for me as it was in an outside pool, crystal clear water, hot hot sun and the smell of sun cream all around. Fantastic!
Back to the hotel for a quick lunch, then bike in the car and off to Livermore to meet the Tri-Valley team again for a bike ride. I'd planned a fairly long bike ride but the temps were hot so we did a shorter route through the local vineyards of the area. Pretty cool.
I hired a road bike locally on the Thursday. It turned out to be an Saxo Bank Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL2 ex-team bike that belonged to Jurgen Van Goolen. BLING! I rode it to work and back on Friday; my second ever bike commute (first was many many years ago)!
After dumping my bag back at the hotel on Friday I explored the local area by bike.
Saturday was the big tourist day and I went in to San Fran by the BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit. Even though the sun was shining I'd chosen to not wear shorts, and when I got to the coast it paid off as it was a little chillier. I walked from the Embarcadero, past the San Fran Ferry Terminal (below) and I had some lunch at the famous Bubba Gumps on Pier 39, then took an open bus tour around the city.
By the time we got to the Golden Gate bridge I was freezing. Note: I am no longer known for my photographic skills. The towers of the bridge were enveloped in fog.
The bus rolled back in to town, and I jumped off at Pier 33 and wandered through Union Square. As I was still cold I got back on the BART to go home. Once I was back in the car I drove to the ASICS outlet in Livermore where i picked up some Tri Noosa trainers for racing in. I also got a couple of shirts. Dinner was a large Pizza Hut meat feast (or local equivalent). This would last me until Sunday's dinner too. Don't fret my suite has a kitchen with fridge.
Sunday I braved the waffle machine at breakfast, then drove to Pleasanton (nice place!) to meet with the Tri-Valley Triathletes crew for a swim session. They're all tapering for the WildFlower next weekend so the swim session was a chilled one. More so for me as it was in an outside pool, crystal clear water, hot hot sun and the smell of sun cream all around. Fantastic!
Back to the hotel for a quick lunch, then bike in the car and off to Livermore to meet the Tri-Valley team again for a bike ride. I'd planned a fairly long bike ride but the temps were hot so we did a shorter route through the local vineyards of the area. Pretty cool.
Sunday, 14 April 2013
Lighting the taper, and new trisuit revealed!
It's been another busy week. I got out on the TT bike in the sun last Sunday. It was a pleasure to ride some country routes without wrapping up like an Eskimo.
Monday was going to be busy with work so I went out for an early morning run, in the sun again! I had to pick up a colleague up from the airport and managed to drop in to Blade printing on the way to hand over my Adidas tri-suit for printing, in case the Z3R0D suits were not available. At the same time the team received an email telling us to order the new suits online. After some confusion we were then told to order them direct from the BTF.
Tuesday started at a hotel in Essex where I tested out the gym bike with Audiofuel's Ride Harder#1. 40 minutes of pyramid intervals - good stuff. I washed this breakfast down with a 15 minutes treadmill brick, then went to meet my colleagues for a proper meal. After a couple of busy days I got home late Wednesday, just in time to go to the track. Our club coach had planned 3 reps of the following:
That slipped until Friday lunch time. I rode Sufferfest's The Wretched on TrainerRoad. A good way of keeping true to power.
I also received my Z3R0D GB trisuit at last, all printed up. Very proud!
Saturday was an early run before a wedding. It was my turn to drive as it was a friend of my wife. Next time she can drive! Today was finished off with a good session on the TT bike.
Taper time now. Shorter sessions but just as intense. Heading out to the Netherlands on Thursday.
Monday was going to be busy with work so I went out for an early morning run, in the sun again! I had to pick up a colleague up from the airport and managed to drop in to Blade printing on the way to hand over my Adidas tri-suit for printing, in case the Z3R0D suits were not available. At the same time the team received an email telling us to order the new suits online. After some confusion we were then told to order them direct from the BTF.
Tuesday started at a hotel in Essex where I tested out the gym bike with Audiofuel's Ride Harder#1. 40 minutes of pyramid intervals - good stuff. I washed this breakfast down with a 15 minutes treadmill brick, then went to meet my colleagues for a proper meal. After a couple of busy days I got home late Wednesday, just in time to go to the track. Our club coach had planned 3 reps of the following:
- 1200m at HM pace
- 400m at 10km pace
- 200m at 5km pace
That slipped until Friday lunch time. I rode Sufferfest's The Wretched on TrainerRoad. A good way of keeping true to power.
I also received my Z3R0D GB trisuit at last, all printed up. Very proud!
Saturday was an early run before a wedding. It was my turn to drive as it was a friend of my wife. Next time she can drive! Today was finished off with a good session on the TT bike.
Taper time now. Shorter sessions but just as intense. Heading out to the Netherlands on Thursday.
Saturday, 6 April 2013
Testing times
So following on from my last post I said I would take a week or so from running, which I did. I also did the early morning Threshold turbo session - TrainerRoad's Goethe.
It was strange doing such a session first thing, a few minutes after waking. This season most of my training has been in the evening and my body had to wake up rapidly this time. HR was lower than usual but was to be expected. It was nice to know the workout was done and out the way. This freed up the evening to go to a tri-club curry night, with a coaching discussion.
Wednesday was an active recovery turbo in the evening, followed by the first cycling Time Trial of the season on Thursday. I woke with a sore throat, and it had got worse by the evening. Work had overrun, and I left the house in a panic. I'd planned to cycle a lap of the course as a warmup, but in the end did some small loops. Not enough unfortunately. All I could do was shiver.
I signed on the line and was given #22. The first lap was OK even though I knew the last part of each lap was in to wind. The second lap became a lot harder halfway through. Post-ride analysis from my PowerCal shows the best 20 minute power was minutes 0-20! It was a real struggle to put out any power towards the end. Normally a TT is hard, but this was something else. After crossing the line I had an easy pedal up the road and back again, got in the car and went home, still cold. The time was horrendous and not what I had expected.
My NP for the TT was 259W and the AP 256W. More than both duathlons but not by much. Overall I was 10th of 22 riders, and the 14 knot wind didn't help. On the plus side I tried out a visor I'd bought for my TT helmet back in August! Reminded me a bit of flying, with the visor that far from my face - I'm used to riding in sunglasses.
All evening I was shivering and my muscles were sore. Friday I awoke with a headache, sore throat and sore muscles. Not happy, and didn't do any training.
Today was much better and managed to get out in the sun (yes, sun!) for a nice run, mostly track and trail. A bit further than 8km; some tenderness in the Achilles to begin with but it soon dissapeared. A tad tender afterwards but nothing to write home about.
Next week is a busy week with travel so aiming to bike long tomorrow, bike Monday before work then run Tuesday before work. Back to track on Wednesday, though not too hard a session.
It was strange doing such a session first thing, a few minutes after waking. This season most of my training has been in the evening and my body had to wake up rapidly this time. HR was lower than usual but was to be expected. It was nice to know the workout was done and out the way. This freed up the evening to go to a tri-club curry night, with a coaching discussion.
Wednesday was an active recovery turbo in the evening, followed by the first cycling Time Trial of the season on Thursday. I woke with a sore throat, and it had got worse by the evening. Work had overrun, and I left the house in a panic. I'd planned to cycle a lap of the course as a warmup, but in the end did some small loops. Not enough unfortunately. All I could do was shiver.
I signed on the line and was given #22. The first lap was OK even though I knew the last part of each lap was in to wind. The second lap became a lot harder halfway through. Post-ride analysis from my PowerCal shows the best 20 minute power was minutes 0-20! It was a real struggle to put out any power towards the end. Normally a TT is hard, but this was something else. After crossing the line I had an easy pedal up the road and back again, got in the car and went home, still cold. The time was horrendous and not what I had expected.
My NP for the TT was 259W and the AP 256W. More than both duathlons but not by much. Overall I was 10th of 22 riders, and the 14 knot wind didn't help. On the plus side I tried out a visor I'd bought for my TT helmet back in August! Reminded me a bit of flying, with the visor that far from my face - I'm used to riding in sunglasses.
All evening I was shivering and my muscles were sore. Friday I awoke with a headache, sore throat and sore muscles. Not happy, and didn't do any training.
Today was much better and managed to get out in the sun (yes, sun!) for a nice run, mostly track and trail. A bit further than 8km; some tenderness in the Achilles to begin with but it soon dissapeared. A tad tender afterwards but nothing to write home about.
Next week is a busy week with travel so aiming to bike long tomorrow, bike Monday before work then run Tuesday before work. Back to track on Wednesday, though not too hard a session.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Quarterly review
2013 - what a year, and we're only 3 months in!
It seems that January was mostly spent indoors though the number show otherwise. A minimal amount of running, most off-road due to ice and snow including a good XC league race at Tadley. Lots of turbo cycling though - great quality and quantity.
February was an improvement in running volume and quality though the biking was reduced due to tapering and racing. Some good duathlon race results at Dorney and Althorp and of course qualifying for the ETU champs.
March was a bigger month all round with some great quality bike (road and MTB) and run sessions. The month was finished nicely with a ~4 hour club ride finishing at the cafe at Dinton Pastures, where I refulled with a sausage roll, chocolate fudge cake and a coffee.
With hindsight I wish I'd had some quick tracker so I can separate turbo and road rides. Perhaps something for me to add to my TrainingPeaks metrics.
April started with an easy 30km road ride, where I took in a lap of the HCC234 time trial course. My TT season starts there this Thursday. Tomorrow morning will be a good threshold TrainerRoad turbo session and Wednesday will be a 30 minute recovery ride to spin the legs out in readiness for Thursday. I'll swim Friday.
No running for me this week. A tight calf has caused my Achilles to become sore. Knocking running on the head for a week will not affect the goal for me. I will also stop my daily hamstring stretched as I have an inkling that the stretches are also contributing to the problem. Shame, as I was enjoying the track sessions. More time on the foam roller needed.
Even though it was a busy training weekend, the extra two days holiday meant some really good family time was had. We didn't do much - visited the in-laws Saturday for more cake, and then back over for Sunday lunch. Friday and today we chilled at home. Daughter leant to play draughts and is already beating me. One day I'll win against my wife too. Here's hoping at least!
It seems that January was mostly spent indoors though the number show otherwise. A minimal amount of running, most off-road due to ice and snow including a good XC league race at Tadley. Lots of turbo cycling though - great quality and quantity.
February was an improvement in running volume and quality though the biking was reduced due to tapering and racing. Some good duathlon race results at Dorney and Althorp and of course qualifying for the ETU champs.
March was a bigger month all round with some great quality bike (road and MTB) and run sessions. The month was finished nicely with a ~4 hour club ride finishing at the cafe at Dinton Pastures, where I refulled with a sausage roll, chocolate fudge cake and a coffee.
With hindsight I wish I'd had some quick tracker so I can separate turbo and road rides. Perhaps something for me to add to my TrainingPeaks metrics.
April started with an easy 30km road ride, where I took in a lap of the HCC234 time trial course. My TT season starts there this Thursday. Tomorrow morning will be a good threshold TrainerRoad turbo session and Wednesday will be a 30 minute recovery ride to spin the legs out in readiness for Thursday. I'll swim Friday.
No running for me this week. A tight calf has caused my Achilles to become sore. Knocking running on the head for a week will not affect the goal for me. I will also stop my daily hamstring stretched as I have an inkling that the stretches are also contributing to the problem. Shame, as I was enjoying the track sessions. More time on the foam roller needed.
Even though it was a busy training weekend, the extra two days holiday meant some really good family time was had. We didn't do much - visited the in-laws Saturday for more cake, and then back over for Sunday lunch. Friday and today we chilled at home. Daughter leant to play draughts and is already beating me. One day I'll win against my wife too. Here's hoping at least!
Thursday, 28 March 2013
A run focus
Last week was bike focused; this week is all about the run.
Monday was a club swim. Tuesday was a tempo run with my running club. A good distance for the tempo section at a good pace. Unfortunately my elastic laces caused my feet to start slipping in the shoes and the day after my feet were really sore.
Each toe has a blister on the end and the underside of my feet are quite sore too. I replaced the elastic laces with normal laces for Wednesday's track session. Another good session with 3 sets of decreasing reps. My left Achilles was a tad tender afterwards too, but nothing the foam roller can't cure!
Tonight saw me back on the turbo, doing a TrainerRoad sweetspot session to get the legs going, and watch some of a Harry Potter film.
Tomorrow I hope to get outside, or I'll hit a threshold session on the turbo.
Monday was a club swim. Tuesday was a tempo run with my running club. A good distance for the tempo section at a good pace. Unfortunately my elastic laces caused my feet to start slipping in the shoes and the day after my feet were really sore.
Each toe has a blister on the end and the underside of my feet are quite sore too. I replaced the elastic laces with normal laces for Wednesday's track session. Another good session with 3 sets of decreasing reps. My left Achilles was a tad tender afterwards too, but nothing the foam roller can't cure!
Tonight saw me back on the turbo, doing a TrainerRoad sweetspot session to get the legs going, and watch some of a Harry Potter film.
Tomorrow I hope to get outside, or I'll hit a threshold session on the turbo.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Weekly update
It's Sunday evening so time to catch up on the week since my last post.
Wednesday was the start of the tri-club's track-brick sessions. After a good warm up and some drills I did 3 reps of 6 min bike and 800m track. Each bike rep was high cadence and the 3 800m reps were very well paced. Slightly slower than my usual 800m target but taken easier as I'd raced at the weekend.
Thursday saw an hour on the turbo riding Sufferfest's Fight Club on TrainerRoad. A good session especially with the sprint intervals within each interval rep. I'm not a big fan of big-gear low-cadence work, but it must be done to build strength!
Friday was a warm, sunny lunch time easy run, with some added pick-ups to keep me race-pace aware. Some trail, some road and some very muddy XC section. My XC shoes had only just dried after Marlow!
Saturday morning a parcel arrived in the post for me. It was the flag and stickers that Sufferfest had donated to me. Thanks Sufferfest!
My wife and I knew we had a busy weekend ahead of us. Both children had parties to go to plus the usual visit to the in-laws for cake. Normally I'd cycle over with a long detour though the logistics for the children meant that I'd not do it this week. That, and with the weekend weather forecast looking grim I'd planned to ride Sufferfest's new video, Blender. However I thought I should get outside and took the opportunity to ride my rarely-used MTB. I knew that Swinley Forest was being reworked in to a trail centre so I decided to take a snowy look.
Once my daughter had been collected I cycled over to Swinley with a friendand we spend an hour and a half trying out the new trails. The trail work is very impressive with some good surfaces and a noticeable lack of surface water despite the waterlogged forestry all around. A quick cup of Bovril and flapjack in the cafe, then a further hour rolling around Swinley before heading home for a warm cup of tea.
A really enjoyable session and back in the nick of time; we arrived just as my daughter was being dropped home.
This morning I left the family to their lie-in and headed out with a few friends from my running club. We ran deep wet muddy XC trails and climbed a few hills before heading back in to woodland trails and more mud. We parted ways after about an hour and I did another 30 minutes on my own whilst they went of for some longer mileage. Even though it was cold and lightly snowing it was a good run. I'm so lucky to have such a vast amount of running and cycling terrain on my doorstep.
I got home to find that my wife had baked a lovely cake, ideal recovery food from a run. I also found out that my son's couple of red spots had turned in to full blown chicken pox overnight. Unfortunately for him he would not be going to any party today, and had unwittingly jeopardised my daughters own birthday party scheduled for this week. Other than being very itchy he doesn't appear to be suffering and still tore round the house like a barbarian all afternoon.
Another good week of family fun and 9 hours quality training.
Wednesday was the start of the tri-club's track-brick sessions. After a good warm up and some drills I did 3 reps of 6 min bike and 800m track. Each bike rep was high cadence and the 3 800m reps were very well paced. Slightly slower than my usual 800m target but taken easier as I'd raced at the weekend.
Thursday saw an hour on the turbo riding Sufferfest's Fight Club on TrainerRoad. A good session especially with the sprint intervals within each interval rep. I'm not a big fan of big-gear low-cadence work, but it must be done to build strength!
Friday was a warm, sunny lunch time easy run, with some added pick-ups to keep me race-pace aware. Some trail, some road and some very muddy XC section. My XC shoes had only just dried after Marlow!
Saturday morning a parcel arrived in the post for me. It was the flag and stickers that Sufferfest had donated to me. Thanks Sufferfest!
My wife and I knew we had a busy weekend ahead of us. Both children had parties to go to plus the usual visit to the in-laws for cake. Normally I'd cycle over with a long detour though the logistics for the children meant that I'd not do it this week. That, and with the weekend weather forecast looking grim I'd planned to ride Sufferfest's new video, Blender. However I thought I should get outside and took the opportunity to ride my rarely-used MTB. I knew that Swinley Forest was being reworked in to a trail centre so I decided to take a snowy look.
Once my daughter had been collected I cycled over to Swinley with a friendand we spend an hour and a half trying out the new trails. The trail work is very impressive with some good surfaces and a noticeable lack of surface water despite the waterlogged forestry all around. A quick cup of Bovril and flapjack in the cafe, then a further hour rolling around Swinley before heading home for a warm cup of tea.
A really enjoyable session and back in the nick of time; we arrived just as my daughter was being dropped home.
This morning I left the family to their lie-in and headed out with a few friends from my running club. We ran deep wet muddy XC trails and climbed a few hills before heading back in to woodland trails and more mud. We parted ways after about an hour and I did another 30 minutes on my own whilst they went of for some longer mileage. Even though it was cold and lightly snowing it was a good run. I'm so lucky to have such a vast amount of running and cycling terrain on my doorstep.
I got home to find that my wife had baked a lovely cake, ideal recovery food from a run. I also found out that my son's couple of red spots had turned in to full blown chicken pox overnight. Unfortunately for him he would not be going to any party today, and had unwittingly jeopardised my daughters own birthday party scheduled for this week. Other than being very itchy he doesn't appear to be suffering and still tore round the house like a barbarian all afternoon.
Another good week of family fun and 9 hours quality training.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Race report - Marlow duathlon
To catch up with the week...
Wednesday evening was a pyramid track session. Thursday I rode Sufferfest's There Is No Try on TrainerRoad. During the middle TT section I could feel some cramps building in my left calf and then on the final high-power interval the cramps arrived and locked my leg solid. I still went out for my planned transition run then finished off with a 10 minute spin on the bike.
Friday's tempo run became an easy multi-terrain run with a few pickups; mainly as I was racing Sunday and also to run off the muscle stiffness from the cramp. Saturday was a rest day and after visiting my local bike shop I took the kids to a local park. They have an outdoor gym there and it was funny to watch both of them trying leg pushes, ski-trainer and stationary bike.
So on to the duathlon. Marlow Striders have run this annual event for a fair few years now. It is a great, friendly, grass-roots event and gets better every year; this year had chip-timing and proper age-group results. In past years the proceeds have contributed to the purchase of Marlow sports ground, along with the other resident clubs.
I had been watching the weather for a few days. Despite raining yesterday the evening forecast promised a dry morning with minimum wind with heavy rain coming in before 12pm.
Upon arrival it was noticeably cooler than at home even though it wasn't too far away. After registering and getting a coffee I took the bike out for a 10 minute spin to make sure all was OK, and then racked the bike. After some more faff I adjusted my rear brake, set up my shoes on the bike and then went for a quick warm up run. Back to the start line for the briefing, and then the hooter went.
The first run is 7.5km - round the sports field, out down Pound Lane (a track), along a muddy path then on to the Thames path. Over the Thames on a wooden bridge then cross country again. Through a low tunnel, round Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre then continuing on the road across the Thames at Marlow. Through Higginson park (grass and mud) then back down Pound Lane to the large gate and across the field to T1.
Run#1.
My target time for this was 30 minutes. As usual it wasn't long before I was hot, even in the overcast conditions - I have raced most duathlons this year in a white short-sleeve base layer, arm warmers and tri-suit. All was well until we hit the muddy track. In past years a cold spell has made this track passable though hard underfoot. Today it was a quagmire, with most people struggling to stay upright, even those in XC shoes like myself. After some effort the path ended and the Thames path appeared. The wooden bridge was slippery on the way up and even more so on the way back down. Up to this point I had been sparing with a fellow Finch Coasters' runner. She had some great XC shoes and made some headway on the mud but I managed to overtake on the road section. Good going on the roads until we hit the mud in Higginson park and then in to T1.
Run#1: 30:44.
T1 was a pedestrian 55 seconds due to running up the wrong row in transition. Found my bike, put my helmet and glasses on and I immediately noticed that my glasses had steamed and would not clear.
Bike.
After jumping on the bike at the mount line my feet found my shoes and off I went. Plan was to take it relatively easy on the first couple of km as they were uphill, then I could hammer the downhill and the rest of the 25km course. Then it started to rain, and I struggled to keep my glasses clear. At the top of the hill I got ready to hit the descent though it was hard to see due to my glasses and the rain. I should have used the clear lenses too.
The entire course was waterlogged and the surface water hid potholes - or so we'd been warned. The bike course splits in two quite nicely. The first part is rolling and the second is more up then down.The first part wasn't too bad but the rain got heavier and then turned to hail. I was still struggling to see where I was going and so decided it was better to take it easier than end up damaged. As I approached the second half my kit was soaked, my shoes had filled up with water and I'd lost most of the feeling in my hands, needing to use the entire hand to change gear. There wasn't much to be said about the bike course other than it was hard work in the conditions and completely unenjoyable. Not the fault of the organisers by any means. For me it was also interesting to see how lonely the bike course was. Last year I was further down the pack so there was lots of overtaking and grabbing positions back. This time there was the odd overtake or overtaking and passing those unlucky enough to puncture on the multitude of potholes. One of the best part of the second half is the descent to the turn-round point. Not this year. Lack of feeling in my hands meant taking it easy so I could slow down in time and I lost a few places due to this. After the turn-round it was through a wooded area where the road surface was mostly holes. I noticed the guys in the distance were drafting which annoyed me - it is unfair to everyone else riding within the rules. Towards one of the final turns I passed another punctured competitor and a marshal asked if he was ok. I tried to reply but my mouth would not move - frozen in place. I rolled down the hill in to T2 - again, normally I'd put some effort in but it was hard to do anything.
Bike: 51:11
T2 was faster as I knew where the bike went, though the event photographer was trying to do some artistic shots in my space.
Run#2.
Run#2 , the reverse of Run#1 was about survival, rather than my 30:00 target (run#2 is slightly shorter than #1). The lack of effort on the bike meant I was not going to hit my target so it was a case of do what I could. One thing I did notice was the lack of jelly legs. I hopes this down to all the brick sessions I have done, but in all honesty is was likely down to the lack of bike effort. Like the bike, the run was lonely and cold. I also noticed I was shivering a lot. Shortly before Bisham I was overtaken and we exchanged some banter. He was running off some anger caused by a puncture - and then he disappeared! I heard some footsteps from behind shortly before the wooden bridge and was accompanied across the bridge and along the Thames, then he overtaken me. We hit the muddy path and both of us played Bambi on ice for a mile. Once back on the track I found my legs again but could not catch him. I tried to push harder but it seemed it was too early to kick and I'd run out of power before the finish. A winter of XC racing has given me a good grounding of how early I can kick, and also when to save it. As we approached the final turn in to the sports ground I kicked hard and made the overtake. We both hit the grass on the field and I thought I would lose my lead. Luckily the bad footing affected us both and I crossed the finish line with 3s between us. The previous finisher was 14s before - a lifetime in racing.
Run#1: 32:00
Aftermath.
I grabbed my free hot chocolate recovery drink and headed in to the club for my warm clothes as I continued to shake and shiver. The club house had a few people covered in foil blankets and others lying next to radiators. I got on my warm clothes then found my Coasters' friend, who was also suffering. It seems the conditions caused a few cases of mild hypothermia and a vast amount of shivery cold people. Many ended up under hand-driers and alongside radiators in the bar. No long term damage done though.
It is a measure of an event when things like this happen, and the Marlow guys really pulled together and ensured that everyone was ok. Hot tea, coffee and more hot chocolate flowed until the warmth was evident. Well done Marlow.
So after all that I finished 23rd overall, and 7th in AG after 1:55:43. I'll be honest and say I'd hoped for better - somewhere at least 5 minutes quicker overall. Though with hindsight I had really raced last year and this year I struggled to see on the bike so eased off and also suffered from the cold. Then the second run was about getting back rather than setting records.
Not a bad day out, but must try harder. That is all my racing done now until the Europeans so time to get some quality training under the belt. Glad to see that my Coasters' friend managed 2nd Woman and the other Coasters and TVTers all did well in the conditions.
Wednesday evening was a pyramid track session. Thursday I rode Sufferfest's There Is No Try on TrainerRoad. During the middle TT section I could feel some cramps building in my left calf and then on the final high-power interval the cramps arrived and locked my leg solid. I still went out for my planned transition run then finished off with a 10 minute spin on the bike.
Friday's tempo run became an easy multi-terrain run with a few pickups; mainly as I was racing Sunday and also to run off the muscle stiffness from the cramp. Saturday was a rest day and after visiting my local bike shop I took the kids to a local park. They have an outdoor gym there and it was funny to watch both of them trying leg pushes, ski-trainer and stationary bike.
So on to the duathlon. Marlow Striders have run this annual event for a fair few years now. It is a great, friendly, grass-roots event and gets better every year; this year had chip-timing and proper age-group results. In past years the proceeds have contributed to the purchase of Marlow sports ground, along with the other resident clubs.
I had been watching the weather for a few days. Despite raining yesterday the evening forecast promised a dry morning with minimum wind with heavy rain coming in before 12pm.
Upon arrival it was noticeably cooler than at home even though it wasn't too far away. After registering and getting a coffee I took the bike out for a 10 minute spin to make sure all was OK, and then racked the bike. After some more faff I adjusted my rear brake, set up my shoes on the bike and then went for a quick warm up run. Back to the start line for the briefing, and then the hooter went.
The first run is 7.5km - round the sports field, out down Pound Lane (a track), along a muddy path then on to the Thames path. Over the Thames on a wooden bridge then cross country again. Through a low tunnel, round Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre then continuing on the road across the Thames at Marlow. Through Higginson park (grass and mud) then back down Pound Lane to the large gate and across the field to T1.
Run#1.
My target time for this was 30 minutes. As usual it wasn't long before I was hot, even in the overcast conditions - I have raced most duathlons this year in a white short-sleeve base layer, arm warmers and tri-suit. All was well until we hit the muddy track. In past years a cold spell has made this track passable though hard underfoot. Today it was a quagmire, with most people struggling to stay upright, even those in XC shoes like myself. After some effort the path ended and the Thames path appeared. The wooden bridge was slippery on the way up and even more so on the way back down. Up to this point I had been sparing with a fellow Finch Coasters' runner. She had some great XC shoes and made some headway on the mud but I managed to overtake on the road section. Good going on the roads until we hit the mud in Higginson park and then in to T1.
Run#1: 30:44.
T1 was a pedestrian 55 seconds due to running up the wrong row in transition. Found my bike, put my helmet and glasses on and I immediately noticed that my glasses had steamed and would not clear.
Bike.
After jumping on the bike at the mount line my feet found my shoes and off I went. Plan was to take it relatively easy on the first couple of km as they were uphill, then I could hammer the downhill and the rest of the 25km course. Then it started to rain, and I struggled to keep my glasses clear. At the top of the hill I got ready to hit the descent though it was hard to see due to my glasses and the rain. I should have used the clear lenses too.
The entire course was waterlogged and the surface water hid potholes - or so we'd been warned. The bike course splits in two quite nicely. The first part is rolling and the second is more up then down.The first part wasn't too bad but the rain got heavier and then turned to hail. I was still struggling to see where I was going and so decided it was better to take it easier than end up damaged. As I approached the second half my kit was soaked, my shoes had filled up with water and I'd lost most of the feeling in my hands, needing to use the entire hand to change gear. There wasn't much to be said about the bike course other than it was hard work in the conditions and completely unenjoyable. Not the fault of the organisers by any means. For me it was also interesting to see how lonely the bike course was. Last year I was further down the pack so there was lots of overtaking and grabbing positions back. This time there was the odd overtake or overtaking and passing those unlucky enough to puncture on the multitude of potholes. One of the best part of the second half is the descent to the turn-round point. Not this year. Lack of feeling in my hands meant taking it easy so I could slow down in time and I lost a few places due to this. After the turn-round it was through a wooded area where the road surface was mostly holes. I noticed the guys in the distance were drafting which annoyed me - it is unfair to everyone else riding within the rules. Towards one of the final turns I passed another punctured competitor and a marshal asked if he was ok. I tried to reply but my mouth would not move - frozen in place. I rolled down the hill in to T2 - again, normally I'd put some effort in but it was hard to do anything.
Bike: 51:11
T2 was faster as I knew where the bike went, though the event photographer was trying to do some artistic shots in my space.
Run#2.
Run#2 , the reverse of Run#1 was about survival, rather than my 30:00 target (run#2 is slightly shorter than #1). The lack of effort on the bike meant I was not going to hit my target so it was a case of do what I could. One thing I did notice was the lack of jelly legs. I hopes this down to all the brick sessions I have done, but in all honesty is was likely down to the lack of bike effort. Like the bike, the run was lonely and cold. I also noticed I was shivering a lot. Shortly before Bisham I was overtaken and we exchanged some banter. He was running off some anger caused by a puncture - and then he disappeared! I heard some footsteps from behind shortly before the wooden bridge and was accompanied across the bridge and along the Thames, then he overtaken me. We hit the muddy path and both of us played Bambi on ice for a mile. Once back on the track I found my legs again but could not catch him. I tried to push harder but it seemed it was too early to kick and I'd run out of power before the finish. A winter of XC racing has given me a good grounding of how early I can kick, and also when to save it. As we approached the final turn in to the sports ground I kicked hard and made the overtake. We both hit the grass on the field and I thought I would lose my lead. Luckily the bad footing affected us both and I crossed the finish line with 3s between us. The previous finisher was 14s before - a lifetime in racing.
Run#1: 32:00
Aftermath.
I grabbed my free hot chocolate recovery drink and headed in to the club for my warm clothes as I continued to shake and shiver. The club house had a few people covered in foil blankets and others lying next to radiators. I got on my warm clothes then found my Coasters' friend, who was also suffering. It seems the conditions caused a few cases of mild hypothermia and a vast amount of shivery cold people. Many ended up under hand-driers and alongside radiators in the bar. No long term damage done though.
It is a measure of an event when things like this happen, and the Marlow guys really pulled together and ensured that everyone was ok. Hot tea, coffee and more hot chocolate flowed until the warmth was evident. Well done Marlow.
So after all that I finished 23rd overall, and 7th in AG after 1:55:43. I'll be honest and say I'd hoped for better - somewhere at least 5 minutes quicker overall. Though with hindsight I had really raced last year and this year I struggled to see on the bike so eased off and also suffered from the cold. Then the second run was about getting back rather than setting records.
Not a bad day out, but must try harder. That is all my racing done now until the Europeans so time to get some quality training under the belt. Glad to see that my Coasters' friend managed 2nd Woman and the other Coasters and TVTers all did well in the conditions.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
What a week...and it's only Wednesday!
Our house has been on the market for a few weeks now. Plenty of viewings but no bites. Today we put a deposit down on a new build near Bracknell and will part-exchange our house for the as-yet un-built house. In fact, today it is still a car park!
Yesterday was also a good day. Firstly I woke up to some good news in my inbox. I had sent out some speculative sponsorship requests to various companies whose products I use.
The Sufferfest have kindly donated me their entire set of training videos, including the latest one, Blender. I already had a few and I am a great fan of them - they were extremely useful over our recent snowy/icy spell and allowed me to continue bike training. They have also offered me a Sufferlandria national flag which I will display at the ETU champs in April.
TrainerRoad have also agreed to sponsor me with access to their indoor training system. TrainerRoad was developed for cyclists and triathletes and offers athletes structured cycling workouts with live ANT+ data based on power, heart rate or VirtualPower™. The TrainerRoad software is both Mac and PC compatible and offers more than 190 workouts scaled to match the current fitness level of each member. TrainerRoad will also be advertised on my trisuit.
Secondly my age-group trisuit arrived, complete with GBR on it. The 2013 kit will hopefully be ready in time though it may be quite close to the race date, so I have bought the older style as an insurance policy. The newer suit has a GB flag on it and whilst I would rather race in that I will be incredibly proud to race in either of them. Go Team GB!
Finally I did a 20 minute power test on TrainerRoad yesterday. This showed a ~5% increase in Functional Threshold Power since January. Good result.
I still have a few sponsorship emails out there with local businesses and I'm hopeful for some more positive responses.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Still swimming...
I realise most of my posts this year have not mentioned swimming, and have been very duathlon-centric. After Saturday's bike ride and yesterday's long run I swam today with the club. A good session focussed on 200m intervals.
Swimming is still part of my training plan in preparation for a summer of triathlon, including the qualifiers for the Worlds in London!
Swimming is still part of my training plan in preparation for a summer of triathlon, including the qualifiers for the Worlds in London!
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