Use Your Head in the Water

Check out the tips from Swim Smooth. I particularly like the one below:

Here's a cunning method to help you self-diagnose parts of your stroke that need work. We call it "Stroke Contrasts".

Hopefully you are having a well earned rest over the Christmas holiday and are now thinking about what training you should be doing over the next few months. This is a great time to take stock of your swimming and make some training plans to meet your goals this summer. But when it comes to assessing your stroke technique, without the help of a good coach it’s hard to judge what you should be working on.

Enter the Stroke Contrast method. This technique asks you to deliberately alter your stroke for the worse so that you can experience how it feels. The contrast this creates gives you a unique sensory experience, which helps you tune into flaws in your stroke.

The possibilities for creating Stroke Contrasts are endless. Here’s a classic session -- try it for yourself and see what you experience:

STROKE CONTRASTS TEST SESSION
Warm up: 400m smooth easy freestyle

For each of the contrasts below, swim 100m deliberately emphasising the stroke error then 200m focusing on correcting that error:

Contrast of Flaw 1: Holding Your Breath
a) Swim 100m without any exhalation into the water – holding you breathe the whole time you are face down. Rotate to the side as normal to breathe but in that short window both exhale and inhale.
b) Now experience the contrast by swimming 200m emphasising good strong exhalation into the water. Doing this you only have to inhale when you rotate to breathe. This is good breathing technique – do you do this in your stroke normally?
Find out more about exhalation.
Contrast of Flaw 2: Lack Of Body Roll
a) Swim 100m without any body roll, trying to keep your shoulders and hips flat and level with the water. To do this you might have to swing your arms round the side a bit more than normal.
b) Now swim 200m emphasising good body roll, rotating the hips and shoulders together. As you enter the water and extend forwards at the front of your stroke really emphasise rolling your body onto that side.
Find out more about body roll.
Contrast of Flaw 3: Dorsi Flexed Ankles
a) Using a pull buoy, swim 100m flexing your foot square to your leg as if you are standing. When you swim in this position your toes will point down towards the bottom of the pool. Feel what this does to your body position and how it creates drag.
b) Now continue with the pull buoy for 200m correcting this stroke flaw by pointing your toes (technical term: plantar flexion). Experience how this feels and what it does to your progress through the water.
Find out more about kicking.
Contrast 4: Head Position
a) Swim 100m, every 25m try a different head position:
1) looking straight down and slightly behind
2) looking straight down
3) looking straight down and slightly ahead
4) looking ahead (eyes still just below the surface)
b) There is no right or wrong with head position – it’s an individual thing to suit your stroke. Choose the position that felt best for your stroke and then swim 200m holding that position.
Contrast of Flaw 5: Straight Arm Catch and Pull.
a) After entering the water at the front of your stroke and extending forwards, start your stroke but deliberately keep your arm straight without any elbow bend. This means you have to push straight down on the water rather than push it back. Emphasise this stroke flaw for 100m.
b) Now swim 200m, focusing on extending forwards and then commencing the stroke by catching the water with a good elbow bend, so pulling the water back to the wall behind you. Quick tip: try exaggerating the elbow bend more than you might think necessary.
Find out more about the catch and pull.
Warm down: Pick the contrast above that made the most difference to your stroke and swim 200m at a very easy pace focusing on that one thing.

That’s a simple 2100m technique session which anyone can use to assess their own stroke. You can modify it and add in other stroke flaws e.g. bent knee kicking, late breathing and catch up stroke timing.

Important: Deliberately introducing a stroke flaw in this way increases your perception. You can often feel if you have a tendency towards that particular flaw in your stroke. But if you don’t feel any difference at all versus your normal swimming, that shows you have the full version of that flaw in your stroke. Make fixing it your immediate priority!

So How's it Going?

Almost a week since I made the decision to just get on with training and put up with the glute/hamstring problem I have. I have completed a full week of training and the injury is definately no better! But it is also no worse. True, I can't sit comfortably for any longer that 20 mins and driving anyway further than 10 miles is a real pain in the bum, but I am still training! This means that I have ran 5 times this week; nothing long but consistently putting one foot in front of the other. maybe after I move, I will try and up the pace.

Talking of moving, I am set to move to bristol on 27 Jan 10. I am none too happy to leave this location but I have no choice. I will live just South West of Bristol and seem to have some great cycling country surrounding me. However, it's the hassle of moving that really bugs me. Still, it's not like I have not done it before - only about 15 times!!

Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I hope that your training is going well and that Santa brings you some bike bling!

Morale-O-Meter

I really feel like a whinging old Victor Meldrew. Yes, with so much going wrong in so many different aspects of my life, I feel the need to detach this Blog from my incessant whining. Well it is supposed to be a training Blog. So, I am going to try and place a morale-a-meter in the permanent info on the right. That way, people can actually read the content of the Blog without falling asleep – you may still fall asleep, but it won’t be due to to my complaining about every single occurrence!

Training has been interrupted further lately. . . this is fact; not complaining! The family have all had tummy bugs. Very bad, nasty tummy bugs. I am back training now but my glute/hamstring problem remains (more fact. Notice the lack of frustration and emotion?).

To combat the lingering injury, I have a new strategy – ignore it. I havn’t tried that approach and it sounds logical to me. Of course I fully understand that everyone else may not see this logic!

Anyway, I hit the turbo early this morning. It had not done anything to me but I hit it anyway. After an hour and 15 mins I climbed off, steaming nicely as it was Baltic outside. I was in the garage with the door open and the frosty scene outside was quite festive. See, I am not Victor Meldrew! I am getting all festive! I am going for a run this evening, building on the 20 mins I did on Monday. So, pain in the bum or not, 25 mins is the target. . . . and I’m done with messing around jogging gently!

Happy festive season bloggers.

Pesky Bugs

A quick post because I am rather busy nursing sick members of my family. A stomach bug has hit us hard - very nasty strain. Julie was extremely poorly with it on Tuesday night and she is still suffering. I then caught it but not as bad. CJ is ow complaining of tummy pains . . . here we go again 8-(

Obviously, training has taken a dip. It feels an age since I had that lovely post triathlon race feeling. Hope I can regain the feeling next year!

Stay healthy dudes!

Gone is Fishman . . . .

. . . . Welcome Aquatic Boy! Well, Aquaboy is the nearest I can find. Thing is, I am far too old and wrinkley to resemble the youthful Aquaboy.

Fishman?

Could I be turning into a Fiashman?! surely not! A week has passed by since my last blog. To avoid driving away any people who may read these ramblings, I will get my rant out of the way quickly. . .

Been ill. Glute/hamstring injury lingers on. . . bla bla. . . not training well. . . bla bla. . .

Right, so what’s been going on? I collect my box trailer tomorrow or Wednesday. It depends on whether my tow bar is difficult to fit. Either way, I am excited about getting a trailer for the trivan – sad eh?! But during these long, dark and wet days of winter, I am dreaming of my trip to the French Alps in July. Throw all the luggage in the trailer (including bike) and drive in luxury for 10 hours.

Although I stated that training is not going too well, my swimming is actually not too bad. With various leg injuries going on, I have been hitting the pool quite hard – when not coughing up green junk. . . . nice. . .

Clocked a 6:04 400m and a 2:54 200m in training. Quite happy with that considering my swimming has been so dire for the last 2 years.

This Saturday is Ironman Western Australia. Really looking forward to this because Andy Fisher and Neill Gowans (both RAF Tri) are racing. Andy is a complete animal and super fast. It is his first Ironman so it could be REALLY quick or the distance will grab him and chew him out a wreck! Neill has completed a few Ironman triathlons. But this one is different. He has reportedly lost 4 Stone in weight! He has ballooned in weight over the last few years but there is a very fast triathlete in there just waiting to return! Not sure what his goals are for the race but I suspect that the weight loss alone will see him take a PB for the distance.

Best wishes to them both; race strong and wise. . . just like I always do . . . cough cough. Sorry, more green stuff there. . . .

British Sports Personality of the Year Award. Oh dear, not a good prospect! Press reports are all over the place at the moment, mostly berating the way we shortlist individuals for the title. I like this report:

Looking at the BBC’s list of nominees for the 2009 Sports Personality of the Year, you have to wonder what so-called ‘minority’ sports stars have to do to get the recognition that they undoubtedly deserve.
Win three back-to-back World Championships and break a World Record in one of the toughest sports on earth?
Maintain a 100% record in an International series at the age of just 21?
Or perform above averagely – but by no means be a world-beater – in mainstream sports and get the nod because bods at the Beeb does not have enough faith in the format of the show to put together a Sports Personality of the Year Awards that does not include the pre-requisite footballer, cricketer and tennis player?
To say that this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year is a bit of a joke is harsh. But fair? Every single athlete on the list is undoubtedly worthy of praise, and they have all performed to levels that most of us can only dream about.
But few on that list have excelled in the manner of either Chrissie Wellington or Alastair Brownlee in 2009. Bradley Wiggins and Tony McCoy have – but somehow didn’t make the list. Jess Ennis and Beth Tweddle have. Even David Haye deserves credit for his battle with the Goliath in Germany.
But some of the others? It’s incredibly disappointing.
And you have to ask why?
This week in Australia, Craig Alexander was crowned Sports Performer of the Year – the Aussie equivalent of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. In a country where sports stars are revered and their passion for winning is second to none, Crowie triumphed against the biggest names in Rugby, Cricket and Athletics. Those are the big ‘three’ down under. What’s more the names that Crowie beat have already been Internationally recognised as being the best players of their respective sports in the World. Alexander was a rank-outsider going into the ceremony, but the Aussie public was given the opportunity to vote, and because of what he has achieved he won. He got the recognition he deserves.
The Great British public won’t even have the opportunity to recognise Chrissie Wellington and Alastair Brownlee.
Why? Because the nominations were made by ‘experts’ from local newspapers, lads mags and the tabloid press (all of whom have a very specific demographic). Not one of these ‘experts’ shortlisted Brownlee (including the Yorkshire Post), while only three cited Chrissie. Sporting experts indeed…
And that means that for yet another year, BBC pundits will roam the floor pouring accolades on a player yet to win a Grand Slam, a veteran footballer whose best days are way behind him, and a driver blessed with undoubted talent (and a better car than everyone else for the first half of a season).
Meanwhile, a couple of Internationally acclaimed World Champions will be looking on, probably wondering what they have to do to get on that short list. That is if they’re invited to the ceremony at all.

Training Stagnation

I would like to say that training is moving along nicely. . . but it aint! The physio had been working well and my glute/hamstring injury was making progress. You will notice the past tense there! To cut a boring story short, there are med centre refurbishments and over-booked physios so appointments are cancelled until further notice. I find this most strange and very frustrating. I now have a bug that has stopped me cycling and swimming too! Oh well, many people have worse ailments, so I had best stop whinging!

The cross country season has started and the first Lincs league XC race was last Wed. Needless to say, I couldn’t do it. 2 x 20 min easy runs per week are my limit currently.

My move to Bristol may be happening early now. I have a house allocated and I have become a training pest to Frank Whittle. I am sure that he will deny even knowing me by the time I arrive banging on his desk for him to come out training!

Thinking ahead to July 10, my trip to the French Alps is confirmed. I think it may clash with the Inter-Services Tri Champs but we’ll have to wait and see about that. I am thinking of hitching a trailer to my van for the trip. Just think of all the luggage and bikes you could get in this:

Jack the Junk Miles. . . Tame the Turbo

I had my first ride out on the open road on Friday evening. It was wet, windy and not too nice really. Recently all my training has been on the turbo, so I was itching to get out. As I had to go to Cambridge, I thought I would ride there and back. It’s not too far at about 20 miles on the back roads. I have been doing some measured turbo stuff lately; mostly by heart rate and cadence. So, I thought that I would monitor my heart rate on the outdoor ride. I was on my single speed bike so I was expecting a somewhat erratic heart rate. To cut a long story short, my average heart rate for the entire ride was 102! The max was 142. What the. . . !! There were times when I thought I was riding quite hard. Obviously, I wasn’t!

This is where I am feeling more and more that measured progression on the bike has to come from turbo training. My recent sessions have been aimed at hitting my aerobic ‘sweet spot’ ie, it hurts a little bit, but providing I fuel correctly, I should be able to maintain the pace for a considerable time. The idea is that I raise my aerobic threshold. This, of course, is based on knowing your max heart rate.

Anyway, biking outdoors is dangerous



Here is an example of one of the longer turbo sessions I have completed:

BIKE 1:45
WARM UP
15:00 easy spin -- use a gearing pyramid to gradually build to 75%
-- 5:00 in easy gear, 4:00 in next harder gear, then 3:00, 2:00, & 1:00
DRILLS
3 x 4:30 Variable Gearing Set w/30 sec recovery after each
-- each repeat should be
3 x (40 sec in medium gear - 20 sec in easiest gear - 30 sec in hardest gear)
MAIN SET -- BIG TARGET!
This target set is meant to be performed in an aerobic state, which means that you need to be disciplined and hold your HR intensity at or below 75% throughout the set. It is optimal to be able to measure the distance that you are riding in order to record your time for this test.
2 x 8.4 miles @75% w/3:00 @60% intensity in between
-- make sure that you keep your HR under control for both repeats, and record both times (and average HR, if possible) for future reference.
COOL DOWN to 1:45 total, gradually bringing your HR
back under 60% by the end

As time goes by through the winter, I aim to spend more and more time in this 75% zone. This approach is very different to the system used last winter. I spent the winter of 2008 trying to up my threshold power. . . And failed (though I didn’t bike too badly come the summer)! This winter I hope to brake out of an increased aerobic threshold and move into some power threshold work ready for the race season.

Stroke Rate

Been thinking a lot about stroke rate in the pool lately. Check out this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiNkAMU8syI

It shows Jodie Swallow easily churning out lengths at 1:10 per 100m pace. She has a high stroke rate - the opposite to what most age groupers are urged to develop. We are always told to keep a long gliding stroke. Well, for me, I am going to experiment with a higher stroke rate. I often feel as though I have dead spots in my stroke; I sort of feel as though I am stuttering down the length sometimes.

Swim well folks.

Injury Management

Thinking of renaming this blog to ‘Sags’ Injury Management Blog’. My left hamstring and glute are still giving me problems. I had my first physio session last week and, as suspected, I may have a muscle imbalance. This is due to all the full-on bike TT action over the summer, followed by a return to running in the Autumn. I have reduced my running 20 no more than 20 min per session and it is all easy paced. I am stretching loads too. What with Achilles rehab stretching and glute/hamstring stretching, it feels like I spend more time contorting myself than training! I have another physio session today, so let’s hope the treatment starts to work!

That said, my swimming is coming along ok for this time of year. Compared to previous years, I am getting heaps of distance in. The main parts of sessions recently completed have been:

3 x 700
2 x 1000
10 x 100 (test set at pace)
3 x 500
8 x 200

Mixed in with these sessions have been drills and technique. I am almost confident of swimming below 6 min for 400m next year; I can’t be far off that pace right now. Amazing what 6 weeks of focussed work can do.

My turbo trainer is getting some stick too! However, 95% of the time is spent at 75% of max heart rate or below. Also, there are plenty of single leg drills.

A comeback to triathlon in 2010 is still possible – older, slower and a bit more creaky!

Here We Go Again!

Now which bit is it that hurts???? Well here I am concentrating on rehabilitating my Achilles, and what do you know, my blinkin left glute and hamstring start giving me grief. So much so that I am having trouble sitting down!

These nagging injuries that appear out of the blue are so frustrating. In some ways I would rather fall over and end up with a bone in plaster. At least I would know why I have hurt myself and what I need to do to get healthy again. When I hurt my Achilles back in April, I thought it would get better with rest; of course it never did! I didn’t seek treatment until July. So this time it was straight to the Doc. I have a physio appointment today; hopefully, I can get this sorted quickly. After reading up on hamstring injuries, the recurring theme is this:

By far the most common cause of hamstring injuries originates from an imbalance between the quadriceps muscles (located at the front of the upper leg) and the hamstring muscles.

So, I suspect that I will be taking on another rehab stretching routine. At this rate I will do no training but turn into a full time injury prevention training freak!!

I had been building my aerobic fitness recently, with a view to ramping up the intensity after Christmas. With a house move scheduled for March 10, I can more or less right off March in training terms. Hence my plan is to have a hard Feb and then pick up the efforts in April again. That way, I may be in some sort of shape by July.

That Was 2009

It’s the time of year when we look back at the season and reflect on what went well and what went not so well. Seeing as I could not race a single triathlon due to injury, I was going to give the end of season report a miss this year. However, a 2009 brain dump may prove useful for me and motivate me for next year.

2008 had been a decent year but my swimming had been dire! So, during the winter I completed a 10hr coached swim course at SwimShack. By Feb 09, the DVD footage showed that my balance and body position had improved. However, I had been doing virtually zilch full stroke swimming – drills and more drills! Hence, by March I was finding it very difficult to swim fast!

Lesson 1: Don’t neglect swim fitness during the winter!

During the winter I had also been trying to raise my bike power by gradually increasing the power output for threshold intervals sessions on the turbo. This is intense work and a bit of an experiment. I was hitting over 330W for 6 x 6 mins on the turbo during the 2008 race season. My goal was to raise that to 350W. You could say that the experiment worked, but not in a good way! Try as I did, I just gradually got slower! I ended up struggling to maintain 300W by Jan 09. It wasn’t all bad because, by April, I was biking as well as ever. By May, I was flying and posting PBs in time trials.

Lesson 2: Ease off the bike intensity during the winter and build back up.

My first race was the National Duathlon Champs at Milton Keynes. As I had moved up an age group to the 45-49 old git category, I was hopeful of placing well. A 3rd place finish made me very happy and things were heading the right way. A few weeks later I raced the Cambridge Duathlon and won my age group quite comfortably. I had ambitions of racing at the World Duathlon Champs but my Achilles had other ideas! I had tweaked it during the race and it didn’t feel good!

Between 19 April and 2 August I did not run – could not run! I really should have sought treatment straight away but I thought it would clear up. It wasn’t until July that I turned up at Headley Court for assessment and rehab.

Lesson 3: Injured? Get treatment asap!

During the 4 months of zilch running I hit the biking big time! I was sucked into the time trial scene and ended up riding the local club evening 10 mile TT every week and then, more often than not, a weekend early morning Open TT. My times started to tumble and I hit PBs of 21:23 for 10 miles and 55:49 for 25 miles. All the regular TT racers say the same thing: If you want to get better at TTs, ride loads of TTs! I was able to consistently ride under the hour for 25 miles, even on slow courses. One of my best rides has to be the evening TT 25 on the N1 course. I clocked 59:17, which is not fast but there are, wait for it. . . 16 roundabouts to negotiate! Mind you, I must learn to hide the pain when riding my bike!


Lesson 4: Do loads of TTs to get the bike form for triathlon.

In June I replaced my race bike with a lovely Specialized Transition Pro. I know I could be seen as copying Westy, who was ripping up bike splits in triathlons on his Transition Pro, the truth is I got a great deal at Grafham Cycles and it is a class bike. Can’t wait to race it in a triathlon next year!

My swimming really tailed off during that 4 months too. With no triathlons to train for, I just had no aim. Why swim for an hour when I could bag an extra 30 miles early morning on the bike?


I had a great week in the French Alps in July. It was a family holiday but rising early enabled me to bag a col a day!

On 2 August, after 6 weeks of rehab stretching on my Achilles, I started running. . . very slowly!! I built up gradually and was soon running 6 miles. However, my Achilles was not cured and I was managing it rather than free and easy. In truth, I am still managing it! But the experts tell me that as long as I continue to do the rehab work, and the pain does not get worse, I should still build up my running. I raced the Honington 10k at the end of September and was well chuffed to clock 37:49. I reckoned that I was 2 min down on normal run speed; I will take that for now!

Lesson 5: Biking keeps you quite fit for running but running may not keep you fit for biking!

For the last 6 weeks I have been swimming much more and it’s coming along fine. I am even enjoying it!! As for 2010, I am scheduled to move to Bristol in March, which is bad timing because I should be ramping up the training intensity by then. Moving always disrupts everything and I am normally absolutely pooped for a few weeks. As for races next year, I really am not sure. I would like to do Almere IM distance but I can’t commit right now. I may just wait and see what happens. As long as I can actually race triathlons next year, I will be happy!

Thanks for reading

Basics

It's been a week since my last post, which is quite a gap for me. My training has been back to basics, with little intensity. My swimming continues to feel good -it's not fast but I am doing more distance along with technique.

My achilles is good some days and not so good other days. The rehab exercises continue and I think I will be doing them for the next 30 years! Most of my cycling has been on the turbo with some heart rate stuff and single leg drills.

So there you have it! I am officially old and slow!

I helped with the Henlow 10 road race organisation last Wednesday. I coordinated the results and timing. Man, I felt as though I had actually ran the race by the end of the day! The race was won in a relatively slow 58:02. It turns out that most of the RAF fast boys had been racing at the Amsterdam half marathon the previous weekend; hence the reduced entry from the top RAF runners. I find it confusing that RAF Athletics requested that the Henlow 10 race be brought forward to mid-October (the day before the Spadeadam half-marathon) and then send all their runners to Holland the weekend before - why? it's a shame that Daz Sharpe couldn't make it (house conversion problems) as he is running well.

As for this weekend, it's more steady turbo stuff and a reduced long run to save my achilles. Instead of a 1hr 30min run I will do an hour run and 30 min turbo.

Best wishes to Mal Rose, who undergoes some hospital vein work on his legs. . . Yuk! Recover well and come back stronger next year (but not too strong dude!)

H2O and Wiggo's Book

Be prepared blog readers! I am going to make a statement that has not been heard since young JC helped me with my training in 2006.

I have training plan!! Yep, you heard me correctly! The plan is even in a folder! And the folder has tabs!! You can't get better than that eh!! The comfort associated with a plan is very reassuring and I am already feeling relaxed about training. My swimming feels good and I feel smooth in the water. I am still not speedy but I should gain some speed by the summer. My biking is reduced in preparation for some steady periodisation. My running is much the same - reduced in volume (well I was starting to do too much). Not sure what I will do next year but I know that I will plan to do as many bike time trials as possible. By time trials, I mean organised club or open TTs. In my opinion, there is nowt better to improve your biking.

Recent training:

Sunday: 10 mile easy run that felt awful! Achilles was 'so so'.
Monday: Swim and easy turbo
Tuesday: 34 mile steady pre-work road ride. Lovely and crisp in the morning air. Easy 30 min run after work.
Wednesday: Swim in morning and turbo technique at lunch. Swim sessions building up now:

Warm Up: 6 x 150 20s RI mixing drill and full stroke
Main Set: 2 x 600 as 1st rep swim. 2nd set pull. 65% effort that felt hard at the end for my unfit upper body!
Warm Down: 100 super slow. Some 50s bilat breathing.


Been reading Brad Wiggins' book In Pursuit of Glory. It is a good read if you like bike stuff. Having seen most of the stuff he is talking about, it makes for motivating stuff. And, you realise just what a fantastic pursuit rider he is/was! He has had his share of personal problems too; I can relate to that!!

Mr Smooth

Lately my mind is full of various tri methods and training stuff to try out. This can be a good thing. Or, it can be bad, as it all gets jumbled up in my highly disorganised training. . . . . I was going to say training plan, but I don’t have one.

Anyway, firstly, news of training. After my big bonk last Monday I actually started to feel quite strong. An easy swim and a steady treadmill session on Tuesday felt ok. So, on Wednesday, after a swim in the morning, I indulged myself and did a hard turbo followed by 6 x 400m run efforts with 30 sec recovery. I was aiming for 6 min miling pace on the 400s but settled into a quite comfy 5:40 pace. This is a good sign, especially as the recovery was short between reps. Hopefully the running is getting back to where I was back in April. The Achilles is still not right but it continues to improve by minuscule amounts each week!

I am swimming more and more now and. . . . wait for it. . . I am enjoying it!! This is partly because my good friend Mr Dave ‘Big Fish’ Lowe passed a few excellent and timely tips. Dave helped me immensely whilst I was at RAF St Mawgan and we still keep in touch. Anyway, body rotation is good but too much body rotation is not good. Beginners tend to lack rotation but I certainly feel better for reducing my rotation. Also, I have had a wee scan at the SwimSmooth website. There is some great stuff on there and tips that could help even the most experienced swimmer. There is also a virtual swimmer on there called Mr Smooth.



He is a cool swimmer! You can study him in slow motion and break the stroke down to any aspect you wish. He has zilch body hair though and that obviously helps him slip through the water; best I get down to Boots for a years’ supply of Imac.

Bonk Rd

Been feeling very tired since the Honington 10k. Not quite sure what is going on but the legs just don’t work. I did some easy bike spins and drill swim sessions on Thursday and Friday. I took Saturday off completely (really had to force myself for that day off!). On Sunday I thought a nice easy long run would be called for. I set off and instantly knew that the legs were on a go-slow day. Never mind, I thought, as once I loosened off I would be able to run easy. Easy never came and I struggled terribly all the way round. Once home, I jumped on the turbo and spent 15 mins spinning the legs off.

Today I cycled to Henlow for a meeting. I managed to set off at 0530 and arrived in time for a swim session. Didn’t feel too bad. After the meeting I set off back for Wyton. Somewhere along the way I took a turn towards Bonk Rd.


I was in a right state – my mouth watering at the thought of a full roast beef dinner. I was seriously bonking and my feet felt so heavy. . . couldn’t feel my legs at all; it was just as if I had heavy feet that were attached to nothing. Weird eh?!!

This experience has put me off a possible Ironman attempt next year. All that aerobic stuff, pacing, thinking what to wear and what to eat bla bla. . . . . I am confused as to which direction to go in next year. Maybe I should just stick with the normal short, hard and full-on stuff? Make use of time trialing for bike speed and hang on for the run.

My depleted body is too fatigued to think straight right now, so it’s off to try and bag some rest.

Even Paced Running

A lot to be said for even paced running: It makes your running enjoyable (especially when racing), you have a target time, you feel fresh for the first half of the race and you feel as though you are getting faster because you pass all the people who have started too fast!

This is what I did at the Honington 10k yesterday. Armed with my Garmin to keep my pace in check, I started off steady. I passed the first mile in 6:04, feeling very fresh. Mindful of my achilles, I decided that I would not attempt to up the pace; I would aim to run continually at 6:04 pace. That is what I did and finished in 37:49. Very pleased with that considering my lack of run training and absolutely zilch hard running since 19 April! My achilles felt good and feels good today also. I am a happy bunny. The legs did begin to tire at 8k (to be expected I suppose) but I felt controlled and could have whipped up a storm over the last 2k - glad I didn't!

I also concentrated on my cadence and maintained between 87 - 90 single foot strikes all the way. The faster cadence is already beginning to feel more natural and I have great expectations for next year now!! By great, I mean that I actually hope to compete in a triathlon in 2010!

Other news: I have been foolish. . . very foolish 8-( Gone and committed to the Tour of the Peaks Cycle Sportif with Jase Walkley. The ride is in 3 weeks time and consists of 96 hilly miles. The furthest that I have ridden since April time is 42 - flat miles! Check out the profile of the route:



It's either up or down! Not much flat! And that very steep looking peak at 80 miles looks very threatening to me! I am scared. . . very scared!! I like time trials on flat dual carriageways!! Just hope it doesn't rain.

Off to cram in some bike miles. . .

Turnover

I am well and truly into tick over mode now. It has been hard to move the focus from time trialing bike training to swimming and run training. I am really getting into this run cadence thing now and I am eager to test it out in the Honington 10k tomorrow. I won’t be racing flat out as I want to keep the Achilles healthy but I will be shooting for consistent 90 foot strikes per minute at around 6:40 miling. I may even get really high tech and wear a heart rate monitor! Looking forward to catching up with some tri buddies too.

I am swimming regularly now too and it doesn’t feel too bad – just slow! I am focusing on bilateral breathing at the moment and not too worried about speed. I have always been able to bilateral breath but I feel that I need more oxygen after 100m. Today I set my timer at 40 sec and did continuous 25m bilateral on 40 sec for 30 mins. This was nice and relaxed. I will aim to gradually bring the recovery times down over the next few months until bilateral breathing can be maintained.

Run Cadence

I am sure that the topic of run cadence has been talked to death on various forums. However, for the first time ever, I have been experimenting with my run cadence. I have always been a big believer in the 'you run as you did when you learnt to walk' theory - just put one leg in front of the other as fast as you can! Having now suffered an injury that stopped me running (a new experience for me) I seem to be thinking about the mechanics of running more and more. Add to this the fact that I am considering 'going long' next year, and I am all set to change the habit of a life time!

All the info out in virtual world (and Brad world) state that fast cadence of around 90 strikes per single foot per minute is a good cadence. Ever tried this? Man, it was difficult! It felt like I was churning away like the Road Runner. . .



. . . my legs spinning round in a blur. However, I did seem to be running ok and my breathing was not that laboured, even when the pace was increased. The idea is that there the breaking effect is eliminated from your running. . . . hang on! Why am I going on about this? You've heard it all before! Anyway, I will persevere with it and see if I can make the cadence feel more natural. At least I will have another excuse for not running too well 8-)

I do like my excuses. . . which are normally most evident before any race I am doing!

No Duathlon

Well, with less than 2 weeks until the Oulton Park Duathlon, I have made a decision not to race. I suppose those who voted for the Achilles won’t hold on the poll are correct! However, it’s not that it won’t hold; in fact my running is progressing despite my Achilles not being totally healed (don’tthink it ever will be!). I just don’t want to risk the pounding it would get if I raced a duathlon. Instead, I will run the Honington 10k on 30 Sep. This race will be treated as a ‘tempo’ effort and will not be full race effort. I think it is a safer option because I know that I will murder myself on the bike if I did the duathlon – this may stress my Achilles seeing as that is how the original injury occurred. I really wanted a duathlon ranking but in reality it means nothing. A 42 min 10k will do me fine at Honington.

I continue to do my Achilles rehab. In fact, I have to do the stretching exercises throughout the day. This means that I have to go to the stairs at work and stretch away whilst people stroll by giving me weird looks. I hold on to the banister and pull up to give myself a weighted stretch. The amount of people who reckon I am doing ballet is increasing – so much now that I pre-empt any comments with: “stretching my injured Achilles; move along please.”

Training has been ok really. For me, it is now officially off season, hence I am trying to take it easy. . . er. . . didn’t really happen over the weekend, so a day off today! Recent training:

Thursday and Friday were easy days with just some bike swim sessions

Saturday was 5.5 mile run at average pace of 6:58. This included a couple of tempo efforts of 1 mile at 6:12 pace and half a mile at tempo pace. Did 20 mins spin on the bike to loosen off. The Achilles was a bit sore after this so there was plenty of ice and stretching

Sunday was a reduced club ride of 40 miles. There was only 6 of us and I took my single speed to make things a bit more taxing. I was working reasonably hard in places and the single speed makes for an interesting ride when everyone else has a spread of gears.

Monday was an hour on the bike, finishing at the pool for a quick dip; then a spin back home. After work I ran 9 miles at 3:35 marathon pace. I was tired but the relaxed pace was easy enough to maintain. I got all scientific and took my average HR for the run – 126. This meant that I was nice and aerobic; maybe a nice Ironman run pace?

My plans for next year are taking shape but I will wait for a while before I publish on the blog. With a group of guys racing the Barcelona Challenge IM distance early October, I want to wait and see what the troops do in Spain before I document my plan.

It's Started!

Yup. It's started. I reckon my bike speed has started to wane, due to my return to running. I finally got the results from the TT last Sunday. I finished in 22nd place. Not horrendous out of 90 odd cyclists but the significant aspect is that the results show that I was surrounded by cyclists that I have been putting between 30 sec and a minute into over 10 miles. Oh well, not that it matters at this time of year, but I need to prepare myself for the 2010 season - I ain't going to bike as quick if I continue to run.

I have already decided that I will be running throughout the winter and aiming for some specific triathlon goals in 2010. So, for the overall good of the entire triathlon, I need to remove some bike focus from my training. This will be difficult for me! We all know that we should work our weaknesses in the off season; in reality, most of us work what we enjoy the most!

Running has been going well this week and I have nearly clocked 20 miles! That includes a mammoth 8.2 mile run. Nothing fast but the achilles has been slightly less noticeable.

As I lose my bike focus, it is interesting to note that I continue to ride my bike every day. . .

End of Season Feeling

I have that ‘end of season’ feeling. I am still contemplating racing at the Oulton Park Duathlon on 4 October but, to be honest, I am considering binning this race. I just don’t want to risk the Achilles breaking down again. I know that I will race as hard as I can but the effort may well put me back months. I will make a final decision next week.

I was meant to be racing my final 25 mile TT this Sunday but my entry has been rejected due St Ives not being in some association. I don’t know how it all works so I will have to just end my TT season there. The 10 mile TT last Sunday didn’t go too well. It was on the course that I rode 21:25 earlier in the year and I was hopeful of another sub-22 min clocking. I rode 22:38 and was not too chuffed. However, upon chatting to other riders, it seems that everyone was slow. This was strange as the weather was not that bad. Oh well, I have to be happy with the TTs that I have done this year and hope that I can reproduce the bike speed in a triathlon next year!

The running is still going well some days and not so well other days, due to my Achilles problem. My hope is that the bad days get fewer as time goes by. As for swimming, I ventured into the pool the other day and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. A winter of swimming should see me ok for next year – though I will never be speedy in the H2O!

25th Century Bling

Check out the wheels on the Transition! Originally designed by Specialized for big Fab Cancellara, I managed to get my hands on them. They look like any other wheel set but Specialized have been working on these babies for years. The key is the patent method of carbon weave – Weave Integrated Nano Dual Ultra Prism. Or WINDUP, for short. The hubs are pretty revolutionary also. They use a paper thin casing that surrounds a vacuum compartment that is filled with rotational gas. The result is an almost frictionless rotation of the wheel.

Impressive stuff eh!!? If you can’t afford this 25th Century technology you can always get some Specialized stickers to match your bike and whack ‘em on the wheels you already have. . . 8-)

Various!

Plenty going on lately so I am reverting to bullet point blog style, which is sort of a random brain dump!

Personal
My eldest daughter started boarding school at Stamford on Sunday. It feels like she has left home at the age of 11! I think it is harder for us parents and her younger sister, as JJ herself just seems very excited and happy! Don’t get me wrong, we are happy for her but we also miss her.

Injury
The Achilles is getting better – slowly! I seem to have good days and bad days but overall I am getting some running in and have fallen into a routine of running every 2 days. This is good as it may just allow me to maintain my bike speed. I will be doing the rehab for as long as I compete though – which is for the rest of my life!

Racing
Saturday was a bad day for me. It was the day of the Vitruvian Triathlon. This is a favourite race of mine and there were plenty of RAF triathletes competing. As I couldn’t race myself due to my Achilles, I had sold my place to Westy but I felt low all day, wishing that I was racing. There were some awesome performances from our guys and we won the Inter-Services competition quite easily. Andy Fisher was amazing and seems to have found the long distance stuff to his liking! Again, Daz raced well and it is great to see him perform to potential and not be hampered by health problems. Jase Walkley knocked huge chunks off his best Vit time, despite being docked 2 mins by the draft busters! What’s going on there? Jase would never draft! You bad boy! Also, the Frank Whittle transition from social triathlete to racing competitor continues; he went sub-5 hours, which definitely puts him into the fast man status – no pressure dude! I could go on for ages mentioning names – there were that many RAF dudes – but I won’t. . . Apart from Pete Norris! He was second RAF man home and seems to slip under the radar froom most people because he is at Akrotiri. He was close to 4:20 and he is relatively new to triathlon. Can’t wait until he gets back to blighty and rips up the domestic scene!

As for my racing, I have 2 time trials left, a 10 miler on Sunday morning and a 25 miler the week after.

Swimming
Went swimming for the first time in 3 months. Not too bad considering!

Bike Bling
Putting some new decals on my disc and deep rim wheel.

Age
I am now closer to 50 than 40. . . How scary is that!

Brit TT Champs
I see Wiggo put Hutch in his place to win the National TT champs by some margin. I really thought that Hutch would be close. I guess that shows just how good Wiggo really is. Big up to the skinny Twiggo and power to all skinny dudes!

Rained Off - Again!

Looks like the cyclists from a few years ago would race a hill climb what ever the weather! Not so for St Ives CC and the hill climb champs was cancelled yesterday. I rode out to the event (about 15 miles) and was very wet when I arrived. Still, I would have been happy to race. In the end I did my own session that consisted of full-on TT mode all the way home with flat out sprints up every hill. Once home I managed a 3 mile run at quite a pace - well, a decent enough pace for my current state of run fitness. Managed some sub-7 minute miles which was nice to achieve with little effort.

My legs feel a bit pooped today and I could do with a gentle spin on the turbo to loosen them off.

Training Tweetle

Friday - Easy run. Easy bike.
Saturday - Tabata Intervals on Turbo. Very hard but dissapointed as I did not actually puke.
Sunday - 42 miles steady checking out the Club Hill Climb Champs route. Legs a bit jelly like! 5 miles steady run in the evening (7:18 per mile average 8-) Achilles tender but pace felt comfortable.
Monday - Easy 50 min spin on the TT bike.

And a couple of shots from the Team Sanjan Design 10 Mile TT the other week.

Vuelta Time

It seems like the Tour De France has only just finished, but on Saturday the Tour of Spain (Vuelta) commences. I love watching the big cycle tour races and am ready for some good viewing. The first stage is a 4.8k TT on a pan flat circuit in Assen, Holland. Well, it's near Spain. Actually, it's no where near Spain but visiting other countries seems to be the way that tours tend to plot their race. There must be a financial incentive behind the venues!

I haven't actually logged any training activity on this blog for a while. In fact, I haven't logged any training anywhere since my achilles injury! I have just bimbled along from one Time Trial to another. Now that I am slowly getting back to my running, I suppose I had better get organised. . . Na. . . . more bimbling along me thinks. I have, however, been missing swim training lately. I have not been swimming for over 2 months now and it is going to be hard work (nothing new really) getting back to the H2O. My local pool reopens after refurbishment on 7 Sep. So that is the day of return for me. You never know, I may yet get fit for next years' triathlon season!

Training:

Tuesday - 1 hour average 20mph with some short ramp ups. Averaged 26.9mph for 5 mins but had a tail wind 8-)

Wednesday - Rode out to club 10 mile TT. Very windy. Did TT in 23:48 (dodgy timing as I made it 23:44). Rode home nice and easy for total of 30 miles. Ran 3 miles easy.

Thursday - 30 mins easy run on treadmill. 50 mins easy spin.

Friday - Haven't made my mind up yet! Probably an hour steady bike.

Sat - Plan to go and recce the hill climb TT route that I will ride on Wed at the Club Hill Climb Champs. Maybe run 40 mins EEEEKKKKKKK!

Catch you later

Busy Weekend

Well that turned out to be quite a busy weekend. After continually wincing at my old Giant OCR 3 road bike hanging in the garage in a terrible state of repair, I decided to give it some TLC. I took the chain off and, as it was so rusty, I could virtually hold it outstretched horizontally! In the bin with that! Anyway, the crux is that I ended up stripping the entire bike, degreasing and lubricate everything. I am always having trouble with brakes and I was slightly concerned to see the pile of odd shaped metal bits in front of me! However, they all went back together ok and the bike runs again. I took it for a spin this lunchtime and it was nice and smooth. This will be my winter bike; just got to put the race blade mudguards on when the weather gets worse and it will be ideal.

Saturday afternoon was the Team Sanjan Design 10 Mile Open TT. It looked to be a good day and we were hopeful of some decent times. As it turned out, most people were complaining about the weird conditions that looked good but gave non-too good times! I did 22:10. Paul did 22:41 (another PB) and Hamish did a great PB of 25:16, knocking over a minute off his Sawtry course PB. I would have liked a sub-22 clocking but I have one last chance to do that again this year at the F1b Open 10 Mile TT on 13 Sep. This is the course that I set my PB of 21:25 on; it is mega fast if the conditions are right. Hamish is doing this one too, and I know that he desperately wants to dip under 25 mins this year. The mad fool is also doing a 50 mile TT in Sep!! I ran off the bike after my TT on Sat – just an easy 16 mins - and my Achilles was not too bad.

On Sunday I thought my legs could do with a spin out so I was up early and out on the single speed for 40 miles. It was a lovely morning and I was enjoying it until the wind got up. The ride ended up being a bit of a grind then! In the evening I ventured out for another run. I wanted 4 miles but miscalculated and did 4.9 miles. My Achilles was ok - just a slight ache towards the end. This is the furthest that I have ran since my injury and I am quite pleased! An average pace of 7:33 per mile is also the fastest I have run. Didn’t really try and run faster; it just happened. I am finding that by running ‘taller’, my Achilles seems to be better. Maybe I am not sinking into the running stride so much by doing this? Anyway, I am a bit tired today so it was just 30 mins spinning for the day.

It is really good to see Daz ‘fast man’ Sharpe hitting some form. Check out the results from the Berverly Triathlon last Sunday. He bagged second overall and was very close to the win, finishing just behind the winner of the Inter-Services Triathlon – Mr Chralton-Wheedy (is that name real?)

My New Friend

In my quest to get back to running whilst rehabilitating my achilles injury, I have a new pal - his name is treadmill. I had been running on the grass and road but the treadmill seems ideal for longer runs whilst I am in this transitional period. I managed a massive 26 mins on Tuesday, albeit very slow. My achilles was not great but at least I can hop off and stretch it out with some added weights. The other good thing about the treadmill is the ability to glance down and study my running gait.



Oh dear! As hard as I try, I just cannot stop my knee from dipping inwards. When looking down I can compare my right knee with my good left leg; it is plain to see that alignment on the good leg is spot on, whilst my right leg dips in at the knee. But, surely, I must have been running like this since. . .well. . . since I was able to run! Why is it causing me hassle now?

Wednesday was the club 10 mile TT and I was still using the Xentis 4 spoke wheels. I clocked 23:16, which is only 24 sec off my course PB. The wheels are light and ideal for a lumpy triathlon course but for most TT courses, a disc suits better. Hence last night I finally got my mitts on me new Planet X disc wheel. It is the one I borrowed from Ian Cammish a few weeks ago so I got a decent deal for a second hand wheel that was, essentially, brand new! I have the Open 10 mile TT on the A428 near Papworth tomorrow. Really hoping for some good conditions and a sub-22 min clocking, as is Paul F. Hamish is after a sub-26, which is within his grasp if the wind stays down. Hopefully I will get some piccies from the event too.

Tough Going

Well, the 25 TT went ok on Sunday. I clocked 58:32, which is ok for that course. There are a few lumps towards the turn and it was never going to be a clocking close to my best. I seem to be able to go under the hour on any course now, which is something that I could not do last year. The tough part lately is adding running to my training. Man, after 4 months of no running my legs seem permanently sore from very little running! This, in turn, is making my biking feel like a real struggle. Now these whinges are not really that important because my legs should get used to running again. The bad bit is that my achilles is tender. I can run on it but it certainly is not back to normal. So far, I am up to 5k of running at a very slow 7:50 miling pace. It seems unbelievable that I ran London Marathon at sub-6:30 miling pace in 2008. I sure hope I can return to that level of running.

Last night I ran 5k and then went for a 15 mile spin on my TT bike. The legs felt the normal knotted mess! I reckon some massage would do me good at the moment. Plans for the rest of the week are to do the club 10 TT this evening (and watch Paul Fullalove burn past me no doubt!) and then have a couple of easy days before I race at an Open 10 mile TT on Saturday. The course is the F2b on the new A428 between Papworth and Cambridge. The surface is smooth and, if the conditions are right, some fast times are on the cards - if the legs decide to function properly! Paul and Hamish are racing too and PBs are possible, especially for Hamish. His current PB is on the Sawtry course, which I estimate to be about 1:30 slower than the F2b.

Listen to me! I must be turning into a TT tester! I speak in course codes and constantly study weather forecasts in the hope of understanding what difference air pressure will make on a TT effort. And on still warm evenings that I am not doing any TTs I curse the weather for not timing the good stuff for TT days. To be honest, I am looking forward to October so I can regroup and sort my head out with regard to training. World Long Course Triathlon in 2010 sounds good to me. However, if the achilles continues to hassle me then it's time to turn into a freaky full time tester.

TT Time

Yep, it's TT time again. On Sunday I ride on the F1B 25, which is the on the A1 from Tempsford to the Baldock Services roundabout and back. This course is slower than other 25s I have done so the challenge is on to break the hour on a slower course. I am getting a Planet X disc but the delivery is complictaed! Hence I have managed to borrow a lovely Xentis Mk 1 wheel set for this race. This is thanks to my St Ives TT buddy, Mick Hod'. He is on the comeback trail himself after many years out of action. He has already clocked a 10 at 20:53 and a 25 at 54:50! I guess he has some good genetics!!

Vintage Vit 2005

To remind me that I can run and that the sun does sometimes shine at Rutland Water, a change of Blog pic!

Who Am I!

Strange question eh? But I am wondering who I am! Am I Sags the triathlete? or am I Sags the cycling TT man? Now that I have started running again, I am confused. When I run now I am worried that I am losing my bike legs. When I just cycle, I am thinking that I really must get some running done! I need to know who I am. Any suggestions?

I walk into my downstairs toilet and there hangs my BTF National Champs Medal from this years' National Duathlon. I think "Yes!, I am a triathlete!" Well, actually I am a duathlete who tries to swim! But then I look at me TT clockings and I am all for trying to beat the cyclists down at the club TT. A 25 mile TT in 55:49 and a 10 mile TT in 21:25 aint bad. And there may be a chance of further improvement next season. Ahhhhhhhhhh. My head hurts!!

All this sounds pretty trivial when compared to real life hardships! It's crunch time. I am 45 next month. Should I continue to run (which feels bloody awful at the moment! 8 min miling is killing me!) or I turn to cycling. . .

There is a 3rd option! Just squat in Costa Coffee and chill?

A Strange Week

The weather has been getting me down this week. So much rain!! The club evening 10 mile TT managed to go ahead but everyone got wet at some point. The conditions didn't seem too bad reall - apart from the wet roads. This was proved to be correct as many people rode course PBs. I did not! I was over a minute off my best. Not sure why but found it difficult to get going. Paul Fullalove and Hamish (26:13) both rode to PBs, slashing their previous course bests by some margin! Well done to both of them - Paul is now top dog as his 23:39 beat my 23:53. Nice one Paul!

We all intended to do the Cambridge CC 10 mile TT on the F2a course yesterday but the rain came down in buckets. The event was cancelled and the chance of a spin out on a fast course was lost!

I continue to try and coax my running legs back. After the TT on Wed I ran for 10 continuous minutes. Today, I ran for 12 continuous minutes. Both outings were successful but my injured achilles feels 'different'. I don't have the pain I had previously but there is something still not right. I will continue to build the runs and see what happens. You never know, I may be up to a 30 min run before long!

Yes Running Man!!

Yes! I did used to run! But I still pulled ugly faces! A packet of Jaffa Cakes to the first person who can name the event!



Yesterday was a big day for me. I ventured out for my first run since 19 April. After receiving treatment at Headley Court and continuing to do rehab exercises my Achilles seems to be responding well. That said, it feels ‘different’ to my good Achilles on the other leg (why wouldn’t it be on the other leg!). Anyway, like a good patient, I started running as instructed by the experts at Headley. In total, I ran for 19 mins at a very slow pace. The run was in the form of a pyramid session, so the maximum stint of continuous running was 5 mins. The Achilles held up – hoorah! My legs felt terrible! They were really screaming at me for not pedalling and I think it will take some time to get back any resemblance of speed into my running.

My goal is to get enough run training completed (with a healthy Achilles) in time to race at the Oulton Park Duathlon on 4 October. This is the final UK Duathlon Series ranking race. With a 3rd and 1st already achieved, there is an outside chance of still getting a ranking for 2009. Whilst I would love to get back some 35 min 10k run speed, I don’t think that there is enough time. I need to build up the running gradually and I will be happy if I can get to a 40 min 10k. If I can retain my improved bike speed, who knows what may be possible on the day. It’s a smooth race car circuit – purrrrrrrrrr. Here is Jase racing on the course earlier this year – he is very military isn’t he?!



Last Sunday I completed an early morning 25 mile TT on the F1 course. My legs didn’t really get going and it was a bit of a struggle. I clocked 57:58 but my actual time on the results sheet was 58:17. This was due to my late start. Not quite sure what went wrong but never mind; it was a good training session. The event was a middle markers event for those riders that had not broken the hour for 25 miles. As I had broken the hour after entering this event, I was not eligible for any prizes – but I was fastest on the day. Paul and Hamish both had great rides for their first 25. Paul clocked 1:00:16 (I know what it feels like being so close mate!) and Hamish 1:09:30. Another winter of bike work, and these 2 guys could see significant improvements.

More happenings recently that have caught my eye recently are Westy’s Antwerp 70.3 race. 4:20 is a good time and qualifies him for the World 70.3 Champs. What a great season Westy is having! Daz Cole also did this race and was not far behind Westy. If we could just get Daz out in RAF colours!!

Also, we have some new Ironman triathletes, in the form of Reg Swallow and Mal Rose. It sounded a tough old day at IM UK Bolton – sounds exotic eh! Won’t get me doing that race!

Some more evening TTs for me this week but I think I have used up my quota of PBs for 2009!

Running Man?

Following completion of 4 weeks of rehab for my Achilles, I am now supposed to commence running – EEEK! The plan is to start very gently and stick to running on soft surfaces. However, the important part is that I meant to run with a changed technique?! I have never been into the running technique debate. I just put one foot in front of another and run. So to consider changing what I have been doing for the past 45 years feels rather daunting. So much so, I am wondering if it is worth it at all. Why not just stick with biking? With no triathlon racing on the horizon, my swimming has already tailed of to zilch. To start running now just feels like an activity to tire me out and take away bike energy! We’ll have to see how things develop!

The club evening TT got rained off last Wed so I teamed up with John Batch’ and we did a wet and windy 10 mile 2-up TT. It was around 24:30 and a painful ride. I used my training bike and just concentrated on a good work out. On Sunday I ride a 25 mile TT on the F1 course (up and down the A1). I don’t particularly like this course but at least it fits in with home life by starting at 0645. Paul Fullalove and Hamish, both RAF cyclists/triathletes here at Wyton, are also racing – their first 25 mile TT, I believe? Let’s hope that the weather is kind to us!

Specialized Transition Pro Used in Anger!

After receiving my new TT bike at the beginning of June, I had yet to use it in anger. I have been tweaking it to get the right position and training on it but it needed to be tested for real during a full on 10 mile TT. I am having real problems converting my Campag disc to Shimano and it is still not sorted. After a grovelling plea amongst St Ives CC members to borow a Shimano campatible disc, non other than TT legend Ian Cammish was willing to lend me a Planet X disc. He is a thoroughly decent chap and very generous!

I had entered the Fenland Clarion Open 10 mile TT event today. The TT was on our club course, so it would be a good marker to see how the Specialized would ride.

As it turns out, it was fantastic! A course PB of 22:52 and a second overall place in the competition.

I am thinking of selling my Campag disc now; any interest out there?

Injury Blues

Changed the Blog pic to remind me of better times!

TDF

It's all about the bike lately eh?! Not been swimming for 3 weeks now but I am relaxed about things. The Tour has started to get interesting and I am now a confirmed Twiggo fan! Some awesome riding from him in the mountains and if he can continue to recover and ride a good TT in Annecy, a podium place could be his!




Another club 10 mile TT for me this Wed evening but unless we have another decent evening weather wise, I doubt I can produce another sub 23 clocking. I also have an open 10 mile TT on Saturday; it's on the club Sawtry course again! I hope to have the Specialized out for this race.

Off for an appointment with my turbo. . .

Rename The Blog?

The lack of triathlon content in this blog is rather worrying! Recent posts have all been about time trials, as that is all I am doing. Maybe I should change the name of the blog? I was thinking of 53/11? Or ‘Time to Trial’? Or The trials of Time?

Anyway, to continue a theme, I raced at the evening club TT last Wednesday. Although it was blustery, the weird course that we used produced a number of PBs for many people – me included! I rode 22:54. My first time under 23 mins on this course and a time that I thought was beyond my capabilities! It wasn’t enough to win overall though! Pete Galpin, fresh from his 9:16 at Ironman Austria clocked 22:52 (another PB!). However, the most impressive PB of the night must go to Paul Fullalove (Raf Triathlete). He knocked a whopping 1:46 off his best to clock 24:05! He has either been blagging and not trying hard or those Mavic Cosmic Carbonne wheels I sold him have motors in them! A great ride.

My Specialized should be ready to rock next week. The disc conversion kit should be at Grafham Cycles and a new stem also. Can’t wait to ride it in anger. . . GRRRRRR!

Here is a pic of Hutch riding my bike!

Numbers

More contemplation from me this weekend. I like numbers – yes, I know, that sounds weird! In my youth, when I was seriously into running and athletics, I used to love scouring the record books and noting the fantastic times that mega talented athletes had clocked. Without realising, I began to memorise these times. Back in the early 80s I was able to recall every running world and Olympic record there was! I figured this weekend that my youthful infatuation was still with me! This is why I like searching results and analysing time splits within a triathlon. More recently, my interest has focussed on the time the cyclists do in a time trial competition. Could my strange interest in numbers be the reason that I like time trials? I love striving to amend my PB and searching through the results.

This year, due to my Achilles injury, I have competed at far more TTs than normal. As in my youth, I am drawn to the focus on times. True, there are many factors to consider when riding a time trial – conditions, terrain, road surface. But when it comes down to the basics, it is about numbers! It is a race against yourself, in an effort to beat your best time over a set distance. Of course, there are specific ‘course’ PBs to be categorised within an overall PB. This just makes things even more interesting!

There we have it; I like numbers. Here are my latest numbers from the 10 mile TT I did on Saturday on the F1/B 10 course:

Time - 21:23
Average speed – 28:05 mph

A massive overall PB and a guaranteed course PB because I had never ridden that course! It was still but steady drizzle made the road slippy at the roundabouts. No excuses! Happy enough with that!

TDF - Edge of Seat Stuff!

Well, stage 6 almost saw David Millar grab a stage win. He got swallowed up with just over a K to go - poor guy!

Tomorrow promises to be a real hum dinger! Just look at the profile:



We could finally see Lance crack? Or see him glide away from Contador? I am off to bed early so I can get to tomorrow quicker!

Mr Big Likes Mr Small

Evening Club 10 mile TT last night. Result:

23:15

A new course PB, knocking 22 sec off my previous best.

Very happy with that!

Yes, Mr Big (53 Chain Ring) really does like Mr Small (11 Tooth Sprocket).

TDF Time

The TDF has begun! Already the race has taken on a fascinating twist, with the returning Lance Armstrong missing taking the Yellow Jersey by 0.22 of a second! Importantly, Lance is 19 sec ahead of Contador – the so called ‘leader of the Astana team. But let’s not get carried away here. The big mountain stages will sort the GC out and I can’t see Lance matching Contador when the gradient goes up up and away. Personally, I would like to see Lance recapture his climbing prowess of past years and sock it to the other climbers! The interesting thing is, though, with Contador in the same team as Lance, I doubt that Contador will attack in the mountains. Therefore, it is up to a rider from another team to take the fight to Astana. If lance and Contador can match whatever is thrown at them, then, in theory, the 19 sec difference could remain. I know! The likelihood of that happening is slim at best! Let’s see what happens!

I am fascinated by the positions of some of the pro riders. Look at Cadel Evans above! His knees pop inside his arms. Obviously this position works for him. This goes to show that we are all different and the ideal TT position for all does not exist! The other day a guy expressed his concern at my position on my TT bike. This guy rides 1:10 at best for a 25 TT. . . Need I say more?

I am set to ride the club 10 TT tonight and hope to crack 23:30 on this course, if the conditions are good! My Specialized TT bike is still awaiting the converted disc wheel. Until I get the wheels I want sorted, I am not racing the new machine. So, it is back onto the Caygill. I have a frayed gear cable on the Caygill so I hope that holds for tonight.

I also have an Open 10 mile TT booked for early Sat morning. It is on the F2b/10 course on the A1 between Sandy and Biggleswade. Not sure how fast the course is, but surely it has to be faster than the club 10 course!
I am progressing with my Achilles rehab nicely. Today, for the first time in a long time, I awoke without tenderness in the affected area. Hopefully, this is good news. I really hit the rehab hard yesterday too, so it is surprising to have no soreness. I went to the gym and did an hour on the spinning bike as 10 mins spin alternating with 5 min Achilles rehab on the Power Plate. To keep the momentum, I need to keep progressing with the rehab exercises. The thought of being able to run again is rather mouth watering! However, it will be a long road to get back up to speed. . . I like a challenge!

Quick Post

Man I am busy! No time for all the things I want to do. So this is a quick post.

Off to Stoke to stay with Julie's parents Friday and Saturday. Should be linking up with Jase Walkley for a longish bike ride on Saturday, though not sure whether I should take the single speed for this ride?

Rode the Club TT last night. It was very hot, which I like! Normally the club TT is a 10 but once a year they do a 25 miler; this was last night. The course is a renowned slow drag - honest!! Not many people break the hour. True to history only 2 guys broke the hour - yippee, I was one of them with 59:17. After my 55:49 on the super fast E2 course I was well pleased to go under the hour. Paul Davies (53:41 on the E2) won with 57:36. That is a good ride on this course. I was on my old TT bike as I am still waiting for my disc to be converted to Shimano. I have made the decision that I will not ride the Specialized in anger until I have the full race set up sorted - wheels included.

Anyway, well pleased to log a serious bike speed improvement this year. It has been a week since I commenced my achilles rehab. I am pleased to say that the achilles is hurting more! This is the plan and I am told that it would be worrying if it did not get worse before getting better! Will the achilles be recovered enough for me to run on October? Time will tell.

Train well

TDF on SAT!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!

TDF Next Week!!!

Annecy TT Stage map - I have ridden this route back in May! Didn't time it though - too embarrassing!

Achilles Rehab Underway

A busy couple of days completed! Wed evening was the Club 10 mile TT and the first ride in anger for the new TT bike. The result? My slowest ride of the year! Oops! I suspected it may take a while to replicate my previous position on the new bike and I had my saddle way off position, in relation to the bottom bracket. I seemed to lack power and the final time confirmed the fact. After some tinkering, I now have a position that replicates that of my old TT bike. Changing bikes mid-way through the season may not be the best idea; however, with no triathlon races possible due to my Achilles, it could also be the best time to change and get used to a new bike!

Yesterday I went to Headley Court to get my Achilles checked out. It is good news in some ways because the injury is not that serious. That said, I will not be able to compete in a triathlon this year. I have a rehab routine to undertake which involves no running for at least another 4 weeks. If the pain eases I could return to light jogging in August, but no full on running. My aim is to try and get a resemblance of running fitness by early October so I can compete at the Oulton Park Duathlon. If I complete this race I will get the 3 races completed that is required to qualify for a UK Age group Ranking. With a 3rd and 1st place already in the bag, a decent race at Oulton Park could see my challenging for an overall ranking. That said, it will be a tall order to get back to 35 min 10k running fitness and I will not risk racing if my Achilles is not ready – don’t want to mess up next season too!

The visit to Headley Court was interesting and the reason for my Achilles pain was revealed! When I run, my right foot splays out slightly and my right knee dips inwards slightly. This combination causes a twisting of my right Achilles (see pic). The specialist at Headley was confident that it could be sorted with the rehab exercises. So now, I am full on with rehab and training comes second priority!

I still find it tough seeing all the triathlon results come flooding in. But I reckon that my season of time trialing may set me up as a stronger cyclist for next year. I will also be mega-motivated to hit next season hard. best I watch for over-training though!

What shall I do tomorrow? Er. . . ride my bike!