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.