Bodily Signs

Signs from the body. What do they mean?

Sore throat and yukky feeling that does not turn out to be a common cold.

Individual tender and swollen glands in the groin area.

Painful lumps appearing where your bits sit on the bike saddle.

Vitruvian Prep

Well, my next goal of the season is The Vitruvian Middle Distance Triathlon on 4 Sep 10. I have done this race a few times, the last attempt being 2007. My best time there is 4:27:50. I would like to go near 4:25 but everything would have to slot into place for that to happen! Of course, that rarely happens! the weather is the biggest factor for me. I just don't operate well in the cold. Rutland Water has a history of being wet and cold for triathlons so let's hope for an unseasonal 30 degrees in September! In prep for a cold morning of the race I am trying out some of this sports balm stuff.
Anyone tried this? All the hard core TT specialists use some sort of embrocation. best I keep it away from sensitive areas!

In preparation for the race I have a few bike TTs lined up and the Cambridge Standard Distance triathlon. I did the first of these TTs last Sunday morning. I forgot to adjust my clock from French time and was up an hour too early at 0445 - plonker! I never really felt in the groove during the TT but was happy enough with 57:57. The next TT is another 25 on Saturday but it is on the slow Sawtry course. I clocked 58:53 on this course on a nice calm hot evening in June. If the wind blows on Saturday I doubt it will be a sub-hour ride. However, the aim is to get a quality session completed.

I am sick at the moment and have had to rest today. I may go for an easy swim tomorrow but I don't want to risk bringing on a long-term illness so I will be very careful.


Maybe I should try some of this 3 arm swimming!

Back Online!!

Firstly, how do I get these Oriental inerlopers off my Blog?!!!

Hello strangers! Finally, I am online at home and no plans to move house again for the foreseeable future! So, hopefully, some normality will resume – whatever that is?!

It’s been a while since I Blogged but 2 weeks of that gap was spent on our family holiday near Lake Annecy in the French Alps. Rather than send you to sleep with holiday stuff, I will give a revue of the training I managed to squeeze in. My aim was to concentrate on strength workouts to make use of the mountains. Then, when I returned the plan was to hone the speed with some 25 mile TT action and some faster running.

The weather in France was very hot, which is good for me as I love the heat when training or racing (why do I live in the UK?). As far as biking goes, I made use of a climb that I did last year: Col De La Forclaz. It is not a long climb at 8.5k but it was used in Le Tour in 2004 and is a cat 1 Climb. That means it is steep! It is very hard and ideal for a mountain time trial. I did the timed ride 4 times in total, cutting my time from 38:30 to 35:16. At the summit there are fantastic views and a number of souvenir shops and cafes. Many cyclists ride the climb but the tourists at the top may not have been used to seeing the state I was in when I reached the top! It really was empty the tank effort when timing myself and I think the emergency services were nearly called!



And these are Alberto Contador's hands! I got knocked just as I was taking the pic.
I also did a few other climbs at a steadier pace but they still hurt as there is no easy ride across the Cols. The best ride by far was the ride from Doussard to Chambery to watch the depart of Stage 10 of Le Tour. It was an 85 mile round trip across 4 Cols. I rubbed shoulders with the Saxo Bank team and the atmosphere was great. The trouble was 2 chocolate cakes and a coke was not sufficient to get me home. The climb out of Chambery was savage and I was running n empty when I reached the top. Out of nowhere an American support van pulled up and bestowed heaps of energy bars and isostar on me! That really saved me from a disaster and was very much appreciated. Whilst in Chambery I met a guy who had cycled from Calais over a few days! Now that sounds like fun!!

As for running, I actually started to run quite well. Frank will say ‘I told you so’ but the gaps in training (probably trained every other day with no set plan) seemed to help me stay fresh and when I ran I was flying. I did a couple of 10 mile runs as easy 5 miles and then open up for the return 5 miles at 6 min miling. I also did a couple of runs off the bike and a very hilly 8 mile effort.

It was hard to keep any structure to swimming. There was always an inflatable or a kid jumping on you! I swam in the lake a couple of times without a wetsuit and that was great fun. It was quite choppy though, and I swallowed my share of Lake Annecy!

So that’s it really. I am in ok shape and now commence a few weeks of bike time trials and short sharp runs (if the Achilles can take it). I have a 25 mile TT on Sunday and also Cambridge Triathlon on 15 August. Not sure how the Vit will go but I hope to go around 4:25 if the weather is good. It just feels so cold here after 30 degrees for 2 weeks.

Train well folks and best of luck to the Ironman racers at The Outlaw, Switzerland and IMUK.

TT Pain

Yep it's been TT pain time. Did the club evening 25 TT on the N1 course last Wed and clocked a course PB of 58:53. very happy with that as I had been feeling pretty tired before the start. With 17 roundabouts to contend with, it ain't a fast course! I did 59:17 last year and I was certainly gpoing better on the bike in 2009 - well I think so!

Today was a big training day with a 20 mile commute to work, followed by 5 miles running off the bike. Then a nails 2.8k swim set at lunch. This included 10 x 100m on 2 mins all way under 1:30. fastest was probably around 1:22. 16 x 50m on 1 min all around 42 - 43 sec to finish with just about finished me off. Then it was a steady ride home 20 miles. get this bloggers! I am having a day off tomorrow!!

The Tour de France starts this weekend so I am off to get all jobs done to hopefully get some viewing time for Le Tour!!