Bonk Breaker

After today's run, I need some of these!

Cross Country

3 Points if you can spot 2 RAF Triathletes in this pic!

3 points if you can tell me the names of 3 RAF Triathletes in this pic!

I ran in the Lincs Services Cross Country League yesterday; my first outing on the mud for quite some time. I have never been a fan of this type of running. However, yesterday the ground was not too bad and there were some decent stretches where you could get some flow into running. Not that I felt brilliant but I managed 6th overall. I think that the field was depleted due to the Christmas run up. Fellow triathletes Daz Sharpe and Pete Norris were missing, so there are 2 places that would have been in front of me! I chatted to Mike Taylor too. Now he is a decent runner and has potential to do very well at triathlon - just stay injury free! Clearly on the come back trail, I think he was just behind me. I am sure that normal placings will resume soon and he will be far ahead!

It was good to get a sustained hard run completed and my legs do not feel too bad today. I managed an hour easy this morning before work. Normally, my legs are screwed after a race of any sort but there was just heaviness today. A spin on the trusty single speed should sort that out! Snow is on the way, so the forecast predicts! So perhaps cycling outdoors will cease before long.

I reckon a review of 2011 is on the cards for the next Blog post. It is hard to imagine that it was only a few months ago that I was racing triathlons! For now, the run focus continues but I fear that age is telling as I am feeling quite slow 8-(

Stealth Training

Stealth training. I don't mean training in a secretive way. I mean chugging away training with no real structure and you realise that you've strung together a few decent weeks of effort. That's me at the moment. It struck me on Tuesday as I was doing a track session (running). It felt slightly more comfortable - still not fast but I was moving at speed (relative speed!) without feeling awkward. I suppose this is a good sign. But as normal, injury is only a sharp intake of breath away. I felt a twang during the last rep of the session and I had to pull up and jog back to the finish line. To be honest, the strain doesn't feel very good and I will rest up over the weekend. But also as normal, I tested the injury with a tempo 6 mile effort today. I ran with a guy from work; guess what? He's older than me! But still a tasty runner and training for the London Marathon. We cruised round in 39 mins and I felt quite perky, with lots in the tank.

So in a sort of stealthy way I feel in reasonable shape, apart from the thigh strain. I hope to run the Lincs Services Cross Country League at St Neots on Wednesday so let's see if I can round that race in one piece. It's a run focus at the moment so not much swim action going on. Biking is single speed fun and gazing at the Specialized Transition Pro that resides with me in my Mess room!

Track Session Pain

I went training with the local athletics club recently. Oh man! I had forgotten just how hard speed work is! After focussing on longer triathlons for a while and the years taking their toll on my creaky bones I found this track work very uncomfortable! So much so that my legs complained vigorously and detached themselves from my feet so they didn't have to endure the pain any longer!

Further to this, most of the other guys running were about 30 years younger than myself. Time will tell whether this speed work pays off. I just have not got the time to complete the distance training so my thnking is to focus on shorter races; hence the need for speed - relative speed!

We did 10 x 300m with 2 min recovery. I was please in one way, inthat I maintained the pace throughout the set, hitting consistent time between 53 - 54 seconds (jogging pace for fast guys!). I sort of hit terminal velocity within 20 metres and just hung on. Whether I can actually increase the pace over shorter distances is questionable. but a resulting increase in speed over longer distances than 300m is the aim!

Single Speed Stuff

The single speed bike is out of surgery! Basically, I had worn the sprocket, chain and chain ring out. So I took the opportunity to try a different gearing option. I ride a specialised Langster and it came with a 42/16 combo. I was spending too many rides spinning out so I have gone for a 50/16 combo. It feels great and it's like having a new bike! Around Cambridgeshire, the hills (lumps?) all seem to be manageable in this gear. However, I have not experienced a strong headwind yet - Eek! I expect some serious grinding when the headwinds hit. All good training 8-)

I have still yet to get back to regular training and swimming is very dry at the moment!

A Long Time Ago!

August 1983 to be precise! In basic Supply Training at RAF Hereford. I am standing next to my buddy 'Ginge' O'MaHoney who is the only other person still Serving along with myself. I look just the same!!

Move - Phase 2 Complete

Well, it has been a while since I have had the time and access to update my Blog. However, move phase 2 is complete and we are settled into the house up in Staffs Moorlands. It really is a great place and take a look at the house:



Living here has it's associated problems but I won't go into those here. As this is a Triathlon Blog, I try and keep personal whinges/problems away from these posts. Needless to say, however,training has been very limited over the past 5 - 6 weeks. I am now getting some cycling done and the odd run. Swimming has all but dried up. I suppose I should do something about that but as I am unable to race any triathlons next year due to work comittments, my head is saying 'what's the point?'

Readers may remember that I had a sad end to the season, with a leg injury pretty much ruining my attempt at my first Ironman. Well that injury is all but gone . . . I think? I suppose it is hard to tell when training is sparse! Hopefully, the break will have helped me repair and I can run properly again.

As for the coming months, I am not really sure which direction to go in. My thoughts are leaning towards some running focus, whilst I tick over on the bike and swim. After a 2011 season focussing on Middle Distance and Ironman training, I think some shorter stuff, with a focus on run speed could be in order. Not sure if the old bones will take the bashing that comes with speed training; I am feeling my age lately and the swift races I produced during 2011 seem a life time ago already.

There is plenty of chat from RAF Triathletes relating to plans for 2012 and I will really enjoy watching the exploits of everyone. I love results and contrasting performances etc but I am sure I will be a bit whistful when I see some race results from events that I really would have liked to have participated in. Oh well, Let's see what the future brings. Roll on 2014 - new age group . . . . MMmmmmmmm

Move Phase 1 Complete

We are in the new house, located in a village called Whiston, near Cheadle Saffs. We blitzed the move over last weekens and have spent this week setting up the house - a never ending stream of jobs and unpacking. Needless to say that training has been zilch. But I am so tired there must be some training value in moving house?! Anyway, still no proper internet (mobile phone post here) and school stuff to sort for JJ and CJ. Then it's into the Mess at Wyton for me and a week of work (mega catch up required) and sorting the old married quarter out. . . . . When will normality return . . . . .

All Change

It's been a while since I blogged. This is mainly due to the fact that I have had no time whatsoever. We are moving up to Stoke to be nearer to Julie's parents who are both going through some tough health issues right now. And also to offer some stability for my daughters' education. This move means that I will be doing the weekend marriage thing and living in the Mess during the week. To be honest, I can't see this working in the long term and I will have to reconsider my future in the RAF.

In the short term it's all go for moving, which we are doing ourselves. I am mega grateful to Jase Walkley for offering to help with the bulky stuff. I will move the other stuff from the house, using my mamoth bulk of muscle that I possess! With all this going on, training has all but dried up. When normality creeps back into my world I will pick up the training and see where that takes me.

Train well folks and stay healthy.

Test Run

Test run today. I am attempting my longest run since injury rehab started.

Hoorah! Completed 4.6 miles with mile splits of:

8:04
6:35
7:01
6:01
Jog home

I miss my Garmin. . . it got stolen in Holland out of transition! Can you believe that?!! I have to use the measured mile markers on the 'mad mile' outside RAF Wyton.

And still in one piece looking reasonably happy. Time to stretch and work this lower leg some more. . . .

Gradual Progress

I have been making steay prgress with the injury rehab and have taken a day off doing anything at least twice lately! If I have a day when I do a lot of strength work on the leg, I take the following day off completely. Today, I did a mini duathlon using, the turbo so I could spin easy, as 2.5 mile run 18 min spin, 1 mile run. This was the most continuous running running that I have done since the Ironman. The leg held up and the calves were slightly less knotted!
Tomorrow I will commence commuting to work on the bike again on my single speed. It will all be easy riding again and running will be every 2 days, with stregth work inbetween.

Stay healthy out there!

Exploding Calfs!

The injury rehab is going ok and I am up to 4 miles as 2 mins run; 30 sec walk. The injury is holding up but my calfs are knotted up big time! It's as if my legs have forgotten what it's like to run!

The Look

The look says it all! Found a couple of pics on the event web site. Not the best shots but it does capture the sheer joy of competing - cough!! And that sky looks as bleak as my face!

Rehab is going well - in fact, amazingly well! I am up to 30 mins as 1 min jog; 30 sec walk. The way I was hobbling last week, I never thought I would be at this point for ages. Slowly does it for the next few weeks!

Almere IM Report

I had considered not blogging the race report from Almere IM race. However, I think I need to in order to remind me of what I went through and how not to prepare for an IM race. You simply cannot get away with being hap-hazard with the prep – especially the days prior to race day. Obviously being healthy helps too!

The race was exactly what I did not want – survival! I like to race and my IM was certainly not that! 4 weeks prior to the race I was in good – nay, great - form! Then this injury occurred. Previous blogs detail the injury so I won’t bore you all with that. The trip to Holland was doubling as a family holiday; get the race over with and then enjoy some time at Centre Parks.
Problem No 1: Domestic stress. Julie’s Mum was diagnosed with Cancer and we had problems with our pet dogs.
Problem No 2: Night ferry crossing on the Thursday night prior to racing was way too close to race day! Nobody slept much and we all arrived in Almere (after getting lost) very tired and grumpy on the day before race day. But I had to register and sort my bike out for racking - All this in terrible weather and before we had even checked into Center Parks. A bad combination and the family were very fatigued! Oh, and so was I! Despite being very tired, I didn’t sleep much that night.
Problem No 3: See problem No 3 above! I was up at 0400 and not feeling good. More problems to come.
I met up with Jase as we set up transition. The weather was not great and the swim looked quite choppy. It was a land start, with a run into the water. I say water because I am still not sure whether the water is an estuary, reclaimed land or simply a huge river/lake? It was not salt water but there were huge swells that made me think that this was the open sea! It was actually quite bad and I was being thrown all over the place. But it was the same for everyone so I just cracked on with it. I tried hard to up my stroke rate and use a short choppy stroke, rather than a longer smoother stroke that suits me. However, I was struggling – a lot! As I reached the swim exit, I clocked 1:12 something as my time. I was happy enough with that, considering the conditions. As I removed my wetsuit, I realised that I was seriously cold. . . .
Problem No 4: The cold was really getting to me. This would be a theme throughout the event
I set off on the bike shivering and desperately trying to get warm. The wind was noticeable and it was obvious that there would be no fast bike time from me today. Overall the bike didn’t go too badly. There were more sections on narrow bike paths than I remembered and the corners on these paths brought the average speed down. There were sections of the bike where the wind was behind and you could cruise above 25mph and there were sections that were into a block headwind. In general, the wind gradually increased as the bike leg progressed. Lap 1 out of 3 was completed around 1:47 by my watch. This was not too far away from my target of 1:45 but I was still very cold! My feeding was going well and I was not tired. There was a break in the weather on lap 2 and I began to warm up. Ahhhh, the sun felt so good! I was moving much quicker and began to feel good for the first time in the race. Then, disaster! I missed a turn! I was drifting away in the cruise zone and rode straight past a left turn! Quite how I missed it I do not know. I suppose I lost 2 mins max, so no real damage done. I made lap 2 around 1:44; so still on track. The sun was replaced by more cloud and wind for lap 3. There was some rain too and I began to get cold again. I eased up into the wind to conserve energy and I figured that I would be into T2 around 5:20, which was ok. The kilometre markers seemed to take an age to come during the last 20k and I was ready to get off the bike for sure. That said, for a 112 mile ride, it seemed to go quite quickly. The major problem was that my leg was hurting – before I even started to run. Doh! Not so happy as I knew there would not be a pain free run, despite being drugged up with pain killing brufen tabs.
Problem No 5: The injury was going to be a big issue during the run!
I set off on the run with about 6:43 on the race clock. If I could run to potential I could salvage a 10 hour something for a finish. Within the first mile I knew it was all wrong. The leg was hurting and I was starting to limp. This was having an effect on the running balance and after 5 miles, my legs were just hurting everywhere. Some of this pain was due to the lack of running during the previous 3 weeks prior to the race but my entire run form was all over the place. The run was a 3 lap course and I was very surprised to complete the first lap in 1:11. I entered the second lap and became aware that I was limping more. People were passing me like I was standing still and was very cold again. I was not working hard enough to generate any heat and I was shivering badly as the rain came down again. I had seen Jase starting his second lap and he looked ok. I hoped he could salvage a decent race as the weather was certainly not helping matters. During the second lap I saw some fence posts on my left. A thought came to me: was I actually running slower than walking pace? So I conducted an experiment byt timing myself between 10 fence posts; once doing my hobbling run and once walking. To my horror, both times were the same! It was more painful to run (hobble etc) than walk. So I decided to walk as fast as I could. I felt even colder doing this, so I walked for a while and hobbled for a while. I approached the start of the 3rd lap. Should I drop out? Maybe I should have but it just seems wrong! So I hobbled walked round the final lap in a terrible 2:11. I had completed the marathon in 4:54 and was in a bad place! Walking was just as painful as hobble running and I just about raised enough movement to look as though I was running as I crossed the line in 11:38:50.
So there we have it; a disaster, to put it mildly. The days that followed were basically just more pain and hobbling. I seriously thought that I had damaged my leg in a serious way and so wished that I had not started the race. It is only within the last few days that the leg has started to feel better. Indeed, i visited the physio today and now have a walk/run schedule to help me back into running. I also have a rehab strengthening exercise to nurse the leg back to strength.

Get this. This evening I did 20 mins of 30 sec jog, 2 min walk. The leg held up. Just 4 days ago, I could hardly walk. How weird is that?! So now I am hopeful of recovering. But I will place a huge emphasis on conditioning and injury prevention.

Will I attempt another IM? I really do not know. I thought that I could race this one and I was very mistaken. I would need to learn my lessons and be better prepared during the week prior to race day. Racing and family trips really don’t work that well! So I would need to plan a race in isolation and ensure that we all get a family holiday as a pure holiday!

Ironman Approaches

IM approaches. Race day is Sat 27 August. The leg is really no better and finishing will be the main aim. However, I really do not fancy a 26.2 mile walk and hope it does not come to that. I note that we cannot collect our bikes until 1730 so even if I have to ditch all hope of racing for a time, I may as well finish! The weather forecast is pants and this is not encouraging either! I don’t sound too positive do I! This is not how I intended my first (and possibly my last. . .) IM to be.

Swimming is going well and I am hoping to exit around 1:05 for the swim. The bike will all be about the conditions and nutrition by the looks of it. If the wind drops, it could be fast but it will be a long ride if the gales blow. The plan is to try and do each of the 3 60k laps in 1:45. In the 2008 World Long Course Champs I did 2 laps in 1:36 and 1:38. However, the conditions were good, if I remember correctly. If I can lap in 1:45 then that will bring a 5:15 split. All good in theory! Reality will, most likely, be very different!

On to the run and it really is an unknown. I have not ran for 3 weeks and I have no idea if the leg will just hurt and not get worse. Or if it will become dangerous and potential long term damage becomes the prime concern – I hope not!

I also note that there are 2 Dutch guys in my Age Group who did 9:43 and 9:44 last year. That is swift. They seemed to achieve these times off fast bike splits. At the back of my mind I am tempted to push the bike hard!!! Well if I am going to hobble regardless, why not!!

Injury Update

I have now seen 3 separate medical types about this injury. The good thing is that I know what is wrong. The bad thing is the injury is unlikely to clear up before the IM race in Holland. Basically, my Anterior Tibialis is damaged. It seems that this was caused by my poor ankle stability, which was agravated by the increase in my long training runs.

My ankle stability on my right leg is good. This is due to the 2 years of eccentric loading that I have completed to keep my Achilles Tendon injury at bay! My left side (current injury leg) ankle stability is woefully bad and inflexible. This was very visible when doing some body mechanic tests.

The message here is that what we could get away with when we were younger, we cannot now! As we get older (I am 47 in 2 weeks)we need to segregate training time for body mechanics maintenance - core stability, leg and foot strengthening. I had foot problems at the beginning of the year so I obviously have a weakness in that area.

I read this Blog Post, which is quite specific on the type of body mechanics sustainment training that should be completed as routine training (thanks to the Re: Massage Therapy Blog)

5 ways to prevent Tibialis Anterior pain…
Tendinitis, muscle soreness, compartment syndromes, shin splints and stress fractures are things that haunt most runners and can keep you on the sidelines for weeks and months at a time . But it does not have to be like that! Research shows exactly how the muscles in the ankle and lower part of the leg function during running, and provides clues about how to keep the areas between your knees and your feet injury free. This post is about your poor tibialis anterior muscles, the ones that work hardest during running. Strengthen them by carrying out the following five exercises:

Stand about a foot away from a wall with your back to it and your feet directly below your hips. Lean backward until your buttocks and back touch the wall and then, while keeping your heels on the ground, flex your ankles so that your toes rise as high as possible towards your shins. Let your feet sink back so that they almost touch the ground, and repeat this action 15-20 times (the reps increase over time). On the descent, do not let your feet actually rest on the ground, which would give your tibialis anterior muscles too much of a rest between flexion’s. Treat the ground as if it was an eggshell, too much pressure would crack it
After a moment’s rest, try a slightly different tibialis-anterior exercise. This time, from the same basic body position, flex your ankles so that your toes ascend as high as possible, but do not let them move more than an inch towards the floor on the downswing. Quickly move your feet up and down within this one-inch arc for 15-20 repetitions (adding more reps later), and then rest for a moment
Once you’ve become adept at the first two exercises over a period of several weeks, you can move on to an advanced exercise. For this, keep your back and buttocks against the wall again but stand on only one foot at a time while carrying out No. 1 above. Position the foot slightly to the inside of the hip
You can also work on the anterior tibialis muscles while jumping. Again, try for quickness rather than height as you jump, but this time “dorsiflex” your ankles each time your feet leave the ground (i.e. try to pull your toes up to your shins on each ascent). 20 jumps should be about right for your first effort, with the total increasing over time
A fifth exercise is to walk on your heels for 20 metres or so. This heel walking can follow the walking, skipping and jogging routine described above.
Overall, these five exercises have helped many athletes afflicted with shin splints. Another strategy, designed to simultaneously strengthen all five calf and shin muscles, is to run barefoot on a somewhat uneven but soft grassy surface, such as a well-maintained athletic field or a golf fairway. Start cautiously, though, with no more than a half-mile on your first barefoot effort, adding an extra quarter mile during every third subsequent run. The ultimate aim of these exercises is to fortify your feet, ankles, shins and calves so that injuries are unlikely. However, injury prevention won’t be the only outcome. As you progress, your ankles become as powerful as rocket boosters and your feet will act as mini-trampolines. (Or so they say!!)

Currently I cannot do these rehab exercises because I still have pain - doh. The physio I saw on Monday said as much also - no point in rehab as any routine will just break down the muscle etc to build back stronger. So any rehab stress will still be in the injury when I race.

So, basically, there are 2 options: withdraw from the race or dose up with pain killers and deal with the rehab over the winter. As I will miss the entire Tri season next year due to a military detachment, I will attempt the race and use how ever long it takes to rehab to return in 2013 fresh and faster. . . . . cough! Then, in 2014 it is into the 50 -54 age group! So that is the long term goal: rip up the 50 - 54 age group. How scary is that! Age 50!!!! Where is my zimmer. . . . . .

It Hurts - In a Wrong Way 8-(

2 weeks to go until the Almere Ironman Distance race in Holland. And what do you know, I am struggling with injury. Not a happy chap and I am struggling to keep the right side of self pity! Going there would not be good. There are far more people suffering far more than I am and I need to keep that in mind when I feel sorry for myself. In the RAF Triathlon community, for example, take poor Roy Brunning. He has been struggling to race all season and has limped from one injury to another. Yet he still attends events to support and organises training and racing events. He is an example to us all and a reminder to me that I have actually had the best racing season ever.

So what do I do for the next 2 weeks? My shin means no running. In theory, I shouldn’t lose fitness as I have a big bank of training completed. But the mind plays tricks with me and tells me that I will be unable to run come 27 August. For a start, I have ordered some of these compression thingys.
I am not a fan of ‘fads’ but at the moment I am a desperate man and will try anything to gain an edge! I also have an appointment with a Sports Injury Clinic later today and I am hoping that some diagnosis will give some rehab tips to allow me to get to the start-line.

I do think that I need to reassess my goals for the race. I had been hoping for a sub 10 hour clocking – I know, an ambitious target in itself and only possible with good weather conditions. Now, I must take the race as it progresses and even consider going harder on the bike to account for a slower run. I can see the seasoned Ironman finishers cringing at these words because IM racing is very different to Half IM races that I have completed. But I will always have to race an event and not simply ‘taste’ an event. If I blow up, then so be it. I was confident about my running and it is my strongest discipline this year. Maybe this can carry me to a reasonable marathon on race day.

I have eased down on bike and swim training so the general fatigue I was feeling has all but disappeared. I completed a timed 3k swim in the pool at 49:23. I was happy with this as it was relaxed and would have brought me an IM swim time around 1:03. I suspect I will be slower come race day in the open water!

Injury update to follow!

Ironman Taper - What Do You Do?

I read this article:

Endurance
Endurance, on the other hand, is gained much more rapidly. A big factor in endurance—especially Ironman endurance—is the body learning how to burn energy more economically so that race intensity can be sustained longer. This is a primal survival trait that is deeply rooted in our genes. Because of it, if we were put in a situation where our survival was threatened due to a lack of endurance (i.e. food was scarce and we had to travel a long way to hunt), our body would adjust quickly.


Your level of endurance can make a big difference in the final miles of the Ironman marathon. Photo: Delly Carr
This ability to gain endurance rapidly, though, comes with the caveat that we also lose it just as swiftly. This is a major reason why the three-week taper fails for Ironman. We know from experience that we start to see a decline in endurance ability within seven to 10 days.

That’s why the endurance part of training must be maintained until seven to 10 days out from race day.

In the last few weeks before a race you need to structure your training to maximize endurance and maintain strength and speed gains. You don’t need to hammer out long sessions every day to do develop peak endurance; a weekly long ride and long run are enough Nor do you need to perform a large amount of speed and strength training to maintain the speed and strength you developed earlier in the training cycle.

Timeline
More specifically, this is how your training should look in the crucial last weeks before an Ironman:

Six to eight weeks out: Decrease the quantity of speed and strength work.

Six weeks out: Increase race speed-specific workouts

Four to six weeks out: Shift your focus to endurance.

Ten to 14 days out: Last endurance race-specific effort (3-hour bike/ 40-minute run).

Seven to 10 days out: Last long endurance sessions—ride and run. This is about volume, not intensity, so keep it all easy.

As you head into the final week before race day, I recommend frequent 20- to 40-minute sessions in all three disciplines. The aim here is to maintain neuromuscular pathways, which is basically the brain’s memory system of which muscle fibers it needs to activate in order to perform certain activities, and to perform those activities at certain speeds.

This memory in the brain tends to drift after 48-72 hours without stimulation, so you never want to go longer than 48 hours without repeating a single-sport training session.

These sessions are all about maintaining feel. Mix in a little speed and a little strength work To keep your nervous system primed for maximal efforts.

Rest Days
I don’t recommend a complete day off during the final week before an Ironman. But if you must have one, then take it two days out from the race. Most endurance athletes will feel terrible the day after a rest day, as if something is not quite right. It takes the athlete’s body a day or so to get back into the groove.

In fact, the habit of taking a rest day the day before a race is the major reason triathletes so often feel a little bit off on race day. That said, taking a rest day before an Ironman really is a personal thing, and you can only know from experience whether you gain or lose from it. You are better off scheduling a rest earlier in the week if it usually takes you a few days to feel normal again.

On the final day before the race, do a 10-minute routine in each discipline to make sure that everything is set for race day. This is a little test drive for your body but also for your race equipment—check your gears, goggles, wetsuit, etc. Once that is completed, you’re ready to go!

Any thoughts?

Time to Ease Up

Just under 3 weeks to go until IM race! Today was IM Regensburg in Germany. There were 3 RAF guys racing, as far as I know: James Organ, David Meer and Brian Hagan. Ironman Live makes for interesting reading! James clocked 10:00:44 – he will be happy and frustrated, I reckon. That is a great performance but I suspect he wanted sub 10 hours! He had a great swim ove a smidgin over 1 hour. Bike 5:23:59 and a run of 3:30:00. Fantastic splits! Not sure on the finishes of Dave or Brian but they look to be close to finishing. All the best to them all.

I did my last brick session today as 62 mile bike as 3 x 19 mile perceived race pace with spinning and bottle change inbetween. It was very windy but I was well over 20mph average for each 19 miles. I ran for an hour off the bike at perceived IM run effort and averaged around 7:40 min per mile. This is good but my shin started to hurt at 6 miles. I guess it is now more rest, ice and shorter runs up to the race.
My nutrition plan is working well and I have equipment stowage nailed.
I will take a cool pump from genuine innovations – second wind micro pump. This doubles as a CO2 pump and hand pump. This is cool as it fits a disk wheel without the need for an adaptor.

The big question is, do I race at Cambridge Triathlon next week? I like this standard distance race and I could do it for fun, with no expectation. I will probably make a decision on Friday after I get some treatment o the shin and see what the weather forecast is for the race day! The rest of the week is easy but I do plan on a 3k easy swim at some point.

Happy swim bike run 8-)

2011 Inter-Services Triathlon - Visual Record

Some pics from the Inter-Services. The camera doesn't lie! Goggle imprints are not pretty are they! Or is it just not pretty in general. . . .

The Wrong Side of Form!!!

Doh!! I spoke too soon about walking the knife edge of great form and injury or over training! After Sunday’s session my shin has started to hurt again. This flared up last week after my 20 mile run. However, it seemed to go as quickly as it came and I was ok when racing at the Inter-Services last Wednesday.

I completed my last big ride (prior to IM) on Sunday, at 100 miles. The aim was to finish this ride under 5 hours. I did this, clocking 4:58. But my shin started to ache during the last 50 miles of the bike, which is strange. When I started running (I had a 10 miler planned off the bike) it hurt immediately. It eased off as I completed a couple of easy miles but I decided to be cautious and stopped after 5 miles. I didn’t feel that great running but I put this down to some poor nutrition on the bike. However, I was maintaining 7:30 miles comfortably - but then only doing 5 miles helped!

So what to do now?! Obviously, I will rest. But I want to be able to do just enough training to stop loss of fitness. With just over 3 weeks to go, I should be able to hang on to the majority of he fitness I currently have. Let’s see what the next week brings!

Inter-Services Triathlon 2011

In case you guys in Forum land are not aware, this Triathlon is Standard Distance and is an annual competition between the RAF, Army and navy here in the UK. As you can imagine, the race is a bit of a grudge match and the competition is quite frantic!

The venue this year was Belvoir Castle in Rutland. This is a great venue and home of the Beaver Fest Triathlon every may – I did the Sprint race this year and the middle distance race in 2010. So I know the course. The swim is in a very shallow lake with a muddy silt bottom! Hence the water gets really churned up. Everyone comes out with mud and gunk in every orifice! The bike is a 2 lap fast but challenging loop. There is one hill that is quite long and certainly calls for your easiest gear to get up it. The run is a 2 lap out and back that is basically up a big long hill and back down again!

Here is my race! I did not ease down, but treated this as a good hard training session. My bike/run session of 3 hour turbo/20 mile run at the weekend ensured that I was carrying some lovely fatigue – as prescribed by Coach Charles! I am still waiting for time splits but my overall time was 2:09:22. This includes a HUGE run from swim to T1 across a field – yet more fun!

I am no swimmer and I have to admit that it is my weakest discipline. But the bashing, mud, gunk, people walking around bouys didn’t seem to bother me. I crawled out of the swim exit and promptly slipped over on the Goose Poo! I had to laugh! The swim was not quite so laughable foe all, however, and poor Al Hadnett was taken to hospital with a badly ut foot. The run from swim exit to t1 seemed to take an age and certainly sent the heart rate sky high. Out onto the bike and my strategy for this training race was to ride like my life depended on it. I have plenty of endurance right now so I figured if I continually red lined it I would recover whilst riding strong. This turned out to be true. In triathlon, there are normally plenty of obstacles such as villages and turns that naturally slow us down. So use these as rests and blitz the bits inbetween. I was not overtaken and I passed many people. Interestingly I passed quite a few guys who normally finish the swim/bike combo ahead of me. I nailed the hill like I was on a TT finish and recovered really quickly over the top; so happy with that. My familiarity of the course helped immensely as I was able to take the steep decent at max speed on the tri-bars; many guys did not do this and lost time. I resembled a rabid dog as I approached T2 as the effort levels were through the roof. Daz Sharpe suffered a puncture on the second lap of the bike but still managed to finish the bike leg and no doubt posted a scorching run split!

As I dismounted I saw a number of familiar RAF faces setting out on their run. These guys were the strong swim/bikers and the chase was on because I knew that my running was stronger. Despite the max effort bike my running seemed the same as ever. Just goes to show that taking a steadier bike does not always pay off – well, for me anyway! As I hit the first hill on lap 1 I was making up time on people and my RAF team mates were becoming clearer to see up ahead! I didn't realise that some people were unfortuneate enough to be plonked in the 'sin bin'! Now that is a new one for the Inter-Services, and an element that didn't go down too well!

I past an RAF guy (no names!) on the hill and then as the turn point approached I made a deliberate effort to look relaxed as other guys were on the way back down – a bit of psych never goes amiss! I caught all of the guys that I had my sights on, mostly on the second time up the hill as they were becoming slower, whereas I was revving up more and more. I am absolutely sure that my long bike/run sessions have given some great strength! I turned into the finish and was well happy!

I had won the Inter-Services Vets race and the RAF Vets team had won the team comp convincingly. This is the first time that I have won this vets title, despite trying for quite a few years! I thought that my chance had gone because the Vets cat is 40 years and over. As I am nearly 47, there are more and more ‘younger but old’ guys appearing in the category.

Happy days and I am in good form. Now I need to balance this knife edge between top form and injury/over training. Only 4 weeks to go until the IM. I have one more standard distance training race on 14 August. Oh and by the way, nutrition for this Standard distance Race was sips of energy drink on the bike. Nothing else.

Ironman Pacing

I have recovered well from the Cowman Middle Distance race – quicker, in fact, than ever before following a half Ironman race. So I have been trying to capitalize on some more big build weeks before I have to taper for the ironman, which is on 27 August 11.

It’s amazing how the body can take continual increasing volume when training. I have never achieved such training volume consistently. Throw in some intensity every now and then and things should work out well – providing I don’t cross the thin line of good form and over training! By the way, the evening 10 mile TT worked out ok last Wednesday and I was no slower than previous attempts this year on that course at 23:39 by my watch. Against an absolute course PB of 22:52, I can’t complain as I had bagged 60 miles and a swim that day anyway!


Pacing for Ironman really interests me. What do you do and or how do you do it? My weekend big bike/run session has formed the basis of my distance training. Prior to the Cowman, I had kept the run down to 12 miles off a 3 hour bike done at race pace. Now that the Cowman is done, I have kept the bike at 3 hours (on the turbo for the last 2 weeks) but increased the run mileage off the bike. Last weekend I did 16 miles off the bike and experimented with pacing as starting very slow and then increasing the pace. The result of that run told me that I could start off too slowly! I can hear you all saying ‘that is what you should do!’. I finished that run with a 7:57 per mile average. I suppose that would bring a decent marathon time but I had to significantly increase the pace after 8 miles to achieve that average.

This weekend I increased the run off the bike to 20 miles and aimed for a constant 7:45 average. If I could do this for 20 miles and not be in pieces, then that could be my IM target pace. The run went well and I averaged 7:42 per mile. Sure I was tired, but I could have upped the pace and carried on. With a race this Wednesday, I opted not to do any more! Nutrition went well and I was able to alternate gels and bananas every 25 mins. Also key was plenty of water.

So there we have it; target marathon pace off the bike for the IM is 7:45. My Garmin tells me this would bring me home with a 3:21:54 marathon – Gulp!! When I see that, I wonder if this is a stretch target!! But I have to go for it or bust. Let’s just hope it isn’t bust!

I have the Inter-Services Standard Distance Triathlon Champs on 27 July and Cambridge standard Distance race on 14 August. I won’t be easing down for either of these so let’s just keep the focus and stay healthy!

I Need 26 Hour Days!

Yep. I am busy. Trying to squeeze the last few big training weeks in prior to the Almere Ironman race is proving tough. It's not the training itself; more like finding the recovery time. I know bloggers out there will say 'don't train as much then!' However, This could be a one shot at a decent Ironman race as I can bag bike bike miles from commuting. Next year I will be surrounded by sand and training will be very different!

Training update soon - got to dash to make an evening bike TT. This should be very interesting. Carrying some big fatigue at the moment!!

Cowman National Middle Distance Triathlon Champs - National Champ!!!!!! Surreal!!!

Race report: A bit wordy but hopefully pics to follow!
This race was always an A Race for me and Charles had advised a 1 week taper as I had a broken week of training 2 weeks out (family stuff). I was confident that I was fit and I had just completed 4 big weeks of training. Most importantly, however, I was healthy!!

The day before the race I travelled down to the venue with my daughters. My wife was going to come too but couldn't make it. As it turned out though she arrive post race for the presentation and we had a lovely few moments together before my daughters arrived demanding food

We camped at the venue and it was very pleasant too. The weather forecast was good and hot weather was the order of the day - just how I like it! Race morning and the lake was steaming as the sun moved higher The swim was a basic 2 waves: under 45 wave 1, over 45 wave 2. So I started in the oldie wave! Although it was a big wave, I seemed to be in a nice bubble and didn't get battered at all. My sighting was better and I felt smooth. The first lap seemed to whizz by and before long I was heading for the exit, having drafted a guy for some time. I wanted to try and swim away from him as I felt it was too slow. But I was mindful of the drafting benefits and decided to stay where I was conserving energy.



I made it around 32:30 out the water and feeling good. Once onto the bike I found it difficult to find a rhythm but I suppose it was the same for everyone as the twists and turns through the town were breaking up any speed. The first 3 or 4 miles were a steady climb and then there was a mix of flat fast parts and false flats. There was one steep hill but that was not terribly long. So 2 laps of this and then one shorter lap that had a drag up hill that sapped the legs a bit! I never really felt comfortable on the forst lap but the second lap felt much better and I got into the groove. On the first lap 2 guys from my age group past me early on (we were marked up on the calf so we knew who was in which Age Group). I thought about trying to tag along at a distance but they drifted away, going just that too fast for my liking - I didn't want to blow up so early on into the bike leg. Maybe I could catch them later? Well Inever saw them on the bike route again! I was not happy that they had slipped away. So I knew I was in 3rd place at best. But more likely further down the field as the fast swimmers must be up ahead also. I have not checked the splits of everyone yet so I have no idea how many guys were ahead. I felt good on the third small lap and entered T2 feeling ready to rip up the run! Nobody else had passed me on the bike.

A note here. There were a couple of bad crashes. One guy seemed to have gone through the back of a stationary car window! Hope he is ok.

The sun was shining and the run legs were there from the off. The run was a 4 lap loop and had one section through a village that was slightly up hill. I am sure the incline got steeper each lap! Part of the run was on dirt tracks but I actually like this. I kept saying to myself "13 miles is a long way so hold back on the first lap!" But I was passing people at an alarmingly fast rate. I was obviously catching people from the first wave and there was some hurting going on out there! The first lap clipped by fine and I overtook the lead female shortly into the 2nd lap. My feeding plan seemed to be working. On the bike I had alternated caffeine gels and Trek Bar (half a bar) every 25 mins. Then drink was just water taken as 2 sips every 7 minutes (on my countdown bleeper). On the run I switched to Isotonic gels (one every lap) and a standing still full cup of water once a lap. I was feeling good and upped the pace slightly on he second lap. My breathing was fine but the legs were feeling it now. But this would be the case no matter how fast I was going. I just figured, if I am good aerobically, I can deal with any amount of pain in the legs! Onto the third lap and this was turbo time. I really kicked in the pace on this lap, thinking that I had to gain time on this loop and then go ballistic on the last lap Breathing was much more laboured but sustainable. I was passing people rapidly now but where were the 2 guys that had passed me on the bike?

As I started my 4th lap my girls were there cheering and that was very good to see. I was really striding out now and as I entered the village for the last time I saw the yellow vest of one of the cyclists that had passed me! He was struggling and I picked up the pace again as I passed him. I heard him grumble as he obviously recognised me too! No mercy though an I pushed on in search of the other guy! But I never saw him He was dressed in black and blended in with everyone else. Only one person had passed me and they were a relay team. So I knew I had not lost places. But how many had I passed? I entered the last mile and just pushed on as hard as could, passing more and more people from the previous wave I think as they were struggling alot.

I rounded the finishing bend, almost crashing into the barriers! Into the stragight and the comentator was reading out my name. . . . . he had real time electronic timing on a hand gadget. . . . . . this made for instant positioning etc. . . . . . . As I crossed the line he said. . . . . "that was Mark Saggers. . . . but the position has not come up on my screen. . . . " I was confused because the finish line girls had put a finishing ribbon across the line for me? I thought they were just doing that for everyone?

I collapsed in a heap. I was absolutely spent Just the way it should be! After a few mins Mr Yellow vest man came over and shook my hand. he was joined by Mr Black Vest man and they both reckoned that I had won and that I had passed them both within the last 2 miles of the run at such a pace that they hardly had time to think about tagging along!!

I moved over to the timing screen and there it was: Mark Saggers. Cat I. Cat Position 1st. 4:32:56. Fatigue can play tricks on the body and I was quite emotional at seeing the result. It is a first National Champs for me and something I never dreamed would happen. To say that I am happy is an understatement

I like to think that the win is a team effort though. 'I' didn't win. 'We' won. Thanks to Charles. The guy who just keeps giving. You are simply the best.

Official Race Stats

Swim: 32:55
Bike: 2:32:06
Run: 1:25:03
Overall: 4:32:56

get in!!!!

National Middle Distance Champs Soon!

Tick tock. Countdown to The Cowman national Middle Distance Champs taking place on Sunday 3 July. So I am in my taper week. I have had 4 BIG weeks of training and feel in good shape. If this taper thing works and I don’t have any unforeseen hiccups I am hoping for a top 5 finish. Secretly, I want a top 3 finish but it all depends on who turns up!

The bike course looks slightly lumpy and at 92k slightly long. This is good. The run is 4 laps, which, again, is good as I like to wind the run up on a lapped course.

I have been doing plenty of long sessions, particularly bike/run sessions. Last Sunday was THE warm day of the summer and I was caught in the intense heat doing a 60 mile IM Pace bike followed by a 12 mile run. It got seriously hot, which I like. But I did suffer with some tummy issues on the run and had to visit the bush 3 times. I wasn’t getting slower but the tummy was not right. Not sure if this is the heat or the nutrition protocol that I was testing for Ironman. I am thinking that the gels were upsetting me and and I need to switch to Isotonic High 5 gels. On the bike I was also sipping on High 5 Extreme (not a great deal was consumed but I think that this is potent stuff). I was sipping water every 5 mins (on a timing bleep) and this seemed to keep me well hydrated. Anyway, let’s see how the race goes on Sunday. I will use the same gels and water but ditch the Extreme. I alternate gels with half a Trek bar feeding every 25 mins. Then switch to gels only on the run.

After The Cowman I have 2 months before the IM Distance race in Holland. Eeeeek! Really looking forward to this race but my focus on making a time is worrying me! Trying to focus purely on the nutrition plan and let the finishing time look after itself!

Race report after Sunday to follow!

Will it be a happy race report:



Or a angry race report!

Dambuster Tri 2011

I was waiting to get some pics from the Dambuster Tri before I posted a race report. Not many pics to choose from but there were a couple.
Anyway, to the race.
The Dambuster was never a goal for me but that doesn’t mean I didn’t push hard! There was no easing down prior to the race and certainly no rest after the event – a 4 hour bike completed the day after!
The swim was better for me. True, the time was not great but I am starting to feel better in the open water. The open water training is starting to pay off and I really should be under 23 mins for a 1500m swim. Let’s see how it goes over 1900m at the Cowman in a couple of weeks (I will be easing up for that race!)
The bike was ok(ish). I was being blown all over the place, as were most people. Where I normally go crazy no matter what – descents, corners etc – I eased right back for this race. I just couldn’t take any risks. Hence the bike was quite slow. Nevertheless, I felt strong.
I hit the run and cruised the first mile or so to the Dam. Then I tried to pick up the pace. I felt strong throughout and came home in 34:40. This is by far the fastest Dambuster run for me and was actually the fastest run in my Age Group. Happy with that!
I finished 6th in my Cat, which is kind of cool for the National Champs. But the National Middle distance Champs is more of an aim for me. With under 2 weeks left before that race, this Sunday I will finish a 3 week block of training consisting of over 50 hours of training. Then it’s ease up and see if I can make the top 3 at the Cowman!

TT 'Tastic!!

A good couple of weeks of training now completed! Happy with the progress at the moment and looking forward to some longer races. After Odiham I bagged some big days on swim, bike and run. This culminated with a full on 50 Mile Open TT on the F1 course Sunday morning. The route is basically up and down between Sandy and Buckden. This is the same course that I did my last 50 Mile TT on a few weeks ago. That ride was done in 2:01:43. yesterday, I managed a new PB of 1:59:23!! Yeehaa. It has been a long time goal of mine to break 2 hours for 50 miles and I am a happy chap! I even ran for an hour off the bike and managed a decent pace too. Sub 2 hours looked to be unmanageable as I went through the first 25 miles in 59:57. The Southerly wind was rising steadily and by the time I turned for home with about 12 miles to ride, the wind felt very strong. That last 26 odd minutes seemed to last forever. Actually managing a negative split was very pleasing.

I don’t plan on easing down for the Dambuster Standard Distance Triathlon this weekend but I have some domestic stuff to take care of that may mean some lost training. Either way, I will be happy to just race on Saturday (please, please let the weather be warm and dry!) and focus on 3 July 11, when I will race the Cowman Middle Distance Tri.

Off to stretch my Achilles!

Odiham Tri

Quick update on RAF Odiham Sprint Tri yesterday. I very nearly didn’t attend this race due to work and trying to focus on some longer training sessions. However, I though that some short lung bursting efforts would be enjoyable. I was quite tired prior to the race and the frustrating ride home from work Tuesday evening did not help. I rode into freshly laid tarmac and got my tyres all glued up. Every stone and piece of grit on the road proceeded to stick to my tyres after that and I had a mare removing it all. Then a bridge on the busway was totally closed. This meant a lengthy detour and 2 hours after leaving work I arrived home at 1900.

Anyway, that’s all my pre-race excuses, I think! The race went ok really and I perked up once the race head was on. My swim was the normal 6:08 but I was happy because it felt good and I was held up a bit by other swimmers in the previous wave. Daz Sharpe, Brad Gogs (minus Speedos) and Paul Fullalove were in my wave so it was always going to be a tight race in my wave. Typically, I was last out of the water, but not by much. Brad was long gone when I hit T1 but Daz was just leaving and I got out onto the road before Paul. I had Daz in my sights and I stayed within shooting distance for a while. Then, somewhere amongst the twists and turns he drifted away and the elastic was broken. He was simply too strong for me. I was expecting Paul to come past me but he had taken a wrong turn on the bike.


Shortly, I saw Brad standing on the side of the road. He had punctured, probably due to the very heavy rain that we had just before the start. There was grit and all sorts of rubbish all over the small side roads that we were riding on. It was game over for Brad. As I came into T2 I saw Daz leaving and I realised that I was not that far behind. The bike had been quite tough and there were some scary moments with traffic and pedestrians, seemingly oblivious of anything on the road that is not a car, just bumbling out in front of me.

I hit the run quite hard and the legs felt good. I am really enjoying running off the bike lately! The out and back course gives good visibility to see how you are doing against other waves. After a while I saw Mal Rose and Jase Walkley battling it out on the run. I figured that I was probably in with a chance of getting revenge on Mal after his great performance at Brize, but it was going to be close! A while longer and I saw Daz returning after the turn point. My spirits lifted because I was actually closer than I though I would be. But there was no way I was going to gain time on him. The return leg of the run is tough and the slight gradient really bites. In the distance I saw Nick Harris thundering along. Boy was he shifting! He is a real find this year and he seems to have no weaknesses and the best swim in RAF Tri by some margin.

I dug deep and finished in 1:05:06, by my watch. This was good enough for 3rd place and first Vet. Mal was only a handful of seconds slower and it looks like we will be up for a great battle at the Dambuster in a couple of weeks. This should be fun, but I can always play my age card if all goes wrong! Unsurprisingly, Nick won, but Daz was only seconds behind in 2nd. This is good for Daz as his training has been focussed on long course this year. The same can be said for Jase Walkly, who finished 6th, behind an army dude. Jase is all long this year and this was his first Tri of the year.

All good stuff and I am pooped today. A 22 mile spin into work was enjoyable this morning but the wetsuit swim in the pool at lunch time was boil in the bag time! Worth it for the constant 75m reps in 58 sec going off 1:20.

A quick mention to Steve Green. Steve bought my Merida Warp 4 bike off me a few weeks ago and yesterday was his first Tri. So well done to Steve; he has great potential so stick with it!

Next Training Race

Time marches on and, following the Beaver Tri I have moved straight into some big volume training. I plan to race RAF Odiham Sprint Tri tomorrow but there will be no easing up for this one – it’s just a hard training session! Sunday now sees my prime IM workout. I complete a big bike/run combo that is rather pacey – none of this aerobic long distance stuff! Well I suppose it must be aerobic or I would not be able to keep going for 5 or 6 hours! Last Sunday was a 3:22 bike and 1:29 run (12 miles covered). Next time it will be 14 miles but I will be only doing 50 miles on the bike as it will be an open 50 mile TT on the A1. I so hope that the wind stays calm!

As for Odiham tomorrow, I reckon Mal Rose will do well again. However, Pete Norris and Daz Sharpe may be racing – the big guns are out so best I play my OAP card 8-)
It is also great to see Brad Gogs in fine shape lately. maybe he will go the whole way and race in Speedos again?!

Speedy (Not) Beaver Tri

This Beaver report is somewhat late, mainly because I wasn’t too happy with the race and didn’t really want to analyse it too much. However, the bad races probably help us learn more than the good ones.

The race was a sprint distance – not my current focus and I simply have not done the turbo work to be sharp over these shorter distances. This wasn’t the main problem though. A 5th fastest bike split in my Cat isn’t bad. Put a 3rd fastest run to that and you know what’s coming! The swim was a mare for me! I have been going quite well in the pool but the open water has always been a struggle for me. This time I was well beaten up and just seemed to go backwards. Actually, I sort of went side to side I think! Navigation wasn’t good but all thoughts of smooth technique seemed to go out the window and I resumed my open water thrashing style, fighting off other people and forgetting about my own swimming form.

So, the plan has been hatched! I am commencing regular open water swimming training. It is logical to do this but I have never done it regularly before. Crazy, I know! But the logistics of getting to open water venues has not been easy. I have joined the local club as a swim member and I hope to transfer my pool swimming to open water. The mis-match is stark. Take today, for example. In the pool I did lots of swim smooth drills and then some main sets. One, of which, was 10 x 75m on 1:25. All of these were completed between 1:00 and 1:02. In fact the last one was 59 sec. And I was not pushing that hard and it was smooth. This equates to at least 1:25 100m pace. Hence I should be much more competitive in the open water than I am.

Whinge over. I am addressing this problem and moving on! My training has really taken on a long distance slant. Next event is a 50 mile TT. This is really just training as I intend to ease back and make it a hard ride with at least an hour of tempo running off the bike. Quite enjoying this long distance focus – how times have changed!

Beaver TriFest

This weekend sees the Beaver TriFest splashing along at Belvoir Castle, near Grantham. There are heaps of RAF Triathletes racing and there are 3 distances to choose from: Middle Distance on the Saturday, Standard Distance and Sprint Distance on the Sunday. The Sprint Distance race is doubling as the national Age Group Champs. So there will be some top notch competition.



The weather forecast is not so great but maybe better than last year when it rained for the entire bike leg when I did the middle distance race.

This year, for 2 reasons, I am doing the sprint race. Firstly, it’s the National Champs and that will be fun. Secondly, I just cannot recover quickly from a middle distance race and I do not want to miss out on some essential long distance training during the early weeks of June. The sprint distance is really too short for me and my bike form is not that great over a short blast. So it is a good training race, although the race does coincide with the end of an easy week for me – who knows, maybe the fast guys in my age group will stay away!!

Unlike Regular Marathons . . . .

. . . . . Ironman marathons usually don’t turn ugly at 20 miles. They start ugly.’

I like this quote and it reminds me that whatever I imagine an IM marathon to feel like, the reality will be worse! As I continue to research IM training and nutrition a session that caught my eye was the IM Metric Bike Run. This consists of a 112k bike followed by a 26k run – both completed at IM perceived effort (not IM projected speed!). I tried this out on a smaller scale this weekend and completed a 73 mile bike followed by an 8 mile run ran as alternating IM pace with half IM pace.

In the end, the session went well and I was strong on the run. However, it didn’t start so well. I had planned to join the local bike club for their Sunday ride, after completing a 17 mile loop prior to the club meeting time. The pesky wind slowed me down and at 12 miles into my lonesome loop I hit a mad headwind. I was going to miss the meet up so I had to red line it for 5 miles, which was not the idea of the session. I just made it, pitching up as the first group was leaving. As the ride progressed, it was plain to me that I was finding it tough to stay with the group. I was tired from a big week’s training and having a cold (that’s my excuse!). This further added to the bike part of my planned session being way too hard. It screwed my feeding up also, as I barely had time to eat and drink as we tanked along. This was ok for the others as they were stopping half way for tea and cake! I was not stopping in order to make my session IM specific (do IM racers stop for tea and cake?).


I hung on and as the group peeled off into the café, I eased up and tried to get some nutrition strategy going for the last 28 miles. This helped a lot but every hill had my legs turning to jelly. So it was very surprising when I started my run and actually felt ok. The IM pace runs felt very relaxed at 8:00 miling. Increasing the pace for the half IM pace was ok too (around 6:50 per mile). All in, a good session but I will build on this by doing a proper IM effort on the bike and increasing the run. I suspect that I will have to completed future sessions like this alone. Bike club rides are too full of accelerations, sprints up hills and bursts of red lining the effort.

I received my Swim Smooth Master Catch DVD this weekend. Some great stuff on there and I hope to focus on some swim improvements over the next few weeks.

This Sunday I race at the Speedy Beaver. It’s a bit short for the training I have been doing but as it is the National Age Group Sprint Champs I though I would give it a go. I notice that the run course has been changed to exactly the same run route that we plan to use at the inter-Services Triathlon on 27 July. So the race will be a good tester for that.

Stay healthy out there.

The Things We Do to Ride . . . .

. . . our bike! (see TT blurb below).

Hello blogland. Since the Brize Norton Triathlon I have been trying to up my endurance training – see previous post! Actually, I was upping the endurance training the week prior to Brize. Hence I have managed to string together some big training weeks and also throw in some longer effort sessions. I did an Open 50 Mile TT last Sunday and grabbed a PB by 4 seconds! I was expecting nearer to 2:10 because of the accumulated fatigue so I was pleased with this. I managed a 20 min run off the bike at close 7:00 mile pace and it actually felt ok. I wanted to run for longer but with no feeding on the bike, I think I would have been nearing bonk land! The ride itself was sub-maximal. This was partly due to the fact that I was carrying a lot of fatigue and partly due to the fact that I wanted to negative split. I achieved the negative split with a first 25 of 1:01:34 and a second 25 of 1:00:31 (by my Garmin so slightly out with official timing). I only really went 100% over the last 4 miles and that made the ride quite enjoyable.

I carried on the week with some long endurance stuff, with 50+ miles on the bike and a swim on Monday. Then a long run Tuesday and a hard swim and evening 10 TT on Wed. I was quite flat on the Wed TT but that was to be expected. I was pleased enough to still average over 25mph. Yesterday was 25+ miles bike and a fast finish run of around an hour. Bring on Saturday for a rest day!

Here’s the weird thing about the TT on Wed evening. I was rushing to get to the start because I have to travel from work at Cambridge. When I got to the HQ I realised that I had forgotten my skinsuit! Doh! I had bike shoes and helmet but nothing to put on inbetween! In the end I blagged my daughters nice M&Co leggings and I found a gillet in my bag. The leggings had to be the most uncomfortable thing that I have ever worn on a bike. And they had nice frilly lacy bits on the bottom. The training value was there but I looked a right plonker! Never mind, I consider myself to have zero street cred anyway!

Next race for me – Speedy Beaver! Best I get my transitions sorted for this spring race! But it is only a training race . . . . . honest!

Going Looonnnggggggg!

Well, as the season is kicking off, my plan to have a 'fun' race at the Ironman Distance race (now termed PIM - psuedo ironman - by Frank)has developed into something more serious. When I say serious, I mean that I have a time target in mind. I will keep that target to myself! But the point is, the shorter fast training that I like - and normally do in abundance - has all but dried up. Now, races are my speed work. Everything else seems to have changed to building some endurance. This means counting minutes instead of miles and not being bothered about the pace.

My run training has been limited due to injury. However, now that I am healthy(ish), I have started to build a long slow run into my training. Add to that a tempo long run of an hour plus off a tempo longish bike and I have 2 core run and bike sessions that I complete.

i will use longer TTs also. In fact myself and Jase did a 50 mile TT on Sunday and I managed a 20 min run at tempo pace (7:00 min miling). The TT was completed at submaximal pace (but still hard!)with the aim of a negative split. this was achieved with a 1:01:08 first 25 miles and a 1:00:35 second 25 miles. Great training for Ironman? maybe - who knows!

my short-term focus is the Cowman Middle Distance race on 3 July. This should tell me what sort of shape I am in for a speedy effort. All other races will be training races until 27 August when i will start the PIM. Jase is doing the same PIM so it should be a great day out - though I don't think I will see him as he will be gone after the swim!

Let's Hop

There were quite a few Bloggers out racing at the RAF Brize Norton Sprint Tri yesterday. So no doubt there will be tales of individual race experiences. In short, it was a great event. The organisation was really slick and there were over 132 participants. Add to that the fact that RAF tri may well have discovered a super star in the making, happy days! Yes, the event was won overall by Nick Harris. There were quite a few guys saying ‘Nick who?’ Well Nick is an RAF swimmer that can bike very well and run even better!

My tip of mal Rose doing well turned out to be accurate. Mal took second place, again running very well off the bike. Brad continues to get somewhere close to his best, as he grabbed third place. Close behind was the now civilian JC! His full time training obviously agrees with him. I bagged 5th place and was happy enough with that. However, I did have a bunny hop moment that was induced by a car pulling out smack in front of me. I thought it was going to be smashed bone time at first but self preservation took over. Here’s the tale:


Mal and JC were out of the swim before me so it was chase time on the bike. I had a shoddy transition (again) and really need to sort this out for sprint races! I was within sight of JC and mal after about 10 mins. Then as I was about to catch them we entered a village. A car pull out from the right, obviously seeing Mal and JC. . . . . but not me! I naturally attempted a bunny hop onto the pavement as there was no chance of stopping in time. Now if you have attempted a bunny hop, doing this at a narrow angle onto a curb can be very bad. If you don’t go high enough you are eating concrete. Fortunately, I made it but had no where to go but into a drive way and screech to a stop in front of someone’s garage. By the time I had got sorted and back on the road, mal and JC were gone. So it was chase again. I just about caught them as we entered T2. Another shoddy transition saw them both out well before me but within sight. Fair doos, though, both of them ran really well and, despite running well by my standards, I was never in with a chance of catching them.

The good thing is, I was as fast overall as I have ever been and I feel ok today – no sore calves! My swim was mediocre at best but isn’t it always!

Bring on the longer races!

Next Race

A week on from the Inter-Services Duathlon and recovery has been far better than the previous two races. I managed to complete a 4 hour easy bike on ‘The Wedding day’ 29 April and a hard brick as 30 mile bike/1 hour run on Sunday. I missed the evening club 10 mile TT yesterday but managed to throw in some TT style efforts during my ride home from work. Add to that a couple of swim sessions that were distinctly average, it has not been a bad week. Today was a swim and a long run.

On Sunday I have a 30 mile TT on the F1 course (that’s the A1 between Biggleswade North roundabout and Buckden roundabout). So if you are on the A1 from 0745 on Sunday, give me a wave. Alternatively, ride just in front of me at about 28mph – much appreciated!

This Wed sees the first of the RAF Triathlon Sprint Tri Events. This will be a 400m swim, 18k(ish) bike, 5k(ish) run. These are good events for a full on training session. Unlike last year, I will be letting loose on the run leg. My tip to do well here is Mal Rose.

Below are some vintage pictures from 2008. These pictures are of our former RAF Triathlon President, Chris Moran, who sadly died at last years’ event. I am sure that one year on, we will all have Chris and his family in our thoughts – gone but not forgotten.




The next pic is vintage Inter-Services Team from 2005. Where are some of these guys now?!

2011 Inter-Services Duathlon

Time seems to have flown by since Cambridge Duathlon. It’s been 10 days of training frustration really, as I have suffered from very tight and sore calves since Cambridge. It’s not an injury thing; but certainly a recovery problem. I had completed 2 runs within that 10 day period: a 3 mile jog/hobble and a 5.7 mile steady run on Sunday. Hence my decision to not put myself in the RAF Senior Team for the Inter-Services Duathlon. I remained in the Vets team, thinking that the healthier and younger guys would be in far better condition.
For various reasons, it didn’t quite turn out like that! I actually ran ok (not great; but ok). Same for the bike really – a strong ride but no real Zip! However, that was enough to get me 13th overall and 4th RAF Finisher. Of course, I didn’t actually count for the RAF Team because I was a named vet. This is the way this competition works and it can be very frustrating from a Team Manager stance. I was the next choice to place in the Mens’ team if there was another drop out or no show. As it was, Ronnie McWilliam did not turn up and we had no time to switch me to the Mens Team – not happy about that. But, as it turned out, we still would not have beaten the Army if I had switched. Now if we had Greg MacDonald (crashed badly the week before), I reckon that we could have had a chance.
Oh well, we do what we think is right at the time. The very positive thing is the sheer amount of RAF Triathletes that raced! There was red, white and blue everywhere. There were many stand-out performances, on a personal level and from a representative viewpoint. I can only really comment on those aspects that I noticed on the day and those that I can see from the results.
Firstly, Pete Norris backed up his recent great race results with a 4th place overall. He really is going very well. I was impressed with some of the younger new guys too (sorry, Pete! You are old compared to some others!). Fraser Williams showed what great potential he has by running very fast – fastest RAF, I believe, on the runs. Poor Mike Taylor may well have ran even faster if he had not pulled a hamstring on the first run, being forced to retire from the race. Rob Wilcox is the opposite of Fraser – Rob has a very strong bike and is an improving runner. Both Fraser and Rob are ones to watch!
Brad Goggin showed, yet again, that even with his disability, few can match him on the bike. One guy who certainly can is Mike Westwell! He bagged the fastest bike split of the day. He was the only guy under 28 mins and this helped him to finish 8th overall. Our reigning RAF Champion, Daz Sharpe, finished 10th with a solid performance all round. Daz had just returned from a family holiday and had not trained all week whilst in Germany. Feeling somewhat ‘stale’ by his standards, it shows that he is on course for another fine year (I wish I could race like a ‘stale’ Daz!).
Finishing in 14th position, another guy in great shape is Mal Rose. His running is a major strength, particularly off the bike; he reminds me of a robot, relentlessly powering onwards! Mat Stephenson showed that there is life in the RAF Ironman record holder yet. Mat battled for much of the race with myself and Jase Walkley. At the finish there was very little separating Myself,Mat, Mal and Jase.
As for me, 13th place and an ok race. Happy enough with where I am inpreparation for some longer stuff to come! I just need my calves to recover quickly from this blast! Early indications are that they will! Yippee!!

Pictures by Ben Lonsdale! Cracking they are too! There are some great action shots and some great shots capturing the occasion (and plenty of snot too!). Thanks Ben.