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!