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. . . .