Where are They Now??

As the race season approaches, I was thinking, where are those guys that were pounding the race circuit a few years ago?

Steve Cruttenden: Fast man and RAF representative. Cool biker, with the most aero position that I have ever seen! Man, he used to be prone on his cross bar! He may have left the service?

Si Bellamy: About to undertake Staff College. Good coach and good triathlete also! Entered for the London Marathon for 2008 but pulled out due to injury.

Chris Moult: The quiet man of RAF Triathlon. Super vet (far better than me). Ran like the wind! I think he has left the Service (not to sell double glazing - that is Ted Moult for all you oldies out there who remember who that is!) and taken up a reclusive existence in a mountain hut in France.

John Crewe (JC): Quality triathlete who decided to go long and just kept going! Did IM France and not competed since. He has the legs of a 90 year old and the lungs of a 30 year old - he keeps breaking! Was meant to be doing London Marathon but his legs broke......again. He posts on the RAF Tri forum now and again so we may be able to entice him back into Tri. Last seen pretending to work at Cranwell.

Al Gill: An Armourer with no neck. Good swimmer, reasonable cyclist, doesn't particularly like running. However, on form, he could challenge the best. Last seen instructing at Cosford and about 3 stone over his racing weight. Knows far too many jokes - good guy to have on tour.

Dave Richardson: Good runner and was really progressing in triathlon. Disappeared a couple of years ago. Spotted at the Honington Road Relays looking relaxed and stating that he could not find the time to train for triathlon.

Steve Warner: Thanks for reminding me about Steve Debs! Steve was great fun and a good triathlete; if I remember, he was not a running fan but loved biking. Great sense of humour and, like Al Gill, the man to have on tour! Suffered some funny 'turns' as he got older! Had to be dragged from the water at the finish pontoon of a triathlon as his legs had gone floppy - I thought that was normal for all triathlon swims! Last seen at Lyneham dabbling in mountain biking.

Secret Training Method - Bounce Training!

The secret is out! Here I am with my new coach - CJ. I rode 63 miles this morning with Mick; however, that training was just a red herring. The real training took place when I got home. Bounce training is about to take off as the best triathlon training method available. Notice the technique required: a stupid look on the face and flapping the arms as if attempting to fly. My coach gave me a fine demonstration and here she is showing a much better flapping action than me - note that I have a dropped elbow, which is a common mistake in both swimming and bouncing.

For those that are not yet aware, Turbo Man (Mick Pullin) now has his own blog! Nice one T Man. No doubt there will soon be links from the RAF Tri Website to all these blogs. The big Cycle Sportif on 11 May is nearly here - 82 miles of hilly riding in bunches of 'real' cyclists! I have to remove my tri-bars for the ride.......oh how will I cope! The plan is to ride very slowly for the first 50 miles and enjoy the countryside. The quandary is, when setting off with 20 other riders, does one go with the bunch and attempt to draft for an easy ride, or should one back off so as not to go too fast to early........mmmmmmm, I feel a poll coming on! Enjoy the Bank Hol folks.

Brick Session

My first brick session of the season completed today. I didn't go 'full bore' as I still don't know how my legs have recovered from the FLM. I managed to drag a wannabe triathlete, Mark, out with me as well!

The session was 3 miles tempo on the bike and then straight into 1k run. Aim was to maintain bike effort and increase the run speed on each rep.

Results: Run 1 - 3:54. Run 2 - 3:45. Run 3 - 3:25 (ok, I went a bit fast!). Run 4 - 3:16. I am quite pleased with this as I felt quite perky on the run! True, the bike was not full on, but happy enough to finish reasonably fresh. Mark canned the session after the third rep due to nausea - but well done for even attempting what is quite a hard session. Next time it will be 5 build bricks but I will have to maintain a smaller increase in run speed or I will hit terminal velocity! Also did a relaxing 40 min swim session earlier today. The Bank Holiday training will be based around a long bike with stick man Pullin and maybe a venture into double figure mileage for an easy run...............but before Mick pipes up with "Where is your rest?!" Monday is a day off. Train smart peeps.................just like me!......yeh right!

Hard Bike Session!

Yesterday was a very hard session on the bike - my first real sustained effort session of the year! I did a 2-up 10 mile Time Trial with Mick - twice! Now Mick says that he is getting close to his racing weight; as you can see from the above pic of Mick (taken just prior to starting the first 10 mile run), he can't afford to lose much more weight! No wonder he is riding well!

I cycled to the race start - a nice and easy 10 miles. We went off first, as we were going to finish the first 10 mile TT and then join the queue and go again (we are hard!). It was great fun and the effort when tucked in behind Mick was significantly reduced due to the drafting effect - even with Mick now super skinny! The course is an out and back loop. The wind on the return leg made it very tough indeed, as it was smack in our faces. We pretty much went full on for that first effort and I knew that we would be facing a world of pain on the second run! I was right; boy that second run was hard! The course is not fast and there are some real drags and fly-overs to negotiate (and 7 roundabouts to contend with!).

Results: 24:20 and 25:00 - not official! Not great times but everyone seemed to be slower yesterday due to the wind and cold. I had not finished and as I set off for the 10 miles home I set myself the target of averaging 20mph. I just dipped in at 29:54. The head wind and one severe climb just about killed me off and I am now officially pooped! I was impressed with Mick; his riding is far ahead of where he was this time last year. Nearly time to swim, so ttfn.

I just like this cartoon! Well, Sunday was a complete day of rest, apart from domestic chores! Monday was quite a big training day, with a 3 mile easy run (legs ok, but it was very short and slow!), a 2.7k swim set at lunch time and then tested the race bike, complete with race wheels, by riding home 30 miles. The bike felt awesome and I had an average heart rate of 146 for and average speed of 21 mph - even with some slow traffic in towns etc. I think I had a favourable tail wind! I rode into work this morning but got a puncture at 15 miles.........AHHHH! I had left my puncture kit and spare tubes on my other bike!! Consequently, it was a long ride/walk! I managed to find a garage that was open early and he helped me repair the puncture. We struggled to get much air in the repaired tube and I had to ride the remaining 15 miles on a very squidgy front tyre. I will try and run later today but I will apply a more scientific approach to the session: I know I can run 3 miles easy with no leg pain; so today I will go for 4 miles easy...... very scientific eh!?! I really want to run hard and fast but until I fully recover from the marathon (probably some time in 2009 at this rate!) I will run easy.

I have a very hard bike session planned for Wednesday with Mick, if I can squeeze it in around my sick family. Julie and the girls all have stinking colds and sore throats. I am walking around with a surgical suit on, trying not to get infected! Anyway, must dash - more Jaffa Cakes needed.

73 Miles and OK - Phew!

Today was my first long bike ride since I can't remember! With my legs giving up whilst running last Thursday, I was concerned that I would struggle on the bike too. As you can see, after the ride I was still smiling - a good sign! I rode with Turbo Man (Mick Pullin), who has been going quite well on the bike lately. To cut a long story - or long ride - short, I was ok. We did 73 miles, with an average speed for the whole ride of 19.2mph. There was a headwind for the first 40 miles and that made going tough. However, once we turned, it was a great feeling to be scooting along at 26mph with no effort. I put in some sprints up some of the huge mountains of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire and that took it out of me - the legs are tired now! The short races that I have planned this year are going to be tough, as I have focused entirely on long distance stuff this year. In fact, I have not done one proper interval session on the bike. I plan to ride a 2-up TT with Mick on Wednesday though, so that should kick start the shorter efforts. All I need now is for my run legs to return!

I Can Run .... I Can't Run 8-(

The guy in this pic (it's not me by the way!) looks how I feel! The legs have been feeling better the last couple of days; hence I had scheduled a run for today, and I was looking forward to it. Off I set at a nice relaxed pace, eager to see how the legs reacted to running. 7:30 per mile was good and I even had some bounce in the legs. After 3.5 miles my calves tightened up slightly - not unusual for me. however, at 4.5 miles, my legs all but shut down! My knees ached so much I had to stop. I walked the last mile back to work, getting cold and wet in the process. To say I am disappointed is an understatement! My big fear when I decided to run the marathon was breaking myself! I now feel as though my fears have materialised! Am I expecting recovery too quickly? I suppose recovery depends on the amount of effort expended during the race; as I said, I have never dug so deep in a race before. What people do not know is the aftermath of the race, and I wonder if this has any bearing on my slow recovery. In effect , I did 2 marathons that day! To cut a long story short, me and Julie could not find each other. As a consequence, I was hobbling, stumbling, attempting to run around London for 5 hours immediately after the race. There is nothing else for it, more rest! My focus has to be the World Champs in August so some rest in April should be fine...........now I just need to get another 30 miles in on the bike today to make 200 miles this week......