TT Bike is Cruising

It’s been a busy weekend at home and although Saturday was a recovery day, I felt lousy all day. I thought I might be coming down with an illness but I seemed better today. My continuing uneasiness with my bike set up caused me to take the plunge and change the extensions on the aero bars of my race bike. Gone are the angled carbon bars that I have used for the last 2 years.

The replacements are the Profile T2 (almost straight; they have a mild kink) extensions that were on my training bike. I can only think that I needed to change them due to the increased amount of time I spent in an aero tuck on my training bike during winter training. The swap entailed changing the bar end shifters, which, in turn, meant rethreading the gear cables – a pain, but it went ok.
I put some training wheels n the race bike and it was ready for trial during a longer ride. As St Ives CC were holding their 100 mile reliability ride today, I opted to train with Turbo Man. The Reliability Ride would have been good but I don’t need to ride 100 miles and it would also mean that I was away nearly all day. As it turned out me and T Man had a nice ride, covering over 90k. I had planned to do a couple of tempo 20 min efforts at a brisk but not too hard pace. We did a large loop before entering the local 10 mile TT course. Then it was onto the aero bars for at least 20 mins. I think the tempo effort was around 28 mins and I felt reasonably comfortable, though I have no idea how fast we were going as i do not use a speedo with the race bike. Turbo Man was tucked nicely in my wheel and I am sure he was falling asleep behind me! The new set up felt good – Hoorah! I am lower than last year and narrower too. Hopefully this will result in more speed. I have the capacity to go even lower at the front end and I may play around with this during the club evening time trials in April.

Anyway, another week starts and I hope to really build on the full stroke swimming. Additionally, I aim to get Nige Porter out training on the bike next Sunday! What do you reckon the chances of that are? He is Mr secretive when it come to bike training!

A huge well done to RAF Tri members:

Daz Sharpe – for hanging tough when the chips were down due to his illness. Today I know he completed a 1500m swim, 10k run and a 112 mile turbo ride! And he is still not that well! Stay healthy Daz and sub 10 hours at IM Brazil shall be yours!

John Crewe – for a great run in the Milton Keynes half-marathon. He clocked 1:19, which is non too shabby! JC is looking good for the London Marathon.

Paul Fullalove – for completing a 23 mile training run in 2:58 in preparation for his London Marathon. That is a decent training run Paul; sub 3 hours at London?!

Bev Childs – for winning here age group at the clumber Park Duathlon. . . Again! Looks like bev has started 2009 the same as she finished 2008 – more victories to come?!

Mike Masters – for finishing well up the field in the Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon, despite suffering with cramp. Will 2009 see Mike put it all together and perform to his potential?!

TTFN

Training to Race - Ouch!

After the heavy training last week I decided to take it easy this week. As I commenced my swim session on Monday morning, I could tell I was fatigued. I opted for an easy spin on the TT bike on Tuesday. I had not ridden my race bike since the World long Course Champs last August. Also, I had made some changes to the front end in an attempt to become more aero. Oh dear! What a mess! I felt terrible. I struggled to hold my position for half a mile! How on earth did I ride 120k in an aero tuck in Holland?! The changes that I had made obviously did not agree with me. I have always been able to hop on my bike and go. It was disturbing to say the least, as I am not a happy bunny when I am not ‘at one’ with my bike!

So what had I changed? I had lowered the elbow pads and also made them narrower. Pictures from last year showed that I had a gaping hole that sucked in air and held me back! The sun was shining today so, after making some adjustments to my bike, I commenced a brick session on the road – I normally do a turbo session but I was concerned about not being able to ride my race bike. I warmed up and then did 5 x 1 mile efforts with 1 min recovery on the notorious ‘mad mile’ straight road that crosses the front of RAF Wyton. The efforts felt so different on the road, when compared with turbo efforts. I had set my Garmin to target 25mph for each effort. The wind was not favourable in one direction, which made the going tough. Anyway, these were the times I hit:

2:27 (24.5mph average)
2:18 (26.1mph average)
2:28 (24.2mph average)
2:18 (26.1mph average)
2:29 (24.1mph average)

I found these short efforts hard and I played around with my cadence on the final effort. You can tell when the wind was in my face! My position felt better but I need to make further, minor adjustments. After these efforts I slipped my trainers on and started a run interval session of 8 x 400m with 1 min recovery. I wanted 6 min mile pace but my legs were shot to start with. However, they did start to work better after the first few reps. I guess it shows that if you start off steady, then the legs will get into the groove. These are the times I hit, again, on the ‘mad mile’:

1:36 (6:29 pace)
1:32 (6:10 pace)
1:26 (5:49 pace)
1:24 (5:38 pace)
1:24 (5:38 pace)
1:24 (5:38 pace)
1:26 (5:48 pace – includes a stop coming through the main gate!)
1:20 (5:24 pace)

I suppose I should have stuck to the aim of 6 min mile pace and then gradually get faster as I complete this session in the coming months. But, as normal, it is a case of head down and go! It is a hard session and I know that I have done it now. In fact I have a slight tweak in my calf as a result. The session also reminds me that it is essential to replicate racing in my training. The efforts outside were very different to the turbo induced pain. At one point, I had a thought that if I was training for long course triathlon, I wouldn’t have to push so hard for speed – nah, that is just an easy way out! And we can’t be taking the easy path now. . .

Text Motivation - The Way Forward?

After last week's hard club ride on Sunday, I took an easy day, completing an easy swim and an easy run. On Tuesday I did my strength session. This hurt as the squats are getting heavy and I introduced 5 mins of treadmill running for 5 mins building from 17kph to 18kph. That speed may not seem that fast for 5 mins; however it is done directly after squats and 4 mins of single leg hill simulations on the turbo (30 sec alternating each leg for 4 mins). There is no rest between the squats, turbo and treadmill so the effort level is intense and the legs are resembling jelly whenyou jump on the treadmill. Straight after the treadmill (again, no rest) it's press ups, ab work, pull downs, ab work (all with no rest). Then it's a recovery while I change shoes and repeat twice more. Finish up with some core work and a great session is complete.

I was heavy legged on Wednesday, which is normal after the gym work, so it was just a swim in the morning and a steady run of 6 miles in the evening. On Thursday I did turbo efforts in the form of a pyramid. Now this is a hard session and I nicked it off jase Walkley (well, he allowed me to have it actually!). I use power to gauge the effort so it probably means nothing to you out there. The session is:

Warm up: 15 mins with some spin ups.
1 min @420W 1 min recovery.
45s @ 460W 2 min recovery.
30s @ 500W 3 min recovery.
45s @460W 2 min recovery.
1 min @ 420W
Take 5 min spin recovery
Repeat twice more.

This is a hard session but the effort has to be pushed to make it work. It's taken me a while to find the correct effort level. basically, it has to be pretty much full out! The last minute effort on the way down is the hardest.

An interesting technique trialed by Daz Sharp was text motivation! I texted jase telling him that I was doing the session and we exchanged texts during my recovery spins. The contact was quite motivating and made it feel like the session must be completed! Daz did this whilst he did his mammoth turbo 112 mile ride. We could create a turbo help line system!

I was planning to run off the bike but I had to look after my girls. This left me with the possibility of losing a run effort session. There was only one thing for it, do the run effort session the next day. This would eat into my recovery day but needs must.

So, on Friday I cycled to the running track and did 18 x 200m in sets of 3. This is done as 2 x 200m on 60s and take 90s after the 3rd 200m. That's one set. The aim is to run at tempo pace, so I maintained 39 - 40 sec for each 200m rep. The legs certainly felt the bike from the previous night. In effect, I ended up having 2 hard days in a row and just one recovery day before the club ride came round again on Sunday.

Turbo man was back for the weekend so we met up at 0800 to grab an hour riding like the old days. The T man put in a few digs to stretch the Turbo Booster. I should say he is not in bad shape, despite what he says! And he is very proficient at using his mobile phone camera whilst riding his bike. By the time I reached St Ives to meet the club, I had bagged 24 miles. We then set off and completed another 61 miles. So I got 85 miles in total, with an average speed of 19mph. the first half of the ride with St Ives CC was hard and we averaged over 20mph to the cafe stop. I was tired but managed to keep up ok. The ride back was more sedate and I was happy enough to sit on the front of my group for most of the way back. Nevertheless, I was tired when I got home.

Today was an easy swim and an easy run with Roth-bound Nige Porter. Both of us had tired legs, as Nige had moved house over the weekend and was obviously fatigued. We looked like a couple of old men hobbling along the road! A couple of easy days is called for before I hit the weights again on Wednesday.

Race season is ever closer!! Yippee!! The TT Bike is out and fully loaded for action!

SwimShack Review and More!

Another week has flown by; I have been ill for most of it 8-( Hence I was unable to ride the Ely Hardriders 25 Mile Time Trial last week. The event was, by all accounts, held in awful conditions, so I probably made the right choice in not forcing myself to ride when not well. I slowly started with some easy training on Tuesday. By Thursday, I was frustrated at not being totally well again so I did a reasonably hard session on the turbo followed by 3 x 1 mile run efforts. The run efforts were ok and it was good to train at a higher level of intensity. On Friday I had my last scheduled session at SwimShack.

SwimShack – The Review

I have been attending the endless pool set up for filmed coached sessions since October. The focus started on body position and balance in the water. I was bad...very bad! However, as the lessons passed and my full stroke swimming decreased and I focussed almost entirely on technique, my balance improved. Each time I visited SwimShack new drills to bring me nearer to a new technique were introduced. I then returned home and worked on mastering the new drills before the next session.

In January I started to become quite good at drills. However, there was a feeling of under lying fear that my full stroke swimming would not change. I started to introduce more full stroke swimming – my fears were realised! I felt terrible as I tried to swim with an improved technique. I was trying to cross the drills into my swimming but it just wasn’t happening.

All was not lost – phew! Last Friday a lot of different aspects came together. Ian at SwimShack had told me not to worry but to be patient. The session on Friday pulled all the drills together and showed me the best way to link the drills to full stroke swimming. All it took was a couple of points to focus on and I was away! I hadn’t realised, but I always focussed on my catch when swimming. Ian told me that my catch was fine and that I should focus on my recovery and entry to extension. One very subtle aspect was my shoulder position when pulling through the stroke. I was pulling with my shoulders, rather than my core rotation. To address this, Ian gave me some good drills that placed my shoulder in the correct position prior to starting the recovery. I then start this drill and blend it into full stroke swimming during a 50m repeat. As I continue to do this the new stroke should become permanent – but this will take time. I have 4 months to build up to a decent swim fitness and, hopefully, some speed!

Overall, I am happy with where I am at with my swimming but there remains an awful lot of work to do!

I managed to get out for the club ride on Sunday and covered 62 miles averaging a shade under 19 mph. This may not seem fast but there were lots of periods of waiting and slowing up during the ride. The fast group comprised of only 5 riders and the pace was full on for most of the ride. The hills were particularly painful! Tom, one of the road racers was obviously very perky and getting into some form for the season. He was hammering the pace on the hills. Considering that I had been ill, I rode ok. The final rise after about 60 miles saw just me and Tom going head to head. As he stood out of the saddle and accelerated, I attempted to do the same. However, I felt as though I was in too easy a gear to be out of the saddle and my legs sort of crumbled underneath me. He was strong for sure! A good workout indeed!

On Monday iron Bally and his mini Bally family visited us during their week long family tour from Saudi and stopped the night. We managed to squeeze in a meal at Frankie and benny’s. Now Iron Bally seems to have lost some of his iron consistency! Take a scan at this pic – not too good quality but it is true, iron Bally is not in good shape!

Will he return to race again when he gets back from Saudi for good? We have a plan that when he returns we will enter an Ironman triathlon – which on? Who knows. It may never happen but it would be good to dabble at the crazy distance with Bally.

Catch you later bloggers.

Good legs bad Legs

It has been strange few days really. I have been away with work a lot and training has been disrupted quite badly. That said, I have completed some good sessions. The trouble is that after a day off with lots of travelling I feel terrible the next day. I feel as though I should be fully recovered and strong. Just goes to show that travelling is tiring. Anyway, this is how the week panned out.

Good Legs

Tuesday - Conditioning session completed. Squats at heaviest weight yet. Tabata intervals (sub-maximal) completed and treadmill fast feet time increased from 30 sec on 30 sec off to 5 mins continuous.

Wednesday – 10k run with middle 5k tempo at 40 min 10k pace. Even though my legs were sore from weights, I felt good. After run, straight onto the turbo for a fartleck spinning session. Nothing too hard but felt strong.

Thursday – No training. A long day with work

Bad Legs

Friday – 6k run. The legs just did not want to know. A struggle to move. . .

Good Legs

…Still Friday. After the run, straight onto the turbo. 10 mins increasing pace to warm up. Then 1 min @ 330W 1 min RI. 45s @350W 2 min RI. 30s @ 400W 2 min RI. 45s @ 350W 1 min RI. 1 min @ 330W. 5 min spin. Then 4 x 30s @330W 30s RI. Warm down. These felt very easy and I wanted to do more. However, with the Ely Hardriders 25 mile TT on Sunday, I thought it best to close the session there.

The pyramid session above is a variation of a session Jase Walkley gave me. It is good as it dips you into anaerobic zone without tiring you too much. I will report on the Ely Hardriders TT on Sunday. The weather forecast is not good.

Regrouping!

The weather played its part again on Sunday. No club ride for me. It was just too icy. So, I banished myself into my garage and jumped on the turbo. I only completed an hour and a half but it was a decent session:

3 mins @ 13mph
3 mins @ 15mph
3 mins @ 17mph
3 mins @ 19mph
3 mins @ 21mph
3 mins @ 23mph
3 mins @ 25mph
3 mins @ 23mph
3 mins @ 21mph
3 mins @ 19mph
3 mins @ 17mph
3 mins @ 15mph
3 mins @ 13mph

Repeat. Then 2 x 3 mins tabata intervals @ 30mph

Warm down.

Anything above 20mph has to be completed on the tribars. It was a nice change from the club run actually. After my last post, I have received some sound advice from Neill and Turbo Man. I was getting too hung up on power numbers. I will carry on with my longer efforts but leave the real top end power stuff for end of March. I almost binned my conditioning sessions but I have decided that I must continue with the Squats/tabata/treadmill fast feet routine for 2 more months. THe session yesterday felt good, with squats well above body weight and tabata intervals not quite maxing out. Treadmill was at 17kph for 5 mins on each circuit.

Swimming is still very technique based but I continue to build on more full stroke swimming but taking it slowly rather than thinking I can just swim fast with a new stroke straight away. I have a session with Ian at Swim Shack on 20 Feb. . . I need it too! It is frustrating to see Nige and Paul Fullalove streaking up and down the pool whilst I bob up and down! I am thinking of completing a 400m time trial to see where I am at. However, is this wise? I am slightly worried that I may clock such a bad time that my confidence would be dented. Anything over 6:20 would be seen as very bad.

Oh well. Time to go and run an easy 10k and jump on my turbo. I am away with work all day tomorrow, so no training. Best I hurt myself to justify the day off. There will be no training but lots of travelling. This always makes me feel tired. . . whinge. . . whinge! Turning into a moaning old man!!

Ups and Downs

It seems an age since my last post, but it has not been that long. Very busy at work so I suppose it makes time feel different. Anyway, last week was my easy week. Apart from the cross country race on Wednesday, the week was easy, though I clocked over 10 hours of training. A big chunk of that was the Sunday club ride. We did 66 miles and I felt much better than the previous week when I got dropped. However, soon after we started my left foot kept pulling out of my pedal. It really unnerved me to begin with because I bashed my Achilles on the pedal a couple of time. For the life of me I could not see why my foot kept unclipping from the pedal. Then, someone pointed out that the tip of my cleat had snapped off. I was reduced to spinning away at a slow speed. If I put any power down my foot jumped out of the pedal.

At 31 miles we hit the coffee stop. Miraculously, there was a bike shop just a few hundred metres from the coffee shop, and it was open! A new set of cleats and I was back to full power! This pleased me greatly as we were out around Saffron Waldon and there were a few tasty inclines. After the enforced spinning on the outward journey, I felt as though I had been let loose. Hence I probably went too hard on most of the return ride. There was only 6 of us left at the end. This time it wasn't all me that split the group up. Tom Caldwell is getting into shape for the road race season and he was putting in a few big efforts. Anyway, I enjoyed it. Julie has come up with a great post-ride snack that really hits the spot. Here it is. . .

Looks good eh?! It is heaps of fresh fruit, hot cross bun fried in whisked egg, topped with low fat Greek yogurt - Nice! How blessed am I to have a lady who supports me while I train on Sunday mornings and then makes me great nosh!! (don't ask why the pic is upside down!)

Since Sunday I have managed a longish run with Nige Porter. Shock!!!! Nige is very secretive about his training but it was good just run with someone. After the efforts on Sunday I took another easy day yesterday, rather than complete my short turbo efforts. So, I attempted those short efforts today as 4 x 6 mins at 310W. I completed these at 305W 2 weeks ago. I really hate it when I don't perform as expected. Whether this is because I heap unwarranted pressure on myself or my expectations are too high, I don't know. Anyway, I blew big time. The legs could barely hold the power that I held when completing 15 min reps. I am beginning to stagnate me thinks 8-( I did 4 x 305W back in November so there is no real progress. My aim of reaching 350W seems to be very far away at the moment. Any suggestions from you bloggers? maybe I should ease back and build when the weather gets better in March? Confused as normal!!

Must dash. I need to recover sufficiently to attempt the turbo session again on Friday!!!