Time to Get Serious

As 2011 approaches it is time to start training again. After resting and doing nothing for 3 months - c'mon! You know how I like my excuses! I have entered my draught 2011 races down on the right. The season is a direct assault on the National Age Group Champs at all distances. This plot allows me to place similar emphasis on the Inter Services Champs. As I will be in the 3rd year of my age group gaining a top 3 place in races will be tough.

It would be possible to do well if I could up my swim pace from previous seasons. Indication is that I am there now! But I need to prove it in open water racing. How many times do I have to tell myself this!

No new Christmas bling to repirt and my internet is totally imploded! I am on my phone again - not good. I did a decent turbo session on 24 Dec, followed by strength work. Never done squats directly after a full turbo session. It really is good fun! Shock the body with new training! That's what I say.

happy training guys.

Wetsuit Swimming

Circumstances today dictated that I wear my wetsuit in the pool. I am not too well and the pool boiler was broken! So the water was very cold! As I wasn’t well, I intended to just do some easy swimming – just make it up as I go along.

I warmed up with 400m easy. I noted the time of around 6:30, which seemed a bit fast, considering how easy I was swimming. I then did 5 x 100m on 2 min with my Wetronome set at my perceived optimal 1500m pace. Normally, I would come in around 1:29 – 1:30 per 100m. With the wetsuit on I was coming in at 1:23 – 1:24 hitting constant 16 strokes per 25. These felt extremely easy and the rest between reps was over 35 sec. I then did a 200m in 2:50, again relaxed. I then did 100m with a bit more oomph and clocked 1:15.

Now I know that a wetsuit provides buoyancy and, therefore, a better body position, but the difference between my non-wetsuit and with wetsuit seems too large. I was thinking what factors are different? My non-wetsuit body position is not that bad. But many people tell me that I am low in the water. I put this down to lack of natural buoyancy. I sink really well! Maybe the wetsuit doesn’t change my body positioning the horizontal plain; it just raises my body in the water?

What are the thoughts out there? Does this seem possible? My swimming has improved over the last 6 months but I have never moved so fast with so little effort when wearing my wetsuit before. It makes me excited for next season as I should be able to improve my weak point – the open water swim!

Next time I swim in the pool (when healthy!) I want to try and recreate this ease of movement through the water. Another point to note is that I have been working on my kick a lot recently. With the wetsuit I felt much more aware of what my legs were doing. This is not to say that I used a strong leg kick. More the case that I knew how to stay streamlined with the legs.

Enough ramblings. . . . .

Time Warp

Good grief! Where has the time gone? It has been a while since I blogged. I have been so busy, it's unreal. But I am not here to moan and whinge!

What's new in my training/triathlon world? Well, I have been continuing with the swim focus but I have stagnated somewhat after making good progress. This, I suppose is to be expected. I will just keep up the swimming and aim for improved open water swims next year.

This cold snap has really affected my bike commuting and I am starting to miss bike sessions as a result - not good. Recently I have taken to driving in through the snow and ice and setting up my turbo in the car park. It took me 25 minutes to warm up this morning! As for running, I have been getting 2 interval session in a week. One session is on grass and the other is mixed in with a 11.5k run. This is working well and my running is coming on nicely for this time of year.

I have also hit the gym for the first time since the winter of 2008/09. The emphasis is on swim land training and bike/core strength. I do my old favourite of 20 rep squats followed immediately by tabata intervals followed by fast feet run intervals. My legs are getting sore after these sessions now and after a weekend strength session I only really feel ok by Wednesday. This slow recovery is an age thing, which I am fighting off as best I can! How do you fight off aging?! The theory is that strength work will help maintain functional muscle by stimulating the entire muscular system of the body. That is why compound exercises are key. These are exercises that use the big muscles of the body in one motion - Squats, deadlifts etc. But I like to keep some specificity in the routine; hence the tabata and fast feet elements. Will it help? Who knows but it keeps my brain content that I am trying!

Must dash. Train safe!

Realisation Moment

I had one of those realisation moments the other day. I think only older peeps can truly have these moments because they invariably stem from some experience dating back 20 years or more!

I was in the gym doing my conditioning workout and had just completed some squats and tabata intervals on the bike. Next was some treadmill fast feet. All the latest run technique stuff entails short fast cadence, as this is the best way to run? It ain’t my natural way of running and, although I have tried to do the fast cadence thing, I always struggle. For a short bloke I suppose I have quite a long stride. I like to cruise at speed and be quite bouncy. Anyway, my realisation moment came when I wondered why I was continually thinking about how to run! What did I do back in the distant past when I could run a 35 min 10k in training and race a 32 min at my best. True, I was younger but I certainly didn’t think about run technique.

What I did was run like Steve Ovett! Younger dudes out there may not remember Steve Ovett and the great rivalry with Seb Coe back in the early 80s. But that is my era and I was a pure runner back in those days (couldn’t swim back then. . . . ok, ok! Not much different now, I hear you say!). Ovett used to cruise with a long flowing stride. His cadence was actually quite high; it’s just that he was running so blinkin fast that he could cruise with a seemingly long flowing stride!

Back to reality. I was on the treadmill and I switched from fast feet to cruise at speed with a flowing stride. Ahhhhhh, that felt good. So, no more run technique for me. I am just going to run like Steve Ovett (in my mind, that is!) and go with the flow. I doubt I will ever see a 32 min 10k again but maybe I can chip away at my best times from my second endurance coming. . . . .

Still Swimming

Yep; I am still hitting the pool big time to try and get my 100m time below 1:10. There is plenty of technique in there too so Turbo man and Kelda need not worry. I have been using my Wetronome too. This is a great little tool. However, I have been using it today to dial into a decent 6 beat kick! That means setting the little yellow box to a strokes per minute of 210+! that is serious beeping in your head! If this strategy reaps time improvements I will be well happy!

The Lincs Services Cross Country League starts next week at Waddington. I hope to make this but work is very busy lately so I may be a no show. Daz 'Fast Man' Sharpe is due to race and he has kept his speedy form that he had all season over triathlon racing. he should be well up the field over the mud. i will take my rightful place at the rear of the field 8-)


And here is a pic of the last time I probably ran cross country! It's me and Nige Porter running at St Neots - 2008?

IT Probs

Lack of posts on here is due to terrible internet access here at home. Man, I sometimes wonder why I pay for broadband.

Not doing much structued training at the moment - no change to the norm then! I am about to embark on a 6 week swim focus. The goal is to get my 50m and 100m times down. Then, I can get back to working on technique and conditioning with a goal of sub 22 min for 1500m. Unless my 100m time comes down closeto 1:10, I can't see my breaking that 22 min barrier. It's all good fun! I really enjoy the challenges and the journey to get to a goal!

Welcome back to triathlon Turbo Man!! Yes, a monumental moment as T Man is integral to my triathlon journey. Let's face it, he was never really far away!!

Tour of Britain Stoke Sportif 26 Sep 10

Phew! Been very busy with one thing or another lately. Can’t believe how quickly time flies. To cut a long story short, since the Vitruvian I have done not much swimming, hardly any running whatsoever and lots of biking. This was a sort of crash prep 3 weeks for the Tour of Britain Stoke on Trent Pro Ride Sportif. The race was on 26 Sep 10 . . . . . er, last Sunday!

So how did it go? It was a great day out and the weather was ok(ish). Quite windy in places but it could have been far worse. The route went deep into the Peak District and some of the high points were really exposed. Of course the theme of the ride was hills, hils and more hills! I had a place in the RAF Cycling Association Team and there was 20 of us all decked out in RAF Cycling. It was quite an impressive sight – oh, and there was an interloper wearing an RAF Triathlon cycling jersey! No, not me! It was young Jase Walkley. As it turned out, he would be my ride buddy and we probably spurred each other on to levels of utter exhaustion that would not otherwise be possible. That may sound dramatic but the last 10 miles was a real pain-fest – just the way it should be!

The RAF peleton moved along at a healthy pace to begin with. The first real hill split us up slightly and 3 of us were up the road by the top. One of the guys then punctured and we stopped to wait for him. This caused the whole peleton to regroup. This seemed to be the pattern of the ride. The peleton moved well together but as soon as the road went skywards, it split. So it was always stop, regroup. Drink station, regroup. The ride felt somewhat broken and inefficient to me. I suppose it’s difficult with such a large group as people want different types of rides. Me, I wanted to get back as soon as possible. In the end, at the main feed zone, me and Jase made the decision to just crack on for home.

So it was just the 2 of us and we hit the hill of the day (though I found later hills tougher), Gun Hill. We saw a timing point on the road but we didn’t click that this was the start of the King of the Mountains Challenge and there would be another timing point at the top! We just carried on puffing and panting in our rhythm until we saw the timing point at the top and then sprinted the last 50m! Nevertheless, out of nearly 800 riders we had the 28th best climb of the day time!

The rest of the ride was hard. . . . very hard! We just pushed it home all the way and passed many people. As I said, the last 10 miles were a real pain fest and I was really feeling it. I lost concentration at a roundabout and nearly got wiped out. I then had to chase hard to catch Jase up again.

Overall Jase was 37th and I was 38th. Happy with that, considering all the stops and the puncture! Ride time was 5:27 but clock time 5:53! Man we lost some time phaffing around! However, it was a great ride – my first 100 miler!!