2011 in perspective.

Last season went really well; I was really happy with my training & preparation, and delighted with my A-race performances. Sub-5:20 at UK70.3 in Wimbleball, with a sub-3 hr bike split, was good enough for a roll-down to the Las Vegas World Champs; and 10:21:26 at Regensburg easily beat my sub-10:30 goal in my Ironman debut, where I only just missed a sub-3:30 marathon. In preparation for IM Lanzarote in May 2012, some reflection will be useful but rather than dissect everything, I thought I’d pick out 3 bullet points in terms of “what went well” and “what do I want to improve”.

So, what went well:

·        I did as I was told. This was my first season following a coached plan and I think it fair to say that I followed the program very closely, completing ~87% of the scheduled hours. Moreover, the vast majority of sessions were completed as prescribed. Of course, work and family commitments sometimes had to take priority, but it was a very consistent training year.

·        I looked after myself. My diet was very consistent and I hardly touched alcohol; my weight bottomed out at just over 57kg in time for UK70.3. I was very proactive in terms of seeing my physio as soon as niggles appeared, and I kept on top of things with stretching and regular massages, managing to get through the entire season w/o injury (go-karting accidents aside :-D). I had plenty of sleep and rest on a regular basis. This of course all contributed to my consistency.

·        I planned ad nauseam. As Benjamin Franklin said “By failing to prepare, you prepare to fail.” In terms of kit, race prep, nutrition, pacing etc, I planned, agonised and then planned some more. Achieving my IM target is testament to this. You could argue that so far my luck has held out in A-races. On the other hand, maybe the “bad luck” I had in May (2x punctures, 3x tumbles, plus the aforementioned go-karting incident), when the stakes were low, made me appreciate even more what can go wrong and influenced my decisions accordingly.

Ok, but what do I want to improve:

·        My swimming technique. If I’m honest, my 1:05:xx time at Regensburg is flattering; 39 min at Las Vegas is a more realistic assessment of my swimming. My Zoot wet suit makes a huge difference but it hides deficiencies in my stroke. Getting my IM swim split under 1:05, and hopefully even closer to 1 hr, will require some serious work. I’ve already had some video analysis with Nick T. This confirmed my “overglider” phenotype identified at the Swimsmooth clinic in 2010, but now I’m in a better position to tackle it. So I’m now trying to initiate my catch earlier, and working with a wetronome to increase my stroke rate.

·        I want to run like Crowie. I’ve been following the Kinetic Revolution website, which is extremely interesting: will they do to running what Swimsmooth did to swimming? They showed a very interesting video analysis of Craig Alexander and Chris Lieto in the 2009 Ironman champs. Based on this, as soon as I saw Lieto running in this year, I knew he was toast, he looked very laboured; by contrast Alexander was running “effortlessly”. Interestingly, Raelert looked incredibly strong as he tried to chase down Alexander but it wasn’t effortless, he was pushing real hard, and in the end it wasn’t sustainable. So, although my running came on loads last year, I still think I can work on this to become more efficient, i.e. can I run "effortlessly" at IM pace? But how? My plan is to get Jacky to video me running up and down the road; while my technique probably isn’t so bad, I bet I’m heel striking to some extent.  The idea is to then include some of the Kinetic Revolution drills and exercises into my schedule and see what happens.

·        Need to push a bigger gear. Like my running, my cycling improved a lot last year. But again, being realistic, that my Regensburg split was ok was largely down to pacing, while my good performance at Wimbleball was largely down to the weight part of the power-weight ratio. What I still lack is much in the way of raw power! On the rolling hills of Las Vegas, I noted that I was often being overtaken by people in the big ring while I had shifted down to the small one. Not sure exactly how I’m gonna to address this just yet, but the first thing I need to be able to do is measure it. So I’ve splashed out on a power meter which is currently being built into a wheel for me.

There are a number of other areas I want to work on (e.g. transitions; running through aid stations; regular stretching/yoga; ankle flexibility, strength & balance) these are the big ones, and they will be ongoing projects for a few years, but hopefully I can improve in all three areas before May 2012, in time for my next big test.

And the overall goal? Well, getting where I want to in the longer run will take a few years. In Regensburg I came 58^th in my age group. Demonstrating that I’m on the right track will require a significantly better placing: top 35 at Lanza will do now.

Ironman 70.3 Wolrd Championships

Since inception, the annual Ironman 70.3 World Championships were held in Clearwater Florida, but this year the race venue relocated to Las Vegas. Long course triathlon is no stranger to this part of Nevada; the Silverman half and full distance triathlons have been held here since 2005.

The Silverman course is notoriously tough, so when the WTC teamed up with Lowery's Multisports, the aim was to develop a challenging race worthy of the World Championships. They also hoped to solve the drafting problem that was typical of Clearwater.

Well, there is no doubt about it; the new course is very hard and not surprisingly, it’s the heat that makes this course what it is. On the day it was ~36oC but it can get into the 40's at thus time of year. Indeed, this course is a real leveller, favouring the best "triathlete".

The swim takes place in Lake Las Vegas, ~13 miles due east of The Strip, and two factors means that this favours the stronger swimmers. Firstly, at this time of year, it’s warm enough to make it a non-wetsuit event. Secondly, because of the silt, visibility in the water stops at the end of your hand, so finding feet is very difficult. So for those of us that rely on neoprene and a good draft to compensate for our poor technique, the swim is always going to be tough.

Straight out of T1, the bike course goes uphill for 5.5k, out of Lake Las Vegas and on to the main road. A ~64k out-and-back section heading north east then takes you in to Lake Mead National Park and through some spectacular scenery. The final 20k goes back past Lake Las Vegas and into the T2/finish area, which is based in Henderson, a town South East of Las Vegas proper.

The course is rarely horizontal, with a net ascent/descent of 1168/950m, so the uber-power bikers who prevail on Antwerp-like courses suffer. At the same time, the hills are never particularly steep, so the power/weight merchants who enjoy Wimbleball-esque terrain don’t have it all their way. This route really does favour the well-rounded strong bikers.

The heat on the bike doesn’t feel like a major problem at the time; the movement of dry air keeps your temperature down but this is deceptive. You’re sweating all the time, and even if you do keep your water, salt and nutrition intake up, this course really does take it out of you.

But it’s on the run where the course really plays its trump card. Not only is it very hot but once again, it’s not flat. There are no hills per se on the 3-lap out-and-back route, but you are either going up a very long slow drag or back down it, gaining/losing ~75m over 3.5k.

The transitions are pretty slick. I heard a few grumbles about the ~250m run from the lake exit to T1, but it’s a flat path followed by a downward grassy slope so no biggie. Marshals then call your number out ahead of you so that volunteers can get your bag for you. Out of T1, there’s an uphill push before you can mount in the car park but again, no biggie.

Approaching T2, the dismount line is around a corner and comes up quick, but it’s reasonably predictable so sufficient time to take feet out your shoes. Volunteers take your bike off you, and again your bag is handed to you as you move through. No excuse for slow transitions.

The aid stations worked well enough on both bike and run. Not the slickest I’ve seen but enthusiastic volunteers and kids made them work. Plenty of water Powerbar products, sponges and ice.

There are only partial road closures, but the way the course is set up with traffic cones etc, works well. Only in the National Park do you have to share the road with cars and there the drivers are very courteous.

The atmosphere either side of the race is cool. The banquet on the Friday night and the post-race awards party far out-strip the usual pasta parties and roll down ceremonies. You really feel that you are part of a big deal. Wandering about the hotel and race venue is a bit intimidating, the place is chock-a-block with tanned lean muscle and serious tri bling. But seeing people wearing calf guards at breakfast even before the race reminds you not to take things too seriously - LOL!

There’s not much support out on the bike course but plenty around T2 and they look after you once you cross the finish line. The split transition set up makes registration etc a bit of a hassle if you don’t have a car, but in the grand scheme of things it’s a very well organised race. Race HQ is at the Lowes Hotel in Lake Las Vegas, but the Ravella is right by the swim start. Both are great places to stay.

So much for the generalities, how did my race go? Well, I had clearly peaked, both physically and mentally, for my Ironman back in August. Since then, I had kept my training up but I was certainly in recovery mode and trying to hang on to dissipating fitness. I got a very solid training week in 2 weeks before race day but after that my motivation was up down like a yoyo.

Part of me just wanted to get the race over with so I could draw a line under this season. So the plan was just to take it easy and enjoy. But then other times I felt really up for it and wanted to smash it – this was the World Champs after all! Once the race started, the “professional” in me took over and I was uber-focussed on completing as fast as I could on the day.

The swim start was uncongested and I found good rhythm it but seemed to go on for ever. I anticipated a 35-40 min split and got out of the water with 39:xx mins on my watch; slow, but to be expected. However, I was exhausted! Oh how I missed my wet suit!

T1 went fine and the bike was uneventful. Kept to my plan in terms of nutrition and salt intake and drank water whenever I felt like it, which was often. Again, no congestion so no excuse for drafting but I did see some blatant cheating. Saw one guy get a yellow card so the marshals were on the case, and overall the drafting situation wasn't so bad. My best guess was for 2:45-2:55 split. As I approached T2 I thought a sub 2:45 might be on the cards but with a brutal run to come I spun into town to give the legs a rest, final split 2:47.

When I handed over my bike, I hobbled into T2 as both Achilles areas had seized up! Anyway, out on to the run course and into the heat. About half way around lap 1 I realised I was doing the Ironman shuffle; psychologically the heat had already gotten the better of me, so I shouted to myself to pull my finger out and start "running"; the pace and posture picked up immediately and I felt strong through to the end of lap 2. On several occasions hamstrings and claves complained so I dug out more salt tabs which did the trick pretty quickly. While I was clipping along at a reasonable pace between aid stations, once again psychologically I caved and I started taking longer to walk through each aid station, trying to convince myself that this was necessary to avoid blowing up. While my planned 1:30 turned out to be totally unrealistic, I’m still a bit disappointed with my 1:45. A lack of mental toughness on the day probably cost me up to 5 mins.

But you live and learn, and that’s what this race was mainly about for me, getting experience racing in the heat, as next stop is IM Lanzarote!

Anyway, at the end of the day, my official splits were 39:47, 2:47:44, 1:45:59 with 3:49 and 1:53 for T1/T2 giving a final time of 5:19:12. This placed me 782^nd overall, out of 1700+ starters. And in my age group, 119^th out of 178 finishers. That equates to 67 percentile. Now, considering that I got the last of 7 slots at UK70.3 via a roll down, all things being equal, that should place me in the bottom ~14% of the field. Well, 67% is certainly better than 86%! I’ll take that!

A great race and a great experience, I’d love to do it again. So maybe after Lanza I’ll just have to do Wimbleball all over again next year :-)

I’d definitely recommend it as a race to aim for but be prepared for some pain: this may sound a bit strange, but of the three big races I did this year, UK70.3, IM Regensburg and the 70.3 World Champs in Vegas, the “easiest” one was the full Ironman!

It was great to take part along side other ManTri members; Howard and Carla qualified along side me at Wimbleball, Mark and Anna qualified at Antwerp. All of us did very well to complete the course in style and it was great to have friends at the finish line. And as always, Jacky’s support throughout was great!

Iromman Regensburg 2011

Beginners luck or perfect execution? 

 "Execution, Line, Box, Paste". This was my mantra in the build-up to my first Ironman, and I repeated it to myself as I stood at the edge of the water waiting for the “beach” start. This mantra was derived from an article written by two US coaches describing their Four Key principles to Ironman success.  

“Execution”, pretty obvious but needs careful consideration. I couldn't have done much more training, racking up ~500 hours since September 2010 when I started preparing for this race. My training had also been very consistent and well structured thanks to a great program from Matt Shillabeer at the Endurance Coach. I had also planned ad nauseum. But all the training and planning would count for nowt if I didn't execute the plan on the day. Was I up to the task of executing the plan, or would my lack of experience dominate? In the end, I managed to follow the bike-part of my plan to the letter: heart rate never went above my limit & I never missed a scheduled feed. By the end of lap 1 my average speed was bang on target and I felt great so I just had to repeat another loop and 5:40 was in the bag. I arrived in T2 with a 5:35:50 split. The run also went largely to plan, although I had to adapt my hydration slightly, but more on this below. The swim was the biggest unknown due to the sheer numbers of people and my first experience of a “beach” start, but the plan was simple, just keep a steady pace throughout, and again more on this below.  

K-Swiss 10k

My running has come on a long way this year but today was the big test. I ran this race last year in 37:30 and was aiming for just under 37 mins: my last 5k time trial (17:50) predicts 10k in 36:59. The race started at 9:30 and it was already getting hot. Set off far too fast, first k in 3:20, and progressively slowed but then picked up again in the last 4k, crossing the finish line in 36:04 so a big PB. Maybe with better pacing and cooler conditions I might have come in under 36 mins, but no need to be greedy - there's always next year!

Since Wimbleball, I've had two easy-ish training weeks. Now this race is out the way it's time to focus on IM Regensburg; a few weeks of big training, then a bit of a taper and hopefully by August 7th I'll be raring to go.

UK 70.3 – Wimbleball 2011

Antwerp 70.3 last year was my first WTC event so after the race I wandered along to the “roll down” ceremony to see what it was all about. Although well pleased with my time of 4:50:38, that was only good enough for 58^th in my age group so I was under no illusions. However, the experience did plant a seed in my mind: it would be pretty damn cool to qualify for the World Champs. But with typically only 6-7 slots up for grabs in the 40-44 category, was it remotely possible?

Three things suggested yes. One, I was only two seasons into triathlon so my trajectory was still upward; with focused training more gains were for the taking. This was a major motivation behind signing up to the Endurance Coach. Two, strategic course selection: Antwerp is pan-flat so I got hammered by all the uber-power bikers. As I’m only likkle, outright power isn’t a strength but when it comes to hills it’s all about power to weight, and that’s fine by me! The Wimbleball bike course is renowned for being killer hilly, so UK 70.3 would play to my strengths. And third, the vagaries of the roll down process means that even if you don’t qualify for an automatic slot, you might just get lucky.

New Forest Standard

This Sunday, I opened my 2011 race account by competing in Race New Forest’s “standard” distance race. This race is slightly shorter than a regulation Olympic triathlon, consisting of a 1.1k swim, 36k bike and a 10k run. I was aiming for between 2 hrs to 2:05, but ended up with 2:23. So if my training has been going so well, where did it go so wrong?

The swim went ok. The lake temperature was ~15oC, so quite warm for the time of year. I positioned myself near the front for the mass start and, when the hooter finally went off we got going. With ~380 people competing for space, the beginning of an open water swim always involves a bit of “biff”. Within ~50m I got a real crack in the face from someone’s elbow. This made the next 100 or so metres very uncomfortable. Luckily I didn’t lose my goggles but I felt sick and really didn’t want to be there. This passed and I then settled into a rhythm and just got on with it. I do now have a bit of a black and bloodshot eye to prove that triathlon is in fact a contact sport.

Before too long I was clambering out of the water and running up to transition, feeling nice and relaxed. The new wetsuit came off really easily and I made my way to the bike leg without any problems. Time for swim and T1: 22:12. To hit the 2hr goal I needed a 20min split so a bit behind but in the top 20% so doing well compared to last years races.

Lakeland Loop - again!

Last year I entered the Lakeland Loop for the first time, a 110km cyclosportif route around the lake district organised by EpicEvents. It takes in two massive climbs towards the end, namely the infamous Hardknott and Wrynose passes with their ball-bustin' 33% gradients. Last year I fell off both so this year I had some unfinished business to attend to - I was absolutely determined to get up both. I could have made life a bit easier and changed the gear ratios on my bike, but that would have been "cheating", I wanted to be able to get up using my improved bike strength.

Seven of us from ManTri set off together on what was a glorious day, but shortly after the first climb up Red Bank we split into two groups. The three of us at the front, me, Stefan and Rob, joined two "men in black" and the five of us powered around Thirlmere and through Keswick, each taking turns on the front. When we hit Whinlatter hill, we slowed down and at the first food stop split up, with two of us opting for some tea and cake.

Stefan and me then worked together around the western part of the route finally arriving at the second food stop where we refueled before taking on Hardknot and Wrynose. As we approached I got slower and slower as my legs filled with dread - I knew what was coming and it scared me! Looking up the valley you can see Hardknot switchbacking all the way to the top, it's a sight to behold. Finally, I got to the red phone box that marks the start of the climb and the work began.

It's very steep at the start, 30%, and it was out of the saddle, grinding hard, heart rate going through the roof. Then you hit the easy bit, "only" 20% but at least now my heart rate recovered and I could sit back down to rest the quads. Then it's the final ramps up to the top and I was surrounded by carnage - the vast majority of people are having to walk up, cars are wheel spinning to get past, then getting stuck behind other riders etc etc.

But I pushed on, out of the saddle, HR maxing out at 183 bpm while my cadence bottomed out at 36 rpm, giving it absolutely everything, straining every sinew, pulling on the handlebars almost as much as I was pushing on the peddles, shouting at myself to "c'mon!" Finally I crested the top - what a victory but still Wrynose to go. After recovering on the descent and the intervening flat bit I felt good and, long story short, got up Wrynose too. Just the small matter of one last final hill and it was back to the start.

Total time, 4:48 including the two feed stops so time in the saddle, 4:32. Recovered at the end, waiting for the rest of the guys then off to the pub for food. Awesome day out, more interesting stories here, including one about a car that drove off the edge!

Bike fit - update

I didn't ride last weekend as I was going for it in the Wilmslow Half Marathon. But this Sunday I did another brick, the first one since the painful one which convinced me to seek help with my bike fit. Today's session was a 3 hr ride & 50 min run. On the bike I was aiming for potential Ironman pace, on the run I just ran how I felt.

The bike ride was good: my neck is still getting used to the lower back angle, but my upper back and shoulders felt so much better: I didn't experience the overwhelming fatigue that plagued me last time. Plus the pace/HR data was very encouraging. Although junctions & traffic kept disrupting my flow, when I got into a rhythm I was happy with my speed and HR zone.

The big plus from this session was that my lower back was absolutely fine on the run. Last time my back hurt so much I had to stop running and touch my toes to stretch out. This time, no such problem. Plus, I saw a positive effect on my run pace; without really pushing it, my pace increased to 4:19/k from 4:31/k despite a longer & faster bike ride.

Bike fit

Last year I got a TT bike and thought the set up was ok - see previous post. However, during long rides recently my shoulders & back have been very sore, and looking at it now I realise that the set up wasn't right at all.

So rather than muck about I bit the bullet and booked myself in at Velomotion who do Retul fitting. This basically involves putting LEDs all over your body so that they can measure everything while your actually cycling, i.e. a dynamic fitting.

Yes it's expensive, and yes Milton Keyne's a long way to go, but it was so worth it. John spent ~3 hours with me the other Saturday, totally overhauling my position. We moved the saddle way up and forward, and the elbow pads way back and down. We changed the saddle for an Adamo so that I could rotate even further forward without crushing my tackle. You don't need to be an aficionado to notice the difference.

I've done one long ride since and it was very encouraging, much less shoulder pain. This weekend I have to do a long brick which will be a big test of the new position.

The plan for now is to see how I get on like this but to improve it further I may get new cranks - the current ones are too long for me and the frame - and upgrade the aero bars to ones with a lower stack to let me rotate round even further.

So, a bit of an investment but if I'm gonna have a decent crack at Ironman this August then I'll need to be able to ride comfortably in the aero position for up to 6 hours.

Wilmslow Half Marathon

Second time for me, looking to improve on last year's time of 1:28:15. Felt good & confident yesterday; usual race nerves this morning but got to the start feeling ready. Paced it much better than last year using my GPS watch, heart rate and feel. By 10k in good shape so pushed on and started to reel a few people in. Took an energy gel with about 5k to go and managed to finish strong. Made it in 1:22:58 so a big PB, placing me 140th and 18th in the 40+ cat. This time means that my longer distance running is almost on a par with my shorter stuff, so a great confidence boost for the coming season :-)