Going so well…

Made it out to Austria 10 days pre-race and stayed at the race hotel (The Seapark). Had not had the best run into the event as could not get rid of a recurring chest infection in the month running up to the event and also had some type of viral infection in the back of my throat. Despite that after a few days in Austria and being into the taper the chest infection was on the mend but the wife still had a cough so was just hoping it would go away and stay away.

Training hard on minimal hours (10 hours a week)

I had worked hard prior to getting to Austria and felt I was in my best shape I had been in. I was down to 70kg (7-8% bf) on the nose and likely just under come race day (I tend to be strict on the diet race week and this shifts any extra lard). What I should say is that my average training is 10 hours a week. The reason for 10 hours is simply work and family commitments. My feeling is that you can still make some fantastic race performances, but you need to be consistent. So what maybe possible in say 18months of 15-20 hours training a week you can achieve doing 10 Hours but maybe over 3 years.

I never waste a workout and every session has a purpose and specific training zones. I get my physiological capacity done by an experienced professional (www.sportstest.co.uk) and this helps make sure I train based on science and not guess work. Although I know most of the local triathlon team members 99% of my training is done alone to ensure I get maximum benefit from each and every session. However, with that said if you have more time, quality training and you can recover from the increased training load (I am in 40s now so this is a consideration – train smart not just harder) then progression in Ironman can for sure can be faster.

OK Back to Ironman Austria…

The Seapark hotel was perfect in its position and the swim exit was directly at the side and to the rear of the hotel. If any one visits here its almost like a mini duck pond and that’s where you exit on race day then run over the road to bikes in T1. During the stay one evening we were at our table for tea and the Women’s World Ironman champion Mirinda Carfrae (www.mirindacarfrae.com) was at a table opposite. Knowing from past experience with working with athletes I know that they can spend a lot of time alone pre-event so we invited her to join us and she did. She was a real lady and she was lucky I managed not to quiz her for the hour about her nutrition too much as I am sure she gets sick of talking shop. It was a highlight of the holiday for sure and it was no surprise she went on to destroy the competition at Austria.

SWIM: The swim course finishes along the canal that runs behind the hotel but the start is only about 5-10 mins walk away. It’s a beautiful lake and I have to say we had a fantastic holiday, great for kids and families and more important for this blog training and pre for the big day.

I had swum portions of the swim course in the week leading up to the race following advice that the entrance to the canal was difficult to see in the morning sun. So felt come race day I would know what markers to look for. In the end come race briefing we where told that not only would it be a wetsuit legal (some concerns over this in the preceding days due to very high water temps) but also that this year there would be additional markers to help sight the entrance to the canal. Thanks – so glad I wasted time learning to site the canal ha.

Race morning came and it was the most prepared I have ever been and the least nervous. I had a good idea of the course having biked 70k of it, I had also completed parts of the run and swam much of the swim course. The swim is a rolling start which is a must have now for all Ironman races as the number totalling 3000 athletes just make the events plain dangerous otherwise. The whole issue of race numbers and drafting is a whole other issue that Ironman have to address. My own view is we need less than 2000 per race but I guess cash speaks over the needs of the participant for a fare and comfortable race.

The swim was ok. I felt at ease and didn’t work that hard. I came out of the water in 63 mins, which was a little disappointing as I though I would break 60mins given my pool times. I just thought get through the transition and out on the bike to pick up some time. There are a number of cheeky climbs on the course including the “Rupertiberg” (65km in) and the “Faaker See” (35km in) and if you don’t pace well over these you will feel them on the second lap.

Figure 1. Bike course profile and heart rate.

BIKE: So the goal was to stick at around 210w for much of the race with 240-250w on the climbs (See figure 1). There where a few chain gangs out on the course for sure, which as always pisses me off but nothing you can do about them and you have to just think about your own race. I only had to stop once on the course for some special needs, which lost me 2 mins (post race analysis). On the plus side I overcome the shy bladder issues – this might have been helped by the down pour half way into the second lap which included some hailstone. Nice…I had never heard of this but it was not to bad but everyone had to slow down as some of the bends on the course can be super slippy as the roads are like an F1 track.

What I will say is the course is by no means flat its undulating throughout but because of the downhill’s and the road surface is like a race track and you make up lost time on the hills due to the roads and descents. I managed a 5Hr 12min bike (5Hr 10min moving time) at 78% of HRmax and 210w. This was my best bike time to date and felt pretty good. Key to making this a fast ride is keeping in a very aero position and this has never been an issue for me, so I am luck in that regard as I know a lot of people suffer to hold an aero position. Reminding yourself throughout to keep tucked and making movements to get your drinks etc as quick as possible helps with this.

RUN: About 2k in had a quick toilet stop and then was on my way but felt very sluggish and had in my head pre-race that I could make a 9.15 for the Ironman, if I could keep to the bike plan but was already down 15Mins (5 lost on swim and 10 on the bike). So realistically I was probably looking at a 9.30, but I had ‘Ironman brain’ at the time and was just thinking I am not going to make the time I wanted. Note: Ironman brain – long day, tired, low blood glucose a bit dehydrated turns relatively intelligent people into total dumbasses.

So despite being on for what would have been a record Ironman time for me I was focusing on how tired I felt and how I wont make the time I set out. This negativity is not normally me in a race and I tend to plough on forwards, but this day could not shake it. About 30 mins into the run I spotted my wife and daughter and said I didn’t feel great and was thinking of quitting (you can see these stops on Figure 2).

Figure 2. Run course profile and pace and heart rate

I never quit races and this was a real shock to my daughter (10Yrs old) who started to cry and was worried about me. So I said I would carry on (you can see my stop at 28-29.30mins), so I set of and although it felt like the slowest run ever I was actually on for a 3hr 30Mins marathon (Ironman Brain = idiot). I made it to 62 mins of the run and again spoke to the wife for another 4 mins and she convinced me to keep going and slipped me a Mars bar to eat to cheer me up (yep I love chocolate). I got just over 19km in and dropped out (see figure). At that point this was purely mental had convinced myself I was totally fatigued and had not reached my goal times.

In looking back this was a stupid decision and I will one-day return to complete Austria. I beat myself up over stopping all night and like any fool I booked myself up for Ironman Barcelona (Oct 2016) the same night. The next day I did not feel great and seeing the finishers with their t-shirts didn’t help. But we finished out the last few days of the holiday, had a great last few days.

I still had a throat infection when I arrived back in the UK so when to the doctors and they did a few blood tests and a throat swab. The results showed I had some immune suppression but also and viral infection and Uvulitis (ye I didn’t know what this was either but the reason I felt like I was choking when I swallowed). Two courses of penicillin and some other lovely drugs and virus was all gone.

So in final review I loved Austria despite the fact I pussied out and didn’t finish at all costs (the Ironman way) and after getting home and seeing the doctor perhaps this was the right thing. However, in my head I felt this was a mental defeat rather than physical but who knows – you tend to push on through no matter what in this sport but I promised myself I would not quite at Ironman Barcelona come October no matter what.

The Outlaw has become a bit of an event in the UK at the full distance (Ironman). So after hearing the good stories thought I would throw my hat in for this middle distance tri to see how my swim, bike, run was improving after taking much of 2015 off.

Again I went into the competition with only a few days of easing back as this was simply to be viewed as a hard training session rather than a real competition. The course is pretty much flat with only what I would call a bump at about mile 20-21 on the bike course. The swim is a single lap and the run is a mix of tarmac and off road running but nothing to sponge so you can make the run fairly fast.

SWIM: I had an OK swim at 30mins and although race morning was pretty cold the forecast was it would heat up later on in the day. I wish I had got to the race start a little earlier to make sure bike was fully racked and sorted and to then get in a little paddle – but that did not happen. Also made rookie mistake of not brining any warm clothes for race morning as the forecast was supposed to be sunny – it turned out cold but will learn from this.

BIKE: I was motivated to get out on the course as had a new TT bike and felt in good shape. Pre race plan was to limit the effort to 220 watts and to see where my legs where after that as this was 1^st Tri after last years work. This would be a great tester of any improvements and jumping up from averaging 175w in 2014 to 220 watts and with a bodyweight now at 71kg (3-4kg less) made me feel like I should do OK. (Figure 1 see post race analysis average watts 218 – close to plan).

The bike turned out to be as it looked on the online maps, pretty flat and not to technical. Despite a shabby swim I was soon cutting through the racers on the course. By the end I came off the bike in 2hr 37mins but probably lost over 5 mins having to stop for a ‘comfort break’, also a few mins over last few km’s of the bike its full of crap roads and speed bumps resulting in a bounce out of my front bottle and Garmin, so had to stop and pick them up and re-attach. I was through T2 in under a min and it was time to test out the run legs.

Figure 1. Heart rate and power over the Outlaw half course.

RUN: Got onto the run and legs felt good but needed another ‘comfort break’ – a issue I need to sort for future races (Going on the bike ;-)…). So despite the lost minute I broke into the 1hr 24min range averaging 6.30min/mile at 88% HRmax.

Figure 2. Pace and heart rate over the Outlaw run course (Hr average 156/ 6.30m/mile).

This gave me 4^th in my age group just short of the podium and 30^th overall (4hr 37mins). So all-in-all pretty happy but a few mistakes to fix, a taper and an easy 5-10 mins can be shaved of this one, which would have had me win my age group and break top 15…So looking forwards to 2017.

http://dload.osb.s3.amazonaws.com/results/outlawhalf16results.xls

Kicking of the new year!

I have been running the North Lincolnshire half marathon for the past 3-4 years (albeit slowly ha) and the tape2tape.co.uk team have been putting on a great event on a great course. The locals also do their part including the kids from scouts and brownies at the feed stations. So I know the roads pretty well after running it previously. Its nice a flat, normally great weather and this year was to form part of the building for Ironman Austria (A-Race) and the Outlaw half (B-Race) later in the year.

The aim was to do a minimal taper and just take a few easy days before the race and on race day do an extended run. So that means a 3-4Mile run to the start and a 2Mile run post race as a cool down to make an 18-mile session. I stayed at a hotel just around the corner from the race so had no long journey to do on the morning of the race. The 5 km warm-up prior to the start of the race went well and was 100% ready to go before the start of the race. I had chosen to run at 6min/mile pace and if I blew then so be it, and would then just make the rest of the race jog as long as I got the miles in. So no pressure…

The day was dry but a little windy so decided where possible to tuck in behind anyone who is tall or larger packs where possible. The usual madness ensured with a massive amount of people running off at what must have been 5.30min/mile pace, by 5km in most of these jokers where already going backwards.

Figure 1. Heart rate and pace over the North Lincs course.

The take home was I had a great race managed to stick to pace of just over 6min/mile (Hr 164 – 93% of max) and rolled over the line at 1hr 18min 53sec. This was a new PB and gave me 29^th overall and a first time podium in the old man’s age group (3^rd V40). The day was a confidence builder to tell me training was paying of so next stop Outlaw middle distance triathlon, Nottingham.

http://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/1ff/

The start of 2015 was the Boston marathon and man did I pick the wrong year – windy and freezing but it was one for the ‘bucket list’ and my 3hour (ish) run from the 2014 Barcelona marathon got me a place. A big reason to do the marathon was not only to run the oldest marathons in the world, but also to support the fight against those who live to cause fear through terrorism and the survivors from Boston who can never be beat. Despite everyone trying to keep warm in the open tents it was a great event and I dragged out a 3hr 7min marathon with only xmas training under the belt (and maybe Santa’s belly).

The main goals for the year where to improve the bike and run so only signed up for one ‘A’ race [The Hull marathon], and one ‘B/C’ race  – the Ironman 70.3 Stafford in June (Update – no blog on this but I managed a top 20 at the event without a taper).

So to the hull marathon…

I had a great year of training with significant improvements in bike and run, so was looking forwards to Hull. In advance I had done some great training sessions in prep at an around 6.30min/mile for 17-18Miles. This gave me some confidence going into the race and helped me set a realist target pace and heart rate.  This was the first year of the Hull marathon after a non-starter (wrong length) a year or so before, so getting some reviews on the course was not possible. However, looking at the elevation and where the course was run there seemed only to be a few sections that might be difficult and need some additional pacing consideration. There was the Humber Bridge which was open to the wind and then a section of the course that had a slight gradient about mile 11.

Figure 1. Pace and heart rate over the Hull marathon

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During both I tried to stick to HR (Average over whole course 159bpm/90%max hr) rather than pace (See Figure 1) so I left some effort in the legs for the return journey (a marathon is a long old day – especially if it all goes tits up).

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As you pass over the Humber I got to see where I was in relation to the rest of the marathon runners and from what could tell I was in the top 15. I was pretty shocked but excited as never have been so close to the front end of a race before and I began to think, “still 7-8miles to run maybe I could break the top 10 if I held my pace.”

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By the end of the race I had chipped away another 5 or so places by sticking to the race plan and crossed the line in 9^th in a time of 2hr 51min. I felt great and not the usual pain in my legs. The best bit was seeing the shock on the wife’s and daughters face as I cam round the last bend with only 8 other athletes in front of me. It was a great end to 2015 and indicated that taking almost a whole year to train rather than to race was really paying off and to train smart for 2016. It was at this time I begin to think making Kona the Ironman World Chaps was a real possibility if I could build on my bike for 2016 and it all came together on the day.

http://www.sportstimingsolutions.co.uk/rd.php?id=68

Ironman Florida 2014 [9hr 27mins] – Holiday time

After Lanzarote I wanted another race before the years end but also it needed to be a holiday as it had been a super busy year with work and training so booked up for Ironman Florida (White sand and sun). It was a flat bike course and I would have enough time to recover from Lanzarote and fit in another training cycle with some efforts to improve the run off the bike in hot weather. So for this one I would get out 10 days before the event to give myself enough time to get use to the heat.  I will keep this race report pretty short as the swim was cancelled.

SWIM (cancelled): So we booked a hotel (Laketown Wharf ) 2 mins from race start – not the most beautiful hotel but its position to the start of the race was perfect. The rooms where massive like a mini apartment with great shops and a Wallmart 5 mins walk away, which was perfect if you have kids. Race morning we had heard on local news of warnings of rip tides and the double-red flags out on the beach – not good. It was also pretty unexpected as the whole time we had been in Florida the weather had been stunning and the water pan flat.

Made it down to transition and it was freezing (in the low 30s from 70-80s the days prior) and very windy (25mph with 35+ gusts).  So happy I went out to Florida early to acclimatize for what I thought would be a hot day. Despite the pro’s starting the swim was cancelled before they made a few 100m out as it was just too unsafe. There was a lot of cold and shivering people who had not brought a change of clothing other than skimpy tri-suits. Then we had the announcement that the event would be a bike-run (Duathlon) with athletes released every 30s by order of race number. That for some was a 2-3Hour wait in the cold before getting onto the course.  Not great if you had come from the UK and spent big money on travel, hotels and the event, especially given there was not option for a refund as one guy I met from Luton told me (as he had tried). I was lucky as relative to the 3000ish participants I have a number closer to the front end.

BIKE (5hours 53mins): Once on the course the wind made it clear it was not going to be the super fast day I thought it would be. Out on the course I had 2 flats just to cheers the day right up, but you just have to laugh these things off and keep going. The bike course is pretty flat but and fast times I might have gained was destroyed due to the 25-25mph winds and flats. I have to say that despite what I had heard over the course being a draft-fest there was not a massive amount of drafting. This might have been a result of the timed starts so people where very well spread out over the course and the high winds meant closing that gap had taken longer.

RUN (3Hours 27mins):  I was chomping at the bit to get off the bike and had held 175w for the bike course (about 72% FTP) so was feeling pretty fresh despite the windy bike. Once out of T1 the legs felt good and I started off strong – with fresh memories of Lanzarote and the walk of shame came rushing back reminding me to stick to the pre-planned pace. The goal was to hold back and to run towards a 3.30 marathon. The temperature was cool which suits me and this really helped with my run.

Figure 1. Run pace and hr over the Ironman.

The supporters especially surrounding the 3-5 km close to the course were great and gave a boost to all the athletes. As you can see I averaged a pretty steady heart rate (see Fig 1, average Hr 146bpm). In the end it was a relatively solid race but disappointed over the swim being cancelled and some real issues with the weather and flats on the bike but as they say never give in. I crossed the line in 9hr 27mins.

Next stop 2015 and to start thinking beyond just finishing to competing and racing these events. Looking back over the last 12 months and ending 1^ST full year of training I was over competing. I had done 2 full Ironman’s, 1half Ironman, a full marathon. Given I had only had completed 4-6 months of training the year before I was still in need of some uninterrupted training to ensure I could improve my biking and running fitness. So that was the goal for 2015 and made the decisions no more full Ironman’s for at least the next 12 months.

http://eu.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/florida/results.aspx?rd=20141101#axzz4Sj7s0m4A

Ironman Lanzarote: The walk of Shame…

Summary of the course

Lanzarote one of the toughest Ironman races in the world, hot, windy, hills so why not! I have to say the place lived up to its name a truly brutal course.

I had decided xmas 2013 to get myself back in shape after almost 5 years of doing pretty much nothing as far as training goes. I had convincing myself 3 times to the gym a week whilst eating the house out was an ok way to maintain health and fitness. Sometimes we all get caught up in work and chasing material goals whilst forgetting the importance of our own personal wellbeing. Well after only 4 months training I roped in a mate to doing what was then Challenge Vichy (Ironman distance tri), which after only a few months training was as hard as you would imagine it would be. However, it gave me the appetite to get back into the endurance game, loose some lard and set some goals.

One of those was to do Ironman Lanzarote in May 2014. I always new I would be rubbish at climbing as I am just not built for the mountains (or for that matter the heat!) but the event was close to the UK and I love a challenge. It was also a good excuse to help me get back in shape so I signed up.

Figure 1. Course profile Ironman Lanzarote

I did some reading and the course is known as one of the toughest on the Ironman circuit, with gale-force winds, temps over 30c and over 2500m of climbing. On the day it did not disappoint. As you can see in figure 1 it was not flat 😉

Pre Event

I stayed away from the main part of Lanzarote and we (Wife, Daughter, Mam) hired a villa about 45 mins drive from Puerto Del Carmen, and hired a car. I never really liked the atmosphere of Ironman’s as everyone looks each up and down, checking out bodyfat percentages, bikes etc. Staying away from the main event at least until the day before is good idea as you can keep relaxed without all the pre-event triathlon talk and bragging that comes with it.

For me these Ironmans have to be a a family holiday rather than just dragging the family around. They need some recognition for the time we as Ironman spend away from them training and who picks up the slack when your out on that long run or long bike. Its only fare to give them as much of a holiday as possible.

It was not super hot over the week pre-event but it was windy when out on the bike course route. Being from the North East of the UK the wind is a daily occurrence in training and you just come to accept. I also chose to ride Lanzarote on a road bike with some clip on tri-bars to better deal with the hills and the wind.

On the day

SWIM (66 Minutes): Was another early start pre 5am and was fully packed the day before (of course a re-check and then another recheck the night before). Been a while since any ocean swims but the forecast was not to be too windy so I had high hopes that if I made it through the swim I could get round the bike course without been blown down a volcano. The swim was a simple 2-lap circuit with a short beach run between the laps. I positioned myself just behind the hour swimmers and to the left.  The swim was ok and didn’t to bashed about and fell out of the water in 66 min –  next stop was the bike.

BIKE (7Hours 6mins): Got to say was worried the bike but made the decision to play it conservative and hold the bike at 170w with 220-230w on the hardest climbs where possible. Most of the course is not super difficult if well paced but there are a few real tough sections and these are Mirador del Haria and Mirador del Rio. Haria has a real tough section before the special needs station and the top of the climb on entrance to the climb there where quite a few wheel suckers (drafters) working together that resulted in some amusement and choice language from a number of Brits out on the course.

Whilst on the climbs there where quite a few walking especially just before the last turn before the summit. Keeping the watts low at the peak of the big climbs was almost impossible and is a case of damage limitation and keeping relaxed. The worse part of the course was rough Nazaret road climbing back to Teguise. The road surface (if you can cal it that) was hideous and I was gland not to be on TT bike as it would have been a real boneshaker. I was lucky to escape without any punctures and the last 15k is pretty easy back to town and its here you can start to take stock if you have gone to hard and what’s left in the legs for the run. At this point the sun was up and despite the sun block my forearms where starting to fry.

RUN (4hours 29mins): I love to run and had already completed the Barcelona marathon a few months earlier in 3hr 4mins, but the heat has always been my foe as a heavy sweater. And given the zero shade of running the 3-lap sea front of in Lanzarote I knew I was in for a tough time. At least I knew I would finish the course becoming an ‘Ironman’ for the 1^st time. Sure enough the run was tough with the temp in the mid 30s and especially when you can see the holiday-makers sucking down ice cold beers and ice creams. Despite the long walks I eventually finished and crossed over the finish line with my daughter to claim my medal, t-shirt and the bragging rights to finishing one of the toughest 1 day events to become an Ironman.

http://www.clublasanta.com/media/398052/results%20leaflet%20IM2014.pdf