Carritt's blog

run week

2012-01-14T09:23:00.002Z

(please excuse the odd use of tense in the following post - it was written as a daily journal)

Day 1 – Monday 9th was a day off .Just a 30 min “ab attack” workout in the sun and a very gentle spin up to town for a massage, so I guess that doesn’t really count as day1 …does it?

Day 2 (which will now be called day 1) – Tuesday 10th and my big run week started with a half marathon. One of the nice things about being at Club La Santa is that there are organized events throughout the week, and I figured this might be my only opportunity of running at decent pace all this week! The half marathon is renowned as a “sporting” course with a generous amount of ascent. It was a beautiful, still, morning and 8 of us had gathered for the race. 5 of us ran as a group 3 laps around the run track, around the lagoon before starting the long drag up through the town of La Santa. About 4km in one fella started to pull a little ahead, and I found myself instinctively push to follow…then reminded myself that, with such a small field there was little way of knowing how one should be ‘seeded’ in the pack; for all I knew, he’d run around in 70minutes or something! So I remained at the side of my new acquaintance from Rivington, Bolton a little way back. The pace was respectable and comfortable as we chatted about fell racing, his local area, my triathlon-ing and other things, until the gradient kicked up a north and the conversation became a lot more difficult for me! The front of the field had remained quite compact and I had company to pace off for most of the race…until the terrain made a downwards turn onto some rough roads and my tummy started calling for a relief stop. Par for the course, to be honest – part of my ‘training’ this week includes nutritional experimentation, and it was no surprise to me that at that intensity my very recent breakfast wanted out. I was disappointed to be left chasing by about half a kilometer all the way down to the finish, and a little disappointed with my finish time of 92 minutes. However, I was pleased with how fresh my legs felt after Sunday’s 3hr run and that that time was achieved at a pretty comfortable effort.
I just did a yoga class and a short bike in the late afternoon, enjoying the very still and clear evening air.

Day 3 (or day 2 – you get the idea) Wednesday 11th– swim, bike, run day. It was a short swim, 3km focused on Critical Pace. The stillness of yesterday was clearly the calm before the storm as the wind was howling by 8am! By 9am 3 of us were out on the bikes, Rachel and EK taking it very easy as both are just recovering from illnesses. We rode gentle and took some pictures over Fire Mountain, going our separate ways at El Golfo. I wanted to check out the Enduro course and had planned to ride repeats for an hour or so before hooking up with Steven and his friends who had arrived on the island last night. By 11am the wind had really picked up, making the ride down the old road to Playa Blanca pretty grueling …and providing many really scary moments throughout the day as we rode on around the island and the force of the gales seemed to increase. I returned from a 5.5hr ride absolutely shattered –far more so than my Powertap readings indicated I should be, from being tense on the bike all day, and possibly under hydrate/fed due to the distraction of the winds. It’s entirely possible that conditions will be such on race day, which is a potential worry, but something that I know I need to be prepared for. Today’s run was another of CLS organized events – a group off road 12km run. Last week I’d really enjoyed this, and been in the nice position of being able to set the pace at the front felling relaxed and having a chat with the group leader. Not so today! I’m sure it was a faster group this time and I was just about hanging on at the back (although admittedly chatting with my Rivington fell runner mate) – again until the terrain started heading downwards – my legs did not feel strong enough to ensure I’d stay upright…..so I allowed a gap to from and took my own route in for 10km in 50min. Another beautiful evening -this time due to the “dust haze’ created by the Sahara Winds, and the eerie light and rings it created around the setting sun.

Day 4 - Thurs 12th the first of my two big mile, double run days. I’m hoping to cover 56miles over today and tomorrow, broken down as 20, 8, 6, 22 mile runs. Scott has encouraged me to run for distance rather than time (he knows that given the chance I’ll head off –road, get lost and find myself on tracks that are barely run-able and hiking across lava fields…) and so I had a road based route in mind for this morning’s run. Hell it was windy. And I’m not sure what happened but I found myself tempted by the track to La Famara…it’s a pretty run-able track and goes direct from CLS to the surfers town which is about 8 miles along the coast. It was infinitely more appealing that the roads though it did force a slower pace. I committed to running the road route back, so the run was half –half. It took me long, and it was quite a struggle, I have to admit. I approached it a little like I do my long rides when I’m just trying to get back to fitness and build endurance – it’s about getting the miles done, not speed, and stops are allowed. So I had a coupe of brief nutrition, stretch and emptying sand out of my shoes stops . I was pretty close to a shuffle by the end of the run but got it done in just over 3hrs. It’s going to be a hard couple of days! This evening’s run will be around the track, with a bit of shelter from the winds and a bit more attention to my pace.

I was pleased with how this went considering my perceived state of physical wellbeing this afternoon! 32 times around the track, alternating between a steady 2min lap and a “tempo” 1:45 lap. The track was less sheltered than I’d hoped, but at least it was only 150m into the wind which was offset by an equally strong push from behind every lap. The air was pretty thick with dust again and again it created a strange light as the sun dropped. We treated ourselves to the barbeque buffet in the Club restaurant this evening for a big fat steak and plenty of carbos in dessert form.

Day 5 – Friday the 13th !! Knowing that unless I got in and did it first thing, I’d be able to come up with plenty of justification to omit this ‘optional’ swim session, so I hit the water shortly after 7am. Or rather, that chilly water hit me! It was one of those sessions where even with the 4seconds per 100m allowance for long course, I was struggling to make target times, and just got very cold. It did however get me pretty keen for my first run of the day, which was a straight forward 10km run, 2 laps between the sports resort and the village with the ever present side-wind.

Aggh . Run two of the day, the longest and most testing run in the plan was certainly the later though unfortunately the way that it turned out, it was not the longest in the end. The challenge was always going to be tough for me, and I knew that final run would be a matter of just getting through it, an exercise in mental toughness and determination that would prepare me for race-day. But with around 5 miles to go the discomfort in my ankles and itb had surpassed what I consider a reasonable level for even the most grueling of training days and, adopting a run walk strategy (well that’s gotta be practiced too!) I cut off the final loop of my planned route. Needless to say I am currently not in the best spirits, having ‘failed’ on my mission of 56miles over two days, and I cannot find a position to sit or lie in that gives my legs any feeling of relief from cramps. But on more rational reflection; I am just shy of a combined total of 52 miles (race distance) in two days and reviewing my diary to include last weekend, have run 98 miles in the last seven days –which is probably my biggest run block ever.

Day 6 - saturday.
slept very poorly due to leg-ache, mysterious banging in our wardrobe, the Joyc-a-tron's snoring and an all-nigt party next door. won't do much today - catch up on coaching work, a swim in my wetsuit, a yoga class and get a massage...ready for next week :o)

Double Training continues...

2012-01-08T18:13:00.002Z

Since posting the my previous post which outlined my training plans , I can report that thanks to a very mild December at home I have been able to get those long rides done, which I feel has given me a ‘toe-up’ on the road to endurance. Participating in the Rapha Festive 500km via Strava helped over the Christmas period, although it did rather derail my very sensible planning to limit hours and have a rest day each week. But I did only train 2.5 hours on Christmas day and Boxing day ;o) My weekly schedule has topped at 29hrs so far, although I have struggled to accomplish the long swims that I had planned in our local pool due to festive closures, and yes, ok – bottom line is lack of motivation. Ditto long runs. This is the area that makes me most nervous – I’m not a fan and typically run under 40 miles /week with my longest run not more than 15mile outside of marathon training ..which is pretty much always. My longest runs are in Ironman races! Well ,that’s gotta change and yes…the wheels are in motion. By doing mid-length (1.5-2hr) runs off the bike at the end of a big weekend, I feel that I’m accomplishing part of the preparation: running when dog-tired, but there’s no hiding from the need to spend more time on my feet.

So, we arrived in Lanzarote and settled into our apartment in Club La Santa on Tuesday. I’m writing this on Sunday evening – just back from a 3hr run which took 3.5hrs (due to 2 water stops, a bit of navigation and some barely run-able terrain along the way enforcing micro- walking breaks . Yes, I DO stop my watch) I’m pleased to report a run mileage north of 50, and that I have accomplished 2 swims over over 7km in the 5 days we’ve been here.

It’s been a little odd getting back on the QR having spend so much time recently on my Litespeed road bike (which I duly rode the cranks off on new year’s eve, forcing me to ride 2/3rd of my planned 120mile on the fixie – no route adjustments) and I’m finding myself sitting up when the road starts pointing up, which u don’t wanna be doing in Lanzarote!!

Tomorrow is a rest day…and then follows a “run week” where I will be aiming to cover 56miles in two days, chock in a couple of 6hr rides and another 8km swim set.

EK arrives this evening and I’m hopeful that sickly room-mate Rachel is recovered from the most severe tonsilitus that I’ve seen which has kept her confined to her bed for most of the “camp” so far. I look forward to seeing the last bowl of garlic soup (food of champions, when they’re ill, apparently!) and having some ride company next week.

Preparing for the Double

2011-12-27T16:08:00.003Z

So, embarking on my first real “very long” distance race off the back of my recent stumble into the hole of overtraining has been described by not just a few as “madness”. Well, who can argue? But whilst it certainly will be a tough challenge, it’s also an opportunity to implement some new training ideas that I have been discussing with my coach.

Firstly, given the short time that I left myself to prepare for the Enduroman, I am placing a fair amount of faith in the high volume of training that I have banked since signing up for my first Ironman in 2006, and our ability to monitor my response and as I focus on BIG sessions over the 6 week block (which started mid December)- without overdoing it and slipping back into the danger zone.

Designing the Plan:
No matter how many Ironman races I’ve trained for, there’s no escaping the fact that the Double is a whole different level of endurance – both physical and mental - and the need to do some very big training days, during which one gets very tired. Without this challenge, how can one be mentally prepared and learn to anticipate the needs that might arise on race day? What food works best? What clothing? How can I minimize discomfort on the bike/wetsuit/run shoes? What can I focus on the get me through this particular type of "bad patch"/agony?

It’s fortunate for me that from the very start of my ‘serious’ racing career my training has been geared towards steady volume. I’ve clocked a lot more hours than the average age-grouper between 2006 and 2010, and maintained an equivalently high training load through the two years since as a professional. But, my recent situation has forced me to be smarter than my old ways of simply cranking out the hours to get there and to figure out a way of achieving some big hours, long tiring days and fatigue simulation, without falling back into "total" fatigue.

The starting point was to evaluate what I think I can handle at this point. Historically I have an average training week of 25 hours, with about 50-60% of that consisting of weeks with over 30hours and my history has shown that I can sustain that 25-30 hour week for a pretty long block and race well afterwards, if allowed sufficient recovery time or taper. In this instance, a long taper is not an option –so it’s a question of taking that 25-30hr week and being smart with it. Here, the plan for Feb 4th-5th is to have recovery periods interspersed in my week. Historically I have been negligent of the need for recovery, until I get to a point where I’m so bombed I have no option, so this might seem obvious but it really is a new approach for me!

I do have the flexibility with my coaching work to include a big day in the middle of the week – this has enabled me to structure my week around two high-volume blocks: Saturdays will be my longest ride (because I don’t swim on Saturday mornings) followed by a short pace-oriented run. Sundays will be a short ride followed by a long run. At peak this should amount to 12 hrs riding and 3.5hrs running over the weekend. I anticipate that Sunday’s long run at the end of this big weekend will be very, very challenging for me and as such the focus of that session will be – how to get through it rather than pace or distance run. Mid-week will be a long continuous swim-bike-run day, and as the race approaches and I become more familiar and confident with the long sessions, I’ll look to include some Ironman intensity into this session. The other 4 days of the week will be very short training days with workouts focused on stability, flexibility and keeping my “top end” active in the pool. I will also include one full day off each week which is something that I have never done previously.

We've been so lucky with mild weather so far this winter (only one ride in the snow) but ,unsure of how long that will last, from 3rd January I will be based in La Santa in Lanzarote, which will enable me to get these long days (and nights!) done without fear of freezing or iced roads, or too many other distractions.

Looking back on, and learning from 2011

2011-12-05T12:46:00.001Z

My time since returning from Florida has been pretty relaxed, taking some time off training and spending more time at home and with steven now that both of our racing seasons are over, and we're anticipating our first bit of British wintertime in a few years. It's nice to be in the same home for an extended period and settle into routines that do not entirely revolve around training schedules. For me that has entailed a combination of baking, lie-ins, organising and coaching a Triathlon Skills course at the local leisure centre, but also much time reviewing and discussing the previous year(s), current position and future of my triathlon racing career. I've heard this past-time described as "naval-gazing" hahhaha..but it's an important process which must have a place in the overall process. When things aren't working out as planned, it's essential to acknowledge this, try figure out why and what can be done to get things back onto the correct tradjetory.

So, what's prompted this? Well, I guess I'm wired that way anyway - the engineer geek in me is still pretty active and having diligently tracked my training data all season, at the end of the year I'll do a bit of numerical analysis anyway: basic stuff like swim bike run volume, average weekly training hours, how many days off etc - it gives me something to do between episodes of Masterchef and Live Flesh and batches of experiment baked goods.
This year's numbers actually reveal a lower overall training volume than the last few years have AND less racing than 2010…but I reached the end of the season feeling exceptionally tired and frankly, considering the DNS at Wales and DNF in Florida, not in a fit enough state to race. Considering that the 'classic' symptoms list of an overtrained athlete reads remarkably like my dating site bio would, the apparaent correlation between this lower training vol and my fitness to race should be disregarded. In fact both factors probably stem from the same cause: i was not fit to race for the same reason that I have not been able to maintain the training loads that I would expect to. Overtraining.

Anyone who knows me, my training history and philosophy will not be in the least surprised at this. I have lived by the attitude of more is better - initially, when i was first getting into the sport this was more races - an olympic distance or sprint most weekend through the summer and running races in the winter. I think it was 2005 I raced over 65 times in the year. I did not do a lot to training - I did't really need to! When I decided to move up to long distance my focus had to switch to more (low intensity) training to build up my aerobic endurance. And I did a lot: as far as I was concerned ,more was better and some very good race results proved it, and encouraged this philosophy in me. Most of the people that i raced against and trained with were doing more intensity and a lot less volume. Of course with Scott on board since I became full-time in 2009, and turned Pro in 2010 things have changed - I have some very clear pace and power targets and most of my training is now geared around that …but that underlying high-volume mindset is still there. Founder of Epic Camp, Scott is not known for his minimal approach when it comes to training. When I consider the sort of triathlete that I am and the qualities that will make me successful given that i have no prior background, no 'proper' technical training, or outstanding natural talent in either swimming, cycling or running then it's this mind-set that is my strength: if applied intelligently.

>Having been an endurance athlete for many years and prolific racer, with a higher than average training volume over the last few years I am resilient and have a great track record of being injury-free.
>Whilst I have a tendency to do too much vs. too little, I have a good work ethic & believe its essential to work very hard to succeed
>My perspective on what's possible to do in training is different than most people's due to my own experiences (with Epic Camp, Steven's training, and my own history)

Its not hard to see that with these characteristics, left unchecked I would have a tendency to get into an over-trained state fairly easily.
And I also believe that all of the above characteristics are absolutely essential for finding my potential in this sport.

Doing things different from what's 'conventional' (although, I'm not are that such a thing exists in the context of training to be a professional Ironman athlete) leaves you open to criticism and the barrage of people happily saying "i told you so" when you experience set-backs. But I feel that set-backs of one kind or another are inevitable for everyone ,no matter what your approach, and although they give us short-term frustrations they do provide us with the stimulus and information to re-evaluate and tweak our methods for the better.

Of course the first thing I needed to do was take a break. 3 weeks of less than 10hrs training and with a lot of time on my hands and some damn good reasons to get this figured, I pulled together my complete training history since 2006 and between us, Scott and I have looked for some answers. Things that have worked, lead to good race results and also looking for patterns where race results have been negatively effected. With some patterns identified and an out-line plan, or at least a set of principles, in place: to work within some new constraints whilst aiming to maintain resonance with the positive aspects of characteristics and qualities mentioned earlier, the things that make me tick I'm feeling ready and enthused again to get to work and prepare for my next event - the somewhat daunting challenge of Enduroman Double Ironman ,Lanzarote. It's not ideal timing, but I know that it's possible and I will give myself the very best chance of success there by looking after my training, nutrition and life balance in the meantime.

(most of ) Ironman Florida

2011-11-07T19:54:00.004Z

Everything started off wonderful - 4:30am I was saved the half hour walk in the dark by a couple of guys who happened to be leaving my motel at the same time in their truck. They were getting down early to get a park spot for their day of volunteering. Great guys. Checked all my gear was set up fine in transition and i found a warm and quite space inside away form the 3000 other competitors to relax and do some stretching until it was time to get into the wetsuit.

The wind had dropped from the previous day and so there were no longer crashing waves that seem to have been growing all week - it was completely flat calm, and lit by a gorgeous pink and orange sunrise. Perfect.

The pros got a 10 min start, which is difficult for me as a weaker swimmer since once I get dropped by the faster feet I'm swimming alone - but I've had some experience of this now and have been swimming well in training and stayed connected longer than usual. There were side currents pushing us inside the buoys that we all knew we were supposed to swim around the outside of, but i guess that no-one wanted to add extra distance swimming back on themselves to do so. There were a few of us was dropped off the main groups but we could see the line that they took and were pulled by the same drift. As far as i could see everyone went around the main corner buoy correctly, so this infringement added distance rather than cutting the course, although i was wondering what would happen if it were called as a penalty - for everyone! Second lap I managed to separate myself from the girls I had following me so it was a solo effort. I was able to judge the drift this time and made sure to swim the correct course. The second lap took a couple minutes longer, but I think that was more due to swimming without anyone to pace or draft off, rather length. Although I was hoping for a bit faster, I had completed the swim just within my target time.

The US races are great because they have wetsuit "peelers" ( no longer allowed to call them "strippers" - it's a family show ;o) who yell to "get on the ground !!-sit down!!" yank the suit of your legs for you and haul you back to your feet. This all happens pretty soon after the water's edge and I wonder how those people who aren't as fast getting their suit to their waist are dealt with! Transition volunteers were super efficient and my bag was handed to me as i ran, i was dressed and out the door and being given my bike in what seemed like a flash. Too bad i was not as sharp getting my shoes on - socks may be nice in cold weather but when they stick to the velcro on shoe straps, it makes it damn hard to slip feet into shoes on teh move. Not that flash, and very public!! Again the American crowd are ace - they don't hold back and know just what to say to get you going with a big smile on your face.

I felt good starting the ride, bright sunny but chilly morning, out along the beach front. Panama City beach is where the college kids come for "summerbreak" and its a stunning cacophony of visual noise and advertisements; every lot for about 20km is either filled with giant carbon fibre fun-fare figures, the flashing lights of a nightclub or a fast food outlet. The course then turns inland, and you get to look at trees for the next 140km, until your return to the City. Racing on my new Enve wheels with Powertap hub I was able to see my effort was a little above target, but as usual had the feeling that I need to make up some time and get warm, and that it was worthwhile holding this. There were very few riders on the road - a couple of age group men with fast swims came past and I was able to keep them in sight for a while, but I knew that it'd be much later in the day before there was any real company on the road - and this could be more of a hinderance with the difference drafting rules that are applied to professionals. So, feeling good I just got about the business, finding arythm and settling into it for a few hours.

After about 80km, I began to feel inexplicably nauseous if I let my HR get too high and threw up a few drinks. I was not too concerned by this, I had been eating enough up to that point and figured it was a 'rough patch' that would pass. Otherwise I was feeling OK at that point, and I knew that we'd mostly be riding with a tail wind on the return leg and with more of the faster age-group males around me to pace off I should be able to make up time. I did feel pretty dreadful by the end of the ride, but this was more associated with the spasms that I get in the backside due to a trapped sciatic nerve and having spent over 5 hours working hard down on the aero-bars, and not worse than usual. The last 20km into town was into a string headwind which was a struggle, but the town had woken up and were out to greet us in. My pink camo QR gets so much attention, it's wikid - it's hard to feel miserable when the bike attracts so much love from the roadside! I can say that I was looking forward to the run exactly, but pretty keen to get off the bike. At this point in the race I was about 12 min down on my target times, and knew that to break 9:30 I'd need to pull off a 3:15 run or better. I know that this was well within what I am capable of, and going into my favourite portion of the race with a clear target time would give me the motivation to push for it. Although I'd not seen the route, I knew it'd be flat. Possibly windy, but flat.

Another slick transition thanks to the expert volunteer crew and despite the nerve twinges through my glute, I was slightly surprised to feel I had light legs starting the run. As usual, I covered the first couple of km slightly faster than target average pace, but not excessively so. It has back-fired on me a few times, but generally I find it's good to have the legs moving and then settle, especially as there were some age-group guys around to pace off. My tummy felt a bit gurgly, made a few very strange sounds, and by mile 2 I was stopped in a port-a-loo. Basically from there on it was a series of sprints between toilets - I was not able to settle into a rhythm before my stomache cramped and I was looking for my next outlet. Frustrating because my legs felt fine and since my heart-rate was dropping each mile or so, I felt good the whole time whilst I was actually running and was generally able to catch back up to the people that I'd be running by prior to my detour. Of course as the miles passed, I was loosing more time to the 'bathroom' and the lack of hydration and nutrition having an increasingly significant effect on my ability to run. By the time I'd run half way I was considering withdrawing, but had taken some more Ibruprofen for the thumping headache that had developed, an Immodium and a Monster caffeine drink thought i'd see if I could not rescue my race if that kicked in and I was able to start getting some gels in me, because my at least my legs weren't hurting.

Whether it was because I had let that idea into my mind and I was feeling totally wretched again by then, or whether it was just lack of nutrition, but three more miles of running below my target pace and stopping at each aid station I kind of ground to a halt. I walked in circles a little bit, around an aid station which was decked out like Santa's grotto, and finally made the tough call not to head out any further into the second lap. Even a hug from Santa at the side of the path couldn't make me feel better.

This is my first ever DNF in countless triathlons since 2004 including 17 Ironman distance and longer, many of which I suffered in and some in which I had poor, even embarrassing, results. But, although it would have been possible to struggle another 10 miles round by walking, I'm no longer out there for the finisher T-shirt, and certainly not a big medical bill.

Nonetheless, being around an Ironman event the day afterwards when you failed to finish is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Cape Town Out- Florida In

2011-10-23T13:08:00.001+01:00

Well, it has been an eventful week in my life and not so much in ways that i'd wish for. Learning of the cancellation of Challenge cape town was a real gut-blow for me on Tuesday evening. After a hectic day training, packing and making sure work was all tied up before left, I was checking my emails before relaxing over an early supper with Steven, ready to depart early the next morning. A contact in Cape town had heard a 'rumour' that the race was cancelled. I thought it was a joke at first, but steven encouraged me to check it out. Less than an hour later I hung up the phone to the race director, who had confirmed that, yes, they were pulling the event.

An upset like this had a pretty big impact on me, but it was whilst on the phone to my travel insurers that I made me realize that on the whole, I have very little stress in my life. Sure, there are things that I worry about, commitments that may put pressure on my time, and things do not always work out as I'd like them to - but on the whole I 'choose' most of my problems myself. So, my insurance was not going to cover the costs of the cancellation of this trip. What the hell reasons would it cover then? I asked, infuriated. Well, serious illness, death of a family member, fire or burglary of your home, being called to go and serve at war...she began to explain. Oh. OK, Thanks. I hung up feeling less hard done by with my situation after all.

Ok, I'd invested a lot of money, focused the last month of my life and had my heart set on this race. That was one thing that was bugging me, sure. I was also feeling was bummed out that I'd not raced at Ironman Wales in order to preserve my health and be able to train effectively for this one, passing up a good earning opportunity there I'd also let myself and my sponsors down with that DNS. I knew it was the right call at the time, despite criticism from some quarters, but it suddenly felt like a poor 'career' choice.

However, you can only base your decisions on the information that you have at the time, and everything was going to plan with a nice 5-week block of good health very solid training in the bag since then. I was feeling sharp and ready to get our an finish my season with a couple of weeks in the sun, training in cape town with some very helpful contacts that I'd set up there prior to a tough and exciting destination race. So, news of the cancellation really knocked the wind out of me ...but immediately Steven and I started thinking - where can I go race?

I scoured the events calendars online and with not a lot happening within Europe at this time of year, my choices were Ironman Florida, Arizona, Cozomel. All were coming up soon, so a rapid decision needed to be made, and none would be cheap. The other option was "Or not". Cut my losses and call it a year.

The night was spent sleeplessly running through options in my mind. Wednesday I got up, having slept little, and headed out for a ride. It was sunny, since I was "supposed" to be on a plane over Africa all day, I had nothing at all to do. I also had no idea what I was going to be doing with myself for the next 3 weeks, so iI'd take the opportunity to ride with no 'plan', no targets, no time limits and a few quid in my pocket incase a coffee stop seemed appropriate. Getting out on my bike often enables me to get things in a better perspective; sometimes I'll use the time to think things over, other times it simply enables me to clear my mind and enjoy the feeling of being physically tired and more relaxed at the end of the ride. Steven and I went for a meal, a few drinks and chatted about things we had to catch up on, and a bit about plans for next year. No decisions made, feeling even more exhausted and with a big meal and much wine in side me (far less in the kick-ass racing shape than I had 48 hours previous)...and leaning even further towards the economically obvious option: winter down.

Thursday morning I woke up feeling 80% convinced that I'd made my decision. Frankly I could do without all the hassle and cost of arranging another race, let alone deciding where,and that would be it for 2011. I had lots to look forward to in 2012....but somehow, even though there was a lot of 'sense' in this choice, I felt very disspointed. Afterall - I am a professional triathlete and racing triathlons is what I "do" - what sort of go am i making of this career if I don't race? Not a good one.

There was an e-mail from Ironman Pro Registration telling me that, given the circumstances, my late entry to Ironman Florida had been accepted. A rush of excitement. Florida had been my last choice of the three races - low kona points, low prize purse, dead flat course that really did not appeal....but the dates matched my planned race weekend and other commitments and ...this felt right.

At that point I realized that I had been far too much influenced by the costs.....and that i'd lost sight of what really motivates me. I guess that this had been the case for most of the year. Perhaps it's even why I've not raced as well as I should. The reality is that that the chance of me winning enough by racing to even cover my costs is low in most situations. Fortunately, although I am a professional athlete and racing triathlons is my 'job', the racing is not my only source of income. In fact the sponsorship and prize money I get is a very small part of my income, so although it is tempting to think I could earn a few extra bucks to upgrade my computer or get a bit of kit it's never a question of paying rent or putting food on the table and therefore the money is not my main motivation. Racing well, and representing myself well, is. And if that means packing and unpacking my bike 3 times in 2 weeks.....(my most hated task ever!) then so be it!

EDT athletes at Kona

2011-10-16T10:52:00.001+01:00

EverydayTraining Blog - Kona Reports2011

home life

2011-10-10T11:56:00.006+01:00

this is the longest spell that i have been located in one place in the last 3 years! apart from a 10 day trip to Morzine in july, and a week in Tenby this spell in taunton has really given me a chance to establish a some great training routines and set up a few 'projects' both at home and in the local community.

at home my small scale agricultural projects have delivered disappointing harvest but useful learning experience and real enjoyment. Actually i am quite proud of my slow-starting chilli crop, though desperately jealous of my neighbours far superior tomatoes. they really DO need to be watered everyday, apparently. Needy things!
since it'll be a winter ( mostly) here, my next project is likely to be the construction of a 'cold' frame and of course the home-brewing!!

outside of domestic life i have been enjoying the chance to get more involved in the local triathlon community. with steven having been away quite a lot through the summer, it has been nice to have some company in my week and although the great proportion of my training is still solitary and specific, and during working hours there are a few club sessions that i have tailored into my own schedule. this is partly about access to facilities, part about suitable training company and motivation during tough weeks and part as a way into the local scene, which will be of real benefit through the winter and also, ultimate to my coaching business.

i do not make any attempt to push my services whilst out training with the clubs, but i am now coaching four local athletes as a result of getting to know people, sharing the experiences of my triathlon life and sometimes a little advice. whilst the work is still mostly done via email and online, it's nice to see these guys and girls out and have first hand experience of their training routes and environment.

i'm not quite sure how it happened, but i must have had a quiet week or afternoon and seem to have taken on the tasks of setting up and delivering a couple of beginners courses in conjucntion with Tone Leisure and the Somerset RC Tri club.

you may have seen my Facebook page for The Taunton Ladies Cycling Club (do me a favour and "like" it, please!!) - this started off as an idea in response to a lack of a slower club ride more suitable for some of the girls in the club, and has developed into a combined bike skills and fitness development course with one of the personal trainers at my gym. She offers a special fitness spin class during the week, whilst i run a 45 min session covering basic bike handling, group riding and a few mechanical tips before leading out a very gentle (for now) short ride. our hope is that after the initail 8 week course, we have established a network of local ladies of similar ability who will continue to meet on a sunday morning to ride together.

meanwhile, more triathlon specific and aimed at a slightly more advanced level, myself and another of the Tri Club's enthusiastic members , Sarah are in the process of finalizing details of a 12 week " triathlon for beginners and improvers course" which will commence in November, after my return from Challenge Cape town. This is not intended to be an advert (although I WILL write up some details on this too in due course!) but i suppose it's a demonstration that if left unsupervised, this is where my attentions will tend to wander.

it's not very PRO-like, I know, and i have been criticized for taking too much on (true at times) and "giving too much of my energy away". whilst it's possibly true that i'm creating more distraction in my life than is good for my training and racing performance, it's clear to me that i have a need for this type of project and involvement. This was true back when i was in Tri London, too - i quickly became not only the race captain, but one of the club and committee's key active members. It could be i'm just a busy body and want to see things done my way, but i think that there's a lot more to it than that. whilst being the best that i can personally be in this sport, is important to me and i am motivated by this in itself, there are other reasons for my commitment to this career, and one of them is being able to motivate, advise and even inspire others. Satisfying this provides the balance that is required in my life to enable me to train hard and race well.

It has to be said that since giving up the day job, traveling the world and chasing the dream of being a Pro Triathlete, It;s a whole different scenario from being the star of the club and being rewarded with accolades and trophies after each race. I'm not only finding renewed value in what i can offer and how i can influence others by sharing my knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for the sport, but also gaining a sense of having found a place in this new community. it seems that, despite generally being regarded by those close to me as fairly anti-social, there is a level where i need to have connections with people.

ironman wales (DNS)

2011-09-11T18:54:00.001+01:00

The 11th September has turned out to be a tough day for me. Tough because i am NOT racing the first ever running of Ironman Wales, in Tenby. My race kit, number and timing chip lay forlorn in our apartment, whilst I stand on the North beach and watch Steven and the rest of the race participants start their day of racing and feel rather sorry for myself.

The decision to withdraw from the event was one of the more difficult choices that I've had to make during my brief professional racing career. Not only because it was a chance to be amongst the first to race this challenging and beautiful new course in my home nation, but it's a great event to do for the sake of my own profile, the team and my sponsors - not least because of the relatively small female field it offered a good chance of a podium finish for me.

However, despite having raced 16 ironman races in the last 5 years I know better than to be complacent about it. For the past fortnight I have been suffering on and off from stomach upset which has slowed my training down and left me weakened. Knowing that I'd be paid to merely finish the race was extremely compelling and although I thought i had a pretty good chance of making it around the course eventually, that is not how I want to represent myself, my team and coach. Never mind what the effects might be on my health and preparations for my next event.

So, after a week of indecision, sporadic training and feeling that I might be well enough by race-day, I made my decision to withdraw on friday evening: if i was not fully well enough to face a full meal and have a settled stomach for more than 36 hours before race-day, then I would not race. I took myself out on a long ride on saturday afternoon to ensure that I'd not be tempted to change my mind as the excitement mounted in Tenby, and felt sufficiently dreadful at the end of the day to reinforce the decision.

Today I have been as enthusiastic supporter as possible whilst remaining within close radius of toilet facilities, taking in some of the great Pembroke scenery, atmosphere in Tenby and , in admiration of the great job done by the organizers in the face of some heavy unforseen weather conditions forcing them into moving the swim start to the contingency location.

the Little Woody

2011-08-29T17:17:00.001+01:00

since ironman uk and an easy week following that race, training has been going well. i have been finding that i'm recovering less quickly - whether this is as a result of the slightly more intensity focus that my swim and bike sessions have had recently or residual fatigue from the 10 hour race i'm not sure (i suspect the latter actually) but either way i've certainly been training less hours than my typical weeks, but really enjoying the training that i am doing. a good race at UK, and i feel that although my slower bike split does highlight where i really do need to do more work it was the best performance that i've managed in a while, has re-motiveated me and i'm enthused about racing again as well as my long term training and athletic development.

So, I approached Trevor at Blacksheep sports and he kindly offered me a start in the Little Woody this weekend. My flat mate Alex was signed up for the full iron-distance Big Woody and was planning to make his way there by train and then do race with out any support. I'm sure that he would have managed fine, but it's better to have friends along for a big day - especially those who can drive and know how to pitch a tent ;o) - and it provided me with a chance to fulfill my hankering to do a bit of racing myself.

I believe that this was the 4th running of the event in the Wye Valley/Forest of Dean, with 49 signed up for the Big and 172 for the Little Woody races it would be a low-key event, enabling me to race for fun and test my fitness without too much pressure, and provided everything that I enjoy about these sorts of races. Onsite accommodation was 'bring your own' with access to a college gym toilet and shower facilities, plus a marquee heated by half a dozen constantly boiling tea urns to shelter form Friday evening's torrential welsh downpours. Sorting out transition bags in the boot of a car in the dark, soaked to the skin was not one of the happiest moments of my race career, neither was missing the race briefing due to being hopelessly lost on the way both to and from dropping bikes off for racking at the remote site of T1, but there was a jolly atmosphere of camaraderie on the campsite as the competitors wandered the make-shift campsite with bottles of water and head torches before settling down for their pre-race sleep.

Saturday morning we woke to a clear starry sky - the forecast was for a dry day, and the sigs looked good. The 20 minute bus journey to the swim start (how did it only take 20 min!!!) was very warm and cosy, and it was with a certain amount of reluctance that the wetsuit clad passengers disembarked. We, The Little Woody competitors, had arrived just in time to watch the start of the full distance race, which we did from the cliff tops around the flooded quarry pit of the Dive Centre. Apparently there are all manner of submerged aircraft and vehicles in there to amuse training scuba divers, but despite it's depth the pit was surprisingly warm.

The water was also beautifully clear as well as being well sheltered from winds on account of the steep sided pit that it was in, and in all the venue made for a very pleasant swim with perfect conditions for fast times. I exited the water after my two laps in just over 27 minutes - that's a damn good swim for me. I was swimming hard for the first lap, then forced to find feet to follow on my second lap due to steamed up goggles (get some de-fogger!!!) and aware that i had a few people on my feet by the occasional toe -taps that i was getting. As I climbed out of the water, it turned out that eh swimmer behind was my own sister, from Tri London. She'd done well to stay on my feet and proceeded to run past me on the jetty. From here it was a further long run up out of the pit to T1, most people stripped wetsuits, slipped on some shoes and walked or jogged up this incline.

My bike transition was fast on account of already having stripped my wetsuit and completely forgetting that competitors were responsible for packing up their own swim gear in and depositing it in bags onto the transport truck. I just rode off and left mine, then worried about my £400 Speedo wetsuit for the rest of the race!! Right from the start the tome of the bike course was set by a series of steep hills, winding descents on roads washed with mud and debris of the previous day's rain, and sharp bends. Similarly to the sort of riding at IMUK, there may not be too many distinct killer climbs, but the constant change of pace, braking and accelerating, coupled with short sharp hills can make for a very wearing ride. I'd say that the bike course was certainly comparable to that at Wimbleball, both for scenery and difficulty...and then it's an extra 10km longer (i'd have known this if i'd been at the briefing!). Being a smaller event, the route was entirely marked out with arrows but not marshaled at every turn and certainly without the privilege of road closures or traffic control on junctions, however, as far as i know everyone managed to follow the route safely and without getting lost. I felt great and was really enjoying the first 85km of the ride, maintaining target power and feeling in very focused, and of course expected to grit my teeth and get on with that final 5km.....i did have a little sense of humour failure when that final 5km turned into 15km, with a couple of real steep hills thrown in for good measure!

I was pleased to finally be hobbling my way through T2, chucking on my run shoes and limping around the college fields and...my tent! The run route then quickly turned us onto a lovely series of trails and paths through the edge of the Forest for a two-lap out-and-back route. The surfaces were great for running, soft but not muddy, and generally sufficiently wide to accommodate a small race in two directions. The terrain was gently rolling but not hilly - although feedback from those who did the full is that it got steeper on each lap! - and made for good fast running, once my run legs decided to join me for the day. It's always nice to have a couple of turn-arounds: to keep an eye on your competition and to give a bit of support to your fellow competitors. I was impressed to see my sister and another girl dukeing it out for second place about 16 minutes behind me after the first turn-around, and between them they'd pushed the pace sufficiently to close for another minute 3 miles later. with no-one to chase and no real fear of being chased down, I admit that i was not really testing myself running - i was not using any pacing device but felt that I was maintaining my Ironman pace after the first few km and perhaps a little faster on the final few. I avoided developing any real pain in my legs due to a slightly easier pace and the wonderfully soft surfaces, which is just perfect for a 'training' race. My run split was 1:32 which leads me to suspect that the course may be about a mile short, but i was not complaining given that i felt i'd earned it on the bike!

Finishers were greeted across the line by Trevor, the race director and there was plenty of refreshment available. I spent the afternoon taking advantage of this, and the free massage whilst supporting Alex and packing up our campsite in the sunshine. I collected a beautiful plate decorated by a local craftswoman for my win, and will have my name added to the perpetual trophy - another local artist's work. So i guess i'll have to race again next year in order to return it!. Perhaps the BIg Woody? Not likely!!!

ironman uk 2011 - report

2011-08-02T12:03:00.002+01:00

a rare dry weekend in bolton ( it is official, according to bolton local jonny it really does always rain there!) and a fast day of racing.
just nipping under 10hrs this year and finishing 4th place.

read my race report :

http://web.me.com/jo_carritt/ProJoSite/race_reports.html

pics to follow soon

camps

2011-07-16T16:58:00.003+01:00

just sitting down for a quick blog catch-up prior to another round of packing (light) for travels to camp. it feels like i've been on camp for most of the period since wimbleball and my last post. much of this has been camp at home - my favourite kind if the weather is good, and that's not only because i dont need to pack for it! "camp at home" is what i call it when steven's away and although i mostly dont mind him being around ;o) and he never ever asks me to compromise my training at all when he is, when he's not here i do take the opportunity to really optimize my day to suit my training needs. i get to eat what and when i want, work when i need to, have totally undisturbed sleep and usually get bored enough in the evening to get to bed early. i'm really quite a solitary person and when i'm tired can get quite craggy, so being on my own suits me best at times.

that said, there is no substitute for good training partners and having motivational people around. i've learned that the difference between me performing brilliantly and sub-par ,in training or races, comes down mostly to motivation. i set my 10k pb at the end of a 30hr week immediately after a 4km swim set: it was just a small local event but a close race. for a £20 M&S voucher! whilst it's valid that Ironman is a solo sport and you need to learn to overcome your own demons whilst out on the road, an argument that i've heard often as reason to train solo, you also gotta put in a lot of hours. too much time doing that alone, well firstly it can get boring and secondly, for me anyway, doesn't provide a lot of motivation when it gets tough -or even to get tough in the first place. I currently spend around 2/3rd of my training week on sessions with specific pace or intensity. That's not very sociable - but its also not entirely exact. There are times when i know i'm going to need a bit of help to hit my targets and that's when i seek out a training buddy or group. For example, i enjoy riding with a group of local road cyclists each saturday. same time, same route, same tea stop, same faces each week. i initially scoffed at these boys who ride a fast group pace around the lanes, attacking on every hill with a sprint to the tea stop after an hour...and then do the same on the way home, every single week. but now its my favourite session of the week - i have good company, get to keep in touch with the local cycling scene, develop my handling skills, am able to gauge my own riding fitness against the group. having brought my power tap out on a couple of these rides recently, i know that i am achieving an equivalent amount of riding time in my 'target watts' zone as i would during a tough 2hr interval session. what's more - i don't get to dictate where, when and how long my efforts are. Likewise, our flat mate Alex swims at about the same pace as me, i'll switch my planned swim set in order to join him on his sometimes, just because it's more fun that way...and i believe that giving it 100% on his set is better than just 'getting through' my own.

so, this year i have been making a point of seeking out and investing time and money on good training environments and opportunity to hook up with good training partners.

whilst my 'home camp' is great in terms of environment and time to be alone and self -focused, what it lacks a little of is motivational company. so whilst steven was making his way back from austria, i hopped on a train to visit friends in teh yorkshire dales for a few days of getting sorted out on some very steep hills by Emma ( who was a fantastic ride support crew on our pre lanzarote training camp) staying up too late with good compaby and a few wines with the added bonus of a pilteas workshop and physio treatment from Ali (http://www.millsphysiotherapy.co.uk)/. we also hooked up with one of my athletes (kerri, who recently qualified for kona) to preview the Ironman UK course. although the less said about that the better -a very wet day, some technical problems with the route navigation methods we'd chosen (a faulty garmin, a very small scale and soggy map and my memory), a bust chain and frequent clashes with the manchester to blackpool mass cycle ride (the northern equivalent of london to brighton- i.e endless streams of fluorescent and wobbly cyclists!).
I managed to catch up briefly with my sister in london for a swim the next day, then had a follow up bike check and shoe fitting at Profeet, collect some product from Maxifuel, a very groovy Luis Garneau aero-lid and some Asics pirhana race flats before a massage and train home to catch up with steven and hear about his race at Ironman Austria over a steak and cider. Despite feeling very tired after the trip, i also felt very refreshed and have enjoyed a solid return to my usual routine sessions this week....prior to packing up for my next and final camp before ironman UK.

The pink QR is coming to the Alps. Much deliberation about that, since i have a lovely Litespeed road bike with compact gearing...and there are some lovely climbs to be done around Morzine, but we felt that with only 2 weeks until i race I need to spend a bit of time on the TT bike - especially since i have a few adjustments to make on it and some new saddle options.

when Ali was sticking her acupuncture needles in my rear end, we saw that the irritation was very close to my point of contact with my much-loved ISM adamo saddle. it then dawned on me that the onset of this nerve problem that has been bugging me since april coincided with when i put that saddle fitted to my bike. having had a few days away from that saddle, the accupncture to release a lot of associate dmuscle tension and aslo a good massage treatment from aurelie (http://www.thetritouch.co.uk/)on the interaction pathway in my feet and lower legs it seems like now is the perfect time to switch saddle and see if that is the cause.

but - i'd just sold my spare saddle with my old bike!! with only a few days at home before flying out to geneva i thought i was stuffed, and had to borrow steven's dirty old stele italia ( actually superbly comfortable, even if its minging!) for wednesday's session. i'd mentioned my situation to my friend jenny when we met for a ride in london on my way home form the north, she's Freespeed's female team member and partner of Freespeed's founder richard...and mentioned that he had some Cobb demo saddles to work with. a cheeky email and bless him, a Vflow Plus arrives by special delivery friday morning. meanwhile, back in taunton, i was in my local bike shop checking out their range of saddles when one of teh guys that i ride with on saturday (known as "cheesy") pops in. he's the area rep for Fizik, who have just launched a female specific road and tri saddle. would i like to test it out? you betcha! he kindly also lent me a demo to take away for a week or two...so now i have a couple of options to try out next week and hopefully will find a seat that is comfortable and kind to the missus for race day

so ...i digress somewhat ( perhaps i should blog more often and then you'd get all this waffling in smaller doses- this was billed as a 'quick catch up'. advertising standards may have issue with that description) about an hour ago, having completed my training for the day, washed the bike i was about to start packing up for a camp in the mostly- french-but-a-bit-swiss alps with a few of 'the girls' - some very strong british female triathletes - for a great combination of environment and motivational company.

wimbleball - 70.3UK

2011-06-21T11:34:00.002+01:00

this weekend was our local ironman 70.3 race - everyone should have one! Wimbleball is a real toughie but offers some great riding and running as well as top spectator support for us. Big thanks in particular to my sister for making the trip all the way from london just to shout something about a fish at me as I ran past her, Richard Melik and Tamsyn Lewis of Freespeed for great pics and support, also the troup of unknown women who were cheering for ' Jo from Taunton and Nice' until i pointed out that i'd only ever visited Nice once....so on the next laps it was just 'Jo form Taunton!'

My race report can be found on the race reports section of my website

a little movie from lanzarote

2011-05-28T10:01:00.003+01:00

I've been keeping myself busy this week and just published my little movie to my MobileMe Gallery. Thanks to russ cox, steven lord, andy bruce and carlos gutierrez for the footage (and support!) Click the link below to check it out.

Ironman Lanza 2011
http://gallery.me.com/jo_carritt/100028

OUCH - my IM Lanzarote report!!

2011-05-22T08:56:00.003+01:00

the first race of my 2011 season yesterday …and it was a bit of a shocker. To be honest, it's a total mystery for me as to what exactly went wrong, and why but it's not an experience I'm keen to repeat so once i've given myself a couple of days to celebrate the success of my friends and athletes who raced yesterday too and put my own disappointment behind me disappointment I'll be looking closely for clues in my final preparations.

But, back to the start of the day: I arrived early in transition to prepare my bike and do final checks because i knew that with so many athletes, including my sister, racing there would be a lot of distractions. These were quite welcome distractions really, and certainly helped with all of our pre race nerves. Our support crew were already positioned for a long day of filming and yelling, passing their final good luck wishes through the railings of transition zone.

I'd been lying awake in the early hours of the morning listening to what sounded like very strong winds, but the morning was calm and as it slowly became lighter, the huge crowd of Ironmen and women to-be gathered on the beach, whilst we warmed up in the professional start area. I was excited and calm and we all greeted one another with good luck wishes. Gun start and its a case to get in the water and swim as hard as possible to make some space before the descending crowd of age-groupers hit us! Very rough, and rather frustrating for the entire back stretch of the first lap, but with plenty of company I was getting good draft and no chance to slow up because of those behind. I was aware that there were several green hats indicating female pros around me ,which was encouraging. I stayed within the same group after the land-buoy for the second lap which apart from a couep of tussles and brief double calf cramp as i turned around the far marker buoy ,was just smooth, strong swimming. I was running up the beach within 57 minutes -a huge personal best swim time..setting me up for the day that i was expecting based on the shape i have been in training recently.
My bike did look quite lonely in transition, but the results tell hat i was actually the 4th female pro out of the ocean. Natasha Badman's Cheetah was still in place, though it was only a matter of km long before she'd passed my and was a speck in the distance. However, as we made our way westwards into a healthy head-wind, found myself riding in the company of Emma-Ruth Smith ( who 's number bib read "curly - em"!) and Karina Ottenson, exchanging positions as we went. It seemed that i was making my passes on the inclines whilst they both seemed to have the advantage when the road tipped down. I knew that I had to take advantage of the motivation that the 'racing' experience gives me, and so kept my efforts up even after they'd both pedalled out f sight on the long sweeping down hill stretch of highway to El Golfo - confident that I'd see them again once we hit the undulations of that loop. As it happened, I was at the top of Fire Mountain, having been extremely frustrated by the line of tourist coaches blocking the course -whY???? - before I caught back up to Emma -Ruth, who then bowled over the ridge on her drops and out of sight. The winds were pretty strong blowing from the North-East, which meant a headwind for much of the first 2/3rds of the course. It was pretty draining but luckily, we had a crew of super -EverydayTraining supporters out and about- Ali and Farouk and Naomi and Thomas leaping around like loons at various points to give me a lift. Aside form that though, there was a general atmosphere of gritted teeth about the race - very little exchange between the athletes, which is unusual in my experience of this race. I certainly noticed that I was feeling the strain a lot earlier in the route than i had last year, despite feeling in much better shape prior to the race. I was passed by anther Fpro on Haria -and though i did not know my position, figured that I was probably near last. But fought to stay positive and focused on keeping my own power and effort up to what i knew i needed to do. Despite this, it was clear that this was going to be my slowest ever bike split on this course - as these were the toughest conditions that i've raced here in. My mined did go back to Wanaka (jan 2011) -it certainly wasn't as tough as that!! Te final portion of the course was mostly with a tail -wind - with 52 chain ring this forced me to really get my cranks spinning, which i reckoned would do me good for the run. I found myself passing people in this last portion of the ride, and started thinking about my run. I have ben in great running shape recently and was looking forward to making up some places once off the bike.

Using my new Timex Global GPS, since traditionally there have been no distance markers out on this run, I set out just a bit (but not too much) faster than my target pace of 4:40, and got into a stride. A spanish guy asked me my division, several time before i understood his accent, and i admit o was a bit snappy with him - a sign that was working a bit too hard to want to chat. However he did not seem to take any offence and complimented my running as we fell into stride together. About 3km along the beach front course the head wind hit, and he encouraged me to run in his draft. I wasn't going to turn that offer down! I'd seen some of the other girls already heading out past the 2km point as i'd ridden in, so knew that i had at least 15 min to make up.
Lap 1 of the run is an 18km out-and back most of the 9km out into a headwind and even on the shoulder of my spanish friend, i was finding it tough. Our pace had dropped to run 5min/km -but that would be so much quicker on the return - however, just as we got into sight of the far turn, I found myself slowing…and then having to make surges to close the small gap up. Perhaps it was these short efforts that brought on the stitch (or maybe the cup of ice water I threw on myself, or the can of red-bull in transition) that forced me to slow for a moment. He actually looked like he was waiting for me, so i made an effort to catch up again, but my stomach cramped again and i waved goodbye whilst i jogged a little and stretched out my rib-cage. Pretty much from that moment on ,only 10km into the race, it was all over for me. The stitch passed, but i was barely able to run under 5min/km with the wind on my back. I cant really describe, or even adequately remember the feeling -my legs were not sore, no stitch, it wasn't low blood sugar or caffeine or any other familiar bad running experience - just spaced out and drained. With the wind on my back and the sun out, it felt extremely hot -but i usually handle the heat pretty well. I was caked in salt, but that's not unusual for me and i had been taking on adequate electrolyte drinks, magnesium and salt tabs. I have had poor runs before, but that usually means just going a bit slow because of sore legs or general fatigue. This was different - i felt like i was giving hard effort, HR was high and i was breathless, but still barely running -in fact there was a lot of walking. And a lot of thinking about pulling - the thought of how long it might take to walk 24km was pretty daunting! But, at the same time i could see that others ahead of me were finding it tough, and was hopeful that i'd recover my ability to run.

Well, i stuck at it and saw all our coaching athletes, my sister, our friends on the course and had huge amount of support along the way - despite my obvious detonation people were saying such encouraging things. With a run split of 3:59 and race finish of 11:10 I placed 7th Fpro overall and have plenty to reflect on.

final preps and new team

2011-05-15T06:45:00.000+01:00

yesterday was my last 'proper' training day: a early 3hr ride in the Blackdowns with Taunton's locals, 5 mile race-pace run before packing up the bike ( not my favourite chore) and heading over to wellington for and a set of 20 x 150m in the deserted windowless pool there. Todays short spin and steady swim rounds off a week of about 80% volume, 70% load of recent weeks before my trip to the island on monday.

It's been quite a week though - the highlight being the launch event for The Challenger World UK Tri Team in london on Wednesday and Thursday. It was great to see the other team members again ( i dont run into them much since we're all based in far flung locations and the ITU triathlon and Ironman circuit don't cross over much) and have a chance to meet our new sponsors and support network for 2011. The team, formerly Team TBC Sportsaid retains our association with Sportsaid, but with Challenger World and other new sponsors on boards this year, the level of professionalism and athlete support has really moved up a level. Ryan (Bowd) was running around like a blue-arsed fly throughout the entire 48 hr period, but has done a magnificent job on our behalf. Aside from the invaluable product that we all received from Speedo, Evans, Asics, Timex, Maxifuel and Gatorade, sports performance footwear advice and support from Profeet and being hosted by Crowne Plaza Hotel and Virgin Active gyms, this was a great opportunity to meet and talk to our sponsors face -to -face. I always make a point of learning as much as I can about the products that we'll be using as well as the motivation behind the sponsorship and what I can offer as an athlete to give them the most value in return. It's really nice that on the whole, the people representing these brands and organizations are keen on sports themselves and its generally easy to find a common ground and rapport, making for an enjoyably social couple of days.

On the other end of the spectrum, Steven is currently out in Lanzarote so here in Somerset it's very quiet. It has been great to be able to hermit myself away whilst finalising my race preparations ,catch up on work and sleep really well. The caffeine weening process is now complete - the first two days are murder and i'm best left alone anyway -and i'm sleeping really well in a big comfy bed to myself. The place is a bit of a tip though so one of toady's jobs is get it straightened out before i leave!

This year's Lanzarote is going to be AWSOME! we have a huge posse out racing:
EverydayTraining athletes: Simon, Mel, Kevin, Mark, Lotte, Roz, Paul T, Paul W, Sergio & Jamie..then others from our training camp: Emma, Jon, Brett, Ted, Matt and Mark - maybe.....and other friends Helen, Raff...with my mum, steven and russ and the other halfs of most of those listed doing the cheerleading!
i think the post-race partying could be more fun than the race itself :o)

Righto- its 6:30am and i've a busy day so i'd better get on with it!

Financing the dream

2011-05-06T14:10:00.002+01:00

My latest Tri247 column gives a little insight into how i keep myself out of trouble, and make ends meet, since 'giving up the day job'

building a race day nutrition plan

2011-05-02T16:01:00.004+01:00

check out my coaching blog for tips for developing a race-day nutrition strategy

everydaytraining coach's blog

post-camp, london marathon, pre-lanza update

2011-04-27T20:55:00.003+01:00

yet again i find myself apologizing to regular readers (if you exist, then get a life! Only joking, please don't) for recent lack of contribution to the blog. as usual this is a sign that my life is being so interesting that i've not had the time to sit down and write about it, let alone ponder on ways to make it seem even more interesting, relevant or exciting. So, i'm just gonna spend a little time recounting recent activities, news and significant training observations and plans. hold on tight!

you might have followed out training camp blog on www.everydaytraining.org.uk. we're extremely pleased with how this turned out - it was so much fun, everything worked out really well with the accommodation, catering, training and support crew, and we had really positive feedback form all the athletes who came along. We're pretty proud of our first effort and it was well worth all of the hard work that went into it. No question about it - there will be more to come. We feel that this is really something unique that Steven and I can offer and definitely a direction that we'd like to steer EverydayTraining in. Of course - its not a big earner, and our own training was somewhat compromised by the camp (which i'll talk about later) but there are remedies to both that we can work on, or at least plan around, in the future.

post camp we both felt a little down - not only the physical and emotional exhaustion of the week but a very low feeling once its all over. when you feel like that but too tired to really go out and train then there's only one thing to do - go straight to london and run a marathon!! having been to 'busy' to book cheap train tickets (i forgot) i borrowed mums purple micra and we wizzed up the motorway to west london. whilst rachel was out smashing course records and getting a 'taste for wildlife' in South Africa, she had kindly given over her flat for my stay in town. It was good to have a bit of isolation to catch up on sleep, coaching work and cookery programs on tv, and great to see her and hear all about the race on their return

I was properly excited about this year's marathon. pior to our 2.5 week traip to lanzarote i'd been seeing some great power numbers on my bike, and running really well. I'd even managed to sneak a few long runs in. During the camp, i got sick with a sore throat and cold ( the first in 6 months or more - great timing!) and so made a point of taking it as easy as i could get away with - luckily some one was required to time -keep and ride with the back-markers! Mid-way through the week, I came right (thanks to my regular supply of Vitabiotics Wellwoman and Immunace!) and enjoyed putting in a few more intense sessions. I was feeling so good running - being out of the gym and a low intensity spell seemed to bring something extra to my run speed. So, with my long runs banked, some good form prior to the camp, and easy couple of weeks and i was all set for a new marathon PB. oh yes i was. Unfortunately, i left my brain on the crowded train to Blackheath and, despite all the good advice about pacing that i'd given my athletes - set off at 2:50 pace. Which felt bloody easy to start with, of course. I bumped into an old club-mate who was running an 'easy' 2:55 and we strode along chatting through the first 12 miles. Of course it was not really an easy pace for me, and since i was not really out to push very hard on this run with ironman in a few weeks, i decided to ease off the pace to a more sensible 'just about ironman' intensity. unfortunately, i discovered that the damage to my legs had already been done by that point - it probably would have been as well to commit to 'racing' it. The second half was a miserably painful barely ironman paced 100 minutes of regret. 3:06 isn't such a bad time- and had i paced it well, that could have been a comfortable run that had little impact on my preparations for lanzarote. If i'd pace it really well i might have broken 3hrs and been really happy and full of confidence for lanzarote. As it was my legs were screwed for a week, and i'd run a minute slower than last year. Luckily, my sister is training in sports massage and needs screwed up legs to practice on. the things i do for my little sibbers ;o)

aside from letting her fix my shredded calves, i was also kind enough to bundle hr and her bike into mums micra at 5:45am on Thursday in order to drive her 40miles out of london and deposit her on the side of the road near Basingstoke (of all places!), point her in a generally south westerly direction and clear off. She wasn't smiling much when i left her but she really did look pleased to see me 5 hours later, after i'd ridden out to meet her in Castle Cary. She was still going strong and at the end of her 175km trip, came out for a short run with me too. I reckon she'll survive an ironman - and probably survive it pretty quickly, too.

the weather in somerset has been absolutely glorious and it's been perfect weather for riding around through spring-filled lanes, looking through the hedgerows at the new-born lambs, on my brand new Litespeed Archon c3. wow - it's a nice bike, just seems to fly up hills. Qunitana Roo and Litespeed are now being distributed in the UK through Evans, which is great for me as it means this year i have a very specific TT bike ( the cd01) and a good road bike that i can use on some of the hilly or more technical courses - like Wimbleball, or IM france - which the CD01 is not most suited to. I had put drops on the QR last year, but it was a real compromise, and absolutely horrified the tech development guys when they saw it at Kona!

So, it's now 3 weeks until i'm back in lanzarote and i've just started back into 'proper' training after almost a month out of the routine. Hopefully the break will have freshened me up a bit, and i do now feel really motivated to get back on it...but i must admit, only 2 days in, it feels harder than i remember! Ah well, keep bringing it on ;o)

home- and away again

2011-03-27T12:11:00.004+01:00

We arrived back to the UK after a 2-day journey through air and time, culminating with a -mile trip in mum's purple nissan Micra, dangerously loaded with or bike boxes and baggage obscuring the view out of every window. Good thing it was a saturday night and the local Po-leese had other things to focus on in town. to a bit of a chill shock, but that has been tempered somewhat by the beautifully clear and sunny weather that we've had all week. yesterday I even briefly considered riding in shorts as i went around one of my favourite routes on Exmoor - one reserved for fine clear days like that. It's great to be riding and running around 'home' and witnessing the signs of spring in the countryside. However since our return it feels like my feet have hardley hit the ground. Or rather - my bum has hardly hit the sofa. my feet have been hitting the ground in a fairly regular and rythmic manner since it recently it's dawned on me that the Virgin London marathon is approaching and a few long runs might help me in that regard!

Aside from catching up with friends and family - and a surprise christmas dinner complete with presents and requests for reciprocation, most of my time has been focused around final stage of organization for the training camp which starts next week as well as kit orders, renewing my team and sponsorship contracts and arranging for good to be shipped in the small time period that i'm here in the UK to receive them. This has required a good deal of back and forth correspondence, which is time consuming, and at times frustrating when I just want/need to get out and train! But on the whole it's been enjoyable and fulfilling, not to mention a great learning experience. We have had amazing support from sponsors for this camp and I'm confident that the efforts invested in oragnising this first camp at just about hopefully break-even will be worthwhile if the athletes all have a great time, see fitness gains and the camp sponsors feel that we have justified their support with exposure to a hungry market. Next time around, we'll be more experienced, have an established network of support and a basic camp template in place. We envisage that running training camps will become a key aspect of EverydayTraining in the future - so here's hoping that we pull this one off! The basic premis of the camp is a big volume week of no-nonsense training, with a few competitions and challenges to add a bit of extra motivation as fatigue sets in and mojo's threaten to crumble .This is the sort of thing that both Steven and I really enjoyed about Epic - and felt it was rare to get such an opportunity. We've done it on a 'shoe-string' to make it really accessible, and just hope that we're not proved to be total freaks ..and that those who've signed up for this week of suffering will enjoy it too! Both steven and I will be posting up daily 'blogs' from camp on the coaching website blog page and you can follow @EDT_news for Twitterings too.

The coaching aspect of EverydayTraining is developing nicely too - since our return to the UK we've signed up 4 new athletes - 3 of those are local triathletes, which is a very positive step for us in getting into the 'scene' down here. However both Steven and I are realizing that there is a point where we will not risk reducing the level of attention and service we can provide taking on more athletes - we're not there yet, but I am already holding my new sign ups until after Ironman Lanzarote this year.

Other exciting news for me is that my new bikes have arrived! I was doubtful that the contract with American Bicycle Groups and QR would be in place and bikes shipped in time for me to take on the Camp - but they were received in our local bike shop - Bicycle chain, Taunton - where Brian my favourite mechanic put in a few hours over-tiem to get it cabled, cut and set up for me to train on saturday, get it in a box ready for departure today. he's a star. And the bike is COOOL. It is pink, which is something that i am having to come to terms with :o) - but i think that it's gonna force me to ride it fast - for fear of being called a Jesse. Steven commented yesterday that I'm riding well - he couldn't quite drop me as he usually does at 300W.

long run this morning (not my favourite session - 3hr run = about 45 min of fun in total for me), quick hair cut for steven and were OFF to LAnzarote this afternoon!

Christchurch Quake Experience -real perspective!

2011-02-27T17:48:00.008Z

Tuesday 22nd was a pretty wet and dismal morning, and i had a later than usual start to my day, giving me a nice relaxed hour or so to work on training schedules before setting off to the IM talk 'studios' to record an interview for next (this) week's show. It was good to see john and bevan ,who i'd not seen since last year's Epic Camp, and we recorded about half an hour of chat about my year and transitioning form age grouper to professional triathlete. Quite a lot of focus was around financing this move, goal setting, making race choices and whether to 'target' kona other aspects of the lifestyle that differ from doing triathlon as a 'hobby'. I will write some posts on these areas in the near future.

I left the studio in St Martins around 9am, still raining so, unenthusiastic about my 3hr reps session in the cloud covered port hills I pulled into a mall for a breakfast bun and coffee as the weather cleared up a little. Despite the poopey weather the session went well and I had just got home, made a coffee and lunch was settling in for an hour or so of work on a few athletes schedules before my track and gym sessions at QE2 when there was that familiar rumbling and jolting of an aftershock.

Since our arrival in October last year, these have been a fairy frequent occurrence, and although alarming at first, Steven and I had become quite used to it. They had also been dying down and far less frequent as the months went by. But this one's a biggie, I thought, as the shaking seemed to escalate rather than die down as usual. And the intensity seemed to continue mounting - I was pretty much frozen to the spot with fear on the bed, not that i could have really done much with the room shaking and objects starting to fly around the place as they were! I could hear stuff in the other rooms smashing and crashing around. The reality is that the shake probably lasted all of about 10 seconds, but it seemed like a long time before the world was still again. I tried the door of my room to go survey the damage, but it was jammed in the frame. The windows were on restricters so in order to get outside (which i was pretty keen to do!) I was going to have to break a window, I thought. Still wearing my bike jersey, I had a very useful multi tool in the rear pocket, which i realized i'd be able to use to undo the fixtings that limited the windows...and climbed out to find the terrified dog and screaming neighbours and the road in our cul-de-sac sort of folded up on itself with water gushing up from the depths of the earth. In the house was areal mess and the power had gone out. I set about clearing up and wondering what to do next. There were several large aftershocks during the next hour, which had me running outside again. The neighbors who had also been home that time were also wandering around, shell-shocked - in the street, seeking comfort from one another's stories in the confusion and fear about the rest of their households. Being a tuesday afternoon, Steven would be at the cinema and after an hour or so, decide i'd head out towards there. To my relief, he appeared just as i was leaving - it was a lot worse beyond our own street, with knee deep floods and broken roads and jammed up traffic and it had taken him 90 minutes to walk and wade the 2km home.

We are very fortunate - despite all of us being in different locations around the city, the household are all fine and were soon all assembled in the house. Shaken and a wee bit stirred. We spent the afternoon together, telling our stories, discussing our options what to do now and checking over the damage. An evening reading by candle light and listening with gut wrenching horror as the news of damage and tragedy in the city center slowly began to unfold over a small battery powered radio. Despite being a smaller magnitude than the earthquake that the city was just about recovering from last September, the center was both shallower and closer to the city. These factors all manifest in a lot more surface movement and structural damage to buildings and hills alike - and the fact that it was the middle of a weekday, sadly it was clear from very early on that there was a significant death and injury toll. The numbers are still coming out as communications have made it very difficult for people to contact and account for their missing friends and relatives.

Having decided that without water or power, with rain dripping in through the light fittings and that one doorway totally inaccessible (suggesting that the structural load paths of the building had been sufficiently compromised) we probably should not stay there another night, we packed up and headed to Ali's parent's farm in Ashburton. We were fortunate to have this option, and having driven a low route through accessible roads and crawling traffic that wednesday morning, were able to leave the reality behind and watch it on TV. This made us feel somewhat 'guilty' of course - seeing other's working clear the roads and find water and food for their family. Let alone the hundreds of volunteers with the heartbreaking heavy work of search the wreckage of the city centre for those trapped in fallen buildings. It was actually an opportunity to get to know our house-mates a little and do some training together - a very rare occurrence as they have very busy lives and must usually fit their training around work.

Our return to Chirstchurch yesterday it was a little sad to see the state of the place but also quite uplifting to see how people are really helping each other out - teams digging the roadways clear, those with water (wells or still connected) going around and making sure other have it, even letting strangers in to shower. People giving free food from the front of their house to those working in the streets, writing up signs with information or even just messages of care. There are reports of looting too, of course, but these few acts of incomprehensible selfishness are more news worthy than the millions of acts of kindness we see. The level of organization, sound public information and general common sense is impressive and it seems that on the whole people are reacting extremely responsibly to the difficult conditions.

As the rest of the Ava place household are heading up to Taupo for the Ironman ( Andrew, who's P3 locked in his city center office on Tuesday has been offered the loan of a bike by so many friends and the race organizers have even put him in touch with Cervelo for a loan of a P3) I'm currently staying with his extremely hospitable and generous parents on the west side of town, which has been less effected by the damage. We just felt quite an aftershock just now! but water and power - even internet! - are still connected here. I have withdrawn my own entry to Ironman New Zealand, which was rather a tough call but my recovery/fitness has been questionable since Wanaka and last weeks trauma and disruption really I lost my focus for this race. I feel I'm better saving the cost of the trip and spending some time on a build up for ironman Lanzarote in May.

reasons to race - and finding perspective

2011-02-03T08:12:00.005Z

After Wanaka Steven and I took a proper holiday touring around some of the classic tourist spots in the south island. We made a pact to leave our laptops switched off for 5 days - and survived! We visited Milford sound, did a little kayaking there and then returned to Wanaka (which I preferred on account of it being a lot warmer and drier!) for a couple of days and did a cruisy ride over the Crown Range. I had a bit of time to explore the walking tracks around the lake, leaving Steven in the 3D maze at puzzling world! bless 'im. I've also had plenty of time to reflect on the race, and my performance there.

There are many reasons for me to race - but the most important and motivating is the belief that it's an opportunity to achieve one of my goals. At the start of the day in Wanaka, I was deep down seeing many reasons why the day would not turn out that way for me. Getting paid is also a goal of course, and i was fairly confident off that outcome in this case, but it's just not enough to really get me fired up into race-mode. Later on in the day, I began to realize that although the conditions were horrible, I have previously excelled in races where the conditions have been extremely tough - but the point is that I was not believing that on the start line, and that effected my whole experience. Might have even effected the outcome of my race.

Part of this is an underlying feeling that I'm close to raced out. I had a very fun and exciting period of racing from May to August last year, where every race just seemed to get better for me. I'd put in a long consistent winter block of training prior to the start of the season, and then continued to build specific fitness as I raced through the summer. The highlight for me was qualifying for Kona at IM UK - though that did mean one more race 6 weeks later, rather than the planned break from sept - oct before preparing for Ironman WA in December. Of course there was no question of tuning this opportunity down and i gave it no thought at all as I signed the cheque for my Kona entry!

The World Champs was amazing experience but frankly, a disappointing performance - certainly after the high of IMUK. Looking back I feel that this was the start of the next period in my year - one of regular racing through the fatigue that I'd accumulated during the summer without a chance to fully alleviate it in the short turn-around between races. Kona, IMWA and Wanaka were all great experiences for various reasons, and this period has been beneficial for me as an athlete but non of them did I feel I'd raced any better than 'OK". There are many reasons to race, as i've said, and gaining experience, developing and refining race strategies, course and race venue/organisation familiarity, and sponsor exposure are all very useful at this stage in my career, as well as the physical strength that this regime will have built in me. However, this must be balanced against the overriding drive towards those personal goals - and at the end of the day: enjoyment and long-term health.

It's been a long time since there hasn't been an imminent race on the horizon, and no matter how many you do - racing an Ironman IS a big deal and I still get nervous thinking about the next one, become preoccupied with what's best for that race rather than the longer term training plan. So, my feeling is that it's time to move into a new phase - and therefor Taupo is in the balance. I do have an entry and I admit, I think that it sounds terrible not to be fully commited to the event, but that's the reality of racing as a professional and trying to make a living out of the sport, especially in the early phase of a career. There are so many opportunities to race now, and we do have the luxury of being able to get a relatively late entry - but I had to make my decision just days after Wanaka and before I could really assess how well I'd recover from that and set about preparing for the next one 6 weeks later. Having made the decision that i do have the option NOT to race IM NZ, i'm freshly motivated by some focus on skills and specifics, with more recovery and freshening up for each session for the next month or so. Already I'm feeling the benefits of this and if this continues then chances are good that by march I'll be feeling great and ready to race - and be on the line at Taupo, but for now I'm not thinking that far ahead.

What else? well, since returning to ChCh, getting back online and having a bit more time with less training to do, I've been keeping myself busy arranging he logistics for our EverydayTraining Camp which is coming up in April. It's our first experience of organizing something on this scale and it's a pretty rapid learning curve, but most of the details are now in place. We have some great nutritional support thanks to Powerbar, athlete's recovery will be taken care of by For Goodness Shakes and they'll have their aching bodies cared for by The TriTouch. The accommodation is a friendly hotel that we've been using as our training base in Peurto del Carmen for years, and we have some great crew coming along to give Steven and I some back-up during the week. The next phase is the fun part - detailing the camp schedule!

I've been spending a little more time with my coach Scott, taking about future plans and training ideas, and this week has seen me back in the gym, back with the swim squad and backing off the ride/run volume a bit. I'm doing well with my diet, thanks in part to Ali's veggie patch, and this combined with my return to gym work is seeing me trim up a little already. I have a sort of love/hate thing with the gym - in that i've never really liked training indoors and never really look forward to my workouts - but find them strangely addictive and usually enjoy it once I'm there. I do find that for me, gym-work really seems to kick-start my metabolism and i seem easily trim up and gain definition on my return to regular gym routine. I can be a bit of a meat-head too, and when I read about Gordo's Big Steel Challenge or January, although I'm starting it late I've started tracking the weight of steel I'm shifting in a session. I reckon i'll easily move 350 tonnes this month.

challenge wanaka report

2011-01-16T18:30:00.004Z

phew - what a challenge. that's my IM distance race count up to 15 and has to be the toughest yet! Wensleydale 2008 came to mind, but this was twice the length so tops it!! Having a spot of bother publishing my website - will have it updated, hopefully with some pics, in a few days...after our vacation around the tourist attractions of this wonderful part of teh world. steven won his age group - and an entry to Challenge Roth - so we're celebrating :o)

challenge wanaka in the glorious southern lake land of south island new zealand, has a contingency plan in case of weather conditions making the swim unsafe. in the briefing, race director assured us that only a 'howling north westerly wind' could mean conditions were this. wednesday through to friday we'd been treated to the best weather - clear, calm, sunny and warm. However at some point during teh early hours of saturday the nor-westerly started, whining - and though not at full blown 'howl', 5am race morning saw trees bent double and flags flapping violently in the winds blowing over the lake, which for the first time in our visit was not glass flat, but had significant chop. It was going to be a tough day.

lake wanaka is surrounded by mountains and glaciers and has a reputation for being very very cold even in the height of a kiwi summer. temperatures this week have varied a surprising amount - from pretty cold to quite fresh -but certainly nothing of the compulsory neoprene hats at race directors discretion and gloves and booties of previous years. because of the sudden change in weather I opted to swim in my neooprene cap. strangely - the water temperature had risen - not quite enough to overheat, but i was certainly toasty in it. anyway, brain freeze was one less 'challenge' that wanaka would be throwing at us today. But it had plenty more in store for us!

The bike course is composed of 3 sections - the first 35km out and back towards Treble Cone takes you out on steeply undulating roads paved with coarse chip. All too easy to blast your legs on all those steep rises on keen fresh legs, so I'm careful to lighten my gearing and use the small chainring. i'm struggling to get myself moving this morning so holding myself back doesn't seem to be an issue. return through town and then its out on the second segment - a loop through Albert Town and Lake Hawea. More short steep and frequent hills, rough chip and some shocking cross winds as we pass Lake Hawea. I've ridden this loop a few times in the week and do quite enjoy it, though not so much in the strong winds blowing my front wheel about and feeling inexplicably below par. A relatively small field has spread out pretty well by this point and there are few people around to pace off. i'm glad i have my powertap, but right now it;s just telling me i could ride harder. just about the end of this loop, on yet another steep climb, I'm passed by a familiar age grouper who I train with in Christchurch. I'm surprised that she was behind me being a better pool swimmer than I am, and this changes my state of mind somewhat. Knowing that she's a strong rider and would love to beat a pro, I fire up to stick with her.
The final and longest section of the course was unknown territory to me, around Lake Dunstan to Cromwell. Cromwell is the lowest and farthest point on the course, and with a ripping tail wind we race the next 40km keeping one another in sight and pushing each other along. My legs start to feel good working and I'm having fun. I know that we'll pay for this wind assistance with long slog back up the other side of the lake into the headwind, and try to get as much nutrition in me whilst I can. The cross winds have made it difficult to eat or drink much so far. At the 110km mark we turn, and it really is as hideous as i'd anticipated. The roughest roads i've ridden on, long gradual incline and wind so strong that it's literally difficult to make progress. Dropping into my smallest gear and spinning feverishly it's a case of head down and keep an eye on those ahead. My age-group pal and a couple of male age groupers who've been around for the last hour or so got a little way up the road now and I work hard to regain contact, but for all the efforts i put into the wind they're still apparently receding into the distance. For some reason my powertap starts playing up ( shoulda changed those batteries!) - so no speedo, power or anything just heartrate and perceived efforts and inner voices . keeping it at moderate level and my thoughts away from packing in. i tell myself that no one is enjoying this -no one is passing me and actually it does appear that after a while i'm gaining ground on and then passing those ahead of me. I still feel pretty strong despite being trapped in my personal version of hell! But of course i know that it's not eternal - it will end eventually so just keep plugging away at those pedals and there's progress. Some pretty fierce gusting cross winds and a few final hills just to seal this bike course in the memory as the toughest in all of my own triathlon experience - and i do tend to go for the tough bike courses!

I'd been looking forward to the run even more than usual- it's mostly off-road and follows the lake and river walkway on a 21km loop. I love to run trails and feel that this terrain plays to my strength. Starting my first lap with the lead male helped me keep good pace and it was fun to exchange a few words with his bike escort and receive some great encouragement form his support crew. About 17km into the first lap I passed Belinda Harper for 4th place, which really encouraged me. I did not realize at the time that she'd suffered a bike crash, loosing the lead, and was not about to give chase, so fear of being re-passed kept me moving. The wonderful scenery, enthusiastic support from the locals and many friends who were here taking part in the events of the weekend ( there had been a half distance and team relay races too), and the wonderful feeling of getting through a very trying day despite not being on my best form, got me through the nasty steep hills on the course with a smile on my face.

Challenge Wanaka was a wonderful experience - a beautiful location, an intimate feel to a superbly organized race with an honest and challenging course.

www.joannacarritt.co.uk

tourist training

2011-01-11T05:50:00.002Z

we're on our way to race Challenge Wanaka, with our Jucy 8-seater rental and big picnic box we're taking the scenic route there. And my word, it really is! We've been so lucky with the weather this summer and are seeing some of the best Kiwi scenery in the best possible conditions. Rather than the full-on madness of Epic Camp, it's just Steven and I doing bits and pieces and taking turns to ride en-route. We both took a trip up to Mount Cook - not the summit,or even the glacier ( they said not suitabel for road bikes, but hows a bout a $500 helicopter ride up there?) but at least to the small and very subtly designed alpine village where climbers depart for the mountain side huts. A 2hr early morning run in the lovely little town of Twizel consisting of 3 laps of the trail which circles the town reinstated my confidence in the calf pinch that had been bothering me all week, then set off for teh 5hr round trip. Short, paced run off the bike finished a 37hr week. Not Epic ( and i'm glad not) but I'm now starting to feel fit again after Bussleton and Christmas. I feel ready to train! But there's the small matter of a iron-distance race on saturday though! I do wish that I had 3-4 weeks to get in some real fitness and shed a couple kg, but it's not really likely that the organisors will move the race at such late request. even for me - who was at one point last week the only female professional entrant. could've been my first big win ;o) ....or the first occasion where i've finished dead last. Half full/half empty etc
we're staying in the little town of Hawea ( which is actually on the race bike route) for a couple of days under the expert hospitality of Doug Scott in his amazing batch. Doug's a friend from previous Epic camps, skinny as a rake (i'm jealous) and is currently on fire on the bike. he's going to rock the half which he's doing in preparation for Taupo and nursing his legs back to running form. Todays training - my last 'session' before the race went good. power high and Hr making sense, good speed on the run -like i said, i'd love to have a few weeks to work with this but at the least it gives me some confidence for the weekend.

It's a tough course - similar to wimbleball, but twice as long, but such amazing scenery and fingers crossed that the weather holds up. Tomorrow we move into Wanaka and the hotel that sponsors the event giving us complimentary accommodation. hows about that for being looked after!

5 passes pics

2010-12-19T02:44:00.002Z

thanks to Bruce Wilson for the CD of pics from the 5 passes tour back in November.
I've added a few into my blog posts of the race
skip back though the archives to find 'em.

A year without beer?

2010-12-17T18:53:00.002Z

There's no doubt about it, I do enjoy a couple or three beers. Meeting friends, going out for a meal, or even just in front of the tv on those rare occaisons that I have an evening at home and to myself. Whilst I dont belive alcohol in moderation to be paticulary harmful, there's also no doubt about it - beer ain't a great way to get your carbs in, it is a sure-fire way to pile on extra pounds as well as disrupting sleep and impeding recovery (from training) with a flood of additional toxins.
I can drink a lot for someone of my size, and will tend to do so even if it's not a big 'session'. Drinking in moderation, or a swift half, just isn't my thing. At key times in my year i.e when preparing for a race, I'll steer clear of the stuff altogether. With such a "ban" in place, I am not only saved from the negative effects of the booze, but find the desire to have a drink is very minimal, because i'm feeling good, trim and sleeping well. The more I think about this (it's something that I do tend to ponder upon about 6 days after a big race when the 'booze ban' has been lifted and I've had a couple of bevvies every day for a week straight) it becomes obvious that I'm following a habitual pattern of behaviour rather than making choices based on what I really want. I'll have the "cold ones" becasue I CAN and know that pretty soon, I 'll be back to training and will have to excercIse more disipline. Frankly after a week or so, I really begin to crave a cleaner diet anyway as my body does start to feel pretty lousy as does my mood. But it still always takes that process to get me here! Ok, lets get it in perspective - we're not exactly talking the sort of benders of my early twenties, just a few drinks each night, an additional 500-600 calories in the form of ice cream, cakes or candy and no holds barred on th ingredients that go into creating some nice dinners. A week of this 3 or 4 times a year following a 4 week period of very focused training really isn't harmful. Infact many would argue that it's good to have these periods of freedom - but what's interesting for me is that it isn't really as much a freedom as it is a habit.

I am a very habitual person. It just seems to b the way i work - forming routines and getting easily into habits. This has many advantages when properly focused - it enables me to be very efficient and get a lot done in a short space of time by forming routines and rituals around repetative minor tasks, I rarely forget these important little jobs but can free my attention for other more complex and unique tasks. Anyone who has ever lived with me will be astonished to read that whilst I may appear to be an incredibly messy and cluttered person, there is nothing haphazard about the way that I arrange my stuff around the house. I always know exactly where everything is -most of the time. The occaisions when i dont, it is becasue my 'routine' has been interupted (or yet to be established).

Not all habits are either distinctly good or bad - many of them just "are" - but if we take the view that following habit demonstrates a lack of control, or at least strive to be in control of our habits, then it's important to identify and evaluate them.
So, getting back to those beers and the habitual pattern that can be summarized as a tendancy to drink more beer than I ought to at times when it's "allowed" simply because it's available and/or others are doing so. During periods that I have decided not to drink alchol at all, I very rarely miss it. Whether this is becase these periods I also have plentty of distrction in the form of early morning training and early evening tiredness keeping me form the type of social situation where temptations exist I can say for sure. I have a great deal of admiration, and a certain amount of envy for friends who do not drink at all but still engage in and enjoy this type of social situation and so have decided to test myself out on this. Can I go a year without beer? Will I find that, similary to thsoe 4-6 weeks pr -race dry spells, It's really not something that I miss in my life, or crave - or is it really the short-term objectives also associated with those periods which make abstenance so easy? Note that this is not a pledge to tee-totaldom...so wine with special meals is acceptable as would be holiday cocktails - but will i find a sudden penchance for cooking sherries?? From Janurary, I'll find out.

To add a further dimension to this challenge, I decided to take a look at the other poor dietary habits that i'm guilty of with a view to eliminating one per month. The target is that by the end of the year, I'll be free of most of the things which I percieve to be either poor dietary descisions by virtue of unattural ingredients and processes or at the very least nutritionally worthless excess calories.
With a list of 12, the idea being to knock one thing off the list each month. Hopefully some will stay off for good whilst others are just an excercise in discipline and breaking habits.

Here's the list:

1) Beer
2) Hydrogenated oils/trans fats - this is probably the real baddie on the list, but also requires the most effort to eliminate due to it's prevailance in pre-made foods. Best tack for avoidance will be cutting out the majority of packaged baked goods and dressings, and keeping a watchful eye on ingerdients labels.
3) Candy Confectionary - not a big deal for me unless i'm looking for cheap calories in a garage on a ride, or someone is passing around a packet of sweets.
4) Fizzy drinks /artificial sweenteners - i'm not sure which is the real enemy here, fizzy drink is a simpler catagory to apply, sweetneres is the real baddie tho' so this could include my low-cal hot chocolate or squash
5) Cakes, cookies and pastry - excluding those which I bake myself (or are home- baked for me).
6) Instant coffee - pretty gross substitute for the real thing and is a habit that I only got into since leaving employment
7) Ketchup - mostly sugar, which is why its so nice, but if food doesn't taste good without it, then eat better food!
8) Alcohol (all other)
9) Chocolate- this is late on the list because chocolate is not really one of my habits. I quite like it, and i'll eat it if offered. My preference is for dark choclates which i dont actully think is all that unhealthy if it's good quality. All the crappy type of chocs and bars will have been elimitated under "candy confectionary"
10) Dessert - this is funny one. You might think that the catories preceding this would already rule desserts out BUT most days we will have a fruit salad or yogart or something sweet afetr a meal simply out of habit. Generally Steven needs the extra calories - mostly i dont, but will partake out of habit.
11) Peanut butter - I eat a hell of a lot of the stuff. i dont think it's bad for me - just not really all that healthful ( compared to other types of nut ) and I am slightly allergic to it too.
12) Caffeine - probably the most difficult thing to give up hence why it's last on the list. I do tend to use caffeine as a 'crutch' for training, as well as socially. But I am able to give it up in preparation for races and genrallay feel better forit during my race-week taper after the fist 2-3 days have passed. It's another thing that i really dont miss, but will revert quickly back into the habit, simply because I can, once the race is done.

There are 2 weeks left of this year though so whatch me make the most of it ( 2 strong insatnt coffes and banoffe slice for breakfast today. Diet of champions!)

wish me luck.

IM WA

2010-12-08T01:46:00.003Z

6 weeks after racing in Hawaii, with a 4 day cycle race over the 5 major passes of New Zealand's Sourthern Alps and a half marathon during that period, I had mixed feelings about my plans to race in Ironman Western Australia. To complete an active racing summer, extended by our travels around the globe, I was looking forward to a trip to the beautiful location of Bussleton, super-friendly race atmosphere and potential of a PB on the famously flat course. At the same time, memories of the pain of Kona had not yet completely faded, and suspicion that the 'average' race i produced there may simply have been down to late season weariness jabbed at the back of my mind. Recent training has been on and off - 2--3 days of solid training per week but with a lot more emphasis on recovery between these sessions. I found that I was hitting targets and feeling good during my "on" days- but a lot more drained as a result and struggled on the "off" days. However, I told myself that i only needed one more "on" day and that would be it for the year - and it was with high expectations and excitement that I warmed up in the flat calm ocean at 5am on a beautiful race day morning.

There'd be a split start, with the age groupers gun 15 minutes after ours. My experience at Hawaii had taught me that I need to swim like hell off the gun and fight to get in with a good paced group and so i was positioned well in the middle of the field at the start. I'd identified that Kate Bequilava was a 60+ min swimmer also - a bit faster than me and a smart racer, so i'd make an effort to stay with her. Gun went and I was right in there - great! Bubbles all around and i'm feeling ok, head down swimming hard - then suddenly i've swum in too close and am treated to a couple of kicks in the face loosing my goggles. in the time it takes me to compose myself and get my eyes back in their sockets, the group is still in sight but just out of reach. I'm not alone and so swimming hard i the direction of teh receding draft i'm hopeful that the swimmers around me will follow and assist in the chase, but i think that neither of us are quite strong enough - she swims beside but not past me. It's good motivation to keep the pace up though, the water is calm and clear and i'm feeling pretty good aside so that is how we swim all the way to the far buoy. At that point i seem to have chosen a better line and get ahead, notice two sets of arms just ahead and catch up to swimmers who have been dropped from the pack on the way back in with on or two on my toes. As we near the shore i am thinking about whether steven will catch me and the first four age groupers do pass us in the final few hundred meters. Given the open ocean nature of the course and the fact that my swim was entirely unassisted, to be running up the beach in 64 minutes was a decent swim, for me.

T1 was swift and smooth - though unfortunately the same cannot be said for my mount line routine! to start with I tried to get on teh bike to early ...and so had to scoot my way along the exit chute to the mount line...and then it took me several attempts to even get my feet on top of my shoes. I usually hold them in place with rubber bands between the heel of the shoe and the lever on my rear skewer, but my early mounting mistake had broken the band and so both shoes were catching on the ground. Unless I kept my cool, the next thing would be a shoe popping off the pedal altogether, which I avoided, and after what seemed like an age of faff i was on my way up the road.

Legs felt great - as they always do after a nice swim, spinning along at 200W, Hr 170. I've been riding well the last few days and have become well familiar with the 3-lap course so i'm looking forward to doing a little catch-up and am not too concerned about pushing too high a power at this early stage in the race. I also knew that the winds tend to build up through the morning and would potentially become quite strong on the return leg of the later laps, based on the conditions of the previous couple of days. To hit my goal bike split and intended average pace, I figured i'd get ahead of myself whilst the going is good. This is not a strategy that I would recommend to the athletes that i coach, but nonetheless it tends to be how I race
since I do have confidence in my own fitness and tolerance for higher intensity intervals when required. Rhae Shaw who i'd met that morning in transition, came belting past me early in teh first lap and I thought 'great, someone to pace off - i wont be riding on my own today". Not a chance - I lasted about 30 seconds at +200W. i don't yet have confidence in my tolerance for that! She went on to ride the fastest female 180km of the day - though of course i didn't know that at the time and had to focus on staying positive as she disappeared up the road and i saw the gap grow at every turn-around. There were a lot of fast male age groupers also passing me, the road gets a bit congested and it's a bit tricky to maintain a steady pace with the new 12m draft -zone ruling that has been implemented on the course. Its a good move in the name of fairness, but at the same time makes it pretty hard to maintain a constant effort and pace. For fear of the appearance of zone infringement or accusation of blocking there were several occasions where i found either myself slowing or pushing hard to make a short term pass. This effected me for about a lap - by which stage the strongest swim/cyclists had been through. There was a definite head-wind on the way back into town, but i was prepared, felt strong and continued to enjoy the ride for the rest of that lap. By the time we were on the outskirts of town however, i was beginning to feel less strong, however i was able to count the women ahead of me as they came by on the start of their second lap and i made it 6. Regular checks on my power and heart-rate showed that i was still holding a very good intensity and feeling good on it too, which kept me motivated to maintain the effort with 120km still left to see what might happen ahead. I knew it'd be whole lot easier once we began the second lap, with the wind, too and a chance to pick up the average speed again. It was about half way through the next lap that i realized i'd been watching my average heartrate rather than current - and was actually riding at a considerably lower intensity than i'd thought, and a fair way off my target. Those first few miles after transition when i typically record something over 170 had elevated my average....so whilst i'd been thinking i felt reasonably good after 60km of what i knew from training to be a hard effort, and with no real gauge of pace holding back a little, i was actually just doing only just more than a moderate ride. "don't let this throw you, Jo" i told myself "you're on pace for 5hr20 and now you know that you can push harder. You'll probably benefit form a relatively steady start to the day" and got back to the riding. As you'd expect, things started to feel tougher as the km ticked away. The benefit of a course consisting of 3 laps, each with 3 turns is that it breaks the ride into fairly short sections, which was a real help when i found my attention straying harder and harder to focus on holding my power. My heartrate had dropped, and if i failed to concentrate my power very quickly did so too. Believing that I was somehow short on calories, I took on some extra gels at aid stations, despite having no feelings of hunger or the usual signs of low sugar, but the usual 'pick-up' that follows was not forthcoming - i just felt rather sick. I noticed a pro woman not ar behind me at each turnaround and. Knowing that i needed 6th place for a prize, used that as motivation to keep pushing with what little energy i seemed to have in my legs, making the most of the faster sections, and digging in when riding the tough parts into the wind. There was good support along the course and the volunteers at the aid stations were the best i've ever experienced. It helps me a lot if i remove myself form my own experience for a moment and look around the 'scene' - how beautiful a place it is, how cool to be out there doing it, the wonder of everyone's experience, the wonderful positive energy that the volunteers and supporters provide ..and how crazy this whole event is, in the grand scheme of things. i so would have liked one of those cookies that they were handing out on Tuart drive turnaround, and to sit on the side of the road eating it but I wasn't there for that. i could have a cookie when this was all done. I just wanted it done soon, damn it! by the third lap i felt as if i was completely out of steam, and it was a case of continuing the routine of "check power, get shocked at the low numbers, push a bit harder to i achieve target power, ride for a few seconds, focus - no fidgeting for as long as possible ( I think about 20 sconds!) check power about a minute later..." and checking that i'd not lost any of the gap to the woman behind me. At long last it was time to get off the bike, i willed those last km into the headwind by like i have ended so many long training days - looking forward to a change of scene, though i cant say that i was anticipating the run with as much enthusiasm as the thought of a hot shower and cup of tea that i usually get!

T2 was nice and smooth (although the tent volunteers did seem a bit disturbed by my refusal to use the ladies change tent). I promised not to get naked and got a laugh before dashing out into what had turned into a nice sunny afternoon after the cool showers we'd had on the ride. It's a great idea to start the run section with a short loop that passes right by the finish chute in town where there is high energy and a lot of crowds - it really gives a big boost. I did make an effort to start the run easy since i usually find myself running the first couple of km unrealistically fast, I really enjoy the feeling of running after a ride and my legs seem to work straight away. having eased into it with a 4:40 split, I picked up the pace a little on west-bound the Geographe Bay stretch towards the second turnaround which happened to be just outside the home of our wonderful hosts, the Haswells. They had gathered quite a party of family, friends and neighbours around the barbie, so i knew i would have something to look forward to on each of the 4 laps. The wind was blowing east, so the next 7 or 8km after that turn-around point were decent splits of 4:20-25. As a result of my desperate feeding on the bike, my stomach was giving me the signs of an urgent requirement for a port-a-loo, but I was reluctant to break this good pace whilst i was passing so many people. Similar to the design of the bike course the run consisted of 4 x10.5km laps, with 3 turnarounds more or less centered on the main transition area - this meant that at no time were we further than 3.5km from the main bulk of support and activity. I must say that the atmosphere provided by the locals was awesome. Houses along the route all had bbq's and stereos fired up, partying and often fancy dress, on their lawns. It really was an enjoyable spectacle. I made my first loo-stop just before the far turnaround and facing the toughest bit of the course - the 4km return into the wind. I thought that this was a smart move, since I'd feel better for the harder work that was ahead. However, it really was a lot harder than i'd anticipated to get back into a decent pace, and it really was all of a sudden like the switch had been flicked off and my pace was barely under 5min/km now. I just had to keep reminding myself that this certainly was pretty tough running - it wasn't as if anyone was really passing me - and would balance out each lap when we had tail winds. As I made a second loo stop I noticed the deep, all over-body throb that I've experienced at the end of very hard long sessions, shortly before crashing out to sleep in cycle kit! I'd lost a couple of minutes now due to stomache issues, and so took on some caffeinated gel and a ProPlus to help get me through this early bad patch. I was only about 1/5 of the way through! But soon, I told myself, you'll be 1/4 through...and then, once you've done 14km..1/3rd...and so on - breaking the race down into tiny sections and goals and just keep the feet moving. Reaching that 14km mark felt like a huge triumph, I'd focused so hard on getting there! I'd been running for 64minutes, and frankly, I was 'over it'. Still, I had managed 3hr15 pace so far with two toilet breaks, and could see that i'd made up ground on Rhae who was ahead of me. I was also aware of Connie, the woman behind and it didn't seem that she was an entirely safe distance off - which, knowing that i was in the position for a prize, was even more motivation to keep plugging away at it. I reckoned that if i could manage a sub 4:40 pace running east, and under 5min/km on the tough westward kilometers, I'd have a respectable run time and possibly catch someone ahead. Easy, in theory, but turning once again into that wind, i suffered big-time and made an executive decision to walk through the aid station, try to get refreshed and well...have a bit of a rest! Well, from there, that seemed to set a pattern for me and that windy 4km from the far turn around to the centre of the lap was just an drill in willpower. With two aid stations dispensing jelly beans, i discovered that by shoving 2 or 3 in my cheek, the sugary sensation was really lifting my spirits (I avoided thinking about tooth rot!) so i was popping a couple in at every opportunity simply in order to keep moving. Walking didn't really strike me as any easier than jogging along, and now that my pace was over 5min/km although it seemed like it'd take an age to get to the finish, it was an extortionate effort to go any faster than this i was holding my position in the womans' race. Although by no interpretation of reality could it be said hat i was having fun, i did appreciate the great atmosphere amongst the competitors, volunteers and crowd support and by means of breaking the laps into distinct sections, keeping an eye on my splits and my distance from Connie behind, and strategic jelly bean consumption i finally found myself with only a km to go....and THAT's when i started to enjoy the day! good race or bad, that short term feeling of satisfaction is always there. A race like that is tough, and can be disappointing, but it certainly gives plenty of targets and new resolve for training and ideas for better race execution.

although there were a few small mishaps, the reality is that i raced under-par simply down to tiredness - probably i was already suffering this in Hawaii. Of course my coach was right - the timing was lousy and it's not a course that played to my strengths even in the best of circumstances, but it was a good experience and a 6th place finish makes teh podium :o) and rounds off the year nicely. Plus, having ridden and run pretty easy for most of the day, I'm feeling much less sore than usual after a race

Bussleton revisited

2010-12-01T06:48:00.002Z

we're back in Busso and it's more lovely than i remember; cloudless blue skies, calm azure ocean, long pale golden sandy beaches without a soul on them. the occasional parrot and crickets buzzing in the otherwise sleepy 36 degree afternoons. it' s really quiet in town at the moment, which our hosts Neil and Lorraine attribute to the heat - and maybe the flies! we're staying with the couple who looked after us so well last year when we were here for a good 2 1/2 week prior to steven's race and we're so pleased to see them again and that they are welcoming us back into their home after the amount that we ate, and piles of laundry that we got through last year!! this seems to be the Aussie way though - the local triathletes remember us and are greeting us like old mates. they really did make us feel very welcome last year too. i guess in a place like this, its great to have visitors. It's quiet startling how barren the area is even just a short way out of town...a few isolate farms and vineyards here and there but huge stretches of just....landscape.

we drove out to visit a friends of Lorraine's daughter who have adopted a little joey who's mother was killed. apparently if you run over an adult kangaroo, which happens surprisingly frequently considering the low volume o traffic on the roads and vast amount of space that the 'roos have to bounce around in, you need to look in her pouch and fish out poor little joey who's in there. maybe most people don't take them home as pets, but if you happen to live on an enormous plot a long way from anywhere, and happen to be just a little zany ...why not. it was so cute! he jumps around the garden and sleeps in a pillowcase hooked over the back of a chair at night ( just like mum's pouch). this one was tiny and had such soft fur - i do wonder how big it'll get though!

my race week prep is going well, i think. not too much work - a little less than Kona because of the greater fatigue that i'm carrying - but enough to get a bit acclimatized to the heat and get a feel for riding that flat, flat course. we swam the full course yesterday -something that i did not do when we were here last year, and was very apprehensive of. On a calm day (which unfortunately is not forecast for sunday!) it was really not as bad as i'd feared, so that's one less thing i'm worried about. the sea is pretty warm though and i'd say borderline for wetsuit optional .... not that i'd have much difficulty making that choice -there's a few stinger out there!

there have been some changes to the course since last year ,which i think improves the event for the athlete and spectators. The bike route is still 3 laps, but by adding on extra out & back section each lap is broken into smaller segments and avoids the state highway. The additional 'branch' of the course may add one more dead turn to each lap, but breaks the ride down into more short sections, which i find helps the time go easier and maintain focus. The run course is now 4 laps - and again each lap is a sort of T shape and so broken into short sections. you're never more than 3.5km from transition - great for support and makes the aid stations more efficient, which when you're relying on volunteers to stand all day in the baking sun, being bothered by flies and having to witness the sort of desperate deterioration of the melting athletes on the run course, is a good call!

The swim still goes around the iconic jetty which is sadly still unfinished!) , but now in the other direction. i don't think that'll make a huge difference, but suits the new placement of transition better. so, really the race is pretty much all-change, except for the fabulous venue, great weather and friendly 'local' vibe. i do hope that the race organization retains that nice low-key feel that it's become known for.

up and down and gettin' around

2010-11-22T07:50:00.002Z

it's been a while since my last blog (as my winter-ridden family have pointed out) and if i'm perfectly honest the reason for that is that i just haven't been feeling much like "sharing" recently. Post race blues affect everyone, combine that with a reasonably high level of fatigue playing with my nervous system, the massive disappointment of the cancelation of Epic Camp 2011, being broke and a long way from home.... i've been suffering a bit of a low spell. It's off and on and, since we're basically here in New Zealand for a 5 month training camp, hugely influenced by how i'm doing with regards to my training. I don't train so well when i'm feeling psychologically low, so it's easy to get drawn into a negative cycle.

So, to break this spell I've been planning some cool trips and activities - the sort of thing that makes training fun, makes it worth while being in a cool country away from home and enables us to hang out with and get to know other triathletes in the area.

Trips have included a ride up to Hamner Springs and then, with the generous loan of a car for the weekend from our Scotty Brown team-mate, Dave, we were able to ride the old route from Hamner to Kaikora - a brilliant bit fo riding with virtually zero traffic on it. I drove the 120km from Hamner to Kaikora, parked up there and set off back in the direction i'd come, to meet Steven who was riding from Hamner toward me. when we met on the road, i gave him the key so he could go collect the car and meet me in Waiau a couple of hours later. The weather for the weekend was perfect and this trip enabled us both to do some good training, spend some time together and see some more of the beautiful landscape of this country.

The following weekend (which was the weekend just passed) it was a trip to lake Hood for the South Island Half Ironman. This event, which also includes a half marathon race, is organized by Pete and CISport who put on teh 5 passes Tour. I'd been deliberating whether i wanted to do a half ironman 2 weeks out from Ironman, or just run the half marathon (or neither!) when Dave suggested a team entry. He has a British mate, James who's a hot cyclist - has just returned from the Tour of Southlands, keen for a 90km time trial.We got Steven to swim and i'd pitch in for the run. The race was on Saturday, so Friday morning, after my squad swim session, we set off on our bikes to ride an extended route that would take us there via the Rakaia Gorge. Another awesome sunny day and new roads for me. We rode fairly solid but with plenty of stops making it a leisurely day, and covered the 105 miles in just under 6 1/2hrs. Moira, who we'd met on The 5 Passes welcomed us into her lakeside home with a very good coffee, before we reported in for duty helping Pete set up the race. It was really good fun to be involved in, and see behind the scenes of, the organization of such an event. Pete has a very laid back "kiwi" attitude and a great team around him and pulled off a really good event from apparent chaos!

The next day i woke early and headed over to give a hand with body marking - it was really good fun to be involved in the pre -race buzz, have a joke with the competitors, without the pressure of the imminent race start on a very grey day. James, fully kitted out in skin suit, pointy hat, booties, 1080 and disk combo has brought a warm up bike and is already working up a lather an hour before the event! Steven leads the 1.9km swim from the start and leads the first female swimmer ( also in a team) to the exit ramp in 23minutes. she then proceeds to run past him into transition, provoking jokes about his being 'chicked'. He hands over to James who totally dominates the bike course 2hrs and 17min for a 90km - flat but windy and with numerous dead turns. It's bloody cold and i'm wearing as much clothing as i think i can throw off in 10 seconds and jumping around a lot in transition. none of the other team runners are in transition and probably wont need to be there for a good half an hour! James is the first off the bike of course and I fly out onto the run. An 11am start is rather late and its been a long morning, but i'm up for it and with a flat 3 lap course expecting a good run. Wearing my Garmin i can see that my pace is good as i make my way around the first lap at about 4min/km pace i feel fast and pretty comfortable. the surface is varied, which suits me - i like to run on rough ground - but did slow up certain sections of the course. At the first lap i'm still n godo pace and feeling strong, the crowds really giving me a big encouragement to maintain that pace. I'm still feeling good heading back out onto teh second lap, but splits are beginning to get a bit longer. 10km in 41 min seems ok and i'm reckoning on a decent time. My PB is 1:24 and that was definitely on a "sporting" course so this should be at least as quick. In the 3rd lap i could see the leading male half ironman athletes a couple of minutes down. could i hold them off? i knew i had had a 10 min start on them, and Andrew has run a 73min straight out half - assume he does a 1:20-ish run, i should be able to. Bt it was not to be. My pace had dropped more than i'd realized - the back of the course was a combination of rough ground and strong headwinds and i guess i'd not compensated enough for those slower kms to keep the average up. Or perhaps it was the lack of competitors to run with ...anyway i was overtaken by the leader, who I was pleased to see was our housemate/landlord Andrew and second place runner with about 2.5km to go. Slightly disappointing for The British Team as well as posting 1:29 run - a long way off my best, but a good bit of fun.
steven then rode back home. I was cooked....

Despite a very easy day yesterday, am feeling pretty screwed still today. not sore, just damn tired. And hungry and ...well a bit apprehensive to get recovered enough for my last few pre race sessions before we leave for Busselton. Perhaps all this fun and games is really not good for me when trying to get myself ready to race quite soon after Kona, but on the other hand - i feel that it's necessary to keep myself motivated through what i seem to be finding a difficult period.

5 passes day 4

2010-11-04T23:12:00.001Z

monday.
despite having enjoyed a few beers in the Wobbly Kea ( a 'Kea' is species of mountain parrot, with an appetite for destruction and an apparent taste for bits of car ) i woke early and headed outside for a run up to the Devils Punchbowl waterfall before breakfast. The sky was perfectly clear the moon and stars shining brightly just before dawn. It was damn cold in the shadow of the mountains, which covered the valley-based village until late morning.
Preparing to ride out at about 8am, everyone was wearing pretty much all of their clothing. Promises that we'd be warm before long as the road 'undulated' somewhat all the way to Porters pass (actually higher than Arthurs but less steep when approached from this direction) were sufficient to convince me to discard my jacket before pedalling out, but hell I was frozen - it really felt too cold to ride to this fair weather cyclist! the air was crisp with the dry taste of snow, finger tips burning with cold and too stiff to apply brakes. Legs numb as i pedaled hard to stick with the group, who were descending faster than i was willing to in my near-cryogenic state. eventually we emerged for the mountain's shadow and into the warmth of another beautiful day. Kim Mary and I spent another hour or so riding together past the snow fields, soaking up the last portion of this epic ride across the country and back, played 'sprint for the line' and had a little dig up Craigieburn Cutting for KOM - an unexpectedly steep little poke in the bum after yesterday's ordeals but fortunately much a shorter climb. Roll over the other side to stage finish. Removal of excessive clothing, it's turned into a nice hot day, though there's still the taste of dry snow in the air up there.

Following stage is Porters Pass, height of about 950m, though we're already pretty high and the climb from this direction is pretty gradual and so the group rides it fast. i'm hanging in, enjoying watching teams work together and maneuver their riders around as they complete the deciding stages of the Tour. It been noted the previous day that the team prize was potentially in the hands of a B-grade team, giving some of the guys in A grade teams reason to ride a bit smarter, but meant that our Grade had good reason to ride hard and work toegther over every stage. The maneuvers of the pack often left me on the front...and i know that's invariably when something is about to happen which will not be of benefit to me! But, from my point of view me it's all good fun so i'm happy to be there and watch the moves. we race up the final steepening of the pass and i roll straight over, knowing that its a very steep descent and i'm pretty nervous about descending on this bike. It's a long time before anyone follows me down which seems a bit odd. Later on at dinner, I learn why - someone is taking what is known as "the Porter's Plunge" and we are treated to video footage of his nude 70kph descent form the top of the pass! Throughout the tour there have been a film crew collecting footage for a documentary for SkySports. They'll have some great, scenic footage and hopefully managed to capture the sense of good spirit and challenges of this event.

The very last item on the adgenda is a 25km TTT along the Old West Coast Road. After my failed attempt to hang in for even a moment of the team time trial on the first day, I was keen to do better and enjoy the very last stage of the tour with my super fast team-mates. By now it's quite clear that Team Scotty Brown were not a realistic threat for the team prize and so, knowing how gutted i was about missing out last time, Steven was keen to try to ride the fastest time as a four (rather than drop the weaker rider for a faster time as three). But, there was another prize at stake - beating Team Rolf Prima would win them the Dan McDonald perpetual TTT trophy and heaps of Kudos. So, it was agreed they'd ride for the fastest time - with me hanging in as long as possible! After all, It was only because i was the last rider and messed up my start that i got dropped last time, so i should be ok on 2nd or 3rd wheel. We were last to start,1 minute behind the fully aero Rolf Prima four. I lead out, hard, and got us started off nice and fast before rolling back, Richard kept the pace steady as he took the front. Once i'd connected to Steven's wheel, i yelled "ON" and the signal was passed forward letting Richard know it was ok to squeeze the pace a bit. After his turn, he rolled out right and his father Dave took over....the pace was fast and exciting, but i was feeling quite comfortable and even looking forward to Steven's turn on the front as i felt i could handle it a bit faster. When that time came though, there was less draft, and possibly a surge of speed for Steven . Either way, I lost a few inches and had to call back " EASE" - he did- "ON" - and he's off again. Too hard. "EASE" i'm shouting as best i can whilst riding 350W but it seems he cant hear me, and is not looking under his wheel to note i'm not there. Too much space and the whole chain would be ruined so i pull right, out of the line, and signal for Richard to come through and gap up to Steven's wheel. Of course that's when Steven does a quick under-the-legs check, sees a wheel and since it appears that I'm back on, pushes the pace. Which makes it impossible for me to get back on the back of the line....and so after 2 min of fun, i'm TT-ing solo into the headwind of the Old West Coast Road for the next 12 miles. The very last rider home. Not my idea of fun, in fact close to my idea of pure hell, but i have done this enough in training last year and so get my head down and push all i have left in my legs, motivated by the idea that, should any of my team mates have a problem and pull out, mine would be that 3rd wheel. I have to admit that as the effort went on and my spirit weakened, and i started to hope for this - that'd show them they should've waited for me!

Well, last rider over the finish i was...and things very quickly seemed to be packed up and moving on in order that everyone could get home, showered and changed and out for the awards evening at Crown Plaza, one of the posh hotels in Christchurch.
A very nice evening to round off a superb cycling experience.

5 passes day 3

2010-11-03T07:54:00.002Z

Sunday - I got up early with very tight hip flexors and thought a short run might help loosen me off. We have a pretty leisurely late start to the ride today since it's only 100km. Only 100km maybe, but it will include the BIG climb of the Tour: Arthurs Pass. I'm excited, since for the last 3 years that we've visited Christchurch this legendary climb has become a somewhat of an itch, just that little bit too far a-feild to scratch. Even for steven! With rather sore legs, I'm a more than a little apprehensive too and perhaps others are feeling the same as it's really quiet a relaxed pace as we set off and roll toward Stillwater for a regroup and start of the clock on Open Stage 6.Through the Tour, for each stage we are started in our category group and individually timed across the stage finish by means of an electronic chip on our bikes passing the sensor mat. The yellow jersey is worn by the rider with the shortest total stage times at the end of the previous day - and in this case, each category has their own yellow. The fact that in certain cases lower grade riders have faster total stage times than those in the higher categories reflects the variable nature of bike racing. For example, it may be tactically advantageous for teams to slow the pace of the peloton if they have a rider in a breakaway. On the other hand, riders continually making unsuccessful attempts to breakaway, will tend to increase the general speed of riding in the peloton. All riders finishing with the bunch are awarded the same time regardless of their actual finish order.
Not planning to ride hard this morning whatever the plans of teams in my group happen to be today, I discretely exit the rear of the bunch. I soon catch up to Kim who has made similar move, and we ride together enjoying perfectly clear views of the mountains around us. We're ticking along a good pace - not exactly dawdling, sometimes side by side but mostly sharing the work, so I'm surprised and impressed when Mary, who i'd assumed to have been left long behind us in a slower bunch, appears from nowhere to join us. She'd found the pace of the group too relaxed and decided to reel us in. So we are three again. We cant help but pick it up through two sprints Kim challenging for the second and then laughing at me for rising to it! Then slow it down for a while behind a herd of cows using the road (bulls, actually, warned the farmer) and start climbing gradually as the road turns to the mountains. Did i mention that the scenery here os fantastic?
A stop at Jacksons famous pie shop for coke and Tasti (very) nut bars and steel ourselves for the ordeal ahead. The climb had beed described to me turn by turn - the worst of it apparently being 'the viaduct', 18% with the surface of the road stirruped in order to provide some grip! With pretty aggressive TT geometry and most of the design smarts at QR were committed to the aerodynamic brilliance of the CD.01, little heed was paid to the weight of the bike. Who'd think to ride a time trail bike up a mountain? Bar end shifting it was really just a case of stick it in the 39/25 and heave the pedals around. There were several moments as the road got steep...and remained steep...that it was a case of get that pedal turned, or fall off. I've ridden steeper climbs, and at 9km i've certainly ridden longer climbs, but nothing that steep for that long. I managed to pick off a few of the guys that'd gotten ahead on the more relaxed gradients at the beginning, partly due to the power/weight ratios playing in my favour on this sort of pitch, partly due to having to keep that gear turning at that rate or i'd be at a standstill! Anyway, I think it earned me a little respect - when the road flattened off for the race to the line, there were no serious challenges made and someone said ' go for it Jo, you deserve it'. We rolled down the other side into teh village of Aurthur's Pass, where a BBQ and beers were waiting once again. I did i a token little leg-loosening run off the bike, before getting stuck in!

5 passes day 2

2010-11-03T00:36:00.003Z

Saturday.
This is a long day, with an early start - 3 stages, 2 KOM, 3 sprints and 214km total riding to Greymouth, so the mood is a little less aggressive as we ride the first neutral section. Once the Stage started and pace picked up, rather than riding hard over the undulating terrain as the bunch geared up getting their team mates in position for the sprint at 49km, I dropped back for a spell on my TT bars. I was soon caught by Mary Jones, the other B-grade woman, and Kim, one of the guys from our grade who is riding with 6 weeks notice after a long spell off the bike with a broken wrist. We enjoyed a rather leisurely social ride enjoying the improved weather and great scenery. Until the sprint, which i admit that i picked my pace up a little for a bit of fun, when thinking i'd left the others a long way back after a hard 400m effort Mary's front wheel comes into view about 2 seconds before the line! No time to respond, it was just luck that she did not 'steal' that from me. She apologized for being sneaky, but i was really pleased that she was showing some competitiveness - and i'd been foolish to underestimate her. That wasn't going to be happening again. The three of use resumed our pleasant riding and conversation as we approached Lewis pass. Keen to get my own back on this competition, when the road started tipping upwards, i made a little effort to get up the road. which then tipped downwards a bit , before more up....were we on the climb or what?? lacking local knowledge and having already put too much distance on the others to wait for them, I rode on with an eye over my shoulder to the top, and rolled into Springs junction a little ahead of my competition for our morning break. There was a small KOM at Rahu's Saddle, marking the end of the 4th stage, after which I made use of a group that i'd caught, or who had caught me and sat in for a few km enjoying the warm day and new surroundings. Frequently i found myself working to the front of the group, tiring of the uneven pace and concentration required in the middle on the bunch, so in the end did several lengthy 'pulls' on the front. keeping a steady effort this position allowed me to rest and relax my shoulders a bit in my aero bars ( much more comfortable on the TT geometry that i ride) and get a good view of the scenery! As we pulled into the lunch stop at Reefton on a steep slope to the domain, i was caught off-balance and made an emergency dismount onto my arse and elbow as i swerved my bike into a heap of gravel to avoid the riders slowing sharply ahead of me. a bit of a hole there now but more damage to my kudos with such a clumsy fall. in my defense, surely the distracting smell of BBQ chicken that they support crew were cooking up was an obviously dangerous distraction?

Post lunch of BBQ chicken sandwiches and muffins (i never want to go home!), stage 5 was net downhill, but apparently a long and somewhat dull grind into a headwind all the way to Greymouth. The first 30km of this ride was neutral, so easy for me to sit in with the B grade until a drink stop at Ikamatua (these frequent drinks were well needed toady with temperatures reaching into the 30s) and teh 'open' racing to Greymouth. This was probably the hardest work of the trip for me ( aside form the climbs) as i hung in there desperate not to be dropped and face the remaining 50k riding into that headwind under my own power. I'm using a Powertap now, and can tell you that the draft of even one other reasonably sized rider can save me 100W in a stiff headwind - so well worth sucking up the hard surges required to stay in this group for that benefit. not to mention the moral support - it's been a long day for all of us! There was a sprint at 189km, which is where the pace picked up beyond my tolerance levels and i did have 15km then to ride solo into town. That sure felt like a long schlep, but it was with huge satisfaction that I arrived to meet the others at Greymouth. Another plush hotel, a lovely meal and a much needed massage before bed.
I'm still wearing yellow, green and the polka dot -though not all at once. There has been a bit of mocking from a few people about the women getting to 'choose their jerseys to match their handbags', whilst the men are fighting hard for their honours. I can't dispute that it feels a little hollow with only two of us in the running, but taking the piss or belittling our achievements like this is hardly going to help encourage women into competition, is it? So, whereas if there had been 20 women to beat i'd be feeling proud, with no disrespect to Mary, tonight it feels a bit worthless.

5 passes day 1

2010-11-02T07:55:00.004Z

425 miles as 11 stages in 5 days, over 5 passes and some of the best scenery and great company there's going to be a lot to say. The following entires are written after the event, but broken into seperate posts - otherwise it'd be too daunting to read any of it!
Pictures will not be posted immediately, but hopefully will follow soon.

Friday
5.00 am: Riders arrive, drop off bags, get ready for start with a much needed strong coffee in Coffee Culture, who had opened up at 5am for us! 6:00 am: Start with small time gap between grades as a grizzly day dawns on Christchurch, we ride north out of the city along the uninspiring roads to Amberly. We await the predicted rains, which are good enough to hold off for most of the morning. A neutral start and slightly wobbly bunch as we get used to one another's strengths, stability and pace, the road passes quickly and before we know it we're stopping for snacks in Ashley. Just another 20km until the next refreshment break, but this is the first racing Stage and includes a Sprint. I've been hanging quite happily with the B Grade men up to now, but with several organized teams riding in our group it's not long before the pace surges take their toll and I'm out the back before the Sprint. The race is really well organized with 2km and 500m markers at teh road side, photographers, time keepers and support crew at the sprint finish and timing mats at stage finishes (no sprinting over the 2m wide mats). More Neutral riding, and more chance to chat to other riders, and more refreshments half an hour later at Waipara. Its a pretty shitty day by now so all of these stops are making teh faster riders prety cold. We do have access to our gear bags at most of the stops, though, and the support crew have them all laid out or us to find easily, then pack them up after we've moved off. Tomorrow i'll be putting a lot more warm clothing in that bag! Stage one finishes with a 40km open stage to Culverdon, including a KOM over the Weka Pass. Steven and I had ridden this route previously but i couldn't recall any sort of a pass...and i pretty much failed to notice it this time either - the road just gets a bit lumpy for a while! But we do gain some altitude along the way and this time i loose the bunch quite soon due to the rolling terrain. Its this sort of constant undulations that make it hard for weaker riders to stay with a more powerful group. The 1-2min surges in power that are required to maintain speed over a rise are hardest for those at the back of the bunch, since they are forced into braking close to the bottom of the rise (as the front of the group starts the climb) and then have to accelerate close to the top because the front of the pack is cruising down hill already....so this stage is a solo, wet and cold bit of time spent on my aero bars, which come in very handy, until i finally make contact with a nice guy i've had in my sights up ahead who's wheel i sit on for about 15km into the wind to lunch. We're all totally soaked and so very happy that the crew have got a hot coffee for us!  Stage 2: 40 km Culverden to Hanmer Springs - initially riding neutral, the main event of the day is the TTT - team time trial. I'm riding in Team Scotty Brown, one of the sponsor teams with a good chance of taking the team prize. We have Richard and Dave Dawson - a father and son team: Richard is a teenager who has been cycle racing for a few years (as a junior), gaining strength and is now a very handy cyclist in the senior races. His dad, Dave is also coached by Scott Molina and was recently racing in Kona. Complimented by Steven Lord (aka TGV/the Pain Train), that's a team of 3 strong riders. I'm the 4th member - the weak link (although we'll see which team member will be riding in yellow as the tour gets underway ;o)). TTT times are taken off the 3rd (rear) wheel, the 4th member may be dropped. I was looking forward to this event, having competed in several 2 -ups in the past and spent many training rides glued to the back of the TVG I was looking forward to a fast paced ride with my team for as long as i could hang on, but to my disappointment was dropped without having even contributed a single pedal stroke due to a bungled clipping in on the line. oh well, 7km doesn't take all that long even solo. We finished up in Hamner Springs, the very luxurious Heritage Hotel where we enjoyed a BBQ and several beers before dinner and a movie on Sky. Just like real Tour riders, I'm sure.

5 passes -prologue

2010-10-28T08:03:00.003+01:00

Today was the start of the 5 Passes Tour. In it's 10th year now, this bike race organised by our chum from Epic camp, Pete O Brian for CISport takes a great route from Christchurch, over the Southern Alps to Greymouth taking in 4 major passes en route. with this evening's prologue up one of christchurch's local favourite hills, Evans Pass, that make 5 in 4 and a bit days.

The atmosphere at the race this evening was great - with 90-odd riders and strong support crew this promised to be a long weekend of great scenery, hard riding ( it IS a race and Steven and I are in a team representing Scotty Browns), good camaradarie (and fingers crossed nice weather!)

whilst the rest of my team ride A grade, i'm B grade...which has one other female rider. a pretty sh*t hot 50-year old! i caught her for 30sec on the Time trial up Evans ...but local word is she's one mean rider. should be fun.

with my ride, which produced Hr values in the 190s, took 9 min 2 i'm currently leading the women's B class of two. reckon if i'd not been slowed down in the last 100m by a caught rider that i thought it'd be rude to budge out of the way (given that we'll be spending the next 4 days together!) that'd be 9:15-10.....maybe those seconds will count!

i'll be off line for a while, but you can follow the Tour on twitter (@5PassesTour) and the facebook page

2010 - training numbers

2010-10-22T00:13:00.004+01:00

around about this time last year, i included some data from my training log in my review of 2009 - my first year living the dream as a full-time (age group) triathlete.
velojoc.blogspot.com/2009/12/year-that-was-2009.html

"...my average training hours per week was 27 - this figure is scewed by the very light training weeks that precede and follow racing so a better representation is to say that a typical training week is in the range 28-36 hrs.
average (mean) daily training hours was 3.9, with 3-5hrs/day being the most common daily volume and equal number of 1-3 and 5-7hr days. this represents a typical week which includes a lighter day and a long day.

In terms of swim bike run numbers:
mean distance swum /week = 14km - modal range of 12-16km
mean distance cycled/week = 231miles - modal range 200-250mi
mean distance run/week = 40 miles - modal range 42-48.... "

Of course with week 52 ticked off teh 2010 log book, time spent relaxing post race and post season easily turns to thoughts about the year, making comparisons to past practice v's performances, and planning for future improvements. That, beaches and beer...

so the 2010 season 's stats:
with a mean weekly training vol of 28.7hrs slightly more total volume overall, but this year's modal range was 20-28hrs - smaller than in 2009 but closer to the mean value which is indicative of more general consistency. Significant factors in this are the high bike load early in the year enabling me to log some big hours of cycling without the high training stress of running for a 2.5 month period (jan - march) . However, once the injury settled and I got into the racing season, my typical training volume reduced to under 25hr /week through the summer (may-july).

mean distance swum: 15.5km/week (typically 12-16km, though this year there were more weeks of high >20km volume than ever before)
mean distance cycled: 244mi/week (typically 175-225mi)
mean distance run: 28mi/week (typically 36-42miles though 6 weeks of 0 miles, a cautious build back and no long runs over 2hr in the schedule this year produce a lower mean for the whole year.

well, some of us like numbers. some like them a lot, but again after several hours of fiddling with data, performing statistical calculations and making graphs, i sit back and wonder "so what?". I already feel fairly sure that , with a few exceptions not so very far from home, the training hours that i put in is the upper end of the scale compared to most people, including most professional triathletes. I believe that the primary requirement for competition which requires 10hrs of high level aerobic output is the ability to sustain that level of effort for that sort of duration. in other words, endurance - and there is no short cut to building that. luckily i find it enjoyable (mostly), have patience and have constructed a lifestyle and environment which allows me to indulge. however a year on, with 6 professional races and 1500 more hrs under my belt my recent kona (under)performance highlights the fact that i'm still the wrong side of the step up in performance that is required to transform me from top age grouper to "good' pro.

2011 is the season for new ideas!

the what if's

2010-10-11T21:50:00.005+01:00

it doesn't take long after a (poor) race before an array of alternative realities start forming in the mind...i'm fine about my results here on saturday,but of course it could have been a different day had i executed differemntly. this gives me something positive to focus on and specifics to work towards.
so..the 'what if's :

the first tactical error of my day was getting caught at the back of the swim. better than my 'worst case scenario of swimming the whole thing on my own - but ony marginally. what happened was that i hung in with a group of 3/4 other slow swimmers - i did have to push a bit initially to keep with it, but after a short while it really settled, and felt a bit too easy. however ,by then there was no sight of anyone within reaching distance ahead. I cruised on feet to the turn about point, then decided to try to encourage a pick up in pace by moving to the front an giving a 2-300m change in pace. there was no response and i found myself either committed to pulling them back to shore, or settling in for an easy and frustrating swim home, clashing arms with legs. actually i was enjoying the swimming, sighting and being guided by paddlers working at a decent effort. however, it resulted in the slowest swim split that i've achieved here to date.
Now, looking at the swim splits for the pro ladies, there were six swims of around 1:07. another splinter group who swam a pace similar to what i had managed last year here. Sure, no tech fabric swim skins, and a much smaller draft...but still a more appropriate pace for me to swim with the benefit of feet to follow. i probably would have had to really bust a gut to get with them initially- and developing a fast start is something i'm going to have to work at.

looking at the bike splits for this bunch, aside from Tyler Stewart and Sandra Wallenhurst, which appear to have ridden off together for a 5:08, these girls did not stay connected on the bike. I'd given Karin Thuerig (4:48 - a course record?) and Helen Bij De Vaate (5:02) and two other sub 5:20 cyclists a tow. did they wait for me? did they fuck. i now understand their urgency to get through transition - it was a sprint to our bikes! I would say that my second tactical error of the day was allowing them to get away around the first loop of the course - but the fact is, i'm just not much of a cyclist to stick at their pace, so in retrospect it probably saved me a serious blow up. However there were others in the 1:07 swim pack who rode the splits that i had been targeting. Hard to compare this race year on year with the conditions being windier than i have previously experienced, but comparing my split with the rest of the field, i was further off the pace of the average of the top 30 bike splits than i had been last year. and i know that this is largely because there were no other female riders in sight to push me along. So, lets conjecture that IF i'd come out the water with this group, i'd have a better chance of company on the bike (of course i don't know how they paced it) and maybe have managed around 5:30.

i did not have any stomach issues, or die as terribly as i had last year on the run, but it was a slower marathon than my target yesterday too. i have no explanation for that. following the above scenario, i'd have been working a lot harder all day and may have run even slower. in fact , there's a chance that i would have cracked completely, but i dont much care for that idea so will exclude it from this analysis!

so...a 1:07:50 swim, 5:30:00 bike and my actual 3:26:47 run and 5min19 transitions = 10:09:56 which would have me in the top 30 and within my target time.

the race

2010-10-11T00:34:00.007+01:00

by the time that race morning approached, i no longer felt nervous and as it happened the start was very civilised affair indeed. the cannon rather caught me by surprise but we were off - a fast flurry of foam ( i'd placed myself near, but not right at, the back) i did what i had to do to catch some feet and was pleased with myself for having managed to do so. with a bit of effort i was on the toes of woman who seemed to be swimming a little faster than me, and noticed that i was sharing the draft with another girl. that's even better - as scott had told me the previous day ' you only need one pair of fete to draft' - and two is better than that! before long the group became 4, and the pace settled. it felt pretty easy and the lead changed occasionally in the first quarter o the swim and there was a bit of clashing of arms and legs as .the sea was calm but quite rolling with swell. if i glanced up when we were high, i could see that here was nobody within bridging distance ahead. by the time that we were half way i was feeling just a bit too comfortable and started to get frustrated. however, i'd been getting a tow for 1.8km so i swam to the front and tried to pick up the pace, assuming that these were stronger swimmers than me and would soon swim round and take over again. not so - i actually got the sense that aside forma faster start than i had ,these girls were tiring more than me .so i lead the pack back to shore which was really good fun - i had a paddle border each side of me which i could see underwater, so only had to sight occasionally. mostly i kept my head down and focused on my stroke. it did seem to take a long time to get back..but at last we were helped up the steps and into transition .

now ,i'm usually one of the swiftest mover through transition area, but these girls were really racing to out bike compound! we exited T1 together and they hammered off up the road. i'm working hard to keep them in my sights knowing that there'd be a huge advantage from having some company out there on the Queen K...but the 3 of them had disappeared for view before we got to the kuakahini highway. i now know that the group included Karin Thuerig and Helen Bij De Vaate who went on to ride (4:48 and 5:02 respectively!

riding out and having the queen K to myself was pretty wickid though .i was feeling good and was mentally prepared for this. keeping one eye on HR and the other on cadence, i enjoyed the cheers as i rode past the gathered crowds. a surprising amount of people hanging out in the baking sun on the edge of a highway! i kept my thoughts positive and my legs working. steven and i had been chatting about the likely hood of us finishing together- which of course extended to speculation as to who'd cross the line first. knowing that i'd had a poor swim, i reckoned that he'd already have made up 15 min on me...i thought i might make 10 min back on the run...so couldn't afford to loose more than 25 min on the bike and pushed on to get as far along the course as i could. the figures were kind of hard to work out in the heat of the race...but when the first age grouper passed me only 1:30 into the ride i though i was done for! from that point on there was an increasing stream of strong male riders passing me. as the flow thickened the problem with the different drafting rules that apply to pro's was a bit of an issue - since its perfectly legal for a passing age grouper to slot himself into the 10m gap that i'm holding ( he only needs to be 7m back) ...but i risk a penalty if i don't immediately drop back. most of the guys were pretty understanding. There were very strong cross winds on the way up to Hawi, but they were nothing like those on the way down. absolutely terrifying and i was very glad that i had left the drop attached. all the same, there were several occasions when i was blown right across to the edge of the road and really feared going in the lava. that was a petty miserable 18 miles - potentially fast but not able t ouse it much. i was stunned that age group women were starting to pass me too! no sign of steven yet though..he must be close. and that kept me going through teh tough return part of the ride. it's great that many of my friends are racing here are strong riders as they did all at some point come by , and i was able to get a sense of how peoples races were going .i'd established by now that steven wasn't having a good one - it was only in the last 90 min that he passed me...not riding strong and i passed him back for a further 30 min. until something clicked and he decided to put his head down and motor home! at least i did not have to do so much on the run to beat him though! I could see that i was well short of my target, or even matching last year's bike split but felt i'd worked my legs hard enough that i was not looking forward to a long run. i reminded myself of teh races i've done where i've ridden poorly but run well - Zaratuz half where i ran a 1:24 20km and IM UK where i set my IM run PB last month. i just had to get out and do it.

the first mile went by in under 7 min, the second ditto...over the next 10 things settled to my target pace of 7:30s. I could see the spread of the female pros in front of me, and reckoned that i was within a mile or two of the top 20 and was running well. i 'd somehow passed steven without noticing since i saw him after teh Ali'i drive turn around, behind me, then Scott, then Jenny which really gave me a fright - she'd put 20 min into me if not more. that's just be embarrassing. my feet were already starting to hurt but my pace stayed reasonable until we hit Palani, which i was telling myself is a lot better than i felt at this point last year..then that steep hill really seemed to just sap me. i don't remember if i walked - i think i used an aid station as an excuse to do so for a little and got running again..but my pace just seemed to have dropped off. from then on, mile 11, it was a battle to sustain 8 min miles - i was hitting 8:03, 8:05 and for all the world felt like i was killing myself. i used several stargergies to just keep going - and for the first time ever made use of the special needs bags where i'd stashed a can of Monster .having never tried this before i was quite curious and looking forward to it. in the energy lab it was a picture of carnage. i saw Roger, Richard Hobson, Russ and Yvette all walking and/or looking like death! Somehow that made me feel less retched, determined not to show i was suffering ...and i did my best to encourage them to run too. only 10k to go...that's a long 50 min though! i spent some of it with mark Petrofesa form Epic Camp - he was in a similar condition but wanted to break 10hrs...that was the first time i got a sense of the overall time . it was 4:34. i had 16 min to run 8.2 miles to beat last year's time. it was possible s i pushed on. My feet were balls of blister by then but i know that the magical feeling of running down Ali'i drive was only minutes away ...and i'd survived the (psychologically) toughest race experience so far and felt i'd coped well.

i was disappointed to have posted a slowest race here ever- combining my worst swim and bike (though actually , my fastest run) splits for the course...but considering the number of drop-outs on the day, i'm proud to have finished and proud to have really savoured and enjoyed it. this is more than just an ironman - it's teh mother of all ironman ( literally!) and I look forward to returning next year with some more experience and race savvy.

race week - friday

2010-10-09T03:37:00.005+01:00

The LAST day of race week- it really did creep up and then POUNCE!
but, the bike and bags are now racked in transition, i've just had a late lunch/early tea and relaxing to the sounds of Americam feel-good popular dad-rock blasting out over the race PA system. In this context, it's bearable - helping to create an appropriate atmosphere for a great day of fun that we are all looking forward to tomorrow. Now that all those overwhelming little decisions have been made and committed to in the handing over of the race bags, i feel a real sense of relief and able to put it all into proper perspective. Tomorrow i 'm going to start the day with a swim in the beautiful waters, then i'll go out for a long ride in the sunshine...before a brick run. The run will be tough, but i'll be accompanied by hundreds of others, cheering crowds and the chance to really explore my limits knowing that, if it all goes pear-shaped i'll be taken care of. what a sweet day. and at the end of it, there'll be real sense of achievement that i will be able to share with my friends who have all achieved the same..over a beer!

BRING ON TOMORROW

wishing all the guys and girls i know out here the best possible race tomorrow, and i look forward to catching up and hearing your stories later on.

(oh, christ...now it's "highway to hell'...where's my earplugs?)

race week - thursday

2010-10-08T03:46:00.004+01:00

luckily my day got a lot better than it started - a rather panicked early awakening, lots of fears and concerns that i'd been pushing away and realise that now i really do need to start getting my head right for the upcoming race. i've treated it all quite casually, people commenting on how calm i am ( i'm not usually before a race!) and i think that's simply because i've been avoiding thinking about it just because i'm so nervous. of course it's just a lot of unknowns, which are always accompanied with as much fear and doubt as excitement...and i know that the way to deal with it is to be adaptable. to have all my resources at the ready and use my judgement as to which of them to utilise.

I grabbed some time with my coach, Scott Molina, to chat some of it over. of course he's not prepared to tell me how to do this race, but he sure has a lot of experience as pro athlete and having coached and developed pro athletes as well as a real knack of putting things into context. a few of the things he said, kind of casually, really did hit home. At the pro briefing i really did get a sense that i'm not the only one feeling a few nerves!! At least i don't have the pressure of anyone else's expectations on me. i know what i think would constitute a good race, and what i am going to be pleased to have achieved here, but it's not exactly goals that would set the media alight! anyway, rather cruelly, as is human (or at least my own) nature, realising that others - in particular those who i hold in high esteem (regardless of the results in any single race) - are feeling as bad, or worse, than me made me feel a lot better.

i was also quite pleased that, just like me, the other pros are all keen for a free feed! The day kicked off with the Powerbar Breakfast - a very nice buffet in the King Kam Hotel accompanied by a help yourself to Powerbar product buffet. I'm all sorted for race day, and beyond now. i managed to reinforce my reputation as 'the girl who can eat 2x her body weight in a sitting' - despite being quite restrained since i had actually already had my first breakfast! after the briefing , since it was lunchtime, most of us 'drifted' into the hospitality suite for a lunch of cereals, pretzels cookies and coffee......and i've just polished off an afternoon snack of sample cereal snacks that after being distributed at the expo.

well, i do think that its time to start consuming a few extra calories in preparation for the race - i've been careful with my diet since returning from budapest 3 weeks ago and this week, with the reduced training, have really gone for low carb intake; just topping up with limited CHO quickly after each session. I don't have access to scales here ,but i can see indicators of low body-fat right now. it is surprising how quickly that can change though, so after today's deliberate input, and the pre race meal tonight, tomorrow will be a lighter eating day.

for now, since i have a little time here alone, it's time to think through my race, finally decide on what kit to wear and use (one piece suit or two, HR monitor or no, which shoes, gps pacer on on the run??) and put all the labels and stuff on my bike.

race week - wednesady

2010-10-07T17:17:00.001+01:00

wednesday - 3 days to go and its all starting to get a bit crazy here. the number f people, logos, super-bikes, retailers, promotions, compression socks per sq. m has suddenly exploded from being a nice social number to a real pain in the backside!
perhaps this is because my own nerves are really building with the realization that, all of a sudden, race day is close upon us...and all those little 'to do' s before the race are now 'must do now' s.
luckily with the opening of the expo, the QR team arrived and Brett, the tech and design guy sorted out the irritating issues i've been having with my wheels for me..as well as giving some great insight into the development of the CD0.1 and his thoughts on some specific features. being teh wind tunnel guy ( sorry Brett, that's rather understating your expertise!) he was able to advise me on where best to mount bottle etc. he kindly skirted around the issue of my drop bars - clearly a guy who knows what an athlete does NOT need to hear at this point - acknowledging that for comfort and confidence (a lot like BodyForm, wings and all) they could offer on a windy descent it may be worth the drag cost. I do enjoy talking technical with sweaty guys ( it was so hot yesterday, everyone was just dripping!) with beautiful southern american accents so a good start to the day.

Short ride with Jen where we bumped into Tara (Norton, who is out here scoping sme routes for her upcoming Epic Woman Camp) and Richard Hobson. We rode mostly easy until Jen had a few 'pieces' to do. Wow- she can go !! Her 2 min hard /3 min rec meant i was doing 3min hard/2min rec to stay with her! she admitted afterwards that by 'hard' she actually meant 'flat out' ...

next, registration - so now i am official - followed by a snooze great massage, another snooze. tapering has this effect on me -even walking around town seems to drain me. the heat makes it worse. steven went and fetched my tea from the sack'n'save for me and we picniced on teh balcony then went around to Scotts condo for a get together of Epic Campers. Annette from Stormydog Productions is in town doing some coverage and promoting teh documentary that they made on Epic camp NZ 2010, and the get together was a chance for all the 'stars' of the film to see it. It was was a great reminder of a great experience - though its pretty unpleasant seeing yourself on the screen! They di a great job capturing the experience, but o course there's so much more that they did not see! It inspired a lot of fun reminiscing until every one felt tired suddenly very tired (at 9pm)!

race week - tuesday

2010-10-06T16:44:00.004+01:00

Tuesday started as most days, watching star light turn to sunrise from our superbly positioned balcony. as peach/organe skies turn to blue, i can make out the few swimmers already out practicing on the course, going early to avoid the throngs that are gathered there by 7:30am. For me this morning, a pool session. i took the new BlueSeventy suit to give it a whirl. Cat (Morrision) was changing into hers with the same intention. she's got into one a size smaller than mine - she's wee! The pool was packed, with plenty of photographers about too, so we shared a lane Completed a decent session I was pleased to discover that its a lot more comfortable in the water then i felt it would be - didn't cut me like my pointzero3 had occasions. Tommorow i'll try it in the salt water.

Nice leisurely breakfast (notice a theme here?) with Douglas (Scott -our kiwi friend from Epic Camp), Donna and Russ before hooking up with Richard to do a bit of a photoshoot. He's been posting some great pics from the week for the team Freespeed blog and we know he'd really get some professional looking images. it was so good of him to give us an hour of his time, drive us up to a good spot on the highway and apply his creative input.

Felt dead good doing some short reps on the bike - despite being a very hot day. My bike computer is mystifying me though, and today it stopped working altogether halfway through the session, so it was all on HR and just going on feel with the cadence. i'm in a dilemma as to whether to fuss about it or just forget it in the race. I do have the option to borrow steven's computer for time/dist - but i have found that controlling my cadence is really useful for me in long sessions and races. Luckily the QR guys arrived today and have a mechanic on board. a bit embarrassing to ask for help with this, but i suspect that the rear wheel is out of dish - in order that i can run the campag wheel on my shimano set-up...and there's not physically not enough clearance for the magnet to pass the sensor. though that doesn't explain why it worked a bit.....so i believe its the bizarre electromagnetic curse that i carry effecting it as it does every other bit of technology that i have ever owned!

its now feeling very close to race now - there are few opportunities now to test gear out and get stuff adjusted. today i trained in my one-piece race suit. very comfortable actually. (for 2hrs - not sure how it'd feel after 3 or 4) my initial reservation was being able to strip it down quickly in a porta potty situation, but i think the addition of a little chord would fix that. could save some sunburn - unless i decide to roll it down on the run.

Parade of nations in the evening: bit of a disappointing turnout from the brits, and no team shirts this year, but it did give a chance to catch up with a few of the GB guys and girls that we know through various coincidences and races and grab some Powerbar samples for a pre diner snack in the expo.

race week - monday

2010-10-05T17:02:00.001+01:00

the first day of 'race week' and the transformation of the town has begun! Banners , flags and giant inflatables ....official bag check at the pier for the ever increasing crowds of morning swimmers and a lot more faces around. Its been ( another) day for bumping in to and catching up with old acquaintances and new ones that i've made through this year. After a short jog we swam a little later than usual and in the clearest water that we've had so far this week. its was quite amazing - you really do get a sense of depth. bumped into Yvette (Grice) after the swim, who managed to appear both very excited and very relaxed and as usual super friendly. having seen her in most of my races this year, and used her as motivation too, i admit, it's great to see her again in this setting!

after a relaxed breakfast with jenny and richard, i spent the rest of the morning shopping with steven. Dropped into the Blueseventy store to collect the pz3tx swim suit that Ryan had ordered for me, where we met Gina (Crawford) doing the same. she gave us a pretty scary update on the quake situation in Christchurch - apparently worst effected area is on the estuary very close to where we will be lodging over the winter. there have been 1200 quakes in the past 5 weeks - that's bigger than Haititi. struggled into the suit, which looks and feels great once it's on. i'm keen to get in the water in it and assess what sort of rubbing i might get around the arms. Steven bought himself a smart new aero helmet and i was tempted but refrained - for now. then we had a coffee in a nice quiet little arcade looking out to sea and watching the fish play in the surf

my ride today was just an easy spin, so i rode out of town along the Alii Highway. it goes up and up through a road block preventing trucks and mopeds (and apparently bicycles) passing - so its a great quiet road with fantastic veiws. it's blocked at the 'top' - must be a private estate or something. A 'guard' yelled something at me: "you don't belong here". dint know why that amused me so much - just an odd choice of phrase. No, i don't belong here. but its nice to come and check it out.

the town was buzzing this afternoon with more and more athletes checking in and checking out the course. it really is a great buzz and i still find it awesome to think about the fact that these guys and girls ARE the best triathletes in the world - all the super fit, super flash dudes you see one or two of at each race - all here, in one spot. some have been here numerous times, others have been working on qualification for multiple seasons, and finally made it. many of them know one another as long standing competitors, many are friends, the rest are to be checked out surreptitiously from behind a decaf in Lava java and google...

kona day 5 (sunday)

2010-10-04T21:33:00.002+01:00

each morning its busier down at the pier now - and so it takes longer to get the swim done by virtue of all the people that we bump into! today i swam with jenny, richard and some of and the Freespeed crew plus Martin Maldoon from serpentine club . We swam together as a pack, which makes a nice change for me since when i swim 'with' steven, rachel and steve, there's so much variation on speed between us that we all usually end up swimming alone and jut regrouping at agreed markers. so i got a swim at decent effort, which was required to stay with the back of group and had company the whole way. Had a chance to catch up with Lou Collins and admire her flouro pink Ceepo after the swim. Friendly as ever, but she seems pretty focused right now - a wee bit of game face on her, quiet understandably. people (in the uk) will have very high expectations of her for saturday, personally i think that those are pretty grounded, but she's sure to feel the pressure of that.

post swim, i headed out for a spin on the Queen K. steven and i dressed in our everydaytraining team kit and Roger kindly took some shots for QR of u on the matching Roos. roger was very enthusiastic about doing this, which we appreciated. when i learned about the bike session that he had ahead of him, i can quite understand his willingness to delay starting it!! He's been a very solid athlete the last few years working without a coach - now that he is working with 'TBear' Sindballe, i;m very excited to see how he races at the weekend.

on my way back into town after my spin, i dropped into teh SLS3 retail stand that has been set up in the temporary Cycle Station store on Ali'i Drive to introduce myself to Sebastian, the UK marketing guy. He gave me a groovy pair of Kona 10 edition compression socks to try out, they're great - i do think that these represent the very top-end of compression. We had a chat about the apparel, the compression habits of the UK market and the amazing Cheetah bike that someone happened to arrive at the store on. The fella just wanted a gas canister, and wound up explaining the features of this minimalist bike crowd of tri geeks that instantly appeared around it! must take him a long time to get anything done, going around on that thing!

Jose Tores from TriGrandPrix showed up - great to see him again, he's such an enthusiastic guy - and invited me along to a concert at The Sheridan hotel where they intend to announce the TriGrandPrix series 2011. I so enjoyed the race at Zarautz that i'm pleased to hear that it will be include again, along with more races in uk, ireland and europe.

finished the day with a 'short, easy run' - along Ali'i drive with nice tunes - which turned into a slightly longer run to the little church on the turnaround (where Stuart and Mette would be married later that evening -congratulations guys!). felt so good running an a beautiful warm evening i really enjoyed it. however it did leave me VERY thirsty and wiped me out for the evening really. not sure it was such a clever addition to the training schedule but you know i think that maybe worthwhile for the phsycological benefit - last year i felt terrible running that section back into town from the church so good to overwrite that memory with a better one.

Dinner at Bongo Bens again..then steven was kicked out onto the balcony to do his work so that i could get to sleep by 9pm!

Kona

Kona day 4 (and a half)

2010-10-03T14:02:00.001+01:00

its 2:30 am and i'm pretty much wide awake. thought that the jet lag situation was improving when i slept through till nearly 5am yesterday...but the thoughts rattling around on a loop in my head, combined with a sunburnt back, wont let me sleep tonight. so, i might as well fill in some time with my 3rd day in Kona post.

so, my last substantial training day before the race: first, a swim out to the (very) far buoy and back. relaxed out, pushing it on the way back. the return felt easier than the swim out, and i enjoyed the swim more than i'd anticipated. treated myself to breakfast in Tante's diner with the rest of the guys, before heading out for a 3hr session on the queen K. Rachel also had an interval session to do, so we set off and rode our warm -up together, having a nice chat on the road. at 20 min i ramped it up for my first effort - giving rachel an extra 10 to warm up. i knew she'd be steaming by me shortly! she did - at the exact moment that my rear wheel punctured and the heavens opened with a 10 min down-pour. just the same amount of time it took me changing the tube! so i got a little unplanned break in that work interval, but some good roadside repair practice. weird thing - it was such a local rain fall that i literally rode out of the cloud - onto a completely bone dry road. And at the end of my session back into it - Kailua Kona was in rian most of eh day. finished the session with a nasty fall from my bike. stupid really and only because i like to ride right into the hotel lobby..which is tiled...and wet. so i had a good audience as my bike disappeared from under me, planting me square onto my back. Luckily strawberry flavoured Powerbar gel broke my fall, though i still sustained a nice bash to my shin and completely winded myself!

A few moments to compose myself in my room before heading out for a 'race pace' transition run on the queen K. well, i HOPE i can race at that pace - i was feeling good today. Seems that the effects of the long flight are out of my system and i'm feeling the benefit of the rest that the journey enforced - i was even able to aise my HR on the bike, something that's been eluding me the last couple of weeks in training at home. So,I just need to get caught up on sleep from now on, and keep ticking over with shorter sessions each day..

kona diaries 2010

2010-10-02T17:09:00.003+01:00

for the next 2 weeks, blog posts should be regular, giving diary updates from kailiua kona as i prepare for the Ironman World Championships. be warned - names will be dropped unashamedly and i will not be censoring weather reports just to make you guys in the uk feel better ;o)

kona day 0
touch down 8:30 pm. that tiny open air airport. bike boxes were there waiting for us having been checked all the way through by a very nice lady in LA (who 'forgot' to charge us the carriage too) i think they got an earlier connection in honululu.
quick, very quite,cab ride to the hotel that we've stayed in the past 4 years, feels like coming home. first thing was get the run kit on and out for a short run, as directed by coach Scott. return to unpack bike. by now i'm beyond tired, but have no trouble sleeping when it's finally time.

kona day 1
wake up at a reasonable time. did we escape jet lag? woken to the sound of a million squwarking birds in the tree outside our room. what is their beef? daylight reveals that we have a great view of the pier, swim start area and section of Ali'i drive which will become the finish line in 10 days time. we can live with the excited avian dawn chorus. head down for a swim in the ocean . that feels so nice! we swim relaxed, and i'm feeling quite good in the water. spy a small pod of dolphins. there's another women is freaking out about this. guess she's not been to kona before ;o) dolphins swim off. the air right there, out in the ocean smells of flowers. have a horrible realization mid swim that i have brought a campag race wheel but only a shimano cassette. luckily steven is carrying a spare! i cant believe my luck (or my stupidity)
breakfast on the balcony then i go for a ride up 'the hill to Captain Cook (it's a town) to shake the jet lag off. just about an hour of riding uphill in the heat, though its kinda overcast today, and i'm retching at the side of the road. don't make it all the way to CC, feel lousy so opt for a soothing 40mph free-wheel home!
short run on Ali'i drive to try loosen the legs - really feeling heavy - so hopefully that's purged the flight out of my system. Meet up with a friend Steve (Moore), head for a nice supper at Bongo Ben's - our favourite for their generous Cob salad.

kona day 2
woke up before dawn had cracked. played on computer until it was reasonable to get up for a swim. big day today - last long one before the race. we met Rachel (Joyce) and Russ (Cox) this morning and all swam together (well, we all got in the water together!) . after that short swim, Steven and i go out for a ride together over the whole course. its not often these days that we do ride together, and though we dont ride side by side for very much of the day, its nice to have some company when we stop for drinks at the Wai'aka store. we have matching green machines too, so it's kinda fun to ride together, too. its a draining ride and the last 2hrs home is sure tough. legs still feeling a bit odd after the flight i guess, they had a hell of an ache in the last 20 miles home, i was suffering. Steven went out for a run of the bike, i lay down! but then he'd had a much easier ride than me at that pace. we covered the 107 miles in just over 6hr - my mate Steve, who headed out early in the morning, did it in 5hr 20. i was impressed. back to Bongo Bens for dinner with Steve, Rachel, Roger and his wife Mary.

kona day 3
slept through till after 4am today, improving. Ocean was choppy today - having rained last night was quite cool. i'm glad that i didn't go with Steven and Roger (Canham) to swim the full course. i was cold! Jenny (Gowans) and Richard (Melik) arrived last night and we hooked up after a swim. great massage with the muscular massage school - i got Gino, the tutor who enjoyed telling me about the triathlon great she'd worked with back in the day whilst working on my gluteus, worked an hour for my half hour fee. bonus. Headed out for a short lunch time ride with jenny, who tends to want to make me work. one point Richard (Hobson) and Stuart (Anderson) came steaming past us- she decides to give chase whilst i'm picking my nose or something and is soon a speck on the horizon. frightening. lunch of papaya ( 7 for $2!) , a few hours working on training schedules and catching up with my athletes at home, then a cruisy 5miles run on the Queen K before tea in front of the telly. so many channels of garbage and adverts. amazing.

LAX

2010-09-28T17:27:00.002+01:00

a short sunrise run around the perimeter fence of LAX preceded an almighty (but healthy) buffet breakfast in the hotel where we are layed-over. we have an hour or so to digest that before embarking on another round of baggage hauling to check-in for teh onward flight to honunlulu. Packing 'light' for 5 month trip in to include 4 races in three different climates still weighs in at about 50kg exc. hand luggage. Still, its been a good journey so far and having a night's break 2/3 through really helps with adjusting to the time difference, and gives the opportunity for a proper sleep, a short run, some stretching, shower and decent meal so we'll arrive in Kona this evening late but in a much fitter state than having done the journey nonstop.

i'm feeling both excited and nervous about our arrival there. this year there will be so many of our triathlete friends there with us - many of them staying in the brilliantly located but lower budget Kona Seaside hotel that we've used each time we have been and recommended to all. but on the other hand its kind of scary to know how great shape everyone is in...when i feel kinda doubtful about myself. i guess everyone feels a little like this once they get to the point where they're on the plane and there really is little that can be actively done now to improve form - one starts recalling those bad training days. and since budapest, there have been a few. i did find it fairly hard to get myself going again after that trip, where i let my hair down a little and at the same time hurt my foot. for the days of that this break provided i think that the foot flare-up reminded my body that she's done a lot already this year and the poor carcass is feeling weary. this is most notable on the bike - all of my riding since Budapest has been on the QR, mostly flat ( as far as you can in somerset) and mostly race specific sessions. For the last year i've been basing my efforts on HR (all change post Kona now that I have a new PowerTap!!) which works fine for me - until i get a bit training weary. and find that i'm just having to operate at HR 5-10 beats off the bottom of my target range. Of course this can be very tough mentally - to keep trying to push the effort for 90 min when it hurts but the little voice is saying 'look, you cant even get close to race HR, you should go home and back to bed...' to which my usual reaction is ' look, little voice, i'll just do the 90 in then we'll have a coffee, see how we feel about the next rep?" it usually works, especially when accompanied by a gob-full of caffeine infused carbs ( chocolate PowerbarGel!) and although not really a tactic that i can use on race-day, it gets me through it. That, my techno sound tracks and the absolutely beautiful september weather that we had doen in teh Southwest.

Strangely, despite this flatness on the bike, my swimming is feeling strong and my running also. I've leaned down a bit and i can feel the difference whenever i run. Sunday i did a local 10k race - the end of a 30hr training week, 5hr bike/run session the day before, i had all my excuses made. But i don't think i have ever run 10k in under 38 min so 38:11 with a sprint finish (HR reached 195bpm, close to my max) was quiet a pleasing time. 25 M&S voucher prize too. hope that keeps till next march :o)

this week will be a bit of fun catching up with people and settling into a routine in Kona - i'll ride the course later in the week, and swim the 3.8km at some point ...I think i may have to be careful about going out training with otehr people too much, just try to stay relaxed and not get caught up in too much of that pre race speculation and anxiety that can spread so easily through a group of competitive people!

FPro - the first year

2010-09-17T15:05:00.002+01:00

Feet up in an apartment, hiding from the torrential rain at another race venue ( there have been so many this year) – this time Budapest and this time I’m not out there racking my bike in an overflowing car park. I’m here to my sister as she represents team GB in the ITU world champs. We’ve just watched Alistar Brownlee take the elite men’s world title race by a very narrow margin from Gomez, but all the action for our EverydayTraining athletes, old Tri London club-mates and other friends on team GB is tomorrow. Not quite the sunny European, strudel and strong lager oriented weekend I’d planed for this end-of-2010-season/birthday break – the small matter of an unexpected Kona qualification slot, not to mention the reality of Hungarian weather, has somewhat changed things in that regard – but it is a chance to relax a enjoy a world beyond my own training for a couple of days. However, whilst ‘my ‘ athletes are out racking their bikes this evening, I find my mind returns quickly to my own training, state of fitness, body composition,, diet, level of fatigue….to expectation for Kona, winter travel/training plans, future race possibilities….and finally putting all of this into context with some reflection on the year so far.

This time last year, having had a disappointing race at The Vitrvian, we were settling into Club La Santa with Rachel for a fortnight pre Kona Camp. My expectations for that race were very high. The reality of my fitness/fatigue levels may not have warranted those expectations, and frankly it was a disappointing result, but that’s all experience gained. And to follow that, my first year of Pro-dom has really been focused around that theme (of experiences gained, that is – not disappointing results!) – a year on my feelings toward the impending Ironman World Championships is quite a different matter. To begin with, I genuinely had only dreamt that I’d get a start there ,let alone taken time to consider the scale of the terror that accompanied the realization of that dream! To say that I have ‘no expectations’ for this race may be misinterpreted as an expectation of an unremarkable or disappointing race and lack of confidence in myself. Not so; I simply mean that I come into the event without any real concept of how I’ll measure up on this stage. The structure of the race for me, with a clear 15 min start in amongst a group of the world’s very strongest triathletes, will be quite a different race experience for a start. I know that my strengths come later in the race – so it’s going to be all about racing fast but smart for the first 7 hours and will be a good deal more about my mentality than my racing instincts. This year Kona represents a valuable learning opportunity and I consider it a privilege to be on that same circuit as almost all of my triathlon role-models. I do have my own personal performance goals, of course – but most important to me though is to make the most of the day and use it as a chance to really validate the hard work, hopes and hardships of the year that has been, not to mention the faith and support that I have received from those around me along the way.

The period since Kona 2009 has seen a few ups and downs, and as a result different (unplanned) phases. First, a return to Christchiurch New Zealand where we quickly re-settled back into a familiar routine of consistent heavy training. Soon followed by my first major injury, a stress fracture, which prevented me from running from janurary to march. Of course at the time with my debut Professional Ironman race looming this was a major set-back. Now, I look back and see a fabulous period of cycling, including riding end to end of new Zealand on an amazing Epic Camp and a timely dose of reality concerning sensible training loads. Withdrawing from a big race and having to face up to a diet of restricted running for the first months of the year, it also provided me with a 6 month block of training uninterrupted by races. The latter part of the 2010 season was quite a contrast, with 3 Ironman races plus two halves in 4 different countries within a 10-week period, I did very little training at all through june and july.

Bewildering and exhausting at times, the racing was so much fun and it’s very nice to only beat yourself up once a week and chill in hotel rooms in between! To my surprise, I got stronger and stronger through this phase, gaining confidence from the very rapid learning I was doing on the pro race circuit and drawing on the solid winter preps I’d invested. This is certainly not how I’d envisaged the year, but in retrospect I couldn’t say WHAT I had envisioned for the year. Quite unlike the previous seasons, I genuinely had no clear goals or expectations. It worked out well for me and the experiences and adaptations that were required along the way were probably just as useful as the training hours that I put in. It wouldn't have happened like this had it not been for the very difficult period at the start of the year - and i'd be none the wiser.

Having no real set (race) goals or expectations for the year has really enabled me to be flexible and enjoy the processes and well as the out comes. Through that i have learned some more about long term motivation, both for my own use and as something that i can try to pass on to those who follow my coaching advice. I still hold that specific goal setting is important - and this does provide chief motivation for some people -however, my belief is that its once we learn to appreciate, even savour, the processes that we can really move forwards towards our long term goals.

back to work

2010-08-29T21:21:00.004+01:00

well, its been - what? 4 weeks - since IM Uk and i have a few moments for a quick catch-up at last!

we've just said goodbye to Rachel (Joyce) who has been our first house-guest in taunton, joining us for a week of training before she departs for the States and 'real' preparation for Kona. It has been great having her company and motivation and i think its fair to say that we managed to wear one another out quite nicely this week! for me that's a +35hr week ... the second week back into training after the Ironman at the start of the month. after what i considered to be a pretty packed race schedule since May, I was getting ready for some 'down-time' post UK, with a number of domestic projects lined up for my attention in the new house. of course getting a Kona slot is a massive bonus and far outwieghs the delights of fruit picking and home brewing...but even so i felt that i was in need of a bit of recovery before starting over again with race preps.
so this month i've been 'ticking over' and seeing to the list of minor DIY home improvements jobs that had accumulated over the summer, doing my accounts (yes, really!), redesigning my website (check it out) - as well as seeking some fast help with my swimming. Whilst i've been putting in a reasonable level of work on my swimming, and finding that the races with a pro 'area' start off the main race gun help my swim splits, its still by far a weakness in my racing. The 15 min ahead start, non-wetsuit sea swim in Kailua bay is a daunting prospect -any age groupers catching me will be swimming a lot faster than will be of use as a draft for me. so, what can be done? - of course i don't expect that there is any 'quick fix' but this is certainly motivation to do as much as possible to get me on the right track - or a right track. Part one of this process was getting some footage made ( by Andy Bullock of BAd Tri at Bristol Uni -very good footage for £30) which clearly revealed technical areas to focus on. In a sense it's a encouraging to see how bad my technique is - imagine how frustrating if i had near perfect stroke but still swam slow! I also signed up to a 'stroke improvers course' at our local pool - no high expectations, but why not? Luke, the instructor there, was great and did come up with some useful observations and drills for me and i have found these helpful too. Investing time in my swimming whilst low riding and running has enabled me to keep training focused with low load - though its a time-costly approach. Hence lack of attention to blog.

I'm committed to keeping up this momentum in the pool, however having gotten back on the bike for a couple of long rides, and picking the run vol back up to around 40 mi this week i'm certainly feeling a little in sock. the race schedule through the summer it's been a while since i've done this sort of volume. I'd expect to maintain this level, with the addition of race pace focus for the next 3-4 weeks, with a few extra curricular activities which were planned pre- qualification to provide a little relief from tunnel vision - namely Alex the Lodger's arrival this week, the wedding of my close friend Kate, a trip to Hungary to support my lil sister at HER first world championships race with team GB, and a couple of visits from more triathlon training friends.

And then it'll be bye-bye UK for a while....

IronmanUk Report

2010-08-07T19:55:00.001+01:00

race report up on my website.....more juicy details here soon ;o)

a fixed abode!

2010-07-21T17:53:00.005+01:00

its been almost a month since IM France, and good to have a bit of a break from racing to attend to the 'few' other bits and pieces that go along with moving into a new house. we tackled the the process of moving the contents of two people's lives, which has been stored across 5 different locations in the UK, with suberb efficiency and 4 dyas van hire. the process of finding suitable places to stow it in what had seemed like a generously sized house before i realized quite how much stuff i was inheriting as a result of steven's 15 years of previos house ownership coupled with a tendancy for sentimental attachment, proved far less simple and is sill ongoing.

having first attacked two upstairs bedrooms with bold coloured paint to seal our ownership of the new territory, the next job on the to do list was deck out the loft. hows about an hour run, 6 hour ride, fish and chips for lunch and then an evening laying a raised floor in the attic for a tiring day?? it was good fun to do something together though, and having shown steven the process required, he was away and got the job finished the following morning whilst i was at the gym.

With Ironman Ukon the hoizon i was a bit concious of how much time i could give to home improvemnts over training and expect my stuff to remain in boxs and piles until after that race (but i do promise to sort it out soon steven)but even so its a pretty distracting process, with lots of discussion and desisions tobe made relating to where the knives and forks/dvds/laundry basket/candles/(insert previouslytaken-for-granted household item) should live and i was getting only about 2/3rd of my planned training done. I should point out that this is considerably more than steven, who is certainly the organised and tidy member of the household and has been cracking on with sorting his stuff (of which there is plenty) and took a complete break from training whilst doing so. This fits with his race season as he is about to hit the Kona prep.

Anyway when Jenny rang and invited me to go with her for a weekend trainig and checking out the IMUK course i jumped at the chance for a few days away and to get back to a 100% trainingfocus. Worst luck for us, we left sunny london friday afternoon and drove 4 hours north to a weekend of constant and at times torrential northern rain. both of us on our gleaming time trial bikes and she with carbon rimmed Lightweight wheels with cork brake blocks = no stopping in the wet, this did result in saturday morning driving around searching for a useable pool. luckily we found the manchester aquatics center. not bad! in the afternoon we rode a tough 5hrs on the course (with penty of detours and the comedic realisation that we were doing the 'loop' the wrong way round) .That's a 'value for money ' bike route, and can see a lot of people hitting the forst lap way too hard and paying on the third! It's the sort of constantly rolling terrain that you can quite easily muscle over when feeling fresh, but the power surges required to do so will make themselves known later in the ride! the rain was worse the folowing day, so we went and did a run on the run course. hmmm. another challenging route lined up for us!! we did figure that the with start and finish different locatins it had to be a net descent, but certainly enough runnig uphill to make that seem hard to believe.

despite teh poor weather stoping us riding onsunday, we did manage to tick off 19hrs of training over the weekend and jenny drove about 9 hrs on top of that before returning to work on monday morning. i bet she was fresh and chirpy ;o)

i've hung about in london a bit - catching up with a few friends, getting a massage etc - and today headed out to the university of surrey to deliver a presentation for a group of NLP practitioners who are on a training course being run by my friend Jeremy Lazarus. I met jeremy about 5 years ago when he was looking for trial subjects to work with as he was extending his work in Neural Linguistic Programming into the field of sports performace. The sessions that we did together then helped me a lot, i became very interested in the subject, didd a lot of reading around it and continue to use the principles that i learned from him today. we have stayed in touch since then and i help him out a s a guest speaker on these coursess fromtime to time. Aside from training master NLP practitioners to train others, jeremy now is something of a specialist in applying NLP principles for sports http://www.winningatsport.com/
its fun to go and talk to a group of non sporting people and good ractice for me to be less nervaous about speakig in front of a group. so when i'm making those acceptance speaches , i'll be set ;o)

this evening its back on a train to taunton, survey the state of the house (hopefully immaculate now that he's had a week with no distractions!) - perhaps even get aroundtoputting upthose shelves, and do my lasyt week of trainig before IM UK....

Ironman France Race Report

2010-06-29T11:17:00.004+01:00

Ironman France break-down: came into the race off the back of 2 consecutive half IM distance races. I’d raced hard at Wimbleball and still feeling a bit tender. Had no real expectations, just gain experience and check out the course.

The swim was a brutal nightmare from start to finish, after only about 200m i stopped in panic, had a look around( terrifying) but realized that despite my upright, non swimming stance; i seemed to still be moving at the same rate at the mass, and since there was no way out, put my head down and continued with the beating. both eyes were kicked in, then i lost my hat. the f*ckers started pulling my hair!! it was a hateful angry experience, trying to see and breathe through a mass of tangley hair (L'Oreal Paris never did get back to me about the "I’m worth it” campaign) I exited the water angry and ready to give up on the race, but was pleasantly surprised that my time not as dire as expected, that there were SEVERAL bikes remaining in the Pro ladies' rack. It was a nice day with an awesome bike route to be explored ahead. getting warmed up along the flat 20km at the start of the course there were a couple of girls to chase, keeping the pace and HR up. I'd been warned to expect a lot of drafting, which there certainly was, and with a 7m zone front to front, it really was a case of judging the legality of one's position of a pretty crowded stretch of the course. This works for me, paranoid about getting in trouble it means that i never really settle and keep pushing to pass riders rather than tick along at a safe distance behind them. When the climbing starts, it really does so in style - the steepest hill on the course is the first one that we encounter - its something like a 15% - anyway, requires riding out of the saddle. The day was hotting up, and i was hoping for an aid station soon. trialing another adaption to my nutrition, i had the gel mix up front(this time 6x strawberry and banana + 3x vanilla Powerbar gels in a 750 bottle, topped up with water, so more dense than last time) and a red bull + water mix in the rear holder for a caffeine boost. but a little oversight in that left me with no room to carry a drink of water, so i was reliant on drinking at aid stations on my way through. these were placed about each 30km, so i just about got away with it but not ideal as it did mean i had to slow at each one.
Feeling strong and riding well on the climbs which make up the first half or maybe 2/3rds of the course, i'd ridden into 7th position by the 'top'. Feeling great (thanks to the RedBull!) i was beginning to visualize running into the top 5 and prize money. The descending was fun, i thought i was being brave and trying to be smart by following the lines of riders ahead. there were a lot of local club riders out on the course (not participating) which was getting me p*ssed off until this point, but here they could prove to be a good guide through the descents, knowing the roads as they do. if only i could stay with them....like those other girls who flew by me. i was gutted ! all that work and they just sail past - i simply do not have the nerve, skills or experience to descend like that. so i did the best i could, determined to make up for it on the run, and get in some more practice at this!
the long down hill gave my legs a chance to recover; hitting the final, flat 20km home, head down and hard. the same stretch of road as the start offered more opportunity to pace off a group, but i found i was riding away off the front of the guys around me. they didn't seem to mind, in fact i think they were loving it, and occasionally one of them would ride by and give me a brief break from setting the pace. then i took a wrong turn at the last RAB, had to dismount to turn (doh!) before heading off back after them and to the finish.

into transition with another FPro, but with my feet still in shreds from the previous weekend’s race i'd determined to take my time and get my socks and shoes on properly. i would even have used a toilet - if there had been one! anyway i was pretty sure i'd catch her soon enough. perhaps a bit blasé, but i started the run feeling relaxed and running fast. at 5km mark i checked my pace - just under 4:24/km and it felt great. lost about a minute over the next 10k but still thinking wow - this is gonna be an awesome run split! i thought i just need to keep this up and i saw the potential of a run PB on this flat 4 lap out and back course. Of course by about half way through, i was beggining to wonder about this, but still running well despite the heat, had passed the woman from T2 (took longer than expected)and had a posse fro, Taunton cheering me each time i passed, which was nice because i am here all on my tod and so had no one to cheer me on. about 18km in the blisters that i'd picked up at HIM UK, and had been gradually re birthing inside my shoes, burst painfully bringing me to an instant stop whilst the searing pain courses though my body. ohF*ckohf*ckohf*ck i didn't know what to do; i sure as hell couldn't run on it, but walking would be equally as painful - and take much longer. i tried hobbling in a way that didn't hurt , but there wasn't one, and that'd brought the risk of injury with it too. i reckoned if i could somehow draw energy from the pain i could think of it like a sort of rush or stimulation rather than a negative thing and get me through. that worked and it became less noticeable, i was able to run and bear it but my pace didn't ever recover, i felt terrible and just wanted to get to the damn line as soon as possible. which really is what everyone wants, of course. in fact its the whole point of doing this which struck me suddenly as odd, and i began to feel sad that it would soon be over. that when i knew i was loosing the plot, needed several gels, drinks and to get out of this damn heat!

10hr 07, put me in 8th place. i felt i raced well, but failed on technical grounds to achieve the potential position that my performance on the day deserved. luckily these are things that can be addressed. For a start those foot screwing, piss-reeking shoes (i had been blaming my sibling's cats for the stench in my bike box!! sorry fat cat and skinny cat)are now in a bin on Boulvd D'Anglais, and i eagerly await the arrival of my new Saucony runners. and look forward to a trip out here to ride some of these type of descents in the future before having another stab at this one.

Nice_ prelude

2010-06-26T16:23:00.004+01:00

the french riviara - c'est magnifique! with Cannes and Monaco just down the coast, its hard to tell but Nice is teh scrfuuy cousin. It all looks pretty grand to me, a real smooth euro vibe. i'm in the lovely old town, but to say its a lovely hotel would be a lie. there's a dog barking next door and teh sheets are pre-stained. a 5 euro breakfast consists of a coffee, croissant, bread roll and jam. (actually, i discover that's what the french eat for breakfast, and 5E is relativley cheap. suffice to say, i'm getting through a lot of powerbar!)but the proprietors are so freindly and typically french (think Allo Allo meets faulty Towers)and since its just me in teh t_iny room i have no complaionts or cats ineed to swing. dont know how they manage with that dog though....

spent a very pleasant day on thursday riding part of the bike course with Kevin McKinnon from Ironman.com;. We headed out over teh Col de Vence in order to pick up the last 60km of the bike route - i wanted to see the fast descent. Glad i did though now i'm proper feared up. we did go a little further than i'd planned, not sure of teh wisdom of that but it was such a beautiful ride, and the last 40km were al down hill. kevin had a bee fly into his pants coming down off teh Col. Hilarious - but potentially fatal, so i guess i shouldn't laugh. he agreed it'd make a cool obiturary column. A true gent, to save my legs , he offered me his rear wheel on the last stretch back into town along the esturay. turns out that this is how a lot of them race it on race day. there's sudenlya lot of talk about drafting in this race. I guess i'm contributing to that now! surprises me with all teh hills, but i suppose that they're not so steep and being in a bunch maybe makes the desecnts easier...
gonna make it tough for me to make any ground back up on the bike if that's true- but there's nothing that worring about that can help.

likewise the swim start, or teh state of my running legs after last weekend - all i can do is go rack my bike, go through my pre race prep and then get out there and do it!

allez allez

Ironman 70,3 UK report

2010-06-22T19:48:00.001+01:00

Swim 1.9km 29.40
Bike 56mi 3:02.20
Run 13.1mi 1:33.27
Total 5:09.21

Position – 5th professional female (6th overall)

Midsummers weekend meant that when we left home at 4:30am, it was light .We were treaded to a beautiful peach coloured sky as we rattled through the Somerset lanes towards Wimbleball Lake, which had a fluffy white mist hovering over it at that time. Alex pointed out that meant the water had to be warmer than the air – and I should hope so. It was a chilly morning – the entire two hours between our early arrival and the start of the race were spent shivering!

20 min before kick off, we were allowed to walk down to the lake, which despite having grown up in the area, I’d never actually seem before. A deep water start, with the professional athletes arranged at the front, attempting a little bit of a swim warm up whilst we were corralled back to the line by the canoeists paddled. Everyone was shivering and so relieved when it was time to go. This format of start is god for me – soon after the froth of the pro start has disappeared, there is a feew minutes ( probably just tens of seconds, actually) of absolute chaos whilst the fast age group swimmers swim over me. As long as I keep my head down, keep cool and keep swimming as hard as I can, the pace of the surge reduces to a speed at which I can latch onto some feet belonging to someone who swims at a pace that I have to keep working to hold. A perfectly paced draft. Of course what frequently happens is that those feet will slow down after a while, but there’ll be other in the vicinity that I can cross to. On this occaision I soon became very dubious of my tow’s ability to swim in a straight line, but I was swimming too hard to take much of a look to the bouys and the low early morning sun just glared at me anyway…so I just kept checking for bodies each side.
I was pretty pleased to be dragging myself out of the muddy shallows in under 30 min, and sprinted up the start of the ramp to T1. The gradient of this exit route pretty soon put a stop to my sprinting, but I ran at full tilt, as I planned to be for much of the day ;o)

I grew up in this area, and often stay with my mother down here. I’d ridden the bike route a few times this year, and knew full well what was ahead as we raced up the first long climb out of transition. Rather a contrast to last weekend’s race on unfamiliar roads and riding solo for much of the time, I was totally prepared for what was to come, planned how i was going to approach each section and could see who was riding near me at all times. I’d fitted drops to the CD.01 the day before, really in preparation for IM Nice, but thought they’d give me a little extra confidence on this course too. The brakes weren’t working great, but being able to get in a more stable position for cornering does make a difference.

After a week of very minimal training, I was feeling fresh and excited by the challenge ahead on a course that I knew should suit me now that the wet part was out of the way.
I was trialling a different nutritional strategy - one 750ml bottle with 6 Powerbar gels (3 x caffeinated green apple+ 3 x lemon lime) diluted with water which I would swig at the top of each climb. I was also using the HR monitor again this time - I felt that the lack of guidance in Zarautz contributed to a loss of focus – as means of checking my max on the climbs (not too much above LT ,for too long) and keeping the intensity up on the rolling sections which actually make up about the first 35mi of each loop.
There was plenty of company out on the course all the way round to keep me pushing along, and being a home race I knew so many of them it was great! Before reachingthe hilly last section of my first lap I saw a familiar female rider, Yvette who had passed me on the run at Lanzarote to finish one place ahead in that race. I’d been kicking myself for letting her go by me ever since then, so I was seeing this race as a chance to redeem myself in that department! I worked to catch and pass her, and turned my focus to putting as much distance between us as I could, pushing the hills as hard as I could, and not letting up in between. I had a bit of a clumsy transit through an aid station (on my wrong side in the UK!!) and she managed to snael past again. That wasn’t in the plan! She was clearlt riding well over this terrain. I pushed on past again, but was conscious that she was not far off at any time.
As I began the second lap, down on the aero bars along the rolling main road, there was suddenly significant increase in number of people passing by. Where did they all come from? It was quite a large group and I, along with the other 3 or 4 blokes that I’d been riding near to for the first lap, got sucked up in a bit of a peloton for a few miles .There was an age group girl in there too – in the same predicament. Although it initially appeared that she’d come along with this ’bunch’ to be fair, she was making an obvious effort to get away too. I kept her in sight but in the end we just resigned ourselves to easing off a bit, hanging back, and rolling at the same pace as the crowd. When the hills came, we finally managed to get some space, but she got a bit more than me and I saw her disappear over the top of the Morebath hill away from me .Yvette meanwhile had made up more ground and in those last cruel climbs to the finish, she passed. I realised that I’d been lagging a bit -the men who I’d been with for most of the ride were now ahead and my Hr was getting a bit low at times. I really had to focus and remind myself to keep pushing. I drained the last of my gel-juice and gave chase, thankful that there really were only 4 miles and two of them were downhill (mostly). At just over 3 ½ hr elapsed race time I’d calculated that if I wanted to get under 5hrs now I’d have to run a sub 1:30 half. My pb is 1:24 - that was a rolling course though, nothing compared to what I’d been warned was ahead. However I knew I’d have someone who was sure to break 1:30 to pace me round so

As I ran into transition, the announcer was naming me as the fifth professional woman. With Yvette already in the change tent I made a very rapid change to run shoes to catch her as she so made her exit onto the run course together. I felt pretty confident that I could hold her pace, but knew it would not be easy. I had several concerns at the back of my mind already -one of which being that I needed to pee, the other that I needed to get some drink and a gel in soon, but resolved to put those to bay for the first lap and focus on holding this pace .The going was far from easy – steep banks and hills over varied surfaces meant lots of change of pace and stride – just how I like to run and clearly this suited Yvette too as she made the transitions between up and down hill smoothly. Both of our boyfriends were out on the course, which was brilliantly designed for spectators with all of its out and back ,dog legs and cross-overs (albeit totally disorientating for the frazzled athlete!) and they were giving us both huge support . It seemed that I knew a lot of people who had turned out to watch the race today and the encouragement I received was awesome. There were a few mile markers out in place which I used to get some pace splits – though on the terrain it didn’t make a lot of sense, I knew that at least we’d repeat the same lap 3 times. We ran the first mile in about 6:40 and the second under 7. The pace was manageable but painful. Out on the damn(the one flat section on the entire course!) there was a turn around with an aid station. We ran through too fast to grab a drink. I slowed a bit to take some water – it was hot – and a small gap formed .it was a small gap, but having eased off just momentarily, I just could seem to pick the pace enough to catch her again. That split second was enough for me to decide to back it off to a pace that I was more comfortable with, and that would allow me to use the aid stations. I was petty sure Yvette would ease up too once I was off her shoulder, though she’d still run faster than me. The way that we’d hit those first hills had sapped my legs and I could feel that the underside of my feet were blistered from moving in my shoes. Throbbing head from the sun and heavy legs, I was in a bad place – but still moving past people, still resembling someone in a race at least. It was just a matter of holding my pace, or rather effort since the terrain did not make for a consistent pace and getting to the finish .i was aware of the race time – I’d not break 5hrs…and depending on how fast the winner had gone had to get there as soon as I could if I wanted to take prize money.

I finished in 5:09 ,20 minutes off Bella, who won, and in 5th position. Admittedly I was initially very disappointed to have failed to stay with Yvette as was my goal,and visisted some pretty angry places during the last 6 miles of the race, in retrospect I did race as hard as I could have done all through the day. It was my best effort, I enjoyed giving it (well, that’s not strictly true when I think about that run!) and as ever I’m learning things along the way.

Post race I was looked after superbly by Aurelie of the TriTouch who was working the massage tent and had a chance to catch up with TBC Sportaid teammates Tristan (who came 10th, well done!) and Ryan whilst we waited for the awards. It would have been nice if these could be presented a little earlier in the day, but at least the sun was shining so the 5hour wait was pleasant – and there were no queues to leave the carpark by the time the prize winners were able to go home!

Back in Taunton I had a late curry and a beer with Steven. A huge blister on the sole of my foot throbbed all night and I ache so much that I hardly slept – but at least I did not have to get up and train! Today I’ve just been on a nice easy ride on the Blackdowns and now I’m packing my case for a trip to the south of France…..

TriGrandPrix _ Zarautz Race Report

2010-06-18T13:56:00.003+01:00

TriGrandPrix Middle Distance Triathlon, Zarautz.

Swim 2.5km 46:45
Bike 82.5km 2:40.51
Run 20km 1:24.02
Total 4:50.50

Position – 9th female.

I’ve now raced twice on mainland Spain and had a both occasions were crazy, chaotic, charismatic and highly enjoyable experiences. A little unnerving for those of us accustomed to the highly efficient and regulated handling that we receive in the UK or at an Ironman branded event, but totally refreshing. The enthusiasm that the lovely town of Zarautz and surrounding mountain villages raised for race day was absolutely awesome. The experience of climbing ‘the wall’ at km 70 of the route as the crowd of noisy bystanders parting to allow my slow grinding pursuit of the crest of the 25% incline, literally shouting in my face ‘Animo Animo’, banging drums and creating large plumes of cigarette smoke left a huge smile on my face and reminded me how much fun it is to race…like wise the hundreds of children that populated the town square with palms held out as we ran by.

I arrived two days prior to race day, Basque country, in the rain. I’m welcomed to Zarau by Dan and Jose, TriGrandPrix’s athlete care team who looked after us superbly through the event. A leisurely recce of 2/3rd of the bike course revealed a pretty hilly profile for the most part – with a nice ‘treat’ in the form of a 2km climb, referred to as ‘the wall’, with a gradient of about 25% in places. Having done NO research on this course, this was my first surprise. I was riding the new QR TT bike, with 808 wheels and a 39/25. It was the first time I’d ridden on the deep wheels kindly lent by my mate Kevin, and as we rode that afternoon the winds of an approaching storm picked up and scared the living shit out of me. That and the hairpin descents on wet roads. This clearly was a course that would favour the brave….with low gears!

My second surprise was to discover that the swim was a 2.5km point to point around from the next town .not that this had been kept a secret from me in any way. I just hadn’t read up much on the race. I practiced the course with Martina (Dogana) and Edith (Neiderfringer) the following morning. It took a while, but I was swimming easy and there’s something really appealing to me about point to point swims. The rest of the day was spent in my hotel room resting, looking out the widow at the rain, hoping that it’d clear up for the following day, eating ‘flan’ and generally worrying about stuff. However, I felt confident that I was recovered form Lanzarote and had a good race in me and that I’d overcome my fears and worries and just get down to it on race day. As long as I just ate enough flan.

Race morning came, and with a 1:45pm race start there was time for a full size breakfast, attend the long (and mostly superfluous) mandatory race briefing in the town hall, assemble race kit and wander down to rack in transition before being transported to the race start in the town of Getaria 3km up the coast. In true Spanish style, the buses arrived a half hour late, and in true Spanish style, no one really seemed that concerned. Of course, we got there with plenty of time to seek pre race toilet opportunities – no portaloos so the visiting female pro athletes each selected one of the vaults at the rear of the beach for their business before zipping up and warm up swim. We didn’t see hundreds of locals disappearing into the vaults, so either they knew something we didn’t about provision of facilities, or the Spanish have different pre race needs to the rest of us!

The ladies race started 15 minutes before the men, a beach start we lined up behind a tape and on the hooter sprinted to the water, dove in, and swam hard. There were probably not more than 60 girls in the race – and I’d guess that 20 of us wore the red caps of professionals. Of that 20 most would be within a few minutes of Leander Cave, who lead the swim as predicted, and a good handful of minutes clear of me and the competitive age groupers. This distribution meant for a pretty civilised start, and very conflict free swim, though the relatively wide gaps between groups combined with the sea swell obscuring the view ahead did make it unlikely to catch a faster group of feet ahead. I found myself catching 3 swimmers (2 green, one red hat) who were not quite fast enough to draft off, pushing the pace through and we dropped one. We swam together for most of the swim, each pushing the pace a bit now and then but not really wishing to swim on front until we sighted other swimmers (red cap) ahead. The fact that I was gaining ground on bodies at least encouraged me to keep working hard, though all hard work and no finesse was evident from the very bare looking bike rack that greeted my arrival into T1 (after an rather public and difficult exit through the surf!). Hey Ho…time to go!

The start of the bike route is up a pretty decent hill. Not a steep gradient, but certainly enough to get the lungs working over the first few km. It took me most of that climb to get my feet inside my shoes (not slick!) and I was on the descent before I was properly strapped up. The weather was holding and the roads were drying out fortunately so, aside from large piles of dung that the local police were out in force to warn us of on one of the switch-backs, the descents were pretty safe. I’m sure that someone lost it though – I came close a few times and I was riding pretty sensible! With the front of the ladies race going on some way ahead, and none of those behind likely to catch me, it was a pure time trial. Difficult for me to judge the effort levels here, having ditched my HRM as part of my ruthless packing protocol, and no-one in sight for reference – fortunately there were plenty of climbs to keep me focused. Aid stations were handing water in standard screw cap 33cl bottles – which don’t stay in my bottle cage, so by the second ( of 3) lap I was dry and pretty preoccupied with picking up fluids so that I could get a gels down. Near the end of the lap I was experiencing the light headedness, dissociation and ‘sparkly’ vision that I associate with hyperglycemia…and was becoming a bit concerned about being able to see the road well enough to avoid pot holes etc. I know that this sensation can pass and decided the best thing to do was to increase intensity and push through it, getting sugars in as soon as possible. The back of my mind was wondering if it were possible to pass out and lucky for me at that point someone called Lizel rode past me. That gave me a jolt – I didn’t want any age groupers kicking my butt, so I gave chase matched her pace and keeping her in my sight. She was a bit bigger than me and knowing the steep climbs were ahead, I felt sure that I’d pass her as long as I did not loose sight ( and got to the next aid station) before the ‘wall’. That got me along the flat coast roads back through the crowded and rowdy town of Zarautz and out the other side for our third lap. Having picked up some drink in a useable bottle, we began our acsent of ‘The Wall’. With standard gearing the only way up was a sort of zig zag up the road, which was lined on both sides by spectators with drums, mucic and plenty of cheering. I chased and passed my target – to discover that Lizel is a bloke- and worked to pick off the next rider ahead. After the triple summated climb, there’s just one more to the highest point, the town of Aia, and the 11km down to the finish. A good way to take on last gels and drinks and spin the legs for the run.

I joined the run course just before Miranda Cafree was making the turn at the end of her first lap (of 3) - this was brilliant fro me since it gave me a couple hundred meters to get my legs moving before she came along and showed me some pace. We ran together for about a km, just about the right level for me to maintain for a good run. On a small incline she picked it up just a little - enough though that I was not going to match it early in my race – and made some distance on me. However I focused on the 4:10 pace that she’d pulled me up to, knowing that was something I could maintain for 20km and more. The course was nice and varied -taking us a winding route through town, out along the estuary, over a rough timber boardwalk, along the promenade back to transition and finally into the town square past the finish for the start of the next lap. With so many tight turns, underpasses and uneven surfaces the course was a little slower than it might have been, but it was absolutely dead flat and with so much variety it was easy to keep focused. I enjoyed this part of the race most of all – I was running well and felt at last that I was involved in the competition, as I am sure everyone was made to feel by the tremendous enthusiasm of the supporting crowds.

With a variety of snacks and ice baths available after the race I soon felt refreshed, collected my bike and wandered back to the hotel for a clean up and chill out before the awards dinner later that evening. Also in the hotel were a host of big-name pro triathletes and it was fun to hang out a bit with these guys before, and after the race. It made for a superb quality field, some inspiring racing and although my top 10 finish speaks of an unremarkable race it was against a world class feild. It was also equivalent to an age group win - which i'd have been overjoyed at last year...and the prize that i picked up for that cheered me up a little :o)

team TBCSportaid

2010-06-09T17:30:00.002+01:00

its been a little while since my last post - that period immediatly after a race being typically both manically busy- lots of catching up to do on our return to the uk, with plenty of inter-county travel and relocation, preceeding a tentative return to training last week. It was good for me to get back to mum's in taunton and spend a bit of quiet time down there after a manic couple of days in london and able to focus on some solitary post race training. ot to mention unwrap several boxes off gear that had arrived from new sponsors of The Team Formely Known as ActiveInstinct in my absence. I'm all kitted out with Powebar bars and gels, plus an array of branded gear (including a powerbar washbag!), For Goodness Shakes recovery drinks and powder (that stuff is The Business!), a new Polar does-everything wrist-worn training computer, and a Sailfish wetsuit. Mum's loft rafters are groaning and she's havig nightmares about waking in her bed with half a ton of sports nutrition having fallen through the ceiling and smothered her!

Sunday evening, after a glorious weekend in somerset, which included a fast-paced preveiw of the IM UK course (pretty gnarly), it was back on the intercity to meet my new team mates in west london in advance of Monday's Press Launch. We arrived and discovered yet more packages of kit - it was like multiple christmas's all at once! - from Saucony and the team TBC Sportaid kit race/training kit.

The Team is currently going under the name of TBC SportAid in teh absence of title sponsor. Ryan has done an awsome job for us in drawing up sponsorship from all of the product sponsors named above, as well as from Profeet who will be providing us with their very advanced biomechanical shoe and bike fittings, prologo saddles, in a very difficult economic environment. The team concept works well for sponsors, with the diversity offered by the athletes on teh team, they get exposure spread wide across the range of triathlon, from sprint, itu to ironman. There'll always be one of us out racing, and hopefully many sucesses reported amongst the team this year.
However, the tough finiancial times really hit home when the main (cash) sponsor that had been in on the team had to backout of the agreement due to budget review shortly before the team launch. Negotiations had gone far along, and Ryan had obviously done a great job in securing sufficient finiancial commitemnt upfront to enable the launch to go ahead. So, until a new big sponsor comes along, we are TBC!

The launch day was great fun - from getting to know my new team-mates, which was really interesting to learn a bit about the world of ITU racing and life as a young up and coming triathlete, and meet the other long distance guys who i've known of from the ironman scene for the last year or two, we spent the morning in photo shoots, had a pub lunch and then in the afternoon had teh oppurtunity to speak toreps form our sponsors and the tritahlon press. you'll be able to read all about it in the next few weeks, i'm sure.

It was a fabulous expereince for me and after more than a year of working towards this with regular bombardment of Ryan's in-box amongst my other emailing,letter writing and exposure of my tri career thanks largely to the support of at Tri247, i finally feel like things are all happening for me....this is a large step in the direction of making a sustainable living out of being a triathlete.

so, now i just got to get out there and justify it!
better pack - my great mate Kev is gving me a lift to Stanstead for fligt to Zarautz at 4am tommoro....and unior apprentice is on tv.
im soooo torn.

IM Lanza 2011 - thoughts from the morning after/report

2010-05-23T11:16:00.001+01:00

quite happy with my swim - standing on that start was possibly one of the most exhilaratingly terrifying experiences since i stood on teh same beach on teh morning of my very first iromnan 4 years ago. the pros go off the same gun as the rest of the competitors, lining up with there feet in the water, with the hungry mob of 1500 150m or so up the beach ready to storm down to the sea. as it turned out, after the initial drumming an thrashing of 100 or so fast age groupers swam over me, i quite soon found myself being swept along in a space at about my own swim pace and stayed amongst them for teh first lap - was able to swim moderately hard with an occasional tow. looking around and occasionally seeing teh yellow and green 'pro' swim caps nearby, i felt reassured that i wasn't doing so bad, and actually really started enjoying the calm, clear ocean swim. i felt pretty good. and was pleased to glance my watch and see 1:03 as i stared the long run through transition, stripping my suit. (actual swim time 1:02:30 - a bit better than last year)
Transitions here are lengthy due to what i'd estimate as over 1km running - lucky for me as a pro most of this is without the bike, which is racked right near the exit, and as usual i find that i run through transitions a lot faster than most people are able to on exiting the water.

I started teh ride out of town a lot calmer than usual - and teh HR monitor ht i'd strapped onto my bars verified this - whereas the rush out of transition and first 30 min o the ride had my heart 10+ above target zone, this time it was about that much below. i felt uncommonly comfortable spinning a high cadence in lower gears and gradually bringing my HR up to the of of AeT and finally pushing it a bit on the first ascents away from the coast. I was pleased to pass two pro women in quite quickly on teh course. A bit of a bento box disaster as finding all my halved powerbars melted together into one lump, which i had to fish out and take messy bites off lost me some time and i was re-passed briefly - a good thing as that gives me something to push against, and by the start of fire mountain i'd re-passed and put enough distance on her not to worry any further.

As usual i find myself riding amongst the same male age groupers, i always shout out teh brits i see and receive lots of encouragement in all languages as i pass the guys on the hills! The conditions were perfect - light winds and relatively cool/overcats for most of the morning, I was feeling good on the bike and having no trouble keeping my focus and Hr up throughout the ride, high cadence, no chaffing and sunglasses wern't even annoying me as they had been in training! in the foothills approaching Haria - teh half way point, i pass Yvette - a british neo pro who i used t race Olympic distance. a good swimmer and very fast runner over oly and half distance - putting as much space between my rear wheel and her drove me on hard for the next hour or so! Climbed Haria singing Boys Dont Cry and passed another pro women in the process. I think she was Swiss, Alpine trained- so she got me on the pretty scary hairpins down - I wanted to go as fast as possible, but not die! anyway - i got her again on the next, and really nasty climbs between Haria and Del Rio. This is usually the low point o teh ride for me - its a grueling bit of road, after 3.5hrs of riding - but i'd prepared myself for it both mentally and by riding it in training. Just on teh very steepest nastiest bit of road on teh whole course i saw Hilary Biscay ahead, not looking so great and could not believe it when i passed her! that's something strange about racing in pro - those athletes who've i've read about in magazines, seen win races, listening to their awards speeches and becoming a fan and making a role model of is now my competitor. And, as i turns out, on a good day ( and bad one for her) might just find myself passing. i was already working hard at that point, Heartrate above LT and teh shock/excitemnt tipped me over since from that point on a tight knot of cramp formed in my stomach. The majority of the return is aero riding so i just could not shift that cramp. Lucky i was able to continue to ride through it - just not really wanting to eat or drink anymore. It was fortunate, i thought that i'd had so much food the previous day - though that may well have been the cause of this gastric disturbance. Pushing on with the fear of loosing my positions gained i rode solid all the way back, encouraged by the information that i was 4th and 22 min down (no idea if that was true, but it inspired me!) and that i was looking at beating my target split of 5:50. in fact the ride had gone so well that in the final 10 miles i became totally paranoid about puncturing! I hit T2 in under seven hours race time - so had 3:30 to run the marathon and still make my target of 10:30hrs, and i had not planned that i'd need that long, but things mostly dont go all to plan in ironman!

I faffed around a lot pulling on compression socks in transition - having made the decision to wear them to preserve my legs for my next races i'd not put spares in the bag to ensure that i actually did. i though that this extra sitting time might help ease my stomach cramps, but it did not. i felt pretty awful running out of there, but i was at least running quickly - 4:30 pace, which i eased off to my target of painful 4:40s. soon into after about 4km cat Morrison came steaming by, asked if i was doing ok. i was quite honest and said No. she told me she'd lost half an hour with a broken chain, and by the looks of it was running angry.of course she went on to run through the whole field for the win. Avery exciting race. The course consisted of one long lap (19km) and two short(11.5). After about 40 min of running i'd managed to release the knot of gas from my gut in the form of hilariously raucous flatulence and started looking for a gel at the next aid station. Nada. ran on to the next - none again. This started to freak me, and on retrospect when my weakness showed itself. I knew/believed that i couldn't keep that pace going on empty for long without some carbs in, and knew i was being chased down. It was hard to stop the negative thoughts at bay, a i became increasingly desperate at each station, and quite angry. a sure sign that i needed some sugars. i was just about hanging on at 4:50's but feeling it slip away from me. even after i found some gel, and filled my pockets, i couldn't really recover my attitude. When Yvette appeared from behind, i went with her a bit and found she was running my target pace 4:35, and it felt perfectly within me - i've trained at that pace a lot - but i just didn't want to run beside her, so let her go, falling back to my easy pace watching her slowly pull away. I guess i was just settling for it. Another woman went by and, again - once she told me she was AG i was relieved and let her go even though her pace really was not much quicker than mine. I was glad of the brief pick up but i was in a world of pain and just wanted to finished, and focused on holding 3:30 marathon pace. given how well my running has been going since the foot injury, i was disappointed not to have run to my potential, and i think that mental strength is what let me down - i guess i was just so enjoying the experience of my first Pro race, and not being last, that i felt pleased with my performance without knocking out that 3:15. Next time i wont have that excuse to make!

the club la santa lifestyle...

2010-05-14T11:05:00.003+01:00

This time next week i'll be wearing a plastic competitors wrist band, handing over my transition bags and racking the Goblin (AKA the Mean Green Machine - naming bike seems to be a 'girl thing'; i thought it was just my daft sister, but I'm guilty too - and encouraged by female friends) on what is usually the busy beach -front road at Peurto del Carman. This time though, i'll be racking next to the likes of bella, tara norton, hilary biscay, cat morrison...to pick just a few of this year's impressive line up, and wearing a wrist band that distinguishes me as a professional athlete. Whilst hugely exciting to be finally here, about to measure myself against some real quality athletes, it's pretty daunting and I have to keep reminding myself that aside from the two -digit race number i'll be wearing it still just the same race for me. I've raced well here twice as an age grouper, placing top 10 overall each time, and know and enjoy ( most of) the course. I've put in plenty of decent training since my injury at the beginning of the year and my targets for this race are based on personal improvement rather than ranking. I've not raced for a long time, so have no real measure of where that training has got me, but this is where faith in myself, my coach and the process comes in. Even so it's hard not to get a bit freaked, here at Club la Santa where we now find ourselves bumping into famous pro triathletes at every turn...and of course they all look dead fit, tanned, purposeful and confident. I'm doing my best to give off the same vibe, dedicating plenty of time to the sun lounger and swiss ball - but it's kinda hard in the pool (pro ironman athlete soup) where there's nowhere to hide my inferior splashings around! But enough of that sort of thinking for now, Carritt.
It's been a great week here - good to be located at this side of the island this week so the hilly north portion of the island is more accessible, and it does not require such a lengthy ride to go and work out on the more challenging climbs (and descents) of the ironman route. i've been using the flat 2.8km loop of the lagoon for some good pace measured runs, as well as the groovy blue track. The gym is well equipped and i'm still using it 2-3times weekly, albeit with reduced load on each of my exercises. the pool is glorious on a sunny afternoon, though we have been in the habit of using it when it opens at first light when its less populated and we can be fairly sure of at least a lane between 2 of us, if not a lane each. of course the reason for the emptiness at this time is that is pretty cold, which i am sure makes the water slower! today with the wind up, my teeth were chattering after an hour and i quit my set. Observing the absence of the low body-fat star triathlete troop in the water this morning I cursed my poor planning, but reflected that this aside for the facilities here, its a great opportunity to watch and learn for me! With commitment and hard work anyone can get fit - the pros commit more, work harder, get fitter,of course - but what really sets the best above the good is the mental aspect, focus, belief, positivity and knowing when its better to wait for a bit of sunshine before committing to a long swim set rather than sticking rigidly to a plan.

Apart from Steven and Russ, who do most of their training in tandem with me joining them very occasionally but more often just for meals, i've had good company in a group from Thames Turbo's race team which included Jon from Powerbar and his wife, Aurelie a masseur (The TriTouch) who specializes in triathletes. I enjoyed a couple of pacey rides with the boys Jon, Nick and Tom - the latter pair are short course stars with a style of riding which i'd describe as hard on the flats and machocistic on hills! Oh I did enjoy the change after 2hrs though ;o). Through the week Aurelie has been a super star - i received very special treatment in the form of 4 massages through the week, interspersed between her dance, aerobics, pilates and jumping around classes, and feel great for it. I'm a little worried that now i'm addicted! As their first time on the island, they all really enjoyed it, and i am hoping to persuade them to join us again early next year on an EverydayTraining camp which is in the planning watch this space! (www.everydaytraining.org.uk)

I went and introduced myself to Isabella, the race organizer who is a lovely lady with a genuine and fun sense of humour. I appreciated her making time for a chat despite how busy she must be right now - the WTC rule changes and the additional entries that she's taking in teh pro field as a result of people missing IM SA because of the ash cloud. i also met Bob Foy - sports photographer and friend to the pros who choose this race, and we have arranged to do my first photo shoot on sunday. That's pretty exciting - who secretly does not dream of that?! Better clean my bike, and invest a bit more time on the sun deck and swiss ball !!

ridin' the keen green mahine

2010-04-30T14:22:00.004+01:00

the piped muzak in McD's is driving me mad...gonna have to bolt v. shortly, so this is just a quick update and a chance to post this piccie of me, my new bike and my new EverydayTraining kit, in the sunshine, in lanzarote. Ahhh. life's good!

the rescheduled flight was totally hassle free, we did not get stiffed for excess bags and the hotel are not even charging us for the days we missed of our booking. weather is good, though we have been treated to some of the stronger winds i've experienced on this island. good practice - albeit a little scary.

last week freshening seems to have paid off, and i'm feeling pretty good in my training. just 3 weeks 'til race day and we are trying a long taper this time around, so i'm not piling on the hours - just making sure i hit target paces. we have a nice little group here now at Arena Dorada (basic, clean, friendly and well situated budget hotel. perfect) though the boys ARE piling on the ride hours whilst i stick to my schedule so much of the time we just meet for meals.

riding the new bike (the mean green machine) is such a pleasure. hardly can tell if there's a headwind or not - its THAT aero. a few tweaks still to get it perfect set up for me, but that's part of the fun. and it sure gets some attention! i have to think where i stop unless i want a conv. about the bike ;o) but i have to admit, it's very pleasing that it attracts such admiration. i just need to get the legs worthy of it!

JFT

2010-04-20T18:51:00.028+01:00

Having not raced Ironman New Zealand has meant that i've trained solidly through 5 months since Kona last year. An averge of 31 hours per week through that period, which includes 3 multi-day long-haul flights and travel to and from epic camp and taupo with zero training logged, as well as 2 months off running with a stress injury. Compared to an overall average of 26 training hours per week last year (oct-oct) that represents a decent block of base work which should serve as a good platform for a pretty crammed race schedule that i have ahead of me this summer.

With regards to my current state of fitness - or apparent lack of - Scott says that as a rule, after 2-3 weeks of 'max average' training load most people could use a recovery week. With me and this lifestyle, i rarely achieve that condition before circumstances (travel, events and relocation) dictate a lighter day or two, resulting in a lower volume week.

On the left, here's a chart pulled from my training log for this season (since oct '09), which shows my hours for each week. The pink horizotal band, highlights the range 27-36hours which is what i've defined as my 'max average' based on last years' training.
You see 4 weeks of getting back into it after Kona, then we're off to Western Aus as the british weather begins to get a bit chilly. Steven is preparing to race IMWA and i'm making the most of the environment to get back to full training. We have about 3 weeks there and i'm training at or above 'max average' until race day and the travel to New Zealand that follows - so a lighter week. having settled in Christchurch, to more weeks in/above this zone and then lighter week in preparation for epic camp. epic camp is to weeks of training way over that zone, and is followed by another lighter week to get over that. doing good, so far - a pretty neat pattern.
Then, with epic a memory, the next month is a string of 3 high vol weeks - right up until the time when i would have tapered for IM NZ. But - due to a stress injury i withdrew my entry and continued to train through for another 2.5weeks at the same volume until i sold my bike, the race and our return to the UK forced a lighter week (spread across to calendar weeks). Back to training in somerset and another 4-5 weeks at max average volume. so, since epic camp, the pattern changed from 2 weeks high + 1 week lower, to 5 week blocks of high volume before being disturbed by travel - an apparently large increase in sustained training pressure.

It is appealing to look at this and say that i have some 'right' to be tired now, which is undoubtedly what i am, and this is a good time for a bit of recovery prior to getting down to some race prep in Lanzarote. No doubt about the latter part of that sentence, but the progressive training volume is not necassarily a good indicator of training pressure - afterall, the aim of training is adaption to increasing burden. this is acheived through the application of increasing burden, right? so to train 'at or above' a certain tolerance is a moving goal post: as the training takes effect, the tolerance level increases...so my 'max average' weekly hours range based on previous year's data may no longer apply. at the beggining of the year, it may have been necassary to step it back every 3rd week - but as i get fitter, perhaps every fourth, then fifth week is enough. The second graph shows the average to date of my training hours since oct - read against this, the pattern looks quite different - with more burden during the return to fitness stages (post kona and in bussleton) than there has been in the last couple of months. Of course the numbers don't tell a whole story - i can record and measure what goes 'in' but i cant really demonstrate the effects - observing an (apparent - afterall its never certain that we're not on teh edge of collapse or injury) increased tolerance to training volume is one thing, but the effectiveness of that increased training is only demonstrated in improved performances.

where am i going with this? well, it's fun to look at the data, and make interesting graphs - it passes some time when i'm not supposed to be out on the bike...but for me, i usually come back to the fact that its just numbers. i choose the variables that i record and there are many significant variables that cannot be quantified - such as quality of diet and supplimentation, sleep, frequency and nature of theraputic treatments, environmental or emotional stresses, stretching and flexibility regeime. So i'm playing about with only partial infomation, trying to see a pattern or paint a picture that represents my level of fitness for some reassurance, i guess. because i feel tired, and i dont want to. i want to be ripping it up.

some of the Epic camp souvenier clothing i have has the letters JFT stamped on it. I asked Gordo what that stands for - he told me ' just f*ckin train'.
yeah.

Not in Lanzarot -e

2010-04-20T06:58:00.023+01:00

its been a little while since i last updated...and since i'm 'hangin about' for a few days in london in anticipation of our reschedule flight to lanzarote, seems like a good time to spend catching up.

the three weeks spent in somerset flew by once back into the taunton routine. the signs of with spring pushing through the end of a harsh winter and made cycling out on exmoor, the quantocks and blackdowns a real pleasure - most days. there were to occaisions when i curtailed my ride due to fear of hypothermia. NOT just being a softened fair weather cyclist these days - it really is a safety concern when cyclig alone, if you find your self hammerig ith clenched jaw and grip on handle bars just to keep warm at that stage you are too cold to drink, eat or stop and change a puncture. i honestly oudl have called my mum for a pick up on one occaision, but i was cold beyon being able to handle a mobile phone. or speak. after that paticular morning ride, i got straight into bed, fully clothed plus woolley hat and hot-water-bottle, cup of tea and central heating on full throttle for an hour before i was warm. predictibly i then fell asleep - in the meantime the weather cleared for a beautiful evening run high up on the quantocks.

life's pretty simple when i'm there - the 33.3m pool is 150m over the road, and each morning beteen 7 and 9 is time for lap swimming. as is the case in all of the local pools i've used, and i'm sure most of those that i havn't, there is a crowd of regulars, who i soon got to know. Once folk relise a) that you are going to swim a lot faster than them, and NOT stop at each end b) that you are going to be there every morning but c) you are not actually disturbing their swim as long as they dont stand and chat in the middle of the lane and d) that you are actually a very friendly person (most mornings!) .....i think they enjoy the interesting new feature of the morning session and make every effort to ensure that you get a good swim. I's arrie each morning just after 7am, long warm up until the pool got quieter at around 7:45 then swim my set. after a cool-down i'd usually spend 10-15 minutes chatting with the various interesting locals before heading home at 9 for my breakfast!

next, each day would be either a ride or gym session with runs scheduled for later in the afternoon. liek the pool, i'd pick quiter times in the gym - late morning or mid afternoon (sometimes both!) and here again you soon recognise and get recognised by the regular local users, and by the end of the 3 weeks i was on chatting terms with a few people there too.

for my rides of course during the i'm mostly on my on - which suits me great. either i have some pretty specific hr rate based interval work to do on the flatter routes which tend to be more major roads (that's by somerset strandards!), hill reps or i just want to ride long and explore. i can stop when i choose to, without having to spend time debating it or find a cafe...and can listen to tunes if i feel in the mood- crossing exmoor on a clear sunny spring day with some nice twirly trance in your ears is just majic. However, at the eekends there is the option to hook up with a group form somerset RC tri club for their 2hr fast ride to Willand and back over the hills - i made use of this when possible as it as a good chance for hanging on in a strong group, as well as making useful local contacts with knowledge of the local tri scene.

options for running are just as good - i have a 10.5km road loop around teh back of town that has become my standard run-off-teh-bike, it can be modified for 40 or 30 min run too. for my intervals i use the flat canal path or one of teh schools tracks, then there are various length routes with a few more hills around the lanes that i'll do for a longer run ...or hop in the car and drive to the foot of either of the sets of hills that overlook the town and get lost for a few hours off-road.

mum and i get into a nice groove - taking care of each other's meals when either of us have busy days, and making an effort to switch the computer off and sitting down to watch some TV together at the end of the evening. Aside from that we pretty much stay out of one another's way and go about our on business. i sleep well in my own room and sometimes even get a chance to nap when the house is quiet in the afternoon. in all its pretty close to perfect enviroment for my lifestyle and enable me to fully focus on the training i need - albeit a little isolated to make it sustainable long-term. More on this later...

London is a total contrast! i've enjoyed the buzz of living in this city for most of the 13 years that i have done so - but now, as a transient visitor it just seems like everything is either more unpleasant, rushed or hard work than it needs to be. I have a large netork of friends in london, and always enjoy being able to catch up with the tri club and the various people who generoulsy look after my chiropractic and sports massage needs when i'm in town (thanks Back to Health and The TriTouch) There are some great training opportunites in london if you are 'in the know' - and having been a serious triathlete trainin in london for 5 years, i consider myself to be - but none are 'easy options'. for example - for a club bto get any pool time for a coached squad session, this must be out of hours. so its a choice of getting up at 5am for a 6am session, or home from the 8pm session after 10 - or both. Fair enough when your working a 9-6 desk, and getting paid - that's about all you can do anyway - but if i have 3-5hr more training to fit in the day, its not ideal. Another factor is geography: though all of my friends and sports thearpists are 'london based' - that definition actually covers about a 15 mile radius from south tottenham, where i stay. i've always commuted around town by bike and thought very little of it - but i've easily cycled over 100 miles, carrying a back pack of kit and locks, just getting between A, B, C and D since friday (it's tuesday and i have a couple more errands today, too!). The result is that there never seems to be enough time to fit everything in, and i'm feeling disproportinaltly drained for a relatively small amount of training, and have effectively ground to a halt with the news that our flight to lanzarote as cancelled. I simply do not have the energy for any extra time battling to train in london, which has prompted me to question my current level of fitness* and take a break. Well, my bike and much of my training gear is boxed up to fly anyway!
*(i intend to talk about this in a following post)

i know that Steven suffers the same difficulties in london too, though he is much better at making things as conveineint as possible by choosing a local gym, minimising social engagements and using public transport or walking as a means to relax. He is in his sisters basement 10miles away from my brother and sisters sofa so e can go several without seeing one another - which doesn't help. So, he came up with a neat solution: buy a house in taunton!

yes - returning to the subject of the virtues of life in my somerset bolt-hole...when steven came to visist and run the taunton marathon he also arranged for us to look at a couple of houses, one of which seemed ideal. we made an offer, it has been accepted and a sale agreed yesterday! so, being 'stuck' in london a few extra days has really got a silver lining :o)

that said PLEASE let the winds be doing the right thing for a take off on saturday...

zummerzet

2010-03-29T11:31:00.004+01:00

Here’s the ‘before ‘picture of the Carritt sisters at last weekend’s Orion 15. I was pleased and amazed at how well I ran this – felt light and fast and strong finish despite having done only one 90 min run since my injury – which itself was a very testing experience for my legs. I was convinced that I would find my muscular endurance very much wanting on this hard 15 miler. It’d certainly be over 2hours of running – and I was genuinely concerned about making the 9 miles cut off at 90 min. Turns out that endurance was no problem. Perhaps it was the more forgiving surfaces, perhaps you don’t loose as much fitness as you might suppose, perhaps it’s down to the fact that I’m a few kg light at the moment ( god knows how!) perhaps it was just such fun that I forgot to get tired!! There’s nothing quite as exhilarating for me as tearing through a forest on a cold winter day, splattered head to toe in mud with a bunch of other nutters all pushing you along at pace. Just a couple of hundred metres into the race, my shoe was sucked right off in a large ‘puddle’ of mud, forcing me to turn against the hordes of the race to go back and retrieve it! You know its gonna be a tough course when it steals your shoes!

I enjoyed gloating at my sister, too, who had a shocking run. She may be able to knock out a sub 38min 10k n the road, but she simply is not used to and does not enjoy the mud and uneven surfaces of cross country. Finishing 15 min behind me, I had a good laugh at her and called her a lazy cow….she was in a right moooood. I have a feeling that I am going to get seriously ‘served’ in two weeks when she comes to Taunton for the half marathon!

On my arrival in Taunton this week, I was greeted by my mother who has kindly driven through Taunton traffic (the worst!) to collect me from the station which is all of 1km away! It was raining though an I did appreciate that :o) When we get in , like christmas morning, I’m straight away looking for the packages that have been awaiting me. First is a load of sports nutrition products from Powerbar. The package was mostly comprised of boxes of the different types of bars that they now make - I’m used to the classic, solid chewy Powerbar that is typically distributed at Ironman races, but was interested to try out some of the different higher protein options that are available, as well as the more natural Harvest bars, so I have a good selection. I will be using these instead of my home made date and nut bars for the rest of the year (they sent enough!), assessing their merits in the following critical areas:
On- bike openability
Mouth feel/chew time/number of bites /bar – eatability
Hunger satisfaction (saitiability)
Energy boost/release rate
Taste
Flatulance factor
Nutritional balance and number of alien sounding ingredients
Powerbar have not asked for this feedback – but that’s just the sort of thing that keeps me entertained on long solo rides, so they’re gonna get it!
I’ve also got a stash of Ride shots, which I know are great, and their gels – again I’ve always favoured these for my races, and various protein powders for when I step up the training load/can no longer afford real food.

The other box …tat dad a…my new bike! A Bright Green painted ( yes ,that was an extra surprise for me, having been anticipating a white frame!) Qunitana Roo CD.01. in my room – and mine! The detailing on the frame is absolutely gorgeous and is currently being admired by the guys at Bicycle Chain in Taunton who are sawing it to size and running the cabling through the frame. I admit that I was a little concerned as to whether I’d be able to find a anyone in a local bike shop familiar with this sort of highly specialist bike, but the mechanic, at Bicycle Chain has worked on a number of tri bikes and after our first meeting I was totally reassured. In fact, it is ready for me to collect tomorrow morning ….and I’ll take it out for a spin. If it’s dry.

The weather this weekend has improved over what it was earlier this week, and I’m just back form a great ride with 6 guys, associated with the Somerset RC Tri club who are doing their final training preparations for the Etape of the Tour of Flanders next weekend .It was a fast paced ride, as i expected, but such friendly bunch they made sure that I stuck with them by easing up over the tops of the hills..and one or two hefty shoves on the backside if i lost the back of the bunch!! Despite my slower pace, I have been invited to join them regularly which will be good for my riding. I think that actually they appreciated my presence as it tempered the testosterone hammering that they normally serve to one another. Alan commented that this had been the nicest group ride that they’d managed. Which of course I take full credit for ;o)

monkey

2010-03-20T07:31:00.002Z

just over week back in the uk now, and fortunatly it has taken that long for the weather to sort itself out and resume it's proper, wet grey british behaviour! Up until yesterday it has been glorious glorious in a cold way, of course - but really only 2 pairs of socks + over-shoes cold. I'm joking to all my friends here that have been complaining about how terribly cold and icy the winter has been that it doesn't seem so bad to me, but the shocking state of the roads is evodence enough that it has been very harsh. twice i have punctred trying to leap pot-holes bigger than a bike length and the lotte's brand-new Claud Butler training bike that Lotte is loaning me has certainly been throuh the rattle test! She picked it up on friday evening ( teh day that i returned) and kindly offered it to me to ride for teh week. It's kinda heavy, 7 speed, but a bit more versatile than my fixie for social riding. Its done +500miles with me since then - reckon its already due for the '6-week tune up' that Evans offer!

i've really enjoyed being back in london - as usual it's all go trying to catch-up with as many people as possible - friends, teh tri club, massage and chiro appointments, interviews and meeting up with a couple of new athletes that i've been coaching . Training does tend to be a bit random during these periods - partially through access to facilies, but mostly that these engagemnets take priority before i dissapear to the peace and quite of somerset and it can be difficut to fit everything in .That said, many of my friends train in london, before of after work hours, so i get to kill two birds with the same stone :o) It is really refereshing to train with these guys again -in paticular its great to get out and ride with Gabriel - so competative, but charming with it, he is always up for a hard ride. And to swim with stephen T - same thing the guy is fit and super keen. For runing motivation i have my sister Lotte is in great running shape and we had a great cruise inteval session thursady lunchtime - she was certainly pushing me (and i her) and it was quite interesting that during those LT efforts, we found our stride, breathing and even heartrate (yes, really) fell into sync.

The week has been slightly marred by putting my opposing thumb out of action having used it to stop a car on monday night. david bro' kindly pointed out that i had reverted to a more lowly primate status as he whatched me struggling to chop onions single handed, before reverting to just eating the whole damn thing in one lump. and now i understand why monkeys dont wear cloths with zip fastenings...and never hasten to assist with punture repairs, either! As i rolled over the bonnet of her car, the season ahead of me flashed through my mind. 'shit. how long am i gonna be in plaster because of this???' i was asking myself - am i writing off lanzarote?... and 'why has she got so many cushions in the car ? - no wonder she cant f*ckin' see where she' going!!' (i think it was probably her airbag, on reflection!). luckily i landed on a rucksack full of dirty kit ....and that thumb took the full load. swimming, riding and gym with sore and rigid thumb is pretty ridiculous, but i gave it a go and it wasn't so bad - jsut easy swims and use the fixed (trying to avoid pot holes) fortunatly i'm pretty sure it is not broken because its feeling better each day and hasn't hampered me as much as i'd feared it would.

so, with 50 (!!! - i just added that up. oh my god) hours of training in the last 7 day period, kipping on a sofa plus a good deal of early mornings/late evenings and rushing about town in between...i'm pretty shelled and looking forward to getting outta this crazy city!!

I know it woudl be nice to spend a little longer here and ctahcup properly with more folk, but at the same time the chaotic nature is unsustainable whilst trying to train through - usually i visit during periods of post race down time and can relax a little more- and the 'freshness' of training with these guys again would soon wear off.

AND i cant wait to get to mum's because she has my new QR bike and a whole stash of Powerbar goodies waiting for me there.

blog update from IMNZrace site

2010-03-08T08:07:00.003Z

Our experience of Taupo this year has been a whole lot more enjoyable than it was in 2009! For a start we are all on functioning limbs, and though between us Steven and I were still one Ironman short of a pair, this non participant is not only able to manouver unaided but has been enjoying some short runs along the beautiful lakeside paths, that we had not even had a chance to notice last time we were here. The weather has been gorgeous ( compared to the cold drizzle of last year) which makes a huge difference and we are staying with the warmly hospitable family of David (friend from Epic camp) in their holiday home. Which just happens to be directly on the run course! They missed their grandkids joining them to follow the race this year, so I did my best to make up for that as we got out the paints and boards to make supporters signs.

As ever, race day itself was a long, hectic whirr…lots of rushing around and clock watching. Steven had a superb swim – out of the water in 51 minutes, and on the road for my camera in 57 – exactly as a large truck passed between us, I I almost missed him. At that point, I believe that he was the 6^th age grouper on his bike, and was officially leading his age group. With several months of very strong cycling in him, I had high hopes for another Busselton-esque domination of the bike course – with allowance for a certain former commonwealth champion cyclist (Illingworth), also riding his age group. Sure enough by the time I saw Steven again at the start of the second lap (halfway), Illingworth had caught and passed Steven and put 3 minutes into him. Steven was on 4:40 pace however, which was really exciting! visit steven's blog for his account of his race. Russ and David passed not long afterwards. In fact, ‘our guys’ Steven, David and Russell were pretty close together – especially by the mid point of the run – with a few place changes along the day. Russ was flying and David got himself a Kona slot! They were passing by not far behind the leading women – a race that I enjoyed watching though was disappointed for Gina, who, having chatted several times at the QEII, I now consider a personal mate of mine! It’s not like she talks to many people, I’m sure ;o)

I was watching that race with interest of course since it would have been my race too – though in reality I would have been unaware and unaffected by the changing lead ahead. Jo Lawn raced superbly, and broke her own course record – 9:14. This super fast time meant that although both the first two females had pre-qualified, the female pros in ‘roll down ‘ positions for a Kona slot were ineligible to claim them because of the 5% ruling – their race times were not fast enough! So, of the 3 available slots, none were claimed. Only one of the male slots was taken, too. It will be interesting to see how the year of racing pans out for the Pros, and what Kona will be like assuming this pattern is reflected in all races. It could be a very small field of Pros, but I suppose a better quality one.

Well, its all over and we are now about to start our rather drawn out journey back to the UK. After a final long ride – from Wellington to Taupo - on my Orbea, I handed her over to a new owner on Friday. I hope he enjoys riding her as much as I did – and that he is ale to keep her in the manner to which she is accustomed – about 500km a week, of late! I was a little sad to see Obi go, but treating myself to a good look over of the Quntana Roo’s expo stall and demonstration model of the CD01 that awaits me at home softened the blow. As will the pleasure of a bike-free journey home and the several hundred pounds that we wont have to give to Quantas for the excess weight off luggage!

It’s been a lighter training week – despite the long ride _with a definite air of being on holiday. I think that I needed a bit of a break after a pretty solid month n Christchurch…and its unavoidable really with all the traveling now…but I should be freshened up for another decent 4 week block in the UK. Weather permitting!

Goodbye to Christchurch

2010-02-25T23:10:00.002Z

With less than a week remaining of our stay in Christchurch, I've been reflecting back on this winter spent her. Although not exactly as per plan for me with the foot injury forcing my withdrawal from Ironman NewZealand, it has been an excellent period of training. The foot injury has enabled me a great block of focus on swimming and gym work which are the hardest things to keep going consistently when i am traveling between locations. with the cycling that i have been able to do on top of this, i've had a good run of big hrs weeks, but able to keep the 'load' in my legs manageable by not running. I expect that this 2 month 'base' in these areas will have set me up well for the rest of the year (even though my swimming is getting slower by the day, it seems!) - and it may even be a good thing not to be racing now and loose all this fitness in post race recovery.

Right now, I'm close to tiring though - this week has been a right muddle with my switching sessions around to better suit my mood, which is a sure sign that I'm fatigued and motivation is waning. Hardly surprising since this will be like a fourth consecutive week of 40+hrs. However this is my last chance for this sort of consistency for a while - ironman week and the period of travel and relocation afterwards will make training a lot more difficult to organise and force a bit of a lighter load, so i'm keen to keep it going. It's also giving me a real feeling that our trip to Taupo will be a 'holiday' i can take a few days to relax and support steven in his race.

Until i get to my mum's in Taunton ( on the 22nd march) access to gyms in paticular, but also pools, is going to be difficult. Since Qunitana Roo have delivered the new CD 0.1 to somerset (cant wait to get home!!), i will not be bringing the Obi back from new Zealand so will be without a bike for a week or so. This is good timing for a short break from cycling, since i have averaged 370miles/week since arriving in NZ!

And I now have the building back of my running to focus on. Once in Taunton i can get in a nice routine, with only the weather to contend with. I am also able to eat well and sleep a lot when i am there. Half marathon targeted for april 11th as a 'completer' perfect to begin my preparations for lanzarote, with a month on the island to follow.

So it has been a fab winter down under -and we are pretty confident of returning ( so much so that steven has left a pair o wheels!) -but i'm also really looking forward to returning to blighty (brrrr), catching up with friends and family and hitting the trails on my own two feet.

For now, though its time to slap on the F50, and go sweat out them intervals on my bike!

olivia saves the day

2010-02-19T06:57:00.005Z

Each morning I get up at 5am in order to check my emails during the last hours of UK office time, before starting my own day with a 6am swim. E-mail of the day today from one of my athletes, Olivia, included this golden quote:

".......Got arrested by the Army this morning for running on a live firing range. They let me off with a warning for my first offence. Apparently they were just about to let off a javelin missile when they saw me panting up the hill. But they were nice about my running: we thought you were a soldier but you went up that hill too fast.........."

Brilliant :o)

The sun has returned to Christchurch (at last).... post swim, i found myself in the gym, staring alternatly between my gym log book, the squat rack in front of me and the golden Port hills outside. Legs felt completely empty and i was ru-ing my 5 am admin routine. No motivation to lift that sucker even once, let alone repeatedly. Perhaps breakfast and a nap would help? or perhaps just a good dose of vitamin D was what was called for?

so, leaving my gym gear there to ensure that i DID return to get that session done later, i walked out into the daylight. 4 hours riding in the hills, every now and again the image of Olivia running through the trenches of Dorset pops into my head, no need for the mp3 that i'd packed or motivation today - and i was totally rejuvinated and ready to hit the gym.
(managed to squat52.5kg - my own body weight)

30 min run on the treadmill to finish the day, and felt pleased with myself for turning the day around. It goes to show what a good humorous start to the day can give you.

(nearly) a year of everyday training

2010-02-16T18:48:00.004Z

i've just finalized our order for a batch of EverydayTraining cycle kit, and feel quite pleased with myself - i really like the design and it's going to be great to have our own look and the athletes that we work with wearing it around the UK - and in america too. yes, we have an international clientele!!

It was just under a year ago when steven was approached by our first triathlete in request of coaching, at the time i was writing training plans for my sister's london marathon preparation. we agreed it would be great fun to help out some of the people we knew at tri london, an soon word got around and interest began to grow.

When i first took on a coach, Richard Hobson, it seemed that relatively few age group triathletes were doing so - just those who were beating me, and/or heading to world champs races. I took coaching because my competition was - and i think that is perhaps how it has now come to be the case that coaching is so much more common amongst age group triathletes.

Personally, I really found that have a coach really transformed my training. I don't necessarily believe that it was the detail of the session that he set which helped (though it did make it a lot more interesting) but that someone else had thought about my program, had provided a plan for each day and was taking an interest in my training, well-being and success was a great motivator. We worked together for 2 years until into my first season of Ironman racing when, i started to develop some training ideas and philosophy of my own (strongly influenced by steven, who i had just met and started training with). So, I self- coached for the following year using a lot of reference from the guys at endurance corner/epic camp and other great on-line resources. This was a great time for me, and fruited some of my best race results ...but it seemed was only headed in one direction, BIG VOLUME and that road would run out eventually! I was delighted that Scott Molina agreed to work with me in at the start of 2009 and guide me through the tricky process of getting off that top-of-age group plateau and into the slopes of professional standard racing.

And i believe that's how we help others. There is so much information about training available out there now, much of it confusing and the more you read, seemingly contradictory it's easy to get lost in half understood principles, commonly repeated beliefs and inappropriate levels of detail that are banded around the changing rooms, club chat sites and internet forums. There are myriad methods of cat-skinning, just look at the varied regimes that have been followed by different athletes to success over the past decades. the newest scientific ideas are not necessarily superior to traditional methods, especially if the latest methods are imperfectly implemented. at the end of the day, for the vast majority of us, the vats majority of the time, we are better off just getting on with some training than worrying about the minute details of the training that we do. That's Everyday Training. consistency. and for consistency, we must have life balance and enjoymnet. motivation and encouragement helps. The name EverydayTraining is intended to reflect this - though we were concerned initially that everyday implied 'just ordinary', we settled on it because it sounds right and does have the right sort of connotations for what we stand for. we are coaching age group athletes who want to get the best out of themselves - not high performance necessarily but BETTER performance according to the time that they have and are willing to contribute to their goals, whatever the goals may be. We are lucky that we really do have a great cross section of people to work with, from experienced ironman athletes reaching for Kona slots, to novice triathletes wanting to not be last anymore, and even non triatheles working to achieve the endurance required for a polar expedition! For all of them, our emphasis is on consistency and blending the training with everyday life. A successful athlete is a happy athlete - and vice versa!!

EverydayTraining is both Steven and I together and we each look after our ‘own’ clients based on who they approached, clients do tend to get a feel for our different personalities, training and coaching approaches when they read our blogs, or get to know us in person. They are not vastly different, and have teh underlying emphasis on consistency and repeatability but we are very different people. The fact that we are almost polar opposites when it comes to working has made for an interesting year indeed. Frustrating at times, but we have done a lot of learning how to make the most of one another's skills and overlook the habits which seem plain 'wrong' to our own minds. Steven being from a mathmatical/computing background is systematic, organized, logical to the extreme, whilst i bring the creative, personal, instinctive, sometimes chaotic elements. We are also both people used to leading our own projects and taking responsibility and control, but i think we have found just about the right amount of overlap. Of course, we also spend a lot of time discussing training ideas because we both love it, pooling our resources and experience with our own clients and sharing excitement when things work out for them.

in the few days it has taken me to finish this blog in spare moments, i've had another enquiry about coaching....its almost frightening. Steven did a little work to the website last week, listing our current athletes. it is already out of date - we have 3 more names to list! this is pretty close to having apart -time job, and we are realizing that we are going to have to treat it as such - dedicating a day or 2 a week each to sitting at the computer and coaching, rather than a few hours a day (or night!) whenever a schedule needs updating comes up or an enquiry needs responding to. This will make it easier for us to be more productive and hopeful mean that the laptop is not in constant demand between the pair of us in the time that we might otherwise be having conversations, or doing other couple oriented things! It may also mean that i don't have to go back to sitting in an engineer's office - ever!!

tiem for me to get on with MY everydaytraining!

10

2010-02-11T08:22:00.002Z

10 chins has been a 'goal' for a while now (sad, but true. another is 10 squats of my own body-weight, i am 6kg off).

another little bit of gym-joy was a 10 min run on the treadmill!
no pain either during or after due to that, so i'm :o)))))))

then proceeded to knock myself out doing bike reps.....too tired to blog

a good day.

visiting stuff and then returning to reality

2010-02-04T01:27:00.006Z

Just returned 'home' to christchurch after a great trip to Hamner Springs at the foot off the Alps. A beautiful place, with warmer weather than we get on teh coast, mountains to look at and a relaxed atmosphere (during the week, at least - i'm told that it' s a tourist hell on a summer weekend!). The ride was 140km each way - gradually climbing from ChCh and becoming progressively more rolling and beautiful as we went along. We covered the journey out with exactly 5hr ride time, though required 3 stops en route to relieve poor steven who was suffering the effects if a heavy gym session the day before and possibly too much prior brilliance altogether during the past month as well as chivalrously refusing to let me take a turn carrying the bag o gear that we (unnecessary, as it turned out) took along. I was feeling pretty good, having displayed only very minute amounts of brilliance recently and rested well up after even those! held a steady-moderate pace, riding on HR, all the way. it was hot so i minded the stops not at all though, and was totally caked at the end of the day. fish an chips in the park at Hamner. very friendly hostel (free fruit and icecream!) tiny bed.

Woke at 5 the next morning for a 'sunrise' hike up Conical hill and around the forest tracks up there. would be brilliant for running - next time. 3 hrs later, returned, woke steven and packed up for return trip. Net descent - we covered it in 4 1/2 hrs this time at easy-steady effort. steven feeling somewhat better, and stronger through the ride. i was only just able to hang on his wheel for the final 2hrs from Amberly. i was cooked again, so had a very early night!!

I've returned from another sports med appointment. i'd gone in there with the news that the foot felt pretty much better, and i was ready to resume my run training - just wanted some decent strapping and possibly some temporary orthotics in my shoe to ensure that i dont start out with altered gait. Dr Anglem treated me to some reality there and then - the long and short of it being that if i felt nervous about running without support then i was not ready to resume, even light running. the injury is NOT fixed, but it is healing. i can count on at least 1 more week without running befreo i can start even lightly loading it. IM NZ is not a realistic prospect - as he had told me 2 weeks ago. Feeling some better this last week, and able to walk a lot, I'd guess I'd just gotten into my head that i could do it. Now its pretty certainly off the cards, i guess i can relax and be grateful that it's well on the mend, that i'll be running again soon and that i've had good treatment and advice whilst away from home.

I talked with Dr A. about possible reasons why a fracture liek thsi just 'happens' - apparently out of the blue - meaning there was no impact, no twist no sudden movement to change teh state from fine to not fine in a single footstep. But, he points out that this was building, building, building...being away from home and my usual massage, chiro regime...additional training load...extra body weight...christmas celebrations of chocs, beers, late nights and a period of relatively high emotional stress ..generally too much on teh plate and not enough resources to combat it!

sometimes, since we don't 'have jobs' when we are full time athletes, we look for things to do to make us feel 'justified', especially certain types of people who have been successful in a regular career, like you and i have where our dedication and commitment is often (wrongly!) judged on how much hours we put in at the office. It would really make more sense to say you are more successful the LESS time you spend over the project, as long as the result is excellent. I think the same is true - possibly more so, with the profession of being an athlete.

I'm no expert - in fact only have 1 year experience, but already I've learned that you need to spend as much time resting as you do training, and make your resting environment as stress free as possible. jumping straight into the emails, the study books or planning the next training session, rarely lets our body unwind when the mind is too active. i don't know, but thinking about how an injury can 'just happen' and i realize that , OK i did do a big training block - but nothing really out of this world - but take into account traveling across the planet with my most precious possessions in a delicate little box, spending Christmas away from home, having tense relationship with Steven's mother, being totally skint, ongoing negotiations with sponsor over delivery a bike to the far side of the world...plus articles to write, athletes to coach, blog to keep up to date ;o) and finding time to connect with friends and family ... The body finds a way to give you a break when u need one.

This is not the sort of break i would choose, but i'll take it as a warning. I'm glad it's just the start of the year, that i am feeling pretty fit in general so can enjoy cycling trips like to Hamner, and have plenty more races to get buzzed about in the coming year

life after epic

2010-01-29T04:58:00.004Z

funny that the last post starts with the news that a stress fracture has been 'confidently ruled out' - 'cos now it's looking like that's likely wot i got! of course, i got an unusual one, and its yet to be fully confirmed that's hat it is, but a bone scan shows definite bone damage in the joint between cuboid and 3rd&4th metatarsals. an xray done today will confirm it. after 4 weeks resting the foot, it's starting to feel better - though that could be down to the psycho- samosa effect of finally feeling close to knowing what the problem is, and soon able to think about causes and options/timescales for recovery.

Otherwise, recovery from Epic camp goes well. in terms of my longer term training, it's probably a bonus that i avoided the depths of fatigue that running >10k/day would have sent me too, however that's not to say i wasn't very, very tired from ----miles of cycling plus ----km of swimming. It is remarkable how it jumps on you though. i swear, that if we'd gotten up on teh 16th day and had a nother 200km ride to do, i'd have felt fine...and could have continued for another week, probbaly more. But as soon as i stop - well, then teh tiredness just descends! For a couple of days i had barely the energy to read emails. A couple of nights +9hrs sleep, did a couple of light swims, yoga class a spin on the bike and light gym. By teh weekend i felt liek i had soem energy and enthusiasm to ride, so headed out around teh Gorges. It was a little windy, and i got a little lost but i was certainly not pushing it along. Even so, after 3 hours, i was wasted and at more or less at the furthest point on my route. I stopped and sat in the forecourt of a closed petrol station for about 15 minutes befreo i coudl face getting back on my way! I was out about 6hrs. The following day I went out on a planned ride with Scott, Steven, and Pete and Bruce from the camp over the summit roads. I was so wasted. I felt like waves of fatigue were crashing over me as i rode....got so left behind by the guys, even though they said they were apparently riding easy. Scott said i was riding like a tourist! well, that's true i guess - sometimes i do like to just cruise!! though going up Cooper's knob its just not possible to ride easy, so i was making the most of the flatter sections :o).

Truth is i was sulking a bit. I was feeling weak, useless, embarrassed, and totally unenthusiastic about being there. Though i generally consider myself to be a positive and driven person, over the last year or so, I have found myself susceptible to depression. This is usually when fatigue is coupled with stress in my life - i find it more difficult to think rationally when i'm tired and feel too weak to deal with the source of stress in a constructive manner. I'm not sure why this is occurring recently - selective memory may be one of them. Too much fun through my late teens and twenties another (possibility -what if there is a limited amount of happy hormones that the body can produce in a life time?) Or simply the instability of this period of my life; the financial dependency on others, not knowing if this new 'career' will work out, being temporarily estranged from the close relationships in my life and not knowing where any of my stuff is! Of course post Epic blues, like the come-down that follows any really great experience, cannot be entirely overlooked on this occasion.

Certainly i've learned that monitoring my fatigue and reacting accordingly is a very simple and effective preventaive step! Anyway, this week i have been getting back into training - starting a litte light, but with 4 swims, 4 gym sessions, and a few rides ranging form 2-4hrs, so far. And by wednesady i'm feeling back to normal. If a little heavy - 5 weeks to trim it!

foot consult

2010-01-14T06:50:00.002Z

Brief but thorough consult with the sports doctor on the foot, who fairly confidently ruled out stress fracture and assessed that the trouble is with a nerve that runs from under foot, up calf, thigh, gluts and attached to base of spine; the siatic nerve. this explains the hot spots that i experience in my butt - though i thought that the amount of cycling may also explain that to an extent! although the acute symptoms are similar to a morton's neuroma, addressing the root of the problem at the base of my spine may be a slower fix, but is a more robust and long lasting approach. Not entirly the outcome i'd hoped for ( ie a definitive diagnosis and simple, fast solution) but he referred me for some chiropractic adjustments, which i could get there and then. It was getting a little tight for the scheduled bike departure for Geraldine, but i thought worthwhile. It was - after some manipulation to my lower back, pelvis, rear of knee and foot i was actually able to bear weight on the foot without discomfort for the first time in 2 weeks. a programme of chiro treatments will follow this camp.

for the rest of the day's news see the epic blogs

epic camp - on the south island!

2010-01-13T04:54:00.003Z

camp continues to thrill - we've made it all teh way down teh north island and after a ferry ride and easy day ( here's tarar and i at the ferry port) we have started making our way south from Blenham. Currently in christchurch , where i hav ean appt. with sports physician /podiatrist which tomorrow morning. it'll be good to know what teh problem is with teh foot and how to get it fixed.
meanwhile. i'm lovin' the cycling!
details of my daily epic experiences, along with those of the rest of the gang, can be found on the epic team blogs page each day.

epic day 4 - 5

2010-01-07T07:21:00.001Z

here's day 4's route - but today ( day 5) we're in
Tarangi on lake Taupo - south of the clip shown here.

500miles of riding in the last 5 days.

jo c - day 4

2010-01-06T09:01:00.001Z

big shock first thing this morning was to find that my new/favourite/only bike shorts are worn through! so unfortunately the campers are going to have to spend the next 10 days seeing my butt breaching through the back of my shorts. Thank goodness for the Oomph Epic gear that we were given at the start of the camp. it was a pretty leisurely start to the day - for the campers, that is. The logistics side of coordinating the transfer to corramandel via ferry for us campers and our bikes, with the support vehicles by road or the support for john and the team were not so simple. After a tour of Auckland curtursy of local boy Douglas and ferry ride across the bay to corramandel, we donned wetsuits and lubed up for a sprint aquathon. John eyed out the 1km swim course around 3 of the buoys that mark the shipping lane, whilst Gordo measured 5km run route on his bike.

At the start of the swim, which i'd fully intended to go as hard as i could, i suffered a panic attack...which left me a long way behind the racing pack. i've never experienced this before, and consider that this is probably the usual panic that i experience at the swim start of a race - but without the prospect of the rest of the race to force me to swim through it. i admit this left me on a real low, swimming casually alone with dark thoughts. rather than exiting as per the aquathon course, i swam a second lap, to wind myself down a little. It was a pleasant swim and sufficient distraction from the fact that i was excluded from the race.

After some refreshments we started the day's ride around the bay and south to Matamata. With two climbs more or less straight off the bat, the second was a KOM race....then a lovely cruise along the winding coast road to our shaded lunch stop. with no more racing ahead of us, the tone off the ride after lunch was social - with Gordo leading the whole group as a single chain into teh headwind. i managed to secure myself the sweet spot in the bunch - behind 'big eric'. to give na idea how big, Big Eric is - his saddle is about as high as my armpit. Pretty sheltered riding for someone my size! We chained along for about 2hrs at a moderate pace, but were all ready for drinks when Gordo finally pulled over. The final 30-40km might have been very steady , had steven and class not ridden to the front - and shortly after right off it for a hammer-fest of their own - and picked the pace back up to around 32kph. it was a very pleasant pace - a little work, but not too much to prohibit conversation. A long day in the sun and we were all glad to arrive at our motel at 6pm. Great BBq dinner put on by the support crew...all a little later than planned so its 10pm as i write this. excuse the hurried ending! Looking forward to some great scenery tomorrow as we ride to lake Taupo after breakfast at 6.30.

swim 2.4?km
ride 160km

epic day 2 & 3

2010-01-05T05:00:00.001Z

see my blog contributions at http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/team/

steven

2010-01-05T04:53:00.005Z

10 months after having his foot surgery in Christchurch.....
3months in recovery no training at all
7months with barely no running

such a pleasure to see him like THIS at end of a hilly 23km...

epic day 1

2010-01-03T08:32:00.003Z

http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/team/index.html

hoping that the foot is something 'minor' along the lines of planter fasciitis rather than a stress fracture...
taking advantage of fresher legs

the year that was 2009

2009-12-31T19:25:00.002Z

a slow start to 2010, so whilst steven is taking the chance to sleep off a few beers, i thought i'd take a look through my training diary from 2009.
the changing of the decade is usually not that significant in terms of my training year, which starts and ends in the autumn - usually October if Kona is on the calendar - but it just happens that janurary 2009 is when i became 'full time' and we began our 'journey' around the globe in pursuit of warm weather, cheap digs and inspiring training environments.

2009 kicked off with tickets to NZ bought out of the redundancy pay, bags packed full of excitement and expectations for a year of total age group dominance as a full time Ironman triathlete. 3-4 weeks in janurary exploring the wonderful training opportunities in Christchurch followed, logging +40hrs /week prior to Epic Camp New Zealand in feburary and i'd certainly logged more volume than ever before. Of course its not a linear relationship and the inevitable fizzling out was only just around the corner. Its tempting to pinpoint the moment as somewhere around 25km into the run course at Ironman New Zealand in march, but for sure it'd been happening since Epic. steven's tendon injury, hasty surgery and ordeal of transporting a distressed invalid back across half the world certainly impacted both my psychological and physical state post race and this was certainly the low point of the year for both of us. however, on the positive side, the time i spent in somerset was great for establishing a very good network for training with local gyms, triathlon and swimming clubs. I had also enlisted the help of scott molina to coach me through the season to Kona. i dragged myself through a couple of unimpressive marathons in april, recovered poorly and it was not until we arrived in lanzarote for for a month of pre race preparation in may, and steven was really on the road to recovery, that i was able to focus on getting into shape. scott managed to pull me through and the race came good, just about.
A decent bit of recovery and DIY followed this race and from here on things started looking a lot better. A summer spent in the UK, june was a time for riding in somerset, july we relocated to Rutland for a house-sit and some solid cycling around a new area of the country in a large country house there were few distractions except for the milton keynes olympic distance race. not a bad day out with a third place finish there though my transition skills had seriously gone to the dogs with all this long distance stuff! august brought the ETU long distance championships in prague, a chance to race in GB kit again and try a new distance - not really to my advantage with a 4k swim and only 30k run, but with a solid couple of months training behind me, i raced well there and returned with a gold medal, a couple of new acquaintances and bit of a confidence boost. in september a favourite pre kona prep/test race the vitruvian brought us back once again to our friends on Rutland. though I had not been showing great strength in training, i felt sure that i must be in good shape - but the result was a disappointing performance and third place finish. 15 minutes slower than i'd covered the course in previous years and probably attributable to a careless attitude toward a race which i'd assumed to be as good as won. that and the hot competition! the following day was my birthday and we rode the 110 miles back to london with a few teas stops along the way before getting back to the business of preparing for the world ironman championships. first class flights for us thanks to a very generous mate of steven's made the long journey to Hawaii pretty exciting. october started with about a week of jet lag and acclimatization - a good move to head to the big island early, and by race day we had pretty decent tans and fully restored sleeping patterns and a fair share of nerves. i did feel that the pressure was on for this race - my stated year's goal was to win my age group. but i knew i really was not in the shape i needed to be to achieve that. my revised goal was to get my head in the right state and race as hard as i could - for a 'not worse than 5th' place finish. i came in 6th, having given it 100% effort, with perhaps only 80-90% judgement letting me down. i was satisfied that i had succeeded in my first objective, at least. november is always a bit of down time for me, a bit of r&r and a few cross country races, and then before i knew it we were getting back on a plane headed for western australia for december's race in busselton. i would not be racing this, but tagging along as supporter and taking advantage of a more pleasant environment to get back on my training bike!

it was easy to assume that with no work to get in the way of training and recovery my performances would just sky rocket automatically. i've learned this year that its not as simple as that. when i think back to 2007, 2008 and the amount of effort that went into my training, simply because it was necessary to never let up in order to get the training fitted in around a working week and domestic life. had i translated the same effort into the training /traveling this year, then perhaps i would be stella triathlete and world age group champion now. more likely i would be a worn out heap, or have packed it in entirely. I think that i was lucky to have 'got away with it' for the last few years, but that level of focus and work are not sustainable/healthy. 2009 has been a period of readjustment: to a new approach to training, ensuring continued enjoyment of the sport which used to be just a hobby and has now become the main focus of my life and adjusting to a new set of 'domestic' stresses and concerns that come with having no fixed abode. of learning that the grass is not always greener and that there is definitely 'no easy way'.

however, despite a fairly disappointing year of racing, i've logged a great year of training which i will build on in 2010 and hopefully been through a deal of the teething problems that inevitably come with such a career and lifestyle change.

Some figures for those curious about what 'full -timing' means in terms of training:

my average training hours per week was 27 - this figure is scewed by the very light training weeks that precede and follow racing so a better representation is to say that a typical training week is in the range 28-36 hrs.
average (mean) daily training hours was 3.9, with 3-5hrs/day being the most common daily volume and equal number of 1-3 and 5-7hr days. this represents a typical week which includes a lighter day and a long day.

In terms of swim bike run numbers:
mean distance swum /week = 14km - modal range of 12-16km
mean distance cycled/week = 231miles - modal range 200-250mi
mean distance run/week = 37 miles - modal range 30-36 (this is the most typical weekly volume - there are a few much bigger run volume weeks which have nudged up the athithmetic average)

this is not atsronomically greater than the amount of training that i logged the previous year, however there has been greater focus of pace, quality and recovery and it has had a far lesser stress impact on myself. it has also been a lot more pleasant!! bring on 2010 :o)

epic camp, length of new zealand: preparations

2009-12-26T23:03:00.005Z

This table shows the schedule for epic Camp NZ 2010. It's a pretty special camp this year as we'll be covering the length of both islands - north to south during the 15 days of the training camp. This is longer than the previous two epic's that i've been on, and since i've managed to get myself nicely toasted in just 8 days in previous years, i will probably be approaching it with a slightly different attitude. Epic NZ 2009 i failed to complete the camp due to a sprain that i picked up on the first day. it's highly unusual for me to get such a bad injury that i am completely unable to train, but just my luck, by day 3 my right VMO was so sore that i simply could not run. so, i missed a day's riding and a couple of the compulsory 50 min runs. it could be said that the injury might have ben avoided had i not decided to 'tack on' an extra ride up to porters pass (in addition to an extra 50 min run to the pool first thing that morning) with Steven and Russel. Porters pass is a helluva steep climb, and just the sort of place where things can go 'twang'. but it was fun, and in the spirit of the camp and set the tone for teh week ahead (just like in Italy '08 when steven and i head out for a 2.5hr run after the ride on the first day, most people thought that was highly foolish way to start the camp) - and in that case, worth it.

However, with the added dimension of being presented with an opportunity to ride (and run, and swim)the length of the country, failure to complete would be really really disappointing, so i'll certainly start off by playing a little safer. As you can see from teh schedule, we will not be short of a challenge in any case! Our christmas day's ride certainly tired me out, demonstrating that i am not as 'long distance fit' as i have been in the past coming into these camps.
However, the following day i did manage to pull myself through a swim, bike run day (which included a set on 30min Aet intervals on the bike) - and by the end of it was feeling pretty good. I think the thing that gets me through these camps, where i am invariably the weakest cyclist, one of the least competent swimmers and lacking in speed on the run in comparison to the guys, is my ability to keep 'bringing it' when fatigued. ok, what i bring may not amount to much by the later stages of the camp, but i'll manage to bring SOMETHING and often surprise myself in the process. That, i admit, is good for my confidence when you tend to see a lot of people fading after the mid point of the camp - giving up on the 'games' in the name of preserving enough to get through the compulsory content.

But 15 days? wow. i'm used to relatively high volume training ( this week i've trained 42 hrs with a swim to do -but admitedly that's a very big week), but on epic there's also a lot of intensity. especially for the weaker riders sitting at close to threshold simply to stay connected to the bunch - the rest of whom are feeling that it's a pretty relaxed pace, and saving themselves for the TT, or KOM, at the end of the ride! For me, and others close to my ability, the best thing that can happen here is hat teh big guns break from the front early, splitting the group into separate and more evenly matched packs for the ride. This is likely to screw and KOM chances (unless the organisation allows us to re-group shortly prior to any climbing competitions) for those in the trailing pack, but will enable us to meter out our resources more economically on the point-to -point riding and have something in reserve for any points races...and more importantly, the following days!

Gordo has been offering a lot of advice - some valuable saddle area care tips included, but what i think will be the most useful is his recommendation to sit down and think about what we each want to achieve on this camp, to write it down, and bring it along. He's right - it all gets slightly mad after a few days when the vibe of the camp really gets going, and you kind of forget about the rest of your world, plans, objectives, responsibilities and priorities. There are plenty of stories of past 'campers' who've destroyed entire racing seasons by getting too carried away on the Epic buzz.

so this year my camp objectives are as follows:
1) to achieve a positive fitness benefit from the camp. that one will be very difficult to judge, since what appears to be positive training, may have negative fitness effect sometime later on, down the line. I am racing IMNZ after the camp - if i get the balance right, this is a fantastic boost in my training for that race. I will be reminding myself of this frequently when those chances to get a few points up on another arise!
2) to complete the camp
3) to stay with the bunch on the bike each day - all day! i got dropped a few times in NZ and italy. Although i don't mind riding alone at all, it does make a longer day, harder work and holds the team up. It'll mean doing a lot less than my fair share of work, but I think it's fair to say that most strong riders would be happy for that to be the case, rather than be held up frequently waiting for me and my tail wagon along the route.
4) give 100% in all the races
5) eat sensibly -there'll be plenty of GOOD food that will help my recovery and fueling - so no need to cram the junk, just because it's available.
6) try not to get too crabby (perhaps that should be higher up the prioriy order!!)

I cant wait!!

by the way - i will be blogging to the Epic Team Blog during the camp, so check it out for updates
through http://www.epiccamp.com/newzealand10/index.html

happy christmas

2009-12-25T19:20:00.001Z

well, my first year away from home for christmas and its a little strange to be without the usual traditions and habits that accompany the time of year - not being madly busy at work, client drinks, chritsmas parties, and looking forward to a free week off - its also exciting and liberating to be able to choose exactly how to spend the day.
So, with the forecast or 27 degrees, sunshine and light winds, we choose to a BIG ride. only 120 miles on plan, but to Akaroa and back from Christchurch has an alternative route along the Summit Road. This involves a lot of climbing, and some spectacular scenery. You'd need a long day to do this ride, and we thought - what better day. To add to the adventure, we were not expecting that there would be any thing open en route for supplies (not that there IS much en route!) so were carrying a lot of bars with us. It was quite a bonus to arrive in Akaroa after 4.5hrs and discover tat there WAS actually a sore open, and had a picnic of icecream and crisps. Given that we still ate almost all of the food that we had carried, this was probably a god send and saved the last hours of the ride from becoming a very un-festive miserable suffer-fest! Even so, 7 hours in and at the foot of what i knew to be with the longest steepest climb of the day, a silly hat and box of Quality Street didn't seem like such a bad tradition....8.5 hrs later, we were both pretty frazzled ( it always pleases me when steven is tired too - in fact since he's still sleeping, i think MORE tried!!) we very efficiently put together our christmas dinner of roast beef, drank wine, and failed to stay awake throughout Shawshank Redemption.

With that silly amount of riding yesterday i'd clocked over 30 hours since monday, with another 7 or so scheduled for this weekend - a big week. Good preparation for Epic Camp which starts on the 2nd. There has been a definite riding focus to my training and I'm pleased to say that i am now starting to feel my legs coming through. i have been feeling good on the bike through some good, focused rides. I'm sure gonna need good legs for 15 days of hard group riding in Epic Camp. It'll be so much harder, less enjoyable and very demoralizing to be dropped by the group everyday - so my main goal for this camp is to stick with a group on the bikes. 15 days of that and i should pop out the other side really strong for IM NZ.

more thoughts on that later....

sick note

2009-12-17T04:37:00.004Z

yeah, this really is just a post so that i can moan that i'm not well! i hate being ill and teh evening after the day of my soaking in the rain i felt that tell tale tickly throat and woke up with banging headache, raspy chest and a painful cough which produced some interesting flourescent green stuff. i didn;t feel great but am torn between hypochondria/feeling sorry for myself and the feeling that really i just need to 'man up'and get on with it. so, i proceeded to the QE2 center for almost 2hrs of swimming long reps - it was a pretty quite session and i had a lane to myself. though i was a little disappointed that none of the other squad swimmers joined me to pull me along on teh rep times a bit, it was for the best since the girls that showed up were swimming quite a bit faster than my 'steady pace' and would have lapped me at least once during a 600m rep. Its good to know that those Wednesady sessions are quite and long for teh next few weeks as i build up to a solid 6km+ swim in preparation for Epic Camp. Having survived that session with the aid of Lemsip and paracetemol, i was up for the next: a couple of hours of Aet reps with a few short sprints in at teh end. With my HR monitor on it was pretty clear from the outset that i was not 100% since my heartrate was about 10 beats higher just cruising out of town. I felt a bit weird but not so bad once the intervals started, and of course it was quite easy to get into my heartrate zone. I compensated by pushing it 5-10 beats higher than usual, and enjoyed the session. Once home, and perhaps medication wearing off i started to feel truely ropey, and had a nap before my run. i'd accepted teh offer of a lift to teh forest with Ali - the plan being to run half an hour on the trails and then teh 30 min back. this was a daft idea really, as it was totally committing and after 15 min of easy running i just wanted to lie down and die. I cut the trail short and made for teh quickest way home, at a really gentle pace. i still got almost an hour's running done, though really compromised teh session and would have benifited a lot more from staying in my bed for the whole afternoon.

the result of that misjudgment is that this morning i felt like total crap and there was no way that i was going to be able to get my favourite session of teh week - 800s on teh track - done. so i had a morning of moping and feeling very sorry for myself indeed now - coupled with teh frustration that i'm missing key sessions in my preparation for Epic Camp. And a nagging fear that i have got meningitus and will wake up dead...

Never-the-less , some use has come out of this extra free time, as i was able to spend some time working on some of my athletes Christmas training schedules, and updated my website. I've also recently been coordinating the production of some new race kit which is being designed by a friend of ours, Richard at http://www.speedworkdesign.com/, produced by Oomph and funded, after a random and generous offer from a guy on my BTF coaching course last month. It might seem like a simple process, and i admit that i thought it would be too, but trying to coordinate across 3 countries and time zones by email only has turned out to be a real mission of 'project management'- something i've worked hard to avoid in previous vocations! Thankfully though i think that we are ready to run the sewing machines (or whatever) and have a kit that looks great. I'm excited to see it - just hope it can get from Vancouver to New Zealand in time for march!

A side result of having Richard's design input is that we now have a logo and look for Evereydaytraining too, and Steven has made a start of the new look website - take a peek: www.everydaytraining.org.uk

return to NZ

2009-12-15T08:14:00.003Z

another day traveling, another time zone and a surprising amount of jet lag for what i'd only considered to be a short hop from one land down under to another. Now here i am back in christchurch, after nearly a week now thoroughly re-settled. Everything is very familiar of course - its remarkable how much detail you remember even when you don't remember remembering it. It was very easy to slip straight back into training, albeit quite light this week in consideration of Steven's recovery and our jet lag. It was quite a surprise that within our first day here i had bumped into 3 people that i knew and the following day so many people at the swim squad remembered us from last summer, and how many faces i recognized too.

We are renting a room from a couple who we got to know a little at the end of our stay last year, Andrew and Ali - both triathletes, and she is an adventure racer too, with their first home renting out two rooms to other triathletes. The other housemate is Rob, a sports scientist and triathlete who knows John Newsom and the epic camp guys and seems to be very well connected in the endurance sports scene. oh and two dogs. Its nice to be in a house share again - the option of easy company but not being a 'guest' as such, no feeling of obligation to socialize when the training and triathlon talk gets a bit much! . And steven has got an audience who appreciates him (i dont think he ever get bored of talking tri!).

Some of the funny things that come back to me now about this place - how friendly everyone is to start with, well thats not so funny - just nice. even the school kids are polite, and no one minds if you bring your bike into a shop, cars will stop to let you cross the road and cyclists, runners and other pedestrians will always say 'hello' when they pass. There are a lot of tattoos around. A lot of pies (coke and hot pie for $2 at most Diaries) and it's certainly the land of sweets too of yes, it's Cookie time again! And the strange chocolate fish (pronounced 'fush') that are sold unwrapped at each shop counter for a dollar. and the weather talk. Wow they say that the brits are obsessed with it but these guys know the winds like experts. Mind you in a land where the sun is radioactive, the winds inspired Dyson and hailstones come in grades of size and sharpness and can fall in a torrential manner at any given moment that the 'sou'wester' dictates depending on the direction that the wind blows, you're best knowing what's likely in store. The picture shows me drenched through having been caught in a torrential rain and hail storm at the end of a run. I'd been out on a mild but sunny day for a couple of hours, and was 15 minutes form home when the air went very cold all of a sudden and the next thing it was raining heavily. then it was raining very heavily...then it was very very heavy and included hailstones. By the time i was in our street, the roads and pavements were flowing a foot deep and i was running through freezing puddles almost up to my knees.
I'm a bit concerned about the fact that my parcel of warmer clothing that i posted before leaving the UK, has not yet arrived. Cameron has very kindly donated a Bikeworkz cycle jacket in yellow with red polka dot, for which i am very grateful...but please Mr Postman, please bring my box of kit to me!!

Non participation report – Ironman western Australia

2009-12-07T04:08:00.003Z

Its post race day morning and Bussleton is a town littered with gel wraps and plastic cups and people cruising very slowly around town on fast bikes between long coffee stops. Race day anecdotes, sore limbs and post race treats as well as respite from all that training (until the next time) is a large part of what makes this pretty mental past time so enjoyable. So, today I’m feeling somewhat envious of those who did participate. Was I feeling envious yesterday? Well, of course it’s a great day and despite the horrific heat induced suffering that I saw on the run course whilst spectating the part of me that felt I could do a better job of it desperately wished to be involved. However even after a 3 hour ride around the area which took me out to a section of the bike route, I was totally heat-sick and my legs ached from a week of hard riding on mostly flat roads. So I was very content to stop and leisurely munch my cheese and jam sandwich without any envy of those who I saw trudging back and forth on that straight, relentlessly flat forest road with strings of gel and snot trailing behind them in the wind….

Having dropped Steven off at the race venue in time for the opening of transition at 4.30, I had time to drive back, eat breakfast and jog back up to beach in time to spend a few moments with him before the start. It was a beautiful morning, sky and sea clear both and calm and the anticipation in the atmosphere was sensational as they warmed up. I felt surprisingly excited myself, especially watching the small Pro field start …and visualizing myself amongst (behind) them. When Steven set off with the mass start 15 min later, I started my stopwatch. My estimate was that Steven would be done in just over 50min, which gave me just enough time to jog back to our place change and collect my bike and be at the bike exit to see him. I was also in time to see the leaders in the pro race leaving for the ride – and was somewhat heartened to see that there were several girls leaving after what must have been an hour or more swim time. I was slightly concerned at quite how many age groupers were out on their bikes ahead of Steven, as he’d usually post one of the fastest swims – but this is Australia and they do seem to swim well here! He came through with a low 50’s time though , which I knew he’d be happy with. Took some pictures of him getting on his bike with a little less elegance than a drunk donkey, which I knew he’d not be so happy with ;o) but certainly not as bad as some of the disasters that I’d witnessed up to that point – and that was looking at the very top end of the race!! I waited 5 minutes to see Martyn and Russell’s exits and then headed off for a bit of my own training. I had a planned route that would take me about 3.5hrs and allow me a little time watching the race where my route intersected the course. If I was lucky I’d see Steven or someone o knew pass, but knew that it was unlikely. As it happened I caught the back end of the field returning to town on the end of their first lap and then the leading male pros come past on their second. The difference in speed was comical! An Irish girl pulled over to me and asked if I was ok. ‘yes!! i’m spectating- you get going!!’ I told her…’oh I’ve had three punctures already ,I’m calling it a day’ she said, pulling to a stop beside me.. Perhaps she was a lot more used to being near the front of the race and had totally lost heart. But we were less than 3 hours into a very long day. She must have seen my look of shock horror, as she soon decided to continue for a while at least. I made a note to look out for her on the run. But unfortunately forgot.

With my ‘race timer’ running I realized that I couldn’t really afford to hang around log at my drink stop in Capel – I had 2 hours to get back to see him finish. The plan was to return to the house, drop the bike and then do my brick run to coordinate with Steven’s likely arrival into transition. As it happened that required a very rapid turn around at the house, and a faster paced run than really felt comfortable –especially with road closures diverting me away from the most direct route – and I approached the race area just in time to hear “Steven Lord from the UK” being announced in off the bike!! Fishing the camera out of my belt as I sprinted to the run exit point, I made it just in time to see him, beaming and running. He’s ridden around 4.45 – shit hot. I jogged back to the house alongside the course with my brains absolutely boiling and felt for these dudes who’d be running on a further 3, or 4, hours. Concerned marshals thinking that I’d veered a long way off course in some sort of heat stupor called me back are you racing?’ ‘ I’d be going a hell of a lot faster than this if I was racing!’ I teased.

The rest of the afternoon was based around Neil and Lorraine’s back garden, which backs onto the run course. The family come over with their Eskies of beer and food for Barbie and they sit and cheer every athlete who lops by in the burning sun. In order to get some varied photos of him, as well as surprising him by cheering appearing in unexpected places, I walked quite a lot of the course cheering and trying to sound genuinely encouraging to all the athletes that I saw. Most were pretty bad states even this early in the race and that was when, bizarrely. I wanted to be out there too! Perhaps it was because I believe myself to be a decent runner, and cope well with the heat – I found it frustrating to see so few people really running well. I felt that I wanted to help these people – and was able to at one point when a guy doubled over, screaming clutching his leg just in front of me. He clearly had very severe cramp in his hamstring and, though I know it’s not really allowed to give ‘outside assistance’ of course I had to ask if there was anything that I could do to help. He told me to massage his hamstring, which I did until it was loose enough to shake out and wished him good luck.

Meanwhile, Steven had been suffering from cramp himself, and general lack of run form due to having been out of run training for almost all of 9 months since his injury, and the age-group lead that he had at the start of run would sadly be short lived. Russell was running well, but a little off the pace required for his sub 9hr finish – though a 3:20 (ish) marathon and 9:19 race time were enough for 2nd in his age group and a Kona slot – evidence of a tough race and slow times.

Steven finish in 10hrs 14, with run of 4.30. I tell you, athletes, do not underestimate what a tough day it is for your loved ones – 12 hrs on their feet in the beating sun (or rain!) - and the waiting is the worst part of it! That final lap seemed to take an age, and really I was lucky that ‘my’ guys were all home in good time – there were still folk bravely heading out for their first lap of the run as we wheeled Steven’s bike out of transition. I was exhausted – and their support crew would be out there well into the dark, fuelled by beer and good Aussie humour, making a night of it!

Of course it was very tempting to make assumptions as to what I would have done in the race; I’m beginning to feel in decent shape again after Kona with the right amount of rest and 3 weeks good training. There really was not much strength evident in the ladies age group file– and I’m pretty sure that I’d have managed a good result as an age grouper. But that’s no longer the game – and I do need a full 3 months solid training to prepare me to race at a higher standard than that in New Zealand. So, this morning, amongst all the relaxed, tired triathletes, I head out for a 2.5hr run in the wilderness. Though I will of course be indulging in the post race beers at the awards party tonight!!

down under

2009-11-22T03:01:00.004Z

i writing this from the back garden of our local hosts in Busselton, Western Australia. with large, immaculate lawns and an amount of garden furniture suggesting frequent out door socializing i can look over the neatly trimmed low hedge to the flat calm sea. between the hedge and the ocean is a shared foot.bke path which continues around the entire bay, and on the 5th December will make the route for the Ironman marathon course. which is of course our reason for being here, however this time i will just be watching. i have mixed feelings about this: aside from the small matter of an entry fee, there are many other reasons against doing a race so soon after Kona, and it is nice to be able to ease myself steadily back into 'proper' training now that we have arrived in a lovely location with great scenery and weather. but on the other hand, there is a very strong 'ironman' vibe amongst all the people that i have met so far, a definite sense of excitement and a feeling that i'm missing out on something that i really enjoy! i think it' s going to be hard come race day ( yeah, sitting here in this garden with a cold beer will be damn hard) and even more so in the days after the race, when there will be not much else spoken about, really giving it a good old rub in! i'll be a lonely soul out riding the roads that week!

But enough of the old gittery! we really have landed on our feet here. Our hosts, Neil and Lorraine - friends of Steven's mum from her china tour, but until tuesday total strangers to us - are have made us so welcome in their home, cooking for us most evenings and insisting that we keep our bikes in their drawing room (known as 'The Precious Room' - no children allowed!) rather in the garden shed, despite the white carpets! i' m gonna be finding out what they are taking and bring a large supply back for my mum - it's gotta be worth the excess baggage costs ;o)

Beyond this generous hospitality, the location of this place couldn't be better (although even in the time i've ben sitting here writing this, the sheer number of runners going up and down the bike path is beginning to irk me!). We are 2 minutes from a small but well equipped gym that i have joined, 2.5 minutes from the beach, about 15 min walk from the town centre, the pier and Goose cafe that is the habitual meeting place for most of the local triathlon club's training sessions, and 20 min walk from the swimming pools.

Russell, having been here last year for the race and arrived a week ago or whatever has introduced us to a few people and again, we have been made very welcome on the numerous activities of the local triathlon club. it really couldn't be easier - there are 3 weekly rides and 3 weekly sea swims with kayak support and if you're lucky, as we were this morning, dolphin entertainment at half time. the impression is of a very large club for a town of this size ( about 25, 000) but i think that actually its just that its a very active and social club, with a high proportion of it's members showing up for all sessions. mind you - in this environment you wouldn't really want to swim, or do much riding alone. once out of town, you can ride a long way on dead straight roads and pass nothing. no shops, homes or even much passing traffic. there is not even mobile phone reception far out of town, so aside form being boring, it's possibly a bit risky - there are wild things out there!!!

right, that's one runner too many. i gotta get up and out for my session now.

Down Time and Getting Up Again

2009-11-08T16:20:00.001Z

So after the daily posts from Hawaii I expect that you’ve really been wondering what’s been going on? Down Time. Two lovely words. Much like Sun Shine, Cheese Cake, Cold Beer and Lie In.
Post Kona Steven and I had a proper holiday – our first ever that did not include bikes, fells and a room full of dirty kit, family members, friends or club mates .We had a great time in Honolulu, explored Oahu by public transport, dropped in on friend of Steven’s in San Francisco and returned to London via first class courtesy of a very generous gift from another friend Andy.
A week in London as usual was very busily spent catching up with friends and the tri club, mostly by tagging along for some casual training at the ludicrous hours that our working friends keep, errands and appointments all day then meeting for evening beverages with non –training friends. Though quite preoccupied with our departure for the southern hemisphere mid November, and the dilemmas that the extremely restrictive baggage allowances of Quantas have introduced, I was able to fit in the BTF level 1 certificate in coaching for Triathlon course over two weekends. The location of the course (Leighton buzzard) meant that I got a chance to see my dad who lives out in Herts (and dink his wife’s car!) as well as some 50 mile rides to and from London as a means of slowly getting back into motion. As it happens, despite not thinking much about training I have still found myself swim, running and mostly cycling through 20 odd hours a week – pretty surprising though I hasten to add that its been all very low intensity stuff aside from the occasional fast bit of swimming, which I find I can do when well rested and with a little additional tummy buoyancy! Still, I know that the ‘time off’ has been of benefit - yesterday I went down to Charmouth with my sister to cruise around the Endurance Life Coastal half marathon course. We agreed to run together - though she would probably kick my sorry butt in 1/2M on the road right now, it was her first experience of off road running and I’d only really started getting my run legs back and it was to be my longest run in over a month. I advised her that we should try to get a good place near the front at the start though, since its very easy to get caught up in bottle necks of runners on narrow trails, gates and styles if you are caught further back in the field. Well, the gun went and the race started up a cliff face immediately. We worked hard to stay with the front, but it was all out lung burning, quad stinging effort. Great fun .I was calling back to Lotte ‘are you still there?’ and would hear a gasping ‘yes’ for most of the ascent, but when the chance to pass into 2nd place, with a leading woman in sight I pushed on along the flats and soon lost Lotte to the race behind. She held fourth place a while, but soon decided to drop tempo and enjoy the beautiful scenery , lovely weather and new experience instead. On the other hand I was not letting up pace all, exchanging positions within the top 3 ladies for the first 3 miles or so before pulling away on a relatively long flat stretch of cliff top and pacing off some male runners around me to keep the tempo high. I just felt like I could GO. What a great, and rare feeling. Maintaining an average heartrate of 174 for over two hours(keen to keep my lead especailly after a wrong turn lost me about a minute of my margin) and finishing strong is a sign that I haven’t lost all of my fitness, my body is recovered and time to start training again. Soon. For the next week I’ll continue to enjoy a lighter load (especially after than lower extremity bashing) getting back into the gym and making final preparations for departure to Perth on Saturday.