TriGrandPrix _ Zarautz Race Report

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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...