Catch up! Ironman Lanzarote & 70.3 UK

 I'm a little shocked that so long has passed since I've updated this blog - life has been hectic and time passes very fast! 

So a little recap of 2014 so far: 

From February through April it was work, work, work with the training camps - Epic Woman, the 4th EverydayTraining Endurance Camp Lanza, the first running of a Beginners camp with Trisports Lanzarote and then EverydayTraining King of the Mountains camp in the Pyrenees.  All very different groups of people, high energy,  hard training and great fun in the sun! 

Whilst out in Lanzarote, I took part in the infamous Volcano Triathlon, run by Club La Santa. One of the most challenging Standard ( 1.5/40/10k) distance races on the circuit...made especially so this year by the very very windy conditions. I had a good race there too, finishing 3rd in a semi- elite field (the winner was last years runner up at the Ironman) with the fastest female run split of the day.  

The main event for the early part of my season was Ironman Lanzarote (may 17th); if I'm honest the less I say about this the better. It was a disappointing race other than the fact that I performed "reasonably" across all 3 disciplines, conditions were good and I had good support from the many friends & colleagues on the island and the friends and athletes that I coach who were also in the race. This would also be my 5th time at this event, which was my first ever Ironman and also my first ever race in the Pro start in 2010, an achievement that the race organiser mark with a special award that i was looking forward to receiving.

However, most else about my day was disappointing - primarily I felt that my favourite Ironman race has been spoiled by the admission of 2300 competitors - creating very rough and congested and conditions in the swim, and issues with drafting, congestion and safety on the bike. Perhaps I  let this effect me rather too much - or spent to much energy focusing on negative aspects - and rather than working my way forward through the strong field from the 8th position that I was in at the start of the run. I've never quite understood what people mean when they've told me that they "just did not have their legs on" on the bike - something I've been lucky enough to avoid - until now. But this day it's just how I felt - riding out of transition, where i'm usually having to battle with myself to keep a cap on my power, I just seemed unable to hold even my "sensible" racing wattage without what felt like extraordinary effort. With a long day ahead of me, I didn't worry about this so much, as consider it a  bit odd and actually thought that a steady start should prove to be a good thing later in the day once I started feeling better.  To be honest looking back I can't really recall whether I did start feeling stronger, but at least I had plenty to focus on with the negotiation of large groups of cyclists spread across and along the early sections of the route making it very difficult to avoid being in a drafting position. This improved a little after the long drag up Fire mountain and by the time we hit the hills at the far end of the course the field had spread. I came off the bike in 8th position in a time of 5hr 50. slower than last year and my target, but windy condition sand the congestion on the roads could have accounted for this 

To be honest up until this point I'd not enjoyed much of the day, with the battering i took in the swim, slow time and sluggish bike. However the run at Ironman Lanzarote is a real highlight - with the beach front course enabling great access for spectators and ensuring fantastic atmosphere and support through the afternoon. Following a very hot week leaden up to the race, we knew it'd be hot out there on the run, and I had prepared for this as best one can.Carrying my own drink in a small bottle makes it easier to stay on top of hydration without having to stop at aid stations during the later laps, and having my mum out on course at the "hand-over' station with cool refills was an enormous help. I started the run as usual trying to hold myself back to a sensible, sustainable pace…after 15km or so i was really suffering - not from the pace as such, but simply just lack of race specific training or any long runs since the marathon.  Looking back I'm disappointed in myself that  I allowed my self to slip backwards and out of the top 10, even more so when i saw the very cool trophies that were awarded down to 10th place.   Putting a more positive light on this, I could tell you that out of the 33 professional women on the start list, which included several former winners of this race, I finished in the top 1/3rd. But the truth is that it was not a result I'm pleased with. 

2 weeks later I'm back out working on another of our camps. this one a King of the Mountains cycling oriented week in the Pyrenees. Great fun and long hard days on the bike. Not what one would think of for great recovery...but I seem to have recovered quickly after the Ironman, and managed to rebuild a bit of base fitness in a short period of time  -by riding 6+ hours in the mountains every day and drinking a lot of beer. 

Returning to the UK just a few days before Ironman 70,3UK which is very near to my home, I made a late call to race it! The organisers were very obliging and allowed my late application, the  weather was perfect and being my home race I can always rely on tremendous support out there around the course. I was pleased with a PB on that course and a 3rd place finish, 2nd pro. Being passed by an age-grouper in the last km was a bit gutting...if only I had been aware that she was closing I'd have been able to prevent that, but even as it turned out that does not effect the payout ,which was the main objective.

This tough little 70.3, and the Ironman and high-volume camp prior to it of course, required quite a bit of recovery after …and it was a little later than i'd hoped before i was able to start my training build towards one of the main events of my season; Ironman UK.

You know it's Ironman week when….

May 12th marked the start of the first Ironman Week of my 2014 season. It's familiar territory for me, the week spent at a race venue, awaiting the start of one of the toughest days in my year with an equal eagerness to get out there and put the hard training into practice, and to be on the other side of the finish line and able to relax! 

This will the Ironman number 25 for me - and my 5th time racing in Lanzarote, the scene of my Iron-distance debut as an age grouper in 2007, and also of my debut racing in the Pro field in 2010, this race has special meaning for me. Having spent many months of the last few years in Lanzarote on training camps though the European winter time, the Island feels much like a second home. The Ironman course a regular training route, the local climatic conditions familiar challenges and there'll be many familiar faces out around me this week belonging to the many acquaintances and friends that I have made during my times here. 

With all races, the situation before the race has been different;  whether it's a home race, or far away, whether with home-stay or in hotel accommodation, whether I am with company or travelling alone…and as I'v remarked in previous blog -posts this calls for a degree of flexibility when it comes to the pre-race routine and rituals. 

There are however, some certain Race -Week characteristics that I have found can be counted upon wherever I go:

You know Ironman is coming up when: 

• You spend more time planning, reviewing, and generally fretting over your training plans than actually training
• You'll suffer (and inflict those around you to) 2-3 days of headachy, lethargic,  horror as the caffeine works its way out of your system
• Once clear of the caffeine, you'll find yourself napping in the day or going to bed before it's even dark
• After many months of pain free training, you seem to be plagued by at least one very serious niggle which rather than resting, you'll alternate between poking it, fretting, testing it with "just a short one", and rushing round the race site looking for a physio
• After many months of perfectly smooth riding, your bike also seems to have developed multiple creaks, clicks and rattles. You'll spend another couple of days riding, fiddling, and worrying before finally bothering the local bike shop
• You develop an obsessive need for some small item that you didn't bring, and cannot be sourced locally at the race venue. Most excursions out of the hotel will revolve around a search for said item and result in the purchase of several approximately similar, but useless, alternatives
• Whilst you're going out of your mind with boredom not training, everywhere you look there are people, apparently dressed in full race kit, running or cycling around the place. You'll wonder a) should I be out there doing something? and b) why are they in their race kit? (before heading back to the hotel to slag them off in a blog post)
• Most of the conversations that you have will feature the weather forecast for the race day (a topic which seems to transcend all language barriers) 
• Shaving your legs counts as  "something to do" with the day
• However, you'll have a long list of "things I need to sort out" relating to your race kit that you ought to be doing with all this free time…and you'll probably not do any of it until the night before check-in
• You really fancy a beer, most of the time

I'm sure there's more - tweet 'em to me @jo_carritt  (if you are also bored enough!) 

Coaching Beginners

Well, once again i'm back in Lanzarote, and have just finished working with Trisports Lanzarote as coach on their Beginners' Triathlon Training week.

  Beginner's Training Camp blog on EverydayTraining site…..

The Marathon

With 2 training camps scheduled into the first quarter of 2014, I realised that my plans to race Ironman in South Africa on 6th April were probably unrealistic. I really wanted to return and do justice to that race - and with a new course on the race's 10th anniversary I'd have loved to have been there this weekend. However, the demands of working these camps would be such that I'd be unable put in the preparation required for a successful race. I'd suffered enough there last year, and wasn't going to go back for more of the same!! 

So…plan B.  I decided that I'd like to have a crack at a marathon PB, and as it happens my local marathon and half marathon races - a very well organised event, where I achieved my existing PB of 2:57+ - falls on the same date as IM SA this year. 

I've raced a few "straight" marathons  i.e one which is not preceded by a swim and bike ride, and some of them I have trained specifically for and others I've done of the back of general Ironman training. Most people who know me, and the amount of general training and run training that I do, assume that I could  pretty much show up and run a marathon.  I could - however, racing a marathon ,or achieving a challenging target, DOES require very specific training. The difference in the times that I have run with or without that specific training plan reflect this. 

2014 started off very well for me in that regard, following a 12 week schedule based on  Hal Higdon's "Advanced" plan. I was quite enjoying the focus, and being based in the UK through the winter, running is the best way to invest those limited training hours. I became closer to my local running club, Running Forever, revived their Monday evening track sessions by making a commitment to turn up weekly to lead  a session, and switched my usual Saturday Morning club ride for the local ParkRun. The first 7 weeks of the plan were going great…consistent weekly routine and steadily building mileage. 

I knew things would get mroe difficult to manage once I relocate to Lanzarote for 4 weeks in Feburary and March to run two back-to back high volume training camps; Epic Woman and our own EverydayTraining Ironman camp. Not only would I  have limited time to do my own training within the camp's heavily bike focused schedules and additional organisational work each morning and evening, but I'd be coming out of each camp very fatigued. On top of that, I got sick - and suffered a flu and persistent chesty infection pretty much through that whole period. So, although each camp did have a run requirement, and offered some opportunities to put in some intensity ..you can see form my training log that I was barely maintaining the run fitness that I have achieved up to mid February. 

Well - that's the excuses laid down!! What I must take responsibility for is not properly adjusting my targets or adapting my race strategy. Whilst a PB might have been off the cards, a successful run and the perhaps the win were still possibilities....had I been a bit smarter in race day. 

I took a gamble, though, and set out at my original target PB pace - and really enjoyed the first lap, running around with the half marathoners, many of whom are club-mates, others that I train with or see at local events. I was leading the marathon and there weren't even any other female marathon runners in sight when I went through halfway in about 1:28, still on pace and still feeling decent. 

I had suffered a little from the lack of porta-loos along the course - not sure why I was having tummy issues, but possible that it was due to running at this higher than "steady" intensity for longer than I was trained for. But, apart from the short detours that this required, I didn't really consider it took ugh of a problem until maybe the third or fourth occasion which roughly coincided with a sudden loss of pace and an obsession with trying to replace fluids and take on some energy.  I was passed by an extremely energetic woman, who I attempted to keep up with for a short period, to find that I couldn't raise my pace over 4:50/km….my legs and feet were hurting and I was feeling utterly rotten. The second lap of the taunton marathon is pretty tough -the majority of those participating in the event run the half -marathon and the field and support is very much reduced, and dispersed, after they all finish. 

During yet another detour into the fields I was passed for a second time…slipping into third place, and barely caring. I'd lost all hope of a good time, let alone that PB…and have another painful 7 miles to go. I planned to withdraw at the upcoming village where I knew my mother would be supporting, with the car. 

My former coach , Scott Molina once told me that he never took his wife or family to support at races. the reason was that, when you are feeling like utter crap, and you see them …you just want to stop for some of that love and sympathy. And they will generally let you. Lucky for me  (although I did n't think so at the time) there were club mates of mine at that point too. Between them they persuaded, or rather- shamed, me into finishing. During that brief stop I'd had some water and a gel and did actually feel better for the break. I was still in 3rd place and a male club mate passed us.  I can't let him beat me…i said, as  iran off again, with much better pace than before. 

A short wile up the road, another woman reached my shoulder. Oh crap - I'm not going to get passed again in the last 3 miles!  I had a look at her and she seemed to be in as bad a state as I was…so I gave a small surge  (very small -think slow motion!) which was enough. The "hilly" part of the course was ahead of us, and I was glad that despite my sever loss of pace all my endurance and cycling mean that I generally have strength to run the hills steadily.  I passed several runners and put a safe amount of road between myself and 4th woman. The final couple of miles were really painful - but that's always going to be the case even when well trained! I managed to catch and pass the club mate that I'd been chasing, and finally finished in about 3:20…with a hugely positive split!! I'm not sure that I have ever run a worse marathon time outside of Ironman…other than the one which went up the Jungfrau. It was a very disappointing day but I can't blame my legs - they did what they could with the training they were given. Full responsibility goes to my brain! The women's race was won in 3:10. A decent time, but certainly with smarter pacing I should have run at least as fast as that in my current state of fitness. 

However, I have to remind myself that I entered this race with one goal - a PB -and despite all those reasons to excuse failure that happened between setting the goal and doing the race, the fact remains that if u don't commit to the pace on the day, there was no chance of achieving it. 

Unfortunately, the price for the gamble not paying off was painful, humiliating and disappointing. But despite my incredibly sore legs and body…I really want to have another go at it!!!

A Freaky Weekend!

What better way to hit the ground after a month of hard training on camp than a bit of racing? I find  motivation after such a great month can be lacking. In a physically and mentally fatigued state, the sudden return to cold weather, the ton of mail and endless list of mundane tasks to get on top of coupled with the lack of daily company can be very depressing. So, pre-empting my Post Camp Blues, I created a few distractions for myself on the weekend after our return. Starting with the Swimmathon on Friday evening at Milfield School, a chance to swim in their beautiful 50m pool and a good way of pushing myself back into the routine of swimming up lanes after a month of fairly short open water swims in a wetsuit. It is also a good way to ensure that I complete the 5km "set" …and someone keeps count for me. I wasn't especially pleased or surprised at my time for this - would have liked to have been faster of course, but  making allowances for my lack of recent swim training and general fatigue from the camps I'd taken it pretty steady. I initially felt lucky to have a lane all to myself (who in their right mind spends their Friday evening swimming??), but after about 1km started to get bored and missed having people to pace of and work with.

Home for steak wine and holiday photos with my Mum who's been away on a Caribbean cruise…and a long due lie-in the next morning before Parkrun. The conditions have improved vastly since I last raced it back in Feburary - the course of our local Parkrun is on the town's floodplains, and they have been well utilised this year with many sections of deep mud and ankle deep puddles, with a few weeks when the entire area was feet deep in water (the run was cancelled on these occasions! )  - so I was expecting some faster times at the front of the field. So it proved to be, although this week I was not contributing to those…probably the lack of warm up maybe played a part in that ( normally I have a 6km run to the start) but more likely being out of practice of running that hard, combined with a slight feeling that I ought save something for the weekend's main event: The Peaky Freaky Duathlon the next day. But, it was good to be back there and see all the local runners I have got to know through this well-orgaised and social event and have a fast hit-out to remember what it's like!!

After a short ride on my race bike, fitted with Airstreeem wheel set that I planned to use for the Duathlon, the afternoon was spent trying to figure out a clever method of strapping my run shoes to my bike for fast transitions in the point -to-point-to -point-to- point format race. Unable to come up with exactly the right arrangement for ease, speed and confidence that I'd not loose a shoe part way round the race,  I opted for the less speedy but simple and reliable "bag on the back" method.

The Peaky Freaky was to be my first multispot race of the year , and is a quirky event put on by local race organisation Freak Events. They run several high quality triathlon races through the summer, as well as open water swim training down in Devon and a half marathon in the autumn. This is their first event of the year, and to break us in gently ( ha!!) the freaky format is a 60km bike on a very flat route around Somerset's levels, interspersed with 3 short fell runs up local Peaks. With a relatively small field of about 80 for this rather unusual endurance challenge, they manage to combine a wonderfully friendly and low-key atmosphere with superb organisation, a high standard of marshalling and support, a competitive field as well as a "Peakless" event for novices, and great value for competitors.

My Race Report:
Starnding in the carpark of the Webbington Hotel, race HQ for the day, you can survey the landscape and distinctly see the Peaks that we will ride to , and then run up…with the largest of them behind us - that familiar "peaked" hill that you see as you drive north from Bridgewater on the M5, Crooks Peak. The race starts with a long, flat bike leg (36km) from the Webbington Hotel, south through Cheddar and Wedmore, before turning west towards Weston-super-Mare alone the Mark causeway. It's a route that I happen to ride a lot in training, and have done many, many interval sessions along the causeway. So much more fun when it's a real race with real competitors - two of whom are club mates who I'd love to beat today, although it'd be down to attrition over the distance rather than speed. For safety reasons the race has a staggered start and Julian, obviously worried about being "chicked",  made a great point of ensuring that we started off in the same wave…..and promptly rode his day-glo bike (one of 14 apparently) of into the distance! James, another club mate, was more shrewd and started in a later wave - that way knowing if he caught me, he was definitely ahead. I wished I'd thought of that!

The conditions for the day were "a bit nippy" and "windy - very windy". In the last few days we've had sunshine interspersed with sudden hailstorms, so we were expecting a bit of everything. Luckily we only got sunshine and wind. I raced in shorts and short sleeve jersey, but kept arm-warmers, gilet, buff and long finger gloves on through the whole race.

The first leg of the ride took just under an hour, I was passed by a few fast guys (some of whom i later learned were doing the bike-only course) but no women. I wished that I'd given my self a later start, since having gone off in the first wave I'd then have no idea whether there was anyone behind running a faster time than I - she'd not have to actually catch or pass me to beat me. so, instead I just focused on making it as hard as possible for that to happen.

It felt like I was faffing around in transition for an age with my run shoes in the bag and all that …but i checked splits on the results sheets after the event and it was only actually about 40 seconds each time. James had opted to ride on flat pedals in his run shoes, and managed his turn-arounds in just 20 seconds…I'm not convinced that the 20 seconds saved made up for the loss of power on the bike. Mind you…as we exited the first transition at Brent Knoll, he passed me having ridden 2 minutes quicker, so I guess it worked for him!

Given that it was billed as the easiest of the three, I was kinda shocked at how steep the run was! In fact, I walked up bits of it. And down bits of it, too. Marshals "dobbed" (their term) us on the back of the hand with a marker when we got to the turn around at the top - a col way to ensure that everyone did the full course since I doing  there is no shorter way to get between the peaks than as per the designated race route. james and I finished that first run together, though he was off and away on the next section of cycling before I got out of tradition. I guess that 20seconds is enough to be out of sight - a crucial distance in a race.

The second ride was more head-windy than the first, though only 12km. I battled with my shoe bag which kept blowing sideways and hitting my leg as I rode, and worried about the next run. I was pretty much all on my own at this time and going through a bit of a bad patch. We rode through Breem and it smelled of chips.. I wished I was on holiday, easting chips for breakfast  - which just shows how rough I was feeling, that I was dreaming of a caravanning holiday!

The next run was up Breem Head to the fort but after the first short steep section, was actually a lot nicer and easier than Brent Knoll, as we ran along the cliff top with incredible views over the Bristol Channel. The route was sort of circular so i did not see James or Julian ahead, and assumed them long gone. I just caught sight of second woman, but was unable to judge how far behind she was in actual terms ( I thought about 3 minutes) never mind in relation to her own start time, which I figured could be 4or5 minutes. Anyway,  it did not seem like enough and that gave me a bit of extra boost to push the last cycling section. The tail wind helped a bit too!

The third leg of the bike should have had a tailwind most of the way, but of course it never quite works like that! There was also a slightly more hilly bit of riding as we made outs way back to the Webbington through the lanes. I can tell when my legs are tired when I find myself unable to climb in the saddle, and I was taking all of these hills standing up on the pedals. Luckily, only one more run to do.

Crooks Peak is the big one - the longest run and the highest peak. We started with a mile or so along the road, before picking up a Bridalway, which became progressively steeper as it turned into a footpath and then just a grass bank, studded with flints. I was racing in my new Sketchers GoBionic Trail shoes which proved a superb combination of tread and flexibility in a light-weight shoe, and are as comfortable running at speed on tarmac as they are wading through mud or running up grass banks. That last open section, where we could see all the way to the distinctive "peak" ahead of us, was run directly ito the teeth of the cold wind. It felt like such a battle - and indeed it was! I could see Carl, one of Julians friends who'd put a lot of distance into me in the early part of the race, walking just ahead of me, and passed him. The race leaders were bombing down the hill back towards the finish, and a few moments later, Julian appeared, as one of them…but not as far ahead as I'd expected. After what felt like an incredibly long time running slowly up the hill, and getting only ever fractionally closer to the top, a saw James, just making the turn - he'd lost some ground to me through the course of the 3-hour event. That's a great thing about endurance training  - I might not be fast, but I do tend to slow less! I was hoping that this would be true against the female's field - there was £150 prize to be had, which is well worth the journey! Once finally at the top and refusing the sweetie offered to me as I got "dobbed" for the last time  (I was proper dobbed by that point!) , the wind was at my back and i felt like one big jump i'd be able to sail down the hill. Not quite but it was great fun hurtling down the grassy bank. Almost missed a turning at the bottom ("back the way you came" may be a perfectly reasonable description in general, but doesn't work so well during a race, I find) then had to crank it along the road to the finish to make up for the few lost seconds and in effort to secure the win.

In 3 hours and 3 minutes with not much change i placed 6th overall, with my club mates and rivals Julian and James 5th and 4th respectively, both just under 3 hours and within 20 seconds of one another  and placing 2nd and 1st in the Vets category. Perhaps if they'd started in the same wave, it might have been different? Second female was Lisa Picton in 3:10 …it was closer than comfortable, but not as close as i'd feared out on the course. Looking at the results I was putting small amount of time into her on each leg - including the transitions - until that last transition and run where she must have sniffed the line, put on the afterburners and reduced the gap a bit.

Thankfully the sun shown all day, we were fed soup and sandwiches and socialised whilst waiting for the final finishers and prize givings. A great event, and I do hope that Jarad wasn't joking about the possibility of doubling it up next year  - racing once forwards and once backwards around the route. That would make air a whole different prospect though…with people taking between 5 and 10 hours to finish, logistically extremely tough to organise, let alone race!

EverydayTraining Endurance Camp Lanzarote 2014

Phew, with the second camp in my month-long stint in Lanzarote over…it's gonna be hard getting back to the normality of training alone and with considerably less sunshine in the UK next week. And normal portions of food, which I"ll have to prepare for myself!

It's been another superb week with an excellent group of athletes, lucky with the weather and just a few trials and tribulations along the way to ensure that Steven and I don't get complacent and continue to learn how to provide the best possible training camp experiences for serious ( or just plain crazy) athletes .

daily blogs from this camp can be found following the links below:
Day 1 - EDT camp lanza day 1
Day 2 -EDT camp lanza day 2
Day 3 - EDT camp lanza day 3
Day 4 -EDT camp lanza day 4
Day 5 EDT camp lanza day 5
Day 6 - EDT camp lanza day 6

Camp Life

well right now the UK seems like  avery distant place; whilst i have only been on Lanzarote for just over 2 weeks having been through the very intense experience that was EPIC woman camp ( read the camp blogs here http://epicwomancamp.com/blog/ ) time seems to curl up on itself when we're cramming 16 hours into every day! There's always a real empty feeling once the camp is over and all the people who have been your entire focus of the past 8 days, feel like life-long friends - are suddenly gone. However, this time is a little different because after a few days rest and relaxing with Daz and Debs of  Tri Sports Lanzarote, who hosted our camp (and provided an amazing standard of hospitality and support throughout ) it's time to move on and start with one of the highlights of my year ; the EverydayTraining Endurance Camp in Lanzarote!!

This will be our largest camp to date - after 4 years word has gotten around and the result being that this year we even had to turn people away. That's a bittersweet feeling; but Steven and I feel that exceeding 18 on the camp would change the dynamic that we are so proud to have created amongst previous groups of campers. We have several returning campers and equal number of first timers. some of whom  either Steven or I coach directly, some not. Pleasingly, we have a good balance of male; female athletes ( with our all-female support crew helping with that balance).

We have been presented with one or two challenges this year -namely a new location and the logistics that entails - and also look forward to presenting some new challenges to the campers ( i recce'd an awesome new and exotic run route yesterday and we're just off togo try a new swimming route too…)

campers arrive tomorrow. you can  follow the blogs from this camp at www.everydaytraining.org.uk/blog