It’s that time to (kind of) put my feet up and let the fatigue from the last 9 months disappear and hope that the training plans have been sufficient. The next two weeks sees the volume of training just dwindle into small 30-minute runs and 45-minute bike rides and into 30-minute swims, just to keep the body moving so it doesn’t seize up. It’s been completed, the hundreds of sessions ranging from 10-minutes to 5hrs. From recovery sessions to “eyeballs out” effort sessions.
I can’t complain really, i’ve had a few issues early in the year with chest infections that won’t go away, I think I had 4 in a row. It’s taken the local GP and hospital 9 months to get me through the tests (my last appointment last week) and now i’ll wait and see if the consultant thinks if I’ve got an issue. I doubt anything will come of it as i’m living & breathing, and the NHS don’t worry themselves with athletes as we’re in the top percentage of the populus. They’re worried about the people who can’t breathe at all – who can’t move. Not me, someone who can at least breathe & move. My concerns are that I am considered “normal” in my breathing functions despite being fit. If I wasn’t fit my function results would be low….but I don’t want to not exercise for the next 6 months to then see how bad I am.
My swim has been the biggest hurdle, despite it being the smallest discipline in Triathlon. In fairness there are a few triathletes who say the swim is their favourite component so I guess I relate to most when I say that I just need to get out of the water “ok” and get on with the bike & run. Several months back I was barely swimming 600m without dying or getting dizzy and throwing up in the changing rooms at the local gym. A few different remedies has seen me nail it down (mostly) to an inbalance in my ears where the hairs around the ear canal don’t like water and throw my balance/equilibrium out of sync. This rings true in any case as I never, as a child, could do a forward roll! I’d throw up if I went upside down….I guess tumble turns in the pool are out of the question!
Now I use “Macks” ear plugs, recommended by a few triathletes and swimmers alike and a dollop of vaseline in each ear to seal the canal up. I also use a Canadian travel sickness tablet that helps. Maybe the earplugs and vaseline is enough but there will always be that one time I don’t and it’ll all go wrong. Now I’m swimming away to my hearts content without any issue. I did used to get bored in the pool so Marcus Nichols’ invites to river swims throughout the summer has alleviated that boredom. Now the water is getting colder again I’m back in the pool but not so bored as Suzy has set me pyramid sets in all shapes & sizes to keep me interested. The 1-2-1 session with Carolyn Hatton has also really helped, my times (although not initially) have now dropped and I’m becoming more confident in the water. I did try a 3800m pool swim the other week and I did it in 1:15hrs so the fact Barcelona is a sea swim I’m happy to add another 15-20 minutes to that without worrying.
My bike…..well, it’s my strongest component of a triathlon. In sprints and super sprints i’d get away with it as the bike is at least 60-70% of the time spent in the event and i’d always get in the top-3 bike splits to make up for my poor swim & run. This has bagged me this year a few Age Group wins and some respectable Olympic times going near 2:30hrs a couple of times which (i’m told) is a milestone for triathletes. The training plan is mostly my own as I’m a qualified bike coach and it would seem pointless not using that resource! I’ve ridden the 180km (112 mile) distance on more than one occasion this year, a 100 mile TT at my estimated Ironman pace was a good indicator back in July so I’m confident that discipline will be ok. I have only two concerns – one is to NOT hit a higher pace because I’m feeling good, as that could quite possibly blow up in my face later in the bike section and two, to come of the bike fresh enough to handle a long run. With that comes with the need to have a good nutrition plan on the bike which i’ve rarely done with success this year – i’ve kinda just grabbed food and carried on. I really need to work out what’s going to be in those “special needs” bags for the run & bike.
I’ve missed my road racing side of things this year, I knew from the beginning that my specific training was going to fall short of the anaerobic efforts needs for 2nd cat racing and I decided to race local races such as Lotus & Honington and do it for the fun of it, instead of a pescribed interval session on the turbo trainer. My different approach has somewhat ostracised me from my team mates. Some have accepted this as I need to take my own path but others have seen this as a weakness of some form and have made it clear using “banter” as their disguise to try & ridicule me at every given point. It seems that being a better bike rider at a different discipline within the bike racing sport entitles them to think they are a better person and belittling others is acceptable to be “popular”. It’s moments like this I’ve realised my true friends. From this i’ve disassociated myself from these people as I don’t deal well with negative comments. Openly i’ll “banter” back and smile but deep down it affects me. I’ve surrounded myself with the club folk of Beccles Triathlon Club, all who are genuinely interested in my journey. And Suzy….she’s my rock (getting emotional now) 🙁
ANYWAY!………As I’ve now dropped a category due to not acquiring sufficient points to stay up I’m quite looking forwards to 3rd cat racing early next year. A recent conversation with a good friend suggests he’s also looking forwards to the drop of category next year – fun times!
My running has been a bit up & down, I took on a training schedule early on that was unrealistic and was promptly injured and coincedentally that’s when the chest infections took hold as well. Once that had settled down I took on the “Don Fink” running-part of the Ironman training programme and things look good. In the summer there was an abundance of running races to break up the boredom of running on my own. However, these are races and some of them I did “at pace” and although I picked up quite a few respectable times, I also picked up a niggling hip injury and a calf injury later on. My sports therapist – Kirstie Cooper from Gorleston has been amazing in getting me booked in at next to no notice at times, her knowledge is outstanding in sports therapy and we chew the fat during my “pain sessions” with her. I’ve come out of these sessions better both physically & mentally.
The past 6 weeks have been just about plodding and sticking to a slower pace as I know, despite every effort to come off the bike fresh in Barcelona, I know I won’t be and steady is all I will be able to muster. I haven’t done the distance I was hoping for in my last few long runs, so much so last weekend’s run was only supposed to be around 16km but I did just under 30km to give me that confidence boost two weeks away from the big race.
Enough of me waffling on, time for a week round-up….
Monday was a rest day, after Aldeburgh and the ride home I was fairly wiped-out Sunday afternoon so it was the obvious choice. There was also a DAP Cycling Club committee meeting I was invited to that evening so this helped with the decision.
Tuesday was an early (6am) turbo session at home before work and then a 3800m swim straight after work. Both sessions went well, I was quite surpised by both sessions’ data as I’d exceeded my target numbers and felt relatively fresh after each session.
Wednesday was a run around my usual route north of Lowestoft, Corton and back to the “two bridges” run I used to do several years ago with the Rock Estate lads. The session was supposed to be 1hr but I extended it to 90-minutes. As I said before – I was worried about not having the running mileage in my legs.
Thursday was my final big brick session, a 90-minute 85%’er on the bike, followed by a 30-minute “IM Pace” run. Again, hitting the numbers and feeling a little un-nerved about this appearance of some fitness!
Friday was another rest day, I was going to do a 2nd swim session for the week but after yesterday evening’s session I rewarded myself with an extra 90-minutes in my bed!
Saturday was the usual long(ish) run before Park Run with William & Suzy. As I said above I was concerned with my running mileage so I decided to go out a little earlier that usual and clock up 2hrs before Park Run and then do a little afterwards. 2hrs 40min – that’ll do… In the afternoon I did the “Results Board” for DAP CC’s 10-Mile Time Trial with William, before coming home to do a 45-minute turbo session at a fairly steady pace, although I must say after this morning’s run it felt quite hard!
Sunday was quite bizarre…I had no alarm clock at 5/6am getting me up for a race or early training session. Instead I had a coffee in bed and I didn’t really rise until 9:30am.
The weather outside was biblical, heavy rain and high winds so I was quite happy to do an also “biblical” session on the Wattbike at the gym….3.5hrs on that thing with “The Brick Session” and “True Crime Garage” Podcasts to keep me company! After losing about 5kgs of sweat we went home (Suzy did 2hrs bike & a 40min run) to chill for a few hours. Returning in the early evening for a 2000m swim session to round off my last heavy week.
Training Peaks Geeks Part…..
Fitness 124. Fatigue 151. Form -13.
13.5hrs total time. 1030 TSS.
Swim 5800m. Bike 312km. Run 46km.
Time to ease off…..!
