It’s about a month since my last blog and in fairness I’ve given it some time due to the fact I was resetting my entire weekly schedule.
My previous blog posts showed a massive increase in fitness, but unfortunately a massive spike in fatigue and a constant lack of form, as far as my Training Peaks Account would lead me to believe anyway. I rode the Tri-Anglia invitational Duathlon a few weeks ago with some confidence about my ability but the numbers didn’t match up to the performance on the day. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all low-key at this time of the year but my racing-brain tells me I should’ve done more. Always needing an answer to these questions I put it out there to some coahes who broadcast through podcasts etc. and guaged their response to see if there were any flaws in my “triple-training plan” approach (before anyone says anything I knew there were flaws – I just needed to have it confirmed in a coaching language I could understand).
First stop was a guy called Rob Wilby who fronts a podcast called Oxygen Addict, I’ve been listening to his podcasts for quite a while now and they are quite informative about the little things in triathlon that no-one tells you about that make up a good performance. His guests vary week to week and gives the listeners guests such as world champions, age-groupers and just everyday folk with a good story to tell. There is a caveat though, it’s led by quite a few of his sponsors and it’s self-promoting to the Oxygen Addict website where he coaches…this is where I enquired……
His response was quick, less than a day, I explained my cycling background, my goals, my current swim speed, my current bike FTP and my best 5k in recent months and he was keen to help. He descibed my current training schedule as “challenging” which i’m assuming translates to “too much”. He led me to a link where I would pay over £2000 a year to have “a coach” look at my data and set me sessions to work on. Email and telephone contact was there but it just didn’t feel right for the price-tag it had attached. An alternative was quite a bit more and got me a “head coach”. It’s quite amazing how people would pay for this kind of coaching. If money was no object it’s something i’d look at and for the uninitiated they’d probably sign up to it….blindly. With my sports and cycling coaching and personal training background I wasn’t confident that this plan would deliver and I emailed him back to tell him so, I also commented on the fact that if I signed up to this I simply wouldn’t be able to afford to live, let alone race!
He replied soon after with an offer of £75 per month for “remote coaching” (email only). I’m one of those people who can just get on with things once given a schedule so felt this was a better option – however something was telling me to look further afield.
Second stop was a guy called Russ Cox (Coach Cox) as he’s called. His webiste is mainly about Ironman stats and how to qualify to get to Kona. He deciphers all these stats from each Ironman race and gives you the information you need regarding Pro’s, Age Groupers leading and average times etc. to give you some kind of grasp on what is required to compete at these events. He also sidelines in coaching – this is where I stepped in to enquire….
My email was word-for-word the same as the previous one – his response was quick and he did speak my language, it seemed that he was more interested in my goals than the financial gain he would get if I signed up. He said I had “Fundamental Errors” in my training plan at the moment which would lead to injury – that’s a brave statement to someone you’re trying to pitch to for business I guess but I liked his bluntness. He sent an athletes questionnaire and I filled it in within the hour and sent it back. He asked my to add him as a coach on my Training Peaks account and I also did that within the hour but that’s where it stopped….it looked like he fell off the planet from then. I did email a few times but no response. I’m only assuming he deals with prospective Kona athletes and therefore an average Age-Grouper such as myself had no benefit to his status as a coach – who knows – I can only assume.
Another email was sent to Mark Livesey from the Brick Session, out of all the podcasts I listen to, his is my favourite as he talks from the hip and tells it how it is. If he doesn’t like something he calls it out, he creates the question – Why? You don’t need to agree with him, in fact he likes it when you give an informed reply so it gives him something for his listeners to think about. He’s been there, done that, sometimes with too much of a military precision but that’s his background so he’ll always lean that way. His podcasts are without financial gain although recently several have been about people he gets freebies off (Fuel Cell & Parcour Wheels for example)! Anyway….
His email reply was prompt, he freely gave a 12-week training plan which was copied an pasted onto a Train Xhale training platform. A bit “clunky” as a training platform but ok if you’re just starting out. Very limited feedback on the computer program, it’s more of a diary than a living , algorythm-based program which feeds back trends etc. (Like Training Peaks) but like I said it works. I did ask a few questions about the program and how I can retrieve numbers from it and his response was quite abrupt and limited. The communication lines stopped there really as he didn’t seem interested in taking it to the next level on coaching which I was prepared to do.
The very same email was sent to a local guy who I have known for several years, I used to train with Joe Skipper back in winter of 2014 for the 2015 season and I bumped into him on many occasions whilst turbo training in Joe’s garage or running out on Joe’s favourite Cringleford 2-mile loop on a Thursday night so I knew of him and his crudentials. The response was immediate and detailed and from that point I knew I would sign-up. It’s remote coaching but the contact is frequent and to the point. He knows my coaching/personal training background so he talks to me multi-layered (coach speak for basic and detailed together) so I understand why I’m doing something.
Before we go any further I need to make it clear all emails were sent out within a day of each other, all with the same purpose – to guage a response on my current plan and ways to move forwards and get the best solution for me. No-one was first/second/third choice. That’s just the way I’ve written it on this blog – to tell the story!
My Training Peaks Account numbers have completely changed in recent weeks, the fitness has dropped…..alot! (Which makes me twitchy as I think i’m losing fitness) but the form is always now in the positive (freshness) and the fatigue is lowering by the day (surely must be a good thing). The guidelines are helpful and if I have any queries on each session the response is almost immediate. I try not to be too annoying with questions and I don’t think I come across as that but I am conscious of the fact he’s a busy guy so I don’t bother him unless it’s absolutely necessary.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY……
This weekend I took part in my first Bike Race for 2019, the Full Gas Masters Crit Race round Lea Valley Park – I needed this as a “tick-box” exercise to see if I could still race. In fairness I haven’t done alot of stop-start efforts which is required in road racing, instead i’ve done alot of long efforts all within my threshold so going into the red was going to be interesting. Within 2 laps I was in the 165-170bpm heart rate zone I wasn’t used to and although I wanted to be near the front of the race I knew my time was limited if I did so I sat in the bunch for the majority of the race just to get that bug back! At no point was I so stretched that I thought I was going out the back so that’s a plus. On the negative side I had no “kick” so it took me a while to jump onto wheels but I guess that’s just a combination of my age, the cold weather and my lack of all-out training efforts. In the end I came home 18th – not bad for someone who hasn’t trained to road race.
The following day was the main reason why I came to London – the Olympic Park Half Marathon. This was something I had in my schedule since October last year to do as it set my stall out – 12 weeks before the Majorca 70.3 in order to see what I need to do to prepare (running-wise) for this event. I was happy with the fact my swimming would just chug along and my bike fitness would be ok for the event – it’s just putting together a good half marathon at the end of a 56-mile time trial is what was worrying me.
Suzy came along for the run as well – she was just aiming to finish and have a respectable time to reflect her current training shcedule efforts. Although saying that she ghad only (only!) completed 15km in her recent long runs so she needed to tame this down a bit.
The morning was wet and windy and little did i know but the course was very undulating, not massive hills but short 100m hills that came evry 300/400 metres so the heart rate was going to be all over the place. I set off in the 1:45-1:55 “pink” pen hoping to get somewhere near 5-min k’s throughout. I clocked the first k at 4:45 and felt ok so carried on at that pace, a few people overtook me in the next 10-minutes but i ignored them as this was my race and I had to pace it my way, if not i’d be found wanting at the end. I did notice about 100 metres in front of me the 1:40 pacer – a guy with abig 1:40 flag on his back – was there and I thought as long as I kept him in sight I’d be ok. As the hills came & went throughout the event they moved away from me and then I came back and got closer to them. At 12 miles I was with them and chatting away thinking this was easy and then all of a sudden – bang… I had no energy left and they simply moved away from me. The event had water stations every 4/5k but only one gel station at around 8 miles, on here they served up “Gu” Gels which were simply horrible. They weren’t gel sat all – it was like trying to swallow a big lump of caramel. I couldn’t so promptly spat it out – and there ladies and gentlemen was my undoing. From 12 to the end I slowed down and continued to lose over a minute on the 1:40 pacers but still in front of the 1:45’s finishing in 1:41:18 – my fastest since I’ve come back to Triathlon and my best since about 15 years ago.
I quickly collected my jogging trousers and hoodie from the baggage point and waited (not long) for Suzy to arive. She did it in 1:56:56 – just a minute slower than Bungay Black Dog’s Half in April last year. This was mainly down to a toilet stop half-way round and a sore knee (and old ITB injury) that kicked in around 14km – rest and ice since then 🙂
After being reprimanded by my new coach for not utilising my own nutrition plan (just as I would in a Half-Ironman) and pushing a little too hard on the pace I was congratulated and told to take two days off as rest this week (hyper-ventilating as I write that last sentence)!
All-in-all a good month. Swimming has been consitent and I’m now comfortably on 2:00 100’s with more in the bag over the next 12 weeks (hopefully). Initially I took advice from Marcus at Beccles Triathlon Club and it’s helped immensely. Cycling has taken a nose-dive on FTP by about 15 watts but that may be because of the accumilating fatigue in the past few months taking it’s toll on my body. Running’s been ok and I am deeply thankful for a good friend (another Marcus) supplying me with a run program up until this Half Marathon to get me through it 🙂
The next month…..more training, more swimming, more bike races to keep me happy, more running, a training weekend in North Norfolk and some more Park Runs no doubt – i’m close the 50 milestone!
