Typically 2021 was always going to be a year when things get postponed or cancelled & deferred to next year. At the ripe old age of 48 and sitting here with a clear history of Asthma (hospitalised at times) I do wonder when I’m going to get “the call” to have my vaccine. The media have clearly stated that the government intend on vaccinating 40-50 year olds very soon so even if I’m not in Group 6 – which I thought I was, I will go with the rest of my age group and get the first jab done in order for me (us) to get my life back on some kind of track. Suzy being a few years younger than me will have to wait a bit longer but the fact she’s cooped up in this house for nearly a year would suggest she’s low risk anyway. Physically at least, mentally not so much.
The 2020 journey was simply derailed completely and everything was deferred to 2021. My decision to continue training was purely based on having those sessions in my body, ticked off so-to-speak which in turn would mentally prepare me for whatever event I did first. Endurance sports are better served from years of continually doing whatever discipline it is. There are of course some variants to this – 18 year olds hitting these sports winning almost everything they touch but that is generally a rare occurrence but the big endurance events like the Tour De France, Giro D’Italia and Ironman events are usually won by those in their mid to late twenties, thirties even, where hours upon hours of training have been stacked up. I recall reading a book referencing the “10,00 hour” rule – if you continue to practice a sport for 10,000 hours you are deemed a master at it – I think I might’ve done that on a bike – triathlon is another story, I might have a few more years to reach that marker!
Naturally the “big one” was Challenge Roth on 4th July 2021 – deferred from last year this has now been postponed again to 5th September. This is now only one week before my GB debut at Challenge Almere – it did take a few days to mull it over and consider doing both events with only a weeks’ rest between but I have finally come to my senses and deferred Roth yet again another year to 2022. The result of this means I would be 50 years old and in another age-group, potentially a better result? Probably not – as Beccles Triathlon Head Coach Roly Shaw said last year – “It doesn’t make much difference as the same people you raced against this year will be racing against you next year”. This makes way for a clear run up to Challenge Almere full distance and focused training to that without interruption. As Roth isn’t happening I’ve now got a gaping hole in July so I’ve decided to enter Holkham Outlaw Half on the 4th July instead. This was a fairly compulsive decision and it’s now clear that due to the lumpy bike & run course I’m not looking at anything super-quick – just an honest attempt at all 3 disciplines and whatever the finishing time will be is just an outcome which I have no control over. This, compared to Almere 70.3 in September 2019 or even Nottingham Half will definitely be slower – I have no doubt. I recall racing a 100km road race at Holkham in the summer several years ago – 10km laps going past the hall and up a fairly stiff hill (which is on the bike & run course) and even stiffer headwind bring the bunch down to 12mph at times. The tailwind downhill sections at the back of the course were crazy fast so I’m guessing that’ll be fun on tri bars – right?!!!
The next setback is my first event for 2021 – Nottingham Outlaw Half – this event sits a day the wrong side of government guidelines when things might relax a bit. The event was supposed to be on 16th May but the country is under COVID restrictions until the 17th. This means the event will be postponed until (I think) sometime in June. I know alot of people who love the Outlaw Brand events use this event as it’s a good amount of time before the Nottingham Full Event and it’s a good try-out as it’s roughly on the same course. Having this event in June still makes it doable by these athletes so I doubt Outlaw will postpone it until later in the year – who knows really. At the time of writing this I’m still waiting for that email to land telling me when it is and when to rebook the hotels etc. That’s some of the stress right there – cancelling reservations and rebooking them for whatever dates the events have been postponed to – we’ve been lucky in a sense that all the hotels for all our events have appreciated it isn’t our fault – it’s COVID’s and have happily moved the reservation forwards a year. Even the flight or ship companies have been quite good in cancelling and rebooking. Suzy is the logistics person in our household and she has a database of all the holiday days required and travel arrangements for each & every event and/or day off for the next 12 months. It’s something I would’ve done myself in the past, and I would be quite proficient at it but in recent years I’ve been quite lazy and let her do it – one of the many aspects of having a wife! #joke
With a uncertain Challenge Championships at Samorin in late May in Slovakia I think this will be again deferred to 2022 – The East Anglian Monkeys as we call ourselves will have to wait until then to get that podium place we know we are capable of. Danny Sayer Swimming, Me on the bike and Katie Garrity on the run will just have to wait another year to have a go.
The rest of July and August look quite baron so I’m currently looking at another key event to just get some good preparation and focus in before Challenge Almere, nothing entered yet but we will see. Maybe a super fast flat event where I can try for that “Project 5” I narrowly missed at Almere??? The issue is anything UK-based is up North in mountainous terrain so I doubt anything will be “quick” so I migt have to bite the bullet and choose one of those – that’s if there’s paces available. The issue with the UK government limiting travel internationally is that in the UK triathlon world everything will be over subscribed. First world problems I know but still a problem for those who crave events to enter. Failing that it’s a case of Time Trialling throughout summer and just keeping on top of my swimming & running.
As far as training is concerned it’s been pretty much stable for the past few months, I haven’t referenced to it in the past blog or so as it’s quite boring in a sense as it’s very similar each week, just ticking over really until the “green light” is displayed and I can click into preparation training. With reference to my last blog it was very much a case of writing what was in my head, it might not make sense to those reading it but reading it back makes so much sense to me. I also hope it has helped anyone who read it and understood – again mental health is such a stigma in the UK and it’s getting there slowly in people’s awareness.
No swimming at present (of course). The government has stated that April 12th is the big day for health clubs so that’s a date I’m looking at to get the ball rolling. In the interim it’s suggested that outdoor pools will open 2 weeks beforehand so Beccles Lido is an option and Beccles Triathlon Club have already circulated the idea of Tuesday night club sessions from this date. Maybe I’ll use these sessions to get a feel for the water again and start training in earnest once my local gym opens up.
Cycling is a delicate subject at present, the one sport that has brought me great joy and success for myself and the team I’ve been in but it has also been the sport that has brought the greatest hardship, both physically and mentally. It’s clear I love this sport because as soon as cycling is on TV I’m glued for hours watching the peleton cruise along at a cool 50-70km at times, much to the wonder of Suzy and my 16 year old son. I understand the dynamics of a race and how it can all change in an instant as I’ve been there, however, someone on the outside just sees 100+ guys riding their bikes! Don’t get me wrong I can watch Triathlon too but the coverage, with the exception of the recent PTO Daytona Race has been pretty crap – there’s so much they can learn from live bike race coverage.
There’s been times I’ve wanted to throw it all in and sell my bikes only to be stopped the last minute for the love of the sport. I have no intention of racing just bikes, the distorted ego of the peleton isn’t my scene anymore, there’s bigger personal fish to fry and bike racing is not the same anymore. British Cycling is run as a business and not a sporting body, and as such the membership foot the bill, even in these hard COVID times but are still expected to join year after year. Paying out for Racing Licences which they know you can’t use, and not deferring these licences to the following year when you CAN use them. This is something IMHO Ironman have been doing for a while – making the age-groupers pay anything upwards of £600 for an ironman event to give a Medal and T-Shirt for your efforts – before anyone has a go I know it’s about the experience and the finish line but there’s so much more care that could be given to each entrant. Instead it’s about the money and the bulk of the participants are just seen as a number – nothing else.
Sessions have been restricted to the turbo as weather has been utterly crap here on the east coast pretty much every weekend since christmas. However, yesterday I did go out in the freezing fog and complete nearly 4 hours endurance on the bike. The last hour was quite bad as heart rate started to drift and my legs started to fall apart from under me but the fog cleared so at least I was suffering in the spring sunshine! Note to oneself – more endurance required 🙂
Running has taken a change recently, I’ve been struggling mentally with the fact that my pace is much slower than years past. I’m knocking k’s out at a steady 5:30min which is slow in many people’s book but my mind takes me back to Almere where that 5:15 target “off the bike” is what’s needed to replicate that performance. I was struggling to do my long runs anywhere near that pace and the situation was near hopeless until I realised (or was made to realise) that the intensity of my bike sessions leading up to Saturday mornings were too hard and leaving my legs fatigued for the Sat AM “long run”. Things have changed since sessions have been swapped around and some sessions’ intensities dropped and now I’m comfortably getting closer to that target – what’s also helping is my running cadence. For several months I’ve been tuning into running faster – in that I mean my leg speed, not my pace. I used to plod it out at 160 p/m whereas now I’m up near 176 p/m with no major change in cardiac output – compared to when I first started doing it my heart rate was through the roof! Weirdly enough it has now had a positive impact on my cycling as my cadence on some indoor sessions have risen too, making those hard efforts a bit more palatable instead of grinding my way to the end!
Home gym sessions aren’t great at present and I can’t wait until April 12th where I can get hold of some proper weights and machines again but for the time being core exercises and throwing around my Kettlebells a couple of times a week will just have to do.
My weight has also been an issue recently, lockdown flab has definitely hit me hard and trying to get into some kind of shape (even if it’s a little less-rounded) for my events might give me a fighting chance in getting the result I deserve after all these months of training. Reluctantly I’ve started using My Fitness Pal App again and have been regularly inputting my foods and looking for that breakthrough moment when my scales show I’m actually losing weight. At the moment Suzy said I’m changing composition but the number isn’t changing on the scales! Completely controversial as I’ve told hundreds, thousands even of customers it’s how you fit in your clothes and not about a number on the bathroom scales yet here I am looking at those numbers! lol
Anyway….that’s it for now, let’s see what change of plans are afoot in the next few weeks 🙂
