I did say in my previous blog that I was going to add another one in a day or two…so here I am over a week later updating it! In fairness not much has happened differently to the last few months so if you’re reading this on a regular basis i’m trying not to bore you!
At the end of last week I competed in Tri-Anglia’s Waveney Triathlon held at the Bungay Pool. There’s two versions of this, one in the spring (May) and one in autumn (September) so it was always my intention to revisit this one to see if my disciplines were progressing. This was my first ever triathlon back in autumn 2014 so although it’s quite a small event I still like to do it. Lots of friends and locals come out to support so it also serves as a great catch-up after my few months of being an Ironamn Hermit.
The swim went ok, as well as a swim could go in a pool. We all self-seeded in the lanes before our start times, the fastest being nearest the fire exit to transition. I offered to go furthest away as to not get in anyone’s way but someone asked to go in the furthest lane so I took the next one. Little did I realise they were only after that lane to use the steps upon exiting the pool – which they did whilst I still had 2 lengths to go.
This angered me a bit and I was intent on catching this cuplrit on the bike section which was heavily in my favour as this takes up over 70% of the event. I did intend on keeping a lid on the power figures until the small hill about 4 miles in but as I was catching this faster swimmer that went right out of the window! I caught him before the hill and then proceeded (I’ve calculated) to take another 4 minutes out of them. I didn’t have much in reserve for the hill so I climbed it in the saddle just under the limit.
Once onto the run I just held a fairly decent pace as best I could – looking back I held back a bit too much as my run time stnads out like a sore thumb amongst those around me in the final placings. In the end I secured a 11th place spot, with a 3rd best bike split – behind the winner & runner-up and a course PB by about 45 seconds so I was pretty chuffed.
I had intended to run the Lowestoft Scores Race in the afternoon as well, a small niggle in my right calf after the Triathlon and the thought of over 400 steps to climb at the end of a 4.75 mile run pursuaded me not to so I stayed indoors and rested up. The seed was planted by several friends who commented on my previous blog and a few people who talked to me the day before at Park Run. So contrary to popular opinion I do listen….occasionally!
The weeks’ training beforehand was quite a subdued affair, on the back of a heavy training schedule this was comparatively less volume.
Monday evening was one of the last river swims at the Lido in Beccles, this was cut short by a few hundred metres as it was getting dark so only 1600m covered, a few months ago that would’ve been a goal but now it’s standard.
Tuesday’s turbo session before work was pretty hard and it’s safe to say i was well-prepared to have that massage after work and rest completely.
Wednesday was a 2hr tempo set at the gym on the Wattbike, my heavy legs from the previous days’ session & massage and my 2hr commute to Ipswich & back that week definitely took it’s toll on me and the wheels started to fall off after just over an hour. But I completed it, albeit at 95%.
Thursday was a day off as I was just tired.
Friday started with a 2-mile swim in the morning and a comfortable 75-minute ride in the afternoon.
Saturday was a 2:20hr steady run finishing with Park Run Lowestoft…and a full breakfast as well.
This week’s event was the Aldeburgh Relay Triathlon, a 750m tide asisted swim, a 22km bike leg covering two circuits around Thorpeness & Aldeburgh and 5km run on the beach to Thorpeness & back. My partners in crime were Marcus Nichols, who I teamed up with to take the Fritton Triathlon win a few months back and Dave Sparshott who is pretty quick on the run, but hampered by a new baby in the household he hadn’t done much since the London Marathon in April.
Looking at the 100+ teams it was clear there was a vast spectrum of fun triathletes and fierce competition. Safe in the knowledge we weren’t ging to win before the event we each just concentrated on our disciplines and got to it…
The swim was over & done with in under 10-minutes and the swimmers all came flooding through transition to hand over the timing chip to the cyclists, I got mine, I think in about 15th place and proceeded to claim another 10 places on the very windy bike leg, so much so I was going deep into the red just to keep momentum towards Aldeburgh. A couple of rider caught me which I’m not used to in Triathlon circles and that wound me up a bit after the race. The chip was passed to Dave and he shot off clocking a few seconds over 20 minutes – not bad for no training. He managed to get a couple of people on the run and we claimed 7th place in a time of 1:06 hours which was pretty much the same time as the winners last year. After an email notification today it looks like we won our age group too so we’ve gotta be happy with that.
The weeks’ training stepped up again this week just to keep things going before I start to taper down. Training Peaks is quite addictive as I’m always looking at that Fitness indicator and if it drops one or two points i’m keen to do a hard session to get it back up there. God only knows how I feel when it drops away as i’m tapering!
Monday was a day off as I was helping Beccles Triathlon Club with their end of summer Lido event where teams of three were doing relay lengths in the pool with one arm, fist swimming, legs only drills…all the things I couldn’t do so i was happy to officiate.
Tuesday was similar to last Tuesday’s session but with less recovery, so it was much harder but i managed to finish it although I did have to take a break mid-set on the last effort. My furthest swim was also completed – some 3600m in the pool at Bannatynes – some achievement I’ve been told to keep my concentration for that long in a 20m pool.
Wednesday was a difficult session to complete, a 90-minute progressive turbo session and then a 30-min brick run in a gym in Milton Keynes where I had to travel to that afternoon as I was in an exam (3 actually) the next day. Suffice to say the wheels fell off again just after the hour and my last 30-mins of cycling was varied between recovery, steady, tempo and threshold, finding it difficult to hold pace at any of these for more than a minute or two. The run was fine although I was clock-watching from 10-minutes onwards.
Thursday was exam day so I did nothing after travelling home and getting indoors at around 8pm.
Friday was a 2k swim before work where I did a few tempo efforts and recorded my fastest swim set to-date with 1:53 100’s. Not much compared to some but pretty quick for me considering I struggle with this.
Saturday was another 2:20hr run finishing with Park Run and another big breakfast.
After Sunday’s event I decided to ride home, the long way round and covered 55-miles on top of the Triathlon so I think I slept well that night!
Training Peaks Geeks Time:
First week: 119 Fitness, 126 Fatigue, -12 Form.
10hrs training. 727 TSS.
Swim 5200m Bike 184km Run 27km.
Second week: 119 Fitness, 129 Fatigue, -4 Form.
11hrs training. 830 TSS.
Swim 5600m Bike 225km Run 32km.
