Canadian Winter - 1; Triathlete - 0

Wendy and I are back from our Christmas holiday in Toronto where we stayed with my Aunt and Uncle and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my cousins.

The photo was taken on Christmas day at an Ice Rink on the edge of Lake Ontario and by the way my wife is not that short I just happen to be wearing ice skates.

Not long after the photo was taken I started to get a headache and by the time I went to bed I was sweating and shivering and had a dreadful nights sleep. Luckily this week was a recovery week but after the run on Christmas Eve I have not felt upto exercising until today when I picked up my program with a 2hr cycle, yoga and a recovery run.

There is an advert on Canadian TV at the moment where there is a rather serious looking woman who has a stinking cold but she declares that if you think that will stop her training you don't know her. You then see the lady powering out some lengths in the pool having taken whatever cold remedy is being advertised. This to me seems rediculous. Apart from the risk of her spreading her cold to others in her leisure centre everything I have heard, or read, tells me that when you are sick you should not train. It is important to get well before you start adding the extra strain on your body of training. This philosophy seems to have worked as I have only missed a run, cycle and some weights training but I think my cold, or bug, has been seen off and I do not expect any lingering symptoms.

I also have to take my hat off to Scott, my fellow Cadence Kona Challenger, who is faced with many more months of that Canadian winter. Not to mention Kate who has to tend with a Nebraskan winter. Although temperatures in Toronto were not that bad this week when we arrived on Sunday there were 50mph winds and the windchill factor was pretty bad. Whereas I was able to go for a run in shorts this evening, here in Virginia, Scott and Kate must really struggle to get outside at all.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and I will try and post a precis of my 2007 triathlon season over the next few days to mark the end of the year.

Merry Christmas

I have nearly reached the end of the second base phase. All I have left is a 4 hour bike ride tomorrow morning. The weather is supposed to be pretty poor tomorrow therefore any riding is likely to be on a trainer. The idea of 4 hours on a trainer does not bear thinking about, luckily we will be flying to Toronto tomorrow which drastically reduces the time available for me to sit on the trainer and the coach has told me to fit in whatever I can.

Wendy and I are spending Christmas with relatives of mine in Canada. Christmas week rather conveniently falls on my recovery week and the Coach has amended my program to remove cycling and swimming whilst I am away as finding suitable facilities may be a struggle. I do however have a few runs and looking at Scott's Blog, a fellow Kona Challenger, the weather in Canada is a damn sight colder than here.

This build phase has gone reasonably well. After the second weekend I did find that my calfs became really tight and I had a bit of pain in my right calf (felt like it was bruised). The coach amended my schedule to give me a little extra rest and that seemed to do the trick. Last weekend and particularly this weekend I have had little trouble absorbing the training and although it is still very tiring I am feeling strong. Lesson learned is that sometimes you are better backing off on the training, or in other words run away so that you can fight another day.

The distances and times have gradually increased over this base period. Tuesday's endurance swim has crept up to 2 intervals of 1200m with a 30 second rest in between (with warm up and cool down I am over 3km a swim). The cycling is up to 3 hours on a Saturday and 4 (in theory) on a Sunday. The running has not increased much and remains at 1.5 hours. The busiest day by far is a Saturday. Today I awoke at 7am had a look outside and checked the weather on line. It looked as if the rain was going to hold off so I joined my Tri Team for a 3 hour bike ride (48.4 miles). The ride was actually very pleasant and the weather kind to us. I got home at lunch time had a quick sandwich and then jumped in the bath. It was now past 2pm and I realised that I was going to have to get a move on if I was to fit in my 1.5 hour run and some Yoga before we had to go out for the evening. I went out for my run at 3.15pm (luckily still not raining) and got home for 4.45pm. I did about 25 min Yoga and then helped Wendy get tea ready. We had to leave at 6.00pm to get to the Kennedy Center to watch the Nutcracker (nothing to do with cycling seats).

Amazingly everything worked out and we had a very pleasant evening. I cannot say that I am big fan of ballet but I did enjoy the show. The scenery, costumes and of course the music were great and the dancers were amazingly toned. Some of the audience were very well turned out and there were some very glamorous dresses and coats about. It reminded me of may last swim at the Sports club. It is in a very affluent area and the people here seem to have a great deal of disposable income. A good example was the lady swimming next to me who came out to the poolside not in flip flops but in a pair of Ugg boots.

I will probably not have a chance to post for a few days so I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

What it takes? TR*

As I approach the end of the second build cycle with my new Cadence coach I thought I would take the opportunity to briefly cover the bigger picture stuff relating to the sport of Triathlon. How much commitment does it really take and what effect does it have on your home life balance?

I like things simple so I see triathletes as falling into one of four broad categories:

1. At one end you have those who are doing triathlon purely for fun or to see if they can finish an event. These people are often starting out from a low level of fitness or perhaps coming back from a medical problem. Often these people will stick to sprint events and may possibly do an Olympic distance but rarely do half ironman or ironman distances. They may not have the time or inclination to join a club and will often fit in training as and when they can, perhaps relying on some previous experience in one of the disciplines to carry them through a race.

If you know how to swim and ride a bike you do not need to put in a lot of training to compete in Triathlon. In the few shorter distance races I have done there are plenty of people just there to have a good time. It is probably sensible to make sure that you can cycle and swim the race distance before you start but you do not have to put in any serious training. I was really surprised at my first race just how relaxed the atmosphere was and triathlon can be really fun. As for owning a decent bike I saw all sorts of bikes out on the course including mountain bikes and even a folding bike. Bottom line is almost anyone can do a triathlon for fun without it taking up much of your free time or involving any serious commitment as long as you are just content to finish.

2. The second class of triathlete is where I would have placed myself this year. I was relatively fit compared to the national average but I did not have any endurance sport or racing experience. I had cycled to work fairly regularly on a road bike but I hardly ever swam and only jogged for 20 min or so at a time. I wanted to try the sport and was prepared to put in a significant amount of time and effort in order to race rather than just finish. I invested in a Tri bike part way through the season and I also invested in tri shoes, a new helmet and triathlon clothing. I probably trained about 10 hours a week. 1 hour run Monday lunch, 1 hour swim Tuesday lunch (sometimes a 45 min cycle in the evening), 45 min run Wednesday lunch (fast intervals), 1 hours swim Thursday lunch, rest day Friday, long run Saturday morning (anywhere from 1 to 3 hours) and a long cycle on Sunday (anywhere from 1.5 to 4.5 hours). I would also do two 1 hour weight/abs sessions a week. The long runs and cycles at the weekend were almost always complete by lunch except for one or two of the very long cycles, 80-90 miles (not many of these) leaving the rest of the weekend free.

I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do their training at lunch but if you do it in the morning you can still keep your evenings free. Luckily for me my wife was prepared to entertain herself most evenings which allowed me to complete the first ¼ of a law degree this year whilst still training and working. This level of commitment does require ‘buy in’ from your partner, if you are not single, especially I would imagine if you have kids. You do not have any spare time although if I didn’t do my degree studies we would have had most evenings to ourselves or could have gone out.

N.B. those people who train before work normally sacrifice most evenings as they still need to get their sleep and are often in bed for 9pm.

You also spend most weekends training or racing. I was prepared to blow off the occasional weekend to go traveling with my wife (you can still normally squeeze in a run without ruining the weekend) and I would still go on holiday for 1 week at a time, just getting in training where I could. By sticking to a periodized training plan I had a successful racing season and achieved everything I wanted to and even managed to secure a couple of medals. I could finish in the top five in the small races and perhaps in the top 20-30 of the bigger races. My body was never overly taxed and the only time I felt fatigued was after the first month or two of long rides which I was not used to.

3. The third class of triathlete is were I see myself at the moment. I train an extra 5-6 hours on top of what I was doing before and will train more regularly in the evenings (Tues and Thu). I also do not get Saturday afternoon off as I now have a medium cycle in addition to my longish run and a Yoga and Strength session. My Sunday ride is unchanged. I now do 3 weeks of build before I have a rest week as opposed the 2 weeks of build, 1 week of recovery I was doing before.

I am also sticking more rigidly to the workouts as I know I have to try and compete at an Ironman in the not too distant future and that lots of people are going to see how I am doing. I am less likely to skip a weekend to go on a trip and I require more support/understanding from my wife when it comes to the lack of social life. I listen to ‘Ironman Talk’ podcast and on one of the recent episodes Coach John Newsom said that you could do 3 ‘things’ comfortably and I think that is true at the moment. You can for example work full time, train and recover but that is it. If you introduce another element like an active social life then one of the other 3 will suffer. The big difference for me moving from level 2 to 3 is that I now feel like I have to actively recover. I am noticeably more tired than I was before and will find myself falling asleep in front of the telly at about 9pm especially on a Saturday night (party on). I need to put my feet up and relax whenever I can or my ability to complete my training schedule suffers. This is obviously not conducive to a big social life.

I am still able to get out to Christmas parties but I often have to watch how much I drink if I am training the next morning and I will not be the last one lighting up the dance floor as I need my sleep. I would certainly not recommend trying to do a part time learning course if training at this level as I think it would be too tiring. To me this level of commitment is significant and it definitely impacts on your home life in a big way. This attempt to qualify for Kona will be an all or nothing shot. I do not intend to train at this level year in year out until I qualify. I will have a go and then probably drop back into a level 2 sort of training. I do not want to give up on Triathlon completely as it is great fun and racing is a real buzz.

4. The final level of triathlete is your pro or elite amateur who has a job which does not take up much of their time. I do not know a lot about this level and I do not think I ever will as I am too old to think about a career in Triathlon not to mention how difficult it must be to make a living when prize money is so little. Perhaps if I won the lottery I would consider training 30+ plus hours a week.

That is my take on what it takes to train for Triathlon. The longer the event the longer your training has to be and when you decide to take it more seriously you must allow yourself more time for quality recovery. Last week I didn't stick to my zones and probably overdid it slightly which resulted in my right calf seizing up a little. Holden added a little more rest to the program and this week I am fine. There is clearly a fine line between induced fartigue to improve performance and over-training.

There are obviously plenty of other points of view and I hear many athletes who work full time still manage to put in 20-30 hours of training a week but that cannot be easy and they must be very dedicated. I would definitely recommend to any one interested in the sport that they have a go at a sprint triathlon, some of them are very short e.g. 500m swim in a pool, 10km bike, 3-5 run and are great fun.

Training Zones - TR**

In previous posts I have mentioned endurance zones, lactate threshold and base phase without really bothering to explain what these terms mean. For the benefit of anyone who is looking at starting to train in this way I thought I would explain what I have learned so far about heart rate training zones and how they are applied. For the really techy I will include my heart rate zones from the beginning of the season, based on a V02 max test, with my heart rate zones taken at the end of the season using a blood lactate threshold test, a bike time trial and a run time trial.

So what are the heart rate training zones? Certain training systems define heart rate zones differently but in broad terms they all follow the same principle. My heart rate zones from a VO2 max test with Ken Mierke at fitness concepts (3 Apr 07) were:

Zone 1 Active Recovery 132-142
Zone 2 Aerobic Threshold 143-150
Zone 3 Tempo Training 151-164
Zone 4 Lactate Threshold 165-173
Zone 5a Super-threshold Training 174-177
Zone 5b Aerobic Capacity Training 178-182
Zone 5c Anaerobic Capacity Training 183+

My new training zones according to my latest (20 Oct 07) Blood Lactate Threshold testing by Cadence are (figures in brackets are from cycle/run field tests):

Zone 1 Recovery <115 color (<116/<115)
Zone 2 Endurance 117-139 (117-140/117-140)
Zone 3 Sub Lactate Threshold 140-161 (141-162/141-161)
Zone 4a Lactate Threshold 162-167 (163-168/163-168)
Zone 4b Super Lactate Threshold 169-177 (173-179/169-178)
Zone 5 VO2 Max 179 (180/179)
Zone 6 Sub-maximal n/a
Zone 7 Maximal n/a

N.B. The Field Tests gave remarkably similar results to the blood lactate test. It is also worth noting that Cadence put my endurance zone much lower than my VO2 max test earlier in the year but my lactate threshold is pretty similar. You can do field tests on your own with a stop watch for further guidance see a good book such as Joe Friel's 'The Triathlete's Training Bible'.

Once you know your heart rate zones you can use a heart rate monitor to target your training e.g. if I keep my heart rate between 117 and 139 I know that I will be in my endurance zone. This is where you spend most of your base miles during the build phase of your training program. In this zone you are training your slow twitch muscles and teaching your body to rely on fat for fuel rather than carbohydrates (fat will last a longer than your carbohydrate stocks).

When you want to do speed work you will often spend time training around your lactate threshold so that your body can become more efficient at speed without getting to the stage where you are creating more lactic acid than your body can recycle.

The zones are also very useful in a race. As you race more often you know what zone you need to maintain at certain race distance in order to finish in the best time. Apparently overtime you come to recognize how your body is doing without the use of a heart rate monitor but for beginners/intermediates I think a heart rate monitor is a useful training tool.

If you do not want to payout for a heart rate monitor you can judge your training purely on perceived effort (PE) and achieve similar results. If maximum effort for you is 10 and no effort is 0 then the following PE relate to each zone:

Zone 1 PE <3
Zone 2 PE 4-5
Zone 3 PE 6
Zone 4a PE 7-7.5
Zone 4b PE 8
Zone 5 PE 9
Zone 6 PE 9.5
Zone 7 PE 10

N.B. a good rule of thumb for exercising in Zone 2 (PE4-5) is that you can hold a conversation, 7-8 words without having to take a breath, whilst training.

The trick is to make sure that you stick to your endurance zone when doing your base training as it is so easy to get sucked into going quicker which can prevent you from getting in the necessary volume.

As you move into TR*** territory you may well start using other tools to train. Probably the best indication of training intensity is a power meter. By measuring the power you are producing on the bike you know what intensity you are training at. The advantage of power meters are that they are not affected by environmental factors such as wind and heat (on hot days you will find your heart rate monitor reading higher than normal).

I know from my field test on the bike that my 20min avg power is 258 watts (estimated LT power of 245) and as I get fitter I will try and push these numbers up. Another useful figure when it comes to performance is your power to weight ratio. If you look at the Tour de France cyclists they weigh less than a full water bottle but can put down phenomenal power which is why they are so bloody fast. My power to weight ratio was 3.12 watts/kg and I am looking forward to seeing this improve over time (a top pro cyclist will be up around the 7watts/kg mark).

My first season went pretty well and I believe that this was in large part due to finding TeamZ and following a good periodized program which was not too taxing. I used a heart rate monitor all year and it seemed to work for me but having gone on and on about HR zones it is worth bearing in mind that I recently heard an interview with Chrissy Wellington (the Brit who won the Ironman Worldchampionships at her first try) and she has never trained with a heart rate monitor – so there you go.

P.S. please remember that I am not a coach and I am just sharing what I have learned. There is loads of good info on line but I would always encourage newbies to join a local team where you will find a wealth of knowledge to tap.

Trigeek Rating

In the near future I plan to do a post on training zones. I realise that some sections of such a post are going to be quite technical and will not be of interest to everyone.

Therefore I thought it might be useful if I gave some of my posts a Trigeek Rating (TR). For the uninitiated a trigeek is someone who is obsessed with triathlon, particularly with regard to new technology and equipment. I thought I would grade the posts using stars (*):

TR* = Contains infrequent, moderate trigeekeness. Suitable for the casual reader and novice triathlete.

TR** = Strong, frequent trigeek references and full frontal lycra. Suitable for the keen triathlete who is likely to own a tri-bike and HR monitor.

TR*** = Graphic, uncensored, obscene trigeekeness. Only for aero-helmet wearing, food weighing, oxygen tent sleeping uber-trigeeks.

The latest must have Triathlon training aid?

Please do not bombard me with emails this is not meant to be a sick joke, I fully appreciate how fortunate I am to be healthy and able to participate in Triathlon.

This Blog is about how the more seriously you take Triathlon the lazier you seem to get. Let me explain

Before I started putting my mind to training earlier this year I used to cycle to work. It was a thirteen mile each way trip and it used to be a very relaxing and refreshing way to start the day. I then met up with my Triathlon Team and started following a weekly training plan. This would have me running on Monday, swimming and cycling on a Tuesday etc. and is very similar in format to what I do now. The problem was that I couldn't cycle to work without it affecting my program and on a Tuesday and Thursday I needed a car to get the swimming pool.

The end result is that I now drive to work everyday. Most training plans I have seen have a rest day once a week. I have been advised that it is very important to observe your rest day and you should plan to do as little as possible. The whole principle behind training is that you over-exert your muscles so that they grow back stronger and in order for them to grow back you have to rest.

This brings me onto the scooter. As I mentioned in my last Blog my calf is a little tender from the ride on Sunday and the run yesterday and the advice from my coach is to take it easy and try not walk. This led me to my vision of all serious athletes getting to and from the gym on a mobility scooter.

It is also important to get enough sleep as it is when you are asleep that your body really heals itself. I have read that many pro athletes will try and get in a sleep in the middle of the day. So now you have "athletes" driving everywhere, using mobility scooters and sleeping during the day - sounds like a lazy bunch to me.

I'm off to the kitchen for an hour and half on the bike but if my leg hurts I will cut it short. The beauty of Triathlon training, compared to training for just one sport, (apart from bragging rights) is that you get time to recover e.g. following yesterdays run I will not do another endurance run until Saturday which gives my body plenty of time to recover. Now all I have to do is get my Stannah Stair Lift installed and I am sorted.

Nice weather for ducks.

Serves me right for waxing lyrical about how nice cycling can be on a sunny winter’s day, yesterday's ride was wetter than an otter's pocket.

I left the house just after 8am to head out to The Plains, Virginia, for a group ride with Team Z. As I left the city the weather was overcast and there was a light drizzle. No problem I can live with a bit of light drizzle and of course I had my trusty Gore jacket. As I got closer to the start of the ride the heavens opened. Everything in the US is bigger and this can include the rain, it was coming down so hard that I had the wipers on full speed and still couldn't see where I was going.

When I got to the start of the ride the rain fall had slowed but it was heavy and wintry and the temperature was sub 40 degrees (3-4 degrees Celsius). Everyone was getting dressed underneath their 'tail gates' and you could tell it was going to be a bad day by the way in which everyone got dressed in slow motion.

It is on the first really sh**ty ride that you realize just how unprepared for winter you can be. I had come prepared for cold but dry conditions. Luckily my clothing held up pretty well to the conditions especially my Gore jacket that repelled some pretty serious rain. The only part of my body that actually got cold were my feet. Neoprene is great for cold dry conditions but will not save you when it gets wet. I also put on wool socks which again work well in the dry but as soon as they get wet they have no thermal properties. On a practical level I did not have a plastic bag to keep my Cue Sheet (directions) dry and therefore I had to rely on others to navigate (not too clever).

The ride was supposed to be 38 miles but we took a wrong turn (unfortunately I think while I was at the front - sorry everyone) and ended up adding 3 or 4 miles to the end of the ride. I am supposed to be doing my base miles on fairly flat terrain but so far this has not worked out and this ride was probably the hilliest of the lot so far. End result is that my legs were really tight after the ride and my calfs felt a bit crampy on the 8 mile run at lunch today. It is probably even more important to warm down when your legs have been really cold but like an idiot I just jumped in the car at the end of the ride and rushed home to get a bath and unpack some more boxes from the move.

Lessons learned:

• When you go to a winter ride you need to have lots of clothing choices in your boot/trunk.
  
• You need a supply of plastic bags (little clear ones for your directions, phone etc. bigger ones for your wet gear post ride, you can also use them over your socks but inside your shoes if you want to stay dry).
  
• Your sunglasses have to be clean.
  
• Dark lenses are not much use when it is dark.
  
• Take warm dry clothes for after the ride (especially fresh socks).
  
• Always warm down - especially when your legs are chilled to the bone.
  
• Do not switch off. There were a couple of close calls on this ride and it is very, very hard to stop a road bike in the wet as you have so little contact with the road. When I get cold I tend to get lazy and normal bike routine e.g. eating can go out of the window. I didn't take any nutrition on this ride and just about got away with it. If I had been out 20-30 min longer I would have suffered for it.
  
• Quit your job and do your winter training in the southern hemisphere.
  

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No its ...

... a man dressed for winter cycling and wearing some pretty gaudy cycling tights.

So what do you wear for winter cycling and why am I writing this? Winter cycling can be great, I know that I said I do not like the cold but a ride in the winter sun can be beautiful and you often find that you have the roads and trails to yourself which is bliss compared to the congestion you get in the summer (obviously this statement is a bit less applicable back in the UK). I am writing this post for anyone that is starting out in the sport and is in the same position I was a year ago.

The temperatures here in North Virginia plummeted this week (down to about 17 degrees farenheit, -8 degrees centigrade) and as you can see there is still a little snow left on the garden of the house behind me. When the temperatures are just above freezing you have to dress appropriately otherwise the cold is going to ruin your ride and probably bring you home early.

Starting at the top and working down I am wearing:

• Balaclava (I find if it the temperature goes up to the high 40s/low 50s a skull cap is enough).
• Sun glasses (important with winter sun which is often low in the sky - Watch out for misting and make sure you wipe them before you set out especially if you are wearing a balaclava).
• Base Layer (wicking layer - the same shirts I use for running. You need a few of these as they will get sweaty but they save you from having to wash your mid layer every ride).
• Mid Layer ( I have a warmish fleecy cyling shirt made by Spiuk - again if it is another 10 degrees warmer a base and mid layer are enough - worth spending a little money on your mid layer as you only really need one).
• Outer shell (the Gore jacket has been great. It is windproof and fairly water proof. It has arm pit zips which are great for regulating your temperature. I leave the arm pit zips open throughout the ride and regulate my temperature on climbing by unzipping the front of the jacket).
• Bib tights (I know the looks are pretty 'in your face' but that is why they were on sale. I got some pretty technical Spiuk tights for 1/5 of what you would pay for the equivalent Assos tights. These tights have windproof panels on the knees which really helps you keep warm. They have stirrups which stop the bottoms riding up and these come with the cycle pad in them. There are tights that do not have pads and they are designed to be worn over the top of regular cycling shorts. Wearing tights over shorts is clearly warmer but I have always found that as long as my core temperature is right I am not too bothered about my legs).
• Winter Socks (I wear warm walking socks).
• Cycling shoes (I wear my triathlon cycling shoe as it is easier to wear thick socks with them as they have one broad velcro strap).
• Toe Covers (Little neoprene covers that slide over the end of your shoes).
• Booties (As well as the toe covers I wear neoprene over booties. I find that my toes are the first thing to go when it gets cold. The aim is to keep the heat trapped because when your toes start to get cold it is really hard to warm them up again).
• Gloves (I wear two pairs of gloves. A thin pair which are also good for running and then thicker winter gloves over the top).

Today's ride was great. I didn't get out until 11am as we had been to my office Christmas party the night before. I woke up with a bit of hangover, there was an open bar and I wanted to recoup the cost of the tickets, and the cold air really helped clear my head. It was a 2 hour ride and I just weaved my way around the neighbourhood roads enjoying the sunshine.

Answer Tips

Just a quick note to let you know that I have added Answer Tips to the Blog. If you now double click on any word, or term, in the text of the posts you should get an explanation or definition.

Some of the language involved with Triathlon and endurance sport can be a bit confusing to the outsider. Please give it a try, if for example you double click on VO2 in the post "Codebreakers" you will get an explanation of VO2 max and if you click on Placid in "Now that the dust has settled" you will get a brief description of Lake Placid.

Non-Brits may also find it useful if I sometimes use uniquely British euphemisms or slang terms such as 'plonker' in the last post.

Hope it helps.

Codebreakers Reveal Major Breach of Human Rights

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC SCENES OF WATER TORTURE THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING.

This morning the following coded message was intercepted from Cadence Multisport:

"Warm Up5 x 150 Swim, Kick, Pull, Scull, Swim4 x 50 Build on 1:15 Kick10 x 50 on 1:30 #3,5,7,9,10 FastPull3 x 200 Endurance Pace- Rest Interval :30- Breathe 3,5,3,7 by 50sSwim4x (300 SubLT Pace RI :10) (50 VO2 RI :30) Cool Down1 x 200 EZ"

With the help of Naval Sea Systems Command intern (and keen swimmer), Stephanie Brown, this code has been broken revealing one of the worst Human Rights violations since Tiananmen Square.

Additionally it has been discovered that yesterdays strength training, which involved finding my maximum lift capability for various strength exercises, turned out to be a ruse to 'soften me up' ready for today's beatings. After the maximum squat and leg press exercises yesterday I woke up this morning feeling as if I had been doing the twist all night.

Having broken the code it looked as if the swim workout was going to start out easy enough.

Warm Up, 5 times 150m. The first 150m, Swim - easy-peasy. The second 150m, Kick - i.e. grab a float and kick up and down for 6 lengths - Okey-Dokey. The third 150m, Pull - i.e. put a float between your legs and swim using just your arms - not a problem. The fourth 150m, Skull - skull?? It turns out that they want me to swim 6 lengths by flapping my hands. This is a ridiculous way of getting to the other end of the pool. I must have looked like a real plonker and I would have been quicker through the water if I had farted my way down the pool. Last 150m, swim again.

I got through my warm up and the next set was 10 times 50m kicking. I am terrible at kicking and have spent a year swimming pretty much without kicking at all. We are therefore trying to get me kicking more during the practices. This kick session was 50% slow 50% fast. The first fast interval was hell on my legs and then it went pretty much down hill from there.

Next it gets really disturbing 3 times 200m pull (fine), breathe 3, 5, 3, and 7 by 50's (what on earth does that mean). Turns out that they want me to breathe on my 3rd stroke then my 5th stroke then my 3rd then my 7th!!!! This is your basic run of the mill water torture i.e. holding the victims head under water (albeit by email).

To finish me off they wanted 4 sets of 300m sub lactate threshold pace followed 10 seconds later by 50m all out VO2 max pace. Sub lactate threshold is a fairly quick pace but I think I may have crept over my lactate threshold because by the third set I started to slow down involuntarily. I realised that they had beaten me I warmed down called out my Name, Rank and Number and left the pool. It was not a proud moment but it at least brought an end to the torture.

Next week I get to do it all over again :-) By the way swimming is probably my least favourite of the 3 disciplines.

Triathletes do it in the kitchen

Time got away from me yesterday. My daily training log called for a broken half ironman swim consisting of a warm up of upto 1km followed by 2 times 1km swims with 30 seconds rest between (800m at endurance pace plus 200m easy swim). I would normally try and get the swim in at lunch allowing me to do the second workout of the day (endurance bike ride of 1.5 hours) when I got home.

I ran out of time and could not get my swim in at lunch therefore I had to do the swim late afternoon. When I got back to the house at around 5pm I had to finish an assignment for my distance learning course which was due today. Before I knew it it was 7pm and I needed to do my ride.

I have never been a great fan of the cold and I do not take any pleasure in cycling in the dark therefore my evening bike rides are restricted to an indoor trainer. If you have read my earlier Blog you will know that we moved house last week. The old house had a big family room where I had room to set up my trainer in front of the big telly downstairs. The new house has a smaller family room and I do not have the room to set up the trainer in front of the telly. Static bike riding is very, very, boring and I need to have something to watch to take my mind off the tedium.

The solution was to set up the trainer in the kitchen so that I could watch the little portable telly. The next stage will be to eat my dinner on the trainer. Last night we had a stew and you can see the slow cooker on the counter in the picture below. It was 8.45pm before I finished on the bike and by then I was really hungry, the smell of that stew drove me crazy.

There is of course another solution to the time issue and that is to do a workout before work. Long before this competition my local triathlon team head coach and founder, Ed Zerkle, had been trying to get me to go to the team swim meets. The problem with these swim sessions was that they started at 5.30am. The idea of getting up at 4.30am fills me with dread it probably has something to do with all the morning watches I stood when I was serving at sea. A 'shake' at 3.30am to get up and go and stand on a cold bridge for 4 hours is not one of life's high points.

Slideshow (PG)

I have posted a slideshow with some photos from last year's races and a couple from the Cadence Kona Challenge weekend.
The PG rating is for the one with my hand down my wetsuit (thanks Wendy) and for the horrible sweaty mess that is me at the end of the Annapolis Tri.

The Perfect Running Posture

I am back at work following my lunch time run. I was down for a 50 min endurance run which for me means running 8.5 min to 9 min miles. I do not intend going in to the detail of good running technique as it is worthy of its own post but one thing most runners seem to agree on is that you should have a slight forward lean not from your waist but from your ankles. This will apparently help you maintain your momentum.

I have always had difficulty doing this and tend to run far too upright but today I found the answer. To achieve the perfect running posture find some ground where the wind is channeled e.g. the National Mall and go for a run in 50 mph winds . Never mind a slight forward lean today I looked more like a ski jumper than a runner.

I have to give respect to the five guys and girls I saw that had turned up for their lunch time game of ultimate frisbee. You must have to be seriously talented to throw a frisbee in those conditions.

Yes the picture is beautiful and yes working just south of Capital Hill I get to run down the Mall and along the Potomac river for my lunch time runs. It is very surreal for some one growing up in a fairly small English town to now be running down the Mall on a regular basis and I realise how fortunate I am to have such a backdrop.

Aside from the wind I also got wet, waves in the tidal basin were breaking up against its sides spraying the path with water (hardcore) with the result that my pasty white legs are now a bright shade of pink - that said still a great run.

End of the first Base Phase.

Most endurance athletes will be familiar with the principle of periodization. For the uninitiated the idea is that the athlete goes through several different periods of training. You start with general preparation in the base phase, moving onto more specific preparation in the build phase before reaching your peak phase just prior to your key race.

I am in the base or general preparation phase. The base phase makes up the majority of your annual training for example in my training plan in the run up to Lake Placid out of the 36 weeks of training 20 of those weeks are devoted to base training and 14 weeks are for build training.

The base phase revolves around long steady training sessions designed to give you a good base level of fitness long before you get to race season. As I understand it this base is even more important for those racing long distances such as Ironman. Therefore what I do now can make a big difference to how I perform at Lake Placid.

I completed the first base phase a couple of hours ago when I finished a cold 2 hour recovery ride. This 4 week base cycle consisted of 3 weeks of endurance training followed by 1 week recovery. This ratio is different to my first season where I did 3 week base cycles; 2 weeks of endurance training before a recovery week. This new 3:1 ratio is obviously harder work but should allow me to benefit from a stronger base come race season.

A typical weeks training at the moment for me (built around 15 hours of training time):

Mon; 50min run at endurance pace (equates to a perceived effort of 4-5 out of 10).
Tue; AM an endurance swim totaling 2.5 - 3km; PM endurance cycle 1.5 hours.
Wed; 20min recovery run followed by 30mins each of lower and upper body strength training.
Thu; AM 30min recovery run; PM Swim 2-2.5km (more drills and speed work).
Fri; Rest day.
Sat; AM endurance ride 2 hours, PM 30min Yoga (X Train) 20 min abs, Endurance Run 1hour plus.
Sun; Endurance ride 3 hours.

A recovery week has similar workouts but they are much shorter and at a lower intensity.

Having reached the end of the first base phase I am feeling pretty tired. The volume of training has gone up 20-30% from what I am used to. It also doesn't help moving house during your recovery week. I had forgotten how much work is involved in moving and after a couple of days of lifting boxes I felt like I had gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

The Base phase can be a bit laborious and as triathlon season in this part of the world starts in spring and finishes in the autumn base building must happen during the coldest part of the year. That being said it can be great going for a long ride on a crisp winter’s day when the roads are quiet and the air is clear as long as you get your dressing right.



I am also benefiting from the 20 min recovery runs after my long rides. I had never done this before but it does really help your legs to recover after a long time in the saddle. I have also tried Palates and Yoga for the first time. So far this has been limited to doing it alone in front of the TV using a DVD but I am hoping to build up the courage to go to the local gym and do a class there. I realize just how inflexible I am at the moment and I am looking forward to getting back some flexibility. By the way if anyone thinks Yoga is easy in my limited experience so far it is not, some of the poses are really hard work.

I miss the thrill of racing and cannot wait for next season to start but in the meantime 1 base phase down 5 to go :-)

P.S. My teammates are beginning to rib me over all the equipment I have been given. This morning before the group ride I had a flat, as I changed my tyre in the cold some bright spark yelled out "don't you have a man to do that for you?"