Facebook for Fitties - Athlinks.com

I have added a link to my athlink.com profile under my links.

Athlinks.com is great place to keep track of you race results. When you enter your name it will generate those races where your name appears in the results and you can then claim those results for your profile.

You can also include other members as your friends so that you have a link to their profile and results. Athlinks also looks for other people who have raced in some of the same races as you and lists them as rivals (I think they need to be in 3 of the same races as you). I have not yet edited my rivals so these are the default names Athlinks selected as my rivals.

There are a lot of other things you can do e.g. race reports, gear reviews etc. I have not bothered with any of these features yet but know that I have a one stop shop if I want to compare my race results. Please feel free to request me as a friend if you join or are an existing member and let me know that you have seen my blog.

This week has been very quiet and was strictly a recovery week following the marathon. I have had 3 days off, 2 gentle swims, 2 recovery bike rides and a 30 minute light run. Holden has just posted my program for the next 3 weeks and the gloves are well and truly off.

I am back to the grindstone tomorrow with an hour on the bike and a 1hr 15min run. Tuesday is a 2 hour bike with overgear and lactate threshold intervals. Wednesday is 1hr 45min run and some core strength work. Thursday a swim, 50 min run and weights session. Friday day off - thank goodness. Sat a long bike starting at 3 hours this week then 4hrs then 5hrs. Sunday is a swim and then 2 hours of Bike-Run bricks. Bricks are one discipline followed immediately by another, similar to race conditions.

I am tired just reading this program but I am on a high following the marathon. Having proof that the training is working so well really makes it easier to throw myself back into this base training.


As a final note I wanted to say well done to the Brits in the Tour of California. David Millar (picture is of the Slipstream-Chipotle dog - Millar's team, not the man himself) has had a great week and is currently in second place (I am just about to watch the highlights of the final day) and yesterday he made a very brave breakaway with only 3 miles to go which very nearly paid off. Another Brit, Mark Cavendish, took the sprint to the line having crashed only a few miles before the finish. Turns out he cheated a little bit but the point is he showed his world class abilities and having had very few successful Brit Cyclists to follow on the pro tour in recent years it is good to see GBR up there on the leader board.



I have really enjoyed watching the race and have even watched a couple of legs whilst on my trainer, almost as if I were in the race except the peleton was doing 25mph+ whilst I was probably doing about a 14mph pace at best. But with bike racing on the TV it must mean that my own race season will soon be on.

2008 Myrtle Beach Marathon Race Report - TR*

My first marathon is done and dusted and I am pleased to report that it all went according to plan. Despite my apprehension that in training I had not done any runs longer than about 11.5 miles my fears were unfounded.

As soon as I can figure out how to publish documents to the domain that comes with my email account I will publish some much longer race reports and link them to this blog. In the meantime here is my Race Report for the Myrtle Beach Marathon:

We set out early on Friday morning to drive the 445 miles to Myrtle Beach and picked up 2 other TeamZ members, Kitty and Sebastian, who were also running the Marathon. The drive down was fairly uneventful and we arrived at MB at around 5pm. We checked into the hotel and went to the race expo to pick up the race packet and t-shirt. After grabbing dinner at a great grill joint and a couple of beers I was in bed for 9pm watching Heartbreak Ridge until I fell asleep at about 10pm.

Alarm went off at 4.15am, breakfast started at 4.30 and we were on a bus to the start line at 5.15am. The outside temperature was actually very mild and probably in the mid to high 40s. This was a huge relief as last year at the start the temp was down in the 20s and the runners were desperately huddled together for warmth waiting for the starting gun. I lined up with Chris, Sebastian, Annie and Stacey and we placed ourselves halfway between the 3.30 and 4.00 pace signs. We were all aiming to run 8.30 min/miles which would give us a finish of 3:45. Holden had advised me to stick to 8.30s until at least the 10 mile point and then pick up the pace slightly after that if I was feeling OK.

The gun went off at 6.30am but I didn't get across the start line for another minute or two (the time I am quoting is my chip time - time from crossing the start line until crossing the finishing line; rather than gun time which is time from starting gun until crossing the finishing line). We spent the next 3 miles weaving our way around the 100s and 100s of people who had clearly ignored the pace signs and lined up as close to the start as possible regardless of their actual ability.





I was feeling great and my heart rate was a steady 150 bpm, smack in the middle of zone 3 and about 89% of Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LT HR). I heeded the warnings about going too fast and tried to keep my heart rate steady. For the first 10 miles I was pretty rubbish at keeping track of my pacing. I didn't see the first few mile markers and at about 6 or 7 miles I stopped my stop watch by mistake instead of hitting the lap button. Chris was running with a Garmin and we tried taking pace off that but I think it may of been reading a little fast. At about the 7 or 8 mile point I was still feeling strong and I started to pull away from the others.

The next 10 miles where pretty uneventful. The roads were very, very long and straight and the sea view was blocked most of the way by hotels. The weather was ideal with temps in the mid 50s but cloud cover keeping the sun off us most of the time. I was surrounded by other runners but most of them were wearing green numbers which marked them out as half marathon runners. When we came back to the start finish area we lost the half marathon runners and it seemed to get very quiet. There were far less people around me and those of us left knew we were only half way around. I passed the 13.1 mile point at about 1:50:00 which meant the first half had been an average of 8:23 min/miles. This was a little faster than planned but I still felt good. Wendy and the Team Z support tent was just past the half way point so I grabbed a couple more Gu's and bid them farewell.


The 8:23 pace is slightly inaccurate as I was probably running sub 8:20s but I went to the loo (No.1) 2 or 3 times which slowed me down a bit. As I still felt good I let my heart rate rise to about 155 bpm. When I got to mile 17 I was fully expecting to bonk and even started to wait for it. By mile 18 or 19 I realised that I was not going to hit the wall but it was still by far the lowest part of my marathon. I started to feel real tightness in my calfs and I had a sharp pain in my right hip flexor. For a few minutes I started to question my ability to maintain my pace and finish in a good time. Mile 19-20 was my slowest mile overall but after I passed the 20 mile timing mat I managed to get my head together.

I passed the 20 mile point at 2:49:00 and when I saw a middle aged bloke overtaking me I decided that I would stick with him otherwise I was going to throw away my good finish. Before I knew it the pain I was feeling disappeared, I picked up my cadence and got my groove back. I put my head down and didn't really look up again until the finish. As I picked up the pace the guy I was following started to drop off and I started to pass more and more people which really got me going. Brian, one of the assistant coaches with Team Z, was waiting at about mile 23 and we ran the last 3 miles together. I crossed the line at 3:38:07 which meant that the last 6.2 miles had taken me 49 mins which is a very satisfying pace of 7:54 min/miles (N.B. no toilet stops in the last 6 miles). That puts me in 296th place out of the 1686 who finished and 31st in my age group. For results click here.

I felt good after the run. I downed my recovery drink and hit the beer tent. Team Z had the grill going so I had a burger and watched the other runners come in. The sun was now out and it was a very pleasant morning. The race was very well organized and put together. The amount and quality of volunteers manning the aid stations was
really very impressive.


Overall I really enjoyed the run. The race went like clockwork. I knew that at some point I would have a low but luckily it only lasted 10-15 mins for me. Perhaps the most reassuring aspect is that although I am a little stiff in my thighs today I feel pretty good overall and I know that the first half of the marathon was run at a conservative pace and I do have more in the tank for Lake Placid.

Big thanks to my Cadence Coach, Holden, who told me how to run the race and has already done great work in preparing my CV system in preparation for IronMan. His confidence in my ability to complete the marathon as planned was very reassuring and I am really looking forward to the racing season ahead.

As a first timer if I had any advice to my fellow newbies they would be:

• Get everywhere early - do not be rushing.

• Have a plan - stick to it.

• If you know your heart rate zones - listen to them.

• Start conservative and go for the negative split - it is really motivating to start passing people and will help you finish strong.

• Ice bath and compression socks after race will probably help you recover - I am not as bad as those in the video.

• Enjoy it - you probably will hurt at some point (sorry Derek) - accept it - get over it and then keep going.

• Oh and the Jacuzzi was fantastic.

P.S. Completing a Marathon was very satisfying but not as much fun as a Triathlon.

Myrtle Beach Marathon - Not a day at the 'C'-side, but must 'B' sensible and not 'A' hot-head - TR*

'A','B' and 'C' races what do they really mean.

I think I have mentioned in an earlier Blog what is meant by an 'A', 'B' and 'C' race within a periodized training program. To reiterate an 'A' race is a key race in your program which you have specifically trained and tapered for, a 'B' race is an important race although you have not specifically trained for it and may or may not have tapered for and a 'C' race is a race which you are not overly concerned about and certainly have not trained specifically for.

A good example of the difference between an 'A' and a 'B' race can be seen in the difference between my preparations for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, for me a 'B' race, and those of my TeamZ teammates for whom it is an 'A' race. Although my teammates continue to follow a triathlon training plan including swimming and cycling they have been focusing on longer and longer runs building to around 18-20 miles. This allows the body to get used to the feeling of using up all of your glycogen stores which will happen at roughly about the 18 mile point.

I on the other hand have not had a run longer than about 11.5 miles. I was a little concerned about this but I have spoken to Holden and he has reassured me that the base fitness level I have acquired through cycling and running volume will hold me in good stead. He has warned me that I will most likely hit the wall and that it will hurt - thanks!! but the point is this is not a key race for me and as such I have not followed a traditional marathon training schedule.

There is of course an element of 'expectation management' associated with my race. I have to admit on my longer runs when the endorphins were flowing I would let my mind wonder and dream about finishing the marathon in some astonishing time and taking my place on the podium. Of course when the endorphin high runs out I can accept that this is a fantasy, in reality I dream of being fairly quick in each of the three disciplines making me a good solid triathlete overall.

With this Marathon I was starting to lose track of the fact that it was a 'B' race. My boss is a keen runner and has a PB of about 3:26 and I have a friend back in the UK who is hoping to post a good time at the London Marathon. I started to think to myself "you are in the best shape of your life at the moment you can run a pretty quick time here". I enjoy friendly competition and started to wonder whether I could run a sub 3:30 marathon. Having talked it out with Holden I need to be more realistic and the plan is to set out at a fairly steady 8.30 min/mile. If I can hold this pace I should finish in around 3:45. If I am feeling good after 10 miles or so I can try picking the pace up a little and ideally I will run a negative split.

Therefore putting my neck on the line I am aiming for a 3:45 marathon or better. This is still a good time and having never run this distance before I would be very happy to finish in that time. I think my biggest problem will be coping with the aches and pains that running that far will create and I hope that the new trainers are not too uncomfortable. Although they are the same brand the GT 2130s do feel different to the GT 2120s. The real key to this race is to make sure that I stick to the plan and run a sensible race. I must not get caught up in the occassion and go out too quickly as I am simply unprerpared to 'race' a marathon. To quote Marsellus Wallace "That's pride fooling with you. Forget pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps." (maybe not an exact quote but this is a PG webpage). We will find out soon enough.

Meet my Coach - Holden Comeau

I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce my coach or more accurately let my coach introduce himself. Following the selection weekend in New York we were all assigned a coach from the Cadence Cycling & Multisport Staff and I was lucky enough to be assigned Holden. I actually had the opportunity to meet him before I knew he was my coach as he ran the swim assessment during the Cadence Kona Challenge selection weekend. Whether the fact that he swims like a fish and that I swim like a dog has something to do with the assignment I do not know. Here is Holden.....

"I'm a second year Pro Triathlete and still relatively new to the sport, having spent a successful career as a competitive swimmer. At the culmination of my swimming career I held international rankings in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle. I was a Big Ten Conference Champion, and made two trips to NCAA Championships. As a pro triathlete, I haven't done enough!!! I am beginning my fourth year in the sport, and I have consciously focused most of my attention - until now - on learning the techniques and training methodologies that I believe are essential for success. If an athlete can understand how his body "works" in order to perform a specific sport, it's amazing how many different things can be manipulated in order to train successfully. It was exactly this focus which has also led me to coaching, where I find tremendous satisfaction in helping other athletes come to find all of the things that I think are so interesting and valuable. As for Cadence...I've been an athlete for much of my life, and until I came to work here at Cadence, I hadn't found a coaching organization that was equally as passionate and qualified. That passion is the assumption we work under, and it gives us the freedom and support we need to be wonderful coaches".

Holden

On the Cadence website his bio explains he had the fastest swim split in every race he entered in 2005 and in 2006 he placed 11th overall in the USAT National Championships, finished 4th overall in the NYC Triathlon and was the winner of the Might Montauk and Pine Barrens triathlons. Quite an impressive resume I am sure you will agree and he is a nice guy to boot.

Empire Builders and the Myrtle Beach Marathon - TR*

As a young, 19 year old Midshipman I found myself serving in HMS Nottingham during which time I had two memorable deployments. The first included visits to Spain, Portugal, Madeira, Tenerife, Mauritania and Morroco before we returned to the UK for a quick touch up of paint and store-ship before setting sail for the West Indies. It was a hard life which revolved mainly around me and the other young officers onboard building ornate fountains on the forecastle for the inevitable cocktail party on the first night of arrival in each port.

I vividly remember leaving the ship and flying back from Peurto Rico just before Christmas. At that time the Royal Navy had a little bit more money and I was flown club class on British Airways. As you might imagine at 19 having just toured a number of wonderfully exotic ports before flying back to see my family at Christmas, sipping champagne all the way, I thought the Navy was great!!

Whilst I was deployed to those sunny climes I would wear the uniform in the top right, or is that left, hand picture. As you can see by any modern standards you look a bit of a 'dork' in that getup, mainly due to the knee high socks which were effectionately refered to as Empire Builders. But it did mean that I acquired that peculiarily British trait of being able to feel no embarassment when dressed as an idiot and I now feel able to cope with the inevitable ridicule that will follow my purchase of a pair of Oxysox.




Oxysox are compression socks which cover your calf and something similar has been sported by Paula Radcliffe for some time and could be seen on Sindballe at the 2007 Kona Ironman. The 'claim' is that they increase VO2 max by increasing the blood flow to your core aswell as reducing swelling and fatigue in your legs. They are also meant to speed recovery following a long workout.

There is plenty of anectodatal evidence that these socks work but little in the way of hard proof. I figure that it cannot do any harm to try them out and apart from the p#sstaking that may be thrown my way I have nothing to lose. I am hoping they arrive by Saturday so that I can try them on a longer run before the marathon. If not I may not wear them at Myrtle beach either out of because I do actually get embarrassed, despite my claims, or because I haven't tried them out. Worst case I can always wear them after the race (under some trousers) to aid in recovery and reduce swelling.

I will let you know afterward if they did anything for me. I have also had to buy a new pair of trainers as my old ones are finished and the Zoot trainers are not here yet. I nearly always go for Asic GT 2100's as they do a wide fitting. I bought a pair of Adidas Cushion 6 before Christmas and although they are really comfortable I cannot run longer than an hour in them as they are a fraction too narrow. Asics on the other hand do 2E and 4E wide fittings. I have just replaced my GT 2120s 2E with a pair of GT 2130 4E. The 2120s were a little stiff but fitted very well and although the 2130 4e feel bigger than I expected I am hoping they will be just as comfortable.

As a forefoot striker I find there are very few shoes designed for my style of running, most have heavy padding on the heel for heel strikers. The adidas were pretty good and Newton do a pair of trainers designed for forefoot/midfoot strikers but they are pretty expensive and take some getting used to. The Zoot shoes sound really interesting but in the meantime I will make do with Asics and the unecessary padding in the heel. I also struggle to get lighter shoes in wide fittings even Asics, as far as I am aware, do not do their DS trainer, similar to GTs but lighter, in the wide fitting. Serves me right for having freakish feet, very wide with a really high instep and one foot is a size bigger than the other - yes I have hobbit feet.

The Royal Navy are going back to Hawaii

230 years after Captain James Cook first made landfall in the Hawaiian islands and 229 years after his rather less successful return to the Big Island the Royal Navy will once again be stepping foot on the Island of Hawaii. Wendy and I will be at the Ironman World Championships one way or another.

I have not managed to find some back door route to qualification but instead we have made a rather exciting decision. Wendy has wanted to visit Hawaii for many, many years and has raised the possibility of going there on holiday long before my interest in Triathlon and my subsequent desire to qualify for the World Championships. In all honesty I was always put off by the expense and distances involved and used to fob her off with lame excuses. With this exchange posting to the States we are over 3000 miles closer to the Hawaiian Islands than we were in the UK and we have decided just to go ahead and rent a holiday home for a week over the World Champs.

As far as I am concerned it is a win win situation. If I can pull it off and qualify for the World Champs I will have family with me to share in the experience. If I fail to qualify we can have a once in a lifetime style holiday and watch one of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world (I also get to score points with my wife which I can bank for subsequent holidays).

I cannot help but feel like things are beginning to gather pace. I am really excited about the trip to Hawaii, even if it is not until October, and the season will be kicking off very soon. The marathon is only a week and a half away and I am already starting to think about what I will need for my first Triathlon of the season.

I am also really excited about the new kit that should be arriving soon. Zoot have apparently mailed our new shoes and they do not even go on general sale until March and I think the LAS helmets are close to being mailed. I feel like a kid in a sweet shop and will post some pictures as soon as the gear arrives.

I also promise to try not to upset anyone when we get to Hawaii as apparantly there is some controversy over what might have happened to Cook after his death. All controversy aside if anyone does want to eat me please bear in mind that by October I will most likely not have too much in the way of body fat and will not make a good roast.

Proof Positive of Progress during Picture Perfect Potomac Pedal

Today's ride was an absolute corker/awesome. It was only a short drive to the start at Glen Echo on the far side of the Potomac and the route took in roads that I have cycled many times but today was the best ride I have had in a long time.

My program has not tied in with my Tri Teams for a month or so so it was good to link/hook back up with some old faces for today's ride. We rolled out of the car park/parking lot just before 10am, a later start than normal but it gave time for the sun to come out and start to warm us up. Even so it was a nippy 35 degrees as we started out and I was glad of my toe warmers and booties.

Team Z's coach, Ed, had advised all those that are running Myrtle Beach marathon to take it easy and for the first 10-15 minutes the pace of the peleton was very relaxed. Holden, my Cadence Coach had me down for a 3 hour endurance ride and as I was below my endurance zone I decided I needed to up the pace and went to the front of the group. As I pushed myself up into my endurance zone I started to ride off the front of the peleton and when I looked back I found that no one was going to come with me.

I normally like to ride with others so that you can chew the fat and help while away the miles but today, on my own for the entire 3 hours, I was just lost in the beauty of the countryside, admiring some of the amazing mansions and basking in the wonderful spring sunshine (as I write this I can still feel heat in my face and my nose has caught a bit of sun). The gloomy rides on the trainer dissapeared from my mind and it will not be long until I can start riding weekday evenings in the daylight.

Even more pleasing was my physioligical performance during the ride which has given me my first real indication that I am making progress. The only problem with following a periodized program is that if you follow it properly the only proof of your progress is when you peak for your primary race. During your training rides you are always a little tired and should not be capable of giving your best.

Because I haven't been for a long cycle for a couple of weeks I was actually a little more recovered than perhaps I should of been. The route was not flat and there were quite a few rolling hills but even so my average heart rate for the 3 hours was 142. To put that into perspective for me my VO2 max last year put my Endurance Zone at 143-150 bpm. Today I rode off the front (no drafting), on a hilly route, feeling very comfortable and still kept my average heart rate in last year's recovery zone.

Indecent Exposure

If you look closely at the picture you will see that the butt belongs to David, not me, but the image is there to highlight a problem which regularly rears its ugly head for triathletes.

We as a community do not fanny (one for the Americans) about when it comes to swimming. I personally do about 2-3 hours a week in the pool at the moment and if you look at Randy's blog you will see that he swam over 40,000 yards last month. Swimming pools are full of chlorine and other particulates that attack our swim suits. This 'attack' does not result in holes in the material or a breakdown in stitching but instead it thins the material to such an extent that it becomes transparent which can be a bummer for other pool users.

It seems like only yesterday that I bought a new pair of swimming trunks but it was in fact the tail end of last year. I tend to go to swimoutlet.com online and order a semi-decent pair that are on sale. I used to think that the more expensive suits e.g. speedo fastskin, TYR aqua shift lasted longer but now I am not so sure that that isn't a load of arse. For the latest technical suits manufacturers have the cheek to charge over a $100 a pair for swimming trunks which will apparently do everything but kick for you, but even the cheaper, highstreet jammers retail for nearly $50.

I currently have a pair of TYR aqua shift which, although I was originally over the moon with, have very suddenly thinned on me to such an extent that I am suprised I wasn't kicked out of the pool by the seat of my pants yesterday. I had noticed that they were thinning where the inseam meets the crotch but I thought I had a little time left. What I had failed to appreciate is that higher up the back of the suit where my buttocks meet there was a nice mug sized see-through patch.

Bottom line, and something I was not aware of before, is that all triathletes need to check their suits regularly and be prepared to buy a new pair with the same sort of periodicity as they would replace running shoes, if not more often. This also applies to race shorts as I have seen several blokes (unfortunately this affliction seems to only effect male triathletes) on race day wearing the same trusty pair of race shorts that they have raced in all year proudly displaying their bare rear end to anyone unfortunate to be stuck behind them. If anything the problem is exacerbated with tri shorts as they are prone to saddle rub in addition to swim rub.

As an aside whilst writing this post I have come to realise that the Americans have a whole bunch of words for buttocks that the British don't e.g. can, fanny (means something completely different in the UK), duff, heinie, keister, tuchis and tush. It is great to see that this foreign exchange program is going such a long way to broaden my knowledge base.