Philly Weekend Part 2 - TR***

If you enjoyed Part 1 of this report be warned Part 2 is not going to be anywhere near as interesting. You will see that this has a 3 star Trigeek rating (click here for the rating scale) as it is predominantly focused on Sundays Blood Lactate Testing.

Sunday was at last a little bit of a lie-in. Ben slept relatively well and we were not planning to be at Cadence until 1200. Due to the Manayunk Arts Festival we left a little bit early to allow for parking and the walk into town. When we got to Cadence we met up with Todd Parker who was going to do the testing and we also got to meet Lisa Spohn another coach who helped out with the tests who is herself a 5 Ironman veteran.

The testing was done in Cadence’s test lab. Instead of using my bike on a computrainer this time we used the static bike in the lab which was fitted with my pedals and adjusted to mirror the dimensions of my own bike. I had had a tough week and the day before I had worked hard during the time trial and group ride and there was a good chance that these results may be affected by the week’s efforts. Todd explained how it is not unusual for spikes and troughs in the results if you have been working hard before the test and the body has not properly recovered.


None the less I had tried to take it easy after the day before and although my legs were a bit tired we would see how I got on. After warming up for a few minutes we began the test. The bike was wired to the computer and every 3 minutes the computer would up the wattage by 25 watts and it was up to me to maintain 90 rpm. At the same time Todd would prick my finger and take a sample of blood which was then analysed for its lactic acid content. When that content is above 4 you have deemed to have passed your threshold and the test is over. Comparing the blood lactate level, wattage and HR they can then work out exactly where your threshold lies and what the associated Heart Rate and wattage are for that limit. For more information and to see my last set of results please click here.

It soon become apparent that despite yesterday’s riding my body was still efficiently dealing with the lactic acid in my system. I warmed up at 120 watts and my blood lactate was down at 1.3 compared to 1.8 at the same wattage 3 months ago. We started the test at 125 and my blood lactate went to 1.8 but my body then managed to actually process some of this acid and the figure dropped to 1.6 at 175 watts which looked promising. At 225 watts we were still down at 2.1 and at 250 we were 2.8 still well below threshold and clearly already above my old Lactate Threshold wattage of 240 watts. The bike actually got up to 325 watts before the test ended and by then my legs were really starting to protest but in March I was done at 250 watts.


Todd ran the results for me and it was very reassuring to see that unlike the last tests there had been a significant improvement since the selection weekend in Oct 07 and from my last set of tests in March 08. The first thing that stands out is the actual Lactate Threshold which has gone from 240 watts in March to 277 watts this weekend. This is a significant gain in 3 months but the way my Columbia and Philly bike splits went I am not that surprised. It is clearly a reflection of the interval work I have done recently and I am sure that the biggest improvements came from joining group rides around DC. The Tuesday night Wakefield ride and doing the Hains Point Group ride on a Thursday when combined with long rides at the weekend has paid dividends.

The other thing that leaps out at me is how low the heart rates are throughout the results table. This is a bit of a surprise and based on my lactate threshold interval training out on the road I do not believe that these heart rates are accurate. I normally do my LT intervals at around the high 160s, low 170s according to Sunday’s tests I would be 132 to 138. 132 to 138 is normally what I would see during a pretty gentle endurance ride not an LT interval. I was super relaxed on Sunday and perhaps the low heart rates are a reflection of the tiring week I had had. It is sometimes difficult to get your heart rate up when you are tired.



Before I could do the run testing I had to wait an hour for my body to flush out the acid that had been generated during the ride. This was an ideal opportunity for Wendy to leave me with Ben while she had a look around the shops and I sat quietly feeding him while watching Colin doing another of his very thorough bike fitting. It was actually very relaxing and a good way to unwind. Colin came over and we caught up and then Wendy came back very suspiciously the exact second I had finished changing a particularly smelly nappy/diaper.

The run test is very similar to the bike but this time the treadmill is set at a 1 degree gradient and the speed is increased by 0.3 mph every 3 minutes. During the warm up blood lactate was back down to 1.1 which is nice and then Todd set the treadmill to 8mph and we were off. The run is not as much fun as the bike and you ideally want to start closer to your lactate threshold so that you are not left sprinting away for a long time. I settled into a comfortable but fast pace and started whiling down the minutes. When you have a sample taken you have to straddle the treadmill this gives you a brief respite and looking at the graph it is very comforting to see that my heart rate actually fell significantly at 8.6 and 8.9 mph which was presumably when I was having blood taken. A quick recovery is a good sign of overall fitness.

By 9.2 mph I was beginning to suffer and I was willing the little blue blood lactate reader to tell everyone that I was done and it was time to slow the treadmill down. Luckily my prayers were answered and it came in at 4.1 and I breathed a sigh of relief as Todd turned the speed down. After Todd processed the results it was nice to see a steady improvement in my run results as well. The zones have changed a little and the heart rate figures are all up a little bit. My endurance zone is now a whopping 129-172 bpm and my Sub-Lt zone is a tiny 174-173. I am not sure that this means a great deal but what is significant is the pace I can maintain in these new zones. According to the latest testing in my Sub-Lt zone I can maintain a 6:54 to 7:49 min/mile pace. In theory, if your nutrition is right, you should be able to go indefinitely in this zone and should certainly be able to finish a marathon.



So what does this mean for Ironman. As far as I can tell on paper I am capable of achieving a good result at Ironman. My swim is OK and I have plenty of swim endurance so should be able to finish the swim in a reasonable time. According to my bike results I should be able to put down anywhere from 233 to 277 watts in my Sub –Lt zone and my body seems to be recovering very quickly from LT efforts. Additionally it is not just a case of my LT power going up I have also lost nearly 10 pounds so my power to weight ratio has also improved significantly.

Lake Placid has some hills but my power to weight ratio is not going to play that significant a role as this is not a mountain stage in the Giro D’Italia. However in theory I have enough power in my endurance and sub-lt zone to be able to put in a good bike split without writing myself off for the run. With all the road riding and hill work I should also be able to recover pretty quickly from any climbs and therefore not have to take them overly slowly.

On the run if my nutrition is good, and I am feeling OK coming off the bike, I have the ability (again on paper) to run a 3:20 marathon at 7:38 min/mile pace while staying in my Sub-Lt zone and could just about run a 3:30 marathon while staying in my endurance zone.

BUT (and as you can see this is a “big but”) this is all on paper and is at this stage is pure theory. The three disciplines have been examined here individually and not together as a whole but it does show that there is a chance, if everything goes like clockwork and I have a fantastic day, that I may just surprise myself. It helps give me confidence that there is not one discipline which is going to single handedly scupper my dreams of a slot at Kona and in the words of Sir Mix-a-lot “I like big but[t]s”.

A big thanks to the mechanics at Cadence who gave my bike a much needed full race tune. Sorry to have missed two of Cadence's senior management, Matt Heitmann who normally posts the fastest time at the West River TT and Olympic cyclist Brian Walton, who normally leads out the Cadence group ride, both probably saw my bike split at the Philly Tri and both happen to be missing the same weekend I do the rides - you do the maths :-).

Philly weekend goes well as we approach final preparation for the Ironman - Part One

Confidence is up at the moment following a solid week of training and capped by a productive weekend with my coach and the staff at Cadence Cylcing and Multisport in Philadelphia.

Downtown Philly

This week I had a gentle swim on Monday and a 2 hour endurance ride and 30 min recovery run on Tuesday. The swim was pretty uneventful but the ride was really satisfying. I went back to the evening ride at Wakefield after a break of a few weeks. There weren’t quite as many people as when I first went along but there were still probably 15-18 in the A group. Those people who have read some of the earlier posts may remember that the first time I did this ride I was dropped unceremoniously during the first acceleration. This week I watched the same thing happen to a couple of guys who clearly didn’t understand the difference between the A and B groups and instead of getting dropped I actually found myself at one point 4th wheel with the rest of the pack struggling to catch us and it felt good. After the ride I kept going for another 25 minutes before the recovery run because I felt so good.

Wednesday was a long swim (3.7km) and went fine although the last 1000yrd set was a bit slow and I suspect I lost count and did an extra couple of lengths. Thursday was a very hot and humid day (95 deg with a heat index factor well in the 100s) and I was down for a 2 hour endurance ride with 3 x 15 min lactate threshold efforts followed by a 45 min run with 4 x 3min zone 5 (that means almost flat out) efforts. With the heat and tired legs I was dreading this session. I took my bike out at about 5.30pm and headed to hains point to do my LT intervals. I was pleasantly surprised how good I felt and was able to hold 45 minutes of LT work without too much difficulty. During the ride home the heat really attacked me and by the time I got home I was pretty dehydrated. I had to shotgun a couple of pints of water before the run and almost inevitably the large volume of fluid gave me stomach cramps when I tried to run. I kept walking running for 20 minutes trying to shift the cramps but everytime I sped up they came right back. I limped home defeated after a little over half an hour of trying to get up to speed.

Friday was a much anticipated Day Off but included a very long and frustrating 5 hour drive to Philadelphia.

Saturday morning with no racing and staying in a hotel would seem to be the ideal time for a bit of a lie-in. Instead Holden asked me if I wanted to meet him at 6:15am at the Cadence store to do a local 8 mile time trial before we headed out on the Cadence group ride. I do not know what has happened to me and for some reason my normal sensibility escaped me and I whole heartedly agreed to meet him. Wendy and Ben dropped me and my various bags helmets and two bikes at the store. After some bike maintenance Holden and I headed off to the Art Museum where the West River Time Trial starts every week. This is local time trial where you take a number and cycle 4 miles up Martin Luther King (River Road) before turning around and coming back. When you get back you call out your number and the organizers post the times on a Yahoo group.

It is a really great little TT and it is very kind of the organizers to give up their time in this way. Holden was number 40 and I was 41. The riders all went off 30 secs apart. I asked Holden what HR I should aim for and he told me to just go as hard as I could for the duration. I set off and my thighs immediately started to protest. I ignored my legs and kept going. I was suffering and I was really glad to see the turn around point at the Kelly Drive Bridge. On the way back I really started to suffer. I knew I would never catch Holden but I did catch the guy who had set off a minute in front of me. By that stage I was dribbling a bit and I kept looking down which entirely defeats the purpose of wearing the aero helmet as it then sticks up in the air like a sail. By 6 miles I was weaving and when I saw the curb I would try and veer left and when I saw the solid white lines I would try and veer right and that was the only level of thought I was capable of. As the trees cleared and I could see I-76 I thought the finish was just around the corner but I was wrong and I still had a mile to go. The finish is back up a short little hill and by the time I crossed the line I struggled to shout out my number.

I couldn’t stop to get my time as the Cadence group ride left at 8am but I later found out I did it in 19:21 which I am more than satisfied with. Holden got an 18:21 which put him about 4th fastest on the day. It took me 20 minutes to recover as we headed back to the store and even at this time in the morning it was already very humid and starting to get hot. Back at the store we met up with the other 8 guys or so who were coming out and headed off. The ride went out on a bike path for the first 45 minutes and I spent the time chatting to a Dane who was studying in the US and who was also a keen runner with a sub 2:50 personal best in the marathon. After we left the trail I found myself in Valley Forge and the scenery went from bland to beautiful in only a couple of minutes. Valley Forge was really stunning with fantastic open vistas and fields. Unfortunately the views came at a cost and that cost was hills.

The first 40 minutes of the ride had been very gentle but now I sweated my way up the climbs. I was tired but I was also happy at how quickly I was recovering after each and every climb. On the way back in to town, this time going through some very nice neighbourhoods, I found myself toward the front pushing the pace and feeling pretty good. There was one 7-8% climb that seemed to go on for ever but I had a 12-27 cassette on the back wheel so I just shifted right down and spun easily up the hill. When we got back to the store Holden suggested I keep going so I cycled back to the hotel to meet up with Wendy and Ben.

Manayunk Arts Festival

We had arranged to meet up with Holden at St Joseph’s University for some swim training but not until 4pm and despite the mornings activities it was still only a little after 11am so we decided to check out the Manayunk Arts Festival. The festival was pretty interesting and it was a shame that I had to go swimming as Smirnoff had a couple of tents and there was another booze tent and the other white meat (pork) roadshow. It was bloody hot and beer, cocktails and BBQ pork seemed a lot more appealing than more exercise at that stage. As we headed back to the car and I pushed Ben up a hill my legs were screaming and I wondered how the hell I was going to get through a swim workout and then some LT testing the following day.

Ben taking advantage of Holden's Mahoosive Shoulders

Luckily for me I managed to get Holden talking so the endurance swim he had planned had to be curtailed and instead I had a fairly easy 30 minutes in the pool where he got me to work on a couple of things. He again reiterated that we were not going to change anything before Lake Placid. He was happy with my stroke which although far from perfect was perfectly good enough for Triathlon. I explained how frustrating it was that I was not getting significantly quicker in the swim legs and he explained how swimming was not like the other two sports and more effort does not always get you the results you want. Swimming is more intuitive and at some stage it [my stroke] was likely to click for me and I would get faster but at the moment I was perfectly OK doing what I was doing.

He made me kick for a couple of lengths making sure that my legs were very relaxed. For the Ironman I am not to kick very hard at all. I am going to rely on my arms for propulsion and the floatation from the wetsuit combined with a very light kick to keep my body up. After the kicking we looked at my catch and pull to make sure that it was looking OK. The first thing he noticed was that I was tensing my legs which in turn was pulling the leg buoy under water and making me less dynamic. I was told to relax and let the float bring my bum to the surface. When I relaxed I did feel a lot lighter and was able to concentrate on my stroke. If you think you may be doing the same thing with a pull session instead of pushing off with your legs just float in the water and let the float do its work before you start to swim.

Holden was pretty happy with my pull and upper body movement. I am a little inflexible and stiff through the shoulders and back but I have a reasonable Natural Recovery (swinging your arm forward like a windmill rather than the more deliberate bending and then thrusting of the arm that you see a lot of ‘classically’ trained swimmers using). I was however losing a lot of efficiency by not catching enough water before the pull. Just like rowing you can only pull against the water that you have ‘caught’ with the paddle. In this case the paddle is your arm. The trick is to fully rotate your shoulder so that your arm is entering the water as far in front of you as you can reach and then after gliding through the water and just before you lose your momentum you try and achieve an EVF.

When I say EVF a doctor may think of Erthrocyte Volume Fraction, a photographer of Electronic View Finder and a dyslexic of help getting pregnant but a swimmer who is up on the latest acronyms would think of an Early Vertical Forearm. You can only pull on what you can catch so catch much and catch early you must (in a silly Yoda voice). You want to get your forearm, not just your palm, down and as vertical in the water as possible without sacrificing your reach. When you get the hang of this you are using your lats a lot more in your stroke and after only a few minutes of trying my forearm and lats were both aching.

When you have a good catch you can then pull hard against the water and get into the mindset that you are flinging the water you have caught behind you as you propel through the water. All sounds a bit Zen but I must admit when I thought like this I did feel a lot quicker through the water. We are going to work on this over the next few weeks just to improve power output without really changing the stroke and to condition the muscles I am going to rely on at IMLP. We are not looking to increase in water fitness or work anymore on the kick and a lot of these last few swims will be pulls.

Swim over Holden went home to check on his dog and we headed out to take Ben to the Art Museum steps so that when some 'classic' movie channel is running Rocky we can tell him you've been there. We then went to find something to eat before getting back to the hotel where all of us pretty much slept like a baby, especially Ben.

I know there are a lot of pictures of Ben for what is supposed to be a Triathlon blog but then he is cuter than most triathletes and it keeps his Grandparents happy.

…… To be continued.

More Pictures from Philly

I was sent a couple more pictures from the Philly Tri so I thought I would put them on the blog.

This is Holden with the Wassner sisters. Holden is the one with the smirk in the middle. Rebeccah Wassner (on the right I think) defended her 2007 title to win the females race in 2:03:25. Her sister, Laurel, is also very fast and she came in 3rd out of the female pros. All three of them are members of the new Cadence Pro Triathlon team.

This photo was taken just after the finish and as you can see the first thing I did was take off my shoes. I am standing next to Cadence's Director of Performance and ex-pro cyclist, Brian Walton and his kids. Next to him is Mike Egan. Mike is also a very talented athlete with an amazing story and he was good enough to give me some support out on the run on Sunday. He finished 3rd in my age group, 21st overall, with a time of 2:04:21 and he is the 'face' of Cadence (he is the good looking guy in all the pictures on the website and in Cadence's adverts). I can highly recommend his race report from Kona which is very interesting:

http://www.cadencecycling.com/training/blog/2007/10/mike-egan-reports-on-his-ironman-hawaii.aspx



The last one is of course me grinning like an idiot with my wonky British teeth. I am not sure why I am quite so happy. The race wasn't that bad and it was probably more to do with being able to release my feet.

Well since the race things have not eased off at all. Monday was a gentle swim but Tuesday I was back out for 2 hour ride followed by a recovery run, a long swim Wednesday and a merciless 2 hour ride with 3 times 15min Lactate Threshold intervals followed by a 45 min run with 4 Zone 5!!! intervals yesterday. Unfortunately everything fell apart by the run. The ride went well but by the time I got home I was severely dehydrated. Temperatures were in the mid 90's and humidity levels were stifling. I had to down a couple of pints of water and that unfortunately resulted in stomach cramps as soon as I tried to run.

Still a productive week and during the group ride on Tuesday I couldn't help but remember the first time I tried the ride and I was dropped in the first few minutes. Now I can do my own share of dropping. Later today we are back up to Philly. I will do a group ride from Cadence tomorrow and hopefully get to swim with Holden and then I have some more LT testing on Sunday so stand by for another boring analysis type blog.

Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon Race Report

I think this was the 4th running of the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon and I wanted to have a go at this race since the first time we visited Philly. The race is all in and around the Schuylkill River and the Philly Art Museum. For anyone that doesn’t know the area it has become synonymous with Rocky’s training run and victory dance up the museums steps in the Rocky movie. It is also a key feature of the Philadelphia Triple Crown cycle race which takes in several laps of the area. I went for a run along Kelly Drive the first time Wendy and I visited Cadence's Philly Centrre and I must admit I fell in love with the area from the start.

The race was on Sunday so we drove up to Philly Saturday arriving in the early afternoon. We wheeled Ben out and went to packet pickup which was situated in a big marquee. There were a few stores and local interest groups with stands and Cadence had set up their own store and had a couple of mechanics on hand to look at people’s bikes. We bumped into Matt Heitmann from Cadence who congratulated me on the vote and he gave me a little bit of free advice for the bike course.

After packet pickup we checked into the hotel, which was only a few miles from the race start, and I got my bike out and cycled back to the marquee to preview the course. After scribbling down a really rough Cue Sheet I set out. I won’t talk too much about the course until the actual race report but during the preview ride I was constantly missing turns and back tracking. It was difficult because the actual race course went the wrong way down many of the one way streets, which is clearly fine when the roads are closed but is not so ideal on a Saturday afternoon in heavy traffic.

Mission accomplished I returned to the hotel where we had a fairly relaxing evening and managed to get to sleep for 10 o’clock with the alarm set for 4:30am. Apparently our 12lbs alarm clock went off at 3:30 but I woke to the bedside alarm at 4:30am. By the time we had fed Ben and got everything back into the car we got to the race site for about 5:30. There was plenty of parking but about a 10 min walk down to transition at the river’s edge. By the time I got there all the usual long queues had formed, e.g. body marking and porta-potties. The body marking went pretty quickly and I found myself inside the huge transition area.

I had registered very late through Cadence so was assigned one of the standby race numbers. My rack was therefore way at the back but when I tried to find my rack it became clear that my number was missing. I asked an official and she told me to rack anywhere. The freedom to rack your bike wherever you like felt absolutel great. There were a couple of spare racks that had no bikes on them so I sauntered over fully intending to take a whole rack to myself but unfortunately another official asked me to go and join some other people who were in the same boat as me.

With transition set up I gave my bag to Wendy who stuffed it into the vortex that is the tray underneath the stroller/pushchair and I went to find a bus to the swim start. This race had an upriver swim start and then a straight swim down the river to transition. When I got to the swim start I had a warm up swim for 10 minutes and the water was warm but murky. I got out, put my flip-flops in the supplied bag along with my body glide and handed in to be taken back to transition. It was then that I realised that I had left my goggles in the bag. I went back to the bus and asked if I could have my bag back which really upset the girl who was collecting the bags. After huffing and puffing a bit she retrieved my bag and announced to everyone waiting that once you had handed in your bag there was no getting it back. After I retrieved my goggles I went back to the other bus to hand it in rather than face her wrath again.

Swim 26:50 (452/1892 overall)

I was in the water a full 10 minutes before the wave started and ended up treading water. Luckily my wetsuit is really buoyant so I didn’t waste too much energy. The highlight of the wait was when I turned in the water and found myself staring at a dead fish as it floated very slowly down the river. According to the race website there had been something in the river that had killed a lot of fish recently but the water was now ‘safe’, unfortunately this particular ‘floater’ must have been leftover from then.


The swim felt a lot longer than 1500m and that was probably because there were no turns to break it up. I felt like I pushed fairly hard during the swim and the time was again an improvement on my previous races but I cannot understand why quite so many people are still able to put in a faster swim split than me. I know that I am not a natural swimmer, and that I do not have a swim background, but with all the training I have put in and the improvements in my swim stroke I would have thought my swim might have been more on a par with my run, in terms of where I sit in relation to the rest of the field. Obviously the swim in an Olympic distance event has far more influence on the overall time than a swim in an Ironman as it makes up a much bigger percentage of the overall race distance, so I am not going to worry about my swim until after Lake Placid.

I exited the water feeling comfortable although I was a little concerned about some twinges in my calves which may have been the onset of cramp.

T2 2:47

I was about to say that this was a very slow transition but then I remembered that there was quiet a run to get to the bike and then to the exit so perhaps it isn’t as bad as I first thought.

Bike 1:03:28 (41/1892)

Back in my comfort zone I had another very strong bike which put a real smile on my face. I thought the course was great. You head out of transition on a road that follows the river bank. It had a great surface and you were soon able to pick up speed. In order to wipe the smile off your face the course designer then sent you up the first of one of four climbs per loop. This first one is fairly longish climb which gets steeper just before it peaks. I managed to stay aero for the first half of the climb and I found myself starting to overtake a number of people. I was wave 3 and the pros, men 55+, F45+ and Athenas had all started ahead of me, along with all those 30-34 men who could swim faster than me and that dead fish.

Following Matt Heitman’s advice I pushed hard on the descent and found myself really flying down the hill and overtook quiet a few people on the descent. I concentrated on carrying that speed back out onto MLK (the riverside road) and because I had pre-ridden the course I knew that I could safely go flat out on nearly all of the descents except for the last one before transition. A few miles further on we crossed the river and headed back toward the city on Kelly Drive it was here that one of the pros burst my bubble by flying past me on what was presumably his second loop (not sure who he was because it was a long time before another pro passed me). There were 2 more climbs on the way back down to the Art Museum the first of which was a steady incline which could be ridden fairly easily whilst aero and the second, shorter steeper, lemon hill climb which was just about short enough to be powered up without slowing too much.

You then had a wonderful descent back out onto Kelly Drive before you went back across the river just behind the museum. Heading back up toward transition there is one last kick in the teeth as you veer off for another climb and then there is a very steep descent just prior to bike dismount. This is the only descent I took carefully as it ends in a blind corner and is much narrower than the other descents. I was then faced with repeating it all over again before I could come into bike dismount.

Despite the large numbers out on the course I only saw one pair cheating. They were both members of a local tri club and the one guy was a few inches off the wheel of the guy in front as they weaved through the other cyclists. I made some comment about a team time trial as I overtook them and if I hadn’t of been totally blitzing them on the bike leg it would have pi@#ed me off seeing such blatant disregard for the rules and the spirit of the race.

I was still feeling pretty strong at the start of the second loop despite having pushed the pace. I must point out that again I was having ‘watch’ issues and had no idea what my heart rate was doing although I felt OK. I was now faced with a much more congested race course as a number of other waves were now out of the water. There were bodies all over the road and I found myself having to weave in out of people who, like a lot of drivers on the road, could not grasp the concept of keeping to the right when not overtaking. The descents were particularly exciting as I flew down the hill yelling at the top of my voice ‘bike left, bike left’. By the time I got back to transition the crowds were really big and there was a great atmosphere. I perhaps took the dismount ever so slightly slower than normal mindful that I could make a complete idiot of myself if I screwed up the flying dismount.

T2 1:23

I then had a long, long run back to my rack with my bike which probably means that this was actually a pretty slick transition. I was motivated by the Cadence mechanics and support crew whose tent was on the edge of the transition area and I could hear them all cheering for me which helped a lot and stopped me from dilly-dallying.

Run 44:08 (174/1892)(7:07 min miles)

I started the run feeling pretty good. The course was two out and backs from transition on the same very flat road that we had been cycling on. As I left transition, and the crowds, I began to take stock. My legs were turning over nicely and I felt comfortable. There was no-one about and I started to fantasize that I was clear of the rest of my age group and all I had to do was to keep going like this until the finish line time where I could expect much glory, tea and medals.

Before I hit the first turn around someone went charging pass me, luckily his leg said 35-39 so I decided he must be some freaky, world class runner who had recently turned to triathlon and let him go. I then reeled in one female runner and made the first turn around. On out and back courses this is the moment of truth, are you going to see the entire field 20 yrds behind you, all running sub 5 minute miles, and about to blast passed you, or is the road going to be deserted and you could, if you wanted, now walk the rest of the course and still get the glory, tea and medals.

What I saw was a fairly deserted course and I felt like I had quite a bit of breathing room. I next reeled in a 55+ runner called Terry who seemed to know absolutely everybody and I am pretty sure he was a member of a local tri club. Seemingly every runner that went by in the other direction called out his name. By the time I got back to transition I was just over a third of the way through the run but was starting to feel a bit sick in the pit of my stomach. I knew I couldn’t have gone any quicker at that point and concentrated on keeping going. I then got passed by another older male runner and headed out on the next out and back.

The wheels started to fall off a little bit and my feet, which were squeezed into some different trainers than I usually wear, started to protest. I must have slowed because I was passed by a couple of women and then 2 of my age groupers went whizzing by me. Perhaps I had gone harder than I thought on the bike because a flat course like this I would have hoped to better my 43:58 at Mooseman which was on a relatively hilly course.

Still by the time I crossed the line I had a bit of a second wind and the sicky feeling had gone. I felt comfortable and I could have kept running at that pace for much longer given a bigger pair of shoes.

Overall 2:18:38 (120/1892)(15/180 in my age group)

I am very satisfied with my race. I have placed better in my age group in the past but never when competing with a field of this caliber. This is a new PB for me and is nearly a minute faster than the previous PB at the Nation’s Tri which had a virtually flat bike course. The race was also a qualifier for the 2008 National Age Group Championships for which I think I now qualify.

The swim was sound and the bike leg kicked ass. My bike split was even better than a few pros, including my esteemed coach, Holden (I have to come clean and admit that he managed to break his saddle and had to stop for some repair work. He still managed to finish 9th out of the Pros but was just out of the money). The run was OK but then again I have not targeted this distance of race and I think I could have kept going a lot further which bodes well for Placid (whether I could do another 20 miles we will have to wait and see).

The location of the race was wonderful, great backdrop, good roads, large crowd and a sense of occasion. It was also a chance to meet up with a lot of the Cadence Staff, some of whom I hadn’t seen since the selection weekend in October. We managed to catch up with the New York centre Director of Performance, Mikael Hanson, who we had not seen since last year. It turns out he also has an 8 week old baby so many congratulations to you and your wife and I hope you get to have a good nights sleep soon. We also met up with Brian Walton and his kids and said hello again to Todd Parker, a really nice bloke and another top coach. Thanks to all the guys in the mechanics tent who really spurred me on in transition and thanks to the Cadence mechanic who helped me out after the preview ride on Saturday by fixing my front derailleur.

The other Cadence athletes at the race were great and I hadn’t realized before the race but Mary Lou, the other Cadence Kona Challenge finalist was also racing. We managed to say hello twice while out on the run course and then had a good chat after the race. To round off the day nicely we met up with Kelsey and her dad. We met Kelsey at the New York Kona challenge event. She was one of the ten quarter-finalists to be invited back for a second day of testing. She is a very gifted athlete and I suspect the only reason that she didn’t make the top six is because she was so much younger than the rest of us and with her natural talent will almost certainly go on to great things in the future.


I also want to say thanks to the guys at the finish chute who introduced themselves. They had been at the selection weekend in New York as well and had also voted for me and it was really nice of them to say hello. Another very nice lady came up to Mary Lou and me as we were chatting after the race and told us both how much she enjoyed the blogs. I am really sorry I cannot remember your name so please do not forget to email as I know you said you were racing Lake Placid as well.

By the time we left the race site the three of us were beginning to tire rapidly but we just had time to say hello to Holden. He was disappointed but still very upbeat about his race which is a great testament to his character. We made plans to get together next weekend for some training and testing and his parting salvo was to let both Wendy and I know that the next couple of weeks or so would be tough in terms of training but at the same time very important for the Ironman.

The Cadence Kona Challenge Vote is in

I have been holding off posting anything until I found out the result of the Kona Challenge voting. The public vote officially closed on Sunday and it has been an excruciating wait for the results. An email from Triathlete Magazine earlier in the week let us know that they had received far more votes than they were expecting, so a big thank you to anyone who voted, and that it was going to take a little time to tally the results.

For days now I have had people asking me how I got on with the vote and it has been heartwarming just how many people seem to have become genuinely excited by the competition on my behalf.

However like most waits (unlike the one on Wednesday as I waited to cross the George Washington Bridge, on the Cross Bronx Expressway NYC, which I found out subsequently is officially the slowest stretch of road in the US) this one has come to an end.

The link below will take you to the announcement of the results on the Cadence website.

http://www.cadencecycling.com/news/?a=v&i=385

For anyone who hasn't visited the link the answer is yes, it looks like I am going to have to do an Ironman after all. The countdown on my webpage lets me know that I only have 30 days until Ironman Lake Placid and the reality of the situation has hit like a lightning bolt. When I submitted my application to the competition back in June 2007 I honestly didn't expect to make the final six, let alone get a place at Ironman USA.

That being said I have always trained as if I was racing the Ironman and tried to put the actual race, and the possibility of not competing, out of my mind. Its a cliche but I have really enjoyed the journey and the race itself is the icing on the cake. With all the coaching I have received from Cadence and Holden I am in the best shape of my life and know that I can do well at an Ironman but whether or not I can do something special enough to make it to Kona we will not know until race day is over.

I have a hell of a lot of thank yous to make and I hope to be able to thank as many people as possible face to face but in the meantime:

Thanks to Cadence for the opportunity and for putting on the competition.

Thanks to Holden for giving me some top level coaching throughout the year and for being super supportive.

Thanks to Cyfac, Zipp, Zoot, Enervit, LAS Suunto, Ironman USA, Triathlete Magazine and Sidi for being so generous and for providing such high end equipment, it is very much appreciated.

A big thank you to everyone who voted for me. Thank you to my family and friends, thank you to Wendy's family and friends, thank you to Ed and Team Z who have been great throughout, thank you to my US Navy colleagues and thank you to my Royal Navy colleagues.

As I said earlier I have been bowled over by how fired up everyone who supported me has become and I only hope that I can do your enthusiasm justice on the day.

Thanks to Wendy for entertaining my hobby which on the face of it is absolutely ridiculous and asks a lot of my family for my own selfish goals.

Finally congratulations to my fellow finalist, Mary Lou, and I am very sorry to those who didn't win the vote. Kate, Scott, Elizabeth and Randy are all very deserving and it has been my great pleasure to meet them all during this competition. I know that most of us have booked Ironman races in case we didn't get in through the vote and I wish everyone all the best in their endeavours and I hope I get the chance to meet up with you all soon. If I fail to qualify for Kona we will be going to watch the race anyway and it would be fantastic if there was another semi-finalist/finalist that I could cheer for.

Thanks Ben for your support and thanks to his sister, Kate, whose short but exceptionally influential life started this whole crazy adventure.

Mooseman International Triathlon Race Report

Apologies for not having posted on the blog for a while but life has been hectic. Training has stepped up a gear, Ben is very time consuming (although Wendy is doing the lions share of taking care of him and I would not be able to even consider training at this level if it weren't for her monumental sacrifices,)there seems to be an ever growing mountain of admin to be addressed and I have recently had to submit a piece of course work for my distance learning degree (although I am now taking a break from studying until Oct). All that being said we seem to be just about coping and as Ben gets older hopefully we can start getting our lives back in to some sort of routine. In the meantime here is my latest race report.

Mooseman is a triathlon held in and around Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. There is an international distance race on the Saturday and a Half Ironman distance on the Sunday. My race schedule only features one half ironman distance this year which was Lake Anna. All my other races prior to Ironman Lake Placid are Olympic/International distance. Doing the short course races does not effect the rest of my training and in theory I need little or no recovery time after an Oly race whereas a half ironman does require a bit of recovery. Therefore I was racing the Oly rather than the half this weekend.

With hindsight New Hampshire, from D.C., is a long way to go for an Olympic distance race. We drove a 1300 mile round trip which is probably the furthest I have ever driven in my life and is by far the furthest I have ever driven with a 5 week old baby! That being said the location is stunning and Ben was as good as gold in the car. He also got to go through six different US States and as he is a US Citizen it is nice to be able to take him around the country (even if he has no idea where he is). We also got home to find that his US passport had been delivered which contains some really nice US themed pictures on the visa pages and some classic American quotes. Despite the logistical challenges of getting to and from the race with all the stuff we needed I would probably still do it all over again. Newfound Lake is picture perfect and the race itself is very well run with lots of nice touches and a great scenic backdrop.

Race start was scheduled for 7.30am and parking at the State Park was limited. You need to get to the lake fairly close to the gates opening at 5.30 to ensure a parking spot inside the park. If you cannot get into the park you cannot park on the access road and face a reasonable walk in to the start. We arrived early and got a spot and then linked up with the rest of Team Z for breakfast. The lake was covered in a very thick bank of fog and the weather was mild prior to the arrival of the expected heat wave. A long story short the race organizers decided to delay the swim start but while we were waiting we were entertained by a bagpiper, in kilt, who then played at the swim start as you set off into the lake (nice touch 1).

Swim 16:36 (135/718)

16:36 is a new personal record, I have taken a whopping 11 minutes off my personal best; However before I consider quitting the navy and turning pro I must confess that the fog that I mentioned never lifted and the race organizers cut the swim short. I may never know how long the swim course was but coming out of the water I felt pretty good and my position would seem to suggest that my better swim at Columbia was not a one off.

The lake was crystal clear, but fresh, and despite the warmer weather down south Lake Newfound was only at around 58 deg. I put my face in the water to make sure that I didn’t get any cold shock and after the initial icecream head had passed I felt OK. I may not have put my head in the water as much as I should have which in turn would have kept my legs lower in the water increasing my drag but then again I think I reached a happy compromise between comfort and speed.

T1 1:42

T1 was a short run up the beach and into the woods around the lake. The organizers provided wetsuit strippers (nice touch 2), something you get at a Ford Ironman but not something I have ever experienced before. My T2 was reasonably quick but it did take a little bit of time to get my wetsuit off as the young guy helping me was not used to stripping wetsuits and couldn’t get it over my ankles. To be fair I could have helped out more but I was enjoying the rare opportunity of being able to lie down in the middle of a race.

There was a short 20m run through the woods to the bike mount line. The organizers had put down a green mat to cover the mud and tree roots and the surface was actually much better than many of my other races but that did not stop me from falling over. I was running down the chute with people cheering either side. I was wearing my snazzy zoot cadence race gear and pro looking aero helmet. I was pushing a beautiful bike with high end components and feeling like a million dollars then for some reason I looked down, let my handlebars twist and fell over my bike. I fell quite hard and must have landed on the teeth of my crank as I took a little chunk out of my knee. I also managed to graze my other knee and an elbow on the ‘non-slip’ matting. None of the injuries actually hurt but the fact that I had fallen at the spot with the highest concentration of spectators did tweak my pride.

When I came to get on my bike I found that I had knocked my chain off. I started trying to shift gear and get it back on but was making real ‘pig’s ear’ of it until luckily a mechanic took pity on me and came to my rescue (many thanks whoever you were). A real case of less haste and more speed would have seen me getting away from the scene of my embarrassing fall much more quickly.

Bike 1:22:38 (163/718) (19.8 mph)

Not a good bike ride for me.

We came out of the park and turned right onto the bumpy road that followed the edge of the lake. The roads had taken a real beating during the harsh winter and out of the entire 40k loop there were really very few patches of smooth tarmac. The course followed the circumference of the lake with a little extra loop going through the town of Bristol to make up the mileage.

When I came to the first hill and started to climb I found that my legs were really tired and I didn’t feel like I had any power in them at all. When I got to the top of the hills I was able to get up some speed on the descents and reel back one or two riders but in general I spent the entire ride getting passed by others. I couldn’t let rip full speed on some of the descents because of the dodgy road surface.

At Columbia I could have taken on the world during the bike leg. I could have beaten Lance Armstrong, I could have used a mountain bike with flat tyres, fitted with panniers full of bricks and still finished in under 1:10. At Mooseman I couldn’t have taken on a troop of Girl Guides. I couldn’t have beaten Chuck Armstrong (for US readers)/ Hilary Armstrong MP (for UK readers), I couldn’t have taken a motorbike, fitted with nitrous and finished in under 1:20.

Aside from my difficulties the signage and support crew out on the course were great and if you could have seen the lake the views would have been excellent too. Sorry to the lady who tried to hand me water at the aid station, I don’t know why I was trying to come through the aid station so quickly when I was putting in such a slow bike split, and kudos to the guy who successfully handed me a bottle it was a great hand off.

So why was I so much slower than at Columbia? What excuse have I been able to come up with on the long drive home? Well my excuse is that I was tired, not waking up 2 or 3 times a night when the baby cries tired, but 2 hard weeks of build training including lots of Lactate Threshold work on the bike and run, tired. My legs were clearly on strike. They refused to work hard day in and day out during the last fortnight of build and then drive all the way to NH and race. They were going to take the day off and enjoy the scenery and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

The only consolation was that my leg was covered in blood so hopefully people that saw me being passed would have assumed that I had been involved in some horrific high speed crash and was bravely soldiering through the rest of the ride in a valiant effort to complete the course. I did come up with a story about being knocked off my bike by an angry moose for when people asked me about my leg after the race.

T2 1:12
A pretty good time.

Run 43:58 (93/718) (7:05 min/mile)

The course took us out of transition and along the beach for 50 yards before we came back out onto the same coast road we had ridden on. The run was then a straight out and back along the lake road with a very neat finish line in the middle of the woods, next to transition.

I got out on the run still feeling a bit sorry for myself and decided that I was not going to push it as this race had already gotten away from me. I settled into what felt like a comfortable jog and decided I would just keep going like I was. By now the fog and burnt off and we were rewarded with a stunning view of the lake as we ran. The organizers had also set up music stations along the run and there were even live musicians at key points including a guy at the finish line (nice touch 3).

I chatted with a younger guy for a few minutes and then started to draw away from him. There were a couple of steep kickers and I even walked for 45 seconds up the steepest one but no one caught me and the guy in front didn’t pull away too much. Near the half way mark the young guy I had been talking to came past me and I let him go. I then found myself catching and passing a slightly older guy that I had been following for most of the run. After the turn around the guy I had passed came charging by me on one of the uphills.

At the 4 mile mark I decided that enough was enough and I was going to put my foot down for the rest of the run. I caught the slightly older guy who I had been changing places with and started to reel in the younger guy. After passing the younger guy I could recognize the next runner as one of the guys in my age group who had passed me toward the end of the bike leg.

I was gaining on him slowly and as we neared the turn back into the park we both passed a taller chap who was also in my age group. With about a third of a mile to go I had to decide whether to charge by this guy in my age group so quickly that I would instantly destroy any hopes he may have of racing me or, take the sneaky underhand approach of sitting right behind him until the last minute and then running past him when it was too late for him to do anything about it. For a second I sat behind him in his draft and then decided that I was being a coward and floored it to go by him. I kept running and never looked back and must have done just enough because he finished 6 seconds behind me.

Crossing the line I stopped and bent over double, a support crew lady came straight up to me asking me for my chip but because I had just put in a little sprint effort toward the end I was starting to dry-retch and thought I was going to throw up. All I could do was hold up a finger to indicate I needed a minute and she got the message and waited for me to recover - last thing you want to do is try and remove the chip from the ankle of some one about to throw up. Very quickly the sensation passed and I felt fine. I got my finishers medal and a Mooseman water bottle which had been filled with cold water (nice touch 4).

This was a really nice race. Great location, great atmosphere and very well organized. Roads were poor and parking is an issue but those are the only slight negatives. Make sure that if you do this race you bring plenty of bug spray. Other nice touches included the printing of you first name on you race number so people could shout for you by name even if they didn’t know you, someone dressed as a Moose going around entertaining people and the inclusion of a nice little Mooseman towel in your transition bag.

Conclusions

Driving for 24 hours or so with a month old baby is a challenge but is doable.

My swim is still on track. I suspect the pace was similar to what I will need to do at IMLP but obviously over a much longer distance.

Transitions were both pretty good but there is always room for improvement.

I have come to terms with my bike. Rather than panic because there is only a month and a bit until IMLP I can accept that this was a C race (one that I have not tapered for and am not concerned about the result). I may not have accepted this before the race and had visions of putting in a great time and finishing toward the top of my age group but back with my feet back on the ground I know that all my training is geared toward one race and that is the only time I will find out whether or not it has all worked out.

Although I felt like I was jogging the run and only running the last 2.2 miles (including a short walk) I still averaged 7:05 min miles and had the 93rd fastest run of the day which is not a bad result considering the lack of taper.

Before I sign off I want to say well done to all my teammates who raced the half ironman distance on the Sunday. By then the heatwave had really hit and temps were in the high 90’s. I went for a ride around the lake at 9am and it was already very hot, it must have been brutal out on the run late in the morning. I also want to say well done to Chris who came second in his age group at Eagleman and could well have secured his slot at Kona if it weren’t for a knee injury he picked up whilst I was riding with him a week ago and well done to Jim, a friend from work who got into Escape from Alcatraz via the lottery and after a break from Triathlon of many years has successfully completed a particularly tough triathlon course.