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?"