Stop! Taper time.

It's been a few days since I've posted on this here blog and for that I apologise, folks. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't spend the weekend hospitalised after a violent altercation with a group of road bikers (see last blog); actually, I was down south for a wedding and had a most lovely weekend.

After a good brick session on Friday (110km ride into 6.5km run), I hopped on the train down to London where I spent a great night drinking wine, a little too much brandy and catching up with Marcus and Bianca – old friends from my days living in Spain and two of my all-time fave people.

The following morning, a couple of other friends – Hannah and Jenny – picked me up and we headed down to the New Forest for the wedding of my boss and her bloke...or Claire and Dave as they're also known. The wedding wasn't till Sunday so Saturday avo saw loads of us head off on hired bikes for a ride through the New Forest, taking in a picnic stop, a game of rounders and a pint en route. Although far from a training session, I did count this as active recovery – 25kms counts for something, right? The ride also served to convince anyone who didn't already think I'm insane for doing triathlon/Ironman that I am indeed a bit nuts – needless to say, after years without riding a bike, there were lots of sore legs and bums by the end of the afternoon.

There was a lovely meal and some excellent drinking done that evening and then, bright and early the next morning, I headed out for a long run. And what a joyful experience that was. I started out following the route we'd cycled the previous day, but then got a bit lost...and didn't care a jot. I ran through woods, fields, along paths and off-road. When one path ended, I decided there and then which way to continue. I hopscotched puddles like small lakes, raced dogs out being walked, ran after the wild ponies that live throughout the New Forest...I passed people having picnics, folks playing rounders and frisbee, horseriders, bikers, lumberjacks, horse-drawn carriages, mushroom pickers...it was amazingly good fun. So much so, that by the time I got back to my digs in Brockenhurst (thanks in part to my awesome Garmin 310xt GPS watch – it doesn't have full maps but can show you the direction and distance to where you started – and worked fine even when I was under a thick canopy of trees), I'd run 21k and averaged around 5:30/km pace, which isn't bad at all when most of the run wasn't on roads and involved gates, styles, marshes and puddles. I also felt fresh as a daisy coming back and could have run the whole thing again without much bother at all – in fact, I'd have loved to!

It's something I'm going to try to incorporate into my training when I get back to Dubai too. Obviously, beautiful green forests are in short supply over there but I think it's important to maintain the fun of running/working out. Rather than commit to a route or distance, I'll try to just head out and run without such tight plans - I'm also going to try some mountain/wadi runs and will continue to hit the beach for some great barefoot sessions kicking up water as I run along the sand. 

So, the next couple of days: beautiful wedding, overindulging (on meat and Guinness), long day of trains and coffee shops, finally home.

Today, I did a two hour ride on pretty easy terrain and a shorter but faster swim session than usual this evening – and with that, the two week taper into Ironman Wales has officially begun. I know that I'm going to start second-guessing my readiness and be tempted to fit in some harder sessions here and there but I also know that's pointless – it's all about reducing the volume, upping the intensity and getting plenty of rest.

I reckon that could all be easier said than done. But, for now, I'm embracing the taper.

12 days and counting...

Are cyclists wannabe triathletes or just rude?

Been a good couple of days of training – managed to get up early and swim each morning (3000m yesterday morning and 2500m this morning) although I am starting to find the solo swims a little tedious. Just shows the benefits that training with a squad brings and, with that in mind, I'm definitely going to join up with a running club when I get back to Dubai.

Other than swimming, I hit the trails and road for a 9k run yesterday and went fairly hard, averaging around 5min/km, which isn't bad at all given that the run included steps, gates and very rocky ground that had to be taken slowly. This morning it was a 60k ride, again concentrating on some big long climbs.

I'm fairly happy with my hill work; tomorrow morning, I'll do another hilly ride of 100k or so. I realise that almost all the hard work is now done and that I'm not going to become King of the Mountains overnight, but I've ridden and run climbs that are reflective of, or greater than, those I'll see in Ironman so that I'm prepared mentally – no matter how daunting a climb seems, I can fall back on the knowledge that I've already done bigger. That really is a big crutch.

The drawback is speed – I'd hoped to average around 30kph for Ironman and I now need to accept that this simply may not be possible. Even with the big long descents, the long climbs simply slow the average speed too much.

Anyway, all this riding around the hills of North Wales has opened my eyes to a phenomenon I'd heard much about but not really witnessed before. In Dubai, perhaps because it's quite a small brotherhood of bike riders or because we can only really ride safely in groups, I've always found fellow cyclists to be a pleasant and sociable lot. Here in the UK, however, if you're riding a triathlon bike, they look at you like something that just fell out of their enemy's arse.

Waving at a fellow cyclist as you pass is the done thing, polite and conspiratorial at once; the old boys here don't hesitate to give me a salute or a nod but the younger 'serious' cyclists return my cheery wave with...well...nothing. A blank stare. Actually, that's unfair; some do growl.

If I were on a road bike, we'd be buddies. They'd wave back and wish me a good ride. But I'm not, I'm on a tri bike. A tri bike is a fine looking piece of equipment, much like a good road bike, so it can't be that I offend their delicate sense of aesthetics. So what is the reason for the frosty reception?

I can only assume it's jealousy. When I see them ride past on their lovely road bikes I think 'blimey, that's a fine looking bicycle!' When they see me ride past on my tri bike, they don't see a bike at all. They see a big fat exclamation that says: 'yes, I'm tackling the same roads, the same climbs and same distance as you...and this is just one of three sports I'm equally adept at and dedicated to.'

Is this the case roadies? Is our bike, with its sleek tri bars, a reminder of what you can't do? Were you the hardcore elite until us triathletes came along? Did you enjoy getting into work and telling your colleagues about the century ride you did over the weekend and seeing their amazed faces and the hero worship in their eyes? Now they just say 'that's nothing – Matt did a century ride and then ran a half marathon.'

I've decided that there's only one course of action open to me; I'm going to give a bigger wave in future.

17 days and counting!!!

Easy like Sunday morning

It's all been pretty whistlestop since I got back to Blighty. Between my overnight flight, heading down to Cornwall at 4am and a morning swim session, I've still not had a chance to have the lie-in I'd been so looking forward to. In fact, I've been just as busy as when I'm in work!

Although in Ironman 'you're really only racing yourself' etc etc, I see rest and recovery as one thing I should have over most of my fellow competitors. Sure, I've weddings and friends to see and some work to do from home, but compared to the majority of folk who'll likely have their 9 to 5 to maintain right up until a few days before, for a lot of my time I'm free to train, taper and chill out.

Yesterday evening, we headed to Liverpool to visit my grandfather, aunts and uncle and it was fairly late getting back. I was due an hour in the pool and an hour on the bike today but, as tomorrow is just a 50 minute steady run, I opted to postpone the early swim sesh in favour of not setting an alarm clock for the first time in ages.

It was lovely tho the extra hour or so in bed (I was still up by 8.30) just made me even more tired and I even feel a bit ill today – my glands have swollen for sure. This always seems to happen – perhaps you carry all those little ailments and fatigue in your body and, while you're going 100mph it doesn't have a chance to catch up, but when you do finally slow down...

Better it catches up now, is my theory. So, this evening I did an hour at a spinning class with my mum (although it's not a permanent substitute for cycling in any way, I like spinning to mix things up from time to time and add some higher intensity work than you do on the road) and now I'm planning a bit of a read and an early night.

Tomorrow, it's an early start for that swimming session I missed today and then a 50 minute steady run. Other than that, I think maybe a bath and a nap may be in order. And much the same for Thursday, if you please!

Taking it easy is something I normally find pretty hard work but, now I've started thinking of it as my secret weapon, it's something I'm much more willing to embrace.

Nice weather...for triathletes

I must apologise for the lack of posts of late. You'd have thought that being off work, back in the UK, I'd have plenty of time to dedicate to this blog, chiseling and sculpting it into something even more beautiful, witty and emotional. Right? Wrong. So far, it's been a non-stop exhaustathon.

Fortunately, that has involved some training too. With the 'hardest Ironman on the planet' tag starting to stick to IM Wales, I realised it was time for hills. Obviously, this close to the race, there isn't too much I can do to improve on fitness levels etc, but I decided that until two weeks out it was still worth doing some good training in the hills as much for mental preparation as physical.

With that in mind, on Friday I headed out into the hills and valleys of North Wales and the North West on as tricky and hilly a route as I could find. The route took me 135km through Ruthin, Corwen and Llangollen, over the Horseshoe Pass, down to Wrexham, to Chester, along into Flint and then back through Mold. I then ran an easy 6km off the bike.

UK: lovely scenery, god-awful roads.

Observations:

1. That was my longest ever solo ride - being on the bike for 6-7 hours for IM was a concern. But it's fine and time passes fairly quickly.
2. It was a little windy, pretty chilly and started spitting with rain a few times - loved it!
3. Riding here is far more interesting than riding in Dubai.
4. The roads in the UK are slightly worse than in Laos - a third world country.
5. I'm OK at climbing. As long as I take it slow and steady, I can make it up just about any climb.
6. IM course is going to be slow - the bad roads, technical descents and wind mean you just can't make up that much time on the downhills.
7. As long as I don't flog myself on those climbs, running off the bike isn't as bad as I thought it'd be after a hilly ride.
8. This was the hilliest ride I could find with almost 1500m of climbing in total. Ironman will be almost double that.

Top of the Horseshoe Pass. It's demoralising being overtaken by a sheep.

With an equal mix of reassurance and panic in my heart, I headed down to Falmouth, Cornwall, for Jamie and Catherine's wedding - friends from back in Dubai. It was a beautiful day, great do, the bride looked stunning and everyone got drunk and danced like idiots - proper wedding!

Yesterday, I left early (wow, Falmouth is a long way away) and stopped in Bristol on the way home for lunch with my good friend Ceri who I'd not seen since last September. Had a roast dinner, couple of coffees then drove back. And after months of hardcore triathlon training, thousands of kilometres on the road, I think I pulled a muscle in my thigh while driving! Typical - although it was nice to have a full weekend off training and thinking about nothing but whether I'd have a Cornish lager, Cornish ale or Cornish pasty next. And carb loading on amazing scones!

So, another wedding next weekend which means plenty of work to do during the week. Hit the local leisure centre for a swim this morning - the flapping/slapping/dreadful technique/aimless weaving of the swimmers of Mold should make for valuable open water practice in the next couple of weeks.

I did meet another guy at swimming who's doing Ironman Wales too and had taken part in the Long Course Weekend (a sort of training weekend/dry run of IM down in Tenby) a month or two back. I chanced a question, expecting a sort of "sure it's tough but it's been blown out of all proportion" answer. When will I learn...

His opinion? "I didn't make the swim - it took me an hour to do 600m due to the current. And the water is teaming with jelly fish. The bike is just hill after hill, and the marathon is like an uphill hike. I was hoping for 13 hours - but now I'll just be happy to finish."

In future, I'll not ask. 20 days and counting!

The Times They Are A Changing

So, what exactly happened to me on Tuesday? Well, I really enjoy being self-coached and, thanks to asking for lots of advice, reading everything I can get my hands on and a little trial and error in the past, I think I’ve done alright until now. Not just in designing a programme to stick to unthinkingly, but also thinking on my feet on days when I have to roll with the punches.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday. A busy week finishing up in work and the knowledge that I’d be travelling to the UK and spending the weekend at a wedding in Cornwall meant that I was perhaps blinded by the ambition to squeeze a full week of training into the first three days of the week. Big error!

I managed two quite high intensity sessions on Monday (sprint runs and hill reps on the bike). It’s the kind of day that should be followed by a rest day. But no, I decided to follow it up with a long run of 18k on Tuesday morning – this after a couple of weeks that proved nothing if not that I couldn’t cope with the heat and long runs anymore. I don’t know why I tried it – my legs were tired and the heat had been so bad that I was actually enjoying runs on the treadmill (previously my sworn enemy!). Predictably, it ended in disaster as I limped my way to 10k.

I was angry with myself – both for trying at all and for failing. A steady 10k on the treadmill in the evening helped ease that a little.

Cut to today. I arrived back in good old Blighty and, after throwing down my cases, headed out for a run. Now, I had 20k in my legs from two days ago and had only four hours of plane-seat sleep under my belt, not to mention a total of 16 hours  of planes, trains and buses, so it was hardly ideal preparation. I hit a local trail first off, ran through the nearby country park – lots of unsteady ground. I then wound my way downhill to the local town and out from there along a long, steady incline that climbed for 8km as wind and a little drizzle flew into my face. Turning off the main road to cut through farm lanes and villages, after 21k I faced Trial Hill – a 700m climb at an incline of as much as 18%. It was tough, it was very hilly (wow am I not used to hills!) and it was awesome fun. I got home exhausted but had enjoyed the whole thing.

I held a steady 5:30/km pace so the cooler weather didn’t result in a superhuman change to my running (generally doing around 6/km in Dubai heat) but Iwas definitely more comfortable at that pace and felt like there’s more to come when I get acclimatised. My throat did take something of a beating – it’s used to breathing in air that’s at least twice as hot and infinitely more humid!

So, nice long, hilly ride tomorrow. Can’t wait. And just one more 2hr run to go too – that’s being reserved for the New Forest next week. 

The whole Ironman thing is starting to feel very real.

24 days and counting...

Triathlon book reviews!

As I told you a few weeks ago - come on, pay attention! - I ordered a few triathlon, running and cycling related books from Amazon. These arrived, quick and cheap, last week, and so I hungrily devoured the rest of the book I was reading in order to get on with these. Which I’m flying through. So. I thought I’d share my thoughts on the first: I'm Here To Win, by Chris McCormack.

For those who don’t know, Chris McCormack - known to everyone in triathlon as Macca - is a bold, brash Aussie who’s one of the most successful triathletes of all time. As well as lots of wins at short course stuff, he stepped up and won loads of Ironman races, including the World Championship in Kona in 2007 and 2010. 

This book is part memoir, part training aid and the majority is based on what Macca calls his ‘masterpiece’ - winning Kona in 2010 when nobody gave him a snowball’s chance in a Hawaiian lava field of winning. In I’m Here To Win, he explains how.

Now, I love triathlon and Ironman, so I enjoyed reading this book, but I’m not sure who else would. The other problem is I love triathlon and Ironman, so I already knew a lot of this stuff. There are some great tips in here for beginner triathletes, weekend warriors and those reaching the top of the sport, but nothing you’d not find in more detail in a decent training book.

Macca is famous for his mind games and trash talk and he explains why he does this, thow he does it and the effects it has. This part is interesting but only really applicable if you’re right at the top of the tree and need to out-psyche another athlete who’s on a similar level. For 99.9% of triathletes, this isn’t the case. I’ve a couple of friends who are starting to get into triathlon - it doesn’t matter what mind games they employ in their first season, I’ll thrash them because I’ve a couple of years more experience and training than them. Equally, I could do an amazing job getting into the minds of those who win races locally, but they’ll still beat me because they’re significantly better! So, that’s why I’m not sure who the audience for this book is meant to be.

For what it’s worth tho, I did enjoy it and have been inspired to think a bit more critically and analytically about my strengths and weaknesses and how to race.

Anyway, enough book corner. Time to catch you up on my training. The weekend was supposed to be the end of the really tough stuff - ha, little did I know. Sunday was an easy day with a spot of stretching in the morning and a swim session in the evening - 3,150 metres in total most of which were pretty steady.

Monday morning, I devised an awesome fun sprint workout. I’d noticed an empty parking area next to a brand new building just around the corner from my apartment. It’s shaded and the buildings around it give it great shelter meaning you can get away with a cheeky swig of water here and there without being seen (still Ramadan here, remember!). The parking lot has five parking bays marked length ways so i did some shuttle runs starting with jogging to first line, sprinting back, jogging to second line, sprinting back...etc etc...Mixed that in with some timed shuttles: live 5, back, 4, back, 3 back...trying to beat my time each go. The car park also has an underground section with a steep slope each side so I did some jogs down the slopes and sprints back up the other side.

I covered around 5km in 45 minutes in total - not bad for sprint work with some good rests in there. More importantly, had a lot of fun doing it. These sessions, what I have termed ‘quality’ sessions will become more and more frequent now as I trust in the endurance I’ve built up and try to add some power, technique and speed. I love being creative with these session too - a lot of fun.

In the evening, it was to the gym for 70 minutes of hill simulations on the ergo static bike. How do you simulate a hill? Well, effectively, all a hill is is extra resistance meaning you have to push harder on the pedals to lift your weight up the hill - cycling into a wind or trying to push a big gear is much the same. Therefore, I did some easy spins mixed with 3, 5, 8 and 10 minute long efforts with the resistance cranked right up to full. Looking forward to riding 140k back in North Wales on Thursday to test this hill riding theory out on some real rollers!

And today’s training? Ah, that’s for tomorrow’s blog!

So, 26 days and counting. Nervous but confident (at least was confident until earlier today when an experienced IM racer who trained on the IM wales course named it the hardest IM race out there!).

Reasons for racing

So, if you follow this blog, I don't need to describe what Ironman is or just how much I've had to put into just getting to the start line. But that only gets you to the start line...the day itself is a whole different matter.

For us amateurs (it may be different for the pros who skip around the course like newborn lambs in a spring meadow) doing such feats of physical endurance inevitably takes you to some pretty dark places. No matter how well the day goes, there'll be times when I want nothing more than to shut up shop and stop. I imagine those times will come for me whenever I cycle or run past a pretty beer garden! 

On a serious note, they always say that, to do something like this, you need to race for something bigger than yourself. For friends, for family, for a loved one, for a cause... whatever... but you need somewhere to turn when the dark moments come. My experience of climbing Kilimanjaro half starved and delirious with altitude sickness certainly told me that this is true. If you can keep going, you'll see the other side sooner than you think, but you need someone or something to keep you going until the light returns.


I know that, should I reach the finish line on 11 September, I'll look up and have a little word with my grandad who I've asked to keep an eye on me (and give me a celestial push up the hills!) during the race.


But I've also got another motivation for getting around that course. I’m doing this feat of idiocy/bravery/awesomeness (delete as applicable) in aid of The North Wales Chrysalis Trust which supports children with life threatening, limiting or fatal illnesses and their families. An amazing and worthwhile cause, I’m sure you’ll agree.  


I hope it doesn't sound trite or contrived to say as much, but every time I race in a marathon, a triathlon or even head out on a long ride, I think how lucky I am to have a strong and fit body that supports all the things I want to do (although if it could learn to do them a bit faster..!). When I come away from a race a little disappointed that I missed the top 10 or didn't get a PB, I always try to remind myself that some people (and kids at that) would give anything just to be able to take part. It's something we should never, ever take for granted.

So, it’d be great if you could click on this link and sponsor me a quid or two - every little helps. Thank you so much.

Step by step (and some random images related to Ironman training)

This weekend was my last weekend of truly epic training and I'm happy to report that I passed with flying colours. I wouldn't say I'm finding training easy - far from it - but I'm not doubled up in pain, and walking doesn't feel like walking directly on nerve endings, as I thought it might. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it's far too late to change anything now.

heading out for a very hot run with fuel belt loaded up with agua

The weekend began at 4am on Friday morning when I set out to rack up some kilometres before meeting the Dubai Roadsters for the 120km ride. My legs were a little tired throughout but it was a good ride and I stayed with the group the whole way (something I struggled with when this IM journey started...so, tangible progress!), then cycled the 20km home and a small extra loop afterwards to end up with a 165km ride - 5km more than my schedule asked from me. The first time I'll have ridden the full 180km will be in Ironman itself, although that's far from abnormal in endurance events. I've now done 5hour+ rides of 160-165km on three occasions and have ridden between 145 and 155 on another four occasions, so I'm hoping that consistency is what will see me through rather than doing a few 100km rides and then once managing 180km.

supplements and carbohydrate energy gel...the diet of a triathlete!

Again, I had to forego a brick run straight off the bike due to heat and a gym closed for Ramadan, so I got in a nap and had a productive day (packing for home mainly) before heading out as soon as dusk fell (and thus fasting was over and I could hit the streets armed with H2O!) for a nice steady 10k run - in spite of the heat, managed to maintain a good pace, which bodes well.

new 'missile' style hydration system which i'll be using for Ironman

This morning, a veritable lie-in with a 5am wake-up to do the coffee run - a group ride out 30km to Bal Al Shams, a lovely resort hotel in the desert, where we're treated to coffee, pastries, juice and fruit, before we make the 30km journey back. This is a nice social ride, and 60km is, nowadays, a very sociable distance. The ride is split into two groups and, although the faster one is more my kind of speed, I rode with the slower group which is great for keeping me slow and steady - the aim of today's ride is simply a bit extra mileage while spinning easy and flushing out the legs after yesterday's hard ride.

rear hydration system wwill carry one bottle and some spares/tools

This afternoon, it was to the gym to hit the treadmill for some shorter, faster stuff - I did sets of 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m to the tune of about 8k in total...didn't feel too bad at all given the miles in the legs and sprint work is normally tough for me. Throw in some tidying and excellent packing progress (packing for a month-long holiday that's to include a lot of training, an Ironman and two weddings is pretty stressful!) so, all told, blinding weekend.

the only fail-safe solution I've found for avoiding bloodied nips...plasters!

The other development is that entries are now open for the first Golden Tulip sprint triathlon here in Dubai - it's a regular series that, until this year at least, has formed the bread and butter of all local triathletes' race calendars. The first race is on 30th September so I wasn't sure whether I'd enter as that's only three weeks after Ironman. I may just about be training again by then but I'll only have endurance and no speed in my legs by then (a sprint is 750m swim, 20km ride, 5km run) so I'm not likely to put in a stellar performance. I entered in the end though because, as I've said before, I just really love racing. If I'm still finding my legs by that point then c'est la vie...it'll give me an easy target time for the next race, won't it.

probably makes me odd but I always find there's something incredibly peaceful and contemplative about a pool pre-swimmers 

The Golden Tulip series is responsible, as much as anything, for the tri-addict you read before you today. It wasn't my first triathlon but it was my first taste of regular racing. I was reflecting on that while doing my sprints today - part of me misses those times when I had no idea what I was doing and the learning curve was massive. Every race, I'd knock 5 or 10 minutes off my PB! That's now very different - eventually, you get to a point that requires an awful lot of training to go a tiny bit quicker. In some ways, that's frustrating...the first time I didn't beat my PB I was annoyed with myself, even though I'd just come back from a week-long press trip and hadn't slept in 48 hours. But I felt cheated somehow.

165km ride + 44C temperatures + tight lycra = award-worthy bout of prickly heat

Strangely, Ironman has changed all that from me. You'd expect, after all these hours of training, I'd be even more competitive and put more pressure on myself to do well, but I've remembered, through IM training, why I love this sport so much. Sure, some of the enjoyment does come with putting your balls on the block and leaving it all out there on the course to find you've knocked a few seconds off your PB. But just as much comes from the people, the atmosphere and knowing I've raced hard. That's all that counts.


29 days and counting...Ironman Wales four weeks tomorrow!

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Today was a semi-rest day before the weekend's higher volume sessions. That meant no early bird session this morning so my usual 5am wake-up became 7.30am and all I did before heading off to work was a few stretches and chiropractor exercises and downed a lovely cuppa tea.


Semi-rest days, like rest days, guarantee a handful of weird side effects:
a) I feel knackered and sleepy all morning (how does that happen after the longest sleep of the week?)
b) My hunger levels go absolutely freakin bananas - I guess it's tough to get enough calories in on the hard workout days, so the days when you take your foot off the gas a little, the body tries to catch up
c) Any training I do feels rubbish


Tonight was a one hour steady swim at Dubai Masters and when I dived in to warm up, true to form, I felt like my arms were made of concrete. As I swam more, I felt slightly better.


Fortunately, it was a very steady session and none of the other quick guys were in tonight, so I didn't get carried away racing. Our usual sessions are very freestyle heavy but tonight we did a lot of IM (i.e. rotating strokes to do equal amounts of fly, back, breast and crawl). Not really all that useful in the long run for triathlon, but a good break - plus, just one month out from Ironman, I'm not really going to improve my swim anymore so it's all about maintaining levels and keeping the 'feel' for the water.


I've spoken in the past about how much I've changed as an athlete, but especially as a swimmer, compared to when I competed as a wee whippersnapper. I was a sprint fly or back swimmer. A poor trainer with too relaxed (cough, lazy!) an attitude and little stomach for the fight. Now, triathlon demands a long distance freestyle swimmer, every session is a race and my favourite sets are the long but quick, attritious sets with little rest, where weaker swimmers are left behind and drop off the pace one by one...but for everything that changes, something else stays the same.


One thing that's stood still - almost literally - is my breaststroke! Being a good fly and back swimmer and decent enough freestyle swimmer as a teenager, I should've been a great IM swimmer. But there was my breaststroke. 


In a race, I'd dive in and go hard on the fly, touching the wall a yard ahead of the rest of the swimmers..."wow," people would think, "he's taken this out way too fast." But I'd then spin, ballerina-like, around and push off on to the backstroke leg, reaching and kicking...the yard becomes two or three yards by the time I get to the other end. "This is amazing," the crowds would shout. "This boy is special." And then I'd turn and start the breaststroke leg..."is he OK..?"..."I think he's drowning!"..."Er, excuse me, should someone rescue the boy in lane 6 who's having a seizure?" "It's OK," my parents would reassure them, "that's just his breaststroke." 


I look at people who can do breaststroke and they appear to be the same species as me. I think I have all the same body parts as them, and yet no matter what I do, I can't make myself move convincingly forwards using that stroke. They glide and surge..I bring my legs up and go two yards backwards, then glide two and a bit yards forward...it's tiring. I seriously think that, were I tasked with it, I could learn to fly quicker than I could learn to do a decent time for 50m breaststroke.


But I'm determined to put this to good use. Triathletes tend to be swim-bikers or bike-runners and I'm definitely the former. For the average Joe on the street, I'm not a bad runner, but my running is definitely a couple of notches below my swimming and cycling, which I find truly frustrating. But after Ironman, when I'm working on adding a bit of speed to the endurance I've built up in my running but starting to get worked up by the lack of results, I can look on the bright side....at least I'm not doing breaststroke!


One month to the day until Ironman Wales, people. Nervous, terrified, utterly psyched. But before that, this weekend marks my last truly big weekend of training here in the Middle East oven. Happy days!


31 days and counting...

Beat The Heat - advice for training in a very hot climate

Ha! In your face heat!


So, after suffering something of a setback during my morning run thanks to Dubai's thermostat being nudged from 'volcanic lava' to 'actual hell', last night I headed for Dubai Masters for a swim session. The nicely chilled water reminded me just why I was enjoying swimming so much at the moment!


In fact, the pool was so chilled that I managed to wear my wetsuit for the whole session - swimming in a triathlon wetsuit is quite different as the suit makes you very buoyant and changes your position in the water; it's important to get used to this, as well as where the wetsuit is a bit tight and limits your movement and discover anywhere it may rub a bit. As the sea here in Dubai is of the sort of temperatures at which chefs send lobsters to their untimely deaths, the pool in my only option. It's a lot of fun swimming the session in the wetsuit - I was the strongest swimmer at last night's session anyway but add the suit and I looked like pre-spliff Michael Phelps in there!


Anyway, did 3,500m total and am getting more and more used to swimming in the wetsuit which is good. I'm generally swimming really strongly overall which bodes well for Ironman but also thee season ahead.


This morning, my programme informed me, I was scheduled to do some shorter, quicker runs. Obviously, after yesterday, I was not looking forward to running again. Sure, the distance was much less but the intensity was supposed to be much higher, which means a faster heart beat and higher core temperatures. Fortunately, yesterday before swimming I did something very wise indeed! I did a spot of shopping...


To paraphrase those Mastercard adverts:


2xu lightweight running cap: 60 dirhams (10 quid)
Bag of ice: 3 dirhams (50p)
Having a freezer box full of ice flakes to shove in your hat and down your top every loop of the track: PRICELESS!


So, it wasn't pretty, but I got through the run session - 1.5k slow warm up and then 10 x 400m fast runs with a 200m easy jog between each. The temperature when I finished a 6.15am? A mere 44C!


Obviously, I only have another week till I'm back in the UK - keeping up training in this kind of heat would be plain stupid - but I think this does serve as some sort of example of what it takes to do triathlons, namely a good dollop of dedication and a soupcon of resourcefulness.


It's not always about training for an Ironman in melting hot conditions; it may be fitting in a lunchtime sprint session because you've had to work late all week, or adding some cross-training because of a running injury, or getting a flat on a training ride and using your skewer to wrestle your tyre off because you've broken your tyre lever... triathlon is a pretty good metaphor for life in that it will throw enough things at you to beat you. If you let it. 


Or, you can see a problem as a challenge and then it's time to start looking for a solution. Even if that means a hat full of ice cubes.


Anyway, hit the gym for an hour of intervals on the stationary bike (cranking up resistance but holding cadence at 90 rpm) which was pretty tough but tomorrow is a nice, easy day with a touch of stretching in the morning (i.e. bit of a lie-in!!!) and just a steady one hour masters swim in the evening. Before the last off the truly GIANT training days on Friday (165k ride, 12k run).

Run Stat Boy Run

There are many reasons why I love triathlon – the whole body workout, the pre-race atmosphere, the sense of accomplishment, the fact there’s always new gear to lust after…but one of the main ones for me is my interest in exercise, physiology, nutrition and general fitness. For that reason, as well as a few others (i.e. it’s pretty expensive here in Dubai!), I’ve shied away from joining a triathlon club so far and have instead remained self-coached.

I design my own programmes through a mixture of knowledge, reading, experience and feel. I enjoy that aspect just as much as training/racing; each week, I spend at least five hours reading or listening to podcasts about new sports science breakthroughs or discoveries, gadgets that could change how we train etc…I also try to stay open-minded to new protocols.

After all, until relatively recently, training for endurance events meant non-stop mile after mile after mile in the pool, on the bike and on the road…all at a steady, easy pace. Now we know that shorter high intensity work is just as important. Although the weekly long ride and long run are still the principal tenets of any IM programme.

Conditions here over summer have forced me to look at other ways to train. Frankly, a long 25-32km run once a week is simply not feasible in these conditions. Therefore, I started splitting that long run up and doing half in the morning and half in the evening. This is a tactic recommended by lots of ultrarunners, marathoners and coaches – your legs don’t have time to recover, so the effect is the same as a long run, but you don’t fatigue as easily, maintain better form (therefore stand less chance of getting injured) and, most importantly, have a few hours to rehydrate and eat between runs.

This protocol worked for a while but then the evening runs just got too hot to continue, so I needed another solution. And while I can grin and bear a 6km brick run or even a 10km training run on the treadmill, the thought of staring at a wall in the gym for two or three hours was always a no-go.

A lot of marathoners nowadays may only do a straight long run once every two or three weeks. As well as doing a double day run, as I was, another tactic they use is to do two mid-distance runs on back-to-back days (you’d usually not run at all the day after your long run). This seemed like it might work and, so, yesterday morning I put it to the test.

Yesterday I headed to Safa Park and managed 17.5km. Doing this mid distance run and knowing that I wasn’t running again till the next day meant I was able to put a bit more effort in.  The first and last laps I did as steady 6min/km warm up/cool down, but the three laps in between I did at steadily increasing paces...it was a great workout.

Last night, I hit the gym for one hour on the stationary bike. The main set was a pyramid of 3, 4, 5, 4 and 3 minute simulated hill climbs pushing against a really big gear in an attempt to ready the legs for the hilly IM Wales course. My legs were a little fatigued from the run but fine on the whole.

Waking up at 5am this morning, I was starting to feel a bit sore but not awful and was looking forward to the second of my back-to-back run mornings. Again, I headed for Safa Park but I knew something was wrong on the first lap – sure, it’s hot here, it’s hot all the time and running is a sweaty, unpleasant mess…but today it was HOT! I just couldn’t cool down – it was as though someone had lit a fire in my head. I managed a warm/up lap and two faster laps on about 5.30/km pace but I had to cut it short and did a cool down lap with plenty of walking just to stop myself from throwing up – I felt light-headed, my heart beat was out of control and I could never imagine being cold again. It was horrible.

Getting back to the car, I downed a litre of water and poured another litre over me. The news on the radio driving home revealed that it’d been 40°C overnight and was currently 42°C but, due to the low clouds and humidity, felt like 46°C. Yep, 46!!! No wonder I’d struggled – running 14km in almost 50°C is lunacy! That’s a temperature for slowly cooking something, not running. Anyway, 31km over the two days isn’t too bad all told.

I’ve tried not to moan about the conditions here too much and find solutions – after all, no one’s making me do Ironman, right – but I have to confess now that I can’t wait to get back to the UK in just a week or so’s time. I’ve one long ride and another back-to-back run day between now and then, so will have to find a way to cope. I keep telling myself that doing all this in these conditions is going to pay off when I return back to the UK (which will be a massive 20 degrees cooler!) so I just hope that is the case and I’m not deluding myself. Planning on putting myself through a 2hr steady run the day I get back, so that should provide some answers.

Anyway, back in the pool for a master’s swim session tonight. Actually, back in the nice, chilled, temperature-controlled pool for a master’s swim tonight...!

Are all Ironmen equal?

Oh dear, it seems I’ve made a terrible mistake...

A couple of weeks ago, there was quite a bit of discussion and even controversy throughout the triathlon and Ironman community - the catalysts were Ironman Austria and Challenge Roth. At IM Austria, the awesome Marino Vanhoenacker (now try saying that after a few pints) went out on his favourite course in great conditions and absolutely destroyed the previous world record for an Iron distance race (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run) which had stood for 14 years.

One week later at Challenge Roth in Germany (also an Iron distance race but not run by the WTC and, therefore, not an official ‘Ironman’ brand race), Andreas Raelert tore down the pants on Marino’s world record and spanked it like a ginger stepchild to the tune of four and a half minutes.

The controversy stemmed from reports that Challenge Roth could have been a short course - inexcusable in days of Google Earth, GPS measurements etc. The discussion, on several triathlon sites, podcasts and magazine websites, was along the lines of ‘when is an Ironman not an Ironman?’

Look back at previous Iron distance world records and you’ll see that they’ve all been set in Austria or Germany. Throw some of the other central European races that pop up around the same time of year and that’s where the fastest times are inevitably recorded each year. They’re fast courses - the swims are in lakes or canals that are as still and clear as ponds, while the bike and run legs are mainly flat with some nice rolling hills. Conditions at that time of year are perfect too - warm, still but not too hot. But, the question is, does that make them less ‘worthy’ or ‘easier’?

My interest in this has been piqued by recent reports from both pros and top age group racers who’ve been recce-ing the Ironman Wales course of late. In a test swim, half the competitors were washed up kilometres down the beach, so strong were the currents. The sea is rough and very cold - an Olympic swimmer expected to record a time of 44 minutes for the course came in on 56 minutes - a HUGE difference for an athlete of that calibre.

The UK 70.3 bike course (Half Ironman) is said to be the world’s most difficult 70.3. One seasoned racer recently rode the IM Wales course and likened it to doing UK 70.3 twice! Many potential Kona qualifiers are opting for road bikes over tri bikes, such is the difficulty of the climbs and technical nature of the descents. Even the run has huge inclines which stretch on for kilometres at a time. Most are claiming Wales will become a classic due to being the toughest Ironman in Europe. When I read the reports, it scares the hell out of me and, I confess, makes me question why I didn’t try a flatter race.

But there’s an old saying in triathlon: it doesn’t get any easier, you just get faster. Those central European courses may be faster, but that just means you’re expected to post quicker times. They’re no easier. 100% effort is 100% effort, no matter where you lay it down. The beauty of triathlon, and this probably applies even more to Ironman triathlon, is that you race the course on any given day. Full stop. Yes, I’d probably finish quicker doing a different course, but so would everyone else.

Last winter, I raced two Olympic distance triathlons maybe a month apart. The first was OK, tho I found the run a struggle, but I posted a PR of 2:13. The next one I nailed and felt much faster throughout - I did 2:15. But when I looked at everyone else who raced, including the winners, almost to a man they were 4-5 minutes down on their times in the previous race for some reason - dodgy distances, conditions, a harder course...who knows. So my 2.15 was my better performance. Weather conditions on race day can even affect what constitutes a good performance on the same course you’ve raced on several times before.

So, I’m expecting a long, hard slog - but I’d expect that anywhere. Any hopes and dreams in terms of finishing times have been scrapped - this one is about finishing and nothing else. And if I do, and get that IM finisher medal around my neck, I’ll know I well and truly earned it (and other IM courses will hold no fear!).

So did I make a terrible mistake, after all? Absolutely, I should never have read those damn route reports.

Finger-tapping time off

Confession: remember that morning coffee ride I was planning on Saturday? Well, I jacked it in. Officially, according to my programme, yesterday was a day of complete rest – my first in more than a month – to round off my recovery week ready for two weeks of the tough stuff. Feeling energetic and committed and all, I decided that I’d ignore that and add an extra 60-80k of riding but, fortunately, common sense prevailed.

I’m conscious of how tough the bike leg of Ironman is going to be – not only because, at 180km, it’s the longest part of the day but also because bike fitness determines how well you run off the bike – so that was the justification for the extra off-programme ride.

The reason for not doing it? That mantra, that I said I’d keep repeating but seem to keep forgetting…TRUST THE PROGRAMME! In the end, I turned the alarm off and had my first proper lie-in (not my usual 6.30 counts as a lie-in as it’s not 5.30, but an actual get up when you wake up lie-in) and it was great. I was up and about with plenty of energy at around 9.30, had a nice big breakfast and then went about my day, getting lots of chores done. Given that I’m still pretty busy in work, it’s less than two weeks till I head back to the UK – and need to pack for hols, training, IM (so a bike and lots of bike gear) and two weddings! – and I’ve lots of training to fit in between now and then, I think it’s a good job that common sense won out. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that more mileage doesn’t always mean fitter or better prepared.

So, with a little of a handle on the chaos that is my life, I had a great night’s sleep last night; also, thanks to having no workouts yesterday, it gave me the chance to eat some good food and get plenty of fluids in. I’m pretty careful about hydrating but, when you’re doing 15-20 hours in 40C, no matter how careful you are, hydrating is likely to be an uphill battle. I’m feeling in fine fettle all old – good news.

It’s tough getting used to these rest days or weeks; triathletes, by our very nature, are usually workaholics – whether we’re in the office or on the bike, we like to dig deep. Therefore, stepping back a little feels like wasted time – I just end up thinking about all the swim/bike/run that I’m not doing. I’m getting better at dealing with this tho – and know it’s essential for making sure I can keep training hard and don’t arrive at the start of Ironman Wales injured or burnt out.

Anyway, it was just a one hour easy swim on the programme today and I decided to head to Dubai Masters’ early session at 6.30am to get that done before work. A very steady 2,400m in total, with lots of work on stroke and technique – the perfect session to warm up into the week. Showered, dressed, swallowed down a chocolate milk and straight to work, safe in the knowledge that my training is done for the day so I’ve another night to myself to relax. Is 11 days too early to start packing? I decided it was this weekend, so instead started an exhaustive list of everything I’ll need to pack to take back with me, which has helped to put my mind at rest a little.

Hmmm, maybe I could fit in some extra run sprints tonight then…just kidding!

Runs, bikes and obsessive compulsive disorder

So, when I said I was going to post everyday, I clearly didn't mean EVERY day! Actually, I did you a favour not posting yesterday as not a great deal went on.

Yesterday was the last day proper of my easy week. As there weren't any morning sessions during my easy week, I had a lovely lie-in until 7:30 and then got up to do 45 minutes of my chiropractor exercises. Although my back is still problematic and can certainly be painful, it seems to be less painful more often since I've been doing these exercises two or three times a week. Also, as a direct result of the chiro exercises, I've started to work regularly on flexibility through my hamstrings and the strength of my glutes – it's hard to tell if this is making a difference to either my bike or run, but I'll hopefully see the gains when the regular tri season starts here again at the end of September.

Yesterday evening was a 1 hour run set as 20 minutes easy, 20 minutes tempo, 20 minutes easy. I decided to see whether my long sleeve 2XU compression top actually achieves the amazing sweat-wicking, cooling effect it claims. The answer, in a word, was no. To be fair, 40°C and 65% humidity is quite a tough test to put it through and it performed no worse than any of my other gear – I guess once it reaches a certain burning heat, you just have to face up to the fact it's going to be uncomfortable. My pace reflected that, as I held 6mins per km for the first 20 mins, 5:15 for the next 20, then dropped to around 5:55 for the final 20. About the best I can hope for in this heat and I also had to consider my long ride the next morning.

Which was this morning. Up at 4am, some porridge and a waffle, and on the road by 4:30. I rode the first 25k or so solo until meeting up with the weekly Roadsters ride at Lime Tree Cafe. The early stuff was great – it was pre-dawn so we could drink openly (remember it's Ramadan) and relatively speaking, it was a bit breezy and overcast, so tolerable. By the time we hit the halfway point though, the sun had come out and temperatures soared. The second half was very hot – the last 10k almost unbearable as we were back on fairly busy roads and couldn't be seen drinking. My programme asked for 150k today and I did 152, which is great. I dumped my bike at home and, as my gym is closed mornings for Ramadan (yes, Ramadan is a bit of a pain as far as IM training goes – maybe more so than the summer temperatures, tho both combined..!) and that's where I usually do my brick run after a ride, I instead just found a shaded spot in a car park to do three quick sets of shuttle runs.

I mentioned recently how much my attitude to training has changed over the years; much the same has happened to my organisational skills. In the past, I was lucky if I turned up to swimming with a pair of trunks, goggles and a towel, whereas now I feel that attention to detail is one of my strengths as a triathlete – from making lists to ensure I don't forget anything on race day, to scoping out a bike course on Google Earth before the race to know what to expect. To be fair, I think most triathletes have a spot of OCD about them, it goes with the territory. This morning, for example, I rode my bike exactly how I'll ride it for Ironman. I don't mean with pedals – I used the wheels I'll use on the day, I placed on all the same hydration aids and bottle holders I plan to use on the day etc too. This is important to make sure it all works – triathlon is the finest example of the 'best laid plans' rule. You can have great intentions to go fast and buy new gear that's  sure to cut seconds off your PB and then, on the day, you'll find that some tiny thing you didn't think of has destroyed your plans. That new gel flask you've velcro'd to your seat post looks great and is really aero, but you can't reach it while you're cycling...

I'm happy to report that everything went to plan and it's now locked in. As, I think, is my nutrition and hydration plan, but I'll take you through all that another time.

The only good thing about training through Ramadan (and a Ramadan that falls in the middle of summer, for that matter) is that everything stops. Nothing's going on at all. A lot of people try to get away. Those that don't just shut themselves away with several boxsets of DVD. Therefore, I've nothing to feel guilty about missing; when I got back from my ride/run this morning, I had a lovely little nap. I watched a couple of films lying on the sofa and then had a read in the bath. I spent most the rest of the time eating – in my defence, my total burn for the day will be around 10,000 calories (to put that into context, what the average healthy, active man would burn in four days), so I think I'm allowed a lot of eating!

A little later, I'm heading out for a slow and steady 10k run, then it'll hopefully be a relatively early night as I'm planning on heading out for the Bab Al Shams coffee ride tomorrow morning. The last couple of tough weeks of Ironman training have definitely now begun – 37 days and counting!