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...

Duh...winning.

Since 'making my comeback (!)' as I like to think of it (i.e. since taking up endurance/multi sports a couple of years ago), I've not actually won anything more than a participant medal. The closest I've come was in an aquathlon (10k run into 1500m swim) - when, after a disastrous run (I did the vertical marathon the day before which killed my shins and calves and left me almost crippled!), I swam my way back into 4th position. I'm pretty certain I'd have podiumed in the sprint tri I did in Henley too had it not been for a major problem with my handlebars coming loose, meaning I had to take a 1k detour back to transition to fix my bike during the bike segment.

However, that all changed yesterday as I won the inaugural DMSC Wild Wadi swim. The idea was simple - the lazy river on which people sit in their inflatable tubes and get pushed around the park by the current, we'd swim around that two times and against the current. And man was it tough. You couldn't allow any glide portion in your stroke, which meant staying strong with a fast turnaround the whole time. It was 800m long but swam like about double that.

Anyway, I started fast and took it out on the first lap being drafted by a girl who apparently works at the waterpark. There was one straight where the current was so strong we barely moved at all. Weaker swimmers were, apparently, having to try to walk it but even that proved tough.

Just after the halfway point, the girl on my feet decided to make a move for it. I looked back and couldn't see the third placed competitor so I just let her go and drafted on her feet. It was bit slower but much easier and I saved energy for the last turn or two when I kicked hard and sprinted past. Go ME! When I got out, tho, I almost threw up...my lats and abs burnt like fire so it as great open water training.

Best three thing about winning? 1. It's nice to win stuff - it might only be a small swim club race but it strokes the ego and goes some way to justifying the time spent training.

2. My prize was a snazzy medal, some super dooper cool Blue Seventy carbon race goggles and a pack of Gu energy gels which I use a lot anyway.

3. I beat some guys who'd usually be near me or ahead of me in this kind of race - proof that the training is working and I'm swimming stronger now than I have since the comeback trail started!

4. Oh, there's a fourth! I looked like an awesome swim ninja in my cool Blue Seventy PZ3 swimskin which I'll be wearing over my tri suit for all non wetsuit triathlons this winter.

Back to training this morning and I got in a 143km ride - 60 of which was done with the fast coffee ride group. Normally around two-thirds of my long rides are done with a group (which is safer and more interesting as you can chat your way through a 5 hour ride) but managed 83k today riding solo - great practice for Ironman.

45 mins on the treadmill tonight (decided to swallow my treadmill hatred a little and get a few more runs done in the aircon after last week's heat stroke blow-out) then it's a 2hr easy ride tomorrow AM, 10 x 800m fast runs tomorrow PM, and finally a nice easy recovery week starts...I'm certainly ready for that!

Racing and resting

I've got a race tomorrow! And what a fun race it should be - organised by my swim club, it's taking place at Wild Wadi - one of the giant, state-of-the-art waterparks we have in Dubai. 

The race itself is two laps (800m) of the Lazy River going the 'wrong way' around, i.e. against the water flow!

Friday mornings are obviously usually reserved for my long ride and in normal circumstances an 800m swim wouldn't be worth bumping my ride for. However, there are three reasons I'm keen to do this swim.


Firstly, due to the flow of the water, organises say this will be like a 1500m swim; and as the sea is about the same temperature as your average lava flow here at the moment, this is about the closest thing I'll get to practising in open water.


Secondly, it looks fun. Since I've been in Dubai I've taken part in the Swim Around The Burj (the Burj al Arab is Dubai's famous sail-shaped hotel which stands on its own island) and a Vertical Marathon (56 storeys up the stairwell of a tower block). They're the kind of events I won't get to do when I leave Dubai, so lap them up, I say!


Finally, yes it may only be our swim club and a few other keen swimmers taking part, but it's a race and I love racing. Even if bragging rights are all that's at stake, racing gets my competitive juices flowing and helps me to refocus on training. After Ironman, the triathlon season will just be kicking off here in the UAE, and there's already a packed calendar with sprint and Olympic triathlons, running races, marathons, aquathlons (swim/run) etc every weekend...and I'll be doing all of them if I can. What's the point of all this training if you don't race?


Actually, there's another reason for swimming rather than cycling tomorrow - I'm knackered. My run this morning was a bit sluggish and the past few mornings, for the first time, I've had to really drag my ass out of bed when the alarm has gone off at 5am...a sure sign of fatigue. Luckily, next week is my easy recovery week and I intend to follow it to the letter - I think a massage and a couple of ice baths will also be on the cards. So, after the swim, I'll take the rest of the day off and make it up with a hard 150k ride (mainly on my own) on Saturday instead.

Ramadan starts here this weekend. While that provides one set of problems training-wise (can't eat or drink in public between sun up and sun down), it also means a manic period of work should be over and, for the last couple of weeks before I head back to the UK, we'll be working reduced Ramadan hours (8-3 or 9-4) which obviously allows an extra hour or two per day for relaxing and recovery too.


I'm still 6 weeks out from IM - well too soon to start a taper - but equally I'm going to pay extra attention for the next three weeks that my sessions are about quality and I'm getting enough recovery (sleep, fluid, quality food, rest, massage) so I turn up in Tenby knowing I've the miles in the legs but also that I'm rested and raring to go. 

Train hard but train smart

My first week of the IM programme is over and it was pretty tough tho not impossible. During the week, I clocked up a total of 8.6km in the pool, 213km on the bike and ran 34km. They’re pretty big distances but the encouraging thing is that, as I ramp up for Ironman Wales in September, those distances don’t increase hugely – in fact, the swimming will stay around the same, while my weekly run and ride totals will increase by around 30% max.

So, I was feeling pretty confident about it all until the weekend, but the weekend was tough and a 4hr15min ride, the end of which was done in 40°C, along with the consistently early mornings (5.30 is my weekly lie-in), wiped me out and left me exhausted by the end of it. If I’m honest, I’m still recovering a couple of days later.

I’ve learned a couple of things. Firstly, I need to move my easy recovery day to Sunday to help me cope with the weekends and feel strong for the week ahead. Secondly, I need to get rid of all the superfluous stuff and concentrate on the necessary.

With this in mind, yesterday I went for a consultation with Dr Charles Jones of the California Chiropractic and Sports Medicine Centre here in Dubai. I’ve been suffering pain and discomfort in my back for a few years now and it is starting to make the end of long bike rides almost unbearably sore. Dr Charles is a bit of a genius when it comes to sports injuries, having put many of a famous sportsman’s rame back together, so I felt like I was in safe hands.

After just a few minutes of stretches and exercises, Dr Charles spotted some serious imbalances. A few tests later, and I was handed a set of print outs that showed just how offset my posture is – as I slump left and forward. The ECGs demonstrated the extra force that this was placing on my body. It was scary stuff but helped to explain a lot of problems I’ve been having, as well as the discomfort on the bike. After a spot of ‘manipulation’ (clicking my back into place), we headed into the gym, where Dr Charles demonstrated a series of exercises that I need to incorporate into my routine. Two are daily, two I do every other day.

The problem with that, of course, is where exactly do I place them in my routine? A full time job and 16+ hours of IM training per week don’t leave much free time. For that reason, I’ve decided to drop the weight training, until IM at least. I’ve always really enjoyed lifting weights but I have to ask myself how beneficial hitting the gym will be for IM. A weekly yoga class, as well as a few Pilates core holds and sticking strictly to these exercises (most of which I can do at home) will be sufficient, I think, to keep me strong.

I’m looking forward to this new phase in my development and sticking to Dr Charles’ exercise plan for a few weeks to see if I can feel the benefits. When you’re facing six hours or more on the bike, straight into a marathon, anything you can do to get more comfortable will be welcome! And with several of the exercises aimed at opening out my glutes and lower legs, I may even get a little faster!