To blog or not to blog…that is the question!

So…friends, family, colleagues, readers and random folk who’ve wrongly stumbled upon this page in search of information on Robert Downey Jnr, we have reached the end, I guess.

Iron Man, not Ironman...see?

I set up this blog to chart the run up to Ironman Wales and now that race has been and gone. I hope I’ve diverted, entertained, educated or amused to some degree; and I also really hope that I’ve given you some sort of insight into what it takes (physically, mentally, in terms of time, commitment and even material gear) to do an Ironman. I fear that my constant self-doubt, list-making, anger management issues (my Twitter followers are perhaps more exposed to them) and second-guessing teamed with bloody-mindedness, competitiveness and (let’s face it, triathletes) occasional disregard for my own well-being has probably also revealed quite a lot about the personality type it takes to get into triathlons and definitely Ironman.

By way of a nice summary, in the three month Ironman specific training block I did in preparation for Ironman Wales (not including the race itself):

• I swam/biked/ran 10% of the way around the world.
• I trained a total of 250 hours, or 83.3 hours per month, or 19 hours a week, or 2:40 per day.
• I produced enough watts to power one TV for just over four months.
• And I burnt the equivalent calorific value that you’ll find in 1,000 Krispy Kreme donuts (which, coincidentally, was my post-race snack!).

Keep em coming...

So, what’s next for me? Well, 10 days after Ironman I’m just about getting back into training. I’ve spun easy on the bike once and am heading back to the wonderful Dubai Masters Swimming Club tonight (if I could find a cycling and running club that got me to the same level as DMSC, I could turn pro!) for the first time.

A lot of people get a bit of Ironman Blues after their big race, as it’s usually the focus (and often last race) of their season; one upshot of my silly decision to train through a Dubai summer is that our triathlon season is just about to get going. One thing I’ve realised through all this is just how much I love racing – this season, there’s a busy calendar of runs, bike time trials, open water swims, aquathlons (swim, run) and triathlons and, sod training schedules etc, I intend to race them all.

Feeling blue...ba-dum-tccccchhhh!

Actually, I have devised a new schedule with a focus on shorter, high intensity training, some plyometric workouts (leg strengthening jumps etc) and, generally, less total time spent on the bike and on the road. It’s based on some pretty new thinking in physiology and training and I’m going to try it out until Christmas and see how I fare.

I also discovered that I’m a goal-driven person. So, now that the giant goal of finishing an Ironman has been achieved, what’s next? Well, in the long term, another Ironman. Speaking in general terms, to get more miles into my legs and become a far stronger cyclist. But I’ve a few specific goals between now and next summer too:

• To do 2:10 (or less) for an Olympic distance race
• To run a sub-3:30 marathon in January
• To knock at least 10 minutes off my time at the Abu Dhabi International Tri in March (this race is organised by evil Satanists who would murder bags full of puppy dogs and  babies in order to make a quick buck and I hate myself for entering but, as it’s the only genuinely big race within 1000 miles of Dubai, enter it I’m sure I will)
• To do a decent (i.e. race rather than survive) Half Ironman

So, there you have it.

THE END

Actually, I’ve decided that I couldn’t possibly disappoint the unfeasibly and inexplicably large number of you who read this (seriously, there are that many people out there who are that bored in work..?) and the blog will be getting a ‘rebranding’ but will carry on. My intention is, as well as reporting back on my own training etc, that I’ll post more general content too, about triathlon, training, gear, physiology and life in the Middle East. I hope you’ll continue to read and enjoy. Now seriously, get back to work, bloody slackers…

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...!