Rest for the wicked

It’s been three or four days since I last posted and, given that last time I reported that I’d been hit by a dose of the often-deadly man flu, many of you doubtlessly feared the worst and thought that maybe I didn’t make it.

Fortunately, I’m a brave soldier with a steely nerve and a robust immune system. Even in the darkest moments, when I was sneezing my way through a pack of tissues, dropping Strepsil like Smarties and downing yet another glass of OJ, I refused to give up hope. ‘Not like this,’ I said. ‘Not now.’

Amazingly, I have survived but medical students of the future will not study up on my case just yet because I’m not quite out of the woods. I thought I’d kicked this man flu’s ass yesterday but today I feel a little run down again and the dreaded ‘tickly cough and sniffles’ have returned. But not enough to stop me racing in tomorrow’s Aerofit Sprint Triathlon down in Ghantoot.

In fact, aside from the obvious inconvenience of basically being on death’s door, it’s been an enjoyable week as I took almost three full days off training and have gone very, very easy for the rest, with just one swim, a one hour bike ride and 90 minutes of running to show for the week. And, again, other than being ravaged by a life-threatening man flu virus, my body feels good – rested and recovered for the first time in a while.

This actually reminded me that my best two performances this year came on the back of small bouts of illness – and, therefore, enforced rest. So, rather than the usual attitude whereby extended rest days just remind me of what I’m not doing, I’m trying to think of this week (and next... as I do a small taper for the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon) as ‘improvement recovery’ – a necessary time required in order to continue my progress not ‘missing out’.

The lull in training has also given me time to reflect and there are a few conclusions.

 This may well just be a bug that’s going around that I’d have picked up anyway (half of Dubai appears to be under the weather), but I’ve been going too hard for too long. That’s not necessarily about training – just training combined with 60 hour/ 7 day working weeks and trying to keep up something resembling a social life. I can and (as IM Austria approaches) will train more but I need to find a balance. If work does take over for a few days or a week here and there, then sessions have to give way rather than be rammed in at 10pm or 3am... that simple.

Like anyone who rushes from one thing to the next discovers, you may do more things but the quality suffers. I suspect that, although I’ve been racking up some good kilometres over the past month or so, the quality hasn’t been great. I read a really good piece of advice about that recently which said you should identify your three (probably one each sport) key sessions each week and hit them hard. The rest you cruise. I like this sort of simplification and will be trying it out in March.

So, ready, sniffling, and sort of raring to race. And aside from the race, this weekend I’ve around six hours of training to fit in. Sounds a lot but not that much.

Old me: Easy. Smash the race, get yourself to a brunch, grab a few hours’ drunken kip, sea swim, five hour bike ride, coach dirt run and then make it to the pub for a football/rugby beerathon!

New me: It’s a big weekend of both training and racing. Smash the race. Focus on recovery, and have an easy day of chores, a movie and maybe even a well-earned nap. On Saturday, keep the sea swim steady (it’s not my key swim for the week), cut the bike ride to an easy 2.5-3hrs and see how the legs feel for the run. If there’s time, a couple of drinks watching Wales smash France in the Six Nations would be lovely – but, if not, just watch it at home.

I guess sometimes, when you come this close to man flu-related death, it just makes you look back on your life and make some changes. And nobody, as we’re always told, ever lies on their death bed and utters the immortal words “I wish I’d spent more time in work”. Although I’m pretty sure plenty of people have looked up and friends and family, as their grip on this mortal coil slowly started to loosen, and whispered: “Bugger, if only I’d stayed between 60-65% maximum heart rate on my Monday night bike rides...”

Long time no post

And after I promised too..! Last time I left my meandering, ill-considered keyboard taps on this here blog, I apologised for not having posted more regularly of late and gave my word that, from that point on, readers would be able to tuck into my thought pies more often. And I failed. At the first attempt. But, with a New Year a-comin, it seems like maybe I can get a bit of a headstart and turn over a new digital leaf. From now on, dear blog readers, from now on...

There’s really only two explanations for my woeful and wilful dereliction of blogging duties, isn’t there: that I’ve been busier than an Essex girl on a Saturday night and haven’t had the chance to whack out a blog; or that life’s been so remarkably uneventful that writing about it would have been as pointless as a Tiger Woods marriage vow. So which has it been? Well, both actually.

On one hand, work has been off the charts mental, and I’m currently managing five guide books as well as an editorial team and overseeing all of their projects. Meanwhile, there’s been the small matter of moving house and all the sheer, unadulterated pain in the arse-ness that involves. Oh, plus 12-14 hours a week of training. But that’s the other hand...training has been going well but it’s really just been a case of keeping on keeping on. I’m still loving being part of the Tri2Aspire team and am still convinced of its benefits, in terms of motivation, enjoyment and improvement.

After a month of ‘longer miles’ in November, my attention has turned to quite a lot of shorter, higher intensity efforts for December which I’m hoping will build speed and strength ready for next year. Next May, I’m going to be racing the British Sprint Championship in Emberton in an attempt to make the UK age group team for the World Championships in New Zealand. Then it’s Ironman Austria in July. They may both be some distance away but I’m already feeling pretty focused and determined and am trying to keep these in mind during each training session. I definitely feel like I’m making progress at the moment, which is great. 

You’d naturally assume that training for a sprint and an Ironman – the two ends of the triathlon spectrum – would be completely different but I’m not finding that to be the case. Of course, I know that I’ll need to focus on building the endurance more and more as IM approaches but, for the moment, I just feel like I’m getting stronger and stronger in all three events which can only help, no matter what the distance. For short course racing, that power is explosive and used for hard, fast racing; over the longer distances, it’s used for endurance and keeping steady throughout – something I definitely struggled with on the bike in Wales.

However, I think these jam-packed busy/eerily quiet days are coming to an end, which is good news as far as the creative juices go as it means lots more material for writing about. For starters, I’ve the Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon this weekend. The following week is the final Aerofit sprint tri of 2011. Then it’s my birthday (which I’m hoping to celebrate with a team session of 100 x 100m off 1:40 in the swimming pool...a 10k swim in around 3 hours!), Christmas and a whole New Year to look forward to. I’m also hoping to upgrade my bike in the next few months. So, busy-busy, but in the good way.

That’ll do for now then. Laters. 

Race report: Aerofit sprint tri in Ghantoot (race 2)

This Friday saw the second of our local sprint tri series held at the Golden Tulip Bungalows in Ghantoot. In spite of tired legs and a lack of training before the last race, I put in a really good performance, coming 7^th overall and 4^th in the open male category (three from the 40-50 category also beat me...those boys are quick!), so I was really keen to back that up with another decent performance this time.

Training had been going pretty well – lots of shorter high intensity work – but unfortunately I picked up a bit of a cold a couple of weeks ago which turned into a chest infection, laying me out for over a week. I wasn't too sure whether to race or not – especially after a really rubbish swim session on Wednesday night – but I felt OK on Thursday so decided to give it a shot. After all, I'd already paid the entry fee!

I got up at 3.55 and did my tried and tested ice coffee and porridge with sports drink and a Dairy Milk en route. The bike, once again, had been packed the night before and the bag was ready to go. I arrived nice and early, registered and found my place in transition. I stretched and warmed up a little more than I have in the past – a conscious decision as I often feel sluggish in the swim initially – and chatted with friends. I'm really loving the sport and the joy of racing right now...catching up with people in transition pre-race is a big part of that. I think my improvement over the summer (IM built a good base and the high intensity stuff is adding a bit more power) has brought me to a few other people's attention, as there were definitely a few more folk around who knew my name this time. That's a nice feeeling.

Setting up transition used to be quite stressful and time-consuming for me as I'd be so conscious of getting everything right and not forgetting anything. The good news, if you're new to triathlon and find the same, is that it gets way easier. It's now a pretty quick and automatic process.

The swim course changed a little from the slightly flawed last swim – in the briefing, they explained that it'd be a beach start, and then a two lap course with a small run along the beach between loops. I had a quick warm up (could do with more in future) and took my position near what I thought would be the most direct route to the first buoy.

The start was a little bit scrappy and some racers headed off before the klaxon. I didn't wait around to see if they'd be called back and everyone else seemed to have the same idea. It might have been messy, but the race was on. I ran as fast as I could, took a good dive and sprinted hard to the first buoy, making it first. There was quite a bit of wind blowing and the water was quite choppy, which I loved. It made it a fun swim and a more challenging one, which is always going to work out well for me. It also served to split up the field much more than usual.

The first loop flew by and I came out first just ahead of Ian Le Pelley, a great triathlete and strong swimmer, with Nick Tipper just behind him. By the time we'd run along the beach and got back in for the second loop, Ian had caught up a bit and was back on my feet but, feeling really good, I decided to put an extra strong burst in and really drop the hammer for the second loop, which worked out. I came out of the water clear in first and ran into transition feeling good. Time: 9 minutes.

Had a good quick transition (1:53 including the run in and out) and wasn't overtaken in the transition as has always happened in the past, meaning I was out on the bike in completely unfamiliar territory...leading the race! The bike leg is two loops of a 10k out and back route and, weirdly, I arrived at the roundabout that marks the 5k point and turnaround on the first lap, and I was still leading the race! I knew the wind would be with me on the way back so I cranked the bike up to a bigger gear and tried to keep the pace on hard. I knew I was going to be caught, but I made it my mission to get as far as I could before that happened.

In fact, it was about 8k in that Nick went past. Careful not to draft, I tried to stay with him for a bit but only managed a couple of hundred metres as he was really shifting. I hit the halfway point in second before Ed Hawkins – a brilliant triathlete who is fresh from the Ironman World Champs in Kona – came screaming past. I knew Ed was only doing the relay (still some post Hawaii fatigue in the legs, I expect) so it was understandable that he'd be moving quickly. Finally, after about 13km, Olivier Godart (the winner of the previous race) went past me extremely quickly and looking just so strong. It was easy to tell from where I was – the best seat in the house – that Nick and Olivier would be where the winner came from. But Olivier still had a lot of work to do.

At the final turnaround, I had the chance to check out where everyone else was behind me and was really chuffed to see that Ian hadn't eaten into my lead at all – if anything, I may have stretched it a little – and a few other guys who usually catch my swim lead back up on the bike were still a minute or more behind. It's so gratifying when you work at something (I've really concentrated on increasing my power on the bike since Ironman) and see tangible results.

All in all, it was a pretty lonely ride – no toing and froing like in the last race – and noone just in front or overtaking for me to pace off, so I was really happy that I managed to keep the pressure on and cycle hard. I came into T2 in third place overall (with a relay also ahead) having averaged almost exactly 40kmph (31 mins) for the 20k bike leg. Again, I transitioned well (1:10 including the long run in and out) and headed out for the run.

Right at the start of the run, there's a small incline and both my calves cramped quickly and painfully there, but as the terrain flattened out, the cramps passed and I could tell that they would work themselves out and not be more of a problem. I concentrated on running smooth and easy with a fast, light cadence and felt as good as I ever have on a sprint tri run. At the 1k mark, I was running just under 4:15 per km pace and felt good – smooth, even though I was certainly giving my all. Ben (who was marshalling) rode past me and told me I had about 1 minute on the next athlete. I saw Olivier and Nick head past me (Olivier was burning it up and had not only caught Nick but put about 15 seconds lead over him) and then I arrived at the halfway point and grabbed a water. It was really starting to hurt but I thought I could hold the same pace on the way back.

I passed a relay runner (who was next behind me) and then Ian, followed by a few other athletes. I was pretty sure that Ian had caught a decent chunk on me on the run so I tried to up the pace a bit, but really didn't have too much to give. The out and back course is great as I passed friends and other racers I know from swimming club etc and could see how they were looking and what their time was. I always try to give a few encouraging words when I do see them – even if I'm struggling with my own breath.

I dared not look behind and kept running hard – but I knew if I did get caught I didn't have anything more to give. I was willing the line closer. About 800m from the finish, I heard footsteps behind me and I mentally prayed that it was the relay runner who'd caught me but, unfortunately, with about 500m to go, it was Ian who ran past and into third place. I tried to respond and stay with him but he was just too fast – I looked behind and saw there was a huge gap back and so just kept a steady pace into the finish. Fourth place.

Sure, I was a little gutted to have been pipped to what would have been my first ever tri podium finish, but my time (1:04:11) was over a minute quicker than in the last race – and this on a slightly longer course (due to a short swim last time out). I ran the best I've ever run in a triathlon (20:40 for 5k) and beat a lot of guys for the first time – some of whom (like Roy Nasr who won the 40+ category with a storming 1:05) I've really looked up to and admired since I did my first race in Ghantoot a couple of years ago. I remember how fast those guys used to seem to me – it's mind-boggling (and a source of enormous pride) to me that I'm now able to mix it with them. The guys who beat me are superb triathletes – Ian has represented the UK in Commonwealth Games and age group champs, but has been plagued by injuries. To be honest, even though it was at my expense, I was pretty chuffed for him getting third.

Most importantly, I'm definitely improving, getting stronger and loving triathlon. And that's all I could ever ask for. These races may only be small, inconsequential, local affairs, but they can tell you how you're performing and if you're heading in the right direction. Happily, I am. The fact that I've done pretty well after a bout of rest and illness in the past two races has also made me wonder if I may have been overtraining a little here and there, as I've actually felt good and hungry going into these races. Perhaps another lesson to learn?

Next week is the first sprint tri at Wadi Adventure inland in the town of Al Ain. Looking forward to racing in a new venue on a different course.