Ironman Austria - Race report: Part 4 - thanks

Read Part 1 - premable

Read Part 2 - the race

Read Part 3 - post-race thoughts

Ironman may be an individual sport, but it is always a team effort – the day itself is just one of hundreds that get you to that finish line. Which means there are a lot of people to thank.

First and foremost, I have the most supportive family (especially my folks) in the world who are always my biggest fans – for that, and many, many other things, I love them all dearly. 

My friends – both the ones who have to listen to me make weekly excuses as to why I can't come out for drinks again and yet keep inviting me anyway (please do keep inviting!), and the ones who offer tonnes of encouragement and praise by phone, email, Facebook etc – aren't far behind my family in general awesomeness levels.

My finishing time in Austria would have been unimaginable eight months ago, before joining Tri2Aspire and our coach, Jason, deserves a healthy dose of praise and thanks for that. I set him a tough couple of goals - to improve me at both sprint distance and Ironman distance simultaneously - and we achieved both and then some.

Perhaps the biggest portion should be distributed evenly among all my fellow Tri2Aspire team mates – at some point, I'm certain I've swum, ridden or run with everyone in T2A, or chatted to them about triathlon, strategies and Ironman. It seems cruel to pick out anyone in particular, but I feel I have to: Both coach and Ed have accompanied me for countless metres in the pool (and a word here for Seth and Dubai Masters – we're really lucky to have such a good and committed masters swim program in Dubai, such things are rare). 

There were a couple of killer long rides that Messrs Attenhofer, Hawkins and Marshall carried my slow-ass through. Those shadowy short-course characters known only as Flanners and The Silver Fox played just as much of a role in keeping me honest over the quick stuff too, and for that I owe a debt of gratitude that I hope to repay in the next couple of months. A doff of the cap to all you gents. 

King of the Mountains I may not be, but any improvement I've made in the hills over the past few months are due mainly to the organisational skills of Senor National and the total selflessness of support drivers par excellence Sarah and Claire. Chapeau, mes amis, chapeau.

I tend to do much of my running solo but there are times I venture out with company. It feels like Miss Q and I have put the world to rights on far too many sweat-laden long runs and occasional Safa Park beastings over the past few months since I joined the team – appreciate the company and the shared pain. Also, amongst all the horror that is the Coach Dirt runs, one in particular sticks in mind, when Piers was kind enough to pace me to a new 5k PB. That felt like a real turning point for me in considering myself to at least be 'someone who runs' even if I'm still some way short of being 'a runner'. Thanks mate. Hope to keep pushing all of you guys in the way that you've all pushed me.

Finally, the guys at Sport In Life in Dubai, provided me with the Gus, the Roctane drink and the electrolyte powder that got me through a hot and tough race - if you can stomach it, I highly recommend Gu's Roctane drink as it was a pretty easy way of getting 2-300 calories into the body fast on a day when calories were hard to keep down due to the heat. They also let me test run the brand new Polar RCX5 which I'll provide a more complete review of soon, but let's just say for now that it performed splendidly on a difficult day.

Then there are the guys at Aerofit who gave someone who had no previous knowledge or understanding of training zones or fat/carb metabolism some valuable information and tools that were employed in both training and racing.

Fitness testing - the full story

Believe it or not (and I realise that most people won’t), there’s actually a fair amount of work involved with this here blog. I know that it seems like I just scrawl out whatever random musings materialise in my noggin, but I do actually but some thought and time into it... and that’s the excuse I’m using for the couple of weeks that have come between my first two Aerofit scan postings and this here one.

On a serious note, it’s an interesting and worthwhile subject, and I didn’t want to do a rush job. The past couple of weeks I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking competition and just couldn’t find the time, but the best things in life are worth waiting for, right?

So, here we go with analysis of my cycling and running. As it’s been such a long time between these posts, I decided to paste posts 1 and 2 to the beginning to create one long but, hopefully, continuous and intelligible post. If you have an elephantine memory, just skip down to the bottom to the part where you see a load of scientific looking graphs and read from around there.

For the rest....

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Anyone who takes a look at that little bar above (the one that says ‘Follow My Training’) will have noticed quite a difference in the way I train of late. Of course, it still boils down to swim/bike/run/core/stretch, but the way sessions are approached has changed.

Previously, for example, you’d have seen things like ‘24k long run’ or ‘60k bike into 40minute harder run’. But these have now become ‘25k in upper Tz1 [Training Zone 1]’ and ‘60k Tz1-Tz2 into 40 minute run in Tz2’.

So, where did all this extra information on training zones come from? My Aerofit scan.

Triathletes, as I’ve said before, love a bit of geekery – in the form of carbon goodies, shiny new gadgets and analysing data. And there’s lots of data that can be analysed: VO2 max, lactate threshold, average watts etc...

One recent innovation to find its way to the Middle East is Aerofit (it was originally pioneered in Germany but is now available in loads of countries around the world). But, as Sreeya from Aerofit explains, they see their scan as more of a training tool than purely a fitness test used to produce data.

“We see it as the leading fitness coaching service in the Middle East, which guarantees you effective weight loss and improvement in your sports performance. We can provide individualised ‘fact-based’ training plans based on a scientific analysis [called the Aeroscan] of your individual metabolism.”

Fair enough. So, how does it do that?

“AeroFit determines your VO2, anaerobe threshold, fat and carbohydrate metabolism and optimum training zones,” answers Sreeya.

Unless you’re already pretty health savvy and into the science of fitness, much of this will be as intelligible as a sea lion singing karaoke – what we actually want to know about any of these tests or scans, if we’re being honest, is one thing: will it make me faster?

“You will significantly improve your stamina, speed and endurance by training your body to produce energy efficiently. You will get much faster on the run and bike, be able to estimate your racing times, strategise the right pace for your next race and plan your nutrition intake to fuel your body sufficiently,” says Sreeya.

That’ll be a ‘yes’ then.

“You will see your race times improving and visibly see progress in just a few weeks of training.”

From my basic understanding of the science behind the Aerofit scan, all athletes can choose to train at a wide range of intensities – you can walk, you can sprint, or you can do anything in between. Whether you’re a Kona qualifier, a mid-pack triathlete, or just someone who wants to lose a bit of weight and get a little fitter, the major limiter is almost always time. The data provided by the Aeroscan tells you what intensities you should work at to maximise gains in the time that you have available.

So, what does doing the Aerofit scan involve?

Well, it’s pretty simple really – and no more taxing than the average gym session. A couple of days before, I fill in an information sheet which lists things like my age, weight, how much I exercise and my fitness goals. This sheet also includes a set of fairly straightforward instructions, telling me to keep vigorous workouts to a minimum in the 48 hours preceding my Aerofit scan, and not to eat for a few hours before.

I arrive at the gym at The Address Dubai Mall – one of Aerofit’shomes, along with the Up & Running clinic on Al Wasl Road – and go into the plush changing rooms to don my shorts, t-shirt and trainers.

The only other apparatus involved are a standard stationary bike, a treadmill and the Aerofit mouthpiece – essentially a tube that you place into your mouth and leading to a chord, with a nose pinch that not only keeps the mouthpiece steady but also guarantees that all inhalation and exhalation goes through the mouth. The mouthpiece feeds information into a laptop that records the results.

Before doing anything, I sit down – at rest – and breathe through the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. Then we begin on the bike. I cycle at a steady cadence on an easy resistance for a few minutes and then Sreeya hands me the mouthpiece – I continue cycling just the same put while breathing into the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. 

Sreeya then whips off the mouthpiece and increases the resistance; again, I cycle steadily for a few minutes before I continue but breathing through the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. 

This pattern continues – incremental increase in resistance, a few minutes of normal riding, 30 seconds into the mouthpiece... and then Sreeya tells me to stop, taking down the resistance for me to cool down gradually. It’s pretty painless, took less than 15 minutes and, in terms of perceived effort, I’d say that even at the top resistance I’m still only on 5 out of 10.

There’s a few minutes’ break as Sreeya and fellow expert Markus take a look at the results, walking me through a few of the most obvious points and patterns.

I then jump up on to the treadmill and repeat the process, starting at an easy 8kph (the pace you start at depends on your ability), running for a couple of minutes normally, running for 30 seconds with the mouthpiece on, then upping the pace by 2kph and repeating the process. 

The only difference is that, due to the results I was registering, I stayed on the treadmill longer than I did on the bike and was at a fair old pace (for me, at least) by the end of the scan – just over 17 minutes later. The whole process took around an hour for both bike and run.

Again, I cooled down and watched as Sreeya and Markus looked at, translated and explained my results.

So, here’s the bike results:

And here’s the run:

But what do they mean? Well, let’s go back to the bike.

You can extrapolate all manner of conclusions from this; everything from my base metabolism to how many calories I’ll burn/require during an Ironman bike leg, given my effort of level (as reflected by my heart rate). If you know what you’re looking for, there’s as many answers here as there are questions. But, in a nutshell, these are the vital stats:

Again, you can interpret all this is any number of ways but my primary aim was to discover my training zones and which ones I need to work on most. Information like this:

Sreeya and Markus explain the results:

“Every human body has approximately 1,700-2,000 Kcals of carbohydrate storage whereas a substantially higher amount of fat storage of approximately 80,000 Kcals. Hence, in order to improve your fitness and sports performance or lose fat, it is important to train your body to burn more fat calories, which can happen by training in your correct heart rate zones.

“For endurance athletes, as long as you keep burning fat, you are using an almost unlimited storage of energy and you will be able to perform at these levels for very long periods of time. It is only when a very high amount of your calorie consumption comes from carbohydrates, in your case at HR 128 or 210 watts, your endurance for long distance events will go down significantly.

“Overall, you have a low fat metabolism. Your highest fat burn rate of 63% is achieved at HR 88 and 60 watts followed by a very sharp decline thereafter. Your anaerobe zone is reached at HR 137. Majority of your biking should occur in the aerobe zones, TZ1 and TZ2. Your training should primarily focus on building fat metabolism. Do long bike rides in TZ1 up to HR 110. This will increase your overall endurance for long distance races as you are training your body to burn more fat calories of which you have an almost unlimited amount of storage. In addition, do some bike rides in TZ2 especially during racing season. This will improve your stamina and speed performance and push out your anaerobe threshold further to the right. However, it is important to first focus on building fat metabolism in the low-medium HR to improve overall biking profile.”

Some people show vastly different results in bike and run. They may, for example, be an extremely efficient runner who burns predominantly fat until a very high speed however, when they jump on the bike, they have to work far harder and therefore burn predominantly carbohydrates unless they keep their heart rates very low.

That isn’t the case for me, however; my bike and run show very, very similar results and Sreeya and Markus were able to make almost the same conclusion.

To conclude, it’s clear that I’m a pretty fit person who is well-trained. It’s also clear that I’m predominantly a shorter distance, power athlete, rather than a natural endurance athlete. This is backed up by the fact that, even when a lot younger and when I was a competitive swimmer, I always specialised in the sprint events like 50m-100m fly and backstroke. I made regional school track finals in sprints and hurdle events, but you’d have found me at the back of a cross-country, in spite of my aerobic capacity garnered from swimming. And although I’ve been doing triathlon for a couple of years now, I’ve still not had enough time to build that big aerobic (fat burning) base.

In which case – as I’m saying that the Aerofit scan backed up what I already knew – does that make it pointless?

Not at all. As I’ve explained, there are all manner of results and data you can pull from this and some of the more interesting information for me revolves around the number of calories I burn per hour at a given rate of exertion. This has helped me to really nail a nutrition plan for my upcoming Ironman.

But the zones themselves have proven useful. It’s all very well to say, as someone still relatively new to endurance sports and is built for power rather than distance, I need to train long and easy to build an endurance base. But what is ‘long and easy’. Having those exact figures – those magic numbers if you will – has informed all my longer training since to the point that, when doing my longer  solo sessions, I no longer even have the speed/pace on display on my Garmin, judging everything on heart rate.

A few days ago, I went out and did one of my longest runs I’ll do for Ironman – a 32km effort – and based it purely on not exceeding the 70% (130bpm) heart rate that the aeroscan outlined. This kept it steady but, most surprisingly of all was that, by the end I felt pretty good. My legs were getting a little bit sore (I’d been running on hard paving rather than kinder trails or tarmac so this was to be expected) and I was thirsty (I’d kept hydration and nutrition down to pretty minimal levels) but still felt better than I’d expect to after this sort of training run. Turns out I’d only been running  a little over 6min/km, but the pace is of little importance in this sort of run – by keeping steady and at/under the magic number, I’d felt none of the usual peaks/troughs I’d have expected to feel during that sort of run and, to boot, I recovered really quickly too, ready to train the next day.

The acid test, of course, will come on Ironman race day. Can this training be turned into a goal time over 140.6 miles?

Weekend race report – Aerofit 6

Just a quick post from me on what, I guess, must be considered a pretty successful weekend.

Friday was the last of the Aerofit sprint triathlon races and, as I’d only just returned to proper training and had very little biking and almost no high intensity session in the legs, I’d planned to give this one a miss. However, it was the last race of this series and the series is run by our team, so I felt like I should ‘represent’ and, when a slot opened up due to another team member being away, I jumped in a couple of days before.

The race went OK, if not spectacularly. The swim was a bit short (maybe 600m instead of the intended 750m) and a bit shallow, which mixed things up a bit and meant my lead coming out of the water was drastically cut. Still, I came out of T1 first and felt OK – a bit of a relief, to be honest, with how I felt last time still at the forefront of my mind.

Running along the beach before diving back in for the two lap swim.

Pulling a little Bob DeNiro face on my way back into the water.

Diving back in - the swim went around the buoy and not the bloody great tanker, unfortunately.

The winner, Olivier, came through early and very, very fast but I managed to hold off the rest of the field right the way to the end of the bike; even my team mate Ed, who's a hell of a bike rider, didn’t pass me on the bike, which was a little unexpected but I took as a good sign. I got off the 21.5k bike leg in 33 mins (averaging 39+ kph, which included the run in and out of transition) which was pretty decent. Probably as well as I’ve ridden before at this distance, even though I could tell that I was missing quite a bit of bike fitness and wasn't pushing as well as I'd have liked.

The run was a bit of a mess for a number of reasons (newish trainers, miscalculating my goal pace, pretty bad cramping in the last 2km etc) but I ran just over 20mins for the 5k which is in line with what I’ve done before. At the time, I was a bit disappointed with this as I thought my running had improved quite a bit, but now I realise there were a number of extenuating circumstances (lack of training, very little fast running and a lot of slow, long running over the past few weeks). I also realise I’d been expecting a bit too much from myself – I’m pretty sure I’ve never run done a sub 20min (i.e. 4min/km) run in this race before but had gone out gunning for 3.45s or something silly... I should have just been pacing myself to go sub 4s for the first time. Anyway, lesson learned.

Racing out of T2.

Heading out on to the run course.

Looking stronger than I felt.

 My finish time was around my PB (tho the swim was short) and was enough to earn me 3^rd place in the Open Men category – my second podium finish of the year and my first in this series. With the local race scene just about coming to a close, this was a nice way to end the season; especially as this particular race series was the first I ever took part in when I started triathlon a couple of years ago, when my goal was to simply make it into the top half of finishers... When I looked at the guys stood on the podium back then, I never even dreamed that I could be good enough to stand next to them. That I can is something of a victory in my eyes.

Olivier (1), Ed (2) and some other joker.

My first triathlon trophy!

NEXT...

I can't believe it's been 6 months since Ironman Wales - in some ways, it feels like it happened to me (that's the best way I can describe that course - it happened to me!) only yesterday; in other ways, thanks to a good racing season here in the UAE and mainly due to joining TeamT2A, it feels like it happened to a completely different athlete a long time ago.

Well, with six months to go to the next IM Wales and the following promo video coming out for he 2012 race (bringing back all sorts of memories - tho the hills and conditions don't look anywhere near as bad on here!) it seems like a good time to rule a line under one experience and look forward to others.

The next two weekends should be pretty fun ones: tomorrow is the final race of the local Aerofit sprint series in Ghantoot and, as I'm not quite back up to full speed, I'm going to vary my pacing a little to see how that affects my overall time.

The following weekend, the team is heading to Al Ain and, more specifically, to Jebel Hafeet for a training camp on the side of a mountain. I've heard many tales from previous editions and it promises to be emotional up there! Looking forward to that and, in between, just getting a full and solid week of training in for the first time in almost two months since before I was ill.

Lots of blogging to come in the next few days and weeks... hope you'll enjoy.

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...”

It's all getting a little racey...

Chuffin' Nora. You wait for a race for two months then a whole cheaply-printed, bound-to-fall-apart goodie bag full of them comes along at once. No matter. Unlike Mel Gibson, Republicans and you're average Daily Mail reader, I'm a fan of all races; a chock-a-block schedule positively bursting at the seams with competition and dripping in race juice can only be a good thing.

Especially as I've not raced since the Creek Striders Half at the beginning of December. On one hand, I'm interested to see if January's BIG mileage month will reflect on speed and fitness. At the same time, I feel like all those base kilometres are probably in need of some higher intensity efforts on top of them, and where better to push hard than in a race?

So, what's on the schedule? Why, thank you for asking, allow me to explain:

First up is the Skins Al Mamzar triathlon on 3 Feb. This is an event I wouldn't usually do because it's been of a questionable quality in the past, but I haven't raced an Olympic distance tri for a year and just fancy it. Previously, as I said, the organisational element wasn't A1 but there was another race in this series a couple of months ago and everyone who raced reported that it had improved considerably. The only problem being swim times that suggested a swim course that was at least 3-400m short. I reckon I could look at a body of water and guess a 1,500m swim more accurately that that so, in these days of Garmins and Google Earth, this sort of error margin is really pretty unacceptable (listening Ironman UK?). It looks like that hss been sorted for this race but, worst case scenario, it's a good hit-out and my bike and run times will be directly comparable with last year's race.

The good thing about a course that's well short and a bit of a draft-fest? Guaranteed PB! Even if it is one I'll never come close to again.

Anyway, one week later is the Wadi Bih run. This is one of those super-cool little events that a few pissed-up mentalists started a couple of decades ago and has taken off. Like techno and Flight of the Conchords, or Wales.

Basically, teams of five tackle the 72k course that runs through the famous Wadi Bih (a wadi is a dried-up river bed here in Middle Earth). You take it in turns to jump out of your support vehicle and take your leg of the relay – some sections are 5k long, others are 2k straight uphill. It's basically all good fun and, although there are a few teams who take it seriously and try to win, they are - and I'm going to be very careful not to generalise here - usually a bunch of charmless knobs. It's one of the few events I've not raced here so I was happy as a tornado in a trailer park to be asked to form part of one of Nike's media teams. I'm sure there'll be more about this event in future blogs.

So, we jump to 17 March and the RAK Half Marathon. Not much to report about this quite yet but I'll be looking to break 1:30 for the first time there. The last race of February will be the Aerofit Sprint Tri – one of our regular series of sprint triathlons. Again, it'll be interesting to see if all this hard training is turning my muscles into hardcore turbo triathlon speed machines or just squelchy pain sponges. One good thing about having a regular series, like the Aerofit, is that I know exactly how I do there – what position I'll finish and who'll overtake me where. It's a little depressing when I write it out like that, but that helps me to gauge if/where improvements have been made relative to other racers.

Finally, it's the first of my three big races for the year ahead – Abu Dhabi International Triathlon. Last year's race was top-notch, even if it was hotter and windier than storm season in Hell (Hell as in that place really far down South – where the boy Satan lives – not the towns in Michigan, Norway, The Cayman Islands, tho they could be quite hot and windy too for all I know. Actually, I'm pretty sure the one in Norway won't be that hot.).

Again, this is very much a race against myself. I'm doing what ADIT calls the 'short' race: 1,500m swim (an actual 1,500m too!), a whopping 100km bike and a 10km run. Last year's race was the first time (or maybe second?) I'd ever ridden 100km, I got hydration and nutrition all wrong and the conditions multiplied that. So, unsurprisingly, I bonked big time on the run. I'd like to put that right this year and knock a whopping big chunk of time off too – that'd show me that I'm on course for IM Austria (check out the fancy new website for that event, by the way!).

And there you have it... I'll leave it at that for now as my intention is to post far more often now. I'll try to get something up here to irritate/educate/frustrate every couple of days at least, so I don't want to shoot my load straight off the bat, to awkwardly mix some rather odd analogies.

Take care kids, and happy racing, training or whatever it is you do to avoid having to watch X Factor with t'other half. 

Race report – Aerofit sprint race 1

As I explained in my previous blog, this weekend saw the beginning of our local season here in Dubai with the first of the Aerofit sprint races in Ghantoot (part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi...about 40 minutes drive from Dubai).

Going into this race, as I also said previously, I didn't expect much from myself as I was definitely still carrying some Ironman fatigue in my legs and, just as significantly, had done almost no training for this kind of race – training for a short, fast sprint (just over an hour) is very different from training for a long, endurance race like an Ironman (12 hours). Turns out I needn't have worried too much.

Although this series has been a regular monthly feature on the tri calendar for the past few winters, this year the location has changed slightly, so it was in effect a new course for most of us. The Golden Tulip Hotel Bungalows are a great location for it though and transition is superb – with around 250 participants (capped at that number – these races are very popular) it used to get a bit crowded in the old transition area.

So, on the day, I was up at 4am and I had a quick shower (tip from Chrissie Wellington – helps to turn up feeling awake), some porridge, a chocolate bar (probably not the best thing in the world but I find it hard to take in calories in the morning – one of the things that always goes down OK is a spot of Cadbury's so...whatever works!) and a can of iced coffee. I'd already pumped my tyres and packed my bike in the car the previous night and packed my bag, so all I had to do was put on my trisuit and the shorts and t-shirt I'd also laid out and go. I really recommend a bit of prep like this the day before – when you have to be up at 4am, it helps to have as little as possible to do or think about.

I got to the venue just after 5 (6am briefing, so 5 was ideal) and had time to register, set my transition area out, make sure the bike was in ship shape, fill my aerobottle, stretch etc. I love the atmosphere at races as more and more people arrive – there are nerves, of course, for any race, but for me it's a super cool experience.

Briefing over and it was time to get in the water and warm up. And then, before we knew it, it was 6.15 and the klaxon sounded...we were off! The swim was an oddly shaped one. The hotel is pretty much at the central point of the beach. We started all the way down to the left, swam out to a pontoon just 30m or so away from shore, then swam parallel with the shore for most the distance. The sand as we entered the water was mushy and oily – like quicksand – so even though it was shallow I just dived in and started swimming as soon as I could and then swam hard to get away from the crowds.

To be honest, I got a bit lucky on the swim. One of the really top local triathletes, Ian, came down just to do the swim as a kind of race practice (think he's maybe injured at the mo so no bike/run) and he went hard, so I was able to just get on his feet and draft the whole way. Another of the top guys, Nick, did the same, drafting off me; I think the three of us opened up quite a sizeable lead. The swim was a bit short in the end (around 650m instead of 750m) although that probably wouldn't make much difference to the overall times as, finishing the swim at the far right end of the beach, we then had to run around 250m across the sand to get off the beach, before running through transition. By the time we'd done this, Ian had stopped and Nick had passed me so I was in second place. This is familiar territory for me at this point in the race but in the past my transitions have been fine rather than good, and I've often lost position. I've been practising transitions a bit of late and that paid off (it's great when you see a result from some hard work) as I headed out on to the road still in second.

The bike was two laps of a 5k out 5k back course and 20km exactly – not the 22km mooted. It's also traditionally where I start making my impressively determined move towards the back of the field, although I usually run out or real estate on my pursuit of last place and end up around 20^th in this race. I didn't expect any better today for the reasons I stated at the beginning and the first 5km was certainly a struggle. I found it hard to control my breathing and had to spin quite hard into a bit of a breeze and very slight uphill – but, while Nick was increasing his lead, he wasn't tearing away from me like he would have in the past. In fact, during the whole first 5k, only two more guys (the eventual winner and a relay cyclist) passed me towards the turnaround point.

Halfway through the second 5km stretch, two more guys I know came past – Tony was part of a relay team and a strong cyclist, Roy is a great triathlete who tends to win the veterans (plus-40s) category every race. But I stuck with them and started feeling really great, finally controlling my breathing and cadence. Being careful not to draft, from then on the three of us worked with each other in something of a pace line to keep going hard to the end. It was without doubt the strongest I've ever felt on the bike during a race. I've simply never been quick enough to work in this sort of pace line with the good riders. I rode around 31mins for the 20km (just under 40km/h average).

Tony and Roy got a few seconds on me heading into T2 but, again, I had a really good transition (opting for a white running cap which I'd left ice melting in – a genius move, really helping to cool me down on what was a very humid [mid-30s even at 7am] morning). I left T2 a few metres behind Roy and, as I headed out, I could see that I had a pretty solid lead on a lot of guys I'd have expected to be beating me.

The run, I knew, was where I'd suffer and I immediately cramped and hurt – inevitable with my last real run being a hilly Ironman marathon less than three weeks ago. I was determined to see it out tho, and just shortened my stride and set small goals. I was passed by one of the brilliant young racers – Tom – whose run makes me look like I'm taking a gentle stroll, but he was the only guy to go past up to the halfway point. There, I downed a sports drink, threw a water over my head and carried on. Amazingly, only one more veteran came through right until the end when a relay runner caught me. The run was an almighty effort, I have to confess, but I came in with a time of 21:30 for the 5km run which isn't too shoddy at all.

My final time was 1.05.24 and my position was 7^th overall and 4^th in my category (open men). Admittedly, two or three of the guys I'd usually expect to be jostling for the podium weren't racing but, all told, a very good day's work and far better than I'd expected. In a lot of ways, it was the perfect start as it set a genuinely competitive marker for the season ahead, while I also know exactly where I can make improvements in all three disciplines, which is the ideal position to be in.

Last year, as my second full season doing triathlon, I think I lost sight of the wood for the trees a bit and focused so much on time and position that I stopped enjoying it. While parts of the race were certainly painful, one of the things I was most pleased about was my attitude. I soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed the race...how it's meant to be.

In summary then: a great start and amazing (but surprising) to see how all that longer Ironman training has translated into the shorter stuff – especially on the bike. Onwards and upwards then!

Get Ready For The Dubai Tri Season

Bright and early tomorrow morning, our local triathlon kicks off here in the Middle East with the Aerofit Sprint Tri. And I do mean bright6 and early – due to the heat and the logistical issues of closing roads down to drive-happy Duabians, all our races kick off at an ungodly (should that be an un-Allahly?) time. Tomorrow, the gun will go of at 6:15am, which means a 4am alarm call for me.

This series has been the bread and butter of the local tri scene for a while. There area other races but this one takes place almost every month throughout winter and so is a god chance to test yourself and see how training is progressing. For beginners, it’s also a really nice and friendly way to get involved – well, it’s how I started.

Although a ‘sprint’ tri, in the past it’s been a little idiosyncratic in that it’s been a 750m swim around a seawater canal (following the canal in a semi circle so no buoy turns), followed by a transition that involved running up 50 steps (my quads are burning just thinking about it), a 26km bike and, finally, a run that measured around 5.6k.

For this year, however, the course has changed slightly to be much closer to a traditional sprint with a slightly longer bike ride of 22km the only deviation from the traditional 750-20-5 set-up. It’s also a loop swim in the sea.

I’m really excited to get racing again – I love the atmosphere and  camaraderie or racing – although, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not expecting much in terms of my performance. It’s less than three weeks since Ironman and I’ve done next to no training since then – you’re really only supposed to pick it up again after three weeks. On the small runs I have managed, my legs have been slow and heavy, as if they’re made from some particularly hideous lead and treacle alloy. Then there’s the fact that the training you do for short stuff differs markedly from the way you train for the long slog of Ironman, so I’ve little speed in my legs anyway.

Entries are capped at 250 for these sprints and demand is high so I had to enter weeks before Ironman. I decided I’d feel awful if I’d fully recovered and was raring to go and couldn’t race coz I hadn’t entered; now that I’m entered, I figure I may as well race. Worst case scenario, I’ll try to hammer out the swim and bike and pull up for the run if I feel I might do myself any damage – if I feel OK, I’ll carry on. It’s not going to be fast, but it’ll lay down a marker on this course for me to try to improve on as the season and my fitness progress.

Anyway, between now and the start line lies magazine deadline day. This means I could get out of work anywhere between 6pm and 2am…which has happened before and isn’t the ideal preparation for a triathlon, no matter how short. So, two days of endurance events the way I see it!

Check back over the weekend and I’ll have a full race report for you along with some pics of the first race of our local season. Cheers!