One man's taper is another man's sprint

Yesterday was a semi-rest day, with just a 45 minute jog on the programme, and one of my top mates Andy came along to join me on the run. It's fair to say that, in the past, both Andy and I have yo-yo'd about a bit in terms of weight and fitness but have both managed to put it all together over the past few years and make it stick. For me, that means triathlon; for him, like most guys with a family, it's a few sessions a week to keep the weight off and the ticker healthy.

We ran a route that we'd run many years ago – maybe four or five years, just at the beginning of this prolonged 'health kick' that has brought me as far as the start line of an Ironman. Back then, Andy powered through and I followed, a sweaty, asthmatic mess. Now, Andy regularly runs a couple of 10kms each week, so he's not exactly flat out of shape but this time it was him who was struggling. And, as he said later, 'you weren't even breaking sweat on that were you?' – although I tried to sugarcoat it a little, the answer was no. It was exactly what I needed – an easy trot to get the legs moving. But certainly no more.

The reason I bring this up – other than to blow loud and proud on my own trumpet! – is to comment how important it is to look back every now and then and see where you've come from. I really want to knock 5 minutes off my 10k run time in an Olympic distance triathlon – that's one of my main goals for after Ironman – but it feels like an enormous task and one that I'm not sure I'm getting any closer to. Until I look back. Maybe to the first time I ran around Arabian Ranches and was happy to complete the 10k in one hour; or to my first ever triathlon when I ran just over 30 minutes for 5k. Then it's clear that I am on the right road and will reach my target if I keep working for it. I think progress is quite hard to spot until it's already been made.

On another note, the taper is going quite well. I've busied myself with seeing family, not to mention a bite to eat and a few beers out in Chester with Andy last night (another significant landmark: my last alcoholic drinks before the big day!). I've ordered a box of my gels of choice (Gu Chocolate Outrage, for anyone interested!) and C02 cartridges which should be delivered in the next day or two – I know both of these will probably be available at the Ironman Expo but, at this point, I'm taking no risks.

Today, it's an 80 minute easy run with a 45 minute masters swim session this evening. Most of the intensity has been dropped from my workouts now, with just a few short sharp efforts in each session to trigger the fast twitch fibres and kickstart glycogen reserves. I'm also running through a few easy stretches a couple of times a day. By and large, I'm feeling good, fit, focused and raring to go...the only downer being the weather forecast for Ironman weekend – cold, very wet and very windy. Well, they don't call it the world's hardest race for nothing...tho Ironman Australia suddenly sounds way more attractive!

10 days and counting...

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!).