John vs. Bolton

This week's themes seem to be miles and me taking a beating. Unfortunately the miles have been in the car rather than under my own steam and the beatings have come from a variety of sources, some not so great.

Since Monday afternoon I've logged around 650miles in the car. A trip to Sussex, where I got my ass handed to me by Will Kemp, an old tri buddie turned roadie. There was me sitting at my 225w goal while he pissed off up Ditchling Beacon and waited nonchalantly at the top eating a Mars bar. I hate having to change pace!

Then back to Sheffield where I kicked my own ass on the track with some threshold intervals, although the quality of the home cooked food more than made up for the pain.

Finally Thursday was the Bolton ride day. Firstly working out where the actual route was was a little frustrating. It took me about 2:30 of riding (nearer 3:15 if you add in the stops) to work out where the bleeding thing went. However as I eventually rolled back past the car I reflected on what a great and truly British route it was and was looking forward to actually cycling it the second time around...

...I felt strong going over Sheep House Lane but descending the other side my bars came loose. I pulled into a road cursing my luck at having to stop, tightened the bars, head down, powered off, head up, S**T, parked Volvo! Too late. I went arse over tit and in the process managed to buckle my front wheel and bruise my ego. Game over for the day. I managed to cycle back to car with a very dodgy weave and then hit out a 60min tempo run off the bike. It was supposed to be 30mins easy but sod it, I was angry. All this means I'm going to have to clock more miles coming back to Bolton to ride the thing again so I can pace it correctly come August. If BP want to consider sponsoring my car, it gets seen allot on the M1/M25.

On the plus side today is beautiful in Sheffield, 22c and not a cloud in the sky. Time for a 2.5h run with 5000ft of climbing, just to make up for yesterday.

Normal service resumed

Not much to write about except the miles, which is really the exact way it should be. First long run (over 13 miles) and totally pain free. First 5hr ride (with great tan lines and 70 miles of not being able to keep any solid/liquid down) with a decent, and more importantly, well paced wattage. Plenty of threshold work and quality recovery. First open water swim. Saturday was a write off, I was freezing from the get go and HR never got up, I can only assume that my bf %age is much lower than last year. Sunday I decided to add a lovely looking neoprene hat, not exactly a fasion statement but function over form did its job and a decent 3.3k later I was not quite so blue.

This week could be intresting. Meeting an old uni mate who was always a killer cyclist (now turned rodie) for a ride tomorrow, don't think even pacing is going to come into it! Should be a spikey poer file. Riding and running the IMUK courses during the week and all topped off with some 2x20mins to finish of the week. The massage is already booked for Sunday.

Sayonara: first impressions

I wish...

A more comprehensive and results based review will follow in the next couple of weeks on Tri247 but thought I'd just give me first impressions of the new TYR Sayonra. One thing struck me immediately, it ain't a wetsuit! Now this may sound like I'm stating the bleeding obvious but I'm sure many a average AG swimmer have secret hopes that suits like this will have the same benefits. It doesn't... That said, other than my slight disappointment (although not great surprise) the suit looks and feels great. Total freedom of movement and flexibility is great. Much more to follow soon when I've done some timed work and have come comparisons.

Enjoy the long weekend and the sun. Terrible tan lines await!

Tri-Topia

A quick post to say that I am now really looking forward to the 15th August as I will be lucky enough to be heading to France to experience Tri-Topia, a new training location in France which will welcome it's first batch of guests this coming week. Check out the link above for more details but having been in contact with Sam for a month or so it seems like the hard work and effort that has gone into creating Tri-Topia has resulted in a top class location for training made even better by the obvious enthusiasm the owners have for the sport and providing a great service in terms of food and accommodation.

After my visit a review will be on the blog and the Tri247 website but needless to say I cannot wait to kick start my post-IMUK, pre-Kona build off in style!

Good luck to Sam and Phil who will have their first guests arriving next week, I'm sure it'll be a fantastic week.

Cooked

Wow, end of a bloody tough week. Only logged 16 hours as I'm still building back up (should be hitting the high teens again next week) and running is still a couple of weeks back on where I'd like to be, however my efforts to begin more threshold work on the bike and the run have left me feeling just the wrong side of well done.

Prior to IMSA my HR on the bike went about 160 once on a 25TT 2 weeks out, once in 6 months of training. This week I've pushed above that on 2 seperate occasions and then had to hold it there. The result was a wondeful shot of endorphines in the short term but a whole lot of pain in the long term. Most of it about 2h15m into Saturday's long ride when my avg. wattage began it's rather sudden descent from a respectable 237w down to the final 2 hours being 217w. The yellow box of pain don't lie and neither does how I've felt during today, sluggish to say the least. Next week will see a rethink to my weekly structure to give me 2 distinct blocks, 2 days of intensity and 3 days of endurance. I'll let you know how it goes, hopefully this time next week I'll be a little les well done and slightly more al dente!

Shout out to my house mate Jaq who completed Windemere marathon today, go WLCM!

Sweetspots, thresholds and VO2s

Madina Lake's album didn't provide the blog title inspiration I had hoped (surprisingly they didn't write a song about varying levels of exercise intensity) so this'll have to do.

Having trained with the Powertap for 10 days or so now I'm starting to get some meaningful feedback and have sat down with The Bike Whisperer, now my cycling specific coach, to think about how we can nail IMUK and Kona. The answer is intensity. Prior to IMSA all I did was long mileage. The logic was that I didn't have 9 months to train and fat oxidisation was key... and it worked, but now I need to step things on again and so this week marks the beginning of a 9 week experimental block to raise my FTP with a combination of long rides, sweetspot turbos (which hurt) and 2x20s (which bloody hurt). I'm looking forward to starting a new phase in my training and am confident 9 weeks of pain will bring some big gains.

On another note I am excited to say that on 7th June I will be attending the Infinit supported training day with Gordo. For those who don't know Gordo is, in my eyes at least, a bit of a legend. His blog is a regular read of mine and his archive was my night time reading pre-IMSA. Not only this but he, a bit like myself, moved from being overweight and under fit to (unlike me, yet) running a 2:45 marathon at Ironman Canada.

Can't wait... a review of the day will be appearing on the Tri247 website after the day itself.

Chasing dreams

Excuse the blog title - new Madina Lake album has placed itself on Ipod and in the car so their lyrics will be providing my inspiration for the coming weeks.

Well, its been an eventful 48 - 72 hours. Those following my Twitter will have seen the sporadic updates ranging from hope, to panic, to suicidal despair and back to hope again. I'm not normally a hypochondriac and will normally brush of just about any ailment as being curable by a good nights sleep (carry over from my Northern upbringing) but over the last few days I've been imagining my dreams for the next 6 months disappearing. When the pins and needles set in on Monday/Tuesday I was really starting to worry. Having visited Annie at Sports Dimensions it turns out it is/was a combination of 3 injuries:

1. Minor ligament strain on the left side of my foot caused by the over gear ride last Wednesday. This has now more or less cleared but requires some strengthening to avoid a repeat.

2. Swelling in the tendon on my big toe (extensor hallucis longus for those who care) caused by me subconsciously trying to protect the outside of me foot when walking and running. This needs stretching but is not too serious - no running for 3 - 5 days.

3. Some tightness in the lower back caused by a long term imbalance but made worse by the big ring ride (which requires a more solid platform to push of than spinning at 90rpm on a TT rig). This is what went on to cause the pins and needles by trapping the nerves which run down to the feet. I now have a series of exercises to address this imbalance.

So all in all, a few days of running and a couple of days light cycling needed but certainly nothing to set back even IMUK, let alone Kona... let the dream chasing continue!

Feet (?)

Not sure what to write this week, so much change and not all of it positive. Got the power tap for the rear wheel and it seems I am so colossally inefficient. Negative in some respects but positive in others, maybe I have more than just inches to gain on the bike... possibly a foot if I'm lucky. Training with power begins in earnest following a VO2 max test on Tuesday.

Running is going badly. Don't really understand why. I seem to have a slight swelling of the tendon in my left foot and whilst nothing major I cannot afford a full blown injury, especially given my plans for next year, however the countdown the Kona (and also IMUK) is well underway. Stuck between a rock and a hard place!

Swimming is returning to normal, first session with Swim-For-Tri this week. Body rotation needs sorting but coach seemed positive about my potential to improve significantly (maybe another half a foot there?)