Trains, Travels

We’ll see how this breaks down, but as I approach the end of race recovery and the start of next years block of training it’s time to start writing up goals and the plan to get there. I have my 9:20 Ironman in the bank. I’m drawing plenty of confidence from it though I know it was a fast course to do it on. The aim now is to build on this and start recording solid results in my future races. If I can do this then I firmly believe that come October next year I will be in Hawaii.

I’ve learnt a lot over the past few months in the run up to Ironman Western Australia. Add to that all the free time I had during my taper and you have ample opportunity to come up with future plans. Some things have changed in the overall plan compared to earlier in the year.

I’ll be racing fewer races than I’d intended. In fact I’ll only race one or maybe two races in the run up to Ironman Australia. The first 3 months of the year will instead be focussed on solid, consistent training building up to my major race. This means I’m not going to be racing the Australian Long Course Champs or the Gold Coast Triathlon. Instead I’m substituting in a training trip down to Geelong to spend a week with Toby Radcliffe another Brit currently racing Pro.

However I will be racing a lot once we hit the main part of the season. If I get to Hawaii I am likely to be racing 5 or 6 Ironmans next year. Yes, I know, that’s a lot. We start with Australia after a 3 month build. From there it’s 7 weeks to Lanzarote which should give enough time for a little more training. I’m fortunate enough to have a little break and won’t race again till Quelle Challenge Roth in July. Then here’s the big test for me, 3 weeks later it’s Ironman UK. That’ll hopefully leave me with a couple of months to recover and prepare for Kona. I may race the Long Course Worlds, but I’m not sure on that one. I have every intention of returning to Busselton though and finishing out the year with Western Australia.

Sounds busy… I’m well aware this is going to be challenging, but also believe in my current position I am ideally set-up to attempt this racing load. I am very closely watching recovery right now to see how I am going. There’s good and bad. I’m feeling pretty recovered, but as a short run and massage revealed today my muscles have a way to go. For future races, more massage post event and better application of stretching and compression are called for. I eat well for recovery (anyone will tell you I eat well!), but could use more sleep. I’ll put more details on this in a future post.

As I see it from a training perspective the year will give me a few build cycles leading up to blocks of big racing. January through March is the major training block of the year. This is where I really aim to establish a new level of fitness for my year’s racing. I see the most significant work and improvements happening in this period. Ironman Australia will give me a chance to test the results. The aim here will be to repeat the 9:20. With Port being a tougher course than Busselton I’m looking for a step up in performance again.

Straight after that race I’m briefly back in the UK then off to Lanzarote for a month. There’s a short period to get a little bit more quality training in before I taper down for Ironman Lanzarote at the end of May. It’s 7 weeks between the first 2 races I’ll be testing out some new recovery strategies and then aiming to go under the 10 hour mark in Lanza. Ambitious for sure, I’ve heard plenty of people tell me how tough the course is. So I’ll be looking to put in a respectable bike, but really crack it with a fast run. My experiences with heat over here suggest that temperature won’t be an issue for me.

Then I’m back in the UK for a while, hoping we’ll be having a nice hot summer with plenty of sun. If it worked I’ll put my new recovery plans into play and get myself in a few weeks of training before I head over to Germany and Roth. This one isn’t part of the Ironman brand so there’s no Hawaii place on the line here (though hopefully that’ll all be resolved by then). Fast, famous course though, my objective is to put together a good race and get a time down near the 9 hour mark. If you’re going to go to a fast course, might as well aim to go fast. My ability to do this will depend on the fitness I’ve achieved by Lanzarote and the quality of my recovery.

This is the really new (as of this morning) bit, Ironman UK. A mere 3 weeks after Roth so the aim will be to recover and get myself into racing shape in that time. You won’t build anything in that gap so it’s not even worth trying. This will be really new territory for me. Two races that big, that close will be a new challenge, but I hope to have nailed my recovery processes by then. Without a course announcement it’s hard to judge what a realistic goal will be. The bike course is claiming to be fast by UK standards at least. Let’s say sub-9:30 and watch this space when the route is announced!

I’m going to briefly mention that if it’s there I’ll have a couple of months to build for Hawaii. Not saying anymore as I don’t want to jinx things! (That’s why I never put Hawaii in the schedule, not even as a tentative.) I will say I’m planning to book my trip to Hawaii early whilst it’s cheap, nothing like a financial incentive to motivate you!

The final Ironman of the year will be Ironman Western Australia again. My favourite Ironman and a chance to go back and attack the 9 hour mark! That’ll be the goal next time a better swim, a better bike and a better run. Simple. This time podium in my age group and secure a trip to 2010 Hawaii early.

That’s the coming year on the line. The goals, the periods to train for them, the lot. I’ll post later on some of the details of this plan. How I’ll approach training and recovery. Objectives with my weak points, things like nutrition and my swim.

Five days since the race and so far all I’ve done is swim about 500m. This was whilst having some swim analysis done by Paul Newsome of Swim Smooth. Having yourself filmed as you swim has to be one of the most useful things you can do for your swimming. Even without the insight from a coach I could see some of the problems with my swim. Pleasingly there weren’t massive issues, but I’ve got some drills to work out to correct what problems were there. It’s amazing how a few minor corrections tidy up a whole bunch of interconnected issues. I’ll be working on these drills and focussing on Paul’s advice over the next few months. Hopefully combined with the high swim volume I can cement myself into sub-1 hour Ironman swim territory (55 minute swims please!)

Aside from this I haven’t really had the time to train. I’ve had the inclination, at least when I got back to a beautiful sunny day on the Coast yesterday. A ride would have been great, but my legs still ache a little too much. I did manage to fit in writing up two race reports, one for Tri247 and one for Jaggad. Mostly though my time has been spent travelling, a brief stop off in Perth for that swim analysis, to catch up with friends and see a little of the city. Then back to the GC and move into my new place. I think it’s going to make a good base for training. There’s a good yoga place not too far away, opposite the dodgiest looking motel I’ve seen. Not far from all my usual rides or run routes and a very short walk to the beach!

Perhaps more dangerously it’s only a 10 minute walk from the Cheesecake Shop! Which brings up the topic of indulgence. This week I’ve let myself eat largely what I like, which does include quite a bit of cake. I’ve tried to keep things healthy, but let treats in as much as I could too! Whilst next week is still recovery, then plan is to start getting things a bit more under control. I will be making a trip down to Sydney for a few days to catch up with old friends. I’ll be staying at the same place I did last year which means I’m very near a cafe with the best coffee and cheesecake I’ve had! Fortunately I’m also off to the bush for a night’s camping when cheesecake will not be on the menu. In fact the menu may depend on what we catch.

Once all this is done I’ll be back from a 2 week break from strict training and it’ll be time to get back into the swing of things. Christmas is no excuse not to train so I’ll be building myself up to my basic week over a couple of weeks and then repeating that until Epic Camp in New Zealand. Hopefully I’ll go into that fitter than last year and without the illness that plagued me. I want to see what I’m capable of managing this time, hopefully without detonating! My schedule may alter then and I’ll opt for another training trip in February instead of Jervis Bay and the Australian Long Course Champs. Which will bring me back to March and the final build and taper for Ironman Australia. Doesn’t seem that long now I type it out.

Rather than bore you all with the mundane life of a recovering athlete I’ll keep this one short. The picture at the top today is one from the Jaggad photoshoot. It and some of the others will be used on their site in the future. It’s at the very least a good reason to go browse it or better to go buy some of the kit with a comment you only did so because of how good it looked on the model! Just saying… I’ve also put the pictures on my flickr account and in facebook for those who might want to see more! As the next few days won’t bring too much news I’ll be planning some training based posts until Sydney.

This is the race report, well one of the race reports as I have others promised too. If there’s one advantage to being sore and stiff post race it’s you can’t sleep in so end up getting on with things. As I’ll be putting more than one report online I want to try to keep them at least a little different. For this one I will focus on the execution of my plan with a few bits on what did and didn’t go well. It may be a bit sterile for it, but I promise more interesting stuff in other posts. This may not be too long as Tom was keen to have a report to read before his morning turbo! Hope this helps get you motivated. I look at the weather back home and can’t say I miss it.

I have to confess that at times I didn’t stick to the plan as well as I should, there were a few little heart rate spikes in there for a start. However I focussed on executing what I set out to do and mostly delivered. It was a good job I’d put 10 minutes spare room into it as it turned out I needed it! But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining about what was a great day for me and finished off a season on a high.

My swim surprised me, I’ve got used to coming out of the water and finding I was just a little slower than I’d hoped. Yesterday things went right though. I didn’t place myself right on the front line, but near enough and managed to avoid getting boxed in like in some previous races. Whilst I did go out a little bit hard, I didn’t blow myself up in those first few minutes. People overtook me, but I got my rhythm and stuck with a group. Once a bit more space appeared I moved forward to other groups a little. The entire swim I benefited from a draft so things felt pretty easy. Not being able to check my watch and without having to work overly hard I really had no clue how I would do. Coming in under the hour was a great way to start the day.

I’ll leave Laura to judge whether my transitions were up to standard or not. For me they were efficient, but I can’t claim to be fast. Got out onto the bike and immediately broke the heart rate rules I’d set myself! However I didn’t break them that badly and with one exception never spiked the heart rate above 150BPM. The first lap was fast, a result of 3 factors. I was working a little harder than I should have, the winds were low and I was part of a lead pace line. The pace line whilst mostly legal, definitely made a difference to effort. At 4 bike lengths you do gain a slight advantage and sheltering along with the psychological benefits.

Unfortunately I got dropped off the rear at a turn-around and from then on I was on my own. I focussed on keeping that heart rate under control, whilst at the same time trying to keep a good pace. At the last minute I’d added average speed to my bike computer display so there was an added incentive to keep that higher. As the winds picked up working on your own got tougher and I regretted missing the pack more. Occasionally riders with disc wheels would come past me and I also regretted not owning one! I started to become paranoid about the sound of disc wheels hearing them coming up on me all the time! Though the guy playing maracas on the Highway was more irritating: I was on my own heard this rattling and before I spotted him was worrying about impending bike mechanicals!

By the third lap the wind seemed a lot tougher than expected. I can’t say how much was fatigue and how much was really the wind. I kept pushing at the target heart rate and noted I’d switched to a big gear/low cadence approach. I have to admit I’m not much of a spinner really, and as longer races go on tend to switch more naturally to a larger gearing. I’ve seen debate about this online lately and at the moment will stick with the approach that seems to work for me. This wasn’t the time or place to experiment though. By about 150K of lonely, windy roads you just want things done.

I got in under the 5 hour mark for the bike with plenty of room for transitions. Again things went smoothly and pretty efficiently, at least as well as they can if you use compression socks. I headed out onto the run feeling pretty good. Again I went out too fast, though it’s hard to be certain as I’m not convinced the distance markers were entirely accurate. Once I knew I was going too fast I was true to my word and slowed. I don’t think I held back enough at times and later down the line I paid a little for this. However the biggest contributor to my run issues was fuelling. If I come away from this race with any goal it’s refining my race food plan and coming up with something that works for me.

With 8Km to go and having had a few stomach issues to I just ran low on energy. I pushed myself to the next aid station and walked it taking on as much as I could. When I started again I didn’t get very far and decided it was time to walk again. Fearing I’d end up sticking that way I allowed myself one minute. Then back to running and things started to click. As I got down to the last 5Km it was time to go for it and I lifted the pace. I pushed through to the end from here on in, hurting pretty hard. Checking my watch I knew 9:20 was on the cards it all came down to seconds here or there. So final big push in the last kilometre and I was home, 4th Ironman complete and a new PB!

More to come later, they’ll be reports on both Tri247 and Jaggad in the next few days (once I’ve written them and sent them over!) I’ll put a more personal account of some of the events of the day up here a bit later too. Hope that helps you get fired up for the turbo Tom!

Because in a short while I’m off to watch those still out on the course and eat some of those unhealthy foods I’ve been studying so closely all week.

I did just want to mention though that I set a new PB for me - 9:20:22. Which got me my first top 50 position in an Ironman and my first top 10 in my age group at one. I came 48th overall and 7th in my age group. All told it was a great race for me I mostly executed my plan, the run had it’s hiccups, but the end result can’t be complained about.

Real race report type stuff will be available later!

The past few weeks this race has been like an obsession. I’ve been right here in Busselton training every day on one bit of the course or another. Most days at least some conversation about the race has come up. I’ve talked about my race goals, debated how achievable they are and tested my ability to meet them out on the road. I’ve plotted charts of the speeds and times needed to make that goal of 9:20. I’m at the point where I feel my theory is complete, it now just needs testing. Honestly, right now I am nervous, but believe my objectives are realistic. Conditions allowing this is the place to make a bit of a breakthrough and get in around 9:20.

The plan starts in the water. Actually it starts just before I get in, because if I’ve learnt one thing from the increase in open water swimming I’ve done this year it’s wetsuit fit makes a massive difference. Poorly fitted and I’ll load my shoulders more and find the swim a much tougher slog. I’ve swum round the Jetty here 3 or 4 times and been out there in conditions ranging from calm to choppy. I know what to expect and that if the wetsuit is on right I needn’t worry about fatigue too much.

In terms of the swim the key for me is to place myself trying to avoid getting blocked in by lots of swimmers, ideally pick up a draft most of the way and work from there. I know that whilst a draft can be a real benefit if it’s too crowded I suffer over swimming alone. The other important thing to avoid is sprinting at the start of the swim and building up some oxygen debt. I’m swimming the full Jetty and back in an hour without going too hard and I need to work off that basis. Keep the focus on good quality strokes and even breathing. The swim goal is to come in at around an hour which should be perfectly achievable for me.

Onto the bike and the aim this year is to go under 5 hours. That equates to holding an average speed over 36kph. On such a flat course with good roads this isn’t too hard, unless the winds work against you. One or two sections of the course are particularly exposed and wind can become a serious issue here. My bike is in full race set-up which has the downside of no Powertap to work with. Much as I have a goal to average over 36kph more significantly I’ll be working based on keeping my heart rate in a comfortable aerobic range. The aim is to ride as efficiently as possible reserving energy for the run. Coming back to the potential headwinds, if I encounter them I accept my speed will drop and continue to work based on heart rate.

The Half-Ironman in Port Macquarie showed me how well this worked, though there the focus was power. Far too many people really attacked into the wind, but then when it was behind them, they eased. A tailwind is deceptive, you’re moving fast and it doesn’t feel that hard. Whilst there can be benefits to cruising a little, perhaps allowing a bit of recovery, a constant effort will produce the better result. So Busselton is very much about managing the effort at the top of my Ironman range and letting the results come from that. I must remember the occasional stretching break on the bike or 5 hours in the aero position is likely to leave me seized up!

At 3 laps my plan is to keep the first feeling pretty easy. Get comfortable and find my grove. Wash out the salt water from my mouth and start getting in some calories. I’m opting for the gel only approach again with one bottle packed with about 18-20 High Five gels this time. I know it’s not that appetising, but it’s simple. I’ll start to build a little in the second lap and try to lift the effort. Fatigue will be more of an issue by the third lap so the aim will be to maintain the performance from the second. Chances are that will feel harder than it did the previous lap.

I’m going with the compression socks for the run no matter what people say about the look! So T2 will be slightly slower, but with proper seats in the tent it’ll be easier to pull them on. I’m actually hoping to record a sub-5 hour for the bike including both transitions so I’m a little more ambitious there than I was letting on. Back out on the run, it’s 3 flat laps again, possibly windy and possibly very sunny. I’m good with either and prefer it to be hot to cold.

Having recorded two Ironman marathons in the 3:25 to 3:30 region and getting that down to 3:17ish in Switzerland this year the aim is 3:10. It’s a step up and will require focus to achieve, but I’m more confident in my run training this time. The pace is far from fast by running standards and not much more than I routinely knock out for my long runs during a big training week. I’m looking to be running 4:30 per kilometre by my calculations, perhaps a little under. Generally that’s a pretty comfortable pace for me and should enable me to put more effort into getting some calories onboard.

I believe one significant issue in my previous Ironman marathons is not getting enough calories in during the early stage of the run. The result is a dip in energy sometime from halfway to somewhere around the last 6 or 7 kilometers. I usually stick to what’s on offer at aid stations and whilst I’ll be taking this, I am planning to use a gel every 20-30 minutes in the first half. It’ll be a case of trial and error, I do know I find the gels hard to stomach after so many on the bike, but they are an efficient way to top up energy reserves. Getting the balance right and keeping the stomach settled is the tricky part.

Over the 3 laps the aim is to work off a pace and stick to it. If I’m going faster than my 3:10 goal I’ll slow, if I’m going slower I will try to lift the pace. The only exception is in the last lap, as I close in on the finish and enter the final 10km if I feel good I go harder! I say this knowing in my last 2 Ironman events following the lull for the last few kilometres I’ve picked up the pace to something that’d be respectable in a 10K road race. With the motivation of completing it’s certainly possible to get moving. Next step is neutralising the lull and still getting that boost at the end. Considering the laps you could regard it as keeping the first 2 easy to steady and building on the last.

Add up my times and you may notice they come in under 9:20. The goal allows for a spare 10 minutes or so just to put some room in for mishaps. If my theory works in practice, if my fitness is where I think it is, if my taper has freshened me up then I really do believe I can hit that target. There’s just the little matter of doing the race in the way and hopefully then a blog post reporting on a successful practice of the theory.

P.S. I was saving this to post Saturday, but then Tri247 linked here and much as Jaggad does well from my last post I wanted something more serious!

Like last time this is another product of a long tedious taper which leaves me with excessive free time and an almost constant caffeine buzz. The third week of my taper and now the training hours are as near to non-existent as I get. I would love to say I’m getting loads of rest, but I’m being pretty bad at that. Tomorrow is a complete rest day though so I will reward myself with a lie in! The rest of the day will be spent indulging in long conversations about training over numerous coffees.

Far more interesting than that though is some of the events of the current week. It’s a good job Ironman Expos open in the week before the event because by this point you really are losing your mind to the taper. Finally there’s another distraction to occupy your time with. Well, especially if you’re sponsored by one of the companies at the expo. For those who are sensitive to people promoting their sponsors, skip to the end…

As part of the Jaggad Technical Development Team racing in Busselton I was asked to take part in a photo shoot and also to help out at the expo. Seems fair enough given they’re supporting me. Not considering myself model material though I have to admit I wasn’t entirely sure of their wisdom! However I put in the effort to shave (face and legs of course) and clean myself up before turning up at the Expo tent on Wednesday morning. Being new to the Team I’d not actually met anyone from Jaggad so it was good to meet Graeme and Paulette who run the company. They’re both friendly and encouraging and clearly put a lot of energy into their company. They’re also really supportive of people committing themselves to their athletic goals.

The Jetty and ocean at Busselton provide a perfect backdrop for photography so it was off to the beach front to model some kit. I was there with Greg Close another member of the team. We took it in turns to do short Runner’s World style runs up and down the bike path whilst our picture was taken. You can’t run like normal you have to overemphasise the leg lift and keep your elbow in to get the right energetic look. I think if you take one thing away from this particular blog post it should be that apparently I’m quite photogenic! Yes, that’s right I need no longer worry about what happens when funds run low, I shall instead chase my dream of being a male fitness model! Hmmm, perhaps.

Along with running in weird ways in a bunch of new Jaggad kit. I got to stand on the beach looking moodily into the distance in a variety of stances. I’m sure many people who’ve worked with me will know I’m pretty good at looking moody and all the years of practice paid off. I can easily pull off cross-armed and moody to the left, or hands on hips and moody to the right. Though my favourite is probably the the hands on hips looking into the camera with attitude pose. If I had photos I would put them here just for you all to see my poses, sure there’s no Blue Steel in there, but I’m just a beginner.

It was a fun couple of hours I got to do something I never imagined I’d be doing. There’s a good chance you’ll see some of those photos on the Jaggad site in the future. If that’s not enough there’s some video of me running and riding in their kit too! Which is an opportunity to see how the kit looks in motion or alternately critique my technique. I also got to try out a whole bunch of the Jaggad range which I might not normally see. Getting to handle kit always beats looking online and there’s a few items I’ll be picking up in the future. A set of their bibshorts are on the shopping list for Epic Camp next year for sure.

My next job as a Team member is to work the stand at the Expo for a couple of hours tomorrow. Essentially this is a chance to chat with lots of different athletes as they look at the products and encourage them to buy. Modelling and working in sales in one week, yep wasn’t in the plans when I headed out to Oz!

So all the Jaggad business aside I’m not joking when I say I’ve been hitting the coffee hard. Fortunately I’ve met up with another Brit (a Scot to be precise), Martin Goodlad. He raced Busso last year too and we met at the World Long Course back in August. Being equally frustrated by the final days of the taper we have spent many an hour debating the fine points of training to get to the top of your age group and the pro ranks. Along with the difficulties of finding sponsors and supporters, the finances involved in training, how hard it is to find good information about training at the level we aspire to… The list goes on. Martin’s been good company and given he’s a similar speed to me I’m very glad to say he aged up this year!

I have another new pair of trainers too! The Asics Gel-Busseltons were being sold off for next to nothing and whilst I’m not sure I actually need an after race comfort shoe at $50 for the pair it was a no brainer. I’ll admit the colours won’t be to most people’s tastes, but anyone who’s seen the bright red Salomon runners I’m wearing will know I won’t have many issues with them!

To make matters worse a K-Swiss athlete is working hard to persuade me I want to try a pair of their race shoes. Sure the price isn’t bad and once stocks go with the exchange rate they’ll go up. Despite my pleadings of poverty she won’t bend on price. I tried them on and they are impressively light and feel very comfortable. There’s just one issue: the design is an Aussie flag, but I figure with a blue marker pen I can fix that! Not being happy with the Zoot shoes for racing I am genuinely tempted. Getting a pair may prove tricky, they weren’t officially part of the Expo and got told to move on. Should I change my mind she’ll be about or I can ask pro-Ironman Luke McKenzie as he’s sponsored by them too. It’s all a little weird, they’re like contraband, got hold of by word of mouth and cash sales from hotel rooms.

Race plan and less nonsense on Saturday.