Trains, Travels

It’s about time I reviewed my last month of training. My week leading into Epic Camp is a bit like a taper, less training and a lot more free time. No internet to distract me either and an old X Files episode just isn’t that interesting (no tennis on at the moment).

January isn’t quite over, but close enough that the numbers won’t be too different. I’ve started the year as I mean to go on putting in about 115 hours of training so far. That’s way more than the equivalent time last year, probably (I don’t have the number to hand) triple! Not that numbers matter, it’s the results that count.

When I got back into structured training back at the end of December. It was to an extent the usual slog to get going again. Only a couple of weeks off and what I’d been doing just a few weeks back felt like hard work. Previously I’ve taken longer than 2 weeks away from training and I did find the shorter break made it a little easier to get back into routine. Though as a number of painful massages showed there was certainly a legacy from the race carried over into the early weeks.

My initial aim was to get myself into my usual training regime and volume and then once comfortably there start to work on a bit more focus and intensity. The main thing I wanted to achieve in Jan was to get back to the fitness I had before Busselton. From there I go into Epic Camp in great shape and ready to build on it. That was the plan and whilst I have the odd worry that I’m not progressing well enough effectively I’ve achieved it.

After 5 weeks of solid training I’m feeling in pretty good shape. The belt test confirmed I was on track when I flew over to New Zealand. Scales aren’t really an option travelling about, the notches on my belt tell me how I’m doing. The Coast is too warm to wear jeans most of the time so I only do the test when I travel. Before I started training I was back on belt hole one, for New Zealand I was onto hole three, right where I should be!

Aside from the waistline my swim is developing. It’s a little odd to be writing about it at the moment when access to swimming here has been a little erratic. One thing I’ll be glad to get back to the Coast for is the pools! Looking at the month overall I’ve managed to adopt the technique improvements from the swim analysis. A long way from perfecting it, but my technique has definitely improved. A bit of interval and paddle work has seen some improvements in my 100m times too. I’m optimistic that another couple of months working at it will put me in a position to get that 55 at IM Australia. If I had any concerns right now it’d be that I’ve not swum the other strokes much lately. That 400m IM set at Epic Camp could be interesting!

I’ve got my bike legs back and my bike set-up correctly again. It didn’t take long to get back into long rides and some decent hill sessions. If anything I’ve felt a lot stronger on the bike in January. This past week in Wellington has been pretty rewarding. Without the usual training volume and with fresher legs I’ve been riding much stronger. With a bit more recovery I reckon I should be in good shape to cope with the strains of Epic Camp. Endurance is there so I want to work on bike strength and power by the time Port comes round I want to be able to ride harder than I did in Busso. Port is a hillier course so if I want to get close to my Busso time on the bike I’ll need to be strong in the hills.

The run is the least satisfying element of the last months training. I’ve got a decent if unexceptional amount of running in, but so far I don’t feel I’m progressing anywhere. There’s work needed on my endurance still and I’d really like to build some hill strength and speed. The regular brick runs off the bike certainly help, but I need some focussed sessions. I’ve found myself debating doing some track work. More worrying right now are the twinges in my left calf when I run, reminds me of the shin splints I had over a year ago. In a few minutes it’s time to stretch and massage the leg and see if I can clear them up. I was hoping with the increased run volume of late I’d be up to using running as a way to get extra points on Epic!

So finally Epic Camp. Just a few days away and so far no illness (though I was seriously paranoid about that yesterday!) I don’t know what the points system will be this time so I can’t put up any plans on that side of things. My general aim for the camp is to again complete all the minimal training, but this time to tack on extra in all 3 sports. In Italy I completed exactly the minimum, this time I’m going for every extra point I can! Somehow I’ll try and blog in between that, the eating and the sleeping.

P.S. Still loving training in New Zealand even if it means being wet and cold at times!

It’s been a quality week here in New Zealand. Both the experiences and the training. I’ve been doing a little less volume than I would normally do in the week (25 versus 35 hours), but the time on the bike has been a little bit tougher. Recovery has been pretty strong though and I’m starting to feel pretty fit. If I want to go hard it’s getting easier to go hard. It’s a week to Epic Camp and I’m feeling lean and ready to go.

Swimming has suffered a little whilst I’m here, but in terms of quality the Ocean Swim in Wellington certainly delivered. I took a fair battering from a very rough sea and took around 50 minutes for 2.8K. It was a real battle to sight and swim out into the chop. The waves didn’t do enough to help on the way back either. At the very least I did beat any of the celebrities from NZ soap Shortland Street. From what I can tell conditions were bad enough that the time was fairly respectable. Unpacking my wetsuit and trunks this morning I was glad I opted for a wetsuit, not least for the cold, but the stitching in my trunks fell apart! They were getting old.

Not to be outdone by the Gold Coast Wellington has turned on the sun the past couple of days. It’s been a great weekend for training and I’ve certainly made the most of it with some awesome riding. Generally I’d say conditions here make for some challenging and honest rides. Winds can be tough going and the road surfaces appalling. I’m glad to have the powertap to let me know exactly how tough the going really is. The climbs here are great, ranging from short and sharp through to longer and gradual. Either way they’re virtually unavoidable.

Unfortunately I seem to be descending like a brick at the moment. I’ve never been a great descender and a crash a couple of years back did nothing to help. For some reason though I just can’t seem to get it together mentally and am far too tense. Partly it’s the slightly awkward bike position I’ve adopted to make my road bike a little more tri-like. The handling is definitely impaired. Certainly the crappy brake blocks put on the rear wheel at its last service didn’t help. I’ve switched in my preferred brakes and stopping is improved, but the mental game is still a little off.

Whilst not out on the bike I’ve been relaxing with the Tour Down Under or the Australian Open Tennis. The former is to be honest a little dull. Multiple stages of racing consisting of small break aways that get caught and then a sprint. Whilst the course has apparently been toughened up this year it’s still no where near testing enough. The latter has been far more engrossing. I particularly enjoy watching the shifts in play how fatigue and psychology make such a big part over an entire match. I’m not strictly much of a tennis fan, but I am getting into it.

That’s it for now, I’m quite enjoying life away from the Internet at the moment. There’s certainly a few things I’ll take from this when I’m back on the Coast. I’ve a few more days of this quality focus and plenty of rest and then Epic. Should all be good, eh bro?

Third day in New Zealand and I’m loving it here! I can’t pin this on any particular thing, there’s so much to mention. My mate and his family are superb hosts and have gone out their way to show me how great NZ is. The scenery is fantastic, today’s picture is from a local run loop round the inlet. The views are spectacular and it’s flat which round here is a bit of a rarity. If my mate didn’t live on a hill you’d not have to do any climbing on this one.

I flew out on Tuesday on what has to be the emptiest plane I’ve ever been on. I think there were less than 50 of us on the plane, including the crew! I have to give kudos to Air New Zealand as that was probably the most pleasant flight I’ve ever been on. Plenty of leg space and a quality TV system and all that in economy too. Even the cutlery was high spec! I got to see another Simon Pegg movie, “How to lose friends and alienate people”. At best it’s OK and I’m being pretty generous there. I prefer to watch trash when I’m flying so I also caught most of a Vin Diesel movie, “Babylon AD”. At best it’s a Vin Diesel movie and I’m bein generous here too!

Once I was here it was a case of stick the bike back together and after a bit of relaxing a little ride. Not being the usual sunny climate I stuck the gilet on for the first time in ages. Then we headed north up a gradual climb called Paeka. The countryside here is far more reminiscent of home and at times you could be in the Lake District. These days I’m used to far drier, browner vegetation all this greenery is a bit of a change. Paeka gives some great views up the coastline and on the return I could see the top of the south island. After that it was a case of chilling out, chatting and staying up far later than usual!

I started my first full day here with the previously mentioned run round the inlet. A great introduction to the local area. I was a little nervous as with my sense of direction there was the potential for things to go very wrong! I didn’t have any food or money on me so whilst I was pretty sure I was on route I wasn’t 100% sure how long I’d be out there for. Still I made it back in one piece having stuck exactly to the course too. The day was also turning out to be really sunny. The Gold Coast has the heat, but the sun here is far more intense. There’s no way you can go without suntan lotion for very long.

Then we all went off to the local outdoor pool which I was concerned might be a little cold by my standards. With the sun out though it was the perfect temperature. The length though was a little bit odd at just over 33m so 3 lengths per 100. Completely threw my counting for the day! I knocked out a pretty decent set of intervals with and without paddles. Particularly enjoying the free speed shorter pools give you, nothing like an extra turn for boosting your 100m time! And the extra shallow shallow end helped refine my tumble turn technique!

For a complete change to the normal I didn’t go out on the bike for my ride, instead joining my mate’s RPM class. He instructs a couple of classes at a gym in Wellington each week. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve done a spin class or similar. Trying out new stuff is always good fun though so I had no problem giving it a go. It was a tough 45 minutes because I absolutely slaughtered myself with the resistance. Sweat was pouring off me, I soaked the floor, my towel, the bike… I must have smelt particularly nice when we popped into the supermarket on the way home.

Yesterday we headed out on the bike for a bit longer. Unfortunately the sun had decided to hide and the wind had decided to come out. If you’ve managed to avoid the hills somehow then there’s always a headwind to contend with instead. My mate took me on a route down to the marina in Wellington. We traced through hilly back routes to avoid traffic and get a few undulations in. It’s very honest riding round here, there’s not much chance to avoid some work. Once down to the sea front the real challenge was the ever changing winds which remarkably mostly stay in your face.

We stopped off at Oriental Bay to check out the sea as I’ve signed-up for the Ocean Swim race held there this Saturday. 2.8km sea swim, but wetsuits allowed fortunately as it’s looks cold as. It was also pretty damn choppy too! Could be a tough one if conditions stay like that. I’ll probably get a little trial run in at some point today so will have some idea how much water I’ll be swallowing and how cold it is!

We continued the wind battered ride around the coastline with a tough climb up to the prison thrown in. Tough for us, but tougher on another triathlete who decided he wasn’t going to let us get past him. I was watching my powermeter and thinking we were going pretty hard. He confirmed it by dry retching as we reached the top! He didn’t have to push himself that hard, we weren’t racing up there! Every so often on the climbs you’d get brief spectacular views out over Wellington. Another of those wish I had thought of my camera moments.

One of the best things over here is the coffee. I thought Oz was a step up from the UK, but New Zealand has blown it out the water. This is the real stuff! Strong as and great flavour. They even have these fantastic coffee muesli bars. All the benefits of a coffee, but in bar form. We stopped on the way back for a quick coffee. I combined my strong long black with a coffee muesli bar. It was a potent caffeine mix that gave me the rush I’ve been missing for so long. As I commented to my mate tat I think they’ve been giving me decaf on the Coast as I’ve not had that buzz for so long! It helped me hammer out a pretty solid pace into the headwind on the trip back.

Having been out longer than expected I had to rush off to my massage appointment and lie there stomach gurgling in complaint about the lack of food. If it wasn’t for that I’d have been asleep on the table! Somehow I managed to finish the day with another run out round the inlet. It was one of those times it was tough to actually get yourself out the door, but once you were going things were fine. This time though I had a some food, just in case!

Not sure what today’s plans will be, probably that sea swim and I’m sure I’ll get another bike in. I’m also sure that any ride is going to involve more of those hills and more of that wind!