Trains, Travels

Firstly, above everything else I’m pleased to say I’m walking normally again! I rebuilt my bike and am optimistic that this weekend I’ll be able to sit on it again. The long rides might have to wait till the next week, but it’s a start.

Aside from this I’m frustrated. Frustrated because I can’t get back into training yet and I feel more than ready. Plus frustrated with my racing so far this year. Two major races and two under-par performances. I’m willing to accept that neither race has been representative of my fitness, but as the year goes on the lack of good results is a problem. Perhaps it’s amplified by the fact I’m sitting at home without much to do. I can’t help feeling like I’m just wasting time right now.

Surprisingly despite the negative tone, I don’t actually feel that negative. My mind has already turned to the next opportunities to get the results I want. When I signed up for Ironman UK a couple of months back it was purely for fun. I didn’t expect it to become my last chance for a Hawaii slot this year! That’s changed my intentions for the race and also for Roth three weeks before.

A quick check of the calendar says I’ve got six weeks till Roth and nine till UK. That three week gap between the two becomes much more critical now. The original plan was to race Roth hard and see what happens in Bolton. Now the imperative is to be in top shape on August 2nd. What does that mean for Roth? I will try to hold back, at least on the run. My plan now is to ride my training wheels and use Roth to collect some useful Ironman power data.

Run pace is probably the key to recovery from Roth. Much as it’ll go against my nature I really will try to hold back. Roth to Ironman UK is then an experiment in active recovery. Looking to get the body moving and fit to go fast in a matter of 3 weeks. The fitness I take into Roth is the best I can expect to have in the UK. After all of that I can have a proper rest!

In the mean time I’ve enough time to work on fitness a little bit more. My experience in Lanzarote showed me that I can quickly turn around from declining fitness in recovery and build to a new peak. I hadn’t expected my training over there to go a little beyond the point I’d reached in Oz. The fact it easily did, gives me some confidence I can do it again in the next few weeks. I also learnt I could taper quite quickly, no more than two weeks. Though to be fair with injury being the race limiter I don’t know how well my taper would have really let me perform.

I failed to fully deliver on my intentions to race lean in Lanzarote. I was some of the way there, but it stalled in the last week of taper. This will not happen for either Roth or the UK. I’m aiming for a return to my race weight from two or three years ago. First step in the process is no post race indulgences. The next step is a focus on plenty of protein, good fats and a very controlled amount of carbs. The approach was working out in Lanza and I am now sold on many of the principles in the Paleo diet. Not touched a slice of bread since I’ve been home!

A reduction in weight will help, but the main focus of the next month is going to be running. I have complained about my running on and off for months now. It’s time to really deal with it and address what I think the problems are. Part of the approach is a simple challenge of 30 runs of 30 minutes in 30 days. Setting me the task of performing a minimum of 30 minutes a day from the start of June. Frequency isn’t the only component though. More focussed speed and hillwork along with the regular long run and some tempo sessions. Cycling may have to go into maintenance mode to fully allow this, I’ll see how it feels.

I’m going to sign up with a gym next week, specifically the local council gym scheme. The aim will be two or three focussed weight sessions a week. They were part of my training in the past and I felt better for them. I know it’s an area of contention, but as an athlete without time limitations there’s room.

Better mention swimming for completeness. I do swim frequency, that’s for sure. What I don’t do well – intensity. Plain and simple I need to incorporate more hard swimming into my training. Less cruising round the lake and more hard laps and paddle work.

So there’s the next couple of months for me. An intense and focussed period of training to really get on top of thing. At the end I want to be in Kona shape for Ironman UK and finally snag that slot.

I’ve had a day to chill out, hobble about a bit and think over the race. That said I already had plenty of time in the race to think things over! Firstly I have to say being out there for 12 hours is hard going. That’s the longest I’ve ever been on the bike in an Ironman and the longest I have ever ‘run’. Not that I’d really call the last lap running. On the other hand having been going much slower than usual my body doesn’t feel that torn up. Well apart from the massive saddle sore and the John Wayne walk it’s caused.

As race reports go this should be quick – it’s straight forward when the entire race was dictated by one issue. The swim was the only part of the day where it wasn’t a problem. I placed myself on the right hand side as planned, the idea being to give me a chance to escape the crowds if needed. Still having a brief warm up meant I couldn’t get as far forward as I wanted and was a little bit more involved with others than I hoped. Not my best swim, but certainly not my worst and I think the general consensus was it was slow/long. I stuck to keeping myself relaxed and picking up pace as the swim went on and more clear water was available.

Transition is massive here. Once you’ve run up the beach you have another 500m to do before you’re out on the bike! Times were never going to be too fast there. At that point I felt pretty good, I thought it might work out all right. Once I was sat on my bike it became clear things wouldn’t be so easy. To be honest at first I thought I’d be able to cope.

I started by letting my heart rate settle down before trying to pick up pace. Heading out of Puerto del Carmen is easy going so there’s no pressure to over work yourself. With my heart rate in the 130s I put a little more effort in. Then I discovered how uncomfortable the aero-position was. Not just the contact on the saddle, but a feeling of pressure on the inside of my thigh. The swelling pushed against muscles or tendons used during the pedal cycle.

The trip down to El Golfo gave plenty of time to find out what did and didn’t work on the bike. I reminded myself I didn’t want to be going too hard too soon anyway so it was fine that people were passing me. A little experimentation established the most comfortable position was hands on the hoods and carefully seated on just my left buttock! Anything else caused some discomfort. Even then every so often I’d need to pedal out the saddle to relieve pressure.

It was somewhere up Timanfaya when I felt too many people were passing now. The pace had been reasonably good till then, but mostly helped by the prevailing wind. The first notable climb of the day confirmed what would be the most significant issue. I couldn’t climb seated for any period of time. The extra forces going through the pedal pulled me into the saddle which was far from desirable.

So the pattern was set for the rest of the bike. I’d spend a lot of time sitting up, hands on the hoods. When the road went up I’d be mostly out of the saddle. At regular intervals on the flats I’d also be out the saddle just for a little relief. Every so often I’d try the aerobars or drops only to be reminded why that was a bad idea.

By Soo I pretty much realised I was well out of the race for Hawaii. By Teguise I was debating pulling out! The thought of DNFing a race went against my principles! So I kept pushing on to Haria, then Mirador del Rio and by then might as well ride home. From this point on the race had become a long training day. Hawaii was gone and it was clear that another sub-10 was too. Having averaged a low heart rate of 132 I did wonder if I could have a strong run off this.

I returned to transition in 6:18. I expected the ride here to be longer than other races, that was more like training pace over the past few weeks. I thought the low aerobic intensity might lead to a good run, it wasn’t going to mean the 2:40 I’d need for sub-10! I started running and the saddle sore really began to hurt! Unbelievable, running was more painful than riding. I got through the first kilometre in a good pace and dived into the toilets for a bit of clothing adjustment. This did the trick and the run became relatively pain free. Looked like I still might complete this race.

The first two laps went by at a tolerable pace. I choose to walk aid stations to be on the safe side. Despite this my stomach wasn’t entirely happy and I was a little dehydrated. The discomfort on the bike had distracted me from my nutrition and I’d not kept on top of it. You can’t really catch up on these things once you’re behind either.

Out on the third lap was when I ground to a halt. My legs were completely gone, nothing left in them at all. I guess despite the low aerobic intensity all the time riding out the saddle had fatigued them. I don’t tend to get out of the seat much normally so it was a real change in riding style. I walked for a good 15 minutes contemplating how long the last 15km would take!

It wasn’t an attractive prospect! I figured about an hour per 5km section. I knew I was going to be out there for a long time, but 3 more hours? Fortunately Ben caught up with me around this point and encouraged me to jog with him. The last lap and a half was done at a slow pace the aim simply to get to the finish. We ran aid station to aid station, walking each to take on fluids.

End result is I crossed the line somewhere around the 11:53 mark. Way off my goals, way off my usual performance! I was worn out, sore and felt terrible. I couldn’t face eating much and spent about 30 minutes in the change tent staring into space! I caught up with Tom and Helen in transition. Tom had a solid race, not quite as fast as he wanted, but a great effort. Helen had been going well till the last 5km and unfortunately lost a lot of time and places then.

I was lucky enough to score a lift back to my hotel which was much appreciated as it looked like a long journey home. Especially as I developed hiccups when I did try eating! After cleaning up I was back at the finish line to watch the last finishers with Steven and Jo. Having found how tough 12 hours is I have no idea how you keep yourself going for 17! More food brought on a whole new set of hiccups which accompanied me on the long walk home.

And now I feel a little tired, maybe a little stiff, but mostly fine. I said my race became a training day and just like one my recovery has been quick. I’ve watched people out riding their bikes with jealousy as mine looks like an instrument of torture right now. A new saddle is on it’s way to at least eliminate that as a cause. A trip to the doc is a certainty too given the size of this thing! I secretly hope he’ll confirm it’s the worst saddle sore ever so I’ll feel less like I wimped out. But so long as I can get myself back into training quickly enough to build up well for Roth and Ironman UK I’ll be happy.

Just a quick one by way of explaining my terrible, terrible race yesterday.

I mentioned a saddle sore in my last post. I possibly understated the problem as unfortunately it meant I could barely sit the entire bike ride. I think a trip to the doc will be in order on return to the UK as I have a large lump in my thigh from it! Yeah it isn’t at all pleasant.

I soon discovered that if I tried to go in the aero position the lump pushed against some muscle or tendon in my leg and hurt. If I was on the drops it was much the same. On the hoods was OK so long as I carefully placed myself so only my left buttock was on the saddle! Climbing was literally a pain as the extra force involved pulled me into the saddle. The result – I did most of the climbing out the saddle! Add to that in general having to move position and pop out the saddle on a minute by minute basis and I wasn’t going fast on the bike! For some reason I kept pushing on and determined that this wouldn’t be a DNF.

I thought maybe my run would go OK given how low my heart rate had been the whole ride. I knew Hawaii was long gone now, but I wanted the medal and shirt at the end! Unfortunately I discovered my legs were completely shot on the third lap. Big thanks to Ben G for getting me going again, appreciate the company for the last two laps.

Frustrating to think I was so well prepared and then a sudden injury throws the whole thing. Who knows how things would have gone if I could have biked like I should have. On to the next race and then a final chance to qualify at Ironman UK. Hoping I can manage it then.