Trains, Travels

Sorry this has got bumped and bumped as I go through my final race prep the past few days. That’s despite yesterday being a full rest day, somehow I didn’t get round to blogging. So now the day before the race and just a quick one.

I think I’m in much better shape pre-race than I was in Oz. I’ve tried to recollect exactly how I felt prior to my last two races, but they’re already distant memories! Still my impression is this feels more like the day before Western Oz than Port Macquaire. If things follow from that on race day tomorrow should be good! I’ve got much more training in this week than prior to Oz, don’t feel so lethargic and am ready to go.

It’s not 100% perfect, but nothing ever is. Let’s just say I have a bit of a saddle sore issue that is genuinely uncomfortable. Even to the point of being noticeable walking and sitting normally! I’m beginning to wonder if it’s more than a saddle sore, but it’s too late to worry now. My test ride this morning confirmed it is painful, but careful placement on the saddle avoids the worst of it. I doubt you wanted to know much about that one though!

The weather reports are looking good. Light winds building a little over the day, perfect for fast times on that course. More importantly I don’t have to worry too much about handling issues with a deep rimmed wheel up front. Oddly I had a southerly for some of this mornings test ride. Though I think in this case with such a light north-westerly the offshore breeze becomes predominant here. Anyway, things look good. It could well be a hot one with lighter winds, but then I like the heat!

The race plan! Going to get through this one quickly. For the swim I’ll place myself on the front right to avoid getting trapped with the bulk of swimmers. I’ll have the option of free water if I feel I need it or can stick to the group for a draft. I’ll be swimming fractionally longer than those on the left, but it’s negligible. I aim to avoid going out too hard and blowing up in the swim for a start! The aim is a comfortable 1 hour for the two laps.

Transitions are long so I’ll allow 5 minutes for each. Nothing of note to happen in them, so onto the bike ride. The plan is to ride conservatively keeping a comfortable pace. It should feel a little too easy at first and for a few hours in. I won’t go overly hard on any of the hills as they occur to early and you’ll gain relatively little for a lot of effort. If I feel good between Haria and Mirador del Rio that’s the time to think about going for it. In fact after the descent off Mirador del Rio, there’s no more thinking, just go! Hopefully the wind will be on my back and I can fly along the highway.

Hopefully by not going too hard at first I’ll have plenty of energy to start moving up the field in the latter half of the ride. Nutrition strategy will be as with previous races – a bottle of gels (see above) and a couple of energy bars. I would like to see a ride in the 5:30-5:45 region, the quicker the better though! Then it’s 5 minutes again for transition 2.

The run is 4 laps which whilst not that exciting at least works towards easy pacing. I’m feeling happier with my running than I have in a long time. So hopefully I’ll see something good one the day. My focus of late has been a high cadence and good running form. The aim is lots of smaller leg movements that cost less individual, but sum up to move you faster. Generally this approach is less prone to collapse from fatigue later on. To the point the run goal is 3:05-3:15. Yeah, once again, faster than I’ve aimed before, but I believe in my reach. That’s around the 47 minutes a lap mark, something easy to track on the watch.

Run nutrition is yet more of those gels (see above again). I will be sick of sugars by the end of the day. I think I should have enough for the whole run this time and won’t run low later on. Regular sipping of the gel bottles before water at the aid stations, avoiding the coke this time. I like coke, but it just isn’t flat enough not to upset my stomach generally.

Final lap I go for it! High cadence and good leg lift, the aim is to put in a big push at the end to grab those last few places. Let’s hope I actually feel up to that come the time, it’s really easy to type! Ideally that leaves me finishing somewhere around the 10 hours mark. I’d love to be below 10 hours, simply because I can keep saying I’ve never done an Ironman slower than 10! We shall see. Far more important than that is I want to book that Kona slot.

Next time I post I’d like to have some good news!

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I’ve been looking forward to this all week – another beach day! An opportunity to relax and put in some solid effort on the tan. Having spent months in Oz most of my rest days involved the beach. It doesn’t make much sense back home, but rest days are stuck as beach days in my head.

I think I’m tapering. To be honest it’s harder to tell than you might expect. I have done less this week, that much is certain. At the same time WKO+ tells me I’ve not notably lowered my training load! This next week will definitely bring things down as I’m seriously cutting back.

Am I over doing it? I don’t think so. I feel tired at times, but not the most tired I’ve felt out here. Most rides I go out on now I have the capacity to ride strongly. I hope that come race day I can ride at my best for the whole of the course. In training I find there’s an ebb and flow over a longer ride, periods are strong, then you ease off. Something happens on race day that stops any slacking off.

I’ve been wondering on some of the rides why there’s such a difference between training and racing. How I manage to sustain just a little bit more power for a whole lot longer in a race. My concern is enough to have a night’s sleep interrupted by questions about up coming race performance. I was forced into a midnight examination of past training and racing data to see if I could see some signs. I couldn’t.

During the day I’ve got on with training as planned and felt pretty happy. Sure I have times where I don’t feel that good, but mostly everything is running well. I’m making an effort to keep my confidence up and not to worry about what’s going on around me. No wondering if the athletes out running the beach front are fitter than me. Or worrying when some uber-cyclist comes blasting past (least of all if it’s Ain-Alar Juhanson!) I think of how confident sprinters have to be in their ability to win and try to hold a similar positive mindset.

In between debating if I’m over doing it or whether I’m fit enough in general I like to worry about whether I’m under doing it! I fear that flat feeling I had in Ironman Australia. It would almost be worse than turning up on race day exhausted. A no-man’s land between peak condition and exhaustion where it seems you should be able to go faster and yet never happens. Whilst I didn’t manage the 28 hours of training that was initially on the cards for the past week, I hit about 22! I think it’s enough.

Before I hit the beach and enjoy the sun I’ll just dump the last few concerns on you! The winds. After 3 weeks here riding into strong winds has become normal. Then you get a day like Friday where things go a step further than normal and the choice of a Zipp 404 up front seems a lot poorer. I’m watching the weather closely and the signs so far are that it won’t be that bad. Otherwise I may well be riding on training wheels come race day.

I am leaner. I did the jeans test and was easily a whole belt notch tighter! Good news for the race, but on the other hand my eating has probably been a bit disordered to get there. I have the odd doubt about my nutrition at the moment and the slight worry that I might end up low on energy come race day! It’s nonsense really, but it’s there in my mind. To balance it out I also worry I might over eat and put on weight in my last week!

Ending on a positive I have had some good running out here. I would say it’s the best I’ve felt running in a while. I’ve been working on picking my cadence up a little and the effects seem very good. Perceived effort largely remains the same, whilst speed picks up. It’s not sprinting, but ideal for long distance racing. At it’s best I feel relaxed, fast and effortless. I’m trying to focus on those moments and then recreate them next Saturday.

A beach and the sun calls. More later this week when I’ll lay out my race plans.

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It’s been a busy week so posting has drifted till now. Lanzarote is proving to be a perfect training location. The weather, lack of distractions and having meals provided at your hotel makes it easy to go out there and train. End result is that somehow I’ve done about 35 hours the past week without even trying! Still I’m feeling good, a little tired (enough to oversleep this mornings swim), but ready to carefully taper down to my race.

Those almost daily swims have certainly helped me feel more comfortable in my wetsuit and the sea here. I think I might even be swimming a little faster in open water. I’ve also learnt that the sun rises above the horizon around 7:30 and you can’t see a thing. It contributed to one of my two collisions with other swimmers yesterday! I don’t see it being a problem race day, the course is straight forward. I shall be practising some running starts into the water though, can’t remember the last time I did a beach start.

Somehow I’ve ended up riding the course three times in the past week. That was more than I’d intended, but I don’t regret it. Twice in the race direction and once in reverse. I can’t say which way is toughest, though Mirador del Rio is my least favourite bit either way. Ride number one felt pretty good and was a solid pace. By ride two fatigue was showing and for ride number three I’d already declared it would be a social outing! Social enough that I put aside my current limited fuel consumption to enjoy two coffee and cake stops. Amazing what a difference a little bit of carbs can make!

I literally know the course back to front now and in a mix of weather conditions. It’s a nice little boost to confidence for race day as nothing should be a surprise. Knowing the sort of pace I held in training can also be a push to get a little bit more come race day. An interesting aside is seeing how fast I can do the course on minimal fuelling, then seeing that a little bit of carbs seemed to pick things up. When I’m racing I’ll be consuming gels at a fairly consistent rate throughout the day so there should be a little boost.

Standing in the hotel pool after a long day’s ride you do wonder how much more you’ll get out of your legs on race day. Doubts are to be ignored so instead I remind myself how with tired legs, strong headwinds and an easier pace I can still do the course in 6:30. Come race day I will be fresh, fit and ready to go.

Which neatly brings me to my taper. The element I think I got so wrong in the run-up to Ironman Oz. Here I am again, two weeks out from a race and feeling pretty strong. OK, I’m also feeling pretty tired, but not surprisingly so! I’m convinced the problems in Oz were largely the result of too little training in the final weeks. So convinced that I expect to train roughly 20+ hours this week and over 10 hours in race week. That sounds a lot, but at the same time in terms of my general training it’s a significant reduction.

Specificity is also the key. My training sessions now will focus a lot more on ensuring I’m prepared for this race. Beach starts for the swim plus a few longer sessions over race distance. Revisiting parts of the course on my rides – Mirador del Rio particularly given my dislike. My running has largely been restricted to the beach front here in Puerto del Carmen anyway. I will be thoroughly sick of it come race day!

Whilst I have no scales to prove it I’m pretty confident my diet the past couple of weeks is helping lean me out at least a little. Either way I’m going to come back with a lot of new nutrition ideas. I don’t think I’ll be going Paleo yet, but I may not be so reliant on carbs day to day. Eat a big enough breakfast and it’s surprising just how far you can get on it!

Time predictions and race plans can wait till nearer the day. I would like, conditions allowing, to preserve my run of sub-10 Ironman results. It’s not going to be easy here by any means, but recent training on the course is giving me some optimism.

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