Trains, Travels

I am two days short of 33 years old. As I mentioned last Tuesday I seem to have strained a knee ligament. In classic overly focussed fashion I’ve been ‘training’ through this. Mostly concerned that I’m losing fitness or not building enough for the impending key races. I’m posting so soon after the last one simply from the frustrations of today’s ride.

Thursday and Friday I took relatively easily. Kept the swimming up, minimised the biking to my trips to the lake and admittedly stuck to the running. Sometime on my Friday run to masters swimming the knee hurt a little more than I liked. I was close though and figured a swim would do it good. Bad form in some fly kick sets didn’t help though and the run back home was quite sore too.

Still Friday night I iced, compressed etc. Woke the next day and felt it wasn’t too bad though worse than it had been the day before. Rode over to the lake for yet another swim! To be honest it didn’t feel too bad and the extra levels of rest meant my cycling was starting to come back to form.

The swim was uneventful and I decided to go ahead with the plan to ride that day and try and get back onto plan. My mistake was arranging to ride with others rather than at my own very easy pace. My mistake entirely. For the first 30 minutes or so things were OK, but after the easy ride had turned more towards tempo my knee really started to ache. By the end I was relying on my left leg for most of the work!

I got back to my mate’s house and opted to take his very kind offer of a lift home rather than face a slow and painful bike home! Since then I’ve iced and rested and just hope it improves. My plans for tomorrow have changed, no more bike for sure. I still however will do an extra long swim.

Whilst my birthday is Monday my family is having a small party on Sunday. Lots of food and a little bit of relaxing on the diet front. To kick celebrations off though my plan is a two hour swim! Actually to be honest I’m aiming for ten laps at the lake which will be at least 8000m. I figure that should help with the food intake that day!

So I’m getting older and feeling a bit decrepit right now. And I have a dilemma in front of me. I started my 30 runs challenge a little before the first of June. Which means I have two runs to go… What to do? On the one hand the bigger picture calls for resting the knee. If I do that and keep it up tomorrow there’s a good chance come the good weather next week things might be working better. On the other hand two more runs!

We’ll see, either in my Twitter feed or the next post. Look out for my cheesecake too!

I am in familiar territory. Unfortunately not the comforting kind, but a place of uncertainty. Sometime last year in Oz I must have blogged reporting on problems raising my heart rate in training, feeling tired and under-performing. Guess what’s back?

But before you skip ahead I’m not that worried. The last time this happened was 4 weeks before Ironman Western Australia and the result was my best race ever. Whilst it’s a mere 2 weeks to Roth the all important Ironman UK sits 5 weeks away. So the plan for this situation is simple. I push on ensuring I stress myself with volume where intensity isn’t possible. Also I rest seriously – when I have the time to put my feet up they go up. With luck I will overload the system enough without ending up in a pit I can’t get out of before Ironman UK. A discussion of overreaching and overtraining might be one for another post.

Ouch! If I’m going to worry about anything it’s the twinge in my right knee. Coming on at the end of my long ride on Tuesday, I’m not entirely sure how it came to happen. Without wanting to throw random accusations about I think I managed to tweak something a little hitting one of Berkshire’s numerous potholes!. The result is a sore/painful point at the top left of the kneecap where the quad inserts. A mix of icing and stretching and a bit of fun with my Trigger Point roller seems to be helping. Yesterday it forced a very easy jog for my 30 minutes of running and looks like today will be the same. Similarly I’ve cut the bike load in the circumstances. Trying to make up by a double swim session today – 3.5km at the lake this morning and then a 90 minute squad session tonight! On the bright side I hope that effectively this will mean I can train harder the next two days.

Whilst the pain started on Tuesday it didn’t really have much affect on Wedensday. That is until I’d finished the Woodland 5 Mile and a Bit race. I swam in the morning and went on a fairly easy, but reasonably long and undulating bike ride. All was well. Careful planning of the day meant I spent the entire afternoon sitting in a warm conservatory catching up on a stack of reading (with some good strong coffee of course!) Despite this I was really finding it hard to motivate myself for the impending race.

‘Race’ Number 3. Still I headed over there in suitable time and managed to stumble onto the venue more from luck than map reading or adequate sign-posting. I felt tired though. Very simply low on energy and enthusiasm. So I strolled to the start line at a sedate pace and with 10 minutes to go did a slow 3 minute warm-up. I didn’t think much more about it and tried to relax.

Once we were off it was clear a fairly large group were moving away from me. At this point I made a half-hearted effort to respond and go with the lead bunch, but really it wasn’t happening. I settled in to a solid, but too comfortable pace not really pushing myself the way I’d like. After a couple of kilometres things clearly picked up and I did move up the field a little over time. Far more importantly I started to really enjoy the race. The trails were lovely, not too technical, but not too simple. Even the climbs which worked the calves were good fun! I was happy to be running a high tempo pace, not at my best, but harder than general training.

No idea of my placing when I crossed the line, I didn’t really care. The second I stopped though pain hit in the knee and I was a little concerned! For all the pleasure of the race I dreaded the idea that I’d inflicted an injury on myself. A slow walk back to the car seemed to relieve a lot of the discomfort and I went home a little happier. My time and pace for the race were poor, but in terms of training it was a good session if not quite the top end I wanted to hit. I’ve one more race to go next week in my little mini-series. That said I’ve been enjoying doing this and may well seek out more. Is 4 days before Ironman UK too close to do one last tempo run session for fun?!

Since then Thursday was easy as planned. Actually it was easier than I’d planned, but when I rode to the lake and found the knee was very unhappy things changed. Today looks to be easier too, the knee is getting better, but I don’t want to chance it. So lots of swimming and a lot less biking and running. I’m still on the 30 runs in 30 days mind you! I think a couple of easier days will do me some good, as I say I’m clearly well fatigued right now! For the next week I want to put in some solid intensity prior to Roth and make a last hard training block ready for Ironman UK.

Before I go I seem to be becoming addicted to Twitter! Not really badly, but having resisted so many forms of Social media I’ve ended up on another one. You can follow my Twitter account or just see the updates in the right column. Yeah OK, they’re not ground breaking!

At the start of the week I scribbled out a rough training plan, totted up the hours then put a couple of exclamation marks after them when it came to 45!! One week later (and yes late with a post again) and my Sunday has become a Beach Day sans beach of course. I missed that 45 hour week by about twelve hours. Not to worry it was an absurd target really! Not least when a few things seem to be conspiring against me or at least the smoothness of my training…

Run race number 2 (in a series of four) – my second bit of run intensity was quite an event for entirely the wrong reasons. I prepared by swimming first thing, then riding 200km during the day with Steven and friends. Obviously the perfect warm-up for a fast 10Km at Queen Mother Reservoir. Actually I did come in third overall, but with a horrible time of 39:08 which shows how soft it was!

Just plain unpleasant – shortly before the race starts I’m feeling a little tired from the day’s exertions. Still it’s a training race the aim is to go as hard as I can. The course is two perfectly flat laps with only a little wind exposure to worry about. That’s until you get to the start line and find your stomach churning. No toilets nearby and no time there’s nothing I can do, but hope to hold on.

We’re off and it soon becomes clear there’s not masses of competition. It also becomes clear my stomach is far from happy. Still I stick in fourth place for all of the first lap and the lead guy pulls out. If I was smart so would I. This was a training race after all. I keep going onto the second lap and then it hits me at 6K in. Diarrhoea! There is nowhere to go, we’ve even had explicit warnings not to pee on the site. I keep pushing on and hope for the best.

For those that follow my blog you’ll know I’ve peed myself on every stage of a triathlon without problem. Tuesday was a new experience I thoroughly recommend avoiding. My guts were in full on rebellion and nothing was going to stop them. Given there was nothing I could do I pushed to the finish letting nature take its course as I ran. Like I said plain disgusting and thank God for showers and changing rooms afterwards.

I should also mention the other symptom that evening of Runner’s Haematuria. I was too dehydrated and the result was a little blood in my urine. It cleared up almost immediately, but it’s always a shock to see.

One final note – always take a towel, shower gel and a change of clothing to any race, you may well need it!

Mostly in sickness – I put the unpleasantness down as a one off. Just one of those things. Wednesday became heavily curtailed cutting into those long training hours, but I just felt so lethargic. Since Tuesday evening my stomach has not been right. Somehow I’ve got some training out, but if 45 hours was ever in reach it wasn’t this week. Stomach cramps have disturbed my sleep twice now, though I think things are improving at last.

Enough quality? Probably the most frustrating aspect of this week is the feeling it hasn’t been good enough. Compared to my build up in Lanza this just seems a little weak. Sure the run races are some intensity and I have had moments on the bike. Is it enough? I would love to be hear typing about how strong I feel and how ready for my races. Instead I find myself uncertain and with a sense that my fitness is all over the place.

This morning I struggled over to the lake on the bike. Struggled round 4 laps of the course and then struggled home. By the time I was in the door there was no doubt today was a Beach Day. Later I’ll do my 30 minute run and that’s it. So there we go. A real sense of lethargy has dominated this week. Brief moments of quality have cropped up, but not as much as I want to be seeing now.

The next run race is this coming Wednesday. I hope to complete it in full health this time. I’ll be aiming to duplicate this weeks volume of training, but with a little more intensity. I’ll be scribbling out an overly ambitious weekly plan in a while! For Roth I’m not truely tapering so I still have one more build week to get in after that.

Do I feel ready for Ironman UK? Nope. I’ve looked at the results and I’ll need to podium in my age group for sure. I don’t feel I’m there yet, but let’s give it a week or two yet. I’ve certainly been in that shape for the UK Ironman 70.3 before (and incidentally had on and off sickness in the build up there). Rigth now, more than Hawaii I just want to post some strong Ironman times and prove things are on track.

Not really and that’s my problem. Being back home and getting on with training doesn’t leave much to write about. Not that its stopped me before. Whenever I’m told “I read your blog” my instinct is to apologise. I know it can be hard work!

Must be something like a couple of weeks since the last post, so in theory lots to say. I’m sat here with a good, strong coffee. I should be out on the bike, but I’m feeling a little tired and opted out! Based on yesterday’s ride and the weekend’s plans I think it’s probably wise.

To keep this quick and easy for everyone I’m opting for brief paragraphs again.

Recovery? Well it seems to have happened, though it doesn’t feel like it’s gone as well as last time. First few days after the race I felt great and put it down to the lower intensity. That said maybe the longer duration had it’s own toll. There are other factors with my current training that may be factors though. I am not worried yet. Will have to see how the next few weeks go.

Leaning Up (again) – this time it’s really working. The advantage of full control of my diet, a set of scales and no all you can eat buffets! It’s harsh at times. I eat a lot of salads, which is fine apart from getting bored of chewing. I like all the food I’m eating, but you have to eat a lot to get anywhere close to sufficient calories. Having weight loss as an aim means I’m not trying to be too close so hunger is another factor. The results are there though – I’m well on my way to race weight, ahead of schedule in fact.

Gym Bunny – I’ve signed up to the local council gym scheme. The gyms aren’t the greatest, but it’s cheap and there’s no contract. So far I’ve hit the weights about two or three times a week. It’s hard work, especially when you haven’t in a while. I’m enjoying it and at the least it’s a mental break from normal training. Is it having any benefit? I know weights can be contentious with coaches, but they work well for me.

In and Out at the Lake – I’m back to regular Open Water Swims over at the Blueseventy Open Water Swim Centre in Reading. Something seems to have clicked right now and I’m swimming very comfortably. Pace isn’t too bad either. It seems a bit sudden to be related to the weights, but whatever the cause I’m happy. When not in the water there I’ve been helping out to earn my swims. Last weekend I spent my time collecting money in the warm and dry rather than getting cold and wet.

14 runs in – the 30 runs of 30 minutes in 30 days challenge progresses well. Just about halfway and so far so good. Some of the runs have been longer and one was a hell of a lot harder! The hardest run yet was yesterday – 35 minutes on very sore, tired legs. Actually it’s a close call with the 30 minute 8km trail race the day before!

Racing to fitness – Wednesday night I chose to do my 30 minutes of running at The Lookout in Bracknell. It was the nineteenth running of the Bracknell Forest Five, though my first time there. The aim was to go as hard as I could and see what happens. All without the benefit of rest or taper! Doing a heavy weight session in the morning was questionable prep. Despite this when the horn sounded I went off pretty hard. What was clear was a long run and weights were in my legs and I was going to suffer. Somewhere around the 2 mile mark I ceased to be able to sustain sub-6 minute miles. Still I crossed the line in 30:44 on an undulating trail run so not too shabby! Next week a 10km trail race on Tuesday.

It’s not about the bike – certainly feels that way at the moment. I’ve yet to do any seriously long rides, though that will change shortly. Been riding OK, though nothing too special. Yesterday should be highlighted as the lamest ride ever! My legs were just trashed from the previous evenings run and about halfway in gave up the ghost. I’m feeling a bit better now, but don’t regret skipping today’s ride. My plans for the next few days are more than enough to make up.

Well some of it’s about the bike – decided to put together my TT bike this morning. An aluminium Cervelo P2SL. It was in better shape than I remembered, in fact ready to ride, but for needing new front brake blocks. I’m going to try a few sessions on it over the next few weeks and see how it goes. There’s a chance it may be used in Roth and if things work well there Ironman UK. My position on it is far more aerodynamic, so if it’s comfortable enough now no reason not to use it. Cheaper than a new bike too!

Breaking a few eggs – quickly back to the subject of diet. I’m still being pretty Paleo. Sure I do have dairy in small quantities and the evening hot chocolate, but carbs are low. Fruit and veg is very high along with a good dose of protein and fats. During long training sessions I do use carbs to help me through, but I think I still need to review the amount to get the balance right. Porridge is out for breakfast and omelettes are in. I bring this up simply to note that after a couple of weeks I’m getting pretty good at them too! Texture is spot on now.

That’s enough, next update will be sooner. Hopefully something interesting will happen during the big weekend of training!