Trains, Travels

My first week back at training is done! I’m exhausted!

We’re under control and on plan, but I really need all the rest I can get right now. I feel it if I go anywhere below 7 hours sleep and notice the benefits when I’m over 8 hours. There’s no room to shirk on those commitments if I want to get through it all. Not too successful on the naps yet, but sleeping well at night. I didn’t break a few days blog silence to discuss my sleep habits though.

Instead I’ve plotted a graph and have some thoughts to go with it. Yes, this is a straight up training analysis post!

Heart Rate versus Power Revisited

If you follow this blog then this graph has come up before. It’s my average power at varying heart rates. Measurements like FTP and training with power on the bike tend to lead us away from heart rate as a metric. Power isn’t normally available to me during a race though so I find it useful to track the two and have an idea of what I’ll be capable of on race day. Of course an affect of increased fitness will be higher power at a lower heart rate anyway. I’ll be working less for the resulting power.

There are two lines on the graph. The red line is the Power:Heart Rate relationship prior to Roth. I’ll admit now that the data sets used for this were spread out an a little erratic. It was a new idea at the time. The green line is the Power:Heart Rate distribution from my rides the past week. I guess it’s obvious the difference is that currently I’m 15-20 watts down on what I was prior to the break.

The aim over the next few weeks is to raise that green line up to the level of the red. I’d say above the red if I had any certainty of achieving that in a month. That highlighted range of heart rates, roughly 132-142 BPM is critical as this is where I expect to be racing. The higher the power I generate in that range the faster my bike whilst still being in shape to run well.

Whilst I’m sure sample size may have an influence what we’re seeing there is the de-conditioning caused by a total break. I don’t need to go back over how important that break was for me, but this side effect wasn’t unexpected. I’ll admit to an element of uncertainty as to how rapidly I can get back to my ‘old self’. Anecdotally as the week has gone on my riding has felt better. I’ve certainly worked hard and had two or three very solid rides in the past few days.

I’ve not produced a graph for it, but to test the theory I compared Power:Heart Rate ratios from the first three rides this week with the last three. The result is that at least below heart rates of 140 BPM my power output has already improved. Above that though we still have plenty to do! The important thing is that in a matter of seven days I’ve already started to move things in the right direction.

It makes me optimistic that fitness will return quite quickly with some work. I’ll be plotting that graph out weekly to closely track the changes so will really see how things progress. I’m also trying to be very focussed whilst on the bike, working to paces and heart rates in a very structured way. Intervals, hill repeats and lots of solid paced work will be my friends till Kona.

Aerobic Decoupling (briefly)

At some point I want to properly visit the topic of aerobic decoupling. To summarise briefly it’s a comparison of the average Power:Heart Rate for the first and second half of a ride. Decoupling refers to a change in those ratios, for example fatigue raising the heart rate or lowering the power produced over time. Good endurance produces a smaller de-coupling as you’re better able to sustain your effort.

Joe Friel typically talks about good endurance giving values below 5% for this ratio. In other words a well trained athlete shows at most a small amount of decoupling. When I first learnt of this I was surprised to discover many of my rides had slightly negative values. Unless I’m mistaken I’m tending to ride harder for a lower heart rate in the second half of the ride!

It’s interesting in that it tallies with my perception of many of my rides. Particularly on longer sessions I’ve often felt it took an hour or two to ‘warm up’ and get into things. Searching found a brief comment on Friel’s blog. It appears negative values indicate that power is coming into line with heart rate after starting erratically. Not sure why I have a slight tendency towards this, Friel does mention caffeine!

I bring this topic up here because this past week the value has been particularly low. Often down around -10% where previously I might typically see it around -1% for a long ride. To me that implies that my heart rate is taking quite a while to settle and starting out each ride much higher than normal.

Again my perception has been that my heart rate is higher and more dynamic than it’s been in a while. By this I mean I’m better able to raise it to its highest levels than I have been in a while (see previous posts about low heart rates). So perhaps these low de-coupling values are a result of this more dynamic heart rate and a longer period before it settles? It may warrant it’s own graph at some point!

And the rest

It’s not all about the bike though and there’s two other sports that factor into the total work. I mentioned how I’d got myself in the pool sooner than originally planned. So far I’m glad I did as my swimming seems erratic in quality. Earlier in the week I had a couple of decent sessions, but performance is tailing off a little. More than likely fatigue, but I’m keen to keep consistency as a major focus. My time in France is likely to see a reduction in overall swim time so it’s important to be getting good training in now.

Whilst I can’t report impressive results in the water, running is returning to form rapidly. The first and second time certainly tested me more than expected, but I’d say I’m already back to my steady pace. Makes me wish I had a bit of high tech equipment on the run to compare heart rates and pacing. Perhaps I’ll find the money at some point!

I’ve settled into running daily, the usual minimum of thirty minutes. It’s working well. Strength and fitness have returned. Admittedly my 90 minute run yesterday left me feeling pretty worn, but they may have been due to the stomach issues! I’ll hit the two hour plus long runs in the next week or so. They’ll also be a bit of experimentation with double run days.

I’m confident that right now I’m not far off the condition to replicate my last pair of Ironman runs. I have to admit I’m not sure of the best way to progress from a 3:10 IM marathon to a 3:00! I’m going to do a more detailed running post in the coming week to consider this. So whilst I’m experimenting with a few things in this training block I’m not really aiming to achieve any kind of breakthrough. I need more time to think it through and come up with a strategy! Input is welcome on this one.

There are four more very solid weeks lined up ahead of me. Whilst I’ve seen how quickly I can return to training from a lay off I’m well aware this isn’t going to be easy. Right now it’s manageable, but I suspect that if I let things get on top of me, slip behind on recovery, I could easily be derailed. I’m committed and will keep working at it. Tracking things closely so I can pre-empt problems and tow the line.

Week two begins early tomorrow. Right now I can’t wait to go to bed!

I’m not sure whether the title should finish with an exclamation mark or a question mark. We’re now less than seven weeks away from Kona and I’ve started my five week build to race fitness. After a very solid three week break it feels like a bit of a mountain to climb. Still I needed the down time.

Three weeks of living without a schedule and doing little felt weird. It wasn’t quite right, I didn’t feel myself. Despite that I was a little nervous coming to the end of it and trying to jump back into training. On the one hand it didn’t feel good not training, but then I wasn’t my most motivated either. It’s with relief that I can say that motivation and drive have returned. Based on the evidence of three days on the program at least!

Whilst I may not have done much training during my rest I certainly thought about it. I spent at least some of the time drawing up the training program from here to Kona. Coming into it well rested, or at least hopefully well rested, I’ve put together a heavy block of work. Here’s my chance to put in place the final touches before what must count as an A race so I’d better make the most of it.

I may put up a copy of the plan in the future, not sure yet. Not that there’s any great secrets in there! Even if that were the case it’s already had some modifications. In fact I made my first adjustment before the first session of the first day! A wise choice though – I decided I needed to get on top of my swimming and quickly. The way I felt in the pool on Monday morning there’s an uphill battle ahead.

Day by day though I’m feeling more like my old self. Tuesday saw my first long ride and whilst my companions were certainly pushing me at times it felt a lot better than expected. I didn’t completely die and managed reasonable efforts at times. The top end is missing and my heart rate is higher than I’d expect for the effort. I don’t think that’s a surprise at this point.

More important than the plan’s details is the commitment behind it. Whilst I lounged around, a little disgusted at myself for being so lazy, I decided what was needed was proper commitment for Kona. Sure I’ve trained a lot over the months, but I wanted some of the focus that came during the first days in Oz. I was managing big hours, hard training and had all the details down too. Recent posts on dieting may have hinted at my love of rules. As such I came up with some rules for the Kona build.

• No procrastination because it’s impaired training too often. No delays, no putting off training for later – get on with the plan. Training is the priority.
• Rest well because I’m going to be very fatigued the next few weeks. More sleep, naps in the day, any chance to take it easy do so. No staying up late whatever the distraction.
• Focus on nutrition which isn’t too hard given the recent diet obsession. Just keeping that up and making nutritional choices based on optimising my performance. I can manage two months of perfect eating to get the most in Hawaii.
• Train hard because I’ve had my rest and now’s not the time to be slacking. I know to move forward I need to be putting in the hard work, not just showing up for the sessions.
• If there’s time and you feel good do more as to an extent more is more. When it doesn’t impair recovery or my ability to hit my key sessions a bit more swim, run or bike can do no harm.
• Watch everything because I need to keep on top of every detail of training. I’m aiming to work hard, but I need to temper this with the sense to know when I’m pushing too far. Breaking myself in the build would be far worse.

Really the point of the list is to remind myself how serious this is for me. Sure it’s fun, I do it for pleasure., but part of that pleasure is racing and racing my best. If I want to do that in Hawaii in October then I need to train well and that will mean sacrifices elsewhere. Is this new to me? Not entirely. Consider this a re-declaration of my commitment to this sport. As of today I’d say I’m scoring a B for the rules, I want to be scoring an A though!

A plan, a set of rules, a goal and five weeks of training followed by two weeks of taper. That’s what sits between me and my first time in Kona. There’s lots to do in that time and whilst these first few days of training are tough going I’m optimistic.

I have a few points to focus on in the next few weeks. Generally the aim is to use the coming fortnight to get myself back up to fitness. Then I’m off to the Pyrenees for a very tough week of work. Lots of cycling and lots of running to push things up. Once I’m back home I want to finish things off with two more solid weeks of training. I expect to be exhausted and ready to rest by the end of it.

Specifically I want to work on plenty of threshold swimming, pushing myself harder in the lake. Technique still needs work, particularly the final push of the stroke which I’m tending to cut short. Cycling is just a matter of plenty of riding and lots of it hard. The mountains will help sort that out! I’m sticking to the pattern of lots of regular running that worked well for Roth and UK. I’m not looking to improve things much in such short time though, just get a good level of run fitness.

There you go. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Well, I’m sure some of you will appreciate it anyway!

If you’ve read my About Me page (much in need of updating) you’ll have read ‘I aim to improve my times in Ironman triathlons with a goal of reaching Hawaii’. Well I’m going to Hawaii. I’ve completed the goal. Which is why when I first got asked what my aim for Kona was it dawned on me I didn’t have a clue! I really hadn’t thought about actually racing there despite al the work to get a slot.

Well it seems a little silly! Answering that I want a solid race or to gain experience of racing there don’t seem good enough. After all I always want to have a solid race. At first I really had no idea what to aim for. It’s all new territory after all. Or is it?

I’ve happily made predictions or set rough time goals for races where I’d no idea or experience of the course. Search back to the end of last year and I was boldly aiming at a 9:30 in Bolton ‘course allowing’! With no knowledge of the course or prior results to consider unsurprisingly I was a little off with my estimations. Kona comes with a long history of results over a well established course. With data to back me up I should be far more willing to pull a figure out the hat! Not only that it’s an opportunity for a graph…

If I’m entirely honest that was just an excuse to play about with numbers in Excel again. As I started to look at the data I realised it doesn’t really give me much more to work with. At least not on its own and without a lot more work. So for now a quick chart and a couple of top line numbers. What the graph does demonstrate is that the bulk of people come in between 10 and 12 hours. For my age group you can tighten that down to 10 to 11 hours. Actually for male 30 to 34 it really goes from 9:30 to 11:00.

I’ve marked two lines on the chart – the median and mean finish times in my age group. Originally I calculated the mean as the quick and obvious thing to look at, but I think it’s too skewed by the slower finishers which whilst rare are way out there. If you’re keen for exact numbers the mean finish time for male 30-34 year olds in Kona last year was 10:42:48 and the median was 10:10:31.

Realising how liitle this really helps me I did start to think about better ways to analyse this. Firstly perhaps comparing the distribution of finish times across the range of races I’ve done. This would at least allow me to establish if Ironman race results tend to follow a similar distribution pattern. Comparing the distribution pattern of results (not the actual finish times) would eliminate the effect of variation in courses and conditions to an extent. So if the distribution of finisher times tends to be consistent across races then I could pick a finish goal based on a percentile in my age group.

That’s a lot of work! So another alternative I considered was looking at my finish times relative to female pros then trying to use those figures as a guideline to a Kona finish time. It took about 5 minutes of working along those lines to realise that was also far more effort than I wanted to put in! Also the field and the nature of a World Champs would lead me to suspect a lot of athletes are either performing at their best or blowing up spectacularly. I’m far from convinced that comparing the time difference from other races would count for much anyway.

Where this all leads me is that if there is some sound statistical route to predict a race result it’s far more work than I’m willing to put in. However I also know I’ve been willing to spuriously predict times in the past and I don’t see why I should stop. So, here’s the goal – sub-10!

Yep, that simple. I’ll aim to break the 10 hour mark in Kona. It’ll be better than average for my age group at the very least and I think I should be able to pull that off. Whilst I’ve no experience of the specific conditions in Kona I like heat and have raced well in winds. I don’t see why Kona should be so different to any other race. I execute a typical race plan and breaking 10 hours shouldn’t be a problem! I’ll let you know my opinion on October 11th!

And Then What? Part II

You may have noticed things have been quiet round here the past week. My final recovery week before the Kona build has been busy. It all relates to my longer term plans. A year has shown me I love training and racing a lot. Which gives me a longer term aim of finding a way that sustains this lifestyle. The goal is to establish a coaching business and develop and grow it to a point where I can keep training and racing like this. If I can avoid working in an office or commuting, that’d be perfect.

To start myself along this road I ironically spent my week getting up early and commuting into London. Then spending all day sat studying. I’ve now completed my ASA/UKCC Swim Coaching Level 1 Course and my UKA Level 1 Assistant Coach Course. I would have fitted in the BTA Level 1 this month too, but unfortunately the course I wanted was cancelled. That’ll be next year.

To an extent the qualifications are formalities. I’m sure we’ve all seen there’s plenty of coaches out there with a real mix of standards and qualifications. The real challenge will be establishing a reputation and client base. After all I’ve looked at coaches online and know how easy it is to be sceptical about their capabilities. No slur to the many great coaches out there, but if you look online it’s hard to be sure what you’ll be getting. Outside of my own training my ability to coach is an unknown entity to most.

For now though the focus is on Kona. I have a five week build period ahead of me followed by a two week taper. Big plans for the period, plenty of hard work. Partly why I’ve allowed myself such a lot of rest. It was time to allow myself some proper recovery before the next push. Back to normal service next week and probably a lot less stats as my time is filled.

Lately I’ve found myself in the odd position of being a dietary advisor. Odd because I’m not a dietician and my recent dietary adaptations have been a new experience for me. There’s the fact that I’m being asked about the Paleo Diet, but I’ve never read the book! I’ve discussed it with friends who have and I’ve read up on the subject, but I’ve never invested money to learn more!

Still I adopted a diet based on what I’ve learnt. I’ve become notably leaner and had two good race results since the change. The former undoubtedly a direct result of the diet, the latter I believe also a consequence. It’s in this capacity I can make any claim to have any ‘expertise’ in the area. That’s my big caveat before laying down the rules of my diet.

A couple more things to note though. Firstly it’s not about being light for the sake of it. The aim is to be at your optimal race weight. There’s a point where further loss of weight will cost too much in terms of performance and health. You don’t want to cross that line, but for race day you want to be near it. Secondly these are the rules that work for me, not suggesting you copy them, follow them in any way or would get the same results if you did. Just putting them out there so next time I’m asked about my diet I’ve an easy reference – it’s pure laziness on my part!

Weigh In To ensure you’re managing the desired loss or maintenance of weight you’ve got to be monitoring it. I like to weigh myself daily, log the result and pot nice graphs in Excel off the back of it. Generally dieters are advised not to weigh themselves daily. Daily weight fluctuation has a lot of causes other than fat loss – hydration for example. The important thing is the overall trend i.e. if you’re trying to lose weight you want to see a drop over a week, but if you go up on a single day it’s probably meaningless.

The advice not to weigh yourself daily is simply that for many dieters seeing those occasional weight gains can be disappointing. This is then followed by binge eating or starvation to comfort or compensate for the perceived failure. I don’t really have that problem and I’m going to assume that anyone managing their weight for racing probably won’t either. It’s just a number and sensible dietary management will control it.

Breakfast Prior to Paleo this consisted of the endurance athlete’s staple porridge. Cereals are out though so that’s a no go. The rules for my breakfast are pretty simple. There are two dishes at breakfast:

• Omelette – four eggs and spinach on the side. If I’m around or heading to my goal weight I’ll throw in some cheese (not Paleo!)
• Berries, nuts, seeds and yoghurt – mixed bowl of berries with some full fat Greek yoghurt mixed in.

On easy days or during recovery I’ll typically have one or the other. Training normally I’ll have both. The dairy is not Paleo in the least, but I like cheese! Given I’ve consistently lost weight with the cheese in my diet I’ve allowed it to remain. It goes without saying that copious amounts of strong black coffee are consumed with this.

I’m sure Palaeolithic man would have been firing up the espresso machine and cooking an omelette most mornings!

Lunch/Dinner Be warned there’s not too much variety in my meals. That’s more a consequence of my laziness than the diet itself. Meals are built as follows:

• Salad – plenty of salad vegetables. Leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, carrots etc. A vast pile of this stuff!
• OR Vegetables – typically boiled or steamed. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spring greens etc. Again a vast pile. No legumes mind you, they’re not considered Paleo (something about anti-nutrients a term I never encountered in all my years studying Biology!)
• A protein source – preferably lean, but I don’t fuss too much on that part of it. Plenty of fish though. Again a good solid chunk of protein
• Potato – if I’m training a lot or the meal is after a big session then I have some potato. It’s my starchy carb source and I control how much I have based on training and energy expenditure. Don’t over do it and where possible arrange around training.

Snacks Keep the amount of this going on very closely related to the amount of exercise in your life.

• Nuts and seeds – plenty of nutrients, but also lots of calories so watch how much you eat.
• Fruit – again with the nutrients. Fair bit of sugars in here, but you do need some carbs to train!
• Soup – simple soups, no bread! Not tons of calories and often good protein sources.

Treats The less you need these to get by the better. I’m not big on treats unless you count my allowance of dairy!

• Cheese – fine if my weight is where I want it. Not too much, but I don’t see the harm. Lots of calories so I cut back if not training much.
• Cakes, biscuits and sweets – really a big no! The exception is on long rides involving a coffee stop where I may indulge in cake. If I do it’s a substitute for usual ride food at that point.
• Alcohol – not for me anyway. Makes it hard to advise others, seriously control in training

During training The Paleo Diet for Athletes modifies the original diet for those of us exercising a lot. Basically throwing in some carb consumption around sessions. Here’s how I manage this:

• Sessions under 90 minutes will normally not need food. For long runs I generally only eat if running over 2.5 hours.
• Longer sessions I work to a calorie goal per hour. Typically eating on the hour.
• Carbs come from foods – energy bars, gels, cereal bars etc. I don’t fuss too much about the details just that I’m taking in enough.
• Post-workout I try to get my carbs from sources like potato or as part of a main meal. I vary amount according to size of workout.

Carbohydrate Binge Not yet suffered from the urge to binge on carbs whilst on this diet. Or at least never succumbed to it. I have found that on occasions where I have planned to have time off from Paleo my weight has shot up. I’ve seen drastic shifts in a matter of a day off the diet. What’s important though is once back to Paleo I soon return to the original weight.

There’s a lot of modern foods which you basically can’t eat whilst being Paleo. In fact the more you like salads the easier it is! I’ve found that after a few weeks on it I don’t miss much of the stuff on the banned list. When I do have a break after a race it doesn’t take long to get bored of refined sugar! Recent experience is suggesting I should avoid going too far with the binge eating though. It may come off quick, but there’s no use making too much work for myself.

Those are my rules. This has worked well for weight loss to my target race weight, but is largely untested for weight maintenance. I would probably need to up the calorie intake a little for that. Probably taking in a little more carb in the diet, primarily in the form of potato. It’s not 100% strict Paleo, but it works for me. Your mileage may vary, but if you’re looking to get lighter for racing I recommend this route.

With Kona not so far off I’ve set myself the goal race weight of 69kg. Hopefully I’ll be there at the start of September so I can get a feel for my performance at that level. It’s lighter than I was in the UK and Roth and closer to my weight as a runner. I think there was room to be lighter at either of those races though.

Today’s post is dedicated to laziness. After a week off training and so much of everything else I normally do it seems appropriate. It’s also a bit of a mix of content as there’s not too much to tell from a seven days spent mostly laying about doing nothing! I do have a chart though.

Binge Eating! I promised myself a week off and time away from the Paleo Diet. I think I delivered on all counts there. I treated myself to a Domino’s Pizza (Full House for those interested). I know, they’re not the best, really that wasn’t the point. It was all about having some greasy, junk food I enjoy. It ticked the boxes on that count. I have eaten a load of cake and I really mean a load. I ate bread for a while, but found it didn’t do much for me. Completely at odds with the avoiding healthy foods I had porridge for a change! Fish and chips, biscuits with my tea, deserts and puddings with my meals… The list could go on.

Unsurprisingly there’s been some weight gain. I expected as much, but trust in my ability to get to race weight. Being back on the carbs I noticed how easy it is to eat a lot. I definitely found that I was hungrier in general and that despite eating a lot of food soon felt hunger once more. Not so surprising with cakes, chocolate and biscuits, but porridge is promoted as giving long lasting energy. An omelette seems to do a much better job in that regard.

Today marks a return to proper Paleo eating. I’m glad to be back! Some of the foods off the diet are fun in moderation. I can’t deny a fondness for cake. Outside of that though I genuinely enjoy Paleo more. The large meals of salad and vegetables and protein emphasis leaves me feeling much fuller. Hopefully it won’t take too long to undo the damage of my binge week!

Ironman UK Bolton Course For those interested I’ve uploaded the course from my GPS. You can download it from GPSies.com. The route is exactly as ridden, 3 laps of the course on the day. Plenty of waypoints so nice and accurate too. I’ve seen people searching for this in my logs so hopefully it’s a help to them.

The Taper

A little bit of a revisit to the subject of my Ironman UK taper. With the advantage of hindsight I guess I can claim it worked! At the very least I can say I was able to achieve my goals. I’ll never know if I could have done better by another route.

Another of my favourite charts – straight from WKO+. I’ve mentioned them before, but to recap we have Acute Training Load (ATL), Chronic Training Load (CTL) and Training Stress Balance (TSB) corresponding to what might be termed fatigue, fitness and form. I’ve referred to Joe Friel’s blog and his views on tapering using this chart before. The aim is to have as high a fitness and form as possible come race day. Tapering reduces fatigue and improves form, unfortunately it also reduces fitness. So objectively the aim is to maximise the improvements in form and minimise the loss of fitness. Friel suggests that you want a taper to result in no more than a 10% decline in fitness.

I’m mentioning these details because if you look at my chart above and follow the CTL (fitness) from a week prior to Challenge Roth through to Ironman UK you’ll notice far more than a 10% drop. I don’t think it’s surprising to find that I couldn’t stick to that guideline racing this close together.

I tapered a single week into Roth and did stick very closely to the 10% reduction in fitness rule. I’d say I raced well in Roth, though felt I wasn’t as free of fatigue as I’d like. Whilst fatigue (ATL) and form (TSB) would suggest I should be pretty fresh. I think the reality of my months of training and racing weren’t showing through.

Immediately following Roth I attempted to follow a plan that had plenty of light training. There were mixed results and I managed to train regularly, but certainly couldn’t manage much in those sessions. The result was there was no chance of limiting myself to a 10% reduction of fitness over that time. CTL declines pretty steadily over those three weeks. What training I did prevented it completely plummeting. In the final week before Ironman UK you can see it plateau a little as I’m able to train a bit more. At this point though the drop off was so large I was no longer concerned about any kind of 10% rule.

Performance on race day was pretty good. I felt none of the fatigue I’d experienced in Roth and definitely felt able to work well throughout the race. I would be hard pressed to identify a loss of real fitness between Roth and the Ironman UK. If there was it was more than compensated by that significant reduction in fatigue. My view is that after many months of high volume training with little break I needed a solid rest. As it happened a three week period of light training between the two races proved ideal.

More about recovery

So I come to a full week off training for even more recovery. You can look back at the chart and see fitness dropping even further! For the past week I’ve felt terrible. My legs have been stiff and once again I’ve been retaining a lot of fluid. I’m curious to find out potential causes of this reaction. It’s only been Roth and Ironman UK where I’ve experienced fluid retention in recovery. Why it’s occurred for both these races, but not before is an interesting question.

With the week now done I’m looking to get myself moving again and very slowly introduce training. Level off the loss of fitness and then start a gradual increase in a couple of weeks time. I wonder if the extensiveness of the taper for Bolton will help in the overall recovery process. Whilst the past week did feel awful I’m starting to feel good now. Hopefully a proper massage tomorrow will have my legs ready to start some exercise.

Generally I’ve bounced back in two to three weeks after a race. I’m looking to be a bit more gradual about it this time. My focus now is on good dietary habits and a bit of weight loss ready for training. I’ll be thinking through the Kona build in a future post.

Today’s picture is courtesy of Helen, go and check more of Helen’s photography or Tom and Helen’s blog. All good stuff as you can see from the awesome race photo.

Effectively I’ve spoilt the ending right from the title! I’m too happy with the result to wait though. Almost exactly one year after going full time I’ve booked my Kona slot! It took a while, but I’ve achieved that particular goal. Just got to remain healthy and get myself there in good shape now! However this is supposed to be the full length race report from Ironman UK.

As mentioned previously I arrived in Bolton on Thursday so I could get ahead with my final race preparations. Various factors made Saturday a little more stressful than I’d like. Poor weather made bike racking a bit more of a process than expected with some confusion as to what was going on. The briefing happening at the (dry) Reebok Stadium also ensured more driving about too. When I eventually got back to the hotel I was feeling pretty tired! Probably a good job as I needed an early night for an even earlier start.

The alarm went off at 3am on Sunday morning, of course I’d woken a few minutes before anyway and was up. The usual routine of race breakfast (Powerbars, bagels and some honey) and getting ready then off to the race start. Got there with plenty of time so quickly had the bike set-up and was ready to go. I felt remarkably calm and relaxed despite the fact this was my last chance to get a Kona slot. Sure I had big goals and expectations, but I knew what to do. I can only assume it’s from racing so much this year, each race is a little less daunting.

At around 5:30 we were herded towards the swim start. With a narrow entrance to the waterway it took a while to get everyone in. I made sure I was up front and in the water early. Whilst it let me warm-up a little and position myself as I wanted it also allowed me to get quite cold! I’m sure I described the water as quite warm the other day. It is when you’re swimming, but floating there you start to feel the temperature. I moved myself about to keep warm and kept a position up front and not too far from the inside of the field.

A short delay to get everyone into the water and then we’re off. I went out fairly hard, but rapidly set into a comfortable and manageable stroke. I’ve been happy with my swimming of late and was feeling strong in the water. Then just after the second turn as I started the next lap I got a cramp in my right calf as someone tapped my foot. Never had that in open water before! I paused and looked up only to be told I should be swimming in the direction I had been swimming in by the guy who’d tapped my foot. I was somewhat bemused by that one!

Experience with calf cramps in the pool have taught me to relax the muscle and let it ease out. I was quickly off again, but nervous as to whether the calf would hold up. I could feel twinges in the muscle and was very aware of where the cramp had occurred. Frustrated by this and being told where I should be swimming I pushed harder. Soon moving into clearer water. The field thinned out around me as the second lap progressed and I had few people to draft off. I felt strong though so wasn’t worried, I was optimistic I was moving up the field.

When I got to shore I nervously stood and found that whilst I could feel the cramp in my calf it wasn’t too bad. So I jogged up the slope at a relatively easy pace. The time on the watch was a shocking 1:08 which left me with no doubt that the swim was long. I knew not to worry about this with plenty of time to claw back positions. Besides it’s not until you see how many bikes are in transition you know how you’re doing anyway. I only need worry if half of the bike racks were empty!

It was a long trip back up to transition so plenty of time to check out how the leg would hold up. So far, so good. My T1 time is pretty poor and I put this down to a couple of things. Firstly I was very tentative in changing – again worried about my calf. Secondly I didn’t prepare my arm warmers well so putting them on damp arms took ages! I won’t make that mistake in the future.

Finally out onto the bike and it was pretty much straight into the climbing. Any plans to keep my heart rate low to start went out the window. A short block of hard riding had me above my planned heart rate ceiling. I did allow myself some spikes on climbing so I wasn’t going to worry. Also I knew there was some good down hills to recover on a little while on. The wind on these faster downhill sections proved to be fairly substantial though! Honestly I prefer that though, t gives me something to work against!

My first lap went by reasonably uneventfully. I was a little bemused by a couple of competitors who during the first 30km went back and forth with me a bit. A lot of the time though they rode parallel chatting and blocking the road. I’m not sure if they thought it was a social ride! Every time I went past them they stuck with me and eventually went ahead. Towards the end of the first lap I finally moved off and left them behind to continue their conversations. Their choice to race like that, but blocking the road was pretty inconsiderate.

The second lap became quite lonely as other riders thinned out. I reassured myself it was a good sign I was well up the field! There were few targets to chase so focussing on my heart rate was a useful tool in managing pace. I was passed by a competitor on a decent TT set-up at some point in this lap. He proved to be useful in helping push me on as I paced myself off him. Somewhere in the third lap I started to really feel good and made a move. The last 30K I pushed hard for a better cycle time. Part of me wondered if I could have pushed sooner and another part worried this would take something from my run.

You’re spared details about heart rate for now as I’ve yet to download it. I think the bike was very slightly on the long side like the swim. Overall I’m happy with my performance there, though still feel I’m taking the bike too easy. I had no problem with my nutrition of Mule bars and High 5 at the intensity and the result is a very solid run so perhaps I’m getting it spot on. During the run I pondered how I need to work to improve my power output at the lower heart rates I race Ironman at. Rather than racing at a harder effort, improving the performance at my Ironman effort is the goal.

I arrived back into T2 with a 5:36 bike ride. Not spectacularly fast, but I suspected respectable for the course. I was glad to have ridden with socks on if only because it meant running through the mud was more comfortable when I left the shoes on the bike (though I was disappointed to see I’d rubbed a hole in the toe of my favourite socks!) Again I didn’t race transition too fast taking my time to get ready. I was relying on compression socks to keep the earlier cramp in check. It had been fine on the bike, but I still worried!

Nerves seem to have defined my race. I spent most of it concerned I was either going too easy or too hard, eating enough or too little… The list could go on. Whilst I hadn’t had those pre-race nerves to deal with it was almost like I was running scared. A simple mistake could ruin any chance of making the podium and having a chance at Kona. I focussed on sticking to my plan and trusting it would work. There was nothing else I could do, I was relying on having portioned my effort and nutrition to allow a strong run.

Getting out onto the run my calf was fine and I settled into my rhythm at a comfortable aerobic pace. It soon became apparent there wasn’t a marker for the first mile. It didn’t take that much longer to realise I wasn’t going to be able to track my pace this time. I didn’t panic I’d keep going by effort – ultimately that’s all I could do. I moved past a handful of runners in the first few miles and then it was pretty lonely until I started seeing the pros coming the other way. To keep things interesting I counted them hoping to work out my place. Unfortunately the convoluted route in Queen’s Park put a stop to that.

At this point I knew I was somewhere in the low 20s and also now that I was heading back knew how close my nearest competitors were. I consciously put a little bit more effort in wanting a bit more gap. All the time not wanting to blow myself up. Whilst my legs ached I reminded myself that I’d conserved a lot of energy, was well rested into this race and was keeping my nutrition up. I had nothing to fear and should keep working, no slacking off.

Back at the far turn around I caught another couple of runners. With no markings for those on the final lap I could no longer gauge my competition. A young athlete came past me quickly so I picked up pace a little, but clearly couldn’t match it. I hoped he was on his first lap so still fresh! A bit further along a woman came past at a good pace and I pushed myself to go a bit harder. Looking at my watch it was 2:30 and I figured I probably had 40 to 50 minutes to go. It was time to push to the end like in Roth.

I regained some ground on the woman who’d passed me. On the nasty climb out from the canal I overtook the young guy who’d been running so well earlier, clearly he’d been going far too hard. Then I passed the woman on the way into the park for the second time. She too had lost some of her pace. I was also pleased to have passed one of the pro men, that’s less common! Further into the park and I pass another pro woman and know I’m moving up the field. I kept pushing harder, even up the tough little climbs. With no idea how much further the finish line was from the park I was trusting I could hold out.

Coming to the end of the park section I was going full out. I kept the pace high through the back streets hoping I didn’t have far to go. Asking how much further of marshals and spectators did little to clear things up. I was committed now and had no choice, but to keep going. Then there it was, the finish line! I kept the pace up down the chute, relieved to be coming to the end and already happy with my performance. Credit has to be given for a spectacular finish line even if I can remember little of it!

That was it, race done! My final time was 10:04:47, not a PB, but on such a challenging course a decent result. I got my medal, hat and t-shirt. Then I realised I could check my position from how many t-shirts had been handed out. More importantly I could get an idea of my age group position! I was pleased that it looked like third. I’d made the podium. A check of my phone confirmed this along with a message to let me now that the Kona slot would roll one and I’d get it! To top it all off my run time was under 3:10 and well up in the field!

I spent the rest of that day satisfied with my performance and looking forward to the awards ceremony. After that it was just waiting till earlier today when I got my award, my first ever Ironman trophy! I was happy enough with that, but then got to top it off by accepting my Kona slot! It was never planned this way, but in the end it was my last chance that delivered me the spot. Now I can’t wait to get out there in October!

I should go to bed… First a very quick report.

The top-line figures: Overall 10:04:47 for 24th overall and 3rd in my age group!

The Swim: Firstly it was long, very long. That’s the main reason I took 1:08. Given that time put me 112th in the field I hope that confirms the length! Only issue was a calf cramp at the turn around for the second lap. Never happened before and left me much concerned I’d suffer on the bike or run. I was tentative in T1 running slowly to the transition tent and carefully getting changed.

The Bike: Challenging is definitely the right word for it. This is not a fast course by any means. A combination of the constant undulations and climbs and strong winds. I worked to keep to my goal heart rate zone and whilst I’ve been too lazy to download the data (you’ll get charts another time) I think I did a better job at this. As I so often find the later laps felt better and I really pushed the final 30km to transition. My 5:36 did a good job of moving me further up the field.

The Run: I felt fine as I set off on the run. A little worried maybe I’d pushed to hard on the bike or spent too much time out of the saddle. Pushing that aside I settled into a comfortable pace. Biggest frustration was the complete lack of distance markers making it impossible to track pace. So I stuck to feel. The run course has a few nasty up hills to contend with, but also it’s share of faster down hill sections. Somewhere around 2:30 into the run I decided to push and see what happens. I had no idea how far in I was, but figured I had 40 to 50 minutes to go. It paid off and I did my first sub-3:10 Ironman marathon. Very pleased with that and once again I finished strong.

Hawaii? There are two slots allocated to my age group as far as I’m aware. I’ve been informed that Alex Brooks, who took second place in my age group already has a slot. If that’s the case as long as I’m at the roll down to take the place I’m going! Hopefully I’ll be posting the news tomorrow!

Bed time now.