Trains, Travels

Travelling halfway round the world leaves me with little training to mention, but plenty of travel. The time I’ve spent since arriving home has mostly involved recovery. Three days since I’ve landed and at last my legs aren’t balloons! Whether I’m on the way to synchronising with the new timezone is another matter entirely. Throwing in a shift to daylight saving didn’t help either!

I stick to a principle of getting to check-in early. The theory is that if you’re there nice and early the staff are more lenient when it comes to your luggage. Alternatively turning up at the last minute can work too as they rush to get you on the plane. Personally I don’t have the nerve to follow the latter option as a strategy. When my airport shuttle hadn’t shown up at the hotel 15 minutes after it was due I beginning to think I’d forced that way anyway.

Just as I was heading to a taxi rank figuring out how my bike bag would fit in a hatchback the shuttle arrived. I was the last pick-up so at least we were straight to the airport from there. Once we’d arrive there was one final delay as it turned out the driver hadn’t thought to carry any change. When you charge $15 from the city to the airport I’d have thought a collection of $5 notes was essential.

Normally flying BA makes the issue of excess luggage simple. There’s a fixed charge for excess bags and a flat fee regardless of weight. Whilst I’d booked through BA I was flying with Qantas all the way and would be subject to there terms. Qantas operate a much less triathlete friendly system of charging $50 Australian per excess kilogram for long haul. With an allowance of 23kg and bringing a bike and kit home it’s pretty much inevitable I’ll get hit.

A couple of weeks before I’d worked out that I probably had close to 40kg in New Zealand. With Qantas I’d be looking at $850 Australian to get it all home. I spent the last fortnight packing and posting as much as I could. From what was left I’d put as much of the heavy stuff as I could into my hand luggage. The huge Blueseventy backpack I’d got on Epic Camp came in handy there.

At check-in my bags weighed about 30kg once they’d rounded up. Seven kilos excess, more than I’d hoped, but nothing to be done now. It also transpired that whilst there was a gap between landing in Sydney and flying home my ticket wouldn’t allow me to leave the airport without paying an additional fee. Not savouring the idea of nine hours in a terminal I reluctantly went to the ticket office to pay.

Meanwhile the attendant checked my bags in and somehow calculated my excess luggage fee at twice what it should be! When he brought that over to the ticket office I was quick to point the error out. It was bad enough at the correct rate let alone with his mark-up. Some discussion followed in which we established the error in his calculation and the fact I normally paid a fixed fee with BA.

Whether it was a genuine mistake or not, the man at the ticket office looked up the Qantas rate. Sure enough it said $50 Australian per kilogram, but apparently he missed that second part. Instead he charged me a straight fee of $50 Oz for having excess luggage. I knew it was wrong, but this wasn’t the time to prove superior knowledge of Qantas charges. Instead a nervous few minutes playing dumb followed fearing the mistake might be spotted any moment.

From there to Sydney was plain sailing. I’d been put in an exit row and had plenty of leg room. When we landed my name was called out to contact a member of crew. I worried they’d figured out the massive undercharge on my bike bag! It turned out the flight home was heavily delayed.

When I flew back from Kona there was a call for passengers to move to later flights. The airline would put you up in a hotel and pay you for doing this. Unusually I was on a deadline and couldn’t volunteer. Normally not working makes it easier to change my schedule. At the time I made a mental note that if the option came up again I should go for it.

These delays weren’t that serious, but to keep me happy Qantas had booked me a room in a hotel and would pay for dinner too. I’d intended to go into the city (and paid for the privilege) so all of this was a bonus. I headed in, dumped my bags off and caught up with friends as planned. All with the added benefit of a few extra hours and a decent shower and meal before returning for my flight.

When I got back to the airport further delays kept us waiting another couple of hours. I couldn’t have spent 15 hours stuck there especially when half the shops were closed for refurbishment. It seems that whilst they’d been late getting a plane they were now hurrying through fixing a problem with a landing gear. I did wonder if hurrying to fix an issue was really that reassuring.

I don’t know what this says, but I was actually excited that we were returning on a new Airbus A380. It’s just a plane and I’m still in cattle class, but I’d never been on one. If you’re going to be stuck on something for the next 20 hours it’s best to be positive. I think we might have got a bit more leg room than other planes it’s hard to be certain though.

I got through the flight thanks to a decent set of movies, decent food by airplane standards and a neighbour who happily gave up any of her unwanted meals! Very kind, but not helping my plan of avoiding overeating whilst travelling. I’m terrible for boredom eating so once I learnt where the snacks were available I was there between films.

Over five hours late into the UK with a final few frustrating delays as the plane taxied to a free gate. At least I was back home. My bags had turned up too and clearly I’d got away without having to pay much for the excess luggage. All in all a good result.

I’ve followed my usual plan for dealing with jetlag. Go to bed at the appropriate local time and pretend it doesn’t exist. At the least it works in getting my sleep synchronised, admittedly I’m still feeling tired today. I’ve noticed that my legs are still swollen from all the time on the plane. Hopefully I’ll see my ankles properly in the next few days. It makes me suspect it’s a combination of a race and the travel that makes me swell up for so long after an event.

To make things more complicated I also threw in a half-marathon on Sunday. Not strictly a race as I ran as a pacer. Having to pace 8 minute miles was a different kind of challenging and without a Garmin I was still accurate enough. I did finish with my slowest half-marathon time ever, but it was great to have helped others achieve their race goals.

Now it’s back to normal training. Over coming my dislike for cold and wet weather and settling into a routine. There’s three weeks to get myself ready for the hard work to come in Lanzarote.

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A few years back I hated change. The ideal world would see everything remaining just the way I’d like it predictable and ordered. I say all this having not stayed in one place for more than a few months in the past two years. Things do change.

Here I am again at a period of change. All packed up and with one final night in Wellington before I head back to the UK. As always there’s mixed feelings there’s a lot I like about New Zealand, but then there’s plenty I miss from home. Let’s be honest once I land back home it’s only three weeks and I’m off to Lanzarote!

There’s a lot more change to come. Right from the start of my journey I’ve had things tightly plotted out. Races entered twelve months in advance, tickets booked, somewhere to stay… I may have been moving a lot, but it was well planned. Check my schedule and you’ll see it’s suddenly looking pretty blank. For once I can’t tell you exactly what I’ll be doing over the next year.

The question I’m most commonly asked is how I afford to do all of this. My answer to that is changing. Unfortunately I’m not independently wealthy and their are limits to my funds! Once I’m back in the UK it’s time to start addressing the bank balance a bit more. The horrible truth is I’m going to have to do a bit of work!

I’m not expecting sympathy. Actually I’m looking forward to what’s ahead. There’s a lot of potential on the horizon, but not too many definites. I can say my aim is to build a lifestyle still focussed on training. I’ve come a long way in these last two years and feel there’s more to come. I’m not giving up now.

I’ve mentioned before a long term objective of achieving a sustainable lifestyle within the world of endurance sports. I started down that path with my coaching and I’ll be continuing further down that route in the coming months. I’m looking to achieve a balance whereby I can work just enough to support my continued development as an athlete.

My first step will be working with the guys at the Tri20 Swim Centre in Reading. Aside from helping out at the lake I’ll be running some training camps in the Dordogne. If you’re thinking about training camps over the summer check them out. The aim is to provide everything from start to finish so all you need to worry about is training. I’ll be on hand to guide training and help plan sessions for the week. Of course how much you do is entirely up to you.

It’s certainly going to change the way I structure my training. I’m hoping it might introduce a bit of discipline again. I may pack in a lot of training in a week, but I’ll admit without work my time management isn’t what it used to be. Can’t do any harm to get on top of that again and be a little more efficient.

For now though the focus is Lanzarote. Once I’m back in the UK it’s all about the build. I’ll be getting back into hard training and preparing myself to break 10 hours there. I want to get back on the age group podium too! Let’s not be shy with our goals.

These past few weeks have been a little easier than I’d intended. In fact my original plan was to almost train through New Zealand. Things didn’t quite work out that way, but it’s not been an entire waste. I opted for a swim focus and I mean a focus. Last week I managed 41km in the pool! That’ a record for me and remarkably despite fatigue by the end of the week I started hitting very comfortable sub-1:30 100s.

Two months of a lot of swimming seems to be paying off. It’s easy to accept a 1 hour swim as good enough, but the reality is if I want to progress further I need more. Coming out of the water in 55 minutes would make a massive difference to my position and the way the bike would play out. That’s the goal to keep working till I can swim at least a 55 in an Ironman.

It’s getting late and I have to get up early for my flight. Next time I post it’ll be back in the UK. One last change to mention – I promise to get back into the blogging habit. Less of the silent treatment.

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I’ve had a few days taking it easy, thinking things over and considering my race. I’ve already written up race reports for Triathlete Europe and Tri247 so I’m going to focus on performance in this blog.

When I signed up for Ironman New Zealand I’d assumed it would be my main chance at Kona qualification. With that done the focus for New Zealand changed. For a while it was a bit lost, probably just to get a podium finish in my age group. When I wrote my targets the day before the race, that was the goal. More broadly though the race was a chance to test my fitness and training so far this year. Was the work I’ve been putting in doing any good or was I just playing?

I was keen to test the value of my recent swim training. A change in approach and attitude appeared to have yielded results in the pool, but could I translate that to a race? I’d ridden more than I’d ever manage in the past two months. There’d been plenty of hard work so could I push more on the bike? My run fitness has been all over the place. Had the big push in run volume earlier in the month done enough?

I’m not going to call it a training race. I went in with the aim of racing as hard as I could. No holding back. I wanted to see where my fitness was, how I’m racing now and come away knowing I could build on this.

Swim

The big aim for this race was to come in under 1 hour for the swim and I certainly achieved that. I know a fast course helped a little, but I’m still pleased. Comparing my placing with my result in Western Australia I clearly moved up the field. From finishing in the top 22% in Busselton to the top 16% in Taupo.

I’ll admit the problem with that statistic is there are many variables involved. Choice of starting position, the field in general or the line I swam. If you take the average swim times from those two races New Zealand is about two minutes faster. I’m not disheartened by this.

In Taupo I swam at an average of 1:31 per 100m and it felt comfortable. Not just a matter of drafting, I noted that when I lost feet I could easily get back on. I’m certain I was moving through the water much better than I have done in the past. At the very least I didn’t feel I was expending as much energy for the pace and came out of the water feeling fresh.

It’s exactly what I wanted to start out my year. A confidence booster and makes me feel the 100km of swimming I put in in February was worth it. Of course it sets a new goal for future races and also a precedent for training. To keep improving I’m going to need to keep the pool time up.

Bike

I’d checked my power numbers from recent rides and felt certain I should aim for a slightly higher race wattage. Not that I particularly focus on holding a number during a race they’re more of a guide. I watch power, heart rate and with perceived exertion try to manage my effort. Largely looking to avoid extreme spikes of effort or dropping off the pace.

Ironman New Zealand’s results pages divides the bike course up into four 45km sections. The first and third quarter are outward bound starting with hills in town then flat after a good downhill. For 2010 there was a solid tailwind for a lot of the way too. The second and fourth quarters are back into that wind and have a more gradual uphill before some fast descents in town.

The first quarter being straight out of the swim and with early climbing my heart rate started out high. Once past the hills, with the wind behind me it very quickly settled as effort levels eased. Whilst climbing I’d watched power to ensure I avoided setting new records this early in the day. Once the terrain had eased it was useful for ensuring I kept my work rate up.

With the elevated start my heart rate averaged out at around 143bpm for this section. Towards the high end of where I race, but not surprisingly so. At that point the wind was only starting to build and the going was easy. My power averaged 215W with the climbs yielding a higher normalised power of 225W.

The second quarter from the turn around and back sees my heart rate drop a little to around 138bpm. That’s pretty comfortable racing territory for it. I felt flat during this part of the race like I lacked some drive. Now I was riding into a headwind the reality was I was working harder – averaging 221W with a normalised power of 230W. It seems the reason I felt worse was a few extra watts!

Into the third quarter and once again it’s the climbs out of Taupo. The second lap is slightly different to the first throwing in a bit more climbing and making us work into the wind for some of the outward journey. Early into this part of the race I came good and started to push more. The result was an average power of 218W and a normalised power of 228W. Not too much of a fall from the second quarter despite the tailwind.

From the last turn around home it was all into strong winds. My heart rate rose back up from the high 130s and into the low 140s. More importantly my power rose to average 230W with a normalised figure of 240W. That’s certainly the strongest sustained period of riding I’ve recorded over an Ironman distance. I worked hills hard and kept pushing till the downhills into town.

Overall I averaged about 221W with a normalised figure of 230W. It’s up there with my performance at Roth from last year. It’s similar to my performance in Western Australia, but with a bit more variance in the power. The perfectly flat course in Busselton gave matching average and normalised power values around 220W.

Whilst this doesn’t point to radical improvements on the bike (yet) I did learn a few lessons from the race. Firstly I can push harder than I might think and without too much trouble. Secondly if I want to do that I need to maintain a steady stream of nutrition focussing on regular intervals for eating. If you feel that you’re not riding well it probably means you’re pushing or you need to eat!

For future races I’ll be adopting a more regular feeding strategy and starting it earlier. Really looking to take in some calories very early on the bike and then keep topping up every fifth-teen minutes or so.

Run

I’ll be honest I wasn’t that happy with my run. Like Western Australia my overall run placing sounds great 31st there and 33rd fastest here. I’m capable of faster than a 3:20 though.

I knew my run could be a weakness. I wasn’t at my best racing weight. I’d edged closer to Roth Weight, but still had a few kilos to go before Hawaii weight. This would obviously have some impact, but equally the run training up till now had not been as significant as into Hawaii.

Since Hawaii I’d struggled to settle into a good period of run build. Partly the fault of running the Perth Long Distance Worlds two weeks later. My legs were in no shape to be racing so soon and I paid with another lost week of good running. Western Australia hadn’t had great preparation and I felt I’d got through on mental toughness!

Epic Camp this year had allowed me to get a couple of reasonable run weeks. From there I worked on building up run fitness aggressively. Possibly too aggressively as after three weeks of hard work I struggled for a week or two. Not injured, but finding my legs constantly aching and it hard to combine good run and bike training. My run volume cut back and my taper was effectively started earlier than planned. I missed a couple of longer runs I would have liked to have in my legs.

No excuses though. I’ve two things to take from this. Firstly it’s I need to get down to Kona weight again as it works for me. Secondly I need to focus on a period of consistent running before really pushing things again. When I do push I’ve got to keep the block short and not go too far with it.

I went out onto the first lap of the run feeling good and I let myself go at a harder pace than usual. Much as I knew that the early kilometres always feel fine I didn’t reign things in. Instead I decided to see what happens. I really paid for it during the second lap. Tthere was some slowing on the latter half of lap one, but the first half of lap two was shocking.

With hills and a headwind the pace dropped well under 5:00 kilometres a few times. Given I was able to pick this back up and run with others I wonder how much was mental focus or low energy? Could I have pushed a little bit more or perhaps I’d not taken on enough gels in the earlier parts of the run.

Worth noting is I think I did the bike on the least amount of food ever. Funnily enough it was also the most energetically expensive race I’ve been in. I was likely entering the run on a greater calorie deficit than I’m used to. There’s room to take on more gels on the run and I should probably focus on doing that more in the early stages.

Overall

I’m happy with how the race went. It’s close to where I hoped to be and certainly a good sign of how the year has started out. I also felt I learnt a lot throughout the day. Probably the biggest lesson related to nutrition. The need to start early and often. Not taking in too much at a time, but regularly taking something on board. I think my past tendency has been to go far too long between feeding and to consume too much at once.

I clearly need to get my run together. Sure it does well in the overall field, but it could be pushing me further forward. The great run shape of 2009 came from the back of lots of steady mileage plus very regular run racing. I’m going to look to do the same over the coming year. Plenty of miles plus regular speed work. As for the rest it’s more hours in the pool and more hours on the bike. I’ll keep hunting out the hills for the latter and working myself hard.

It’s about time to get back into things and focus on Lanzarote.

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