Triathlon Season

This Weekend

2010-02-25T04:11:00.000-08:00

Thought I’d give an idea of what a training weekend looks like on a full volume training week. Some people might think it’s pretty light, some might think its pretty intense. For me it’s an excellent mix of activities, that leaves me pretty tired at the end of the weekend and well set up for a good night’s sleep on Sunday. This particular schedule constitutes what I’ll be getting up to this weekend;;

FRIDAY NIGHT; 3km Time Trial. This is all over very quickly, but hurts like hell. It’s maximum effort on the treadmill for 10 minutes. My heart rate will spike to about 185 beats per minute (95% of its maximum), and lactic acid build up in the latter stages will be excruciatingly painful. I’ll sweat an awful lot, and be very close to collapse at the end of the session. A workout that’s all about speed.

After the run, it’ll be home for some food, and a bit of rest and relaxation. The only other session I’ll do is a very brief situp group, of around 50 situps. After that I’ll be taking it easy until bedtime.

SATURDAY; 2 Hour Ride. This is done from 10:00 – 12:00. The course goes over the upland Charnwood Forest, and encompasses some serious hills, with a couple of thousand feet of ascent involved. The pace will be moderate, it’s all about time in the saddle rather than speed over this distance. I’ll keep to an average speed of just over 17mph. My heart rate won’t go much above 164 (84% of maximum), and for the most part will be around 140 (72% of maximum).

After the ride, I’ll have a swift shower, get some food on board and put my feet up for a little while before heading out to the gym.

1800m Swim. This is a technique and time trial session. I’ll do a 400m warm up, then technique work, and then a time trial. I won’t go flat out in the time trial, but will push myself hard, trying to incorporate some of the technique work I’ve done earlier in the session. Not a huge swim, but my big volume swims are with the club on Wed and Thursday (3000m and 2800m respectively).

After the swim it’s a rapid turnaround, more food on board, before loading the car in readiness to depart for Wales. Just before I go I’ll work in a swift pressup set (50 all told). In my car will be a rucksack full of my mountaineering kit, some food, and a running pack. I’ll get to the Youth Hostel for 19:30, get a bit more food on board, and then hit the rack at 9.

SUNDAY; Early start at 5. I’ll (quietly hopefully) leave the bunk room, and get some breakfast in me. It’ll be then time for the first session on the day at 6.

90 Minute Run. This is a steady run, across mountainous terrain. I won’t push the pace at all, but will instead grind out the distance at a moderate speed, probably watching the terrain a bit more than usual as it’ll be icy at height. Running kit will be a bit more technical than for my weekday runs. I’ll have a running pack with a water reservoir, a map in the bag, a headtorch on, a waterproof outer jacket over my base layer, and waterproof fell running trainers on. Always a bit uncomfortable at first, these runs are made worthwhile when you get to be one of the few to see the sun rise over the mountain tops.

6 Hour Hike. After the run it’ll be back to the car to get changed into my hiking kit. Ice and crampons will be a must at 3000ft in the Snowdonia winter. I’ll cram in some more food, and then set off up the mountain. The hike will be a good 6 hours, covering three mountains in total (two of 2500ft + and one monster, Glyder Fach, at over 3200ft). Forecast isn’t good, so good navigation is a must, otherwise it gets dangerous. I’ll have a rucksack on with full safety kit, and a couple of weights tossed in for good measure. It’ll be a good low intensity high endurance workout, which will complement my earlier run nicely.

After the hike I’ll load up the car, and head back to Leicester, eating my lunch along the way and stopping for a 30 minute kip along the way if needed. Once back in Leicester I’ll unload, unpack, and have another snack, before cracking out 50 situps and working through some Takewondo patterns. After a long shower, I’ll put my feet up, crack open a beer and put a film on, a good weekend of training in the bag.
That’s the plan anyway…

25/02/2010

Birthday weekend

2010-02-22T03:16:00.000-08:00

Excellent weekend, seemed to fit a lot in! It was a rest weekend, though I still got a fair bit of exercise in. Headed into the Lakes on Saturday morning to do a few mountains with Sarah. We did the first part of the Kentmere Horseshoe, eight miles in total, with three 2500ft-ish mountains into the mix. Stunning views of Windemere and the Eastern Lake District, and plenty of snow on the top. We ascended from Kentmere up the Gaburn pass, then followed the ridge route across the summits of Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick. The only problem with the day was the descent from the final mountain, Froswick. It was a very steep descent into Kentmere valley, and Sarah ended up coming down it far too fast, through no fault of her own. She hammered into me, but I couldn’t break the fall much, and we eventually came to a rest about 200 metres down the slope, with Sarah having taken a hell of a knock on her arm from a rock. Fortunately a trip to A&E subsequently confirmed it was just bad bruising as opposed to a break. Still, quite a hairy moment, especially once a rock had jarred by ice axe from my hand as I tried to self arrest us both.

I got some great photographs from the day, and will load a few of the best up when I get a moment. Leicester seems more than usually ugly when you’ve recently spent a day staring at views from over 2000ft up in the sky. Didn’t do a big run on Sunday as it was my rest week, though I did go for a short 30 minute steady run through the snow in York at just over 7 minute mile pace. Felt fine, probably due to the slow pace.

This week is much more of an epic. The weekend in particular should be a good test. 2 hours of cycling in the Charnwood Hills on Saturday morning, followed by a 1800m swim in the afternoon. In the evening I’m heading to Capel Curig in Snowdonia for a kip at the youth hostel. Up bright and early (5 o’clock) on Sunday morning for a 90:00 fell run, and a 6 hour hike up the 3200ft+ Glyder Fach (with a couple of 2500+ peaks thrown in for good measure), before returning back to Leicester for food and a huge, huge sleep. All good.

22/02/2010

Rest Week

2010-02-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

Time for a rest week again. It's been a good three weeks of tough training, and my endurance is definitely where it needs to be, though I could use a little top end speed on all three disciplines. That should come over the course of March / beginning of April as I tune up for race season.

Good few sessions at the weekend. I did a 2 hour bike ride from York, heading towards Helmsley, including one leg sapping climb for about 5km up to the village of Brandsby. Felt fine other than the usual numb backside that afflicts anyone stupid enough to hop on a road bike for over fifteen minutes. 1800m swim on Saturday afternoon went well too, a decent 5:33 for a 400m (obviously not flat out), which followed some 800m of technique work. An 80 minute run on Sunday morning rounded the weekend out training wise, and this felt good too (a multi terrain flattish x country route), though of course it should have done since the pace was laid back (7:15/mile).

Spent the rest of the weekend watching the Winter Olympics with Sarah. Which idiot/brave soul looked at a giant cliff and thought it would be a good idea to jump off it with a pair of skis (thus inventing ski jump). Similar questions could be asked in relation to skeleton, bobsleigh, luge, curling...in fact, most of the sports there.

16/02/2010

X-Country - Mud and Hills

2010-02-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

In a huge shock, I now have a tidy flat. Genuinely tidy, not ‘everything crammed into areas where I don’t usually look’ tidy. It’s quite a novel feeling, and almost certainly won’t last more than a week, but in the interim I intend to enjoy the feeling of not thinking I’m going to trip over and fall every time I head to the loo in the night.

Last weekend was good, even if it was spent mainly in Leicester, a place which becomes more and more aesthetically displeasing the longer you stay here. I had a solid ten hours sleep on Saturday, more because I wanted a lie in than because I needed all of it. It was a bit of a struggle to get on the bike if truth be told, and at thirty minutes in to my steady, very hilly ride, I was not feeling remotely enthusiastic. As time went on the situation improved, and by the end I averaged 17 mph for the two hours I spent in the saddle of my heavy(ish) training bike. Obviously this is pretty slow going, but the terrain was serious (a couple of thousand feet of ascent), and it was an endurance ride, not a time trial.

Had a good swim on Saturday afternoon too, though the presence of a one length wonder in the lane next to me got on my nerves. He’d wait until I was midway through a 100m pull buoy set, then storm out a length, finish at the same time as me and brag to his girlfriend that he’d done something impressive. Any moron can crash out 25 metres in 20 seconds, but it’s keeping it up, length in length out for long periods that counts. I took it easy on my 8 x 100m Pull Buoy set, concentrating on technique alone, and not going for any kind of speed. I averaged 1:21/100m, which was pretty tidy. The 500m time trial followed, and I felt good, despite the kilometre and a bit of swimming I’d already done. I timed in with a very pleasing 6:54. Would be quite interesting to know what I could get going absolutely full tilt, but there’s little point in a triathlete doing that – we need something left in the tank for the bike and run.

Race day on Sunday morning. Decent weather – an overcast five degrees, good running conditions. The course was very hilly, with thick mud in places. A proper multi-terrain cross country. Ten miles was the nominal distance, though the GPS equipped runners reported 10.35, so that’s the time I’ll use for stats. I set off at a comfortable pace, with about 40 of the 400 strong field in front of me. Every time I race I’m amazed by how many people, decent club runners included, over estimate their own speed. Very strong field, and a lot of people clearly thought they were Olympic beaters, as they went off at a rate of knots only to be hammered by better club runners. I settled quickly, and made up a lot of places. Eventually finished 17th, not a bad day at the office for a triathlete taking part in a run race. Averaged about 6:52/mile, pedestrian on the flat, but for a very hilly, muddy x-country ten miler, I was happy.

It’s been a decent week too, with a personal set over a hilly 9k tempo run, and the usual disgusting sweat fest on the turbo trainer. Swimming has been tough, as I’ve lead the fast lane out on Wednesday and Thursday night – always more tiring than sitting on someone’s heels. I’m getting in just under 10km of swimming a week at the moment, together with about 100km cycling (not including the 30km of work commute) and about 30km of running, so endurance wise I’m in OK shape. It’ll soon be time to start upping the speed though, which’ll be a pain fest.

Leaving Leicester for York this evening, so it’s from the sublime to the ridiculous in terms of aesthetics.

12/02/2010

Feeling better

2010-02-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day can make. Or a night in this case. I slept
really well, and got over nine hours, and it's flooded my enthusiasm
back. Actually looked forward to my run this morning, a fartlek
(different bursts of speed randomly interspersed) 9km. It showed too, I
finished only 8 seconds off a PB, and felt like I had stuff left in the
tank. Hopefully when I do my tempo (constant relatively high speed
running) session over this distance next week, I'll set a new PB.
Provided, of course, that I get my sleep the night before. Hopefully my
enthusiasm will translate into a good swim session with the club tonight
(3000m and more I hope, I'm at a work event tomorrow night so can't make
the Thursday night session, and as such want a punishing one tonight!).

I was doing some statistic work on my mountaineering earlier, and
realised something. Raise, the final mountain I did on my hike on
Sunday, was the 100th mountain I've ever climbed. Admittedly, I've
visited peaks far more than 100 times, but sometimes that includes
redoing a peak I've already bagged. Raise was the 100th individual and
separate summit. So a fairly big moment, and one that I didn't realise I
was doing. If I had to decide on my favourite hikes, I'd probably list
my top five, in no particular order, as;

- Skiddaw in winter, from Longside Edge, including Ullock Pick,
Longside, Carlside and Bakestall (see photograph). A good number of
peaks, brilliant views of Skiddaw Forest, and some decent winter
mountaineering work.

- Mount Warning in the Great Dividing Range in spring, Australia. One of
the most unique looking peaks I've climbed, with amazing views from the
top and lush sub tropical rainforest on the way up. Big too, by UK
standards (3800ft).

- The Yorkshire Three Peaks in winter. Clear views in the main, and a
long and demanding hike across three very different mountains, finishing
up with a great pint of Theakston's Old Peculiar in a local pub in
Horton in Ribblesdale.

- Rannerdale Knotts in winter. A long time ago, but a good family outing
in thick snow up a small but attractive mountain on the shore of
Crummock.

- Catstycam in winter. A proper mountain, pyramidcal in shape with steep
drop on it's north side. This one require ice axe and crampons skills,
as did the ridge of Swirral Edge linking it to Helvellyn. A good
challenge.

03/02/2010

Danger in the mountains

2010-02-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

Morning all,

I need to be careful. Whilst the weekend was a fantastic endurance challenge, it’s taken quite a lot out of me. I got about nine and half hours sleep on Sunday night, and another nine last night, yet still feel very tired. I’m going to try and get another nine and half tonight after my turbo session, which will hopefully put me back on an even keel in preparation for the run up to next weekend’s race (more on that later).

The reason why I suddenly raise the issue of being tired is one because I was yawning none stop this morning and two because my first session of the week, a swift 1700m swim, yielded disappointing times. The main set was 5 x 250m on 4:00, and I really struggled to get my times down. I was feeling the water OK, and to be fair not going too slowly, but I was a long way off (maybe 8 seconds per set) where I should be. Disappointing. I was beginning to speed up to where I would expect to be by the final set, but that was too little, too late.

The race at the weekend is the Stourbridge Stagger, a cross country ten miler in the West Midlands. Last year there was 400 entrants, and a lot of those were pretty high calibre athletes from the looks of last year’s results. The winner last year is a multiple marathon victor, who won the undulating Shakespeare Marathon in 2009 in a fearsome 2 hours and 39. His time in the 10 mile stagger was 1:03:19. If I can finish within 10 minutes of him, I’ll consider it a very strong race for me. So that’s my target – 1:13:19 (provided of course it’s the same course as last year!). On last year’s results that’d place me in the top 25, which I’d be satisfied with. Anything more than that would be a big bonus, of course, but only race day will tell what sort of shape I’m in.

Right now I’m not actually very enthusiastic about the race – I’d rather be heading up to York to see Sarah and spending the weekend there. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things have panned out, so to Stourbridge I must go. I think a bit of overtraining hasn’t helped my enthusiasm levels, so hopefully I’ll feel better after a good rest.

I think I’m feeling a bit sober too because I found out that a young lad my age who was climbing exactly the same mountain as me in the Lakes on Sunday (Catsycam) fell 600ft and smashed his leg up - http://www.mountainrescue.org.uk/news/2010_004/

It’s definitely dangerous out in the snow and ice, but always a bit of a shock when something like that happens right next to you. I never saw the fall, but he must have ascended from the Keppel Cove side about two hours after I was on the top, judging from the time I saw the Sea King rescue helicopter. I would have been coming down Raise at the time, less than a KM away, and I didn’t hear a damn thing. If I’d be looking in the right direction, I would have seen the fall. Unfortunately it’s a compound fracture, meaning it went through the skin. I suppose after falling 200 metres, the plus side is he’s lucky to be alive. Must have been terrifying. I never even thought about falling when I was on Swirral Edge, but there’s always a danger. Someone died on Great Gable in the Western fells on Sunday too, and another guy was seriously injured. Not a good day for safety.

02/02/2010

Busy weekend

2010-01-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a hectic weekend (maybe epic is the word), though I'm safely back in my flat (and exhausted with it) now. Headed up North to my parent's house on Friday evening, getting there at 11. A swift bite to eat and bed, in preparation for a comfortable 2 hour bike ride on Saturday. Perfect.

Or not. Saturday morning comes, and there's snow eveyrwhere. The road outside my parents house looks impassable, but I pop on my cycling kit (not snow-specification) and head out. 30 minutes later and I'm dying. Every part of me is cold - my hands and feet especially. I struggle on for another 45 minutes, reaching Stokesley, before I call it a day, for the sake of my fingers if nothing else. Still a good 40k ride in total, at a very slow pace (ice everywhere); I was in the saddle for 90 minutes, so it's decent endurance work despite the problems.

Back home, and its a quick changearound, a slice of chocolate cake (another winner from mum) before heading to the pool. 1800m is the session - a 400m warm up, 6 x 100m technique work on 1:50 second intervals, finishing with a 750m TT and a 50m warm down. Didn't have any energy - due to the lack of a real meal between cycling and swimming. So I was relying on technique alone. Enough to get semi decent times, but nothing to write home about. My 750m TT was 15 seconds off a PB mind, so hardly a shocker.

Back home again, and a proper meal (chicke and ostrich - it works, trust me, and potatos). I stuffed myself - say one thing for my parent's house, say I'm never underfed! I went to town on the carbohydrate, knowing I'd be burning a lot of calories on Sunday morning...

At 6pm I loaded my car and headed across the North Pennines to the Lake District. A clear and cold night hinted at good conditions for hiking the next morning - running on the ice would be less fun. The Youth Hostel was decent, though the room was a little onthe warm side, and my sleep patterns weren't helped by a front runner for the year's loudest snorer awards. I woke at four, and slipped out of the bedroom and into my running gear. A quick breakfast went down well, and then I stepped out into the night. And boy was it cold. Well into minus figures even at 900ft, and dropping faster the higher I ran. I did a steady 75 minutes, and felt pretty comfortable, although some of the steeper sections towards Red Tarn at 2000ft were punishing. Back to the Youth Hostel, and there were a couple of climbers heading up Helvellyn's gully's, so I gave them a condition report based on what I'd seen. Then it was out into the hills. Long story short - four mountains, two over 2800ft, one over 2900ft and one over 3000ft. All of them were completed without too much trouble - navigation was absolutely fine, even in cloud cover. Great views. The picture above is of Catsycam - first peak up, taken from the flank of the fourth peak, Raise.

Good weekend - time to catch my breath now.

31/01/2010

Chlorine Poisoning

2010-01-29T01:05:00.000-08:00

I don't care how many babies have widdled in a pool, there is no need to dose it up with the level of Chlorine that was present last night. It was ridiculous. Nearly half the pool got out before the end, and those of that struggled on probably left the building with severe toxic poisoning. Which was a shame, because the session, 3000m in total, was a good one. Main sets were 100m's on 1:45's and 50m's on 50, and the 100's were coming comfortably in under the 1:20 mark without too much effort.

On the plus side I had an excellent sleep - I was totally exhausted on my return from the pool, and slept solidly through till about 7:30, a dreamless and refreshing sleep. Now, of course I could do with more (another hour a day please!), but getting over 8 hours seems to keep me the right side of alert. I'm heading back to my parent's house tonight, and will hopefully get a comfortable 9 hours + of snoozetime there, before a hectic weekend!

Just finished reading the first two books in Joe Abercrombie's 'the First Law' series. It's a fantasy book, but marks quite a distinct departure from the usual sword and stone epic themes. The characters aren't easily classified into 'good' or 'evil'. They're shades of grey, and more realistic for it - funny too. An excellent read - highly recomennded. Unless you don't like fantasy books in the least. In which case stay well away. Obviously.

Good times

2010-01-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

An excellent session in the swimming pool last night. Properly excellent, not just 'felt good' or 'tried hard'. Fewer people than usual in the fast lane, which opened up the opportunity of putting in the longer sets. Ian, our swim coach, duly obliged. After a 500m warm up (done in 7:01), we did 8 x 50m drills, before a main set of 8 x 250m on 4:00 intervals. I led out, and felt damn good doing it. My slowest time was 3:28, and my fastest (my first and last) was 3:21. I felt totally comfortable, and could have shortened the intervals if I had to. My stroke per length rate rarely went above 18, meaning my stroke was pretty efficient. Better still, Ian told me I had an excellent smooth stroke, with a great high elbows, as well as giving me a few pointers on how to improve. Pointers which I'll use to go faster and faster. All in all a great CV workout - it was good to be used as an example by Ian when he was showing other lanes how to properly do a swim stroke - proof I'm doing something right at least! Plenty of stuff to improve upon though - by top class swimmers standards, I'm still very poor! Quite how poor? Well, the current worl record for 400m is 3:40, held by Paul Biedermann of Germany. My best effort? 5:28.

Have been recruiting for the Welsh 3000s again. I have Dan and Huw onboard, and will broach the subject with John in the coming weeks. I don't like having tried and faied to do the challenge - it hangs over me like a spectre. Plenty of things went wrong on our last attempt. There wasn't much daylight, and we squandered a lot of it by starting up from Pen Y Pass after daybreak. Navigationally we were OK, but it became very difficult and eventually untenable in thick mist and total darkness on the rocky summits of Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. Some of the group probably lacked a little in mountain fitness. This time we're going to deal with all of those problems. We'll camp on Snowdon the night before, unpack the tents in the dark and hit summit number 1, Snowdon, at the stroke of dawn (or maybe even just before). I'll have scouted the route on the Glyders and the first part of the Carneddau beforehand on a couple of spare weekends, and we'll be doing Fawer and Fach in daylight, so the boulder fields will be less of a problem. I'll also be making sure the entire team is fit enough - I'll be checking up on peoples progress and chivvying them along. We will succeed.

Rest and Relaxation

2010-01-27T01:16:00.001-08:00

Back from an excellent holiday in Wales. The journey to Snowdonia wasn't half bad - some nice country roads to wind down in the car, much more interesting than the usual motorway fare that I'm confronted with! The cottage Sarah and I stayed in was superb - three bedroomed, log fire and pool table equipped and possessed of a generous kitchen. It was a little chilly, but we remedied that by having log fires burning strongly each night!

Snowdonia is a stunning area - every time I come I'm impressed by the peaks in the area. They're more aesthetically pleasing than many in the Lake District or Highlands - especially Snowdon, with its pyramid of a summit. They're also big - fifteen in the region top the magical 3000ft mark. Given it was meant to be a relaxing holiday, we shyed away from the really big ones, and instead went up Yr Afan, a 2500fter in the Snowdon range, on Saturday. The walk started at about 140ft above sea level, so there was plenty of feet of ascent involved (and a bit of scrambling to keep things interesting). Navigationally it was pretty easy, even if we did take to X-Country on a couple of occasions. No visibility at the very top, but apart from that the views were pretty impressive. Another mountain to add to the list. We pub-grubbed it following the climb, and fish, chips and garlic bread rarely tasted so good!

The next day it was off to Conwy Castle. This is a proper, slab sided brute of a fortification. No fancy Gothic crenellations here, just thick walls and strong defenes. Very impressive! A trip into Llanberis rounded out the day, before returning to the cottage for our final evening. An excellent trip, with plenty fitted in (including an epic snooker match that went down to the wire).

It's a full (and tough) training week this week. It's started well though - a 1700m swim on Tuesday morning with a main set of 4 x 300m on 5:00 intervals yielded pleasing results (in the 4:15 region) without too much in the way of effort, whilst a turbo on Tuesday evening brought with it goo 15:00 minutes at 150BPM or above, and another 20 minutes at 133BPM or above (zones 2 and 1 respectively). Running this morning, and it was a hilly 9k interval session - 30 seconds sprinting with 4:30 easy running. Sounds like masses of recovery, but it was damn draining. A good session - roll on the club swim tonight.

26/01/2010

Time to recharge

2010-01-21T02:46:00.001-08:00

It was a good swim last night. The lane was a little busy, but Adam, probably the fastest swimmer in the club apart from the coach, was firing strongly, and the two of us carved out some pretty good times at the front of the fast lane. He had the edge on me in terms of speed until near the end, where my endurance strength started to tell. Main set was a one sided pyramid - 3 x 100m on 1:45, 3 x 75m on 1:15, 3 x 50m on 50 and 3 x 25m on 25m, then 2x, then 1x. Not too tough, but good enough to get the heart rate up. The 100m's were all under the 1:20 barrier, with the final effort timing in at 1:15. Ideally I'd prefer longer sets - more 200m's and 400m's, but there's too many in the lane at the moment and we'd catch up with the back markers after about 200m. Hopefully that'll change as people's new year's resolutions wear off!

Had a lie in this morning. Couldn't make it out of bed for my 30:00 turbo. I think I'll fit it in this evening prior to my club swim, but its a definite indication that I need some proper rest. Which is what I'll get at the weekend fortunately. 3 days in Wales with no cycling, running or swimming will do me a hell of a lot of good - I'll be raring to go by Tuesday of next week, which is when full training starts again! Will be good just to spend some time with Sarah without having to worry about getting in training. There's a log fire at the cottage we're staying at, so I have my mission - don't set fire to the place. Last time I was in a cottage in a national park it was in a little stone farmhouse in the lakes. Surprise surprise, 5 minutes tinkering with the fire and the whole place was filling with smoke. It's clearly a talent I have!

I've promised the club's running coach that I'll do one of the winter league run races for the club. Unfortunately (fortunately), I'm booked up until March, so my first winter league race will be on 7 March at Stilton. Yup, it's not just a cheese...it's a place too! It's 7 miles, so an excellent distance for me. I'll be in good endurance running shape by then (with the Stafford HM looming), so hopefully won't embarass myself...

21/01/2010

Rest week

2010-01-20T02:36:00.000-08:00

It's a rest week this week. That doesn't mean I simply down tools and do no exercise. What it means is that I don't train for as long I would on a full week - the intensity remains the same, the distance doesn't. For instance, this morning it was a 5km tempo run as opposed to a 9km. Reduced distance, but still plenty of hills. It took a while to get going - I went off too fast, and then slowed down to much, before finally reaching equilibrium after about 2km. I set a new PB though, 17:51, so I was pretty content.

The turbo session the night before was a short but sweet 40 minutes. 15 warm up, before 10 minutes at 133-149 BPM (Zone 1), 10 minutes at 149-164 BPM (Zone 2), and 5 minutes at 141-149 (Zone 1 High) before a 5 minute warm down. Felt good - seems a tiny effort, but rest weeks exist for a reason. BPM is heart rate beats per minute - the higher the figure, the more the effort. Zone 4 is very hard, whereas Z1 is low intensity base endurane work. Many people have more complicate ways of working HR, but I stick to a four zone method for biking and running.

I also got a cheeky 9 hours sleep. No surprises, I still felt tired in the morning. I've got used to that, but it's always, always unpleasant to leave a warm bed for some cold weather training.

Club swim tonight - hopefully crack out about 3000m of good endurance work.

20/01/2010

New Year

2010-01-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

It’s been a long time since my last post so I thought I’d remedy the situation. Training has been going very well, despite the beautiful (sub zero) winter we’ve been subjected too.

I had a race in Delamere Forest, a 10k X-Country job, at New Year. Was feeling strong, and sitting comfortably in 6th position (out of about 300), with the leader about 1 minute up, at the 6k point. Then we got sent the wrong way. Race ruined. It’s impossible to convey to someone who doesn’t race at this level quite how genuinely upsetting this is. As a serious athlete, I, and others like me, spend huge portions of our life alone and in the dark, putting in winter miles, so that we can do ourselves justice on race day. Friendships, relationships and family ties all get strained because of what we do, so race day is one of the few times we really get to reap some reward for our hard work. To see that thrown away because an event can’t properly organise is sickening. But, like my dad said afterwards, to be in 6th was a pleasing indictment of my fitness. I’ll just make sure I ace the next race I do. I was less rational at the time. Furious doesn’t even come close.

Swimming is coming on leaps and bounds. I frequently lead out in the club sessions, and it’s good to push the pace and see the fitness of other people improving as a result of tough sessions. The guys I train with are all good laughs, which makes it more fun when the sessions, as they invariably do, become hard. I’m miles off being a truly good swimmer, but as long as I keep on getting stronger it’s OK.

Riding outside has been near impossible in the ice, and last weekend in York was the first time out on the roads in a while. I did a 60k ride towards Helmsley, which included a nice 5k hill (length, not height!) up through Brandsby. Averaged just under 19mph for the two hour ride – relatively laid back but then that’s the point of a base session like that. Jargon buster – base sessions are ones we use to basically improve our endurance, not our speed. It was a good weekend in York, spent the evening on Saturday with a pub dinner and a film night at two of her friends’ house (I get on with them too, I hasten to add!). Always relaxing in York, even if Sarah does have to endure what must be one of the coldest houses in the entire world.

It’s also been 18 days since my last taste of booze. 5 o’clock on the morning of the 1st January saw my last drink for the next five months (until a post world qualification tipple in May), and 11 o’clock on the morning of 1st January saw my last hangover.

Looking forward to a holiday in Wales at the end of this week. Hopefully get a bit of walking in some of the smaller hills in as well, provided the weather isn’t too atrocious. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I hike up Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons the other weekend. Absolutely horrendous conditions – whiteout, sub zero with a serious windchill, and thick snow and ice the whole way up. Awesome conditions to hike in – I was the only person on my choice of ascent, a northern spur, and I didn’t meet anyone until the top (where some soldiers and ice climbers had also arrived). Tough work, but I love things like that. It’s one of the rewards open to people who really train hard – they can go out and explore the wilds when most people wouldn’t make it half way up without succumbing to the cold, the lack of visibility or their lack of fitness. Some might call that arrogance, but it isn’t. I work hard, and I’m proud of the goals that hard work lets me achieve.

Happy new year!

19/01/2010

Long time no post...

2009-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the length of time its been since my last update. It's been very busy at work, and my main computer has once again decided it is an opportune time of year to stop working, so I'm writing this on my laptop.

Things have been going pretty well. There's been plenty of highlights, the main ones being the Filey Beach 10k (4th out of 105 starters in horrendous conditions), a 3km PB on the treadmill (now standing at 10:31) and a 400m PB in the pool - 5:28. i've decided to be more sensible in my approach to running and cycling by building up more endurance at this stage rather than concentrating on flat out speed. So turbo sessions have been in zone 1 in the main, with excursions into zones 2 and 3 occasionally. This weekends ride was a good example. Far too wet and windy outside to warrant a ride in Charnwood hills, so its was 1 hour and 30 minutes on the turbo instead. The session went as follows;

10:00 Warm Up, (10:00 Zone 1, 3:00 Zone 2, 1:00 Zone 3, 1:00 Easy) x 5, 5:00 Warm Down. Good session. Pushing too hard to early is just going to burn me out. I felt close to exhaustion part way through last week for exactly that reason. I backed off, and came back strong, setting two personals in a row. The point - rest works.

Not seeing Sarah this weekend, but after this I see her three weekends in a row, which is something to look forward to that doesn't involve chafing my arse on a bike saddle for hours at a time.

Incidentally, the 1 and a half hours on the turbo was made bearable by the company of Gladiator. I'd forgotten what an awesome film it is. If you haven't watched it, hang your head in shame. Then go and watch it.

14/11/2009

Personals

2009-10-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

There's been a couple of these over the past few days. A 750m PB in the pool on Saturday was a good place to start - 10:35, and 4 seconds better than my previous effort. I went hard but got the pacing spot on - 5:38 at the 400m split, so negative splitting was the order of the day. I've also set a new PB in my 5km time trial on the roads round the house. My previous personal was set just over a month ago (18:14), so it was good to shave 11 seconds off that and post a new benchmark of 18:03. I didn't feel too exhausted after it either, which is a bonus.

I attended the Wednesday night swim session with the club for the first time yesterday. Some different faces there, about 30 of us all told. I was the second fastest behind a bloke called Adam, who was a hell of a swimmer. Good session - about 2700m all told. Was feeling the water well, cranking out 1:19's and 1:18's for 100m as a guide.

Looking forward to the weekend - it's been far too long since I saw Sarah! Two days of work to get through first though, but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel! I've now decided my race schedule for 2010, but more on that later.

Time for my commute, so its out with the mountain bike, which is all but destroyed after 2 years of deprivation...

29/10/2009

Ups and downs

2009-10-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week at work, with quite a few late nights and a lot of stress flying round the office. I'm off to London this afternoon which means I've had to put back seeing Sarah until next weekend, which has left me a little on the irritated side, but there's nothing to be done that grin and bear it. I'm off to London again this time next week too, but fortunately I'm seeing Sarah on the Saturday and Sunday, so it doesn't cause problems.

Training has been going pretty well and I'm continuing to build up a pretty solid base. Stupidly forgot to set my alarm on Wednesday morning, meaning I missed out on my swim for that day, but everything else is going OK. I set a season's best for the hilly 8k around my house on Wednesday evening in a time of 31:34 (previous best for the season was 31:38). Sounds good, but I actually got my pacing hopelessly wrong. I went off far too fast, and was 32 seconds up on the PB at the half way stage. A little simple maths would show that something went badly wrong in the second half, and by the end I was really just hanging on by the skin of my teeth.

More positively, I'm going well on the turbo, spending the vast majority of my sessions after the warm up in mid to high zone 2, with bursts into zone 3 as and when required. I hope to improve on this, and maintain high zone 2 for longer periods of time - it should pay dividends come race season by ensuring I have not only endurance, but also the speed to match. Thursday night swimming with the club is coming on brilliantly too. I'm averaging around 2:42/200m in those swims, which is excellent, and far faster than where I was last season. Long may it continue.

In other news, I really want a time trial bike. And I'm looking for sponsors! Anyone interested should raise their hand!

23/10/09

Another good weekend

2009-10-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Great weekend, but it didn't start so well - I was at work till well after 8! Still, made it to York in time to crash out in bed. Saturday was ace - Sarah was her usual awesome self at her horseriding competition and took away some nice silverware, as well as a rosette. Some seriously high jumping involved.

Good run on Sunday morning - a relaxed 45:00 endurance jobby on 4:10/km - didn't really push it hard, or feel particularly battered by the end - just how long weekend runs should be. I can hammer myself into the ground some other time! 1500m swim in the evening was tough, as I was tired, but yielded a good 14 x 50m session of pull buoy drills on a 39 second average, followed by a good 7;15 for 500m.

The Sunday morning cycle was a beaut - 40km in 1:14:52 on a heavy training bike is good anyway, but it was the style in which I did it that pleased me - steady cadence, steady effort, never really pushing ultra hard - endurance is coming on nicely!

Most miserable part of the weekend - the drive home to Leicester. There's a surprise.

19/10/09

A hard winter ahead...

2009-10-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Not in terms of temperature, though knowing the UK it won't be great, but more in terms of the tough training that lies ahead. I want to be in absolutely blistering form come my first triathlon of the season, and going through the pain barrier time and time again is the only way to get that outcome. Fortunately, I'm always up for a challenge.

It's been a decent few days training in the main. I was a bit laid back in my Tuesday morning session, getting a 2:51 average for 200m, so pushed a bit harder on Wednesday evening (without redlining) and was pleased to go under 1:20 average for my 8x100m of 1:45. Turbo sessions and running are all moving forward, so things are going OK.

Its not actually that long till my first run race of the off season - Filey Beach 10k on 1 November. Only two and a bit weeks ago. I'm not going to be setting the world on fire, but it'll be interesting to get a base time for the distance (though its an undlating course, so it won't be a 10k personal!).

As usual, I'm running out of evening, so I'll say bye for now.

Dave out.

14/10/09

Good weekend

2009-10-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I had some hard work ahead of me after Thursday night's semi laziness. First up on the road to athletic redemption was the 3km TT on Friday night - consistently the most painful (albeit short) session I do. The very best thing I could say about the session was that it was over quickly, as I racked up a new PB. 16.8kph for the first km, then 16.9kph for the second, accelerating through 17kph and up to 17.5kph in the final 1km. Heart rate reached 185 for the final 100m, a massive 95% of max. 10:43 on the clock, though that's a few seconds slower than the reality as the treadmill takes about 5 seconds to get up to speed. Still, its 10:43 that goes in the record.

Bike ride on Saturday was good too - first 40km (long-ish) session of the season, in the hills, on my heavy training bike. 01:21:38 was good - I didn't push hard, at all. That will come in time. Swim, Saturday afternoon - again, a steady one, with good technique, yielding 10:45 for 750m. No hard efforts again, though I did up the pace a little after the 400m split (5:45).

Sunday morning - Leicester Half Marathon relay - I did the final two legs for my team, and brought us home in first. 12km in total (11.9), at a 4:05/km pace. Heart rate was kept below 180 (92% max) throughout, and I felt pretty good given the distance.

All in all a good training weekend, but it aint half as much fun as when Sarah is around. Fortunately I'm off to York next weekend to watch her compete in a horse riding championship, and continue my education as an unpaid groom!

Bye for now,

11/10/09

Gearing up for a tough weekend

2009-10-09T02:13:00.001-07:00

Felt a little lazy after my swim session last night. Usually I get pushed hard at these, leaving me pretty shot by the end of the 3000m (or thereabouts) set. Last night was a little different – the distances were shorter (sets of 50 and 100 in the main) than usual, with a sole 200m being the only foray into a larger distance (and the warm up of course!). I was swimming pretty well though, with decent times (1:21 and 1:20’s for the 100m’s and 38’s for the 50m’s in the main). Started pushing harder towards the end of the session to get my heart rate up, but will still need to go fast at the weekend on my 1500m session to make up for what I perceive as my laziness.

Mark and I were chatting about Ironman Hawaii – its this week and should be an awesome race, especially from a British perspective. I’m going to make some cheeky predictions;

1. Chrissie Wellington to win the Female race, but not my as much as last year.

2. Philip Graves to break the bike leg record, before fading on the run but still managing a top 10 placing.

3. Catriona Morrison and Bella Bayliss both to manage top 15 positions, with Morrison finishing higher than Bayliss.

4. Craig Alexander to win the mens race, with Chris McCormack to finish in the top five.

If I get all those right, I should consider a betting career.

It’s my weekly 3k TT tonight, probably the most painful session I do. It takes just over 10 minutes to complete, but those 10 minutes are among the most agonising I’ll ever experience. The speed increases over each km, even though, at 2km in, you feel like you’ve got nothing else to give. In the final 1000m or so, my heart rate passes 180 beats per minute (over 90% of my max), and boy do you feel it thumping away three times a second. Do the session well though, and there’s a couple of bonuses – one, you sleep damn well, and two, you feel good washing the sweat off in the showers after. I’m aiming to be doing it in 9:35 before the first triathlon of the season in April, so I’ve got plenty of hard work ahead. I like to give my targets a sense of perspective – 9:35 is pretty fast (sub 32 10km pace), but not compared to the world record – a quite staggering 7:20:67.

In other news, Sarah has started training for the Skipton Triathlon. She’s started doing 3k runs, and 600m+ sessions in the pool, which is comfortably ahead of where she needs to be at the moment, but there’s no harm in being over prepared! She’s a good cyclist, so I don’t think the 20k bike will be too much of a problem come April!

09/10/09

Back into it

2009-10-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a good first two days of full training. And by good, I do of course mean painful. The two are (unfortunately) pretty much synonymous for athletes. The two swim sessions (Tuesday morning - 1600m and Wednesday evening - 1300m), whilst fairly small distance wise, were done at a decent pace. Main set on Tuesday was 10 x 100m off 1:45, averaging around 1:21. Main set on Wednesday, 5 x 200m off 3:30, averaging around 2:50. Negative splitting on each one.

It's just occured to me that most of what I write might mean pretty little to some people - I'll try to translate some of the jargon on occasion. To be going on with, my no frills guide to athlete tech-terms begins with;

Negative Split - To get faster as the session goes on. Why don't we just say "get faster as the session goes on"? I hear you say. Ask someone else who has a plausible answer...

Running and cycling have gone well too, with my 8k run time this morning only 1 minute off a PB, without even pushing that hard.

In other news, I'll be heading on holiday to Wales with Sarah in January, to climb some mountains, enjoy the countryside and generally relax. Portable pool, bike and running shoes are all items which are not invited.

07/10/2009

A great weekend...

2009-10-05T04:50:00.001-07:00

…but it went far too fast. The cry of working men and women down the ages. I spent the weekend in York with Sarah, and had an absolutely awesome time. We fitted an awful lot into two days, and come Sunday evening I was pretty knackered, but it was totally worth it.

We both headed out on our bikes on Saturday, into what turned out to be a seriously strong gale. Accordingly, my 20k time was worse than ordinary (on paper), but I still felt damn good after the session, mainly because I didn’t ever think about giving up and calling it a day, despite the fact I spent a good portion of the bike pedalling like fury into the wind just to stay in the same place. Notwithstanding the massive wind and the heavy training bike, I was still comfortably over the 30kph average. Sarah did a good session too, and again like me, probably took a quiet satisfaction in not giving up.

We watched a film (Twilight) on Saturday night. I enjoyed it. There, I’ve said it. Any macho image I’ve ever cultivated has been instantly ruined. As ever though, I don’t care. Also had a cheeky glass of wine, but I’ve no intention of cutting out the alcohol until after Xmas. That’s my policy and I’m sticking to it.

The other sessions apart from the bike across the weekend were also pretty ace. A decent 25:00 run on Sunday morning (steady pace along the River Ouse), a new PB over the 3km TT on the treadmill on Friday (3.36/km pace), and a decent swim on Saturday afternoon. I carded 10:37 for 1500m, but it doesn’t count as a personal as I kept on having to stop the clock to readjust the goggles. Bloody things.

Words of the weekend; ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and spend the rest of your life as champion’ – Ali.

Amazing session

2009-10-02T01:22:00.001-07:00

I love it when you get one of these. They don’t come around this often, so when they do, all you can do is sit back and enjoy the way your body is performing. The session in question was the 3000m Thursday night swim session with the club. I was actually feeling halfway to dead when I was getting my trunks on, and not looking forward to the forthcoming swim. My feelings weren’t improved when Mark, one of the guys I train with and an absolute Ironman machine, told me the main set was groups of 200m (8 x 200m of 3:30 as it turned out).

Once I was swimming though, it was a different story. Tiredness fell away, and my feel for the water, despite the presence of nine other people in the lane with me (usually there’s only five of us in the fast lane), was excellent. I can’t remember the exact sequence of times, but it ran along the lines of 2:40, 2:43, 2:42, 2:43, 2:44, 2:41 2:40, 2:40. I was averaging under 2:42, and getting faster towards the end. Sure, I would have been struggling against a steroid fuelled great white, but by my standards I was absolutely flying. I was only doing 17 strokes per length as well, so the efficiency was there as well as the speed. The world record for 200m, incidentally, is 1:42. Read it and weep. That means my personal best over the distance, 2:39, is 57 seconds slower than the world record. And I’m considered a strong triathlon swimmer.

Last week of prep

2009-10-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

I’m now into my last week of prep before I start upping the volume and doing proper (or what I view as proper) distances again. Huw, my training partner / rival, is currently gearing up for Ironman Lanzarote in spring 2010, so probably finds my “proper” distances very small. Well, if you will enter the toughest Ironman on the planet, you will get that.

I had a pretty poor swim on Tuesday morning. In all honesty, I was probably still a bit tired from the weekend, which can’t have helped my performance. The main set was a mere 4 x 200m off 3:30, but whilst I didn’t feel exhausted, I couldn’t get any speed up and floated around the 2:54 mark – some nine seconds off where I’d like to be. That said, I felt great once I got on the turbo on Tuesday evening, so it was probably just a blip.

I had a fairly special moment on Wednesday morning when I ran straight into a roadwork’s barrier on my hilly 5k. It stung like hell and left a mark on my thigh which suggested I’d been headbutted by a dwarf with serial anger issues. More irritatingly, my final time was 18:15, only two seconds off a personal. Had I managed to avoid the large, obvious and brightly coloured barrier, I would probably have smashed it, as the impact left me limping for a while.

Looking forward to tonight’s swim with the club – always nice to grind yourself into the ground over 3000m. Hopefully I’ll be a little speedier than I was on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to the weekend even more – a cute girl (Sarah), good food (Sarah’s food) and a warm bed (Sarah’s bed). Who says being an athlete is tough?

Davidovski out

Welsh 3000s

2009-09-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

An interesting weekend in Snowdonia. Huw and Dan headed down to mine on Friday night, where, after a review of the route and a quick meal, we got some sleep. We woke early, at half 4, and after dumping my car at the finish car park, headed to Pen Y Pass for the start. We reached Snowdon's summit, and the clock started ticking there. The first couple of peaks were attained without too much fuss - Crib Goch was looking fantastic in the sunlight and shadows. The descent of Crib Goch was steep, but we made it. After grabbing a quick coke in Nant Peris at the base of mountain number four, we started up.

Dan, who has less experience of mountains than me or Huw, began to find this really hard work (it was a fairly steep slog). We made the top before nightfall, with the cloud rolling in, then headed off to mountain number 5. I handled the navigation, which was damn tricky as visibility was about 10 metres. Progress was very slow, but we nonetheless made it to peaks five and six in due course. By then though, the slow pace had taken its toll, and the total lack of visibility was making it dangerous. We decided (correctly in my opinion), that discretion was the better part of valour on this occasion, and decided to get some shut-eye on the mountain side before heading down the mountain and back to the car on Sunday morning. The night was cold without sleeping bags, but we all had proper cold weather clothing and survival bags, so got some disjointed sleep (albeit on an uncomfortable sleeping surface - a rock). At the time of abandoment of the challenge, we were still looking at a sub 20 time, so I was disappointed, but I'll be back.

To cap it all, my hot water wasn't working when I got back, so I had to make do with a cold shower - not the most pleased I've ever been. On the plus side, because the hike was cut short (about 17 miles in total), my legs aren't very weary, and I'm ready for a good week of training.

Dave out

28/09/09

You know it's a good session when...

2009-09-25T01:10:00.000-07:00

...you nearly throw up whilst you're swimming. Which is exactly what happened to me last night. I hadn't swam over 1500m since 2nd September (just before I departed for Oz), so the 3000m club session in the fastest lane was always going to be tough. It never occured to me not to finish (in fact, I posted some OK times - 2:44 average for 200m for example), but boy did it hurt. Still, nice to know I can grit my teeth and just go for it even if the endurance isn't quite there. After all, that's probably what I'll have to do this weekend at some point.

I was looking over Leicester Tri Club's forum yesterday. Someone had mentioned that they'd like a cheap as chips triathlon where they don't have to pay for any extra stuff like the goodie bags and t-shirts. Now, I agreed with the goodie bag comment (they're usually full of cr*p), but I really wouldn't want to go without my T-Shirts. You can have too many some people might say - but I've reached 42 and haven't got tired yet. I'll be able to get them out when I'm 90, and brag about how I was once very fit. Likelihood is, no one will believe me, but nevertheless, I like my T-Shirts!

25/09/09

Feeling Strong

2009-09-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

Morning,

It’s been a good few days training. I’m still in my prep phase, just doing small sessions, but I’m going fast in them and wanting more by the end – exactly how it should be. The plan is, by the time by first full training week comes around on 5th October, I should be chomping at the bit!

I’ve noticed that my swim speed over 100m sets has actually gone down, though my times over longer distances (750, 400, 200 etc) has been consistently improving. I tend to view this as a good thing – it means my stroke is adapting to longer distance, which is of course what you need for triathlon. No use burning 100m in a super fast time just to blow up straight after.

Am looking forward to the challenge of the Welsh 3000s at the weekend too. I haven’t been in the mountains as much as I would have liked over the past few months (save for an excursion up the 3500ft Mount Warning in Oz!), and am looking forward to getting a solid 30 mile hike under my belt with some mates. Critics might point out it doesn’t really sit well with my prep phase, but as the new season is a long way away, I intend to do a few things that I want to do before getting right back into the swing of full on training. Besides, doing an endurance challenge over the fifteen highest mountains in Wales can hardly be bad for my fitness.

23/09/09

Great North Run

2009-09-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Good performances from two of the lads I'm doing the Welsh 3000ers with next weekend in the Great North Run - 1 Hour 54 minutes from Dan Case and 1 Hour 31 minutes from Huw Fryer. Great effort guys!

20/09/09

New Season

2009-09-19T02:46:00.000-07:00

Just back from the World Championships in Australia. A great holiday, and a good race. I competed in the 17-24 sprint category, and came 13th out of 39 starters. Overall position was 132nd out of 538 (top quarter!). Obviously, the competition was a lot stronger than an event back home, as everyone has to qualify (and therefore be a top notch racer) to even stand on the start line. I carded 01:05:54, and was proud to take home my world championship medal. Hopefully it’s the stepping stone to greater things - that's certainly the plan. The Gold Coast was a fantastic place for a world championship, and a holiday. Great training facilities (plenty of 50m pools), and some awesome attractions (sea world, the 3500ft Mount Warning and Brisbane to name but a few) nearby. I’d definitely go back.

After taking a few days off cardio exercise completely, I've began my prep phase for the 2010 season. I'll be doing a few weeks of half distances, and won't begin full training until October 5th. This should leave me chomping at the bit and really raring to go.

So, the first cardio session of the new season officially took place this morning. It was a 20km ride in the Charnwood Hills north of Leicester. The course has three pretty serious hills in it, so isn't one for setting personals. Nonetheless, I timed in with 35:47, which was decent enough.

A little pool session followed - 1000m with a 750m TT as main set. Went far too hard - it’s the beginning of the season for Christ’s sake! But still, was hard to be irritated at myself for not keeping a cap on my effort as I actually posted a PB - 10:39 (5:39 at the 400m split).

A solid start.

19/09/2009