My first bonk - An Outlaw training update

This Outlaw training has turned into a valuable learning experience. I thought I would let you all know the things I have learnt so fat so that you don't make some of the same mistakes I have.

On Saturday 20th April I set off on a training ride with the aim of completing 55 miles on the bike and then following this up with a 12 mile run.  This would serve as valuable training for my upcoming Ironman 70.3 race in Mallorca.

For those not in the know, an Ironman 70.3 race consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13 mile run. As such Saturdays planned session would have been superb prep for Mallorca.

This training session alone taught me so much.

1. Fuel regularly - Since I have started riding a bike I have never really understood when to eat to maintain energy outputs. I've dabbled with different strategies but have never got into trouble before. However on Saturday it all went horribly wrong. I didn't eat anything for over an hour on my way out and all of a sudden I felt like I had no power (my speed dropped by about 2mph) which was a weird feeling as I had been keeping a relatively fast pace. An energy bar later and 20 minutes helped cure this. I was back to maintaining a steady pace. Fast forward another hour and I had eaten nothing again. Wasn't I stupid. I lost all power again and felt like I was going backwards. I also started to feel light headed. This must have been the elusive bonk I had heard so much about. I had never felt so awful on the bike. BONKING is really unpleasant.
• I now know what my body is capable of maintaining on long rides and have formulated a fuelling strategy so that I don't bonk again. I hope this works for Mallorca and Outlaw. My strategy will involve me taking on carbs every half an hour in the form of both energy bars and gels. I will alternate between these.
2. Take things steady - After I had been on the bike for about 40 miles I caught sight of another cyclist ahead of me and thought to myself in that macho way that us men do. "Right I'm overtaking you" Cue chasing the other cyclist down for about 5 minutes. I breezed past him. Job done I thought. How wrong I was. I had expended so much extra energy catching the cyclist that I quickly got reovertaken by the cyclist about three minutes later. Oops that was not embarrassing.
• Remember to race or ride your own ride, it is not a competition, especially on a training ride. It seems I had forgotten my mantra of "Complete not Compete"
3. Bonking is not pleasant - Sorry to reinforce this but bonking on the bike really is not fun. This really affected my planned session. I went for my run off the bike but because I felt so awful from my bike ride I only managed three miles instead of the planned 12 miles.
• Eat regularly on longer rides especially to complete a brick session as eating on the run is difficult.

The other things I have learnt since I started my 20 week training plan is that perseverance pays off.

This year I have been concentrating on my running a lot as it is my worst discipline as detailed in the following blog posts. 

http://smoker2triathlete.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/running-and-me.html

http://smoker2triathlete.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/i-am-runner.html

http://smoker2triathlete.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/new-targets-needed.html

This year alone I have improved my 5km time by 20% reducing it from 33:05 to 27:33. This has not been easy but I am starting to feel a lot better about my running. I'm not saying I enjoy it yet but I am starting to reap the rewards of my hard work.

To put my hard work into context, last year in total I ran 166 miles and to date this year I have run 170 miles. We are not even a third of the way through 2013 and I have already surpassed what I achieved in 2012.

Like I said perseverance pays off. Who knows what the rest of 2013 has in store with regards to my running. I am not setting any targets for my 5km time but I think it will continue to fall.

Hope you've enjoyed reading the lessons I have learnt. 

Thanks for supporting me in my quest and for the motivation via Twitter.

Remember I am not only doing this for myself but also for charity. If you feel like sponsoring me, you can do so via my Justgiving page. https://www.justgiving.com/triathlon4harry/

Cheers,

Michael

"174 days cigarette and nicotine free and going strong"

And on the seventh day. God created rain - Part two

I've debated long and hard over the title of this blogpost.

Firstly we had  - I'm coming home. This seemed fitting as the Clitheroe Triathlon was held in my hometown.
Secondly we had - Expensive training day. Essentially this was an expensive training day as I picked this triathlon because of the hills that were on the bike course.
And the winner was - And on the seventh day. God created rain - Part two. Yet another triathlon I was competing in suffered from awful weather. This title won if you hadn't guessed.

Right I've got to get this off my chest early into this post.

I need a new weather pixie or better luck. I'm even considering contacting Job Centre Plus to advertise the position. Two consecutive triathlons with horrendous weather. First London and now Clitheroe. If my next one suffers the same fate I am cursed as it is in Mallorca.

Right rant over.

I had an awful nights sleep on Saturday and suffered the usual random dreams that I suffer pre event. I woke up at 06:00 bouncing off the walls with a nervous excitement. This was just a training exercise so why was I so nervous. Who knows but I was.

My wife and I drove from my Dad's to Clitheroe in plenty of time or the race. I went to collect my race numbers, chip and t - shirt and placed my chip inside the pocket on the front of my hoodie. I then went to set up transition.

Given the predicted weather (wind and rain) I decided to wear the following for my triathlon.

Swim - trisuit, calfguards and goggles.
Bike - trisuit, calfguards, gloves and RG Active winter jacket
Run - trisuit, calfguards, arm warmers and RG Active spring gilet.

The transition area was suffering from high winds and my bike was buffeted around on its transition rack.

After my transition zone had been set up I went to speak to my wife whilst waiting for my Dad to arrive to support me. I'd travelled to the venue with trisuit and calfguards on underneath my clothes so as the start time approached I just stripped off. I promptly forgot to take the aforementioned chip out of my hoodie and packed everything away in my bag without a clue.


Swim
I went to the race briefing none the wiser. There were a few athletes who decided not to brave the elements and thus were not at the race briefing. What a waste of £40

The format for the swim was as follows.

Athletes were asked on registration to predict their swim times for the 400m swim. I and a lot of other athletes predicted swim times of 7 minutes. There should have been fifteen in my wave (5 lanes of 3). Athletes were given a swim hat determining their start position (orange 1st, pink 2nd and green 3rd). I was given a pink swim hat so had to set off 10 seconds after those with the orange hats. There wasn't an orange hat in my lane so I had to wait for 10 long seconds to pass.

The starter set us on our way and I was flying. There was no one in front to chase. Before the race started I set myself a challenge of bridging the 10 seconds to the swimmer in front. As there wasn't a swimmer in front, this was a challenge. By the end of the third length I had caught the orange hat in the lane next to me who represented GB in Auckland in 2012 if her fleece was to be believed. Job done however I had another 13 lengths to swim. What to do now. Chase down all the orange hats and be first out of the water. After 8 lengths I had managed to get on the same length as the green hatted swimmer behind me and now he was in my sights. So new challenge was lap the swimmer behind me. Fast forward to length 13 and I had caught him. I had to swim at his pace until the end of the length when he let me pass him.  This length cost me about 6 seconds as I had been doing 22 second lengths but lengths 12 and 13 totalled 51 seconds. I reached the end of my 16th length and exited the pool building in a time of 06:21. This would have put me in the top 20 swimmers competing that day.

Transition

I jogged to transition and it was on entering the transition zone that I realised I had forgotten my timing chip when I was asked by a marshal where it was. Cue comedy run back and forwards while I decided what to do. I decided to leave it and continue with my race. According to my Garmin (which thankfully was logging my race) transition took me 3 minutes and 33 seconds which I realise is not rapid but given my previous T1 times have been 10 minutes and 6 minutes. I am getting better at this element of triathlon. I put on my winter jacket and the other biking clobber.

Bike ride

The weather had deteriorated while I was inside swimming. It had started to rain. I was so glad that I had decided on my winter jacket for the bike. The aim for the bike ride given the weather was to survive it unscathed as Ironman 70.3 Mallorca is only 27 days away. I didn't push things as much as I could and it is a good job really as I was not prepared for a few of the surprises this course had in store for me. The weather at times was worse than in London. I had to take my glasses off as they were hampering my vision as the rain beat down on me. My RG Active winter jacket which has done me so well in the past was even struggling to withstand the torrential downpour.

Cue first of the surprises the course had to offer (if we don't class the weather as a surprise) I rounded a corner going up a slight gradient to be greeted by a farmer riding a quad towards me with a herd of 40 sheep behind him. It really is quite scary having a herd of rampaging animals heading towards you. The eyes of the sheep looked wild and this caused me to stop immediately.

The second surprise was Jeffrey Hill, yes I had seen the course profile on the internet and its 16% gradient but until I saw it in the flesh I had no idea how steep 16% was. So here I was about to ascend the 16% gradient. Before the triathlon I had said I wouldn't get off my bike on this ascent.

However the rain caused streams to run down the tarmac. I started to climb out of the saddle as the gradient was too steep to tackle in the saddle. With all my weight over my front wheel I noticed that I was starting to lose traction on the rear wheel. Right time to knuckle down and climb while seated like I was shown in Mallorca by the coaches. However with my weight leaning backwards my front wheel started to lift. This caused me to nearly fall off my bike three times before I decided to walk up the steepest part of the incline.

When I reached the top of Jeffrey Hill I was so relieved. I assumed it was mostly downhill back to the transition zone. It was but there were a few more uphill sections to go.

I completed the bike in a time of 01:21:39 which given the surprises I encountered I was happy with.

Below are some photos from the course photographer and my wife as well as a copy of the course profile.

Transition 2

Transition 2 took me 1 minute and 53 which again for me is a massive improvement. Putting trainers over wet socks is certainly a new experience.

Run

The aim for the run was to run the run and not walk the run. In the previous two triathlons I have not managed this. At Hatfield I was struggling with achilles tendinitis and had a comedy ninja roll. At London I was just plain knackered. I had read on the event website that the run for Clitheroe was a mixture of trail and road running. I did not expect the trail sections to be so treacherous. The off road sections consisted of sheep trodden farmers fields, dirt tracks, numerous fences to pass through and some areas of stone path (which would put the Giants Causeway to shame). I managed to complete the 2 lap 7km run without walking and my pace was relatively consistent. I know what I am capable of and was not bothered that I was passed by a lot of athletes. I know the pace I can run at comfortably. The average speed for my run was 9km/h. I was more than happy with this.

I got the the finishing line in a time of 2:17:01. Earlier in the week I had predicted a 2 hour 10 minute finish so given the awful conditions and the sheep I was more than happy with missing this by 7 minutes. A year ago if I had entered this event I could not have dreamed of completing this race in such a time especially with a top 20 swim time.

The aims for the race were

1. Smash the swim and bridge the 10 second gap to the swimmer ahead of me. I not only did this but did better than I could have hoped.
2. Enjoy the bike. I didn't not enjoy the bike but I did find it very challenging.
3. Run the run. Again I completed this mini challenge.
4. Don't get injured. Here I sit writing this injury free.

All in all I had a good race today and completed everything I set out to.

There's 27 days until Mallorca so it's back to training on Tuesday. hopefully my legs will not be too stiff over the coming days and there will be no niggles that haven't made their selves known yet.

My tea of fishcake, sausage, chips, mushy peas and gravy should help my muscles repair.

Thanks for reading,

Michael

Inspirational?

A long time twitter follower (who shall remain nameless) and blog reader contacted me this week about something unrelated to training or triathlon. Anyway we got chatting and they referred to me as inspirational which knocked me for six. This person is going to represent their country at the ITU (International Triathlon Union) World Championships in London and I inspire them?

Little old me inspiring a world class age grouper. This got me thinking. Am I inspirational? I suppose in some ways I am but this is not intentional. All I do is set out to achieve the goals I have set myself. Sure some of these goals see me up at 5:20 to sit on my turbo trainer in my Baltic conservatory (like now) but these are only steps on my journey. My journey which started out with the following goals

1. Give up smoking. Achieved but is still a work in progress as any ex smoker can attest to but I am so happy to be free and feel so much healthier for it. For the second time I have now reached 150 days cigarette free.
2. Complete an Olympic distance triathlon. Challenge done and on the way i raises over £1000 for Cancer Research UK although I have some unfinished business with the course.

And for 2013 a new goal

3. Complete a triathlon at every distance from super sprint to ironman in 2013. This is my work in progress for this year and I will complete it because I am lucky enough to have a dogged determination and this is all that keeps me going in training.

At best I am a slow triathlete with extreme determination but if I inspire you to get training when you see my tweets at silly o clock then I am happy. If you are a smoker who I have inspired to kick the habit then this means more to me than you could ever know as I have helped start you on a journey which will change your life for the better. Sure there are up and downs but stay on the path and you will reap the rewards.

And if you are an age grouper going to London then thank you for your kind words but the relationship is reciprocal as you inspire me at times.

Thanks and I really mean that.

Michael

New targets needed

I entered 2013 with some targets in mind. The targets I had in mind were not race based but time targets and consisted of:

• Complete a 5km run in under 30 minutes
• Complete a 1500m endurance swim in under 27 minutes and 30 seconds unaided (ie no pull buoy)
• Complete a 10km run in under 60 minutes.

Given the difficulties I have had with running I imagined these targets would take me most of 2013 to complete.

How wrong I was.

By the end of January I had completed two of these targets by firstly running 5km in 29:33 and secondly swimming 1500m in 27:09.

I was content in the fact that the sub 1 hour 10km would keep me occupied for most of 2013.

However I am pleased to announce that on Wednesday 27th March 2013 I set off on a scheduled 6 mile run after work and 59 minutes and 29 seconds later had completed 10km. I was overjoyed with this and don't mind admitting to shedding a little tear when I realised I had completed this challenge. 

I believe there were several things that contributed to me beating this record. I think I have finally found some trainers which don't give me blisters.

I now have a pair of Puma FAAS 500 trainers following a visit to Accelarate in Sheffield.

My new understated green trainers

The staff here were very understanding to my problem and put up with me trying on 7 pairs of trainers and running in each of them. I left the shop two hours later the proud owner of two new pairs of trainers and I really hope these have sorted my blister problem. One pair for off road and one for on road. I really can't state how helpful the staff were and would recommend anyone paying the shop a visit.

So aside from new trainer syndrome, there is also the fact that I have been managing to run longer without needing to stop and walk. Over the last month the times I have been running without stopping have increased from 40 minutes to just over an hour. On Wednesday I was feeling strong and reached 5km in just under 30 minutes so thought (excuse my French) f*ck it, plod on and go for it. It wasn't easy and it hurt but I felt so good when I reached the 10km target. This target meant so much to me, I can only compare it to the joy I felt on marrying my wife.

Perseverance really does pay off. If any of you reading this are having a wobble and thinking what's the point, please continue on your quest. The payoffs are more than worth it in the long run.

However I am now in a quandary because, I am sitting here at the end of March with no targets (apart from my races) to keep me entertained for the rest of the year. These targets must be achievable so I thought I would offer you, my readers the option of coming up with some targets for me for the rest of the year. I would prefer if these were time and distance based and ideally not cycle based as cycling is affected by so many things like the wind and weather.

If you have any suggestions for me, please either comment below or tweet me (@Triathlon4Harry).

Thanks in advance,

Michael

Outlaw training part one

Sorry for not blogging recently. It's been a hectic couple of weeks now that I have started training for the Outlaw, which is only just over 15 weeks away. In fact I'm sitting here and to be honest I should be training tonight. But I felt like a night off.

Week 1

Since my last post I have been super busy. My training started in eanest on Monday 18th February with a rest day. What is not to like when day one is a rest day. The rest of the first week was not quite as relaxing. Unfortunately during week 1 I missed two training sessions. I missed my 5 mile run on Wednesday and my 1000m endurance swim on Sunday. I'm not so bothered about missing the occasional swim session. I upped the ante on my bike ride though as I was feeling strong and completed 48 mile instead of the prescribed 25 miles.

Week 2

During week 2 I again did not manage to complete all my sessions. This is due to the fact I work approx 11 hours a day and lose track of time. This week I missed Tuesday's cycle and Sunday's swim. Due to the fact I worked on Saturday I rejigged the training and completed my first brick session of 2013 on the Sunday of a 30 mile bike ride with a 2.5km run afterwards.

Unfortunately towards the end of the week I managed to tweak my neck and my muscle went into spasm. I then aggravated this on my bike ride on Sunday.

Week 3

This week I missed all my planned sessions as I was injured, my neck was really not well. Normally I would have presevered but I had a training week planned in Mallorca for the following week and I needed to be better for this.

Week 4 - Mallorca training camp with RG Active

Before I left London I was training with RG Active and decided to join them on their annual training camp to Mallorca. Me and the Mrs flew out on the Sunday and the weather was bliss. I could not wait for the training camp to start. I had no idea what to expect from this camp as the only training I had done with RG Active was swimming where I swam in the second quickest lane.

RG Active are a triathlon club based in London and have two bases, they have a group form East London and Essex and a group from South West London and Surrey. I trained with the SW London group while I was in London.

After reassembling my bike on the Sunday I awaited the arrival of my club mates from South West London. They flew in really late so I didn't get to see them on the Sunday.

Monday

I finally met up with my old training buddies from SW London and we all had a briefing after breakfast. The plan for Monday was a ride out to Formentor. This was sold as a steady 40km bike ride. This was it the first time I had ridden in a group. I was really nervous when we set off but quickly settled into a rhythm. One thing I learnt early on is that the group moved a lot quicker than I was used to.

The easy 40km ride actually turned into a 58 km ride with a total ascent of just under half a mile. Given I live in one of the flatter parts of the country, this amount of climbing was a culture shock. I even joked that I climbed like an elephant on roller-skates. I learnt so much during these early climbs and am so glad of the coaching I received. On arriving at the lighthouse at Formentor I took a photo.

The ride was exhilarating and thoroughly enjoyable. In the afternoon we went for a sea swim. The sea in Mallorca was erm.......... FREEZING but I was thrilled that I finally got to try out my new Huub Aerious wetsuit. It fit superbly and really lifted my legs. I found swimming in my wetsuit a lot less restrictive than swimming in my Foor Classic wetsuit from last year. We completed two laps of just under 1/4 of a mile but I developed cramp on my second lap.

Tuesday

Tuesday was the day where we planned to complete the 90km bike ride from the Ironman 70.3 course in Mallorca. Given I will complete this race in May, this was superb experience. We didn't uite manage the complete loop due to time constraints but the 49 mile ride with a climb of just under half a mile was cracking experience. We then bricked this bike ride with an hours run. I was on empty at the start of the run and only managed 25 minutes but that is still 25 minutes.

Wednesday

The weather on Wednesday was atrocious, we were planning on completing a brick session but due to the forecasted weather we changed our plans. We completed a running workshop in the morning. I really enjoyed this and was even used an example of an efficient runner. Me at just over 15 stones an efficient runner. Everyone commented on the fact that I made the running look easy. After the running session we had a bike maintenance lesson which was invaluable. The weather had really set in now and  was awful. Some people in other groups came back from their rides with hypothermia. I am so glad my coaches decided to cancel our planned rides.

Because of my efficient running style I got voted the "athlete of the day" by the coaches from RG Active. Me an athlete. I was ecstatic about this.

Thursday

On Thursday we completed out planned brick session, I completed one lap of the run (2.5km), 2 laps of the bike (27km), one lap of the run (2.5km), one lap of the bike (14km) and two laps of the run (5km) in a time of 2 hours and 46 minutes. In the afternoon we completed a two lap ocean swim.

Friday

On Friday we had a long ride planned. We were planning on completing 100km. After the first 40km I was on empty, I had nothing left so had to retire to the transport to recover. After about an hour I perked up and decided to ride again. I  completed a further 48km on the bike and set some new records. I completed 5km in a new PB time of 06:38 which is an average speed of 28mph. This was on a descent and I love descending at speed.

My club mates completed 130km whereas I completed 86km. This in itself taught me an important lesson in how to listen to my body.

Saturday

Saturday was the day of the RG Active relay triathlon.

We were put into teams of three. I was teamed with Karen from RunwithKaren who was my run coach and Brett from the East side of RG Active.

The relays consisted of two races.

In the first race the idea was to complete the distance in your worst discipline to develop a handicap time over the race which would then determine your start time for the second race. The second race was a staggered race using the handicaps from the first race where you should complete in your best discipline.

For race 1 my team decided that Brett should swim, Karen should bike and I should run. The idea being that you work as hard as you can to complete the course in as slow a time a possible. We completed the course in third, this was not according to plan. It transpired that the runners who left before me ran too far. I completed the run leg of 2.5km in 12 minutes. Me running a 12 minutes 2.5km is unheard of. I had no idea my body could do this.

Because we finished third it meant we were the penultimate team to leave in the second race.

For the second race we decided that  I should swim, Brett should bike and Karen should run.

Each playing to their strengths. I set off 3 minutes and 19 seconds behind the race leader. The swim leg was 400m long and the seas was immensely choppy. This played to my strengths as choopy seas have never bothered me. I started to reel people in and despite my 199 second deficit I managed to overtake 4 people during the swim. Had t not been for a few teething problems  getting my new wetsuit off I would have had the second quickest swim time of the day but got overtaken in transition by two swimmers. This was another key learning point for me. I must practice removing my wetsuit.

After the activities had been completed we had a few celebratory beers to cap off a hard week of training. Given I couldn't train the week before I was amazed I completed as much as i did in Mallorca.

A summary of Mallorca is

Days - 6
Training sessions - 11 Miles travelled - 177.86 Kcal burnt - 11805 Time exercising - 14 hours 32 minutes

And I had a bloody amazing time and would recommend the trip to anyone.

When we arrived in Mallorca I joked that I hoped we wouldn't have to climb some of the hills we saw on the coach. I even posted the picture to Twitter.

It transpires that we did climb some of the hills in the photo. Oh how wrong I was.

Week 5

Week 5 started okay with me completing a 2km endurance swim in 37:30 on Tuesday followed by a 5km run on Wednesday but I have so far missed three activities this week. I have missed Tuesdays bike and both the bike and the swim from today. The coaches advised us to treat this week as a rest week anyway so I don't feel so guilty about missing todays training.

I am planning on completing all my activities over the weekend but the weather in Doncaster  may not mean this is possible. There is snow forecast for Saturday. I hope I can manage my 40 mile bike ride and 9 mile run.

Thanks for reading,

Michael