Define "crazy"

Last week was another solid block of training but hampered somewhat by work and reality. The reality being that sometimes we get tired and need a bit of a rest. The highlight of the week had to be the midnight 100 miler.

A key session in my weekly training is an early morning ride on thursdays spent circling a traffic free Regents Park. By starting (relatively) early I can get a 3 hr bike ride followed by a full english breakfast and be in for work by 9.30. The motivating factor is that there is usually company with Steve often there from 4 or earlier and Kevin who does odd shiftwork often there even earlier. It works a bit like a drop in cycling social club with others joining as the morning progresses so that by 6.30 there can be as many as 8-10 cyclists flying round the park. Various sessions are undertaken though it sometimes descends into an ever faster group ride.

Last year at this time I arrived to find Steve and Jo there good and early and decidedly tired looking. Then they dissappeared which is unusual as they normally do breakfast. It transpired they had decided to skip sleep the night before and had gone pretty much straight from an evening swimming session to go round and round the park with the aim of doing 100 miles to celebrate the summer solstice or to build for IM Switzerland, hence they were very tired looking.

Wind forward six months and we thought a winter solstice bike ride would be a good idea. 100 miles done on the coldest night of last winter in London (Temp as low as -7 C) was a true challenge. Water bottles were frozen after 45 minutes and the cold just made any speed impossible. It was done though in around 7.5hrs and chalked as a mental toughening exercise.

Now back to last week, I wanted a crack at 100 miles in 5 hrs and Steve was a willing partner in spite of a massive week of training at epic camp the week before. We started at 1 and were going well after a gentle start and at 65 miles were on target for the 5 hrs. Then the wheels came off with steve imploding as his previous weeks training took its not to suprising toll. I pushed on but by this stage with the speed around 19.8 and not able to find any more diesel I was happy to just complete aided by Kevin who's rear wheel I sucked for a good 45 minutes.

So is this crazy behaviour or is it just different behaviour. Personally I really enjoy the challenge of doing these sessions which stand out of their own right and enable me to challenge myself. To most the idea of getting up to cycle round a closed park 38 times in the name of fun is a fairly straightforward definition of crazy. So this week I wont get up til 04:00 hrs and will only do 70 miles cause that is normal!

Putting in the hours

This year I have been coaching myself which is fun and a big learning experience. Part of the trouble with having a coach is that I can have unpredictable work hours whereby I may be called in to work in the middle of the night or at a weekend and this then plays havoc with any fixed training plan. I also find the stress from some days in the office can magnify feelings of fatigue and I might skip the odd session at the end of a long day.. sad really because once I get out there I feel so much better!

Following on form IM lanzarote with another race in 7 weeks has been interesting. I allowed 1 week of almost complete rest but was at club lesanta so did some pilates, stretching and a bit of swimming. By day 5 post race I was ready for a very gentle 1 hr ride.

On return to the UK (so 1 week after IM lanza) I managed a steady 4.5 hr ride and felt surprised by how little fatigue I had.

The last week or so of training looks like this.

Saturday 1hr turbo bike warm up (230 watts) 2hr run (8 min mile or so)

Sunday 5 hr bike session

Monday 1 hr swim (400m, 10 x 200, 6 x100m)

Tuesday 1hr bike to work (series of 1 mile hard efforts with breaks at traffic lights), 1 hr bike home steady then 1hr 30 mins (8min mile) run

Wednesday 1 hr swim (400m, 4 x 800m)

Thursday 2.5 hr bike including 2 x30 mins hard (and 2 punctures) then 50 min run (8 min mile) later did 1hr swim (40 mins steady then 4 x 100, 8 x 50)

Friday 2 hr 15 min run (8 min miles)

Saturday 1hr 30 min turbo (incl 6 x5 mins LT) and 50 min run straight off

Sunday 5hr bike and 45 min run

Reading what some friends of my have done at Epic training camp http://www.epiccamp.com/ reminds me that the limits may be a lot further away than I think. With a solid 2 year training history of maybe 14 hrs a week I should be able to manage a 2 week spike in hours so long a I am careful on the intensity and get enough rest and eat well. So next week will be a repeat of this one with an extra 100 mile ride on Thursday when I will ride through the night (for a laugh) then sleep through work and pushing out one of the long run to 2.5 hrs.

Will all this work- I have no idea but it is fun learning what stick I can cope with. Setting goals for IMA they are one of three a) 5hr bike split or b) sub 10 or c) sub 3.45 marathon.

I am sure I can do one of these!!!

Selfish or focused?

One of the appeals to many in undertaking an IM is that the events are largely under your own control. As all those who make the journey realise it will put you into conflict with those around you if you allow it too- and as you start to change it is sometimes difficult for those around you to adapt to this change.


How do we offset this focus on our own goals, should we worry about this and where does it end?

Personally I find that the advantages of training include the obvious like being fitter, the collateral benefits such as significant reduction in alcohol intake and the organisational benefits I have touched on before. It is still though a big step to deny my family my presence, or perhaps not (;-), as I set out early on a Sunday for a long ride. Even if I am back by 11 the morning is gone and after 5 hrs riding I am not the most energetic! I would argue though that on my return I am ready to focus on my family and I feel all the better for having been out and done the work.

The question still remains though as to what value we can attribute to our obsession and whether there are ways in which we can give back on the time invested in training, beyond the personal hoped for longevity and sense of well being.

One aspect which I would like to try and focus upon is how we can use our obsession to support others. The fringe benefits of encouraging others to pursue physical fitness both within our families and our workplace are well recognised but sadly these effects are small.

Living as I do in a mixed ethnicity multicultural inner city area with the associated socioeconomically deprived I have started to wonder if there is a way of harnessing the immense energy, skills and wealth of you average ironman to help the local community. Do we have a responsibility through our advantage and ability to help those around us to achieve some of their potential too? And if so how do we do it?

Does this mean I am going to start a hackney youth tri club?? Well I do not think I am the individual to do this. But could I support an aspiring youth athlete and help them to achieve some of their goals? Probably.

On a personal level I am now able to run, which is a blessed relief. I also recognise the pattern of injury that goes back to 2005 and is essentially down to tight hamstrings (I think). So I am back on a programme of post exercise stretching which I am sure will be a force for good as I head towards IM Austria.

reality bites

IM LANZAROTE

Swim1.02 T1 5.21 Bike 6.00 T2 6.36 Run 3.56 Finish 11.10.57

race report

Somewhere in my dream world I thought I could train for an ironman and not do too much pain. Have read the bible (friel) and it seems to suggest that this might be the case but Saturdays race suggests otherwise. Whilst my prep had not been perfect I was confident of a good bike split at IM Lanzarote. My result was not what I wanted. No breakthrough performance here. A solid race with no dramas and a run that was as good as I could have hoped for but no top 100 bike split which was my aim.

Looking for reasons it is hard to identify just one thing. Maybe I did not train hard enough, maybe I did not train long enough. Reading this made me think about my diet. Maybe it is finally time to confront my inner tweenie and stop eating all the sugar I still crave so badly in order that I become a better fat burner.

Not one to look back and remembering I am in it to be positive, I learnt I love the race, I learnt my wife is a top supporter and I learnt that for me it is enough to just be in it and that there is a lot to share with your fellow athletes as you push through the latter stages of the race.

The necessary obsession.

Todays title lifted from gordo lifted from someone else. Thought about it as I was writing a detailed race plan to cover the build up and every aspect of raceday that I could think about.

So what is this necessary obsesssion? well it refers to what is needed to succeed at long distance tri. An ability to let it overcome all sorts of other considerations to the point where it can be overwhelming. Looking back at the last 6 months to the man in the street my behaviour is beyond the obsessive. But to an aspirational age grouper it is probably about par for the course and we would share this obsession. To my partner it is just about tolerable given the clear sense of wellbeing that I get from my training.

I think human beings are hard wired for this sort of thing. It is what makes our brains such an amazing tool and enables us to overcome all sorts of complex problems and keep trying until we find a way through which for you proto human being must have given us a considerable survial edge.

Coming to IM racing I find it mimics my career in many ways. Long periods of training to perform a complex task (operations), learning all the little bits that when put together make for a smooth and successful performance. When repeated over time some of these bits become almost ingrained patterns of behaviour (at work) and I try and bring this to my racing. Performing on the day to the best of my available abilities is all I can hope for. But I would not settle for anything less either, so anything else that I can control come raceday I will.

So when it comes to my raceplan how many Co2 cannisters should I carry come raceday? The obsessive can find reasons for at least 5 cannisters. The truly focused might go without. I take 3!

5 days to go. Thanks Jev for the support. The mara is gonna be a mystery but the swim and bike are a cert for a good time.

Dealing with adversity

So after 6 months of hard training, was at the best I have ever been then my running goes of the rails with a calf injury. Not sure why as it was a low volume running week but may have been the accumulation of fatigue with too much top end work. Not run for 10 days and starting to wonder what will happen come race day.

So how do I deal with it?

Look at the positives. The swimming and the running are the best they have ever been. Swimming marginally so but the biking feels great, which makes for a good first 7 hours or so of the race.

Accept what is done is done. There is nothing I can do now that will change what has happened and I should recognise that I have learnt something about my training and try to avoid the same scenario next time. With acceptance then comes the ability to try and look for solutions and ways of rationalising what has happened. It is important to examine what lead to the failure so that I do not repeat the same mistakes (injuries are failures of training in the same way that accidents are never the result of divine fate but the result of a number of smaller incidents that were potentially avoidable).

So what for Lanzarote? Firstly got to remember I do this for fun and if I am risking serious injury come run time then it may be a long walk or DNF. Secondly focus on nailing the swim and the bike and seeing how good I can feel as I head out for the run. Third believe that come race day it will be OK, I have done lots of run training, I will have had a long run taper, it will work. Strong mental visualisation of success and easy running are important to me in my preparation. I do the same for work and it seems to benefit me by finding the extra edge in race performance.

Finally remember that it will be a great place for a holiday with the rest of my family, and that there is always next year.

five pound swimming pool hustle

This last week after near 300 miles of bike in the week before I focused on swimming and put in 4 sessions for a total of 14,000m. This has had repercussions, like I got cramp in my calf when only 10km into my long run on friday but also benefits.

The clear benefits are in this series of 3x (5x100m of 20,15,10 and 5 sec) Ok I was in a wetsuit but the times 1.22,1.20,1.25,1.24,1.25,1.24,1.25,1.28,1.24,1.26 etc are all under 1.30. This is the first time I have managed sub 1.30s more than 5 x in a row so I was well chuffed and happy that a sub 1 hr should be in the bag (allowing for waves and general idiocy on my behalf). The flip side of this was that the pool was busy with 2 lanes out of action so a lot of fastish swimmers crammed into half the space of normal.. and I loved it. In doing so I must of crossed a few other swimmers and generally been a bit irritating to some of the others in the lane... so maybe not such a good thing, but when you are on fire it seems to conquer all other considerations.

Now to the hustle. My youngest was challenged by the pool attendant to do the swim test (again... for the 6th time in 2 years). I said she could swim to the end of the pool and back no problem. The pool attendant looks her up and down and says no chance. I said you wonna bet he said £5.

2mins 50 secs and 100metres later we were £5 to the good, so there are benefits from taking them to all those swimming lessons. And a well happy daughter to boot.

I just hope that now London has a new Mayor we are notgoing to see drastic cuts in the funding of facilities like the local pool.

Otherwise things are looking good. Made a rash boast that april would see me over a 1000 bike miles, but reality kicked in and got to 800 something. If you want to read about someone who really puts the miles down read this.

http://web.mac.com/stevenlord/StevenLordsWebsite/Welcome.html

19 days to go to Lanza, currently doing some skin training in the sun. Looks like no running for a week though as calf is worse than I first thought, ran for 10 mins and it shut me down and I had to walk home.