Well I 'nearly' cracked the 50hr barrier this month and but for a bit of bad luck and my laziness the milestone would have been and gone. As it happens though I fell a bit short totalling 48h30m (5h swim, 26h bike, 17.5h run). I've also managed to hit double figues for 2 weeks on the bounce totals which could have been so much higher if I hadn't had a massive 9 lazy/rest days.
The bad luck/lazy bug hit today on the final doy of the month. Needing 2h05m to reach the magical 50 hr month I had a local 32mile TT lined up. That and a bit of a warm up/down would have given me 1h45m which was to be followed by a 20-25min run to make a solid brick session. Easy!!!!
At least it would have been easy if I hadn't got 12miles into the ride and felt an odd shudder. I looked down at my back wheel but it seemed fine so I carried on. A left turn followed and I took it real easy to be sure, all seemed fine until I stood up to work out of the corner and things went wobbly again. I stopped to check and could hear the air slowly escaping from my tyre. Race over!!! 95% of my rides I take spares, today I forgot and get my first ever puncture in my ZIPPs after 4 years. Ah well.
I managed to grab a lift back to my car with a marshall (thanks Phil) but by the time I was back there it was raining and I was cold. Once home I removed the thorn from my tyre and fixed the flat, I suspect new tyres will be another pre-Ironman purchase as they've seen their best days. Since then though the normal rainy weather (sun's shining as I write this) and my laziness took over and that was it for the day. A waste of a Sunday really.
This week I guess I'll stick to mostly short sharp stuff until the weekend where I've got an 80mile IM pace bike ride lined up for Saturday and Wolverhampton (IM paced) Marathon on Sunday.
The bike ride will hopefully be ridden at 120-125bpm, it's fairly flat until the last 10miles when there's more climbing than I'd like but it'll be a good chance to practice getting aero on the new bike for long periods, it'll be interesting to see how my back copes.
The aim for the Marathon is to hold 140-145bpm and take a gel every 20mins. I guess performance will greatly depend on how good/bad my legs feel after the bike ride and also how much hard stuff I do during the week. Hopefully though I'll be pushing for a sub 3:30 finish. All of my long training runs have been sub 8min/mile pace no matter how tired I've felt, my last Marathon was a total disaster though so I won't be underestimating the distance this time.
Well, that's if for August. September is upon us and it's the final 2 month run up. Now I guess is the time where I suck up and train if I've any chance at all of nailing this damn race once and for all. Will I manage to stave off my lazy genes for the next 6 weeks in order to put in a perfomance deserving of the race or will my lack of testosterone/ego/drive come back to haunt me? Soon it'll all be revealed.
PS - Chrissie kicked ass again today at Almere, that's 6 Long Distance wins out of 6. Has anybody else got a Hope in Hell on October 11th at Hawaii?
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
It's not fast - yet!!!
Well the new bike has landed and unfortunately, as is normally the case, it hasn't quite been the revelation that you want/expect. It has however had me out of the door training far more than I expect that I would have been without it.
The week started awkwardly as things at work have had to change for a while. I had to work an odd split shift on Monday but managed to get a 7mile run in (@ 6:32 pace) during my 4hr 'rest'. I was happy with the start to the week, but it soon became obvious that Tuesday was going to be a write off where any training was concerned.
Wednesday on the other hand I had all the time in the world, but as seems to be the case here it was pouring down ALL DAY. It was also the day I'd arranged to pick the new bike up and drop my old bike off for a service. This was the first time that the extra training effect took hold, normally the constant downpour would have had me sat in front of the TV watching the Olympics but there was a tiny break in the weather and I was out of the door pedalling.
When I say 'tiny' break that's exactly what I mean, I was soon doing my best impression of a drowned rat as I pedalled my new pride and joy through a monsoon.
Thursday was another loooong day at work which killed any thoughts of training but by Friday lunchtime I was finished for the week and hitting the local 'Tark Trail' for a 16mile run. The plan was simple, keep the HR below 140bpm and the rest will take care of itself. It started well enough but I knew there was the chance of nutrition problems as I was running straight from work and had no food/drink/gels there. It's nothing new for me to run 2hrs or so without any nutrition so I wasn't worried but trying to run at a given HR made it interesting. At 11miles I diverted past home to pick Rosie (the dog) up for the last 5 miles. I took on a gel as there was one lying about and headed out again with my new partner. Here's (I guess) is where the lack of nutrition told its story. From 11miles on my Garmin was constantly bleeping at me as I simply couldn't keep it below 140bpm without dropping to little more than a jog. I got to 15miles and lost the plot so I ignored the watch and put the hammer down a little. 6:11 for my last full mile and 7:23 pace for a 'mostly' HR controlled 2hrs of running, I had no complaints. After that was a squad swim session where somehow I managed to avoid cramping up, even during the 400m breaststroke kick set.
The Bank Holiday Weekend has been a bit of a (new) bikefest really. Saturday morning I got all depressed when I did a local 20mile lumpy TT course and took over 1hr when I've done 53mins in the past on my TREK. There were slipping gear issues on the QR and I just didn't feel that I could hold the Tri position so I popped it back into the shop to have the gears sorted and the stem flipped upwards. In the afternoon one of my training pals dragged me out for another ride. Immediately the new position felt more comfortable and we did 1h50m including some good climbs that I hit in my biggest gears to give the quads a work out. I was a lot happier on my return than I had been in the morning.
On Sunday I met a clubmate at the local run track (1 mile from home) and we hit the dreaded 20mile TT course again. Once again I was poor and my clubmate took me for 2mins where normally I'd have taken time out of him. Still 57:20 was an improvement on Saturday and I had now clocked up 7hrs of training in the last 48hrs. I had planned another 40miles after the hard loop but in truth I was stuffed so there was some gentle bimbling before I returned home. Late on Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed a run so headed out onto one of my old favourites, a 7.6mile off road loop out to Crow Point and back. I managed to hold 7:02 pace at a 143bpm average but in truth that was all I'd got, it hurt every step of the way. I headed out feeling tired and expected the feeling to disappear as I worked my way into the run, it didn't and both the pace and the HR was all I had in me.
Today I went out with my training pal Phill on a local 40mile loop then added 20miles onto the end of it. The pace wasn't fast but at the moment it feels as though the aim is mostly to get used to the new bike before worrying about what speed I'm doing. Thursday is the last of the local 10mile TT's and there's a chance I may make it there for the first time this year. It's a tough course and on my one attempt there last year I rode 24:42, it'll be interesting to see what time I can post on the new toy, presuming I manage to get there of course.
Happy Training folks.
Iain :-)
The week started awkwardly as things at work have had to change for a while. I had to work an odd split shift on Monday but managed to get a 7mile run in (@ 6:32 pace) during my 4hr 'rest'. I was happy with the start to the week, but it soon became obvious that Tuesday was going to be a write off where any training was concerned.
Wednesday on the other hand I had all the time in the world, but as seems to be the case here it was pouring down ALL DAY. It was also the day I'd arranged to pick the new bike up and drop my old bike off for a service. This was the first time that the extra training effect took hold, normally the constant downpour would have had me sat in front of the TV watching the Olympics but there was a tiny break in the weather and I was out of the door pedalling.
When I say 'tiny' break that's exactly what I mean, I was soon doing my best impression of a drowned rat as I pedalled my new pride and joy through a monsoon.
Thursday was another loooong day at work which killed any thoughts of training but by Friday lunchtime I was finished for the week and hitting the local 'Tark Trail' for a 16mile run. The plan was simple, keep the HR below 140bpm and the rest will take care of itself. It started well enough but I knew there was the chance of nutrition problems as I was running straight from work and had no food/drink/gels there. It's nothing new for me to run 2hrs or so without any nutrition so I wasn't worried but trying to run at a given HR made it interesting. At 11miles I diverted past home to pick Rosie (the dog) up for the last 5 miles. I took on a gel as there was one lying about and headed out again with my new partner. Here's (I guess) is where the lack of nutrition told its story. From 11miles on my Garmin was constantly bleeping at me as I simply couldn't keep it below 140bpm without dropping to little more than a jog. I got to 15miles and lost the plot so I ignored the watch and put the hammer down a little. 6:11 for my last full mile and 7:23 pace for a 'mostly' HR controlled 2hrs of running, I had no complaints. After that was a squad swim session where somehow I managed to avoid cramping up, even during the 400m breaststroke kick set.
The Bank Holiday Weekend has been a bit of a (new) bikefest really. Saturday morning I got all depressed when I did a local 20mile lumpy TT course and took over 1hr when I've done 53mins in the past on my TREK. There were slipping gear issues on the QR and I just didn't feel that I could hold the Tri position so I popped it back into the shop to have the gears sorted and the stem flipped upwards. In the afternoon one of my training pals dragged me out for another ride. Immediately the new position felt more comfortable and we did 1h50m including some good climbs that I hit in my biggest gears to give the quads a work out. I was a lot happier on my return than I had been in the morning.
On Sunday I met a clubmate at the local run track (1 mile from home) and we hit the dreaded 20mile TT course again. Once again I was poor and my clubmate took me for 2mins where normally I'd have taken time out of him. Still 57:20 was an improvement on Saturday and I had now clocked up 7hrs of training in the last 48hrs. I had planned another 40miles after the hard loop but in truth I was stuffed so there was some gentle bimbling before I returned home. Late on Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed a run so headed out onto one of my old favourites, a 7.6mile off road loop out to Crow Point and back. I managed to hold 7:02 pace at a 143bpm average but in truth that was all I'd got, it hurt every step of the way. I headed out feeling tired and expected the feeling to disappear as I worked my way into the run, it didn't and both the pace and the HR was all I had in me.
Today I went out with my training pal Phill on a local 40mile loop then added 20miles onto the end of it. The pace wasn't fast but at the moment it feels as though the aim is mostly to get used to the new bike before worrying about what speed I'm doing. Thursday is the last of the local 10mile TT's and there's a chance I may make it there for the first time this year. It's a tough course and on my one attempt there last year I rode 24:42, it'll be interesting to see what time I can post on the new toy, presuming I manage to get there of course.
Happy Training folks.
Iain :-)
Saturday, 23 August 2008
In the past
A few folks (for some strange reason) have asked me what happened at my past IM Florida disasters so I've dug deep into the archives and borrowed a smidge of my clubs website space to bring to you my diary/race & run up reports from '04 & '05.
They're a bit long and drawn out and both start in the week leading up to race day (but you can soon scroll past that).
So if you're bored and want to know how not to race an Ironman then click here for the awful 2004 report and click here for the 2005 tale of woe.
Enjoy (if you must).
They're a bit long and drawn out and both start in the week leading up to race day (but you can soon scroll past that).
So if you're bored and want to know how not to race an Ironman then click here for the awful 2004 report and click here for the 2005 tale of woe.
Enjoy (if you must).
Saturday, 16 August 2008
New Toys
I'm beginning to feel like a scratched record, but yep........ it's still raining and yep....... my training is still all over the place!!!
After my last post the training picked up a little on the running front at least. I took the pup out for 15miles on Wednesday night, ran a slippery and slidy 6.3miles (53mins) up and down Brent Knoll (pic below) and Thursday, then last night I took the pup out for 7.1miles (50mins) of Beach and Burrows before my squad swim session. At the swim session I was next to useless but hopefully I'd just run myself out of energy.
So for the rest of the weekend I need to knuckle down and train hard. Up early and out on the bike for 4hrs followed by a 1hr run is the plan. How that'll work when I'm planning on watching Paula Radcliffe in the Womens Marathon at the Olympics I've no idea, it doesn't start until 00:30am.
Holy Cow!!!
After my last post the training picked up a little on the running front at least. I took the pup out for 15miles on Wednesday night, ran a slippery and slidy 6.3miles (53mins) up and down Brent Knoll (pic below) and Thursday, then last night I took the pup out for 7.1miles (50mins) of Beach and Burrows before my squad swim session. At the swim session I was next to useless but hopefully I'd just run myself out of energy.
Today I was back to my lazy arsed best though as I sat down and watched the Olympics this morning while the weather was fine, rather than go out training. Then this afternoon once the heavens had opened I popped out to my LBS and ended up buying myself a new bike, that's ended any plans that Shelly had for a new bathroom!!
So now it seems that I'm the owner of a Quintana Roo Seduza (pic below). In truth it's overdue as my old TREK's had a tough life and the frame bares some scary scars which I'm sure my bike shop would give me hell about if I hadn't covered them up with stickers. It's going in for a service on Wednesday (when I pic the Seduza up) and it's having new chainrings, chain, cassettes, brakes etc and the ZIPPs need new bearings and 10speed cassette (for the new bike), that'll hopefully be the end of my spending for a while .............. forgot I need new helmet, shoes, trainers, wetsuit - the list seems endless at the moment.
So for the rest of the weekend I need to knuckle down and train hard. Up early and out on the bike for 4hrs followed by a 1hr run is the plan. How that'll work when I'm planning on watching Paula Radcliffe in the Womens Marathon at the Olympics I've no idea, it doesn't start until 00:30am.
Holy Cow!!!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Ahhh crap.
I think I'm losing it.
I still can't get my head around training, the weather here just sucks. How can it be that after only 12 days of what's possibly the most important training month I've already had 5 days off.
Sure it's not all bad and when I do train it's not going to bad, it's just the ease at which a planned training session disappears into nothing. Yesterday was a perfect example......
I had a poor weekend of training and then wimped out of doing anything on Monday so the pressure was on for me to do somethnig productive. I had the plan in my head to finish work, leave my car there and go out for a run. After 90mins of running I'd call in at home to collect the pup and then I'd run with her back to work where I'd collect the car. 1:45-2hr run sorted!
So what happened?
I was about to leave work and I changed my mind..... I'll go home, pick up the dog and go run over the Burrows. Then I got home and changed my mind again...... I'll do some quick bits, eat some food and then go on my Turbo trainer for an hour. Then I had some food and changed my mind...... It's to late to train, I'll just sit in front of the TV instead.
On the upside I'm taking my bike in for a service today and I'm in discussions with my LBS about a new steed. If the deal is half as good as initial chat then I'll be a very happy bunny.
I've also booked a week off work in September to train, train and train some more. The current thinking (subject to my ever changing plans of course) is to go visit the folks and run Wolverhampton Marathon on the 7th, then spend a week running after work EVERY DAY. The following week I'll have off work and it'll be bike, bike, bike all the way. I'm just panicking now that I'll have time off, the weather will be as bad as it is now and I'll end up wasting the week. I'm so desperate that I'm even looking into the possibilities of sodding off abroad to train where there is some sunshine - that's very unlikely to happen though, especially if I spend all my money on a new bike.
Right, time for work.
Emma Pooley is currently leading the Womens Olympic Time Trial and I've got to miss the end of it :-( Good Luck Girl!!!
Until next time.
Laters :-)
I still can't get my head around training, the weather here just sucks. How can it be that after only 12 days of what's possibly the most important training month I've already had 5 days off.
Sure it's not all bad and when I do train it's not going to bad, it's just the ease at which a planned training session disappears into nothing. Yesterday was a perfect example......
I had a poor weekend of training and then wimped out of doing anything on Monday so the pressure was on for me to do somethnig productive. I had the plan in my head to finish work, leave my car there and go out for a run. After 90mins of running I'd call in at home to collect the pup and then I'd run with her back to work where I'd collect the car. 1:45-2hr run sorted!
So what happened?
I was about to leave work and I changed my mind..... I'll go home, pick up the dog and go run over the Burrows. Then I got home and changed my mind again...... I'll do some quick bits, eat some food and then go on my Turbo trainer for an hour. Then I had some food and changed my mind...... It's to late to train, I'll just sit in front of the TV instead.
On the upside I'm taking my bike in for a service today and I'm in discussions with my LBS about a new steed. If the deal is half as good as initial chat then I'll be a very happy bunny.
I've also booked a week off work in September to train, train and train some more. The current thinking (subject to my ever changing plans of course) is to go visit the folks and run Wolverhampton Marathon on the 7th, then spend a week running after work EVERY DAY. The following week I'll have off work and it'll be bike, bike, bike all the way. I'm just panicking now that I'll have time off, the weather will be as bad as it is now and I'll end up wasting the week. I'm so desperate that I'm even looking into the possibilities of sodding off abroad to train where there is some sunshine - that's very unlikely to happen though, especially if I spend all my money on a new bike.
Right, time for work.
Emma Pooley is currently leading the Womens Olympic Time Trial and I've got to miss the end of it :-( Good Luck Girl!!!
Until next time.
Laters :-)
Saturday, 2 August 2008
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