Nutrition

I don't go for all this nutrition gubbins which is bad news with the aim being a good Ironman. I really can't get my head around all the different types of pre/during/post race gels, drinks and bars. There's recovery stuff, isotonic stuff, stuff with carbs, stuff with protein, stuff for dehydration and all of it goes sailing right over the top of my head. I had a much improved nutrition strategy at IM Florida last year thanks to some words of wisdom from Rich Brady but it didn't lead to a much improved performance, so was I really any different to the Iain who raced on whatever was available. I still had a nightmare on the run so in reality nothing changed.

Thanks to another buddy of mine (also called Rich) I got hold of a free trial promotional link for a vitamin company that are doing sports nutrition. At the weekend I shelled out my £3.99 p&p and on Tuesday morning a box of shwag turned up on my doorstep. Is it any good? I've no idea. Will it propel me to greatness? I doubt it. There seems to be a bit of everything there though, including some vitamin and other daily tablets which I'm going to attempt to remember to take through April.

If my knee looks like it might hold up for Taunton Marathon I'll try a bottle of the drink out there along with the gel and maybe a bar or both. We'll see if they can perform miracles and make my legs think that they've trained for something. Maybe if I have a cracking race and finish well up the field I can start shouting from the rooftops about Zipvit and they'll send me lots of free stuff.............. ok, maybe not.


Anyway, just wanted to say I'd had some nutritional guff delivered, now I've posted twice in a week I'll go get back in my hole. Goodnight ;-)

Lazy lazy lazy days.

Damn I've been so lazy lately. Lazy with the blog, lazy with the training, just downright lazy fullstop.

After the dire performance at Grizzly I came down with a bit of the lurgie which supplied me with a good enough excuse to lay off any training. I laid low until Wednesday when guilt got the better of me and I took the pup out for a swift 4.5mile blast out to Braunton and back. I had the early part of Thursday off work so hopped on the bike and knocked out my Puffin Billy (36mile) course. Hard to believe that only 6months ago I was doing 2 or 3 of these laps as Ironman training without any problem, now it wrecks me. A few hours after the bike ride I took the pup out for another run, it was planned at 6miles but I ended up doing the extended 8mile version which was something I regreted in the last 10mins when I was just hanging. Friday I was too lazy to train so I just went to my normal squad swim session which led me nicely into the weekend. Saturday!!!! The perfect time to get some big miles in and I did......... nothing! Ok, so I mauled a load of soil and gravel around the back garden but that's not a sport is it. Sunday has now become club day. So often in the past I haven't trained with the club on a Sunday because I've been in need of bigger mileage, now I'm still in need of the mileage but I'm so lazy that not going out with the club would probably mean no training. I did an hours swim session (inc a new 400m pb of 5:04) and then a 4.5mile track session knocking out loads of 400's.

Last week started badly when I woke up on Monday morning and my knee was a mess. No idea why, I hadn't pulled it, hit it, twisted it or done anything else that I could think of. All I knew was that I was struggling to even walk on it. Again though it was a good excuse to avoid training on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday it was getting annoying, I'd bought a knee support and thought I'd try a little run on it. A mile into the run and the support had to go but then strangly everything felt right and I knocked out one of the best runs I've done for a while without any pain. The knee pain/injury also nicely coincided with a killer week at work where training would have struggled anyway so Thursday got knocked on the head and it took until Fridays Squad swim session for me to post my 2nd training session, considering that this included a load of breaststroke it was odd that yet again my knee made it through with no problems. On Saturday I went out with my training pal Phill for 72miles on the bike, again there was no knee pain but my lack of bike training really showed and I got properly caned. Sunday I ran a steady 4mile with the pup, did the Tri Club swim session and then a 4mile track session running 400's with decreasing rest intervals.

That's about it really. There's nothing even vaguely interesting to report unless you consider my spotting a big bad ass Mercedes with an equally bad ass registration plate parked at The Commadore Hotel in Instow. A quick Google search turned the number plate up with the story of how the owner paid almost £250,000 for it. Maybe I should have chased him up and asked if he fancied sponsoring a low life triathlete :-D.

Upcoming!!! It's all a bit up in the air. I'm off to get my knee properly checked out tomorrow so that will tell me lots. I was half planning to do Taunton Marathon in 2 weeks time but I guess that will depend on what news the physio gives me. There are a couple of other little races I might be able to sneak into if the Marathon is a non-starter, we'll see.

Grizzly Report

Well the Met Office website was promising awful weather for the race. Freezing temperatures, huge winds and rain/sleet/hail downpours. Luckily none of that happened, at least not until I'd finished anyway.

I set off at 8am to pick up my clubmate Sally and drive the 90mins to Seaton. We arrived almost dead on 9:30 and followed the queue of cars around the town to find a carpark. Once we were parked up I rummaged through my huge bag of running gear deciding what to wear and take with me. The forecast was BAD but pre race was actually quite mild and after a week of slacking (only 1 run) I felt quite fresh so I opted for a thin long sleeved technical tee and my Tri Club Gillet. I also decided to leave my camera etc in the car to give me a better chance of a decent race.

I headed to the Start line and once there decided that the traditional toilet break was in order, so with less than 5mins to the start I went sprinting off to find the loos which were of course devoid of people because everybody else was waiting to start. A quick pit stop and sprint back had me back 'near' the start line in plenty of time albeit with around 1800 people in front of me. Ah well, nothing new there then.

So as normal I started near the back of the field and took a couple of mins just to reach the start line. The first mile along the prom and beach was a slow walk/jog/walk effort and the second mile wasn't a lot faster but I was gradually getting into things. After the poor start miles I developed a cunning plan. Using the HRM on my Garmin I'd run comfortable mid 140's on the flatter sections of the course and let my HR climb into the 150's on the hills. If I hit 160bpm though I'd back off. That should get me round easily enough while picking people off and then I could hammer the last 2 miles as normal and make up those extra few places. The plan went well enough and I was told I'd got up to 50th place at 16miles when we hit Branscombe beach for the 2nd time, then for some unknown reason I just imploded. I was running along quite happily working my way slowly through the field and then as soon as I hit those damn pebbles it was as if someone shut my motor off. The last 4 miles were tough going, far from making ground I went backwards and lost a bucket load of time, the 'Stairway to Heaven' which is never more than a power walk was more of a casual stroll, my only saving grace was that nobody I knew came past me - phew!
The final beach and road stretch were torturous. My left quad was cramping up and I needed to stop and stretch it, you can't though when you're in the finishing straight. Then 20m from the Finish Line somebody came storming past me, his legs flying everywhere in a full on sprint - I let him go! As he crossed the line he pretty much collapsed as his legs totally locked up with cramp, quads, hamstrings, calfs all together. I crossed the line, leaned against the wall to stretch my quad and walked off, he was lying on the floor in agony surrounded by medics. Worth the sprint finish???? I don't think so!
That's about it really, unless you want to know about how my fingers went white and lost all feeling for the next two hours or how I queued almost 20mins for sausage and chips which were awful. After thawing out and changing I headed back to the finish just in time to catch Sally romping in, looking far better than I had.

Finished eventually in 79th place in 2:57@56.

Back in 2010???? Of course!

Since the race I've had 3 days full of the lurgie which could explain my sudden failings, it's either that or my lack of training and preperation. Either excuse is quite possible ;-)



(I'm writing this in a McD's so I'll edit and add some extra gubbins when I get home).

Impending Grizzly

Well, tomorrow it's time for Grizzly. 20miles of coastal paths, cliffs, bogs and pebble beaches. This year, just to spice it up, it comes with a weather warning. Looks like fun!

Grizzly weather for the Grizzly!
Please be aware that the forecast for Sunday is not the nicest. Rain and perhaps snow, hail and/or sleet flurries, a strong WNW breeze and not that warm (6-8 degrees which with wind chill and rain is going to feel rather cold).
SO DRESS FOR THE CONDITIONS!

I've only missed this race once this century (2007) when the MSC Napoli was grounded and the race was postponed, the replacement date turned out to be just about the only weekend of the year I couldn't get down to Seaton.

Quite often this has been an 'A' race for me, although that doesn't mean I've trained specifically for it (people who know me would laugh at the thought), it just means that I've hoped to have a good race there and maybe justified having a Saturday rest day before it. I've done well here in the past and finished inside the top 10 and I've also had my fair share of shockers in the past.

Tomorrow though I'm going down for fun. If the weather looks as if it might hold I'll take a camera and other electronic goodies round with me , don't hold your breath for spectacular photos though, I took the camera last year and it all went a bit pear shaped.

To go fast at Grizzly you NEED good solid fell running shoes but I'm going round in a pair of off road trainers. They're going out in a blaze of glory because they'll be in a bin after the race. In 2006 I was having one of my best ever races but had to drop out when 'BOTH' of my Walsh PB's fell apart in a bog, since that time I just haven't run off road enough to justify 'proper' off road shoes. My footwear for the day will be perfectly competent on 80% of the course, but it's on those 50% descents/ascents on muddy fields and in the bogs where the real footwear comes into it's own. Just being able to let your legs go on a steep descent can make up masses of time compared to watching your footing and constantly slowing yourself.

The other slight concern for tomorrow is the toes that I ploughed into a wall racing at Taunton 2 weeks ago. They are still quite swollen and causing a bit of grief, but little more than mildly annoying when running normally. Tomorrow's not a 'normal' run though and it'll be interesting to see how they fare with the constant changes of terrain and gradient, any running uphill on my toes could prove to be a painful experience. Nurofen will be at the ready.

That's about it really for a preview. I'll take a bag full of clothes so hopefully I'll be set for any weather. Nutrition??? I'll decide in the morning. I think I've got a gel lying around and I might mix up a bit of Torq energy drink which I'll take with me if I use my camera and need the pockets on my bottle belt to carry it, other than that it'll be fine.

Other bits'n'bobs............... I've done stuff all training on foot or on the bike in the last 2 weeks. I've had a massive (for me) week of swimming though and managed 2 pb's during training. On Sunday I swam a bonus 400m TT after the Tri Club swim session and pb's with 5m13s then at last nights squad session we did an 800m TT and I pb'd with 10m36s which is only 5secs off Sundays 400m pb swum twice...... Nice!!!

Congrats to the Red Nose Day Climbers

who've just made it to the top of Mount Killimanjaro and raised over £1.3million. Yeeeaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! Go find them and check them out.

Until next time.