So this starts the full week section of my holiday and with my Grizzly blisters on the mend then there is no excuse for not getting a few hours in, although I'm sure the weather and my parents coming down for a few days will feature amongst my feeble excuses as the week goes on. The Target?? ............ I'm not dumb enough to put a figure on my aims because that leads to certain failure. BUT after my post the other week and my discovery that I'd only hit 15hrs once last year then I do have 'for me', very lofty aims.
Monday - A 3hr bike ride was a good solid start to the week on a nice day. As is normally the case with my training there was no plan of action and I changed my mind several times during the course of the ride. Throwing Muddiford Hill in after 40miles was a bit of a stinger on the legs too. An early wake up call to the week I think.
Tuesday - A big day today...... First up was my tried and trusted 7mile run along the Tarka Trail with Rosie, then a quick dip at the pool. I decided to seehow far I'd swim in an hour so it was simply a case of jumping in the water, starting the stopwatch and swimming. I took my 400m splits to keep track and make sure I didn't lose count. It was nice to have my fastest 400m at the end and 4,200m later I was climbing out of the pool and heading for the showers. Job Done!
The afternoon was nice and steady until I decided it was time to jump on the turbo trainer for my promised weekly session. Spinervals Week 11 in the bag. The evening session was a toughie, off for a rare trip to my local Running Club I'd planned to take it nice and easy with my legs already feeling trashed. Still, when the group session turned into an ego run I just had to hang in there and keep everybody in check, can't let them go thinking I'm losing my edge........... can I ;-)
Wednesday - Only 3 days in and my legs are beginning to feel the strain already. The weather didn't look great so I took the shopper out for a spin. Two big long climbs and legs that hurt, hurt, hurt was the order of the day. I had to put some work in towards the end just to get the average speed above 15mph but we got there eventually.
Thursday - Today had to be an easy one. A 1hr pyramid ride on the turbo trainer (40mins working up the gears & 20mins dropping down) and a 1hr swim session. I managed a 1k TT & 12x100m off 1:45's but it's a rare day when I'm not enjoying a swim session. Must be getting tired!!!
Friday - Long run day. First up this morning was a steady 13miles of run/walk (9min:1min) before coming home to pick the pup up and put in another 7miles. At the start of the run I felt awful, but it passed and I managed to pick the pace up a little in the last 3miles and put in a proper hard 20th mile which was nice. I sat around like a vegetable for the rest of the day before my concience got the better of me and I jumped on the turbo trainer for a quick 35min spin before my squad swim session. We never do 'sprints' at squad training .............. until tonight it seems when I'm wrecked and then it's 50's and 25's all night. I think someone must have tipped the coach off ;-)
Saturday - Damn it rained this morning!!!!! It was a filthy morning so I dragged the shopper out and went for a steady ride out to meet one of my clubmates and we headed off along the Tarka Trail to avoid the traffic. On any other day I'd have stayed at home in the warm, but it's training week and training MUST be done. This afternoon was probably the worst I've been for a long long time. I took the pup out for her regular 7miles but turned around just over half way and came back, I wasn't in a good place at all. Bad Times!!
Sunday - the last day of a tough week. I thought it would be easier to back off a little today rather than smash myself stupid. A Tri Club swim session where the main set was 12x100m off 1:50 and a Club track session where I half ran, half chatted/coached/kept my eye on the others there. I still got 5miles in, but it wasn't any great shakes.
So that's it, the end of my training/holiday week. From now on it's back to work and fitting some training in when I can. Overall I'm happy with it, sure I got tired as the week went on but it was a massive increase on what I've been doing lately and a massive increase on any training I've done in recent memory. At 20.5hrs (232miles swim/bike/run total) it was 5hrs more than my biggest week last year which came in the build up to Ironman Florida.
Most importantly I've come through a solid training week without any preperation and my body has handled whatever has been thrown at it. No injuries, no aches, no strains, no pulls, no tweaks, it's all good. Now if only there was more time in the week I'd confidently be able to build from here, but .................... unless those lottery numbers come up I'll just have to wonder what would happen (maybe a good thing ;-) )
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
Week 10 - it's a bad one.
Last week wasn't a good one for training. After Grizzly my blisters, especially the one at the back of my heel, were giving my all sorts of problems and I was struggling to walk. This was a bit annoying because my legs felt fine.
Monday and Tuesday I did nothing, but the plan was then to hammer myself as from Wednesday I'm off work until the 22nd.
Wednesday though, my first day off, I still did nothing other than hobble around the house.
Finally on Thursday (bouyed by a new pack of Compeed plasters) I decided that I'd got to do something so I took Rosie pup out for one of our regular runs along the Tarka Trail. I fully expected to turn around fairly early and hobble back home but amazingly my heel blister actually hurt less when I was running so we put in 8.8 miles. Once I'd stopped though I couldn't get my trainers off quickly enough, after run was evil pain, although after watching Part 2 of Eddie Izzard - Marathon Man I refuse to complain about blisters ever again (until I forget). Later in the day I headed off to the shed and completed my Spinervals - Week 10 session on the turbo trainer to keep the every week' streak going and that night I went out for a rare appearence at the Running Club and joined in the interval session. The combination of bike & run sessions totally trashed me.
Friday morning I woke up aching from the previous days beastings so I took the pup over Braunton Burrows in the morning for a steady run along the trails where we could run as much (or as little) as we wanted. We ended up putting a nice steady 10miles in which was nice and far more than I expected. The rest of the day was taken up meeting Shelly for lunch, getting my chest X-ray'd hoping to find a cure for this cough/xiphoid problem (no chance!!) and visiting my old tri buddy Mike who was recently knocked off his bike by an asshole hit & run motorist resulting in a fractured pelvis (read more here). The evening was my normal Squad swim session, a tough little beastie with plenty of Butterfly in it and a nice sneaky 400m TT at the end which always helps a session to finish on a high note.
Saturday was a training write off because I had to attend a day course for work and then we were out in the evening for a friends 40th birthday.
Sunday started well with a lumpy 7.5mile run before the Tri Club's 9am swim session. It all went a bit pear shaped after that though although I did get a little bit of garden rubbish moved about at the expense of any training.
So I just managed to squeak 7hrs of training in, but only actually trained on 3 days, not really good enough on a working week never mind a week when I only work for half of it.
Score: C- Must do better (story of my life).
Monday and Tuesday I did nothing, but the plan was then to hammer myself as from Wednesday I'm off work until the 22nd.
Wednesday though, my first day off, I still did nothing other than hobble around the house.
Finally on Thursday (bouyed by a new pack of Compeed plasters) I decided that I'd got to do something so I took Rosie pup out for one of our regular runs along the Tarka Trail. I fully expected to turn around fairly early and hobble back home but amazingly my heel blister actually hurt less when I was running so we put in 8.8 miles. Once I'd stopped though I couldn't get my trainers off quickly enough, after run was evil pain, although after watching Part 2 of Eddie Izzard - Marathon Man I refuse to complain about blisters ever again (until I forget). Later in the day I headed off to the shed and completed my Spinervals - Week 10 session on the turbo trainer to keep the every week' streak going and that night I went out for a rare appearence at the Running Club and joined in the interval session. The combination of bike & run sessions totally trashed me.
Friday morning I woke up aching from the previous days beastings so I took the pup over Braunton Burrows in the morning for a steady run along the trails where we could run as much (or as little) as we wanted. We ended up putting a nice steady 10miles in which was nice and far more than I expected. The rest of the day was taken up meeting Shelly for lunch, getting my chest X-ray'd hoping to find a cure for this cough/xiphoid problem (no chance!!) and visiting my old tri buddy Mike who was recently knocked off his bike by an asshole hit & run motorist resulting in a fractured pelvis (read more here). The evening was my normal Squad swim session, a tough little beastie with plenty of Butterfly in it and a nice sneaky 400m TT at the end which always helps a session to finish on a high note.
Saturday was a training write off because I had to attend a day course for work and then we were out in the evening for a friends 40th birthday.
Sunday started well with a lumpy 7.5mile run before the Tri Club's 9am swim session. It all went a bit pear shaped after that though although I did get a little bit of garden rubbish moved about at the expense of any training.
So I just managed to squeak 7hrs of training in, but only actually trained on 3 days, not really good enough on a working week never mind a week when I only work for half of it.
Score: C- Must do better (story of my life).
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Grizzly 2010 Race Report
Better late than never I guess.
It's amazing how things turn out and how things conspire against you at these things. Way back when (2006) I DNF'd at Grizzly when my trusted Walsh PB trainers fell apart in the bog. This inspired The Tale of Grizzly Torment peom that appears on their website in which I promised to go back and take revenge. The following year I had to miss the race when it was moved to September following the MSC Napoli running aground at Branscombe. So in 2008 and 2009 I returned and put in mediocre performances, neither performance helped by my decision to give old road shoes with very little grip a proper send off in the mud and generally treacherous conditions.
This year I decided that I'd actually get some proper footwear deserving of the course. Several people recommended Inov-8 shoes to me, but getting hold of a pair to try on down here seemed almost impossible. Ironbridge Runner in Exeter did eventually call me to say they had a pair in for me to try, but I'd been waiting 3 weeks by then and it was too late. With two weeks to go I was still no nearer getting a pair of shoes so I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Walsh's online, having had two pairs before I was confident in their fit and more importantly their grip. They duly turned up and I took them for an hours plod over Braunton Burrows to try them out, everything seemed fine although it was hardly a testing workout.
We got down to Seaton in plenty of time (unusual for me) and it was a glorious day, quite possibly the best weather I've encountered in my 10 years of racing there. It was still bitterly cold though and there was just enough of a breeze for the cold to seemingly cut through whatever you were wearing. I got back in the car where it was warmer until it was closer to the start time.
I headed to the start (wearing extra clothes that I could pile onto Shelly before the off) and met up with Steve from the A Mile With Me podcast. We had a little chat as we made our way to the Start Line where I also bumped into a bunch of old friends and training pals from Tiptree Road Runners, 23 of them had made their looong annual pilgrimage from the East Coast of England down to the South West for the race.
So once again I found myself right at the back of the field as the race started and did I care? Not a bit. I know it's really a rediculous place for me to start but sometimes I'd rather just say Hi to a few friends and do a bit of catching up than worry about losing a minute or five to the front runners. It's not as if I've trained and tapered for the race, heck I'd done 3hrs on the bike the day before.
The race started and we gradually moved towards the start line where I set my Garmin going. The initial loop along the beach and then back along the promenade was packed but most people stayed high up the beach, I ran down by the surf where the pebbles seem smaller and more solid underfoot. By the time I'd crossed the start line again I'd already moved well up the field and was passing the nutcase dressed as a Dalek when Shelly saw me with the camera - nice one pal ;-).
Gradually I worked my way through the field, occasionally catching, chatting and passing people I knew. It soon became apparent that I had a problem though! For all the shocking weather we've had this year, for all the snow, rain, gales etc the previous week had been very dry and the sea breezes had made the ground very dry and HARD!!! Many of the paths and fields were like ruts of solid concrete and my Walsh's, specially designed to grip in the wet, soft, boggy stuff were a waste of time and after only 4 miles the constant turning of my feet meant the heel tab was starting to rub - not a good sign with 16miles of rough terrain to go! That was the tale of the race really, on the flat sections I was good, on the uphill sections my lack of strength showed itself, on the downhills and those sections where your feet are at non-normal angles I developed blisters but still I carried on moving up the field little by little.
It's amazing how things turn out and how things conspire against you at these things. Way back when (2006) I DNF'd at Grizzly when my trusted Walsh PB trainers fell apart in the bog. This inspired The Tale of Grizzly Torment peom that appears on their website in which I promised to go back and take revenge. The following year I had to miss the race when it was moved to September following the MSC Napoli running aground at Branscombe. So in 2008 and 2009 I returned and put in mediocre performances, neither performance helped by my decision to give old road shoes with very little grip a proper send off in the mud and generally treacherous conditions.
This year I decided that I'd actually get some proper footwear deserving of the course. Several people recommended Inov-8 shoes to me, but getting hold of a pair to try on down here seemed almost impossible. Ironbridge Runner in Exeter did eventually call me to say they had a pair in for me to try, but I'd been waiting 3 weeks by then and it was too late. With two weeks to go I was still no nearer getting a pair of shoes so I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Walsh's online, having had two pairs before I was confident in their fit and more importantly their grip. They duly turned up and I took them for an hours plod over Braunton Burrows to try them out, everything seemed fine although it was hardly a testing workout.
We got down to Seaton in plenty of time (unusual for me) and it was a glorious day, quite possibly the best weather I've encountered in my 10 years of racing there. It was still bitterly cold though and there was just enough of a breeze for the cold to seemingly cut through whatever you were wearing. I got back in the car where it was warmer until it was closer to the start time.
I headed to the start (wearing extra clothes that I could pile onto Shelly before the off) and met up with Steve from the A Mile With Me podcast. We had a little chat as we made our way to the Start Line where I also bumped into a bunch of old friends and training pals from Tiptree Road Runners, 23 of them had made their looong annual pilgrimage from the East Coast of England down to the South West for the race.
So once again I found myself right at the back of the field as the race started and did I care? Not a bit. I know it's really a rediculous place for me to start but sometimes I'd rather just say Hi to a few friends and do a bit of catching up than worry about losing a minute or five to the front runners. It's not as if I've trained and tapered for the race, heck I'd done 3hrs on the bike the day before.The race started and we gradually moved towards the start line where I set my Garmin going. The initial loop along the beach and then back along the promenade was packed but most people stayed high up the beach, I ran down by the surf where the pebbles seem smaller and more solid underfoot. By the time I'd crossed the start line again I'd already moved well up the field and was passing the nutcase dressed as a Dalek when Shelly saw me with the camera - nice one pal ;-).Gradually I worked my way through the field, occasionally catching, chatting and passing people I knew. It soon became apparent that I had a problem though! For all the shocking weather we've had this year, for all the snow, rain, gales etc the previous week had been very dry and the sea breezes had made the ground very dry and HARD!!! Many of the paths and fields were like ruts of solid concrete and my Walsh's, specially designed to grip in the wet, soft, boggy stuff were a waste of time and after only 4 miles the constant turning of my feet meant the heel tab was starting to rub - not a good sign with 16miles of rough terrain to go! That was the tale of the race really, on the flat sections I was good, on the uphill sections my lack of strength showed itself, on the downhills and those sections where your feet are at non-normal angles I developed blisters but still I carried on moving up the field little by little.Finally the Finish Line was in sight, I passed one last runner on Seaton Beach and the race was over for the day. After starting pretty much dead last I'd moved up to 34th overall in 2:50:21 ( 2:48:48 on my Garmin), happy with the days efforts and more than happy to finally be able to take my shoes off. 3 days later and I'm still hobbling around like an old man due to the blisters. Still, we live and learn. Next year maybe I'll think a bit more carefully about my shoe choice. There were three boggy sections of the course where my Walsh's were invaluable, but for the other 19+miles a normal pair of road shoes would have been plenty good enough. On any other (wet) year the Walsh's would have gained me minutes and probably left my feet unscathed, this year though........... Ah well, it's all good fun in the end.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Taunton Aquathlon Race Report
I went into Sundays race feeling tired after a long week at work and 4hrs of training on Saturday, but none of that matters a jot when you hit the start line. A quick scan through the entrants showed no familiar names that were likely to kick my backside, the biggest danger that I knew of would be Martin Rogers, the organiser of the Burnham on Sea serires(http://www.bospool.com/) who'd no doubt be chasing me down with a blistering run split. That didn't of course mean there wasn't someone unknown to me there who was likely to make me look like a chump.
With this being the first multisport race of my season the normal chaos had reigned over the weekend with me trying to find all manor of goodies that I would need for the race. Shelly had been on hand to find my number belt, especially as I'd threatened to race 'Faris Style' if I had to go old school and pin my number to an old tee-shirt. No amount of searching however could find (and still hasn't found) my race shoes from the last 2 years which have in them my only pair of elastic laces. I decided that now was as good a time as any to christen the Asics Hyper-Speeds that I bought during the week, I was just going to have to bit the bullet and lose (precious??) time tying laces up before heading out on the run.
At the pool I met up with my clubmates who were racing (Damian, Steph, Chiara & Mandy) and plenty of race day friends from various clubs who I hadn't seen since last season. Soon I was registered, numbered up and ready to hit the water.
For the long course race (1000m swim, 10km run) we were setting off in waves every 30mins, I was off in the last wave where we had 3 to a lane setting off at 10 second intervals. One of the other swimmers in my lane I caught, passed and then lapped during the 40 length swim. The other swimmer I seemed to pass every 5-6 lengths, it must have been awful for him having me coming splashing past him all the time but either he was golden or our timings just worked out well because I never once got held up behind him. I was far from the fastest swimmer in the pool though and I feared the worst when I noticed someone about to lap me after only 30 lengths, strangely though for the next 10 lengths we stayed side by side. Maybe he got tired, maybe he was saving some energy for the run, maybe he thought I was a danger and wanted to keep an eye one the gap between us thinking the 40 seconds his two length advantage would give him was enough. Who knows, but as I got the two lengths to go board I looked across the pool to see him jumping out of the water, along with someone else. I finished my swim, jumped out of the pool and headed to my run gear. Bend down, glasses on, cap on, left trainer on, tie my lace, right trainer on, right trainer off, straighten the insole, right trainer on, getting dizzy now, stand up, shake head, bend down, tie lace, grab number belt, get the hell onto the run course! While I was doing that 4-5 other athletes had left the pool, blazed through transition and headed out on the run ahead of me.
Onto the run and it actually helps me to have a line of fellow athletes down the road because for the first 1km I always feel absolutely shocking and if I can feel rough but still be catching people then mentally it's a huge boost. Soon I got to the front of the line and started to push on, I asked one of the marshalls how many folks were ahead and he said three, but he thought two of them were relay runners. I didn't have to worry about relay teams so that (hopefully) made me 2nd on the road, presuming of course that nobody in the earlier waves had gone round quicker. Soon the leader on my individual wave was in sight and I caught him just before the climbs started, it's a tough course and I didn't want to wreck myself early on as I had done the first year I raced it so I just cruised on past and happily let him sit on my shoulder, half way up the climb though he started dropping off. Now I'd just got the hard running Martin to worry about.
The run course is horrible, mostly because I just haven't got a clue where I am. It finishes with you running the last 6-800m along a dirt road which starts at the top of one of the climbs, the problem was that the last week was now catching up with me and I tailed off terribly in the last couple of miles, there were several climbs and at every one I was praying to see the turn off at the top only to be disappointed when I got there. Finally though I spotted the turn off and as I looked over my shoulder I noticed a figure at the bottom of the hill, I recognised that figure and breathed a big sigh of relief because I knew the gap was too big to close. I crossed the finish line a relieved man, I was 3mins behind the two relay teams ahead but more importantly Martin didn't cross the line for another 15secs.
So, onto the presentation and I did manage to pick up the win, closely followed by Martin. Both of us are over 40, so where are you youngsters coming up to knock us off our perch??? Bring it on kiddies ;-)
I'm not 100% sure of my times because they're all over the place on the official results, but the best I can work out based on who came out of the water around me are -
14:34 - 1000m swim +Transition
35:50 - 10km run
50:24 - Total time :-)
With this being the first multisport race of my season the normal chaos had reigned over the weekend with me trying to find all manor of goodies that I would need for the race. Shelly had been on hand to find my number belt, especially as I'd threatened to race 'Faris Style' if I had to go old school and pin my number to an old tee-shirt. No amount of searching however could find (and still hasn't found) my race shoes from the last 2 years which have in them my only pair of elastic laces. I decided that now was as good a time as any to christen the Asics Hyper-Speeds that I bought during the week, I was just going to have to bit the bullet and lose (precious??) time tying laces up before heading out on the run.
At the pool I met up with my clubmates who were racing (Damian, Steph, Chiara & Mandy) and plenty of race day friends from various clubs who I hadn't seen since last season. Soon I was registered, numbered up and ready to hit the water.
For the long course race (1000m swim, 10km run) we were setting off in waves every 30mins, I was off in the last wave where we had 3 to a lane setting off at 10 second intervals. One of the other swimmers in my lane I caught, passed and then lapped during the 40 length swim. The other swimmer I seemed to pass every 5-6 lengths, it must have been awful for him having me coming splashing past him all the time but either he was golden or our timings just worked out well because I never once got held up behind him. I was far from the fastest swimmer in the pool though and I feared the worst when I noticed someone about to lap me after only 30 lengths, strangely though for the next 10 lengths we stayed side by side. Maybe he got tired, maybe he was saving some energy for the run, maybe he thought I was a danger and wanted to keep an eye one the gap between us thinking the 40 seconds his two length advantage would give him was enough. Who knows, but as I got the two lengths to go board I looked across the pool to see him jumping out of the water, along with someone else. I finished my swim, jumped out of the pool and headed to my run gear. Bend down, glasses on, cap on, left trainer on, tie my lace, right trainer on, right trainer off, straighten the insole, right trainer on, getting dizzy now, stand up, shake head, bend down, tie lace, grab number belt, get the hell onto the run course! While I was doing that 4-5 other athletes had left the pool, blazed through transition and headed out on the run ahead of me.
Onto the run and it actually helps me to have a line of fellow athletes down the road because for the first 1km I always feel absolutely shocking and if I can feel rough but still be catching people then mentally it's a huge boost. Soon I got to the front of the line and started to push on, I asked one of the marshalls how many folks were ahead and he said three, but he thought two of them were relay runners. I didn't have to worry about relay teams so that (hopefully) made me 2nd on the road, presuming of course that nobody in the earlier waves had gone round quicker. Soon the leader on my individual wave was in sight and I caught him just before the climbs started, it's a tough course and I didn't want to wreck myself early on as I had done the first year I raced it so I just cruised on past and happily let him sit on my shoulder, half way up the climb though he started dropping off. Now I'd just got the hard running Martin to worry about.
The run course is horrible, mostly because I just haven't got a clue where I am. It finishes with you running the last 6-800m along a dirt road which starts at the top of one of the climbs, the problem was that the last week was now catching up with me and I tailed off terribly in the last couple of miles, there were several climbs and at every one I was praying to see the turn off at the top only to be disappointed when I got there. Finally though I spotted the turn off and as I looked over my shoulder I noticed a figure at the bottom of the hill, I recognised that figure and breathed a big sigh of relief because I knew the gap was too big to close. I crossed the finish line a relieved man, I was 3mins behind the two relay teams ahead but more importantly Martin didn't cross the line for another 15secs.
So, onto the presentation and I did manage to pick up the win, closely followed by Martin. Both of us are over 40, so where are you youngsters coming up to knock us off our perch??? Bring it on kiddies ;-)
I'm not 100% sure of my times because they're all over the place on the official results, but the best I can work out based on who came out of the water around me are -
14:34 - 1000m swim +Transition
35:50 - 10km run
50:24 - Total time :-)
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