Back on the radar

The Bringer of Pain - The Foam Roller!

With work piling up blogging has taken somewhat of a back seat. I found it hard to justify writing a blog post when I was seriously behind in submitting a journal paper and a conference paper. The paper might be of interest to all you carbon road bike lovers. As part of a post-doc I completed last year I've been doing research for the HiPerDuCT program, The aim is to introduce ductility into  high performance composites, the idea being that things like your bike don't fail catastrophically if you over load them - thereby hopefully avoiding something like this. The work is now off to a journal called Extreme Mechanics Letters, which has a pretty awesome name by engineering standards. The conference paper has been looking at how to improve manufactured quality of thick composites - think wind turbines. Not likely to be much use for your bike, but it does mean I'm off to San Diego for a conference. This means some winter sun, which in turn means a chance to get some miles in on a bike while exploring a new city - watch this space for photos.

So what's happened while I've been away?

I ran the Aztec west fast 5K in 21:34 (21:31 off my watch). I'm reasonably happy with my time and think its probably a reasonable reflection of where my training times would put me. However, I think there is definitely scope for a bit of improvement... I'd like to think if I keep the training up I'll dip under the 20:00 mark. Though as my friend John reminds me I don't need to run fast in an Ironman.  The course is a nice fast flat run - three laps around a business park in North Bristol. I had to admit, it was a touch worrying when in the line for the loos a couple of "youngsters" (I'm still totally down with the kids), were discussing their target times. I'm going to take it easy and just go under 17:00.... I may be a little out of my depth here. In the end I decided the plan was to try and get a feel for how I'm running, avoid using the watch too much, and just aim to keep an even pace. 

My splits, 3:57, 4:16, 4:21, 4:44 (Bah!), and 4:12, were fairly respectable, and I managed to out kick a couple of people at the end (I think they may have had 20+ years on me though). The kick, although good for me place wise, meant I probably left too much in the legs. I think next time I need to sit on  4:00/km and suck it up when it gets hard.  If I blow up then at least I know I've given it everything. Next one is in Jan so we shall have to wait until then to see.

One cool thing that has also started has been the BADTri trail runs. I was a bit apprehensive about doing them given I've had a few bad sprains on my ankle from playing cricket. Fortunately, while muddy, they've not been quite as bad as some of the manure filled fields we used to suffer through in high school cross country.

The first one, up at Leigh woods, was done on the night of the new moon for extra darkness. Once the group spread out a bit it was pretty tricky finding your way through the mud and the trees but really enjoyable. Running with a head torch really focuses you. I did one lap of the course but the second time round someone shouting for help meant we ended up stopping to investigate. We didn't find anyone, the forest is like an echo chamber in the dark. In the end the police were called, but I have no idea what happened. There was nothing in the news so lets go with a positive outlook.

The most recent trail run was at Stoke Park. Slightly more open but with a truly viscious hill to run up. I could just about keep my grip walking but some people were flying up. I got lost running across the fields, but then, so did everybody else. This was a bit more of a mud-bath but again really good fun and hopefully adding a bit of variety is going to help with my all round performance. My highlight was managing to stay on my feet for all the slippy muddy parts, but then falling over on the packed trail. Standard. Note to self. Watch your own feet.  

Regular training wise, I managed to ruin myself in the pool. I occasionally get a bit of foot/toe cramp when I'm swimming and I can usually tell when its about to come on. If I flex my toes while I'm kicking, I look a bit daft but it usually goes away. This time, it didn't work, and I ended up with a horrific full leg cramp. I was coming to the end of my set which was 15x200m @ 3:15+30 rest and pushing off my whole leg locked up. Fortunately I managed to drag myself out of the pool as the lifeguard didn't bat an eyelid as I was rolling around looking like a muppet trying to stretch it out. I suspect my lack of proper recovery after the previous nights track set may have contributed. Anyway, my calf's been a bit shitty since then, so  as penance for improper recovery I have been inflicting further pain via the foam roller. Bringer of such miserable pain. Lets hope its sorts out my calf.

The 4th discipline

One of the things you hear pretty regularly in triathlon blogs/posts/websites/adverts is the importance of good nutrition. Now, for sure, I agree, filling your face with a dirty burger and pies every day isn't really going to cut it when it comes to getting a balanced diet, but sometimes cake is simply unavoidable. This week it was my birthday, I'm turning 30, getting old, and so cake was required - In VAST quantities!

The first effort were my brownies, I made two batches given my previous attempt to kill those with a peanut allergy. I forgot to photo the plain chocolate ones, but this shows off the peanut butter layer nicely

They went down pretty well in the office so I managed to avoid eating the whole batch myself.

For the second cake I have to give exceptional credit to Elisa. Having introduced me to s'mores, she managed to take all the marshmallowy goodness and turn it into a birthday cake.

The photo doesn't really do it justice. Layers of brownie, cookie/biscuity base and marshmallow frosting, with some toasted marshmallow on top. I have to admit, even my sweet tooth was overcome but thankfully we had plenty of people to share it. So many calories! Thankfully the 1.2km of climb I did up Burrington Coombe on the bike somewhat offset this.

In general, the last weeks training has been a bit of a shambles with a lot of work and house related stuff meaning the only serious sessions I got in were a bric and the BADTri track session on Thursday. The track session was good, running 700s followed by 200s,  I'm hitting 2:45 for the 700, and under :39 for the 200.  Its giving me hope that I might have a good chance of running a sub 20 5k so I think I'll try and enter the Aztek West fast 5k on 24th November. This week is looking a bit more chilled out, so hopefully I can get back into more of a routine, I'm looking forward to a trail run on Friday which will add a bit of variation.  

Watt a way to improve

Aside from the wonderfully pun-tastic title this post raises a bit of an issue I've noticed between 'feel' and raw data I've been getting from my turbo trainer. Back in August I bought a turbo trainer from Bike 24, when it finally completed its journey over the sea (Several return trips to from Dresden to Koln), I've been using it for some structured bike sessions. The trainer, a Tacx i-vortex, seemed to have everything I wanted, decent enough brake, it can do 7% gradients (and 800 watts), and had good reviews on feeling as close to real pedalling as you can get without spending more than I paid for my bike. I got the TdF edition, not because I have delusions of grandeur, but because it was a bargain.

Anyway, I don't own a power meter, its something I don't feel I can justify at the moment for the level that I train/race at. As with all these things, I try and think about what the value for money is to me at my level of racing. I would notice the difference between a £500, bike and £1000 one, but I doubt if the change from £2000-£5000 would be noticeable to me. So my only exposure to power data has been in spin classes and on the wattbikes in the gym. In the spin classes, I've noticed that my average power for the 45 minutes was usually around the 250 watts mark including the warmup/down with peaks anywhere from 400 to 800 depending on the intervals. Anything like 200 watts or lower feels very easy, genuinely spinning. These figures aren't too impressive. they certainly won't get me a green jersey, but on the Tacx 200 watts feels like a bit of a slog. I've pissed around with the calibrations, wheel psi etc. but it doesn't seem to make much difference. The Tacx's power is obviously measured at the back wheel, but surely I'm not loosing THAT much in mechanical loss? Anyway, it seems to be repeatable, if not accurate, so I may have to take these readings with a pinch of salt. I wonder how reliable it actually is?

So, whose to say the spin bikes aren't a load of crap. Well on Wednesday this week they had a wattbike challenge at the university travel fair. Not being competitive at all I threw my leg over and had a crack at it. The aim was from a slow spin to try and see what the peak wattage we could hit was. Having set it up I noticed I was spinning the pedals easily at 220 so I'm further inclined to believe the Tacx has its own special Dutch watts. Anyway, I had a couple of pushes and came away with 971 watts frustratingly short of the kilo. Respectable effort compared to those up on the board, but there were a couple who'd just broken 1100. Having not eaten yet I managed to stuff a tuna sandwich down my face and have a meeting with my research tutees's about their cycling infrastructure project (Hopefully more on that to come). This was followed by a trip for coffee with my friend Tim, which resulted in a return to the travel fair, for more free stuff and another attempt on the bike. In the mean time the uni cycling club had been down and there were a few more 1k+ with 1330 being the top of the pile.  Tim had a strong showing, just short of 900, but my second attempt I managed to push 1191. Who needs EPO when you can have a tuna sandwich and coffee!!!!   

 

Cardiff Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran the Cardiff half marathon for Cardiff Women's Aid along with quite a few other runners, as a group we were raising money for the CWTCH project (Cardiff Women Taking Charge) which aims to raise awareness of domestic abuse in the Cardiff area. I don't normally raise money for charity when running races like this but the charity does really good work and I know that any money raised will actually go to a specific project. Together the group raised well over £2000 so it was definitely a success. 

This was Elisa's first half marathon and she absolutely smashed it, getting a time of 1:57. I'm really impressed with how committed she was to her training plan, and how sensible she's been in building up her mileage. Training was trickier in Canada, but I think running in the heat (I know, not snow?!?), really helped.

I'd planned to race the Bristol half two weeks earlier and just enjoy Cardiff for fun. Unfortunately Bristol  clashed with Ironman Wales which I wanted to go and see so on race morning I was hoping to get a decent time in. The start was a bit hectic, and so I was rushing to drop my bag off when I probably should have been warming up. I managed to fight my way past the crowds to get to the pens. I'd hoped to drop in at the back of the faster group at the 1:45 cutoff aiming for around 1:40 but as I'd signed up with a time of 1:45 I wasn't allowed in that pen due to my bib colour. Note to self, don't be so conservative with my time next year.  So I was at the back of my pen with the 2:00 runners and we were off before I knew it. 

Cardiff is a big race, second biggest in the UK by all accounts and it was definitely more congested than Bristol. I spent the first 4 miles trying to get past people with limited success. I felt like I was running terrible lines and the stop/start speed-up/slow-down wasn't helping my rhythm. At about mile 4 I got stuck with a bunch of people running 8 minute miles, when I really needed to be doing 7:40s and my chances of running under 1:40 had pretty much disappeared. Towards mile 10 my ankle started to ache and I ended up running a couple of slow miles. I managed to drag it back a bit and was hoping to squeeze under 1:45 but my ankle just didn't want to let me sprint. So I was 16 seconds over which is pretty frustrating. I ran close to the same pace for the first half of the Manchester marathon so to not knock any time off is pretty abysmal. Still. Lessons learned. Get to races earlier!

Also, who wants cheese and onion crisps in their post race snack bag :( My milkshake was much more enjoyable!

My mile splits
7:58 
7:45
7:41
7:56
7:51
8:02
8:02
8:03
7:58
8:23
8:27
8:16
7:59
0:48

Watch time:
1:45.16   

Official chip time:
1:45.12




 

   

Term starts and the lurgy begins!

Having managed to survive three whole days of the new academic year I've already managed to pick up some filthy bug. I got that horrible sinking feeling when a scratchy throat in the morning began to turn into wanting to fall asleep at my desk. Manflu, the most debilitating illness of all!  Hopefully it will clear in a few days and I can keep on with training with it as I'm looking forward to the BADTri running track session tomorrow evening. Looking forward is probably the wrong description, it's more like releif knowing the suffering will be worth it. These sessions are brilliant at pushing my pace that bit faster and I'm hoping it will pay off when I run the Cardiff half in a couple of weeks and I can get a new PB.

Anyway, this blog needs some food. Feeling like death, I thought I'd have something tasty for dinner. I managed to throw together some, steak, sweetcorn, veg, and homemade chips. I failed miserably in photographing the whole meal, but the chips are pretty awesome. I froze par-boiled wedges for emergencies just like this, and they taste so much better than soggy filth you often get.

Lovely Home Made Chips!

A long way to Tenby

Having been fortunate enough to support my good friends John  and Neil compete at Ironman UK and Wales many times it got to the stage that I couldn't justify sitting on my bum on the sidelines any longer. Something about turning 30, mid-life crisis looming, might also have had something to do with it. My new job as a lecturer in composites structures, means not being broke for once but also gives me some vague justification for buying a carbon road bike for anecdotal "research", getting my hands dirty or something like that :) More on the bike later!

I'm not entirely new to endurance sports having completed a couple of marathons, and cycled up Tiedie in Tenerife more than once.  I'm no runner by any stretch of the imagination but 3:53 is pretty respectable for a fat lad. The aim of the next year is to try and hit a few race milestones, running, cycling, and triathlon as I make my way to Tenby. Hopefully I will do this without leaving myself utterly broken... or so the plan goes. Keep checking in here to find out!