Swimming against the (tide/wetsuit)?

Chew Lake - BADTri TTT

With a fortnight of solid training almost complete I now have the Harbourside triathlon quickly coming into view. Coming soon after this is Wimbleball 70.3, this is going to be a tough month. Along with Elisa who is doing the sprint two of my friends are doing Bristol Tri, Neil and John, so it will be fun even though it does add a little more pressure to the day to put in a performance. John, who is training for Iroman UK, came third last year, and so I won't get anywhere near him.  Neil on the other hand, is a man who likes to stab people with hot forks. He has "not trained", but ran a 1:38 half marathon so he will probably be in good shape. When he did Tenby in 2012 he went under 2:20 for the Bristol tri, so I'm hoping I can get under 2:30 and preferably closer to the 2:20 mark. The key for me will be the run, close to 45 mins and I have a chance. That is if I survive the swim, I suspect Neil may try to drown me. Watch this space....

So as for training, with Wimbleball very much in the back of my mind I tried to get some time on my legs with a couple of long runs. The first was 14 miles in about 2:10. I purposefully aimed to keep really easy, this ended up being about 9:30 miles. I'm not sure what to make of this as I'd expect to be a bit quicker for the same effort level, but equally, my legs seemed to hold up well for the most part and weren't too sore the next day which was the aim. One of the things I want to avoid with the Ironman training is running "junk" miles just for the sake of it, as doing so massively increasing my chances of injury.  One thing I did notice was my left leg was working harder on the hill through Ashton Court. This is a bit of a concern as Wimbleball is the complete opposite of flat.  I'll keep working on the leg-strength exercises the physio has given me and hope this helps to improve things. The second long run was about 14-15 miles with 45 minutes of running through the grass, trails and forests in Ashton court. I'm going to try and get at least one more of these long trail sessions in before Wimbleball as I think they're really useful for avoiding injury and good race prep for Wimbleball as they're hilly and uneven.

New Bike Nutrition Strategy.

On the bike, BADTri has started to organise a series of bike TT's, the first was 40km, with three loops around Chew lake on the UC251 circuit. The loop is a fairly even 13.4 km, the majority of it is fast and flat but there are a couple of bumps which kill me. The first lap was a 24:08, which I probably pushed a little too hard up the hills on as I got some big spikes in my heart rate, this dropped to 24:33 for the second,  and a final 24:47, bringing the total to 1:13:28. A sub 1:15 is pretty reasonable. My bike split for the Harbourside Tri last year was 1:14:32, but I think this is a flatter/faster 40km so I'm hoping to see a bit of an improvement next Sunday. Fortunately I don't think I'll have to start implementing my new Ben's cookies based feeding system just yet.

Dip in Henleaze Lake  - a toasty 16 degrees. 

One highlight of training was an open water swim in Henleaze lake. The lake is in an old quarry that has been flooded. The water was plenty warm enough with my wetsuit on and I managed something like a 3km swim based on the time I was in the water. Unfortunately, I am coming to the realisation that my wetsuit is a bit shit. I bought an Orca TRN, which has loads of excellent reviews, but it stops me from swimming properly, I feel like I'm fighting the wetsuit more than swimming forward which is not a good sign. As with everything in triathlon, spending a lot of money is the key to fixing your problems. The trouble is I don't know if I can justify spending £2-300 ... and the rest on a new suit.

Defending my picnic from Elisa and passing animals.

One good part of my job is that I sometimes get to go and see new bits of engineering. Occasionally this turns out to be bike related. In the past week I got to look at a new mountain bike produced by Robot bikes. They have 3D printed titanium joints, which are joined with carbon fibre tubes. These were designed by HiEta a company my friend Desi works for. The bike is pretty interesting from an engineering perspective. I'm not 100% convinced of some of the claims they have been making and at £5k a pop is probably a little out of my price range. The idea is that they will make a bespoke geometry bike for you by modifying the joint geometry. The joints, well some of them, have been optimised by a company called Altair to minimise structural weight. There are a few question marks there, given this is my research field, but the pitch was aimed at the general public and not academics.  It was an interesting trip, and I got some free 3D printed goodies even if they weren't giving full bikes away. I'm hoping to do some work with Dassi bikes over the next six months who have more of a road/TT aim with their projects.

Robot bike 3D printed titanium joints

3D printed titanium joints from  Hieta/Renishaw

Bottom bracket/suspension.

3D printed bottle opener.

hiETA pad spacer

The weeks race away!

Transition - Cotswold Super Sprint

It's been a busy couple of weekends with the Cotswold Super Sprint and Bristol 10km. Trying to fit solid training around them has been a bit of a headache but both races went well and I'm not utterly ruined so I think I've managed to find the right balance. I've now got three weeks until 5th June where I have my first "proper" races, the Bristol Harbourside Triathlon, followed three weeks later with Wimbleball. The plan is to do two hard-ish weeks, then ease off for the week before Bristol to give myself a bit of a rest. Then see how I'm holding up before deciding what to do next. I'd like to go well at Bristol, and would be disappointed if I didn't improve on my 2:38 from last year. Watch this space to see how it goes.

Race number 1: Cotswold SS Tri 400m 20km 5km (officially!)
Having gone to bed early but failing to sleep I was up far to early to for the second BADTri club champs race. The weather in Bristol was miserable, torrential rain, and so being totally unprepared I grabbed my wind-gilet in the hope it might offer some protection on the bike if it was as cold as I expected. Fortunately it wasn't required as the sun managed to clear away the worst of it, but its a bit of a wake up to getting some wet weather gear for Wimbleball. Most of the kit I have is fine for commuting, but I need some back up if I'm on the bike for 4 hours in the cold/wet.

There were quite a few BADTri faces about and having said hi to a few people I was racked and ready for the first challenge - getting in the wetsuit. The water was actually surprisingly warm, it had been 9 degrees the weekend before, but a week of sun had brought the temperature up to 14. The swim was good, there was a bit of a ruck going round the first buoy, but I held my line comfortably without too much agro. After the first buoy I sat on the hip of someone who I ended up drafting/sighting off until the last 50m where I held what I thought was a fairly comfortable pace. The last 50m involved a bit of dodging the previous wave but I was out the water in about 6:20 despite misjudging the exit.  I had a fairly quick T1 and I was on the bike with a flying mount. Despite this Will from BADTri had managed to come in just behind me on the swim and had already disappeared off up the road never to be seen again.  This time I got going properly before messing with my shoes, the previous days practice paid off! I saw T1 go horribly wrong for someone, they veered off to the left and into the ditch, jelly legs from the swim or just bad balance? Hopefully they were OK.

The bike route was on open roads, but it was flat and fast. I was at 38 kmph and felt like I wasn't pushing it at all on the initial flat section. I was passed by a couple of people on TT bikes but I was overtaking a lot of people from the wave before. I passed a couple of groups who were taking the piss drafting, it certainly looked more like a pace line than a solo TT. I had someone wheelsuck as we rode up Cirencester road. He passed me as we headed through a series of roundabouts which I took a bit too carefully, but with some slower riders changing direction/line without warning I wasn't going to risk it. I passed him comfortably on the final 5km and didn't see him on the run. My computer had my average speed at 34.5 kmph but I think it was a short loop of only 18.5 km.

I had a good transition into the run despite some congestion at the dismount line.  I was away on the run in good time and my legs felt good. The run was two laps round the lake and the recent glorious weather had left the trail a little muddy. As my legs loosened up I picked up the pace a bit and was passing people at a steady rate, unfortunately I was also being passed by the quicker runners too. One guy absolutely flew past, he must have been running ~ 15 min pace, absolutely mental! I completed the first lap in about 10:20 which at the time was a big boost, I was flying ... or so I thought, it turns out the run was short too. The second lap got really hard in the final km. I got stitch and just about managed to hang on across the line - 21.12 would still a 5k pb but the run is probably closer to 4.5km. That would put my run in at 23:30 5k pace which is still within 10% of my standalone pb.

I finished 10/33 in my age group which I'm pleased with. But the results go to show how relatively weak my running is as I was 22/33. If I could have got closer to 20 mins on the run I'd have bumped myself up quite a few places. I'm pretty happy with how I paced the bike, I went hard but not too hard, and the swim was fairly comfortable. Still, it was a great race, I got a race shirt I really like, and an awesome BADTri turnout meaning there were plenty of friendly faces. Competition for the club champs is heating up!

Split Name	Race Time	Leg Times	Lap Times	O Pos	C Pos	G Pos	Pace
Swim		00:06:43.9		38	2	27	16:49 min/km
T1		00:00:55.4		36	4	26
Cycle		00:32:31.1		86	9	80	36.9 km/h
T2		00:00:43.1		58	6	40
Lap 1			00:10:32.3	163	22	139	14.2 km/h
Run		00:21:12.0	00:10:39.7	153	22	132	14.1 km/h

   

Another medal and a cool T-shirt. 

I decided to go for a "long run" on Sunday evening following the race, I managed 9 miles, but my legs felt horrific. I imagine that is just a taste of what the Ironman run is going to feel like. I'd wanted to get my run in because I had a physio appointment the next day and I'm not supposed to do anything for 24 hours after our appointment. I've had a couple of sessions and she's spotted I've got a pretty bad imbalance in my left leg. I've never been 100% even because of the sports I've played in the past but I was shocked at how bad it seems to have gotten. I'm pretty sure my bike accident contributed to this, its not painful, but its a recipe for disaster, so I need to get it sorted asap. For that reason I will be humping the wall with a rubber ball, doing various squats and stretches and of course extra foam rolling.

Race number 2: Bristol 10k
This Sunday was the Bristol 10k and I was hoping to improve significantly on my last official 10k time from 2012. I wasn't sure exactly how I should pace things. The dilemna was either to go optimistic, potentially get a great time, but also risk blowing up. In the club run session on Thursday night I did 6 x 1km  with 2 min rest at an average of about 3:45, getting steadily faster. The last reps I were closer to 3:40 and Ben who I I was running with was aiming for under 40 mins for the 10k. So what to do? In the end I decided to be conservative, my best 5k time this year is 21:34 back in November, though I think I'm probably a bit quicker, but running close to 40 mins just isn't going to happen... yet. In the end I ran pretty even splits for a sub 45 apart from the second km which was horrifically congested. The second to last km into town wasn't much fun going over the Redcliff hill bridge, but nothing too bad, I'm just not built to go uphill. The 9th km was made worse by the fact I missed the flag and had a panic I'd massively fucked up. I ran the last 400 harder but felt like I probably had a bit too much left in the legs at the end, I'm pleased I got under 45 as that was a big target of mine. Unfortunately, as is often the case I feel like I could probably take a bit of time off it too.  I was watching the later waves come in over Redcliffe hill. Credit where its due there were people who were determined to get round and the face of suffering is one I'm familiar with. I imagine that is the face I'll be pulling in 3 weeks time at the Bristol Tri. 

Bristol 10k medal

   

Splits from Bristol 10k
Chip time 44:43

4:32

4:37 (traffic)

4:27

4:27

4:25

4:26

4:28

4:28

8:49
- 44:43

Functional after a test?

Having looked at my diary for the next few weeks a sudden sense of horror kicked in. I have a lot of races and not a lot of time to train properly before Wimbleball. It doesn't seem like a lot, but if I race on the weekend it means I can't easily get my long training session in for the bike or run. I'm pretty happy with my general fitness but I'm worried I don't have the legs for running long distances at the moment. Its the run that worries me for Wimbleball, I'm trying to ignore the fact I'll have to run twice that in September! (Thanks to Manchester messing up their measurements this will be my first full marathon) 

Upcoming races:
8th May - Cotswold Sprint Tri

15th May - Bristol 10k
5th June - Bristol Harbourside Tri

25th June - Wimbleball Tri

Harbourside and Wimbleball are two of my three (A) races this year which means I actually want to taper and go into them rested - this means I lose two hard training weeks. I'm hoping to set a new PB for the Harbourside Tri and two of my friends are racing, Neil Bucknay and John Lenehan, along with Elisa who'll be doing her first sprint. John came third last year! So I don't think I'll be keeping up with him, though I'm hoping to go under 2:30 and preferably closer to 2:20. It will be the run that makes or breaks my time. I think Neil got 2:18 when he was preparing for Tenby, if I'm in that sort of range I'll be happy.  

20 minutes of suffering FTP test

In preparation for Wimbleball I went for a long run last weekend and managed 11 miles @ 9 min mile pace. This felt really easy from a cardio point of view, but my legs are out of condition for longer stuff and I was feeling aches in my knee and hip joints.  I put in another 10 mile run this weekend that felt a lot better and did a sub 7:00 mile at the end so hopefully its just a case of building up the miles again. If I can run a comfortable 15 miles before Wimbleball I'll be confident in a reasonable, albeit slow, half marathon off the bike. 

This Wednesday we did a 400m time trial in the pool, I managed a 5:58, but I'm not sure this was a totally fair reflection. I'd done a hard weights session the day before and even in the warm up I felt like I was swimming in jelly. I might try and do this again when I'm fresher. I've an open water 400m in the Cotswold sprint so I can compare times there. On Friday I did an almost continuous 4.6km swim on Friday, having to swap lanes half way due to club session, but I hit 3.8 km inside 64 mins which is consistent with my last long swim session. I think my swimming is going to be OK, but I'd like to see those times drop below 60 for the 3.8 km.

I finally managed to do a FTP test on the bike on Saturday, I downloaded a sufferfest video, which was really useful as I don't think I would have done a warm up anywhere near as sensible had I just gone for a 20 minute ride. In the end I managed to hold 285 w at a heart rate of 175 bpm. This puts my 1 hour FTP at 170 w, or a touch under 3 w/kg. Again, I'm not 100% fresh, so I'm confident I could probably have got things a bit higher.  I will aim to try another one in the near future as they recommend doing three attempts to get a  more accurate indicator. My legs were pretty knackered at the end of it and I think they decided to inflict some revenge when I was cycling up Gloucester road later that day. Perhaps they just wanted a bit of ventilation? 

Ventilated Jeans?