Someone stop the world...

My updating skills have failed me. I've even been falling behind on my tweets.

Perhaps, when the going gets tough, my inner technophobe comes out and takes control. Anyway, I've been so busy at work, and with trying to get my training done, that I've lost track of almost everything else. This is tough! Of course, I've let my training log slip, but I have been keeping my Garmin Connect calendar up to date. The main problem with that is that I've got a good idea of how my weeks need to progress, training-wise, but I've actually lost track of which week I'm in. In fact, I'm going to go check now...

...

Week 9?

Anyway, my training volume is just about on track, even if I'm deviating from the plan I'm on in terms of exact workouts. I've had a bad swim week (or two) as well. The pool keeps rather short hours, and I haven't always been able to get out of work in time for more than a 20 minute swim. Of course, I didn't take the 20 minute option, I just did something else. That needs to change! I must swim more often and I must increase my weekly distance. The running is going well -- I have a trail half-marathon next weekend that'll be a litmus test for progress there. The cycling is going well too -- I'd been missing bike volume, but I've been upping that well and really I have no worries about the bike.

Which reminds me... since the last entry here, I rode the Santa Fe Century. That's a really nice ride. This year was great weather. There was a headwind for the first 50 miles or so, but not as bad as previous years. I also ran into a few people I knew, so I started feeling a bit more of a local! I rode the century with a friend from work (whose training consisted of mountain biking at lunch a few times a week), and we took it easy with some generous breaks. Still, we got round in about 7hr25 (for 102 miles), and had a "moving time" of 6hr17. Now, that's slower than I would want for an Ironman bike leg, but we took the ride fairly easy. Also, the Ironman is still 15(?) weeks away.

Now all I have to do is try to schedule something to regain a bt of vision by then. My left eye really isn't doing anything for me any more. My cataract is taking my vision (in that eye) down to 20/200 and there's some macular edema coming back that's making it even worse (past a certain point it doesn't make much difference though). So I need to get a new implant to control the edema, then I need to get another cataract surgery. Oh Joy! I do get to see a specialist in Albuquerque next week though, so hopefully she'll have something useful to tell me. I have to say that my expectations are currently quite low.

Anyway, time for breakfast and work...

Race report: Atomic Man duathlon

I raced last weekend.  It was my first race of the year, and my 4th multisport race ever.

It was the Atomic Man duathlon, and I competed in the Fat Man (long course) event. That's a 10km run/40km bike/5km run. The out-and-back bike leg featured an 1100ft climb out of a canyon to the bike turnaround, among other small hills. There's also a sprint event called "Little Boy" (4km/15km/4km). Yes, races named after nuclear bombs...

I've done this race twice now, and each time the course has been altered due to special circumstances. Last year the ride through the canyon was cut because of snow (making the ride a 2-loop out-and-back). This year the transition had to be moved because of roadworks. Given the move of the transition, everything was pretty smooth. There was a little confusion about the entry/exit/bypass at transition, but the volunteers were great and sufficiently vocal that I had no problems getting to the right places.

The weather started out perfect: clear skies; cool (but not cold); slight breeze. Then, just before 8:30 we lined up for the start and on the half hour we started running. The first run was a double loop, and we spread out pretty thinly from the start. Not surprising since Fat Man only had 48 racers (Little Boy had 43).

Anyway, for the first half of the run I had a guy running right on my shoulder. I mean serious personal space invasion! Every time I moved, he drifted back to my shoulder. If it wasn't for the seriously laboured breathing I probably wouldn't have cared. Anyway, I made a little ground on him somewhere on the 2nd lap and then got into transition

The transition was pretty smooth, and I think I've learned from having done a few races now. Straight out of the Saucony Hattoris and into my bike shoes, swap hat for helmet, put CO2 pump into jersey pocket, then gloves on and get moving out of T1.

I liked that bike leg. The wind shifted a little and started picking up through my bike ride. The riders who were still heading out as I was heading back would've got more trouble from the wind than I did. Anyway, I was fairly restrained when I started out on the bike. No hammering the hills, and no out-of-the-saddle climbing. I was careful to stay in the saddle and spin as high a gear as was reasonable for the terrain. It all worked out as I made a decent speed (I know that bike course really well) and overtook a three people on my way up the monster climb. By this point I was feeling pretty invincible (with the possible exception of my legs,which I was ignoring), and then I heard a bike behind me. It was shortly followed by a shout of "I should've known that was yours! Beautiful bike.". Cue the other Englishman racing appearing to overtake me - him on his time trial bike, me on my Boardman SLR road bike. That spurred me to work a bit harder, so I didn't lose too much time, but I was still trying to tread the fine line between racing hard and frying my legs for the last run!

The way back was relatively uneventful, but enjoyable, and I rolled back into T2 feeling pretty happy. One quick change later I was running out of transition and realised too late that I still had my CO2 in my tri-top pocket. Still, I had a fast transition and while it was a very real effort to run I got moving at a pace that I was happy with. Mile 1: 7:30ish... Mile 2: 7:30ish... Mile 3: Oh my god was this hill here before?!?!

The end of the run was pretty brutal. My thought process devolved to "Don't walk. Don't walk."
I didn't walk.

Final result:
Despite shooting for a time of 2hrs30 I missed, and had to make do with 2:25:46!

So overall I placed 8th. That was 7th male, as there was a female pro competing who placed 6th. My splits, in case you were interested, were:
10km run - 41:41 (6:43/mile)
40km bike - 1:17:24 (19.22mph)
5km run - 24:27 (7:53/mile)

Transitions were 1:15 (T1) and 59sec (T2). So that was good.
My major gripe for the day isn't even about the race itself. It's about the timing. While the final times and positions seem to match up properly, there are some problems on the results sheet. Two people I know that were racing came in just behind me on the first run. I know this. I saw one of them run into T1 just as I was unracking my bike. The other I didn't see until the finish line. Both are logged as entering T1 before me. I've talked to them - they know they didn't. Even weirder, they both posted very long transition times (2:18 exactly for both) which is unrealistic for those two. Now, my splits match up with my GPS watch so I'm not going to complain too hard. Nor did it affect anyone's placing, but it's annoying to realise that the splits aren't accurate and that's what's preserved for posterity on the internet.


Lessons learned:
1) I didn't run enough before the race.
My weekly long runs were topping out just short of 9 miles. Other run training was hour-long trail runs and occasional bricks or other short (2-3 mile) runs. When the race is a 9-mile run with a hard bike in the middle, that's not enough for a fast effort.
2) I need to train more specifically on the bike.
My bike training is basically me going for a ride and just riding however I feel. I did intervals once. So I've got a new CycleOps Fluid2 trainer and I'll be doing some rides at home. At least one ride a week will be on the trainer and will be following my training plan. I also need to do a threshold test on the bike so I can get a better idea of how hard I can ride without overdoing it.
3) Saucony Hattoris are a phenomenal racing shoe.
I've done a lot of running in my Vibram Fivefingers. I love to run in them. They're a little slow at transition though, and I figured that I'd use my occasional substitute shoe. The Hattoris still have good ground-feel and with the tiny bit extra padding are easier on prolonged, fast downhill stretches. Best of all, they're a hair lighter than the VFF Bikilas! (Now to work out whether I can run sockless in them...)
4)


Overall, I surpassed my expectations and am happy that I'm on track for the big one in September.
Atomic Man was a phenomenal race and I'm happy to have been able to take part. The guys (and gal) that finished ahead of me are all real champs and everyone who got around that course did an amazing job. It's a course with some hills and it's at high altitude. To all Atomic Men and Women... you are athletic studs.

Week 4

There'll be a race report coming soon, as week 4 of my training plan was rounded off by the Atomic Man duathlon, where I surpassed my expectations and placed 8th overall!

Anyway, the week in summary...
Swim: Good session on Monday with just under an hour in the pool. I got 2500yds in, and it was a good quality workout. Swam again on Saturday, when I got another good 2000yds.

Bike: This was a mixed week for the bike. I know I haven't been emphasizing the bike enough in my training yet, but I've been building up my running base as I really neglected that until really late last year. As usual, I rode the bike to and from work every day. On average I'd say that's about 20-25 minutes each day. On Tuesday I had a nice half-hour ride at lunch. That almost made up for the guy who nearly ran me over on my ride into work.
On Wednesday I made the mistake of taking a spur-of-the-moment MTB ride with a colleague. He's a phenom on the mountain bike and I am, well, not. Long story short: I crashed. Moving from hard singletrack with pebbles embedded in the dirt, to 2in deep pebbles is probably okay if your tyre pressure is lower than 45psi (I was pumped up for the commute) and if you're expecting the surface change. Anyway, it's now Sunday and the "fresh hamburger" look on my right side is fading.
On Thursday I took the road bike to work again, only to see the winds get up to about 40mph, gusting 55. I took the long way home so I could ride through a fairly sheltered canyon. Saturday I rode the MTB to 4.5 miles to packet pickup for the race, and back, thankfully event free.

Run: Wednesday was my weekly trail run with the Triatomics triathlon club. We did 55 minutes, but I'm not sure of the distance. It was monstrously hilly though! Then my next run was Sunday, in the race.

Race: 10km run, 40km bike, 5km run.The bike course featured an 1100ft climb (among other climbs), but the runs were mercifully not so hilly. A race report will follow, but the short review: great day, nice weather, good people, 8th overall. I was hoping to get close to 2hr30 and ended up with a 2hr25min.

Two things I learned from the race:
a) My training is on the right track.
b) I need to get more run endurance (my long runs have been too short)
The rest of my learning experience will have to come when I do the race report.

Until then, have fun and enjoy whatever you're training for!

Weeks 2 and 3

Well, there have been disasters and some successes. It's been a long couple of weeks...

To start with, the day after my last post I went out for a brick with the local tri club. I was supposed to lead the brick, and it was lucky that I'd invited a friend as it was just the two of us waiting as 10am rolled by (Omen #1). So 16 relatively easy miles on the bike, then we put running shoes on and set out for a 3.5 mile run. Of course, I took a wrong turn (Omen #2) and we ended up running an extra quarter mile...
Then I put my bike back on the car and headed for our local co-op market for some lunch, where I noticed that my car had been damaged: someone must have pulled away around the front of my car and scraped the driver-side corner. They would have to have noticed, so to just drive off is pretty much the height of dickishness. Disaster number 2 struck when I got home, still fuming about the damage to my car and forgot my bike was on the roof. :-( Yes, I have a carport. I was going very slowly and stopped quickly, but too late: the race bike has two small tears in the carbon on the seat-stays. Frame = dead.

All that and the vision in my left eye has been getting steadily worse over the last couple of weeks. I'm down to 20/200 on that eye, thankfully reading better than 20/25 on the right. It may well be time for more cataract surgery...

So how has the training gone? Better than everything else!
Without my fancy carbon steed I have been riding my '94 steel Eddy Merckx race bike. It's heavy by comparison, but it's still a nice bike. I even took it out on a hilly 30 mile ride in winds that started around 20mph and got up to 40ish mph. That was... The. Hardest. Ride. Ever. This week has blasted the legs too, but I've done 7hr45min of training, plus my daily bike commute, and I actually feel good.

Anyway, without taking up too much space here, suffice to say that my training plan is pretty well on track. I need to just keep working to the plan and all will be well. My first race of the season is next Sunday, and my replacement bike has arrived - hopefully the insurance company will pay for some of it, but if not then I'll have to take it as an expensive lesson in paying attention.

Still, better to get the stupidity and other disastrous happenings out of the way early in the year, instead of having them stack up just before Ironman Wales.

Week 1

Nearing the end of week one of my training plan and I can't say that it went all that well. There's plenty good to take away though. The week in review:

• Last weekend was my intensive freestyle clinic. Wow! Lois Daigneault is an awesome coach. And 12 hours at the pool, 7.5 in the water... is intense. I've learned a million things but am picking two main points to work on. Bring on free speed!
• My shoulders were fried on Monday, and I'd been cultivating a nasty sore throat since Thursday, so I rested. Rode to work, got a lift home as there was a fair bit of snow.
• Tuesday was a near write-off, just a 45min unstructured swim session. Saw the rheumatologist in the morning, so I drove to work. My blood-work looks good though. I'm going to be watching this carefully to also monitor physiological changes from my Ironman training.
• Wednesday afternoon I had an implant in my right eye to bring my macular edema back under control, so no swimming until next week. Evening workout was supposed to be an easy trail run, but I missed the group and went for a frustrated road run: 5.5mi (avg pace 7:18) and somehow I kept increasing speed all the way through the run. It's looking like a good run season, but I need to scale back the speed and run longer.
• Thursday and Friday were fairly useless training days. I did my bike commutes, and that's it. Except that on Friday I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Boulder. Hurrah!
• Today (Saturday) I went for a super-slow 30 mile ride with a friend. Felt good to get moving again, and I can see much better from my right eye. The left is a worry though - the cataract is getting worse so I may have to have surgery again soon.

Then tomorrow is a "no-drop" group brick (bike-run), where I'm supposed to be leading the thing. So it'll be a fairly easy pace 16mi ride, then a 3.5mi run. The cold/sore throat is starting to feel a bit better, so next week I'll try to get back on track with the training (and treatment - when illness strikes I have to stop the immuno-suppressants).

Happy training (and Easter)!

Time flies...

Seriously, why am I slightly freaked out by Ironman Wales being less than six months away now?

Still, I'm building up the training and have started doing a weekly trail run with the local tri club. Apparently I'm going to be leading a brick* in a few weeks too... All told I'm averaging about six hours of training a week and as the weather improves I'll find it much easier to get my time on the bike in.

There's still plenty to work on (and around) as the training ramps up. I've signed up for an intensive swim clinic with a former olympic coach who has a real technical focus. I'm going to be investigating the use of clip-on aerobars. Mornings are difficult too, so I'm going to be setting an alarm for early bedtime from now on. Randomly staying up past midnight is not treating me well... If I can get up more easily then morning workouts will really help me get my training done while keeping a semblance of a normal life.

To work around, well, I may (possibly) have a trip to Japan coming up. If that actually happens then I'll need to adjust my training plan for two weeks. Also I'm going to be working my swim schedule around eye appointments -- pool water isn't particularly clean, and after eye injections it's good to take several days out of the water. There's also a strong possibility of a second cataract surgery this year. That'll knock out more training time (and quite frankly, I don't relish more eye surgery).

Still, it's going to happen and I'm happy with my early season progress. At some point I'm going to have to start doing some proper fundraising though... this race isn't just for me. It's for all of us who suffer through distorted vision, an assault of therapies (immunosuppressants, corticosteroids, etc.), the threat of blindness, premature cataracts, glaucoma brought on by the treatment of our "incurable" disease - Uveitis.


Happy training, or whatever you choose to pursue!
*brick = bike then run (for non-tri types)

Swim February

Even though this February was longer than usual, I still failed to find time to write an update... anyway, here it is. My focus in February was on my swim, so I signed up for a stroke clinic at the local pool.

Now, I've been to a couple of stroke correction sessions before, but this was two 45min sessions a week, for most of February. The other sessions I've done have been individual half hour sessions. It's nice to have the extra time to really work on things, come back, get feedback on how you've improved (or not).

So what did I learn? The main things were,
1. My head position was too low.
2. My left arm had a slightly shorter stroke than my right.
3. Flip turns. I learned to tumble turn. Flip turn. Whatever you call it, I can now do it. Bearing in mind that I passed my lifeguard exams back in '95, then surf lifeguard exams in '04, it seems quite odd that I wouldn't know how.

A bit more about these, because they have interesting ramifications:
1. I thought I was supposed to have my head all the way down. Thing is, my head was low and so was my gaze. Apparently it was pushing  my shoulders lower into the water and increasing my drag. Fine. The interesting thing was that when I went to breathe, my low head position meant I had to lift my head slightly to get to the air; slightly lifting the head drops the shoulder further into the water, increasing drag. I think that just looking a little further forward when I swim (not consciously raising my head) has made me a second or two faster per 100. Free speed!
2. This surprised me too, since my right shoulder has suffered some nasty injuries in the past, and as such was my "weak shoulder" in the pool. After seeing this on video I have been able to think more about my reach and work on keeping it even. Catch-up drills should be fast becoming my new best friend, but...
3. The thing is, I didn't learn front crawl when I was a little kid. I learned breaststroke, backstroke and sidestroke. Front crawl I sort of picked up, but "learned" it "properly" in '94/'95, so I could take my lifeguard exams. I learned butterfly in '06 (I think). So I've been a strong swimmer, though not the fastest or most graceful. The thing is, I'd tried to teach myself to turn. I'd asked friends. I watched videos. Coach Scott taught me a decent flip turn in 10 minutes! Now I still think it's cheating a bit, since I get more of a push off the wall each turn, but I feel like my turns are now more connected to swimming than before; I have to think more about where I am in my stroke, my breathing and my streamlining. Flip turns are making me a better swimmer, not just better at turns.

Swim goals for March: keep working on my skills; nail my turns; build volume. Without improving my form I think I was looking at a 1hr25 Ironman swim. There may yet be hope that I can bring that down to 1hr10 through efficiency improvements. There's a 2-day intensive clinic at the end of the month (nearby, not in town) that I should sign up for.

I'll be evaluating my bike and run goals shortly (or writing about them, anyway).