Iain Does Wimbleball

This blog has now moved!!

2009-12-23T11:06:00.002Z

Hi

Please redirect yourself to iaindoestriathlon.blogspot.com as this is my new blog covering my training for IRONMAN Switzerland - next year!

Thanks
I.

Oh and the official photos

2009-06-20T20:15:00.002+01:00

For the data monkeys out there...

2009-06-20T19:57:00.004+01:00

I have finally got around to doing the data download from the race, enjoy

Notice the slow bits where I had to walk!

The really slow bit is where I stopped for a while to throw up.....

I did it!!!

2009-06-16T12:38:00.004+01:00

And that I think covers it....

Well maybe I will add a little extra detail - please be warned this post contains my full unexpurgated description of the race - it is not for the faint hearted....

Before we set off I sorted out the race day nutrition - what goes into feeding a 70.3 race, gels gels and more gels....

We headed to the hotel on Friday night – what a long journey – over two and a half hours to get to Exmoor (it can be done in 1hr 30mins) and stayed at The White Hart in Wiveliscombe, an average pub with rooms (the staff were excellent but the rooms could do with a bit more work).

Saturday

Early in the morning I went out for a short confirmatory run and bike (10mins on each – nice and easy) just to make sure everything worked still – all seemed in pretty good order. After that my father and I went down to Taunton to pick up a new seat post clamp for my bike and headed over to the lake to register. After lunch the family all headed off to Dunster for a walk (via Minehead – avoid it!) and I went to the race briefing and to rack my bike.

From a rough guestimate I would say about 80% of the bikes there were road bike frames – definitely the choice to make….

Once I had racked my bike and sorted my transition kit into bags (white dry stuff/blue bike stuff/red run stuff) I headed back for a relaxing evening.

Sunday

Up at 3.30am to try and get some food inside me, a bowl of alpen followed by 500ml of High5 EnergySource Plus (ES+), then off to the lake with the other 1000 cars!

At about 4.30am I checked over my bike, check the pressures and cleaned/oiled the gears. After that it was get changed/suncream on/bodyglide applied/wetsuit on. I was ready to go!

Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas and the lake was mist/fog bound for a long time! After many “are we”/”aren’t we” going false starts we eventually walked down to the lakeside at 6.55am.

After we had all sorted ourselves into our assumed race positions in the water (deep water start), at about 7.15am – the klaxon sounded and we were off!

I was about 3 or 4 rows back on the left hand edge of the mass start – it was awesome, arms feet and bodies everywhere – absolute chaos for the first 400-500m – I settled into a pretty good rhythm and apart from cocking up the first buoy turn (I didn’t pull myself around far enough so headed off at a bit of an angle) I had a fantastic swim. All the way along the back section I had one of the Channel 4 TV crews along side me – great fun!! At the end of the 1.9km swim I came out of the lake in 81^st position in 31:20!

T1 was a disaster – when I got out of the swim the 500m run up hill to transistion killed me and I ended up walking in…I had to find my bag not easy amongst the other 200 or so n my rack…(no help from the staff with this or taking off my wetsuit…) and get sorted for the bike. Shoes on/top on/suncream on/sunnies on/ helmet on – off I went…11:03 – I lost over 800 places in transition……

Anyway out on the 90km bike. This is where it all started to go wrong. I had had some twinges from cramp in my right calf during the swim, but I though nothing of it, when I got onto the bike it got soo much worse. I started on my nutrition plan as advised by High5 – 500ml of ES+ as soon as possible on the bike with a spare 500ml of ES+ to be consumed next before the switch to High5 Isogels/Water+Nuun tablets.

The first part of the course went fairly well, even the first hill from the beginning of the lap up to the main road, despite going backwards constantly (I expect this as I am never as good on the bike as the swim) I was comfortable and things seemed pretty okay. The long downhills and the speed of this section was fantastic – even the long 17% downhill (with a T junction at the end) which is a little scary for the fainthearted (the winner hit nearly 70mph on this)...even the first big hill went well, the second coming out of Morebath was a different story and my HR was climbing (hitting >190bpm), it was at this point a number of things happened – I think my GI tract started to loose priority on the blood supply as more was shunted to my legs and as a result I started to get GI cramps and feel bloated. In addition I started to get cramps in my quads, in both legs, over the medial head of the muscle. This developed on each hill over about 6%...

I completed the lap in 1:49:55 so at this point I was still on for a respectable time to complete, however the first hill of lap two was awful I was half way up an incline of about 12% and both legs cramped in the quads and locked rigid – I had to get off or I would have fallen off. After this every hill over 6% was a painful walk with bike….as I went around the course I was doing some mental calculation and I realised that to complete in the cutoff at 5:30:00 I would have to go like a madman on the flat and leave breaking down hills out of the picture. As a result of this tactic I managed to crawl around the second lap in 2:26:20 – over 30mins slower than my first lap….

Once I got into T2 the realisation hit that I now had to do a half marathon (21km)…

If I had thought the bike was hard the run got worse – the GI pain got worse and had brought some friends, nausea and vomiting. When I left transition I felt pretty good and for a whole 5mins I was quite happy but then the wretching started. Basically every time I ran I was sick so the 13.1 mile route turned into a run/vomit/walk cycle – quite hard but I was determined to get to the end. One of the unfortunate consequences of this was keeping fluid/electrolytes in my system was almost impossible and as a result I was pretty dehydrated by the end (after 5hrs rehydrating the bioimpedence scales still had me -6% total body fluid). The run route itself is quite hard, lots of hills and a lot of off road gravel/grass running.

Eventually I come onto my last lap – by this time the course was a lonely place as most people who had been going for this long had either quit or been pulled off by the medical staff…eventually a nice chap called Matt on a mountain bike came along with some Gatorade (I hate it, but it was fluid) and kept me company for the last half of the lap.

I will probably always remember that last bit of that run – it was a bit dream-like by then…I came up the entry chute into the finish area and the crowd were amazing – I could not hear the PA system where the commentator was waxing lyrical from my bio (which we were all asked to complete) all I could see was Lizzie and the girls running along towards the end spurring me on and the finish line (with the brightest red carpet I have seen in ages!). I came across the line in 8:54:25 – last runner in!

The winner – Phillip Graves awarded me my medal – although I was out of it by then and I posed for some photos. After that the mind stopped keeping me upright and the race crew had to help me to collect my finishers T shirt and sign out. I went to the end of the finish chute and met up with my family – at that point I must admit it was all a bit of an emotional blurr…..

So in conclusion – it is possible to go from one season in sprint triathlon to racing in IRONMAN 70.3, and it is possible to choose the world’s hardest as your first. YES!

If I was to do it again what would I change? I would train on more hills and I would probably work harder on the nutrition…however even with these mistakes made I still managed to raise over £1500 for charity and complete it.

Will I do another – I really want to complete a full distance IM before I am forty – time will tell! I hope this will inspire some to take up triathlon and others just to support those who do but regardless good luck in all your efforts

Best wishes

Iain.

My Last Post before the Race!!

2009-06-12T09:44:00.002+01:00

Well I have not managed to get anywhere with this since Monday so here goes a quick update:

Tuesday T-5days

A day focused on speed techniques:

Swim : 5min w/u, 6x50 Sprint! (RPE9-10), 5min c/d

Bike (on turbo): 5min w/u, 5x2min fast! (3% hill/30/12 or 11), 5min c/d

Run (straight after bike): 5min w/u, 5x1min fast (on flat sprint!), 5min c/d

All hard and I felt quite fatigues after this, early night and from now to race - no alcohol!!

Wednesday T-4days

Easy 15mins continuous swim at RPE2-3 - this felt excruciatingly slow after the weeks of training!

Had my first sports massage from Caroline (at Energize) - was sore but felt really good. Apparently I have loads of scaring on my hamstrings and my Illeotibial band is very tight - all I know is that it hurt!!

Thursday T-3days

A mixed day fitting training in between teleconferences!

Bike: warm up 5mins and then cruise for 15mins (at race pace) - felt really good! New Schawlbe Ultremo R tyres are amazing make the ride much more enjoyable!

Run: warm up 5mins and the cruise at 10min about race pace - felt good but slow!

Swim - short evening training session with Caroline

200m w/u

200m pull

100m b/s

100m kick

20mins of technique for OW swimming - deep water starts/fast tight turns/drafting - really useful

Friday T-2days

DAY OFF!! :-)

time to pack/travel to race venue = PANIC!!

Saturday (T-1) will be a short fast run/bike just to make sure everything works and then rack the bike and forget about everything until Sunday.

Wish me luck, think of me at 6am Sunday - hopefully I will do it in 7-8hrs.....

See you on the other side

BWs

T -6 - Swim bike and Run!

2009-06-08T19:44:00.002+01:00

After dropping the kids off jumped in the pool for a 4x 10min (RPE9-10 then down to race pace) swim - felt really good but after that rushed off to a meeting that had been moved (Oxford to London) without telling me so I wasted the morning!

At lunchtime I fitted in the rest of the day's activities, a bike set and a run set. Both were 3x10mins (slow build race pace). Both felt good with the run being better!

Calves ache quite a lot from the run yesterday and today - another set tomorrow and then swim only on Wednesday.

Later

Projected weather for the weekend

2009-06-08T11:59:00.001+01:00

Day	From	Until	Temp	Feels	UV	Rain	Cloud	Dir	Speed	Gust	Weather
Sun 14 Jun	1:00	3:59	10 °c	9 °c	0	0.0 mm	79 %		3 mph	4 mph
	4:00	6:59	12 °c	11 °c	0	0.0 mm	71 %		4 mph	5 mph
	7:00	9:59	16 °c	16 °c	3	0.0 mm	85 %		4 mph	5 mph
	10:00	12:59	16 °c	15 °c	2	1.4 mm	92 %		1 mph	1 mph
	13:00	15:59	16 °c	15 °c	3	0.1 mm	100 %		5 mph	6 mph
	16:00	18:59	16 °c	10 °c	1	15.7 mm	100 %		12 mph	15 mph
	19:00	21:59	12 °c	9 °c	0	4.6 mm	100 %		10 mph	12 mph

The weather on Exmoor this weekend according to Metcheck.com...lets hope the rain goes away! Apart from that looks perfect.....low winds light cloud cover....

Different places I have run!

2009-06-07T15:30:00.003+01:00

Barcelona - on a recent trip with work to EuroPCR - I ran from the HotelArts to the statue of Columbus (pointing the wrong way to America) and back - amazing gin palaces/boats in the harbour!!

London - I was in London at the British Cardiac Society meeting last week and I took the early morning opportunity to run along to the Thames Flood Barrier and back - even saw the O2 arean (nee The Dome)

Weekend training

2009-06-07T15:07:00.003+01:00

Well with less than a week to go now the enormity of what I am going to do next week has sunk in (almost).....this is what triathletes call the FEAR...I have started to become a touch obsessive (Lizzie thinks I have been obsessive for some time...) thinking about the route/the transitions/the "how on earth am I going to get around it" - too late to worry now!

Saturday

I did my first full OW swim session (hey nothing like leaving things until the last minute!!) I covered off three laps (each 750m) of Lake 32 at the Cotswold Water Park in 41mins (well from getting in to getting out - a little more than three laps). The water was quite warm and pretty clear - saw a few fish (including one that was longer than my arm!). It felt fantastic - the wetsuit (Orca Alpha) is amazing v v fast and took all the effort out of it - I just need to reach on my stroke as the wetsuit shortens each stroke.

Straight after this I Jumped on the bike and headed off for a 90min route. out onto the main Cirencester to Malmesbury road, to Malmesbury and back with a few loops of the Malmesbury bypass and town. Pretty uneventful excepet for the first time I have been really close to being knocked off my bike in ages - an 18 wheel lorry was about 2-3ft from me doing 50+mph on the phone, not paying attention - great!

Overall a good training day - not aches/pain felt really good.

Sunday

An 80min run was scheduled - the training programme was not specific of the aims so in keeping with the high effort low quantity I decided to come up with my own plan:

10min warm up

6min tempo/4min recover

10min cool down

As I went a little farther than planned it ended up as 95min run - oh well, good practice!

Travel and rest

2009-06-05T18:00:00.000+01:00

Finally back from travelling for a couple of weeks! Plus it is a rest day - does it get much better :-)

Swim/Bike ses tomorrow.....bring on Lake 32.....

Going home tonight :-)))

2009-06-04T13:14:00.002+01:00

Well I head home tonight :-))

Woke at about 3.30am today but decided not to head to the gym until 4.45.....managed to fit in 60mins on the bike...woohoo

10mins RPE3
10mins RPE5
10mins RPE7
15mins RPE5
15mins RPE3

Feel good but diet over here is awful, I am soooo hungry - how much protein to they eat over here - T bone steak and salmon steaks seem to be the standard - with no side dishes...sometime I would love just a salad...not a 16oz steak.....

Speak to you on the other side
I.

Hello from The US of A

2009-06-03T17:49:00.003+01:00

Well flew out yesterday afternoon - drank far too much champagne on the flight (I know hardened IM contenders should have temple like bodies but when its offered and there is little else to do for seven hours....) and I am now living on coffee - an it is only lunchtime....

Anyway...

Yesterday I manged to get a 7ish km run round the Thames flood barrier park and the north side of the river - not bad speed and legs feel pretty good - I think the post race massge really helped on Sunday!

Today I struggled with a fairly awful feeling 15min set in the hotel pool - main problem was it was mostly turns as I could only do about five strokes before I hit the end each time :-((

Hopefully I can fit in a 60min bike session in the gym tomorrow before I fly back.

I.

My last training week before the taper is over!

2009-06-01T12:59:00.000+01:00

Well that’s it then…..today marks the beginning of my taper to the race – has the FEAR set in…a little, am I looking forward to it? Oh yes!

For those not of the racing/training persuasion the programme I have been following is a phased programme. It had three build phases looking at developing certain skills – basic skills, endurance and speed skills each a month long. These were then finished off with a build phase (bit of a hit and miss affair for me with work at the moment) of two weeks which honed those skills and the last two weeks before the event are what is termed the Taper. Tapering is a strange experience which I really wish I had known about when I was swimming competitively! Basically you keep the intensity of the sessions high but you reduce hours. This is to ensure that the body has time to recover before the race and you do not injure yourself whilst maintaining fitness. I find it really hard as I feel restrained and frustrated – a bit like rest weeks, the good thing though is if you get the taper right you feel like exploding on the race day – hopefully contained enough to be manageable through the day!! Any way that is currently where I am – a bit apprehensive, but generally buzzing!!

So what have I managed on my weekend off between overseas trips?

Saturday-

First proper Open Water swim (I know leaving it a bit late!!). I went up to Lake 32 at Cerney around 7.30am – very few around at that time but the waterfilled pretty quickly. By the time I left there were over 30-40 people in the water. Lake 32 is one amazing facility – okay the changing rooms are a little basic and rather oddly you can see the bottom of the lake almost all the way across, but the water is nice and clean (and clear) and the feathery lake users do try and get out of your way…anyway…one circuit round the bouys 750m – 12min 45s, very happy, but I need to do more practice in my suit as it limits stroke a bit which I need to get used to….
Later after taking Anja and Jules to a friend’s party I managed to squeezing in a short turbo session – 30 mins over the Wimbleball route – at 115% of normal – my god it makes the hills harder (and the first 5km is all 5-8% hill!)

Sunday – 3rd Westonbirt Tri

Last year this was the first triathlon I ever did and I was bricking it, this year it was a transition practice with an explosive training session attached!

Very happy with the result – I came in 119th in 1:23:54.9 – sub 1:25 and in the top 50% (249 completed it, 1 DQ).

The swim was pretty good – I went out at around RPE8-9 for 100m and then eased off for the next 200m (RPE 5ish) before building for the last 100m to RPE9 – I exited in 5:42.5. The run to transition is really long – over tarmac but I still got through T1 in 4:21.4, before heading out on the bike. The bike was fantastic – a bit of headwind coming from Sherston to the Red Bull but I held off two other guys from the wave to come in at 45:33.3 – a PB. T2 was pretty smooth (1:52.5) although I did struggle a bit to get my watch off the bike! The run did not feel quite as good with the fluid sloshing around in my guts (I never get used to the feeling) but by about 2.5km things were going pretty well. I came in at 26.25.3 – a new 5km PB – all in all an excellent finish to my build phase and a really successful race – dead chuffed! Afterwards I recovered pretty quickly and the superb post race massage from Caroline helped the shins no end, I will be booking in a full hour when I get back from the States before the 70.3!

In the evening I felt a short hill set was needed so I loaded the Wimbleball route again – set it to 120% and went off for 30mins – challenging after the morning but made me feel that I had put a good end to my build phase!

This week is a bit of an unknown as I am at a UK conference Mon-Tue and then in the US for a meeting Wed – Thur or Friday…hopefully I will get the chance to put some hours in…..

Later
I.

Over a week’s worth of update!!!

2009-05-29T16:05:00.000+01:00

What a week….last time I updated this it was Thursday last week and I was in sunny and extremely hot Barcelona. This week I am stuck on a train that seems to be as hot, but not as pleasant….

I would love to report a fantastic week of training with only two left after Sunday but alas no…what with work taking me all over the place it has def been a case of fitting stuff around the day job. To save time I shall summarise things:

Friday (last week) – I managed to get 20mins in the hotel pool, a five star lux hotel in Barcelona (Hotel Arts) and was the pool heated……NO! Wow was it chilly!! Still the sun was warm and managed approx 1200m.

Saturday (last week) – I think I managed about an hour on the turbo…could not have been memorable though as I cannot remember!

Sunday - best day for ages – what a session….a long brick session! I set up the turbo with a transition area beside it and the front wheel 10inches off the floor. Programmed a hill repeat program and then started the session.
8x (run 4mins/bike 10mins/run 4mins) All at approx RPE3-4 (last two felt like RPE 8!)
In total it took about 3hrs to complete – I think Lizzie thought I had vanished….

Monday – OFF – Bank Holiday and really needed to spend time with Lizzie and the girls – had a good chilled day

Tuesday – long work day up to Blackpool followed with Manchester before going to the Sqn in Bristol (450miles driving plus meetings), adding in a 5am get up for a quick trip to Lake 32 seemed the obvious choice! Lake 32 is nice and clear, quite warm but at 5.30am deserted so only a quick dip in the shallow end – too much of a scardy cat to do long swims with no other people there…..why did I bother sleep would have been better…

Wednesday – Swim speed focus day.:
3x200m swim/kick/pull
16x50m (odds RPE4/evens RPE8-9)
150m c/d easy
In the evening I put in a 30min hill session on the turbo RPE4-5

Thursday – Another tough day. An early start 5.50am 10km run nice and smooth RPE4ish cadence around 174-5. In the evening I went to the pool in Malmesbury for a coached session, rather annoyingly a bit cut short by a fire drill!
The session was a sprint effort – very handy for the Westonbirt Tri on Sunday (which I entered last week – well a bit of last minute transition practice seemed a good idea and I have to beat 1hr 45):
100m f/c warm up
6x25m kick sprint (on 1min)
400m best effort (5min 26s – 14s faster than 6wks ago)
8x25m f/s on 50s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 35s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
8x25m f/s on 30s
200m f/s on 3min 15s
100m b/s
50m f/s
Finished about 10.15pm – quite late….

Today – Nothing! I had to get up to Middlesbrough (for a work presentation) which required an early train from Cheltenham….a fun 15hr day at work….

Next few days – I am thinking about doing a quick swim up at Lake 32 tomorrow as apparently a lot more people turn up at the weekend….it is also meant to be my last long bike (3hrs) but I have a distinct feeling that will not fit in with family plans (birthday parties, etc) so maybe a long turbo instead….Sunday is the 3rd Westonbirt Tri (400m/22km/5km) and next week in a US trip and my first Tapering…the Fear has set in again…..

Hope you are all well
i.

Trip to Barcelona

2009-05-21T12:43:00.002+01:00

Okay I new it was going to be hard to do any phys whilst out here but this is silly!

Tuesday I managed nothing (up at 3.55am to catch the flight)

Yesterday I got a short brick session in (in the hotel gym):

7min 30sec at 10%
10min bike approx 150W
5min at 7-10%
10min bike at 150W
5min at 7-10%

Today I finally managed to get out for a run! I got to bed after a big work dinner at about 11.30pm (some of the team were out until gone 2am...) and had a breakfast meeting at 7am. Managed to get up at 525am and drag myself out for about 6.5kms from the hotel (www.hotelarts.com) to the statue of Columbus (pointing the wrong way!!) and back. Interesting place to run - nice and cool at that time but company was only tramps/dog walkers and drunk people!

I will post sat download and data when I get home tomorrow!
Later
i.

Weekend and Monday

2009-05-18T11:43:00.003+01:00

Well managed to do nothing over the weekend - I was away with my "other" work and so had little time - not assisted by either the food containing shellfish or celery, which I have an intolerance too....I haven't spokeon the great white phone for some time and boy do I still feel washed out today...

I jumped in the pool though for an early set - managed to complete

6x50m (alternate f/s and kick (Board/L/R arms)

2x 600m (first RPE3, second 100m RPE9 500m RPE5)

2x 50m c/d

Not a huge amount but had to get out to do some work!!

Later

A quick lunchtime spin before the TC madness begins

2009-05-15T13:20:00.002+01:00

I just managed to squeeze in a lunchtime spin on the turbo before I go on to endless teleconferences this afternoon...

11km in 27mins over rolling hills (with the front wheel raised about 20cm) with effort varying from about 100W to 415W.

10min w/u

3x (3min tempo/2min recover)

3min c/d

Nice and easy but got the blood flowing!

Later

Thursday evening swim

2009-05-15T11:38:00.002+01:00

Well despite it being a recovery week I did the evening session - yet another killer hour, 2300m....

2x (100m f/s, 50m b/s)

2x (100m f/s, 50m brst)

4x 50m (1 left arm lead, 1 right arm lead, 2 with board)

200m max effort RPE9-10(going on 2min 35sec)

2x50m recovery swim, steady on 1min 10s

4x100m max effort RPE9-10(going on 1min 15s)

2x50m recovery swim

6x50m max effort RPE9-10(in 35sec going on 45sec)

2x50m recovery swim

3x50m max effort RPE9-10(in 35sec going on 45sec)

100m b/s

50m own choice (25m fly/25m f/s)

Hard work and certainly a lactate tolerance session....oh well recovery spin today

Wednesday 13th....

2009-05-13T20:35:00.002+01:00

I should have guessed the 13th would be a rubbish day - for everything else but not for training!! (well almost...)

A recovery swim this morning, nice and easy

5x200m (50m Easy/Build/Easy/Hard)

150m cool down

All went okay apart from a sharp pain in my right shoulder for the third 200m, which spontaneously resolved....

Then after some work getting in the way ;-)) I managed to get in a 30min spin session on the turbo (front wheel on a block...), data below.

Later

2009-05-12T20:04:00.001+01:00

Updated the pics for last weekend

Tuesday

2009-05-12T19:38:00.002+01:00

Ah recovery week :-), two nice easy sessions today covering a bit of recovery on the bike and run - although the run finished off quite hard!

30mins on the bike (well turbo) covering 11.22km
10min w/u
3(3min tempo RPE4/3min recover RPE 2-3)
2min cool down
nice and easy

41min 36sec running (standard route out along the lanes and back at RPE3-4, but stopping short of home to do 6 reps of 20sec stride - i.e. run strides out jog back) the data download shows the strides as peaks at the end.

Tomorrow swim and run
I.

So....

2009-05-11T20:08:00.004+01:00

Well I have utterly failed in keeping this up to date for nearly a week....I blame it on a trip to Italy, two days solid cramming for exams and a trip to Aintree (for work not horses!!)

So a brief summary of the past few days....

Wednesday (last week) 45mins on the road - run at RPE3(ish) with strides every 5mins - really hard work!
Wednesday night - Friday night Business trip to Rome only managed 15mins running on a rubbish treadmill and 15mins in the hotel pool :-(( I would have loved to have gone running outside but the hotel we stayed in was miles from the city and near a Autopista - fun!!
Saturday - 1hr 30mins - 15kms long run at a steady RPE 4 - really struggled to get the HR up (look at the plot! Tried a new route really good but want to do the reverse...bigger hills!

Sunday - 2hrs - 49ish Kms on the bike round the areas - home to Tetbury - Avening - Nailsworth and home via Westonbirt - hard work but good!

Today - managed to get in a session in the pool

200m w/u
1000m TT (400m RPE7/400m RPE3/200m RPE5 build to 6)
3x 50m c/d

And now I am up to date!!

Plus I have bought the new crankset/bottom bracket and cassette (12-27) for the bike as advised by TriLife - now to get Jason to fit it at TBA!

Later
I.

Images in the 70.3 route

2009-05-06T09:00:00.001+01:00

I have now added images for the 70.3 bit

Last night and today

2009-05-06T08:37:00.003+01:00

Last night after a long day in London I managed to squeeze in a 30min turbo session - I tried out lifting the front wheel as suggested by the coaches at the weekend - it really works! A good solid set of hill reps.

This morning was a nice easy run with some strides (10min w/u strides every 5 mins 10 c/d) what I was really happy about was the HR managed to keep it in Zone 3 (<160bpm)>Anyway - I am not sure how much training I will get over the next few days as I am off to Rome for a meeting and then away with my other work at the weekend!

Later

Swimming

2009-05-04T19:31:00.002+01:00

Rest day yesterday - thank good...

Today not feeling great - chesty cough, Resting HR 56 and 64 after 2mins standing so training should be okay - decided on a gentle swim

500m f/s RPE3

500m f/s RPE5

500m f/s RPE3

500m f/s pull

50m f/s c/d

50m b/s c/d

The 70.3 Familiarisation Day....

2009-05-04T16:37:00.008+01:00

Well Saturday started early - 4.30am get up and breakfast - porridge with californian jumbo, crimson raisins and agave nectar (breakfast of the gods), then into the car before heading down to the Brendon Hills (Exmoor) for a reality check with the bike course! I attended the first one day intro to the UK 70.3 that Tri Life had run - and it was of huge benefit!

I arrived at 6.55am to find most people already at the lake and in wetsuits - we were not due to get in until 7.30 I had the distinct feeling that they were all a bit keen......

Just before I got suitably atired a nice lady from UK IronMan asked for my name I replied and heard someone in the background say "Iain Sainsbury what are you doing here?" - the voice belonged to David Rich, a former colleague from Novartis - small world!

Anyway we got suited up and briefed by the coaching team from theTriLife.co.uk (who are simply excellent) on the day - a brief swim in the lake ("well it [the temp] might just be in double figures today!") followed by an intro to the bike course and once round the run route - seems easy...hmmmm

Into the lake and OMFG how cold.....within about 10sec noone could feel their feet/hands/face and within about a minute most people had "ice cream head" - the feeling when you eat too much ice cream too quickly! After a brief acclimatisation we did a short loop of about 500m to get everyone use to the lake and the swim conditions and then us keen ones did it again. My first proper experience of Open Water (OW) swimming and I loved it - no walls/slow people/etc great stuff....and the wetsuit (Orca Alpha) - wow! Fantastic - a few rub areas (remember the lube next time I think!)but just excellent - thanks Orca!

After we had warmed up and consumed some energy gels/drinks we got kitted up for the bike. This was the first chance to see how pro or amateur people were based on kit expenditure! One guy turned up with a beautiful Ridley bike which would simply have been wasted on me but most turned up with a selection of road bikes and fairly high spec aero bikes - one or two had ones straight from the shop including pedals and cages (not clipless) which the coaching staff seriously urged them to change later.....

The bike route itself is what one might call complete and more than a little challenging! Straight out of transition there is little time you are not climbing for the first 20mins but after that it turns into a rather pleasant rolling hill course until about 28kms at which point it all goes horribly nasty there are two hills fairly close together which are simply evil - just look at the data - I think I managed a Max HR of 196! Following those is a slightly better two stage hill and then it goes back to rolling with some hard climbs until you reach the course start again. On return to transition the downhill to the lake is fantastic (I hit over 50kph but for some reason the GPS did not pick it up... :-) ) and there is only then a nasty rise before it is all over...

The run defines why this is not called "a littlebitchallengingman" or "mildlydifficultman" but IronMan - after doing two laps of one of the most technical and challenging bike routes on the world circuit the run is not a flat breeze. It starts of nice enough with a downhil bit but then it just seems to be up, down, up, up, up, and a bit down and so on...see the data - very hard! Also you keep going back on yourself which is a little demoralising...

Overall though a fantastic day - equal parts of OMG and thank god I went down to see it. The coaching staff were fantastic and Andrea Whitcombe (former UK elite, Olympic squad and Commonwealth Games medalist) and Richard Jones (also former UK elite) made the bike and run both enjoyable and really informative! Lots of hints/tips including a strong suggestion that swapping out my dinner plate size chainset for a compact might be a really good idea - MasterCard here we go again!!

Now with eyes open training starts again.

Today a squeezed in session!

2009-05-01T14:14:00.003+01:00

Today's session fitted between work, Anja's assembly and work (well I am having to work late for a global telecon).

Unfortunately I don't have my GPS watch today as I forgot to charge it! So....onto the fall back Timex IM watch (bought before I knew what IM was but I thought it looked pretty cool!!)..

10km in 1hr 56s (really struggled today - not sure why) used my new Orca run cap and new Orca 226 trisuit - wow both really comfortable

6.8km bike in 18mins 22s - really quite slow but I had the chain skip off the chainrings twice and I was playing with my new (mountain bike looking) cassette - a 16-27 cassette - looks a bit odd and reduces the top speed quite dramatically (from 50.6kph to 37.9 kph (according to my calculations) but reduces CV load, very important when you are simply trying to get to the start of the run!! It was a bit of a bargin and I will see how it fares tomorrow (when I do the route) although if I run out of speed on the small cogs I might have to go back to a 12-27 or the DuraAce 11-28.

That is it for today but I am looking forward to the run through day tomorrow - not looking forward to the get up time though - 4.30am!!

Later

Last night's swim session

2009-05-01T14:08:00.002+01:00

As the coach was away she kindly left us a session to do - it was meant to be a sprint session to allow those doing the Sprinfield Tri this weekend a bit of "fast" practice - my session ended up as a bit of a threshold aerobic session - damn hard!!

In total took about 58mins for the 3150m

200m:f/c warm up

200m:25m b/s, 25m f/c

200m:f/c pull

16x50m:f/c going every 50s

8x100m:f/c going every 1min 30s

4x200m:f/c going every 3min 15s

2x50m:f/c kick

50m:b/s

Tiring!!

My bike

2009-04-29T16:52:00.001+01:00

And now for a piece of gorgeousness my Equinox :-)

Well they say red bikes are quicker - an no it is not an ex post office bike Johnners :-)

Catch up from a few days

2009-04-29T16:21:00.003+01:00

Well I have been busy over the past few days - as such I have really struggled to get this written. My last post was on Friday and Saturday was a rest day - thankfully, I was really quite tired!!

SUNDAY

Sunday was a big day - I set out for a mini Oly distance practice - the intention was to Swim for 30min, bike 2hrs, run 30mins. Below are the pictures of the day

I jumped in the pool all trisuited up with my transition area (T1) set up in the car. I managed 2000m in the pool with the first 400m at RPE7-8 (5min 50s ish) in just under 30min - managing to annoy most of the other pool occupiers!! Oh well.....

Out of the pool and into socks - wet (need talc - forgot that one) and shoes...onto the bike for a quick 1hr 46mins, below are the data and route used (the start/finish is Westonbirt school).

If you look closely on the data track you can see my speed drops significantly in the middle, twice, this was when my aero bars decided to shift sideways - quick use of allen key later and I was off again!

Again I used a circular lap based route as I really want to get use to going over the same area more than once to practice negative splitting (i.e. going quicker on the second lap than the first!). One other interesting things I remembered as I was going round the route was how hard it is to drink lots of fluid - this is important as I managed to dehydrate pretty badly - I drank 2.25L of fluids but I still needed more!!

Anyway, off the bike into Newtons and off for a 30min route which I was surprised I managed to cover 5.45km doing. A nice easy pace and I felt I could have gone on!

MONDAY

After a quick trip to Leeds in the day - really early get up...about 5am...I managed to fit in some time on the turbo in the evening - I got in 45mins of the Paris - Roublais route - using the gears to lend some effort to the session - power at over 350W :-))

TUESDAY - Long meeting in Birmingham so no training today :-(( early get up and late back

WEDNESDAY

This morning was a good swim nice and long and relatively relaxed - focusing on stroke -reach and keeping the stroke going through to the next catch!

In total it took about 40mins for the 2300m.

200m f/s

50m kick

200m pull f/s

Downward pyramid (300m, 275m, 250m, 225m, 200m, 175m, 150, 125m, 100m)

50m c/d f/s

Then later I switched off my old Bonty aero wheels (which are now on my road bike) and put my new shiny SRAM S60s on :-))))))

Well I had to go for a blast at lunchtime - and WOW soo quick and I now know what people mean when they say good wheels spin up quickly these do - and want to keep on going. As they are 60mm deep the wind catches them every now an then but hey they are quick! See the data:

Later

2009-04-24T19:04:00.004+01:00

Okay so today's exercise was in two parts - a light morning swim and a beast of a run.

The swim - a nice gentle recovery after last night:

400m f/c (with fins)

100m kick (with fins)

400m f/c (with fins)

100m kick (with fins)

400m f/c

50m c/d

The run - I fitted this between work and conference calls at lunch today. A three lap route of just over 5km, I decided to do three laps rather than a long out and back as I want to build the mental side of it up (i.e. the course at Wimbleball is lap based and there is nothing more demoralising than being very tired and seeing the finish several times!!).

On the effort side it was a nice easy RPE2-3 for 75mins and then RPE5 to the finish. it took 1hr 33mins for 15.49km. No negative split today I started on lap 1 at 29min 40s and went progressively downwards with 31min 31s and 31min 17s to finish. Doing two 10%(ish) hills twice per lap was not fun though!!

Other stuff - I final decided which new wheels to buy for my bike - so I am now waiting for a pair of shiny new SRAM S60s (handmade by ZIPP for SRAM) - can't wait!!

Rest day tomorrow :-)

Later
I.

Thursday

2009-04-24T11:05:00.002+01:00

A long day yesterday not because of flights but work!! However I managed to squeeze in a good swim session. Coached by a local coach whose husband is doing the event.

Hard work but not as hard as some of the sessions in Cornwall:

300m f/c

2x200m f/c pull

400m f/c

200m f/c kick (50m with board/50m without)

400m f/c

200m (50m fly/50m f/c)

400m f/c

8x50m f/c sprints RPE7-8

100m backstroke c/d

Two sessions Wednesday

2009-04-22T13:08:00.008+01:00

An early start this monring - 5.50am up and onto the bike - I had hoped for a ride on the roads this morning but when I went outside I was met by extremely thick mist with visibility below about 50m so I erred on the side of safety and went for the turbo. A solid RPE4 set on a new program "Hill repeats" which is rather evil, it starts with nice easy hills of 1-2% and ends with 6%. I did this one fasted using only Nuun for rehydration - as you can see the HRM picks up how much the HR fluctuates when fasted compared to fed (see the run data).

After taking Anja to school I went for a quick recovery run before starting work - the first 10mins or so my left shin hurt but subsequently it calmed down and the route ended up being fairly easy, RPE around 2-3.

Tomorrow I am (hopefully) going to go to the coached session at the local pool as I have to go to Blackpool and Manchester in the day so not midday training.

Later

Monday's turbo session

2009-04-22T13:07:00.000+01:00

The data from the distance trial on Monday:

Last night on the turbo

2009-04-21T08:41:00.001+01:00

Well I had to make up for the missed time in the pool so it was a 1hr Time Trial - obviously with warm up included!! I hit 32kms at 1hr quite please - hard work though!!

My bike...only broken

2009-04-20T10:08:00.003+01:00

This is my carbon monster - it is really quick and running off it is a dream - no jelly legs at all. The only issue I have at the moment is that I have snapped the seat post bolt - yes overenthusiastic torque wrench use!!! This is what I will be doing the course on - it is still a time trial cockpit (the bit where the drop handlebars on a road bike are) and I think I am going to see what this is like when I go down for the course intro on May 1st. The only bit I am really considering changing are the wheels as I find these a bit fragile (i.e. when I put down full power goingup a hill they flex and rub the brake blocks....

A shortnened swim

2009-04-20T10:00:00.001+01:00

Just a quick splash around this morning - I had hoped to do more but I had to catch a train to London for work.

2x500m RPE4-5
5x50m RPE6-7 (focusing on pulling through the stroke)
1x500m RPE3
1x50 RPE2

I think there is a bike session tonight so I will extend that to compensate for the missed 2500m this morning!
I.

2009-04-19T23:27:00.000+01:00

As promised - outputs from my Garmin 405 and SportTracks

10km Time Trial

2009-04-19T15:09:00.002+01:00

Well today was my second 10km time trial, I am pleased to report that I hit 10km at 55min and 29sec - a PB by 6min 30sec! (previous time 1hr 2min!!!)

Unfortunately my shins now REALLY hurt I have aggravated my shin splints - probably need to downplay the running for a few days - when I have uploaded the GPS data I will put the data up.

Last night and today

2009-04-18T08:21:00.002+01:00

REST DAY :-))) with a 10km race practice tomorrow...eek

Last night covered off 45mins of resonably hard work on the turbo - used the Bath Sprint route for the workout and completed about 70% of it in 45mins - all in the saddle with several spin ups to 500W. I tried to keep the HR down to 80% as advised by a fellow triathlete who is doing the Lanzarote IM - seemed to work, even on the 14% hills :-)

Only downside was I was adjusting my seat post and managed to over torque the bolt shattering it :-( time to see if I can get a replacement...

Last night and this morning

2009-04-17T13:38:00.002+01:00

How annoying - after getting myself ready, helping put the kids to bed - not having supper at a sensible time the coached swim session was cancelled with no explanation :-(((

At least I did a run at lunchtime!

To make up I fitted in an early morning dip before a meeting. A simple, nice recovery swim

300m easy (w fins)

300m kick (w fins)

300m easy

300m pull

Nice and simple - no looking at the clock! The great thing was I bumped into one of the other guys who train at the pool (he is doing Lanzarote IM) and we had quite a constructive discussion about nutrition/bikes etc so all in all quite useful!

This evening is a 45min bike (I think) - will have to see if the weather improves if it does it is a trip out on the bike rather than the turbo

Thursday -pt I

2009-04-16T14:56:00.002+01:00

Just a short lunchtime run with some strides - shins still a little sore from the weekend, nothing major though.

5.15km in 29min 19sec (10min RPE2/every 5mins build to RPE9-10)

Main exercise today is the coached swim later this evening...last time nearly killed me - bring it on!!

Fitting in sessions!

2009-04-15T21:00:00.000+01:00

Well yesterday and today were about fitting sessions around childcare! I was looking after Anja for her last two days of school holidays and that always means that no long bikes/runs are possible.

Tuesday was an early 30min bike at RPE2-3 on the turbo (just because it was easier...) and today was a couple of sets -

Early morning swim:

200m w/u (100m full/25m kick/25m pull/ 25m kick/25m pull)
1000m TT (15min 41sec)
150m c/d

Early evening bike session (on the turbo)

45mins working on hard on hills RPE 5-6 and easy 3-4 on flat (plus on last episode of season 1 24....)

moved the seat about a bit - lifted it and shifted it back - now in two minds about swapping the TT cockpit for a road setup with aero bars...need to go out and play on some hills to test it! Plus I talked to the techs at HED and they suggest a three spoke HED 3C rear wheel and a Jet 60 C2 front - around 1K in cost..hmmmmm...have to think about it...

The route and the workout!

2009-04-13T19:30:00.000+01:00

My longest run...so far

2009-04-13T19:25:00.000+01:00

After a simply fantastic rest day on Easter Sunday I came down to Earth with a bump to do my longest run yet - 1hr 30min (ish) and 14.5km...all fasted (well it was 6.30am....)....I really need to sort out the nutrition in the morning.

The route went from our house out towards Wooton Basset and back - linear route - not too many hills kind of nice and relaxing if very tiring - my calves don't half ache today!!

and I had a look at the bike route from Saturday on SportTracks - there was a 30% hill in the route I did plus a few 15-20%!!! No wonder it was hard.....

Not sure what is on offer tomorrow as I am Anja sitting until school starts..

Hills, hills and more hills!

2009-04-11T16:35:00.001+01:00

Last night I planned out what looked on paper a fairly simple loop from Truro to St Agnes to Perranporth and back to Truro via Goonhavern and Shortlanesend.....I rode it this morning OMG the hills in Cornwall are EVIL......

Out to St Agnes was a breeze although the gears (which I thought I had fixed last night) were playing up.....more of that later.

St Agnes to Perranporth one largish hill and then the reeeeeally challenging bit Perranporth back to Truro hill after hill. I have to admit using the granny ring on my triple (my Trek is a double - much more respectable!) and the 27 on one of the hills - even with this I was out of the saddle for about half a mile - really hard work....

Everything was going well until the chain jammed in the cassette going up a hill obviously I came off (and put a four inch cut in my leg) but the biggest problem was the hill - after I had unjammed the chain I could not get enough momentum to get both feet clipped in so I trudged up hill for about half a mile until the gradient reduced enough so I could get back on!

Anyway back home went okay in a total time/distance 1hr 54min/36.85km....

REST DAY tomorrow :-))))))))))))

Thursday and Friday

2009-04-10T17:25:00.000+01:00

Thursday

Wow the hills are big around here!!! I did a 10.5km run and it took me nearly 1hr 15min - a massive difference from the other morning when I did the tempo run (5min/km). The steepest hill is around 20% (behind Treliske Hospital).

The run went from my folks house through the lanes past Coosebean, up to Treliske Hospital, from there down to the middle of Truro via Morlaix Avenue then back up Comprigney Hill (and down again) to my parents' place.

Hard work but good training for the hills of Exmoor.

Friday

Another cheeky swimming session. I went up to Truro pool again and had a hard set:

warm up

200m freestyle (fs) /100m backstroke (bs) - 75m swim/25m drill

main set

100m IM/200m fs/100m IM/300m fs

100m fly/200m fs/100m fly/300m fs

100m bs/200m fs/100m bs/300m fs

100m breaststroke (brs)/200m fs/100m brs/300m fs

cool down

100m IM

200m (as 50s) fs

In total 3400m in around 58min (cannot tell for sure as my Timex IM watch died in the week :-( )

Tomorrow is a bike - thinking Truro - St Agnes - Perranport - Goonhavern - Truro - some REALLY big hills in that set 1.5 - 2 hrs....

An unexpected swimming session....

2009-04-08T16:42:00.000+01:00

Well today was an unexpectedly hard day....I went to Truro pool for a 2x1200m distance swim and ended up doing a full coached session - these are run five out of seven days a week in Truro - what a facility! In addition I met up with one of my old swimming friends - Nick Polkinghorn (he was a couple of age groups up from me), when I used to swim competitively he was one of the best breaststroke swimmers in the UK, still damn fast!

So the session:

150m warm up (nice and gentle)
2x(200m swim/200m pull) continuous
4x100m on 1min 45s
2x(100m IM swim/100m IM pull)
4x100m on 1min 45s
2(200m swim/200m pull)
4x100m on 1min 45s
3x50m cool down

3500m all in 56mins....quite challenging - especially the IM pull....

Today was also meant to have a 30min run - not sure if that will get done...

First long run in a while....

2009-04-07T15:15:00.000+01:00

Well finally manged to go out for a long run....I was a bit concerned about the shin splints on my right leg but they seemd okay afterwards :-) a bit sore but not too bad

I covered 10.21km in 1hr 32s which I was quite happy about, as the last time I did a 10km run it took 1hr 10m!

Today's session was quite nice (albeit with no music as unfortunately I managed to wash my Creative Zen...) a 10min warm up (RPE2) and then 5 sets of 6min at race tempo followed by 2min recovery, finished off with a 10min cool down (RPE3). An average pace of 5m 50s ish per km.

I.

Long bike and recovery....

2009-04-06T21:03:00.000+01:00

Well I found a good route out from home up to Cirencester, along to Minchinhapton back to Tetbury (via Avening - with a biiiiiig hill) up to Westonbirt past our old house in Sherston and then back home.

In all it took 2hr 30m 39s to complete 65.06km - climbing a little 139m..(Wimbleball has rather a lot more climbs than that....) - I set off at about 7.15 and it was below freezing, it took the first 10km for the feeling to come back in my hands but I lost feeling in my feet for the last 10km (a mix of shoes too tight and the cold). The weather though was gorgeous (bright blue skys) at the end - a great morning bike. Just to finish off Lizzie and I took the kids for a walk in Westonbirt Arboretum - lovely.

Today was a little more sedate (sore???)

Morning swim:

400m warm up (100m swim/100m pull/100m kick/100m swim)
8x100m (25m easy/25m build/25m easy/25m hard)
3x50m cool down (each slower)

Evening bike:

Weather rubbish so onto the turbo....down to the last three episodes of Series 1 of 24 :-)

39.8km of the Paris - Roublais classic nice easy pace (av 32kph) with some spin ups (20s build to full pace - 600W+) with 5mins between - I did 5 sets (I think)

Anyway off for supper - 60min run tomorrow - hopefully the rain will stop....

I.

Long bike

2009-04-04T20:01:00.001+01:00

Today was a long set on the turbo - the weather in the really early morning was rubbish (mist/drizzle) so rather than risk I decided to try out the Amstel Classic route in the Netherlands.

Wow I thought that place was flat - the race route must take in all the hills! I did the first 60km of the 258km race - took me 2hrs and three episodes of 24!

Hard work but worth it. Afterwards I did a 5km cool down run as a brick session (i.e. just throwing the trainers straight on off the bike - as it the race) in 30mins - not bad after the bike.

Tomorrow is 2.5hrs - need to find a good route

Last night's swim and today

2009-04-03T12:12:00.000+01:00

Well last night was a revalation - first coached session since I stopped doing Masters swimming about nine years ago! I think the coach relished the idea of haveing someone who could go sub 6mins for a 400m in the pool - well I hope thats what the evil smile was for.....

An hour later and having completed the hardest swim training I have done in a loooong time I finally stepped out of the pool - wow....

The program consisted of (all freestyle - except the last length fly - and where it says otherwise)

200m warmup

100m pull

100m kick

400m trime trial (5.47 :-) except I did 450m as I lost count, doh!)

100m backstroke

2x200m on 3m 15s

2x100m on 1m 30s

2x50m on 50s

2x40m on 50s

2x100m on 1m 30s

2x200m on 3m 15s

4x50m on 40s (I had a 1min break after first one as both legs cramped - ouch)

150m cool down

Really, really hard......

This morning was comparatively easy though with a short recovery session

2x 200m

4x 100m

But I got to try out my new Orca Alpha wetsuit - it took 10s of my 100m time - 1m 15s without trying!!

I am still trying to work out whether I want to do the 1hr bike scheduled for later or whether I can miss further training until tomorrow - which is a brick session 2hrs ride/30min run

Later

Evening Swim

2009-04-02T19:47:00.001+01:00

Well it was meant to be a rest day but there is an evening coached session at Malmesbury Pool so off to that to see what it is like....

A long turbo session

2009-04-01T17:16:00.001+01:00

Can I just say 75mins on the turbo in the garage is really hard work on the mind - even with Series 1 of 24 to keep you amused.....

So today was a 75min long effort session, I decided on the turbo rather than going out as I wanted to be able to control the effort a little. I used a GPS recording of a ride I did last summer from Charlton to Luckington, Wiltshire - 38.2km.

First 15mins was a warm up at RPE3-4 with the next 50mins at RPE6-7 (hard work!) both in and out of the saddle finished off with an RPE2 coold down for 10mins.

Legs quite sore but at least tomorrow is a day off :-)))

Swimming and cycling!

2009-03-31T14:36:00.000+01:00

This morning's swim was a race specific session:

2x75m warm up (last 25m backstroke)

2x600m (first one RPE4, second one RPE8!)

150 cool down

The second 600m was HARD trying to maintain a consistent pace was challenging, and tring to negative split too...times 9m 15s for 1 and 8m 12s for 2 :-)

I also went out for a solid ride - 16.5km trying to keep on the big ring 53T not 54T!) throughout...challenging on some of the hills..

Wimbleball on the turbo again

2009-03-30T20:37:00.000+01:00

Really challenging session today - still stiff and sore from the reverse tri - aero position for 55mins out of the 60mins I was on the turbo - moved the seat up 1cm to give a bit more flatness on the back without sacrificing power but wow, how much harder did the climbs feel!

A good set but I want to get out and cycle on roads - roll on the longer evenings/mornings!

Turbo work

2009-03-29T12:02:00.000+01:00

A simple solid 45mins on the turbo on the new Tacx rolling hills program - 5mins on the small (34T) ring followed by 10mins on the big (54T) ring (regardless of degree of brake on the turbo).

Trying out new nutrition at the moment. Powerbat ride shots (taste like haribo) are nice but their gels - yeuch! Yet to find one I like. However I seem to have developed a taste for Hi5 4:1 drink - last year I thought it was awful.....

Oh well, finished the swim focus week (in Base 2) this week is the bike focus week, 10.5 hours training ahead to fit in!

Later
I.

A hard morning!!

2009-03-28T15:51:00.000Z

Today was a really hard session that completely drained me. I did a reverse triathlon following the Westonbirt route from last year.

A nice 5km run through the school grounds and around the perimeter of the next door farm before jumping on the bike for 25km through the south cotswold area. Basically from Westonbirt school out to Sherston and then back along the main road towords Malmesbury. After lots of rolling hills the route turns off through Shipton Moyne before coming back past Highgrove in Doughton to Westonbirt. To end it I did a quick 1000m in the school pool.

5km run - 30m 2s
25km bike - 52m 6s
1000m swim - 15m 8s

Now tired with no real injury issues except the shin splints need icing! A good day

Race specific session today

2009-03-27T11:49:00.000Z

A good hard race specific session today. All done with fins, I was shocked to find that the fins (Alphas from aquasphere) only take off 4 seconds/100m but make swimming a lot harder!

So the session:

4x75m warm up (last 25m of each backstroke)
3x750m at RPE5 (average time approx 10m 45s for each) 30s rest between each
3x50m cool down (50m swim/50m kick/50m swim)

In all took about 46mins.

Tomorrow is a hard one a reverse sprint triathlon (30mins run/60mins bike/30mins swim) - will be fun...

And some turbo training....

2009-03-26T14:34:00.001Z

After playing around with the set up in the garage so I can have twin monitors working one for the Tacx i-magic software (which runs my turbo trainer) and one for the DVD (currently 3/4s of the way through series one of 24) I managed to get in 45 mins of spinning.

I ran the Wimbleball route at full incline so the max wattage out of the turbo was 390W (well I had not got to the big hill which peaks around 450ishW - around a 17% hill), some bits were easy RPE3-4 other were out of the saddle RPE 7-8 (Rating of Percieved Exertion - 1 v v easy/10v v v v hard).

Overall a good day :-)

Swimming again!

2009-03-26T10:47:00.000Z

Yep it is a week focussed on swimming!

Today had a really good sprint session:

400m warm up (as 50m swim/50m kick)
10x100m (as 25m easy/25m build/25m hard/25m easy)
6x25m cool down (each one easier than the last

Pool was a lovely 27.8 degrees (waterbabies not in today) and I did the first 900m with fins remainder without to try and build up the damaged muscles on my left side (from the bike crash).

Average pace/100m was 1min 25secs

Sponsorship

2009-03-26T10:46:00.000Z

Thanks Chris for such a generous donation - only £215 to go!!

...and no if I flake out half way through you don't get the cash back - but remember you can always write off 40% against tax :-)

2009-03-25T16:15:00.000Z

Short run (5k) in Manchester whilst staying at The Lowry (www.thelowryhotel.com - nice place but I wouldn't pay full whack to stay there....) the city has change so much since I used to go in shopping with my Grandmother - nice to run around though.

However my shins hurt - I have aggrivated my shin splints again doing the CFT on Saturday :-( hopefully the Newtons (www.newtonrunning.com) will avoid a long protracted problem like last time.

Long swim session today

2009-03-25T15:37:00.000Z

Covered off 2350m in the pool today - first time in for five days!

4x100m (swim, kick, pull, swim)
1750m pyramid (reducing from 275m - with one mistake in, I lost count - hence 1750m)
200m cool down

Felt good but ribs still sore...

OMG what have I signed up for.....

2009-03-25T15:29:00.000Z

Thanks for visiting my page.

I must be mad! Some time ago someone suggested that I should take up triathlon as I could swim fairly fast, foolishly I listened to him.

Three years later (and following a lengthy hiatus due to surgery on my legs) I have decided to set myself a challenging goal, I am going to complete the UK Ironman 70.3 on June 14th 2009 (even if I just make it round!!).

What is this strange event? Well, it is a half distance ironman, why only a half I hear you cry? Well firstly I want to set myself a challenge I have a chance of completing. A full Ironman (2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) is possibly a little long…..and secondly I am only mildly unhinged not completely mad! The full monty can wait for 2010...maybe....

The course itself is considered to be the toughest of the 70.3 events on the world circuit. It takes place in the beautiful countryside of Exmoor in starting at 6.00am in Wimbleball Lake (a 1.2 mile swim), on to the bike for 56 miles (and over 53 hills!) finishing with a half marathon of 13.1 miles through the surrounding countryside.

So why am I asking you for money? Firstly if I am going to endure this kind of pain it had better be worth more than just me loosing a few pounds!! Secondly I always seem to be sponsoring other people and lastly (but most importantly) because the charities I have chosen are really worth it!!!

I am supporting three charities:

Rotary (who organise the charity part of the event),

Help for Heroes (a charity set up to support injured service personnel, a cause I believe in)

The Urostomy Association (My mother has been helped by this charity both in the run up to and since she has had her Urostomy and I wanted to do something for them for the help they have given her).

Please be generous if you can but even £1 will help, please sponsor me now!!!
(and if I exceed £500 I will take the scary picture of me in lycra off the website!)
Thanks,Iain.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Rotary-IronmanUK Triathlon Charities gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

Below are a few lines about my two other charities:

Help for Heroes (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/) provides practical and direct help to injured service men and women and their families. It provides the items and facilities that the MOD class as “nice to have” rather than “essential” such as a new swimming pool and rehabilitation gym at Headley Court (the Tri service rehab centre). In addition, it aims to help those individuals injured serving their country in readjusting to their new life. As a member of the armed forces I strongly support their aim and I would urge you to do the same regardless of whether or not you agree with the politics of the current conflicts we are involved in.

The Urostomy Association (http://www.uagbi.org/) was set up to: assist those who are about to undergo or who have undergone surgery which results in a urinary diversion, such as a urostomy, continent urinary pouch or neo bladder; assist carers in the rehabilitation of people with a urinary diversion; improve the quality of life of people who have undergone urinary diversion surgery and those who care for them and to undertake such research as the Membership feels is necessary to enhance the life of members.