Getting Faster

Yesterday was a planned hard training day for me and as part of it I repeated the 6mile cross-country time trial that I did earlier in the month.

The route itself is measured with my Garmin Forerunner to ensure that it is accurate and is a mixed bag of terrains. It includes riverside paths with various quality surfaces, woodland single tracks and routes across farm fields. Along with this I also have to negotiate steps, styles, locks, gates, railway crossings and bridges. So all-in-all a bit removed from racing a road based 10k.

Also, since I did the last test my training has been more consistent that at anytime this year. I have introduced a weekly long run. Plus I have been doing a couple of structured runs each week, such as Hill sprints or intervals.

Last time I did this test it kook me a disappointing 1:02:11 and that was pushing it at a high heart rate.

This week I forgot my HR strap so had to go by feel, and as a result over cooked it a couple of times and had to slow down. All the same this week I completed the Time Trial in 0:55:30.

That’s 6:41 faster … I’m over the moon with that :)

   

WW

Outlaw 2012

An alternate set of images from the Outlaw 2012 iron distance triathlon ...


Well done to the 843 athletes/teams who finished

How old were the finishes?

How fast were the age groups?

What were their splits like?

What was Mr/Mrs Average's race like?

Did the outlaws who finished get there bike/run right?

How many finished in each hour>

WW

4 weeks In

Well, it has now been 4 weeks since I initially weighed in and set off on the journey to try and get myself in better shape. In that time my training and general exercise regime has become more varied. Plus I have attempted to improve my diet.

When I talk about diet, I am not talking about going on a particular diet, as I feel these are all fads and unsustainable, but instead I have just considered what i put in my mouth.

For example

• I really like lucozade original, but found I was having a bottle every day, so now I only have 1 bottle in 2 weeks.
• I was drinking 10+ cups of coffee each day all with milk and sugar, now I'm down to 2 or 3
• I was having a can of coke each week day with my lunch, now stopped all together
• I was eating ready meals for lunch, now fresh salads
• Also I had a pint of Guinness with my dinner each evening through the week, now I have lime and soda

All these little things have added up to help me move closer to my goals. I don't want to give up the things I like; otherwise life would be too dull. 

Now for how things have gone

I had hoped to lose a half stone in the first 4 weeks and a couple percent of my body fat. To my delight I can report that I have exceeded these targets with a weight loss of 9.5lb and a drop of over 4% on the body fat.

This now looks like this

WEIGHT	202.5lb	(14st 6.5lb)(92kg)	Loss = 9.5lb
BODY FAT	18%	Combination of Scales and Calipers	Loss = 4.7%
WAIST	35.25in	(89.53cm)	Loss = 1.25in

Looking Forward

Over the next 4 weeks, I would like to drop 6.5lb and get down to 14st and drop another 2% on the body fat front, this should allow the shape of my abs to start to show ... well that's the plan   :)

WW

Testing Times

Since my slimmer / fitter / faster challenge is all about physical improvement, I thought I would do a couple of tests this week. This will give me some basic information that I can measure my progress from.

This week the two areas I tested were my run and my swim.

For the run, I had 30mins easy spin to warm up. Then I set my Garmin and set off on a 6 mile out and back trail run (turning when I hit 3 miles).

Because I train for endurance events I do very little short hard stuff. But back when I did I used to race 10k in about 45mins. But when I stopped my watch; it read 1:02:11, at an average Heart Rate of 82% (143 for me)

To say I was disappointed with myself is an under statement, both at the time and the ability to maintain a higher heart rate

----

The swim was a much sorter test, the standard 400m. I have not done a lot of swimming in the past year. So unless it took me a ridiculously long time I would be happy. My last race at the beginning of July, it took me 1:18:00, so an average of 8:08 / 400m.

After a warm up I set off, and even had the lane to myself. I felt messy in the water but pushed on. Stopping the clock in *:00, a pace of 2:00/100m. I was quite happy with that.

RUN	6 Mile	1:02:11	82% | 143bpm
Swim	400m	8:00	N/A

So

My aims going forward will be to: -

• Improve my time for a 6mile trail run

• Be able to maintain a higher average heart rate for the 6 miles

• Improve my time for the 400m swim TT

Watch this space

WW

Something to Aim For

I am the sort of person that needs a focus, a goal, in order to achieve any sort of consistency in training. Even then it’s not guaranteed. But without it; I would find myself skipping out on training for allsorts of reasons, that all seam valid excuses at the time.

So I have picked my ‘A’ race for next year. I will be competing in Ironman Switzerland in Zurich. This race takes place on the 28th July 2013, so I have plenty time to get in shape. The timing of this sits nicely with my overall ‘Faster/ Fitter / Stronger’ challenge so hopefully I will go into the race in my best shape ever.

I have done this race before back in 2009 when I had lots of problems with my back … so I have a score to settle, with the bike course on particular.

So, as they say, ‘onwards and upwards’

WW 

Somewhere to Start

As I stated in a previous post elsewhere, I have set my self the goals of becoming slimmer, faster, and fitter by the time I add another candle to my birthday cake.

To do this I need to know where I am starting from. One of the easiest things to track will be my weight and related statistics. I am just back from two weeks vacation after the Outlaw triathlon and weighed in, details were as follows: -

WEIGHT :	212lb	(15st 2lb) (96.4kg)
BODY FAT :	22.7%	(according to my scales)
WAIST :	36.5in	(92.71cm)

All in all not good – I thought I had been feeling fat and bloated for some time and theses statistics confirm things. That and the fact that my jeans are starting to cut me in half. So now is a good time to get things going. After all I don’t want to end up looking like I have a loyalty card for McDonalds.

I intend posting an update on these statistics every four weeks or so. Plus I may add other measures from tests etc I take as things progress.

WW

A look back on April

A bit late with this post, but I have been a bit busy sorting the move to a new contract position which I start next week. 

April turned out not to be as good as I planned, the aim was to up my cycling, do at least on cycling hill rep session per week and to stay consistent … that all went to the wall half way through the month when something in the right side of my back when twang during a hill rep session.

I was just finishing an 8 x 5min seated hill set and a felt a sharp pain, but it seem to ease so I finished off with a few sprints and then an hours run. The next morning I swam an it felt sore but OK and I went for e recovery MTB ride, but the first time I stood to apply pressure to the peddles for a sharp clime .. back came the pain but a lot more intense.

I ended up having to visit the physio for 2 x deep tissue massage session, 2 lots of acupuncture and 1 lot of manipulation ... plus my training was restricted to slow easy run/walks and swims …although a couple of dips in the icy North sea seamed to help a lot.

The month came in at Just under 44hr, way off target

The splits for my training

Training month on month

My aim for May is to get back into it, and finally get in some proper cycling!

Let there be BRICK!

Last night i did one of the many Brick sessions that are in my trainng plan

Brick training session are sessions where you train for two of the disciplines back-to-back, traditionally a brick session is BIKE then RUN but can also be SWIM then BIKE or any other combination that you can think of, (but some people mat call them something else).

They all have there place in training some more than others, generically any training session made up of two discipline will help your body prepare for doing more than one thing in a race, so transitions from one discipline to another will not be a big shock to the system, as Triathlon is a sport in itself and not just a sum of its parts. Plus it is also a way of helping you get all those required sessions fitted into a weeks training

Swim to Run training is normally done as part of open water training (on my part) where I will have a long OW swim followed by a short tempo run to loosed up afterwards, this type of training can also be useful for Aquathalons.

Running then cycling, this is mores specific for those that take part in duathlons that are often Run-Bike-run

Swimming then Cycling gives us the chance to practice T1 (which can take some time), getting out of our wetsuit and off onto the bike, many people have problems with dizziness and nausea when moving from the prone position of the swim to the upright position and if you are like this, this is a very useful session

Cycling then running, this session is the most popular although (IMO) a lot of training plans do not introduce them early enough. Firstly the prepare you for the ‘jelly leg’ felling of moving from Bike to run, next they help you more quickly improve your generic endurance as Bike-run brick session can be longer earlier in the season as doing two different disciplines does not place the same stress on the body as would just a long bike or long run and I would do one of these Brick sessions most weeks These bricks and can be approached different ways

A steady/easy bike followed by steady/easy run, used to help build overall endurance and train the body for the transition

A hard structured bike followed by steady/easy run, this is a bike focussed brick session that will leave our legs feeling like they belong to someone else when you start the run, great fun, and great preparation due to the fact that you will be most likely giving it all on you bike before you start you run in a race

A steady/easy bike followed by hard (and/or) structured run, this one is run focussed and helps the body to adapt to getting up to speed on the run as quick as possible.

A hard Bike followed by a hard run, is simply what it say s on the tin and is race specific and lets you try out back to back in race simulated conditions, but (for me) this would probably normally be a shorter session so not to risk injury.

Bricks do not have to be the same every time, be creative and mix them up, for me last nite was a Bike focused brick and took the form of: -

BIKE (2:10 total)

• 20-30mins warm up, mixed HR
• 8 x 5 min seated climbs at VO2max
• 8 x 1 min hill sprints, flat out
• Mixed cadence work to finish

RUN

• 1 hour trail run

So get out there and brick

WW

Doubts and Fears

From time to time as you work towards your Ironman goal, you mind will start working overtime and allsorts of doubts and fears will creep in, trying to derail you a knock you off stride, these doubt and fears can take many forms :-

• What if I’m not training enough?
• Am I training too much?
• I’m carrying to much weight
• I swim like a drowning rat?
• Joe Blogs seems to be so much further on than me
• I’m to slow on XXX discipline
• Etc etc …

Well for me these doubt and fears are always focussed around one main area, yes I know I didn’t do even half the training I should have last year, but my doubt and fears are always focused around the BIKE.

I am a week cyclists and see it as my biggest limiter, I am poor on the climbs, I am slow, my knees ache, my back struggles with the time I’m on the bike and my muscles pump out to quickly and so on…

But when I look at it rationally, I am training and following a plan, my plan includes endurance, strength and skills elements, I have spent the off season focussing on improving my core and generic strength. So I know I am doing what is required of me to improve and there for I should not worry, I know my training plan is balanced in away to give enough focus to this weakness but not overly sacrifice my training else where.

But I do, I still worry: -

• I’m to slow on the bike
• I’m going to show myself up on the hill climbs
• I’m not spending enough time in the saddle

But I need to squash these fears and doubts, focus on the positives and take strength and resolve in what I know I am doing.

So if you too, suffer doubt and fears on you path towards Ironman, take heart in the knowledge you are not alone.

Onwards and upwards

WW

A look back on March

March for me was always intended to be a breakthrough month, it was to have a focus on pushing myself and moving my training on to the level I believe is needed for me to better my Ironman PB time.

To do this I set myself the challenge of training every day of the month, I know that there is a need for rest and recovery, I know that this is not something that can be maintained due to the risk of overtraining an injury, BUT it can be done for a month, after all I have a desk job and spend most of the time sat down and I aimed to utilise active recovery instead of rest, such as sub 2k swims etc.

In total I managed to train almost 55hours in March

I thought training every day would see the weight fall off me but I actually put on 2lbs … I get hungry when I train a lot .. but I did see my body fat drop significantly to 17.5% the lowest since Ironman Germany 2006

March also saw a number of other personal barriers pushed through for me …

• I manage to break 300pts in the training point league for the first time ever beating my form PB by about 60pts
• I also did my longest swim since 2006 … 7000m

So all-in-all a good month onward and upward

The following pie chat shows how my training was split for the month

This graph shows my monthly training my time (hours) with a significant jump in March

WW