comfirmation....

well, i headed off to hillingdon last night and as i mentioned i was looking to see how much of the rejuvinated strength i've felt on the bike recently was still there. having done a nasty 5k inerval running session earlier in the morning and still struggled with this chest infection for much of it, i was inerested to see what the race would reveal. the ride over is well.... congested. its rush hour, majour roads around heathrow and not many kodak moments for the scenery photographers out there. i got there nice and early though and the legs had been pretty good power wise and the RPE had been about right too. it was looking ok.

toeing the start line i always look at the E/1/2/3 race and tell myself that i've got to get in that group one day. the only problem is that a. i CANT sprint and b. close race finishes are far too hazzardous for my liking. this is training after all and a crash here will keep me out of run or decent swim training for at least 4-5 days.... not the aim of the exercise. i'm happy to hammer as much as i can and just let the rest have their fun in the last 100m.

the course at hillingdon is a closed 1 mile circuit. there's a nice long incline to the finish line and 3 nice sharp corners that go down then up then down again, just after. it makes for some great training and when the wind blows it does a lot of damage. depending on time and light restrictions, we normally ride 30-40k.

after the first couple of laps not much seamed to be going on so i thought i'd see how good the legs really were feeling and hit the front and see what happened. 2mins at near VO2 Max watts later and i turned to see no one had bothered to go with me and the bunch didnt seam to be doing much either. so i made a choice......head down and bury myself for as long as i could!!!.... 20 minutes later and i was enjoying it. there's a real pleasure in this kind of pain, PROVIDED you feel like its worthwhile and you're in front.... if i was dropped and burying myself to get back on a bunch then i've not doubt the pleasure would be far removed ha ha.

having the watts to watch makes this kind of exercise fascinating. on such a repetative circuit u quickly get to see what u can and should be putting out at different places. and you can also see when you can no longer keep it up. i'd got about a 150m gap on the group.... looks a long way on a small circuit..... but at 20mins of 120% threshold watts, i could see i was starting to tail off. i sat up and waited for them to catch up, happy with how it had felt and more importantly happy knowing that i'd normally look to hold 20% less watts in a race.... this kind of workout makes that feel A LOT EASIER!

to my surprise, once caught, nobody seamed particulally kean to do any work at the front. a breather of 90 seconds can do wonders to energy levels i find and i was more than happy to take it up agan. jumping once more, once again i found myself thoroughly enjoying being on the bike and pushing my self..... saturday hadnt been a one off..... thank goodness. i wasnt too fussed about the rest of the race and just spent it pushing hard then dropping back and repeating the exercise. (i'll try to attach the power data to this if i can.) come the final lap and i happily dropped off the back of the front runners who powered away up the hill. i had "my win" and there was NO WAY i could have got close to winning a sprint finish.

a nice ride home at aerobic watts or just above and a perfect 3 hour ride with some nice high end intensity work thrown in the middle and just in time to see arsenal qualify for the final of the champions league.... nice!

looking back at my long and later, little, breaks during the race it shows you just how phenominally strong Pro cyclist are. they sometimes break for up to 100k or more and hold speeds over 50kph for this time..... quite incredible what their bodies can do and their minds are prepared to suffer.

i'll be back in a couple of weeks and maybe try to stay out for 25 minutes instead... we'll see.

......man, i dont do short blogs do i! think i need to get myself a shorter journey to work.... or maybe no journey at all???

did u run yesterday?.......

had to laugh a few (err... about 20 actually) times today, each time i was asked if i ran in the London marathon yesterday.... which of course i didn’t. think i knew 10 good friends who did though and I’m pleased to say that all of them did really well and some great times were achieved by them all at their own personal levels. full credit to them for doing what it takes. the marathon is a fantastic event and you can really see what it means to people to be able to complete something like that...... still, just gives me even more admiration 4 all the Ironman (& of course Iron Women too) out there.

quick note on a reality check though. caught the highlights of the mens race.... they went through 20k in 59 minutes!!!...... enough said i think you'll agree.

i kind of wish i had raced... just to see how I’d do, but i know it would ruin my training for the rest of the week and serves no purpose for my goals right now.

Saturday was a good day. managed a decent enough swim in the morning then proceeded to miss a local 5k race I’d planned to do because i didn’t get out the pool early enough. the afternoon however was GREAT! Firstly because it was the first time this year I’ve been able to ride in shorts, sleeveless top and fingerless gloves. fabulous day and it was a joy just to be able to do what I do. It’s easy to take for granted being able to train, ride a bike or even do it in some of the places i do. surrey has got a little boring for me recently but its good to remember just how blessed i am to be here and have surrey, Sussex, berks etc to train in. I’m sure there are plenty of people around the world who'd treasure riding through a royal park and past Windsor castle on a sunny day........ hmmm getting off point a little.....but hey.

the second great thing about the ride, was the ride itself. it was easily the best I’ve felt on the bike for A LONG TIME and the numbers backed it up to. having power as a tool means that analysis can be so much more valuable and well... powerful in what i can learn about a session. the numbers from Saturday were good to see and hopefully an indicator that the start of the quality (or in other words plain ugly hard) interval sessions on the bike is bringing me into the bike form i want and need for racing. Tuesday will show more when i race again at Hillingdon, but its good to know that its still in there..... somewhere. i just need to make sure the training keeps bringing it back and in larger quantities too.

its funny and something I’m striving to change , but sometimes too much of my confidence and even current state of mind is effected by 'a recent result' or the last hard training session I’ve done..... and basically how well or not they might have gone. my numbers on the bike recently haven’t been good, up to 3kph off what I’d like or expect. whilst its not been a HUGE issue, its still played in the back of my mind more than it should. since doing the last 2 weeks solid training I’ve felt stronger and Saturday was a culmination of this i guess. whilst there is a lot to be said for the endorphins released by training and enjoying feeling good and training reflecting this, its definitely something i want to change till I’m at a point where little or large blips genuinely don’t influence my confidence. if its (performance level) been there before, then its still there now..... and then some!

at the end of the day, the biggest part of who i am is my faith as a Christian and my relationship with god. all else falls behind this and therefore slowly but surely is being given less weight.

oops.... fallen into 'blogging personal philosophical' rant there. sorry. not a bad thing i guess, just hope u managed to hang in there ha ha!!!

one final thing to mention was Fridays swim test. I’ve tried to do a 1500m TT each month since October with Bridgitte my coach; though i missed last months. i was slightly disappointed to miss out on seeing a 21min time on the watch by a couple of seconds, but was still delighted with the time. it under paced it and miss counting the lengths didn’t push enough for the last 200m or so. plus i was swimming up against the wall which i know in that pool makes you slower. all in all, i recon there was at least 30-45 seconds more i could have taken off this time. whilst not fish like I’ll be the first to admit, its a vast improvement on previous times. baring in mind that i turn like the QE2 and i swim faster in a wetsuit, my target of a low 20 minute swim time by June is looking possible. glens expert advice and coaching is really paying off. i honestly believe i can swim well under 20 sometime in the future.... I’ll keep plugging away until i do...... I’ll still get my backside whooped by a bunch of 13 year olds at masters though ha ha. i genuinely hope that when i do, this will give some others out there the belief that going from a 28min swimming to a sub 20 man is possible for anyone.

right that’s all for now. I’ll hopefully post more tomorrow after the Hillingdon crit.

getting "out there"

so I’m through most of the training for this mini EPIC camp I’ve been doing. sadly today sees me back at work. I’ve managed to do the swim this morning, should get a run in at lunch and then another 3k swim this evening, to at least keep things ticking over until the weekend. would love to be able carry on all this week, definitely something to plan for later this year i think.... maybe if i qualify for Florida.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with my body. It’s taken the training fairly well....a lot better than my head which has been the hardest part to keep going. It’s funny how it reacts, justifying excuses that would normally not get a seconds consideration. i always feel better once I’m "out there".... its the battle to get "out there" that's often the hardest part. I’m sure almost everyone can sympathize in some way, whether it be starting that report for work or tidying up the house... its always harder to start than to keep going once you HAVE started. keep having to tell myself this.

oddly enough i don’t seam to be falling into my little fatigue hole i thought I’d be in by now.... i actually feel quite energized by the last few days.... a good thing too as i was 77kg's this morning!!!.... I’m told it’s to be expected due to water retention, but still came largely as a shock ha ha. I’ve had plenty of time to think about lots of stuff over the last few days and yet much of it has been almost sub-conscious as I’ve just been "out there" turning the pedals or putting one foot in front of the other. one thing that has become clear though is that I’ve been a bit too lazy over recent months and too easily accepted less than the best from myself. only this week have i got back the feeling of strength and pleasure from body that i felt back in 2004 when i was training full time. less time now, is NO EXCUSE for me to drop away from this though and some serious re-prioritization is needed. how i go about this or maybe more importantly, making sure i don’t drop back into old sub standard habits isn’t quite clear, but i know that in order to really progress, to put myself where i want to be and believe i can be, nothing less than what I’ve been doing these last few days will do.

funny how sometimes we can get moments of clarity and things just...... well, seam simple. I’ve seen this again with my training this and last week. I’ve been a bit too anxiously over thinking... maybe seeking complex (apparently better) options (or should that read shortcuts/excuses) in recent months i can now see. all the while the basic training philosophies I’ve really needed have been there, things i know but have just forgotten in the mess of strategies, protocols etc..... 1. NO EASY WAY and 2. JFT (stands for Just Flipppin Train - well my version anyway ha ha). I’m looking forward to getting back into these mentalities again and most importantly I’m excited again about what i can achieve with this season.

N.B. added at the end of the day.... well back 2 work what a long day it’s been. cramming as much info as possible and spending too long staring at the screen has left me feeling worse than all the training over the last few days. not to mention having t miss my run.... i really don’t like these days when things seam to take over my priorities..... and end up causing problems. i might try to run when i get home, but i suspect an early night might be a better option with the early training I’ve got planned 4 tomorrow..... (hmmmm....... another excuse or a genuine good decision.... where lies the balance i wonder???)

2 days in....

well its 2 days in and I’m loving it. starting to remember how i felt back in 2004 when i was training full time. there's an enormous sense of satisfaction that comes (for me at least) from setting these kind of goals and following through. i feel a real personal empowerment from doing this kind of thing. it seams that the more i do it, the stronger i feel and the more i think i can do. i wonder how far this can go.......? I’d love to do a full 10 days of this to see what kind of empowering fatigue hole I’d get into then..... maybe one to find out later this year???

Wayne REALLY impressed me these last couple of days. the ride 2 Cheltenham is a VERY TOUGH ONE (180k with about 2000m ascent and we averaged 30kph in rubbish weather & into a head wind all the way). more so when u don’t know what’s coming up next or how far you've got left. whilst he'll be the first 2 admit he didn’t help matters with his fluid and nutrition, the darkness he experienced as a consequence will make him stronger mentally and the training itself with certainly be beneficial. all this not to mention a dodgy stomach bug that seamed to be draining him too.... i recon he's got a worm or something inside ha ha. i kept telling him that somewhere REALLY DEEP DOWN he was actually enjoying the suffering.... at the time he just swore at me, but i recon by Monday he was agreeing. Still, 2 keep rolling on both days when his body wasn’t working as it normally does took a lot heart and strength. I’m chuffed he won his battle and didn’t quit! 16 hours of training with a dodgy belly is no easy ride.

tomorrow is Easter Sunday and starts with a long swim and hopefully includes a long run but that will depend on church and time.....

The day before....

the day before

well tomorrow sees the start of a nice long Easter weekend and for me the chance to get really stuck into some good training. I’ve been looking forward to these few days for a while. it will be back to how it used to be when i wasn’t working.

the plan....

as a long time reader of Gordo’ web site (www.grodoworld.com), I’ve spent many a moment reading peoples reports of EPIC training! since I’ve been back at work its been hard 4 me to get the chance to put enough consecutive days together 2 really ramp up the volume, but this and next week will be an opportunity to do just that. Along with my good friend Wayne Keat (multi-sport nut and 'if its there I’ll race it' athlete) I’m planning on spending the next 5-6 days training, eating and sleeping. we've set minimums of 3k swim, 120k bike & 10-15k or 60 mins run each day. Wayne’s with me Friday to Monday, I’ve already done a decent 5 hours on Tuesday and will be going through to next Tuesday, before heading back into work (no doubt to endless "are you OK?" comments from colleagues :-))

tomorrow sees us start with a swim in the morning, riding 180+k to my uncle & aunties house in Cheltenham, then doing a run straight off the bike when we get there. I’ve done the ride in just over 5 hours before, so we should hit about 8 hours total tomorrow.... cant wait! Saturday will see us reversing that order to get home. I’ll save the rest for a full report to go up afterwards, some time next week on my web site.

needless to say I’m REALLY looking forward to it all. I’ve not been on top form on my bike recently, so some good solid miles in the legs will make me feel a whole lot better and having the data from the SRM's to go through afterwards will be really cool too. its all about 5 weeks out from my first goal race of the season so I’m hoping it kicks in perfectly for this.

the only thing bothering me really is this chesty cough and runny nose i just don’t seam to be able to shake. i honestly can’t remember the last time i had something (even this small) in my system for this long. very frustrating as anything above 90-95% effort is almost impossible to sustain for very long without the cough causing problems! i guess i shouldn’t be anywhere near this intensity level in the next couple of days so shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

well I’m nearly at my stop on the train, so I’ll be off for now. come back soon for more on my mini EPIC Easter camp.

So here it is then.....

so here it is then, my first blog and my new web site. i hope you’ve had a look round the site and found it interesting enough to come back again :-) . blogs are funny things, from what I’ve read of them anyhow. people would have gone mad in times gone by if you'd pried into their diary or journal and yet here we are with half the internet world sticking (often, but not always i guess) their personal thoughts 'out there' for THE WHOLE WORLD to read.... the apparent anonymity of the internet seams to make it all ok. not a criticism of course, just an observation. at the end of the day there can be great clarity brought about by writing things down, letting others into this 'clarity' is just a new option.

well, looks like I’ve settled into BLOG waffle land well enough ha ha.

to be honest, I’m expecting this blog to be more of training, racing diary than a place for my personal philosophical opinions.... though no doubt there'll be some of that too! hopefully it will give an incite into what its like for me to try and train enough to reach the levels i want to and believe I’m capable of, at the same time as working and trying to keep or at times save some semblance of balance to it all. if nothing else, it should make for some interesting reading for me in years to come :-) . I’m going to do my best to just write and not try too hard to compose some great article or thought proving concept... if any of those happen.... it will be someone else hijacking my blog ha ha!

that’s all for now, its nearly my stop on the underground so I’ll be off. I’ve already got a few ideas for the next few entries so come back soon for some more serious blogging........