Progress / The talent out there

Before I get started, thought I’d mention my first cover-shoot of a Sports Magazine… sounds better than it actually is (you’d only know it was me if you were told… which is what I’m doing now of course) but its still a big first for me. Check out 220Triathlon this month and if you can see past the bubbles... you'll see my ugly mug on the cover ;-) I'm also in one of the swim articles inside... with a nice pasty white November tan (the picures were taken last year)!

Progress…………..
Last week saw me repeat my regular (every 5 weeks) testing on the bike and run – swimming to be added next time I think. And it was a good week for me and bridge to analyse what we’ve been doing since Christmas and where it leaves me heading into California. I’m very pleased to say that it looks like all the work we’ve been doing has had the desired effect……

My 3k run time improved again, though only by a tiny amount. However, I feel stronger running at pace now and genuinely feel like I’m capable of running the kind of times I want to over my various race distances… in particular California on March 31st.

On the bike, things took a bigger up-swing with my VO2 max wattage and CP20 & CP60 (threshold or MLSS for those of you that use these terms) both going up after last months plateau. In both modes of transport, I’m back to my peak of last year and its really encouraging to be here so soon in the season and gives us a great deal of confidence that come Florida in November I can be exactly where we want to be in order to get that top 10 finish. For me, it makes all those HORRIBLE sessions where I’m running myself to the edge of my limits, seam worth while at last. I’d be gutted if all of that PAIN had ended up counting for nothing ha ha!

I’m not 100% sure what the course at California is like, but I know from the numbers we’re seeing right now that I’ve got a sub 2:10 bike time in my legs at a level that will allow me to then run possibly under 1:14 off of this (if the run is flat…?) If I can execute this properly on the day of the race, then I can’t wait to see what happens!!!
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The talent out there…………….
I went to a gig in London last night with some friends from church. We saw a couple of people play in a band, who one of my friends knew from her school days. It’s a while since I’ve seen live music and especially in such a small venue, but it struck home to me a few things beyond simply the good music.

It can be very easy in the life I lead to think that the world revolves around triathlon, sport etc. The focus and single mindedness that I try to maintain is not a bad thing, but it can lead to me forgetting that for other people, there is far more going on…. And as I remembered last night, there are A LOT of people out there who have phenomenal talents in a variety of different things. Two of the bands playing last night were fantastic… I mean, REALLY GOOD… to the point where I’m sitting there wondering how they’re not on a label and selling singles by the 1000’s….. to see people so dedicated to something that they clearly love so much and have been blessed with talents that allow them to do what they do… in something COMPLETELY different to the world I live in was so refreshing.

I think it’s important that I try to keep this outlook on things. It can be all too easy for me to fall into my little world and forget that there’s a whole big world out there full of people with passion and gifts for all kinds of things, that to them, are just as important as my triathlon is to me. It puts it all into perspective, whilst at the same time reminding me that my journey in pursuit of achievement in sport and I guess life in general, isn’t the isolated little struggle it can often feel like.

Doing what I do, as many other people who do triathlons would no doubt testify to, can very often result in peoples easily offered admiration. For some reason, most people seam to think that all of this is beyond them (in reality, I firmly subscribe to the “you can do ANYTIHNG” school of thought). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, we all like to hear these kind of things said to or about us at the end of the day; but its easy to let this suck us into thinking that our dedication, focus and often sacrifice, is something that only we actually know and appreciate and live out. In actual fact there are people everywhere applying often the same principles, focus and sacrifice to their own lives in pursuit of other dreams that in their eyes are bigger than anyone else true knows or appreciates.

Early season form

Since my last post, there’s been more of the same going on in my life really… with maybe a couple of new things….. but we’ll save that for now ;-)

I’ve been as A LOT recently how my training has been going and its been difficult to say really. To my delight, my running continues in an upward trend. For the first time ever, I genuinely feel that a 15:xx 5k time is possible at my test race…. The Bushy Park 5k (www.bptt.net). This would mark a MASSIVE milestone for me and my running and to be hitting this so early this year as well, I hope, bodes well for my running throughout 2007. My target of a sub 1:15 half marathon on a 70.3 race would be far more realistic if this kind of pace were possible. We’ll know come this weekend as I plan to run it again. My last result of 16:19 was a PB, but I KNOW (my training data shows it) I’m running faster now, than I was back then. 19seconds is a big jump to make, but going on last weekends race (Milton Keynes Winter Duathlon) my ability to run this fast is definitely there….. I’ll let you know how I get one.

On the subject of the MK Duathlon, it was GREAT to get out and race again. There were some really good other chaps there racing (some Olympic hopeful Loughborough Performance Plan lads) who I’ve raced a little before. It was a great opportunity to gauge myself against them again and also compare my fitness and speed to this time last year. Being able to track improvements (or not if that’s the case) and make changes is imperative to me achieving my goals, so races like this act as great “yard sticks” for this. In a nutshell (well I’ll try to anyway Lol) I felt great on the first run, and was much faster than last year, hanging onto the Loughborough lads too. I rode hard, which was the plan as I’ve not been getting enough of this recently (and now is the time to be ramping it up for California) and came off the bike in FIRST, however the worlds most AMATURE transition then ensued… let me explain…. The bike was 12 laps and whilst Big-Cow (the race organisers) do everything they can to make sure people get this right, in the heat of “battle” the brain often ceases to function properly. I found myself passing the end of each lap, clicking my counter and within about 15 seconds asking myself “….did I click that lap?.....” this resulted in me starting what I thought was my last lap only to look behind me and see Dan and Mark heading into transition to start the run!!! Without thinking I jumped off my bike (still wearing my pyro-platforms) leaped through the cones into transition through my bike wherever I could and tried to pull off the pyro’s… completely missing out on the whole advantage of wearing them in the first place (i.e. FASTER transitions off the bike!). I set off on the run now only a couple of meters in front of 2nd & 3rd instead of 10-20 seconds… but something STILL wasn’t quite right…. I soon realised I forgotten one other thing in my comedy transition… my HELMET…. I was about 30m into the run and STILL WEARING IT!!! What a CLOWN ha ha! I threw it down to one side and carried on, but Dan was now breathing down my neck and my legs were still not enjoying the change back to running (a good sign that I need to start my Brick sessions ASAP). H passed my and my legs didn’t want to respond. The remainder of the final 4k run saw me gradually feel better as I went , but the early damage had been done and I came home, feeling strong, but down in 3rd.

All in all it was a really good session and very encouraging for me. To feel this good (personally) this early in the year bodes well and if I can really nail the next 4 weeks leading up to California, I genuinely feel like my targets for this race are possible.

I’ve had to re-asses my priorities again and keep things in check recently. When targets seam far away, it can be easy to let things in the present slip just a little. Over time this “just a little” soon adds up to A LOT and particularly with regards to my swimming, I’ve not been focussed enough recently. As this is my biggest weakness, this is not good and so new weekly targets and focus are being brought back into my training to ensure I get back to where I need to be. 5-6 LONG swims a week are going to be a MINIMUM for the next 4 weeks leading to California. Doing this, I know a decent (for me) swim is possible and with my bike and run targets now feeling realistic this will put exactly where I want to be when I cross the line.

That’s all for now. Hope you’re enjoying doing whatever it is you do.
God bless