Vitruvian Race report - from the other side!

Vitruvian Race report

This is probably the strangest “race report” I’ve ever written... seeing as I didn’t actually race!!! But I have to say its one of the best days I’ve ever had since getting involved in Triathlon many moons ago!

Having sadly withdrawn from competing a few weeks ago after being diagnosed with stress related chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue, I had decided that as the Vitruvian (and the peeps from PaceSetter Events) had been so good to me over the years, I still wanted to be there for the race and give a little back by helping out.

So on Saturday morning, instead of racking my bike, I was directing competitors to their racks and helping check bikes for numbers and working brakes. There were a surprising number of shall we say… sub-optimal brake set-ups going on. Peoples were oddly surprise at being asked to go and adjust the brakes so that they actually STOPPED the wheels. As was the number of people who turned up to the transition area with less than 5 minutes before it closed… or the few that rocked up AFTER it was “shut” and the race briefing had begun. It seamed odd to me that people who I can only assume had committed weeks and months of time, energy and sacrifice to this day, would jeopardise the whole thing with poor preparation at the last minute.

By 6:20 I was on the jetty by the lake, eagerly anticipating the mass swim start… in the dry for a change. I got a great view of what would have been my wave set off in the mass chaos and washing machine flurry of arms and legs. It was odd to see how slow it looks from the side though… when in the middle it feels like such an intense, flurried and fast first few minutes. Needless to say, two swimmers very quickly pulled away from the pack and began to build a sizeable lead. As the sun rose on a gorgeous day over the dam, it made for a really spectacular sight to see. One of the many reasons this is one of the very best races to do in the UK.

I made my way around to the bike mount/dismount point by transition exit. Standing by a pedestrian crossing point right next the mount line, it was again interesting to see how many people had made the mistake of not leaving their bikes in a low gear. (Maybe some of the “late” comers to transition before the race?) Some struggled so much to get the pedals turning in the 53/12 gear they fell off. But in the truest spirit of the sport, it was all treated well and soon hundreds of cyclist were heading out onto the course. Thereafter I made my way to my first main point of assistance for the day as a marshal at the bike feed station.

This proved to be a great place to be with loads of other volunteers already filling hundreds of High5 water bottles with High5 energy drink and plain water. The crowds were now making their way round to this point at the end of the first lap for the cyclist, in anticipation of their friends and families coming through. Loads of Tri-talk’ers and Pirates were either helping out or cheering each athlete as the came by, making for a really great atmosphere. On a personal level, I was really enjoying the whole event – much to my surprise as I thought I’d find being there and not racing a pretty hard thing to do. But I loved cheering on each athlete as the rode past and attempted to grab a water bottle from my hand. It was a couple of hours that for me, epitomises this race and why its so good. Everywhere there were great volunteers in cheerful abundance and equally cheerful supporters lined the sides of the barriers at the side of the road. I cheered on a couple of athletes as the went through and took splits to try and help the leaders know where they all were to each other… something I know I’m always grateful for.

As the leaders began to return I took splits and in particular, a big cheer of encouragement to my mate (and my pre-race favourite), Joel Jameson who was about 2 minutes down coming back into transition.

I stayed on the bike feed station with the banter between us all continuing and making the time fly by far quicker than expected. The sun was shinning and every athlete that past us seamed to be having a great time. I have to say though that some of the bike handling as they took on and threw away drinks bottles was a sight to behold; but the near misses with dropped banana’s and “in the zone” competitors seamed to keep everyone amused.

As the leaders turned to start the 2nd lap of the 21km run, Joel was now in a commanding lead. I had been asked by race director Ian Hamilton, to head to the finish line and hand out the finisher medals and so made my way over. Its easy to find at The Vitruvian, you simply follow the tremendous music and commentary coming from Sib’s on the PA as she cheers each and every competitor from 6:20am all the way through to the last finisher at nearly 3 in the afternoon; Another thing that makes the atmosphere at the race so fantastic.

Right on queue at a little over 3 hours and 55 minutes, Joel came back to the finish to take his first Vitruvian title in. It was great result for him and a very good time on a day that though warm and sunny, was very windy.

This initiated for me, what was probably the most enjoyable experience of the whole race. I spent the next 4 hours putting “winners” (they’re all winners in my opinion) medals around the necks of everyone who crossed the line. It slowly began to sink in to me what finishing this race meant to each and every one of them. And had the awesome privilege of seeing the look on their face as they went from intense pain, right up to the finish… to complete joy as they received their medals and it sunk in that they’d done it!!! This moment of agony to ecstasy was seen over and over again. It really was an honour to get to see this. To see people over-come with emotion and burst into tears, was for me quite emotional too.

As the hours passed my hands became more and more sticky with the sweat, snot, sugar and who knows what, on the hands I shook before giving them their medals. I simply laughed when anyone of them apologetically wiped their hand before shaking mine; they weren’t the first and wouldn’t be the last to leave me with a wet hand! I stayed for as long as possible doing this, until the presentations began and I got the further honour of along side Triethlon legend, Thomas Hellriegal, being able to present the awards to all the 2nd place finishers in each age group.

Though I came up to help with the intention of simply helping Ian, Mark and their team, in return for the times I’ve enjoyed racing here so much in the past. As it turns out, I got FAR more back than I could have given. I got to see what “this” all means to so many people. To see the enjoyment and love for the sport etched on the faces, re-ignited a little flame in me again… something that has slowly gone out in recent months as the fatigue and everything has taken over. I left Rutland water for another year, shattered… but though not with a winners medal to my name, I think it was almost more satisfying and certainly more empowering.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words of encouragement too. I was blown away by how many of you took the time to chat to me. I can’t wait to see you all again next year… and hopefully share and equally damp congratulatory handshake again!

Meeting Budding Triathlete Jenni Ohren



Presenting awards with the "Legend" himself!!!

Banking it

I guess it would be amiss for me to write something at the moment without mentioning Wimbledon. It struck me at the start of last week that it is exactly high my lifetime ago (15 years) when I was first a ball boy at the Al England Club. They were great times that I remember fondly, but its incredible to think just how long ago it was!

Murray mainier has of course hit once again, and rightly so I think. He’s number 3 in the world after all and so has a genuine chance this year. His game the other night finishing at near 11pm (I was long tucked up in bed) was an epic match by all accounts and shows a real maturity in Murray over the last 2 years; both physically and mentally. The funny thing is though, that listening to a phone in on the radio the following morning on “if Murray could win Wimbledon” I had to switch off with frustration at the “British” mentality to knock and undermine our successful sports people. Caller after caller, focussing on the negatives, saying how he’s not “like the top players”… err… excuse me, but isn’t he NUMBER 3 IN THE WORLD, I’m pretty sure that MAKES him one of the “top players”. It never ceases to amaze me the speed with which people in this country are prepared to put forward their “expert” opinion and how more often than not, it’s NOT a positive one in support of our sports stars. Somehow I doubt the same would happen in Australia or the US.

Anyway….

Last week I spent some time visiting some sick relatives up in the north of England. I took the turbo and trainers so I could still train of course. However a small gluten issue (not sure from what, but possibly some fruit squash) meant that from Wednesday through to Sunday I probably averaged about an hour a day of training and about 5 extra hours a day of sleep. It really does have this much of a dramatic effect on me. However, at least I was able to train even if just a little, most days. With my first Iron Man less than 2 weeks away this is less than optimal preparation though. I was really looking to have my last really solid weeks training and clock up close to 4hours a day instead of a measly 1. Then on Monday, I woke up feeling terrible. A head ache, joints aching and elevated temperature meant that I had to take the whole day completely off too. More frustration…..

Talking about all of this with Chrissie though it was good to be reminded that some times you just have to take what you can get and “bank it”. It is what it is and nothing you do can change it, so just get what you can out of the training and accept it. Last week this meant as little as 45mintues on the turbo before I had to get off with exhaustion; but that’s 45minutes more than nothing. A good saying I once heard says “some days are pebble days and some are star days. One is very plain and feels like not very much and the other is amazing and makes you feel awesome – however both are made from the same thing (rock) and can have the same effect of your fitness and ultimate performance”.

Thankfully yesterday saw a really good solid days training, including 2hours on the turbo with some hard efforts in there… oh and it was 38ºC in the sun lounge whilst doing this session and I felt fine – that’s a good sign. The run off the bike in this session was at my goal IM effort and though a little slower than I’ve done in recent weeks, again I’ll take it and “bank it”.

With IM Switzerland now only 12 days away that’s all I can do. Nothing I do now will improve my fitness before the race, but I can certainly jeopardise my race day fitness by doing too much or the wrong thing. Hopefully I’ll get the balance right, it’s a heck of a long way and I don’t want to leave my best performance in the training log rather than on the roads of Zurich.

ITU Asian Long Course Champs - Korea

ITU Long Course Champs 2009 – Korea

I arrived in Korea on the Thursday before the race. I decided to do this race pretty late but thought it would be a great way to earn a little money and also test the new nutritional strategy I’d been working on with Chrissie. All expenses paid and some great prize money on offer meant that despite the distance and HUGE amount of travelling (both getting to Korea and also once there) it was a good race to do. Unfortunately a LOT of other TOP Pro’s had the same idea and the field was much stronger and deeper than most of us expected.

The course was largely uphill on the bike, with a split transition meaning the run was up at over 1400m altitude. Not a problem for me though, having spent the last few weeks training in Boulder. However, the drive of the course with all the other athletes had opened our eyes to a MUCH harder bike that we expected. The first 40k was flat with a small amount of ascension but the final 40km was almost completely up, up, up with no small amount of steep climbing in there. It was definitely going to be a long tough day at “the office”.

With all the travelling to and from various hotels and venues for the race organisers in the 2 days before the race, not much training had been done, so when race morning arrived I was feeling very fresh and ready to go.

A mass start, small beach run began proceedings for the 2lap 3km swim. After my disappointing (compared to training times) Florida and Blenheim swims, I was determined to remain relaxed this time and quickly found my rhythm in the wavy sea waters. I lead a small group (that I assumed was the 3rd pack) for the first lap and glancing at my watch as we exited the water for the small run before starting the 2nd lap, I was really pleased to see both that I was under 20mins for the 1500m and also that I was actually leading the 2nd pack! The new 2XU V1 suit was working a treat and had me cutting though the water nicely. The rest of the swim went well, other than avoiding the numerous Korean AG’ers who had started 2 minutes behind us, still on their 1st swim lap and were already hanging onto the swim buoys!!!

I was out of the water in under 40 minutes, just slightly ahead of my desired time, a great start. The announcer said I was almost 4 minutes down on the leader(s) however!!! WOW they must have been swimming quickly.

Onto my lovely Ceepo Venom and off to start the 80k bike; it was nice to know I didn’t have such a HUGE gap to bridge to the leaders like I’ve been used to. So I set about reeling in the next person up the road.

The bike course starts off worming through the small town, with GIANT dried sting-rays hanging in shop windows and happy locals all out clapping and cheering. Once onto the main roads, I settled down onto my TT bars and began progressing through the athletes in front.

I knew it could well be a long day in the saddle despite only being 80k long, it was such a tough bike course. So I kept repeating the mantra in my head “Ride with humility” whilst monitoring my cadence to ensure I didn’t drop much below my desired 85rpm. As I sped through the Korean countryside on the Ceepo, it was really funny to wave a the race helpers (generally school kids) at each intersection and see and hear their excited squealed giggles in reaction. Clearly the site of a westerner, wearing tight lycra and silly big pointed helmet was amusing to them… I’ve no idea why…?

By 40k the road began to go up the first major climb. But by now I had rider number 1 in my sites. Jimmy Johnsen from Denmark who is a regular podium and top 5 finisher in 70.3’s and IM’s. It was nice to catch up with him so soon into a race. This helped give me confidence that despite my speed at times feeling slow, sticking to my race plan of pacing and cadence wasn’t having too many detrimental effects on gaining time back on the leaders. A small pack of 4-5 guys was about 200m up the road, and Jimmy was sure this was the leaders. I was surprised with this as I felt sure I couldn’t have caught up 4 minutes on them ALL within 40km. Jimmy and I road together for the remainder of this first big climb, other when I dropped my chain and had to stop and put it back on again. But by the time we hit the top at about 55km, we’d all but caught the “leaders” up. As we passed the aid station at the 60km mark Jimmy fell off my wheel with some mechanical problems so I pushed on to catch the 3 guys I could now see up the road.

We started the final LONG and STEEP climb of the day at this point. I kept to my race plan and reeled them in slowly but steadily. By 70km I was along side Tim Marr and asked who else was “up the road”. He said Cam (Watt) was just 10-15s ahead, but that Kieran (Doe) was “out of sight”. That meant I was now in 3rd/4th place…. I was REALLY pleased with this news. Tim and I caught Cam up with about 5km to go as we neared the top of the climb. It was now VERY foggy up so high and we could barely see 50m ahead to the next corner. This also meant that I had NO idea when transition was looming. I took one foot out of my shoes a good minute before the fence around the Olympic Training centre where T2 was, suddenly appeared through the fog.

Now would be the time when I’d know if the pacing strategy I’d used would help make the legs feel better. It was also the time when I’d find out if the new approach to my nutrition that I worked on with Chrissie, would help me execute the type of run split that my training has indicated possible, but over the last couple of years has been evasive. As I threw on the Newton’s, Tim and Cam got the jump on me out of T2, as did Rasmus from Denmark, who’d ridden up to us just as we entered T2. They were only about 20,30 and 50m up the road respectively, but in the dense fog, I could barely make them out.

As I ran, I could feel a stitch doing its best to break out in my stomach/chest, so I decided to keep things really easy to begin with and wait for it to hopefully settle. My legs felt awesome, like I’d barely done the previous 80k on the bike, this was a GREAT SIGN. I waited patiently for the stomach cramp to go and kept the pace steady. Even with this though I could see I was catching both Cam and Tim; Rasmus had got off to a flier and was passing them both and running into second.

We descended down a short steep hill into the fog and the first turn at 1.1k. Back up and past T2 gave me a chance to see where the guys behind me were and I took time splits on the next 2-3 to check at the next turn to see if I was pulling away. Running up the hill eased the cramps and going back past T2 I past Cam and moved into 4th. Tim was now about 25m up the road as we hit the 2nd turn point at 3.3k. We headed back down towards and past T2 on this first mini-loop section of the run. By the time we hit the 1st turn again at 5.5k I was running shoulder to shoulder with Tim. My legs still felt fantastic and the 2XU calf guards I was wearing (and had been throughout the bike leg too) were clearly doing their job perfectly and keeping my lower legs feeling fresh. We climbed back up to pass T2 and I increased the pace a little to try and drop Tim. It worked, and I was now in 3rd place. I was pleased to still just about be able to see Rasmus up the road through the fog too. With the stitch now gone I was ready to increase the pace and catch him. Kieran, I’d seen was over 2km ahead and unless he blew, too far to be caught. But by the time I hit the 2nd turn point at the end of the mini-loop section at the 6.6km I was within touching distance of Rasmus. We ran past the turn onto the next part of the run, which would be largely off-road finishing at the luxury High 1 Hotel.

I decided to really let go as we headed down the road towards the 10km mark where the road turned into trail, and see if I could pass and drop Rasmus. I passed him just as we headed up a small incline and onto the trail. The run course profile showed it as being slightly downhill from start to finish and not too undulating with it. With my legs still feeling good and the Newton’s springing me off even this rough, rocky trail, I opened up on another down hill in an attempt to put some distance between me and Rasmus and secure 2nd place. At times, the trail was more like an X-terra run course and it just kept going down and down. At about 12km I turned to see If Rasmus was still with me and was a bit disappointed to see him little more than 30m back. I continued on, or should that be down, as the trail now getting muddy in the foggy drizzle wound through the woods. I was half expecting my old implosion problems to rear up but there was no real sign and my pace and legs still felt good. Suddenly the trail stopped going down and as I rounded a corner I could see through the fog that in front of me was a BIG and STEEP hill. The path appeared to wind all the way up it… but the course profile didn’t show anything like this…we wouldn’t be going up there surely!!! Sadly though, we were. Naturally my pace went from 6th gear to 2nd in a few strides and I began the long slow climb.

I had to keep reminding myself that despite feeling like I was barely even running, everyone else would have to get up this hill and I told myself that they would slow down even more than me – no need to panic!!! I continued up and up, trying to dispel the thoughts in my head about what I’d expected from the run course. At about 14k I took a gel just to be safe, but this has also in recent races coincided with a dip in energy and run performance. It would be part experiment to take it now. Sadly within about 2minutes, my energy levels began to drop and my paced slowed even more. Rasmus was breathing down my neck now and as we past 16km and up another incline, he passed and put about 20m into me. The camera crew on the motorbike that had been following us the whole way, was to-and-fro’ing between us as I slowed more finding it harder to keep the legs turning over. I focussed hard though, determined not to let the gap grow too much.

Finally I began to feel better by about 18km as we broke out of the woods and could just see the hotel in the distance through the Fog. A steep down hill and then very steep (17%) run up hill to the finish was all that was left…. All that was left. Rasmus was only 30-40 meters in front but I just couldn’t catch him. I looked around and saw no one in sight behind me and just focussed on getting up the final killer climb to the finish shoot.

I crossed the line in 4h30, just 30s behind Rasmus, but nearly 8 behind Kieran who’d destroyed the swim and bike course almost completely on his own. I was delighted it was over, but more so to have come 3rd and especially to have felt the running legs return again in a race. Hopefully it bodes well for my forthcoming IM and executing a race there that I believe I can and mixing things up a little.

Thanks to my sponsors 2XU, Ceepo, Newton, High5, Total Fitness Music and Sigma Sport for all their help and support.

Staring at the jigsaw puzzle too long…?

Well I’m back in the UK now having completed my near 7 weeks training in Boulder. I’m really happy to be back home, its great to see family and friends but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be back in Boulder. If you’ve read any of my post whilst I’ve been away you’ll be more than aware of all the reasons why. Needless to say, it’s now time to put “pedal to the metal” so to speak and start the real reason for why I went to Boulder in the first place – RACING!

My race schedule is somewhat undecided right now as so much depends upon the two main goals for the first part of the year - The ITU Long Distance Champs in Korea and then IM Japan. There are two priorities from these two races; Money and a slot at Kona (the world champs in October).

I raced last month at 70.3 Florida and had something of a mixed race. The result was disappointing, more so the implosion I once again experienced having ridden and run myself into the top 10. But there were still positives to found and the important thing is to take them and transfer them across to the problems I suffered in order to correct them!

Shortly before heading home I spent some time with my good friend Chrissie Wellington (www.chrissiewellington.org). It’s nice when you have friends like that to help you out (she’s the current 3 times Ironman and Long Course Triathlon World Champ and arguably the best female triathlete around right now). We chatted about what I felt had gone wrong in Florida and how I’d planned and executed the race. A bit like a person who’s been studying a jigsaw puzzle for too long, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees; thankfully Chrissie straight away pin-pointed where I was going wrong (at least one of the areas anyway ha ha). With all the problems I’d suffered last year and the year before with chronic fatigue, failing to even finish races and not being able to train more than 90mins a day I’d messed about so much with my race nutrition that I was eating nearly TWICE as much as I needed. When the intensity of a race is as high as it is, the temperature as hot and humid as in Florida this was always going to be a problem. But from where I was seeing it, I was running out of ‘puff’ and therefore needed MORE not LESS! But I couldn’t see things clearly, it was a problem I’d been looking at intensely for too long and therefore it all blurred into one big baffling mess.

But now Chrissie was helping me see with regained clarity and suddenly things were coming back into view. I used to be a real student of the sport, of the methods others used; the advice of the best people out there. I’d spend hours trawling the net for a little hint of a secret from one of the world greats – a session structure, training protocol, nutritional advice; I was desperate to get any tips and advantage I could. More recently I’d stopped doing this largely I think because I’d got so bogged down in worry about trying to fix things. I couldn’t see the easily fitting pieces of the puzzle that were right in front of my face.

I really hope that this has resolved the biggest issues I’ve had most recently in races. I’m tiring of doing races and KNOWING I’m underperforming in big way. There is only so long though that I can keep having the same kind of things happen. And yet I will continue to press on, not because I feel I should in some blind foolishness, but because I genuinely have faith that what I’m doing is the right thing, pursuing “this” is right, and a big part of my life as a Christian too. Sometimes faith in this is all I’ve got, but I’m happy it’s all I need.

The run, which used to be my biggest strength, has become something of an uncertainty, and I don’t feel like I’ve had a good run in a race for nearly 2 years….maybe more?! The way training has gone indicates that I can run way faster then I’m doing in a race. I don’t seam to be able to get anywhere close to a run splits I managed back in late 2006. With all the extra training I’m doing, I should be running FASTER not slower. When I do, I know, I’m convinced I can achieve the results I believe I can and actually make this whole thing work. Having taken Chrissie’s advice, I’ve tested it in race simulation days during training and it points to really good things. I just hope that for a change I can transfer these training performances into race results and soon!

Korea will tell me a lot and be a great indicator for the upcoming Iron Man. There’s no way I want to be getting off the bike in an IM, having just ridden 112 miles, and be wondering if my legs will show up or disappear completely like they have been over the last few months and years. It would be really nice for them to come back so we can start making a proper go of this triathlon malarkey!!!

Florida 70.3 Race Report

Florida 70.3 Race report

Well the first race of the year is done and dusted and is always the case, there’s plenty to mull over. Good and bad, questions answered and some still left open, but here’s how it went for me.

I got to Florida on the Thursday; flying in from Boulder (Denver) where we’d had a couple of warm (mid 70’s) days, but mainly pretty mixed and mild. So the first thing that hit me was the humidity. The weather was in the mid 80’s and the humidity was up to 90% making it feel even hotter. I was staying with Dion Harrison for a night in a Holiday Inn Express, before moving on the Friday to another place arranged by his friend, Mikkel Bondesen from Denmark/L.A.

We’d totally landed on our feet, with the place we ended up in looking more like an “MTV crib’s” apartment than the type of place I stay in when travelling to a race (fully fitted kitchens and MASSIVE flat screen TV’s aren’t what I’ve grown accustomed to at races). Mikkel is a great guy and super enthusiastic about doing Florida for the second time and hoping to qualify for Clearwater in the 30-35 age group. So we all passed the last couple of days hanging out and doing a little swimming together. My prep sessions went well and I didn’t feel any adverse effects from the heat on the bike or the run, even when doing my hard efforts. I felt really positive about Sunday and was looking forward to reaping the rewards of the last 3 weeks training at altitude in Boulder.

Sunday rolled around and with great efficiency everything at the race site went to plan. Hats off to the organisers who run this race and to Disney who open up part of their site and close off some major roads for the bike course. So at 6:20am 2,500 athletes and countless more supporters all lined the beach area of the lake for the American national anthem before the Elite men got under way for the non-wetsuit swim.

My swimming has been going well recently and I was looking forward to seeing how it transferred to a race performance despite it being a non-wetsuit swim. Nearly 40 Pro men meant it was going to be pretty frenetic for the first few hundred meters, but also plenty of feet for me to follow. This I managed to do fairly quickly which is a first for me. I felt I was holding the water pretty well and the effort, though a little below what I should be working at, felt good and I was happy to stay behind my man in front. The water was pretty warm, even without the wet suit, but I definitely noticed the benefit of the altitude as my breathing was really under control. The new, somewhat ugly stroke (that has taken many poor pool sharers out in recent masters sessions in Boulder) was working well too. As we turned around the first buoy at the 800m mark, although I new I’d missed the lead group and (possibly) the second pack too, I saw Dion to my right and so knew that I was swimming better than I have in the past (Dion has always been faster than me and is a 24min 1.9k swimmer). I continued to stay on the feet in front all the way until about 150m to go when I drifted slightly to my left and lost him for long enough to not be able to get back on his tail.

We exited the water in just over 28 minutes, not fast, but for me, without a wetsuit a good start, and seeing Dion to my right meant that the swim must have been either very slow generally or a tad long. Either way, it was a good start for me.

I had no idea how far behind the next group I was (as it turns out I came out in the 3rd pack, about 90seconds down on 2nd pack and 3mins down on the leaders) but set off on my new Ceepo Viper for the first 12miles of the bike course on the closed roads of the Disney resort course.

The Ceepo has been noticeably stiff and fast as I’ve got used to it on the Boulder roads and it felt great as I road down the smooth flat roads towards the first turn around. I timed the gap to the lead 3 of Luke Bell, Bryan Rodes and (eventual winner) Dirk Bockel with the next slightly spread out group about 1min50 in front of me. I saw Fraser Cartmell at the front of them all and was pleasantly pleased to only be this far back so soon after the swim. I figured I’d be able to catch them by mile 15 and just set my sights on the 3-4 guys I could see closer up the road.

The bike course in Florida has 3 out-and-back turn-around’s where you get a good chance to measure the gap to those in front of you. By the second, I timed the gap to the now sizeable, but legal (I should stress) group that had now formed. The 3 leaders were just under 3 minutes ahead but I’d only put 20seconds into the chase group. Still I thought that over the rolling roads of the next 20 miles, I’d be able to catch them before we hit the largely flat final 12-15 miles that today would be into a head wind. I was now stuck well and truly on my own having caught and passed about 5 guys. Sadly I just didn’t seam to be able to gain any more time on the large group and the final turn-around showed I was still 90 seconds behind. That was the last I saw of them and I ended riding the entire bike leg on my own. I felt OK and the legs were fine. I took on as much High5 Energy+ drink and gels as I could with some salt tabs in there for the added electrolytes. The heat and humidity didn’t feel too bad, but every time I looked down at my body it was literally dripping all over. I went through nearly 2 litres on the bike, but guess I still probably lost nearly 3kg’s in sweat at the same time – not good numbers for a good run.

I made one slight mistake towards the end of the bike though. With the fairly complex final few miles back in the Disney Land grounds, it had been impossible to drive this section the day before, mainly due to the complete absence of anything that resembled a decent road name or sign post on the roads. I had no real idea of how long I had to go until I needed to get ready to dismount. It’s always good to try to get the legs a little loose at the end of the bike as well as getting your feet / shoes ready to dismount. I ended up riding for about 5 minutes with my feet out of one shoe, expecting to see T2 around every bend. Mental note for next year!!!

Once into T2, I quickly put on the new Newton racers and was out running through the pretty large crowd before I you could say “did someone put another log on the fire???”. Onto the footpath that starts the first part of the 3 loop course and a spectator/coach called out I was 40seconds down on the next guy. Once again there were out and back sections to the run which served really well to show how close you were to everyone else. I got another time check from Heather Furr that the leaders were 6mins ‘up the road’. Those 3 guys were well out of reach, but I could see 4th-10th was well within my grasp spread out from 1-3minutes. I made a conscious effort to hold back as I ran, but still clocked my first 2 miles at 5:40ish pace. Faster than I wanted to be running, but I really felt like I was keeping the brakes on.

I gradually caught and passed some of the guys in front and could see that I was moving away from those who’d entered T2 behind me too. The run course is about 50% road 50% grass. It isn’t too bad though and after all is the same for everyone, so is no excuse for anything. I was enjoying the run in the first loop and by the mid point of the second, about 10k into the run I’d moved up into about 6th place…. And then suddenly all those thoughts of “its not too hot actually, this is OK” evaporated and were replaced by “who’s turned the thermostat up?!” It really hit me that suddenly and my pace began to falter and slow considerably. But, I thought, ‘it’s the same for everyone else, just keep moving forwards’. I finished the 2nd lap much slower than the first (nearly 3minutes slower) but still felt that if I could keep this pace, I’d hang on to a top 8 finish and some prize money. But by the first turn of the last lap, it was clear that that wasn’t going to happen. Guys I’d passed and pulled away from were quickly catching me and I was soon passed by 3-4 of them in quick succession. I just tried to stay focussed on moving forward, you just never know what might happen around you so I concentrated on things I could control like putting one foot in front of the other.

By this time the run course had close to 2000 of the total 2500 athletes on the course and was becoming crowded. It was increasingly difficult to tell who was who so as I ran down the last out and back section and cramp kicked into my right quad muscle, I had no idea how many or who had passed me by. All I knew was that stretching my quad made my hamstring cramp, but then stretching that made my quad go again…. The ministry of funny walks then began as I tried to get moving, whilst stretching the front and back of my leg at the same time. Eventually it seamed to ease and with only about 3 miles left I set off to finish as quickly as I could. The money was now well and truly gone, as was a top 10, but it’s still important to give everything to the line – I’d at least get more from the race physically doing this and hopefully grown stronger mentally if not physically.

The final corner and finish shoot seamed to take an eternity to come. but eventually I completed my last lap, some 6 minutes slower than my first and I found myself sat down in the recovery area dousing myself in cold ice and water. I’d crossed the line in 16th, but disappointingly nearly 16minutes back on the winner; Too big a gap for my liking. My whole body was on fire and tingling, my face and lips were tingling too and a rather concerned looking medical helper took me off to medical. Thankfully there was no need for an IV this time, but it took me about an hour to properly cool down enough to step out from under the wonderful cold towel and stop drinking Gatorade like my life depended on it.

Though the race itself for me didn’t go according to plan, there were still some positives to take from it. Not least sharing in my friend Dions debut as a Pro and seeing Mikkel cross the line looking strong and taking nearly 15 minutes off of his time from last year – an awesome achievement!!!

I’ll be back next year I think, with a little more acclimatization under my belt and another minute off my swim time, ready to mix it up at the front, instead of getting mixed up myself!!!

Doubt

Firstly I guess I should follow up on my last post concerning the swimming which wasn’t going so well at the time. Well thankfully almost the next day I think it was, things clicked back into place in the pool. I started to re-focus back on what I had been doing for the previous few months – both in terms of session structure and actual swim technique. Whilst it wasn’t an instant return to form and speed in the water, it did pretty quickly ‘feel’ better and more like it used to. The Friday swims weren’t fantastic in terms of the times I was hitting, but they were better and mentally it felt good and I knew that the feel for my swimming was returning. Within a couple of days I was back hitting the times I should be and starting to improve on them as I’d hope to. As I write this entry into my blog, my confidence in the water has returned and I’m enjoying getting wet once again. Its so much easier to face 7.5k (300 lengths) in the pool, as I did yesterday, when I can tell its making me stronger and faster, and I’m not feeling like I’m fighting it all the way. Yesterday I did a session with Julie Dibens, Mary-Beth, Rinnie (Marinda Caffrea) and Joe (Gambles) – Most of whom are either current or former World or European Champs of some kind. We swam a set that I’d NEVER have been able to do before and the times I was managing to hit were HUGE PB’s for me. It nearly killed me and the ride in the afternoon was tough due to this, but it was well worth it and another example of why training here in Boulder is so great. To be pushed by this calibre of athlete (i.e. the worlds best) is impossible to over-value. Hopefully I’ll remember this last couple of weeks next time I feel a plateaux in my training and need to be patient again 

But back to this post then…. though in some ways still following on from the pool work.

Here's a little picky from a ride the other day. Gorgeous, but hazy day... those mountains in the distace are HUGE. We rode up over 8000ft on saturday. the air up there is REALLY thin and i was breathing SO hard just trying to get to the top of one of the climbs


When you’re training day in, day out and your livelihood depends upon how well you do, how fast you are, how far you can go – when the clock, times, splits, distances, speeds etc all become your “monthly review”, if you let it, it can leave you in good places or bad places. Mentally I mean, at least.

Because getting faster, fitter, stronger, lighter are all targets and the clock, the power meter, the scales DON’T lie, you can easily be faced day in day out with feedback that tells you exactly where you’re at. Many triathletes and I’m sure other athletes too, can get bogged down in this and let it really get to them. I’m sure people in various other types of jobs feel this pressure too – a teacher with SATS results for example. Recently I’ve had both ends of the stick but have noticed how I (people in general?) respond to the different ends of the spectrum. I touched on the negative a little last time, but on the positive I’ve noticed that actually, instead of receiving good results for what they are and tell me, I can be prone to doubting… even when it’s something as solid and unquestionable as a time. Swimmers will all tell you “the clock doesn’t lie”…. So why if it tells us something good, do we then doubt its ‘honesty’?

For example, I sometimes ride using power as a gauge for my performance in training. It’s measured in Watts and just like the clock, doesn’t lie. One second is the same as the next, and one watt is the same as another one. On Sunday I did a certain ride, with a particular goal in mind for the ride of the number of watts I wanted to produce. I did this, felt good and happily held the wattage I wanted to – both an improvement on last year and also a BIG difference to when I first arrived at altitude. Instead of trusting the results, I found myself questioning its truth. That’s kind of like looking at a clock and questioning if one minute was slightly slower that the one before. On Monday I did a run, again with a certain target speed in mind. I ran it, timed it and thanks to GoogleMaps measured the distance. When I worked out the pace and it was exactly as fast as I wanted it to be…. I still doubted that I had actually done it. Even in the pool, where things have been going great, I still constantly want to prove to myself that I CAN swim a certain time per 100m because as soon as I do actually DO it, I still doubt that it was real and question that I can do it again.

It’s an obsession that I guess drives me on to keep trying to prove to myself how things are going, if I’m improving etc. Not a bad thing on the face of it, but I think it’s important to celebrate and receive them (at least internally) when goals and targets ARE actually reached, instead of belittling them and casting doubt over them. Otherwise this can prevent confidence from growing, which is really important.

Faith plays a massive part in my life and who I am; and faith and doubt don’t sit well together. There’s a great verse in the Bible in Hebrews where it says “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.” I think this is so important to remember when we do actually achieve something we’ve hoped for (and often worked HARD for and believed will happen). When we allow this to happen, it grows faith and shrinks doubt and this allows us to hope for, work towards and ultimately achieve even greater things.

What I feed will grow, so I’ve been trying to feed the confidence in recent results so that it will grow instead of the doubt.

Patience

Things in the last week have taken a turn for the better in some regards and for the worse in others. First the good…

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the altitude has really taken some getting used to in a number of ways. Recovery, volume, intensity have all had to be adjusted in my training as my body adapts to the reduced O2 up here. But last week, actually the Sunday before last, for the first time I noticed whilst riding back from the track, that I was able to apply some proper(-ish) power to the peddles whilst going over a small climb. Gradually as the week has progressed I’ve been able to work at something like the normal effort I would expect to in harder sessions. Up until now, I’ve simply not even been able to push that hard, my lungs were working overtime well before my arms or legs were able to. A good solid 1 hour run on Tuesday has been built on through the week by some good sessions on the bike (turbo sadly some days due to the STILL mixed weather) and again more good running sessions. This included a velocity at VO2 (almost “all out max” effort) run which I managed on LESS rest that I had been doing so back home – a good sign! Unfortunately I slipped up with some food somewhere along the way and ate something with mustard (which includes barely vinegar a.k.a. evil Gluten) in it and struggled through a couple of days. Being reminded of the same feelings of both mental and physical fatigue of last year wasn’t good. It is just SO draining when this happens and I have to just get as much done as I can. But a couple of easier days and by the weekend I was back feeling good again. I managed a really tough 3 hour turbo session on Saturday followed by some swimming and then on Sunday completed one of my favourite (when its finished at least) sessions, which is a threshold (race pace) brick (run/bike) session.

It was really good to feel back to normal again. It’s taken roughly 3 weeks to get to this place though, but with 3 weeks remaining here, I’m hopeful that there’s plenty of time to increase the impact of training at this level. 3 weeks seams like nothing as I sit here now feeling better, but it was sometimes hard to be patient in this relatively short period. I’m glad I was though as hopefully now the foundations are there, I can build upon it over the next 21 days.

On top of this I went to a long to a new church on Sunday called Vine Life (www.vinelife.com) it was GREAT to find somewhere to go that felt instantly comfortable. But more importantly for me, just good to be back in church and with God.

To the bad then…

Swimming has LONG been something of a nemesis for me in triathlon. But recently in the past few months I’ve at long last made some serious progress with it. This is largely thanks to some slightly un-orthodox technical and training help late last year. However, for various reasons, in the last few days, this seams to have evaporated and I feel like I’m back to square one again. And so right now I have to be patient, and keep telling myself not to doubt too much. “It” is there somewhere… and “it” will come back if I just keep doing the same/right things, consistently. This is the time where patience is hard to have… tomorrow has 3 swims on the plan for me. When things are going well in the water, this kind of day is almost enjoyable, but I know that tomorrow it will be mentally quite hard to make myself do it. But in order for the patience that I need to show, to not be in vain, I MUST do it. Hopefully by my next post I’ll have some good news on the fruits of this round of growth in patience. It’s a journey after all so I’ve got to keep pressing on ‘down the road’.

But to finish on a good note…. I was introduced to “Whole Foods”. A store here in Boulder packed full or organic, healthy foods. It’s got an amazing area where they make things like sushi, sandwiches, burrito’s etc… everything you can think of to eat. And it’s ALL organic and pretty much healthy AND they do things gluten free too!!! So my new favourite sandwich is the ‘Boulderite’ on gluten free bread – basically a REALLY good BLT with added avocado, turkey and cheese!!! Hits the spot PERFECTLY.

Humility

First a couple of photo’s.


This is the pool at FlatIron where I’m training. 2 days earlier I’d been out in mid 70’s loving the sun. On this day we had about 12-15inc of snow and the air temp was about zero. I had to laugh as we swam and the coach stood on the pool deck dressed like an Eskimo.

The first two don’t do justice to the views I see each day as I train, but hopefully give you a little taste. The mountains are pretty imposing and loom on the horizon all the time… I cant wait to get up there once the snow melts!

SO to main theme of this post…..

Being here in Boulder is a lesson a day in so many ways. But in the last couple of days I’ve been made really aware of one particular lesson I can try to learn…..

As a Christian, one of the things I really try to focus on, pray about (and for) daily, and know is a real key to growing as a Christian, is Humility. In the bible God says that without it, you miss out on wisdom and can’t grow closer to God – so it’s clearly something that’s important to me. But when the opportunity comes… it actually takes it, to receive it…. If you know what I mean.

So how does this all relate to my first week here in Boulder? Well in 2 major ways:

1. The altitude here in Boulder is nearly 6000ft (2000m) which means the air is pretty thin. This has a HUGE effect on you in a number of ways. When training you just can’t go as fast, as hard or as long as normal. The reduced O2 means your body can’t produce as much energy in your body and your muscles therefore can’t work as hard. So when out training and riding with people, I’ve been forced to accept that I just cant climb a mountain as quick as I could… or more importantly as the other people on the ride. Granted, I’m riding with some of the best athletes in the world (current and former world champs, Olympians etc), but it’s still tough to ask your body to do something you expect it to…. And have it reply with a firm NO WAY!!! I’ve had to accept that I can’t go as fast as I expect to just yet and that others will be dropping me pretty easily. The altitude also means that I can’t DO as much as I’d normally do and recovery is WAY more important too. Sleeping, eating and hydrating become a real focus. But also realising that until I adapt to the altitude, I need to NOT push as hard or as much as I normally would. I might want to do the extra session, or even feel like I could, but deep down I know that I cant beat the altitude… or should that be “cheat” the altitude. I have to accept that it’s bigger and more powerful than me and I’ve just got to go with it for the ride as I adjust to the lack of O2.

2. The second way I’ve been “humbled” this week, is by people. Boulder is a “hub” of world class athletes and this is one of the reasons I’ve come here. It struck me this morning in the pool as I was hanging on for dear life to the times for our main set. I was swimming in a lane with a world champ and 2 time Olympian, in the lane next to me was one current and 3 time world champ, and one 4 time world champ and Olympian… and there’s me…. VERY cool I’m thinking…. In between desperate gasps for breath as I take all of 2 seconds rest at the end of the current 100yrd interval. I can’t help but be humbled that I even get to train with these people, of just how good they are, and that they let me train with them.

But as I said at the start, humility something that’s pretty key to my faith. The opportunity to hopefully grow in it is a good one. I have to accept that right now, confronted by my current surroundings, I don’t have much choice. Altitude doesn’t care for pride and world champions certainly don’t either. I only hope I can use the opportunity to its fullest.

Focus

As I write this next Blog, I’m sat in a Julie and Mike Dibens house… in Boulder Colorado USE. I’ve just finished a nice 3 and a half hour ride with Chrissie, her coach and all-time-great triathlete Simon Lessing and numerous other top class athletes. We road on perfect roads, through what looks like “Little House On the Prairie” scenery and it was 70+ degrees… yes, it was a VERY enjoyable ride.

And it’s exactly this kind of thing that is why I’ve decided to head over here for 6 and a half weeks. The location at 2,500m above sea level, is tough at first, with breathing and pushing anything harder than steady not possible just yet; but I know that over the next few weeks I’ll adapt and come back stronger when I “come Down” to sea level to race. Boulder is FULL of other triathletes, swimmers, cyclist and runners of world class pedigree so there’s never a shortage of great training partners. And the location is amazing with great roads, flat, rolling or mountains (should you wish to go up any further and deprive your body of even MORE O2!) I’m really excited about what the next few weeks will bring in terms of training and improvements in me as an athlete.

It also allows me to continue what I mentioned in my last blog about being successful in what’s necessary. Being away from home isn’t great that’s for sure – I miss my girlfriend, family and friends; but being able to solely focus on the work at hand (and not find excuses or get caught up in “other stuff” that means I don’t end up doing a “full days work”) is really important for me. This focus comes more easily to some than others. For me, I find that, just like chocolate, I need to remove the temptation or not put myself in a position where I can be tempted – either to eat the chocolate… or miss that nasty session that needs to be done, but is easily skipped in favour of “other stuff”. So whilst to many, it might sound cool and exciting to travel to Colorado, the reality of it can be far from ‘cool’. The next 6.5 weeks are purely and simply about getting down to the business of training, eating and sleeping… and not a lot else really.

It’s also much easier to train and train HARD around other people who are in the same position as you. And especially understand what you mean when you say that you’re “smoked”. Being able to simply go home and sleep when this is the case, and not have other “stuff” pulling you away from the importance of recovery and rest is a vital part of it all. I read a quote recently from Mark Cavendish (the best road cyclist sprinter in the world right now) that I think really sums it up well (to para-phrase it and remove some of the colourful language)

“'People ask you to come here and there and I say, "I can't." And they say, "Yeah, I realise you're tired, I realise you just want a bit of peace and quiet." And it's like, no… I… Am… smoked!!!. I'm totally, utterly exhausted. My body is eating itself because I'm so tired.”

When you look at the best there is out there, in both sport, business, life generally… they all have a real focus on doing what is required to succeed. I’m looking forward to exercising this focus over the next few weeks and just glad that people here don’t mind when I can barely say more that ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked an open question and know that you just cant do normal stuff a lot of the time.

Back in the swing of things

Since my last post at the end of my season last year (September) I’ve been a pretty busy chappy – hence the lack of anything resembling an update to my website or blog. I went back to work for a few months in order to work on the finances a bit having earned very little money from the season and survived on some generous help and support of friends and family. But its important that if I’m going to do this (call myself a Profession triathlete) then I must in fact be successful enough to justify that title and so earn a living from the sport. I hope that with all of last years problems behind me and resolved, I can do just this.

My time back at work was an interesting one and for the later part, pretty brutal on me. The global downturn in pretty much anything, meant that working at the London Stock Exchange was at times, a pretty heavy place to be. I was blessed to have got the contract to work back there again and so I worked my butt off to make sure I kept my job and the additional pressures of the project meant that at times I was back to where I was 2 years ago when 30 hours in a day wouldn’t have been enough to get everything done. My focus was to get to the end of the project successfully and with something resembling a base fitness level. From this I hoped I could return to full time training and spring forward, rather than hit the end of February (when I left the contract) and pretty much have to start my training from scratch. This would have meant my season was about 2-3 months behind schedule and been hugely frustrating. Thankfully I just about managed it and by ensuring that what training I DID do, was maximum “bang for the buck” I found myself in far better shape than I’d hoped.

Introducing some of the key sessions from Brett Sutton last year, meant that my cycling was entirely done on the turbo with a lot of strength work (big gear) and never anything more than 2 hours at one time. A few 2 x 2 hours ride days meant that I was still actually getting some good volume in (especially if you agree with me that riding for 60 minutes on a stationary trainer is about as good as 90 minutes on the road).

So when the start of March rolled around and I left “work” in the city for “work” in lycra, I was able to begin with a real optimism about the season. I’ve begun to settle into my new schedule nicely and am really enjoying the sessions as they tick by. Its interesting for me though as I think back to this time last year when I was (un-be-known to me then) struggling with food allergies and couldn’t even manage 2 hours training a day without needing to sleep for the next 15 hours. Part of me still expects the fatigue to kick in 20minutes into a ride with me struggling to last much longer. I’m delighted to report though that it’s not that way at all now and I’m quite happily ticking off the sessions at the moment and this is the key I think. Being able to consistently complete the training day after day is really showing and I can see and feel the strength and fitness improving over time. I recently heard a great Winston Churchill quote that said “It’s not simply good enough to do ones best, we much succeed in doing what is required”. This is the target for me, to know what is required and to succeed, day after day, at doing it. With nearly 3 months to go before my A race of Iron Man Japan (June 20th) I’m really excited about where I’ll be come the start line of my first Iron Man.