28^th International Volcano Triathlon, Lanzarote – 28^th April 2012

On the 19^th April 2012 I embarked upon a ten day training block in Lanzarote.  Lots of wind, lots of miles and lots of fun. For those that don’t know Lanzarote the weather can be varied, but the one thing you are pretty much guaranteed is wind.  The other thing you are guaranteed is hills.  Over the ten days we didn’t see as much sun as I would have liked, but there were wind and hills aplenty.

The end of my ten day training block coincided with the 28^th edition of the International Volcano Triathlon in Lanzarote, so it seemed logical to use the race as a hard training day.

During the ten days prior to the race I clocked up a fair few swim/bike/run miles but also participated in a bike TT over 20km.  I managed to win the (women’s) bike TT, which fell half way through the week and straight after a tough run session, so that gave me a bit of confidence that although I may feel tired, there is often something left in the tank.  That said, I was a little nervous about how well I could ‘race’.

As race day dawned and my alarm sounded, heralding my first tri of the season, I thought ‘if only I had a couple more days to rest and prepare’…. But I guess we all feel a bit like this, whatever the deadline.  I didn’t know my competitors are there was a mix of nationalities, amateurs and pros.  Some people were staying on the island preparing for other races, some were local residents and others flew in for the race.  Additionally, I have only raced two Olympic Distance races previously, so the distance is a little different to normal for me.

As I was staying at the race venue I had a leisurely morning, racking my Quintana Roo CD0.1 and then getting into my QR wetsuit for a relatively late 10am start.  The lagoon felt cold but relative to open water swimming in the UK right now, it was almost tropical!  The gun sounded and the nerves were forgotten, the race was underway.

I didn’t swim as well as I would have liked and foolishly didn’t cut out part of the swim by running down the shallow sand area which I later discovered half the women’s field had done.  But I came out of the water ready to attack the bike course. The bike course consists of a single loop and several long hills.  Admittedly none of the hills are steep but the wind really takes its toll on long drags.  I rode hard, posting the second fastest women’s bike split of the day (thank you QR!), despite the protests from my legs!  It was hard to know my position in the field so I just set about overtaking as many people as I could.  Unfortunately there was a certain amount of drafting which is always disappointing, especially when it means that your biking advantage is diminished.

40km passes quickly when you are used to racing middle distance and I was soon back into T2.  Scanning the bikes in T2 I knew there were some women ahead of me and set about making up any time I could.  The run course was three laps and again was undulating.  The temperature had risen by this time of day but the crowds around T2 and the La Santa Stadium provided great encouragement to dig just a little deeper.

The run finished in the stadium and couldn’t come soon enough.  My legs were very tired.  I managed to race into sixth place despite the heavy training load.  I achieved what I set out to do, which was to train hard for ten days, finishing with a hard race session, so I am pleased with that.  The race provided me with the opportunity to test out my ‘racing legs’ and identify areas where I need to focus over the coming weeks and months.

The evening awards ceremony was a special event, starting out with the Club La Santa Song!  There was much merriment and some special awards as well as the overall and the age group winner’s prizes.  Rasmus Petraeus of Denmark won the men’s race and Luisa Keller of Germany won the women’s race.

Now I’m ‘recovering hard’ ready for the next race, I can’t wait!

I wrote previously about my experience of the Team Timex Multisport annual camp, which took place in February 2012 at the New York Giants Performance Centre, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

I mentioned that the Timex athletes were fortunate to be offered the opportunity to work with the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), from the University of Connecticut (http://ksi.uconn.edu/).  The Korey Stringer Institute is a research institute, established in 2010 by the widow of Korey Stringer.  Korey Stringer was a Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman, who sadly died in 2001, from Exertional Heat Stroke. The Institute was set up by Korey’s wife, Kelci Stringer, with the help of Professor Doug Casa, with the aim of ‘minimizing sudden death in sport for any reason, beginning with Exertional Heat Stroke’. (See http://ksi.uconn.edu/ for further explanation on Exertional Heat Stroke).

As part of the ongoing research undertaken by KSI, they tested the affects of heat and exertion upon athletes at the 2011 World Ironman Championships, in Hawaii.  Some of the measures used (in brief) were sweat rate/core body temperature/sweat electrolyte content/hormone and protein analysis.  These measures have been used to build a picture of how athlete’s bodies react to exertion in hot temperatures.  The findings of the results, as suggested, will be used to prevent deaths amongst athletes participating in sport.

Back to camp in New Jersey, KSI and Timex teamed up to provide athletes with valuable information for racing and training, and to provide further data for the clever guys at KSI to use for their research.

Professor Doug Casa and his team explained the protocol to us. Simple!  Pee in a jar for 24 hours, write down everything you eat and drink and then participate in the heat exertion element of the test.  Sounds fine!  But then when you are moving from building to building, meeting new people, training, going to cocktail parties and generally going about your business, carrying a jug to pee in everywhere you go can become a little more involved….

When we pitched up at the Metlife Staduim for the party, clutching bottles of urine, no-one turned a hair.  Athletes do strange things!  We duly left the aforementioned pots in the toilet areas and carried on with the evening.  It was a close call when one athlete came back to find the cleaner about to either clean the floor with or dispose of the contents of the pot!

Aside from recording our intake and capturing our urine, we also had to swallow a thermometer.  Fortunately the thermometer was only the size of a large vitamin pill, and even more fortunately, we didn’t have to give the thermometer back once the experiment was over (yes, someone did ask that question).  Swallowing the thermometer facilitated accurate core temperature analysis, using a hand held monitor during the heat exertion test itself.

The testing was carefully controlled.  Pre-test we handed our kit to the KSI team, who took the kit and washed it to rid it of any traces of sweat from previous wearing and any other contaminants such as washing powders.  Immediately prior to our exertion test we were handed back our kit.  We were weighed and skinfold measurements taken.  Our resting heart rate was taken and we gave one further urine sample.

During the test we chose to either ride or run.  We were instructed to proceed at race pace, but all of the normal pace and exertion indicators were hidden from us (speed, distance, time, heart rate etc.) and we were not told how long the test would last.  Race pace for an unknown time is hard to gauge and I think I went out too hard given my lack of adaptation to the heat.

The exertion test took place in a chamber heated to 35C.  For me, this felt fairly warm given that the previous weekend it was around minus 10C in London!  During the test we were asked to use the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion, a 15 point scale (6-20).  We used this to rate our level of effort, fatigue, and our perception of body temperature.  We were also asked to give an estimate of our heart rate.  These indicators were regularly monitored throughout the test.

We were permitted to drink freely during the test, our water bottles were weighed before and after the exercise in order to determine the amount of fluid taken in.  We were also encouraged to towel off any sweat, as this should be removed before the final weigh-in (as this was ‘lost’ fluid).

Once the exercise element of the test was completed, we were asked to provide a further urine sample and were re-weighed to determine weight loss through fluids.  We then proceeded to be washed down by two assistants!  This might sound nice to some, but I can assure you the cold water was not so nice and the wash down took place fully (lycra) clothed, in the training room!

KSI collected the water from our wash downs and took back our clothes, both for further analysis of electrolytes lost.

You may be wondering what the results of the testing showed.  For me, I found that I sweat heavily (at least when unconditioned to the heat).  I lose 1.9 litres of fluid per hour and 1.52g per litre of sodium.   For me, this will be very useful information for training and racing in hot temperatures.  This sort of testing is of particular relevance to athletes competing in World Championships in Kona or Las Vegas where temperatures are often close to the testing environment we used.

Below are some findings from the KSI research that I found particularly useful:

• It takes an average of eight days for 90% acclimatisation to occur in heat.
• Hydration is key to maintaining a lower core body temperature.
• During initial acclimatisation sweat rate will increase, and related sodium loss.  After the initial period of acclimatisation, sodium loss per litre of sweat will decrease.
• Sodium intake can aid acclimatisation.
• Post exercise ‘icing’, 10-12 minutes is the most beneficial duration, at a temperature of 55-60 F (12.8 – 15.6 C).

Thank you to KSI and to Timex for giving us this fantastic opportunity to learn more about exercising and performing in the heat.

Here’s a little blog I wrote about my experience as a new athlete on the Team Timex Camp 2012.  Words can’t really do the experience justice, but have a read and get a feel for what it’s like to join the best Multisport Team in the World!

http://www.tri247.com/article_9783_Timex+Multisport+Team+Camp.html?region_id=&category=

Last weekend saw the biggest Triathlon expo in the UK.  It is an annual event where all the ‘movers and shakers’ in the triathlon world (well the UK anyway) get together to talk triathlon and exhibit their new products.  For the triathlon geek, it’s a mecca of new toys and gadgets.  For the newbie, there are lectures and demonstrations.  Tri247.com were hosting the Media Lounge at the event and kindly invited me for an interview.  Here’s how it went:

http://www.tri247.com/article_9792_Tri+Show+Video%3A+Melissa+Brand.html?region_id=&category=

Timex interview