So, I know I’ve not blogged for a while… so here’s what I’ve been up to in reverse order:

London triathlon 6^th August

This is one HUGE event. With something like 13000 triathletes competing over the course of the weekend, it literally fills a warehouse where the transition areas and expo are situated. The Timex stand was large and loud at the expo, and as ever I was happy to be stood in front of a 12 foot tall Kyle Marcotte. Kyle did you know you are plastered all over our UK expo stand?

Dan managed to get me an entry to the race the day before, which was good as I wouldn’t have been sure any earlier if my body was ready for a little hit out post Ironman UK the weekend before. I wasn’t expecting much, but an intensity training session makes the trip to Docklands over the weekend a bit more rewarding from a training point of view.

Sunday morning and we were feeling the logistical headache that holding a massive tri festival in East/Central London brings. The closed bike course that heads all the way into Westminster and the Houses of Parliament caused major traffic diversions, and combined with the usual London weekend road works meant that driving round London with two other athletes was quickly turning into a comedy of errors with directions and diversion signs.

Arriving at the race venue about 40 minutes before race start (and about an hour later than planned) meant that there was minimal faffing – rack the Orbea, which hadn’t seen much love since a similar time the weekend before in Bolton, quickly check where bike out/in and run out were, a fleeting note to self that maybe I needed contacts because the transition was SO big that I could barely read the signage at the exits, and it was off to swim start.

The docks, as ever and despite passing EU water quality standards, tasted decidedly strange and was very brown/green. Deep water start and a horn and the ‘fast’ wave were good to go. The event is so large that the field is broken into waves of age groupers and a ‘fast’ wave (sub 2:30) which is supposed to be the most competitive part of the race. The only guys going faster than us today would be the elite, draft-legal ITU race happening a few hours later.

So off we go. I think I started quicker at the ironman last weekend. Arm turnover slow. Heart rate staying really steady state. O yes – the effects of racing last weekend were clear already: zero top end. But that’s good too. This is supposed to be my fun race, to get a bit of work done and shock the body back into training ahead of the next hard 4 week block leading into IMWisconsin. Keep going! The good thing about having done an IM the weekend before is that 1500m goes REALLY quick.

The same thing wasn’t true about T1. Out of the water, onto a pontoon, along the dock, up some stairs into the Excel centre, running around T1… still running around T1…. A bit more running. Several minutes later, thanks to the enormous nature of the race, your lucky enough to be somewhere near your bike. I only missed mine by a row so I think I did quite well. Helmet, race belt and off. At this point I am patting myself on the back for not going for the usual ironman transition which tends to include socks, a bit of food and drink etc etc.

The bike course is uniquely London – Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament happen at one end, and the Docklands dual carriageways and a beautiful stretch of the A13 at the other. It couldn’t be more representative of the capital if it tried. Somehow I managed to keep pushing, though my legs weren’t wanting to go very hard. An hour passed quickly and uneventfully and we were back into the cavernous transition area and out onto the run.

No spark on the run, but I hung in to pass a few people and managed to avoid the splash back from someone vomiting on themselves next to me mid stride. Lovely. 4 laps later the finish happened, but I pretty much headed straight to the Timex stand for a debrief and chat. It was only the next day that I found out I came 6^th – a happy bonus!

A good day’s work considering one week on from IM UK. And a lot of fun had on the stand with the Timex/Assit guys. Hats off to Dan Calvert for a storming first Olympic race too. Good job Dan!

Looking towards the Expo

Looking towards the bike racking areas

And just because I’ve not got any photos of me racing from this event yet, here’s one from the next post – which will be about Ironman UK ten days ago…

Well the London marathon has been and gone, but I’m still feeling it having picked up a bit of an injury. The moral of this story, I am going to tell you in advance, is PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH!

I often hear myself warning athletes of the hazards of early season marathons in ironman training. While a good idea for a few, certain caveats need to be in place for many of us given that you have usually not been training for a straight marathon, rather an ironman marathon – a very differently paced affair, and the early season nature of the event often means you’re hitting it in base training. These reasons suggest that you should either avoid the marathon, run it as an easy long run as part of training, or run it as an ironman paced run. All of these are remarkably difficult to achieve as any athlete standing at the start line of a major international race will tell you. The excitement, the atmosphere all get to you and will power is difficult to find. Pride means that you fail to seed at your training pace position, instead pushing up to athletes of a similar standard to you. The first few miles at above IM pace feel easy and you settle into the pace – being surrounded by others running at the same pace as you reinforces the sense of ease belying the fast pace you’ve set.

Perhaps knowing how difficult not racing that marathon would be, you went and trained a hard week… no, a hard 3 week block, just to make sure that you got to the start line tired so that you’d be less tempted to blaze through the first half at your ‘fresh’ marathon pace. But you forgot that competitive voice that whispers ‘go on, run strong, you can get that PB… you’re not as tired as you thought you’d be’.

But, passing the half way mark at 1hour 20 mins, knowing that your racing plan would suggest that you now kick up the pace for a 1:15 second half, doubt starts to creep in. Your legs feel heavy. Like lead. You’re slowing down. The runners who’d previously been along side you start to move past and away. Why do I feel like I’m bonking? Probably because you are. The cumulative fatigue of the last three weeks is bearing down on you and your pride and arrogance is about to take a beating.

And so the second half hits Ironman pace. But this isn’t the easy planned pace you had expected to be running, but a survival pace that feels like you actually are finishing an ironman. You hurt. That niggling calf is on fire. You know how that’s going to end.

2:48 is how it ended. Not the 2:55 I had been aiming to target as IM pace, and not the 2:35 or 2:40 that I would hope to run straight given a decent taper and some slightly more specific marathon prep. A middle ground which left me a little disappointed that I’d not achieved anything, not executed either plan. And worse, I picked up a calf injury which I’m only now getting to grips with. All completely predictable. All completely avoidable… Maybe!

But the funniest thing is that if I was toeing that start line again, I would probably do the same thing. I know that I’m all or nothing. In or out. And even with the knowledge of what I was doing and what I had done, it was fun!!!

Running, jogging, crawling!

The upside: getting lots of swim and bike training done now, an actually it might have forced me to get this injury (a repeat) sorted properly once and for all. But only time will tell if I’ve managed to learn any valuable life lessons!

The lesson: know your level of control and pick your battles! O and I need to listen to my own advice.

But more importantly, BIG congrats to the Timex runners who were representing for us. Brett made it over from the States to run, and another 10 peeps were out running in Timex kit. Photos below from the Friday before at the Marathon Expo which was a huge affair. Thanks to Dan for sorting it all out.

Giving an interview and some nutrition tips at the London Marathon ExpoBrett (Timex US) and I at the marathon expo

Brett (Timex US) and I at the marathon expo

This is WAY overdue, so I’ll (unusually) keep it brief!

Challenge Barcelona is an ironman distance race and was held for the first time this year in the first weekend of October. And it ROCKED! With a deep European pro field, and a flattish but windy bike course, this was going to be a lot of fun.

The swim was steady and pleasant. A bit of time out of the pool due to injuries from Trans Rockies hadn’t been the end of the world: rib was absolutely fine on race day, and ankle flexibility returning well. As ever, the Aquasphere wetsuit was a joy to swim in and easy to get off in T1, so I have no excuse to explain how I spent nearly 3 minutes in transition, except to say that the volunteers were very friendly! I’d managed to finally work out what was up with the bike at IMUK, and having fixed the brake/dodgy tire side wall combo (with a rather overdramatic but well timed ‘BANG’ at the doorway to the CMR bike shop a few days earlier), the Trek TTX was riding like a dream again. The aid station drinks were a little weak, and there was no evidence of coke, so I was riding a little light on calories and caffeine free, but put in a solid 4:46 split. Into my Newtons and onto the run (again caffeine free!) I put in a 40min 10km on the first loop, but then started to slow up a little… 42 mins on the second, I’ll not go into the next two – needless to say, I had to walk a couple of aid stations towards the end to get in food and fluids and ended up finishing a little disappointed at being a couple of minutes over my 3 hour marathon ceiling.

8:53 put me 19^th in the pro race (over 40 MPROs), but its good to be consistently seeing solid times again. Other pleasing things about the race: I got over my issues with two piece tri kit – the Sugoi two piece fits me perfectly so no tan belt/burn at the end of the day J ; Octoberfest tent was right next to transition… perfect planning from the organisers!

Thanks to Chris and Wookie (and Carli) for being great travel partners!

Next up: IMArizona!

Day 3

The evening of day 2, in the aftermath of bouncing off the mountain descent from Hope Pass, my ankle started to swell up massively, and my ribs started to give me grief. By dinner time, walking was difficult and breathing was becoming painful. I had serious doubts as to whether I would be able to walk the next day’s stage, let alone run it. The fun of the event evaporated within a matter of hours and I went to bed early, dosed up on anti-inflammatories and resigned to see what happened in the morning.

Waking up on day 3, my ankle looked like an elephant’s. We packed up the kit and tents ready for the 24 mile stage, and I went to the medical tent to get the ankle strapped up. The strapping was tight and the first couple of miles were slow going and the inflamed ankle and strapping needed to ease into the day. The gentle downhill on tarmac to start the stage from Leadville to Nova Guides was painful. But with just under 3000ft of climbing in the day, and a maximum altitude of only 11000 feet, the main issue for the day was its length. Will was very patient and towed up the climbs, even getting in some sprint efforts to get enough momentum to pull me through short steep sections. For one early river crossing which we couldn’t walk around, I got a piggy back over it to keep the strapping on my ankle dry.

Downhill was not pleasant. In the second half of the stage, the pain killers started to wear off, and the downhill stress on my ankle and constant jarring on my ribs meant that the pain factor was sky high. But make it through we did, albeit at a pedestrian pace. The final three miles into Nova Guides, Will towed me through the flat to the finish, which seemed to go on forever. As usual, the end of the run was quickly followed by a trip to the creek for icing – though today I was chest deep to get my ribs soaked too.

Day 4

Camp Hale to Red Cliff was another short stage with a massive climb. The top of this stage was a ridiculously steep forest trail, where the tow rope was redundant. I was borrowing Adam’s Leki poles for the day – in the mid grade uphills I was unsure about their usefulness, especially given the added pressure on my ribs from the use of my arms, but on the steep climbs, they became invaluable, where a forced march pace up the slopes was all that we could manage. The downhill was better today – the ankle was well strapped but less swollen, and a better pace was maintained. I was still frustrated from losing places on the downhill on day 3.

The best part of the stage was a lengthy section running down a small creek. It was icy cold and made your feet instantly numb, but only a few miles from the finish so not too bad in terms of blisters and chaffing, though some people’s feet did suffer in the stage.

Day 5

Quads starting to feel a little sore. Ankle starting to feel a little better, if not looking improved – darkening purple patches showed the bruising coming through around the heel. My ribs however, seemed to be getting worse.

The stage was set to be nearly 24 miles, with 4400 feet of climbing, basically straight uphill for 11 miles, 3 miles of undulating, and then 10miles of decent. I was in the BOX by the top of the climb. Several teams overtook towards the top as my pace slowed our progress. But the pain really kicked in on the downhill. Between aid stations 2 and 3 I was nearly in tears thanks to the pain from my ribs and extra stresses through my right leg trying to keep my ankle out of trouble on the gravel downhill.

Arriving in Vale I was pleased to be done for the day. It was hot and lively, and with a beer and barbeque, the days’ challenge was quickly forgotten.

Day 6

Final day. This hurt. At last though, the ankle and ribs were not the limiting factor. Today, muscular fatigue and lung function were the main issues – and I was pleased to have this situation. Will was feeling the long week and the additional strain of towing days 2 through 5, and the tow rope saw a little less action today as we just worked through the fatigue.

The final climb of the day ended up a ski field in Beaver Creek before descending back into the town. That final hill is best described as a hike rather than a run, but we’d made enough time in the descents today to hold a good position.

The after party was something to behold. Things certainly loosened up and after a long week of work, celebration was the order of the day.

More photos to follow!

Ouch. We have oxygen in London. For some reason, the Rockies decided that oxygen was not as essential an element as my London lungs are used to. Despite coming out to Boulder (5430ft) ten days before the start of our 6 day, 113m adventure through the Colorado Rockies, acclimatization is proving difficult. But that’s all part of the fun! And FUN is definitely the word for this stage race.

The TRR is a two-man team race. Team Timex is Will and I. Will Kelsay, a gun XTERRA triathlete and Colorado local, is dragging my sorry behind across the Rockies so far as I wheeze like a winded moose hanging (today) off the back of a toe rope as we ascend 3000feet over the course of 3 miles of brutal uphill as part of a morning’s work.

We drove up to Buena Vista on Saturday, picking Jonathan of Salt Stick on the way. 3 hours later we were around 7400 ft and registering, and being given a LOT of kit. I must admit to having gotten a little altitude obsessed, especially since the WS4’s that Timex sent us last week have an altitude function. It came in very handy today to track how far up the ascent we were – moving from 9600feet to 12600 feet in 3 miles, my lungs were at threshold just walking up Hope Pass. But it was worth it for the downhill. Unfortunately I stacked it chasing after Will to the finish (descending 3400 ft in 30 minutes). The 10 miler today was actually light relief after yesterday’s SCORCHING 20 miler over fairly undulating trail and road. Had a few low points yesterday as the combo of altitude and dehydration kicked my arse into touch. Out of the pair, I am definitely the pace-limiting factor!

Despite my altitude issues, we’re still doing ok, finishing 8^th in our division both days (we think) and sitting around 11^th overall.  

But this race is more than just a race each day. The camping and social side of the experience is amazing. The people and personalities here have been an eye opener. The triathlon scene has some work to do!

Photos to follow soon!