18 carat...Kilometres

Took a differnt route that I'd spotted when we were out looking at potential new houses the other night. It's a road I've cycled before on my mountain bike and its hilly at the start for first 4K then flat for 7K then down againt for 4K then flat home. I thought it looked good for a long running session.

Very cool here today with a cold westerly wind so long sleeve shirt and training top underneath. Saw quite a few people out running.

Finished in 1:52:12 and although I was very tired in the legs and shoulders I could have ran on and certainly no issues with respiration. Quite pleased that after only 2 weeks of training I've clocked off an 18K run.

The Heat is On

Right , two weeks to go till the big race. After yesterdays outdoor swim I'm ready but we agreed one more big brick training session(although I wasn't keen due to it being 28 Degrees C outside..)

That tune was playing through my head all the way round.

Today we'd do 90K bike followed by a run. Philippe wanted the full half marathon after the 90K bike. I wasn't commiting to that distance as I knew it was going to be a scorcher and I know how punishing a bike ride with him is for me. Therefore I said I'd run but won't do the full length. I'm mentally and physically fine on the run leg and anything now is just junk miles for me. My 2hr target time should be achieveable even after the two previous legs as I know my run pace is fine for a fair bit less than 2hrs for a half marathon.

We set off on the bike leg and Philippe sets a blistering pace right from the start. I'm dropped in the first 10K. I catch up as a women pulls out on him and nearly causes an accident then his speed sensor drops off his bike. Its only a temporary situation. At 20K he has about 700-800M on me and at 25K I can no longer see him even on a straight road. I keep going but I know my pace is dropping and the distance will be growing, its unavoidable. At 35K mark I've made up my mind to turn back at the roundabout and leave it at a straight 70K. However Philippe suddenly appears back on the other side of the road. I say I'm jacking, he says get on my wheel and lets do the next 10K. Then we'll turn back. I don't want to but say I'll try. His first 30K was under 56minites. I was 60 minutes and I'm absolutely dying in the saddle. We go another 2KM and I try to jack it in again. I'm again convinced to keep going and Philippe drops the pace a bit to give me time to get an 8th or 9th wind.

We drop into Namur and traffic lights are all against us. At one I'm crawling up to and I unclip my right foot but the bike falls to the left. I'm about to hit the deck and I just jump right out of the cleat binding. Obviously my legs are a little bit stronger than a few weeks back when I fell off in similar circumstances. I just land on my feet and set off. I'm laughing at how it must have looked to the drivers.

We setoff back and its uphill all the way out of Namur for about 4km. Again I'm struggling but not stopping. I get a little bit of stickyness to his wheel around 50K mark and I manage a good few km's without getting left behind. Its very hard work though and just a few inches too much between us and I'm gone. Although its cool on the bike as you effectively always have a breeze I know it is very hot. I'm forcing the liquid down even though its making me feel sick. I carry two 750ml bottles so its a fair amount. Does this sound like fun ?

We get back to 8km to go and my legs feel like they have been wrung out. Philippe is well ahead again. I click off 90K on my computer in 3:04:48. Thats as fast as I've done it but I needed carried most of the way and I nearly got on the broom wagon three or four times. Its OK for training but I can't race that fast or I'll blow up. I can't get that speed on my own as its faster than my normal pace and so I need to be dragged to it. I'm looking for a 3:30 cycle leg so I'm well under it today but with an effort beyond what would be OK for me to do on my own. I'm also not sure of the impact of the climbs in Switzerland on my time. I'll need see the course close up.

We get back home and we agree a run, I set out knowing I'm not going the whole distance as its way too hot and I really don't need a run session that much as I can't improve my run fitness that much now. However loyalty gets me out as Philippe dragged me back on the bike by the scruff of my neck. So I need to return the favor and help him on the run leg. Its only fair.

We agree we'll run at his pace and I'm OK with that as its nice and easy and I'm not personally looking for any personal best time at this late stage in my training. Its always been that running has been my relatively strong leg and biking my weaker one(although swimming occasionally dips it toe into weakness too). Therefore mentally I feel my hard work is done on the running already. I'm also 100% sure my 90k on Thursday, my PB 10K on Friday and back to back 2K swim sessions(fri/Sat) have left their mark on my body.

We click off 10K in 1:09 but we're just coasting and its really hot. Philippe says he is definately going for the full 21K as he isn't tired, I'm not going to go that far so I up my pace and take a shorter route home.

I do 14.5KM and my legs are tired at the end. I'm suffering a bit with bladder pain and the intense sensation of needing to pee at the end. I go to the toilet and it would appear I'm trying to pass what feels like a boiling water and ground glass mixture. The pain is intense and it doesn't go away for about an hour. I managed to drink down 1.5 litres of fluid(not beer) and after a shower and some cold/hot treatment on my legs I'm feeling better.

All in all a very tough session for me , especially on the bike. However thanks due to Philippe for keeping me in the game. The bike run was a killer and I no doubt added something to my armoury as a result of the hard work. The run was just punishment in the heat. Hat tip to Phlippe for doing the full 21K run though. Therefore he's now confident of finishing as a result of todays session.

Average heart rate on cycle leg was 145bpm with a max of 169bpm. Max speed was 61.3kmph and average was 29.1kmph. Average cadence(pedaling revolutions) was 87 rpm.

Average heart rate on run was 144bpm and a max of 169bpm.

Just a note for the calorie conscious readers. Todays energy consumption for me according to my watch/heart rate monitor was 3490 calories....nice.

My final jigsaw piece was yesterdays fantastic open water swim. Confidence is growing slowly but I don't want to peak mentally too soon. I'm off to the UK this week and will just take my swimming gear.

Inspiration at lunchtime

Lunchtime run, I've been inspired by Stuart's fantastic 44 minute Polaroid 10K in Helensburgh. I set out for a flat out 10K. My previous best for 10K is 47:38 . My plan is to blast out the 10K and I'll walk the rest(1.8K) to the house.

Its pretty warm and just a light-medium breeze so not bad conditions. First 3K and I'm feeling the pace as I finish the first long hill. I knock off 5K in 21:28 but I'm absolutely dying on my feet at the effort so I know thats as good as it gets and I'll be well over 43 minutes. I get to 7K and I almost stop twice on a long hill I'm so burned out. I've decided that I'm definately not built for speed. However I somehow keep going.

If I thought I was tired at 7K I was absolutely wiped out at 8K and then at 9K it was just the fact it was mostly downhill and I could smell the finish that kept me going..I know where the 10K line is but I must have checked my watch 6 or 7 times wishing the distance to magically get shorter.

I end the 10K in a new personal best of 45:00,08. Its as hard as run I have done and certainly the fastest training session. Sadly I didn't have my Heart Rate belt with me to see how much cardio effort I put in but I've attached the speed,time and altitude stats above.

Thanks to Stu for the inspiration. I'm just leaving you enough of a gap to get to the bar first and get the beers in, so nothing new in that. I look forward to the results from the Clydebank race, let me say now, a sub 40min 10K will be an absolutely huge achievement. Get in there.

Monday Lunchtime Run

I had Sunday as a rest day after my long brick session on Saturday. So I started the week with a 11.3K run from office to house lunchtime tickler. I had 10K ticked off in around 48:20, full 11.3k in 54:47.

I tried throughout to keep pace better than 5Mins per km and keep my heart rate above 160. I'm looking to do faster but shorter training now as with 20 days to go I've just about done as much as I can on the endurance side and I want to try and add some speed.

I did some sprints(100% of max speed) once I was warmed up and then let my heart rate recover to under 160 then went again. I also did longer faster(80% of max speed) legs near the end.

My average HR was 162(tick) and average speed was 12.3kmph and max speed was 18.7kmph. This equates to an average of around 4.53mins per km, so sub 5 minute km's for the whole 11k(tick).

I still think I can in general run faster but my issue is that I seem to lose speed naturally unless I'm constantly monitoring it and pushing myself. I'm not sure if my watch has max/min speed alarms. I know it has a HR zone that beeps annoyingly if you fall out of either side of it. I need something to keep my pace up. I'm not running out of energy and can tackle the hills with gusto. I just seem to occasionally lose focus and when I check , then I see my speed has dropped and I'm cruising around 5:20mins per km.

I've picked up 4 blisters on my big toes on both sides, nothing serious but I'll stop running till they dissapear. I've also strained my left thigh a little and have had the hot water bottle on it all afternoon in the office :O) Its nice as the smell reminds me of my living at my grandmothers house when I was young :o)

Cycle-Run Brick Session

I had back to back conf calls at 17:00 and 17:30. Therefore time was tight before it got dark and I was secretly hoping the second call would run long and I could avoid any training today. Unfortunately it went to plan and I had to remind myself of how hard Sunday was to encourage myself, I therefore went out to do a double training session.

Training plan was 20k Bike Time Trial round the normal Time trial route including Hedgehog hill then a repeat of yesterdays 14.26k run.

The bike leg produced a new personal best and beat the seemingly impossible 40 minute barrier with a rather pleasing 39:14 for the 20K. My new Blackburn Neuro computer says total climb over the 20K was 799ft(243m) which isn't a flat route but it only about 80% of the main climb in Switzerland. I have to do it twice though :O).

I had a 4 minute 27 second transition and then set out on the run. I made this reasonably realistic with a run through the garden/house and getting changed in the garage. I took on 250ml of fluid(not enough), I kept my cycling shorts on and just swapped my top,shoes and then I set out.

The first 5K was really tight on my thighs and it took that long before my legs felt as if they could actually run. Once that was over it got a little easier. The hills were tough especially running the cobbled section up towards Butte Du Lion. My pace was roughly around the 5min per km mark for the first 10K then dropped off to around 5:20/5:30 per km.

I ran the same 14.28km as yesterday in a somewhat slower time of 1:15:37 with an interim 10K time of 53:31. So slower but thats due to the fact I did the cycling time trial before plus I'm running on my own which is less competitive so I can't drive myself as hard. Running time still not bad as I think it would extrapolate out to around 1:40 for a half marathon, my target for Switzerland is 2hrs and my previous PB on a real half marathon race is 1:47. It was an 8 out of 10 difficulty with respect to how I felt at the end. I could have ran onto do a full half marathon in a competitive situation.

On the bike leg my average heart rate was 154 with a peak of 174. Average heart rate on the run was 150 and peak of 162.

I'm not sure if this is a problem but it is something i have noticed in my training over the last 5 months. Essentially as I go longer it gets progressively more difficult for me to keep my heart rate in the higher zone. I think my lactate level is about 166-168 and so I normally run around the 159-165 level anything above this kills my breathing in about 5 minutes. Anything below 155 feels like I'm not exercising at all.

I'm not sure if its normal but I usually find in the first hour I can easily cope with 165/166 BPM without real discomfort but after that my sustainable limit drops to 160 for the next hour/45 minutes and then down to 156 the following hour.

As this happens I obviously slow down and I see the effect on my overall speed and reduced effort. I've seen it in action in my two half marathons when I'm a fast starter but then get caught by people in the last third of the race.

Overall a nice 2 hours reasonably high intensity training session, not at the same pace as yesterday but it was obviously longer.

Beep Beep

14.26km run at lunchtime with Philippe. A bit more energetic than my usual training run as we know he is ultra competitive and likes to lead from the front. However its a lot closer in the running than it is on the bike so I'm not as easy to drop on the run, especially on the up hills :O). It was a nice pace and we had 10K clocked off in 47:32 and the full 14.26K in 1hr 09min. We had a couple of brief stops for Philippe's dodgy knee but I suspect its not going to stop him on the big day. Its time to let go of the liferaft :O). I'd say at the current pace he will be looking for around a 6hr finish. Which will be more than enough time for him to finish,recover, pick up his medal, get a table and order me lunch and a beer.

Todays HRM image attached, you can see I was working a bit harder than usual and that my heart rate was a little higher(159 average) than the last image(155 average) but the course I was on today has more hills and my pace varied much more than I'd normally have on a training run. The sprints were good fun as its not normally something I do, especially not the last km.

Lunchtime Swim

Did 1 km or maybe a little more. Used my new paddles for half the session to try and build up some strength in my arms. I bought new Speedo competition goggles(€25) and they were really a big improvement on the old Arena ones I had. The Speedo ones were clear the whole session and not a drop leaked in.

I got some good tips from Philippe on my swim stroke and that seemed to be both easier and faster, which is a double bonus. It felt a little strange at first as I needed to shorten my arm stroke quite drastically and bring my arms up parallel with my body. I could describe my previous stroke as a windmill type technique.

I'll have another go later this week maybe at the 50m pool and see if i can get some timing improvement. As ever my eternal optimism is overcoming the mental pain of the swim on Sunday and the negativity is fading and my confidence is coming back.......There might be treatment I can get for this somewhere.

I did a 5k run with the dog and Wallis on her bike, she got the all clear from the hospital today to resume sports following her leg break in Feb whilst ski-ing. She was very pleased after the hospital, I'm not so sure now though as she is currently half asleep on the couch....

Run short, Stand Tall

I was a bit stiff today so I thought I'd try to loosen up a bit with a quick 8k run(5 miles in old money) before dinner. Out into the night and it took me 40:39 over a pretty hilly route. I was surprised how long it took and was really looking for sub 35mins for 8k but I really got surprised by the hills. They killed any chance of a quick time plus I fell on my arse half way round after tripping on a kerb. I also think that as I've been running longer distances up to this point that I need to train myself to run faster. Its not that I physically find it hard to run faster, its just that I fall back to a more natural rhythm that is slower than its possible for me to actually endure. Then I remember to speed up again and go quicker...I just need to train to get my natural rhythm to be quicker.

Its probably a good thing doing some hills practice as I'd had a tip off today from Chico(whilst he should have been doing his MBA homework) that the Alloa Half Marathon route is uphill for the last 3km.

Toes are a bit sore and blistered so no more running till Sunday at the earliest. I'll try to get some swimming in and if my bike ever appears I might get out on it if I manage to put it together.

I got a gold star from Team Kennedy manager for volunteering for a run before being told.

Pre Race Warm up - Spring Half Marathon

I've signed up for the Alloa half marathon in Scotland with Stuart and Chico(you're both now named and will be shamed if you don't do it)... The website says its quite a flat course and so a personal best is definately possible....ooh they really love to tease you these athletic types. They of course use the runners abbreviation of PB.....they are worse than IT guys for jargon.

I'll be looking to get round without injury in under 1hr:45. Its on 22nd March so just 60 days away. My only concern is what will it be like running in my Duffle Coat given usual weather conditions at that time of year in Central Scotland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duffel_coat

I just looked up that link on Wikipedia and amazingly one of the guys from Franz Ferdinand is pictured 'cooly' wearing a Duffle coat. When exactly did that happen? I had a Duffle Coat in 2nd year at high school and I can safely say that it wasn't at that time considered a high fashion icon. In fact at that time being caught in possession of a Duffle Coat on the way to school was more likely to see you being relieved of your dinner money and at best left with a dead leg and more likely a kick in the gonads into the bargain.






http://www.alloahalfmarathon.co.uk/ is the link for the half marathon if you fancy it. :O) Duffle coats on the other hand are available from most second hand clothing shops. I can say that from bitter personal experience that you buy one at your peril.

My legs are very very painful today after yesterdays run and I've been hobbling round the office and putting on a brave but determined face...tommorrow I suspect will be worse but I've mentally pencilled in a session on the bike after work or in the unlikely scenario that I can get up early enough I'll do the 7am spinning session at the gym...I'm not in any way looking forward to either option. I need to do something though as I'm booked for Munich on Thursday this week so thats a day blocked out with no training, so tomorrow is a must train day.

The Rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain

Unfortunately it’s Sunday morning and its chucking it down with rain. Its typical Belgian weather as the clouds are almost touching the roof. It’s my turn for the papers and croissants this week. I fantasized about doing it on my mountain bike on Saturday as I fell asleep reading a cycling book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Blood-Secret-Life-France/dp/0224080229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232299437&sr=8-1


In reality I'm last out of bed on Sunday around 9:30 and I drive to the shop and the farm to get the papers and the breakfast....

I have breakfast and settle down with the papers in front of the now lit fire...Its now raining with violence outside. I'm flicking between the channels on SKY watching war stuff on the history channel, dozing off and listening to Radio Scotland....a great Sunday is in the making.

The team manager appears....thankfully she reminds me of my goal and that I did nothing on Saturday. I reluctantly head upstairs. As ever I take ages to find all my stuff, my Heart Rate Monitor, my watch, my distance meter. I can't find my special running socks. I impose chaos on the house and I have all hands looking... The sock monster has obviously eaten them as I end up using a pair not specifically for running.....Its time to hit the road. I've got a swift 10km in my mind.

I'm about 1km out and it turns to hailstones...at least they just bounce off. I laugh into myself as I wonder what the people in the passing cars are thinking. The front of my legs are bright red, I foresee corned beef legs are on the menu upon my return.

At the 5km mark there is a big hill, I call it the hedgehog and it’s just as painful to tackle. It’s about 300m long and steepens drastically towards the end and worst of all it’s at the half way mark of my normal run..I'm eventually up it and my heart rate is at 190...very high as normally in training I'm around 150 to 160. I'm totally out of it at the top as I have tried to keep my pace at my normal 5:30 per km. Doing it uphill at that pace is like sprinting. I'm totally wiped out. However I don't stop, although I definately slow down on the flat section after the hill as my watch is saying a 6:30m per km pace, this is slow. It takes about 5 minutes to get back to normal. I'm pleased with this as it shows I can recover whilst keeping going.

I decide to go the long way back as the weather has improved and I'm getting that strange high I sometimes get when I'm running. It’s a mix of the velvet glove sensation in your head and that flush you get from the first glass of wine. It'll probably be illegal in a few years.

I'm at 12km and my left ankle is starting to feel a little delicate. I've been having problems with it since I started running last year and on any run of more than 10km it usual makes itself known. I decide to start to head for home, my MP3 blaring in my ears. The pain eases off a bit on a downhill section and I take a slightly longer route and finish with a hill. 16km in 1hr 23.... Mostly in the rain...My running capacity has held up well to the festive season.

Any suggestions for music on my MP3 whilst running are gratefully received.

Part Deux

So I was in Sunderland for 3 days last week, I took my running kit with me but it never left my bag from Monday till Wednesday. I was almost there on Tuesday evening but we never returned to the hotel till 8pm then dinner with Rob and Neil seemed a much more attractive opportunity. So yet again I managed to carry my kit halfway across Europe without it seeing the light of day. I even indulged in a glass of red wine....there will need to be repercussions.

Cheers
Cammy

The Triathlon Times part 1.....

Jan 12th 2009

As most of you probably know as I’ve already bored many of you to death with the fact, I have registered and paid a princely sum(always a good motivator) to take part in the Rapperswill, Switzerland Triathlon on 7th June 2009.

It’s a 2 km swim followed by a 90km bike ride and then a 22km run. Which is actually difficult to even say in a single breath.

This was originally the idea of one of the guys in the office as his brother did it last year in 6 and a half hours. At first I dismissed it, as any sensible person would. I started a fitness campaign in May 2008, this culminated with me completing the Glasgow Half marathon in September last year(1hr 49min). This was in reality the first real physical activity outside of the odd game of footballand annual ski holidays for me in 20 years. However once the race was over and due to a mix of weather, injury and general lazyness I was having real motivational issues with any fitness activity other than watching TV. So after some thought and reading a few books on the subjectI just thought I’d give Triathlon a go….

I therefore thought I’d start sending out a regular update on my progress, positive or negative. This will ensure that there is limited opportunity for me to quietly shelve the idea of completing the triathlon as failure in full public view of my nearest and dearest I’ve always found to be strangely motivational.

On the training side I’ve been running pretty regularly(weekly) since Sept and have done a few swimming sessions since December to get me up to the 2km mark(118 lengths of the pool) in one go.

The running was already OK and easy to get into and the swimming has if I’m being honest and if you exclude my continuous chlorine odour actually been easier than I thought it would be. The 2km I can now do in 45 minutes. I tried a spinning session at the gym 3 weeks back but found it extremely hard work and more worryingly there were pensioners in the class who were coping better than me. I sneaked out 1 hour into the 1.5 hour session on the excuse I had to pick up Wallis…..

In an effort to get used to transitioning between the elements I did 2 gym based mini triathlons on Wed and Friday evenings last week with 2km swim then 10km bike ride then 5km run. Both sessions were very hard and the first was especially uncomfortable. The transition from bike to running is a painful experience on the lower legs for the first 2-3km. I can now imagine based on that snippet that you all will be trying to sign up for this as well.

The swim section is in Lake Zurich and I’ve been warned its not like swimming in the local pool as there is a mass start/underwater fight with 300+ swimmers and obviously its in open water in a deep lake in the alps, so it will be ‘refreshing’. Luckily I managed to get some open water swimming simulation on the Wednesday last week as its school half day and the wee lads in the pool were bombing me while I did my laps , right up until I complained to their mother. I could not actually complain in French to the mother concerned as my French is rubbish but I just gave the lads a Paddington hard stare which seemed to have the right effect on their mother. It was either that or she was warning them to get away from the creepy man with the goggles on. Just wait till they see me once I have bought a wet suit and a swimming cap. I’ll have the pool to myself in no time.

As a little diversion and as it’s the second highest aerobic exercise after cycling I tried cross country ski-ing in the Ardennes on Sunday 11th Jan but only managed 6km as it was a lot harder technique wise than it looks and definitely a lot less fun than it looks on TV, if that is actually possible. That fitness avenue has now been closed and I won’t be doing that again.

I’m in Sunderland this week for work and will get some running in but will keep it to just 10km runs as my left ankle is still sore from last year although I do now have the contact details of a good foot doctor, I just need to get round to making an appointment. On the positive side my big toe nail has now nearly grown fully back from the Glasgow half marathon. I do however seem to be getting a lot of lower back and hip pain as a hangover from ski-ing at New Year. Who said keeping fit was good for you……..

Time wise I’ve now got just under 5 months of training now till the start ….in reality and in blissful ignorance I think I have the swimming and the running sorted as I know I can do the distances individually. I just need to get my head and legs round a 90km bike ride then once I have resolved that part I then have the pleasant task of trying to do it all consecutively(its probably much easier to type that than actually do it).

I’m targeting finishing around 6 hours and am basing my training on that time with targets of 1 hour swim(2km)/transition, 3 hour cycle(90km)/transition and 2 hour run(22km)/Oxygen Tent recovery. I completed the Half marathon in September in 1hr 49 and so I may be being a little ambitious on that leg. However I’m hoping overall I’ll be fitter so I will be able to keep it to just an additional 11 minutes.

The furthest I’ve ever been on a bike in my life in one go is 12km and that was in December last year on my way to work on my mountain bike as a trial run. I’ve been reading books on cycling to try and get my head round it but to be honest I might just go for the amphetamines and EPO route as is popular with the cycling pros. The other worrying aspect is that of the 3 books I’ve read all 3 had chapters on testicular injuries and infections/ulcers/boils where the sun doesn’t shine. Incidently but not unconnected the most successful Scottish(and British) road cyclist of all time is Robert Millar, who is now in retirement in Dorset living his life as a woman having had the big operation. So there is obviously some element of danger in the whole cycling scene. I have in a totally unconnected transaction purchased a fetching set of bib and braces cycling trousers with rather bulky undercarriage padding. Regardless of this brave talk on the cycling front I need to wait until the weather improves and we get lighter nights. So till then I’ll be stuck at the gym on the bike to nowhere, watching French TV. In the meantime I’m undertaking the serious task of searching the racing bikes for sale sections and especially worryingly am having to continuously up my original €250 budget every time I see something nice I like. It would appear that in cycling circles when you own something for a year or two and use it you just need to shave 10% off the price when you want to sell it….have these guys not heard of the credit crunch

For the technically minded(blokes only I suspect). The first choice bike currently is this http://www.carrarocicli.it/index.htm?id_prod=6 an absolute bargain at €685… L

And second is this one which I really love the look of (I mean it actually looks fast when its sitting still) http://www.carrarocicli.it/index.htm?id_prod=4 but is double the price at €1400 and at only 1.5kg lighter, its hardly a bargain. Did I already say it looks fast.

They also have a titanium one which I could talk about all day long and unbelievably looks even better but at nearly €5k it is the price of a new Toyota Prius………. http://www.carrarocicli.it/index.htm?id_prod=2…its also incidentally literally as much as I paid for my first flat when I was 18. This alone shows relative inflation in terms of house prices and my age.

Cheers

Cammy