A hot weekend

Race day minus 5. Taper weeks is on and the weekend was the last blast before the HIM and the later Xmas break.

I could not avoid the big work Xmas do on the Friday, but I limited myself to a couple of quiet beers. It was a good feed for the solid workouts to come.

Saturday was a hot day out, I biked for 40mins with my mate Gordo, and then we did the usual brick session (40-45min swim, 1hr bike, 25min run), I got home to a great breakfast and a even nicer nap. Such a beautiful day, Saturday. Pity we ended up having to do a little Xmas shopping instead of going to the beach and lie down.

I want a fixie for Xmas

Sunday was a 3 hour ride out to Betthels beach, we didn’t quite make it there, but we were “close enough” to the 3 hours. It was gentleman’s pace, so the legs felt OK for a 20min run off the bike. The rest of the day was out on the beach on the hot Auckland weather. I should have drank more water and I paid it later.

After the night sleep it was the last big swim session, we did about 4km with 400 TT, 200TT and 100m sprints, a real beauty. I have my good sleep assured after the swim only, and the rest of the day will be work and cooper’s test at night. Bring it on!

As I said, I’d pay for my poor hydration on a later stage. Half way through the swim my shoulders locked up, it was sort of a cramp, but a rather painless one. The end result was the same, though, I was unable to swim comfortable. After a few stretches it was all back to semi-normal conditions, but I wonder how much different the last two TT’s would have been.

All in all, a great weekend with solid training, good confidence boosters on the pool and a good outlook for the rest of the week, with the taper programme kicking in after tonight.

This is the last week of what I intended to be a base training period. There is 4 more weeks that will be still mainly aerobic stuff, but with the holiday in the middle, it will be a random pattern. It didn’t turn out as I originally thought in terms of the miles clocked on the bike and run. I should probably use the next 4 weeks to focus on doing some more long slow and hill rep stuff on both disciplines. The swim is OK, and I have to ensure I can keep clocking close to 15km for the week.

Congrats to all the ones sweating it out in the Taupo Half this weekend, great numbers all over the place.

Stay tuned for the RotoVegas race forecast.

4 cars, 1 truck and 2 utes

That’s how many vehicles went past us on the Sunday long ride. Rural Auckland on a Sunday morning is a nice, lazy, green and hilly place to be. Getting out and back into the city is a bit more complicated and traffic is bad, but it’s only 40 minutes. The ride was long and at a very civilized pace, one of my mates was still a bit tired from the 200km K2 race and the other one is training for a half marathon, so he was just happy to pull as along. 6 days before my half ironrace it was logical not to over-do it.

On the positive side, I found my legs were OK for most of the ride and I didn't have to push real hard to keep going up the hills. I was not doing anything anaerobic and still managed to climb well.

Saturday was my return to brick sessions @ the beach, we had a sunny Auckland morning and even though I lost the way on the 30km bike leg I still had lots of ward work done. Surprisingly, the swim was particularly hard.

This week is about sleeping lots, so I’ll get underway with a siesta and try to keep things moving.

Hope your weekend was fun!,

ambitious

As the saying goes, it's not good to confuse ambition with ability. We went out for an in course training for the half ironman that a couple of us are doing in two week's time in Karapiro. I remember from last year that the course is hard-ish with a long succession of small hills that play with your head if you're not in top game. When I did it last year I had a few longer rides under the belt and I prepared for the race quite seriously. I was also getting married six days later, so the mind was in top game.

By the way, if you are a rowing fan, the world championships are being held there over the next week. It's a nice location for a multisport race, but somehow the HIM is a low key race. Anyway, back to my business. We went there with Nick and Jeremy who are both handy riders and have done the miles. I know I haven't and I know it's OK because my program is going at a different pace and maybe in a different direction altogether. However it was a good training opportunity and I was not going not to take it. We were greeted by clear blue skies on a side and gray clouds on the other side, we were heading towards the clear blue skies. I kind of knew the road but vaguely, but none of the other two seem to know it so we came to an arrangement that if I was not on the lead I's shout at the turns.

It was a harder ride than I thought, the main reason is that we had 80% of the ride with head or cross winds. I hate them both in equal terms because I suck at riding into the wind. I never got the hang of it and get frustrated quite easily. I held my form and told the guys that I would have nothing for the second part of the ride where the ondulations are. I was not that far behind, but I was pushing harder than the other bastards. In the process I took the wrong turn at one point and we rode 6km into two big hills to a dead end street. LOL.

The last 20km were annoying enough but it all went OK once we got to a ridge that overlooks the lake. The place was busy as in pre-race mode, the world champs start time was for later in the day and there was plenty of crews coming and going and the midday sun gave it all a beautiful glare. I had my camera but was too concentrated in getting back to the truck and hanging the bike for good.

We did the last 10km into the wind with no troubles, and ran for 35minutes after. The legs were OK and the crowd in the streets were all nice to us thinking we were rowers in training, it was a fun run. So, not to confuse ambition with ability. I know I can ride 90km, but I knew in advanced I was going to push harder than the other two. What I didn't calculate was the wind factor and how much it would f---k me up, he he he.

Sunday was a lazier day and I got up at 7, went for a solo brick session. On the bike part I was happy to feel the legs were there. I saw another training buddy, Kev, doing his Sunday long ride so I modified my course and rode with him for a good quarter of an hour. Kev is a veteran IM but has a dodgy knee so now he just does Oly distance. He managed to kick my ass in a TT three months ago, not sure what drugs he take.

rest of the weekend is sofa time, reading and getting ready for November.

Negative splits... and a new weapon

 Negative splits are usually hard to achieve for some. and I am one of them. Been able to do the second half of a swim, a bike or a run leg or race faster than the first half is something I am not quite bright at. And it is not for lack of trying. When doing workouts at a given HR band, going for a negative split usually means that I jump over the limits and I've been told off several times to do it again.
Swimming
The typical negative split workout is on a 400m or a 1500m TT. I am good at starting and can do a decent first half, but I naturally tend to have a low period between 1/2 and 3/4 of the swim that affects my chances of negative splitting. I've tried to start slower and speed up, but the slow part is again to slow and I negative split with an overall slower time, so not great.
On the bike
Same as above, however I dont have low periods, I consistently keep good average, but lack the strength/endurance at the end to push a bigger gear.
On the run
I have a bit more of control in this front, but only on shorter workouts. I can negative split on a 5km or on a single km, but comes a 10km or a half marathon and I am fried.

There must be some kind of talent that I don't have. And talent cannot be learned, so I must adapt. Probably one year of neg. split training could bring the success I'm after. What I have observed is that IM athletes are more prone to negative split their races and workouts. But I haven't seem many IM guys doing 3min k's on the track. I'd say is probably more important for them that it's for a standard tri kind of guy. I'm just only digressing here, please take no offence you all in the IM world.

Anyway, I had it on my head for the last few days and more thoughts came my way but they've vanished. However an interesting development has shaken my beliefs:

A good friend who can beat me on any distance but sprint triathlons made me a very generous offer that I had no option but to take. He's a bit of a grown up boy with toys, and he lend me his lil' speed machine for my race in Budapest. To say the bike is in perfect nic is very shy. It has all the features that you expect of someone that cares about his gear. Tape in al the contact points, greased bolts on the right places. Shiny blue and black carbon everywhere and a setup that fits me very well.

So, after some basic fitting I took my friend's baby for a ride for today's 25km TT workout. I received all good comments from mates and coach so it could be said I was a proud triathlete in a miserable Sunday morning. The TT went OK for the conditions, but still 1min off my best time. The real bomb was that I negative splitted the whole thing!. The circuit is 2 big and 2 small laps. I did the second big lap (9km) 20secs faster than the first one and the second small lap 15secs faster than the first one. Without any previous plan or concious effort. I blame it on my improved ridinig position and the lack of numbnuts issues. I was happy OK after I checked my splits and I wonder how much better it could be if I had the bike for longer time. All in all a happy Sunday,

Thanks to my mate the frenchman and his generosity

Date: 22 Aug
Sport: Cycling/Running
Time: 150min (42.20)/12.30min
Dist: 75km(25.3km)/3km
Comment: another rainy TT, bring on the sun!

Andy Schleck and I have the same dilemma

This is the third race that I'm racing where I'm investing over 10 hours a week in training. The investment in hours is significant and I expect results to come my way because I'm also training smart and being coached.

This time around I focussed in strenghtening the bike and see if I'm able to keep in touch with the front of the race. So, 3500km (or thereabouts) later I was suprissed to find something that I'm not sure I like:
I am climbing well.

It may have been the Saxo Bank jersey, or the porridge, or just a good day out. The thing is that the legs were OK to go up and up and up and then a bit more. If I was a TdF rider it wouldn't be a problem. The matter is that I am a triathlete. And more often than not, I am not able to transfer this power thing to time trialling. These two are two different types of riding and I don't know how they influence each other for good or for bad.

This data is from my personal experience, but I bet is the same what's out there.
TT Cadence 90 to 100
Climbing Cadence 70 to 80
TT gearing: 53/14-19
Climbing Gearing: 39/19-25

One good way to develop strength is by doing hill repeats on big chainrings, I've done it in the past and it makes some difference. Note that these hill reps are not trying to go up the hill in a smart or fast way, it is going up the hill in a high gear. I don't think that doing a lot of TT training helps to be a better climber. I would bet for NO.

I haven't been doing hill repeats a lot this time (only two or three times that I remember) and I did that series of TT and efforts in the lab in April. But most of my training has come from being out there and doing the long rides on the Sunday.

Let's take an example: 2010 Tour de Fance winner Andy Schleck is a brilliant climber, but comes TT time, he won't be at the top due to his lack of ability to go fast against the wind. I think I am faced with the same problem here, I can't seem to be able to transfer climbing power to TT power. It shouldn't take long to figure out, but I am still to see.

In brief, I'd prefer to be a poor climber and be able to stay within the top 10% of the bikers on a traithlon race. I just have to make it happen.

On a side note I was cought off foot yesterday. Some weeks ago I came back home from a ride and did a 1min cleaning of my bike (fork, break, derraileurs and downtube) with one of Nat's socks. I hid it in the "bike stuff" drawer and forgot about it until yesterday. Natalia was nosing through my things and found the infamous cloth. I was prepared to lie when she came and confronted me, but nothing came out of my mouth and I had to admit my crime. It was silly-embarrasing and I lost all credit in front of my wife. I hope with time she will understand how important it is to have clean derraileurs and forks and be able to forgive me.

Date 19 July
Sport Swimming / Running
Time: 60min / 60min
Dist: 3.2km / 8km
Comment: Cooperst test. I topped my previous mark by 20 metres! (leg is not 100% though)

Bad news and good news

The bad news is that I'm injured for the first time in three seasons
Bummer!
The good news is that the injurie is not a biggie, though.

I went to physio today and had the bad and the good news delivered, together with a telling of because my flexibility on the lower limbs sucks. I am a series of injuries waiting to happen. (I take it lighthly.... it can only get better!).

So it will be a bit less intense on the run front over the next week or so and hopefully it all should heal propertly. Coach has amended the programme to suit, and I may be even getting on the aquajog lane in the next days. But the most important bit is that I can continue with my programme on a 90% of what was planned.

What hurts the most is that I have to give in to Nat's invitations to start going to yoga with her. She's been telling me to start from the last year and a half and I've always been able to fend off the charges, but this time I'll have to agree. And she's gonna make sure I am aware she was right from the very beginning (ha ha ha... delights of the married life)

All in all, it can only be good, because it is a good wake up call and there's enough time to minimize any losses.

the lesson learned: lots of stretching, specially after excercise.

Date: 13 July
Sport: running / cycling
Time: 15min / 60min
Dist: 3km / n/a
Comment: 16kmTT - sub 24min - Personal best on the windtrainer!

Le tour

The first reference that I have of the tour is some newsflash from the early nineties, when Indurain ruled. I remember reading bits and pieces here and there and then it all dissapeared until some years ago, when the big texan brought the tour back to the masses.

It's a truly amazing race, a feast of endurance cycling and certainly something that is up there in the bucket list for me to go and watch, ride and drink.

I started following year in, year out and the last 4 editions I've been up there following each stage, highlights and web coverage. I don't have the sports channel to follow it on TV, so I've been most happy when people gives me old editions that I can watch on DVD. However, same as I do with Kona, I prefer the written words. The race recap, the stage narrated hour by hour and sometimes every 10 minutes. The opinions right after, the winner's view of the race and everyone's take on the events of the day. I love the vertigo of those chronicles and how the writer battles to keep one put on the seat... reading.
 
And the photos.
 
It is more demanding and time consuming than the TV coverage, but a thousand words, many times say more than one image. May and July are months of joy for me, there's books I'm reading, but what I read more is the websites, blogs and papers stories on how the tour and giro are going.
 
So today I started my day with half hour of tour reading/watching and I was a happy man. No sore legs from yesterday, no sore shoulder, only one itching desire to go out riding for hours.
 
Unfortunately life catches up and I had to go and do some work, and it's rainy and cold, so the road is a no-no. I'll be seating in a windtrainer for an hour and that'll be my day,
 
but no one can take my morning joy
 
Date: 5-6 July
Sport: Swimming/Running/running T/Cycling / Running
Time: 60min/60min/15min/70min/15min
Dist: 3.3km/9km/3km/n/a/3km
Comment: slowly building fatigue, this is getting good!

the epic rides

Today marked my last long ride (over 4hr) of the preparation for the Budapest tri. The work will focus now in getting less mileage but at a higher pace and slowly tune up to get the perfect 40km by the second week of September.

On a good note, Nat and I will be getting some more of our Sunday mornings back. I'll be also less chaffed you know where, and I may not need to stock up huge amounts of food in my bento box.

On a sad note, I'm saying goodbye to the epic days of getting out of the city and back in all sitting in my trusty Avanti Quantum (aka "blueray"). One thing that I enjoy about the base training is the epic rides. Getting up early, battling mood and temptations (a lazy sunday in bed reading and doing just nothing), getting out in the dark after a quick porridge and pedalling. Pedalling for 3, 4, 5, 6 hours through the city and the countryside, through the woods and the beachlands and stopping for a feed in at the dairy. Bonking every now and then and enduring the cold(ish) and the heat.

I love that sense of adventure that the long bike rides give me. Cycling is the weakest of my disciplines and even though I've been continuously on a bike since I'm 5, I never rode over 30km until I was 28. Slowly I've learned to enjoy it, and now I love it. I'm already lobbying Nat for a biking holiday some time soon.

So, the next 10 weeks will be mostly urban riding and lots of windtraining... the challenge will be to be able to sell it to you as a good blog post... we shall see.
Date: 27 June
Sport: cycling
Time: 4.30hr
Dist: 100km
Comment: what an awesome day!

Race report - CMC 2up time trial

It was a foggy day in Auckland. Even at 1pm, on our way to Waiuku, there were pouches of fog in the hills. Today was my first seriously intense workout since my stint as a staggiaire in the plains of the Taranaki. My mates Martin, Carl and Gordo and myself were the racing party, with no support crew or supporting vehicle.

We raced the Counties Manukau Cycling 2person TT, an event held once a year by the cycling club. This was my first time doing a 2person TT and the first serious TT (40km) since the qualifying race for Budapest.

We parked in Carl's mum place in Waiuku and rode to the start (13km) as a warm up. There we registered and got cold over 1hr until our turn to start came. Gordo and Carl were team 1 (the vixens) and Martin and I were team 2. There was just 1min difference in the start.

The course is a flat out and back 10km and we had to do 2 laps. Head wind on the way in and tail wind on the way back, temperature was 14/15 degrees. The plan was to do 1min each on the way in and 2min each coming back and try to stick to 35/36 and 42/45 kmh. It's a funny dynamic, because you have to keep a constant dialogue with your partner to check speed is OK, turns are fair, and the general comment when passing or being passed. I'm quite a talker at races and had no trouble, and I had to warn M. a couple of times so he didn't get  carried away.

We cought the guys after the first turnaroud and it was all working pretty much to plan until 2km to halfway, I kind of bonked for 5km and had good ol' Martin doing more than his fair share of the work in the front. I was not 100% with a runny nose and some coughing, so I didn't feel guilty for that.

After a good gel fix I was back in the game and took some turns in the front, allowing my mate to drink and gel himself. The speed dropped from 35 to 33.5 onto the headwind and after the final turnaround I put my head down and went for it, unfortunatelly I wasn't doing super well and Martin was able to tow me at a higher speed. I happily sat in the back for 5 of the last 10m and was able to drive the last 3km.
We finished in a respectable 64.5min and waited for our mates.

We rode back 20km to the cars, and jumped on another 1hr trip to Auckland. It was a fun event and I wouldn't mind doing it again. Triathlon races are bike TT's in the middle of a swim and a 10km sprint, and the more practice I get, the better I'll be for Budapest. The weather could have been more gentle, but all in all I'm happy with my afternoon (probably because I didn't measure my HR, ha ha ha)

Date: 26 June
Sport:  Cycling
Time: 140min
Dist: 68km (40TT)
Comment: racing, that's the name of the game

the long way home

Today was the final stage of our race, the Tour of Taranaki. Overnight it kept raining, but the morning was OK and we endured only a few showers through the race.
The day's race was 83km over some serious hills on the Tarata saddle. After yesterday's adventures, I was most happy to start and try to keep up with the bunch. It proved to be not a difficult task until the second or third downhill, when gusty winds shook me scared. I let them go and decide to solo my way home, about 40km.
I stayed a few hundred metres behind for another 10 to 15km and then I lost sight. Over the course I picked up some guys and girls who dropped, but none had any legs left so I pretty much rode through a wonderful countryside scenery over green ridges looking at sheep, and more sheep and some serious beef as well. Riding solo gave me time to think on the good and bad thing of this weekend experience.

The good

travelling with someone else is a big plus, we managed the logistics fantastically well.
the atmosphere was great all days
legs are feeling great and I can take the week of training with no problems, meaning that my fitness is good for this period.

The bad
weather gods weren't good on us, but that is a minor mishap
my descending skills needs a lot of polishing
gordo's new way of getting off the bike (he's OK now, tho)

What I learned

Being a roadie is quite different of being a triathlete, and there is a lot of trust on the other riders skills that goes into it. I thought I did trust many of the riders, but the bad weather proved me wrong.

That tour riding is soooo much fun, even with the crappiest weather in decades, back to back stages are tough, but is great mental prep for racing.

What I take
This race got me some good miles at high intensity, most of the stages I sayed around 85% of my heart rate, with a good max effort on day 2. It can't be bad for upskilling my bike leg for triathlons.
I'm rather proud to have finished my first tour.

Date: 6 June
Sport: Cycling
Time: 2.32
Dist: 74km
Comment: glad to finish, pissed I did not win!

Tour of taranaki, Day 2 - paying the price

Stage 3 - Strattford to Strathmore
there was not a lot of clientele in the lodge where we stayed, so the first night the host didn't turn the heaters on. Luckily for us, the Saturday night it was packed so we enjoyed some warmth on the night.
We woke up to a miserable morning. there was a weather warning for the region, which is not uncommon, though. It probably rained 60mm overnight and kept on raining for most of the day. After sign in, I sat and reflected on the situation. I was not in contention for any of the jerseys, I do have a couple of heavy months of training coming my way, and it was raining hard. So I decided to take it easy on the downhills, play a bit of chasing if needed and stay upright.
the course had a big hill in the middle that we had to do twice, plus three more small hills, I was OK with the bunch until halfway and pretty much until 5km before the second time on the big hill, but the pace started to go up and on a 3km downhill section I let the bunch go and chased for 5 minutes on my own with no luck. I sat and waited for others and we continued merrily to the end.
It was a decision that I don't regret, and I pay the price by finishing probably 2 or 3min off the pack.
My mate Gordon had to pay the price a nastier way, his backwheel slided downhill on the way back and he came off with some scratches and bruises. The good thing is that the bike is OK (just kidding, you never think on the bike in these situations) he managed to finish the stage and do the afternoon one. He's on his bed now, with some pain.

Stage 4 - Strattford - Stratford

The afternoon stage started two hours and a bit after we finished the morning one. I managed to come back to the room, get a shower, scoop some bacon and eggs (not the greatest, but I couldn't manage to do anything faster) and ride back to the start line.
It was an ondulating stage that went through the first 10km of the morning one and then on some rural roads with small bumps here and there. there were 8 railways crossings, I managed to spot them OK and my crotch is safe (ha ha ha).
Again, the last downhill was a race I did not want to take part of (speacially after hearing from Gordo). So I had to chase, but I realized I had no legs, and did the last 5km on a secondary group, doing most of the work as they were in worst condition that I was.

All in all it was a good experience, but the weather proved to be evil enough to deter me from doing any serious racing.
I don't have any photos, I could not manage, but I'll get some tomorrow.

Date: 7 June
Sport:  Cycling /// Cycling
Time: 113min /// 108min
Dist: 62km /// 50km
Comment: managed to stay upright, that is a big plus.

Tour of the Naki, Day 0

Got on the car at 4pm from Auckland. It took us 1 hour to get out of town and 4 more to get to Strattford. Strattford is a mini city in the south of the Taranaki region, farmlands and a huge mountain that dominates the landscape, the weather and the hydrology of this country (aka the king country).

I was OK with one bag and one big container, Gordo was a bit overprepared and brought all sorts of bas (one for sport clothing, other for casual clothing). On the last minute we decided not to bring windtrainer, which proved to be a mistake.

We had also planned to get to the lodge and eat there, but had to re think our plans and go for a good ole kiwi tucker from a small fry shop from a smaller village, 1 hour from our destination.

Got there late, went to bed and spent a cold night trying to get ready for the first big day. While putting the bike together I manage to stick a swiss army knife onto my tyres (by the way I didn’t have spares), and had to improvise with a superglue repair.

Date: 4 June
Sport: Swim
Time: 45min
Dist: 2.7km
Comment: Season’s best 400 (5.16)

Quick long awaited update

It has been a hectic week. When I started this log I was aiming to get a daily update, but, as always, things got in the way.


The good thing is that training has been great and I am now in R&R mode from my two stages of the tour of Taranaki.

Wednesday was all about getting the swim and the run out of the way the sooner the better.

Thursday was family day, as Nat is away on a tramping trip.

Date: 2 June
Sport: Swim /// Run
Time: 60min /// 100min
Dist: 3.2km /// 18km
Comment: last serious training. I’m on racing mode from now on.

Great way to come back

Imagine this:
you’re very successful on what you do and then you’re all over the place portrayed as a BIG CHEAT. It may be you are a singer with a syntethically modified voice. Or you’re just taking the credit from someone else. Or you’re using performance enhancing drugs, like some athletes do.

You pay your price, humiliation, unwanted attention, and everybody looses any respect they had for you. Some years later you come back, and in great form and after a period of re acclimatization you are back being a big shot. And you win a big race.

Lot of people will still call you cheat; many will not want to rate you as high as before, and overall there is a trust bridge that you know has broken.

 How would you cope with that? This guy won the Giro D’Italia for the second time, this time, though, he was clean of drugs.

It is certainly not likely that we, as amateur sportmen/women will experience it. But there are lessons there to be learned.

Lesson 1: I reckon that it takes a lot of guts to admit you were in the wrong and build that into a positive experience.

Lesson 2: You have to really believe in yourself to come back and succeed besides all the naysayers that may be around.

Lesson 3: you have to love your sport. That is the only explanation that I found for someone to do all of the above. It’s certainly not the money, and in many cases not the glory either, so I just take my hat to the new Giro champion.

Training wise I am a bit of a cheat, as I missed my swim for no excuse and I did feel guilty. But is all in the past now, I'm in the comfort of my home just about go to bed.

Date: 31 May
Sport: Running
Dist: 11km
Time: n/a
Comment: 4x7.5 min sets (2.2km) and some warm up. Suprised to heave my HR going up up up, but the legs are fine.

The weekend that was

Saturday:

Day off: I went to an argentinean celebration of our homeland 200 years

Sunday: big, great day out on the bike with my mate Martin. Managed to score 125km at a decent pace. I'm quite happy to see that I am getting stronger and stronger on the bike. The challenge will be to keep this strentgh during the winter months and make myself a different cyclist.

Date: 30 May

Sport: Cyclcing

Time: 255min

Dist: 123km

Comment: Gone west again. I'm liking this route more and more each time I cycle there.

A big big ball

That's what I have in my calf at the moment.
Today it was club races again. The same circuit as in my first report but one more lap, this time we were going for 72km.
As usual I had a good sleep in and this time I went for the year record. I woke up at 9.15am and got off the bed at 9.45. This assured me I was well rested and ready for the kill... well.. kind of.
The day was gorgeous, unlike yesterday, so there was a decent field on the C grade, I reckon it was about 50 of us starting the race, some I knew, some I didn't.

The usual strategy, place myself at the 3rd quarter of the field for the first lap, get to know where the wind is blowing from and what side of the road to sit to do less effort. A bunch containing a guy from a bike shop who's a step above us (to say the least) was setting the pace and it was a fast-ish pace. I found myself at the back of the bunch for half the lap, but no issues as the peloton stuck together.
The back of the bunch is not the place where I feel safer, and it usually means I am doing a lot of work just to catch up. I tried to move up and make sure I was up there on the second lap.
I did not take any food or drink during that first circuit.
I made sure I was ready to respond to a faster pace on the second, but that didn't happen and we rode happily on a recovery mode for some time. It was time to do some work so I went to the front to do my 2 minutes, and try to hang in there so to save some work later on. It just occurred to them that it was time press the gas, and the next 20minutes were pretty hectic (I won't say the hr max. and I made sure the workout is erased from my log). I had half a bottle of water with electrolite tablets (they're my new toy).
The third lap was time to hit the 2 gels I got on my back and stay trouble free, covered and save energy for the hill finish. The only problem was a baby cramp growing on my right calf (bummer... more electrolites!). Two guys made a break and nobody bother to chase, so we were all racing for third. The molesty continued all of the lap so I kept trying to stretch but with not a lot of luck.
If you remember well this was the long hill I didn't know how long it was. This time I've made my homework and stayed on third/fourth wheel at all times. On the last 2 bumps we attacked and I hung in there. Then this guy attacked again, and I gave it my best, but finished third 10 metres behind and with a huge ball on my calf.

But happy.

Date: 22 May
Sport:  Cycling
Time: 130min
Dist: 73km
Comment:  The gear doesn't make you Andy Schleck

Hill Reps

It’s been a long long day, so long it started yesterday and just now is my opportunity to sit down and reflect a bit on what’s happened.

And a lot has happened. I went to this resilience workshop. I’ve never heard of them before, but I’m not the kind of guy that searches over and over for the info. Anyway, off I went for most of my day thinking “yet another training course” and I left quite proud of myself after discovering that much of what I do and being doing over the last years is taking me to where I want to go in life.

 

Unfortunately, though, the timing took me off my scheduled spin training and I improvised a hills repeats session.
Hill repeats are one cheap way to strengthen your legs on the bike. I’ve been pretty agnostic before, but over the last training blitz I did a weekly session over 6 to 8 weeks, and I can tell the benefits are still here right now. Besides, it’s a great way to practice descending and cornering on a relatively safe environment.

 

There are many recipes, but the basic one goes like this:

• Hills: 1, moderately steep (4 to 10% gradient?) and of a duration no shorter than 90 seconds and no longer than 600 seconds.
• Athletes: 1
• Bikes: 1.

- Seat the athlete seated on the bike for most of the duration of the ascent keeping a good, proud form (high head, straight back, slightly bent arms) with a cadence of 60 to 75 rpm

 

 - Keep the athlete seated on the bike for the descent part back to the start line, spin the pedals on a high cadence (95 to 110)

 

 - Repeat the above procedure for 3 to 10 times.

 

It will warm you up on the winter days, and it’ll make your knees feel funny at times (pay attention to it, you don't wanna get injured), but there is no gym that will give you what a good hill repeats sessions can achieve.

  

The secret is to find a nice little hill near home where there’s little traffic. The rest is just going out and doing it.

Date: 18 May
Sport: Cycling
Time: 75 min
Dist: 30km
Comment: cold... then hot

Date: 19 May
Sport: Swim /// Run
Time: 60min /// 92min
Dist: 3.2km /// 18km
Comment: back yard half again

Triathlon, and how to do many things along with it.

This is my -no-day-off-weekend: Saturday was the races from 12 to 6pm with travel time and Sunday was an easy 3.5 hr bike wich ended in an extended brunch for Nat and I, and that and a movie later on was the only family time available.
A good mate suggested I raise the topic of how much of a challenge is to be a triathlete, a family man, a working man and a mate to the "normal" friends. He is a 9.30hr ironman, and I'm a 4.40hr half ironman. Another mate is a 2hr standard distance man and we all share the same struggles as many others. To be an amateur sportman is challenging no matter the sport or the level
I thought about it and I don't think I've got anything original to say about it, many people has talked about the issue so many times, that mine would be a very very average post.
What I do think is that triathlon is a lifestyle, and as much a struggle as it is an indulgence. I'm going to Budapest not on a patriotic duty, but to try to achieve the best of my potential as an athlete and in doing so leaving my club and my national federation is good standing, that's pretty much it. The rewards are individual, as it is the solitude of the long dark hours of running in the wet Auckland winter.
Not long from now I know Nat and I will be Nat, me and Co. and I won't be able to commit 10/15 hours of my weekend gone to training. So for now, I am happy I can do it, and try to optimize the opportunities to have a nice time with my wife, then train, then other things.
I cannot afford to waste time in complaining or regretting any decisions to train or not to train, to go or not to go anywhere. That time can be used for things that make me better as an athlete.

Anyway, I just thought about that today in my training ride (the airport loop, topic of a next post) and even thought is not a great argumentation, is something that can be dangerous in the mental prepping of any race.

In a lighter note, I met again with Mr Peacock, a character that I met every now and then. I hope many of you will be able to tell where it resides,

Date 9 May
Sport:  Cycle
Time: 180min
Dist: 75km (give or take)
Comment: I need a speedo!, or a Garmin 310.

Saturday races

This is the third race of the season, and I am happy to report that the legs are getting better and better.

Today we went out to Aka Aka, 1.5 hr away from Auckland to race the cycling club road race. We is for my mate Gordo and me. Gordon was doing his first one so the whole trip was about answering his questions about how the race may unfold. We're doing the Tour of Taranaki together, so is good to have him on board doing some serious racing.

From my previous experiences I knew that I have to have my nutrition and water sorted OK if I wanted to have a chance. The race calendar said 72km but I thought the race may  be shortened to 52 for the grade I race in. It wasn't, so first thing I did was to get a Moro bar just before the race started.

The C grade was a big bunch of about 50 riders at the start. There wasn't a lot of time to play around as the pace was up on the first lap, and as usual I sat in the middle to check who was doing what and try to do a bit of recconnaisance of the course as I didn't remember much from last time. I was happy to learn that it was mostly a flat course with a 600m straight as a finish. By the end of the first lap I was tired OK and had drank little water from my bottle so I took a big sip.

The second lap was on a much amicable pace for the first half, not many were willing to work up front and it suited me to just stay in touch but way back in the bunch. Some guys took over after halfway and they drove a bit faster, only to turn the wrong ways, so there was little damage done. Someone may have had a crash or taken the wrong turn later on because towards the end of the second lap the buch was half the size.

I had half a gel and more water and started working to move up in the bunch, the legs were a bit mor tired, but when the gel kicked in, they responded and I was able to respond to the upping of the pace that usually happens on the last lap.

I stayed on the 4th or 5th wheel for most of the time and did a bit at the front on the final 8 km, as we got closer to the finish a lot of argy bargy started to secure good placing for the sprints. As I am doing this races as part of my training I usually don't risk a lot and try to stay inside and not to cross the centerline. Today's approach was to go fast and stay with the first five guys, and I did that until we turned into the final straight.

200m in and the roaring of the wheels started to get louder, then someone shouted and a 30 bikes sprint started, taking all of the road.

But that didn't last long as a car approached on the other lane, so we all started to crunch in, an elbou here, a near miss there, and I went with 80% of my strength to finish in the top 10 on the sprint. I was boxed and couldnt develop any more speed safely.

All in all it was a happy day, as I felt in control all the time and didn't do any silly mistakes as the previous race. My mate Gordon learned had a bit more difficult race in his grade and ended up on a solo sprint, being passed by a slower bunch in the final 5km, but I think he learned the lesson.

Date: 8 May

Sport: Cycling

Time: 120min (approx)

Dist: 72km

Comment: I need to wash my bike soon.

Gotcha!

One of the most satisfactory feelings when training is to get a particularly difficult workout done to the details prescribed by the coach. It has happened to me several times, particularly close to race days when intensities go up in every sport and sometimes the body is under some strain. Two particular sets are usually troublesome to me but I've tamed them both on my last campaign so hopefully I'll know how to play them when the time comes.

One of them is to run 4 intervals a certain distance in 7.5min. The distance is determined by our results on a VO2 Cooper's test and the idea behind it is that we will be increasing the VO2 values for the next test and therefore improving performance when going anaerobic. It took me quite a few attemps to get it right and this past summer I got there, I did not celebrate property because I was knocked.

The second workout I can't get to do well is a set of 200's on the pool on a given time that allows for little more than 3 seconds rest. This one I managed to get around on the second attempt and the third, but the last time I failed again, a bit demoralizing but nothing to make a big fuzz.

Today I surprised myself with another particularly difficult set nailed. It's my last list at the lab and had to do a 20k TT (better times than 4 weeks ago, so no surprises there) and a 60sec Wingate Test after 5 minutes of complete rest and a bit of spinning to warm the legs up again. I don't know where the idea of a 60sec sprint came in, it's somehow a bit exagerated in my opinion, and I know my legs don't like it either.

But it's all in the name of progress and science, so I'm doing it (ha ha). The suprise came after the longer 60secs of the year so far, when I looked at the chart, it was a perfect descending............. straigth line!!, and all the other variables were OK, so it only meant that my strenght had decayed on a constant rate instead of a big dip, which is, to my interpretation, a big deal, because it means I already have some endurance back in the legs, and this is only the base period. So very happy I decided to do it all again. Not.

I went for a little swim instead, just to stretch, and glide.

Date: 4th May

Sport: Cycling /// Swimming

Time: 70min /// 45min

Dist: n/a /// 2km

Comment: Gotcha! /// pull bouy distance set