Take a break ........

After Sunday I thought the bike deserved some love. Monday was 'Love your bike' night and she is looking lovely and clean again. From there it's all down hill. Tuesday came and went, Wed I started being ill, Thursday definately ill. A clear case of 'man flu'. What an excuse to miss everything out and wait until the weekend, when hopefully I will be better and I can go get a decent long run done.

What have I done? Well I entered for the New Forest Middle Distance Tri (a 1/2 Ironman to you and me). This is my big event for the year. It's in Sept so I have plenty of time to 'not' train (see links to the right for link to website). But, lets start out hopeful and try to do some training. Especially swimming ehhhh?

The day I discovered 100km is not 60miles

63.23 miles, 4:01:25, 15.7mph avg, 37.1mph max, 148bpm avg HR, 3500ft ascent/descent, 2615 calories, 1200ml High 5 4:1 mix, 4 energy gels, 1/2 energy bar, 1 banana

Man that was tough.

8:30am we all met at Robins house before the start. We all rode together to the start and after registration we all began together, but that was the last time we saw each other together. So how did that happen? Well Robin, what can I say a legend and very competitive set the pace and within 1/2 mile the pack was split. Robin, Andy Fay and I went off the front, chatted about dropping back with the others, but it didn't happen. We were off. Shortly after Effingham and the hills began. I somehow managed to stick with Robin across the North downs hills, even in my proudest moment managed to be in the right gear at the bootom of a hill and half way up managed to overtake him. But not for long! By the time we got to Abinger Hammer he had dropped me and was off. I then spent the next miles alone catching some people and being overtaken by others. Occasionally a group would go past but I had no chance of hanging on the back of them. Martin came up at about 20 something miles and we worked together, catching another rider who joined in, in an attempt to catch Robin who was up ahead. But at a corner they accelerated out of it and dropped me. At the halfway point I rode up to find Martin did catch Robin. Had a banana, then Andy Fay came in. I guess we were at the stopping point for 10 minutes and off again. The idea was to work as a group of 4 and pile on. We did work quite well together and the benefit of working together was awesome. But the hills started and I got dropped off the back. This hill was a 'Winterfold Hill' look alike, it went on and on and kicked up towards the end. I was in bottom gear, standing and desparately trying to get up the hill. Then there not being any weight on the back wheel it slipped and my speed fell off, just like my first attempt at Winterfold Hill. I hopped off and walked the last 30 metres to the top. (Bum). Back on the bike and off again. At some point there was a long descent and a left turn. Well the London Dynamos train of 4 did something wrong and there were riders flagging everyone to slow down. I took the corner slowly and saw the riders had just about got themselves out of the ditch. I piled on and saw Andy Fay up ahead. I eventually caught him up and we cycled together until another hill when I again got dropped. The London Dynamo train over took us, an awesome sight to see them and the sound, amazing. From there on I saw Andy and sometimes Martin up head, but never managed to catch either of them, even at Albury where they had to wait for the railway crossing and I came along. After Albury, and across the A25 there was Coombe Bottom hill. Ahhhhhhhh, a long climb. Up ahead someone fell off in front of me, after the long climb comes a hairpin bend and another kick up to the summit. Photographer on the corner got a picture of me,
I told him 'I'm not looking my best'. As by this point I was out of all energy gels, nearly out of drink and only half an energy bar left (which is hard to eat with siliva). I forced myself to get up the final incline, overtook another rider just before the summit and then sped off across Ranmore. Yeeeee haaaaaaaa, I made it. So chuffed. But in my mind I knew that there was another hill that tey could send us up. For about 2 miles I lived in fear! Then I past the junction. (There is a god). Coming back along the main road towards Effingham and Fetcham I started to watch the clock. Believing it was 60 miles I thought I was coming in under 4hrs. As the miles past and the clock ticked towards 4 hrs I wandered where te finish was. 4hrs past and 60miles went past. Then I was in Fethcham and stormed to a strong finish and met the others. Robin was about 15minutes ahead of me and Martin/Andy were not far behind. Cake all around.

2600 metres

Monday
Ran from Work to Clapham junction

Wednesday
I had one of those weak moments and wavered before swimming on Wed. I often have them but after I have been and done the swim/bike/run session I always feel better for it. It's almost worth having these moments to feel so good about having completed the session afterwards. So Wednesdays excuse could easily have been, 'the trunks are in the washing machine', and I was happy on the couch of doom when I heard the washing machine finish its cycle. Ummmm dilemma. 'Do I go or do I stay now?' I went. The warm up was 10x50 alternate front/back. Then 4x100 IM. Then 3000m swum as 3 sets of 10x100 on 2:30 (or something!) basically you swim 100m, rest 5/10 seconds, repeat 10 times, then rest for 2 minutes and do it again and again. Well I did not make it all the way. 1000m was OK(ish), then the next 700 was a struggle and everyone else (except 1) had jumped out by the time I got to 700m. But not too shabby, 500m + 400m + 1700m = 2600m. Chuffed, never swum so far before.

Friday

New toy arrived in time for the weekend. Well 100km is a long way and I thought I would need 2 water bottles, so I need a 2 water bottle carrier, and it looks totally 'ironman', and perception is reality!

Sarah's Training Continues

My training,

Last week ended with a 5 mile run from work to Clapham, and swimming on Saturday morning. Right enough about me!

Sarah's training

Sarah has kept with the plan and exceeded it! All week she has kept to the schedule, and on Sat I came back up the hill so she could do her trianing ride whilst Oliver played football. It all got a bit tight on time!

Here she is leaving the house. Note the nice big smile, cool shades, ipod in and phenonomally expensive Giro Pneumo cycling helmet (it's mine!)

and she was off, flying down the close, Queen loud in her ears. So Sophie, Daniel (ummmmm) and I jumped in the car and drove to the viewpoint, it's hard being a 'domestique!'. We got there and waited for Sarah to comeback up the zigzag.

Here is Sarah on the way back upto the Viewpoint coffee shop. Note the huffing and puffing chap behind who she has just dropped, just like Lance Armstrong!

In the picture it looks like Sophie is running alongside, but that would be impossible. The average TdF rider does about 35kph and Sophie can't run that fast (yet).

We jumped back in the car and raced to the Smith and Western to get the next picture. Sophie took, Daniel sat in the car in a huff.

Then Sarah was back, still smiling.

Night Swimming

Well another not alot week. So far I have been swimming once. DSC Masters Session, 45 mniutes into the session, I'm ploughing along, (remember I use to flounder along), OK not ploughing as such but head down, rotating shoulders, good kick going on, glide, stay streamlined, pull, trying to keep up with the 2 ladies in front of me, and ahead of the 1 guy and 3 other ladies behind. So there I was concentrating on the 100 things you need to remember whilst still trying to breathe all so that you move forwards, when the lights went off. Ooooooohhhh, oh well carry on to the end, no, everyone stops and climbs out and we all stand there whilst the centre staff run around. Then the news comes back, Dorking has a powercut, not just the building, but all the way down the high street. So thats the end of swimming for the night. What I need is an underwater head torch!

Ahhhhhh, I lead an exciting life

Sarah is keeping up with the plan. She is now half way to the old peoples home, coming down Boxhill. Which means she has to turn around and cycle up the hill for 800yds with the last bit giving a little kick up towards the coffee shop. Now she tells me, I can do it, no problem, I use 1st gear, but its not a problem. (There are an awful lot of people who use 1st gear and also on some very expensive carbon bikes). But not quite the 'its easy' she told me last week! Base training its all good base training. Next challenge is the Lodge Bottom road loop (8.5 miles).

Flexible Training

When I have a training plan I am obsessive, if it says I should do 45 mins on Sunday I need to do 45 minutes on Sunday. Not Monday, not Saturday but Sunday. That is making allowances for missing days completely!

So I should not have been surprised on Sunday when Sarah missed a training ride. I thought she had fallen off the schedule. But no, she was exercising flexibility and she did it on Monday instead. Excellent technique and demonstrates how important it is to fit family and training together.

It also shows me up completely and I need to learn from Sarahs example. It also means I don't have the pictures of Sarah on her bike that I planned to take on Sunday.

My Sunday training went out the window and I spent the morning trying to teach Sophie to cycle. Now Sophie is not like the boys. Oliver was committed, he did not get the cycling thing straight away, but kept at it until he got it. Daniel, well he just hopped on his bike and went without any help from me. Sophie does not really want to ride a bike. She laughs and giggles and makes me laugh. I run alongside saying, 'balance Sophie, balance'. Sophie laughs and giggles and I am not sure she knows what balance means. I try holding the seat, the handlebars, I try holding her up with my jumper slung under her arms, and I can feel she is leaning on me not balancing. I tried getting her to try and lift her feet up when the bike was standing still. I think the problem is that she does not see princesses cycling, so why should she?

*** Excellent News *** The training starts now

A few weeks ago, Sarah began her campaign to have an October holiday. 'Curtis, these things get booked up quickly', 'we need to get on the case'. So I set her a challenge. 'If you cycle UP Boxhill we will go away in October'.
Then I drew up a training plan, starting with a gentle cycle to the viewpoint coffee shop and building to a full ascent of Boxhill. This I stuck on the fridge door.

Here is a view from halfway up Boxhill. It's almost alpine and zigzags up about 500ft I guess.







Sarahs Training Week 1 - The UP Boxhill Challenge

This week was the first week of Sarah's training, and she IS doing it. Sunday afternoon Sarah and the boys cycled across Headley Heath, Monday Sarah cycled to the coffee shop and back.

Wednesday she did it again, and Sarah tells me, 'it's easy, no problem'. Excellent news. I'm so pleased and so proud that Sarah has taken up the challenge, the plan now has 2 ticks on it and I am sure there will be a lot more. More on Sarahs training to follow ............




My training.

I was a bit sore after Watford, so decided to do some turbo sessions. So out to the garage I went. On Monday and Tuesday I did 37 minutes at a cadence of 80-90, with a a few minutes of standing and pedalling. Wednesday was swimming night and test out the new goggles. These are the goggles that when they arrived and I messed about with them for an evening I nearly sent back as I found them uncomfortable. But on Wednesday they were great, not uncomfortable, did not pinch, and did not leak either. Hurray! Currently looking to do a long run on Sunday. Got to build up the distance as the Ballbuster is 16miles of running. But before that I have a 100km bike ride as well. The Spring must have sprung!

Watford Half Marathon

Sunday 3rd Feb, 10:30am and the gun went, well it didn't. There was no klaxon either, just the guy on the tannoy saying 'go, go, go now'. I thought we were still just int he moving forward stage where the pens move forwards. So we were off. I did this race 2 years ago. I was going to comeback and do it last year but Sarah was ill with the beginning of her gallbladder problems, so I never made it. Today I was there, 5 degrees C, cloudy and blustery wind. This 1/2 marathon is a big event with nearly 2000 runners. I had met a chap in the HQ hall earlier who had just started running and had a London Marathon entry in April. We had a chat about Garmins and HRM's and walked to the start together.

The pace felt good as we headed out of the park. At 1 mile we we going up hill through a housing estate. Soon we were out into the country lanes and crossing the M25. Now I can't remember the order of things here, but there are a number of hills in this run. Fun as I did not remember them being so big! There are at least 3 that are steep. Proper steep, the pack slows right down, and some people sound like they are never going to make it, but they do, and worse, they overtake you!

One lady in a FLM shirt overtook me, and glanced back at me. She breathe was laboured and I wandered how she was going to make the distance. I gave a little bit speed and went ahead but before long I could hear her behind me. Somewhere near 8 miles she was still there. I put a serious bit of effort in and sped up for about 400 yds, cutting through the field. Its such a shame I can't run like that for the whole race. That managed to drop her.

The wind gusted and whenever I felt it coming I looked for someone to shelter behind. See all that cycling has led to me getting tactical! I think this was a good strategy, it was a bit like drafting and I had to watch that I did not trip on their heels. Then when they were a bit slow I would look for someone coming through to bridge the gap to the next group ahead. Ohhhh I am sounding like a cyclist.

The hills kept coming and I was feeling tired, but I managed to push on through the last 2 miles. The last 800yds is back in the park, with the last 400yds a long straight to the finish. Time for the final, final push, give it all I have left. 'you can collapse after the line!'. I gave it everything and flew down the lane, thinking about speedwork sessions at Pixham and not being about to keep up the pace for a whole lap! Keep going, nearly there and I was passing people. 100yds and someone else tried to push on as I came up to him, I saw him and pushed more. I crossed the line ahead of him and hit the button on my Garmin. 1:40:56 about 20 seconds slower than 2 years ago I think. I wanted to do 1:39 something but 1:40:56 is good.

Need to go off and check my splits/heartrate. A good run, but hilly.

1322 cals, 22.83km (on my Garmin), avg HR 158bpm, max HR 190bpm, avg pace 4:25/km (7.06/mile)