By the time the automatic scheduler posts this I should hopefully be asleep. Everything I need for tomorrow should be laid out, in order, for the morning. This is not just me being OCD, it is to try and minimise the ridiculous early start in the morning.
I have to be up at 5am on Saturday morning. This is partly bad planning on my part, and partly inconsiderate planning by the race organisers. I left it too late when I was booking a hotel so I am about 40 minutes away from the start and I have to get up early enough to drive that. But the organisers also moved the start forward by an hour to 7:30. This means transition set-up is between 6-7am.
Not really understanding the point of the early start as they have time cut-offs that mean everyone finishes or gets swept up by early afternoon anyway. Doesn't seem to be very athlete friendly for us all to have to drag ourselves out of bed in the middle of the night and to get in the water when it is an hour colder. And especially when they don't allow you to prep transitions the night before. And with split transitions and strange parking arrangements it is almost like they are trying purposefully to make it difficult for athletes who don't have a support crew.
The weather forecast is not inspiring either. The BBC weather says it has been raining in Aberfeldy all week. It is probably raining now. The BBC and Yahoo both agree that it will be raining heavily tomorrow. The BBC even has thunder and lightning in the middle of the afternoon.
There are 6 Threepeakers entered. The others have all finished a full ironman this year already and I expect their deeper endurance and better cycling skills will give them an advantage. I could be second, or more likely third, out of the swim, but I don't think it is a long enough swim distance for me to build a defendable gap and the bike course suits all of them more than me. I expect to finish 6th of the 6.
Overall there are 320 entered. The guys at work were asking how I would get on and I said I would not get in the top half but maybe in the top-200 if I had a really good day. I can find a handful of recognisable names on the list that are definitely beatable if I have an ok day so I don't think I will be last, or even outside the 300.
Karen and Emma have prodded and pushed and cajoled me to train properly and to be here. If I didn't owe them for all the work they put in I would probably have quit a dozen times by now. If at any point tomorrow I feel like I have had enough and want to quit the words "toughen up princess" will be ringing in my ears.
I am ready, or as ready as I am going to be. I only want to get round. I would like to do a respectable time. I would like to enjoy it. But this course really doesn't suit me. So any finish will do. And then onwards to a fast time at Huntly standard.
Friday, 16 August 2013
Monday, 12 August 2013
Training Review - Week 32 - August 5 to 11
Monday I had a day off to recover from Knockburn.
Tuesday I did an easy loop around Dyce. Legs are still a bit stiff. OK, a lot stiff.
Wednesday I went out to Knockburn. Having missed my target time for the run on Sunday I figured I would take a jog round it on fresher legs just to see what I could have done. I was surprisingly tired still and the rain wasn't very enjoyable, but I ran the course in 46 minutes. On one hand I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't run a bit quicker at the weekend, on the other hand I was pleased that with empty legs, in the rain, no adrenaline, no-one to race on the same hilly course and taking it relatively easy I have a 46 minute ~10k in my legs.
Then I went in for 3 laps round the loch. About 12 minutes a lap. Feeling nice and easy still. The water is definitely getting colder though. I will take a trip next week just for a last easy swim in my taper. By the time I recover from Aberfeldy it may be getting a bit chilly to go back in, but will see how it goes.
Thursday and Friday the Aberdeen weather decided to help me out with my tapering.
Saturday I was struggling for motivation but managed to drag myself out on the TT bike. Did an easy 23 mile loop. Trying not to work hard but kept catching myself tucking into the tri-bars and turning up the gas. Then I charged the battery and tucked away the TT bike for next weekend.
Sunday I went to spectate and take photos at Westhill triathlon. Rolled over quite easily on the road bike, tootled around the larger loop in reverse with a few photo stops, then rolled home again. Came straight in and did a mile on the treadmill, just because I have a lack of brick sessions in my plan lately and was a mile short of my weekly target.
At the start of the year biking 50 and running 10 in the same week felt like some sort of huge achievement. Now doing it as an easy week going into my taper and I feel like I have been ridiculously lazy all week.
For the year I have now biked 1,572 miles. 10 more than in the whole of 2012. By the end of next week I will have passed my original 1,612mile bike target for this year.
I will also pass through 488 miles of running. Doubling my 2012 running total. And depending on how many miles I cover on my easy runs this week I could also find myself through 500 running miles for the year, against a target total of 520 for the year.
And I could also swim through 52 miles which as my total for the whole of 2012.
A few people asked me today if I was ready for Aberfeldy next week. I am a lot more ready than I planned to be. I think I will finish. I think if the weather is kind I can do a time I am happy with. I don't like the bike course, but there is nothing I can do about that, or to prepare myself better for it.
All that is left to do is have an easy week an make sure I get to the start line ready to race.
So targets for last week (Week 32) were:
Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >50 miles. Run >10 miles. 2 short core and 2 short stretching sessions.
Actuals were:
Monday - Rest and recovery day.
Tuesday - Easy jog 5k in 27 mins.
Wednesday - 6 mile run in 46 mins. 1.3mile swim in 47 mins.
Thursday - Rest day.
Friday - Rest day.
Saturday - TT bike 22.7 miles, 1 hr 20mins.
Sunday - Road bike 27.4 miles, 1 hr 56mins. Treadmill run 1mile in 9mins.
Result -
Swim 1.3 miles (1,800 m). Bike 50.1 miles. Run 10.1 miles. 0 core and 0 stretching sessions.
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Training Plan - Week 33 - August 12 to 18
Race week.
So it is all lazy and tapering. Just moving my legs and checking my gear.
Target totals - Finish Aberfeldy Half Ironman. (Stretch target - Finish under 6 hours).
So it is all lazy and tapering. Just moving my legs and checking my gear.
Monday - Easy 20 mile bike.
Tuesday - Easy 4 mile jog.
Wednesday - Easy swim at Knockburn.
Thursday - Easy 3 mile jog. Pack the car.
Friday - Drive to Aberfeldy for registration.
Saturday - Aberfeldy Half Ironman.
Sunday - Get out of bed.
Target totals - Finish Aberfeldy Half Ironman. (Stretch target - Finish under 6 hours).
Monday, 5 August 2013
Race Review - Knockburn Standard
I set a few targets going into this race:
1. Swim faster than 28:34.
2. Bike faster than 1:28:17.
3. Run faster than 53:28.
4. Finish faster than 2:48:18.
You can get the full results here.
And here are the real numbers:
The water was colder than it has been for the last couple of months and colder than Loch Lomond last week. It was fine once you were swimming though. I spent too much time reading the internet last week. I knew this would slow me down so I would need to get more of a tow if I wanted a quick time so I let swimsmooth talk me into getting in the middle of the pack rather than my usual plan of staying off to the side. This meant being in amongst a lot of kicking and punching early on.
The swim start was the busiest open water start I have ever been in. It was messy at the start, and then messy throughout. By the time we were on to the back straight of the first lap I had enough of the scrapping but a nice gap opened up in front of me as the groups started to break up. I pushed into it and found myself spearheading a trailing group. I figured that if I was going to be working at the front of the group anyway, I might as well work a bit harder and try and cross the gap to the next group instead. It took me about half a lap to make it across the gap. I then tried to go round the group but they were weaving all over the place and somehow I ended up in the middle getting punched from both sides again and with someone really annoying tickling my feet on every stroke. I pushed a little bit to get away from Mr Tickle.
My target was to swim under last year's time, and I thought I was swimming well enough to go a lot faster, but I think the fighting and the colder water made a difference. Garmin actually has me out of the water at 27:22, but there is a short run up to the timing mats so an equal comparison puts me at 28:14. 20 seconds quicker than last year. Inside my target. Happy enough.
I faffed a bit in transition, but intentionally. I really need to practice my full half ironman transition, and that is going to include socks and towelling off and sunglasses and a load of other little bits. So I did the whole lot. This meant it was slow, but I was willing to give up seconds here for the practice and for the sake of minutes and some comfort later.
The bike course is a couple of miles downhill, then three laps of a triangle, then couple of miles back up the hill. The first side is fairly flat and fast but a bit twisty. The back straight is a bit of a slog, with a nippy little climb near the end. And the Third side is a time-trialist's dream, downhill, with open swooping corners at high speed.
I got a bit of a nosebleed on lap 1 and it kept dripping for the best part of the next two laps. It was never bad enough to bother me and wasn't affecting my breathing, but was a good reminder that I will need to be tight on my hayfever prep at Aberfeldy.
Along the first stretch on every lap I was catching a few places, but losing a few. I was catching a lot of girls, but getting caught by as many men. On the back straight I was losing more than I made, sometimes a few at a time. Then the long swooping fast section I was carving through places and loving the speed.
Coming round the back straight on the third lap I also caught up to Bert. I normally lose about a minute every 10k to Bert on a bike leg so I knew I was going really well. That gave me another boost and I pushed on up sharp hill. I turned onto the sweeping home stretch for the last time and was ready to pick off the few people in front of me. I waved a car past, but then the much slower bike in front didn't, so I got stuck behind him and the car. Was very frustrating and the watch says it cost me nearly 30 seconds.
As soon as the car moved I got back into fast TT mode and took the slow rider, but the other pair had gone into the distance. Onto the climb back up to the Loch and I was still ticking over nicely. I knew I had a super-fast bike split but I didn't check my watch going into transition and it was only once I got out onto the run that I noticed I was still over 5 minutes under my target bike time. My target was to bike 5 minutes faster than last year. In the end I biked nearly 6 minutes faster than my target as well. 10:47 faster than last year. Really pleased!
A quick bit of maths in my head and I knew I was on for my overall target if I got anywhere near my run target. I went off nice and steadily, knowing there was a big hill coming.The first mile felt ok but I realised that the price of my fast bike split and my holiday hillwalking was that my legs were having none of it on the hill. The heat was also starting to bite and I realised I was getting sunburnt and dehydrated. I found myself walking on the hill. I downed both my gels (should have had them on the bike and grabbed more at T2). My hip was bugging me a bit as well but I jogged in between bouts of walking on the hill. A lot of the girls that I had passed on the bike were making their places back, but I recognised a few of them on the way past and realised they should have all been well ahead of me coming off the bike, and be 5 minutes further up the road than me anyway so wasn't too annoyed to have them just passing me then.
Onto the flat I managed to get moving again. I had to stop at the water station before going into the off-road section. (Should have drunk more on the bike as well!). Once I reached the top of the hill I managed to get into a better rhythm. I was still losing places but at least was moving and could almost call it running. Had to stop again at the water station on the downhill. Then on the downhill road section I was still losing places, and realised I wasn't quite going to make my run target. But I thought I was still going to go a minute or two faster than last year for the run section so kept working as much as I could. I missed my run target by about a minute. So I am a bit disappointed that I didn't run a bit quicker. But still 3:51 faster than last year.
Overall, I ducked under my total time target by a very sneaky 4 seconds. Over a 3 hour race it sounds like I cut it pretty close but bearing in mind that the target time was a seemingly ridiculous 15 minutes under last year even to get near it was really fantastic.
And there were 42 people behind me this year rather than 4 from 2012, including all of the ThreePeakers (except maybe 1 but not sure his membership is paid up).
Really pleased overall. Especially pleased with the bike. And can't say enough good things about the marshalling and organisation.
Few good reminder lessons for Aberfeldy:
Drink more.
Eat / gel more.
Remember to prep for hayfever.
Don't work so hard on the bike.
Suncream!
1. Swim faster than 28:34.
2. Bike faster than 1:28:17.
3. Run faster than 53:28.
4. Finish faster than 2:48:18.
You can get the full results here.
And here are the real numbers:
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The water was colder than it has been for the last couple of months and colder than Loch Lomond last week. It was fine once you were swimming though. I spent too much time reading the internet last week. I knew this would slow me down so I would need to get more of a tow if I wanted a quick time so I let swimsmooth talk me into getting in the middle of the pack rather than my usual plan of staying off to the side. This meant being in amongst a lot of kicking and punching early on.
The swim start was the busiest open water start I have ever been in. It was messy at the start, and then messy throughout. By the time we were on to the back straight of the first lap I had enough of the scrapping but a nice gap opened up in front of me as the groups started to break up. I pushed into it and found myself spearheading a trailing group. I figured that if I was going to be working at the front of the group anyway, I might as well work a bit harder and try and cross the gap to the next group instead. It took me about half a lap to make it across the gap. I then tried to go round the group but they were weaving all over the place and somehow I ended up in the middle getting punched from both sides again and with someone really annoying tickling my feet on every stroke. I pushed a little bit to get away from Mr Tickle.
My target was to swim under last year's time, and I thought I was swimming well enough to go a lot faster, but I think the fighting and the colder water made a difference. Garmin actually has me out of the water at 27:22, but there is a short run up to the timing mats so an equal comparison puts me at 28:14. 20 seconds quicker than last year. Inside my target. Happy enough.
I faffed a bit in transition, but intentionally. I really need to practice my full half ironman transition, and that is going to include socks and towelling off and sunglasses and a load of other little bits. So I did the whole lot. This meant it was slow, but I was willing to give up seconds here for the practice and for the sake of minutes and some comfort later.
The bike course is a couple of miles downhill, then three laps of a triangle, then couple of miles back up the hill. The first side is fairly flat and fast but a bit twisty. The back straight is a bit of a slog, with a nippy little climb near the end. And the Third side is a time-trialist's dream, downhill, with open swooping corners at high speed.
I got a bit of a nosebleed on lap 1 and it kept dripping for the best part of the next two laps. It was never bad enough to bother me and wasn't affecting my breathing, but was a good reminder that I will need to be tight on my hayfever prep at Aberfeldy.
Along the first stretch on every lap I was catching a few places, but losing a few. I was catching a lot of girls, but getting caught by as many men. On the back straight I was losing more than I made, sometimes a few at a time. Then the long swooping fast section I was carving through places and loving the speed.
Coming round the back straight on the third lap I also caught up to Bert. I normally lose about a minute every 10k to Bert on a bike leg so I knew I was going really well. That gave me another boost and I pushed on up sharp hill. I turned onto the sweeping home stretch for the last time and was ready to pick off the few people in front of me. I waved a car past, but then the much slower bike in front didn't, so I got stuck behind him and the car. Was very frustrating and the watch says it cost me nearly 30 seconds.
As soon as the car moved I got back into fast TT mode and took the slow rider, but the other pair had gone into the distance. Onto the climb back up to the Loch and I was still ticking over nicely. I knew I had a super-fast bike split but I didn't check my watch going into transition and it was only once I got out onto the run that I noticed I was still over 5 minutes under my target bike time. My target was to bike 5 minutes faster than last year. In the end I biked nearly 6 minutes faster than my target as well. 10:47 faster than last year. Really pleased!
A quick bit of maths in my head and I knew I was on for my overall target if I got anywhere near my run target. I went off nice and steadily, knowing there was a big hill coming.The first mile felt ok but I realised that the price of my fast bike split and my holiday hillwalking was that my legs were having none of it on the hill. The heat was also starting to bite and I realised I was getting sunburnt and dehydrated. I found myself walking on the hill. I downed both my gels (should have had them on the bike and grabbed more at T2). My hip was bugging me a bit as well but I jogged in between bouts of walking on the hill. A lot of the girls that I had passed on the bike were making their places back, but I recognised a few of them on the way past and realised they should have all been well ahead of me coming off the bike, and be 5 minutes further up the road than me anyway so wasn't too annoyed to have them just passing me then.
Onto the flat I managed to get moving again. I had to stop at the water station before going into the off-road section. (Should have drunk more on the bike as well!). Once I reached the top of the hill I managed to get into a better rhythm. I was still losing places but at least was moving and could almost call it running. Had to stop again at the water station on the downhill. Then on the downhill road section I was still losing places, and realised I wasn't quite going to make my run target. But I thought I was still going to go a minute or two faster than last year for the run section so kept working as much as I could. I missed my run target by about a minute. So I am a bit disappointed that I didn't run a bit quicker. But still 3:51 faster than last year.
Overall, I ducked under my total time target by a very sneaky 4 seconds. Over a 3 hour race it sounds like I cut it pretty close but bearing in mind that the target time was a seemingly ridiculous 15 minutes under last year even to get near it was really fantastic.
And there were 42 people behind me this year rather than 4 from 2012, including all of the ThreePeakers (except maybe 1 but not sure his membership is paid up).
Really pleased overall. Especially pleased with the bike. And can't say enough good things about the marshalling and organisation.
Few good reminder lessons for Aberfeldy:
Drink more.
Eat / gel more.
Remember to prep for hayfever.
Don't work so hard on the bike.
Suncream!
Training Review - Week 31 - July 29 to August 4
Monday I went to work during the day then headed off on my holiday. Went to Dundee at night. Did an easy core and stretching session.
Tuesday I went to Aberfeldy for a ride round the bike course.
Was a bit stressed before I started since my phone die on Monday night. Was ok once I got moving but that course is absolutely shit. It is by far the worst course I have ever ridden on a bike. The road surface is terrible, the climbs go on for ever, the descents are massively technical and ridiculously dangerous. There was loose gravel on all the tight corners on the way out, all the descent corners on both sides are blind so you don't know what is coming the other way or how tight the corner is going to get. I don't get how people that I know are bad descenders even manage to get round that course without dying.
I got to about 19 miles to where you start round Loch Rannoch and that was it. There was no way I was going to make it round that loop and then back over the hill so I had to turn back. I ended up over 3 hours for just 37 miles and there is no way I could have ridden another 20, nevermind trying to swim or run as well. The pace I was riding at won't even make the bike cut off and I had nothing left in the tank just trying to get round that. I would be nearly 6 hours just to get to the end of the bike. That has totally wrecked my confidence. I don't think I can even get round that course.
I can't even blame the bike and do a switch because the brakes on my road bike simlpy aren't good enough for those sort of descents.
Wednesday, I went hill walking over Ben Lomond with my holiday friends. I am going to claim the 8 miles against my run total for the week as it was pretty hard going.
Then we went for a swim in the Loch. Got suited up and swam 1k. Then getting out I stood on a sharp stone and cut my foot. Stupid!
Thursday, I started the morning digging around the cut in my foot with a safety pin. Found a chunk of stone inside it. Once I removed that it was much less painful. Then we went to the Burrell collection and the Glasgow Science Museum for the rest of the day. No points for guessing which of those I preferred.
Friday we went to Edinburgh Zoo. Didn't get to see the infamous pandas but everything else was good. Still pretty stiff from hill walking and was struggling a bit on the hills.
Saturday I decided to stick with a rest day and did some easy rollering and stretching to try and ease off some of the remaining tightness from Wednesday. Cleaned the bike and prepped all my race kit for Sunday. Except my goggles, which I loaned out to someone and need to remember to get back on my way to the race.
Sunday was Knockburn Standard. It is going to get a race report all to itself tomorrow. Then I did a stretching session and a short core session to finish off the week.
Tuesday I went to Aberfeldy for a ride round the bike course.
Was a bit stressed before I started since my phone die on Monday night. Was ok once I got moving but that course is absolutely shit. It is by far the worst course I have ever ridden on a bike. The road surface is terrible, the climbs go on for ever, the descents are massively technical and ridiculously dangerous. There was loose gravel on all the tight corners on the way out, all the descent corners on both sides are blind so you don't know what is coming the other way or how tight the corner is going to get. I don't get how people that I know are bad descenders even manage to get round that course without dying.
I got to about 19 miles to where you start round Loch Rannoch and that was it. There was no way I was going to make it round that loop and then back over the hill so I had to turn back. I ended up over 3 hours for just 37 miles and there is no way I could have ridden another 20, nevermind trying to swim or run as well. The pace I was riding at won't even make the bike cut off and I had nothing left in the tank just trying to get round that. I would be nearly 6 hours just to get to the end of the bike. That has totally wrecked my confidence. I don't think I can even get round that course.
I can't even blame the bike and do a switch because the brakes on my road bike simlpy aren't good enough for those sort of descents.
Wednesday, I went hill walking over Ben Lomond with my holiday friends. I am going to claim the 8 miles against my run total for the week as it was pretty hard going.
Then we went for a swim in the Loch. Got suited up and swam 1k. Then getting out I stood on a sharp stone and cut my foot. Stupid!
Thursday, I started the morning digging around the cut in my foot with a safety pin. Found a chunk of stone inside it. Once I removed that it was much less painful. Then we went to the Burrell collection and the Glasgow Science Museum for the rest of the day. No points for guessing which of those I preferred.
Friday we went to Edinburgh Zoo. Didn't get to see the infamous pandas but everything else was good. Still pretty stiff from hill walking and was struggling a bit on the hills.
Saturday I decided to stick with a rest day and did some easy rollering and stretching to try and ease off some of the remaining tightness from Wednesday. Cleaned the bike and prepped all my race kit for Sunday. Except my goggles, which I loaned out to someone and need to remember to get back on my way to the race.
Sunday was Knockburn Standard. It is going to get a race report all to itself tomorrow. Then I did a stretching session and a short core session to finish off the week.
So targets for last week (Week 31) were:
Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >75 miles. Run >10 miles. 2 short core and 2 short stretching sessions.
Actuals were:
Monday - Core session.
Tuesday - Holiday - Bike 37 miles, 3hours 5mins.
Wednesday - Holiday - Hill walking 8.1 miles in 5 hours 31mins. Swim 1,000m in 20mins.
Thursday - Holiday - Museuming in Glasgow.
Friday - Holiday - Edinburgh Zoo.
Saturday - Rollering and stretching.
Sunday - Knockburn Standard triathlon. Swim 1,500m, 28:14. Bike 25.9 miles, 1hr 22:30. Run 6 miles, 54:37.
Result -
Swim 1.6 miles (2,500 m). Bike 63.2 miles. Run 14.1 miles. 0 runs over 10 miles. 2 core and 2 stretching sessions.
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Training Plan - Week 32 - August 5 to 11
Start tapering from this week. Still need to be ticking over with running and swimming. And need to be spending time on bike handling on the TT bike. I don't know anywhere locally that is even close to the technical requirements of Aberfeldy so not sure where to practice.
Monday - Recover from Knockburn Standard.
Monday - Recover from Knockburn Standard.
Tuesday - Easy run.
Wednesday - Swim at Knockburn.
Thursday - Rest day.
Friday - Easy something.
Saturday - Easy ride
Sunday - Easy run
Target totals - Swim >1 miles. Bike >50 miles. Run >10 miles. 2 short core and 2 short stretching sessions.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Race Preview - Knockburn Standard
Here is my 2012 tracker:
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And here is a link to my 2012 race report.
In 2012 I was 5th last, but I was happy to finish. This year I will not be happy with anything like that performance. I could set myself an easy target of going 3 minutes quicker and breaking 3 hours. But really I would still be gutted if that was the best I could do.
So instead I am going to be somewhat more ambitious and set all the following targets. And I am going to break them all.
1. Swim faster. My swim last year actually wasn't too bad, so I will take anything faster. I think I can probably go about 2 minutes quicker this year, but for the sake of keeping the targets realistic I will just take anything at all faster.
2. Bike 5 minutes faster. That sounds like a huge chunk. Mostly because it is. My ride last year was awful, so I can make most of that just by being fitter and not riding like a donkey. The new bike should also get me a couple of minutes over this sort of distance despite the lumps on the back stretch of this course.
3. Run 5 minutes faster. Another big chunk, but 58 minutes was terrible and if I can't do a 53 minute 10k then there is no way I should be going anywhere near Aberfeldy Half. To be honest I could have made this a 10 minute target but the run course is pretty steep so sticking with sensible.
4. Overall 15 minutes faster. 2 hours 48 would still have put me in the lower half of last year's results. And the people I think I should be racing were all closer to 2 hours 30.
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