Training Review - Week 18 - April 29 to May 5

Monday I did a long stretching session before swimming. This definitely made a big difference after the weekend's cycling. Session totalled out at 1,800m with some sighting drills and a lot of aerobic work.

Tuesday I was going for a short run with a friend, but we arranged to start from her work, so I could do an extra mile each way to the start. This gave me 7 miles in an about an hour.

Also my new TT bike arrived. It is going to get a post to itself at some point.

Wednesday, set a new low on the brick session. Bailed completely on it. Was utterly exhausted. Haven't had a rest day for 10 days and then didn't sleep well. Did do my stretching session and plank.

Thursday, I decided to spread the missed brick over Thursday and Friday to fit in with times for a Friday cinema trip. So I did a quick 10-mile on the exercise bike. This leaves me looking for 40 more at the weekend. If the weather is dry I am going to try and do 4 x 10-mile time trials back-to-back. Two on each bike, 5 miles out from my house and 5 back. This should give me a rough idea of how the new bike handles, what difference it makes to my speed, how comfortable it is etc, all without ever being more than 5 miles from my house in case anything needs a major fix or adjustment. Did do my stretching session and plank again.

Friday I went to the gym before the cinema. Did an easy 5k run in 25 mins. Then went on the rowing maching for the first time since I had my collar bone pinned, did 10 minutes without any problems. Added in my 10 minute stretching session and plank.


Saturday I wet out to test my new bike. Did 2 x 10 mile rides, have put the details of those into the post about my new bike. One on each bike. Plank 65 secs. And a core session.

Sunday I was crewing at Deeside Duathlon / Triathlon. That is a long hard day out, and I got some sunburn from it. Still managed to fit in an easy 5 mile run while waiting for the kayak leg to finish.

Bit of a short week for totals, and a missed bike target but a huge week to follow so happy enough with what I have done. Also it actually works out close to what I want to do in an "average" week this year so no complaints.


So targets for last week (Week 18) were:

Swim >1 mile. Bike >50 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Actuals were:
Monday - 10 minute stretching session. Plank 35 seconds.

Swim with TPT, 1,800m in 55 mins.

Tuesday - 7 mile run, 61mins. 
10 minute stretching session. Plank 40 seconds.

Wednesday - Rest Day. 
10 minute stretching session. Plank 55 seconds.

Thursday - 10 mile exercise bike in 30 mins.
10 minute stretching session. Plank 60 seconds.

Friday - Treadmill 5k in 24:35. Rowing machine, 10mins for 2,152m. 10 minute stretching session. 

Plank 60 seconds.

Saturday - 10.3 mile bike (road bike), 36 mins.
10.3 mile bike ride (TT bike), 34 mins.
10 minute core session. Plank 65 seconds.

Sunday - 5 mile run, 40 mins.

Result - 

Swim 1.1 miles (1,800 m). Bike 30.6 miles. Run 15.2 miles. 1 core and 5 stretching session.

Training Plan - Week 19 - May 6 to 12

Holiday on Monday this week so three long days in this week, including 2 very long rides. 80 on the Monday is going to be by far my longest ride ever and is way over what I would do in a normal week. So some big mileage targets for the week.

My core and flexibility have been massively neglected. I can barely hold a plank for 30 seconds! And I can't reach my toes until part way through a stretching session. This is starting to become an issue on the bike as they are both limiting how long I can spend in my aero position. Fortunately, as I have tested this week, I can work on them without really affecting any of my other sessions so I am going to add to my current plan by putting 6 x 15 minute sessions a week. I started this as a trial last week, but it is in as a proper part of the plan for this week.

4 runs planned in for this week, including a long one on the Sunday. Might drop one of them for a swim if I don't make the TPT Monday night session, or to get in a second swim. 

Monday - Long ride ~80 miles. Stretching. 
Might manage swimming with TPT as well, but not really expecting to.

Tuesday - Easy recovery run. Core.

Wednesday - Run. Stretching. 100 days to Aberfeldy!

Thursday -  Treadmill run. Star Trek Into Darkness! Core.

Friday - Rest Day. Stretching. 

Saturday - Long bike. Core.

Sunday - Long run. >9 miles.

Target totals - Swim >1 mile. Bike >120 miles. Run >20 miles. 3 short core and 3 short stretching sessions. 

Shiny thing!

This is my shiny new toy.

The reason I have held off posting this one is that I wasn't sure I was keeping it. Wiggle did a shit job of  assembling and shipping it. They claim "Each DA is fully built, tested and tuned by Wiggle's team of qualified bike mechanics to ensure you're bike arrives in perfect condition." 

They ask for your size info, but don't set it up for that size. Then they ship it with half the parts not fitted, and stuffed in the box so that the loose handlebars chip all the fork paintwork and scratch the rims. Then we start on the sheer laziness; they don't grease the carbon parts so they are already seized by the time they arrive, they half inflate the tyres, they break one of the dust caps, they don't adjust the brakes equally (fronts are loose, rears are so tight they rub) , they supply the battery charger with a korean plug, and don't charge the battery, the cable tidies are missing or incorrectly fitted ... the list is extensive. 

It arrived Tuesday, and I spent a chunk of that evening putting the basics together to get it to the state of the photo. I then spent another couple of hours of Wednesday evening trying to undo some of that fault list, much of which involved removing sizeable bits of machinery in order to refit them correctly. And a bit of Friday evening fiddling with the settings to try and get them closer to the right set up for my size.

I finally took it out for a ride on saturday morning. I planned to ride 4 x 10 mile time trials, two on each bike. I did a 10-mile route from my house on my road bike in 35:36. Then I had a 15 min break then went out on the TT bike and did the same route in 33:58. My plan was to try and keep the effort levels easy and then to go out again on each bike. Doing each ride twice would hopefully correct out some of the inherent errors. However, this would be the point where I found out that Wiggle hadn't bothered to charge the battery on the Di2 shifters so I had to take them apart and go to the shop for a cable to charge it.

Anyway, with some fine tuning still to do on my position, and feeling like I put fairly similar effort levels into each ride it looks like the change of bike is worth 10 seconds a mile, or thereabouts. It is slower through corners, but I think much of that was just me being a bit nervous on it. It is much more comfortable in the aero position than sat up. It is difficult to climb on, not slower just more difficult to balance and handle. Brakes are better, the Di2 shifters are nice but are going to take some getting used to.

Have fiddled again with some of the positions. And charge the battery. If I get home at a sensible time tomorrow and am not too tired I will maybe take it out on the same route again. But don't want to do too much as I am going out for an 80-mile ride on Monday.

For any bike nuts out there, here is the full spec:

Top Features of the Felt DA2 Dura Ace Di2 2012

The DA is the ultimate TT machine and is designed entirely for speed. Built around the aerodynamic UHC Advanced carbon fibre frame and using Shimano's Dura Ace Di2 components, the DA2 is ready to tackle your next race against the clock.

Frame: Felt TT/Tri UHC Advanced MMC carbon fibre

Fork: Felt Bayonet3 UHC Advanced MMC carbon fibre monocoque

Headset: Felt Bayonet3 stainless steel 19mm integrated ACB

Stem: Felt Bayonet3 integrated 2D forged & CNC machined aluminium

Handlebar: Felt Bayonet bar with Di2 optimised internal cable routing, integrated adjustable length UHC Ultimate + Nano carbon fibre bend tri-position extensions

Bar Tape: Felt Gel Velvet

Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 & SW-7971 bar end

Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, braze-on

Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, 10 speed

Chainset: Vision TriMax carbon TT BB30, 53/39T

Bottom Bracket: FSA BB30

Chain: Shimano 10 speed

Cassette: Shimano 11-25T

Brake Levers: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2

Brakes: Felt integrated aerodynamic front U-brake & rear liner pull with cartridge brake pads

Saddle: Felt SL Tri/TT

Seat Post: Felt Aero UHC Ultimate carbon fibre bladed monocoque x 350mm

Wheelset: Reynolds/Felt TTR1 AWS 46mm deep carbon clincher

Tyres: Felt Aero TTR AWS 220tpi clincher, 700c x 23c

Accessories: Di2 battery & battery charger, aero battery cover

• Road
• Frame Material: Carbon
• Wheel Size: 700c (622)
• Fork Material: Carbon
• Model Year: 2012
• Brake Type: Caliper
• Chainset type: Double
• Groupset Manufacturer: Shimano
• Unisex
• Cable Routing: Internal
• Condition: New

Built with the wind-cheating Bayonet base bar, Reynolds/Felt TTR1 aero wheels, and internal cable routing, the DA2 is a no compromises race machine. Dura Ace Di2 electronic shifters deliver precise and accurate shifting, while the Bayonet 3 fork provides exceptional aerodynamics and unprecedented adjustability.

Training Review - Week 17 - April 22 to 28

Swim session was brutal. Lots of kick-only and pull-only drills. Not really what you want to be doing the day after a race. This was once again my longest swim session ever. Now at 2,150m. Race distance for my half ironman is only 1,900m so am already going 10% over that in 55 minutes with breaks between them. I am beginning to wonder if I can be out of the water close to 30 minutes on race day.

Pretty chuffed with Tuesday's run. Longer than I have been doing but went faster as well. OK, it was a very flat route along the old railway line, but still pretty happy with it.

Wednesday's brick session is turning into something of a nightmare. I can't remember the last time I finished it. It has become much too easy to quit it. I tried switching it back round to run then bike to get through it. My shoelace came undone at the 31 minute mark on the treadmill, so I hit pause, but then when I bent down to do my lace the auto-shut-off kicked in. I decided just to give it up and go do my hour on the bike. But I only managed about 20minutes of that before I was fed up of it and was working out where I could squeeze the rest of the time into my week.

Thursday the cinema timetable worked out well for me so I had an hour to kill after work. Managed to get on the treadmill and finish off my running miles for the week.

Friday I thought about having a rest day before two big biking days. But then I would have been shorting my swim target for the week. So I decided to sneak in a trip to Bucksburn. I like being the fastest person in the pool. I don't like being the second fastest person in the pool when some wee girl turns up and starts lapping me.

Saturday I went for a training ride from my house with a couple of guys from TPT. I was really struggling to go at their pace and thought it was just from trying to breathe the really cold air. So at about 15 miles I told them to charge on and I would cut back on my own. A couple of miles further and I was getting really uncomfortable from how rough the road was. Only looking at the road surface, it didn't look that bad... Once my brain caught up I realised I had a slow puncture on the back. Took me nearly a mile to find a safe layby to pull over and it didn't seem to be getting much flatter than when I first noticed it, so I took a gamble on topping it up with some fresh gas every 4 or 5 of miles to make the remaining 13 miles home. Got away with this trick a couple of times but then hit a pothole and popped it properly. 

Changing tubes with my winter gloves on is a hassle. Changing tubes in the cold without my winter gloves on was worse. As with Wednesday's brick session I was doing maths in my head as I pedalled back trying to figure out how short a route I could take and still make 100 miles for the week.

Sunday I was in two minds about going out on the bike again, but I dragged myself out to Kintore. So pleased that I did. Beautiful day and did 56 miles. That is the first full race-distance ride I have done. Doing a decent average speed, and I was doing more turns on the front than usual. Averaged out over 15 miles an hour with a few fast miles up at 27 and 29 mph. Even had to pocket some of my winter gear part way round because it was getting too hot!

So this week:
First time I have swum 2 miles in a week without a race, ever.
First time I have ridden my race distance in one ride.
Longest single swim session ever.
Longest single ride ever.
Longest weekly bike total ever.
... so despite dropping out of sessions on Wednesday and Saturday, an awesome training week.

So targets for last week (Week 17) were:

Swim >2 miles. Bike >60 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 2,150m in 55mins.

Tuesday - 5 mile run. Dyce railway line. 43mins.

Wednesday - Gym brick. Treadmill 3.6 miles, 31mins. Exercise bike 7 miles, 23mins.

Thursday - Treadmill 6.5 miles in 55 mins. Cinema - Iron Man 3.

Friday - Swim 1,100m in 23mins.

Saturday - 31 miles in 2 hours 29. With a few stops.

Sunday - 56.1 miles in 3 hours 42. Stretching session. Core and stretching session.

Result - 

Swim 2.0 miles (3,250m). Bike 94.1 miles. Run 15.1 miles. 1 core and 1 stretching session.

Training Plan - Week 18 - April 29 to May 5

Mileage for this week is reigned back in a bit as I have volunteered to crew for a couple of friends at Deeside Duathlon on Sunday and that takes a whole day out of my available training options. But the following week I have Monday off work to go for a long ride. Also I have another forced rest day back in to stop me from just nipping little chunks of runs and rides and hopefully this forces me to do some longer ones. 

Monday - Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy recovery run.

Wednesday - Brick. 1hr bike and 45 min run is the target but will take 30 and 30. 

Thursday - Long run.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Long bike.

Sunday - Crewing for Deeside Duathlon. Might manage to sneak in a short run at some point.

Target totals - Swim >1 mile. Bike >50 miles. Run >15 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Race review - Turriff Triathlon

It was spitting rain through the morning but never anything more than a few wee dots. But it was pretty windy, so I decided to leave socks with my bike shoes and leave my bike jacket and gloves at the pool exit.

The swim seemed like it should go well to start with. Everyone in my lane was similar speeds. Unfortunately that quickly got messy as everyone wanted to be out in front so there was lots of tapping and overtaking. The shorter pool made this even worse than it should have been. Honestly I should have fought my way to the front, having lapped the next fastest swimmer from my lane on Monday's time trial I knew I could lead that lane, but it was getting silly so I decided to let them fight it out and save my energy for the bike and run. So from less than 100m into the race I was already switched off from racing mode and just coasting. I let them all pass and just sat on the end of the queue getting a free ride.

My time was 15:36 but this includes the long run to transition. Garmin was misbehaving so I don't have my actual swim time, but last year it took me 2 mins to get from swim to T1 so assuming the same I probably swam about 13:30. 30 seconds or so faster than last year despite the faffing about at the start.

Now, I mentioned above that there was the odd spit of rain in the morning. This was not the reality when we exited the pool. It was absolutely pissing down. My bike jacket was wetter than I was. When I got to my bike I found my towel and socks were soaked through so I scrapped the socks and gave my feet a quick rub on the towel to take off some of the car park grit. Shoes on and then I grabbed my helmet. Quick lesson learned that my aero helmet doesn't have a lot of vents, so the puddle in it had gotten quite large before I tipped it over my face. I was now fed up with the whole idea.

Turriff definitely favours cyclists. The bike route is disproportionately long for a sprint race and is pretty much half way uphill and half way downhill. It was raining and cold for the whole of the climb. It even reached the point where I decided the wet gloves were a better option than the frozen fingers and pulled on my gloves while pedalling. A couple of times on the ride out I thought about just jacking it in for the day.

I was also having problems with my breathing. Seems the lurgie that is going around work is a chest infection. Was struggling to breathe all the way round on the bike. the wet roads and the traffic were not helping either. Some twat in a purple P-reg Range Rover came barrelling along the single track road  on the wrong side and I had to swerve into the ditch to avoid being hit. That threw my confidence on the descents and I completely lost sight of the riders in front. Then a truck driver pulling out of  RJ Milne's decided he needed both lanes so I had to stop and wait for him. Overall the ride felt pretty terrible, but 2 minutes quicker than last year so shouldn't really be complaining.

The last descent into T2 passes the outgoing runners and I was a bit disappointed by the size of the gaps that I was going to have to chase. This was soon to turn into a minor issue though. When I got to T2 there were lovely puddles inside my shoes, and with no socks on and the lock laces set tight I couldn't get my running shoes on. I almost pulled the plug again at this point.

I did finally manage to struggle into them and set of on the run with a wet squelch on every footstep. The wet insoles meant my right one had wrinkled up under my toes but it wasn't as bad as feeling like every step was in a puddle so I ignored it and carried on. The idea of trying to get my trainer off and on again to sort it out didn't appeal.

The gaps in front were too big for me to catch anyone but I kept working anyway in case the times from the other swim heats were catchable. I was caught by a girl (once upon a time that was unthinkable on a run section) and I clocked a slower time than last year, but this may not be comparable as the turn point is a bit random and I can't compare Garmin tracks. I felt like I was running better than last year so should probably be happier with it.

Here are my full set of results.

Split Name	Race Time	Leg Time	Time of Day	Pos	Cat Pos	Gen Pos
Swim	00:15:36	00:15:36	13:30:46	35	21	32
T1	00:16:34	00:00:58	13:31:44	48	27	41
Cycle	01:03:26	00:46:52	14:18:36	36	23	34
T2	01:04:28	00:01:01	14:19:38	55	26	42
Run	01:24:18	00:19:50	14:39:28	25	18	24

I should be happy to go two minutes faster than last year. Looking at the results from both years the average times seem to be a minute slower for the weather as well so overall it was probably worth 3 minutes on last year. But I think that is probably a stretch. Trying to convince myself that going quicker at all on such a bad day was a success but not quite convincing myself.

All in:

Annoyed about the swim time, but had plenty to go faster. Will declare a faster swim next time and get in a better lane.

Frustrated with the weather on the ride, and with how much I lost my nerve after the idiot in the Range Rover.

Disappointed with my own failure to prepare for the weather. (I could have bagged all my clothes as a precaution against the weather without affecting my transition).

Next race:

Probably Knockburn Sprint Triathlon on June 9th.

Possibly Aberfeldy Sprint Triathlon on May 26th.

Training Review - Week 16 - April 15 to 21

Monday started with a time trial at swimming. A 750m time trial in 13min 34, with the first 400m done in 7min 30. (possibly both 50m too long, might have double counted somewhere looking at the pacing). My best 750m in a race is 14:01, and that was being towed along by a lane full of faster swimmers. So really chuffed to swim 13:34 doing all the work at the front. Not intending to work quite that hard in Sunday's race as it pretty much emptied the tank and I wouldn't have been able to bike or run off the back of it, but depending on who else is in my lane I could put in a similar time again with less effort.  

Tuesday was a very hilly and very windy 5k off-road run. Suffering a bit from Monday's time trial. But then came home and did a core session as well.

Wednesday I was feeling pretty terrible. Can't tell if it is lurgie but feeling very run down. Might just be that I made last night's spag bol using quorn mince because I didn't want to wait for the Tesco delivery man, and body has been confused by the lack of calories. Did 30 slow mins on the exercise bike but was really struggling. 

Thursday. Rest day. Went to see Olympus Has Fallen. It is stupid, but in a good way. Also did a mini service on my road bike for Sunday's race, and moved the tribars apart a little to see if that helps my shoulder.

Friday I was still feeling a bit drained from what is definitely a mild lurgie. I decided against the mtb brick that was on my schedule and instead went for an easy run around Dyce to just collect my weekly run mileage. Legs were feeling surprisingly comfortable after a light day and a rest day and rolled in a half decent time.

Saturday I went for an easy ride round Dyce to check out the bike and clear my legs out. 

Sunday was Turriff Triathlon, which will get a race report to itself. But the basic story is it was cold and wet, but 2 minutes faster than last year.

Bit disappointing on the totals this week. Didn't realise how short the time trial session would total out to, but can't complain about either swim this week for pace. The midweek breathing problems that were still hanging around at the weekend were the main reason for not making the bike total. 

So targets for last week (Week 16) were:

 Swim >1.5 mile. Bike >35 miles. Run >10 miles. A core or stretching session. 

Actuals were:
Monday - Swim with TPT, 1,400m in 55mins. Including time trial 400m in 7:30, 750m in 13:34.

Tuesday - 3.2 mile run at Kirkhill in 29 mins.

Wednesday - Exercise bike 9.1 miles in 30 mins.

Thursday - Rest Day.

Friday - Run 3.7 miles, 28 mins.

Saturday - Easy ride 9.3 miles in 37 mins. Stretching session.

Sunday - Turriff Sprint Triathlon. 750m swim ~14mins, 20k bike 47mins, 5k run 20mins.

Result - 

Swim 1.3 miles (1,400m). Bike 30.8 miles. Run 10 miles. 1 core and 1 stretching session.