not another average joe!!

All the hard work

2012-02-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

I haven’t really done a kind of training update for my blog in a while so I thought I would do one for a change

All the hard work is done now and I definitely feel ready for my first race on the 4^th March. Training has been going really well and I’ve literally been beasting myself day in day out for as long as I can remember especially over the last 3 weeks where I’ve been constantly setting training PBs.

So first things first swimming, since I got back from the Kinetic PB training camp I started swimming by myself at the aquatics centre in Manchester and I’ve been seeing improvements week on week so all in all it’s going well. The actual training itself consists of 5-6 swims a week which are split into Endurance, Threshold, or Speed sessions. To be honest I’ve changed the training which I do for swimming massively but can tell it’s working I recently swam a sub 5 400 and it felt hard but not flat out, something I would have had to kill myself for previously, I also feel much stronger when doing longer intervals which is key for triathlon when your doing swims of 1500m+.

Swimming is still my weakest discipline but it’s improving all the time so I can’t ask for anymore then that.

Cycling:

Going off the power from my powertap I’m definitely putting out more power then last year but have been unable to race due to there being none on yet. Last year I think the most power I put out in a 10 mile time trial was 357 W, I recently did that in the last 12 minute effort on the turbo on Tuesday. My power generally seems to be lower on the turbo so a good sign if the powertap isn’t over reading!:) I’ve also put in much, much less miles then in previous years. I have been done 2 speed sessions religiously through the winter, something I had never done before and it seems as though it’s paying dividends. I feel fresher and stronger but time will tell.

Running:

This has gone from strength to strength. A session which I use to gage myself on is my tempo run as I’ve been doing them on roughly the same roads since I started running. Last year I was doing it as 2*3 mile tempos with a really easy mile recovery in the middle and was averaging around 5.55-5.58 pace for each section of 3 miles and felt as if I was killing myself to achieve this. Then when Paul started coaching me in April I started doing a 5 mile tempo run and was managing to dip under 6 minute per mile pace but the last two miles were excruciating. I think at my best in the season I averaged around 5.50 pace which was relatively fresh and I had properly psyched myself up for it. On Monday I managed 5.26 minutes per mile pace with the week before at 5.37 pace. These two runs were done after a day at work and I think definitely show progression.

So with my first race on the 4^th march I’m feeling very confident, I’ve trained the most consistently and the hardest I have ever trained. I don’t feel fatigued though from it I feel really fresh and just can’t wait to get stuck in, I entered this race at the start of my winter training phase as motivation to get me through the winter and it’s certainly done the trick. I’m currently out in Spain at Kinetic PB again with the Man Tri training camp so will probably do an update during the week about how it’s going. I’m out here as a coach for it and I have to say it’s a unique experience as when I’ve been on training camps in the past I basically just smash myself every day but with me tapering down and the fact that if I did that to them guys they would probably ring my neck it’s been a unique experience and organizing the training to make them get the most out of there week has been a unique experience and really fulfilling.

Being Hard or just being Stupid

2012-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

As endurance athletes we all like to pride ourselves on being hard, I mean 99% of the time the person that hurts the most will win. Countless hours and sacrifices are made in order to get to the start line.

Now at the moment all that hard work is being accumulated in the hope that we can beat a personal best, win races, or even suffer more then you have before, maybe you just want to smash your mates in training, whatever presses your buttons!

The problem what we face though is the terrible weather especially at the moment, no one want to lose the fitness which they have gained through December and January but when the temperatures are below freezing and it’s snowing or there’s ice on the roads what do you do? Major Dilemma, you can dress up warm face the elements and make the most of it, but is this really sensible?

Now I may no be the sharpest tool in the box, actually let me correct that I’m definitely not the sharpest tool in the box and have been a fan of the “no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing” but things have changed recently. It’s as if someone has turned he lights on and I’m seeing things differently now. It came after not this Friday gone but the previous Friday where I found myself riding through at least 3 Blizzards, pissing rain and pretty much everything you don’t want to ride in (I really don’t want to know what I did in a previous life).

I had o stop at a café and get 2 black bin bags over my kit to help stop the rain and try and help me warm myself up, I did 4.5 hours and didn’t feel to bad once I got in well that’s a lie after my housemate opened the front door and I got out the shower. If anything I was actually quite smug thinking nothing can stop me, I’ve just banked 4.5 hours in the worst possible conditions.

The next day at work when I telling the lads about what I had been caught up in Nick basically said “you’re an idiot training in that, the cold will have taken a lot more out of you then you thought and you will make yourself ill”. At first I thought it will be fine but I did notice that after that mornings training I felt much more tired then normal, I didn’t think nothing of it at the time but people said I did look pretty nailed. It was a pretty routine Saturday I didn’t do anything different then normal. Then on Monday I felt nailed on my long run, and on Wednesday felt as if I was coming down with something I didn’t read to much into it at first so carried on as normal then on Thursday it got a bit worse so I took Thursday off, Friday very easy, and then Saturday off.

The 3 days which I pretty much took off cleared it and I’m fine now but I wouldn’t be surprised if it all stemmed from the extra stress I put my body under on the Friday. The result was a dodgy long run a few days of missed training which as a one off isn’t bad but when training for any sport consistency is key and while it might of seemed like a good idea going out at the time in hindsight it wasn’t one of my brightest moments and in future I will be sticking to the turbo.

I know some people will say going on the turbo is the soft option but if anyone has done a 3 hour turbo session they will know that it’s definitely not an easy way out! A good session to do on the turbo if you ever find yourself unable to get out on the road and want a good substitute for a long ride try this- 20 minutes steady, 8*10 minutes with 10 minutes steady riding between reps, alternate big gear and normal cadence for the reps and you don’t want to do them full on probably about 25m tt pace. It’s a solid session but the time goes fairly quick and it will definitely be a good substitute for that long ride. I think you have to be fairly fit to complete that, if your not to fit at he moment or can’t stomach the full 3 hours try either:

20m steady, 4*10 (as above), 20m steady

10-20m w/u, 3*20m at hardest consistent effort with 5m recovery between efforts, 10m w/d

The session above is a great session which I have been doing every Tuesday, hurts like f**k though and upon finishing it you do feel as though you have been abused but no pain no gain!

Anyway if you do decide to go out in really bad weather just think making yourself ill or falling off will only make you slower and less fit. Oh and if it’s only cold and wet there’s no ice on the floor that’s o.k. stop pussying out MAN UP and get on the ROOOAAAADDDD!

2hour 20 marathoner Ben Fish Interview

2012-02-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

Now I’ve spoke about myself way to much on this blog, I mean even though my favourite topic is talking about myself even I’m getting fed up of it so I’m sure you guys must be!

So for this blog post I’ve come up with something a bit different, I’m going to do an interview with fellow work colleague and 2 hour 20 marathon runner Ben Fish. For those of you that don’t know Ben he’s 29 years old, has an ectomorphic body composition which is no surprise given the mileage he knocks in week in week out, he’s very modest and extremely hard working as well. Ben has helped me in some of my training runs by setting the pace so in return I’ve been helping him with his marathon specific tempos although I’ve been doing it on my bike next to him, he also won the Chester Marathon at the end of 2011.

Ben Fish Interview:

So Ben How long have you been running for and how did you get into it?

I've been running for 15 years and got into through wanting to improve my endurance for football. Up to that time I tended to do more cycling and was mainly encouraged into sport through my Dad.

How Many Miles a week do you run in a normal week and how does your training vary in a marathon specific phase?

Last year I covered over 4,000 miles which is about 80mpw average for the year. In a typical marathon block I get between 100 - 110 mpw. This year I plan on increasing that, always easier said than done though...

How do you manage to fit the training in while working full time?

By incorporating regular training runs to and from work. It takes a lot of planning logistically; take too many clothes and your backpack will weigh a tonne! Routine is very important, miss a morning run and those planned miles have gone! There's no other time in the day you can make it up.

Is there anything you do to help improve recovery?

With work and running twice on most days I use recovery drinks, but only after hard sessions or long runs. If I run hard in the evening, I'll go slightly easier the next morning. Trying to get adequate sleep is difficult at times, but 7 - 8 hours is essential in big training phases, otherwise you end up getting ill or injured.

The Legend Ron Hill (above)

There’s a rumour that you did a days work and then ran home from Wilmslow to Darwen (31 miles) Is this true?

Yes, it was after a long shift on Monday and I didn't get home until 10pm, 3 1/2 hours after I finished work. It was easy going until I hit Bolton, then it's one big climb to the edge of Darwen, then a couple of miles downhill. My quads ached for quite a bit after that! It's certainly not a regular run and now that I live in Fallowfield I need to find new places to run to for those kind of runs!

What is your biggest Achievement?

There's two achievements that spring to mind. Winning the inter-counties 10,000m in 2006 was probably the best race I have won. The other one was running for England and getting my pb of 2hr 20 for the marathon in Toronto in 2009.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?

To run for Great Britain in the marathon, it’s been a long unfulfilled ambition that I refuse to give up on. To achieve that I know I have a long way to go and will require 4 minutes to be knocked off my current marathon pb.

Are there any runners from the past and do they inspire you if so how?

From the past it has to be Jim Peters from the 50's. He wasn't a natural and ran ugly, the story of his running career is fascinating, he went from an average track runner to the worlds best marathoner in 2hr 17 whilst holding down a full-time job. He's one of those athletes’ people like myself can relate to; he just got stuck in and run bloody hard... no nonsense! Ron Hill is another one, he's from Accrington (not far from Darwen) and a living legend, and it’s great to see him still getting stuck in after all these years and is always happy to offer advice to local athletes. Those guys would still be ranked in the top 10 for UK rankings in the marathon, in fact, Ron Hill's time would have had him ranked 1st for 2011!

The hard as Nails Jim Peters (above)

What do you think about when you go through a bad patch during a marathon, and how do you pace it?

It's certainly not easy, but I try to think about why I am here and what I came for. You've got to tell yourself that you've done the training and you can handle it. Think of those beastly training days you've put yourself through. You've got to practice the pace you run at often through tempo runs and workouts, if you can get through those unscathed then you should be able to handle it in the race. If you get your pace wrong and go off too fast, then that's where you can get yourself into trouble.

What tips would you give to Triathletes to improve there running?

Well, with only having to concentrate on one sport I suppose I have it quite easy! A lot of base mileage I do probably isn't as essential for a triathlete as the bike will put the hours in for endurance. Speed is crucial, as the saying goes "it's speed that kills, not the distance". Some of the top triathletes would give even the nations best runners a tough time in a 10k. Weekly track sessions are very important, then you want to be including a tempo run (practicing race pace at 50 - 75% of the race distance), then a long run where the main focus is time on your feet and finishing strongly (over-distance work).

As most Triathletes can only run 3 times a week what would you advise doing in these sessions if training for a:

Sprint/Olympic?

The long run isn't as important, but quality has to be the focus through track sessions and a tempo run. A session such as 1k reps (2 - 3min recovery) at 5k race pace are ideal, which will enable you to cope with the demands of racing hard over 10k.

Middle distance/Ironman?

It's still important to keep up the speed session and tempo runs, but a weekly long run needs to be added. The body has to be conditioned to run continuous for a prolonged period of time. Sessions such as mile reps at or just under threshold pace work well for intensity of a half marathon/marathon stage in a triathlon. For an ironman, if you cut out the non-essential aspects of training a marathon runner does (slow and steady runs over moderate miles) and integrate the key workouts (speed sessions, tempo, long run) you should be able to have time to train effectively for the other disciplines. Running shouldn't take up more than 30% of training and off 3/4 runs that should be about right.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing occasionally just for something different. Ben if you’re reading this thanks!

Inskip Half Marathon

2012-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today I competed in the Inskip Half marathon near Preston. Before the race I was hoping for time under 1.15 but really wanted to get in the 1.13s if I’m honest as I believe that’s the kind of times you need to at least be knocking in to be able to do a good half marathon off the bike in a 70.3 (1 hour 17 or below).

As this was my first stand alone half marathon I didn’t really know what to expect, well I did I knew it was going to be bloody painful as it’s only 75 minutes so your racing pretty much bang on or as close to threshold as possible and I know how bloody painful 25 mile TTs are in cycling.

Anyway once the race started two guys shot off pretty quick and I had to really stop myself from going with them as I have a tendency to start off bloody hard and race shit or bust which normally leaves me limping home! So I settled in a group of 4 with fellow Man Tri member Howard Mead, the pace felt really easy but we went through the first mile in 5.33 so I was pretty content to sit there as it felt really easy, after about another half a mile we turned into the headwind but we still went through the 2^nd mile in about 5.44 which again felt easy but as we continued to plough along into the headwind it felt very easy sitting in however first place had dropped 2^nd and was at least 40 seconds ahead and 2^nd was about 20 seconds but slowly pulling away. I had reached a dilemma and had 2 choices:

keep sitting in the group 2^nd and take an easy ride and ditch the others with a mile or 2 to go and probably get 3^rd place.

Put myself on the line, gamble and go shit or bust, try and catch 2^nd and then give it your best effort and see if you can win, success could be 1^st or 2^nd and maybe a decent time, failure could be a crap time and a shite position, also will be a lot more painful then option 1 and could end in tears!

I picked option 2 because at the end of the day it’s a bloody race and it’s not supposed to be easy is it. NO GUTS NO GLORY so off I went I caught 2^nd after about 1.5 miles and thought 1^st isn’t pulling away so I ditched 2^nd place on one of the drags and knew that once I had a gap on him that was it for him as we were going into the headwind so I knew he wouldn’t be able to close the gap. Little f****r tried to come with me though as I heard his breathing get heavier and heavier as I heard this I just turned the screw a little bit more. To be honest I nearly started blowing myself but it was quite fun!!! (cruel bastard).

So my head went down again and I thought come on then let’s have it I could see the leader and timed him at roughly 40-45 seconds ahead of me after about 4-5 miles. I went through 5 miles in 29.20 which is pretty crap but the head wind was grim, but at this point I couldn’t give a crap about the time I wasn’t racing for a time I was running to catch the leader and if I got a good time excellent. The gap to the leader stayed at 40 seconds until we took a left turn after 7.5 miles into a tail wind section where I rapidly started to catch him, it went down to 30, 25, then next it was 10 seconds and I was thinking bloody hell I might actually win this race, then after about 9.5 miles I caught him.

Now they say what goes around comes around and basically what I did to the guy earlier in the race got done to me. Once I caught the leader I upped the pace and I have to admit I had been on the limit for like the last 3 miles and I tried to go with him but it put me massively in the red. I knew he would do this and hoped it would just be a little acceleration and that it would settle down. I thought it’s just mind games and I knew that he had eased up just before I caught him so he could do this to me to try and crack me but I just couldn’t stay with him. He got a gap of about 10 seconds and held it at that until about 11.5 miles when I blew my doors off and limped in 35 seconds behind him in 1 hour 15 and 43 seconds.

I can’t remember the guys name and the results aren’t out but apparently he did a 2.24 marathon last year and a 31m 10k so he was probably in his comfort zone but at least he had to work for it a bit at the end and didn’t get it all his own way.

This race has been a massive confidence booster for me as running is by far and away not my strength so to be able to compete with runners and be up there is well like I said a massive confidence booster.

I’ve got my training programme for the next 6 weeks and again not a lot has changed it’s just little tinkering which includes:

Swimming later in the morning, in the pool for 8 instead of 6.30 as this gives me an extra 1.5 hours sleep and after doing it on the training camp I had much more energy and could train at a higher intensity and recover better.

Running off the bike, I am doing a 2 mile run off the bike on a Friday at faster the race pace 5.40 mile pace to get used to starting the half marathon fast as people always run fast out of transition and I don’t want to get dropped and plus after this the pace of the race should feel much easier. I will have my running stuff ready and aim to be out the door as quick as possible to replicate a race.

Running off the bike on a Sunday this time 4 miles at 5.55 mile pace which is the pace I will have to run at off the bike to pretty much win some 70.3s as long as I get off the bike in contention.

More strength work in swimming and one or two other things.

Hope you like the race report and one last thing which isn’t really related but I’m hoping to get into coaching and would like to coach someone. I’ll be honest and I’ve only got my level one coaching qualification in triathlon but I have a lot of experience from coaching myself and training and racing for as long as I can remember. If anyone would be interested in this and would like to know more email me on joeskipper@hotmail.co.uk I would be more then happy to go into more details and really do have a passion for this kind of thing!

Until next time,

Ciao

Willy waving and pissing contests

2012-01-18T10:00:00.001-08:00

Willy waving and pissing contests were what our cycle rides were described as in Spain, personally I would call it having a laugh, proper training, last man standing, Manning up.
Manning up was actually the mantra for the camp which I thought was quality.

During the first week in Spain there was about 8-10 of us from Man Tri, and a further 4-5 from Leeds including Harry Wiltshire, I'm pleased to report back that I didn't get dunked in the pool or held up getting into the changing rooms after a session so all is well!lol. In all fairness to Harry it was great having him out there for the cycling as the lad like a good burn up on the bikes which is right up my street and anyone that's ridden with me before will know that i don't need much encouragement to start a chaingang.lol.

In the second week we lost everyone from Leeds and Manchester apart from myself, MR Hawkins, Natalie Barnard, and the BTF squad who are based in Loughborough.

Training wise during the camp I can't remember everything I did as to be fair there was quite a bit and I have a memory like a sieve. The sessions which stick in my mind (the decent ones, to be honest the other ones probably aren't worth writing about anyway) are listed below:

Swimming:
Lots of paddle and band work, could go into more detail but is there really any point!

Oh we did do a bit of sea swimming and Swam to this island which was a 4k round trip.

Cycling:

4 rides stick in my mind, 2 0f them were about 85 miles and the other 2 were around 100 miles.

The first one went from Cuevas where we were staying to, Sorbas over a shit load of hills to Carboneras and then back to Cuevas. Below is a picture of the hill out of Carboneras.

The ride above was pretty awesome as we took the first 25-30 miles relatively steady, there were a few hill but they weren't particularly hard. Then once we got to Sorbas as you could tell people were getting a bit restless Rob Harvey who was leading the route basically said it's 25 miles to Carboneras over a couple of hills smash it if you want. This is exactly what we did and I pretty much did a 2 up with harry. Then once we got to Carboneras everyone was pretty f****d so we had a s**t load of coffee and food then cruised back. This picture above was of the hill out of Carboneras which didn't feel good on the legs after the stop. We then rode steady until about 15 miles away where we started a chaingang which got faster the closer to home we got. Total ride was 85 miles with a lot of climbing and we averaged 20 mph moving speed, my power meter is getting fixe at the moment but I can remember Roger saying he averaged 240w for the ride.

The other rides went to a place called Uleila Del Campo which was where the mountains started and it is amazing as there are literally no cars on the roads there so you can smash the descents.

Below is possibly the cheesiest video of me and Paul descending, unfortunately it's of the slower part of the descent but you get the picture, it's a nice place and there are no cars. Plus the cafe at the bottom of the descent sold me 3 coffees, a cheese and ham toasty and a 1.5 liter bottle of water for 5 euros!! NOW THAT'S A BARGAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2AX_z2azXs

Right I'm starting to talk crap now so I'll be quick. On the climb up to the top of that descent I got my garmin to find Rogers power tap so I could sneakily use it to pace myself! Who needs a powertap when you can do this. I don't know what I averaged but we were both riding together and I have 45 minutes at 312w including a load of dscending where the power was like less then 200, most of the time it was around 350+ while climbing.

The other 2 rides to Uleila involved just me and Hawkins as the others had gone back. We rode steady to the climbs all though you were predominantly climbing so still ring at a good effort level, then once we got to the hill we would ride a solid temp where you could talk a bit but feel you were working, this would take us up to about 68 miles then for the last 30 or so miles back we would ride really hard through and off. This was excellent as you have to be in good shape to be able to ride hard after 4 hours and 9000 feet of climbing.

Running:

I did 2 long rides of 1.45 and 1.50 on the trails which was literally 1 hour up hill and the rest flat on the top of the hills or downhill.

£ effort sessions which included:

5*4 minutes

5*5 minutes

10*500 meters and 4*250 meters

The rest of my runs ranged from around 6-10 miles on the hilly trails at the lodge which was amazing and made the time fly by. It was the first time I had ever run on trails and it was quite addictive as you just wanted to run all the time but you have to reign yourself back.

I just want to say thanks to Olly from Kinetic pb for letting me come and stay and that I will definitely be back it is without doubt the best training venue I have ever been on. Manchester tri club are holding a camp out the during the last week of February which is also open to anyone who want to come. If anyone is interested contact me on joeskipper@hotmail.co.uk as there has been a lot of interest in it already. Prices work out about £140 for return flight with bike with easy jet and accommodation is 25 euros a night which includes use to all the facilities. Me and Paul Hawkins will be out there leading rides and giving advice but don't be put off by this as we have a race four days after the camp so are just tapering and will be guiding the rides and making it as pleasant experience as possible. There is a kitchen on sight which is big and anyone can use but if you fancy eating out it cost me 11 euros for a 3 course meal at a local restaurant including 2 beers. It really is amazing and I hope you will come and experience it for yourselves.

In other news I've got a 5k tt on the track tonight which will be interesting after having the big mileage in my legs from the camp, I've also got a half marathon on Sunday where I want to go sub 75, and I've got my training programme for the next 6 weeks which will take me up to my first big race.

Kinetic PB training camp so far

2012-01-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

I came out here on Thursday 27th December and since then the weather has been great, we've had blue sky's every day and it's been shorts and t-shirt weather every day on the rides. The terrain for cycling is excellent with plenty of hills of different distances ranging from 2-3ks to 20ks long, plus the majority of them are at a decent gradient where you can push it if your feeling strong or if you want to take it easy you can just knock it into the small ring and cruise up nice and steady.

The picture above is of the resorts lake which is 1100 meters long and perfect for doing open water swim training. As well as this you can see the hills in the background which is where the off road trails start, they are pretty brutal but the scenery is stunning and will make you as fit as a fiddle. There is also signs every 250 meters along along the side of the lake which is good if you want to do an interval session.

A picture of the group on one of the rides. Shorts and t-shirts all round in January, you don't get that back home in the UK!

This picture is of one of the climbs which we rode up, really nice smooth roads and a steady gradient. Good fun climbing up it but even fun whizzing down it as you can take the corners flat out at around 40mph.

It's 10.30pm now and as we've got a big day planned tomorrow starting with a swim at 7.30 and then I think a 4.5 hour ride at 11 so I'm going to hit the sack. Hopefully I will get time tomorrow to do a blog on the training I've got done since I've been here and some more pictures.

Kinetic PB Training Camp

2011-12-29T04:35:00.001-08:00

Today I’m heading to the south of Spain for a 15 day training camp at http://www.kineticpb.com/# there’s about 10-15 of us I think going out there with the majorities either coming from Manchester or Leeds so there could be a little bit of rivalry with them coming from Yorkshire especially as I think they have a reputation for being soft!lol

It’s going to be a pretty epic day of traveling. I’m getting the train from Lowestoft to Norwich, then another train from Norwich to Stockport, taxi from stockport to my house in Didsbury where I need to quickly pack the rest of my stuff ( very organized I know), get picked up by Paul savage to fly from Manchester to Alicante, and then drive the last 100ks to Kinetic PB.

I’m currently half way to Manchester at the moment. While I was back over Christmas I didn’t do that much training, just ticking over really with the odd run and bike although I did a cross country race on boxing day where I came 4^th. I was quite pleased by some of the people I beat but know I could have done better had it not been for duff tactics.

Here’s a little race report of the groggy doggy x country and a few pictures

Lead group of 4 on the 2^nd lap.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150487435983934&set=t.777287919&type=1&theater

Start of the race, my sister’s boyfriend and my mate going off like the clappers with me leading the group behind. Someone should have said it was 4.6 miles not 100 meters!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151085961010634&set=a.10150547002550634.652289.770980633&type=1&theater

The race itself had a massive turnout with about 400-500 people racing, probably because of the unusually mild weather. It was 2 laps of a course that was basically running round the outside of these big fields and then back along a train there were a few undulations but mostly flat. After about 300 meters though there was a bridge which was just wider enough for 1 person at a time, or an alternative stream which you could run through that looked at least knee deep (found out during the race it was barely shoe deep). So with this bridge coming so close to the start I told my mates you needed to get a good start otherwise you could be waiting for a minute just to cross the bridge. When I said good start I meant get in the top 10 but they went haring off like a 100 meter race only to get across the bridge and be completely f****d with another 4.4 miles to go. I have to admit it was pretty funny to watch as once they started you could tell it was going to be a painful race for them.lol.

Anyway I got a good start and hit the bridge in about 4^th place with 3 others ahead of me who went tearing off, I thought excellent then I saw a load of people nail it through the water and make up a good 5 or 6 seconds on me as the water was so shallow and it was shorter so getting a fast start was completely pointless. I soon settled into a group of 4 and the pace felt fairly comfortable, I was actually rubbing my hands waiting for my chance to pounce! After about 1 mile the pace eased up and I put a bit of a surge in but didn’t get much of a gap and with the head wind being so strong there weren’t much point so I eased up and just sat back in the pack. About 1 mile later I put in another dig as I thought the guys were feeling the pace and thought that I might be able to stay away and win.lol. How wrong I was, I put the dig in and went very hard up this drag, I heard the guy who had been leading the race start breathing really hard so I kept it going and got a reasonable gap. Now this would have been great if I could now settle back to the pace I was running at previously unfortunately by doing this I had pretty much f****d myself up and they caught me. I hung on for deer life unable to recover from the effort I had made. The pace wasn’t that really fast but it was just to quick for me to recover from the effort and it felt horrendous. I tried to stay in there for as long as I could thinking that it might ease up a little and I could recover but it didn’t and I ended up running the last 2 miles by myself with the others about 30- 40 seconds ahead by the end.

This was one of the first time I have been in a running race where I’ve been in the leading group and I would compare it being similar to a cycling road race where tactics are important and there’s changes in pace. Although there not as extreme as in cycling you still notice them. In hindsight I should have just stayed in the pack and not done any surges until the 2^nd lap. I think that I could have definitely come second if I had of played my cards right but it was a bit of a learning curve for me as normally when I do a running race I’m not in the lead pack so don’t have to worry about tactics, you just run as hard as you can for the entire race and hope for the best. I thought I could win during the race hence the surges, like most things when you race to win you put your neck on the line and you will either win or be nowhere near. When you take the decision to race for the win you normally throw 2^nd and 3^rd away as well but if you aim for 2^nd and 3^rd you will never win.

During the Training camp if we have internet connection out there I will try and do a little daily update of the training where doing each day and how everyone is feeling. I’m wondering who’s going to crack 1^st my money is on Tim Condon cracking!

Christmas Time and Kinetic PB

2011-12-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

As I write this I’ve just finished my 2^nd block of winter training, it’s dark, cold, pissing down with rain and I feel wrecked. The last 4 weeks have been pretty brutal and literally every part of my body aches! I cannot wait for a lay in tomorrow and I will certainly make the most of Christmas and a few days of taking it easy before I go to Kinetic PB on the 29^th for 15 day. http://www.kineticpb.com/

A brief look of the training what I’ve actually been doing the last 4 weeks is listed below for anyone interested, I’ve managed to keep it really consitant and have repeated this week for the previous 4.

Monday:

Long run 16 miles (around 7mpm)

Tuesday

Swim (1.5 hours with Man Tri, generally longer intervals with main set being between 2-3.5Ks)

Run (1 hour Steady)

Bike (Threshold intervals 3*20m with middle 10 minutes pushing a big gear with cadence around 60)

Wednesday

As I’ve been recovering much better from Tuesdays exploits I’ve been managing to do between:

3-3.5 hours Cycling with this Wednesday being just 2 hours 20 as I felt pretty nailed- I’ll get back to this later.

Run session at the track, ranging from 400m repeats to Ks. I run there and back which is an 8 mile round trip on top of whatever the session is.

Thursday

Swim, this session is mainly fast 50s with some steady swimming in between sets of 50s. After this session me and Paul Hawkins have been doing a further 30-40 minutes of steady swimming broken down into 15 minute intervals with pull buoy, band, and paddles.

Bike, 8*3 minute intervals.

Run, normally 1 hour progression run with Hawkins 20,20,20, last 20 minutes basically a smash fest.

Friday

Swim with Man Tri

Bike 3 hours steady

Saturday

Swim

Run Intervals, with main set 5*5 minutes hard.

Pm a couple of times I’ve done an easy run in the evening as I work on a Saturday so can feel pretty stiff after a days work having done that in the morning.

Sunday

Bike 3-4 hour ride with Man Tri, 1 hour chain gang in the middle.

Run (not normally but did this Sunday with Howard Mead)

Swim pm (longer intervals as its pointless trying to do speedwork because of the ride in the morning the quality wouldn’t be there. I try and think about my technique).

That’s a basic week then, to help myself recover from this punishing training schedule I’ve been thinking a lot about my recovery doing everything the best I can. I’ve been doing the following things:

Nutrition- A typical day’s food for a Tuesday will be:

Breakfast- Bowel of Porridge with a banana and a large cup of coffee.

Training (Swim)

Pack of Clif Shotz

Training (Run)

Massive bowel of fruit 1-2 bananas, blueberries, apple, raspberries or strawberries (what ever is going cheap)

Later Chicken or Mackeral Sandwhich

Bowel of porridge before training again with you guessed it another banana.lol

Training (turbo session and intervals usually around 1.5 hours-2 hours by the time I have cycled there and warmed up/down)

During the session I will have 2 boottles of Clif energy drink and afterwards A Clif Builders bar.

Dinner time- Veg and some for of fish/meat

Afters, fruit salad with yoghurt.

I’ll probably have about 3 more coffes as well during the day but I won’t have it any later then 5.30 as I won’t get to sleep. Now this is just a rough guide, I’m not saying it’s perfect and it might seem like a lot but it’s working for me. I feel as though I have energy in the training sessions I’m doing and I’m getting through the training. I just try and eat fruit and veg with every meal and it definitely makes a difference.

This Wednesday when I was only able to manage an easy ride I didn’t have the Clif energy drink, or Builders bar, during and after the Tuesday night turbo which may just be coincidence but I certainly felt nailed in the morning. I don’t think the energy in it is important it’s more about replacing the electrolytes which you lose during the session.

Sleeping During the Day:

After the morning session I normally feel nailed and I’m thinking to myself bloody hell I don’t know how I’m going to manage a session tonight. So what I normally do is have between 1-2 hours sleep, it makes a massive difference and I wake up feeling a new man and ready to go again.

When it’s a recovery Session make sure that’s what it is. Speaks for itself when it’s an easy session go easy when it’s hard go F****n hard! Not Rocket Science!

I’m not a pro I work part time; last year was my first year of doing triathlon after competing in cycling for a few years. I felt I got some pretty decent results considering it was my first year and love the sport. I absolutely love the training and racing, I love the suffering it involves during a hard session, I love the satisfaction you get when you complete a tough session and the feeling you get when you win or get a good result, its addictive euphoric.

This year I’m putting all my eggs in one basket. I’m training as hard as I can and hopefully next year I can take some top results. I’m going to be racing in the pro category and I’m not flogging myself day in day out for 2^nd or 3^rd.

If this was poker I would have been dealt my cards, I’ve taken a look and think they look pretty good so I decide to go all in. I don’t know what the others have got but I’m not bluffing, I’m hoping for the best and whether I win or lose I know I’ve gave it 100%

Motivation

2011-12-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well it’s that time of the year where the hard work should be well and truly started if you have any aspirations of doing well next year. If it hasn’t started your not to late if you start well literally right now but you deserve a kick up the arse unless you have a good reason. Not that I can think of any good reasons for wanting it all but afraid to put the leg work in.

Anyway this time of year is setting up the foundations for next year and although races aren’t won now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again they are certainly lost or thrown away!

Now unfortunately rhe weather is proper shite at this time of yer but as long as you man up you will be fine. To help with some motivation I’ve trawled the internet and found some training day videos. One thing all of them have in common is they all certainly had the weetabix and they all love a good smash fest!

Triathlon

http://video.competitor.com/2010/09/triathlon/a-training-day-with-mirinda-carfrae/

Mirinda Carfrae

http://video.competitor.com/2011/06/triathlon/training-day-with-the-raelert-brothers-trailer/

Some random Germans who aren’t bad apparently !:)

http://video.competitor.com/2011/09/triathlon/training-day-with-craig-alexander-part-one-the-plan/

http://video.competitor.com/2011/09/triathlon/training-day-with-craig-alexander-part-two-the-ride/

http://video.competitor.com/2011/09/triathlon/training-day-with-craig-alexander-part-three-the-run/

http://video.competitor.com/2011/10/triathlon/training-day-with-craig-alexander-part-four-the-recovery/

http://video.competitor.com/2011/10/triathlon/training-day-with-craig-alexander-part-five-the-race/

These five above are my favourite ones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9386004.stm

Brownlee Training one

Running

http://video.competitor.com/2010/06/running/a-training-day-with-american-record-holder-josh-cox/

Not for the faint hearted, a brutal tempo run at altitude

http://video.competitor.com/2011/08/running/training-day-with-ryan-hall/

Training day with 2.05 American Marathon record holder Ryan Hall.

http://www.runnerslife.co.uk/videos/hansons-brooks-half-marathon-workout-26-9-11/317

Even the Yanks train in shite weather!

http://www.altergtraining.com/speaker/3-Alberto-Salazar/video/522539-Inside-look-at-Mo-Farahs-Training-in-Oregon

This is quite a good one with Mo Farah, surprising amount of weight training!

Swimming

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/sport_nation/13688716.stm

English Olympic Swimmer Hannah Miley training day

Cycling, these videos aren’t of training but they give you an insight into riding on a professional cycling team and the emotions involved, and to be honest they are just epic.

Here are 3 to get you started, all from serious 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV75ejtC5cc&feature=player_embedded#!

San Remo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCfe7vNU3YM&feature=player_embedded

Flanders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsxTbxgnKw&feature=player_embedded

Roubaix

Hopefully this wil have given you some motivation for the winter months! If not then well for f**k sake there’s no hope for you really is there. Any way get out there, keep putting the work in and the results will follow. You can’t beat good old fashioned hard work and suffering.

Moving House and Next Block of Training

2011-12-08T07:07:00.001-08:00

I haven’t done an update for a while as since the last post which I did I went back home to Lowestoft for the week and then this last week I moved house as well so I’ve been pretty busy.

Basically I’m back in full training again now although saying that on Saturday when I woke up I was going to go Swimming but my tonsils felt as though they were massively swelled up and I just fet absolutely shattered so I decided to not risk it and take Saturday easy. I almost got persuaded to do a fell race on the Sunday which I decided not to do in the end in favour of a lay in and taking it easy. This seemed to make the world of difference and on Monday I felt o.k and as a result only lost two days training instead of pushing it and maybe making myself ill and loosing a week or twos training.

The plan for the next few weeks is pretty similar to what I did in the previous block of training as that was working well and I was improving week on week so there’s only some minor tinkering really which needed to take place. For anyone that’s interested some of the changes are listed below:

Monday-long run instead of progressive run (for this I just run by my feel, I try and run what feels like a steady pace and what ever it is it is. Usually around 7mpm)

Tuesday- Same as before (Obviously the turbo is gradually getting longer by 5 minutes every 4^th week. One thing of not was that this week was the first week of 20,20,20 and I got my best power outputs for this session 295,304,312W)

Wednesday- It seems that my body has been getting more used to the turbo session every week and as a result I’m ecovering faster and faster and now on a Wednesday instead of limping round for an hour as a recovery ride I’m able to ride 3 hours at a steady pace (between 220-250W) with no negative effect on the track session in the evening.

This week on Wednesday I did 3 hours 30 at 224w then in the evening ran the 4 miles to the track, did the session 6*800s average pace was probably 2.29-2.30 off what felt about 15 on the Borg scale of perceived effort, then ran the 4 miles home. I was really pleased with this as when I’ve done this session before I’ve had about 30 seconds -1 minute more recovery between each rep and only gone 1-2 seconds quicker and considering I didn’t really feel like I was smashing it. There must be some truth in when people say go easy to go fast as I think sometimes when you try and run fast you tense up and use more energy.

Thursday- Me and Paul Hawkins are doing the Man Tri swim set which is predominantly sprint work and then afterwards we do a further 2*1k reps with pull buoys, and bands and then after the second one we do a few sprints with just bands. It’s pretty brutal but I can tell I need to do it as I feel that my lack of strength is my main limiting factor in swimming.

Turbo set afterwards, mainly focussing on shorter efforts 2-3 min reps at around 8 minute power. And then in the evening a progressive run with paul Hawkins which starts off steady and finishes full on. Normally something like 20m steady, 20m hard, 20m full on.

Friday- Man Tri swim and then a 3 hour ride with 1 hour temp in the middle, on the road this is around 300-305 watts at the moment.

Saturday- mile reps

Sunday- Long ride, and swim pm.

There are some other sessions on some of the days but this is a rough idea. If your still with me I will try and make the next blog pretty decent but I hope this will do for now and this is a rough plan.

First Part of Winter Training Done and Dusted!

2011-11-23T03:28:00.000-08:00

Just finished the first part of winter training which was 7 weeks ending with the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, I probably sound like a broken record but I was oping to get under 34 minutes and I’m pleased to say I did 33.46 which I was very happy about and pleased to see the running going in the right direction.

Now before I started this first block of winter training I sat down with Paul Savage (Coach http://www.physio-coach.co.uk/ ) and we set a few goals and aims over the winter to keep training focused and move me to the next level performance wise. When he said to me that the aim for the 1st block of winter training was to go sub 34 minutes in 7 weeks time I thought you are having an absolute laugh, I thought there is no way I’m going to do that but I also thought it sounds like a challenge and I’ll give it my best shot, I had nothing to lose and all to gain really!

Now I know 34 minutes is nothing special but when you consider that before last September I literally hadn’t even ran for a bus in about 3 years as all I was doing was cycling and even doing that your sitting on your arse! Even during this Summer the fastest I felt like I would run in a stand alone 10 was about 35 minutes I might have been able to go a bit quicker but I doubt it would have been much. I can tell from some of the training sessions I’m doing such as the progression run where in july I was finishing with 2 miles at 5.45 mpm pace and it felt like I was going flat out where as in the lead up to this I was doing 3 miles at around 5.40 mpm pace and felt like I had another gear to push it if I needed to.

Other things which are showing signs of improvement are my cycling. I’ve just been using the training sessions on a Tuesday to gage this as there are no cycling races on at the moment so that’s the next best thing. I use power and perceived effort to gage this and at the start of October I did 15m, 20m,10m at a power which I was hoping to be able to keep consistent throughout but meant that it got pretty brutal by the 1^st rep, very brutal during the 2^nd, and by the 3^rd feels like you have just been caught by the husband of the wife your having it off with!

The power for he 1st session I did at the start of October was 301,282,301 and for the

Session I did last Tuesday I did 20,20,15 and averaged 291w, 292w, 301w which equals the same average for the 3 reps but for a total of 10 minutes more effort so a clear sign of improvement. I also changed my position on the bike before this session and have made the position much narrower, lowered the bars a bit and have moved the seat forward a cm. I will try and get a picture posted up on here at sometime. During that turbo session I found the position harder to hold as my triceps ached a bit which didn’t affect the 1^st two reps but did for the 3^rd rep. Also I did a ride on the road and the position felt much faster as previously the bars were set as wide as possible and also were higher, however the + side to this was I could stay on the tri bars for the whole time during a 70.3 with this position I think an Olympic distance would be o.k but not a 70.3 at the moment but it’s never going to feel comfortable straight away and I hope to practice it a lot as I feel it would make a big difference.

Swimming has been ticking away nicely. We have had a real mix of sessions where on a Tuesday we will do a massive main set which has been around 3.5ks and includes everything from 100s up to 800s and on a Friday we have been doing some really brutal sprint stuff where the main set has been around 400 metres with anything from 30, 40,50, 60, 70, and 75 metre sprints but with lots of rest and I have seen my sprint speed coming down. I think when I started doing them I was doing the 75s on around 50 seconds and now I’m down to 47 seconds which is encouraging. The longer stuff is just cruising along really but on the positive side I’m operating at a much better level then this time last year where doing turn around times on 1.30 felt hard. I think 1.25s now feel roughly what 1.30 felt like this time last year.

I am going to do another blog on what I’m hoping to achieve over the next 6 weeks as this one has turned out quite long and my aim is not to put you to sleep, but if you have managed to read it all with out getting bored give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve one!

One last thing is I want to say thanks to Paul Savage you have transformed my running but not only that you have dedicated a lot of time to me and have helped me massively. If anyone is looking for a coach or tips on anything from nutrition, training, or transition practice check his website out as he has loads of videos on there and some interesting stuff as well as this he also races as an elite so it’s coming from someone who is out there doing it himself.

Man Challenge

2011-11-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

Today was the 2^nd round of the Manchester area league X country and before the race me and Paul Hawkins (http://paulhawkinstriathlete.blogspot.com/) had been flying abuse at each basically calling each other shite and saying we were going to smash each other. Now every bloke knows you can’t turn down a man challenge, it’s just something that’s not done, now as the banter was increasing I thought lets see you put your money where your mouth is, I knew he’s a man of his word and as he’s been calling me a fairy and I’ve been saying he would look good in a red tu tu.

This is all well and good and for one person, well it’s better then good isn’t it really as they win the man challenge and look like a legend plus the other person get’s humiliated by having to dress up and looks like a dick head for not being able to back up there mouth!

This is where the blog takes a bit of a nose dive, I lost the man challenge and now have to dress up as a fairy on Saturday for the Manchester Tri club do. And there will be pictures and as I’m a man of my word the fairy’s costume has been ordered!

With regards to how the race went, I can’t really complain really I felt as though I had a great race. I started off hard on the first lap, tried to hold on a bit on the 2^nd and in hindsight may of set off a bit quick but then finished strongly on the 3^rd lap and managed to pull back a few places. In the end I finished in 29^th place in 34.25 for what’s supposed to be 10k but it is a bit short although anyone who has run at Sherdley park will know the course is brutal, constantly up or down. The winner was National X country Champion Steve Vernon who won in just under 30 minutes.

My time was a 5 minute pb on the time I ran last year there in similar conditions. Although looking at the results it seems times were roughly 2 minutes quicker then the previous year but that still means 3 minutes or so has come from some where!

Sweat fest, Suffer fest or just being a fairy!

2011-11-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

Just a little blog as I’ve got some spare time. On Tuesday I did the ‘Standard’ trbo which I swear gets harder every time I do it, as well as it seeming to get harder I am constantly getting abused by a certain Mr Hawkins who like to refer to me as “A Southern Fairy”.

This session as well as the intervals being really long and gruelling just to make it even more fun the room is just separated from the pool by a sheet of glass so you can imagine just how hot and humid it is. The first effort I managed to hit the right power (295W) it felt o.k and despite what felt like holding something back the second 1 one was horrific, my head felt like it was on absolute fire and sweat was absolutely pouring off me, I tried to hold the same power as the first one but due to the heat (no fans, and Hawkins saying we should man up and do with the door closed) my heart rate was a good 10-15 bpm higher then the first one with no reward of seeing extra power. It’s quite funny actually because what got me through it was thinking you bastard making us to do it with the door shut!:) I also feel sorry for the guys either side of me who had to put up with me moaning/trying to psyche myself up/mostly being a fairy!

The power was pretty shite I think it was282Wand then for the last 10 minute effort I averaged 295W after opening the door. One thing which sounds really disgusting was that in order to cool me down I was having to use my cycling top which was soaked with sweat from being on my handlebars to cool me down, after the last effort I was that hot that it was nice putting it on to cool me down as the top was soaked and felt cool. Writing that now I’m actually thinking that’s disgusting you’re a tramp but at the time it was nice!:) O.k that’s enough of that as I’s disgusting and grossing me out!

One other thing which may be of interest to some of you regarding cramps is that last week after the turbo session I was getting a few cramps in the changing room after the session and I never cramp, I think I’ve cramped about 4-5 times in my life. What I was drinking for the session was just squash as I didn’t use the clif stuff as I though energy drink, why would I want to use energy drink for a turbo session! Well this week I used the Clif stuff because as well as getting cramps I felt terrible the next day which I think was due to the amount of electrolytes I had lost from the turbo session the previous day.

I struggled at the track session on the Wednesday and although hitting some fairly decent times I could tell something was not quite there. This week after having the Clif energy drink for the first time on a turbo session I felt fine the next day and didn’t get any cramps and had a really good track session. Now this may have been a coincidence or just a fluke but needless to say I’m converted and for £10 a tub that last about 2-3 months I think it’s a worthy investment and I’m converted, I will be using it for all turbo sessions in the future.

The following days track session was one which was basicly some brutal track session where it’s supposed to see if you’re in the 10k shape which you think you are. There were about 6 of us from Man Tri which did it and it consisted of:

4k at 10 pace, 90 seconds rest

1500 metres at 5k pace, 90 seconds rest

1k at 3k pace, 90 seconds rest

800 metres at 1500 metre pace, if you’re still standing give yourself a pat on the back!

My aim was to see if I’m in 34 minute 10k pace so I had to hit 13.36 for the first rep, I managed 13.30. Then as I don’t have times for the others I used the Mc Millan run calculator as a guide for what to hit for the others assuming my 10k pb is 34 minutes. So 1500 metre target of 4.56 I did 4.56, 1k in 3.08 I did 3.11 and 800 metres in 2.23 I went through 400metres in 73 died and came in on 2.31.

My thought’s on this session are well it’s brutal and with regards to how accurate it is a few of us are doing a 10k in just over a weeks time so I after the 10k I will post up what times everyone did for the session and weather or not they achieved the times they were aiming for. If it proves pretty accurate it could be a good one to try at sometime before taking on a 10k or just as a hard session.

Here's the session and times needed for certain 10k times (take the 800m one like a pinch of salt though, and even if you fail the session if you close you will probably be in around that kind of shape).

Predicted 10k Time

34 minutes:

4k at 10 pace = 3.24minutes per k and 13 minutes.36 for rep

1500m at 5k pace= 3.16k and 4minutes54 for rep

1000m at 3k pace= 3 minutes.07 for rep

800metres at 1500m pace= 2minutes 23

35 minutes:

4k at 10 pace = 3.30minutes per k and 14 minutes for rep

1500m at 5k pace= 3.22k and 5minutes 03 for rep

1000m at 3k pace= 3 minutes 14 for rep

800metres at 1500m pace= 2minutes 30

36 minutes:

4k at 10 pace = 3.36minutes per k and 14 minutes.24 for rep

1500m at 5k pace= 3.28k and 5minutes 13 for rep

1000m at 3k pace= 3 minutes.22 for rep

800metres at 1500m pace= 2minutes 35

37 minutes:

4k at 10 pace = 3.42minutes per k and 14 minutes.48 for rep

1500m at 5k pace= 3.35k and 5minutes 23 for rep

1000m at 3k pace= 3 minutes.27 for rep

800metres at 1500m pace= 2minutes 40

38 minutes:

4k at 10 pace = 3.48minutes per k and 15 minutes.12 for rep

1500m at 5k pace= 3.40k and 5minutes30 for rep

1000m at 3k pace= 3 minutes. 30 for rep

800metres at 1500m pace= 2minutes 45

A bit of an update on the old training!

2011-11-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

I’ve been in solid training for 5 weeks now and I can definitely feel my body is adapting to it and I’m getting stronger, that’s not to say that it’s not bloody brutal though.

The hardest I’ve found it was week 3 I was feeling quite tired and thinking bloody hell I’ve got to keep this up for another 3 weeks which is going to be well savage. To be honest I was thinking this could break me, I’ll just take it a day at a time.lol. Now your robably thinking what are you doing you idiot your over doing it, your going to burn yourself out etc! Now I would probably agree with you but and this is the thing the times which I were hitting in training were better and better and I wasn’t blowing up in sessions I was hitting decent times so thought alls well and just carried on. The strange thing is since then I’ve just been feeling really good and not really tired at all. I think that week 3 was likee some kind of a milestone make or break if you like. It was a bit like a test really to see if I would throw in the towel when the going gets tough. Thankfully I didn’t so I’ll give myself a pat on the back and onwards and upwards, BOOM!

When I started this first block I have got to targets in mind. The first one is a short term 1 which is the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k where I want to go sub 34 minutes. The training recently I think suggests I should do this but I’ll find out in 2 weeks. The 2^nd Target is an early season Middle distance triathlon the Tri Grand Prix Valencia Half Ironman which to be honest I want to win and that’s the motivation. I think if I want to be in shape to win this I’ll need to be doing the following kind of times in training:

Swimming probably need to be able to do 1500m in a pool in roughly 18.30-19m which is 4.55-5.05m per 400 metre pace which should enable me to be able to stay on the feet of the faster swimmers or be well in contention.

Bike, because it’s such an early season race the best way to be able to tell if I’m on good enough form will be from the threshold sessions which I’m doing on the turbo. At the moment I’m up to doing 20m,20m,10m with 5 minutes easy spinning in between and during the effort I’m doing big gear work and low gear work so there not done in a comfortable gear they are a right suffer fest, it would be a perfect birthday present for a self harmer!

Any way every 3 weeks I add 5 minutes to one of the intervals, then repeat etc. I’m doing these efforts at around 290w according to my power tap which is pretty shite compared to my power on the road but it doesn’t really matter as it’s all relative but by the start of the season I want to be able to be doing 3*30m at around 300w on the turbo which would probably be the same perceived effort wise as 320 on the road.

Run, after this session I need to be able to do a 7.5 mile run at less than 6 minutes per a mile, ideally 5.50 if I can do these I will win the race! Before Cowman I did 5 miles at 5.52mpm after a hard turbo set of descending intervals and then managed to do a 1.18 half marathon. I think the reason this session help so much is quite frankly becaue you have to do it after a hard turbo session and it just f****n hurts. It gives you the confidence of being able to push hard on the bike and knowing that you can run fast enough in training to win let alone in a race when your adrenaline is going and you’re pushing yourself to the limit.

5 weeks ago when I started Winter training I did a 2*8 minute test on the tacx flow where I averaged 450 watts. I didn’t have my powertap for that and I know that the Tacx massively over estimates but next time I will probably do it again on the tacx flow but with my powertap on as well to gage if I’ve improved and also to give a solid number to work off with my powertap.

Running, I did a 5*1 mile run session and I think I did 5.08, 5,22, 5,22, 5,22, 524 with just over 2 minutes recovery between each rep. I hadn’t done much running before this and I was well rested and felt good plus it was with Salford harriers and there were a few people around the same pace as me which helped when the going got tough.

Last week I did the session and I think I did 5.26, 5,20, 517,515, 516 with 1m50 rest, worse conditions and in full training where I was not fresh at all. A solid sign of improvement. I also did a 11 mile progression run on Monday where I did 3 miles at 7m15, 2 miles at 6.45, 3 miles at 6.15, and 3 mile which was supposed to be at 5.45 but I managed 5.47, 5.39,5.41 and it felt comfortable so I was well chuffed with that as it was better then I was doing in the season let alone in the winter.

I don’t really know what else to say about the training but if you don’t want to be fanny-ing around at the back of the races next year and your close to Manchester you need to join the Tuesday night turbo and the Thursday night chain gang which has been going ahead the last few weeks and is a proper solid workout and really fun. Plus you get to listen to some decent 90s dance for the turbo and take part in some man tri piss taking!

How hard do we actually push ourselves?

2011-10-30T08:37:00.001-07:00

Think back to your best ever race, one of your closest battles or even a tough interval session which you may have done. Chances are it would have hurt and you come away feeling as though you gave it your all and left everything out there, but did you?

How do we know if we have actually ever given it our all? I want you to visualise a race performance where you feel as though you have pushed yourself to the max, (this is all hypothetical) now if someone had of threatened your family and something bad was going to happen unless you went 5 seconds quicker, or even 1 second quicker or if you would get a million pounds if you went 5 seconds quicker would you be able to do it. I think you probably would be able to, now if you could go quicker for that then who’s to say that you can’t go even quicker still?

This leads me on to it all being in our head as physically we would still be just as strong, just as quick, but mentally we were able to push our bodies through more pain.

Going on my own personal experiences there’s been numerous times where I’ve been out training with people on the bike and we have been going up a hill and I’ve been close to cracking but I knew I was a stronger cyclist then them so just thought to myself hang in there a little longer and they will crack, that little longer went and they still hadn’t cracked but I knew they would crack so I went a little longer still, and sure enough they cracked.

I don’t think on these particular days there has been any difference between us physically but I think they looked up to me as the stronger cyclist and mentally cracked before me when I’m sure they could have kept up or maybe even cracked me. The thing is you never know how close to the limit your training partners, or competitors are?

I think that the mental side is a massive area which people don’t train, probably as they don’t know how to. It’s something I’m trying to work on and practice getting myself in the zone for tough training sessions such as intervals on the track or long efforts on the bike. One of the things I’m trying to do is get my brain ready into knowing it’s going to be a tough training session and then when the man with the hammer comes I’m ready for him! I think there’s definitely a lot I can work on in this area and it’s something which I’m going to be trying to figure out what allows me to push harder and how I can get into this ‘Zone’ for races as I like others feel like I give 100% but I’m sure there is still more to come, one thing though which I find definitely helps improve this is training with people that are faster then you.

I would be interested in hearing what some of you who read this do to help you get into the zone weather that’s listening to music, mental imagery or anything else?

Heaton Park X- Country and Weeks Training

2011-10-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

This week started off with a long run which I jinxed myself massively with! Basically I run back from work so once I start no matter what happens there's no way I can Chicken out or cut it short not that I would but some pussies down south probably would! Anyway I run this with fellow Man Tri member Paul Skipper and once we got half way where we leave each other I mad a comment about the weather being much better then last week only for it to absolutely piss it down for the last 6 or 7 miles. It was so cold but like I say there was no other way of getting home so battled through completed, Joe 1 Weather 0.

Literally how hard it was raining, Oh I have no idea who that is but at least shes having fun!

Another thing which I have been doing a lot of in Swimming is pull buoy with bands, this completely stops you from kicking and forces you to engage you core to hold your legs up other wise they sink creating more resistance and dramatically slowing you down or in my case sink. Seriously I am so shit at it but know I need to work on it as this is obviously highlighting some fundamental floors in my stroke. I'm not entirely sure what but I think i'm over gliding and swimming with a straight arm rather then a high elbow. One thing I am noticing though is that i'm improving week on week and luckily it's only the end of October so I have plenty of time to keep improving and hopefully by the race season my Swim will be a strength.

One thing this made me think about was that a lot of people quite often hate doing things which there bad at and go in denial. it's as if they try and shut it out in some kind of hope they will magically improve or that it won't have any effect on them well let me tell you something you KIDDING YOURSELF! I see this all the time with people if there bad at cycling up hills they won't do them, if there slow at running they won't run on the track, actually I know a lot of people that won't run on the track for various reasons some don't need to others I think are scared of stepping into the hurt box!

You get the idea anyway but when your in a race theres no hiding, your cometitors aren't going to go easy on you. When your out there it's war and anything goes. Now if you don't mind loosing that's fine don't worry about it keep brushing it aside and live in denial but if you want to win you can't beat hard work now man up and work on your weaknesses. It's not fun, it does hurt but trust me it will pay off and there's plenty of time until the season starts, turn your weakness into a strength!

Wow went off on a bit of a tangent there but it's all good. Hopefully your still with me and I'll get on to Heaton Park XC Race. This was the first of the Manchester area Cross country League races. The standard is high in these with some top national level runners which compete. I'm not really sure if I had a bad race or a good race really. I was almost a minute faster then last year in the same conditions but I felt absolutely terrible this time. It felt like one of the worst running races I have ever done where as last year I rested up for it and felt amazing. For the first two laps my legs were absolutely dead and I just couldn't push myself to get my lungs going. During the 2nd lap I got overtaken by quite a few people and I was just thinking god I hope my legs come round because if they do i'm going to smash you on the 3rd lap. They did come round on the 3rd lap but it was to little to late really. I'm looking forward to the next one as I know I can do much better but with 3 weeks of proper solid training in my legs I suppose it was to be expected. On the Wednesday leading up to the race I did 8*800s all around 2.30 (some under, some over) with 1m30 recovery and I felt as though I had another gear to go so training is definitely going well and come the Leeds Abbey dash i'm sure i'll be in good enough for for a sub 34m 10k.

Whilst I'm on the topic of heaton park X country there were a couple of things which I did differently which I wouldn't normally do such as I had a massive sleep (11 Hours) and I think my body went into recovery mode as I woke up feeling really lethargic and I didn't have any coffee which doesn't sound a big deal but when your hooked on it like me theirs nothing worse anyway enough excuses and bring on the next one.

I just wanted to leave you with something to think about if my legs felt bad on the first two laps but better on lap 3 was I being week mentally for the 1st 2 laps. Personally I think I was, I think that if someone had of said theirs a million pound if you can go 30 seconds quicker, I think I would have been able to. Definitely going to try and get in the zone for the next one and do a really thorough warm up not just for the muscles but to get my brain in race mode.

Winter Training and a Look ahead to 2012

2011-10-19T07:29:00.001-07:00

Well the seasons long over now and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s looking into races to target next year and working out a plan on how to get to the start line in the best possible shape.

I’m doing some pretty drastic changes to my training this winter compared to previous years which I’m super motivated about and am very keen to see what effect they have on my performance. No you may or may not be interested in what I;m doing differently or what I’m doing at all but I’m going to tell you anyway and hopefully it won’t put you to sleep and you will all be saying Joee Skipper has the best blog out there, well no harm in thinking optimistically!!

What I was doing!

Last year was my first year in triathlon but in previous years when I’ve been training for cycling alone on the bike I’ve just done a lot of volume, lot’s of long miles (at least 3+ hours) over the winter period from October to February/March. I haven’t done any specific intervals. If I wanted to go hard I would go on a hilly ride and if I wanted to go on a easy ride I would ride on the flats. Now I think this has improved my cycling over previous years but this year my cycling was no better then the previous year it wasn’t worse but no better which could be due to doing less cycling as I was training for triathlon however I was putting in more training hours across the board and wasn’t actually doing to much less cycling then before.

I think that the main reason and one of the fundamental things I was doing wrong was not including no where near enough structured intensity into my training. It was unstructured and there was no real sign of progression. However I think that by doing a lot of volume consistently will get you to a pretty decent standard but if you want to be the best or reach your full potential then it’s not good enough. One of the things which has opened my eyes to this is what runners and swimmers do, you would be hard pushed to find a runner who all of a sudden stops doing intensity though the winter months. They do intensity throughout the year with normally at least one or two structured interval sessions and as long as they are consistent and avoid injury they will improve there performance.

Now the human body doesn’t know the difference between cycling running, and swimming it just knows intensity and duration so why are cyclists any different in there approach?

As well as this I was also quite unstructured in the way that I would kind of map a plan out in my head at the start of the week with what I wanted to do but this could change at last minute for instance if I was supposed to do a hard session and I felt quite tired I would go easier and vice versa if I was supposed to go easy but I felt good I would probably smash it, Pretty much all school boy errors which a lot of us are guilty of doing.

Another thing was that looking back in my training diary I went through stages where I would do a lot of sessions in one sport one week and then very few the following week, at the time I thought I was very structured but now looking back I’m surprised I achieved anything!

So what am I actually going to do this winter!

Well first of all me and Paul Savage (Coach) sat down and are planning the winter out in 6 week segments, after each 6 weeks we will sit down discuss what went well and plan for the next 6 weeks with each 6 weeks having a specific goal or target to keep motivated and improve on my weaknesses.

The basic plan for the first 6 weeks consists of two specific hard sessions in each sport where it’s important I feel pretty fresh for (well as fresh as you can be when your smashing yourself day after day) as well as this there are other sessions and the aim is to find a sweetspot where I can repeat the week constantly and get some decent consistency in and not have to have 3 or 4 days off every couple of weeks due to feeling overly tired.

Below is a rough outline of the week, key sessions are in bold:

Monday- Long Run

Tuesday - am swim & Weights

Pm Turbo (proper savage session)

Wednesday- am Bike

Pm (Run Track)

Thursday- am Swim & Run

Pm- Turbo

Friday- am Swim

Am/pm Bike

Saturday- am Run (mile reps)

Sunday- am Bike

Pm Swim

Now that is a brief look of what training I’m doing at the moment and although it may not look like a great deal there is a lot of intensity and no junk, every session has an aim and it’s not just doing it for the sake of it. I’ve found this amount to be a perfect amount and as long as I take good care of my recovery I can manage it, if I neglect my recovery on some of the days during the week I pay for it massively and WILL have a shit session.

3 tips which help me recover better are listed below:

Nutrition obvious one really but making sure I eat more on harder sessions and taking recovery stuff after hard sessions as soon as possible, also trying to eat a healthy diet. Nothing rocket science really but the simple things are normally the most important.

Having a kip during the day, makes a massive difference and you wake up feeling a new man.

Not having uni work to try and fit in, I know some of you may find it hard to believe that I actually did any work while at uni but I did do some, honest!

I mentioned briefly that each 6 week training cycle has a specific aim well the aim for this first 6 weeks is my running and I will be doing the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k on the 20^th November where I hope to run sub 34 minutes. I will do another blog on what triathlons I hope to do well in and what key sessions I feel I need to achieve before them to be in top form, but I will be aiming for 70.3 and 5150 races next year with maybe an end of season Ironman to see how I find the distance and also to try and get a decent result as the distance fascinates me and watching ironman Hawaii really lit a fire in me to try one!

Bit of a long Blog this time but you can’t really cover all tat stuff in a short one, if anyone has any questions please post them up or email me on joeskipper@hotmail.co.uk and I will be more then happy to answer as best I can.

Season Review and Looking to Next Year!

2011-10-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty pleased with how this seasons gone as a whole. My best results were winning the national middle distance championships and 2^nd in the national sprint distance championships. As well as these I won the bungay sprint, the Fritton Viking (half ironman) 2^nd welsh Olympic distance champs, 10^th in the ICAN Mallorca tri, 7^th Liverpool 5150, 22^nd London Elite as well as a few others.

This year I wanted to try a variety of different distances and formats (elite drafting) to see which I enjoyed the most and where I think my strengths are. I feel my strengths lie in the half ironman distance as the cycle plays a big part of the race, I also really enjoy the intensity of it as it’s pretty much full on but for like 4 hours( found this out at Fritton Viking). I also really enjoy the 5150s as these are elite races but are non drafting so it pays to be a strong cyclist and these are absolutely flat out from the gun, they hurt a lot but there fun and you can recover from them a lot quicker then a half so can race more frequently.

I just want to share with you my experience of racing a low key half which I did at the end of the season and how low key races can be very beneficial to your racing.

I took part in the fritton Viking half at the end of the season which was a very last minute decision so after work on Saturday the 24^th I travelled down and with the train being delayed didn’t make it home until 1am with my mate picking me up at 5.30am Great preparation! Normally I would have been panicking but I wanted to keep as relaxed as possible and thought if I can deal with this then you can pretty much cope with anything. In the future I might have trouble sleeping the night before a race due to nerves or other reasons so knowing it doesn’t affect your performance or not letting it affect you is a massive positive and advantage to take into a race.

The Race Plan

The plan for the race was to Swim hard especially at the start as they normally start off very hard and if you miss the feet of the faster swimmers you can spend the whole of the bike catching up rather then pulling away.

The Bike, I really wanted to absolutely smash this as hard as I could. I knew the course well as it was a local time trial course back home and as it was four laps which ment I could practice my pacing and analyse weather or not I blow up.

One other thing was a good mate of mine who I train with when I’m back home was racing and normally there is only a few seconds between us in tts was racing and we had a bet on who would get the fastest bike split just to spur us on which was great for me as it gave me extra motivation for the bike.

The Run

After the bike I wanted to push it for the first mile and really feel what sensations I was having and to get an idea of weather or not I would be able to do a good run after really smashing the bike as there’s no point if you can’t run.

How The Race Went!

I started off hard in the swim and was quickly in the lead. I struggled to see the buoys though as the sun was coming up which made it difficult. However it was pretty uneventful and I pressed lap on my Garmin at the half way point in 17m 40. On the return leg I tried to keep the pressure on but with no one near me it was quite hard to push it (motivational wise) I also noticed that I struggled with the muscular endurance side of it as my arms were feeling quite heavy and it was seeming like hard work despite not really pushing it to much. I think is due to the lack of long intervals in my swim training. Second half of the swim was 19m 20 so much slower, giving a combined time of 37 minutes for 2.5k

Once on the bike I quickly got in to a rhythm and was working hard the whole way round. It was good that it was laps as mentally it was easy to push it as I treated each lap as a separate tt. By the time I got into transition I was pretty fired which is exactly how I wanted to feel.

The ride Data is below it hasn’t got the split for lap because of heading in to t2

http://app.strava.com/rides/1783357

The moment of truth how would my legs feel starting the run after fully committing to the bike and the answer is just as shite as they do when you don’t push the bike. I started off doing the first mile in just over 6 minutes and it felt hard but I knew that if it was a big race or if I really dug in I could keep it up. The sensations were as good as you can hope for like that. So after that I decided to cruise the rest of the run averaging 6.52mpm for the run which I got at 12.5miles over trails and hills so not bad and 3 hour marathon pace!

Overview

Local races such as this are great for trying new race tactics as there’s no pressure and if it goes tits up you haven’t lost anything and you can figure out what your limits are for when you tackle your bigger races. Another key element which is pretty vital for the future which I found was that pushing the bike hard I needed quite a bit more food then normal as I was quite Hungary on the second part of the run and actually felt very low on energy the last 2 miles which was o.k in the circumstances but if it was a bigger race and if I was pushing it I would have bonked and been forced to walking like an old woman (not pretty or a pleasant feeling). I took on about 85 grammes of carbohydrates an hour during the bike which is roughly 350Kcal and in the past this has been enough (weight was around 77-78Ks). To get this amount in I have Clif energy drink on the bike which goes down well and doesn’t taste to sweet like others and then on the bike I make sure I eat at LEAST every half an hour alternating between clif energy bars, and shotz/gels. Normally I wouldn’t take bars as they can be hard to digest when working hard but the clif ones are easy to digest and on the run you are going to be having gels as they are easier to take when running. I also believe that gels are more likely to upset your tummy so by having the bars you are less likely to suffer gasto- intestinal problems often associated with long distance races.

Sorry for waffling on so much but basicly next year I won’t be holding back on the bike like this year I will be stronger and racing much harder now I know what I’m capable of. I feel as though I’ve taken a massive step up in performance just mentally knowing how hard I can push it and having the confidence to do so, roll on 2012 and competitors beware.

NO GUT’S NO GLORY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6gc01qLu0