BIKE - Time to talk training, tactics and targets

Training
During my first pre-base phase bike ride I had plenty of time to think about how I'm going to go about succeeding in the Monster Medium and consistency appears to be the key.

As my mind wandered, while the wheels on my bike turned around the lanes of Halstead, I kept coming back to the same conclusion. That I will succeed if I just consistently train in a sensible way. The last time I was thinking about completing a half ironman I bought a book by Don Fink (an internationally known triathlon and running coach who many have sworn by his training plans) and read it religiously. Even now, while I look through the book for hints and tips, I smile at the number of different bookmarks and turned down corners indicating various pages that I feel are worth noting but scared I'll forget are there.

The main idea that kept going through my mind while cycling though was Don's idea of training to time rather than to distance and to train with effort in mind. Many of my cycling friends, also on Strava, all want to go fast and achieve KOM for the different sections on offer but Don talks about training with a heart rate monitor, working out your maximum heart rate and then training within a certain percentage of it. He explains that in long distance events, like my Monster Medium, it's all about training to effective heart rate control and that anything outside of this could be considered "junk miles". There is no way that you'd be able to keep up a 10 mile  race pace for my 50 mile bike section, especially after completing a 1.9km swim and then having to do a half marathon afterwards. For this reason my heart rate for the majority of the Monster Medium will be quite low (between 131 & 149 bpm) and therefore during my training I have to keep it within the same sort of range. This can be quite tricky especially as it feels quite slow at times.

The other part of consistency is the frequency of rides. My job has it's moments of utter bedlam and then during other times it's just busy. If I can complete a long ride at the weekend with the Born2Tri club and two other short evening sessions then I will do just fine. I've penciled these in and will see later on if I can fit it any more.

Tactics
Going out training regularly and consistently is one thing, but before these sessions I need to be prepared in order to get the full benefits. At the moment this is mainly equipment. Whilst riding today I decided I need to buy a good pair of bib shorts (basically lycra dungarees) so that my top does ride up slightly showing off my more than ample arse cleavage. Next up will be overshoes in order to keep my feet nice and toasty, by the end of my 10 mile session today I was beginning to lose the feeling in my toes! Finally there is the cycle computer, something just nice and cheap to give me a nice and quick idea of how far I've gone and at what speed.

Targets
Inbetween trying to keep an eye on my heart rate and thinking about the extra items of equipment I'd be needing over the next six months I was also thinking about my end game. That being the time I'd want to finish in and what speed/pace I would need to keep throughout the 50 miles. The cut off time for the bike section is 4 hours and 20 minutes which means the absolute slowest I can go is 12mph at a pace of 5 minute/mile. Ideally I would like to be comfortable at an average speed of 15mph at a pace of 4 minute/mile. There is no way I'm at this speed at the moment but with regular riding and a good training program I know I will be there come August 17th.

Just another challenge?

Here we are again, coming towards the end of another year with thoughts racing towards what I could do in the future. Sometimes it always seems that I'm looking to the future to what might be, to what could be, but this time I'm booked up and ready to go. I'm all signed up and paid up for the Monster Middle in Ely on the 17th August next year. Training needs to start straight away for me as this 1.9km swim, 83km swim and 21km run is going to be a tall order.

Now, I've completed marathons before (the majority way back when I was in my early 20s) and have cycled London to Paris but all of those have seemed like I just got round with very little training. Each event never had a cut off point / a time that I had to complete it in otherwise resulting in failure. I have always felt that those moments of crossing the finishing line of the London Marathon or arriving at the Eiffel Tower could be completed by anyone with very little training. After all, it's what I did and I am no Superman, far from it in fact. I have the medals and photos to prove I have completed these events but I have never felt that I have achieved anything special. While running the marathon there were always hundreds and thousands of other people around me doing the same and I have always heard of others cycling from London to Paris. In the past I have tried to convince myself that these are events that not anyone can just do, but on facing facts I honestly believe that any average Joe off the streets can do it. Just by taking things steady and having the right mental attitude I think anyone can complete a marathon. All you need to to is keep going and believe in yourself! Upon working with Jona Davies at a primary school in Chelmsford I then found the next challenge, triathlons. Jona was, and is, a very motivating person who allowed me to see the person I wanted to be. He came up with challenges and introduced me properly to the sport of triathlon. I completed my first sprint tri after he suggested a race and I completed it with the same attitude and training I had done with the marathon, i.e. not a lot of proper training and an attitude where I told myself that I would finish it no matter what. At the end I mistakenly felt proud of my accomplishment but in my heart I knew that I could do much better. When two other people I knew started completing local tri's as well I knew I had to step things up a notch. I wanted to feel special, I wanted to feel like I had achieved something that others had not, I wanted to feel proud of myself.  Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of spare money and entering these races can cost a bit but I knew that I wanted to go longer in terms of a triathlon. I told myself that I wouldn't use this money to enter a small sprint tri but I would instead go for a proper long distance one that others would not even contemplate. This longer tri didn't materialise as I hadn't booked myself a place and I hadn't completed anywhere near enough training. From the moment I knew I wasn't going to compete I felt depressed and lost any motivation I did have to carry out any training. 2013 passed me by in terms of training and exercise. I was not a happy fella.

Everything has changed though. My wife has realised that I really want to do this half ironman challenge, even if at times I don't show the enthusiasm that is coursing through my veins. Thanks to some very generous parents at work and understanding family at birthdays and Christmas', I now have the majority of the equipment.

With the cut off times of this half ironman triathlon I now feel that it is a real challenge that I absolutely MUST train for in order to complete it. I feel that you can't just 'turn up' and complete this challenge and that many people out there will not even contemplate being able to do it. I must swim 1.9km within 70 minutes, I've got a maximum of 4hrs20 to then cycle 83km and finally I then have to complete a sub 3hr half marathon (21km).

I have paid my entry fee of £104, I have joined a triathlon club, I have books to read about training and I have a time limit. Is this just another challenge? I don't think so. Time to get on the bike!

What A Difference A Bike Makes

Christmas is over and now it's New Year's Eve again. What a year it has been with so many challenges and plans for the future. The biggest change this year has got to be my decision to complete a Half Ironman in June of next year though. And up until a few days ago I was beginning to think it wasn't going to be possible. My ankles were aching, I'd missed a few training sessions and the beer was flowing a little too easily. That was all put behind me though when I finally managed to purchase a new bike. Being from Halfords, I wasn't going to get my hopes up too high but after the one ride on it I can now definitely see myself completing this challenge. 

This bike is so much quicker than my trusty hybrid and I don't have to put in as much effort. Infact there were a couple of moments when I was flying downhill that I was positively scared I was going to come off it. Shoving it into top gear, pegging it downhill after there had been plenty of rain in the week before it and heading into a blind corner probably didn't help but it's still good to see that the possibility of speed is there.

Next though will be the swimming. I need to get into the pool far more but the opportunities just aren't arriving due to the cost. I'm hoping that in the next month that'll all be sorted out.

Anyway, it's Rosy's birthday today so must ensure that everything is ready for her.

The Beginning of an Iron Journey

And so it begins... after reading much of Don Fink's book, Be Iron Fit, I have started my journey but nothing really goes to plan does it.

My first session was swimming which was actually pretty good, apart from my elbow hurting a bit after which meant I didn't complete the second swim session in the week. After that was a couple of runs and a brick session. All of these training sessions have been at a nice easy pace and a low heart rate, so it hasn't exactly been strenuous, but while getting the bike out tonight it had yet another flat on the back tyre. Needless to say, I didn't change it in the rain with rumblings of thunder in the background but managed to get the exercise bike into the house and do the time indoors while watching "The Almighty Johnsons".

So, everything is still on track at the moment I just need to fix the wheel and get back on it tomorrow in order to wear my outdoor kit.

Half Ironman Triathlon coming up

After much deliberation I have taken my first step towards becoming a possible ironman. I've thought about it, written notes about it, talked about it and even dreamt about it, but now I'm going to do something about it. On the 2nd June 2013 Dengie Events will be holding a half ironman triathlon in Fambridge, near Chelmsford. It involves a 1.3 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride and finished off with a 13 mile run. I've completed marathons and half marathons before, have cycled London to Paris in three days but now I've set my sights on this challenge as a stepping stone towards the Bolton full Ironman distance event in 2014 (2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, 26.2mile run).

Admittedly, I haven't actually paid for the event yet but I have just bought a new pair of trainers, after a running analysis, and actively made enquiries to join a triathlon club. As soon as my membership to Born2Tri has gone through, and I've been paid again, I'll sign up and be well on my way to being an official M-Dot owner.... hopefully maybe all things going well.

Wish me luck.

A Christmas Run and not much else

So my training hasn't quite been going according to plan then. Mind you, when has it ever? But i'm still feeling confident about the whole London Marathon thing. I've had quite a few coughs and colds recently and used them as a bit of an excuse not to run to be honest, although i'm paranoid that if I do train while ill that i'll just have the cold for longer.

I still managed to go out for a run though, in aid of the Farleigh Hospice and dressed as Santa. It was quite a surreal morning really. All around there were people dressed up as Father Christmas and wherever you looked you could see still more arriving from all corners of Central Park in Chelmsford.

Having not run in a couple of weeks I was slightly nervous but the fact that it was freezing just made me more determined to finish in a quick time. Having arrived early I also managed to get to the front of the running line and as soon as the race started I kept up with the front runners for all of about twenty seconds. After that I just couldn't keep up with the 10mph pace that they had all set off at. Seeing that the course was only 2.3 miles I did manage to keep going all the way through the course, ended with a time of 23 minutes and then headed straight out to meet Siân and Rosy in order to watch Arthur Christmas.

All in all a good day, tomorrow morning I should really weigh myself and then get back into some sort of training regime again.

The Start of a Long Run

Here we are, mid November, i've completed the London to Paris bike ride, i've completed my first triathlon and now I have a Marathon to train for. The other two events were easy in comparison to this new event I have infront of me. 26.2 miles is a long way and having completed the distance twice in the past I know how hard it is going to be. The difference now though is that I am over 10 years older than when I last completed the distance so now it is going to be even harder. Foolishly, because I was lazy, I didn't really train when I completed them before and then I was able to finish in just over 5 hours. Now I have a target, my aim is to complete the course in about 4 hours, 4 and a half hours max. But how am I going to do it? I know i'm meant to do it by lots of training, but i'm not quite sure how i'm going to get the motivation to do it. Here's hoping.