IM Switzerland: Success

I finished Ironman Switzerland in 12 hours, 24 minutes. I completed the bike leg and the marathon faster than I expected. It was a tough race but a great experience. I was really happy with my time.

My splits for the race:

• Swim: 1:24:20
• Transition 1: 0:05:22
• Bike: 6:26:12
• Transition 2: 0:09:09
• Run: 4:19:03
• Total: 12 hours, 24 minutes

I arrived in Zurich on Friday morning. I got the bike over with no problems and I registered in the evening, around 5pm. Registration was a straight forward process and there was a good buzz around the Ironman Village (in the Landweise area of Zurich). I assembled my bike in the hotel then, leaving only minimal oil marks on the walls and carpet. Later on in the evening we went to the Welcome Party, which was a meal attended by about 1500 (of the 2400) participants plus ones. This was a strange affair. We were sandwiched between a group of Germans aiming for sub 10 hour finishes and two Americans who professed to see a 17 hour finish as a success. They played a few videos of past races and there were some entertainers. It was good fun while it lasted but it emptied out quite quickly after desert around 10pm.

I got up at 6am on Saturday morning to start to adapt to the early start the next day. I went out for a short spin on the bike to discover the gears were jumping around the place when any force was put on them. With the few tools I’d brought, I couldn’t fix the problem so I brought it to a bike shop. The mechanic looked more and more puzzled with everything he tried and I increasingly felt like I was standing outside an operating theatre. I had put the derailleur on crooked and damaged the thread on the rear dropout. This was a small disaster since the part is specific to the frame – meaning there was going to be no replacement anywhere in Zurich. We decided to screw in the derailleur onto the crooked thread and simply bend it into position, calibrate it to the crooked position and pray that it held. It did, thank flip. He saved my bacon. Lesson number one for Ironman number two: make sure the derailleur is straight before screwing it back on.

I cycled down to check in my bike on Saturday afternoon. It had been raining on and off since I arrived and the forecast for Sunday was predicting more of the same. There was a very long queue of people waiting to check into transition. They were photographing every competitor on the way in with their bike for security. There was good banter in the queue and it moved quite quickly, however. Because of the rain, they gave everyone a plastic bike cover so the transition, when I left it on Saturday, looked like a small shanty town. I couldn’t help to notice that the ratio of 20% four grand plus, time trial bikes to 80% road bikes that you usually get at triathlons was reversed.  Nearly every bike there was a monster TT bike. Saturday evening was a relaxed affair. The usual attempt and failure to go to bed early before a triathlon ensued and I got to bed around 1am having quadruple checked all the gear was together. I’ve read research to suggest that the amount of sleep the night before a sporting event makes no difference to performance, rather it’s the two before that that impact it heavily, so that was okay.

The cock crew on the morning of Sunday 25th at 4am. It was unnecessary, I had already been awake for a while thinking about the race and all that had led up to it. I went down to breakfast (which the hotel kindly put on at 4am for competitors, of which there were about 15 staying in the hotel). They ranged from the nervous and quiet, to the tired and quiet, to the sixty something year old American couple who’d done 4 Ironman Hawaii's between them trying, fair play to them, to get the party started. A shuttle bus shipped us and people from other nearby hotels down to the race at 4:45.

The transition beneath a brightening sky was a buzz. 5:40 to 6:45am passed very fast. One minute I arrived and talked to two or three Irish lads who happened to be racked close to me, the next my gear was sorted out and I was wet suited and walking towards the race start.

 

Two days earlier, for the first time in a week, the water temperature in Lake Zurich had dropped below 24.5C meaning wet suits were allowed. It was a close call however and at 23.8C, it was like stepping into a bath. It had been mentioned in the race booklet that it was possible to leave a cache of food at a table in transition that would be transported out to one of the aid stations around the 80km mark of the bike and so I brought a few muesli bars with me for this when I went towards the race start. I couldn’t find it however and ended up shoving the box under the side of one of the tents beside the swim start. There was a big bottle neck to get into the water as the starter hooter went and so I ended up about two thirds of the way back at the start of the swim. It wasn’t half as physical back there. For the first ten minutes, I was passing breast strokers and slow front crawlers until I caught a group going at a reasonable pace. I swam like this for the first 1km or so – sticking with a group for a few minutes before branching ahead on my own to bridge to the back of a faster group.

It felt great to push ahead but I was well aware of the first piece of advice given to every first time Ironman – push too hard on the swim and you’ll really regret it on the marathon – so for the remaining 2.8km, I stayed really relaxed. It was probably the most relaxed triathlon swim I’ve ever had. The course was two laps of a 1.9km loop with an exit and run across a small island in between. I completed the 3.8km swim in 1hr 24. Towards the slower end of what I had predicted but I was feeling great, so maybe that was a good thing.

Transition 1 was a matter of getting on cycling gear. I put on cycling shorts over the tri shorts I was wearing. 180km is just too long for shorts with no padding. I spent 5 minutes, 22 seconds in T1, making me 1538th fastest at the change.

The bike was two 90km laps of a course that went through Zurich city and out to the south. It takes in some small villages before climbing up into the mountins overlooking the city and coming back down into Zurich before one last climb to complete the lap. The first 40km are straight and perfectly flat. The road surfaces were impeccable (by Irish standards, although I did talk to a German afterwards who complained that they were poor). This made for a fast first 1hr 30 on the bike, averaging around 35kmph. I was passed by a lot of the time triallers here. I knew there were climbs coming however, so I contented myself with not blowing up on the first lap and clawing back a few positions when things got steeper. I tried to eat as much as I could on the bike. There were aid stations every 20km, every second one having food (the others just water and Powerade). They were well stocked and well volunteered. I basically tried to get as much stuff as I could at each of the food stations which generally meant cycling with no hands, grabbing two bottles (having discarded two empties in the designated area before the station) and then a banana and a power bar using every space on the bike and every bit of balance I possessed (especially considering there were several other riders trying to do the same).

At this stage, the sun was up and out and it was becoming clear that the forecast of rain was wrong: it was a perfect day for an Ironman, 22-23C and sunny. The first proper climb of the course is called The Beast. It was about 3.5km long from start to finish and was lined with spectators at the top (and pockets along the ascent). The Swiss talk mostly German with some French mixed in, however when encouraging cyclists, it’s all French - “Hopp Hopp Hopp” and “Allez! Allez!” were the most popular encouragements, as well as cow bells and clackers. The top of the Beast was host to a big brass band and loads of support. These are always great fun to cycle through. I found the climb itself fairly easy the first time around.

Each competitors race number had their first name and their country’s flag on it. This was a really cool edition and I talked to a few Irish people along the bike course, including Izzard of Boards.ie fame. I ran into him on the climb up The beast. I naively remarked at the time that the climbs would pose no problems at all on the bike. After that, there were some long sweeping descents through small villages (very Tour de France style) before turning back towards Zurich. I hit 71kmph on one of the steeper descents, the first time I’ve broken 70kmph.

The second notable climb on the route is the shorter and steeper “Heartbreak Hill” at the 82Km mark. Free shuttle busses  were being run to ferry people from the IM village to the hill, which meant there were big crowds. There were no barriers so there was literally just a channel of about 5 foot through the crowd at the top – a great touch, I thought.

After this, the route went back into Zurich, by the marathon finish line and back out for the second lap. The first lap went very well and I felt in good shape. I started to push a bit harder on the flat from 85km to 135km and I kept up a good speed. This part was a real test of muscular endurance and mental discipline – essentially staying in the exact same aerodynamic position, pushing hard right on the lactic threshold for an hour and a half. Although I’d been eating well through the first 4 hours of the bike, a wall was inevitable and it came as the road started to wind up towards The Beast climb on the 140km mark. When these things come, it’s surprising how fast things change from major to minor. Suddenly, the easiest gear wasn’t easy enough and everything became erratic. My heart rate started to go up a lot, I was speeding up and slowing down (I see consistency of speed as one of the crucial elements of long distance cycling) and generally worried that I was going to blow up too early. In hindsight, it was all down to the looming marathon. As a first timer, I just had no idea how much I needed to keep in reserve for the marathon and uncertainty turns to doubt very fast after 6 hours of racing.

The 3.5km climb up to the top of the beast felt like a long one but hearing the first wafts of the band at the top gave me a great lift, knowing it must be within two or three hundred meters. There was an aid station near the top so I was able to restock on bananas and water and I was able to regroup on the ensuing descents. I saw a sobering remnant of an accident near the bottom of one of the descents. It looked like someone had ploughed into a car – there was glass on the road and a bike frame. No cyclist though, hopefully it wasn’t serious.

The final climb up Heartbreak hill on the 170km mark was rather surreal. There were a lot of people there and a clown was running along side my bike. While I was grinding up the last part of the climb, I could hear a Steel Drum band playing Hallalujah also. Then in an instant, I was flying down the other side alone and along the last stretch to Transition 2. I completed the bike leg in 6hr 26. Much faster than I had expected.

I took a bit of time – 9 minutes - in T2 to get things together – take  off the bike shorts and jersey and put on a fresh pair of running socks. I also put on some sun cream thanks to competitor 281 who had kindly left a bottle lying there. It was a funny feeling starting the marathon (which was my first). It had seemed like such an immovable object in the days leading up to the race but after just a few steps I had a great feeling that I no longer have to run a full marathon. It’s just an arbitrary distance less than 26.2 miles now. It was an odd comfort but 26.1 miles seemed like so much less than a marathon. After 8 hours, I was taking every comfort coming my way!

I had some friendly support along the race->

The first 15km of the marathon went quite well. I settled into a good pace and walked through the aid stations, drinking a mix of water, powerade and soup (this was a lifesaver – it was essentially chicken soup with what tasted like half a salt cellar thrown in but it really helped settle my stomach as the race went on). I ate a lot of pretzels too.

The 42km run course was four 10.5km laps of a course which wound around Lake Zurich, over a bridge and down the main lake promenade. It then did a loop back towards the finish area and through a lap counter station – they gave you a different coloured wrist band on each lap. When you got your hands on the red band, you were on your last lap and almost done.

It was somewhere around the 23-24km mark that things started to get very tough. I remember the place exactly on the lap – you turn left onto a main road and the run goes out straight along it for maybe 2km before doubling back. The problem was that I could see those 2km and the 2km back. If it was a brick wall I hit on the bike, this felt like a reinforced steel, Great Wall of China. I shuffled along for the next 30 or 40 minutes, just aiming to get to the next lampost a hundred meters up the road, or the next aid station. I definitely remember not being able to contemplate running another half marathon. These were dark times. At about the 29km mark, things were still tough going when an Irish competitor who I’d done a lot of training with pulled along side me.

Justin: “Oh, you’re one lap ahead of me”. Me: “I’m going to be one puke break ahead of you in a minute too”. But it never happened, I sped up to match his pace and about .5km later, I’d forgotten all about how bad I was feeling. We approached an aid station and he said he’d walk it to get a drink. I knew if I stopped, I might not start again and so I kept going. There was a mile marker just after it saying I’d broken 30km. And just like that the wall had been obliterated. 10km? I could run 10km! Every negative feeling disappeared, I blasted the last 10km about as fast as I’ve ever run 10k. Looking at the splits, they’ve ranked people for each successive 10km lap of the marathon. My placings were: 1373th, then 1231th, then 1014th and finally 656th for that final lap.

I finished the last 1km at more or less a sprint. It was an incredible feeling. Running the last 100m between the seated spectator galleries on either side and through all the noise was a fitting, euphoric end to the race. I finished in 12 hours, 24, running the marathon in 4 hrs 19.

 

I had expected to in shreds after the race but it wasn’t the case at all. I had tight hamstrings and that was the full extent of it. I spent a few minutes in the finishers tent (which resembled a war zone) and went back down to cool down in the lake with the people who’d kindly come over to support me before watching a few other finishers.

The two questions I’ve been asked since the race is “Will you do another one?” and “What’s next"?”. The answer to both is I’m not too sure. As to what’s next, I’m only sure what it won’t be: nothing. These have been the most rewarding 8 months I’ve ever spent. Quest complete.

IM – 4 days: The Calm Before the Storm

Last week was week two of the taper and week 39 of the training program. There’s now four days to Ironman Switzerland.

I did more this week than last, owing to the long runs and mountain running I did on Monday and Thursday. I ran greater than a marathon  (45km) for the second time in three weeks, which is encouraging. I’m glad I got those last long runs in rather than tapering for the full two weeks on the run. It’ll make a difference starting the marathon, I think.

The last weekend spin of the training program was scheduled for 2 and a half hours. On Saturday morning, I did this 55km out on a flat route over Bohernabrina, Blessington, Kilteel and back. I did my best to keep in Heart Zone 2, which means below 150bpm. This was quite difficult at times, it’s very slow. I’ll be aiming to keep within sight of this for the first 90km of the IM however, so it was good to know in advance what this pace will feel like: frustratingly slow. It’s supposed to reap dividends during the marathon however, so I’ll be  going for this strategy.

For the fact that there’s little training to go save for 30 minute swims in the morning, it seems like a good idea to recap the training for the last 8 months. In total, some stats:

• Swim: 115.8km (58 hours)
• Bike: 6033Km (252 hours)
• Run: 575.8Km (58 hours)
• Strength and Conditioning: ~90 hours
• Accidents: 1 (coming off the bike on ice in January)
• Cost: Somewhere in the region of €4000 (Race entries, physio, equipment, bike maintanaince, travel)
• Triathlons completed: One sprint (Velentia Island), one Olympic (TriAthy), one half-Ironman (Ironman UK 70.3)

It’s humbling to have cycled over six thousand kilometers and have cumulatively run ten marathons. The hardest past of the training was by far and away the 7am starts in the dark to cycle to the gym for S&C sessions during the winter. In hindsight though, this has been the training that’s paid off the most. You don’t appreciate S&C when it works, because nothing happens. But when it doesn’t work however, you know all about it when you try and go long.

The highlights have been most of the other times: the long cycles, the mountain runs on Lug ná Choielle and the races. Velentia Island in Kerry and Ironman UK 70.3 in particular. It’s hard to beat the excitement of racing, especially when it’s turned into a mini holiday.

I’ll fly to Zurich on Friday and the race starts at 7am on Sunday morning. I’m looking forward to getting over there and experiencing the ridiculous buzz and hype surrounding these races now.

So that’s it then. In the words of Dean: “For those of you who do make it, you will cross the line as a different person. You will be forever changed by the experience. You will learn more about yourself in the next day than you have known previously in an entire lifetime”.

The hard part is over; Now for the even harder part.

Week IM – 1.5: The Great Plan

Thursday marks 10 days to go and the last of the build runs I scheduled. I’ve been tapering on the swim and bike for a week now, but I wanted to squeeze in a last few big runs. I did 27km today between AM and PM runs, sandwiched between 20km on the bike.

On Monday, I went out mountain running up to Three Rock. 15km in total. I had planned only 5 or 6 km but it was the type of run where you forget what you’re doing and just keep going. There’s something about mountain running that’s fun in a way that road running isn’t. You’re too busy watching your next step to feel tired and running down a mountain is just fantastic fun.

I think the biggest time grabber now will be the organisation. It’s somewhat symbolic that various planning and stats for the IM has now taken over the entire white board in my bedroom:

 

I got my bike fit on Wednesday. My right knee had been getting slightly sore on long cycles and it felt like my foot was turned unnaturally so I went to get the bike fit one last time. The cleats had indeed been turned too far in (by me when I originally replaced them). The way to fit cleats, it turns out, is to cycle with your foot on top of the pedal but not clipped in. When you clip in then, the foot&leg should track the exact same – so that the shoe isn’t pulling your foot off the plane that it naturally takes. The cleats should be moved until this is the case. It feels a lot better now.

Training now gives way to sleeping, eating and planning.

Week IM – 2: The Taper Period

Looking at the training time charts, it’s going to look like a mountain descent from this week on. Last week, I broke 20 hours between swim, bike, run and Strength & Conditioning. This week, it was less than 10.

I did the main weekend session on Wednesday, because I was away for the weekend. That was a 13km run followed by an 87km bike over Bohernabrina, through Blessington and Lackin and back over the Sally Gap. It was a really nice evening and the cycle back up hill to the Sally Gap from the west was incomparably more pleasant to the same cycle in driving rain a month ago.

I concentrated a lot on stretching and foam rolling this week – working on exercises to activate the glute when running to try to compensate for the over dominant hip flexor. This probably a result of spending several hours on the bike where the hip flexor and quads do most of the work. It seems to be working well as I haven’t experienced any more problems running. I just did one 1.4km swim session with a 2x600 main set, done at a good pace.

On Saturday, in heat of about 30C, I went running in Paris. I started the first 9Km in a park to the west of the city and then did a loop around by the Eiffel Tower. It went really well, I finished at the pace I’d run a 5km at and had no problems at all with the tendonitis I’ve been trying to keep at bay. Because of space restrictions travelling, I brought the lighter Nike Zoom runners that I’d used for shorter triathlons over the last 3 years. I had been planning to use the more cushioned Assics Nimbus in the IM because of the length of the I run. I hadn’t actually trained in the Zooms for months, but it really went well. I’ll do 2 or 3 more session in the lighter Nikes and if they go well, I’ll stick with what’s worked and go with the Nikes. This was the route I travelled, the Champs Elysees was a bit too far to squeeze in but I did get the Eiffel Tower onto the route.

All in all, this was another good week. I’ve conquered the peak of the training mountain, although I’ll continue to ignore the taper for the run for one more week to try and squeeze in a last few long runs – I really do think they’ll help on the day – both physically, and a lot more importantly, to put my mind more at ease on the bike as my first ever marathon approaches.

Week IM – 3: Hitting Full Stride

This was a solid week: 4.3km swim, 274km bike and 46km run. I hit a few milestones that I’m really happy about. The first is that I ran, for the first time, a weekly total in excess of a marathon: 46km. Given that I planned to ramp up running last and then hit some injury problems, I wasn’t sure if the last minute ramp up was going to happen at all. So it was great to build up the miles somewhat.

The second is that on a long cycle on Saturday, I ticked over to 25,000km on the bike in the last 3 years. That was a little celebration somewhere between Rathangan and Tullamore.

I did 4.2km in the pool spread across two morning sessions on Monday and Friday. Both were sets of short, fast repeat sets – 6x250m on Monday and 10x200m on Friday.

IM rules state that if the water temperature for the swim is above 24.5C, wetsuits can’t be worn. I saw this for the first time this week. Lake Zurich is currently 23C. It was 22.5 during the week, so there is actually a chance that wetsuits could be banned. That would effect the swim quite a bit. I really notice how much higher in the water (and therefore easier it is) I am swimming with a wetsuit as opposed to without.

On Thursday, I did a 20km bike speed session over the bars, pushing hard. On Saturday, I cycled down to Ballinasloe in Galway. This was a 170km cycle due west. It was a tough cycle as I was going straight into the wind for the full 6 and a half hours. This made it difficult to keep the heart rate below 75-80%. There was no let up, but it was a good chance to go through the bike nutrition plan for the IM, and perhaps simulate the increased effort and calorie expenditure if it’s above 28-30C on race day. This was the route:

The reason I cycled to Ballinasloe was to go and watch TiAthlone on Sunday. My brother and two friends were competing in the open Olympic distance race. There’s always a good buzz around Athlone on the triathlon weekends. Especially this year because it was a European Championship event. It was the first time in 3 years I’ve been at a triathlon as a spectator.

It was a lot of fun but by the end, I really wanted to be out racing. “Patience” is the only thing I could tell myself, “..not too long to wait now”.

IM – 4: The Peak Period.

The beginning of the end

This week marks the start of the second last period of training (before the final taper week): the Peak Period. From November to April, I built up strength to sustain long sessions. From March to June I turned this strength into sport specific endurance. Now it’s time to turn sport specific endurance into Ironman performance.

In an ideal world, I would have adequate endurance built up to comfortably complete all three distances easily. I feel I’m there with the swim and the bike but injuries meant I ran late with building up running miles - I never reached the top of the build phase (running 40+ km a week) - and so I will forego the peak running workouts in favour of building up as many marathon pace miles as I can.

Peak workouts are typically shorter and at a constant, high intensity. On Saturday, I went out with a short distance triathlete and did 105km on the bike between a flat session out to Wicklow/Kildare and a 30km time trial. It’ll mean sacrificing some endurance in the hope of boosting race performance and freshness. Fewer sessions over all, and working on 4 hour muscular endurance sessions rather than 8 hour slogs. The same in the pool - 2km at a faster than race pace rather than long race pace swims.

The peak phase starts with a rest week after the Build period (and the Half Ironman last Sunday).I took Monday off and worked on active recovery on Tuesday and Wednesday. I went to the physio also, for a dry needling session. This is basically acupuncture where short needles are used to relieve tight points in muscles (it sounds worse than it is!). It can be a good compliment to deep tissue massage which physios often use for the same ends. It relieves tension with more accuracy but can mean longer recovery time afterwards – my hip was still sore as of Sunday, which was a bit annoying.

Doing four less sessions this week has left with some time I forgot existed. I’ve used this to train for the mental side of the IM the best way I know, reading Dean Karnazes:

“The [race] would be primarily about one thing: not giving up.  It really didn't matter how long it took to get the job done; what mattered was getting it done.  This was an exploration into the possibilities of self.  Being a champion meant not quitting, no matter how tough the situation became, and no matter how badly the odds were stacked against you.  If you had the courage, stamina, and persistence to cross the line finish line, you were a champion.”

IM – 5: Ironman 70.2 UK

This week I took to the seas to compete in my first “M-dot”, official Ironman race. It was the Half Ironman UK, or Ironman 70.2 as they are now called (because they it totals 70.2 miles), over the distances of 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run (a half marathon).

Some stats:

• Swim (1.9km): 36:26
• Bike (90km): 3:21:11
• Run (21km): 2:05:03
• Total Time: 6:12:33
• Nutrition: 2l of electrolyte, 3l of water, 5 powerbar gels, 1 powerbar, 2 banannas, 3 meusli bars, 2 cups of gatorade
• Calories burned: 4378

Several people seemed to have bad encounters at the race previously, so I was braced for the worst but it turned out to be an exceptionally well organised race. Probably the best organisation of any triathlon I’ve ever competed in.

I arrived over on Friday, via the ferry. I set up the tent on a camp site right beside the location for the race, which was hugely handy. To say that the race, at Wimbleball Lake, is in the middle of nowhere would be an understatement. Don’t expect roads wide enough for two cars or phone reception, but do expect a beautiful location and a laid back few days. Registration opened on Friday. There was a small tented village created for registration, tri shops and some other things there, as well as the large transition and changing tents.

I arrived after 6 so I was too late to register on Friday so I simply relaxed for the evening.

On Saturday morning, the buzz was beginning to grow around the camp site and the venue. I swam about 1km of the swim course in the organised swim, which was hugely useful. It was a lake swim, which is my favourite type of swimming. No salt and no chlorine. I registered at 11:30, sorted out my gear and checked in my bike. They operate a “clean transition” there (and maybe in all M-dot events). This means nothing is allowed around the bike in transition. You are given three bags to sort your gear. On exiting the water, you collect your “Swim to Bike” bag containing helmet, bike cloths, sun glasses etc. and change in a big tent, putting the wetsuit into the bag. After the bike leg, you grab your “Bike to Run” bag from the numbered hooks with runners etc. and change into them before dumping the bag (which is rehooked by voulenteers) and legging it off. The bags:

The was a Q&A with the pros in the afternoon before the race briefing at 4pm. It was mildly interesting to hear from the pros although it didn’t seem like they were too pushed to be there. The race briefing was where the excitement started, I think. There was about 1000 (of the 1400 competitors) crammed into a big tent and I was surprised to hear that IM 70.2 UK is considered to be the toughest 70.2 course in the world (of Mdot 70.2s that is). After the race briefing, we drove some of the bike course before getting quite lost on the very, very rural roads and we settled for dinner in a pub we stumbled upon. I was there with a friend from London who had driven over to register on Friday after a rowing race. She was driving back for the finals on Saturday morning before driving back over to race on Sunday.. and I thought I was hardcore).

The alarm went off early on Sunday morning, at 5am. Derude and other 90’s dance were blaring from the finish line a few hundred meters away and the camp site was already buzzing in equal measure with bike tires being pumped up by eager looking competitors and sleeping bags being around worn by people with that “why do I do this?” early morning pre triathlon look. Amazingly, it dropped below freezing overnight and everything was iced up. It had warmed up by the 7am start.

At 6:45, everyone assembled at transition before the walk over to the swim start. This was a mass swim start with 1400 people starting at once. I was assured it would be rough and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve become quite comfortable in the scramble at the start of triathlons at this stage. Here is the one thing I’ve learned: don’t stop swimming. If someone elbows you, keep swimming. If someone swims over you, keep swimming. If you swim on top of someone, keep swimming. It’s that simple.

One thing I remember in the race briefing is that they said it’d start right after we hear the national anthem. I thought this was a joke, but it wasn’t. At 6:59am, God Save the Queen serenaded 1400 people threading water in Winbleball Lake. I’ve never been fired up before for a swim start, but I was for this one. The hooter went and all hell broke loose. I was about a third of the way back and towards the centre. As I said above, the first 50 meters is a scramble where you feel like you’re in a washing machine. It settled down surprisingly quickly though and I got into a relaxed stoke quickly. I took two elbows during the race, one at the start and one at the big squeeze around the first bouy. Both times my goggles were knocked off. It didn’t bother me too much, I just fixed them and went on. I had my strongest swim to date, I swam it in 36:26.

The run to transition was up a steep hill and at the top, I found my racked Blue bag with my cycling gear in it. There was a big tent with seats to change in and volunteers to help anyone who wanted it, which made a big change from the open transitions of shorter races – 2 minutes in transition makes less of a difference in a 6 hour half ironman than a 1 hour sprint.

After the change, I unracked the bike and started the cycle. I noticed then that the day had warmed a lot from before the swim. I checked my watch then to see my faster than expected swim and felt strong. From driving the bike course, and from the fact that I spend almost all of my time training on the bike in the mountains, I knew it was going to suit me a lot – very hilly, with some tough climbs. The first 30km or so on the bike, I spent getting my legs into cycling mode and reminding myself of the plan – to hold back slightly on the first (of two 45km) lap on the bike and to take on plenty of food. I did this, and stuck in the vicinity of a few other strongish cyclists on TT bikes. I took mental note of the climbs – where they ended, how steep they were, and how hard I could push the descents. On the second lap, I somewhat put the hammer down and pushed hard. On the first of the steep climbs, it felt great to leave the TT bikes behind. I noticed the biggest difference in my descents. Perhaps most are unused to cycling in steep hills, or perhaps because I train in mountains more than most, but I was able to push it a lot harder on the descents that most others and it was here that I gained most time.

Two things of note were the extremely well stocked aid stations along with the nicest volunteers I’ve experienced (I dropped a power bar that was handed to me from one and he ran 30-40 meters at full tilt to catch up and hand it to me), and the oasis’ of 50-100 supporters who gathered at the tops of the hardest climbs with cow bells, whistles, drums.. and generally made as much noise as possible. It created a fantastic atmosphere. I got a few grins of acknowledgement from people waving gigantic English flags for the fact that I was wearing an Ireland cycling jersey (it had to be done).

By the end of the cycle, I was still in good shape. I finished it in 3:21:11. The second transition was more of the same, with the bags and the volunteers – mostly dispending sun cream. It had turned into a scorcher and was, I guess, about 25C at that stage.

The run was a 3x7km lap course and the course itself was quite hilly and mostly offroad (which I liked a lot – I much prefer running offroad on uneven tracks to monotonous roads, there’s less time to think about how hard the run is when you’re concentrating on not breaking your ankle with the next step). I was very conservative on the first lap of the run. Owing to all the trouble I’ve had with tendonitus, I really didn’t want to inflame it early. On the second lap, I pushed it a bit harder and when coming one of the bigger hills around the 10km mark, I felt it start to get sore. I think this was inevitable (I’d been making good progress at the physio to loosen out the hip, but the program I was following was still just at 2-3km runs). It ebbed and flowed for the rest of the run and never really threatened to prevent me from finishing. I followed a strategy used by the current IM world champion, which is to walk through every aid station to take on water, food and energy drinks. It worked well and I will follow this for Ironman Switzerland. There really is no point in trying to drink on the run, it just ends up all over your face.

I found the last lap of the run very tough. I’d put this down to the low volume of running I’ve been able to do for the last 5 weeks. The finish line was both welcome and great fun. It was lined with people making a great bit of noise. It’s this Razzmataz that makes the Mdot races worth racing.

I finished the run in 2:05:03 and the whole race in 6:12:33. This put me in 431st place out of the 1450 entrants and 16th out of 61 in the 18-24m age group. I was really happy with my time, even though I know from the 1:36 half marathon I ran two months ago that I could break 6 hours with some more running. Not just completing, but actually racing the swim and the bike make me a lot more confident about Zurich. I’ll move more towards maintenance mode for these two disciplines in the remaining 4 weeks and do everything in my power to prepare for a marathon. It’s going to be tough as hell. But it’s going to be possible.

Week IM – 6:The Wicklow 200;The IM Cycle

I’m writing this over a very, very large meal. It’s gone on for the last hour and shows no signs of abating.

Today, I did the Wicklow 200. It was a 200km cycle through the Wicklow Mountains and the towns that surround them. It started in Greystones . This was the first full IM cycle I have completed this year. Here’s how it went:

0km – 50km: (Sally Gap) (The race started in Greystones and climbed up to the Sally Gap before the long descent to Kilbride. The weather started off fine but out across the Sally Gap, it was strong winds and heavy rain. That’ll toughen us up! I started cycling with a fellow triathlete, Noel, and we set a very fast pace. We started a bit later then many others (you could start any time between 6:30 and 8:30). We both felt strong as we passed the 50km but Noel summed it up well by saying “Don’t get carried away.. this is still very much the honeymoon period”. The descent was fast and it really needed a lot of concentration in the rain and wind. I’m quite a fast descender but in rain, I tend to under steer on corners, so I was a bit more conservative than normal.

50km – 110km (Donard): We flew through the first water stop at the 50km mark without stopping. We continued to set a good pace on what were at times very difficult road surfaces. We stopped then for 20 minutes at the first main pit stop in Donard at 80km. We set a good pace after Donard and I tagged onto a group of strong cyclists for a fun 15km of fast, interesting ascents and descents between Donard and Brockna.

110km – 185km (Slieve Maan, Shay Elliet climbs): It was at some point during the ascent of the punishing Slieve Man climb that the honeymoon period ended. I struck out on my own soon after Donard to essentially simulate the Ironman as much as possible,  using the tri bars and pushing it hard. I passed many pentalons. Before Slieve Man, there was a smaller ascent and fast descent before the real thing. And it was obvious when it arrived. It’s a long ardius climb that reduced several people to walking with their bikes. I grinded up most of the climb with an American chap, passing a lot of people on the way up. And it was tough. It lasted a long time and seeing the tips of the big flags errected at the summit was like an oasis in the desert of pain. The descent from Slieve Maan is long and fast. My speedometer tells me the maximum speed I hit was 67Kmph, but it underestimated the race distance by about 30%, so I imagine it also underestimated that max speed.

At the bottom of Slieve Man, there was little mercy as the Shay Elliet Climb begins almost immediately. It was another tough one. It’s a shallower climb but almost as long. The Tour of Ireland King of the Mountains markings were on the road on the way up. 3km to the top.. 2km.. 1km.. 500 meters.. There were a group of people cheering on the last 100m of the ascent so it seemed apt to sprint it. It’s quite amazing how much better people cheering can make you feel. Or at least how much better you perform so you look like you feel better to them.

Between 150 and 175km, things got tough. I forwent the second sandwich stop at around 145km and in hindsight, it would have been a good idea. At that point, I was still pushing hard on the tri bars and averaging a good 32-33kmph. Around 155km, I felt my stomac beginning to reject food. It was probably sick of energy gels and salted isotonic (4:1). My cycling became more sparadic – pushing too hard for a while then needing to ease off a lot. I was passed by many pentalons.

After the climb just outside Avoca, I realised I was flagging a lot and it was really tough. When you’re on your own, when things are going badly, it seems your mind focuses every single neuron in your brain on the reasons you should stop. I reached for a HyperBoost bar that we had received in the race goody bag. It’s a dark chocolate covered brick of pure, caffinated energy. It could feel my tummy think about it for a while before deciding to moodily crank back into action. I was back over the bars and making good pace by about 175km.

175km – 200km: Having been through the somewhat of a wall (although still not out of the woods), I ran into a follow boards.ie person (Buffolo). I recognised the boards.ie top. He was a good cyclist and we did about 10km together before he went ahead. This really made things a lot easier for this period. Around 185km, things were getting tough again (although I knew I would finish at this stage regardless of whether I could eat any more or not). One thing I noticed as time went on was that the pentalons were getting bigger. These large globuals of cyclists were swallowing people up and they were sticking with them. I too suffered this sticky fate around 185km. I heard a whirring from behind and thought it was an electric car. It was actually a 25 man pentalon. It was travelling about 20% faster than I was and the first 6 or 7 riders went around and moved in front of me. At this point, they began breaking the wind and I sped up by exactly 20% so the rest of the riders filed in behind me. I had been subsumed by the pentalon.

If I was to put a figure on the effort needed to cycle inside a tight pentalon against cycling in wind alone, It’s probably about 50% of the effort. That’s a huge difference. After about 3km, as tired as I was, I thought to myself - “This is a good cycle, but it’s not an Ironman cycle”. I knew I had to finish this thing alone so I dropped off the end of the now very large group and faced the wind alone for the last 13km. I’m glad I did. These were those last few Km when I knew I had the course beaten and I hit the tri bars for the last jaunt back into Greystones.

Getting off the bike at the finish line was a strange affair. I couldn’t straighten up for about 30 seconds. I didn’t feel like I could run a marathon. Eventually I loosened up and had a plate of pasta, which went some way to settling my stomac. Once I had the bike in the car, I went for a short run. I was suprised that my legs were fine, they were tight but not tired at all. I think on race day, it’s going to come down to settling my stomac enough to eat sufficient calories to make the marathon possible. This may mean a large salty meal in T2. If this is what it takes, then that’s what I’ll have waiting there.

After I drove back to Dublin, I went for an 8km slow jog / fast walk. I felt good. Maybe I will be able to do a marathon after all.

Some stats:

• Distance: 200km
• TIme from start to finish: 7:59:58
• Time cycling: 7:32:30 (27:28 at stops)
• Calories burned: 4581
• Calories consumed: ~1900: 1 Chicken Sandwich, 2 caffeinated energy gels, 2.5 litres of isotonic, 2.5 litres of water, 2 Meusli bars, 1 jam sandwich, 1 HyperBoost cafinated energy bar.
• Max HR: 82%. Average HR: 66%
• Max speed: 67Kmph. Average speed: 26.5Kmph

The main lesson for Zurich is a lot more solid food is required. I’ll have several sandwiches, flap jacks, muesli bars and a pasta dinner at both transition and the bag drop at the half way point on the cycle. If I need them, they’ll be there.

On Monday, I did a tough 120km mountain cycle to get ready for the WW200. I went over the Sally Gap, through Laragh, Over the Wicklow Gap, through Blessington and back over the Sally Gap. The weather was really bad – driving rain and wind - and it took everything I had to make the last climb up to the Sally Gap into the wind. I also managed to leave my phone and keys in the coffee shop in Laragh (although I assumed I’d dropped them out of my pocket somewhere), and this didn’t add to the pleasure of the cycle! Luckily, someone handed them in and my kind girlfriend picked them up without me knowing. I was glad to be home, but also glad to have done such a tough cycle.

This cycle meant I broke 400km on the bike this week (and gave my biggest training week so far). A total which gives me a lot of confidence and I can feel myself getting stronger over long distances. Next week I will return to running and compete in Half Ironman UK.

Today’s IM cycle was the second of the boxes checked (Swim and Cycle) and I really feel like I achieved something today. As I’m frequently reminded, it’s not the destination that’s important but the journey. Amen.. But the destination is looming.

IM – 7: TriAthy Olympic. Race 2 of 4

On Saturday, I did the TriAthy Olympic Distance triathlon in Athy, Kildare. The weather was good and everything went smoothly in the morning (long registration queue aside). The race was set off in waves starting with the eldest groups. The aim was probably to have everyone finishing as close to each other as possible. It must be disheartening to be passed be loads of people though.

The swim went well. I started in the first third or so of the swimmers and finished the 1.5km in 31:14. The swim was 600m against the current of the river Barrow and then 900m with it. The majority of the swimmers swam close to the bank against the current. I stayed a little farther out in a group of 3. After rounding the bouy and turning downstream, the groups broke up and everyone powered down with the current. I had a goggle break for the first time in a triathlon. After trying to fix it a few times, I gave up and just swam with the one eye that worked. It didn’t actually make much difference.

The cycle was quite fast. There were a lot of people on the course due to the aforementioned wave setup but the roads were wide so this didn’t cause too many problems. I changed the gearing setup on my bike last week for two upcoming races: the Wicklow 200 and Half Ironman UK. Both have some tough climbs, and so I changed to a compact crank set (this gives smaller front chain rings). This essentially took away some of the “hardest“ gears and put in some “easier” gears.

I won’t try and explain much about gear ratios, because frankly, I don’t know much about it over the simple math: engaging a smaller chain ring at the front means each turn of the cranks turns the wheel less, and so it requires less effort. The opposite is true also – bigger front chain rings, or smaller back ones mean each turn of the cranks is harder, but gets you further. Here’s an article on Compact Crank sets.

I wondered if I’d loose power on the bike at the higher end because I’ve sacrificed the harder gears for easier mountain climbing but I didn’t. I have a high cadence compared to most cyclists anyway, probably because I grew up beside the mountains. The cycle was a two lap course of the 20km loop. There were no turns or hills to speak of so it was simply a matter of keeping a good aero position and powering for the full distance. I finished the cycle in 1:11:19 which I was very happy with. The fact that I wasn’t tired at all made it very, very difficult not to do the run – I was on to set a good time.. But after the injury problems during the Velentia run, I’d been advised to take 10 days off running. Knowing that tendonitis has the potential to go on forever if I keep inflaming it, I resisted the temptation and called it a day there.

When I got back to Dublin on Saturday evening, I went out on the bike into the mountains for a while. I felt like I had a lot more to give so it was worth using it.

I Sunday, I completed my first full, straight IM swim of 3.8km in the 50m Westwood pool in Clontarf. It took 1hour 24. I’m happy with this considering I generally swim about 10% faster in races, owing to the extra buoyancy of the wet suit and the other competitors. That would mean translate to about 1:17 – 1:20. I was a small bit stiff afterwards but not too tired. I hit the sauna afterwards again for some “heat training”. For the week, this was by far the biggest swimming week of my training so far – 10.25km.

After the swim, in lieu of being able to train for running by actually running, I walked the 15km home with a heavy rucksack. I figure it might do at least something to keep the running muscles ticking over. I actually found a lot more tiring than a 15km run.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were composed of an AM: Swim and PM: Bike. My morning weights sessions have now all been replaced by swims. I think I benefitted hugely by the 6 months I worked on Strength, but now it’s time to spend the last 6 weeks concentrating solely adapting the body to the very long distances of the IM race.

This was weekend number 1 of 3 competing - I’ll be doing the Wicklow 200 next Sunday and Half Ironman UK the following Sunday, June 20th. I think I’ll get the first real picture of how prepared I am come the finish line of HIM UK. I’ll be wearing my Ireland cycling jersey and I’m hoping for some good signs.

IM – 8: Fish Mode and the HTFU Philosophy

I removed all running from the training plan for this week to try to get the tendonitis a chance to clear. I took the opportunity to push the swim distance on a lot.

Over Tuesday and Wednesday, I did two swims which covered the IM distance of 3.9km and for the week, I covered just under 8Km. I wanted to push it quite a lot to see how I handle long swims with no breaks (as in 2.5km straight instead of 5x500m with 20 seconds break in between each set). The answer turns out to be quite well.

There are several defined periods, I find after about 200m, my arms get a bit sore. This lasts about 200-300 meters and then disappears (essentially the warm up). Some time between 750m and 1Km, I enter a period of flawless swimming. It only seems to happen when the water feels cold, so I must be fully warmed up at this stage. I can only describe it as “fish mode”. Nothing feels tired, my HR and breathing stabilise to a comfortable level and I can swim my fastest then.

After about 2km, my form starts to get more ragged and I started to lose concentration. Bearing in mind this is after around 80 laps of the 25m pool. I concentrate hard on form at this time. Worse form means less efficiency, which means slower swimming which equals worse form and so on..

Finally, the minute I switch from counting the lengths I’ve done to how many I have left (typically around 250m from the end and the light appears at the end of the tunnel), my form returns and I can almost always finish strongly.

Holding concentration really is everything. It’s interesting to note that many ultra endurance swimmers have physiological problems. It is, after all a very solitary pursuit. The Man Who Swam the Amazon describes Martin Strell’s mammoth swim of 3,274 miles from the source to the finish of the Amazon – one of the most dangerous rivers in the world. At the beginning of the swim, he had people in boats looking out for crocodiles, snakes and the awful sounding Caribu fish (they are an invasive species..). In the last few days of the trip, Strell declared that he had been talking to the fish under the water and had made friends with them. There would be no need for danger spotters anymore. 

I plan to make friends with as many of the species in lake Zurich as I can prior to the race.

On Saturday, I spent 5 and a half hours on the bike with Justin, another guy training for IM Switzerland. The weather for the first 2 hours alternated between ‘heavy rain’ and ‘downpour’. It certainly wasn’t easy but we completed it eventually, after a puncture. Coming back over the Sally Gap, we experienced some very unusual conditions – small pockets of blue sky, almost like the eye of a hurricane surrounded by rain clouds, inside which visibility was almost nothing.

I have a wrist band for when times get very tough like they did on Saturday. It’ll be no stranger to endurance athletes. It simply says “Harden the F**K Up”. IM training is no time to feel sorry for yourself. The HTFU band is a good reminder of that.

IM – 9: Velentia Island Triathlon

I did my first competitive triathlon of the year this week – Velentia Island Sprint down in Kerry. I plan to do one  competitive triathlon of each length this summer – Sprint, Olympic (Tri-Athy on Saturday 5th June), Half Ironman UK on June 20th and IronMan Switzerland in July. This was the sprint.

Everyone got the ferry from the island to the main land and the swim went from there back to the island. I was in the second wave. Someone blew an air-horn in the crowd about two minutes before the first wave was about to start and a rather large false start ensued.

I completed the swim in 13:42. When the second wave started, I was towards the front. It took me a while to settle as there was a lot of jostling and it was a tight pack for much of the section – elbows and feet flying everyone. I was happy enough with 13 minutes.

The cycle went well also (38:15). It began with a climb for about 3km before leveling off for a lap of the island, with some incredible views. I was passing a lot of people from the first wave of 250 and I had a good battle with a triathlete from Pirhanha tri club. These are great to push you on. I had one bottle filled with zym caffinated isotonic, and it worked quite well although it’s quite carb heavy so I was craving water by the end.

I had good transitions but unfortunately, despite resting a lot during the week, the injury I picked up during the Kildare HM came back almost as soon as I started running. It’s tendonitis in the right leg owing to stiffness in the hip, ITB and calf. It slowed my run a good bit – 23:13. I’ll be working on this a lot next week.

I finished in 1:16:16. In 126th place out of about 520. On Sunday, we went for a really enjoyable cycle around the island, part of the Ring of Kerry and Lumanagh hill. In weather as good as that, there’s nowhere better than Kerry.

 

After the race; myself, Vinny and Kevin.

I didn’t run at all this week before Saturday to let the tendonitis clear. I tapered on Friday before the race. This resulted in quite a low weekly total:

Most importantly, I took some learnings from Velentia for Switzerland:

• The bottle on the bike was warm by the time I got to the cycle. For Zurich, have an ice pack to keep them cool.
• Bring water as well as isotonic on the bike.
• Put good sun cream on my whole arm if I’ll be wearing a sleeveless top.. Which I didn’t for Velentia resulting in some humorous looking sunburn.
• Bring a hat.

It’s all a learning experience. 9 weeks to go.

Week IM-10: Preparing for the heat

Switzerland is going to be hot. Much hotter than I’m used to training in – especially considering the last six months, I’ve spent adapting to training in really cold conditions.

I had hoped to get to France or Italy for a week of training all day in hot weather but this now looks very unlikely, especially with Half Ironman UK in the middle of June. I’m going to have to try and find some other way.

What I’ve arrived at is the sauna. I can’t really train inside a sauna, but I can use it just before and after training. On Sunday, I swam 2.8km before getting straight into the sauna. It’s not pleasant but the feeling of being too hot is something I’d be wise to to get as used to as I can, I feel. It’ll likely be high 20’s or low 30’s (C) in Zurich on race day.

I’ve also been practicing with isotonic / electrolyte drinks. These basically are a mix of carbohydrates and salt to replace the energy you’re burning and the salt you’re sweating out. I’ve tried Zym and High 5 Isotonic so far. They both dilute into 1litre of water. Zym tastes a lot nicer but it’s caffeinated and I want to avoid caffeine at least until part of the way through the marathon. High 5 tastes so-so. I’ll use it for earlier in the race if I don’t find something better.

 

Injury reared it’s unwelcome head this week. In the days following the Kildare Half Marathon, it was sore while running on the outside of my right leg (not the knee). I wasn’t sure what it was so I rested it until Sunday. Even so, it started almost immediately when I started running on Sunday and so I had to abandon the run after 2km, which was very frustrating. I’ll go to the physio on Tuesday to try and figure out what’s wrong. I’ve had a few other niggly things this week also– a sore throat and a cough- and combined with the running problem above, it resulted in a weekly total falling far short of what I had planned. It will be something of an unplanned taper for the first triathlon of the year next Saturday – the Velentia Island (sprint) Triathlon in Kerry.

I did one 2.8km swim on Sunday, which went well. On Saturday, I cycled down to Greystones with the two lads who became the first Irish people to cycle around the world. They left 18 months ago and finished the last part of the circumnavigation, from Dublin to Greystones on Saturday afternoon. It was good fun and a good spin back.

Week IM-11: Nutrition, the Fourth Discipline

Last June, I set out at 7am on a Friday morning from Dublin with the aim of cycling to Clochán, on the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry – about 380Km to the south west. It was into the wind, so that made it a bit harder but the first 170Km or so went fine – it was good and sunny most of the day. It started to get tough as I was getting into Thurles, on the way to Tipparary town. I wasn’t feeling great. When I got to Tipparary, after two or three bites, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was too sick to eat anything that night.

This left me in somewhat of a dilemma. I wasn’t going to be able to cycle 180km without eating, especially having cycled 200 the day before.

I decided to try a new approach to breakfast. I set an alarm for 4am and had breakfast. I went back to bed then. I got up again at 5 and had another 15 minute breakfast. I repeated this 4 times and by the time 8am came around, I was flying it! I cycled through Tipp, Limerick, Cork and Kerry and had a great time on the last 30km out the Dingle Peninsula. It took 19 hours 30 minutes of cycling.

A good lesson to come out of this (apart from the joy of multiple breakfasts) is that what you eat really makes a difference to how your body performs. I put the sickness on day one down to salt imbalances – something I’m really aware of for Switzerland, where the heat is going to be a real issue. Salt and electrolyte imbalances arise because you sweat a lot while training. You then drink a lot of water, which further dilutes the remaining salt. This really only becomes an issue in exertion lasting 8 hours or more, but it becomes quite a serious issue that can essentially totally dissabilitate the body. I’ve been trying out some Isotonic drinks in training as a trial for Switzerland over the last few weeks.

I read a very good book on Sports Nutrition called Eating for Endurance. It’s a short book and I’d recommend it to anyone involved in sport. The main message of the book is that people should stick to the food pyramid. If you’re training a lot, you should eat more of the same. She asserts that supplements are mostly superfluous if you eat properly.

Some extra pieces which may be of particular use to athletes are:

• Antioxidents (which help carry away broken down material from the blood stream) found in omega 3 fish oils
• Vitimen C & E
• Glucasomine (which may help repair cartilage)
• Caffeine in small doses is known to be a performance enhancer

My daily diet consists of two breakfasts, one when I get up, one after swimming/gym. A dinner at 12:30pm. A “lunch” type meal of heavy brown bread around 3pm. Another dinner at 6pm and another lunch type meal around 9pm ,with snacks in between most meals. I try to always eat something at most every two hours. This helps keep my metabolism “fast” – able to quickly turn food into energy.

For the race itself, my current nutrition strategy is

Swim: nothing during the swim bar perhaps one or two mouth-fulls of Lake Zurich.

Bike: First 20 minutes: .5 litres water, to let everything settle down

Subsequently (7-8 hours): 100 calories every 20 minutes (200-300 cals per hour). A mix of electrolyte, energy gels and solid foods (muesli bars, bananas). Loading towards the start / middle of the bike to compensate possibly no food during run

Run: This is going to be hit and miss and in reality, my stomach will shut down at some point during the marathon. My aim is to delay this as long as possible and keep taking on salt afterwards. About 100 calories every 20 mintes – a combo of solid or liquid nutrients. Alternate electrolyte Sports Drink and Gel + Water.

This week was a rest week, so was mostly easy cycles. On Sunday, I ran the Kildare Half Marathon. This went really well and I ran it faster than I expected – 1:36:11, finishing in 127th place out of about 2000 (2 minutes behind Vinny). I was very stiff afterwards – from a mix of the fast pace and the fact that it was on concrete. It was many times harder than the 26Km run in the Pheonix Park the Monday before.

Myself, Ciarain and Vinny before the Kildare Half Marathon.

Week IM – 12: The Life of a Full Time Athlete

From Strength to Conditioning

I’ve often wondered before if I could cut it as a full time athlete. Get up early and train. Nap and eat in the afternoon before training again in the evening. The following day: repeat.

This weekend, I got a chance to find out. I took the opportunity of a long weekend to really push it and hit farther than I’ve ever gone before. Over the four days, I would say I approached that routine of a full time athlete.

• Friday: 750m swim, 20km cycle, 7km run
• Saturday: 107Km cycle, 3km run
• Sunday: 1.5km swim, 51km cycle
• Monday: 23km cycle, 26km run

Friday was short and fast. I did a sprint triathlon during the day- 750 meters in the pool, 20km cycle and a 7km run in the evening. On Saturday, I went out on the bike with another lad doing Ironman Switzerland. We did 107Km with some tough climbs through the Wicklow Gap and Sally Gap. I went out for a 3km run afterwards, to start getting used to running on tired legs after the long IM cycle. Sunday was a 51Km cycle and 1.5km in the pool in the evening. I was quite tired on Sunday evening and I was starting to doubt my ability to complete more than a half marathon on the following Bank Holiday morning.

By the time I arrived at the Pheonix Park at 8:15am, the sun was shining and I had more energy than I did for the whole weekend. I wonder how often I’ve gotten to a Sunday evening thinking I was spent when if I had the chance, one more day training would show I was actually just beginning to peak. Either way, we did about 13km before following most of the route of a 10km race that was happening there. I had company on the most of the run but I finished the last 6-7km on my own. Everything seemed to work well – nutrition (eating 100-200 calories every 35-40 minutes), pace, concentration. I was heartened to be in perfect condition afterwards – no sore knees, just slightly stiff ITBs. The 26km took 2 Hours, 22 minutes, which included one or two breaks.

The week totaled 2.25km swim, 272km bike and 33 run.

I had set aside the weekdays this week for gym work. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I concentrated solely on long gym sessions. This was the second last week I had set aside to concentrate on Strength and Conditioning. I’m at the “Max Strength” phase of the weights program I’ve been following and after this week, I move into Strength Maintenance – down to 2 sets from 4 for each machine and slight decreases in the weights.

Luckily for me, young men retain muscle mass for a long time without needing to directly maintain it – just using it is enough. After this week, I will only do weights once a week and I will move time increasingly to flexibility work (which will probably be the most important part of the entire plan, to stay injury free with such long runs). It’s time to turn the strength I’ve built up to purely sport specific advantage. Although, it’s already serving it’s main purpose if I can do a 26km run with no aches or pains anywhere. At last, I see the 2 months I spent before Christmas cycling to the gym in the dark, wondering how my knees would handle the load of the last few months of an IM training plan, paying off in multiples.

So, it’s been a good week tracking into uncharted territory. In another life, maybe I could have made it at as a full time athlete. One weekend at a time!

Week IM – 13: Active Recovery > Nothing

 

The week started relatively easily this week. On Monday and Tuesday, I did short swims (750m) in the name of “Active Recovery” after WAR. From my own experience, proactively healing an injury is always more effective than doing nothing. That may mean stretching it few times a day,using a foam roller, Physio massage or low intensity swimming. It has been proven to speed musculoskeletal recovery times and the accompanying endorphin increase has the all important mental boost.

I went to the physio on Wednesday morning to get my calfs loosened out. I had tight feet also, apparently. I’ve been instructed to stand on a tennis ball to loosen out the feet and lower leg muscles. On Thursday, I was back to a normal 2.4Km swim set.

This weekend was a big weekend. The first classified as an “Iron Weekend” by Going Long. On Saturday, I did 115Km on the bike and a 15minute sea swim in Portmarnoc. I’d organised to cycle out to Portmarnoc strand with two other hardy souls at 10:30am, so I got up early and did 60Km down to Enniskerry/Bray before that. When we got to Portmarnoc, the sea was mighty cold! Colder than I remember it on Christmas day (and I had no wet suit on then... Perhaps the obligatory yule-tide hot whisky effected the heat perception).

On Sunday I did just over a half marathon, 23Km, in 2:16:00, at an average HR of 67%. I was surprised how tired I was afterwards on Sunday. Perhaps it was the cumulated tiredness of the two days or perhaps I just need to work a lot on long runs over the next few weeks. I’ll do the latter and hope for the former.

This is the half marathon in the Pheonix Park:

In total this week, I did 5.4Km swim, 199Km bike and 23Km running.

Week IM – 14: The WAR

This week was the start of the competitive season. I raced in the Wicklow Adventure Race. This was 18Km mountain running, 55Km bike through Wicklow and 2Km kayak in Loch Dan. And it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

I had forgotten the excitement that comes with racing and standing on the start line on the crisp but sunny Saturday morning, it all came back. The atmosphere was fantastic – a lot less competitive than most triathlons I’ve done.

I started in the non elite group of about 250 at 8.20am. The 120 Elites started at 8. I stayed with the leading group of about 10-15 for the first run (about 11Km) over the ridge up to the top of Sprink Mountain and then back down around the upper lake. We were going at a fast pace and we started catching the elites towards the end of the run – which was essentially flying down the mountain cheese rolling style. There was a ~20km cycle then to Loch Dan for the 2km Kayak. Those both went well. I was still with the leading group on the cycle to the second mountain run about 15km from there. The group was dwindling at this stage. The cycle went up from Roundwood to the Sally Gap which is fairly punishing. After climbing for 10 or so minutes, we rolled over the “BEGINNING OF THE 10% INCLINE.. OH YES!” with a slight grin (read:grimace). By the time we got up there, 2 people had cracked and the group was down to 3. Another dropped off during the run where I was pushing very hard to keep with the other guy, he was a strong runner. It was starting to get very tough on the second part of that run where it gets very steep. The view around the top was really good though – it’s funny, you spend 20 minutes looking down, concentrating on the next step (because the ground is so uneven) then you look up and notice an amazing view all around..

We were still together at the end of the run and started the bike together for the last 25km cycle up over the Sally Gap and back down into Laragh. On the climb to the Sally Gap I got a fairly bad cramp in one of my calves. The leg locked up so I spent about two minutes trying to get it to loosen out. I’ll try and figure out whether this was to do with salt deficiency or just exertion. I’d fallen behind quite a bit at that stage so I spent the next 30 minutes or so pushing hard to try and catch up. I eventually did with about 10km to go, on the last climb before the descent into Laragh, so I decided not to slow but to go for it.. so I took off like a bat out of hell up the rest of the climb and flew down the last 6 or 7km over the other side down over the tri-bars (66km/ph was the fastest I hit). I finished in 4:28:35,  62^nd out of 422 and, I think, first (or maybe down one or two if someone passed without my noticing) of the 250 non elites.

The lake at Glendelough:

I was happy to have the legs to attack on the bike after 4 hours of hard work. Now I have thirteen weeks to get strong enough to attack after 12 hours of work.

My training volume for the week is lower because I tapered for WAR. Tapering essentially means doing less than the usual training volume in the hope that the body will overcompensate in recovery – repairing muscles and so on. “Carbo-loading” is also practiced in the build up to races – this allows muscles to build up as much glycogen as possible (glycogen is the body’s way of storing carbohydrate, which is the most efficient fuel, followed by protein and then fat). In practice, a few extra plates of spuds and pasta.