Surviving

It didn't feel like much, but this was my biggest training week of season. Just over 11 hours (235 slowtwitch points) - 2 swims (6.2km), 3 rides (150km) and 4 runs (32km) which included a long run of 14km.

The week also included a lot of stretching, single leg squats, foam rolling, spikey balls and rolling golf balls under the foot for my tight plantar fascia. All my muscles still feel tight - plantar fascia, calf, achilles, hamstrings, quads and glutes. It feels like I am only an extra kilometre away from injury. However I rarely felt any issues during the sessions themselves, it was more a case of being very stiff afterwards.

I deliberately backed off the week's run mileage in an effort to release the stress on the muscles. It appears to have worked, but I still need to be very careful over the next few weeks.

Of the week's sessions, I was most happy with my long run (14km) this morning. The general plan is to increase the distance of my long run by one kilometre each week. However my long run hit the 14km mark 7 weeks ago and then stalled at this point. This week was the first time I finished the run feeling like I could run further.

You can't win them all (especially if you don't participate)

My original intention for last weekend was to race a 10km Fun Run. After clocking up less run mileage than hoped I decided I would instead aim for a good time in the 5km (was hoping for 18m45s). When my foot played up the week before at the Kew Duathlon, I started having second thoughts about any Fun Run.

Elaine wanted to race the Duathlon at Knox. If I was skipping the fun run because of injury, it would be pretty silly to do a Duathlon instead, so I went for a hilly ride in the Dandenongs.

Now that the results have been published for all the weekend races, it appears that I would have scored some good results had I competed. In the Duathlon I would have won my age group by 10 minutes and finished top 10 overall. The winner in my Age Group of the 5km Fun Run (and 5th overall) finished in 18m38s, only 7 seconds faster than my target time and a big gap to second place. I would have also needed a great race to score a win in the 10km (38m48s), but would have easily snared 2nd place having to only beat a time of 40m47s.

Despite these missed opportunities, I'm planning to skip the next Duathlon as well. Elaine will be racing, as she only needs to finish to take the series win (I've checked and it is mathematically impossible for me to win the series this year).

The problem is that Elaine and I will both be doing the Kinglake ride the day before and I really don't think my body can handle 2 tough days in a row. Time will tell how well Elaine's body copes.

Sore Feet and Clear Skies

Since we've moved house and I've changed jobs, it has become more difficult to squeeze in Massage appointments. In my old job I worked from home 2 days a week and my local masseur (Burkey, AKA Elbows of Pain) was only 3km away. Now I have no days working from home and the masseur is no longer local, being about 20km from home and similar distance from work. As a result I did not have my usual pre-race massage before the last Duathlon, no doubt a contributing factor to the foot problem I suffered in the race.

With my foot still sore and most of my leg muscles very stiff and sore, I made an appointment with a different masseur walking distance from my work. She managed to inflict more pain than Burkey, something I didn't think was possible, although maybe this was more a result of the state my muscles were in. I think I felt more bruised and sore after the massage than I did after the race. But 4 days after the massage and my muscles felt 100 times better for the experience (the mental scarring may take longer to recover).

The new masseur's diagnosis of my foot pain was extremely tight plantar fascia. She does not believe I have the dreaded planter fasciitis, but will have if I don't take steps to keep the plantar fascia loose. This means lots of rolling the feet over golf balls - a little painful when the plantar fascia is very tight, but nothing compared to the massage.

My original plan was to race a 5km Fun Run this Sunday. The masseur suggested it would be OK, but I decided to err on the side of safety and took a week off from running. Instead I did 4 swim sessions during the week and a velodrome session on Saturday.

Elaine wanted to race the Knox Duathlon. Being situated at the foot of the Dandenongs, I decided to ride in the Dandenongs whilst she raced. Wanting to be back before she finished the Duathlon, I wasn't able to do all the climbs I would have liked. But just as well, because I felt pretty wrecked after climbing 'The Devil's Elbow', 'Sky High' and 'The 1 in 20' (most of the climbs in the Dandenongs have nicknames). In total the ride ended up being 57km long and I made it back in plenty of time to see Elaine win her age group yet again. You can see more details of the ride in the Strava plug-in below.

You may remember that I posted a photo taken at Sky High 2 weeks ago during thick cloud cover. Today the skies were clear and below is a photo of the view (unfortunately the camera on my phone doesn't do it justice)

I also went out for a 10km run this afternoon. Unfortunately I only made it 9km before my knee started hurting (walked the last kilometre home). The hilly ride would have slightly inflamed my knee, so I shouldn't be surprised that my run was cut short. At least my feet were OK on the run.

Kew Duathlon

Kew Boulevard is a tough course. Only one nasty hill on the run (that you do 4 times), but there is no flat - you are either climbing or descending.

We arrived early (just before 6:30am) and scored a great park in the Studley Park Boathouse carpark right next to the Race Village (next best parking spots were almost 1km away). This made registration, pre-race toilet stops and warmups so much easier. Getting the bike warmup out of the way early at Kew has the extra benefit of scoring a good transition spot. At Kew the bike racks are setup in one very long line. The closer you can rack to the top end of transition, the less distance you have to run in socks (or bare feet) on very rough ground (road with loose gravel). Elaine decided to tackle this problem by putting on her bike shoes in transition (instead of having them attached to the bike) and as a result has wrecked the cleats on her shoes (in addition to having slow transition times).

I've had back issues all week, and it seemed to get worse as the week progressed. Race morning I could barely run, but I knew if I managed to get everything warmed up I'd be OK. During the warmup run it started to loosen up. I decided to test running up the hill which is on a narrow, single track, cross country trail. Any sudden change of direction to avoid exposed roots or muddy ground caused spikes of pain - not very confidence inspiring.

The aforementioned single track hill is located about 1km into the run leg (and again at the 3km mark). It is almost impossible to pass competitors up this hill (about 200m long), so getting a good position before the hill is important. With this in mind, I witnessed the fastest ever start to a Duathlon (and they usually start ridicously fast). Watching the runners ahead dart through the chicane from the carpark to the dirt trail was like watching formula one cars - they all took the corners at unbelievable speed with no slowing down whatsoever. After 500m or so I started picking off a few competitors, but the pace still slowed dramatically once we reached the hill. Too many competitors ahead of me that got too carried away with the fast start and could not maintain the effort up the hill. Rather than be annoyed, I was quite thankful for ease in pace. My main aim for the race was to beat friends Aurel and Martin, Martin was behind me and Aurel was only 2 competitors ahead of me - so the slightly slower pace came as a welcome relief. Once atop the hill I was able to find a good pace and rhythm. Aurel and I exchanged positions a few times until I finally established a small gap in the last kilometre.

With both Aurel and Martin behind me (and neither Peter racing), I wondered if I could maintain focus on the bike (no one to chase). Luckily a rider passed me in the first few hundred metres, he had been shadowing me on the run and now we would complete the bike leg together. He was faster on the downhills and I was faster than the climbs, so we continually exchanged positions. With transition being at the top of a hill, I led into T2, but as soon as I dismounted I discovered a major issue with my foot. It felt like somebody had dropped a piano on it. My initial thought was that it was either a stress fracture or a really bad cramp, either way I wasn't sure what I had done to cause this problem.

My immediate instinct was to pull out of the race, but the knowledge that I had a good lead over Aurel and Martin encouraged me to keep going. The pain slowly disappated and on the second lap I no longer felt any discomfort. But the run itself was very slow, probably my worst ever run off the bike in a Duathlon (or any race). Several hours after the race the pain has returned. It feels like I have strained the muscles in my foot. Possibly a consequence of still running in my 5 year old racing flats or the affects of running on a rough cross country track. I bought replacement racing flats about 2 years ago, but have continued to use my old ones that just feel so comfortable. Ironically my back feels better now that it did before the race and I have not noticed any issues with my injured knee.

Elaine had a good race, especially considering she's been sick for the last 2 weeks. Once again she won her age group. I scored a third place in my age group, my third 3rd place on this course from 3 attempts.  Martin won his age group but unfortunately Aurel didn't make the podium. An ex-pro triathlete Jan Rehula (won the bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics) raced in the M3539 category (luckily he's younger than me) and won his age group, but only managed 7th place overall.

Comparing my results to last season (same course, same date). First run was 4m08s pace compared to 4m12s last year. Bike was 34.7kph compared to 33.7kph last year. Disappointingly my second run was 4m35s compared to 4m14s last year - I'm hoping this is purely due to my foot injury.

As for the new Cobb Saddle, before the race I lowered the front fractionally. The new seat was definitely better than any of my previous saddles. I still seemed to experience sore bits, but they never escalated like they used to. I think I need a lot longer ride to get a better idea. Elaine's saddle felt a little better, but she also wore new Rocket Science tri-shorts, so it is difficult to determine whether it was a result of the shorts or the saddle.

Cobb Saddles (first ride)

Third time lucky, I finally made it to Velodrome at lunchtime today to test out the new Cobb Saddle. As you can see from the photos below, I have fitted the Plus model (Elaine now has the VFlow model on her bike).


Triathlon bikes are designed for aerodynamics and one of the ways they achieve this is a forward seating position that flattens out the back. An unfortunate consequence of this position is that you are no longer sitting on the nice cushy part of your bum. Instead you are now tilted forward and sitting on a slightly different and less comfortable part of the anatomy. Unlike Time Trials which are usually quite short (even in the Tour de France they are usually less than an hour), the bike leg in a long distance triathlon is a long time to sit in an uncomfortable position. As a result, companies like ISM and Cobb has taken a new approach to saddles for triathlon bikes. I believe John Cobb helped design the ISM saddles before making his own Cobb branded ones.

My new saddle has a large cutout and the sections either side of this cutout are relatively soft. There is a dip at the front designed to allow air flow through the gap and keep things fresh and the entire seat is quite narrow to avoid chafing and help release pressure on the hamstrings.

Being my lunch break, I didn't have a lot of time to play with. So I figured 30 minutes on the velodrome should be long enough to get an initial position that I can use for the upcoming Duathlon this Sunday.

The initial feel was better than my previous seat but not great. After 15 minutes I stopped, moved the seat a touch forward and tilted it down at the front. This instantly removed all discomfort, but it quickly became obvious that the tilt was too much. Despite it being comfortable, I was sliding off the front. The seat fastener is a little fiddly (on any bike) and it is difficult to make small adjustments outside on a windy day with no sections of level ground. I reduced the tilt as best I could and headed back out. I think I reduced the tilt a little too much, but I ran out of time for more adjustments and the current setting should be fine for this weekend's race.

At the moment it is not the perfect seat. It does feel like a definite improvement and with more adjustment time it may end up solving all my saddle sore issues. If not, Cobb Saddles have a 180 day guarrantee (return for a full refund) and there are several more saddles in the Cobb range to test.

Elaine's Cobb Saddle has been fitted to her road bike (she doesn't have a tri-bike). She rode to work this morning and the jury is still out upon whether it is better than her previous Specialized Body Geometry seat. By the time Elaine gets home from work, we should have a good idea where the problem areas are and will try to make adjustments accordingly.

The VFlow model Elaine has fitted is designed for less aggressive setups (level handlebars and seat) and for riders who do less mileage (less than 100km a week). It is narrow and has a cutout like the Plus model, but is softer and does not have the dip at the front.

In conclusion, the Cobb Saddles are still a work in progress. At the moment my seat looks more promising than Elaine's (she is naturally more difficult), but it is expected that the seats need a bit of dialing in. Stay tuned...

Tune Up

Since the last Duathlon 3 and half weeks ago, all my running has been very slow. I've been keeping everything below my aerobic threshold as I slowly start to build mileage into my legs. I've run just under 40km for the last 2 weeks including 5 consecutive days of running totalling 47km. With the next Duathlon this weekend, I decided another speed session was in order, just so I could remember how to run fast.

I knew the Tuesday night session at the Athletics track involved 4 x 6 min efforts with 2 mins full recovery in between. My intention was to run the first 2 and optionally the third effort if I still felt good. Talking to coach Clint before the session, he suggested the first effort at 5km pace, the 2nd at Half Marathon pace and the 3rd at 10km pace. Clint suggested I also do the 4th effort, but I decided against this.

  5km pace: 1.65km @ 3m37s, HR 169bpm
  Half pace: 1.40km @ 4m13s, HR 162bpm
  10km pace: 1.54km @ 3m59s, HR 165bpm

The 5km pace was probably a fraction fast and I doubt I could have maintained it in a race (would have been a 18m05s 5km). But the Half speed felt ridicously slow and the 10km pace very easy, so I was very happy with the session.

It was also Elaine's first training session after being sick for 2 weeks. She also did 3 sets, I don't know her times, but she appeared to be running very well.

Nice Weekend

Friday evening I was less than a kilometre from the velodrome when the heavens opened up. Whilst sitting in the carpark, I checked the weather radar on my phone and it looked like the storm would last for at least 30 minute. Sunset was due in about 40 minutes, so I gave up on the idea of a ride to test out the new Cobb Saddle and headed home.
I was still feeling quite stiff from the week's training load and missing the velodrome session was probably a good thing. A quick check of the training diary showed that I had run 47km in the 5 days from Sunday to Thursday, so there was a fairly good reason why I was feeling so sore. Saturday morning I was still feeling far from great, so I skipped the planned long run and had a rest day instead - I love rest days on the weekend.
Sunday morning was a Triathlon Club ride in the Dandenongs (hilly ride), something I had been looking forward to for weeks. I had missed the last Dandenongs ride due to feeling too sore, which is big reason for why I skipped the long run on Saturday.
It had rained a fair bit Saturday night, so the roads were wet, but it wasn't raining as we started the ride and the mercury was edging over 10C, so it wasn't overly cold either. Judging what to wear in the Dandenongs is always tricky. It is a rainforest, so will always be a few degrees colder. The climbs are usually steep and long enough to make you very warm, but the descents can get very cold. I wore leg warmers, arm warmers and a vest which I found to be perfect, but there were others in the group who were similarly dressed and still complained about being cold.
This time we rode up the Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd over a section commonly referred to as 'Devil's Elbow'. This route leaves the Tourist Rd and goes up Churchill Rd and then returns to the Tourist Rd via One Tree Hill. The small detour has less traffic and steeper hills. We regrouped at Sassafras before continuing on to Montrose. The group split into 2 and the faster riders detoured up to the Mt Dandenong Lookup, the highest point in the Dandenongs. This lookup usually provides one of the best views in Melbourne, but on this occasion we were in deep cloud cover and could barely see 10 metres in front of us. Below is a photo taken by one of the riders.

The descent was a little hairy. Very steep, wet roads and I could barely see a thing. Luckily the rider in front was wearing a bright yellow jacket which I could follow. He also had a rear flashing red light, but the fog was so thick, I never noticed it until we got lower. The road descended all the way to Montrose and it felt like a very long descent (I'm told it was 8km). Of course I realised we would have to ride back up this hill.
The group divided at Montrose with the majority taking a easier route back via Canterbury Rd, leaving just 7 of us to tackle the climb back to Sassafras. As often happens, the climb seemed shorter than the descent (I'm a better climber than descender). We again detoured towards the Lookup and it is much steeper in this direction. At Sassafras we turned and returned back via the descent down the 1 in 20 (Mountain Hwy). I quite like this descent. The road surface is excellent (but often wet), there are lots of sweeping bends and the hairpins are well sign posted. Strangely enough, Strava reports my descent time as 9m46s (41kph) - same time to the second as the last time I descended in June.
Overall I was very happy with how I rode. I felt good on all the climbs and felt strong to the finish. I didn't think I overly exerted myself, but my power file showed some fantastic figures including a best 20 mins of 313 watts.
My bike had been serviced mid week. New battery for the power meter, new pedals, a good clean and bright new white bar tape. After the ride, everyones' bike, including mine was absolutely filthy.
Having gone 2 days without any running, I did an easy 4km run Sunday afternoon. I then spent 10 minutes standing mid thigh deep in the bay. The water was quite cold, but it was definitely more comfortable than having an ice bath. This was the first time I've stood in the bay this season, mainly because it is the first time the sea has been calm enough to do this.
I still haven't tested the new Cobb Saddle on my tri-bike yet. I'm planning to race another Duathlon this Sunday, so hopefully I'll get in a test ride before then.

Zonked

The weather turned on Wednesday with wild storms causing damage throughout Melbourne. Wisely I decided against riding into work, plus I wanted to stay relatively fresh for Sunday's ride in the Dandenongs. Unfortunately even without the commute to work, I've been feeling anything but fresh.

Another easy recovery run after work on Wednesday night went well. But my lunchtime run on Thursday was terrible. Aches, pains and a general feeling of legarthy dominated the start of the run and then it got worse. On the way back I felt like I hadn't eaten for days. My heart rate was low, mostly under 130, but my pace was even lower - averaging only 6m20s per kilometre for the 10km.

After stuffing myself with food in the afternoon (energy bar, lunch, apple, yoghurt, nuts, coffee, muffin and a chocolate brownie) and a large portion of lasagna for tea, I was feeling much better for the run session I had to coach Thursday night. During the coaching session I ran another 4km, small sections at a fast pace whilst trying correct athletes' running technique (usually arm position). Running whilst coaching felt good, but as I got ready for swimming Friday morning I could feel all of those extra 4km in my legs - I still managed to do 3.3km in the pool (biggest session so far this season).

In the last 2 weeks I've only increased my training slightly, but I'm definitely noticing the extra load. Hopefully my body will transition quickly to the slightly extra mileage, but I am going to have to tread lightly.

On Wednesday, the new Cobb Saddles arrived (a week after ordering them). I've put the new saddle on the tri-bike and I'm planning to do a quick velodrome session tonight (weather permitting). The new seat is an ugly looking thing, lets hope it feels better than it looks. I'll provide photos and a quick review in the next post.

Beautiful Day

Sping has arrived. The weather on Monday was good, on Tuesday it was even better.

It was a lovely 15'C Tuesday morning as I swam in the GESAC outdoor pool. Easily the best weather I've experienced since we started swimming there. Unfortunately Elaine missed out on this beautiful day, as she is still sick at home.

My Sunday long run was cut short due to leg pain. It began with my left hip around the 10km mark. I decided to ignore the pain and continue running, but as soon as I felt pain in my knee at the 13.7km, I stopped and walked the last 1.3km back to my house. Despite the shortened run I was still pleased with the session. My pace and heart rate were indicating definite improvement in my aerobic fitness - travelling at 5m40s per km pace with a heart rate in the mid 130's (previously around 6 min pace). The dream is to eventually improve my pace to flat 5 min pace for the same heart rate - probably kidding myself (briefly got down to 5m20s pace last season).

I followed up Sunday's run with a 4km recovery run on Monday night. The slightly longer daylight hours giving me a chance to run after work on the soft surface of the Seaford trail. Nothing felt great, but it didn't feel bad either.

As previously mentioned, Tuesday was a beautiful day. In anticipation of this I wore a running singlet (had a long sleeve t-shirt on last week) and still felt very warm on the run - I think the temperature reached 22'C. My running pace was back up to 6 min pace, but I'm guessing (hoping) this is simply related to the heat (or lack of cold). Again I didn't really feel great, but not too bad either.

Spring into Training

With Spring starting this week, I decided it was time to start ramping up the training. Possibly bad timing with legs still stiff and sore from the ride last Saturday.

With the daylight now lasting till 6pm, I snuck in a slow 4km recovery run on Monday night. Tuesday was the usual 3km squad swim in the morning and an easy 10km at lunchtime. On Wednesday I rode to and from work (round trip 70km), unfortunately the trip to work was into a nasty headwind (trip home was 20 minutes quicker). Another easy 10km lunchtime run on Thursday. Unfortunately I missed my usual swim on Friday, Elaine was sick and the rain was pelting down - not ideal for a swim in an outdoor pool.

Saturday morning was swimming time trials (in a wetsuit) followed by a Velodrome session. My 2 swimming time trials were:
  900m 14m25s @ 1m36s per 100m
  900m 14m35s @ 1m37s per 100m
This was a significant improvement over last time (700m in 12m50s @ 1m50s per 100m), but I didn't wear a wetsuit last time, so it is difficult to compare.

In the Velodrome session, my legs were still not recovered from the Bayside Classic.  They felt very heavy from the start, but somehow I still managed some OK time trials.
  10.86km 16m01s @ 40.6kph
  10.82km 16m01s @ 40.5kph
I was supposed to do a 3rd time trial, but I was feeling pretty stuffed and my saddle sores were playing up. While my times had not improved since the last Velodrome time trials in July (40.4kph, 40.9kph & 40.4kph), I was still happy with how the session went.

Wednesday night I ordered 2 Cobb Saddles over the Internet -the Plus model for me and the Vflow for Elaine. I've heard good reports and hopefully they'll solve my saddle sore issues.  Unfortunately they didn't arrive before the weekend.