Swim - 3.8km - 1h15m

With the lead swimmers having crept a long way forward it meant people were far more spread out than normal, which resulted in a very docile swim start (at least for me). I was happily swimming in a nice draft when the swimmer directly in front of me stopped to see where he was going - very annoying, why wasn't he simply following everybody else. Even if you stopped to have a look it was too dark to see the buoys anyway. This incident caused me to slow down, find a gap and then pass him. I was careful to avoid contact with other swimmers because I was hoping for a stress free swim without errant arms whacking me in the head, or feet kicking me in face like what happened at Geelong. I was back enjoying another nice draft when exactly the same thing happened again. By the time I got past this 2nd annoying swimmer, the main horde had well and truly caught up and arms were flailing everywhere. At this point I gave up my aim of a fast swim and tried to find a little bit of space to the side. Getting through the swim relaxed was more important than a fast time.

I fell into nice rhythm and started to really enjoy the swim. We passed the first buoy but didn't seem to really turn. We passed the second buoy and I was feeling great, but again I didn't sense us really turning around the buoy. Maybe the turn was more of an arc around several buoys, difficult to tell in the dark. Daylight seemed to happen very suddenly and now I could see the shoreline. Then it dawned upon me, we had not turned at all, we were still heading towards the first turning buoy, the two we had passed were simply sighting buoys. We weren't nearly as far into the swim as I thought.

When I finally arrived at the turning buoy I discovered it was a completely different shape and colour, and now we were definitely turning. The next turning buoy was quite close and easy to see and once around it we headed back towards the pier which was lit up with what looked like street lamps all the way out to the end. I hadn't noticed this before, but I really hadn't paid much attention to anything to do with the swim course, a fact that was becoming very obvious now. My swimming was still going well. People were quite spread out in the water, at least 50m across, I was roughly in the middle so I guessed I must be swimming reasonably straight.

The glowing lights on the pier made it obvious we were not in full daylight yet, and it also made the pier appear closer than it was.  It almost felt as though I was swimming into a current, but I suspect this was just in my head. I was still finding decent swimmers to draft off, but they had a tendency to go offline, so I'd continue swimming straight waiting for another swimmer to come by. I figured I must have been still swimming OK, because I could feel people drafting off me, a nice tickle on the toes as their hands occasionally brushed against my feet.

About the time I reached the pier, my calf muscles gave their first hint of cramping. This was not a good sign, because getting back to the pier was only the half way mark. I eased off the kicking, but this meant losing the draft I was following. In fact the people who were drafting off me started to pass. I kicked on and off intermittently but the cramping was getting worse.  Whereas the first half of the swim I felt like I was keeping pace with those around me, now it was a constant stream of other swimmers going past. To make matters worse, I was starting to get a headache. I wear different goggles in the pool and wear them quite loose. But when I swim in open water my race goggles are more on the tight side to avoid having to stop and fix leaky goggles. This is OK for shorter swims, but now the extra pressure was causing me grief.

With 500m to go I experienced a massive cramp spasm in my calf forcing me to stop for about 10 seconds while I tried to stretch out my leg. At this point I didn't think I'd be able to finish the swim, but slowly the cramp subsided a little and I gingerly went back to swimming. I not only stopped kicking completely, I also stopped trying to keep my toes pointed and continued swimming with my feet pointed down like small anchors. My headaches were getting worse and I could barely feel my face - I was well past enjoying the swim.

I would usually swim as far into shore as I can, and then porpoise the rest of the way through the shallows. Not this time. As soon as I saw fellow competitors around me walking, I stood up. The water was still almost waist deep but I needed to stretch my calf muscle out as much as I could. It was a very slow wade through the water without any urgency at all and once on the beach it was a very casual stroll through to the transition tent. As I removed my goggles I discovered my entire face had gone numb - welcome to Ironman.

A swim time of 1h15m is slower than I wanted, but better than expected considering the difficulties I encountered in the second half.  Without the cramping I think I would have come close to my target time of 1h05m.

Before the Race

The alarm went off at 4:30am and I was already awake. I didn't feel nervous going to bed, but I barely slept all night. Once up, the first thing I did was make a cup of coffee. It was going to be a very long day and I did not want to suffer a caffeine withdrawal headache. Plus I wanted the diuretic effect of the coffee to take affect well before the race began, so the earlier I had the coffee the better. Elaine had made a Frittata (containing eggs and vegetables) the day before, so it just required a quick reheat in the microwave and breakfast was sorted.  After the Frittata I had an Optimizer drink and that is all I consumed before the race.

We left home about 5:30am and Nepean Hwy was already busy with athletes heading to race. Road closures near the start line were already in place, so we had to drive through some of the back streets in Frankston. There were no good parking spots left, so Elaine dropped me off as close as she could and then went back to park the car by herself. I had about half a kilometre to walk to the race start, but with race check-in the day before I didn't have too much to carry.

Just as I made it to my bike in transition, the commentator announced that it was 6am and that transition would be closing in 30 minutes, so I had plenty of time. I pumped up the tyres, attached my bento box full of nutrition, configured and attached the bike computer, attached the bike shoes to the pedals, put the bike in an easy gear and left my helmet and sunnies next to the bike. Once I was satisfied everything was ready I set about making sure I could find everything in the race. This meant taking note of the rack number and I also walked through the transition tents to remind myself where my transition bags were hanging.

Now I had to drop off my 'Special Needs' bags. I found the 'Special Needs' truck on the other side of the transition tents which meant walking around the entire complex. During this walk I noticed that the toilet queues were very long. Suddenly I no longer felt I had plenty of time. I'd already been to the toilet twice already, but had planned a final stop closer to the race start.

The weather was quite cool, but by now the nervous pre-race energy was in full effect so I didn't feel the cold as I stripped down to my race gear and starting getting into my wetsuit while I waited for Elaine and a good mate Dave to arrive at our meeting spot. Despite the long toilet queues I had witnessed, I decided I would still line up and hope I made it in time. The first queue barely moved for nearly 15 minutes, but then I noticed another queue which was not only shorter but definitely moving much quicker. Sure enough after switching queues I had the toilet stop out of the way in 5 minutes and the original queue had barely moved. Now I was feeling more relaxed because everything that needed to be done was done.

The Pro Men started at 7:00am and the Pro Women at 7:02am. It was still fairly dark and the crowd around the beach was huge, so we weren't able to see any of them start. The crowd was so thick, everything was gridlocked and I couldn't even make my way down the beach. But once the Pros had set off, the Age Groupers starting entering the water and gaps started to materialise in the crowd allowing the rest of the competitors to make their way into the water.

The water temperature wasn't too bad or maybe I was just warm due to nervous energy. I started to slowly swim out and then realised I was actually swimming towards the swim start line, which was convenient. The Age Group wave start was at 7:15am, 15 minutes before official sunrise, so it was still a little dark. I could not see the buoys we were supposed to be swimming towards, but they had stand-up paddle boarders that would stay ahead of the lead swimmers. So theoretically if everybody else followed the leader we should generally keep in the right direction.

It was not clear where the exact start line was, but the swimmers at the front continued to creep forward. In the end I'd say the front swimmers ended up nearly 100m past the start line when the starting horn went off.  I was about 30 metres behind them and I'm told that some unfortunate competitors were caught unawares still standing on the beach.

Race Eve

My progress can be followed on the Internet via ironmanlive.com.  My race number is 798.

The race is scheduled to start at 7:15am.  Below I have estimated how long it may take me to finish each leg.  This should assist any spectators who might be looking out for me.

Swim
  best - 1h05m
  expected - 1h12m
  slow - 1h20m
  bad conditions - 1h30m or slower

Transition One
  hopefully less than 5 minutes

Bike - lap 1
  best - 2h35m
  expected - 2h45m
  slow - 3h00m
  bad conditions - 3h15m

Bike - lap 2
  best - 2h40m
  expected - 2h50m
  slow - 3m10m
  bad conditions -  3h30m

Transition Two
  may take longer than 5 mins if I am very stiff & sore

Run - Seaford (about 9km mark)
  best - 48 min
  expected - 54 min
  slow - 59 min
  walking - 80 min

Run - Mordialloc (about 18km mark)
  best - 48 min
  expected - 54 min
  slow - 59 min
  walking - 80 min

Run - Brighton (about 33km mark)
  best -  85 min
  expected - 90 min
  slow - 105 min
  walking - 150 min

Run - Finish
  best - 55 min
  expected - 65 min
  slow - 74 min
  walking - 92 min

I expect the above reference points to match the timing points on Ironman Live

Ready for Bike Check In

Time to pack the transition bags which have to be dropped off today. On the right is the gear laid out for my bike transition.  The main items are race bib, chamois (anti-chafing) cream, towel and sunnies.  Due to the recent weather forecast, I've added a cycling top, arm warmers and cycling shorts (to go over the tri shorts) in case the conditions are not great - possible early morning showers are predicted.  Since taking the photo, I've removed the sunnies as I was worried they would get damaged in the bag.  I'll now leave them in my helmet which will be in transition next to the bike.  The helmet (& sunnies) and bento box that will hold my nutrition will be placed in transition tomorrow morning before the race.
The run transition bag, pictured left, will have my race bib, runners, socks, cap and more anti-chafing cream.  I'll need to confirm that sunscreen is supplied in the transition tent, otherwise I will carry the sunscreen that I pick up from my bike special needs bag.

I've toyed with the idea of having a complete change of clothes for the run to try and get a fresher feel.  But when I ran off my 180km training ride I didn't feel the need to change, so I haven't bothered packing extra clothes here.  Less to do is less to think to about - keep it simple.

The last picture is my bike ready to be checked into transition.  A spare tubular tyre (in case of punctures) is taped under the seat and the race sticker is attached to the seat post.  During the race the bike will contain 2 water bottles, race computer and bento box full of nutrition - all of which sort out on race morning.

As part of bike check-in, I'll be weighed for medical reasons and photographed with my bike for security reasons.  The first sign of race nerves are starting to appear as I begin to worry that I've forgotten something.

Lots of gear to get ready

This is the bag I received my race kit in.  I took the photo with the bottom section separated.  It is designed to carry your wetsuit and any other wet gear and it zips onto the bottom of the main bag or can be used alone as a small backpack.  The main part of the bag has a drawstring top and several small zippable pouches inside.  Next season I expect I will use this bag to carry my gear to all my races.

The next photo on the right shows the race gear supplied within the race kit.  There was also lot of advertising, 2 water bottles, a satchel of gatorade and a few other odds and ends, but we will ignore those for the moment.  Going clockwise you can see the 2 race bibs already attached to my race belts (one is Elaine's on loan), blue bike transition bag, red run transition bag, red run special food bag, blue bike special food bag, red swim cap, stickers for the helmet and special food bags and the sticker for the bike.

Finally the last photo shows all my other gear needed for the race spread across the downstairs coffee table.  This includes race top and shorts, wetsuit, shoes, bike pump, running cap, sunnies, goggles, towel, water bottles, chafing cream, nutrition, heart rate monitor, socks and sun screen.  For some reason my bike helmet didn't make it into the picture.

I've had my gear laid out here since Sunday.  I wanted to make sure I had everything and didn't want any worries during the last week.

The last things I purchased were the 2 water bottles on the far back corner.  They are insulated and I'll use these in my bike special needs bag.  Hopefully they will keep my nutrition a little cold.

Starting to get very real

Last night I ventured down to Ironman HQ in St Kilda for race registration. A very large tent, almost the size of a soccer field, has been erected in the park land just South of St Kilda Baths. Inside is an expo with 30 or more vendors, big screens playing pro triathlete interviews or scenes from other Iromans, the registration desks and a small theatre showing the race briefing every 30 minutes. The race briefing was 15 minutes of information, too much information to absorb for someone who has never done an Ironman before.

The race kit came in a very impressive bag specifically designed for Triathletes, I'll put a photo up of it later. Inside the bag were 2 different coloured plastic special food bags (1 for the bike leg and 1 for the run leg), 2 different coloured mesh transition bags (1 for swim to bike, 1 for bike to run). The transition bags have my race number attached in very big writing on one side, whereas we are supplied with stickers (containing the race number) to attach to the special food bags. There is also a sticker for the bike (attaches to the seat post) and for the helmet. The race bibs themselves are plastic sheets, slightly small than A4 that you can either pin to your top or attach to a race belt (nearly everybody uses a race belt). We are supplied with 2 separate race bibs (same number on both), one for the bike and one for the run - the only reason to have 2 separate ones is to put different sponsors on each.

The bag itself has a tag attached with my race number on it. This can be used as a gear bag to stow the clothes you take off before the swim. It will then be transported to St Kilda to be picked up after the race.

At registration that attached a wrist bracelet. I need to wear this until the awards banquet on Monday night (ie. 6 days). It looks like I've escape from a hospital ward.

Maybe it was sleeping with the Ironman bracelet on my wrist or just the excitement starting to stir, but I had my first Ironman dream last night. In fact it was a nested dream where I was dreaming in my dream - I'd wake up after my dream and realise it was a dream, but I was actually still dreaming. The good news is that after some weird happenings in the race lead up, my Ironman ended well in my dreams. You might say I've already had my dream Ironman.

Race Plan

Swim

A good swim will mean hitting the bike course surrounded by better cyclists. Even in a non-drafting race (must leave a 12m gap between riders), being amongst fast cyclists still makes a difference, especially if there is a strong headwind. However expending too much energy on the swim could spell disaster for the rest of day.

The secret to a good swim is to draft off a faster swimmer (sit on their toes). This will not be easy with over 1,600 other competitors all trying to do the same thing. Add to this the fact that the swim start is 30 minutes before official sunrise and you can start to imagine how crazy the swim leg will be.

So plan A is to try and start towards the front of the field (probably front 25%) and risk a few small spurts of speed early on to try and latch onto a group of fast swimmers. In this context I am regarding anybody faster than me as a fast swimmer (everything is relative).

If I don't find any toes worth following in the first 200m I will revert to plan B which is to simply cruise through the rest of the swim without any regards to how long it will take.

Of course I haven't even mentioned what I'll do if conditions are rough, mainly because I don't want to think about it. Choppy waves will not only make it more difficult (and tiring to swim), it will make it harder to navigate between the buoys (risk swimming off course, further distance) and trying to follow somebody else's toes can become impossible.  Water conditions early in the morning are usually calm, hopefully Sunday will not be an exception.

A best case scenario should see a swim time of around 65 minutes (calm conditions and good draft). Hopefully the worst case scenario will not blow longer than 1h20m, otherwise I'll already be tired before I even get on the bike.

Transition 1

It is common to see very long transition times in Ironman as athletes use the opportunity to relax, recover and mentally recharge for the next leg. Unless my swim was very slow, I will be trying to not waste any time in T1, otherwise those fast cyclists will get too far ahead. I'll be wearing my heart rate strap, triathlon top and shorts under my wetsuit, I won't wear socks on the bike and my bike shoes will be attached to my bike. So after removing my swim cap, goggles and wetsuit, I'll attach my race belt, grab my sunglasses and helmet and head out to collect my bike.

Bike Leg

Mistakes with pacing and/or nutrition on the bike is what wrecks most peoples' Ironman races.  Every 10 minutes faster on the bike will usually cost you 20 minutes on the run and nutrition mistakes can blow the run out by hours.

Eastlink is very open to the elements and any sort of wind will make one direction very difficult. Ideally I would like a tailwind (northerly) on the last lap of the bike coming back into transition, but this would mean a headwind for the entire run. A southerly wind would give us assistance heading up to Doncaster which is predominantly uphill - but of course this would mean the last 45km (when I am most tired) would be fighting a headwind.

The plan is to try and sit in a pace line (a line of bikes, each separated by 12m) during the headwind sections.  If the pace line is too fast I risk blowing up and if too slow it is probably not worth the bother.

Ignoring the conditions, I intend to conserve as much energy as possible during the first 45km (Frankston to Doncaster) as this is the most dangerous time as far as pacing mistakes go (because you are still relatively fresh).  The next 2 laps (90km) I will concentrate on riding around 190 watts and keeping my Heart Rate in the low 130s.  With 45km to go I will be feeling pretty stuffed and will no doubt have some nasty saddle sores, so the plan will simply be to get back as best I can.

At approximately the half way mark of the bike I will pick up my 'Special Needs' bag.  It will contain 2 new water bottles filled with Optimizer, sunscreen and maybe a special treat (I haven't worked out what yet).  I'm sure there will also be a need for a toilet stop somewhere on the bike - I suspect these will be available at the aid stations (I'll try and hold on until I see one without a queue).

Transition 2

You don't have to rack your bike in Ironman, you simply pass it across to the bike handler and they take it away and put it on a truck that will transport it to St Kilda to be picked up after the race.

There is no need for speed in T2, but there is also no point wasting time. I'll enter the transition change tent in bare feet because my bike shoes will still be attached to the pedals. Once I've found a chair I'll put on socks, runners and a cap and keep the same sunnies from the bike ride. I'm told you can get helpers to apply sunscreen to your shoulders while you get changed.

Run Leg

The first few kilometres wind around Frankston, firstly to the base of Oliver's Hill and then along the foreshore. This will be a good time to relax into the run starting at a very slow pace.  Once I've got through this section which should include the first aid station, I will try and find a rhythm.

Unlike the bike leg, I will not have a heart rate alarm for the run, so there will be no beeping if my heart rate gets too high. I'll keep an eye on the heart rate to make sure it doesn't go too high, but I'm concerned about finding a nice easy rhythm. The more I can get into a flow, the less strain it will put on my body. With the injuries I've had I am more worried about my body giving out, in particular my knee.

I expect to make it to Mordialloc (about 17km) without too many problems.  Every aid station after that point that I am still running will be a bonus. The last special Live station before the finish will be Green Point, Brighton. This is less than 10km from the end and as long as I'm in some sort of condition, I think reaching this point will be huge psychological boost - because less than 10km does not sound far.

Race Nutrition Plan

I follow some basic nutrition rules

• Max of 300 Calories per hour
• Max of 60g of Glucose per hour
• Up to 30g of Fructose per hour
• Roughly 600ml of hydration per hour
• Electrolytes (sodium, potassium) - I'm not sure how much

The above is roughly what the average digestive system can handle whilst exercising at a fairly high aerobic pace (ie. Ironman pace).

With this in mind I have tried to devise a nutrition plan that meets these requirements and will be also be easy to implement. The result is that most of my nutrition on the bike is in liquid form and all of my run nutrition will be obtained from the aid stations on course.

Bike Nutrition Plan

This is primarily based around Endura Optimiser and SaltStick capsules (essentially salt tablets). I will start with 2 bottles (one 600ml & one 800ml) of Optimizer and pick up a replacement 2 bottles in my 'Special Needs Bag' at the half way mark of the bike leg. Water (picked up from the aid station), Winners Energy Chews and Endura Gels will be used to fill in the gaps where my Optimizer has run out. If I run short of anything, there are aid stations every 15km on the bike leg that contain Gatorade, Water, Energy Bars and Gels.

I'm hoping to ride under 6 hours, but it will not take much for it to blow out.

Stage	Product	Calories	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)	Potassium (mg)	Water (ml)	Caffeine (mg)
	Salt Water	some		heaps
1st Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
2nd Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
3rd Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (20g)	77	15	138	57	150
	Water					450
	Energy Chews (12)	191	45	52	24
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	268	60	405	144	600
4th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
5th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	35	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
6th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (20g)	77	15	138	57	150
	Water					450
	Gels (2)	212	52	17			9
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	289	67	370	120	600	9

Run Nutrition Plan

Due to the injuries I have suffered throughout my training, I haven't managed to test any of my run nutrition. So it is based more on past experience, in particular the 2 Half Ironman races I completed.

I will retrieve all my run nutrition from the aid stations. The basis of the plan is 2 Powerbar Gel Blasts and roughly 40 to 50ml of Gatorade or Water every aid station. In the second half of the run I will substitute Coke for Gatorade.

The plan assumes running at 6 min kilometres, so with an aid station every 2km, I will hit 5 aid stations per hour. You'll notice the last 2 hours contain more calories and carbs - this should not be a problem, as I expect them to actually take a fair bit longer than 2 hours (hopefully not too much longer).

There is a 'Special Needs Bag' at the half way mark of the run, but I haven't decided what to put in this yet, maybe something like donuts. I may also consider carrying some SaltStick capsules.

Stage	Product	Calories	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)	Potassium (mg)	Water (ml)	Caffeine (mg)
1st Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Gatorade	50	14	110	30	240
	Water					360
	Total	270	64	145	30	600
2nd Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Gatorade	50	14	110	30	240
	Water					360
	Total	270	64	145	30	600
3rd Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Cola	110	31	70		240	23
	Water					360
	Total	330	81	105		600	23
4th Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Cola	110	31	70		240	23
	Water					360
	Total	330	81	105		600	23

Taking it Easy

I am now in the taper period, since the long run on Monday I have done one 30 minute run and one 2km open water swim.  The rest of the week will probably contain 1 swim, 1 short run and 1 short ride.

Hard or long training sessions overload the body.  During subsequent rest/recovery periods, the body heals itself which is referred to as adaption - the newly formed or repaired muscle fibres are stronger than the ones they replace.

After a long Ironman buildup, you typically need a 2 week taper for the race to ensure the adaptions get time to complete.  Any extra overload in these last 2 weeks will not have time to adapt and will probably interfere with onging adaptions.  So any training during the taper is usually short and easy, designed mainly to stop the body from getting stiff and help you maintain good technique.

You would think that althletes would love the taper period - they no longer need to train hard, but are fit and strong as a result of all the previous training.  However without the long and hard training sessions, this times feels like it drags on forever.  You are focused on the race and just want to get it over and done with.

My knee continues to improve.  There are a few small aches and pains throughout my body but I expect they will clear up as we approach closer to the race.  Unfortunately my good friend Bill tore a muscle in his groin at a race last weekend.  Unlike me, Bill's training had been fantastic, including a 30km run most weeks, but now he is only a 50/50 chance of being right for the Ironman.  So I should be grateful that I will probably start the race under-trained but relatively injury free - much better than being well-trained and injured.

The knee seems to be improving

On Sunday I did a very easy 50km ride and my knee pulled up with no pain at all.  This weekend I have gone back to using the foam roller to keep my quads and ITB under control - something I forgot to do when I had the hip injury.  I'll need to keep using the foam roller for the next 2 weeks and hopefully with the reduced training load during my taper, my quads and ITB will end up in great shape for the race.

This morning I ran for 2 hours and covered just over 21kms.  On one hand it is great to be able to get in another long run, which means that my knee is definitely on the mend (and the hip is pretty much fully healed).  Of course 21km is way under the planned 30km long run.  But the more frustrating aspect is that it took me 2 hours to run a half marathon and whilst I could have run significantly faster if it was a race, I did not feel like I could run another 21km at the end.  Considering I did this run fresh, it would suggest that my aim of a sub 4 hour marathon in the Ironman after a 180km ride is no longer a possibility.  I still believe I could achieve this with an uninterrupted block of training, but the injuries have simply robbed me of the required mileage (in fact I believe I could go close to 3h30m).  And without a sub 4 hour marathon, the chance of doing a respectable Ironman time has gone, which is extremely disappointing - but maybe good that I am realising this now.

It is not all doom and gloom.  I ran the 20km this morning with no nutrition or hydration (I did eat breakfast beforehand).  In the race I will be grabbing food and drink every 2km, so hopefully this will make a significant difference.  Running a touch slower should also help.

This afternoon I dropped my bike into Cyclespeed to get serviced and had another massage with Burkey.  The usual muscles were tight - ITB, quads, calves & hamstrings - but nothing was too bad and in general I seem to be in reasonable shape.  I have one more massage booked the Thursday night before the race.  Burkey is booked solid with massages for the next 2 weeks, hopefully his magic hands will hold up under the strain.

This week I'll do a couple of 10km runs and concentrate more on swimming.  Saturday I plan to join a group swimming the Ironman course at Frankston.    Sunday will be a bike ride at the club Velodrome session - this will be my only bike ride before the race.  The velodrome will be a good location to test my bike post service and make sure everything is working perfectly.  I've got the race wheels (and tyres) on the bike and I won't collect any glass whilst on the velodrome.  I will avoid riding on the road with my race tyres.  90% of the Ironman bike leg will be on Eastlink and it would be almost impossible to pick up any glass on Eastlink.  So any puncture experienced during the race is most likely glass picked up in the week beforehand or on the couple of roads in Frankston that lead to the start of Eastlink.

In summary, this first week of taper is on reduced training load with a focus on swimming (ironically it will probably be more training than last week).  Next week will be an extremely easy training week.

Approaching Taper

Nagging pain has persisted in my knee.  I can still swim, bike and run but my knee does not feel anywhere near as good as it felt a week ago.  I'm worried that it will give out during the Ironman run leg and once it gives out I'll be walking the remainder of the race.

Training this week has been pretty leisurely so far.  It should not affect my preparation much, as this close to the race you would usually be starting to wind back the volume (although not usually this much).  So far I have done 2 swims (5km), 1 ride (65km) and 3 runs (20km).  Today's ride was supposed to be longer but I punctured right near the start and therefore lost the pack.  Then my knee was getting a little sorer the more I rode and I was keen to run off the bike.  The run was only 5km but the knee felt fine, however it has been aching a bit this afternoon.

Tomorrow I'd planned a 100km ride, but I'm now considering riding much less.  Monday I plan to try and run for 2 hours (hopefully around 20km) and don't want to do anything to jeopardise this.

Next week will be another easy week.  The only planned ride will be on Sunday at the velodrome where I will test out the bike in full race kit (it is being serviced next week).  Depending upon how Monday's run goes, I'll probably sneak in a few 10km runs and hopefully several swims.  On Saturday morning there is a swim organised at the Frankston (the race venue), so I'll probably do this instead of my usual Saturday group ride (weather dependent).

Knee injury flares up again

The weekend just gone (being 3 weeks before Ironman) needed to be a big weekend of training.  My legs felt quite fatigued after the Saturday bike/run session but I was still determined to do a long ride on the Sunday.

Despite the constant rain for the first 2 hours of the ride, I managed to clock up 179km and then follow this with an 8.3km run.  This lifted the week's training to over 16 hours - it included 3 swims (7.3km), 2 rides (254km), 6 runs (29.8km) and 4 core strength sessions - 305 Slowtwitch points.  Not the 20 hours and 400 points I would have liked, but still a pretty decent week of training.

My injured hip handled the big weekend without a problem, but unfortunately my patella tendon injury was not so lucky.  The hard Saturday ride followed by the very long Sunday ride stiffened up my quad muscles and when they get tight they pull on the patella tendon.  I had intended to run 10km off the 179km ride on Sunday.  The run had been going surprisingly well.  Despite the very long ride I was easily able to maintain my target run pace and felt no discomfort from my hip.  However I experienced 3 short pangs of pain just below my knee within a 30 second period, so I stopped running and walked the rest of the way home.

At first I was devastated, worried that this indicated that I would never be able to finish the run in the Ironman.  This was one of my few tests of running off the bike and it had ended with failure.  But now I believe it was simply due to my quads and ITBs getting too tight - a combination of the two rides and me neglecting my quads whilst I paid more attention to the hip injury.

I had a physio session for my hip this morning which went well.  It would seem the hip injury is becoming a non-factor, but I'll know better once I get some longer runs under my belt (although time is fast running out).  Tonight I have a massage booked with Burkey and I'll get him to concentrate on loosening up my quads and ITB.

Even though I have such little time left (considering people usually have a 2 week taper for Ironman), I will still have to tread very carefully with my running this week.  Whilst every extra kilometre I can run will help me, any injuries at this stage will not have enough time to recover before the race.

Hip Coming Good

The hip is now improving at a good rate which is very encouraging.  Wednesday morning's run was only 3.4km, but I ran 5km without pain on Thursday evening (before the swim session) and another 8km off the bike on Saturday morning.  The last 2 runs could easily have been longer, but on both occasions I simply ran out of time.

Thursday night's swim did not go as well.  Again I was in the 2nd fastest lane, but this time it was really flying, matching pace with the fastest lane.  I lasted 2.3km, but had to hop out completely exhausted.  This decision was vindicated when I suffered a bad cramping spasm in my feet just trying to get into the car.  I'm not too worried about not being able to finish the session, it was my 4th swim in 5 days after a 2 week break, I had run 5km just before the session and the speed of the lane was much faster than usual.

Still suffering from saddle sores and now being able to run and swim again, I stayed off the bike during the week.  Saturday morning was a tougher ride than expected due to continually being cutoff from the group due to traffic lights.  But despite the extra effort I felt good on the run off the bike, so my bike form must be OK.

Slow Progress

My hip has finally improved enough for me to start running again, but I am very limited in how far I can run.  On Sunday I ran 1km before the pain forced me to stop.  On Monday I managed 2km and 3km on Tuesday.  Each time I am forced to stop due to pain, but the distance is increasing if somewhat slower than I would like.

The wound on my hip has now scabbed over, so I am able to recommence swimming.  Coincidentally my swimming mileage has matched my run distances with Sunday, Monday and Tuesday seeing swims of 1, 2 & 3kms.  I felt very good on the Tuesday session swimming in the 2nd fastest lane at John Van Wisse's session.

Riding has not been affected by swimming and last week I managed 2 Windtrainer sessions, a 141km long ride on Saturday and an easy 40km on Sunday.  This brought last week's training time to just under 10 hours - a lot less than the planned 20 hours, but still good considering it only contained 1x1km swim and 1x1km run.

Still Sidelined

I'm still cannot run (hip injury) or swim (open wounds), but I did do a 50min Windtrainer session last night.  A windtrainer attaches to the bicycle rear wheel and transforms a standard bike into a stationery bicycle.  It is pretty boring and you get extremely hot and sweat lots, but I suspect I'll be doing a lot more of these sessions in the near future.

Yesterday I visited the physio to get my hip/groin issue looked into.  When I crashed on the bike (and fell on my hip) I suffered significant trauma to the hip socket. This has resulted in a lot inflammation, bruising and fluid in and around the joint. The pain I experience in the groin and hip flexor region is actually referred pain from the hip joint. Worst case scenario is that I have damaged the inside of the hip socket (I think it's called the Labram) - this would require a major operation to repair, otherwise it would deteriorate and I wouldn't be able to run at all within 5 years. But the physio does not believe this is the case as I have too much movement still available in my hip.

So now I'm on anti-inflammatories, I have daily exercises and stretches to do and I see the Physio again on Friday. Best case scenario I may be OK to re-commence running by Monday. But even with this best case, it will have been 3 weeks since I've run, so I'll have to start back doing much shorter distances. While the Physio thinks I can still do Ironman (assuming the injury responds to the anti-inflammatory) I will not be able to get in the long runs I planned. I will be lucky if I can get my long run back to 20km. So the chances of me being able to run the entire marathon is almost non-existent (extremely disappointing).

Fingers Crossed

My injuries are improving but the wound on my hip is still looking pretty nasty and I still cannot run.  Walking is fine, but I cannot even run across the road.  However even this injury feels like it is slowly getting better and I hope it will only be a few more days until I can go for a short run.

This morning I did the usual bike shop ride except that I took my road bike (tri-bike is still in race setup).  The hip was a little stiff but did not hamper my riding.  Towards the end of the ride my left knee (original injury) started to ache a little, but not as much as it usually does on this ride.  Coming back from Port Melbourne the pace of the ride always picks up and today was no exception, in fact I think it has been getting a little faster every week.  I was still in the lead pack as we approached Mordialloc (location of the big sprint), but my calf muscles were starting to ache so I decided to refrain from any sprinting this week.  I suspect the calves have stiffened up due to my lack of training.

I rode 91km this morning.  Conditions were perfect and I would have loved to have ridden longer, but the saddle sores were causing problems and I didn't want to do something that would stop me riding tomorrow.  This afternoon I converted the tri-bike back into training setup (different wheels, brake pads and readjusted the brakes and rear derailluer).  It also has a new seat to trial - part of a seat exchange program offered by Cyclespeed bike shop.  Hopefully the saddle sores will behave themselves and I'll get in a long ride tomorrow of around 6 hours, but I suspect that is extremely wishful thinking, especially since rain is forecast later in the morning.

The next 3 weeks should ideally be huge training weeks before the 2 week taper leading up to the race.  Not being able to run due to injury, not being able to swim due to open wounds and being limited on the bike due to saddle sores is definitely not a good start.  So I'll just cross my fingers and hope that my body magically comes good.

Disaster

Due to various circumstances I did not get the lead-in week to the Geelong race that I would have liked.  Thursday, Wednesday and Friday consisted of a massage, acupuncture and me coaching a training session, but no actual training whatsoever.  I had not intended to taper much for Geelong, but I wouldn't do this little on a full taper.  The plus side is that the complete rest should of helped my knee injury and the persistent saddle sores.
Even though I wasn't able to train, I did find time to setup the bikes ready for the race.  Unlike the Duathlons I competed in earlier in the season, I decided to carry a spare tubular type for this event - you can see it taped under the seat.  Tubular tyres are the tube and tyre all in one and unlike the standard clincher tyres, tubulars are glued onto the rim.  I also have a Bento box attached to the top tube just behind the headstem and 2 water bottles - one of the frame and one between the aero bars.  This is the setup I plan to use for Ironman Melbourne, so the Geelong race is being used as a full dress rehearsal.

Elaine's bike was given set of race wheels and also had a Bento box on the top tube.  Changing wheels means readjusting the rear dérailleur so that the gears still work and changing to carbon wheels also means changing and realigning the brake pads.  A carbon braking surface needs a different brake pad (usually cork) and the race wheels are usually a different width requiring a realignment.  During all this work I also gave both bikes a mini service.

The weather in Melbourne was not too bad over the weekend, but it poured almost non-stop until Sunday lunchtime in Geelong.  We were only staying for 2 nights so I didn't take many changes of clothes and nearly everything I brought got completely soaked.  Luckily the temperature was still relatively warm and most of the stuff was able to dry out before I needed to wear it again.

Due to my knee injury this was my first triathlon of the season and as always happens, I was a little rusty in my first race.  Usually the starter gives a 30 second warning before the gun goes off, but not this time.  I was casually chatting to a friend and wasn't even wearing my goggles when the gun sounded.  Luckily I was able to get them on as I rushed into the water, but did lose some ground in the process.  There were at least 400 people in my wave and in hindsight I should have placed myself much closer to the front (and had my goggles on).  My swimming has improved quite a lot recently, but for the whole swim leg I was hemmed in by slower swimmers.  I tried unsuccessfully to break through a couple of times, on one occasion receiving a nasty kick to the face (I still have bruises on my nose 3 days later).  In the end I decided to simply stay in the pack and have a very easy, if somewhat slow swim.  My swim time for the 2km was 36mins - I believe I could have swam at least 2 minutes quicker without tiring myself out.

Once on the bike I realised that my power meter was not working.  I decided to use my Garmin FR310xt computer that can be transferred to my wrist for the run instead of the much larger Garmin Edge 800 I had been using in training.  But for some reason my power meter was not configured on the FR310xt - things like this always happen in the first race of the season.  Unfortunately the first section of the bike course is the most technical with several small hills and lots of tight corners, so trying to go through the menus on the watch without crashing took a bit of effort.  Finally at about the 5km mark I had my power meter working and now I could try and ride to a specific power wattage.

I found myself in a rather large group of bikes.  Drafting is not allowed in most triathlons (including this one), so in order not to get penalised by the draft busters (Marshalls who ride around the course as pillions on motorcycles), I decided to make my way through the pack.  This resulted in a slightly higher wattage than I had planned, but it was not that much higher so I figured it wouldn't matter too much, especially seeing as the bike leg was only 80km.

My main goal for the race was to see how well I could run 20km off the bike.  This would be my first long run off a bike for the season and would provide a lot of valuable information for the Ironman in regards to how good my pacing and nutrition was, as well as testing out my injured knee.  If I struggled to run 20km off an 80km bike leg, how would I handle 42km after a 180km ride.

I successfully made my way through the first pack and was starting to pick off other riders ahead.  My heart rate and power wattage were still about 10% higher than my planned Ironman pace, but way below what I would ride for an Olympic Distance race with a 40km bike leg (and 10km run).

Elaine's Olympic Distance race started about 90mins after mine.  It had been raining all morning and this made me worry about punctures because the rain often lifts the glass back up to the surface.  I didn't pack a spare tyre for Elaine, she just had a can of pitstop (air & foam which hopefully seals the puncture as well as re-inflating the tyre), but it generally only works about 50% of the time.  Several riders had already pulled off to the side to fix punctures and I dreaded Elaine might suffer the same fate.

As I approached the far turn-around on the first lap (about the 25km mark) I could see another pack coming back.  They were only about 500m ahead and I figured I could easily bridge that gap.  Just before the turnaround the road widens from 2 lanes to 3.  When you add the u-turn section in the middle of the road, this equated to a turning circle of about 7 lanes wide.  I figured I could take this corner with a bit of speed which would put a bit of gap between me and the riders behind me - I didn't want to drag them up to the next pack as well.

I turned into the corner and was looking where I would exit on the other side when suddenly I was sliding along the ground.  It was mid corner that my front wheel slid out and everything had been tracking beautifully till then, so I think it must have been an oil patch on the road that caused my crash.  Medical staff immediately rushed over and helped me.  There had already been a few crashes at the corner so the Medical staff were ready and waiting.  It took them 5 minutes to patch me up, in which time another rider took a big slide in exactly the same spot.  Once the medical staff were finished I gingerly hopped back on my bike (which was luckily not damaged) and continued riding for another 55km.  My hip especially was very sore, but it loosened up a bit as the ride went on.  There were no more packs left, so it was quite a lonely ride from then on and the wattage and heart rate dropped back to Ironman pace.  My official bike split was 2h27m, but without the 5 min stop for bandaging it would have been 2h22 - and if I hadn't of crashed I'm confident I would have gone well under 2h20m.

As I rode towards transition I was not confident how my run would go, but figured it was worth a try.  Unfortunately as soon as I dismounted I discovered that I must have wrenched a lot of muscles in my upper leg around the groin and hip flexor and running was absolutely impossible.  So I simply walked back to the finish line, handed in my timing chip and then proceeded to the Medical tent to get my wounds redressed.

I lost skin on my wrist, elbow, knee and hip and had gravel rash on my shoulder and back.  By far the worst injury was to my hip which was not only missing a lot of skin but also swollen up like a softball.

At least this gave me time to watch Elaine finish her race.  This was her first Olympic Distance since 2008 and while she was a fair way off her PB, she still managed a good time and after a little deliberation was happy with efforts.

It is Wednesday night, most of my wounds have started to heal, except my hip which still looks very nasty.  The swelling has gone down considerably, but has been replaced with a lot of bruising spanning the size of about a volleyball.  At the moment I still cannot run, but I'm hoping this situation will start to improve by the weekend.

On the bright side, my knee is actually feeling pretty good - I crashed on the other side of my body.

Geelong Long Course

The Geelong race is this Sunday - I am doing the Long Course race (2km Swim / 80km Bike / 20km Run) and Elaine is doing her first Olympic Distance race (1.5km Swim / 40km Bike / 10km Run) since the Age Group World Championships in 2008.

I had planned to put in a solid week's training only resting on Friday and Saturday as a mini taper for the race.  But my body and mind have just not been up to it this week.  On Monday night I did a good swimming squad session and I ran 10km on Tuesday and Wednesday, but other than that there has been only been 2 short bay swims.  It has been one of my quietest weeks for a while.

.....

When I started writing this blog entry yesterday, I had planned out a lot of stuff that I wanted to write and photos to post.  But I encountered so many interruptions that I have completely forgotten what I was about to say.  Kind of sums up my week and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better.

7 Weeks to Go

After a slow start to the week due to the quad strain, I ended up completing my biggest ever training week - 10.3km Swimming, 323km Riding and 40.9km Running - a total of 19h49m of training (405 Slowtwitch points).  Yesterday afternoon, despite rain, thunder, lightning and even hail, I did my first ever 2 hour run (21.4km).

My knee still aches (especially on the bike rides), but it is no longer stopping me from training.  Generally I am now feeling a lot more confident that I will manage to get in a reasonable amount of training, as evidenced by last week's effort of nearly 20 hours.

Today is a rest day and will only contain one swim tonight. I'll pick up the training load on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before backing off leading into the race at Geelong this Sunday.

Quad Strain and Long Ride

After my long 18km run on Sunday, I pulled up with a sore quad.  This put a slight dent in my plans to have a huge training load this week.  I tried stretching, foam roller and self massaging, but I couldn't find anything that seemed to improve the quad.

Due to the long drive back from Bright, Monday was always planned as an easy day, but I had a long 120km ride planned for Tuesday morning with Kevin from Gravity Zero.  After the Monday night swim squad (where I posted a new 100m FS PB - 1m25s) I decided to go for an easy jog along the beach in the hope this might loosen up my quad.  However after continuous pain for 400m it was obvious the run was not going to help.  So the Tuesday morning ride was now off the cards.

I tried unsuccessfully to book a Physio appointment on Tuesday, but luckily I was able to score a massage appointment with Burkey.  He worked pretty hard on my quad and improved it a lot.  Burkey's thought was that I over stretched the muscle during the downhill sections of my long run.  I've been avoiding any hills due to my knee, so my muscles probably lack conditioning in this respect and therefore more susceptible to this type of injury.

Feeling better, I decided to do my long ride on Wednesday morning, and instead of 120km, I decided to make it 180km.  A loop between Frankston and Port Melbourne is 90km, so I decided doing 2 loops would be the best plan.  There were no big hills (good for my injured knee) and I could use my house as an aid station between loops to replace water bottles, nutrition and apply sunscreen and chamois cream.

I didn't feel any discomfort from my quad, Burkey had done a great job with the massage, but my knee was really starting to ache.  At about the 40km mark I decided to stop and raise the seat another 3mm.  This modification seemed to work, as the pain in my knee did subside a little - hopefully this may be the magic bullet that finally helps me get over the knee injury.  It was a stiff headwind all the way to Seaford and I pulled back into home at the 75km mark - I hadn't done the loop up to Frankston yet.  There was no pain in my quad, my knee wasn't too bad, but everything felt very average, except my bum which felt outright awful.

The temperature had increased since my early morning start, so I removed my vest & arm warmers, had a toilet stop, applied sunscreen and replaced my Optimiser bottle.  Strangely I hadn't touched the sports drink or any of the other nutrition - I think the noise of the traffic early on and then the deafening noise of the headwind caused me to miss a lot of the timer alerts on my bike computer.  The stop had been longer than expected, especially after I had to chase the neighbour's cat back out of the house so I could lock up, but the plus side was that I felt quite refreshed when I hopped back on the bike.  Of course it helps with you start riding with tail wind again.  I had intended to continue onto Franskton, but through force of habit had turned right heading back to Port Melbourne.  This meant I would finish this lap with only 150km on the clock and would need to do an extra 30km loop at the end.

Strangely enough the second lap felt better than the first, although the wind had picked up and the ride back to Seaford was particularly difficult.  It would have been so easy to end the ride after 150km, but after another quick stop at home I headed out for the last 30km.  The ride itself wasn't very fast, only averaging just over 27kph, but I am very satisified and extremely happy to now have a 180km ride under my belt.

Big Run Week

I'm currently in Bright for the Alpine Classic but sadly I'm just a spectator because I'm banned from riding hills due to my knee.  Elaine has finished her ride up and down Mt Buffalo (70km) and is very happy with efforts.  The fact that she still looked relatively fresh at the end bodes well for her Olympic Distance at Geelong in 2 weeks.  We are staying in Bright with Jeremy, he is currently still out doing the 200km ride.  He popped back in after 130km (Tawonga Gap, Falls Creek, Tawonga Gap) to have a shower and change clothes before heading off to tackle Mt Buffalo.  He was looking pretty good (not as fresh as Elaine), but said the heat had been pretty bad.  It had taken him 7 hours for the first bit and was hoping to do Mt Buffalo in under 4 hours.  So an 11hr mountainous ride is pretty good training for the Ironman bike leg he will be doing as part of a team in Ironman Melbourne.  We suspect he'll sign up for the whole race next year.

The week is finished.  It only contained 2 bike rides totally 211km and 4 swims for 7.1km.  But other than the Race Simulation Event on Thursday, the focus for the week was on running and I did 6 runs in the week including an 18km run today bringing the weekly mileage up to 55km. I'll have to check through my records, but this may be my biggest ever run week.

I ran in my larger runners again, this time wearing the thickest running socks I own.  My left foot is fine, but the 2nd toe on my foot now has a huge blister.  I don't know if this has resulted because the blister started from Thursday's run or whether it would have happened anyway.  Maybe next time I'll try the run with medium thick socks.  Even though the blister looks bad, I never felt it on the run.  However I'm sure it would have grabbed my attention if I had of run 42km, so this is an issue I need to get on top of before the Ironman (I've since popped the blister).

My knee doesn't really seem to have improved, but more importantly it has not deteriorated. In fact my ITBs and quads are starting to feel worse - I'll definitely need another massage next week. I'm now starting to find that running no longer seems to bother the knee much, so much so that I did two 10km runs on consecutive days without a problem. The main problem at the moment appears to be the bike riding. However this might be aggravated by the fact that the seatpost on my Triathlon bike keeps slipping. I've put some tape on the post so that I can see when it has slipped and I now carry an allen key on my rides so that I can re-adjust it any time. The post only seems to slip about 3 or 4mm, but this seems to be enough to upset my knee.  Hopefully I'm now on top of this problem.

If all goes well, next week should be my biggest ever week and possibly the biggest week of the Ironman campaign.  Again the focus will be on running (planning a 20km run), but I'm hoping to get in several rides of around 100km and if I'm feeling good I may even do an extra long ride on Sunday.  I'm very happy with my swimming at the moment, but realise I have to get the training up to maintain my current form, so there will also be plenty of swim sessions next week as well.

The following week will end with the Geelong Long Distance Triathlon (2km Swim, 80km Bike, 20km Run).  This means a mini taper on the Friday & Saturday before the race and around 5 days of recovery after the race.

Race Simulation with Bayside Triathlon Club

Even though I had arranged alternative transportation to the event, my wife Elaine offered to drop me off (a one hour return trip).  This was especially generous considering that I needed to be at Sandringham by 6am and Elaine had her own 1.4km Swim event at Brighton which didn't start until 11am.  However the offer became even more generous when I realised I had left my drink bottles at home in the fridge, so Elaine had to make 2 trips that morning.

All up there were over 100 triathletes doing the Race Simulation which covered various distances - swim 1.5 to 3km, bike 40 to 150km and run 6 to 18km - or you vary the course as you wished and end up with any distance you desired.

My aim in the swim was to see if I could last the distance without fatiguing and affecting the bike leg and also to see if I could stay in the draft of other swimmers.  There were about 30 people doing the 3km swim and for the entire distance I seemed to be able to stay in the main pack (not always easy to tell whilst swimming).  I felt my stroke become a little laboured after about 1.5km and due to a minor mistake by the organisers the distance ended up only being about 2.5km.  But overall I was very pleased with how my swim went and I came out of the water with other triathletes that are usually a bit faster than me in the water.

The bike leg was another chance for me to practice my pacing to power & heart rate and this time I would be doing it after a swim.  It was also a great opportunity to practice my race nutrition plan, especially since they had a 'Special Needs' station (an esky containing water bottles) at the 45km mark of the ride.  I started the ride with a sports drink in one bottle and Optimiser in the other.  My bottle in the 'Special Needs' esky was another bottle of Optimiser - which is another reason why I was so grateful to Elaine for going back and collecting the bottles from home.  For the first 45km I took a few sips of Optimiser every 7.5mins, which worked out perfectly because I just finished the bottle in time to swap it for the new one.  After this my watch still beeped every 7.5mins, but I alternated between Optimiser and a Gel Blast.  This approach seemed to work out well, especially mentally, because I got a little treat every 7.5mins.  In between treats I took the occasional sip of Sports Drink, but probably didn't have enough as the one bottle lasted me the entire ride.  I managed to hold the planned power & heart rate (more or less).  It was difficult to the undulating terrain (Sandringham to Dromana and back).  I was certainly tiring towards the end and due to some very rough roads out near Dromana, my bum was extremely sore.  I averaged 30.4kph for the ride which I was a little disappointed with, but it is always much harder when you have to keep stopping at traffic lights and the Ironman course will be a lot smoother and not as hilly.

When I got off the bike my knee was killing me - it was the most sore it has been in quite some time.  The path down to the Bayside Clubrooms (where transition was setup) is very steep and as I hobbled down I didn't even think I would get to the end of the path let alone start the run.  Once at the Clubrooms I had a quick toilet stop and then set off on the run.  Amazingly after the first 100m, the pain in my knee went away.  I always run well off the bike and like usual I started off way too fast.  I sat on 4m40s pace for the first 4km and felt great, but reality soon hit.  I don't know if it was because I had just had a gel, but I started to feel pain in my side.  The pain started to fade, my I was not able to get any speed back and the feeling of running easy disappeared as I slowly dropped back to 5m20s pace (the speed I should have been doing from the start).  After the first 6km loop I had a drink and took 2 Gel Blasts from my bike for the second leg (deciding to skip the gels).  My original plan had been to run 10km (a nice round number) but with the loops being 6km, I thought 12km would be better.  But just as I was approaching the 8km mark I felt a very slight twinge in the knee and decided to the cut the lap short and only do 10km.  The knee twinge was probably all in my head, but better to be safe than sorry.

As I crossed the finish line I felt pretty good, my last kilometre was back at 5m00s pace (always easier when you know you are finishing).  I felt I handled the event really well - very pleased with the swim, a touch disappointed with the bike and satisfied with the run.  However fatigue is a funny thing, because 2 hours after the event I suddenly felt completely wiped out and ended up going back to bed for 6 hours.

Things I have learnt from this event:

• if conditions are good, I should not have any problems with the swim and should be able to sit on someone's toes for the whole distance.  I may decide to start next to my friend Steve who is also doing Ironman - he'll probably be a good candidate to draft off.
• my road cycling shoes are no good for fast transitions. They hurt my foot when resting on top and are quite difficult to get in and out of whilst riding.  I either need to put my shoes on and off in transition or wear my triathlon cycling shoes.
• the new tri-shorts I recently bought do not solve the saddle sore problem, but they are definitely an improvement over all my other shorts for doing long rides on the Triathlon bike. They also feel great to run in, so at the moment they are the definite choice for the Ironman. The only minor downside is that they are about 1cm shorter in the leg and I now have a 1cm ring of sunburn.
• my nutrition on the bike was pretty good, although I probably need to squeeze in some extra sports drinks. The extra bottles won't be an issue in the race as there'll be plenty of aid stations on the bike leg.
• still need to work out exactly what to put in my Special needs bag for Ironman.  Probably a bottle of Optimiser and maybe some Gel Blasts, or the Winners' equivalents that I think taste better.
• need to hold back more at the start of the run.  Going too fast early will definitely derail the second half of the marathon.
• I need to practise with gels more on the run to discover whether or not I have a digestion problem with them.  On race day, there will be Gel Blasts available at the many aid stations, so it may not be a big issue. But then again I may be sick of Gel Blasts after eating so many of them on the bike leg
• I bought new runners half a size bigger for my long runs, but I still got a small blister on the end of my 2nd toe on my right foot. Maybe I need to wear thicker socks when I run in the larger shoes.

Time to get back into the thick of it

Last week was my recovery week.  I did sneak in a long run of 16km and a 3.4km swim, but otherwise it was a pretty easy week.  After the 160km ride the week before, I took 5 days off from riding to allow the saddle sores to heal and then did 2 rides on the weekend - 90km on Sat and a very easy 33km on Sunday.  There were 6 swims for the week, but 4 of them were only 500m or less.

This week the plan is to up the volume again.  Originally I had planned to do a 5km Open Water Swim at the Australia Day event at Brighton, which would be followed by a long ride & run on Fri and another long run on Saturday.  But I have decided to do a Race Simulation event with the Bayside Triathlon Club instead - 3km Swim, 150km Bike & 10km Run.  The recovery required for this event will bring down the week's volume a little, but I think the experience of the Race Simulation will definitely be worth it.  And if I pull up well, I should be able to get in an 18km run on the Sunday.

Another Long Run

I started this week with 3 easy days.  Monday and Tuesday consisted of very easy Open Water swims, while Wednesday had a very easy, short run plus a swim.  After one easy day I definitely noticed an improvement with my knee.  There was no pain walking or even going up and down stairs, although I still could not do a single leg squat without pain.  However the second rest day did not see any improvement and by the third day I was starting to stiffen up and experience general aches and pains throughout the body.

As mentioned in earlier blog posts, I tend to experience aches and pains once my run gets to around 10km.  When I started to think more about this, I remembered I used to get the same problem when I first started trying to do long, slow runs (years before I suffered my current knee injury).  The problem seemed to be that when I ran accordingly to heart rate, my pace was uncomfortably slow.  This meant that I was not running with a natural rhythm and it was the bad running form at this slow pace that was causing the muscle soreness.  Back then I got around this problem by ignoring heart rate on my long runs and simply running at a relaxed, but more natural pace.  As a result, the endurance benefit of improving fat burning efficiency would be lessened, but my legs would be getting the conditioning they needed to survive long runs.  With this knowledge I decided to only run to heart rate for runs of 10km or less.  This is actually backwards to how most people would advise training, but sometimes you have to adapt to particular situations.

The short 4km run Wednesday afternoon (at a very low HR) felt great and gave me confidence to do a long run on Thursday.  Right from the start of the long run, I felt a slight ache on the outside of my left hip.  I'm not sure if this is the top of my ITB, my hamstring or something else.  The rest of my body felt good so I had no hesitation in completing the planned distance of 16km.  Running at a relaxed, natural pace saw my speed sit around 5m10s per km (about 15 secs faster) and my heart rate sat between 140 to 150bpm (around 10 beats higher).  I did not feel like the pace was too fast and when I finished the run after 90 minutes I did not feel tired.

There was no pain from the knee at any time during the run, but it has been aching a bit since, as has the hip that was sore on the run.  The 2nd and 3rd toe on my left foot is also quite sore - which may mean I need a larger size shoe for my long runs.

Last night I went to John Van Wisse's swim squad at the King Club in Sandringham.  These are great sessions and also a good way to gauge how well my swimming is going.  It was an unusually small turnout which meant the group only took up 3 lanes (it often takes up 6 lanes, sometimes over 8 people to a lane).  I began in the middle lane, but I was swimming so well John moved my up to the fastest lane.  He was very impressed and said it was the best he had ever seen me swim.  Very encouraging news, however my shoulders are a little sore today.  The session was 3km long, plus I also did an extra 400m before the session started.

I'm probably going to have an easy day today to let the body recover from yesterdays long run and swim.  How I feel tomorrow morning will determine how hard I train this weekend.  With this week scheduled as a recovery week, I feel no pressure to cram in training.

Recovery

It is only during rest that your body actually improves.  If you don't allow your body to rest, you will never improve.  Training overloads your muscles resulting in lots of micro tears.  During periods of rest, the muscle regenerates and becomes stronger.

How much rest do you need is the big question.  I like to leave at least 48 hours between hard training sessions.  However sometimes I may deliberately schedule two hard sessions in a row to add extra stress to the body, in which case I would look to follow these with at least 72 hours of easy training or rest.

Active recovery is usually better than passive recovery.  At rest, most of our blood is directed to our major organs such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, intestines, etc.  During exercise, a large proportion of this blood is redirected to the muscles instead.  If you keep the exercise to a very low level you will not do any damage to the muscles, but the extra blood flow will result in the delivery of a lot of extra nutrients and the blow will also clear away a lot of waste product from the muscles such as lactic acid.  So very light exercise is better for recovery than complete rest.  I find recovery sessions especially useful between two hard sessions.

Mentally we also need a rest.  You are far more likely to burn out mentally than physically (physically overtraining affects the heart).  Elite athletes who experience heart issues from physically overtraining have typically been doing over 30 hours of training a week for up to 10 years.

Usually I plan each 4th week as an easy recovery week.  I will still train, but every session is easy and optional.  There is no guilt associated with missing a session during a recovery week.  A sure way to tell if a recovery week has been mentally refreshing is if you find yourself getting restless and wanting to train.

After finishing last week with a 14km run and a 160km ride, I am treating the start of this week as recovery.  At the moment I am planning 3 days of rest with the intention of doing a long run on Thursday before getting back on the bike for the weekend.

Today my knee is feeling as good as I can remember since the injury.  I originally planned to do some short recovery runs, but the improvement in my knee has encouraged me to give it more complete rest.  The complete rest should also give the saddle sores, from the 386km on the bike last week, a chance to fully heal.

I have a massage appointment today and a visit to chiropractor tomorrow, so hopefully my body will be in excellent shape to handle the next 3 weeks training leading up to the Long Distance Triathlon in Geelong.  Yesterday I swam about 500m whilst coaching an Open Water Swim session.  I'll probably do an easy swim today and tomorrow I may do a short recovery run before coaching another Open Water Swim session.

Naturally the weather has been perfect early this week (maybe a touch hot) and the rain is forecast to arrive later in the week just as I get back into training.

10 weeks to go

I usually start building the training load 12 weeks out from a major event and then become very focused and train hard for the last 8 weeks (that includes up to 2 weeks taper).  The Long Distance Triathlon at Geelong is 6 weeks before Ironman Melbourne, so it may change the way I usually formulate the those last 8 weeks, not that I have ever actually trained for an Ironman before.

Despite being greatly hindered by my knee injury, I consider myself to be well into the build stage, if not already in the focussed, hard period usually reserved for the last 8 weeks.  Today I completed a 160km solo ride in 5h13m.  This takes the week's bike mileage up to 384km and the overall week's training volume up to 18h20m (365 slowtwitch points).  Obviously the week was slightly dominated by cycling, but this is the first time I have completed what I would consider an Ironman training week.  Hopefully I'll be able to start putting down several of these sort of weeks in succession.

The running this week was a little light on with only 3 runs totalling 27km. but it did show promising signs with a long run of 14km.  I now need to continue building upon this distance every week.  Disappointingly I only did 3 swims this week due to general fatigue and some lack of motivation - not unexpected in such a big training week.  However Friday's swim was 3km and I was still swimming quite strongly towards the end of the session.

At the moment the knee is not ready for a long brick session (run off the bike).  It usually feels quite sore once I've finished my rides, but generally comes good the next morning.  As a result, I will probably work on increasing the bike and run distances separately.  The Geelong triathlon will probably be the first test of running off the bike (20km run after an 80km bike leg).

I also need to work out where to place my recovery periods.  Historically I've worked on 3 weeks of hard training and then 1 week off.  The timing of the Geelong race makes this approach a little difficult, plus I'm currently hesitant to have a full week off for recovery.  At the moment I'm leaning more towards having smaller 3 day recovery periods - during these days I will either swim or have a complete day of rest.  How I manage the recovery periods will probably have a major influence upon whether or not my knee injury heals in time.

A long run

I've been having problems getting a long run in.  I usually feel fine up to 9 or 10km, but then things start to ache and fearing an injury, I cut my run short.

This morning my knee did not feel great.  It was not feeling bad, just sort of OK, which seems to be becoming the norm.  The knee doesn't hurt when I walk around, but I can feel it a little going up and down the stairs and I can usually find a sore spot where the tendon attaches to the shin if I poke around.  I have had the occasional day when it feels great, but they seem to be getting very rare now that I've upped the training load.  I also get occasional days when it feels bad, painful to walk up stairs and very easy to find sore spots anywhere on the knee.

From the very beginning of the run I could feel my knee, but I was determined to finish my planned long run of 14km.  After a kilometre or so my knee came good and I fell into a comfortable rhythm.  Frustratingly my watch ran out of battery at about the 8km mark - another temptation to finish early, but I continued on.  Luckily I knew where I had to run to complete 14km.  As usual, I started to feel the knee again at the 10km mark.  At first it wasn't bad, but it slowly progressed to mild pain.  During the last 2km, my knee was more sore than any previous run because I would have usually stopped, but not today.

Once I stopped running, all signs of pain disappeared and I could not feel anything when I walked back home.  Even going up the stairs didn't cause any problems.  This was a big relief, but the real test will be how it feels tomorrow morning.  I'm coaching the club training session tomorrow morning, so I may turn it into a rest day for me.

I still don't run with a camera, but yesterday a Blue Tongue lizard made an appearance on the path right near our house.  So I went back inside to get my phone and took the following pictures.  The lizard has a nasty gash on its ear, probably by a dog, and it was covered in ants who were climbing into the wound - appearing to eat the lizard alive from the inside.  It was still mildly active, but sadly I don't think it is long for this world.  I now suspect the other lizard probably suffered the same fate - a lot of people walk their dogs along this path. I didn't really get a good photo of it and when I tried to put my hand near it to help give you an idea of size, it scuttled away into the bush.

Interesting Runs

Things have been getting interesting on my last few runs.  I might have to start carrying a camera when I run.

Last Sunday's run began with a bush rat drunkenly staggering across the path, I suspect feeling the affects of a snake bite.  On my return trip a few minutes later the rat was still hopelessly tripping over itself.  I didn't stop, as I expected there was a snake nearby waiting for its lunch to finally fall over.

A kilometre or so later I came across a very large blue tongue lizard.  Upon hearing me approach it initially started to move, but then gave up and decided it was my job to run around it.  It was around 45 minutes later that I came back past and the lizard was still lying in the middle of the path.  Sadly the next day Elaine discovered that the lizard had died - which does explain why it didn't feel like moving.

This morning we experienced some major storms with extremely strong winds.  When I ventured out on my run this afternoon, there were a lot of broken branches and fallen trees across the path making parts of the run more like an obstacle course.  Several hundred metres before the end of the path at Frankston the path was completely blocked forcing me to cut the lap slightly short.  However before I reached this blockage I ran past a couple having sex on one of the picnic tables - a sure sign that you are approaching Frankston (and not something I would want to have photographed).  Fortunately they were gone by the time I came back, but only 20 or so metres passed the picnic table, a huge brown snake (at least 2 metres long and very thick) was sunning itself in the middle of path.  I stopped about 5 metres short of the snake while it very casually slivered into the bushes.  It was not a scary encounter as evidenced by the fact my watch showed that my heart did not rise - it was simply interesting and far preferable than the scene I encountered on the way out.

Today's run was supposed to be 14km, but my body had other ideas.  Early on I felt shin soreness, but decided to continue and the soreness slowly died away.  However as I got closer to home my patella tendon started to ache and this was something I was not going to ignore.  So my run was cut short at only 9.5km, hopefully I'll feel good enough on Friday to complete the full 14km.

Once I stopped my knee felt fine and has actually felt better since the run than it did in the morning.  Am I now being over sensitive about my knee, or did my premature end to the run save any damage from being done.  I'm worried that my knee will always start to hurt around 10km, because at some point (very soon) I am going to need to press on, because time is running out.

A Good Week

The last week saw 15 hours of training involving 4 swims (7.6km), 4 rides (239 km) and 4 runs (31 km). It equated to 304 Slowtwitch Points which makes it the biggest training week so far this season. Unfortunately 300 points is what I look to do each week in the lead up to a Half Ironman, so I still have a bit of work to reach Ironman training levels. In previous Half Ironman training weeks I have achieved the 300 points in only 12 hours of training, which highlights how much slower my training pace has become.

This week has started off well with a 99km ride to Rye. But I'll be limited in what I can do over the next 2 days, as I'll be stuck at home with trades people in the house renovating the warbdrobe in our master bedroom. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in a small run or two.

I'm planning to get my long run up to 14km this week and weather permitting I'm hoping to get that elusive 5 hour ride done this Sunday.  I have numerous coaching commitments this week (and the next 2 weeks following), so training sessions will be that much harder to fit in.

Mild Thigh Soreness

Headed out for a 5 hour ride early yesterday morning. The plan was to head south for 2.5 hours, return home and refill the water bottles before heading off north for another 2.5 hours.

The conditions were perfect, so I headed a bit further south up to McCrae. However on the way way home I felt a little bit of aching in the thigh muscles, mainly the ITB and VMO. Not wanting to risk any more injuries I decided to skip the ride up north and finished up with a 3 hour ride covering 78km.  Any tightness in the thigh will put extra pressure on my patella tendon, so I have to be very careful in this area.

I tried to capture the view of Safety Beach as you pass through the hilly section in Mt Martha, but I don't think I did it justice.  Hopefully I'll manage a better picture on one of my future rides - this is my favourite riding location, so I go there a lot.

Tonight I have a massage booked with Burkey, so hopefully he can loosen things up and I'll be back in business. Not wanting today to be a complete day of rest, I did a 3km swim session that included a main set of 20x100m Freestyle (every 2nd one was recovery).

81 Days till Ironman

The clock is ticking down fast.

Last week wasn't bad with 12.5 hours of training, but most importantly I got in 33kms of running.  Ideally I would be running 60kms a week by now, but 33 is definitely better a massive improvement over the last 3 months.

Today I ran 12.5km.  There is 5.5 weeks till the Long Distance Triathlon in Geelong that has a run leg of 20km.  I'm a long way behind where I would like to be, but I still think it is workable.  I also need to get in a 30km run before Ironman (in 81 days).

The bike is going OK, I did 75km on Monday and hopefully will get in a longer ride tomorrow morning (weather dependent).  Compared to other years my bike is going well, but this year I'm doing Ironman and really need to start getting in a lot more distance as I'm still fading very badly after 3 hours of riding).  The 200km Alpine Classic Ride on 29th Jan (3.5 weeks to go) now looks extremely unlikely due to my knee.  Therefore I'll need to schedule in an alternate 200km ride before Ironman (not looking forward to that - I'll rediscover how sore a bum can get).

Now that I'm getting in more running and riding, swimming has taken a bit of a back seat.  I still feel like I'm swimming well, but that won't last unless I start getting back in the pool on a regular basis and start clocking up 10km swim weeks again.

So in summary, up to this point I've done more swimming that I expected, significantly less riding that I hoped and way, way, way less running than I would have liked.  But I still think I can get in enough training in the next 81 days to be ready for Ironman - not as ready as I would have liked - but people very rarely are.