The Mushy Middle

In defiance of Thursday's heat (mercury hit 39 celcius), I still managed a good training day with a 16km morning run followed by a 61km ride and then an easy swim. In the afternoon I did another 6km run and 500m bay swim. However Friday morning's swim didn't go as well. We arrived very late meaning I missed the warmup which resulted in me hurting my back in the first set (butterfly). I struggled on for a while, but without without the warmup and probably a little fatigue from Thursday I never got into the session and ended up hopping out after only 1.8km - very disappointing.

The Saturday Brick session with the Triathlon Club was always going to be the key session for the week. With this in mind I eased off my efforts in the preceding days - only ran 6.9 on Tuesday and cut back Thursday's planned 18km to 16km. This caution seemed to pay off, as although I felt a little stiff, it was probably the best I've felt in a few weeks thanks to a lot of stretching and foam roller sessions.

The Brick session was a 100km Ride followed by a 10km Run. We rode to Mt Martha with 30 minute efforts (race pace) followed by 10 minutes of recovery, repeating for the whole ride. Well at least that was the plan, I ended up riding the whole way back at race pace until the last 5km when my legs finally gave up. I'm not worried about not staying strong for the entire ride. It is still early in my preparation and I have plenty of time to build up my endurance.

At the beginning of the run my legs understandably felt quite heavy. I used the first kilometre as warmup, running at 5 min pace and the legs quickly loosened up. In between a 1km warmup and 1km cooldown, the plan was to run at 4m30s pace (per km) which I believe is a good Half Ironman pace (about a 1h35m Half Marathon). The problem is I rarely run at this pace, so I have no feeling or natural rhythm for this speed. As a result I found myself either running too fast or too slow. Most of the time I was too fast and even though it felt very comfortable at the time, my heart rate would slowly creep up. Around 155bpm is roughly the heart rate I will am aiming for, but by the 6km mark it was 165bpm. Once the heart rate is up it is very difficult to get it back down unless you slow down significantly, so I decided to drop into cooldown mode and make it a 7km run instead.

Most of my run training falls into 2 categories - Slow or Fast. The majority of my runs are slow (around 5m20s pace) with occasional recovery runs that are even slower. When I do speed sessions (I've only done 5 this season) I run the efforts between 3m30s and 3m40s pace. The slow pace running builds aerobic endurance and allows you to build run mileage with reduced chance of injury and better recovery between sessions. Whereas the fast running builds speed and improves your body's ability to manage oxygen debt, but takes more recovery and is more susceptible to injury. In between these two speeds is often referred to as the Mushy Middle. This middle speed pace is too fast to improve your aerobic threshold (because you are not running aerobically) and too slow to get speed improvements. So the Mushy Middle tires you out quicker than slow running, contains more risk of injury, requires more recovery time, limits your ability to build mileage and provides less training benefit.

The exception to my fast or slow run training pace is when I do brick sessions (bike & run). The run off the bike will usually be done at race pace. My early season brick sessions were targetted at the Sprint distance, so fast running (sub 4 min pace). Last season I was targetting Ironman pace, so slow running. Now is the first time in 2 years that I am targetting Half Ironman pace (4m30s pace), so this speed has become unnatural to me.

I've only completed 2 Half Ironman's and both times struggled at the end of the run leg. I believe the key to solving this problem is more run mileage and more brick sessions to practice run pace. Next time I'll set a HR alert at 160bpm which will hopefully help me discover a good rhythm around 4m30s pace.

Planning a Big Day

After a reasonably big training load last week (equal 2nd biggest week of the season), I've been feeling quite sore. My hammies, calf and quad muscles have been very tight for while, but on Sunday my knee flared up. After suffering for most of last season with a patella injury, any soreness in the knee is a cause for worry, although this time it feels a little different (lets hope so).

I skipped my planned recovery run on Monday to give my legs a chance to rest and then we missed our usual Tuesday morning swim due to a massive thunderstorm. However I later discovered the squad moved the session to the indoor pool, so in hindsight we should have gone (but we enjoyed the sleep in).

Most of Tuesday I was still quite sore and was very tempted to skip the Run session at the Athletics Track - which would mean 2 days in a row with no training. In the end I decided to run, but cut it down to a small session that included some 100m run thrus and 3 x 800m efforts. My average pace and heart rate for the 800s was 3m42s (160bpm), 3m39s (162bpm), 3m39s (163bpm). These were slower than my efforts the previous week, but a more realistic 5km pace. However despite being slower with a lower heart rate, they actually felt a lot more difficult. I think the stiffness in my legs prevented me from finding an easy, flowing rhythm. Elaine experienced the same problem.

The good news is that despite not being happy with my run form, I actually feel a lot better after the session. It seems to have loosened things up and I'm no longer as stiff and sore (even my knee feels better). The smaller session totalling only 6.9km (including warmup and cool down) appears to have been exactly what my body needed. Hopefully my condition will continue to improve throughout the day, because I have a big day of training planned for tomorrow.

Due to social engagements, we are unable to race the Enduro Triathlon this Sunday. This also means that my availability to train this weekend has been compromised, so I decided to take Thursday (tomorrow) off work and make it a big training day. The plan is a long run (up to 18km), a bay swim (about 1km) and a 60km ride. With a forecast top temperature of 38 degrees Celcius (over 100 Farenheit) I'm hoping to finish all this by lunchtime and then laze on the beach during the afternoon. This is a little on the small side for a big training day, but the plan is to be fresh again for a big brick session with the Triathlon Club on Saturday (100km Ride/10km Run). If all goes to plan, it will be my biggest training week for the season.

A First Triathlon

On Sunday, my daughter Rachel competed in her first Triathlon at St Kilda - 150m Swim, 7km Bike, 1.5km Run. We picked this event because it is one of the smaller triathlons, but Rachel would have preferred a much longer swim (around 3kms longer) and a shorter bike leg.

Rachel's older sister Sarah kindly agreed to make her bike available to Rachel for the race. Sarah's bike is a girl's hybrid with gears, a significant improvement over Rachel's very small kid's bike with no gears. Unfortunately Rachel has never ridden this bike before, nor has she ever used gears, or even brakes on the handlebars (her bike brakes by pedalling backwards). So the night before the race we did a few laps up and down the driveway, mainly concentrating on how to use the brakes (which I figured was probably important).

The local triathlons run 2 distances at each event. The smaller Mini distance starts at 7am followed by the longer Sprint distance at 8am. With Rachel competing in the earlier race (and being 2nd wave), we were a little more squeezed for time than usual. Pre-race was spent finding a park, registering, getting in that last toilet stop, finding the club tent, applying stickers to bike and helmet, getting arm numbering, placing everything in transition, getting the wetsuit on and heading down to the swim start. This didn't leave much time for worrying about stuff and before she knew it, Rachel was standing on the start line surrounded by the other competitors in the 15-17 division (both males and females in the same wave).

Being a good swimmer, Rachel breezed through the swim leg and then sped into transition. The wetsuit came off relatively easy, but it took a while for her to put on socks and shoes. More experienced triathletes don't bother with socks, but we didn't think the time savings were worth the risk of blisters. Once out on the bike leg, things slowed down a little. Rachel does very little bike riding. She was riding an unfamiliar and very heavy bike with knobby tires, so we never expected her to be fast on the bike.

Meanwhile, Elaine was also racing the same event. Usually Elaine would race the longer Sprint race, but wanted to race with Rachel to give her more support. Due to the different wave starts, Elaine didn't start her swim until 10 minutes after Rachel. Desperately wanting to make up the deficit, Elaine probably did her fastest ever swim (and without a wetsuit). She sped through transition and then proceeded to push the bike to her absolute limit. With a kilometre or so still to go on the bike, Elaine finally caught up to Rachel. You are not allowed to draft or ride side by side in a triathlon, so Elaine sat 7 metres behind Rachel, slowing down to match Rachel's speed.

Back at transition Elaine leisurely racked her bike and put on her runners only to discover Rachel had whizzed through and was already heading out on the run. There are no rules about drafting on the run, so once Elaine caught back up, they ran side by side for the rest of the race.

Overall Rachel's first ever race went very well. She was understandably a little slow on the bike, but the statistics below (out of 350 starters) show a great result:

  Beat 14 Competitors on Overall time

  Beat 254 Competitors in the SWIM (including Elaine)

  Beat 49 Competitors in Transition One

  Beat 11 Competitors on the BIKE

  Beat 106 Competitors in Transition Two

  Beat 65 Competitors on the RUN

Elaine's effort was a race of 2 halves. She went flat out trying to catch Rachel, and then slowed to complete the race at Rachel's pace. Elaine finished 2nd in her category, missing first place by only 42 seconds with the winner passing her on the run leg (3rd place was another 2.5 minutes back). For the first time ever Elaine registered the fastest swim in her category and probably would have scored the fastest in every leg if she hadn't slowed down. It is worth noting that the Mini races had 10 year age brackets (longer races have 5 year brackets), so not only was there more competitors in the category, she was racing women aged up to 6 years younger.

I didn't race, but instead acted as photographer, although even on automatic settings a lot of my shots ended up out of focus (they were obviously moving too fast). My training week ended up being 10 hours consisting of 2 swims totalling just over 6km, 4 runs for 38km and a 119km bike ride on Saturday morning. I'm currently a little sore with tight calves, hammies, quads, a sore left knee and a saddle sore which it turns out hadn't healed from the 103km ride the week before.

4 Days In - So Far So Good

I effectively started my 12 week program for Geelong two days early with the 103km ride on Saturday and 17km run on Sunday. This was followed by an easy 4km recovery run on Monday, 3.2km squad swim yesterday morning and a 9km run session at the Athletics Track last night.

Last night's run session had intervals of 1km, 500m & 150m done 3 times. My speed and heart rate for the 3 sets was:
  3m44s pace  159/171 bpm
  3m29s pace  169/177 bpm
  3m33s pace  170/179 bpm
I started off relatively easy and then built speed through the session. However despite feeling pretty comfortable at a good pace, my heart rate tells another story. Hitting max heart rates of 177 and 179 is going to see me go into oxygen debt well before the end the of a 5km race (planned for 5th Dec). So I am going to have to aim at a race pace somewhere between 3m40s and 3m45s per kilometre which would give me a 5km time of between 18:20 and 18:45 - which is coincidently my initial target time (I just got over ambitious last night).

Planning to run 52km in 5 days (Sat-Thu), including a speed session, had me concerned - was I getting over ambitious again? However I've upped my stretching, icing, foam roller and rehab exercises and my legs have managed the training load remarkably well so far. They feel fairly tight and a little sore, but that is pretty normal and I feel confident I'll be OK for tomorrow night's 18km run (famous last words).

However for some reason I'm feeling a little tight through the neck and shoulders, an area that has been remarkably pain free for the last 2 months. I've also been experiencing minor spasms in the back and it feels like the slightest thing could re-ignite my lower back injury. So as a precaution I've decided to miss tonight's swim and may also skip the easy 4km recovery run planned for today.

12 Weeks before Geelong 70.3 (Testing Infinit)

Monday will be the start of my 12 week program. This means the training will move from 8 to 10 hours a week up to 15 hours, with a couple of 20 hour weeks thrown in for good measure. Naturally all of this planning assumes that my body will hold up (it does not have a good track record).

In preparation of this training load, my recovery period ended this morning with a 100km bike ride and tomorrow will hopefully see me run 17km. Up till now I've been getting away with only one ride per week (usually 2 to 3 hours). While this obviously worked well for the Sprint Distance Triathlon last weekend, a Half Ironman (90km bike leg) needs significantly more bike mileage. So from now on I will endeavour to get in at least 2 rides most weeks, with a longest ride of 140km. I'll also increase my running by doing short and slow recovery runs (about 5km) every other day. It is planned that my long run will slowly increase and hopefully I'll manage at least one 25km run (which would be my longest ever training run).

It is also time to start thinking about (and practising) race nutrition. With this in mind I recently purchased a bag of Infinit nutrition. In Ironman I used Endura Optimiser, but I think Infinit is more specific to my needs (Optimiser is primarily a recover drink that can also be used for race nutrition).

The Infinit mixture can contain anything you want - you configure the ingredients on the website before ordering. Basic elements that can be configured are Electrolyes, Carbs, Calories, Protein, Amino acids, Strength of taste and caffeine. To start off I picked a pre-configured mix called 'Go Far' in Lemon & Lime flavour. This is highish in Carbs, no caffeine, medium in everything else and has an osmolality of 271 (concentration of dissolved particles). The osmolality of our blood is around 300, so anything under this figure is easily absorbed.

Using Infinit means all your rehydration and nutrition requirements are in your water bottle. No more need for bars, gels, sports drink and water - it greatly simplifies everything. However it does implement a level of inflexibility. When the temperature increases, you need more hydration. With Infinit this would mean consuming too many carbs because everything is combined in one bottle. So you would have to pick up extra water bottles from the aid station, assuming you had somewhere to store them. And conversely, if it is too cold you probably need less hydration but still need the same amount of carbs. This was my problem at Ironman Melbourne where I simply was not sweating enough (barely sweating at all), resulting in me taking 3 toilet stops on the bike.

I trialled the Infinit on my 100km bike ride this morning. Leaving home at 6:30am, it was not exactly warm and while the weather was pleasant, it never really got hot. As a result I only finished the first water bottle at the 80km mark, although I tend to under eat (and drink) on training rides - probably why I'm experience unwanted weight loss at the moment. In general the Infinit seemed OK (much better than some of the other drinks I've been trialling), my first change would be to tone down the strength of taste. When I sampled it the night before (when I was mixing the bottles) it tasted good. But it often happens that you are more sensitive to sweetness when exercising and need a milder strength taste. It is difficult to comment upon the other aspects, I'll need a much harder training session to get a better gauge. At the moment the taste is not as good as the chocolate flavoured Optimiser, maybe next time I'll trial the Fruit Punch flavour.

Post Race Thoughts - Never Satisfied

I was very happy with my race and hit all my pre-race targets (average better than 40kph on the bike and run at sub 4 min pace). Now my targets have changed. Having achieved my previous targets is proof that I can do better.

Overall I finished in 64th place (out of 531 competitors). However 20 of these competitors ahead of me were Elites (they have different rules allowing them to draft on the bike), so I prefer to think I placed 44th out of the Age Groupers and 7th in my Age Group (out of 54) and 9th in my wave start (M4044 + M4549) that contained 90 competitors.

When I first started triathlon the run was easily my best leg. I soon became very proficient in transition and my T1 and T2 times would rank better than my run split. After a few seasons my bike improved to be my best leg. I was always a weak swimmer and used to pride myself on the fact that nobody beat me with a slower swim. Now that my swim has improved (still not fast), of the 43 Age Groupers that beat me on Sunday - 4 had slower swim times than me.

With the fastest bike split in my age group, the bike leg is still very much my strength, but everything else has changed. My unusually slow transitions made them the worst ranked splits. But more surprisingly, my swim was ranked better (9th in my age group) than my run split (10th in my age group). And just like my swim, of the 43 age groupers who beat me on the day, only 4 had slower runs than me (they were fast swimmers).

So the focus now is getting faster on the run (and a few transition practices). My kilometre run splits were:
  4m01s, 4m03s, 3m51s, 4m03s, 3m58s
In the beginning I had to force my legs into running at the pace I wanted. Then magically just before the 2km mark my hips loosened up and I started to run freely. Not only was my running now effortless, my speed improved by around 10s per kilometre (at the same heart rate of 165bpm). If I was able to run the entire distance with this free flowing style at 3m51s pace, my 5km run time would be 19m15s instead of 19m56s. So my new target is to run a 19m30s 5km run split off the bike. Unfortunately a lot of the competitors who beat me had run splits starting with an 18.

This week is a recovery week, which my body badly needs (quite sore from the race). During the next 2 subsequent weeks I will return to doing the Tuesday night Run Speed session on the Athletics track. Hopefully I'll be able to find and lock in that free flowing rhythm allowing me to able to access it more easily on race day. Although this theory is ignoring the possibility that my fastest ever bike split adversely affected my run, in particular causing me to stiffen up through the hip region.

Elaine and I will not be racing the Triathlon in December due to other commitments, so it opens up the opportunity to do other events. Depending upon how well the Run Speed Sessions go, I'm planning to enter the Emma and Toms Christmas 5km Fun Run at Albert Park Lake in December. My aim is to break 19 minutes (really hoping to get closer to 18m30s). Looking at the results for the last few years, the overall winners are typically running the 5km in 17 minutes flat. So I'm no hope of winning, but I might manage an age group podium position if I'm lucky.

Triathlon - XOSIZE Race 1, Mordialloc

After missing 2 weeks of swimming with my hand injury, my swim mileage this week was just over 10km (biggest this season). I also snuck in two runs, 16km on Tue and 7km on Thu, plus a 65km ride on Saturday morning. Not a bad week and definitely more than I would usually do leading into a race.

During my warmup on the bike before the race I felt a bit flat. On my Saturday morning ride I felt great, but it is not unusual for me to feel a little lethargic the morning of a race, so I didn't worry too much.

The swim is my weakest leg and I've been putting in a lot of work to improve it this season. I did a bay swim on Thursday night in my old 2XU C1 wetsuit (saving my good one for the race). This would be the first race in my new Rocket Science wetsuit and even during the warmup swim I immediately noticed it felt better and faster than my old suit. The swim leg for this race was only 500m, but I did it so easy it felt even shorter. Exiting onto the sand I felt no fatigue whatsoever and was worried this meant I hadn't tried hard enough and would have a slow swim time (not unusual for me).

Every season I forget to bring something to the first race. This year it was Hair Conditioner. I apply this to the outside legs of the wetsuit - it stays on for the swim and then allows the wetsuit to easily slide over itself when you take it off in transition. Even though I remembered to bring paw paw cream, I forgot to apply it to my knees and ankles - again to help the suit slip off. So it is no surprise that I had a lot of trouble getting it off in transition. It doesn't help that it is only the second time I have ever worn this suit, so I am far from practiced with the nuances. Comparing my transition time to the last time I did this race - 21 seconds slower (and 30 seconds slower to some of my competitors). Transitions used to be my best leg, today it was my worst (proven my the rankings in the results).

Usually the bike leg in a Sprint Triathlon is 20km. For some reason the Mordialloc Triathlon always has a 16km bike. Although 4km less is not much, psychologically it feels like a short bike ride and with conditions on the day being perfect (slightly warm with very little wind), I decided to hammer it on the bike. I wanted to catch other members of my new Triathlon Club, many of whom were in my wave start, a lot of whom would have had faster swim and transition times. After going flat out for the first lap and only reeling in one Tri Club member, my plan didn't seem to be working very well and I was worried I was using too much energy (need to save something for the run). So I eased off a little on the second lap. With one kilometre on the bike to go, I passed my main target (Ray), unfortunately much later than I would have hoped. As I approached the last corner just before the dismount line there was a lot of congestion including a young rider just in front of me. I backed off to keep out of trouble and Ray snuck back passed me on the inside of the corner. Not only did he take the lead, but also managed to clear most of the congestion before heading into the narrow transition lane with me helplessly watching stuck behind numerous, much slower competitors. My aim for the last 6 or 7 years has been to average over 40kph for a triathlon bike leg - today I did that with a 40.1kph average (very happy). In fact my bike split was the fastest in my Age Group and 8th fastest for all Age Groupers in the race (the elites are allowed to draft on the bike, so I have ignored their times).

Another slow transition. This time due to my feet still being frozen and also using a new pair of runners in a race for the first time. I obviously need to start practising my transitions again.

Initially on the run I felt OK, but not great. I was holding between 4m00s and 4m05s pace, but there was no real rhythm and I feared my pace would slowly drop throughout the run - I suspected I was going to pay for my fast bike leg. There was another competitor in my age group about 10m in front and I concentrated on trying to keep pace with him. Then just before the 2km mark I suddenly started feeling good and my running started to flow. I immediately passed and then gapped the competitor I was following and continued feeling good until the 4km mark. Predictably the last kilometre did not feel as good, but promisingly my pace didn't really drop off, I just felt a lot worse. My run target for the race was to run sub 4 min kilometres, but when I checked my run split it was 20m19s. However when I looked more closely, the run leg was 5.1km, so my pace was 3m59s pace and Strava shows my 5km time as 19m55s (happy again).

Ironically, even though I was very happy with my run, for the first time ever my swim was ranked better than my run (in my age group, overall standings my run was ranked a little better). This highlights that I need to work on my run. Looking at the results, all the club members who beat me had much faster runs.

Ignoring my bad transitions, it was definitely one of my better races. I only managed 7th in my age group (out of 55), but being the last year in this age group (ie. oldest) it is not going to be a good season for results (I would have placed 3rd in the age group above).

Elaine also raced and did very well in all disciplines - ironically she had one of her best ever transitions. However due to a strong field in her age group, she only managed 4th place. But in overall standings her results were much improved over recent years, so she is on track for a great season.

First Triathlon of the Season less than a Week Away

Only minor scarring remains on my left hand, but the right hand is taking a lot longer to heal and has kept me out of the pool. With the first Triathlon of the season coming up this weekend, I had intended to increase my swimming to 3 times a week. So going 2 weeks without any swimming is extremely frustrating and will probably cost me up to 30 seconds in the 500m swim leg. Just like a student cramming for their year 12 exams, I'm thinking of swimming up to 4 times this week - tonight (Mon) and Wednesday nights at GESAC, Thursday night in the bay (weather dependant) and Friday morning at GESAC.

Run traing has also been hindered by tight calf muscles. I feel fine when actually running, but afterwards my calfs are getting progressively tighter. Tight calf muscles greatly increases the chances of achilles or plantar fasciia injuries, so I have backed off the run training in the hope my legs will start to recover. Whilst I'm still running 2 or 3 times a week (would prefer to run 5 times a week), it has been over 3 weeks since my long run (15.6km) - all of my recent runs have been under 10km. This lack of run training should not impact this weekend's race much as it is only a Sprint race with a 5km run leg (my big race is not until Feb), I just hope I don't experience a leg injury during the race.

It is not all bad news on the training front, as I had a great session on Saturday morning with the Bayside Triathlon Club - 82km bike and 6km run. The bike leg was was split into roughly 6km easy sections followed by 12km at race pace, repeating this cycle for the full 82km. Most of the Club members added an extra loop to the end of the bike to round it up to 100km, but with it being my first long ride on the new Cobb Saddle I decided 82km was plenty for me. I was extremely happy to not only be able to hold race pace and continue to feel strong, but also achieve it with a low heart rate. In hindsight I should have hit the lap button on my computer for each interval, instead I left it recording automatic 5km laps. Below are some of the instances when the auto 5km laps matched up with my effort intervals:

  251 watts - 150bpm - 38.4kph
  288 watts - 153bpm - 40.3kph
  283 watts - 156bpm - 36.8kph
  270 watts - 152bpm - 39.3kph

As you can see I was able to hold good power whilst keeping my heart rate in the low 150's. The speed varied depending upon the wind direction and how hilly the section was. The training camp at Bright has really helped my cycling. Ironically I was pacing the session more in line for the Half Ironman in Feb, rather than the Sprint Race this coming weekend, but the good form should transfer well to the shorter distance.

Even with all the rest intervals (going slower) and loss of momentum continually stopping at lights, my bike stats were actually better than my bike split at the Geelong Long Distance race in Feb this year (last season). Although it was pouring rain at Geelong and I did crash half way through the race (times shown below are based on moving time).

  Geelong Long Distance: 79.79km - 2h22m20s - 33.6kph - 215 watts - 134 bpm
  Saturday's Session: 81.92km - 2h21m04s - 34.9kph - 219 watts - 137 bpm

The good news from Saturday's session continues with excellent results from the 6km run off the bike. Again I was pacing the session at Half Ironman speed, but was able to hold 4m30s pace very comfortably and my heart rate stayed low for the whole run. Below are the kilometre splits with the first and last kilometre removed (first km was up a long steep hill and the last kilometre was used as a cool down). I believe avoiding the speed work and instead concentrating on doing all training runs at my aerobic threshold (137bpm) has served me very well. I obviously went over 137bpm in this session, but I was treating this as more of a race simulation to judge pacing and nutrition.

  4m18s - 149bpm (downhill)
  4m26s - 153bpm
  4m26s - 154bpm
  4m36s - 155bpm (up hill)

My nutrition for the session was two water bottles - one water and one orange hydralite sports drink (tastes terrible) and 3 gels on the bike - 2 Chocolate Powerbars and 1 Raspberry Endura. The Endura Gel definitely tasted better and went down much easier, I found the Chocolate Powerbar Gels had a huge aftertaste, almost felt like it was burning my mouth which at least ensured I washed it down with water. I didn't bother with anything on the run. Elaine managed the session with water, an apricot flavoured EM's Power bar and 1 coffee flavoured Endura Gel on the bike. Before the session we just had scrambled eggs (7 eggs between us with a bit of added cheese). Minimising carbs before training (or racing) definitely helps in keeping the heart rate down. Any Hi-GI food (typically carbs) before exercise will raise the glycemic index which promotes sourcing energy from glycerine rather than fat. Once you have started exercising, the body is much more receptive to carbs and can quickly absorb Hi-GI products (such as Gels) without the unwanted increase in the glycemic index.

Elaine also did the Saturday session, however she followed the Short Course instructions of a 50km ride followed by a 4km run. I had given her heart rate targets to hit for the easy and hard sections, but unfortunately she accidentally left her bike computer at home so she had to ride on percieved effort. During longer effort intervals (ie. 12km) it is very easy to loose focus and let the effort wane. Having data displayed on a bike computer in front of you can be a huge help in maintaining the intensity. You can even program the bike computer to beep when the data values drop below (or rise above) a certain level. Despite the lack of electronical aides, Elaine did very well. But obviously we don't have any stats for the session.

We received our new XOSIZE/Rocket Science tri-suits last week and I decided to trial it on the Saturday session (Elaine decided to save her first trial for the race). Still suffering lingering saddle sores from the Bright camp and it being my first long ride on the Cobb Saddle, it was probably not the fairest of tests - much better to test one thing at a time and without a pre-existing sore bum. I'll save any reviews for a bit later, but I think both Elaine and I both need further tinkering in the positions of our Cobb Saddles before we can make any solid opinions. My seat was good for the first 40km, but then slowly got worse as the ride continued. Elaine was ready to throw hers in the bay by the end of her ride. But surprisingly despite these current complaints, they are both still better than our previous saddles.

Bright Training Camp

Elaine and I have spent a wonderful long weekend at a Training Camp in Bright with our Triathlon Club. Each of the three days consisted of a ride that involved at least one significant mountain climb and they also added in a run on Saturday afternoon so that it could be called a Triathlon training camp (as opposed to a cycling camp) - less than half the attendees participated in the run session.

Day One - Mt Buffalo

After spending most of Friday morning driving to Bright (4 hour drive), we headed off on a ride up Mt Buffalo at 3:30pm. From our accommodation to the base of Mt Buffalo is about 15km of relatively flat roads. The climb itself is 18.5km at an average gradient of 5.4%. Most cyclists will then continue riding to either the Chalet or Dingo Dell (an extra 4 or 5km), our group went to Dingo Dell. All up the ride ended up being 75km long.



I like the Mt Buffalo climb. The gradient is reasonably consistent, so you can get into a nice rhythm and maintain the same intensity all the way to summit. It is similar to the 1 in 20 in the Dandenongs, except it is steeper, the roads are a little rougher and it is nearly 3 times as long. The Summit is around 1500m high (you climb just over 1000m) and air is noticeably thinner and colder near the top. It was warm and sunny in Bright when we headed off, so some riders neglected to take arm warmers, vest and warm gloves - they greatly regretted these decisions on the descent.

Elaine had intended to ride for time and turn before the Mt Buffalo Summit to make sure she'd be back well before dark (and before it got too cold). Unfortunately there was another group of cyclists who climbed the mountain 30 minutes or so before us. When she saw them descending, she mistook them for our group and turned early. But she still managed to have a decent ride and it was a good way for her to start the camp.

Day Two - Rosewhite and Tawonga Gap (plus a run)

We headed off at 7am the next day. It was about 4 degrees (Celcius) when we left, so nobody made the mistake of not taking enough warm clothes. This ride was a loop that contained a small hill in Rosewhite, an optional ride to Bogong and then returning via Tawonga Gap which would be the biggest climb of the day. The short ride that skipped Bogong would be 110km and the full ride 145km. I was coaching the short ride so had no choice over the distances, but I think I would have selected the shorter version anyway. Not having the mileage in her legs (and being a looped course), Elaine skipped this ride and instead enjoyed a nice morning exploring the delights of Bright.



It was very cold for the first hour, not helped by having a tail wind that meant very little energy was being exerted. But the sun peaked out from over the mountain tops just as the road started to rise and we quickly warmed up. The Rosewhite climb was 4.3km at 4.2% gradient on reasonably smooth roads - a very enjoyable climb. This was my only opportunity to put in an effort, as after the climb the 2 groups separated and I looked after the cyclists doing the shorter ride. After the initial descent, the roads between Rosewhite and Tawonga were flat, but extraordinarily scenic as we rode along the valley between the mountains.

The turn off for Tawonga Gap (the actual sign says Bright) is between the town of Tawonga and Mount Beauty and the ascent begins straight away, 7.5km of climbing at an average gradient of 6.3%. Unlike Buffalo and Rosewhite, the climb is not consistent. Instead you have steep sections up to 8% gradient that last for 800m or so which are then followed by 200m of easier gradient (around 3%). Due to my coaching I spent the climb riding back and forth between the different riders. According to my GPS, I rode an extra 1.5km on this hill and finished the ride with the slowest rider, so my time for the climb was quite slow.

Descending Tawonga Gap (the Bright side) is a lot of fun. The road surface is reasonable and the sharper turns are well sign posted. I rode this section as fast as I could (not very fast) and then waited for the other riders at the bottom.

All up the ride ended up being 115km for me, easily my longest for the season. Going easy up Tawonga Gap would hopefully mean I had left something in the tank for the big climb (Mt Hotham) the next day.

Later in the afternoon we went for a run (Elaine joined in for this session). It was just a short, easy run (7.5km) and I was happy to discover my legs felt OK.

Day Three - Mt Hotham

A lot had been said about Mt Hotham during the camp - mostly that it was really hard. People were throwing around terms such as 'The Meg' and 'CRB' like old sailors might have referred to their encounters with the White Whale (Moby Dick reference). Mt Hotham is a 30km climb (yes that is very long) and consists of 3 distinct sections. The first 10km is a steep climb, the middle 10km is more like a false flat and the last 10km is another steep climb.

From our accommodation it was a 25km ride to the base of Mt Hotham in Harrietville - this would mean a 110km round trip. After two significant rides in two days, my saddle sores were in full force (I don't have a Cobb saddle on my road bike), so another 100+km ride was not really an option. Talking to the other riders on Saturday night, it turned out nobody was planning to ride the full 110km. The cyclists riding from Bright were only going to tackle the bottom 10km of the Mt Hotham climb (a total ride of 70km). The rest were going to drive to Harrietville and then just do Mt Hotham (60km return trip) - I chose the driving option.

I didn't think Elaine was up to climbing Mt Hotham, so I suggested she climb Tawonga Gap instead. She had heard lots of bad stories about Tawonga Gap and was quite fearful of this climb, but I had complete faith in her, especially after her efforts in the Dandenongs the week before. I drove her over the climb in the car so she would know where to go and see first hand what she was in for - seeing it made her even more nervous. However her fears were misplaced as she climbed it without any problems. Around 7km at a 6.6% gradient, it was still a tough climb, but I think she underestimated how much she has improved with the recent rides under her belt (Kinglake, the Dandenongs and part of Buffalo). Needless to say she was extremely happy with her achievements.



Meanwhile I was making my way up Mt Hotham. A group of us parked in Harrietville less than 1 kilometre before the base of the climb. Our original intention was to do a 5km warmup in the opposite direction first, but it was quite cold and we figured the quickest way to warm up was to start climbing a mountain. The main road in Harrietville takes a sharp left turn and heads straight up the mountain (up being the operative word). The first 400m or so is quite steep (around 8%) and you start to wonder how you are going to manage 30km of this, but it soon evens out to a more reasonable gradient (around 5%) and some confidence is restored. For the next 10km the steepness ranges from around 4 to 7% with one small section called 'The Meg' that is closer to 10%. Overall I found this first 10km of the climb quite enjoyable and not nearly as bad as the stories I had heard the previous day. Whilst still difficult, I am confident Elaine could have managed this portion of the ride.

Despite having great views, the middle 10km is quite boring, being a false flat averaging 2 to 3% gradient. This section is very easy, but in truth it is just annoying. At this stage you are eager to keep climbing and this section is just tiring you out a little without gaining much elevation. However this section stops with a bang.

Once you reach the pay gate (the start of the last 10km) the road starts to rise at around 8%. There are small sections of false flat to recover on, but they seemed to be followed each time by even steeper sections. Several times these difficult sections were split by steep descents, very annoying because you knew this meant you had even more climbing in store. A lot of the steep climbing was on winding roads. You would convince yourself that the gradient would ease off around the corner, but sometimes it took 6 or 7 corners to do this. The statistics from Strava show a section named 'CRB Hill' being 14% for 1.6km. There were other named sections that seemed just as steep, but with 90% of the body's blood now redirected to my legs, the mind had lost its ability to perform tasks as difficult as remembering names. In contrast to the first and second 10km sections of the climb that were surrounded by beautiful forest, the final 10km soon rises onto moonscape like surroundings. There are occasional leafless trees, but mostly just rock and occasional patches of snow. This uninviting landscape seems to match the brutishness of the climb.

There was more than one occasion where I just didn't believe I was going to make it. Yet everyone who attempted the full climb made it all the way to the summit, including the 3 girls I coached on the shorter ride the day before. On the summit, I was talking to one of the riders called Brent who has climbed the majority of the mountains from the Tour de France and he said it was the equal of any mountain he had climbed. It may have been that it was the third day of camp and we were tired from 3 days of riding, but it is far and away the hardest climb I have ever attempted.

The picture on the right is Brent and I with our warm gear back on getting ready for the descent.

Although it has nothing to do with our camp, the following link has some good photos of the Mt Hotham climb (based upon the presence of more green and less snow, I think they did their climb in Summer).

Edit: How ironic that Strava claims there was no achievement on my Mt Hotham ride.

Slight Stumble

I had a massage last night, or should I say 'torture session'. While I'm very confident that it is doing a lot of good for me, it is excruciatingly painful.

Knowing that my legs were in such bad shape, I instructed the masseur to only work below the waist and skip the back, neck and shoulders. She started on my calf muscles as they were in the worst condition. So bad that she strongly suggested dry needling, a suggestion I decided to pass on (I really hate dry needling). The tight knots in my calf muscles are also causing issues with my achilles, plantar fascia and possibly even my shins. After surviving the work on my calf and achilles I thought the worst was over - I was wrong. Even though the other muscles were in slightly better condition (the emphasis on slightly), being larger muscles means more nerve endings and therefore more pain (at least that's my theory). Once the pain threshold passes unbearable, it is difficult to gauge different levels of pain. However I think the glutes were probably the worst, closely followed by the hamstrings and then quads and ITB. In contradiction to my 'large muscle/more pain theory', the plantar fascia massage felt like she was using a knife - maybe I just have sensitive feet.

When I got home, Elaine was complaining about a sore lower back. So I shared the pain by giving her a massage. Elaine also discovered that her hamstrings and calf muscles were also very tight. She hasn't decided whether or not she appreciates the massage yet.

This morning my calf muscles were still in trauma and the rest of my legs weren't much better. Even tightening the drawstring on my bathers caused pain through the top of my glutes. Whenever I kicked in the pool it felt like someone had inserted small bricks into my calf muscles. I cannot imagine how I would have felt if I tried to go for a run.

We were running late after swimming and I was in big danger of missing my train. As Elaine dropped me off, the boom gates went down indicating the train was approaching. I charged across the road and ran down the tunnel that goes under the tracks to the station. Having to dodge around a guy handing out election leaflets, I stumbled on the downhill and landed on my outstretched hands, sliding a foot or so along the rough bitumen. After a second or two of shock (and a fair bit of pain), I picked myself up and continued to the railway platform only to discover that the boom gates went down for a train going the other way. My train had already left a minute or so ago.

I washed my hands in the toilet basin as best I could and then hopped on the next train. Sitting quietly on the train with my fingers pressed together in a prayer like gesture, the blood slowly dripped from my hands creating a small pool of blood on the floor of the carriage. Not that anybody else in the crowded train seemed to care.

At Richmond station (where I change trains), I took the following photos. As you can tell, the right hand is significantly worse than the left. With the training camp coming up this weekend, I was planning to do more swimming this week. That plan is now gone, hopefully my hands will have healed enough for me to still swim on Friday morning. And hopefully I'll be able to fit my cycling gloves on for the 3 days of riding in the mountains.

Easy Weekend

After Thursday night's run, I pulled up quite sore in the shins. Despite my many areas of injury and soreness, I rarely experience problems with my shins. So I decided to completely skip any running for the weekend.

Saturday morning I was coaching a ride/run session (often referred to as a brick session). It involved a one hour ride followed by a 24 minute run, completed up to 3 times. Most of the athletes were riding 30km and running 6km each set, therefore a session total of 90km on the bike and 18km running (a very big session, less than half the athletes completed all 3 sets). Even without my shin soreness, I could not have completed that much running at my current level of conditioning, but it is a session I look forward to doing in the future. As coach I needed to lock up the clubrooms after the last rider left and have it unlocked again before they returned. I also needed to stay and mind over the gear and bikes whilst everyone was running. I managed to sneak in a 40 minute ride during the first two sets, so a total of 38km. Not as much as I would have liked, but probably good me for to give my body a rest. Ironically, combined with Wednesday's ride to and from work and the 45km ride on Sunday, this week ended up being my biggest cycling mileage of the season so far (which says more about how little cycling I've done since Ironman).

The distance was not really enough to assess the new Cobb saddle, although I think it is the longest I have ridden on it. My current assessment remains the same - better than the previous saddles, but still not completely comfortable. I think the biggest question is how well will it go on a 3 hour ride - we'll have to wait and see.

With the big training camp in Bright next weekend, Elaine still needed more practice riding in the hills, so we headed to the Dandenongs (a good way to avoid the hordes of riders doing Around the Bay). Elaine managed to climb Mt Dandenong from the bottom to the top. Starting with Devil's Elbow (steeper than what she'll do in Bright), we continued up to Sky High (with photos to prove it). We then descended via the 1 in 20, a much nicer (less steep) descent than the Devil's Elbow.

The weather remained good for our ride, although a little cold in places. As we approached our car parked in Ferntree Gully the wind started to noticeably pick up. Mid afternoon it rained fairly consistently and we even got hail as evening approached. During these deteriorating weather conditions I watched a fairly constant stream of cyclists pass by our house as they neared the finish of the Around the Bay in Day ride (210km). Elaine and I have done this ride twice before and I doubt we'll ever do it again. Watching the riders struggle home in the rain, cold and wind only re-enforced our idea to avoid this particular event.

This morning we have several friends competing in the Age Group World Championships in Auckland. The Sprint Distance race has already been completed, but the Olympic Distance is still in progress as I write this. The Club's head coach Clint was hoping to win his age group (which he did in Beijing last year), but only managed 6th place this year. Bill managed 28th position in his age group after tearing his groin muscle about 6 weeks out and then breaking his toe and cracking his tailbone about 3 weeks out.

Nursing the Body through

My body is in desperate need of a massage, but funds are a bit low at the moment so I'm to train without antagonising my muscles too much.

So far this week has been relatively easy. Monday night Elaine and I jogged a slow 2.7km recovery run and then stood waist deep in the bay for 10 minutes to add to the recovery affect. Recently there has been a few warmer days and the temperature of the bay has noticeably improved, unfortunately standing in the bay works better when it is colder.

Elaine missed the Tuesday morning swim due to another interstate work trip. A pity, because the weather made it feel like summer and half through the session 5 or so hot air balloons slowly drifted overhead. They were so low, it looked like they were sent to spy on our training session. The swim sessions themselves are often 3.5 to 4km in distance and I never complete the session due to fatigue or time constraints. With Elaine absent, the time constraints were now gone and I was keen to see how much of the session I could get through. Ironically it was an unusually easy day and the full session ended up only being 2.8km. Less than I usually do, but I still finished feeling pretty tired.

Wednesday was Ride To Work Day. Again Elaine missed out due to still being interstate. The Hawthorn Velodrome on the Gardiners Creek Trail is only about 200m past my usual turnout, but Wednesday morning they were offering free food and coffee to all cyclists, so I happily made a small detour. The food was plentiful and tasty and the coffee (from a coffee van) was delicious and served in a huge cup - very much worth the detour. After eating a beautiful (and very large) fruit scone and finishing my coffee I continued the last 2km to work where I enjoyed another treat of muffins and croissants put on for those who rode to work. The total mileage to and from work was just over 70km.

Tonight I'm coaching a run session. Hopefully I'll get in 8 or so kilometres myself. Friday morning will be the usual swim and then I'm coaching a ride/run session on Saturday.

The Saturday session involves 3 one hour rides, each followed by a 30 minute run. I don't intend to do much running, but I'll use the ride portions to further test the new Cobb saddle on my tri-bike.

A Weekend of Almosts

The weekend started with a wetsuit swim at the pool. After a 500m warmup and 2x50m practice starts (over 30 swimmers in 2 lanes with the middle lane rope removed), we had a 1500m Time Trial. I was expecting 4x50m practise starts and what I thought was the 3rd start turned out to be the beginning of the 1500m TT. So I didn't take note of the start time and therefore do not know how long it took me to swim the 1500m.

I was aiming to break 25 minutes for the 1500m and I believe I was pretty close (but will never know). I swam really well, easily passing swimmers I usually struggle to keep up with when swimming without a wetsuit. However I started to struggle in the last 200m. It was a little disappointing not to stay strong for the full distance, but I was extremely happy with my form for the first 1300m.

Straight after the swim we headed out for a 3 hour ride. The first 20km was ridden at a reasonable pace aided by a nice tailwind. Turning at Mordialloc I hammered it into the headwind back to Port Melbourne with an ever increasing pack forming behind me. Most of the other riders in the group continued onto Frankston, but I dislike this section of road and didn't fancy the idea of riding into a headwind all the way back from Frankston. A very sound idea, unfortunately by the time we reached Port Melbourne the wind had turned and it was a headwind from Port Melbourne back to Brighton. This also meant that those who continued onto Frankston ended up with a tailwind in both directions.

My plan was to do a hard 80km. The ride ended up being 78km, but I ran out of steam after 60km (partly due to the headwind both ways) and cruised the last 20km back to GESAC. Also the intended 3 hour ride ended up being only 2.5 hours of actual riding time.

On Sunday I snuck away from the Hawaii Ironman coverage to fit in a 15.6km run. For the first 13km I felt fantastic, effortlessly running at or below 5m20s pace whilst keeping my heart rate around 137bpm. Unfortunately the in last 2.8km my form and pace fell away and my pace dropped to 5m46s per kilometre for the same heart rate.

In summary, I almost held a good pace for the entire 1500m swim, I almost maintained a great intensity for the length of the 78km ride and almost felt great for full distance of the long run. A simple solution is more mileage.

My current condition would be perfect for a Sprint distance race, OK for an Olympic Distance, but still underdone for a Half Ironman. The Geelong Half Ironman isn't till February, so I've still got plenty of time.

Sleep Walking

I have been sleep deprived for the last 8 days, rising from bed 6 times at 5am or early:
- 5am: Friday morning swim
- 4:45am: Saturday Kinglake ride
- 5am: Sunday Duathlon (Elaine raced)
- 6am: sleep in before work
- 5am: Tuesay morning swim
- 6am: sleep in before work
- 4am: Thursday dropping off Elaine for flight to Sydney
- 5am: Friday morning swim

I usually try and get to bed before 9:30pm, unfortunately this has not happened once in the last week. In fact I've been lucky to have been in bed before 11pm.

Tomorrow morning I'll be up early again for an early morning swim and Sunday morning I'll be up early to follow the Hawaii Ironman (World Championships) via the Internet.

After the hard ride on Saturday and a season longest run of 15km on Sunday I decided to take a slightly easier week. A good decision in hindsight considering the lack of sleep.

I'll ramp training back up this weekend with a swim and 3 hour ride on Saturday followed by a 16km run on Sunday. This should give me about 8.5km swimming (3rd time in 4 weeks that my swimming mileage will be over 8km), 80km cycling and 30km of running, all up around 10 hours. Not bad for an easy week.

Kinglake Ride 2012

Last year it was cold, very windy, raining and hail. This year they moved the date from Winter to Spring and it was only raining and a little bit cold.

Last year I entered the shorter 70km ride and registered myself in the fastest group (red wrist band), unfortunately I was the only rider to do this and completed the entire event by myself. This year I entered the longer 115km event and registered myself in the second fastest group (green wrist band). Numbers seemed to be down this year after several years of bad weather and there were only 2 riders with red bands and about 20 with green bands. When I first rode this event with my friend Peter several years ago, there seemed to be countless top riders and it was an effort to stay in the peleton. Today the front group comprised of weekend warriors with a little bike ability, with possibly 2 riders of any actual talent. I've posted photos taken from the event website. Neither Elaine nor I feature in any of the photos. They obviously selected groups that were not wearing vests over the event jersey, so even the above start photo is from the 70km ride (an hour after mine), as every rider in the front group of the long ride was wearing a vest.

The lead pack of about 20 took off and immediately set a cracking pace. Every time I looked down at my computer we were doing around 45kph. This was a fair bit faster than I expected, but it was pretty easy holding on at the back, I suspect we were also being assisted by a tailwind. As different riders took their turns at the front, the pace slowed a little and we tended to settle between high 30's and low 40's. The early part of the ride contains a lot of small rolling hills, none of the climbs were significant but some of the descents were quite fast. In the first 20km, it was actually the descents that whittled the pack down leaving only 7 riders from the original number of around 20.

With the smaller pack and the major hill getting closer, the speed dropped off considerably. Ironically it tended to be the descents where I had to put in the effort to stay with the group. The main hill is referred to as the Will Walker (or Kinglake) climb. Before this hill is a steeper but much shorter climb. I was surprised to notice most of the riders appeared to struggle a little up this hill, which made me think I might fare well up the main hill.

Once we started the main hill, a younger rider shot to the front. Expecting him to make a charge I quickly moved into position behind him, but disappointingly he just set a tempo pace. I found this pace a little slow, so after 100m or so I took over the lead and set a pace more to my liking, hoping that I would dislodge most of the other riders. Sitting around 310 watts, 98 rpm, 160 bpm and 22 kph, I felt pretty comfortable. Unfortunately I could still sense riders behind me, but I was confident I could hold this effort level for the entire climb (could they ?).

2km into the climb and my effort faltered just slightly. I probably dropped 1kph, but this was enough of a sign for the rider behind me to take over the lead. He didn't ride much faster than me, but I didn't think I had it in me to follow him at that pace, especially with 5km of climbing still to go. Seeing my hesitation, the next rider jumped onto the lead rider quickly leaving a gap to me in 3rd. A quick look over my shoulder saw one other rider about 40m back and clear road behind him. Knowing that I had decimated the pack made me feel better. Having lost the chance of being first up the climb, I figured 3rd place would still be a great achievement.

Another kilometre into the ride and my calf muscle was starting to cramp. Slowing down slightly eased the pain, but it returned any time I started to redeliver the power. This slight drop in pace allowed the trailing rider to slowly bridge the gap. He caught me and we rode together for a while until the gradient started to rise. I knew this steeper section was coming and had deliberately not been riding in my lowest gear - it is depressing when the road gets steeper and you are already in your lowest gear. The other rider seemed to struggle a little on this steeper section and dropped back behind me.

Disaster, a puncture in my rear tyre. I don't know how long it had been going down, but climbing was becoming more difficult and a quick check of my tyres showed the rear had definitely lost pressure - bummer. It was too cold to remove my gloves, so the change of tubes was probably a little slower than it should have been. I examined the tyre and found the culprit - it looked like a small piece of slate (it fell off my finger before I got a good look). Getting rid of the reason for a puncture is important, otherwise the same thorn or piece of glass will simply puncture the next tube as well. The next rider was at least a minute behind me, but it took me 10 minutes to change tubes, so there were 30 or 40 riders ahead of me by the time I got started again. The extra 10 minutes are also included in the Strava segment, so despite having a quicker riding time (21m02s) than last year (42s quicker), I didn't improve my Strava standings.

Having only packed one spare tube I decided it would be unwise to continue on the longer ride without a spare. So at the top of the hill I took the turn for the shorter 70km ride. It was raining and I haven't been doing any long training rides recently, so chances are I would have taken the shorter option anyway (although 3rd place may have encouraged me to continue), but using the lack of spare tubes excuse sounds much better.

The official 70km ride starts 1 hour after the longer 115km ride. I arrived back at the finish way too early. There was no commentator, no photographer and they were still filling the show bags. So I just quietly snuck through and racked my bike. Luckily one of the officials noticed me and gave me a show bag. I spoke to the organiser Dave Hanson after the ride and he said I should have simply called the support vehicle for a spare tube - but that would not have overcome the lack of training, the cold and rain and the fact that I was over 10 minutes behind the leaders.

On the event website they have the first two riders from the 115km ride - the same two that rode away from me on the climb, as well as a photo of the first two 70km riders (who I'm confident would have been slower than me even with my 10 min pitstop). Last year I was officially the first rider home in the 70km ride, but no photo. I shouldn't be complaining, because I don't like my photo being shown (despite occasionally posting them on this blog). It's funny how you feel disappointed at missing out, despite not wanting want you are missing.

Elaine had an excellent ride. She chose the 70km ride option, but on my advice snuck into the last wave of the 115km ride (which left 1 hour before her official wave) so that she wouldn't finish too late. Even amongst the riders doing the longer option (who are typically stronger riders) she still managed to pass a few up the big hill. Elaine certainly didn't find the ride easy (it is not suppose to be), but hopefully she'll have enough energy left to race the Duathlon tomorrow. I'm not silly enough to attempt this sort of lunacy, but then again I'm not looking to win the series (which involves good prizes).

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.