Colin's Blog (triathlon and other stuff)

Does it get any better than this?

2009-09-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Years ago, sometime in the late 1980's, I recall a TV interview with Liverpool FC hero Craig Johnston (nickname Skippy) where he explained how he had become disenchanted with football after the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, had told him after they had won the FA Cup Final that it ‘didn’t get any better than this’.

After that comment, Johnston felt that if, indeed, it didn’t get any better than that, then why stay in the game, because surely everything afterwards can only be going downhill? He left the UK to return to his native country. I don’t know what he has been doing since then, but he certainly disappeared from the UK football scene – more’s the pity.

I have just returned from Australia – ironically, Johnston’s home country – after having competed for Great Britain in the World Championship Sprint Triathlon Championships against some of the best amateur triathletes in the world. And, as I write this blog – my final blog – I am left wondering if it can get any better than this. As I sit here now, I truly doubt that it can.

Regular readers will know how much it meant to me to qualify for Team GBR. Hours and hours of training, regardless of time of day, the weather, the cost - all in the pursuit of representing my country, hoping to fulfil a childhood dream.

Having fulfilled that dream, I am very proud and pleased to present to you my diary of the time spent in Australia. I suspect a lot will mean nothing to the reader, and nor is any of it necessarily grammatically correct because it is all written in my own, unedited words as things happened.

Moreover, it is a frank and honest account of what happened ‘down under’ (and I apologise in advance about how long it is, but I didn't want to miss anything out) and is really intended for my own personal use, as an aide memoir of what went on and to hopefully trigger happy memories for me when I look back when I am old and grey, and when I bore my grandchildren senseless of the time I ‘played for my country’.

So, sit back, inject a little caffeine, and see what you think…

Day 1 – Thursday - flight

OK, nothing major to report. Emirates airport amazing architecture. All going according to plan.

Day 2 – Friday – flight

Due to time zone changes this day never actually happened.

Day 3 – Saturday – sleeping/unpacking/chilling

Flight lands on time (6.30am local time). Transfer to hotel. Unpack. Lunch on promenade. Supermarket. Sleep. Drive around the district at midnight. Have found free wifi to use during our stay here.

Day 4 – Sunday

Ride the cycle course. Dead flat and very fast.

Ok, so I gotta stop being star struck - have been talking to a guy doing the Oly in my AG (Charles Ashwanden) who had won his age group at Blenheim and came 7th overall, beating most of the elites on the bike.

The team hotel is full of GB athletes (obviously). I need to realise that I earn’t my place here, just like everybody else. Still, it is strange thinking I am here to compete against these guys who are the best in the world.

A thought occurs to me. With Ironman, any old Tom, Dick of Harry can enter (‘any old’ sometimes being the operative word). With this event, you need to earn your place, so you get no slackers here. They’re all here because they set their goals, got them, and this is their AA+ race as well as it is mine. The mindset of a world athlete is different from an Ironman. It is more serious, believe it or not.

Off to Sea World. Polar bears. Eating out in the evening at a lovely sea food restaurant. Late night interval run for 30 minutes. Home, bath, bed.

Day 5 – Monday

Up at 10am.

Sort bike stuff – tyre/seatpost. MGM studios – great park rides. Back at hotel.

Too dark for planned bike ride. Last hard full session – an interval run along the sea front. It’s not everyday you bump into Tim Don on a training run.

A-M and I in rather silly moods so decide to post funny comments on the team Notice Board in the reception in our hotel.

Great restaurant – Marios – where a waitress there had lived for a while in St Albans waitress. Dogidoo. Chavs. Both previus comments are private jokes.

Day 6 – Tuesday

Short 35 min interval run session. Colin’s day for triathlon stuff – no theme parks today! Gotta keep off my feet.

Drive to bike shops/swim at Miami outdoor 50 metre pool/lunch on lovely beach at Burleigh heads/shopping/back to hotel.

Easy run, feeling good – easy 7 minute miling. Chilling evening in.

Day 7 – Wednesday

Up at 8am.

Ride the course. Can’t believe how many non-TT bikes there are. The bike course is dead flat, except for a small incline at the turnaround point. Hoping for a sub-30 minutes bike split (haha)!

Registration. It all feels very, very real now.

Aquathlon goes well. Good first run (although overtaken as usual), OK swim (but keep cramping and getting overtaken), great second run (not being overtaken, but am overtaking for a change - yippee). Beat mate Dave Knight (competing at Oly distance in 30-34 age group) by 1.5 minutes! Not a good time or placing (39/42 in age group)(264/372 overall) but happy considering I am against Oly distance athletes and also without the bike (my strongest part). Happy that I am not feeling any of the pains and injuries which I have recently been suffering from. This is the real deal!!!

Eating too much rich food. Probably putting on the pounds but hey it helps with the likely non-wetsuit swim.

Day 8 – Thursday

Busy day today! Swim practice on the course. Lovely wetsuit swim, getting good sighting points.

Now off for Team GB race briefing. This is the real deal – briefing, photos (meet the other guys – taking plenty of team and tritalk photos).

Getting the bus back with Dr Sarah Springman OBE (a GB legend of Ironman who, I think, held the GB female Ironman record before Chrissie Wellington and who is a top-dog at the ITU) who ushers us onto the bus!

Fellow age grouper Blake Bedford (really funny guy who I had got to know at the qualifying races back home) breaks a rib whilst out on a training ride out here and so is out of the race – how gutted must he feel? $300.00 nicked by cleaner from hotel room. At least I am not in Blake's position (fingers crossed). Trying not to make a big deal out of the theft.

Now off to the pasta party, then the Parade of Nations – been really looking forward to this.

Parade of Nations absolutely awesome. Waiting for the off when all athletes are taking photos of each other and other nations. Awesome experience and atmos. The New Zealanders spontaneously do the Haka which is something else. The biggest pasta party ever!

Off to see some Whales tomorrow.

Day 9 – Friday

Easy bike with Dave including 4 x 1 min intervals. Feeling good, keeping on his wheel.

Report stolen money. Manager seems sympathetic and will make investigations.

Off to see the whales - fantastic! Whales and dolphins and great weather, great post lunch.

Back for a nap and a look at the start lists to compare names from the aquathlon. Off to the venue to do the run route at tempo pace – last training session before the race. Feeling good!

Shopping. Early to bed for the final early night.

Day 10 – Saturday

Olympic age groupers and male elites today.

Watching the age groupers – great atmosphere and great course for spectators. Taking loads of video.

Getting a bit twitchy now.

Off to drop the bike off. Very hot! The male elites are fab - got a great vantage point in the grandstand, although am staying on my feet too long. Brownlee wins!!! That boy is awesome.

Grub, then to bed at 9pm for an early start! Tomorrow’s the day!!! Eating too much, but no worries - it’s all carbs!

Day 11 – Sunday – RACE DAY!!!

Race Report:

Pre-race

Get up early – 4am – having packed everything the evening before. Shower, breakfast, final check, then off at 4.45am to catch the 5am bus across the road. Get on the bus where there are other athletes whose faces I recognised but don't know their names. The bus is quiet with nerves.

No problems getting to the venue – get there at 5.15am.

Enter transition with bag, helmet etc, having taken the bike down the previous day. Video going into transition. It is still dark, but the sun is gradually rising.

Find my bike where there are many other athletes, one of whom is Rory Bryan (another Brit age grouper) who is just a couple of spaces away from me. Chat briefly. Rory chatting to other athletes in what can only be described as an attempt to intimidate them, but in a very 'jolly hockey sticks' kind of way (he's quite posh), saying how well he thinks he is swimming at the moment. Can’t help but like him though.

I am getting into the zone but also treating it as any other pre-race prep. All goes well, then out I come and we head for the start, well ahead of time.

By the time I finish in the toilet, etc. the 30-34 age group are in the pre-race holding area. This means that there is not long before I have to start getting ready, and so this I do on the grass slightly away from the beach, in the usual way.

Once ready I head to the holding area where I meet up again with Iain Martin (another fellow age grouper and friend from tritalk) and also Kealan Toal introduces himself to me. A few nervous jokes and we are ushered down to the start line.

An eerie silence prevails, whereupon I realise that this is now all very real. There we are, 62 of us lined up on the beach, ready for the gun. It is a strange feeling. Very strange indeed. Months and months and months of training has brought me to this point – the point at where I had decided I would strive to get to 24 months earlier – and here I am. I am actually moments away from the gun.

I take a step forward from the start line, turn around, look at the competition for a few seconds, and then step back. No turning back now.

The countdown begins and before I know it the gun goes off and off we run into the sea. I wonder if I am on the internet.

Swim – time 14:06

The swim goes well. I had already picked out my land-based sighting points and stick with them.

Using bilateral breathing and concentrating on all elements of my stroke. I adopt a good rhythm and find the occasional draft. I take straight lines and don't veer off course at all.

Notice Becket Bedford (brother of Blake) beside me (as usual!) in his Orca 3.8 wetsuit, but manage to pull away from him as he goes slightly left off course. Turn the final buoy and start kicking my legs to get them ready for the bike.

Exit the water, hear A-M call my name and start to undress as I run fast to transition.

T1 – time 1:47

It is a long run up the shore and around transition to my bike, by which time my wetsuit is around my waist. Get to my bike, wetsuit off, helmet on (note number belt only required for the run), take my bike and off I run with it around transition to the bike exit, run up to the bike mount area on the road, jump on, feet on shoes, head out onto the bike.

Perfect transition. Feeling good.

Bike – time 32:44

Get up to a good speed and slip my feet in, by which time I am into a fast pedalling rhythm.

So far, so good.

I don't have a clue where I am in the race, although I do notice quite a few bikes left in transition, so I know I am not last. But I do remember glancing at my watch coming out of the water and it was something like 14 minutes so feel a bit flat that the swim wasn’t fast. No worries, I am now out on my bike and chasing down plenty of cyclists ahead of me (consisting of earlier waves who are younger males and all female age groups).

Turn the first 180 degree corner onto the fast stretch of around 5 km, although the first part of this is uphill so it does take it out of my legs and lungs at first. Get into a good rhythm though soon after this and am picking off other cyclists.

Find myself in a pack of some Aussies and other nationalities (mainly USA) who are clearly drafting (illegal) off each other. Try to overtake these but find that the effort required takes it out of my legs, so I let them go.

I continue to pick off athletes, only being overtaken by the occasional one or two from a later age group. Overtake Wayne Poulter (another GB athlete who I have been beating in qualifying races) who re-overtakes me on the hill, but I overtake him again later on the flat stretch and continue to increase my lead on him (eventually by over 2 minutes).

Notice fellow GB’s ahead of me coming in the other direction, having obviously already reached the turnaround – Alan Harris, Kealan Toal, Iain Martin.

Reach the turnaround and again put my foot down. Am going at a steady rhythm and high cadence and speed (averaging 24.9 mph), then get caught up in a group again consisting of younger riders on their second lap. Finger wagging from a draft buster, but what can I do? I let them go slightly ahead of me until eventually many of them head left at the end of their bike-leg and the end of my first lap.

A guy named St Croix and I are left to continue out into the turnaround for the second lap whereupon he pulls away. At last I am on my own, then some way after the turnaround I see Becket take the turnaround the wrong way and head for the bike exit. I thought he must have got it wrong because he's quick, but he ain’t that quick!!! (found out later he had followed a group of younger riders and had taken the wrong turn to finish, instead of taking his second lap).

Continue along the very fast road in a similar speed to the first lap where I pick off many riders and am only overtaken very occasionally by faster older riders.

Finally get to the end of the bike, relieved I haven't fallen off at the turnaround points and/or punctured, heading to the dismount line at speed, dismount perfectly, then run with my bike down the path to transition.

A personal best time, made all the more satisfying that it is all off my own steam, and not with the assistance of drafting off anyone else.

T2 – time 1:02

Another perfectly executed transition. Rack bike, shoes on, pick up hat and race belt and off I run whilst putting on the hat, race belt and taking a gel.

All going according to plan, including nutrition, although I hadn’t drank the entire bottle on the bike.

Run – time 22:00

Feel sluggish on the run, not helped by the first part out of transition being up and over a purpose-built bridge over the ‘bike in’ path. Nevertheless, get into a good rhythm, but this is clearly going to be the time when all the cyclists I had overtaken are going to run me down.

180 strides per minute (something which I had been practising all year), I am running Ok, but I had obviously pushed it hard on the bike, because I know I can run faster than this.

Brits ahead of me were, I knew, Rory Bryan, Alan Harris, Kealan Toal (who is obviously having the race of his life) and Iain Martin. Behind me is everyone else, Wayne Poulter, Barry Holmes, Beckett Bedford and anyone else. Am determined to stay in my current position, although at the turnaround of the run I can see Wayne and Barry pulling me in.

Get to the turn into the final 400 metres and Wayne flies past me. I try to stay with him but he is just too quick. Let him go and concentrate on picking off other runners and keeping Barry away.

Get to the finishing chute, take my flag from a very smiling Jasmine Flatters (team manager) and run to the line. Sprint finish with two others – Aussies I think – and manage to beat one, whilst weakly holding my flag in the air. I have finished!!!

Overall – time 1:11:37, place (overall AG) 40/62, place (Brits AG) 6/11, place (overall males and females) 359/868

A post-race analysis of the results shows the following:-

1. I was 44th out of the water;

2. I gained one place in first transition by starting the bike in 43rd place;

3. I gained three places on the bike by coming into second transition in 40th place;

4. I gained a further two places in second transition by starting the run in 38th place; and

5. I dropped two places on the run by finally crossing the finish line in 40th position.

I suppose that means I'm 40th fastest at my age group in the World and 6th fastest in the UK - maybe not entirely realistic but, hey, you gotta be in it to win it!

Full Race Results here and here

Post-race

Am handed my medal and head out to the athlete area where I join Rory, Alan and Iain. Speak briefly about the race then speak to Kealan and congratulate him on his fantastic race. He says he was with a pack on the bike, which does seem to explain his fast bike split.

Wayne, on the other hand, has worked very hard to catch me. He says that he felt that I had tried to stay with him, but he simply beat me fair and square, so well done to him.

Barry and Becket follow, as do any other remaining Brits.

Take my time in the athletes area to take in and savour the moment, then head out to be greeted by A-M, Dave and Leava. The race is over and I wear my medal with immense pride. Job done. A-M and I head out to near the transition area and I lay there looking into the sky.

Walking back after the race for some post race grub and beers we get talking to a photographer. He is going on about races he attends. Tells us his name – Nigel. Nigel Farrow. Wow - the one and only Nigel Farrow (my words, not his!)! Tri photography royalty. A name I had heard of for years and there he is – flesh and blood. Really nice guy.

Awards ceremony later that evening is quite simply something else.

The presentations to the Paratriathletes and, in particular, to a guy aged 84 who receives a standing ovation from the 4000 or so in the crowd, are very emotionally charged.

There then follows an amazingly unique sight which I have never witnessed at any event before, not even at multi-national events such as Ironman, and that is a Moroccan-market-style swap shop in the centre of the venue wherein athletes from many nations are trading their nation’s tee-shirts and race kit with those of other nations. It is an extraordinary sight indeed where 100 or so athletes are tightly packed together bartering and trading. Extraordinary indeed, but apparently this is usual at the World Championships.

Day 12 – Monday – after race

Wake up to no alarm clock.

Chilled.

Out to the beach for the day. Lovely lunch. Back to the hotel to go to the police station to report the money theft the previous week.

Planning on some beers this evening with A-M, Dave et al. Smoke my Cuban Cigar (gift from mate Peter Wade) – my first smoke in over 20 years. Sit out on the balcony with A-M. Times are good!!!

Great night out with A-M, Dave, 'Mad' Martin (his cousin) and Leava. Drinks aplenty.

Bed. Need to be up early to tidy for the final day. Sad .

Day 13 – Tuesday

Up early and packed.

Plan is to go to the pool for the day for some final sunshine, then off!

Got to go to the police station again to get the crime report number. Do that. Back to the hotel, then off home.

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So that’s it. That is the week (or, rather, 13 days) that was. I am sitting here writing this blog on the plane back to the UK. No doubt I will be putting the finishing touches to it when I arrive home and have opened all the bills.

I have many, many pictures and videos of the week, certainly far too many to put up here, so I shall be creating a flickr (or some other similar internet-based program) account to which I shall upload in due course, and maybe also will upload my race-week video once I have learned how to edit and upload it to YouTube.

In the meantime, here is a rather fuzzy video of me and my flag falling across the finish line (scroll forward to 16:23), here is a link to a short video on the ITU website, here is one to the BBC highlights show and here are a few of my favourite photos…

A few of us tritalkers at the team GBR photo-shoot.

And some of the 40 - 44 age groupers (that's me third from the left)

Me and Dave (bottom row, left to right), muscling in on a group photo at the Parade of Nations.

A screen-shot of the Haka at the Parade of Nations - spine-chillingly impressive.

Me running (sort of!) at the aquathlon.

That boy Brownlee sprinting away from his nemesis Gomez. We had the best seats in the house.

The nerves are jangling on the start line. It's dead quiet.

Me kissing my finisher's medal, waving my Union Flag which I was passed for my finish line sprint.

Smoking the Cuban cigar which my mate Peter had given to me after Blithfield for qualifying. I had saved it for race day.

I must thank Anne-Marie who has been with me every step of the way on this fantastic journey. She was there at the very beginning when I made my decision to try for the team – all those months ago (about 24 of them!) at the Northampton Sprint – right the way through to the finish line on Sunday, and every qualifying race in between. Her support and belief in me throughout has been immeasureable.

Jasmine Flatters, the team manager – whose extraordinary organisational abilities kept the whole thing flowing smoothly, and who I must thank for ‘being there’ when this rather naive newbie needed help during the week – created a Facebook group, and so here is the link (again, most probably only for my own use).

There was also an extensive thread on tritalk here about the Age Group World Champs, upon which I was quite a regular contributor.

******************************

Triathlon has taken me to many fantastic places around the world. But surely none so better than the beautiful Gold Coast. And surely none so better than to compete for my own country.

Sitting within throwing distance of Elite Alistair Brownlee crossing the finish line, in first place, and thus winning the title, at the Grand Final of the triathlon World Championships. Then going back to get ready to compete for GB in the race of my life the following day. What more could a triathlon fanatic want? Well, frankly, nothing. Surely it can’t get any better than this.

It's certainly been an emotional 12 or so months with its fair share of downs as well as ups.

From a personal perspective, it's been great. Adam has passed his 11+, Emily has fallen in love, Joe has passed a plethora of GCSE's. The kids are growing into well-rounded individuals and hopefully my exploits have shown them that, however unlikely they are, dreams can come true if you really put your mind to them.

From a triathlon point of view, there's been the joy of seeing myself rise above the results lists as each race went by, culminating in Age Group podium places at Northampton and Blithfield. There's been the countless PB's in what has got to be my most successful year in triathlon to date. And, of course, there's been the pride of representing my country.

But then there's been countless sleepless nights pondering over whether my tyre will survive the 35 minutes needed to stay on course. And the sacrifices I have had to make to train when I really, really haven't wanted to, when I’ve wanted to pick up the ‘phone and order in a chicken tikka masala.

The culmination of all these ups and downs was my trip to The Gold Coast this week and it definitely surpassed all expectations. The Australians are lovely people – very accommodating - and the Land of Oz is a beautiful place. The local food was great. The company was superb. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

I am now looking forward to taking some time off. No training. No training log. Plenty of curries and beers.

And, alas, no more blog.

My blog was only ever conceived as a log of my thoughts and training leading up to my hopeful qualification for the Worlds, and its ultimate intention was to report on the race. Thus, it has served its purpose and so this entry will be the last.

In thoughts similar to that of Kenny Dalglish when he spoke to Craig Johnston in the 1980's, I doubt my triathlon career could get any better than it has over the past couple of weeks, and so my blog happily finishes on an all-time high.

Adios, my friends, it’s been emotional, and thank you for sharing it with me.

Colin

The lull before the storm

2009-08-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Once Upon A Time there stood many magnificent castles upon a hill in a place on the East Coast of England. There then descended upon this place a terrible wind. A wind of such force and magnitude that it blew down all those glorious castles that stood there.

The winds blew for many years until finally they abated. The local community began to rebuild their lives and their houses until eventually a new village arose. That village was called Wells-Next-The-Sea.

All remained calm and well for many years. Until the winds returned. And they returned with such gusto that the villagers fled once more. They ran and ran and ran…

I have just returned from a short camping holiday with Emily and Adam at Wells-Next-The-Sea, surely without doubt the windiest place on earth. It didn’t rain. It didn’t snow. Heck, it was even sunny. But, boy oh boy, was God busy blowing down on our campsite that week with such force that even my mate Crackers and his travelling companion Ben Fogle would have found it difficult to withstand. Eventually, in fear of our tent suffering the same fate as Aunt Em's house in the Wizard of Oz, a day early and after a night where I can honestly say I didn’t get a single minute of sleep, we decided to call it a day and return home.

That’s not to say that we didn’t have a good time. Spending time together, without the disruption of school, work and triathlon (yes, triathlon), was, as always, a wonderful experience. We did some great things about which we will always remember (surely there cannot be anything better than strolling along a beautiful golden beach at sundown with your children) , but alas, as with all fairy tales, it did have to come to an end, and so we are now getting on with our normal lives before the kids return to school.

So, back home and it's here. My final blog before heading out to Australia to race on 13th September. The lull before the storm, so to speak. I leave on Thursday with the rest of the GB Team, suitably chavved up in my tracksuit and trainers. I can hardly believe that, after all this time, all the training – through wind, rain and shine – and all the expense, D-Day is finally here. I am so excited.

If you're interested, the race will be on t’internet. The races start Aussie time on Sunday at 6.45am which, by my reckoning, is Saturday 9.45pm UK time. Here’s a couple of links from which you might find the live stream:-

http://www.worldtriathlongoldcoast.com/event_guide_schedule.html

http://www.triathlonlive.tv/index/home

It's only a short race - blink and you'll miss it - so you'd better be ready if you want to catch a glimpse of Bradley - GBR - making a dash for it across the line! I'll be the guy with a beer belly finishing near the back.

Back to the week’s activities, and I raced Bedford on Sunday. I did this highly enjoyable event last year, and the lure of it being a Euro qualifier this year brought me, and many other top athletes, back for more. Quite pleased with my time, especially with a) not puncturing and b) not falling off, so I consider it job done. I only really have one eye on the Euro’s, and I haven’t actually checked to see where I came or if I qualified. Maybe I’ll have a look sometime this week.

Big ‘matey’ congratulations to Jev, Dan, Mark K, Andrew and John (mate, mate from tri club, coach (‘ironmate’), mate from Italian training camp, mate from gym respectively) who all had great races. Jev, in particular, who thinks he might have qualified, at his first attempt (smart arse!), for the Euro's. Well done, mate, and a great way to round off a great season.

A few pics of the race. Promise me you won't laugh.

Who ate all the pies?. That CAN'T be my normal physique...

Colin, Jev, Dan...

Hey, there's the Pie-man again...

...and again...

So, that’s it, one and all. The next time you hear from me will be my race report from Oz. I will be thinking of you all next week in windy Blighty. Or, then again, maybe I won't - I will have one or two other things on my mind!

Cheers.

Colin

EDIT: Since posting this blog, Joe has gone and got himself 9 GCSE passes, narrowly missing out on 10 for want of an extra mark at Drama. So, he's now at 6th form with a few more years of studying ahead of him. Am so proud of Joe who did have difficulties combining his social and academic lifestyles, so to come through with so many passes is one hell of an achievement. Well done, son - very, very proud of you.

Run, rabbit, run

2009-08-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Normally, at this time of the year, I am glued to the TV with Adam for the start of the football season. But not this year. Not football anyway.

Adam has been away camping with his mum and siblings, Joe and Emily, this week. And I've taken the opportunity to watch what I want to watch for a change. And what a week to do it, what with the plethora of triathlon on TV.

There's been the London Triathlon and a whopping 3+ hours of live racing at Hyde Park on the BBC. As you might recall from last week's blog, I was actually there watching and racing there last weekend, but I did have the foresight to Sky+ it in anticipation for my delight and delictation during this week's lonely weekday evenings.

So, armed with Jaffa Cakes and Jelly Babies (my junk foods of choice), I sat down and watched over 4 hours of non-stop triathlon. And I loved every minute of it. It has to be said that Steve Trew's BBC commentary was spot on, as usual, but his co-commentator was obviously not an expert in triathlon and it was quite apparent that he didn't actually know what he was talking about (he even once remarked about how the SWIM was undulating). Nevertheless, a great few hours of viewing.

I joined Jev this week for a special Old Thatch Cinema Society screening of Donnie Darko. Actually, it was only me and Jev, preceded by a few beers in the pub and a few more beers back at his.

I had been meaning to watch Donnie Darko for years now, but had never got round to it, so we decided that Wednesday was as good a time as any (Jev's girls had gone away too). A fabulous film, although I have to admit rather confusing, with a brilliant soundtrack. So good, in fact, that I watched it again at home the following evening to try to make more sense of it. And I did make more sense of it. But only a little. So I guess I'll have to watch it again. I'm no Jonathan Ross or Barry Norman, but a highly recommended film.

My turn to take the kids away camping this week, so we're off somewhere (exact venue not yet decided) on Monday, then back for a few days before heading off to The Gold Coast. Joe won't be coming camping with us. He's going to the Reading Music Festival with his mates, and also is getting his GCSE results on Thursday. Fingers tightly crossed for both, and no doubt much to report next week.

So it's all go in the Bradley household at the moment.

It's all go for Jasmine Flatters too. Jasmine is the Age Group Team Manager for Australia (and, coincidentally, was Race Referee at Hyde Park last week) and is planning meticuously to make sure that the whole thing goes smoothly for her team. She has started up a GBR Age Group Team Facebook group and is also sending regular emails to us all with last minute arrangements.

I have been racing for many years, have raced every distance, both in the UK and abroad, from Super Sprint to Ironman, yet never has there been so much to organise as there is for this race. We also have our very own team bike mechanic. Very impressive organisation - but then again it IS the British team, so it should be top-notch organisation I suppose.

Australia is getting very close now. And very real. And very exciting. I can hardly believe that I am only a couple of blogs away to reporting back about the race of my life.

Between watching TV, drinking far too much beer and eating far too much junk food, I did have a great week's training, and I'll post up details shortly.

Next week will be plenty of early morning runs before the kids have woken. One of our options is the New Forest where there's plenty of wildlife. Plenty of rabbits to chase too. Hopefully no giant ones though (fans of Donnie Darko will get the link).

Cheers.

C

Jim'll Fix It

2009-08-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

We are all familiar with Jimmy Saville and his marathon exploits.

Some of us, particularly those born before 1980, will remember him on our TV screens making dreams come true on his show 'Jim'll Fix It'.

I remember one show in particular where a youth football team (and when I say youth, I mean 11 year olds) were treated to a game of football against the Manchester United first team at Old Trafford in front of a large crowd. The looks on those boys faces were so memorable. I can still remember them now, some 30 or so years later.

Imagine watching, say, Brazil v Italy (maybe the two best footballing nations in the world) at a packed-out Wembley Stadium, then, when the game has finished, hopping over the fencing, onto the pitch, then playing against the winners. That's similar to what happened this weekend at Hyde Park...

This weekend saw the next round of the ITU World Championship series come to Hyde Park where the best triathletes in the world were racing. I went down there with Anne-Marie, Mitten, Dan and Stuart (and family) for the day, and what a day it was!

Alistair Brownlee is taking the triathlon world by storm by winning all of his three World Cup races so far, and all he needed to do was place top 10 to get enough points to go to the top of the leader board. But he had a pretty impressive field up against him, including Gomez, Kahlefeldt, Tim Don, et. al. And of course his little brother Jonathon.

We found ourselves within feet of the Elite men when they were being introduced to the crowd and a funny thing happened. Some guy (number 7 I think) walked up to the top guys (Brownlee, Gomez, Kahlefeldt) and tried to puff up his feathers by spontaneouosly throwing himself on the floor in front of them and doing some press-ups. Brownlee gave a jovial "boo, hiss", but it was all in good spirits, and of course he had the last laugh by eventually coming out as winner.

T'was a great day out with great company, watching some great racing (and spectacular crashes!). What more could you want?

Then on the Sunday, I came back to race the same course. It was also billed as the first-time outing for my new GB tri-suit and tracksuit.

The race was, however, a complete nightmare from start to finish.

The swim was a fist-fest. With waves of just 60 athletes, I was hoping for quite a clear run with some decent drafting but it was, quite simply, fisticuffs all the way round. Then I went off course (when will I learn).

Then there was the bike. Oh, the bike. 3 twisty turny laps, and half way through at Hyde Park corner I was off. The Stig from top gear would have been proud of my handling as the bike skidded – steering into the skid – but then before I knew it I was a$%e over t%t. Got up, brushed myself down, and off I went. But after that it was game over and I didn’t really get back into it.

The picture up top is a close up of a certain part of my anatomy which came off quite badly whilst skidding on the tarmac. I'll let you guess which part, but suffice to say I won't be sitting down much until it has healed up a bit.

The run was OK and culminated in a sprint finish against James Cracknell (Crackers to me and his mates!). I think he actually crossed the finish line just before me, with his gangly legs striding ahead of me in a Basil Fawlty kind of way. But I thought that this was a good opportunity for Jim to fix it for me to be on TV by crossing the finish line with him, so I gave it an extra surge to cross with him. Here is a link to the video sprint finish.

I hasten to add that he did actually start in the wave ten minutes later then me.

I might have mentioned previously that I had tentatively registered my interest to qualify for the Europeans in Ireland next year, and Hyde Park was the first of the three qualifying races. Well, I came 7th in the list of athletes who were trying to qualify, so actually it wasn't such a bad day at the office after all, and who knows what might have happened if I hadn't come off the bike. Maybe a top 4 automatic place?

A few pictures of the day, all taken by Stuart's ever-present wife, Sarah...

All this crashing off the bike and puncturing is getting a bit too regular now. I think it’s because I am competing at a higher level nowadays and therefore taking more risks. Thinner, more lightweight tyres which are more prone to puncturing, faster into corners on wetter surfaces. With more risks comes more speed, buy also of course more chance of it all going wrong. And that’s precisely what has happened to me over the past couple of months. But, hey ho, no point crying over spilt energy drink. Tomorrow’s another day, I have achieved my aim of qualifying for the World’s this season, so its not so bad if some races don’t go, err, according to plan. It’s still frustrating though.

Back to football and my team has now reassembled for Summer training in preparation for the start of the season in September. Now in the Under 12 age group (wow - I started coaching them all those years ago as small children in the Under 8's), we have acquired a couple of extra players who have strengthened the squad considerably. We might not have any Torres's and Ronaldo's (or should I say Robsons and Dalglish's?), but I reckon we have a good chance of quite a few wins this season.

A couple of congratulations this week. Anne-Marie and Mitten for completing the Cambridge Olympic distance triathlon. Both in training for Ironman Austria 2010, and Mitten also for the Vitruvian next month.

And also a big fat hands up to Stuart who is entering his fourth decade this week. His present from Sarah was a lovely new pointy helmet which he suitably adorned at Hyde Park this weekend, and it seemed to do the trick because he had a storming bike leg. Well done, Stu!

This week the kids are away camping, so I am on my own. Good oppurtunity to get some quality training in before I take them away next week which will inevitably be an easy training week before my penultimate race of the season at the Bedford Weekender (second Euro qualifier).

In the meantime, enjoy the sudden upsurge in sunshine and temperatures.

Cheers.

C

Slow news day...

2009-08-10T04:04:00.001-07:00

Mondays are usually a sluggish day for the newspapers. This week's blog is a bit like that really.

Been training lots, working lots, organising the trip to Oz, bit more training, lots more work, plenty more organising. All means there's not much time to blog, or even think about what I'm going to blog about.

Another PB this week though. This time it was the turn of the 5km run at Bushey Park with 20:33. Very pleased with that, especially since I am still feeling a slight niggle in my groin and wasn't at full speed. Who knows, I might even break that 20 minute milestone someday soon.

But then this was followed by a slow 10 mile bike time trial with Stuart from the tri club in 24:48. Funny, only a few months ago I was dreaming of sub-26 minutes, but now if I don't achieve sub-24 then I feel I have failed. Conditions were not perfect though, and it did follow a hard hill session up Ivinghoe Beacon the day before, so I don't feel too bad about the slow time.

Big congratulations to my mate Alex whose wife, Angie, gave birth to their first child - Ethan Alexander Lotter-Maggs. Congratulations to the Maggs, and looking forward to wetting the baby's head sometime soon.

Mixed feelings about next week/weekend.

Happy that it is the ITU Elite Race at Hyde Park on Saturday where I will be spectating with Anne-Marie, Dan and Stuart from my tri club, followed the next day with me and Stuart racing the sprint race on the same course as the Elites (which also doubles as a European Qualifier in which I have tentatively registered my interest).

But sad that the kids are going away camping for a week, and I just know that I am going to badly miss them and the sound of Joe and Adam arguing! Hey ho, gives me time to fit in some more hard training in preparation for Oz. And maybe think of something more interesting to write about for next week's blog!

Until then, enjoy the sunshine.

C

Chavtastic!!!

2009-08-03T03:09:00.001-07:00

"Dear Colin Bradley
Membership Number: 12788

Congratulations on your selection to the Great Britain team for the ITU Triathlon World Championships – Gold Coast Australia, Sprint Distance. I hope that you continue to train safely before heading over to the Gold Coast for the 13 September. This letter confirms your place on the team."

I received this email from the BTA this week. Good, innit?

This week I’ve been reflecting back to my result from Blithfield and my selection to the GB team.

I have had many emails, texts and calls congratulating me on my selection, but perhaps the most poignant was from Richard, a fellow coach from my football club, who admitted that he hadn’t avidly been following my blog (tut, tut), but that he had been following my progress from time to time.

Richard said that when we were kids we would all dream about representing our country and that I was now actually going to do that. It was only after reading that that it really dawned on me what I had achieved. Yes, I HAD always dreamt of representing my country, although it was as the next Kevin Keegan and obviously that never happened. So, what better way than by doing so in the sport which I now love – triathlon. So, I suppose I should be quite pleased with myself, really.

Still reflecting back to my days as a kid, it was all the rage to wear designer tracksuits (Diadora, Kappa, Lacoste, etc., etc.) in the early 80’s when I was a teenager. As a bit of a fasionista, I could always be seen in my favourite Kappa jumper, Diadora tracksuit bottoms and Nike trainers. Until, that is, one day when I was 'taxed' (the practice of being mugged of your designer clothes) by a local thug named Vince Hughes.

Not since those days have I worn a designer tracksuit. Nowadays, such clothing is the reserve of the audience of the Jeremy Kyle show and the shell-suit posse. Until now, that is, because this week I took delivery of my GB Age Group team tracksuit kit (see photo up top and below), and I haven't felt so 'cool' wearing it since my teenage days. Very chavtastic, don’t you think?

Hopefully, I will receive my named trisuit (currently on order) in time to show it off at my next race which is the Hyde Park Sprint at, yes you’ve guessed it, Hyde Park, in two weeks time.

The race is a Euro qualifier, and although I have tentatively put my name down as trying to qualify, to be honest the pressure is off now that I am going to Australia. The weekend promises to be very exciting with the elites racing on the Saturday and I shall be going down to watch them strut their stuff with my mate Dan from the tri club.

Big, big congratulations this week to some other friends from my tri club – Sarah, Paul (aka Pablo), Tony and Andy – who all took part in this weekend’s UK Ironman in Bolton. Sarah came 10th female overall (beating an elite) and Paul and Tony successfully completed the course. Unfortunately, Andy DNF’d – haven’t yet heard what happened, but hopefully he is OK. As has been said many times before, it’s getting to the start line which counts. Finishing is just the icing on the cake. Well done guys and gals.

My training last week was almost non existent which was how I had planned it. Back to the serious task of training this week for a rather important race in just over a month. I certainly WON’T be wearing my tracksuit though – that’s packed away for special occasions. Now, where’s my audience ticket for the Jeremy Kyle show…

Cheers.

C

Off to see the Wizard...

2009-07-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

And we all know where he lives, don't we? Yep, Oz...and following today's race, that's damn well where I'm racing on 13th September.

Yes, I am extremely happy to report that I placed 1st today out of the athletes who were racing to qualify, so secured my slot for the World Sprint Championships automatically without having to rely on the roll-down.

Let me repeat that, because I can hardly believe it myself, and to be honest I so enjoyed typing it the first time that I am going to type it again...

...I will be racing for GB in the World Sprint Triathlon Championships at the Gold Coast on 13th September 2009.

After months and months and months and months of preparation, endless hours visualising myself on the start line alongside the best Age Groupers in the World, swimming, biking and running through everything the British seasons had to throw at me, I have done it.

I shan't bore you with the details (you can read my race report here), but suffice to say I am a very happy chappie. The race went perfectly according to plan with the only athlete in my Age Group ahead of me being Sharkie Jaggard who had already qualified at the first race at Grendon.

I am going to take a week off. Less training - more beers. Then back to training in preparation to race against the best Age Groupers in the World in 6 weeks time.

Here's a few photos (all taken by the ever-present Anne-Marie)...

Coming out of the swim

Coming in on the bike (punctureless at this point in time)

Sprinting across the finish line

Knackered!

Just been told I qualified!

Me and A-M pre-celebration

Me post-celebration

There's a short video of me speaking very shortly after the race which I'll upload as soon as I've figured out how to.

Meantime, I'm off back down to the pub for some more beers.

Cheers.

C

Been looking forward to looking back to look forward

2009-07-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

I have been looking forward to this week all year.

It's time to look back at last year's End of Season Report, specifically to see how I have come on over the last 8 or so months and to see if I have achieved the goals I set myself for 2009, ready to look forward to next week's final (and last chance) qualifier at Blithfield.

And, looking back at my aims, I think I've achieved everything I set myself.

Swim - Sub 6:20 400 metre time (Duston sprint - 6:17 - PB)
Bike - Sub 25 minute 10 mile TT (23:38 - PB), sub 35 minute 20K (Dorney midweek - 34:06)
Run - Sub 20 minute 5K (Bedford sprint - 19:11 - PB)

Another milestone was my first ever sub 1:10 for a Sprint at Dorney last week in 1:09:27. A very pleasing result - 17th overall (out of 188) and 5th in my age group (ignore the results list which incorrectly recorded my times).

All this looking back is great for looking forward to next Sunday's race at Blithfield. Shoulders back, head held high, deep breath - I'll be going into the race full of confidence, knowing that I am at full speed, beating all my competitors, breaking PB's every week. That nasty 4 letter word 'can't' hasn't entered my head once this year, nor will it on Sunday. I'll be doing the 'can, can' all the way past the finish line!

I'll definitely be going for an automatic spot next Sunday. I have analysed and analysed and analysed the competition and their results from previous races and so far, of those who are registered as wanting to qualify, the form book says that I will come second. I know it’s a dangerous thing staking my claim, but I figure that if I send the message out to the world then I will have that extra incentive to push to prove that I was right. That’s my theory anyway.

The second of the Olympic qualifiers was raced today at Bedford this Sunday. I have, again, analysed and analysed and analysed the results to see which of my competitors for the Sprint are also trying to qualify for the Olympic and, of the top four automatic qualifiers at Bedford, one was also trying to qualify at Sprint. So, assuming he will take his Olympic place, that takes him out of the reckoning for the Sprint and automatically pushes me up the list by one place. Not bad for doing nothing, I’d say!

Here's what my training log has looked like over the past few weeks:-

Week commencing 29th June:-

Monday – swim - club swim
Tuesday – brick session: bike/run - progessively shorter/faster repeats
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – bike - hard intervals
Friday – run - hill repeats, bike - 10 mile TT (23:56)
Saturday – swim - open water at Blue Lagoon, bike - long'ish to Dorney Lake
Sunday – bike - hill repeats

Week commencing 6th July:

Monday – run - intervals
Tuesday – run - hill repeats
Wednesday – bike - 20K hard (34:18), run - 5K hard (21:54)
Thursday – run - intervals
Friday – bike - 10 mile TT (non aero - 28:46!)
Saturday – swim - open water at Liquid Leisure, bike - hard intervals, run - 5K Bushey Park TT (20:53)
Sunday – rest

Week commencing 13th July:

Monday – swim - club swim
Tuesday – bike - hill repeats
Wednesday – race - Dorney Lake midweek (first time sub 1:10)
Thursday – bike - 10 mile TT (23:38 - PB)
Friday – run - hard intervals with Jev
Saturday – bike and run - Blithfield practice
Sunday – bike - intervals on turbo trainer

I was looking back over my blog this week and, with great pride, I see that it is 1 year old this week (ironically on the week that my qualification is confirmed - I didn't plan it that way, honest), so here’s a big fat happy birthday to Colin’s Blog. It’s been fun so far.

Another couple of milestone’s this week. 11 years ago, my eldest son, Joe, started at Edlesborough school, the same year as its headmistress, Janet Hatfield. This week marked the end of the 2009 academic year, and with it was Joe’s departure from mainstream education (until 6th form next year). It also saw Adam’s departure from Edlesborough school and Emily’s last year before her GCSE options take hold at the beginning of next year. Ironically, it was Janet Hatfield's final year at Edlesborough school too, and many thanks to her for presiding over a school which saw all my children pass their 11+ tests and progress onto the local Grammar schools.

Enough of looking back. I am now completely focussed and looking forward to a rather important race next Sunday to take me along the Yellow Brick Road.....and we all know where that leads to, don't we?

Cheers.

C

Raining cats and dogs

2009-07-13T07:06:00.001-07:00

We've been choosing a pet dog this week, and it's all very exciting.

I've been long thinking about getting a dog. Not only for the kids who absolutely love animals, but also selfeshly as a running partner for me. I decided on this after a run some months ago with Maurice, Tony and Robin from the tri club who brought their very active dogs out on a training run and a thoroughly good time was had by all (maybe also had something to do with the post-run chilli con carne courtesy of Andrea, Jo's wife).

I know that pets can be a bind, but I figure that the pros far outweigh the cons. I work from home so will be able to give him or her plenty of fuss and when I go away (hopefully in September to Australia!). I have plenty of friends and family who have said they will dog-sit.

Sadly, all this has happened the same time as the passing of our cat, Coco, the female part of twins whose brother, Scampi, died last year. Coco had a lovely, purr-full life but her old age finally caught up with her in recent weeks and we did the right thing to let her join her brother in cat heaven. The kids were saddened, and I think Joe - at that age where he will not allow himself to show any emotion about anything whatsoever - probably shed a tear or two in the privacy of his bedroom.

The rain last week made me adjust my training schedule to concentrate more on running and less on cycling - probably for the best really because I have been neglecting running recently. Sprints, hops, strides, hills, more sprints, more hops, more strides, more hills - it doesn't take long to get a habit going.

The weather held out for the highlight of the week on Sunday - the Kings Langley Kids Triathlon - an annual event hosted by my tri club. And a thoroughly great time was had by all. Adam and I arrived to help set up early and within 5 minutes Rob (fresh back from his Ironman Austria exploits the previous week) had plonked Adam in the driving seat of his van and Adam was steering it around the school field whilst Rob and I were in the back throwing out the cones for the cycle route. Rob has now made a lifelong friend for himself in Adam, and I think he (Adam - not Rob) went to bed last night imagining himself as the next Jensen Button.

150 or so kids (and some very enthusiastic parents who make football parents seem like pussy-cats), the races started early afternoon and finished about 3 hours later. A very efficient race crew, consisting of 15 or so club members (and some family members) where we all pulled together to put on a very enjoyable day at the races.

Last week I mentioned about Charlie - son of Russell - who had come runner up at Dorney Lake. Well, this weekend he managed to go one better and got top spot in his age group. Sprinting down the finish line, wow that boy can run! And what better way to round off the awards ceremony than his mum, Becky, who organised the whole thing, to place the winners medal around his neck. Very sweet...ahhh.

The weather certainly hasn't been holding out all the time for the Tour de France which I have been avidly watching on Eurosport HD this week. Lance is back and riding very strongly - I only wish I had a fraction of his power. Wow, that boy can ride! He used to be a useful triathlete in his early days, too. There's hope for me yet!

One week of hard training before ANOTHER taper week before the final qualifier at Blithfield. Fingers crossed that the rain holds out.

Cheers.

C

Enough about me, tell me about you

2009-07-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

Of all the advice given by Dale Carnegie in his book, How To Win Friends And Influence People, one of the most important is to be genuinely interested in the other person. Talk about the other person's interests, talk about what he wants to talk, and be genuinely interested in what he has to say.

The concept of blogging smacks in the face of all this. It's all about ME, ME, ME, ME, ME.

There I go, week after week, harping on about what I've been getting upto. About what interests me. Only the occassional 'well done' to my friends for their various achievements, but predominantly it's all about me. Tut tut.

So, this week, it's all about you, or, rather, them. Because this weekend was probably one of the busiest on the triathlon calender and there were umpteen of my friends scattered around the globe participating in various races, at various distances.

There were Jim and Rob from my triathlon club racing at Ironman Austria. Jim posted a brilliant 10:10 to earn himself an Hawaii spot which he declined (fool ;-)). Rob posted 10:50, with a 5:04 bike split which was well there amongst the big boys.

Then over to Germany and there was my mate Jev who posted a PB at Ironman Frankfurt of 10:39 (well done mate - brilliant stuff - I caught you on the internet finishing in what can only be described as a desperate lunge for the line (I subsequently found out that Jev had collapsed and ended up on an IV drip)). Finishing ahead of Jev was Martin, a friend who I met recently at the Italian triathlon training camp and who had already qualified for the 70.3 World Championships a few weeks ago at Austria 70.3. Martin was disappointed with his 9:49 finish time - a time which I could only ever dream of. Some people are never happy!

Then up to Holten, Holland, where there was Dave, another friend who I met at Club La Santa a couple of years ago, who was representing GB in the European Championships at Olympic Distance. Dave came 19th - enough said. Well done, fella.

Back to the UK and I took the oppurtunity for a training bike ride with Paul and Maurice from my tri club to a very busy Dorney Lake where there were loads of girls from the tri club competing at the women's only day on Saturday. Special mention to Anne-Marie (the world's best supporter who comes to watch my every race!) who stormed the bike on her beautiful Cervello Carbon Soloist. Others who battled their way through soaring temperatures and a non-wetsuit swim (first ever as far as I can remember in the UK) were Beth, Mitten, Tracey, Rats and Naomi.

At the same venue on the Saturday morning was Charlie, son of Russell (another tri club member), who competed in the kids race in the morning, winning his heat and coming second overall in the final. Top racing, Charlie, and one to watch for the future, no doubt - especially if he emulates his father who completed IM France the previous week and who is running (if that's the right word) the Marathon De Sables next year.

The following day saw the men's races where two more friends from Italy, Dave and Andrew, and Peter (a friend from the Old Thatch Cinema Society) were racing, again without wetsuits. Well done to all for some great times, but especially to Andrew who won his age group (but then as a regular in the GB team one would expect nothing less) and to Peter for whom this was his first open water swim race (and without a wetsuit - that's brave!).

So, as you can see, quite a busy weekend, and my fingers are tightly crossed that I haven't missed anyone out.

Anyway, I'm beginning to get withdrawal symptons from not talking about ME, so give me a minute and I'll post up details of my training this past week (to follow).

Next week I will be doing some more short, fast stuff. There's also my tri club's kids triathlon on Sunday which I am very much looking forward to. Am sure that if Charlie is racing then he'll get a podium place again - and that'll of course have nothing to do with the fact that his mum is organising the event!

Cheers.

C

Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough

2009-06-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

As a sport, triathlon has it all. I just can't get enough of it, and this feeling is shared by every other triathlete I know or speak to.

Whether it be trying to beat your last ironman time, or competing in your very first ironman, or trying to qualify for the Worlds, there’s something for everyone.

Three guys from my tri club have just finished Ironman Nice. Jo, first time ironman, and Musty and Russell who are both ironman veterans. By all accounts it was hard out there, but they all finished and are no doubt enjoying the post race celebrations as I type this week’s blog. Well done, guys, but the big question is will you do it again?

Jev, along with many others from his tri club (Team MK) are flying out to Germany this week to race Ironman Germany next Sunday. This will be Jev’s third ironman (he’s a twice Austria finisher) and so at the moment he’s currently one behind me ;-) Jev is a very focussed athlete, to say the least, and if he performs to his ability then he will no doubt achieve his own personal aims.

Martin, a friend who I met in Italy recently, will be on the same start line as Jev, trying to qualify for Hawaii. Having already qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, he is set to make it a marvellous double with a Hawaii spot too. Top athlete, and top bloke too. Good luck, Martin.

I am, as you know, still trying to qualify for the Worlds in Oz.

And so the list goes on of past, current and future aspirations.

Somebody who is no longer able to look forward is the late, great Michael Jackson, who we all know died this week. An ordinary name, but certainly not an ordinary person, he will be sorely missed.

He may have had his critics, and his life was shrouded in mystery amid accusations of various mis-doings (never proven), but I grew up listening (and dancing!) to Mr J. I remember, like it was yesterday, rushing back from an evening out with my mates to watch the Thriller video which was being aired, if memory serves me right, at 1am on the TV programme The Tube (but I could be wrong).

My children, too, love Jackson’s music and were just as shocked and saddened as I was at his death. His music truly did span generations and nobody can deny that he has had a profound effect on the pop music industry.

Leaving behind the plethora of MTV tribute programmes, I was racing the Northampton Sprint this weekend. The picture up top was taken by Anne-Marie just after the finish and is of me with a small person sitting on my head.

This was billed as a B race, but in reality it was far more important than that. It was after Northampton in 2007 that I decided I would compete for the Worlds and so I was using this race as a yard stick to see how far I have come over the past two years. I DNF’d in two out of my last three races, so this race was a test for my new tyres. So, you can see, this was more than just another race. I had a few things to prove to myself.

And prove them I did, with a 5th overall, 2nd in my age group – behind (far behind!) ex-pro Andy Tarry who not only won my AG but also won the race outright very easily - and taking over 6 minutes out of my time from 2007 (even with the bike route error). So, a very good day at the office and I am now well and truly back on track to consolidate over the next three weeks for Blithfield.

A good week of very specific training:-

Monday – swim - club swim
Tuesday – swim - open water (Brogborough), bike - hard intervals
Wednesday – bike - hard hill session
Thursday – swim - open water (Brogborough), run - intervals
Friday – rest
Saturday – bike - easy spin
Sunday – Northampton Sprint

More of the same next week. It's set to be a week of soaring temperatures, so if I suffer on any planned long training sessions then I mustn't Blame It On The Sunshine (groan, groan).

Cheers.

C

Is it all worth it?

2009-06-21T03:30:00.000-07:00

Looking back to the MK Sprint a couple of weeks ago, where I DNF’d, I was wondering this week if all this training is really worth it, when something completely outside your control can turn the tables so drastically.

After hours of lonely miles in the saddle. Up and down the swimming pool for countless lengths. Pounding the local streets at midnight. Then, on the start line and, POW, it’s all over because of a mechanical error. That’s it. Curtains.

But training isn’t just for racing. It’s fun. During many miles in the saddle I have ridden through beautiful countryside. I have run through stunning woodland and swum in beautiful clear waters around the world. There’s no better way to start the day than a refreshing run in the woods, then overlooking the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside from the top of Ivinghoe Beacon. And I’ve made a lot of friends along the way, too. That’s why I do it. Of course it’s worth it!

My son’s football team takes up a lot of my time, and I won’t deny that this season I have wondered whether or not it is all worth it. This weekend we had our end of season day out, and after that I remembered exactly why I do it.

Thanks to Anne Johnson (mum of Aarin, one of the players) for a magnificently well organised day, we went over to Willen Lake for a day out rafting, golf and archery (the kids, that is, not the parents!), then back to Dragon City (local Chinese buffet restaurant) for dinner – 50 of us! The kids absolutely loved the whole thing, and to see the look of joy on their faces, each and every one of them, from start to finish, was wonderful.

I originally took up coaching to take an active role with Adam - my dad did the same for me when I was Adam’s age and I will always remember his support which contributed enormously to my happy childhood. But, not just that - after four seasons I have also grown very close to all the kids. Seeing them develop, at football and as people generally, is a wonderfully satisfying experience. That’s why I do it – and, yes, it most definitely is all worth it.

Joe finished his GCSE’s this week, after an extremely intensive four weeks of exams. It is fair to say that he has had a chequered time at the boys-only Grammar School in Aylesbury, but he really did knuckle down these last few months and so, hopefully, his grades will reflect his hard efforts when they come out in August. Whatever happens, parents can’t ask more of their children other than to try their hardest, and so I am sure that all of Joe’s hard work will have been worth it.

As triathlon training takes a back seat after the Worlds in September, football training takes over. This will start with trials in a couple of week’s time. In the meantime, however, all efforts are on my race training. Here’s what I did this week:-

Monday – swim - club swim, run - hard hill session, bike - 10 mile time trial (23:55 - PB)
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – run - intervals, bike - hard hill session
Thursday – swim - open water (Liquid Leisure)
Friday – run - intervals, bike - 10 mile time trial with triathlon club (24:37)
Saturday – run - hill and sprints session
Sunday – rest

Good luck to Jo, Russell and Musty from my tri club who are off out to the South of France this week to take part in next Sunday’s Nice Ironman. Whether it be training for a sprint or an ironman, the effort required to compete at one’s own individual best is enormous. Those boys have certainly been extremely focussed with their training and so I’m sure they’ll surpass all expectations.

Finally, well done to me this week for another PB on the bike, again on the 10 mile time trial. This time I squeezed a sub 24 minutes for the first ever time, at 23:55, and this was directly after a tough Ashridge 8 mile run where I also managed a near PB in 63 minutes’ish. Why do I do all this training? Well, apart from having a fantastic start to the day, the feeling of registering PB after PB is hard to match. To infinity and beyond (there's the link to the headline picture)!

Cheers

C

Facing up to the twitters

2009-06-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia describes the word 'twit' as a British slang word for an insignificant, foolish or annoying person.

Roald Dahl wrote a children's book called 'The Twits', which included the characters Mr and Mrs Twit who were two ugly, smelly, nasty, stupid people who spent their lives playing nasty tricks on each other.

Why, therefore, did the creators of the new phenomenon, Twitter, called it 'Twitter'. Surely not to describe its members from the extension of the word 'twit' or the book 'The Twits'. That wouldn't be very nice...

Twitter has its fans, but to be honest I can't see the appeal. I blog once a week and that's enough of my life which I want to share with the world. Or, more accurately, I'm not sure that the world is interested enough to want to know what I am getting upto every few minutes of every day. But, hey, I've been told that it is the best invention since sliced bread, so it must have something going for it.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a new find of mine which I am having fun with. Rather than tell everyone all about what I've been getting up to, I use it as a medium through which to see what everybody else has been getting up to. Perfect for someone as nosey as me!

I was drawn to Facebook after my triathlon training camp in Italy when many of the participants said they were 'on it' and that I 'must get registered'. So, back to Blighty, and I signed up. Since then, I have been keeping upto date with how my Italian training partners have been getting on with their races, and it's been very interesting indeed.

One of those is Martin, an excellent triathlete who was aiming to qualify, for the second year running, for the Half Ironman World Championships in Clearwater later this year. A week after returning from Italy, Martin raced his qualifier at Austria and promptly went and qualified at the first attempt. I met up with Martin on a boozy night out in London last Friday and congratulated him in person, which I have to say is a far better way than in cyberspace via Facebook.

Another is Andy who I learned this week, from Facebook, raced the Bedford Sprint (one of my favourite races) on Sunday in a very creditable time. Well done, Andy, and hopefully see you at the next race down at the Robinson pool.

I had a great training week last week:-

Monday – swim - club swim
Tuesday – swim - open water (Liquid Leisure), bike - hard hill session, run - hard intervals
Wednesday – run - hard hill session
Thursday – swim - open water (Liquid Leisure), bike - hard interval session, run - hard intervals
Friday – bike and run brick session with Robin from tri club
Saturday – complete rest
Sunday – run - hard intervals

This week I am planning on puffing my chest out at Adam's school sports day where I was on the victorious parents' Tug of War team last year. I might stay at the back of the team this year to avoid the prospect of injury, or maybe my male testosterone levels might just take over and force me to the front!

As far as training is concerned, this week I will continue to blast the bike and run, and concentrate on open water swimming at Liquid Leisure. More to come next week no doubt on Twitter, sorry I mean't to say Blog, or was that Facebook? So much to say, so many ways of saying it, but so little time. Who'd be interested, anyway?

Cheers.

C

Tears of a clown...

2009-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

I don’t do things by half. Oh no.

13 or so minutes into today’s second World qualifier at Milton Keynes and I exited the swim in super-quick time (well, quick for me, anyway).

15 minutes later and this dream start had turned into a DNF, resulting from a string of comedic errors of which Coco the Clown would have been proud.

First off, the self-proclaimed king of transitions couldn’t get his wetsuit off. Next, I poked myself in the eye with an arm of my sunglasses. Then I crashed off the bike, landing bum over boob braking too hard coming out of transition. Finally, about one-third into the cycle, I punctured. Game over.

Here’s me, pre-disaster…

After the race, however, and having analysed the results over and over again, I am actually quite pleased with how things were concluded today.

Of those who didn’t make the 15% last time at Grendon, only two did this time, and they both got a better percentage than me, which means that I have only dropped two places. Of the eight automatic qualifying places offered over the two qualifying races so far, two have also qualified for the Olympic distance and so will not (as is likely) take up their Sprint slots.

All this means that I am effectively still in twelfth place going into the final race at Blithfield on 26th July, which is not a bad place to start the race given that I actually DNF’d today (there are 20 places up for grabs). If any more of the top eight places have gone to athletes who qualify at the Bedford Olympic on 19th July then that will take me further up the pecking order.

So, it's still looking good for Oz.

About time I updated my blog with details of my recent weeks' training, so here we go...

Week commencing 18th May:

Monday (Italy) – bike - 5 hour hard and hilly, run - intervals, swim - various drills
Tuesday – complete rest
Wednesday – bike - gym spin, swim - various drills
Thursday – complete rest
Friday – bike - easy (around MK sprint course), run - intervals, swim - various drills
Saturday – complete rest
Sunday – race – MK Sprint (race 1)

Week commencing 25th May:

Monday – complete rest
Tuesday – bike/run brick (garage session), alternating between fast and hilly
Wednesday – bike - gym spin, swim - various drills
Thursday – bike - hard intervals, swim (open water - Liquid Leisure)
Friday – bike - 10 mile TT (24:13 - PB), run - intervals (6 minute test), swim - drills
Saturday – run - Bushey Park 5K TT (20:42 - PB), swim (open water - Liquid Leisure)
Sunday – complete rest

Week commencing 1st June:

Monday – swim - club swim
Tuesday – bike - easy hill session
Wednesday – run - easy intervals
Thursday – bike - easy intervals, run - easy 15 minutes, swim (open water - Liquid Leisure)
Friday – complete rest
Saturday – run - very easy 15 minutes
Sunday – race - MK sprint (World qualifier)

Looking forward to checking out the results of Blenheim where quite a few of the guys I met in Italy were racing this weekend. Previous experience of this race tells me that this course isn't suited to wet conditions, so fingers crossed that they had a more successful time of it than I did at MK.

In the meantime, I will be cranking it up for the next six weeks in advance of the final qualifier at Blithfield. After today’s race, I am tempted to register under the name of Ronald McDonald and ride my unicycle. What do you reckon?

C

And finally...

2009-06-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the culmination of two national competitions – the FA Cup Final and, more importantly, the final of Britain’s Got Talent (or, as the luvvies like to say it, ‘BGT’).

In the former, Adam and I sat down, armed with fizzy drinks, biscuits and crisps, as did I with my dad years ago, for the BBC coverage (brilliant as usual) at around 1pm. Four hours later, following an OK match, Chelsea were crowned champions. Deservedly so, I would say, although I did as a result lose a £10.00 bet at 6 – 1 that Everton would win.

A couple of hours later, and almost having not moved from the couch since the match that afternoon (except for a bite to eat), and we were treated to a hugely entertaining final of Britain’s Got Talent.

Now, I know that these types of shows have their critics, but 15 million viewers can’t be wrong, so it must have something going for it (not just the presence of the gorgeous Amanda Holden). My personal favourite, Shaheen Jafargholi, a brilliant 12 year old vocalist from Wales, lost out on a top three place to saxophonist Julian Smith, singer Susan Boyle, and dance act Diversity (eventual winners). My tip to win was Flawless (a rival dance act to Diversity), and Adam’s was Diversity, so down went another £10.00 stake money, although this time to Adam and not to the bookies.

A great week of training in glorious weather, resulting in three Personal Bests – 6:30 for the 400 metre pool swim, 20:42 for the 5K run and, most unexpectedly, 24:13 for the 10 mile bike time trial.

I have swum quicker for 400 metres at the Concorde triathlon (I think) last year in 6:29 (I think), but the distance was slightly shorter than 400 metres (I think), so I’ll register this week's 6:30 as a PB. What I was particularly happy about was that I wasn’t pushing it, so that has set my spirits high for a great start to next Sunday’s second World Qualifier at Milton Keynes.

I have also run faster for 5K at the Bedford Sprint a few weeks ago, but again I think the course was slightly short. This week’s 20:42 was at the Bushey Park Time Trials, an organised 5K run held every Saturday morning at, believe it or not, Bushey Park, and my Garmin registered it at 5040 metres so it was as near as damn it the correct distance, so I’ll register the 20:42 as a PB (a minute quicker than my previous PB). I didn’t pace the run particularly well, going off far too quickly, so I think I could beat that time, and again it has raised my confidence for next Sunday.

I definitely haven’t cycled a quicker 10 mile than the 24:13 I rode on Thursday. My previous PB was 25:09 and so I smashed that by almost a minute. What probably helped was that I had Dan from my tri club breathing down my neck, having set off a minute after me, and I also had Andy (also from my tri club) in my sights ahead of me (having set off a minute earlier). It was also a slightly different course than where I rode the 25:09, with only one turnaround (instead of two), and without the slight incline of the former course. Averaging 28 mph on the out, and 20 mph on the back, with an overall average of 24.8 mph, it shows that there was quite a wind blowing, so maybe in less windy conditions I can go sub 24 minutes!

All these PB’s have been timed perfectly and is absolutely the best preparation I need for next Sunday’s second ‘A’ race at MK. It all goes to show, now that I have recovered from Italy, that training has been coming on leaps and bounds and the hard work has not been a waste of time.

Again, I don’t have my training diary with me, so I’ll have to update it later.

This week is a taper week (yes, you do need to taper for a sprint!), consisting mainly of shorter, semi-intensive stuff, and concentrating on sleep and nutrition. I also hope to get over to Liquid Leisure a few times, particularly on Saturday morning where Richard Stannard leads swimmers out for a mass start. Just the type of last-minute preparation I need for the start of the race the following day.

Congratulations to Mitten for completing the Edinburgh Marathon in tough conditions on Sunday. Mitten, if you’re reading (and I know you do!), let’s be having your race report on the forum please!

And, finally, as the weather continues to improve (it is a balmy 27 degrees as I am writing this blog), please wish me luck for the start line next weekend. The second of three qualifiers and I hope to improve on my place from the first race at Grendon. Whilst my aim is again to get to within 15% of the time of the winner in my Age Group, and hope to qualify on the roll-down, I certainly hope that the zillion hours training since then will take me a little closer to qualification for the most important Final of the year - the World Championships in September.

Cheers.

C

Summer loving, had me a blast

2009-05-25T15:27:00.001-07:00

Summer seems to be creeping up on us, and I'm loving it. Long nights, plenty of racing, great days out.

This weekend just gone I raced in perfect conditions at the MK sprint, a B race which acted as a dress rehearsal for my second A race of the year over the same course in 2 weeks time (it being the second of my Worlds qualifying races).

Coming back from a 30+ hours training week in Italy, my legs did feel fatigued at certain sections of the bike, but despite this I was very happy with my performance, coming in 49th overall against a strong field, many of whom were familiar names who I think were also treating the race as a warm up to the big one in a couple of weeks.

A race known throughout the Ironman circuit as one of the toughest, IM Lanzarote, was held this weekend too. Tough, not only because of its hills, but also because of the scorching heat which is rarely shielded undercover of trees and other shaded areas.

One competitor who I heard was making a comeback to triathlon, and who was using IM Lanzarote as his comeback race (not, as far as I am aware, having raced Ironman before) was Robin Brew. Robin is a one-time elite triathlete, having represented Great Britain at his chosen sport, swimming, in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics where he came a very, very close fourth in the 200 metres Individual Medley, losing out on Bronze against fellow Brit Neil Cochran.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I attended a Robin Brew Warm Weather training camp in, yes you've guessed it, Lanzarote a couple of years ago. I was, therefore, very interested in tracking Robin's progress throughout the race. Sure enough, his swim was strong - coming out in 7th position overall in 50 or so minutes. He continued this great return to racing with a 5:43 bike - 60th overall - but the results board finishes there. I can only assume that Robin didn't complete the run, so I hope he's Ok.

My new friends from the Steve Trew Warm Weather training camp, from which I returned last weekend, completed their second week there this week in scorchio heat, culminating in racing (or rather, getting round) the Nova Colli - a cycle race of 205 km's taking in 9 famous Italian hills, some of which I cycled the week I was there and can testify to how tough they were. The Lanzarote bike course has nothing on it, that's for sure!

The next couple of weeks see many of them racing at Blenheim and London and, for one (Martin), the Austria 70.3 this weekend where he was trying to qualify, for the second year running, for the 70.3 World Championships in the Sunshine State later in the year. I haven't seen his results yet, but fingers crossed he achieved his aims.

All this sunshine saw me and A-M having a picnic at Hampstead Heath this Sunday afternoon. And what a lovely afternoon it was. We were treated to some live Jazz music which was apparently being broadcast live on BBC radio which rounded off a great bank holiday weekend.

As far as training was concerned, I was using this week as a recovery week following the tough week in Italy and in preparation for a couple of week's build phase. I don't have access to my training diary at the moment, but will post details later.

Next week will be back to some concentrated swim sessions and also some hill, interval and brick bike and run sessions.

Congratulations to Jev for coming in off the bike in first place in his Age Group at the Beaver Middle distance on Sunday, a warm up race for IM Germany in 6 weeks time. Suffering from a bad back, Jev had decided before the race that he would only run 15 minutes of the run, and he stuck to the plan and felt fresh afterwards with no ill-effect from the bike, so it all went according to plan.

Well done also to my tri club colleagues on their great performances at MK, namely A-M, Dan, Stuart, Beth, Gemma, Rats and Jo. Amazingly, my and Dan's bike times were just 1 second apart, but as usual he caned me on the swim! Here's a picture of me, taken by Shires' supporter of the year, Mitten. God knows what I was doing!

Until next week, keep away from those ice-cream tubs and train hard. Alternatively, get the garden furniture out and take in some of those sun-rays and chill, chill, chill, man. You never know how long it's going to last.

Cheers.

C

Il Canto degli Italiani

2009-05-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

My favourite World Cup was Italia ’90.

From the moment the first ball was kicked in the opening match between Cameroon and Argentina it was excitement all the way. What made it all the more special was England’s heroic adventures which took them to the semi-final, only to lose out courtesy of a couple of infamous penalty misses by England.

Of course, as we all know, this is where Paul Gascoigne, a little-known 20-something from the North East, was catapulted into the football stratosphere. His tears against Germany, when he was booked following an over-zealous foul on Thomas Berthold, and was thus unable to play in the final (had England qualified), will forever be etched on my mind.

Gascoigne was subsequently signed by Italian club Lazio, but following an injury, never really fulfilled his football potential. In recent times, Gascoigne has been a fallen hero. Alcohol abuse has taken its toll such that now he looks like an aged man, poor and penniless.

A fallen hero in the cycling world was Marco Pantani, one-time winner of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.

Pantani was Italy’s Paul Gascoigne. A hero to the masses, he too only partly fulfilled his massive cycling potential before dying on Valentine’s Day 2004, aged just 34, from a drug overdose following a period of paranoid self-destruction.

Pantani lived in a town in North East Italy called Cesenatico, and this is where I have spent the last week at the Steve Trew Warm Weather Training Camp. I won’t bore you with a blow by blow account of the week's training, but suffice to say the weather was lovely, the company was great (I made some great friends and fantastic athletes who I will definitely be keeping in touch with) but, above all, the coaching was absolutely superb.

Steve (ex Olympic and Commonwealth Games triathlon coach) and Dan Bullock (ex-220 Coach of the Year and swim coach specialist – runs http://www.swimfortri.com/) provided some first class coaching throughout the week. In particular, Dan’s swim sessions were the best I have ever attended. No heavy distance stuff in the pool, and perhaps only one interval sesion - instead there was a very heavy emphasis on technique.

Not only is Dan obviously a highly accomplished swimmer in his own right, but he is also a great communicator and I picked up a wealth of swim drills which I can take away with me to work on.

The highlight of the week, however, was without doubt an ‘easy’ day out on the bikes, which involved a 40km ride out to an inland village, lunch in a most fabulous restaurant (with the most fabulous wine cellar), then back to the hotel. But what made this day so much more than an ordinary training day was what we were treated to along the way.

First, our peleton (some 30 cyclists) seemed to get caught up amongst a host of classic and rare sports cars along streets lined with spectators. This, we later found out, was the famous Mille Miglia, ultimately won by this Bugatti Type 37.

Next, we found ourselves riding behind a car with some unusual camera equipment perched upon its roof, reminiscent of a giant Webcam. This, we later found out, was taking street level 360 degree pictures for Google. So, watch out for later editions of Google Earth and Google Maps and you might find me waving frantically!

Finally, our route took us past, firstly, the home of Marco Pantani – a flash villa on the outskirts of Cesenatico, and, secondly, to the tomb of the Pantani family, where the great man himself was laid to rest. Having just rode the very same hills which Pantani spent many hours riding, there was an eerie feeling entering the tomb, with his medals and other memorabilia lying there.

A fantastic day, and indeed a fantastic week. Photos to follow.

For the record, here's what I did:-

Tuesday - nothing (travelling)
Wednesday - lots
Thursday - lots
Friday - lots
Saturday - lots
Sunday - lots
Monday - lots
Tuesday -nothing (travelling)

You get the idea!

Total training time - 30+ hours.

Particular mention to my training mates in Italy - Martin (hoping to qualify for the 70.3 World Championships - good luck in Austria on Sunday, mate), Jelle (very strong cyclist from Holland and thoroughly decent guy), David and Andrew (with whom we created the 'team' of the week), Trevor (always with a story to tell), Chloe (always smiling!). There were loads others who I shall definitely be keeping in touch with via something called Facebook.

This coming week I am taking it a bit easier, hopefully fitting in a massage and doing some shorter intensive stuff - concentrating on swimming so I don't forget anything I learned in Italy.

I also have a practice run at the Big Cow Sprint on Sunday which is on the same course as my next Qualifyer two weeks later. Hopefully the weather will hold out, although I am not anticipating the 30+ degree temperatures which I enjoyed last week. Neither do I expect to be joined by any eccentric Italian motorists enjoying their Ferrari's, Bugatti's and Maserati's - more's the pity!

See you next week.

C

Have a Cigar

2009-05-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar,
You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high,
You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try; they're gonna love you.

Ok, as we all know, the lyrics to Pink Floyd's 1975 song Have a Cigar are having a pop at the greed within the music industry, but after my rip-roaring performance at the first of my World Sprint Qualifiers - today's Grendon Sprint - I feel like sitting back and lighting up.

Then reality strikes. I didn't qualify, not today anyway, so No Cigar this time.

Not that I ever expected to qualify outright. I am not so dillusional that I know that qualification for me will fall on the roll-down process, as it would have done 2 years ago had I registered my interest to qualify when I raced at Northampton in 2007, so my aim today was to pass the 115% test which is the first stage of the qualification process.

And I am pleased to say that that's exactly what I achieved, and so I am now in line to qualify in the roll-down.

In perfect conditions I raced as hard as I could, falling over the finish line, completely exhausted and with my lungs and heart stretched to their limits, in a time of 1:15:29. The winner in my age group finished in 1:06:19 which means that I was JUST within 115% of him. Hoorah!

There are 25 athletes who have registered their interest with the British Triathlon Association to qualify for the World's. Of them, 21 were racing today. I came 10th out of the 21, just 3 minutes off an automatic qualification, and that has now given me the confidence to go forward to the MK and Blithfield Sprints on 7th June and 26th July respectively and secure a place.

Congratulations to a tritalk forumite, Iain, who I have been cyber-talking to on the forum. Iain secured a place at the Worlds today with a 3rd place (same age group as me). Well done, Iain, and hopefully I'll see you at The Gold Coast!

Also, a big well done to my mate Dan from the tri club who is joining me on a few races this year. Prior to the race, never have I seen anyone with such a 'wish I wasn't doing this' look on his face, but I think all this was a smoke screen because he went a beat me by 2 minutes! Well done, Dan.

Another feature of racing around the country is that you get to visit the local hostelries after each race. At Duston, A-M and I found a lovely pub nearby called the Fox and Hounds in Harlestone, then today we came across the Cowper's Oak in Weston Underwood (see picture up top). Finding ourselves a garden table in the sunshine, we tucked into a nice lunch and, for me, a couple of well-earned beers. The life of a triathlete is not exactly 'play hard, work hard', more 'work hard, work harder', so it's nice to reward myself after a great day at the races.

This week was a taper week. Here's exactly what I did:-

Monday – bike - easy around Grendon bike course
Tuesday – run - fartlek
Wednesday – run - 30 second sprints
Thursday – bike - easy 45 minutes, swim - open water at Liquid Leisure
Friday – complete rest
Saturday – bike - easy sprints, run - easy sprints
Sunday – race – Grendon Sprint

Next week (Tuesday to be exact) I am off to Italy for the Steve Trew triathlon training camp. Past experience at the Robin Brew training camp at Club La Santa in Lanzarote shows that speed and endurance increase 10-fold with a week of intense, stress-free training, which again I am hoping will set me up for the next qualifier at MK.

Until then, the champagne has been left on ice for the time being. After analysing today's results and my overall performance as against the others in my Age Group, I am sure - even positive - that I will be popping it open before you can peel the wrapper off a Panama!

More next week.

Cheers.

C

A DNF, a good day at the offce and roll on D-Day

2009-05-03T04:08:00.000-07:00

You might recall from an earlier blog that I attended a talk by Steve Trew at the TCR show. He was talking about 'the mind of a triathlete' - all about bringing positives out of negatives.

I have also been reading Joe Friel's 'Triathlete's Training Bible' recently and, coincidentally, I am currently on the chapter about - yes, you've guessed it - the mind and psychology of a triathlete.
I had never really had to use this form of psychology in a race before. Until today that is.

Today, just seven days before one of the most important races of my life, I suffered my first ever DNF at the Bedford Sprint.

And I'm very happy that I did.

I performed well on the swim, punctured on the bike, and PB'd on the run (they let me continue onto the run). So, I have come out of the race feeling extremely positive about my race speed. The failure was mechanical - out of my control - not physical, and I feel fit, ready and up for the challenge at my first World's Qualifier at Grendon next week. Had my DNF been as a result of an injury then it would have been a completely different story.

Steve and Joe would have been proud of me. About 2 miles into the bike I could feel the tyre unsteady around corners, looked down and it was only half-inflated. I knew it wouldn't last the whole race and didn't want to put myself in danger so I calmly turned around, coasted back to transition and continued onto the run. Unflustered, I posted a 19:11 on the 5K (first ever sub-20 minutes) which I am absolutely thrilled with this close to Grendon. I am biking stronger and quicker than ever, so all's looking good for the trip up the M1 to Northamptonshire next week.

The best supporter in the world, A-M, was there to watch it all unfold. She even had time to catch me running out on the bike before the fateful flat. I look quite good, don't you think???

Big congratulations to Peter who joined me for the race. It was Peter's first race and he coped admirably under the pressure (a lot more relaxed than I was in the my first race) with a very creditable time. Well done, sir! Also, a big fat pack on the back to Andy from the tri club who also had a very pleasing race. Andy's training for the UK Ironman later in the year and is getting some race practice in.

As far as training is concerned, I have really stepped this up a gear. Here you go:-

Monday – rest day, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Tuesday – interval brick session: bike - semi-hard intervals, run - sprint repeats
Wednesday – bike – gym spin (fixed wheel), run - intervals, swim – 400m TT in 6:47, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Thursday – brick session: bike - hard intervals, run - tempo
Friday – run - hill and sprint repeats, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Saturday – swim - open water at Liquid Leisure
Sunday – race – Bedford Sprint

So, here I am. Eventually, after months and months and months of training - alone or with clubmates or other training partners - D Day is finally here. I am almost already visualising writing next week's blog having secured a qualifying place. Wish me luck!

Cheers.

C

Transitions and Transitions

2009-04-26T11:57:00.001-07:00

In a triathlon, the concept of going from the swim to the bike, and from the bike to the run, is called 'transitions', and the specific area set aside to do all this is called the 'transition area'.

The transition area is a place of frenzy where athletes' only concern is for themselves. When you're in there, it's like everything you do goes in slow-motion whilst everyone around you seem to speed effortlessly from start to finish. It's where a race can literally be won and lost. Well executed transitions can shave a couple of minutes off a race time, and just think how much swim, bike or run training you need to do to gain the same time-advantages. It's free time. Easy time.

I have become somewhat of an expert at transitions over the years. At Duston recently I came out of the swim in last place out of the five in my wave, but was out on the bike well ahead of the four others. They never did catch me up.

So, I thought I would share my knowledge with a few friends and club colleagues this week by holding a transitions training session over the local village green. Two hours later and I hope they went away with some useful time-saving tips - subsequent feedback certainly indicates that they did.

Whilst transitions take us from one part of a race to another, life also seems to take us from one thing to another. This week saw the final game of the season for my Under 11's, and the time it has free'd up now gives me the opportunity to crank up the training.

The team were up against one of the title-contenders so we weren't expecting too much, but I have to say that all the boys acquitted themselves very, very well and came away from a very close match just at the wrong end of a 2 - 1 scoreline. It's been a long, hard season, but we have ended up with more players than we started with which means that we must be doing something right. They do seem to have enjoyed themselves and, after all, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Here's the mottley crew (me in the middle at the back)...

Doing something you enjoy is of course very important. I enjoy swimming, biking, running - in particular, I enjoy putting it all together for race days. After a thoroughly enjoyable start to the season recently at Duston, I am positively salivating at the thought of the season ahead.

Before then, though, there's plenty of training, and this is what I did last week:-

Monday – swim - club swim, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Tuesday – bike – very hard interval session
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - 30/30 interval session, swim - 400m TT in 6:55, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Thursday - rest day, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Friday - bike – hard hill repeats, run - hard hill repeats (hopping)
Saturday – swim - open water at Liquid Leisure
Sunday – bike – semi-fast road bike with Dan and Robin from tri club

This week I am starting a more intense, interval-based training regime in order to improve speed. Plenty of brick (back-to-back run/bike) sessions, some open water swimming and some specific hill and speed work. Nothing for the faint-hearted.

I will be ending the week at Bedford which I have been looking forward to for a long time. I haven't done this race since the end of the 2007 season, and at a time when I was riding my old bike, so I am looking forward to a PB. I am going up with Peter, one of the guys from the Old Thatch Cinema Society, who did actually do a triathlon about 20 years ago but is now getting back into it. Peter was at the transition training last week and has promised that he won't try to beat me with his new found transition skills! I might just have to tie his laces together in transition when he's not looking just to make sure...

More news same time next week.

Cheers.

C

A week of two halves

2009-04-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

Not since the infamous episode with David Lloyd gyms have I been so frustrated with certain service providers as I have this week.

This time it was the turn of my Internet Service Providings (Fonejacker fans will appreciate the deliberate mis-spelling) and mobile phone provider who have been the cause of so much annoyance.

My internet at home has not been working for about 2 weeks. I have managed to temporarily get around this by logging on at the gym (ironically) and at friend’s houses (overstaying my welcome, no doubt), but I took the plunge this week to finally try to get it sorted. Generally, I have always had quite positive experiences with overseas call centres, but this time was an exception. After some tests conducted over the phone, I was told to go and buy a new modem and if that isn’t the problem then they will call out a BT engineer to come and correct the line. If it isn’t a fault with the line then I will have to pay their call-out charge which starts at £160.00!!! So I think I’ll go and buy a modem and hope that's the problem.

Next was my mobile phone. I have had sitting on the side a new phone for the past 14 months and the reason which I haven’t used it is because everytime I look at it I think of the mammoth task ahead of transferring all the contact details from one phone to the other. Nonetheless, I decided this week, whilst trying to sort out my internet, to take the plunge and get the pnone sorted too. A couple of phone calls later (again to various call centres), and I was no nearer sorting it. In fact, I was actually further away, because they cancelled the SIM card on my current phone and the SIM card on my new phone did not work when I tried to use it. I phoned them again and all they could do was refer me to their website and have a look at the FAQ’s. Now, as we now know, I have no internet, so I was going round in circles. So I gave up. More news in the coming weeks, no doubt.

A completely different and far more satisfying experience was my first race of the season – the Duston Sprint on Sunday.

I billed this race as a 'B' race to give me some race practice, but also I wanted to compare my time with last year’s time. And I am happy to report that I smashed last year’s time by over 2 minutes, coming in at 1:04:42 in 38th place (out of 449 finishers) and a very pleasing 6th in my age group (out of 68).

Here's a (very bad) picture of my race watch taken after I crossed the finish line to prove my time, and then there's me in action...

To be frank, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. A swim PB at 6:17, two super-quick transitions, 25th overall on the bike and I even managed to overtake people on the run! This sets me up nicely for my next practice race at Bedford in 2 weeks time which also doubles as a ‘compare against last time’ race (last time raced end of 2007). And then of course there's the first World's Qualifier at Grendon the week after.

It just goes to show that all that training DOES pay dividends and it has now given me fresh impetus for more. If I can just lose 7 or 8 pounds then I reckon that will help shave off more valuable seconds from the bike and run. Less beer, more orange juice, me thinks.

As far as training is concerned, this is what I did in what was a rest week leading up to Duston:

Monday – bike – 10 mile TT in 26:10, 50 press-ups and 49 sit-ups
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – bike – gym spin (fixed wheel), swim – 750m TT in 13:12, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Thursday – rest
Friday – bike – transition practice and one-legged drills, run – 6 minute test followed by 30 sec intervals, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Saturday – rest, 50 press-ups and 50 sit-ups
Sunday – race – Duston Sprint

Top marks to Paul C (aka Pablo) from the tri club who posted a half marathon PB of 1:39 this week at the Redcar Half Marathon. Great training for the UK Ironman into which he (and other club mates) are entered this year. Also, to Beth (also from the tri club) who managed the 60 mile Hatfield Sportive. Beth came to Afan a few weeks ago and showed us all how strong a cyclist she is, and 60 miles on an undulating course is no mean feat. Well done, Beth.

This week’s *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is another non-sport related website – Freecycle. If you have any stuff you want to get rid of then you place it on the site and people contact you to come and pick it up – free of charge - and likewise if you see anything you fancy which others want rid of then you contact the donor and arrange collection. To be honest, there is a lot of tat, but I have managed to grab myself a few things, including a walker trainer for the garage. I think my David Lloyd membership ends at the end of this month, and so the walker is a very useful addtion to my gym in the garage which is coming on nicely.

Next week I am due to run the London Marathon after successfully getting through the ballot this year after years of trying. Ironically, I am not doing any distance running his year so I have rolled-over my entry until next year. It’s a race everyone says is a must-do race, so that’s something to look forward to after this year’s shenanigans have finished.

Have a great week, and here’s hoping for some more of this lovely sunshine!

Cheers

C

The yo-yo effect

2009-04-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

It’s strange. My kids' football team play brilliantly one week, with a very convincing 3 – 0 win, then the following week they play far below their capability and lose 10 – 1. They yo-yo from good performance to bad performance, to good performance, to bad, and so on.

My diet is suffering from this yo-yo effect too. One week I stay off the booze, watch what I eat, and all’s good. Then the following week I can’t stay away from the Easter Eggs, the local Pizza Express, or the beer and wine rack at the supermarket. My weight generally stays the same, but nonetheless I don’t feel particularly fit for my gluttonous habits in those weeks.

Training, thankfully, hasn’t been suffering the same fate. Consistency is the key, and consistent is what I’ve been. Sticking to the 12 week sub-40 minute 10K plan, that’s what I’ve been doing, all culminating on the 7th day on the 12th week in the Dorney Lake 10K Easter Sunday run race at, er, Dorney Lake (would you believe it?).

Now, the race was billed as a flat, fast race at which a PB was possible, so I went into it all guns blazing. 43:30 minutes later and I crossed the finish line, having achieved a PB but not having achieved my aim of sub-40 minutes. Truth be told, I never actually thought that sub-40 was on the cards but I had hoped for sub-42. I think my problem was that I yo-yo'd during the race – by that I mean I set off too quickly too early, faded half way through, and then finished strong. Not to worry, I did a PB and I know now that I need to put some more work in.

I have decided that my yo-yo diet, sleeping patterns and alcohol consumption are mostly to blame for my not achieving my running aims, and so I am making conscious efforts now to improve those habits, starting with my second self-induced alcohol ban of the year until I go to Italy on 12th May for the training camp. At least 8 hours sleep per night, plenty of water, no chocolate and continuing those press-ups and sit-ups. If I can lose half a stone in weight (currently 12st 11) then I know this will contribute to faster swim, bike and run splits, for sure.

Training these past two weeks went like this:-

Monday – rest
Tuesday – bike – 10 mile TT (first of the year) – 25:30, run – 6000m fast in 26:17, 50 press-ups and 46 sit-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill – 5000m fast in 22 minutes, swim - 750m TT in 12:59
Thursday – bike – hard intervals with Jo from the tri club, run – easy 30 minutes, 50 press-ups and 47 sit-ups
Friday – bike – MTB with Robin from the tri club, run – short intervals
Saturday – run - 60 minutes hard Ashridge XC with tri club A Group
Sunday – bike – 10 mile TT with tri club (organized by Rob, aka Bananaman)

Monday – swim – club swim (intervals)
Tuesday – bike – Bedford Sprint route – 46:59 (very windy!), run – 5K Bedford Sprint route – 20:25 (PB)
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – run – 8000m fast in 35 minutes, 50 press-ups and 48 sit-ups
Friday – run – sprints
Saturday – rest
Sunday – run race - Dorney Lake 10K – 43:30 (PB)

Many congratulations to Jev who raced his first race of the season - the National Age Group Duathlon Champs at MK - on the last day of the tax year (5 April). A tough group of athletes and a very credible placing racing on his beautiful Cervello P2C. Well done, mate.

This week's *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is Spotify, a free online music database introduced to me by my parents this week, which seems to contain every single song ever produced! You can’t download the music (it’s only available to stream), so log in, pick your song, and enjoy…

This coming week I have an easy week in anticipation of my first triathlon of the season – the Duston sprint – as one of my warm-up races for the World Qualifiers. Dan, a friend from my tri club, is hoping to join me but he has been having terrible injury problems recently and so might not make it. Hopefully his injuries will heal soon because he has great potential and it will be great seeing how well he races over the coming season.

My final big day of drinking was Good Friday where A-M and I spent the day in London on an historic pub crawl. Patronising many pubs along the Thames in Wapping, the scene of many pirate hangings in the 16th and 17th centuries (see picture up-top), we returned to our homesteads in a very hazy state indeed. Not as hazy as those scallywags who, in years gone by, had been hung over the Thames at low tide, their bodies somewhat yo-yoing over the water until they died from the hanging noose or by drowning from the rising water tide washing over them. Nice, grim stuff!

Until next week, C

Normal service will be resumed...

2009-04-08T02:52:00.000-07:00

......next week!

Lots and lots to report from last week. Ironically, too much doing this week too (work and training) which means I have no time to sit down and blog (I can hear the sighs of relief already).

Will bring you all up to speed (pun intended) at the weekend.

Bye for now.

Motormouth

2009-03-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week saw the welcome return to our screens of Alan Sugar, the mighty motor of all mouths, in this year's The Apprentice.

Another sorry collection of wannabe businessmen and businesswomen. More often than not cringeworthy stuff, but great entertainment all the same which glues us to the TV screens each Wednesday evening for the next 10 or so weeks. My prediction for this year's winner is a guy called James McQuillan or, failing that, Kate Walsh (because we all know that Sugar likes a bit of blond totty!).

Another motormouth was my son, Adam, who shouted and screemed words of encouragement to his football team from the sidelines this Sunday. Less 'Man of the Match', more 'Mouth of the Match', and if you know Adam you'll know what I mean.

Adam was unable to play courtesy of a broken little finger whilst at his girlfriend's house Saturday morning, but such is his devotion to the team that he insisted that he came along to cheer them on. Actually, I think he secretly wanted everyone to see his war wounds - he does like being the centre of attention does my Adam! Anyway, his cheering must have done some good because we ended up wining 3 - 0 in a hard fought game against a team with whom we always have closely contested games.

It is fair to say that we haven't had the best of seasons, and so the few times we do win we celebrate FA Cup-style. The picture up top was taken directly after our match and the lucozade (the boys' version of Champagne) was flowing freely, I can tell you!

Son number one (as in first born), Joe, was also motormouth in his game Sunday afternoon.

'Motormouth' as in 'spouting off to the referee' motormouth, resulting in a yellow card in a grudge match against a particularly unruly and unsporting team. To be fair to Joe, he was the shining light for his team (he got Man of the Match!) and the opposition recognised this by knobbling him everytime he got the ball. It wasn't until the final ten minutes that he finally lost his rag and retaliated with some harsh and colourful words against his opposing number 8. Joe did get the last laugh though by helping his team to a 3 - 1 win. Sweet revenge!

Training is going from strength to strength. Some hard run and bike sessions (mostly intervals), and a swim, and I am a week closer to my first race of the season at Duston on 19th April. That race will be a real test of my winter running and cycling training because I can compare it with last year's time, and although my swimming has taken a back seat I figure that the time lost on the swim will be amply made up for on the bike and run (famous last words).

Here's exactly what I did last week in training ......

Monday – complete rest
Tuesday – bike - tough 2 hour interval session with Dan from the tri club, 50 press-ups and 42 sit-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill - easy 30 minutes at zero gradient, swim - 400m TT, 50 press-ups and 43 sit-ups
Thursday – run - hard intervals, 50 press-ups and 44 sit-ups
Friday - run - easy 45 minutes with Jev
Saturday – run - 90 minutes Ashridge XC with tri club, 50 press-ups and 45 sit-ups
Sunday - no training - basking in the glory of two football wins!

Next week is much of the same, but with a couple more swim sessions planned, and is the penultimate week of my sub-40 minute 10K run plan. If I can get my 400 metre swim time down to 6:30 then I will be more than pleased with that. I did 6:59 last week after a hard spin and run brick session at the gym so I reckon that 6:30 is do'able.

*WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is http://www.motionbased.com/. I upload my training data from my Garmin 305, as do millions of other GPS users from around the world, and can do all kinds of wonderful things with the data. Truth be told, it is probably TOO powerful for my modest needs but, with an imminent tri training camp to Italy, I shall be downloading to my 305 some routes from motionbased which have been uploaded by people who have been on previous training camps there. It's handy to see where I am going and what type of sessions I will be doing, including (very usefully) the type of terrain I will be training on.

Until next week, happy training, or whatever it is you have planned.

C

You need friends

2009-03-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

For years, when I first started triathlons, I trained alone or, at most, only very occasionally with others.

As the months and years went by, however, I was joined increasingly more often by friends. There would be the odd swim with my mate Martin, then Simon joined us, then so did Alex, Chris and Bob. Then we started running and cycling together until eventually I trained more with them than I did alone.

We all had our own particular strengths (Simon is a strong swimmer, Bob excels at running) and bounced these strengths off of each other. Along with all that came vast improvements in my speed and, ultimately, my race times plummeted. I found that having someone to judge yourself against was a vital part of a serious training plan.

Judging myself against others with more ability than myself is exactly what I have done in my sessions this week.

First off was the usual club swim on Monday evening. I am probably one of the slower swimmers in my lane and I always start off at the back, but I am happy playing catch-up because it does help me push that bit harder.

Then later in the week there was a semi-fast road bike session, followed by a timed 8K run, with Sarah from my tri club. Now, Sarah is a strong athlete, make no mistake. We were evenly matched on the bike, but where Sarah really excels is on the run. I had planned to do the 8K in 32 minutes but in all honesty I set off too quickly and within minutes Sarah was ahead of me having hardly broken into a sweat. 37 minutes after the start I finally slumped past the 8K mark, thoroughly exhausted and, to be honest, rather disappointed that I was a whole 5 minutes off the target time although I put this down to the 2 hour bike which had preceded the run.

The week ended on a high note at Afan on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Again, I placed myself into the A group for the various bike sessions and whilst I was always playing catch up I did feel that I got a fabulous workout, and my bike strength has benefitted enormously. Ahead of me were usually Rob, Robin and Tony, and behind was often Jim (only because his bike was usually upside down having track-side repairs done to it, otherwise he was towards the front of the group). The nerd in the picture up top, looking like a character from Lord of the Rings, is yours truly after my final ride of the weekend. The bad hair day was from the air vents of my bike helmet - thanks Mitten for taking such a flattering photo!

As a result of all this, and 17 hours of training later, I feel that I have had one of the best training weeks so far this year. Thanks to all my training partners for pushing me along!

Here's precisely what I did:-

Monday – swim - club swim, to include intervals and drills, 50 press-ups and 42 sit-ups

Tuesday – run/bike/run - fast brick session at Brickhill Woods

Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill - easy 15 minutes at zero gradient

Thursday – bike - semi-fast road bike with Sarah, run - fast 8K in 37 minutes

Friday - bike - MTB at Afan

Saturday – bike - MTB at Afan

Sunday - bike - MTB at Afan

This week's *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is Mike Trees' London Marathon blog. As regular readers will know, I am following Mike's sub-40 minute 10K training plan, and his blog provides a very interesting, sometimes amusing, insight into his training for this year's London Marathon. Take a read if you have a few minutes.

This coming week I am planning a hard interval bike session with Dan from the tri club. Dan is a relative newcomer to the sport, but is a natural athlete and a great training partner. Last season we competed in the final Thames Turbo race together but I was DQ’d and Dan didn’t finish due to illness. This year we have planned a few races together, starting with the pool-based Duston triathlon on 19 April. We have a small wager on who wins, which is always a big motivater!

Another friend from the tri club is Stuart. Stuart comes from a biking background and he and I travelled down to Afan together at the weekend. After hours of fantastic mountain biking, Stuart managed to get himself lost up one of the hills and ended up on the other side! 30 extra miles later, a big fall off the bike and a broken chain, and he turned up – still smiling! Top biking Stuart and roll on next time!

As far as this week's Monday evening swim is concerned then that is a big fat no, no. Instead, I am sitting here writing this blog whilst resting my aching limbs from Afan. 11 hours of hard hilly cycling over three days is no mean feat for someone who is training for sprint triathlons, so that’s a big fat pat on the back for me!

Cheers.

C

Spring Sprints

2009-03-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

I love this time of the year.

The anticipation of a long hot Summer ahead, all those mouth watering races and of course a holiday or two (funds permitting!). Unfortunately, the last couple of years have not delivered as far as Summer sun is concerned, but we can always hope.

It all starts next weekend in Wales when I shall be making my second journey to the MTB Mecca of Afan with my tri club. With six months mountain biking under my belt since my maiden run last October I hope to enjoy the experience a whole lot more. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it the first time, because I did (enormously), but with more bike handling skills now I hope to be a bit more daring and faster down those (hopefully not too slippery) single tracks. I’ll certainly be giving club colleague Rob (aka Bananaman) a run for his money…

Spring brings with it an increase in the intensity of my training, and so last week I moved into my interval-based phase of training. This consists of short sprint sessions on the bike and the run - none of that long slow distance nonsense (I’ll leave that to Rob, Jev, Jim et. al.). This started with a mammoth 3 hour brick session (following the Stuart Dangferfield interval bike session, ending with a long run). Make no mistake, this fast stuff is not for the faint-hearted, but nobody said qualifying for the Worlds was going to be a stroll in the park.

The week culminated on Sunday morning with my longest and hardest bike ride this year with Dan, Jim, Rob, Tony and Sarah from my tri club – a hilly 36 miles taking in four notoriously big local hills – Bison Hill, Toms Hill, Aston Hill, Ivinghoe Hill. For a sprinter, 36 miles is probably unnecessarily long, and I was certainly out of my comfort zone at times, but the hill training was invaluable (hills are where I notoriously get passed by every man and his dog at races). Amazingly I managed to keep up with the big boys and girls (just) and surprised myself at how fresh my legs felt at the finish.

My running has also turned a corner and so it is time to move forward and push myself that little bit harder. I am now running at 180 strides per minute with ease without the need for music to inspire me (I count three strides per second – it’s that simple). Now I need to increase my stride length, which is what my 10K plan is encouraging with hill repeats and short sprint sessions. My biggest test so far will be this week when I attempt 8K in 32 minutes which is 4 min/km (which for the mathematicians amongst you is 40 minutes for the 10K).

Here's what I did during the week that was...

Monday – swim - club swim, in include intervals and drills
Tuesday – run - sprints, 50 press-ups and 40 sit-ups
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – rest, 50 press-ups and 41 sit-ups
Friday - bike - hard interval session, run - long, slow and easy
Saturday – run - 1200 metre intervals, 50 press-ups
Sunday - bike - hilly

I’m not the only one who has been enthused into a training frenzy by the Spring sunshine. The kids are as keen as ever to get on the running machine, spin bike and rowing machine in the gym. They are also trying to eat more healthily; something which is being ably assisted by their self-imposed chocolate ban for lent. And then there’s a couple of the guys (Peter and Dave) from the Old Thatch Cinema Society who are trying to get teams together for a couple of races during the coming season. The word is spreading!

This week's *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is not actually related to triathlon or the like. It is http://www.imdb.com/ which is where I look for write-ups about films I have watched/am about to watch. One film I watched this week - Hunger (a very depressing but brilliant film) - came out smelling of roses. Another - Marley and Me - did too. The third - The International - didn't quite rank as highly as the other two. I think I agree with all three reviews.

So it’s all looking good in the Bradley camp and I am happy to say that my End of Term Report is very pleasing with all targets met so far. I just hope that I don’t have a big off at Afan which will no doubt set me back at a time when I am just beginning to push myself harder. Full report next week.

Cheers.

C

I ain't no Silverback

2009-03-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Years ago, as an early 20-something, every Friday evening I used to go to the gym in Stopsley Sports Centre for some weight training, followed by a nice relaxing sauna, then all washed down with a curry at the local curry house in Luton. I never really enjoyed the weight training, however, and really only did it all for the sauna and curry.

Later, when I first started triathlon, I followed a computer-based training plan devised by Mike Pigg which linked in with my Polar watch. I specifically remember Pigg saying that weight training is not an essential part of a training plan. Just what I wanted to hear.

Recently, I read an interview with Queen Chrissie who said that she doesn’t bother with strength training either, apart from 50 press-ups daily. More justfication for me to stay away from the press-bench.

A silverback I ain’t, and I’m happy with that. I suspect, however, that many fellow triathletes disagree with the notion that weight training is of no use, but until I have proof that it does help then I am going to avoid the weights room.

I am, however, becoming increasingly more interested in the science behind exercise, which is why this week I volunteered to be a guinea pig for a friend of a friend who is undertaking a Masters in Sports Science. As part of this, he is writing a paper on ‘Nutrition in Endurance Events’ and my role will be to attend weekly sessions over a four week period which will involve cycling on a turbo trainer for 6 hours at a time, half at easy pace and half flat out. 6 hours on a turbo trainer! It all starts soon, and is actually timed at a perfect stage of my training schedule, so hopefully it will help me in the long term.

This week I also happened to come across a BBC programme entitled ‘The Secret Life of Your Body Clock’ and there were some very interesting points which I picked up on. The notion of 'Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper' was endorsed, but also significantly was the suggestion that the human body benefits most from physical exercise between the hours of 4pm and 6pm. This seems to bear out in my own experience of training whereby sessions always seem more effective when carried out early evening. Also, we shouldn't eat less than 3 hours before going to bed, and must try to get 8 hours sleep per night to enable the body to recover from training. Consumption of plenty of water is advisable too.

So, now that I am head-long into my spring training schedule I am taking on much of the advice given on the programme. I am trying to get to bed before 10pm, eating no later than 7pm, am drinking 2 litres of water per day and no coffee in the evenings. Together with a more balanced diet, I am hoping that all this will add great benefits to my overall training.

Dusted down the road bike this week and started up the interval sessions. I can’t wait to get the Planet X out of hibernation. Oh how I have missed her over the winter months.

More specifically, here's what I did in a very busy and great week of training.....

Monday – swim - club swim, in include intervals and drills
Tuesday – run - hard 5K time-trial - 21:44, second fastest ever (so the running plan must be doing some good!), 50 press-ups and 38 sit-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill - easy 30 minutes at zero gradient, swim - 400m time-trial - 6:55 (happy to do sub 7 minutes given my lack of swim training)
Thursday – run - hard 7.65 Ashridge XC time-trial with Alex - 76 minutes (have done faster, but very windy and muddy, so very happy with time), 50 press-ups and 39 sit-ups
Friday - run/mountain bike/run brick session with Alex at Brickhill Woods, done as a race as hard as possible
Saturday – bike - hard interval session, run - 400 metre intervals
Sunday - rest

Next week sees the beginning of the end, and by that I mean the final 4 week segment of my 10K running plan. I also need to pick up again on the press-ups and sit-ups.

Congratulations last week to Mitten from my tri club who ran a very fast half-marathon PB of 1:44:44 at the Milton Keynes half. Her third PB of the year which must have something to do with the fact that she ALWAYS seems to be training! Well done Mitts.

It's about time that the Gold Coast World Championships appeared as the *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK*, so take a look at why I am doing all this silly triathlon stuff.

Am off to the gym now. That’s NOT David Lloyd, of course, but the gym next door in the garage. Going to do a turbo session – certainly not a 6 hour session though. Am not going to be pushing any weights, either, that’s for sure. Unless I can be convinced that it will benefit me – suggestions on a postcard please…..

Coach's Corner

2009-03-03T00:59:00.000-08:00

Back in the hedonistic days of the early 90’s (or, as hedonistic as a trainee accountant can be!), I worked in the City for a firm called Neville Russell (now defunct).

Every lunchtime we would be taken by our Manager to a bar across the road called The Sir Paul Pindar in the newly built Broadgate Centre. We would spend at least 2 hours there and stagger out to sleep at our desks in the afternoon. I don’t know how we got away with it, but we did, and times were good.

Working in the City was an experience which I am glad I had but, eventually, I grew up and, more to the point, I was unable to keep up the pace. I passed my exams and decided to get a proper job and earn some money – actually, my proper job was to become a freelance tax consultant; a ‘job’ which I still do to this day.

Nowadays, I join up most Fridays with a few friends for early beers at the pub across the road from where I live – The Swan. No more evident is my current inability to keep up the pace than during my last couple of outings there. The first was on 1 February, following my month off the juice, and then again the Friday before last. On each occasion, I literally crawled home (just as well it is only 50 yards away) – a highly hazardous occupation given that it involves crossing a fairly busy road.

My drinking partners are also keen triathletes. Well when I say ‘keen’ I mean one is very keen, another is keen’ish and another used to be keen and is now trying to get back into it. They are Jev, Alex and Simon respectively. Then there’s a smattering of others who join in occasionally. No matter how committed they are, it’s always nice to train with them because we are all of different standards and can learn from each other.

In fact, it’s always nice to train with other people, no matter who they are. Which is why this week I booked myself onto a warm weather training camp in Italy in May – the Steve Trew training camp, to be precise.

Steve is a British coach with a great pedigree, having coached Olympic and Commonwealth teams. He is also first choice when it comes to TV commentators. I saw Steve at the TCR show a few weeks ago, and he came across as a really good coach and, just as importantly, a really nice guy. Then I came across an article on tri247 where Steve said that there were a few places left on his training camp in May. So, I had a look on my calendar and it so happens that the training camp is perfectly timed – a week after Grendon and a week before Milton Keynes – and £550.00 later and I’m in. I should be up to full speed (such that I won’t be left behind on the hills in Italy!) and it will give me a great week of fine-tuning ahead of MK.

This week I have trained almost entirely on a solitary basis. Pounding the streets of Edlesborough and surrounding villages at 6am, or midnight (yep, I’m still doing the midnight runs), or, as I did one evening this week, a short nighttime spin in complete darkness on my spin bike in the garage – with only the thumping of the 180bpm tunes on the ipod to keep me company. But, wowee, how refreshing it was. Pitch black, eyes wide closed, and off I went. Heart-out-of-the-chest stuff. Those sessions are precisely why I did the gym up in the garage. Enjoyed every single moment.

I wasn’t a complete Billy this week, though. I did do a thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride at Brickhill Woods (aka Apsley Woods, aka Woburn Trails) with Alex on Friday. Haven’t been out on the MTB for a while, and how I have missed it. We had a two lap race around the perimeter. Again, heart-out-the-chest stuff. I won (sorry Alex).

Here’s what else I did…..

Monday – rest
Tuesday – run - easy, to include 4000m at 4 min/km pace, 50 press-ups and 35 sit-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill - easy 45 minutes at 2.0 gradient, run - hill repeats - hopping
Thursday – run - 800 metre intervals, 50 press-ups and 36 sit-ups
Friday - bike - mountain bike ride with Alex at Brickhill Woods
Saturday – run - easy, to include 4000m at 4 min/km pace, 50 press-ups and 37 sit-ups
Sunday - bike - spin in the garage

The coming week is the end of a four-week training block and is, thus, an easy week. Having said that, my running is coming on very well and so I am going to test out the Mike Trees’ (another top coach) sub-40 minute 10K plan which I have been following by running 5K at speed to see if I can beat my current PB.

Continuing this week's theme, this week’s *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* is Coach Mark Kleanthous’s website. Coincidentally, Mark is a coach about whom Steve Trew wrote on a tri247 article some while ago. Big congratulations to Mark whose website came third in 220's recent awards. Take a look for yourself and tell me you're not impressed.

Finally, a big fat pat on the back for my daughter Emily who was chosen to represent her music school on piano at this weekend's Milton Keynes Music Festival. The standard of musicians on show was outstanding and I was so, so proud to see her up there playing with them, on the Grand Piano, taking it all in her stride. Obviously nervous, Emily played her heart out and enjoyed every moment. I am so looking forward to seeing her at the Albert Hall in years to come!!! Well done, Em. x

Cheers.

Colin

Up yours, Mr Lloyd

2009-02-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

I know she has her critics, but I think the whole Jade Goody cancer issue is very sad.

I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to be told you have an incurable disease from which you WILL die within months, maybe weeks. And I know there are people who feel she shouldn't publicise her plight, but I can’t see any harm in it; moreover, it is reported that the number of cervical smear tests being carried out since her contracting cancer has increased substantially, and if this is in part due to the publicity from Jade then surely that can only be good, cant it?

The big C word struck a couple of colleagues of mine with fatal consequences about 7 years ago now. David Graham and Colin Pilgrem, two very strong and successful businessmen who I worked with, were both struck with liver cancer around the same time as each other. Neither survived 6 weeks after diagnosis. Their deaths were very shocking and I often think about them.

Colin Pilgrem was an accountant for whom I carried out tax consultancy. The day he was diagnosed with cancer he called me into his office to ask that I take over his clients. Of course I agreed, but that was the last time I ever saw him. I kept in touch with his family, but eventually they moved away from the area and we haven’t spoken much for a year or so.

This weekend I have been clearing out my garage of all the papers and general household rubbish which has accumulated over the years. Amongst the papers were some out-of-date documents for Colin’s clients (when I say out of date I mean papers which are older than 6 years). I found myself sitting down with these and reading through them (nothing like a bit of light reading about the tax consequences of offshore trusts to brighten the day!). This took me back to the days when Colin and I were working together, and it all seemed like it all happened yesterday. The big C is a nasty, nasty thing.

On a lighter note, I also found papers which really, REALLY, took me back. There’s a letter I found from a girl from college named Sally (that’s the feature photo this week). I can’t remember who she is, but she obviously wasn't my girlfriend because she's going on about some boy she's met. There’s my Best Man’s speech notes from my brother’s wedding when I was a nervous 18 year old. I certainly DO remember that day. Then there's some pictures of a day I spent at Silverstone when I was an avid MG owner. Here’s me and my lovely MG Midget (circa 1987) ready for the off on the driveway at home...

It was a hard job throwing out papers which hold so many happy memories, so I ended up keeping most and hiding them away in a couple of filing cabinets. No doubt they will resurface in another 20 years or so to treat me once again to all those fantastic memories.

Garage cleared, and now it's full of gym equipment - treadmill (courtesy of Maurice from my tri club), weights bench (courtesy of Maurice from my tri club), spin bike (courtesy of Towell from tri talk), rowing machine, turbo trainer, TV, DVD, blah blah blah. All this in response to my resignation from the USELESS DAVID LLOYD GYM IN LUTON. Today I took the kids for a crash (not literally) course around it and they loved it. Maybe triathletes of the future? I should take a photo of them and file it away to uncover it in years to come to remind me of how they looked as young teenagers back in the year 2009! Now that would be worth waiting for, for sure.

Did a bit of training this week, but was still recovering from last week’s cold, so training was on a 'when I feel Ok' basis. Here you go.....

Monday – run - hill repeats - hopping, 50 press-ups and 30 sit-ups
Tuesday – rest, 50 press-ups and 31 sit-ups (can you see a pattern developing?!?!)
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill - easy 45 minutes at 1.5 gradient
Thursday – rest, 50 press-ups and 32 sit-ups
Friday - rest, 50 press-ups and 33 sit-ups
Saturday – run - hill repeats - hopping
Sunday – run - 800 metre intervals, 50 press-ups and 34 sit-ups

Next week I am determined to make use of the gym in the garage, and also get back on track with the running plan.

In the meantime, here’s this week’s *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK* (see side bar for websites from previous weeks) - http://www.podrunner.com/. It’s a site full of House and Dance music which you can run to at specific stride rates. Downloadable to your computer or your ipod. I am trying to develop a run stride rate pattern of 180 strides per minute and so podrunner has become a valuable resource of music to me. I have a secret passion for House music, and also love running to music, so it's a bit of a double whammy for me. Try it out for yourself. Fantastic, inspirational stuff.

Until next week, happy training.

Cheers.

C

A Work in Progress

2009-02-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from what must be one of the most enjoyable runs ever so I just had to start my blog early this week.

Following this, I had the idea, for this week only, to log my thoughts on a daily basis, rather like a Work in Progress, so here goes.....

Monday: club swim - a very hard 55 minute interval session. I turned up late and had to skip the warm-up, so it ended up being an all-out eye-balling session. As usual, I was hanging off the feet of the guy in front of me for most of the session.

Tuesday: run - 40 minute steady run, to include 4000 metres at 4 km/min pace. This is sub-40 minute 10K pace and well above my comfort zone. Still some way to go for sub-40 10K.

Wednesday: run/spin/run - 25 minute easy treadmill run at gradient level 1, followed by an all-out eye-balling spin session (wow...those spin sessions are great fun!), followed by another 25 minute easy treadmill run at gradient level 1.

Thursday: today, lost myself in THAT run back from the garage. Totally unstructered, which makes a very pleasant change from all the serious runs I keep find myself doing. Finding places 5 minutes from where I live which I never knew about is a very enlightening experience.

Friday: today, a thoroughly enjoyable 25 mile road bike with Jev. To the tea rooms in Stewkley than back again. The back again bit was a bit slower because of the king size lasagne I gobbled down, preceded by a queen size soup and prince size coffee. Single gear.

Saturday: no training today. Two reasons - have come down with a cold and also was out on the beer the previous night. A heavy session which has wiped me out for the day completely.

Sunday: no training today again. Still got the cold.

Another Work in Progress is a website I recently discovered from tritalk -http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/. Very much in its its early stages but I think it has a lot of potential for those lonely nights on the turbo trainer. So, there you go, this week's *WEBSITE OF THE WEEK*!!! Might make this a regular feature, so watch this space.

Finally, an amusing story following last weeks TCR show which I picked up from 220 online (reference the picture up top). I am amazed that such shananigans go on in this sport. A similar thing happened to my mate Simon a few years ago at The Big Half where he had the dubious pleasure of having his custom fit Snugg wetsuit nicked from transition. Simon will be the first to admit that he doesn't share the same physique as the stereotypical triathlete so it would have been interesting seeing the thief trying to offload the wetsuit down his local pub....

More next week. Have a good one.

C

Mr Angry from Northall...

2009-02-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the BBC Radio 2 show 'Steve Wright in the Afternoon'?

I was an avid listener, and of constant amusement for me were his characters who regularly 'phoned in' to the show. There was Linda Lust, Sid the Manager, Mr Paranoid and, of course, Mr Angry who was, for me, the most memorable. This guy would phone in and just spout off angry moan after angry moan. He would always end with the line "it makes me so angry I could throw the phone down".

I felt like throwing the phone down this week during a telephone conversation I had with the hopelessly hopeless membership department with my gym - David Lloyd in Luton. I shall repeat that - the hopelessly hopeless David Lloyd gym in Luton.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I currently have a dual adult membership and wanted to change one of those adults to a child membership (for my daughter Emily who is really keen to start at the gym). The only way of doing this, "apparently", is for the adult to resign and the child to join.

And therein lies the issue. There is a 3 month notice period for the adult resignation, and also a joining on fee for the new child member. So, I asked if they wouldn't mind simply changing the adult to the child membership with immediate effect, without the need to resign and re-join as a child. OK, I know that would mean bending the rules, but in these times of recession and high competition between gyms, I figured that if they valued my business they would agree to my request. I have been a member for around 10 years and I thought this would be a nice way of repaying my loyalty.

But oh how wrong I was. Apparently, this wouldn't be "fair" for the other members who resign and who have to go through the 3 month notice period. They couldn't see that I wasn't resigning and so they weren't comparing like for like. Neither could they see that they stood the risk of losing me as a member entirely if they couldn't end the rules slightly - something which I did explain to them.

So, in one single telephone conversation they turned one very happy member into a resigning member, and now I am seeing out my 3 month notice period whilst currently looking at joining a new gym, of which there are plenty locally and also all are less expensive.

The cost to David Lloyd will be substantial - I spend at least £200.00 per month (in membership fees and in the cafe) and, as a very active person, was fully intending to be a permanent member. Add that to the fact that I now have a personal goal of warning everyone I talk to off of joining their gyms, then the cost to them could be tens of thousands of pounds over the years. Ah well, their loss and my gain - with the saving I shall be subscribing to Sky+ HD, so the kids are very happy with the result (except Emily, but I shall be joining her up to the new gym).

Another source of great frustration this week was the continuing arctic weather. Cycling and running is impossible, and so all I have managed to get done is a couple of gym sessions. As a result of this, I have decided to stretch last week's running schedule over to the coming week, instead of trying to catch up and cram two weeks training into one, thus running the risk of injury with over-training. Having said that, a quick peak out the window and I see it is snowing again. Doh!

On the plus side, I attended a very beneficial TCR show on Saturday. I didn't get any shopping done because I spent most of the day listening to some very worthwhile seminars. The first was a presentation by the great Joe Friel who spoke about perdiodisation. This came at a very appropriate time of my training and so I think I am going to brush down my copy of Joe's book 'The Triathlete's Training Bible' and have a read.

Then there was a talk by Steve Trew on the mind of a triathlete. Some very, very useful tips by one of the UK's most experienced and respected coaches, and I can see how many of those can be incorporated into my training and racing.

Next there was the highlight of my day - a Q and A session with Chrissie Wellington. There I sat, no more than 7 feet away from Queen Chrissie, starry eyed and totally absorbed by her amazing attitude towards the sport and to life in general. She is a born winner. So tremendously focussed, and it is easy to see why she is the world's greatest female athlete IMHO.

Back in the pool for some concentrated swim sessions this week. I have neglected the swimming a bit recently, in favour of running and cycling (in that order), so I think I need to get in the pool more often. This starts with a hard club session Monday evening. If I don't put on the trunks more often than I have done recently I will end up like Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros. If you don't know who he was, or what was his claim to fame, then Google him. You'll see what I mean.

Until next week, C

Mission Impossible? Done.

2009-01-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

I sit here now, shortly after midnight and completely exhausted, staring at my beer-filled cup in front of me, not knowing whether to drink it or frame it.

Two things happened as the clock struck midnight. Firstly, I submitted the final of a trillion of my clients' Tax Returns, just meeting the 31st January deadline. And, secondly, I completed my first ever month of my self-imposed alcohol ban.

I had promised myself that at 12.01am on 1 February I would crack open a bottle of beer, upon completion of the final Tax Return, but to be honest now that I have succeeded this seemingly impossible mission I don't know what to do. I feel a bit numb and all I want to do is sleep for a week.

Seriously, though, I am well chuffed with myself for having the willpower to stay off the booze. Not since the days of the late 80's when I first started drinking with my mates at the Brewery Tap in my home town of Luton on a Friday night have I gone so long without a drink, and to achieve this now that I am a lot longer in the tooth was a big ask and is a big achievement. It just goes to show that if I put my mind to something I CAN achieve it.

I am determined to apply this positive thinking into my training too and so I need to abandon all thoughts of sleep and rest and get to the job in hand. I now look forward to putting all my time and effort into the swim, bike, run stuff and what better way to kick-start the enthusiasm than with a trip to the TCR show next weekend.

The week gone by was my 'easy' training week, so there's nothing to report, except for a couple of runs and some more press-ups. No swimming or cycling though. Next week that's all set to change, as I get back on track with my run plan and start cranking up the bike and swim training too. And of course there's the TCR show at the weekend to look forward to.

Another successful mission impossible was my football team's two successive games without defeat. This week we drew 1 - 1 which continues our meteoric rise up the table. There's still a long way to go, but you can see the boys' confidence lifted as the weeks go by. Hopefully I will have the same confident feeling as I get back into training.

Bye for now.

C

(EDIT: Just in case you're wondering whether I drank it or framed it, I drank it. And a few more. Here's me and Jev celebrating the end of our joint alcohol ban.)

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

2009-01-26T05:11:00.000-08:00

I have drunk not a drop of beer or any alcohol whatsoever since New Year's Eve. Nor do I intend to do so for the whole of January, which means that there's only a week to go.

This is an idea inspired by Jev who has refrained from the juice every January for years. I thought I would give it a go this year in an attempt to a) see if I had the willpower, b) see how it affects my training and c) see how it affects my work (I need all the concentration I can during January which is by far my busiest month of the year - see my business blog here). And I can happily report that so far the answers are a) yes, I do, b) very positively and c) very positively. All in all, a very useful period of self-imposed cold turkey.

Training this month has gone off the scale, ably assisted by having a clear head and not suffering from hangovers on Saturday mornings. It has gone from virtually nothing in December to 12'ish hours each week since 1st Jan. And none of it has been easy stuff with every session being planned and nurtured so as to achieve maximum benefit.

My running, in particular, has been coming on leaps and bounds (pun completely intended) by following the tri247 plan devised by Mike Trees. Cycling continues to benefit from the MTB interval sessions and now with the addition of spinning sessions at the gym. I have even been continuing my regime of daily press-ups!

A new find as a spin-off from all this has been running late at night. I know it sounds crazy, but this week - armed with head-torch and flourescent clothing - I braved the dark streets of Buckinghamshire at midnight and set off for a refreshing and totally invigorating 60 minute interval run. It wasn't without it's incidences, though. En route there are a couple of farms where dogs are tied up outside over night, and when you're happily running in your own little world it comes as a great shock to see these dogs pelting towards you at 1000 mph ready to lunge, just to be pulled back at the last second like a yoyo when the leads around their necks finally (and thankfully) run out. Phew - alive to see another day.

Then there's the fallout from the local pub, although I think the alcohol-fuelled drinkers spilling out onto the street were more shocked than I was to see a bright shining light running towards them at sub-6 minute p/mile speeds (I wish!).

Here's what my training looked like last week:-

Monday – rest
Tuesday – run - 75m sprints, 43 press-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill at constant 180 strides/min, 44 press-ups
Thursday – run - 69 minutes hard Ashridge run with Alex, 45 press-ups
Friday - run - easy pace, incorporating 3000m at 4:30 m/km pace, 46 press-ups
Saturday – rest
Sunday – 47 press-ups

Next week is my 'easy' week (easy weeks are every fourth week), and I shall be testing how the new run plan is doing by running a 5K time-trial around the village. My best time is currently a tad below 22 minutes and I'll keep you posted on how I do.

A professional UK triathlete who some might think is a bit crazy is a guy called Hywel Davies. For the uninitiated, Hywel is UK Double Ironman champion (yes, that's a 7.6km swim (in a pool!), 360km bike (laps!) and 84km run (laps!) - non-stop), and a thoroughly nice guy to boot (not literally). Hywel is a regular contributor to the Tritalk forum and this week posted up a message to advertise for sale some spinning bikes which he is selling. I arranged to go up to buy one, and whilst I was there Hywel was briefly telling me about his training exploits for the Double and also how he is currently trying for the Welsh (believe it or not, he is Welsh) Ironman record at Roth this year (he is currently second behind Richard Jones at about 8:45hours). Very inspiring guy, even in just the few minutes we spoke.

I remember reading Hywel's report of the Double - from training to race day and after - and that he had 'found' night-time training and how invigorating it was. I wonder whether he came across the same problems as I did. I am sure he would have simply growled back and the dogs would have cowered back to their kennells. Alas, I am not so brave but it's a damn good way of making me run faster!

Cheers for now.

C

Over in a flash

2009-01-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems an hour; sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity. Who said that? Answers on a postcard, please.

Why is it that all those things we love to do are over so quickly, yet all those boring jobs - washing the dishes, cleaning the house - seem to take an age to get done?

I went on my weekly jaunt on the mountain bike this week and it was over in a flash. Actually, I was out there for an hour or so, but it seemed like 2 minutes. I keep telling myself that I must get back onto the road bike, but why should I? I love MTB'ing and it's giving me a fantastic interval-type workout. So, I've decided that MTB'ing comes first and if I have any time left-over then I will get out on the Giant. Having said that, I have started up spinning at the gym and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Another moment in time which passed so quickly was a recent photo-shoot with the family - kids, parents, brother and his wife and kids. A professional shoot which brought us all together for the first time in ages. The photographer made us feel very comfortable and as soon as you could say cheese it was all over. 300 photos later, we have chosen 35 of the best, some of which have already taken pride of place in my living room, together with the new LCD TV. They weren't cheap, but you don't get this type of thing done too often. Here's one with me being squashed by the three midgets (not so midgety nowadays!).

Another big week of training...

Monday – bike - Calshot velodrome, 37 press-ups
Tuesday – rest, 38 press-ups
Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel), run - treadmill at constant 180 strides/min, incorporating 3000 metres (broken) at 4 min/km, and 39 press-ups
Thursday – run - 72 minutes hard Ashridge run with Alex, and 40 press-ups
Friday - bike - gym spin, run - sprints, and 41 press-ups
Saturday – run - 400 metre intervals, and 42 press-ups
Sunday – run - easy 60 minute road run, and 43 press-ups

Next week more of the same. No special MTB rides planned, although I am sure I will get out sometime over Ashridge or Apsley.

Finally, the photo up-top is of Adam shortly after having won Man of the Match for his fantastic performance in this week's match. OK, his dad might be the team's coach, but his MoM was well-deserved, AND he scored the winning goal in a 1 - 0 victory! Our first win of the season and the start of our rise to the top of the league no doubt. Well, I can dream, can't I? Better than thinking about the next DIY job I need to do around the house, that's for sure!

Cheers, C

Drat! Double Drat!

2009-01-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of years I have hosted a fun (?) run from my house, up, into and around Ashridge, then back again. Total distance about 14 miles. Of course, to the pub for post run drinks. The run has become commonly known as the Wacky Races.

Wacky Races was of course a TV cartoon from the 80’s which starred Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley the Dog. It was basically a race between various characters whilst Dick D and Muttley tried to cheat everybody out of the race and, therefore, win as the last men (or, rather, man and dog) standing. Of course, his plans never worked, and whenever he was foiled he would mutter the words “drat, double drat!”. One thing that always confused me was that in order to set his traps, Dick D had to be out in front, so why did he need to stop and place the traps?

Anyway, these two characters also appeared in another cartoon called Catch the Pigeon, along with Klunk and Zilly who made up Vulture Squadron. They were fearless fliers whose main mission was to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, the message bearer for the enemy, but they never quite managed it. Dick D always ended up falling out of his plane, and it sometimes got very ugly.

Another favourite was the Road Runner. A similar theme, in that Wile E. Coyote would tirelessly chase the Road Runner endlessly around the desert, but again would never seem to catch him. All very frustrating for Wile, no doubt.

This cat and mouse game was of course made famous by, er, a cat and a mouse going by the name of Tom and Jerry. As we all know, the mouse would always just escape the clutches of its enemy at the very last moment.

This week I found out that the BTA have changed their qualifying procedure for the Worlds and it’s made me feel a little like Dick Dastardly, Wile E. Coyote and Tom the Cat combined. I had always realised that my best chance of qualification was via the roll-out procedure, but now the BTA have decided to tighten the rules such that the roll-out procedure has been rolled-in a little. Their motive behind this is to strengthen the team, which obviously is commendable, but it does mean that qualification for me will be like trying the catch the proverbial Pigeon, Road Runner and Mouse in that no sooner do I feel I am getting a little closer then the goal-posts are moved. Just as I feel that qualification is a real possibility, the rules are changed - one step forward, two steps back, it seems.

Not only that, I took a sneaky look at the results in my Age Group from last year’s Worlds in Vancouver and, wouldn’t you know, 6 out of the top 7 finishers were from the GB team. So, not a particularly easy group in which to qualify. Doh...

But no matter. Those of you who know me will know that I am very focused in my training and racing plans this year and this little set-back will just push me to up the anti and get my butt moving quicker. Probably a blessing in disguise really.

Up the anti I did last week where I did as much training as I did in the previous four weeks combined.

Monday – swim - tri club - intervals, and 30 press-ups

Tuesday – run - sprints, and 31 press-ups

Wednesday – bike - gym spin (fixed wheel) at constant 90 revs/min, run - treadmill at constant 180 strides/min, incorporating 3000 metres (broken) at 4 min/km, and 32 press-ups

Thursday – run - 90 minutes very easy with A-M, and 33 press-ups

Friday - bike - mountain bike, and 34 press-ups

Saturday – run - 400 metre intervals, and 35 press-ups

Sunday – bike - 4 hour mountain bike with tri club (see below), run - easy treadmill run at constant 180 strides/min with Alex, and 36 press-ups

You'll notice a pattern developing with the press-ups, but without doubt the highlight of the week was the mammoth 4 hour mountain bike session over Ashridge on Sunday morning with the tri club, hosted by Jo. For me, it actually turned into an inpromptu brick session because I got a puncture 2 miles from home and so ran back home whilst pushing my bike along. Must have looked very strange to passing motorists, but hey we all know that this sport is not about what you look like, but how fast you go.

In the meantime, I have just returned from a highly enjoyable cycling track session at Calshot Velodrome. My first experience of track cycling and highly enjoyable it was too. As we all know, following the successes of Hoy et. al. during the summer, track cycling includes the individual pursuit whereby racers start at opposite sides of the track and try to catch each other up. I was most definitely the pigeon, except this time I changed the ending by being caught every time!

Bye for now.

C

Little Gems

2009-01-05T05:08:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve provided plenty of laughs (and B52's) as we entertained long-time friends, Bill and Anne-Marie, and their kids – Hannah and Chris, who are both good friends with Emily and Adam respectively. Joe was out for the evening seeing the New Year in with his friends.

We played the Wii all evening, specifically the Wii Sports game. The game starts with the user creating a profile based on age, etc. It also incorporates a BMI (Body Mass Index) test, and mine told me that I was overweight. No surprises there then, and a timely reminder that I need to watch what I eat and drink from now on. Nevertheless, a gem of an evening which we all enjoyed thoroughly, although I am not so sure that the neighbours particularly enjoyed our fireworks at 1am.

Another gem was this Saturday when, on a bright afternoon, I decided to get out on the MTB and cycle into Dunstable via Totternhoe Knolls. I have lived in the area for about 12 years now and I have never been up the knolls and what an amazing discovery it was for me. A true gem of a ride – fantastic bike tracks and stunning views from the old castle at the top of the knoll. Brilliant stuff.

Having dusted down my wallet after its hammering over Christmas, I entered, and paid for, my 2009 races this week. One thing which struck me was the ever-rising entry fees nowadays. I was going to enter a team into the London triathlon but that idea was quickly dismissed when I saw the entry fee a whopping £199.00!!!

A race which hasn't been affected by the recent spate of price increases is the Brighton Marina Triathlon. I stumbled across this race by accident about 6 or 7 years ago with my mate Simon. It is a small privately run race which hasn’t been affected by the rising popularity of triathlon – entry levels normally don’t exceed 50 or so athletes, and the cost is a very modest £29.00.

I am hoping that the word doesn’t get around about this race and the big organizers take hold of it because it is one of the last races which have retained their small-race atmosphere, as was the infamous Cleveland Long Course which alas is no more. It isn’t actually in my race plans this year, but it certainly will be in 2010. I urge you to try it. You won't be disappointed - a true gem of a race.

Nothing to report on the training front from last week, except a highly enjoyable end of year Gala at our usual Monday night swim session. Alas, my team lost, so the less said about that the better. And of course there was THAT bike ride over the knolls.

Onward and upward and I must bid you farewell as I sit here about to embark on new horizons. I have finalised my 2009 training and racing plans - the former having been formulated from tips provided by a gem of a triathlete at a seminar earlier this year - yes, you’ve guessed it, Queen Chrissie. As I have said in previous blogs, if I can emulate a fraction of what she has achieved over the past couple of years then I am sure to be on my way to Australia before you can pop open a can of Fosters.

C

Blogger all!

2008-12-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

Done blogger all this week, except a Boxing Day and a Mince Pie run. Been very lazy. Too many mince pies. Too lazy to write my blog. Not enough training.

Will be back next week with a vengeance - blog and training.

C

Fail to plan, plan to fail

2008-12-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

I've been harping on recently about the importance of organisation and never so more important is that concept than at Christmas time, what with being Santa's Head Buyer and also the usual juggling act of visiting family and friends.

Amongst all that is having to find time for work and training. Having already alluded to the work issue is previous blogs, things are really hotting up now. My recently-created business blog makes comment about the taxman's incompetence, and the knock on effect of this causes me great distress and additional work.

Doesn't leave much time for training, or rather it wouldn't if I didn't plan my time as well as I try to do. This week - Christmas week - I have planned a couple of runs and rides, and a swim here and there, although nothing too serious (in particular a 'mince-pie' run with the tri club).

The concept of 'fail to plan, plan to fail' is even more evident at this festive time of the year now that I have had to plan next year's races so that, come January, I am ready for the off. So, the following very carefully selected races form my schedule for 2009. I have highlighted the Worlds Qualifiers (my A races) in bold. I have deliberately left out the Worlds (my AA race) because I don't want to tempt fate.

Bedford Sprint - 3 May 2009

Grendon Sprint - 10 May 2009

Eton Super Sprint - 17 May 2009

Milton Keynes Sprint - 24 May 2009

Milton Keynes Sprint - 7 June 2009

Northampton Sprint - 28 June 2009

Bournemouth Sprint - 5 July 2009

Dorney midweek Sprint - 15 July 2009

Blithfield Sprint - 26 July 2009

Other non-triathlons will be the Milton Keynes Winter Duathlons, 10 mile time-trials (bike), 5 km run races (Bushey Park time-trials) - all 'as and when'. I also plan to cycle and run the courses at Grendon, Milton Keynes and Blithfield so, come the day, I will know the routes like the back of my hand.

The week just gone saw me spend plenty of time in the saddle, a run and no swimming whatsoever. Two mountain bike rides (one with Jev, the other a very early morning ride with Chris (aka Duff) from the tri club), and another my weekly tea-shop road bike with Jev. All very quaint stopping at the tea-shop in Stewkley for a coffee and soup (and the odd puncture repair thrown in for good measure).

Assuming Father Christmas is agreeable, this week I plan more of the same. Failing that, you'll probably find me in a pub somewhere resting my tired feet and nursing my tired wallet!

Compliments of the Season to all.

Blink and you'll miss it

2008-12-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

This week I treated myself to a little pre-Christmas pressie.

My TV is about a hundred years old. It's not quite black and white, but it's not colour either - over time apparently the tube (whatever that is) has died and now the screen pushes out a picture which is a shade of green. Not good for the eyes. The mono sound system is not good for the ears either. I think the old 8-track which I had in my first car was of higher quality.

So, I have bought myself an all-singing, all-dancing, bells and whistles, lots-of-inches flat screen TV, together with surround sound home cinema system and hard disk recorder. Just in time for the usual Christmas repeats, although I suspect it will be dominated by the kids' Wii and XBox.

Over the weekend I tested it all out with the final of the X Factor. My daughter Emily and I sat down and treated ourselves to some Saturday night visual and audio entertainment from the eventual winner, Alexandra. Her opposition, Eoghan and JLS, were Ok but were simply no competition for Alex. Her rendition of If I Were A Boy, a duet with Beyonce, was absolutely outstanding and from then on it was a one-woman show (but enough of the crying, already). I know the X Factor has its critics, but I think it is great family entertainment for a Saturday evening. Beats Strictly Come Dancing anyday.

But the highlight of the weekend's viewing was the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. Favourites Rebecca Adlington, Lewis Hamilton and Chris Hoy came in 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively, but I think I must have blinked because apparently there were split second moments of glory for Chrissie Wellington winning Hawaii and even Alistair Brownleee who was part of the audience.

Now, I know that triathlon is, and will most probably always be, a minority sport, but surely the world Ironman champion deserves more than a two second slot in what is a celebration of British sport. And, yes, I know that 2008 was a fantastic year for British sport (especially the Olympics), but if they keep on harping on about triathlon being 'the fastest growing sport in the UK' then why does is continually get overlooked?

But, then again, I think that is one of the reasons why I love the sport so much. It isn't the sport of the masses, and I like the lack of the football-hooligan mentality at races. It is a sport where you can participate with the best, and how many other sports can you say that for? So I suppose I shouldn't complain when it doesn't get much coverage, but it would be nice to give Queen Chrissie more than two seconds in front of the Great British audience at sports' equivalent of the Bafta's.

As the writers of BBC SPOTY suffered from a bit of triathlon laziness, so did my training suffer from my own lethargy. I did a couple of runs and a road bike ride with Jev (stopping half way for a soup and coffee, so it was hardly a hard ride). I have decided not to follow a strict plan yet until the New Year, so for the next couple of weeks I am not going to beat myself up if I take it easy. My ever increasing work schedule is also making it more difficult to fit in lots of training. So, it's 'do whatever I can' time again.

That said, I shall be starting a more structured running plan which I have found on the tri247 website (in conjunction with my plan from Mark K). I shall hopefully be getting out with Alex and Jev at some point this week too.

In the meantime, here's our greatest sportsman of 2008. Officially. Well deserved too, and very gracious in his acceptance. Like Chrissie, a true inspiration to us all.

Cheers.

Like Clockwork

2008-12-07T10:48:00.001-08:00

Things seem to happen this time of the year, every year, like clockwork.

I am always skint over Christmas.

My training takes a back-seat whilst I get on with some work.

I get fed up with the constant darkness outside.

And, frustratingly, I always, ALWAYS catch the flu or some other similar incapacitating illness early December. That's what happened this week. I could feel it coming - an all-over aching body, general lethargy, etc., etc. after swimming Monday evening and then for the rest of the week I couldn't do any training. None at all. Which is a bit of a pain in the backside because this was the week of my FULL return. I had a run planned with Alex later in the week which I had to cancel. And of course a mountain bike session which had to go too. All very frustrating.

But none of that put me off the tri club's Christmas dinner at Wendover on Saturday night (pictures below). And a highly enjoyable evening it was too, although I have got to say that the members of the club are not big drinkers and so I had to ease off the drinking a bit in order not to appear like an out-and-out p&$shead. There were, however, a couple who did give me a good run for my money.

There was Anna (aka Mitten) who had run (or rather 'scrambled through' ) the Grim earlier that day and was downing her gin and tonics pretty damn quickly. Mitten also apparently reads this blog too, so "hi, Mitts".

Then there was Chris (aka Duff) who decided to order a round of drinks after most had gone and the restaurent was locking its doors. Now THAT'S the attitude, Duff - proud of ya, mate!

But the most memorable of all was Rob (aka Bananaman) who got the giggles after just a couple of pints (I get the impression he doesn't usually drink much). Rob organised the evening brilliantly so a big pat on the back for the mighty Bananaorganiserman.

Something else which seems to work like clockwork is the Great British Weather. Or should I say the 'Cr$p British Weather'? It did its usual trick of putting paid to some weekend plans. My football team's game was cancelled because of the icy pitch (just as well, really, as we were down to 8 players - a combination of Scout trips and illness), and also the Luton Marathon (of which I wasn't participating anyway) fell victim, indirectly, of the cold snap - a car had span on the ice and blocked part of the course and so the race had to be cancelled at the 11th hour. Very frustrating for the competitors (of which Musty and Russell (club colleagues) and Jev were a few), but I suspect also a big fat pain in the ar$e for the organisers too.

So there you have it. A rather uneventful week and, thus, a rather uneventful blog. I am feeling 100% better now though and so I will be back with a vengeance in the morning. Or maybe not - it's very cold and icy out there you know!

Cheers.

C

If at first you don't succeed...

2008-12-01T03:12:00.000-08:00

My mate Jev hosts the occasional film night on his home cinema system. Not any ordinary home cinema system, oh no. Jev doesn’t do things by half. This is a fully-fledged, self-contained, velvet curtains, 1000 inch, 1,000,000-watt sound system home cinema.

The Old Thatch Cinema society (that’s what we’re called) meets up every so often Chez O’Neill and the first film we watched was American Gangster, a film by Ridley Scott starring Denzel Washington. A highly entertaining film which scored highly amongst us in the post-film vote.

Last Friday we were treated to Withnail & I, a 1987 film by Bruce Robinson starring Richard E Grant and Paul McGann. Jev introduced the film as one which you either love or hate, but to be honest I was neither. It was entertaining, but I think as a non-film buff I missed some of the subtleties of the film. It was good, but I won’t be rushing out to see it again (sorry Jev).

We watched City of God a couple of months ago. This film, by Fernando Meirelles (the same guy responsilble for the recent movie ‘Blindness’) is at Number 18 in IMDB’s list of greatest films of all time, and is about two boys growing up in a violent neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro who take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. I think I must have had too many pre-film beers that night because, again, I didn’t rate it that highly. It is a fast moving, subtitled film which you need to work hard at keeping track with and, frankly, I just think I wasn’t up to it the night we watched it.

However, I acquired the DVD of the film last Friday from one of the other guys, Dave Jones, and treated myself to a second viewing over the weekend. At well over 2 hours long, I had to watch it in 2 halves but, boy oh boy, what a masterpiece! I was completely ‘up for it’ and so was able to keep with the story and I am so glad I did. This is an absolutely incredible film and I can’t believe that I will ever see anything better. Prior to this, my current favourite was ‘Babel’ – a film by Alejandro González Iñárritu and in similar gritty style – but City of God has surpassed that. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you do so. But don’t go expecting any religious hymns or prayers, because you’ll be disappointed.

It just goes to show, in the film world at least, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.

I need to try again at my training schedule at the moment because I still can’t seem to get back into things as much as I should have. I have skipped swimming and cycling for a couple of weeks and done just a few runs. I am happy with how my running is coming along, but I need to HTFU and get out on my bike in the wind and rain.

There is a phrase which Jev uses – ‘ironmen are born in winter’ – and I think I need to adapt this a little to ‘world-sprint wannabees don’t wimp out of training just because it’s a bit wet and cold’. I do have an excuse though and that’s that work has been very busy this week, so I am not going to beat myself up about it too much.

This week we have my tri club’s Monday night social night (meets every first Monday of the month after swim training), and on the agenda for discussion is the new kit design (see previous blog). I think the ‘get rid of sharky’ brigade will have a difficult job of succeeding, and so it looks like a new design is on the horizon. Let's hope less 'Shark's Tale' and more 'Jaws' please guys, the latter surely being worthy of The Old Thatch Cinema Society. More news about this next week, no doubt.

Cheers

C

He did it. He only went and did it.

2008-11-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

Isn't it funny how a person's state of mind can affect his whole sense of well-being? A positive experience can have profound effects on subsequent events in his life. It could be a compliment, a word of encouragement, or even something as little as someone remembering his name. Whatever it is, it propels one into a positive state of well-being and everything in life thereafter seems less onerous and more manageable. Less stress, more success. That's how it works with me, anyway.

The same with training. After a great training session I want more. Yet, if I miss a couple of days I feel lethargic and more inclined to go to the pub and sit at the bar all evening. In simple terms, no training = can't be bothered to train. Lots of training = want to train more.

I had some very positive experiences this week and it has made me a very happy man. A very happy man indeed. More specifically, a very happy dad. A very proud dad.

Adam got his 11+ results this week, and I am so proud to tell you that he did it. He only went and passed. From that, he has instantly springboarded into a more confident boy (not that he was ever lacking of it!). He has proof now how clever he is. It's written on paper and nobody can take that away from him. He and I have both been floating on air ever since. Now we have the problem of having to choose his preferred school - Aylesbury Grammar School for Boys, or the Henry Floyd Grammar School. Both are highly commended schools, so it's not a bad problem to have.

This positivety positively (how did I manage that?) overflowed into my training. I did lots and lots of it, and consequently I wanted to do more, so I did. Specifically, lots of runs, and a thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride to boot. No swimming, but there's plenty of time to catch up on that. I have caught up with my running plan from Mark K at last, and am ready to attack next week's sessions with renewed vigour.

But the highlight of the week's training was my MTB session at Brickhill Woods with Alex, particularly our 'friendly' race around the perimiter of the southern part of the woods. MTB'ing takes on a completely new meaning when you're racing and I am at last at a sufficient speed and confidence to put the pedal down and get upto some speed. And, wow wee, it was fun. Tearing along single tracks, branches either side, with the only sounds being the thundering of your beating heart and the rustle of leaves under tyre, it was fun, fun, fun all the way. And of course made all the sweeter by getting to the finish line ahead of my nemesis!

Here's what I did the entire week:

Monday – run - tempo run
Tuesday – run - at 180 strides per minute
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – run - hard interval session
Friday - rest
Saturday – bike - MTB ride at Brickhill Woods with Alex
Sunday – rest

Next week I shall be concentrating once again on my running. I have also set up the turbo trainer, and shall be off down to the gym for some spin sessions. Hopefully a swim here and there. And maybe another MTB with Alex and others. Race conditions of course!

It's been a great week, and long may this feeling of positivety last throughout the winter.

Bye for now

C

The Winds of Change

2008-11-17T04:05:00.000-08:00

There has been a debate raging within my tri club about changing, or not, the club kit and design. This was fuelled by an after-swim-in-the-pub-conversation between members started by Anne-Marie a few weeks ago.

There are some who are against changing and some who are for - I stated my case early to say that I am in the latter school of thought. I think the current design is too cartoony (see picture of me stripping off at 2008's Vitruvian aside) and doesn't portray the club as a serious club. Some members, regretably, just don't like change, which is a shame because surely that's what makes our society so rich and diverse. But, then again, I suppose we do live in a democracy so everyone is entitled to express their own point of view.

This Sunday, on a windy football pitch in Edlesborough, my (and Adam's) team (EB Lions Under 11's) managed their first point of the season in what was a thrilling bottom-of-the-table clash against Dunstable Colts. 1 - 0 up at half time, we found ourselves 2 - 1 down until the dying seconds when we equalised.

The look of joy on my players' (and their parents') faces when the ball went flying in was priceless - it was their FA Cup Final and testament to their tremendous hard work at training in recent weeks. Now we've got our first point under our belt things are gonna change - I can feel it in my water - and the boys' new found confidence is going to take them flying high for the rest of the season. Things have changed for them, and most certainly for the better.

I haven't really put my heart and soul into training for the last couple of weeks. I had told myself that I would ease back into things gently, but all this half-heartedness isn't really doing me any good. OK, I am enjoying the mountain biking immensely, but I think this is simply a tactic to delay getting back into serious training.

I need to get back onto the open roads, onto the turbo trainer, into spin classes, if I am going to make head-roads (no pun intended!) into my bike times next year. And I need to do it quick because December and January are notoriously very, very busy months work-wise and training usually gets put back on the back-burner. Running too - I have a great plan set out for me by Mark K, but last week I did only one of the 5 planned sessions. It's simply not good enough, and things HAVE TO change. Things WILL change.

Here's what I did this last week:

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals and pyramids and run - interval pace run
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – bike – night-time MTB ride at Ashridge with members of my tri club
Thursday – rest
Friday - rest
Saturday – run – easy, slow run at 9:20 m/mile
Sunday – bike - another thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride at Ashridge with A-M - it got dark quite quickly and our bike lights were totally inadequate so we retired to the pub after a couple of hours

I've done a quick mind-map of what I plan to do following my new-found vigour, but am having trouble uploading it - hopefully I will find a way of doing it during the week.

EDIT: Here it is:-

Bit of a mess, isn't it? It's at its initial stages at the moment so I will be expanding it over the coming week or two with a view to mapping out my entire season. With a little bit of flexibility mixed in there too, of course - the odd mountain bike here and there won't do any harm, I'm sure.

And those pesky kids get me on the runaround each week at training - that's enough exercise for one day, that's for sure!

I Have A Dream

2008-11-05T02:02:00.000-08:00

30 years ago my brother, Graeme, and I sat down with our parents and watched ‘Roots’ – an American TV miniseries about slavery in 18th century America based on Alex Haley's work 'Roots: The Saga of an American Family'.

'Roots' was a ground-breaking event in American TV history, receiving 37 Emmy Award-nominations. It went on to win 9 Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award. It still stands as the 3rd highest rated US programme ever. The series had a profound effect on me and shaped my attitude towards black culture forever.

I have been treating my own children to the same series recently, and we have been avidly following the exploits of Kunta Kinte, Chicken George and others. Ironically, my daughter, Emily, has been studying American slavery in history lessons recently and so she has been particularly captivated with what we have been watching.

45 years ago, Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.

‘I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.’

How poignant that Barack Obama was elected president of the USA this week. No doubt this will see the start of the dream fulfilled and is quite rightly a monumental event in American, if not World, history.

This week, Lewis Hamilton - a Brit of mixed race – became the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. Like Obama, Hamilton has overcome racial difficulties to be the best in the world at what he does. No doubt he will win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and quite rightly so (notwithstanding Queen Chrissie's fantastic achievements this year).

As far as training is concerned, I have been getting back into things this week. This is what I did:

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – run – economy run – slower than 10k pace
Thursday – bike – easy-ish 22 miles with Jev – single gear
Friday – run – tempo run at 10K pace
Saturday – bike – thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride at Ashridge going at over 1000 revs p/m, followed by run – stride rate run at 180 strides p/m
Sunday – rest

Next week I shall be mind-mapping my training and racing plans for 2009. I have a dream for the forthcoming season and, with some planning and hard work, I am hoping it too will be fulfilled.

Until next week, have a good one.

Back to the future

2008-11-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

Question: What do I share with David Schwimmer (‘Friends’ actor), Nelly (American rap artist - aside) and Danny Cipriani (English international rugby player)? No, I didn’t go to acting school to learn offensive rap songs and play the odd game of rugby at lunchtimes. What we all share is our birthday this week on 2nd November.

Yes, on this day 41 years ago I popped into the world. 41 years! That’s a long, long time - a time even before Bill Gates took over the world. I certainly don’t feel 41, although what I’m meant to feel like at that age heaven knows. You’re as old as you feel, as the saying goes, and I don’t feel at all bad really.

What are 40-somethings meant to do with their spare time? I suppose many seek the comfort of their living room, a TV and a 4-pack of beers each evening, but I, thankfully, am not from that school of thought. This year I took up a few new interests which I suppose should be the reserve of the much younger 20-something oiks. There’s skiing. Then there’s mountain biking. And of course I have continued my love of and participation in triathlon.

Supposedly the chosen sport for the young and uber-fit, triathlon isn’t necessarily a sport just for kids. I heard recently that a person reaches his highest aerobic fitness levels in his 30’s and 40’s (not too sure about the aforementioned couch-potatoes of course), although whether or not this statement is true, I don’t know.

Also, grumpy old men of my age do tend to be more financially stable than those younger whipper-snappers and what better stuff to spend all that disposable income on than the go-faster stripes and carbon kit which gives one a few seconds head-start on a triathlon race track, and this is what I did last year with the purchase of a completely new tri-specific wardrobe. But of course that’s the same for many of my counterparts and this does mean, therefore, that my age group is a very tough one. Take a walk around a transition area for the 40-45 age group and you will see some spectacular bling on display. Cervellos abound, you just take a gulp and hope that they puncture or something. But it does make you push yourself to your limits week after week after week. No time to sit on your laurels. This makes the whole thing all very exciting.

This week I did another mountain bike session, this time with Alex around Brickhill Woods, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. I did a swim too, but again very little else. That’s all about to change now that I am at the end of my post-season recovery month and am busy writing my training plan for next season. No more swiping the snooze button and rolling over for an extra few minutes sleep.

Stay with me for the next few months and see how I get on. If you see me slacking, please PLEASE give me a kick up my 41 year old backside and a ‘rap’ around the knuckles – Nelly-stylie!!

That was the year that was...

2008-10-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

The end of the season and here is Bradley's End of Year Report.

Swim

2008 review:

Colin started the year with great promise with regular improvements at 400 metres. Times down to a steady 6:40. After joining Shires Triers triathlon club in the Spring Colin began structured swim training sessions although this was at the expense of his usual swimming sessions. Nevertheless, times continued to improve, culminating in a 400m PB at the Concorde Sprint Triathlon of 6:29 (first ever sub-6:30 in a race). 1500 metre times did not improve, despite the purchase of the all-singing-all-dancing Blue70 Helix wetsuit.

Aims for next year:

Sub 6:20 400 metre time. Sub 12 minutes 750 metre time (open water). Sub 25 minutes 1500 metre time (open water).

Effort: B
Achievement: B+

Bike

2008 review:

Colin improved enormously this year on the bike and this is down to his hard efforts on his shiny new carbon steed - the Planet X Stealth. Colin's 10 mile time-trial times improved consistently throughout the Summer season, culminating in a PB of 25:09.

Aims for next year:

Sub 25 minute 10 mile time trial. Sub 35 minute 20K. Sub 1:10 40K.

Effort: A
Achievement: A

Run

2008 review:

Colin worked very hard on his running this year, however his run times have not particularly improved, although he did achieve a 5K time trial PB of 21:25, so all credit to him for putting in a lot of hard work. A running plan from tri247 in the Winter of 2007 put Colin in good stead for the Spring of 2008, and he continued this through the rest of the season. Colin would do far better if he was to curb his eating and drinking habits and lost some excess weight.

Aims for next year:

Sub 20 minute 5K time trial. To continue his training plan from Coach Mark K. Colin must appreciate the need for perseverance and keep to the plan religiously. Patience is the key.

Effort: B+
Achievement: C

Core Strength

2008 review:

Despite starting the year with a core strength training plan, Colin managed none whatsoever except for a few 15 minute sessions at the gym after spinning classes. No further comment.

Aims for next year:

To improve core strength by devoting a minimum of 2 gym sessions per week at 30 minutes per session.

Effort: U (Ungraded)
Achievement: U

Races

2008 review:

A very busy and highly enjoyable season, although Colin did suffer from burnout by the end of the year. Transition times particularly pleasing, this as a result of regular transition practice sessions.

Highlights of the season were a PB and a first-ever sub 2:30 at Milton Keynes Olympic, completing the Thames Turbo series, a 4th place at the Bedford Mini and a 25:09 PB 10 mile time trial on the bike. Lowlight most definitely the Vitruvian, but also being (unfairly) DQ'd from the final Thames Turbo Sprint.

Aims for next year:

To build upon this year's very pleasing results by improving at each discipline, to include transitions. Colin must not be too keen to enter so many races, otherwise he might suffer from burnout again at the time of the season when he needs to be at his peak fitness.

Overall comments

Colin has recognised his weaknesses in running and concentrated heavily on this discipline during the year, although this has been at the slight detriment of his swim training. Colin's improved bike times are testament to his hard work out on the road, on the turbo trainer and in the gym at spin sessions. Colin needs to build on his successes of the season and carry this through the Autumn and Winter months ready for his very important World Qualifying Races in 2009.

Overall, a good year. Well done Colin!

*****

The Stealth and Helix are both away for the Winter and only one more week of easy stuff before I am back to it. A mountain bike session last week, and probably another one this week and maybe a swim and run session.

Finally, very remiss of me not mentioning Queen Chrissie's amazing successful defence of her Hawaii Ironman title last Sunday week. With a number of high profile wins under her belt during 2008, doubtless her End of Year Report will make for some compulsive reading. A+'s across the board, no doubt. Swot!

Cheers.

C

AfaffandAfan

2008-10-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, a curious title to this week’s blog.

A faff, because I have been faffing around trying to decide what to write about. I had promised myself a review of the 2008 triathlon season, but that went immediately by the wayside after this week’s hugely enjoyable mountain biking, firstly midweek with my mates - Alex, Jev and Jo - over Whipsnade and surrounding trails, then at the weekend at the MTB mecca at Afan.

At the first of these - Whipsnade - Jev, Jo and I turned up a little early and had to wait around for Alex for a few minutes getting cold. All this 'coldness' soon dispersed after Alex turned up and we set off at a swift pace through the trails of Whipsnade. Jo was clearly the strongest and most experienced of us all, whizzing through the trees and dirt tracks, whilst the rest of us tried desperately to keep up. This we did flying through the streets of Dumpstable, reminiscent of the kids flying around on their BMX bikes in the film ET, jumping down concrete steps, through streets and past bemused children on their way to school. A couple of hours later and we were back in Jev's back yard munching on peanut butter on toast and talking of 'men' things (don't ask).

Here we are post-ride....

All this, however, was simply pre-amble to what was to come later in the week at Afan. Joining up with other members from the tri club for their annual pilgrimage to South Wales, we treated ourselves to two hard days of MTB'ing around some very difficult and technical tracks (difficult for me, anyway!), with a very enjoyable Curry night spliced (or should I say 'spiced') in between both days. Here are links to our first day's cycling on Penhydd (with A-M) and The Wall.

My highlight of the weekend was a fabulous run down 'Energy' on White's Level, the type of route that gets serious MTB'ers frothing at the mouth and, also, in a moment of extreme foolishness, a black run - thanks to Jo who assured me that I ‘would be alright, except for the very steep bit at the bottom which you can get off and walk down’. ‘Slide’ down might have been a more appropriate thing to say, because it was a wee bit on the, er, vertical side. Huge fun though and I can see why people love the sport.

Big up to Tony and Paul for enduring, and surviving, pretty bad falls – the former ending up with a hole in his shin, the latter ending up over his handle-bars. If that was me I would have cried and called for my mummy, that’s for sure. Also, congratulations to Anna (aka Mitten) for enduring a tough time on the settee all weekend, sipping (or should I say slurping?) on a glass of red wine for the most part.

Here's the guys and gals fuelling up....

As far as exercise is concerned, that was it really. I haven’t run for a couple of weeks, and have only swum once. With another couple of weeks of off-season recuperation ahead of me, I am still enjoying taking things easy and am thoroughly enjoying doing things 'for the fun of it’, rather than as part of a hard training schedule.

Next week I promise to review my 2008 season before it’s too late and I forget what I did, although this might be a hard promise to keep given that I have another couple of MTB rides booked into the diary. All this blogging – such a faff!

Until next week.....C

Out with the old, in with the...er...old

2008-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

No, not another blog about mountain biking or such like.

I have a client who was a very successful A & R executive, discovering the likes of The Boomtown Rats, Sinead O’Connor and Kool and the Gang (get down on it!). He is now no longer in ‘the business they call show’ and is enjoying his well-earned retirement. Out with the old, so to speak.

I recall very amusing stories over the years involving some famous singers, bands, musicians and the like. One involved a very young, and foul-mouthed, Bob Geldof calling around record companies to get a record deal. Apparently, Sir Geldof eventually did quite well for himself, and also for the world in general.

Another story involved one of my client’s young ‘runners’ (an errand boy) whilst he was at EMI who was very keen to get involved in the music industry. This young lad had absolute no musical ‘ear’, apparently, but had a big mouth and was very canny. His name? Simon Cowell. Mr Cowell is currently doing quite well for himself, but not, as many would argue, for the music world in general. He has been around for a while now so he’s not exactly new to us, and is currently very prominent on our TV screens with the new series of The X Factor. In with the old, you could say.

Recently in the worlds of triathlon and cycling there has been a similar scenario.

Simon Lessing won the South African National Championship in 1988 at age 18, the International Triathlon Union Olympic distance world championships in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1998, the ITU long course world championship in 1996. He had wins at big non drafting classics at Chicago and Alcatraz, dominated the French Iron Tour, was victorious at the 1994 and 1996 Goodwill Games, and triumphed at an indoor race in Bourdeaux and a super sprint in Koblenz. Add to this a still-standing course record Ironman debut at Lake Placid, up to a flash of greatness in July 2008 in which he broke his own course record at Boulder Peak – Simon Lessing was the perfect illustration for an encyclopedia entry on excellence, triathlon version.

Lessing was the best in the world just as I was getting into triathlon and so was a great inspiration to me. Regretably, but I suppose inevitably, he announced his retirement from competitive racing this week at the age of 37.

I never raced against Simon, but a friend of mine, Simon Lamport, did and I remember an amusing story he told me of running down the home straight at the Windsor triathlon (on his first lap of 2), when the crowd lining the edge were shouting and screaming his name. “Simon, go Simon. Yeah, go, go, go. Simon, Simon, Simon”. Just as he flung up his arms, taking in the applause, Simon Lessing then sprinted past him towards the finish line (lap 2 of 2) whilst Simon Lamport turned the corner to continue his race.

Simon Lessing - very regrettably, out with the old.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 to 2005. He is the only individual to win seven times, having broken the previous record of five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain (consecutive) and Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.

Armstrong survived testicular cancer in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He retired from racing on 24 July 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but, very recently, confirmed that he will return to competitive cycling for the 2009 season. I am not sure I am happy with this. He went out at the very top of his sport and I fear that his comeback will not be the spectaculor all-conquering return that everyone is hoping for.

Lance Armstrong - a rather sceptical in with the old.

The first of four weeks of completely unstructured exercise and training this week. A club swim (quite hard actually), a couple of hard’ish MTB sessions (one with Jev, the other a wonderful pub-crawl with Anne-Marie) and a couple of football training sessions. I am not making a log of my sessions, which is part of the off-season recuperation, and am thoroughly enjoying the lack of pressure, both self imposed and from my running coach Mark K.

No triathlon races to report this week, but a 'big up' to my mate Alex (far left below) who posted a PB at the Ridgeway Run organised by my running club, Tring RC. After loads and loads of long, hilly runs over Ashridge during the Summer, Alex's training has obviously paid off at this week's race.

That is not to say that there is nothing going on in the world of triathlon. The biggest Ironman race of the calender, Hawaii Ironman, is taking place as I type this blog and doubtless I shall comment upon it next week.

For the moment, however, all us Brits are routing for Chrissie Wellington (amongst others). Last year, Chrissie took the Ironman world by storm by winning Ironman Hawaii at her first attempt. Then it was most definitely ‘in with the new’ and I suppose you could say this year, still as a relatively newcomer, it is ‘in with the newish’. Good luck Chrissie.

Cheers.

C

Out with the old, in with the new

2008-10-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Season 2008 ended with a no-show - rather like it started.

I was entered with my mate Jev into the final Bedford Sprint of the series. Waking at 5am to heavy wind and rain, a couple of texts later between myself and Jev, and that was it – ZZzzzzzzz – back to the warmth and comfort of my bed.

Reminiscent to what happened at my first race of the season – the Thames Turbo sprint in April. The circumstances were similar – a quick peek outside the previous night to see heavy snow and that was it – no way, and a no-show.

Now that the season has ended and that aspect of my life has (temporarily) closed I am moving into another phase. Enter my new coaching companion for the next few months – Scotty.

Scotty is my new (and first) Mountain Bike, and she and I have already forged a strong bond between us with a slow romantic jaunt in the woods on Saturday (see pictures up top from the top of Pitstone Hill over-looking a long-time local open water swimming venue). When I say slow, I mean REALLY slow - I have run the same course quicker. Here’s my online training log to prove how slow I went.

Many of my friends – Alex, Simon, Paul, Jev - have recently been extolling the virtues of MTB'ing, especially for some off-season interval-type training, and I am positively salivating at the thought of getting down and dirty with Scotty over the coming months. This starts with a much-anticipated forthcoming trip to the Afan Valley in Wales with my tri club on 17th and 18th October. I have to admit that the cycling is really going to be secondary that weekend (no doubt to the scorn of the serious MTB’ers). Food, beer and great company are higher on the agenda for me.

Another person who has finished one phase of his life is my youngest son, Adam, who has just taken his 11+ exam this week after many months of concentrated coaching and practice. Adam's results come through in November so, fingers firmly crossed, here’s hoping for his success. Whatever the results, he has put in 150% effort and I am very, very proud of him. Well done, Adam.

Hardly seems worth putting it up, but here's what I did last week:-

Monday – no training

Tuesday – no training

Wednesday – run – easy at 180 strides per minute, 60 minutes

Thursday – no training

Friday – no training

Saturday – bike - great, fun Mountain Bike over Wacky Racers course

Sunday – no race or training (Bedford no-show)

Over the next few days I shall be evaluating my season and sit down and make plans for 2009. But until then I have hung up my wetsuit and am taking 4 weeks out to recuperate and recover from some hard training and a hard season's racing. Combined with some lurv with Scotty I am sure to be rejuvenated in time for the start of next season’s base training come mid-November.

Until next week, C.

A Tangled Web....

2008-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine emailed the following story to me this week (stay with it - it's pretty good):

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes'.

The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend.'

A rather curious start to this week’s blog, I admit, but, as I enter a very busy period in my professional working calendar, I am trying to make sure that I don’t lose sight of those things which are important to me - the golf balls - and I find that the only way to do so is by organising my time efficiently. Enter ‘mind-mapping’….

Mind-mapping is a fantastic new find for me. It helps me organise my days so well such that I manage, just, to keep my head above water. Curiously, mind-mapping works not be remembering things (as the title would suggest) but by plotting things down on paper in a spider-web type format (see the image up top). I start the day by writing my mind map, which is made up of all the jobs I need to do that day, and ticking each one off as they are done. Some jobs lead to others which is where the map can look a little messy, but it’s not half as messy as if it was all in my head.

Recently, my training has benefited from a bit of mind-mapping. At the beginning of the week I sit down and plan what I am going to do that week and, often, this leads to other sessions. For instance, this coming week I intend doing a brick session (hard bike, followed by hard run), and so the map will show a ‘run’ and ‘bike’ sprouting off from the ‘brick’ bubble, then specific instructions sprouting off from each of those. Confused?

I have found that this type of organisation has revolutionarised both my professional life and personal life. Similar to the internet and email, I don’t know how I ever coped without it.

Having found some 'mojo' this week, I was able to put in a little more training than usual, but as it is nearing the end of the season, I have not been at full-steam. This week’s training looked like this:-

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals

Tuesday – no training
Wednesday – no training
Thursday – run - 45 minute tempo run

Friday – run with my mate Alex - long(ish), hilly Ashridge run, 63 minutes - 3rd fastest ever time

Saturday – no training

Sunday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 25:23 - 2nd fastest ever time - very pleasing final TT of the year

Next week’s exercise mind-map simply looks like this:-

You might notice that the only entry is my final race of the season on Sunday - the Bedford Autumn Sprint. I have competed in this race for a few years now and Sunday's race will be a true test of how my training has progressed throughout this season. Last year I came 49th out of 260 with a time of 1:15:47. I already have it mapped out in my mind how I am going to approach this race - something which, for once, I don't need a spider's web to help me with.

Cheers.

Desperately Seeking Mojo, Baby!

2008-09-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

One of my pet hates (and I know this is going to sound ridiculous) is when people end their sentences at a higher pitch. You know what I mean – making a statement but making it sound like a question. Read this sentence out loud:

“I’m going to the shops?”

Or, how about:

“I’m feeling very happy today?”

Annoying, isn’t it? No? Well I think it is.

I have heard that we have our Australian cousins, in particular their daily soaps (Neighbours, Home and Away, etc.) to thank for this particular type of talking. It is predominantly spoken by teenagers and 20-somethings, but more recently I have even heard it spoken by people in their 30's and 40's. Arghhh! They should be bound and gagged, simple as.

There has been a definite proliferation of peculiarities like this filtering into society over recent years. Another is ‘text language’. Now, I think texting is a great way of communicating if you have something you need to say quickly and be done with it – something like ‘on my way home, put the kettle on’ or ‘go upstairs and wait for me there’ :-). What annoys the hell out of me, though, is the terrible abbreviations in 'text speak’ which make the whole thing incomprehensible, i.e. "gtg, spk l8r", translated as “got to go, speak later”. Texts are great, but, please, please don’t let the grammar and spelling slip. There’s no need for that.

A particular word which has sneaked into the English language recently, and one which I am hearing on a daily basis, is ‘mojo’. This is a definition of the term ‘mojo’ from Wikipedia:-

'Mojo (pronounced /ˈmoʊdʒoʊ/) is a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo. A mojo is a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn under clothing.'

In popular British culture, the term 'mojo' is used to express one’s level of happiness, and I think it has become popular since being used by Austin Powers. How it has gone from being a magic charm to an indicator of happiness I’ll never know, but that’s not important in the context of this week's blog.

The point of all this is to say that I have lost my mojo (which I think you could have guessed by the 'angry' tone of the opening paragraphs!). Well and truly. It does happen occasionally, usually when I am overworked, under-exercised, under-fed and under-slept, but strangely I think that it is now because I am actually over-raced and feeling a little burnt out from the constant weekly racing. You see, weekends, in the context of triathlon, should be spent training, with the odd race interspersed here and there, but instead I am racing every weekend and hardly training at all. My sleep is being affected, as is my nutrition strategy. My work is very busy at the moment too which I think is also contributing to my current loss of mojo.

So, here I am, not training and with little enthusiasm, frankly, to do anything. Look at this paltry display of training over the past week:-

Monday – no training

Tuesday – no training

Wednesday – no training

Thursday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 25:59 - three seconds quicker than last time (four weeks ago)

Friday – no training

Saturday – monster brick session - bike - hard interval session, 1 hour 40 minutes - run – easy at 177 strides per minute, incorporating hops, strides and sprints, 45 minutes

Sunday – no training

I think I just need to give myself a good kick up the backside and get back to work, both socially and professionally. I plan to take the brakes off after the Bedford Sprint on 5th October for a month in order to recuperate, but until then I need to find my mojo again. I know it's there, ready and waiting - its just finding it which is the issue.

Big-up this week to Jim from the tri club for a fantastic performance at the challenging New Forest Middle Distance, placing 27th out of 326 finishers!

Cheers and next week I will be more cheerful. That's a promise, Baby!

Colin

Inspirations and Innervisions

2008-09-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Highlight of the week is without doubt last Monday’s Stevie Wonder concert – his first UK live appearance in over 10 years and I woz there!

From the opening number – 'All Blues' (a Miles Davis cover) – to the close with the fabulous 'Superstition', we were mesmerized by the man’s talent and showmanship. It was easy to forget that he is blind, such are the wonder (no pun intended) of his songs and musicianship.

Stevie Wonder was blinded from complications at birth and so has no concept of what the world looks like, other, I suppose, than what he can make of it from his other senses and in his imagination. Despite this, or maybe because of this, he developed an amazing talent for song-writing and performing at a very early age. His breakthrough came at the age of 12 when he had a major hit with ‘Fingertips’ (with a young Marvin Gaye on drums). Such an inspiration to us all.

How can one not also be inspired by our fantastic paralympians? We thought that our able-bodied team did well (and they did), but what about their less-abled counterparts? The medal board currently shows that we are in second place – behind China but, more significantly, ahead of the Yanks, with 40 golds, 22 silvers and 25 bronzes. Wow!

There has been a noticeable increase in disabled triathletes at races at which I have participated recently. At last week’s miserable Vitruvian (see previous blog post) there were athletes who were cycling on their specially adapted wheelchairs (blinged up with Zipps!). A couple of weeks prior to this at the Bedford Olympic they were there too. And the same goes for this week’s race – the Dorney Orca Olympic distance at Dorney Lake, the same venue as the very popular Eton Super-Sprints.

All this has been very humbling. I am honoured and priviledged to be racing with these phenominally gifted and determined athletes and to line up with them on the start line provides fantastic inspiration as the season nears its end.

So, to this week’s training and racing – training was put to the back burner in order to recover from the Vit and also to taper for the Orca Olympic, but here is what I did (don’t laugh!):-

Monday – recovery day
Tuesday – recovery day
Wednesday – recovery day/tapering
Thursday – run – Ashridge XC with Alex – 5’ish miles – as fast as possible at 177 strides per minute
Friday – tapering
Saturday – tapering
Sunday – race – a very enjoyable Dorney Orca Olympic (1500m open water swim, 40km bike, 10km run) – 2:31:04 (just missing out on my second sub-2:30 of the year!) - see photos below (copyright the lovely Anne-Marie – thanks A-M, the best supporter
in the world!)

A big well done to Jev who, returning from a post Ironman Austria period of easy training and racing, posted a fantastic 1:10 in the Dorney Orca Sprint distance. Results not up yet so don't know his placing, but you can bet it'll be up there with the big boys.

This coming week I need to get back into the swing of things. The last two weeks have been a bit of a washout because of the Vit – the first week tapering, the second recovering – and so I will be increasing the intensity for my next (and final) race of the season – the Bedford Autumn Sprint on 5 October.

Another inspirational song by Mr Wonder last Monday was ‘Visions’ from the 1973 Grammy award winning album ‘Innervisions’ (a must-have for any self-respecting music fan). A beautiful song which brought the house down - all about the hope that a world of peace might one day exist. For me, my current vision is less dramatic (and a lot more selfish), and is my hope that I can emulate those fantastic less-abled athletes with a similar display of determination when I compete in those much-anticipated World Championship qualifying races next year.

Cheers, and bye for now.

C

Right then, children, what have we learnt today?

2008-09-07T13:13:00.001-07:00

Adam, my youngest son, will be taking his 11+ exam in a few weeks time. If he passes he will be eligible for acceptance into one of the highly commended Grammar schools in Aylesbury, so it is quite important, although some might question whether or not so much pressure is good for the kids at such an early age.

For the uninitiated, 11+ questions are sorted into specific groups. They do not test general knowledge but instead they test an individual’s aptitude and ability to solve problems. Over the past few months I have been coaching Adam, in addition to his private tuition and school lessons, for the exam which he is taking early October. More recently this has concentrated on those particular types of questions with which he has been having particular difficulty.

This week’s question-type which Adam has learnt is type “C”. Here’s an example:-

If the code for TRAP is USBQ, what does DPME mean? The answer is COLD (I’ll leave you to figure out why).

It's all about learning the ‘method’. If you can do this then you will get all the questions correct; if not and they’ll all be wrong. Adam has learnt the method this week and, consequently, has got all the type C questions correct. The look on his face when the penny dropped was priceless.

I too learnt something very important this week and that is that I must not enter races unprepared. Take Saturday’s Vitruvian, for example. Whilst I am generally fit and ready for Sprint and Olympic distances, my fitness is nowhere near what it should be to take on anything longer.

From the moment I got out of the swim the race was sheer hell. My legs were shot to pieces and I had incredible lower back pains after 30 miles of the 50 mile bike. Getting off the bike, I could not feel my legs, and things just went downhill from there. For some reason, as I crossed the finish line I actually broke down in tears. I’m not sure why, but I think it was out of relief that I had finished and also anger at myself for having put myself through it all.

Truth be told, I only entered the race to join in with the other members of the club, but what has it done for me? I have raced over much harder courses, but I cannot recall any other race where I have struggled more to get past the finish line. I didn’t enjoy it and I am now a totally spent force for the coming week’s training. It wasn’t part of my season-plans at the beginning of the year, and it has cost me a small fortune.

I know now, more than ever, that I must not veer from my pre-arranged training schedule merely for the sake of vanity. I have been there, seen it, done it, etc. and have nothing to prove to myself at long distance races, so I must stick with what my coach Mark K has told me to do and nothing else. If I don’t then I know it will all end in more tears.

Very little training this week as I was tapering for the Vit, but here’s what I did anyway (in Portugal until Tuesday):-

Monday – run – progressions at 5k pace
Tuesday – run – fast 5k time-trial – 2 minutes faster than over same course last year
Wednesday – rest day (tapering)

Thursday – rest day (tapering)
Friday – rest day (tapering)
Saturday – race – Vitruvian Middle Distance tri (1900m swim, 85k bike, 21k run) – 5:39:52 (see some of the Shires Triers contingent below - from left to right: Jo, Rob (aka Bananaman), Paul's son (not racing!), Paul, Me)
Sunday – recovery day

Big ups to Jo for being the fastest Shire of the day, and to Tracey who completed her season aim and finished her first long distance race, but I think most congratulations should go to Paul Clutten who chopped off a whole 30 minutes from last year’s time at the same race. Goes to show what some hard, specific training can do.

But my biggest congratulations of all over the weekend must go to my good friend Robert Collis who placed first in his age group at the washed-out Northampton Olympic. Bob is a bit of a poser and so couldn’t resist sending me a couple of pics which I shall share with you all below. If you look closely in the second picture you will see a tent, half submerged, in the distance!

EDIT: Another big fat pat on the back to another friend from the tri club, Dan, who I have just found out managed a fantastic top 25% place in his first ever Olympic at the aforementioned Northampton wash-out. Dan hasn't ran 6 miles for over a year and yet still beats my PB! Git! Well done, Dan.

Next week it will be back to run-specific stuff, culminating in the Dorney Lake Orca Olympic distance race, my penultimate race in a very long and enjoyable season. Am looking forward to it very much.

Before then, though, I am off to see Stevie Wonder at Birmingham NIA on Monday in one of his rare UK concerts. As a big life-long fan I couldn’t resist the temptation of tickets as soon as I heard he was coming to the UK. A particular favourite song of mine is "Uptight", which is exactly how I feel right now about how I needlessly, but temporarily, let my training go off course.

Cheers.

Mr Blue Sky

2008-09-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sun is shinin’ in the sky,
There ain’t a cloud in sight,
It’s stopped rainin’,
Everybody’s in a play,
And don’t you know,
It’s a beautiful new day, hey, hey

Hey there Mr Blue,
We’re so pleased to be with you,
Look around, see what you do,
Everybody smiles at you

Lyrics sung by Jeff Lynne of pop band ELO circa 1977 in the Number One song Mr Blue Sky. This past week has been filled with Mr Blue Sky during my annual trip away with the little Colin’s to Portugal’s Algarve where the sun beat down on us everyday with 30+ temperatures.

I was a big fan of ELO in my pre-teenage years, although I was alone with this fascination whilst the rest of my friends were jamming to the Jam and blocking to the Blockheads. Nonetheless, my love of Messrs Lynne, Bevan et. al. always reminds me of my early years.

Another early childhood memory was my frequent visits to the Kingsbury Lido in North London during the Summer months where, together with my brother Graeme, we would visit my grandparents each year. I have since retained a (some might call) nerdy passion for Lido’s (an Italian term, originating from Venice, pronounced ‘Leedo’, not ‘Lydo’), using them for both social and training purposes.

Lido’s are open-air pools, built predominantly in the 1930’s of magnificent architecture and design, but which have since gone into mass decline due to the costs of their upkeep and the low demand in the UK for open-air swimming. The Kingsbury pool has, alas, been one of those casualties, having been demolished and grassed over in 1994.

Over the summer I have been taking the kids to a local lido in Eversholt, the location of a sprint triathlon in which I participated, organised by Big Cow back in 2005, ironically before my most recent interest in all-things-Lido had re-ignited. The lido is a favourite of mine because it is in a beautiful location overlooking the village green. When the kids are mucking around in the water I can chill in the heat (an anomaly in itself) with a beer and picnic on the grass.

I have also been visiting the ponds at Hampstead Heath which, believe it or not, are also considered to be Lidos amongst the Lido fraternity. The Heath is such a wonderfully idyllic place, particularly on the grass by the ‘mixed’ pond, and it is great just to sit there and people-watch.

Very nearby the ponds is the Parliament Hill Lido. This is a 70-or-so metre pool at which I, along with my mates Simon and Alex, undertook a 5 ½ kilometre Swimathon a couple of years ago. The Swimathon was part of our training for the 2006 Ironman Austria. Shortly before this, we had cycled up to Cambridge to the magnificent 100-yard Jesus Green Lido as part of another training session.

And so all this brings me back to the beginning of the week where I raced the fourth and final Thames Turbo sprint triathlon. Location? The Hampton Lido. A lido built in 1922 and heated to a whopping 28 degrees - see picture below. The Thames Turbo sprint series is a 4-race series raced annually over the Summer bank holidays and the final event was the bank holiday Monday just passed. Competing with Dan (a friend from my tri club), we had a tenner stake on who would win out of the two of us. As it happened, I got a DQ (my first ever) – for apparently jumping a red light (don't ask!) – and Dan did a DNF because he was still carrying a cold caught earlier in the week – a fact of which I am grateful because I was odds on for losing my stake money – and so we are arranging a re-match sometime soon. Despite the DQ, a highly recommended series of races, and great for comparing your times over the season and gauging your improvements (or not) in speed over the same course.

My sun-kissed training over the week looked like this (in Portugal from Tuesday):-

Monday – race - Thames Turbo sprint race 4 - 1:10:00 - DQ - position not recorded
Tuesday – rest day
Wednesday – rest day
Thursday – run - 5 mile tempo run
Friday – run - 5 miles hill and sprint repeats
Saturday – rest
Sunday - run - 5 miles fast pace and 5 miles interval

Next week (actually, this week - I am writing this blog on Wednesday evening), I am tapering for the Virtuvian (Middle Distance), so am scaling down my training.

So, having returned to good old Blighty and its wonderful Autumn weather – you know, strong wind, grey skies, cold temperatures – I look up to the sky, wish I was back in the Algarve, and humm the words not from Mr Blue Sky, but from Why Does It Always Rain on Me, by Travis.

Ahh, roll on next Summer, but until then here's a few giant-sized piccies of our Summer holiday to the sunny Algarve.......

First up, the kids enjoying a giant-sized Pepsi - from left to right there's Emily, Joe and Adam....

Next, some waterslide racing - there's Emily splashing home in first place (left), Joe second (middle) and Adam third (right)....

And, finally, Adam (or, rather, the top of his head) doing some star gazing...

Bye for now.

C

Mixing with the hoity toity

2008-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

This week I raced in the shortest race in the world, ever, anywhere – the Bedford mini. A 200m river swim, 15km bike, 3.3km run. Actually, that’s not quite true - I did compete in a very short race on the South Coast a couple of years back wearing my infamous pink tri suit and placed second. At Bedford I came 4th, and 1st in my age group.

I have done Bedford twice before – 2004 and 2007 – and have improved each time (except this time I think the swim was long because my swim time was double last year's time). This goes to show that age isn’t necessarily a limiting factor when it comes to triathlon, and I am sure that I read somewhere that a person’s aerobic capacity does actually increase in their 30’s and 40’s. It’s not without a lot of hard work though, I can tell you.

I was looking through the results of the Bedford race from years gone by and it appears that I am in very good company. Apparently, a certain Chrissie Wellington won this race in 2006. Now, unless you’ve been living on planet Zogg for the past year or so, you will know thatChrissie is our very own World Ironman champion, having raced Hawaii last year, winning at her first attempt.

Another person whose name appeared on the results sheet of a race which I have done this year is Hollie Avil. Hollie was one of our Olympic hopefuls who unfortunately didn’t perform to her best ability this week because of an upset stomach. She raced Duston in 2006 in a time of 1:01:37. I raced Duston this year in a time of 1:06:52.

Hollie wasn’t the only British Olympian to suffer illness problems. It happened to Tim Don too who likewise performed well below his best. Tim was our great Gold Medal hope, but it was Alistair Brownlee who kept me awake at 3am this week whilst I was mesmerised by his courage and conviction against the World’s best. He eventually came in a very creditable 12th and first Brit home.

All this lack of sleep meant that I was in no fit state to train as much as I had hoped to this week, although what little I did do was short, fast, quality stuff. Here’s what happened….

Monday – rest day
Tuesday – run - fast sprints
Wednesday – run - hard intervals
Thursday – bike - hard intervals with tri club
Friday – bike - fast, around Bedford mini tri course with Alex
Saturday – OWS - intervals at Blue Lagoon with Dan from tri club
Sunday - race – Bedford mini tri (200m open water - River Ouse, 15K bike, 3.3K run) – 49:43 - 4th position overall (56 raced), 1st in age group (see the Shires Triers contingent below - from left to right: Me, Anne-Marie, Mitten, Tom, Maurice)

Next week I am off to Portugal for some quality time with the little Colin’s who have just returned from a week away in France where they had a thoroughly enjoyable time. I am hoping for a bit of warm weather training whilst I am there, but nothing too energetic – perhaps some sea swimming and a few runs. I mustn’t push it too hard because, with the miserable Summer we have had this year, I am not used to training in the heat. I must also be careful with what I eat. After all, I don’t want to suffer the same fate as our disappointed Olympians. Or, then again, perhaps I should find out what Chrissie eats on her holidays. Where’s the phone........?

Cheers.

C

Confessions on Super Sunday

2008-08-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Isn't the Olympic Games exciting? As I sit here now and write this blog, they are calling it 'Super Sunday' for the Brits, with fantastic gold medal performances from our swimmers and cyclists (amongst others) over the weekend. Sweet inspiration.

I always thought that competitors at the Olympics were unpaid amateurs but the attendance at the Beijing Games currently by names such as Nadal, Ronaldinho et. al. led me to do a bit of research.

The English public schools of the second half of the 19th century had a major influence on many sports. They subscribed to the Ancient Greek and Roman belief that sport formed an important part of education, an attitude summed up in the saying: mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a healthy body. In this ethos, a gentleman was one who became an all-rounder, not the best at one specific thing (step aside the 'pure' swimmers, cyclists and runners - make space for us triathletes).

There was the typically English concept of "fairness" in which, bizarrely, practicing or training was considered as tantamount to cheating; it meant that you considered it more important to win than to take part. Those who practiced a sport professionally were considered to have an unfair advantage over those who practiced it merely as a "hobby". In short, professionals were cheats.

This ethos greatly influenced the creators of the Games. In their vision, athletes should be gentlemen and, initially, only amateurs were considered such; thus, professional athletes were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. This exclusion of professionals has caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics and it gradually became clear to many that the amateurism rules had become outdated, such that in the 1970s amateurism requirements were dropped from the Olympic Charter. This switch was perhaps best exemplified by the American Dream Team, composed of well-paid NBA stars, which won the Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1992. Now, apparently, the only sports in which no professionals compete are boxing and baseball.

So, it appears that the Olympics is a sport which allows professionals and amateurs to compete against each other. How refreshing. And how refreshing that the same applies in triathlon, and none more apparent was this than at the London Triathlon recently where first-timers were racing at the same time and on the same course as the world's best.

A major difference between age group and elite racing, of course, is the drafting rule. This is the practice whereby a cyclist tucks in behind the rider in front which has the very beneficial effect of shielding him or her from the wind and, thus, creating less drag. This greatly reduces the effort needed to achieve the same speed. Elites are allowed to draft – but age groupers are not – and many view this as cheating. This brings us neatly back to the original Olympics ethos which banned professionals, so-called cheaters, from competing.

So, why the picture of my beautiful steed – the Planet X Stealth, fully equipped with Union Jack saddle perched upon it - at the top of this week’s blog? And why the title 'Confessions'? Well, alas I have to confess that I have not conducted my racing this year with particular 'gentlemanly conduct'. I have cheated, and the source of my indiscretion has been the Stealth - my very own performance enhancing drug.

I purchased 'her' at the beginning of the summer and have used her for races, time trials and interval training sessions alike. As the months have gone by, my speed has increased dramatically. I suppose that it might have something to do with my training, but I am also sure that it must also be down to the Stealth - the way it is set-up, it's gearing, its weight. It MUST be giving me an unfair advantage over my competitors, and whilst it is not cheating in the conventional sense of the word, I reckon that those 19th century public school masters would have frowned upon its existence.

And why the cheesy Union Jack saddle? Well, two-fold really. As a reminder as to why I am doing all this, of course. Every time I place my fat backside on THAT saddle it gives me that little bit of inspiration. And also in recognition of our fantastic British Olympians over the weekend.

This week's training and racing looks like this:-

Monday – club swim - intervals
Tuesday – rest day (suffering from neck and knee pains)
Wednesday – rest day (still suffering)
Thursday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 26:02 - one second quicker than last week, but on a flatter course with a stronger head-wind
Friday – run – easy at 174bpm, incorporating hops, strides and sprints
Saturday – OWS - easy at Blue Laggon with tri club
Sunday - race – Concorde Sprint Triathlon (400 metre pool sprint, 20K bike, 5K run) – 1:10:27 - 39th position overall (278 raced), 15th out of 79 in age group (see event photo below)

The kids are away in France this coming week so I am going to try to cram in as much training as possible to take my mind from missing them. I am also entered into the Bedford Mini triathlon next Sunday - a race which I have done a couple of times before and at which I am hoping to PB.

So, as I finish this week’s blog, I am once again looking at the GB medal board over this weekend which has been completely dominated by the track cyclists. Would Wiggins, Hoy, Romero et. al. have achieved their brilliance without the assistance of their very own Stealth-type carbon machines? Maybe, but perhaps not quite so convincingly. And are they considered as cheats? Of course not. So, I suppose that eases my conscience whilst I sit here studying my ever-improving bike times and clean my Stealth from another hard day at the office.

Until next time, salut! And let's have one last big, fat photo of my current love....

Cheers, C

Il qui ne fait rien fait la défectuosité

2008-08-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have recently taken up learning (or re-learning) that most romantic of languages - French.

I was pretty good at the 'ooh, la, la' stuff at school following an exchange with Pierre who attended a school somewhere near Paris but, alas, the opposite sex took hold and I lost all my faculties. The art of speaking French was one of those casualties.

Anyway, my current studies are DVD-based and concentrate heavily on pronunciation and I learn whilst driving. The two words to concentrate on in the title of this week’s blog are ‘qui’ and ‘ne’. Apparently, these two words, when spoken one after the other, should be rolled together and pronounced as one word, not as two separate words – so in this example they should be pronounced as ‘keen’, not as ‘kee ne’. Fascinating stuff!

Throughout my school days I was never taught (or perhaps I was, but wasn't listening) that that was how it was pronounced, and now, over 20 years later, I have learnt something new - something so basic and elementary in the art of the French spoken language.

Same with triathlon. After all these years I am still learning the elementary stuff. Like how to run more efficiently or how to take the correct line in an open water swim. That’s why this sport is so consuming. You think you know what you’re doing but then, suddenly, you find out something new. It’s forever changing. Such fun!

Currently, I have been concentrating on my 'achilles heel' which is running (excuse the pun). I suppose I should know how to run. Well, yes, but how to run fast? Nope. Nowhere near the speed I need to be in order to achieve my aims. That’s why I am going back to basics and learning the elementary stuff, with the help of my coach Mark Kleanthous. If a 2:20 London Marathoner cannot get me to full speed then what hope do I have? I suppose I could ease off of the pies and beers – that would certainly help.

This week's training and racing went like this:-

Monday – club swim - intervals
Tuesday – rest day
Wednesday – bike - 10 mile time-trial at Milton Keynes with Jev and Graham (from Team MK), time 26:03 - again, well off my best but it was a different (and harder) course than normal
Thursday – run - drills (hops and skips) and warm up and warm down at 168bpm
Friday – run – 5K time-trial, time 21:25, Personal Best
Saturday – informal race – Brogborough, with my mates Alex and Paul - see pic below (Paul, me and Alex - he's the short guy on tip-toes!)

Sunday - rest day, supporting at the London Triathlon . It was great going back to where it all started for me, and it all got a bit phototastic.

Well done to Anne-Marie (aka 'the Chuffer') for a brilliant peformance, looking wonderful on the super-sexy Cervello Soloist! Here she is storming out on the run straight from the bike.

After the race, I popped along to catch up with a few of my old mates. First-up there's Peter, Maik and Stu (who came in second, first and third respectively).

Then there's Matt (who's done quite well playing rugby since he left school, apparently). He was there doing something on TV about the triathlon.

Finally, just for good measure, here's Joe, me and Adam lying on the grass whilst everyone is huffing and puffing running around Docklands.

My comments on the race could not go by without a Big-Up to my mate Dave Knight from Hillingdon Triathletes who finished in a magnificent 2:13:44, storming in at 48th place in the sub-2:30 wave. Well done, mate!

Next week it's more running with a couple of cycles and swims thrown in for good measure. I don't have a weekend race planned, but I might see if there is a local one which accepts late entries.

So, until the next installment, ‘au revoir’ (meaning goodbye, until we meet again). That’s another French phrase where the two words blend into each other to make a smooth, romantic sound. And, just in case you were wondering, the phrase in this week’s title is from a French proverb – ‘he who does nothing does ill’. A bit like training, really.

Cheers.

Colin

Food, glorious food. And beer.

2008-08-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

This week I watched a programme on TV about the state of British sandwiches. Not the type of programme I would usually watch, but nothing else was on. Apparently, M & S (that great bastion of British institutions) makes a sandwich which contains more fat than a Big Mac and chips! And there is one particular sandwich made by Subway which contains as much salt as eighteen packets of crisps! All very scary stuff indeed.

This got me thinking about my own diet. In my quest to improve my running I know that I could do with shedding a few pounds and so, in light of the TV documentary, I thought I would analyse my food intake for a week (do not confuse this with food out-take in the style of Gillian McKeith).

Check this out….

Breakfasts – Alpen, toast
Lunches – Varying between jacket potatos, chilli con carne (pre-packaged from M & S), bolognese and sauce
Dinner – Beans on toast, take-away curry
Snacks – Twirl, bagels, peanut butter on toast, crisps, service-station rolls
Drinks – coffee, energy drinks, water, beer

We all know that triathletes are in the fortunate position of being able to eat what they want, up to a certain point, but I think, looking at what I have consumed over the past week, that I might be taking this concept a little too literally. I definitely know that beer should be completely off-limits, but that is easier said than done, especially since so many of my friends like a glass or two (or, in the case of one who shall remain nameless, seventeen).

Then there are the pies and chips, oh those pies and chips. Being so busy so much of the time, I don’t often find the time to fit in wholly nutritious foods, so sometimes it’s a quick pie or pastie, a portion of chips, and that’s it. Not the most healthiest of diets, I know, and I am sure that Ms McKeith would have a field day examining my stools (what kind of a job is that?). I do know that I should start watching what I eat and drink, that’s for sure, and it has been a very useful exercise analysing what I have eaten this past week.

This week's pie-induced training went like this:-

Monday - run - 30 minute sprints
Tuesday - rest day
Wednesday - hard brick session, incorporating 60 minute bike interval and 45 run interval sessions
Thursday - bike - 10 mile time-trial - 25:55 - better than previous week but still off my best
Friday - run - 60 minute track session with my coach Mark Kleanthous
Saturday - race - National Relay Championships - 500 metre swim, 15K bike, 5K run - all flat (see event photo below)
Sunday - run - hard interval with Paul McGee

Next week I am off to London to spectate at the London Triathlon, the race which started it all for me years ago (although now at a different venue). Nowadays it is apparently the world’s biggest mass-participation triathlon and so promises to be a fantastic day. Maybe also an opportunity to treat myself to some bike bling.

So, until then, adios. I am off to the pub for a sneaky beer with Jev, then to MacDonalds for one last, fat-filled Big Mac and chips, and boy I am going to enjoy it all! I mean, it can’t be any worse than something from the shelves of M & S can it?

Cheers.

Colin

Surprises, surprises!

2008-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite local runs is over at Ashridge where, over the years, I have ran with friends and, more recently, members of the Tring Running Club.

For those of you who don’t know it, Ashridge is a local beauty spot of approximately 5000 acres of woodland, used occasionally for film sets such as Harry Potter and, apparently, The Dirty Dozen.

This weekend, whilst the kids were at friends and the weather had turned for the better, I decided to take a drive over to Ashridge, on my own and with a picnic and copy of Runner’s World, to take some time out and relax in the sun. Whilst I was there, I took in the real beauty of the woodland. I had the time to actually look at the magnificence of it all and thought how lucky I was to have it right on my doorstop. After many, many miles treading the paths on lonely runs, I was surprised that I had never actually appreciated it all before now.

Another surprise came in the shape of my first ever sub 2:30 Olympic distance triathlon, with a PB to boot, at Milton Keynes the previous Sunday. Along with 20 other members of my triathlon club (stand up Shires Triers and take a bow) I managed to complete the race in 2:23:58. I was particularly pleased with my swim and bike times although it was a bit demoralising being passed by every man and his dog on the run. Big up for Jo Mitchell for the fastest Shire of the day in 2:10:49 – Jo, how do you go so fast??

Not the most jam-packed of training weeks, but here it is:-

Monday – no training, recovery day following MK Olympic the previous day
Tuesday – no training, again, still recovering from MK!
Wednesday – easy swim, incorporating 400 metre time-trial, at David Lloyd gym in Bushey
Thursday – bike – 10 mile time-trial with my mate Jev O’Neill, time 26:58 – nothing to write home about, but 6 miles was against a very tough head-wind
Friday – run – tough 30 minute interval session with my mate Paul McGee
Saturday – race – Bedford Aquathlon (750 metre open water swim, 5K run) – 38 minutes’ish – 8th position overall, winner in my age group (in fact, only competitor in my age group, but hey you gotta be in it to win it!)
Sunday – race – Bedford Open Water Sprint Triathlon (750 metre open water sprint, 22K bike, 5K run) with Jev – 24th position overall (116 raced) - that's me below in transition before the race

Here's a link to my online training diary.

Next week it’s a lot of run-specific stuff, and the National Relays on Sunday. Am really looking forward to that. Plus also another run or two over at Ashridge. This time I am going to appreciate, for once, how lucky I am to have it all so close at hand.

Until then, happy training and have a great week.

Why, oh, why?

2008-07-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

It all began many moons ago in the late 1990's when, after a long lay-off from all sports, I decided to ditch the pipe and smoking jacket in favour of a bike and pair of swimming trunks. After a couple of months cycling to the local pool in Dunstable each morning it was suggested to me by my work colleague Jason Bennett (experienced Marathoner) that I might want to tag a run onto the end and do a triathlon.

I thought that sounded pretty cool and so entered, and finished, the London Sprint Triathlon. The race wasn’t the big commercial affair it is now and I enjoyed it very much. I caught the bug instantly.

The ensuing years saw me competing at very mediocre speeds at all distances – Super-Sprint, Sprint, Olympic, Half Ironman and Ironman. This culminated at Ironman Switzerland where, behind the finish line, I sat quietly on my own and wondered where to go next. I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve and felt deflated. I needed a new challenge.

I was becoming less and less interested in the 100 mile Sunday bike rides, preferring the all-out eye-balling Sprint races which were done and finished in just over an hour. It was at the start line of the 2007 Northampton Sprint (which was a BTA Age Group qualifying event for the 2008 World Sprint Championships), where I smelt the anticipation in the atmosphere. There I was, ready for the off, against the best Age Groupers in the country and I thought ‘this feels good’. It was precisely then that I knew I had found my next challenge - qualification for the GB Age Group Team for the 2009 World Sprint Championships in Australia - and re-kindled my waining interest in the sport in the process.

Ok, I might not be the fastest, but I looked at the results from that day and saw that, had I ‘registered my interest’ to qualify (apparently, this is something you need to do prior to competing for a GB place), I would have actually qualified by the back-door 'roll-out' method (that is where others who were faster than me had not taken up their spot, leaving me next in line).

The qualifying events for the 2009 World Championships are the Big Cow Sprint Triathlon - 6th/7th June 2009, the Grendon Triathlon - 10th May 2009 and the Blithfield Triathlon - 25th/26th July 2009. From now until then I have a lot of training to do.

Join me in my quest to train for those races, ultimately (and hopefully) leading to a place on the start line against the best Age Groupers in the World in Australia in September 2009. The high-energy, glamorous spectacle of the World Champs might seem a million miles away from that first low-key race in London all those years ago but I want, I need, to experience that unique smell of anticipation once more.