World Champs advenure 2013

My latest adventure was Triathlon long distance world champs (1^st June 2013).

Garth giving me some prerace advice at team dinner

These were held in Belfort, France, and were advertised as a 4km swim, 120km bike, and a 30km run. However, “as advertised” became a 10km run-90km bike-20km run, as the water was deemed too cold. It was cold! Test swim on Thursday before confirm ANY doubts about that. Officially it was 14 degrees, I think it was closer to 11! While I would have preferred a swim, even a shorter one, there would have been carnage out on course with the cold water, cold air (12-14 degree air temperature and 5-6 degrees at the top of the climb), and triathletes tendency not to use commonsense in dressing for cold weather in races!

it is colder than it looks! 

I was pleasantly surprised how well the race was re-organised, and how pretty much all the athletes accepted the decision and got on with planning for the changes. The course had a 10km loop (sort of a figure 8), which was half road and half gravel road/trail. One lap for the first run and two for the 2^nd. The bike had around 35km “flatter” terrain (smaller hills), then around 13km up Ballon d’ Alsace – which half was gradual and half reasonably solid steady climbing (~8%). The final flatter loop on the original bike course was shortened – but mostly flatter back to transition (not much actual flat, but no big hills).    

How the race went for me.

I knew the pace in the first run would be fast, and quite a few would run far too fast. I did not see much advantage in going out fast, as “legal drafting” on this bike course would not be a huge factor. So the plan was a strong start and settle in to around 38min 10 km pace. I felt this was around 2:30 slower than I felt I was capable of doing. The pace was fast at the start, but I did feel it was controlled and sat in behind a few bigger guys – getting some wind protection. After the first km, I did feel I was running my pace, but still with the front pack. 5km went in pretty much exactly 19 minutes, and a couple of guys had run off the front, but I just settled into my pace. The run finished in 37min (9.7km) – almost smack on pace. I took the transition pretty slowing – to make sure I got it right, as I felt an extra minute here would pay back later – being warm and fed. First hiccup of the race happened with my cycling vest – with the zip breaking. After trying for what felt like 5 minutes (probably just over a minute), I gave up on the vest and went with what I had – including a thermal blanket to use later on (down the hills).I still had a good thermal under my race suit and arm-warmers on.

let's get the show on the road!

First run: 37:00, 9.7km, 159 average hr, 3:49min/km average pace

1^st 5km in 19.00, 157hr, 3:48 min/km, (24m net altitude gain)

2^nd 4.7km 18:00, 162hr, 3:48 min/km, (22m net alt loss)

On to the bike and I riding through a few – but all our paces were different on the flat, up hills and down hills, do there was really no group action going on! The plan on the bike was 240-260w on the flat, up to 320w on climbs, and being careful not to go over 350w – especially on the shorter climbs. Early on this felt pretty easy. On the lower climbs of Ballon d Alsace there was a small group which was a little frustrating, a couple of guys would pass then slow down. I knew it was not me – as I had steady power numbers. But I sat back and watched and waited a little and as soon as the road went up to a solid slope just went to 300-320w and went passed them all quite convincingly. This happened to coincided with a draft buster arriving and giving the others a few whistles and some grief!

Once I hit the proper part of the climb (over 5% gradient) things did settled in nicely. I just focused on keeping the pedal action nice and smooth and keeping the power around 300-320w, and just being careful not to go over 350w – particularly on the steeper parts.

It was hard to tell where the top was exactly, as there was a thick fog hanging in the air. But I took in a good amount of food, and stuffed the thermal blanket up under my top in the last km over the top. I felt OK temperature wise, but did not want to get cold on the downhill. Figured before the race that the downhill would also be good for digesting food/water. I did get passed by a few on the downhill – mainly as I had given myself a good scare on a small downhill early on in the bike! Rolled through the last 10km, which was a little narrow country lane like and a little cyclo-cross like (ie weaving between potholes and deeper gravel).  

bit wet in transition - but it got worse!

Data for the bike:

Time: 2hr42min, 87km, average power: 244w, best 30minutes (mostly the climb!): 303w, average hr for ride 143, altitude gained: 1347m.

2^nd transition was a little slow, and ended up sticking with the shoes from the first run (they were where the bike was racked, basically because I thought taking them off - and putting the others on was going to be too hard! The first couple of kms were pretty ugly, and I had to take a toilet stop – as did most others around me - it would appear! The legs came right and I felt better and better and started to run though a few more people as the km’s ticked off. Mostly I focused on getting to the next aid station, and keeping the fluids and food going in. I was getting in more than I usually would, and felt quite comfortable doing so. I felt it was one of me best races ever nutrition wise! My left quad was giving me some grief – just getting sore though – the usual “longer duathlon” sore! Felt good and getting better after 10km, and was getting optimistic that I could push harder on the last 5km. At the 15km mark the optimism evaporated quite quickly with a couple of severe calf cramps. These basically took the legs out from underneath me. So the next 5km was a walk-run-hobble combination to get to the finish line.

For the final run (average data):

First 30min: 145hr, 4.37pace (6.47km)

Middle 40min 151hr, 4:35 pace, (8.67km)

Last 30min 128hr, 5:56min/km (5.05km)

Overall 1:39:59, 19.98km, 142hr average, 4:50 min/km average

A little disappointed in hindsight to lose 10min+ in the last 5km of the run – I was pretty happy to get through the race, and did enjoyed experience overall. I do enjoy the Worlds experience overall – they are a great reason for a holiday! Most of the others there are also there to enjoy themselves – which makes for a great atmosphere. Just wish they would choose better timing for the locations – so the weather/conditions don’t affect the races so much and so often! 

Cross country time

I have sort of started phase 2 of my training, although really it is finishing phase 1, and waiting to kick the next block into gear. The first block of training was to get fit enough that I could do a block of good training, and cope with it. Also to do the cross country season – get practice at racing. Both for getting tactical practice and just some race hardness! Here we go on how the cross country season went – five races in all.
I sort of left the start of my run training 3-4 weeks too late, and was a little less run fit for the first cross country race of the season, than I was hoping for. I had no one to blame for that but me!

I lined up for the first race which was 3 laps to get 7.5km. The plan was to be a little conservative at the start and build through the laps and set a benchmark for where I was at. So the gun goes off, and we are underway. 200m later the lungs are on fire, the leaders are almost out of sight already, and I am already wondering what has gone so badly wrong! Am I just running on the spot? There was a good group of masters me ahead, me, and then a good group behind. I was running solo between the groups. It was just plan hard the entire way. I think relatively I did move up through the field a little as the race went on, but I think it was more that the others took off very fast. At the end I was 3^rd in my age group, 1:36 behind the winner, and 8^th masters men, a long 3minutes behind the fastest masters winner.

Two weeks later and it is a little over 8km (suppose to be 8.2), and a flatter and faster circuit this time. Again the front group take off and I am well left behind, and not really running with anyone. Felt I went as fast as I could on the day, but not quite the same “oh my god what is happening to me” feeling that I had in the first race (which I was happy about). I did feel I ran the slightly down hill and tail wind parts of the course well. Second in age group and 7^th Masters, but a couple were missing from the last race., 53 seconds down on the age group winner and 2:19 down on overall masters winner. A good improvement over the last race.

Another 2 weeks later and it is 10km on a muddy course that is going to chop up badly (5 laps). This is going to be hard! A few short steep climbs and quite variable under foot on this race (bog and hard packed tracks). I manage to hang on a little better at the start this time, but on the short up hills I lost around 20m each time, and struggle a bit on the boggy stuff. Slowly drift off the front group to watch them run into the distance (again). I do feel stronger, and pick up a few others that blow up through the middle of the race. But it is just 40 minutes in the hurt box. Each lap gets slower as you sink further into the bog. Another 2^nd in age group, and 7^th masters overall. 51 seconds off the age winner, just under 3minutes off the overall masters winner. Probably an OK result, it was not a good course for me.

Next up is short, flat and fast, 4km (2 laps). I was feeling a little tender on the stomach for a couple of days before this, so was not sure if that was going to be a factor. The gun goes off, and I stick with the front group for around 800m and feel OK. Then at a sharp turn around I get dropped (not so good a line and no acceleration out of the corner). Can’t do anything to bridge back up, and drift back. I try to use parts of the course to my advantage, and focus on running good lines. Push the tail wind and flat even sections, and a little less effort on the rough stuff. The second lap is more on keeping the pressure on so I don’t get caught – it is a struggle today. Another 2^nd in age group and 9^th master overall. 30 seconds down on age group winner and a long 1:25 to the overall masters winner. OK for the way I felt in hind sight, but don’t think I actually did the best I could on the day which I was a bit frustrated with. Sort of battle against myself and made the effort hard, rather than trying to go fast and be relaxed. Must do better in that regard next time.

There was a bit of a break and then there was the final race, back to the bog circuit, but only 8km this time, and they took a few of the nasty short climbs out. But it was still wet underfoot. The training between races had not been spectacular, but had been quite consistent, so was keen to see if that had an effect. Underway again, and this time I am sitting with the leaders quite comfortably, in front of the guy who has beaten me soundly all season. Feel reasonably relaxed and in control – this is good! Then around 1km in, I am not sure if I popped a bit, or the pace went up, but I got dropped! It was on the part of the course that I would have thought I was good at, after getting comfortably through the undulations and boggy part of the circuit. It was quite windy, so I eased up and let the 2 behind me through, and sat on their shoulders. They both happened to be in my age group. The front group eased away and started to split up, so I guess the pace was on (3:20 pace cross country might have been a bit hot for the first km...). So the plan is to stay with these two guys as long as possible! One of the two lets a bit of a gap go, so I quickly went around him and on to the others shoulder, making sure I was always getting good wind protection. The middle two laps were quite comfortable (still hard) and I felt quite a bit stronger in the wind, but was not going to take the lead into the wind! I did not feel much faster with the wind, so didn’t see any point in going past there either, as that was probably not going to put him under pressure either. It was now clear it was going to come down to a last lap show down. I spent the 3^rd lap trying to work out the best way to beat this guy. There was a short steep up-hill into the wind with around 600m to go, and I thought that might be the place to attack, get a gap and try to hold off a finishing sprint. Option 2 was to just keep the pressure on until 200m to go and try my hand at a sprint finish, given I had sat on his shoulder and drafted the entire run, I would possibly be slightly fresher. Shortly after the start of the last lap (2km to go) he put in a surge – which I actually felt good with. No problem. A little while later the next surge comes, ouch – that was solid, but no problem, still comfortably on his shoulder. Then around 200m before the point where I was planning to go, a 3^rd surge comes, much harder than the last 2 and he gaps me. I am 20-30m behind with 600m to go. Decision time – how deep can you go?? I dig deep and really go for it, and manage to catch up, but at significant cost (lactic acid running out of my eyes..). In the last 150m and the wind-up to the finish begins. I have nothing! Second it is again, but a great battle and tactical race. Happy with that! 5 seconds down this time, and 1:50 down on the overall masters winner. But as it was a bit more tactical than straight best effort all the way, perhaps a little more in the tank for a faster time was there.

I think I have improved around 1 minute to 1:30 for the ~8km cross countries through the season. Got in some great racing, and got faster. Mission accomplished!

Next up I will review the first block of training and the plan for the next...

2011/2012 season wrap-up

Then the season went a bit pear shaped. I cracked a couple of ribs out running. Not a very exciting story at all, just a dumb trip and tried not to land on my hand – and ended up taking the full force on the edge of the concrete on the rib cage. After 4-5 days I could do around 40-50min of easy swimming or cycling but running was murder. Sleep was not a happening thing either! Kinloch was wiped as even the thought of someone taping my ribs made me cringe – mass swim start in a sprint triathlon was not going to happen! By mid February I could get back into training again, mostly normal. Running was still a little uncomfortable – both breathing and lost fitness wise. I was still hopeful of being able to roll through Ironman, around 10 hours I thought – under with a good day, over with a hard day in the office. Around 12 days out I got a dose of man flu – so that killed my main (and only) long run I had planned. Just had to get well for the start.
As race week unfolded, Ironman became a half Ironman and a day later. That was really a get out of jail free card for me. I was still a little flu-ie, but felt much more able to get through a half than an Ironman. I felt if I had a good day, a kona spot was even possible. Mostly because half the field would have thrown their toys because the race was now a half, and I was just going to get on with the job.
Race morning and conditions were pretty good really. A little cold and a bit of a breeze, but that was better than a little hot and calm (for me at least)! 200m into the race I knew things were going to be a struggle. I was operating on half a lung still and there was just no top end. I battled through the swim and just tried not to lose too much time. I did manage to get some good feet for around half the swim, but when I needed to bridge a gap, there was just nothing there, so ended up drifting back a bit, quite a bit in the last 400m or so. To add insult to injury a random encounter with another swimmer managed to rip my garmin off my wrist – adding another $500 expense to the day. I went out reasonably strong on the bike, and did feel much better than in the swim. Passed a few and though I could make 3^rd grouppo, or possibly 2^nd after seeing where people were at the fist little out-and-back early on. Unfortunately behind me there was a large pack developing that was swallowing up everything in its path. When that rolled along, it was time to sit in. Non-drafting was not a term a number in this group were familiar with. I decided to sit at the back a little more and wait for people to tire a little, and see what opportunities arose. At around the 35km mark the Matt Illingworth express opportunity arrived. He rode straight passed the “bunch” and no one followed. I thought a few would try, but they just let him go. So after he was 2-300m up the road, I popped out of the bunch and bridged up to him. I sat at legal distance and held on for around 5km, in which time the bunch I was in was out of sight! But the pace was just too hot for me! I probably could have held on longer, but it would have added 40minutes to my run time. I sat up, had a drink and a couple of gels and waited to be swallowed by the bunch again. Pretty much just sat in for the rest of the ride, with a bit of an effort up the last hill with 10km to go, which did shell out quite a few. I was pretty stiff and a bit sore when I started the run, but felt OK within myself and just tried to be controlled. At around 7km things started to feel a bit wobbly, so figured it was survival now. The flu was taking its toll and a few cramps were appearing everywhere. Fingers, legs, chest, all over the place – little spasms rather than crippling cramp. Downed salt and gels to try and stave off the worse of the cramping. Then, just to add a little more to the equation, it was toilet stops almost every aid station. I am sure I lost a vital organ or two in those port-a-loos. At one point I could not see how I was going to finish, but just focused on one foot in front of the other. Each step was a step closer. Finally I got to the finish line, and was happy to survive. I am sure if it had been an Ironman I would not have survived the bike. Ticked off another one – sort of anyway.
So that was the season. A couple of good results all things considered, and one crappy day in the office. I then decided to take it quite easy for a couple of weeks, which turned in to 5 weeks. That did mean I was well recovered, or “reconditioned”. I did manage to pack on 5kg in 10 days post race, which was pretty good (probably more like 10 kg from when I crossed the line).
Next is the build-up to world champs in Auckland October 2012! First up is to be regular with the training, aiming to do 15 hours per week, excepted for the easy weeks. I will also hopefully do the cross country season. And hopefully it is better than last year, missing most of the season with injury or sickness. 

I also plan to be a little more committed to the blog! 

 

Input vs output vs intensity

One thing that has been quite variable throughout sport has been the definition and interpretation of intensity. There are a few scientifically defined  intensities, such as lactate threshold, and a few accepted scales, such as Borg scale of perceived exertion. There are numerous devices now available to measure heart rate, blood lactate, speed, power, cadence and other outputs for the exercising athlete. A major issue over the years has been how to communicate the “same” meaning of intensity over a range of variables. One persons easy is not the same as another’s, and the varying definitions for degrees of hard are also numerous.
A number of years ago, John Hellemans brought this issue up at a coaching seminar, and promptly recommended everyone use the definitions for intensity that he was using, so that when athletes did change coaches, that there was a semi-standard intensity definition. A few years later, he produced “the training intensity handbook”, which tries to align the various intensities used (a good little manual). I certainly agreed with the philosophy of aligning the definitions of intensity, but I had been using my version of intensity scale, which I had developed  from various sources over the years, and to change what I was using was not going to be easy. I am sure many other coaches were in the same boat! Most training systems use 5 levels of intensity – and most are similar, just slight variations and different terms. It is important to understand what the various levels mean in a practical sense.   
There has also been a number of trends and perhaps fads over the years on measuring intensity for exercise. Many years ago perceived effort was it. If you asked a cyclist what there training metrics were for a session, it would be “a few hours pretty easy” or “quite long with heaps of hills that were hard”. They left after breakfast and got back sometime after most others had had lunch, and that was all they knew – as well as how tired they were after. Now you can have exact splits, GPS data, HR data, power data, normalized power ISS, TSS, surges, climbing data, and any number of other metrics, without even having to go to the lab!  
I think some people are after a single metric that tells them how hard they have gone. The reality is that the human body is a very complex machine, and no single metric can tell you this. Many of the available metrics have their own strengths and weaknesses, and only tell part of the story. You need to look at a few pieces of data to start to construct a picture of what is going on. In some circumstances, some metrics are more appropriate than others. For example, in my opinion, speed is a good metric swimming and running for the harder sessions, and power for the bike is the equivalent. HR and to a  certain extent how that interacts with speed/power is more appropriate with easier sessions.  Perceived effort needs to be an important attribute at all levels, so that you do get a feel for what is going on in your body. Also if the toys fail – you need to be able to fall back on the basics!
Adding to the complexity, and perhaps showing that a single metric is not the solution, is that if you do use a speed or power and a HR (or lactate or other physiological measure), the training zones often do not line up when you look at the data after a training session (assuming you have set your training zones correctly). Most good training software will tell you the time is each training zone for a particular training session (or as a weekly/monthly breakdowns). And seldom do the profiles look the same, unless it is a very easy session or very hard one. My feelings are that the way the actual output (speed/power and form) varies with physiological output (HR, lactate levels, breathing etc) is a very important indication of where you are at. The absolute ratio and the trends through a session or between sessions shows how tired you are (or recovered), how your current endurance is, and how you are adapting to the training. Some also feel that the trends are an indication of a need to change training phases (or ability to move to the next phase).

this ride might indicate fatigue - as the HR profile is further to the right of the power pofile

So what does it all mean? When you go out the door to do a training session, you should have an idea of what you want to achieve in that session. Intensity is an important component of that, and how you are going to measure or assess that you are at the appropriate intensity. If you have a coach – you also need to communicate intensities – both in prescribing a session and reviewing sessions.  Some people have an extremely good perception of effort – either naturally or through years of experience. A good swimmer should be able to swim 100m at a variety of paces, and be able to tell you what time they have just swum, within a few seconds (or better). Some need feedback on effort to give guidance on effort – and HR has been a common tool, and pace or power is the other standard. Physiological measures give no indication of how fast you are actually going or your real performance. They given an indication of the stress the body is under. If you are very fatigued, you may be stressed at a relatively slow speed. Outside stress, apart from exercise intensity also affect these measures (altitude, heat, general stress etc). I also see that a number of athletes that have used HR as their base measure of intensity can tend to make an effort harder by subtle means that doe not increase pace. If you make the body tense, or more inefficient (eg bad technique) , you can get the HR up higher without having to go faster! Not quite what the performance athlete is after though. This is where pace and power come into play. If you are doing a key session with target pace/times, and you cannot make therm – why? Are you too tired and should just go home and try to recover, are the targets too hard, or has your technique gone and you are just very inefficient on this day? HR (and other physiological measures) also has a delay – so you put the effort in and the HR response maybe seconds or even minutes (to equilibrium at least) behind the effort. By the time you have gone over the limit, particularly for shorter efforts, it is often too late to adjust.
With any measuring device – you need to be aware of the accuracy of data, and any averaging that is going on. You do not want to put a lot of faith into inaccurate data, and if there is significant averaging – you need to consider how that affects your effort and response to the information. Not all data is equal. Two exercises with the same average may be very different in the detail. If you compare two runs that both average 4min/km, one is a steady 4min/km all the way, and the other is alternating 1min at 5min/km and 1min at 3min/km. The averages maybe the same – but one is definitely more difficult and more stressful than the other!
Don’t be blind to a single number – look at the bigger picture, and gather all the information that is useful to you. For some, this maybe disregarding information that is not useful. Food for thought hopefully…