Training with a power meter

Over the last few months I've been trying to get to grips with how to use a power meter. I have now mastered attaching the little yellow computer to my bike, starting it at the beginning of a ride, and even downloading the data afterwards. It's taken quite a while to get this far, just ask Greg! He had to give me a sheet of written instructions when he went away for a few days so that I wouldn't mess it up. 

For me, power data is most useful in training. Since having power data on my bike and the turbo, I've been able to see exactly how much I'm fooling myself into thinking I'm working hard, especially on the turbo.  

Since doing a couple of maximal efforts on the Watt Bike, I've had proper targets to aim for during turbo training sessions. Previously I had been going on feel, using the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) which is a very subjective measure. Now I can use the objective measure of power. This pleases the scientist in me. I am no longer able to be fooled into thinking I'm working hard enough. The numbers stare at me from the little yellow computer on the front of my TT bike telling me to push harder, keep going, don't let up. I now know that I can go much harder than I thought I could and I can hold a sustained effort for much longer. Though on a bad day, it is very obvious that it's a bad day; the numbers stay low and won't climb up to the target no matter how hard I try.

Training out on the open roads is also improved by the use of a power meter. I can ensure I don't push too hard on the climbs but more importantly, I can make sure I push hard enough on the flats and the downhills. Though not the steep or twisty downhills, there's no way I'm going to pedal hard down something like that! 

I've been out on the Bolton IM course a few times over the past weeks and I'm getting to know the spots where I can push on and where I need to ease off slightly. The power meter is always there reminding me of the effort I'm putting in and how this deviates from my optimal power. I'm looking forward to using it to slow me down at the start of the cycle leg of the Ironman, when race day adrenaline is in full flow!

Oh and, one last thing: it pays to go to time trials. A cheque arrived in the post today - prize money for 3rd place in the 50 mile time trial! (I'd need to get a lot more of those to keep me going with the amount of food I'm consuming at the moment)

Training and racing update 18/6/13

Today I needed a little break in training. I still did the usual early morning swim with Manchester Triathlon Club but it was tough especially after the 25km run last night. I've been feeling tired in work for the past couple of days so I opted not to do the time trial this evening, an easy hour on the bike was plenty.

Aquathlon - 800m swim, 5km run

Last week I finally managed to get to an open water swim session. Thursday night was the 2nd in the Manchester Tri Club aquathlon series and Anna came to my rescue with a wetsuit on loan as I left mine with my Dad to transport back from Belfort. The water wasn't half as cold as I was expecting. Either it's warmed up a lot in the last couple of weeks or everyone here is a bit soft! The swim was great, I was really enjoying it, trying to hold on to the back of a small group. We got into transition together, but I'm pretty sure I was last out as the wetsuit arm got caught on my watch as I was taking it off.

My plan was to start the first of 4 run laps at ironman pace and gradually build the speed on each lap. It was difficult to go slow enough on fairly fresh legs and with so many people passing me out, but I had to be disciplined. I have found recently that I tend to start off too fast and struggle to keep up the pace. The runners 'negative split' is not well known to me. I ended up sprinting the last lap and felt good the whole way. 5km is a quite different to 42km but hopefully I can take this feeling with me to the IM marathon.

10 Mile Time Trial

As part of my training, I'm planning on doing some time trialling over the summer. I've never really done any proper stand-alone time trials, although I do them each time I compete in a triathlon.

Congleton CC were the organisers of my first 10 mile TT last night on the JC/5 course. There was a big mix of people there, from the serious guys in skin suits with dedicated TT bikes and disk wheels to the more 'normal' looking cyclists on well-ridden road bikes. I fit in somewhere between these extremes, with my TT bike and aero helmet but with slightly baggy jersey and water bottle.

After a traffic-filled drive out to the A536 between Congleton and Macclesfield, I signed on and ended up starting 2nd-to-last. A short warm-up later and I was ready to give this undulating course a shot. It is mainly an out and back course, but finishes a little way down a side road avoiding the last section back to the start line. Setting off on the outbound section, I settled into a comfortable rhythm. The first half was undulating but overall mainly downhill and I got passed by the one competitor who started behind me. I kept him in sight as we got to the turnaround point.

The second half of the race was mostly uphill and evidently my climbing skills are better than those of the cyclist who passed me as I overtook him in the first section after the turn. However, due to the undulations, we managed to play leapfrog most of the way back to the finish. He ended up finishing just ahead of me but we had a good battle.

My time was 27:12 which put me 28th out of 36. I now have a time to aim for in my next TT!

Age Group Long Distance World Championships

Normally I associate France with warm weather and sunshine, whereas the UK is the dull wet and cold country. Not this time!

The weather had been so cold that the swim was cancelled so the long distance triathlon turned into a duathlon. It's years since I had raced a run-bike-run duathlon. The last one I did was in the Phoenix Park in Dublin about 5 years ago. I now had to figure out how to pace a duathlon, what items to put in each transition bag to have ready for the right part of the race and also what to wear as it had been reported to be as low as 2 degrees on top of the 1200m climb, Ballon d'Alsace.

I set off on the run not really knowing how to pace it. I started off fairly near the front as the route was quite narrow the whole way around. They weren't expecting to have to set off 100+ runners at a time. I settled into an easy running pace and managed the first 9.5km run in 42:02. After a quick stop in the changing tent to put on a windproof layer and long fingered gloves, and run through the mud in transition, I was out on the 87km bike course.

The bike course was fantastic but would have been even better in some sunshine. Instead, we got mist at the top obscuring the views. I headed up the climb at a steady pace, trying to pace it on feel even though I had a power meter on my bike. I'm still getting used to cycling with power data and I just wanted to have the data there for post-race analysis. I found that I was steadily passing people on the climb, more than were passing me. I had no idea where I was in relation to any of the girls but I was catching a few of them and even catching some of the men in the earlier waves.

I kept to a non-solid diet for the whole of the race, mainly scoffing Torq gels (rhubarb and custard flavour - yum!) and some Cliff shots, along with water and energy drink. I previously had difficulty digesting solid bars on the bike so I avoided them this time. The descent from Ballon d'Alsace was great, with about 7 switchbacks. I realised that if I pedalled out of the corners, I could make up time and even pass people. It was great to pass people on the descent as usually I find lots of people whizzing past me while I'm hanging on the brakes all the way down. This gave me a great confidence boost!

I got into transition after 3:09:18 on the bike. I always like getting into transition and running past people with my bike. I think that transitions are generally relatively quick for me, just rack the bike, change shoes and put helmet and jacket into the transition bag.

Out on the run and I then realised that my legs were a little tired. This time we had 2 laps to do for a total of 20km. The run was mainly on trail with 2 hills on each lap. I knew the course by now, having ran most of a lap in the first run. Even though my pace was quite a bit slower this time, I was still steadily progressing up the field. I had a bit of a dip in my speed at the start of the 2nd lap and had to fight hard to pick the pace up again. One last gel helped, mentally as well as giving me a bit more energy in my legs. My run time was 1:36:00 for a total finish time of 5:34:55.

The post-race provisions were excellent, with a buffet of snacks laid out for all the racers. They even had hot soup to warm us up! I met up with Paul, a fellow Manchester Triathlon Club racer (for GB) and we both got massages from local physiotherapy students. I did try out my French at this stage to learn the French words for some muscles - I hope she didn't think I was quizzing her too much!

When I finally got back to the car after collection all my kit, I checked my phone to find a message from Greg stating that the internet said I got 3rd in my age group. I couldn't believe it and went back straight away to check the official results. He was right, I managed to win a bronze medal at World Championships! 

Thanks go to Dad who was there to act as chauffeur and photographer for the weekend. He even managed to sneak into the VIP tent long enough to get some refreshments.











We were both pretty happy with the results of our race, I got a bronze medal, while Paul got a beer!










The result of the last few months of hard work! Thanks also to coach Tony, maybe he can help me to more success in the future.

3 Peaks Fell Race

It's been a while but here's a synopsis of my first race this year.

Last year I raced the 3 peaks for the first time. I had been up and around the Yorkshire dales on a number of occasions, mostly lugging around spare wheels for Greg doing the cyclocross version of the race. I felt that as they carry their bikes up most of the hills and I don't have sufficient off-road cycling skills for the downhills, I may as well leave the bike at home and just run the fell race instead! Last year I managed 4 hours and 8 minutes and I was hoping to go a little faster this time, maybe even sneaking under 4 hours if all went well.

The race began in sunshine. I started off fairly steady and headed up Pen y Ghent. Felt pretty good heading up, just walking the very steep bits. Got to the top in hail and dibbed in. I felt like I was doing fairly well as I didn't see the leaders heading in the opposite direction, as I did last year. Some people started to pass me out as we got to the more technical descent but I just went at my own pace. I had a little slip but thankfully it was on the grassy part and not near the rocks. Heading from Pen y Ghent towards Ribblehead, I was trying to keep with 2 girls who were just ahead of me. At some point here I was told that I was in 8th. I had been in 6th just before the summit of Pen y Ghent and felt pretty good. One girl stopped and the other one started to pull away from me. I felt like I wasn't running as easy on the road section as I had been last year. Met Greg at Ribblehead and he confirmed that I was in 7th but I ended up walking a bit while getting drinks and food off him. Last year, I continued running at this point.

I felt like I was struggling as I was going up the steep ascent of Whernside and my calves felt tight. At this point, another friend of mine passed me and he was going very fast compared to me. I was keeping my place fairly ok, with just a few people passing me. When I got to the top of Whernside, that's when things started to go wrong. I got a bit of cramp in my right calf but I was able to keep running. However, I wasn't running at a very good pace. I felt that I was slowing down and every time I tried to push off forcefully from my right foot, I got more cramp. I felt like I couldn't trust my feet on the descent. I stopped briefly to stretch but that didn't make any difference.

I met Greg again at the bottom of Whernside and I was definitely struggling at this point. I was much happier at this point last year. I had some more food and drinks and ran on. I was doubting my ability to go under 4 hours but Greg said it was still achievable so I pushed on. I felt like I was just slowing down a lot. I was keeping an eye on my average pace. I had been at about 5.35 per km at the bottom of Pen Y Ghent but by now it was more like 6.20 or so. I had wanted to keep it as near to 6 mins per km as I could. I could see it getting slower and slower. I pushed on up Ingleborough as best as I could.
Again, as soon as I started to descend, I couldn't trust my legs as I was getting cramps in both calves now and also in my right foot. At this stage, I was trying to change my mental attitude but it was very difficult. I was getting more down heartened as each person passed me but I tried to convince myself that each person passing me was an opportunity to have a pacer so I tried to keep with them for a bit. This only worked so well and soon I was back in a low mood again.

I went through a phase where I was seriously considering quitting but I realised that I had to continue on anyway to the end as that was the only way out. I couldn't go off route and take a short cut home at that stage. I was doubting my ability to do anything by now. I was thinking I should just not bother with Belfort and Bolton (my two other big races this year) as running was meant to be my strong point and it obviously wasn't going very well.

I managed to finish it eventually and I was only 10 mins slower than last year. Thinking back on it afterwards, I realised that 10 minutes isn't really too bad considering that I couldn't run very well due to cramping for the 2nd half of the race. I couldn't push off as I could feel my calf cramping up as I did so. I found a way to change my negative mood to positive (when people passed me) even though it didn't last very long.

I had cramps in my calves when swimming this week, for the first time in a long time and I don't know what brought it on. Also, earlier in the week my calves felt tight and tired so I put on my compression tights. There was definitely something going on in the week leading up to the race but I just didn't know what was going to happen or how to prevent it.

All in all, I was a bit disappointed to finish in about 25th place when I had actually been 6th at one stage. However, I hadn't been doing very much running in the lead up to this race. I had been focusing on swimming and cycling, which are usually my weaker disciplines in triathlon. I know I have some work to do!

First steps in the world of blogging

So, how does this go then? What do I write? Anything?

I've been toying with the idea of writing a blog for a while and I decided to finally write a little about my training for this year.

I've only got 3 races planned for this year and I've already done 2 of them so I'd better get blogging!