*Not* a good end to the year

'What could possibly go wrong?' I spoke too soon.

A fab Christmas day with the olds and the Outlaws was followed by waking up on Boxing day feeling utterly rubbish with a full, streaming head cold. Also, while playing around with my new Garmin 410, my gps watch that I had bought for myself that Mrs Wheezy dutifully wrapped up for me to open at Christmas, I only went and dropped it into a mug of tea while I was playing around with it. I could not have done it if I had tried. Thankfully I fished it out fairly quickly and it seemed to work ok. My ineptitude knows no end. So I am necking vitamin C like it's going out of fashion in the hope that I can be healthy enough to start the Marathon Talk #Jantastic Spring motivation challenge again. The good news is that up until my cold, running was continuing to go well with some half decent speedwork sessions. So it looks like a few days off while I let this cold run its course and then I will ease back into some regular run - bike stuff.

A good end to the year

A much better week feeling back to normal. I'm just bloomin' loving running at the moment. The rain and wind's been lashing down but it's been so good doing some regular running with a bit of confidence. Mid-week I even did a fartlek run. Nothing too heavy and I was sloshing through a waterlogged playing field, slipping and sliding about in my trainers and the very soft ground lent itself to staying relatively injury free. Perfect. I think that I have finally got the better of my feet but I guess I will not know until I start to do some harder and longer speed work. But at the moment it's all good.

I suppose I should look back at this year and see what went right and what didn't. What did go right was the DW. I'm glad Adam and I nailed that one on the head. The culmination of a lot of hard work and effort and still a great race to do. The other thing would be my 10 mile tt best time coming down completely unexpectedly. Still nowhere near fast enough for my liking but a pb's a pb. I Also got an e-mail to say that I had won a total of £18 in race winnings during Phoenix tt races. That makes me a professional athlete, right?  ;-) Other than that, this year's been pretty poor with my foot injury colouring everything and I think that led to the major mojo dip which other than the few tt races saw me not competing at all. I am pretty confident that next year will be different.

So, what about next year? I guess I need to nail some targets to the mast.

1. Marathon PB. Currently 3.18. Realistically, sub 3.10 should be doable, sub 3 on a stellar day, sub 3.15 for a London marathon 'good for age' time as a minimum.

2. Olympic tri; sub 2.20. Qualifying for the World's is very unlikely but sub 2.20 may well be within my grasp if I can....

3. PB my 10 and 25 mile tt times. Ideally 23.30 for a 10. I'll probably need to invest in some aero help to achieve that, but you can never own enough bikes.

Ultimately, I just want to race a bit more and be fit enough to do so. I know I was pretty much saying the same thing last year but I don't have an excuse now. I've sorted my feet, I'm enjoying my training and I've entered some events. What could possibly go wrong?  ;-)

Last week managed to turn itself from a potentially solid week's training into a very mediocre week. The bubbling stomach that had given me some discomfort during #turbovember showed its true colours. On the first weekend  Little Wheezy had her second dose of the vomiting bug going round and then four days later Wheezy Junior had a dose which had him off of school for 2 days. With a guaranteed  inevitability, on Saturday afternoon I started to feel more and more crappy until I eventually had my head down the porcelain telephone and then it was a solid 24 hours in bed feeling r.o.u.g.h. So a weekend long run with Simon and  a turbo session was obviously canned. I feel so much better now than I have for a couple of weeks though and I don't think I realised just how much I was fighting off. I still managed 2 turbo sessions, 2 short runs and a swim so  it was not all lost but hopefully I can kick on a bit towards Christmas. And my feet are still behaving themselves.  :-)

Speaking of Christmas I have bought myself my present. Sue didn't see any point in going out and buying it as she was worried about getting the wrong one so I was allowed to buy it for myself and I got one of these;

Garmin 410

I have not run with a gps watch properly before. I have used Strava to record my runs in the past but it only gives a record post-run. I want to be able to run my intervals, marathon pace runs and long runs at the correct pace to get the maximum training effect and use heart rate zones properly. No more guessing and running by feel; it's time to get scientific and hopefully this small investment will take me a step closer to sub-3. The only problem is I've got to wait until Christmas day before I can use it, so between now and then it's more steady running building leg strength.

I've also entered another race, the Watford Half Marathon which I'll use as a gauge to my marathon fitness. Onwards.

Running and stuff

While I am glad that #turbovember is over I am also glad of the kick start that it's given me. It was a shame that a chunk of it was conducted while I was fighting something off but it got me spinning the wheels regularly and made it a habit and I need to keep that habit going. The cold snap that we are having has made the prospect of long, slow bike miles not a pleasant prospect so having read some threads and websites and with a change of focus to shorter racing next year, I have also decided to change how I do my bike miles. I am going to cut out the 'junk' miles and focus on shorter sessions either on the turbo or a weekend road interval session on the local tt routes that I know are accurately measured. No more than 2 hours with tt paced intervals and short rests after a warm up. I know I can ride a bike slowly for a long time, but that's not what I am trying to achieve for next summer where I am going to have to ride really hard for 60-80 minutes then get of and run hard. Except for weight loss, slow miles are not going to help with that kind of racing and in the last 4 years I have only made small gains on the bike, through lack of consistency and not training effectively enough when I do. The more technically minded might call it 'reverse periodisation'; I call it being race specific. It's not going to make me slower...

Another run this morning for 75 minutes, I think Simon and I covered about 15kms, a fast start, a slow middle and a fast end. I just felt that little bit stronger than last week and I was running much better at the end. I absolutely frickin' love running at the moment, much helped by the glorious conditions that we have had for the last three Sundays. Please, please let it continue. Still taking it easy, stretching, wearing the right shoes, padding my shoes, running on soft surfaces where possible. I cannot see what more I can do and it seems to be working. I will be taking part in the #Jantastic Spring motivation challenge next month which will be when I really kick-off my marathon training but at the moment the aim is to run 15 miles comfortably by the end of the month, which looks pretty doable at the moment.

So at the moment, I have the following events entered for next year;

Votwo Duathlon in March - 5k/20k/5k

London Marathon - April

East Grinstead Tri May - 500m / 26k / 5k

Dambuster Tri in June - 1500m / 40k / 10k

I'm going to look for an early half marathon and another half or 20mile race before London and another tri in May. I am going to need the race practise before the Dambuster to sharpen up a bit Hopefully, all being well I may have a tt bike to race on as well. I admit it; I am going to buy some speed but I'll need every bit of help that I can get and you can never own enough bikes.

#Turbovember Day 29 & 30

Another commute day yesterday with an easy spin into work and then battering myself on the way home, pushing hard for the whole ride. After a short break I went out for a 40 minute very easy run. No bad reactions and felt quite comfortable.

So today was the last day of #turbovember and I celebrated by having another rest day. I've just totted up the numbers for the last 30 days, I hadn't had time before now nd I am pretty pleased. 34 hours total with only 2 complete rest days. The third week was the most surprising with 14.5 hours training. It's been a good kickstart to my winter training but now it's time to get a bit more balance with some slow, easy running and getting along to a weekly swim session. A good start, but now it's time to keep the momentum going.

#Turbovember Day 27 & 28

Technical issues (a crap laptop) meant no post last night, but yesterday's #turbovember session was one hour's worth of bike commuting and a run. The commute was grim, in particular, forgetting to dry my cycle shorts at work and then having to put on very wet and cold lycra at the end of the day. Bleeeeurrrgh. It was a steady effort there and back and I felt so much better for a two days' rest from cycling. #Turbovember or not, I needed it. The run in the evening was a 35 minute affair; very slow to start and then after 20 minutes 5x1 minute with a 1 minute recovery. The efforts were fast strides rather than full out efforts in order not to stress the feet too much. All good, other than feeling overweight when trying to run fast. I need to do lots of slow easy miles and get it down a bit.

Today was more commuting on the langster and a busy evening has meant that that would have to do, as today has been my birthday.

What I wanted was one of these;

What I got was one of these; 

I did get a fab skull cap thingy to wear under my bike helmet, which with the sudden drop in temperature is very timely and some new lycra. Fab.u.lous.

#Turbovember Day 26

Forgive me, for I have sinned. Ended up not doing a turbo set last night and also have not done one today, although I was back for a swim at the club tonight. Mainly drills but very hard work non-the-less. Overweight and underpowered. Bike commute tomorrow though.

#Turbovember Day 25

I had a lovely run this morning, pootling around the bottom of Boxhill then Simon and I took in the climbs up to the farm at the top of Young Street then through the back of Denbies vineyard before looping around Ryker's cafe for home. We started too fast and I had a bad patch for a couple of miles before settling in for the rest of the run. Aching like a SoB now, but in a good way. I'll put in a gentle 30-40 minute spin this evening, but unfortunately I don't think that I can count it as a brick session with an 8 hour gap between.

#Turbovember Day 24

A day of rest, because I sorely needed it. Instead, I have eaten chocolate cake and drunk champagne. Tomorrow I will repent by going for a long run and a short turbo.

#Turbovember Day 23

Today's session was one hour's worth of bike commuting on the langster. The ride in this morning was hard work; uphill most of the way and on fried legs from the short, sharp session the day before. The weekend's going to be interesting as little wheezy has been sick for the last few hours so it's not looking good.

#Turbovember Day 22

Another late one due to life issues. 35 minutes with 5x3mins, 1 min recovery, which just tips me over the 1000 minutes for #Turbovember.

#Turbovember Day 21

I've managed to tick off one of the 90 minute sessions which gives me a frustrating 990 minutes total #turbovember time so far. Tonight's session included 5x10mins with 5 mins spin recovery. Probably too much easy stuff but I feel that I still need to take it a bit easy at the moment. I'll aim to have a harder and shorter set tomorrow night as time will be tight. Very glad that I am nearing the end of this thing.

#Turbovember Day 20

A long day at work, home at 9.30 and then straight into the turbo dungeon. Even I could see the relative futility of that one. Anyway, 30 minutes done with 2x5min tempo efforts in there. I still have 3 90 sessions and 2 bricks to knock off to officially complete #Turbovember and only 10 days left to do them in. Double turbo days? Now that's something I've never contemplated before. Bed.

#Turbovember Day 19

I felt marginally better today. Less snot; more energy. A good sign. However this evening was a very gentle 30 minute spin which still left me feeling a bit more tired than it really should have done. However I have been basking in the glow of yesterday's 7.5 mile run done without my feet imploding on me. I had kind of forgotten the importance of that quite significant fact.

#Turbovember Day 18

I was feeling very secondhand this morning but I had arranged to meet Simon for a run so I managed to drag myself out of bed to meet him. We decided to head over to Richmond Park and do a slow lap and this was to be my longest run in a long time. It was a gorgeous morning, lots of frost on the ground and only just above freezing. The only damper on it all was my stomach which still wasn't feeling right. The first few miles were ok but as we ran on I began to feel worse and worse. I could feel myself getting hot but it was not a healthy warm glow, instead, it was my cheeks and throat on fire while I shuffled along at a barely respectable pace. The last couple of miles from Richmond back to Kingston were horrible and I couldn't wait to get back to the warmth of the car. I made the decision there and then that that was going to be it for the day. I could have gone into the turbo dungeon for a short session but it would not have achieved anything. So today was the first day in 18 that I have not been on my bike. Tomorrow, service will be resumed. But for now, night nurse and bed.

#Turbovember Day 17

I am really pleased to have got today done. I felt pretty second hand this morning with a very tight stomach; that feeling you get when you've consumed too many gels or carb drink. My diet has been awful for the last week or two, rarely eating a balanced dinner and far too light on fruit and veg. Allied to that there's been a vomiting bug doing the rounds at work so it seemed that it was my turn to suffer this but it never really materialised. By mid-afternoon I thought I might as well hop on the turbo and see if that improved the situation or not. Kill or cure and all that.....

It was a fairly low key session of 45 minutes on the turbo as 10spin/10steady/10spin/10steady/5spin. I then went out for an easy run afterwards. the first time I have run in anger in 2 weeks. Other than my stomach I felt really good. Proof positive, in my mind at least, that there is some transferable fitness from bike to run. I cannot remember my last brick session. Three months ago? Something like that and my feet were behaving themselves. Hopefully tomorrow will be a slightly longer run and short turbo spin. Fingers crossed.

#Turbovember Day 16

So I am trying to turbo/cycle every day this month. What's the worst thing that could happen to inhibit that? Get ill? Well, I've done that and carried on regardless. Break my bike? Nah, I can fix that fairly easily. No, the very worst thing to happen would be my washing machine to break down. Twice. I have been wearing the same pair of cycling shorts for four commute rides and two turbo sessions, including yesterday's sweat fest. I almost had to crack them to get them off this evening. I took it easy on the way into work this morning as promised but I ended up beasting myself a bit hard on the way home. There's a mile long section just before I get to my parents' house and a guy had jumped on my back wheel but I couldn't get him off; my legs were just too fried. Still, he didn't have the speed to go past. Commuter racing; gotta love it.

This evening was an easy 30 minute spin at low intensity. Tomorrow morning will be a brick session and my first run in two weeks. I'm looking forward to it.

#Turbovember Day 15

So I am halfway through this #turbovember thing and I am still intact, just. I have to say the last couple of days have been hard work, particularly due to this snotty cold which has hung on grimly. I think that I am just about over it now but it would be fair to say that sitting on a turbo everyday, usually pretty late at night, come what may, probably hasn't been the best remedy for it. But it has shown that I can train through it with a bit of care. My commuting had to give though while I tried to recover but I was glad to be back on the langster today for my one hour's worth of commute mileage. Felt pretty good too.

This evening was another 40 minute session and it was the first time that the lactic acid really started to flow. It went, 10min w/u, (4x2mins, 2mins spin recovery), (4x1 min, 1min spin recovery), 10 mins w/d.

It hurt. A lot. I have not pushed myself hard on a bike like that since my 25mile tt a couple of months ago, although this time I avoided a technicolour yawn.

Top turbo tunes tonight? Stone Roses- Love spreads, Kasabian-underdog, Led Zep-Nobody's fault but mine. Commute ride tomorrow and either an easy turbo or easy brick it it's not too late.

#Turbovember Day 14

A very late 40 minutes just done. A steady 10 minutes and 3x5mins steady, all the rest easy spinning. Knackered. Bed.

#Turbovember Day 13

Today was mainly spent travelling on a coach on a work trip which should have been fairly relaxing but I ended up eating far too much rubbish and not drinking enough, so that by lunchtime I had a banging headache. I felt that my 100% #turbovember month would be in serious jepardy but by the time I had got home this evening and after drinking a few litres of water later, I was feeling  a lot better. I ended up doing an easy 50 minutes as 10mins w/u, 10mins steady, 5mins spin, 10mins steady, 2x5mins hard with 5mins spin recovery between. No music; this time I spent it catching up on the latest IMTalk podcast.

#Turbovember Day 12

I have hit a mini landmark tonight with a total of 600 minutes logged for #Turbovember. 10 hours' worth of turbo time in 12 days despite a cold and too many 30 minute box ticking sets. I'll take that. :-)  As I was feeling a bit better tonight I did 45 minutes as 10min w/u easy spin, 10min tempo, 5min spin, 3x5mins hard with 5min spin recovery. I felt pretty good, all things considered. Much better than yesterday.

Two other nice side effects from #Turbovember. One, I can listen to my music without annoying anyone else in the house (tonight was an early 90's mega mix taking me back to my early Loughborough days; Come Home by James being a particular favourite followed by Step on and The Happy Mondays. I *really* need to change the record) And two, I'm starting to get those little lumps above my knees that proper cyclists have. I think they are called quad muscles. :-0

Onwards.

#Turbovember Day 11

There's nothing more frustrating than having a gorgeous autumn morning which is just begging for a run or cycle to happen, only to be laid up with the lurgy. I felt pretty rugged this morning and my plan to get on the road and do a few real miles was never looking realistic. Instead I lay in bed with a thick head mulling over what could have been.

So it was a 30 minute box ticker for #turbovember this evening instead, staring at the back of an unlit garage door being watched by the neighbours in mild bemusement / awe / disbelief. The one saving grace from all this was that as I opened the door and trudged out into the darkness the mrs barely raised an eyebrow. Eleven days ago I would have got at least some form of derisory comment about hamster wheels or words to that effect, but no more. It seems that #turbovember and the consistency which it has brought about has had other positive benefits.

Hopefully, I can get down to some serious turbo efforts in  a day or two. 30 minute box tickers are starting to get boring.

#Turbovember Day 10

Still not firing on all cylinders so today was going to be a 30 minute box ticker, but once I had warmed up for 10 minutes I didn't feel too bad so I ended up doing a single 20 minute tempo effort before a bit more easy spinning to finish, maintaining a tt position for most of it. Hopefully I 'll be ok to tick off a 90 minute interval session tomorrow morning.

#Turbovember Day 9

I knew that I was not going to get a turbo session in today so I took the 'soft' option. The rules of #Turbovember state that 3 of the rides can be outdoors if required, so today I used up one of those lives. A total of 70 minutes' commuting was done. I took a slightly longer route home from work to make up for the lack of turbo action and it also helped to burn off some of the amazing flapjack that mum had made, which I stopped off for with a cup of tea at the end of this evening's ride. I feel pretty rough though. I have had another sore throat and runny nose for a couple of days and there's loads of bugs going around at work. I think it's going to have to be another gentle 30 minute box ticker tomorrow.

having said that, I felt good on the way home and was pushing the langster hard up the hills and along the flats. The gains from #turbovember might be small but they are most definitely there.

#Turbovember Day 8

After successfully negotiating the first week, today was another struggle. After work, then family stuff, dinner, more family stuff, it was 9.30pm before I could even remotely think about a turbo session. And to be honest, I didn't want to do it. I had bailed on my commute ride today as I needed a bit more rest in lieu of a higher quality turbo session in the evening but it was really hard work to peel myself away from the TV and take the cold walk to the end of the garden. I ended up doing a solid 60 minutes with 5x5mins with 2 mins spin recovery. A great set, once I had got going.

Tomorrow will prove to be a very tough day. But it's Friday and that's a good thing. Onwards.

#Turbovember Day 7

One week down. Woop woop!

Hardest day so far, just through not enough hours in the day. One hour's worth of commute riding, pushing hard on the way home. Lots of fun. I have just literally finished an easy spin on the turbo for 30 minutes to keep my 100% turbovember account going.

My toe's flared up again on my right foot. A rather clumsy tumble turn on Monday, too close to the wall is the culprit (haven't run all week anyway). I knew as soon as I hit the wall it would cause a reaction. Got it under control though and not being made any worse by the cycling. Just irritating.
I'll take that over painful. :-)

Hodge - Thanks mate.

#Turbovember Day 6

It was a fun commute to work and back on my new langster. It was harder on the way out with it being mainly uphill, but there's only one climb where I have to get out of the saddle. The ride home has more freewheeling, which I find more annoying than grinding uphill. The bike's very comfortable although i need to tinker with the position a bit more. Still, it's an hour's worth of riding in the day and it all adds up.

In the evening it was another 30 minute #turbovember session. It was very unstructured but I ended up putting some longer tempo efforts in and I have to say that despite the increase in volume over the last week I felt very strong. That said, I didn't get a run in today, but with 90 minutes' worth of bike work, it's been a productive day.

#Turbovember Day 5

A hurried 30 minutes in the dungeon before the kids' pick up; mostly high cadence/low resistance spinning with 2x5min efforts thrown in, mainly to keep me warm. This evening it was back to kingfisher Tri for a swim session to start the long process of rebuilding  some swim fitness. While this month is about building some base bike and run fitness, triathlon is 3 disciplines (apparently) so I need to get some swimming under my belt now as well, if I am to stand even the remotest chance of qualifying from the Dambuster Tri. Being 10 minutes down after the swim will mean game over almost straight away. It was mainly technical stuff this evening but I still found it pretty hard. There was no real catch to speak of; I could feel my arm slipping through the water rather than driving with an effective forearm and my spine was too bendy. I was thrashing like a marlin on the end of a fishing line rather than staying straight and it all just felt very weak and underpowered.  It's a long way to go yet and I have found that usually my swim fitness is the one area that comes back pretty quickly.Fatal last words. Doh...

Commute rids tomorrow, lunchtime run with an evening turbo set. Off.To.Bed.

#Turbovember Day 4

The weather was foul this morning so I ended up doing a 2 hour turbo instead of venturing outside. 2 hours on the turbo is at the very limit of my boredom threshold and my coping strategies revolved around the Led Zeppelin double disc remastered album and doing 10 minutes at tempo with 10 minutes easy. I managed to get the session done and out of the way before 9.30 so I could spend the rest of the day with a smug face.
Onwards.

#Turbovember Day 3

Today was a scheduled as a run day so I was up early again for a slow run, sticking to the local trails towards Oxshott Woods in an effort to keep to a softer surface in defence of my feet. Sun shining, leaves on the ground and muddy underfoot; what's not to like? A slow 5 miles in 41 minutes and it felt a bit laboured but it's great just to be doing a bit of regular running.

In the afternoon, Wheezy Junior and I went over to Richmond Park for a steady 1 mile run on his upcoming cross country course before coming home and christening the new turbo dungeon with a steady 30 minutes on the turbo. A long (ish) ride in the hills tomorrow. Could be painful.

#Turbovember Day 2

After yesterday's fiasco, this morning had a semblance of planning about it, so it was up early to get an hour's turbo in before domestic duties kicked in. The main set was 2 x 20 mins, concentrating on maintaining smooth, powerful circles at a relatively low cadence. Found the second one pretty tough going.

Should be able to squeeze a 30 minute run in this afternoon. Feet are behaving themselves, which is nice.

#Turbovember Day 1

Much, much mucking about today. Spent most of it kitting out the new turbo dungeon at casa Wheezy before then deciding to sort out the rear deraillieur gear cable which  had stopped shifting a week ago. Found out it had frayed so went to local bike shop; got home before realising it was wrong cable; went back, got correct cable; installed cable; shifter still didn't work; spent 90 minutes trying to get shifter to work; swore a lot; lost will to live; decided to remove cable again and realised the nipple end (gyick gsnerk) had not seated itself in the shifter; 1 minute later rear deraillieur working perfectly.

There then followed an easy 45 minutes spinning the pedals. Day 1 complete. Off to bed.

Hodge - Cheers fella. :-)

The results are in

Well I've just got back from the physio with the results of my MRI scan and it seems that I have a few minor issues that are all impacting on my foot. A small fluid sack here, an even smaller ganglion there with a pinch of stressed metatarsal and an aggravated cuboid bone. She's referred me to the consultant to see if anything can be done but at the moment it's a case of continuing to manage it. I feel like I've got a handle on it a bit more. I even went out for a slow 5 mile run yesterday only 2 days after a 3 mile run with Adam while seeing friends in Manchester over the weekend. I now know that  exercise is not really causing this so I might as well run and be damned. I feel better for making that decision. I am entered into a 10km race in December just as a small goal to get me out running regularly again. I am aiming at 3 runs per week, hopefully 4.

I am also over my cold, hence the running over the weekend, but stuff at home has been rather bonkers so I have been easing back in gradually, with #Turbovember starting in earnest tomorrow. November is going to be a run and bike base block. Slow, easy miles at a low intensity just to get my legs used to doing some daily work again. And stretching again. Lots of stretching continuing to focus on my hams, lower back and calves. That will probably continue to be the most important bit of training that I do.

The deed is done

So I have finally entered another triathlon, the Dambuster Tri on the 22nd June, which is a World and European Age Group qualifier. The last time I did an olympic race was in 1997 (London, first one. :-)  It seems that to even remotely stand a chance of qualifying for the World Champs I would need to get down to <2.05. Oh bloody hell, that's a very, very fast time, but hey, you gotta set the bar high sometimes. :-/  I am goingto need to enter a couple of tris beforehand to get some much needed race practice in and maybe a duathlon or two.

In terms of my training, nothing has happened this week. Not the start I wanted but I am still coughing my lungs up. I did have a short ride on the Langster this evening to start sorting out my position on it and other than mudguards it's all set up for a lot of winter commuting. I've been fiddling around with the Van Nic and I have bolted it to the turbo ready for #Turbovember. A group of peeps from Tritalk, including yours truly are going to attempt to do a turbo session everyday in November as a way of kickstarting some bike base fitness. I quite enjoy these motivational sets as the banter and group mentality helps me to get the work done. Turboing is pretty dull but I am going to need to do some big intervals to get my 40km bike split down.


My top athletic moment of the week was watching Wheezy Junior compete in his first cross country race. He did great, coming 5th and he qualified for the Borough Champs despite him sprinting like a loon and then stopping now and again. He could teach the Kenyans a thing or two about surging tactics. He was in fourth almost the whole way and got dipped on the line so there were a few tears  at the end but I was really proud of him. I wish I could run with that kind of freedom at the moment.

New wheels

I've been using the Van Nic for everything over the last 6 months and while I love riding it, I've regretted getting rid of my old trek which was my trusty commuter hack and winter trainer. When the Ranger was sold my plan was to use it to fund a new winter / commuter bike and use the Van Nic on the turbo and Sunday rides. After doing some research I fancied entering the mysterious world of single speed / fixed hub riding, so decided on trying to get myself either a steel framed Pompino or a Specialised Langster. I missed out on a Pompino but I managed to get my hands on this little beauty yesterday; a 56cm Langster in matt black.



It's hardly been used and is in a very good condition. Even better, it was for sale in the same county and country as where I live, so I didn't need to drive the length of the country to collect it. I am going to turn it into my commuter hack, so mudguards, lights and spd pedals need to go on. I'll get used to it for a bit and then have a go at turning the flip-flop hub around and  trying it fixed. Boxhill might be interesting in one gear but I need to work on my leg strength anyway. happy days.

Play to my strengths

My rubbish couple of weeks on the domestic and work fronts reached a zenith yesterday, but I've just kept telling myself, 'It could be worse; I could be Lance.' What a dick. Anyway, that's my thoughts on him and I'll leave it there. The big news this week is that I went back to the tri club on Monday night for the first time in 2 years. The club was more busy than I'd ever seen it but I skulked back into my usual swim lane which was more empty than the others. The 3 guys welcomed me back with a 'Where have you been?' A brief explanation about the DW only for Louise, who's feet I used to just about hang onto, to exclaim that she's just started paddling and thinking about doing the 4 day race. FFS, I Can't get away from it. :-0 Thankfully, it was a technique session so I didn't suffer too much, although I couldn't remember how to scull and my swim trunks seemed a little tighter than they used to be.

Unfortunately the day after I came down with a really sore throat which has hung on for the rest of the week and is now developing nicely into a chesty cough. I was meant to be doing a 2up TT with Simon tomorrow but I 've had to cancel which is a rubbish way to end the season. I suppose it's best that I get it out the way now before I get myself started into some winter training.

So, what of next year? I seem to have manged to get myself a London Marathon place so that's going to be an early season focus and use the marathon training as a way of laying some run base fitness. I will sort out my foot and I will make the start line and I intend to aim for sub 3.10. In terms of tri training I've had an idea. I don't want to tackle another ironman at the moment and the thought of training hard for only one race does not appeal. It also just doesn't fit in with what's going on at home. But most importantly, I don't think it's playing to my strengths. For a middle aged bloke I'm still relatively quick over 5 and 10 kilometres (when I can string some run training together, admittedly) and I love doing speedwork and higher intensity training, so Olympic distance triathlon is the way to go. And I've given myself a race to go for. It just so happens that  the ITU Age Group World Championships will be held in London next year, and the Dambuster Triathlon is a qualification event for it, so why not give it a really good go and see if I can have the honour of wearing a GB tri suit  with my name on it? It's a big ask, a very big ask and I am sure that every triathlete in this country and their mother will be giving this a go with the World Champs on their doorstep, but if I don't try I'll never know.  At the very least it'll make me work hard towards an Oly pb.

For any of this to happen I have to bomb-proof my legs over the next couple of months so I am going to re-new my effort with my stretches and work on my lower back and hip flexibility. Thankfully, I can do that even with a cold.

Pack it up, pack it in..

This week has been monumentally crap and so my training took a bit of a hit. A truly rubbish day at work on Tuesday meant that I had to scrub the commute rides for the rest of the week in favour of lugging work stuff to and fro, which with the best will in the world is hard to do, even if it is a titanium framed beauty. On Thursday evening I got my dull ache behind my second toe on my right foot again; the ominous sign that I was going to get another foot swelling episode, and sure enough on Friday my foot had begun to lump up again. The one silver lining in this episode was that I immediately put my trainers on and instead of spending 4 days in limping hell, the swelling started to abate a lot quicker and it's been a lot less painful. So, two things I have got from this. One, exercise seems to have less to do with this than I thought and two, I can control it to a certain degree. Another small victory in getting my running shoes back on.

OK, so big decision time. It's time to stop paddling. I said at the beginning of the summer that I would try to get to grips with the Ranger and hopefully get to paddle it to Hampton Court and back. I'm not even close and realistically I don't have the talent or perseverance to want to make it work. Allied to that, I just cannot see myself getting back into a boat to do the DW again. Some of my fingers and toes are still slightly numb and I am convinced that sitting on a hard plastic seat for 28 hours has made my foot problem worse. The DW and marathon paddling requires commitment and I am just not prepared to spend another winter doing stupidly late paddles to get the miles in. So today, a young man came down to the Royal and bought my boat off me and I was not sorry to see it go.  Easter will forever hold very special memories. I will never look at a hot cross bun in the same way again and when I wake up on future Easter Sundays I will wish all DW competitors luck, knowing that they are on the last leg of a fabulous journey.  But for me, it's over.  Time to concentrate fully on getting my running legs back and becoming a triathlete again.

Some great memories

So, what to do next?

That is the question. Normally at this time of year I'll be setting myself a target event or race for next year and I would love to, but prudence is key at the moment. My main focus over the next few months is to get running again. It's as simple as that. I've been doing some gentle running over the last weeks but I have made a few ammendments to my shoes, including some orthotics to bring the overly concave part of my foot up and give it some support. I tend to tie my shoes very tight so I am also tying them more loosely and I have changed the lace pattern. Small and probably trivial changes but hopefully the British Cycling 'aggregation of marginal gains' approach might also apply to my feet. I ran for 30 minutes today. The first 20 minutes were really hard work; blowing hard, legs tight and lower back aching but the last 10 minutes were sublime and it felt really good to be running. I have no plans to commit to any form of marathon training, yet ;-)  What I am going to do is get myself back along to the running club and do a bit of cross country and have some fun. If I can get up to running for an hour and incorporate some speed, so much the better. But at the moment, it's just some gentle base.

The same will be on the bike. I'm going to keep the commuting and Strava segment hunting going, but it'll all be about base training and cake rides for a few weeks and then try to keep the cycling going through the winter, which is always a challenge.

Replies- Cheers Lee.

The best and worst of cycling

What with life proving hectic again, training has been commuting. This week just gone, I ended up cycling to work 4 days out of 5 and I have been finding that I have been tiring myself out because of it. I find I slip into the habit of battering myself at every opportunity when probably I need to take it easy, but towards the end of this week I was forced to slow down. Sheer weight of traffic made it almost impossible to attack any Strava segments so I settled for spining home instead. I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing a nasty motorbike accident on the way to work on Thursday. The rider was being attended to but looked in a bad way and it was a sobering experience. I pride myself on the fact that I am a defensive rider; I don't take stupid risks. No Strava segment is worth a trip to A & E. It just felt pretty dangerous out there. The next day, only a few hundered metres from where I had seen the accident the day before, there was another motorcyclist lying in the road after hitting a van. It genuinely shook me up. I really enjoy commuting on my bike but at some times the risk:reward balance seems rather imbalanced. :-(

The good news is that the regular cycling that I've been doing over the last few months has begun to pay off, despite it being fairly low in quality. This morning was the last tt of the season, the Consolation 25. Apparently, the handicap is closely guarded but the handicapper goes around asking, 'Have you won anything this season?' and those who answer 'no' stand a much better chance in the handicap prize. :-)Anyway, after warming up by spinning the 10 miles from Simon's house I was off at 9am. I planned to rein it in for the first part as I was unsure of what my endurance would be like, but I was hoping to keep Simon at bay for at least the first half, as he would be starting 2 minutes after me. The first few miles on the A24 went fine, catching my minute man, then it was a hard left turn onto the A29 Ockley Road. It was along here that I had detonated quite spectacularly in my first 10 this year but this time I felt much better; normal even.

It was at the end of the A29 after about 14 miles in that I didn't know the route, so after overtaking Ray (almost 80; legend) I then had to stop for 30 seconds to see which way to go. At the next roundabout Simon caught me and we joined a short section of dual carriageway. Knowing that it was the last stretch I put my head down and overtook him, only for him to come back at me. It was great fun and while I was feeling extended I was also feeling strong and thought I could take a significant lump of the 2 minutes back that he had put into me if I could work really hard. It was then that the route incorporates a couple of miles of significantly more lumpy hills and I had to work really hard to keep Simon in touch but gradually he  pulled away and by the time we hit the last few miles on the A24 again, he was some 200 metres ahead. Simon's always been stronger on hills than me but generally I have been stronger on rolling road and I managed to slowly reel him in towards the finish but the line came too quickly and he was still some 10 seconds ahead when we reached the finish. I celebrated by honking my breakfast up as Simon looked on. The perfect Sunday morning.

I am very pleased with it though. I was pretty strong over the the entire event and to bring Simon back in the last mile was a massive confidence boost. It's just a shame that the season's now over.

So, what to do next?

Not much to see here

It was another easy paddle in a laance mid-week with Jonesy, this time venturing a little further upstream to Raven's Ait and back. I had preceeded it by scaring myself witless in the Ranger when I took that out for 20 minutes while I waited for him to arrive. It was my first paddle in it in a fortnight so felt a bit more wobbly again and when I got to the end of the island cut I had an enormous wobble as I turned the boat round to come back. I managed to keep myself upright  with the largest and deepest brace stroke that I have ever done before tip-toeing my way back to the clubhouse. I spent another 10 minutes doing some stability exercices at the club (probably should have done those before I went out :-/  ) before settling for the relative safety of a laance. At some point I am going to just have to bit the bullet and take the ranger out onto the river proper and now the colder weather's approaching and the fishermen are retreating back indoors I 'll be able to stay a bit closer to the bank. I just need to man-up a bit.

Cycling has revolved around commuting and Strava has really come into its own. There a 3 segments on the way home that I take turns in attacking and I have managed to get myself into the top 10 for 2 of them. I am patheically pleased with myself about. :-) I must look like a complete loon to other road users as they see me gurning and dry-humping my bike in a bid to get every last bit of speed out of it in order to move up a place or 2 on that particular segment's list. I am yet to become a Strava ' King of the Mountain' but I intend to get one before the winter's out.

So, still riding my bike fairly consistently and paddling my kayak fairly infrequently.  But it's all good.

Back in a laance

Jonesy and I went for a paddle last night in some club laances. I felt a bit of a failure regressing back to one after trying to master the Ranger for the past couple of months but there's only so many lengths of the narrow cut that I can take. To be honest, it's not only been a bit stressful but also a bit boring. I needed a change so we hit the river for the first time in months. It felt like good old fashioned DW training and I loved it. We were only out for an hour or so and we didn't go very far, shuttling between Teddington lock and Kingston railway bridge, but it was so good to be back in a boat paddling without worrying about a capsize all the time. I did a few half-hearted interval efforts but mainly I was just trying to do the basics right. It made me remember what I enjoy about paddling. We need a project and I would love to have a go at the Liffey Descent race next year. Weirs, capsizes and Guiness; what's not to like?

My own worst enemy

So 14 weeks of no running and within 2 weeks of gently starting to do some light running my foot flares up again, however this time it was my right foot. :-/   I can't quite believe it. I cannot remember this happening before and it has got me really flummoxed and frankly a little bit worried. What the hell is going on inside there? It is partly my fault of course. Starting to run again, as well as beginning work again after a long summer break (which meant actually having to move off of the sofa and stand up for most of the day) and breaking in a new pair of work shoes. I don't know which of those would have been the trigger, probably partly all three, but it's hardly like I threw myself into full on marathon training and the fact that such a low level of activity should cause this to happen is the thing that concerns me most.  As I type this, I am watching an Army veteran who is a double leg amputee climbing a flagpole during the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, so I probably need to stop my whinging. It'll all be fine eventually.

Speaking of the Paralympics, we went along to the Velodrome last weekend to watch some track cycling. It was immense. The racing, crowd, noise, atmosphere and not to mention the velodrome itself was mindblowing. We were fortunate enough to see 5 World records (3 set by GB) and another 3 Paralympic records. A brilliant morning of sport; loved every minute of it. While cheering on GB riders was thrilling, I couldn't help watching the riders who had major hurdles to overcome. The German sprinter with 1 leg doing a sub-11 second lap. Pedalling a bike that fast with 1 leg? I almost dropped my egg Mcmuffin in awe.

So I have been commuting on my bike. I was meant to do a 25 tt this morning but obviously my foot was not going to allow that, but hopefully I will be back into the swing of things by Tuesday with some gentle spinning to and from work. 

Onwards.

Riding my bike; paddling my kayak

Training things have been on a slow but steady rise over the course of the summer and I am seeing some improvement which is helping my fragile confidence. I stated a few posts ago that the plan was 3-4 bikes per week, a paddle and a swim. It's no surprise that it has been on the bike that most has been gained although I was starting from a very low point. The shock of setting an all-time worst for a 10 mile tt a few months ago was the starting point. All I have done, which any coach or Internet guru will tell you is key, is to be consistent. I have not tried to smash hundreds of miles or bury myself on the turbo, but simply to ride my bike up hills and ride some bits faster than normal. Keep it simple stupid. I've raced four 10 mile tts and seen a gradual improvement in performance. In fact, a couple of weeks ago on an absolutely beautiful still evening, I set a 10 pb, without trying much. One of those, 'Where did that come from?' type of performances, and then last Saturday I was on the G10/42 course again and it was back to feeling like an asthmatic ant carrying heavy shopping.  I can see from the numbers when I come back from a ride that my average speed is slowly creeping up while my rpe slowly gets lower. Let's hope I can keep that going.

Paddling was proving difficult recently. I went through a phase of simply not being able to stay upright in the Ranger for any length of time so I took a week off. Last night, I went back and I was not expecting much but it was much better. Adam accompanied me in a laance while I took to the island cut again. The first 15 minutes were really good, but then the catches started again. I've figured out what it is though. It's simply my core working very hard and gradually I lose control of my lower back and hips. I had a solid 40 minutes last night and walked away dry so that's a big step back in the right direction. I guess I need to really build up my core if I am to see some big improvement here.

My foot issue has had some developments. Firstly, I had my physio appointment a couple of weeks ago and after much prodding and poking, in a completely non-biblical sense by the very nice physio, Alison, she told me that she didn't know what was wrong. This is actually a good thing, because she has now referred me to have an MRI scan which will be the week after next. I have not run since 26th April and I have had no pain or discomfort in my foot for weeks now, so last night, after my paddle, I decided to test it out. My reasoning is two-fold. Either, it's healed, whatever it is and I'll be able to run on it or it hasn't and it may flare up again, in which case it will show up on the MRI. That said, I was not stupid. I ran for 8 minutes on grass at a very easy pace. So far, so good. Ironically, there was an article in 220 magazine this month where a reader was asking about pain on the outside of the foot. The two main culprits listed were the two things that seem to be my potential nemesis, peroneal tendon weakness or pressure on the cuboid and fifth metatarsal. The plan is to get myself some new footwear and do some small amounts of running and see how things go. In the meantime, more biking.

My Olympics

I am tired and emotional. Not because of the hours of training that I have been putting in over the last fortnight but because the Olympics is over. Added to that I had to go into work this morning and the world did seem a good deal more monochrome than it was just a few days ago. I have had a great Olympics and I have probably managed to see more events than most. I try to be optimistic but I do have a tendency to lapse into pessimism and like many people I was holding my breath during the opening ceremony and asking if we, as a nation, could pull it off and show the world how well we could do things. The answer was an emphatic 'yes.' I know that it has been said many times but there are a few things that really made this games from my perspective.

The Gamesmakers. They were so positive, friendly and helpful. I did not see one Gamesmaker copping a strop or not being bothered to help. Their friendly enthusiasm was the heartbeat of the Games in my opinion. My one BIG regret is that I did not volunteer myself. Next time.  ;-)

The Army and Police. They got so involved with the spectators and were so professional and efficient, as you would expect, but I think that this was a massive PR boost for them. In all the venues that we went to we were through security and into the venue within minutes. I for one, felt significantly more reassured knowing that they were responsible for our safety.

The Transport System. This was obviously going to come under major scrutiny during the Games, but what a success. Everything had been thought through, from the website, signage en route, shuttle buses, gamesmakers to point you in the right direction. It was a complete triumph. I'm sure that it also had a lot to do with people staying at home and working, companies doing night deliveries etc to alleviate the congestion but even so, the tube and rail system was very slick and added to the Olympic experience. It had other benefits; it encouraged people to talk to one another, have some banter and get along. Exactly what should happen during an event like this.

So we had gone to the time trial and road races on the first weekend, but what about after that? Well, the next week was pretty much spent either on the sofa in tears as we won more medals (I am getting very soft in my old age) or on my bike getting some fitness back. More on that in a bit.

The Olympic Stadium

I had applied for but not been allocated any athletics tickets in the first ballot, but as the Games approached I spent more and more time on the ticket website to try to get something. I could see that the ticket allocations were changing hourly at one point and my perseverence paid off. With 10 days to go until the opening ceremony, up popped 2 tickets at a reasonable price for the morning athletics session, the day after the 100 metres final. We would get to see the qualifying for the women's 1500 metres and men's 800 metres as well as the men's discus and women's shot. We ended up staying on in the evening to watch the action in the Park Live site. We finished off by staying until late watching the Men's 400 metres Hurdles and flat races. The food and drink was pricey but no more so than you would find at other live events. The park was heaving as I believe it was one of the few days when the athletics, swimming and cycling was on.

Zak Purchase and Mark Hunter at the Park Live site.

A stunning Stadium.

Sprint Canoeing at Eton Dorney

These were the tickets that I had been allocated during the ballot. Up until a week before there were still plenty of tickets available for this event and mum and dad had been able to get some for the same session a few months before which meant that we were able to travel up together. Again, the transport was really well organised with a fast train taking us to Windsor and then dozens of shuttle buses transferring us to Windsor racecourse where we had a 20 minute walk to the venue. It was  very hot day, probably the hottest of the fortnight.



Packed stands at Eton Dorney




The noisiest supporters



 On the day we were there we saw the 200 metres heats, which were obviously very short events but we were well placed being right on the start line and opposite the big screen so that we could watch the entire race. As usual the loudest cheers were reserved for the GB paddlers (Mckeever, Schofield and Heath and Jess Walker) and the underdogs. There was one C1 paddler from Uganda who really struggled docking his canoe into the start gate who looked quite wobbly and was dead last in both his heats. He got the loudest cheer when he eventually crossed the finish line. They padded out the event with loud music and entertainment between the races including the bongo-cam which appealed to my childish sense of humour. It was a really great event and it was good to see a future GB gold medallist in action. My one and only criticism was that the first heats did not have any form of elimination so all six paddlers went through which meant that a few paddlers didn't try very hard and it seemed merely a warm up, although to be fair Ed Mckeever set an Olympic record in the first round which if I recall correctly was not broken for the rest of the meet.



Heath and Schofield (5) first round on their way to a Bronze medal



Muppets

Women's Mountain Bike Race- Hadleigh Farm, Essex
It was Wheezy Junior who got us into this event, as his Primary School had applied for and been given 9 tickets for it. They had held a writing competition amoungst the pupils in order to win a place which Wheezy Junior had won. Great, but his PE teacher who was taking them needed another adult to take the group as no other members of staff apparently wanted to go. It just so happens that her son had just done this year's Outlaw Triathlon and Wheezy Junior had told her that I had done the odd triathlon or two which we had chatted about, and being a teacher myself and CRB checked etc, she asked if I would like to help take the kids. I thought about it for about a nano-second before saying that I would love to. Again, the trip up was very easy, going through London on the District Line before catching a train to Leigh-on-Sea from Fenchurch Street and then catching a shuttle bus to Hadleigh Farm. The weather was gorgeous and the view from Hadleigh Farm across the Thames Esturary was breathtaking. The nice thing was that the train stopped at West Ham Station and passed by the Olympic Park so there was a really good feeling of connection to the main Olympic site which the kids absolutely loved.

If I am honest I don't think I was expecting very much. A farm in Essex? It hardly conjours up images of the Olympic ideal, but again, I could not have been more wrong. The whole site was amazing with great views and the course had lots of different elements that spectators could watch the riders tackle. There was a big screen in to watch the race develop although we did not need to use it as the great thing about the race was how close we got to the riders and by standing at some of the more technical or uphill sections you got a great view of them. One of our children managed to retrieve a bidon which had been discarded by a Swiss rider. It made his day. We moved around every lap to a different viewpoint and the kids loved taking photographs of the riders and cheering them all on. At the end of the race we watched the medal ceremony take place followed by a parachute drop by the RAF Falcons. A great end to a perfect day.



A stunning day at Hadleigh Farm



Annie Last on her last lap (see what I did there?)



Some of the back markers had to dismount for the more technical sections at the end. It was a tough course.



The medal ceremony




Julie Bresett on her way to the Gold Medal.



Inspiring a Generation?

This has been the well publicised strap line to these Olympics. It seems to have worked, at the moment at least. Wheezy Junior wants an aero-helmet (seriously) and wants to join Kingston Phoenix with me on the proviso that I buy him an expensive road bike. At the pool this weekend, the day after Tom Daley won his bronze medal, there must have been 30 kids either throwing themselves off of the 3 metre high board (including Wheezy Junior for the first time) and diving into the deep end of the pool. On my ride last weekend, as I made my way up Boxhill for the umpteenth time I was greeted by a sight I had not seen before. It was raining and there were 10 or so riders huddling under trees to take shelter. You don't see this often; if it's raining you're going to get wet and most riders just crack on. I guess these guys were relatively new to the sport, maybe encouraged to ride by the Wiggo effect. I think that's great and I hope that it is not a temporary effect but a genuine change in approach. Hopefully, some of them will find their way into a club or riding group. The trick is going to be to get those people who have not had a previously good experience of sport, single parents who might struggle to find time, the disadvanaged, the unemployed. How do we find a way to help those people and their children enjoy sport in the future? That will be the real challenge.

London Olympic Time Trial

Back on the Hampton Court Way to see history being made. What a day. Just a great atmosphere. So pleased to have been there.

Ready and waiting

Armstrong on her way to Gold



Menchov (I think)



Phillipe Gilbert

On and off track

Training got back on track last week and was then promptly derailled. I've been sticking to my 3 bikes, a swim and a paddle, and particularly on the bike I was starting to feel a little like my old self. This was confirmed on wednesday night when I cycled down to Dorking for another Kingston Phoenix evening 10. My first two 10s of the year had been dire but Wednesday was a float night and I ended up with a long 25, which in the circumstances I was really pleased with. Simon was starting off, 30 seconds behind me so although I knew that he would overtake me at some point I was hoping to hold him off until the turn at Beare Greene. With 150 metres to go to the roundabout he went past;  if I'd had a stick to put through his front wheel I would have used it; the joys of friendly rivalry. ;-)  He didn't pull out too much ahead initially but there are a couple of slightly sharper hills at about 8 miles and he put some more distance between us. I finished strongly and felt that I had paced it well overall. The ride to the start and back home gave me a useful 30 mile training ride and I had a good gawp at the BMC, Rabobank and USA team vans that I saw at the Burford Bridge Hotel at the bottom of Box Hill on the way back. I just need to keep my power moving up and my weight moving down; simples.

I was derailled later that evening when a nice snotty cold developed. I was able to go for a very gentle swim on Thursday, just doing some easy drills and technique work but I had to scrub my scheduled rides over the weekend. I feel a bit better today so will aim to do an easy hour this evening and see how I go.

That meant that on saturday and sunday we were able to catch the Olympic cycle road races. With Simon's family we headed to the A24 in Leatherhead, a familiar part of my cycling routes and watched the first 4 laps of the men's race, before my 2 started fighting with their foam hands. It's amazing how children can turn almost anything into weaponry.

big crowds on the A24

Chalking up some support for Cav and the boys

Show us those hands.

 It was a great atmosphere up there and I sincerely hope it helps to change people's attitudes towards cycling and cyclists. Only time will tell regarding the legacy of that one but by no means was it all hardcore cycling fans cheering the team on. After watching TeamGB drag the rest of the peloton around for 5 laps  we walked back to Simon's house for a barbie and to watch the rest of the race on the tv. It was so strange watching so many familiar places on there as they raced back to London. "Oh look, I lived there." "Oh look, mum and dad got married in that church." "Oh look, I worked in that building." And so it went on.... I blogged last time about how exotic previous Olympic venues had looked, however I have to say that Surrey looked absolutely stunning on the tv.

The next day, after doing my fair share of man jobs, we bundled into the car as the ladies race came off of Box Hill and drove down to Hampton Court Way to see them head back into London.  While there had been lots of attacks there had been no significant breaks and it was really exciting to see Lizzie Armitstead in the breakaway some 20 minutes later and they were working well together to make it count. As soon as the peloton had gone we were back in the car to watch the finish at home with a cup of tea and watch her get GB's first medal f the Games. WAY. TOO. COOL.  It was a most civilised way of watching the Olympics. Shame about the weather, but hey, it is Britain afterall.



The best news for me is that next week is my first appointment with the muscular skeletal clinic to start investigating my foot injury properly. I sincerely hope that I may be given the green light to start doing some gentle running and to finally find out what's going on in there. At the weekend I also have to learn how to pddle an open canoe. That could be rather interesting.

The Olympics are coming to town

I absolutely love the Olympics. It's probably the event that has kept me interested in sport all these years. It's no coincidence that at the same time that Coe and Ovett were thrashing it out around the race tracks of the world was also the first time my dad took me down to Ranelagh Harriers to begin running. I wasn't very good, although I flirted with mid-pack mediocrity for a while. However, I had a poster of Seb Coe on my bedroom wall and wanted to be an 800 metre runner like him. The important thing was I enjoyed running, I enjoyed spinning round Richmond Park with the adult and junior members of the club and I enjoyed the racing. That experience set me up for life and I still enjoy all of those things which have helped me to enjoy a heatlthy and active lifestyle. I have Seb Coe and more importantly, my Dad to thank for that.

The Olympics have always been 'another world' kind of experience, just coming through my television set showing seemingly imposible feats of athletic endeavour and endurance from an exotic foreign location. I remember faintly the 1980 Moscow Olympics but it was as a 13 year old watching the LA games that remain vividly in my mind, and they will always be covered with a Spandau Ballet soundtrack.

As well as Coe, Cram, Ovett and Thompson there are many other names that remain indelibly etched on my mind; Mary-Lou Retton, Malcolm Cooper, Mary Decker, Ed Moses, Carl Lewis, Zola Budd, Tessa Sanderson. (How can anyone forget Mitch Gaylord III, inventor of 'The Gaylord'? Your avergae 13 year old boy would remember that one fairly easily). The list goes on.

But now, 'The greatest show on Earth' is in my backyard, literally in my backyard, and I can't quite get my head around it. My one hour bike loop from my house, which I have been riding regulalry for the last 4 or 5 years takes in about 10 kilometers on the men's and women's time trial course as well as a couple of kilometres of the road race. I went out for a gentle spin last might after doing a lumpy 60 miles on Sunday and more barriers, signage and Olympic stuff is going up everytime. Speaking of that 60 miles, I went out with Simon and we hit most of the hills in Surrey, which the road race will be going nowhere near, but we finished off with our usual climb up Boxhill. Even on a busy Sunday I would probably see no more than 2 or 3 other riders, but on this morning it was mental. The Olympics and the Wiggins effect are really kicking in and as we climbed there must have been 40-50 riders going up with us with that again at the top having a coffee. There was even another bloke on a Van Nic. It was really good to see.

The next day I took Wheezy Junior to Boxhill to have a look. We parked at the bottom near Ryker's cafe and walked up to the top and had a look at the Olympic rings. It's hard to believe that during this weekend millions of people will be watching this little patch of Surrey that I know so well from working nearby, commuting to and from and living in. All through Cobham, Oxshott and Esher they've been sprucing, tidying and painting in preparation for the world to descend. It's not exactly an untidy place anyway but the effort that's gone into putting on a good event is plain to see.



Decorated bicycles along the road and tt routes



Wheezy junior on top of Box Hill.

The next day, we had the Torch relay go past the end of or road. It was started by James Cracknell, a former Kingston Grammar schoolboy and where he started his rowing career. Thousands of people turned out to watch it go past and got the area buzzing.



We made an Olympic day of it, so after watching the torch go through we hopped onto the bus to see Wenlock the mascot in John Lewis. I've never quite understood thewhole mascot thing until now. Yes, you can argue it's just a method of commercialisation to help sell merchandise but I have to say that it's really helped my two understand a bit more about the Olympics. We bought them a cuddly Wenlock and Mandeville and the checkout lady stated  "What funny looking aliens."  This prompted little wheezy to then give her a long lecture on who they were and why they were called Wenlock and Mandeville. Not bad for a 6 year old.

We've been lucky enough to get tickets to a few events as well as watching the road races and time trials. Already, Wheezy Junior has stated thst he wants 'a proper racing bike like Bradley Wiggins'. That's fine. As long as I can borrow it now and again.



Training with Strava

The last couple of weeks have gone pretty well with me getting back to some regular, if unspectacular training. I'm sticking to my 3 bikes per week, a swim and a paddle. On the bike I have started to use the Strava website and app to record and log my rides. I had heard of this software before but up until now I had no way of recording and uploading my rides. The segments that each ride can be split into means that I can push hard to move further up the league tables for each segment. It's good fun but more importantly it's already making me work harder on rides. I have always been rather one paced on the bike and then that's meant that when I have pushed harder in races it has caused me to suffer later on in the race. I'll need to be careful that I do not turn every ride into an eyeballs out effort, but it's brought a new dimension to my cycling that I can only see helping me. I have yet to become a 'King of the Mountain' but currently I'm lying in second in one segment near home. You'd have thought I'd won an Olympic medal I was so pleased. Bike fitness is returning well as a result and I guess that the commuting that I have done on the bike has kept some background fitness. I can now ride rolling hills with a bit more gusto and my foot is letting me push a bigger gear. When the hills kick up to a steeper gradient then that reveals my deeper lack of fitness and 5kgs excess baggage around my middle, but I'm getting there.

I've tried to keep the swimming fairly relaxed and stress free, with me focussing on drills and 100 metre reps off 2.15 mins. This is a long way down on where I should be but I already feel better for it, despite having terrible pool sniffles for a few days after. Short reps and a long rest seems to be working well and I'll stick with it for a while. I have no reason to hit the open water at the moment but Simon's got a tri at the end of the season so I when I feel that  have a bit more endurance then I'll get along to Heron Lake for some long ones.

I stated a few posts ago that I had reached a stalemate in the Ranger. That's no longer true and since then I have spent a lot of time swimming and I have flat-lined very badly. I wish I could say that I had improved significantly but I honestly have not and it's going to take a lot more hours before I am going to be comfortable in the Ranger. I think it's mainly a technical / core strength issue rather than anything else but sometimes I just know I'm going in, so I need a few more positive paddles to get my head in the right place. The fact that the river's been up on red boards for the last few weeks has not helped. The Hampton Court swim was cancelled last weekend because of this so I did not get the opportunity to be a safety kayaker, which I had been looking forward to. Nevermind, next time.

Thoughts are turning to next season, and as ever it's hinging around what my foot will let me do and the diagnosis that I hope is coming soon. A sub 3 marathon is still top of the list and I'm working on Mrs Wheezy to do something a bit more exciting afterwards. Watch this space.

An interesting evening on the A24

Another 10 mile tt on the G10/42 course. I knew that I would be slow but I also knew that I needed to do some faster cycling and a 10 mile tt is a perfect way of flooding your muscles with lactic acid. It took me over an hour to get there due to a tree coming down and a motorist going off the road so the start was delayed. I did a quick warm up which tok in about 200 metres of the A24, which this course runs on only to hear an enormous bang. Looked around and there was a beehive box bouncing along the road next to me, which had somehow fallen out of a trailer as the car towing it went past. Missed me by inches. It got my heart rate up at any rate.

After my last tt which saw me put in a personal worst performance I decided to not go out as hard as I usually do as I simply do not have the stamina, endurance or lactic threshold to hit it that hard. After 3 miles we went through the most enormos cloudburst, complete with  thunder and lightning; it wasn't exactly a float night and I got really cold as a result. Felt a bit better on the way home and though I was passed by a couple of Kingston Wheelers I was catching the second one up as I went up the final climb. I think I did a mid 27, so my worst time on that course and my second worst time ever. But there were two positives. My times are moving in the right direction and I had fun, which is why I do it.