The Morning After…

So Nottingham went well; British AG sprint champion etc. etc, but there was no time to bask in any glory as I had to get to Chester for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day. I had entered five of the six qualifying events for the sprint and OD ITU champs in London. This was basically because I was out working in Australia last November when I found out that the Dambuster qualifier had already sold out. I went straight on line and saw there were only about 20 places for Deva left so I registered there and then. The next day I looked at the other qualifiers and saw they were also just about sold out so in a fit of panic I registered also for Nottingham, Bristol and Llandudno. The 3^rd OD qualifier had yet to be announced so I thought best to get into the Sprints to at least give myself a chance. Also Bristol is just about a local tri and I’ve lived many years in Llandudno so that also would be like a home tri. The outshot of all this internet activity from down under was that I didn’t realise that Nottingham and Chester were on consecutive days. Oh well, I just thought I would see how well I could do at Notts and treat the Deva tri as a block session! I managed to get a good post-race massage in Nottingham.

I went straight to register for Deva on the Saturday afternoon and then went to stay with a friend in North Wales. I’d arranged another massage there with John Clayton who came highly recommended in North Wales. He was excellent and not only gave me the massage I needed, also offered heaps of good physio advice for my various ailments. After Notts a bit of a celebration was called for so out we went for an Italian and carbo loading, some beers and a nice bottle(s) of red. I was in the final wave on the Sunday so luckily no need for too earlier a start. However, as always; I was awake early, so set off for Chester so I could see some of the earlier waves start. My Cardiff Tri buddy, Sam Webster, has already written a far better descriptive blog of his race at Chester (here) http://www.dontbeasalmon.net/archives/2013/06/deva-triathlon.html.

Based right in the centre of a city, on the river, space was always going to be tight. So getting from the car parks to transition and then onto the swim start was a bit convoluted but I have to say the organisation, marshalling and assistance was excellent throughout the event in what I could see was quite a difficult location (Chester Sunday tourists all over the place).

I guess due to focusing of Notts for the first time in a triathlon I hadn’t even looked at the cycle and run courses. I obviously knew the 1500m swim was in the river but that was about it. I racked my bike, worked out the in’s and out’s of transition and went down to the swim finish to see how that worked. As the swim course went first up river around the bend and then back down stream, with no footpath on this side of the river what was around the bend was a bit of a mystery.

Start time came. By now I’d worked out my race strategy. I’d already qualified for London and raced the previous day so just go nice and easy and see how it pans out. Although as my best event is swimming and our last wave was only males my age and older I thought I would see if I could do a good swim. Well I did. The actually time for the 1500m (actually over 1700m by all Garmin gps accounts) on such a upstream/downstream river swim is irrelevant but I managed to draft just about the whole way. At the swim start three of us went clear very quickly I just tucked in behind the third and away we went. The first guy was a bit ahead and in retrospect a good sighter and perhaps I should have tried to get on his heels. The guy I was following was zig sagging a bit but I think was slightly faster than me and so was pulling me along nicely. I haven’t checked specifically but I think we ended up about 3 or so minutes ahead of the pack. I managed to overtake the 2^nd guy before getting to T1 and then the first guy before the exit on the bike (later he past me on the run). So once again I was in the lead on the bike in my age group and thinking this tri lark was easy. That was to about the 20k marker when someone in my wave past me. I don’t know whether it was being passed or if I had just reached my limit but that’s where I bonked. I had no energy left. I was also cramping in my arms and elbows in the aero position. I was passed a few more times before T2. I think I was in survival mode on the run and just really jogging around. Lots in my age group with red numbers passed and my aim was just to finish. I had no motivation whatsoever to give myself pain. Although I realised there were two guys coming up behind me as I went over the bridge towards the finish I really could do nothing about it. That was it. The cold fact was that in the end I finished 15^th in my Age Group.

It’s taken me a few days to recover but thinking about things I’m now pretty happy with the race. There is no way I could expect to perform well on two consecutive days. I think I had the best swim leg I’ve ever had and practised my swim drafting to perfection. Although I bonked on the bike and then had someone take over 13 minutes off me on the run I know I can do better. In the end it was a good training race for me.

The one gripe I have about Deva – It took me days to scrub off the tattooed race numbers and lettering from my arm and leg! After trying every industrial solvent (from work) I have to no effect it was just hard scrubbing that got them off and left me a bit raw. I guess not the worst triathlon complaint you could have.

British Age Group Sprint Triathlon Champion

Well. I wasn’t expecting that!  On Saturday, 1^st June 2013 I became the Male 55-59 British sprint triathlon champion at Nottingham. It has certainly mixed things up for me in respect as what I’m now going to do, what are my targets, how I’m going to train, work/family priorities etc.  Oh god, there is just so much to taking in.

I’d looked at the start lists for Nottingham and with my vastly improved performance at Llanelli two weeks ago I’d realised that for the first time in triathlon I would really be in with a shot in my age group. However, as just about anyone who was at Nottingham will tell you, it was very competitive with just about everyone attempting to qualify for the London world champs in September. In fact of the over 1000 or so entries I think there were very few there just for the fun of it.

So how did the day go for me?  Well first I made a good decision the day before. I was planning to travel up on my own very early (3am!) on the morning of the race. In the end I decided that was a bit much, especially having entered the Deva tri in Chester the following day. So instead I bought a cheap but good small tent (our family tent is massive and takes hours to put up) and camped the Friday night. The campsite next to the Nottingham National Water Sports Centre is great and the weather was perfect. So I had an enjoyable evening planning things, doing a course recce, getting well fed (and a few beers) and a good night’s sleep.

The race was split into 5 waves with 2hrs 15 between waves so it lasted the whole day with the last wave off at 4.30pm. I was in the 2^nd wave starting at 9.45 so I got there early to see the start of the first wave and pick some tips up. It was the first time I’ve raced where there was a split T1 & T2 transitions, but it was quite straight forward. I met up with some Cardiff tri who had done it before and got a few more tips. Luckily I’m a strong and confident swimmer (it was the water polo) as us oldies (55-59) were lumped in the same wave with the testosterone of males 20 to 34 and the swim start was as brutal as I can remember. I’ve got a good sprint so cleared out pretty quickly and then largely had clear water to settle into my rhythm. A few passed but I don’t think I touched anyone all around the course.

Getting out of the wetsuit (All photos courtesy of David Gunthorpe, Cardiff Tri)

Good in T1. I had decided again not to do a flying start but put my bike shoes on in T1. So my T1 time (69secs, 317/893) looks worse than it probably should, however once I was on the bike I passed many in the first 200m going slow still trying to get their feet in the shoes on the bike whilst I was already in aero. I guess if you can get your feet in quickly and go, it’s faster.

Bike was 4 times around the outside of the rowing course anticlockwise. The course is essentially a rectangle with the ends slightly rounded. I was already warned by one of the guys that the second corner curves more and comes back on you and that he went on the grass in wave 1. So what did I do on the first lap? The same! I only just made it inside the post of the gate. Apart from that I flew around. The new Trek Concept TT bike is magic.  Being a single track road around the lake the course was narrow. I could see many groups bunching up. I guess it is so difficult not to draft in these situations. Luckily (or unluckily if you look at it that way) I was just about always on my own so no problems. I see in the whole event they only busted a few drafters. But as I said, it’s difficult on that type of course. I had the fastest bike time in my AG.

On the bike exiting transition and looking good

T2 was also OK. I had thought of getting out of my bike shoes on the bike but with the final two corners coming quickly and tight I decided to err on the side of caution. I managed to get my run shoes on without the hint of cramp which normally occurs when I do this in races. The run was back the other way clockwise around the cycle course with a couple of diversions. Apart from the first 500m is was flat. Due to managing my Achilles issues I’ve not really done proper run training in the last couple of months but it felt alright and as I was going so well I decided I might as well push it for all my worth. It was a flat course after all! My run ended up at 21.58 which I’m pretty happy with although there were six or so in my AG with around 20mins or under run times.

So coming into the last 400m to the finish I knew that I would qualify in the top 7 for the worlds but I also thought I was probably 1^st or 2^nd so I gave it all. One guy sprinted past me but he was just a kid! Coming over the line I could hear the announcer say “here’s the first 55-59” and then my name and club and then some very complimentary things. It actually took me a little while to realise that I had, provisionally anyway, won my age group. I waited to see who would come in and it turns out 2^nd & 3^rd had a huge sprint finish. One second difference and some guts left on the finish line. That’s how good the racing was. Although I was  2 minutes ahead of them. My time for the 750m/20k/5k was 1.05.41

It was still a provisional result so I went back to the camp site, showered and had some food. When I came back I went to the computer to get a print out of my result. It said 1^st in age group. I happened to ask the official if I got anything for it and he said the presentations were already going on outside. I quickly walked outside just as my age group presentation was about to start. Thirty seconds  later I was up getting my trophy and medal, standing on the podium with the 2^nd and 3^rd and getting our photos done. So that was it – confirmed British age group sprint triathlon champion!

A good day out as they say.

I didn’t hang around as I had to drive to Chester to register for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day, which stupidly, but due to circumstances at the time, I had also entered. That wasn’t as good day and I’ll tell why in the next blog.

So here I am qualified for the first home World Triathlon Championships in London in September and qualified as British AG champion. No pressure then!  Oh and I already qualified for the World Aquathlon Championships earlier in that week in September. The good thing is that on reviewing both my races this weekend I don’t think I’ve yet reached my full potential. I know I can go faster in the swim. I’m only just learning how to get the best on the TT bike (I still couldn’t hold the aero position for the whole race) and, if my Achilles allows me full training, I think I can run a bit faster.
Next up, next week, is the ETU European Championships in Alanya, Turkey. This is becoming fun!

I raced a race! - Llanelli Sprint Tri Race Report

Last Sunday was my first triathlon of the 2013 season. It was a sprint tri in Llanelli, the town where I grew up. I’m very pleased with the way it went. I managed 2^nd in the Super Vet’s category and, more importantly, smashed my PB for the course and that’s with the swim course being about 1min longer this year. So it looks like all my training since I got serious is starting to pay off.

The swim finish (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

I guess since I started racing triathlons (properly in Australia in the late 80’s) I’ve never been a contender for winning anything and consequently I’ve only ever really competed to do as best as I can. My objective has always been a PB rather than winning anything or beating anyone specific so I’ve paced races to finish as fast as I can. I can’t remember a time where I have actually gone for a sprint finish to try and be one or two places up the finishing list. However now with this plan of training, trying a bit harder and competing on the international age group stage I actually thought through what I would be like if it did come to some sort of sprint finish against one of my fellow age groupers trying to qualify. My observation was that I probably wouldn’t be very good. I normally don’t hold anything back in the swim or cycle and I’ve never been good or comfortable in the run, always seeming to be in pain from the start of the run to finish. My aim on the run is to get it over with without over straining myself. I’ve also never previously been concerned with who I’m racing, in my age group or others. This season, again with my targets in mind, I thought I should take things a bit more seriously. So before Llanelli I had a look at the start list. As for just about all tri’s this year there were a lot more entrants. In fact, 310 recorded finishers against 236 for last year. I had noted that I’d finished last year (in a PB) 6^th out of 20 Super Vets (50 -60 year olds), 11 mins & 28 secs behind the winner from Celtic Tri Club. He had again entered this year. I noted that last year I was second out of the water, 3 secs behind him. So I hatched a simple plan. As my swim is a bit faster this year I will try and get out in front on the swim and then just see when he passes me on the bike and see how close I can keep him. So the night before I even tried to remember his race number. Things in the swim went to plan. I was in the second of three waves with all but one of the +50 males and most of the +40 male vets.

The Melee of the swim start (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

 I got a good start and led the 2^nd wave swim from start to finish. The first wave was all the females plus a few men and I’d already caught quite a few on the swim. On the bike I was slowly picking athletes off on the way out to Kidwelly. I was quite surprised that the first person that passed me did so quite late on in the cycle and it was a +40 man with a low number. But last year’s winner caught me just before T2. This, together with an abysmal T2 for me trying to get my run shoes on without getting cramp in my feet meant he was way in the distance when we got on the waterfront.

 Start of the run for me (Photo: courtesy of Owen Evans wife of Cardiff Triathlon club)

 

This is the bit about racing. I was slowly starting to catch him and in fact got to about 10m behind him at the 2.5km turn. So now what? I was slowing down and thinking I should just follow him till the finish and save everything for a sprint. But I don’t have a sprint finish! Eventually I thought, what the hell, this isn’t a qualifying race and I will probably do a slower time if I don’t run as fast as I can now so after the only little rise on the run I went passed him, as fast as I could trying to give an air of this was easy! Of course he then speeded up and followed me. Oh what pain. I just ran as fast as I could and went hell for leather for the last 400m. I beat him by 9 seconds. I was a bit of an embarrassment at the finish dry retching as they were trying to hand me my t-shirt, goodie bag etc. I have no idea how I didn’t actually throw up. For a little while I obviously though I had won my age group. But it was not to be. The one guy in my age group who started in the last wave was a couple of minutes faster. He was a “younger” guy who had just moved into the age group. This year I was 2^nd in AG out of 26. Overall I was 34^th out of 310 finishers; compared with last year where I was 71^st out of 236.

So all’s well that ends well. A second place AG trophy and a £20 voucher for a tri shop. I guess that now makes me a professional after all these years! 

It wasn’t all good though. Once again I got my specific problem at every triathlon of cramps in top of the foot when putting on both my bike and run shoes. It probably set me back about 30 – 45 secs in total in the transitions.  I’m now accepting this and put it down to getting older and some arthritis. Although I used to do it a few years ago, I won’t be now doing a flying start again with my bike shoes attached to the bike. The risk of getting cramp when inserting the feet when on the bike is too great for me. The other problem I had was that I couldn’t stay in the aero position for the whole bike leg -probably only about half. It’s the first time I’ve raced my new Trek Concept tri bike in anger (see previous post). I found that being in such a different position when compared to the aero’s on my training bike i.e. further forward; I was starting to get cramp in my forearms and had to drop down quite often. I’m hoping that with some specific exercises and more time on the tri bike this won’t happen again.

And we’re racing! (Hopefully)

I saw a physio about my swimmers shoulder and it turns out with a bit of luck and a lot of rehab work it should be ok.  It looks like it’s not directly my rotator cuff but my bicep that is sore. It’s connected/caused by the rotator cuff but not any sort of impingement as I was worried about. It’s good that I picked it up early. The physio thought, and I agree, it’s probably caused by lack of rotation when swimming and my poor flexibility, especially of my spine. So it’s a new set of strengthening, stretching and flexibility exercises and importantly to continue with the bilateral breathing as per my last blog.

Even before I saw the physio another old issue reappeared in the form of tendonitis of my right Achilles. I did my final long run before the London marathon last Saturday (6^th April) which was fine but then on the Monday I did an easy interval session with Cardiff Tri. I was going easy but half way through I started to feel that annoying twinge at the back of my heel. I cut short the session and did a slow jog followed by some intense icing. I did some more light running again this Monday and it was still tight. I’m hoping it’s just a reaction to doing some sprints so soon after my long run. Like the swimmers shoulder, I started getting Achilles tendonitis just before the Ironman 5 years ago. I’ve had orthotics fitted for my “heavy over pronation”. I’ve constantly been doing exercises (heel drops), stretching and then icing after runs for the last few years which I thought had solved (or at least managed) the problem. All I can do now is rest, stretch and ice often until the marathon on Sunday.

All this happened in the week that I have just about finished entering all the races I’m planning to do for this year. It got me worried that any flare up of these issues or other new ones and I can’t race, then I am seriously out of pocket with all these entry fees. Waiting until closer to the event was not an option as this year these events are selling out fast. I think this is partly due to the UK having the AG world championships here in September but mostly the effect of the Olympics on people. It’s getting people active. The organiser of our local Try-a-Tri said that the event sold out in 38 minutes when it went live on Easter Monday evening.  Just about every event I’ve entered is now sold out or nearly full.  I just hope that I can stay healthy and compete as they just about all have a “no refunds” policy. The normal stuff..... “most costs are incurred before the event so unfortunately we cannot offer refunds etc. etc.”  I can’t argue with that, it’s just it seems like a game of roulette committing (and paying) for things so far in advance when there is a good possibility you’re not going to make some starts. You can see this normally from all those DNS in the results from previous year’s races.

Including the London Marathon I’m up to 16 Triathlon and running events entered for 2013. That’s at least 10 more than I would normally do in an average year. I’ve even entered two Triathlons on consecutive days (Sprint & OD ITU qualifiers). In the past I’ve struggled with two Tri’s in consecutive weekends, so that’s going to be an interesting weekend!  The list includes five ITU Tri qualifiers, one ETU qualifier, and one ITU aquathlon qualifier. In amongst all these are two British Champs, two Welsh Champs and three Welsh Grand Prix races, including an off road tri, which I think I’m looking forward to the most. Then there is of course is the ETU Age Group Champs in Turkey and, if I ever qualify, the ITU Champs in London.

That must be over £800 in entry fees I’ve already spent. Wow – just did a search on my accounts software and came up with £798.35. That is just in, probably non-refundable, entries. Let's not think of all the other expenses.

Got to keep fit and healthy now!

Three Month Review

Approaching Easter and once again the weather is absolute rubbish. Heavy rain and winds here in Cardiff but snowing a bit higher up on the mountains. This cold, wet weather is now forecast to last until mid April. I seem to remember no Indian summer for us last autumn and it getting cold last year already in October. So to my mind that’s about six months of winter! How does that work?  Therefore, for everyone, training outside has been challenging to say the least. I suppose I’ve been lucky in that through work I’ve had a few weeks away in warmer climes (Australia, South Africa and Morocco) and probably got a bit more Vitamin D than most. However, as anyone who travels regularly will know, it’s very difficult to do quality training whilst travelling.

 

I got my registration documents and race number this week for the London Marathon, 21^st April. It’s coming far too quickly for me to do it justice. Then again it’s not far enough before the Euro AG Triathlon champs for me to recover. But I’m glad I got in through the ballot. I see that the ballot closed at 125,000 entries and I guess there are no more than 25,000 places for ballot entry so those are quite long odds. London was my first and only marathon (outside of Ironman) which I did ten years ago. This is my third ballot application since then so that’s not too bad. Thinking back to that first marathon, I was so unprepared. I remember I bought a couple of pairs of generic running shoes in the States at a flea market. No doubt they were fakes as I got both for $20. It was only a few years later, and knackered legs, that I found out I was a very heavy over pronator and if I’d kept with that type of shoe I probably wouldn’t be able to walk now, let alone run. These days, with the help of the internet, I’m fully kitted up with the right gear and I know what to do. It’s just a matter of doing it!  For my very long pre marathon run I chose this weekend to enter the San Dominico 20 mile race in Merthyr Tydfil. The current temperature prediction for Merthyr for Sunday is -2C to zero. It will probably be either raining or snowing. Oh what fun!

So to review, like most I guess, I’ve done most of my training indoors in the last three months. In fact, looking at my logs, the last time I was out on the road on a TT bike in anger was at the London Tri back in September. I have tested both my new TREK Triathlon bike and my second hand road training bike out on the flats but not really training. It’s all been on the mountain bike, spin classes and on the turbo trainer. Run and swim training has been ok, but as always, subject to managing little niggles. In the three months I’ve hit both 5km and half marathon PB’s which I’m really happy with. However my swim times are rubbish. I entered a few events at the recent Welsh Masters Swim Championships but bailed out after only two of the events. Although my 400m time was 10 secs better than last year it wasn’t what I was hoping for with the training I’ve been doing (I also wanted to watch the rugby which might have had something to do with it).

I suppose the biggest fear of veteran age groupers is being hampered or fully curtailed by those injuries and conditions that you are more susceptible to getting, and take much longer to recover from, as you get older. I consider myself fit for my age (as you get older you always have to say that –“ I did well in that race for my age”) but the older you get the harder it is to get over any injury. A while back, before I was 50, I had a discussion in a pub with some guys who had already turned 50 and more. They swore that the “tipping point” was 50 years of age.  This is when things really start to go downhill. I didn’t believe them at the time. Now I do.

As an example, I got a new heart rate monitor for Xmas. So the first time I used it after Xmas I got this (after a long run).

 

A very nice rash and graze from the hrm strap.  OK, now I cover the offending bits with a plaster and smother it in Vaseline, but three months later the scar is still very prominent and does not want to go away. 15 - 20 years ago it would have disappeared in a couple of weeks. 25 years or more ago, it would have been gone in a week. That’s the problem as you get older. You just hope you don’t come off your bike as any cuts or grazes will mark you more than an Ironman tattoo. One of the biggest problems for older athletes is that whilst you can generate large, strong muscles with training and the right diet, protein shakes, amino acids etc. there’s not a lot you can do with the supporting soft tissue (tendon’s, ligaments etc.). Which, no matter what you do, basically shrink and get hard with age and struggle to support the muscles you’re trying to develop. Hence my two big problems of swimmers shoulder (rotator cuff injury) and Achilles tendonitis. I know all ages can get these problems it’s just that it’s much harder to manage when you’re older. It requires lots of work on the supporting muscles (around those you are actually using) with strength exercises, physio, and particularly in my case with my Achilles, ice the tendon after every run to get the blood flowing through.

I’ve had a few days off training this week as I’ve had pipes through my nose into my gullet measuring pressure and pH (for 24hrs). Not easy to train like that, especially with a monitor strapped to your side and a cold (but snot’s the issue!). It’s another age related thing, but not directly to exercise and fitness, just age. There’s so many other little things I could go on about (don’t get me started on bone density, mineral deficiency and stress fractures) it becomes boring but worse, very negative. I think you just have to keep going and see what happens. Two things I hope I never get problems with are shingles and inner ear (balance) problems. These are two conditions prevalent in the over 50’s and I know quite a few friends and athletes being knocked for six and out of things for months/years by these. For shingles, it’s estimated that 1 in 4 over 50 year olds, who have had chicken pox will get it to some degree. I don’t think (haha) I’m a hypochondriac, just pro-active in my heath, but when I was offered a vaccine against shingles last year (for money) I jumped at it.

My next goal?  To be able to walk on Monday after the 20 miler.