Just look at this... It's Marathon World Record holder Haile Gebrselassie "jogging" on a treadmill. When you see him running in the street, it's hard to get much of an idea of how fast he is running, he makes it look so easy. If you had never run on a treadmill before, you could be forgiven for thinking that there was nothing to it after seeing a video like this.
By the way, in case you are wondering, he is running at 4 minutes per mile (no, not per kilometer). What impresses me the most is that his stride is so long, he almost runs out of treadmill.
Rabu, 04 Mei 2011
Selasa, 03 Mei 2011
Lisbon Half Ironman post race analysis
Unfortunately I can't do much analysis as my Garmin completely let me down. Here is the heart rate graph from the event - bear in mind it was a relatively flat course, so my heart rate should have been pretty constant. What am I supposed to make of this?
I was 84th overall (out of about 650) which isn't bad, 21st in my age group but, on the run leg, I was 33rd overall! I know that a Triathlon is not won on one leg alone but the run leg being the last one does say something about how much gas was left in the tank.
The swim is obviously where I am lagging behind, not to mention the transistions! I don't remember being quite so lacksidasical in changing from one sport to another, but the results make it look as though I was taking it easy. In an event that lasts around 5 hours, I refuse to get all stressed about making the perfect transition - you are more likely to forget something vital and regret it later. According to my not so trusty anymore Garmin, the swim was 2.27km in 35:40 but, even if I did stray from the course a litttle, it is bound to have exaggerated the distance due to GPS error. What I find more striking is that I seem to have lost nearly a minute struggling to get out of the water and tripping over the red carpet. For what its worth, you can compare the swim route with the one I actually did.
If you ignore the top right hand corner where it looks like I took a dip in the middle of my transition (maybe that explains it!), I think the line I took is pretty good - you have to remember that there are a lot of people in the way so it isn't always possible to go in the direction you want to. Perhaps those extra 300 meters come from some fractal wobbling (how long is the coastline of Britain?, that kind of thing). I'd be interested to know what readouts other people got, but I don't suppose anyone else was quite so nerdy as me, to have put their Garmin in their swimcap.
Senin, 02 Mei 2011
Week 16 / 20
There's not a great deal to say about last week that hasn't been said already.
After the race it was nice to have a few days off to wander round Lisbon with the family. Lisbon is a city that has something special for me: I have been there for work, I have been invited to deejay there, I have taken my wife on a romantic weekend there and, of course, I have competed in a Triathlon there. It was just a shame that it was raining pretty much the whole time. It was just as well that I had chosen to dress my bike in all season tyres. I was just beginning to have that confidence that I wouldn't get a flat again - thankfully I didn't have any mechanical or pneumatical problems in the race - when, after stopping for lunch on the way home, I found the rear tyre had just spontaneously deflated. How is that possible? (It was inside the car.)
POSTDATA: I just got around to sorting out the tyre for my ride this weekend and I was amazed to find that, yes, I did have a puncture! It seems very unlikely that I could ride 90km without any problems and that I should get a puncture just wheeling the bike out of the hotel, but it look like that is what happened! Thank goodness I didn't have any problems in the race.
As far as aches and pains go, I am raring to continue my training already. The only bothersome thing is a rash on my neck from my wetsuit rubbing during the swim.
It's a mark that all triathletes seem to bear, as if we had all been abducted by aliens. When you finish you look forward to the shower afterwards but some 5 seconds after stepping into the spray of water you feel knives jabbing you in all those places you neglected to put Vaseline beforehand. Now I have the above photo I'll be better prepared for the Ironman...
After the race it was nice to have a few days off to wander round Lisbon with the family. Lisbon is a city that has something special for me: I have been there for work, I have been invited to deejay there, I have taken my wife on a romantic weekend there and, of course, I have competed in a Triathlon there. It was just a shame that it was raining pretty much the whole time. It was just as well that I had chosen to dress my bike in all season tyres. I was just beginning to have that confidence that I wouldn't get a flat again - thankfully I didn't have any mechanical or pneumatical problems in the race - when, after stopping for lunch on the way home, I found the rear tyre had just spontaneously deflated. How is that possible? (It was inside the car.)
POSTDATA: I just got around to sorting out the tyre for my ride this weekend and I was amazed to find that, yes, I did have a puncture! It seems very unlikely that I could ride 90km without any problems and that I should get a puncture just wheeling the bike out of the hotel, but it look like that is what happened! Thank goodness I didn't have any problems in the race.
As far as aches and pains go, I am raring to continue my training already. The only bothersome thing is a rash on my neck from my wetsuit rubbing during the swim.
 |
| This photo will be useful to know where to apply the vaseline exactly before the Ironman |
Minggu, 01 Mei 2011
Lisbon Half Ironman race report
Race day started with breakfast at 6am in the hotel with Juan and Mario. I had what I would normally eat - a croissant and a bowl of muesli - plus a water bottle with a couple of sachets of High5 Energy 2:1. These sachets proudly claim to contain fructose which, after having read an article last week from the New York Times on the evils of corn syrup, reminded me a little of how packaged food in India is sometimes emblazoned with the slogan "now with additives!". In the end, we are at the mercy of the food industry however hard we try to be ahead of the curve. I may not have the heart, lungs or legs of an elite triathlete, but I reckon I do have the digestive tract of one.
One really good way of making friends at a Triathlon is to bring a roll of toilet paper. One of the guys I "lent" a length of paper to waved to me every time we crossed each other on the run. I was, however, still standing in the queue for the bogs (I think this is an appropriate term) - there were only 4 portaloos for 800 athletes - with only 15 minutes to spare. I always find it extremely satisfying to be able to jettison a bit of excess cargo at the last minute. I think the pre-race nerves must be to thank for my ability to do this - and yet I have never needed to "go" in any race so far. I expect the Ironman will change that (for this reason I bought a two piece racing suit).
I made it to the start of the swim with thankfully just enough time to jump in the water and get accustomed to the temperature. Unlike last year, the weather was pretty grim with some heavy storms leading up to the race, so it was fairly cold. I'd read that it made a big difference to get used to the water before starting the swim and, indeed, I felt my heart racing at first. The swim in Lisbon is in a kind of massive tank of sea water which is the best of both worlds as you get the benefit of the extra floatability from the salt water but without the waves. I put my Garmin in my swim cap so I could later see how much I meandered from the course. The gun went off and immediately the sound of 1,600 arms splashing in the water. I don't know why I bother practicing swimming technique frankly, when it is quite impossible to swim well with someone's feet in your face, someone else's arm clobbering you and a third person catching your ankles, but this is triathlon... I just tried to keep calm, keep my strokes long and my breathing regular. The good thing about this kind of suffering is that it does eventually end. There were moments when I could feel the panic starting to rise but I managed to keep it down. The worst I have ever felt in my life was in a diving course, taking my mask off under water, when the freezing cold water made me inhale through my nose and start to shake with utter panic. I went rushing up to the surface with the instructor clinging to my leg. Before inevitably going down to do it again, I talked to an experienced diver who simply said that the human body was not designed for this and that diving was a constant state of controlled panic. Well, I think much the same can be said of the swim leg of a triathlon. My Garmin beeped to tell me I had swum 2,000 meters already (my scenic route was a bit longer than the standard 1,900) and I could just make out the final buoys and the other athletes scrambling out of the water. I started to think about Neil at this point and an image came to mind from a photo I have of him gritting his teeth while climbing a hill on his bike. Finally I could feel the ground coming up underneath and I tried to stand up but it was so slippery and slimy that I dived back to swim the last couple of meters to the red carpet. The carpet was in such a bad state by now that I tripped and slipped again. There was a guy helping people up but he was busy with other people. I eventually got out and started to unzip my wetsuit. I looked at the time on my Garmin and, amazingly I was three minutes faster than last year: 35 minutes! All that seemingly random swimming training must have paid off. I jogged to my bike and got ready for part two.
Thank god Carlos had seen me earlier just before I racked my bike. He said "Where are you going with the smallest cog and big chainring? Maybe you can start like that but...". I decided not to bother with the fancy shoes attached to the bike transition and ran instead to the mount line with them on. This was when I discovered that my Garmin had been replaced by a random number generator. Not only did it sometimes show ridiculously high numbers as had been happening recently, but it also registered impossibly low numbers so it really was totally useless. Having no reference for how hard I was working other than the sensation in my legs and how heavily I was breathing, I went by 1 kilometer splits. Most of them were around 1:37 which is safely under the two and a half hours mark (yes, I was still able to do mental arithmetic at this point). But with the modest hills, turns and faffing around with water bottles and cereal bars, the laps were taking me 40 minutes, implying a time of 2:40. Considering I did 2:31 last year this was slightly demoralizing but I decided I would more than make up for it later on the run. The bike course was fairly uneventful apart from ejecting a water bottle after hitting a bump and later dropping half my cereal bars which had become a sticky mess after my not so wise decision to remove all the wrappers beforehand. The course is an ugly but flat out and back with the only thing to break the monotony being a fowl stench emanating from a factory along the way. You end up coveting the other competitor's bikes or wondering why someone riding an extremely aero bike with an aero helmet should choose to wear a jacket that acts as a parachute. Still, looks can be deceiving: there was a guy with an enormous bushy beard that looked like it would be quite effective as a fishing net - he ended up third in my age group! Every time I cycled back into town I would scan the crowd to see if I could spot my family and, as I was finishing the 3rd lap (of 4), I saw them there and waved frantically to them. What a difference it makes to see your loved ones at a time like that! I felt overwhelmed with emotion and adrenalin. What I didn't know until after the race is that Luca, my eldest son, had crossed the road and very nearly been hit by a cyclist - it took him about an hour to get over the shock.
I got to the bike rack after 2:35 and put on my running shoes. No visor or sunglasses today as it was raining. It wasn't the ideal race in terms of preparation for Brazil, which will no doubt be much hotter. In fact, I drank about half what I had planned to drink on the bike, supplemented instead with some 5 High5 Isogels, and I only gulped down about 6 salt tablets in the end, none of these on the run. I almost forgot to put on my race number which would have been a serious downer - on the bike it wasn't necessary and I'd forgotten to even take it out of my bag. I felt great on the run, as if I hadn't swum or biked just previously. I think only one or two people overtook me other than those who were a lap or two ahead anyway; I spent the race passing others all the way. It was just a question of putting up with the discomfort until it was over. The run is always a bit confusing, with people in all different stages of the race, but it is where you see everybody else for the first time. Apart from Carlos, Juan and Mario, some friends from my triathlon club, Aguaverde, there were about 10 people from work to wave to, not to mention those who I furnished with toilet paper before the race. I felt very strong but decided not to step up the pace for the second half so as not to leave myself in a lamentable state for the Ironman. I did the Half Marathon in 1:24! Actually, the run course was about 800 meters short so that's not quite as ridiculously good as it looks (remember my best Half Marathon time is 1:23) but it was good enough to get me to the finish line in 4:44, 20 minutes faster than last year. I felt overcome with emotion as I crossed the line - I craughed as I have done in the last three races I've done, a combination of relief, joy and exhaustion. It's an incredible feeling. It is why I race.
One really good way of making friends at a Triathlon is to bring a roll of toilet paper. One of the guys I "lent" a length of paper to waved to me every time we crossed each other on the run. I was, however, still standing in the queue for the bogs (I think this is an appropriate term) - there were only 4 portaloos for 800 athletes - with only 15 minutes to spare. I always find it extremely satisfying to be able to jettison a bit of excess cargo at the last minute. I think the pre-race nerves must be to thank for my ability to do this - and yet I have never needed to "go" in any race so far. I expect the Ironman will change that (for this reason I bought a two piece racing suit).
I made it to the start of the swim with thankfully just enough time to jump in the water and get accustomed to the temperature. Unlike last year, the weather was pretty grim with some heavy storms leading up to the race, so it was fairly cold. I'd read that it made a big difference to get used to the water before starting the swim and, indeed, I felt my heart racing at first. The swim in Lisbon is in a kind of massive tank of sea water which is the best of both worlds as you get the benefit of the extra floatability from the salt water but without the waves. I put my Garmin in my swim cap so I could later see how much I meandered from the course. The gun went off and immediately the sound of 1,600 arms splashing in the water. I don't know why I bother practicing swimming technique frankly, when it is quite impossible to swim well with someone's feet in your face, someone else's arm clobbering you and a third person catching your ankles, but this is triathlon... I just tried to keep calm, keep my strokes long and my breathing regular. The good thing about this kind of suffering is that it does eventually end. There were moments when I could feel the panic starting to rise but I managed to keep it down. The worst I have ever felt in my life was in a diving course, taking my mask off under water, when the freezing cold water made me inhale through my nose and start to shake with utter panic. I went rushing up to the surface with the instructor clinging to my leg. Before inevitably going down to do it again, I talked to an experienced diver who simply said that the human body was not designed for this and that diving was a constant state of controlled panic. Well, I think much the same can be said of the swim leg of a triathlon. My Garmin beeped to tell me I had swum 2,000 meters already (my scenic route was a bit longer than the standard 1,900) and I could just make out the final buoys and the other athletes scrambling out of the water. I started to think about Neil at this point and an image came to mind from a photo I have of him gritting his teeth while climbing a hill on his bike. Finally I could feel the ground coming up underneath and I tried to stand up but it was so slippery and slimy that I dived back to swim the last couple of meters to the red carpet. The carpet was in such a bad state by now that I tripped and slipped again. There was a guy helping people up but he was busy with other people. I eventually got out and started to unzip my wetsuit. I looked at the time on my Garmin and, amazingly I was three minutes faster than last year: 35 minutes! All that seemingly random swimming training must have paid off. I jogged to my bike and got ready for part two.
Thank god Carlos had seen me earlier just before I racked my bike. He said "Where are you going with the smallest cog and big chainring? Maybe you can start like that but...". I decided not to bother with the fancy shoes attached to the bike transition and ran instead to the mount line with them on. This was when I discovered that my Garmin had been replaced by a random number generator. Not only did it sometimes show ridiculously high numbers as had been happening recently, but it also registered impossibly low numbers so it really was totally useless. Having no reference for how hard I was working other than the sensation in my legs and how heavily I was breathing, I went by 1 kilometer splits. Most of them were around 1:37 which is safely under the two and a half hours mark (yes, I was still able to do mental arithmetic at this point). But with the modest hills, turns and faffing around with water bottles and cereal bars, the laps were taking me 40 minutes, implying a time of 2:40. Considering I did 2:31 last year this was slightly demoralizing but I decided I would more than make up for it later on the run. The bike course was fairly uneventful apart from ejecting a water bottle after hitting a bump and later dropping half my cereal bars which had become a sticky mess after my not so wise decision to remove all the wrappers beforehand. The course is an ugly but flat out and back with the only thing to break the monotony being a fowl stench emanating from a factory along the way. You end up coveting the other competitor's bikes or wondering why someone riding an extremely aero bike with an aero helmet should choose to wear a jacket that acts as a parachute. Still, looks can be deceiving: there was a guy with an enormous bushy beard that looked like it would be quite effective as a fishing net - he ended up third in my age group! Every time I cycled back into town I would scan the crowd to see if I could spot my family and, as I was finishing the 3rd lap (of 4), I saw them there and waved frantically to them. What a difference it makes to see your loved ones at a time like that! I felt overwhelmed with emotion and adrenalin. What I didn't know until after the race is that Luca, my eldest son, had crossed the road and very nearly been hit by a cyclist - it took him about an hour to get over the shock.
I got to the bike rack after 2:35 and put on my running shoes. No visor or sunglasses today as it was raining. It wasn't the ideal race in terms of preparation for Brazil, which will no doubt be much hotter. In fact, I drank about half what I had planned to drink on the bike, supplemented instead with some 5 High5 Isogels, and I only gulped down about 6 salt tablets in the end, none of these on the run. I almost forgot to put on my race number which would have been a serious downer - on the bike it wasn't necessary and I'd forgotten to even take it out of my bag. I felt great on the run, as if I hadn't swum or biked just previously. I think only one or two people overtook me other than those who were a lap or two ahead anyway; I spent the race passing others all the way. It was just a question of putting up with the discomfort until it was over. The run is always a bit confusing, with people in all different stages of the race, but it is where you see everybody else for the first time. Apart from Carlos, Juan and Mario, some friends from my triathlon club, Aguaverde, there were about 10 people from work to wave to, not to mention those who I furnished with toilet paper before the race. I felt very strong but decided not to step up the pace for the second half so as not to leave myself in a lamentable state for the Ironman. I did the Half Marathon in 1:24! Actually, the run course was about 800 meters short so that's not quite as ridiculously good as it looks (remember my best Half Marathon time is 1:23) but it was good enough to get me to the finish line in 4:44, 20 minutes faster than last year. I felt overcome with emotion as I crossed the line - I craughed as I have done in the last three races I've done, a combination of relief, joy and exhaustion. It's an incredible feeling. It is why I race.
Sabtu, 30 April 2011
Lisbon Half Ironman
Just a quick post - full report to follow soon. I managed to finish in 4:44 which is a personal best so I'm happy. More soon!
Kamis, 28 April 2011
Lisbon: pre race bits and bobs
Although these gels are horribly sickly, they are giving me a real energy boost. I feel like I haven't felt for ages, which certainly helps at work. I spoke to Jonathan today and told him about my carboloading and he made me worry a little about the high glycemic index of the carbs that I am taking in. The higher the glycemic index (GI), the easier they are to digest and the more quickly the energy is released; the worry is that this could go against all this painstaking training to primarily use fat for fuel. I personally don't believe that 3 days of eating sweets can do any harm - I think the worst that can happen (apart from an upset stomach) is that the energy gets burnt off before the race starts, or that it gets turned into fat as excess calories. Here's what I ate yesterday:
I didn't quite manage to get to the 850g of carbohydrates I was aiming for, but I got pretty close. I don't think it is feasible to do this with low GI foods which, by definition are harder to digest and typically have a lot more fiber. If you want to do this with spaghetti, you are talking about eating 2 kilos of the stuff! I found an interesting article on carboloading, admittedly from the Powerbar website, so bound to be biased towards taking gels but it talks about adding some low GI foods on the last day before the event, which makes sense, so I'll have a big bowl of spaghetti the night before, as is traditional. One thing to be aware of is that the body stores water with the carbohydrates, so you can feel a little bloated and the bathroom scales can give you a bit of a shock.
Jonathan and I decided that the best plan for Lisbon is to go at race pace (that is to say, not at the slower Ironman pace) but that I should reserve just a little bit, to make sure I don't really destroy myself. As a "reward" I can cut down the training next week, which is just as well because, on Friday, I have a 5 hour bike ride followed by an hour run, which I was going to have to fit around my work day. That means that I really have done all the heavy weeks of training already. The timing is great because I start a new role at work on Monday so I can't really afford to spend so many lunchtimes in the gym.
I also paid a visit to Paloma today. She gave me a leg massage to flush out all the stiffness and knots that have been building up over the last weeks and months. Now I just have to pack and drive the 600 kilometers from Madrid to Lisbon... Last year I did it on my own but this time my whole family is going so my wife will be able to share the load. Also, it just so happens that this year, Monday is a bank holiday, so we will be able to enjoy a bit of Lisbon before heading back.
All that remains to say is to wish William and Kate a great wedding tomorrow and to say sorry I couldn't make it but I have this rather important triathlon...
Check back in here on Saturday afternoon to see how it went!!
(Oh, and by the way, I didn't get accepted in the lottery to run the New York Marathon this year - damn!)
Your Food Diary For:
I didn't quite manage to get to the 850g of carbohydrates I was aiming for, but I got pretty close. I don't think it is feasible to do this with low GI foods which, by definition are harder to digest and typically have a lot more fiber. If you want to do this with spaghetti, you are talking about eating 2 kilos of the stuff! I found an interesting article on carboloading, admittedly from the Powerbar website, so bound to be biased towards taking gels but it talks about adding some low GI foods on the last day before the event, which makes sense, so I'll have a big bowl of spaghetti the night before, as is traditional. One thing to be aware of is that the body stores water with the carbohydrates, so you can feel a little bloated and the bathroom scales can give you a bit of a shock.
Jonathan and I decided that the best plan for Lisbon is to go at race pace (that is to say, not at the slower Ironman pace) but that I should reserve just a little bit, to make sure I don't really destroy myself. As a "reward" I can cut down the training next week, which is just as well because, on Friday, I have a 5 hour bike ride followed by an hour run, which I was going to have to fit around my work day. That means that I really have done all the heavy weeks of training already. The timing is great because I start a new role at work on Monday so I can't really afford to spend so many lunchtimes in the gym.
I also paid a visit to Paloma today. She gave me a leg massage to flush out all the stiffness and knots that have been building up over the last weeks and months. Now I just have to pack and drive the 600 kilometers from Madrid to Lisbon... Last year I did it on my own but this time my whole family is going so my wife will be able to share the load. Also, it just so happens that this year, Monday is a bank holiday, so we will be able to enjoy a bit of Lisbon before heading back.
All that remains to say is to wish William and Kate a great wedding tomorrow and to say sorry I couldn't make it but I have this rather important triathlon...
Check back in here on Saturday afternoon to see how it went!!
(Oh, and by the way, I didn't get accepted in the lottery to run the New York Marathon this year - damn!)
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