Unsung Heroes: Kilian Jornet

I'd say that Spain has more than it's fair share of elite sportsmen and women, probably partly due to its great climate. Rafa Nadal, Fernando Alonso, Severiano Ballesteros (RIP), the Spanish football team, Alberto Contador, Marc Gasol even Javier Gómez, the World Champion of Olympic distance Triathlon are all household names. Not so for Kilian Jornet, so he qualifies for my unsung section.

Kilian Jornet runs Marathons. In the mountains. He is an extraordinary athlete with a VO2 Max of around 88ml/kg/min which puts him at the upper end of all the values ever registered. He's already won the Skyrunners World Series 3 times not to mention being World Champion of Ski Mountaineering twice. Skyrunning, as its name suggests, involves running races in the mountains of 30-42km with at least 2,000 meters of climb (and descent - I'm not sure what is worse), a minimum altitude of 2,000m and, in some cases, including a Vertical Kilometer (R). I imagine you have to be extremely fit, lean and dextrous (and a little bit crazy, let's face it) to be able to compete in, let alone win one of these things.

What makes Kilian a "hero" in my book, is his dedication to what he does best without compromising his principles. He could no doubt get more attention and recognition (and more sponsorship for that matter) if he came down to Earth from his Mountains and competed on level ground but he sticks to his thing all the same. He is also very young indeed - only 23 years old - so who knows what he has ahead of him. I'd like to see him getting more coverage at least in the national press - he really is one of the best athletes this country has and he is right under our noses (or really above them I should say).

Week 17 / 20

This week was an easy week in terms of load but a difficult one mentally, although it was nice to be congratulated by so many people at work over my result from Lisbon. What made it difficult psychologically was that my aerobic runs (at a heart rate of 150 bpm) were much slower than the week before and I started to "comerme el coco" as they say in Spanish, thinking that all those sugary gels I used for carboloading last week might have somehow "detrained" my fat burning capacity. The more rational and probable explanation is that I am simply tired and that my body is busy making adaptations to the stresses I put it through last weekend. This sort of worry is fairly typical when you are in the equivalent of the tapering period for any event - for example, when you've sent the invitations out for the wedding, hired the photographer, hairdresser, etc., and really there is nothing left you can do except worry. That's where Jonathan comes in, to put my mind at rest...

Another thing that made the workouts tougher than they really needed to be was the fact that, on Saturday, I had to do my 3 hour (only 3 hours - wahey!) ride in the pouring rain on my mountain bike and that, as my wife is away in Africa, the 1 and a half hour run on Sunday had to be on the treadmill while I watched a really crappy film ("Battle: Los Angeles" if you must know) and the kids watched another not so crappy one. Apart from the obvious tedium of running on the treadmill, I find the stifling heat that builds up almost unbearable, with not even the breeze coming from the fan making much of a difference. After a while, the belt gets so slippery from the stream of sweat that its just as well that I don't heel strike otherwise I'd probably fall off the thing.

By the way, I managed to sort out my Garmin which has been giving me dodgy heart rate readings over the last few weeks and especially in the Lisbon Half Ironman. It turned out to be the obvious: the battery needed changing. That's three euros well spent that I could have thought about spending before!

These days I spend more time than most on the hard shoulder of the motorway, usually pedaling but sometimes fixing punctures. It was only when my car broke down with the kids inside that I realized the difference four wheels makes over two: absolutely no-one stops. Unfortunately, the kids had run my iPhone out of batteries playing so many games so I just needed someone to let me use their phone. What is even more disturbing is that I ran to the nearest homely house (a big out of town garden store) and explained to a middle aged couple I found in the car park my predicament, emphasizing the fact that my kids were on their own by the side of the motorway. Now, I'd understand (but not necessarily believe) a "I haven't got a phone" or even simply a "No, sorry" but this guy actually sort of waved me aside, walking away without looking at me, as if I were a fly trying to settle on his food or a mosquito trying to suck his blood. Now I understand how it must feel to have to beg for money. You can imagine what I said to him - I was so angry and upset it all came out in English and he probably didn't understand a word of it but he will have got the message. I hope he drove past my car on his way home and saw the kids playing by the side of the road with debris from past car crashes and got an earful from his wife for being such a... Still, to be fair, he was probably scared I was going to rob his phone or rape his wife or both, such is the level of fear and mistrust these days; and it doesn't help that I sound like a foreigner (well, I am one). Instead, that would just make him an ignorant twat and means it's all the more likely that he will get his phone stolen one day. Had I been on the bike someone would definitely have stopped - in fact, I even thought about accosting a cyclist, knowing that they would be much more likely to help, but then I also know how much more effort it is to stop and start on a bike compared to a couple of movements of the feet and a slight rotation of the steering wheel required to bring a car to a halt. I finally managed to convince the people in the shop to let me use the phone and, by the time I had run back to the car, the pick up truck was only a couple of minutes behind. (As it happens, I saw a friend in the shop but I was already on the phone - he looked a bit concerned to see me sweating away in a bright yellow fluorescent jacket.) At least now I have a good reason to give to kids so that they don't play so many games on my phone. In the end, the kids were happy that they got off doing their homework.

That peak at the end is the Ironman itself - as you can see, roughly the same load as the total peak weekly training

Anyway, this week starts off with a lactate test - more on this later - and builds up into the last of the heavy training before the event. Not the best timing, what with my wife away, but where there's a will there's always a way...

What next?

You'd be right in thinking: Hang on, did I miss something? He hasn't actually done the Ironman yet so how can he be talking about what comes next?

Well, I am all too aware of the anticlimax and, after having spent a year thinking about almost nothing else, it is going to be a big one. So I need to have something to fix my mind on before I cross that line. My goals have a tendency to determine me, rather than the other way round so I'd better chose something less ambitious than the Ironman before some other crazy idea gets in my head.

I'd like to do a winter Marathon again this year - I'm thinking of doing the one on the 6th December in Málaga, close to where my parents live. It'd be nice to be able to have them cheering me on, as they used to all those years ago in my rowing days. I'd like to capitalize on all this aerobic training I've been doing and see if I can break that magical 3 hour barrier.

I'm also thinking of trying Stand-Up Paddling (SUP). When we were in Asturias recently, I saw someone doing it. It looks a bit like a modern version of punting (I was born in Cambridge and studied in Oxford, so I've done more than the average amount of punting in my life). It grew up out of Hawaii, apparently, so that explains why so many Ironman triathletes seem to be taking it up (Eneko Llanos, Craig Alexander, ...). It also looks like a damn good workout for your core muscles. I don't really believe in fate, but when several things all seem to be pointing in the same direction, I start to pay attention. So when I discovered that the Asturian center for SUP surfing is based on the beach nearest where we stay in a hut that I have run past numerous times, I thought that it's time for me to try it out. Next time we go to Asturias, I'll sign up for a course.

Ironman is the new Marathon

I tried to find some statistics on the 'net of how many Ironman Finishers there have been per year and to compare this against the trend of Marathon Finishers. It's a totally subjective and unscientific thing to say, of course, but it is my impression that more and more people are turning to the Ironman as the "ultimate challenge". There are always harder things you can do: there is even a 20 times Ironman distance event where you do all the swimming in one go (in a swimming pool - imagine having to do 3,040 lengths!), all the cycling and then all the running - you have a certain number of days to complete the whole thing. But the Ironman has captured the public imagination - especially in America - in much the same way as the Marathon has.

The reason is History. Why is it that the most coveted running distance is the seemingly arbitrary 42,195 meters? There are many articles on the internet that explain how we ended up with that distance but my point is, were it not for Pheidippides and all the other quirks of history that lead us to 42,195 (or 26 miles and 385 yards), the Marathon would not have the same prestige or nostalgia. Imagine if in the 70s, someone had decided to round the distance to 40km? It wouldn't be the same. Nowadays, most people know what it means to run a Marathon, have heard about the "wall" and may even know that breaking 3 hours is a very good result.

Much the same happens with the Ironman. The Ironman came into being as the result of a debate Naval Officer John Collins had with some colleagues over "Who was the fittest - the best swimmer, the best cyclist or the best runner?". To settle the question, they decided to take the three toughest tests the island had to offer and came up with a grueling Triathlon: 3.8km swimming, 180km on the bike, followed by the Marathon. Thus the Hawaii Ironman (now Ironman World Championship) was born in 1978. The name came from John Collins, who proclaimed that the first person to cross the line would be called the Iron man. On the last page of the race rules was the slogan "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life" which is now a registered trademark! By the way, the 17 hours cut off time is the time that John Collins himself took to complete the even in 1978.

So the Ironman meets the requirements of having history but it was probably the epic battles between Dave Scott and Mark Allen that really raised it's popularity, again, especially in America.

In 1989, Mark Allen finally reversed Dave Scott's 6 Ironman World Championship wins, by swimming, cycling and running neck and neck with him until, finally, the one with more gas left in the tank won. Mark Allen went on to win the event a further 5 times, equaling Dave Scott's record.

Funnily enough, arguably the other person to have had the biggest impact on raising the Ironman's profile was Mark Allen's wife, Julie Moss. In 1982, she was within a couple of miles of crossing the finish line as the first woman when she collapsed, probably from dehydration. She ended up crawling (literally) to the finish line and was pipped by Kathleen McCartney at the post. Millions of people saw her epic struggle on television.

Currently there are 25 official Ironman events around the world and 11 of these in America. Lately, though, the Ironman craze has been growing in Europe and the latest event to be added to the calendar is in Wales. There are also many so-called "Iron Distance Triathlons" which are simply not part of the WTC (World Triathlon Corporation) franchise. They very sensibly keep a very tight control over the Ironman brand and the quality of the events they run.

Vivobarefoot Ultra shoes

I think I have found my next pair of running shoes. The only problem is that they haven't come out yet - but they are due to be released this month.

Apparently they are noticeably lighter than the Evos and the Neos (which I have and like very much). The first obvious thing to notice about them is that they have holes in, rather like Crocs. The idea is that you wear them with an optional mesh sock which comes supplied. They look just the ticket for Triathlon. Any water (or sweat, for that matter) should drain out and the holes should keep your feet cool. From a review I've read, the soles are a bit more bouncy and less stiff than the soles of the Neos and could be less durable and absorb more of the impact (which, if you've been reading my blog, you will know is a bad thing). Still, they could potentially be the best shoes for competition; for training I like to run in tougher shoes with a crisper, more snappy sole.

As soon as I can get my hands on a pair, I'll let you know how they are.

The training effect

I think this "before / after" photo shows pretty clearly the effect of the training I have been doing for the Ironman.

IRONMAN BRAZIL (FLORIANÓPOLIS)

Now there is nothing between me and the Ironman in Brazil on the 29th May, only 3 long bike rides, one brick (bike-run), 3 long runs and some lactate threshold tests. The quantity of training is much less than it has been up to now with three weeks of between 10 and 15 hours to go (not including the week of the competition itself, which will be very light). The idea is a mini-taper, a week of load and the final taper over two weeks. Now I can start to think of the Ironman and what it means to cross that line and, for the first time, I don't feel scared. The race in Lisbon was a huge confidence booster, not so much because of the good time, but because I finished so strong and recovered very quickly after the race.

It's probably going to be hot and humid in Floripa (right now its around 25 degrees and 90% humidity). Unfortunately, I am very susceptible to these kind of conditions but, through training, I have come to tolerate them much better. The Astromad Half Ironman I did in Robledo de Chavela (Madrid) was in what were most likely more extreme conditions. It means I am going to have to pay extra special attention to what I eat and drink. I've come to the conclusion that the most important element of the human body for an Ironman is not the legs, the heart nor the lungs, it's not even the brain but the stomach. People talk of "hitting the wall" in the Marathon, when your blood sugar stores (glycogen) are depleted and you are forced to suddenly decrease your energy expenditure - they reckon that it is only possible to store around 2,500 calories as glycogen and a Marathon usually requires more than this. So what then, if you have just done a 3.8km swim (let's guess 1,000 calories) and a 180km bike ride (around 3,000 calories)? You have to be able to metabolize energy on the go and this is where the stomach (or really the digestive tract) comes in. If you run out of energy it doesn't matter how good your legs or lungs are, or even how determined you are to push on ahead - when you hit the wall the race becomes a nightmare. Just as getting off the bike in Lisbon, I was "curious" to see how my legs would react to running, in the Ironman I will be entering in to previously unexplored territory and I can't know whether I have overcooked it until it is too late. If you somehow had a kind of battery level indicator it would not be so nerve wracking. When you are running your cardiovascular system is much more of a limiting factor and you know almost instantly how hard you are pushing. But the bike can be a treacherous machine - you can be plodding along without a care in the world and suddenly realize that your batteries have run out. In other words, unless you are a professional cyclist, I don't think you can trust how you feel ("sensations") to determine your pacing - it depends very much on how long you have to keep it up for and how much energy you are able to metabolize. This is why a lot of athletes use a power meter on the bike - it is more consistent and instantaneous than going by heart rate. I don't think it is wise to trust either one of sensation, heart rate or power exclusively. Your heart rate may rise due to heat or humidity, representing a real energetic cost of heat evacuation that a power meter won't pick up; a power meter reacts instantly to a gust of wind or an incline whereas your heart rate does not and, lastly, how you feel will depend on how well you are digesting your food as well as a whole load of other factors. As far as power goes, I am waiting until the pedal power is available (power meters incorporated into the pedals): both Polar and Garmin are furtively working on competing systems which should be in the shops sometime this year. The current alternatives are too much of a fiddle (not to mention cost) for me to bother with, being incorporated either into the wheel hub or the cranks.

The course in Floripa is nice and flat! It's easy to laugh at those pathetic little bumps in the bike course, but they can be deceptive as I learned in Lisbon. I should get a chance to to a "recky" of the course beforehand. As is typical for all Ironman races, the swim comprises two parts, with a little breather on land between the two. Also, of course, the scenery should be pretty spectacular from the photos I have seen although the temptation to throw myself on the beach will be all the greater...