The Entourage...

As you may have seen from the new logos on the right hand side, I have recently managed to get a couple of additional people to sponsor me.

There is no doubt that the most important of these has been the creation of a partnership between myself and Complete Health.

Complete Health basically specialise in a load of things which are of benefit to me, hence why I initially wrote to them at the end of last year. For those that have been following the blog for a while, you'll recall the whole trials and tribulations of getting to the world champs last year and how things hung on a knife edge for ages while I struggled with a knee injury. At the time, I was getting a lot of physio etc and although this did help and I was able to race, the ultimate aim has to be to stay injury free rather than the treatment of injuries....especially for me as I tend to get pretty annoyed when I am injured or something stops me from training to my ability.

The thinking behind the deal that I have with Complete Health is that their main focus is going to primarily be on keeping me injury free and hence allow me to do what I want to this season. As such, I am going to be seeing an osteopath/sports masseuse, Lucy Rayner, pretty much every week and that should allow me to go through any problems that I have or any things that want to have checked. I have already been to see Lucy and she has identified some problems with me that we need to work on...all of which should ultimately make me go faster - anything that does that, I'm well up for! I've also apparently got asymetric muscles in my legs....woops!

Anyway, the whole deal I have allows me to have a number of treatments with various therapists at CH which should keep me fighting fit for the rest of this seasons. One of the most important people I have to look after me is probably Sune Connell who is going to advise me on my nutrition. Over the past year or so, I have basically just used my weight as a guide as to my eating...all wrong I know, but I basically did not know what to eat and when really. It is pretty hard as it is, especially when you think that on some big days, like last Sunday, I was out training for about six and a half hours - basically, that involves a lot of food, so it needs to be right stuff. I am in the process of filling out a food diary now which Sune will look at and then tell me where it is all wrong I would imagine...when I was describing what I ate in our first meeting, she did give a fair few dissaproving nods.

The last and most interesting therapist I am going to see is an acupunturist...don't get me wrong, I had no idea that it would be able to help with my training but from what I have heard, there are some big potential benefits. Will be interesting to see if they can do anything to make me panic less in the melee at the start...not that I am that bad, but I would like to be more comfortable with the whole 200 people splashing in water thing.

The other sponsor, BlueSeventy, make wetsuits and it is only by some random chance that I happened to get sponsored by them. I was at a Triathlon Expo a couple of weeks ago and was mainly there to purchase a new suit...my old one is made for people who are about 10kg heavier than me, hence it was not the tightest of fits and these things need to be like a second skin....as seen at Windsor last year...I was a bit heavier then...


Anyway, after I tried the suit out and decided that it was worth parting with £330 of my hard earned cash, my previous coach suggested that I have a word with the BlueSeventy chap who was there. Thanks to Terry and his "bigging up" I managed to secure a wetsuit for this season...am well chuffed...even after the short swim I had at the show, I could feel that it was a lot faster...just need to get the training in now so that I can get out the water near the front now...

New Year, New Coach and New Pad

Firstly, I suppose I should start with a bit of an apology. I have not really had any post worthy stuff to add on here for a while. The main reason for that was that I have had a few things to arrange since the end of last season and now I finally think that things are in place to kick off 2007 with some hard training in preparation for the 2007 season.

The biggest change is that I now have a new coach. Steve Trew will bring a whole wealth of information to my training. He was part of the team that went out to Sydney Olympics in 2000 and also coaches a number of the top triathletes in the UK at the moment. No, this does not mean that I am going to be getting a place at Beijing or London 2012, but at least I'll have some of the best advice available. The emphasis at the moment is pretty much endurance, going through cycles of mainly run and mainly cycling weeks. I have been with Steve since the new year, but the first week was hampered by a cold that I had known was coming from before Christmas. It finally got hold and wiped me out for a few days and then training for a while after was hard work. Things seems to back to normal now though - i.e. sore legs :-)

I have also moved house at the weekend and am now quite a way outside of London. So far though, I have no regrets at all about moving this far out. This link takes you to the new pad...yep, the one right in the church grounds.

As you can see in the top left hand corner, the Thames is pretty close and there is also a pretty good pub right there.

There are quite a few positives to living here including the fact that the Thames Tow Path is only 5 mins away and along there we probably have some of the best running around...I did 12 miles yesterday just running to Hampton Court Palace and back - all very nice. For cycling as well, I am actually near the countryside now so I can pretty much just leave the house and be straight onto quiet roads...it used to be about an hours riding to go far enough north to get past the the busy sections when I lived in North London. There is also a running track 5mins away and the Turbos do a few of their training sessions pretty close by as well so I'll be heading down to them to see what they are like.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet. I have done a couple of 10k races and knocked out a couple of 38 minutes - not all that fast but okay for this time of the season. My biggest concern at the moment is my swimming fitness. Christmas meant a lot of time out of the pool and then when I came back, I had the illness for a week or so. As a result, i probably missed a good few sessions. The problem with swimming is that you can very quickly lose your fitness. I am trying my hardest to get back into it now though...time for the big paddles to get those arms working again!

My next big race is the Wokingham Half Marathon on the 11th of February. The Wokingham half was my first half marathon that I ever ran last year. The main aim there was to beat my dad's PB. I seem to recall I just made it...the face of agony explains how hard it was though...

London XC Champs - Just one part of a hard weekend

Way back at the start of the XC season, I signed up for the London XC Champs which were to take place right on my doorstep on Hampstead Heath. The London XC Champs brings together most of the top running clubs in London so you end up with a pretty decent field at the start - not one that I had any chance of finishing anywhere near the front of anyway. I had finished in 12th place out of about 400 runners in one of the Regent's Park 10k race the week before, but the main aim here was to beat some fellow Serpies who I know would normally run the same sort of time as me.

Like any major championship race, I prepared meticulously for this event to ensure that when I got to the start line my legs would be primed for the 10k run consisting of 4 pretty muddy laps - at some points resulting in feet being completely submerged in the goo. To get myself ready for this, I set out at 8 in the morning for a 4 hour bike ride round the Surrey country lanes taking in a number of the big hills down that way. Although the ride was not too bad, I road the hills quite hard to get some climbing in the legs. After I left the bunch of people that I ride with, I had to push it a fair bit to get back home to have enough time to change the spikes on my XC shoes and to also get to the race.

I finally made it to the start line with about ten minutes to spare and subsequently set out on what can only be described as one of the hardest 10k races I have ever done. As with all XC events, I went out really hard and then paid the price for what seemed an eternity. Still, I managed to get round in 42 minutes which, come to think about it, was about the sort of times I was doing for 10k's about one year ago and here I was with 110k's in the legs and having run on a course which seemed to be a constant uphill with one short sharp fast descent. We all hit the pub after the run and the 6 pints definitely helped ease the pain. Thankfully I also met a chap who lives in Bristol so I am trying to get him to do the Bristol Half Marathon route with me over the Christmas holiday...I have a score to settle with that course. He's a bit faster than me, so we should be able to pace it round in a 1:23-24 I think.



Anyway, the XC was obviously not going to be the end of the weekend. A couple of mates had arranged to do a long run along the Thames in the morning and the more I thought about it on Saturday night, the more I was leaning towards having a run with them as well. A cold Sunday morning came round and there I was, ready for the long run. In the end I somehow managed to run a 1:28 half marathon along the Thames and then, still not satisfied I had done enough, I did the swim session with Wandsworth - albeit the cramp started to set in towards the end and I had to get out.

At the end of all that, I think it was quite simply the hardest weekend that I have ever had in terms of training. Still, I can feel that my endurance levels are going up all the time which should stand me in god stead for next season where it was definitely a factor which let me down towards the end of races. Then again, I think my total count for long rides before last year's race season was about 2.

Bits and Bobs

Well, I thought it must be time for a bit of an update as to how things are going over the winter. The winter time is traditionally supposed to be just spent doing the miles and building up the endurance so that, come early next year, you can start working on the speed side of things again and spend less time on endurance type stuff.

Thankfully, a small group of us triathletes have started to get together at the weekend and we are doing a long ride on the Saturday (~100k) followed by a 10k run when we get back - this can be quite painful as the legs are just so used to spinning around. Then, come Sunday, the plan is to do a longish run (10-20k) followed by a 4k swim set. Things are goinbg pretty well with this, although I have not been running too much, but the group seems to have been formed so we should be all setup for a nice winter long effort.

Other than this, I am in the process of changing a lot of things about where I train and who I race for. I am no longer going to be swimming with Swim for Tri on Thursdays as I have joined Wandsorth Swimming Club where I am trying to get to 3 times a week. They are a proper swim club though and they have a really good coach who seems to have a clear goal for how we should be training to work up to a good performace come race season starting in April. It may also mean that I actually compete in some galas...the last time I attended a gala, I think I must have been about 10 or 11.

I have also decided to join a triathlon specific club as well. The Thames Turbos are a pretty well renowned club in the triathlon world. They have had a whole host of champions who have been through the club, including the current world champ, Tim Don. I am still going to be racing for the Serpentines though, but I am only going to be running for them now...it is hard to beat the support you can get as a Serpentine runner when you do a running race..the biggest club in the UK pretty much always ensures that you have good level of support along the route.

The final thing is that I am currently in the process of trying to secure some form of sponsoship for the coming race season. I have written to a couple of companies already and am pleased to say that I am now sponsored by a company which makes recovery milkshakes. I first came into contact with For Goodness Shakes as they were given out after a race..they are pretty good though so I thought it would be worth writing to them.
I am also due to have a meeting with another company before Christmas - they are in the physio and massage business so it could be a winner if I can get them to do some kind of deal.

Winter Training - Cold and Muddy

Well, winter training is now in full swing, pretty much all of the injuries that plagued me after the World Champs have all cleared up so it is back to training now. A couple of weeks ago I had a chat with my coach and we went through some of the aspects of my training that needed to be addressed and also how to keep me fit over the winter months. The winter has already set in the UK...I am pretty much riding to work and home in the dark now so the lights are on and the bike is covered in dirt from what seems to have been the wettest couple of weeks in a while.

The main areas that I am going to be focusing on over the winter include my running and swimming, and to a much lesser extent, my cycling. In a bid to increase my running strength, I have taken on the x country season which runs all over the winter - the Metropolitan League has races every couple of weekends. So far I have done one Metropolitan league race and yesterday I competed in the North London X Country Championships. The first of these races was one massive shock to the system. I can't really remember the last time that I did a x country race, but I had no idea what to expect for the 5 miles of racing ahead. After lap 1, my legs felt like they were made of lead and my lungs felt like they had taken a right battering...I still had another 2 laps of this agony to get through as well. On the second lap I think I managed to find some sort of rhythm (slow) which seemed to be okay and I managed to get round. However, on the last lap, a club mate started to breathe down my neck and I knew we were in for a race. I tried to drop him on the downhill section, knowing that he had shorter legs than me, but he managed to stay there and eventually outsprint me for the finish - I was gutted. To give you some idea of the level of competition, I finished 147th in this race and there would have been about 300 competitors - this x country lark does not bring out the fun runners in any shape or form. I was also a massive 10 minutes behind the winner! Anyway, the 37 minutes for one race is probably represents the fastest way that you can ruin a pair of new shoes. I started in my shiny new shoes and finished with some brown blobs attached to my feet...and to think, this was not even a really bad day for the mud!

Yesterday's race was a much more civilised affair at a park in North London. The ground was good all the way round and it was a bit easier to maintain a good pace. There was one rather long hill along the back of the park, but all in all it was a lot better. I did get overtaken by an grey haired gent on the last lap and I initially thought he had me, but I had a quick word with myself and subsequently managed to get on his tail. I followed him all the back to the finish and then finally managed to outsprint the chap to the finish..a heartless effort..thanks for the toe through the hard bit mate, but I'll still beat you...racing is racing though and places mean points here :-)

Today I have been back to Regent's Park for one of the 10k races that Mornington Chasers put on, Regent's Park was the first place that I went under 40 minutes way back in February so today I really wanted to do it again. Although I have since been a lot faster than 40 minutes, I had a 15 mile run from Thursday still lurking in my legs and then I had done x country the day before. The aim was to try and get into the 38 minute mark but low and behold it was not to happen. I came home in 39:25 which I don't think is too bad considering that yesterday's offroad effort was close to sub 4min km as well.

I am also gonna be off swimming tonight with a new club. Barnet Copthall are pretty well known in swimming circles so it will be interesting to see what sort of things they do during their sets. Having looked at the schedule for tonight, it looks like it is a 2 hour session in the pool so it could end up being a real long set, possibly into the 5k region depending on what sort of thing we do. If the sets are good though it could be really good for me as they are only just up the road and they swim pretty much every night of the week so I could pick and choose when to go.

Season Review - 2006

Seeing as the triathlon season for 2006 has now drawn to a close I thought it would be worthwhile to ponder over what has happened this year and start thinking about the 2007 season.

Back in January of this year, I only really had a few ambitions, to run a sub 20 5k, a sub 40 10k and a sub 90 half marathon. Back then these were pretty much the only ambitions I had in terms of sporting activities for the year, the idea of competing in a triathlon had not even crossed my mind at this point as I had only really had a bike for about 3 months at this time and cycling to work and back seemed to be enough for me.

Anyway, the running milestones pretty much all got achieved by the end of February with a sub 20 5k in a Nike organised event and then a narrow escape with a 39:56 at the Regents Park 10k. The half marathon time was achieved at Wokingham in the middle of February but the offical result had me down as a 1:30:11 or something...hence I entered the Milton Keynes half marathon and flew round in a 1:26 on a nice flat course. So, come the end of March I had achieved all of my running goals for the year. However, what obviously happens during this is that each goal simply moves slightly, the next aims were sub 19 5k, sub 39 10k etc.

It was only round about March time that I started to enquire about triathlons - I had been swimming pretty much every day when I was in the gym and with the cycling to work and back, I figured I had all the angles covered to try an event out. Thankfully, there was someone in my office who was doing the odd triathlon and I had also met someone who had raced all the way to Ironman distance. Both of these chaps gave me a lot of good advice etc and so I started on the most expensive hobby that man can have.

My first event was the Thames Turbo Sprint triathlon which is a pool based triathlon (hence there is no washing machine starting nonsense). Before starting this event, I really did have no idea how things would go...in my mind I I had a fair idea of the times I could do at each of the seperate events, but no understanding of how I would do when all of these are mixed together. At the end of the race I was totally amazed...I had finished 13th in a field of about 300. It just seemed too good to be true. I had also recorded a pretty good bike split it all good news really. Was also nice to know that I still had a fair bit left in me.

The triathlon calendar rolled on throughout the summer months and at the end of July I had the best news ever, my disaster of a race at Wakefield had managed to sneak me into the GB squad to head out to Lausanne for the World Champs which, as you all know, was a pretty good blast.

The full results for my triathlon season are covered here including the splits and speeds where it seemed okay to work them out. There are some big gaps in certain places, but that could be because I don't have those splits, or like at Wakefield, the timing chip came off my leg!

The highlights for me for 2006 were:

• 1. Racing in Lausanne
• 2. Winning Age Group (25-29) at the London Triathlon
• 3. Winning Age Group (25-29) for the Thames Turbo Triathlon Series
• 4. 2nd Place in Age Group (25-29) and 12th place overall in my first Olympic Triathlon (Windsor)
• 5. Current holder of the cycle leg record for the Thames Turbo Triathlon

So....roll on 2007. I am finally working my way back into training at the moment. I have pretty much done a full week of work so far which has been good to get back into. I am not running properly yet as the injury is still not ready for any long distance stuff. I did do my first run outside last night and it was not too bad...not totally healed but definitely well on the way - should be back to full swim/bike/run training next week.

The Waiting Game

For those of you wondering what has happened to me and why I have not been updating the blog, there are a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, the triathlon season is now over until about Apirl next year when the whole process starts off again. I have already been entering a couple of the bigger races, mainly because I wanted to absorb the financial burden now rather than next year some time - just entering London and Windsor again has set me back about £150.

The other reason however is that I am injured and it is not much fun at all. A couple of weeks ago I crashed my bike into the back of a pickup type truck after it stopped suddenly on a big junction and I did not stop quick enough. I smashed my chest into the back of the car and also left two big dents. Still, upon leaving the scene I noticed that my chest was pretty sore but by the end of the day, I was back in the pool just making sure that I could still swim etc with no real issues. Everything seemed okay at this point and all seemed okay to run the half marathon at the weekend.

After doing the half marathon where I hurt my calf, I also seemed to damage some tissue in my chest which was obviously weakened from the accident. Initially I thought that I had fractured a rib or something but after chatting to my coach and to some medical peeps it appears that it is more likely to be some muscle between the sternum and pecs.
As some of you joke about the addiction side of things, and knowing how I am, you can imagine that it was pretty hard to just stop exercising. I discoverd that I could still cycle quite happily, but running and swimming (properly) were out of the equation. I did work out that I could do some drill based stuff in the pool, but not for long though. Anyway, things were starting to heal until I raced home on the bike one day and it seemed to put everything back to square one! Only then did I decide that I would have a total rest for a few days and see how things went.

So, here I am actually doing sod all. I did do a turbo session last night (no real chest movement) but other than that I have done sod all for about 3 days now. It is a pretty miserable existence though, albeit the chest does seem to be getting better. The most annoying thing though is actually having to watch what I eat, I think that I have some inbuilt propensity to pile on the pounds.

I am supposed to be running a Regent's Park 10k race this Sunday but as it stands I think I will be giving it a miss. I have the Nike 10k the weekend after and I would much rather do that race. The problem is, I was aiming for a sub 37 at the Nike and the way my fitness was going until I smashed into the car would have probably meant that I would have been able to do it. As for now, I am just not sure. if I can get close to my PB of 37:30, I think I will be pretty happy.