The End

So its as tardy as ever but here we are.  A full write up of the day could take up pages and pages, so again I'm going to go for the bullet point summary:

The Timings

• I finished in an official time of 9hr 06mins.
• This was 16 minutes outside the gold time.
• Timing was a source of confusion this year. The Glandon feed stop and descent was stated on registering as not being timed, due to accidents, but the certificate at the end did include this time.
• This annoyed the hell out of me because I used the "neutral" zone to have a longer than normal rest.
• The official results now do not include the neutral zone time.
• I don't believe the standard times were adjusted for the section not being timed, so I don't think the gold time was really 8hr 49mins. 
• My total time was 9hr 55mins. So I think its fair to say that I was a way off a proper gold standard.
• Either of these times puts me just inside the top 50% (in total and for age group).

The Bump

• At 6 miles in (well before the start of the Glandon) I got pushed over into a metal crash barrier by the side of the road. This left me with a sore left thigh (felt like an isolated dead leg) and very very sore ribs on my right. So sore in fact that I could not breath deeply for the next 2-3 hours.
• Initially I was fairly distraught at the result, but now in perspective I think the time was ok, and given the pain it was a reasonable effort to finish.
• After the finish I couldn't lift my leg high enough to pedal, so had to walk back to the hotel.
• Ribs are still sore, although about a week after the ride I started to sleep properly.

The Route

• The route itself is mind blowing. It is pretty beyond words.
• I feel it a privilege to have been at the top of the Galibier. To have gone up there (looking back down as I rode up) it seems almost surreal that I did it by cycling!
• I spent most of the time on the climbs passing people, despite the pain, so it felt like things were going ok. Bear in mind we did start pretty near the back.
• Some very, very good riders enter this event. Really good.
• In the restaurant later we came out as some cars went past with lights and horns blaring as they escorted the lantern rouge up the last few corners of the Alpe. This was fantastic, the road was suddenly full of people (coming out from their dinners) to go bananas, cheer the guy on and give him a push! Great moment.
• There is nothing I've ridden before that compares to this, certainly nothing in the UK even comes close. The Marmotte makes (and I say this with all due respect to a ride that I love) the Fred Whitton look like a challenging club run.
• Never drunk so much on a ride, energy drinks / water, just couldn't get enough. Haven't eaten as much either.

The Post-mortem

• My LT zone is higher than I thought, which caused me to back of a little at times. HR indicated that I was in the bottom of zone 5 when I was actually in the top of 4. Obviously this is wrong as I can't maintain low zone 5 for about 6 hours as the data indicates! Update... LT was 169 but is now set as 173, which has significantly altered my zones but does show I was climbing at the right effort.
• I will go back, not sure when though, to have another go. Hopefully then the timing will be sorted out and I can have an uneventful ride.
• I feel much more comfortable descending on my HED Ardenne wheels than my Lightweights. I am guessing this is due to the pressure I'm running (I think it's too low) so rather than take the tubs off for the rest of the year as I had planned I'm going to do some more experimenting with them first.
• I'm rubbish at descending, really crap. Just have no confidence, but I have to work on and improve this. Would have saved me 10 minutes at least this year.
• No mechanicals, phew.

The Advice

• If there is only one thing I would say from all this, for all the kit, toys, gadgets etc, if you have some money you feel a need to spend then there is only one thing you need: a coach!

The Stats for the Year

• Stats for the years training are on the right hand side.
• One thing that surprises me is that how different the training has been this year with my coach, bearing in mind that my goals was a ride with mountains in it! To give some idea of how different the training was - of the total climbing I did this year 19.5% of it was in 2 rides (being the Fred Whitton and the Marmotte itself)!

The End

• So that's that. I guess I can happily say I got fit again.
• I had a planned 2 week break which it turns out would have been required due to the ribs. I'm training again now and really enjoying it.
• The training I'm starting is to build on the fitness I've now got and start preparing for next years goals - whatever they may be.
• If you've read all of this then thank you. I hope you don't feel like you want the wasted hours of your life back :-)

Totals

So just before I leave for the Marmotte, here are the years training totals:

Road miles: 1641
Road time: 105 hours
Road climbing: 74,590 ft (22,735 m)
Spin classes: 121.5 (91 hours)
Turbo time: 34.3 hours
Weights sessions: 17
Body balance / yoga classes: 21
Body pump classes: 7

So that's 230 hours of riding (of one form or another). If I include estimated hours for the other activities then that's 266 hours of training in total. Hope its enough!

On the weight front, here are the final numbers:

These latest numbers are very recent and just in time too. I'm really really pleased with this, and I hope it will be a great help when climbing the mountains. Looks like I've finally figured out the nutrition side of things.

So that's it, that's all the work done. Now for a rather lovely ride in some breathtaking scenery :-)

Before the Marmotte

Well its nearly here and the time has really flown. People ask how the training is going and its strange to say that its basically done, things are just winding down now.

After the Fred Whitton (and an easy week + weekend off) I had 3 very tough weeks out of the following 4. I've now had 2 weeks tapering since then and I have finally stopped feeling permanently shattered. I'm starting to feel rested, focussed and as ready as I can be.

I am really looking forward to the ride, thanks in part to Graham Watson's website (pro race photographer) and some of the breathtaking pictures of the Galibier from last years Dauphine.

http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Gallery/2009/10378977_XQRGz#722456040_aoVY7
http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Gallery/2009/10378977_XQRGz#722455385_mQL29
http://photos.grahamwatson.com/Print-Gallery/2009/10378977_XQRGz#722454737_urdmU

Beyond that there isn't a huge amount to say. I am taking both the new tubular wheels and the clinchers, just in case its so hot that there is a worry of glue / tape melting and rolling a tub, then I've got options. I can say I'm much more relaxed than I was this time last year before the Etape when I must say I was bricking it. I've trained hard, I've trained (thanks to my coach) well and that's all I can do. If it goes pear shaped for whatever reason then sometimes that's just how life is. Although don't get me wrong, I'd rather it didn't :-)

If you have read the posts I've published then I am truly very grateful. As I have said before this hasn't gone exactly how I intended due to the change in training introduced by my coach. Save for the Fred Whitton I've had no point of comparison to last year at all, and while the weeks have ticked past its been very hard to say how things are going. I trust my coach, but it doesn't make for interesting reading! I could have listed what I've done but I didn't want to just post for the sake of it, I wanted to share things that I thought were interesting / different. If you do want to know what I've done (i.e. the program) then I'm pretty sure you can take a look at Joe Friel's book on training. He is my coach's boss and I'm fairly certain that the plan I am following, albeit a little tailored.

I will of course post the results (whatever they are) in a week or so's time. And then, finally, I am going to go out and get very very drunk :-)

Oh and one other thing I had forgotten, on a point I raised in one of my first blogs. I am very happy to say that I have kept my weight down at its lowest level, or within a lb which is good enough. Last year after my lowest weight I was over half a stone heavier by the etape, so to have kept it down this year should be a huge plus.

Kingston Wheelers

I've finally had enough of training on my own and have joined a local club called the Kingston Wheelers. They have a club ride every Sunday that usually has 3 different ride choices, a fast training ride, something a bit longer (but not as quick) and a much shorter "easy" ride. I liked the sound of this as it should make it easier to work into my plans (i.e. turn up and choose which ride matches my plans the most).

My first ride was a couple of weeks ago now and I've got to say it was a hell of a shock! It was the end of 3 very hard training weeks out of 4. That week my coach had given me my first ever block of 3 anaerobic sessions on consecutive days. I knew that was going to be tough and it was, so come Sunday I was OK but definitely feeling the effects. My plan basically said "ride as you feel" with no HR restrictions, so I went along to the club meeting point.

After introducing myself I was pointed to the guy running the "training ride" which is the quick group. He explained the route (which I know well due to Simon liberating it from the club website well over a year ago) and said it would take about 3 hours. That's fine I thought as I can do it in 3 hours from my place, let alone starting 6 miles into the route. From then on things went downhill, although not literally.

For reasons I still don't fully understand the pace was quick and (as described by one guy several times) "its not usually this quick". One member quickly bailed on the ride due to the speed. I was left for dead on the climbs and struggled to keep up. Once at the top of Box Hill we stopped. A couple of young guys peeled off soon after that and the pace become, lets say manageable. But to put it in perspective on a nice smooth, wide, every so slightly downhill road coming home where I would expect to be doing between 24-27 on a good day, feeling great with a smug grin, here I was doing 34 (mph) just to stay on the back. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but we did something like 45 miles in 2hr 15mins, so a 20mph average

As I said I was tired and the legs were pretty empty, but to be honest I really don't think I would have kept up even in top shape, certainly not up the hills.

Still it was an enjoyable experience even if I did go home and have to sleep for most of the afternoon!!

I went along the following Sunday and went out with the next group down as I wanted something longer and easier (it was not in the plan to beast myself 2 weeks before the Marmotte). This was huge, huge fun. Again I was exhausted and was so close to not getting up. But soon after setting off I ended up next to a good bloke called Kevin who did the Marmotte last year, is doing it this year, has a lovely bike and also watched all the recent pro races. So I just geeked out on cycling for a few hours, had some silly yet highly enjoyable moments of male bravado racing up hills. It was a great tonic to just get out and enjoy riding again. Stopped for a cup of tea, waited for the group, loved it. I have spoken with my coach and I will be working these rides in every week now.

I'm not buying the club kit though unless I start racing (and have no plans to do that) as it doesn't match the bike :-)

New Helmet

So on a whim I decided I wanted a new helmet. There's nothing wrong with the old one but I've always felt it looks a bit big and sits more "on" my head rather than around it. So being the gear tart I am I didn't want one of the popular makes and set about finding something a little more unusual. The obvious requirements here were:

- Something that in my opinion looks very pretty.
- Has a good design and use of colours.
- The colours match my colour scheme, e.g. bike and clothes.
- Is reasonably light.

Now I know the Giro Prolite is the lightest you can get but something niggles me about it. The Pro riders who use Giro helmets still use the Ionis which is 100g heavier than the Prolite, which in my humble opinion doesn't say anything good about the Prolite.

And then I found the Lazer Helium. Now this post is NOT to brag about my new toy. The reason for the post is because although the purchase was vanity related I have been genuinely surprised at just how much more comfortable the new one is, and I do mean a huge difference from the old one.

My old Specialized Propero and new Lazer Helium.


The first thing I noticed was the straps. They are much lighter and softer than the old ones and make it a lot lot easier to adjust the exact position of the buckle that sits under the ear - up, down, forward, back you can get it exactly where you want it. But the main feature of the Helium is the sizing "dial" build into it. There is a soft plastic mould around the forehead and around the back which are joined by a thin wire. The dial then pulls these together as you turn it so the helmet smoothly adjusts to your head from and back, rather than just at the back (as with some helmets). It sounds a bit gimmicky I admit but in reality its a great feature and I am a big fan.


At the risk of sounding a bore I take helmets quite seriously. It's a dangerous sport we all do and far too many people have helmets that do not fit or are not adjusted correctly. This seems mindless to me because if you fall off and its loose then its going to move and not do its job, so why even bother wearing one? This again links to why I'm so impressed with the Helium, you can get the fit absolutely spot on, which is safer and compared to my old lid way more comfortable!

Fred Whitton pictures

Ok I couldn't resist it so I bought the photo from this years Fred, I think Mum will like it. So here you are.

Me at the top of Newlands 2009.


And in 2010.




















I think I look a little more composed this year!!

Fred Whitton thoughts

So as I'm sure most of you know it was the Fred Whitton a couple of weeks ago (therefore not the quickest update but hey...) Rather than detail the whole trip / ride (because I know a lot of you already know the details) I'll explain how it felt compared to last year, along with a few overall impressions.

I will be honest and say that I was a little nervous about this ride this year. Although I had lots of indicators that I was in much better shape this year than last, I had gone no where near to this distance in training or come close to the climbing. I had done last year so knew that worst case I'd get around. While I didn't doubt I would this year it still felt like more of an unknown (if that makes sense).

I felt the preparation was just about perfect the days before, I felt rested, energised and ready. On the ride itself I felt like a completely different rider to last year. I felt strong and comfortable. Last year I spent a LOT of time zig zagging up hills (and not just the steep ones) where this year I did not once, I wasn't trying to prove a point I simply didn't need to. A few spectators commented how fast and smooth I looked (made me smile!). When I stood up on the steep climbs it was never a problem and while hard there was never any question of stopping. Cadence was very low at times having to watch where riders in front were going and then get around them but it was always ok, and if I had to quickly sprint into a gap ahead I was able to. My lowest gear (34/27) was more than low enough, I could have gone up a gear at times on the climbs but I preferred to save myself a bit and have the more comfortable light spinning than heavy grinding.

At around 65-70 miles my legs started to feel it a bit, nothing awful, and certainly not risking a bonk, but they didn't feel quite as fresh. I did ease off a fraction because of this, but some caffeine sweets later they perked up a bit. Most painful part of the standing climbing was my shoulders, they've never hurt like that before! Maybe I haven't been able to stand for that long before…..

All in all its hard to compare the rides, especially how I felt after. Monday was rough but generally that was it, last year I was f****d for days.

I've seen a picture from this year taken at the same point (top of Newlands) as last year. I can't post it here because I haven't bought it (and don't want to get told off) but lets just say that where last year it was very much elbows out, teeth gritted, bike swinging kind of thing, this year shall we saw I looked rather more composed :-)

As for the ride itself, my memories are (in no particular order):

- All the hills are longer than I remembered.
- The top of Kirkstone was bleedin cold.
- I was very conservative on the descents, but after last year's near miss I felt I'd be quicker overall by not crashing.
- Some guys know the roads very well, or they simply have a death wish on the descents.
- The group I was in for about 20 miles along the A66 and to the bottom of Honister was fantastic.
- The bottom of Honister is horrible, very steep and straight up. At least Hardknott has switchbacks.
- I spent quite some time chatting to other riders on the climbs.
- Oddly Hardknott was not as bad as I remembered, and I got up this year in one go.
- Cycling is a dangerous sport, those bikes are just not built for stopping in a hurry, and if you do come off you're going to land on either rock hard road of sharp pointy bits of metal.
- I hope the guy who crashed in front of me on Honister (his rear tyre came off then the whole wheel folded) is ok.
- I was amazed (and very pleased) with my 1st Class time of 7hr 29min 41.

I guess all this bodes well for the main goal of the Marmotte, now less than 7 weeks away. It must be getting serious now as my weights sessions have changed style and my coach has even got me doing a 6 hour training ride next week!

Now I am off to enjoy the sun as its stunning outside. Can't even think of it as training on a day like this, just going out to enjoy the weather. Just happens to be on the bike!

Nutrition

As I have mentioned before I was worried about nutrition this year. Last year I got my weight and fat down, but as the regular long rides increased so did the calories and so did my weight.

This year though I think I've sussed it, and its very much related to the new style of training I have from my coach. Where last year I just blanketly increased my calories I now only do it on the days when I know (from experience, ahem) I will need it. I can do one week's hard training on a small calorie increase, but if another hard week is coming (or more specifically a week with some very hard days) then for a few of those days I will really have to pile in the food. Not crap mind you, but calories all the same. So I take more food with me to work so that if I do need more then its there and I don't have to worry about it being junk from the machine. This week has been very easy (was due an easy week and the Fred is coming) so I have been able to drop the calories back to normal levels and literally a couple of kilos have come off. Not complaining about that :-)

Last year I increased my eating a lot because every other weekend was a "big" ride, so a hilly century or more. I ate the week after to recover, and I ate the following week to prepare. The training this year though has worked a lot on my base endurance and aerobic fitness, and getting my body more used to using fat as a fuel. This means I know now I don't need as much before big rides, 1/2 days of eating more before is fine and any more is just going to stack the weight back on.

Hindsight is a great thing and I can see the improvements in what I'm doing now. But I still understand why I ate like I did last year, and I don't think I can turn around and just say it was stupid. Maybe a little mis-guided, but we live and learn.

So now my weight is lower than ever (77.5kg) and my body fat is its lowest ever too (10.1%). I hope this theory holds or I'll be eating humble pie soon (except I can't eat the pastry, so that ruins that idea, doh).

New Toys

Retail therapy does not only apply (in my opinion) to women and clothes. In order to cheer myself up a while ago at work I may have persuaded myself that some new wheels were in order :-) Lightweight Ventoux 240's to be precise. And they are tubulars.

Now I'd never ridden tubs before. My clinchers are HED Ardennes which claim to ride more like tubs due to their wider rims (which allow the tyre to sit flatter and less "pinched"). The reviews agree with this claim and I can say that are more comfortable than other clinchers I've ridden. But here is the thing - they are not even in the same ballpark for comfort, feel, handling etc as the tubs I now have. I obviously cannot say whether this is because of the wheel themselves or the tubs, but the difference has really surprised me. And I don't mean "oh, these are nice, glad I spent that cash after all" kind of difference, I mean a "bloody hell, really, are you kidding, this is unbelievable" kind of difference.

Now its well known that tubs have some reasonably sized draw backs and I'm not ignoring them. But I do have some plans. Geax Pit Stop being one of them, which is a compressed air + latex glue canister that will fix (fill) up to 1mm punctures (so a "normal" size puncture). Maybe this isn't as guaranteed as having many spare inner tubes and reduces the ability to use the wheels a little, but believe me the ride quality makes it so so tempting, and worth the effort to find ways around the usual tub related problems. They will certainly be going to la Marmotte where I am trusting that the smooth French roads won't cause me a problem.

On a side note I have had to take off one of the tubs already due to a 5mm long tear straight through the tyre. While this was rather annoying (and will be quite costly) I am fairly certain it would have ended a ride on clinchers too, as a new inner tube would have just burst through the rip - and I've never carried a spare tyre with me. But having gone through the process of removing a tub, and experiencing the valve being stuck in the rim from the glue, I'm really not convinced that I could change one of these at the side of the road even with a spare tub in my pocket. So there are some drawbacks, and the tubs will NOT being going to the Fred Whitton as I'm still feeling my way with them and have not sussed out all the issues.

But having done a little climbing on the new wheels (see picture, they really are "lightweight") and my God they're quick :-)

Power

One of the reasons for it being harder to measure the progress could be because of a lack of numbers. Heart rate is fine but power output is the real indication of how things are going, and also making sure that (for example) easy days really are easy.

Timing yourself over a set distance does work, but it doesn't take account for things like windy days. You might be slower over the same distance as the week before, but you could be putting out more power to compensate. Match that with your heart rate at the time and then you have a real idea of how you're doing, because if you can put out a higher power but keep the same heart rate, then wey-hey.

I'm still pondering over this one (and asking coach) but a power tap could be on the way soon…

Progress

When I started this blog I had my plan of increasing ride distance over the weeks the same as I did last year. Now its not like this is "wrong" given that it got me through the etape, but since I got my coach that idea completely vanished (and it seems generally accepted to not be the most efficient use of time). What that also means is I am finding it pretty hard to measure progress.

In turn this makes it pretty difficult for me to blog! I initially thought I'd say things like "compared to this time last year on a similar ride I feel better/worse" but that's not the case. The training is so completely different I have no benchmark for comparison. Sure I feel some differences when riding / climbing and I have described some of those here, but it all feels a bit wishy-washy to be honest. I am a person who likes clear numbers and data, and right now I don't really have any.

That may change soon though because the brilliant Fred Whitton ride is next weekend. I don't have any time goals for this, after all its really all about being able to get up Hardknott after 100 miles (and me being me I'd much rather say I didn't have to stop than say I got around 20 minutes quicker), but suffice to say I will NOT be attacking it like I have done on shorter rides this year! Also (and this I do feel strange about) it will be my first century of the year, in fact it will be the first time I've got close to that distance. Again this is so different to last year it is making me feel a little odd about things. This year I will be very pleased (and a lot quicker) if I can just avoid the mechanical problems (and near death) of last year.

Health

My breathing still isn't ideal to be honest. Recently found out I should add black (i.e. normal) tea to my intolerances list, which explains quite a lot.

It feels more like my throat is the problem now though, it often feels like there is a lot there and I have been coughing up a lot on rides. Have seen an ENT specialist (ear, nose, throat) and may ask him to shove a camera down there to see if it all looks ok. That may sound desperate, but something it still wrong, and no-one else has any better suggestions.

Nutrition

The week after the Burgess Hill Classic my coach gave me a very tough week. It left me absolutely f****d. I tried to eat some more to get my energy levels back up but it wasn't enough. So eventually I just stuffed my face for 3 days straight so I could function as a human being again.

I really want to be able to get a handle on this properly. For 2 weeks recently the scales showed I had got down to 10.1% body fat, but it has gone up since. Last year from a similar weight I then put on about half a stone by the etape and I really don't want to do that again. I need to find a balance of eating enough to sustain the training while not taking in too much. I think this time I may be more flexible on how much I eat on a weekly basis, I guess some weeks will be more demanding than others, so I won't need as much - although I will still need to make sure I recover properly...

Anyone have any good suggestions about this?

Training Progress

I have recently blown, sorry, spent rather a lot of cash on some new kit. Without doubt though the best money I've spent this year (and possibly at all re. cycling) is on my coach.

The first evidence of this came on the Burgess Hill Classive sportive *. Up to that point I had done NO hill training outside at all, and only 1 or 2 real hill like classes in spinning (i.e. nothing but hills). Yet on this ride I found I could attack right from the start and found I was so much better on the hills than this time last year. On the longer ones I was spinning up them much quicker and on the steeper ones I could stand for far longer than I ever used to be able to. I've also stopped zig-zagging (although I reserve the right to bring this back for the Fred). I was 5 minutes off a gold time having lost the use of the big ring before half distance (which meant a 2-3 minute stop at a food stop to see if they had a mechanic). Without that I could well have managed gold. I didn't and am happy with silver but even to be considering what might have been without the bike playing up is a big step.

Away from sportives I'm also feeling the progress on my usual training roads. On a local (ish) hill where I first found my maximum heart rate I am now going up there 13-16 beats lower. On a longer steep hill I can now stand all the way (comfortably). And a week ago I knocked nearly 4 minutes off my 10 mile tempo time trial time.

So its all going well so far. My coach is obviously playing a huge part in this and I'm really grateful to have his time.

* I had a text when I finished the ride from my friend Simon calling me an "antisocial git". He was without question quite right as I sodded off right from the start. Given that he's training for an ironman and I only cycle I guess this is how it should be. But he put in a great time just 10 minutes behind me. Show off.

Tardy

Well I admit it's been a little while since I've updated this. I never planned to update it all the time with every little detail, just when I felt there were significant / interesting enough things to mention.

So rather than lump it all in one big post here come a few smaller ones to break it up a bit and help categorise things a little better...

Bits and Pieces

Things have been going along nicely since my last update, nothing ground breaking just steady progress.

I've done another 10 mile Tempo Time Trial and the time was almost exactly the same as before, just a few seconds quicker. But the plus side was that I had much better control of my heart rate and stayed within the 7 beat range much better (although not perfectly). Have also had a couple of quicker rides that have been hard work in the wind (and ice!) but again have been good and starting to build up some much needed confidence.

It's also been (inevitably) time for some new kit. In my defence it has been filling gaps where I felt I needed things in between the summer / winter stuff I already had. So then, the items were:

Giordana Windscreen long sleeve base layer *
This is fantastic. It’s a snug but very stretchy (and so comfortable) base layer than has a windproof front and arms. And its really does the job well. Keeps the wind out and keeps you nice and warm (on a cool day, not a freezing day). Not cheap I will admit but highly recommended.

* No, that is not me in the photo. Just so we are clear.


Pearl Izumi Cyclone gloves
These were hard to choose as I was pretty pedantic about what I wanted. I wanted something windproof (but for days I knew would be dry) that were a close fit and not bulky, so I could open energy bars with them on. I tried these and got them, and they have been fantastic. Completely wind proof, warm but without making your hands sweaty (a big plus). The fit is superb, not only can I open a bar with them on I can also get my keys out and get into the flat while wearing them. Also the gripped fingers, thumb and palm mean your water bottle will be safe in your hands. Highly, highly recommended. And they look much better in the flesh than in that photo!

Still on clothing its come time to replace something (because I killed them, not because they wore out, to be fair). As I am a fussy so and so who will buy any clothing he can find with the name "Pinarello" on it, or because something is the right colour to match everything else, I can think of no bigger compliment than I am replacing my fingerless mitts with another pair of the same fingerless mitts. They are the Specialized BG Gel gloves and they are so comfortable I just love them. The gel pads are in just the right places and absorb a lot of shocks. Not the cheapest you'll find but as I said they only fell apart after 2 years of use because I wore a lining glove under them and they didn't really fit. Sometimes it's great to have a descision that is a real no-brainer.

Onto training - here is something from my coach. I have previously mentioned the mental challenge of going out for an "easy" zone 1/2 ride. My coach's boss has a blog which addresses this specific point and explains why these sessions are absolutely vital. I found it interesting so I thought I'd share:

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/02/easy-means-easy.html

I hope you are enjoying your training and things are going well for you. Personally I need to start hitting the hills in a big way very soon...

Weight

When people ask how I am burning fat at the moment they seem very interested to know the answer. Once I tell them "Don't drink, eat like an angel and training like a b*****d in exactly the right zones" they don't seem quite so interested any more. Ok ok, I concede this is a slightly mean answer, but it really isn't that far from the truth. I mean, if this was easy then everyone would do it wouldn't they?

Anyway. As always I have been doing my weekly weigh in and tracking the numbers. There was a small blip after I missed a weekend of training due to the chest infection but now things are back on track. But rather than simply show the changes since the last update I thought it would be much more interesting to compare the numbers to this time last year (pure luck I have this data, the monitoring last year wasn't great).


My memories of this time last year are that I was in decent shape (weight wise) so this is very encouraging. But what I am really interested in is what will happen over the coming months. As I have mentioned before my weight increased after The Fred Whitton due to my eating more as the long rides really increased in distance. So I'm really wondering what will happen this time. I will try to be a little more strict with my diet (I confess I did turn into a little bit of a dustbin last year) but obviously I'm going to need a lot more calories than now, I'm still on a deficit at the moment.

But it's going in the right direction for now so I'm happy with that.

About Training

If you've read my last few posts you'll know I'm not exactly over confident in my abilities at the moment. Partly this is because of how I have felt out on the road, but also its because I haven't really known where I am (training plan wise) in the grand scheme of things.

A few emails with my coach has put me straight on this. I'm still in the "base" phase, working on endurance and getting my body used to using fat as a fuel. The rides I've been doing (while slightly frutrating from a "performance" aspect) have been spot on in the grand plan, i.e. sticking to the zones. Next will come the building phase when I will start to mimic the main goals (races), so I'll be hitting the hills big time. At this point I think I'll be begging for a nice zone 2 ride :-)

From this though my coach said a couple of things I found very interesting. At least coming from the usual "flog myself to death everytime" school I found them interesting, so I thought I'd share them with you. I'm sure he won't mind!

"Your goal is to maximise your time in zone when set and understand what it truly 'feels' like here at this exact intensity so that if you had no heart rate monitor or power meter you could ride the whole sportive on 'feelings' and 'emotions' alone.

"Training is an art form in understanding what intensities, heart rate, power / watts, cadences, breathing, technique, relaxation feels like to you so that you know what to do when things don't go to plan and so that you can keep going... and going... and going... and be able to surge, attack, climb strong, time trial without fear and knowing exactly what the effort will take out of you going forwards to the finish line."

Its certainly an interesting thought to know your body that well to always know exactly what you're current effort is. And I love "training is an art form". While I probably won't achieve it much I'm going to repeat that to myself over and over...

Improvement

This week has been a steady "getting back into it" week while still getting over the chest infection. I think all things considered its gone ok.

Today was the long outdoor ride which was an aerobic recovery ride - aiming for as much zone 2 as possible. This ride was due to be tomorrow but I moved it to today as the weather was much warmer (and my chest seems to have become so ultra sensitive to even the slightest changes in air temperature its just a joke). The first half (way out) was rather depressing as it was very tough to stay in zone 2 on the rolling hills (well lumps more than hills, but you know what I mean). This meant I was crawling along, and even on the flats the speed was very, VERY low. But this was the plan and I wanted to stick to it (even though I was dying of embarrassment). It got better though, and when I turned around I realised what had been going on, a subtle but fairly significant head wind. This meant I flew back and had to go to Richmond Park to get the time up. Obviously the second half made me hopeful that I have not completely lost all ability riding a bike.

One positive thing I did find in RP was that I was able to keep my heart rate lower up the hills compared to the 10 mile TTT I did a few weeks back. I figured this was some good quantifiable evidence of improvement.

And my chest feels fine this evening, although I will wait a few days on that before I decide to give it the all clear.

I hope the weather stays warm for next weekend, there's a sportive to do!

Road Id

My RoadId has now turned up, check it out.

To give you some idea of scale I have very small girly wrists :-) The strap is actually pretty small, I guess I can provide another picture against a ruler if anyone is interested.

I'm really pleased with it. I've put my year of birth on there as apparently that's handy for medics to know. I've got my full address on there (although I've greyed some out here) and there is the phone number and URL for the full details. I went with the "interactive" version as not only can you store multiple contact details along with insurance, GP / specialist details, but I've also got all of my intolerances on there, medical conditions (one of which is quite major) and the medication I take (again, quite major). I'm really happy to know all of this information is available should it be required. Assuming of course someone notices the strap!

You're all grown ups reading this so I'm not going to say "you must get one". But given the activities we do - for long stretches out on our own - I think it is well worth your consideration. Especially if you're like me and have a long list of things that someone really ought to know if they find you in a hedge!! *

*I obviously hope no-one ever has to find you in a hedge.

Ups and Downs

I have another chest infection. I am assuming this was down to the 89 miles on Sunday in cold, wet crappy conditions. I knew my breathing was worse but thought it was just a bit of asthma, but it seems now that's how my infections will cause me to react. So I didn't actually realise until Thursday, despite some (very hard) training on Tuesday and more on Wednesday. Still the antibiotics were at home ready to take, and I've already been to the doctors to get a supply ready for next time (and sadly I know there will be a next time).

So training is off. But actually this is the "up"! Things have felt unrelentingly busy recently (although not as busy as my friend Simon) and having no choice but to put my feet up and do nothing (even walking around the flat brings the breathing on believe it or not) is actually lovely. So right now I'm hoping I will miss in total 4 days training, and that by Monday the antibiotics will have done enough to let me do body balance followed on Tuesday by some light spinning.

But if I'm not ready by then I won't cry about it. I want to be training but if I'm forced to rest then I will enjoy it! Books and Sky+ at the ready...

A Long Way To Go

Today was the Evans Ride It from the TCR show at Sandown. 9 miles there, 71 for the ride, 9 back (after a long recovery / rest while I walked around the show). I'm not sure where to begin... Maybe lets go with the stats.

Distance: 89 miles
Climbed: 4790 feet
Time: 6hr 16m

Now on paper I guess that looks alright, especially as its the middle of February. But to be completely honest I'm gutted about the whole thing, specifically how I felt during the ride.

The first 32 miles went ok, felt a little hard but I spent most of the time in groups* (a little more on that at the end) or with another guy which made it go quite quickly. After the food stop the routes split and everyone else around was on the middle distance route (I was doing the long) so from here I was on my own. It got really hard from here, after about 40 miles (so 49 including the ride from home) my legs were not happy. It got colder, wetter and I will admit it was mentally very very hard. It didn't help that near the end (13 miles or so to go) we got to some roads I know well and my worst fears came true when we didn't turn away from the very steep hill I knew was coming. With knackered legs and only 34/25 gearing (the summer bike has 34/27) the 14% slope at the bottom up to the 18% at the top was a nightmare. Thankfully that was the last big hill of the day, but the heavens chose that moment to deposit themselves on my head. It would take too long to explain about the hilly routes I do through the Surrey hills on my long hill rides but trust me, that hill isn't the worst of it and I used to comfortably do it a couple of times on a 100+ miler.

I'm so far from where I was last summer its just soul destroying. I know I didn't have a choice with my "illness", but the one thing I said all last year was that I couldn't bear to start from scratch again come 2010. And that's exactly where I feel I am. Gutted.

* (from above)
Above I mentioned riding with some groups and I can't let something go here without comment. One group was formed of 5 people, mostly older guys including the mandatory very skinny quick guy. I managed to hold onto this group (+/- 20 yards or so) for about 15 miles until the first food stop. They were quick, going a little faster than I wanted to but it was good to push. This isn't anything out of the ordinary of course, the reason I mention it is that one of the members of this group was a girl, who I guess was about 12. She never dropped off, got left, and she attacked the climbs where she couldn't stay in the saddle. I have never seen anything like it, and (as the cynical old sod I am fast becoming) I am not impressed easily. But she (I believe from her Dad talking to us her name is Emma) was quite amazing.

The First Ride

Its been a very long time coming, but from my health improvements through January and the fact that is was the first weekend in February, as planned, I went out for a ride on the road.

The great news is that it went well and my breathing was fine. Its a huge relief! The ride wasn't that long or intense (due to the fact that the aims were detailed by my coach, independantly of my breathing concerns). Also I was very lucky, 8 degrees and bone dry. Quite a nice re-introduction if I'm honest!!

So having got through that, the detail of the ride is as follows. The goal was a ten mile tempo time trial, after a warm up (into the range of low zone 4). The TTT had to be done in a 7 heart beat range, 8-15 beats below my threshold. I worked this out to be 154-161 and selotaped it to my Garmin so I didn't forget.

I knew riding to such a specific range would be hard, and it really was. Obviously I blew it quite a few times, either getting stuck in traffic (despite being in Richmond Park) or getting too carried away early on. At times I was crawling up the hills and was still slightly above the range. Oh well, maybe it'll get better the more I get outdoors again. The time for the ten miles was 35:12. Obviously it was never going to be quick but that wasn't the goal, and obviously I have something I can compare against in the future.

Next weekend I will be doing the Evans Ride-It sportive from the TCR show and Sandown Park, where the aim is to stay within zone 4 as a maximum. It will be hard, but I am really looking forward to it. 71 miles used to be a breeze, but now its a very long time since I rode that far. Still looking forward to it though :-)

Emergency Identification

I have a question and I'm really hoping someone can answer it!

Like most people I hope that a serious accident will not happen to me, but I also know that it could. Levi Leipheimer has teamed up with http://www.roadid.com/ who provide sport based identity tags in case you have a problem. I'm not saying you should sign up, but its certainly the kind of thing that is worth bearing in mind. They do straps for your wrist, angle, dog tags etc.

Now its all well and good having something like this, but its useless if no-one would look for it. So here is my question: does anyone know what paramedics check for (as routine) when they find someone? Do they check wrists, ankles, pockets for id? If its just a matter of having some kind of id in a pocket then I'll do that, but if something more obvious is better then I think its worth considering.

Does anyone know the answer?!

Being Coached

Its been a few weeks now since I got my coach, so an update here is overdue. But I'm really not sure where to start!

Obviously he is still getting to know me and where I am with my fitness - having explained to him I've been unwell. All the work at the moment is around building my aerobic endurance, each ride is under strict instructions on heart rate zones and the highest I have been allowed to go so far is level 4 (i.e. below anaerobic threshold). Which brings me onto zones...

My coach does do proper HR / VO2Max (etc) testing, but we are leaving it a few more weeks before I get that done (in order to allow the benefit of these first few structured weeks to take effect). In the meantime he has used one of my spin classes to roughly determine my zones. The class was a "race day" class, its the nearest you get (with these instructors) to a full balls out session. The goal here was 30 minutes of very hard (sustainable - just!) work, taking average HR%'s for each 10 minute section. My averages were 88%, 89%, 91%. Given my known max HR of 189 this lead to the following zones being defined:

Zone 1 : 123-137 (recovery)
Zone 2 : 138-150 (aerobic)
Zone 3 : 151-157 (tempo)
Zone 4 : 158-168 (sub threshold)
Zone 5a: 169-171 (super threshold)
Zone 5b: 172-177 (aerobic capacity)
Zone 5c: 178-189 (anaerobic capacity)

So now its no longer about HR%, its all about these numbers and zones. I am trying very hard to remember them! It does help though that most gadgets will display zones as well as HR. Although the ones I have have a max of only 5 zones, but I will worry about that later.

One misc note here about the best gadget I have, the Garmin 705. Not only has it let me define my zones but I have been able to completely re-design the two data screens to show the information I now need, ordered exactly as I like. I have even managed to reduce the amount of information I have displayed, so the data at the top is automatically made bigger to fill the space. Bloody fantastic device that, just superb.

Weight

I said when I started this blog back in December that I would regularly update on my weight and how it was changing. I haven't been doing this because my health problems were causing dehydration which messes up the numbers (well the fat numbers at least, overall weight is overall weight).

I have still been weighing myself every week and noting down the data, and I can see that as my health has improved through January so my hydration has gradually increased too. I did shoot myself in the foot one week by replacing the batteries in the scales (in case being old they were making the numbers inaccurate) at which point my hydration dropped 0.5% in the space of 10 minutes! Doh.

Anyway, on Tuesday the hydration was back to the lower levels of what I would consider "normal" so I am going to post my first proper update, comparing to the original values from December.


So its going ok so far. I will admit its getting a little harder now to be really strict as I'm still training 6 days a week on (most days) a calorie deficit. But I know I need to get the fat off while I can, as when the miles really ramp up in a few months I will be eating like a horse!

Oh yeah, and the picture above are the scales I use. Tanita BC-545. I absolutely love them, and if you're into the numbers (and I know not everyone is) then I can't recommend them highly enough.

Toys Toys Toys (aka Money Money Money the sequel)

So as I mentioned in my previous post I have some new bits of kit. First off is the Tacx Flow turbo trainer. I had a Tacx Satori before and I highly recommend it, in some ways I prefer it to the new one, its certainly a lot prettier! But the flow does have a lovely LCD display that is bright and clear to read. It is also (to a certain extent) customisable in its display. As I said in my previous post its a shame it won't upload to the PC but it does show power, and in terms of being able to measure performance and progression over time that's vital. And as I sold my Satori to a friend it didn't even cost that much!

The next thing is a Polar RS400 SD. Again this was a serious eBay bargain but that aside I am a big fan of this watch. Its actually a running HRM as it comes with a foot pod, now obviously I have no need for this, it was just what was on offer. You can get a cadence sensor for it but I have the Edge 705 for that, this is purely for spinning heart rate uploads. Its got a big clear display which again can be customised (I'm a big fan of this, I like data to be where I want not where someone else decided, one of the big plus points of the 705 in my opinion). Its easy to use and program. Uploading to the PC is also a breeze, you just put it next to the infra-red USB key (supplied) and let the software do the rest, its really that simple. Some other nice features include the "night mode" where if you bring the watch close to the HR sensor on your chest the display lights up. That would be very very useful when running outside. I do also think its very nice to look at. My only gripe with it is the buttons on the sides, they a not easy to "click" and are too fidly. Apart from that though its lovely.

Money Money Money

I am quite well known within a small circle of friends (ok, mainly just Simon) for spending rather a lot of money on cycling, and related bits and pieces. I put my hands up to this, as I can hardly deny it. 2 years ago I got my first bike and (eventually) all the clothing to go with it, as necessitated by this country's amazing weather. Then this time last year I started putting together my dream bike (aka hardcore bike p*rn). So THIS Spring I had figured I had bought all I could, had everything I need and that I could finally save a few pennies. But then I got a coach.

While I knew this would obviously cost in terms of his time, I had not accounted for needing more / replacement toys. I already had a turbo, but ideally now I needed one that measures power. I already had a heart rate monitor but now I needed one that would upload data from my spin classes (I did consider taking in my Edge 705 for this, but just felt that was too expensive an item to risk maybe losing in my gym, on my commute or whatever). While these things were not absolutely the-world-might-stop-spinning-otherwise vital, if you have read Simon's post on Excellence you will know that I believe if a job is worth doing then its worth doing properly. In my mind its silly to go to the cost of a coach for his valuable advice, and then ignore it when he says ideally you need some new things. But that's just me.

At this point I have to thank God for eBay. Both the new turbo and HRM were "nearly new" second hand items and they were (relatively speaking) bargains and I'm very pleased with them. Even better is that around this time a friend emailed me to say he had decided he needed a turbo and did I have one to sell! Outstanding.

So now I have everything I need. The new turbo doesn't upload to the PC sadly, but I am NOT spending the amount of money I would need to for that. I have the power numbers in front of me and I can write them down, that's good enough.

Compression Tights

I've been using compression tights for a while now, and decided to share my thoughts.

It doesn't really help matters than men are expected to wear these things called "tights". But that aside my initial thought at reading up on them was simply that what if putting on some tights after training really could improve my recovery? Could I really afford not to try them? Worst case it wouldn't do any harm.

Now though I really wouldn't be without them. Initially I wasn't sure about the change, until the first time I didn't put them on after a training ride. I really knew about it the next day. More recently I have used them when my legs have been feeling tired and after several hours of wearing them I feel good to go again. In my humble opinion they are nothing short of miraculous. Putting them on after training is now as important in my routine as the training itself.

Very, very highly recommended.

Coach

I officially have a coach! As I have already said I am feeling rather child like excited about all this (still that doesn't happen often so I'm going to cut myself some slack).

His name is Mark Ticker and there is some great information on him (including some just rude PB times) here. I count myself very lucky to have him as one of my spinning instructors, which is obviously how I found out about him. I signed up with him through http://www.trainingbible.co.uk/.

If I pick up just a few of the things he knows this should go pretty well! My breathing is obviously still not 100% but is improving all the time. Really can't wait to get into this now.

Twit

I just thought I'd mention that I'm also on twitter where I update various bits and pieces. Its not as a replacement to this blog but more a compliment as I can do short random updates while out on the move. You can follow me here:

https://twitter.com/edwardjmason

I mainly use it to follow professional cyclists (which is getting interesting now as the Tour Down Under is about to start), although I do put quite a few fitness related things on there too. Umm, as well as some not fitness related things!

Finally all the answers

I am absolutely delighted to be able to say that my breathing is continuing to improve and after this mornings appointment with my consultant I now understand everything that has happened. I had figured out a lot of it for myself / while talking with friends, but there were a few things I still didn't get. Being the kind of person I am its great that things are improving but its really great to have it all explained. If you are vaguely interested, its like this:

I have to take drugs that supress my immune system and this makes me very susceptible to (in my case) chest infections. I get 3-4 or more a year. I can feel them the first day they start, a tiny tiny feeling in my chest and as I know what's coming I get to the docs for antibiotics. 7 days later all is fine. In September though I got a chest infection at the start of a 2 week holiday while abroad (with no antibiotics) which gave it a really good time to bed in. During that time (I now know) it got bad enough that it exacerbated food intolerances I didn't even know I had. So ironically a lot of the stuff I ate while I stopped traning (to let it sort itself out / see the specialist etc) was keeping it there / making it worse.

The problem also increased my asthma which explains why I got worse in the cold. It also (again asthma related) explains my dehydration.

I have been told (and am very happy about) that I must keep a supply of antibiotics at all times so I can start taking them immediately I feels the symptoms, in order to prevent this from happening again. Fine by me!

I'm so so happy to know its on the mend, I feel like a kid at Christmas. Great timing too because as I have said before I need to be riding (weather permitting) outdoors from next month.

So now the training can really start in ernest, which should lead nicely into my next post as I'm getting a coach! Bring on the Marmotte :-)

Maybe, just maybe...

My breathing is improving. Its a tiny, tiny change, but its noticable.

I used the turbo trainer twice over the weekend, and today I did both Body Balance and Body Pump classes. While its not suddenly easy to take a full breath I did notice an improvement. "What happened" you may ask? (oh go on, please). The difference is that I have cut out as many items as I can from my food intolerance list as I can. Now I'm not a scientist or proclaiming to know more than my (very) expensive consultant but my eating is the only thing that has changed and I've seen an improvement.

So maybe the food is a problem, but the cold sure as hell is too. All 4 bits of exercise mentioned above were performed in warm rooms and I noticed that as soon as I was out in the cold after things were worse - although not as bad as they were mind you. So if I'm right then spin won't go so well tomorrow lunch time (as the room is always freezing at the moment).

Still I reckon this is good information to take to my next appointment on Thursday. Will of course be interesting to see what she says, or if I just get laughed out of the room.

Ups and Downs

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a great time, and to those of you who are currently snowboarding in the UK - I am insanely jealous!

I said when I started this I would blog the ups and downs, after all what plans go to the letter? I know I have not posted any weight updates (this is due to not being able to get properly hydrated so the numbers are completely messed up, see "downs" below) but tonight the overall weight is down from the first measurement I took in December. Not down by much mind you, maybe half a pound, but this is the tricky side of Christmas / New Year and I will happily take the fact that I have not ballooned! I've also updated my training totals for everything I completed in December. As I originally listed anything in December as being a bonus, I'm also pretty happy with this.

Sadly though my breathing is actually getting worse. Just before Christmas the mild-out-of-breathness I get turned into a full blown chest infection. Thankfully I had some antibiotics I could take. Now though its just generally worse, especially during / after exercise. Its not like I'm gulping for air, its just not that comfortable. It may seem silly to continue like this (and I can't really argue with that), but when I rested for 2 months my symptoms were so mild no-one thought anything was wrong. At least this way I might get their attention. And still, no one has actually told me to stop yet, so hey...

The most frustrating thing is still having no idea what is wrong. I am always tired and can sleep for 11+ hours without trying. I am really feeling the cold this year, and as I mentioned above I just cannot get hydrated, no matter how much I drink through the day. Oh, and I have definitely linked my breathlessness after eating to certain foods. This all points (in my humble opinion) to some kind of virus / infection, but then other things like my peak flow readings don't really add up with this. Like I said, I really don't know what's going on. I'm back there next week when I will offer to give as many pints are needed to have every blood test ever invented! And I could really do with this being sorted soon, I have to ride outdoors next month. Still, I have to stay hopeful.

I hope you get everything you want in 2010. I would just suggest that you don't wait for it to fall in your lap (like a lot of people seem to) - go out and make it happen instead :-)

Oh yeah, and I will really try to get better at updating this!!!!