2013: Tri-ing something new

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Satisfying and very well done. Keep it up Dan, you be doing well.

[marathondan]

Week 4 of 17

A somewhat stuttering step-back week. I had intended to drop down from 4 to my customary 3 sessions this week. That was taken care of by missing my Monday night swim lesson due to a diary clash – not ideal, since this is the most important session of the week.

Tuesday saw somewhat cooler conditions for the canalside tempo run – singlet was replaced by thick tech top and gloves as an icy wind howled down the towpath.

Another rest day saw me all set for my lunchtime swim. I drove across to the pool… only to discover it about to close for a school swimming gala. Better check the website next time. So, time to fit in a swim on Friday… no chance. And by the end of the week, all evenings are booked out for club sessions or kids parties, so that was a no-go.

By Saturday afternoon I finally made it out for my brick session, biking against a formidable headwind on the exposed sections. I’m getting fairly used to the run leg now; the first mile is for acclimatisation – forcing blood back into numb toes, and the like - and then the remainder is more “OK, let’s see what’s left in the tank”.

I finally pinned down a free slot at 9am on Sunday for the swim, and got in another satisfactory kilometer: 4 x 250m of 1/1 crawl/breast, 2/1, 3/1 and then finally continuous crawl. Very gradually, I’ll increase the sets by 50m. Otherwise I’ll be in for a big shock when I take to the lake and find there’s no side to hold on to.

When I was originally mulling over this idea, several people (myself included) suggested that endless laps of the pool would be pretty dull. That hasn’t happened yet – there is so much technique required that there’s always plenty to think about. I guess that might be true whatever level you’re at – those eels knocking out seemingly effortless laps with barely a ripple may in fact be concentrating very hard on some aspect of their technique.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Club sessions? As in, nightclubs? Now that's what I call training... why didn't you tell us earlier? I'll have a dirty martini - dry, stirred, two olives thanks.

[marathondan]

Week 5 of 17

Mon – another minor logistical slip-up in the gear-dependent world of triathlon training. I lent my bike lock to Luke, who was leaving his bike at school all week for his cycling proficiency test (the toddler who came to watch my first marathon is 10 next week). I’d forgotten that I would need the lock to be able to take the bike to the pool. Result: swim-bike combo downgraded to swim only. I’ll upgrade the midweek run to a minor brick (half-brick?) to recoup the bike miles.

Swim lesson was good, with some esoteric drills (8x50m dolphin kick, on side, with fins, anyone?). We covered over a mile in the hour, but most of that was with fins so doesn’t really count as a good measure. But the fact that we’re doing 8x50m for most of our drills now is a good marker. As is the irrefutable fact that, after 10 weeks, I can swim continuous crawl 10 times further than when I started.

The fins give the legs a good workout, and for once it was legs rather than arms aching afterwards. They also allow you to concentrate on form much more, as the basic business of propulsion is much easier. A notable form problem for me, a classic it seems, is kicking from the knee instead of from the hip. A bent leg creates drag. As always though, with my typical male multi-tasking ability, concentrating on one aspect of form means the others fall by the wayside. The drills are all about building muscle memory, so that all these different parts become second nature.

[marathondan]

Another week in the bag, nothing much to report. Progressed a little on the lunchtime swim, increasing the crawl / back ratio. Noticed I'd shaved a couple of minutes off my 1000m time, but then afterwards realised I'd probably skipped a couple of lengths by accident.

Turns out the chap who’s currently painting our hall and stairs has done the Windsor Triathlon. He said it was the worst experience of his life. He didn’t clarify whether that included blowing up at 9 miles in the Las Vegas marathon after missing 2 months of training. Apparently the current is a bit nasty in the Thames. And he classes himself as a medium ability swimmer (i.e. a lot better than me). Was I a silly billy to enter a 1500m river swim for my first event? Time will tell.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Was I a silly billy to enter a 1500m river swim for my first event?

Not nearly as silly as the vast multitudes of people who never try anything.

Swim or lose (sorry) you'll be a hero to your kids and an inspiration to everyone who knows you.

Go for it Dan, you're brilliant!

[marathondan]

Rounded off the month with a very pleasant early Good Friday brick, 17.5+3.5 at 6.30 am. A lovely clear, cold spring morning. Delighted to be running just outside 8 min miling after over an hour on the bike.

Pool swimming continues relatively comfortably, but I'm seriously worried about the river swim now. My concern is that I could jump in against the current and, at the slow pace I'm capable of sustaining, simply not make any progress up the river - my whole event would be over after about 10 minutes. That's not something that can happen in a road race. I need to have a good chat with my mate who's training for his first ironman, to get some expert advice.

Totals for March:

Swim: 5h40 (equivalent to about 38 miles run)
Bike: 6h25 (equivalent to about 42 miles run)
Run: 3h55 (29 miles)

Total: 16 hours / 109 miles run equivalent - on par with a normal marathon year. But with the different muscle groups being worked, I'm feeling much less fatigued between sessions than I would if I was just running.

[marathondan]

Right, where were we?

Looking back over the log, it seems that week 6 of 17 was a mostly satisfactory event, with a 6+3.5 mini-brick (run at 7:45 pace) and a full brick of 17.5+3.5, with the run coming in at a very pleasing 8:03 pace. Managed a lunchtime klick in the pool, plus the obligatory Monday night lesson. I seem to recall that this was a short, hard session which I didn't really feel the enthusiasm to complete, and then a rather silly end of term game of water polo between all of the classes. 40 or so adults, mostly aged between 30 and 50, reverting to schooldays stereotypes. Which for me meant mostly hanging around in space and being a largely ineffectual link player. Didn't feel like a great use of a Monday night.

Week 7 of 17 was the first week of the Easter holidays, I only worked 2 days and spent the rest hanging around with the family (after attending our neice's wedding, the first we've been to where the happy couple are a full generation younger than us). Motivation went completely out of the window. It was meant to be a step-back, but I did nothing apart from a 1km swim.

Week 8 of 17 arrived, with lessons still out for Easter. I set myself 1.25 km (sounds better than 1250m) which was accomplished reasonably well, and it's fair to say that I have come on a lot since January. But will it be enough? I still take around a 5 sec break at the end of each length, and find it hard to force myself not to do this - the side of the pool is there, and it's too tempting not to grab onto it. So I tried to swim the last 250m set truly continuously, with just a tap on the side each time... and failed miserably. I forget now at exactly what point I ground to a halt, but it wasn't very far in. With hindsight I think this was a faliure of effort rather than ability, but it was a pretty depressing event. My 250m time is not improving at all, and for the rest of the set I began to fantasise about chucking the whole thing in and switching to a late summer marathon (I've always had my eye on the Robin Hood in September). It would be so easy to go back to the familiar world... But that's not what it's all about. Onwards we go.

But the week ended in great style, with my longest brick to date - 20+4.5, starting at 6.30 am under glorious blue skies (which at some point clouded over, but I didn't notice till I finished).

Overall, the whole thing feels far less tiring than marathon training - maybe because I'm still so inefficient at the swimming that it's not really a good aerobic workout yet. I'm missing the spiritual nature of the long run a little, but I'm not missing the creaking joints.

This week I'm holed up in a Mumbai business park. So there will be a couple of bricks on the static bike and treadmill (podcasts at the ready) but the hotel pool is (unsurprsingly) tiny, so unless I can search out a sports centre, any serious swimming is out.

I had a chat with my Ironman friend, who has agreed to accompany me on my first lake outing in a few weeks time. Everyone says how disconcerting it all is, what with the cold, the murky water, the lack of lanes, etc, etc, so it will be good to have someone around with plenty of experience.

Frankly I still think the river current is going to be a big problem, but I need to at least get out into a lake before I can even begin to confront that issue.

Fortunately the bike leg is looking steady if slow (and my ancient hardware can take some of the blame for that) and I'm really getting hang of running straight off the bike.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Phew, that all sounds like incredibly hard work... the closest I've come to doing a triathlon was when I was first reserve for the bike leg in a team triathlon which I (mercifully) didn't have to do (although I did do the training)... so all this talk of bricks and lake outings and water polo is kind of Greek to me.

That aside, I've immense respect for anyone who can successfully tackle a triathlon, so good on you ... go for it big time and try (as much as you can) to enjoy the experience.

But it still sounds like hard work to me...

[marathondan]

The strange thing is that it doesn't feel like hard work. I think it's the variety that does it. Probably means I'm not working hard enough, though.

[Sweder]

I'm curious as to the effect this is all having on your body, Dan. You've alluded to a lack of cracking joints. I presume you're also maintaining a steady weight with a slow decline in body fat? That's as good an indicator of work-rate as feeling knackered (or not). Besides any residual benefits it sounds as if you're in pretty good shape.

Apropos of nothing in particular, Andrew Marr, he of the political discourse/ extra marital affair/ extraordinarily long arms fame, was waxing reflective on his recent stroke. It came, apparently, after he started a 'short sharp shock' exercise regime, in particular a blast on a rowing machine. Messrs Roper and Lynam we're discussing it on Twitter this weekend. Not sure why I bring it up here, especially, other than in response to my own reference to fat-burning. Short, exhaustive bursts of activity are reputed to burn fat most efficiently.

Right, that's it. Back to work, all of you.

[marathondan]

I don't think it's giving me as good a workout as pure running. I've always maintained that running is the best aerobic exercise, because in order to do the thing that we call running, you have to be in the aerobic zone. Whereas on a bike, you can slow right down but still think of yourself as cycling. In the pool, you can go for a gentle swim that barely raises the heart rate, but it's still swimming. Yes you can take walk breaks in a run, but then you wouldn't claim to have run continuously. So on the bike, I suspect that I'm not pushing myself as hard as I could. And in the pool, I'm limited by my technique, and what I think is pretty poor upper body strength (not surprising; I've done very little to develop it in the last 20 years).

I'm still in my first few months of two new sports. I think this period is just the various joints and muscles (and my mind) getting used their new roles. I think it will be a while before any noticeable physiological changes occur.

But my goal was always to test the hypothesis that tri-sport is better for the body than pure running. For the body, it seems yes. For the mind, the jury is still out...

[marathondan]

Just read the Marr article (Marrticle?). To me, common sense suggests that moderation is better (as with most things in life - a philosophy we all practice, I'm sure). When I pick up my annual marathon trail, I always have a few weeks of easy running before I start to increase the intensity.

[El Gordo]

Long time no post, Dan. Remiss of me.

Great to see you embarking on a new adventure. Admirable. And probably wise to spread the muscular burden around a bit as you enter advanced middle age...

Ooof, I can tell you lad, it doesn't get easier. In fact, based on my last few attempted revivals, I'm not sure it gets anywhere at all. Starts difficult and never gets any better. But I must stop wittering. Time for the Horlicks and daily ration of Val Doonican.

[marathondan]

Week 9 of 17 - spent the week in Mumbai. Managed a gym session on the first day, 30 mins each on the bike and tready. It was predictably soulless, and due to my inexperience on these apparatus I got the calibration wrong, apparently covering far more distance than I really would on the bike, and equally less on foot.

Next day I took a rest day, then I started to feel fluey (always a worry having been through the paranoia-inducing travel medical). That passed in a day or so, but I didn't feel up to returning to the gym till the last day... and time to check out. So a washout of a week really.

However, I see that week 10 of 17 is due to be a step-back, so I will cancel that, call last week a super-step-back, and have a good, hard week this week.

Back to the swim lessons tonight after a 3 week absence. She had us doing barmy drills like float kicking with face out of water (horrible neck-ache, she blamed sedentary job) and breast stroke without using legs (why ruin a perfectly good stroke?). And then tumble-turns... not too bad, but breathing requires work and of course it will put paid to my crafty rest at the end of each length. But I can be confident that it is not a skill I will need in open water swimming.

Just checked, and one of the local lakes claims to be open this weekend. Check out those opening times. I had planned to leave it a couple more weeks, but I may bite the bullet and sacrifice my testicles this weekend.

[Sweder]

What's a travel medical?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Dan is your race salt or fresh water? Seems to me there's quite a difference. Just wondering...

[marathondan]

What's a travel medical?

I imagine you've got a vaccine or two knocking round your system, old boy. Or do the local viruses and bugs get together and get vaccinated against you when they hear that a visit is imminent?

[marathondan]

Dan is your race salt or fresh water? Seems to me there's quite a difference. Just wondering...

Strictly speaking it's fresh, although as it's in the Thames, that term doesn't really apply.

Yes, Dead Sea levels of buoyancy would be nice. But sadly just H2O, no NaCl.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Dan is your race salt or fresh water? Seems to me there's quite a difference. Just wondering...

Strictly speaking it's fresh, although as it's in the Thames, that term doesn't really apply.

Yes, Dead Sea levels of buoyancy would be nice. But sadly just H2O, no NaCl.

Ah yes, I remember now you mentioned that before. In which case, I think a nice gentle jog through some country lanes somewhere sounds a much better option than a cold, unsympathetic lake.

That said, best of luck to you. Maybe one day I could be tempted. One day... perhaps.