Vale of Glamorgan Duathlon 2013

Transition area sitting quietly

On a beautiful still morning at Llandow Race Circuit, my 3rd race of the season was here. I had driven the route the night before and it was undulating but nothing seemed too tricky with some very fast sections and lovely scenery. The race was a 5.5k run, 26k bike, and final 2.5k run. The runs were 2 laps of the llandow race track, with the first run taking in some additional local lanes to add up the distance. I knew from registration that there weren't many women in the race meaning all the more men to chick ;)

For this race i wanted to try a different strategy out, having found in training that i could sustain my heart rate at a pace that felt really tough, but that i was able to keep to. This had made me wonder whether i wasn't racing hard enough going on feel alone so i decided to go on heart rate during the race.  On the first run i was briefly 1st female, lol, but then 3 other women overtook me and looking at my heart rate i knew that i was going at the right pace for me, and that they were just faster runners so i accept that and then get on with my own race. Whilst we all have a competitive edge and want to place as high as possible, i also accept that there will always be people faster than me so all i can worry about is performing the best that i can on that day and seeing where that gets me. If i were to ditch that strategy and try and keep up with faster runners then the likelihood is that i will max out my heart rate and then bonk later in the race having spent all my energy too quickly. As it was i have surprised that my natural racing heart rate was right where it should be to sustain over a race that would take me 90 minutes.

Out on Run 1

Out on the bike and i realised within a hundred metres or so that my top tube bag was loose and that either i throw it in the grass and collect later or i stop and get it sorted. Given that if i ditched it i wouldn't have CO2 cannisters, inner tube, tyre levers, or gels, i edged to the side of caution and stopped to re-attach. Oh well, better now than in an important race, and a lesson learnt in ensuring it's secure before the race starts, so i lost maybe a minute by the time i got back up to speed. Another problem on the bike course was my gears weren't settling right into the gear, making an unpleasant noise so i kept having to shift up and down to get it to settle down as i was concerned it might cause the chain to jump off. I had serviced the gears when i had washed the bike and when i had changed up through the gears they had been fine but shows that there is a difference between cycling and putting strain on the chain whilst changing gear, versus just doing it as bike is stationary. The bike course was actually quite cheeky, and the inclines that hadn't seemed too troublesome in the car were actually quite energy sapping and required a lot of low gears in the small ring! However, on the fast sections i felt great and bombed past a number of people, including the 3rd placed female. Just after overtaking though we hit some up and down hills and i wasn't sure if i would lose ground as my legs were letting me know we were on challenging little bits. Pleasingly, when i did glance around i had left that little group for dust and i had actually clocked 5 minutes faster on the bike than the female i passed.

Crossing the finish line safely in 3rd

Into the final run and i knew i had a big gap from me to the now 4th placed female so it was just about keeping my pace up, which i did, with my heart rate again right on the money, even increasing pace on the last half lap (about 1.25k). My mother was cheering me today (my dad was working) but it was also nice to hear my name being shouted out by a few others there who i knew, or who knew me. I always like to acknowledge the support and even the man on the mic was encouraging me when i was lapping up the cheers on the first lap on the final run. Into the final section and i could hear my mother with the cowbells - woohoo!! Crossed the line as 3rd female, 2nd in age-group, so job well done! The 2 women that were 1st and 2nd were 5 minutes ahead of me so fair play to them, they're pretty good!

Overcome with excitement of winning a £10 cheque!!

No trophy today, but a £10 cheque will go towards the new Oakleys that i want for turkey, as my sunglasses keep moving on the bike, meaning i am constantly pushing them back up my nose! The weather had stayed nice throughout the race, only starting to rain as we were on our way home, and my mother had managed well without anywhere to sit, so all in all a good day's work.

Next race is the first tri of the season, Llanelli sprint, which was my first tri ever last year. It'll be good to see how that goes, especially in the swim, as it'd be nice to see improvements. However, i am keen to start working on speed, as even though my duathlons have gone well, i can improve on bike speed/run speed, and i need them to make up for the time i will loose to the faster swimmers...

Rising above the hurt, in more ways than one

This week was truly shocking news with the bombings at Boston Marathon. I hate hearing about any deaths, whether they are war related, murders, or accidents, and i cannot fathom what drives people to think it's OK to kill others to prove a point, or for some cause. However, it really hurt to see a sport targeted that brings so many people together, young, old, elite, fit, those wanting to lose weight, or achieve a goal, or even just for the love of running, the sense of freedom it gives. I feel for all those affected and also hope that it doesn't put them off running, or taking part in other events, as unfortunately, we don't know what the future holds. we cannot live our lives in fear of what might happen, when what we fear might never actually happen. we have to make the most of our lives, because we don't know what is around the corner, for us, or for those we love. That's not to say that i don't moan, because believe me i have been ranting today about things, but we must live our lives to their fullest.

How is my training going i hear you ask...well the past 2 weeks have been quieter weeks. Last week was a recovery week, although i still put in about 11.5hours, and this week is the week building up to sunday's Glamorgan Duathlon so Rose has kindly given me a week to keep me rested and sharp for the race, although i had expected to train hard through some races, and taper just for key ones. But...coach knows best...

What i have been focusing on is keeping a high cadence on the bike, and trying to spin faster in a higher gear, meaning faster speed. I joined the North Dock Dredgers for a ride last Saturday, a nice 42 miles in wet, wind and filthy conditions, yuck! At least after the ride i finally relented and HAD to clean the bike as i couldn't touch it without getting dirty and gritty. I felt really good on the ride, keeping in the bunch with the blokes, even doing some breakaways on some inclines, and was pleased with how the legs felt spinning fast.

I've always focused on building my legs up in the gym with lots of squats, single leg squats, lunges, etc. This has also meant that my bum has been big but toned. Now though, following Rose's plan i haven't done a squat in 6 weeks, and the strength and conditioning routine i do is repetitive body weight based leg exercises, rather than heavy weight sets. I'm watching my body shape, and the muscle mass, and seeing if things are changing as a result of a change of focus to more triathlon specific training. if you look at the top cyclists they have the strength to climb, and the power to keep high speeds up for long durations but no bulky muscle. So we will see. I'm trying to lose a few kilograms ready for race season proper, but i love my food and have a horrible habit of getting hungry in an evening even after eating a good meal. However, i'm also aware that this might just be my bodyshape now for my age and whilst i can tweak a few things i can't expect to become like bradley wiggins.

What i am aware of though is that i'm recovering far better, probably as a result of doing less heavy weight based exercises, and also Rose's plan means i have regular rest periods, even though total hours are as much as, if not more, than i was doing before. I also love my compressport full legs (and R2 calf guards). I can't tolerate compression for longer than about an hour, but using them regular is definitely helping with recovery, and also helping my calf stay healed :) Another recovery product i make use of is For Goodness Shakes 3:1 recovery drink. The vanilla shake is just dreamy to drink and after a hard sess i have one of those, or if i know i won't be able to eat for a little while after finishing a session i will make sure i have one to tide me over and start the recovery process.

Another thing that i have noticed training wise is that the 2nd heart rate training zone that Rose has set me is pretty tough for running, but...whilst it feels hard i can also sustain it. so whilst it's not pretty viewing, with sweat and hair flying everywhere, and my chubby cheeks doing overtime on the bouncy castle, it has taught me that i can run harder in a race than i have been doing, even if it feels like a lot of hard work at the time. Happy Days!! This has made me super excited to test it out in sunday's race. Not every race is an 'A' race, and all 3 duathlons have been geared as training for the tri season, So this last duathlon is a chance for me to test out this theory, that i can push harder on the bike and run and even though it feels hard, use positive self-talk, and the knowledge that in training i can sustain that pace, to see if it plays out on the day. Then i can reflect on my performance, and adjust future race strategies accordingly. It's all trial and error and getting to know your body and what your limits are, but also whether those limits can be pushed harder.

Next time i will share with you whether my race plan materialised, and if it did, how it went ;)

A bit of what i love - sport psychology

As you will know i am doing a MSc in sport psychology, and i am already a qualified clinical psychologist working in adult mental health. Of course i'm going to preach what i do, but i can speak from experience in knowing how effective the mind can be in overcoming performance doubts that set in. I've very aware of club mates in Celtic Tri who voice concerns, or little self-doubts, for which a few psychological skills can be incredibly powerful. After a conversation with a colleague in work today i'm inspired to pursue my passion further, and the start of that is sharing some little hints that might help others out there with their tri-career, as it helps mine every day :)

 "I can, I will" is a saying i came up with to convince myself that i could overcome my inability to swim with my head in the water due to never having learnt to breathe properly when swimming. After copious amounts of water being swallowed i got it and now, whilst my swimming will never win an olympic medal, i am now comfortable in the pool and my technique has come on leaps and bounds.
The power of the mind is immense...when you start doubting yourself, "oh that hill looks too steep, i won't be able to cycle up it" - if you say that to yourself then chances are you'll be right, you have just talked yourself out of that hill. However, if you learn to use positive self talk, such as "i know i can do it, i just have to keep moving, keep my legs ticking over, each turn of the legs is one metre nearer the top" then you'll find that you start achieving what previously had seemed too hard. You have to learn key words, key phrases that work for you. That might be a focus on technique, or a performance goal, such as "right, get to that next lamppost...right, let's try for that next one...", or have a reward set up ready for afterwards, mine is a junk food indulgent evening after a race, so when the pain sets in and i start thinking "oh i'm not sure if i can keep this pace up" i think to myself "keep going, keep pushing, you'll get to the end quicker and then you can have your dominos".

Another way of challenging those niggling self-doubts, or negative thoughts that set in, is to ask yourself what evidence you have for that belief. If there's no evidence then why are you talking yourself out of it? Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Remember a thought is just a thought, not necessarily a fact. Often the thoughts we have are beliefs or opinions, but they don't have to influence our behaviour if we learn to recognise them as negative thoughts and let them go; just as clouds come and go in the sky, so thoughts come and go of their own accord. You just need to learn to focus your attention on the task in hand and not get caught up in the spiral of negative thinking (this spiral will then affect your emotions, your physical sensations and ultimately your behaviour).

Another powerful tool is imagery, imagining yourself getting up that hill, imagining yourself keeping a high cadence, imagining yourself keeping your pace up and finishing that race strong. You can imagine during a performance, but you can also imagine perfecting a technique, or a part of the race (such as transition) before the event. I imagine transition as i'm setting up my transition area and when i'm finding the routes in and out of transition. I also imagine the swim going well and if i get a bit anxious in the swim then i use self-talk and say to myself "keep your stroke long, keep breathing steady, each stroke is a bit nearer the end", etc.

These are just a few ideas, and there are many more. It's an individual thing, you have to find what works for you, but i see sport psychology as a vital aspect of training, not just to be used when a problem arises. Research has consistently shown that those people who regularly use skills such of these alongside their day to day training, recovery, nutrition plans etc. perform better than those athletes who neglect the training of the mind. If you want more ideas let me know, i'm hoping before long that this will be a side venture for me, but i'm very keen to help others as there is no reason why people can't reach their full potential, they just have to believe it's possible.

Happy training and racing folks :)

Heavy training week but batteries recharged

I had timed my annual leave so that i had a week off after 2 races in 6 days, which also meant it had easter weekend at the end, so an extra long weekend before work beckons :) Whenever i get time off i always plan a long list of things that i never get around to achieving. The main culprit is painting in the house but i realised that i just don't feel confident doing it alone as i'm sure some disaster would strike so the plan is that in the May bank holidays i will persuade my father to come and spend a day or 2 accomplishing lots of DIY chores with me :) What i did do was mow my lawn, assemble an art canvas i have had for months, clean some windows (too cold to do the outside ones other than the top ones where i just lent my arm out and used the wonderful karcher window cleaner vacuum :)), and generally just chill out :) this meant catching up on sky+ recordings, and also enjoying long drives in the car, for driving's sake. The thing i love about Wales is that it is so beautiful. When i was running in Afan Argoed on Tuesday i was struck by the stalagmites hanging on the rocks, my bike ride on monday led me to see snow topped peaks in the distance, and today's car drive led me to see the pastel coloured houses of llandeilo and spring lambs jumping across the road :)

One thing this week has been is cold!! My long bike ride monday was perhaps the worst i have felt on a bike, being blasted by side and head winds and just generally not enjoying the ride at all! the journey out i averaged 13mph due to the head wind and on the way back i made up 15 minutes time and averaged over 18mph! Alas, that was still with cross winds which just made life a little bit scary! This bike ride had gotten off to a bad start when i decided to take out my training bike and less than 400m from my house at the bottom of the hill my inner tube and tyre blew "BANG"!! Think this might have had something to do with me practising changing inner tubes on this wheel recently and i might not have seated the tyre back properly as i find the tyres very stiff on those rims so i have ordered some new stronger and meant to be thinner tipped alloy tyre levers so we will see if that helps.

Additionally, my monday swim session was a write off too as i felt sick with bilateral breathing and the rolling of my body. Never felt that before, and i tried to rest and swim through it but it just wasn't happening so i cut my losses and got home, ate, and rested up. It soon passed so i'll put that down to a one-off. It wasn't a feeling i have had before from eating the wrong stuff before a swim session, nor the sick feeling i get from heavy exertion, so just one of those things.

Not my photo but this is the old bridge that carried the railway across the river at Cymmer

Tuesday's run was a 9mile loop in Afan Argoed Country Park. I had never really seen much of the park before, other than mountain biking once in there a few summers ago, but it was beautiful. Yes, cold and blustery on the long climb out from the Rhyslyn car park as this was exposed, but the views down over the river were magical, and then the journey back along the other valley led me to run along what used to be an old railway line with the old station still present. This led to a history lesson from my grandfather 2 days later when i went to visit him for his 87th birthday. He loves talking about the local history. As for the run itself, it didn't feel like 9 miles and i could have carried on which was positive. The pace was purposefully slow to train in the right heart rate zone but i'm looking forward to running that loop again and seeing how my times improve.

Wednesday was another bike session but i couldn't face another cold windy long ride so i opted for an acclimatisation session on the turbo instead. Turkey will be racing in temperatures above 25degrees C and our current temperatures are below 5 degrees so i took matters into my own hands. Film on, doors and windows closed and heating ON set to 20 degrees. Thankfully it didn't feel hot on the bike but i could tell i was hot as my normal sweaty clothes was multiplied by about 5 to the point my nike training top was stuck to me like it was a wet tshirt and i could wring it out as if it had just come out of a bucket full of water! I managed 1hr 43 before my knees and my arse said "No more"! This was pleasing in that it wasn't my energy levels that said "Stop" rather the boredom factor of the turbo making the pains louder.

Thursday was a full training day with a 45minute strength and conditioning session followed by a 30minute conditioning run, with a 2hour swim session later. The S&C session taxes my arms with press up overload and my abs always feel nice and tight for a day or 2 after :) The conditioning run was also the first time i have managed to go further on the return leg than on the outward leg (15min out, 15min back on this one) so that was pleasing that i am pacing things better. It was also nice to be chatted up in the gym, well at least that's what i think he was doing, but given that i was sweaty and red faced he might just have felt sorry for me! Not sure i'll see him again as i never usually train at that time during a working day, but i believe in fate so we'll see what happens. He was quite nice though ;)

The swim set was heart rate testing again so a series of 200m, 100m and 50m sprints. I'm not sure if there was any improvement time wise or heart rate wise, but i definitely feel i'm a better swimmer when i am going faster as my head positioning for breathing feels bang on the money and feedback from the girls in my lane was that they could hardly tell i was breathing because my head hardly moved so happy with that! Just need to take that form into races now over long(er) distances.

This isn't me i should add! Just an illustration of what i mean

Friday's session was an easy rowing set, so 3000m followed by 10 pressups, 10 sit ups, then 2000m row with 5 pressups, 5 situps. Having been told that the Concept 2 rower is better placed on level 5 for training purposes i found it much easier to keep the pace even without feeling a huge burn in my legs and bum. it's more about repeated leg presses and heart rate being raised. Also the pull of the chain is great for the arms and back making it good for swimming crossover. Love thy guns :)

Saturday was only the evening swim session so it felt like a rest day almost so i pottered around the house doing little odds and ends, then sunday came the long brick session. This was well attended by over 30 of the club with even a few hardcore juniors taking part with their parents cycling behind for safety reasons. There were various distances to suit ability or race distance and i did the 3hr set which was 23k bike/3k run/23k bike/3k run/23k bike and without time to do a last 3k run i did a little cool down jog around the grass. This was a great time to test nutrition and i was happy with my nectar fuel drink and gels. I could have drank more maybe but with how windy it was i was concerned with keeping the bike stable when the road was exposed. Plus the road was in poor condition with little stones flying up, including one which was thrown up by a boy racer speeding past which hit me on the chin. Definitely a reminder to all to wear glasses to protect our eyes out there! There were potholes a plenty and at a couple of points i felt i was doing brain damage to myself with the rattling my brain took going over some patches of road that were uneven and treacherous :(

I learnt from this session though that my toying with the idea of buying a new helmet was something i had to put into action as my helmet was one i had from when i was a youngster pottering around on a mountain bike and has a little peak on it. As a result when in the aero position it means my vision is impeded meaning i have to crane my neck higher to see better which equals a sore neck! As it was i caught a bargain because of the easter sales, so thanks ChainReactionCycles for nearly 50% off my new helmet. I also bought from Wiggle some new tyres and inner tubes for my training bike. Just to put them on properly! next thing on the list is new sunglasses that i can wear on the run without them bouncing around everywhere...can't wait to write about them as the ones i want look cool as ****!!

So...overall, this was a heavy week training wise according to Rose, with next week being a recovery week, but as i was off work it didn't feel all that hard. Although, it did total 13hours training, not including the stretching that is now part of my daily routines, and i did over 25k running and 5hrs 20 on the bike, covering about 98 miles, so yes, it was a heavy week, as i also did 3.5 hrs swimming. Having looked at next week's plan it will give me time to work on my MSc dissertation proposal which will be good.

What was also great this week was that i got to catch up with my two closest friends, separately. This involved a trip to the local climbing wall for a catch up over coffee on wednesday evening, and then friday lunchtime a trip to carmarthen for some food and a catch up, plus some baby playing which is always great fun :) I don't socialise very often these days but its always lovely to catch up with friends :) Then came easter sunday, so as a treat after the beast of a brick session i indulged in my favourite past-time:

What i've started to think about is how i can give back and i'm aware that some people have low confidence in various areas when it comes to triathlon, whether that is the swim leg (like i did), or using cycling shoes/cleats, or on hills, etc. Therefore, next time i might just share some tips from my knowledge as a clinical psychologist and MSc Sport Psychology student, on how to overcome those anxieties that can negatively affect training, and lives in general...