Triathlon tomorrow - Predicted time 2:33

Getting ready for Triathlon tomorrow involves dusting down kit not used in 5 years (since 2006!)

Set-up Swim

Just realised I don't fit in my wetsuit!! Have been wondering 'round the house wearing it to try and make it stretch. Might be lucky enough to get into it tomorrow but not sure I will be able to breath. Inhaling is a real challenge against the tight rubber of the suit.

I also anticipate a fun time trying to peel it off at the end of the swim. However I think I'd still be better with a wetsuit rather than without since I have not done anything like this for 5 years I suspect I will benefit from the buoyancy (which will make-up for poor technique) and also allow me to float and rest if I get tired.

Estimated time for swim 30minutes

Set-up Bike

Quick pump of tyres, test of brakes and a ride up and down the road trying to get my feet in and out of the shoes for a fast start and finish to the bike section. I suspect I may be OK at this, but may be disappointed to make a slick professional start and then only cycle along at 20mph!

Set-up Speedo

The I.S.O. tire size consists of a tire width and a bead seat diameter. Both of these numbers are in millimeters. For example, a 28-622 (700 x 28C) tire has a nominal width of 28mm on a rim with a bead seat diameter of 622 mm

To get an approximate diameter (in mm) add the bead seat diameter to twice the tire width (since the tire comes into the diameter twice: 622 + (28 X 2) = 678. Multiply this by pi (3.142) to get the circumference in mm = 2130.

I think my calcs are tyre = 23-622
622 + (23 x 2) = 668 x 3.142 (pi) = 2100 as good as damn it

I'm not entirely sure I trust this so might strap the Garmin to the bike too. Knowing my speed should motivate me to work harder/faster…never enough speed and likely to be far behind all my rivals so the clocks are the only inductors of how well I am doing!

My legs are very tired having completed the Etape du Tour, 48 Mile Ultra Marathon, a series of rowing endurance races and more recently started marathon training and canoeing for the Thames River Challenge. However despite being very, very tired. I am reasonably fit.

Estimated time for bike 75minutes

Set-up Run

Thinking of using the old shoes from 2006. They have not done much milage and have elastic laces. No point in losing time fiddling around with lace-up marathon shoes. I have lots of stamina in the legs due to events listed above, but I have no speed. I can trot out 10min/mile pace for 50 miles, and don't expect to be super fast tomorrow.


Estimated time for run 6 x 8/min miles = 48minutes


TOTAL ESTIMATED TIME 2HOURS 33 MINS


Triathlon Packing List


BEFORE
Contact lenses
Sun screen
Fuel
Food
Race belt
Phone
Pins

SWIM
Googles
Hat
Cossie
Vasaline
Mat
Towel
Bowl

BIKE
Bike
Pump
Tyres and Tools
Bento Box
Helmet
Glasses
Bottles
Garmin
Elastic bands

RUN
Shoes
Socks
Hat

AFTER
Warm clothes
Towel
Flip Flops
Money
Waterproofs
Water
Food

Summary of recent weekly training

---------------------------------
Sun 24/Apr swim6100mts bike161miles run0miles row0k weights0mins 10.9hrs
Sun 01/May swim4800mts bike163miles run43.5miles row0k weights0mins 16hrs
Sun 08/May swim5600mts bike123miles run24.5miles row6k weights0mins 12.2hrs
Sun 15/May swim5800mts bike96miles run38miles row0k weights0mins 12hrs
Sun 22/May swim4600mts bike82miles run12miles row10k weights0mins 8.4hrs
Sun 29/May swim2500mts bike169miles run37.5miles row0k weights0mins 14.9hrs
Sun 05/Jun swim2600mts bike212miles run38miles row0k weights0mins 17.3hrs
Sun 12/Jun swim3800mts bike68miles run32miles row15k weights0mins 10.2hrs
Sun 19/Jun swim2500mts bike32miles run27miles row30k weights30mins 8.9hrs
Sun 26/Jun swim0mts bike132miles run7.5miles row2k weights20mins 8.7hrs
Sun 03/Jul swim0mts bike116miles run33.5miles row22k weights0mins 12.4hrs
Sun 10/Jul swim0mts bike52miles run0miles row0k weights60mins 3.8hrs

Looking at the above its clear why I managed the Etape du Tour (11 Jul) OK. There are lots of weeks at 120 miles+ so I'd done the mileage OK.

Sun 17/Jul swim0mts bike116miles run25miles row10k weights0mins 10.4hrs
Sun 24/Jul swim0mts bike73miles run20miles row50k weights0mins 9.8hrs
Sun 31/Jul swim2300mts bike32miles run9miles row45k weights75mins 8.6hrs
Sun 07/Aug swim0mts bike42miles run50miles row0k weights0mins 8.5hrs

Looking at the above its amazing I managed the 48mile Ultra Marathon (6 Aug) when my weekly running mileage has been 20-30 miles. For an Ultra it should be 60+

Sun 14/Aug swim0mts bike74.5miles run4.5miles row80k weights80mins 12.7hrs
Sun 21/Aug swim2000mts bike47miles run4.5miles row65k weights50mins 10hrs

This is the anticipated schedule which might allow me to be Triathlon fit and be ready for the Thames Great River Race. The challenge will be if I can cope with this volume of training.

Sun 28/Aug swim7600mts bike118miles run18miles row50k weights40mins 16.1hrs
Sun 04/Sep swim7500mts bike112miles run18miles row50k weights40mins 15.8hrs
Sun 11/Sep swim7500mts bike112miles run18miles row50k weights40mins 15.8hrs
Sun 18/Sep swim7500mts bike112miles run18miles row50k weights40mins 15.8hrs

Rowing Quotes

"No, I'm not on steroids. But thanks for asking."

"While rowing, it is rude to count the people you pass out loud."

"The quicker we stroke, the faster we come"

Impressively long both on and off the water

Lightweight Rowing: We may be hungry, but We look better in Spandex

Sark2Jersey "Anyone can row a thousand meters, it's the next thirty thousand that count"

Great Triathlon Quotes

If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, then the Ironman must have taken Him by surprise and Greenlight Ultra must have completely dumbfounded Him

"Triathlon - It's not about finding your limits. It's about finding out what lies just beyond them."

Only a triathlete would call a bottle of sugar water their "Nutrition"

It had a cartoon drawing of a guy obviously out on a dinner date with a woman. The woman is burying her head in her arms on the table as the guy is saying something along the lines of..."Did I mention that I do triathlons?"

"You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime."
Mark Allen - Ironman

Swim like your gonna drown, Ride like you stole it and Run like they are chasing you.

"Screw this, I''m sticking with marathons. They're easier."

"You do Marathons, how cute"


"18 WEEKS AGO... THIS SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA"


"Life is Simple. Triathlon. Swim. Bike. Run. Eat. Sleep."


It doesn't get any easier; you just get faster. -Greg Lemond

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. - Michelangelo

Great Sport Quotes

Running

The Race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep running. - Unknown

May your best miles be covered on Foot – Big Peach Running Company

"Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first."
-Nike

"I'm going to go out a winner if I have to find a high school race to win my last race." - Johnny Gray

"It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse." - Ann Trason

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter

Nothing’s better than the wind at your back, the sun in front of you and your friend beside you – A runner’s creed

"The will to win means nothing if you haven't the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving." - Maurice Greene (attributed to Roger Bannister shortly after running the first sub-4 mile)

"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain - and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is? Don't overdo it' and? Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." - Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Fame.

"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." -Emil Zatopek

"The marathon's about being in contention over the last 10K. That's when it's about what you have in your core. You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness out of yourself, and it really comes down to what's left inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things about the marathon." - Rob de Castella

To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind. Jerome Drayton

Marathon running is a terrible experience: monotonous, heavy, and exhausting.
Veikko Karvonen, 1954 European and Boston Marathon Champ

I'm never going to run this again. Grete Waitz after winning her first of nine New York City marathons

The marathon can humble you. Bill Rodgers

I am too tired, even to be happy. Gelindo Bordin, Italy, immediately after winning the Olympic Marathon in Seoul

I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known. Emil Zatopek's description of the Olympic Marathon win in Helsinki

Get going. Get up and walk if you have to, but finish the damned race. Ron Hill to Jerome Drayton during the 1970 Boston Marathon

Blink and you miss a sprint. The 10,000 meters is lap after lap of waiting. Theatrically, the mile is just the right length: beginning, middle, end, a story unfolding. Sebastian Coe

Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, its working. Brian Tackett

Life is short... running makes it seem longer. Baron Hansen

Running a marathon is 90% mental toughness. The rest is in your head - unknown

When people ask me why I run, I tell them, there's not really a reason, it's just the adrenalin when you start, and the feeling when you cross that finish line, and know that you are a winner no matter what place you got. Courtney Parsons

People don't know why we run, but it's the hard work you put into practice, and the reward you get from the race. Courtney Parsons

I run because it's my passion, and not just a sport. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude. Running, to me, is more than just a physical exercise... it's a consistent reward for victory! Sasha Azevedo

Running is one the best solutions to a clear mind. Sasha Azevedo

My greatest ideas stem from running. Sasha Azevedo

Every run is a great run! Sasha Azevedo

People ask why I run. I say, "If you have to ask, you will never understand". It is something only those select few know. Those who put themselves through pain, but know, deep down, how good it really feels. Erin Leonard

My sport is your team’s punishment

If you start to feel good during a marathon, don’t worry, that will pass

Yes, it really is hard. Yes, I had to train a lot. Yes, I know it is hard on the body. Yes, I know I am crazy and every marathon is 26.2 miles

"No doubt a brain and some shoes are essential for marathon success, although if it comes down to a choice, pick the shoes. More people finish marathons with no brains than with no shoes." Don Kardong

"Thank God, it's over." Neil Cusack, 1974 marathon winner

Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed. ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts



If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise. ~P.Z. Pearce

The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again. ~Erma Bombeck

The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank. ~George Sheehan

I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging. If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups. ~Rita Rudner

The Marathon can humble you. – Bill Rodgers

The journey is more important than the destination.



Walking

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~Raymond Inmon

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir, 1913, in L.M. Wolfe, ed., John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938

Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow. ~Henry David Thoreau

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. ~Steven Wright
I have two doctors, my left leg and my right. ~G.M. Trevelyan

My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing. ~Aldous Huxley

When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. ~Wallace Stevens

After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value. ~George Macauley Trevelyan

I dream of hiking into my old age. ~Marlyn Doan

Thoughts come clearly while one walks. ~Thomas Mann

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~John Muir

Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. ~Soren Kierkegaard

Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas. ~J.K. Rowling, "The Egg and The Eye," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000, spoken by the character Mad-Eye Moody

People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. When I hear that I think, yeah, that's the problem. ~Chris Adams

Make your feet your friend. ~J.M. Barrie

He who limps is still walking. ~Stanislaw J. Lec

Walking isn't a lost art - one must, by some means, get to the garage. ~Evan Esar

Your body is built for walking. ~Gary Yanker

The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk. ~Jacqueline Schiff

We live in a fast-paced society. Walking slows us down. ~Robert Sweetgall

Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise. ~Carrie Latet

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. ~Henry David Thoreau

If you pick 'em up, O Lord, I'll put 'em down. ~Author Unknown, "Prayer of the Tired Walker"

Walking is good for solving problems - it's like the feet are little psychiatrists. ~Pepper Giardino

If I could not walk far and fast, I think I should just explode and perish. ~Charles Dickens

Walking takes longer... than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. ~Edward Abbey, "Walking"

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-three today and we don't know where the hell she is. ~Ellen DeGeneres

Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving. And movement is life. ~Carrie Latet

If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes. ~The Houghton Line, November 1965

Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. ~Author Unknown



Fitness



"There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to work out in a gym." Bill Nye The Science Guy

"Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about them, I just do them. The decision has already been made." - Patti Sue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. ~Edward Stanley


If it weren't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all. ~Joey Adams


Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. ~Plato


Fitness - if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body. ~Cher

There is a necessity for a regulating discipline of exercise that, whilst evoking the human energies, will not suffer them to be wasted. ~Thomas de Quincey


The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! ~Author Unknown


Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states. ~Carol Welch


A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time - pills or stairs. ~Joan Welsh

The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, "If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down." ~Rita Rudner


I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. ~Marsha Doble


A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. ~A.A. Milne


I get my exercise acting as pallbearer to my friends who exercise. ~Chauncey Depew, also sometimes attributed in slightly different wording to Mark Twain


I really don't think I need buns of steel. I'd be happy with buns of cinnamon. ~Ellen DeGeneres


Commit to be fit. ~Author Unknown

Any workout which does not involve a certain minimum of danger or responsibility does not improve the body - it just wears it out. ~Norman Mailer


Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate. ~Author Unknown


An hour of basketball feels like 15 minutes. An hour on a treadmill feels like a weekend in traffic school. ~David Walters


It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero


I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street. ~Neil Armstrong on jogging, in an interview with Walter Cronkite


If your dog is fat, you're not getting enough exercise. ~Author Unknown


I am pushing sixty. That is enough exercise for me. ~Mark Twain


Exercise is the yuppie version of bulimia. ~Barbara Ehrenreich


Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes. ~Robert M. Hutchins

My idea of exercise is a good brisk sit. ~Phyllis Diller

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness – Edward Stanley Earl of Derby


Aerobics: a series of strenuous exercises which help convert fats, sugars, and starches into aches, pains, and cramps. ~Author Unknown

I consider exercise vulgar. It makes people smell. ~Alec Yuill Thornton

Other

Doubt can only be removed by action – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." - Doug Larson

"The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost

"I have met my hero, and he is me." - George Sheehan

"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." - Jules Renard

"We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." - Will Rogers

Tim's training plan for week 8 Aug

Tim's training plan for week 8 Aug

Key aim is get fit for Thames River Race http://www.greatriverrace.co.uk/

Mon 07:00hrs spinning class (will still have sore legs from Sunday's 48mile run!)
Tue 05:45hrs canoe session
Tue 17:00hrs rowing session with Just Do It crew
Wed 06:00hrs weights or better still a swim session
Wed 18:00hrs spinning class
Thu 05:45hrs canoe session
Thu 17:00hrs rowing session with Just Do It crew
Fri 07:15hrs spinning class
Fri 18:00hrs weights or better still a swim session
Sat - canoe session or possibly a long bike or kayak session + weights
Sun - canoe session or JCA Road Race Series 4/5 8/10 laps?

Thoughts and Lessons from 48mi UltraMarathon 6 Aug 2011

Thoughts and Lessons from 48mi UltraMarathon 6 Aug 2011

Buying new shoes 1 week before the event was a great idea. I also bought new grey 1000 mile sock and my feet felt great! Unfortunately so many people told me this was a bad thing to try, that I packed my old shoes in the half-way bag to switch into. Within a mile I knew I preferred the comfort and support of the shoes I'd taken off over the old shoes that now had to carry me 24miles.

Fuel strategy was good. Ran with 2 x 50m bottles of lucozade and refilled them at each 10mi check point. 1 Litre per 10mi was OK, but was running a bit low on the leg from Gronez to St Brelade.

Having 3 food bars before half-way bag and 3 after was great.

Started sensible: 1hour 40min to St Caths, and Marathon in 5 hours. I knew that I did not have the training to go far or fast, so I just held a pace…although toward the end it became a real challenge to keen below 12min mile pace!

Disappointed not to go sub-9 hours, but then to do a race like this you should be running 60miles per week. I've really only been doing long Sundays the weekdays have been rowing or cycling. On that basis I should be pleased with 9hours 11mins

Next time (If I am dumb enough to do this again) running 40-50miles per week would at least put some strength, stamina and lateral balance in my knees. My average has been about 25miles per week. My body was OK, but my legs were trashed: unable to walk/run downhill. I was OK on the flats.

I think I could get nearer the gold-standard (sub-8 hours) but it would mean giving up all the other fun sports and challenges that I do. If I had a choice of a gold medal or a silver and also doing the Tour de France, Rowing to France, Thames Challenge and Pierre Bigault bike race, I think my preference would be to give up the gold and enjoy all those other experiences…so I am not too disappointed to be thrashed by a lot of people far better than me.

Next challenges: Monday doing a spinning class! Tuesday doing a rowing race! But the big one will be the Thames River Challenge, in September.