Go Bananas, I came first in my category- whoop!

This is the happy bunch of bananas hours after the race, when everything around us was being packed up and the sponsors Lidl were desperately thrusting an abundance of bananas at anyone slow-witted enough to take them. I came away with a pack of water bottles and my Dad left with enough cereal bars to start a tuck shop.

I have to say, I was particularly excited about this one as these nutters above provided some friendly and worthy competition AND my Dad, just a week shy of his 64th birthday took part in his first Triathlon- Fantastic!

My good friend Tammy (the girl on the left in the photo) is a little machine; she's been training really well throughout the year and this would be the first triathlon (and not the last) where we race side by side. She got her 5 km run time down to an intimidating 20 mins something which I don't know if I've ever done, certainly not in the past 12 months anyway. I was definitely apprehensive about going side by side with her in this race.

It's great having a bit of competition in your training and direct competition in your racing. If you know the person and respect their ability to beat you, it pushes your efforts to levels you wouldn't exert on your own. I would say that it is essential to train with people better than you or people on your level who have the potential to progress as quickly or quicker than you for you to make the biggest and best gains.

So this is how I won my category: I swam without a wetsuit for the first time (apart from testing the waters at Shepperton the Wednesday before) as the water was 21.something degrees. I got to the front of the pack before the horn went off and I stayed calm throughout my swim. I picked up the pace on the second lap and increased my leg kick and stroke rate for the last 200 meters or so. It felt great just in my tri-suit and made T1 a lot faster! I saw Tammy running up the ramp out of the water at what I judged was about 10 seconds ahead of me and didn't take my eye off her until I sped past her on the bike. For her, psychologically, that was the end of her race; and it's true, psychology plays a massive part in sports racing. Your body is always capable of that extra percent of effort, and only practice and experience in all sorts of moods, environments and circumstances can help you realise this; then of course, overcome it.

On the cycle, I kept my eye on other people who I passed and passed me again and again. (My weakness is inclines but I compensate by going hard on flats and actually DO pedal fast on down hills too) I spotted people up in front who I aimed to catch up with, then once I'd caught them, I'd aim for the next. Some people I was chasing for a whole lap before I got irritated and put in that extra burst of energy to finally get there. In my head I was constantly thinking that it's no use going too hard then "actively resting" because it's that small overall consistent speed that gets you there over all those laps. So instead, I went hard and when I couldn't and more, maintained an above-comfortable steady pace until I found it it me to go hard again.

Having no desire to feel like I felt off the bike at Hyde Park, I got in a couple of last minute runs before this tri and have been doing Bikram Yoga to loosen those tight inhibiting muscles so I got off the bike feeling good. I started slow and steady, then reminded myself of all those small techniques to stay ahead. "Run from the bum" "1,2,3,1,2,3" "lean forward!" At one point I'm pretty sure I came in violation of someone's personal space, just to use them as a pacer. The run was close-knit laps so I saw Tom and smiled at him to bring him out of his serious competitive face, high-fived Dan a few times and got the 2 fingers from Tammy.

Personally this Banana man is an important one for me because it's the only same one that I did last year so I'm able to compare my times. However, last year's run was cut short due to incredibly hot weather. Here is the comparison:

Leg	2013	2014
Swim 800m	00:13:44	00:13:42 (no wetsuit)
T1	00:01:52 (suit to take off)	00:01:40
Bike 31.8km	01:19:09 (hybrid bike)	01:07:27 (road bike)
T2	00:00:55 (no cycle shoes)	00:01:36
Run 7.5km	4mins53/km (6km run)	4mins43sec/km

You can see from the brackets, there are actually loads of variables so I don't know if you can really call it a fair comparison, or whether my training has improved time or not. I think it has with the swim even though the difference is only 2 seconds better, I didn't have a wetsuit which does make you slower anyway. I'm pleased with the difference in the cycle and don't think it's just down to a better bike. I still have a long way to go with the bike but WATCH THIS SPACE it's going to happen!!!

The atmosphere for the Lidl Banana man is friendly, non-judgemental and fun (if you can't tell that from the ridiculous bananas on our bright yellow t-shirts). You get the serious triathletes racing with their thousand-pound gear, the aspiring competitors and also those that just fancy a go on and with any equipment they have found in the garage and dusted off. If you've not done triathlon before and fancy something, this event by Human Race offers all sorts of distances and relays to choose from and remember my 64 year old Dad decided to enter a few days before the cut off date which was only a week before the event and still achieved a 23 minute 5km!!! (and no he didn't train)

YOU CAN DO IT TOO!  So go on!

Week 3 of the Buttermere Training plan

Sarah and I are in week 3 of our training now.

I've set us some tough targets, I'm trying to be realistic in terms of our ability but also in terms of the seriousness of our goal. A 10 km swim is not an easy target therefore a new level of dedication is needed to set us up well to not only succeed, but to get around the lake in good time, with relative ease, and to ENJOY IT!

The first week's target was to swim 10 km in anyway we wanted to complete it. That wasn't too bad at all, apart from the last 2 km where I wasn't motivated and had a headache.

I split it as:

mon
tue   2000m total of drills, IMs and timed swims with a masters club, was really good, and tough!!
wed 4000m of technique focus and continuous kms
thur
fri 2000m continuous
sat 2000m continuous
sun

The second week I fell short by 1.5km

tue 2000m with a tri club, but I felt it was too easy and not enough focus
thur 4000m split as 1 km in the afternoon and 3 km in the evening. went hard for the 3 as was training with Tammy.
fri 2500m

I feel like I want to blame the flimsy swim with the club and the fact that I was away for the weekend on my shortfall. Really I should have just put the extra metres in around work in the mornings. I'm not good with early mornings, I can manage about 2 a week and that's it!

This is the third week and the only swimming I've done was on Wednesday.

I did 3000m of moderate to hard in a pool in the afternoon
then another 1600m at Shepperton. THAT was lovely, warm, clear evening and I even dared to swim the last 400m without a wetsuit and I loved it! I might even try the tri without too.

I'll be doing 800m in the triathlon on Saturday so that brings my total to 5400m.

The aim by the 3rd week was to test out a continuous 6000m which we'll have to push back to week 4 (shakes finger at self) but I don't even feel guilty about my lack of swimming this week because of the tri and I've gone to Bikram yoga twice which equates to 3 hours of tough core and stretching to try and recover - so important and I've been neglecting that part of my training.

Will try and get back on track on Monday but it's going to be tough as we're upping the total distance AND I already felt sick of swimming by the end of the 2nd week so much so that I rebelled by getting a TAKE-AWAY PIZZA!!!
Double whammy as don't really do pizzas let alone take away!!!

I say good luck to us for the remaining 9 weeks aaaaaarrrrrgh!

First day of training for the 10km Buttermere swim in 3 months.

I joined the Leander Masters swim club last night after work hoping to be whipped into shape and remember what it feels like when someone pushes you to your limits.

That's exactly what I got.

I've never belonged to a swim club and actually had to teach myself butterfly. I'm glad I've been practising fly recently as I threw myself into the deep end (no pun intended) with this full-on, classic swim club training set.

If you fancy trying it, here it is. It will make you aware that you do actually have muscles and what it is like to PROPERLY USE THEM for swimming:

Get it done in 55 mins or under

Warm up
200m f/c
100m b/c

Main Set
400m f/c kick with head up aim to get it done in 8;30 (I took a minute longer, never before have I worried about cramping in my quads)

4 x 100m sprints in 1;45 turn around

400m IM kick set

4 x 100m IM in 2;15 turn around

Cool down
100m old fashioned back stroke.

TOTAL 2000m

Sometimes, training is just not meant to be...

Friday 16th, finish work early at 1730, get Clarkey and go for training in Hampton Court's 36m open air pool.

Her pants are off.

I cry in dismay "where is it!?"

I've forgotten my costume.

Sometimes training is just not meant to be.

Chill out and have a BBQ in the last of the evening sun.

My Dirty Weekend 2014

When Clarkey came home from work with the idea that we should enter 'this assault course' she'd been told about, I thought "cool, sounds like something I'd do" so I started drumming up some interest to create a team.
Surprisingly our other two house mates, I-eat-too-much-pizza-and-chocolate and I'm-the-worst-client-my-PT-has-ever-had (otherwise known as Jess and Farrell) expressed interest too!
I blasted Facebook with posts of enthusiasm, the official website and YouTube vids and soon comments were popping up every few hours.
With a good potential of 10 people to join our team I went on the site and created "The Invincibles". Rat Race have this great option that if you can get 5 people to join, you'll all receive a tenner back on the entry fee and if you can get 10, you'll receive a 20! My hopes where high; brothers, friends, colleagues were all getting involved, I just had to sit back and wait for people to join The Invincivbles.

Have a look at this 20 min video a guy made a year ago with a wrist cam as it gives a very realistic representation of the feel of the race.

I especially like this snippet of dialogue between the camera man and a racer being interviewed; it makes me chuckle every time...

"Tell me about your race so far."
"...I'm a wuss, I don't like getting wet...I don't like getting cold..."
"What ever possessed you to do this, then"
"My mate who never came...I hate you mate, who never came, you know who you are!" (points finger at camera)

Fortunately MY mate, who sparked the idea DID come, however, I know how he feels in relation to the other EIGHT people who I think wear the title of "wuss" much better than that muddy racer on YouTube.
Once, signed up and paid for months in advance, Clarkey and I were so busy that the weekend stalked us like a preying tiger and finally bit our asses into action that fateful Friday 9th May.

The 13/20 mile assault course is set across the vast 12, 750 acres of the majestic Elizabethan Burghley House. It's carefully planned to get you climbing, crawling, swimming and wading, over, under and through 150-200 obstacles depending on whether you've chosen the Half or Full Mucker.
There was a camping ground to accommodate 1000's of participants and supporters over the 2 nights (you can pay for camping and a party pass to join your friends even if you're not taking part in the race).
The BIG TOP was set up with a bar and stage for the after party but aside from the obvious, the organisers had though of everything! There were posts with pens to scribble your race number over any bare skin (most chose to decorate their faces)  little guarded envelopes to place valuables in, a hose to wash off afterwards and enough toilets that we didn't have to queue! (unlike the beginning of a tri race where going 3 times before the race just doesn't seem to be enough and you still feel the need to battle through cross-legged people to bag one last toilet trip even as your wave is being called to the starting line)

We did originally pay for camping but Sarah managed to book us a hotel which, for reasons I will tell later on, I am very grateful for. Registration opened the afternoon before so we drove straight there Friday night into a field tiled with cars; you pay a tenner to park (come and go as you please) for the entire weekend.
Upon checking in, you receive a brown envelope full of presents! Timing chip, Rat Race T-shirt and best of all, knowledge; the key to filling up your calender with more tough Rat Race events, held all over the country for the cautiously challenged people to throw themselves into trouble.

Our wave was called to the pen around 10.05 where 2 men in morph suits gave us an aerobic warm up and a brief, then at 10.15 we were set free!!!

First hurdle was a 6ft "wall" and I am chuffed to say that after giving Sarah a leg up, I took a running jump and hauled myself over confidently much to the surprise of a guy there who offered me a hand. As I dropped off the other side, I grinned as he said "some people just love to show off" HELL YEAH!

We kept a steady jog going in between all the obstacles; there were groups of others running, walking and waiting around us, and I have to say it was great to see so many teams sticking together. We came across a fair few couples too, clearly taking a brave step in their relationships; willing to show their wettest, muddiest and potentially shittiest looking selves to each other- what a great test!

It wasn't long (about 3 miles in) before we met the bit I had been dreading; a carefully crafted trench in the woods filled with grey gunge. There was actually no choice to avoid it. You either threw yourself in willingly or crawled under the netting with as much fear and poise as a hissing cat meeting the neighbour's dog for the first time. We chose the second option and avoided the shoulders, face and hair getting caked in mud for a gallant 5 seconds longer than our gung-ho counterparts before slipping and falling on exit of the mud bath. Sarah slid into fame as her performance of a fall was captured 5 times by the strategically placed photographer.

With grit in our shoes and a hole in our pride we squelched on to the next obstacle. The organisers had some kindness in their hearts as only a short jog later, we were climbing into a reservoir and getting to wash off. I loved getting into the water, my (not bad) mood lifted as the goo floated away and we got to cool off. And I tell you now, never so quickly has delight turned into as much disgust as when we got to the end where a gaseous smell smacked us in the face and "refreshing water" turned into shit.  Sarah coached me well through that one- thank you Sarah for your encouragement!

Hay bales, ditches, walls of tyres, scaffolding climbing frames, balance beams over murky water, steep gravel ditches, log carrying, hill running and miles later came the big 80m water assault course and the beginning of my demise.

The sun that had graced us for the first part of the race had buggered off. The wind had picked up and the clouds cast a grey shadow over the meadows. It was then that I realised it was external factors keeping me warm in my soaking wet clothes. My body heat was dropping fast. First my teeth started to chatter, then my shoulders shivered, after that my legs were shaking uncontrollably. My lips had gone blue and my mood was gravely deteriorating.

Having said that the event was meticulously planned, improvements can always be made. I would say that a big failing here, was the build up of people at some of the obstacles. Bottle necks could have been avoided by a more even spacing of obstacles and in the case of the 80m water assault course, adding even one more queue for twice as many life jackets would have helped tremendously. I had cooled down too much. Sarah rounded up some military group to huddle around me, and when that phased out, she kept her arms around me. I started becoming desperate for some internal heat so removed myself from the queue to start doing press ups, I felt good for the distraction but it wasn't enough to sustain any sufficient warmth. I said to Sarah that she should go on, and I would skip that part as I couldn't wait any longer. She promptly skipped to the front, grabbed a couple of life jackets so we could continue straight away. Getting into the water again took so much mental determination; I just wanted to go. I didn't care where or how, I couldn't bare keeping still. We clambered over floating platforms, hauled ourselves up a slippery slope via a rope to see looming in front of us a couple of platforms (approx 3 and 5 metres high) with people throwing themselves off into a giant paddling pool. My heart sunk at the sight of another long wait and more water. It's such a shame as I would have loved to have made that 5m jump. We began ascending the scaffolding, Sarah ahead of me. A man with a microphone doing karaoke (queue entertainment?!?) announced we'd have a 20 minute wait here and I panicked. I swallowed a sob, tried to called for Sarah but couldn't. I reached out to get her attention and immediately broke down on her shoulder.

We were pointed in the direction of the space blankets and "warm air" tent. It wasn't working and plus even in my hypnotised state, I knew that space blankets don't warm you, they keep you warm if you're dry and warm, if you're wet and cold, you need a towel first. So we put 2 fingers up at the tent and toiled on.

The sun came out, land opened up, blue skies were visible, miles went by and my core was slowly warming through our laboured jog. From that point on, I could tackle the rest of the high, low and wet obstacles with as much vigour as if that episode hadn't happened.

We enjoyed watching  few guys complete the world's longest monkey bar challenge (120m) and soon we were working with the fellow runners to scale the mammoth final hurdle:

Anyone can do this kind of challenge. There's no pressure, only fun. We saw all shapes, sizes, ages and a pretty even mix of gender taking part in this weekend. You will only know if you try and it's worth it for the sense of achievement when crossing the finish line. You will not be doing it alone. There's so much team work involved; you offer help where you can, even if you're a skinny 5'4" girl offering a hand to a hunk of 6" man muscle (because girl, he's the one that's going to boost you up all those 10" walls) - it's all appreciated and makes the day a pleasure for everyone.

Take with you, clothing and tight, fast-drying determination and you'll make it!

The cherry on top, our medals...

ARE BOTTLE OPENERS!

CHEERS GUYS!


http://www.ratracedirtyweekend.com/

Improving CV capacity in swimming

For Peter

This programme is aimed at Improvers to help with speed in swimming.

It's important to feel comfortable with good technique before you start sprinting so you don't reinforce bad habits. If there is something you find particularly difficult like keeping a straight leg kick, or a smooth hand entry, then drill yourself on it before attempting this short set.

Once warmed up:

8 x 25m front crawl with minimal breathing. Try the whole length with no breathing even if you can only do this once. Allow yourself 30 seconds rest after each one.

8 x 25m front crawl sprints with breathing. Allow 10-15 seconds rest after each one.

4 x 50m front crawl kick. 10 seconds rest

4 x 50m full stroke front crawl broken down as 25m sprint with minimal breathing and 25m normal breathing active recovery. 10 seconds rest.

That's simple 800m set which can be adapted for advance swimmers simply by doubling distance or repeating the set twice over. If your endurance is good, you can significantly reduce rest times BUT DO NOT COMPROMISE EFFORT IN SPEED.

Have fun!

PHA Training 2

Here's another PHA programme to get your muscles working and heart pumping hard!

Have a go at doing 3 sets with no rest between exercises and only a minute between sets. Do 15, 12, and 10 reps (where there's alternating sides, double the reps so each side gets the 15, 12, 10)

If you'd like to make it harder and YOU HAVE GOOD FORM then simply take put the minute rest between sets and perform the exercises with SPEED. 

Jumping squats

Start with a low squat, explosively jump into air and land light and low again, keep repeating with no pause.

Press up t-twist

After each press up, lift one hand off the floor and with a straight arm, rotate the body and arm around so the finger tips are pointing at the ceiling. Alternate between each side with a press up between each.

If you can’t yet do press ups, try normal press ups from the knees or from the feet with hands on raised platform or even leaning against the wall standing. The higher the hands, the easier the press up.

Lunges with knee lift on step

On a low step, place one foot on and leave it there for one whole set on one side. With the other leg, take a backward lunge. Press up on the front leg to drive the back leg off the floor and up to chest. To involve the arms, raise them to ceiling in the lunge position and bring them down on knee drive.

Dumbbell pull overs

Lay on a bench or step. Place feet firmly on floor and tighten abs to pull spine into step. Take a fairly heavy dumbbell in both hands and hold straight up directly above chest. With straight arms, lower the dumbbell so that the finishing position is behind the head. Keep core controlled as you pull the dumbbell back over your head to start position in air above chest.

Hamstring curls on Swiss ball

Lay on floor on back, arms flat by side. Bend knees and bring the feet in close to your bottom. Lift hips off the floor, squeeze abs and bottom and try to keep a straight line between the points of your shoulder, hips and knees.

If this feels okay, practise the same position but instead of feet on floor, put feel on a Swiss ball. If your balance is good at this point, you are ready for the hamstring curls. Without letting the hips drop (so squeeze tight) extend the legs to roll the Swiss ball out, and bend knees again to bring it back to start. Repeat this movement fairly quickly and you’ll really feel It on the hamstrings!

Tuck and pike on Swiss ball

With hands on floor and toes on Swiss ball, position into a plank. Keeping the hips as level as you can, roll the ball in towards your body to tuck the knees under chest. Roll out again then roll in with straight legs and push hips up to ceiling to form a pike. This is one repetition.

Sumo squats with heel lift

Ultra wide squat. Rather than repeatedly squatting, hold it in a static position and quickly alternate lifting your heels off the floor.

Plank single arm row

In a straight-arm plank position, holding the handles of light-medium dumbbells. Row one dumbbell at a time off the floor from under the shoulder to diagonally up and back to the hip. Squeeze back and triceps on the lift phase.

For extra balance, widen the legs.

ENJOY!