Last Weekend before my first Ultra-Marathon
So, 8 days to go. What training is appropriate so close to a 50km race? If you are me (the sort of person who just put Nandos Extra Hot Piri Piri Sauce on their poached eggs for lunch) then you go out for:
A Half Iron Distance Cycle/Run Brick Training Session
Yeah, I really am that stupid!
I decided to try and head out easy on a route which is about 56 miles (it came in just short at 55.77, but what's 0.23 miles between friends?). The route was the same as I did the day after the London to Brighton bike ride. Somewhat scary was the thought that before a full ironman I really want to be able to ride the large loop of this circuit two or three times in one go. On the plus side, even with a full HD monitor I can't get the whole route in the screen with the zoom at a level where it changes from satellite to aerial photographs! :D
I was enjoying myself, even though my body occasionally tried to tell me I wanted to go to the toilet. I kept pointing out that I didn't as I went before I left and we seemed to reach a happy medium.
The first 10 miles or so were good and then the wind came. The Met Office website reckoned around 10mph winds. I don't believe they got it right. The wind was so strong that when I was running later, at one point it was trying to shift me a foot or so sideways. Now I'm around 12 stone 2 (79 kg, 174 lb) so to start to shift me running will take a darn sight more than 10mph! So for about 15 miles I was cursing the headwind, hoping that eventually I would come to a turn around which the wind would not veer so that it was still in my face. This took some time, so I just swore a lot (probably a waste of energy, but good therapy). The only stop was after 7 miles to lose the jacket I had on at the start and thereby strip down to just the trisuit (for which I must admit an unhealthy love - is it wrong to want lots of trisuits, even just to sit around the house in?).
Strangely, a lot of the hills I feared based on the last ride of this route didn't feel too bad. I was careful not to go too fast or hard, always with half an eye on the heart rate since I was very aware I had two hours of running. Last time I did the route in 4:07:08 so I reckoned 4:15 would be a good time to shoot for, allowing a 2:15 half marathon and transition for a 6:30 total exercise for the day. As a brief aside, what the hell has happened to me that I start to consider just tossing out thoughts like exercising for six and a half bloody hours in one day! Out of choice as well!
I seemed to have more energy in the second half and was surprised to see what my mileage was on the one time I checked (I kept the Garmin showing the heart rate worm, the current heart rate and my speed so I knew when to back off on the downhills, I didn't want to waste energy trying to get up to 25mph or anything today).
Random sight of the day was seeing someone laying down (looking like they had been asleep) on a walk and cycle path alongside the A12. Not sure why he was laying there, but there he was. I also passed what seemed to be some race or event at the start. I saw 5 runners (first I passed a woman and two men in a group who did not care for a cyclist trying to get through) then a couple of single men, the last as he came to a water station of some sort. I also passed a few signs and one stating 5 miles (many miles later I would find the 1 mile marker - I have no idea what event it was, or where it went or for how long, I only know it is rare to have runs on Saturdays).
As I came back inside the first loop to finish off I was feeling very strong and if I hadn't needed to get onto a run I would have felt fairly good about going on for 70 miles. But, despite a few thoughts on the ride about maybe I should rest the foot and just stop at the run) I knew I had to get out on the run. I needed a longer distance brick inside me before the Bradwell 3/4 iron (In the very bottom right corner of the map of the cycle ride you can see Bradwell Waterside - that is where the swim and transition takes place).
So, I finished the cycle ride. The charts show a broadly decent pace with a slight pause where I had to give way to other vehicles at a bridge and a heart rate which mostly stayed where I wanted it (150 and under).
And so to the time. I took the last few miles massively easy as I knew I had to get the legs working (including a dismount 3 miles from home to run back and grab my water bottle which missed the rack on the bike...idiot!). Despite this, I still rocked up at the house in 3:39:58
So, without trying, I had knocked 27 minutes off the last time I did this route. I admit I didn't stop to take photos this time, nor to take off a jacket and then put on sun tan lotion (put that on beforehand this time - much easier on limbs where you have used hair removal cream before last week's race!). Even so, a surprising result and one which had me a little concerned for the run.
My main aim had been to start fuelling a little heavily on the second half of the bike ride so that I would have plenty of energy for the run. The last thing I wanted to do was bonk! I thought I did quite well, though my supplies are a little low these days, so I certainly could have got more inside of me. this was to become an issue later.
Transition was slow at 5:51 though I completely put the bike away in its home and went to the toilet since the body was still moaning and I had drunk a good 1.25 to 1.5 litres on the ride. However, as I move into long distance triathlons, I am not aiming to be in a position where the length of my transition is the make or break of my race!
The run course was a nice one with most of the first two miles downhill and one I have run a number of times. Obviously this means the last couple of miles are uphill, but we can deal with that at the end!
You will also note that it consists of the early part of the bike route. It was a little weird to think it was only four hours ago I was cycling here. It felt like a week ago!
I set off too fast (as always happens when I get off the bike). I had hoped for around 10:00 miles to ease around. The first two miles came in at 8:45 and 8:55. I wasn't massively working, but I didn't want to be going this fast. Eventually I settled into a nice slower pace that was at least above 9:00 per mile (an uphill soon curbed the enthusiasm).
After 3 or 4 miles I felt like I could just add loads of miles onto this run (I love that early enthusiasm on longer runs!). But by mile 5 my body was begging for a rest and a walk. It seems I Was bonking, and quite bad. I had some Lucozade sweets in my back pocket (have I mentioned how great the trisuit is? Here's another reason to go with a zip I can undo to try and cool down until I notice the number of flies drowning in sweat on my chest) and munched a couple and started promising my body that I would stop for a walk at mile 7 if I hadn't picked up.
Then the heart rate climbed a little worryingly high. I didn't want top kill myself out here (I do have a 50km next Sunday) so I promised my body that if the heart rate settled above 170 I would walk to help it get lower.
This is something I am not proud of on this run. I know I was bonking, but I can't believe how much I was contemplating stopping to walk on a half marathon. This happened al the way from mile 5 to mile 10. There was only one saving grace.
I kept promising a walk in a little while and was running point to point. On an uphill my pace died and I was back down in the 9:45-9:58/mile range but through trickery and the threat that if I walked out here I would not let myself walk the big hill (remember those two miles downhill at the start, almost all the hills fall within one mile on the route up...) so I needed to scrape through these miles and walk when I really needed to.
And so I managed to get through and before too long it was a little past 9 miles and I turned out of my loop and headed for home. I knew there was an uphill, a downhill and then the hill before straight through the village to home. The hill came and I was determined to get as far up it as I could. From the moment I was half way up I knew I could do it. All those hill sprints I run aren't for nothing!
As I reached the top of the hill I realised my bottle was nearly empty. The last time I ran this route I think I took 3 sips of water, this time there was the best part of a pint gone!
But that didn't matter, I was at the top of the hill and heading into the village without stopping. The time be damned, this was a task in getting through the miles.
The chart doesn't make for pretty viewing (quite the positive split!)
But I got home in 2:06:20, well inside the target time:
This gave the below final result:
55.77 miles cycled in 3:39:58
5:51 to nip to the toilet and get the running gear on
13.30 miles ran in 2:06:20
So a total of 69.12 miles in 5:52:11 - much quicker than planned! I reckon a half ironman swim for me is about 40 minutes, so with a little more practice, if I should find myself doing one, I now have a time target of 6:30.
Obviously I will not be giving myself a target of 13 hours on my first full ironman! ;)
(though 14 hours does keep popping into my head from time to time...)
I might even try and get a good swim in tomorrow, just to finish off the week!
