Not just a bike mechanic!
2:02pm, 3rd Dec 2024 | Stubbington 10Km | 3 Comments
Blog by 2triornot2tri
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Three Months On
Three months ago, I was sat on a balcony in France with triathlon legends. Watching (on social media) Caroline Livesey complete, nay win, Ignacio’s Patagonman Extreme Triathlon again this weekend makes me realise how lucky we were to be in such exulted company.
Fast forward three months, a stone lighter, and I can run a sub-20 5km. The speed of my progress compounded by my past endurance and speed has been rapid. I focus on the running progress as it is something I understand, is tangible and easy to quantify. Cycling FTP has also increased from around 220W on Zwift to 255W outdoors. This is important. Anyone can cycle evenly on the computer game but through in the reality of headwinds and hills how that number converts outdoors becomes more relevant for race day regardless of physiological numbers. This has been obvious in my Z2 fitness.
Swimming is the really game changer. While I have only seen modest speed improvements in numbers terms, the qualitative difference has been massive. I guess I should also reflect how I struggled to wheeze through 1km in Morzine as 5x 200m and the week before I was barely able to swim 600m. I am swimming more than the month before my previous Ironmans, consistently hitting new PB distances and speeds. Reps are now normally 2:00/100m. I have also sought poolside coaching and completely changed my mindset. I used to attend sessions laughing about being a cyclist/runner and catching people on later legs. I’d do the minimum to get round and got a reasonable ROI. Now, I take it seriously and while others chat, I’m not here to fornicate with arachnids as the Aussies say. With my 13-year-old son doing 20+km per week and 4x 0415 wake ups a week I’m determined to improve this myself and gain free speed in comparison to my cardiovascular fitness.
Some numbers:
Running
Sep: 119Km
Oct: 182Km
Nov: 134Km
Cycling
Sep: 585Km
Oct: 602Km
Nov: 376Km
Swimming
Sep: 9.7Km
Oct: 17.5Km
Nov: 21.9Km
Hours
Sep: 53
Oct: 57
Nov: 42
Weight
1 Sep: 93.8Kg
3 Oct: 90.3Kg
29 Oct: 87.2Kg
30 Nov: 86.8Kg
While November has seen a drop in hours and miles I’ve become more efficient and am maintaining form so when I get back to and exceed my previous capacity I’ll be smashing it. This is thanks to DCTriathlon’s Nia Cole who I’ve started working with to prepare for my A race of Ironman Wales next year.
My weight has taken me from being Mark Livesey’s bike mechanic (first words he said to me) to a borderline athlete. I came 3rd vet at the RN XC race at the end of Nov, got disqualified from the orienteering competition, had a great time doing my FTP at Goodwood and want to swim in the 50m outdoor pool in Brighton over Christmas.
Looking forward to 2025 and hopefully giving Ironman Wales my best shot; compete not complete.
Three months ago, I was sat on a balcony in France with triathlon legends. Watching (on social media) Caroline Livesey complete, nay win, Ignacio’s Patagonman Extreme Triathlon again this weekend makes me realise how lucky we were to be in such exulted company.
Fast forward three months, a stone lighter, and I can run a sub-20 5km. The speed of my progress compounded by my past endurance and speed has been rapid. I focus on the running progress as it is something I understand, is tangible and easy to quantify. Cycling FTP has also increased from around 220W on Zwift to 255W outdoors. This is important. Anyone can cycle evenly on the computer game but through in the reality of headwinds and hills how that number converts outdoors becomes more relevant for race day regardless of physiological numbers. This has been obvious in my Z2 fitness.
Swimming is the really game changer. While I have only seen modest speed improvements in numbers terms, the qualitative difference has been massive. I guess I should also reflect how I struggled to wheeze through 1km in Morzine as 5x 200m and the week before I was barely able to swim 600m. I am swimming more than the month before my previous Ironmans, consistently hitting new PB distances and speeds. Reps are now normally 2:00/100m. I have also sought poolside coaching and completely changed my mindset. I used to attend sessions laughing about being a cyclist/runner and catching people on later legs. I’d do the minimum to get round and got a reasonable ROI. Now, I take it seriously and while others chat, I’m not here to fornicate with arachnids as the Aussies say. With my 13-year-old son doing 20+km per week and 4x 0415 wake ups a week I’m determined to improve this myself and gain free speed in comparison to my cardiovascular fitness.
Some numbers:
Running
Sep: 119Km
Oct: 182Km
Nov: 134Km
Cycling
Sep: 585Km
Oct: 602Km
Nov: 376Km
Swimming
Sep: 9.7Km
Oct: 17.5Km
Nov: 21.9Km
Hours
Sep: 53
Oct: 57
Nov: 42
Weight
1 Sep: 93.8Kg
3 Oct: 90.3Kg
29 Oct: 87.2Kg
30 Nov: 86.8Kg
While November has seen a drop in hours and miles I’ve become more efficient and am maintaining form so when I get back to and exceed my previous capacity I’ll be smashing it. This is thanks to DCTriathlon’s Nia Cole who I’ve started working with to prepare for my A race of Ironman Wales next year.
My weight has taken me from being Mark Livesey’s bike mechanic (first words he said to me) to a borderline athlete. I came 3rd vet at the RN XC race at the end of Nov, got disqualified from the orienteering competition, had a great time doing my FTP at Goodwood and want to swim in the 50m outdoor pool in Brighton over Christmas.
Looking forward to 2025 and hopefully giving Ironman Wales my best shot; compete not complete.
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