Daz Does Tri

Don't tell anyone, I think I'm going to try and go Iron distance again next year. Let's hope this time it goes a bit more to plan than last time :/ Biggest problem this year on reflection is not really having a goal other than to ride quick. And I had more shitty days that good ones and being shit in bad conditions just made things worse an pilled the pressure on.

Coming to the end of July and TT season is pretty much over for me now. I've focussed on bike only all year and I have to say the results are overall a bit disappointing. It's been a strange season with some great results mixed in with some awful ones. Consistently inconsistent has been the best way to describe it. Best race was a Wednesday night on F2D/10 where we got float conditions on a fairly slow course. 20.56 and within 30 secs of Ian, Rich & Nic was surprising and a springboard (I'd hoped to start narrowing the gap). Alas what's really been shown up this year is and even bigger gap between my performance when it's flat and fast against any time the road goes up hill or into the wind (or even worse, both)!

Since the start of the year I have concentrated fully on the bike. To be blunt, I'm fed up with being average and if I can't ride a decent bike split then I will never get anywhere near page one of results in tri !! So far this year I have ridden 3 x 10 mile TT's - all on shit courses or in shit conditions (22.37 on H10/8, 23.00 on e2/10 and 23.51 on e33/10). Power has risen from 217w NP on the first race to 240w NP on the last one. It's a decent progression but I'm still dissapointed off the winter I have put in. I'd hoped to be riding 250w-260w for 10s by now. I also have 3 x 25's under my belt - 1.00:22 on the tough e1/25b, 56.19 on r25/3h and 55.17 on r25/3h. Power over 25 has been shocking - 201w, 216w & 215w.

So it feels a bit strange to post straight after a year catch up with another year catch up, but it's been a funny old year to say the least. I started the year with the sole aim of going ~9.30 at Ironman Austria. Training went really well in the build up, I hit pretty much every session, the numbers were good and confidence was high. I'm confident that I'd have hit my target, but that's easy to say when you didn't even toe the start line. That Ironman itch isn't going to go away that's for sure!

So, 2016 was the year I was supposed to get closure on my last Ironman performance. I trained well, didn't have many issues in the build up and got some really good training banked. The bike was in great shape after a 1.57 50 mile TT and a completion of the Tour of Wessex, I was swimming well under the hour pace for open water in training and I'd run a 3.02 marathon off little run training. I was really looking forward to having a go at Austria.

So this week I have started back training more 'normally'. Whatever that is in my life! Wednesday night I decided to try the Team Cambridge 10 mile TT on the Harwick - Cambourne - Madingley - Hardwick course. I started out too hard but was holding decent power and speed at the first turn. I knew It would be fast back but lack of fitness caught up with me and I was pretty much cooked by Madingley. I held it together for a 21.41 official but it could have been much quicker if I'd have had the upper end strength for the fast parts.

Finish marathon, legs are in pieces. Back hurts, everything aches. What were looking for is to get to the stage where you're feeling tired but not hobbling around like a piss head walking home from a club. Things are going to get worse before they get better. First job is to collect your kit from the kit lorry which requires a bloody long walk. You might start thinking things are not so bad now, but the big surprises comes from when you sit down to get changed and try to get up again! First stage of recovery - get those racers & socks off. Assess the damage to the feet - blisters, chaffing, blood, black toe nails. It's never pretty. Put on some compression tights. The science of these for running (calf guards etc.) is bollocks. Tights though (tighter the better) will keep your legs warm and that encourages blood flow to your battered muscles. It also stops them flapping about when your walking. God knows why but that does help!