Velodrome

So as mentioned in my previous post, for my Birthday my Girlfriend booked me an hour in the Newport Velodrome with one of the Welsh National Coaches.

Seriously excited at the time as I had never done anything like that before. I had only ever done road cycling, also never experienced a fixed wheel bike before... when the day came I was a little more nervous, slightly worried I would make a fool of myself or crash out in a spectacular mess of metal and skin.

Luckily my trapped nerve had cleared enough to not cause my any problems. My only problems would be caused by the lack of fitness and a cold was recovering from.

So we arrived at the track, and collected a bike and made our way to the centre of the track. We were early enough to see the under 17s Welsh Elite Squad flying around the track in pursuit formation making it all look very very easy.

Surprisingly by this time my nerves had eased and I was looking forward to getting out there again. The elite squad cleared the track and my coach arrived and I was ready to go, the whole track to myself which felt a bit odd but gave me a chance to have some fun.

The coach was great, we broke the progression down into simple steps increasing my confidence gradually over the first half an hour of the hours lesson.

We started by getting used to starting and stopping on the fixed wheel, mainly stopping as the bikes obviously have no breaks. So I spent a few laps in the warm up section of the track, below the actual wood, speeding up and slowing down on the straights. speeding up is obviously easy, but slowing took a few laps to get used to, essentially its forcing the pedals to stop turning in a controlled manner. If you try to stamp back on the pedals to stop, the force of the wheels will throw you off the bike, which I nearly discovered for myself on one try.

I soon got used to it though, and surprisingly didn't try to free wheel at any point in the session. Which would have probably led to a crash!

Next I moved onto the actual track, just on the lowest point doing a few laps getting used to holding the speed throughout the lap. This was something that took my mind a while to get used to, reaching the middle of the corner my "road mentality" was trying to make me slow down for the corner, where you don't have to on the track, you can carry the speed right through the corner. This took my brain a few laps to become accustom to.

The confidence by this point was growing more and more, and obviously as I spent more time on the track the speed was also increasing. next I completed about 10 laps moving between the black, red and blue lines on the track on instruction from the coach. This was the point I started to have a lot of fun, once up on the blue line (around the middle of the track) I was holding speed well into the corners, learning that any lost speed would cause you to drop down the track.

 

 

 

 

 

After a short drink break, I was raring to go again, this time told to get as high on the track as I felt comfortable with. After a few laps getting my speed back up I moved to the top of the track, this was hard on my legs, on the straight was fine but as soon as I was in the corner I couldn't keep the speed to stay high enough. but only dropped slightly down the track towards the end of the corner.

Getting Higher!

Before I started I didn't think I would have the confidence to be high on the track, but I was enjoying it too much to worry about it, for about 10 laps I was left to my own devises, moving around the track as I wanted to and getting used to the different speeds at different points on the track.

On the next break I was offered the chance to see how fast I could be doing a Time Trail. The racer in me obviously wanted to give this a try. The coach talked through gaining the most speed from the track being high up on the straights and using the down hill to the corners to get free speed.

So the plan was to cycle one warm up lap to get speed, and then 2 laps at full speed that would be timed. The coach said anything below 40 seconds for a beginner would be good so I started high on the track to get some speed and gave it a go.

 

One lap of swooping up and down, followed by 2 laps on the black line (on the track, red line of my lungs/heart/legs!!) and I could barely breathe or focus, so that was the best I could do at that fitness level..... 39 seconds... I'll take that, although I would love to see what I could have done at full fitness.

After getting my breath back and stopped my legs shaking I still had almost 10 minutes of my hour left. So again I was left to my own fun on the track, although I only lasted about 5 minutes of the 10, my legs didn't have much left!!

Time Trial Instructions

And we are off!

First Lap... not that painful

Second Lap.... Painful!

 

So overall I had a great hour lesson, the coach was great at increasing confidence on the bike and track and I really enjoyed it, really thinking about going back when I am fully fit to see what sort of times I can do then. But that wasn't my main hope or aim for this lesson, just wanted to see what it was like and enjoy it, which I did!

 

Thanks to Holly for the present and for taking the pictures!

 

Maybe I will be back on the Velodrome soon?



Road to Recovery!

I'm back with bringing happier news!

No, I'm still waiting for my NHS physio to start! Although the consultancy was very good and gave me a good plan of 6-8 weeks of physio and acupuncture to fix the problems, 3 weeks later I'm still yet to start any of these treatments which is frustrating after such a positive start.

It seems to actually be starting to heal itself, probably mostly caused by me getting myself a new memory foam mattress.

I'm back on the bike as recommended by the Physio consultant so I have had a few good turbo sessions, making me feel like I am actually moving again. It sounds stupid but I'm just happy to be doing something again.

But it's hard, hard work, was I really this unfit before? Did the bike seat really hurt my a*se this much last time?! ha ha!

But after a few Turbo session it does seem to be getting better, i am already starting to feel stronger and more efficient.

Hopefully when the physio appointment comes through it will fix the problems completely, its still not perfect at the moment. I think I'm happiest to have stopped taking painkillers and anti-inflammatory medication, before all this I never took anything like, it's never something that has sat well with me, I always think if you have pain you should treat the cause of it. I guess I had never been in this much pain before!

So it's the beginning of being a Triathlete again, I'm positive about getting my fitness back pretty soon and looking forward to a lesson in the Velodrome later this month, I will post separately about that.

As for racing, I'm not sure if I will be planning to race this season, I may spend it getting my fitness back... I will have to see I guess.

On to the long road back, and no matter how unfit I have become, I'm happy to be training again.

The Injury Continues!

Sorry been away for a while, to be honest I didn't think it would be good reading, me sat her moaning about being in pain for the last 6 months, so until I am back training and racing again I will only be posting occassionally I think.

So yes, the trapped nerve in my neck/shoulder has been on going since August now. I have finally got my first NHS Physio appointment in the next few days so I am hoping this brings an end to the problems. Meanwhile I am getting more and more unfit and putting more and more weight on, and also doped up on painkillers and anti-inflamatory medicine.

Fun times.

Hopefully I will post about something positive next time.

Outlaw 2013: Decision

So earlier this week the Outlaw registration officially opened for 2013. After the popularity and good reviews of the last few years I knew that the even would easily sell out within a month. So after pre-registering last month, I received the email saying the registration as open. Straight away I knew that a decision needed to be made quickly.

As soon as i finished the Outlaw this year the competitive person in me looked at the time splits and thought where I could improve my time overall. I knew straightaway that my bike and especially my run could be improved. the run improvement would mostly come from overall fitness rather than faster running.

This is the reason I want to go back, and lets be honest its the reason we do all forms of racing... so that we can improve on our personal best times!

But the opposite side of the argument... the reason I didnt know if I was going to do it was the whole selfish commitment of the event. If you read back over the previous entries dating back right to before chrsitmas last year you will see a consistant unhappiness with the lack of time I have for other things... yes I love training and I love getting out and training in all weathers, but hidden in the back of my mind during my 6 hour bike rides at the weekend was the thought that I was being selfish.

So the decision on the Outlaw for 2013 was made... I wont be there next year!

I decided that it was too selfish of me to dedicate so much time to Ironman training two years in a row, which would probably destroy my relationship with my girlfriend... even though she wont admit it, I know it would... and it's not fair on her or us.

So for 2013, I will be back down to shorter faster races... which means I will be doing speed work again! That will be a shock to the system!!

I will be back at the Outlaw.. maybe in 2014 and I will race it faster!!

Injury Update

Well the trapped nerve is still causing me pain... the last few weeks have been quite entertaining, muscle spasms painful enough to send me to A&E and actually finding out I had two trapped nerves not just one! Fun!

Its been difficult, for a while it didnt feel like it was ever going to start to improve, I was having terrible muscle spasms all over my back in different muscles and missing out on a lot of sleep. I'm not mad keen on taking painkillers so I was grinning and baring the pain due to my stubbornness.

After some advice from the A&E doctor to take Ibuprofen and Paracetemol regularly throughout the day to keep the pain and swelling down. This has helped a lot with the pain and sleep, but the Ibuprofen has helped keep the swelling of the muscles down, which in turn has helped me do the physio exercises and also stopped the muscle spasms.

Finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm sleeping properly again. I think it will take a lot of the winter to improve my posture and stop the nerve being pinched again, but all the improvements will help me for the future,

I'm feeling positive again now... it will get better again!

Injured while resting!

I think I am the only person in the world who can do this... Train for the Outlaw for 7 months and not even have a slight injury... to having a month off after the race and getting a trapped nerve in my neck while resting.

Since the Outlaw I have ran about 4 times, not really bothered about the times or distances just for general fitness. Then somehow, not while exercising, I have managed to trap the nerve in my neck. It's something I have done before, but before it has cleared up in a few days and I have been fine again. This time so far it has lasted 2 weeks.

So, now I'm itching to start training again I can't which is very frustrating. Hoping it will be fixed soon though after a few trips to the physio. The first two trips have helped a lot and found a lot of weakness in my back muscles on the left hand side.

So this means that my rematch with Wolverhampton marathon will have to wait for this year. I want to go back and redo Wolverhampton marathon as it was my first marathon back in 2008 and it broke me, I finished in a very disappointing 4 hours 50 minutes. So I currently have a vendetta against it... I will be back, and I will do it properly and get a good time.

I have toyed with the idea that lack of exercise has contributed to my injury. I guess it's possible, but now after these two tripped I think its more likely that the injury is caused by months and months of training. But I do think that in the future if I do an Ironman I will need to keep doing some exercise rather than stop completely.

The only other news I have about what I will be doing next is that I have Preregistered for the Outlaw 2013! This doesn't mean I have committed to the race, just that I have registered an interest in going back.

I still haven't decided if I will do it again next year, I do want to, but its another big commitment. That would basically start as soon as I'm fit enough to train again.

The proper registration for the Outlaw will open in September at some point, and I think it will sell out very quickly this year. So a decision will be made very soon.

Watch this space...!

£1000 raised and Outlaw Photos.



Well I haven't done much over the last few weeks, just resting and trying to get my brain into gear to train.

Finally completed and collected all my sponsorship forms and raised £1010 for Compton Hospice, which I am astonished at. Before I started I wanted to raise around £800, because that's what I had raised before. But people have given very generously, which I am very thankful of. So if you gave, and you re reading this. Thank you!

Photos

I have also finally uploaded the photos from the day below. 

 

Early Start

 

Out of the Water (trying to remember how to run/walk)

 

Only Photo on the bike (wish I had known so i could have been on the Tri bars)

   

Some point during the run, not sure how far in.

Looking a bit worse for wear!

Doesn't really show it here but I'm walking!

Finally crossing the finish line with my niece (stealing my limelight because she had seen other people finish with children!)

An Actual smile!

3 days later I had this done!

So... what now?

It's just over two weeks since race day and I haven't done a minutes training. It's been great! This is probably the longest I have gone without training for about 3 years I think. but its been nice to not have to worry about missing training... especially when leaving work. It's a nice thought to know I don't have 2-3 hours training still to do.

The aftermath

Sunday night was odd. After getting back to the hotel around 9:30, I grabbed some food and settled down on my bed eating and watching TV. The adrenaline was obviously still pumping because apart from sore legs, I was wide awake! I finally forced myself to go to sleep around midnight and so followed a rubbish nights sleep, waking up a few times soaked in sweat (?) possibly due to the adrenaline still?

Monday was a tough day. After eating as much as I could for breakfast in the hotel I packed up the car and checked out of the hotel for the drive home.
My mind obviously thought I felt fine when I crossed the road outside the hotel and nearly got run over, I tried to run out the way of an oncoming car as I crossed the road, my legs were having none of it and it was a painful hobble to safety! I sore reminder of what I had done the day before.
To try and describe it to you, my legs had basically seized up reducing my steps to very small "limps". probably quite funny to watch, especially on stairs, going up stairs was hard but not to painful. But descending was horrible, each step down sent shocks of pain up my thighs.
My legs began to ease over Monday and Tuesday and I think if I had wanted to, I could have trained on Wednesday. I didn't want to thought, I was still trying to eat my weight in as many junk food items as I could find.
Over the course of two weeks I have eaten virtually all items of Junk food you can imagine. The best being fish and chips on the Monday night after the race.
What next?
I have already been asked numerous times if I will do the race again. On the surface my answer is a resounding yes! I enjoyed every moment of the race, including the stomach ache and the cramp in my legs towards the end of the run.
I even thought to myself during the swim "I'm really enjoying this" which I never normally think during a race.
Plus I have set myself a marker... that time is the time I want to beat now. That's just in my nature. I have thought about how I can improve the run so I don't have stomach problems and I don't run out of energy. These are the things that drive me to do another one because I wonder... how fast can I go?
But then on the other side of the same coin I have to remember all the hours I spent training, all the missed nights out, due to either being so tired I couldn't get there, or having training commitments that was stopping me dead.
Mentally it was all very draining looking back, trying to schedule training around my life and also trying to fit in everything else. Towards the peak weeks eating was becoming rushed too which I don't think it should be.

Also I need to think of seeing friends, family and girlfriend! I will need to be a lot more organised to keep all these people happy and also keep the training up to a level I need it to be.
So these are the two sides I need to weigh up before I decide to do another Ironman. There are lessons that can be learnt from this first time which would improve things I think, and also make the time management a lot easier to do.

The alternatives are to drop back down to Olympic, Sprints and maybe a Half Ironman. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, as the hours would be less, but I could race more often which I enjoy doing.

A lot of thinking before a decision is made I think.

More Thanks

I thanked a few people in my race report post but I need to thank the people that have put up with me being grumpy for the past 7 months. Every time I have been unhappy, missed a training session and kicked myself or just lacked motivation, a few people have always been there to get me going again and remind me that I can still do it all and its just a one off.

Although I heard the same things quite a few times, they were always needed, and always very helpful to keep me going, so thank you all too, I hope my moaning didn't annoy you too much!

Sponsorship

The sponsorship is still going great and I have beat my original target of £800! We are now up to £850 with more still to collect, I am now hoping to beat the £900 mark. Which would be amazing!

I am now beginning to collect the money from people who have sponsored me in person rather than on line, which is normally a bit of a pain. But it's not, please seem happy to pay up which is great! Thank you to all the people who have sponsored me, especially the people who work with my sister, they are the ones who put me over the £800 mark.

The sponsorship link is still available at the top of the screen. Even though I am over my target it would be great to get more and more sponsorship... maybe I'm just being greedy now?

Thanks for reading! Next time I hope to have the final total for my sponsorship, and I might have been for a run too?