When I signed up for Ironman New Zealand I’d assumed it would be my main chance at Kona qualification. With that done the focus for New Zealand changed. For a while it was a bit lost, probably just to get a podium finish in my age group. When I wrote my targets the day before the race, that was the goal. More broadly though the race was a chance to test my fitness and training so far this year. Was the work I’ve been putting in doing any good or was I just playing?

I was keen to test the value of my recent swim training. A change in approach and attitude appeared to have yielded results in the pool, but could I translate that to a race? I’d ridden more than I’d ever manage in the past two months. There’d been plenty of hard work so could I push more on the bike? My run fitness has been all over the place. Had the big push in run volume earlier in the month done enough?

I’m not going to call it a training race. I went in with the aim of racing as hard as I could. No holding back. I wanted to see where my fitness was, how I’m racing now and come away knowing I could build on this.

Swim

The big aim for this race was to come in under 1 hour for the swim and I certainly achieved that. I know a fast course helped a little, but I’m still pleased. Comparing my placing with my result in Western Australia I clearly moved up the field. From finishing in the top 22% in Busselton to the top 16% in Taupo.

I’ll admit the problem with that statistic is there are many variables involved. Choice of starting position, the field in general or the line I swam. If you take the average swim times from those two races New Zealand is about two minutes faster. I’m not disheartened by this.

In Taupo I swam at an average of 1:31 per 100m and it felt comfortable. Not just a matter of drafting, I noted that when I lost feet I could easily get back on. I’m certain I was moving through the water much better than I have done in the past. At the very least I didn’t feel I was expending as much energy for the pace and came out of the water feeling fresh.

It’s exactly what I wanted to start out my year. A confidence booster and makes me feel the 100km of swimming I put in in February was worth it. Of course it sets a new goal for future races and also a precedent for training. To keep improving I’m going to need to keep the pool time up.

Bike

I’d checked my power numbers from recent rides and felt certain I should aim for a slightly higher race wattage. Not that I particularly focus on holding a number during a race they’re more of a guide. I watch power, heart rate and with perceived exertion try to manage my effort. Largely looking to avoid extreme spikes of effort or dropping off the pace.

Ironman New Zealand’s results pages divides the bike course up into four 45km sections. The first and third quarter are outward bound starting with hills in town then flat after a good downhill. For 2010 there was a solid tailwind for a lot of the way too. The second and fourth quarters are back into that wind and have a more gradual uphill before some fast descents in town.

The first quarter being straight out of the swim and with early climbing my heart rate started out high. Once past the hills, with the wind behind me it very quickly settled as effort levels eased. Whilst climbing I’d watched power to ensure I avoided setting new records this early in the day. Once the terrain had eased it was useful for ensuring I kept my work rate up.

With the elevated start my heart rate averaged out at around 143bpm for this section. Towards the high end of where I race, but not surprisingly so. At that point the wind was only starting to build and the going was easy. My power averaged 215W with the climbs yielding a higher normalised power of 225W.

The second quarter from the turn around and back sees my heart rate drop a little to around 138bpm. That’s pretty comfortable racing territory for it. I felt flat during this part of the race like I lacked some drive. Now I was riding into a headwind the reality was I was working harder – averaging 221W with a normalised power of 230W. It seems the reason I felt worse was a few extra watts!

Into the third quarter and once again it’s the climbs out of Taupo. The second lap is slightly different to the first throwing in a bit more climbing and making us work into the wind for some of the outward journey. Early into this part of the race I came good and started to push more. The result was an average power of 218W and a normalised power of 228W. Not too much of a fall from the second quarter despite the tailwind.

From the last turn around home it was all into strong winds. My heart rate rose back up from the high 130s and into the low 140s. More importantly my power rose to average 230W with a normalised figure of 240W. That’s certainly the strongest sustained period of riding I’ve recorded over an Ironman distance. I worked hills hard and kept pushing till the downhills into town.

Overall I averaged about 221W with a normalised figure of 230W. It’s up there with my performance at Roth from last year. It’s similar to my performance in Western Australia, but with a bit more variance in the power. The perfectly flat course in Busselton gave matching average and normalised power values around 220W.

Whilst this doesn’t point to radical improvements on the bike (yet) I did learn a few lessons from the race. Firstly I can push harder than I might think and without too much trouble. Secondly if I want to do that I need to maintain a steady stream of nutrition focussing on regular intervals for eating. If you feel that you’re not riding well it probably means you’re pushing or you need to eat!

For future races I’ll be adopting a more regular feeding strategy and starting it earlier. Really looking to take in some calories very early on the bike and then keep topping up every fifth-teen minutes or so.

Run

I’ll be honest I wasn’t that happy with my run. Like Western Australia my overall run placing sounds great 31st there and 33rd fastest here. I’m capable of faster than a 3:20 though.

I knew my run could be a weakness. I wasn’t at my best racing weight. I’d edged closer to Roth Weight, but still had a few kilos to go before Hawaii weight. This would obviously have some impact, but equally the run training up till now had not been as significant as into Hawaii.

Since Hawaii I’d struggled to settle into a good period of run build. Partly the fault of running the Perth Long Distance Worlds two weeks later. My legs were in no shape to be racing so soon and I paid with another lost week of good running. Western Australia hadn’t had great preparation and I felt I’d got through on mental toughness!

Epic Camp this year had allowed me to get a couple of reasonable run weeks. From there I worked on building up run fitness aggressively. Possibly too aggressively as after three weeks of hard work I struggled for a week or two. Not injured, but finding my legs constantly aching and it hard to combine good run and bike training. My run volume cut back and my taper was effectively started earlier than planned. I missed a couple of longer runs I would have liked to have in my legs.

No excuses though. I’ve two things to take from this. Firstly it’s I need to get down to Kona weight again as it works for me. Secondly I need to focus on a period of consistent running before really pushing things again. When I do push I’ve got to keep the block short and not go too far with it.

I went out onto the first lap of the run feeling good and I let myself go at a harder pace than usual. Much as I knew that the early kilometres always feel fine I didn’t reign things in. Instead I decided to see what happens. I really paid for it during the second lap. Tthere was some slowing on the latter half of lap one, but the first half of lap two was shocking.

With hills and a headwind the pace dropped well under 5:00 kilometres a few times. Given I was able to pick this back up and run with others I wonder how much was mental focus or low energy? Could I have pushed a little bit more or perhaps I’d not taken on enough gels in the earlier parts of the run.

Worth noting is I think I did the bike on the least amount of food ever. Funnily enough it was also the most energetically expensive race I’ve been in. I was likely entering the run on a greater calorie deficit than I’m used to. There’s room to take on more gels on the run and I should probably focus on doing that more in the early stages.

Overall

I’m happy with how the race went. It’s close to where I hoped to be and certainly a good sign of how the year has started out. I also felt I learnt a lot throughout the day. Probably the biggest lesson related to nutrition. The need to start early and often. Not taking in too much at a time, but regularly taking something on board. I think my past tendency has been to go far too long between feeding and to consume too much at once.

I clearly need to get my run together. Sure it does well in the overall field, but it could be pushing me further forward. The great run shape of 2009 came from the back of lots of steady mileage plus very regular run racing. I’m going to look to do the same over the coming year. Plenty of miles plus regular speed work. As for the rest it’s more hours in the pool and more hours on the bike. I’ll keep hunting out the hills for the latter and working myself hard.

It’s about time to get back into things and focus on Lanzarote.

I started off with a great swim. 0:58:04 is the official time which includes a short bit of running at least. I stuck to my guns on going into the swim with confidence, placed myself near the front and got stuck in. Had a pretty decent draft for a lot of it with a few sections on my own. Having been warned it could get a bit aggressive out there things were remarkably calm. I like the feeling of coming in and seeing a sub-1 hour time on the clock.

Out on the bike the goal was 5:05 and I got very close. Unfortunately a drafting penalty cost me a few minutes and I came in with a 5:07. Unsurprisingly I didn’t think I was drafting. I had got caught up with a small pace line with a couple of frustrating riders who would surge to the front only to drop the speed off massively. After a lot of coasting and backing off I went round and came to the front. Immediately another guy had followed me and sat himself on the front of me. Before I’d had chance to drop back I was told to pull over by a marshal.

Obviously I did and was told I know the rules and I know I shouldn’t be doing that. Given if we argue our time doesn’t start I said nothing. The thing is I don’t know exactly what I did that made him decide I was the person to punish in the group. I’d been riding clean as far as I was concerned. There were riders around me who definitely hadn’t.

Still it is what it is. After a few minutes i was back on my way and finished a lacklustre first lap. Somewhere around the 100K mark I ate a bit of chocolate Powerbar and the sugars kicked in (or something did anyway). From then on I hammered the bike. Despite the stronger winds I made up plenty of places and some good time. I was pleased to be so close to my target all things considered.

I felt great at the start of the run and knocked out the first few Ks far too fast. Rather than reign things in fully I decided to go with it and see what happens. The result is a very tough second lap! Again the wind seemed worse and certainly made the run out of town hard work. I kept pushing myself and trying to overcome the fatigue and pain in my legs. Ultimately I got back onto a solid pace for the last few kilometres and finished strong grabbing a few more places in the last 2Ks. A run of 3:19 didn’t seem that good though.

So overall time was 9:31:12 which got me 30th overall and with an incredibly stacked 30-34 field only 10th in my age group! Nowhere near the podium at this one! Happy with the time. Happy with the performance at this point in the year. It’s a good start and I’ll be working to improve on that by the time I’ve reached Kona.

Starting in the water my aim is to break one hour. I’m told that the swim here tends to be fast so hopefully that’ll prove true for me. Far more importantly I’ve put a lot of work in at the pool this past month and I’m seeing improvements. I should be taking those into the open water and that means a better swim. Put it this way, if my swim is slow I will be disappointed. Very disappointed.

I suspect I’ve been guilty of mental sabotage in the swim. Either psyching myself out or not taking the time to plan or visualise the race. I enter the water already expecting it to be tough and that one hour mark to be a challenge. This time I’m getting in that lake knowing that one hour isn’t a problem and that if I don’t make it I’ve done something wrong. No excuses!

The bike is an interesting one. I’ve something like six thousand more kilometres more in my legs since Busselton. A lot of those have been pretty hard. Recovering after Epic Camp, then building back into training in February was so thick with fatigue I honestly thought I had nothing on the bike. The last week or two has rebuilt my confidence.

I’ve seen some good riding in tough conditions. My heart rate appears lower for a much better power output than I’m used to. I’m feeling strong. The forecast is potentially strong winds and I’m happy with that. I’ve lived in Wellington for a few months, I know winds. If the bike is tough it’s going to work in my favour.

Given I’m expecting better power on the bike than previous races I’m aiming for somewhere in the 5:05 region. A very solid split and perhaps those winds will knock that on the head. Whatever happens I’m aiming to push hard and work myself the whole distance. This isn’t going to be a conservative effort. Let’s see what I can do.

Then the run. Training has been going pretty well, though not spectacularly. Just like cycling it’s only been in the last fortnight I’ve felt I was getting somewhere. Ironman pace is feeling comfortable again. The reality is I’m not sure if I’m capable of going faster than recent races, but believe I can go fast.

The aim is to run another 3:10 split. Conditions shouldn’t be as hot as the last couple of races which will work in favour of that goal. I just have to keep focussed on hydration, nutrition and good running technique. Hopefully I can pull out a decent run and close with a fast race.

Overall we’re probably looking at going 9:20-9:25 if I hit my targets. Achieving this should also make my age group podium, at least based on previous results. It does feel ambitious – potentially a tougher course than Busselton, but a similar time. If you don’t aim high…

As ever, we’ll see tomorrow and I’ll be sure to get a mini-report out as soon as I can.

Before you start anticipating a series of tables you should remember tapering is a period allowing a lot of introspection. For the obsessive athlete you scrutinise the past few months of work to glean signs of race readiness. Surely there must be something in the last two months that clearly shows I’ll have my best race ever? That time I pulled my six hour ride short doesn’t mean I’ll have a terrible bike?

I’ve not sat on my laurels. The problem with those tables is they only consider four points in time leading up to race day. Twenty-eight days summarised in four rows. The potential to hide a whole world of sin is massive!

I fired up Excel, pulled the numbers out of WKO+, formulated some new tables and best of all plotted new graphs. So no tables, instead charts!

I’m keeping things simple by considering six races – Australia, Roth, UK, Hawaii, Western Australia and New Zealand. That gives me four races that went well, one that went badly (Australia) and of course the predictions for New Zealand. I dropped Lanzarote as performance there didn’t relate to fitness or taper. I considered dropping the UK as its taper was so unusual given it’s proximity to Roth. For Taupo the curves are generated based on my taper plan.

Run Performance

In terms of run fitness (CTL) the start of 2010 saw me at a relatively low level. After Kona run training dropped off and there was some decline in absolute levels. Since the year began I’ve worked on restoring them and as the chart shows this places New Zealand up near Roth and Hawaii.

It’s worth noting how high my CTL for Australia was. Despite apparently high levels of fitness I had an atrocious run there. Similarly UK and Western Australia have low values and my performances were much better. One message throughout is these numbers only tell part of the story! If that weren’t the case we could all submit our training data to race referees and save ourselves ten hours of hard work!

Note the relatively flat CTL for Taupo compared to the other races, this is particularly relevant in light of the other charts.

Positive form (TSB) is needed for racing, though finding the exact value is an art. Based on race performance Roth, UK and Hawaii would rate the highest. It suggests a race day TSB around 15. Australia had a TSB over 20 and was a horrible day all round. Possibly I’d let run fitness slip too much and my TSB rise too high.

New Zealand will have the lowest TSB I’ve ever entered a race with. It’s gong to be interesting seeing how it pans out. The problem is to raise the TSB into the teens I’d need to let fitness slip to lower level. I’ll be honest I’m not sure which is the smarter move here?

Part of the problem was created by a sustained period of negative TSB as I built up my running. Notice that for Roth, UK and Hawaii I move into positive TSB about a week out from the race and it gradually increases. With Taupo run fatigue pulled me out of negative TSB almost a fortnight before race day. Since then it’s been a matter of balancing run training against taking too much of a hit to TSB. There’s a lesson to be learnt here which I’ll come back to another time.

So the option I’ve chosen is to sustain a very easy level of training to minimise loses in fitness whilst allowing TSB to stabilise and grow a little. I’ve room to experiment at Taupo so we’ll see how a low TSB value effects my run.

Not entirely surprisingly I’ll have the highest fatigue (ATL) I’ve had for a race too. Again the consequence of a short period of big run training spiking up my run ATL. Look at Hawaii or Roth to see a much smoother descent in ATL. Taupo actually sees a very slight growth over the final week as I try to minimise fitness loss.

What’s interesting here is in appearance it looks like I managed the ATL loss for Australia well. The shape of the curve is very similar to Hawaii and Roth. The pattern for good running seems to be reduce ATL gradually over the final fortnight. Effectively a two week taper. In fact if I were to pick a turning point it’s around 17 to 18 days out from the race.

From the bump in that final fortnight a longer or more intensive run about ten days out also seems to be an acceptable part of the plan. In fact comparing Taupo’s line I’d say it’s the absence of this session ten days out that does the most harm. In order to stop a large CTL drop off I’m forced to maintain a level of ATL and that also results in the slow recovery of TSB.

If only I’d done this analysis a couple of weeks ago! For future reference the plan is to build up running fitness until a final long run at eighteen days out. From there I’ll lower the daily training load with the exception of a final decent run ten days out. This should hopefully give me a gradual decline of CTL and a better rise in TSB.

Bike Performance

Fitness on the bike doesn’t seem to reveal as much. Obviously my CTL is way higher this time thanks to Epic Camp! Otherwise the general trend is quite a flat fitness profile in the final month. If anything a very gradual increase till about a week to a fortnight out then a gradual drop off in CTL.

Worth noting is that for both Roth and Busselton I chose to taper the bike for a single week. I also had pretty good races! Perhaps I only need a short taper. Lowering CTL from two weeks out seems to be the longest I’ve done. To an extent Taupo is following a similar pattern to Kona – two weeks out holding steady then dropping in the final week.

The TSB chart is more interesting. Notice how much my Taupo line fluctuates. At the moment I’m not riding every day, tending to have a day of hard riding followed by easier days. It’s also impossible to draw any conclusion about race day TSB. The spread for good races is wide. For Roth and Busselton I had much lower TSB values. I’ll admit I felt tired on the bike in Roth, but less so in Busselton.

Kona is remarkably high and at the moment Taupo looks like it’ll be matching it. Is that a good sign? It’s also close to the less successful Ironman Australia. I will note that in both Hawaii and Australia I came good on the latter half of the bike.

Taupo is lying somewhere in middle ground. Not the highest, but far from the lowest. I think I’m going to have to wait till race day to judge the wisdom of this. If I had any concern it’s that copying Busselton and having a long ride six days out may not be the best move. That said I’d probably only move it forward a day.

Well I’m leading into this race with the highest level of fatigue anyway. There’s going to be a bit more biking in the last week than for previous races. The reason is to minimise a rapid CTL drop and to stop the TSB shooting up to exceptionally high levels. Partly this is a consequence of the high level of CTL I’ve been sustaining since Epic Camp.

This chart supports my view that I need the final big spike around seven days out from the race. Clearly in Western Australia having it six days out did no harm so hopefully the same will prove true here. That said I think I’d have been better to have focussed on riding today instead of tomorrow!

Again for future reference the plan for cycling is to finish any build a fortnight out. Rather than tapering off I will look to maintain cycling fitness for that next week, finishing with a big ride. Finally I’ll taper quite hard in the final seven days. It’s very roughly what I’m doing, but I can be a little more precise next time.

Race Performance

Just as I said last time it’s all very well looking at this data, but it only tells so much. Race performance comes down to a multitude of factors. Good race preparation isn’t just about the rest and recovery.

My gut feel for Taupo is that I should be stronger on the bike than I have been and should be able to post a good bike split. I’m a little uncertain about the run. I feel better prepared than in Busselton which is good, but I don’t think I’m at my best run form yet.

The swim? Well I’ve been in the pool loads and it’s paying off. There are definite improvements over the past month. By all rights I should be able to comfortable get the swim done in an hour. If I don’t then I clearly haven’t executed to the best of my ability. I should also come out of the water feeling a lot fresher than usual. A short swim involves at least 4km these days!

I’ve every opportunity to have a great day in Taupo. The biggest risk is that I’m more fatigued than I’m allowing for. Certainly recovery and rest have at times fallen short. I’ve also worked hard to sustain quite a high training load throughout February and to get myself to race weight. A tough combination to maintain!

We shall see in a week’s time. Then come Lanzarote I can pull these graphs out again and wonder what to do!

I’ve mentioned it on Facebook and on Twitter so why not on my blog too?! The March 2010 issue of Triathlete Europe has an article about me in it. Now I’ll admit I’ve not seen it yet, but it’s bound to be interesting! So if you’re in the UK you should go out and buy this months mag. Or at least read it at the newsstand if you’re not into triathlon.

I am working on a more relevant blog post involving lots of data and charts looking at the process of tapering over my past year of racing and how Taupo lines up. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that up in the next day or two. It’s hard to say how much tracking numbers in the Performance Management Chart of WKO+ really helps with tapering. Are there patterns to good tapers and bad tapers? Even with my race schedule there’s a paucity of data points making it hard to tell for sure.

Beyond that I’ve some other interesting ideas relating to training load tracking and training planning. All revolving around planning weekly and daily applications of training stress and growth in fitness. I’ve recently been looking at planning future training as a series of blocks with easier days separating each one (genuinely easier days, not my 3 hour run easier days!). The idea being you build up training stress and fatigue over a few days, then ease back a little, then apply more training stress again. These smaller blocks are part of bigger blocks focussing on specific areas of interest. It’s not revolutionary I know!

What I’m considering now is modelling training load and fatigue and designing these blocks by structuring them towards delivering a particular amount of training stress each day. In theory you can then control how fatigued you get whilst slowly building up fitness. I guess that’s the art of coaching anyway, balancing fatigue with ever increasing training stresses. Whether I can produce a simple set of tools to help monitor this and how useful they might be is the question?

In fact I’ve decided that despite the sunny weather out there I’m going to spend my afternoon in Excel brewing up new spreadsheets. I’ll be getting a final long(-ish) run in later when it’s cooled a little.

The last fortnight has been an up and down time. On one day I can tell a friend in the UK that I’m starting to feel strong and more confident. The next I can come crashing back down to Earth with fatigue after a dodgy night’s sleep. This update is inspired by the question of where my focus is and whether I’m race ready or not.

Focus

I’ll admit I’m not as focussed for this race as I have been for some of my others. This isn’t the first time it’s come up and clearly my Tweets are giving that impression. Last time I mentioned it I put it down to the difficulties of motivation when I already have my Kona slot.

That’s true, but it’s not the entire story. I want to race well in Taupo, I want to perform well. I would love to get myself on the podium again and that’s going to take a serious effort. I’m conflicted though. I’m enjoying training. I’m enjoying logging week after week of solid efforts.

Right now I’m seeing progress in my swimming for the first time in a while. A consequence of motivation and consistency in training. I’m finally making progress on my running and feel that’s coming back to form. I’m making a reasonable effort of maintaining a high level of bike fitness since Epic Camp. All good stuff and I feel strong in each discipline when not too fatigued.

If Taupo were a month down the line I think I’d be much more focussed on it! I spent some of this afternoon napping and the other half starting plans for my build up to Lanzarote. The race isn’t till May, but the goal of breaking 10 hours there and getting on the podium motivates me much more. Maybe it’s just the desire to make up for last year!

So I’m not as focussed on Taupo as I could be. I want to race well there simply because I always want to race my best. I’m frustrated by the interruption to my training it will make. It’s been suggested that if I view Kona as my A race then this is simply a period of building base. It certainly feels that way. Like I’m getting myself to the point where I can really put in the work (I have some big plans for my running later this year). I worry Taupo might derail this, but maybe I need the break?

Race Ready?

Graphs, charts and numbers time. As usual graphs are from WKO+/Excel. Red is ATL (fatigue), Blue CTL (fitness) and Yellow TSB (form). If you’ve read the blog before you must have encountered these by now! The lighter coloured lines are my values for the same time period in the previous year. Do bear in mind I raced Ironman Australia in 2009 which is a month later than Taupo.

The bike performance management chart clearly shows my bike fitness is comfortably and consistently higher than this time last year. The big spike from Epic Camp was unsurprisingly unsustainable. So after a period of recovery I’ve focussed on maintaining fitness at an intermediate level.

It’s taken a lot of riding to do this and a fair amount of hard work in the winds and hills round here. I considered growing the CTL more, but realised that to do this while trying to build up my swim and run would be very difficult. Part of the process since Epic has been accepting the limits of what I can do! Fitness is higher than post-Epic recovery, but no massive growth.

There’s been more significant growth in my run fitness. I’m certainly feeling this and combined with the weight loss I’ve managed over the past few weeks I’m running well. Interestingly my fitness is lower than this time last year. I put that down to the huge bike focus I had during November/December and the lack of run focus after Kona.

I think I’ve mentioned feeling my running really wasn’t in great shape before. The chart supports that as far as I’m concerned. I came into 2010 with my run CTL at the lowest it had been for a year. What I have achieved is restoring my run fitness to more reasonable levels. I’m easing back now with Taupo round the corner so there’s not much chance to build further.

I’m aiming to put some solid build phases for the run into my Lanzarote build. Beyond that they’ll be a real run focus in the lead in to Kona. If I want to achieve my ultimate run goals I need to put a lot of work in between now and then.

Charts aside am I race ready? Well fitness is there according to the Performance Management numbers. Comparing the run in to other races there’s enough similarity with my better races to give me some confidence. I’m continuing to train through the coming week and will take a short taper.

Much as I’ve been having sleep trouble I’m going to save looking at the Performance Management tables and the details of my taper for another time! My feeling about Taupo other than uncertainty is that if I can get myself fresh enough then I’m in shape for a good race. The deciding factor is going to be the fatigue I carry into it.

That said with this posted it’s time for a hot, milky drink and some natural sleep tablets (5-HTP). I have no idea if they’ll work or not. I’ll take the placebo effect if they’ll help me rest enough the coming fortnight!

Weekly hours are high as is the training load. I’m spending more time in the pool than I have in an age and enjoying it. Better I’ve noticed the times creeping down a little for my hundreds. Good signs for sure. In fact were I just thinking about swimming I’d be feeling great about how things are going.

It’s become normal to turn up at the pool and knock out four to six kilometres. I’ve learnt most importantly to always have a plan. Fail to plan, plan to fail and all that. If I get in the water without an aim you can be sure the session will be easy and monotonous. Set myself a target or challenge then time flies by and so far I’ve mostly been hitting my goals.

On (mostly) dry land things are a little bit more interesting. Perhaps you detected an element of uncertainty in my previous posts? It’s there, lurking in the back of my mind and raising questions as the weeks progress. Combine that with vagueness about my Taupo goals and at times motivation can be a little off. Not seriously, but enough to make me wonder if I’m doing the right thing?

Perhaps I’m exaggerating… Running is coming along. The past couple of weeks I’ve been logging good mileage and it’s starting to feel right. Compared to after Kona and through Ironman Western Australia it’s great. I can go out and cruise along at just a little below my Ironman pace anytime I want and it doesn’t seem to have much impact on my legs.

Plenty of longer runs have become staple with at least two over two hours every week. I’ve yet to completely settle back into a daily run routine, often finding it all too tempting to skip out on a short run when I’m tired. I know I could get through it, but that little bit of mental weakness stops me making myself do it.

On the bike I’ve been riding comfortably. Comfortably isn’t really the word you want to hear to describe your training though! I can easily hold steady paces for hours on end. When the road turns up I am climbing more aggressively than before. Throw a headwind in my face (which isn’t a rarity round these parts) and I’ll push. Put my long rides all together though and they feel a little slack.

Resting is where I really fail. Simply going by hours of sleep I can see I’m not putting the work in. I’m trying to train hard, trying to control my diet and return to race weight (it’s working), but failing to put in the sleep I need to get through it all.

It’s a silly, rookie error and one I plan to rectify in the following weeks. Experiences such as Epic Camp or in the Pyrenees show that if I’m sleeping well I can get through a lot of work. I’m training hard. Harder than normal, but not to the level of those camps.

This weekend was a sharp indicator of how significantly I’m failing. After a restless night on Friday I dragged myself for a 6K set at the pool on Saturday. Remember how I mentioned the importance of a plan? I got in the pool with low motivation and no real session to do. Somehow I splashed through a lethargic and unsatisfying two hours.

I’d promised myself a treat for a hard week of training. A little bit of sugar and carbs wouldn’t hurt especially with a two hour run on the schedule. Fatigue, hunger and the motivational dip were enough to expand the size of the treats. Paleo man had discovered the cake shop!

By the time I got home I felt far too out of it to even contemplate a long run. I did the next best thing and planned all my training in WKO+. Trying to work out my fitness and taper for Taupo! If you can’t do the practical the theory is the next best thing after all.

The smart move would have been an early night. I crashed out late and slept heavily. My alarm went off at six to get me up for a ride with Laurence Pidcock another Brit in Wellington. I felt terrible. Terrible enough I didn’t question sending a text to say I’d not be making it. Then I hit the sack for another couple of hours.

What a difference two more hours made! I actually felt a bit more normal. I wasn’t massively enthused by my previous training plans so substituted a ninety minute run out towards Pencarrow Lighthouse. I kept the pace easy and felt good. Good enough that I knew I could do more if I wanted. The aim was to hold back though, conserve a little and be fresher on Monday.

As I said I’ve been bad at rest. Change is needed. I can make my plans, but if I’m not recovering enough to execute them they’re worthless. The key objective for the next three weeks is to rest enough that I can flawlessly execute my final preparation for Taupo. With luck I’ll wake up Monday ready to go and able to start putting out the performances I know I’m capable of.

I’ll briefly delve into events of the past week. It’s been good training. Quality time spent in Freyberg Pool. Fantastic runs down to Pencarrow Lighthouse and the surrounding trails. Great rides, particularly getting hammered by fellow Epic Camper David Craig over in the Wairarapas. It’s all in my Twitter feed.

Only four weeks till the next Ironman. I’ve written a plan and I’m executing it as best I can. Plenty of hours spent working on my swim, bike and run. More discipline with my diet. More discipline in general! There’s lots to do and to fit it all in I can’t slack. Just like I did for Kona I need to commit to my race and the preparation it deserves.

I’d been warned that when you get your Kona slot so early it can be hard to motivate yourself in the lead in. I think I’m beginning to experience that now. When asked about my plans for Taupo I don’t have a definitive answer.

I think I’m going to use the race to test things out. See how hard I can go and what comes of it. Ultimately if I blow up it’s not a problem and in the process I’ll learn a few things. At the same time I can feel my cautious nature holding me back! I could put together another carefully paced race and perform well. If I want to be on the podium though it’s going to take a bit more this time.

As it stands the plan is to train hard for the next three weeks. I’m going to take a one week taper similar to Western Australia. Hopefully this will give me a good idea if short tapers work for me. I’m not one hundred percent sure if I raced well in Busselton because of the taper or despite it!

Once it comes to race day I will go in with the attitude and objective of pushing hard all day. Right from the swim start to the finish line. I’m focussing a lot of time on working on swim and run fitness over the next few weeks and I hope to see some benefits from it. I need to go under 9:25 for a realistic chance of a podium spot.

A simple plan and a simple aim. Race hard, see what comes of it. Come away with another age group podium or perhaps just an average result. Either way take away data and experience to help plan the next races. Even now I’m thinking about that sub-10 in Lanzarote and how to improve on last year’s Kona result.

I’m fortunate to very rarely get ill. When I do it frustrates me immensely. The cold was mild not much more than a blocked nose yet it acted as a perfect excuse to do less than planned. I suppose it did interrupt my sleep a little, but it didn’t make me skip the swim session after going to see Avatar. Neither did the street magician I watched for twenty minutes (though he was good).

The first time I went to the pool after Epic it struck me how unfit I felt . I splashed my way through a lazy set of lengths without much plan. Actually completing any distance seemed an achievement in itself. I looked at other swimmers and was convinced they were in much better shape than me. Some of them were at least faster swimmers. I’ve ridden the length of the country and I’m the weakest person in the pool!

Biding my time seemed the best idea. No point rushing things. The potential to do more harm than good is always there. That same instinct that drives me to greater fitness can as easily push me to breaking point. I was carefully reminded of this on Saturday when I headed to the gym.

Wellington was putting on some of its best wind and rain so being outside didn’t appeal. Instead the plan was an easy run in the gym and some core work. For some reason I thought it would be the perfect time to break in my new racing flats. Twenty minutes on a treadmill and my calves and ankles were locking up. Not the gentle return to form I wanted. I smartened up for a moment and called my run short.

Epic Camp has left me heavy. Too heavy to put my tired legs through any kind of running on lightly cushioned shoes. It’s not unusual for campers to gain weight. The sheer abundance of food available and a metabolism working overtime are a lethal combination. As I’ve seen after races I’m particularly good at piling on the pounds. I’ve come away a little too round for my liking. Not the lean image of an athlete I have in my head.

On Sunday I headed out for my first ride since camp. I was inauspiciously dropped within the first 10km. I knew I’d be riding easy, but hadn’t expected to have to ride quite so easily. These weren’t the legs that got me from one end of the country to another.

Two hundred watts acted as a barrier if crossed muscles and tendons protested sharply. Attempts to put mind over matter were short lived. I accepted the kind of ride I was going to have and enjoyed the sights of the bay. My ego was boosted ever so slightly by casual riders out for leisurely trips along Oriental Parade. Then dashed when a heavy weight cyclist with stick legs cruised by me.

I skipped the roads for the pedestrianised docks. A rough plan had formed to have a coffee and perhaps some cake. It never fully manifested as I couldn’t pick a place that really appealed. My weakness and current body image issues combined to make me question the wisdom of cake anyway.

Instead I returned to the road and the route home. Shortly reaching the highway and ahead the cyclist with the stick legs. Without trying I soon caught him and passed. He sat in my draft as I pushed into the headwind. This wasn’t the hard pulls on the front I’d been doing at Christmas, but at least I was strong enough to give someone a tow.

I got home and reminded myself to be patient. Rushing recovery doesn’t really work. I’m sure I’ve made that mistake once or twice last year. Hard to say for sure, but large breaks after Ironman UK and Kona didn’t seem to do too much harm.

Then today. Exactly one week after camp finished and things are starting to turn round. I didn’t do as much as I might have liked. Then again I realise now what I’d like and what I can manage aren’t exactly the same. What I did felt good. It’s starting to feel like I’m an athlete again.

A longer session at the pool 4.5km in a little under ninety minutes. Then a lazy afternoon as I was overcome by a massive sense of fatigue. As I was starting to worry that for all the good of the swim I still wasn’t up to much I came round. Finally an easy thirty minutes of running. Everything felt good only a little tightness here or there. I started to feel like a runner again all be it a heavy one!

As the week progresses I’ll see how I go. Trying a little more each day, but never pushing myself too hard. I’m hoping that come the weekend I’ll really be starting to feel my former self. Then one final build, three weeks to get myself ready for Taupo. Or maybe four if I feel strong and don’t want to taper so much.

I have an image of the athlete I need to be in my head, I know how to get there and just need to bide my time.

I’m back in Wellington which after a weekend of foul weather has turned on the sunshine for me. I felt a slight inkling to go out on the bike on such a lovely day. After 15 days of riding it felt wrong not to be sitting on a saddle. Fortunately it’s still in the bag so there wasn’t really an option. Tomorrow maybe, but for now I went for a nice, easy swim.

My third time at Epic Camp is over. Once again I managed to complete the camp minimums and throw in a little bit extra for a few more points. I’m waiting to see if I did enough to retain sixth place once the KOM points are factored in. Whilst I enjoy getting a little involved in the points game the main point of camp is the training.

Before I left for Auckland I set myself some goals for the camp. I have to admit to mixed success with these. If I’m disappointed with any of them it’s how quickly I cracked on the nutrition side. I turned to sugars early in the camp and didn’t turn back! I think in the second week my eating habits were a little more controlled and structured, but still nothing like the paleo for athletes plan.

I can check off camp completion from the list without problem. I didn’t run every day though. I didn’t run on the easy day, nor on one other day when I might have. I did run a lot mind you, not to the level of some on the camp, but a reasonable amount considering everything else going on. I’ve handled much bigger running loads in the past, but considering how much running I’d done in the couple of weeks before the camp and all the other training I’m not too disappointed. It does mean I won’t be scoring highly in Gordo’s run game of course!

I swam a lot, missing one or two optional swims in the second week of camp. I was particularly pleased to actually get a 6K swim in and do a reasonable number of the swim sets this time. I finished with a good 7 or 8km more swimming than camp minimums at least. I also picked up run bonuses from doing one 25km run (on day one too) and a day with a couple of 10K runs in.

Did I test my limits though? The straight up answer is yes. I’ve never done training like that. I’ll admit I’m suffering a little from that feeling that perhaps I could have done more. Just like finishing a race and thinking how you could have gone faster. Perhaps I could, but what I did pushed me. I think if I take anything away it’s that I worked myself too hard on the North island and struggled more on the South.

The first eight days were comparable with previous eight day camps for me. I finished feeling a lot less fatigued or worn down. From then on though it became an increasing struggle to maintain the level of performance. It’s not to say I didn’t have some good riding on the South island I just had better riding on the North. In fact much of my South island riding would have made perfectly acceptable long training rides outside of camp.

It’s amazing to see how some people coped with the long camp. Particularly impressive were those who got stronger as the camp went on or who maintained their level of performance. In some cases this may have been down to more sensible pacing over the camp. In others it speaks of superb recovery. Something to work towards.

For those interested in the hours and kilometres my logs say I did this:

Slightly less hours than I anticipated for the distances involved. Still far more than I’ve ever done in a two week period. There was a lot of steady riding, but very little really easy riding. Similarly there were only a couple of days I’d say my run pace really suffered. Swimming didn’t vary that much over camp which is to say I was about as slow as normal!

If I look at my performance management chart a couple of points stick out. Firstly the overall affect of camp is an all new high for my CTL. Not really surprising the aim now is to recover without too much loss in that fitness. Secondly the rest day gave a nice break and recovery to my TSB. From that point on I didn’t sink too much lower. This also relates to the ‘easier’ nature of the South island. I said I didn’t ride as well and overall stress was lower. I spent a lot more time hiding myself in the packs.

It’s a big start to the year ahead. I’ve pushed up my swim, bike and run beyond last year’s figures already. My aim now is to build on this and work towards bettering on my 2009 performances. It’s going to take some focus and careful work from here on. Recover from camp above anything else.

I’ve some minor goals in the process. I aim to ride over 3,000km in January. I’m well on my way there and good active recovery will help for the next week. It’ll set me up to log more distance on the bike than last year. I’d like to hit 25,000km for a year. Similarly I’ll aim for higher figures for both swim and run. I just haven’t come up with targets for those yet! Maybe 800km swimming and 3000km of running. Don’t hold me to those yet.

Each time I’ve done Epic Camp I’ve gone in a little nervous as to how I’ll cope. My fitness has proved to be up to the test and I’ve managed to push a little and test myself. I come into camp a better athlete than before and I leave seeing how much more there is to do. Lee commented me over the final dinner how he could see the camps being addictive. They really are. I know I’ll be back in the future to test those limits again.