Cycling, Events, Running, Swimming, Training

A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins

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Last weekend I was incredibly lucky to spend a weekend training with Helen Jenkins, it was a competition I won from 220 Triathlon magazine and was facilitated by Science in Sport, so a special thank you to them as well as Marc, Helen’s husband and triathlete himself!

I received an email earlier in the week informing me that I had won and even better that I could take a friend, cue invite to Anth (thetrinerd). The weekend took place in the sunny Welsh town of Porthcawl, home of the only (in my experience) tarmac beach! Even better it was actually sunny pretty much the whole time!

Porthcawl Tarmac Beach
Porthcawl Tarmac Beach

We had arrived early and were a little unsure what to expect but it turned out upon meeting Helen, Marc and Emma (from Science in Sport) that it was going to be a fairly intensive weekend of training but that they would be joining us for everything – including breakfast! We were presented with a nice Science in Sport Endurance Pack and their new Electrolyte Gels to help us get through the weekend too! We were joined by the other competition winners, Heather, Pete, Ashley and Matt.

Our training schedule for the weekend was as follows:

Saturday
9am – Park Run
11.30am – Bike Ride
5.30pm – Sea Swim

Sunday
6.30am – Sea Swim
11am – Recovery Bike Ride
12pm – Brick Session

After all the excitement of the first day we went to bed, ready to do both mine and Anths’ first ever Parkrun in the morning.

Saturday

We were up at 8am to meet in reception at 8.30 for a warm up. It turns out the Helen had found out the course record and being a typical athlete had decided she needed to have a crack at it – go girl! My right calf has still been causing me grief so I wasn’t expecting much from the Parkrun so I had decided to go out steady and see how we felt…. which was fine until we got to a descent with a dead turn at the end. My calf screamed no as I tried to head back up the hill, thus I had to take it even steadier back, but overall i was happy with a debut time of 23:40!

Scott McKenzie - Porthcawl Parkrun August 15th 2015 - Photo Emma Barraclough
Scott McKenzie – Porthcawl Parkrun August 15th 2015 – Photo Emma Barraclough

More importantly is that Helen went out and nailed it, finishing 1st overall and taking the women’s course record in 16:40! Hugely impressive stuff! The prize from Parkrun is probably already in her trophy cabinet…. that’s right, a stick of rock!

Helen Jenkins - Porthcawl Parkrun August 15th 2015 - Photo Emma Barraclough
Helen Jenkins – Porthcawl Parkrun August 15th 2015 – Photo Marc Jenkins
Helen and Marc Jenkins - Parkrun Award Ceremony
Helen and Marc Jenkins – Parkrun Award Ceremony

After the run we headed back to the hotel for a highly nutritious breakfast, a fried breakfast! Following that we had a short break before meeting downstairs for our cycle ride. The original schedule had alluded to a 2 hour ride, what we ended up with was a little different. A 3+ hour out and back 78km ride through some beautiful countryside, culminating in a climb up a local legend of a hill called the Bwlch. It was a bit of a beast and I was lacking energy… still it was a cracking climb and although I got dropped, who cares, i’d spent large portions of the ride chatting with a double World Champion – the sort of thing you have to pinch yourself for! We were also joined by a friend of Marc and Helen’s, Darren, owner of PedalCover

220 Triathlon Competition Winners - A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins - Photo Credit Emma Barraclough
220 Triathlon Competition Winners – A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins – Photo Credit Emma Barraclough
220 Triathlon Competition Winners - A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins - Photo Credit Marc Jenkins
220 Triathlon Competition Winners – A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins – Photo Credit Emma Barraclough
On the bike with Helen Jenkins - Photo Courtesy of Emma Barraclough
On the bike with Helen Jenkins – Photo Courtesy of Marc Jenkins
On the bike with Helen Jenkins - Photo Courtesy of Emma Barraclough
On the bike with Helen Jenkins – Photo Courtesy of Marc Jenkins
The top of the Blwch with Helen Jenkins and the other 220 Triathlon Competition Winners - A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins - Photo Credit Marc Jenkins
The top of the Blwch with Helen Jenkins and the other 220 Triathlon Competition Winners – A Weekend Training with Helen Jenkins – Photo Credit Marc Jenkins

After the epic ride we had a stretching session with Helen (we got some very odd looks lying on the restaurant floor!) some lunch and a bit of a rest before heading to the sea front for my first ever ocean swim, and indeed the first ever open water swim for a couple of folks!

First Ocean Swim with Helen Jenkins - Photo Courtesy of Emma Barraclough
First Ocean Swim with Helen Jenkins – Photo Courtesy of Emma Barraclough

Things were a little interrupted as, as we were entering the sea via the lifeboat launch, they got called out. A minor disruption but slightly exciting! This was my first time swimming in the sea for any reason other than a holiday paddle. I found it very different to a wetsuit swim in a lake, the salt water tasted awful of course but I felt the extra buoyancy it offered. I also learned that the currents play havoc with my inability to swim in a straight line… something I need to work on and also something that Marc and Helen gave me some guidance on!

After the swim it was back to the hotel for dinner and some well deserved sleep, I was knackered!

Sunday

Up very early as we were meeting on the beach at 6.30am for our second sea swim, getting into a damp wetsuit is not fun! We were entering the sea from the beach this time which gave us an opportunity to practice beach starts and mid swim beach exits too. Such a shame that I hate sand between my toes!!!! This time I had some time with Marc, Helen and another friend of theirs (sorry i forgot your name!) who were all helping with my sighting issue – it seemed I was able to swim, breathe and sight, just sadly not all at the same time! It also transpired that we were there early as there was a local sprint triathlon on at the same time.

Second Ocean Swim
Second Ocean Swim
220 Triathlon Competition Winners - Porthcawl Beach with Helen Jenkins
220 Triathlon Competition Winners – Porthcawl Beach with Helen Jenkins
I beat Helen Jenkins out the sea!
I beat Helen Jenkins out the sea!
Second Ocean Swim
Second Ocean Swim

After a well deserved breakfast (another fry up!) and a short rest we were setting off on a gentle recovery ride, that turned out to be the same route the triathlon had taken earlier that day. This was a more relaxed affair but still enjoyable. We had planned a sort of brick session for when we got back, but my calf was still sore from the run the day before and I only managed a very short one before it was too painful.

We all re-convened back at the hotel, with the others going for much longer runs than I! We then sat around and had a really casual chat. Such a surreal environment but it never felt anything other than normal and great fun, Helen and Marc are two of the nicest and most genuine people you could meet. Emma was lovely too – don’t want her feeling left out! Thanks all for such a great weekend!

Me with Helen Jenkins - Excuse the Hair!
Me with Helen Jenkins – Excuse the Hair!

And in other news….

I appear to have signed up to compete in Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire next year. Shit. Best get training! Maybe it’s a good excuse to revisit this topic though…

Gear

Garmin Forerunner 920xt Tri Bundle – Black/Grey with HRM-Swim & HRM-Tri

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Garmin Forerunner 920xt Tri Bundle – Black/Grey with HRM-Swim & HRM-Tri

A bit more sleuthing on this after spotting the DCRainmaker HRM-Swim & HRM-Tri article on the new HRM-Swim and HRM-Tri swimming heart rate straps. There is no news on the Garmin sites but I have found a small picture of the new colour option of Black/Grey with the swim straps. Suggests $599 so imagine £499 for us folks…

Garmin Forerunner 920xt Tri Bundle - Black/Grey with HRM-Swim & HRM-Tri

The main additions to the HRM-Swim and HRM-Tri are listed on the Garmin site as “Continue to train with heart rate underwater using HRM-Tri™ or HRM-Swim™. HRM-Swim is ideal for pool training with its unique, non-slip design that stays in place, even during wall push offs. For training and racing across all 3 disciplines, HRM-Tri’s soft strap design is as comfortable out of water as it is underwater.”

Specific product pages from Garmin give a bit more info too:

 

HRM-Tri™ & HRM-Swim™ Accessory Bundle

 
Part Number: 010-11254-03
HRM-Tri™ & HRM-Swim™ Accessory Bundle

 

HRM-Swim™

 
Part Number: 010-12342-00
HRM-Swim™
HRM-Swim™

 

HRM-Tri™

 
Part Number: 010-10997-09
HRM-Tri™
HRM-Tri™

They also have a video on YouTube showing it in action:

Shame i’d just bought a replacement in the ‘not optimal for my colour scheme’ Black/Blue version! Oh well…

More if i find it!

Cycling, Events, Gear, Swimming

It has been a while…

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It HAS been a while!

Apologies, I’ve not been posting recently! The good news is that the reason for this is that i’ve been training, sadly not entirely injury free but hey, baby steps!

Since my last post it has taken a while to recover from my calf injury and irritatingly it has started niggling again recently, usually as a result of training on brick sessions – so not ideal really! I’ve gone back to basics and have been training with my wife, who is getting back into running. By training with the good lady I run at a slower than usual pace which has been great for getting my legs back into it, so here’s hoping it’s good for the long game.

So, what have I been up to? In no particular order:

Joined a new/another triathlon club.

This was rather accidental in that I popped to the gym for a swim on a Monday; which is not a normal training day and discovered that the BRAT Club have coached swimming lessons from 19.30. I was invited to join in and got chatting about other sessions too; which ended up in me heading along to their open water session on a Thursday also. The joining happened as the open water session is for club members only and rather than miss out, I figured I may as well sign up! So far so good…

Did my longest cycle to date.

“Shall we go for a ride this weekend?” – a perfectly normal question from thetrinerd, culminated in us taking part in the Birmingham Bikathon for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. This was a 52 mile (or 54 in my case after a wrong turn) ride that started in Cannon Hill Park on 5th July. It started out as a relatively steady affair until Mr Competitive started getting bored sitting behind people…. so just over 3 hours was a touch more competitive than I had intended and it certainly took the legs a bit of time to recover, but it was a lot of fun!

The Tri Nerd and I having just completed 52 miles of the Birmingham Bikaton!
The Tri Nerd and I having just completed 52 miles of the Birmingham Bikaton!

New Bling

As a bit of a treat to myself, I decided to upgrade the rather heavy standard wheels on my bike. I stumbled across a rather good deal on a pair of Vision T30 wheels in a nice stealthy black finish, coupled with some Schwalbe One 700x25c tyres.

Trek Madone 2.1 with Vision T30 Wheels
Trek Madone 2.1 with Vision T30 Wheels, Selle SMP Dynamic Saddle – stealthy!

Perhaps through my odd pursuits I got it into my mind that I NEEDED a 16 tooth rear cog; maybe as I kept finding myself searching up and down the rear gears at around the mid point. It seems that Shimano don’t seem to make anything suitable that has this, so enter SRAM with the PG1070 12-28 Cassette. I didn’t see much point in an 11 tooth cog as I’ve never spun out yet….

The final bike treat was a Selle SMP Dynamic saddle. This came after a recent visit to the Triathlon Show in Manchester, where I spent quite a bit of time looking at them. It was a bit of an indulgence but it is rather lovely, it also has the added bonus of apparently saving my man bits!

Selle SMP Dynamic Saddle
Selle SMP Dynamic Saddle in situ

Finally, I treated my feet to a new pair of running shoes. Due to the calf injuries I’ve taken a time out from the natural motion phenomenon and decided to try a pair of the new Brooks Ghost 8. They’re incredibly comfy, well cushioned but have a hell of a spring out of the forefoot – thus far, I’m really impressed!

Brooks Ghost 8
Rather lovely Brooks Ghost 8 – in the hopefully less common Yellow/Grey colour.

Had another Bike Fit

I had a bike fit earlier in the year but felt that I had started to improve somewhat and there was scope for improvement. I met Tony Corke of Torke Cycling at a show earlier this year whilst looking at Selle SMP Saddles. Tony advised me on saddles and we got chatting about bike fitting also. I happened to be heading on holiday to Somerset and by chance found out that he needed a ‘guinea pig’ for a fitting course he was doing in Bath, this seemed like a dream scenario! There were no computers telling us what to do, just me, my bike and some rollers with lots of flexibility/strength tests, rider feedback etc – it turns out that my initial fit wasn’t far out, but i had improved my flexibility somewhat so a 2cm drop in stem spacers was required – we also fitted my new saddle which necessitated some tweaks to the height/angle of it.

Bike Fit 2 - Torke Cycling
The second of my bike fits. I’ve improved a bit and wanted to see where things now were…

After the fit on my current bike, we also had a play on a more techie piece of machinery, a BioBike, designed to judge my fit for a triathlon bike prior to purchase. This was a lot of fun, though I was a little disappointed to learn that seemingly my lack of flexibility suggests that a triathlon bike may not be the most suitable thing for me…. i’ll continue to work on the flexibility and see later on though, i’m determined to get new shiny things!!

Tri Bike Fit - Torke Cycling
And this time, I got to play with fancy machinery to get a Tri Bike Fit!

Mammoth Bike Ride

Whilst down in Somerset I felt the need to take the newly adjusted bike on a bit of a ride. Unfortunately it became quite apparent that from our base, the only options were very hilly route or very hilly route. So I opted for a very hilly route and decided to take on the Porlock Hill. In hindsight I wish i’d left the original 30 tooth rear cassette on, in fact I wish i’d fitted a 42 tooth! Such was the absurdity of the climb – sections were 25% incline that I stood no chance. I also managed to break a chain link so had quite a long, uphill walk to find a spot to fix it! Thankfully, after that, despite the earth being stupid and having lots of down, followed by up bits the ride was very enjoyable. The scenery was pretty breathtaking also:

Pollock Hill Climb - Bike
Ouch. Nothing else can describe what I was feeling at this stage.

The Strava elevation graph is below….

Strava - Porlock Hill
This was the overlay from Strava for my cycle around Somerset – heading up and over Pollock Hill. Not for the feint hearted!

Open Water Swimming

I figured I needed to get some practice in at this. Unfortunately my first few attempts were a bit of a fail. I suffered fairly major anxiety issues and was struggling to breathe correctly. Which is depressing when the scenery was as stunning as this:

Open Water Swimming - Upton Warren
A lovely day for my first Open Water Swimming at Upton Warren

Not long after this I received an email about a British Triathlon Open Water swimming day taking place at the West Midlands Water Ski centre. I figured this was just what I needed, so signed up! It turned out to be a really good day and the tips and tricks I picked up have helped me on my way to swimming my first 1k in open water last week – rejoice! A few pictures from the day:

Triathlon England Open Water Training Day
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day - How To Breathe
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day – How To Breathe
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day - How To Breathe in practice
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day – How To Breathe in practice
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day - Racing Starts
Triathlon England Open Water Training Day – Racing Starts

Met This Guy…

Bit of a legend and thoroughly nice guy!

The legend that is Dave Scott
The legend that is Dave Scott, 6 time Ironman World Champion at the 220 Triathlon Day.

Entered a Half Marathon

Slightly challenging trying to train for a 5k in my next Sprint Triathlon and then a Half Marathon a few weeks later, but hey… I’m running this with a friend of ours who is taking on her first half marathon, i’ve heard some scary things about the finish in Birmingham! It was during my first longer run for this that I felt my calf ping a little… fingers crossed we’ll be ok!

Training

Niggling Injuries

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Thankfully, after a bit of a concern that my injury sustained in the Halesowen Triathlon was my Achilles, it turns out that it’s just another one of those niggling injuries. Something I’ve learned since getting back into sport is that I’m not as young as I once was (famous words) and thus the body needs a bit more TLC. I’ve always been fiercely competitive, starting with myself and this often means that little messages from my body are often ignored under the premise of ‘no pain no gain’. 

Training for my two recent events; The London Marathon and my new found love of Triathlon, I had similar issues, both are intensive endurance sports and thus it’s quite normal to hurt during training, but it’s clear that I need to be more sensible. In the run up to the marathon I felt some pain in my right knee that meant I had to walk home from my last long run. Rather than getting it checked out, I stopped running for 3 weeks and then tried to take part. This was a bad decision as I suffered badly with my ITB (iliotibial band – the one on the outside of the knee) to the point that I had to walk the last half of the race. Top tip if you’re having to start a race like this, maybe you shouldn’t be starting it at all….  

Injuries - if you're starting a race like this, think whether you should be starting at all 

Similarly, in the build up to the triathlon I felt a sharp pain in my right calf area during a steady run, this required me to walk home. You can probably guess what I did next… Correct, didn’t see anyone about it and stopped running. At this point I should also remind you all about the fact that I had hurt my shoulder trying on wetsuits at the 220Triathlon Show and hadn’t swum since then either. Hey, at least I was still able to get some decent miles in on the bike! I headed in to the race not what I would call ‘prepared’ and you’ve probably read how that turned out.

Having now discovered a very good local physiotherapist, Anna Curnow, I shall hopefully be more sensible going forward. I had my first appointment with her yesterday, during which I fully expected to be told that I had ruptured my Achilles. Thankfully this was not the case, I have ‘just’ injured my calf. During the consultation, I received a bit of an MOT and Anna is of the belief that my injuries are, in some ways, linked. My right leg is clearly much weaker and much less flexible than my left, whether these issues are cause or effect of the marathon injury, no-one can say. I have come away with a series of strengthening and flexibility exercises to do, targeting my calves and hip flexors. This shouldn’t be too long out of action – hey my shoulder is better as I managed the same time for the swim as my previous time trial, but I will definitely be paying more attention to my body and working just as much on strength, conditioning and now flexibility as I do on swim, bike, run.

Events, Race Reports

I am a triathlete

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It’s not quite the same as those immortal words entered at the end of a certain race in Hawaii but I can now say that I am a triathlete!

Today was the Halesowen Triathlon, a local sprint event with a pool swim. A while ago I decided it would be a good first race and so it proved. It’s safe to say that my preparations didn’t go as well as planned, a number of niggling and occasionally ridiculous injuries blighted things but we got to race day in more or less one piece; or so I thought.

Halesowen Triathlon 2015
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – First Triathlete Number!

The Swim – 9:08

I hadn’t done any swimming of note since wrenching my shoulder trying on wetsuits in late January, however I felt reasonably comfortable following a gentle tester last week. The first difference to my normal swimming was the 33m pool, but it turned out to be a non event. I felt the best I’ve ever done in the pool, aside from missing a breath or two, and was very pleased with a time equalling the time trial I did in January, which given the lack of training was excellent.

Halesowen Triathlon 2015 - Triathlete Swim
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – First Triathlete Swim – Photo: Aniko Towers

The Bike – 57:21

After a very leisurely T1, note to self need work on that, 3:16 is not ideal but then again descending wet concrete stairs isn’t either! One of the niggling injuries was a calf strain I did about a month ago, so I’ve been using Compresssport R2 Calf Guards and they were a hassle to get on too. The course was a pretty hilly one and the wind was evil, strong sideways gusts on tricky descents and then strong headwinds on the uphills! Once more I had a major speed wobble on one of the downhills, but I was more prepared for this after the recent recce. I need to find out why I’m having the wobbles though as I was steadily gaining on the guy in front of me on the climbs, but he left me for dead on the downhill bits due to my lack of confidence. I did eventually get him on the longest climb and he never came back passed me. Not much more to report, it was a decent ride and I beat my PRs on pretty much every section according to Strava. I need work on my bike skills though as despite maintaining a decent average cadence of 84, I never felt like I was really working that hard but simply couldn’t transfer the power through the bike – it’s early days though, I’ve only been riding a few months!

Halesowen Triathlon 2015 - Triathlete Bike
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – First Triathlete Bike – Photo: Aniko Towers

The Run – 35:08

Thankfully T2 was much better at 39s, the Nathan lock laces certainly helping here! Sadly that was pretty much the end of the good news for the run. Straight away my calf muscles felt very tight and were cramping quickly. I took it steady and stopped to stretch occasionally, eventually I got into a bit of a rhythm and started to pick the pace up, but sadly just before the turnaround I felt my right calf give up. I had no choice but to walk and headed back to the finish line. After about a mile I was able to ‘hobble jog’ and being determined to finish with some degree of a run went for it.

Halesowen Triathlon 2015 - Triathlete Run
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – First Triathlete Run – Photo: Aniko Towers
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 - Triathlete Medic
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – First Triathlete Medic! – Photo: Aniko Towers

There was great support from everyone at the finish and I finished with an overall time of 1:45.30, currently a PB! Here’s to the next one, as I’ve definitely been bitten by the bug and plan to do more!

A nod at this point to thetrinerd who trashed his time from last year and finished in 1:15 – great stuff!

Halesowen Triathlon 2015 - Triathlete The End
Halesowen Triathlon 2015 – Triathlete Over – Photo: Aniko Towers
Events, Training

220 Triathlon Show, Back to Training and Lapland!

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Not too much recent to report other than a recent visit to the 220 Triathlon Show. Thankfully the manflu has finally abated after coming back to haunt me, it was decent enough to stay gone for my trip to Lapland to celebrate my good wife’s birthday though!

Lapland

Mild tangent to report that if you can, make a trip to Lapland, it’s an amazing experience. We booked for a four night stay at the Muotkan Maja Wilderness Lodge where aside from being fortunate enough to witness the Northern Lights, we also went husky sledding, reindeer sleighing, snowmobiling and snow shoe walking. All of the events were fantastic and really enjoyable, even though the temperature dropped to -30 degrees celsius and never got above -4! The staff couldn’t be more friendly or helpful either, a highly recommended trip!

Back to some sort of training…

Back to the more triathlon related stuff, I’ve been slowly getting back into training both on my own and with the club that is at my local gym. I’ve established that I’m currently not very fit, relatively speaking am a slow swimmer but thankfully still seem to have decent running pace in these old legs! The gym sessions are on a Wednesday evening at David Lloyd Worcester and start with either a Bike (Spin) or Run (outside) followed by an hour in the pool. I don’t have my ‘bike legs’ yet but I’m assured these will come, so find some of the bike sessions pretty tough but the running sprints the other day were a little easier for me. I am struggling in the pool though, mostly with getting calf cramp toward the end of the sessions. I was pleased to get a benchmark time for the 400m, even if 9:06 is pretty damn slow!

I finally got to play with my Garmin Edge 1000 too as I had a bike ride planned for Sunday morning. The “Round Trip Route Planning” is excellent, simply select an approximate distance for a ride and you’re presented with up to 3 options with a quick summary of distance and elevation. So off we went, selecting the route and heading off. What I learned here is that you also need to actually start the journey tracking as otherwise it doesn’t log the route, ride, cadence etc…. bit of an oversight on Garmin and my behalf I feel!! Either way, a very enjoyable ride taking in some new areas that we’d not been too and encountering a lot of other cyclists out enjoying the brief bit of dry, if rather windy, weather. This was also my first ride since my bike fit and I’m pleased to report that the bike felt much better, as did I!

Following the bike ride we even threw in a quick brick run so I could start to practise transitions. This needs work as my legs felt like unknown objects below my waste that were doing their own thing. I’m sure it’ll improve with practise but we’ve some way to go yet…

220 Triathlon Show

At the weekend The Tri Nerd and I headed to the 220 Triathlon Show, held at Sandown Park in Surrey. We both had some things to look at; a wetsuit for me and an aero helmet and tri shoes for thetrinerd. Sadly he left empty handed as there were none of the above on display, which seemed a bit of an oversight for a triathlon show! I was more fortunate and spent a great deal of time forcing myself in and out of neoprene. All in all it was a very useful experience and i learned that I’m a different size from all manufacturers and price does not always indicate quality. I walked away with a lovely Zone3 Aspire which was a decent price and they threw in a few goodies too. In a make you feel good moment, I needed the size down from my expected weight too….. The picture below shows the level of delirium that had kicked in, this was the stall before Zone3 though, so ended soon after!

2xu A:1 Wetsuit - 220 Triathlon Show
Hey good lookin’

There weren’t many bikes on display, a Boardman display that had all the tri specific models and a decent offer including a Huub wetsuit… sadly i don’t have the money for a bike just yet and it wouldn’t be the entry level Boardman anyway! What did stand out was the Dassi TT Bike. Started up and run by ex-aerospace engineers with a clear view on how to approach and design an aero product. It’s also designed and built as much as possible in the UK – groupsets being the biggest problem. There were some lovely touches to the design, such as they setup your geometry with an adjustable stem and you then have the option to have a custom carbon stem manufactured to reduce 300g of weight – bit of an issue if you want to change later mind…. The other great thing was that the design and colour is completely unique to you, so whilst it takes about 12 weeks to get your bike, it’s completely to your spec and design. I was quite surprised at the pricing too, the display model had their own aero wheels and cockpit but was running Campagnolo Chorus EPS. So all in all a decent spec but less than £5k as shown. I want one.

Dassi TT Bike - 220 Triathlon Show
Engineer design and built, best looking bike at the show
Dassi TT Bike - Rear - 220 Triathlon Show
Not much for the chasing pack to see…

We spent a great deal of time sampling Protein and Energy bars too. I think we might have been slightly over energised for most of the day but given the lunch options on hand, maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing!! I suddenly have a yearning for a Clif Bar again….

The final thing we did was to have our swimming analysed by Paul Newsome from Swim Smooth. This took the format of an endless pool (want one) and an earpiece over which you could hear the instructions. Whilst we didn’t get ages on this, it was a novel concept and certainly useful! Overall I’d say the show could have done with some better organisation, the website was not particularly helpful and we had to contact Zoggs directly to find out how to book for the swim. As it was we were the first people through the door on the day and the only spaces available were at 5pm, despite the fact that we were told you could only book on the stand. Our only assumption was that people from other days had booked for the Saturday.

One final thing, I did find this beauty hiding downstairs…. at least I’ve realised It’s not ideal. The colour really is yellow as expected and not the green it claims. I view that as £9k saved!

Scott Plasma Team Edition 2015 - 220 Triathlon Show
First one i’ve seen in the flesh…. beautful!
Cycling, Training

Triathlon Bike Research (manflu content)

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I appear to be suffering from a heavy dose of manflu which has stopped me training, it has however lead to plenty of triathlon bike research. Now to be clear, I don’t need a new bike, but everyone knows the n+1 maths for how many bikes you need to own… Additionally, some folks would call me utterly obsessive when it comes to new challenges, and they’d probably be absolutely right. When I get an idea in to my head I can spend hours, days even weeks meticulously researching it before I actually do anything. Next I become a fully fledged ‘all the gear and no idea’ guy and finally I usually get injured. So this time has been interesting for me, but maybe not so much for my wife!

Whilst I’ve been unable to train, which fingers crossed won’t be for much longer if I can just get rid of this cough, sore throat and find my voice again, I’ve been researching proper triathlon bikes again. As you’ll know from reading my blog, yes all 4 of you… I currently have a Trek Madone 2.1 which I have to say is a lovely bike; despite the fact that I keep falling off it due to clipping out issues. Yet, I know that as and when I get more into triathlon I am going to need (read, want) a proper triathlon bike. I am sure there will be numerous ways of justifying this to myself, but ultimately it’s just that they look amazing and genuinely are quicker. In all honesty on Sprint and Standard distance events I probably won’t notice much difference but as I have longer distance plans in mind it seems completely logical to get one now. Doesn’t it?

I have found myself trawling all over the place, do I want mechanical, probably SRAM Red22 or electronic, definitely Ultegra Di2? Or do I wait to see what the new SRAM Wireless stuff is going to bring to the table? After that I obviously need something that fits into the colour scheme. And finally I don’t want a Cervelo. That latter point is based solely on the fact that I don’t like to follow the crowd whilst acknowledging the fact it’s probably the best choice, I just don’t want one. It’s arguably the same reason I actively avoid BMW’s, that and the atrocious build quality.

Dream League Triathlon Bikes

Like everyone else in the world of triathlon bikes we all have dreams, I’d love a Scott Plasma Team, but at £8499 it’s a touch pricey. Additionally the Cannonade Slice Black is rather lovely but that’s about the same price. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the Trek Project One website too and that’s also rather silly money, but the colour scheme issue is dealt with. We’re talking about £7k for what I want from them… Probably top of the dream list is the Wilier Twin Blade, but the price is more than the others…..

Scott Plasma Team Edition Triathlon Bike
Scott Plasma Team Edition
Cannondale Slice Black Inc Triathlon Bike
Cannondale Slice Black Inc
Trek Speed Concept 7 Project One Triathlon Bike
Trek Speed Concept 7 Project One
Wilier Twin Blade Triathlon Bike
Wilier Twin Blade

Mid Table Triathlon Bikes

Next up we have the mid priced options, Cannonade do a ‘lesser’ version of the team which has Ultegra Di2 but as always with triathlon bikes comes with crappy wheels, so at £3999 it’s not too crazy, but you need to budget at least £1500 for some decent aero wheels. Equally Scott also do a cheaper variant but they come with no electronic options so whilst they look cheaper, assuming the standard cost for aero wheels again, we’re still talking around £4500! At this point the Specialised Shiv becomes an option, the bike (with crap wheels) is around £2500 so all in we’re at about £4000…. still got fairly mediocre gears though with 105’s fitted now!

Cannondale Slice Ultegra Di2 Triathlon Bike
Cannondale Slice Ultegra Di2
Scott Plasma 10 Triathlon Bike
Scott Plasma 10
Specialized Shiv Elite Triathlon Bike
Specialized Shiv Elite

Vaguely Realistic Triathlon Bikes

So finally, to where I think i’ll be starting, I think we’re down to either the slightly cheaper version of the Shiv, or waiting until it’s on a blowout deal (the local Specialized Concept Store recently sold an ex demo Pro version with the fancy wheels for £3000, so that’s worth a look!) or either of the BMC Time Machine TM02 which appeals for some quirky reason, but it’s still £2300. Or finally the Fuji Norcom Straight 2.5, it’s a base spec in terms of components but so are the prices to replace them… at £1600 it’s almost a bargain!

I guess I’ll need to go ride them when I can, which leads on to the next rant, finding a store that has them. Locally I have Epic Cycles who stock Cannondale and Scott. The Specialized Concept Store is in Birmingham and then Evans Cycles are the sole carrier of BMC and Fuji in the UK but they’ve only got stock of both models at their central warehouse in Gatwick!

BMC Timemachine TM02 Triathlon Bike
BMC Timemachine TM02
Fuji Norcom Straight 2.5 Triathlon Bike
Fuji Norcom Straight 2.5

And after I got home, a couple of late entries to the field. I present the Merida Warp Tri 500, which scores very highly on the colour scheme and not too bad on the components – the wheels could actually be useful without needing to be replaced immediately. The same can be said of the Felt B12 which has top end Dura Ace components, slightly let down by the front shifters and crank but hey… the best bit about these is they are £2600 and £1999 respectively. Even better news is I seem to have stumbled across a dealer who carries the majority of the above bikes that I like – welcome Tredz Bikes who carry Scott, Cannonade, Specialized, Felt and Merida, thus I could try all of the realistic options except for the BMC and the Fuji.

Felt Bicycles B12 Triathlon Bike
Felt Bicycles B12
Merida Warp Tri 5000 Triathlon Bike
Merida Warp Tri 5000

Even later entries, i’d forgotten the direct supply options, both of which offer amazing back for buck. The Dolan is just over £2000 in the spec I like (Ultegra mechanical) but comes with genuinely usable aero wheels, even though they’re alloy braking. The Canyon is even better value based on the complete spec of Ultegra Di2, full carbon aero wheels etc… but it is £3999!

Dolan Scala Triathlon Bike
Dolan Scala
Canyon Speedmax CF Triathlon Bike
Canyon Speedmax CF

Of course I could just buy a frames and build my own…. oh god, help me!

Cycling

Bike Fit

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I had a bike fit at Speeds Cycles in Bromsgrove today, something I felt was necessary based on my list of injuries. I’ve only ridden the bike once but already felt there was room for improvement. Lovely folks, specific thanks to Owen for the time and thoroughness and Hannah for the coffee!

First up Owen checked my cleats and ended up making some fairly significant adjustments to get foot/knee/ankle position right. First up was locating the bone in the side of my foot with a very technical masking tape and pen!

Bike fit cleat adjustment

With this located we adjusted the fore and aft position. After some pedalling and the extensive use of frickin’ laser beams we were able to fine tune the side to side position too. At this point it became obvious that I need to work on my foot position on my right leg, I assume that the knee injury is to blame, as I am not keeping my right foot flat on the pedal stroke.

Next up we moved the saddle back by about 10mm to align my knee correctly over my foot, the laser beams were back for this too!

Bike fit saddle adjustment

Bike fit knee alignment

Moving to the front of the bike, we measured my shoulders and discovered that I needed some slightly narrower handlebars. The standard fit on my 56cm frame were 42cm wide which were making me v-shaped at the front. As a result we ended up with some Zipp Service Course 70. They have a few other bonuses, they’re lighter, the drops are more comfortable and the top of the bars is flatter and also more comfortable.

Bike fit handlebar swap

After we’d got the handlebars the right size next we needed to work on my forward reach; this was one of the areas I had identified as needing work as I had been struggling to reach the hoods comfortably. We tried a shorter stem, this was a 90cm in the pictures, but reverted back to the standard 100mm after further analysis.

We added an additional 3mm spacer to raise the bar up and also reversed it to get a positive 7 degrees as my core isn’t strong enough yet to get down low enough.

Bike fit additional spacer

Overall feel much more comfortable but have been asked to pop back after a few rides to update Owen and make any tweaks if necessary.

Thanks guys! Great value for money!

Bike fit done!

Finally I did try to swap out for this beauty at the end, right frame size, right handlebar size, right colour…. Wrong price mind and I think Hannah Drewett would miss it!

Hannah Drewett's Trek Madone Project One

Cycling, Training

First bike ride

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Today was literally my first bike ride on a road bike since I was about 10. It looked promising, I’d bought all the cold weather gear, though couldn’t justify a colour scheme matching jacket, so bright orange was the order of the day!

First things first I had to attach all the bits and pieces I’d bought for my bike over the months; Garmin Edge 1000, Garmin Speed and Cadence Sensor, bottle cages. Then remove the bits that were surplus to requirement; bell(!), front, rear and wheel reflectors. I ‘agonised’ over placement of the Garmin and ended up opting for the stem rather than out front and it seemed to work pretty well.

The weather seemed to be on the positive side, a nice crisp winters day, no clouds, blue sky etc

Lovely day for a first bike ride until we set off and then within 15 minutes it was zero degrees Celsius, raining and would later turn into sleet… Lovely!

Perfect riding weather!

We had originally intended to do the cycle leg of the Halesowen Triathlon but Anth had driven that way and reported crazy traffic. As such, we decided to head off around the Clent Hills instead. I don’t think either of us had realised quite how hilly the route would be though, despite the subtle clue in the name. A total elevation of 350m including one continuous climb of just shy of 100m elevation!

I learnt a few lessons today:
1. I need to practice unclipping from my cleats – 3 falls giving a grazed knee and bruised finger where it got trapped in the brake.
2. I need to practice clipping into my cleats. I was improving but still struggled at times to get back in solidly.
3. I need to improve my fitness.
4. I need to work on keeping a smooth cadence, by anticipating when I need to change gear, rather than reacting.
5. I’m really glad I watched a video clip recently on how to deal with a speed wobble as I had a fairly major one at 40+ kph which was not fun!
6. It’s a good idea to have lights in winter as it can get dark really quickly when the weather is dismal.

All that said I had a really enjoyable ride out, even if I did feel like death at the top of the evil climb!

On top of the world, or at least it felt like it!

Cycling, Gear, Training

Wattbike and Garmin Forerunner 920xt

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Today I discovered that the Wattbike and Garmin 920xt can actually be friends and will talk to each other. I had been a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to track my indoor cycling efforts and was trying to manually remember the details to add in later. As the training plan calls for consistent efforts of 85-95 cadence at the moment I was able to use this as a guide but only had heart rate to reference back to. When setting up the bike today though I noticed a little line on the display that referenced an ANT+ channel, I pedalled a bit and set my Garmin to search, lo and behold it found Power, Speed and Cadence options – rejoice! When I got home I did find a plethora of information on wattbike’s website showing how to do it of course, but it’s easy when you know!

As a result of the above I was able to garner a shed load of information that currently means very little, other than I’ve read a lot about it elsewhere! I was happy to note an average speed of nearly 20mph for my short ride, my cadence was spot on at 85 and an average power of 125w given the above seems a good thing. I think.

Unfortunately the groovy ‘curve’ running machines offer no integration so I was only able to rely on the watch itself for that.

A week in to the training plan and I’m feeling pretty good still, I’m deliberately sticking to it religiously, despite at times feeling I can push harder or longer. I did substitute a long weekend bike/run session for a spin class – my dear wife suggested we did one at the gym at 9.30 on a Saturday morning, mad girl! This weekend I’m also going to do a recce of the bike route for the forthcoming triathlon with a friend, thetrinerd. This did involve raiding the Halford’s sale to purchase some winter riding goodies, but more importantly it means I’m actually going to get to finally ride my bike!!!

(not) just another triathlon site