Recognising, Quantifying and Managing Stress

Stress is Good

Stress can come from a variety of different sources and can be an emotional response or a physiological process. Stress can be a positive experience; increased work-load may eventually lead to a promotion and the stress of raising a child can be fulfilling. In the athletic world, stressing the mind and body to almost breaking point is probably the only way to win an Olympic gold medal in most sports.

Training for triathlons puts the body under varying degrees of stress. As training load increases, the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems are stressed and then adapt during the recovery phases of training. Without stressing the body, a person will not get fitter/faster/stronger.

Too much Stress can be Bad

Prolonged periods of stress can lead to psychological or physical break-down. The process leading to this is complex but largely involves the hormone Cortisol - often referred to as the ‘stress hormone’.

At normal levels Cortisol helps regulate glucose metabolism, blood pressure, immune function and is released in higher levels at times of stress to help in the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response.

Prolonged levels of high Cortisol in the bloodstream has been shown to:

• Affect the persons ability to relax
• Raise blood pressure
• Lower immunity
• Decrease bone density
• Decrease muscle tissue 

It is easy to see how damaging raised Cortisol can be on an athlete and how emotional stress can lead to musculoskeletal injuries and illness.

Recognising Stress

As I mentioned in my previous blog, April was going to be a very busy month for me. I started my Level 3 BTF coaching qualification in April, so I spent two consecutive weekends at Bath University and then on the 29th I had the final assessment day of my Level 2 BTF coaching qualification. I recognised that I was going to have to reduce my training volume during April to cope with the increased travelling, reduced sleep quality and increased study time, otherwise I risked becoming ill or injured.

As a physiotherapist, I regularly come into contact with people and athletes who are experiencing high levels of emotional stress and this has manifested as aches, pains and injuries. They have failed to recognise that the stress they have been under has been excessive or have been unable/unwilling to manage it sufficiently.  

During the past two months I have been treating the injuries of runners training for the London and Manchester Marathons. Most of these injuries have been due to increasing running mileage too quickly, physically (and often emotionally) over-stressing the body and not giving sufficient time for the body to adapt. Some athletes are in denial and continue to try to train through pain which often ends in failure to achieve their goals.

The stress of injury can lead to emotional stress and raise Cortisol levels, which can leave the athlete more at risk of further injury and effect the healing process. It’s a vicious-circle.

My job involves helping people to recognise the damaging effects that stress is having on their body. Learning from my own mistakes and those of other athletes has enabled me to recognise and manage my own training stress more effectively. Hence the decision to back-off on my own training during April when I was going to be under a higher level of emotional stress.

Quantifying Stress

But how can an athlete or coach quantify training stress?

There has been a lot of discussion about TSS (Training Stress Score) recently and interviews with Hunter Allen and Paul Newsome on the IMTalk podcast have discussed this subject.

http://www.imtalk.me/home/2012/4/2/imtalk-episode-305-hunter-allen.html

http://www.imtalk.me/home/2012/4/16/imtalk-episode-307-alan-couzens-and-paul-newsome.html

The concept of quantifying TSS is outlined by Joe Friel in this Training Peaks article;

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/estimating-training-stress-score-(tss)-by-joe-friel.aspx

Matt Dixon from Purple Patch fitness discussed in an interview for MarathonTalk podcast how he uses a program called ‘Restwise’ to quantify recovery.

http://www.marathontalk.com/podcast/episode_75_matt_dixon.php

http://www.purplepatchfitness.com/partners/restwise

These interviews and articles highlight that the top coaches in the triathlon world are recognising the positive effect that training stress places on the body, but are also using measuring tools to quantify that stress so that it can be managed.

Managing Stress

On the Level 3 BTF triathlon coaching course, the focus is predominantly on profiling, planning and delivering training programs to individual athletes. Tools to monitor the effects of training load have been introduced and these include:

• Resting heart rate
• Recording no. of hours of sleep and sleep quality
• Scoring fatigue levels out of five (1-very good 5-very bad)
• Scoring muscle soreness out of five  (1-very good 5-very bad)
• Scoring ‘feel good factor’ out of five  (1-very good 5-very bad)

If these scores are recorded on a regular basis then the athlete and coach can look for trends.

Resting heart rate is probably the most useful measure of overall stress and health. A great example of this is with an athlete I am coaching who ran the Manchester Marathon last weekend. In the 4 days before the race his resting heart rate was around 41 bpm. The day after the Marathon it was 51. The stress to his body of running a Marathon had raised his resting heart rate by 10 beats.

If the scores are recorded during a period of ‘light’ training to establish a baseline, then it acts as a benchmark to evaluate the effects of training from. As training stress scores rise this can be compared with actual training data and field tests to ensure that the training load is not too high.

Incorporating rest days and encouraging relaxation is also very important in managing psychological and training stress.

Some athletes use training as a way of dealing with psychological stress. This can be a positive thing but care should be taken not to over-stress the body at times when it may be more vulnerable to injury. For example, ‘smashing’ a set of 16x400’s on the track after a stressful day at work may increase the risk of injury. A steady 10 mile run may be more appropriate.

Training Log

So I decided to reduce my training volume in April in an attempt to manage my overall stress levels. My main focus however was to increase the length of my ‘long run’ each week. In the final week of April I did a 16 mile long run which means that I’m now back to where I was (distance-wise) before I injured my Achilles.

Mon 2/4/12 Swim 4,000m

Tues 3/4/12 Run 13.1 miles (6.56)

Wed 4/4/12 Turbo 1hr with 30mins moderately hard (207W total for the 1hr)

Thurs 5/4/12 Run 9 miles (6.56) with 4 miles in 25.37 (6.24)

Fri 6/4/12 - no training today - spending time with Mum and family party at Kelly’s parents.

Sat 7/4/12 another Rest Day!

Sun 8/4/12 Cycle 76.6 miles (16.9) including one lap of the Ironman bike course then a second climb over Winter Hill and back home via Scout Road and Horwich. Very wet and windy ride but enjoyed it. Ran 4 miles after including 5km in 20.40 (6.40) around Buille Hill Park. 5 hours total training time.

Mon 9/4/12 Swim 4,000m with Louise including 2,000m of paddle work

Tues 10/4/12 Turbo 1hr (ADI’s)

Wed 11/4/12 Run 9 miles (6.39) with 4 miles in 24.50 (6.12) felt good.

Thurs 12/4/11 1hr turbo (ADI’S) good power achieved on the descending intervals.

Fri 13/4/11 Run 14 miles (6.57)

Sat/Sun - coaching course in Bath - no training.

Mon 16/4/12 1hr turbo ADI’s

Tues 17/4/12 Run 9 miles (6.47) with 4 miles in 24.23 (6.05)

Wed 18/4/12 Swim 4,000m including 10x200m paddles/band/buoy

Thurs 19/4/12 1hr turbo (2x10min - 254 279W)

Fri 20/4/12 Run 15 miles (7.02)

Sat & Sun no training as on coaching course in Bath

Mon 23/4/12 Swim 3,000m including 7x200m with paddles and band. Losing the buoy to encourage a faster arm turnover.

Tues 24/4/12 1hr turbo (15x1min power intervals - max 360W)

Wed 25/4/12 Run 16 miles (6.53) without taking a gel.

Thurs 26/4/12 no training

Fri 27/4/12 no training

Sat 28/4/12 2hrs steady on turbo (210W) on salty water only. Interesting experiment. Started to feel a bit light headed at 90 mins then very hungry soon after but was able to hold the power throughout. Felt like it took longer to recover after the session.

Sun 29/4/12 no structured training as on final day of Level 2 course but did spend 2 hours in the pool doing a lot of drill work which was very good. Left arm weakness was highlighted.

Yesterday I passed my Level 2 BTF coaching qualification. In two weeks time I will be down in Bath again on the 3rd weekend of my Level 3 qualification but other than that it’s a much quieter month and my training volume will be higher in May than in April.

The key focus in May will be to get 2 or 3 quality rides in on my TT bike around the Ironman UK bike course at target IM pace - 20mph. At this point in time I have no idea how realistic it will be to hold an average speed of 20mph for 112 miles on the Bolton course, but by the end of May I will have answered that question.

This question is causing me a healthy amount of stress/anxiety - the right amount to motivate me to get out there and train!

Feeling great on my Dolan TT bike

Last year I bastardised my Dolan TT bike, turning it into a road bike for use in elite triathlon racing. It worked well as a road bike because the seat tube angle is not as aggressive as some TT frames - a feature which makes it a great TT bike for undulating courses such as Ironman UK in Bolton.

With my switch of focus to Ironman racing this year, it was time to return the Dolan to its former TT glory and treat it to some new wheels. 

I was riding some nice Carbon X-Treme wheels the last few years, but these are sprinter rims with tubular tyres and I wanted to switch to clinchers for racing Ironman due to the ease of changing an inner tube if I puncture. Carrying two spare tubs on a bike is messy and it’s difficult to safely fix a tub onto a rim during a race. In the photo, you can see how small and compact the saddlebag is and within it lies two spare inner tubes (complete with valve extenders), one tyre lever (the tyres are easy to get off - I actually was able to remove one without using levers), two CO2 cannisters and a small inflator.

The new wheels that I’ve bought are Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR clinchers and it was my first ride out on them yesterday in the last of the Manchester Triathlon Club’s winter Duathlons. They felt really nice and held up well to the battering of hitting a few holes in the road.

After the race I did a further 32 miles on the TT bike and my position felt perfect. I’ve been doing all of my turbo sessions on the TT bike this year and have been tweaking things like saddle height, saddle fore-aft, tri-bar reach/angle, and all the tweaking has resulted in a very comfortable and aerodynamic position.

I did the ride after the race with a friend who had just purchased a new TT bike and whilst I was able to maintain my aero position throughout the ride, he was having to change position between the tri-bars and cow-horns frequently. He said that his elbows felt too close together on the tri-bars and his breathing was a little restricted. He is going to get some different, more adjustable bars as a result and start tweaking his position on the turbo. If necessary he will come and see me for a formal bike-fit.

I’ve just done a bike-fit for Joe Skipper who has just got a new Cervelo P3 (not as nice as my Dolan) from his sponsorship deal with Royles bike shop. 

See my latest video about the bike fit process here

http://www.physio-coach.co.uk/index.php/video/id/11

Training log 19/3/12 to 1/4/12

Mon 19/3/12 Swim 4,000m - feeling remarkably good considering the lack of swim training of late!

Tues 20/3/12 Run 11 miles (7.07)

Wed 21/3/12 Turbo 1hr (10x2mins)

Thurs 22/3/12 Run 10 miles (6.54) with 4 miles in 25.47 (6.26)

Fri 23/3/12 Turbo 80 mins - 3x10min (255 267 267W) this session hurt like hell - it’s got to be doing me good!

Sat 24/3/12 Rest Day - spent the afternoon in the back yard scrubbing the patio - felt like a quality upper limb and core workout!

Sun 25/3/12 Cycle 68 miles (17.9) including once round the IMUK bike loop - weather was beautiful - I hope it’s like that on 22nd July! Ran 4 miles off the bike (6.39) right quad was a bit tight during the first mile but otherwise I felt great. Nutrition - 2 bottles of SIS GO and 3 Powerbars on the bike & 200ml of water before the run.

Mon 26/3/12 Swim 4,000m - felt good. I’ve been concerned that I need to get more swim training in but I’m swimming pretty well off one session a week at the moment - long may that last!

Tues 27/3/12 Turbo 1hr (10x2min) during the session I raised my saddle 5mm then lowered it 3mm for a net rise of 2mm.

Wed 28/3/12 Run 12 miles (6.58) felt very comfortable.

Thurs 29/3/12 Turbo 80 mins (3x10min - 262 273 280W) torturous session but the numbers were good! New saddle height felt good.

Fri 30/3/12 Swim 4,000m - good session. Had planned to do a tempo run but was concerned that my Achilles was niggling a bit.

Sat 31/1/12 Rest Day - power-hosed the back yard because it still wasn’t looking clean enough after the scrubbing I gave it last weekend!

Sun 1/4/12 Man Tri Training Duathlon 9.7 mile bike + 3.4 mile run. 1st place. Did 8 miles warm-up before race on the bike and 32 miles afterwards - good to spend 50 miles on the TT bike - position is spot-on now. Av speed for bike was only 23.4 mph which is not fast enough. Run pace was 5.47 - which is encouraging because I wasn’t pushing hard and it’s the fastest I’ve run this year. My plan had been to push the bike hard and run well within myself so as not to over-stress my Achilles. The plan worked well and my Achilles was pain-free. My concern about it earlier in the week was no doubt psychosomatic! 

April is going to be an extremely busy month for me. I’m down in Bath for the middle two weekends commencing my Level 3 BTF coaching course and have another coaching course at the end of April. Due to this, I will not be racing at all during April and am going to me continuing to tick over - maintaining swim and bike strength and gradually increasing the length of my long run. I don’t plan to start any run speed work until May.

Love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe

Over the past two months I’ve had to be more time-efficient with my training. Only being able to train once per day means that every session has to have a specific goal. This has meant that I’ve been doing most of my training alone. Training with a club or a group of friends is sociable and sometimes it can help you dig deeper. The downside however, is that sometimes specific training needs are not met. 

I also actually really enjoy training on my own and being alone with my own thoughts. I feel that this is healthy, particularly as I work in a job where I am constantly engaging in conversation with different clients all day. I really appreciate the variety of topics that I discuss with people during the course of a working day. For example I spent my first appointment today discussing marathon training and ended the day discussing spirituality and the eccentricities of Catholicism and Judaism, via conversations about the side-effects of Radiotherapy, the fuel economy of the Mini Cooper and the renovation of old buildings… I’m looking forward to tomorrow mornings 10 mile solo run! 

                    Love many

Swim training

I’ve been doing all my swim training alone at Broughton Pool in Salford - 5 minutes drive away. If I get to the pool between 8.30 and 9.00 then I can bash-out a quality 4,000m session in 70 minutes, which involves speed-work and paddle-work every time. Contrast this with a 15 minute drive to Moss Side pool to train with Manchester Tri Club, where I will get through a similar distance in 90 minutes and then be faced with a 35 minute frustrating drive through traffic back home.

I save myself an hour each time I swim train on my own and ensure that I work on my own specific weaknesses.

Bike training

I do the majority of my bike training alone on a turbo trainer in a spare bedroom of our house - it’s time-efficient, quality training every time I get on my turbo. As I am now getting into Ironman training, I have spent Sunday mornings getting out on the roads with a local friend, Paul. We’ve been gradually increasing the length of our Sunday rides over the past month including riding the Ironman UK bike course.

I often get asked the question why I don’t go out on the Sunday rides with Manchester Tri Club - the answer is that they start too late and aren’t always specific to my needs. Right now I’d much rather get out on my bike and head up to Rivington and ride round the Ironman UK bike course every week.

This weekend however, Paul persuaded me to do the the Jodrell Bank 80 mile sportive. I got up at 5am to have breakfast, picked Paul up from Astley and then drove over to Poynton. As we were getting Paul’s bike out of the car we noticed that he had a broken spoke on his back wheel which caused us to make a dash to Didsbury to borrow a wheel off a friend. We returned to Poynton and started the Sportive as the last two riders at 9am. We cycled most of the ride alone, catching the slower riders at about 50 miles. I eventually got home at 3pm after dropping the borrowed wheel off in Didsbury and Paul off at his house. I’d been up for 10 hours and all I’d managed was an 80 mile ride - what a bloody waste of time and £25! I wish I had done a 100 mile ride from my house incorporating 2 laps of the Ironman UK bike course - if I’d have set out at 6am I would have been home for 11.30. Lesson learnt!

                    Trust few

Run training

I had to have 5 weeks off run training completely after flaring-up my (recovering) Achilles injury whilst out in Spain over the New Year. The Achilles only became finally pain-free after a skiing holiday in Austria at the end of January. I think immobilising my ankle in a ski-boot was the perfect medicine to allow the injury to fully heal. Before the holiday it had still been niggling when walking.

Training alone when recovering from a running injury is essential to ensure that I don’t run too fast or too far too soon!

I am really missing my Saturday morning training sessions in Heaton Park with the lads from Salford Harriers. But I know that if I return to that road-reps session too soon then I could injury my Achilles again.

                    I’m just having to be patient and paddle my own canoe right now! 

Training log during the past 3 weeks:

Mon 20/2/12 Swim 4,000m

Tues 21/2/12 Run 7 miles (7.54)

Wed 22/2/12 1hr turbo (10x2min)

Thurs 23/2/12 Run 8 miles (8.00)

Fri 24/2/12 Training plans disrupted by loosing Gem on our morning walk at the back of Eccles College a mile away from where we live (she found her own way home!) Clever bloody dog!

Sat 25/2/12 Was planning to run but decided to rest-up for a big ride tomorrow over the IMUK bike course - didn’t want to risk over-loading my Achilles.

Sun 26/2/12 Cycle 66.5 miles with Paul including one lap of the IMUK bike course (17.1mph)

Mon 27/2/12 Swim 4,000m

Tues 28/2/12 1hr turbo (10x2min)

Wed 29/2/12 Run 9 miles (7.47)

Thurs 1/3/12 75mins turbo - 3x8 mins with 12 mins spin (223 239 249W)

Fri 2/3/12 Swim 4,000m

Sat 3/3/12 Run 10 miles (7.38)

Sun 4/3/12 Rest Day (big night out last night)

Mon 5/3/12 Run 10 miles (7.22)

Tues 6/3/12 1hr turbo (10x2min)

Wed 7/3/12 Swim 4,000m

Thurs 8/3/12 Run 10 miles (7.00)

Fri 9/3/12 75min turbo 3x9 mins with 11 mins spin (246 253 267W)

Sat 10/3/12 No training today - on a coaching course in Lymm

Sun 11/3/12 Cycle 76 miles (17.5mph)

Kinetic PB triathlon training camp

Over the New Year I was invited to attend a training camp in Cuevas del Almanzora, Southern Spain at a new triathlon training venue, called Kinetic PB. There were about 12 of us on the camp, mostly from Manchester and Leeds, with a nice mix of abilities - from relative novice to potential Olympian. 

More details about the venue can be found on the Kinetic PB website http://www.kineticpb.com/# but in a nutshell, the site consists of big building offering hostel-like facilities, next to a purpose-built rowing canal (built for the 2005 Mediterranean Games), surrounded by hills with fantastic running trails. 

If hostel-like accommodation is not to your taste then you can stay down the road at Desert Springs, whilst still having access to all off the same training facilities. Also, Oliver Watts from Kinetic PB has plans to put some log-cabins on the site for those that want more privacy in self-catering units.

For our group, the accommodation was perfect and also good enough for the British Triathlon World Class Performance Squad who joined us out there at the end of the week. 

The weather was perfect for training - 20 degrees everyday and cloudless skies! This made for great cycling weather on quiet roads - along the coast or up into the surrounding hills and mountains.

Cafe stops were great - sitting in the sun and refuelling. We found that we got a lot of Coffee, Coke, Ice-cream and sandwiches for our Euro’s and guessing how little the ‘bill’ would add-up to was a running joke all week!

Cafe stop after riding out to Aguilas (28 miles) from Cuevas, before swimming in the Med (in the background) in crystal-clear water.

Everyday consisted of a morning swim in the local 25m pool (4 miles down the road) before breakfast. We were then usually out on the bikes for 11am, then back for a snack before heading out into the trails for a run before it got dark. Then we took it in turns to cook the evening meal (in pairs) for the rest of the group, which worked really well, although Joe Skipper’s Curry was a bit too hot for some!

People dipped in and out of sessions depending on their ability and how they felt and generally we split into two groups on the bike.

During the course of the week, I swam 3 times (I needed a lie-in and wasn’t keen to get up for the early morning swims!) - once in the pool, once in the sea at Aguilas and on the last day I swam in the rowing canal see video here http://www.physio-coach.co.uk/index.php/video/id/10

I wanted to get as much cycling in as I could, taking advantage of the warm weather, quiet roads and fantastic routes. I managed 350 miles in 6 days and felt strong on the bike. I was pleasantly surprised by my cycling ability compared to the others on the camp, considering how little cycling I do. The two turbo sessions that I’ve been doing (one interval, one 2 hour steady) are obviously having some benefit! It has given me confidence that I am in a good position to start Ironman bike training - getting out on increasingly longer rides over the Spring.

Before the camp, I had been gradually building up my running again after my recent Achilles injury and had got some decent runs in during December -especially over Christmas down at my Mum’s. Whilst out in Spain I ran 30 miles over 4 runs with two decent 10 milers, but unfortunately my Achilles flared-up again at the end of the week! I think it flared-up due to a combination of the hill-climbing on the bike and running on tired-legs.

I’ve advised other athletes in the past to approach training camps with a lot of caution, as it’s very easy to over-train. I went from an average of 10 hours training per week, to over 30 hours in 6 days. Yes - I am an idiot and it’s no wonder I have flared-up my Achilles again. But… the weather, the training on offer and wanting to get out with the rest of the group, meant that I didn’t follow my own sound advice! I’m only human!

So, since getting back from Spain, I’ve been walking daily to gently load the Achilles as it heals and focussing on my swimming.

I’m actually really enjoying my swimming at the moment. I’m doing all my swim sessions on my own so that I can focus specifically on what I need to work on - which right now is strength and basic aerobic fitness.

For example my swim session yesterday consisted of 10x400m with 30 secs rest between, as:

400m swim, 400m drills (catch-up, FQS, high-elbow), 400m as 25m fly, 75m fc repeating continuously, 400m buoy and band, 400m paddles and band (no buoy), then repeat these five 400’s again. I plan to gradually build this session up to 6,000m over the next 2 months. 

As far as racing goes, I’ve pulled-out of the Helsby Half Marathon and don’t plan to race again until Wilmslow Half Marathon at the end of March. With sensible training and strength-work I should be fit to race again by then!

The theme of 2012 is to get strong!

Despite the injury, I really enjoyed my time in Spain and would recommend the Kinetic PB training venue to anyone. You’ll struggle to find a better triathlon training venue anywhere else in Europe and the dry, warm climate is perfect for training.

Joe skipper and Paul Hawkins have also posted blogs about their experiences of the Kinetic PB camp and are both well-worth a read:

http://notanotheraveragejoe.blogspot.com/

http://paulhawkinstriathlete.blogspot.com/

Setting realistic goals

My recent Achilles injury has prompted me to have a long, hard think about my goals for 2012. I now recognise that I was close to mental burn-out as well as physical breakdown. I recently had a week in The Lake District with my wife, Kelly and our dog, Gemba. I did no training other than long walks everyday with Kelly and Gemba. Kelly and I spent a long time discussing my training and the effect it has on our relationship, my state of mind and my career. I felt like I went to the Lake District with a lot of stress and concerns, but returned much happier, with a new set of realistic goals for 2012. 

Kelly & Gemba

My main ‘A’ races for 2012 are the London Marathon and Ironman UK.

Here are two quotes from my blog over the past 2 months:

“I have a goal of running 2.30 at the London Marathon next year and definitely need to be closer to 71 minutes over a half marathon to achieve this.”

“Watching the Hawaii Ironman live last night was fantastic. Seeing Chrissie Wellington push her body to breaking point for the victory was truly inspiring and confirmed my main goal for 2012 - to qualify for Kona!”

I believe that I have the talent and training knowledge to achieve both of these goals. But, only if I put running and triathlon before everything else in my life and I am no longer prepared to do that. I now realise that I have put too much pressure on myself with these specific performance-based goals and that they are not realistic. I would have to commit a lot of time to training to achieve these goals which would have a negative effect on other areas of my life.

To achieve a happy balance between training, work and home-life, I find that I can only train once per day; in the morning, up to a total of 10 hours per week. Anything more than this starts to impact negatively on my home-life and career. During the 2011 triathlon season, when I was training twice a day, I started to notice the cracks appearing; I was not spending enough time with Kelly and I was often tired, irritable and anxious whilst at work. 

With 10 hours training per week, I believe I could run a sub 2.30 marathon if all of my training was dedicated to running. But I want to continue to swim twice a week and bike at least twice a week, so getting the required 60-70 miles per week running done to run a sub 2.30 marathon becomes impossible. I’ve thought about concentrating solely on running, but quickly dismissed the idea; I love the variety of triathlon training too much and want to continue competing in triathlons. Racing an Ironman triathlon next year is just as important to me as running a marathon.

To qualify for Kona, I think that it will require more than 10 hours a week of training - probably more like 15 hours, which would mean training twice a day at least 3 times a week. Qualifying for Kona off 10 hours a week training is unrealistic.

So my goals for 2012, in order of importance, now read as follows:

• To spend more quality time with Kelly
• To develop my coaching career, taking on more coaching of individuals and groups and furthering my knowledge through attending CPD days
• To become a better sports physiotherapist and spend more CPD time, sharing knowledge and ideas with my colleagues
• To complete the Ironman UK in the best possible time I can, based on 10 hours training per week and learn as much as I can from the experience
• To run the London Marathon and experience the atmosphere of taking part in one of the world’s best marathons. I will set a realistic target time for the race based on what time I run at the Wilmslow Half Marathon one month before the London Marathon.

For the past 6 years I have set myself very specific ‘Performance-based Goals’ in most of my races. In 2012 I am setting myself more ‘Experience-based Goals’.

As people say “everything happens for a reason” and in hindsight my Achilles injury has been a big blessing in disguise - it has given me an invaluable wake-up call. If the injury hadn’t occurred then I may have gone on to run a 10k PB at Leeds Abbey Dash, which would have fuelled my desire to run a sub 2.30 marathon, which would have led to continuing to put training before everything else in my life, which would eventually, I have no doubt, led to a physical and/or mental breakdown and possibly the breakdown of my relationships; at home and at work.

Triathlon is a fantastic sport, but it can also be a very expensive and time-consuming sport. As a coach who sets individual training plans for triathletes, I try to ensure that the training I recommend does not impact negatively on the athletes relationships. I want to be a great coach and not a marriage-wrecker!

To race and train well it is important to have minimal stress in ones life. Stress can lead to poor performance in races and injuries. So it makes sense to have a training philosophy that puts maintaining happy relationships before physical training.

Also, a minimalistic training regimen can increase the quality of the training. I know that if I am only able to train once per day, then I will go into that session fresher, in a better state of mind and will get a better quality workout. There are athletes that have achieved some amazing results off a minimalistic training regimen. Some people reading this will laugh because amongst my training peers, I am already seen as an athlete that does a relatively low volume of training. Well - even that relatively low volume was enough to cause problems in my life - so it was still too much at times!

Who knows, with a more relaxed approach to training I might even perform better and the ‘dreams’ of running a sub 2.30 marathon and qualifying for Kona might become a reality! But for now they remain dreams and not goals and if it happens off 10 hours a week training then I will be re-writing the training manuals!

If your reading this and setting goals for next season, then make sure those goals are realistic and don’t have a negative impact on your relationships at home and at work.

Unless you are a full-time triathlete, training for and competing in triathlons should be a positive, healthy lifestyle choice and not cause you prolonged periods of stress.

Training log 21/11/11 - 14/12/11

I have been having a period of relatively unstructured training over the past three weeks with the focus on rehabilitation from my Achilles injury and getting in some easy aerobic training.

Mon 21/11/11 Turbo 1hr steady

Tues 22/11/11 Swim 3,700m. Run 6.5 miles (7.50) pain-free

Wed 23/11/11 Turbo 2hrs in TT position (211W) felt very comfortable

Thurs 24/11/11 Swim 1,800m including 2x400m timed-swims (5.33 5.29) I’m happy with these times off just 2 swims per week. Run 7 miles (7.57) mild twinges from my Achilles

Fri 25/11/11 Turbo 1hr (217W)

Sat 26/11/11 Run 8 miles (7.49)

Sun 27/11/11 Rest Day

Mon 28/11/11 Run 10 miles (7.37)

Tues 29/11/11 - Sun 4/12/11 No training but plenty of walking on holiday in The Lakes.

Mon 5/12/11 Run 10 miles (7.37)

Tues 6/12/11 Swim 3,500m and then Run 6 miles (7.52) - it was on this run 5 weeks ago that I wrecked my Achilles - today it was pain-free.

Wed 7/12/11 2hrs Turbo (206W) felt very different on the road bike.

Thurs 8/12/11 Run 11 miles (7.46)

Fri 9/12/11 Swim 2,800m including 18x100m off 1.35 (1.25/1.26)

Sat/Sun - no training as on BTF Level 2 coaching course.

Mon 12/12/11 Run 10 miles (7.16)

Tues 13/12/11 Swim 1hr

Wed 14/12/11 2hrs Turbo (215W) on road bike.

I’m planning to have another 10 days of solid aerobic training - slowly building my running mileage and letting the pace gradually increase to help rehabilitate from my injury. I will ease-off over Christmas, spending quality time with family and am then going out to Southern Spain over the New Year to a fantastic new triathlon training venue called Kinetic PB. 

More details here: http://www.kineticpb.com/

I’m really looking forward to getting in a bit of warm weather training with friends and I’m also going to check out the logistics of putting on my own training camp at Kinetic PB in 2012.

Race report - Leeds Abbey Dash 10k & The 10k Predictor Session

Due to my Achilles injury I was not able to race the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, but I travelled over to the race with my wife and some athletes from Manchester Triathlon Club. I embraced the role of coach and bag-carrier, but I would much rather have been racing, particularly as conditions were perfect; cool, with no wind and ideal conditions for a PB.

I was immensely proud of my wife Kelly who ran 53.18 which was a new PB! Not bad off two runs per week with our dog (between 4-6 miles).

Two other athletes I was with; Joe Skipper and Mark Hanna had completed a ‘10k predictor’ session that was suggested in a British Miler’s Club Newsletter. I coached them through this predictor session at Manchester Tri Club’s Wednesday night track session 10 days prior to the race.

The ‘10k predictor’ session is as follows: 4k rep at target 10k pace 1,500m rep at the equivalent 5k race pace 1,000m rep at the equivalent 3k race pace 800m rep at the equivalent 1,500m race pace.

The paces are calculated from the McMillan calculator and there is a relatively short, 90 second rest interval between each rep.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/site/calculator

The times get quite challenging towards the end so I modified the session slightly so that the target pace was to run each rep 2 secs faster per 400m. Mark was aiming for a 38 minute 10k and Joe for sub 34 minutes.

The times they were hoping to achieve for each rep and what they actually ran were:

Mark (aiming for a 38 minute 10k)

4,000m in 15.12 (91s per 400m) Ran 15.00

1,500m in 5.33 (89s per 400m) Ran 5.40

1,000m in 3.37 (87s per 400m) Ran 3.40

800m in 2.50 (85s per 400m) Ran 2.47

Joe (aiming for a sub 34 minute 10k)

4,000m in 13.36 (81s per 400m) Ran 13.30

1,500m in 4.56 (79s per 400m) Ran 4.56

1,000m in 3.12 (77s per 400m) Ran 3.11

800m in 2.30 (75s per 400m) Ran 2.31

The times that each of them achieved during this session helped them gain confidence for the upcoming race. It also helped them to decide whether or not their targets were realistic and at what pace to aim to run at during the race. On the Wednesday before the 10k they both did a short, sharp track session of 8x400m off 2 minutes. Joe averaged 68s per 400 and Mark 76s.

On the day at the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, Joe ran 33.46 and Mark ran 38.28 and they were both very happy with their runs and as you can see, the predictor session worked very well. Interestingly, both athletes felt that the predictor session ‘hurt more’ than the 10k race itself.

Mark Hanna

Joe Skipper

Watching the race was a great motivator to me to do everything I can to get over my Achilles injury as soon as possible. During the past two weeks I have been doing calf raises, self-acupuncture and some light jogging and the injury is gradually improving.

This Saturday I popped into Sweatshop in Manchester to buy some new running tights and got chatting to Ben Riddell about my injury. He had a similar injury a few months ago and told me that he’d used ice on it virtually 24 hours a day for a week (including strapping an ice pack to his leg during the night!) and he recovered from the injury very quickly.

I may be a Physio with a lot of experience of treating running-related injuries, but I’m not too proud to accept and follow the advice of a (non-Physio) mate and I’ve always respected Ben’s opinion on all things running related! So, after seeing Ben I spent the evening with my injured Achilles immersed in ice-cold water in the mop-bucket at every opportunity.

The following day I had my first pain-free run in 3 weeks thanks to Ben’s invaluable advice! Or perhaps there was something magically therapeutic in the new Nike tights that he sold me!

Physiotherapists have an ever-expanding armoury of tools and modalities at their disposal to help them treat injuries. But, it’s the simple treatments that have stood the test of time - ice therapy and massage, along with a graded re-strengthening program that are the most effective treatments for most injuries.

A general guide with lower limb injuries is to ice the injury for 10 minutes every hour, take ‘relative rest’ from the activity that caused the injury but continue to apply some load to the injured structure as pain allows. For example, if you can walk pain-free then do so, if you can jog pain-free then do so, but if running at a fast pace causes pain then rest from this intensity.

As you can see from my training log I have been jogging most days over the past two weeks, gradually increasing the distance.

Training log week beginning 7/11/11

Mon 7/11/11 - 2 mile jog (av 7.15) mild discomfort from left Achillles.

Tues 8/11/11 Swim 4,600m - arms feeling it having not swam for a week. 3 mile hilly jog (av 7.54) - Achilles painful towards the end of the run.

Wed 9/11/11 1hr turbo building from 70% to 85% FTA. Run 4 miles with Kelly & Gem (av 9.25) Achilles pain-free at this pace.

Thurs 10/11/11 1hr turbo (10x2min/2min rec) Killer session holding hard efforts above FTA. Run 3.5 miles at 8 min miles.

Fri 11/11/11 Run 6 miles with Kelly & Gem (av 9.44) Achilles a bit sore throughout. Did acupuncture on Achilles in the evening.

Sat/Sun 12/13 - on BTF level 2 coaching course and decided to have another weekend off training. Did calf raises and acupuncture each evening.

Mon 14/11/11 Turbo 1hr progressing intensity each 20 mins - last 20 mins at 90% FTA. Run 3.6 miles (8.11) pain-free for 10 mind then started to niggle but not too bad. Managed 30 single leg raises with virtually no pain in the evening - with calf fatigue the limiting factor = progress!

Tues 15/11/11 Swim 4,000m. Got to 40 pain-free calf raises this evening.

Wed 16/11/11 Run 4 miles (8.31) pain-free for 1st 10 minutes and then mild aching the rest of the run - no sharp pain. Bike - turbo 1hr with last 20 mins around 260W - felt strong.

Thurs 17/11/11 Swim 3,200m. Run 4 miles (8.05) - similar response to yesterday. 45 calf raises post-run.

Fri 18/11/11 Bike - turbo 1hr - didn’t do the planned intervals and kept it comfortable (aerobic) as I’ve got a bit of a cold. 40 calf raises pain-free today - did these am & pm.

Sat 19/11/11 Run 6.5 miles (8.18) around Salford Quays & Trafford Park to keep the run as flat as possible - the test came at 4.5 miles as I ran over Centenary Bridge and my Achilles was fine. Only a very mild niggle throughout the run. The run was a bit longer than planned but it was such a beautiful morning and I just wanted to keep running. I’m confident that the injury is resolving well.

Sun 20/11/11 Run 6.5 miles (8.03) same route as yesterday - pain-free!

The plan over the next 2 weeks is to gradually increase the length of my runs and let the speed increase naturally as pain allows. I don’t plan to do any speed-work until the New Year.

Aaaaaaaaaachilles (even physios get injured)

It’s been well over 18 months since I was last forced to take a break from run training due to an injury, so I shouldn’t grumble…

…but last Monday I injured my left Achilles during an interval session. Aaaaaaaaaah! The session was 4x1,200m with a group of fast runners around an empty car park. Strangely I was feeling sharp pain in my Achilles during the warm-up, but chose to ignore it as I thought the pain was coming from my heel where my shoe had been rubbing from dancing at a wedding the previous night!

The Achilles felt a lot worse on the warm-down after the session. The following morning my Soleus muscle and Achilles were very tight getting out of bed and really sore when walking downstairs. I did a swim session and was feeling pain intermittently - though (interestingly) not when pushing-off the wall. After the swim I went for a 6 mile easy run with my dog as I was still thinking it was just a tightness in my Soleus that I would be able to run-off! I was wrong, the pain worsened, I struggled not to limp when running and later that day the Achilles swelled-up and started creaking (a definite sign of inflammation).

That night I iced the Achilles and the following morning I saw my colleague Andy Walling at Athlete Matters for a diagnosis and treatment. Andy is a great physio and is off to Kenya next week to work with some of the top British distance athletes at a UK Athletics High Altitude training camp. He confirmed that it was an Achilles Tendinopathy. I continued to Ice the Achilles that day and was able to complete a hard interval session on the bike (turbo trainer) with only minimal discomfort.

I then took the next 4 days off training completely - mostly due to the fact that I was down in Sussex visiting friends and family and it seemed a good excuse to have a complete break from training (more on mental fatigue later). On the 4th day I did a 90 minute brisk, hilly walk over Ashdown Forest where my Mum lives and the Achilles was completely pain-free.

During those 4 days I gently stretched the Achilles into dorsi-flexion by performing single-leg dips regularly through the day. On the 3rd day I added single-leg calf raises - in reps of 10 as pain allowed. By the 4th day I had minimal discomfort on waking and was able to descend stairs pain-free.

Immersing my injured Achilles in ice-cold water was essential during the first 48 hours of the injury to control the swelling and stop the ‘creaking’

Having gained confidence from the 90 minute walk, the following day I tried a run - 2 miles at 7.15 minute miles. I had a little discomfort during the run but afterwards there was no reaction and the following morning it was fine. The next day I did 3 miles - slower (8 minute miles) but included some hills - again minimal discomfort only and no post-run reaction. Today I did 4 miles with my wife at her pace (9 minute miles) and my Achilles was completely pain-free apart from when I stopped for a wee and then ran at 7 minute miles to catch her up!

I realise that this is too much detail for some people, but I want to highlight the importance of ‘loading’ the injured Achilles during the healing process. Jogging should be started as soon as the initial swelling (and creaking) has resolved - which will take approximately 5-7 days. Jogging is part of the rehabilitation process. I see runners who would rather not run at all than run at 9 minute miles with an injury, but they would probably recover from the injury quicker if they swallowed their pride! Running at 9 minute miles is still double the speed of a brisk walk.

It is essential to ‘load’ the Achilles with easy pain-free jogging during the healing process to promote the correct orientation of new collagen fibres. If a soft-tissue injury is not ‘loaded’ during the healing (regeneration/remodelling) phase then this can lead to random orientation of collagen fibres (scar tissue) and further weaken the structure.

Physiotherapist Andy Walling performing a specific mobilisation technique on my injured Achilles at Athlete Matters

I saw Andy for more physiotherapy today and he was pleased with the progress and estimated a 75% reduction in the swelling around the Achilles over the previous week.

The plan is to gradually increase the distance of my jogs and increase the number of calf raises. I estimate that it will take another 3-4 weeks before I am back to full training.

Long-term I am going to address the weakness in my Achilles by introducing hopping into my training program. Hopping will help improve power and strength in my Achilles and I know that a lot of elite athletes (especially the Kenyans) do a lot of this type of plyometric exercise.

Why did I sustain an injury to my left Achilles?

As a physiotherapist I am obviously interested in trying to work-out why this injury occurred. Here are my thoughts:

• I had not sufficiently recovered from the Half Marathon 8 days before.
• I warmed-up in racing flats, whereas normally I’d just put the flats on for the intervals.
• I had been doing more running during the week in neutral shoes due to having some lateral foot pain that I thought needed a change from motion control shoes.
• I was mentally fatigued. I’ve not taken a break from training and racing since the end of June and was starting to feel like I needed a rest.
• I was running hard, trying to get some speed back in my legs before the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k - where I wanted to get a PB!
• I may have been dehydrated due to a heavy weekend of 3 nights-out and plenty of boozing, leaving my tendons more vulnerable to injury.
• I may have partially injured my Achilles whilst dancing at the wedding the previous night.

All of the above factors may have had their part to play in the injury. 

What can be learnt from my injury?

• Don’t try to run-off a sharp pain in your Achilles!
• Seek physiotherapy advice ASAP after the injury.
• Calf massage and specific soft tissue mobilisation of the Achilles will help recovery from the injury.
• Ice the injury regularly during the first 48 hours.
• Start loading the Achilles through calf raises and jogging after approximately 5-7 days, as pain allows.
• Seek physiotherapy advice on preventative exercises in the form of plyometric exercises and running drills to avoid recurrence.
• Be wary of mental fatigue - it can make you more vulnerable to a physical injury.
• Don’t enter a hard session dehydrated.
• Don’t do the majority of your running in a motion control shoe then suddenly change to doing all your running in a neutral shoe!

Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon - My Duel with Bananaman

My goal going into the Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon was to run 72 minutes (5.30 minute miles). I’d run 74.13 at Newark over two months ago and I’d put in a really good block of training since that race with the main improvement being the length of my long runs.

I knew before the race that the elite women would be setting off with us and estimated that the lead women would probably run around 72 minutes, so my plan was to run with the lead woman hoping that she’d be running 5.30 minute miles.

Within the first mile of the race there was a big split between the leading group of elite men and the second group on the road containing us ‘faster-paced’ club runners and the two leading elite women, Gemma Steel and Louise Damen. Louise Damen had run 2.30 at the London Marathon this year (my target for next year’s London Marathon) so she was someone that I had identified before the race as a good athlete to try to stay with.

I was moving along well beside/behind Gemma Steel, making sure that I was looking comfortable and showing good form for the television camera on the back of the motorbike we were following! At the times I was running behind Gemma I was careful not to focus my gaze too much at her bottom (which was a nice distraction) as I thought this might look bad on TV…

Another amusing distraction as we were going through those early miles was a guy dressed as a Banana. He had set off at 5.00 minute miles and we were slowly closing the gap on him. Although he had clearly set-off too fast, he was moving along like a classy runner and was impressing the crowd.

The support from the crowd for Bananaman and Gemma (as lead woman) was great and lifted all of us in the group.

Louise Damen fell off the pace after a couple of miles and Gemma was running really well and every mile was 5.30 give or take a couple of seconds. I was feeling comfortable and everything was going well. We went through 8 miles bang-on 44 minutes and at that point I thought I was on for a 72 minute run.

At 8 miles I pulled my gel out of my rear pocket and that’s when things started to go wrong. I’ve never tried taking a gel whilst moving at 5.30 minute miles and found it more difficult to consume than at 6.15 minute miles (which is what I’ve been doing in training). A gap started opening up between myself and Gemma as I lost my rhythm a bit. Then we started climbing a hill and the gap started to grow. I was now running alone as Bananaman had dropped off Gemma’s pace even more than me.

Hindsight tells me I should have waited till a down-hill section to take the gel and not let a gap open up. Once the gap gets beyond 3 or 4 metres it’s difficult to close.

The uphill sections during the final 5 miles of the race were more challenging than I was expecting and as I saw my pace start to slow and realised that 72 minutes was no longer a possibility, I started to loose my focus. As I was watching Gemma disappear off into the distance, Bananman caught me and said “lets work together”. It helped me re-gain focus, especially as I had already told myself a few miles back that I could not let a runner dressed as a banana beat me, however good an athlete he might be under the costume!

I dropped Bananaman on the final climb about 1 mile from the finish, but was then caught by Louise during the final mile - who was showing the strength she has due to her 100+ miles per week training regimen as she focusses on trying to gain an Olympic marathon slot.

The race was televised live on Channel 5 (and I did get a lot of air-time running behind Gemma Steel!) and if you missed it you can still view it on Demand5

http://www.channel5.com/shows/bupa-great-birmingham-run/episodes/bupa-great-birmingham-run

I finished in 73.57 behind Louise Damen, who ran 73.51. Gemma Steel ran a really strong 72.21 (I’m amazed she only dropped 21 seconds off the 5.30 minute mile pace over the hills during the closing 5 miles) and Bananman (Andrew Ridley) finished in 74.04

Andrew is a student at Birmingham University and was racing as a banana to raise money for a university-run charity called ‘Kids Adventure’ which takes vulnerable children from Birmingham on respite holidays. Here is a link to their fundraising page:

http://www.justgiving.com/kidsadventure

Post-race reflections

I was really disappointed to not run closer to 72 minutes even though the course today was tougher than Newark and I ran a PB.

I have a goal of running 2.30 at the London Marathon next year and definitely need to be closer to 71 minutes over a half marathon to achieve this.

I’ve been running 35-40 miles per week over 3 weekly runs during the past two months and now concede that this is just not enough mileage. My 3 weekly runs are all quality runs, but the reality is that I need to do more miles and today was a massive wake-up call to that fact. People have been telling me to do more mileage if I want to improve and now I have proved them right!

My running has reached a plateau and the the only way to improve it is to do more running. Fortunately, as I already do a decent length long-run (which I will be gradually increasing) and a good mile-reps session each week, the increase in weekly mileage will come in the form of more steady runs.

The minimum weekly mileage of most elite runners is 70mpw and the average about 100mpw. I will look to get up to 50-60mpw as I’m not trying to reach an elite level.

Whilst cross-training for running by being a triathlete and doing swim & bike training has got me to a decent standard club-runner, it has not enabled me to achieve what I believe I am capable of and I am continually frustrated by my performances in running races. 

I have a constant inner-battle with myself over whether to continue to pursue triathlon-related goals or focus purely on running but I believe I can still do both as the London Marathon and Ironman UK are 3 months apart.

So, the bias of my training will be heavily towards running over the next 6 months and then switch to a bike bias after the London Marathon.

Training log over the past 4 weeks:

26/9/11 Run 10 miles with 5 miles 1:1 Fartlek (31mins - 16 efforts)

27/9/11 Swim 4,000m

28/9/11 Run 16 miles (1:47 av 6.42) progressing pace each 4 miles (29.11 av 7.17, 27.16 av 6.48, 25.48 av 6.26, 24.54 av 6.13)

29/9/11 Bike - 1hr on turbo (5x5mins)

30/9/11 Swim approx. 3,000m with lots of sprint work. Good session.

1/10/11 Run 11 miles including 5x1mile in Heaton Park (4.55 4.53 4.54 4.56 4.56) great session in very hot/humid conditions.

2/10/11 Bike - 1hr50m on turbo (av 205W)

3/10/11 Run 10 miles with 5 miles 1:1 Fartlek.

4/10/11 Swim 4,100m

5/10/11 Run 16 miles (1h46m av 6.37) with 10 miles moderately hard in the middle (63.34 av 6.21). 

6/10/11 Bike - 1hr turbo (8x3mins - max 309W)

7/10/11 Swim approx 3,000m

8/10/11 Run 11 miles including 5x1mile in Forest Bank Park with Dan McGrath, Paul Hawkins & Joe Skipper (5.05 5.04 5.06 5.11 5.10) - pleased with these times as it’s an accurate mile, the surface is mud/gravel path and I ran in heavy training shoes. 

9/10/11 Bike - 2hrs on the turbo (av 216W)

10/10/11 Run 8 miles steady with Gem

11/10/11 Swim 3,600m

12/10/11 16 mile progression run - each 4 miles getting quicker. 28.38 av 7.09, 26.34 av 6.38, 25.21 av 6.20, 24.44 av 6.11 (1h45m27s av 6.36)

13/10/11 Bike - 1hr turbo (8x3mins)

14/10/11 Swim approx 2,500m

15/10/11 Run 11 miles including 5x1mile (5.12 5.11 5.12 5.15 5.15) in Forest Bank Park.

16/10/11 Bike - 2hrs turbo in TT position - 213W - felt comfortable. 

17/10/11 Run 10.6 miles with Gem (av. 7.09)

18/10/11 Swim 4,000m

19/10/11 Run 8 miles with 2x1mile at Half Marathon pace

20/10/11 Swim 3,000m

21/10/11 Run 6 miles easy with Kelly & Gem

22/10/11 Rest Day 

23/10/11 Birmingham Half Marathon (73.57 av 5.40)

Training log week beginning 19/9/11

Mon 19/9/11 Run 10 miles (70 mins) including 4 miles 1:1 fartlek. Need to increase this to 5 miles fartlek next time.

Tues 20/9/11 Swim 4,000m. Bilateral breathing all fc sets - going to do this all through the winter to even-up my stroke.

Wed 21/9/11 Run 16 miles (1h49 av 6.49)

Thurs 22/9/11 Bike - 1hr on turbo (8x3min)

Fri 23/9/11 Run 5.43 (av 9.21) with Kelly & Gem. Easy run before the Northern 6-stage relays tomorrow.

Sat 24/9/11 Run - 6k race - leg 4 of the Northern 6 stage relays. I started the leg in 2nd and finished it in 5th. Our team ended up 5th. I was absolutely gutted and felt like I let the team down. I don’t know why I ran so crap - just one of those bad days.

Sun 25/9/11 No training today - spent the whole day laying a new oak floor in the dining room with a hangover after a night out with the guys from Salford Harriers last night. I didn’t feel like I deserved a night out with the team last night but it was good to get out and put my crap run into petspective.

I’m super motivated for training tomorrow now!

Training log week beginning 12/9/11 

Mon 12/9/11 Run 5.17 miles with Kelly & Gem (av 9.50) then 2.35 miles home (av 6.27)

Tues 13/9/11 Swim 4,000m

Wed 14/9/11 Run 15.1 miles (1hr42 av 6.44)

Thurs 15/9/11 Bike - 1hr on turbo (8x3min intervals)

Fri 16/9/11 Swim 3,900m

Sat 17/9/11 Run 9 miles including Heaton parkrun (16.20) then 2x1mile with Ben (5.05 5.10) - a little bit off the pace today - not sure why.

Sun 18/9/11 Bike - 100 mins steady turbo.