Rightzone Triathlon

Training Watches – The Garmin 310XT

// January 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Articles, Training

So I've comitted to running 30 mins every day for 365 days. How on earth am I going to stay motivated for that? I've bought the Garmin 310XT of course! I've always loved the bits of tech that have been developed for athletes to monitor their progress. Having used the Garmin 305 in the 2008 marathon I've been waiting for a watch that is waterproof (i.e. can be used for swimming) and the Garmin 405 was a little disappointing in that it did everything that I wanted, except it wasn't waterproof. The 310XT is a Heart Rate monitor, measures speed / distance AND it's waterproof. I paid £160 for a 2nd hand version on Ebay.

So for around £70 I spent my paper money on a Polar Edge which was pretty basic in that all it measured was a heartrate and I think it had a self lit screen! The Edge lasted for years and I was still using it in 2001 for the London Marathon.

When I got into triathlon more seriously in 2002 I realised that I wanted something a little more sophisticated. So I purchased a Polar S710. Apart from it falling apart in the last few years this watch was excellent. I loved downloading all the exercise files into the Polar software and pouring over the data, which even included a gradient profile.

I was bugged by the fact that the S710 didn't do distance and round about that time Timex brought out a groundbreaking watch called the Timex 50 Speed & Distance (there was a Timex 100 which allowed you to take 100 time splits). The main feature was that it measured speed and distance using GPS. The downside was that the GPS signal was picked up by a rather bulky receiver that strapped onto your arm. Never really did like the watch and probably didn't really justify the spend on it. It was pretty unrealiable in town or under trees but I did use it to pace my marathon PB!

Self doubt – but that’s normal isn’t it?

// April 7th, 2008 // No Comments » // Articles, Races

I'm not a worrier by nature but it's fairly typical for me to start doubting myself in the week before a major race. Equally, I'm well aware that this is extremely common or should I say normal. I know that most athletes doubt the training they've done. Thoughts that come to mind include:

• Did I do enough?
• Does my knee hurt?
• I feel really tired and lethargic
• My legs look thin and weak
• I feel heavy
• Am I coming down with something

I say with the exception of feeling tired and lethargic I've felt all of the above recently.

The marathon really is such a tough cookie to crack. Every year it's a different test with factors such as illness, work, family and of course injury getting in the way of the "perfect" build up. I refuse to use any of these as excuses for not achieving my goal this year. I'll talk a little more about the goal though.  The goal is to break 2.45. There you go, I've said it, although I think I said it back in November when I started training properly. In fact the quote was as follows:

"The primary goal is to dip under 2hrs 45 mins although I do feel I'm capable of closer to 2.40"

I still concur with the later part of this statement although I'm not going to allow any goal creepage. One day I'll go close to 2.40 although I'm setting my stall out to just run 2.45 on Sunday by aiming to run the 1st half marathon in around 1h.21m.30s. that translates to 6mins13s per mile. Assuming I run the dream race and don't fade at all that will bring me into the finish in around 2hrs43mins. If by some miracle i run a negative split………yeah whatever. If you look at the splits for people who do the London Marathon in under 2.45, very few run a negative split. The top elite runners will though.

My preparation has had the following flaws:

1) I had 2 weeks off in January and 1 week off in February due to colds that turned into infections (and antibiotics)

2) 3 weeks out from the marathon I developed acute ITBS. I've not been able to taper properly and missed the last long 20 mile run. 

There have been times when I've doubted whether I'll start and also times I've felt like packing the campaign in and entering a late season marathon instead. I actually believe I can run sub 2.45 even off an imperfect build. Kingston was run at 5m54s per mile which using the many race calculators that exist out there would bring me home in around 2.39-2.41. I'm calculating that the lack of miles over the last 3 weeks will take the edge of this as most calculators assume you've done the miles (although it's anyone's guess as to the definition of what this actually is). In 2003 when I ran my marathon PB I didn't exceed 45 miles, but then again I was riding 5-6 hours on the bike. This time I put in 2 excellent weeks in early March to compliment all the steady mileage I'd done in January and February. I've never run over 60 miles in one week before. This time I managed two weeks of over 70 miles (even a 75 mile week!).

So I'm signing off now having talked it all through. Writing it all down is like self help therapy! Watch this space to see what happends on Sunday. 

Bike ready for Arizona

// March 25th, 2007 // No Comments » // Articles

Above is my race setup for Ironman Arizona with the exception of the tools and tubs I will be taking. Recent additions to the bike that I have been riding for the last 12 weeks are the rear disc (thanks to Kate Foster for lending me this), the carbon front wheel and the profile bottle cages behind the seat. I will be putting my tub and tools in an old bottle and these will be going behind the saddle. The other space will be used for storage when going through aid stations. I plan to re-fill the profile aero bottle with gatorade on the move and also down most of a bottle of water at each aid station. The bike position isnt particularly aggressive but its very comfortable and my back is pretty much flat anyway.

Sigma Sport Expo 2007

// March 7th, 2007 // No Comments » // Articles

Venue: Hampton Court Golf Club, Hampton Wick, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT1 4DA
(see separate map on our website, www.sigmasport.co.uk)

Contact: Jason Turner at Sigma Sport 020 8943 4443 or 07711 875892

Open to public: 17:00 – 22:30

Exhibitor List:

Specialized
Trek
Yellow – Pinnarello
Jim Walker – DeRosa
Fishers – Look
Madison – Cervelo
Windwave – Colnago
Chicken & sons – Time
Extra – BMC
RBS – Isaac
Sigma Sport – Sigma & Seven

Event Purpose: To exhibit the major bike brands stocked by Sigma Sport in a friendly and informal atmosphere. Representatives from each brand will be on hand all evening to answer any questions you have.

The Expo will also see the official launch of our own road racing team, once again headed up by Matt Stephens and the launch of the Thames Turbo/Sigma Sport triathlon team. The teams will be introduced by Eurosport commentator David Harman.

Press: Cycling Weekly, 220 Triathlon magazine, Cycling.tv and Londoncyclesport will be present to report on the event.

Food and drink: We will be providing a free buffet and there is a cash bar at the venue.

Parking: There is plenty of free parking just outside the club house.

Cost: This event will be completely free of charge to press and members of the public.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Norman Salute!

// March 5th, 2007 // No Comments » // Articles

I came across this little gem while on Slowtwitch this evening. It really made me laugh. There's a lot of debate about who it's aimed at but I just think it's funny that he should choose to do this right after crossing the finish line. He must have been running with a whole lot of anger in him. Whoever it's aimed at certainly provided some fire in his belly.  I reckon he'll be out for a 3rd title later this year. Hopefully I'll be there (way behind of course) to see him do it!

I posted the image and the text above a little too quickly. It turns out that if you look very carefully it's actually a church spire in the background and he's really just punching the air. Click here for the proof. 

TCR 2007

// February 10th, 2007 // No Comments » // Articles

Had an excellent time at the TCR show. I've attended all 5 of the shows and this was probably the best. Plus as you can see from the pictures above I managed to do a bit of hob nobbing with the stars. Pictured above are the current Hawaii Ironman World Champion and the current ITU World Champion, Tim Don. 

Mike Gratton’s hard London Marathon Schedule 2006

// April 19th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Articles, Races

The principle is simple: after a period of base training that builds the endurance background required to run a marathon, there follows a period of consolidating the mileage and gradually introducing faster running and speed endurance work. The final stage has a change in emphasis towards faster running at speeds much quicker than marathon pace, which will bring you to a fitness peak in late April for the Flora London Marathon (or other marathon if you're not doing FLM). (more…)

How to run well at the London Marathon – by Greg Stevens

// April 13th, 2006 // No Comments » // Articles, Races, Running races

Given so many of us are training for it I thought I’d pass on some of the ideas I’ve developed over the last few years on running the fastest race you can. This isn’t about training. I’m assuming you’ve done some of the standard training. (more…)