Inevitable Xmas weight gain

So after the usual Xmas over indulgence I'm back at work and by the looks of things I may well be the only person across the entire campus who has chosen to do so.   It's eerily quiet. The restaurant and coffee shops are shuttered up until the New Year - we might as well hang up a closed for business sign over the entrance.....

Anyway. I assume I've put on a bit of weight over the past week or so although I'm choosing to ignore the scales and to estimate my weight by how much gut lard I can grab in one hand. The answer as always is far far too much.

New Year = Newish Me

Had an interesting chat with Mrs T over the Xmas break. We've been together for more than 10 years and, although she's not got an ounce of sporting competitiveness in her, she has always been amazingly supportive of me, my racing and of course the training that comes with it.

For many different reasons our lives have changed dramatically over the past year. Sadly for me it turns out I've not really changed with these changes so to speak and it's about time I made a few changes around family priorities.

This I totally get. I really should spend more time with her and our son. I should be home from work to help with the evening routine rather than getting on the bike and letting her take most of the strain.

Of course I still want to train, to ride, to run and to compete as these activities are very much part of who I am and as Mrs T knows, no training or exercise makes Mr T a real grumpy bugger.

So what needs to change?

The plan is to alter my lifestyle to fit the training and parenting together which of course is something I should have done months and months ago.

Out go the evening workouts to be replaced by 5.30am / 6.00am rides which will leave my time free come the PM. Same goes for the weekends where I'll be up early and all finished before noon which gives back the afternoon for family time.

Sounds simple? Well of course it does.....

Happy New Year everyone!

A few goals for the New Year

For as long as I can remember, I've always enjoyed and looked forward to the December 21st Winter Solstice, the day in the Northern Hemisphere when the axial tilt of the Earth is the furthest away from its orbit around the sun.

 

Of course in simple layman's terms this means as from tomorrow, December 22nd, the days will slowly get longer and the nights that little bit shorter which to me, is a very good thing. 

 

Sadly myself and the other good folk of the UK wont really see a difference, ie an increase, in usable morning and evening light until well into the year so for now, the turbo and rollers will remain my focus for most of my weekly riding. 

 

Another tradition of mine post the Winter Solstice is to think about and then make concrete a few goals and objectives for the forth coming year.  Before committing to such things perhaps a quick review of the incumbent year is perhaps in order?

 

2011, a quick review

 

In truth, a year of stability brought about with the birth in January of our first child.  It didn't seem particularly fair on Master or Mrs T for me to be planning anything to large that would keep me from pulling my weight so to speak. 

 

With that regard I kept a basic level of fitness and ride a few century rides in the summer and ran the odd 10k once in a wile.  That said, I do end the year nearly 4 kgs heavier than I started which upon discovery earlier in the week was somewhat of a shock.

 

2012 Goals

 

1) Gold Standard in the Marmotte

 

- The main and somewhat arrogant goal for the forthcoming year

- So that's a time of 8 hours 50 or so mins if my memory serves

 

2) Loose the spare tyre

 

- Which will certainly help in achieving part one listed above

- I'd like to get as close to 67 kg (about 10.5 stone)

- This should be achievable if I'm careful to watch the food intake and to measure any booze and Pizza consumption

 

3) Time management

 

- Make sure I give enough time to my family

- I've been poor at doing this in the past

- There's more to life than the Marmotte

 

So that's it.  My 2012 goals are sorted with them being achievable, measurable and many other things to boot.

A view upwards from my desk at the office.  Festive.

See you next year and to those celebrating I wish a wonderful Xmas and a prosperous New Year.

2012 Events List

So then, here's a first stab of the events I'm planning to do in the run up to the 2012 Marmotte.  Quite unsurprisingly they are pretty much dominated by cycling although I'm planning on undertaking a smattering of running races too. 

This is just for old times sake you understand, and to keep an element of that type of fitness in the legs for (perhaps) a PowerMan Duathlon for later in the year. 

Kentish Killer (19th February)

Described by Cycling Weekly as one of those, "must do" Sportives, this will be my first longish (70m / 112km) ride of the year that wont have been in front of the TV on the trusty turbo.  Starting and finishing at the Brands Hatch racing circuit, the weather and road conditions will I suspect be somewhat challenging!  I'm already looking forward to the promised vat of hot soup come the finish line.

Wiggle Cheshire Cat (25th March)

Often billed as the "big season opener", this event will see me travel up north to Crewe to tackle my first century (160km) ride of the year.  I've not ridden this route before although on paper it looks reasonably challenging over scenic but lumpy terrain and including the well known Tour of Britain Gun Hill climb. 

Guernsey Easter Festival (6th - 9th April)

Back home to Guernsey for the annual Easter Festival.  If memory serves correctly there's 4 races that include runs along the Southern Cliffs, a cross country run along L'ancresse and ending with a fairly flat and fast Half Marathon. 

New Forest Sportive (15th April)

This will be the third time I've ridden this gentle and relatively flat 83 miler.  Set in the peaceful New Forest it really is a beautiful day out on the bike.  I'm also hoping Mrs T will be joining me on this ride too.  Now that would be a first.

2 Weeks in Italy (2nd & 3rd week in May)

Now this I'm really looking forward to.  Staying in a small hill top village not too far from Assisi, I'm planning to get some big hill and descent miles into the legs.  While I cant guarantee the weather, this will give me an opportunity to tackle a few of the Umbrian hills which should offer a level of physical exertion similar to what I should expect come July.

Above: A View of Assisi

Wiggle Bournemouth Sportive (27th May)

Another weekend another UK Sportive which gives me the chance to get some more group riding under the belt and to tick off another 160kms in the saddle. 

Verenti Magnificat (3rd June)

The longest ride of my prep coming in at 127 miles / 204kms which perhaps is probably a little too long.  That said, the ride is local to me and will give me more time in the saddle which of course is a good thing.

La Marmotte (7th July)

The big one........

Above: A View of the Galibier

PowerMan Italy (28th October)
The Italian leg of the PowerMan Duathlon series.  Distances are still TBC although I'm hoping to make this my first foray into the longer distance world of Duathlon. 

Above: A very dodgy logo if ever i saw one

Anyway. There's little doubt I'll make a few changes to this list over the coming months although these together with the other rides and races over the next 7 or so months should give me a firm base with which to enjoy the main event come July of next year. 

Xmas wind down

It's been a couple of weeks since my last entry.  Work, travel and a dose of the winter vomiting virus have all conspired against putting fingers to keyboard as it were.  That said, as we move towards the Xmas holiday period things seem to be very much on the wind down.

 

For me the past few weeks, apart from a day or two in bed with the aforementioned bug, have been quite productive on the training front.  Naturally I'm still looking to build the base of the engine although I've also been adding more and more tempo and threshold (ie 2 x 20mins at 80% - 90% of FTP) workouts.  While these sessions aren't particularly pleasant they are invaluable in getting the body ready for the demands of the Alpine ramps come July.

 

Again, as we move towards Xmas this is traditionally the time where I spend a few hours planning my sporting events for the forthcoming year.  For 2012 I'll no doubt be riding a few of the larger UK sportives such as the Magnificat or perhaps the Dragon Ride.  I'll hopefully make a trip out to Italy, Spain or France to get some practice in on longer climbs and descents, something I'm not really able to do here in the UK. 

 

More of that to come.

2012 Marmotte Entry Now Open....

.... and by the looks of things it's already full!

2 DECEMBRE - EN 1 JOUR NOUS AVONS RECU PLUS DE 6000 DEMANDES PAR INTERNET.  MARMOTTE: LES INSCRIPTIONS UNIQUES SONT SUSPENDUES POUR VERIFICATION

Well thankfully I was able to get my entry into the event early yesterday so I'm in.  Which of course is rather nice for me.

For some reason I'm a little surprised (if true) the event has filled up so damn fast - in under 24 hours. 

The general consensus from the internet and other blogs is that it tends to take a few days...... but not this time.So with the logistics and entry confirmed there's little left now to do but train for the damn thing!

Retul bike fit - 6 days on

Earlier this week I underwent, which makes it sound somewhat of a medical procedure,  a Retul bike fit to help iron out and fix a few problems in my knees and lower back.

Well I'm happy to report that after 6 days in the saddle I'm still glad I spent the cash.  My new position on the bike feels more stable and secure with a noticeable decline in movement across the hips during the pedal stroke.  While it's perhaps to soon to assess relative increases or otherwise in efficiency (i.e. HR and Watts at a given speed) I'm confident I'll be able to demonstrate this in the positive within a month or so.

All in all, a fine week.

-------------------

Weekly Totals:

- Time in saddle: 7h 47mins

- Distance covered: 266.4 km (roller or turbo)

- TSS: 366

A Retul Bike fit at Primera

A trip to the sea side in the rain

I find myself towards the end of the work holiday year with days off still to take.  As I'm not able to carry more than a few vacation days over into the next holiday year I often take a few early or late November long weekends.  This is precisely what happened on Monday, a day where I found myself in Bournemouth to take in the sights of the peer, the slot machines and the golden sands.  The other, and more important reason for this seaside visit in the rain was to have a bike fitting with the good people at Primera Sports.

Recent bouts of minor, and seemingly healed, injuries aside, 2011 has been relatively uneventful on this front.  I rode for most of the summer without any major pains or niggles which for me and my past history (3 ops on the left knee and 2 on the right) was most welcome.  Naturally I'm keen for this good fortune to continue, particularly as I'm in the middle of a winter training that's using intensity rather than volume as the driver for physiological adaptations. 

It's this higher intensity that caused me to seek out a decent bike fit.  While of course I could use Google as my guide I'd rather spend some cash to know, and here's the important bit, to see I'm riding in the most efficient and injury reducing fashion as is possible.

To this end I chose the Retul method over something such as Specialized BG Fit and while I'm sure both would be more than suitable, the Retul method's use of 3D image capture means I'm 100% sure everything's as right as right as can be with not a plumb line or knee angle measuring device in sight.......

The Fit

The fit takes place in a little alcove of the shop that fits the Retul image capture device, a turbo trainer and plenty oh proactively positioned highly priced bike loveliness.  Anyone for a Lightweight wheel set or a Dogma frame perhaps? 

Anyway, the fit started with the chap explaining what was going to happen and giving a basic overview of the science and rationale behind what we were looking to achieve.  We then spoke of my goals, riding style and injury history before undertaking a few tests on my flexibility (legs straight with hands flat on the floor). 

We then moved onto the next stage which saw LED markers attached to 8 points on the body (the wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, heel & joint of the little toe).  This all complete I jumped on the bike and pedalled in my natural style which enabled the Retul system to build an exact anatomical profile of my pedalling style for comparison with what it "should look like".... so to speak.

Above: Screen grab of Retul image capture (not mine by the way)

Above: Overview of LED placements (again, clearly not me)

Having captured this data the chap went on to make a few changes here and there on the bike before I jumped back on and did the same thing again.  This went on on for a good hour or so until we were both happy with my new riding position.

Once this was complete I went off for a coffee and left the chap to take precise machine led measurements of my bike and its set up so I'd be able to recreate what we had achieved on any given bike in the future

So what changed? 

We concluded I was riding the right size frame and had a correctly sized stem for my height and flexibility.  My cleat position and was also in the right place and didn't need touching.  We did make a 20mm reduction in saddle height while also moving it forward 15mm which I suppose is quite an adjustment.  It's hoped this will improve efficiency and offer more stability throughout the pedal stroke which in turn should enable me to produce a higher rate of Watts for a given heart rate.

Conclusion

With 4 hours post fit riding in my legs I can certainly feel the difference.  The lower and pitched forward saddle position has given me a feeling of greater stability - my hips certainly feel stronger in the pedal stroke with less side to side rocking motion than before.  As for efficiency and Watt creation, it's too early to tell.  I'll certainly be looking at the data over the weeks and months.  Perhaps I'll report back on my findings come the spring time.

At £148 a session it's clearly an expensive option (Specialised BG fits seem to be around £120 give or take) although for now I feel it was value for money.  The fit was well organised, professional and actually quite enjoyable. 

While it's still early days at the moment I would recommend the service to others.  Riders seem to be happy to spend a good couple of grand on a bike and hundreds on shaving a few grams off a set of wheels.  For me, I'd rather spent the cash on this type of fit and perhaps but back that Mince Pie come the Xmas period.