A long time since I posted here. I moved to another platform, and discontinued this one. That didn't work because I was so busy and the site expired. Such is life.

I've been busy building my Triathlon website - BeyondTransition.com which focuses on providing the best information on triathlon races around the world. Unlike many other sites we provide loads of detailed information about each racer - including route maps, course details, accomodation and tactics. All pretty cool.

How has this affected my triathlon training?

I'm working harder and smarter now. My sessions are more intense and I do a lot more home based triathlon training. I get up earlier - around 0500 - and I go to bed at 2200 (or earlier if I'm tired).

I've been off with injury but I'm slowly starting to pick myself back up and am looking for a bunch of HIM races over the next year.

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First of all that's me in the speed suit shortly after receiving it. It took 6 days door to door - California to Malaysia. 

When I first took it out of the box the first feeling was that it was all a bit big - it felt like a cast off snake skin in black rubber. The outside is more rubbery  the inside more fabricky.

Putting it on was pretty easy - took about 3 - 4 minutes as opposed to the 5 I'd expected. It was a little bit of effort getting it over my heels and then moving the material up my legs. I tried it with both tri shorts and bare skin underneath. Not a lot of difference in either comfort or ease of getting on or apparent fit.

The zip is small and doesn't have a cord so its very hard if not impossible to do up yourself (I have very flexible arms for a bloke and I can't do it.) Getting it undone is possible but I'll have to add a rip cord to enable this to be done easily.

It comes up over the shoulders ok and feels snug - but not too compressive on dry land.

I headed into the pool after work - lots of traffic and then a thunderstorm meant I didn't get into the pool until after 8. Grrrr.

The most obvious thing that I noticed was that wearing the suit brought my legs up to the surface of the water. I generally swim using upper body alone - or using legs for balancing. Keeping the body a LOT more horizontal will really help with the drag.

The first length I swam was an easy length but I felt that I was going a lot faster than usual. By the end of the 50m length I was somewhat out of breath. I'm not sure if this was due to the change in pace wearing it or the compressive effect on the chest. Instead of doing 1 x 400 easy as a warm up I split into 4 x 100m just to get used to it. By the end of the 400m I felt pretty comfortable - I guess the breathlessness was very much to do with the new feeling of the suit rather than anything else.

The next set was 12 x 50m with 50m hard/50m easy. For the first 50m I went all out and time myself at 36s which is about 10s faster than my previous best. That was with a couple more months training than last time I tested. Stroke quality was poor and there was a lot of kicking - quads were aching by the end of the length!

The next length I focused on a quality powerful stroke and timed it at 43s and was happy with that. I then stopped timing and probably did something similar for the remaining hard efforts. It felt fast and comfortable. 

I then did 1200m with paddle and pull buoy as 400 easy, 400 moderate, 400 hard. As ever this did kill my arms. There was an awareness of the tightness of the suit straps over my shoulders but no rubbing. The session was only 2.2km, no salt water and no sun so I'm not sure what this will mean for longer races.  On just this one sample I'd be happy to take it out for up to 1/2 ironman distance. To go further I do need more tests.

Overall I'm please with the buoyancy and speed aspects. I feel good in it and that will provide a psychological boost. The big questions for racing are; how much chaffing will there be and how to avoid that; and, can I add a cord that will allow me to get it off faster than then time improvement it gives me.

At RM542 (including shipping) its significantly cheaper than the speed suits in Bike Boutique which are RM800+. Good value on the cost front given the current discount level. At the full price of  RM1350 I'd be a lot more dubious.

In many ways I think that a speed suit is a bit like aerobars and zipp wheels. You have to be a certain level before it's worth purchasing. Unless you have a swim background it's not a purchase to make in your first 3 triathlon seasons.My last Ironman time was about 1 1/2 hours. The next one I'm hoping will be close to the 1 1/4 hours and I think at this level you will start to see most of the gains coming through.

For me the purchase is worthwhile because this year I am focused on longer swim races and so the 5% 'theoretical improvement' turns into quite a lot of minutes in the water. 

The suit can be worn regularly and has a 3 year warranty - so it's good for a fair number of races if you take care of it. Basically rinse with cold water by hand and dry out inside (not in the sun). 

Finally thoughts are to do with training and how much I should train with it - and how much with my belly hanging down from above my swim trunks :)

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I've been having a bit of trouble with my shoes recently. As most of you know I totally love my Vibram Five Fingers and run in then religiously. Well almost.

The problem is that running long distances on road or on hot tarmac becomes painful. Afternoon 10km+ runs invariably lead to blisters and after about 15km in the mornings I don't feel that I have anything - rubber or flesh -  between me and the road. Trails they are superb at though and that's what they're made for.

With the aim of doing lots of marathons this year they aren't going to let me go the distance and so I needed a new pair of shoes. My trusty New Balance shoes are quite heavy and I want to try and maintain as much of the minimalist feel as possible. So after reading a bit about them I end up going shopping for some Nike Free 3.0.

Two problems - totally uneducated shop assistants and and no Nike Free 3.0's around. So I decided for the first time in my life to believe the Nike hype and try a pair. Bad mistake. A 12km early morning run left me with a huge blister on the front of my right toe where I have never had a blister before. Not nice. I put it down to the old socks I was wearing (still have to throw them out) and tried again for a 2 hour run on Sunday. The rubbing was really noticeable and I gave up after less than 500m took the shoes off and headed home barefoot. Bliss

Paul Lee and Keat Song suggested a few alternatives and I ended up speaking to Frank who distributes K-Swiss in Malaysia. So at Burger King at lunchtime I tried a pair on. The pair I tried and bought were the K-Ona C.

Apparently they're all the rage with famous triathletes and are designed specifically for triathlons.

One of the things I was mindful of is the fact that I tend to lose toenails after marathons - probably because my feet swell a bit and the toe front bangs and bangs and bangs. So I needed enough space. The first pair felt really comfortable but I( wasn't sure about the space available. The second pair was much better.

My first feeling was that they were very light and comfortable. The second that they were really cool. I could feel the air on my toes. Looking closely I could see lots of air vents at the toe and the heel. Then when I turned them over there were a number of bottom air vents. You can just see them on the last photo - to the right and left of the K-Swiss logo and then 8 more on the fore foot.

This was a bit of a wow moment for me. One of the problems I have as a westerner in Malaysia is that I sweat buckets which means I run in wet shoes and wet socks. Apart from the blister hazard it means that shoes get somewhat heavier during a run. So these bottom holes - together with the ventilation should help my feet stay drier, cooler and more comfortable on long runs.

I've yet to try them in combat and they may go the same way as the Nike's - we'll see. If you're interested in buying a pair have a look at his website 

By the way if anyone wants a pair of Nike Lunarlite + size 42 with only 12km on the clock I'll be happy to pass them on for a small fee.

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Another big catchup blog. Life is a bit busy at the moment and the blog has suffered.

Genting Sempah - Saturday

Saturday morning I headed out to Genting for my first bike ride in a year. I drove up and up and up towards the Orang Asli hospital but couldn't find it. Thinking that I might have driven past it and not wanting to miss out on the climbing I stopped and got everything together. 200m after starting to cycle I came round the corner and there was the hospital. :)

I was aiming to go up in as big a gear as possible and for most of the time I was on the 3 hardest gear of my 52-42. It was only after the bridge on one of the last tough corners that I shifted down. I spent most of the climb with a chap called Nizam from Taman Melawati  chatting away which was nice and I think kept both of us going faster than otherwise.

It was a good ride and I reached the road junction after 51 minutes  which was pleasing. Slow on the way down though as I wasn't comfortable with cornering and a bit shaky with my controls. I got used to it after a while.

Fallout 3 - Sunday

Well I'd intended to go running on Sunday morning but I'd started playing fallout 3 on Saturday afternoon. Senay and Maya were away and I had no other plans. as midnight on Sunday approached I realised that the run probably wasn't going to happen. I'd reached level 14 though :)

Work - Monday

Monday was a shit day at work. Lots of things went wrong; I was desperate for my swim by the time I headed off at 1500 for it. So my card didn't work in the car park and the attendant wasn't around. Trapped I went back upstairs to sort it out and got caught with more fire fighting. Leaving work just before 7 I was in 2 minds as to whether to go or not. Feeling guilty; not wanting to do it; needing to do it. So it started raining heavily. I went home.

TTDI Trail Running - Tuesday

I got up and couldn't face doing one of my usual routes. Boring - I'd done them all too many times  before. So I headed down to TTDI to do circuits there. The first one of the little park took 7 minutes. Running round another 8 times seemed miserable so I took a detour and headed up onto the mountain bike trails used for the Saloman Xtrail run.  Mondays are moderate uphill efforts and fast downhills. I followed the same route of the Salomon Xtrail run along the side of the jungle so I didn't get lost. I'd forgottent how long that initial climb was. Hard work - It must have certainly seperated out the racers during the run. I remember lungs burning by the time I reached the half way point.

Today it was easier. Lots of fallen trees and I wasn't  going at race pace. I was wearing my VFF's and was having to pay a lot of care and attention to where I was placing my feet. I got to where the first drinks stand had been and stopped for 30s before heading back downhill.

My coach has been telling me to run fast with a very high cadence downhill. On this trail and with my VFFs it really worked. It gave me lots of flexibility and control and I flew down. Landed on my ass and scraped my legs and arms. Whoops. Really good fun running - but actually hard to push myself to run at a hard pace over rough ground like that. I need to do lots more trail running.

Balcony Bike - Wednesday

Onto the 55-42 on the turbo. First thought was this was heavy. After a while though it wasn't so bad. A bit like swimming with paddles. Did my 50 minutes and really worked my legs and also my lungs every 3 rep. Pleased. Started dreaming of a power meter.

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Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - Bike Power Intervals - CPI1 - 45m + 4x20s

Wednesday - Swim Base Intervals - SBI3 - 4x100
Wednesday - Foundation Run & Strides - RFR3 + RSS2 - 30m

Thursday - Recovery Bike - CRR3 - 45m

Friday - Swim Fartlek Intervals - SFI1 - 4x1100m
Friday - Recovery Run & Strides - RRR3 + RSS1 - 30m

Saturday - Foundation Bike - CFR3 - 1hr

Sunday - Swim Bse Intervals - SBI24 - 1000m
Sunday - Brick - BRW4- 45m / 15m

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Friday's run was dead dead dead - but I was able to salvage the swim by fitting it inbefore the bike and it also gave a bit of T1 practice.

Swimming at home in the 15m pool again I was struggling after half the warm up set and miserable by the time I'd finished. I seemed to have no strength in my arms and I wanted to give up :(. I then did the TI drills - this time without fins and they were really good. My legs were a lot more 'floatable' and it gave me a bit of a breather.

The main set was meant to be a fartlek 6x100 25 easy, 25 hard etc. Because of the pool I made it 6 x90 15 easy, 15 hard etc. I died. It was horrible. 2 longer reps is a lot easier than 3 shorter reps and I was into serious oxygen deficit by the time I'd finished each set of 6 lengths. I was gocus on power in the pull rather than raw speed and it was really hard by the end to start each new set. But I did and I feel good because I did.

I skipped the kick set and the fins and avoided cramp. I also notice a few things about my stroke. My feet tend to flutter now kicking and I can actually time the flutter to match the stroke or miss it. I thing this is new and an improvement. The other thingt that I noticed during the hard sets was that there seems to be a wonderful motion just out of my reach where the hand that pulls is balanced by a hand that is reaching forward through the water. There seems to be a symetry and a yoga like balance to the move - but it only becomes semi obvious when I'm working really hard.

Out of the pool and onto the bike. I couldn't find anyrubber bands to hold my shoes in place so I used sellotape. So couldn't get my feet into the shoes. Failed to guide the bike and almost headbutted a billar that I almost cycled into trying to sort things out. Need more practice - and perhaps new pedals - the SPDs seemed to make it really hard.

On the road and I decided that after swimming for an hour and a half I'd take the bike easy especially as my swim was meant to be a breakthrough session. I headed out along the LDP heading for Rawang. Instead i ended up cycling through Kepong and onto Jalan Ipoh. I turned north and at the Kuantan tturning turned back left towards Sungau Buloh - then backonto the LDP. The route was blissfully flat and just what was ordered. I stayed in the same gear all the way round (until the hill just coming back into DP anyway) and had a great ride up tothe DP Tol. High Cadence, lots of power, lots of speed, no effort. Wow. Bloody pleased with that.

Actually really pleased with the whole session. 2 1/2 hours of really good workout.

Got home had a huge breakfast - including finishing off the second bottle of go juice - and went to bed for and hour. My upper body hurts but what a session. One of my best :)

Bike computer screwed up though and no cadence - again!

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