Training Archive: NixonIn the 31 days ending 2008-07-31:
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| T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | |||||||||||||
Friday Jul 18 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Moved a lot of stuff over to my new flat, trekked all over town, cycled about a bit too. It's not training though; that's what happens a lot in life, you have to move about to get places.
I'm going to Dorset to look at a cliff for a month. I'm not going to lie, I don't really care for this cliff, but it's got to be done. It's a very big cliff by the way, long too. I don't think they have internet in Dorset. | ||
Thursday Jul 17 | ||
| Running 1:00:00 [3]9 km (6:40 / km) +400m 5:27 / km | |
| ahr:160 max:189 | ||
| Very busy with sorting my dissertation out now that the fieldwork has been brought forwards nearly 2 weeks. Went round the Seat early on as I thought I wouldn't get round do doing it if I left it to later.
Went up to KB, printed off my base maps and logged onto the tour with 1.5km to go. I'd seen a bit earlier so knew it was going to come down to a sprint finish, and lets face it, if the whole peleton comes down to a sprint finish then there really is only one outcome, Mark Cavendish and Team Columbia. He was tired today, he only got a bike-length in front before sitting up and rolling over the line to make Chavanel appear better than he actually is. Riccardo Ricco got busted for some EPO like druge, and Saunier-Duval are out of the tour. Nothing spectacular, other than the fact that there is no definite test for the drug he used, CERA. "I'm amazed they're saying it's Micera, simply because there's no validated test for that yet. The World Anti-Doping Agency is working on a test, but it certainly doesn't exist yet", Dr Audran, one of the world's leading experts on doping. They can tell when someone has sued it, but they can't declare them positive, I don't know why. They knew people were using it in the Giro but there was nothing they can do. So what does this mean? Probably time to start watching WOC... | ||
Wednesday Jul 16 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| All day in KB sorting my dissertation out. I'm gonna start it soon. | ||
Tuesday Jul 15 | ||
| Static Cycling 45:00 [3] | |
| Spent all day in KB getting maps sorted for my dissertation, yay. Managed to make a 19mb OCAD file, quite impressive I thought. The processor on the computer didn't seem to think so.
Popped down the gym in the evening and sat on the spinner for a bit. Nothing special. | ||
| C • Dissertation 2 | ||
| Jogging 15:00 [3] | |
| Jogging to and from the gym. I could swear it used to take longer than this. Maybe I'm fitter, or maybe I live in a different place. I don't know. | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| So, it's been a rest day in Le Tour today. And what better way to make use of the time by shaking the sport of professional cycling to it's very knees. Cycling is governed by the UCI, like the IOF. All official cycling races in the world use their rules, or slightly different versions of the rules as decided by national governing bodies, like British cycling (like BOF). That all makes sense, and it's how most sports run. A cycling team has to apply for a racing license which come of different standards. Starting as national, then Continental Pro (e.g. Europe) and finally the ProTour. This is the elite league set up by the UCI, and only 18 teams get a license to be in the ProTour. The Protour contains all the famous teams with the famous riders. The UCI itself only organise the World Champs. All other races are hosted professional sports companies, such as ASO who own the Tour de France and pretty much every other big race in France, as well as 48% of the Tour of Spain. the way things work is quite simple. Each race is given a ranking as to how "big" it is, this determines who can ride. The big tours are all on the ProTour, and as such all ProTour teams are meant to ride. There are then a few spare spaces for other teams to be invited. The smaller races will only have a few of the ProTour teams competing, leaving more spaces for the Continental teams. Even smaller races have no ProTour teams. At the beginning of each year the teams all apply to races which they have decided they want to race, the organisers then pick the teams they want at their races and the season gets going. The UCI demand that all ProTour teams are invited to all ProTour races. Like the Tour de France (there are many many others, but no one outside cycling has every heard of them). The problem is that the ASO who own the Tour and the rest of France don't like people (Kazakhs) taking drougs and making a mockery of their race, it puts them in a bad light. The ASO are very very very powerful. They decided that they didn't want team Astana at le Tour this year because of drug problems in the last 2 years. Fair enough (if you ignore the fact that the team completely changed from last season and is now basically US Postal Service / Discovery). But the UCI demand their ProTour teams ride in the ProTour. The ASO then say fuck you and pull the Tour de France out of the ProTour. The UCI then revoke the race license for the Tour. Which means the Tour de France this year is technically an illegal bike race this year (Imagine the JK not registering with BOF, then times it by a million). The UCI then say that anyone riding in this illegal race is an illegal rider, and so can't race in the World Champs or Olympics. Every rider then says fuck you, you don't own cycling, you have been given the job of governing it, which clearly you are failing to do. The UCI then back down saying they can ride. Then, today, the 17 ProTour teams who were are le Tour decided that they are not going to renew their ProTour licenses, the ASO are removing all of their races from the ProTour (that's a lot of big races). So now pro cycling is about to collapse. We all thought it would be drugs, but the biological passport is kind of seeing to that. Now what we have is a world governing body who are at war with the biggest race organiser in the world. Not good. Neither of them want anything to do with the other. Something big is going to happen. And bearing in mind that the UCI do basically nothing except take money (like the IOF), they are going to lose. The ProTour will disappear, which is OK, because no one cares about it, except the UCI. It may also mean that some teams could be victimised if they annoy the ASO, by taking drugs for example. But this is surely a good thing, it puts pressure on the teams now. Before, if a rider was doping the rider was punished. Now, if a rider is doping the team is punished. Unfair on clean riders, but it's certainly going to force teams to keep a clean roster.
It would have been nice if the ASO v UCI battle could have been held until after the illegal race, but at least something is happening. Governing bodies have this bizarre idea that they "own" the sport. They don't, they are the guardians. Many of them failing. | ||
| C • rest day on the Tour 6 | ||
Monday Jul 14 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Day of rest.
Le Tour hit the Pyrenees, big time, and as usual the real racing got underway. Although the tour can be lost with a bad race in the plains it can only truly be won in the mountains. Today were two classics, 156km over the Col du Tourmalet and finishing up the Hautacam. Although lots of action happens on the early slopes, it's the last climb of the day which is often key, today was no exception. A loan Frenchman crested the Tormalet alone with a trio in chase followed by the main group of contenders. Cunego and Valverde got shat out the back on this first big climb of the day. 35km later the course hit the bottom of the Hautacam, a 3 minute lead over the main group had turned to 40s, and at the front of that group was one of the most formidable cycling teams ever formed, CSC were doing the damage. Voigt, Cancellara, Schleck A, Schleck F and Sastre. Bloody hell! Cancellara was the fist to fade away, but he had been in a break for the first part of the day, and is the world TT champion, not a mountain goat. Massive pulls by Voigt, probably the most respected rider in the peleton. That left CSC with only 3 of the best mountain riders in the world on the last climb. They weren't the only team with 3 though, Saunier-Duval also had some fire-power left over for the last climb. The break away was easily caught and the games began once the mountain picked up a bit. Everyone was a having a pop at it, and eventually Fränk Schleck and 2 Saunier-Duval riders got away, leaving the main group chasing, meanwhile, Kirchen in the yellow jersey went out the back, he aint a real mountain goat, but fairplay to the lad. Schleck wasn't able to keep up with the pace in the final few km's and got dropped, leaving Cobo and Piepoli to take the line. Piepoli crossed first, he's 37. Fränk was about half a minute behind, and then it was a matter of waiting to see when the main contenders would come in to see who got yellow. Menchov seemed to be working for Evans, who came in taking the yellow jersey by 1 second from Schleck (Who I've just realised looks like Marc Lauenstein). Ricco, Sastre and Vande Velde were also in that group. So, Evans in yellow, but 5 riders within 1:28. Those 5 riders all have teams who can take them up mountains, Evans doesn't. Ricco is lurking 2:29 behind so is still in with a sniff. Yellow dreams are over for Valverde and Cunego. The only way Evans will win is if he can wheel-suck his way through the alps using other teams and then take any time lost on the TT. Luckily for Evans he is the biggest wheel-sucker in the world. Unluckily, CSC have an awesome team. IF they can work him over in the mountains then Fränk of Sastre is probably going to win it. | ||
| C • nice report 4 | ||
Sunday Jul 13 | ||
| Running 54:00 [3]12.5 km (4:19 / km) | |
| Tempo run round the Meadows, keeping to the grass and mud. Went off at a nice fast pace, stopped at five laps, legs started to tighten a bit. 11km in 44mins. Jogged a bit round the grass to loosten off then went home to watch WOC. Pretty exciting stuff. Some seriously rapide running going on. | ||
Saturday Jul 12 | ||
| Running 1:01:00 [3]10 km (6:06 / km) | |
| ahr:161 max:201 | ||
| Hill intervals up the dry dam, 3 mins up then 3 mins jog back down. It's a nice tough session. Tough on the legs, tough on the luns and tough on the mind. Three minutes can seem like a very long time. Still, as Lance said "You've gotta suffer in training, you've gotta suffer in races". This man knows about suffering, he had to ride a trek for 7 years. No one needs that. The first two efforts went nicely, the third was quite an effort, on the fourth I go to about 1:45 and was pretty much blown up. My brain decided that this was just a bit too much suffering for the pre-off-season. Somehow the message didn't get to my legs. I definitely remember deciding to stop, but for some reason or other I didn't. Ten seconds later a felt a bit of a twat for having even considered pussing out. It did hurt, and I didn't get quite as far as before, but it was worth it. Kind of like having that last slice of the extra large pizza. Probably not good for you, infact most probably significantly bad for you, but it's just a matter of principle. I've started so I'll finish.
Some random statistics: Heart rate max/average, average pace, distance/ascent 1) HR 194/184, 6:11 m/km's, 490m/80m 2) HR 199/185, 6:03 m/km's, 500m/80m 3) HR 201/188, 6:14 m/km's, 480m/80m 4) HR 200/189, 6:31 m/km's, 470m/75m Looks like my watch does distance to the nearest 10m and climb to the nearest 5m. Luckily that isn't really what I care about in intervals, it's all about heart rate. | ||
| Note | |
| So, Mark Cavendish eh? I must admit I didn't see that coming at the begining of tha day. But Columbia's team tactics were absolute genius today. A break was bound to happen with some hills on the road. With the yellow Jersey (and green... and white) to defend they took there place at the front like every team does. However the act of genius was pulling them back to about 5 mins, and then rolling along and keeping it at that. The closer the finish came the more anxious other sprinting teams got, and the pressure shifted off Columbia and Kirchen to Quickstep, Credit Agricole and Liqugas. Then they did the work to pull the break back to sniffing distance. Columbia then take to the front when the lock-down starts. Their leadout train is just unbelievable. I can't remember ever seeing the yellow jersey lead a sprinter out, but Columbia really believe in teamwork and Cavendish is the first to honour the work his team put in. They might have lost the front coming up to the final km and that last tight bend, but the damage had been done and Cav still had Ciolek (former World U-23 champ) to lead him out. Only Quickstep and CreditAgricole had numbers at the front. Quickstep were taking the wind and were always going to get pounced on, and the door was closed for CA. All Cav had to do was pounce, and pounce he did. No one can touch him in those last few hundred meters. Pretty much every world class sprinter was up at the front, and yet he still won by a length with his lead-out man in 2nd. The only riders missing are Petacchi and Boonen, and the has shown them dust already. Cav's 23 and the best sprinter in the world. Legend. | ||
Friday Jul 11 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Day of rest. | ||
Thursday Jul 10 | ||
| Static Cycling 35:00 [3] | |
| Got the rollers out and watched a bit of TV. Planned to do an hour, lost motivation after a while. Plus my right leg was getting tired. I noticed that the tracking of my right knee loots a bit dodgey compared to my left, It seems to be further out from to top tube on my up stroke. I'm gonna set my camera up and do some videos and see what I can see. I might even draw all over myself with permenant marker. | ||
| C • like bj and greg in estonia? 4 | ||
Wednesday Jul 9 | ||
| Hill Running 1:10:00 [3] | |
| Helping at Kitch's Carnethy Hill Race to raise some dosh for the Squad Support Fund. I put out and collected the tapes with Andy and Mhairi, Scotia took money off people and Becky was also in attendance...
Race went down pretty well I think. Big Al Anthony broke the course record which has stood for 1 year (since the race began). Kitch's genius marketing meant we cashed in on a few less intelligent hill runners who though they were turning up for the Carnethy 5. Brilliant. Stayed up late to watch the tour highlights as I hadn't seen anythintg of the day's racing. Cav was brilliant, no one can stop the Manx Express, but I thought he's team were even better: to get every team member in the lead-out train is just amazing, I've never seen it done before in the tour. Normally you see 3's and 4's, Quickstep on form could muster maybe 6. But 8 riders in a row with Cav sitting in 9th wheel. Brilliant. | ||
| C • Oi! 5 | ||
Tuesday Jul 8 | ||
| Cycling 4:00:00 [3]72.0 mi (3:19 / mi) | |
| ahr:147 max:181 | ||
| In my head I was going to go for a 2 hour ride, in my head I also had a nice route which I know is a lot longer than 2 hours; my cognitive powers never noticed the indiscretion. The finally finish the epic roadworks up by the bush, and all they seem to have done is put in some traffic lights. Not really warranting they 3 months of contraflow. Was a bit slow at first, into the headwind. Went up the Meldon's climb like Eddie Mercx on fury. Then did a bit of time-triallage up Heriot Water and down to Eskbank. 3000 Kcal burned. In an attempt to get some of that back I ate eight scotch pancakes and hhad 2 pints of milk when I got back. I then felt pretty sick.
My computer said the route was 71 miles, mapmyride says it was just under 74... hmm. Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/edinburgh/116537... | ||
Monday Jul 7 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Legs feeling heavy from yesterday, which was to be expected. Watch le Tour online. What the hell were the peleton playing at? I've never, ever seen a break stay away on such a flat stage. Respect to the break-away boys, launching pretty much as soon as they got out of the neutral zone and then staying away for 208km. On a windy day as well. On average they had to ride over 50km at the front taking the wind, the peleton on average would only have to ride about 1km at the font. Bearing in mind that being in 3rd wheel you save 60% compared to the big man pulling at the front. There are no excuses. Letting them pull to 15 mins clear is fine, but failing to pull them in; shocking. Mark Cavendish clearly wanted to win this stage and was in a right huff when ITV tried to interview him at the finish. When asked what he had learned in the last 3 days he said "Nothing, I don't need to learn anything". Really? Because being the best sprinter in the peleton and having a very strong team and letting a break stay away on the flat would suggest that actually he needs to learn a little bit still. It's OK though, I still love him. but he better win stage 5. | ||
| C • I hope... 4 | ||
Sunday Jul 6 | ||
| Running tempo 1:37:00 [3]24 km (4:02 / km) | |
| So I guess the vaguely warm period Edinburgh had a couple of months ago was what is traditionally known as "summer". It's cold and it's pishing down. Good for running in though.
Along the canal, up the Water of Leith, down the Water of Leith, along the canal. Saw a path signed to the Pentlands, might have to explore that next weekend. On another note, the lift bridge over the canal was actually up and being used, amazing, and there was me thinking canal became redundant with the invention of the railways. | ||
Saturday Jul 5 | ||
| Running intervals (Terrain Intervals) 1:34:00 [3]16 km (5:52 / km) | |
| ahr:153 max:186 | ||
| Terrain intervals on Arthur's Seat, awesome. I can't remember a time when the grass was up this high. Really tough running. Lots of thistles as well which, whilst entertain the tourists, do have a prickly tendancy. I swear they used to give the place a trim with a big tractor, clearly not any more though.. It was raining, a lot, and quite cold, which is always good for keeping the tourists at bay. Still a few persistent buggers wondering about.
Got back to the flat just in time to see the last 10km of stage 1 of Le Tour. A long uphill drag to the finish, nice. Kirchen went for it, Valverde took it. He's the Spanish champion though, and despite what the French like to think and the Italians like to say, Spain are the best cycling nation. On the road anyway, bearing in mind GBR has 12 of the 32 World Cycling Championship Titles. The next is Nederlands, with 4. However this is epically skewed by the fast there are 18 track gold medals up for grabs, and only 4 on the road. | ||
Friday Jul 4 | ||
| Cycling 1:05:00 [3]17.0 mi (3:50 / mi) | |
| Vuelta de Timanfaya, 4 laps going quite steady. The top road was closed due to the "Toad Migration". WTF. The laws of the road don't apply to me, so up and round the big red gate it was. Coming down to the Pollock round-a-bout some dude in Team SIS kit came past me like I wasn't moving. I was moving though, quite fast. Not as fast as him though, obviously.
Watched the Tour de France preview on ITV4, now I'm trying to think of my predictions. I think Cav is going to take at least one stage, it's not as flat as it could be, but nor was the Giro. His lead out train is missing Wiggins, which is a shame. But Tom Boonen isn't there which helps. As for the GC, it's pretty damn open. Cadel Evans is favourite, but CSC has an awesome trio. If they ride clever they'll take it, if they ride like Astana last year then they won't. | ||
Thursday Jul 3 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Accidentally slept in far too long. Pretty annoying, I don't like getting up late. Had some porridge and played with the idea of going cycling, decided not too. I've been running more than I have since last August, so my legs are getting a bit battered, a rest day today and they will be good to cycle tomorrow.
I spent this afternoon planning the next few months, at the moment I'm just training to get fit for training. Things will really kick off in September. Orienteering 7 out of 8 weekends in September and October looks pretty good. Culminating in the SHI's, interesting. | ||
| C • SHIs for Scotland or Englan... 4 | ||
Wednesday Jul 2 | ||
| Running 1:01:00 [3]10 km (6:06 / km) | |
| ahr:160 max:201 | ||
| Hill intervals on Arthur's Seat, a whole world of aerobic pain, and I love it. I love the feeling of acid through your arms, I love seeing my heart-rate over 200bpm even though I'm hardly moving. And I love being overtaken by fat joggers on my warm-down who have literally no idea of the brutal punishment that just got dished out up the Dry Dam. As someone once said, "the pain of not doing is much worse".
| ||
Tuesday Jul 1 | ||
| Cycling 2:09:00 [3]36.0 mi (3:35 / mi) | |
| So when did Spring Onions become Salad Onions then? I must have missed that one. Watched Andy Murray vs Gasquet last night, probably the best match of tennis have ever seen. Not due to Murray's excellent tennis, which there was plenty of, but just for shear excitement. So many times he could have closed a game and so many times he failed to. Brilliant. I particuarly enjoyed to moment where he ended up playing a shot from pretty much in the crowd and won the point off it. Good land. Not a quitter, I like that.
Went for a spincycle out to the west for a change. Headed out past Herriot-Watt and then explored the country lanes, some nice roads. A lot of flies flying at eye level. Got stalked by a police car as I was doing 32mph, downhill, in the position, in a residential area. I didn't get busted. Obviously an act of respect for my time-trialling ability rather than the fact it's pretty slow. | ||