things could be worse...

well, long time no blog...you can blame le tour for taking up all my free time for the last 'few' (10!!) days. training's been going really well, i'm not really running yet but will hopefully be starting to soon, London's looking more and more like swim, bike, jog :-(

i had to go to the hospital today to see a cardiologist about my pigs heart. a few years ago i suffered ~ 4 episodes of heart palpitations where i would be aware of my heart beating faster than usual whilst i was sitting down following training. this lead to me being referred for a cardiac screen via CRY, as expected the palpitations were attributed to my training and not considered to be a problem however an incidental finding was that i had a bicuspid aortic valve - this is the valve between the left ventricle (a pumping chamber in the heart) and the aorta (the trunk artery of the body), it should be a 3 flap valve but mine only has 2 flaps.

being 17 and obviously immortal i didn't pay much attention to the diagnosis and just pottered on ignoring a couple of outpatient appointments and soon forgetting about the 'problem' altogether. however eventually i was nagged into getting my arse back in gear, which is how i came to find myself in a sweaty Eastbourne DGH consultation room this afternoon. after being told off for going awol (and more importantly wasting valuable NHS resources, i won't ever do this again) i was told that competing in triathlons was a pretty bad idea. this was because the problem valve caused my heart to have to work extra hard and this, together with intensive training/racing, meant that my heart had grown (undergone hypertrophy) and was too big (clearly i've got a lot of love to give).

cue a round of negotiations between me and Dr Cardiologist that would have made the UN proud, we eventually agreed that I could continue training hard but i would need to stop training hard around the age of 30 and definitely give up caffeine...deal!! needless to say it wasn't a discussion that i ever dreamt i would be having and i sat in the waiting room feeling a bit numb, whilst i was waiting for the discharge papers i overheard/earwigged a conversation another patient was having with her husband after being diagnosed with valvular heart disease and angina, she had been told that she we need an invasive operation and, more importantly to her, that she would need to stop picking up her grandchildren...i have to give up diet coke...things could be a lot worse

tour de france = crikey!

what a stage!?...it literally had everything, the coverage just couldn't do it justice...there literally needs to be 3 split screens to even get half of the action. yet again team csc showed that they are the best team in the world with near faultless tactics, although obviously you can only execute that sort of race if you have andy schleck as your domestique. watching it certainly made mine and freeman's epic ride today feel a little less epic!!

interesting results at Kitzbuhel, Rana has appeared from nowhere, he's got to be in the mix for a medal in Beijing now after such a storming run.

the dunsfold sequel (dunsfold part deux)

i wouldn't bother going to watch this one...much the same as the original 2 weeks ago...started off with the 2nd cats although this time we were truly awful in the chase, i'm not sure if it was the wind or if i was just feeling carp but working up to the lead felt sooooo much harder this time. we got to within 100m of the pack and then it splintered with guys trying to bridge across, luckily i caught a ride and went straight to the front as we were coming up to a prime and i figured it might kick off, sure enough the sprint was on and I rolled through with them, however i kept the pace on to find me and shunty along with another guy escaping off the front. cue 10 mins of quality three-way work before shunty wisely decided to hot foot it back to the pack given his upcoming race....wise wise wise move Mr Hunt!! i carried on with my compadre (who was unfortunately stronger than an ox and was slowly sucking my legs off) until 6 guys bridged across...by then i was done and rolled through oblivious to the attacks...job done...but i really need to stop picking these unnecessarily succesful breaks!

training's been going well this week, gradually starting to find the form that i stumbled upon at the beginning of the year. i'll leave you with this recommendation:

it really is the best thing since air in tyres (genius idea)...it makes those hot sweaty rides (stop sniggering undies!!) so much more comfortable...and no i don't get given it free!!

ps you snooze you loose...i'll have to roll over the competition for another time.

it's competition time folks

right then, in an unashamed attempt to beat sarah and have more than 20 hits, i’ve put together the competition of a lifetime*…all you have to do to win a sparkly £10 voucher from the Tri Store is to predict the men’s podium at the BG Tiszaujvaros triathlon world cup this weekend, if you don’t know anything about triathlon (and even if you do) have a look at the start list and the seedings for the race and you can have an ‘educated guess’. post your prediction below, together with an estimated time gap between the 1st man and the 10th man – this will act as the tie break in the even that more than one person proves themselves to be a budding triathlon pundit, if you can also post your name and 1st 5 letters of your email address with the prediction…to stop cheeky people posting more than 1 entry….good luck!!!

t

T & Cs
Prize = £10 voucher to be spent at the Tri Store, voucher has no cash value. The voucher can be used in conjunction with a mail order purchase, however the Tri Store reserve the right to charge a postage and packaging fee.

competition closes 1hr before the start of the race
My decision is final….it’s only a little bit of fun!!!
Competition is open to employees of the Tri Store however an alternative prize will be offered…namely a 45p can of coke from Mace (it was going to be a cake but due to the recent trade embargo i’ve had to withdraw this offer).

* if you’re a fruitfly.

my readerships' (briefly) in double figures!

thanks to a mention from coach cook my readership jumped to the dizzy heights of over 10...i may have done a little dance to celebrate.

training absolutely toasted me last night, we swam hard in the morning and then I had a steady x-train (due to a very annoying post vancouver calf injury, which is still bothering me...ahhh!!!) before we hit the turbo - 8 x 3min @ race pace [2min rec]. unfortunately me an olly were the naughty boys in the corner and got a ticking off for having a chat on the 2nd rep...cue us nailing ourselves into the ground for the next 6 reps in a desperate bid to gain redemption. my legs were in tiny little pieces afterwards and to make matters worse they remained restless and kept me up until the early hours of this morning and I had to miss swimming (not my finest excuse). in hindsight i think it was a case of not drinking enough following the session and i should probably of had an ice bath to shut the muscles down instead of jumping straight into bed...lesson learnt!!! easier day today so hopefully they will be recovered for tomorrow.

sarah's got her race report up...having spoke with my reliable source she appears to have downplayed quite how much time she lost on the run...STOP being so modest!!

t

The doper's redemption

David Millar appeared to have it all, until a poor Tour led him to sign up to the Brotherhood of the Needle and he found himself locked up in a French jail....good Sunday Times article here.

And a massive well done to Sarah Lovelock...rocked to 2nd place at the CowMan on Sunday!!

all aboard the freeman express

freeman puts the hammer down in hamburg today and gets a podium finish...bad to the bone! not sure what happened to kahlefeldt but i'm sure it will come to light in the next few days.

training + more training = cooked

i'm pretty cooked tonight, last few days have accumulated to leave me lying on the sofa trying to find the energy to make it into bed. dunsfold went well on tuesday...a little too well...Glenn had told me to stay active and possibly instigate some breaks. i set of with the 2nd cats (all 12 of us) and we quickly got organised in pursuit of the 3rd/4th cats with some slick through and off. the pack was reeled in after 3.5 laps and i went straight to the relative safety of the front, next thing i know it's kicking off for a prime sprint and i'm following a wheel into a 7 man break....uh oh...this is gonna hurt! 6 laps later and after some solid team work and leg burning action our break gets caught by some committed riding from a few of the 1st cats, i stayed near the front for the final 2 laps but the power was gone so i just rolled over the line...job done.

olly's racing in the Hamburg World Cup this SATURDAY (not sunday), ch-ch-ch-check it out on the tricast should be a cracking race

t

Sodium phosphate loading improves laboratory cycling time-trial performance in trained cyclists.

Sodium phosphate loading has been reported to increase maximal oxygen uptake (6-12%), however its influence on endurance performance has been ambiguous. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of sodium phosphate loading on laboratory 16.1km cycling time-trial performance. Six trained male cyclists (V O(2) peak, 64.1+/-2.8mlkg(-1)min(-1); mean+/-S.D.) took part in a randomised double-blind crossover study. Upon completion of a control trial (C), participants ingested either 1g of tribasic dodecahydrate sodium phosphate (SP) or lactose placebo (P) four times daily for 6 days prior to performing a 16.1km (10 mile) cycling time-trial under laboratory conditions. Power output and heart rate were continually recorded throughout each test, and at two points during each time-trial expired air samples and capillary blood samples were taken. There was a 14-day period between each of the supplemented time-trials. After SP loading mean power was greater than for P and C (C, 322+/-15W; P, 317+/-16W; SP, 347+/-19W; ANOVA, P<0.05) and time to complete the 16.1km was shorter than P, but not C (ANOVA, P<0.05). During the SP trial, relative to the P, mean changes were mean power output +9.8+/-8.0% (+/-95% confidence interval); time -3.0+/-2.9%. There was a tendency towards higher V O(2) after SP loading (ANOVA, P=0.07). Heart rate, V (E), RER and blood lactate concentration were not significantly affected by SP loading. Sodium phosphate loading significantly improved mean power output and 16.1km time-trial performance of trained cyclists under laboratory conditions with functional increases in oxygen uptake.

Folland JP, Stern R, Brickley G.
J Sci Med Sport. 2007 Jun 12.

james adams - 1st out the water @ the WORLD junior triathlon championships

hurting on the run but having laid the smack down on the swim in his world champs debut. james is also sponsored by the tri store and a member of team bodyworks xtc.

had a lovely jubbly mountain bike ride yesterday with all the other guys that work at the tri store. i took the opportunity to ride the enduro demo bike (mainly because Lawrence had nabbed the Epic) and i was pleasantly surprised with how well it rode as a cross-country bike, admittedly my pitiful bike handling skills (and lack of any bravery) meant that i got nowhere near to maxing it out on the down hills but i certainly enjoyed the plush ride and it climbed and rolled exceptionally well considering its weight.

i would also like to take this opportunity to apologise for my less than garmin-like route planning skills...although in fairness it wasn't boring...even if we did get cut into a million pieces by those pesky brambles. i think i had just about been forgiven by the time we sat down to dinner for some nookie...or is it gnocchi!? [insert picture of said food here]

hard swim this morning with some 1500m pace and threshold work and i'm off to dunsfold tonight to be given a schoolboy lesson in cycling.........yet again!

t