the olympics...the best thing in the world...ever!

" yeah i dived in, did a bit of fly kick, cruised the 1st 50m, goggles filled up, couldn't see what was going on, kept the pace steady as i've got some more business to look after....oh and i won my 10th OLYMPIC gold medal and broke the world record" - WHAT A MAN!!!

London Tri 2/3 of a 'Race' Report

Given how little racing i've done i can't really avoid writing this one up...even if it wasn't the best of results...

We arrived at the race on the saturday as my lil' bro Taco and the other Bodyworks XTC amigos were racing in the youth race. It was really good to see the guys race, their thoughtful and aggressive approach to racing definitely made me buck up my ideas for the following day! However traipsing around Excel (the mahhosive building where the triathlon is based) meant that my legs were tired and flat by the afternoon...schoolboy error!

Come race day I was feeling really really really stupidly legs-shaking running to toilet nervous, i shouldn't have been feeling like this given that there was zero expectation/pressure (I had only been running for a couple of weeks after having 8 weeks off with shin splints since vancouver), however i was and it was leaving me feeling drained and pretty negative.

The race start was an absolute fiasco, there is not way you can get 60 highly competitive athletes to line up perfectly for a deep water start...you just can't!! Not to mention a false start where we swam well over 100m before the kayaks ploughed into our path in a dangerous stopping manouvere. Once we finally got going I started to feel a bit better but I was definitely lacking the sharpness to be able to move up in the final 400m to secure a good position coming into T1. T1 felt like i had slipped into slow motion, missing the front pack by a matter of 5 seconds. These 5 secs were to prove very costly and an emotional 7km of painful riding ensued as I desperately tried to hook back onto a seriously shifting front pack, eventually I got back on with a couple of other guys however the pace continued to be fast, which never allowed me to settle or feel comfortable...despite this I was the 1st in and accelerated out of the last dead turn and found myself with a cheeky gap that only a few guys bridged up to before T2 (if nothing else I grabbed some crafty TV time).

The less the said about the run the better, it was always going to be tough to blag a 10km off so little training and the hard bike put pay to even scraping a decent 5km before popping. So I was straight on to survival mode and ploughed around the run feeling slow and miserable. The good news is is that there was no shin pain and hopefully i will be able to resume the hard runs that should get me back in the mix within a month or so...

Beijing Olympics, fact or fiction?

Such stories about the reality of being a chinese citizen litter the internet. It is unsurprising that the horrific stories, which would not normally be told but do obviously sell papers, have appeared but that does not detract from there pertinence. Jacques Rogge has incessantly trumpeted that bringing the Olympics to China, and hence the eyes of the world, will instigate change however I can't but help feel the apathetic West will rush to forget these issues at their earliest convenience. Perhaps that is why it is so important that every athlete involved in this 'spectacle' (we must remember that this really is spectacle and not a celebration of New China), leaves China as an ambassador for change and does not permit the world to turn their voyeuristic attention to the next 'tragedy' and once again miss the opportunity to improve the lives of millions.

to smashed and back again

the end of last week was pretty miserable, 2 weeks of consistent swimming and cycling (basically 2hrs of swimming and 2hrs of cycling everyday, with plenty of intensity) put me into a pretty big hole and by thursday evening all i was capable of doing was crawling into bed after eating everything that wasn't nailed down in a desperate bid to recover. friday was an easy day and thankfully i'm feeling much better today. it always amazes me how dynamic but also unpredictable the human body is, i've literally gone from thinking that i would need a couple of days off to looking forward to another weeks hard training...a complete physiological and psychological reversal, perhaps i should save that disscussion for another day.

not so good was having to stand one of my best mates up tomorrow as i have to train instead, being selfish and narcissistic is undoubtedly the hardest part of being an 'athlete'. i try hard not to indulge it but sometimes the decisions are unavoidable, i'll just have to make sure that i nail the session tomorrow to justify my choice.

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.