I had call out of the blue this week from Joanna Ebsworth who is the Editor of Health and Fitness magazine. Jo contacted me as she is doing a case study in conjunction with Shock Absorber in preparation for the Shock Absorber Women’s Only Triathlon and got in touch because I won that event last year. I spent 40 mins on the phone with her today doing an interview and on Saturday I am meeting up with her and her team to do a photo shoot! I’m really excited about it and promise to take some ‘behind the scenes’ shots to share on the blog.

So it hasn’t all been sitting on my butt talking to journalists, there has actually been an increase in training! A trip to the US and a cold I picked up there slowed down the training but I have recovered and I am back on track doing 2 sessions a day and loving it! I had a lesson last week in punctuality when I turned up at my track session 10 mins late by which time those who were on time had already decided the weather was too awful to do the session. I ended up running the session with another tardy athlete who took this shot of me running in what only be described as a downpour.

I have also started doing some technique classes to sort out my swim stroke with www.Triforfitness.co.uk My swimming lets me down big time so I have committed to more hours in the pool and some of that on correcting the bad habits I have picked up. It is frustrating to have to slow down but as my coach Terry keeps telling me, you have to slow down to get faster. The big thing that keeps resonating through my head is that I have to make every stroke count. Unfortunately that involves memorising at least 5 things to do differently and staying co-ordinated whilst doing them!! I can already feel an improvement and if nothing else I am much more conscious of what I need to improve on.

Usually I duck out to Nice to get some warmer weather, but this year has also been exceptionally cold there, so much so there has been snow in Nice which is very rare. The Dutchman and I went out for a ride and we were very surprised to be hitting snow at low altitudes. Rather than fight it we did our ride on the Saturday and embraced the snow and went skiing on Sunday.

Happy training and more after Saturday’s photo shoot!

Cx

Photos

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Where Did January Go?

Training has had its ups and downs the past few weeks. I am becoming increasingly frustrated that work, weather and other commitments are getting in the way of doing some decent outdoor training. I have been moving house this week and my work travel schedule has picked up which always makes training a challenge.

I got out a few weeks ago for a long ride with some friends around Hitchin and Stevenage. Unfortunately the smaller, quieter roads were still too icy for decent riding so we had to get onto some frankly terrifying roads. We made that decision after we had to get off our bikes a couple of times to get through some treacherous patches of ice. After crossing one of these and getting back on my bike I then hit a patch of black ice just down the road and went down like a sack of potatoes on my right side. No damage done to my Kiron, just some bruising to both my body and ego.

I got a place in the 8km Southern Counties Cross Country Championships at Hampstead Heath at the end of January. Up until that point I had thought a time trial I did at the beginning of last year was the most awful event I had ever done, but this took the cake. The juniors had gone off before the women so the course was already nicely churned up, that coupled with the FREEZING temperatures that day it was going to make for a tough race. The race started at the bottom of a hill that got steeper as it went up and I went out way too fast. It wasn’t my fault; my Uncle was there with a video camera! I had that awful moment of when the adrenalin runs out, my heart was hammering, I was breathing like an emphysema patient and I realised I was only a third of the way up the hill and still had 7.75km to go!

The single worst moment of the race was plunging into this huge bog and having icy water soak both feet. In my head I went from ‘OK, just get through this’ to ‘stop this madness now’. If I hadn’t made my visiting Aunt and Uncle come and watch the race I am sure I would have slipped off to the side in search of dry socks and my sanity! I survived it, just, but will certainly not be lining up to do that again. I have nothing but the utmost respect for cross country runners now.

I did one of the winter series 10km races in Regents Park last Sunday which was much more my style, no bogs to wade through, no spikes required and you got a banana at the end. I hadn’t run a 10km without it being tacked onto the end of a triathlon in quite a few years and I am certainly not in race shape yet so I was pleased to get round in just under 44 mins. My aim was to keep my pace consistent which I did and I really enjoyed it. I was 6th woman overall which was also encouraging.

Next up I am doing a duathlon at Dorney Lake. I haven’t been on my Focus Izalco Chrono anywhere near enough lately but we will see how it goes. It also gets me out of unpacking boxes for the morning!

Happy training
Cx

My training volume picked up this week and the lovely easy training days of December are already a distant memory. Due to the icy conditions I am sure I am not alone in having spent more hours than normal on the turbo and the treadmill this week. Unfortunately I’m not as tough as the mountain biking boys of Team Wiggle who have been out training in the snow as you can see from Lee’s recent blog.

January is always the month in the training programme where my volume increases and I get back into the habit of doing 2 training sessions a day, I’m really motivated at the moment and much to my surprise, really loving swimming which has to be a first! It is by far my weakest leg when it comes to triathlon and if I can find a reason to run or bike rather than swim I take it. I was a little bit scared I wouldn’t remember how to swim after 6 weeks out of the water. I had laser eye surgery last November which meant I couldn’t swim for a month. I then had a 2 week holiday in France over Christmas where I got to bike, run and ski but no swimming. It doesn’t seem to have hurt me, in fact I feel better in the water which will hopefully translate to some new PB’s later this season!

I leave a bike in France and despite the huge amount of rain we had in Nice, I managed to get out and do some wonderful rides and only got soaked once! In the December issue of Pro Cycling, Col Eze was featured as a ride which is also one of my personal favourites and one I do quite frequently as it is a great way to cut across to Menton to the start of Col de la Madone, a ride that was also featured in a Pro Cycling magazine Nov 2009 I think. Trek fans will recognise where the name of the bike came from J.

Riding in the Alps is always a humbling experience for me. My strength in racing is flat, windy courses so faced with a 10km climb with a 8-10% average, I am not really in my element. It is of course good for me and makes me stronger but it doesn’t make me happy until I crest the top of those mountains. I tend to drift off if left to my own devices and enjoy the views rather than pushing myself to the max, which is where The Dutchman comes in. Every climb we did over the break was used for interval training and he was right there next to me making sure I was putting in 110%. If it was a short climb of 5-7km it was 1km hard, 1 km easy. Anything longer than that was 2km hard and 1km easy. Trust me, there was no enjoying the views this time!

So back to work, back to training and fine tuning the race schedule for the year. I am mixing it up a bit more this year and sticking to my Olympic and Sprint distance triathlons, some early season duathlons and also a few more sportives including the Fausto Coppi in Italy which will no doubt hurt a lot given my current climbing fitness! I’m busy recruiting my merry band of domestiques to help me out there. www.faustocoppi.net

Be careful out there on the ice! Happy Training.
Cx

End of Season Lowdown with Team Wiggle

Our Team Wiggle athletes have had a cracking year, standing atop rostrums the world over in road racing, mountain biking and triathlon. Before they put their feet up for the festive break, we caught up with them all as they reflect on 2009 and look ahead to 2010. Age-group triathlete Carolyn Hewett had a cracking year, focusing on short course triathlon for the first time after several successful seasons competing at Ironman events…

18

Team Wiggle 2009 Highlights.

Q. Looking back on your 2009 season, are you pleased with how it went?

A. Yes, it was my first year racing sprint and Olympic distance and I loved it. The best part is you can go do a race in the morning, be home, showered and ready to go out to lunch. It’s very different to the whole day slog that goes with doing an Ironman and lunch is always better than eating gels!

Q. What was the highlight of your year?

A. Finding out I had made it onto Team Wiggle. Racing wise, it was winning five out of the seven triathlons I competed in during the year. I’m most proud of my age group win (30 – 34) at The London Triathlon by a six-minute margin.

Q. What was the funniest moment?

A. Getting stuck in my wetsuit in transition with it glued to my arms and not being able to move it further than my elbows. It doesn’t get any easier if you get the giggles whilst trying to escape! I will never again underestimate the value of Bodyglide.

Q. What was the most important lesson you learnt?

A. Don’t forget the Bodyglide! Also, not to eat too much when racing sprint and Olympic distance. Having raced Ironman distance for a few years it was ingrained in me to eat, eat, eat and I struggled early season with stomach cramps from overloading my stomach. It took me a while to get the balance right and to lose the fear that I was going to blow up.

Q. What are your plans for winter training? How’s it going so far?

A. I’m eating a huge wedge of carrot cake whilst writing this, so the diet could definitely be better! I have been running more and spending some time in the gym but doing shorter sessions than normal. I’m heading to France for a couple weeks over Christmas and New Year so will be riding and running when I’m not skiing. Training really picks up for me in January.

Q. What does 2010 have in store for you? What are your major races going
to be?

A. I am going to be unemployed by choice early next year so I am planning on spending some time training in Australia to get ready for Blenheim and Windsor triathlons. Other major races include the Kiron Sportive, Dextro Energy in Hyde Park, the London Triathlon and the London Duathlon.

Carolyn on her way to victory at the Timex Women’s Triathlon. She says:

“I love this shot – I love that my feet aren’t touching the ground. I was being chased down by two fast runners and the fear of losing my first place made me push harder than ever before.”

It’s funny how when you are in tip top shape how you adapt to knowing how fast you can run, or hard you can bike or how far you can swim and you quickly get used to that and accept it as the status quo. Each year the same thing happens to me after I take a little bit of time off, ease up on the training, and unavoidably lose some of that conditioning. I end up in a situation where my mind *thinks* it can still do what I was doing 2 months earlier.

Unfortunately that is not the case. I started into my winter base training 3 weeks ago and hit it with intensity and enthusiasm. As a result I am having to get the elevator to my 2nd floor apartment because I can’t face the stairs, my bike commute is usually a joyful 20 minutes and at the moment I would probably chew glass rather than face what is now 30 mins of thigh burning hell. I say that but the thought of having to go up and down stairs in the tube is one I can’t even contemplate without tears welling up in my eyes. I have done a couple of weights sessions and despite having to use lighter weights, I have spent the past 10 days in varying degrees of pain. I know it will be worth it and now is the key time to start building my strength ready for my first triathlon of 2010 which will be Blenheim Castle in early June.

I have spent considerable time planning out next years race schedule which is starting to take shape as more and more race organisers release the 2010 dates for their events. My goal for next year is to do the races I LOVED this year (London Olympic, Dextro Hyde Park Olympic and some Dorney Lake events) as well as try out some new ones. Paul @ Wiggle has been very generous and is upgrading my road bike so the plan is to also do a few more sportives including the inaugural Kiron Sportive on Sunday 20th June. It promises to be a great event and is based at Eastnor Castle. I did a race there a few years ago and it is a beautiful area. Entry to the sportive is a very reasonable £22 which includes a T-shirt and goody bag. You can sign up here I am sure it is going to be a fantastic event.

Next up for me is a 10km run in Regents Park next weekend, maybe my quads will have recovered enough to get to the start line ;)

Keep up the winter training!

Cx

This month, our Wiggle Triathlete Carolyn Hewett has been featured in the December edition of Running Fitness Magazine.

The feature tells Carolyn’s inspirational story on how she beat Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome to become a Ironman champion. Read the full story on page 18 of the Dec edition of Running Fitness!

Keep up to date with Carolyn’s Blogs here

Training took a back seat to my recent 2 week holiday in California. As regular Bloggle readers will have heard, most of Team Wiggle eased up slightly to reflect on 2009, refresh and get ready to start the preparation for 2010 and I am no exception. I always try and take a month out at the end of the year where I reduce my training volume and train for fun. I try not to watch the clock too closely or worry about speeds or splits and if I’m being honest I really just exercise so I can keep eating dessert guilt free!

The Dutchman and I started our road trip in LA and stayed with some friends in the Hollywood Hills. I had to resist stalking their next door neighbour who is none other than Patrick Dempsey, perhaps better known as McDreamy from Greys Anatomy. Unfortunately (fortunately for him) I didn’t get to see him, but it didn’t stop me peering out the window at regular intervals. Following a few days in LA we headed to Death Valley where we planned to do a long hike to the top of Telescope Peak, unique in that you can see both the lowest (Death Valley) and highest (Mt Whitney) points in the USA. Things didn’t go to plan and halfway through the hike we had to turn back because it was so cold!

Despite wearing my 2XU tights, dhb Merston long sleeve jersey and several other layers, I was absolutely freezing and really was not having a good time. The weather had changed and we were in the clouds so I couldn’t even say I was cold but enjoying the view. My patience was wearing thin and the Dutchman who is well versed in recognising the signs of a pending meltdown turned us around and we headed back to the warmth of the valley floor. We snapped this picture on the valley floor. Very useful in case you were wondering what those big piles of sand might be.

Next up was Yosemite National Park to see the giant Sequoia trees which blew my mind. They are enormous. You can see the size difference between the tree and this house next to one of them, and that wasn’t even a particularly noteworthy tree as there were others much bigger! Next day we set off on a huge hike which combined 3 trails starting in Yosemite Valley up to Glacier Point which provided fantastic views of Half Dome, along the Panorama trail taking in the spectacular waterfalls and onto the John Muir trail. It was a serious 6.5 hr workout but with regular breaks to take in the scenery.

Next stop was Lake Tahoe where we hiked up from Fallen Leaf Lake past 8 different lakes to loop back around to the start. What had become apparent was that California is an incredibly diverse state and I was beginning to doubt 2 weeks would be any where near close enough to experience it! Leaving Lake Tahoe we hit a snowstorm but luck was with us when a snow plow pulled out in front of me and I got to follow him over the pass and past others who had slid off the road in the icy conditions. Not sure it is standard practise to carry snow chains in a Mustang convertible!

Onto Sonoma in the wine region and due to the lack of hiking we picked up the running to get some exercise in, in addition to walking between wineries of course! After a few relaxing days we then headed across to the coast to drive down Hwy 1. The views really are as good as everyone says! We took 2 days to drive down the Hwy back to LA doing lots of stops to take in as much as possible.

So, back to work, the end of daylight savings and the start of my base training. My focus for the winter is to get stronger and put in a solid base for my running and cycling, but the big goal is to break my swim stroke down and build up better technique, and hopefully as a result increase my speed for 2010!

On a final note, if you are looking for some great lights to make you flash like a Christmas Tree on your bike on these dark evenings, check out the Smart LED front and rear light set that are currently £14 reduced from £35!

Happy training!
Cx

I pushed the envelope a little 10 days after coming off my bike by heading into the Alps for a week of tough cycling. I skipped the first day and managed to get through the week by dosing up on long lasting ibuprofen every morning which did the trick! I’m so pleased I didn’t have to miss the riding as we saw some incredible sights. The group was made up of 10 riders including myself and was led by The Dutchman who runs a little side business doing cycling trips in Europe and has done for about 5 years now. Most of the riders had come from the US, 1 from Holland and the rest of us from the UK including our van driver who is also a keen cyclist.

I skipped the first day of riding which was a short out and back to Nice to test the bike set ups and stretch the legs for the Americans who had arrived that morning. That night we had a pasta party at home for everyone. Most people have been coming on the trips for quite a few years so it was a good opportunity for everyone to catch up. You need a lot of lasagna to feed 10 hungry athletes ;) Next day was also an out and back from Nice which included one of my favorite climbs, Col de Braus. It is so cool to look back on all the switchbacks as you climb above them. We covered just over 100km so it was a good intro to the trip.

Monday we left Nice and cycled out to Entrevoux which is an ancient walled village surrounded by a moat. The streets are so tiny there aren’t any cars allowed into the town; although I’m not sure they would actually fit anyway! We covered 3 big climbs, although I only did 2 of them after snapping my chain and having to be rescued by Anton our mechanic and van driver. It was much easier waving to people as I passed them in the van rather than actually doing the climb in the heat. Anton very kindly fixed my chain at the top and I zoomed off down the decent. Monday’s stage was 101km and 2000m vertical.

Tuesday we set off again to. By this time the competition between the boys had really kicked off so I started taking bets who was going to be the ‘winner’ at the end of each day. Ian is a superb climber, but is still developing his descending skills where as Pete has been racing for years and can really handle the technical descents. €5 would be staked on the winner and I am pleased to say my man Ian came home with the goods most days. Tuesday’s stage was mostly up including Col de la Cayolle which seemed to go on for ever. We did 86km and 1900m to get to Barcelonnette which is a gorgeous little town and full of cyclists!
Wednesday was our rest day, well rest if you call doing a 3 hour hike with over 1000m of climbing a rest.

We found out about a route to a lake nestled up amongst the peaks. What the brochure failed to mention was that you had to walk up a ski run to get there! It was a good walk but my glutes and quads hurt for the rest of the trip! Most of the group decided to just hang our in Barcelonette which was a lot less strenuous!
Thursday back on the bike for the BIG day. This was going to be the toughest day where we were doing Col de la Bonnette (22km, 8% average) and then Col de la Couillolle (16km 9% average). I had an axe to grind on Couillolle after severely blowing to pieces when I rode up it last Easter. I have never bonked as spectacularly as I did on that climb and it is a miracle that my relationship with the Dutchman survived as it was very clearly his fault that I was even there in the first place ;) So this time I decided to do Bonnette at a reasonable easy pace and eat eat eat to ensure I was in good shape for Couillolle.

I set out ahead of the group with one other rider who had the same strategy and took it easy and stopped to enjoy the view back out across the valley. Bonnette featured in the 2008 Tour de France so the road was in good shape. It is also the highest paved road in Europe at a nose bleeding 2700m. I was wearing everything I had by the time we got to the top and dug out even more from the van to descend in. We stopped for lunch before heading off on a long valley descent to the bottom of Couillolle and Pete from our group took this video of us flying along doing between 55 and 65km hour being pulled along by Big O. Totally exhilarating and absolutely terrifying on some of those narrow bike paths!

Friday was a long day but didn’t feel as tough as some of the other days as the vertical was spread out across several smaller climbs. My least favorite was Mt Vial which was 7km of hell. It was so tough and made tougher by the fact the road is only used by the guy manning the TV antenna at the top so it is in dreadful shape with gravel and lots of pot holes. It was worth it when you got to the top and had an incredible uninterrupted 360 degree view out across the Alps and back towards Nice where you could see the sea. Spectacular. It was a 133km and 2200m day and I think we were all happy to make it back to Nice.

Saturday the group headed out to Col de la Madone which the Americans loved after realising where the Trek Madone gets it’s name from! I was very busy being horizontal on the beach so couldn’t do the ride ;) October is my month of rest and I will be taking full advantage of that by taking a trip to California. More on that later!

Happy training.
Cx

More Photos

This month, our Wiggle Triathlete Carolyn Hewett has been featured in the Nov/Dec edition of Triathlete’s World.

The feature tells Carolyn’s remarkable story on how she recovered from a life threatening bout of Viral Meningitis to becoming a sponsored triathlete. Read the full story on page 22 of the Nov/Dec Edition of Triathlete’s World on sale now!

Next up is Matthew Page Sponsored Pro MTB’er who is shown in October’s edition of Singletrack Mountain bike magazine.

Matthew takes Staff Writer, Reviews Editor and Web Reporter Benji Haworth on a guided tour of the sunny Brecon Beacons.

You can read the full route guide on Page 116 of Octobers edition of Singletrack Magazine on sale now.

Catch up on their blog updates below.

Carolyn Hewett

Matthew Page

Photos

Well, the season is over for me in a dramatic end! Instead of doing the 4th and final 220 Evening Race at Dorney Lake last Wednesday I spent the evening in ER being poked and prodded after I came off the Focus Izalco Chrono. Lucky for the Focus I cushioned it’s fall so it only has a few minor scratches. My body on the other hand is missing some skin, has some impressive bruises and I still can’t straighten my left arm.

As always I catch the train to Slough from Paddington to get to the race and then cycle out to the lake. I was on my way out there and it was cold and wet and I was debating with myself if I should just turn around and go home rather than risking it as I have a real aversion to riding in the rain. I decided to ride to the race start and check it out, I also had some friends racing so wanted to say hi to them.

I was 500m from the start of the race and was crossing onto the path that goes along the side of the lake and slipped. The shock of hitting the ground was quickly replaced with a sickening feeling of what I may have done to the Focus. I ignored the gaping hole in my rain jacket and the blood running down my arm to pick up the Focus and give it a check over. After a few minor adjustments to the brakes I got back on and rode to the start. By the time I got there the adrenaline had started wearing off and I was starting to feel pretty rough.

I went and saw the St John’s Ambulance guys who cleaned me up and sent me off to hospital with a suspected fractured elbow. What followed was an interesting evening watching people from all walks of life come in and out of the ER, some with their entire extended families in tow. A sore arm as you can imagine is pretty low on the priority list in ER and knowing this I wasn’t getting cranky about having to wait, unlike some other patients who would pounce on the Dr’s as they came out to get the next patient. After X-rays, examinations and 3 hours of my life I won’t get back, The Dutchman and I were sent home with my arm in a sling and a warning to be more careful in future.

This is the first time since I was ill with viral meningitis and post viral chronic fatigue (PVCF) that I haven’t been able to do any sort of exercise for more than a week. For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you would know that I was told 4 years ago I would never lead a normal life again and that I would have to learn to live with PVCF and accept things like not being physically able to walk up a flight of stairs, walk more than 100m without sitting down to rest or structuring my day in such a way to accommodate the 12 to 14 hours of sleep I needed. If nothing else, this injury serves as a good reminder what a gift it is to not only have the will, but also the physical ability to be active and to do the simple things like go for a run when you feel like it.

My arm is getting better with each passing day and I am hoping to go for a short run by the end of the week and be back on my bike by the beginning of next week. I am leaving on Friday to spend a week in the Alps with 10 others cycling so I will either be able to do it, or I will be getting to know the van driver a lot better!

Happy training and be careful!

Cx