When virtual reality meets reality...

I've been doing a lot of cycling on a trainer over the last year or so - partly because there have been a few times where I've been injured and running wasn't an option, and partly because it's very convenient to be able to change, get on the bike and start pedalling whatever the weather or time of day.  The main reason, though, is that I've been using Zwift...

Zwift is a bike training program that's also a massive multi-player online game.  Data from sensors on your bike is transferred to your computer (or phone, if you have one that meets the hardware requirements), and is used to drive your in-game avatar - the harder you're pushing the pedals, the faster you go in the game.  What makes it really good, though, is the gradient simulation - if you're using a smart trainer (I have a Tacx Flux), Zwift sends information about the virtual gradient to the trainer, which changes the level of resistance to simulate going up and down hills, which adds an element of immersion that I find makes trainer rides more interesting than using my old fluid trainer with constant resistance (where you change the difficulty/power required by changing gear).  It's also a serious training tool, with almost too many guided training sessions to choose from, and the option to use erg mode (where the resistance of your trainer is controlled based on the power level that the program requires at that point in time - a really good way of making sure that you hit the required numbers during the session!)

The multiplayer aspect also helps - there are races and group rides to join at any time of day, and you end up riding beside people from all over the world.  I've become a regular on the WBR Volt rides at 6:15am UK time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - these are around 45-50 minute sessions, and usually contain some form of interval training (usually timed efforts at a set power level, but sometimes less formal sessions based on landmarks around the course, and often finishing with an optional mini-race) - where it's fairly common to see at least 15 or 20 nationalities represented.  There are quite a few regulars who are there for pretty much every session, and the atmosphere around the ride is very friendly and supportive (with plenty of chat and banter!)  These sessions have been a really good way to start my day - gives me a reason to get up early, and means that I've had a decent workout before I head to work.

While most of the courses in Zwift are fictional, the most recent course that's been made available is a very good simulation of the main loop of the course for the UCI World Championships currently being held in Innsbruck.  My reaction on riding the course when it was released a couple of months ago was 'that's nice, but nothing special' (well, after the initial 'great - new roads to ride and hills to climb!'), but the quality of the reproduction really hit home to me earlier today when I was watching coverage of the women's road race - I could tell almost immediately where the riders were on the course because I've ridden it (well, a virtual version...)  The feeling was very similar to playing Muirfield two days after the 2002 Open Championship, with the stands still up and the same hole positions as were used on the last day of the championship - probably the only time that I've read a putt based on how I saw it break on the TV coverage of the final round!

As with any other form of training, though, it needs to fit in with everything else that you do (particularly when you use it as a form of cross-training, which is what I usually do when I'm able to run).  It's very tempting to jump in to whatever event is on at the time and end up working a lot harder than you intended to - not ideal for a recovery day - but that aspect of Zwift has also pushed me to do things that I didn't think I could do, like stay with a group in a race when all I wanted to do was ease off and drop back, or ride on the trainer for more than four hours in one session because one of the big events had the option to do two laps of the Pretzel course (a hilly/mountainous loop of around 45km that covered all of the roads available on the Watopia course at the time in both directions).

It's not the most accessible software - needs a bit of equipment to be able to use it, and more expensive kit (particularly a good-quality smart trainer) to get the best out of it - and does require a monthly fee after a short trial period, but I've found that I definitely get my money's worth out of it!

Taking stock

This would normally be the time and place to post about how well my training is going, and that I'm hoping to run well in the autumn marathons that I have coming up.  There was an enforced change of plans a couple of weeks back, though - had an accident on my cycle commute to work (going past a queue of stationary traffic, a car pulls through a gap in the queue to go into the supermarket on the left (not aware that I'm approaching), I don't have enough time to stop and go into the side of the car) with no obvious damage at the time (to the car I hit, my bike or myself other than a few bumps and scrapes), but increasing pain in my left calf over the next few days, to the point where it was sore to walk, to go up on my toes or flex my foot towards my knee, suggested that I hadn't been as lucky as I had thought.  A visit to the physio suggested that I had a (relatively small) tear in my calf muscle, which would probably take a few weeks to heal, and then a bit more time to get back into running again.

There's never a good time for something like this to happen, but this was a particularly bad time with several races that I had been looking forward to coming up - the trip to Inverness for the Loch Ness Marathon on the weekend just past didn't happen (although the unexpected free weekend meant that I was able to help out at Portobello parkrun on Saturday and the Scottish 10k on Sunday), and there won't be consecutive weekends of running around a large body of water (Kielder Water on 7th October, then Loch Rannoch on the 14th), or an early start for a long run from Killin to Strathyre and back with the Glen Ogle 33.  I've also cancelled the SVN 10 in 10 in late November/early December - while I expect to be running by then, it's probably asking too much to run a reasonably long distance on 10 consecutive days so soon after an enforced break of several weeks.  (I'm not saying that I couldn't do it, just that there's too much risk of injury, particularly given my past record in the longer multi-day series that I've tried...)

It was tempting to get angry about missing out on these opportunities, and about missing several events that I was looking forward to, but that isn't going to change anything - I'm still going to be injured - and potentially be counterproductive.  The more constructive reaction kicked in fairly soon afterwards, though - while it's obviously not ideal to not be able to run or cycle for a while, the enforced break is an opportunity to take a step back and think for the longer term (for a change - there are several issues with running marathons every few weeks, like that it's very hard to think beyond the next race meaning that the focus is always in the short term, you're continually either tapering or recovering with little opportunity for quality training, and it's hard to make time for any training that isn't running, like stretching, foam rolling, or core strength and stability work).  It also helped to change the way that I think about my situation - I've been guilty in the past of thinking only about what I'm not able to do when I've been injured, but it's much more positive and productive to look at what you can do (even if your choice is limited).  There are plenty of core exercises that I've been able to do - an opportunity to work on an area that I know that I've been neglecting (and maybe get into some good habits that I'll be able to maintain going forward?) - and I've been doing quite a bit of single-leg cycling on the trainer.

While this has been useful in a few ways (a way of getting some decent cardio-based exercise to keep things ticking over, some useful feedback on pedalling technique), it has been interesting to see the world of Zwift from a slightly different perspective.  I'm a relatively strong rider when fully healthy, with functional threshold power (FTP - the amount of power that you can hold on an all-out effort over 60 minutes) of around 265 watts, or a little over 4 watts per kilo of body weight, so most of the group rides available on Zwift are relatively comfortable for me.  That power output has obviously been a lot lower while I've been cycling with my right leg only - it took a bit of getting used to, but I settled in at around 120W being fairly comfortable and anything over 150W requiring a fairly significant effort.  This meant that it ended up being a real challenge to stay with the group on rides that I would normally have passed over as not giving me enough of a workout.  I also ended up having to mentally recalibrate my expectations of how long it would take me to cover a given route - the KoM on the Innsbruck UCI Worlds lap, for example, went from 25 minutes at a fairly comfortable pace to 40 minutes of solid effort - and helped with motivation, as all of the familiar virtual roads felt subtly different (almost like everything had been scaled up - the loops being that bit longer, and the hills higher), and I was able to set myself tough but achievable goals on every session.

It's now almost three weeks since my accident, and my recovery seems to be going reasonably well - have been able to walk without any pain for the last few days, and have tried some gentle (two-legged!) cycling without any reaction afterwards.  I have another appointment at the physio tomorrow, so will see how things go there...

Starting things off...

I'll keep it short and simple for my first post on the blog, with a bit of an overview of what's likely to appear in future...

As the title suggests, I run quite a bit - have been running pretty regularly for around 15 years now, and have achieved things in running that I couldn't have dreamed of when I started.  It's likely that there will be training updates and race reports, and possibly some posts with running/training advice.  I also cycle quite a bit (although mainly indoors, particularly since I started using Zwift, or for my work commute) - have treated this more as cross-training up to this point (with the odd triathlon in there), but would like to try a few organised cycle events next year.

There will be posts on other subjects, though - there's a lot going on in the world at the moment, and it's hard not to comment...  It's also fairly likely that there will be some overlap from my daily 'song of the day'-type posts on Facebook.

I'll also write about mental health issues on occasion, as this is something that's very much of personal interest - I was diagnosed with depression a few years ago, but it's likely that I've been affected by this since at least 2006.  It's not something that I'd wish on anyone - has been very difficult to deal with at times, and it's a condition that you need to learn to live with rather than be cured of - but it feels like I have it mostly under control without needing medication, thanks to really good support and advice that I've received through my employers and the NHS.

That's all for now, and gets the blog up and running - hope that you follow along!