Merry Christmas!

One last blog before Christmas! This is aimed more at people either new to triathlon or those thinking of taking up the sport. A lot of it is common sense, but since when did exercise junkies use common sense? Here are some tips and observations I’ve made since taking up the sport in 2006:

• ·         If you’re ill, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re injured, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re physically wiped out, don’t train.
• ·         If you’re just mentally tired, get your arse out there and train.
• ·         If the weather’s rubbish, get out there and train.
• ·         If the weather’s so rubbish it’s dangerous, train indoors.
• ·         A strong core is more important than you think, don’t ignore it.
• ·         To improve at swimming you need to do some swim training.
• ·         A rest day here and there is good for you.
• ·         Too many rest days in a row are not good for you.
• ·         Discover what motivates you and use it.
• ·         Cleary define your goals.
• ·         Fitness compounds year on year – keep at it.
• ·         Replenish well post workout.
• ·         Improving your marathon running will dramatically improve your IM times.
• ·         Learn to eat on the bike, have a nutrition strategy and stick with it – especially when you don’t feel like it.
• ·         Take the bike leg as easily as you can without compromising your goals. Take any free speed on offer and get up hills with as little effort as possible. Keep as much in the tank as possible for the run.
• ·         Once you get into a groove with swim training, keep it up. Stopping for a while is lethal.
• ·         To become a fast swimmer/cyclist/runner you need to swim/cycle/run fast. Sounds simple but you need to be prepared to hurt to improve.
• ·         Just because you train a lot, it doesn’t mean you can eat tonnes of rubbish.
• ·         Try and recognise injuries before they become injuries. Especially repetitive ones, don’t ignore the signs just for the sake of finishing a workout.
• ·         If you’re going to spend thousands on a great bike, spend a fraction more and get a professional bike fit.
• ·         An old station wagon makes a great tri-car.
• ·         Race with a smile and thank the volunteers and supporters. Enjoy!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and successful  2013!!

Indoor Training

Training has been just about an exclusively indoor activity just lately.

The recent cold snap has resulted in icy roads and paths which I just don’t do anymore. I used to cycle in sub-zero temperatures but a spate of crashes on the untreated country lanes rocked my confidence on a bike so much it took a full two years to fully regain. I’d rather not chance it these days and if there’s any chance of ice on the roads then I hit the turbo.

Same goes for running. Aside from weekends, the only real opportunities I get to run are in the dark and even with my head-torch on it’s hard to spot patches of ice, therefore much of my mid-week running has been done on a treadmill.

Turbo cycles and treadmill running have their pros and cons – by far the biggest con for me is boredom. Pedalling or running on the same spot for more than a couple of minutes is incredibly dull. External entertainment is essential for me to get through longer sessions with any semblance of sanity remaining.

I have a Tacx iMagic, so have the option of Virtual Reality rides and other multimedia options. I use these sometimes but most of my training is quite specific so I mainly use the Catalyst option which basically gives you the functionality and stats that a good gym bike offers.

One constant companion is music. Sometimes I use my mp3 player, sometimes I listen to my DAB radio. All variety is good. On the DAB radio, I rarely listen to the same channel twice in a row.

For sessions under 90 minutes, I usually take my Kindle along for the ride. Tri-bars with a towel over them make a great platform. For rides over 90 minutes I will sometimes hook up my laptop and either watch a movie or time my ride to coincide with a sports event I want to watch online. This really does help pass the time.

My turbo trainer is in my (unheated) garage and it’s been so cold that the last three rides have been done wearing overshoes and gloves! I really suffer in my extremities in the cold, it’s not enough to stop me riding outdoors when not icy but it is nice to finish a winter ride without the painful foot de-thawing process!

The only sessions on the turbo that I don’t use any other stimuli other than music for are the hurty ones that require 100% focus and effort. These tend to be short in duration and hard in intensity and I’m usually in too much pain to get bored. Strangely, these are my favourite turbo sessions.

As for running on a treadmill, there’s not a heck of a lot to keep your mind from going numb other than music. The machines at the gym I go to have TV monitors but I find the usual TV programmes that show between 5:30-7:30pm way more dull than running on a treadmill so nothing to be gained there. Instead I play mind games with myself, count strides to make sure my cadence is nice and high, watch myself in the mirrored glass to make sure my head is steady and my form is good.

Treadmills are good for set-pace interval workouts and also measured time trials. I don’t have a track nearby that I can use for these sorts of workouts so the treadmill provides me with a standard platform to test and measure my progress on from month to month.

Saying that, I’m gagging to get outdoors again and this weekend is looking good!!

TTFN!

The Missed Session

A missed session will decrease fitness by 12.5%.

A missed session increases the risk of accelerated fat accumulation by 342% over the subsequent 24 hours.

A missed session will scupper any chance of achieving goals.

Although I know the above statements are rubbish, I can’t help but think them every time I miss a scheduled training session.  The very word “scheduled” is also part of the problem for those of us with a slight OCD leaning. If it’s there in black and white without a tick against it, it will play on our minds until we go and sort it out. This usually means catching the session up later in the week, thereby compromising other scheduled workouts which get done at a less-than-optimal intensity.

Sometimes it just doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t.

This is something I have struggled to realise in the past. I get quite tunnel-visioned when it comes to goals and what it takes to achieve them. I tend to put these things first in the priority queue and fit everything else around them. Even realising this in myself doesn’t change the fact that I’ll continue doing it to some extent, it’s the way I’ve always been and habits of a lifetime are often difficult to change.

Life, however, has a habit of opening your eyes to what’s truly important. Over the weekend, we lost a much loved member of our family. The clarity of what really matters hit me like a tonne of bricks. Family and loved ones matter. They are top of the pile and all else should fit in around them, not vice-versa.

Life is too short and too precious. By all means, I intend on keeping fit and healthy and pursuing my sporting ambitions to the best of my ability. But I shall not be doing it at the expense of the things that really matter. If this means missing sessions here and there, then so be it.

Rest in peace Malc, a true man’s man and a joy to have as a father in law.