Training Centre

Lockbox, the athletes’ silicone wallet

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:18:00 GMT

Lockbox, the athletes’ silicone wallet

A little over a year ago the two partners of Lockbox, Sergi and Eduard, saw how the project they had in mind was becoming a reality: Lockbox, a watertight silicone wallet conceived, initially, by and for cyclists so they could carry their basics along.

Lockbox is the compact silicone wallet that aims to maximize the storage capacity and performance of a reduced space -only 99x16x19mm-. Designed and produced in Barcelona, its interior combines a great conceptual simplicity with the technological complexity that this challenge requires. On the one side two coins are stored, fitted perfectly in the silicone shape. On top of them, 3 or 4 cards hold tight. On the opposite side there is a Pelican Pocket designed to carry notes, a flat key, an SD card or other thin elements.

Watertight, minimalist and eye-catching, the Platinum silicone is the product basis. Unlike normal silicone, the Platinum version improves durability, lightness and resistance to compression. In addition to these technical conditions, Lockbox is produced out of Platinum silicone because athletes’ wallets should be made of a soft material, so that in case of a fall or impact, the athlete doesn’t run any risk of harm.

In June 2012 Lockbox’s distribution begins and it soon becomes quite popular among the riders, thanks in part to the affinity shown by some well known athletes such as José Hermida - 4 times Olympian - Kilian Jornet - top trail running model - or the Spanish Olympic synchronized swimming team.

Shortly after launching the wallet, Sergi and Eduard saw how Lockbox gained presence in other outdoor sports such as skiing, hiking, running or climbing. The wallet’s versatility and functionality, the quality of its materials and the manufacturing trust transmitted by the fact that it is produced in Barcelona opened the doors to the internationalization of the product.

After months of moving forward, the consumer’s feedback showed that the use of the Lockbox was not limited to any sport practice: it also fulfilled the expectations and pace of every lifestyle. The fact that it is a modular assembled wallet makes Lockbox a highly customizable product as there is a wide range of colors available, both in the silicone and the front and back covers. There is also the possibility of customizing the front cover for special editions or corporate ones, as it shows the case of the Lockbox produced for Vallnord or Ohlalapps.

Lockbox has been designed to carry documents, cards and money in a safe and comfortable way. To ensure the highest quality of materials and finishing touches, all production takes place in Barcelona and its surroundings.

Lockbox, imagined, designed and produced in Barcelona.

Lockbox Website

Looking for Motivation?

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:07:00 GMT

Looking for Motivation?

I talk with a person on a regular basis who has been wanting to do an Ironman for the last couple of years but keeps falling short in his training. He will book into an Ironman, get motivated and starts training then after a few weeks his motivation starts decreasing till it gets to the point where he is spending his training time not training because he has "lost his motivation”.

This has cost him a lot of money as he has booked into a number of Ironman, booked accommodation, flights, etc so he cannot even make it to the starting line.

His biggest mistake is always looking for something that can "motivate him” to get out and train, cut back on the bad foods and do what it takes to be at the starting line of an Ironman. Most endurance athlete I have met are not motivated, they are driven. They are driven weather it is to finish a race, beat a personal best time, qualify for Kona or win the race.

If you were to study a successful person, they live and breathe their goals, their dreams. I watched a Youtube clip the other day and it was all about success. A voice over said that successful people do not count days, they count hours. Take away 8 hours for sleep you have 16 hours left to be successful, you use your phone and you lose an hour of two throughout the day of becoming successful.

I am starting to head down the path of what Allan Pitman preaches and that is "efficient minutes”. If it is motivation you seek then you may be going the wrong way. It is great to dream big but you must be driven to succeed big.

Tim Egge

Firsttimeironman.com

Vitamin D

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:59:00 GMT

Vitamin D

I read a new study on Vitamin D levels. There is no doubt that a daily dose could be the key to better health. New research shows higher doses of Vitamin D have been linked to decreases in cancer, depression and autoimmune disorders like Type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Currently the recommended 600 IU of Vitamin D a day. At this stage before you go and have more vitamin D then is currently recommended, consider that the study was small and that researchers still have many more studies to do.

I should also note that when I am racing Ironman, one month out I start taking vitamin D3 per day.

Tim Egge

Firsttimeironman.com

Run Speed or Pace

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:51:00 GMT

Running Speed or Pace?

I recently read an article from a well know coach who wrote if you want to go fast then you should add speed sets from the first cycle of your training........ Makes sense.

But I couldn’t help but think of an article my coach Allan Pitman wrote "Others who have 5-10 Ironman finisher’s shirts in their closet, maybe it’s time to build a bit of speed. You really can’t build your basic speed during an Ironman buildup. You need to have the "pace” before you start the long stuff”.

Allan further stated "The worst thing you can do for your development is to try and shortcut, by going into speed development work when you don’t have a big enough base built. The base building is the easiest way to get fast in your first few years”.

I can’t help think that Allan Pitman makes more sense. From day one Allan has always pounded into me "You have to own your pace”. Much of my running is done at race pace.

How many triathletes in the last 6km of an Ironman wish thay had done more speed sets?

Own your pace before moving on to the next phase.

Tim Egge

Firsttimeironman.com

Exercise Ball Chair Actually Work?

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:42:00 GMT

Does an Exercise Ball Chair Actually Give You Any Health Benefits?

I work in an environment where a number of people will use an exercise ball as their office chair and sit on their ball all day behind their desk. I have spoken to every one of them on a number of occasions and asked a number of questions. The common reason given from everyone was "it is good for your back”. This got me thinking, and at first I thought, ‘great, I can work on more core and work at the same time’, but when I started to do some research into the benefits and liabilities of using the exercise ball, I found some interesting facts.

1) Studies have shown that sitting on an exercise ball will burn approximately 4 calories extra per hour.

2) Many credentialed ergonomic and spine experts recommend that people with back problems not use an exercise ball as their main office chair.

3) While the exercise ball has shown to be a benefit to core strength, if your back muscles are tired or your pelvic position is not level and neutral, you will likely lose a good desk posture. At that point, you will be at a higher risk of back pains or worse.

4) If you were to use an exercise ball as your chair, it is now recommended to only use it for no more than an hour per day. (You will need to slowly build to an hour starting with 15 minutes or less and increase by 5 minutes every week).

In summary the risks outweigh the benefits of using an exercise ball as your office chair.

Tim Egge

firsttimeironman.com

Online Forums

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:47:00 GMT

Beware of online forums

This is a topic that has concerned me for a while now. The amount of stupidity that I read on online forums is astounding.

I was on a popular triathlon forum the other week when I read comments made by a person who claims to be a triathlon coach. He stated that anyone who does more than 6 training sessions in a week is silly and by doing so, you are just doing "junk miles”, (no such thing as junk miles in my opinion), and are at a higher risk of incurring injuries. He further stated that any more than one training session a day was a waste of time.

I am certain that most triathletes who read this would instantly dismiss it, but what about the triathletes who think that, as this guy who is claiming he is a coach, he knows best. I personally do not know any long distance triathlete who is not training between 10-17 training sessions a week. These could be from a 10 minute core set to a 200km ride. Every session is different and is meant to compliment each other training session this is in the training block.

This is just an example of some of the rubbish that is on these forums. This is one reason I do not have forums on this site.

If you read some advice on these forums, please do your own research into the topic or email an experienced triathlon coach, who in most cases in the industry, would be happy to help.

Tim Egge

Compression Sock

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:45:00 GMT

Compression Socks

I seem to question everything these days. I have fallen too many times for that so called "wonder item” now on the market that will make me more flexible, take a minute off my time, brings on rapid recovery, the list goes on. I decided to run a number of experiments using compression socks over the last six months and I found they do help with recovery.

First experiment
After a couple of hard days of training, I woke up the next morning to find my legs were so sore I had trouble walking. I put one compression sock onto my right leg, (underneath long pants), and went on with my day. I took the sock off during sleep that night. When I woke up my right leg was significantly fresher than my left. By going off feel, I would say my right leg was 50% more recovered than my other leg.

Second experiment

After waking up with sore legs from a few days of hard training, I put my normal compression sock on one leg and on the other leg I put a compression sock the next size smaller than what was recommended for me, again not wearing them when I was sleeping. The next morning when I woke, the leg that had a smaller size compression sock was significantly more recovered than the leg that had the normal compression sock on. Going on feel I would say around 20% more recovered than the other leg.

Running with compressions

I have done a number of different tests with running wearing compression socks and calf guards and I personally find no improvements in any way in my training, racing or recovery afterwoods. In the past, any run that was going to progress over an hour, I would always wear compressions, but now I will only use compressions for recovery.

Racing with compressions

As I have already noted, I have not found any improvements in performance. I have read wind tunnel data stating that some calf guards will add around 2 minutes to a 180km bike.

The one thing worth noting is that if you are going to race with calf guards or compression socks, beware that it will increase your body temperature.

Tim Egge

Two runs in one day

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 01:42:00 GMT

Adding a "two runs” in a day

I was recently asked about running twice in a day and this is something I have looked into and found it is most definitely not for everyone. (It is not for me at this stage).

First of all you need a good running base behind you and good running technique to keep you from suffering any injuries. When I mention a good running base, I am talking about a couple of years of "continuous running”.

Warning: If you are injury prone, your time is best spent working on core strength and good running technique. I would forget about adding an extra run in a day to your training program.

I recently viewed the past 12 month training program of a pro triathlete based out of the UK. His two runs in a day are done three weeks out of every four weeks. Of a morning he will do a speed set, tempo run or hill repeats and of an afternoon, (with a minimum of eight hours between each set), he will do an aerobic run. Both sessions do not go over 1 hour. There is no other training done that day.

If you do decide to go down this path, please be very mindful of your technique, as fatigue sets in, you open yourself up to being a little lazy with your technique and then it really defeats the purpose of what you are trying to achieve.

Run with a friend (at your pace) so they can keep an eye on what you are doing. It is wise to remember that most injuries in triathlon come from running. Be careful and stay safe

Tim Egge

Coach's Comments - Ironman Australia

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:53:00 GMT

Please note that Allan Pitman's Coach's Comments was written for his squad athletes that are racing Ironman Australia in three weeks.

Coach's Comments

Lets make sure we get the most we can from our weekend longer workouts. Last Sunday's workout was designed to be an aerobic four and a half to five hour workout with the hilly section in the second half to add valuable conditioning to the legs. The hilly section caused us to push up to our aerobic thresholds on legs which had been drained of their glycogen reserves. This is how it will be on race day.

One of the things I noticed during the workout was that a few of the squad allow their pedalling technique to fall apart when they get desperate. The need to "win a hill" in a training ride can be so strong a motivator that attention to the technical details is dropped.

The technical details of the workout are not how many watts you averaged, or how much elevation was gained. The technical details I'm looking for are the way each of us can hold our pedalling technique together when we're tired. Not reverting to desperately stomping the pedals on the climbs.

Stomping on the hills is not a good habit to get into. Often in a group ride you'll find the stompers attack the first part of the hill getting a good lead on the group. The spinners hold their form and after about half way up, the stompers start to come back. The spinners keep spinning, rolling their gear smoothly and ride right past the stompers before the top and accelerate away over the crest.

The course for next Sunday's workout is chosen for the rolling terrain, not unlike the Port Ironman course. We're aiming at three, two hour loops with a fairly even application of power over the day. There'll be some high power output points, but they don't want to be savage spikes. Those spikes will cost you on race day.

Sunday will be a great opportunity to do a rehearsal of our feeding plan. The aim should be to underfeed rather than overfeed. This attitude should be carried into race day. Overfeeding has ruined more races than underfeeding.

If we use Sunday to think about how we handle a hill in order to conserve energy, we can gain more from the workout. Beating your mates, but doing it inefficiently will be a wasted day. No-one's going to remember who won the Carbrook loop.

Ride the first third of the hill using your momentum, that is accelerate across the flat before the hill so you hit it with some pace, roll the gear up the first third without too much pedal pressure. Then drop a few gears as necessary to continue the winding/spinning motion of the pedals. This is the point where it's easy to apply too much pedal torque and "blow your legs".

Change gears as necessary to keep "on top of the gear". Your ego may feel fulfilled if you are able to stay in the big chainring, but if your pedal torque is too high, and cadence too low, you're practicing inefficiency. If you've got up two thirds of the hill without slowing down too much or applying too much pressure to the pedals, you'll have the legs to spin over the top, stepping up one gear at a time so you go over the top accelerating, not gasping.

Cadence is a bit of a personal thing but generally a lighter rider will hold a higher cadence to produce the same power. I am a medium weight rider and know by feel when the pedal pressure is too high so I drop a gear. This point is usually about 70rpm. So when my cadence drops to 70rom, I change to one gear easier. I would climb most rolling hills between 70-80rpm. You just know when it feels right.

Some hills the best way over is to stay in the big ring and jump out of the saddle at the right moment to keep the pace up. But keep in mind a time trialist uses these efforts sparingly. Especially one who is going to have to face a marathon in a couple of hours.

Allan Pitman

Triathlon Coach

Faster Transition

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:36:00 GMT

Fast Transitions

Following on from my last article on transitions, the key to a fast transition is keep everything very simple and practice, practice, practice.

Start and finish every ride.
Work on starting and finishing every ride like you are leaving and entering transition. This means leaving your shoes clipped in to your peddles, running up the driveway of your home holding onto your bike with one hand, jumping onto your bike whilst running, peddling with your feet on top of your shoes for the first and last 300 meters, jumping off your bike on the move and running back up your driveway with your bike.

Brick Session
Brick sessions are an ideal time to practice what you will be doing in transition. If you are able to make or buy a bike rack, this will help simulate transitions.

Open Water Swim
Every time you finish an open water swim session, run out of the water and undo your wetsuit down to your waist, remove your goggles and swim cap. Make this run around 200-300 meters. You want to run fast enough that you get into transition quickly but don’t overdo it.

Know your location
Something so simple can be easily overlooked. Know exactly where you are located in transition. How many rows along and how many meters down so you know exactly where you are set up. I was at a triathlon last year when I male came into T2 and could not find where he was located. He spent almost 10 minutes looking for his location.

Speed Laces
This is a cost effective way to save time. Grab your shoe, slip them on and go. The last thing you want to be doing to tying up laces after 180km on the bike.

Good Training Idea
A mate will set up his bike on a wind trainer next to the lake. He will swim 500m fast, quick T1, 20 min on the wind trainer at 90% perceived effort, quick T2 and than 10 min run at above race pace and then it is back into the water as he repeats this five times. This session not only gives him plenty of opportunity to go over his transitions, but a great little training session as it keeps the body guessing and is continuously moving blood around the body.

Tim Egge

Transition

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 04:30:00 GMT

Transition

In most of my articles, I always seem to mention or quote my coach Allan Pitman. This is just because I have learnt so much from him since training under him. Allan gave me some great advice when it comes to transitions, "There is no reason why your transition time can’t be the same as Jason Shortis”. This statement is so true. Obviously I will never be able to swim, bike or run as fast as Jason Shortis but with practice my transition times should go close to his.

The key to a quick transition is keeping everything simple. Start the race in the same clothes you wish to finish the race in. There is no need to change clothes at any part of the race.

Transition One
Everything you need for the bike leg should already be on your bike. If you are racing Ironman, maybe you may have your race number belt in your T1 bag but that is really it. Your shoes should be already be clipped into your peddles, your sunglasses should be sitting open ready to put on or tucked into your water bottle cage so you can put them on once you are moving (sunglasses should be under your helmet strap ready for T2), your helmet should be sitting on your bike with the strap hanging over each side so you can easily slip it onto your head and everything else including nutrition should be either tapped or in a small nutrition bag on your bike.

Going through Transition One
As you are running from the water into transition, undo your wetsuit down to your waist, remove your swim cap and goggles, collect your T1 bag and run into the tent and remove your wetsuit, leave everything for the volunteers to pack into your T1 bag, run to your bike, put sunglasses and helmet on, unclip bike from the rail and run out of transition. Once at the mount line, jump onto your bike and peddle with your feet on top of your shoes for around 300 meters and put one foot at a time in each shoe.

Note: you don’t need sock on the bike (this you will need practice).

Transition Two
Transition two should be faster than transition one as you have less to deal with. All you need in your T2 bag are socks (half rolled so it is easier to roll on your foot), shoes, hat and any nutrition you plan to carry whilst running. You really don’t need anything else.

Going Through Transition Two
Keeping everything very simple, in the last 300 meters of the bike, remove your feet from your shoes and ride with them on top of the shoes. As you are approaching the dismount line, start coming off your bike so you will be in the standing position standing only on the one peddle. Once at the dismount line, you can step off from the bike, pass it to a volunteer and start running towards your T2 bag whilst remove your helmet. Collect your T2 bag and run into the tent. Put your socks and shoes on and collect your hat, nutrition and start running out of transition area. As you are running out, place your hat on and turn your race number around so it is pointing towards the front of you.

As always, this requires practice. Add this into your weekly training. Brick sessions are the best times to go over transition training. Don’t get caught up with thinking you need more than what you actually do.

Allan Pitman has made mention on a number of occasions that between 1 hour and 1:15 into the swim is the busiest times in the transition tents. This is your opportunity to gain up to 50 places without working too hard. There have been a number of stories where triathletes have missed out on going to Kona by one minute and that one minute lost was in transition.

This is free time, take advantage of it. I will post an article tomorrow on tips on how to incorporate transition training into your regular training.

Tim Egge

Efficient Minutes

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:48:00 GMT

Efficient Minutes

When I talk racing, this is my favored subject. When I was racing Ironman Australia in 2012, Allan Pitman gave a race brief to all his athletes the day before the race. The main thing I took from the brief was making every minute efficient.

This is another simple but effective concept that we can all practice and aim to achieve on race day. From the moment that starting gun is shot, aim to make every minute of that race as efficient as possible.

I personally will have the number of minutes I am aiming to achieve written on my hand to continuously remind myself how many efficient minutes I need to reach my goal.

From my race plan, to how I have everything on my bike, through to what is in my special need bag, I set myself up so I don’t waste a minute.

I will also add this into many of my training sessions. This is all part of practicing good habits.

Tim Egge

Getting What You Need

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:39:00 GMT

My Fitness Pal

I just wanted to touch on a mobile phone app I occasionally use that I believe everyone should use every now and then, just to be aware what is actually going into your body.

My Fitness Pal is a free app you can get for your phone that will tell you everything that is in your food and beverages. Their database is impressive and if you can’t find it in their system, it has a barcode scanner where all you need to do is scan the barcode on the packet and up will come all the calories, fats, vitamins, etc.

Every couple of months I will use My Fitness Pal for a week just to give me an idea as to what I am putting into my body as well as what my diet maybe lacking. I only recently finished a week recording everything I consumed and noticed that I lacked a little iron and a lot of calcium in my daily diet. (I will also touch later on how important calcium is for endurance athletes).

Also I would put in my daily calories, fats, carbohydrates, protein etc from My Fitness pal into my TrainingPeaks account to compare my nutrition intake to what I have burnt during my training day. This also can give a bigger picture of your daily nutrition.

You don’t need to go crazy with this, it is just another useful tool in keeping you healthy.

Tim Egge

Self Tracking

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:04:00 GMT

Self Tracking

For the last three years I have been logging all my training into TrainingPeaks. Whether you are just starting off, a weekend warrior, or a session pro, you should look at logging your training down. It can be a very useful tool to look back on, to see what works and what doesn’t.

I have tried a few different online training logs as well as a few different written training logbooks and still haven’t found anything that comes close to TrainingPeaks and all the analytical software it offers.

For the first two years, I only used the free version of TrainingPeaks. I would log my training down and forget about it. As my training advanced, the more I started to show interest in my training and racing and upgraded my account.

The premium account really started to open my eyes to new possibilities in my performance. Now I have started to clock up my training years, I am able to see a bigger picture. With the use of Total Stress Score, I am able to see where I was sick, injured and see if I can find trends or patterns that may help me to detect them in the future before they occur, (I will write more about the analytical side of training logs another time).

With technology these days, after I finish a training session, I immediately connect my Garmin into my lap top and download my data onto TrainingPeaks whilst I stretch and cool down. It is easy, fast, and no hassle. With the TrainingPeaks app for mobile phones, recording your training session is a very easy process.

If you get to the stage where you are looking at engaging a coach, giving them access to your training log will be a huge advantage for you and your coach.

To have a look at TrainingPeaks and see the training software most pro triathletes, cyclists, swimmers and runners use, click here.

Tim Egge

Training on Feel

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:54:00 GMT

Training on Feel

It has taken my coach Allan Pitman the best part of a year of working on me to train more on feel than to rely on what my Garmin is telling me. Don’t get me wrong, I always take my Garmin with me on all my training sessions, but I try not to look at it too often, if at all during training. The only reason I take my Garmin is so I can download my training results into my TrainingPeaks account.

With my running, I find I am able to run around 15 seconds per kilometre faster on feel than if I am constantly looking at my Garmin. I put this down to more of a mental aspect then a physical one.

I always thought I needed a power metre for my bike but in the last couple of months I have shifted away from that way of thinking and train on perceived effort. When I talk about my cycling, I talk power output. I will make mention that I completed a ride and aimed to keep the same power output throughout the entire ride, but that power output I am talking about is me riding on feel.

Since concentrating on perceived effort, I have noticed a jump in my cycling performance. Something so simple may be what your training needs to get you to that next level.

Tim Egge

Salt Tablets

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:51:00 GMT

Salt Tablets

This is another one of those topics that is controversial. Whether or not adding salt tablets to your nutrition plan will help prevent cramps for endurance athletes.

Recently I listened to a podcast from a sports doctor who specialises in nutrition for athletes. According to his studies and research, salt tablets do not work and at best gives a placebo effect to an athlete. He further stated that researching this topic is extremely difficult to undertake and much of their research comes from talking to athletes and studying their power files and nutrition intake throughout a race or training session.

Scientists still have not worked out how to give an athlete cramps in a lab, (ie: if an athlete can take step A, B and C they will receive a cramp), and therefore are unable to undertake the kind of research needed to find a prevention to this problem.

When my coach Allan Pitman was racing Ironman Western Australia in 2011, he was suffering incredibly on the run. He was lucky enough to find some salt tablets that had been dropped by another athlete on the side of the road. In desperation to save his race, Allan picked them up and took these salt tablets and went on to win his age group.

I recently read professional triathlete Jordon Rapp’s Ironman nutrition plan and I was surprised how many salt tablets he consumes during an Ironman race. Significantly more than myself and I have between 18-20 salt sticks during an Ironman, (please note that I am a larger athlete and that amount of salt tablets is not recommended for a number of athletes).

I personally use salt stick tablets in my long training days and races. I don’t always rely on scientific data to determine what is and what is not going to work for me. What works in a neatly controlled environment like a laboratory, does not necessarily work in the real world.

Like anything with nutrition, check, test, adjust, test and test again.

To see how I use salt tablets, visit my other articles.

Carbo Loading

Race Day Nutrition Plan

Homemade Gels

Goo Luck

Tim Egge

Coach's Comment

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:05:00 GMT

Coach's comments

I often point out to an athlete if they're pulling up early. Like swimming 48m in 50m efforts, or 95m when it should be 100m efforts. We see it on the run track, athletes running 990m when the workout asks for 1,000m efforts. It's all in good fun but every time you take your foot off the accelerator in a race, you're no longer racing. It's not a good habit to get into.

For many of our squad members completion is an important part of their psyche. They're natural finishers, details people. The sort of people you can count on to do the job, even when they're not being watched. It's a great assett to have the basic honesty to do the job well even when no-one is watching.

There's another angle to this dedication to excellence. On Tuesday morning I pulled George out of the pool before the session was finished. He didn't want to get out, he was doing the job. As a coach I'm constantly reading body language. George was tired, his whole body was so tired that he was practicing plodding. None of us need to practice that. To be the best we can be, we need to always be practicing perfect technique. As perfect as we can manage. As a seventy year old athlete George may not recover as fast as some of our younger athletes, but God did not make any of them any tougher.

I'd say when Tiger Woods goes out to practice, if he's "not on" that day, he doesn't waste any time working on his golf swing. He'd do some stretching and maybe a bit of core strength work. There's no point in him practicing anything less than perfect.

All of our squad members are juggling training big weekend sessions, managing to hold down a job and keep some sort of relationship going with family and friends. There's going to be times when we are just plain tired. A Sunday session can sometimes be five or six hours of pretty constant work. The best post workout feeding regime and an afternoon nap can have you back on top on Monday. But often things get in the way, not enough sleep, a busy timetable and sometimes less than the best nutrition can delay our absorbtion of the workout.

We have to absorb the workout and become fresh again before we put too much load onto the athlete. Now many of our club members are over forty, in fact it's been a long time since some of us were in our forties. Most professional athletes have retired from top competition by the age of forty. So every year since we were forty makes recovery a little more difficult. It takes a little more time to get back to square one, before we should load more.

If we load too much too soon, we don't improve. In fact we're very likely to go backwards or become sick. Another drawback is that we are so tired we practice bad habits. Out teenage athletes don't realise the gift they have in being able to bounce back so quickly after each workout. Even they will run down if they don't do their recovery procedures very well. I've heard it said that youth is wasted on the young.

So fatigue management is of critical importance for an age group athlete. Being able to read the feedback and make the call to go for an early shower if needed. Don't make the decision while you're still under the doona. Some bad decisions have been made from a warm bed. Often it's worth getting to training, making a start, doing the warm up then knowing if it's worth completing the workout. Very often the warm up will wash away the soreness and the body produces a productive workout.

But there's nothing to be gained by practicing bad habits, no matter what is scheduled in your training plan. Remember that training plan was written to suit a perfect world.o the job, even when they're not being watched. It's a great assett to have the basic honesty to do the job well even when no-one is watching.

Allan Pitman

Walk While You Run

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 07:54:00 GMT

Walk while you run

I saw big improvements in my running once my coach, Allan Pitman, started getting me to walk 20-30 seconds every 1-2 km on my long runs and half my brick sessions. My endurance improved dramatically and my speed increased to a pace I had always wished it could be. The exciting part is I am still improving and I believe that these formulas have been the key.

Adding walking to your runs will held refresh your mind, keep a good running technique, reduce inflammation and lower lactic acid just to name a few. Not taking into account good running technique and a strong core, are critical to you run. I will touch purely on adding some walking into your runs and how I use it in my training.

For me, my long runs are between 90 minutes and 2:15 hours. Only on occasions will I run any longer than 2:15 hours.

Increasing endurance

Walking 30 seconds every 2km in your long runs, will allow you to increase your endurance significantly quicker than if you were just clocking up straight miles. To start, look at running 30 seconds to 1 minute per kilometre slower than your race pace and over a short time to running at a race pace.

Finding new boundaries

This is currently my favourite training session. I will have my car set up as an aid station. I will run out 1km and return, staying at the car for around 20-30 seconds each lap while I refuel. The run is at a perfect race day pace. Please do not race these sets.

Long runs

Most long runs I do I will walk 30 seconds every 1km. You will be surprised how this will benefit your long run.

Brick sessions

Around half my brick session, whether it is after being on the wind trainer or a road ride, the run is split in 1km lots with 20 steps between each set. For example, I might do a 4 hour ride, practice transition and do a 1km X 12 at race pace, with walking 20 steps between each set.

I always set my Garmin before each training session so I do not have to think about it. My Garmin will tell me when to walk and run so I do not have to keep an eye on my watch. This also helps me run on feel instead of looking at speeds.

All the best,

Tim Egge

Post Training Nutrition

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:36:00 GMT

Post Training Nutrition

Post workout meals are very important whether you train for an hour or six hours, you will need to put back what you took out to maximize your recovery.

After training, you have a small window of 20-30 minutes to get something into your system.

My coach Allan Pitman highly recommends Endura Optimizer and I do use it a lot myself but find it is out of my budget as I would go through a container every couple of weeks.

There are a few things I do use that give me rapid recovery from training loads Please note that this is what I do and always, with anything nutrition, it is controversial so you will need to find what works for you.

Please be smart with your nutrition. If you only completed a small training session then you will not need a lot. The smoothie is for big training loads where you have depleted your body of a lot and need to put back in a short time.

Also note that all I am discussing here is the first step after training. There are many steps to a triathlete’s nutrition path and I will touch on them later but for now I will keep it just as post training in the first 20-30 minute window after training.

Endura Optimizer
As I get closer to a race, I will mostly use Endura Optimizer after my long or hard training sessions.

- 500ml of water and six scoops of Endura Optimizer will put me on the right road to recovery every time. for smaller session 2-3 scoops will get you across the line.

Homemade Smoothie
I tend to use this more often than not as I always have everything in the house, it is cheap, easy and taste great.

I will put into a mixer 2 small or 1 large frozen banana, fill with juice to 500ml, add a pinch of salt, a scoop of protein powder and mix.

It sounds shocking but is it surprisingly nice. I find even after that hardest training loads I put my body through, this gives me a bang for my buck.

Small Training Sessions
Any small training session I do, I will have a glass of Milo and milk. Simple, easy and does the trick.

More to note:
After big training sessions, I will also have another meal one hour after training has concluded but I will touch on that next time.

Carbo Loading Plan

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:20:00 GMT

Carbo Loading

There have been many discussions over the need to carbo load before a race, or is it a waste of time? I work more on common sense then what a lab rat at a University will tell me. Again my Coach Allan Pitman really put me onto carbo loading and the importance of it. Most of this carbo plan has come from Allan and works very well.

Not just taking his word as Gospel, I ran my own tests and experiments and found that my performance was significantly greater when I carbo loaded than when I didn’t. I won’t go too far into it at this stage as I want to mostly post what I do when it comes to carbo loading ready for an Ironman or a 70.3 race.

Again, please just don’t do what I do, you must go out and check, test, change and test again. I know there is a lot of information out there. Get a plan like this and change it to your needs.

It is also important to sip on water during the last two weeks leading up to a race. You want to be well hydrated but don’t drink too much as you don’t want to demineralise.

Two days out of a race – I will train for one hour (swim, bike and run) at race start time to help acclimatisation.

Right after training - I will have 6 scoops of Endura Optimizer with one Saltstick capsule.

Have a breakfast homemade rice pudding or a rice based cereal – pancakes are OK, but try to limit consumption of too much wheat at this time.

Mid Morning - Have a bottle of 3 scoops Endura Rehydration formula with added saltstick.

Lunch – Lean meat, chicken or fish with rice.

Mid Afternoon – Have a bottle of 3 scoops Endura rehydration formula with added saltstick.

Dinner – Similar selection to lunch (avoid eating out if possible), make sure the meal contains protein, fats and carbohydrates and is eaten early leaving time for a walk after dinner.

Supper – Endura Optimizer 3-4 scoops with added saltstick.

Day Before Race – I will train for 45min (swim, bike and run).

The same eating plan as yesterday.

Race Morning: Please see my race day nutrition plan.