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

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

Protein Chocolate Cupcakes

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:43:00 GMT

Protein Chocolate Cupcakes

- 90 grams of protein powder. Best to use whey protein
- 5 table spoons of coco powder
- 1.5 table spoons of baking powder
- 12 packs of sweetner
- 6 table spoons of applesauce
- 4 egg whites

Add all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix. Stir in the wet ingredients until combined. Chuck into cupcake holders, into oven at 180 for around 15minutes and enjoy.

Nutritional Info
Services per recipe: 6

Amount per surviving

Calories: 96.5
Total Fat: 0.6g
Cholesterol: 0.5mg
Sodium: 349.5mg
Total carbs: 6.1
Dietary Fiber: 2.7g
Protein: 18.3g

Bradley Wiggins & Team Sky

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 04:27:00 GMT

I have to admit that I have been totally captured by Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky’s performance not only at the Tour de France this year but during the whole year. They have been very impressive.

I love diving into things and investigating why a person or a company or a particular item is successful. I normally jump on my computer, plow into a hundred websites, send emails and ask a lot of silly questions and often ask the same question to a number of people to see what they all come back with.

The way Team Sky goes about with their business is incredible. Early 2010 they brought in Australia swimming coach Tim Kerrison as their head coach. Now Tim really has no cycling experience. He has come from a swimming back ground.

Instantly he notice that there is very little formal coaching and training structure in professional cycling with a lot of riders going from race to race with maybe a few days in between for recovery. Tim and his coaching staff went about setting the entire squad at Team Sky on Training Peaks where they are able to closely monitor their training and racing data and ensured all riders were using it correctly.

Every athlete gets their own personalised training program, the team warms down on wind trainers after each race and there really is just a lot of little things to help each rider become the best at what their duties are.

The part that stands out the most to me is the reduced racing days. Tim’s concept is focus more on training where he can control the volume, intensity, etc during each training session where a lot of this is out of his control during racing.

I saw an interview with Bradley Wiggins where he was talking about his training and he said that his coach Tim Kerrison keeps him about 95-97% fit all year round and times in the past where he would normally take time off and lose a lot of fitness, he is still doing long base training blocks.

There was a lot of talk (including myself) saying has Bradley peaked too soon. The times of starting January unfit and slowly building up to July is a thing of the past under the way the team is coached and it will be interesting to see how far this method of training will go.

I know there has been a number of doping allegations made about Bradley but Bradley comes from British Track Cycling and they are well known for their hard core drug policies and procedures so I personally believe that Wiggins is ridding more on the clean side.

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed watching Team Sky dominate this year’s Tour and I can only imagine that most teams will start to adopt a number of Team Sky’s tactics. I think Tim Kerrison has changed the way of professional cycling just like Lance Armstrong did back in his day.

Foam Rollers & Rumble Rollers Review

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 18:13:00 GMT

PRODUCT REVIEW

I have been using a Foam Roller in conjunction with the Rumble Roller for around a month now and the results have truly surprised me. The difference it has made to my recovery and flexibility has been amazing.

I’m aware of a number of elite endurance athletes using these rollers to help with recovery and injury prevention and they have only good things to say about them.

When I was given the opportunity to try them and write a review I was very excited, especially as I was invited to do so by Physio Supplies Australia. I have purchased items from their website in the past and I have always been very happy with the level of service I received.

I have been using the Foam Roller and the Rumble Roller most days for around five minutes each, and I believe the biggest advantage I have noticed is the flexibility. I have extremely tight hips, back and the back of my legs. I can normally just touch the ground with my fingers whilst standing up.

During this month of using the rollers, I have kept my stretch sessions as normal, with the addition of using the foam rollers before and after the stretch sessions. In just that short time I can now almost place the palms of my hands flat on the ground whilst standing. This is a massive improvement in such a short time.

Another big advantage I have found since using the rollers is that I have not had any lower back pains during that time. For the past five years I have suffered from lower back pains, especially when I wake up of a morning. Now I wake up with no back pain at all and I’m feeling as though I’m 16 again!

My practice in the past has been to book in for a massage once a month when undergoing my regular training schedule, and on the lead up to an Ironman event I would go twice a month. The rollers are successfully doing their job as I have not once felt the need for a massage since using them, which apart from the convenience of not having to leave the home to use them, they are saving me a considerable amount of money.

My coach Allan Pitman told me a few months back that he very rarely has a massage. He believes in self-massaging which along with the occasional acupuncture treatment, has enabled him to stay at peak fitness and at the ‘pointy end’ of his age group for years.

My only regret is having waited this long to start using these rollers to experience the benefits. I feel certain that the past injuries I have encountered may well have been prevented had I been using the foam rollers, in particular when I had ITB problems.

My advice to you all is to do yourself a favour and invest in a Foam Roller and a Rumble Roller. I’m confident that you will be as impressed with the benefits as I am. For such a small investment, the combination of these two may save you months of rehabilitation, or help your body to recover more rapidly to enable you to gain the most from your training time to develop your overall fitness.

To visit their online store, click here

Physio Supplies Australia

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 14:41:00 GMT

I am excited to be doing some product reviews for Physio Supplies Australia on some items that are very applicable to triathletes in their training and recovery programs.

I will be writing a review on a foam roller, a rumble roller and dryland stretch cord to help improve swimming performance.

Physio Supplies Australia has proven they are a very professional company to deal with. I have purchased items from their website in the past and have been 100% satisfied with the high level of customer service. I actually have a Physio Supplies Australia magnet that has been stuck on my fridge that holds my training program up for the past year or so.

My coach Allan Pitman has put into my weekly training program using the dryland stretch cord for 10 minutes, three times a week after I complete my core workouts. I find that this fits into my training program nicely without impacting my downtime.

I use the foam roller everyday for around five to ten minutes then move onto the rumble roller for another five to ten minutes. I normally use these around the time I do a small stretch session in front of the TV.

You will find most pro triathletes (and most athletes for that matter) will use foam rollers & rumble rollers to recover quickly and help stay injury free. Pro triathlete said on this website "your body will hate you if you don’t”.

Over the next three weeks, I will be posting on this site a comprehensive review on each product.

One of the policies I made when I started this website was I would only promote items and businesses that I believe are high quality and to me Physio Supplies Australia is a great company and I highly recommend them.

To visit their site, click http://www.physiosupplies.com.au and have a look at all their products. There are some really good affordable items in their online shop. I know I have placed a few on my wish list.

If you do have any questions about these products I’ll be conducting reviews on, please send me an email timothy@valianttasmania.com and I will let you know and may add it to the review.

Tim Egge

What are you racing in?

Mon, 21 May 2012 04:02:00 GMT

Having had a little more free time up my sleeves than normal, I decided to do a little research into calf guards. For all three Ironman I have completed, I have used 2XU calf guards. At first I was looking into increased body temperature information when I came across some wind tunnel data that made me look at everything completely deferent.

I was shocked to read that over an Ironman distance on the bike, my 2XU calf guards will add an extra 2 minutes onto my time. I also found out that maybe I should have read the packet that came with my calf guards as apparently they are not meant to be used for any longer than three hours during training and racing…. Woops.

The research also went into other items like one peace tri suit against two peace tri kit, hydration systems and helmets.

I was also surprise that most two peace tri kits were faster than the one peace kits and the time gap between the fastest tri suit to the slowest tri suit over an Ironman distance was 12 minutes. That is massive time gap for just clothing.

The times saved using the fastest tri kit was significantly greater than the fastest hydration system and helmet. The research also noted that most normal helmets proved faster than most aerodynamic helmets on the market (I wasn’t all that surprised with that finding).

I know I am one who will go out and buy a tri kit purely on looks but after reading this, I may do my homework before hand. Having said all this, there is still much more research needed on what we put on our bodies during a race.

I was highly interested in this and thought I would shear with you all.

Happy reading and keep safe.
Tim Egge

Under Allan

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:43:00 GMT

I wanted to give everyone a summary on my coaching I have received over the past four months. I know Allan advertises on this website as well as coaches me but I have taken this onto myself to explain the process we have undergone in such a short amount of time and this is in no way a business deal article or advertisement for Allan. This is me writing from the heart.

I looked for many things when I was looking for a triathlon coach. I originally put out an expression on interest and had a number of coaches express interest in not only coaching me but contributing to this site. I did my homework and Allan was the one that ticked all the boxes.

In the past I was a little skeptic on online coaching, I would think "how can a coach that has never met me, doesn’t look at me train, lives on the other side of the country and does most of our communicating via email think they can coach me better than I can coach myself…. I know my body, I know my family commitments, I know my work roster, I have read tones of training books and to think an online coach can do a better job than me…. Can’t see it myself” and that was honestly what I thought.

When I clocked a disappointing time at Ironman Western Australia last year, I thought I would investigate into looking for a coach and maybe take the dive and see how it works out. This was the best decision I have ever made.

Allan asked me a lot of questions, I set him email after email about what I have done, where I am am going wrong, where I need to improve, etc plus all the normal family and work commitment.

Allan put together a training program that blew my mind away. I was very impressed and it was structured in a way where I would train harder, longer and smarter than ever before. He sent me training sessions that I had never seen but at the same time was exciting. He factored in that I seemed to get injured a lot and all of a sudden, "quality training” became crystal clear to me.

By the end of the four week training block, I could already see a big improvement in my running and swimming. I was quickly made a believer in online coaching. Being an overworked and underpaid age grouper, I can really only train between 10 to 15 hours a week so I haven’t got the time for wasted training sessions. Every training session has to count and be part of this quality system Allan has established.

There is so much more in having an online coach then just being sent a program every month, Allan has given me a huge amount of self belief, mental strength, self discipline, an unbelievable amount of tips and knowledge, race tactics, mind control, how to stay healthy whilst putting so much demand on your body and the list goes on. I am also able to contact Allan with my many, many silly questions.

I met Allan for the first time the day before Ironman Australia at the swim training and a couple of hours later when he gave his own race brief for all his athletes he had racing (I think he had 26 athletes racing IMOZ). At the race brief he gave us all tones of tips to think about when racing, what we should think and do, when we should do it and how we should be doing it. I don’t know about the other athletes but that brief was a major game changer for me.

I thought to myself "I feel sorry for any athlete who isn’t coached by someone like Allan” (This was the main reason why I have decided to write this blog). When things were getting tough at IMOZ, I wasn’t thinking about myself or times, I only had in my mind that I can’t let Allan down and I had to find away to get through the bad times I found myself in. One think Allan said was "most champions win from the fear of failure then the desire to win” it only made sense to me the day after the race when I was thinking about everything.

If I was to give you any advice, look into getting a coach. It will be the best money you will EVER spend in this sport. Ask any athlete who has a coach and they will all tell you that they will never go back to being self-coached…… that alone must say something.

Personally I believe I have the best coach but I guess most other coached triathletes would say the same. Do have a look into what Allan has to offer but even if you want to look elsewhere, find an experienced coach who really knows what they are talking about and not just one who has completed a few good races and think they can coach. You want one who is experienced, educated in this sport, has proven results as a coach, is highly respected by their athletes and if you can talk with a few of the athletes they coach or have coached in the past. For me, Allan ticked all these boxes.

To visit Allan’s website, visit http://www.aptriathlon.com and send him an email asking for more information on coaching and what he can do for you. After all, he took 1:29 off my personal best time at Ironman in just four months.

We are now looking at taking another hour off my time for Ironman Western Australia in December. There would be no possible way I could ever go back to being self-coached as I can see that not a day goes past where I don’t improve as an athlete.