30-20-10 Workout

There is a new running workout in town, increase your gains from normal runs and reduce your volume by over 50%. Great if you only have limited time during the day for training, i.e. in your lunch break. Here’s how to do a 30-20-10 workout.

1. Warm up with easy jogging for about a mile. (The studied runners warmed up for just ¾ mile.)

2. Jog for 30 seconds, run normal training pace for 20 seconds, and sprint for 10 seconds. Immediately repeat this cycle four more times, producing one continuous five-minute repeat.

3. Jog for two minutes. Then repeat step 2 two or three more times. (The subjects in the JAP study did 3 x 5-minutes for the first four weeks, and 4 x 5-minutes for the next three weeks.)

4. (Optional) Cool down with easy jogging for about a mile. (The studied runners apparently did no cool-down)

It really is just a gloried Fartlek training, but the results are solid. Nice to add a variety to your runs. Here is the article from Applied Physiology Journal:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22556401

The Corkscrew Open Water Turn

If you are looking to excel in the triathlon swim leg then you need to regularly practise your turns. Every open water turn gives you the opportunity to save a few seconds or lose that pesky swimmer drafting you.

In this post we're going to look at an advanced way of turning called a corkscrew turn. It's a fast and tight way to cut round a buoy and a very useful skill to have in your locker. Even if you are not an advanced swimmer give this a try in training, it's a lot of fun and makes turns a lot easier when you need to cut a tight line at a turn buoy.

The Corkscrew Turn

Take a look at the following image sequence of Paul Newsome demonstrating this turn:

Paul approaches at full speed (1) and slides his arm closest to the buoy (2) past it, note at this point he has his back to the buoy and can't see it. He then flips onto his back (3) and his recovering arm comes over the top as in backstroke, enters the water at the front (4) and continues the body rotation back onto his front again (5). Setting off on his new heading he quickly gets back up to speed using good stroke rhythm and a healthy burst of leg kick (6).

Turning left (as shown above) you slide your left hand past the buoy to rotate onto your back, whilst turning right you slide your right arm past. Make sure you practise both! In a particularly tight turn you might not be able to turn sufficiently in a single corkscrew, in which case perform two in a row, one immediately followed by another.

If you are relatively new to swimming then this may look like an advanced skill but it is not actually that hard when you get the feel and timing of it.

Turns And Strategy

A conventional turn bends you through a wide arc as you stay on your front and you gradually stroke around the turn (blue line below) :

That's fine but if the wider path is blocked by slow swimmers you are going to be held up without the ability to perform a corkscrew turn which is much tighter (red). In relation to other swimmers drafting you, if they can't perform a tight turn themselves then you have a golden opportunity to shake them off your toes.

Practise In Training

There's very little chance of turning up on race day and performing a good corkscrew turn without practising them beforehand. Get together with some friends in open water, or in an open area of your pool, and work on getting the feel and rhythm of them. It's a lot of fun and like all open water skills can make a huge difference to your performance on race day, so much so that you should practise these skills all year round either in open water or in the pool.

Swim Smooth!

Article taken from: http://www.feelforthewater.com/2012/06/corkscrew-open-water-turn.html 

Great website for swimming tips and technique advice.

I killed Overstriding With Hill Sprints

Hill sprints; build leg muscle, increase endurance, improve running economy, fat loss... if done correctly its the perfect exercise. It will benefit any distance triathlete.

Hill sprints builds leg strength and improve running economy, it's basically like doing a series of one-legged squats one after the other. It can be used as replacement for the boring old weights room, to get some fresh air. Its easier on the knees, hips and ankles too.

Find a nearby hill with a decent incline, steep the incline the harder the workout. Make sure you warm up well with a ten minute run and perhaps some dynamic stretches too.
there are many variations to a good hill sprint session:

• short sprints: Start at the base of the hill, sprint all out at 95% effort up the hill, find a marker up the hill you can make the finish line, so you can time you runs, you want to be sprinting for about 30seconds. when you have reached the top, start walking down slowly, this is your rest period (or alternatively, rest at the top for 30 seconds and jog down to start).
• long sprints: Starting at the base of the hill you want to be sprinting for at least a minute and half to get your aerobic systems working. Starting easy, accelerate to top speed, work at about 80% effort. Rest at the finish and jog down to the start.
• mixed: look for a tree-lined hill or a hill with many lampposts, sprint to the first tree/lamppost and jog back down to the start. now sprint to the second tree/lamppost and jog down, and so on...

How many sets? Start small, hill sprints are taxing for the body, I suggest no more than two sessions a week with rest days between. Start with six sets at first, trust me you will feel it. As you feel comfortable, add more sets and alternate distance. You can even incorporate onto the end of short runs, however, make sure the hill sprint is the focus of the session. a good way to know that you have done enough is time your sprints, if your times drop by more than ten seconds, you have done enough.

Technique is important: 

• face relaxed, no crazy pain faces, head up
• chest up and shoulders down
• no side rotation of trunk or pelvis
• arms must not cross infront of the body, they must swing by your sides, 90degree bend in elbow, pump the arms hard, arms do the work in the shorter sprints
• relaxed hands, like you are holding an egg in each (weird i know)
• keep hips forward
• high knees
• footstrikes directly below the body, landing on forefoot, minimal impact, shouldnt be pounding the ground, should be light and fast footstrikes, floating on the air

Benefits:

improved running economy and mechanics, strength and power increase of all the right muscles, improve sprint speed and top speed, elimination of over striding, fat loss (its a high calorie workout), faster workout doesn't take too long, safety you can't achieve maximum limb speed that causes lots of injuries, nice butt (ladies), social with friends lots of chatting time during recoveries. 

Variations:
Sand dune hill sprints, it's hard work!
Can use steps and staircases too.
Downhill sprinting, different benefits, very good exercise for improving running cadence and economy, technique very important during these and also a good warmup.
Incorporation of  squats, pressups, ab exercises at the end of each sprint.

KAUPPINEN, T. (2007) How hill sprints make you run faster. Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching, (ISSN 1745-7513/ 39/ February), p. 11-12. http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni39a6.htm [accessed may 31st 2012]

Open and Close the Door With One Arm Catch ups

Should really start putting more swimming related stuff on my blog, so why not start by posting about my favourite swimming drill.

Catch Ups:

What are the benefits? Increase swim stroke length, correct problem of entering water too early, can concentrate on pull phase of stroke, improves pull phase mechanics.

How is it done? Can be done with or without a pull buoy, I suggest a pull buoy for amateurs and first timers. Swim freestyle as normal, but during each stroke keep your lead arm outstretched in-front, tight against your head as your other arms takes the stroke. As you finish the stroke exit with your thumb brushing your thigh and don't let your hand touch the water until it has tapped the top of your lead hand. The whole point is to get your hand tapping on the back of the  lead hand. The tapping hand now become the lead arm and so on.

Additional points: 
Breath as normal during the stroke
arm bent at 90degrees as you pull through the water, allowing the forearm to catch the water.
try and hold both arms outstretched in-front together for a second after the tap.
concentrate on the mechanics of your pulling arm, having the other arm frozen in-front helps you.
8x 50m is my usual routine. feel free to mix it up, make sure you incorporate kick drills after if you are using the pull buoy often.

Variations: 
no lead arm single arm swimming, (one arm kept pressed against side)
single sided catchups, (eg. only using left arm or right arm)

Problems:
people tend to eliminate their shoulder roll when doing this drill too often, don;t forget to roll your shoulders (not head, head should be fixed at the neck)

This picture illustrates the drill well and also helps explain the correct shoulder movement:

What You Need To Know About Recovery Days

Question: Why are recovery days so essential? What happens to the body on a recovery day? What’s the best way to plan a recovery day?

Answer: I tell athletes that the hard training days only create the potential for fitness. They don’t result in fitness improvements unless there is rest. For it’s during short-term rest that the body adapts to the stresses of exercise. Muscle strength and endurance improves. The heart’s stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per beat) increases. Capillary beds in muscles grow allowing the heart to deliver more oxygen. Aerobic enzymes increase. Blood volume increases further enhancing oxygen delivery. Glycogen stores are restocked allowing for harder workouts in the following days. And these are only some of the physical changes that result from recovery.

Recovery days come in two forms: days of complete rest ("passive" recovery) and days with light exercise ("active" recovery). Passive recovery is generally best for novices. If they take the day off from exercise the day after a workout they will improve greatly. For the pure novice any form of training may very well be too stressful. As fitness improves, the recovery days are better spent doing some very light exercise. For the novice this could be light cross training in a sport such as swimming or cycling. Novice runners should never run on a recovery day. It's simply too stressful even for somewhat advanced novices.

The advanced, experienced athlete is best advised to train lightly on a recovery day as this maintains some of the most basic gains made in previous, harder sessions, especially economy of movement and aerobic endurance. Given the advanced athlete's high level of fitness, such a light training session is not stressful. But it must be easy. Making these sessions too hard is the most common mistake in training at this level. 

Regardless of one’s level of experience or fitness, the harder the hard workouts, the easier one’s recovery days should be.

(thanks to Joe Friel @ http://www.joefrielsblog.com/)

A Few Tips To Control Your Weight

My room-mate at the moment is currently starting some freakish new diet, after reading as  many articles as he could find on the internet. Living off soup and bread is not my idea of a balanced diet though here are a few SIMPLE things I do to control my weight

• Big breakfast, small dinner. Most people have a tiny breakfast or no breakfast at all and in the evenings a massive dinner, try flip-flopping this. By having a decent breakfast you are giving your metabolism for the day a huge kickstart. Added benefits include: increased energy levels during the day. My current breakfast is: Porridge with honey and raisins, Banana, Yogurt and a Poached egg on wholemeal bread. The motto: "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper"
• Green tea, or in my case Rooibos tea (South African red bush tea). Green tea's give your metabolism a huge boost too, drink in the morning for better effect. Added benefits include: extra antioxidants for your body to boost your immune system. 
• Leg weights often. Your legs are the largest groups of muscles in the body, after a heavy weights session all the many tired muscle fibres contained in them will need copious amounts of energy to repair and fuel the recovery. You will be burning extra calories for at least 48 hours after a legs weights session. By often I mean at least once a week (twice in my case). Squats is the be all and end all of leg exercises, master the squat! Added benefits include: stronger legs and increased endurance running and cycling.
• MORE TO COME........

Triathlon Newbies Must-Know Race Rules

Found this simple but great article on Mens Health for all the Triathlon newbies, some must-know rules for when you are competing:

ALL STAGES

RULE 1: Unplug your iPod. For safety's sake, you can't blast "Born to Run"—or any music—during the race. So if you're accustomed to jogging with your tunes on full-blast, get used to the silence. "As a coach, one of my laws of triathlons is nothing new on race day," Murray says. "You have a chance to try everything in training. You might need a workout or two where you don't use to the music in order to find the groove and the motivation without it."

RULE 2: Keep it clean. Long story short, keep your garbage to yourself. You'll get docked serious minutes if you're caught tossing any of those gel packs or Power Bar wrappers to the street. The problem: "Lots of triathlon shorts and shirts have a very small pocket," Murray says. The solution: "Take your gel tab or your wrapper and either tuck it underneath the leg or in the pocket of your race suit."

RULE 3: Fly solo. Your family, your friends, and your lady can cheer all they want from the sidelines, but they can't do a thing that might help you gain even a miniscule advantage. "You can't have a family member or a friend or even a stranger hand you something during the event," Murray says. "You can only get race-provided support." And there should be plenty of that: Aid stations are typically well supplied with water and sports drinks like Gatorade.

RULE 4: Keep your own pace. Just in case rule three didn't make it clear enough, your friends can't even shout your time. We know—lighten up, right? They also can't run along with you for a few feet, Rocky-style, to help buoy your spirits. "You have to do it all yourself," Murray says. "Officials cruise around the course looking for these infractions and they can give you a penalty—a 2- or 3-minute infraction—which in a short race can mean the difference between third and twelfth."

STAGE ONE: SWIMMING

RULE 5: Swim around the buoy. Sounds obvious, but not always as easy to follow as it sounds. Rookies might want to stick to the outside of the turn where the flailing limbs tend to be less concentrated and the confusion factor runs high. "People liken it to a washing machine," says Mike Ricci, head coach of the University of Colorado's national champion triathlon team. "Everybody's gravitating toward the same space."

TRANSITION 1: SWIMMING TO BIKING

RULE 6: Don't ride in the transition area. Once you're out of the water, you'll be hustling to get your bike. Then you'll walk—or run—to the mount line where you can finally start pedaling. Tempting as it might be, don't hop onboard until you reach that line. Normally it's too chaotic to gain any real momentum, anyway. "Some of Chicago's races have 8,000 people," says Ricci. "It's like the biggest parking lot you've ever seen. Sometimes you run for half a mile."

RULE 7: Buckle your helmet. Yes, officials are this fixated on the details, and they could penalize you even if you're caught fiddling with the strap as you start the second leg of the race. Put your helmet on completely before you swing your leg over the bike, Ricci says.

STAGE TWO: BIKING

RULE 8: Don't draft. If you remember one rule, make it this one. "Imagine a rectangular box around every cyclist. It starts at the front wheel, extends 1 meter to the left and right, and 7 meters behind," Murray says. Enter that space, and you've got 15 seconds to pass the guy in front of you. Otherwise, stay at least 7 meters behind—about three bike-lengths. Riding any closer means you're putting in about 30 percent less effort—letting the dude in front of you battle the wind while you cruise in his wake. That's a hugely unfair advantage in a sport that's all about individual achievement.

RULE 9: Stay to the right. Unless you're passing, that is. Remember: If you enter that invisible box surrounding the guy in front of you, the shot clock starts at 15 seconds. Pass the guy on the left. Then immediately move back to the right. "You can't just lollygag," Murray says. "You have to get back over." Overstay your welcome in the left lane, and you'll get flagged for blocking. Worse, you'll expose yourself as a rookie.

TRANSITION 2: BIKING TO RUNNING

RULE 10: Don't ride to the rack. While it's tempting, don't just cruise past the dismount line—even if you figure you can get away with a few more feet. "Run or walk with your bike after that line," Murray says. "Take your helmet off. Put your running shoes on. And off you go."

STAGE 3: RUNNING

RULE 11: Run to the finish line. Seriously—that's about it. "You can't cut the course," Murray says. "Otherwise, just run it as it's marked."

Thanks to Mike Darling.
Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/11-triathlon-rules#ixzz1w6guyt6Y

Cycling Drafting

Stage 4 of the Giro today, so more cycling tips: My guide to drafting on the bike.

The Science:
When a cyclist rides he creates vortices behind him, these vortices create a small area of lower pressure. The combination of this low pressure and the eddies can suck a cyclist that is behind forward. Being situated behind a cyclist close enough to take advantage of this effect is called drafting. Drafting is synonymous with slipstreaming, with the area of low pressure call the slipstream.
Drafting also works co-operatively (ever seen birds flying in a v-formation), any rider behind the second rider will also benefit from drafting as well as cyclists that are behind him. Cyclists that are behind and offset to the side (such as in the flying-v formation) will also benefit.

The Draft:
You can save up to 40% of your energy by drafting. The draft not only benefits riders behind but the front rider will also gain a small advantage, however this is much smaller than the riders behind gain from drafting. In a long line of riders, the second rider gains about 25% draft advantage whilst all the riders behind him gain around 35% draft advantage. In a middle of a pack, such as a peloton (the name given to a pack of cyclists like in professional bike races) you can use up to 60% less energy.
Moving closer to the rider infront will increase the drafting effect, more drag closer, less drag further away. There is still a small slipstream when 4 metres away for the rider infront.
The draft is significantly reduced when the bikes are moving faster, so there is less to gain from draft on climbs and more to gain on the faster flats and downhills. Sitting in a slipstream also protects you from the wind, the drafting effect is greatly increase when riding into the wind.

How to Draft:

• Sit behind the rider you want to draft behind, sit slightly offset to the side so that if the rider in front suddenly slows your wheels will not make contact.
• Do not cross wheels (this is where accidents happens), if you make contact its usually the rider behind that is worse off (because the front wheel can move more with handlebars).
• Look ahead, don't stare at the wheel in front. You want to see obstacles coming well before you meet them, such as a turn or incline so you can predict what will happen. Get used to gauging the distance from the rider infront by looking just over his shoulder.
• If you are riding in a group, no twitchy movements, its the easiest way to cause an accident, moving slowly will help the riders around predict where you are moving too. 
• When a tight corner is approaching, easy off, allow a gap to form with the rider infront. When you start coming out of the corner, you can put the hammer down and if you have timed it right (takes practise) you will catch up with the slipstream infront as you pull out of the last part of the corner. You will corner most efficiently this way, saving energy. If riders don't ease off, the paceline or pack of riders can bottle up at the entrance to the corner, wasting energy and causing accidents in some situations.
• After you have taken your pull on the front, and are coasting back down the paceline, start applying pressure just as your front wheel is next to the last cyclist rear wheel, so you can fit in snug behind. If a gap forms between you and the paceline, believe me it can be hard work joining back up, if you don't make it, this is what getting 'dropped' means.
• When on the front, make sure you signal well. Point to the road on the side of any approaching hazards or potholes. When you are going to turn signal by stretching your arm out to the side straight in the direction you will turn to. When you are going to be braking, wave your hand in a backwards motion. If needs be shout! signalling and shouting will keep the riders behind well informed on what going on. to signal that you have finished your turn on the front (or simply had enough), flick your elbow to the side you will swing to and give a few last hard pedal strokes.

Pacelines, Pelotons and Echelons:

There are four main types of drafting formation in cycling.

• Paceline: is simply a line of riders drafting one behind the other, works best for small groups and training rides, offers no protection from cross winds. 
• Chaingang or two-line: is a group of riders orientated in two pacelines next to each other. works best for medium sized groups. the lead rider when he has finished his pull at the front moves off to the side that is into the wind. The first paceline is moving forward and riders are breaking off to the second paceline and the riders in the second are moving slowly backward and rejoining the first paceline.
• Peloton: a huge group of riders, seen mostly in professional races. riders in the middle of the peloton are completely protected, crashes are common and riders need to be alert for hazards approaching as there is little visibility. 
• Echelon: the name given to a shape of a group of riders, that is most efficient in high winds (a paceline for crosswinds). like a chaingang there is two lines, but orientated diagonally moving forwards, the diagonal axis is pointing into the wind. Only as wide as the road, riders that cannot fit into the echelon have no protection from the wind, its a very tactical formation in road races. riders falling off the back are said to be in the 'gutter', and trust me this is not a very nice place to be, hard work! the riders move up the line in the back of the echelon and down the line on the front of the echelon. 

Tip:

you can feel the draft when you are in it, it feels warmer than being in the open. You can use the feeling of wind on your shoulders to work out where the best draft is. for example if you feel more wind on your right shoulder, move slightly more to the left.

being in the draft not only gives you an energy advantage, but it gives you the advantage of being able to watch your opponent. you can watch his gears and movements to predict when he is about to make a move.

watch objects in your surroundings to see where the wind is blowing, eg trees swaying. You can use them to judge where you should be drafting, if crosswinds are approaching or if their will more advantage drafting or pulling at the front. 

Unfortunately most triathlons are not 'draft-legal', this means you cannot draft. stay within the distances mentioned in the race rules (usually a 3m by 7m box surrounding the cyclist infront is the no go zone).

Also be aware that TT bikes are less manoeuvrable than normal road bike, so drafting with these extra care should be taken. not only that but people with aerobars, may not be able to reach the brakes in front. (its never really a good idea to draft with a TT bike, you should be suing them for time-trials anyway!)

Why mention it then? great for in training, and a useful skill when going on group rides, every cyclist should know the basics of drafting. 

Erika Iris Simmons, cassette tape and musical notes

Erika Iris Simmons creates great images with all sorts of mediums; card, magazines, cassette tape and music notes:
Linkout: http://www.iri5.com
Linkout (her gallery): http://www.flickr.com/photos/iri5

Anatomy of the Choke "paralysis by analysis"

We have all experienced it at some point,

The big day, the final, that moment when you know you have to perform at your best to win, 100 metre final, football derby, national trials, tennis cup match to name a few. You know you can play that winning serve or running that sub 11second race in training but when it comes to the big day you choke!

Choking is that moment when it all goes wrong, you under achieve, you simply cannot perform the best you know you can. Wikipedia calls it "the failure of an athlete or an athletic team to win a game or tournament when the player or team had been strongly favoured to win." Why?

here are some famous examples:
England football team in penalties
AC Milan football in champions league final 2005
New Zealand rugby union in previous world cups (lost their choker title in the last cup)
Golf, Rory Mcllroy in the 2011 masters
Mike Tyson vs Holyfield boxing
(Picture above: Cristiano Ronaldo missing a penalty last week knocking Real Madrid out of the champions league, prior to that shot he had only failed to score one penalty out of 24)

There are many many examples of choking happening and in most cases its when the outcome is incredibly important to the team or sportsman. so why??

The easiest way to explain it is to divide the brain into two areas of control; conscious control (mainly the cerebrum) and unconscious control (mainly cerebellum), call it CN and UCN.
The hours and hours and hours of training you do trains your muscle memory to put the control of certain actions (such as the cycling pedal stroke or swimming swim stroke) under UCN control.
Actions during your sport become almost automatic, the tiny movements by all your muscles adjusted for that perfect action you have trained and trained happens in the millisecond perfect timing  that makes your actions swift and smooth.

Now, when you are choking that changes, you are concentrating so hard on performing your best, you start thinking about what every muscle is doing and the timing and the force and the angles... its too much for you to handle. Not only that but it takes up valuable brain power for thinking about tactics, nutrition all the important decisions we have to make during that epic final or race. The actions of your sport are under CN control and not the UCN that makes it so smooth, that made you perform so well in previous races/matches.
A great way I read to describe it is:"paralysis by analysis"

So, how does one prevent choking??
Well its not easy, and its certainly easier said than done.
First things first, practice practice practice, for me and you that means swim swim swim run run run bike bike bike. The more practised you are, the more your actions (or the more of your actions) are under UCN control. It has been shown that it takes 10,000 hours to truly master something at an elite level, thats alot of practise.
Secondly, the big day, you have to relax, you have to let go.
(A scientific method of this is to close your eyes and take deep breathes, focusing on 'relaxing the back of your eyes', theory is that it shifts your thinking away from the pre frontal cortex.).
over-thinking, over-excitement and over-analysing the situation is what is causing choking. Freeing your CN brain from working on all those UCN actions will give you valuable thinking space for strategies and will leave those guts decisions and intuitive actions to your UCN that is well trained to make the right decision.


So get training, chill out in your finals, don't think about the consequences, just relax into the sport you have training hard for hours almost every day.

Basics of Triathlon Cycling

Alright guys,

Since this blog has been going (not very long actually), I haven't posted anything to do with the bike or swim. So first things first I should get the basics out the way, since it is maglia rosa season (Giro d'Italia started yesterday) I will start with the bike:

Basic's of Triathlon cycling:

• Stay seated! unless it really gets steep, stay in your seat at all times, on the longer rides (Ironman distance for example) you can get out of the seat to stretch the legs. standing will waist energy and isn't very aerodynamic
• Relax! let your legs do the work, your upper body should be relaxed into that aerodynamic position you have practised, loose jaw, loose shoulders, don't waist energy tensing up. Don't relax so much your body is rocking all over the place as you pedal, your upper body should be still and strong.
• Aero position! you can save seconds and in a longer race minutes if use aerodynamic positioning. this means using aero-bars or the drops. This really is up to you, I raced all my shorter races on the drops because I felt more comfortable. whatever your aero position is, it needs to be well practised and comfortable, don't sacrifice speed. Also make sure you bike is properly fitted.
• Drink Drink nutrition Drink! the bike leg is the most important leg of a triathlon in regards to nutrition. you need to be refuelling here after the swim and stocking up on energy for the run. Have a well planned nutrition plan, know when and what you will be eating at exact times on the bike leg, have you bike or tri-suit pockets stocked up with the right stuff. Hydration can win or lose many a triathlon, drink at regular intervals, you need to drink more than you think, drinking at regular intervals will prevent fluid from sloshing around in your stomach and causing uncomfortable cramps. a simple rule is one bottle every 45 minutes cycling.
• Pace! a tricky subject, but it is well known you cant just go all out from the start, especially in the longer distances. most people adopt a constant pace plan, sticking to a heart rate or power output. personally I find it faster (and current research shows that it is faster) with a variable pace plan for example, hard on the hills, easy on the downhills and in-between on the flat roads at a constant pace.
• Drafting! follow the rules, in most triathlons it against the rules.
• Squats! the weight lifting move is the secret to a powerful cycling, make sure you are doing them regularly with the correct technique, more muscle equals more endurance.
• Oil your chain! and test your brakes
• Cornering! use the apex of the corner, look to where you want to go, bend the inside knee up (lift the pedal) applying body weight to inside of turn, slight counter turn: turn your handlebars very slightly away from the turn (remember its your lean and weight doing the majority of the turning), brake before the corner control the speed, as you come out of the corner start pedalling hard to reach cruising speed again and to help pull you out of the corner. always look at the point far after the corner, where you want to be heading. practise cornering! triathletes are famous for being really bad at this.
• Highway code! when training make sure you follow the rules of the road, stopping at lights, staying near edges and signalling for turns, there are alot of cyclists giving us a bad name by ignoring the laws. 
• Have fun! the cycle leg is my favourite leg of any triathlon. 

There you go, hope that helps in some way or another. feel free to comment, if you do it will be my first comment ha. Now I'm off to watch the Giro Highlights, epic!

Best Running Signs and Costumes

Found these blogs browsing the net today:

Best running race signs

Yes people do run in jeans

Best running costumes

Book Inspired Art

Book inspired art by Thomas Allen, click the link below to see the incredible photography based on children's books like the Phantom Tollbooth  (also how they were produced)

Link out: http://thomasallenonline.com/2012/04/16/official/

My take on Running stretches

Here's a list of all the muscles used and the stretches I do after each run to keep my muscles both flexible/powerful and injury free.

Running muscles:


Primary movers:

• Quads (groups of four muscles): Top of thigh
• Hamstrings (group of three muscles): Back of thigh
• Gluteus maximus: Bum muscle
• Calf muscle (group of two muscles): Back of lower leg
• Hip flexors (iliopsoas muscle): Internal muscle in your hip

Secondary (assisting muscles) movers:

• Abs (group of three muscles): six pack area, helps posture
• Biceps: bends the arm (keeps that 90degree arm angle)
• Back muscles (many muscles stabilise your back): helps posture
• Hip Adductor muscles: Groin area (not really a running muscle, but good to prevent injury none the less)

How I stretch all of these:

Quads: 

Lie on the floor on your side (I have a yoga mat for floor stretches), bend one leg 90degrees in front, and pull back on the other leg towards your bum:

Hamstrings:

Many ways to do this. prop your leg on a table, I have a waist height table, keep you back straight and lean forward towards your propped up foot keeping legs straight.

Bum:

lie on the floor on your back, bend one leg up 90degrees and then place your other leg across with your ankle resting on the top of the bent leg's knee. then lift the 90 leg up towards your chest (trust me you won't reach your chest :P) place your hands on the shin of the bent leg and pull. 

Calf muscles:

stand facing a wall, rest your hands shoulder height with your arms outstretched on the wall, place one leg infront in a high lunge position with the stretched out straight behind, push with your hips and feel the stretch on the back of your legs. 

Hip flexors:

kneel on the floor, place your front foot as far out as possible (then slightly backwards), relax the leg behind. keeping back straight and upright push forward from the hips

Abs:

Lie flat on the floor on your belly place hands just next your shoulders and push up whilst pressing down on the hips and tilt head back, should feel this on the abs, if you feel this on the back, your doing it wrong. this is not and important stretch, I usually hold it for 30 seconds no longer.

Biceps:

stand up with arms outstretched to the sides, make a thumbs up with both hands with your thumbs pointing to the ceiling, slowly rotate your hands towards the palms so that the thumbs now point downwards, if you can, try and point the thumbs behind (I've never reached that far). Alternatively you can place you arm straight against a wall and twist your body away pivoting at the shoulder. 

Back Muscles:

I don't actually stretch these muscles yet, haven't had any problems with my back to date, still that isn't an excuse.

Groin:

Sit on the floor, back straight, place your feet together so that the soles are together. push down on the knees or you can hold your feet and open the feet apart like a book to enhance the stretch.

As mentioned in a previous post, there is no benefit from doing a stretch for less than 30 seconds. I hold them for at least 45 seconds each.

The most important stretches for injury prevention and speed are the primary mover muscle stretches. 

(the hip stretch has been proven to increase running speed, don't leave that one out!)

Andrew Myers Art with Screws

Andrew Myers, an German/Spanish artist based in California creates images of his friends and family using nails and screws. Linkout: http://stunurmind.com/archives/21
Link to his website: http://www.andrewmyersart.com/#/home

The New Superfood craze: Chia

The latest super-food craze is all about Chia!

Referred to as the ‘supergrain’, Chia is exploding into the health food scene and now sports nutrition stores everywhere are starting to big up the tiny seed. Always sceptical I decided to do my research...

So what is Chia?

Chia, or Salvia hispanica L, is a member of the mint family grown in Mexico and South America. The tiny black or white seeds of the plant are what contain its nutritional punch

Nutritional Information (per 100g):

Protein: 20.7g

Fat: 32.8g

Carbohydrate: 41.8g

(of which fibre is 41.2g)

Calcium: 714mg

Iron: 16.4mg

Niacin (B3): 613mg

Thiamine (B1): 0.18mg

Riboflavin (B2): 0.04mg

Energy (KJ): 1650

Whats so amazing about Chia then?

• Firstly its high Omega-3 content, higher than salmon, in fact its the richest source of omega-3 in nature! (Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid, good for fighting off cancer and keeping the brain healthy)
• High in Fiber, good old ruffage
• Full of vitamins and minerals; calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin C, magnesium, folic acid, B vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin), zinc, manganese, selenium, and vitamin A to name a few.
• Full of Antioxidants; protect the body from harmful free radicals.
• 2 times the potassium of bananas, 3 times the iron of spinach, 3 times more antioxidants than blueberries and twice as much protein of any other seed grain.
• Gluten free
• Can be stored for a long time, the antioxidants help keep the seeds fresh and stop them going rancid.

Chia and Sports?

Well as you can see it is stock full of energy. Some sportsman already swear by it, I read an article recently of an endurance athlete taking a film canister full of the seeds on his long runs.

Chia really became famous from being the main food of the Tarahumara running people of Mexico, these incredible sueprhumans run for hours everyday only stopping to down some of their Chia mixed drink. They mix the seed with water and lemon juice for an energy kick, described as “homebrewed red bull” in Born To Run, a great book I’m reading at the moment. (review to come soon).

It only gets better actually:

When consumed the seeds have a gel-forming reaction in the stomach, this has two consequences. Firstly the gel slows the conversion of carbohydrate into smaller sugars, thus slowing the conversion of the sugars, making chia a super slow release energy food, perfect for endurance.  Secondly the gel aids the retention of water, prolonging hydration and maintaining electrolyte balance for longer.

Is there anything wrong with the stuff??

Well they have been demonstrated to lower blood pressure, so people with already low pressure or on hypertensive drugs shouldn’t be consuming copious amounts.

And.. well that’s it, they can be quite filling, so some people can feel very bloated if they eat too many, oh no!

I guess you could be allergic too.

So how do I eat Chia?

I prefer to mix it with meals, so add to porridge, rice, couscous or bread. You can sprinkle it over salad.

You can make an easy gel by mixing with some water, then you could take during sport neat (not as nice). At home you could mix the gel into sauces, jams, etc.

Tarahumara style; mix with lemon or lime juice and water to make a refreshing cold drink (my recommendation).

What is Salba?

There is a lot of talk of the ‘Salba’ seed being much better, but it is infact the same seed as Chia, just the white coloured version. Salba is the branded version of Chia essentially.

Salba growth and production is more strictly controlled so you can expect a purer product (more consistent nutritional content) and less GM products used etc etc. but really it is the same thing.

My advice:

As with anything, take in moderation, I think it is a great addition to meals as a garnish for a nutritional kick. Try in training, see if it works for you, and don’t try anything new on race day as usual.

Hope this helped, any questions doesn’t hesitate to ask, I read a lot of articles for this. I will post a review soon and more on the uses in triathlon when my Chia seeds arrive in the post :D

This Made Me Chuckle

Influential Blogs

Despite being fairly new to posting I have been an avid blogger for many years... well an avid blog-reader.
Here is a list of my most influential Triathlon related blogs and websites to date:

• http://www.joefrielsblog.com/ One triathlon coach to rule them all, everything on everything by Joe Friel. 
• http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way Sports psychology from an experienced endurance athlete.
• http://sweatscience.runnersworld.com/ By Alex Hutchinson, with links to real science journal articles, if you ever needed proof. 
• http://www.fuelyourpassiononline.blogspot.it/ The life and times of Pro Triathlete Kimberley Schwabenbauer
• http://thetriathletesguidetothegalaxy.blogspot.it/ Great athlete from my local Tri club, absolutely fantastic articles on the truth about certain diets and food for sportsmen.
• http://runningtimes.com/ Some articles here can be very informative
• http://simpleirontruth.com/  Nice ordinary blog
• http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/ Best way to keep up-to-date with the world of Triathlon
• http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/index.shtml Random running tips, I find a real gem every now and then 
• http://www.livestrong.com/man/fitness/ Armstrongs own brand, great source of information for sports and health

Road Map Art

Check out these eleven works of art made from road maps.
Linkout: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/122798

Key Turbo Trainer Drill... (I see what you did there)

Next time you are on the Turbo Trainer try this drill.

• Place a set of keys on the handle bars or frame so that they hang free. Pedal at a comfortable cadence around 80-100rpm. 
• Slowly raise your cadence higher and higher, until you hear the keys start to rattle or jingle. Then drop the cadence to a point just before they started to rattle, so they are not jingling any more.
• Hold this cadence for 3min, then settle back to your initial cadence. 
• Rest and Repeat

Rubix Cube Art

Artist Pete Fecteau creates 6m by 3m image from Rubix cubes.
Link out: http://petefecteau.com/2011/04/15/dream-big/

To Lean or Not to Lean...

Ever since I started running, one of the most basic techniques points I followed for running was the "Forward Lean". Many instructional videos and blogs, emphasize leaning forward slightly as you run as a key technique. The logic they apply is that it uses gravity to help you run faster, thinking carefully, on flat surface gravity can apply no horizontal force.
An article on Runners World (Link) , highlights that overlean can promote stitches, back ache and neck and shoulder pain.
SO why the lean? Well leaning forward helps enhance the use of your gluteal muscles (your bum), it fires a reflex in which throws your leg forward (as if you were falling forward, you put your leg forward to prevent face planting), some people say it helps reduce air resistance.
On a downhill it certainly would confer an advantage.
I tried fixing my lean using the advice below and noticed that running became far more comfortable, my shoulders and back less tight, I had indeed been over leaning.

So Lean or No Lean:

• If any lean at all it should come from the ankle joint, allowing the pelvis to be neutral. 
• The back should always be kept straight, never arched. 
• The best advice I can give is to stand tall and imagine a string is pulling you from the top of the head upwards like a puppet. 
• Take a deep breathe and stay relaxed, this promotes the correct upright posture you should be using. use this a reference
• Keep head in line with shoulders and hips
• Look forward and straight ahead, relaxed shoulders and neck

In Summary: No Lean, run tall proud and relaxed. Emphasize a slight forward lean when faced with incline and declines that aren't too shallow. 

Unreal Buildings by Victor Emrich

    Link here: Victor Emrich Gallery

Ice bath recovery, the truth.

Alright Guys, How’s it going?

So after a few years of cold showers after hard training, I decided today to finally do my research on whether ‘Ice Baths’ are actually doing me any good (about time really). My definition of an ice bath would be applying ice or cold water (less than 10 degrees Celsius) to an area such as tired cycling legs for 5min+. Here are the facts:

• MUSCLE DAMAGE; Ice baths do not repair muscle damage, scientific research shows that the levels of creatine kinase in blood (classic marker for muscle damage) were unchanged after ice bath treatment.
• INFLAMMATION; ice baths were shown to reduce the amount of inflammation in the subjects muscles.
• SORENESS; subjects perception of muscle soreness was reduced after ice bath treatment.(the theory is that it causes blood vessel restriction that flushes out most of the lactic acid)

So in SUMMARY:

Inflammation is an important part of your bodies coping method to dealing with stress and with hard training it plays an important role in your body’s ADAPTION to hard training. Reducing the inflammation, can hinder your body’s natural adaption process to hard training and thus hinder your improving performance.
However, the ice baths did reduce inflammation and perception of soreness, in essence speeding up recovery.
SO (this is the current advice that the English Institute of Sport is using):

DO NOT use ice baths during serious training, it will hinder your improvements. Use the methods described in my first post to aid recovery.
DO use ice baths during recovery weeks, in the weeks before races and during tapering weeks and of course in competition (multi event competition) for speedy recovery.

Hope that helped clear things up.

How to halve an apple with your bare hands...

Haven't got a knife handy; use your hands!

(Not sure about the 'impressing girls part', I will have to give it a try. Next time you see me out, I will be carrying a bag Granny Smiths ready to make a move.)

Welcome to Earth

Okay, after neglecting my blog for so long, inspired by bloggers all around me, I am back. First post, the post that rocks the most: A truly epic video to kick off an epic blogging season