Winter training tips

Coaches tip of the month: As we head into the cold, wet winter months you should seriously consider putting thicker set of tyres on your bike. You can get more grip and less punctures with a set of Gatorskins or Armadillo tyres, well worth the investement for the worsening road conditions.  Who’s doing what & where: Some amazing results in from the crew over these past few weekends: * Anna Gilmore conquered her first Ironman at Challenge Henley & placed a brilliant 6th in her age group. This included a brilliant sub 4 hour marathon. * Dave Docherty went 12:48 in his first Ironman on the brutal Ironman Wales course. This included yet another superb sub 4 hour marathon. * Paul Williams completed Ironman Wales for the second year running in 13:34, over 2 hours faster than the previous year. * Matt Carroll finished Challenge Henley in 12:38, nearly 90mins faster than his previous PB. * Jeremy Cole finished his first 10k open water swim in 2.54.  * Stephen Hallam & Dave Matthews managed to complete their first Olympic distance triathlons at Dorney lake in 3:07 and 2:53. * Ironman Simon Whittock managed to win a gold medal at the Surrey Legs of steel cyclosportive.  * Ed Seaton 2:30 & Jo Turner 2:39 headed for sunnier conditions at the Barcelona triathlon, both managed to complete their first Olympic distance triathlons in superb times. Jo managing to finish 2nd in her age group. * The magnificent 7 flew through the river thames like speed boats to complete the Hampton 2.25 mile open water swim. Congratulations to Simon Evans – 36.35 , Jeremy Cole – 37.10, Lorraine Heggessey – 54.37, Juliette Fardon – 47.42, Stephen Hallam – 47.42, Becky Lockspeiser – 47.32 & Phillipa Markou – 39.23.  Swim session of the month: The “See Saw” 500’s set Focus: to simulate a fast race finish whilst holding good technique, dont get sloppy at the end when the fatigue really kicks in ! – 400m super easy warm up  Main set – 4 x 500m swam as: – 500m as 400m easy/100m fast and smooth – 30 ri – 500m as 300m easy/200m fast and smooth – 45 ri – 500m as 200m easy/300m fast and smooth – 60 ri – 500m as 100m easy/400m fast and smooth NB: do sets 2 & 4 with pull buoy – no legs Include sighting twice per length on sets 1 & 3 – 100m easy backstroke cool down TEAM NAGI Q & A Question of the month  Can you give me some tips for my winter training focus? Most of you at this time of the year will be starting to consider your training approach throughout the winter months. The triathlon season has come an end, you’ve been on holiday and probably gained a few pounds and now that motivation to start to train again is starting to rear its head. But what should you really focus on? This is a good question to ask yourself because every athlete will be in a different position depending on where their season finished. Some of you will still be resting and enjoying the life you may have missed during the previous 8months of the year and that’s more than ok – you deserve it, whereas others will have clearly established goals and will be chomping at the bit to start training again. The key factor is realizing when that motivation has returned.  Whatever the position you are in what you do now can be very important in determining how well you do next year, think of it as laying the foundations for success in 2013.  So for those of you out there that feel ready to get stuck in you need to sit down and make an assessment of how your previous races went. Ideally identify areas for improvement and most importantly be honest with yourself about your weaknesses. All to often I see triathletes every year just playing to their strengths without trying to become more balanced across all 3 disciplines. Now is the time to address that balance so that you are in a much stronger position going into 2013. Without question the athletes that do best at triathlon are the ones who are consistently good across all 3 disciplines with no real weaknesses.  You also need to consider your short term AND long term plans. Usually if you are a newbie triathlete you wont be thinking much further ahead than the next triathlon or series of triathlons you will be doing next year. It will be excitement enough thinking of what new races to do to test yourselves on. It’s hugely important to experiment at this stage of your development so seek out new races to do so that you gain more valuable experience moving forwards. This is a great time to be a triathlete because it’s a whole new world and your fitness and speed improvements can come thick and fast.   Whereas there maybe some of you out there that have been doing triathlons for quite a while and have decided to set yourselves some pretty big goals. This could be European or World Championship age group qualification or even a very challenging race. If you are planning on qualifying in 2013 then you need to start planning all the races now that will take you towards this goal. If qualification is still a couple or more years away then you should be thinking of planning your races over the longer term, which will take you towards the ultimate goal. Chose your races wisely and don’t just take the easy options, chose races that will ultimately develop you as a triathlete NOT because they will give you a fast time. Sometimes doing things the hard way brings more reward than taking the easier option over the short t erm. Get Technical So with this in mind the winter becomes a crucial period for any athlete to develop potential weakness so you are fitter and stronger next year, every athlete will have a different focus but some of the more technical ones could include: – Improving your swim technique through one to one coaching or in depth video analysis – Getting your bike position checked with a recommended bike fitter, so you are in the most comfortable/powerful position possible.  – Improving your run technique with a coach  – Improving your functional body strength/ balance to make you less injury prone  – Improving your core strength and flexibility Most of the above will involve working with a coach or experienced trainer but it will be worth the investment moving forwards. Just make sure they come highly recommended and have experience of working with triathletes.  Plan your races There are also a whole host of races you could choose to do to develop certain areas of your swim/bike/run fitness. Running and cycling races are more popular than ever before during the colder months, but try to go for races that will specifically help a certain area of your fitness. By this I mean if you are short course athlete then why not try to do something different like a few short cross country races or even a 5 or 10km race series. For those athletes who will be going longer (half- full Ironman) then why not look at doing a couple of 10ks – half marathons during this period to build up your run endurance. With regards to cycling if you are a short course athlete why not find some short time trials to participate in to test your bike speed endurance, or if you are a long course athlete then why not look for a nice long sportive that will test your biking endurance. Duathlon s are also hugely popular at this time and have a great knock on affect for triathlon fitness development.  At the end of the day racing is fun so get out there and experiment if you have the motivation to do it, all it takes is a bit of planning. One things for sure racing gets you motivated about training and that can only be a good thing when the weather gets colder outside.  Go off road (but be careful!) You also don’t need to do everything on your road/time trial bike – mountain biking is a great way to build biking fitness, this particularly helps to improve your climbing strength and leg cadence. You should also consider other options such as joining a club, this could be a triathlon or swimming, biking or running club. Training with other like minded people can be hugely motivating.  One thing I dread every year with my clients is when they tell me they are going to try other sports, you would understand this if you saw how many of them have injured themselves over the years. Time and time again I’ve given them the warnings only to see my worst fears come true. Just remember triathlon is a very linear sport so if you’ve been doing this for 8months of the year then multi directional sport is highly dangerous because your body just wont be used to the different movement patterns. Remember most of you aren’t teenagers anymore so you have to ease back in very slowly, playing 5 aside football like a 13 year old is just asking for big trouble when your in your 30’s and 40’s!   Some of the worst sports I see for causing these injuries are hockey, squash, football, rugby, military type training and boxing. I’m not against these sports in anyway but just be extremely careful about how you go about it, the people that do these sports on a much regular basis will be far less injury prone as their bodies are toughend to the demands of it. Also ask yourself if you have big goals for next year – is it really worth putting this at jeopardy? Weigh up the pros and cons and then come to your decision. Read for Inspiration I also think that reading inspirational books during this period helps fuel that training fire inside of you so ask friends or coaches for recommendations.  Re-think your injury strategy This is also a really important period to sit down and think about some of the injuries you may have had or still have. Usually injuries are caused by: – Overtraining /overuse – Poor body strength/stability – The wrong type of training – Poor technique – Poor flexibility – Poor decision making (not listening to the signs!) Injuries are usually a sign that you aren’t doing something right so you need to come up with a new plan of action to try and eliminate some of the possible causes. You might not get it right the first time but its better to do this than continue doing the same kind of training and getting the same kinds of injuries. Remember – If you always do what you always do you will always get what you will always get. Changes will need to be made and sometimes the first place you should look is inside your head and ask yourself if your mentality is working for you or against you. It’s usually the athletes that are prepared to change their approach based on clear evidence of wrong doing that ultimately achieve great success and work their way around these problems.  Staying illness free – consistency is the name of the game! Every year I see so many athletes getting ill during the colder months from October – March. Unfortunately we live in a country where colds, coughs, sore throats and chest infections are rife so it’s hard to avoid them. Most are caused by working in offices with lots of people and being around young children (sorry parents but your little darlings spread illness like wild fire!).  I do believe though that some athletes do far too much training during the winter months and may benefit from doing a little bit less so their immune systems stays stronger. So if your one of the athletes that suffers every winter a new approach maybe needed that involves stressing the immune system less. Its usually the long course guys and girls who enter an Ironman and then think they have to start wracking up 15-20 hour weeks from the word go that keep getting ill. Quite simply you don&rsquo ;t and it’s all about a slow gradual build up to the longer work you will be doing next year. You have to be sensible with your training volume and intensity at this time of the year because it far better to do a little bit less but remain illness free than it is to kill yourself and spend weeks or even months away from training. Some of the ways you can fight the dreaded lurgy are listed below: – Makes sure you eat a healthy balanced diet that contains mainly fruits, vegetables, lean white meats, fish, nuts and seeds. Food with nutrient value are crucial so get fresh.    – If it’s freezing cold outside take your training inside, a quality turbo or treadmill run session will be just the ticket.  – Make more of an effort to get more sleep and recovery.  –  Avoid people with the sniffles! not easy I know but this is how most illnesses are passed on.  –  Wash hands frequently throughout the day or use anti bacterial wipes – Most importantly dont keep training when you are ill, you will only prolongue it leading to more frustration ! Think “outside” the box Remember even if you’ve had a successful year you shouldn’t rest on your laurels. Each new year deserves and re-think and a new approach, these don’t have to be major changes because even the smallest ones might give you that extra edge.  Most importantly look for all the clues that your previous training & racing season has given you. The answers will be there for you, you just have to be a bit smart to see the signs so you can move forwards. If you want to get really good at triathlon then you have to think of it as a big jigsaw puzzle, you might have to put a lot of wrong pieces down first before you find the ones you are looking but it will be more than worth it when it all comes together in the end.  Good luck in finding that “special sauce” for 2013.  Very best Julian