It seems like summer is well and truly over and now that we are heading into the autumn months don’t think that the rainy days should keep you off the bike. After all if you want to boost your performance next season putting in more miles on the bike through the autumn and winter months will give you that edge over your competitors.

Don’t let the weather put you off, by following these basics you can turn a rainy days outing into an enjoyable spin.

Tyres
Add cyclocross tyres to your road bike in the poor weather for extra traction and additional protection against punctures. The added rolling resistance means you’ll go slower for a given effort, which in turn cuts down on your self made wind-chill and makes you less likely to career into obstacles in your path. Plus, when you switch back to your regular tyres cycling will feel much easier.

Sudden Movements
Avoid sudden movements, such as grabbing down for your brakes or being aggressive in corners, especially in iffy conditions. All of which will surely land you flat on the ground with the bike on top of you.
Instead, stay centred on the bike and look far enough ahead that you have plenty of time to slow down for corners and react to slick patches. If you do encounter debris on the road, level your pedals, point your bike straight ahead and try and relax as you cross. If you do have to pedal over a large patch of debris keep your pedal stroke extra smooth, with steady even pressure on the pedals.

Wrap Up
Nothing drags down morale more than being wet and cold. The right clothing caries with temperature, but generally you want a base layer that wicks moisture away from your skin, this is crucial as quite often the chill from sweat sneaks up on you before you can react to it., and a shell with a windproof front to block the breeze. Layers should be easy to shed so you can stash them in a pocket. On your lower body, windproof crotch and knee panels are essential when the weather is truly foul.

Love Your Bike
Mix grit with a little water and you get a crunchy solution that chews through bike parts with ease. To minimise damage, try to clean and lube your chain after every ride in bad weather. Clean any stuck on gunk from the chain rings, cassette ans pedal bodies as well as any exposes cables. Check your brake pads as grit can get trapped in them and grind down your rims when you brake. You can save the wheels from an early fall by inspecting your brake pads frequently and replacing them should they become full of embedded grit, or if they are starting to approach the wear indicator.

Use Your Head
If there’s torrential rain or sleet outside, going out for a ride is unlikely to be a pleasant or rewarding experience. Consider hitting the turbo trainer instead, pretty obvious advice I know, but never the less has to be said otherwise sometimes ‘getting in the miles’ does become a little too dangerous.

Happy training!!

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British Triathlon have announced that tomorrows Corus Elite Series race in Strathclyde Park, Glasgow, will see the conclusion of the the 2008 British Triathlon Grand Prix Series.

Having taken place in Reading, Blenheim, Windsor, Tredegar and London, the series adopts the adrenaline-fuelled super sprint format and moves on to the triathlon venue in North Lanarkshire which will be used for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The super sprint eliminator format proved a massive success when it made its debut at Hyde Park, London in 2007. Only in this format of racing do athletes have to compete in a heat’s and final format event, proving for some fast and exciting racing. Also at stake for athletes that took part int he previous two Corus Elite Series events, will be the overall title of series winner.

The 300m lap swim in the Loch begins with a pontoon start. This will be followed by a testing 7km bike stage which takes in the scenic surroundings of the park. Athletes will then transition into a 2.2km run to race to the finish. The event will be held in conjunction with North Lanarkshire Council, triathlonscotland and EventScotland.

The women’s race will pitch Britain’s best against an Olympic trio of New Zealand’s Samantha Warriner, Ireland’s Emma Davis and Christine Pilz from Germany. Young Junior World Champion, Kirsty McWilliam, will fly the flag for Scotland alongside Kerry Lang whilst Jodie Swallow and Andrea Whitcombe have a personal battle to decide the winner of the Grand Prix Series. They are currently tied on 297pts.

Back from Bejing, Team GB’s Alistair Brownlee and Will Clarke will be sure to figure at the head of the race, but there is serious competition in the form of Barrett Brandon from the USA and Ben Visser from New Zealand, as well as a whole host of European elites. With Stuart Hayes racing in the USA, Richard Stannard has effectively won the Grand Prix Series with this weekend’s race in hand.

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If any of you are looking at purchasing a new triathlon wetsuit then now could be one of the best times to do so. Don’t necessarily wait until it’s time for open water swimming to buy one as you may be paying top price for a very similar suit you could have bought the end of the previous season. Many of the online stores are now listing some excellent end of summer/season deals on 2008 wetsuits. I’ve only listed a few offers which are below the £150 mark as I feel this is the kind of price most first time open water triathletes would look towards. There are however, a vast number of other suits available up to about £350. Don’t forget that you can also buy a selection of the ex-hire wetsuits from a number of the larger stores.

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A friend of mine is competing in Ironman UK this weekend in Sherborne and got this note of inspiration through on an e-mail. Like you need inspiration anyway! It’s a very good read even though it may appear a little long.

Good luck to all those participating and I sincerely hope that the weather holds out.

“Right now you’ve all entered the taper. Perhaps you’ve been at this a few months, perhaps you’ve been at this a few years. For some of you this is your first IM, for others, a long-overdue welcome back to a race that few can match. You’ve been following your schedule to the letter. You’ve been piling on the mileage, piling up the laundry, and getting a set of tan lines that will take until next year to erase. Long rides were followed by long runs, which both were preceded by long swims, all of which were followed by recovery naps that were longer than you slept for any given night during college. You ran in the snow. You rode in the rain. You ran in the heat. You ran in the cold. You went out when others stayed home. You rode the trainer when others pulled the covers over their heads.

You have survived the Darwinian progression that is an Ironman summer, and now the hardest days are behind you. Like a climber in the Tour de France coming over the summit of the penultimate climb on an alpine stage, you’ve already covered so much ground…there’s just one more climb to go. You shift up, you take a drink, you zip up the jersey; the descent lies before you…and it will be a fast one. Time that used to be filled with never-ending work will now be filling with silent muscles, taking their final, well-earned rest.

While this taper is something your body desperately needs, your mind cast off to the background for so very long, will start to speak to you. It won’t be pretty. It will bring up thoughts of doubt, pain, hunger, thirst, failure, and loss. It will give you reasons why you aren’t ready. It will try and make one last stand to stop you, because your brain doesn’t know what the body already does. Your body knows the truth: You are ready. Your brain won’t believe it. It will use the taper to convince you that this is foolish - that there is too much that can go wrong. You are ready.

Finishing an Ironman is never an accident. It’s the result of dedication, focus, hard work, and belief that all the long runs in January, long rides in April, and long swims every damn weekend will be worth it. It comes from getting on the bike, day in, day out. It comes from long, solo runs. From that first long run where you wondered, “How will I ever be ready?” to the last long run where you smiled to yourself with one mile to go…knowing that you’d found the answer. It is worth it. Now that you’re at the taper, you know it will be worth it. The workload becomes less. The body winds up and prepares, and you just need to quiet your worried mind. Not easy, but you can do it.

You are ready.

You will walk into the water with 2000 other wide-open sets of eyes. You will look upon the sea of humanity, and know that you belong. You’ll feel the chill of the water crawl into your wetsuit, and shiver like everyone else, but smile because the day you have waited for so VERY long is finally here. You will tear up in your goggles. Everyone does. The helicopters will roar overhead. The splashing will surround you. You’ll stop thinking about Ironman, because you’re now racing one. The swim will be long - it’s long for everyone, but you’ll make it. You’ll watch as the shoreline grows and grows, and soon you’ll hear the end.

You’ll come up the beach and head for the wetsuit strippers. Three people will get that sucker off before you know what’s happening, then you’ll head for the bike. The voices, the cowbells, and the curb-to-curb chalk giving you a hero’s sendoff can’t wipe the smile off your face.You’ll settle down to your race. The crowds will spread out on the road. You’ll soon be on your bike, eating your food on your schedule, controlling your Ironman. You’ll start to feel that morning sun turn to afternoon sun. It’s warmer now. Maybe it’s hot. Maybe you’re not feeling so good now. You’ll keep riding. You’ll keep drinking. You’ll keep moving. After all, this is just a long training day with valet parking and catering, right?

You’ll put on your game face, fighting the urge to feel down as you ride for what seems like hours. You reach special needs, fuel up, and head out. By now it’ll be hot. You’ll be tired. Doubts will fight for your focus. Everyone struggles here. You’ve been on that bike for a few hours, and stopping would be nice, but you won’t - not here. Not today. You’ll grind the false flats to the climb. You’ll know you’re almost there. You’ll fight for every inch of road. The crowd will come back to you here. Let their energy push you. Let them see your eyes. Smile when they cheer for you - your body will get just that little bit lighter. Grind. Fight. Suffer. Persevere. You’ll plunge down the road, swooping from corner to corner, chaining together the turns, tucking on the straights, letting your legs recover for the run to come - soon!

You’ll roll back - you’ll see people running out. You’ll think to yourself, “Wasn’t I just here?” The noise will grow. The chalk dust will hang in the air - you’re back, with only 26.2 miles to go. You’ll relax a little bit, knowing that even if you get a flat tire or something breaks here, you can run the damn bike into T2.

You’ll roll into transition. 100 volunteers will fight for your bike. You’ll give it up and not look back. You’ll have your bag handed to you, and into the tent you’ll go. You’ll change. You’ll load up your pockets, and open the door to the last long run of your Ironman summer - the one that counts.

You’ll take that first step of a thousand…and you’ll smile. You’ll know that the bike won’t let you down now - the race is down to your own two feet. The same crowd that cheered for you in the shadows of the morning will cheer for you in the brilliant sunshine of a summer Sunday. High-five people on the way out. Smile. Enjoy it. This is what you’ve worked for all year long. That first mile will feel great. So will the second. By mile 3, you probably won’t feel so good. That’s okay. You knew it couldn’t all be that easy. You’ll settle down just like you did on the bike, and get down to your pace. You’ll see the leaders coming back the other way. Some will look great - some won’t. You might feel great, you might not. No matter how you feel, don’t panic - this is the part of the day where whatever you’re feeling, you can be sure it won’t last. You’ll keep moving. You’ll keep drinking. You’ll keep eating. Maybe you’ll be right on plan - maybe you won’t. If you’re ahead of schedule, don’t worry - believe. If you’re behind, don’t panic - roll with it.

Everyone comes up with a brilliant race plan for Ironman, and then everyone has to deal with the reality that planning for something like Ironman is like trying to land a man on the moon. By remote control. Blindfolded. How you react to the changes in your plan will dictate your day. Don’t waste energy worrying about things - just do what you have to when you have to, and keep moving. Keep eating. Keep drinking. Just don’t sit down - don’t EVER sit down. You’ll make it to the halfway point. You’ll load up on special needs. Some of what you packed will look good, some won’t. Eat what looks good, toss the rest. Keep moving. Start looking for people you know. Cheer for people you don’t. You’re headed in - they’re not. They want to be where you are, just like you wanted to be when you saw all those fast people headed into town. Share some energy - you’ll get it right back.

Run if you can. Walk if you have to. Just keep moving. The miles will drag on. The brilliant sunshine will yawn. You’ll be coming up to those aid stations fully alive with people, music, and chicken soup. TAKE THE SOUP. Keep moving. You’ll soon only have a few miles to go. You’ll start to believe that you’re going to make it. You’ll start to imagine how good it’s going to feel when you get there. Let those feelings drive you on. When your legs just don’t want to move anymore, think about what it’s going to be like when someone catches you…and puts a medal over your head… all you have to do is get there.

You’ll start to hear the people in town. People you can’t see in the twilight will cheer for you. They’ll call out your name. Smile and thank them. They were there when you left on the bike, and when you came back, and when you left on the run, and now when you’ve come back. You’ll enter town. You’ll start to realize that the day is almost over. You’ll be exhausted, wiped out, barely able to run a 10-minute mile (if you’re lucky), but you’ll ask yourself, “Where did the whole day go?” You’ll be standing on the edge of two feelings - the desire to finally stop, and the desire to take these last moments and make them last as long as possible.

You’ll hit mile 25. Your Ironman will have 1.2 miles - just 2KM left in it. You’ll run. You’ll find your legs. You’ll fly. You won’t know how, but you will run. The lights will grow brighter, brighter, and brighter. Soon you’ll be able to hear the music again. This time, it’ll be for keeps. Soon they’ll see you. Soon, everyone will see you. You’ll run towards the lights, between the fences, and into the night sun made just for you. They’ll say your name. You’ll keep running.

Nothing will hurt. The moment will be yours - for one moment, the entire world will be looking at you and only you. You’ll break the tape at the finish line, 140.6 miles after starting your journey. The flash will go off. You’ll stop. You’ll finally stop. Your legs will wobble their last, and suddenly…be capable of nothing more. Someone will catch you. You’ll lean into them.

It will suddenly hit you.

YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”

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A fast bike leg is crucial to a good triathlon performance. The bike is the longest leg of any race, so the winner is likely to be the person who can produce the most power, or at least the most power relative to their weight, while on two wheels.

Top triathletes now base a lot of their cycle training and racing on power. Power is the rate of work being completed. The work is the effort it takes you to move from one point to another and overcome friction and drag. How fast you do that work is referred to as power and is measured in watts.
Remember, the purpose of improving fitness is to produce more power for a given level of exertion, in other words more watts for the same effort. Power on the bike involves speed . If you want to ride quicker on the bike leg you need to produce more watts at your race pace. The concept is the same regardless of race distance.

Before you hang up your cycle shoes after a long season give the following bike power test a go. This will give you a good idea of the shape you are in now and will give you something to work towards throughout the winter months.

Even without power measuring tools you can still perform a meaningful self test by riding a specific route over a known distance. Make sure this is circular or out and back to ensure that you are riding through even weather conditions, and try to do the test on a calm day. After a thorough warm up, ride the route to the best of your ability and record your time, average speed and average heart rate. Alternatively you could do a 15 min time trial on an indoor trainer. Aim to ride flat out but try to pace your effort over the full 15 mins.

As you get fitter your average speed will increase, which means your sustainable power output rises. Along side this, your average heart rate shouldn’t be significantly higher, meaning you’re producing power/speed for the same effort. While you’ll notice improvements in your average heart rates and speed, you won’t be able to put a figure on your increased power output without a specific power-measuring device.

Doing this test once a month during the off season will help you monitor your training and also provide a quality effort session. During the season, race times will provide a platform to monitor your improvements. However it is a good idea to repeat this session every now and then to keep an eye on your progress.

Happy training!!

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Chrissie Wellington continued her winning ways at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championship in the Netherlands. The event, held yesterday in Almere consisted of a 4km swim, 120 km bike and a 30km run.

The British long distance star took gold for her first elite ITU world championship title. Wellington also became the third straight British woman to win the event after Leanda Cave won in 2007 and Bella Comerford in 2006. Denmark’s Charlotte Kolters took the silver while Dutch favourite Yvonne van Vlerken delighted the home crowds with the bronze.

This result again reaffirms Wellington’s position as the worlds leading female long distance triathlete and bodes well for the defence of her Hawaii World Championship crown.

In the men’s field Julien Loy of France successfully defended his title, becoming just the third man to win back-to-back ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships. Loy anchored a gold-silver finish for France as Francois Chabaud was runner-up. The French men nearly duplicated last year’s sweep of the podium but Martin Jensen of Denmark beat Sebastien Berlier to the line for the bronze.

Great Britain’s Paul Ambrose finished a commendable ninth on his ITU debut.

If Chrissie continues in her winning ways for the remainder of the year she must surely be nominated for BBC’s Sports Personality of the year for 2008. She has achieved so much in such a short period of time and is a true champion of long distance triathlon throughout the world.

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Congratulations to ‘Tinman’ who has been randomly selected as the winner of August’s monthly draw.

Just by registering with Trispace News, ’Tinman’ has won a ‘More Mile’ breathable moisture wicking t-shirt.

Register with Trispace to receive our monthly newsletter as well as being automatically entered into our monthly draw.

Register now to have a chance of winning Septembers prize, a DVD titled ‘Triathlon - Through The Eyes Of The Elite’. Once registered and you remain registered, you’ll be entered into the draw each month automatically. Register by midnight September 30th 2008 for a chance of winning Septembers prize.

‘Triathlon - Through The Eyes Of The Elite’
In 1974, two members of the San Diego Track Club conceived of an idea meant to be little more than a fun, yet challenging break from the tedium of traditional training. They called it a Triathlon. Today, Triathlon has evolved from its rudimentary beginnings in Mission Bay into an endurance event of immense international appeal. What is it about the sport and its competitors that intrigue so many people worldwide? Triathlon: Through the Eyes of the Elite tells the dramatic and compelling stories that revolve around the sport of Triathlon.

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Following on from my post last week on Understanding Energy, here’s ‘Part 2′, which explains the main energy sources, where they are stored and which is best.

Foods are made of different amounts of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and alcohol. Each of these nutrients provides a certain quantity of energy when it is broken down in the body. For instance, 1g of carbohydrate or protein releases about 4 kcal of energy, while 1g of fat releases 9 kcal, and 1g of alcohol releases 7kcal.

Fat is the most concentrated form of energy, providing the body with more than twice as much energy as carbohydrate or protein and also more than alcohol. However, it is not necessarily the ‘best’ form of energy for exercise. All foods contain a mixture of nutrients, and the energy value of a particular food depends on the amount carbohydrate, fat and protein it contains. For example, one slice of wholemeal brown bread provides roughly the same amount of energy as one pat (7g) of butter. However their composition is very different. In bread, most energy (75%) comes from carbohydrate, while in butter, virtually all (99.7%) comes from fat.

How does my body store carbohydrate?
Carbohydrate is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver, along with about three times its own weight in water. Altogether there is about three times more glycogen stored in the muscles than the liver. The body can only store a relatively small amount of glycogen. The total store of glycogen in the average body amounts to about 500g; with approx 400g in the muscles and 100g I the liver. This store is equivalent to 1600-2000 kcal; enough to last one day if you were to eat nothing. Endurance athletes have higher muscle glycogen concentrations compared with sedentary people. Increasing your muscle mass will also increase your storage capacity for glycogen. The purpose of liver glycogen is to maintain blood glucose levels at rest and during prolonged exercise. Small amounts of glucose are present in the blood and in the brain and their concentrations are kept within a very narrow range, both at rest or during exercise.

How does my body store fat?
Fat is stored as ‘adipose’ (fat) tissue in almost every region of the body. A small amount of fat, about 300-400g is stored in muscles and is called intramuscular fat, but the majority is stored around the organs and beneath the skin. The average 70kg person stores 10-15kg of fat. Unfortunately, there is little you can do to change the way that your body distributes fat, but definitely change the amount of fat that is stored!!

How does my body store protein?
Protein is not stored in the same way as carbohydrate and fat. It forms muscle and organ tissue, so it is mainly used as a building material rather than an energy store. However, proteins can be broken down to release energy if need be, so muscles and organs represent a large source of potential energy.

Which fuels are most important for exercise?
Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are all capable of providing energy for exercise. They can all be transported to, and broken down in, muscle cells. Alcohol, however cannot be used directly by muscles for energy during exercise, no matter how strenuously you are working. Only the liver has specific enzymes needed to break down alcohol. You cannot break down alcohol faster by exercising harder either.
Proteins do not make a substantial contribution to the fuel mixture. It is only during very prolonged or very intense bouts of exercise that proteins play a more important role in giving the body energy.
The production of ATP during most fors of exercise come mainly from broken down carbohydrates and fats.

When is protein used for energy?
Protein is not usually a major source of energy, but it may play an important role during the latter stages of very strenuous or prolonged exercise as glycogen stores become depleted. For example, during the last stages of an Olympic distance event, or Ironman, when glycogen stores are depleted, the proteins in muscles (and organs) may make up 10% of the body’s fuel mixture.

In future posts I intend to cover related topics such as why fatigue occurs, how it can be delayed and how you can get more out of your training by changing your diet.

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