Turbo trainers have been around for a long time, the ‘turbo’ referring to the fan that was the original method of creating resistance.

Of course technology has moved on and today’s basic model consists of a steel or aluminium frame and a magnetic resistance unit. Magnets are the cheapest way to start ‘turbo-ing’, but they have drawbacks. They tend to be fairly noisy and the resistance rate is linear; it doesn’t get harder the faster you go, which would feel more natural. More expensive magnetic units (e.g the Tacx Satori, £135.99) enable you to adjust resistance via a bar-mounted lever to simulate ups and downs, which makes the training experience more interactive and realistic.

The next step up from magnetic’s is a fluid trainer – essentially a fan rotating in oil – which gives a quieter ride and a more natural resistance curve; sometimes a trainer will feature both, using an adjustable magnet to control the overall drag.

Taking training to the next levelare computer (or ‘ergo’) trainers, which as well as providing the workout can also measure your training data. The Tacx Flow (£247.99) can display heart rate, speed, power, cadence and you can also follow pre-programmed training routes with the resistance automatically adjusting to match the incline.

New virtual reality (VR) trainers such as the Tacx Fortius Multiplayer (£719.99) go even further. This extraordinary machine allows you to hook your PC up to the trainer and ride actual stages of the ‘Tour De France’!

Whatever type of turbo you choose, you need to use it regularly and keep track of the work you’re doing to get the most benefit from it. I don’t mind using the turbo trainer, although 60 minutes is my ‘absolute’ as I find it quite tedious. I much prefer the cold, wet and windy British outdoors!!

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We all know that endurance is the ability to perform relatively intense work over an extended period of time, but how many of you know how endurance training affects our bodies?

The following are the major, performance related physiological changes that occur as a result of endurance training. This list does not include all known adaptations, nor is the list of known adaptations itself considered to be complete.

Muscles
The muscles store greater amounts of glycogen (carbohydrate fuel), triglyceride (fat fuel) and myoglobin(a protein that stores oxygen. These adaptations increase the body’s ability to produce energy. The size and possibly the number of muscle fibres increase in some muscles. These changes result in greater muscle strength, which is why the base phase of run training is important.

Heart
The heart muscle becomes larger and more powerful, hence capable of pumping more blood per contraction. Consequently the resting pulse rate decreases, as well as the heart rate associated with any given level of intensity of exercise. To prove this theory, during the base phase of your training run the same course at the end of every three week cycle at the same pace. What you should find is that your average heart rate for the duration of that run should lower each time.

Blood
Blood plasma volume and haemoglobin content increases, improving your body’s ability to carry oxygen to the muscles.

Vascular System
Capillary density in the muscles increases. Capillaries deliver oxygen from the bloodstream to the muscles, so this adaptation also increases the body’s capacity to consume oxygen.

Body Fat
The muscles metabolize more fat both at rest and at moderate levels of exercise. This adaptation increases endurance and decreases levels of stored body fat, which helps to maintain an ideal race weight.

Bones
The density of many bones increases, making them stronger and more injury resistant. A huge benefit when it comes to the higher intensity training/racing.

Next time you’re training and your session is endurance based, you can really think about all the good you are doing for your body.

Happy Training!!

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It’s a familiar scenario - you train three, four or five times a week and watch what you eat yet you feel you have less energy as well as carrying an extra few pounds.

Have you ever thought your metabolism, your calorie burning furnace, could be stuck on low? Especially if you’re older than 30 years, after which your metabolism begins to drop about one percent per year. You don’t have to take this lying down; you can fight back, as you can boost your metabolism in several ways.

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. It is broken down into three main burners;

Basal Metabolism
Sometimes called your resting metabolism, is the largest burner. It accounts for about 60 percent of the calories you expend each day. You burn these calories simply to exist, including when you’re sleeping.

Activity Metabolism
Is the second burner and makes up about 30 percent of your daily calorie burn. These are calories you burn during swimming, biking and running, as well as other activities such as sweeping the floor, walking upstairs or mowing the lawn.

Thermic Metabolism
Is the final burner and accounts for the calories you expend digesting food and since certain foods take more energy (calories) to digest, you’ll want to emphasise them whenever possible.

If you work it right a good metabolism boosting programme will turn on the heat on all three burners. Best of all, a few simple changes to your training routine and eating habits will have you on your way to becoming a leaner and faster athlete!

Run Fast
Adding speed sessions to your programme is one of the best ways to crank up your metabolism. Hard running burns lots of calories (activity metabolism) and comes with an after burn dividend (raised basal metabolism), but it has to be hard. Metabolism can remain elevated for at least a couple of hours after a session, assuming the session was somewhat ‘taxing’. These hard sessions are best completed once you’ve established a good period of longer slower base running but will incinerate calories and rev up your metabolism in the process. Some example workouts ( once a week) could be six to eight 400’s at your best one-mile pace; four or five 800’s at 5k race pace or three or four mile repetitions at 10k race pace.

Train Twice
It may sound somewhat over the top if you’re not a serious competitive racer, but twice day training can be very rewarding. It’ll raise your metabolism for extended periods of time thanks to two after burn peaks during the day not to mention the fact that you’ll burn more calories because of the extra exercise. Try to mix a morning swim session with either a run or bike session in the evening. Make sure you eat and drink steadily throughout the day to ensure you’re energised and hydrated.

Seek Protein
Protein generally takes longer to digest, meaning you’re burning more calories while your body is breaking it down. Try to eat some protein every meal and snack time. It doesn’t have to be a steak or chicken breast, it could be poached eggs for breakfast, or cottage cheese or low fact yoghurt instead of white breads. This will increase your thermic metabolism by up to a third during the day.

High Fibre All Year Round
Just like protein, high-fibre foods increase thermic metabolism because the fibre slows digestion, resulting in a higher calorie burn rate. Healthy high-fibre foods to eat throughout the day include beans, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole-grain breads and pastas.
Stay Fluid
Dehydration slows your thermic metabolism because your stomach needs water to digest food. It also causes fatigue, which will definitely hamper your activity metabolism. Try for at least eight glasses of water a day.

Eat Early and Often
Skipping breakfast further decreases your thermic metabolism which is already low because you haven’t eaten since the night before. It also tends to slow your activity metabolism because you have less energy, making you more likely to use a lift instead of stairs. A good breakfast should include protein, carbohydrates and some fat, and contain enough calories to keep hunger at bay until your mid morning snack.

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Throughout my days as a Personal Trainer I’d be often asked the question ‘Does exercise first thing in the morning burn more body fat?’.

This is an interesting question that not only effects those just interested in fitness but more so us, as multi-sport athletes, as most of us try to sneak a morning session in before our daily chores, but perhaps don’t understand the possible negative effects.

Fair enough, if fat loss is your main goal, exercising on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning, may encourage your body to burn slightly more fat for fuel. Research suggests that insulin levels are at their lowest and glycogen levels are at their highest after an overnight fast. This increases the amount of fat that leaves your fat cells and travels to your muscles, where the fat is burned. On the downside, you may fatigue sooner or drop your exercise intensity and therefore end up burning fewer calories, and less body fat.

This is where it gets interesting. More often than not as multi-sport athletes performance is our main goal. Exercising in a fasted state will almost certainly reduce your endurance. The same goes if muscular endurance type strength work is an important element in your training because after an overnight fast, when muscle glycogen and blood glucose levels are low, your muscles will burn more protein for fuel. So you could end up losing hard earned muscle.

The solution to this problem for us multi-sport athletes is simple. Try to consume a light meal before training. If you can’t fit a meal in due to timescales, at least take on board a cereal type bar and a sports drink of some description. Remember my post on race day breakfast?

For me, I have to eat something before exercise in the morning regardless of the type of training session. Even if time is tight I try to have a piece of fruit before dashing out for a run. I accept that an individual’s needs and gastrointestinal abilities are different but if you can, try to eat as you’ll most definitely feel the benefit.

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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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I’m back on the Time Efficiency waggon again and here’s five top tips to ensure your time spent training as well as thinking about training is indeed ‘efficient’.

Divide Your Time
Cycle at weekends, run and swim in the week. In most cases you are more likely to improve your cycling by doing two high-quality rides at the weekend. Trying to cram too much in mid-week can be a sure fire way to reduce quality. Instead focus on running and swimming when you have less time during the week.

Coach Class
It takes some triatletes years to learn this simple fact - ‘your swimming won’t improve without technique coaching’. Those who receive regular stroke analysis enjoy there swimming more because they keep on improving. if you do not have access to regular coaching, paying for one or two video-coaching sessions per year is a worthy alternative.

Sweat The Small Stuff
Shave minutes off your triathlon times by making improvements in non-training areas. These include transition skills, pace judgement, nutrition, technique in all three disciplines and mental preperation. You might improve faster by learning more than you do from training. A few hours a week reading is time well spent.

A Second Opinion
A coach has one benefit over you, objectivity. Effective coaches see the bigger picture whereas triathletes can become bogged down in day to day worries. An experienced and eager coach can help you cut the junk, keep the quality and maximise your training time.

Quality Not Quantity
There are no prizes for clocking the most training time per week. Six high quality, well thought out sessions per week are better than ten that are unplanned, rushed and fatigued.

Happy training!!

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If like me, you have three sports to juggle, as well as a full time job and a family, training for triathlon is a compromise between training you know you should do, and the training you know you can do. But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve when time is limited.

Plenty of triathletes with full time jobs have gone on to achieve great things in endurance sport. A regular guy from Dorset with a full time job was 2nd at last years Ironman UK 70.3 and is hoping for a top 10 finish at this years full UK Ironman.

There are plenty of busy people who do manage to train and race to their full potential. They all have on thing in common. They cut out the ‘junk’ and concentrate on quality training. Quality training means you know the reason behind every training session. You’re not just training for training’s sake.

Quality training also has a plan behind it, so that the training progresses over time and includes recovery time. Junk training is when you do the same session’s week in week out with no overall plan or progression. You put in junk miles because you can fit them in, not because they are specific to your goals. They fatigue you but have no meaningful benefit. Remember it’s not about finding more time to train, but using the time you have to greater effect.

To help determine whether you are making the most of your time, ask yourself these questions next time you train;

Is the session going to improve a specific weakness?

Is the session specific to the race I am targeting?

Is the session going to benefit me or wear me out?

Is the training session part of a broader plan?

Have I progressed with this training session over the weeks?

If the answers are mostly no, then you’re not making the most of your time. It’s a good idea to think about improving the quality of your training and remind yourself that quality training is considerably more satisfying than junk mileage. Triathletes who know the reasons and rational behind each sessions are going to be more motivated to complete them.

Time efficient training does not mean that you need to do every session at maximum intensity. It means that your training should be dependant on you strengths and weaknesses, and the type of race you are targeting. Training that doesn’t fulfil these criteria should be avoided, unless you have spare time and energy.

For example, if you are training for an Olympic distance race you may benefit from a regular two-three hour ride at the weekends. However three, additional weekly rides of one hour might make you feel better, but they are probably not an effective use of time. They may just add to fatigue, waste your time and not produce any meaningful benefits. You would be better served doing two back to back 15 minute efforts at your 25 mile TT pace, or some other planned session that is specific to your race distance.

It is also important to acknowledge the difference between busy and very busy. Some triathletes barely have any time to train and just avoiding junk miles is not enough. If this sounds like you, super effective short sessions of less than an hour may be a more effective way to train.

Time efficient training can make you a better triathlete in the longer term. It forces you to think about the importance of each session and encourages you to scrap the junk miles. Limited training can also reduce the likely hood of injury though overtraining, giving you the consistency you need to keep improving year on year. If you are so busy that you only have a few hours to spare each week, the news is not all bad. A few high intensity sessions and regular racing help to ensure that you compete well even with a hectic lifestyle.

Happy training!

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Some dos and don’ts with regards to high intensity training. Something to think about when incorporating high intensity session between races during the height of the season.

DO high intensity training only after completing an endurance training phase.

DON’T do high intensity training within seven days of returning to exercise after a layoff. Take time to build in some speed-play sessions before progressing back to full-on efforts.

DO plan easy/moderate days either side of high intensity days.

DON’T add too much too soon. 1-2 reps of 5-8 minutes extra are enough of an increase each week, with a slight reduction every fourth week.

DO write down your HR and power readings, speeds, times and any other data so you can see progress happening. It may be fewer strokes per minute but faster swimming or greater relaxation and good run speed. Either way you need to know how it’s affecting you.

DON’T leave interval training until race day, it’ll be a painful race if you do. The exception is Ironman racers who can do no interval work whatsoever and still be successful at completing the distance.

DO try new interval lengths, recoveries and terrains. Varying these three elements will prevent sessions from becoming boring. Drafting in the pool to stimulate racing or using aerobars uphill can be a new technique to integrate.

DO warm up for at least ten minutes, preferably 15 minutes, before a high intensity session. Forget stretching before hand, just increase your body temperature and your heart rate(from 90 bpm up to 80% HR max) before beginning your high intensity workout. 

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