We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.
Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.
Best wishes for 2009!!
Look after your bike and it will look after you! This time in ‘bike maintenance’ we’ll take a look at checking and replacing your chain.
The cassette teeth on your bike should be even but as time goes on they will wear on one side, becoming hooked and pointy. This means the chain won’t run smoothly over the teeth and you may find that you start jumping sprockets. To check you chain, try lifting it from the chain ring at the point nearest the front wheel (see picture). If you can lift in more than 4mm, you should replace it.
Replace the cassette at the same time you replace the chain, as they wear together. It’s important to get the correct chain length by wrapping the chain around the big ring on the front and the big ring on the back (but not through the derailleurs) and then add two links to this. You need a chain tool to do this and various multi-tools have one. There are two different types of chain; Sram, which are easier to replace because they have special links called ‘power links’ which make it easier to assemble/diassemble the chain. Shimano chains require that you use specific chain linking pins and are more fiddly.
If you do get stuck trying to replace your chain, your local bike shop should be able to put you right within seconds, however I’ve been able to replace mine and if I can, I’m sure anyone can!
If this Christmas you’re treating yourself to a new pair of running shoes don’t just go and buy the best looking shoes, or the shoes with the biggest discount. Check out the guide below (courtesy of asicstrainers.net) before you buy to make sure you are buying the right type of running shoe for your foot type.
There’s no such thing as the ‘best shoe’ as everyone has different needs. Biomechanics, bodyweight, the surface you run on and the shape of your feet, mean one person’s ideal is someone else’s nightmare.
The first step in finding your shoe needs is to try our ‘wet foot test’. The ‘wet foot test’ works on the basis that the shape of your wet footprint roughly correlates with the amount of stability you might need in your shoe. ‘Roughly’ is the key word here, though it’s a good starting point, but no more. Pay a visit to a biomechanics expert if you are unsure of which shoe type you need based on your foot type.
The Flat Foot
This foot type has a low arch and leaves a print which looks like the whole sole of the foot. It usually indicates an over-pronated foot, i.e. a foot that strikes the ground on the outside of the heel and rolls inwards (pronate) excessively. Over time, this can cause many types of overuse injuries.
Best shoes: Motion control shoes, or high stability shoes with firm midsoles and control features that reduce the degree of pronation. Stay away from highly cushioned, highly curved shoes, with lack of stability features.
The Normal Foot
A normal sized arch will leave a wet footprint that has a flare, but shows the forefoot and heel connected by a broad band. A normal foot lands on the outside of the heel and rolls inwards slightly to absorb the shock. It’s the foot of a runner who has a neutral gait and is bio-mechanically efficient so therefore doesn’t need a motion control shoe.
Best shoes: Stability shoes with moderate control features.
The High Arched Foot
This leaves a print showing a very narrow band or no band at all between the forefoot and the heel. A curved, high arched foot is generally supinated or under-pronated. And because it doesn’t pronate enough, it’s not usually a good shock absorber.
Best shoes: Cushioned (or ‘neutral’) shoes with plenty of flexibility to encourage foot motion. Stay away from motion control or stability shoes, which reduce foot mobility.
Last night’s British Triathlon Annual Award Dinner saw the presentation of the first Gold Pin Awards, awarded to three of the sport’s leading figures to highlight their significant and long standing contribution to triathlon. The three awards went to Dick Poole, Aleck Hunter and Simon Lessing MBE.
Yorkshire’s Alistair Brownlee took home the prestigious British Olympic Association Athlete of the Year award as well as the Male Elite Triathlete prize following his excellent win at the World Under 23 Championships in June and brave front running at the Olympic Games.
Recently married Helen Jenkins (née Tucker), deservedly won the Female Elite Triathlon of the Year award having fought back from prolonged injury to win the World Championships in Vancouver in June whilst inspiring Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington collected her second successive Female Long Distance Triathlete of the Year Award as she maintained her unbeaten record over the long distance discipline since turning professional at the end of 2006.
British Triathlon Annual Awards
BOA Athlete of the Year
Alistair Brownlee
Male Elite Triathlete of the Year
Alistair Brownlee
Female Elite Triathlete of the Year
Helen Jenkins
Male Elite Duathlete of the Year
Paul Amey
Female Elite Duathlete of the Year
Catriona Morrison
Male Long Distance Triathlete of the Year
Stephen Bayliss
Female Long Distance Athlete of the Year
Chrissie Wellington
Male Age Group Athlete of the Year
Dion Harrison
Female Age Group Athlete of the Year
Louise Collins
Male Disabled Triathlete of the Year
Graham Kiff
Female Disabled Triathlete of the Year
Melanie Easter
National Volunteer of the Year
Kay Wilson, Durham Triathlon Club
National Young Volunteer of the Year
Alex Teagle, BRAT Triathlon Club
National Official of the Year
Keith Perry, FVS Triathlon Club
National Coach of the Year
Chris Hunt, Total Fitness Nottingham
National Event of the Year
Gower Peninsula Triathlon, Wales
National Club of the Year
Manchester Triathlon Club
(Courtesy of British Triathlon)
Tonights British Triathlon Annual Awards Dinner at the Hilton Hotel, East Midlands Airport, celebrates those members who have achieved outstanding results in both the elite and Age Group categories, and recognises those who have impacted the sport through officiating and volunteering.
The Awards Dinner is an opportunity for Age Group and elite athletes to rub shoulders and recognise exceptional performance at every level. It also gives athletes the chance to acknowledge and applaud the efforts of those behind the scenes: the volunteers, coaches and officials, who give up many hours of their time to put on events, without which there would not be a sport.
The evening is due to start with drinks at 7pm followed by dinner and award presentations. Guest speaker Simon Lessing will close the event and be taking questions from the assembled guests.
I’ve always thought about attending one of these functions, but never actually managed to get there. If any of you are heading there for the evening I’d like to hear from you. Just leave me a comment with how you thought it went. It might get me motivated to get there next year!
A triathlon blogger from the US wrote this post yesterday which I thought I’d share with everyone on this side of ‘the pond’, thanks Carol!
“Apparently, some guy was using swim fins at IM Florida during the swim. When the race officials pulled him aside, they took the flippers away, and asked for his bib number. He gave them an invalid bib number, so race officials are trying to find out who he is so the appropriate action can be taken, i.e., DQ and/or banning from future races. How could anyone feel good about their finish time if they cheated? I just don’t get it! I suppose maybe he didn’t know they weren’t allowed, but that seems doubtful.
Another one of her friends, who volunteered at IMFL, wrote:
“I actually saw this guy during the race. When he finished the first lap, he left the fins in the water. Then he ran up on shore, crossed the timing mat, and went back to look for the fins. It was obvious that he was looking for something, but nobody knew what. Someone near me suggested that maybe his wetsuit had torn, but I could tell it was fins once he picked up the first one. The amount of time it took him to find them and retrieve them (while trying to hide them so nobody would notice) probably cost him more time than having them save on the swim!”
This is absolutely ludicrous, isn’t it?!?! How on earth could the officials let this guy continue after they noticed he was wearing fins?? Shouldn’t they have just dragged him out the water and DQ’d him there and then? Surely the other guys racing would have also challenged the fact that this chap was wearing fins? I can’t believe that this guy didn’t realise that he wasn’t allowed to wear flippers. After all, he’s completed ‘x’ amount of hours swim training with his buddies in order to be prepared for the race, surely, surely, surely he’d know he was in the wrong?!??! He should be named and shamed !!
I was browsing through the British Triathlon site earlier on today and came across this free music workout mix through the trinews section. I’ve had a listen through it and the music is really motivational. The length of the mix is only 30 minutes but would still be ideal to accompany a short turbo session. It’s very similar to a spinning type mix where there’s a specific structure to the session. It starts with a progressive warm up followed by the main session which includes a few increases in pace, before finishing off with a cool down.
The mix is courtesy Total Fitness Music, who also supply a whole host of other workout mixes which are available to download from iTunes from around £6/$11.
Track listing:
Ricky GZ ‘2 Can Play That Game’
South West Beats ‘It’s Love (Trippin’)’ (Original Mix)
Out Of Office ‘Break Of Dawn 2008′
Silverlake ‘Wide Open Space’ (Original Club Mix)
Karaoke Kids ‘Here (In Your Arms)’ (Extended Mix)
DP vs P&P ‘Get Your Kicks’ (12″ Vocal Mix)
The Potbelleez ‘Don’t Hold Back’ (Sam La More Club Dub)
Total time: 30.22
You can download the free music mix right here.
As the main triathlon season draws to a close it’s time to reflect on what ‘has been’ over the previous months. There’s one final race this weekend, a sprint triathlon to finish of my season.
As far as the season goes it’s been far from normal. I like to be in reasonable shape for the opening regional duathlon grand prix series, consisting of four races over a six week period. This years efforts were marred with an ankle injury during a 10k road race in March which meant that only two of the four races could be attended. Not too bad a result for both events considering training was halted for a short while.
May brought two triathlons. The first being a time trial based triathlon event with 45 minutes rest between each discipline.This meant I could really put the pedal down on the bike and have a slight rest before the run.
The second triathlon was a regional sprint race event. Coming off an encouraging performance at the previous triathlon I was even more raring to go. The swim went ok, even though a little off my usual pace, T1 spot on, then the nightmare occurred. Whist coasting up to the cycle dismount line my thoughts were obviously all about something else rather than the transition and for whatever reason one of my bike shoes got caught up in my pedals, eventually leaving me on the floor with my sparkling new Orbea lying on my chest.
My left hip took the full force of the fall, it felt as if a twenty stone rugby player had just taken me out. I hobbled in and out of T2 thinking I could ‘run it off’. The extent of the fall left me out of action for about eight weeks. Throughout the eight weeks I kept asking myself “what if I hadn’t continued with the run, would I have recovered any quicker?”. At least I could still swim throughout the time injured though.
In June I had a real reason to stop training. My wife gave birth to our baby boy mid June, and he’s already making progress with his swim technique in the bath. Enter junior athlete number two. I still managed to sneak in the odd swim session though!
I tentatively started back training late July, only two weeks later to be floored with a spell of apparent ‘patella tendenosis’. Talk about fed up, it’s a good job my family are a demanding bunch otherwise I’d have been taken away in a white coat.
I decided after spending so much cash on private treatment through my local sports physiotherapist that I’d try the National Health Service route of ‘treatment’. Little did I know how much time I’d waste trying to receive treatment this way. The Doctor I saw didn’t seem to want to help as it was a ‘sporting injury’ and I was really still ‘fit to work’. Anyway, to cut a very frustrating story short, I’m back paying for treatment with my local sports physiotherapist, but at least I’m back training and have been for the past three weeks!
Am I fit to race this weekend at full throttle?
Not really, however I’ll defiantly make it round. Who knows, I’ll probably enjoy it more with not having to bust my ass!
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