Posts tagged triathlon tips
Holiday Tips for Triathletes
May 19th
Most athletes hate Holidays because they worry about all that hard training will be lost while on holiday.
A break can revitalise you, avoid staleness and prevent injuries.
Think of the new surroundings to go and investigate and explore.
Remember we improve while we rest and recover, give yourself some thinking time evaluate what you have done and what you want to achieve, and then plan your next training for when you return home.
Take a book or our magazine and learn more about Triathlon Swimming Cycling and running, it will make the time pass by quicker at the airport & on the plane.
Now is the time to use that grey matter.
If you have a heart rate monitor or GPS take the instructions with you and learn how all the functions work?
Fear not as long as you plan your training before and after and more importantly avoid the Holiday mistakes all will not be lost.
Not taking your bike but can swim and run while away do more cycling emphasis before and after your holiday.
While on holiday have a swim run focus week.
If you put on a weight you may experience a detraining effect and lose some fitness, we sometimes need to lose a little fitness otherwise our performance plateaus.
Holiday Mistakes to avoid.
If you eat an extra 3,500 calories more than you burn up while away you will put on a 1lb in weight. (7,700 calories will put on a kilo)
An extra 500 calories a day will put on one pound (almost 0.5 kilo) in 7 days!
Not the end of the world but put on 2-3 or 4 lbs and it could take you a month to get back to pre holiday weight fitness.
Total inactivity and you will lose some fitness, a week away can take up to 10 days when you get back to return back to full fitness while 2 weeks on holiday with little activity and you can take 3-4 weeks to return back to normal.
To avoid a loss of fitness see below the pitfalls of a holiday.
Holiday hidden calories. Just one a day x 7 = Ouch!
50 g Croissant contains about 180 calories x 7 = 1,260 holiday calories
A traditional English breakfast – 1 fried egg, 2 slices Bacon, 2 sausages, I Tomato, 2 slices Black pudding, I mushroom, 2 slices of Toast and marmalade can be as much as 1,000 calories x 7 = 7,000 holiday calories.
A total of 100g of nuts during a week will contain 500-600 calories
Ice Cream 100 grams = 200 calories x 3 a week = 600
Dessert 400 calories x 7 = 2,800
50 g of Cheese 215 calories & 2 digestive biscuits 148 twice on holiday can contain 726 calories
180 calories in a packet of crisps x 7 = 1.260
Drinks
Can of 330 ml coke = 139 x 7 = 973 holiday calories
Alcohol has 7 calories per gram so it is easy to put on weight.
A 175ml glass of wine each night 119 x 7 = calories = 833
Drink
Did you know if you drank 32 glasses of wine during your holiday you would put on 0.5 kilo!
Champagne 133 calories per 175 ml glass x 3 glasses 399
Low cal Lager has around 57 calories while a normal one has 160+ x 2 a night x 7 = 2,240 calories
= 10,431 calories for 7 days extra
For moderately active people we need our weight in lbs x 14 and for active athletes we need our weight x 19 in calories per day.
For example an active person who weighs 140 x 19 needs about 2,660 calories a day
Drink natural mineral water with food for the healthiest drink possible if you must have lots of yummy things when you are away.
See how easy it is to put on 3lbs (1.36 kilos) in weight over 7 days!
Ironmate Holiday Tips
Holiday food is usually different, see if you notice if it gives you more or less energy? You may have been lacking something in your diet at home.
Avoid running injuries by not running on the sand for 3 consecutive days.
The soft sand puts a strain on the Achilles and the camber can at the very least cause sore calf muscles or long term injury.
Marbled pavements by the sea kill your calf muscles because they are so hard, much better to run on the side road pavements as they are more forgiving.
Spend more time on stretching after your body core has warmed up.
Complete core exercises often not done at home because you are too busy with life and training.
If you find your performance plateaus during the season a holiday break from routine and training will reward you with a higher level of fitness once you return to your training schedule, due to variety extra recovery and sleep.
Walk as much as possible rather than drive. Most of us sit at work, sit in front of the PC, sit in our cars and sit at home on the sofa, walking is under rated and is demanding.
A 180lb person will burn up about 100 calories for a mile.
The good news is you improve your fat burning ability while you walk on holiday. If you found it hard running below 65% of your maximum heart rate now is your chance to exercise at a low heart rate.
Use the lift rather the stairs.
Sometimes take 3 steps at a time for strength other times take one step at a time for endurance.
If you are not training complete stretching every day and see how much you improve a short tight muscle hinders performance so stretching can help you when you return back home.
Choose salads for starters rather than desserts & sweets.
Have plenty of local fresh fruit and have a fruit salad instead of a pudding which can be 400+ calories x 7 days = 2,800 calories
Run early in the morning, it is usually cooler, the air is cleaner and you can investigate places to go, you will be surprised how far and how much you can see when running.
Explore and check out restaurants and places of interest while you are training to visit later with the family.
Find out beforehand if there is a race going on and the route, many places have the kilometre signs painted on the roads use these for training pace or intervals.
Ask at the hotel do they have a jogging route you can follow?
Swimming and running kit does not take up a lot of room and weighs hardly anything something to consider when air lines have weight penalties if you are over.
Improve other swimming strokes, learn to breath on both sides practise tumble turns and being streamlined as this is what makes us go faster thru the water.
Improve open water skills in the sea including getting in and out using the waves.
Hire bikes or do something active, are there any sports classes? like spin classes or fun exercise classes that you may be able to join in?
Swim 2 or 3 times a day, swim around the pool rather than push off from the sides, practise treading water then starting.
Do swim drills that you ignore because you have not got the time to do them.
Remember it’s NOT training that causes a loss in fitness but the extra weight gained when on holiday.
Try some family swimming relays.
Hold an Aquathon swim & run with friends, let the younger ones do less laps swimming and running.
Holiday tip
Ultraviolet rays (UV) are invisible part of the energy from the sun
Positive effects is they help our bodies make vitamin D (bones & Teeth) and are helpful to prevent rickets and colon cancer
Negative affects of UV they can burn our eyes hair and skin if not protected.
UV can microwave the skin including our scalp, also chlorine and sea water can change hair colour
Holiday tip – Use products specially designed for the hair or skin or scalp to protect you.
How to put on a wetsuit
Apr 29th
The following tips are listed below by Ironmate to help you put on a wetsuit and reduce the risk of damage. It can take up to 15 minutes to get a wetsuit to fit properly.
Put on your wetsuit properly you do not want it to leak.
For easier fitment and faster removal use a product called bodygilde, or baby oil as Vaseline can destroy the glue used to join the seams on the wetsuit or the stitching
around the neck nipples and under your arms. Also use a lubricant around the wrists and ankles; this helps with a much quicker removal of the wetsuit. You can remove your wetsuit much quicker when you have just exited the swim, the longer you allow water to seep out the harder it is to get the wetsuit off.
Putting on a triathlon wetsuit.
1.The body should be dry.
2.Use soft gloves to avoid cutting the rubber with your nails.
3.Nails should be evenly cut and not sharp, damage can still be caused by wearing gloves.
4.Pull on the legs as high up the body without straining, ensure no folds or air pockets and no creases behind the back of the leg as this will cause chafing when kicking in the swim.
5.Pull up wetsuit from the waist and remove any space or air pocket from the groin area.
Some athletes get a taller person to actually lift them from the waist to ensure the legs are in and the groin are a snug fit.
The wetsuit should be 5-14cm above the anklebone for easier removal also neoprene around the ankle inhibits flexibility when kicking.
6.Close one hand or clench fist and put one hand in at a time so as not to damage the inside of the suit with your nails or accidentally pull a finger back.
7.When you are putting on your wetsuit make sure that that your clothes worn underneath are neither crumpled or zips are flat so they do not cause rubbing.
8. Before zipping up the suit make sure that the suit is over both shoulders. Then push both shoulders back, not out and get a fellow competitor preferably with the same style suit or a friend who knows what to do to zip you up. Make sure that you do not have folds at the back of the knee this can cause chaffing.
9. Allow 10-20 minutes for the first time you do this and 10-15 minutes before an even if could take you less but you want to get the fit perfect and then concentrate on the swim rather than something rubbing.
10 .If you are able to practise in a swimming pool wash out the suit thoroughly as the chlorine can destroy the seams.
Things you need to know about a Triathlon specific wetsuit.
1. You will often feel more buoyant so you could over roll more when breathing this you want to avoid. Forward motion is required not sideways resistance movement.
2. The wetsuit will help you glide by being more streamlined and buoyant so use this to your advantage by doing long slow strokes, a comparison would be cycling down a hill you can push a bigger gear.
3.Wearing a wetsuit often the recovery phase is minimised due to less flexibility in the shoulders and concentrate on this so you can recover fully ready for the next powerful stroke.
4. Wearing a Triathlon wetsuit will feel tight almost claustrophobic to some people. On dry land and you may get hot putting it on, once in the water after practise you may not even notice you are wearing it.
On hot days do not put on your swim hat until you have completely fitted your wetsuit as you may get too hot and over heat unless of course it is a cold day or you are concerned about the cold water.
3. Less kick is needed to keep you buoyant, often shallow kicking is the best option.
4. A swim session in the pool wearing your wetsuit is advisable before your triathlon in familiar territory but you will need permission, as some swimming pools do not allow you to use a wetsuit in public session. Often though a Triathlon club may have permission for their training sessions.