Yup, it’s official: Ironman UK 2009 will be held in Bolton.
My first thought was, “Why do we want to go to Bolton to do Ironman?” But then I reasoned that
There are as many triathletes up north as there are down south.
The road quality can’t be any worse than Sherborne.
The weather can’t be any worse than any of the times I’ve been to Sherborne.
Isn’t it about time that those up north got to show how enthusiastic they can be about an endurance event - maybe they can be a bit more like the Europeans than the Dorset public!
So, assuming that I have athletes racing at IMUK, I’ll be more then happy to drive the 250 miles to get there.
Having avoided it for so long, have I become a social networking junkie?
I’d like to believe not, I only visit facebook for a few minutes a day (and by the way, I still have way too few friends!) and I have yet to throw a snowball at anyone - what’s that all about then?
But I have joined Twitter. Apparently it’s the way people knew what was going on in Mumbai and most of the media were relying on it too. Not to mention the fact that Lance Armstrong (yup, he of the Tour De France), is an inveterate Twitterer - this morning we found out that he was on his way to Starbucks and that they were playing Christmas music.
Twitter provides the opportunity to “micro-blog” short snippets of 140 characters, ideal for that passing thought that you haven’t time to develop into a full blog post, article or email. Ideal for me then, I have regular of flashes of insanity, brilliance and just plain thoughts.
So much like I’m following Lance, you can follow me on Twitter. Go on, I dare you!
Newly added to Will Newton Multisport Coaching for 2009 is Event Coaching Support. I currently have 6 events which I plan to attend and during the weekend of which I will provide coaching support to clients whose package includes race-support, who are racing. And of course, chat to all and sundry in the sunshine (??). More races may be added soon, but the provisional list is…
Cambridge Duathlon - 19/4/09
New Forest Triathlon - 3/5/09
Ironman UK 70.3 - 14/6/09
Jordon’s Bedford Triathlon - 19/7/09
Ironman UK - 19/8/09 (still only a provisional date for the race I believe)
Forestman Middle Distance 20/9/09
Do you have an event you’d like me to attend? Let me know & I’ll see what I can do.
Yup, they’re a nuisance to cyclists of all types and all abilities - at best, a bit of a jarring bump, at worst, bent wheels, road rash, chipped teeth and the screeching of brakes from the car about to run over you as you fall into the middle of the road. Let’s hope it’s always the best!
Councils in the UK have a responsibility to fix potholes, but I’m convinced that they either don’t know they’re there, or they choose to ignore them until someone tells them about it. And let’s face it, how many of us has the time to spend navigating the telephone system that our local council has set up specifically to deter us from calling them to complain?
At last there is an answer in the form of a new website called FillThatHole! All you have to do is to fill in a short form and the nice folks at the CTC will take it from there. You even get to pinpoint the location using Google Earth.
Does it work? Why not give it a try, I have… and I await the miraculous vanishing of my local death-trap.
It’s not often I say anything about the CTC (my mum told me that if I don’t have anything nice to say…), but here’s a huge thumbs up to the folks with the panniers!
And just in case you’re a mountain biker & you’re out on your favourite (legal) trail, only to be confronted by an unwelcome obstacle, there’s ClearThatTrail, where they’ll do the same sort of thing, just this time to get that locked gate unlocked or move that conveniently placed “fallen tree.”
I’ve just spoken on a coaching call to a client who has been diagnosed with swimmer’s ear. But it seems that the doctor didn’t explain what this was and what to do to prevent it in the future. Having suffered with swimmer’s ear early on in my triathlon career, I thought I’d give you the quick rundown.
Swimmers ear can result from any inflammation of the ear canal, but is usually caused by bacteria or in a small number of cases, by a fungal infection. It is more likely to occur if…
You clean your ears with cotton-tipped earbuds or similar, because these remove the protective wax lining from the ear canal.
You wear earplugs, hearing aids or earphones regularly.
You swim or surf a lot and get water in or ears - a warm, wet atmosphere is ideal for the growth of the nasties that cause swimmer’s ear.
So, what do you do about it?
Well, if you have swimmer’s ear already, the a trip to your doctor is a good idea. He’ll usually give you some eardrops and get you to put olive oil in your ear every day - nice!
Once the infection has cleared up, you can either use custom earplugs every time you swim in order to minimise the water that ends up in the ear.These are preferable to the reusable putty or even Blutack that I have seen swimmers use - apparently Blutack isn’t very good for ears! My father-in-law uses custom earplugs when he goes surfing and swears by them.
Surf Plugs
Or you can invest in the slightly less costly option of swimmer’s ear drops. These are a slightly acidic solution, which both clear the water from the ear and provide an acidic environment disliked by the bacteria and fungi responsible. I’ve used these for the last 15 years or so and haven’t suffered with swimmer’s ear again.
Swimmer' Ear Drops
The only other alternative I can think of doesn’t bear thinking of… you could stop swimming!
Just to be clear, I’ve never been one to spend hours on forums, social networking sites, or surfing youtube for hours on end, looking for funny stuff - I leave that to my wife.
But after numerous invites to be added as a friend, I have finally given in and created a Facebook account.
So here’s the challenge:
If you haven’t already asked me to add you as a friend or received an invite from me, go ahead and add me as your friend today. I’d like to see just how quickly I can reach 1000 friends - yes, call me competitive, you know I am!
And as a little thank-you, every friend added between now and 10 December will receive a free copy of my new report, “7 Workouts to Turbocharge your Training.”But you’ll have to be my friend on Facebook to get it.
Now, back to work, I can’t spend all day on Facebook!
We all know that it’s important to change our training as the cold of winter sets in. It’s not a great idea to be training as if there’s a race around the corner, unless you want to be the legendary “King of December!” So essentially, it’s a change to much more aerobic mileage, efficiency workouts and an opportunity to build back some of that basic and core strength by spending some time in the gym.
But what about our nutrition? Does it need to change too? And if so, what changes can we make to get the most out of our training?
First, we need to realise that for most of us the training is the easy part. A disciplined diet is very difficult for an average modern human. A twentieth century diet is actually not that conducive to being the best you can be as an endurance athlete. And as any bodybuilder will tell you: Nutrition is 90% of the game!
So here are just a few suggestions that will help you to achieve the maximum out of your winter training:
Cut out the sugar! This goes for the summer too. Simple sugar causes spikes in blood glucose that initiate your body’s defence mechanism, the final result of which is an increase in stored body fat. Have a careful look at where there is sugar in your diet and get rid of it. If you do nothing else, this tip will radically alter your body composition. The exception to this rule is while exercising, but even here there are rules to be followed - look out for a future post or contact me at Will Newton Multisport Coaching to get the lowdown on how to make the most of your workout nutrition.
Limit the starchy carbs in your diet. Rice, pasta, white flour & potatoes are the staple of so many athletes’ diets. And yet they’re actually often present in such great abundance that they constitute a negative rather than a positive for most athletes. Unless you’re stick-thin, you’d be better off getting your carbohydrates from other vegetables. Not only does your body have to work harder to digest these, thus avoiding a similar glucose spike to sugar, but they also contain a lot more in the way of vitamins, minerals & enzymes, which actually help with digestion & boost your energy levels.
Make sure you’re getting enough protein in your diet. Endurance athletes need similar amounts of protein to bodybuilders (as much as 2g per kg bodyweight per day!). And if you’re adding time in the gym to your routine, you definitely need to keep an eye on this.
Avoid the fat-free stuff. You’re not doing yourself any favours by eating this highly processed rubbish. Rather look for wholefood options that look like food and aren’t packed with all kinds of additives that are intended to replace the flavour that fat gives to food. Also, your body needs fat in order to aid healing (does this sound like recovery?), balance your hormones & if you’re trying to shift those extra pounds, convince your primal brain that you’re not starving!
The above is by no means an exhaustive list, but if you just follow these few points, you’ll already see & feel a dramatic difference.
Three posts in row which preview 2009: I really do have to write about something else… or do I?
Today it’s the new Dura-Ace groups, including their revolutionary electronic shifting. Well, not actually revolutionary: Mavic had something back in the early to mid 90’s, called “Zap” Shifters (if I remember correctly). A friend of mine bought Simon Lessing’s old bike which had these on it. Did they work? I don’t really know, but he liked them.
The Tour de France route for 2009 has been announced. And here it is.
The 2009 Tour de France Route
One notable feature about the 2009 tour is that it’s allegedly the first in which there will be a mountain stage on the penultimate day, and it’s the one to Mont Ventoux - so in the same way as this year, the race could be decided on the day before Paris.
Will Lance be there? Well that’s the question. Last I heard, he was fed up with all the drugs-talk from the TdF organisation and the French authorities and was threatening to do the Giro instead.
And finally, should you prefer simply to watch the promo video for next year’s race, here it is…
