Triathlon Distances Explained – Enter Now!

Swim Time Trials!

When it comes to our 750m time trial swims, most of us give a sigh of, ‘aww I’m not looking forward to this’. But really, inside, we’re secretly excited. This was the situation at training last night with the Tri club.
We went in 2 heats, I helped out with counting for the first group, meaning I had to let that nervous feeling build up for a little longer. The fast lane had some decent times in heat 1 and I doubted I’d be close to be honest, but sure I’d give it a go at least.
My heat had 2 of the young lads from the Swimming club in it, and they were keen to lead the lane, I wasn’t going to complain as I knew I’d get a decent draft from them, which would help my overall time, a bit sneaky, but sure it’s the same in a tri 😉
Both Josh’s went out like mad men, I struggled to hold onto their pace for the first 6 lengths, but as soon as reality hit them, I was on their feet in no time again. Pace was decent, and we chopped and changed positions at the front. I was expecting the knock on my head to say it was my final 2 lengths sooner than I actually did get it which wasn’t cool lol. When it did come though, I pushed hard and came in with a final time of 12mins 8secs, just 1 sec shy of my 750m PB. This was the 2nd best time of the evening, and considering it’s only February, I was very very pleased with the time. I’m sure come May I will get my first ever sub 12 minute swim. Here’s hoping! 🙂
Aaron

Manchester Marathon Is Getting Closer!

Saturday was time to go long with my running, Kevin was my partner in crime for the day. Kev is a cracking runner with some great marathon times to his name, so I knew I was in great company as far as ability was concerned, and I was right, there wasn’t much slacking with Kev in charge.
Saturday wasn’t the best of days as far as weather was concerned, it was about 2 or 3 degrees C and the snow and hail was starting to fall. The roads were fine though which was handy enough, plus this Manchester marathon is getting close, so it would have to take more than a snow shower to stop us lol The long miles must continue 🙂
We left the leisure centre and headed around the bridges, wind and hail battered us head on, I sure was glad to see Swans Bridge which was a change in direction for us! Miles 1-5 went in well though considering, the craic was good and Kevins running knowledge and marathon stories kept us entertained.
A loop of Myroe was the next part of the route, this took us to around mile 14 when we had completed it. My calves were holding up well thankfully, and as we approached Limavady, we could lift the place a little too, both of us were feeling good. On mile 17 which was our final mile, we managed about 7:45 min/mile pace, I must admit, I do love a quick finish, it replicates races really, so it’s a good thing to do in training.
Soaked and very cold, but happy with the run for sure, 17 miles at an average of 8:31 min/mile pace. Kevin was a great running partner for the day, thanks for that mate. I’ll be asking for your company again no doubt.
Aaron

Using music and video to make high-intensity exercise more pleasant

Human Kinetics Blog

Research in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology suggests that music-only and music-and-video stimuli lead to the highest enjoyment of exercise, regardless of intensity, among study participants.

The study examined various psychological measures of participants during and after stationary cycling at two intensities. Subjects were exposed to four conditions: music only, video only, music and video, and control.

These results could have salient implications for exercise professionals in improving attitudes of clients who are new or returning to fitness towards activities that they would otherwise avoid due to negative attitudes and feelings of fatigue.

For the full text article, contact Abigail Gailey at AbigailG@hkusa.com

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Long Run Hydration Best Practices

RunnersOnTheGo.com

2015 is well underway, and we, at Runners On The Go, are guessing that some of you had a new years resolution to run your first Marathon. However, longer runs means more variables; More things to consider. What to wear, what eat,  what and when to drink.

Long Run Hydration is one of the most common topics of interest that running customers have. Many people wonder how much they should hydrate, when they should hydrate, and what they should hydrate with on the long run.

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Getting A Shock In The Pool!?! ;)

Pancake Tuesday is 1 of my most favourite days of the year, and Andrea and I lost count of how many we ate at lunch time lol. Nothing else for it than to work them off then eh?
First of all it was a 5K run for me, nothing crazy, just around 9 min mile pace to get myself back into the way of going for the weeks training that lay ahead.
The pool was then calling me, and Andrea joined for my swim training. Now I know she was in the local swimming club for a good few years as a teenager, but I thought her pace would be long gone to be honest. Wasn’t I in for a shock.
We started off with a gentle 250m warm up, followed by some drill sets and then a build set. Keeping up well at this stage wasn’t surprising, and I thought once I get into some 50m and 100m speed sets I might shake her off.
The first 50m sprint was swum in 40 seconds, and low and behold Andrea was right there on my toes at the end of the length, as they went along my worst 50 was about 44seconds, and sure enough, there she was, swimming steady as ever. The 100m sprints would get to her maybe, my first was 1:34 and there she was on my toes right to the end. We kept going and my last 100m sprint was 1:42, and Andrea matched that too. We ended with a 2K total which was more than enough, I wanted out before I was shown up anymore hahaha.
Any speed I have comes from hard work and strong shoulders, but for Andrea, her stroke is soso good from her swimming club days, she can swim so much more efficiently in the water, maybe I’ll swallow my pride and ask for a few tips next time!! 😉
Aaron

Double Days Are Worth It :)

My weekends training was decent, as usual I had my endurance swim on Friday morning with Katherine and Barry. A handy 100 lengths in around 52 mins I believe, pace was good as Barry was pushing just a tad harder than I’d usually swim my endurance sets at, but none the less, it got it over and done with earlier 🙂
As I was due to have a Sunday off for the first time in a long time, I had to do a double day on Saturday. This wasn’t a brick session, just a double day, so it wouldn’t be too taxing on me I’d hoped. My alarm went off very early, still dark outside, and I was groggy to say the least. Shane and Chris would be grand if I didn’t turn up for cycling surly? Haha…. This lazy thought wasn’t long from clearing in my head as I layered up with lycra from head to toe.
We met at Tesco Express as usual, and made our way along the coast road to the Downhill. The craic was decent as expected with the lads, and the miles built up in no time at all. On our way back we looped around the famous ‘bridges’ of Limavady and Myroe and from here I made my own way home, giving me an easy 35miles cycling in the legs, pleasing for all I needed today.
After some food, and a sneaky wee power nap I was ready for part 2 of my double day. I was meeting Andrea for part of my run which would break up the miles for me I thought. Mile 1, 2 & 3 were grand, plodding along happy enough, then 4 and 5 my calf started giving me some sort of problem. It’s been coming and going like this for a few weeks, I think I’m not recovering from my intervals quick enough, food for thought maybe!
I saw a pink dot wayyyy in the distance coming towards me at mile 5, Andrea was now some welcomed company I can assure you, and it took my mind off my calf for a while. We looped around Myroe which is good and flat, and as it was Valentines Day, this was a perfect date don’t you think? 😉
Andrea ran 5.5 miles with me as I headed in the direction for home, my calf had finally warmed up/cleared itself, from whatever pain it was in earlier and I could push on hard, my final 6mile was the most comfortable I felt all day.
I ended with 16 miles at 9:01 min/mile pace, the feeling after a double day is soso good, so good I might try a few more of them, and the fact I didn’t have to set my alarm Sunday morning was unreal lol 🙂
Aaron

Day After Day, Mile After Mile!

It’s been way too long since I blogged, and I’ve many, many miles under my belt to tell you about between the 3 disciplines. Too many sessions to write about in depth, so I’m going to make a brief summer of my last 9 or 10 days.
Swim:
The past 2 Tuesdays was as always the Triathlon Club swim. Our lane, now known to Katherine and I as ‘life in the fast lane’ 😉 was filled with banter as usual. The 2 young lads, both called Josh coincidently, lead all the short 50s leaving the 100-300m sets up to Katherine Thomas and I. Josh G said that anything over 100m was distance swimming in his eyes, lol Here I was thinking my 2.4mile Ironman swims were normal hahaha
Part of an ongoing joke between runners, cyclists, swimmers and triathletes is, ‘How do you know when you’re a triathlete?’ When you count everything in Km. This is now a weekly joke at the expense of poor Thomas, his nickname which might well stick is now ‘Tommy K’!! lol
Both Tuesday swims were around 1hr 15mins, and I rounded out the 2 hours with a 45 minute roller session on the bike at home. Nothing mad, just a steady cruise 🙂
Friday morning was my endurance swim in Templemore, an early alarm is never good, but I guess there’s nothing else for it. Katherine, Davy Gault, William and Barry (3 of the MAMILS) also made the early swim. The company makes such a difference on those long slogs up and down the pool.
Run:
Wednesday nights training for me is always interval running with Springwell Running Club. Last week was a trail run through the Roe Valley Country Park, more or a fartlek session rather than intervals which was actually really good I thought. Pitch black darkness with about 20 head torches in the woods was pretty cool I must say. I was having some trouble with my calf last week, so I couldn’t push at the front with my mate Decky as much as I’d liked to be honest, thinking of the bigger picture is more important I guess.
Last nights Intervals was really good, my calf felt decent again and the mixture of 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m sprints were superb. Colin as always, lays out a very well planned session, from proper warm ups, build phase and finally a hard main set. I was strong for most of the sprints and ran well at the front with Colin and Decky which was pleasing. I feel another 5K test might be on the cards very soon.
Saturday morning, and an early start was again the plan for the day. I was meeting Eddie and the Springwell lads for the weekend long run as part of the marathon plan. My scheduled miles was 15, everyone was more or less around the same, but a few different groups went at different paces. I found myself for most of it with Iain, Kenny, Ryan and Davy ‘the main man’ Macnicol 😉 The craic was good and the miles ticked along as quick as ever. Iain turned off along with me, and we ran the last 5 miles together back in the direction of the Leisure Centre. Job done, 15 miles 8:39 av min/mile pace. Happy enough for sure.
Bike:
Thursday was time for a wee blast out on the road instead of the rollers, a good wee loop from my house around Myroe and well known ‘bridges’ is exactly 18 miles. There wasn’t much wind which was decent, probably the calmest it has been this year yet. I did however, managed to get soaked, I guess asking for no wind and no rain would be a bit much eh? Lol I finished with a pleasing 18.3mph av. Not as quick as last years times, but it’s definitely set the bench mark for this year so far.
Sunday was time to go long, the MAMILs were flatout on ‘whatsApp’ on Saturday evening. No wind and no rain was forecast, perfect I thought, let’s make the most of it and head to Portstewart. Chris was the only man keen to go long, everyone wanted 40 miles or else time was against them etc. The thought of a Morellis Mocha and a bun was in my mind though, and nothing would do till I got it.
Chris and I cycled along happy as Larry, the fog cleared and the winter sun shone bright, it was crisp and fresh and just 1 of those days that life felt good. The Morellis pit stop didn’t disappoint either!

The way home had a little head wind but nothing too bad, Chris was crafty and sat on my wheel most of the way home 😉 To be fair though, I felt strong and fresh right to the end so I didn’t mind taking the front. I had a total of 60miles at 16mph av. Of course doing 60 miles at this stage had a few questioning my reason for doing so, personally I’d say they were just jealous they missed out, lol. I replied with the usual answer…Because I can!!! 🙂
Aaron

Too Much Running Is Bad for You? Whaattt????

So, here’s some stats for all the runners out there. I might give up this training altogether 😉

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31095384

Sunday Morning Miles.

Yesterday, the Manchester marathon was 11 weeks out from race day, and no matter what the weather had in store, the miles had to continue. The Sunday morning runners, of which 99% of them are in Springwell Running Club, had agreed to face the wintery conditions regardless. John, Bob, Simon and I made the early start of 6:30am. The thin layer of snow on the ground actually had some decent grip which was pleasing. We took things easy and found our rhythm for the first few miles, as we looped around to collect the rest of the runners who treated themselves to some extra time in bed 🙂
Barry, Ian, Aidan, Davy, Amanda and Kerrie had now joined us early birds. As always, the banter and chit chat among everyone makes those miles disappear very fast indeed. We made a short loop around Limavady and eventually started to head out into the country for a few miles. The snow in the countryside makes for some decent views and pictures of course. Davy and I were keen for a selfie in the snow at 1 point, but neither of us had our phones which is unusually haha
On our return into the town, everyone peeled off in their own direction according to the amount of miles they wanted to achieve. Kerrie, Davy, Bob and I stayed together right to the end which had my total at 15 miles, perfect. I must add, that mile 15 was by far the fastest of the lot! Kerrie informed us she was keen to get done and dusted, and likes a good sprint finish to replicate a race situation. I’m your man I thought, and of course Davy was eager as ever for a bit of craic. We reduced mile 15 to under 7 min mile pace in the end, a great finish from the 4 of us for sure.
The feeling of satisfaction and achievement after a good run is fantastic, the added factor of the snow and the fresh morning helped too, there really isn’t anything better. Well done everyone and the company was great, thanks.
P.S – I guess turning over and curling into the duvet comes close to that feel good factor, but not close enough lol 😉
Aaron