Entrepreneurship - Have a look here

(i) A friend of mine, Alex Lewis, pitched on Dragon's Den a few weeks ago and successfully in obtaining the money he needed to get his awesome idea up to speed.

A couple of years ago I raced the British National Championships, in March, in torrential rain and gales on a Welsh hillside. Out of the 25 or so athletes I think everyone started the ten lap bike. Alex was one of the smart ones who dropped out after a lap or two. I was too stubborn and rode on for 7...
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One year after introducing the new Pro License for WTC owned Ironman and 70.3 events, a drastic revision is being made to the policy, so much so it unrecognisable. Having written about the orginal pro license extensively already, I wanted to share my thoughts again.



The full text of the proposal an be found here, but I have pulled out the relative lines where necessary. In brief, the top ranked athletes come 1st September are invited to the Championships. Ranking points are acrewed from a max...
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I last completed in the Allerthorpe Triathlon in 2008 when I had a stress fracture in my foot. I didn't know it at the time though, and I was hoping the 2010 edition would be slightly less uncomfortable.

Swim
I was really pleased with my swim. I broke away early on and on a technical course I managed to come out in 8:23! I have to confess this sounds too fast, but it was 30 seconds quicker than 2 years ago so I would like to think it is not too far off. Either way it set me up nicely for the r...
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After Challenge Barcelona I had been looking forward to racing ITU Asian Long Distance Championships in South Korea, but due to what the organiser described as "local issues", the race has been postponed...indefinitely!

This has mucked up my season somewhat. I had been intending to race 3 ITU Long Distance races; Korea, China and Ibiza and thus qualify for the ITU Series prize. But without Korea, I can't justify going to China just for giggles and racing Ibiza which is an 03 distance, also los...
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Saturday
- 2hr easy long run

Sunday
- 3hr Cheddar group ride, 15 mile and 18 mile section attacking riding, trying to drop the group
- 1hr temp run

Monday
- 5km - 1500, 800, 400, 200, 100 descending within each rep

Tuesday
- 2.5hr ride, was aiming for 4hrs but had really tight hip flexors which were starting to bother me
- 5x1 mile (ish) Weston reps - 4:56, 4:54. 4:54, 4:49, 4:40 - Brilliant run. First 3 reps my hip flexors were tight, my stride length short and as a result my whole body was tight. Re...
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I took the disappointment of Barcelona pretty hard, as my recent write ups may have suggested. Possibly I was a bit harsh on myself, but the point is that it is only the result that counts, the number next to your name. There is no room for conditional clauses in results at a high level (or any level if you want to be honest with yourself)....I raced well "given that" [insert excuse] etc. Sometimes there is an element of truth, I am sure I would have raced better in Barcelona had I not been s...
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Pre-Race

I was really looking forward to doing this race. I haven't done a sprint in a couple of years and Bradford on Avon presented the perfect opportunity to do a local, open-water race, in a beautiful setting. My body was still a little bit sore from Challenge Barcelona the weekend before, the ride to the race necessatated a rest in itself, but a race is a race, and you've just got to work with what you've got on race day.

Swim

I managed to get a gap after 30 or so metres and tried to put as...

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Bit smashed...not so much training
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Pre-Race

I was excited in the run up to the race, I felt like I was resting up quite well and I felt like the course would work well to my strengths. I was looking for a minimum of top 10, but really top 7 was what I was aiming for.

I was very glad to have Tim come along for a bit of a holiday, as well as being official photographer and bag man. After playing hide the overweight giant bike box from everyone with a name badge (in your face Ryan Air), and a bus journey longer than the flight, we...

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Aim:- Taper Week

Saturday 8th
90min run

Sunday 9th
Strength Bike 2x{8mile over-gear, 4 miles hard, 4 miles easy}
15min run hill reps off the bike

Monday 10th
5km swim

Tuesday
4x1mile (ish) Weston reps off 6:30 in 4:54. 4:48, 4:47. 4:46 Av 4:49
Castle Combe Bike 3x{2laps hard, 1 lap easy} 8:30, 8:45. 8:40

Wednesday
Race prep swim 6x200 off 2:30 aiming for 2:24, + 1min recovery, 8x100 off 1:20 aiming for <1:10

Thursday
Day off

Friday
Travel Day 

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Last Sunday was the University Triathlon Championships, or BUCS, if you like talking in acronyms no-one understands.

Bath had a really good turn out, from our more experienced athletes and quite a few first time racers too. The race started with a 750m pool swim (messy), a 25km fairly flat bike, and a 5km run. Conditions can only be described as bloody cold and windy. For once, I was glad not to be racing.

   Ole seemed happy enough though!

We were missing a few of our faster athletes for vari...
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Aim - Hard Week: I have just come off a rest week and I am racing Challenge Half Barcelona on May 16th. This means this is my last hard weeks training before the race with a one week recovery going into the race. I need to recognise if I am starting to push too hard and do sessions that are going to effect how well I recover the following week, so basically I will start to back off at the end of the week to ensure I am sufficiently rested to ensure the race is worth the trip.

Saturday 1st
2hr ...
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Aim - Recovery Week. Was looking for another strength week but after Sunday it became apparent this wasn't going to happen so it turned into a recovery week. Keep the longer sessions in place where possible and recovery around them

Saturday 24th
2hr run

Sunday 25th
Day Off - Woke up and felt terrible so ride got cancelled and led to this week turning from strength week into a recovery week

Monday 26th
5km swim

Tuesday 27th
90min run
2hr ride

Wednesday 28th
4km swim
90min ride

Thursday 29th
Day Off

Friday 30...
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Aim - Strength Week. Focus on bike strength

Saturday 17th
2hr run

Sunday 18th
3hr 45min Strength Ride as 3x{8mile over gear, 4mile hard, 4 mile easy}
Straight into 15min hill reps
1hr recovery run

Monday 19th
Gym (Strength)
6km swim

Tuesday 20th
4hrs 45min aerobic
75min x-country run

Wednesday 21st
5km swim
2hrs powercranks
90min very painful run and a 20min walk home...blown

Thursday 22nd
Day Off

Friday 23rd
Bike - Powercranks hill reps 4 x Widcombe, 1 x North Rd seated. In hindsight, this screwed my legs over ...
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Aim - Strength Week. The will be week 1 of 2 or 3 depending on how well I take to strength work and after nearly exclusively aerobic work up until this point.

Saturday 10th
3hr 45min Strength Ride as 3x{8 miles over gear, 4 miles, 4 miles easy}
Straight into 15min hill reps
1hr recovery run

Sunday 11th
Coaching swim day for www.driventotri.com

Monday 12th
Gym (Strength)
6km swim

Tuesday 13th
4hr 45min aerobic ride
75min x-country run

Wednesday 14th
5km swim
90min powercranks, including 40mins solid effort
9...
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As I have just come to the end of the volume phase of my training it was time to have a quick review of it.

Volume - Pretty good, hit some "big numbers"............but so what
Consistancy - Not strong....consistancy within the weeks was good (I could hold together a planned weeks training) but I found myself getting mysterious illnesses too often for my liking (more about that later).

Ask a triathlete about training and they will doubtless tell you some number relating to volume. My longest ru...
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"You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it" Arnold H. Glasgow

I was aiming for the same as the previous week, giving me a two week block of the big volume before returning to work after Easter, unfortunately it didn't go entirly to plan.

Saturday 3rd
2hr ride working the hills
2km easy swim
2.5hr ride introducing over gearing in long blocks
- After a very nice meal out I ended up being sick a few hours later. Possibly due to the food, possibly because my body hates me, either way...
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Yes, I am now, thanks for asking :-)

It is not every day that you get to feel like a kid in a sweet shop (apart from when I go shopping for sweets, everyday) but that is how I can best describe the feeling when I visited Spiuk last week.

This is because Spiuk is a company I have been looking to work with for some time, a company I have long admired, who make quality products and whose kit I have used before.

I was very excited when they agreed to sponsor me and I have been fortunate enough to ...
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Two weeks Easter holidays have just begun so it is time to focus on pushing the volume on, getting better recovery, and going home for the Easter weekend. I am hoping to make this either a 2 or 3 week block dependent on how well I recover and this is the first week.

Saturday 27th
- 2hr X-Country run
- 90min powercranks
- 1hr on Isaac (to check all is working smoothly)

Sunday 28th
- 4hr ride on Isaac
- 1hr run

Monday 29th
- Gym
- 6km swim; Main set change of pace 1.5km, 1.0km, 0.6km and band work

Tuesda...
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I am very excited to be sponsored by TRI 11 Wetsuits and Speedsuits for the new season.



- Having not used a speedsuit before, I was very excited to see just how fast they are. The short answer, 5 secs per 100m! Or 75 seconds for a 1500m. I can see that having a full length suit being a definite advantage over a shorter suit as this really did feel effortless like a wetsuit.

- The TRI 11 RED Wetsuit sports an innovative cut which is very apparent from just putting the suit on. The neo...
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Recovery Week - It was generally accepted that I looked like cr@p, and I did feel pretty terrible, so the aim was to do a little training as necessary so I would be ready for the next hard block

Saturday 20th
- 1hr X-Country Run
- In the afternoon I promptly put myself in a food coma in front of a whole day's worth of 6 Nations Rugby - which was going well, only to be rudely awoken by Austin Healey's ridiculous comment, "It's only cheating when you get caught". What a complete

But that is the att...
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Week 3 of 3 in the first big(ger) volume training block;

Saturday 13th
2hr X-Country run...may have got a little lost but well worth it
3hrs aerobic ride

Sunday 14th
3hr aerobic ride
75min x-country run
75min powercranks ride

Monday 15th
Gym
5.5km swim - mainset 45x100

Tuesday 16th
4hr ride
75min x-country run

Wednesday 17th
5.7km swim - mainset (i) 10x200 best pace; main set (ii) 2km aerobic
2hr powercranks ride - made it up 25% Prospect Place - take a look on google maps, I'll film it next time as this rea...
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Week 2 of 3...

Saturday 6th
3.5hrs ride aerobic
Then for no apparent reason my body took it upon itself to be violently sick for the evening. Something which wouldn't normally bother me too much but I had some couchsurfers from Holland come stay for the Bath Half Marathon

Mairead & Helen

and trying to be a good host I had cooked them tea...fortunately they were fine so who knows what brought on the sickness. Mairead and Helen both work for Asics so they brought me some cool kit for having them st...
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This follows on from the earlier Ironman Pro License (I), but not part (II), or part (III), because they don't exist yet.

Part (III) is about the winners and losers of the Pro License, but after reading this on xtri.com, I think it also worth examining the WTC's logic behind the license - will it infact improve the quality of the Pro racing field at Championship events?

Ironman Pro License Part (IV) - Will it improve the quality of Triathlon?

Firstly, I think it is necessary to define a few term...
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This was the first week of big(ger) volume training, not including Lanzarote. I really enjoyed it and have become considerably more tired (I napped in the bike shed at uni earlier in the week....damp) and more hairy as my "heavy training beard" starts to take hold.

Saturday;
90min hilly x-country taking in Bannerdown, St Catherine's and Solsbury Hill
3.5hr ride

Sunday;
3hr ride
2hr ride on the powercranks - blew up pretty hard

Monday;
Gym
5.0km swim

Tuesday;
3.5hr ride; Cheddar-Wells loop
1hr run

Wednes...
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8 Days in Lanzarote = 500 miles on the bikes, 5hrs jogging, 5hrs swimming, 1.6kg of biscuits, 1 mental receptionist threatening to call the police, £60 in hidden charges

Inter-semester break could not have arrived at a better time. Whilst running in the snow was still fun,




...riding the rollers for a couple of hours a day in the kitchen was starting to lose it's charm, so it was off to Lanzarote for 8 days of sunshine and riding.

The trip incurred a few minor hiccups early on when Jack dislocat...
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This series of posts is concerning the new WTC's (World Triathlon Corperation) new Pro License for all official M-Dot branded Ironman and 70.3 events. I will try and present a balanced discussion over three parts.
- The first part (which can be found here) looks at the official WTC line and the view of Graeme Stewart who tries to find the positives in the new scheme (though he clearly isn't a fan)
- The second part will look at the aim of this initiative - to bring to life an Anti-Doping Progra...
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...let it never be said the children of the North are not insightful (or very good at sledging)

I have just returned from a great week at home in the North for Christmas. And there was snow, which excites any Northener. Tom and I polished up and hammered together his dad's 50 year old wooden sledge to great effect. Not only were we the envy of every kid on the hill, we almost garroted ourselves on the barbed wire fence at the bottom. Fortunately we had foreseen this happening and placed a sho...
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Old Approach

The ambition of every newbie pro triathlete, including me, was to race the best in the world at the best races in the world -> Race at the World Championships (Done)

For the last two years this has been my approach to being a professional triathlete, and I mistakenly thought that in itself was a means to an end. Well, I guess if I want to end my career early then it is true, for it is a fast track to bankruptcy and no more. There simply is not enough money in the sport to support a...
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Now, 1 week into the 2010 campaign, my thoughts are already wondering over to the far off race season. But if I am going to plan ahead properly, it is only right I look back at the year just gone. Did I achieve my objectives?

2009 Objectives

(i) Get to the Pro 70.3 Ironman World Championships
(ii) Break 4hrs for a 70.3
(iii) Finish in the top 25 at the Worlds
(iv) Earn some money from the sport
(v) Be more consistent - don't break myself

(i) Be at the Pro 70.3 Ironman World Championships?
Well I cer...
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I came across this video and thought it was brilliant. At times I think we may have all played both these characters......?


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It is the density of riders that dooms the Pro World Championship where as the relatively poorly attended series events do not suffer the same problem.

If you assume the pros ride at modest 25mph that means they are travelling 11.2m/sec. That means they can come out the water/start the bike within a second of each other, and whilst still being technically draft legal, they are right on top of one another.

Looking at athletes exiting the water to find the greatest density (highest number of ath...

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Going into the race I had two objectives; break 4hrs (targetting 3hrs57m) and to finish in the top 25, 30, 37 (A, B, C goals). I finished in 3hrs57m08sec (I attribute the lost 8 seconds to a scuffle with a motorbike and a fence) and placed 48th -  which I attribute to cheating on the bike and weak refereeing and enforcement of the rules. I am aware that my words may seem harsh, and I know there were other clean riders out there, but in general, as a whole, the race was a joke.

Swim

Following h...

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Over the last few days I have put in my last long sessions;

- 3.8km swim
- 2hrs 45mins bike (should have been 3.5hrs but sometimes you have to know when enough is enough)
- 1hr 45min run

And it just gets shorter and faster from here on in...

Today was my last day in Bath and I did a race pace swim which gave me a lot of confidence; 15x100m off 1:15 coming in 1:10. Admittedly it was in a wetsuit but I felt good and could have carried on. The rest of the day has been spent packing, which for a compl...
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.........TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND GO OUTSIDE

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Over the last few weeks training has been steadily improving, firstly getting back to where I was after Muskoka and Augusta, and then pushing forward towards Clearwater. For the first time in over a year I feel like I am running "okay", I have actually been running on the road in the last few weeks and haven't had an adverse reaction (last season and most of this one has been characterised by stress fracture issues). So I decided to put my running to the test with my first road race in 2 year...
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Six years ago Dan and I started university at Bath to explore the crazy notion of actually getting good at triathlon. Back in 2003 Bath was the place for triathlon in the UK, inspring athletes like Julie Dibens, and we even had TWO coaches. Through a lot of hard work Dan and I both managed to get along pretty well and have been racing elite for some years now, but today Dan moved to Leeds - why would he do that??


   Triathlon 2003, Dan in the fetching gold helmet

For 18 months we have had no on...
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With the 70.3 World Championships on the horizon I thought it was about time I finally got a blog/website up and running. After a very busy and exciting September racing in Muskoka 70.3 (Canada) and Augusta 70.3 it was time to get back to some serious training.

The week started with a hot box session. People say there is a love hate relationship about running on a treadmill in a heat chamber (read plastic box with a bar heater) I am yet to experience the pleasant side. The aim being to start ...
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