Emma Kate is made of strong stuff and refused to quit even when she felt bad

YOU DO NOT GET TO QUIT TODAY.

YOU DO NOT GET TO QUIT TODAY.

YOU DO NOT GET TO QUIT TODAY.

Welcome to my mind during mile 1 of the run course at Ironman 70.3 St George in Utah. It’s the 70.3 US Pro Championships. The field is stacked and reads like a Who’s Who of triathlon. I’ve had a dog of a day. My swim start tactics were foolish and my swim painful (think revving your engine to maximum RPM and then stalling). My bike was average at best and now, here we are, on the run course.

I’ve come into T2 with three others and together we occupy positions five through to eight. There’s already significant daylight between us and the leaders so we’re fighting it out for the scraps. As you can probably tell, I’m not in a good headspace. In fact, I haven’t been all day long. I wish I could tell you exactly why, but at this precise moment I simply don’t know. All I know is that I have 13.1 miles of running ahead of me and I really, REALLY want to quit. My legs are heavy, my chest is heaving, absolutely everything is irritating me and I just can’t get my head into gear.

I soon watch the other three girls run away from me. Their fast feet are moving at a cadence I simply can’t get my legs to move at today. This does nothing to alleviate my bad mood and I grumble some more. At this point – probably less than 800 yards from T2 – the evil guy in my ear, the voice telling me to quit, telling me it’s all going to hurt too much, well, I think even he’s starting to get tired. This allows just a moment for a positive thought to pop up and I realise I have a very simple choice to make: race or quit.

I hear my coach, Matt Dixon’s, voice. A few of the lines he said to me in our pre-race phone call start echoing around my brain. “Whatever happens on that run course, Eccles, you stay in the race. Be brave, Eccles.”

Yes, be brave, Eccles.

Last time I looked up “brave” in the dictionary, quitting at mile 0.5 was not the definition. It’s time to grow some cojones.

Realising I’m probably a little low on sugar and that’s not helping my cause, I start gulping down sticky electrolyte drink at the first aid station. I take on a little High5 gel from my gel flask. The sugar kick is instant. That fog is lifting from my brain. A mantra begins to flood it: “YOU DO NOT GET TO QUIT TODAY”.

I begin to focus purely on my run form: fast feet, light arms, strong core. I allow myself to think only positive thoughts – allowing even the slightest trace of negativity into my brain at this pivotal time is going to be disastrous. I look up the road to see those girls who did such a good job of running away from me out of T2 and tell myself they’re all going to blow up. I keep on keeping on.

This is the totally unglamorous part of racing. The part that’s a long, hard, heavy slog. There’s little to prepare you for it – you simply have to bring out your best tools on the day.

If my mind wanders, it doesn’t go far. It’s soon back to that now rhythmical mantra and I’m almost proud of it. It’s getting me places. By mile 5 I’ve reeled in one of those three girls who bolted from me at T2. The other two are now within 20 seconds’ reach. How things change!

Aid station Coke is a lifesaver and continually focusing on form is vital. I’ve been passed by a couple of faster runners but this doesn’t distract me. I stay focused. I stay strong. I’m hurting in every possible way – mentally, physically, emotionally – but I’ve pledged not to give up on this race and I absolutely will not and cannot.

It’s at races like these – the ones that don’t go to plan, the ones where there’s no pay cheque, glory or trophies – where you’re forced to go deep within yourself and take a long, hard look at what you’re made of. You learn a lot. You learn there’s just no quit in you. You realise that you have the tools to fight, and fight hard. And while you may come away empty-handed, you stow something away for a later date that’ll prove simply priceless.

Emma-Kate Lidbury finished 9^th at Ironman 70.3 St George. It wasn’t all bad: the points she earned at this race now put her in the top 10 of the 2013 Ironman 70.3 World Championships rankings.

Emma-Kate Lidbury is a journalist turned professional triathlete with five Ironman 70.3 titles and two top-10 70.3 World Championship finishes to her name. She’s sponsored by Morris Owen Accountants and Virtua. To find out more about her, visit www.eklidbury.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @eklidbury

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Triathlon is a pretty clean sport – at least, that’s what we think. But last year’s revelations about Lance Armstrong and the planned doping programmes in professional cycling have raised serious doubts for all of us – all of us who love our sport. When a top-level sport can hide systematic doping, it couldn’t really get much worse… could it?

Sometime soon

The athlete lay there in the half dawn, quietly checking their body and awaiting the rigours of the day. With a sigh the athlete stretched out their right arm into the soft rubberised pulsometer that immediately bleeped back 24 beats per minute. Twenty-four? The athlete remembered the early days with their heart rate laughably high at 48bpm. It seemed like a different world back then – perhaps it was a different world back then. It was certainly a different existence.

One hand stretched out and pushed the buttons above the dispensing chute. Within seconds a glass of opaque, milky liquid and a bowl with a myriad pills and pellets in an infinite variety of colours appeared. The athlete wondered sometimes what the pills were, but knew better than to ask. Everybody had to take them if they wanted to succeed.

Somewhere near

When the buzzer sounded, the athlete exited the cell and walked, then jogged, with all the others – all in the same grey, uniform-like tracksuits – and then stood quietly until The Coach (the athlete always thought the word “Coach” with a capital letter) and the assistant coaches appeared, and the athletes went through that same routine that they had done so often before.

Regarding the rows of grey-suited lookalikes, the athlete wondered about them – their names, their backgrounds – and whether to dare talk to them. Nobody had ever said not to, but nobody ever talked. It wasn’t important to talk, it was important to succeed! To win! To be the best! But not for the self, of course – for the country. The athlete wondered where that knowledge came from. It had always been there… always.

The stretching, the exercising continued, as it did every day. Then it would be swimming – and then the medical checks. Then it would be cycling – and then the medical checks. Then running – and medical checks, again and again. For this was what sport was all about.

They stopped to eat. All of them receiving their individual food requirements and the plastic box of their individual pills and pellets and tablets. They accepted them, of course. For this was sport – top-class sport – and this was what top-class sport was all about.

Finally the day drew to a close, a close like all the other days. The athlete hated it, yet somehow looked forward to it. Sometimes The Coach and The Doctor spoke to the athlete. And the athlete was able to speak back. Lying there, waiting, the athlete anticipated the important visitors. Did they have a life outside the camp? Did anyone have a life any more, inside or outside?

Somehow

The visitors entered, carrying the paraphernalia of their trade and their calling. The athlete cowered back. Electrodes were attached, meters strung, drips dripped and wires wired. The athlete lay there accepting it all, as ever. Tiny points pricked tiny agonies of consciousness into the subdued body. Tapes and tubes were attached to the arm, more pills and pellets. And then the syringes started.

Finally: “You please us. Your body systems are good. They grow better. You are a credit to us, a credit to our nation.” A shadow of a half-smile crossed the stern, grey face. Almost. The athlete lay there, still. The words echoed. A credit to Our Nation!

It was the highest honour – she was only 12 years old and already she was fulfilling some of what the programme had laid out for her. To be the best. To make her country the best. Consequences? There were no consequences. For this was sport – top-class sport – and this was what top-class sport was all about.

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James (left) finished four minutes quicker than he did last year

So, here I am again. A year on from signing up to be part of Team Triathlon Plus, I’m back at the Cotswold Water Park shivering as I prepare to take part in (I still can’t bring myself to write ‘race’!) the Cotswold Super Sprint triathlon for the second time.

The thought of diving in and swimming among a mass of bodies still fills me with dread, but somehow the feeling of familiarity makes it a much less daunting prospect than last time. With the sun shining in the sky – a rarity in the UK – the race gets underway.

As always, I set off too fast on the swim leg and it’s not long before I’m gasping for air. Luckily, I manage to calm myself and get into a rhythm, and I’m feeling in good shape by the time I exit the water.

Transition goes well; a year on, I know what to do and manage to do it pretty quickly. The bike leg – my strongest discipline – is a joy, with great marshaling and traffic-free roads. A quick 34 minutes later and I’m back in transition.

While training for the London Tri last year I did a lot of brick sessions to practise going from bike to run. Foolishly, I neglected this aspect of training this year, so for the first half-mile I had that dreaded jelly-legged feeling. Eventually, I started to regain feeling in my feet and made good progress round the beautiful Cotswold Water Park course. With one lap completed, I upped my pace and finished in much better shape than I did last year, and with a better time to boot!

Although my swim leg was still pretty poor, I was much quicker in transition. This was probably helped by the fact that it was much warmer this year, so fewer clothes were needed! I rode strongly on the bike and my run was on par with last year. Overall, I beat my 2012 time by four minutes to finish in 1hr 3mins. Clearly, practice does make perfect, and while I’m still no threat to the Brownlees, this is only my second year of competing in triathlons and I reckon I’ve plenty more to give.

Thanks to triferris.com for a fantastic event – great organisation and well-planned early morning sun led to a brilliant day out for all. I even took my wife and two children this time, who are as keen to return next year as I am!

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Aimee is part of our in-house dream team aiming to take on the Virgin Active London Triathlon this July with the support of Team Carbon – official bike supplier, Tenn Outdoors – official kit supplier, Saucony, Polar, Zone 3 and Limar. To find out more about Team Triathlon Plus click here

Aimee having her swim stroke analysed by Rick Kiddle during a swim training day courtesy of Zone3.

And so it begins……

Three weeks on from my last blog and quite a lot has changed. It’s now only 12 weeks until the Virgin Active London Triathlon and so I’ve been forced to get my act together training wise. As a result, I’ve been running twice a week, spinning once a week and dragging myself to a crack-of-dawn swim on Friday mornings with Jek, and feel so much better for it.

I’ve also just got my personal training plan from Triathlon Plus coaching editor, Phil Mosely. He’s created it with my hectic work schedule in mind and I can’t wait to see how my fitness improves by sticking to the plan.

Run

Last night I jogged off to my local park to start my run training. I took my snazzy new Polar RCX5 watch with me so that I could monitor my heart rate and follow Phil’s plan precisely. I have to admit that the HR monitor felt a little alien at first, but once strapped on you hardly notice it – lucky since I’m told this little tool is going to be my new best friend over the next couple of months.

The warm up sounded easy – 15 mins @ 145bpm. I didn’t realise how hard that would actually be; I’m used to pegging it around as fast as my little legs will carry me and really struggled to keep my heart rate down. I was hitting highs of 175, before I’d even started the main set.

The main set consisted of 10 x 40s sprints with 20s recovery.  It turns out that 20s rest isn’t quite enough for me at the moment but I really enjoyed running full pelt. I did forget my inhaler though, so maybe my recovery between sets won’t be so bad next time.

The warm down was as tough the warm up and I really struggled to get my heart rate down to the low levels prescribed. Again, I think my inhaler might help me next time.

Swimming

My recent attempts at front crawl in the pool have highlighted a couple of technical problems, namely that I have a very wobbly core and sinking legs.

This became apparent when I borrowed Jek’s pull buoy during a morning session; I found it impossible to swim in a straight line and instead zigzagged my way up the pool. This has, however, given me something tangible to work on and try to improve, so I will be heading off to the shops next week to buy my own ‘peanut float’ as I have called it! I couldn’t help but feel a little daft using it but you can really focus on what your arms are doing. I definitely favour my right arm but it’s interesting to see just how weak my left arm can be, especially when I start to get tired.

I’ve recently made enquiries at my local open water swim centre, Vobster Quay, to see if I can start swimming outdoors. Unfortunately however it’s still a little cold (barely above 10 degrees) and so I’m going to have to leave it a little while longer.

Cycling

My bike arrived this week from the lovely folk over at Team Carbon Bikes and I couldn’t be happier; I’ve been itching to get my hands on it and start practising. We have a team bike fit booked in next week, so once I’m set up on the bike I plan to spend most of my weekends whizzing around the country lanes in Wiltshire. It’s great to have such a lightweight helmet too – those guys over at Limar really know what they are doing. I just need to work on stripping back some of my own weight…every little helps!

I’m feeling positive now about the event and I’m determined to make sure that I’m as fit as possible come race-day. I really can’t wait – and I never thought I’d say that!

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

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Swimming – you either love it or you loathe it. It’s a given if you want to be a professional athlete – especially at ITU – that you need to have swum since you were a baby as it’s just so hard to learn to swim at a good level as an adult.

It’s definitely the most skill-based of any of the sports us triathletes have to master. There’s so much to think about and get right, and sometimes it can seem like a losing battle. Even I get nervous sometimes about swimming. I’ve swum with a lot of age-group athletes, and even some pros, who make really simple mistakes that crush their swim.

A lot of people find they can swim in a pool but not in open water. Why is that? Firstly, I think a lot of people are just scared of swimming in open water. I certainly was at the beginning of my career.

The first open-water race I did was in Weymouth and it was a biathlon – a 500m run, a 100m swim in the sea and then another 500m run. Apart from the fact it was freezing cold, I was scared to put my face in the water so I did the swim backstroke – not ideal, I know! I’ve come a long way since then but everyone has to start somewhere.

I’ve had lots of memorable open-water swimming experiences. Swimming in the lake at Otley Sailing Club when it was 11°C one May – now that was cold and not for the faint-hearted! The training camp near Manchester I used to go to before the season started, where we swam in Salford Quays, was always Baltic too.

It’s not a problem to be afraid to swim in open water. Even now I get a little nervous when I go swimming by myself. Anything could happen and anything could be down there, you just don’t know. Sometimes it’s worth it though.

When I was in Hawaii for the Ironman World Championship I was swimming around the course one day before the race and a pod of dolphins swam right over the top of me. Not literally, but as I was swimming one way they came the other and swam either side of me. That was an amazing, albeit slightly scary, experience. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t be scared of open-water swimming.

Relaxing in the water is the single most important thing you can learn to do. Don’t try to fight it but pretend you’re pulling on a rope with the palm of your hand. That’s a good analogy I use. It’s much easier to visualise yourself swimming like that than just flailing your arms and legs around not going anywhere.

Finally, what happens when that idiot pummels you who’s swimming beside you? Do you pummel him back and try to drown him? I’m a very docile swimmer, I hate fighting in the swim, but sometimes it’s going to be unavoidable.

I can remember my first ever open-water triathlon race was at Eton in 2004 and Alistair Brownlee pummelled me around the first buoy – something which I’ve never forgiven him for. I find the best thing to do is just try to swim as close as you can to them and try to draft them. Even if you swim on the hips of someone it’ll slow them down significantly.

Try to get comfortable swimming in a pack, even if it’s in a pool, as it’s a useful skill to have. We always swim by ourselves at five- or 10-second intervals, but some of the best training comes when you add a slight competitive element and swim a bit closer together. Practising pack swimming in the pool is the most enjoyable swim session you can do. Now go out there and get swimming!

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

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John is part of our in-house dream team aiming to take on the Virgin Active London Triathlon this July with the support of Team Carbon – official bike supplier, Tenn Outdoors – official kit supplier, Saucony, Polar, Zone 3 and Limar. To find out more about Team Triathlon Plus click here.

John (and the rest of the team) learning the correct swimming technique at a Zone3 training day

I don’t know about you but exercise to me is like a drug, an addiction. And like any drug, the more I do it, the more I crave it. Looking back now on last summer when I was training for the Haute Route sportive, it came close to consuming me. It was all I thought about, 24/7. Riding my bike harder and harder each day, and making slow, steady improvements, overrode everything else.

In the days after the event, I remember fretting about taking so much as a day off, such was the rush it gave me and my concern about even the slightest drop-off in fitness. The same is true in reverse, though; go without something for long enough and you’ll forget the effect it had on you. It’s the point I find myself at now.

Long-term injury (a knee problem picked up in November) has meant my off-season is still going on into May, and work commitments have meant I’ve spent much of the last month either on planes, in airports, hotels or press rooms (I write this from Istanbul airport, waiting for a connection to Baku, Azerbaijan, having just returned from Marrakech). Finding time for anything close to a regular training routine is hard.

This lack of routine has killed the one thing I always relied on in training: momentum. For me, a good training session is only good if it’s backed up soon after and recently, while the quality of what sessions I’ve done have been really good they have been too sporadic.

I need to see and feel changes in my fitness levels to motivate me and move me forward but I feel like I’m right back to square one each time I ride, run or swim. Initially it was a cause of frustration, which then turned to concern. With the London Triathlon just three months away, it’s now panic.

Momentum isn’t just limited to my training – it’s everything that can have an impact on it. It means the food I’m putting into my mouth, the frequency I get sick, the injury niggles. When I’m at home, my diet is far more balanced than it is on the road. I eat more fruit, cook more meals and drink less beer.

The routine of eating well is a momentum builder, so I’m less likely to eat fatty, stodgy foods. This goes out the window when I’m working away. I mean, what’s one more pizza when I’ve already had three this week? And things I’d never dream of buying at home – the family-size bag of mint M&M’s in an airport that get gobbled down in a flash. Avoiding illness is much harder, too, and I rarely get home in a better state than when I left.

What I need to realise, and fast, is that the routine I enjoyed last summer just isn’t going to be there this year. I need to work around it, just like the millions of others who fit their training round busy home and work lives, otherwise I’m simply not going to be ready.

I’m going to have to improvise more and see the free time I get as an opportunity rather than pass it up with lame excuses. And for once I’m going to take my own advice, starting tonight. There’s a gym in the hotel I’m in tonight and I’ve packed my running shoes. Before breakfast (where I’ll take the fruit salad and muesli option rather than the croissants and pastries, of course), I’ll go for a spin on the static bike and start, once again, to build up some steady momentum. I need to remember just how much of a positive impact training has. It’s time to fall off the wagon again.

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

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People always ask me if it’s possible to go from drowning donkey to dolphin in the water. “Can I learn to swim with a degree of competence?” My answer is always yes and their response is always the same: “That’s easy for you to say – you’re a pro.” Yes, my swimming is pretty good these days but that’s not to say I haven’t struggled before. Believe me, I know that sinking feeling.

I started my triathlon journey when I was 17. At that time, my main sport was rugby and I was training to physically resemble a brick. This was great for tackling big buffoons, but when I hit the pool for my first swim training session, I hit the bottom of the pool. I struggled to finish the triathlon club workouts over the coming weeks, with only general fitness and determination getting me through.

All this effort was to no avail. My first open-water race was done in my mum’s sailing wetsuit, which was a two-piece with a metal bar linking the two parts together. It was heavy and the female fit did me no favours. As soon as the gun went off I was taking on water faster than the Titanic and I seriously thought I was going to drown.

I was floating low in the water, which just encouraged people to swim over me. Being a rugby player, I enjoyed the physicality but the swim technique went out the window as I tried to fight back. It was an utterly awful experience which steered me more towards duathlons for the next two years.

So yes, I do know what it’s like to start from scratch, but how did I get to be a confident swimmer? Well, there were four steps in my evolution from drowning donkey to dolphin, none of which mattered until I figured out the final step.

Firstly, I found that as I started to train more and more I wasn’t getting much faster. It was frustrating to put in the hard graft with little to no reward. Someone suggested that I had a few swim lessons, which I did. Following three pitiful lessons, I threw in the towel, finding out the hard way that paying more for a highly experienced swim coach is definitely worth it. A few months later, I was lucky enough to work with one of the top Australian Olympic coaches during a training camp in Sydney and in a matter of weeks my technique had drastically improved.

Secondly, spend hours in the pool. Triathletes in general love going out for a four-hour bike ride but ask them to swim 5,000m and they’ll have a fit. There are no shortcuts with swimming and as long as your technique is sound, you have to put in the mileage. I returned to Australia the following two winters with the goal of improving my weakest discipline. I was swimming 5,000m to 7,000m, six days a week, and while I was fairly knackered, I found that swimming started to feel natural. I actually felt like a swimmer.

Thirdly, and this is probably something that you don’t want to hear, it didn’t happen overnight. I had to be patient. I steadily improved each year but it did take a good few years until I was coming out in the lead pack of elite races. I kept working on my technique, I kept swimming the high mileage and I kept getting better. I was fairly happy, but it was still not good enough until I hit step four.

Fourthly and finally, I’d been trying to improve my swimming when one day it dawned on me: I was trying too hard. Every breath, every stroke, every leg kick I was analysing my technique. Was my hand entering correctly? Was my elbow high? In short, everything was perfect but the results were not. How could this be if my stroke was perfect and I was training as hard as possible?

Then one day I had an epiphany while swimming with five-times world champion Simon Lessing. His stroke didn’t look that good but he was incredibly fast. I noticed how relaxed he was in the water – almost jelly-like. I gave it a go, thinking only about my breathing and relaxing. Within a matter of minutes I was swimming faster – much faster. I was there – I had evolved.

Now, I’m not saying that you can jump in the pool and as long as you’re relaxed you’ll swim like a fish, but try working on your technique in the warm-up and then switching off and relaxing. After all, when do you ever see a tense dolphin?

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

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Jek is part of our in-house dream team aiming to take on the Virgin Active London Triathlon this July with the support of Team Carbon – official bike supplier, Tenn Outdoors – official kit supplier, Saucony, Polar, Zone 3 and Limar. To find out more about Team Triathlon Plus click here.

Team Triathlon Plus in their team wetsuits

2013 has been a year of ups and downs so far for me in terms of training; while I’ve been going hell-for-leather on the bike and in the pool, plantar fasciitis has (frustratingly) kept me out of the running game since November.

Rewind four weeks and things were looking pretty promising; I no longer had pain in my foot and was fairly optimistic that it wouldn’t be too long before running was back on my training agenda.

I thought it was sensible, however, to get the all clear from Sacha – my physio – before I dusted off my trainers and started pounding the pavements again. So during a relatively pain-free deep-tissue massage of my foot I casually mentioned that I’d been struggling to sit down for the last couple of days. I wasn’t in excruciating pain – it just felt as if someone was constantly nipping my left buttock and occasionally the back of my left knee. It didn’t feel like anything too serious, but was still enough to stop me riding my bike.

The worried expression on her face didn’t particularly fill me with confidence though and after forcing me to do a variety of yoga-like stretches, flexibility tests and postural exercises, her verdict was in. And it wasn’t good . . .

“You’ve got a bulging disc in your lower spine,” she explained. “It’s causing your sciatic nerve to be trapped, which is why you can’t sit down and also why your foot is taking so long to heal. If it doesn’t free in the next few weeks then you might need to consider an operation.” Great.

I left her treatment room in tears with a myriad of fears racing through my head; Will I EVER be able to run again? Will I lose all the hard work I’ve put in on the bike this year? Will I ever be as good as I was? Will I make the start line of London? What if I’m just not built to train? Can you still eat if you can’t exercise? What if I NEVER get the chance to do an Ironman?

Of course, these all sound ridiculous and hyperbolic—let’s be realistic, it’s not as if I’ve lost a limb.  But being sidelined through injury – however big or small – is tough and can turn any sane triathlete into a blubbering mess, as their whole world is turned upside down.

Despite this being my first proper injury – meaning that it can’t just be fixed with a few days rest and some enthusiastic foam-rolling action – I’ve quickly learned that wallowing in self-pity and scoffing on pizza doesn’t help, and the key to avoiding being sectioned under the Mental Health Act is to find a new focus and steer clear of the following pitfalls:

1.  Don’t drown your sorrows with alcohol – the post-binge euphoria won’t last long and reality will soon take its place, meaning that not only will you have your injury to deal with, you’ll also have a banging headache.

2.  Don’t raid the biscuit tin. In fact try not to buy treats at all. Granted, they might offer you some comfort in the short term but once you’re back training you don’t want to be trying to get fit AND be losing 10lbs of unnecessary chocolate weight.

3.  Avoid negative unsympathetic friends who carry the attitude of, “well that’s what you get for cycling 200 miles at the weekend!”

4.  Avoid public places when the sun comes out – seeing part-time fun runners will be no good for your mental state.

5.  Don’t treat painkillers like you would water. Take them very sparingly – they just mask the pain and prolong the injury. Patience is the name of the injury-game.

It’s fair to say that, I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with not being able to ride my bike or go for a run. But, as time has passed I’ve managed to put things into perspective – an injury isn’t the end of the world and in a few weeks from now the pain should be a distant memory. At the end of the day, it’s just my body’s way of saying it’s had enough and that I need to ease off the gas. It’s just unfortunate that it’s happened right on the cusp of the start of the season. On a positive note, however, Sacha has said that I can start cross-training next week and Nordic Track have kindly loaned me one of their trainers for the next three months. It’s going to be tough training inside when my friends are enjoying the sun, but if it does what it says on the tin and helps me regain fitness without putting strain on my back, then I’ll be a very happy bunny. Only time will tell.

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

Log your training for free at the TriRadar.com Training Zone.

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Luke racing to victory with Iain Dawson at the World Championships (Photo Credit: British Triathlon)

I’m delighted to be chosen to blog for TriRadar.com and will be documenting my triathlon journey on a monthly basis right here. I’m currently in my 8th season of triathlon and race elite level over Sprint & Olympic distance in the UK & abroad. I’m studying for a Chemical Engineering degree at Loughborough University; however, in between studies I train with the Loughborough Triathlon performance squad and have recently qualified as a British Triathlon coach. I also race as a guide for the VI (visually-impaired) Paratriathlon category, and guided Iain Dawson to gold at both the World & European Triathlon Championships last year.

People often ask, ‘how do you guide someone?’ closely followed by ‘why do you do it?’

It’s pretty simple really; I swim side by side with the VI athlete, tethered at the ankle, the bike is ridden on a tandem (I ride the front, for safety reasons of course!) and on the run, we are again tethered and run side by side. Up until this year the VI athletes had to deal with wearing ‘blackout glasses’ on the run, to level the playing field regarding sight, although that requirement has been scrapped for this year. The way I see it is that it’s my job to ensure the athlete is able to complete every section of the race as fast as they are able to, so I have to make sure I’m fast enough in each section, as well as in transition, where I’ll take responsibility for the tandem and other equipment, such as tethers.

I got into guiding at the end of 2011, shortly after Paratriathlon had been confirmed for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games; I saw the article on the front of Tri News and thought that I’d love to give it a go. I got put in touch with Iain, who was happy to give me a chance on the front of the tandem and things developed from there. I’ve always enjoyed competing in team events, something that is relatively uncommon in triathlon, so it’s a great opportunity to race as part of a team. I also really enjoy racing the major championship races in fantastic locations – last year’s World Championships was in Auckland, New Zealand and this year’s will be at home in London, so it’s sure to be an incredible atmosphere. Winning the world title was definitely a career highlight – the rush as we ran down the blue carpet on the finish chute was fantastic!

These are exciting times for Paratriathlon, especially in Britain. We’re already the world’s leading nation, and with the start of the four-year cycle leading to Rio, UK Sport funding has kicked in for the programme, providing more opportunities and support for all the athletes involved. We recently had our first camp in Loughborough and there was a distinct buzz around the squad. We have a world-class support team, full of ideas and innovation, so are looking forward to the next four years, and hoping to continue to lead the way. There are sure to be a number of changes over the next couple of years; with new athletes, rules, classifications & equipment. Indeed, I have just started working with a new VI athlete, Dave Ellis, who has come across from the Paralympic Swimming programme. It will be an exciting journey for everyone involved in GB Paratriathlon; I’m delighted to be involved!

It’s just about time to start racing, so I wish you all every success in your endeavours. I’m sure some of you will be aiming to join me in experiencing the home crowd in London in September; if you see a couple of guys riding round London on a tandem be sure to give us a cheer!

This blog was originally published on www.myprocoach.net

Time flies. This time five months ago I was boarding a plane to South Africa, leaving behind the life I’d always known, to go and work and train in the sun. Now it’s time to come back home to Britain and in this blog I want to reflect on the outcome of my big triathlon adventure.

First up, I haven’t gone bankrupt, which was one of my major worries at the start. I’ve continued to enjoy my role as Triathlon Plus Coaching Editor, as well as successfully coaching several of my own athletes remotely via myprocoach.net. It’s not always been plain sailing though, especially as South African internet speeds leave a lot to be desired. But it all worked out OK in the end.

As for my training, well that worked out quite well too. I lived in Stellenbosch, which is a mini Mecca for pro triathletes especially in January and February. Being in such an environment initially taught me a couple of important lessons, namely:

1. I’m not very good at triathlon
2. I hardly do any training

I was getting my ass handed to me on a plate every time I trained in company. Not only that, but after each workout I’d go home to work on my laptop whilst the other athletes did one or two more gruelling sessions throughout the day.

I couldn’t believe how hard they trained. For example, GB pro triathlete Will Clarke would do 34-hours training in six days, before taking a rest day. Similarly, a couple of other pro athletes here are coached by Brett Sutton and sometimes they train four or five separate times in one day. Holy cow!

I knew that I could never match that, let alone whilst working for a living. So I figured I’d need to be very efficient with my time and maximize each session. So I stuck to training twice per day (lunchtime and early evening) but made sure each workout had a clearly defined purpose based around my target races. So that meant no junk miles or “easy recovery runs”. I figured my body would only adapt to key workouts anyway, and that I needed to progress these every few weeks to keep improving. Then I factored in a recovery and adaptation week every third week to recharge my batteries and catch up on work. It meant I was ready and raring to go again afterwards.

The upshot is that my swimming is still relatively crap by “pro” standards, although pleasingly I managed to do 400 meters in five minutes and 15 seconds during one pool swim. However, this is mainly because I was panicking that Tim Don and Jodie Swallow were about to lap me.

My cycling has improved (according to my SRM power meter anyway) and my running is about the same as last season. However, the biggest improvements across all three disciplines are to my stamina and strength, which were always my weak points. I can now ride my bike quite hard for 5-hours without needing a week in bed to recover. And I can run at a good pace for well over 2-hours and still walk properly the next day. Seeing as my next two races are Ironman UK 70.3 and Ironman Austria, it’s promising news.

So once I’m back I’m Britain and I’ve recovered fully from my travels, I’ll start putting the finishing touches to my training. I’m in good shape after the last five months, so the biggest challenge is not to overcook it at this stage. There’s a fine line between peaking for a race and doing so much that you get constant niggling injuries. And then the ultimate acid test will come on race day - I’m already feeling excited. I’ll write another blog nearer the time and let you know how I get on.

Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news.

Log your training for free at the TriRadar.com Training Zone.

Have every issue delivered to your digital device by getting Triathlon Plus through Apple Newsstand, Google Play or Zinio. Subscribe to the print edition with massive savings at MyFavouriteMagazines.

Join the conversation on the Triathlon Plus Facebook page, follow us on Twitter @TriathlonPlus.