The Benefits of Training Outdoors Through the Winter Months

       

Why you should keep training outside during the winter months?

My Weekend Training with GB Olympic Triathlete Helen Jenkins

Another 5 days later post Bewl and I'm driving to Wales with a bike, wetsuit and training gear squashed into the back of my small Peugeot 107. Ready to embark on a training weekend with Helen Jenkins and her coach and husband; Marc. This was run by Science in Sport, the competition was from Triathlon 220 and I was one of 5 lucky winners.

  

The weekend was fantastic, Friday night was a Meet and Greet with the other lucky winners, SIS  representative  Emma, Helen and her husband/coach an also IC triathlete Mark. Helen brought Welsh cakes which were very tasty and we were all supplied with a SIS endurance pack to help us over the weekend.  

We discussed the weekend. I was a bit worried we wouldn’t be doing much training but I quickly released I was wrong. The schedule went as followed;

 

Saturday:
8am- Park Run
11am - Bike Ride
3pm - Core exercises and stretching,
5pm - Sea Swim

Sunday:
6am - Sea Swim
9am - Bike Ride
10:30am - Brick Run
12pm - Q and As

 

Saturday morning was the Porthcawl 5k, we had a warm up with Helen then headed to the start line. It was busy around 200 competitors but a beautiful course along the sea front. Helen was off and I had no chance of catching, she got a course record of 16:40!! Unbelievable, I was happy with a sub 20 of 19:50.

 

The happy finishers...

 

A quick jog back and breakfast altogether (a full welsh breakfast).  We were off on a 3 hour bike. 47 miles with a lovely challenging Welsh Bryn,this was a good long climb and part of the route was from the famous Dragon Ride. Helen’s friend Darren Pedal Cover Insurance owner and road champion also joined us. Plus we had our own escort, Mark in the van incase we had any mechanicals or needed some assistance! Riding with Helen was great and I picked up lots of tips, I was admiring her Liv bike! She made all the hills look so easy.

 

Upon returning, we relaxed in the sun, learnt some stretching and important core exercises from Helen to prevent injury.

 

We then headed out for a sea swim. Mark and his friend were with us on surf boards. Having never open water swum in the sea, I found it pretty tricky. The sea tastes horrible and the waves are off putting. Mark was very helpful helping me sort out my breathing and giving me tips, while the speedier swimmers stuck with Helen. I made the swim to the other beach but was lucky to head back on the back of Marc's surf board, great fun! The sea was a warming 18  degrees. This was followed by dinner with the Jenkins, where we were chatting about the day.

 



Gotta eat like a champion to be a champion!

Sunday morning 6 am and I'm peeling on a wet wetsuit. This isn't pleasant. We headed down to the beach for a pre breaky swim, meeting Helen, Mark and his very helpful friend at the beach. Some buoys had been set up for a circuit.

 I have to enter the water?

 

Mark coached me for the first half and I was surprised how much better I was. We finished with a race running in and out the water, this was tough on the legs! Must be good strengthening for the quads. After this session we were all starving and headed back to the hotel all together for breakfast.

 

Can we have breakfast now?

We then headed off for an hour's bike, a more relaxed affair and a brick run after. The brick was along the sea front and we kept going as long as we wanted. At an easy pace, I chatted with Helen for a beautiful 10k along the coast. Feeling incredibly lucky to be running alongside a such an inspiring athlete. So as we discussed life and training I was picking up as many tips as I could!

 

All showered and packed we finished the weekend with a chat, questions and answers in the sun. The sun had been shining all weekend in Wales which is a variety! I didn’t want to leave as we said our goodbyes, having met such lovely people over the weekend and enjoying the taste of an Athletes life! Train, eat, train eat, rest…..

 

 

Helen and Mark were two genuine people, kind, helpful and good fun! Emma from SIS was fantastic too. An inspirational lady with a few ironman’s under her belt and no pushing of the brand just helpful nutritional tips throughout the weekend.  Thank you all for such a great weekend! I hope they have another weekend next year I can join!

 

Blenheim Triathon and First Time Triathlete Tips

Blenheim was my third sprint triathlon and after a good open water swimming session with my coach a few days before, I felt fully prepared (or so I thought). I met my friend Sean in the drizzle with high spirits and went into the beautiful palace court yards to where our transition area will be. Bikes racked and wetsuits on, we picked up our swim hats and headed down to the lake. With a motivating briefing (we had to hug the person next to you and cheer), I was pumped up and ready to go!

Swim

A new type of ‘start’ for me; you had to jump off a pontoon into the lake, swim 100m to the centre of the lake and tread water for a few minutes before starting.  I jumped in at the front (not realising how many people were in my wave), which gave me time to acclimatise to the cold. However I had to bob around for a while and as the lake was only around 15degrees I started to get a little chilly.

The whistle went and I went into a steady front crawl for the first 100m. Suddenly the rush of a hundred or so other quick and stronger swimmers charged passed/over me pushing me out to the side and off course! They just kept coming and I lost my rhythm, struggling the rest of the way which was disappointing! Once being hauled out the water by very helpful volunteers, I jogged up a pretty steep hill for about half a km to transition. Passing Sean on the run (he later told me he fell over and hurt his toe exiting the water), T1 was quick. The wetsuit slipped off easily using the Vaseline trick and I avoided the temptation of drying my feet...

Bike

The bike course was fantastic; closed roads, beautiful settings, a fair few hills and the sun came out. I felt like I was flying, overtaking a fair few competitions and even having to shout out a few to move out the way!

After three laps and with a smooth transition, I ran to rack my bike. But I could not find my trainers, and jogged up and down with my bike like a headless chicken! I finally spotted my pink towel and trainers and set off on the run.

Run

The run consisted of a 5.6km (two laps) race; a quick downhill and then a long uphill around the lake. My left leg kept cramping which is strange, and I put it down to the extra effort up the hills on the bike and not drinking any water (silly move!). With a last sprint to the finish I was very pleased to receive my finishers medal! I saw Sean on the last lap of his bike as I was going into the second lap of my run so having crossed the finish line, I cheered him to the finish.

I was slower in the run than at Hyde Park but was pleased to find I got the 3rd quickest bike and run time for women overall, 10th lady and 3rd in my age group with over 1200 women. I'm pretty chuffed as I have put in a lot of work to improve my cycling and Dan’s training programmes are clearly working!

I encourage all ages and levels to give triathlons a try; it really is a sport everyone can enjoy. Especially when you pick a beautiful setting like Blenheim to race in.

Here’s what I have learnt in my first three triathlons, which I hope help you avoid the mistakes I made!

Beginners Tips for your first Triathlon;

1. Practice an open water swim in a wetsuit as much as possible before the event, and if you have time acclimatise in the water (dunk your head under and try and breathe out under water).




Holbourgh Lake (where I've started practising).

  

2. Practice transitions; you can save minutes on a smooth transition and always make sure you have your helmet on before touching the bike!

3. Look for signs/marker to memorise where you rack your bike and remember the row number. Take a bright towel to place your trainers on so you can spot it on return from bike.

4. Wear goggles under your swim hat, not over! This stops other competitors knocking them off in the scrabble! Also spit in your goggles before racing this stops them fogging up.

5. Apply Vaseline on your inner wrists, ankles and neck to stop your wetsuit rubbing. Also apply onto the outside of your wetsuit up from your ankles to knees and wrists to elbows to help it easily slide off.

6. As you exit the water, open the neck of your wetsuit to let the water gush out (this makes it easier to take the top half off when running).

7. Don't dry your feet or bother wearing socks when getting on your bike, your feet will dry on the bike (saving a lot of time).

8. Take water on the bike (this may seem simple but I have forgotten this before and forgotten to drink if I have taken it! Dehydration will not only be detrimental for your run but will also slow down your recovery time after the race).

9. Practice drinking on the bike and how much you drink. I can only sip a small amount regularly or I get a stich on the run!

10.Use elastic laces, when your adrenaline is high and you've leapt of the bike, tying laces is impossible.

11. Save some energy for a sprint finish and enjoy the race, smile at the crowds and if the race is at Blenheim, you’re encouraged to high five the spectators on your run in, which makes you feel pretty cool J

Spring New Forest Wiggle Sportive 11/4




Happy Finishers

 

Waking up in the middle of the new forest to the rain on Saturday morning was not what I wanted to see. The sky was grey and I couldn’t see any blue sky. We unenthusiastically pulled on our winter cycle gear and headed to breakfast, I had fruit, yogurt, cereals and of course  peanut butter to prepare for the 70 miles that lay ahead. The owner of the B and B and another cyclist staying seemed sure the rain would stop at 9am, I wasn’t so sure, my phone told me 12! I was seriously considering ringing Wiggle to change our entry to the Sunday.

Once arriving at the site we registered. This was very well organised with no queuing at all. I did forget the one thing I needed (my helmet) so galloped back to the car in the rain to grab it. The start was done in waves which moved very quickly, after a clear race briefing we were off... 5 minutes after our departure the sun came out and yes at 9am!

The ride was very pretty through the New forest and Moorlands, until the first feed station it was fairly flat. After 30 miles I started to feel my energy drain, but was certain when looking at the map there should be a feed station soon.  After a tough bit against the wind at 32 miles a marshall shouted "just 8 miles to the feed stop." Misreading my map the station was at 40 miles not 30. Glad I had my peanut butter! I had lost Dad for quite a while now but decided to wait for him at the station. Making a friend called Colin from Basingstoke we chatted and maintained a good pace. I was surprised to be at 40miles in just 2hrs 10, I don’t think I’ve ever being that fast?

The first feed station was amazing! Proper toilets, bananas, flap jacks, chocolate and the old school fig rolls. I filled up (maybe too much) and waited for Dad. The next leg was a little more hilly with a few humps, I was surprised to see some walking up these. I quite like hills, it was the 20mph winds in the open I struggled with. I tried to cling on to a few back wheels but even powering at a full effort it was depressing to see my speedometer say 8mph! This went on for about 8 miles.  I then saw a sign to give me some motivation stating “Still away to go, but your nearer than before” great!

The rest of the ride was well signposted and enjoyable, lots of donkeys and ponies to see and a few locals supporting the riders. At the last 3 miles I passed a rider on  a Spotter in jeans going at an impressive pace. I also followed a man without a seat; whether he lost this on route or started without one who knows! At the end I was happy with my time of 4:27 moving and was met with a medal and protein bar. I waited for Dad to finish and then trotted off on a 20 minute brick run. I wasn’t the only one doing this, must of being a lot of triathletes training. I would say I felt the jelly legs for the first 2k. Once returning I felt full knackered! After refuelling we then went to watch the Grand National no wins for me L

 

Overall the Sportive was a great event, a beautiful route, good signposts and for the amount of participants very well organised.

 

7:30am on Sunday morning (no lay ins for me!) I set out on a 12k run but my legs felt very heavy and my splits were slow.  We then planned a relaxing off-road ride through the forest. My oversized tractor of a mountain bike made this pretty tough and an easy 18 miler turned into 27 miles. By Monday I well and truly needed a rest day!

 

 

Happy Easter, the first post...

Happy Easter and welcome to my blog! Since the start of 2015 life has been pretty busy, coming third at British Duathlon Championships and qualifying for World Championships in October have been the highlights so far.  Nuffield Health have giving me the funding to allow me to compete at World Championships and with Europeans Championships just three weeks away I thought it was time to right about my adventures, training and journey. 

With the four days off over easter I see it as great time to get those long training sessions in. Good Friday kicked started with some hill reps with my coach Dan Sims. Up Knowle Hill three times; trying to beat my time each set. I'm learning that the descent is just as important, keeping that power going and resisting the wimp in me that wants to brake! Following the session I decided to jump

onto another saddle and join my friend on her little pony 

"Black Beauty" for a relaxing hack and catch up, though for a little thing she was pretty strong-willed and I had a tough time stopping her cantering home with me!

Yesterday was a full on day.  An 80mile cycle with the cycle club San Fairy Anne to Rye, Romney Marshes and back. My longest ride to date! The ride didn't start great, joining the wrong group at the start (shooting off at 20mph!) I knew I wasn't going to maintain this pace and Dad (who had joined was definatly going to burn 

out!). We dropped back to join the slower group. After waiting

twenty minutes they didn't appear. Getting slightly worried with

only 7miles into the ride we decided to make our own way to Rye (with the help of Google maps). Proudly I directed us (it probably wasn't the prettiest route)and we made it 30miles in, cycling through the busy little town we found the bikes outsidea cafe,  only 25minutes behind the quick group. There they were tucking into their bacon sarnies. I was happy with my cake and hot chocolate!  (the first of 3 that day!). Meeting the slower group we set off through the marshes with a 20mph head wind to get through. 

Tucking myself behind one of the big guys I tried to hang onto the faster groups back wheel. Dad was suffering a bit now and was hanging back with the slower group. 60miles in it was time for another stop and while the men tucked into apple crumble and custard I had more hot chocolate (it is easter after all) and a millionaires shortbread lots of needed sugar! (my favourite). Ready for the last leg. This was  a fairly easy 20miles home. I was surprised to find I  didn't feel that tired, it could have been that for once as I was refuelling well and not leaving it too late to eat like I normally do. The legs felt ok so I finished it off with a 10minute brick run while Dad loaded the car.. 

Easter Sunday! Today I plan to run after the luxury of a lie in and chocolate with breakfast :)  I'm giving it a bit of time to pass until heading out there,  I have a taste for dark chocolate and with a lack of eggs in the shops and a unorganised mother :p  I have been given  a bar of my favourite as seen below! I'm then off for a lovely pony ride with Emily and Mango (the dog).  I will just add it has been 40 days and nights with not a drop of alcohol consumed! Not that I drink much but I may treat myself to a 

small glass tonight, then maintain alcohol free until after Europeans :)

Have a good Easter everyone!