Table of contents for July 2016 in 220 Triathlon

SLATEMAN LLANBERIS, WALES • 21-22 MAY ’16 Like something from the Lord of the Rings, the Slateman Full’s 11km run takes athletes up the zig-zag hill from Llanberis into the Dinorwig quarries. Garry Hughes and Suzie Richards were the first to complete the epic journey. IRONMAN 70.3 BARCELONA CALELLA, SPAIN • 22 MAY 2016 The 70.3 Barcelona event actually takes place some 50km out of the Catalonian capital at Calella, where some 2,500 triathletes lined up at dawn on the shores of the Mediterranean. IRONMAN LANZAROTE LANZAROTE, SPAIN • 21 MAY 2016 The 25th edition of the long-course classic Ironman Lanzarote took place in May. Denmark’s Tine Holst, a former fitness instructor at the Club La Santa host venue, was the female victor. ITU CAGLIARI TRIATHLON WORLD CUP CAGLIARI, SARDINIA…

JUST A NORMAL GUY In brief I’m a 52-year-old father of three daughters. To fill a void after playing football for many many years, I started running marathons. But after a few years I became bored with just road running and tried a duathlon the first week in January – not a good choice, but I absolutely loved it. After competing in the same race three years in a row, a casual conversation got me thinking about triathlons… After learning to swim properly, it started with a sprint, the following year Olympic distance, followed by Ironman 70.3 Wimbleball in 2012 aged 49 (again, not a sensible choice for a first 70.3) and then Ironman UK in 2013. I then went on to win my age-group at the Bastion (iron distance)…

220 WEBSITE Head to our website at www.220triathlon.com to catch up on all the latest multisport news, fresh training advice, athlete profiles and expanded gear reviews. While there, you can search our archives, chat on the forum, enter monthly myTri challenges, find a race near you, download training plans, enter competitions, sign up for the e-newsletter… and plenty more. 220 PODCAST Download the latest podcast from www.220triathlon.com/ podcast. Featuring interviews with coaches, athletes and sports writers, it’s free to download. All of our past episodes are also available to download, featuring the likes of Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Craig Alexander, the Brownlees and Mirinda Carfrae. 220 YOUTUBE Subscribe to our YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/220triathlonvideos – for exclusive interviews, racing tips, tutorials and event footage. You will also find all of…

STATS Water temp 18°C Bike elevation 660m Run elevation 31m 2015 DNF rate 6% 2015 median finish time 12:27:16 TIPS JASON STOTT 302nd place in 2015 (11:47:19) and member of Scarab Tri Club PRE-RACE I chose The Outlaw because I’d heard good things and it’s known for being considerably flatter than Ironman UK. I’d say if you’re not signed up for an M-Dot event then this is the next (or arguably should be first) on your list of must-do long-distance races. Myself and a friend camped on site, only 200m from transition. They also offer luxury wooden pods to stay in, which I’d recommend for extra comfort. Registration is a breeze the day before, and set-up is quick and no hassle. THE SWIM The Outlaw swim is a proper Iron…

It may still be an 180km two-lap course around Dorset, but there have been plenty of changes to the previous Challenge Weymouth bike route. The key climbs are the 254m above sea level Gales Hill (1) at 49km and 136km and Lyon’s Gate Hill (2) at 54/142km boasting an 11% ascent. The the last 5km of each lap are downhill. FINISHER TIPS KEY DORSET ADVICE FROM FACEBOOK’S IRONMAN JOURNEY “The section just before Lyon’s Gate Hill has a treacherous road surface. There’ll be punctures here!” MARTIN SMITH, VIA FACEBOOK “Those with soft feet beware; if it’s high tide then it’s a painful shingle beach run to T1.” LEE MAXWELL, VIA FACEBOOK “Fight the urge to mug someone of their fresh fish and chips on the beer mile!” MATTHEW RUCK, VIA…

ZOOT ULTRA TRI BAG 2.0 £95.00 www.zootsports.com The fact that Zoot label this as a tri and not transition bag is telling. It almost feels like a triathlete’s overseas travelling bag, opening up like a suitcase to reveal a plush rear compartment you can imagine putting shirts in, and a removable waterproof wetsuit compartment also suitable for soiled laundry. The 56/39/20cm size is just airline cabin-friendly and, while it may not withstand the meanest of luggage chuckers, the protective helmet pocket is a neat addition. So it works for aviation but what about your A-race? The easy-to-access waist strap pocket and bottle holders are welcome additions but, if anything, there’s too much going on. The eleven different pockets and compartments have the potential to baffle when you’re searching…

GONE ARE THE days when cement-like energy gels resulted in a scene more befitting The Exorcist. Nowadays, these often life-saving (okay, PB-saving) pockets of sugar are more palatable than ever before. You just need to cut a swathe through the hyperbole and find one that suits you and your tastes. WHICH BRINGS US onto the high-achievers. First up, you can’t argue with Wiggle’s own-brand effort. It doesn’t proclaim to be the most advanced recipe out there but its multi-transporting carb delivery, taste and viscosity is impressive – but nothing compared with that 50p-per-gel price. THEN IT’S ONTO the big-hitters. SiS’s Go Gel remains at the front of the pack, its isotonic composition is so appreciated when water’s short and your energy is low. It’s reassuring to note that SiS hasn’t…

1 PRIMED PERFORMANCE If you integrate midweek time trials into your summer tri programme, you could benefit from a spot of ‘priming’. UK researchers tested nine cyclists over a TT course using either a self-paced or all-out pacing strategy after being ‘primed’ (or not) with a pre-time-trial effort at 70% HRmax. The aim was to determine whether pacing and/or this intense warm-up resulted in improved performance. Results showed that pacing strategy didn’t have a significant impact – unlike priming, which slashed TT time, the result of improved oxidative metabolism and better mental prep. 2 9 TO 5 = CALORIE CUTTING It seems that exercising after work rather than before could result in a leaner, faster you. A study out of Alabama University examined the hypothesis that mental work promotes calorie…

As we’re now in the throes of summer and finally the water at outdoor swimming venues is at a ‘pleasurable’ temperature, it’s time to maximise your training and prepare for the part of triathlons that we often fear the most. Too many athletes simply use the open water to plod around in circles, but you should use your time exactly like you would in a structured interval run session. Each open-water session should have an objective, and should include structure and work on specifics that aren’t possible in a pool swim. So utilise to time to focus on sighting, hone your turning on marker buoys, try drafting on other swimmers and practise the various race starts. See last issue’s swim sessions from John Wood for more open-water guidance. While this…

Q How do you prevent the post-exercise lull at work? I feel fine after a session, eat immediately afterwards but flag badly come 3:30pm! GEORGINA WORTH, EMAIL A The first question I have is this: are you eating before you exercise, or going into the workout on an empty tank and thus starting with a deficit? Find something that your stomach can handle (for me that’s always a banana and peanut butter on toast) so you don’t go into the session depleted. You say you eat immediately after, but is it fast-absorbing, sustaining food that you’re eating within 45mins of completion? Megan Forbes, a Boulder, Colorado-based dietician who specifically works with many competitive triathletes, recommends smoothies for post-workout recovery fuel that contain carbohydrates, protein, electrolytes and antioxidants. According to Forbes:…

 Q I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of strength training, but should I continue to keep it up over race season? And what should I prioritise? PHIL BOOTH, EMAIL “Before taking up any strength training, you should first get your body used to moving effectively” A One of the main purposes of a strength-based training programme is to prevent injury, which will lead to weeks of consistent training, an ability to increase training volume and intensity, a faster rate of adaption to different training stimuli and, above all, greater fitness gains. As the season approaches, race pace and max efforts become a regular feature in our training. But increasing intensity will put our bodies under immense stress, and if our strength programme isn’t maintained imbalances, weaknesses or bio-mechanical irregularities…

“I feel my legs failing beneath me and aches coming from places I didn’t even know I had” MEET ANDREW WEIGHTMAN AGE 46 LIVES Northumberland PROFESSION Engineer BEST DISCIPLINE Run WORST DISCIPLINE Bike WHY I RACED The challenge and to make my children proud For the last 15 years, I’ve been a bit of an on-and-off runner, competing in a couple of half marathons and one marathon to date. The triathlon bug, however, has always been niggling away and when my best friend Chris signed up for the York Sprint Triathlon last April, I thought, ‘Well, if he’s doing it…!’ I’ve always been too competitive for my own good. So that was it, commitment made and money paid, now all I had to do was train. Fast forward to October…

EUROPEAN CHAMPS QUALIFIER WORLD CHAMPS QUALIFIER BRITISH AGE-GROUP CHAMPS RACE TRIATHLON ENGLAND NATIONAL CHAMPS RACE PERRANPORTH TRIATHLON When 4 September 2016 Where Perranporth, Cornwall Distances 1.5km swim/38kmbike/7.5km run Course Sea swim, hilly bike, sand and clifftop run Race highlights One of the toughest challenges on the UK tri calendar, but you are rewarded with the stunning Cornish landscape Contact www.perranporthslsc.org.uk JUNE 25/26 Cardiff Triathlon (various dists). Cardiff Bay, Cardiff.www.cardiff-tri.com Leeds Castle Triathlon (various dists). Leeds Castle, Kent.triathlon.leeds-castle.com/home 25 Celtman (3.8km swim/202km bike/42km run). Wester Ross, Scotland. www.cxtri.com Votwo Salty Sea Dog Triathlon (various dists). Boscombe, Dorset.www.votwo.co.uk Pembrokeshire Triathlon (1.5km swim/43km bike/10.6km run). Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire.www.pembstri.org.uk 26 Gladiator Full-Distance Triathlon (3.8km swim/180km bike/42.2km run). Beaulieu, Hampshire.www.racenewforest.co.uk Ironman 70.3 UK (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run). Wimbleball Lake, Exmoor.www.ironman.com Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon (various…

MATT BAIRD UK LD RACE GUIDE, P46 “Training for an IM will rack up hundreds of hours, but how do you face the unique quirks of your UK Iron race day? Here we provide essential course-specific advice for your 226km homeland experience.” HELEN WEBSTER SWIMRUN GEAR FOCUS, P61 “Swimrun’s popularity is on the rise, but it comes with some unique kit challenges. So how do you run in a wetsuit or swim in trail shoes? Here are the best gear options, whether you want to buy or DIY.” JOHN WOOD MANAGE SWIM SPEED, P106 “It can be difficult to increase your race speed, but, bizarrely, it could be because you’re swimming too fast. This month’s session is designed to help you slow down and speed up as…

The final May bank holiday weekend saw the Brownlee brothers appearing on Top Gear, the GB age-group team collecting 73 medals at the European Championships and thousands of UK athletes racing at events like the Outlaw Half. So it’s easy to forget that in the UK in the late 1980s triathlon was a fringe sport. The media coverage was limited to snippets and the general public were unsure about what disciplines made up our sport. Fast forward two decades and our country has become one of the most successful triathlon nations in the world, with our formidable Olympic team preparing for Rio and a seemingly infinite number of races to pick from every weekend. But rarely does success happen by chance: development and increased participation are down to commitment, belief…

With 401 locations nationwide, parkrun has become a household name and one of grassroots sports’ success stories. Now tri could have its very own free companion to the 5km phenomenon. Intotri began life in 2015 and has since hosted six free events over junior, super sprint and sprint distances at the Elmbridge Xcel Centre in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, attracting nearly 400 athletes to date. Like parkrun, the volunteer-run scheme sees participants create an online account before they can sign up for monthly Short (200m swim/10km bike/2.5km run), Long (400m/20km/5km) and Junior events in the summer. Intotri also provide free aquathlon events, and swim and run technique classes in the winter. “The idea is to grow Intotri into the parkrun of the tri world, providing communities all over the UK with opportunities…

The May bank holiday witnessed the British elite, age-group and paratri squads once again fly home from the ETU European Triathlon Champs with plenty of gold, silver and bronze in their cabin bags. The GB sprint-distance age-groupers were first off the starting pontoon on the Friday in Lisbon, and they’d soon plunder a total of 41 medals, with 15 gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze. For the second consecutive year, the fastest sprint GB AG athlete was James Phillips (M20-24 with a silver-winning time of 1:00:58. Elizabeth Bullivant (F35-39 was the fastest British female age-grouper in 1:08:38. The 14 other golds were Sebastian Garry (M16-19 , Thomas Morris (M25-29 , John Soutar (M30-34 , Andrew Bentley (M50-54 , Gavin Sword (M55-59 , Michael Smallwood (M70-74 , Rosie Weston (F16-19 ,…

STATS Water temp 16-19°C Bike elevation 1,641m Run elevation 290m 2015 DNF rate 8% 2015 median finish time 13:44:21 TIPS JANINE DOGGETT 2015 Ironman UK finisher (14:34:27) and 3:46hr Paris Marathon athlete PRE-RACE Lanzarote it isn’t, yet modest Bolton provides an incredible Ironman race. The locality and calm lake swim make it an ideal first-time choice, while the bike course will challenge the toughest of riders. It’s a good idea to recce the course before, and Pennington Flash offers swimming every Saturday morning before the big day. On race day, getting to the start is easy, but leave time to find the nutrition and post-race bag drop area as this isn’t immediately obvious. THE SWIM The race kicks off at 6am with a two-lap swim and, despite the quiet nervousness…

STATS Water temp 15°C Bike elevation 3,027m Run elevation 1,349m 2015 DNF rate 10% 2015 median finish time 16:50:51 TIPS DAVID CHAPMAN Brutal winner in 2015 (12:22:54) and five-time Norseman finisher PRE-RACE This is one tough race. Snowdonia will probably involve a fair drive to get to, so get this done sooner rather than later. Racking your bike the night before can help reduce grief on race day, or turn up early to secure a place in the small car park right by transition. Book somewhere to stay in Llanberis itself, that way you’re never too far from the race headquarters. THE SWIM Llyn (lake) Padarn is famously cold. A neoprene cap really helps with warmth, and you can even use neoprene socks and gloves. It’s a week earlier in…

STATS Water temp 16°C Bike elevation 2,095m Run elevation 350m 2015 DNF rate 12.4% 2015 median finish time 13:41:48 TIPS MARK KLEANTHOUS 246th in 2014 (12:07:31). Mark is a tri coach and finisher of 440+ triathlons. PRE-RACE In Tenby you have a 1km walk from transition to the swim start. If it’s cold and wet, wear your wetsuit to the start, otherwise put it on when you arrive. Allow enough time to get to the start and place your shoes and a drink in your allotted number spot on the zigzag stairs for the run to T1. THE SWIM This is a scenic two-loop triangular swim. Keep left at the start to keep you out of the congestion during the rest of the swim. Use the giant rock that juts…

1 You don’t have to buy a new wetsuit. Many swimrunners still modify an old or secondhand one by cutting off the legs at knee-height and sometimes the arms at elbow-length, too (although practise with them whole first, as you might get too cold without them). The only real downsides are lack of flexibility for running and the traditional back zipper, which you’ll find a struggle to undo for ventilation under the compulsory swimrun race bib. 2 Lightweight and grippy trail shoes are best for swimrun, but depending on the terrain and race distance you can dodge buying a new pair. Your existing trail shoes might be perfectly adequate for the job and with a pair of quick-drying and comfortable socks should get you round without too much discomfort. Plus,…

JARGON BUSTER GLYCOGEN A multi-branched polysaccharide of glucose, which is how carbohydrates are stored in animals. In plants, it’s starch. VISCOSITY Essentially the ‘thickness’ of fluid. Water has a low viscosity. Something like maple syrup would have a higher viscosity. Energy gels have moved on significantly since the days of old where the sachet’s contents would require a mangle to squeeze out, so viscous was its composition. Now, with competition fierce, possibly driven by a significant mark-up (up there with popcorn, apparently), these sugary sachets are much more palatable. They’re also brimming with science, with marketing teams in overdrive, claiming their ingredients – some well-known, some obscure – will send you to the finish line faster than the rest. But despite the hyperbole, key to maximising energy gels – whether…

“During the race season there’s a very fine line between doing too much intensity work and not enough” I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of triathlon for 27 years now, and one of the things I’ve learnt during that time is the importance of keeping sharp during the race season. Now, some of you are probably asking what ‘keeping sharp’ actually means. In short, it’s retaining the ability to hold the pace required for racing, and it’s not as simple as it sounds. During the race season there’s a very fine line between doing too much intensity work and not enough. Not doing enough leaves you wondering why you aren’t able to hold the race pace you were hoping to, while doing too much will see you giving your…

Granola has earned a bad reputation in the recent sugar debate, and admittedly many shop-bought varieties can be loaded with it. This delicious home-made version, however, contains just a little honey and has an excellent balance of carbs, protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. It’s great before or after training, or as a late-night snack. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat. It’s not even a true grain. It’s actually the seed of a plant similar to rhubarb. A good source of protein, B vitamins, manganese, magnesium and copper, it’s an awesome ingredient for vegetarian or vegan triathletes, or anyone with wheat or gluten sensitivities. INGREDIENTS (makes 8-10 portions) 150g jumbo porridge oats, gluten free 100g buckwheat (untoasted) 100g mixed nuts and seeds 50g coconut flakes tsp cinnamon…

Q Knowing how much of a mental challenge my Ironman will be this year, I fear I’m going to hit the wall and not complete it. Are there any proven ways to improve mental toughness, or is it just a case of seeing what happens and hoping for a slice of luck on the day? CARL HALL, EMAIL A As Jodie Stimpson’s coach Darren Smith once told me, “Confidence derives from confidence.” And if you don’t train, you’ll always have doubts because competence will remain absent. It’s the same with mental toughness – train at least eight hours each week (ideally more if you’re looking to chalk up some results), including one long ride, and you’ll feel confident that you’ve accumulated a good level of fitness. But fitness, as many…

Q I’m trying to increase my protein consumption when training hard. But, like an increasing number of the population, I suffer from gout and increased protein seems to trigger an outbreak. Are there any protein-heavy foods not linked to gout? MIKE BIRD, EMAIL A The main consideration of any diet for someone who suffers with gout is minimising the build-up of a natural metabolite in the body called uric acid, an excess of which can cause joint pain. For many years, gout treatment focused on eliminating all foods that had moderate to high amounts of naturally-occurring compounds called purines, which create uric acid in the body when broken down. The list of purine-rich foods to avoid was long, but more recent research has created a clearer picture of the role…

SOUTHPORT TRIATHLON Southport 22 May 2016 After getting involved with Joining Jack’, a great charity devoted to finding treatment for duchenne muscular dystrophy, I’d finally decided to sign up for the Southport Triathlon in support. This would be my first standard-distance tri at the age of 46! I’d made all the necessary preparations and was raring to go by the time race day came around. Car parked, I make the short walk to transition and begin to worry if I’ve got everything right. But bike (finally) racked, kit prepared and wetsuit on, I walk to the start with my friend George, who’s also doing his first standard tri. We only met the previous week at Pennington Flash while getting some open-water swimming in before this race! I’m excited rather than…

Cholmondeley, Thule, chipotle… there are just some words and brands we struggle to say at 220 Towers. And now added to this list are OOFOS shoes. With the potential to make Crocs look cool, OOFOS shoes/clogs/sandals are reportedly engineered to help your feet recover quicker after a long day or tough session than other footwear. Where normal run shoes aim to deliver rebound, energy return and forward propulsion, OOfoam is said to do the opposite, ‘absorbing 37% more of the impact to reduce the stress on your feet, body and soul to help you recover’ say the Reno, Nevada, hailing brand. With plenty of grip for poolside walks, the OOriginal are pictured here (£40 at www.oofos. co.uk ). So why not, as OOFOS suggest, ‘slip…

The Ironman UK 180km bike course starts with a 22km ride from Pennington Flash to Anderton, where the first of two bike laps begins. The route flows over Rivington Reservoir before the ‘fun’ starts with the Sheep House Lane climb at 30km (1), which rises to an elevation of 327m. From 35km there’s a long, mostly downhill section before a tricky ascent at High Moor at 78km (2) before lap two starts at the 100km point. T2 is the Macron Stadium in Bolton. FINISHER TIPS KEY CUES FROM PAST ENTRANTS “The Sheep House Lane climb is Tour de France-esque – and you also have to be careful on the descent, don’t try to be a speed demon!” MARK TERRIS, VIA FACEBOOK “The T1 bike exit can get quite slippery, especially…

STATS Water temp 17°C Bike elevation 1,975m Run elevation 36m 2015 DNF rate* 8% 2015 median finish time* 12:11:14 TIPS JO CARRITT Second at Challenge Weymouth 2014 and coach at everydaytraining org.uk PRE-RACE The transition is close to the swim start. The closest all-day car park is The Beach, a 5min walk to transition but with a limited capacity so check parking out prior to race morning. The finish line is 2km away, so make use of your white dry clothes bag to transport some warm gear to the finish line. THE SWIM This is a two-lap swim, with a beach start and ‘land buoy’ to run around at the end of first lap. It’s a pebble beach, and mats will be laid down to minimise discomfort – but take…

The 180km Tenby bike leg takes athletes through Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, offering both eye candy and leg-sapping climbs. The first 60km heads to Angle before a tricky high at Pembroke. Then the first of two laps begins at Lamphey at 60km, with major climbs east of Ludchurch (1) and at ‘Heartbreak Hill’ (2) in Saundersfoot. FINISHER TIPS TOP TENBY TIPS FROM FACEBOOK’S IRONMAN JOURNEY “Learn how to swim with bilateral breathing. The waves are big and, if you only breathe to one side, you’ll get a mouthful of sea water!” PAUL LETCHWORTH, VIA FACEBOOK “Have a goal time. Work out when you expect to pass certain points or feed stations. Write down these times and stick them to your bars.” ROBERT GOVIER, VIA FACEBOOK “Practise sea swimming as much…

Grown tired of buying bikes but being let down by the wheels, spec and, erm, handlebar tape? Then worry no more loyal brethren, for Ribble Cycles are offering one lucky reader a £1,000 voucher for their Bikebuilder site. The online Bikebuilder customisation programme allows bike lovers to pick every element of their shiny new steed, starting with the choice of 30 Ribble frames covering the triathlon, road, MTB and cyclocross genres. The choice of groupsets is also huge, with Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo all on the list, while you can choose your training or racing rims from the vaults of Mavic, Shimano, Campagnolo, Fulcrum and Rodi. Then you can pick your (deep breath) tyres, bar tape/grips, handlebars, stem, spacers, seatpost, saddle, and even inner tubes, from the countless Bikebuilder options,…

CELLS HOLD KEY TO TRI SUCCESS It may sound like something from Star Wars, but increasing your mitochondria levels could be the key to tri performance Many triathletes fall into the trap of training at one pace. They’re of the mentality that if they don’t work up a sweat, the session’s redundant. This is a surefire way for your performance to plateau. Broadly speaking, you should spend around 80-90% of your training at pretty easy intensity with the remainder hard. And when we say hard, we mean lungs-bursting and sweat-pouring hard. This so-called ideal has recently been supported in the labs by leading sports scientists Carsten Lundby and Robert Jacobs. “Our research has identified the most powerful individual physiological marker predictive of endurance performance is skeletal muscle oxidative capacity,” explains…

JARGON BUSTER PULL BUOY An hourglass-shaped piece of foam clutched between the thighs for buoyancy – allows the swimmer to concentrate on upper body technique. It often feels as if swimming faster takes all the effort in the world. But despite all the training and all the hard work, you just can’t break through that PB – your efforts are simply not producing the improvements that your training promises. At times like these, most people assume they need to find ways of working even harder. But rather than repeatedly trying to increase your effort, sometimes you just need to slow everything down. We all like to work hard, endurance athletes especially. But slowing things down gives you more of a chance to think about your stroke and work on the…

“Go back just a few years and there would have been no doubt that carbs were a necessary fuel for exercise” Whether to eat or not to eat carbs is one of the most debated questions among sports scientists at present. Go back just a few years and there would have been no doubt that carbohydrates were a necessary fuel for exercise. But today there’s a high proportion of endurance athletes discussing the performance benefits of ketogenic diets [for an example see last month’s Diet Analysis]. Ketogenic diets involve limiting your carb intake to 50g a day and making up the remaining energy requirements with foods high in fat and protein. So what’s the thinking behind this shift? FINDING A BETTER MIX OF FUEL The continual search for performance gains,…

START STRONG Start the morning with something like a Bircher’s muesli made with fruit, Greek yoghurt and oats. EASY CHEESY A matchbox-sized portion of cheddar with an apple will keep Amanda going until lunch. BREAK A FEW EGGS A frittata served with salad and a slice of sprouted bread will refuel Amanda after her evening swim. DAIRY, THEN DOZE Have one more portion of dairy before bed to provide you with 10g of protein for overnight recovery. EXTENDED EATS Ditch the whey protein gel at lunch and instead go for Greek yoghurt with berries to spread your intake out.…

Q What’s the difference between indoor and outdoor miles on the bike? Obviously outdoors is affected by wind, but indoors you have to pedal continually. LINDA MURRAY, FACEBOOK A For all but the most intense interval sessions, riding outdoors will always trump the trainer. This is because cycling is about so much more than just mashing the pedals and mindlessly churning out watts. For those highly focussed intervals though, it’s hard to beat an indoor trainer. You can control your efforts precisely and ensure you’re hitting exactly the right intensity. There are no distractions, no junctions to interrupt you and no other road users to worry about – you can just put your head down and give it the beans! An indoor trainer is also great for fitting in a…

MEET THE WINNER Suzie Richards, 29, recruits and trains teachers by day and is a triathlete by morning and night. She’s built a reputation as one of the fastest age-groupers around, and The Slateman was her latest impressive victory… I grew up playing every sport going, and completed my first triathlon in 2012. I came back to The Slateman to see if I could keep up my winning streak – I won it in 2014 and 2015! I swam in Lake Padarn, where the swim takes place, three weeks before on a training weekend and the water was 10°c, so was glad it warmed up a bit for race day! I was fifth out of the water, but as I was familiar with the course I decided to smash the…

“Whether it’s harder because I’m simply sick of going upwards I don’t know, but those views seem less epic” MEET JACK SEXTY AGE 26 LIVES Bristol PROFESSION Staff writer BEST DISCIPLINE Swim WORST DISCIPLINE Bike WHY I RACED To honour a bet after 220’s Xmas party! Limited preparation? Check. A history of crampy calves? Check. Ghostly pale? Check. With these credentials, what better way to pop my M-Dot cherry than to enter Ironman Lanzarote, with its searing heat, high winds and almost 3,000m of bike climbing?’ I thought to myself, in total denial about the difficulty of the task ahead. The story of my arrival in the Canaries began in December last year, when it was mentioned over (copious) drinks that no one on Team 220 had ever done an…

PEDALCOVER ONLINE Home insurance for triathletes. At Pedalcover we take care of the things you love, from your bikes to wetsuit and Garmins – so that you can train and race with peace of mind that you’re completely covered. Whether you’re new to triathlons, a seasoned Ironman or a GB age-group athlete our policy has been designed to cover you anywhere in the world without the need to take specific bike insurance. Tel 01656 652977 / 0800 121 4424 Web www.pedalcover.co.uk CURREXSOLE NATIONWIDE AND ONLINE Wear what the pros wear! CurrexSole create tri-specific insoles to individualise your bike and running shoes for better performance and comfort. Increase your power and efficiency, reduce ‘bike-to-run’ numbness. Reduce blisters from ‘sock-free running’. Tune your shoes like you would your bike. For stockists or…