racing

Do you know what your breaking point is? Even if you are not racing Ironman or ultramarathon distance at this stage, you might have run in races or even in training where you feel that you have smashed yourself beyond belief. So, what we’re talking about is running yourself into total exhaustion and not being able to take another step. It’s not recommended you doing such things daily, but to be able to understand how we get to that point is very interesting as both a coach and an athlete. 

As athletes, we all reach the same metabolic limit. This is defined as the greatest amount of exertion that athletes can withstand over time. It has been discovered that athletes can only burn calories at 2.5 times their resting metabolic rate (RMR) during physical activity that span long periods of time.

Researchers have discovered that when an athlete’s resting metabolic rate goes beyond 2.5 times, the body begins to break down and consume its own tissues to adjust for its caloric deficit. Even with proper race nutrition planning, your digestive tract’s ability to break down calories and this could be the reason for this limit. There’s a limit to how many calories our bellies can take in a given day. 

It has been discovered that the digestive process — the body’s ability to process food and absorb calories and nutrients to power physical activities — is a limiting factor for endurance events. Surprisingly, endurance athletes’ maximal sustained energy expenditure was only slightly higher than the metabolic rates women experience during pregnancy. This shows that the same physiological restrictions that prevent Ironman triathletes from breaking world speed records may also limit other elements of life, such as the size of new-borns in the womb. 

So, what we’re saying is that there is a physiological limit to what you can do as an athlete, as a human being, but that limitation can be mitigated by careful nutritional planning and the steady increase in calories in direct proportion to your physical activities. This fact is very important to all of you. We can avoid that limitation and potential breaking point in endurance by consistently working through your nutrition and physical activity. 

CITATION: “Extreme Events Reveal an Alimentary Limit on Sustained Maximal Human Energy Expenditure,” Caitlin Thurber, Lara R. Dugas, Cara Ocobock, Bryce Carlson, John R. Speakman and Herman Pontzer. Science Advances, June 5, 2019. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341.

Why Aloha Tri?

At Aloha Tri, we have decades of experience and the right coaching certifications from Ironman University, British Triathlon (Level 3) and TrainingPeaks.  We offer bespoke coached programmes via the Premium TrainingPeaks platform, giving you structure and visibility into your training plan. You can choose from weekly or daily progress reviews, which provides corrective action.  We have worked with hundreds of athletes of all ages and abilities and improved their performance, skills and mindset. What motivates us is the “Aloha spirit”, a powerful way to achieve a desired state of mind and body, which we translate into how we coach you. Contact me (rav@alohatri.com) to maximise your investment in your sport!

If you want to go for a swim these days, your options are limited to the sea or a lake close to you. However, open water swimming is quite different than pool swimming, as water conditions and environmental factors can vary from day to day.

There are a number of things that you might want to consider before entering the water, which are important to both newcomers to the sport as well as seasoned veterans. Here are our top consideration before you jump in, so you will have a safe and enjoyable time in the water:

• Water Safety – Even if you swim at the same venue on a regular basis, environmental conditions can radically affect water conditions, so check for anything that might impact your swim like water temperature, wind and currents. Also, does the lake provide water safety officers? If not, always swim with a buddy! (We have water safety at Merchant Taylors.)
• Open Water Gear –If the water temperature is under 20C or if you will be in the water for a long time, you will probably want to wear a wetsuit. Don’t forget goggles and a bright-coloured swim cap. You may even want to wear two caps to keep your head warmer.
• Breathing – Stay comfortable and relaxed. When you enter the water, you first need to acclimate to the change in temperature, visibility and overall feel in this new environment.
• Swim Stroke – You will notice that some open water swimmers have very different techniques from pool swimmers. Learn to adapt your swim stroke to the open water.
• Sighting – In order to maintain a straight line out in the water, it’s important to navigate your local swim venue by using the swim buoys or landmarks that you can sight to on the horizon.
• Pacing – As it’s very difficult to estimate your distances in the open water, it’s important to work on your pacing. This can be done by varying your speed between swim buoys or even by counting your strokes and creating intervals for those counting sets.

Book your Open Water Session With Us Now: https://bit.ly/OWSwimCoaching

Now is the time of year to put together all the elements from our training for the race season. If you haven’t already, it is very important to practice before you race and one way to do this is by incorporating regular brick sessions into your weekly training and also focus on transitions. Below are a number of tips, which I hope will help you in achieving your training and racing goals.

Protocol
Do multiple or inverse bricks to practice loading your legs. Multiple brick sessions can provide you with that extra load and fatigue that you might be carrying during a long distance triathlon. It is a perfect opportunity to do such an exercise outside of a race situation.

Race Kit
Ideally you should wear your race day kit when doing a brick session. Besides, when you get off the bike you certainly don’t want to be running around in your cycle shorts. Also, you can practice certain conditions, such as cooler weather and having to put on an extra layer or two between runs and rides.

Transitions
Transitions are certainly a learning experience for everyone. Brick sessions are perfect to practice your transitions from bike to run or swim to bike. Set up a transition area with all your kit in it as you would in a race.

Mount/Dismount
Practice your mount and dismount whilst you’re doing your brick session. Again, doing this outside of a race situation provides you with a great opportunity to practice this again and again in such a way where you will be able to perfect these skills. So if it’s scooting, mounting or even a flying mount, you know that you will have practised this before racing.

Cadence and Speed
Try to keep the same cadence of your run as you do on the bike. This will help you to get your blood flow going and get your running close to your expected race pace. After doing this a few times, you’ll settle into this cadence and pace more naturally.

Pacing
You don’t want to start your session out by going full blast. You wouldn’t do that when you’re racing and you will not finish your session, if you don’t control your pace. So depending on what you plan, stick to that and try to remain focused. If you do this, it will make your race day more predictable and your racing goals achievable.

Nutrition
Remember to practice your race day nutrition during your brick session. This is a good chance for you to test out various combinations of nutrition and hydration. You can figure out what works and doesn’t work for you. Make sure that you have your race nutrition handy and set up prior to doing your session.

So in the end, brick sessions are the cornerstone to your training. You can practice a lot of scenarios and leave doubt as a distant memory. Lastly, you get to wear a trisuit for the whole session! Isn’t that awesome? Now grab a friend and practice together.

Why Aloha Tri?

At Aloha Tri, we have decades of experience and the right coaching certifications from Ironman University, British Triathlon (Level 3) and TrainingPeaks. We offer bespoke coached programmes via the Premium TrainingPeaks platform, giving you structure and visibility into your training plan. You can choose from weekly or daily progress reviews, which provides corrective action. We have worked with hundreds of athletes of all ages and abilities and improved their performance, skills and mindset.

What motivates us is the “Aloha spirit”, a powerful way to achieve a desired state of mind and body, which we translate into how we coach you. Contact me (rav@alohatri.com) to maximise your investment in your sport!