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Nepean Race Report 2020
When I think of racing in triathlon, images of warmth and sun come to mind, set around beautiful tropical waters. Nothing could be further from the reality of conditions for the Nepean triathlon. It was cold, wet and the freshwater lake to swim in isn’t appealing with its brown murky colours. With a strict no spectators allowed policy due to COVID19 restrictions, the check-in was a little different and had the feel of passing through customs at the airport. It was all very smooth and well-executed. After setting up in transition I was looking forward to putting my wetsuit on to get warm, but after looking around and seeing nobody…
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Spring Energy Review
In life, what you put in is what you typically get out. As I triathlete I spend a lot of time training each week, and thus fuelling to be able to keep backing up sessions is important. I’ve always subscribed to a more balanced diet, not eliminating any food types. I do love my carbs, but am also love the flavours from fats. So I don’t really have an opinion on all the different diets that are promoted to be the best for performance, only that you cannot go wrong with eating whole foods. Here’s some thoughts from my journey to improve my efforts on race day. Fueling while racing…
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PTC Sprint Distance Race Report
Racing Again! It’s exciting to do a triathlon after such a long break from racing. At the end of the triathlon season this year I’d decided to not race until late August or September to allow me to get on top of some injuries. But when events are being constantly cancelled, you wonder whether you’ll ever be able to toe the start line again. Although I did not taper, I was looking forward to testing myself out in a sprint triathlon at the regatta centre. Swim Leg It surprised me to have a mass swim start, but the field was small and quickly spread out. The wind was whipping up…
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Being In the Moment
How often have you heard a professional/expert talk about being present when training? To maximise the benefits from training being present and in the moment is key. Practising this skill also will aid you on race day. I’m going to use swim, bike and run in my examples as I unpack what being present means, but this skill set is not just limited to swim/bike/run. How To Practice Being In The Moment If the skill of being present is new to you, start by practicing while walking. Pay full attention to the experience, focus on the sensations you feel. What the difference small and large movements have while you walk,…
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10km Run TT – Race Report
Breaking 35mins (3:30/km average) for a 10km has been a goal of mine for some time now. With COVID-19 still in full swing, finding events to test yourself at are few, thus when the offer to join a small invitational event with the Delta run crew I jumped at the opportunity. Some of the best runners within Sydney are part of the Delta run crew and so I was grateful for an invitation. With many runners much faster than me, the opportunity provided all the motivation and people to chase that I’d need to reach my goal. They split the 10km run time trial into 3 waves. Wave 1: <40mins, wave…
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Improve Breathing for Better Performance
Have you ever done a hard effort and noticed as time passes your breath gets shorter and shorter? At a certain point you slow, as you just can’t keep up the effort and it feels like you cannot get enough air in. An article produced by a group of researchers from Harms et al. in 1997 measured the blood flow to the legs during cycling exercise. Over time, as the breathing muscles fatigued, blood delivery to the legs reduced because the breathing muscles demanded it and as a result performance levels declined. Thus, to perform at your best, being able to breathe efficiently is critical. https://lukejonestri.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/joined_video_abaccdf1488a4009aa0e6778d888ec09.mp4 Tips to Improve Breathing Be mindful…
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COVID-19 all Doom and Gloom?
Covid-19 has changed the world. It’s terrible the spread of the virus around the world and the impact it is having economically on many people’s lives. But, is it all doom and gloom? From a pure training perspective for most, I feel it may be a blessing in disguise. Have you ever been preparing for a race and wished you had a few more weeks to train? Well, now you have more than a few weeks ‘extra’ to train. Here are a few points to give a fresh perspective and I hope to provide some inspiration to keep going even when motivation is low. Looking at the Positives Swimming For…
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Prehab for Running
Improving your running takes doing it regularly, but running is tough on the body. Jumping up and down on concrete is pretty jarring, let alone doing it on a single leg. It is for this reason that most injuries in triathlon occur when running. The more time you spend running, doing some sort of strength and conditioning becomes even more important. Completing exercises regularly to strengthen your body against the strain of running will greatly reduce your injury risk. Following is a short routine I do to help me maintain my running. Exercise Routine A lot of these exercises use a single leg to better replicate the requirements of running.…
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V02 Max for Running
Been running for a little while? Then you have probably heard the term V02 Max, but main not know exactly what it means. Keep reading as I explain what V02 Max is, why incorporate it into your training and finally how to do V02 Max in training. What is VO2 Max? Three abbreviations make up V02 Max, V for Volume, O2 for Oxygen and max for Maximum V02 Max – noun the maximum or optimum rate at which the heart, lungs, and muscles can effectively use oxygen during exercise, used as a way of measuring a person’s individual aerobic capacity. Definitions from Oxford Languages Put simply, VO2 Max is the…
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Progress over perfection
Fitness progress requires training and recovery. Training is training and provided you are recovering adequately there isn’t necessarily bad training. The key to training is about consistency, you will always seem better improvement from several sessions each week compared with a weekly epic training session. In this topic of progress over perfection, I want to focus on the major points of training and recovery to provide progress. There is so much information out there, that it can overwhelm. It is a waste of time focusing on the one-percenters if you still haven’t figured out the basics. Always keep it simple, there is no need to complicate things. To grow you…
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