Training
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A Mindset of Gratitude
Whether in lockdown or not having a mindset of gratitude is highly beneficial. In this era where mental health and depression are silent killers, it is an area of our life that we need to make sure we do not neglect. Life is far more enjoyable when you are in a more positive mindset, but also any athletic potential is also improved with a better mindset. So how to improve our mindset? The Importance of Gratitude With all the pain and hurt we experience in life it’s overwhelming to turn around and then be thankful. At 5 years old my eldest brother died and then over the next few years…
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Social Media and Improving Performance
Ever finish training and jump on to social media to share your latest workout? Or maybe you just want to know what others are up to. Social media can be a great tool for motivation and learning to improve performance. However, as a tool, use it appropriately. Social Media Traps There is plenty of useful tips and tricks to improve yourself as an athlete, but it can be a little overwhelming. There is so much content out there though you can end up spending more time learning about what you should do compared to just getting out there and doing what you need to do! Another thing to remember about…
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Goal Setting
Why set goals? Goal setting is important to get the best out of yourself. Achieving progress is very difficult within having a goal to look towards. By setting a goal, you create accountability to work towards the task. It is useful to help get you started and to overcome procrastination. Having a goal provides a way to measure your progress. Goals can come in all shapes and sizes and are key to enabling us to endure. A classic example for me was completing university. The focus was on getting to the end of each year, to chip away at the four-year degree. Before I knew it, I’d achieved my degree.…
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Cycling Prehab
One thing I’ve learnt the hard way is that it’s easier to prevent an injury than to rehab an injury. In my mind when I used to think about strength and conditioning, it conjured up gym goers spending hours at the gym. So in my naivety I just neglected it, preferring to spend my time finding new routes outdoors. Fast forward a few years and I like to think I’m a little wiser having more time on earth. Strength and conditioning need not be a replacement training session in duration, instead, a little time regularly will keep your body in excellent shape. Have you ever got home at 95km, and…
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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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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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