Tabla de contenidos para March 2015 en Triathlon Plus

NEW ZEALAND’S Bevan Docherty and Britain’s Catriona Monison announced their retirement at the stan of 2014, capping off careers that spanned short and long distance, world championships, Olympics and multiple individual race titles. Docherty announced his decision on 5 January, saying, “This was certainly no easy decision as triathlon has been a major part of my life for over 15 years, however with injuries outweighing winning results in the last season it seems like a great time to listen to this tired old body and bow-out gracefully.” The 37-year-old has had a long and successful career that included two Olympic medals, a Co=on wealth Games medal, an ITU world championship a bronze at the Ironrnan 70.3 World Championships in 2012. In recent years he’d proven himself over long distance, too,…

OUR LIVES don’t tend to follow a neat, well-behaved or orderly pattern. The things we plan for years sometimes never materialise, while something we never dreamt could happen can often just roll into our lap when we least expect it. Take me, for example. In my early 20s my head was full of dreams of being a high-flying Fleet Street journalist -I’d be chasing front page stories in London, interviewing the great and good and working my butt off to be the ultimate Lois Lane. And then triathlon carne along and changed all of that. In not much time at all, my reporter’s notebooks were exchanged for carbon fibre bikes, fancy wetsuits and endless pairs of running shoes. If you had taken 22-year-old me to one side and told her…

1 FIRST RIDE The Team Issue is a Lesson in featherweight bike construction. Weighing in atastaggering 6.33kg (almost halfakilo below the UCI weight Limit for pro racing), it’s graced with carbon Syncros finishing kit, carbon clinchers, a full Dura-Ace group set and the colours of World Tour team 1AM Cycling. Even though it approaches £6,000, you’ll pay even more for bikes that don’t work as brilliantly as the Scott on a variety of roads. 2 FAST RIDE Open. flat roads were dispatched with rapid acceleration and the bike’s willingness to hold on to that speed was a joy. The speed with which it gets going is down to its weight but a solid connection to the road and efficient transfer of power from pedals to rear wheel are thanks to…

Our sport has one clear advantage over straight swimming, cycling and running, and that is that there’s always an opportunity to work the multi-sport format to your advantage. Arms like Wet noodles? Don’t worry, you can make up lost swim time on the bike. Shoulders like a tank? Just blast out of the water and psyche out your competions. This brings with it a timeless conundrum thought: should you play to your triathlon strengths, or spend more with the new season fast approaching, we say it’s time to think tactically. Use training to maximise your strongest disciplines and then with a few smart tweaks, cheat your way past your weaknesses. Here’s how...  …

WHEN 7 DECEMBER, 2014 WHERE BUSSELTON. WESTERN AUSTRALIA WINNERS DENISCHEVROT(FRA),8:05:57;- BRITTAMARTIN(NZL),8:56:33| CALM WATERS welcomed the pro men’s field for the sea swim, as Frenchman Denis Chevrot set out his stall early, coming out of the water first in 46:22. Clayton Fettell (AUS) was right behind him, while a bigger group of athletes including Christian Kemp (AUS), Guy Crawford (NZL), PatrikNilsson (SWE), Joe Gambles (AUS) and Romain Guillatirne (FRA) were spread from 30 seconds back. Fettell quickly took the lead on die bike and over the first 50km, seemed to be being reeled in by the other men, with Gambles looking likely to take over at one point, but through 61km he’d pushed his hold up to more than two minutes. However, Fettell’s efforts took their toll and at 115km he…

AERO ROAD bikes a re a great choice for multi-sport athletes. Like a conventional road bike, combined shifters and brakes mean confident control in bunch situations or twisty, hilly technical courses. Drop bars for a wide range of hand positions from comfortable climbing on the tops to demon descending in the drops. Stable handling for relaxed confidence whether you’re training or racing in a crowd, or slipping into a low-sugar coma at the end of a gruelling solo session. Alternatively their lighter weight and more balanced handling means you can punch them in and out of corners or charge climbs much more aggressively than a full on aero bike. However, the tri bike side of their DNA means they’re still aerodynamically efficient so every watt you produce pushes you faster-through…

Notes and key The Race List AT THE TIME of going to press, some race details were yet to be confirmed. Before entering a race, or if you can’t find your favourite event here, please contact the organisers for the most up-to-date information. Distances given are: for triathlons, swim/bike/ run; far duathlons, run/bike/run; and for aquathlons, swim/run. Swim distances are in metres u p to 999. then kilometres. Bike and run distances are in kilometres unless otherwise stated, with ‘M denoting distancesarein miles. JANUARY SATURDAY 31 JANUARY GOTRI WHITCHURCH Distance 1.5/3/1.5 (duathlon) Venue Dearnford Lake, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 3JQ Price £6 entrycentraL.com FEBRUARY SUNDAY 1 FEBRUARY VELOPARK WHITE RABBITS CHILDREN’S DUATHLON Distance 2M/10M/1M Venue VeloPark, London E20 3AB Price £8 BTF/ £10 Non-BTF entrycentral.com/white-rabbits-duathlon DAWLISH AQUATHLON Distance 300/5; 600/5 Venue…

1 TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF Long rides can be painful, and that’s not just because you’ve yet to build your fitness foundations. Contact points come under pressure, and hands often suffer the most. Changing the position of your hands can combat this: most of the time you’ll probably ride on the hoods (just above your brake levers) but regularly swap to the tops and drops to give your palms a rest. Make sure you have well padded gloves, too. 2 DON’T GIVE YOURSELF A BUM DEAL You can afford to take a more comfortable seating position as you’re building up endurance - once you get to race pace sections later in spring you’ll adopt a more aggressive, flat-backed profile. Your rear will suffer at first as you get used to…

WHETHER YOU’RE just starting preparing for your first triathlon, or you’re an experienced triathlete looking for training. advice, a new event in Manchester will help improve your performance in all three disciplines. Triathlon Expo takes place from 20 to 22 March at EventCity, offering visitors access to expert training advice as well as all the latest essential kit for & running, swimming and cycling - and loads of exclusive special offers and competitions. The timing is perfect for grabbing some ! extra advice, new kit and a motivational boost just ahead of the start of the new triathlon season. At the heart of the event will be the Tri Stage, which will host an extensive programme of seminars and workshops, with practical advice on technique, nutrition, hydration, fitness and recovery…

THANOS HOTELS ALMYRA TRIATHLON AND BIKING CAMPS WHERE PAPHOS,CYPRUS When 21-26 March, 18-23 April Cost From £685 based on two sharing (one attending training camp) Contactalmyra.com Head to glorious Cyprus for a week of hard training bookended by relaxation in luxury five-star accommodation. You’Ll swim in the warm, clear waters of the Mediterranean, get technique coaching in the pool ride over the hills of the island and run on coastal trails and beaches. Although different ability levels are welcomed, you do need to be able to ride 40km comfortably and ideally to already have completed a triathlon. You’ll be coached by Sean McFarlane, elite Level long-distance triathlete, and trainer Kypros Nicolaou, an exercise physiologist and Level ITU coach. SPORTS TOURS INTERNATIONAL CLUB LA SANTA SWIM CAMP WHERE LANZAROTE, CANARY ISLANDS…

£1,649 giant-bicycles.com “It seems to pull power from whatever part of your body you can squeeze it from and put it through the rear wheel” GIANT’S STRIKING Propel aerobike was a smash hit when it appeared last year. Some simple but effective production ploys have made its outstanding performance affordable for its second year in the shops. FRAME AND FORKS There’s a clue to Giant’s cunning cut-cost, pro-performance strategy in the name. Previously the top quality, in-house woven ‘Advanced’ carbon was reserved for mid- to top-end bikes with cheaper frames being made from a lower ‘Composite’ grade carbon. The ‘Composite’ bikes always felt compromised in performance though, so for 2015 Giant has dropped it. Simply ordering more ‘Advanced’ fibre has created enough of a high volume discount to mean it…

End of the year, time for analysis. The coach says, “We’re going to have a look at the video I took of your race at [insert particular race here].” Athlete starts to panic... What video? I didn’t know you were taking a video, if I’d known then... Ding! The brain finally engages gear. Sudden realisation of what the coach is saying and doing... Because what if there was a video of not just one race, but every single race and every single training session that you did in the past year? Would that have changed the way you competed and trained? Well, it shouldn’t, but I guess for many athletes out there, it would! Just think, for every single training session, every single competition, there would be a visual image…

People tend to suffer on the run leg of atriathlon. Just at the point when they ought to have the finish gantry in sight and feel like pushing for the line, they slump into a shuffle and slog their way to an anticlimax. Watch the pros race, though, and you’ll see a very different picture. They fight hard all the way to the finish line. Now, in the case of ITU racing that might be in part down to riding in a pack and saving their legs - but it’s also because, in training, pros teach themselves to suffer on the run. One of the simplest ways to do this as an amateur is to work on your 5k race pace. Racing 5k is a fine art: it’s a very…

Becoming addicted to triathlon training is easier than many people think. The buzz you feel after a good session is enough to keep you going back for more. Vet Leaving behind the bad habits you picked up in your pre-triathlon days is not quite so simple, even though you know it would do you and your tri performance good to bring your diet and lifestyle up to scratch. No need to book yourself into detox boot camp just yet, though. Some of your old favourites can be worked into a triathlete’s lifestyle without harm - and even do you good. 1 ‘GOOD’ CHOCOLATE Chocolate is one challenge many of us have to £ overcome in order to stay near racing weight, but it’s not all bad. Eating dark chocolate with…

SO, THIS is my last ever column for Triathlon Plus magazine. It’s been nearlyfiveyearsand I have had the opportunity to tell you all about my training, life as an athlete and witter on about triathlon in general. But, all good things must come to an end, and although change is sometimes not a good thing itis a certainty in life. As many of you probably have realised by now, I have had a huge change in my own athletic life in the last six months. I came back from Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Melbourne disillusioned with my results. I’d trained hard all winter, done some great long running but for some reason or another I just couldn’t get out what I thought I had on race day. I had…

DETAILS What Ffit Conwy Llandudio Sea Triathlon Where Liandudno, Conwy When 5 July 2015 IT’S EASY to see why Victorian bathers loved to visit the seaside resort of Llandudno, on the spectacular coast of North Wales. Our swimming outfits may be even more modest than those of our tourist ancestors, but us triathletes are just as fond of the place. Taking place for the seventh time this summer, the Ffit Conwy Uandudno Sea Triathlon is a real gem of a race. As the name suggests, it begins with a swim off the gorgeous sandy beach. Athletes then head up on the bike for a reasonably challenging route taking them over closed roads on the landmark Great Orme, the headland that dominates the town, which offers incredible views of the surrounding…

“I was ecstatic after the 113 race – and I’m not really an emotional guy” Paul Newnes wasn’t exactly a couch potato when he decided to do something about his weight. In fact, it was a skiing holiday five or six years ago that forced him to address his size. “I went skiing with my wife Sarah and my two boys, and we were darting around here there and everywhere, always waiting for my wife because she’s very sensible and timid,” he says “and I was giving her stick. One day she said, ‘I tell you what, I’m not skiing this afternoon, you go skiing on your own with the boys, and you can go off piste and do whatever you want’ “I thought, ‘Brilliant!’ But the boys just left…

£1,799.9913-bikes.com “Even with deep-section wheels it skimmed serenely across road sections that clattered the cleats on other on other bike” 13 BIKES launched last year as the new ‘savvy rider’ brand from Halfords and benefits both from one of the most experienced, award-winning designers in the business and the massive buying power of Halfords. The Gamma is the most expensive bike in their Intuition road range and a stunning value long distance speedster. FRAME AND FORKS The most interesting aspect of 13 from a multisports perspective is that all its road bikes are aero road machines. We’re not just talking token styling either. Even the £499.99 Intrinsic Alpha has a fork with a direct mount brake hidden behind the legs, wind tunnel profiled tapering tube shapes, and under chainstay brakes.…

Learning to swim is a real challenge as an adult, and at any public swimming pool on any given day you might see someone kicking up and down a lane in frustration as they try to learn the mystic art of keeping their legs horizontal, chest in the water and lungs full of air - all at the same time. Body position is a key factor in swimming freestyle successfully. When I learned to swim ‘properly’ as an adult, in my late 20s, it was lesson number one. The teacher had us sculling on our backs, then our fronts, trying to teach the class to relax and float horizontally in the water. At the time, it was pretty frustrating, but there’s a good reason for starting like this and if…

If you’re serious about improving your cycling, a power meter is a must. Over the last few years they’ve really come down in price, with models by Stages and Garmin now retailing at around £600. In addition, more and more gyms have Wattbikes and several home turbo-trainers can measure power. Power measurement is within most people’s grasp, but the problem is that people don’t know what do with it. That’s where this plan comes in. It’s a winter/spring triathlon training programme for beginner to intermediate athletes looking to race at sprint and Olympic distance. It includes regular swims, runs and bike rides, with a focus on using a power meter intelligently to improve your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). The basic ideas in this plan can easily be adapted to suit…