Wednesday 24 August 2011

Nation Newspaper reports on Seychelles Triathlon

Le Seychellois Baccus remporte le duathlon - 24.08.2011


Le Seychellois Franky Baccus s’est adjugé le duathlon disputé récemment à Beau Vallon, tandis que le Réunionnais Sébastien Mace avait raflé la première place lors de l'épreuve du triathlon.
La Mauricienne De Falbaire    Le Réunionnais Mace    Le Seychellois Baccus
Dans l’épreuve du duathlon (2,5 kilomètres de course, 20 kilomètre cycliste et 5 kilomètres de course) chez les hommes, Baccus  avait arrêté le chrono à 1 heure, 15 minutes et 10 secondes (1h15’10) suivi en deuxième position par le Mauricien Marco Ranglall (1h15’12).
Chez les tout-petits, le Réunionnais Guen Leung Zefong avait remporté l’aquathlon composé de 500 mètres de natation et  1,25 kilomètres de course à pied avec un chrono de 8 minutes et 17 secondes (8’17).
Les Réunionnais Thomas Ninon (8’21) et William Parcolle (9’24) avaient terminé deuxième et troisième respectivement.
Le meilleur Seychellois de cette course était Hayden Ah-Wan avec une quatrième place (9’49) et son frère jumeau Lenel avait pris la cinquième place avec un temps de 10’35.
Les frères Payet – Bertrand et Damien – avaient terminé sixième et septième respectivement avec 11’19, et 13’38.
Chez les filles, les Réunionnaises Clara Lavacat, Emeline Begue et Alice Abodie avaient terminé première, deuxième et troisième respectivement avec 8’50, 9’50 et 9’51.
Le Réunionnais Sébastien Mace était monté sur la plus haute marche du podium du triathlon sprint (750m de natation, 20 kilomètres à vélo et 5 kilomètres de course à pied) avec un temps de 1h03’53, suivi en deuxième place par son compatriote Simon Paillard avec un chrono de 1h04’00. Le Seychellois Nick Baldwin avait complété le podium avec 1h04’07.
Deux autres Seychelles, à savoir Simon Brierley (6e avec 1h06’12) et Rondy Monnaie (14e avec 1h30’35) avaient complété la distance, tandis que Ryan Govinden qui, après avoir sorti deuxième de l’eau, avait abandonné la course suite à des problèmes mécaniques avec son vélo tout terrain.
Seuls Govinden et Monnaie utilisaient le vélo tout terrain tandis que les autres coureurs avaient des vélos de course.
Sur la même distance chez les filles, la victoire était allée à la Mauricienne Candice De Falbaire avec un chrono de 1h17’10.
Elle était suivie en deuxième place par la Réunionnaise Sylvia Salesses (1h27’46) et une autre Mauricienne Amandine Gobarden (1h32’00).
Les frères jumeaux – Dim et Nath Mardama Nayagom – avaient pris les deux premières places du triathlon pour les plus jeunes –  15 ans et moins (375 kilomètres de natation, 10 kilomètres de vélo et 2,5 kilomètres de course à pied) en réalisant les chronos suivants : 37 minutes et 31 secondes et 39 minutes et 56 secondes. Le Mauricien Timothée Hugnin avait terminé troisième avec 42 minutes et 02 secondes.
La course chez les filles avait été remportée par la Réunionnaise Georgia Zheemba avec 45 minutes et 17 secondes et la Mauricienne Milena Wong avait terminé deuxième avec 45 minutes et 50 secondes.
G. G.


Video By Paradise Triathlon Training

Thursday 11 August 2011

Indoor Training

I would like to refer to Nick Baldwin's Blog entry from this week....................  Any Question directed to Nick will be forwarded to him ..............


http://nick-baldwin.blogspot.com/2011/08/indoor-riding.html



Indoor Riding

Riding indoors is punishment to some, but it's something I've become accustomed to over the last 5 years.  The last month of training has included a weekly 4 hour indoor ride at a high intensity, tougher than any Ironman ride.  Whilst the breakdown of my long sessions differ from week to week, todays ride comprised of threshold and half-ironman paced efforts, with short rest intervals.  Here's a sneak peak into my 'office':


The set-up



What you see in the picture above is pretty simple.  The fan is roughly one foot away from my face, the laptop just far away enough that it doesn't end up drenched in sweat, and of course, the Ironman South Africa age-group trophy instills extra motivation.  But that's not all that's required - you need water... and a lot of it.

The aftermath...


Including the bottle on the table, that's 5 litres of fluid and roughly 1000 calories required to get through the session.  I'd drink more, but I'm limited by the number of bottles I own!  Additional salt tablets are another necessity to replenish the minerals lost through sweating.

There's a few things you don't see in the pictures, like the overhead ceiling fan or the air conditioning unit - did I mention that you get hot training indoors!?  If there's no cooling devices then I'll struggle to get through a recovery session without heart rate escalating and sweat rate going through the roof.  Two pairs of socks are required, not to double up, but to change half way through the session.  For the long sessions I take my Extreme Endurance immediately before and immediately after the workout, just to keep those dead legs at bay.  Music, podcasts and youtube videos (of past Ironman races) are the order of the day during the workout.  

If you've got the motivation and will power, indoor training is brilliant.  There's no downhills or coasting, just constant pedaling.  I'll admit that it's one of the most boring things you can possibly do, but if you break down the session into structured intervals then time will pass by more quickly.  The mental aspect is not to be overlooked.  Long indoor rides will likely leave you wanting to take up golf and walk away from triathlon, but they give you a mental fortitude that you can draw upon in races.  If you can do 5 hours indoors (speaking from experience it's not for the faint hearted), then 112 miles will seem easy.  Having said that, I'm looking forward to the next long ride outdoors!

Thursday 4 August 2011

Brick Session Training

Yes I know Triathlon, 3 sports, however "Brick training" refers to training on 2 disciplines most of the time, one after the other or with very minimal or no interruption between.  Most of the time the classic brick session is bike/run, however the other variations are swim/bike or even swim/run (aquathon) aswell as run/bike (duathlon).


Swim/bike brick: while you are swimming, a lot of triathletes will want to use your legs as little as possible or else you may have a hard time when you get on your bike before you start feeling comfortable. A swim/bike workout that simulates race conditions will help you minimize this problem. A couple of suggestions are to use your legs more (that is to kick more which you should do!!) during he last 50-100 meters of your swim to get more blood flowing to them. Also, start your bike portion using an easier gear than the one you plan on using during the main part of the race. This will give your legs a chance to get used to the new sport and accumulate less lactic acid than they would if you started from the beginning with a tough gear.  



3 x (500m swim + 5 mile bike). I believe this is more useful and time efficient than doing a 1500m swim followed by a 15 miles bike, because you will switch sports 6 times instead of only once.  This is dependant on the swim facility not easy in the UK to be in and out of water and also wetsuit.


Bike/run bricks, mainly because the transition between bike and run is the toughest of the two during a triathlon. 

Sprint triathlon workout:  (15 min bike + 3min  run) - repeat three or four times.
Olympic triathlon workout: (20min bike + 10min run) - repeat three or four times.
70.3 triathlon workout: (30min bike + 15min run) - repeat two or three times
IM triathlon workout:  (3hr bike + 20min run)  - do not repeat, however can do 70.3 repeats for IM Brick training

When I do these kind of bricks,I try to do out and back runs with time, you could use a track and run distance rather than time set your turbo up on track side. I force myself to run fast and time myself and use heart rate.  I push on the bike, but the run needs to be the hard part of the workout. 


I am trying to get my body used to running fast as soon as I get off the bike. You are training to adapt to this for race environment.


By doing a series of short repeats you also switch sport (and therefore muscles used) several times in the same workout. You are  teaching your legs and body to switch as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible between two very different kinds of effort. 


I would consider a series of short repeats more efficient then doing the two sports one after the other, especially when you are short on time.  For example set your turbo trainer up track side or garage/garden and ride 10min + run 2min (800m) repeat 5 times.  You decide, DON'T GO OUT TOO FAST 



FIRST TIME  BRICKIES, you should get used to them before attempting the kind of workouts described above. Start with a 1 mile run or run/walk after every bike ride. You can start by walking briskly when you get off the bike and them move to a jog or run within ¼ to ½ mile. You can also attempt your first brick by biking in the morning and then running in the afternoon or after a 1 to 2 hour break.  
When you stop biking and start running the legs feel “strange” and heavy and the heart rate goes up, as our body tries to switch the blood from flowing into the muscles used for biking to those used for running. This feeling is more pronounced at the start of the run and usually the legs get better as time passes - although probably never as fresh as those you have when you run without biking before it (I wonder why?! ). Brick workouts help shorten the time our legs take to start feeling more normal thus allowing us to run better and faster. It is not uncommon to experience cramps when starting to run after biking, especially if you are not used to it. As usual, listen to your body and slow down if you feel a cramp coming. A gel and electrolyte or water will also help if you are experiencing cramps due to the decrease in muscle fuel.

BACK 2 BACK SUPER SPRINTS
If you have the climate and location for a back 2 back tri then this is a great session.  Whilst athletes were on the Paradise Tri Training camp www.paradise-tri-training.co.uk  in February this year they took part in a .......

B2B super sprint -   swim/bike/run/swim/bike/run 
200m/10km/3km/200m/10km/3km

they also did a 

bike/run 
(20min Tempo bike - 10min easy ride) x 4  (2hr ride)
30min run 
all at 1/2 IM pace even with tough climbs on the route.