Get ready for Duathlon racing

So now is the time where we start to ease ourselves back into a bit of racing. For many their race season will start in Feburary or March. Dulathons offer us a great hard day of training. If your A race is not planned until July or August then don't fixcesate on why you are not flying down the road. Now is not the time . Trust me it will come. Now is the time to practice and for anyone who is doing their first her are some top tips.

1.Build a strong run base

The success of a duathlon depends greatly on the ability to hold good run form and pace when tired. Getting key base miles in will lay down the foundation to be able to hold off fatigue in a race.Work on increasing the miles before adding speed work. Consider the length of the runs in your event and aim to build to a point where you can execute a run session that combines the two run legs of the race.

2.Learn to love hills
Most duathlons include elements of climbing. Learning and being able to cycle and run hills effectively will enable you to race more strongly.Include hills in your longer steady cycle and run workouts and, when the time is right, include interval sessions that focus on hill reps. Good climbs can transfer that strength into speed on flatter courses.

3.Get strong 
Including a strength-training plan into your weekly workout routine is a must. Endurance athletes are bad at missing strength training, which can lead to a loss of technique and form when the body becomes tired. Strength training will also help to prevent injuries.

4.Manage your race pace
The key mistake seen in duathlon is incorrectly pacing the first run, leading to a tiring and poor cycle leg and finishing with a disappointing second run.Consider aiming to run the first leg at a pace that is just below your PB for the distance, allowing you to conserve energy for the final run and pass those who have got it wrong. You must experiment with this in training.

5.Do your bricks
Include a brick session (bike/run or vice versa) each week in the three months leading up to race day. Try different length brick sessions and include at least one full race-distance brick session 2–3wks before race day.

6.DON'T WASTE TIME WITH CONVENTIONAL LACES

Even though you have probably tied your shoelaces a fair few times putting on your trainers during transition can be sped up dramatically by doing away with tying your laces entirely. This is especially true in winter duathlons when you'll likely be cold and/or wearing gloves.

Utilising elastic laces allows you to quickly and easily slip your shoes on without the fear of them embarrassingly falling off as you leave the transition zone.

7. HAVE FUN!

Finally, go out and have fun. Duathlons provide a great means of maintaining momentum in your training through the winter months when others are sofa bound watching Netflix. The effort you put in preparing and racing in these events will pay dividends when it comes to reaching your summer goals and remember you haven't peaked yet so don't worry about setting PB's or new records.

Nutrition - Start the new year off right !!

So January being the time of year we all pull our socks up and say right from this Monday I am going to start ..................... If you are like me I have started off good done all my research and got all the good food in for some proper nutrition to help shed those pounds I put on with all that excessive eating and drinking over Christmas.

So here are 10 nutritional tips that has helped me, hope they help you out and remember if transition is the 4th discipline then nutrition whilst training and racing is the 5th discipline.

1. Start off by keeping a food log, include in this when and what you eat. This is great as it will let you see where you are going right and where you are going wrong. Oooh and make sure to include those 4 chocolate biscuits you grabbed passing the cupboard.
2. Dont forget your fruit and veg !! You hear this time and time again make sure you eat fruit and veg, you should try and add a bit of colour to your meals and the easiest way to do this is to add some veg. Fruit is great for snacking on, instead of those chocolate biscuits. And remember it is no longer 5 a day it is no up to SEVEN ! And these servings should be a handful.
3. Eat before you train. Your body has been without food for several hours overnight, so you cant expect to get the best out of it in your training or racing if you are under fueling. Solution to this is not to get up at 5am before your 8am cycle its pretty simple trial and error, try a yogurt smoothie, banana sandwich, or my own favourite jam sandwich.
4. Not taking on fuel during long training sessions - This is very common during runs when people don’t want to carry food or gels. They often go without anything and wonder why they slow down towards the end of a long session.Work out how much carbohydrate and fluid you need and know how much is in the drinks and foods you’re consuming. You should aim for 30-60g of carbohydrate per hour, and it follows that the smaller you are, the less you will need.
5. Dont forget to hydrate - In order to get the most out of our training session, aim to be hydrated before you start- one way to check this is check the colour of your urine, aim for pale straw colour. During exercise aim to take 150-250ml every 20-30mins. That doesn't include all those gulps of water in the pool !!!
   
6. Up the carbs - For all high-intensity sessions(i.e working at 70% of your max HR) you'll need carbohydrate in your system prior to training to ensure you can hit your paces. I would advise 1-1.5g per kg of bodyweight carbs in all meals leading up to the session.
7. Using caffeine products randomly - While caffeine has a proven positive effect on performance, it needs careful management. It can act as a gut stimulant and cause stomach issues. Work out your exact caffeine needs and take it before the session; its effects last for a few hours. Test in training and ease back on caffeinated drinks for a couple of weeks before a key race to increase its effects when you take it on race day.
8. All fat is bad for you - Fat is a really important part of the diet. The real issue is the types of fats we eat. The fats we should aim to eat come from sources such as olive oil, oily fish, avocado and seeds such as flax. Not your bacon and sausage baps.
9. Don't be a Hitler ! - It doesn't have to be all doom and gloom if you are doing all of this why not treat yourself every fortnight or so. Now I am not saying go and drink a bottle of wine or eat 6 bag of crisps but there is great alternatives to cure those carvings and reward yourself such as dark chocolate etc.
10. KEEP IT SIMPLE - Remember sports nutrition doesn’t need fancy gadgets or specialist ingredients; just because you’ve read a Gordon Ramsey triathlete dinner doesn't mean you have to slave a way to make one . Fresh simple ingredients such as scrambled eggs on toast or a hearty meat and vegetable casserole using leftovers or a bowl of porridge with honey and walnuts all make well-balanced and nutrient rich training food.