In most distances of triathlon your nutrition is important. For
Ironman, it's key. When you're out there racing for 12+ hours you've got
to get it right. The hours, days and weeks leading up to the event are
every bit as important as the day itself.
We've teamed up with
internationally renowned sports nutritionist Dr. Gary Mendoza to bring
you a seminar specifically about what to eat, when to eat and how much
of it in this last month before the race. There's only 7 weeks to go.
Your race starts here
To find out more about the Ironman nutrition seminar, click here
Friday, July 27, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Vuelta de Mallorca, Day 2
Well, today was all about punctures. Fortunately not mine, but any puncture generally stops the whole group no matter who suffers it. But, let’s start at the beginning.
The weather was fantastic today, so fantastic that the Spanish riders had to concede leave their base layers at home. I opted for the trusty shorts and short sleeve jersey and not once was I sorry.
The pace today was similar to yesterday and the course was relatively straight forward. I even managed 8 miles at the front before realising that it was a stupid thing to be doing and graciously yielded my position at the front for one more towards to middle! The first puncture happened at mile 22 and it was a beauty! Somehow he’d torn a great big hole in his tyre and nobody had any spare ones. In the end it took some inventive patch work that involved lining the tyre with the old tube and inflating the new one in that! It held for the rest of the day so it can be considered a perfectly reasonable way to repair a wrecked tyre!
At breakfast I decided to try and keep it light and simple so that I didn’t feel bloated the whole way round. That was a decision that would come back to haunt me because by about mile 50 I was starving hungry and starting to get grumpy, despite the beautiful sunshine. Luckily lunch wasn’t much further down the road in the village of Sinue. Beautiful place, not that I cared once I found the café we were stopping at!
We set off on mile 57 and by mile 57.5 puncture number two happened. This one was a little more devastating as it happened part way down a really long hill. It wasn’t until we got to the bottom than the missing rider was noticed. It was a looooooooong way back up…
The town of Can Picafort is the stop off for tonight. Nice place, has a massive port. It’s also a labyrinth as it took 4 hours to get here and another 45 minutes to find the hotel. I swear I saw the same roadkill seagull half a dozen times!
So, another 70 miles in the bag and I actually don’t feel too bad. Tomorrow we hit the mountains. This good feeling might very well become a distant memory.
Darren
The weather was fantastic today, so fantastic that the Spanish riders had to concede leave their base layers at home. I opted for the trusty shorts and short sleeve jersey and not once was I sorry.
The pace today was similar to yesterday and the course was relatively straight forward. I even managed 8 miles at the front before realising that it was a stupid thing to be doing and graciously yielded my position at the front for one more towards to middle! The first puncture happened at mile 22 and it was a beauty! Somehow he’d torn a great big hole in his tyre and nobody had any spare ones. In the end it took some inventive patch work that involved lining the tyre with the old tube and inflating the new one in that! It held for the rest of the day so it can be considered a perfectly reasonable way to repair a wrecked tyre!
At breakfast I decided to try and keep it light and simple so that I didn’t feel bloated the whole way round. That was a decision that would come back to haunt me because by about mile 50 I was starving hungry and starting to get grumpy, despite the beautiful sunshine. Luckily lunch wasn’t much further down the road in the village of Sinue. Beautiful place, not that I cared once I found the café we were stopping at!
We set off on mile 57 and by mile 57.5 puncture number two happened. This one was a little more devastating as it happened part way down a really long hill. It wasn’t until we got to the bottom than the missing rider was noticed. It was a looooooooong way back up…
The town of Can Picafort is the stop off for tonight. Nice place, has a massive port. It’s also a labyrinth as it took 4 hours to get here and another 45 minutes to find the hotel. I swear I saw the same roadkill seagull half a dozen times!
So, another 70 miles in the bag and I actually don’t feel too bad. Tomorrow we hit the mountains. This good feeling might very well become a distant memory.
Darren
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Vuelta de Mallorca, Day 1
Well, I survived. It didn't look promising 24 hours ago but I survived day 1 without too many hitches. The guys at Felt bike in Germany have put on this tour of Mallorca for their distributors and dealers which is how I ended up out here. Here's the story so far...
I won't bore you with every detail of the journey. The trip here was long. End of! As usual the longest part was getting to Gatwick.
The first evening involve the usual introductions, a few light refreshments and a general overview of the plan of action (very general- there didn't really appear to be one!). The food at the hotel was superb, even though the Spanish appear to love their mystery meats!
I also got acquainted with my bike- a Felt AR2. I've never had the opportunity to ride an AR2 so I was quite looking forward to putting it through it's paces! I got the chance to fit the pedals and adjust the saddle. The Europeans have a habit of having their brakes the other way around (so the front brake is on the left lever instead of it being on the right lever like it is on bikes in the UK).Stupid Europeans! A few of the other guys on this tour changed them around but I decided to leave them as they were. How bad could it be? I'd find out before too long...
Breakfast was at 8 this morning so I was up around 7:30 to get ready. There was a gentle, yet ominous, pattering sound coming from outside and when I pulled the curtains back I found that it was tipping down with rain. It's nice to have the chance to come to a warm country where it rains too! After a light breakfast (last thing I wanted was to cycle whilst too full) the guys decided we'd leave it another 30 minutes before setting off to let the weather pass. Again, stupid Europeans! More than one of them told me I was nuts to be cycling in shorts and a long sleeve jersey instead of the full thermal tights, thermals jackets, base layer, jersey, thermal cap and overshoes they'd decided to go with. The evidence was really starting to mount up that none of them had ever been to West Wales!
We were split up into through groups- tourist, sporty and ambitous, I joined the ambitious group which included a few elite category bikers and an ex-pro tour Swiss rider so this could have been a very tough day indeed. Fortunately I've always managed to cycle well in a group so I just hid in behind them for the 50 miles it took to get from the hotel to our lunch break. The route was pancake flat and on quiet roads so we got to see a bit of the scenery. It's been years and years since I've been to Mallorca (seriously- I was 6 when I last went!) but the island appears to have never got beyond the 1950's! It's so quiet and rustic and everyone we passed was so chilled out!
So, a few words about the bike. I didn't get much chance to really test it but what I did get it to do was really impressive. It is so comfortable, even on some of the bad road surfaces. The SRAM Red groupset is utterly bulletproof, even with my erratic gear changes, and it corners like it's on rails. The real test came though when I had to stop for a, er, comfort break. Because of that, and having to wait for traffic and other cyclists to pass, I really got left behind by the bunch. Only one option was left to me and that was to go at it, full throttle, to catch them. To say the bike responded well is an under-statement. When I put the hammer down it went like it had been shot from a cannon!
We've never stocked the Felt AR range in the shop before but we'll certainly consider it now. Put some clip on tri-bars on this bike and it will rival and triathlon bike over all but the flatest courses. Watch our website for updates on that...
Lunch was a three course affair which, again, involved a few plates of mystery meat! It was actually quite nice, especially the fish main. I tried to hold back a little, however, because I didn't really want to end up being sick on the ride back to the hotel. As it happens, the ride back was almost all downhill so it took no time at all to cover the 20 miles back.
So, here I am, having survived day one with the elite category riders, sitting in the bar, glass of beer alongside me, waiting patiently for the restaurant to open so I can "carbo-load" ahead of tomorrow. It's supposedly another flat day tomorrow so I may even chance a few turns at the front. Depending on how my legs feel in the morning...
Darren
I won't bore you with every detail of the journey. The trip here was long. End of! As usual the longest part was getting to Gatwick.
The first evening involve the usual introductions, a few light refreshments and a general overview of the plan of action (very general- there didn't really appear to be one!). The food at the hotel was superb, even though the Spanish appear to love their mystery meats!
I also got acquainted with my bike- a Felt AR2. I've never had the opportunity to ride an AR2 so I was quite looking forward to putting it through it's paces! I got the chance to fit the pedals and adjust the saddle. The Europeans have a habit of having their brakes the other way around (so the front brake is on the left lever instead of it being on the right lever like it is on bikes in the UK).Stupid Europeans! A few of the other guys on this tour changed them around but I decided to leave them as they were. How bad could it be? I'd find out before too long...
Breakfast was at 8 this morning so I was up around 7:30 to get ready. There was a gentle, yet ominous, pattering sound coming from outside and when I pulled the curtains back I found that it was tipping down with rain. It's nice to have the chance to come to a warm country where it rains too! After a light breakfast (last thing I wanted was to cycle whilst too full) the guys decided we'd leave it another 30 minutes before setting off to let the weather pass. Again, stupid Europeans! More than one of them told me I was nuts to be cycling in shorts and a long sleeve jersey instead of the full thermal tights, thermals jackets, base layer, jersey, thermal cap and overshoes they'd decided to go with. The evidence was really starting to mount up that none of them had ever been to West Wales!
We were split up into through groups- tourist, sporty and ambitous, I joined the ambitious group which included a few elite category bikers and an ex-pro tour Swiss rider so this could have been a very tough day indeed. Fortunately I've always managed to cycle well in a group so I just hid in behind them for the 50 miles it took to get from the hotel to our lunch break. The route was pancake flat and on quiet roads so we got to see a bit of the scenery. It's been years and years since I've been to Mallorca (seriously- I was 6 when I last went!) but the island appears to have never got beyond the 1950's! It's so quiet and rustic and everyone we passed was so chilled out!
So, a few words about the bike. I didn't get much chance to really test it but what I did get it to do was really impressive. It is so comfortable, even on some of the bad road surfaces. The SRAM Red groupset is utterly bulletproof, even with my erratic gear changes, and it corners like it's on rails. The real test came though when I had to stop for a, er, comfort break. Because of that, and having to wait for traffic and other cyclists to pass, I really got left behind by the bunch. Only one option was left to me and that was to go at it, full throttle, to catch them. To say the bike responded well is an under-statement. When I put the hammer down it went like it had been shot from a cannon!
We've never stocked the Felt AR range in the shop before but we'll certainly consider it now. Put some clip on tri-bars on this bike and it will rival and triathlon bike over all but the flatest courses. Watch our website for updates on that...
Lunch was a three course affair which, again, involved a few plates of mystery meat! It was actually quite nice, especially the fish main. I tried to hold back a little, however, because I didn't really want to end up being sick on the ride back to the hotel. As it happens, the ride back was almost all downhill so it took no time at all to cover the 20 miles back.
So, here I am, having survived day one with the elite category riders, sitting in the bar, glass of beer alongside me, waiting patiently for the restaurant to open so I can "carbo-load" ahead of tomorrow. It's supposedly another flat day tomorrow so I may even chance a few turns at the front. Depending on how my legs feel in the morning...
Darren
Monday, August 31, 2009
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