Caught Between Thought and Expression

[jonathon.e]

Yes please to a 'top tips' style thread - awaiting words of wisdom!

If the membership would want these pearls of wisdom in a specific thread, would it be better if it was placed in the members only section ?

[jonathon.e]

No training over the last five days,
The knee is still painful,
On a good note, no painkillers for the last four weeks (maybe the second point is connected to the third point)

Today work is quiet, Tow line 8 is not active, so nothing to watch in that sector, neither are any of the 323 areas, no HALO ops at the moment, the Vale AIAA has been remarkably quiet today, only the Reds practicing in the area, might be lucky and have a couple of GR4s and a C130 later, but not holding my breath.

Do we target the right races, do we race any triathlon or Duathlon in the hope of getting a good placing in one of them, throw enough darts and one should hit the target.
Chances are that when you get the tri bug, you just want to do as many races as possible, finances permitting, sprint, OD, etc, and we train without specifity.

If you want good results then you need to target a distance, we often con ourselves into thinking this by saying that this race is " my A race ", and this " is my B race " etc. But if one is an HIM and the other is a sprint, you are increasing the risk of mediocre results.

There are a number of club members, and this number does not include the obvious ones, who could qualify for GB AG competition in either Tri or Duathlon, if they targeted specific distances. But hey, everyone to their own.

If you want a fast time, you look for a course that suits your strengths.

If you want a good placing, you target the competition. With entry lists online and results freely available a small amount of cross referencing can produce dividends. With three to four races on the same day, choose the right one, get within a percentage of the winners time, and hey presto, qualification or a podium finish is yours for the taking.

If you want to see change, you must do change.

Albert Einstein said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

Be different, Do different.

Example, you look at the results and the same athletes are beating you by the same time in every race, as the season progresses you get fitter and so do they, to surpass them you just need to find something that gives you the edge.Tim Don changed to using the Pose method of running, he then won the World title, all the others cottoned on to this and status Quo resumed, but for a time he was the best,

Think what you can do to give you the edge.

Think smart, train smart, win smart.








Or just Think Pink!

[jonathon.e]

Actually got some bike rides in this week, got an e mail informing me of my loss of a KOM segment on Strava by 4 secs, firstly I didn't realise I was KOM for this segment as it is 1.3 miles of flattish road, but 4 secs is nothing, so off out, and now regained said KOM by 27 secs, If I lose it again then the TT bike comes out .

A couple of others but nothing really, between 20 and 25 miles. Still no running, I have pulled the pin on the next couple of Triathlons as they would be pointless, and result in more injury.

So race belts, toggles, safety pins and ripped race numbers.
The easiest method I find is to ignore the toggles,get the two race numbers,fasten them together at the corners,and then pass the belt between the numbers, this provides a more solid number ,greater movement and easier too, and less chance of it getting ripped.

OW swimming, ever had your wetsuit cord pulled down in mid race? sooner or later it may happen, and introduces a new concept in resistance swimming.
After zipping the wetsuit up, bring the cord over the shoulder to the front, and fasten it with a small piece of micropore tape, chances are that the water will gradual force the tape off, but it should stay inplace for the initial melee at the race start.

Windy day, do you usually put your helmet on your aero bars, chances are the wind will blow it off, and someone will relocate it whilst you are swimming.

Again, a couple of loops of micropore tape place on the aerobars,and then stick the helmet to them,secure enough for the wind not to blow it off,or even if a competitor runs into your bike, but easy enough to pull off.


The preceeding ideas come from the Useless Tri ideas company, part of the Innovations catalogue.

[Worrying Will]

When is the the book coming out. You and Jack and chicking out loads of useful stuff out at the moment.

[jonathon.e]

When is the the book coming out. You and Jack and chicking out loads of useful stuff out at the moment.

The Northern Chapter of the BCTTT are having a meeting next week so it will be one of the items on the agenda

[jonathon.e]

LESS THOUGHT MORE EXPRESSION


There are few things worse than people spouting forth words of wisdom, but never producing evidence that they work, now in the autumn days of racing and training, watching the sun set on an undulating results list, I look at not what I can't do, but at what I can and work with the positives, my strength used to be running, sadly knee trouble has reduced the run to a hobble, but I can still hobble, less pain in cycling has made me better at it, and time lost in the run is compensated by gains in the cycle, well almost, and swimming is still the same, my times over the past fifteen years have altered little.

So putting feet where my mouth has been, I ventured forth and did a sprint tri this week, apart from some aqua running, I have not run since my last race on the first of April. The weather was typically British summer, wind and rain, and race briefing advised of a diesel spillage at the turnaround point

The swim went as normal, I got in, splashed got out, short run to the T1 area, knee twinging slightly, trainers on, helmet and into the wind and spray, didn't settle on the bike, was overtaken shortly by two others from my wave, they were the only ones that were to pass me.
Struggled slightly, and felt like I was cycling through treacle, slowed right down at the turnaround and cruised back to T2. No help from the wind, cross wind both ways.

T2, nice and steady, grabbed my knee brace just in case, and hobbled off. Most of the run consisted of a river side path, muddy underfoot, no stability for the knee, played around altering my gait, but didn't make it easier, past a couple of others on the run, cross a bridge and back to the finish, painful, but sufferable, didn't feel the need to put the brace on.

Finished in 1:11:07
Provisionally 9th overall
4th in Age group 40-49 ( if it was 45-49 I would have podiumed)

So even if we are injured, by choosing the right race with the right course we can still go out and enjoy our hobby.

[scibby]

Top racing. Top punctuation!

[Jack Hughes]

Top racing. Top punctuation!

Strive to be better!

[jonathon.e]

Top racing. Top punctuation!

Most kind, now I am not sure which I am most proud of.

[jonathon.e]

Top racing. Top punctuation!

Strive to be better!

Hopefully this weekend for the Triple AX race