Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The latest must have Triathlon training aid?

Please do not bombard me with emails this is not meant to be a sick joke, I fully appreciate how fortunate I am to be healthy and able to participate in Triathlon.

This Blog is about how the more seriously you take Triathlon the lazier you seem to get. Let me explain
Before I started putting my mind to training earlier this year I used to cycle to work. It was a thirteen mile each way trip and it used to be a very relaxing and refreshing way to start the day. I then met up with my Triathlon Team and started following a weekly training plan. This would have me running on Monday, swimming and cycling on a Tuesday etc. and is very similar in format to what I do now. The problem was that I couldn't cycle to work without it affecting my program and on a Tuesday and Thursday I needed a car to get the swimming pool.
The end result is that I now drive to work everyday. Most training plans I have seen have a rest day once a week. I have been advised that it is very important to observe your rest day and you should plan to do as little as possible. The whole principle behind training is that you over-exert your muscles so that they grow back stronger and in order for them to grow back you have to rest.
This brings me onto the scooter. As I mentioned in my last Blog my calf is a little tender from the ride on Sunday and the run yesterday and the advice from my coach is to take it easy and try not walk. This led me to my vision of all serious athletes getting to and from the gym on a mobility scooter.

It is also important to get enough sleep as it is when you are asleep that your body really heals itself. I have read that many pro athletes will try and get in a sleep in the middle of the day. So now you have "athletes" driving everywhere, using mobility scooters and sleeping during the day - sounds like a lazy bunch to me.

I'm off to the kitchen for an hour and half on the bike but if my leg hurts I will cut it short. The beauty of Triathlon training, compared to training for just one sport, (apart from bragging rights) is that you get time to recover e.g. following yesterdays run I will not do another endurance run until Saturday which gives my body plenty of time to recover. Now all I have to do is get my Stannah Stair Lift installed and I am sorted.

4 comments:

Meredith said...

i love the scooter and stair-lifter idea! rest days, here we come! :)

and love the blog, by the way. helps me keep my british slang in good form (just because i don't live in london anymore doesn't mean i have to let it slide.)

James said...

Thanks for taking a 'butchers' at my Blog Meredith and I am only too pleased to do my bit to keep Brit slang alive and kicking.

Unknown said...

We love the scooter, and now realise that grandpa must also have been training for an ironman when living in Weston s mare, and we did not realise it. Very cool
By the way, we have Anne staying overnight with us, and has enjoyed your

Scott Sharpe said...

This year has been CRAZY with bad weather! I ran last night on the roads and it took me 40 min to do 6Km. It's like running on the beach. Thats great that you guys are going to be in Toronto, its only about 2hours from Kingston, you are more than welcome to come down if you have free time.
Scott