Life throws many challenges in our path, some massive, some tiny and many others in between. Teresa has been struggling with foot pain for a couple of years now and finally found the cause. Its not great news for her sporting ambitions but its far from over. Read about it here.
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Coaches Corner – Donating Blood and Training
I regularly give blood and have on occasion met other athletes at the donor sessions. Without doubt blood donation is a good thing to do, as we are cycling and running out on the roads we are at greater risk of accident and may one day need to draw on the blood donated by others. We are also healthy individuals ideally suited to supply blood without a significant impact on our own lives, but how will it affect our training and athletic performance? Read on.
Coaches Corner – Train Hard Race Easy
Train Hard – Race Easy is an old saying but remains true today, get the work done in training and the race day will tend to look after itself. For most of us the race season is still a few months away, an ideal time to think about your training and the race performances it produces.
‘Train Hard’, what does that really mean? Read Here
Why should you do Pilates? By Teresa Harman
Athletes train their bodies to maintain and improve their performance in their sport.
Many top athletes and dancers use Pilates to assist with their training. For example, Darcey Bussell a well known and loved ballerina and now Pilates instructor uses this method to maintain her health and mobility. In an interview in the Evening Standard nearly three years ago she said:“I truly believe Pilates is such a good thing, especially if you have had children”.
So why should you include Pilates in your training? Read here.
My class at East Runton Village Hall, Thursdays 7pm to 8pm is particularly suitable for athletes.
Ironman Barcelona 2015 with TriHarman
After a year of waiting and preparation Ironman Barcelona arrived. Mark and Teresa travelled out to the race with friends from TriAnglia and Born2tri.
The story of the trip is here.
A TriHarman athlete Donald Barber also completed his first Ironman race in Barcelona.
He has written an account of his experiences here.
If you would like to talk with us about support with your ambitions for 2016 events use our contact us.
Coaches Corner – Don’t let rain stop training
Let’s face it we live in England, it rains regularly in the summer so you can be sure it will rain more in the coming months. Riding in the wet can be a miserable and uncomfortable experience, purely social riders can choose whether to ride but many riders book their events days, weeks or months in advance and there is no way to anticipate if it will be wet or dry. You can decide not to start the event but you may have invested significant time and money getting to that start line, a DNS may not be an option.
So if you are going to complete wet events you need to train and prepare for those conditions. The rain doesn’t have to spoil a beautiful day if you have trained and prepared to ride fast and stay safe despite the water. So how do we adapt to cope well in the bad weather? See more
Salou 2015 – Not Everything goes to Plan
Not everything will go to plan when you set out to complete a race. Sometimes things go wrong long before you even reach the start line. This fact you cannot change but how you react to the challenge is up to you, can you salvage a success against the odds?
We holidayed in Salou, Spain with the children some years ago, a nice beach resort just south of Barcelona. When Teresa saw Challenge were putting on a Half Ironman distance triathlon there in May it seemed an ideal early preparation for IM Barcelona. Challenge organise good events in a similar style to Ironman but not quite as expensive. The credit card came out and soon we had two entries and a week holiday in the sun arranged.
Time passed and the training was not really going as expected. Teresa had an enduring foot pain which it seems stemmed from a lumbar disc pushing on a nerve. This was not going to be a quick fix and a half marathon run was out of the question. She would still start the race but at best walk the run leg. My training was going better but work on the house was eating into my time and the bike miles had suffered. A personal best was no longer an option so what would success look like? To find out click here.
Ironman Barcelona Preparation
I know there are a few of you doing IM Barcelona this year, you may be interested in the piece I wrote for my old club after preparing for and racing Challenge Barcelona (same course) in 2011.
It is a bit of a long read but you may find it interesting, click here.
Mark and Teresa’s Coaches Corner
There is no substitute for good old fashioned coaching from and experienced coach, one 2 one or in a group of like minded people. However there is much to learn reading the experiences of the coaches as they race and train. Mark and Teresa share these with you in their Coaches Corner. These are updated regularly so it is worth checking back from time to time.
You will find the first article dealing with the importance of bike set up posted here, just to give you an idea what is coming.
Mark and Teresa