Caffeine has been used for centuries as a stimulant. It’s probably the most widely used drug in the world.
I know of a lot of athletes who use caffeinated gels, and caffeine tablets during races to help them stay focused. There are lots of studies available to read through regarding the benefits and risks of taking caffeine during sport.
I’m not going to sit in judgement of those who take it to race faster, I have myself. What I’ve found personally is that it helps me mainly to stay focused. It keeps …

I often have to hold athletes back from training. In a recent conversation with an athlete who is four weeks out from the Australian Ironman. The athlete is sick, not bad, but not well. Head cold type symptoms, sore joints and muscles, more than just a cold.
I explained/reassured him that the race is raced on the training which we’ve accumulated over the past three months, more so over the past two years. I told him you race this length of race on your background. The most important thing we can …

We all know some athletes who race harder than they train. People who are accused of being burgulars by their mates because they never show much in training, but when the flag drops they become “turned on” by the competition.
This is a far better scenario than the training kings who get smashed by their mates when they race. The guys who treat the River Loop like it’s a Tour de France stage, but ride like housewives with baskets on their handle bars in races.
It’s possible to develop the “joy of …

About every month we do a 100km time trial. What I learn about the athlete is really important. But what the athlete learns is far more important. I’ve found the time trials to be one of the less popular workouts among some of the guys. Some love them, some find something else to do that day.
The Ironman is a seventy percent mental race, once the training has been done. The time trials are an important part of that physical preparation, conditioning the muscles to operate at a high level of intensity …

Lets face it, we’re triathletes, we’re not cyclists. Cyclists are completely different athletes with very different needs and talents. Some good cyclists have become good triathletes but the transition is not an easy one.
Most of the athletes I deal with are interested in half and full Ironman events. In each case the bike leg is a time trial. The physiological requirements for a triathlon time trial are very different to those for a cycling road race. In a road race, part of the game is to actually put yourself on …

Analysis paralysis is an epidemic in triathlon. We read the planned strategies posted by guys on triathlon forums. The advice offered by anonymous experts on the same forums. They go to so much detail, so many grams of this, so many litres per hour, the precise number of gels for the bike. It all reads like the secret to success. Unfortunately after the race is run and the dust has settled, those detailed plans often didn’t work out as planned.
Most of the athletes I meet have taken up swimming as …

I am suprised at times when athletes almost appologise in their weekly feedback when a time trial or a race was not a PB. It’s impossible to get a PB every time that you train or compete. A boxer never wins every bout. A football team never win every game they play. For them losing is part of the game.
As long as you win more often than you lose, you’re moving ahead, you’re winning. Life is like that, losing is part of the game. Be ready for an occasional loss, …

We do all the swim workouts, we ride all the miles, and we wear out a couple of pairs of shoes a year. Yet our times are static. A years training and we turn in roughly the same times?
What’s going wrong?
1 – Are we getting the balance of intensity right? Remember the easy stuff should be done easy, and the hard stuff should be done hard. I’ve seen so many athletes doing the easy stuff harder than it needs to be, then be too short of fuel, or too tired …

Ironman WA has been run and the results recorded. There were some great advancements made by many of our squad members. Amongst them is a performance which deserves to be published. This performance exhibits the real value of goal setting. Not just setting goals, but owning those goals with your mind, body and soul. These goals have to become a part of “who you are”, in order to be realised.
In early 2009, this athlete gave me a laminated list of goals. In full colour, listing what his goals were in …

It’s always a relief to wake up the day after testing yourself to find out where you limits are. It’s just a good feeling to wake up. Most guys my age get fatigued thinking about going hard for over eleven hours at anything. Let alone all the weather features Hawaii can throw at you in a day.