HOT NEWS 2006

26th December 2006
Boxing Day TT
Whilst Dave & Graham were on foot around Poole Park, Julian & Bryce were having a blast on their bikes.
Here is Bryce's take on the day and how he is starting to reap the benefits of training to wattage.
Jeez, my first race in over 3 months. The only race I’d pencilled in (and only entered so as to see where I was respective to a later start of base training this year) saw me head over from the usual annual Weymouth ‘training camp’ (lots of running and riding coupled with copious amounts of Bombay mix) to see what was what.
The other reason is that I had finally got my new power measurement system installed on the bike completing the bike project upgrades for this year before the saving for the next one begins. In reality now the power system is effectively a ‘black box’ recording a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of data when I ride and making the bike a two wheeled equivalent of a formula 1 racing car. Just from the one ride I learnt a lot about my approach and how to modify my current training regime. I will dispense this info from my voyage of discovery……………………now.
The week before I’d conducted a ramp test at home with a couple of sports science friends to obtain a range of wattage to work to for the 10 mile race. By increasing the effort by 25w per minute it’s a test that you really can’t hide from. I blew my legs apart (requiring nearly a week to recover) at a shade over 500 watts. This sounds like a lot but bear in mind I’m a big guy and considerably heavier than most. If you compare this to someone like say, Graham who probably weighs 10-15kg less than I do means that he could still effectively put out approximately 150w less than me and ascend up a particular hill faster than I would. However, depending on whether your riding position is both efficient and comfortable on the flat, most of that output for me would mean I would be faster than a lighter rider over a flat/rolling course. At least, that’s the plan…….
I read a lot of books on this over Xmas and got to the event as nervous as I would expect for my first event after a break. I didn’t feel spectacular and I felt unusually cold. That said, historically most riders have not had consistent training at this point whereas although I had lost about 5 days training over a couple of months, it had generally been a steady work rate.
I started the event and found out quickly that even with restraint just how hard I start an event and as the TT unfolded I found I was not able to attain my predetermined target of 343w (more on this later) so decided to drop down to 300w instead. Aside from being held up by traffic at the turnaround I thought I’d given an even steady performance and finished in 24:20 (they have had a timing error as they list it as 24:28 – my 2 clocks said otherwise). This was the same time I won the event in 2 years ago. This time it was 5th place. I wasn’t too unhappy as it showed that with a much shorter run up I was still able to attain a reasonable result (I’d pre calculated that I should ideally hit 24:10 for a good day with this kind of weather).
Now the interesting part, what did the power meter say? (apologies if this seem a bit over simplified – it is. It took me 5 hours to review all of this and I’m still looking at things now).
In essence having pulled a few graphs together (I can show these at the next training day) I went and achieved a very steady HR – actually with 2-3 beats range over the course of the TT. Normally I would consider this effective pacing and would consider it a solid effort…… until I pulled up the power information. I burnt a lot of juice in the first 5 minutes of the race going 100w faster than I should have with a steadily declining power output all the way to the Sopley turnaround. This first 5 minutes was my peak wattage of the whole event whereby it should have been towards the end. This must be a psychological issue making my power profile was that of a ‘V’ pattern and this is not ideal for a TT bike leg.
Despite the fact I was held up by cars at the turnaround the velocity drop off was only 3-4mph meaning I lost little and doubt I would have been willing with a clear road to try and corner at this time of year at 25mph. I was unhappy at the time for being ‘held up’ but the data showed I probably got a rest instead without sacrificing much.
I come out of the turn and my power output ascends massively (almost like a subconscious decision that ‘I’m going home’) for the remaining half. With 2 minutes to go (what I always call the ‘golden mile’) my power really ramps up and I’m still accelerating through the line.
So, what are the issues here?
Poor pacing: Too hard, too soon, and for too long. This may have dented the whole events output. The fact there is a definitive step up at the halfway point in power output and a huge surge with a mile to go also shows a poor pacing strategy. My HR never indicated any of this!!!! It was an ineffective negative split you might say.
Too cold: I chose not to wear leg warmers and even after a warm up my legs never felt that ‘loose’. This physiologically would have harmed power output with an air temperature of 4 degrees riding at 25mph. I’m going to find out how much.
Why the shortfall from the required 343w down to 300w on the day? Probably because of a fundamental mistake in my home testing – I was on the hoods during the home test but we race on the aerobars. It may not make too much of a difference to some but when things get tough in a test I can recruit my upper body muscles and wrestle the bike to squeeze out more power – this would not happen on the road and probably (along with the cold) would account for the remainder of the power shortfall).
What now?
My graph for mean power output over the course of the event shows an even distribution for power from durations from 10 seconds and flattens out at about 15 minutes onwards (which you would expect being an endurance athlete). Without boring you all, if this graph has significant flat spots in it often indicates certain ‘talents’ in particular power ranges if you were training for a particular discipline (i.e. a road sprinter or a pursuiter) or an indicated greater ability at certain durations. The profile I had of a gentle downward slope with a flatter curve from 15 mins onwards indicates that my current training has given me a consistent body of ability at the required durations for a sprint event so it means I’m just short on overall sustained power. Coupled with the longer 3-4 hour rides I’ve been doing mean I probably already have enough aerobic work achieved so can confidentially move into more strength work as projected in about 4 weeks time. This power shortfall can now be corrected easily with adjusted turbo sets of setting intervals of just above and below threshold (something I knew I had been short on as I had opted to do more fixed wheel training out on the road instead anyway so this ties in) to move the LT up but more importantly increasing the power I can produce at that level.
My bar chart of power outputs shows a significant ‘drop down’ at about 320w. Having read Andrew Coggans book (and spoke to him by e-mail) this often anecdotally indicates the current lactate threshold point meaning I now know that I could go marginally harder and if I went out more consistently meant I would end up going faster for it. 15-20w isn’t much but bear in mind I was only 8 seconds off 4th – at a sprint tri I would need to be aware of this.
My cadence output graph showed I was at 90+ for 85% of the event and there is no correlation between power output and the chosen cadence range (I was hoping that this would be picked up so I could identify whether I should mash or spin) but from this brief test it did not seem to matter. This will be checked in a separate test later this year. From historical info I know I can TT at 105rpm so another factor of the cold and lower recordings of higher cadences probably means a slowed motor function due to the air temperature.
It’s worth noting that after checking my altimeter Sopleys TT course slopes downhill of about 30m over a 5 mile length. My cadence increased subtly on the return leg. This may have been due to this incline or just due to the greater effort but it’s worth noting this typography all the same.
So what was a steady heart rate effort was not a steady time trial after all showing lots to improve on! I’ll race again mid February over a hilly TT that time to gain a bit more insight. Possibly the most powerful training tool I’ve ever used……
 


26th December 2006
Round the Lakes 10k, Poole Park
While Julian & Bryce were doing a 10 mile bike time trial, Dave & Graham both did the Round the Lakes 10k; here are their (very) succinct reports;

Graham
The day dawned, dull but no drizzle & no wind. This is a three lap course around Poole Park Lake.

Lap 1 - conservative. Lap 2 - getting faster. Lap 3 - getting faster.
Last bit to the finish - a bit of a struggle.

The splits are as follows:

1K - 3:49, 2K - 3:42, 3K - 3:42, 4K - 3:42, 5K - 3:47 [18:42 1st 5k],
6K - 3:42, 7K - 3:48, 8K - 3:38, 9K - 3:49, 10K - 3:52. [18.50 2nd 5k]

Total running time - 37:32

Comments - No Xmas pud this time but a nice bottle of bubbly, which I'm sure Nikki will enjoy on New Year's Eve!!!

After race I take on some nutrition - a big double sausage bap. Nutrition is everything!!!!!

Dave
I also did Round the Lakes but completed the 4 lap course along with the other 350 plus runners. Just as well Ironman S.A. is not a multi lap course!!

I finished in a more sedate 40:52, 67 out of 363 and 5th in my age group.

Scott’s notes – Graham has it as a three lap course & Dave has it as a four lap course……
 


25th December 2006
Dave's Christmas Day Cove Dash
I knew that some of the athletes were training and racing over the holiday period but Dave, I think, has won the bragging rights with this one:-
On Christmas Day I enjoyed a 50m sprint in Lulworth Cove.
An elite non-wetsuit event with a field of 5.
A bracing experience and probably my last open water event of the year.
 


23/12/2006
Merry Christmas & a Happy Holiday
Well, it's that time of year when most of us get a break from work. Whilst some will be kicking back and relaxing two or three of the team will still be out there doing it, those not training over Christmas (and most will be out on Christmas Day!!) will no doubt be racing with the likes of the Boxing Day 10 mile TT, The Round the Lakes 10k and the Broadstone Quarter Marathon on 1st Jan.
On behalf of the team can I take this opportunity to pass on Season's Best Wishes to all our supporters.
 


Sunday 17th December 2006
Synergie Swimmer Secures Sports Scholarship
Phoebe who has been racing both at multi & single discipline sports over the last few seasons has recently been working hard to hit the qualification criteria to get into Kelly College.
We got the good news whilst at the team meal that Phoebe’s hard work had paid off and that she had been successful in her application and had been offered a sports scholarship at Kelly College where she will be working with some Olympic coaches.
A fantastic opportunity and we have every confidence she will benefit from it.
 


Sunday 17th December 2006
Team Meal
Having had a tough day at the office...it was time to meet up for a bit of a social.
Di decided that the evening ought to have a bit of a theme so it was a hat night.
Good to see so many of the team and their partner's (support crew) there.
Louise's tales of tarmaccing confused Bryce but he managed to recover to eat an extra dessert. Not quite the Lausanne European Chip Mountain but a reasonable effort all the same.
An independent adjudicator judged Nikki's hat to be the best at the table.
No doubt the first of many holiday parties...
Photos are online.


Sunday 17th December 2006
Training Day
For once the athletes turned up at a training day and didn't have to worry about getting wet as there was no pool sessions scheduled.
That said it didn't make the day any easier, first off was a session at Calshot Velodrome consisting of 7 x 1k repeats where time, heart rate and blood lactate figures were recorded.
Some great work was put in by the athletes, some of whom had never ridden on a track before.
It was then a matter of re-locating back to Ringwood where they had a sports psychology input from Amanda Wilding; Amanda is a BASES accredited sports psychologist working out of Bournemouth University.
Feedback so far has been that this was a very worthwhile session and the athletes are looking forward to the follow up one in March 2007.
 


Sunday 10th December 2006
Bryce at the BJW Reliability
While Graham was having a play over 10k, Bryce went out over 100k.

It was the 100km reliability trial yesterday in decent conditions (provided you weren’t out there all day). There was a turnout of about 60 riders and a lumpy course. These events are recommended training rides and its worth it just to see a load of cyclists bonk horrendously after about 2 and a half hours if nothing else.
I have been concerned about my biking recently. I started training seriously considerably later than usual this year in an attempt to keep my powder dry longer into the season and have refused to race until I could be in a situation to do something other than struggle like hell. The first testing day did not go well in the saddle back in October so by yesterday with only 5 weeks decent training (and my dodgy trailside first aid incident the other week costing me time) I didn’t feel I had a lot in ‘the bank’ to show for at the moment.
I have, however tried a few different training things this year. I ride 3 times a week but only one of those is on the turbo. Of the other 2, one is a long ride (building gradually up to 4 hours – currently standing at about 3 and a half) and the other is a medium ride of about 90 minutes on the fixed wheel bike (I switched this round last week and did 3 hours of fixed wheel riding – not for the sensible). This has not brought with it much anecdotal feedback at this time (without the racing or testing for a while I have no idea where I am). That said, yesterdays ride (with me in the slower group starting first in an attempt to keep things aerobic) proved somewhat surprising.
I’d done a hard turbo set the night before so I expected tired legs but as the miles rolled by more and more riders were getting disposed of and I did not feel too bad. I would not say I did a lot of work for the first 90 minutes other than make sure I remained in the first group. By two hours only 10 of us remained and by the time we entered the Purbecks a subtle gentleman’s agreement had been formed with one of the other guys (a national standard TT’er) and myself whereby he would get on the front on the flats and I would sherpa the climbs. I began to realise quickly I was on a good day and was still only riding tempo on the climbs.
In the end we covered the 100km hilly route in 3:40 and we had a faster time than the fast group (with a load of well known elite road racers) which proved highly embarrassing for certain individuals in the clubhouse later on. What I was more pleased about was that my HR average was 145 (8 beats below lasts years) with an 18mph average (0.5mph faster) with a lot of long hills. I think I’m lacking raw power but a combination of the efficiency the fixed wheel riding is giving me (coupled with still remaining at my racing weight) has meant I seem to be accumulating an aerobic base very quickly indeed. There is an irony with all this since that next season I’m shortening back to ultra fast racing and now I start to be able to finally stand up aerobically. Typical.

Discussions of the day.
Scene 1: A long ascent with blind turns, 3 hours into the ride.
Wheezing Rider to Bryce (mid ascent): “why aren’t you in the fast group?”
Bryce: “Because I’m not riding particularly fast at the moment”
Rider: “Really ?!!!”
Bryce: “How long is this climb anyway?”
Rider: “Tuesday”.

Scene 2: A long flat road with a heavy tailwind, I am 4th man back with a current speed of 33mph.
Welsh rider (5th man back) to man on the front: “are you in a hurry?”
Man on the front: (silence)
Welsh rider: “someone wants their Sunday lunch” (wheeze)
Man on the front: (silence)
Welsh rider: “Jesus, we’ve just hit 35mph” (heavy wheeze)
Bryce: “Cool. Reckon we can hit 36?”
Welsh rider: WHAT!!!! (heavy wheeze).
Bryce to Welshman: “weren’t you with 3 others ?”
Welsh rider: “yes, they are right behind me”. (wheeze)
Bryce: “not anymore they’re not”.
Welshman (now with a fading voice) : “you didn’t bring a spare energy gel with you did you ?”…………
Bryce.
 


Sunday 10th December 2006
Christmas Pud 10K
Graham was the only current team member out at the Christmas Pud 10k. A popular race so it was good to catch up with a number of people prior to Christmas.

Graham’s November test times showed that he was capable of a 39.30 10k run so once again he was being “guinea-pigged” to see how the test predictions match actual race times. Running conditions were almost ideal although the course isn’t the fastest Graham finished in 37.48 (unofficial) and no doubt a race report will follow.

As promised here is Grahams take on the day, I must add that there are other Christmas puddings available.....

Being the last race of the year, this is always a popular race. So much so that you have to enter in April to guarantee yourself an entry.

Race morning was overcast and, after my warm up, found that there would be a head wind for the last mile & half. I'm talking in miles because this is the only 10K race that is marked in miles!!!

I started off mid pack because this race always is a fast affair so I had to start cautiously. Got to mile 1, still in a big pack, only to look at my watch to find that the first mile was 5:49, but being in such a big pack it felt easy. So I thought to myself I'd better ease off a bit but on the way to mile 2 the pack started to thin out. We had a little bit of a problem with an out-of-control horse at about 2.5 miles which left about four of us together. We all worked well off each other & started pulling a couple of runners back. The miles seemed to click by quite quickly until the last mile when we were into the head wind but I managed to stay with the guys until mile 6 then two of us pulled away & sprinted to the finish, but some young whipper-snapper pipped me to the line.

Overall, very pleased with the time of 37:48 (unofficial) & came in about 46thish.

Splits were: 1st mile 5:49, 2nd mile 5:59, 3rd mile 6:12, 4th mile 6:06, 5th mile 6:13 (30:21), 6th mile 6:12, last bit 1:15.

The best bit about this race is I got a Waitrose orange Xmas Pud. Yum, yum, loads of calories.

Wishing Scott & Di and everyone else in the team, & their families, a very merry Christmas & a successful 2007. May you all reach your goals


 


Sunday 3rd December 2006
The Full Monty
Whilst Clive was having a blast over 5 miles, Dave had a 10 mile race to do.
Good to see the race reports coming through, here's Dave's;

This race is an 'off road' jaunt at Montacute House in Somerset. 10 miles, 8 hills and loads of mud. At the start of the race we were warned that literally dozens of trees had come down during the previous night's gales and that the heavy rain had made much of the course treacherous.
The warnings were accurate as much of the course resembled an obstacle race as we climbed over tree trunks and through branches.

The last two hills were particularly challenging as all athletes resorted to climbing on all fours in attempt to reach the summits. On the final ascent the runner in front of me fell and slid back down the hill as I stepped aside. It’s the first time I have ever overtaken someone by standing still!!

Remarkably I reached the last mile without having fallen. I was feeling smug as I ran past others who appeared to have immersed themselves in a mud bath when my feet shot out from underneath me and I slid down the hill into Montacute village on my backside.

I finished in 1:30:10 received my complimentary Christmas pudding and retuned to Swanage with a significant amount of Somerset mud attached to my clothes, shoes and being.
Good for the complexion so I understand.
Cheers
Dave
 


03/12/2006
Victory 5

After the ravages of last night’s storm, I arrived at the Mounbatten Centre in glorious sunshine and lovely blue skies. Okay the Car Park was flooded and there was a strong wind blowing, but at least it wasn't raining (that came later!).

As I got out of my car, there was a nervous looking man going through his stretching routine. In the car beside him sat his wife and young daughter passing on words of encouragement. It transpired that it was his first ever race, having used running as a way of losing 2 stone (on Doctors orders) to improve his health. I admired him, it was his big day and I wished him well.

The hour I allowed before the Start, evaporated quite quickly, which was just as well because the wind was quite cold, and the sun gave way to a rather stormy looking sky.
The first mile covered in 6mins 15secs (wind assisted) was a breeze and I felt comfortable.

The second was a disappointing 6mins 35secs. Although the wind was now side-on, I held my position with the group I was running with. Getting to mile 3 (19mins 42secs) was interesting, the route was flooded, undulating and in parts straight into the wind and rain. But I was pleased with the time and my application.


Mile 4 (26mins 55secs) was a different story, I was beginning to pay for my earlier pace (not such a breeze now!) although the rain had stopped the side-wind was really strong.
I began losing places, and cursed myself for mentally dropping-off.

Mile 5, boy oh boy, the last mile was straight into the wind, I kid you not it, it was evil. At first I found it soul destroying, and subsequently lost some more places. A change of approach saw me gain a couple of the places back, and I crossed the finish line
in 34mins 23secs.

My race goals were twofold, firstly to run as close to 32mins 30secs as possible and secondly to improve the psychological aspects of racing. Well the wind put paid to any chance of achieving the first, but I was pleased with the way I tackled the second.

On the way back to the car, I saw the chap I mentioned earlier, his daughter proudly wearing his Finishers Medal. I wondered which of us got the most out of the race.
I'll let you know my side of the story after the World's in Hamburg next year!

Clive


27/11/2006
Downtown Half Marathon
Downton Half Marathon - 26th Nov 06

After the pain of last Sunday's testing day Graham's predicted 21k time was calculated at 1.27 to 1.31.

But we all know that the idea and the application don't always match up, thankfully Graham had this race already lined up, so an ideal opportunity to test the theory.......

What an awful day this turned out to be & this has to be one of the worst conditions I have ever raced in (& I have experienced quite a few bad ones - take Llanberis for instance (Jules will tell you what that one was like).
However today we had wind gusting to gale force at times, torrential rain, thunder & lightening which was a bit worrying when you are in the middle of a of nowhere, hail the size of golf balls, flooded roads which were calf deep on more than one occasion & the feeling that maybe winter had come at last. The roads were more like rivers (so the wetsuit would not have felt out of place on this run). We also had parts of fallen trees on the road to add to the chaos & I had to run through it all.

All this said, I did enjoy it in a perverse, sadistic sort of way & came home with a time of 1:28:43 in 12th position.
 


27/11/2006
The Hellraiser
The South Hellrunner was held at Longmoor Camp on November 12th.

Dave recounts the race he says he finished.....

Familiar territory for Monsterman officionados.
The race was started by the Devil and a scantily clad She Devil to the soundtrack of Arthur Brown's 'Hellfire'and red flares and thunderflashes.
After all that the first 3 to 4 miles was a bit tame amounting to a standard off-road run. A waist high wade through two stretches of water anounced the arrival of the hard bit. This was followed by some tough ascents and descents. I took a fall losing my race number in the process but recovered sufficiently to arrive in reasonable shape at the 'Bog of Doom' and 'Hills of Hell,the climax to the race.
I finished in 1:32:00 but received a dnf in the official results through lack of race number. It was a good day out and a suitably tough off road challenge for me to recommend.
 


27/11/2006
Ballbuster Duathlon
Ballbuster - 11th Nov 06

Graham is catching up with his race reports, here's the one from the Ballbuster

This was the next test for the foot as this consists of 2 x 8 mile runs with a 24 mile bike ride in the middle (all of which is up hill - Box Hill to be precise).

The first run was taken easy. It felt easy anyway as I was in a group of about 20. I reached the summit of Box Hill & checked the watch - 56mins. I think that's too fast but it felt comfortable. Came out of T1 & Dad shouted that I was 160th.

Now that I'm on the bike I start catching people. I seem to overtake quite a few on this lap but onto the second lap it gets a bit congested down the back lanes with about 12 of us trying to get down a narrow track - I don't do brakes on descents!!!! I still enjoy going up Box Hill the second time but will I enjoy it the third time. I am still overtaking people on the third lap.

I enter T2 & head off on the last run lap hoping I can get close to the time of the first lap, which is going to be a tough ask because of the time of the first run. Dad shouts to me that I'm now 65th so I've nearly overtaken 80ish people.
However this second run was tough but I did push hard & managed to conquer Box Hill for the 5th & last time. Also on this lap I pass another 7 people & I was 1min & 8sec slower than the first run lap, which is very pleasing.
So another good day at the office. 58th overall with a time of 3:12:40 which is a huge leap from my previous effort in 2004 which was 3:29:34.

How chuffed am I!!!!! Answers on a postcard please
 


27/11/2006
New Forest Half Ironman Race
New Forest Half Ironman - 24th Sept 06

Graham's take on the day...


During the night of race day we were woken up by what sounded like a herd of elephants running across our roof - but was actually happening was it was chucking it down with rain, blowing a gale with a whole load of thunder & lightening thrown in for good measure. This didn't bode well for the race.

Arrived at T1 which was at Ellingham Lakes where the ground was soggy, muddy & very stony but this was helped out by the bits of matting strategically placed around the site. I was off in the first wave and had a bit of a jump start, according to Scott, but that's all part of racing!!! Still in the lead after 300 metres, which was a little bit worrying as I hadn't done that before. Then about seven people overtook me but I managed to hang onto them for 3/4 of the course, but I was starting to puff & blow like a beached whale so eased off a little bit but still had them in sight when exiting the water.

Got hauled out of the water by Richard Iles, race organiser, & heard the dulcet tones of Scott shouting at me "that's what we want - 26:30mins" but it was possibly a short swim course.

Into T1 & had to bag everything as T2 was in a different location so took a little bit longer than usual with encouragement from Di to have a good ride. So onto the bike course which had to be changed due to the bad weather conditions.
As per usual, the not-so-good swimmers had their biking legs on & about six overtook me on the first big lap so I was still in the top 20 coming back past Moyles Court School. Now onto the shorter second loop, but disaster strikes.
Going round one of the tight bends the front wheel goes flat. Tried not to panic & worry & changed it in about 7mins. In that time I don't know how many people had overtaken me but just got on with the job & got back into T2 with the punctured tube around my neck in under 3hrs so I was on track for my 5:30hrs prediction, if I could have a good run which was going to be a big test for my foot.

Left T2, minus inner tube. 3/4's of the run course was all off-road with a mixture of sand dunes, grass, stony tracks & gravel so I knew it wasn't going to be an easy run. I managed to catch two people by about half way then we got onto the road towards the finish & the legs were starting to tire by now & three people overtook me but I managed to get to the finish with a run time of 1:53 so I was well pleased with an overall time of 5:19:05. And what is more important is that the foot stood up (excuse the pun) to the test
 


Sunday 19th Nov 2006
November Training Day
Most of the team gathered on Sunday 19th November for the second training day.
The day consisted of a swim session and a run set.
The swim session started with a revisit to dry side warm ups that the athletes could use at events if they were unable to get into the water.
Having completed 30 minutes on poolside, the athletes then got into the water and commenced a 750m, 500m & 250m time trial based on their individual projected times. Throughout this is the athletes were also video’d.
All told the swim set lasted about two hours.
The athletes then had some down time to refuel and go through the underwater video coaching points.
In the afternoon the athletes relocated to Kings Park athletic stadium where they underwent a series of tests including blood lactate taking, a Balke 15 minute run that acts as a predictive VO2 test and 5 x 3 minute run repeats to establish the athletes ability to maintain their optimum velocity whilst running at their VO2 max. Again the athletes were video’d at the stadium to ascertain their running form.
A tough day that provided a lot of useable, practical data.
 


Sunday 22nd October 2006
Thruxton Duathlon
As promised her is Claire's take on the Thruxton Duathlon.

As the morning of Thruxton Duathlon dawned I was apprehensive. Barring the Test Day I had barely touched my bike since the New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon, and couldn’t remember the last time I’d done a proper brick session. My goal therefore, was to use my new found sport of cross country running, to run tall and strong (and survive the bike leg).

A little warm up jog around the circuit left me even more nervous, due to the steady rise back into transition. I am in the process of learning to love hills but it’s not quite worked yet. Oh well, what had I to loose? It would be a good training effort if nothing else. The weather was overcast, and most people were wrapped up, so I caused some raised eyebrows, as I adopted the old adage of less is more in the clothing department (stops me over-heating)! The race starter was slightly trigger happy, which gave us a false start, but we got away fine the second time.

The first 5km run involved an out and back leg before a full lap of the circuit. I settled into a good rhythm and was pulled along by a couple of girls. I fell back from them to tackle the hill, not convinced that killing myself on the first run was a great race tactic. T1 went without a hitch, although my running mount leaves a lot to be desired!

The bike course consisted of eight laps of the circuit. This was fairly soul destroying, particularly when the heavens opened and huge puddles accumulated (a wetsuit would have been advantageous)! I was fairly happy on the bike, slow and soaked but happy! Until that is I overtook some people, only to look up a little while later to find them already out on the run…. Now it is possible that I miscounted but having analyzed the times since the race I think I was pretty much spot on. At the time I didn’t believe that all those people riding mountain bikes and road bikes without tri-bars would be that much faster than me. I was therefore, annoyed as I dismounted for T2.

I made up time on some others still messing around in transition but my wet socks didn’t create a comfortable feeling as I headed out onto the run. The run consisted of one lap of the circuit and an out and back loop to the finish. I settled down and slowly started pulling people back towards me, which is always satisfying. I thought I was going to have a free run to the finish, when a bloke sprinted past me (obviously hadn’t been working hard enough). I tried to follow him but my legs couldn’t go any faster. I finished in 1:49, fourth in my age-group, which I was OK with. The official results put a female in front of me by about 20secs. I didn’t realize I was racing ghosts, as well as people who can’t count! Overall, however, it was an enjoyable, if wet, race, as far as duathlons go (the devil’s sport, you know)! Hopefully, next year the organizers will think about having lap counters and not allowing ghosts to race!
 


Sunday 22nd October 2006
Thruxton Duathlon 5k/30k/5k
Claire was the only athlete out at the Thruxton Duathlon. This race is held on the 3.792k lap around the airfield, Claire finished fourth in her age group in a time of 1.49.53. No doubt a race report will be forthcoming.


Thursday 19th October 2006
Royal Society of Medicine Seminar about Triathlon
40 invitees attended this series of lectures held at the Royal Society of Medicine. This was the first time the RSM had held such a seminar.

The speakers included Dr Rod Jaques who has been British Triathlon's adviser since 1990 and is the National Medical Director for the English Institute of Sport (EIS).
John Dennis who is the British Triathlon physiotherapist was also speaking as was the two times Olympic coach, Chris Jones.
The final speaker was Professor Greg Whyte the Director of Science & Research at the EIS.

Dr Rod gave an overview of the history & legend of triathlon before highlighting some of the more common issues he had seen in the last 16 years, including Stress Fractures, Unexplained Under Performance Syndrome, Lower limb pathology particularly lumbar, pelvic & hamstring problems, vascular issues and gastro-oesophageal reflux disorders.

When discussing stress fractures he went through the biomechanical stress of biking into running and how impactive the transition was but stated that some of the issues could be alleviated by strengthening the piriformis and lengthening the iliopsoas. A common theme was also started here inasmuch as a number of athletes have poor core stability and strength.

Dr Rod continued on this theme when discussing lumbar, pelvic & hamstring problems in that a number of athletes present with poor pelvic & core stability and also have muscle imbalances. Specifically impactive was the bike to run transition due to the change in position and work of the skeletal & muscular function. Prehab required to be done focussed on the range of motion and strength of the iliopsoas, Bicep femoris function in the legs and ITB.

In relation to vascular issues Dr Rod outlined a case study where a small framed, female swimmer trapped a vein in the scalene triangle, the area of the brachial plexus behind the scalenus anterior muscle which in turn caused a thrombosis - quite an unusual and thankfully rare case however it was thought provoking into the type of upper body strength work that could or should be undertaken by athletes.

The summary from Dr Rod was that athletes need to work on pelvic stability, posture, muscle symmetry and symmetry of motion plus have a regular stretching routine.

John Dennis came from a slightly different perspective, John is a sub-11 hour Ironman, however there were recurring themes that re-emphasised what Dr Rod had outlined.

John began talking about lumbar spine stresses caused by the extension caused by sighting during open water swimming, the strained flexion by staying "aero" on the bike and the extension & rotational stress of the run.

He outlined how a "stiff" thoracic spine will have a negative impact upon the swim stroke and will cause lower back pain.
This could be exacerbated as trying to stay "aero" impairs the normal protective reflex from the back muscles so they become less effective at protecting the spine.

Equally the more extreme seat angle favoured by Age Group athletes not only cause a quad & hip flexor dominance over glutes and abdominals but also cause problems due to the fact they cause a hyper -extension of the knee and the failure to correctly "fire up" the glutes.

John's key points were that weak glutes are the source of all evil. That said he also showed that a number of athletes had poor core strength and stability.

So his recommendations were sit back on the saddle to help recruit the glutes, work on the small core muscles and piriformis to ensure pelvic stability.

Chris Jones provided a coaching perspective to the audience. Chris had been the head coach at Sydney & Athens Olympics and was preparing the athletes for Beijing.

Chris outlined the velocities required for triathlon and highlighted given the speeds required why it was essential to get the technical basics correct before loading the system with work.

He detailed the current coaching models being used with some athletes and provided a view of where triathlon is now and the projected requirements.

Currently a world class athlete will expect to be racing for 1.50(men) & 2.05(female) on a standard distance event.

Senior elite men will need to be around 17.30 for a 1500m swim, 56 minutes for a 40k bike (being able to produce 6.5 - 7.5 watts of power per kilogramme of bodyweight)and be able to run 30.30 for 10k (VO2 approx 82mls/O2/kg)

In order to facilitate this the talent identification for British Triathlon looks for young athletes who can produce 4.20-4.40 for a 400m swim & 8.35-9.50 for a 3k run.

Chris outlined the regular testing that takes place within the World Class Podium set up and mentioned that the majority of the swimming is done in a pool, not in open water.

The focus with the athletes being on their running mechanics as it has been shown that whoever runs the fastest 2k off the bike historically gets on the podium.
So having ensured the running technical ability is there the athletes spend time focussing on their vVO2 speed. That said a lot of the run sessions were not that intense focusing instead on a fast contact time with the ground.

Chris highlighted how the velocities are increasing all the time outlining that the predictions required to podium at London in 2012 are expected to be in the region of;
Male 16.10 swim, being able to maintain 440 watts on the bike and running about 29 minutes.
Female 1730 swim, being able to maintain 360 watts on the bike and be able to run 33 minutes.

What was that about faster, higher, stronger?

Professor Greg Whyte closed the lectures, Greg is the sports scientist who advised David Walliams on his Channel swim, although he has completed an Ironman race himself.

Greg's talk was about the effects that endurance events can have on the human systems and the various factors that can cause injury, illness and in worst case scenarios, death.


15th October 2006
Training Day
The first training day saw nine of the team undertake maximal swim tests ranging from 750m to 4k.
Having tested themselves in the water it was out onto a 20k bike TT course, not only were maximum heart rates recorded but the athletes also provided blood for lactate profiling.
The field based tests didn't finish there as it was back into the gym for tests that covered predictive VO2, anaerobic energy systems, upper body strength, core strength & flexibilty.
Having been physically tested the athletes then underwent a series of psychological tests including goal setting & psychological profiling.
A tough day for all concerned but the hard work & committment shown produced some great early training season results.
Could be the basis of a progressive & enjoyable 2007 for all concerned.


10102006
Team 2006-2007
De Soto Synergie line up for 2006-2007 season.

With the dust barely settled on the main part ofthe 2006 season, athletes and coaches have been in negotiation and the following athletes will be racing under the De Soto Synergie & Synergie Coaching banner.

Clive Agate.
Clive was the only team athlete in 2006 to get (another) GB vest, representing Team GB at the World Triathlon Championships.
Clive is looking to be faster & stronger in 2007 with a view of qualifying for the World Championships in Hamburg.

Julian Allen
Julian had a great end to his 2006 race series taking an age group win at XTC Campbell River, off road triathlon in Canada.
2007 will see Julian getting down and dirty with possible Xterra races in Spain or Sardinia pencilled in, there is also a rumour that he is considering having a play at the Alp D'Huez triathlon.

Phoebe Chester.
Pheobe raced both single & multi-sport in 2006.
In the Dorset Swim Champs she took Silver medal and achieved a western regional qualifying time for the 100m free. In running Pheobe made the Dorset County Cross Country team, though didn't do the nationals due to swimming commitments.
The swimming & running combined to give her 3rd place in the Kelly College Aquathlon and Pheobe rounded of her season with a win at the Outside-In Triathlon in Wimborne, not only did she win her age group she finished 3rd overall beating most of the guys.
2007 looks like being another season of honing her multi-sport skills in events across the South West.

Mark Chivers
Mark is looking to come out with guns blazing in 2007, the Army Championships will again be a major goal for Mark, who will no doubt use some of the local races to get his racing edge back.

Bryce Dyer
Having represented Great Britain in triathlon in 2005, Bryce decided that he wanted a couple more GB vests but was keeping his sporting options open.
He started with Ironman South Africa in March and just kept on going....
representing Team GB at Surf Lifesaving taking 5 medals in his age group before having a blast at the World Masters Track Championships in the 3k pursuit.
He also managed to squeeze into his season the National Triathlon and National Time Trial Championships.
Who knows what 2007 will bring.....

Nigel Eldred
Nigel tested himself with some short, sharp races in 2006 although the big test was the Half Ironman UK in Wimbleball, described as one of the toughest middle distance courses to do. 2007 isn't formalised yet but there are rumblings that Nigel will continue with some longer stuff, we'll keep you updated.

Claire Fraser
Claire is one of the new team members for 2006-2007.
Claire enjoyed the New Forest Half Ironman in September and is favouring that sort of thing again although work commitments may get in the way.
So it a big welcome to Claire and we know she'll enjoy the training days.

Louise Gould
Louise is also new to the team for next season. 2006 saw Louise set the fastest bike split in the New Forest Duathlon, where she went onto finish 3rd overall before doing her first Ironman in Austria.For 2007 Louise is looking to the World Long Course Champs in Lorient, France as her main goal.
Louise has also just returned from the European Duathlon Championships where she was working as the Team GB masseuse.

Dave Pratten
Dave has enjoyed racing in 2006, setting fast times at London, Windsor & Swanage to name a few. In 2007 Dave will be looking to qualify for the Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg.

Graham Starmer
Graham has been doing some monster biking during the year while he rehab'd his foot. He still posted some pretty fast times winning the SW AG Championships at Swanage. Main racing goal for 2007 will be Ironman South Africa although he has an eye on some of the major long course championships as a secondary goal.

Sarah Wheeler
Having kicked some butt on the sprint circuit;
Blandford Fast Twitch 2nd in AG,
Blenheim Super Sprint 1st in AG
Sherborne Ladies Tri 4th over all.
Bournemouth Sprint 3rd in AG
Bath Sprint July 2nd in AG
London Sprint August 15th out of 284
South Coast Duathlon 1st in AG
Wimborne Fast Twitch 6th in AG

Sarah has decided to move to Standard Distance racing for 2007 and may have a crack at getting a GB vest in the European Triathlon Championships in Copenhagen.

So the team will be racing around the World and testing themselves at major championships in 2007.....bring it on!!


17092006
Wimborne Triathlon 17th September 2006
Having done very little training over the last month due to illness I had no idea what was going to happen.
So it was with a certain amount of nervousness that I arrive at the QE Leisure Centre.With the fog still not lifted and the sound of Scott’s voice drifting through the air I went and found Sarah to have a nice little chat about her “8 minute swimming time”.
I can only assume she was including her T1 time in that!
Because of the large number of first timers taking part my wave was not due to start until just after 10am. This was unheard of for me. That’s the time I normal expect to be finished!
Anyway at 10.05 the whistle went and off I went .
Despite a head on collision with another athlete who was trying a risky overtaking manoeuvre I got out of the pool not feeling to bad. Got through T1 ok and with a few words of encouragement from Mr Murray (over
the PA system!) out onto the bike course.
This was when starting at 10am instead of 7am became a distinct advantage. No numb finger and toes .I got into my stride very quickly and focused on trying to chase down the athletes in front of me. I managed to pull a few back and was pretty happy as I came into T2 .
As I came out of T2 things were very different. My lack of training, particularly brick training, became painfully obvious. Everybody that I had overtaken on the bike (and lots of others) passed me. I could not find any sort of rhythm and the next 30 odd minutes seemed to go on forever.
I eventually finished relieved not to have been
overtaken by Graham (well he only started an hour after me!).
The aim of the day was really just to get round and that’s what I did. I learnt a few lessons and will be applying them as we go into winter training (mostly to do with doing more brick sessions!)


Sunday 17th September 2006
Wimborne Triathlon
Historically Wimborne was the last hurrah of the local events and usually gets a good turn out, this year was no exception with 400 athletes signing up to do the race, over half of whom were novices.

Sarah & Nigel were using this as an end of season event whilst Graham was using it as a sharpener prior to next weeks New Forest 1/2 Ironman distance event.

Graham was third in his age group, finishing 10th overall in 1.13.13, Sarah was sixth in her age group with a time of 1.31.36 whilst Nigel shook the cobwebs out in 1.37.07.

This is Sarah's take on the day;

Last 'proper' race of the season for me and I was hoping to finish in top 5 of the AG. Knew the competition was going to be tough, it always is in Wimborne.

Woke at 4.45am, before the alarm - good start I thought. Showered, made myself a cup of tea, and started to sort out breakfast. Another look at the time, 5.20am. What, I thought to myself. I'm not due to leave home until 7am - why am I up so early, no wonder I woke before the alarm, it wasn't due to go off yet. My one chance of a lie in and I blew it!

It was a very foggy journey down, and not much better in Wimborne, but you could see the sun was trying to break through. I had put 8:10 as estimated swim time, well you all know I can't swim faster than 8 minutes! But it did mean that I would set off at 9am, which is a good time of the day for me. Good to see Nigel and we both joked about hearing Scott's voice through the fog when we arrived!!

Good swim, T1 OK but terrible mounting of the old bike! Ride was slightly slower than I had hoped, and was about to get worse! Pushed my luck a bit through the traffic lights, but nothing illegal. Final stretch of road before turning into School. I take my foot out of my cycle shoe, somehow, still not sure how, my shoe falls off my pedals into the road. Do I go back, or just race on? Yes, I know Bryce, I should have raced on. But at £110 a pair, I had to stop and pick it up. T2 was great and out on the run. Pushed myself and finished in approx 1:34. Still of course waiting for the results, but I know I'll be lucky to reach top 5 this time.


Saturday 16th September 2006
Andover 10 mile TT
Having barely recovered from his endeavour's at the World Track Championships in Manchester Bryce decided he had a final blast left in his legs;

Within sporting events there are often barriers that are set by athletes to annotate a point of self satisfaction. For 100m sprinters it’s the 10 second barrier, for javelin throwers 90 metres, and yours truly in the tri world it was the sub 6 swim or the sub 40 10k. Both of those went last year. I still had one left though. The sub 21 10 mile bike TT. The ability to hold 28.6 mph average for 21 odd minutes and the fact that once achieved, you join the ‘20’ club. You’ll be a seeded rider for the next 3 years. This is pretty irrelevant to most.
The Andover TT weekend is one of (if not the) biggest race events on the TT circuit. For this, 300 riders came from all over the country for one of the best prize funds and the chance for a fast time on the A303. This one had long since been penned in as my season closer with the sole aim of cutting the 21 minute barrier. One last throw of the dice.

This had proved to be a problem though. Because of the worlds last week I’d tried to construct a training plan that would allow me to hit both in top form with the assumption that the shorter duration of the pursuit would allow me to recover fast enough so that less than 2 days later I could go full tilt here. This was of course wishful thinking. However, I gave the worlds priority and accepted that whilst I would not be at full steam, I was strong enough this season to have enough left to cut the barrier – I didn’t care by how much. I went 21:21 last year, I only needed to find 22 seconds ! A lot of lying around, chocolate milk (best recovery drink ever) and the right attitude (empty everything you have left into a 20 minute period and it’s all over for the year Bryce) meant I was optimistic.

So for the last time this year I got back on the turbo for one more warm up and I knew instantly that I was lacking a lot of power. To work round this I calculated that if I could maintain a mega high cadence (115-120) to account for my reduced power bank, I could still blag the sub 21.

For the second time this week I felt very nauseous and shaky pre start (it’s turned out since then that I miscalculated the caffeine dose for my body weight by not accounting for an adrenaline surge) but was ready to go in what looked to be ideal conditions with light winds and about 18 degree air temperature.

I started at about 5pm and soon got upto speed. The right thing to do was to try and hold back a little until the return leg with two large rolls in the road but instead I tried to get my average up high and build a cushion instead. By the time I hit the turnaround after 5 miles my average was still 31mph. I was going to pay for this and the debt collectors arrived at 6 miles. I had nothing to pay them off with and things were getting decidedly painful. At 7 miles gone any time the road went upwards the lack of power base tolled and my speed fell from a healthy 29 to an agonising 23.5. I was running out of time.

As I hit the last climb and glanced at the clock I thought it was over and for what was in effect a split second (but felt like a lifetime) released the power off the pedals when I assumed I would fall 30 seconds outside of this. This moment would come to haunt me because as I hit the top of the climb knowing I had 800m to go it then become apparent that I’d misread it and that a sprint was imminent as I had headed down the slip road to the finish line still with a chance.

Things started to go very hazy after that as I threw the bike through the line…………in 21:01. I spent 20 minutes in a layby unable to stand and the rest of the night quite unwell. Nuts.

Looks like this goal rolls over to next season but at least (and this was no consolation) that I took another 20 seconds off my PB. It was a quick day. 9 guys did 19’s (the real gold national standard for the specialists) and nearly 30 did cut 21. I wonder now if I’d been fresh just how fast I would have gone……..

The stats were that I average 183bpm maxing at 201 (jeez !) and 28.57mph. I was unhappy about it at the time but I went so far into the red just to get this I know when fresh I’ll probably put down a time of epic proportions. There was only one other multisporter present and that was Julian Jenkinson who beat me by 30 seconds. If I get the SRM’s soon I should be able to improve my bike split in tri’s as I’ll know exactly what work rate to put out to negative split. Maybe a new bike as well is in the offing………….
 


Thursday 14th September 2006
World Track Cycling Championships Manchester
Well, he has a track bike so he might as well use it...over to Bryce;

And now for something completely different………….

You would have thought that I’d had enough variety this year already. Ironman, short distance, long distance, time trialing, road racing, surf lifesaving, the list has gone on. I wanted one more hurrah before hanging up the season after this weekend.

You’d also think that track cycling being a sport using bikes with no gears, no brakes and a short loop would be logistically simple. Not so. Whilst packing for this trip I realised that I needed twice as much gear as I’d ever need for a triathlon with 2 bikes (warm up and race), several sets of clothing, 3 days worth of fluids and food and a complete B&Q’s worth of tools.

As soon as I started to take the decision to enter this event I knew I’d take a fair amount of stick both publicly and probably behind closed doors over it as nobody really understood why. What place a triathlete had in what was effectively a different sport probably crossed everyone’s mind. It was a bit like Paula Radcliffe running in the 200m. As always, I was sure I had a good reason…..

The whole idea started during a conversation with a friend about how I would have been a decent 400m runner as I always had a good mix between top end power but with a good tolerance to lactic acid. Likewise, having marvelled at Boardman going round a track in ’92 on the Lotus bike and then at the training days sat through numerous (what I now call) the ‘Kev James scenario’ with the ramp tests, always figured that if I did some work I could be a reasonable pursuiter (if I didn’t crash !) and I loved the purity of the event. When applications were announced for the final UCI masters world champs to be held in this country, and having had (by my expectations) a mediocre season I saw that I had a bit of time and nothing to lose to chance my arm. (It’s also worth noting that I’d already competed in national champs this year in 3 different sports already so I was beginning to see that any group of athletes were fair game !!!!).

I set myself 7 weeks to train (and no longer) as I didn’t want to have to come too far back to get my running and swimming back together again later this year. Other than that I had no idea what would happen. With the reduced time to train (because of the beach working season) the training sessions were manageable and it became a pet project.

Over the last 9 months I’d put together a good bike for the occasion and trained up at Wintons outoor track with a couple of test sessions at Calshot over the last 7 weeks backed it up with some turbo work. This was a throwback to my short sprinting days so I enjoyed the change. I started the project with some basic number crunching. Having evaluated last years results I knew what times would be reasonable enough to be competent so I performed some km repeats and if I could sustain 3x1km at 1:19ish than I was willing to give it a go. Likewise I also knew recently that I could sustain 20-30 secs at 34mph from a lot of the recent road races so having evaluated both tests it turned out that I could be pretty competitive. I changed my diet alongside to more of a grazer (but ate more) and due to the metabolic change as well as the intensity increases in training had my fat percentage (measured by two sports science lifeguards on their hols !!!) checked weekly to see how I progressed – things went well as I settled at 7-8%. I knew I was in good shape.

7 weeks later I walked into the velodrome into a wave of noise. 480 of the worlds most skilled cyclists from ages 30-65 comprising a mix of former Olympians, pro riders, and specialists were there and the sight of the event was awe inspiring. What I thought would be an exclusive affair blatantly wasn’t and as I took a walk through the centre of the track through all the bike pens the reality kicked in that I was a long way from home. 30 odd nations, a massive array of bike technology and national team kit all over the place (apart from oddly enough, the British) were present. This was an event having a highly skilled but closely knitted community and I suddenly felt disrespectful to everyone for even entering……..

I’d not considered the fact that track pursuiting is an incredibly technical event – it’s not just about throwing yourself round a track for 3km at full tilt. The other part of pursuiting is understanding gearing. It’s about choosing the best compromise between speed and the biggest gear you can power at a cadence that can still be turned over when you get tired. Thankfully I had access to some pacing software on the net that would allow me to work all this out. I reworked it by programming in my preferred cadence first (105-110rpm), the race distance, lap distance and the approximate range of pace I’d tested I could hold (18 second laps at 29mph). This gave me some gearing and pacing options and cut down my learning curve. I went 94.5 inches (49x14) – small enough for me to spin but big enough to power early on. During my last test I felt ready to go but it took two training sessions to get my balls back for the track. I also ran an unusual bike set up with slightly wider and straight aerobars so that it looked more like a kilo set up. The plan was to pull up on the bars over the last few laps and start leg pressing if things got nasty !!!

Come race day it was a waiting game whereby a commissaire would come and find you eventually to tell you your draw as everyone talks with coaches, has a massage or swaps tales. There’s an old saying in Chris Boardman’s autobiography – “don’t stand if you can sit, don’t sit if you can lie down” and this was my form for the day. I did a lot of lying around. I was really ready to go….until 30 minutes were left and then the nausea set in. I’d had a thorough warm up (nearly 90 minutes) and in the very high humidity had meant I’d shifted 4 litres of fluid already that day, it was oppressive and my nerves boiled to the surface. I began to suffer anxiety of literally dizzying proportions. The best way to see the differences with triathlon is that time slippage can be absorbed within a race format but with pursuiting it’s over 3-4 mins and is best described as an execution of action. Every mistake is going to cost you places and I really wanted to stick it to everyone. I had made a few friends up there who were going to be my trackside crew who would tell me if I was up or down on schedule.

After what seemed like a long bout of torture my bike was loaded into the start gate and I was then called out of my chair. I didn’t look at my opponent, (I had enough things to think about it) and I had rehearsed the following plan in my head constantly.


• Set the left crank as the first drive at 10 O clock position, hand bike to start judge.
• (10 seconds to go) sight the entry to the first corner.
• (5 seconds to go, beeps begin) sight the clock.
• (3 secs) inhale and hold.
• (2) throw my backside rearward and hold.
• ‘gate release on zero’ drive forward out of the saddle, increasing speed until on top of the gear (or) the 200m line is reached, sit down.
• Go easy for two laps (chances are I’m at race pace anyway) and then keep it an even output.
• Push hard with two laps to go.


When the race started I realised I was visibly shaking (from a combination of both nerves and caffeine) I hit the first corner with what felt an easy pace and barrelled out of the first turn utterly out of control as the bike writhed beneath me. Whilst I was riding at a pace I’d tested I had not counted on the nerve factor. I had to sit down early as I was going dizzy and could not see the black line. It’s worth noting at this point that I get progressively more stupid as a sporting event goes on – the blood must go away from the brain to where its needed !!!

I went the first lap on schedule as I was trying to hold back but I began to feel more like a passenger as I was now holding 29mph and losing the use of clear vision. I remember hearing whether I was up or down but I can’t isolate anything else from that 3 minutes othe than my own need to attack the event hard. On lap 8 I could hear the rumble of a disc behind me as I was about to be caught (by the eventual overall gold medallist) so I accelerated hard and forced him wide and once he did get round me I found that I was being waved back to maintain at least a 20 metre gap. The problem was now that I had a marker and I found I could hold the same pace as he was (3:36) as I was settling into a rhythm but was not allowed to repass. I wanted to accelerate over the last two laps and blow out my ‘big end’. This was frustrating but at least showed my ability may well have been higher than expected.

In the end I crossed the line with a 3:48 for 16th/26 overall. Every time you hit the red line the time loss is about 0.4 and I hit it several times. If I’d gone a second faster I would have been just outside the top 10 and I was 9 seconds off a medal (4 - 5.7% down) and half of that I probably lost due to a bad line and a start where I never quite got on top of the gear until later on so I did myself justice. It was a successful experiment and one I’d like to maybe repeat again tri season allowing. With the announcement that the worlds has gone to Sydney but the Europeans are coming to Manchester maybe I’ll get the chance. Pit crew volunteers next time will be bred from a pack of rabid animals.

My splits were as follows with the target based on a 3:45 schedule in brackets:

25 (24.2 target)
42.5 (42.5)
1:01 (1:00)
1:19.4 (1:19) (first kilo)
1:37.2 (1:37)
1:56 (1:55)
2:14.4 (2:13)
2:33.2 (2:32)
2:51.2 (2:50) - this is where the catch started.
3:10 (3:08)
3:29 (3:26)
3:48 (3:45)

I spent the rest of my experiment watching some legends of the sport race and watching the GB Olympic squads train daily. The bike handling and control was phenomenal. Both the pursuiters and the sprinting squads were there and were amazing to watch. Each with tailored sessions depending on their role (which varies on event but also their role within that event) and working with the coaches (but not necessarily led by) which was surprising. Their recovery was clinically controlled. I accumulated a lot of knowledge.

Several people need to be thanked for this one. John Marriner gave me all the info I’d ever needed to know about pursuiting cutting my learning curve down, Ian Greenstreet was trackside to keep me to schedule and Jason Eastwood got me on the track and riding after the first practise session when I consistently looked like I was going to fall off due to lack of confidence. The bigger problem then was that once I I’d found it I knew then I was going to be really dangerous !!!

p.s. Jason went 3:52 with his pursuit and was a whopping 3 seconds up on me at the first km. He blew in an equally spectacular fashion later on but he certainly committed himself !!!!


Sunday 10th September 2006
Perranporth Triathlon
What a jet-setter Dave is, last week Clacton, this week Perranporth....
Perranporth Surf Triathlon 10th September

What a contrast to the previous weekend! Cornwall was sunny and warm and we were staying in a B&B. The only downside was that I had come down with a heavy cold on the Saturday..

This event consists of a 1000m surf swim,40k bike and 8k run There was nothing in the way of surf but exceptionally low tides meant very long run from sea to transition. The two lap bike course was undulating to say the least and the run was along the sand up the cliffs back down to the sand Unfortunately I struggled throughout the entire race even on the swim which is usually my strongest discipline with my airways restricted and feeling weak.

It was a great event, well organised, well supported with a really nice laid back atmosphere (bottle of lager in the goody bag) and I will certainly return. Hopefully next time I will be in better shape and the surf will be up.

Recorded times 20:05, 80:38 and 31:43.

I finished 86th out of 222 finishers.
 


Saturday 2nd September 2006
2006 ITU World Triathlon Championships, Lausanne, Switzerland
Clive, once again, was representing Team GB.

Here is his account of the trip & race.
Venue:

Situated by Lake Leman with views across to Evian and the snow-capped mountains of the Alps, Lausanne is just a great setting for a triathlon.

Thursday: - A Busy Day!

With an early flight via BA followed by a pleasant train journey to Lausanne, I arrived at my hotel around 1.30pm. The double room had lovely views overlooking the lake and mountains. I had about an hour to re-assemble the trusty Bianchi before a pre-arranged massage at 3pm. Afterwards it was off to the Olympic Museum (how inspiring is that) for Registration, where we were issued with the all-important Accreditation Badge, that gave you access to transition and the other important areas of the race. No badge no race!!!

After Race Registration, it was over to the Team hotel to register my arrival and to pick up the bag of BTA goodies and my Team GB Polo Shirt. By now it's 4.30pm and I’ve been up 12hrs, so feeling a little tired. But no peace for the wicked I head towards the assembly area for the Parade of Nations, which was due to start at 5.30pm.

On the dot of 5.30pm we were off, and cheered every metre of the half mile or so of the walk. It was great, flag waving, cheering, whistling and the odd "oggie, oggie, oggie", a real montage of noise. When we reached the Athlete's Village, every nation, just like the Olympics, was introduced to crowd in turn!

After the usual welcoming speeches, I trudged off to the giant marquee for the Pasta Party, and joined a table of fellow Brits. As you can imagine it took some while for the whole ensemble to filter in, but it was great listening to people from 60 different countries talking in their native tongue.

Once all in, we waited for the signal to start the self-service. This wasn't long in coming and two orderly queues were formed. It was 7pm by now and I was starving. Unfortunately the Swiss, in their infinite wisdom decided to have only one person serving each of the queues!

I kid you not it was a disaster, well we waited, and waited, and waited. Even attempts by the Aussie Team Manager, who was just in front of me, to assist were rejected. By now 1600+ athletes were beginning to get more than a little agitated.

Fortunately common sense prevailed and additional helpers appeared to ease the situation. As I was only about 20th in line, I got served quite quickly, and to be honest it was worth it, the food was great. Music by a troupe of Mexican musicians eased digestion. However quite a few left, tired and hungry from waiting!

I eased myself into bed around 10pm and stuck into another chapter of "Parrot in a Pepper Tree". I remember having a feeling of self satisfaction and thinking "this is it, this is what you've been working for, relax and enjoy", before dropping off to sleep.

Friday: Racking & Team Photos

I had a sleepless night having spent most of it trying to avoid cramp. I think this was the result of the massage I’d yesterday afternoon. Even the weight of the duvet on my toes was enough to fire the calves off!

Feeling a little stiff I ventured down to breakfast. The small room was filled with Kiwis, a nice bunch, less vocal than Aussies, who were pleased to have left the cold weather of their homeland for the warmer weather of Lausanne (26c for the last 4 days).

After my mid-morning massage, I went out for a spin on the beloved Bianchi, just to make sure that all was well before the big off tomorrow. On route, I joined a small group of triathletes from the Swiss Team. It was great, just ambling along by the side of the lake, the occasional small talk but mostly just relaxing and taking in the stunning views.

I left them after about 15mins, returned to the team hotel, parked the bike and set off to run around the run course. Whilst stretching, I was approached by a couple of yanks that wanted to know where the course was. The next thing we're running idling along, chatting about this and that. After a couple of laps I bid my farewells, collected my bike and returned to my hotel, where I spent the afternoon watching the Veulta.

Come 5pm, it was off to rack the beloved Bianchi. Transition, which was about 1000m long (I kid you not), was on the road in front of the Olympic Museum, right next to the lake (more stunning views), with racking on both sides of it. Fortunately I had an easy to spot position, just past the tennis courts of a local hotel. Everybody had their own yellow plastic transition box with plenty of space between each bike, makes a change from the usual cramped conditions in UK races.

Team photos were at 6pm. Due to the size of our Team, the only place that could accommodate 320 athletes was the main grandstand, close to the finish. It was great to see so many people in GB kit, and I was proud to be one of them.

No rest for the wicked, as it was off to the Tri-Cafe, a huge marquee in the athletes village, for the Team briefing scheduled for 7pm. To be honest I was knackered, hungry and didn't really want to attend, but I’m glad I did, as there were a couple of last minute changes sprung on us by the ITU!

Fortunately everybody had their sensible heads on and the meeting only lasted 45mins! A quick dash from there to one of my favourite Italian restaurants. I love Italian food, the smell M'mm. The food was fine but not much fun eating on your own.

Back at the hotel it was kit-checking time, you know that time when you check everything 2, 3 and sometimes 4 times, just to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. And isn’t always in order of the race; Wetsuit, goggles, ear plus, vaseline, tri-suit, Helmet, Cycle Shoes, Go Gel etc etc. - pump!!

With the moon casting it's shadow on the lake and the lights of Evian twinkling away in the background, I closed my eyes and fell asleep, ready for whatever tomorrow may throw at me.

Saturday : Race Day!

I woke quite naturally around 7.30am, some 10mins before the first on my two alarms was due to go off. The butterflies in my stomach was a signal that this was not a normal day, but one in which I needed to perform. Deciding whether to shave or not turned them into a flock of pigeons - I kid you not - silly I know, but true.

Sticking to my normal pre race meal of Ready Brek, cunningly concealed in my bike box during transit, caused some interest and amusement from the Kiwis at breakfast.

It was interesting to note that the male contingent, including myself were slightly subdued whilst the female compliment, who were not racing until much later in the day, were more vocal.

I left for the 20 mins walk to transition around 8.45am meeting a couple of fellow team members on route. It was a nice sunny day with just a slight cooling breeze. The lake looked calm and inviting.

We arrive at transition expecting to flash our accreditation and go straight in.....no that was too simple, entry was in swim wave order only, but no more than 60 mins before the appropriate swim start! Considering we had to report to the holding tent 15mins before the start, and it was a good 10 mins walk to get there from transition, time seemed short.

I was pleased to see my trusted Bianchi, glistening in the morning sun. Considering the stature of the event, the mood amongst the athletes was very friendly and relaxed, although there was some concern that the lake was beginning to get a bit choppy. With everything laid out and with a couple of dummy transition runs under my belt, I set off for the holding tent.

The atmosphere in the holding tent was surprisingly jovial, but this changed as we were ushered across the wooden bridge to the pontoon, for the start of the race. Suddenly it hit me, this is it, this is what you have been training for, 5 years of ups and downs, go for it son...I was primed and ready.

I picked my position directly in line with the turn buoy and stood waiting to be invited into the water. There was time for a quick round of "Good Lucks" with fellow competitors and then in we went. Bloody hell, not only was it freezing but it was decidedly choppy. Choosing to spot on the mountain above the turn buoy was good choice, as it turned out to be too rough to see anything without stopping. Once at the turn, things progressed nicely with a wind-assisted return.

Out of the water, "Go GB" (I hadn't notice the crowds before, but that was nice), over the wooden bridge and off down the outside of transition to T1. It was a long run, seriously, the best part of 2k to the "Bike Mount" line! However all went well, and I was soon out on the 4 lap bike course. On closed roads, this was a mix of long drags and short fast descents. I loved it.

With so many cyclists on the course it was easy to focus on someone ahead, pull them in and start the process all over again. Descending was at times hairy. My thanks goes to the rider from Japan who overtook me on the approach to a roundabout completely obscuring my view. At 30mph+ I had little option but to follow him in the hope that he knew what he was doing - it was scary but exhilarating. There was support on almost every section of the course, it was tremendous, really inspirational.

The laps went quite quickly and I was soon back in transition for T2. Bike racked, helmet off, running shoes on, and off I go, pretty slick if I do say so myself. "Number, Race Number" a marshal shouts out.....I'd forgotten my race belt "S***". As they weren't needed on the bike leg, I’d left it off "S***". Anyway I go back, clip it on and start the first of 4 laps.

Well, I taken aback by the support, "Come on GB", "Go GB", it was like that all the way round the course. Every metre of the 2.5km course was filled with spectators, sadly I was dead on my feet, nothing there, dead as a Dodo. I wanted to respond, I really did, but I was struggling big time. I tried everything I knew to motivate myself and rise above it, but it was too no avail, I just had to slug it out and finish.

Coming to the last 100m I collected a flag from one of the many GB supporters and crossed the line in 2hrs 44mins - 27th in my agegroup and 8th GB finisher. After crossing finishing line we were ushered, rather quickly, to the refreshment area. I found it difficult to walk, my mouth was dry and I felt sick.

I wanted a hug, someone to share the moment with, preferable someone with soft skin and who smelt of Oscar de la Renta or 5th Avenue, but more of that later. With five hours to go before transition opened at 6pm, I wondered what to do. However with all the support I had had earlier, there was no option, I felt duty bound to return the favour.

After a quick shower I returned to join the huge crowds on the run course. It was a montage of noise with the disco, the cheering, the announcer and the pigeons all-contributing to create an electric atmosphere. Also it was hot, very hot and it showed on the faces of the competitors.

Time went surprisingly quickly, as did my voice, which soon recovered after some liquid refreshment! On my way into transition an older gentleman 75+, who I remember encouraging earlier, parked his bike and gave me a hug " I couldn't have done it without you, thank you".

Well he didn't have soft skin or smell of Oscar de la Renta, but I got my hug, it was a magic moment. I'm sure there were many magic moments like that, repeated throughout the weekend. And that's what I loved about the whole experience, people with a mutual respect for each other, an understanding of the sacrifices made......one big triathlon family.

I loved every minute of it, and despite promising my dearly beloved that I would quit after the race, I’m going back for more in Hamburg (Divorce papers on the way).


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Whilst Clive was out at the Worlds, Dave went to Clacton, Sarah was at the South Coast Triathlon in Brighton and Julian was at Xterra.

Here's Dave's day in Clacton

An interesting weekend in Essex. We had made the decision to camp for this weekend. Gale force winds and driving rain turned the Saturday events (Sprint distance and Tristars) of this Triathlon festival into duathlons. Sally, Bella and I spent Saturday night in the camper van being buffetted by the wind and rain. Come Sunday morning it was evident that there would be no swimming. The Standard distance race was changed to a 5k, 40k,10k duathlon.



The first run leg was out along the lower promenade from Holland on Sea towards Clacton Pier and then back along the cliff. This was only my second duathlon in nine years of triathlon and I was unsure how to pace things. I set off at a cautious pace sheltering behind two large ‘Bryce shaped’ triathletes. This strategy protected me from the wind and most of the sea spray caused by waves crashing against the sea wall. At the turn round I moved out of the lee of the two Bryces and ran at my own pace to complete the first run leg in a sedate 22:17. The bike course proved to be particularly challenging due to the strength of the wind. In some sections it was a battle to make progress and keep the bike upright in other sections I hurtled along at 35mph. It was a relief to complete the bike safely in 73:56. The sun came out as I started the second run leg. I felt good on the run and managed to run down a number of those who had overtaken me on the bike to record 44:58 and an overall time of 2:21:11.



Despite the weather this was a well -organised event with large numbers of friendly and competent marshalls throughout all phases of the course.



I finished 48th out of 165 finishers, and 2nd out of 9 in my age group.




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And Sarah on the South Coast..



Thought it was time I moved up a group and played with the slightly bigger girls, so chose the South Coast Tri between Brighton & Eastbourne. 1500 swim, 40K bike and 10K run.

The weather had been horrendous, and the trip up wasn't helping with the nerves. The wind was strong and the rain was heavy, but I was looking forward to the race.

Much to my disappointment, the swim was cancelled and replaced by a 5K run, never competed in a Duathlon before, so it was still a fresh challenge.

My wave consisted of all the women and relay teams, so it was impossible to work out any positions, so decided just to have fun and work hard.

The first 5K was OK, a bit windy, but no rain. T1 was alright, and out onto a 12 lap course. Tape on my bars to count my laps, and family support, just to make sure I didn't miscount. This was quite tricky, two very sharp turn around points and really bad cross winds and rain made for an exciting time! T2 was slow but I was still feeling confident. The 10K was what I had been dreading most, first two laps were fine, dropped some tome on the 3rd, and speeded up a bit on the final lap. Finished in around 2:46 which I was quite happy with. No idea how I did over all, but I did have fun!


Sarah won her age group!

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And once again Bryce was time trialling......

Whilst not exactly tri orientated I got a lot out of this one. For a start I learnt what the difference is between the top riders were and the amount of obsessive bike prep that some of the countries best TT’ers indulge in.

The TT champs are run by the BCF over a circuit format which is traditionally technical, lumpy, and up north. This year it was in Heckfield, Hampshire so I decided to see how with 6 weeks specific interval work I could do against the best specialist riders in the country. Being the main championship this is where the red, white, and blue banded jerseys are awarded to the great and with my ascension into being over 30 meant I could contest the over 30 masters A category.

Come the day of the race the weather was how I wanted it……atrocious with high winds (force 5-6) and torrential downpour. I realised quickly at this level the best arrive with vans full of kit and bike options and I felt slightly lightweight in kit as I sorted through my 3 wheel options !!! In the end I (controversially and not without criticism) opted to run a tri spoke on the front. My reasoning was that the potential danger would be outweighed by the fact that if I could hold it down it would act like a sail pushing me along. It’s a championship race, risks have to be taken. This proved a good gambit retrospectively. Secondly was the subject of gearing. It’s pretty rare in tri that people consider (let alone change) their gearing but here custom rear blocks and large chainrings were the order of the day. I opted to run a 53 front compared to some of the 56 monsters elsewhere. This also proved to be a good choice for me. Lastly I put a drinks bottle on. I assumed we’d be racing for an hour but it was nearer to 50 minutes in the end and was hardly needed. From an aerodynamic standpoint that was a bad idea.

I had excellent prep leading upto this. The taper had worked well and I felt hugely confident going into this of a solid ride but it was proving hard to set a performance objective other than the ‘best placing’ you could get. I wanted a top 10 and to get within 5% of the winning time but this was not based on anything at all other than ego so Scott (and Di especially) would no doubt have a had a field day with my abysmal goal setting here. I knew I was in great shape though…..

Due to the weather following cars were banned and the course was triangular in layout with a very course road surface (very Sopley) with two mammoth climbs on the 3rd leg. It dawned on me quickly that this would very much favour the roadie or the all rounders. Bigs guys may struggle here. The event was two laps ending up being about 23.5 miles.

Having not TT’d over anything longer than 10 miles for months I was extremely concerned about how I would pace it. I had a HR unit on but the data I was getting back for unknown reasons wasn’t making a lot of sense (see stats below) so I had to go on feel. The gaps between riders were large and with the kind of calibre here meant catching riders would be unlikely for most people. By the end of the first lap despite self taking myself to ‘hold back dammit !!!!!’ I knew my legs were right on threshold. The second lap was purgatory but I caught a couple of riders. The slippery roads made the turns treacherous (many riders came down) and the marshalling was poor meaning that Sunday traffic would accumulate at turns. When I was going up the last hill with 1.5 miles to go I caught a wedding car procession and got forced wide at the roundabout. As I did got onto the short dog leg to get to the finish (which was also beginning to tilt downwards) I was sprinting at 38mph and screaming at the wedding to move over as I overtook it down the outside. This cost me some time and broke my concentration but not enough to make a big difference although I was angry about it afterwards as I bolted through the finish line. Upon reflection it was not a smooth riding performance and I struggled to adapt to constant changes in pace – most of my training has focused on steady state outputs and it showed here.

I had an ok ride. Not as good as I wanted but with no point of reference its hard to say anything other than I held my own in esteemed company. My lap times were even with the extra minute on the second really being used for the dofg leg to the finish. I judged it right but I was a complete mess on the bike at times.

(Note: if you get Cycling weekly the womens and elites raced later in the afternoon by which point the wind had dropped and the road had dried out with a perfect air temperature so the lap times aren’t comparable at all).

The Stats:
Average speed: 26mph (for a hilly course in high winds ? I was pleased with that).
Time: 53:09 for 23.5 miles.
Average cadence: 105 (!). This is a physiological bi product of the fixed wheel training I’ve been doing for the world’s pursuit over the last 6 weeks. My max was 126 and often I would cruise at 115. The only reason is that its ‘only’ 105 was because of the hills. This explains why I did not need a larger chainring.
Average heart rate: 186. This was bizarre. I normally TT a 10 at 178-181bpm and normally for a 25 subtract 5bpm as a target. The fact it was a major championship may have distorted it (or the unusually high cadence) but the fact remains I can now hold 90-95% max for nearly an hour.
Warm up: 45 minutes on turbo building to 75% max with a 30 second race pace blast every 5 minutes. Follow with 10 minutes riding on road before event.
Opinion: Having spoken to a lot of riders afterwards I finished surrounded by good athletes with the quality sky high here. Most of the guys that placed near me were at their slowest generally 52-53 minute 25’ers and this was on a course would always mean I would be carrying more kilo’s than most. Next year my Tri bike leg might need to be more aggressive to capitalise and it’s a small source of irritation that with only 6 weeks work I could get within 6% of the winner whereby at tri nationals I struggled to get within 12% - I have some serious work to do over the winter this year methinks. In the meantime I have the worlds next week which should be fun if nothing else and my last event of the season 3 days later where I try to hold 28.6mph to get my last performance target of the year (sub 21 10).
 


Thursday 31st August 2006
Women & Leadership Seminar
It is sometimes nice to be recognised as a coach, Di was invited to this prestige day.

I was invited to attend the launch of the Women and Leadership Development Programme at Charlton Athletics Ground.

I have to say I was a little bewildered as to why and what the seminar wanted to achieve as I had not received much information about it. And what did they want me for. Little did I know that quite a few other women were thinking the same thing but followed there sense of adventure and accepted the invite.

Approximately ninety delegates arrived for the seminar and for once the females out numbered the males quite considerably.

Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport opened the event and explained that the seminar was to act as a catalyst.
• To improve representation of women in sport
• Provide net working opportunities for women
• Talk about discrimination and employment rights
• Increase media coverage of women in sport

Sally Gunnell and Denise Lewis spoke at the seminar and reflected on their own Olympic experiences and their athletic careers. Both passionately spoke about the positive influence their sport had upon them. It was quite obvious that they were 100% behind the launch as it would allow more women to achieve in all areas of sport.

Heather Rabbatts, the newly elected Executive Deputy Chair of Millwall FC gave advice and personal insights into leadership skills. She has been a lone woman in the board room and had vast experience of how to succeed at the top level in the business world. She was extremely animated and had a great sense of humour. I am quite sure that she would get her own way most of the time! She outlined what she thought were the skills required to be a leader and used numerous stories from her experience to illustrate this. Her list included

• Motivation
• Communication
• Finding ways of accessing knowledge other than formal routes
• Asking WHY?
• A good mentor and a place of trust

After the panellists had spoken and taken questions from the floor (yes of course I asked a question!) it came down to what the individuals in the room could do to ensure the success of the programme. Although the programme has selected eleven women to be mentored and supported to achieve leadership roles, it was emphasised that everyone has a role to play to achieve success.

It was suggested that the delegates net worked and made contacts to use later to share ideas and push forward ideas.them.

One of the women chosen to take part in the programme is Heather Williams from British Triathlon so I am sure you will be hearing more about it from her.

The main over riding affect the launch had upon me, was the passion and love of sport so many of the women had. So may liked minded women in one place was a unique experience for me and one which I hope inspires me to do more. So if anyone reading this has thought about doing something in sport at any level or role…..stop thinking and get involved. By “doing” , you can be the role model to inspire someone else.

For more information about the launch go to

• www.uksport.gov.uk
• www.ccpr.org.uk
• www.wsf.org.uk
• www.olympics.org.uk
 


Sunday 5th August 2006
London Triathlon
Dave went to London;

Was an enjoyable(am I allowed to say that?) event for me. I arrived at the Excel Centre on a very hot Sunday afternoon along with many thousands of triathletes for what is billed as the World's Most Popular Triathlon.
I had a band of family supporters aged 9+ to 50+ cheering me on with great enthusiasm
and awesome volume. The swim takes place in The Royal Victoria Dock where I was the third generation of my family to be employed there but the first to deliberately swim in the water.

I had a good swim and was first out of the water in my wave at 22:26 to the delight of my supporters who then rushed across to a bridge to catch a glimpse of me on the bike. The bike leg was a two lap out to Tower Bridge and back job which I completed in a sedate 74:52.

The run was again two laps around The Victoria Dock in the blazing sun. It is not easy to run in such conditions especially when you have to run past a pub and bar with scores of spectators supping long cool drinks in the shade.

However, cheered on by my family,who by running from one viewpoint to another,
seemed to appear every few minutes, I sweated my way round 10k in 43:58. Not a very fast overall perfomance but good enough for second place im my category and more than good enough to please my supporters.
 


30th August 2006
Sports Engine LLC supply supplements to Synergie athletes
Having been the first European club to be sponsored by De Soto Sportswear and the only UK team to test & provide research feedback on Sundog Eyewear, Synergie Coaching are the first team in Europe to test Motor Tabs nutritional supplements.

Motor Tabs are a revolutionary effervescent electrolyte & energy tablet.

Greg Sellers of Sports Engine LLC outlined that fact that the company had field tested the product for over two years before launching it in October 2005.

A number of high profile triathletes are already endorsing Motor Tabs including Michellie Jones, Spencer Smith & Julie Swail.

Scott Murray from Synergie Coaching says, "Greg Sellers is one of the easiest guys to talk to and this shows Sports Engine LLC commitment to supporting grass root athletes. It is great to know that the De Soto Synergie athletes will be the first European team to try Motor Tabs both in training and race environments"

For full details on Motor Tabs check out their website at www.motortabs.com