What should I wear? Early in my career, I would stand in front of my dresser trying to answer that question, then head out on a ride and frequently either freeze or fry. After lots of trial and error, I’m much better at picking training and racing clothes. Here are my suggestions.

First, get good information. Glancing out the window doesn’t cut it. I use www.accuweather.com, and pay particular attention to the RealFeelä. This is similar to windchill, but I’ve found it to be a much better tool. Also, pay attention to not just the current weather, but what’s to come. It’s not uncommon for the weather to change during a long training ride or run, and you don’t want to be caught by surprise.

Key: LW – lightweight SS; MW – midweights; HW – heavyweight; SL – sleeveless; short sleeve; LS – long sleeve

70° and Up

• SS Jersey (if it’s really warm maybe sleeveless)
• Shorts

60-70°

• SS jersey with arm warmers or LW LS jersey
• LW, SL baselayer
• Shorts

50-60°

• LW or MW baselayer, SL or SS
• SS jersey with arm warmers or MW LS jersey
• Wind vest
• Shorts
• Knee Warmers

40-50°

• MW, SS baselayer
• MW, LS jersey
• Vest or LW jacket
• Shorts
• Knee Warmers
• Cycling Cap
• Toe Covers

40° and Under

• LS baselayer
• MW LS jersey with jacket or HW LS jersey with vest
• Shorts
• Tights
• Skull cap (should cover ears)
• Shoe Covers

Contingency Planning

If it is supposed to get colder, or rain, pack a vest or a light jacket in a jersey pocket. If it is forecast to get warmer, dress in layers and leave room in your pockets. Of course arm warmers can just be rolled down. Remember that the weather can fool the forecasters, so stay on the safe side and figure they are off by a couple of hours, just in case.

Caveats

How to dress is an individual thing, and you will have to experiment to find exactly what works for you. Some people, especially women and smaller guys, get cold easily and will need to dress more warmly. Others are impervious to cold and will want to wear less.

For women, consider your sports bra as a lightweight base layer.

Helpful Hint

If you’re new or unsure, pay attention to what others are wearing. If you’re the only one in tights, you may want to reconsider. Generally going along with the more experienced riders is not a bad place to start.

Common Sense

Always wear a helmet, gloves, glasses, and sunscreen.

Steen Rose is the owner and Head Coach of Athletes On Track and an Elite Coach for Training Bible Coaching. He has been competing in cycling and multisport events for 16 years with 13 state titles and 3 national medals to his name. He has been coaching since 2003 and works with all ages and abilities of athletes locally, nationally, and abroad. He can be reached at srose@trainingbible.com

However, how far do you take this? I see many athletes that do the right type of training, but not at the right time or on the right terrain or in the right conditions. Let’s explore how you can maximize your performance by taking specificity to its logical conclusion.

Timing

Timing is tricky, because our bodies have rhythms, and the majority of your quality training sessions should take place when you’re at your best. For example, if you’re a night person, that 6am Master’s session is going to be of marginal benefit. You’d see better results from training when you’re naturally at your best.

Further complicating this issue is our busy lives; sometimes you just have to fit training in when you can. However, at least 15% of your quality sessions should be done at the time of day you’ll be racing. If you always swim at 7pm, you can’t expect to race well when your wave hits the water at 8am. Some running and cycling events are held in the evening, and if you always train in the morning, a twilight race is something you have to prepare for. The body is amazing at adapting, so expose it to what you’ll be asking of it come race day.

Conditions

We all know that Kona, IM TX and IM Kentucky are going to be hot, and that it’s going to be windy at Galveston and New Orleans 70.3. Professional cyclists from Canada and the northern US train in a sauna to get ready for early season races in hotspots like Indonesia and Qatar. Are you training in the conditions you’ll face? Don’t dodge the wind or the heat in training if you’ll be racing in it.

Course

Have you looked at the course profile for this season’s A-race? Are you training on similar terrain? Sure, riding in a headwind can approximate the power requirements of a long climb, but it won’t feel the same; you’ll be sitting on the bike differently and using your muscles differently. If nothing else, elevate your bike trainer or the treadmill once a week, and take a weekend to go somewhere with hills.

With the wind, your equipment comes into play as well. If you’re spending hours on the CompuTrainer before Galveston, of course your deep-dish races wheels are going to feel squirrelly – get out and ride them in the wind!

If you’re going to spend the money to race, and take the time to prepare, at least take the time to prepare properly – your results will benefit and you’ll have a better time, too.

Steen Rose is the owner and Head Coach of Athletes On Track and an Elite Coach for Training Bible Coaching. He has been competing in cycling and multisport events for 16 years with 13 state titles and 3 national medals to his name. He has been coaching since 2003 and works with all ages and abilities of athletes locally, nationally, and abroad. He can be reached at srose@trainingbible.com

Oui, mais en regardant l’architecture du Nike TR+, c’est totalement différent. Il y a une multitude de capteurs intégrés dans la semelle. Pour le moment, c’est surtout le basketball qui profitera de cette technologie puisqu’elle permet d’évaluer a quelle hauteur tu sautes, à quelle vitesse tu vas…  Et alors? Tout cela devient très excitant en fait et on attend avec impatience sa déclinaison pour des chaussures de course à pied. Pourquoi? Parce qu’avec cette outil on pourrait mesurer les chocs de tes impacts, la force de tes poussées en fonction de ta cadence et donc avoir une sorte de powermetre de la CAP. Est-ce que cela pourrait permettre d’appliquer certains principes de l’entrainement de vélo avec puissance à la course à pied? Surement, enfin pour s’améliorer, il faudra toujours courir plus…

5150 Muskoka qui remplace d’ailleurs la classique Muskoka Long course. Une course qui avait plus de 20 ans d’histoire et qui a été racheté indirectement par WTC pour la convertir en distance olympique sans drafting.

Le festival de Triathlon de Toronto. Cette course est une nouveauté. Elle est présentée par Triathlon Canada. Le parcours est incroyable, une vrai course en plein centre ville. Simon Whitfield a déjà confirmé sa participation alors que les jeux commencerons qu’une semaine plus tard. La petite histoire que nous adorons, c’est que cette course devait être une 5150, mais la ville a refusé leur requête. Est-ce qu’ils ont demandé trop d’argent? On ne sait pas, mais le groupe qui les épaulait à continuer la démarche et il a gagné. WTC vient surement de noyer sa série au Canada. Entre Muskoka et Toronto, il n’y a pas photo selon nous… Cette course sera le terrain de jeux des nationaux en 2013 et sera un test event pour les jeux de pan am en 2014. La ville n’avait donc pas le choix. BRAVO à Triathlon Canada et aux organisateurs, cela va mettre en avant notre sport sans l’utilisation de bras trop fort.

Le hic, c’est que ITU Magog est le même week-end. Evidemment, ce n’est pas exactement le même publique, mais est-ce que des elites canadiens préféreront faire une course à Toronto contre Simon que venir gagner des points ITU alors que tout est déjà joué avec les JOs et que les départs en WC et WCS seront peut-être plus accessible. Aussi, il ne faut pas oublier que la course sert aussi de Championnat Canadien en longue distance et qu’il y a une manche de la série Junior. Et oui, d’un certain point de vue, le vrai festival de triathlon est à Magog.

On trouve dommage que les deux événements majeurs au Canada en Olympique se déroulent le même week-end. Une erreur à ne plus répéter, surtout quand on sait que Edmonton est juste 2 week-end avant. Évidemment, les JOs expliquent cette concentration.

It sounds simple, but it’s so easy to forget. If we let our head drop, our heart drops with it. Keep your head up, and your body is capable of amazing feats. To plunder the words of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, « Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body. » 

The message is this: All the physical strength in the world won’t help you if your mind is not prepared. This is part of training for a race — the part that people don’t put in their logbooks, the part that all the monitors, gizmos and gadgets in the world can’t influence

Have a mantra and/or a special song to repeat

Keep a bank of positive mental images

Practice visualization beforehand

Remember that training is about learning to hurt

Complete article here (CNN).

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A great post from Noa. Fueling strategies for performance & recovery. How do you fuel when you are training 2-3 times per day? FYI, I’ve presently a fight in my household, Noa (me) VS Jamie Oliver (wife).

Immediately after training (or at least within the hour) you need to consume 1-1.2g of carbohydrates per kg body weight. This is important because during the first hour after training glycogen synthesis rates are at their highest and this phase is not insulin dependent. This does not mean that you can eat whatever you want during this 1 hour “window”. On the contrary, it means that you need to pay even closer attention to the foods you eat and make smart choices. Time things right and make sure you are well prepared so you can eat real food vs commercial sports foods, cookies, processed foods, etc. Real food is better for you! I really can’t stress this point enough…

Complete article here

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How exercise fuel the brain.

This increase in brain activity naturally increases the brain’s need for nutrients, but until recently, scientists hadn’t fully understood how neurons fuel themselves during exercise. Now a series of animal studies from Japan suggest that the exercising brain has unique methods of keeping itself fueled. What’s more, the finely honed energy balance that occurs in the brain appears to have implications not only for how well the brain functions during exercise, but also for how well our thinking and memory work the rest of the time.

For many years, scientists had believed that the brain, which is a very hungry organ, subsisted only on glucose, or blood sugar, which it absorbed from the passing bloodstream. But about 10 years ago, some neuroscientists found that specialized cells in the brain, known as astrocytes, that act as support cells for neurons actually contained small stores of glycogen, or stored carbohydrates. And glycogen, as it turns out, is critical for the health of cells throughout the brain.

Complete story here

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Don’t want cancer? Sweat it off http://bit.ly

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So Crazy!!!! A ANT+ Bike Speed/Cadence sensor that requires nos zipties or tools!!!

Challenge Kraichgau (10 June 2012) is Europe’s largest half iron distance event and will host the 2012 Kraichgau ETU Challenge Half Distance Triathlon European Championships for Elite and Age Group athletes over the 1.9km/90km/21km distance. Challenge Roth (8 July 2012) is renowned as the home of European triathlon and is the largest iron distance race in the world. Roth will host the 2012 Roth ETU Challenge Long Distance Triathlon European Championships for Elite and Age Group athletes over the 3.8km/180km/42.2km distance.

ETU’s Eugene Kraus and Denis Jaeger said the proven quality of Challenge Family events ensured the European Long Distance Championships would be delivered to a high standard. “Challenge Family races are renowned for their quality and we are delighted to enter into an agreement between ETU and Challenge,” they said.

Felix Walchshöfer, CEO of Challenge Family, is delighted to deliver the European Championships and said Challenge was looking forward to a long-term collaboration. He said, “We are extremely happy to be working closely with the ETU in delivering the European Championships in 2012 and beyond. Europe is home to many of the world’s best long distance triathletes and linking the European Championships with Europe’s two leading long distance races, ensures they will receive the high profile they deserve.”

The president of the German Triathlon Federation (DTU), Martin Engelhardt, said he was delighted the concept of a partnership between ETU and Challenge had come to fruition. “Together with the General Secretary of the DTU, Matthias Zöll, we have talked about this topic at the European Presidential Meeting in January and now we have Germany hosting two European Championships at two of our iconic races,” he said. “This provides us with a great opportunity to show the international triathlon community how well Germany delivers world class e

Olympic Gold medallist, Simon Whitfield, and representatives from Triathlon Canada and Sports Focused Consulting, will be on hand to unveil details of this summer’s inaugural Toronto Triathlon Festival.

The Toronto Triathlon Festival, staged jointly by Triathlon Canada, the International Triathlon Union, Olympic Champion, Simon Whitfield, and Sports Focused Consulting, will create an unparalleled urban experience by offering triathletes the first ever opportunity to compete in Toronto’s downtown core.

As you might know, in October, Plans to use the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway for an 5150 (Ironman) triathlon event next year didn’t make it past the city’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday. So we are really excited about the fact that ITU (International Triathlon Union) have joined the party.

Could it be possible to say no to Ironman and yes to ITU?

National 2013 « should » be moved to this venue in 2013, and don’t forget the PAN AM games in 2015.

Vous pouvez achetez le système complet pour 1200$. Pour résumer, le P2M est un produit très fiable qui comporte le seul défaut d’être plus lourd et plus encombrant qu’un Quarq et un SRM. Par contre, il a l’avantage de se calibrer lui même en fonction des conditions (température + humidité).

Pour acheter, c’est ici

Autre fait, Power2Max distribue aussi Rotor. C’est plutôt une bonne nouvelle puisque cela permet à la marque hispanique d’avoir des produits un peu plus accessible.

Nike FlyKnit

Nike Flyknit Collection : De haut en bas (HTM racer 5.6 oz, HTM Trainer 7.7 oz).

HTM Racer – Identique au Nike Flyknit Racer.  C’est cette fameuse chaussure qu’on avait vu durant les essais américain au marathon en janvier dernier, alors connu sous le nom de code London Racer.

HTM Trainer+ – La version Trainer pourrait être configurée en fonction des préférences. Nombre de filages souhaités. La plateforme est identique à la fameuse Lunarspider LT+, uniquement disponible au Japon. Cela signifie que la collection est décliné en combo.

Nike FlyKnit

Nike FlyKnit

Nike FlyKnit

Nike Lunarglide+4

Ultra lightweight and responsive, the Nike Lunarglide+4 is 18% lighter than the Nike Lunarglide+3 at 10 oz and helps to maximize performance thanks to soft, springy Lunarlon cushioning and dynamic flywire.

Nike Lunarglide +4

Nike Lunar HyperWorkout+

Nike Lunar Hyperworkout+ features a training specific midsole combining Lunarlon cushioning with dynamic Flywire for responsive support during training. Ultra lightweight, the shoe is just 6oz, 16% lighter than the Nike Lunar Allways TR.

Nike Lunar Hyperworkout+

No matter how good you get or how good you think you are, remember that you are never entitled to anything and the sport owes you nothing.  You need to approach it as if you owe the sport everything. Never underestimate how much work you will do and how much you will have to give of yourself to get good.  If you want to win you have to earn that rite every single year, every single month, every single week, every single day, every single workout.  But don’t look at it as a sacrifice; consider it a gift that you have the opportunity to go down that road.

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Avec une illustration comme celle-ci de Manon Letourneau, tu n’as pas le choix d’aller lire son dernier texte! Aussi, Manon a dernièrement eu un article sur elle de publié dans le Journal de Montréal. Il me reste des croûtes à manger. Pour être franc avec vous, nous ne sommes pas convaincu par cet article. Nous ne sommes pas certain qu’il reflète vraiment tout le potentiel de Manon.

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Maui II from Alexandra Coates on Vimeo.

Maui 2012 from Alexandra Coates on Vimeo.

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The Lance Effect? Ironman live on TV?

Andrew Messick, World Triathlon’s chief executive officer, said he’ll be “much more aggressive” in getting television coverage for its marquee race because of Armstrong, a seven-time winner of cycling’s Tour de France. NBC currently televises the annual championship race in Kailua-Kona on tape-delay about two months after it takes place.

“We want to investigate opportunities to be able to potentially put parts of the race live, something that has never been done in the U.S.,” Messick said in an interview yesterday in San Diego, California, where he is attending the Triathlon America Business of Triathlon conference. “Lance brings a spotlight to our sport that’s brighter perhaps than anything that has ever happened.”

More here

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Rasmus Henning Blog: Time-Crunched Athlete
It’s a huge dilemma to work when your kids are around. I want to spend time with them, they want to spend time with me, and I want to be with them, but triathlon is also my job and is what pays the bills. I realise just how much my wife does alongside the kids in terms shopping, laundry and all those things that eat away at time. All of these jobs I can’t do while I’m with the kids and have to fit them into my five hour slot while they’re at school.

When the children are around I want to be present. I have to admit they have probably had a little more time in front of the TV, computer and games consoles when things have got tough for me to balance. It’s the constant battle as a professional athlete that I have talked about before. I have to balance time with them and training. If I don’t train, results slip and I still need to support my family. Also if I slack off in training not only do I not race as well, I spend my time feeling guilty, which is never healthy. It’s hard because I never want to neglect my kids, and don’t want them to see me doing things badly.