Training for a Triathlon

When I first started to get fit (back in 2003), I started running, cycling and swimming. These were the sports that I enjoyed the most, so it was only a matter of time before I entered a triathlon. My first race was the London Triathlon super sprint distance - 400m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run.

It was a great day - all the training that I'd been doing seemed to have paid off as I didn't find the distances tough at all and I felt strong crossing the finish line. My family were there to support me the whole way through and one of the highlights was having a picnic in the Thames Barrier Park afterwards.

From that moment onwards, I started to enter more races and started to train 6 times a week. I was reading 220 Triathlon magazine to help with training tips and I seemed to be steadily improving. That continued for a couple of years and then I started to hit a plateau.

No matter what I did, I couldn't seem to make myself any faster. I was spending more time training, but I wasn't getting results. Looking back now, I can see a couple of reasons why I had such great improvements to start with and why this didn't continue.

1). Nutrition - I survived on 1/2 a pizza, potatoes and peas as my evening meal. There wasn't nearly enough protein in my meals to help my muscles grow. The meat I was eating was full of saturated fats, which was then overloaded with cheese (more saturated fat). I didn't have a healthy rounded diet.

2). Swim, Bike, Run - that's all the training I did. I didn't do any weight work for endurance, I just did the three sports that were included in a triathlon. If I had changed 2 of my cardio workouts for strength training using light weights with multiple repetitions (15+), I would have started to see strength gains, which would have helped me out with the power I needed for longer endurance races.

3). Flexibility - I did no stretching. None. At. All. I was young, I didn't think I needed flexibility to be a great athlete. All I needed to do was go as hard as I possibly could in my training sessions and I would start to see improvements. This worked for only so long. My sports were tightening my hip flexors, making my core and glutes weak and making me reliant on my quads for all of my power. By the time I  no longer trained for triathlon, my hips had started to rotate giving me an anterior (forward) tilt of the pelvis.

4). All or nothing - Every session was a hard session. I still struggle with this - I either give it 100% or nothing. There is no medium for me. There's no 60% effort. I give it everything I've got, or I'm no doing it. I didn't let my body have an 'off day'. That just simply wasn't acceptable.

What does a portion size look like?

Recently I've been asked questions about portion size, so I thought I'd write a bit about this, as one person's portion is different from another person's portion.

I had a look at the government's website and it doesn't tell you the plate size that they use, which isn't overly helpful. Not only that, but plate sizes have increased in recent years, resulting in portion sizes increasing.

An eatwell plate is approximately 9 inches in diameter, slightly wider than the inner circle of my plates.

There are, however a couple of examples of eatwell plates that you can purchase online. These are 10 inches in diameter, including a rim. Take off half an inch for the rim and you're looking at a portion size of 9 inches diameter.

I measured this against the plates I have at home (see image to the left) and you'll see that the inner circle is approximately 8 inches in diameter, therefore portion sizes can be slightly larger than the inner circle of my plates at home.

Eatwell plate size comparison

Now, I'm not expecting you to have a tape measure handy every time you want to eat. So to make references a little easier, I used my hand and compared this to the plate.

As you can see from the image to the right, the inner circle is slightly larger than my hand (I have XS hands!), so you should be looking at serving a portion that is slightly bigger than my hand size.

I also found this really useful eatwell plate example from Western Sussex Hospitals. They provide the size in grams of portions and examples of healthy food.

Cake or Death?

Posted by Sandy Rowe.

The title of this blog is a reference to Eddie Izzard's 'Cake or Death?' sketch. It's one of my favourites and I particularly enjoy the lego animated version.

Anyway, back to cake and my suggestions on healthy eating.

If you want cake, bake it yourself. I’m a huge fan of cake, however, cakes have lots of processed sugars (read: goes straight into your blood stream and gets stored as fat if it isn’t used) and fats in them. However, if you really want cake, bake it at home. This way you know what the ingredients are and it hasn’t been blasted at really high temperatures, altering the fats to trans fats (see point 1 above).

The last thing to say is, if you are trying to live healthier, make small changes to your lifestyle. I believe that making large changes to your diet and lifestyle are unsustainable and lead to a less happy person. Someone I met, once told me that ‘…we’re not here for a long time, but we’re here for a good time…’ and I try and keep that in consideration whenever I’m making a change for the better.

Further resources on the eatwell plate can be found here:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/the-eatwell-guide.aspx

Or, feel free to get in touch with me and we can have a chat about your diet and fitness routine.

A little bit of history...

I’m a 36-year-old adventure sports enthusiast; at least, that’s how I’d like to be described by my friends and family. I’ve recently given up my internet job to start my own personal training business, Aspyr Fitness. Deciding to trade a large wage for doing the things I am passionate about – teaching, training and inspiring fitness in the sports I love.

Sandy Rowe, Personal Trainer at Aspyr Fitness

How did I get into adventure sports? Well I played team sports through school – netball, hockey, tennis and rounders, but the rest of my family wasn’t really into team sports. As there were 6 of us, we needed a sport that we could do that was more individual and wouldn’t cause a fight (between my brother and myself!).

My mum had always wanted to learn how to windsurf, so one cold weekend, we went to a lake and learnt the basics. I was awful at it. The kit was heavy, it was cold and I was only 8 years old, so got frustrated very quickly. My parents, on the other hand, loved it and immediately went out and bought a number of boards and sails for the whole family to use. From that moment onwards, most weekends were spent down at the beach windsurfing. Much of the time I stayed in the van or was on the beach, watching what they were doing. Looking back, now, that wasn’t necessarily time spent unwisely – I’ll come to that later.

Windsurfing down in Cornwall

Within a year, they’d also taken us skiing in Scotland, as well. Now this was a completely different sport and other than walking up a mountain (or what seemed like a mountain to my 8 year old self) in ski boots, I loved it! There was a dry ski slope nearby, so my parents took us there every so often and I was fortunate enough to go on ski trips nearly every year.

Towards the end of school, I finally got strong enough to enjoy windsurfing. At this point I realised that the time spent watching on the beach and hearing my family talk about their struggles with a new trick hadn’t been a complete waste of time. I was picking up tricks really quickly and soon started to get quite good. This obviously increased my interest in the sport. Have you ever noticed when someone tells you that you’re good at something, how you start to want to get even better and do it more? At least, that’s what I find.

About this time, I remember hearing about snowboarding from my local windsurfing shop, Whitstable Windsurfing. It seemed like a very cool sport and obviously, I wanted in. I finally got my chance when I was 18 and my school was running a ski trip to Les Deux Alps in January 1998.

Unfortunately, it rained on the green runs most days, froze over night and was possibly the worst snow I’ve ever been on in my life. Naturally, I came back from that holiday completely addicted and looking forward to the next time I’d be able to go!

Backcountry snowboarding in Fernie, Canada

Over the next 10 years, I went snowboarding as often as I could. At the same point in time, I started hearing about kitesurfing. Having seen the early days of kitesurfing and witnessed some really terrifying accidents, it took me a long time to want to learn to kitesurf. I believe it’s the most dangerous sport I do, as things can go wrong very quickly. Not only that, but kitesurfing is getting more and more popular, resulting in less room and more chance that an accident can happen if fellow kitesurfers aren’t aware of their surroundings.

Kitesurfing in Dakhla Western Sahara

After seeing my husband learn to kitesurf, I wasn’t one to be left out and decided that I wanted a piece of the action. We both love kitesurfing, however, it’s a very unpredictable sport. You’re reliant on tides and wind to play ball, which requires time and patience. Something my husband has little of when he wants a sporting adventure. He therefore turned to wakeboarding, which was similar to kitesurfing, but more reliable and closer.

Well…I had tried wakeboarding behind a boat in 2006 and really enjoyed it until the following morning. I woke up with a really sore neck and decided that wakeboarding was not the sport for me!

For a long time, I refused to go wakeboarding and said I wasn’t interested. That was until my husband entered the Grassroots competition. The Grassroots tour is a wakeboard event that brings the wakeboard community together; both beginners and pros alike compete. It’s more about people having a great time and sharing their passion of the sport, than it is about competing against one another.

I was totally blown away by how much he’d progressed and a little piece of me wanted to give wakeboarding another try. It looked like so much fun and not the neck aching experience I remember from my past trial.

The following week, I’d booked a beginners session and within a month, I had my own wakeboard.

Wakeboarding is a high adrenaline sport, where you use a large amount of energy on a short burst of activity. It provides a rush of adrenaline and endorphins, creating a wonderful exhilaration afterwards. There really is nothing like the fear of the unknown followed by the rush of success afterwards. I love the exhilaration of pulling off a new trick.

I think my first trick was mastering turns, the next was a surface 180, after that I was trying a few ollies. All of these in the same 15 minute beginner session I’d booked. The progression was really quick, thanks to the collection of board skills I’d picked up in previous years.

Wakeboarding at Hannam's Wake Hub, Cambridge

By last year I’d started to work on 540s and 360s off kickers (jumps). Being able to improve so quickly was incredibly satisfying. There was also a great vibe from the people who wakeboarded, too. You felt like everyone was cheering you on, wanting you to land that trick. There always seem to be a party atmosphere and it always felt like summer, even when it was freezing cold!

If you want to try wakeboarding, there are a couple of things to consider. The first being, can you swim 50m? If you’re not comfortable swimming and being submerged in water, I’d recommend having some swimming lessons first. This is a really great skill to have and will make you more comfortable when wakeboarding.

The second recommendation is go to a good wakeboard cable, which has a system 2 cable in place. A system 2 cable is an out and back cable. There are other cable types e.g. round cable, or full cable, but as a beginner I’d avoid these, as it takes more coordination to start with.

The third is go to a wakeboard cable with good instructors. I’d recommend Hannam’s Wake Hub, as the Hannam brothers really know what they’re talking about when it comes to wakeboarding and are excellent instructors. They may have seen that trick done thousands of times, but if it’s the first time you’ve pulled it off, they’re as ecstatic about it as you are.

In the summer (May 2017 onwards), I’ll be organising some beginner trips, so feel free to get in touch – contact details below. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and that this has inspired you to join in the fun. Whatever your interests, give it a go … doesn’t matter if you’re good at it or not, we all have to start somewhere!

Good times at Hannam's Wake Hub, Cambridge

Best outdoor locations to train in Greenwich & Blackheath

Outdoor locations for training are great - you don't need any equipment, there's loads of space, you aren't going to annoy the neighbours, you don't get half as sweaty and there are all those great negative ions you'll be getting from the trees and vegetation around you.

So, these are my favourite places in and around Greenwich and Blackheath for training:

1). Greenwich Park

This has to be top of my list of places to train. Most people enter via St Mary's Gate, so take the time to walk east towards the playground, or south up the hill towards the rose gardens and tennis courts. The further away from the Greenwich Observatory and the Avenue you go, the more likely you are to find a nice quiet space for a workout.

There are also a set of steps (about 80) leading up to One Tree Hill which are great for hill sprints, if you're in the mood.

2). The Point Hill

This is my local park, where I run personal training sessions and has the most incredible view across London. It's not well known, very quiet and possibly my favourite view of the whole of London.

There are a number of benches in the park, some steps leading up to the view at the far end and it is also very well sheltered from wind and rain by the trees. Great for one of those days when the weather doesn't play ball, but you still want to get your exercise routine in.

3). Island Gardens

Another great location, which isn't frequented by may people is the small Island Gardens Park, across the water from Greenwich. To get there, I take the foot tunnel to the north side of the river and come out the north side of the river, turn a corner and I'm in the park.

This park has a number of benches and a great view across the river at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

4). Blackheath

This park is much larger than any of the other parks, however, it does tend to be a little busier and more exposed. It's great for longer runs and sprints. I also take my kites out there, if I fancy practising any new tricks on land before I try them on water.

5). Hornfair Park

Tucked away from the main road, with little foot traffic, this park is quite fantastic! There are sets of steps, benches, tennis courts and a playground which can be used for exercises. You just need to get a little creative when you're making up your programme.

This park is beside Charlton Lido, so after a workout you can go for a well deserved swim in the open air pool!