Archive for the ‘Racing’ Category

Race Day Nutrition – Overlooked and Underrated

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Having invested hundreds or possibly thousands of hours training, and several thousand dollars on equipment, many people do not take a mere 30min to think about and plan a sound race day nutrition strategy.

There are a few things you need to think about when planning the strategy:

  • Personal factors (internal) such as pre race nerves and perspiration levels
  • Personal preferences such as what nutrition you currently use and what you like
  • External factors such as specific course conditions like heat and wind

Once you have identified some of these basics you can then apply a plan to the following model, including hydration at every stage:

  • What will I eat the night before?
  • What will I eat the morning of?
  • Within the critical final 2hours pre race, what do I need?
  • During the event what should I use?
  • What do I eat having competed the race to enhance my recovery?

Having thought about all of the factors above, it is critical to go and get the products you require at least 2 weeks prior to race day. The early the better (unless they are perishable) as you need to train what you will do on race day so that you are sure your stomach will agree with it.

Talk through your plan with a coach or someone with sufficient race experience and knowledge to tidy it up and then put it into action!

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Choose Your Weapon – finding the right racing flat

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

The racing season is just getting under way here in Singapore so now is an appropriate time to start thinking about getting yourself into a racing flat.

Things to think about when buying a racing shoe:

  1. Comfort – It is essential to be as comfortable as possible when racing. This becomes more important the longer the distance/duration of your event
  2. Fit – You need a shoe that fits you properly. If you are racing triathlon and not wearing socks you may need to consider buying a shoe that is half a size smaller than your training shoe
  3. Weight - Think about how important this is based on the above comfort point. Usually the comfort comes down as the weight of the shoe reduces. The shoe pictured on the right is the new Nike Luna Racer and it is brilliant. Not only is it super light, the cushioning is amazing. This, in my opinion is the nicest race shoe on the market.
  4. Personal Biomechanics and Injury History – If you are a person who is prone to injury or you have severe pronation, it may not be wise to use a specific racing flat. For you a light weight trainer with a little more support could be a good option
  5. Coolness Factor – This one is not so crucial and you should not base your selection on this point alone, but it is always a slight psychological advantage to feel like the real deal.

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The Big Weekend

Monday, December 7th, 2009

It has been a very busy weekend that has past, with many athletes lining up to test themselves one last time for 2009.

Racers’ Toolbox is proud to have had 30 athletes representing us in Ironman Western Australia, The Phuket Triathlon and of course the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate ALL of you out there that managed to get to the finish of anyone of these great events.

Special mention to the following Racers’ Toolbox athletes who sent us a note with their outstanding achievements:

Andrew Kwong – IM Western Australia
debut finish in a time 1 hour faster than his goal

Duane Wee – IM Western Australia
40+ minute personal best

Michael Lim – IM Western Australia
debut finish (despite being unwell)

Jimmy Lui - IM Western Australia
debut finish

Arnt Bayer – Phuket Triathlon
20 minute personal best

Vittorio Favati – Phuket Triathlon
14 minute personal best

Peiru Chiew - Standard Chartered Marathon
5 minute improvement from 2008

Great job guys and once again congratulations to ALL that competed this past weekend. To end today’s blog entry, I would like to end with a few great quotes from visionary coach Arthur Lydiard in the hope of inspiring you on to bigger and better things next season.

REMEMBER

“It is not the best athlete who wins, but the best prepared”

“There’s no short cuts to the top”

“Champions are everywhere; all you need to do is train them properly”

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Finally Time For A Rest

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

For those of you out there running the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, there is now only 2 weeks to go until this year’s addition of the race and it is time to ease back on the training – I can see the smiles on all of your faces.

Tapers vary in length depending on the distance of your event and your training history etc etc. The guiding rule is the longer your race, the longer your taper should be. The key to getting the taper right is reducing your training volume (km’s/duration) while keeping your speed high. When I say keep your speed high, I am referring to race specific speed not sprinting speed. Many people tend to get carried away doing short hard efforts and forget that the marathon is in fact 42km and it is not fast (relatively speaking). Just because you start to recover in these last 2 weeks and feel good, does not mean you should push it over the top as you will end up starting the race overdone and tired. You are far better to go in a little under done than over done.

During the last 2 weeks of a training plan there is not too much you can do to improve your performance a great deal. You can however destroy your race by doing too much or going too fast or a combination of the two. As you reduce your volume in the taper be careful to watch your diet, it is very easy to keep eating as much as you were in your big weeks and because of this you run the risk of putting on some sneaky weight. This is not ideal for obvious reasons.

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