Racing Disasters, With Jess Towl
So as races have started again, I thought I would give you some tips for racing and funny stories from my own experiences. Yes we all mess up and learn lessons the hard way, even the pros!
Never use new equipment on race day
It was my A race of the season and I was in the shape of my life looking forward to competing against a field of world-class athletes. One of my friends offered to let me borrow his race wheels, he met me the morning of the race so I didn’t test them out before hand and in the stress of race morning I didn’t even fully check them. I put them on my bike and headed into transition. I was out of the water and into the lead pack, 3 of us had a 1-minute lead on the second pack, which had Olympic medallists in it. I felt good and strong and suddenly as I took my turn on the front I heard a bang and immediately felt like my breaks were on. I had a blow out.
As pros racing an Olympic distance race there is no time to change a tyre or replace the wheel. Once you lose that pack your race is over and the walk of shame back to transition begins.
Always know where your transition rack is
Seems simple enough right? Well even when I had my name board on my transition rack I still managed to mess this one up.
Flying into T2 in a pack and wanting to be the first one out onto the run all I saw were my shoes and my white towel. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on in a second and off I go. Something didn’t feel right and about 1km into the run I realise that the shoes I was wearing were not mine, they were a few sizes too big!
People are going to have similar shoes and towels so just make sure you know where your transition rack is, put crazy coloured elastic laces in your shoes, use a bright towel, anything to help you find your rack easily.
Wear your goggles on the inside of your hat and tuck your wetsuit zip cord into it
I have had my fair share of violent starts; pontoon starts always seem the worst as you literally dive on top of each other when the gun goes.
One race I did in France we had 60 female athletes starting on a pontoon with 20 lanes, it was carnage.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident ill never know but someone ripped my goggles from my head and completely unzipped my wetsuit. It immediately filled with water and my arms became so heavy I could barely lift them. My goggles were gone at this point but I had to stop and try to zip myself back up so that I could carry on. From that day I always kept my goggles under my hat and tucked my wetsuit cord deep into it. That way no one could grab either of them and even better I could find my wetsuit zipper easier as I was running from the water to transition.
Know the course – following others isn’t good enough
Make sure you are familiar with the course. Study the map and go for a small recce ride the day before to familiarise yourself with where you will be going.
One year in the London Triathlon I was following what I thought was the lead vehicle, but it was actually just a cameraman on a motorbike. I noticed that the usual barriers that line the streets had gone and before I fully realised we were off course we hit a dead end! There was a group of about 6 of us that came to a full stop. We had to turn around and head back until we found other cyclists that were on the right route.
It is easy to blame race officials, to just follow other athletes, to blame bad signage, no barriers, no lead vehicle etc but at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing and executing the correct route. Do not rely on others and just blindly follow other athletes.
Nutrition and hydration is key no matter the distance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t hungry or thirsty, you must eat and hydrate well for a triathlon regardless of the distance. One summer in an Olympic distance race I had taped a gel to the cross bar of my bike. In the rush of draft legal races I accidently dropped it before I could eat it. I didn’t have a back up and I only had water in my bottles. Moral of the story: always be over prepared! It’s better to finish a race with an extra gel than to be suffering without one.
In the same race I didn’t drink on the run because I was desperately trying to hold onto a podium position. I thought if I grabbed water I might lose my rhythm or lose a few seconds and I just didn’t want to risk it. 1km left to go and I didn’t even know my own name, I was suffering from heat stroke and running in zigzags. The next thing I remember was waking up in fully naked in a bath of ice and an IV in my arm. Funny part to this story is the first thing I said when I woke up was “please tell me you didn’t cut off my Tri suit”
It was my GB Tri suit, my pride and joy the thing I had worked so hard to get. You had to earn those by racing at either European or World level. Since that day I have made sure to never have a nutritional or hydration issue racing again.
Practise mounting and dismounting – a lot!
In my opinion you cant practise this enough. I recently stood at the dismount line at a local triathlon in Dubai and it was very entertaining albeit quite dangerous.
I saw people brining their leg over the cross bar rather than behind. People completely stopping and others fly into the back of them and some athletes with their feet still inside shoes toppling over.
We used to do series of super super sprint races that were extremely fast. Imagine 20 riders coming to that narrow dismount line at very high speeds all wanting to be the first out onto the run. Believe it or not it’s not as bad as you imagine. Pros practise and practise this until it becomes second nature. They are so smooth and fast and safe around others. Of all the triathlons I have ever done I only ever had one issue here, my bike somehow got interlocked with another triathletes and we couldn’t separate them, we were both pulling our bikes and getting nowhere in the end we racked them still stuck together and were just very lucky we didn’t get penalised.
Don’t follow everyone else on the swim – sight your buoys.
Its easy to get caught up following someone else’s feet in the swim, its good to sit on someone’s feet but make sure you also know where your buoy is and keep sighting it.
A race I did in Australia that had a very long triangular shaped swim, the men set off an hour before the females so the sea was clear of any swimmers. I lead from the start, sighting the buoy very far out. The closer I got to it the more I realised how far to the left I has swum when it was supposed to be a straight line. I stopped, took off my goggles and could see the actual buoy about 400m to the right!! I panicked; I was so far off course surely that would be the end of my race. I turned around and noticed that every single other triathlete had followed me, like a line of sheep. Not one person had gone the correct way. So I headed in the right direction, still at the front and with everyone following.
As a former professional triathlete I have seen and done (nearly) every mistake. Thankfully this gives me an extra edge as a coach! So please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss coaching options.
NEW TIMINGS, DAYS & CLASSES! PLEASE CHECK MINDBODY FOR THE SCHEDULE AND CLASS DETAILS!
ENGINE
We are putting into practice the pacing strategies we learned in the last two weeks' EMOM style. This week, we will ski, Bike, and row.
GYMNASTICS
Hanging from the bar and getting upside down is what is happening in gymnastics this week. We will be breaking down the bar muscle-up and focusing on the movement technique; then, we will move to some handstand walks again, breaking down the movement and spending some time walking on our hands!
HYROX
For all levels: learning to recover on the run after a hard station. Hyrox Strength work into short runs.
MOBILITY
This week we continue with hip mobility moving into ankle mobility & foot stability drills, with shoulder mobility finisher.
PURE STRENGTH
This week in Pure Strength, we kick off Monday with some deadlift doubles and some heavy single-leg work and finish off with a “Rump Pump”. Wednesday, we will progress in loading the Close Grip Bench Press and work through a little t-shirt filler to end the session.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week, the focus is on Clean and Jerks, where we will be hitting some clusters and then Clean Doubles into 1 Jerk!
Track Tuesday
We begin set 1 of our over/under block. This is all about threshold!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
We return to outdoor intervals this week! Some strength work into Vo2 max, 90min session!
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
A fartlek session into some 8min blocks this week. A tough run that will deliver some big stimulus!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Brick
Start time: 5:29 am
Our tri season opener! Get in touch with tw@innerfight.com to find out the plan.
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
This week we will be holding that 7/10 feeling for 8 min blocks with a 3 mins recovery.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
800m of over/unders is on the menu today. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
Today we will cycle through 1 min on/off intervals. Keep the 1 min off nice and easy!
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
After some strides we will have some longer tempo blocks for you here.
We are kicking off the week with some technique work on the Hang Power Snatch before diving into a triplet of Wall Balls, Rowing and Burpees. Tuesday is focused on our strict pulling strength and some heavy Jerks in the skill and the workout. Wednesday will be a tough leg day with the Zercher squat and a heavy Dumbbell workout. Thursday, we have some TTB skill work and then an ascending and descending AMRAP to get through. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Deadlifts into a savage workout with the barbell!
Monday:
Strength:
A) Snatch Grip DL + Hang Snatch Pull + Hang Muscle Snatch
B) Hang Power Snatch
Conditioning:
In a 12-minute window 3 rounds
21 wall balls
15 cal row
9 burpee over the rower
Max cal row in the remaining time
Tuesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B Push Jerk & % of Pull-Ups from Part A
Conditioning:
3 min amrap
3 STOH ( 60/45)
10 pull-ups
15 box jump
rest 2 mins x 4
Wednesday:
Strength:
Zercher Squats
Conditioning:
22 mins AMRAP
16 suitcase reverse lunge (2x50/35)
50 DU
8 dual DB Front Squat
Park Run
Thursday:
Strength:
A) TTB
B) Incline DB Bench Press & % of TTB from Part A
Conditioning:
9 min Amrap
3 push-ups on DBS
3 Alt renegade rows (2x50/35)
3 cal ski
(+ 3 reps on each movement each round)
Rest 3 mins
For time: AMRAP in reverse
Friday:
Strength:
A) Deadlift
Conditioning:
Therapyyyyyyy, we carry over the barbell into a savage workout! One you do not want to miss!
So as races have started again, I thought I would give you some tips for racing and funny stories from my own experiences. Yes we all mess up and learn lessons the hard way, even the pros!
Never use new equipment on race day
It was my A race of the season and I was in the shape of my life looking forward to competing against a field of world-class athletes. One of my friends offered to let me borrow his race wheels, he met me the morning of the race so I didn’t test them out before hand and in the stress of race morning I didn’t even fully check them. I put them on my bike and headed into transition. I was out of the water and into the lead pack, 3 of us had a 1-minute lead on the second pack, which had Olympic medallists in it. I felt good and strong and suddenly as I took my turn on the front I heard a bang and immediately felt like my breaks were on. I had a blow out.
As pros racing an Olympic distance race there is no time to change a tyre or replace the wheel. Once you lose that pack your race is over and the walk of shame back to transition begins.
Always know where your transition rack is
Seems simple enough right? Well even when I had my name board on my transition rack I still managed to mess this one up.
Flying into T2 in a pack and wanting to be the first one out onto the run all I saw were my shoes and my white towel. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on in a second and off I go. Something didn’t feel right and about 1km into the run I realise that the shoes I was wearing were not mine, they were a few sizes too big!
People are going to have similar shoes and towels so just make sure you know where your transition rack is, put crazy coloured elastic laces in your shoes, use a bright towel, anything to help you find your rack easily.
Wear your goggles on the inside of your hat and tuck your wetsuit zip cord into it
I have had my fair share of violent starts; pontoon starts always seem the worst as you literally dive on top of each other when the gun goes.
One race I did in France we had 60 female athletes starting on a pontoon with 20 lanes, it was carnage.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident ill never know but someone ripped my goggles from my head and completely unzipped my wetsuit. It immediately filled with water and my arms became so heavy I could barely lift them. My goggles were gone at this point but I had to stop and try to zip myself back up so that I could carry on. From that day I always kept my goggles under my hat and tucked my wetsuit cord deep into it. That way no one could grab either of them and even better I could find my wetsuit zipper easier as I was running from the water to transition.
Know the course – following others isn’t good enough
Make sure you are familiar with the course. Study the map and go for a small recce ride the day before to familiarise yourself with where you will be going.
One year in the London Triathlon I was following what I thought was the lead vehicle, but it was actually just a cameraman on a motorbike. I noticed that the usual barriers that line the streets had gone and before I fully realised we were off course we hit a dead end! There was a group of about 6 of us that came to a full stop. We had to turn around and head back until we found other cyclists that were on the right route.
It is easy to blame race officials, to just follow other athletes, to blame bad signage, no barriers, no lead vehicle etc but at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing and executing the correct route. Do not rely on others and just blindly follow other athletes.
Nutrition and hydration is key no matter the distance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t hungry or thirsty, you must eat and hydrate well for a triathlon regardless of the distance. One summer in an Olympic distance race I had taped a gel to the cross bar of my bike. In the rush of draft legal races I accidently dropped it before I could eat it. I didn’t have a back up and I only had water in my bottles. Moral of the story: always be over prepared! It’s better to finish a race with an extra gel than to be suffering without one.
In the same race I didn’t drink on the run because I was desperately trying to hold onto a podium position. I thought if I grabbed water I might lose my rhythm or lose a few seconds and I just didn’t want to risk it. 1km left to go and I didn’t even know my own name, I was suffering from heat stroke and running in zigzags. The next thing I remember was waking up in fully naked in a bath of ice and an IV in my arm. Funny part to this story is the first thing I said when I woke up was “please tell me you didn’t cut off my Tri suit”
It was my GB Tri suit, my pride and joy the thing I had worked so hard to get. You had to earn those by racing at either European or World level. Since that day I have made sure to never have a nutritional or hydration issue racing again.
Practise mounting and dismounting – a lot!
In my opinion you cant practise this enough. I recently stood at the dismount line at a local triathlon in Dubai and it was very entertaining albeit quite dangerous.
I saw people brining their leg over the cross bar rather than behind. People completely stopping and others fly into the back of them and some athletes with their feet still inside shoes toppling over.
We used to do series of super super sprint races that were extremely fast. Imagine 20 riders coming to that narrow dismount line at very high speeds all wanting to be the first out onto the run. Believe it or not it’s not as bad as you imagine. Pros practise and practise this until it becomes second nature. They are so smooth and fast and safe around others. Of all the triathlons I have ever done I only ever had one issue here, my bike somehow got interlocked with another triathletes and we couldn’t separate them, we were both pulling our bikes and getting nowhere in the end we racked them still stuck together and were just very lucky we didn’t get penalised.
Don’t follow everyone else on the swim – sight your buoys.
Its easy to get caught up following someone else’s feet in the swim, its good to sit on someone’s feet but make sure you also know where your buoy is and keep sighting it.
A race I did in Australia that had a very long triangular shaped swim, the men set off an hour before the females so the sea was clear of any swimmers. I lead from the start, sighting the buoy very far out. The closer I got to it the more I realised how far to the left I has swum when it was supposed to be a straight line. I stopped, took off my goggles and could see the actual buoy about 400m to the right!! I panicked; I was so far off course surely that would be the end of my race. I turned around and noticed that every single other triathlete had followed me, like a line of sheep. Not one person had gone the correct way. So I headed in the right direction, still at the front and with everyone following.
As a former professional triathlete I have seen and done (nearly) every mistake. Thankfully this gives me an extra edge as a coach! So please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss coaching options.
Track Tuesday
We begin set 1 of our over/under block. This is all about threshold!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
We return to outdoor intervals this week! Some strength work into Vo2 max, 90min session!
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
A fartlek session into some 8min blocks this week. A tough run that will deliver some big stimulus!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Brick
Start time: 5:29 am
Our tri season opener! Get in touch with tw@innerfight.com to find out the plan.
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
This week we will be holding that 7/10 feeling for 8 min blocks with a 3 mins recovery.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
800m of over/unders is on the menu today. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
Today we will cycle through 1 min on/off intervals. Keep the 1 min off nice and easy!
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
After some strides we will have some longer tempo blocks for you here.
We are kicking off the week with some technique work on the Hang Power Snatch before diving into a triplet of Wall Balls, Rowing and Burpees. Tuesday is focused on our strict pulling strength and some heavy Jerks in the skill and the workout. Wednesday will be a tough leg day with the Zercher squat and a heavy Dumbbell workout. Thursday, we have some TTB skill work and then an ascending and descending AMRAP to get through. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Deadlifts into a savage workout with the barbell!
Monday:
Strength:
A) Snatch Grip DL + Hang Snatch Pull + Hang Muscle Snatch
B) Hang Power Snatch
Conditioning:
In a 12-minute window 3 rounds
21 wall balls
15 cal row
9 burpee over the rower
Max cal row in the remaining time
Tuesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B Push Jerk & % of Pull-Ups from Part A
Conditioning:
3 min amrap
3 STOH ( 60/45)
10 pull-ups
15 box jump
rest 2 mins x 4
Wednesday:
Strength:
Zercher Squats
Conditioning:
22 mins AMRAP
16 suitcase reverse lunge (2x50/35)
50 DU
8 dual DB Front Squat
Park Run
Thursday:
Strength:
A) TTB
B) Incline DB Bench Press & % of TTB from Part A
Conditioning:
9 min Amrap
3 push-ups on DBS
3 Alt renegade rows (2x50/35)
3 cal ski
(+ 3 reps on each movement each round)
Rest 3 mins
For time: AMRAP in reverse
Friday:
Strength:
A) Deadlift
Conditioning:
Therapyyyyyyy, we carry over the barbell into a savage workout! One you do not want to miss!
NEW TIMINGS, DAYS & CLASSES! PLEASE CHECK MINDBODY FOR THE SCHEDULE AND CLASS DETAILS!
ENGINE
We are putting into practice the pacing strategies we learned in the last two weeks' EMOM style. This week, we will ski, Bike, and row.
GYMNASTICS
Hanging from the bar and getting upside down is what is happening in gymnastics this week. We will be breaking down the bar muscle-up and focusing on the movement technique; then, we will move to some handstand walks again, breaking down the movement and spending some time walking on our hands!
HYROX
For all levels: learning to recover on the run after a hard station. Hyrox Strength work into short runs.
MOBILITY
This week we continue with hip mobility moving into ankle mobility & foot stability drills, with shoulder mobility finisher.
PURE STRENGTH
This week in Pure Strength, we kick off Monday with some deadlift doubles and some heavy single-leg work and finish off with a “Rump Pump”. Wednesday, we will progress in loading the Close Grip Bench Press and work through a little t-shirt filler to end the session.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week, the focus is on Clean and Jerks, where we will be hitting some clusters and then Clean Doubles into 1 Jerk!
So as races have started again, I thought I would give you some tips for racing and funny stories from my own experiences. Yes we all mess up and learn lessons the hard way, even the pros!
Never use new equipment on race day
It was my A race of the season and I was in the shape of my life looking forward to competing against a field of world-class athletes. One of my friends offered to let me borrow his race wheels, he met me the morning of the race so I didn’t test them out before hand and in the stress of race morning I didn’t even fully check them. I put them on my bike and headed into transition. I was out of the water and into the lead pack, 3 of us had a 1-minute lead on the second pack, which had Olympic medallists in it. I felt good and strong and suddenly as I took my turn on the front I heard a bang and immediately felt like my breaks were on. I had a blow out.
As pros racing an Olympic distance race there is no time to change a tyre or replace the wheel. Once you lose that pack your race is over and the walk of shame back to transition begins.
Always know where your transition rack is
Seems simple enough right? Well even when I had my name board on my transition rack I still managed to mess this one up.
Flying into T2 in a pack and wanting to be the first one out onto the run all I saw were my shoes and my white towel. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on in a second and off I go. Something didn’t feel right and about 1km into the run I realise that the shoes I was wearing were not mine, they were a few sizes too big!
People are going to have similar shoes and towels so just make sure you know where your transition rack is, put crazy coloured elastic laces in your shoes, use a bright towel, anything to help you find your rack easily.
Wear your goggles on the inside of your hat and tuck your wetsuit zip cord into it
I have had my fair share of violent starts; pontoon starts always seem the worst as you literally dive on top of each other when the gun goes.
One race I did in France we had 60 female athletes starting on a pontoon with 20 lanes, it was carnage.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident ill never know but someone ripped my goggles from my head and completely unzipped my wetsuit. It immediately filled with water and my arms became so heavy I could barely lift them. My goggles were gone at this point but I had to stop and try to zip myself back up so that I could carry on. From that day I always kept my goggles under my hat and tucked my wetsuit cord deep into it. That way no one could grab either of them and even better I could find my wetsuit zipper easier as I was running from the water to transition.
Know the course – following others isn’t good enough
Make sure you are familiar with the course. Study the map and go for a small recce ride the day before to familiarise yourself with where you will be going.
One year in the London Triathlon I was following what I thought was the lead vehicle, but it was actually just a cameraman on a motorbike. I noticed that the usual barriers that line the streets had gone and before I fully realised we were off course we hit a dead end! There was a group of about 6 of us that came to a full stop. We had to turn around and head back until we found other cyclists that were on the right route.
It is easy to blame race officials, to just follow other athletes, to blame bad signage, no barriers, no lead vehicle etc but at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing and executing the correct route. Do not rely on others and just blindly follow other athletes.
Nutrition and hydration is key no matter the distance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t hungry or thirsty, you must eat and hydrate well for a triathlon regardless of the distance. One summer in an Olympic distance race I had taped a gel to the cross bar of my bike. In the rush of draft legal races I accidently dropped it before I could eat it. I didn’t have a back up and I only had water in my bottles. Moral of the story: always be over prepared! It’s better to finish a race with an extra gel than to be suffering without one.
In the same race I didn’t drink on the run because I was desperately trying to hold onto a podium position. I thought if I grabbed water I might lose my rhythm or lose a few seconds and I just didn’t want to risk it. 1km left to go and I didn’t even know my own name, I was suffering from heat stroke and running in zigzags. The next thing I remember was waking up in fully naked in a bath of ice and an IV in my arm. Funny part to this story is the first thing I said when I woke up was “please tell me you didn’t cut off my Tri suit”
It was my GB Tri suit, my pride and joy the thing I had worked so hard to get. You had to earn those by racing at either European or World level. Since that day I have made sure to never have a nutritional or hydration issue racing again.
Practise mounting and dismounting – a lot!
In my opinion you cant practise this enough. I recently stood at the dismount line at a local triathlon in Dubai and it was very entertaining albeit quite dangerous.
I saw people brining their leg over the cross bar rather than behind. People completely stopping and others fly into the back of them and some athletes with their feet still inside shoes toppling over.
We used to do series of super super sprint races that were extremely fast. Imagine 20 riders coming to that narrow dismount line at very high speeds all wanting to be the first out onto the run. Believe it or not it’s not as bad as you imagine. Pros practise and practise this until it becomes second nature. They are so smooth and fast and safe around others. Of all the triathlons I have ever done I only ever had one issue here, my bike somehow got interlocked with another triathletes and we couldn’t separate them, we were both pulling our bikes and getting nowhere in the end we racked them still stuck together and were just very lucky we didn’t get penalised.
Don’t follow everyone else on the swim – sight your buoys.
Its easy to get caught up following someone else’s feet in the swim, its good to sit on someone’s feet but make sure you also know where your buoy is and keep sighting it.
A race I did in Australia that had a very long triangular shaped swim, the men set off an hour before the females so the sea was clear of any swimmers. I lead from the start, sighting the buoy very far out. The closer I got to it the more I realised how far to the left I has swum when it was supposed to be a straight line. I stopped, took off my goggles and could see the actual buoy about 400m to the right!! I panicked; I was so far off course surely that would be the end of my race. I turned around and noticed that every single other triathlete had followed me, like a line of sheep. Not one person had gone the correct way. So I headed in the right direction, still at the front and with everyone following.
As a former professional triathlete I have seen and done (nearly) every mistake. Thankfully this gives me an extra edge as a coach! So please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss coaching options.
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
This week we will be holding that 7/10 feeling for 8 min blocks with a 3 mins recovery.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
800m of over/unders is on the menu today. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
Today we will cycle through 1 min on/off intervals. Keep the 1 min off nice and easy!
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
After some strides we will have some longer tempo blocks for you here.
We are kicking off the week with some technique work on the Hang Power Snatch before diving into a triplet of Wall Balls, Rowing and Burpees. Tuesday is focused on our strict pulling strength and some heavy Jerks in the skill and the workout. Wednesday will be a tough leg day with the Zercher squat and a heavy Dumbbell workout. Thursday, we have some TTB skill work and then an ascending and descending AMRAP to get through. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Deadlifts into a savage workout with the barbell!
Monday:
Strength:
A) Snatch Grip DL + Hang Snatch Pull + Hang Muscle Snatch
B) Hang Power Snatch
Conditioning:
In a 12-minute window 3 rounds
21 wall balls
15 cal row
9 burpee over the rower
Max cal row in the remaining time
Tuesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B Push Jerk & % of Pull-Ups from Part A
Conditioning:
3 min amrap
3 STOH ( 60/45)
10 pull-ups
15 box jump
rest 2 mins x 4
Wednesday:
Strength:
Zercher Squats
Conditioning:
22 mins AMRAP
16 suitcase reverse lunge (2x50/35)
50 DU
8 dual DB Front Squat
Park Run
Thursday:
Strength:
A) TTB
B) Incline DB Bench Press & % of TTB from Part A
Conditioning:
9 min Amrap
3 push-ups on DBS
3 Alt renegade rows (2x50/35)
3 cal ski
(+ 3 reps on each movement each round)
Rest 3 mins
For time: AMRAP in reverse
Friday:
Strength:
A) Deadlift
Conditioning:
Therapyyyyyyy, we carry over the barbell into a savage workout! One you do not want to miss!
NEW TIMINGS, DAYS & CLASSES! PLEASE CHECK MINDBODY FOR THE SCHEDULE AND CLASS DETAILS!
ENGINE
We are putting into practice the pacing strategies we learned in the last two weeks' EMOM style. This week, we will ski, Bike, and row.
GYMNASTICS
Hanging from the bar and getting upside down is what is happening in gymnastics this week. We will be breaking down the bar muscle-up and focusing on the movement technique; then, we will move to some handstand walks again, breaking down the movement and spending some time walking on our hands!
HYROX
For all levels: learning to recover on the run after a hard station. Hyrox Strength work into short runs.
MOBILITY
This week we continue with hip mobility moving into ankle mobility & foot stability drills, with shoulder mobility finisher.
PURE STRENGTH
This week in Pure Strength, we kick off Monday with some deadlift doubles and some heavy single-leg work and finish off with a “Rump Pump”. Wednesday, we will progress in loading the Close Grip Bench Press and work through a little t-shirt filler to end the session.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week, the focus is on Clean and Jerks, where we will be hitting some clusters and then Clean Doubles into 1 Jerk!
Track Tuesday
We begin set 1 of our over/under block. This is all about threshold!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
We return to outdoor intervals this week! Some strength work into Vo2 max, 90min session!
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
A fartlek session into some 8min blocks this week. A tough run that will deliver some big stimulus!
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Brick
Start time: 5:29 am
Our tri season opener! Get in touch with tw@innerfight.com to find out the plan.
So as races have started again, I thought I would give you some tips for racing and funny stories from my own experiences. Yes we all mess up and learn lessons the hard way, even the pros!
Never use new equipment on race day
It was my A race of the season and I was in the shape of my life looking forward to competing against a field of world-class athletes. One of my friends offered to let me borrow his race wheels, he met me the morning of the race so I didn’t test them out before hand and in the stress of race morning I didn’t even fully check them. I put them on my bike and headed into transition. I was out of the water and into the lead pack, 3 of us had a 1-minute lead on the second pack, which had Olympic medallists in it. I felt good and strong and suddenly as I took my turn on the front I heard a bang and immediately felt like my breaks were on. I had a blow out.
As pros racing an Olympic distance race there is no time to change a tyre or replace the wheel. Once you lose that pack your race is over and the walk of shame back to transition begins.
Always know where your transition rack is
Seems simple enough right? Well even when I had my name board on my transition rack I still managed to mess this one up.
Flying into T2 in a pack and wanting to be the first one out onto the run all I saw were my shoes and my white towel. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on in a second and off I go. Something didn’t feel right and about 1km into the run I realise that the shoes I was wearing were not mine, they were a few sizes too big!
People are going to have similar shoes and towels so just make sure you know where your transition rack is, put crazy coloured elastic laces in your shoes, use a bright towel, anything to help you find your rack easily.
Wear your goggles on the inside of your hat and tuck your wetsuit zip cord into it
I have had my fair share of violent starts; pontoon starts always seem the worst as you literally dive on top of each other when the gun goes.
One race I did in France we had 60 female athletes starting on a pontoon with 20 lanes, it was carnage.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident ill never know but someone ripped my goggles from my head and completely unzipped my wetsuit. It immediately filled with water and my arms became so heavy I could barely lift them. My goggles were gone at this point but I had to stop and try to zip myself back up so that I could carry on. From that day I always kept my goggles under my hat and tucked my wetsuit cord deep into it. That way no one could grab either of them and even better I could find my wetsuit zipper easier as I was running from the water to transition.
Know the course – following others isn’t good enough
Make sure you are familiar with the course. Study the map and go for a small recce ride the day before to familiarise yourself with where you will be going.
One year in the London Triathlon I was following what I thought was the lead vehicle, but it was actually just a cameraman on a motorbike. I noticed that the usual barriers that line the streets had gone and before I fully realised we were off course we hit a dead end! There was a group of about 6 of us that came to a full stop. We had to turn around and head back until we found other cyclists that were on the right route.
It is easy to blame race officials, to just follow other athletes, to blame bad signage, no barriers, no lead vehicle etc but at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing and executing the correct route. Do not rely on others and just blindly follow other athletes.
Nutrition and hydration is key no matter the distance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t hungry or thirsty, you must eat and hydrate well for a triathlon regardless of the distance. One summer in an Olympic distance race I had taped a gel to the cross bar of my bike. In the rush of draft legal races I accidently dropped it before I could eat it. I didn’t have a back up and I only had water in my bottles. Moral of the story: always be over prepared! It’s better to finish a race with an extra gel than to be suffering without one.
In the same race I didn’t drink on the run because I was desperately trying to hold onto a podium position. I thought if I grabbed water I might lose my rhythm or lose a few seconds and I just didn’t want to risk it. 1km left to go and I didn’t even know my own name, I was suffering from heat stroke and running in zigzags. The next thing I remember was waking up in fully naked in a bath of ice and an IV in my arm. Funny part to this story is the first thing I said when I woke up was “please tell me you didn’t cut off my Tri suit”
It was my GB Tri suit, my pride and joy the thing I had worked so hard to get. You had to earn those by racing at either European or World level. Since that day I have made sure to never have a nutritional or hydration issue racing again.
Practise mounting and dismounting – a lot!
In my opinion you cant practise this enough. I recently stood at the dismount line at a local triathlon in Dubai and it was very entertaining albeit quite dangerous.
I saw people brining their leg over the cross bar rather than behind. People completely stopping and others fly into the back of them and some athletes with their feet still inside shoes toppling over.
We used to do series of super super sprint races that were extremely fast. Imagine 20 riders coming to that narrow dismount line at very high speeds all wanting to be the first out onto the run. Believe it or not it’s not as bad as you imagine. Pros practise and practise this until it becomes second nature. They are so smooth and fast and safe around others. Of all the triathlons I have ever done I only ever had one issue here, my bike somehow got interlocked with another triathletes and we couldn’t separate them, we were both pulling our bikes and getting nowhere in the end we racked them still stuck together and were just very lucky we didn’t get penalised.
Don’t follow everyone else on the swim – sight your buoys.
Its easy to get caught up following someone else’s feet in the swim, its good to sit on someone’s feet but make sure you also know where your buoy is and keep sighting it.
A race I did in Australia that had a very long triangular shaped swim, the men set off an hour before the females so the sea was clear of any swimmers. I lead from the start, sighting the buoy very far out. The closer I got to it the more I realised how far to the left I has swum when it was supposed to be a straight line. I stopped, took off my goggles and could see the actual buoy about 400m to the right!! I panicked; I was so far off course surely that would be the end of my race. I turned around and noticed that every single other triathlete had followed me, like a line of sheep. Not one person had gone the correct way. So I headed in the right direction, still at the front and with everyone following.
As a former professional triathlete I have seen and done (nearly) every mistake. Thankfully this gives me an extra edge as a coach! So please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss coaching options.
So as races have started again, I thought I would give you some tips for racing and funny stories from my own experiences. Yes we all mess up and learn lessons the hard way, even the pros!
Never use new equipment on race day
It was my A race of the season and I was in the shape of my life looking forward to competing against a field of world-class athletes. One of my friends offered to let me borrow his race wheels, he met me the morning of the race so I didn’t test them out before hand and in the stress of race morning I didn’t even fully check them. I put them on my bike and headed into transition. I was out of the water and into the lead pack, 3 of us had a 1-minute lead on the second pack, which had Olympic medallists in it. I felt good and strong and suddenly as I took my turn on the front I heard a bang and immediately felt like my breaks were on. I had a blow out.
As pros racing an Olympic distance race there is no time to change a tyre or replace the wheel. Once you lose that pack your race is over and the walk of shame back to transition begins.
Always know where your transition rack is
Seems simple enough right? Well even when I had my name board on my transition rack I still managed to mess this one up.
Flying into T2 in a pack and wanting to be the first one out onto the run all I saw were my shoes and my white towel. Bike racked, helmet off, shoes on in a second and off I go. Something didn’t feel right and about 1km into the run I realise that the shoes I was wearing were not mine, they were a few sizes too big!
People are going to have similar shoes and towels so just make sure you know where your transition rack is, put crazy coloured elastic laces in your shoes, use a bright towel, anything to help you find your rack easily.
Wear your goggles on the inside of your hat and tuck your wetsuit zip cord into it
I have had my fair share of violent starts; pontoon starts always seem the worst as you literally dive on top of each other when the gun goes.
One race I did in France we had 60 female athletes starting on a pontoon with 20 lanes, it was carnage.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident ill never know but someone ripped my goggles from my head and completely unzipped my wetsuit. It immediately filled with water and my arms became so heavy I could barely lift them. My goggles were gone at this point but I had to stop and try to zip myself back up so that I could carry on. From that day I always kept my goggles under my hat and tucked my wetsuit cord deep into it. That way no one could grab either of them and even better I could find my wetsuit zipper easier as I was running from the water to transition.
Know the course – following others isn’t good enough
Make sure you are familiar with the course. Study the map and go for a small recce ride the day before to familiarise yourself with where you will be going.
One year in the London Triathlon I was following what I thought was the lead vehicle, but it was actually just a cameraman on a motorbike. I noticed that the usual barriers that line the streets had gone and before I fully realised we were off course we hit a dead end! There was a group of about 6 of us that came to a full stop. We had to turn around and head back until we found other cyclists that were on the right route.
It is easy to blame race officials, to just follow other athletes, to blame bad signage, no barriers, no lead vehicle etc but at the end of the day you are responsible for knowing and executing the correct route. Do not rely on others and just blindly follow other athletes.
Nutrition and hydration is key no matter the distance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t hungry or thirsty, you must eat and hydrate well for a triathlon regardless of the distance. One summer in an Olympic distance race I had taped a gel to the cross bar of my bike. In the rush of draft legal races I accidently dropped it before I could eat it. I didn’t have a back up and I only had water in my bottles. Moral of the story: always be over prepared! It’s better to finish a race with an extra gel than to be suffering without one.
In the same race I didn’t drink on the run because I was desperately trying to hold onto a podium position. I thought if I grabbed water I might lose my rhythm or lose a few seconds and I just didn’t want to risk it. 1km left to go and I didn’t even know my own name, I was suffering from heat stroke and running in zigzags. The next thing I remember was waking up in fully naked in a bath of ice and an IV in my arm. Funny part to this story is the first thing I said when I woke up was “please tell me you didn’t cut off my Tri suit”
It was my GB Tri suit, my pride and joy the thing I had worked so hard to get. You had to earn those by racing at either European or World level. Since that day I have made sure to never have a nutritional or hydration issue racing again.
Practise mounting and dismounting – a lot!
In my opinion you cant practise this enough. I recently stood at the dismount line at a local triathlon in Dubai and it was very entertaining albeit quite dangerous.
I saw people brining their leg over the cross bar rather than behind. People completely stopping and others fly into the back of them and some athletes with their feet still inside shoes toppling over.
We used to do series of super super sprint races that were extremely fast. Imagine 20 riders coming to that narrow dismount line at very high speeds all wanting to be the first out onto the run. Believe it or not it’s not as bad as you imagine. Pros practise and practise this until it becomes second nature. They are so smooth and fast and safe around others. Of all the triathlons I have ever done I only ever had one issue here, my bike somehow got interlocked with another triathletes and we couldn’t separate them, we were both pulling our bikes and getting nowhere in the end we racked them still stuck together and were just very lucky we didn’t get penalised.
Don’t follow everyone else on the swim – sight your buoys.
Its easy to get caught up following someone else’s feet in the swim, its good to sit on someone’s feet but make sure you also know where your buoy is and keep sighting it.
A race I did in Australia that had a very long triangular shaped swim, the men set off an hour before the females so the sea was clear of any swimmers. I lead from the start, sighting the buoy very far out. The closer I got to it the more I realised how far to the left I has swum when it was supposed to be a straight line. I stopped, took off my goggles and could see the actual buoy about 400m to the right!! I panicked; I was so far off course surely that would be the end of my race. I turned around and noticed that every single other triathlete had followed me, like a line of sheep. Not one person had gone the correct way. So I headed in the right direction, still at the front and with everyone following.
As a former professional triathlete I have seen and done (nearly) every mistake. Thankfully this gives me an extra edge as a coach! So please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss coaching options.