Since last week adverts for training peaks have popped up on tinternet. One of them gave me pause for thought and not in a good way. The lady was saying when you dont feel like doing a session then you remember why and she then turns to a pic of full green and grins. If thats your why then its a bit screwed up. Yes it is very satisfying to nail everything and coaches love it but if green tiles become an unhealthy obsession then buy a pickleball racket. Life happens so dont get unhealthy on numbers or widgets. That said here are two pics one of a pure champion the other of Walter mitty training for a DNF

Hopefully people like seeing and hearing who is up to what. This weekend may be the new record for number of combatants ( 21) out daein stuff. We have: GTC Bishpbriggs Tri - Finlay, Catriona, David and Vicky with Sean as RD and Alan as MC for the day Etape Loch Ness - Sean, Mark B, Zoe, Beppo, Fiona G, Felix, Gerard and Darren Dirty reiver - Chris, Jo and Julian with Stevo and Dunc from LTC Kinross Sportive - Alan K, Mark C and Paul Davies 10 under the Ben - Dieter and Coops ( may not start but going up anyway) Hidden Glen 10k - Jill Holyrood 10k - Craig T Hope the sun shines for us all - lets be having it.

We have been conducting tests on athletes in the last month - both remote and in person using lactate. The results have been very informative and allow us to guide training with more detail in the science. Historically this was super expensive and lab based. Now we can get the insights relatively easily. Dorian works with Norwegian coach Arild Tveiten and Corey fed in some info from Jumbo Visma so combining this insight will give us a little edge. If you are interested, I have attached Dorians test details

Need to get new tyres for road bike. Thinking of going up to 32. Any thoughts? Very tempted from a comfort and rolling resistance….?

Last week we had 2 combatants at the european duathlon champs Powerman Alsdorf. John managed a 15 min course and distance PB and Nathalie ( yes her again) took Gold in her age cat. This week Andrew heads to Challenge Gran Canaria and the yoofs are heading to the first round of the British Super series. That has us looking at the lead in to the races and every athlete asks what is the best taper? As with all good coaching questions the answer is 'it depends'. There are multiple factors to consider ( and the science is not definitive) so we have to look at: 1. The demands of the race 2. The importance of the race - A, B, C 3. Where it sits in the overall season plan 4. How the individual reacts physically and mentally to a taper ( this will be influenced by age, conditon, recovery needs, nerves..etc) Very much not a simple thing like reduce volume and maintain intensity. What works for one person may not fit another and what is good for say a 5k run race like Fast ad Flat vs IM Lanzarote are completely different things. The single stand out tip for heading into a race is make sure your nutrition and hydration ar topped up - regardless of the severity or length of the race. A nice little 'cheat' on hydration we use medical goods. If you hit the medical tent post race in a state of depletion they generally hook you up on a drip with a nice saline based hydration fluid. Essentially it is the same as the rehydration sachets you can buy in the pharmacy so prevention is better than cure so a sachet a day 2-3 days out and the muscles at a cellular level willbe fully hydrated on the start line. In the UK it is called diorylyte!