Pete Freedman and Harry Wiltshire of Driven to Tri have arranged a training day at Dulwich Sports Centre on 13th February. Pete and Harry have experience racing at World Level and in 2009 coached athletes to podium finishes at some of the UK’s biggest races. The aim will be to develop efficient swim and run technique. There will also be a classroom session on swim fundamentals and athletes will have the chance to discuss structuring their training and racing.
Schedule:
10am: Run session – Developing efficient run technique using drills.
11.15am: Talk on swim fundamentals
12.30pm: Swim Session - The first 75-90 minutes will focus on stroke technique. The last 30-45 minutes will work on a more substantial main set.
2.45pm-4pm: Chance to chat through training and ask Pete and Harry any questions.
Coaches:
Peter Freedman - Level 2 British Triathlon, British Swimming and UK Athletics Coach.
Harry Wiltshire – Level 3 British Triathlon Coach, South West Academy Coach, World Student Triathlon Champion
2009 Elite Coaching Results:
2nd – Windsor Elite Triathlon (Female)
3rd – British Super Series final standings (Female)
4th – National Junior Championships (Female)
Numerous top 20’s at UK and French elite race
2009 Age Group Coaching Results:
1st – British Triathlon Championships (Overall, Female)
2nd – Ironman Barcelona (Overall, Female)
Qualifiers for Sprint, Olympic and Long Distance World Championships
Cost: £55 – places strictly limited to 12 athletes.
Booking: If you would like to reserve a place on this course please contact Pete directly via e-mail (Pete@driventotri.com). Please include your name, DOB, contact number and approximate 400m swim time.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Snow, snow, snow!
Well it's been an interesting few weeks for most of our athletes and most Triathletes in the UK. Whilst full time athletes are able to book a flight to warmer climates like Lanzarote (Harry) and South Africa (Toby) the majority are forced to make the best of the current conditions. Races continue to be cancelled and running/biking outside has been very difficult. The question is, how to make the most of these conditions.
Adrian Marriott has posted an interesting blog (http://adrianmarriott.blogspot.com/) which I think sums it up quite well. They key is to alter your training to make the most of the conditions. It's virtually impossible to string together a consistent block of aerobic work in these conditions so how about switching your focus to speed development. Most athletes will have 1-2 months of aerobic work behind them now so this is an ideal opportunity to develop some speed, whether you are a sprint distance or Ironman athlete.
It's always possible to fins a field for run reps, the snow cushions your legs whilst developing your strength and stability. A speed session in the snow won't put as much stress on your joints and will give you the same aerobic benefits as normal. An alternative is to jump on the Treadmill and get your set done there. 4 weeks of speed work now will undoubtably see you improve your speed and strength and leave you plenty of time in March and April to go back to the longer work you need for strength and endurance development.
The key is to be proactive, don't sit back and wait for the weather to change, find new ways of doing things and make the most of the conditions. If it gets hard, just think of Julie in Boulder - she's been regularly doing 3 hour CompuTrainers due to the snow, and that won't clear for a few months yet.........
Cheers
Pete
Adrian Marriott has posted an interesting blog (http://adrianmarriott.blogspot.com/) which I think sums it up quite well. They key is to alter your training to make the most of the conditions. It's virtually impossible to string together a consistent block of aerobic work in these conditions so how about switching your focus to speed development. Most athletes will have 1-2 months of aerobic work behind them now so this is an ideal opportunity to develop some speed, whether you are a sprint distance or Ironman athlete.
It's always possible to fins a field for run reps, the snow cushions your legs whilst developing your strength and stability. A speed session in the snow won't put as much stress on your joints and will give you the same aerobic benefits as normal. An alternative is to jump on the Treadmill and get your set done there. 4 weeks of speed work now will undoubtably see you improve your speed and strength and leave you plenty of time in March and April to go back to the longer work you need for strength and endurance development.
The key is to be proactive, don't sit back and wait for the weather to change, find new ways of doing things and make the most of the conditions. If it gets hard, just think of Julie in Boulder - she's been regularly doing 3 hour CompuTrainers due to the snow, and that won't clear for a few months yet.........
Cheers
Pete
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas! The latest Driven to Tri production is here: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/g9gjwqlZhSbJoMF7SJUT
The Driven to Tri Team
The Driven to Tri Team
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Facebook and Twitter
Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/driventotri) and Facebook to keep up to date with the latest goings on from the D2T team.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Wet shorts, wet shoes, wet gloves, wet feet, wet everything.
Bath Big Weekend - November 2009
Driven To Tri coaches, Harry Wiltshire, Pete Freedman, Rich Brady and Jim McConnel (to a less extent of course!) have no concept when it comes to keeping shared living space welcoming. Not even room for poor old Toby Jameson to squeeze in a corner!
Of course, the weather could have been ordered in specially. A Big Weekender is not to be underestimated, but made way harder when the elements are against you too! From the moment of arrival on Friday afternoon everyone started the wet/dry cycle. The first getting wet was planned with a sweet swim session held in the legendary Bath University Sports Complex. Every swimmer had 3 sets of eyes helping to point out areas for stroke improvement and coaxing them through a fairly big set.
From then on it came out of the sky, like a permaleak from heaven, the rain just didn’t stop. The ‘Lap of Bath’ tempo outing in the drizzle on Friday evening had everyone running on strongly to make it back for an awesome lasagne and salad (thanks to Harry’s mum – as if Harry could prepare such a feast!)
In the morning, the 'undulating' (yeah why not just call it hilly ...??!) Cheddar Gorge ride commenced. Riders with mudguards were praised as geeky gods with dry bums, although it wasn’t long before the rain had got in everywhere, and the cold wind just made it harder. At the far side of the gorge there’s only 2 hours to go home and so the pace quickened as riders motivated themselves from the depths. Good skills. Getting home after 4 hours meant Plymouth Steve and a couple others took up the gauntlet to join local coach Toby Jameson for a few more hills before a late lunch, as the rest headed off to replace brake blocks, wring out gloves and overshoes and drink lots of hot soup. Big points go to Alistair for doing the whole ride in shorts and with only short gloves. Rock hard and slightly crazy.
And so that was the schedule for the rest of the weekend .. home to shower and get dry, only to warm up before eating, resting, and then donning more dry stuff to go out and get and face the conditions again. Hence the state of our room, a dripping mele of overshoes and Driven to Tri gilets.
The evening technique run was interesting a Pete showed us something akin to moonwalking and athletes hopped, skipped and bounded like rabbits on miaow in an effort to develop a faster running style. Posing I call it, bloody posing.
Morning dawned and the hill challenge – run reps before brek - 8 xd 2 minutes and then followed by the 5 hills challenge on the bikes, Brass Knocker, Ralph Allen and Bathwick to name but 3 .. a great time and motable use of that 39/25 as we thrashed around the outskirts of Bath.
Showers, coffee, hot sandwiches, lots of chat at the Uni sports café and then the survivors of the 1st Big Weekend did massive high fives, some whoops and headed home, tired but happy with the weekend's efforts.
Now it's all radiators loaded with clean kit, drying gently as the first frost of winter hits, so keep strong, train harder and see you all after Christmas for the next Big Weekender .. see.www.driventotri.com/camps.html for more.
Friday, 27 November 2009
Dave Pell at the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championships , Florida
Hello Toby & all at driventotri,
Now the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championships are done and dusted, and it’s a cold, wet and windy return to the UK – what better time, for some calm and thoughtful reflection on events of the past few weeks... SH*T! What the hell happened on that run! While other people were winning their races, (congratulations to Julie Dibens), here's how it went for a run-challenged age-grouper aged forty four and three-quarters.
The first thing to hit you as you step off the plane in Orlando is the heat and humidity. At seven o’clock on a Saturday evening this is quite worrying. With race day less than a week away, visions of a dehydrated camel come to mind. On Monday and Tuesday things are still pretty muggy, making pre-race bike and run sessions like a workout in a sauna. We shouldn’t have worried though, as gales from the tail-end of hurricane Ida blew through for the next few days, clearing the air. With the cloud gone and clear skies however, the eventual race-day temperature soared - feeling much hotter than any summer’s day back at home.
Swim training in the week leading up to the race was done at the 'Long Center' pool in Clearwater (as recommended by Toby), which like everything in America, is big (and a bit odd) – 50 meters x 25 yards. It is so big infact that they can turn the lanes around to give a whopping 20 x 25 yards worth of lanes - impressive!
Because of Hurricane Ida we weren't able to swim in the sea leading up to the event at all. This lead to the eventual staging of the swim proper, in the creek behind the sea front - a decision taken on the night before the race, although on the morning of the race the sea was calm and almost glassy-like. I had no problems with this, as a swim’s just a swim! More importantly it didn’t extend T1 – as the run from the creek was about the same as from the sea. For the spectators however, it was, as my wife berated “not much of a spectacle” as had been promised from pier 60.
After driving round the bike route for a pre-race reccy, we decided the roads used for the race were a bit busy and intimidating for any training rides. On several parts of the route, there are four lanes of independently moving traffic. This means no slow, middle and fast lanes to avoid, as cars undertake in any lane. This is not the case on race day when the roads are coned-off beautifully and the ride is an amazingly fast and safe one. To avoid the traffic, early on two mornings, we (myself and fellow competitor, Nathan) headed south out of Clearwater Beach along the coast road. This proved to be pretty good riding - cycle lanes on both sides with… speed bumps thrown in – obviously someone felt the need to slow down all of those carbon wheels at triathlon time! Even so, we still saw plenty of other competitors using this route.
One of the highlights of the week was a meeting with Craig Alexander, nicknamed ‘Crowie’. At this point I should confess that I didn’t actually know who ‘Crowie’ was (shame on me! I know!). But I’ve been so busy doing triathlon that I’ve never really looked into its celebrity world. It was Nathan who suggested we go to an early morning Q & A session held at the Hilton, catchily titled, “Coffee with Crowie”. As impressive as any meeting with a world champion is, and Crowie spoke with the relaxed air of a man at the top of his game, for me, watching Nathan’s obvious admiration and respect for this world class athlete was both touching and in its own way inspirational, especially given Nathan’s own abilities as a triathlete (he went on to clock 4:13:12 and finish 161 overall).
So! Down to race day - Saturday the 14th November. The day begins at 4:45 am. I force down two slices of toast, although nerves are beginning to take hold. First stop, the toilet. By 5:30 I’m through athlete’s marking and into transition, tyres are up and drinks bottles loaded. That leaves about an hour and a half to soak up the atmosphere. Although it’s still dark, a huge square is lit--up. In it contains all of the noise, colour and action form a thousand nervous souls. Groups gather to talk and laugh, while others stand alone, silent, heads bent staring at the ground. Then before I know it, I’m standing on the jetty with the race official barking his instructions. And go… I hoped into the water and enter a world of isolation, concentration and effort.
After a 27:40 minute swim, I come off the bike feeling amazing, 2:12:51, wow! (I’d been dreaming of 2:30 ish!) – it was all going so well. I set off from T2 bang on 7 minute miling. I’m feeling good (I see my wife who looks amazed to see me so soon. She shouts “take it easy, take it easy” I don’t listen). Down the long flat tarmac strip heading out of town, mile one and I’m still feeling good. Up over the bridge, still good. Shock! Jodie Swallow is walking (I didn’t know Pros did that). Two miles in I’m still feeling good. I’m eating up the field, a Pro comes through but I’m still feeling good. Three miles, still good. The four mile marker comes into view and… BANG! I’m not feeling good. Suddenly my legs feel heavy, I feel deflated, more like rubber than an ironman. From here it gets ugly and not really triathlon at all. I walk-run, walk-run, for the next 8 miles. With the fatigue I’m now feeling, every time I try to run, there’s a pain in the top of my left leg/buttock, an injury I’ve been carrying since August. The pain increases when I run and relents when I walk. The cycle of pain and relief repeats itself. The 4:30 goal I’d hoped for, and that had looked a cert an hour and a half ago, passes. I’m determined to run the last mile – there’s no way I’m walking over this line. I come in 4:39:08.
Looking back over the race (as I have done almost constantly from the minute I crossed the finish line - much to my family’s annoyance), I feel a bit disappointed. Undoubtedly the injury and lack of run training got to me. Also race-day-nutrition played its part. But should I feel disappointed? Having to shift my training efforts onto the bike over the last few months, gave me a bike split I never even dreamt of (credit to Toby for that). And in the end it’s the thing I love about triathlon – it’s multifaceted – if one thing’s not working, reassess and work on something else. That’s the beauty of three sports rolled into one. This is only my third shot at the 70.3 distance and what an experience! If I can qualify again who knows, injury free a sub 4:20 might be on the cards. So that’s it! All I can say in true American style – racing at the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Champs… “friggin awesome man!”
Little did I know that the true marathon was yet to begin. After Clearwater it was back to Orlando and one week at Disney. With two kids, one baby and a credit-card wielding wife – a recipe just about enough to break any man. Check out the grumpy guy holding hands with Lisa.
Now the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championships are done and dusted, and it’s a cold, wet and windy return to the UK – what better time, for some calm and thoughtful reflection on events of the past few weeks... SH*T! What the hell happened on that run! While other people were winning their races, (congratulations to Julie Dibens), here's how it went for a run-challenged age-grouper aged forty four and three-quarters.
The first thing to hit you as you step off the plane in Orlando is the heat and humidity. At seven o’clock on a Saturday evening this is quite worrying. With race day less than a week away, visions of a dehydrated camel come to mind. On Monday and Tuesday things are still pretty muggy, making pre-race bike and run sessions like a workout in a sauna. We shouldn’t have worried though, as gales from the tail-end of hurricane Ida blew through for the next few days, clearing the air. With the cloud gone and clear skies however, the eventual race-day temperature soared - feeling much hotter than any summer’s day back at home.
Swim training in the week leading up to the race was done at the 'Long Center' pool in Clearwater (as recommended by Toby), which like everything in America, is big (and a bit odd) – 50 meters x 25 yards. It is so big infact that they can turn the lanes around to give a whopping 20 x 25 yards worth of lanes - impressive!
Because of Hurricane Ida we weren't able to swim in the sea leading up to the event at all. This lead to the eventual staging of the swim proper, in the creek behind the sea front - a decision taken on the night before the race, although on the morning of the race the sea was calm and almost glassy-like. I had no problems with this, as a swim’s just a swim! More importantly it didn’t extend T1 – as the run from the creek was about the same as from the sea. For the spectators however, it was, as my wife berated “not much of a spectacle” as had been promised from pier 60.
After driving round the bike route for a pre-race reccy, we decided the roads used for the race were a bit busy and intimidating for any training rides. On several parts of the route, there are four lanes of independently moving traffic. This means no slow, middle and fast lanes to avoid, as cars undertake in any lane. This is not the case on race day when the roads are coned-off beautifully and the ride is an amazingly fast and safe one. To avoid the traffic, early on two mornings, we (myself and fellow competitor, Nathan) headed south out of Clearwater Beach along the coast road. This proved to be pretty good riding - cycle lanes on both sides with… speed bumps thrown in – obviously someone felt the need to slow down all of those carbon wheels at triathlon time! Even so, we still saw plenty of other competitors using this route.
One of the highlights of the week was a meeting with Craig Alexander, nicknamed ‘Crowie’. At this point I should confess that I didn’t actually know who ‘Crowie’ was (shame on me! I know!). But I’ve been so busy doing triathlon that I’ve never really looked into its celebrity world. It was Nathan who suggested we go to an early morning Q & A session held at the Hilton, catchily titled, “Coffee with Crowie”. As impressive as any meeting with a world champion is, and Crowie spoke with the relaxed air of a man at the top of his game, for me, watching Nathan’s obvious admiration and respect for this world class athlete was both touching and in its own way inspirational, especially given Nathan’s own abilities as a triathlete (he went on to clock 4:13:12 and finish 161 overall).
So! Down to race day - Saturday the 14th November. The day begins at 4:45 am. I force down two slices of toast, although nerves are beginning to take hold. First stop, the toilet. By 5:30 I’m through athlete’s marking and into transition, tyres are up and drinks bottles loaded. That leaves about an hour and a half to soak up the atmosphere. Although it’s still dark, a huge square is lit--up. In it contains all of the noise, colour and action form a thousand nervous souls. Groups gather to talk and laugh, while others stand alone, silent, heads bent staring at the ground. Then before I know it, I’m standing on the jetty with the race official barking his instructions. And go… I hoped into the water and enter a world of isolation, concentration and effort.
After a 27:40 minute swim, I come off the bike feeling amazing, 2:12:51, wow! (I’d been dreaming of 2:30 ish!) – it was all going so well. I set off from T2 bang on 7 minute miling. I’m feeling good (I see my wife who looks amazed to see me so soon. She shouts “take it easy, take it easy” I don’t listen). Down the long flat tarmac strip heading out of town, mile one and I’m still feeling good. Up over the bridge, still good. Shock! Jodie Swallow is walking (I didn’t know Pros did that). Two miles in I’m still feeling good. I’m eating up the field, a Pro comes through but I’m still feeling good. Three miles, still good. The four mile marker comes into view and… BANG! I’m not feeling good. Suddenly my legs feel heavy, I feel deflated, more like rubber than an ironman. From here it gets ugly and not really triathlon at all. I walk-run, walk-run, for the next 8 miles. With the fatigue I’m now feeling, every time I try to run, there’s a pain in the top of my left leg/buttock, an injury I’ve been carrying since August. The pain increases when I run and relents when I walk. The cycle of pain and relief repeats itself. The 4:30 goal I’d hoped for, and that had looked a cert an hour and a half ago, passes. I’m determined to run the last mile – there’s no way I’m walking over this line. I come in 4:39:08.
Looking back over the race (as I have done almost constantly from the minute I crossed the finish line - much to my family’s annoyance), I feel a bit disappointed. Undoubtedly the injury and lack of run training got to me. Also race-day-nutrition played its part. But should I feel disappointed? Having to shift my training efforts onto the bike over the last few months, gave me a bike split I never even dreamt of (credit to Toby for that). And in the end it’s the thing I love about triathlon – it’s multifaceted – if one thing’s not working, reassess and work on something else. That’s the beauty of three sports rolled into one. This is only my third shot at the 70.3 distance and what an experience! If I can qualify again who knows, injury free a sub 4:20 might be on the cards. So that’s it! All I can say in true American style – racing at the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Champs… “friggin awesome man!”
Little did I know that the true marathon was yet to begin. After Clearwater it was back to Orlando and one week at Disney. With two kids, one baby and a credit-card wielding wife – a recipe just about enough to break any man. Check out the grumpy guy holding hands with Lisa.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Dibens doubles
Just a quick one as Mrs Dibens has promised to give her own version of events, however she is double world champion and if facebook is to be believed probably still recovering from the after party at the moment.Seriously though, World 70.3 is about as big as it gets, Julie has had ups and downs over the years, and at different stages had to deal with some serious set backs. She's made things happen. we've seen the work over the last 8 years that has put her in the position to unleash driven to tri dominate when it counted. Good work Dibs. It's a big word but what you achieved is inspirational.
Look out for the Julie Dibens, Driven To Tri, Word Domination master class. Next time we can persuade her back from Boulder.
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