Top ten athletes are getting older and faster in the Hawaii Ironman

In 2010 Chris McCormack won the Ironman world championships in Hawaii at the age of 37. The year after in 2012 Craig Alexander won at the age of 38. The first time Dave Scott won in Kona it was 1980 and he was 26, the last time in 1987 he would have been 33. In…

Stop your spring training camp going OTT with TSS

This is a cautionary note for all the athletes about to embark on a spring training camp especially those uncoached club cycling holidays. While it is great to be outdoors in the sunshine for the first time in a while, dramatically increasing training load above what you have been doing can hinder rather than help…

Sun means yes for NO and no for heart disease

Here Dr Richard Weller explains some of his research and how UV can release nitric oxide from stores in skin. NO (nitric oxide) is an essential signaling molecule with many functions, including the regulation of blood flow, muscle contractility, glucose and calcium homeostasis, and mitochondrial respiration and biogenesis. It is known that Vitamin D levels…

Caffeine, glycogen, performance and training effects

Training in a “low” muscle glycogen state has been well documented to increase the oxidative adaptions to training (ie increase training effects and enhance lipid metabolism). This train low approach involves a period of glycogen depletion followed by a training bout. In practical terms this usually involves training twice per day, a popular strategy with…

Post exercise fat metabolism, training intensity and energy replacement

What you eat and when can have a dramatic influence on whether you burn carbohydrate or fat. Choosing a high carbohydrate recovery drink may be good in some circumstances but not others, heres why. When we eat a meal containing fat there is an increase in the levels of triglycerides(fats) in the blood. This is…

Don’t rest on your laurels: Why exercise may not be enough

So you’ve trained hard, you deserve a rest so you put your feet up in front of (or maybe even on if your Lance) Oprah for the rest of the day with your hallo gently bobbing above your head. Common sense would tell you that work hard, rest hard would be the balance for good…