Archive for April, 2007

Endurance race shirt review

Posted in Product reviews
Monday, April 30th, 2007

shifu_front_200.jpgOK, here’s the thing; the SHIFU from iRULE is simply the best endurance shirt of any variety I have ever worn for summer-spring-autumn bike racing, adventure racing or multisport.

How did I draw this conclusion?

The SHIFU has been tested from spring through summer and to the midst of autumn across all the sports mentioned above in both training and competition. This is a rare case of the manufacturer’s claims being correct, even underplayed.

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Athletes need sleep

Posted in Training tips
Monday, April 30th, 2007

illness.jpgSince 1910 the average amount of sleep we get per night has fallen from an average of 9 hours to 7.5 hours. Longer working hours, longer commuting times, television and computer usage are all seen as contributing factors to this. In fact most of the people I see in my practice either have trouble getting to sleep, have poor sleep quality or wake up feeling completely rotten!

The mere fact that sleep rates have fallen doesn’t necessarily mean that we aren’t getting enough sleep now. The amounts we need vary widely from person to person. Some people have been shown to function perfectly well on as little as 3-4 hours sleep per night. Most of us however need a lot more than this. The recommended amounts of sleep for various ages are:

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Periodisation and over-reaching

Posted in Sports science, Training tips
Monday, April 30th, 2007

bob-in-pain2.jpgWith each coming season, irrespective of our level of participation, we sit and reflect about the season gone. We may ask ourselves how we went and then put in place some goals that we would like to achieve. Whatever goals you may have, whether they are lofty or most importantly just participating, we need some plan, some way of keeping us on track to achieve these goals. Generally speaking we identify the goals and work backwards from there using the model called periodisation.

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Training during race week

Posted in Multisport, Training tips
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Having done all the hard work don’t shoot yourself in the foot in the last 7 days. Here’s some help to get it right.

Sunday

For a 100km point to point this may be 65km+ race simulation or a 1 hr run; 1.5 hr paddle; 2 hr ride ahead of a multisport mid distance event, either performed as near race effort.

What to eat for the week?

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Holding your form

Posted in Training tips
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

For many readers, the end goals for a year of training is one major event usually preceded by one or two lead-up races. Often for those of us who are facing a series of races over a compressed race season a good deal of thought needs to go into how you can maintain your race fitness without burning out or slackening off so much your performance goes backwards.

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altDIRT - the sequel

Posted in Site news
Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Welcome to altdirt 2.0: the new lean, clean hotspot for offroad endurance junkies.
Watch, listen, read and enjoy the latest in sports science, product reviews, podcast interviews and videos from athletes, coaches, researchers and weekend warriors.

You can expect new digital videos, podcasts and articles from a new global content team.

Whistlers - winter AR gear review

Posted in Product reviews
Monday, April 23rd, 2007

whistlers4.jpgKeeping your legs warm and comfortable while you are out training and racing in cold winter conditions should be easier than it is.

It is convenient enough to get yourself a pair of long strides, it’s another to get a pair that is warm, breathes, stretches, is soft against the skin and rugged on the ouside, that also allows you to run or ride and has pockets. The search is over thanks to the new Whistlers from i-RULE.

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