16 April 2009 (Profile)

Words: Mike Sheridan

Core training is an imperative part of preparation for any kind of competitive long distance excursion. For a marathon and triathlon, it really does help against obtaining injuries and recovering quickly from tumbles. And after you've swam the guts of a kilometre, getting on your bike straight away would be a flustering prospect to say the very least. One Escape's Ray Lee took me through my paces, and by take me through my paces I mean inflict vast amounts of pain on various parts of my legs. This resulted in it being sore to sit down - what kind of exercise makes it sore to do nothing!? My hamstrings and quads were literally stinging for a couple of days afterwards - granted, the fact that I then went upstairs and ran 13k on a steep incline straight after the core session probably didn't help matters.

Ray also did out weights programme for me, as vast amounts of cardio have taken their toll on my upper body. By body fat was taken and is at about 11/12% - I'm toned, but supremely lacking in anything resembling bulk. It was three sets of three different upper body machines: one for the shoulders and arms, one for the chest, and other for the triceps and back. Each set should start with 12 reps, then 10, then 8. The time you do them should always last 40 seconds; with the only thing fluctuating being the weight you're lifting. After the weights, I moved onto the squats, which were extremely tough, but promote cohesion whilst exercising; it's not just repetitively lifting weights, instead you're working different muscle groups at the same time. My quads felt like they had been attacked by a particularly overzealous toddler, intent on causing permanent damage; but alas, it was the good pain you hear athletes talk so much about - meaning, presumably, that it's not the same type of pain as say, someone who had been beaten severely by a  mugger. 

All of this was coupled with my usual cardio sessions of running, cycling and swimming. I didn't break the 20 mile mark like I had hoped, as work had gotten in the way, and I couldn't train as late as I normally could on the Saturday - so a solid 21k run and 33k bike ride would have to do the trick. I'm also looking at a new biking route up and around Howth, that should be fantastic for hill training. Right now, the pragmatism of getting me to and from work is where the majority of my bike-based training is coming from - it's a good thing I live in the arse end of nowhere. I've also tried to implement for speed training in my running, which is another area that needs work. Bearing in mind that even an Olympic Triathlon only has a 10k run, and a sprint, my most likely first tri, has a pacey 5k run as its conclusion.

Ray also broke down my diet, as to the amount of calories/carbs etc I'd need to consume to function at my optimal best while training:

RMR=1848 (this is what my body needs to survive without moving.) + 1000 more calories (for the amount of training I do.) That's 2848 calories I need per day.
Split that into the food types: we have carbs, fats and proteins. The ratio in which we will split my calories into will be 55% carbs, 25% fats and 20% proteins.
1556 pure carb calories
712 fat calories 384 from monounsaturated, 384 from polyunsaturated and 192 from saturated. 770 from protein.
Converted to grams this is:
391grams of carbs
79 grams of fat
142 grams of protein

That sounds like a lot of numbers broken down, and it is. But something as simple as a wholemeal scone with margarine gives you plenty of carbs for training, and is actually surprisingly tasty and cheap - they've already replaced chocolate as my daily snacks. Swimming wise I'm getting better... gradually. But the more I think about it the more I'm hoping to simply survive the swim, and do my best times possible in the bike and run. I'm signing up for another round of lessons with Dave Cunningham in One Escape, and that can only help.

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