Triathlon

Josiah Middaugh stopped Conrad Stoltz's 6-race streak and Lesley Paterson beat Melanie McQuaid to capture the XTERRA Southeast Championship in Shelby County, Alabama.

Three-time ITU Duathlon World champion Paul Amey won his very first Ironman at the age of 39 and Rachel Joyce broke Mary Beth Ellis's course record and dominated the women's field to win Ironman Texas in 8:49:14.

This company built its own wind tunnel. Pretty cool. But it didn't just build a tool to help in product design. It's what the tunnel means. It's another process play, like BG.

Our countdown training plan will help keep you focused during the two weeks leading up to your big day. The off road marathon that takes competitors to the summit of Ben Nevis Long-distance racing has grown in popularity over the last couple of years and events sell out quicker than tickets for Take That concerts. It’s no surprise then, that new long-distance events are being added to the triathlon calendar every year to cater for the rising demand. Rat Race City To Summit is this year’s hottest new addition and is being billed as the toughest long-distance event in the UK – after all, it’s not every day you’re asked to run up a mountain during a marathon when you’ve just completed a 112-mile bike ride and a 2.4-mile swim. With just two weeks to go until the monster event, its important that you take your foot off the gas and rest your body so that your performance peaks at the right time – on race day. There’s certainly no point bashing out another 20-mile run or a 100-mile bike ride since it will make no difference to your fitness and will just fatigue your already-tired muscles. Less is more at this stage and so you need to cut down the hours and just do a few high-intensity workouts. These will help remind your body what it has to do on race day, as well as burning off some of your nervous energy. Click the link below to download our 2-week countdown plan to your computer to help you with your planning: Rat Race City To Summit Countdown Training Plan   Aside from training, there are lots of other things that you need to do during these two weeks. Here are our top 5 tips:   Get plenty of sleep – you’re going to need every ounce of energy to power you to the summit of Ben Nevis. Keep eating healthy – don’t fall off the bandwagon just because the volume of your training has dipped and indulge in nutrient-poor foods such as chocolate and pizza. It’s really important that you eat plenty of protein to help repair any muscle damage as well as lots of carbohydrates to help build up your glycogen stores. Stay calm – You’ve trained for months and missed out on social events with family and friends to be on that starting line. Freaking out before the day itself won’t help and is just wasted energy. Save that adrenaline for your big day and use it positively. Don’t panic about new aches and pains – it’s normal to feel new aches and pains during the tapering period as your body relaxes and repairs itself. Just let it do its job and try not to panic. Pack carefully – The weather in the UK is unpredictable so make sure that you have a wide array of suitable clothing that includes plenty of waterproofs! Check out the kit list for the event here.   Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news. Log your training for free at the TriRadar.com Training Zone. Have every issue delivered to your digital device by getting Triathlon Plus through Apple Newsstand, Google Play or Zinio. Subscribe to the print edition with massive savings at MyFavouriteMagazines. Join the conversation on the Triathlon Plus Facebook page, follow us on Twitter @TriathlonPlus.

As nations go further to field the best team, Steve Trew wonders where it will end Triathlon is a pretty clean sport – at least, that’s what we think. But last year’s revelations about Lance Armstrong and the planned doping programmes in professional cycling have raised serious doubts for all of us – all of us who love our sport. When a top-level sport can hide systematic doping, it couldn’t really get much worse… could it? Sometime soon The athlete lay there in the half dawn, quietly checking their body and awaiting the rigours of the day. With a sigh the athlete stretched out their right arm into the soft rubberised pulsometer that immediately bleeped back 24 beats per minute. Twenty-four? The athlete remembered the early days with their heart rate laughably high at 48bpm. It seemed like a different world back then – perhaps it was a different world back then. It was certainly a different existence. One hand stretched out and pushed the buttons above the dispensing chute. Within seconds a glass of opaque, milky liquid and a bowl with a myriad pills and pellets in an infinite variety of colours appeared. The athlete wondered sometimes what the pills were, but knew better than to ask. Everybody had to take them if they wanted to succeed. Somewhere near When the buzzer sounded, the athlete exited the cell and walked, then jogged, with all the others – all in the same grey, uniform-like tracksuits – and then stood quietly until The Coach (the athlete always thought the word “Coach” with a capital letter) and the assistant coaches appeared, and the athletes went through that same routine that they had done so often before. Regarding the rows of grey-suited lookalikes, the athlete wondered about them – their names, their backgrounds – and whether to dare talk to them. Nobody had ever said not to, but nobody ever talked. It wasn’t important to talk, it was important to succeed! To win! To be the best! But not for the self, of course – for the country. The athlete wondered where that knowledge came from. It had always been there… always. The stretching, the exercising continued, as it did every day. Then it would be swimming – and then the medical checks. Then it would be cycling – and then the medical checks. Then running – and medical checks, again and again. For this was what sport was all about. They stopped to eat. All of them receiving their individual food requirements and the plastic box of their individual pills and pellets and tablets. They accepted them, of course. For this was sport – top-class sport – and this was what top-class sport was all about. Finally the day drew to a close, a close like all the other days. The athlete hated it, yet somehow looked forward to it. Sometimes The Coach and The Doctor spoke to the athlete. And the athlete was able to speak back. Lying there, waiting, the athlete anticipated the important visitors. Did they have a life outside the camp? Did anyone have a life any more, inside or outside? Somehow The visitors entered, carrying the paraphernalia of their trade and their calling. The athlete cowered back. Electrodes were attached, meters strung, drips dripped and wires wired. The athlete lay there accepting it all, as ever. Tiny points pricked tiny agonies of consciousness into the subdued body. Tapes and tubes were attached to the arm, more pills and pellets. And then the syringes started. Finally: “You please us. Your body systems are good. They grow better. You are a credit to us, a credit to our nation.” A shadow of a half-smile crossed the stern, grey face. Almost. The athlete lay there, still. The words echoed. A credit to Our Nation! It was the highest honour – she was only 12 years old and already she was fulfilling some of what the programme had laid out for her. To be the best. To make her country the best. Consequences? There were no consequences. For this was sport – top-class sport – and this was what top-class sport was all about. Triradar.com is the online home of Triat

  Click here to download or listen! Brett interview U.S. Ironman Champion Jordan Rapp.   He talks to us for over an hour about triathlon, including how to go pro, training, nutrition, the physics of bike cadence, and more!   Afterwards, I let loose a secret recording of the pro meeting before the Kemah Olympic Triathlon   Listen in to what the race officials tell the pros before the big day.  

Boulder-based creative agency Moxie Sozo filed suit against Newton Running for unpaid invoices. According to a source at the agency the total owed is in the neighborhood of $300,000.

Julie Dibens will be racing the Tour of California invitational women's time trial today in San Jose 18 months after her last triathlon and 14 months after a major operation to address foot and knee injuries.

Nutritionist Dr Kevin Currell examines the pros and cons for triathletes of the paleolithic / hunter-gatherer diet Eating a palaeolithic diet seems to be all the rage these days, with many blogs and internet sites dedicated to it, and a fair few books as well. The general principle is to eat like we would have when we were hunter-gatherer Neanderthals or cavemen. During this time we’d potentially have only eaten meat, fish and vegetables, and we certainly wouldn’t have been able to walk to the shops and buy a quick burger and chips, or pop to the supermarket and buy a microwave meal. The scientific argument for a palaeolithic diet is made on some significant circumstantial evidence around studies of other primate diets, fossils, anthropology and understanding our own metabolic pathways. So, if you were to eat like a caveman, what would you need to do? Well let’s start with those foods that aren’t on the list. These include anything pre-prepared such as pasta, rice and quinoa, as well as other cereals and whole grains, like porridge; dairy; legumes such as lentils and chickpeas; bread; sausages; most sandwich meats; alcohol; and even the humble potato. What can you eat? Meat, fish, nuts, fruit and vegetables. But not any old meat and fish – just those that are organic and grass-fed. No tinned fish, just those caught naturally out in the ocean. So pretty simple really. If you make these changes to your diet what’s likely to happen? Firstly, you’ll reduce the carbohydrate content of your diet, while increasing your protein and fat intake. Most of the latter is likely to come from healthy fat sources though. The carbohydrates you do eat will be slow-release ones, which is generally a good thing, as research suggests it would be good to have the majority of your diet coming from these types of carbs. Alongside this, you’ll certainly eat more fibre, which again is seen as a good thing in terms of health. You’ll also consume far more micro-nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, as well as increasing your potassium intake and decreasing your sodium intake. So far, not too bad. However, the word health has been mentioned a lot, with not much mention of performance. We know that restoring and maintaining muscle glycogen after exercise is key to recovery and optimal performance. We know that if you remove carbohydrates from your diet and replace them with fat then your endurance improves, but your time-trial performance doesn’t change and you lose the ability to go fast. Is salt also that bad for an athlete? We certainly lose a lot during training, so maybe we need to replace some in our diet too. The paleo diet idea is based on significant circumstantial evidence and as such isn’t based on too much science. There’s good evidence that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets aid weight loss, but not much about the long-term adherence to them. I’d also question the idea that the humble potato isn’t a natural food – if a caveman saw a potato I think he’d have eaten it. We also know the Incas ate quinoa. So is the paleo diet a good thing? Certainly some of the principles are. The protein intake is good too, as eating protein in every meal is essential for athletes (research shows that 20g in each meal is optimal). However, there are times when you’re going to need a more carbohydrate-based meal like pasta or bread, such as after a long bike ride or during periods of really heavy training. It can sometimes be hard to achieve this when following a paleo diet. So in conclusion, eating fresh, good quality food is essential, but don’t get too obsessed – I don’t think our caveman ancestors would have done. Triradar.com is the online home of Triathlon Plus – the best source of triathlon training advice, triathlon gear reviews and triathlon news. Log your training for free at the TriRadar.com Training Zone. Have every issue delivered to your digital device by getting Triathlo

It happend!I did my very first mountain bike race last weekend on a borrowed bike and no real idea on what I was doing. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way but I had signed up long ago with the vision I'd have my new bike in my possession way before this race. I decided rather last minute that I would head to Ipswich after initially nixing the idea as the race approached, If I could somehow make it work. Either using my cross bike or borrowing a mountain bike that would fit me, I would do it. "It," everyone kept telling me, was an "easy" course and I'd have no problems on it.Eh..not so much for me anyway.I considered just riding my cyclocross bike but I borrowed a mountain bike last minute instead. A nice cushy dual suspension Specialized Epic that actually fit me pretty well. However, I wasn't used to it and in particular, the shifting. Let's just chalk it up as a confusing mess for me. I was a total spaz cross chaining and clicking buttons like I had OCD while warming up. Eventually I made some sense out of it by trying to remember - Sliver shifter-BIGGER ring on the left. Silver shifter-EASIER gears on the right and managed to settle in during the warm up. Lucky for me, my friend and Hup teammate, Kerry Combs came to the race early just to give me my accelerated course on mountain biking 101. I totally trust her and if she had said, "Don't do this race today" I would have nixed it. Kerry is a avid mountain bike racer. She's been in the sport since 1993. Just some of the racing she has done include: Wilderness 101, Lumberjack 100 and Shenandoah 100. 100k Mohican, 12 Hour and 6 Hour solo races in (WV, CA, GA, NH, MA, VA, and Canada) I am very lucky to have her as a mentor in my new venture in mountain biking. Hugs to you Kerry. The trails at the race were a bit slippery from morning rain and I was super tense at first . I just tried to chill and listen and follow behind Kerry in hopes I wouldn't be dragged out of the woods staring up at the sky in a prone position come race time. When the race started, I wasn't the least bit nervous for some reason.The eight other veteran, (I think that's what they called us) women in my group were really nice and we all chatted waiting to line up.When they let us go, adrenaline took over and anything I was timid on (most everything) with Kerry on the warm up, went right out the door. Lessons learned:1..Teetering along at 2mph over roots with stiff arms lands youon your A$$.2. Committing to doing something and then choking partially through lands you on your a$$3. Worrying about what is behind you instead of what you are doing in front of you, lands you, youguessed it, on your a$$.4. If you don't have any momentum going up a steep incline, It matters nothing that youare pedaling in an ez gear to get up it, Boom! There you will find yourself once again, on your a$$.All in all, I managed to stay upright a good portion of the way but not without exiting the woods white knuckled from my death grip on my handle bars and at the finish sporting a leaf and dirt motif. I'm sure I was a spectacle in the woods especially when I wouldgrab on to small trees like safety bars installed in bathtubs for seniors to get through some twisty narrowjunk on some of the trails trying to stay upright. It was super fun though and I'm stoked to try and get better at it.Soon I will have my new bike and I hear the awesome Bee Keepers over at Seven Cycles/Honey are STOKED todesign and paint up something new and a little bit out of the ordinary.I can't wait to see it. But one thing is certain, when I look down at my pretty new bike it will remind me of this: I'm trying something new and albeit, somewhat difficult for me. It's for fun and it's purpose is to keep me fit while I find my way back into cyclocross with an ACL tear far behind and forgotten.Thanks for stopping by!