I’ve been lucky enough to be given a pair of Skins A400 Compression Half Tights to test out. I’ll provide a full review after a few more runs but I can already tell you that these are some really comfortable shorts for training in.

The packaging is quite impressive – they come in a slide out box, sure, that has no impact on performance but when you’re in store and buying some gear, it’s always nice when something comes nicely packaged rather than folded up in a bag. When you’re investing in some compression gear, I reckon that’s a nice touch.

Aside from some tight fitting triathlon gear, these are the first dedicated compression shorts I’ve run in. Now, I’ve only been for a couple of runs in them so far but having tried many different brands in the past, these shorts are the most comfortable by far. There are no uncomfortable seams inside or out, they have a smooth feel about them and there have been no chaffing issues whatsoever (so important!!).

I’m looking forward to giving them a run on the track for some speedwork – being around the 80kg mark, my quads usually suffer once I’m running sub 3:30min/km pace. From how they’ve felt so far, these shorts feel like I’ll have that extra bit of support I need to get some decent sessions done; and be able to back up the next day! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Note: Skins Australia are not a sponsor of mine but have supplied me with this product to trial and review – all views within this blog post are mine, and not those of Skins Australia.

Sometimes I learn the hard way. Having been through the “old-school” path of working up through the triathlon ranks to the Ironman distance, after sixteen years I’ve made my fair share of mistakes.

Some say that the best way to be successful is to learn from your mistakes. Others believe learning from failure is overrated and you should emphasise learning from your successes instead. I’ve formed the opinion that if you attempt to learn from all experiences – positive and negative – you’re on the right track.

As you may know, Ironman can be a fickle beast. One minute you feel on top of the world, the next you’re scraping the bottom of the energy barrel. Little errors produce little effects. Little effects gradually accumulate and have the potential to ruin your day.

I have selected five mistakes I’ve made in Ironman racing – some big, some small – but all have impacted negatively on my racing at some point. Own their own, some of these mistakes might not amount to much, but when you combine a couple of them you suddenly have a recipe for a bad race.
Continue Reading “My Top 5 Ironman Triathlon Mistakes” »

Boring! That’s what most people are probably thinking when they read the title of this post. The fact that you are reading this sentence means you probably have some appreciation for healthy nutrition. It’s a shame those others don’t realise how much performance you can gain through changing simple eating habits!

Over the years, I’ve been to coaching/nutrition courses, training camps, and nutritional seminars. All pretty much drill the same old spiels into you. As a teenage triathlete I would sometimes eat huge amounts of pasta, bread and cereals, simply because that’s what I was told was the best thing to do by those “in the know”! In fact, I would go as far as saying that there is almost a binge eating issue in some circles of the sport. I speak as an former example of that.

Long training rides were a lead up to a post-training refuel that consisted of eating as much as I could, a lot of it high in sugar. It’s no wonder that the following day saw me feeling incredibly lethargic. My body was still struggling to process all of the rubbish I’d stuffed into it. Sound familiar? Continue Reading “Taking Responsibility Of Your Nutrition” »

I bet you’re like me and you love visiting new areas to compete in a race. You arrive in the town, settle into your accommodation, go for a ride, trot out on the course for a run, have a swim and wander around town a bit. A few days out from the race, it seems everyone else is doing the same thing. We’re all having a great time! That is, except for the locals.

Sure, we fill up the accommodation, keep the restaurants busy and the baristas don’t know what has hit them! But how about locals who don’t feel an immediate positive effect from having 1,500 athletes plus their family and friends plonk themselves down in “their” town?

The recent announcement of the Ironman Australia course changes at Port Macquarie brought about what is a regular issue with big races held in regional towns. The effective “shutting down” of the roads and town centre for a weekend stir a response that is part frustration, part anger. Understandably, we as athletes are part to blame. I reckon the event organisers shoulder a good part of it too. Check out this article from the Port Macquarie News and read some of the comments – you’ll get the idea.

Continue Reading “6 Ways To Help Save Triathlon” »

The art of Ironman swim preparation came up in conversation yesterday. For those of us who have raced an Ironman before, we know what it is like to be among the 1400+ bodies thrashing it out for position. I somewhat doubt however, that any of us have forgotten how we felt just prior to our first Ironman start. Nervous. Scared. Niggling self doubt. All pretty normal really.

So this post is aimed at those yet to start their first Ironman, and also those who wish to move up the pack with some more specific training tricks. Although I say “tricks”, really, swimming well in an Ironman is little more than consistent swim training that is specific to the task at hand. Continue Reading “5 Tips For A Faster Ironman Swim” »