purplepatch Reports: Races, Recovery, Training Plans
The recovery question: As many of you are ramping up training, I thought it was a good time to remind you about the value of staying healthy and balanced while pursuing performance. We all want to improve, and understand this means some hard training, but it will only be effective if you support your hard training with enough lighter sessions, sleep and rest to facilitate improvement. This is particularly important for the amateur athlete who normally needs to juggle training with the stressors of daily life (non-training stress). A recent interview with Running Times and an article for Triathlete Europe gives you some insight into the thought process.
Rasmus Henning wins Abu Dhabi: One of the biggest triathlon events of the season was last weekend, with the Abu Dhabi triathlon attracting another world class field to compete in the desert. We had a large contingent of purplepatch pros attending and secured some great results. Rasmus Henning led the charge with a storming run to take the overall win. This was a proud moment for me as a coach, beginning the process of getting Rasmus back toward his potential. We had to evolve a lot of factors to allow success, altering training, nutrition and pacing strategies. To see it come out so early in the season was a welcome start. Rasmus wasn’t the only success with a solid 7th place for Luke Bell, as he sets up his Ironman Mebourne race in a few weeks, as well as Rachel Joyce getting 5th and Emma-Kate Lidbury 7th in the women’s field. Great start to the year all around.
You can read a thorough race report here: Lava Magazine
Meredith Kessler wins Ironman New Zealand: Meredith Kessler flew to a massive win in her first race in the Southern Hemisphere, leading from wire to wire with fastest swim, bike and run splits. She got more than she bargained for, with a ‘weather bomb’ (as the locals called it!) coming in for race day, the Ironman event had to be abbreviated to a 70.3, or Half Ironman, distance event. Taking it in stride she secured another win and sets up a wonderful year. Belinda Harper also had a great start, with a brave race for a 7th place finish. Not willing to sit back, Bee was aggressive on the bike and came off in 2nd place, and while fading a little on the run, she shows the spirit and aggression needed to succeed at this level. She has a future that is bright.
San Francisco Training: If you are in the San Francisco area and want access to purplepatch coaching, check out the weekly training options for all levels of athletes. With twice weekly coached swims with Matt Dixon, as well as free weekly track sessions and weekend rides, you really have no excuse!
SF Training Page
*Note: The track sessions begin this Thursday evening at Kezar Stadium.
Guided Training Plans: You may have noticed that we are radically evolving the concept of training programs for triathletes, swimmers, cyclists and runners alike. Instead of simply providing you with a plan to follow, our training plans allow us to come on the journey with you, with ongoing education, performance tracking and community. We just launched out Half Ironman plans, are evolving our running plans and have Ironman build plans coming soon. We believe it is critical that we join you on the journey and allow you gain both a smart plan, but also ongoing support.
Check out the new plans and Come Train With US!
Cheers
Matt