When you’ve got a long day of training on tap, one involving all three sports, consider basing yourself out of your car or gym locker for the day.  Keep all food, clothes and gear for the day in one location.  It’s a great way to speed up the switch from one sport to the next and it eliminates any temptation to sit on the couch for 10 minutes (which can turn into a couple of hours).  Here are five ways it will help you reach your Ironman goal:

•    Helps teach you what works well nutritionally on a long day

•    Helps your body adapt to the changes from one sport to the next

•    Gets your training day over with sooner

•    Is easy to co-ordinate with your training partners, if they do the same

•    Helps your race day organizational skills (there’s a lot of equipment and food to deal with)

•    Keeps you from skipping the last workout in favor of that comfy couch!!

With race day coming up, try a few of these ‘non-stop’ days.  You’ll learn something.…More at Heather Wurtele's Non-Stop Training Day

Enjoy and dont forget to like it on facebook!

Along with the pro’s and their amazing time further moments of inspiration came from Galveston on Sunday as this video shows:

More Reading

• Video – Lance Armstrong Weighs In on Ironman Panama 70.3 Performance
• Lance Armstrong Speaks after Galveston

Tri247.com says

Ok, so this is 70.3 Texas. Lance is from Texas. And if you don’t believe he’s competitive or taking this seriously, who are you kidding?

Lance faces some major opposition this week. While defending champion Chris Lieto is out with injury, twice Ironman 70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert is racing. Michael has all but dominated 70.3 racing for the past three seasons, though injury kept him from defending his title in Las Vegas. Only Craig Alexander can realistically challenge him, based on results, for the status of best 70.3 athlete

They go on to predict a 3rd place at the end of the race

In only his 2nd race since his return to the sport Ironman.com reflect on his last race at Panama

Armstrong had an impressive runner-up finish in Panama last month as he tries to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona in October. The seven-time Tour de France champion was only passed by Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty in the last mile and a half of the run in Panama. Armstrong had trailed Chris Lieto (the defending champion in Galveston who is reportedly not racing on Sunday) at the start of the run, but took the lead shortly after the first mile and almost held on for the win.

The official finishing times:

Top men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 7:57:44
2. Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:00:12
3. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:01:26
4. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:02:23
5. David Dellow (AUS) 8:04:19
6. Paul Matthews (AUS) 8:05:58
7. Luke Bell (AUS) 8:10:38
8. Joe Gambles (AUS) 8:12:46
9. Marko Albert (EST) 8:18:04
10. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 8:18:17

Top women
1. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 8:34:51
2. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 8:46:09
3. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:04:00
4. Joanne Lawn (NZL) 9:06:53
5. Gina Crawford (NZL) 9:11:16
6. Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:13:43
7. Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:13:57
8. Carrie Lester (AUS) 9:18:25
9. Michelle Vesterby (DEN) 9:19:05

Alexander’s 2:38 marathon really got the fans talking – the effort can be seen in this video.

Firstoffhtebike.com commented that a marathon of that speed”might not be seen on the Melbourne course ever again”

See their full story and more photos at http://www.firstoffthebike.com/features/2728-ironman-melbourne-that-marathon-photos-and-video

In a 2012 test run by independent sport scientists, cyclists were asked to ride a 60 mile Sportive as quickly as possible. If they had anything left, they were then required to continue riding for as far as possible matching their 60 mile speed.

On one occasion: the test subjects used their own brand of nutrition, as they would normally in an event of this nature.

On another occasion: they used High5’s award winning EnergySource drink (with 2:1 fructose) and followed a scientific nutrition strategy as detailed in the High5 Faster & Further Nutrition Guides.
The test subjects rode 26% further (on average) using High5.

High5 (high5.co.uk) are no doubt pleased to have been at the heart of the study but how do you pick the right brand of supplement to suit your needs?

Jono Rumbelow of www.trifuel.com has some useful tips to share from his wealth of tri knowledge:

Well, choosing a brand of energy drinks or supplements needs to be addressed in the same way. All brands these days produce serving-size sachets for you to buy and try. In your first 8 weeks of training for a 70.3 or ironman (if you’re new to the sport) you need to use as many as possible to see which one makes you sick and which one gives you a boost. In short, you need to test which brand and which product(s) work(s) for you.

For those in a winter recess, now is the ideal time to test these drinks or supplements. Once you find the right solution, stick to it and never change UNLESS it starts giving you problems.

The last 8 weeks of training leading into a major race should be done with the exact nutritional drink, gel or bar that you will use on race day. Hey, I use cereal bars and a ham sandwich with butter and mayo on brown bread (weird, I know, but it works for me). As for drinks, I have my brand but would rather not mention it to avoid punting a specific one.

However, I have taken just 6 internationally recognized brands producing energy drinks that are available worldwide and listed the 45 ingredients used in some or all of them. The list is mind blowing to say the least, especially when you find a product with ingredients that offer no nutritional value to the human body.

Get Jono’s full list to help you make the right choice at http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/carbs-electrolytes-what-energy-drinks-are-really-made-of.

There’s a new challenge for Pascal Pich, the quintuple world champion of ultra triathlon, which will try this time to make a double and a déca Ironman on each of five continents.

Having accumulated the victories at the international level, having realized the Tour de France 2009 in 8 days and 8 nights and having chained 24 triathlons, for a total of 5000 kilometers during the X’ TREM tour 2011, the French athlete decided this time, to gobble up not less than 60 Ironman over one year (current Record = 41 Ironman realized by Italian Vincenzo Catalano).

In 48 years and in full ownership of his means, Pascal PICH, intends to demonstrate by beating his 10th World record, when there is no age old to be successful and effective.

charged program over one year, because, if double Ironman (7.6 km of swimming / 360 km of cycling / 84 km of running) stays an easy test which comes true within 24 hours, the déca Ironman for its part (38 km swimming / 1800 km cycling / 423 km running) chokes up between 8 and 10 days, according to the capacities of the athlete at the moment T and conditions of races which will be met on the ground.

To make a déca Ironman on a season stays an exceptional performance. To date, only about fifty athletes worldwide were capable of getting through it. To decide to cover this distance on five occasions in the year recovers simply from the physiological exploit.

Specialist of the challenges that the common run of people would have even no idea to imagine, Pascal PICH should dash for his challenge at the end of the year. Months to come will be of use to the implementation of the event and to the physical preparation of the athlete which goes out of a grave wound to the ankle, during the Stars of sport (french event for all internationals athletes), which left him without physical activity for 3 months.

To date, all the destinations are not still known, but Ecuador, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Australia, United States and China should welcome very certainly the athlete.

The budget and the partners susceptible remain to find to take up the challenge by joining to a rigorous athlete, conveying values such as the stamina, the resistance, the performance, the longevity or still the overtaking of one, the self-abnegation, the management of the sleep and the pain, for which he likes to say that it ” is only an information “.

See the original article at http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/03/23/pich-aims-to-complete-60-ironman-races-in-one-year/ Image All rights reserved by Gréoux les Bains

London 2012 gold medal favourite Alistair Brownlee is confident there is sufficient time to fully recover from his torn achilles injury before the Olympics.

The world’s top triathlete has resumed light training after sustaining the damage to his left ankle at the end of February.

Brownlee has now developed a more positive outlook on the injury and believes he will be ready for August 7 when the triathlon is staged.

‘I’ve been better. If you’d asked me about my fitness three weeks ago it would have been very negative answer,’ the 23-year-old said.

‘It’s looking better now and I’ve been out of the cast for the two to three weeks.

‘I’m slowly doing more training and in two to three week weeks I should up to a decent level of training and on the way back to fitness.

‘If you want to put a positive spin on it, then it has given me a rest now. But I don’t believe in that positive spin.

‘It would have been better if it hadn’t happened, but it has and I have to get on with that.

‘I put all my emphasis on getting better rather than training. The important thing is to get 100 per cent fit and then crack on with training. I’ve still got a fair few months to get fit.’

“We’re very humbled and proud to bring what we believe is one of the greatest sports in the world to one of the greatest sporting cities in the world,” said Shane Smith, Managing Director of Ironman Australia in his welcome speech.

The launch event in true Ironman style was a highly successful event

Hosted by Ironman announcer Whit Raymond and Ricky Jeffs of the Urban Hotel Group, presenting sponsor of the event, the evening was full of humor and history. Jeffs opened by welcoming and thanking the Ironman Australia team, as well as those who had come from the U.S. to be part of the inaugural event, including Andrew Messick (CEO of WTC) and Murphy Reinschreiber (Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific region). He noted the top-tier championship field assembled for the event, telling Craig Alexander that “just to be in the same room as you, is, for an age-group triathlete, very impressive. To Mirinda [Carfrae], a Brisbane girl, I know it means a lot to you to be here and I know a lot of locals will be supporting you.”

“Melbourne prides itself on being the sporting capital of the world,” said The Hon. Hugh Delahunty, MP, Minister for Sport and Recreation, who then went on to point out the various sporting-related facilities of the city viewable from the banquet room: the home of Australian rules football, rugby and soccer facilities, and Albert Park where the Formula 1 takes place every year, to name a few.”The Victorian government is very proud to be associated with such a prestigious event.”

He concluded with a welcome and thank-you’s to Alexander and Carfrae as well, and with a dose of humor: “I was telling some people earlier that you have to be tall to be a runner, then I met Mirinda,” he joked. “As a minister I want to see people getting out being active in sport. You are the ones who inspire people. We’ve seen you on the T.V., but in four days’ time we’ll see you in the flesh, and you will inspire a lot of spectators to be more active.”

Swimming in a straight line in open water can be a challenge, but this can help: Point your fingertips toward the destination. First, sight the buoy or landmark and adjust your body in the correct direction. When you return to swimming face down, stretch your fingertips forward at the top of each stroke. Imagine pointing them straight toward your destination each time your arms enter the water. This imagery can help you maintain a straight line.

This tip also improves freestyle technique in the pool. When each arm enters the water, stretch it straight forward, toward the opposite wall. This reach will encourage a small rotation of the upper torso to extend the fingertips as far as possible. The key is to extend forward from the shoulder and not cross in front of your head and body.