race, where some super-fast people had sent my stuff flying in their haste to get out on the bike." Keep your wits about you and stay out of others' way in transition.Keep clearBeing held up by other athletes can be frustrating when the clock is ticking
considerably between athletes. That means you have to experiment in training. "Never do anything new in a race," says Maitland. "It is very easy to upset your stomach, especially on the run."Hydration is also critical. Losing more than about two per cent
Q. I want to practise my nutrition for race day but my trainer says I should wait until a few weeks before the race so I get the maximum benefit - is he right?A. It's imperative that you experiment during training to find out what will work best
training so you peak in time for a race. What, when and why?Until the Soviet sports scientists got on board, athletes trained at the same intensity all year round. As well as being deeply boring, the constant pressure and physiological demand on the body
-tolerant. Although they are slightly less aerodynamic and a little heavier, it may be that vibration has a greater effect on performance than most athletes realise, particularly in long-distance races, and we're receiving lots of anecdotal feedback from riders
of some of the country's finest athletes and a sports scientist, we've come up with a list of the most common training and race-day misdemeanours and the tips you need to tackle or avoid them. These people have experienced them all, so now you don't have
at race pace or a little faster, and, eventually, two or three runs at an easy, comfortable pace. To start with, add an easy run, with the option of tempo sections, to your current schedule. Once youre used to this, you can contemplate the addition
. But the gamble on a sub-3:00 becomes greater the more you are outside 80 minutes for your half.George Gandy, Director of Athletics at Loughborough University
of mental toughness is teaching the mind to do what it doesn't want to do - such as pushing through discomfort in a race. "I tell my athletes to give me their best even on their bad days," says Hebert. "This trains the mind to handle adversity and teaches
're not getting enough omega-3s," says Leslie Bonci, one of the authors of Total Fitness for Women."What do we athletes do instead? We go straight for anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen. What we should be doing is aiming for 1,000g to 2,000mg of omega-3 a day
