newbies at the time... Here's Ratbag's story to June 05It’s a pretty good bet that all the forumites who thought an Ironman triathlon sounds like fun have been told by their friends and family that their sanity was a little questionable. But when Ratbag

of the most effective forms of carbohydrate to ingest just prior to exercise since it's easily digested and releases energy at a steady rate. Another study at the same university revealed that the sweet stuff significantly improved the time-trial

trial Friends who hear that you’ve begun running will soon ask what your best mile time is – so you might as well get used to it. Before long, you’ll be calculating your pace per mile on longer runs, but you should begin with a simple one-mile test run

-mile time.          It doesn't have to be on a track - just pick somewhere flat and even and, unless you are entering an official race, repeat your mile time trial at the same place at the end of the programme. Once you have your mile time, use it to work

performed fastest over a series of six swim trials of 200m between 4pm and 6pm, and they were slowest between 4am and 6am. The fastest performances coincided with the swimmers' highest temperatures, and the slowest times with their lowest. The average time

where the big bottle outdoes the smaller ones. Firstly, it’s far easier to fill, and secondly you can get far more liquid from its pop-up spout – it’s difficult to get more than one tiny squirt at a time from either the small or medium models.Contact www

.Out and back Running away from a point for a set distance, and returning faster.Time Trial An exact distance raced against the clock to help find out how fast and well-paced you really swim.

to the mentoring of the Dame herself.It's worth remembering that Kelly was an army PT instructor before she became a full-time athlete - it's a strict, no-nonsense scheme, but Dame Kelly is clearly absolutely loyal to her girls.  A long term legacyNo-one could

choice is better than staying at home. Map out the best courses in your immediate neighbourhood. That saves time, solves the ‘place’ issue and makes it much more likely that you’ll actually do your planned runs.4 Take the mile trial Friends who hear

trial, then 3 mins rest, then 5 x 4 lengths with swim and recovery 3 mins total aiming to go faster than time trial pace, then 3 mins rest, then 10 x 2 lengths with swim and recovery 90 secs total aiming to go faster than 5 x 4 length pace, then 2-8 x 2