Mark Lee Fitness Tri

22/06/2021

I thought this was an apt post considering my recent injury and withdrawal from Outlaw Half Nottingham at the weekend due to injury. 🙄

The main takeaways from the article are: listen to your body, maintain strength and aerobic fitness wherever possible and be realistic with recovery time frames. Come back too soon or push too hard in an attempt to make race day and you could risk more serious, longer term injury.

Listen to your body... It's talking to you. 👂

Injuries are an unfortunate part of training, and when they happen mid-season they are especially hard to deal with. These steps from Derek Loudermilk will help you get through this period to recover and get back to training.

19/04/2021

💥 Motivation Monday! 💥

13/04/2021

Ok that was hard work! First time in the water for 6 months and it showed. At times it felt like I was swimming through treacle! 😣

But hey, the gyms and pools are open again and I'm back on the swim training wagon! 🏊‍♂️💪🏻

10 more weeks to find some swim form before my first race of the season at the end of June. 🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏁😎

04/04/2021

Blue sky, sun shining... today is all about making the most of this glorious weather and, for me, getting out for a two hour bike ride. 🚴‍♀️🌞

🐰The Easter bunny has delivered the eggs, one or two may have been consumed...

Whatever your plans,

30/03/2021

The term ‘VO2 max’ is the maximum or optimum rate at which the heart, lungs, and muscles can effectively absorb and use oxygen during exercise. In short, if you have a high VO2 Max it means that you will be able to train harder and ultimately race faster. 🚴‍♂️💨💪🏻

Bike VO2 Max interval training is a great way of making your body more efficient at absorbing and utilising oxygen. To work out the VO2 Max effort level that you need to be working at, you first need to assess your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) by performing a Max 20 min test or a Ramp Test. Your VO2 Max effort range will then be approximately 110-120% of your FTP.

Thereafter, it is a simple case of working within this range for periods of between 1-5 mins at a time. The session that I performed was 20 x 1 min at 120% of FTP but you can achieve a similar effect by doing 4 x 5 mins at 110% of FTP. 💣💥

The best thing you can do is experiment and find out the type of VO2 Max interval session that works for you. Enjoy the burn! 🔥

25/03/2021

Optimising aerodynamics is a great way to improve your bike speed. Anything you can do to minimise your exposed areas and reduce drag will reduce the number of calories needed at a given power to overcome air resistance.

Just how important is aerodynamics? Approximately 85% of your power when riding is used to overcome air resistance, 10% to overcome rolling resistance and 5% to overcome the friction of the drivetrain.

If you take two riders pedalling at the same power, the rider with a good aerodynamic position can save an estimated 2-8 min over a 20 mile ride and up to an hour during an Ironman distance bike leg compared to a rider with a more inefficient position. Aerodynamics matters even if you are moving as easy as 12-14 mph and of course the faster you go, the more aerodynamics will benefit you.

Clearly the training and development of your “engine” (muscular and cardiovascular systems) is the most important factor. But have a think about how you can make yourself more efficient and streamlined on the bike. 🚴‍♂️💨

* time savings in the picture based on a ride over 25miles (40km)

23/03/2021

💥First race entered!!💥

Rumour has it there's light at the end of the Covid tunnel. 🤞 So after a rather disjointed winter training period (and no swimming 🙃) I now have 13 weeks to get myself race fit. 🙈

D-Day is the Outlaw Half Distance triathlon in Nottingham on 20th June, training plan is on the fridge, bring on the summer! 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏁😎

15/03/2021

Boom 💣💥 Well done Karen!

The triathlon season in New Zealand may be drawing to a close but Karen still has a laser focus on Ironman Taupo 70.3 this December. 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Karen has come on leaps and bounds since beginning her triathlon journey late last year. She is now starting to not only see the results of all her hard work but also feel them. Her body is changing, she has more energy and the drive and determination to fulfil her dream of completing an Ironman 70.3 is as strong as ever! 💪🏻

Great work Karen. Keep it up! 👏🏻👏🏻

22/02/2021

Well that session is not for the faint hearted. 130km turbo session on Zwift with nearly 2400m of climbing. And 1100m of that in the last 12km! 😳 I've done longer sessions before but that was comfortably the toughest 4 hours and 15 mins I've spent on a bike in a long time! 😣

It's all good training though and it's another step towards my triathlon racing goals if/when they occur in the summer. 🤞🏻

21/02/2021

Professional triathletes are by definition, very gifted individuals that the majority of us can only dream of emulating. We might not ever reach the dizzy heights of the pros but we can still train like them.

So what does the elite athlete do that we generally don’t? Analysis has shown that top athletes conduct around 80% of their training volume at low intensity and 20% working at high intensity (VO2 Max, anaerobic sessions etc). Typically, a recreational triathlete doesn't have the self-restraint to adhere to this and will spend a lot of training time at moderate intensity which leads to over training, fatigue and disappointing results.

To train like a pro you must first think like one. It will seem counter intuitive at first but try to reduce the frequency of moderate intensity sessions in favour of low intensity.

19/02/2021

Mixed-intensity workouts are a literal change of pace, and as such, they’re an effective way to keep your training fun and interesting. These workouts are also a good way to get appropriate doses of different intensities. For example, if you’re at a point in your training where you can benefit from a little work at, say VO2max intensity. Try and incorporate that work into a session focused on an intensity you need more of, say lactate threshold.

Another benefit of mixed-intensity workouts is that they help teach effective pacing. Can you shift accurately from Ironman 70.3 pace to Olympic-distance pace to sprint triathlon pace by feel? Incorporating mixed-intensity workouts into your training will help you correlate your subjective perception of effort with objective measures of intensity.