DIFFERENT SPOKES

“I complete in many different types of triathlons, which keeps me fairly busy. I have to try and maintain my skills on the mountain bike to enable myself to race at the highest level in the off-road triathlon world. That means I might have to sacrifice a couple of swimming and running sessions just to maintain an elite-level of technique on the mountain bike; to be competent enough to finish at the pointy end of the scale. The different styles of racing keep me honest. One week I’m on the mountain bike, next week I’m on my other bike doing a 90km time trial, head down, going for it, just worrying about watts and heart-rate. The next week it might be a French grand prix; short, sharp racing on the road bike. I’m always switching between the three.”

GETTING INTENSE

“In my intense block of training I’ll complete a four-week program where I’ll have a week of very steady work; some short interval sessions. The first week might entail between 12 hours of swimming and anywhere between 20-25 hours of riding, and then between 80-90km of running. It steps up ten percent each  week after that for a few weeks, before a week’s }recovery for the fourth; just letting the body absorb all the kilometres I’ve done and making sure I have adequate rest.”