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I arrived in DEAGU, South Korea 2 days before my event. This allowed for time to adjust to the 9 hour time difference the food and the swelling that follows after flying for nearly 30 hours. +I was lucky to be staying in a beautiful hotel called Instar about 5km from the venue which had a large Jacuzzi 2 large showers and y=the most amazing gadget a heated toilet . This was so much fun and a joy to use as it the toilet was electric and had 20 buttons to make your experience in the bathroom a pleasure washing with different sprays and drying yes you heard it right drying and heating. A thing of the future as most good hotels, gyms and public places had them.
Breakfast was a shock, boiled rice, spinach soup, corn, fruit cocktail and a selection of garlic vegetables like cabbage, kale and white bait fish in peanuts. So as you can imagine it was difficult to adapt to and lucky I brought some good supplements like Triotein, whey protein shake and protein bars with me as there was no sign of eggs or porridge anywhere. Always be ready for the worst scenario take emergency food with you like rice cakes oat bars as I also had the experience of foreign trips I knew this would help my preparation. Next thing to remember is going for an easy run or walk to help disperse the swelling in ankles and feet after travelling. This can be assisted by wearing calf supports or tight skins to help with compression and which helps stop swelling in flight. I visited the venue to check out the call room and technical support, collect numbers and check travel time to and from hotel to competition site. Sometimes it is better not to depend on buses or shuttle courtesy buses but book a taxi that knows the venue regularly to be assured of correct arrival to allow perfect warm up timings. Keeping life as normal as possible like sleeping at a regular time and getting enough sleep before the competition is important as is eating correct nutrition and regular supplementation to have your body at peak condition before competing. I recommend omega 3, glucosamine, turmeric, shark cartilage, aloe Vera, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, Creatine, L carnitine, b vitamins and a few other supplements dependent on the individuals needs like glutamine. I am a qualified nutritionist and I would not advise people just to start taking anything without consulting a qualified practitioner. What I recommend is a slow gentle warm up with exercises to loosen the joints before warming up the muscles. This includes things like shoulder circles backwards leg swings in all directions and all planes. Backward rolls to open the hip joint forward deadlift with no weight forward kicks and backward kicks walking for 20m then stair running for up to 5 seconds up several steps to warm up the ankles and arms. Forward and reverse shot or medicine ball throws for stomach and back muscles. Then speed reaction drills to warm up the nervous system to respond quickly like lying siting or kneeing down to run over 15m distances.
I think relaxed fast short runs are adequate to run out your legs over 30 to 80m dependant on the distance of the race you have to run in competition. Increasing runs are usually good e. g. .80% for 30m 90% for 30m For splitting the run into 3 parts and increase the intensity from 80 to 90 to 100% Changing the tempo gives you time to think about your technique in the last session especially if you have a weak point like low hips or rotating your upper body too much, swinging your arms to wide or rising too soon; these slower phases give you time to think to relax to improve on the weak points. 90% is 10% easier perhaps the few percent you need to help give you more focus on the day when there is so many little things to remember even before you leave the blocks. Getting into the blocks is an art in itself which can take years to master getting up from a low crouch to press on a block at the right angel to hit top speed in the shortest distance and hold that speed for the longest time. Whew I am exhausted. I can’t wait to get on the aeroplane to make the final preparations on arrival at the destination for this year’s World Indoors in Daegu outside Seoul in South Korea. Will try to keep you all posted as the time difference is 9 hours
One of my favourite quick workouts when you have only 5 mins is a triple drop set for the biceps. Tale 3 weights one heavy, one medium and one light. For example for a fit woman 8kg 7kg 6kg or s beginner lady 5kg 4kg 3kg. Then start with the heaviest wright and do 10 repetitions with 10 seconds or less recovery do 10 more reps with the medium weight and finally with only 10 seconds or less recovery lift the lightest weight and do the final 10 reps totalling 30 reps on one arm then begin the same triple drop set on the other bicep so both arms have completed 30 reps. This gives the arms more definition and pump especially if you are concerned about how your arms look with summer coming.
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My Blog
Hi everyone and welcome to my new blog. I will try and keep you up to date on all my future Events, plus results from students competitions and training progress. Archives
April 2017
Athletics Ireland
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