First-Time Triathletes: Training Advice You Need To Know

Triathletes are becoming more and more popular as a sport, but if you’ve never attempted one before they can be a little daunting. There are a number of reasons why people get involved with triathlons, from enjoying the variety, wanting a new challenge or wanting to develop skills in a number of sports that they already have a basic level of skill in already. There’s plenty of time left to train for a triathlon, but where should you begin? There are a number of different things you can do to make your triathlon go that little bit more smoothly. Here are some tips to help you train more effectively, improve your confidence and help you get the most out of your training.

 

Go short before going long

One of the most famous triathlons in the world is the Ironman World Championships, which is an award-winning competition which consists of a 140.6 mile event in total – 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles of running. This is more than any first-timer should attempt though. If you’re new to triathlons, you should begin with a shorter sprint-distance event (400 to 500 yards of swimming, 11 to 15 miles of cycling and just over 3 miles of running).

 

Stay close to home

For the first race, you need to take it easy so pick an event that’s close to home. This will reduce race-day stress and the hassle of being exhausted from travelling. You can also do some of your training workouts on the course, helping to increase your confidence when it comes to the big day. Anything that helps to improve your state of mind for race day is advisable, particularly when you’re new to this kind of race.

 

Just a swimsuit and goggles for the swim

If you don’t own a wetsuit or are inexperienced in open water swimming, you should select an event where you will not need a wetsuit such as one which takes place in a pool. If your event does require a wetsuit, you may be able to rent one from some retail stores. A good pair of goggles and a swimsuit made for lap swimming, not just for sunbathing, will help you with the swim portion of your event.

 

Your bike is fine

The bike you’re currently riding is just fine for training, whether it’s a road bike, a mountain bike or a hybrid. The majority of people complete their first triathlon on a borrowed bike – just make sure that the bike is a correct fit for you and that it’s in good working order. Make sure the tires are in good order and the cables aren’t frayed. Most races have a support motor vehicle (also known as sag support) following the race to pick up riders unable to complete the bike leg for one reason or another, but it is best that you know how to change a flat tire for training and race day, just in case.

 

You need running shoes

Unlike your bike, your shoes do need to be appropriate for the race – you need running shoes specifically. It’s advised that you go to a specialist sport store and have an expert help you pick out a good pair of running shoes so that you can get the right fit for your feet and gait when you walk. A proper fit is important for your race so that you’re not wearing anything too tight or loose when you’re running, so make sure that you spend some time choosing the right pair of running shoes for you.

Categories: bike, event, fitness, nbsp, Running, running shoes, Shoes, training, triathlon

Erotic Awards Aim to Remove Sex Stigma for Disabled People

Sexual health is important to your wellbeing, no matter who you are. More and more attention is being turned towards the sexual needs of disabled people, but the true pioneer that celebrates sexuality for all people are the Erotic Awards.

 

The Erotic Awards take place every year and thrust the sexual needs of disabled people into the spotlight. Thanks to pioneering sex campaigner Tuppy Owens, the annual awards ceremony and post-ceremony kink party Night Of The Senses has been going for 25 years, raising money for Outsiders – a charity that helps disabled people find sexual partners. Last year’s film The Sessions explored that taboo of sex and disability, telling the story of a paralysed man who loses his virginity to a ‘sexual surrogate’. Then you have the Channel 4 documentary Can Have Sex Will Have Sex, which details the sex lives of four disabled people, including one who has sex with an escort hired by his mother.

 

Such programmes and films are important because they tell us something Owens has been asserting for decades: disabled people have the same basic human desire for sexual intimacy. This is why Owens set up the awards: to recognise and celebrate sex-positive artists, campaigners, academics and sex educators. Last year, finalists included Tits And Sass – a group blog run by sex workers, including strippers, porn performers and prostitutes – and Sue Newsome, who developed a multi-sensory massage for a man paralysed from the waist down. However, the evening is about more than handing out trophies. Once the winners have accepted their awards (known as the Golden Flying Penis), it’s time for various tents, with names such as The Grope Box and The Petting Zoo, to open.

 

Though Owens created and has led the event for almost a quarter of a century, last year she stepped down as head honcho and instead took up her role as disability steward. The 69-year-old pioneer is retiring from the event to focus on her own research and writing. Instead, the mantle of last year’s event was passed onto award-winning producer Lianne Coop, 36, and photographer Grace Gelder, 29, who runs Juicy Productions. A seemingly odd choice compared to the experience in event-planning and status of their predecessor, but, as ever, there is a method to Owens’s madness: they are enthusiastic, bright and, most importantly, they are young.

 

Owens comments, ‘When it started 25 years ago, all my friends came along to support me. They still come along, of course, but they are also nearly in their seventies. It’s time for a new generation of people to hear about the event, so we need young people to run it.’ Last year, Owens’ wish came true when the crowd turned out to be a youthful mix of Gelder and Coop’s friends and those who had benefited from the word-of-mouth campaign. Unfortunately, however, the number of disabled guests in attendance at the event is still relatively low.

 

Even though carers are free to attend and the venue has wheelchair accessibility, Gelder estimates that just 10% of the crowd were disabled at last year’s event. The photographer, who met Owens while researching a documentary on sex and disability, enthuses, ‘Obviously we want more to join in. There needs to be a place where disabled people can come and enjoy themselves and their sexuality.’ Hopefully, this wish will come to light at the 2014 Erotic Awards, for which Gelder and Coop hope a famous name will help promote. Gelder notes, ‘Someone such as Sam Roddick [founder of erotic emporium Coco de Mer] would change everything for us.’

Categories: disabled, Disabled People, Erotic Awards, event, owens, people, stigma, year

4 Impressive Endurance Challenges that Even YOU Can Do

New Year’s resolutions can be greatly beneficial to your wellbeing. Not only are fitness goals good for your health, but the sense of achievement you’ll feel when you tick these goals off your list will do wonders for your mental wellness. If you’re looking for a New Year’s fitness resolution with a bit of prestige, you might like to try training for an endurance event. Still, even though it’d be great to be able to say you ran 100 miles or completed a marathon-length swim, who has the time (or inclination) to train for such an event? Luckily, there’s a happy middle ground between striving for an endurance goal with boasting power, and actually having the capacity to achieve it.

 

1. Tough Mudder: According to Pete Williams, editor of EnduranceSportsFlorida.com and the co-author of Mark Verstegen’s Core Performance fitness series, ‘Tough Mudder is roughly 12 miles of obstacles, including 12-foot “Berlin Walls,” a plunge into a “Chernobyl Jacuzzi” (a dumpster full of ice water), and an “Electroshock Therapy” dash through charged wires. With no timing chips, Tough Mudder is billed not as a race but a team event to be faced in groups. Most take around three and a half hours before picking up an orange finisher’s headband for their efforts. Will Dean, who worked in counter-terrorism for the British government, created Tough Mudder as a Harvard Business School project. After debuting in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2010, Tough Mudder will stage 35 events with more than 460,000 total participants this year.’

 

2. Spartan Race: You may have heard of the Spartan Death Race – which has no set time limit and has lasted as long as 67 hours – but this version is not so punishing. Williams details, ‘Spartan Race comes in three challenging-enough formats – ranging from three to 12-plus miles – that most mortals can attempt. Race creator Joe DeSena, a former Wall Streeter who once did 12 Ironman triathlons in one year, stresses that Spartan is no mud run or team-building event. It’s a race – and a brutal one at that. Athletes must haul five-pound buckets of gravel, climb walls, flip tires, pull hunks of concrete, and run a race-ending gauntlet of Spartan warriors swinging double-sided mallets. Thirty Burpees for each obstacle not finished.’

 

3. Goruck Challenge: Created in 2010 by Green Beret veteran Jason McCarthy as a way to market his $295 military-style rucksacks and provide a taste of Special Forces training, the Goruck Challenge is a firm favourite if you like teamwork and being yelled at by a former Special Ops guy. ‘Goruck now draws “classes” of 30 who must work together to haul telephone poles, railroad ties, and sometimes each other,’ Williams explains. ‘Throughout the event you wear a backpack filled with a water bladder and either four or six bricks depending on your body weight. There’s no set time or distance for the Challenges…but 12 hours and 20-plus miles is typical.’

 

4. Sea Paddle NYC: If you’ve always wanted to see New York, why not do it via stand-up paddleboard? Williams points out that ‘this 26.5-mile charity paddle around Manhattan, which began in 2007 and is held in August, takes most athletes around five hours to complete. Along the way, even veteran paddlers are challenged by the wake churned up by boat traffic in the Hudson and East Rivers before finishing under the Brooklyn Bridge. (Though it’s a calm ride compared to the choppy 32-mile Molokai-to-Oahu challenge in Hawaii, which requires each racer to have a boat escort.) In New York, participants must raise $1,000 that goes to autism-related charities.’

Categories: Endurance Events, event, Goruck Challenge, mudder, set time, spartan, tough, Tough Mudder, williams

How to Revive Your Dog in the Event of an Emergency

If you have a dog, you will know that they are part of the family, and that their wellness is almost as important as that of any other member of the family. You may have thought long and hard about doing a first aid course, or finding out a bit more about what to do in a paediatric emergency, but do you know how to look after the wellbeing of your dog in the event of an emergency?

 

If your dog stops breathing on their own in the event of sudden illness or an accident, you may find yourself required to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in order to keep the dog’s oxygen going to the vital organs until help arrives.

 

Start by making sure that your dog is unconscious – you can do this by talking gently to your dog, rubbing him or gently shaking him to try to wake him up. It is paramount that you ensure your dog is unconscious and not in a deep sleep before attempting rescue breathing, as if your dog were to wake up to find you mouth to mouth with him, you could end up getting seriously hurt.

 

Start by clearing the dog’s airways by extending his head and neck and trying to keep them in line. Open his mouth and pull the tongue forward. Make sure that the mouth is clear of saliva or vomit by using your fingers.

 

Check again at this stage to see if your dog is breathing, as sometimes just aligning the head and neck can start the dog breathing on his own. If there is no sign of breathing after 10 seconds, start to do CPR.

 

Pull the tongue forward, hold the mouth and lips shut by cupping both your hands around his muzzle. Put your mouth over his nose and blow air into the nostrils until you see the chest expand. For a dog, do the same thing but use your mouth to seal his nose and mouth. Do this four or five times and keep checking for breathing.

Categories: Breathing, cpr, dog, Emergency, event, mouth, nbsp, pet