<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>TomLowe - Duathlon247</title><link>http://www.duathlon247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest articles submitted by TomLowe on Duathlon247</description><item><title><![CDATA[Exercise addiction]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5630.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Have you got an exercise habit? Can&rsquo;t do without that daily fix, then read on!

While I walked off the plane that safely delivered me to Barcelona airport I noticed a fresh stack of that day&rsquo;s newspapers and pilfered one for my drive to the altitude training resort of Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees. I have to do a bit of petty thieving now and then; it&rsquo;s the only thing that gets my heart rate above resting these days. I thought it would be a great thing to get stuck into while Joerie Vansteelant, and his coach Tim, prattle on in their best Dutch about Joerie&rsquo;s recent Powerman Weyer win. I even contemplated having a crack at the crossword, but it was a broadsheet so there was very little chance I was going to complete it without the aid of a search engine. Thirteen down: Ocean, three letters &ndash; maybe it wasn&rsquo;t going to be as hard as I initially thought. Although come to think of it &lsquo;Billy&rsquo; has five letters &ndash; when the going gets tough...

On scanning the &lsquo;Well being&rsquo; section I came upon an article titled &lsquo;I&rsquo;m addicted to running&rsquo; which I found interesting enough to think that I&rsquo;d write about it in my next column. It was either that or &lsquo;Taxpayers subsidise Miliband&rsquo;s holiday&rsquo;, which is neither a surprise nor anything to do with duathlon.

How many times have you said &lsquo;No&rsquo; to something, and that something can actually be rather important, because of training. You could be having the best night out on the town, just you, endless mojitos, and the Brazilian women&rsquo;s beach volleyball team, but come 11 o&rsquo;clock you&rsquo;ve got to dash and get some shut-eye because you&rsquo;re running at the ridiculously early hour of 6 o&rsquo;clock in the morning the following day! Why do we do this?

The endorphin high that can result from partaking in prolonged exercise such as swimming, biking and most commonly running, apparently shares qualities with the junkies triathlon of popping pills, snorting cocaine and injecting heroin. Rather scarily, scientists agree that it can also be as addictive. According to the article in question &lsquo;sudden withdrawal can lead to trembling, writhing and teeth chattering&rsquo;! Endorphins also have what initially appear to be the added benefits of producing analgesic like symptoms and a sense of well being. Now I&rsquo;m not going to argue for a second that something that makes you feel happy is a bad thing. However, if endorphins can mask the hurt and get you to the finish line, what can be the results when that high, which can last a few days, wears off? The all too common answer is pain, and lots of it.

It&rsquo;s a feeling many an athlete can relate to. You&rsquo;ve had a fantastic race and feel tired but high for a couple of days. Then for no apparent reason a particular part of your body decides to let you know that something isn&rsquo;t quite right.

Other symptoms and clues as to whether you&rsquo;re an addict include: over-commitment, fatigue, decreased ability to concentrate, an overemphasis on quantity rather than quality, training on injuries that quite obviously need attention sooner rather than later, and as mentioned above absence from certain events where your attendance should be without question.

You can have too much of a good thing, especially when there may be some consequences that don&rsquo;t rate particularly highly on your &lsquo;that&rsquo;s a bonus consequence meter&rsquo;. So, take that rest day when you need it, and try not to feel guilty because it really will benefit you in the long term. Right, I would write more but I&rsquo;ve got to go and ride my bike!
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[You never really know how important something is...]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5565.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[You never really know how important something is in your life, how much your life revolves around it, and how much you really enjoyed whatever it is, until it&rsquo;s gone. The last time that I competed in a duathlon was in a French GP series race for my club, Mulhouse Olympique Triathlon, in July 2007. I had the honour of running around the second 5km with my teammate Benny Vansteelant thinking &lsquo;Wow my knee really hurts&rsquo;, not expecting to still be seeking treatment more than two years on, and with a recent ten mile time trial my only competition since that day in Calais. 

All this was two weeks after I recorded my best ever result at the European Championships in Edinburgh and I was in the best form I&rsquo;d ever been in, and may ever be in. Initially I was a miserable, short tempered and not particularly friendly idiot. However, you dig yourself out of that relatively quickly and once you start seeking treatment and realise there are people in a far worse position than yourself you just get on with it. I was lucky; I have always been able to cycle and swim and one day hope to be back on the start line. Others, including my teammate on that day, weren&rsquo;t and aren&rsquo;t so lucky.

I love duathlon and am passionate and sometimes a little outspoken about the sport. It&rsquo;s given me fantastic opportunities, many happy memories, and helped to shape the person that I am. I&rsquo;ve had a whinge about the British Triathlon Federation and it&rsquo;s support for duathlon, the selection policies for major championships, as well as the selections themselves, among many other things. The BTF have a hard job on their hands though, and are never going to please everybody.

There are many things that can be improved within the sport, and in future posts I&rsquo;ll start to explore these. It&rsquo;s not just a case of identifying the faults in duathlon, you have to provide possible solutions to the problems if something is ultimately going to improve. At all levels, and with feedback from everyone involved, we can take this sport in a direction that will benefit all, including those who at the moment think a duathlon involves skiing and shooting but in the not too distant future will find themselves with that rather unpleasant feeling in the legs that comes with running off the bike.

We have our work cut out though, and the BTF have many things to keep them busy that are well above duathlon on the list of priorities &ndash; I think there&rsquo;s something big happening in 2012. That said we have the biggest race on the duathlon calendar coming to our shores in September next year, namely the ITU Duathlon World Championships. The weekend will be a great boost to the sport in the UK, and show our passion for it as well as our success at it.
 
And what better way is there to gather feedback, formulate ideas, address issues, keep everyone abreast of news, future events, results, hear from some of the beginners right up to the best athletes, and everything run/bike/run than duathlon247.com.

Watch this space.]]></description></item></channel></rss>
