Keegan Williams's Blog

Below are some photos of my pad in Leysin and some photos of the 80k loop ride that we ride quite regularly. As you can see the mountains are pretty stunning and the climbs are pretty big. The legs are definitely noticing the hills compared to the little rollers we have at home – nothing like a bit of forced strength training

Anyway, time for some food, got a 210k ride to get ready for….

Out

Keegan

I arrived to our European camp in Leysin, Switzerland on Monday after a little bit of flying and train time from Hamilton, New Zealand. Leysin in based at 1500m altitude in the Swiss mountains and is about a 2hr train ride from Geneva.
I am rooming with James and we have a nice apartment just minutes from the town centre and swimming pool. The running track is located at the bottom of the hill so its a nice 14k uphill ride back home after any track sessions.
Today we went out on a group ride around a 80k circuit and climbed a small col that is going to be used in this years Tour de France. I am looking forward to being able to watch some of the action at the TDF this year, so hopefully the boss will let me plan some sessions around the racing. We left this morning in sunny warm conditions but by the end of the ride it was hailing and cold, the mountain weather is very changeable so you have to be ready for any conditions.
One thing that is very similar to home is the number of cows and smells that come with it. On the ride today it felt like i was back in the cowshed or next to a silege stack.
Anyway, time for a jog
Out
Keegan

Here in NZ, triathlon has became pretty popular through the likes of Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty…..

So each year the weetbix kiwi kids triathlon get staged at different locations around the country, this year they had over 18,000 kids compete in the events!

So below is some photos of all the action, Tracy’s sister Mickaela, brother Jack and cousin Taylor all feature below. Little Jack has some speed to burn and would give me a good race over the 200m

Also check out the transition chaos

Yesterday we where lucky enough to get some pretty heavy hail here in the North Island. Lucky I wasnt out training otherwise it could of been pretty messy. This is the closest thing we get to snow where I live. The pictures are worth one thousand words so I won’t write to much

Indoor cycling trainers come in all sorts and sizes. From the old cateye simulators to the new computrainers with TV screens and computer graphics.

But the best one I have used is actually made by one of my good friends Marc, its a variation of a BT ergometer www.biketechnologies.com/content/view/23/lang,en/. But it comes in at the 10th of the price

You can really work the legs in the 39-21 even and even more in the 53-12, the erg uses a fan type system which increases in resistance expotentially as you pedal harder. Best of all is the fan keeps everything really smooth and provides a cool fan on to your back to slow down the sweat rate. See the photos below of the real deal…..

Some more good training info;

“It is still impossible to be explicit or exact about the the physiological reactions of hard training because, whoever and however many we study, every athlete is a distinct individual with subtly different reactions.”

“This is an argument often used by LSD(long slow distance) runners to support their style of training. I agree that they will gain from their system of long slow runs lasting several hours, but they will not get the best results – the aerobic pressure must be kept up to near or maximum steady state, and with increasing fitness, that level rises so the exercise must increase in pressure with it”

“Train, Don’t Strain”

“Anaerobic capacity can be developed to its maximum very easily with various types of work which don’t need to be rigidly controlled; it’s simply a matter of the athlete tiring themselves with anaerobic exercise and stopping when they feel they have had enough.”

P.S, I have been training and not reading books all day