Sports Nutrition Archives - Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes

Hammer Works – Steve's Advice In Action

February 21, 2008 by David Leave a Comment

Steve Born’s (left) seminars always attract a loyal following – after all, this is a guy who truly speaks from a position of authority.

The following is typical of the feedback we receive:

“After several years of declining performance and results in triathlons, I finally decided to look at changing a few areas – including the nutrition aspects of my training and racing.

As well as the information you provided, it also gave me new ideas and approaches to my nutrition strategy.

Following this I altered my nutrition and changed my training/racing electrolyte drink to Heed.

Turned The Clock Back 9 Years

….. last Sunday I managed to turn the clock back 9 years.

I finished only 5 seconds outside my best overall Half Ironman Triathlon time from 6 years ago.

This included a run leg that was a massive 5 mins quicker than my previous best run leg which was achieved 9 years ago.

Both of these improvements on Sunday were on a much harder course.

That information, combined with the Hammer Heed and a few other changes to my training and racing strategy, have turned my triathlon results around.”

Dennis Rafferty

Photos & Race Report from Michelle's Half Ironman Win

December 18, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

As mentioned below, our sponsored athlete Michelle Wu won the Canberra Half Ironman on the weekend as an Age Grouper!

Check out race pics and report below:

Michelle’s Canberra Half Ironman Report

The Swim

I was in the lead bunch of about 5 other girls for the entire swim, bunny hopping between the feet of one girl, then another!

Eventually one chick got away, leaving 4 of us, exiting the 1.9k swim in 29:30min. A nice long 400m run to T1, wettie off and out for the 93km hill fest!

The Bike

My biggest queries pre race were:

how hard to push on the bike leg,
whether I should ride conservatively and save pennies for the run, or “just GO FOR IT”,
and how much to eat.

Loaded with 6 gels on the bike (in the end taking 5), I chose the later, riding pretty much like I would in an Olympic distance race!

I had allowed 3hrs for the ride (about 1hr each lap). First lap went by in 55min, as did the 2nd. 3rd lap however I was starting to feel the pinch of the hills, going round in about 58min.

Much to my surprise, I passed 2 of the Pro Females on the bike leg! Either I was having a great ride, or they were having a bad day. Turned out that I had a pretty strong ride with the 4th fastest split of the Females in 2:51hrs.

Nicely under my target of 3hrs.

The Run

For the first time in a race, I opted for socks on the run. Everything was wet (me included!) so on went the wet socks and shoes – an almost guarantee for blisters! However, I was fortunate to not get any.

My pre race goal was to run 4min/km pace.

It seemed a little ambitious at first, but I knew it was definitely possible given I was in the best run shape of my life. A lot also had to do with how well I fuelled myself on the bike!

Thankfully I had taken in enough gels (thanks Hammer Nutrition!) and had the fuel required to hold that pace.

Every km was marked on the run course, and as each km ticked by, I was actually going just under 4min/k. I felt really comfortable on the run, maintaining a constant pace throughout.

Though breathing hard, but in control, I had plenty of cheering on the flat run course which was fantastic.

The Finish

The finish line was pretty emotional.

My first HIM, and by far the biggest race I’ve ever won!

I had 4 interviews post race and I didn’t even know who the people were! (Apart from the Canberra Times newspaper). It was pretty cool though.

Congrats to the handful of Tridents who also toughed out the long wet day!

I may have won the race, but in my eyes you’re all champions too for getting to the finish line, whether you struggled up Coppins for the 3rd time, or cramped or suffered on the run.

Well done for hanging in there!

Thank you too for all the Tridents out there cheering despite the crappy weather! Especially for the bunch at the top of the Coppins climb (you know who you are!).

You’re a funny lot and made me laugh!

Finally, thanks to super coach and Raeleigh for believing in me.

Michelle

Free Hammer Nutrition ebook

December 4, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

Steve Born based his recent seminars on the information contained in this Hammer Nutrition booklet.

Find 15 Simple Ways To Improce Your Athletic Performance (and much more). It’s a pdf file of 980 kb.

Simply click the image below for the free ebook (no registration required). All free!

Hope that helps.

Cheers

David

Speaking Of Wins – Michelle Does It Again!

October 29, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

One of our favourite Hammer sponsored athletes – I know we shouldn’t have favourites, but she’s just so nice! – Michelle Wu has done it again.

Yep, Michelle has taken out the 1st leg of the Australian Triathlon Series in Nowra in a time of 2:07:14.

A great time for the Olympic distance Tri.

Smashed Through 40 Min for 10 KM Barrier!

Michelle sang the praises of her new Orca Apex 2 wetsuit, which you’d need on a cold Nowra morning.

She felt great on the bike leg and came into the last transition in 2nd place.

Michelle absolutely smashed her previous best in the 10km run leg with a sizzling hot 36 mins 39 seconds to take a pretty easy win in the end (she would never say that, of course!).

Michelle has never run a sub-40 minutes for 10 km before in a Olympic distance tri, so to absolutely smash through that barrier was a big thrill for her.

Here’s what Michelle wrote to me:

“I’m over the moon to have finally cracked it – in a big way!)

1st overall female, 7th overall (including the boys!), total time 2:07:14 hrs – a PB for an Olympic distance event! (and a 7min PB from last years race!).”

4 Tridents In Top 10

As usual Michelle, in her race report to me, mentions her team mates:

“Well done to all fellow Tridents who braved the tough course. I hope you all achieved your pre-race goals! 4 Tridents in the top 10! a great result for the club!”

“I Did It My Way”……Or Maybe Not!

The photo to the left is Michelle at the presentation about to launch in her very own version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way“.

Or maybe not!

Well done Michelle. I’m not saying the Hammer Gel s got you under the 40 minute mark but…….. ;o)

Cheers

David

New Steve Born Seminar

September 27, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

One of the best and easiest ways to improve your athletic performance is by attending a Steve Born seminar!

Steve, considered one of the true legends of endurance cycling, has been responsible for helping numerous athletes achieve outstanding improvements.

Touring Australia for A Month

Not only will he be back, but he will stay for a month in Australia touring the various states talking to people on “Endurance Nutrition”.

Seminar Dates

Brisbane (Central) – 18th October
Gold Coast – 19th October
Sydney (Northern Suburbs) 22nd October
Sydney (Eastern Suburbs) 23rd October
Melbourne (Central) 24th October
Adelaide (Central) 29th October

Registration is just $15 per person.

To register simply click here and provide details.

But Wait, There’s More…But No Steak Knives :o)

All attendees will receive 10% discounts off all Hammer products for the next 2 months! Now that’s an incentive to come along and hear from one of the world’s best endurance nutritional experts.

Regards

David

Kokoda Challenge 07 – Hammer Athletes Break Race Record

July 18, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

The Kokoda Challenge is a grueling 96km run/walk/crawl through the most rugged terrain possible in the Gold Coast Hinterland.

The Challenge is a cross-country, bushwalking team event and the 96km represents the distance of the Kokoda Track, and must be completed by teams within 39 hours.

The 39 hours symbolises the 39th Militia Battalion, the first of our Australian troops to arrive at Kokoda, 15th July 1942.

All 4 members of the starting team need to finish.

New Race Record Achieved

The guys and gal from Team Victory:

Peter Hall
Nicky Carroll
Don Wallace
Mike Page

had a great race to win easily and break their own race record of just over 12 hours.

A Sprint To The Line

A sprint to the line was needed for Team Victory to come in under 12 hours – they stopped the clock at 11 hrs 59 minutes! Great effort guys.

12 Hour Endurance Race – Only 1 Source Of Fuel

And yep, Team Victory were sponsored by Hammer Nutrition.

Team Victory At The Presentation

Peter had this to say after the race:

“A big thanks to Dave and Hammer for providing us with the best fuel on the market.

We’d stuck to “Page’s Cocktail” the entire day and it had served us well.

The mix consisted of 1 serve of Perpetuem and 1 serve of Heed in 2 litres of water.

The cocktail proved a winner for a few reasons.

1. The serve of Heed seemed to adequately cover our electrolyte needs given the temperatures throughout the day.

2. It provided about 230 odd calories per hour, given that we consumed a litre in that time frame.

3. It seemed to be adequately diluted to also provide our hydration requirements. Any shortfall in calories was easily met with a Hammer Gel here and there.”

Congratulations!

Congratulations to everyone who completed this very tough event. It’s a terrific fundraiser for a great cause.

Regards

David

World Leading Endurance Expert For Talk Series

July 17, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

If you are an Endurance Athlete and have had nutritional problems or simply want to find out what really works best then one of the best people in the world to talk with is Steve Born.

Steve did a series of popular seminars here in Australia last year and I’ve received literally hundreds of emails asking when he’ll be back.

Touring Australia for A Month

Not only will he be back, but he will stay for a month in Australia touring the various states talking to people on “Endurance Nutrition”.

Steve will be working his way down the East Coast of Australia, and also travelling to SA and WA during October and November, to give talks to small groups of athletes.

To find out how your Club or Group can get Steve along for a talk on endurance nutrition click here.

Thanks

David

FREE Endurance Fuel Guide – Download Instantly

May 28, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

The Endurance Athlete’s Guide To Success is a hugely popular ebook from Hammer Nutrition that has been downloaded over 70,000 times!

It contains the information you need to get keep your energy high during endurance exercise. Written by experts for the benefit of every level of athlete.

It’s a PDF file of 2.9 MB. It’s available in smaller chunks for download here if needed.

No Registration Required

And it’s 100% free. No registration required.

If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat (to read a PDF file) – most computers do – then you can download that here too for free.

Hope that is of interest.

David

7 Beers Not Perfect Nutrition!

March 16, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

Below Brendon asks:

“Would 7 beers knock you around that much? I would have thought they’d make you feel a little seedy, but not slow you down as much as he did.”

There is a big difference between riding a very difficult cimb like Springbrook and riding the flat roads.

On climbs like that, there is nowhere to hide and, if you do not feel well, you will just suffer all day long.

Drinking that amount of beer, is obviously not good for any sort of training.

The worst effect could be from dehydration and with the very high humidity and temperatures at the moment, this could have been a major problem.

Also, the general hung over feeling would put a severe dampener on the enthusiasm for such a difficult ride.

Next Day He Felt A Lot Better

I would suggest he went better the next day due to the flat roads, and the simple fact that he felt a lot better and probably went to bed early and got a good nights sleep – vowing never to mix alcohol and serious training again!

Cheers

David

The Biggest Mistake Athletes Make

February 20, 2007 by David Leave a Comment

You know what I’m going to say here, but I’ll say it anyway because I believe it so passionately.

The biggest mistake athletes make is not paying enough attention to their nutrition.

Not knowing what and when to eat during a race can, quite simply, toss away 6 months of hard training. And no athlete wants that.

Athletes, in my experience, simply don’t treat training and race nutrition as seriously as they should. Every athlete must spend as much time and effort on their nutrition as they do on the other critical parts of their physical training.

Free eBook

If you haven’t downloaded the free The Endurance Athlete’s Guide To Success, then you can here.

Hope that helps.

David