So with racing almost back in full flow, all be it with COVID-19 restrictions, it’s great to have more Team PTC members completing races and being able to report on them. Last weekend saw Karen return to the Lakesman 70.3 to put her demons to bed after her previous DNF at this race. Not everything always goes to plan though and despite spending most of the bike leg being sick (suspected contaminated water), and when a lot of people would have quit, Karen knuckled down with so

Finally Team PTC has been back in action! Liz and Jackie both completed the Epicman Windermere Middle Distance Triathlon in challenging conditions – mainly the unexpected heat. Liz finished 5th in her age group in just over 7 and a half hours bagging the fastest female swim time overall and Jackie finished 6th in her age group in just over 8 hours. Stuart nailed the Big C Norwich 100 mile bike ride in under 6 hours and Carol nailed the bike leg of the Cotswold 70.3 Triathlon

For those of you that know me, you will already know I am sceptical of everything until shown/proven otherwise and if I recommend something, it is generally because it is a good product. So, here is my take on Xendurance – a product which I highly recommend. Xendurance has been my secret weapon for several years now and I have recommended it to a few PTC athletes over the last few years who still use it now as they have seen and felt its benefits and it’s not uncommon for me

Being a professional bicycle mechanic (as well as a Triathlon Coach), I’m often asked what the most common problems are that I see with bicycles. These would be poor gear shifting, “honky” disc brakes, worn bottom brackets (the bearings at the bottom of your frame that the cranks spin around on), worn or loose headsets (the bearings that your handlebars and front wheel rotate on) and a worn drivetrain. In this blog, I’m going to write about a worn drivetrain as it could poten

Roger should have been racing his first Ironman in Portugal earlier this month (and only his second triathlon ever) but because of COVID-19, his race was cancelled. So, Roger decided it would be a good idea to have a crack at doing the distance all on his own, in Manchester, in November. Roger braved 10.5 degree water in Salford Quays completing the full distance swim (2.4 miles) in just over 1 hour 16 minutes. After taking some time to de-frost in his girlfriend’s car, he he

It’s great when races actually happen (under the circumstances) enabling me to report back on some results from Team PTC. First up was Craig who completed his first 70.3 Triathlon at Outlaw X. Despite the typical British weather which came out in force (and forced the swim to be shortened to 750m because of the water temperature), Craig finished in style in just over 6 hours 20 minutes (18:58 swim, 3:26:07 bike, 2:20:43 run). Then Liz also finished her first 70.3 Triathlon at

It’s been a busy few months in the workshop, fixing and servicing a whole variety of bikes including wheel building, wheel servicing, tub gluing and tubeless conversions. We’ve also race prepped several bikes including one for a Pro Triathlete. No job too big or too small. If there’s anything you need, then please get in touch.

And just as we thought things were getting back to normal… Anyway, there’s been a few more races, and a few more results: Karen had a great race at the Capenwray Midweek Sprint Triathlon and despite the rain, finished in just over 1 hour 22 minutes landing her 1st place in her age group and 6th female overall. Then there was the super tough Helvellyn Triathlon and a continuation of the inclement weather with reports of it being zero degrees on the top of Helvellyn. First home

As PTC continues to grow, I thought it was time to update the website – I hope you like it. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions about the new website, then please get in touch. Despite the lack of racing, some of Team PTC have been making the most of the current situation. Not intent on having a quiet birthday, Lynne et.al. decided to complete a 70.3 in their spare time and certainly earned themselves the post event alcohol and cake they consumed. Chris and a cohort of

So everyone keeps telling you that you need a heart rate monitor and how it will change the way you train and make you into a better athlete. So you go and buy one. Now what? Firstly, you will need to set up your personal heart rate training zones. To keep things simple, we will use 5 zones: Zone 1 (Recovery), Zone 2 (Endurance), Zone 3 (Tempo), Zone 4 (Threshold) and Zone 5 (VO2 Max). So how do you calculate your own personal heart rate training zones? Forget calculations ba

With no immediate end in sight, COVID-19 is proving to be quite challenging for all of us. Hopefully though, we should have fallen in to at least some form of routine and mild stability within our own controllable bubbles. As athletic activities are now very limited, I’ve put together a few thoughts and ideas to try and ensure we retain at least some form of sanity through these challenging times: 1) See if you can find better gas, electric, water, house and car insurance dea

Hi All, I know this is a really hard time for all of you with races getting cancelled left right and centre and with no end in sight it’s easy to feel very de-motivated and frustrated, but hang in there. From next week, I’m going to amend my athletes' training plans to give everyone an easy couple of weeks. This is to ensure they don’t overload their systems and to give their immune systems the best chance they can have. We can only control the controllables and COVID-19 isn’

There are not many products that I whole heartily endorse unless I’ve seen the benefits myself and to others, the science and research behind the product is sound and “it does what it says on the tin”. UCAN is one of these products. Always a sceptic, and being able to see through most products’ marketing, UCAN piqued my interest because of its background story, especially the fact that it was never designed to be a mass market athletic nutritional product like every other one

Last night, despite the wind and rain, 421 crazy people gathered at the start line in Rivington Pike for the annual Petzl Night Runner fell race. Amongst them was five brave PTC athletes raring to go. With a fast start, two runners disappeared into the darkness leaving Dave and Coach Pat fighting it out for 3rd and 4th place. With Dave keen to try and better his 3rd place finish from last year (and not one to let Coach Pat beat him), about 3 miles into the race, he made his m

PTC's weekly Monday Night Run Club will start in Bury on Monday the 2nd December 2019 at 7pm. These runs will start with a 45 minute social group run and slowly build up over the following months to around 2 hours. By social, we really do mean social - the pace will be very easy and no one will be left behind or made not to feel part of the group. Perfect for anyone wanting to build up their running mileage and wanting to train with a group of like-minded individuals. Please

As the Triathlon season comes to an end for 2019, there were a few more achievements for PTC athletes last weekend. First up was Chris who not only completed his first Half Ironman (Portugal 70.3), he went on to smash his expected time by nearly 30 minutes. With a target of finishing in around 6 hours, Chris finished the sea swim in 38 minutes, biked 2 hours 53 minutes and ran 1 hour 49 minutes bringing him home in 5 hours 35 minutes and 15 seconds. Not bad considering Chris

Barry and Ian both completed a 5km swim in Lake Windemere. Perfect mental preparation for their Ironman debut next year. Barry finished the swim in 1 hour 54 minutes and Ian, in his first year of open water swimming, finished in 3 hours 13 minutes. Tania and Jackie both completed the iconic and tough Sandman Triathlon in Wales. Tania crossed the finish line just under 4 hours finishing 10th in her age group (25 minute swim, 2 hour 11 minute bike, 1 hour 7 minute run) and Jack

I always ask new clients if they have a power meter on their bike. For those that say no, then heart rate training it is. For those that say yes, guidance is still often needed on how to use their power meter effectively. Let me simplify things: A power meter is a small device which you fit to your bike which directly measures (in watts) how hard you are pushing on the pedals. Unlike heart rate, a power meter is not affected by weather, hills, caffeine, illness etc. Functiona

Another race and another PB for Team PTC with Adam breaking the 5 hour barrier for the first time at Challenge Turku Half Ironman in Finland. Adam finished in a total time of 4 hours 57 minutes and 12 seconds with a super fast swim in just over 30 minutes (30:45), a strong bike not far off 2 hours 30 minutes (2:37:06) and then a very solid 1 hours 41 minute run (1:41:59). Great work Adam - especially considering the grim looking weather.

Well what an eventful few weeks – in fact, it’s been pretty hard to keep up with everyone from Team PTC. First up was Adam racing at the tough 16 mile Maverick X trail race where he finished in 39th place in a great time of 3 hours 26 minutes and 5 seconds. What a fantastic looking (but tough) race – perhaps one for the calendar next year? And then Barry and Ian took to the water at Capernwray for one of their midweek sprint triathlons finishing in great times. These smaller