Team Nagi Newsletter

Hi Guys,

Hope you’ve all had a great month.

What a relief it’s been to finally start seeing some sunshine. That can only mean one thing…race season is nearly upon us! I’m looking forward to reporting back in the newsletters as we have athletes racing left, right and centre over the coming months.

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give a special mention to all those athletes who have run marathons this month. Never have I felt more inspired than when watching the London Marathon last weekend. The sun shone on London and it really was a sight to behold seeing 58,000 runners set off on their individual journeys. It may have been a bit too hot for many but what a race it delivered. As usual in endurance racing it had it all from those who set new PB’s to those that fell apart or DNF’d. No level of athlete is spared when it comes to the perils of long course racing in the heat.

One of the main reasons I wanted to watch it on TV was to see our Olympic Gold Medallist Alex Yee take on the marathon challenge for the first time. I had a particular interest in this as I had just watched his fantastic 3-part docu-film on his preparation for this race called Alex Yee: The London Detour. This is a real insight into his preparation to try and run Sub 2:10 which he narrowly missed out on. Even though he went 2:11 this is still an extraordinary time for an elite first timer coming from another sport (that’s 3:07/km pace!). What I really loved was getting the insight on his training from his coach, his day to day preparation, the key training sessions and then seeing him run with his wonderful Grandad Albert Yee who at 93 was doing his 358th Park run. There is something to be said for having good genes after all! It will also demonstrate the importance of targeting race specific sessions which I talk about below. His 30km race pace marathon simulation session is a terrific lesson to all of you out there that want to prepare well for your chosen A races.

April really does mark the transition between building fitness and racing so training needs to reflect this. Many of you will be incredibly rusty when it comes to race dynamics so it’s important if you have racing in the early part of the season that you start to prepare for this now. This is done through race simulation sessions. This is simply setting up training sessions that help recreate the demands of racing to see how you perform and what you can learn from them. The importance of these sessions should not be underestimated. Why? Because each and every one of them is an opportunity to test yourself, your process, your nutrition, your pacing and your technical skills to see where your strengths & weaknesses lie. You can then look to improve in all areas as you do more of these sessions from week to week.

You have to appreciate that most of you haven’t raced since the back end of last year. You might be fit but that that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get your pacing nailed alongside your nutritional intake and the development of your racing skills. It’s time for you to start put that hat on and ask yourself the simple question – Where can I take these opportunities to recreate the demands of a race that challenge you mentally, physically, emotionally and technically? It can actually be very simple if you are prepared to be creative.

This could be something as simple as practising swimming in your wetsuit and starting to incorporate sighting sets into your swim training. You could also practice doing a fast and efficient wetsuit strip after each swim while wearing it. You can easily start to practice bike to run brick sessions each week with all of the kit you will be planning to use on race day.

On a much grander scale it’s incredibly useful to star to simulate swim/bike/run sessions that are back to back and happen on the same day. The number of athletes I see who never do this before race day never ceases to astound me. If you want to be really good, and most important efficient, at swim-bike-running then it needs to be practised! It’s highly risky just expecting it all to come together on race day.

They key areas you need to focus on when incorporating these race specific sessions are as follows:

1: What you do before
2: What you do during
3: What you do after

Part 1 is simple because if you are setting up a big race simulation session you need to be well rested going into it. So ideally you want to simulate a mini taper. I would definitely recommend taking a couple of easy days in the build up to it and certainly consider taking a full rest day the day before it. This also helps you to mentally & physically re-charge before the big day. You can also practice eating in a way that simulate what your dietary requirements will be leading into it. So, if you plan on doing some form of carb loading beforehand do it in the days leading into the session when you start to reduce your training intensity and volume. Also practice eating your race day breakfast and the timing of that in relation to the first session of the day. You should also be sure all of your kit is ready well in advance so you don’t leave anything to the last minute. The better the preparation for the day the more you reduce overall stress so you can just focus on the task at hand.

Part 2 is all about putting 3 disciplines together in a way that simulates a swim/bike/run as seamlessly as possible. Don’t worry if you have to drive to the pool or lake and then drive home again. The important thing is you get the swim into your body before you start the bike. The bike to run transition is usually the easiest to set up so there should be no issue there. Ideally you do all of these sessions outdoors but if that is not possible then an indoor swim/ turbo and run still has massive value if it’s easier to accommodate that way. The key things to focus on during this session is your pacing, nutrition and developing a mental plan for how you want the day ahead to feel so you can execute it. Intensity and emotional control is crucial. Far too often I see athletes let their emotions get the better of them which usually leads to going way too hard from a pacing perspective. This day is all about cold blooded self-control and discipline. Leave the emotion to the second half of the run on race day when you will need it. You should also test the exact kit you will be using on the day and most importantly your race nutrition. You also don’t have to do the entire session at race pace but set up some longer blocks of intervals at the desired race pace to help dial into what might be right or wrong. Then adapt is sensibly as you do more of these sessions to really get it dialled in.

Part 3 is the easy part. Firstly, have some kind of reward after the session finishes. Order that pizza, drink a beer or have that bar of chocolate that you denied yourself for so long. Or do all 3! Hopefully you will feel you have earned it by putting a solid day together. If not, hold off and go back to the drawing board. Then ask yourself, what can I do better ? There is no such thing as failure, just an opportunity so you can learn and be better next time around. The sooner you start to develop a healthy relationship with this the better, because you will have far more bad days than good days when it comes to training and racing that’s for sure. You need to see the magical opportunities that arise from not getting things right, this is the only way we learn and get better. Also be sure to take a few easier days post session and certainly a rest day after doing this big effort, your body and mind will need it.

It’s also important to realise that feeling some kid of nerves & pressure is completely normal and should be welcomed. This happens because you care deeply and want to get things right. Just remind yourself when that happens that it really is your bodies way of helping you perform at the level you want to get to. I’ve designed so many of these sessions for my athletes over the past few weeks and there is one common trend, virtually no one gets it right straight away, and there was always plenty of areas they could improve on. The magic really starts to happen when they start to repeat that very same session not just once, but several times. Do that and massively increase your chances of race day success.

Race results

Challenge Gran Canaria (middle distance)

Angus Pollard
Splits: swim 27:44 / bike 2:32:32 / 1:25:30 run
Total Time: 4:32:21
2nd in the 25-29 category

What a day for Angus at Challenge Gran Canaria…his first podium!!! I couldn’t be prouder as a Coach to see him finally achieve this milestone as an athlete. He also did it on one of the toughest courses out there. The bike course is absolutely brutal with 40 hills of varying sizes with 1700m metres of climbing in 56miles. To say he’s been on a journey to get here would be a huge understatement and it’s been a pleasure to watch him evolve over these past few years working together. The talent has always been there but most rewarding has been watching him being prepared to change & evolve mentally to become the triathlete he has become. ‘The Ice-man’ as I now like to call him well and truly delivered a ruthless classy performance that he we all knew he was capable of. A day to be proud of.

Singapore T100 – Duathlon (10k run/ 60km bike/ 10km run)

Vicki Hill
Splits: run 37:58/ bike 2:01:35 / run 47:54
Total Time: 3:34:23
1st in the 50-54 category / 2nd female overall

Loving this girl’s work as ever in the brutal heat of Singapore. ‘The Pocket Rocket’ never disappoints and rose to a new challenge yet again to take the win. That’s 3 wins in 3 races in 2025, you couldn’t ask for a better start to the season.

Milan Marathon

Oliver Wagner
Total Time: 3:42
45-49 category

London Marathon

Becky Lockspeiser
Total Time: 5:18:55
65-69 category
David Rueda
Total Time: 5:20:53
50-54 category

Huge congrats to our marathon runners who all did so well for different reasons. With Oliver setting a new PB over the distance which sets him up nicely for his Ironman later in the year.

David encapsulating the marathon spirit having to overcome a string of injuries in the build-up. But like he said, he was “committed for running for his friend Noel who has cancer, so it was the least he could do to get himself to the finish line for him”. Good on you Dr.

And last but not least, our fabulous Super Gran, known as Becky Lockspeiser who just rocked up and did her usual (amazing!) thing. Huge congrats to all of you.

What I’ve been watching & reading this month…

Abroad in Japan

One of those delightful light hearted coming of age stories that makes a very good bedtime read. Chris is a student just out of University, longing for something different so he applies for a teaching job in Japan. What comes next is his hilarious experiences whilst living there as he tries to get grips with a new language and culture.

“Spanning 10 years and 47 prefectures, Chris takes us from the chilling summit of Mount Fuji to the chaotic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a Japanese national TV experience gone horribly wrong and a week spent with Japan’s biggest movie star, Ken Watanabe, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun”.

Team Nagi – Triathlon, running & cycling kit shop now open

Just to let anyone who is interested, our Team Kit shop has been re-opened by Kalas for people to purchase kit. Please use this link.

Shop will be shut by close of business this coming Sunday for another few months.

Wetsuits for sale

One of my female athletes is selling the wetsuits below. Both are in perfect condition

First is my absolutely favourite Orca Alpha wetsuit – small. I’ve worn this wetsuit only about a dozen times and loved it BUT it has a zip that goes from top to bottom (to do up) and when I swim on my own I really struggle get in it. I paid £529 and would like £350 ono

The second is an Orca Athlex Float wetsuit – medium. I wore this once. It’s perfect for someone whose legs sink which as you know is not my problem and therefore I find my legs too high in the water. I paid £239 and would like £160 ono

Please contact Helen at notrubah@btinternet.com if interested.