7/31/2019 Flanners Men's Fitness July 2012

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7/31/2019 Flanners Men's Fitness July 2012

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30  July 2012  Men’s Fitness

IRON MAN{Report}

 Neil Flanagan only started training for triathlons three years ago. Now he’s off to NZ to represent GB at the World Triathlon Sprint Champs in November

GOING THE

DISTANCE

Dubai-basedfinancial consultant Neil Flanagan set himself two goals

when he started training for Iron Man events three years ago: he

wanted to complete an Ironman at some point, and to represent GB in

some kind of sport.

Last year he realised one of those goals byfinishing the Kona

Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, and will this year realise

his second goal by representing GB at the World Triathlon Sprint

Championships in New Zealand in October.

It’s hard to believe Flanagan has come so far in such a short space of time.

“I came to Dubai about five and a half years ago and fell in to the

typical expat lifestyle, like so many people. During thefirst two years

– going out to brunches 2-3 times a month. I looked at myself in the

mirror three years ago, and though I was never fat, I was a bit lumpy – so

I thought I’d do something to keep me out of the pub.”

It started with rekindling a passion for swimming. Flanagan says he

swan at a reasonably high level as a child. A friend asked to train with

him, and it quickly blossomed in to short, entry level events. A chance

meeting with Innerfight’s Marcus Smith during the Dubai 10k run in

February 2011 soon saw that escalate. Marcus Smith tends to have that

e ect on people.

“It’s just gone from there. It was just a hobby and something to keep

mefit, but you get to a point where you think, really, if I made some

e ort and dedication I could do reasonably well at this. I was going

through that thought process when I met Marcus. He suggested I spend

six months dedicating myself to it, get my nutrition right, train properly

and see where it took me.

To qualify for Hawaii, Flanagan decided to target the Philippines

Ironman in August where he finished third in his age-group (35-39),

thereby booking his slot for the November event.

“The theory is that on Kona race day, you get 18-1900 of the best

triathletes from all walks of life. And it’s true. Race day was amazing.

The start is just mayhem. I think there were 1920 people there, and

they’re all good athletes. If you go to some of these races, you’ll find a

couple of hundred decent athletes out of 1000, and the rest are there to

finish – which, in itself, is a great achievement.

“I’d never really considered that and normally in these races, coming

from a swimming background, youfind thefirst 100m or so is fairly

frantic, but it soon spreads out as people fall back. I tend to be near the

front and it’s normally fairly peaceful, but not there. I got o to a good

start and 200m in I thought I had a bit of space but had a look around

and there’s still 1800 people behind you.”Flanagan ended the event midfield with a time of 10hrs 57 minutes, and

was exceptionally pleased tofinish. This year, he’s had a change of focus.

“I trained so hard for the Philippines, which was in August, then for

Hawaii which was in October. I trained all through the Dubai summer

too, 18-20 hours a week. Even on the bike, that was tough. If you leave

at 2am to miss the worst of the heat, you’ll still take on board something

like six-litres of fluid while riding, and when I got home, I was still five

kilos lighter than when I’d left. To go through that constant cycle of 

training and rehydration can be quite damaging long term – so I was

happy to have it done and out of the way with for a while. In May,

Flanagan qualified for the World Triathlon Sprint Championships by

placing third in his age group at a short course event in Milton Keynes.

“I’ve had quite a big change in training programme structure. If you

 just compare the running part, there’s quite a big di erence between

running a marathon andfive km in terms of the training structures. I’ve

done a lot less volume in training; but it’s been a lot more interval based.

“Last year, I may have gone out and done a 20km run I’ll now go out

and do a 2km warm-up and then five 1km run repeats – and just do

them as fast as possible, rest for two minutes, and do it again.

“In terms of the training time, it’s been significantly reduced. But in

terms of the intensity, it’s a lot more intense. It’s just speed and strength.

I you look at the body composition of marathon runners and sprinters,

there’s a big di erence. While I’m not fat now, I was four orfive kilos

lighter when I went to Hawaii.”

“I have four parts to my training. I have a triathlon coach, a strength

coach [Marcus Smith, who also helps me with the sports performance,

nutrition and supplementation and the mental side of things], I work

with the guys at the Wellness Brothers for general nutrition.

“Even so, I train 13-14 hours a week, plus 2-3 hours with Marcus, so

there’s still enough to keep me busy.”

So, which is tougher: Ironman events, or short-course sprint events?

“I think your body has a certain amount to give, and whether you give

that over 10 hours or one hour, I don’t think there’s a di erence. I literally

crawled across thefinishing line in the UK and wanted to be sick. But I

think the body recovers from that pretty quickly because it’s only a short

race. Whereas in Hawaii, you’ve been on the go for longer, but you don’t

have that overwhelming urge to go and sit in a quiet room for a while.

It’s a di erent kind of intense. You don’t have that lung-bursting, vomit

inducing stress that you get in the short course events.”

Working with Marcus, Flanagan says, has helped tremendously.

“Just simply in terms of strength alone. In general, I’m feeling a lot

stronger andfitter. There’s a lot of functional core work. I don’t do

crunches or anything like that: it’s more functional. So I’ll do lunges, but

carry a weight overhead; deadlifts ; squats – all of those lifting exercises

where you’re having to stablise a weight that require your core. It’s all

about functional exercise.

“It helps because when you start to fatigue, your posture slumps, if 

you’re running, your shoulders sag. And I think that if you can keep

your posture through having a strong core, then you’re more ecient.

It’s like having a powerful engine and a weak chassis in a car: all thatpower gets dissipated. Rather than going through the pedals, it goes to

other parts of your body.

“The thing I like about Marcus is that a lot of people are prepared

to put their clients through the ringer, but they’re not prepared to go

there themselves. I’ve watched Marcus train and he buries himself 

day after day. The same with my triathlon coach: he murders himself 

every day. I think you’re a lot more receptive to people who push

you and put you through it because they’ve been there and done it

themselves.