By Iñigo Mujika on August 31st 2010
The second International Sports Science and Sports Medicine Conference took place between August 19 and 21 in Newcastle, United Kingdom. One year before, the organising committee set the following aim for the first conference: to deliver the premier International Sports Science and Sports Medicine Conference, bringing together national and international experts in sports medicine and exercise science, embracing both public health and the world of elite sport, to review a range of issues in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond. Feedback from delegates at the first conference was very positive, and this encouraged the organisers to repeat the event in 2010. Matching the quality of last year’s programme was a challenge, but they succeeded in attracting an outstanding cast of delegates to the event.
The session I presented at was entitled “Peaking at the right time”, and I was honoured to share the session with my dear friend Professor Louise Burke, Head of Sports Nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport, who did an outstanding job at summarising recent innovations in sports nutrition research that should be incorporated into individualised competition nutrition practices. The session also included a remarkable presentation by UK Athletics Combined Events Coach Antonio Minichiello, who has coached World Medallists in both winter (Bobsleigh) and summer (Heptathlon) sports.
An abstract of my own presentation, entitled “Peaking at the right time – An integrated programme for athletes” can be read below:
Read and comment Peaking at the right time – An integrated programme for athletes
By Iñigo Mujika on August 25th 2010
By Iñigo Mujika on August 11th 2010
Craig Mottram.
Why is a man like you training in a place like Vitoria-Gasteiz?
There is a group of Australian athletes based in Vitoria-Gasteiz. The running is great and the weather is very suitable for running. It is also quite easy to access the rest of Europe for racing. I believe where you are happy and have good company are the most important things to make a good training base, and I have those in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Read and comment Interviews with the elite – Craig Mottram: “It´s important to believe you can beat the African runners”
By Iñigo Mujika on July 26th 2010
Eneko Llanos has just finished the first competitive cycle of the season with another excellent result, finishing third in the prestigious Roth Ironman, Germany, with a sensational time of 8 hours, 2 minutes and 33 seconds. Eneko has been on the podium all season so far, although this time it was not possible to reach the highest step, which was occupied by Rasmus Henning from Denmark. The second spot was taken by German triathlete Sebastian Kienle.
This great race in Roth brings one of Eneko’s most successful cycles of his sports career to an end: he won the Abu Dhabi Triathlon four months ago; he then achieved the third position in the Wildflower Half Ironman, California, one of the most important in the World; he continued on with a victory at Ironman Lanzarote, second in his career; three weeks later he achieved his eigth win in Zarautz, then won the Long Distance European Championships in Vitoria-Gasteiz on June 26th, and closed the cycle with the podium finish in Roth. Eneko will now take a break for a few days, before starting his preparation for Ironman Hawaii and Xterra Maui, both taking place next October in the named Pacific Islands.
Read and comment Eneko Llanos´ four fantastic months
By Iñigo Mujika on July 21st 2010
Craig Mottram and Victorian Institute of Sport triathlon coach Jonathan Hall (photo: Iñigo Mujika).
He was born in Frankston, Victoria, Australia, on 18 June 1980. He is one of the World’s fastest distance runners, and he is among us, training in Vitoria-Gasteiz along with a group of Australian triathletes in a three-month training camp organised by USP Araba Sport Clinic.
Craig Mottram, known amongst some African runners as the Big Mzungu (Big White Man), won the bronze medal in the 5,000 m at World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, and the silver medal in the same distance at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
Read and comment Interviews with the elite: Craig Mottram
By Iñigo Mujika on July 20th 2010
Ainhoa Murua finished ninth last Sunday in the Dextro Energy-Triathlon World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. This is Ainhoa’s best placing in the World Championship Series, on the day of her 32nd birthday.
The winner of the event was Swedish athlete Lisa Norden, who beat in the final sprint Emma Moffatt from Australia, new leader of the overall standings with three more races to go (London, Kitzbühel and the Grand Final in Budapest). Ainhoa, who was fourth at the European Championships in Athlone (Ireland) two weeks ago, equals the result she achieved at the beginning of June in the World Championships race of Madrid.
The athlete from Zarautz that I coach at USP Araba Sport Clinic places herself 15th in the World Championships overall ranking and aspires to finish in the competition’s Top-10 in mid-September.
By Iñigo Mujika on July 14th 2010
“Genetic and environmental changes can produce identical outcomes. If you wanted to rear a human child to win a body-building contest and you had a few centuries to spare, you could start by genetic manipulation, engineering exactly the same freak gene as characterizes Belgian Blue cattle and Black Exotic pigs. Indeed, there are some humans known to have deletions of the myostatin gene, and they tend to be abnormally well muscled. If you started with a mutant child and made it pump iron as well (presumably the cattle and pigs could not be cajoled into this), you could probably end with something more grotesque than Mr Universe.
Read and comment Genetics, environment and sport, in the eyes of Richard Dawkins
By Iñigo Mujika on June 14th 2010
Start of Zarautz Triathlon (photo: Iñigo Mujika).
Since the “invention” of triathlon in the second half of the 1970’s to our days, the growth, internationalization and popular interest for the sport have markedly increased. Researchers in the Sports Sciences have not been spared from the “triathlon fever”, and have tried to contribute to the advancement of the sport through studies allowing a better understanding of its physiological and biomechanical demands, as well as its medical implications or the most appropriate training methods. An analysis of the number of scientific publications on triathlon since 1984 (year of the first publication) until today indicates the implication of Sports Sciences with the sport; indeed, about 30 investigations on triathlon per year are published nowadays.
Read and comment Long distance triathlon and sports sciences
The second International Sports Science and Sports Medicine Conference took place between August 19 and 21 in Newcastle, United Kingdom. One year before, the organising committee set the following aim for the first conference: to deliver the premier International Sports Science and Sports Medicine Conference, bringing together national and international experts in sports medicine and exercise science, embracing both public health and the world of elite sport, to review a range of issues in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond. Feedback from delegates at the first conference was very positive, and this encouraged the organisers to repeat the event in 2010. Matching the quality of last year’s programme was a challenge, but they succeeded in attracting an outstanding cast of delegates to the event.
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