The X-Training Series 2014 Gym Ironman 
In the superbly equipped and divine surroundings of the Wildmoor Health and Spa health Club in Warwickshire, on Saturday the 8th of March you would have found the very best athletes the fitness industry has to offer. They had travelled in most cases hundreds of miles to compete in the Gym Ironman (Ironwoman) a brutal 9 disciplined X Training Challenge. As was remarked during the day by competitor Neil Hill from Virgin Active in Southampton “ What most people find about X Training is that on paper it looks easy …. Unfortunately that is their first mistake.”
X- Training takes hours of dedicated training and there is now a dedicated website to the 2014 Series www.x-training.co.uk for those who want to take part and tune themselves into superbly conditioned athletes with the results to prove it.
Results ... Male/Female Open
Results ... Male /Female Intermediate
Results ... Male Female Novice
A word from those who took part ...
A face from the past returns Andy lett. I spoke with hin and newcomer Sarah Finnerty.
  Andy Lett who was seen some years ago at events is that reminder that once you take up this sport it never leaves you and brings you back. Andy a veteran competitor of many years experience also happened to mention this event to Science Teacher Sarah Finnerty who teaches Spin at the club they train together in (Link4Life) . The next thing we know is Sarah is signed up to compete in her first Gym Ironman at Advanced level . That’s how these things happen. A bubbly and enthusiastic athlete Sarah went onto say “ Id never really trained like this before and Andy just convinced me to have a go at the Advanced category, it was said that I had a poker face before the race, but deep down I was a bag of nerves for the start of my first race” Andy was quick to add also that due to Sarah’s passion in helping others in the fitness – that perhaps if she just focused a bit more on her own training , there would be an even more rapid progression. Sarah again went on to say how much she enjoyed the training and had great support from her pupils where she teaches and close friends who support her when needed. The team work was evident here and it will be good to see Sarah’s progress as she continues into X – Training.
The team from Link 4 Life - Jamie Fraser ... Sarah Finnerty ... Andy lett
A word with Doug Harrison ....
  From what we can see of X Training is that size doesn’t matter ! Ok let’s hang on there shall we? But lets look at what history has taught us that the disciplined X-Trainer can adapt to these courses. The slight build of now established athlete Doug Harrison , just goes to prove that in some cases just having a really good base threshold to anaerobic endurance is enough. The body in this case is a shell of the heart and that is what’s pumping the oxygen and blood around the body once you have mastered that , it’s a simple case of tolerating the tremendous pain threshold , that’s where the mastery is. Doug was delighted to finish this race as he pulled out in Hampshire due to an injury. He keeps his high levels of fitness by constantly training and looking into high reps on the Run, Bike and Row , being a qualified Personal Trainer at Virgin Active in Canary Wharfe allows him a bit of space to do this. I asked him how kept such a calm composure at the beginning of a race “ With the training I do its all geared towards this type of event, I put in long endurance rides as well as high intensity sprinting, so I’m well prepared” he added , “I was surprised at the Alternate Squat Thrusts (200) as we don’t train with a board – but that extra inch really counts and lifting your legs over the board just makes it that much harder , and I found myself stopping on those . “What about the treadmill ?” I asked , “Running at 10% incline is pretty brutal” Doug remarked “ I found that with the run my heart rate wasn’t so high around 183 (max around 199) of which when I hit the row (1000m) was around 190 mark ( you can normally add around 10 beats to a heart rate compared to running) which was hard” Doug incidentally had the fastest row of the day with a time of 3:46 .
The crew at Virgin Active is made of Robyn Lumas , who was featured in the April edition of Ultra FIT magazine and Steph Whitehead; Doug's girlfriend, who won the ladies Inermediate event. Said Doug, “ We normally train together when we can but with Robyn out of the country a lot with the forces its just mainly me and the Steph . We try and get a few people interested , but the training is very intense and they normally drop out after a week or so. I’m really pleased with Steph’s performances today , she dominated dominated and is so focused in the gym , it was well deserved.
Doug Harrison and Steph Whitehead from Virgin Active Canary Wharfe London
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