Finish What You’ve Started
.webp)
New Year New Me is becoming a cliche, people can even right off December because they have it in their minds come January it will all change as they miraculously get a kick up the arse. There will be plenty of articles going around about goal setting and ‘kicking off your new year right’, but i’m going to discuss a key principle you can use for your training to ensure you don’t fall off the bandwagon with everyone else. It all revolves around finishing what you’ve started… Why it can work? Completing tasks gives us a great sense of achievement, our day revolves around it. Completion can seem a daunting word saved only for tasks worthy of sharing, but it doesn’t need to be. We can ‘hack’ our minds into a favourable state just by completing lots of small (possibly meaningless) tasks. Once we get our minds on a completion roll, the remaining tasks become much more attainable and easier to do. ‘No-one ever regretted working out’ I’m not sure who originally said this but it’s true and scaleable. You never regret a workout, or all the workouts you managed to complete in your week, month or block into a race. This is because it is your goal to do those workouts and by doing them you are completing tasks to achieve that goal. Sounds very simple, you have a goal and the way to achieve it is to complete small tasks along the way, but then, along comes procrastination, distractions and excuses. Using the finish what you’ve started approach might help to keep you on track, focused, motivated and winning. How to make it work? Stop multi tasking… We are not good at it, we lose focus, forget and become very unproductive when we multi task. One of the reasons we start to multi task is because starting things kicks us off down the 'completion feel good’ road. Our minds actually get a hit of dopamine from starting tasks but this soon turns back on us when we fail to complete them. Our minds become overwhelmed from multi tasking and its likely you’ll end up half-arsing 3 things instead of fully completing even 1. Eliminate distractions when training…The more you learn the less you know. This is usually used in academic contexts when talking about research but what if we look at it from a social media standpoint. The more you use social media the more you open your mind up to information you (1) don’t need and (2) want to know more on. The important part there is point (1), you simply don’t need it. From a training stand point, people don’t have too much time to spare in their day and the amount of comments I read on athletes who ‘ran out of time’ is far too many. You didn't ‘run out of time’ you just didn’t allocate your time correctly. Social media is amazing for sharing, motivating and connecting people but use it wisely. Allocate time to it, don’t just scroll through it without a purpose. Set tasks prior to your training sessions that both eliminates distractions and gets your task approach mind rolling!
Close all social applications
Turn off notifications/turn on do not disturb mode
Ask yourself ‘do I know the structure and purpose of this training session’?
The more you think about social media the crazier it gets, ultimately it is a never ending task… so does this mean our minds will never feel accomplished with it? Break your workouts down…The end of a three hour run or five hour bike, even a 60min CrossFit class can seem a life time away. Twenty minutes of a long session though, seems like nothing. As a coach I like to test my athletes physically and mentally. Some athletes love to have session structure, ready made bite size blocks they can tick off over and over, these guys do great with the finish what you’ve started method. Typical ways of breaking long unstructured sessions or races down is by; feeding intervals, time intervals, distance intervals and landmark intervals. It is a key skill to develop, particularly for longer distance athletes. Nope your coach isn’t being lazy giving you a four hour ride on feel or a two hour run by choice, they’re helping you develop this skill as come race day, it’s all down to you. Once you can develop this block structure approach, you begin to ’trick’ the mind into a completion state and the big picture of the session will take care of its self. Define a start and end point…If we don’t feel the task is fully complete we don’t get the hit of completion we crave and will begin to start other tasks to fuel our dopamine release. Do what you are doing until you have done it and make sure your brain knows the training task for the day is complete. Training starts the night before, or when you wake up, or when you press go on your Garmin. It doesn’t actually matter when training starts, what matters is what stops. Remember, we are terrible at multi tasking. If you are training and on WhatsApp or training and looking at emails you are not doing both optimally. Do one, or the other. Endurance training can be monotonous and one dimensional at times which can lead the brain into boredom and to start other tasks (like checking notifications) which as we know is a distraction from your training goals. CrossFit is intensive and require extreme focus, if you’re checking your phone every 5 min then you’re not maximising your focus. Some things like music, podcasts, audio books and youtube/netflix can be of value during longer sessions but they are ‘background noise’ that don’t take too much concentration. Thinking of words and sentences to say to people on email or WhatsApp takes a lot of concentration, ever spoke to someone who has one eye on something else? It’s pointless. So thinking you can focus on a conversation while also focusing on your session goals is naive, you cant. Knowing what needs to switch off when training starts is the key. This also means your brain… Go into each session with a mindset of ‘leave your problems at the door’. Thoughts of work and life will creep back into your mind but overshadow them with thoughts on the current task you are completing. Defining an end point makes sure you complete everything needed to ensure the session was successful.
Write down a tick list of;
1.Before tasks (nutrition, equipment etc…),
2.Session goals/structure
3.Post tasks (feedback, cleaning bike, washing etc...) to help you layout a completion path.
The finishing what you’ve started approach takes organisation, this is why it works, because you will become more organised. You may have a coach to help keep you accountable to it, you may have training partners, you may just have yourself. In all cases though, you need to be clear of your session expectations and pre and post session tasks. 2020 will be epic! So many goals are being set, lets make sure you finish what you start! By; Tom Walker, Endurance Coach

ENGINE
Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises.
GYMNASTICS
This Tuesday, we’re focusing on pull-up progressions! Strict, kipping, and butterfly will appear, followed by lat and core supersets.
On Thursday evening, we’ll focus on handstand hold progressions before having some fun with handstand walks and finishing off the session with core and strength work.
HYROX
This is the Last Simulation before race week. We will lower the volume but keep the intensity high to make sure you are ready for race day!
ENGINE: Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises
MOBILITY
This week, we have the topic: Why are your calves and hamstrings always tight? What can we do to remedy this? Get yourself booked in, and I will show you! This is a great session for everyone, but it is extra beneficial to those runners out there!
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength, we have a chance to progress our 20 RM RDL, followed by some heavy press and strict press cluster sets.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on the squat clean. With a fun complex followed by some pulls. Perfect technique session, working on the barbell timing and full depth in the clean

Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Jebel Jais Ride
Today our weekly endurance ride is at Jebel Jais! If you're interested to join email us here.
.jpg)
Monday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 600m repeats. Which will start at 5km pace and progress to 3km pace, so that the pace increases within each rep.
Wednesday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running a negative split session, meaning that the second half is faster than the first. After 30 mins of easy running, lock into a 20 mins block of effort from 7 - 9 RPE.
Saturday
Time: 5:15am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 56km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
Sunday
Time: 6:00am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 21km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
.jpg)
Eid Mubarak, we hope you all have a great long weekend! Class times are different this week, so please check the schedule on Mindbody! We have a great week lined up, so see you all on the gym floor!
Monday:
We start the week with an epic partner workout. Grab a partner, and let's start the week with a bang!
Conditioning:
40 min amrap in pairs
50 Cal Row
6 wall walks
50 CB Clean and Jerk
6 Wall Walks
50 Box Jump Overs
6 Wall Walks
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, we have some push-and-pull work in our strength area, focused on overhead pressing, and then 2 12-minute AMRAPs for you to get stuck into.
Strength:
Every 90 sec x 8 Alt between
A: 8 Dual DB Z press
B: 20 Alt Gorilla Rows
Conditioning:
12 min amrap
30 Wall balls
30/25 cal ski
30 Double Unders
Rest 3 Mins
12 min amrap
30/25 Sal Ass bike
20 V Ups
20 Russian KB Swings
Wednesday:
Wednesday, we are hitting some paused back squats in the strength, and then we get after a real grind of a WOD with some burpee pull-ups, front squats, and running.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 6 - 3/3/2/2/1/1 Tempo Back Squats @21X1
Conditioning:
10 rounds for time
5 Front Squats
Pool Run
5 burpee pull-ups
Thursday:
Thursday, snatch complex with some accessory, followed by the workout ACID BATH.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 8 - 1 Snatch Pull + 1 hang Power Snatch +
1 Power snatch
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 3 - 5 Snatch Grip Deadlift
Conditioning:
For time
500m ski
500m row
1000m c2 bike
Friday:
FUF - Finishing the week with some push-pull work in the strength, before an all-in barbell workout to end the week! What Better!
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 5 - 5 push press
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 4 complete 6 DB bench Press @ 30x1 + 3-5 strict pull ups
Conditioning:
5 min amrap
9 Deadlift
6 Hang Power Clean
3 STOH
Rest 3 mins x 3
.webp)
New Year New Me is becoming a cliche, people can even right off December because they have it in their minds come January it will all change as they miraculously get a kick up the arse. There will be plenty of articles going around about goal setting and ‘kicking off your new year right’, but i’m going to discuss a key principle you can use for your training to ensure you don’t fall off the bandwagon with everyone else. It all revolves around finishing what you’ve started… Why it can work? Completing tasks gives us a great sense of achievement, our day revolves around it. Completion can seem a daunting word saved only for tasks worthy of sharing, but it doesn’t need to be. We can ‘hack’ our minds into a favourable state just by completing lots of small (possibly meaningless) tasks. Once we get our minds on a completion roll, the remaining tasks become much more attainable and easier to do. ‘No-one ever regretted working out’ I’m not sure who originally said this but it’s true and scaleable. You never regret a workout, or all the workouts you managed to complete in your week, month or block into a race. This is because it is your goal to do those workouts and by doing them you are completing tasks to achieve that goal. Sounds very simple, you have a goal and the way to achieve it is to complete small tasks along the way, but then, along comes procrastination, distractions and excuses. Using the finish what you’ve started approach might help to keep you on track, focused, motivated and winning. How to make it work? Stop multi tasking… We are not good at it, we lose focus, forget and become very unproductive when we multi task. One of the reasons we start to multi task is because starting things kicks us off down the 'completion feel good’ road. Our minds actually get a hit of dopamine from starting tasks but this soon turns back on us when we fail to complete them. Our minds become overwhelmed from multi tasking and its likely you’ll end up half-arsing 3 things instead of fully completing even 1. Eliminate distractions when training…The more you learn the less you know. This is usually used in academic contexts when talking about research but what if we look at it from a social media standpoint. The more you use social media the more you open your mind up to information you (1) don’t need and (2) want to know more on. The important part there is point (1), you simply don’t need it. From a training stand point, people don’t have too much time to spare in their day and the amount of comments I read on athletes who ‘ran out of time’ is far too many. You didn't ‘run out of time’ you just didn’t allocate your time correctly. Social media is amazing for sharing, motivating and connecting people but use it wisely. Allocate time to it, don’t just scroll through it without a purpose. Set tasks prior to your training sessions that both eliminates distractions and gets your task approach mind rolling!
Close all social applications
Turn off notifications/turn on do not disturb mode
Ask yourself ‘do I know the structure and purpose of this training session’?
The more you think about social media the crazier it gets, ultimately it is a never ending task… so does this mean our minds will never feel accomplished with it? Break your workouts down…The end of a three hour run or five hour bike, even a 60min CrossFit class can seem a life time away. Twenty minutes of a long session though, seems like nothing. As a coach I like to test my athletes physically and mentally. Some athletes love to have session structure, ready made bite size blocks they can tick off over and over, these guys do great with the finish what you’ve started method. Typical ways of breaking long unstructured sessions or races down is by; feeding intervals, time intervals, distance intervals and landmark intervals. It is a key skill to develop, particularly for longer distance athletes. Nope your coach isn’t being lazy giving you a four hour ride on feel or a two hour run by choice, they’re helping you develop this skill as come race day, it’s all down to you. Once you can develop this block structure approach, you begin to ’trick’ the mind into a completion state and the big picture of the session will take care of its self. Define a start and end point…If we don’t feel the task is fully complete we don’t get the hit of completion we crave and will begin to start other tasks to fuel our dopamine release. Do what you are doing until you have done it and make sure your brain knows the training task for the day is complete. Training starts the night before, or when you wake up, or when you press go on your Garmin. It doesn’t actually matter when training starts, what matters is what stops. Remember, we are terrible at multi tasking. If you are training and on WhatsApp or training and looking at emails you are not doing both optimally. Do one, or the other. Endurance training can be monotonous and one dimensional at times which can lead the brain into boredom and to start other tasks (like checking notifications) which as we know is a distraction from your training goals. CrossFit is intensive and require extreme focus, if you’re checking your phone every 5 min then you’re not maximising your focus. Some things like music, podcasts, audio books and youtube/netflix can be of value during longer sessions but they are ‘background noise’ that don’t take too much concentration. Thinking of words and sentences to say to people on email or WhatsApp takes a lot of concentration, ever spoke to someone who has one eye on something else? It’s pointless. So thinking you can focus on a conversation while also focusing on your session goals is naive, you cant. Knowing what needs to switch off when training starts is the key. This also means your brain… Go into each session with a mindset of ‘leave your problems at the door’. Thoughts of work and life will creep back into your mind but overshadow them with thoughts on the current task you are completing. Defining an end point makes sure you complete everything needed to ensure the session was successful.
Write down a tick list of;
1.Before tasks (nutrition, equipment etc…),
2.Session goals/structure
3.Post tasks (feedback, cleaning bike, washing etc...) to help you layout a completion path.
The finishing what you’ve started approach takes organisation, this is why it works, because you will become more organised. You may have a coach to help keep you accountable to it, you may have training partners, you may just have yourself. In all cases though, you need to be clear of your session expectations and pre and post session tasks. 2020 will be epic! So many goals are being set, lets make sure you finish what you start! By; Tom Walker, Endurance Coach

Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Jebel Jais Ride
Today our weekly endurance ride is at Jebel Jais! If you're interested to join email us here.
.jpg)
Monday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 600m repeats. Which will start at 5km pace and progress to 3km pace, so that the pace increases within each rep.
Wednesday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running a negative split session, meaning that the second half is faster than the first. After 30 mins of easy running, lock into a 20 mins block of effort from 7 - 9 RPE.
Saturday
Time: 5:15am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 56km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
Sunday
Time: 6:00am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 21km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
.jpg)
Eid Mubarak, we hope you all have a great long weekend! Class times are different this week, so please check the schedule on Mindbody! We have a great week lined up, so see you all on the gym floor!
Monday:
We start the week with an epic partner workout. Grab a partner, and let's start the week with a bang!
Conditioning:
40 min amrap in pairs
50 Cal Row
6 wall walks
50 CB Clean and Jerk
6 Wall Walks
50 Box Jump Overs
6 Wall Walks
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, we have some push-and-pull work in our strength area, focused on overhead pressing, and then 2 12-minute AMRAPs for you to get stuck into.
Strength:
Every 90 sec x 8 Alt between
A: 8 Dual DB Z press
B: 20 Alt Gorilla Rows
Conditioning:
12 min amrap
30 Wall balls
30/25 cal ski
30 Double Unders
Rest 3 Mins
12 min amrap
30/25 Sal Ass bike
20 V Ups
20 Russian KB Swings
Wednesday:
Wednesday, we are hitting some paused back squats in the strength, and then we get after a real grind of a WOD with some burpee pull-ups, front squats, and running.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 6 - 3/3/2/2/1/1 Tempo Back Squats @21X1
Conditioning:
10 rounds for time
5 Front Squats
Pool Run
5 burpee pull-ups
Thursday:
Thursday, snatch complex with some accessory, followed by the workout ACID BATH.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 8 - 1 Snatch Pull + 1 hang Power Snatch +
1 Power snatch
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 3 - 5 Snatch Grip Deadlift
Conditioning:
For time
500m ski
500m row
1000m c2 bike
Friday:
FUF - Finishing the week with some push-pull work in the strength, before an all-in barbell workout to end the week! What Better!
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 5 - 5 push press
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 4 complete 6 DB bench Press @ 30x1 + 3-5 strict pull ups
Conditioning:
5 min amrap
9 Deadlift
6 Hang Power Clean
3 STOH
Rest 3 mins x 3

ENGINE
Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises.
GYMNASTICS
This Tuesday, we’re focusing on pull-up progressions! Strict, kipping, and butterfly will appear, followed by lat and core supersets.
On Thursday evening, we’ll focus on handstand hold progressions before having some fun with handstand walks and finishing off the session with core and strength work.
HYROX
This is the Last Simulation before race week. We will lower the volume but keep the intensity high to make sure you are ready for race day!
ENGINE: Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises
MOBILITY
This week, we have the topic: Why are your calves and hamstrings always tight? What can we do to remedy this? Get yourself booked in, and I will show you! This is a great session for everyone, but it is extra beneficial to those runners out there!
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength, we have a chance to progress our 20 RM RDL, followed by some heavy press and strict press cluster sets.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on the squat clean. With a fun complex followed by some pulls. Perfect technique session, working on the barbell timing and full depth in the clean
.webp)
New Year New Me is becoming a cliche, people can even right off December because they have it in their minds come January it will all change as they miraculously get a kick up the arse. There will be plenty of articles going around about goal setting and ‘kicking off your new year right’, but i’m going to discuss a key principle you can use for your training to ensure you don’t fall off the bandwagon with everyone else. It all revolves around finishing what you’ve started… Why it can work? Completing tasks gives us a great sense of achievement, our day revolves around it. Completion can seem a daunting word saved only for tasks worthy of sharing, but it doesn’t need to be. We can ‘hack’ our minds into a favourable state just by completing lots of small (possibly meaningless) tasks. Once we get our minds on a completion roll, the remaining tasks become much more attainable and easier to do. ‘No-one ever regretted working out’ I’m not sure who originally said this but it’s true and scaleable. You never regret a workout, or all the workouts you managed to complete in your week, month or block into a race. This is because it is your goal to do those workouts and by doing them you are completing tasks to achieve that goal. Sounds very simple, you have a goal and the way to achieve it is to complete small tasks along the way, but then, along comes procrastination, distractions and excuses. Using the finish what you’ve started approach might help to keep you on track, focused, motivated and winning. How to make it work? Stop multi tasking… We are not good at it, we lose focus, forget and become very unproductive when we multi task. One of the reasons we start to multi task is because starting things kicks us off down the 'completion feel good’ road. Our minds actually get a hit of dopamine from starting tasks but this soon turns back on us when we fail to complete them. Our minds become overwhelmed from multi tasking and its likely you’ll end up half-arsing 3 things instead of fully completing even 1. Eliminate distractions when training…The more you learn the less you know. This is usually used in academic contexts when talking about research but what if we look at it from a social media standpoint. The more you use social media the more you open your mind up to information you (1) don’t need and (2) want to know more on. The important part there is point (1), you simply don’t need it. From a training stand point, people don’t have too much time to spare in their day and the amount of comments I read on athletes who ‘ran out of time’ is far too many. You didn't ‘run out of time’ you just didn’t allocate your time correctly. Social media is amazing for sharing, motivating and connecting people but use it wisely. Allocate time to it, don’t just scroll through it without a purpose. Set tasks prior to your training sessions that both eliminates distractions and gets your task approach mind rolling!
Close all social applications
Turn off notifications/turn on do not disturb mode
Ask yourself ‘do I know the structure and purpose of this training session’?
The more you think about social media the crazier it gets, ultimately it is a never ending task… so does this mean our minds will never feel accomplished with it? Break your workouts down…The end of a three hour run or five hour bike, even a 60min CrossFit class can seem a life time away. Twenty minutes of a long session though, seems like nothing. As a coach I like to test my athletes physically and mentally. Some athletes love to have session structure, ready made bite size blocks they can tick off over and over, these guys do great with the finish what you’ve started method. Typical ways of breaking long unstructured sessions or races down is by; feeding intervals, time intervals, distance intervals and landmark intervals. It is a key skill to develop, particularly for longer distance athletes. Nope your coach isn’t being lazy giving you a four hour ride on feel or a two hour run by choice, they’re helping you develop this skill as come race day, it’s all down to you. Once you can develop this block structure approach, you begin to ’trick’ the mind into a completion state and the big picture of the session will take care of its self. Define a start and end point…If we don’t feel the task is fully complete we don’t get the hit of completion we crave and will begin to start other tasks to fuel our dopamine release. Do what you are doing until you have done it and make sure your brain knows the training task for the day is complete. Training starts the night before, or when you wake up, or when you press go on your Garmin. It doesn’t actually matter when training starts, what matters is what stops. Remember, we are terrible at multi tasking. If you are training and on WhatsApp or training and looking at emails you are not doing both optimally. Do one, or the other. Endurance training can be monotonous and one dimensional at times which can lead the brain into boredom and to start other tasks (like checking notifications) which as we know is a distraction from your training goals. CrossFit is intensive and require extreme focus, if you’re checking your phone every 5 min then you’re not maximising your focus. Some things like music, podcasts, audio books and youtube/netflix can be of value during longer sessions but they are ‘background noise’ that don’t take too much concentration. Thinking of words and sentences to say to people on email or WhatsApp takes a lot of concentration, ever spoke to someone who has one eye on something else? It’s pointless. So thinking you can focus on a conversation while also focusing on your session goals is naive, you cant. Knowing what needs to switch off when training starts is the key. This also means your brain… Go into each session with a mindset of ‘leave your problems at the door’. Thoughts of work and life will creep back into your mind but overshadow them with thoughts on the current task you are completing. Defining an end point makes sure you complete everything needed to ensure the session was successful.
Write down a tick list of;
1.Before tasks (nutrition, equipment etc…),
2.Session goals/structure
3.Post tasks (feedback, cleaning bike, washing etc...) to help you layout a completion path.
The finishing what you’ve started approach takes organisation, this is why it works, because you will become more organised. You may have a coach to help keep you accountable to it, you may have training partners, you may just have yourself. In all cases though, you need to be clear of your session expectations and pre and post session tasks. 2020 will be epic! So many goals are being set, lets make sure you finish what you start! By; Tom Walker, Endurance Coach
.jpg)
Monday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 600m repeats. Which will start at 5km pace and progress to 3km pace, so that the pace increases within each rep.
Wednesday
There is no in person session this week at LRC. Those who are Unlimited Members, your Training Peaks have been programmed still.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running a negative split session, meaning that the second half is faster than the first. After 30 mins of easy running, lock into a 20 mins block of effort from 7 - 9 RPE.
Saturday
Time: 5:15am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 56km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
Sunday
Time: 6:00am
Location: Cape Town
Session: Two Oceans
Today the 21km runners will be taking on Two Oceans.
.jpg)
Eid Mubarak, we hope you all have a great long weekend! Class times are different this week, so please check the schedule on Mindbody! We have a great week lined up, so see you all on the gym floor!
Monday:
We start the week with an epic partner workout. Grab a partner, and let's start the week with a bang!
Conditioning:
40 min amrap in pairs
50 Cal Row
6 wall walks
50 CB Clean and Jerk
6 Wall Walks
50 Box Jump Overs
6 Wall Walks
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, we have some push-and-pull work in our strength area, focused on overhead pressing, and then 2 12-minute AMRAPs for you to get stuck into.
Strength:
Every 90 sec x 8 Alt between
A: 8 Dual DB Z press
B: 20 Alt Gorilla Rows
Conditioning:
12 min amrap
30 Wall balls
30/25 cal ski
30 Double Unders
Rest 3 Mins
12 min amrap
30/25 Sal Ass bike
20 V Ups
20 Russian KB Swings
Wednesday:
Wednesday, we are hitting some paused back squats in the strength, and then we get after a real grind of a WOD with some burpee pull-ups, front squats, and running.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 6 - 3/3/2/2/1/1 Tempo Back Squats @21X1
Conditioning:
10 rounds for time
5 Front Squats
Pool Run
5 burpee pull-ups
Thursday:
Thursday, snatch complex with some accessory, followed by the workout ACID BATH.
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 8 - 1 Snatch Pull + 1 hang Power Snatch +
1 Power snatch
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 3 - 5 Snatch Grip Deadlift
Conditioning:
For time
500m ski
500m row
1000m c2 bike
Friday:
FUF - Finishing the week with some push-pull work in the strength, before an all-in barbell workout to end the week! What Better!
Strength:
Every 2 mins x 5 - 5 push press
rest 3 mins
Every 2 mins x 4 complete 6 DB bench Press @ 30x1 + 3-5 strict pull ups
Conditioning:
5 min amrap
9 Deadlift
6 Hang Power Clean
3 STOH
Rest 3 mins x 3

ENGINE
Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises.
GYMNASTICS
This Tuesday, we’re focusing on pull-up progressions! Strict, kipping, and butterfly will appear, followed by lat and core supersets.
On Thursday evening, we’ll focus on handstand hold progressions before having some fun with handstand walks and finishing off the session with core and strength work.
HYROX
This is the Last Simulation before race week. We will lower the volume but keep the intensity high to make sure you are ready for race day!
ENGINE: Long EMOM with a mixture of machines and body weight exercises
MOBILITY
This week, we have the topic: Why are your calves and hamstrings always tight? What can we do to remedy this? Get yourself booked in, and I will show you! This is a great session for everyone, but it is extra beneficial to those runners out there!
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength, we have a chance to progress our 20 RM RDL, followed by some heavy press and strict press cluster sets.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on the squat clean. With a fun complex followed by some pulls. Perfect technique session, working on the barbell timing and full depth in the clean

Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Jebel Jais Ride
Today our weekly endurance ride is at Jebel Jais! If you're interested to join email us here.
.webp)
New Year New Me is becoming a cliche, people can even right off December because they have it in their minds come January it will all change as they miraculously get a kick up the arse. There will be plenty of articles going around about goal setting and ‘kicking off your new year right’, but i’m going to discuss a key principle you can use for your training to ensure you don’t fall off the bandwagon with everyone else. It all revolves around finishing what you’ve started… Why it can work? Completing tasks gives us a great sense of achievement, our day revolves around it. Completion can seem a daunting word saved only for tasks worthy of sharing, but it doesn’t need to be. We can ‘hack’ our minds into a favourable state just by completing lots of small (possibly meaningless) tasks. Once we get our minds on a completion roll, the remaining tasks become much more attainable and easier to do. ‘No-one ever regretted working out’ I’m not sure who originally said this but it’s true and scaleable. You never regret a workout, or all the workouts you managed to complete in your week, month or block into a race. This is because it is your goal to do those workouts and by doing them you are completing tasks to achieve that goal. Sounds very simple, you have a goal and the way to achieve it is to complete small tasks along the way, but then, along comes procrastination, distractions and excuses. Using the finish what you’ve started approach might help to keep you on track, focused, motivated and winning. How to make it work? Stop multi tasking… We are not good at it, we lose focus, forget and become very unproductive when we multi task. One of the reasons we start to multi task is because starting things kicks us off down the 'completion feel good’ road. Our minds actually get a hit of dopamine from starting tasks but this soon turns back on us when we fail to complete them. Our minds become overwhelmed from multi tasking and its likely you’ll end up half-arsing 3 things instead of fully completing even 1. Eliminate distractions when training…The more you learn the less you know. This is usually used in academic contexts when talking about research but what if we look at it from a social media standpoint. The more you use social media the more you open your mind up to information you (1) don’t need and (2) want to know more on. The important part there is point (1), you simply don’t need it. From a training stand point, people don’t have too much time to spare in their day and the amount of comments I read on athletes who ‘ran out of time’ is far too many. You didn't ‘run out of time’ you just didn’t allocate your time correctly. Social media is amazing for sharing, motivating and connecting people but use it wisely. Allocate time to it, don’t just scroll through it without a purpose. Set tasks prior to your training sessions that both eliminates distractions and gets your task approach mind rolling!
Close all social applications
Turn off notifications/turn on do not disturb mode
Ask yourself ‘do I know the structure and purpose of this training session’?
The more you think about social media the crazier it gets, ultimately it is a never ending task… so does this mean our minds will never feel accomplished with it? Break your workouts down…The end of a three hour run or five hour bike, even a 60min CrossFit class can seem a life time away. Twenty minutes of a long session though, seems like nothing. As a coach I like to test my athletes physically and mentally. Some athletes love to have session structure, ready made bite size blocks they can tick off over and over, these guys do great with the finish what you’ve started method. Typical ways of breaking long unstructured sessions or races down is by; feeding intervals, time intervals, distance intervals and landmark intervals. It is a key skill to develop, particularly for longer distance athletes. Nope your coach isn’t being lazy giving you a four hour ride on feel or a two hour run by choice, they’re helping you develop this skill as come race day, it’s all down to you. Once you can develop this block structure approach, you begin to ’trick’ the mind into a completion state and the big picture of the session will take care of its self. Define a start and end point…If we don’t feel the task is fully complete we don’t get the hit of completion we crave and will begin to start other tasks to fuel our dopamine release. Do what you are doing until you have done it and make sure your brain knows the training task for the day is complete. Training starts the night before, or when you wake up, or when you press go on your Garmin. It doesn’t actually matter when training starts, what matters is what stops. Remember, we are terrible at multi tasking. If you are training and on WhatsApp or training and looking at emails you are not doing both optimally. Do one, or the other. Endurance training can be monotonous and one dimensional at times which can lead the brain into boredom and to start other tasks (like checking notifications) which as we know is a distraction from your training goals. CrossFit is intensive and require extreme focus, if you’re checking your phone every 5 min then you’re not maximising your focus. Some things like music, podcasts, audio books and youtube/netflix can be of value during longer sessions but they are ‘background noise’ that don’t take too much concentration. Thinking of words and sentences to say to people on email or WhatsApp takes a lot of concentration, ever spoke to someone who has one eye on something else? It’s pointless. So thinking you can focus on a conversation while also focusing on your session goals is naive, you cant. Knowing what needs to switch off when training starts is the key. This also means your brain… Go into each session with a mindset of ‘leave your problems at the door’. Thoughts of work and life will creep back into your mind but overshadow them with thoughts on the current task you are completing. Defining an end point makes sure you complete everything needed to ensure the session was successful.
Write down a tick list of;
1.Before tasks (nutrition, equipment etc…),
2.Session goals/structure
3.Post tasks (feedback, cleaning bike, washing etc...) to help you layout a completion path.
The finishing what you’ve started approach takes organisation, this is why it works, because you will become more organised. You may have a coach to help keep you accountable to it, you may have training partners, you may just have yourself. In all cases though, you need to be clear of your session expectations and pre and post session tasks. 2020 will be epic! So many goals are being set, lets make sure you finish what you start! By; Tom Walker, Endurance Coach
.webp)
New Year New Me is becoming a cliche, people can even right off December because they have it in their minds come January it will all change as they miraculously get a kick up the arse. There will be plenty of articles going around about goal setting and ‘kicking off your new year right’, but i’m going to discuss a key principle you can use for your training to ensure you don’t fall off the bandwagon with everyone else. It all revolves around finishing what you’ve started… Why it can work? Completing tasks gives us a great sense of achievement, our day revolves around it. Completion can seem a daunting word saved only for tasks worthy of sharing, but it doesn’t need to be. We can ‘hack’ our minds into a favourable state just by completing lots of small (possibly meaningless) tasks. Once we get our minds on a completion roll, the remaining tasks become much more attainable and easier to do. ‘No-one ever regretted working out’ I’m not sure who originally said this but it’s true and scaleable. You never regret a workout, or all the workouts you managed to complete in your week, month or block into a race. This is because it is your goal to do those workouts and by doing them you are completing tasks to achieve that goal. Sounds very simple, you have a goal and the way to achieve it is to complete small tasks along the way, but then, along comes procrastination, distractions and excuses. Using the finish what you’ve started approach might help to keep you on track, focused, motivated and winning. How to make it work? Stop multi tasking… We are not good at it, we lose focus, forget and become very unproductive when we multi task. One of the reasons we start to multi task is because starting things kicks us off down the 'completion feel good’ road. Our minds actually get a hit of dopamine from starting tasks but this soon turns back on us when we fail to complete them. Our minds become overwhelmed from multi tasking and its likely you’ll end up half-arsing 3 things instead of fully completing even 1. Eliminate distractions when training…The more you learn the less you know. This is usually used in academic contexts when talking about research but what if we look at it from a social media standpoint. The more you use social media the more you open your mind up to information you (1) don’t need and (2) want to know more on. The important part there is point (1), you simply don’t need it. From a training stand point, people don’t have too much time to spare in their day and the amount of comments I read on athletes who ‘ran out of time’ is far too many. You didn't ‘run out of time’ you just didn’t allocate your time correctly. Social media is amazing for sharing, motivating and connecting people but use it wisely. Allocate time to it, don’t just scroll through it without a purpose. Set tasks prior to your training sessions that both eliminates distractions and gets your task approach mind rolling!
Close all social applications
Turn off notifications/turn on do not disturb mode
Ask yourself ‘do I know the structure and purpose of this training session’?
The more you think about social media the crazier it gets, ultimately it is a never ending task… so does this mean our minds will never feel accomplished with it? Break your workouts down…The end of a three hour run or five hour bike, even a 60min CrossFit class can seem a life time away. Twenty minutes of a long session though, seems like nothing. As a coach I like to test my athletes physically and mentally. Some athletes love to have session structure, ready made bite size blocks they can tick off over and over, these guys do great with the finish what you’ve started method. Typical ways of breaking long unstructured sessions or races down is by; feeding intervals, time intervals, distance intervals and landmark intervals. It is a key skill to develop, particularly for longer distance athletes. Nope your coach isn’t being lazy giving you a four hour ride on feel or a two hour run by choice, they’re helping you develop this skill as come race day, it’s all down to you. Once you can develop this block structure approach, you begin to ’trick’ the mind into a completion state and the big picture of the session will take care of its self. Define a start and end point…If we don’t feel the task is fully complete we don’t get the hit of completion we crave and will begin to start other tasks to fuel our dopamine release. Do what you are doing until you have done it and make sure your brain knows the training task for the day is complete. Training starts the night before, or when you wake up, or when you press go on your Garmin. It doesn’t actually matter when training starts, what matters is what stops. Remember, we are terrible at multi tasking. If you are training and on WhatsApp or training and looking at emails you are not doing both optimally. Do one, or the other. Endurance training can be monotonous and one dimensional at times which can lead the brain into boredom and to start other tasks (like checking notifications) which as we know is a distraction from your training goals. CrossFit is intensive and require extreme focus, if you’re checking your phone every 5 min then you’re not maximising your focus. Some things like music, podcasts, audio books and youtube/netflix can be of value during longer sessions but they are ‘background noise’ that don’t take too much concentration. Thinking of words and sentences to say to people on email or WhatsApp takes a lot of concentration, ever spoke to someone who has one eye on something else? It’s pointless. So thinking you can focus on a conversation while also focusing on your session goals is naive, you cant. Knowing what needs to switch off when training starts is the key. This also means your brain… Go into each session with a mindset of ‘leave your problems at the door’. Thoughts of work and life will creep back into your mind but overshadow them with thoughts on the current task you are completing. Defining an end point makes sure you complete everything needed to ensure the session was successful.
Write down a tick list of;
1.Before tasks (nutrition, equipment etc…),
2.Session goals/structure
3.Post tasks (feedback, cleaning bike, washing etc...) to help you layout a completion path.
The finishing what you’ve started approach takes organisation, this is why it works, because you will become more organised. You may have a coach to help keep you accountable to it, you may have training partners, you may just have yourself. In all cases though, you need to be clear of your session expectations and pre and post session tasks. 2020 will be epic! So many goals are being set, lets make sure you finish what you start! By; Tom Walker, Endurance Coach

One-Hour Workout: Revving Your Swim Engine
