This is from Triathlete Training Bible. If you anything like me, you skip workouts. Sometimes it’s because of work, sometimes your too tired, and sometimes the thought of working out makes you want to curl into a ball and cry. Today is a day I’m skipping my 10k run. I have no reason, although some it has to do with me needing to get my lesson plans for tomorrow complete, but I feel like...
From Triathlete July 2011 issue. Here is a sample warm-up that you can use on race day. Be sure to practice it prior to race day. 1. Arm-Swings and Stretching 2. 5 minutes of easy swimming 3. 3-4 sets of 20 strokes or drills that work best in open water: Close-fisted freestyle: forces you to pull water with your forearms, not just your hands. Since you can’t feel your forearms in a wetsuit, it’s...
From Triathlon July 2011 issue. These exercises are to be done in open water, however doing them in a pool would be just as good workout. One should get in five to 10 open water swims before each race, but if your like me, sometimes that is not always possible. The majority of my open water swims are to work on my sitting, not to do high intensity workouts. Nevertheless, here are the workouts:...
This summary is from a March 2011 Triathlete magazine article by Nikki Kimball. I don’t have a direct link to the article since I tore the page out of the actual magazine. Most of us work out ‘core’ muscles regularly, at least I know I do. However, how many of us work out Glutes? Maybe indirectly I am working them, however I’ve never really focused on just the glutes. The article refers to the...
Summary of an article from triathlete.com Personally, I had a hard time finding a gel that was effective to my body. Nothing seemed to work, other than GU brand gels. Every person responds differently, so definitely try out different brands until you find one that gets your body to respond positively (as opposed to running into the woods). How They Work Most of us know that our energy comes from fat and carbs. Unfortunately,...
I’ve read about this chart a few times and still come away scratching my head. First, the Performance Management Chart (PMC) is a product of Training Peaks. I’m not sure if their basic free version comes with a PMC or if it’s the only the paid version. You can compare the two versions here. Below is a screen shot of my PMC from June to September. As you can see, there is just a...
I recently purchased the Omron Full Body Sensor to track my weight and body fat. It tracks a bunch of other stuff as well, buy I mainly focus on those two. There is debate on the accuracy, but the scale is consistent. This allows me to track changes. I do weight myself first thing in the morning, but may add a second weight right before I go to bed. I did ask a question regarding...
This is from an article on Triathlete.com. Although I don’t call them resolutions, just things I include in my training, I do believe they are items worth reviewing. First: Running Better Off The Bike As triathletes, we all face ‘dead legs’ after the bike. Although in my case, I believe they are not only dead, but somebody stomped on them multiple times. But maybe that’s just me. “The best triathlon runners typically run 5–6...
This will be a new series of posts as I read the book Mental Training for Peak Performance (click on picture for link to Amazon). These posts will focus on key points from each chapter. Chapter 2: Topic: Mental Training Secrets of Competitive Athletes This chapter really just focused on strengthening the argument for mental practice. The author of the book surveyed 1200 Olympic track and field athletes, producing the following results: 1. 83% reported...
If you really want to geek out your training, these are two new additions to the Training Peaks software, however these figures can be calculated manually if you do not use TP. Joe Friel explains the Efficiency Factor (EF) here: “We have known for decades that if heart rate during an all-aerobic (below lactate/anaerobic threshold) workout rises while the intensity (power or pace) stays the same, then the athlete is not operating efficiently and...
