Back, sort of

I'm back, sort of... It's ironic that my last post was about training setbacks and having to miss long periods of training considering that's what I have been going through this month. I've had to miss several weeks of training due to sickness, work, school, and then a back injury.

The sickness was just a seasonal bug that took me out for a week or so. The work and school come as no surprise as we near the end of Q1 when traditionally we launch major projects at work and the quarter comes to an end at school. This quarter my school classes have large final projects so the workload steadily picked up in February. Then I tweaked my back a couple weeks ago while I was throwing away the trash. I was in pain for a day or two and then I wasn't able to move around too much for a week or so (bending at the waist hurt). I'm finally getting back into it now but now I need to try to assess where I should be at in my training plan.

As for not blogging, well, the school and work thing kept me busy, but what's also been keeping me busy has been a new site I've gotten involved with called TriCrowd.com. It's a triathlon community site that some triathlete friends and I put together last year for fun and now we're trying to build it up. We basically built a website that we would want to visit ourselves. We started out by taking the blogger feeds and twitter feeds that we were already reading and bringing them together in one site. From there we added on a race finder app, recruited coaches to write original training articles for the site, and now we're working on triathlon deals for our readers. I've been pleasantly surprised at the response so far; we thought we would be the only ones visiting our site and we were just doing it for fun but the response from the community has been so overwhelmingly positive that we're now really working hard to deliver great content for everyone. You should head over to the site and take a look around, if you like it be sure to 'Like' us on Facebook and follow our Twitter account.

That's it for now, more to come soon! I'll try not to let a whole month go by without posting next time.

Video with Robbie Ventura: Training Setbacks with Joe Friel

Over on the 'Coaches Corner on Versus', Robbie Ventura and Joe Friel (expert endurance coach and founder of Training Peaks) talk about an issue common with all amateur triathletes: How do you deal with training setbacks? What happens if you have to miss a couple of workouts during the week? What happens if you have to miss a lot of workouts due to work, travel, or family?

Joe recommends that if you miss less than 3 days of training, just continue on as if nothing happened. You shouldn't try to come back and have an epic training day in an effort to "catch up" on your missed training. Your body has a hard time adapting to this sort of heavy sudden stress and you can end up setting yourself back further with injury, burnout or other over-training problems. You just have to accept the fact that these workouts were lost, and it's best for you to just move forward.

For longer periods of time you may have to make adjustments in your overall training plan. If it's more than 3 days, like a week, you may need to take a step back and repeat the week that you missed. If it's more than a week then you may need to step back a full cycle, and if its more than 3 weeks of training you may need to go back to your base period to re-establish your basic elements of fitness.

I've had to miss 2-3 days of training at times due to travel or other work/school commitments, and generally if I know I'll have to miss workouts what I try to do is load up a little bit more on the front and back end of that missed period to make up for it. It seems like that may not be the best idea. How about you guys, how do you handle missed workouts?

Snow Day!

The snow-pocalypse is coming to Chicago! They're predicting up to a record 2 feet of snow tomorrow, which can only mean one thing: snow day! More likely than not they'll shut down our office in downtown, which means that I'll have some time to catch up on school work and some training. Maybe I should have brought those snowshoes back with me from Seattle, I could have gotten in a good workout just by walking around the block!

Six (Hard) Ways to Run Faster

I was flipping through my blog feeds the other day and I noticed an entry over on the Training Peaks blog called Six Ways to Run Faster by Ben Greenfield. I clicked on the link because I'm always looking for ways to run faster (who isn't), but much to my disappointment it was the usual HARD tips about running that I see everywhere. Not to say it isn't a quality article, but I guess I'm holding out hope that one day I'll find an EASY tip on how to run faster. :)

The six hard tips that Ben lays out are:

1) Lose weight - Well... this one's pretty hard to do in and of itself. I think the thing to focus on here should be proper nutrition, which is something that can be controlled and will lead to weight loss when combined with exercise.

2) Increase cadence - I used to be a "long strider" runner with a low cadence a couple years ago. I tried increasing my cadence in training but it felt so unnatural that I eventually gave up on it. It wasn't until I took a couple months off of training that I was able to re-train my running muscles to a higher cadence. Nowadays I'm right at a cadence close to 90 which is what the article recommends. It feels natural now but it took me a while to get there.

3) Use a treadmill - This one might be the easiest of the tips listed. I run indoors a lot in the winter (cause I'm a cold weather wimp) but I do find that I can control my workouts more precisely and I never have to worry about walking home if I go out too hard. Yes it's boring sometimes but it has all the same benefits as using your trainer for biking indoors.

4) Hills - And this one might be the hardest tip. I haven't really incorporated hill workouts into my run training but I think that's going to change this year. One of my early season races is at Galena, which has a pretty hilly run and bike course. I always struggle on the run at Galena and this year I'd like to be better prepared to tackle the hills. Unfortunately Chicago doesn't really offer much for hills so I have to make do with a small hill (Cricket Hill) near our lakefront path.

5) Plyometrics - I've been doing a lot of functional training this off-season and I expect it to fully pay off this summer. Already my legs feel stronger and more durable than they did last year. These types of exercises not only help out on the run but also on the bike and swim. Definitely a must do in the off-season!

6) Consistency - This tip should come as no surprise to anyone. Consistency is the key to all three disciplines in our sport. You have to put in the time and effort in order to get better. Although I joke around that I'm looking for an easy tip on getting faster, I know there are no real shortcuts in training. I'm a firm believer that you get out what you put in, and consistency in your training will ensure you see steady progress over the course of the year.

Video with Robbie Ventura: Core Stabilization Exercises

If you want to get an idea of some of the functional training I've been doing this off-season check out this video from Robbie Ventura on core stabilization exercises. It was filmed at the VQ training facilities up in Highland Park. These exercises may look kinda funky but they will make you a stronger athlete. Having a strong core is key to performing your best in triathlon!

To watch the video head on over the Coaches Corner on Versus.

Dare 2 Tri Paratriathlon Club

I’m sure everyone has heard that Paratriathlon will be included in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, but have you heard about the Dare 2 Tri Paratriathlon Club?

The Dare 2 Tri Paratriathlon Club is a local club open to youth and adults with a physical disability or visual impairment who are interested in any part of the triathlon: swim, bike or run. The club will offer training opportunities and race support for interested athletes. The inaugural Dare 2 Tri Club meeting will be held on January 24th, 2011 at the Wrightwood Tap in Chicago, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.

If you’re interested in getting involved or learning more about the Dare 2 Tri Club, a group of Chicago Tri Club members are planning on attending the inaugural meeting together. If you’d like to join us, please RSVP with Keri Schindler (info below) and also please RSVP with me so we can get a sense of how many members are interested in helping out. From one tri club to another, we would very much like to promote the efforts of the Dare 2 Tri Club and assist them as best we can.

The Dare 2 Tri Club info is below; please feel free to send this along to friends. Thanks!

DARE 2 TRI Triathlon Club

CALLING ALL Para Triathletes or those interested in becoming Para Triathletes!

Did you hear ParaTri is in the Paralympics for 2016!

Did you hear about the DARE 2 TRI Triathlon Club!

If you are interested in finding out more about this club either as an athlete or volunteer/guide please join us at our Inaugural Dare 2 Tri meeting!

January 24, 2011
6:30-8:30 PM
Wrightwood Tap 1059 Wrightwood Ave. Chicago , IL 60614

The club is open to youth and adults with a physical disability or visual impairment. Those interested in any part of the triathlon: swim bike or run, are encouraged to come out to the meeting as relay teams will be an option. We will discus the 2011 plan for training, the races we plan to compete in, training camps and adaptive equipment options.

Volunteers/guides are needed and welcome to come to this meeting. Volunteers will be used during training as well as races. Guides/handlers actually assist the athletes in a variety of ways before and during the actual triathlon. We will discuss the various was to get involved. Come find out how!

Please RSVP to Keri Schindler at kschindler@glasa.org or 847-942-6937

If you can’t make it to the meeting but are still interested in getting involved please contact Keri and feel free to forward this email along.

Keri Schindler, CAPE , M.S.
Program Supervisor
Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association
400 East Illinois Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045
(847) 283-0908
www.glasa.org

Rev3 tattoo

Touching back on my Rev3 blog post from last month, have you noticed these Rev3 ads popping up in triathlon magazines? It's a pretty good take on the "M-dot" tattoo phenomenon, one of the more interesting aspects of our sport. What other sport and brand has this kind of consumer loyalty and engagement, that participants are willing to brand themselves with a corporate tattoo as a symbol of accomplishment? I don't see people walking around with Nike tattoos or NBA tattoos. Talk about dedication!

Adam Eck, designer for upstart Rev3, decided to poke fun at the market leader Ironman and offered up his take of the "R-dot" tattoo. I don't think anyone will actually go out and get this tattoo, but it is a clever way to let people know that Rev3 is a viable alternative to the standard WTC Ironman events. As their ad indicates, it's time to "start a new revolution". Although I haven't done a Rev3 event I do like the company and the spirit of customer service that they're embodying. Plus the fact that they're providing competition for the WTC should mean lower prices and improved quality across the board for all race participants. With the demand for long distance races growing at a rapid pace Rev3 should be able to thrive alongside the WTC and hopefully will encourage even more new race directors to enter the triathlon market.

Note: It looks like Adam Eck's post about the Rev3 tattoo was taken down. The old URL was: http://eckshire.com/2010/08/24/helping-the-little-guy-take-a-swing-at-goliath/

Snowshoeing in Seattle

This weekend I headed out to Seattle to visit friends and ended up on the mountains of Washington snowshoeing for several hours. If you have not been out to the Washington area for some winter sports fun you are really missing out. It was my first time snowshoeing and I really enjoyed trekking through the snow, taking in the purity and awesomeness of nature. I also got in a pretty good workout to boot!

I couldn't believe how easy it was for my friends to get out of the city and hit the great outdoors. We drove for about 20 minutes and we were outside of Seattle, and in less than an hour we were at the base of some amazing mountains ready for some fun. Here in Chicago you could drive for an hour and still be in the suburbs. I love living in a big city but it does have its downsides at times. I also couldn't believe how many people were out and active in Seattle. You would never know it was the middle of winter by the amount of people out on the trails and mountain passes. What a great active city, I may have to pay it another visit soon!

Resolutions

Right now is the time of year when most people set New Year’s resolutions for the coming year. They set goals like eating better, working out more, losing weight, getting a new job, etc… For most triathletes though, the “new year” already started at the end of last race season and most of us are already working our way towards our New Year’s resolutions.

What were my resolutions for the next race year? I posted about them in November when I wrote about wrapping up my race season. My goals were pretty simple: getting faster and stronger on the swim, bike and run. Actually, that’s easier said than done, but I did have specific targets I wanted to hit. I wanted to shave off ~4 minutes from my open water swim time (12% improvement), improve my watts by 15% to hit a 3.5 W/kg power rating on the bike, and shave off ~30 seconds on my 5k time. The way I was going to get to these goals during the off-season was by focusing on strength training and technique.

The New Year is a good time to do a progress check on your next race season goals, since it falls more or less halfway through the off-season. How am I doing so far with my goals?

Swim update: I’ve been working on my technique and aerobic base through an off-season conditioning program offered by my local swim club, the Chicago Blue Dolphins. We worked on slowing down our pace and focusing on an efficient stroke throughout the classes. I always feel like I’m working way too hard during the swim, so these classes really helped me slow things down and keep my heart rate low while I swam. I’m going to keep taking swim technique classes over the next couple of months and then start adding in more anaerobic efforts as we get closer to the race season. Swimming is all about technique so I’m hoping this “train slow to go fast” program pays off this summer.

Bike update: I’ve picked up roughly 5% on my W/kg rating so far this year, and I’m excited for what’s to come during the second half of my off-season improvement plan. I’ve been focusing mostly on strength training and S-E work on the bike, with some interval work sprinkled in just to keep me honest. My pedal stroke is feeling stronger and smoother all around; I think the strength training is helping with some leg muscle imbalances issues I’ve had in the past. Overall I’m feeling a lot stronger on the bike and I’m looking forward to adding in more threshold work and re-testing again over the next couple of months. I’m hoping to see a big pop on the bike!

Run update: Towards the end of the race season I was experiencing some nagging running issues. I wouldn’t call them injuries, but they were definitely aches and pains that made me enjoy the run less (IT band issues, ankle/calf issues). I was trying to PR the 5k towards the end of the year and so I was doing a lot of speed work and tempo runs, which didn’t help with my problems. I stopped by my local running store last fall and apparently my stride needs a bit of work since I was told I might be landing a little too much on the front (toes) of my feet, rather than in the ball of my foot. So I purposefully took a month off of running so I could re-work my running stride when I came back. I’m happy to report that my run form is doing a lot better and I’ve been running pain free for the past month or so now. I’ve really been focusing on landing on the ball of my feet and keeping a high cadence going. Also, I’ve incorporated yoga into my training schedule so that’s helped me stay loose and limber and injury-free. I’ve been doing short tempo runs lately and I plan on adding more speed work soon. I’m hoping that with the smoother form and strength training I’ve been doing I can reach new PRs on the run in the spring.

As you can see I’m putting down a solid base right now, which is the key to any off-season training plan. Strength training and technique have been the major focus points for my training, and once we roll into the second half of the off-season I will add more threshold and anaerobic work on top of the base. I definitely feel a lot stronger this year than I did last year, so I’m hoping that feeling continues throughout the rest of the year. I’m looking forward to the 2011 race season!

How about you? How are you doing with your next race season goals?