Something I’ve delt with as long as I figured out I could run more than 2 miles was injury.  Some peeps are born with genes that enable the insurmountable to be marginalized.  Others give up on dreams because they can’t ever see themselves overcoming a pain in their knee that’s nagged them for years.  The spectrum of injury is far and wide… AND very personal! What I mean by that stems from my own personal navigation through PT’s, MD’s, & Chiropractors.  I’ve found that when I injur myself, I can’t seem to find someone who knows where I’m coming from, where I’m at(depression, pain, suffering) & where I need to get to.  Most times it seems that whomever I see, they simply tell me to stop doing what I’m doing, RICE and then 4-5 specific stretches.  

MOST of us are normal and I consider myself to be normal!  What I mean by normal, is that we get injured, we feel pain, things hurt.   I have walked the fine line of injury since I began running longer distances.  ITB, Plica Sydrome (had a knee scope in 05), Turf toe, Overtraining (YES… I consider overtraining to be an injury!), and now, as I write this, I’ve been diagnosed with extremely tight Psoas/Hip Flexors!  I’m not sidelined, but I am in pain.  Significant pain.   I’ve had hip flexor issues for a while now, but according to the D.O. I went to on Wednesday, my psoas & hip flexors are so tight that they’re pulling my lower spine down and compressing it like an accordian.  All of this equals pretty intense lower back pain which was why I went to see the D.O. in the first place.

Several adjustments, electrotherapy and some stretching lessons later, I’m on my way.  Now I’m working towards lengthening my psoases which will hopefully alleviate a lot of my problems.

Dealing with injury does make see things from a different perspective though.  I could go on and on about this, but really what it all boils down to is this…  you’re reading this post because you, for some reason, enjoy the “net” result of the sport of triathlon.  Some of us want fast times, some of us want to cross the finish line and some of us want the biggest distance.  It doesn’t matter what it is, what matter is that you CAN participate in endurance sports.   If you want to be able to stay healthy and injury free, you have to take care of yourself.  That is unless you have the “genes” that I previously mentioned. Otherwise, the odds are against you.

Well… the bottom line is that I’m at least happy I’m dealing with this now versus in June.  Additionally it’s not a serious injury and was caught early on.  For all you peeps out there who don’t ever think about your psoas /hip flexors, be sure to take care of them.  They’re VERY important to you whether you know it or not.  As of Wednesday, my psoas and I are best friends!   Cheers!

Fall Running Yesterday was the type of day I tend to think about when it comes to a Fall  day in Iowa.   55 degrees… Cool, but not quite cold.  Winds swirling around 15 mph with gusts upward of 25-30mph.  Thick dark gray clouds that kept the feeling of morning around all day long.  Rain… lots of rain.  Not a fierce storm, but rather a shower that just hung around all day long.   Leaves are yellow, orange, red with a few still hanging on to a bit of green.  They’re falling too.  They’re everywhere.  Leaves cover the road, lawns and sidewalks.  With every gust of the wind they’re flying through the air.  The air is thick and damp.  Besides the rain, it’s very quiet.

This is my favorite time of year to run. 

Although the season lasts several months, this particular moment of Fall only lasts for a week or two at best.   There aren’t any looming “A” races that distracting me.  People stop spending as much time, if any, outdoors making thing more desolate.  My runs are simple in that I’m simply logging time and miles.  No pressure to push it.  Just run.

As I ran in the rain yesterday evening, I couldn’t help but think about all of this.  Running exposes me to all of it.  A non-runner could never make sense of me saying how relaxing and therapeutic running is. It’s like pulling the plug on life for a short time.  Just lace ‘em up and hit the road.  One minute I’ll be thinking about work or something I need to do, then the next I’m spacing off at the road in front of me.  What’s important is that it’s a time to relax the mind for bit.  It isn’t quite the same when you’re training and have to push a tempo run or incorporate some intervals.  That can work against you.

What I’m really driving at is that there is a reason why we need to drop things down a notch.  Learn to run simply for the love of running.  It’s so simple and pure.  Forget the tunes and any other high tech gear at home.  Just get out there and experience running at its most basic level.  Get a little dirty. Get rained on.  Step in a puddle.  It’s rejuvenating and at the end of the day will make you a better runner and give you a whole new perspective.

“I always loved running…it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.”   – Jesse Owens

“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves…The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.”
-Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub-4 minute mile

“Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run.”
-Monte Davis

“We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.”
-Alberto Salazar

“Play not only keeps us young but also maintains our perspective about the relative seriousness of things. Running is play, for even if we try hard to do well at it, it is a relief from everyday cares.”
- Jim Fixx

See you on the road!

It’s been just over a week since my last post which is the longest I’ve ever gone.  I grew increasingly guilty with every passing day, but simply couldn’t manage to sit down to punch a post out.  Des Moines Marathon

Des Moines Marathon
No… I didn’t run in it, but my wife and several other friends ran the 1/2 marathon.  I did head down to watch on an amazingly COLD frosty morning. 
My wife has had some unidentified hamstring injury that has kept her from running for over 2 years.  Because she couldn’t run, she became slave to the aerobic DVD’s.  I call them “roll-e-poll-e” workouts.  Then, we got pregnant with our first child which basically held her hostage until several weeks after Elizabeth was born.JT&MF (February 14th… that’s right… a Valentine’s Day baby!)  Around April, Jen knew that it was as good a time as any to try to overcome the injury that has owned her for so long.  Using the most fundamental running knowledge out there, we deployed the “run/walk” technique.  For the first 2 weeks, Jennifer walked for 9 minutes and ran for 1 for a total of 40 minutes, 4-5 times per week.  Weeks 3-4 progressed to walking 8 minutes and running for 2, again for a total of 40 minutes.  She took things uber slow and simply stuck to it.  Fast forward to last Sunday and to watch her kick the crap out of the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon made me so happy for her.  Liberation and vengeance was hers!  She worked so hard and had to be so very careful to take things easy and in moderation to avoid a repeat injury.  Big time comeback! She also hit her goal of going sub 2:00!

Off-Season Training
As of this week, I’m into my 4th week of Prep Period training. I’m simply performing all workouts at a “more than manageable” effort.  Although I’ve never incorporated Zone Training in to my workouts, the equivalent would be Zone 2 or below.  My primary objective in this first Prep Period phase is to recover from the 2009 season, but without sacrificing much, if any of my base training.  I’ll slowly stretch things out over the next couple of months, but very slowly and with low effort.  I’m getting in the pool tomorrow for the first time since Lake Geneva which will likely hurt a bit.  I’m excited because I’ve purchased a new instructional swimming DVD called Swim Smooth.  I’ve picked it up off of hearing a few peeps on Beginner Triathlete talk about it.  I’ve tried Total Immersion, picked up a few drills and some technique, but just couldn’t completely get into it.  I’m hoping that Swim Smooth and a Winter’s worth of drills and technique focus will have me swimming a sub 24:00 1500m.  We’ll see.  

I’ve not had a Yoga session for over a week, because I was performing a pose while arching my back and I’m pretty sure I strained my lower back.  I woke up the next morning with some seriously acute lower back pain.  It’s still present, but at a far less concerning level.  It has not impeded on my workouts, in fact, I believe my workouts have helped it.  What do I know though as I’m only as wise as Google!

Iowa HawkeyesIowa-Hawkeyes
The other mentally exhausting happening right now is my football squad, the Iowa Hawkeyes!  Somehow we’ve managed to get to 8-0 and are currently ranked #4 on the BCS standing.  Crazy.  We’ve squeaked out WINS on at least 4 games this year that has the Hawk haters hatin!  It sure ain’t pretty, but I’d rather be ugly and 8-0, than 7-1 and pretty.  We still have 4 games left with one being Ohio State.  That’ll be a tough one for sure!  … at Ohio State!!!

Until the next time…

I just have to give a shout for my squad who made it to 7-0 today with a big win over the Wisconsin Badgers.  It sure hasn’t been pretty thus far and trying at times, but 7-0 is 7-0!  How about a little credit?  Just a pinch? 

logoNext up…  at Michigan St.!!!  

Happy Hawk Day!

I’ll start by saying this has definitely taken more work than I had ever originally intended, but on the flip, its been a total blast creating it.  Most of the time I’ve spent putting this together is because of my own learning curve with Excel.  None the less, I’ve finally started to log some workouts as well as begin devising my 2010 training plan!  Woo Hoo! 

The first feature I’ve created is the actual Training Plan itself.  I’ve included the sport of Yoga as well because it is something I plan on incorporating throughout the season.  This could be eliminated, changed or added to depending on other activities one planned on doing.  (I.E. Strength)
 Training Plan

Each row between the thin blue lines represents a week as marked on the left hand side.  Additionally, the color “period” column to the left also help keep on focused on what period/stage they are in within their training plan.  (Base, Build, Peak, etc.).  I have all training, except for swimming, set to be entered as time because I believe that the best way to train.  All totals calculate and appear in the gray column to the right.  One can then color code a workout(s) with the different workout types seen in the upper right-hand corner.  For example, if I have to get a brick workout in, I would highlight both the bike and run with purple which tells me I cannot do one in the morning and one after work. 

The second tab is the Workout Log which becomes a lot more in-depth with detail.  Now one has the ability to not only log the workout time, but enter distance as well with then will automatically calculate pace.  (Figuring out the formulas for this was the absolute most time consuming piece of this)  The schedule mirrors the training plan, but now provides much more data.
  Workout Log
As you enter your workouts, not only is pace calculated, but totals for the week are calculated on this page.  Additionally, this page pulls your training goals from the previously discussed Training Plan and plops them in to the second to last column on the right.  Your actually weekly totals are compared to your Training Plan goals giving one the rightmost column, which provides a percentage of achievement.  For example, if you had a weekly goal of 100minutes of running and you only logged 80, you will show 80% of goal reached.  If you logged 120 minutes, your 120% of goal.  It’s nothing to elaborate, but it sure keeps you honest to your plan.

Lastly, and still under development is the Reports tab.  Here is where one can come to digest all of their juicy numbers and statistic.  We triathletes bathe in our personal statistics of how much ass week kicked this week or last month. 

Totals

I have totals calculating for the entire year for both mileage and time.  Additionally, there is a breakdown of the same, time & distance for each month.  Again, nothing fancy, but always fun to look at and watch over time!

Chart

Finally, here is the only chart I’ve created so far, buy I’m sure you can get the drift.  One can visually monitor their progress over the course of their training. Bars going up (gradually)… Good!  Bars going down… Bad! (unless it’s a recovery week!)  I plan on having a chart specifically for swimming and also a chart for Total Time.  One other component to this that I will be adding is a Journal or Notes tab where one can document workouts and/or anything else relevant to the workout/day that they would like to.

Now I’m sure a lot of peeps would immediately ask me, why spend so much time doing this when you can sign up for online log, such as Beginner Triathlete?  Well… I do log with Beginner Triathlete (Iowa Action) and will continue to do so, but this Training Plan will be mine forever.  I will be able to back each year up on my computer and review it in 50 years if I want to.  Not that easy with BT.  Additionally, I have the opportunity to custom build this to my exact needs and requirements.  I’ve got this prepared so one can print out every tab so that it fits perfectly on 11”x14” paper.  Print it to take a hard copy with you, hang your charts/reports on the fridge or file away to review later. 

I’m really excited about it simply because it’s taken so freakin’ long and now I have something to show for it.  Whew.  If you have an interest in checking it out, let me know.  I’m only considering it a prototype right now as I’m sure there will be a few bugs that pop up.  One will also have to re-map the calendar if your schedule runs longer as I’ve only run this through Ironman Louisville which will be my A priority race.  

Wish it luck and be sure to break a sweat today!

Hip FlexorBecause it has been nagging me for about a month now, I’m ultimately forced to talk about my ongoing hip flexor problem.  The dull achy pain lies deep within my hip, just below the front of my hip bone.  Additionally, after I sit to long in a chair, upon standing up too quickly I will experience a massive pop.  This pop is my hip flexor catching on part of my pelvic bone and it is intense when it happens.  Fortunately I am conscious of this and stand up slowly and shake it out to avoid the pop.  At this point, I wouldn’t consider it an injury because I am still able to get my workouts in without a problem.  It’s when I’m not working out that my hip tightens up and goes south on me.  It does wear on me mentally because if feels like trouble is right around the corner.  

One of my best friend’s wife, Natalie, is a PT and recently told me I needed to incorporate Yoga into my training.  She seemed to swear by it and gave me a pretty hard time since I do little stretching, but complain about tightness and pain a lot.  Most likely there are several imbalances working against me, that need correcting.  I’ve had a few injuries that I’m guessing over the years that I believe are were my imbalances began.  IT Band in 2003 and Plica Syndrome in 2003.  I had arthroscopic surgery in late 2003 to remove the Plica and the rehabilitation after that is where I feel things really derailed.  I went to two different PT’s who focused only on rehabilitating my knee, but did not do so with respect to the rest of my body.  I was doing stretches and strengthening exercises only on one leg, which over time threw things off.  My first hip flexor problem showed up in 2006 and has pretty much squatted ever since.  I have no medical background, but I’m pretty darn sure that small muscle imbalances, over time, can grow into larger one and even new ones.  Additionally, they’re not likely to correct themselves on their own, but instead, your body will adapt to them in order to make things work.  The problem is, although you can still workout, your risk for injury has increased dramatically because certain muscles have over strengthened to compensate for their weak counterparts.  Stack on a ton of mileage for that big race your training for and watch out because you can’t be sure you’ll ever get there. 

This is where I’m at.  I can swim, bike and run.  I also just came off of a great season, but I will admit that during the last few weeks while the running mileage was piling on, things got dicey.  In fact, I worried quite a bit and if you’ve ever been injured before, your angry to begin with and then you sink into a depressive state that lasts for a while.  Bottom line… it sucks.

Yoga for Athletes I’m going to heed my friend’s wife Natalie’s advice and give Yoga a shot.  It can’t hurt right?  At this point, I want to make my chances for success and longevity in triathlon to last so I’m willing to try anything once.  I’ve since bought the book the Athlete’s Guide to Yoga by Sage Rountree and have begun studying it.  She focuses on endurance athletes which gives me more confidence in what she teaches.  I’m not going to just really on a book to teach me Yoga though, additionally I have been looking around for a studio that has a history of working with endurance athletes.  It would help if the instructor had experience running and cycling, but not a prerequisite.  Just someone who understands the rigor and demands that we put our bodies through and how Yoga should be used to counter that.  I will also learn better technique from an instructor through them showing me how to properly perform the poses.  The best is that I can start working at this now instead of in the middle of the season. 

I’ve been practicing a few of the more basic poses and moves at home and definitely enjoy the immediate relief the stretching provides.  My hip seems to be under control for the time being, but is still present.  I’m guessing it’s going to take some time to get things rebalanced out, but I’m confident that with an instructor and 3-4 60 minutes sessions a week, I’ll will benefit.  One of the most intense poses I’m doing is the lungeHOLY SMOKES

It will take sometime, but I’m going to get down a yoga routine that done regularly, will keep my body balanced, flexible and focused.

Maybe you’ll disagree, but I’ve always looked at the off-season as a state of confusion.  If you follow the rules, you need to take time off.  Do nothing.  Depending on how intense your season was and what you have planned next, maybe 2-3 weeks?  For some it could be until January or later.  There isn’t a “one size fits all” recipe for how much time to take off.  The key is that you give your body a real break to heal.  Additionally and of equal importance is to give your mind the ability to renew as well.  Think of time off as if you were pushing the reset button on yourself. 

It becomes confusing because you’re likely to still have the “in-season” mindset where you feel like you should be doing something.  You begin to feel like a lazy ass, unproductive with rapidly deteriorating physical fitness.  Sloth.  Eventually we get used to it, in fact, once you’ve made it through your time off, it’s as if you just finished a vacation.  Back to business as they say.

My first official week of training for 2010 is nearly complete although it’s nothing to write home about.  Very low intensity, low volume, but with a little more frequency.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my goals is to become a better student of triathlon so I’ve been doing more reading on the subject.  My current book, which I’m nearly through is called Going Long, written by Joe Freil and Gordo Byrn.  I’m very satisfied with the book so far as it has a lot of solid information and theory about racing Ironman distance.  Since I’ve decided to write my own plan for 2010, I want to share what aids me in my planning and preparations.   This is my first stab at a REAL plan and not some hack job that I’ve loosely put together some morning after too much coffee.  

On of the first benefits I received from Going Long is looking at the stages of a training plan.  It’s the bigger view of the plan to help guide you in what you’re supposed to be doing to build and move momentum forward. 

1. Off-Season – rest, heal, and recover.  Transition from you A race to Prep Period.
2. Prep Period – work on skills, technique, & slowly begin stretching endurance.  Transition period from Off-Season to Base Period
3. Base Period – develop endurance, force & speed skill.  This is considered the most critical period of your training plan.   Nearly all workouts are aerobic.  The bigger the base one has, the higher the peak you can potentially attain. 
           Base1                Base2

4. Build Period – this period specifically prepares the demands of the athlete’s choosen A race.
5. Peak Period – develop a psychological edge for a race, focus is on intensity and recovery.
6. Race Period – also known as the Taper.  Ensures you arrive to race at 100%.

The Prep Period and Base Periods can be altered to one’s own desire to prepare.  For example, in my current “plan in progress,” I have a 3 month Prep Period: Prep 1, Prep 2 & Prep 3.  My Base Period is the same as well.  This gets me through to the last week in March where I will then begin my Build Period.  The Build Period is not as loose in that it must begin approximately 12 weeks out from your priority A race.  I’ve got Kansas 70.3 penciled in which would fit the schedule perfect.  After Kansas 70.3, I would then go directly in to my second Build Period for the season which would take me into Ironman Louisville, my other priority A race.  There can be other races or event throughout the season, but you don’t alter your training around them.  In fact, if you’re on top of it, you could use B or C races as speed/interval sessions depending on what you’re after.

Okay, that’s enough triathlon theory for the day.  I’ve never looked at training this way, but so far, I’m pretty impressed.  Everything can be so dialed in it’s amazing.  Funny thing is that these “periods” are part of the macro elements of a training plan.  There is so much more detail with in each period it can almost be disturbing. 

Lastly, I’ve been working on an Excel Training Log that should be pretty cool to use when finished.  It logs and tallies all workouts as well as charts them too.  A notes section and I’m sure I’ll come up with a few other tweaks.  I’ll put it up once I’m finished for anyone to use if they so desire.

PS.  Big football game tomorrow night!  Iowa vs. Michigan! 

LET’S GO HAWKS!!!     Iowa_hel

IMG_0083      Now that I’ve settled into the “off-season,” I’ve often found myself thinking a lot about my 09 season.  What did I do right? What did I do wrong?  Where can I improve?  What should my 2010 goals be?  … and so on and so forth.
Without a doubt I improved and although there is plenty of room for more, I can relax, exhale and feel good about things for a while. 
    I started the 2009 season in October 2008 and concentrated solely on becoming a stronger cyclist.   Cycling was my primary limiter and I knew I needed a breakthrough in order to step things up.  The bike is also the best segment in triathlon to save some serious time due to it’s length relative to the run and swim.  It’s not that I didn’t work at the swim or run at all, but I definitely focused on the bike.  Looking back, my training would be considered “sloppy” by any coach or someone who was versed in proper training theory.  One long ride during the weekend, hill repeats on Tuesday and the rest was “filler” workouts which I would work several intervals into during the ride.  Early on in the year, recovery wasn’t even in my vocabulary as I would ride close to everyday.  I entered June with fatigue and had push up against a training ceiling where I just couldn’t squeeze much more out.  As the season progressed, I reduced my frequency yet maintained volume and intensity which really helped me keep more fresh.  Although I peaked a bit early, I managed to maintain most of my strength through Lake Geneva
    All in all, I’m satisfied with everything, yet I’m already looking forward to seeing what I can achieve next year.   At this point, I am pitted against myself to see what I am personally capable of.  My primary goal for 2009 was to go sub-2:20 for Olympic distance.  Had I raced Big Creek smarter, I could’ve done 2:14.  Now I’m curious about hitting 2:10, but will slowly decided over the next few weeks what my 2010 goals will be.  In summary, I’ve listed my YTD Totals as well as some comments about races, my training and other issues throughout the season.

2009 YTD Totals
Bike:   139h 55m   – 2,699.29 Mi   (2010 – 3,000+)
Run:    44h 09m    – 369.15 Mi   (2010  -  500+)
Swim:  16h 47m    – 61,116.01 Yd   (2010  -  200,000+)

Attitude:  Strong and dedicated through Hy-Vee, but became strung out and somewhat complacent through late July & August.  Need to structure and balance training more to avoid burn-out, recover better, and achieve more targeted and specific workouts.  Need to stay mentally strong the whole season.

Cycling: Managed to go from a 21mph Oly average up to 23.7mph.  HUGE!!! With more focus, improved drilling and more quality miles, I’ll be over 24mph in 2010! It also may be time to upgrade Old Blue.  Blue has fought valiantly over the years, but there comes a time were…  sniffle, sniffle.  (Weeping)

Swimming:  Plain and simple… much more volume needed.  In hindsight, I swam to cover the distance.  Laps, laps and laps.  I need to incorporate more drills and most importantly, some intervals/speed sessions.

Running: Status quo.  I have room to improve my race pace, but as dangerous and harmful as running is, I’m hesitant to push things too hard.  I’m injury prone and want to remain healthy.  Running will likely be my limiter next year.

Race Nutrition:  Simple… don’t forget it.  Have a plan and stick to it.  Big Creek was a valuable lesson that reiterates the importance of race calories.

Training:  Avoid bad workouts.  I spent many workouts without focus.  I.E. Just riding to ride.  I need to have a plan for what’s to be achieved in each workout.  If I’m training with someone else, I need to be sure I can accomplish what I need to with them or go solo to avoid the distraction.  It’s anti-social, but I’m not training in order to “catch up” with someone. 

Everyday Nutrition:  I need to expand my options for eating by learning more about “good foods.”  Sounds lame, but I’m a believer in that what you put into your body has a major impact on how you feel, think and function.  That said, I also need to limit my alcohol consumption as even a few glasses of wine can work against me the next day. 

It was a good year for triathlon.  Plenty of sweat, a decent amount of pain, some very memorable rides, intense races and for the most part, injury free. 

It sounds absurd to most, but the 2010 season is now underway. 
Let the building begin!

For anyone who is a Lance buff or just loves watching endurance sports, you’ve got to check this out.  It’s all about the Leadville 100 which is a grueling mountain bike race in Colorado.  Lance has gone head to head with one of the all-time Leadville 100 best, Dave Wiens, the past 2 years.  This race is a complete ass-kicker and would likely humble the hardest of athletes. 

On October 22nd, there will be a nationwide showing of Race across the Sky which is more or less a documentary of this race focusing in on the Wiens/Armstrong duel.   I just bough my tickets and think you should too!

Check where it’s showing near you!

Absolutely hilarious…. enough said.  Just watch it!

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