Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 3 of Marathon Training
Today's workout for me was an 8 mile run at an easy pace. I did the 8 at 9:37 pace on the treadmill. Felt good for the whole run! It's going to be a challenge to train for the marathon in April while building my base for the Ironman in September, but my plan is to do my run workouts as scheduled and to get in one swim and one bike per week until after the marathon is over. The bike and swim workouts will be focusing on building endurance and working on technique. Hopefully, that will be enough. We'll see!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Let is snow
I'm happy to say that I'm following a training plan now and am out of my random training mode. Today was a scheduled day off for me.
It's snowing here in St. Louis! Could possibly be our first decent snow this year, so I thought I'd provide a everyone for a few cold and snowy weather training tips.
1. If it is icy out, do not train outside.
2. When dressing to run outside in the cold weather, dress like it is 20 degrees warmer then it really is.
3. Don't overdue your layers when dressing to training outside. A base layer, a mid layer, and an outer layer if necessary is really all you'll need.
4. When dressing to bike outside in the cold weather, dress warmer then you think you'll need to dress. A layer that blocks the wind is a necessity.
5. Wear a hat when biking or running.
6. Mittens work best to keep your hands warm.
7. Make sure you drink fluids even though it's cold and you may not sweat much.
8. Take an extra dry warm jacket with you to put on for the car ride home.
9. Don't attempt any hard interval work, as the cold weather can make it difficult to get your legs warmed up.
10. Take a warm shower and stretch after your workout.
It's snowing here in St. Louis! Could possibly be our first decent snow this year, so I thought I'd provide a everyone for a few cold and snowy weather training tips.
1. If it is icy out, do not train outside.
2. When dressing to run outside in the cold weather, dress like it is 20 degrees warmer then it really is.
3. Don't overdue your layers when dressing to training outside. A base layer, a mid layer, and an outer layer if necessary is really all you'll need.
4. When dressing to bike outside in the cold weather, dress warmer then you think you'll need to dress. A layer that blocks the wind is a necessity.
5. Wear a hat when biking or running.
6. Mittens work best to keep your hands warm.
7. Make sure you drink fluids even though it's cold and you may not sweat much.
8. Take an extra dry warm jacket with you to put on for the car ride home.
9. Don't attempt any hard interval work, as the cold weather can make it difficult to get your legs warmed up.
10. Take a warm shower and stretch after your workout.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Big River Training Team Begins
Today was the first workout for the Big River Marathon and Half-Marathon Training Team. I'm happy to be back helping out with this group. I've learned so much about training for the run from Ben, the runners in the group, and the other coaches. I had a great time meeting everyone in the group today and am really looking forward to running with the team every week.
I also got my marathon training plan today. It look pretty challenging, but I'm going to give it my all! Today's run was an easy 6 miles, which was really relaxing after yesterday's freezing 13 miles.
As I mentioned in my first post, I wasn't planning on getting my business started quite as quickly as I did. I wish I would have had more of the infrastructure in place before before I really started taking on clients. However, things now seem to be falling into place.
My husband spent the day making bike stands, so my clients will be able to practice realistic transitions. It took a little figuring out on his part, so that the stands will work for both mountain bikes and road bikes, but I think he has it worked out. My dad also got involved in this project. Both my dad and my husband are engineers, so I just asked that the racks not be too complicated for me to put together, because from the way they were talking about building them, you'd think they were designing an award winning civil engineering project! I have complete faith that the racks will be wonderful.
That's it for tonight. Thanks for reading!
I also got my marathon training plan today. It look pretty challenging, but I'm going to give it my all! Today's run was an easy 6 miles, which was really relaxing after yesterday's freezing 13 miles.
As I mentioned in my first post, I wasn't planning on getting my business started quite as quickly as I did. I wish I would have had more of the infrastructure in place before before I really started taking on clients. However, things now seem to be falling into place.
My husband spent the day making bike stands, so my clients will be able to practice realistic transitions. It took a little figuring out on his part, so that the stands will work for both mountain bikes and road bikes, but I think he has it worked out. My dad also got involved in this project. Both my dad and my husband are engineers, so I just asked that the racks not be too complicated for me to put together, because from the way they were talking about building them, you'd think they were designing an award winning civil engineering project! I have complete faith that the racks will be wonderful.
That's it for tonight. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Brrr . . .
It was very cold this morning for the Frostbite Series in Forest Park. I never warmed-up during the half-marathon run. Although I just like to use these runs as training runs, I was happy with my time of 1:50, considering the cold weather and that I have not been running very much lately.
I was also happy to hear that Tara had a great PDR run with her Fleet Feet training group today! Also, kudos to Beth for being out there in the cold today!
I also did a core workout today! Which I hope to start doing 3 times a week until Ironman Louisville.
I've been busy working on the Custom Coaching website, planning upcoming training groups, and formulating some more ideas for my coaching business. I should have a lot of exciting things to talk about over the next few weeks, so please stay tuned!
I was also happy to hear that Tara had a great PDR run with her Fleet Feet training group today! Also, kudos to Beth for being out there in the cold today!
I also did a core workout today! Which I hope to start doing 3 times a week until Ironman Louisville.
I've been busy working on the Custom Coaching website, planning upcoming training groups, and formulating some more ideas for my coaching business. I should have a lot of exciting things to talk about over the next few weeks, so please stay tuned!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Functional Strength Training
Zero workouts for me today.
The primary goal of any strength training program for an endurance athlete should be injury reduction. Notice, I did not say injury prevention. Again, just to recap yesterday's blog, if you are using strength training as a part of injury rehabilitation, make sure you are following a program prescribed by your doctor or PT.
What is functional strength training? Functional strength training works to enhance the coordinated working relationship between the nervous and muscular systems. Obviously, having a good working relationship between our nervous and muscular systems will help us to perform our sport of choice better. But how will this help to reduce injuries? There should be five key aspects of every strength training program: 1. develop joint flexibility, 2. develop tendon strength, 3. develop core strength, 4. develop stabilizing muscles, 5. train movements not muscles. It just so happens that functional strength training is the best way to cover these five items. As we look at the five aspects of strength training, we notice that they all also seem to relate to injury reduction. Especially key to injury reduction is developing stabilizing muscles. Functional strength training is a great way to do this.
When designing a functional strength training program, you want to make sure you include controlled amounts of instability so that you must react in order to regain your stability. For example, one great functional stability exercise is the one legged squat. You'll have to concentrate on maintaining your balance while you do this exercise. See the nervous system and muscular system working together? No weights required for this type of training, which also makes it easy to do at home. The next progression on this exercise would be to perform a one legged squat on an Airex mat then on a Bosu ball after that. Now when doing functional strength exercises it is Key to note that we are training the movement, not the muscles! Therefore, we won't necessarily do repetitions of these exercises, but will do them until we achieve "functional mastery." What does that mean? It means that you do it until you can do it perfectly. If you can't get it perfect during one session, then you pick up at that same point during the next session. Taking our one legged squat as an example, you would continue to do the one legged squat on the ground until you could get it perfect, meaning no wobbling, falling over, etc. Once you achieve functional mastery, then you would progress to the one legged squat on the Airex mat and do that until you achieve functional mastery.
Bottom line - If you're looking to incorporate some strength training into your training plan, functional strength training gives you the most bang for your buck!
The primary goal of any strength training program for an endurance athlete should be injury reduction. Notice, I did not say injury prevention. Again, just to recap yesterday's blog, if you are using strength training as a part of injury rehabilitation, make sure you are following a program prescribed by your doctor or PT.
What is functional strength training? Functional strength training works to enhance the coordinated working relationship between the nervous and muscular systems. Obviously, having a good working relationship between our nervous and muscular systems will help us to perform our sport of choice better. But how will this help to reduce injuries? There should be five key aspects of every strength training program: 1. develop joint flexibility, 2. develop tendon strength, 3. develop core strength, 4. develop stabilizing muscles, 5. train movements not muscles. It just so happens that functional strength training is the best way to cover these five items. As we look at the five aspects of strength training, we notice that they all also seem to relate to injury reduction. Especially key to injury reduction is developing stabilizing muscles. Functional strength training is a great way to do this.
When designing a functional strength training program, you want to make sure you include controlled amounts of instability so that you must react in order to regain your stability. For example, one great functional stability exercise is the one legged squat. You'll have to concentrate on maintaining your balance while you do this exercise. See the nervous system and muscular system working together? No weights required for this type of training, which also makes it easy to do at home. The next progression on this exercise would be to perform a one legged squat on an Airex mat then on a Bosu ball after that. Now when doing functional strength exercises it is Key to note that we are training the movement, not the muscles! Therefore, we won't necessarily do repetitions of these exercises, but will do them until we achieve "functional mastery." What does that mean? It means that you do it until you can do it perfectly. If you can't get it perfect during one session, then you pick up at that same point during the next session. Taking our one legged squat as an example, you would continue to do the one legged squat on the ground until you could get it perfect, meaning no wobbling, falling over, etc. Once you achieve functional mastery, then you would progress to the one legged squat on the Airex mat and do that until you achieve functional mastery.
Bottom line - If you're looking to incorporate some strength training into your training plan, functional strength training gives you the most bang for your buck!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Cross Training
Today, I did a 2700 yard swim workout. I wanted to get a run in too, but got home from the pool too late. I'm really happy with how my swimming has been going. I've been getting in 2 swims a week for the past couple of weeks, which is really good for me at this point in the season.
Now, on to cross training and injury prevention. First of all, I'd like to make a distinction between cross training and weight training. To me, cross training means doing an activity outside of the sport you normally train for. Weight training is a type of cross training for anyone who is not a weight lifter. Cross training does not necessarily mean weight training.
Next, if you have an injury that prevents you from training for a couple of weeks, I would advise you to go to the doctor. Hopefully, he can provide you with some exercises or stretching to do that will improve your condition or help to prevent the injury from happening again.
The best type of cross-training in my opinion are core exercises. Having a strong core does wonders to prevent a lot of different types of injuries. I have all of my athletes do core exercises, whether they've ever been injured or not. I would start by doing them 2X times a week and gradually build up to doing them everyday if you have time. Remember, don't do the same exercises everyday, week after week after week. You need continually mix it up.
Now obviously core exercises won't prevent all injuries, so what about preventing other injuries? To my knowledge the latest rage for this sort of training are functional strength exercises. I will blog about these tomorrow, as it's too much to get into tonight.
Next, let's move on to the situation where you're injured and you need to use cross training to maintain fitness, because you can't participate in your usual sport. Well, if you participate in running, cycling, or swimming, you know that the bulk of your training is to build, improve, and maintain endurance. So you'll want to choose cross training activities that do the same. (I would again caution you to have your doctor help you with this, as some types of cross training might do more harm than good for your injury.) So, let's say you have a running injury and are unable to run, but you get the okay to use an eliptical machine and exercise bike from your doctor. I would follow much the same plan with those two pieces of equipment as you were planning to do if you were able to run. For example, if you were suppose to do a 5 mile run at an easy pace, I would do an equivalent workout on the bike and or eliptical. So let's say your scheduled run would have taken you 45 minutes, so that might be equivalent to 1.5 hours on the exercise bike in heart rate zones 1 and 2. Aerobically, you would get a similar workout. Now, obviously, the exercise bike is not going to build strength for running, so as Katie hinted, you'll want to do some strength training to maintain and build your strength. Here again, is where I would prescribe functional strength exercises and maybe some weight training of the appropriate muscle groups.
We'll continue this discussion tomorrow!
Now, on to cross training and injury prevention. First of all, I'd like to make a distinction between cross training and weight training. To me, cross training means doing an activity outside of the sport you normally train for. Weight training is a type of cross training for anyone who is not a weight lifter. Cross training does not necessarily mean weight training.
Next, if you have an injury that prevents you from training for a couple of weeks, I would advise you to go to the doctor. Hopefully, he can provide you with some exercises or stretching to do that will improve your condition or help to prevent the injury from happening again.
The best type of cross-training in my opinion are core exercises. Having a strong core does wonders to prevent a lot of different types of injuries. I have all of my athletes do core exercises, whether they've ever been injured or not. I would start by doing them 2X times a week and gradually build up to doing them everyday if you have time. Remember, don't do the same exercises everyday, week after week after week. You need continually mix it up.
Now obviously core exercises won't prevent all injuries, so what about preventing other injuries? To my knowledge the latest rage for this sort of training are functional strength exercises. I will blog about these tomorrow, as it's too much to get into tonight.
Next, let's move on to the situation where you're injured and you need to use cross training to maintain fitness, because you can't participate in your usual sport. Well, if you participate in running, cycling, or swimming, you know that the bulk of your training is to build, improve, and maintain endurance. So you'll want to choose cross training activities that do the same. (I would again caution you to have your doctor help you with this, as some types of cross training might do more harm than good for your injury.) So, let's say you have a running injury and are unable to run, but you get the okay to use an eliptical machine and exercise bike from your doctor. I would follow much the same plan with those two pieces of equipment as you were planning to do if you were able to run. For example, if you were suppose to do a 5 mile run at an easy pace, I would do an equivalent workout on the bike and or eliptical. So let's say your scheduled run would have taken you 45 minutes, so that might be equivalent to 1.5 hours on the exercise bike in heart rate zones 1 and 2. Aerobically, you would get a similar workout. Now, obviously, the exercise bike is not going to build strength for running, so as Katie hinted, you'll want to do some strength training to maintain and build your strength. Here again, is where I would prescribe functional strength exercises and maybe some weight training of the appropriate muscle groups.
We'll continue this discussion tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Not planning should be part of the plan
No training for me today. Just too busy.
Tonight, I went to the St. Louis Triathlon Club meeting. The topic at the meeting was periodization, which basically means organizing your training. Right now, I'm training without any real planning, which is actually part of my plan. I like to have a very unstructured "off-season," to prevent burnout from intense and more structured training during the rest of the year. I think it is important to have this time at some point, weather it's taking a couple of weeks off after a big race, or training without structure during the winter. Your body and your mind will thank you for not planning every once and awhile.
Katie - sorry I got sidetracked on this tonight. I'll be back on your topic of cross training tomorrow.
Tonight, I went to the St. Louis Triathlon Club meeting. The topic at the meeting was periodization, which basically means organizing your training. Right now, I'm training without any real planning, which is actually part of my plan. I like to have a very unstructured "off-season," to prevent burnout from intense and more structured training during the rest of the year. I think it is important to have this time at some point, weather it's taking a couple of weeks off after a big race, or training without structure during the winter. Your body and your mind will thank you for not planning every once and awhile.
Katie - sorry I got sidetracked on this tonight. I'll be back on your topic of cross training tomorrow.
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