Quick little update on my run status. My experimentation with the Pose method is moving forward. My plan is to first get to the point where I can tolerate 25-30min of running with a mid foot strike and have no calf pain. Step 2 will be incorporating the drills. I havent seen any sign of the injuries I had all last year so I think this is going to be a good move. I am starting to feel a lot lighter on my feet as well. Em and I did some proprioceptive work the other day after lifting. I think that alone will make a huge difference with the support leg.
Running right now is 2-3 times per week for about 25min. I will try and up it to 3-4 times over the next couple weeks. That and the addition of weights twice weekly should be enough of a change for now.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
IMC '08 Preparation Begins
IMLP taught me a lot both physically and mentally. As a result I have decided to take a different approach to training from now on. The biggest thing that has come out of IMLP was the exposure of my physical weaknesses and imbalances. The coming year will focus on eliminating as many of them as possible. I am not talking about things like endurance, strength or muscular endurance but more specific physical limiters. An example being an inability to fire my glutes independent of other muscles. '07 is going to be about rebuilding the body to create balance and efficiency, something that will not only aid in my preparation for IM but also help ensure a healthy life. Without taking a step back and doing this I am never going to reach my potential as an athlete. I realise this is going to take an incredible patience and time as things like this don't change overnight. I had my first lesson with a friend who is a physio the other day and was amazed at how hard it was to get my glute to fire and nothing else. My initial homework was to work on getting only my glute to fire while lying on my side and then to get only my lower abdominal muscles to work while lying on my back. After a couple sessions at home I am astounded at how weak these muscles are.
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Grip
Wow what a weekend!
Em and I just spent the weekend in the Nations Capital listening and learning from the "The Grip". To those who haven't followed Ironman triathlon the person I am referring to is Mark Allen. This guys race palmeres is unbelievable. In 10 starts at the Nice Triathlon he went 10 for 10. In six starts over seven years he was crowned World Champion in Hawaii. His record of 8:07:45 from 1993 still stands today, despite the advancement in training and bike technology. He also still holds the marathon record at Hawaii with a time of 2:40:04 set in 1989. He was asked about this at the camp and said that he thought it was most likely due to the fact that the guys these days all specialize in Ironman distance races and do not give shorter stuff a 100% effort. In the period of time when Allen was racing he said that they raced a variety of distances throughout the year with the intention of winning them. It will be interesting to see how long these records stand.
Camp summary. We missed the meet and greet on Friday night due to obligations at work so our weekend started on Saturday morning in the pool. Nothing new here but my key points to remember are:
-swim from the hips
-loose hands
-hand entry should be half way between head and outstretched arm
-no bubbles on hand
After the pool we grabbed a quick coffee and headed over to the Louis Riel Dome. This is an awesome facility and it once again made me realize how lacking we are here for any public facilities other than Hockey Rinks. Mark began his lecture talking a bit about himself and general training practices. He also brought up the idea that what is tested in the Lab does not alway equal what happens in "The Real World".
The next subject was titled "Training Beyond the Lab". The main element of this discussion was around stress and its impact on the body. Essentially there are two kinds of stress, manageable which is called The Training Effect adn Unmanageable which causes overtraining, reduced performance, injury and illness. Stress is not limited to what occurs in training but also to other factors in life suck as work and family. In a discussion about good vs bad stress Mark brought spoke about DHEA release and Cortisol release. This is something I haven't come across yet. I am going to do some more reading on this subject.
Invisible training barriers was the next subject. Mark over the years has identified several different time barriers over which there seems to be a greater training effect. 20min, 50min, 1hour20min, 3hours, 6hours and 9hours. In hind sight at IMLP I experinced and was aware of these barriers on the bike both times around the out and back on the bike.
Nutrition was up next. The focus here was on race day. In summary train as you plan to race. Glucose and maltodextrin in a drink are the best combination. During high stress activity enzymes are lacking in the stomach to break down complex carbs.
Setting up a training program seems so much less daunting after this weekend. Mark placed the emphasis on simplicity. Essentially you have two types of training, Base and Speed. These are controlled by whether you are above or below your aerobic max heart rate. Mark also explained the roll of weight training and how important it was especially as we age.
Day One also included some talk about setting up your year and the different training phases. This lead into a talk on nutrition.
Somewhere during the day we also did a run session on the 400m indoor track at the Dome. The main component here was mid foot strike. It was interesting to watch the other members of the group and see or more better put hear a difference in their stride with such a small time spent working on their stride. The run component ended with Mark going over some stretching.
Saturday ended with a talk by Mark that was open to the public, with the proceeds going to a local Ottawa charity. All I can say here is that if you get a chance to here him speak go for it.
I think I am going to stop here for now and finish this later tonight or tomorrow.
Em and I just spent the weekend in the Nations Capital listening and learning from the "The Grip". To those who haven't followed Ironman triathlon the person I am referring to is Mark Allen. This guys race palmeres is unbelievable. In 10 starts at the Nice Triathlon he went 10 for 10. In six starts over seven years he was crowned World Champion in Hawaii. His record of 8:07:45 from 1993 still stands today, despite the advancement in training and bike technology. He also still holds the marathon record at Hawaii with a time of 2:40:04 set in 1989. He was asked about this at the camp and said that he thought it was most likely due to the fact that the guys these days all specialize in Ironman distance races and do not give shorter stuff a 100% effort. In the period of time when Allen was racing he said that they raced a variety of distances throughout the year with the intention of winning them. It will be interesting to see how long these records stand.
Camp summary. We missed the meet and greet on Friday night due to obligations at work so our weekend started on Saturday morning in the pool. Nothing new here but my key points to remember are:
-swim from the hips
-loose hands
-hand entry should be half way between head and outstretched arm
-no bubbles on hand
After the pool we grabbed a quick coffee and headed over to the Louis Riel Dome. This is an awesome facility and it once again made me realize how lacking we are here for any public facilities other than Hockey Rinks. Mark began his lecture talking a bit about himself and general training practices. He also brought up the idea that what is tested in the Lab does not alway equal what happens in "The Real World".
The next subject was titled "Training Beyond the Lab". The main element of this discussion was around stress and its impact on the body. Essentially there are two kinds of stress, manageable which is called The Training Effect adn Unmanageable which causes overtraining, reduced performance, injury and illness. Stress is not limited to what occurs in training but also to other factors in life suck as work and family. In a discussion about good vs bad stress Mark brought spoke about DHEA release and Cortisol release. This is something I haven't come across yet. I am going to do some more reading on this subject.
Invisible training barriers was the next subject. Mark over the years has identified several different time barriers over which there seems to be a greater training effect. 20min, 50min, 1hour20min, 3hours, 6hours and 9hours. In hind sight at IMLP I experinced and was aware of these barriers on the bike both times around the out and back on the bike.
Nutrition was up next. The focus here was on race day. In summary train as you plan to race. Glucose and maltodextrin in a drink are the best combination. During high stress activity enzymes are lacking in the stomach to break down complex carbs.
Setting up a training program seems so much less daunting after this weekend. Mark placed the emphasis on simplicity. Essentially you have two types of training, Base and Speed. These are controlled by whether you are above or below your aerobic max heart rate. Mark also explained the roll of weight training and how important it was especially as we age.
Day One also included some talk about setting up your year and the different training phases. This lead into a talk on nutrition.
Somewhere during the day we also did a run session on the 400m indoor track at the Dome. The main component here was mid foot strike. It was interesting to watch the other members of the group and see or more better put hear a difference in their stride with such a small time spent working on their stride. The run component ended with Mark going over some stretching.
Saturday ended with a talk by Mark that was open to the public, with the proceeds going to a local Ottawa charity. All I can say here is that if you get a chance to here him speak go for it.
I think I am going to stop here for now and finish this later tonight or tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
GOAL #1
Goal #1 Peterborough 1/2 Iron under 5hours
I have been needing something to get me going. I have been more regular with the training but work has been busy and I keep putting off getting into the routine of a full week of training.
Lately I have been fitting in two spin classes at the store and two to three runs. The runs are slowly getting longer. I am up to 25min now, but have some discomfort in my calves so will have to hold things here and wait a bit.
Core and stability is going better. I guess this will be Goal #2. The plan is to do 6 sessions a week but not always the same thing. Right now I am just over 50% there. Better than expected.
Goal #3 is going to do with body weight and composition but I haven't figured out how to approach it yet. Not really big on the idea of just weighing in every morning. Will have to think about this one a bit.
As I start to get closer to accomplishing these I may add a few more short term lifestyle goals.
One of which will be sleeping more. I say this as I sit here at 11:30pm when I should be in bed. Hopefully swimming will help turn that around a bit as it starts at 6am sharp.
Stay focused on the path ahead!
I have been needing something to get me going. I have been more regular with the training but work has been busy and I keep putting off getting into the routine of a full week of training.
Lately I have been fitting in two spin classes at the store and two to three runs. The runs are slowly getting longer. I am up to 25min now, but have some discomfort in my calves so will have to hold things here and wait a bit.
Core and stability is going better. I guess this will be Goal #2. The plan is to do 6 sessions a week but not always the same thing. Right now I am just over 50% there. Better than expected.
Goal #3 is going to do with body weight and composition but I haven't figured out how to approach it yet. Not really big on the idea of just weighing in every morning. Will have to think about this one a bit.
As I start to get closer to accomplishing these I may add a few more short term lifestyle goals.
One of which will be sleeping more. I say this as I sit here at 11:30pm when I should be in bed. Hopefully swimming will help turn that around a bit as it starts at 6am sharp.
Stay focused on the path ahead!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Goals
We all set goals throughout our lives but seldom achieve them. We make New Years resolutions that fade quickly away. We dream of high levels of athletic or personal achievement but never get there. I have read many times that the only way to achieve the goals you set out for yourself is to write them down. Post them all over the place, on your bathroom mirror, in your car, on your clock radio make sure they are at the forefront of everything you do.
There are a couple other key elements that we need to keep in mind in order to make sure our goals are realized. We need to make sure they are specific and measurable. Otherwise how do we know whether we have gotten to where we are heading.
Our goals also need to be realistic. It is unrealistic at the age of 32 to decided you are going to be a profesional athlete in sport such as hockey.
Our goals also need to be attainable in the time frame we set out. For larger long term goals we need to set smaller intermediate goals along the way to help guide our journey.
Goals can be a part of all aspects of our lives. They can be athletic goals our financial goals we can even have goals for our relationships. They are a road map to a successfull and happy life.
For me 2007 is going to be the year of the written goal how about you do the same.
There are a couple other key elements that we need to keep in mind in order to make sure our goals are realized. We need to make sure they are specific and measurable. Otherwise how do we know whether we have gotten to where we are heading.
Our goals also need to be realistic. It is unrealistic at the age of 32 to decided you are going to be a profesional athlete in sport such as hockey.
Our goals also need to be attainable in the time frame we set out. For larger long term goals we need to set smaller intermediate goals along the way to help guide our journey.
Goals can be a part of all aspects of our lives. They can be athletic goals our financial goals we can even have goals for our relationships. They are a road map to a successfull and happy life.
For me 2007 is going to be the year of the written goal how about you do the same.
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