It is Friday after Sunday's 70.3. I was instructed by my coach not to workout this week. It sounds great; for the first couple of days. Then you start to get the itch. You look outside and imagine yourself out on a run. The weather doesn't matter. In fact the worse the weather the better. Last night it was cold and wet. I could see myself getting the long running pants on and my running shell. I would head out into the nasty weather with light gloves and a loose knit cap.
Or maybe it is a crisp Saturday Morning, my helmet is strapped on and I am beginning a 60 mile 3 hour ride. At first the cold air bites your knuckles. As you warm up your ride becomes smooth and comfortable. The sun gets bright and you get warmer still. You unzip the top of your riding jacket and cool air rushes in. Leaning forward on your aeros the quiet of the morning touches your soul. You are no longer a human form with legs pumping. The bike and you have a united purpose, to cut the wind, to smooth out the bumps on the road. You and the bike are moving straight and true. The only sound is a light steady hum. It's that noise your tires make as each square millimeter of surface area quickly touches and releases the road as the wheel turns.
The miles roll on now. Almost effortlessly the minutes tick by. Your cadence has not wavered one bit. Its warmer and the sun is getting higher in the sky. The sun reflects off many of the surfaces around you. you feel as you could go on forever.
Oh so how difficult it is to rest!!!!!!!!
"The Run"
"The Run"
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Race day is over!
It is all over now. The final race of the season is done. I could blabber on philosophically about many aspects of the day, the race, the finish line but I think it is best to leave those for later posts. Lets just focus on the details and mechanics of the race.
It was a gorgeous Austin morning. Not too cold, mid 60's maybe. My wife dropped me off at T2 and I immediately headed for the port-o-potty. Time to evac the GI track (about the nicest non clinical way to put it). I went directly to the bus that took us to the lake and the swim start. Split Transition areas always present unique issues. The most obvious is having the right gear at the right place. No use having your bike helmet in T2 ( the place where you stop your bike and start the run).
The race end and the swim area were only about a 2 miles apart. The swim area had limited parking. The race finish area had ample parking. So everyone (participants and spectators) parked at the finish are and where bused to the swim start. After the swim us participants went to T1 got our bikes and headed out and onto the bike course. Spectators ether walked or took the buses back to the finish area.
THE SWIM
Got into the water a couple of minutes before the start time. I immediately moved to the far right buoy. It is good to start on the far side of the group. As the field strings out you simply move into your place. The faster swimmers will move ahead of you and the slower ones will be behind you. By starting on the side you avoid the melee in the middle of the pack. I used to start in the middle and get caught in the confusion. i would then swim to the side and then find my way in the pack. So when I was taught to start on the side it made sense to me. Instead of starting in the middle and swimming to the side and then back into the middle, I just start on the side and swim into the middle.
My start went very well as the group thinned out I slowly moved from the far right of the pack and into a nice spot behind a group of about 3 swimmers. I picked one that was going at a steady pace and stayed on his feet. Only had a few hiccups during the entire swim. The first occurred when we encountered the slow swimmers from the heat the started before use. This happened about 300 yards in. I lost sight of my draft for a moment or 2 as we passed through the slower group. As we cleared the group I located my draft and continued along. I lost him again only a couple of times but quickly recovered.
Then with about 200 yards remaining I lost him. Totally! I have developed techniques for "looking around". Turning my head slightly and sighting to the front, rotating my hips a little more and looking under my left arm to see behind me are a few. He was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared so suddenly that I thought he had drowned (I did not here a report of a drowning). Only 200 hundred yards left, I just picked up another draft and followed him.
Swim time 38:18 25th best in my age group
BIKE
The plan for the bike was a very low heart rate. That meant keeping my HR under 140 beats per minute. The lower the better. This would result in a slower bike time than I have done in the past. In fact it was my slowest bike split at the 70.3 distance. Even at that I still finished in the upper half of my age group. I started to think about Louisville and the 140.3 distance. It was evident that my race strategy that my coach gave me was focused to the full ironman distance ( the strategy was very different from any other 70.3). I started to think about how I would feel if this was a full ironman. For example at the 20 mile mark, you are a little over a third of the way done a 70.3 (bile leg 56 miles), but only one sixth of an ironman (bike leg 112 miles). I imagined how I would feel with still having 92 miles of biking yet to do. Needless to say it was quite a shock!
I continued this throughout the bike leg. At 30 miles; more than halfway! Ironman only a quarter of the way. 50 miles almost finished, Ironman not even half way. I realized that I was comfortably consuming mile after mile. At the lower heart rate I was not breathing heavy. I still felt strong, mentally as well as physically. I realize that I have work to do (a lot of work) to prepare for Louisville next year but felling strong on the bike was a big confidence boost. The mental workout I gave my self on the bike was the very best part of the entire race
Bike time 3:08:41 48th in my age group
RUN
Hot, Hot, Hot! The plan on the run was to start at a very low Heart rate and build throughout. Problem was, I could not get it down. I was supposed to be around 125 beats per minute. I could not get it below 135. I felt quite comfortable so I held it steady. The route had a couple of hills and my HR elevated as I went up and fell as I went down. So nothing really special here, I kept to the nutrition strategy except for the addition of more "natural" foods. My run nutrition called for gels every 3 miles (basically at every water station). I find that my body reacts much better if I add oranges every 2 or 3 stations.
The strategy also called for an all out effort on the last 3 miles. So at mile 10 I started to ramp up a little. I brought the HR up slowly 140 then 145 then 150. I paced off some of the faster runners. As one passed me I ran with them untill I caught up to a person walking. Sometimes this was only 5 or 6 steps, sometimes it was 30 or 40. the last mile was an all out effort. It was great crossing the finish line!
Run time 2:34:06 50th in age group
Over all I was very satisfied with the race. I followed my strategy, adapted when neccesary and began to prepare my self for Louisville next year!
It was a gorgeous Austin morning. Not too cold, mid 60's maybe. My wife dropped me off at T2 and I immediately headed for the port-o-potty. Time to evac the GI track (about the nicest non clinical way to put it). I went directly to the bus that took us to the lake and the swim start. Split Transition areas always present unique issues. The most obvious is having the right gear at the right place. No use having your bike helmet in T2 ( the place where you stop your bike and start the run).
The race end and the swim area were only about a 2 miles apart. The swim area had limited parking. The race finish area had ample parking. So everyone (participants and spectators) parked at the finish are and where bused to the swim start. After the swim us participants went to T1 got our bikes and headed out and onto the bike course. Spectators ether walked or took the buses back to the finish area.
THE SWIM
Got into the water a couple of minutes before the start time. I immediately moved to the far right buoy. It is good to start on the far side of the group. As the field strings out you simply move into your place. The faster swimmers will move ahead of you and the slower ones will be behind you. By starting on the side you avoid the melee in the middle of the pack. I used to start in the middle and get caught in the confusion. i would then swim to the side and then find my way in the pack. So when I was taught to start on the side it made sense to me. Instead of starting in the middle and swimming to the side and then back into the middle, I just start on the side and swim into the middle.
My start went very well as the group thinned out I slowly moved from the far right of the pack and into a nice spot behind a group of about 3 swimmers. I picked one that was going at a steady pace and stayed on his feet. Only had a few hiccups during the entire swim. The first occurred when we encountered the slow swimmers from the heat the started before use. This happened about 300 yards in. I lost sight of my draft for a moment or 2 as we passed through the slower group. As we cleared the group I located my draft and continued along. I lost him again only a couple of times but quickly recovered.
Then with about 200 yards remaining I lost him. Totally! I have developed techniques for "looking around". Turning my head slightly and sighting to the front, rotating my hips a little more and looking under my left arm to see behind me are a few. He was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared so suddenly that I thought he had drowned (I did not here a report of a drowning). Only 200 hundred yards left, I just picked up another draft and followed him.
Swim time 38:18 25th best in my age group
BIKE
The plan for the bike was a very low heart rate. That meant keeping my HR under 140 beats per minute. The lower the better. This would result in a slower bike time than I have done in the past. In fact it was my slowest bike split at the 70.3 distance. Even at that I still finished in the upper half of my age group. I started to think about Louisville and the 140.3 distance. It was evident that my race strategy that my coach gave me was focused to the full ironman distance ( the strategy was very different from any other 70.3). I started to think about how I would feel if this was a full ironman. For example at the 20 mile mark, you are a little over a third of the way done a 70.3 (bile leg 56 miles), but only one sixth of an ironman (bike leg 112 miles). I imagined how I would feel with still having 92 miles of biking yet to do. Needless to say it was quite a shock!
I continued this throughout the bike leg. At 30 miles; more than halfway! Ironman only a quarter of the way. 50 miles almost finished, Ironman not even half way. I realized that I was comfortably consuming mile after mile. At the lower heart rate I was not breathing heavy. I still felt strong, mentally as well as physically. I realize that I have work to do (a lot of work) to prepare for Louisville next year but felling strong on the bike was a big confidence boost. The mental workout I gave my self on the bike was the very best part of the entire race
Bike time 3:08:41 48th in my age group
RUN
Hot, Hot, Hot! The plan on the run was to start at a very low Heart rate and build throughout. Problem was, I could not get it down. I was supposed to be around 125 beats per minute. I could not get it below 135. I felt quite comfortable so I held it steady. The route had a couple of hills and my HR elevated as I went up and fell as I went down. So nothing really special here, I kept to the nutrition strategy except for the addition of more "natural" foods. My run nutrition called for gels every 3 miles (basically at every water station). I find that my body reacts much better if I add oranges every 2 or 3 stations.
The strategy also called for an all out effort on the last 3 miles. So at mile 10 I started to ramp up a little. I brought the HR up slowly 140 then 145 then 150. I paced off some of the faster runners. As one passed me I ran with them untill I caught up to a person walking. Sometimes this was only 5 or 6 steps, sometimes it was 30 or 40. the last mile was an all out effort. It was great crossing the finish line!
Run time 2:34:06 50th in age group
Over all I was very satisfied with the race. I followed my strategy, adapted when neccesary and began to prepare my self for Louisville next year!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Twas The Evening Before...
I figured I would steal this post's title from my daughter's blog. http://ambitionsontherun.blogspot.com/2011/10/twas-evening-before.html#comment-form
It is actually the morning before and I feel pretty relaxed (for now). We got into Austin last night and it was a very smooth uneventful trip. I took advantage of this and dumped my gear in the room (bike included) had dinner and relaxed and went to bed. No gear check, no inventory, no preparations just eat, relax and sleep. Sleep and rest is as important as exercise. This is the time your body recovers and rebuilds (see the earlier post about periodization).
Dinner last night was fairly liberal as compared to my normal diet. 36 Hours before a race is the time to "carb up". Carbing up is not what it used to be. Consuming mass quantities of pasta the night before a race is no longer the recommended practice. Too much the night before can lead to a number of problems; mostly GI related. Here is a great general article:
http://walking.about.com/od/marathontraining/f/carboloading.htm
I did not read this article before I ate but I seemed to follow this for the most part. I have been on a weight loss diet for the past couple of months. I was 194 the past couple of days. I have been consuming 1800 to 2000 calories a day, with a mix of 50% carbs, 25% proteins and 25% fats. Really all I have done is make sure I am 2000 + for the last couple of days. So last nights meal was chicken fajitas with rice and beans. I am sure I did eat a little more than I should have but it was Gooooooooooooooood.
Today I will stay away anything that is hard on the GI. Things like roughage, red meat etc are definite no no's. A lot of what one may eat before a race is a matter of personal preference and body chemistry. Until recently I prided myself on having an "iron stomach". I could eat and digest just about anything. About this time last year I was hospitalized for a blocked colon. Probably the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I was told that it is the closest a male will ever come to experiencing labor pains. It occurred last year 3 weeks before this Austin race last year. Since that time I have been a little more aware as to how my stomach reacts to certain foods. Even if the reaction is a mild one.
Today meals will not be much different than any normal day. Only 1 cup of coffee will I drink. I just finished breakfast of a little sausage, egg white and fat free yogurt. I will probably have toast later. Water today to drink and other than the one cup of coffee, no caffeine. Tonight's meal some fish and rice. Also a trick I have learned, raid the hotel breakfast bar Saturday for Sunday's pre race meal LOL.
So, reviewing the previous paragraphs. I am getting pretty pumped about the race tomorrow. Think of it; I have not been hospitalized (for a while) I have had solid training for the past 4 months and I am 20 pounds lighter than last year. I cannot wait for race day!
Today I will do a few workouts, mostly to stay loose and get my muscles working a bit. David (my coach) has a 20 minute open water swim, a 30 minute easy ride and a 15 minute light jog on my schedule. Also today will be Athlete check in. The Ironman events are really cool. It is the big time. Competing along side the top athletes in the sport is a rush. The coolest thing is that everyone is treated like a pro. Everything has your name printed on it. In the transition area your rack has a sticker with your name on it. You definitely do not have to worry about putting your bike in the wrong spot.
Here in Austin they to a great job. If last year is any indication there will places to park near the Transition areas to get ready. The swim area was open for today's workouts. All in all a great event. The New Orleans 70.3 did not provide any access to the swim area prior to the race. I guess Austin has the advantage of have the swim area in a public park area. With the great job the Austin folks do I am looking forward to a great day.
Time to start getting the game face on.
Look for bib number 811
It is actually the morning before and I feel pretty relaxed (for now). We got into Austin last night and it was a very smooth uneventful trip. I took advantage of this and dumped my gear in the room (bike included) had dinner and relaxed and went to bed. No gear check, no inventory, no preparations just eat, relax and sleep. Sleep and rest is as important as exercise. This is the time your body recovers and rebuilds (see the earlier post about periodization).
Dinner last night was fairly liberal as compared to my normal diet. 36 Hours before a race is the time to "carb up". Carbing up is not what it used to be. Consuming mass quantities of pasta the night before a race is no longer the recommended practice. Too much the night before can lead to a number of problems; mostly GI related. Here is a great general article:
http://walking.about.com/od/marathontraining/f/carboloading.htm
I did not read this article before I ate but I seemed to follow this for the most part. I have been on a weight loss diet for the past couple of months. I was 194 the past couple of days. I have been consuming 1800 to 2000 calories a day, with a mix of 50% carbs, 25% proteins and 25% fats. Really all I have done is make sure I am 2000 + for the last couple of days. So last nights meal was chicken fajitas with rice and beans. I am sure I did eat a little more than I should have but it was Gooooooooooooooood.
Today I will stay away anything that is hard on the GI. Things like roughage, red meat etc are definite no no's. A lot of what one may eat before a race is a matter of personal preference and body chemistry. Until recently I prided myself on having an "iron stomach". I could eat and digest just about anything. About this time last year I was hospitalized for a blocked colon. Probably the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I was told that it is the closest a male will ever come to experiencing labor pains. It occurred last year 3 weeks before this Austin race last year. Since that time I have been a little more aware as to how my stomach reacts to certain foods. Even if the reaction is a mild one.
Today meals will not be much different than any normal day. Only 1 cup of coffee will I drink. I just finished breakfast of a little sausage, egg white and fat free yogurt. I will probably have toast later. Water today to drink and other than the one cup of coffee, no caffeine. Tonight's meal some fish and rice. Also a trick I have learned, raid the hotel breakfast bar Saturday for Sunday's pre race meal LOL.
So, reviewing the previous paragraphs. I am getting pretty pumped about the race tomorrow. Think of it; I have not been hospitalized (for a while) I have had solid training for the past 4 months and I am 20 pounds lighter than last year. I cannot wait for race day!
Today I will do a few workouts, mostly to stay loose and get my muscles working a bit. David (my coach) has a 20 minute open water swim, a 30 minute easy ride and a 15 minute light jog on my schedule. Also today will be Athlete check in. The Ironman events are really cool. It is the big time. Competing along side the top athletes in the sport is a rush. The coolest thing is that everyone is treated like a pro. Everything has your name printed on it. In the transition area your rack has a sticker with your name on it. You definitely do not have to worry about putting your bike in the wrong spot.
Here in Austin they to a great job. If last year is any indication there will places to park near the Transition areas to get ready. The swim area was open for today's workouts. All in all a great event. The New Orleans 70.3 did not provide any access to the swim area prior to the race. I guess Austin has the advantage of have the swim area in a public park area. With the great job the Austin folks do I am looking forward to a great day.
Time to start getting the game face on.
Look for bib number 811
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Close enough now to be a little nervous
Have I got everything? Gels, shoes, bike , wetsuit aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Just some of the things that go through your mind as race day gets closer. I cannot imagine how anyone can go through this and not get a little anxious. One of the many things I have learned doing tri's is that even though we are different people, is that we all get nervous, we all get sore, we all get anxious.
At Playtri http://www.playtri.com/ we have great coaches. I have learned a great deal from them. One of the first things I learned from Ahmed was that in a race everyone is experiencing the same things. At mile 10 of a run in a half ironman I get pretty sore. Well guess what, everyone else is too! After a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile bike and 10 miles of running how can you not be sore. I may not be fast at this point but I am gutting out those last 3 miles just like everyone else.
What applies at mile 10, applies 5 days before the race. We are all a little anxious about our preparations. This is magnified when you are travelling to an event. At a local race I was half way there and i realized that I forgot my bicycle pump. I quickly went through a mental list of all my friends in the race and whether they would have a pump. Then it dawned on me; I am only 10 minutes from home and the race does not start for 90 minutes. I turned around and drove home and got my pump.
Longhorn Tri is in Austin. A little more than a quick trip from Dallas. So if I forget something I cannot just turn around and go back. Also I will be leaving from work on Friday which means I have to be packed and ready to go Thursday night. But, this Thursday we are celebrating a friends return from Afghanistan so I will not have as much time to dedicate to packing, Wednesday I work late. So I pretty much have to be ready by Tuesday. Holy crap that's today!!!!!! I better get packing!
Not just "Wet suit, bike shoes, water bottles", We are going to be in Austin for 2 nights so I need regular clothes. Nothing fancy but still something other than spandex. Also, reading material to occupy spare time. Lets not forget the laptop so I can update this blog.
Austin or Bust!!!
Just some of the things that go through your mind as race day gets closer. I cannot imagine how anyone can go through this and not get a little anxious. One of the many things I have learned doing tri's is that even though we are different people, is that we all get nervous, we all get sore, we all get anxious.
At Playtri http://www.playtri.com/ we have great coaches. I have learned a great deal from them. One of the first things I learned from Ahmed was that in a race everyone is experiencing the same things. At mile 10 of a run in a half ironman I get pretty sore. Well guess what, everyone else is too! After a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile bike and 10 miles of running how can you not be sore. I may not be fast at this point but I am gutting out those last 3 miles just like everyone else.
What applies at mile 10, applies 5 days before the race. We are all a little anxious about our preparations. This is magnified when you are travelling to an event. At a local race I was half way there and i realized that I forgot my bicycle pump. I quickly went through a mental list of all my friends in the race and whether they would have a pump. Then it dawned on me; I am only 10 minutes from home and the race does not start for 90 minutes. I turned around and drove home and got my pump.
Longhorn Tri is in Austin. A little more than a quick trip from Dallas. So if I forget something I cannot just turn around and go back. Also I will be leaving from work on Friday which means I have to be packed and ready to go Thursday night. But, this Thursday we are celebrating a friends return from Afghanistan so I will not have as much time to dedicate to packing, Wednesday I work late. So I pretty much have to be ready by Tuesday. Holy crap that's today!!!!!! I better get packing!
Not just "Wet suit, bike shoes, water bottles", We are going to be in Austin for 2 nights so I need regular clothes. Nothing fancy but still something other than spandex. Also, reading material to occupy spare time. Lets not forget the laptop so I can update this blog.
Austin or Bust!!!
Less than 2 weeks till Austin 70.3
Well it is getting close to the Austin 70.3 Tri. I admit I am getting pretty pumped about it. It is hard to believe that I am approaching this as a "Training race". I have done 3 70.3's in the past 2 years. New Orleans 2X's (2010 and 2011) and Austin 2010. So I am approaching this as an experienced triathlete. That sounds kind of funny. I am no Andy Potts but I have been around. this is especially true for a race that I have done before.
There is a certain comfort level with knowing the lay of the land in a Tri. Layout of the transition area(s), it is always nice to no where to go. With knowing the bike and run courses you can already visualize your ride and run.
The WTC (World Triathlon Council) events are the "Big Time" for me. There are pros competing in the race. It would be like a golf Tournament with Tiger Woods competing with your weekend golfer. I get to compete in the same race at the same time on the same course as the top athletes in the sport. how cool is that!
Austin is a split transition event. The swim to bike transition is in one area and the bike to run is in separate area. This presents unique challenges and advantages. With 2 separate areas no one area can get overly cluttered with equipment. On the other hand you have to make sure that you have the right gear in the right area. in other words you better not have your running shoes in T1 (swim to bike). Transition areas are also referred to as being "clean areas". As you leave the area you cannot have any loose gear. everything must placed in a bag with your name on it. This keeps the transition areas safe and free of pedestrian traffic. Volunteers retrieve your bag in transition and it is taken to a retrieval area. I am going to have to do a dedicated blog for the volunteers that make it all possible.
Look for a post before the Longhorn Tri and one after with my results
There is a certain comfort level with knowing the lay of the land in a Tri. Layout of the transition area(s), it is always nice to no where to go. With knowing the bike and run courses you can already visualize your ride and run.
The WTC (World Triathlon Council) events are the "Big Time" for me. There are pros competing in the race. It would be like a golf Tournament with Tiger Woods competing with your weekend golfer. I get to compete in the same race at the same time on the same course as the top athletes in the sport. how cool is that!
Austin is a split transition event. The swim to bike transition is in one area and the bike to run is in separate area. This presents unique challenges and advantages. With 2 separate areas no one area can get overly cluttered with equipment. On the other hand you have to make sure that you have the right gear in the right area. in other words you better not have your running shoes in T1 (swim to bike). Transition areas are also referred to as being "clean areas". As you leave the area you cannot have any loose gear. everything must placed in a bag with your name on it. This keeps the transition areas safe and free of pedestrian traffic. Volunteers retrieve your bag in transition and it is taken to a retrieval area. I am going to have to do a dedicated blog for the volunteers that make it all possible.
Look for a post before the Longhorn Tri and one after with my results
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
No rest:
It started the day after Stonebridge Ranch, training that is. Not a days rest. In previous training regimes I usually got 1 day in a week to rest. Now it seems that there is no rest for the wicked. In fact when I started this blog I kind of assumed that I was going to have Monday's off from training and that would be my blogging day. Oh well i guess that is the difference (among many) that comes with iron man training.
The regime and associated workout schedule is the primary cost associated with coaching. I send my coach my available times for next week's training. He then sends back a schedule for the next week's workouts. If something comes up during the week and I cannot make a particular workout, I e-mail him and he adjusts my schedule.
The weekly schedules are part of an over master plan that is timed to be at your peak on race day. By "Race day " I mean my "A" race. As you all know that is Louisville next year. I can see the progression of this in how I feel some weeks. There are weeks where I feel like I am moving in mud! I feel like I am swimming in it, riding through it and running with it caked all over my shoes. Then there are weeks where I fell like superman. I feel fast lighter and stronger. I know that on Race day my coach will have me feeling like superman.
The overall master schedule is based on a technique called periodization:( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization ). Here are a few of the general ideas that I have been able to gather:
and he credits a Russian Leonid Matveyev as the first to use the term Periodization. As it turns out Tudor Bompa was a Professor of kenesiology at York University in Toronto (North York actually), which is where I did my MBA http://www.tudorbompa.com/ . Small world.
One of the areas that I find interesting in training is the concept of over compensating. As you train properly and rest properly your body gets stronger each cycle. As I understand it the basics are this:
One day a bigger storm hits the town and the sea wall only provides partial protection. The town has now experienced a storm surge of say 5 feet. So the town folk (again assuming some level of rationality) build the wall up to 5 feet. All is now good until a larger storm hits and floods the town. This storm had a surge of 7 feet. However the town folk decide to out smart the storms and build the seawall, not to 7 feet but to 9 feet. The thinking being that the level of intensity and duration is cannot be predicted so they "over compensate" by adding to the wall over and above the currently experienced storm surge.
So as the training intensity/duration increases your body begins to do the same. So during the first recovery cycle your body may recover to a particular level of strength and fitness. As we systematically increase the intensity/duration levels our body will start to "anticipate" higher levels of intensity/duration and begin to over compensate.
I know I have probably terribly over simplified the process. But, that's why I am not a coach.
First Wednesday of the Month and the goal was under 200 pounds. Weighed in at 198 this morning!!!!
The regime and associated workout schedule is the primary cost associated with coaching. I send my coach my available times for next week's training. He then sends back a schedule for the next week's workouts. If something comes up during the week and I cannot make a particular workout, I e-mail him and he adjusts my schedule.
The overall master schedule is based on a technique called periodization:( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization ). Here are a few of the general ideas that I have been able to gather:
- If you do the same exercise over and over with little variation your muscles will adapt to that exact load and intensity. You will become very very good at that particular exercise but eventually other aspects of your physical ability will suffer.
- There are cycles within cycles within cycles etc.
- To avoid adaptation you work out at different levels of intensity and duration.
- everyone thinks they know it better than everyone else.
and he credits a Russian Leonid Matveyev as the first to use the term Periodization. As it turns out Tudor Bompa was a Professor of kenesiology at York University in Toronto (North York actually), which is where I did my MBA http://www.tudorbompa.com/ . Small world.
One of the areas that I find interesting in training is the concept of over compensating. As you train properly and rest properly your body gets stronger each cycle. As I understand it the basics are this:
- As you work out and increase your intensity and duration your body breaks down.
- During your rest/recovery cycles your body rebuilds
- Your body rebuilds to the level of intensity and duration it previously experienced
- As you increase intensity/duration your body will start to rebuild/recovery to meet anticipated duration and intensity
- In other words your body will begin to get stronger than the intensity and duration it has experienced.
One day a bigger storm hits the town and the sea wall only provides partial protection. The town has now experienced a storm surge of say 5 feet. So the town folk (again assuming some level of rationality) build the wall up to 5 feet. All is now good until a larger storm hits and floods the town. This storm had a surge of 7 feet. However the town folk decide to out smart the storms and build the seawall, not to 7 feet but to 9 feet. The thinking being that the level of intensity and duration is cannot be predicted so they "over compensate" by adding to the wall over and above the currently experienced storm surge.
So as the training intensity/duration increases your body begins to do the same. So during the first recovery cycle your body may recover to a particular level of strength and fitness. As we systematically increase the intensity/duration levels our body will start to "anticipate" higher levels of intensity/duration and begin to over compensate.
I know I have probably terribly over simplified the process. But, that's why I am not a coach.
First Wednesday of the Month and the goal was under 200 pounds. Weighed in at 198 this morning!!!!
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