Many who inquire about coaching with me are inquiring one of two reasons. Their training has become stale and boring, or they have been repeating the same thing over for months (sometimes years) with the same results. They have decided if they are going to put the time in, they want more out of it. But what is the right mix? That is where I get to have fun finding that for them to make things better.
Sometimes "more" isnt always better. Sometimes it is "different" that is better. The body is a very efficient machine. It adapts well, and it eventually becomes efficient at whatever you are doing to it workout wise or life wise (until you go into excess with anything of course, then it starts to break down). Its goal is to use as little energy as possible, and to survive. Have you ever been at the end of a really long run and thought "no way I can make it the last mile", but somehow you do, and once you stop, theres no way you can get started again? Thats your brain. You can override your bodies signals for you to stop, to survive, but once you tell it it can stop, it does.
In training, your brain and body are used to one type of movement, one "zone", and in order to snap yourself out of the training rut, you need to do something different to the body. You become comfortable at a certain pace, and your body likes that, and you like that and your brain is telling you it wants to stick there. But sticking there wont get you to the finish line any faster.
Most of us dont like to get uncomfortable. Being comfortable with getting uncomfortable is necessary in order to improve, and finding the right mix of workouts, intensity, distance, is where improvement will come.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Knowing when to say when
So in the last couple of weeks I have DNF'd my first race ever, and won a weekend long challenge that involved a 5k run, reverse tri, bike TT, and duathlon from Friday to Sunday in pretty brutal conditions.
I learned a lot the last couple of weekends of racing, I learned the most from the DNF though. It was my first, and in a 5k of all things! The last 6-8 months have been a struggle for me. Knee issues, then knee surgery, and now still, recovery. Recovery is hard, you need patience, you need to create a understanding with yourself that you have to accept what is ahead of you even if it wasnt what you were "planning" in your head. My "plan" for this particular 5k was for a TT effort, and to set a baseline 5k to then train all season and run one again end of season and see if I can hit my open 5k goal. It was a warmer, very windy day out at Metro Beach and I tried to push into the wind. While I wasnt running quite as fast as I knew I could, that push into the wind and altering my running style tweaked my knee in a way that did not feel right at all. So, at mile 2, I stopped, dead stopped, and walked it in. Humbling. I felt bad watching everyone else run by me and offer words of encouragement to keep going, "come on your almost there!", etc, knowing that I should have been finished long ago, and you cant exactly explain the situation to them! Granted, it was the right decision, but humbling still.
Considering I came back that week feeling good, and was able to pull off the next weekend of racing just fine, I know it was the right decision since its consistency that pays off and not one workout alone. A year or two ago, I would have not made this decision, so mentally, Ive come a long way. Dont get me wrong, I still know when to keep pushing when its the mind playing tricks, but Ive learned when the body is truly saying no and not just playing tricks on me. I consider this a very valuable lesson learned :)
I learned a lot the last couple of weekends of racing, I learned the most from the DNF though. It was my first, and in a 5k of all things! The last 6-8 months have been a struggle for me. Knee issues, then knee surgery, and now still, recovery. Recovery is hard, you need patience, you need to create a understanding with yourself that you have to accept what is ahead of you even if it wasnt what you were "planning" in your head. My "plan" for this particular 5k was for a TT effort, and to set a baseline 5k to then train all season and run one again end of season and see if I can hit my open 5k goal. It was a warmer, very windy day out at Metro Beach and I tried to push into the wind. While I wasnt running quite as fast as I knew I could, that push into the wind and altering my running style tweaked my knee in a way that did not feel right at all. So, at mile 2, I stopped, dead stopped, and walked it in. Humbling. I felt bad watching everyone else run by me and offer words of encouragement to keep going, "come on your almost there!", etc, knowing that I should have been finished long ago, and you cant exactly explain the situation to them! Granted, it was the right decision, but humbling still.
Considering I came back that week feeling good, and was able to pull off the next weekend of racing just fine, I know it was the right decision since its consistency that pays off and not one workout alone. A year or two ago, I would have not made this decision, so mentally, Ive come a long way. Dont get me wrong, I still know when to keep pushing when its the mind playing tricks, but Ive learned when the body is truly saying no and not just playing tricks on me. I consider this a very valuable lesson learned :)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Follow up to baselines
I thought this would be a good time to update the baselines post with some data. Coming off the knee injury/surgery I put a bit more time in the pool around biking to work on technique a bit more and see if I couldnt get a bit faster. I decided to create a goal for myself to help keep me focused. I started this year/ended last around 1:44-1:45 per 100 meters for my 20:00 time trials. Nothing to complain about, but I wanted to see if I could dip into the 1:30's. This past Monday I hit 1:40 per 100 meters for my 20:00 TT in the pool. I was very happy with this, its early in the season, and it made all the work I did in the pool this winter/spring worth while. If I had not improved, then I would have had to re-evaluate my training to see if doing something different would help me obtain my goal.
Another scenario, one of the people I help coach in the pool seemed to be getting frustrated. I knew the person was progressing but they didnt feel that they were. So during a recent workout, I had them swim a fairly casual distance equal to their last TT distance and I took the time they posted for that normal swim and showed them that their now moderate swim was right around the exact same time their all out TT effort was just a couple of months ago! Not too shabby at all! But its nice to have that data to fall back on to evaluate where a person is at, has been, and where we're trying to get them to go. If you can see your progress its easier to stay motivated and its also easier to evaluate the plan you are following.
Another scenario, one of the people I help coach in the pool seemed to be getting frustrated. I knew the person was progressing but they didnt feel that they were. So during a recent workout, I had them swim a fairly casual distance equal to their last TT distance and I took the time they posted for that normal swim and showed them that their now moderate swim was right around the exact same time their all out TT effort was just a couple of months ago! Not too shabby at all! But its nice to have that data to fall back on to evaluate where a person is at, has been, and where we're trying to get them to go. If you can see your progress its easier to stay motivated and its also easier to evaluate the plan you are following.
Monday, April 27, 2009
baselines
Yesterday was my first race since Marine Corps in October. Before that it was a sprint triathlon in early September. It was soooo nice to be racing again!
For me this race was two fold though. 1st it was to see where I am at in a almost all out effort race at this point in the year and in recovery from knee surgery and 2nd, to get the racing engine going and have some fun. I have only been able to get a couple of time trial tests in since I started running again this spring, so I needed to know where I fall right now.
Creating a baseline when you start training is important. I should say, it is important if you want to make sure that the plan you are using is helping you improve. Here is a fairly easy way to create baseline tests that are repeatable from month to month to track your progress:
Swim - (depending how far along you are in swimming) a 500meter or yard swim, or a 1000 meter/yard time trial for time
Bike - 10 mile time trials are good on the bike. Its enough to really tax you but is short enough to be repeatable without breaking you down too much at a all out effort and needing prolonged recovery time
Run - 20 minute time trial, see how much distance you cover and what pace you held during the TT.
(good warm up and cool downs should accompany the tests)
Ideally these tests (especially the bike and run) should be done in a repeatable spot so that terrain is the same each test. The goal is to monitor improvement or lack of improvement. Is what you are doing month to month in training helping you become better? worse? the same? And then you can adjust accordingly.
If you dont want to go for time and mileage, another easy way to track your progress is to pick a particular ride, or run course that you use frequently that you can do a all out effort when you want to test and retest yourself.
Testing is a important, and often overlooked piece of the puzzle in figuring out how to get from point A to B. Say you are aiming for a particular time goal this year, example, currently at 8:30 pace on the run, and your goal is to be at 7:30's by the end of the season. A good way to make sure you get there is to do a time trial every few weeks to make sure that you are improving enough with your current training plan to hit that goal come end of season.
For those focusing on one sport or the other, while trying to maintain in the other 1 or 2 disciplines, TT's can also be valuable in making sure that while focusing on say, the run, you are not losing speed on the bike or swim.
For me this race was two fold though. 1st it was to see where I am at in a almost all out effort race at this point in the year and in recovery from knee surgery and 2nd, to get the racing engine going and have some fun. I have only been able to get a couple of time trial tests in since I started running again this spring, so I needed to know where I fall right now.
Creating a baseline when you start training is important. I should say, it is important if you want to make sure that the plan you are using is helping you improve. Here is a fairly easy way to create baseline tests that are repeatable from month to month to track your progress:
Swim - (depending how far along you are in swimming) a 500meter or yard swim, or a 1000 meter/yard time trial for time
Bike - 10 mile time trials are good on the bike. Its enough to really tax you but is short enough to be repeatable without breaking you down too much at a all out effort and needing prolonged recovery time
Run - 20 minute time trial, see how much distance you cover and what pace you held during the TT.
(good warm up and cool downs should accompany the tests)
Ideally these tests (especially the bike and run) should be done in a repeatable spot so that terrain is the same each test. The goal is to monitor improvement or lack of improvement. Is what you are doing month to month in training helping you become better? worse? the same? And then you can adjust accordingly.
If you dont want to go for time and mileage, another easy way to track your progress is to pick a particular ride, or run course that you use frequently that you can do a all out effort when you want to test and retest yourself.
Testing is a important, and often overlooked piece of the puzzle in figuring out how to get from point A to B. Say you are aiming for a particular time goal this year, example, currently at 8:30 pace on the run, and your goal is to be at 7:30's by the end of the season. A good way to make sure you get there is to do a time trial every few weeks to make sure that you are improving enough with your current training plan to hit that goal come end of season.
For those focusing on one sport or the other, while trying to maintain in the other 1 or 2 disciplines, TT's can also be valuable in making sure that while focusing on say, the run, you are not losing speed on the bike or swim.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
too much too soon?
Spring... the season to get out and about again for us here in Michigan. The season to see motivation come back from the long grey days and some slacking through winter. Also, the season to.....overtrain?
It is so easy to get really motivated to get out and run/bike/swim fast everyday once your motivation has returned (or like me, you are coming back from a injury). But how much is too much when returning?
Be aware of where your fitness level currently is when you head out for those group training sessions, or you meet up with a training partner, or even heading out on your own for a workout. If you arent quite up to their level yet, or you want to head out with the front of the pack when maybe you should be keeping with the middle of the pack right now, make smart decisions.
Every training plan has, or at least should have, specific workouts designed to be worked in at specific times. The biggest mistake many newer athletes, (and even veterans) make is going too hard on the days they shouldnt, and then not being able to successfully complete key workouts later on in the week. Key workouts are where changes are made. If you have a chaotic week, and you get no other workouts in during a week, you need to know what your key workouts out, and make sure those are the workouts you get in.
So remember the next time you go out for a casual group run or ride and find yourself huffing and puffing way more than you were supposed to that day, that no one will care what pace you were running in April. But they will remember what place you took in that race you run with them once race season arrives. And if you end up injured, or were forced to miss some key workouts due to being too sore, you might not get to see what your true race potential is this season!
It is so easy to get really motivated to get out and run/bike/swim fast everyday once your motivation has returned (or like me, you are coming back from a injury). But how much is too much when returning?
Be aware of where your fitness level currently is when you head out for those group training sessions, or you meet up with a training partner, or even heading out on your own for a workout. If you arent quite up to their level yet, or you want to head out with the front of the pack when maybe you should be keeping with the middle of the pack right now, make smart decisions.
Every training plan has, or at least should have, specific workouts designed to be worked in at specific times. The biggest mistake many newer athletes, (and even veterans) make is going too hard on the days they shouldnt, and then not being able to successfully complete key workouts later on in the week. Key workouts are where changes are made. If you have a chaotic week, and you get no other workouts in during a week, you need to know what your key workouts out, and make sure those are the workouts you get in.
So remember the next time you go out for a casual group run or ride and find yourself huffing and puffing way more than you were supposed to that day, that no one will care what pace you were running in April. But they will remember what place you took in that race you run with them once race season arrives. And if you end up injured, or were forced to miss some key workouts due to being too sore, you might not get to see what your true race potential is this season!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Ouch
It sure is tough getting back in shape after time off. I had 4+ months off of running completely, and its been rough getting back into it. The surgery made my right leg weaker since I lost mobility for longer than we were expecting and it took a couple weeks or so to even get the quad to respond. It was quite a weird feeling.
I pushed through a half marathon with my dad last weekend to start pushing the time and endurance, then this weekend I hit the trails for 2 hours of trail running. It makes me sad to see how slow Ive become at longer distances compared to where I was last year, but at the same time, Im very thankful to be back to running.
Not rushing this has been interesting. Not rushing... how slow do you go, how many miles do you put in then? How quickly or slowly do you ramp back up? Its all a guessing game really. Each person is different so you just pick a point, start, and alter from there. This sure has taught me patience and tolerance. And, being really thankful to be out doing what many can only dream about for one reason or another.
This looks like a good week to talk about ramping up too fast in the spring. After long Michigan winters, its so easy to fall into the trap of too much too soon, or too fast, in the spring when we all finally come out of hibernation!
I pushed through a half marathon with my dad last weekend to start pushing the time and endurance, then this weekend I hit the trails for 2 hours of trail running. It makes me sad to see how slow Ive become at longer distances compared to where I was last year, but at the same time, Im very thankful to be back to running.
Not rushing this has been interesting. Not rushing... how slow do you go, how many miles do you put in then? How quickly or slowly do you ramp back up? Its all a guessing game really. Each person is different so you just pick a point, start, and alter from there. This sure has taught me patience and tolerance. And, being really thankful to be out doing what many can only dream about for one reason or another.
This looks like a good week to talk about ramping up too fast in the spring. After long Michigan winters, its so easy to fall into the trap of too much too soon, or too fast, in the spring when we all finally come out of hibernation!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
the beginning
I have toyed with starting a blog for a year or so now. First it was to document my journey through my first Ironman. I started it last year, and within about two posts it felt more like ramblings and posting numbers and figures that I already had in my workout logs anyways, so I stopped.
So, my intention with this blog is to post useful (I suppose thats relative to the audience) information regarding training and coaching, and also document my year and lessons learned along the way. Those can be very useful and some of the best blogs I have found out there post a lot of trial and error things that can give you something to think about.
LESSON 1 :) The blog title. The title is actually a reminder to me of the first lesson I was lucky enough to learn early on in life. I actually had a little help learning this, with a group of people that went through some classes with me and we were forced to PRACTICE it everyday, not just talk about it. I had a HUGE problem of only doing whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like it, work wise, personal wise, relationship wise, athletic wise, etc. I found all these areas that I was choosing feeling over commitment, and it was embarassing. Feelings ebb and flow, feelings cause you to lose sight of your ultimate goal, feelings cause you to make rash decisions that maybe you wouldnt if you took a second, feelings can absolutely RUN your life if you let them.
I started applying it to life, with some success. Oddly enough it didnt really register well with me until running/adventure racing/triathlon entered my life. I'd say this was the first time that I decided to really put commitment over feeling into practice EVERYDAY. Either I chose commitment everyday and achieved my goal of losing weight and racing, or I chose not to. Surprisingly, it worked well. Soon I found it spilled over into my personal life to, work life, college life, etc. Make no mistake, feelings are strong, feelings WILL get in the way of life sometimes. But its being able to notice that, fix it, and move on that is important. So, theres a little background on the title, and look for a blog a little later in the week on training plans and when your doing the wrong workouts. Its almost race season!!! WOO HOO!
So, my intention with this blog is to post useful (I suppose thats relative to the audience) information regarding training and coaching, and also document my year and lessons learned along the way. Those can be very useful and some of the best blogs I have found out there post a lot of trial and error things that can give you something to think about.
LESSON 1 :) The blog title. The title is actually a reminder to me of the first lesson I was lucky enough to learn early on in life. I actually had a little help learning this, with a group of people that went through some classes with me and we were forced to PRACTICE it everyday, not just talk about it. I had a HUGE problem of only doing whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like it, work wise, personal wise, relationship wise, athletic wise, etc. I found all these areas that I was choosing feeling over commitment, and it was embarassing. Feelings ebb and flow, feelings cause you to lose sight of your ultimate goal, feelings cause you to make rash decisions that maybe you wouldnt if you took a second, feelings can absolutely RUN your life if you let them.
I started applying it to life, with some success. Oddly enough it didnt really register well with me until running/adventure racing/triathlon entered my life. I'd say this was the first time that I decided to really put commitment over feeling into practice EVERYDAY. Either I chose commitment everyday and achieved my goal of losing weight and racing, or I chose not to. Surprisingly, it worked well. Soon I found it spilled over into my personal life to, work life, college life, etc. Make no mistake, feelings are strong, feelings WILL get in the way of life sometimes. But its being able to notice that, fix it, and move on that is important. So, theres a little background on the title, and look for a blog a little later in the week on training plans and when your doing the wrong workouts. Its almost race season!!! WOO HOO!
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