We are in the midst of a crisis. Our sport has lost its sense of community. What was once an open society of health-conscious athletes has divulged into a social media pissing contest and non-Ironman finishers need not apply.
Tattoo to celebrate a 70.3? Idiot.
Full Ironman without training? Disrespectful.
Setting out to complete 50 Ironmans in 50 days and failing? Immediate lifetime ban.
Something needs to change.
On Saturday the bug got me. Bad. My alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. and I planned on being on the trainer by 5:00 a.m. for a 90 minute ride, which included five 10 minute intervals just below threshold followed by a short, but snappy 10 minute brick run. So when I awoke at 3:15 a.m. with unspeakable pain in my stomach and a splitting headache I knew that as I raced to the bathroom that would be the only running I’d be doing that day.
Training plan templates make a hell of a lot of assumptions. Those silly PDFs and app icons assume we have unlimited time to train, zero friends, are unemployed, and that our lives revolve around triathlon. Perhaps that’s you in a nutshell. Though, more than likely it’s probably not. You have to ask yourself…
You wake up to the morning sun shining through the bedroom window and the sweet sound of birds chirping just beyond the glass. It’s the first nice day of the year (for us Upstaters this happens in late April most likely) and you’re eager to throw down some watts on the open road! Just before you clip in you do a check to make sure you have all the essentials to be seen by driver, to repair a flat, to pay for some unforeseen item a.k.a f*ck you money, and enough nutrition to get you back home safely. So what does all of that look like?
Training tools are all well and good by themselves but unless you know how to use them effectively, they’re meaningless. With (hopefully) a renewed sense of focus on my swimming, here are the most essential training tools, aside from your cap and goggles, for triathletes to improve their form and get faster in the water.
I hate New Year resolutions. Aside from the fact it’s a failed strategy, I never understood why we need the calendar to change before we start to change. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made resolutions (to “lose weight” for example) in the past. I’ve stuck to them for a while, but then my motivation faded and I was back to burying my ass in the couch with a 6-pack and a bag of Cheetos.
The two most important elements of an Ironman training plan are patience and consistency. Sure, the program itself is important. It needs to be structured in such a way that promotes progress and physical adaptation. But at the end of the day, if you’re not consistent in training the program fails. If you’re not patient in training the program fails, no matter how great the program is.
Triathlon saved my life. I made a promise to myself that I’d start living healthier after my mother’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2014. I was overweight, unhappy, and settling for one job after another with no real desire or direction. But what started out as a goal for myself later blossomed into a passion for endurance sports and helping others realize the freedoms in life and sport that triathlon has afforded me.
Winter running outdoors sucks. It sucks and I don’t really enjoy it. However, I’m a firm believer that running outside and on the road is better from a performance standpoint for two reasons: Nothing simulates running on pavement or trails better than running on pavement or trails and it builds mental toughness. If you’re like me and want to stay off the treadmill as long as possible there are a few things you can do to stay warm while continuing to run outside.
Drinking is a non-negotiable for many people, and there’s really no reason to eliminate it completely. Almost all of us enjoy drinking to some degree. It’s fun, it’s livens us up, allows to meet new people, share stories, and the list goes on. So how do we build it into our nutrition routine without allowing it to derail our progress?
I forced the issue, despite knowing how best to handle a recovery week following a long, arduous event. I disobeyed one of the cardinal rules of endurance, and life in general: Patience.
Consistency will lead to improvement, but patience will yield the best results. Here’s how the week post-31 miler should have played out.
Last week I took you through my strength routine with descriptions of proper form and photos to better illustrate it. This week, I’ll breakdown my running warm up routine. This ensures my calves, quads, and glutes especially are activated prior to beginning any run. That means no matter what distance I’m running or the intensity I’m going through this routine.
