Lots of hilly upcoming races for my athletes, friends and myself. Time to practice hill running. Here is a good video on proper technique for hill running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu2qocvfCzE&feature=player_embedded
If done right, you can save valuable energy with good up and down hill running technique.
If you have an upcoming hilly race, remember that running downhills are almost as important as including uphills in your training. This is especially important for a race with early downhills such as the Boston Marathon.
Endurance Coach
Monday, April 5, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Goal Setting for Success
Want to have a successful season? You must set goals.
Here are some tips for goal setting:
• Goals should stretch you. Anything less will not properly motivate you to improve.
• Goals have to be balanced with other aspects of your life. It is easy to lose balance in our endurance world. No race achievement will mean anything if you lose your family in the process.
• Set training objectives for each training block – stepping stones that will lead you toward your seasonal goals. Every 4-6 week block should have mini-goals.
• Every day, act like you believe. When you set a goal, you may not honestly know that you can reach it. But you do have to pretend that you do. Act with your nutrition and sleep habits. Act with your approach to each training session. Act with your attention to the details that will matter on race day. And on race day, keep pretending – all the way to the finish line.
• Go to bed each night with no regrets. Ask yourself, “Did I do all that I can towards achieving my goals.” Make that answer a yes often. Race with no regrets as well.
• Surround yourself with training partners and friends who believe you can do it.
• Enlist a coach who knows that you can do it.
Best wishes for your best season yet!
Here are some tips for goal setting:
• Goals should stretch you. Anything less will not properly motivate you to improve.
• Goals have to be balanced with other aspects of your life. It is easy to lose balance in our endurance world. No race achievement will mean anything if you lose your family in the process.
• Set training objectives for each training block – stepping stones that will lead you toward your seasonal goals. Every 4-6 week block should have mini-goals.
• Every day, act like you believe. When you set a goal, you may not honestly know that you can reach it. But you do have to pretend that you do. Act with your nutrition and sleep habits. Act with your approach to each training session. Act with your attention to the details that will matter on race day. And on race day, keep pretending – all the way to the finish line.
• Go to bed each night with no regrets. Ask yourself, “Did I do all that I can towards achieving my goals.” Make that answer a yes often. Race with no regrets as well.
• Surround yourself with training partners and friends who believe you can do it.
• Enlist a coach who knows that you can do it.
Best wishes for your best season yet!
Monday, March 1, 2010
American Birkebeiner 2010 - For the Joy of It
Birkie 2010 is in the books! It couldn't have been a better day for the 8000+ skiers on Saturday. It was 3 degrees as we drove to the race and 35 degrees when we finished. Brilliant blue sky framed the birch and pine forests through which this hilly 50km course climbs.
Although we both felt sluggish in the first half of the race (logical - since we barely fit in skiing this year), we were both able to negative split the course and finish strong. Our Boston and IM St. George training kicked in for those tough later hills. Looks like I passed more than 200 skiers in the last 20km. After reviewing the last 10 years of results, the numbers show that I raced my 17th Birkie about as well as any I've raced since having kids. Not bad for someone swimming, biking and running her way through Birkie training.
So why do we insist on racing a long, tough, logistically complex ski race in the middle of training for our upcoming "A" races? It is difficult to describe, but I'll try.
Don't forget JOY, APPRECIATION and FUN. Without those, how can you possibly be fast?
Although we both felt sluggish in the first half of the race (logical - since we barely fit in skiing this year), we were both able to negative split the course and finish strong. Our Boston and IM St. George training kicked in for those tough later hills. Looks like I passed more than 200 skiers in the last 20km. After reviewing the last 10 years of results, the numbers show that I raced my 17th Birkie about as well as any I've raced since having kids. Not bad for someone swimming, biking and running her way through Birkie training.
So why do we insist on racing a long, tough, logistically complex ski race in the middle of training for our upcoming "A" races? It is difficult to describe, but I'll try.
- For the JOY of it. The Birkie is a celebraton of skiing. Most of the 8000 skiers are there because they absolutely love to ski. This is the place to find like minded people and to celebrate everyone's race and everyone's stories from the past year and from their own 50km that day.
- For the INSPIRATION from it. The Birkie honors those skiers based on how many Birkies they've managed to finish (no small task). We got to see our friends Bob and Bill be honored for their 30th Birkies at a special breakfast. How inspiring to see our fellow skiers continuing to tackle this challenge well past retirement age. They are showing us the way to age with strength, joy, fitness and peace.
- APPRECIATION. As Birke skiers pursue the Birchleggings Award (given to those who finish 20 Birkies), inevitably we lose some of our skiing friends to deteriorating health and even death. We've also seen friends come back from cancer and traumatic accidents to race again. As we all do the math - estimating how old we may be when we get that 20 or 30 year award, we realize how precarious our goals are. I think we all race as if it might be our last Birkie - appreciating our good health and good fortune to once again toe the crowded starting line.
- For the FITNESS from it. When training for a spring marathon or Ironman, it can be difficult to fit in race experiences. Saturday, I raced HARD for 3 hours and 44 minutes. Although stiff and tired, the low impact nature of the race means that I'll be able to rev back up my IM training after 2-3 days of recovery workouts.
Don't forget JOY, APPRECIATION and FUN. Without those, how can you possibly be fast?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Taper Trauma
Right now, approximately 7500 American Birkebeiner skiers are midway through their race week taper. Make no mistake - they are not happy about it.
Tapering never lives up to expectations. The athlete has trained hard for weeks - dreaming all along of what it will be like to rest a little. One would think that it would feel great. The reality is that it never feels good.
Typical taper feelings include heavy legs, deep sluggishness, grouchy demeanor and apprehension about the upcoming race. Not fun.
Your body's rhythms have been completely disrupted. And while you are feeling kind of punky, you don't have any tough workouts to help prove to yourself that you still have fitness for your race. This is why so many people make the mistake of pushing too hard in the days right before their "A" race.
But have faith in the taper! It does work extremely well when done right. And "right" means a different scenario for each athlete. If done wrong, race day will be disappointing.
As a coach, I monitor my athlete's fatigue level, personality, race experience, race goals and overall fitness to prescribe their best-odds taper routine. It is an art with a lot of science to back it up. More on the specifics of how to taper well in a later post.
Right now, I have to get some more rest!
Tapering never lives up to expectations. The athlete has trained hard for weeks - dreaming all along of what it will be like to rest a little. One would think that it would feel great. The reality is that it never feels good.
Typical taper feelings include heavy legs, deep sluggishness, grouchy demeanor and apprehension about the upcoming race. Not fun.
Your body's rhythms have been completely disrupted. And while you are feeling kind of punky, you don't have any tough workouts to help prove to yourself that you still have fitness for your race. This is why so many people make the mistake of pushing too hard in the days right before their "A" race.
But have faith in the taper! It does work extremely well when done right. And "right" means a different scenario for each athlete. If done wrong, race day will be disappointing.
As a coach, I monitor my athlete's fatigue level, personality, race experience, race goals and overall fitness to prescribe their best-odds taper routine. It is an art with a lot of science to back it up. More on the specifics of how to taper well in a later post.
Right now, I have to get some more rest!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Without rest, you will not build fitness
Training + Rest = Fitness (Form)
Most endurance athletes are very good at the training portion of this equation. But without carefully planned rest days, weeks and months, an athlete's fitness will plateau (best case scenario) or plummet (when over-trained).
Many endurance athletes don't rest enough. It can be intoxicating to keep training longer/faster, etc. And for a while, it can work. But eventually, it will fail. Sometimes the athlete simply never again improves - a subtle failure that they may not even recognize. Most times, it will result in repeated illnesses or injuries. Sometimes, the athlete can reach a state of over-training - a little understood scrambling of their body's endocrine and energy systems that can take months or years to recover from.
As we age, the need for rest becomes more obvious. But, the younger athletes would be ahead of the curve to recognize that they need rest as well.
Without rest, you will not attain your potential.
Before we had kids, my husband and I would train until we dropped each weekend morning. Then, we would typically eat a huge lunch and hang out sleepily on the couch for a few hours until we had grabbed back some strength. That stopped abruptly more than 10 years ago with the birth of my daughter. There went most of our naturally built in recovery hours each week. We had to learn to listen to our exhausted parental bodies and skip workouts when necessary. Without those couch hours each week, we couldn't train until we dropped.
I figure that in about 10 more years, we'll get back our couch and more training energy. We may be 20 years older then, but I bet we'll find some revival of our old energy when we're not chasing kids 24/7. (We'll also miss them terribly, I'm sure. These years with kids are completely wonderful!)
Yesterday, I felt exhausted from 3 tough weeks of training. I managed to sit down and watch the Olympics for several hours - a minor miracle. Boy, did I feel good today!
Most endurance athletes are very good at the training portion of this equation. But without carefully planned rest days, weeks and months, an athlete's fitness will plateau (best case scenario) or plummet (when over-trained).
Many endurance athletes don't rest enough. It can be intoxicating to keep training longer/faster, etc. And for a while, it can work. But eventually, it will fail. Sometimes the athlete simply never again improves - a subtle failure that they may not even recognize. Most times, it will result in repeated illnesses or injuries. Sometimes, the athlete can reach a state of over-training - a little understood scrambling of their body's endocrine and energy systems that can take months or years to recover from.
As we age, the need for rest becomes more obvious. But, the younger athletes would be ahead of the curve to recognize that they need rest as well.
Without rest, you will not attain your potential.
Before we had kids, my husband and I would train until we dropped each weekend morning. Then, we would typically eat a huge lunch and hang out sleepily on the couch for a few hours until we had grabbed back some strength. That stopped abruptly more than 10 years ago with the birth of my daughter. There went most of our naturally built in recovery hours each week. We had to learn to listen to our exhausted parental bodies and skip workouts when necessary. Without those couch hours each week, we couldn't train until we dropped.
I figure that in about 10 more years, we'll get back our couch and more training energy. We may be 20 years older then, but I bet we'll find some revival of our old energy when we're not chasing kids 24/7. (We'll also miss them terribly, I'm sure. These years with kids are completely wonderful!)
Yesterday, I felt exhausted from 3 tough weeks of training. I managed to sit down and watch the Olympics for several hours - a minor miracle. Boy, did I feel good today!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Pieces of the Puzzle
I regretably missed USAT's Art and Science of Coaching Symposium last weekend. Coaching is clearly both an art and a science, and I find that I thrive on constant updates from other coaches. I was looking at the symposium highlights and thought I'd bring a few to you.
The following highlights are from one of the best, Mark Allen.
ESSENTIALS OF A GREAT IRONMAN TRAINING PROGRAM
Mark Allen
• The goal of training for an Ironman is to make it seem like it is just another day.
• Physical training has to incorporate base, speed and taper, as well as a sensible strength training program.
• Nutritional support on race day is the toughest to get right because research is not conducted under the stress of a race.
• Mental training is undervalued but exceptionally effective if practiced with the same regularity of the physical training.
I couldn't agree more. With proper training and taper, race day will seem like just another day of training. Actually, with a solid taper, you will feel "Race Magic" - much stronger, smoother and faster on race day than you ever felt in training.
Ironman nutrition? The biggest unknown for any athlete toeing the starting line. No matter how well you have studied, planned and practiced your race nutrition, you will usually experience some difficulties on race day (hopefully minor and manageable.) The key here may be to train yourself to race on less fuel - a big topic for another post in the future.
And mental training? One of my favorite topics. If you train with me, you will do your mental homework before your "A" race. There is no skipping that assignment. To quote excellent coach and athlete Jen Harrison, "Yes! I always say - at the start line at major races EVERYONE is fit and in shape. It comes down to 90% mental and 10% physical. The head always wins!"
Success on race day is more than just basic bike speed, run pace or swim technique. It is a complex puzzle of so many different details. I love puzzles.
The following highlights are from one of the best, Mark Allen.
ESSENTIALS OF A GREAT IRONMAN TRAINING PROGRAM
Mark Allen
• The goal of training for an Ironman is to make it seem like it is just another day.
• Physical training has to incorporate base, speed and taper, as well as a sensible strength training program.
• Nutritional support on race day is the toughest to get right because research is not conducted under the stress of a race.
• Mental training is undervalued but exceptionally effective if practiced with the same regularity of the physical training.
I couldn't agree more. With proper training and taper, race day will seem like just another day of training. Actually, with a solid taper, you will feel "Race Magic" - much stronger, smoother and faster on race day than you ever felt in training.
Ironman nutrition? The biggest unknown for any athlete toeing the starting line. No matter how well you have studied, planned and practiced your race nutrition, you will usually experience some difficulties on race day (hopefully minor and manageable.) The key here may be to train yourself to race on less fuel - a big topic for another post in the future.
And mental training? One of my favorite topics. If you train with me, you will do your mental homework before your "A" race. There is no skipping that assignment. To quote excellent coach and athlete Jen Harrison, "Yes! I always say - at the start line at major races EVERYONE is fit and in shape. It comes down to 90% mental and 10% physical. The head always wins!"
Success on race day is more than just basic bike speed, run pace or swim technique. It is a complex puzzle of so many different details. I love puzzles.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thoughts on "Cross" Training
If I were eleven weeks out from a summer/fall Ironman, I'd be doing long rides and bricks every week. 100+ milers with transition runs or hard 2 hour bikes followed by Ironman paced long runs.
I've done none of that for Ironman St. George (so far).
Am I worried? Not at all - this was all part of my plan, and I've been in this position before.
Winter in Illinois is not the time for six hour rides. And it doesn't work too well to bike hard indoors, then go out into 20 degree, windy conditions for a long run - I just get too cold.
I've done exactly two 3-hour indoor trainer rides (plus my two 60 minute interval rides each week). Instead of long, insane indoor trainer hours, I'm focusing on threshold development on my short rides. I am doing long runs - but on their own right now so that I can start them well-fueled and ready to take on the weather.
And, I have a secret weapon that is proven. Cross country skiing. Each week since Christmas, I've done a 3-4 hour HILLY cross country ski. I am a good skier - good enough that I cover about 50km in these skis. My heart rate averages 165 for these skis - with natural intervals of near-max heart rates on the hills. I've been skiing since 1989 and I know that these skis will do more for my fitness than anything else I can do all year. Even summer long rides and bricks don't make me as fit as these long, strong skis.
Skiing works my legs in all three planes (unlike cycling and running). It builds stronger hip, knee and ankle stabilizer muscles - which seem to have an immediate impact on my running speed and health. Hill climbs translate directly into cycling strength. Poling requires a strong ab crunch with every other stride. Amazing core work. Aerobically, there is nothing that gets my heart rate higher for such a long time without any impact. My husband and I come out of ski season ready to race in any sport with a few tune-up workouts.
In MN and WI, most triathletes/runners/cyclists ski all winter. You won't find them in their garage on a bike for long periods of time.
And the last benefit? It is incredibly fun (once you have decent equipment, a few lessons and good trails).
As we say in the upper midwest..."Ski ya later."
I've done none of that for Ironman St. George (so far).
Am I worried? Not at all - this was all part of my plan, and I've been in this position before.
Winter in Illinois is not the time for six hour rides. And it doesn't work too well to bike hard indoors, then go out into 20 degree, windy conditions for a long run - I just get too cold.
I've done exactly two 3-hour indoor trainer rides (plus my two 60 minute interval rides each week). Instead of long, insane indoor trainer hours, I'm focusing on threshold development on my short rides. I am doing long runs - but on their own right now so that I can start them well-fueled and ready to take on the weather.
And, I have a secret weapon that is proven. Cross country skiing. Each week since Christmas, I've done a 3-4 hour HILLY cross country ski. I am a good skier - good enough that I cover about 50km in these skis. My heart rate averages 165 for these skis - with natural intervals of near-max heart rates on the hills. I've been skiing since 1989 and I know that these skis will do more for my fitness than anything else I can do all year. Even summer long rides and bricks don't make me as fit as these long, strong skis.
Skiing works my legs in all three planes (unlike cycling and running). It builds stronger hip, knee and ankle stabilizer muscles - which seem to have an immediate impact on my running speed and health. Hill climbs translate directly into cycling strength. Poling requires a strong ab crunch with every other stride. Amazing core work. Aerobically, there is nothing that gets my heart rate higher for such a long time without any impact. My husband and I come out of ski season ready to race in any sport with a few tune-up workouts.
In MN and WI, most triathletes/runners/cyclists ski all winter. You won't find them in their garage on a bike for long periods of time.
And the last benefit? It is incredibly fun (once you have decent equipment, a few lessons and good trails).
As we say in the upper midwest..."Ski ya later."
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