Base II Review and Base III Preview

I finished up my Base II block which emphasized working on my swim.  I am pretty happy with the improvements made in the pool as a whole, despite 3 bouts of being sick for 2-3 days.  After doing some self-evaluation and consulting with other endurance athletes I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t taking in enough calories which depleted my immune system and caused me to get sick.  I’ve upped the amount of calories I’m taking in and things are going well.

This week I start my Base III block with an emphasis on the bike.  I’ve been kind of dreading this block because my riding will be primarily done inside on my trainer.  For those of you with experience riding on a trainer, it can be pretty boring and monotonous.  At the same time, it allows you to work on specific parts of your cycling technique due to a very controlled environment and can build some mental toughness.  My current bike fitness is really lacking now so I hope to be able to get outside to knock out a few 3 hour rides.  If not, I’ll have to suck it up on the trainer.  I will also work on some high cadence and big gear interval work which will improve my overall efficiency and my overall riding performance.  So, at a high level this is what we’re looking at for the next 4 weeks:

3 swims

3 runs

4 bikes (1 high cadence focused, 1 bike gear focused, 1 long, 1 mixed)

2 weight training sessions

My goal is to spend between 6-10 hours on the bike during this period.  Next task is to find some good movies to watch to pass the time :)

3 Pillars of Endurance Success

There are many things you can do to improve your endurance, but there are 3 keys things you MUST have to be the best you can be:

- Do the Work (Train)
- Nutrition
- Recovery

Let's detail them out a little more to get a better understanding:

1)  Do the Work - just as it says, you've got to put in the time and log the laps, miles, etc.  This is where you're building your endurance muscles, making nueromuscular improvements, and improving your endurance "engine".  Train right, train smart.  The other 2 pillars are going to support your training.

2)  Nutrition - nutrition is the fuel you need for your workout, and replenishes glycogen stores, feeds your muscles, and aids in recovery after your workout.  It's important to have ample "good" carbs before a workout, and carbs and protein immediately after a workout.  When I say "good carbs" I'm referring to whole grain, fruits, and vegetables.  Proteins can come from fish, turkey, chicken, beef, or nuts and legumes.

3)  Recovery - this is probably the most neglected pillar of the 3.  Athletes spend hours training and eating right, but they end up hurt, burn out, or over trained because they didn't spend ample time to recover.  Athletes tend to think that while they're recovering the competition is out training and getting the upper hand.  If that is the case, the competition will be watching you from the sideline.  You need at least 1 recovery day a week and 1 week after every 3 weeks where your volume/intensity is down ~50%.  This allows time for your body to absorb the training, muscles to repair/grow, and mind to refocus.  Sleeping is also a part of recovery and is crucial because when you're sleeping your body releases human growth hormone(HGH) to aid in muscle growth and repair.

Follow these 3 success tools and your will grow and produce better results.

Are you in a Dip?

I recently finished reading 'The Dip' by Seth Godin.  Essentially the 'Dip' is the difficult time between when you initially start something to when you reach success.  You've got two options, strive through to reach success, or quit.  Sometimes it's best to continue the path to success, other times it's better to quit.  Some examples are:

- 3 calls to a prospective client and they still haven't committed
- Mile 12 in a marathon
- The next promotion
- Losing X amount of pounds
- Reaching that PR in an upcoming race

Now, since this is a fitness blog, I'm going to gear 'The Dip' toward fitness.  You've reached the end of January and your New Year's Resolution to a new, better you may be off-track.  Maybe you've hit some road bumps, life got in the way, or you've lost the motivation.  The fact is that effort and results are directly correlated as you can see from the image below.

I would suggest figuring out what got you in 'The Dip' in the first place, then making a plan to make sure you don't go down that path again.   I'm willing to bet that 99% of people can get out of their funk by simply Doing the Work.

Of course, your other option is to quit.  That would be the easiest......but probably not the correct decision.



Base Training: Block 2

I'm in my 2nd week of block II of base training, which has an emphasis on the swim.  The weekly breakdown looks like this:

4 swims
3 bikes
3 runs
1-2 weight training


My main goals for this block is to get my swimming volume up to around 12K yards a week, which is about 3K yards per swim session.  Due to time constraints I end up getting about 2500 in on most days, but am able to make up the volume in a long session on the weekends.  Here is what a typical swim session looks like:

500 warm up
250 kick
250 pull
400, 300, 200, 100, 100, 200, 300, 400 (alternate every other one with hand paddles.




My body and mind are handling the training pretty well thus far as the sessions haven't been terribly long.  We'll ramp up the volume within the next few weeks w/ 1 long run, 1 long bike, and 1 long swim throughout the week which will deepen my overall fitness and likely pay dividends in the long term.  The main keys for success now are low intensity work, good nutrition, and active recovery.  Happy training!

Bottom Line: Do the Work

You can have the greatest training plan, the best equipment money can buy, and the highest quality coach, but if you don't put in the work, none of the aforementioned things matter.   When it comes down to it, those who put in the work day in and day out are going to reap the benefits and rewards. 

We spend so much time over analyzing what we're doing, spending too much time reviewing our plan and our training numbers that we lose focus of what really matters - doing the work.   While I am a proponent of data tracking and analysis to determine workout prescriptions, I don't spend too much time on it - I'm more concerned about putting in the workouts, active recovery, and proper nutrition to repair muscle tissue and prepare my body for the next workload.

My friend, Vince, a Kona qualifier touched on this in his post last week.  Don't jack around with semantics, put your head down and do the work.  By doing the work you're going to discover what type of training works best for you as far as the volume you can handle, intensity levels, and frequency that fits your profile.  These will change over time, and you'll be able to adjust on the fly accordingly.

We can talk about inspiration, internal/external motivation, tips and tricks to get you out the door and into the gym and other methods to keep you accountable.  At the end of the day YOU are the one that is going to have to buck up, drop the excuses, and get the work done.

If you focus on doing the work in all areas of your life: marriage, kids, work, faith, and training you're going to notice significant improvements in your overall satisfaction in your life.

False Logic Workouts

Inner monologue: "It's 4:45 in the morning, it would be so much easier to stay in bed.  OK, let me think here - if I skip this morning's workout I can make it up tomorrow and move tomorrow's workout to X day and double up the workouts".......

How many times has this happened to you?  I'm guilty of doing it as much as the next person and at 4:45AM, or on days you're just not motivated to do a workout,  it's an easy trap to fall into.  So, how do we avoid this trap of using false logic to talk ourselves out of workouts.

1)  Put your alarm clock away from your bed so you have to get up and turn it off.  Now, since you're up,     might as well get it done
2)  Don't think about it, just go through the motions of getting yourself ready.
3)  Remember how good it will feel to have that workout done before you start your day
4)  Have a workout partner so you can hold each other accountable for showing up
5)  The sense of accomplishment and knowing you'll have that extra boost of confidence and energy to start your day.

What methods do you use to get yourself to workout when you're not motivated?

New Year's Resolution Full Proof Plan

I’m sure you’re like me in the sense that you’re on New Year's resolution overload. The gyms are packed, diets are in full motion, and there is optimism in everyone’s tone at the excitement of their ‘beginning’. Let’s see how long that will truly last – at the first sign of a roadblock or challenge, many resolution’s will be dropped and things will go back to the way they were. This seems to be the way it has always been; unless the approach is different. Here’s what I do for my ‘goal setting’.



1) Pick out the 5 most important things in my life

a. Family

b. GettingFitness (and business related items)

c. Training

d. 9-5 (out of necessity)

e. Personal Finance


2) Based on these 5 items, I figure out 1-2 things that I can improve or positively impact to each item to reduce stress, create happiness, etc

3) Create the ‘how’ to reach these goals on a day-to-day basis

4) If possible, set quantitative deliverables for the goals, or what you would like to accomplish as a result of the completion of the goals


For the sake of this blog, we’ll use ‘Training’ as an example:

1-2 things I can improve - Build strong endurance engine

How – get up at 5:00AM, follow training plan, and turn off the TV

Quantitative goals – 0 missed workouts each week, 7% body fat at 160 lbs, race-specific goals that I’ll set based on benchmark pre-season tests.


This approach is easy because:


- You identify the most important things in your life

- Set 1-2 things per item to improve so it’s not overwhelming

- Break it down so you can work toward that goal everyday

- Set quantitative(measurable) goals to keep you on track
Now, be sure to post your list up where you can see it every day, share it with your loved ones, and write your day to days ‘Hows’ on an index card and carry it with you to consistently remind yourself what is important to you and how you will accomplish it today.