10 Ways to Fitness Success in 2011

It's not the one thing you do well, it's the combination of the little things that is going to ensure you are successful in 2011 to reach your fitness goals.

1)  Set a Goal.  I would recommend setting an overall goal for the year, preferably quantitative(measurable), and then quarterly, bi-weekly, and daily goals for how we can achieve that overall goal.  Don't get carried away in setting too many goals as it will becoming overly stressful and daunting.

2)  Make it Fun.  If you don't like to run, then don't run.  Find something you enjoy doing, whether it be an aerobic class, swimming, walking, biking, joining a yoga class.  The possibilities are endless.  Be creative!

3)  Cut out one bad thing from your diet.  Whether it be the morning 20 oz Coke you buy, or the Caramel Latte with Whip Cream.  Cutting out a Coke a day for 5 days will eliminate 1200 calories a week. Do that for 3 weeks and that equates to 1 pound of weight loss.  Do that for a year, and that is 17 lbs. 

4) Get your family/friends involved. The more people that know about your fitness goals, the more likely you will stick to your goal. Family and friends can be your support system and you can lean on them in times of frustration and weakness. They can also help hold you accountable.

5)  Be consistently good.  It's more beneficial to go to the gym 3 days a week for 5 weeks, then go 5 times for 1 week.  Be realistic about how many times you can workout and stick to it.  Include this in your weekly goals from #1.  It's more important

6)  Moderation is key.  Don't forbid yourself that occasional piece of pizza or cake you want.  Allow yourself some leniency, just keep it in check.

7)  Accountability.  The number one thing we need is accountability.  Whether it be a friend that you meet for workouts, or hiring a trainer or coach - if we someone is counting on us to show up, we're not going to let them down.  If we're paying for the service, we definitely will show up!

8) Eat 5 meals a day.  It's that simple - eating 5 smaller meals a day will regulate your insulin levels and, more importantly, boost your metabolism to burn more calories.  Your energy levels will level out and you won't be starving by 11:00, eat a huge lunch, and ready for an afternoon comatose nap by 1:00.

9)  Have a plan.  Having a fitness plan will take the guesswork and thinking out of a workout.  If it is on paper, you know what you need to do and how to do it.  It will also motivate you to actually workout, and not sit around the gym doing bicep curls while looking at yourself in the mirror for 30 minutes :)

10)  Get educated.  Not knowing what I am doing is pretty stressful and makes me feel uneasy.  I overcome this fear by diving in and learning as much as I can.  You can do the same by utilizing the Internets vast array of resources, or getting in contact with friends who works out or a professional.

Base 1 Training

Monday was the official start of my Base I training.  I've set up my schedule a little bit different with 3 base periods, each with a specific emphasis on a discipline.   With that being said, Base I will consist of 4 runs, 3 bike sessions, 3 swims, and 2 weight training sessions.  Base II will have 3 runs, 3 bike sessions, 4 swims, and 2 weight training sessions.  The last Base period will emphasize the bike with 4 sessions.  The reason I did this is to gain some much needed endurance by adding frequency and volume for that particular sport.  I like this setup because with 3 sessions in the other 2 sports I can expect to see significant gains in the 2 disciplines while adding a higher frequency and volume to the sport of emphasis for that period.  I started with the run because I've had a decently high running volume in the past few weeks so it just made sense to continue building on that frequency and volume.  I don't have a concern on the bike and swim because they are pretty easy on the body, the recovery will be quicker,  and they are less likely to cause injury.  Each training block will be 4 weeks long, with 3 'on' weeks, and 1 recovery week.  The recovery week will have the same schedule, just the volume will be reduced 30-40%.

Here's an overview

Base I - 4 runs, 3 swims, 3 bikes, and 2 weight training sessions
Base II - 3 runs, 4 swims, 3 bikes and 2 weight training sessions
Base III - 3 runs, 3 swims, 4 bikes, and 2 weight training sessions.

2011 Race Schedule

I'm less than one week out from Base I training, so I've put together my race schedule for the year.

2/12 - Red Flannel - 5 mile run -  C

4/9 - Loop the Lake - 5 mile run -  C

4/30 - Wildflower Long Course - 70.3 - B

5/15 - Jordan Creek Du - C

6/4 - Dam to Dam - 20K  - C

6/5 - Copper Creek Sprint  - C - very tentative on this one as I may skip it for a long training day

6/26 - IM CDA - 140.3 - A+

7/10 - Lifetime Fitness Oly - B

8/8 - Big Creek Tri - Des Moines - B

9/4 - Hy-Vee tri - Des Moines - A

10/16 - Des Moines Half or Full Marathon - I'll make a decision on this in August based on how I'm feeling physically

10 Things on this Triathlete's Christmas List

We're upon the holiday season, which means it's time to start making our triathlete Christmas list.  I'm pretty confident I won't get anything off this list, but a guy can dream, right?


1. PowerTap Power Meter - Of all the potential accessories you can get for a bike, this is going to give you the best benefit, hands down. With the many variables of outdoor riding a PowerMeter will tell you your wattage and give you a true representation of your effort.

2. Zipp 808 Wheelset - This has to be 2nd on my list because of the added benefit of speed they add, specifically on the courses I will ride this year, Wildflower Long Course and IM CDA.

3. Swim partner - while I enjoy swimming, anything after 2000 yards of laps I tend to lose interest pretty quick. Having someone to swim with would make those laps go by much faster.

4. Forerunner 310TX - This is the ultimate triathletes watch - tracks all the good stuff, and can even connect with your power meter via ANT+.

5. Arms warmers - I will probably need these for my early spring rides and possibly early races. I'm a huge wuss when it comes to cold weather

6. Pre-made meals. A friend of mine, Vince Matteo, is an awesome triathlete and great cook. All his meals are extremely healthy and taste great.

7. A winter home in Southern California. Mountains to your east, ocean to your west, and warm weather. Seriously, can't beat that setup. I don't think the girl's grandparents would ever let us leave though :)

8. New bike trainer, preferably this one. I've got a bike trainer now, but it sounds like a train going through my basement, which forces me to turn up the TV louder, thus angering others in the house. I think that's reason enough, don't you?

9. Garmin Edge 800 - I'll have some long rides this summer and I'm directionally challenged and have known to get lost. The Edge 800 will allow this not to happen.

10. Camps - I'd love to attend a training camp in March/April but I don't think my wife would be to happy leaving her behind with the girls while I'm in warm weather training to my heart's content.

Passion

What is passion?
- Passion surpasses the infatuation
- Passion outlives the new and shiny
- Passion is staying up late, and waking up early
- Passion is seeing the red, but envisioning the black
- Passion is turning the dream into a reality
- Passion is stronger than raw talent
- Passion can see the horizon over the hurdles
- Passion picks you up even when you can't
- Passion embraces the challenges
- Passion burst one's comfort zones
- Passion is the backbone of success

Have you found your passion? 

Off Season Strength Training

As we enter into the off-season, it is important to begin to incorporate weight training into your routine. Strength training will increase your power on the bike and swim. Strength training also reduces your risk of injuries and can mitigate unwanted weight gain during the off-season. Strength training and its benefits to endurance sports is a controversial subject, some people see it as an instrumental part of training, while others disregard it and think it will hinder performance. While you may be a bit slower on the bike and swim initially, be patient. The strength gains will catch up and you’ll definitely notice the positive effects it has on your performance. Some things to consider with weight training.
- Focus on sport specific training – doing biceps curls to impress your significant other won’t transfer over to the sport

- Consider a periodized schedule – in the off-season focus on high reps and lower weight and as you get closer to the season focus on low reps and high weight

- If you have time constraints, choose endurance training over weight training

- Weight training is used to complement to your training, not a replacement for swimming, biking, and running

- Don’t spend more than 30-45 minutes for weight training – anything more is overkill

- Focus a good portion on core exercises – core strength is heavily utilized in all sports



A few exercises to focus on are leg extensions, squats, tricep extensions, leg curl, leg press, and planks

Stengths and Opportunities for Improvement

As the endurance season winds down, now is a great time to evaluate your season and what you consider your opportunities for improvement and what your strengths were the past season.  The off-season is a great time to focus on that weakness while continuing maintenance on your strengths. 

Generally we tend to know our strengths and weaknesses.  From a triathlon perspective, ask a HS swimmer and they'll say the bike and/or run are their weak points or ask a seasoned cyclist and they'll say swim and/or run.  I'm sure you get the idea.  It's pretty easy to be subjective about your weakness, but it's better to look at your race data for the past  year and race courses for which you performed on while keeping in mind your upcoming goals for next  year.

So, let's say an athlete did a Olympic triathlon with a hilly bike course and flat run and had the following results:

12/50 place in age group - swim
45/50 place in age group - bike
9/50 place in age group - run

Based on this data, it's pretty apparent that the weakness here is bike speed, particularly on hills.   The athlete was able to get off the bike and do well on the run so I don't necessarily think it would be an endurance issue.  We'd have to delve into the specifics of the race and the athlete's perspective.  The more data we have, the more specific we can get - i.e. heart rate monitor, powermeter, mile splits, GPS....but that's another topic for another day.  Let's take another example:

same athlete as above but on a half-ironman flat course as above:

10/50 - swim
45/50 - bike
45/50 - swim

Based on the previous race data and the above data, I would say this athlete is lacking endurance and speed on the bike and possible lacking endurance on the run.  Due to the run time being slower compared to the above I would venture to guess the athlete hit a proverbial wall on the bike and it made their run an absolute sufferfest.  In the off-season this athlete would need to build their base on the bike, and work on bike speed and drills.

As always, the data doesn't lie - use it to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses this off-season.  Once you have identified your weakness, spend time working on speed, technique, and base training so you can improve and turn that weakness into a strength.