Performance focused: Are you exercising or training?

 

I think it's safe to say that most endurance athletes love physical activity. Certainly it would be difficult to train for a long-distance event if there wasn't a strong passion for working out. But with great enthusiasm to exercise comes a caveat - just because you are exercising, this doesn't mean you are becoming race ready. 

Exercise (or physical activity) is commonly defined as anything that requires you to move your body and burn calories.

Training is viewed as working toward adequate levels of strength, endurance, speed and/or power for successful participation (and completion) of an athletic event. 

To make the difference easier to understand, exercising satisfies an immediate need and is done for the effect is produces today. Exercise is done for its own sake - either during or immediately after. But when you have a specific performance objective in mind (ex. preparing for an event), you must change your physiology to prepare for the demands of your event. 

Although all training is exercising, not all exercising is training. 

Training is done with the purpose of achieving a long-term performance goal. Training is a process that must be planned out to produce specific results. It's methodically organized with great thought and understanding of human body.  

Preparing for an endurance event requires a specific type of physiological adaptation. Every workout needs to have a purpose. Not all workouts require intervals or high intensity efforts but there needs to be a motive behind each workout in the plan. This is training. There's nothing wrong with working out with the primary objective of getting into shape, improving health or changing body composition, but if the primary purpose of the workout is to only burn calories or do what "feels right" on the day, this not only prevents performance improvements but it can also compromise health and emotional well-being.

The difference between exercising and training is how you approach the activity - not the activity itself. 

Training requires intention, purpose and focus. It requires planning of nutrition, commitment to the task at hand and a smart mindset to listen to the body. If you want to improve your health, exercising will do just that. But you don't have to train for an Ironman distance triathlon or marathon to be healthy. And just because you train for an Ironman distance triathlon or marathon, this doesn't mean that you will remain healthy (or become healthier). Training requires putting your body under a specific type of intentional load, forcing it to adapt through training stress and recovery. Not always is this healthy. That is why training requires so much more than just checking off workouts for the sake of completing a certain number of training miles or hours. 

Although endurance athletes are experiencing many changes to life, training and mental health during the pandemic, I do worry that many endurance athletes have turned into exceptional "exercisers." While it's great to stay physically active during a time of cancelled races, if you are seeking short or long-term performance improvements, there needs to be a systematic plan in place - with purpose and intent. Exercising your way through high volume, intense or random workouts will not give you the results that training can offer. More so, health can be compromised if you are not focused on the factors that can help your body safely adapt to training - like daily nutrition, sport nutrition, sleep, stress management, hydration and recovery.

Training takes work, it requires a committed mindset, it involves diligence with lifestyle habits (outside of training), results are not quick to achieve and it requires a certain amount of "embracing the grind."

But, with a structured plan and long-term goals in place, every training session provides an opportunity for growth and development.

And this is why training is fun - achieving a performance result when it truly matters, while also keeping the body in great health. 

Building athletic resilience

I can't believe we are only six weeks away from our first triathlon of 2019!! While a long season ahead (ending with the Ironman World Championship in Kona in October), I'm so excited to race!!

After nearly 13 consecutive years of endurance triathlon racing, I still love the process of training. Before every race, I still feel all the butterflies in my stomach and wonder what obstacles I'll have to overcome during 70.3 or 140.6 miles.

While a well-designed training plan will have the proper mix of stress and recovery to ensure that the right type of training occurs at the right time, every athlete handles training stress differently. My body thirteen years ago would not have been able to handle the type of training that I do now. 

Building a durable athlete takes time, careful planning and a lot of patience. This is not easy because athletes want results now – to be faster, stronger, leaner. The end result is an overworked body that fails to make significant performance improvements and health suffers. 

Athletes (and coaches) skip steps only to rush the process out of urgency or impatience. This only increases the risk for injury, sickness, fatigue, burn out and a noticeable performance decline.

There’s no secret sauce to speeding up the process of gaining resilience for an endurance event– it just takes time. An athlete with ten years of consistent Ironman training can absorb a lot more training stress than an athlete training for his/her first Ironman. Even if an athlete is "fast" on paper, past history of illness, sickness and burnout should be considered when designing a training program. 

At Trimarni, we spend a lot of time building resilience before adding intensity and volume into training. We also overstress the importance of good daily lifestyle habits like sleep, good nutrition, mobility/strength, stress management, fueling, hydration and recovery to support training. Even if an athlete has a race on the schedule, an athlete can’t absorb “more training” volume or intensity if their foundation is not strong, durable and resilient.

Every athlete wants (or feels the need) to train hard and long but a better approach is to apply the minimal effective dose of training needed to elicit the most beneficial performance response. And with this in mind, you should always be asking yourself  "can I absorb the training stress?"  By creating resiliency now, you can better tolerate the harder stuff later. While you can't put a timeline on when that time will come, it's important that your training always leads into positive training adaptations – without sickness, injury or burnout.

When I hear of athletes who get sick a lot, with poor sleeping habits, inconsistencies with training and have lots of niggles/injuries, this tells me that the athlete is lacking resilience. There's a good chance that she/he is also rushing the process of trying to gain fitness in a fragile body. For the fragile athletes, the training approach needs to be more cautious and careful until athletic durability improves -  which takes time (and requires patience). 

As an endurance triathlete, durability will take you far. While you won't become an overnight success, you will get results with time. With so much on your daily plate, there’s only so much time and energy that you can dedicate to training. In my opinion, endurance athletes train way too hard and way too long. Put your time, focus and energy (and money) into the right strategies that will build your resiliency so that come race day, you arrive fit, healthy, strong and hungry to race. 

Train smarter with a new approach to triathlon periodization

For many triathletes, training looks similar to this above model.
 Base, build, peak, taper, race, recover. 

But what happens after race day? Can the athlete who is racing in May continue on with training and still improve and peak again? Is the athlete strong enough to withstand another 6 months of training and racing? What if an athlete races in November - can the athlete start training in May and still achieve peak fitness in November?
Want to learn more? Read on. 

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When you think about training for a triathlon, it may appear to be a complicated sport - Swim, bike and run.
Training for a triathlon is much more than simply checking off swim, bike and run workouts because the sport of triathlon is one sport - SWIMBIKERUN and this sport requires great skills, endurance, resilience and strength, as you transition your body from swimming to biking to running.

Although you may feel overwhelmed with the thought of training for a triathlon, it is important to not make triathlon training too overwhelming. Understanding that a huge component of triathlon success is development, it's important to not overcomplicate the sport in the first few years of triathlon training as this can lead to burnout, health issues and/or injuries.

For all triathletes, swimbikerun training should fit in your life. You should find yourself gradually improving your fitness and skills throughout the season and improving, season after season. Unlike a single sport, we can not look for fitness gains to happen quickly as each sport brings a different stressor to the body. Ultimately, consistency as a triathlete will allow you to gain great confidence and fitness, with less setbacks due to injury, health issues and overtraining.

Creating a smart training plan can be challenging as there is no one periodized approach that will work for every athlete. Every athlete lives a different life, with a different physiology, mental capacity, health status and fitness abilities. Simply put, a periodized triathlon training plan should be based on the current emotional, physical and mental state of an athlete, with a well-designed strategy to help the athlete develop throughout the season, without major setbacks, in order to be emotionally, physically and mentally prepared for race day.

Once upon a time, periodized training was all about volume and intensity. These two things have not gone away but we no longer focus on slowly building an endurance base and then slowly increasing intensity throughout the season in order to get faster. As it relates to endurance triathletes, what we now know is that triathletes need to be very strong in order to adapt well to training stress. And a strong body will best achieve results on race day because it can handle the training demands that occur in swimbikerun. By creating a very durable foundation with the body, while establishing basic skills and retraining skills and movements before advancing volume and intensity, a triathlete will find that this periodized approach best suits endurance triathlon training and racing. Ultimately, this approach places training stress on the body all season long but, the physical stress is manageable, even in the biggest training load, simply because the body was trained to be strong. In other words, starting off the season with high volume or intense training will load the body with too much stress and this overload may risk injury, burnout or health issues. Furthermore, as mentioned above, a huge component to smart racing is smart training and when it comes down to executing well on race day, triathletes need great open water, bike handling and running skills and strength, in order to manage the terrain and obstacles that occur on race day.

Hopefully, by now, endurance triathletes recognize that being lean and fast are not primary goals of a periodized approach to training. Yet far too many endurance triathletes are chasing these variables and risking injury, health issues and burnout.

An important component to periodized training is understanding that you are accumulating fitness throughout an entire season. Thus, you can only reach peak fitness but just once or twice, maybe three times in a year. Therefore, your training needs to be designed in a way that you are gradually overloading the body throughout an entire season, with sessions of rebuilding and recovery so that you can continue to experience a higher level of fitness than when you started.

With too much intensity or volume early season, especially with a fragile/weak body, there's a good chance that your body won't be able to handle training as the volume/intensity becomes more race specific.

To learn more about a (somewhat) new approach to periodization, I was interviewed by the Daily Burn on my take on periodized triathlon training. Below is the article to help you learn more about breaking down your triathlon season to achieve peak fitness on race day.

Train Smarter with this 6-month periodization plan
Please note that I was asked to provide a 6-month periodized plan for an Olympic distance triathlete so I don't feel this strategy, of training 6 months, is ideal for an endurance triathlete but hopefully, the article will help you make sense of periodized training, regardless of race distance. 

If you are interested in a Trimarni 20-week olympic distance, half ironman or ironman training plan or joining our educational team, check out our plans on our website here. 
Any questions, just send us an email via the contact form on our website.

Overtraining - more than training hard or long

It may come as a surprise to many athletes but when you are on a mission to get faster, training long and fast is not a safe combination.

Many times, this leads to overtraining as there is an imbalance between training and recovery.

Be mindful that training beyond your body's ability to recover is not correlated to a specific number of training hours.

As examples....

 "But I don't train 20 hours a week, I only train 8 - how can I be overtrained?" 
"But I train much less intensity than I use to train, I don't understand why my hormones are all messed up?"

If your body can not recover, adapt or tolerate your given training load, your body is going to give you signs that you are overtraining.

When your hormones are out of whack, your bones are becoming weak, your mood is unstable, your body is becoming fragile, you find yourself constantly sick, your appetite has drastically changed, your weight has unintentionally changed, your sleep is disrupted/restless, you are in a constant state of fatigue, you are constantly experiencing GI issues (which have never been an issue in the past), your energy has dropped and your performance has declined, taking one day off from training or searching for a quick fix through medicine or supplements are not simple solutions to a serious problem.

At this time, you must come to the realization that your methods of improving performance or preparing for your upcoming event are no longer working.

When you find yourself struggling to train for a streak of a week or more, knowing that you just don't feel like your normal self, this doesn't mean that you need to harden up, suck it up and push through.

 A smart approach is to discuss your current training plan with your coach so you both can figure out why your plan is not (or no longer) working for your body. Don't simply look into training hours but also consider the layout of workouts throughout the week, recovery routines, sleep habits, stress management, diet, fueling and anything else that could help you train smarter.

Training smarter does not mean training easy.

If you haven't dug too deep of a hole, you may just need 3-5 days to reboot your system with some good R&R and light activity before returning to normal training - which is slightly modified with a smarter training approach.

During this time, consider reaching out to a sport dietitian to give a birds-eye view on your diet, as many athletes struggle to train consistently due to haphazard fueling and hydration strategies and poor planning and nutrient timing in the daily diet.

If you are classically overtrained, you need to be respectful to your body during this time. There should be no timeline to "get better" by x-date or race as this is the time, more than ever before, to put your health before performance IF you want longevity in your sport. 

As an athlete, you should always be on a mission to learn how to train smarter in order to maximize performance with the least amount of training stress. This means constantly evaluating how you are training and being open to change.
Simply training hard, fast or long are not key words you need to use to reach your performance goals.

Whenever you train for an event, consider your lifestyle requirements (family, work, commuting, travel), your current level of fitness, your past history (illness and injury) and your short and long term goals so that you can follow a well-designed raining plan, in safe, fun and healthy way.

Train smarter, ride smarter

It's a completely different mindset to go by time instead of by miles.

Just think about the many different outcomes that could occur if a coach tells all his/her athletes:

Workout: Ride 100 miles.

Do you know how long it would take Karel and I to ride 100 miles in Greenville?

Well, we have ridden a century just a few times (2 for me) since we have moved to Greenville in May 2014 and the miles do not go by quickly here!

Regardless of where you live (mountains, hills, flat, by the beach, etc.), it's important that your workout has specificity, especially if you are training for an endurance event.
Seeing that changing your physiology and adapting to training stress is paramount to being physically prepared for race day, if your training plan asks you to complete x-miles and there's minimal structure or purpose to the workout, you are delaying the opportunity to experience significant gains in fitness. Additionally, your training will become monotonous and you'll find yourself going through the motions, week after week with little to no improvements.

 Furthermore, if you aren't comfortable riding your bike due to a poor bike fit, you do not know how to use sport nutrition properly to stay well fueled and hydrated and/or you lack the proper skills (climbing, descending or changing gears) to ride efficiently on your bike, you will struggle to improve your fitness (and you may risk injury or sickness). 

I often hear other athletes talk about how "fast" they rode for x-miles as if the only goal of the workout was to ride as fast as possible. Or athletes will boast about how many miles they accumulated in one ride.
While there's nothing wrong with either of the above statements, athletes should not make the only goal of a workout to see how fast you can go or how far you can go.

Instead, focus on what's happening within those miles and above all, be sure that you can actually absorb the training stress that you are putting on your body. With this comes a responsibility that you are incorporating great lifestyle habits like good daily nutrition, good fueling before/after workouts, great sleep and stress management and the ability to function well in life.

We are very specific with our workouts and within every workout is a main set - even for the long workouts. And for our Trimarni coaching athletes who are in cold conditions and are still on the trainer, they have a very specific trainer option which does not keep them on the trainer for more than 3 hours - ever!

With a time-based approach, you make training fit into your life and not the other way around (and that's how we like to train and coach our busy athletes who balance training, family, work, etc.). And since every triathlete wants to become a better, stronger and faster cyclist since it is the most covered distance in a triathlon, it's very important to train in a way that can help you develop the necessary skills, fitness, endurance and strength to excel on race day.  

Consider the following tips to help you train smarter to reach your cycling performance goals faster.

The tips are not focused on time-based training but instead, they are very important components that will help you ride more efficient and thus, ride stronger so that you can ultimately run fresher off the bike. 

Cycling tipsRather than chasing miles when you ride, consider these tips to help you become a better (strong, faster, more efficient) cyclist.

1) Create a positive training environment for consistent training (note the position of the TV below which is in our workout room which is low to the ground. This is very important to not stress the neck when riding in aero)

2) Create variable cadence so that you can adjust your cadence as needed on variable terrain (incorporate specific cadence drill sets)

3) Learn how to use your gears properly (and anticipate when to change gears) when riding in the wind and on hilly terrain

4) Develop great muscular strength so that you do not tax your cardio system when climbing

5) Learn multiple styles of climbing so that you are not stuck in only one position

6) Learn how to anticipate climbs/descends

7) Get comfortable riding in a group environment so you are comfortable riding around others on race day.

8) Learn how to descend

9) Learn how to descend (especially on windy roads)

10) Get comfortable eating/drinking on the bike when riding (at all speeds)

11) Get comfortable changing bottles around in your cages

12) Practice changing a flat tire - and keep practicing

13) Ride with your race wheels at least 1/2 a dozen times before your upcoming race to ensure that they are appropriate for you to ride as efficiently as possible

14) Don't ride scared on the road. Be comfortable and confident on your bike.

15) Enjoy riding your bike! Ride your bike anytime just for fun (you don't need to turn on your gadget just to ride your bike.)

Time-based cycling training

After two weeks of training in Florida, it was nice to be back by the mountains.

On Saturday morning, a small group of friends joined Karel and I for a long ride, which included almost 90 minutes of intervals on a rolling hill loop near Caesar's head mountain.

Warm-up: ~45 minutes (ride to the start of the loop), constant rollers and a few short steep climbs

MS: 6 x 10 minutes at Z3 mid to upper (odd: heavy gear, slower than normal cadence. Even: high cadence, higher than normal cadence) w/ 4 min EZ in between.

Compared to the ride I did the previous Saturday in Florida (picture below) which included a short warm-up on flat roads, a 40-min TT effort on flat roads (drafting behind our friend Shawn and two other strong girls), a group ride (with about 30 riders) on flat roads, followed by a solo steady effort on flat roads (while the rain was falling) and then a cool-down in the pouring rain with puddles all over the ground (on flat roads), this is evidence that the miles just go by a lot slower here in Greenville as we live near the mountains and we ride near (and on) the mountains. 

And I'm ok with that.

At Trimarni, we are time-based, quality training coaches.

99% of our workouts for our athletes are based on time and not by miles/distance covered.

We realize that all races/events are based on distance (and not by who can cover the most distance in a certain amount of time) but we are more focused on what's going on within those miles (process driven) than the total distance covered (outcome focused).

It's very common for athletes to obsess about miles covered, often forcing athletes to cover more distance than they can tolerate due to poor form and fatigue which accumulates over time.

As you can see from my two rides (just 1 week apart), it sure does look like I am a slower athlete here in Greenville. 

But slow is all relative.

(And in all honesty, the route that we rode on Saturday was a fairly "fast" ride. Karel did his own intervals and averaged around 19mph! We typically average around 16.5-17mph when we ride outside and average around 1000 feet each hour. I also didn't show or tell you what my speed was during my main set so once again, it's all about what's happening within the workout not just the outcome).

For my first 2-3 years of endurance training, I was very obsessed with metrics. 

I didn't like the idea of stopping a run at 6.8  miles so I ran until it reached 7 miles. Same went for cycling. I would think, "why finish a ride at 37 miles when you can ride 3 more miles to get to 40."
40 miles sounds so much better than 37, right?

For swim workouts, I would often swim 100-400 more yards just to finish a workout at 3500 instead of 3100.

Or, I would often find myself counting my total weekly miles as if I had this magic number that I needed to reach to validate my fitness improvements or readiness to race.
As you can see from my ride on Saturay, I rode 59.58 miles. Not 60 miles.
I'm pretty sure I will still be prepared for Rev3 Knoxville in 7 weeks even though I didn't hit 60 miles.

Now, I can't even tell you how many miles I run as I rarely look at my watch (or the treadmill) for total distance covered.
When I swim or bike (and run), I stop when my workout when the main set is over and I cool down - that's when I am done.

Although my fitness, skills and endurance has improved considerably over the past 6+ years since I learned how to train smarter as an endurance triathlete, the terrain in Greenville has provided me with a completely new training stress which I absolutely love.

With this training stress comes a different mindset when it comes to bike and run training.

I invite you to consider time-based workouts instead of constantly chasing the miles when you run and bike.

Now you may be thinking that time-based training is not the way to go as your workouts need to be specific to your upcoming distance.

Well, this is a very old-school way of thinking (ex. that you must get in a 100 mile ride or 20 mile run in order to train for an Ironman) and we know that periodization and specificity within workouts can prepare an athlete for the upcoming demands of training.
Furthermore, if a proper warm-up, good economy, great skills, smart execution, great fueling/hydrating and excellent recovery habits are not enforced, the workout stress is not well-tolerated (and consistent training may be difficult to achieve).

Let's consider four types of athletes training for a half ironman distance triathlon.

Athlete A has a 60 mile ride on his schedule. He is a newer athlete and chooses to ride with a group for his long ride every Saturday. He accumulates 60 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Athlete B has a 60 mile ride on his schedule. He is a newer athlete and rides alone on flat terrain and it takes him 3 hours and 50 minutes to accumulate 60 miles. But on this day, it's not windy. When it's windy, it takes him 4 hours to accumulate 60 miles.

Athlete C has a 60 mile ride on his schedule. He is a newer athlete and rides alone on hilly terrain. It takes him 5 hours to accumulate 60 miles.

Athlete D has a 60 mile ride on his schedule. He is an advanced athlete and rides alone on hilly terrain. It takes him 4 hours to accumulate 60 miles.

Athlete E has a 60 mile ride on his schedule. He is an advanced athlete and rides alone on flat terrain. It takes hims 3 hours and 25 minutes to accumulate 60 miles.

Who's the fitter athlete? 

Who's the stronger athlete?

Which athlete will be most prepared for race day? 

Hopefully, you struggled to select the correct answer because so many factors come into play when it comes to preparing the body and mind for an upcoming race, especially as it relates to cycling.

In my next blog I will discuss a few helpful tips for getting the most out of your cycling training as you prepare for your upcoming endurance event. 

If you are interested in training with us in Greenville to improve your cycling skills, explore our amazing bike-friendly roads and to enjoy our beautiful mountain views, contact us on our website to inquire about one-on-one training and your own personal private "training camp" experience in Greenville. We offer a variety of private camps from 1-3 days, covering all three disciplines - swim, bike and run. We can make your personalized camp as specific as you need based on your individual strengths and weaknesses.

Give it your best

Are you moving closer to your goals?
Are you making excuses or making the effort?
Are you settling for a "just getting by" mentality?
Are you distracted by life yet constantly wish that you could stay more committed to your goals?
Are you willing to accept the time that is needed to reach your goals?
Do you find yourself procrastinating and then looking for quick results when you feel the pressure to make a change?
Are you putting in the work?

We all have our own reasons for training for an event, exercising more, eating better or making a change in life. 

You get what you give. 
In four days, Karel and I will be leading our 3rd annual Trimarni Clermont training camp. Although we expect our athletes to be tired and exhausted (especially with an Olympic distance triathlon race on the last day of camp), we also expect our athletes to give a great effort throughout camp.
Our campers understand exactly what they are in for at camp and because of this, they each come with a great "give it your best" attitude.

If you have never been to a training camp, I highly recommend to find the right camp for you and your fitness needs and goals and to participate in group training environment that is unlike anything you can experience alone or in your home environment.

One of the best training effects from a training camp is learning what it feels like to give a great effort without any (or minimal) life distractions. 

Since training is not your life (unless you are a professional), you know you will have challenges in life that will keep you from training consistently. 

Some athlete choose to minimize these distractions by making relationship or career changes or making other investments (hiring a coach, sport RD, sport psychologist, massage therapist, etc.). But depending on your goals and intentions for change, you don't have to change your life just to be great. You don't even have to be a world class athlete to be great! 

The big takeaway is if you are constantly letting life interfere with your ability to give something your best effort, you will always fall short on reaching your full potential or reaching your goals.  

Perhaps you interpret this statement as you needing to train more, be more strict with your diet or to make more sacrifices in life, but an extreme approach is not necessary if you want to receive positive results from your efforts.

I invite you to bring three words to your life:

Proactive
Purpose
Present

I repeatedly say these words to our athletes as they can really make the difference between an OK workout and a GREAT workout.

So how can you use these words when you are about to give an effort? 

Proactive - focus on how you can set yourself up for great behaviors or actions. Perhaps planning your meals ahead of time, creating a great workout environment so it's easy for you to get in a workout even when you are busy or setting a schedule for yourself so that you feel rested and energized. If you constantly find yourself feeling guilty of something you did or didn't do, there is likely a barrier in your life that is keeping you from being more proactive. Plan for something before it happens.

Purpose - having a clear purpose will help you understand what you need to do to get to where you need to be. Having a purpose for how you train, why you do certain workouts, why you go to bed at a certain time, why you eat what you do, etc. will help you appreciate the steps that you are taking to reach the end result. When someone has a purpose for doing something, less excuses come about and actions are influenced by passion. If you don't truly love what you are doing, it's likely that you don't have a good or believable purpose for doing what you are doing. Rethink why you are doing something and if you can't find a clear purpose, perhaps your goals need to change.

Present - dwelling on the past or feeling anxious about the future will not help you in this moment in time. Wishing for a workout to be over so you can do something else or hating what you are eating are not the attitudes that you want to bring to your actions.  Keep in mind that food choices, sleep habits, stress in your life and unclear goals can all contribute to not being present.
Don't let yourself get distracted when you are doing something and don't let someone else distract you from your personal journey.

Remember that your intentions for your goals may be different than someone else's. But don't doubt your ability to do something by comparing it to another person's actions.
Be willing to take some risks, don't be afraid to fail and don't let your ego (or self-doubt) keep you from giving a bit more effort.

If you want to accomplish something, you have to be willing to give it your best effort every single day.

 The entire purpose of our training camps is to provide our athletes with a safe and motivating environment so that it is easier to give the effort that is hard to achieve at home.

This doesn't mean that our athletes are lazy or are not accomplishing workouts at home but I often find that athletes fail to realize their full athletic potential simply because the focus, time, energy, intent, purpose or attitude of achieving something is often difficult to do alone.

What we love about camp is that our athletes really get to know what it is like to give it your best.

Although a training camp can help you understand that you are capable of achieving so much more than you ever thought was possible, you shouldn't let a day go by without giving your best effort to whatever you are doing. 

You can either choose to give it your best, just get by or believe you are not capable of achieving something. 

Which do you choose? 

The point of diminishing returns - part III

Train smarter

At the most basic level, performance gains occur when the body adapts favorable to a training stressor.
Strength training, plyometrics, intervals, easy efforts, tempo or long workouts....there are many ways to stress the body.

You may be awesome at squeezing in or completing your workouts but don't forget that an overly stressed body when NOT training does not handle training stress very well.

Every training stimulus that you place on your body should be sport specific. This makes sense, right? You wouldn't sign-up for tennis lessons hoping to be a better swimmer?
With every week of training, there should be smooth progression. The training should not be rushed and steps shouldn't be skipped.
If you were not able to get in your 2 scheduled runs during the week, what makes you think that your body can handle a long run on the weekend? If you are not performing specific heavy gear, high cadence or high intensity intervals on the bike, what makes you think that your body can handle a 5 hour ride on the hills?
Workouts should be progressively increased overtime, with your current fitness level and any other limiters or restrictions taken into consideration. You or your training plan should never let you feel as if you should be doing more as it's through varying intensities and duration, with the right amount of recovery, that your body can positively adapt.
One hard or long workout every now and then will not make your season but if not timed appropriately in your development, it could set you back with an injury or illness.

As for endurance athletes, the ability to sustain a given effort for an extended period of time is dependent on how you train your body. Every time you train, you are (hopefully) improving the metabolic energy demands of your body. Specific to long workouts, it is imperative that you progress slowly so that you can train your body to supply sufficient delivery of oxygen to active muscle fibers and adequate fuel to support oxygen consumption within the cell for specific durations.

Yes, you can "get through" a long workout but are you turning into a great exerciser or are you actually training to change the physiology of the body?

As it relates to the sport of triathlon, there is a lot going on within every single workout in your training plan....burning calories is not the primary goal of training for an event.

You are redesigning your body's physiology so that you can improve maximal oxygen consumption, lactate threshold and economy, among many other physiological adaptations for three sports that you will eventually put together in a swim, bike, run sequence on race day.

Having an understanding of the physiology of the body during exercise is important when designing or following a training plan. When coaches, nutrition experts and athletes get stuck on one specific training ideology or fueling strategy and are resistant to change, the individuality of training is lost.

And when critical training applications are rushed or skipped, this can be concerning to the human body when training for an event as the body is overly stressed when training and performance adaptations for race day are not well accomplished in training.

I can't tell you how many athletes I have seen become burnt out, injured or sick when training for an event from having a training plan that didn't make sense for the athlete's life or fitness level. There are also athletes who get too consumed with following a training plan that relationships are disrupted, proper sleep is an afterthought and training volume or intensity can not be matched with healthy eating and fueling because there is simply not enough time in the day to fit everything in.
And I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the athletes who arrive to an endurance triathlon event have failed to master a smart fueling and hydrating plan in training to be used on race day.

With so many different fitness levels of athletes, it's very important to consider your personal development in your sport to ensure longevity as an athlete but also to maintain a high enjoyment for training.

Considering that one of the main goals of endurance training is to teach the body to become a more effective energy provider, don't expect quick results.
To improve performance, regardless of your fitness level or experience, the most optimal training plan is the one that you can safely follow with great consistency, without compromising health.

Listen up athletes - Illness, injury, burnout and other health issues are not "normal" when training for an endurance event. Sure, endurance training is hard on the body but health issues can often be avoided.
Certainly, the more ambitious the individual or the newer the athlete, the body is going to be stressed a bit more in an effort to make the necessary physiological improvements to match race day goals.

I can't say it enough but if you want to maximize your performance and keep your body in good health, it's very important to have a smart approach to training, eating and fueling.

If you want to train smarter, answer the following questions to determine if a change needs to be made in your diet, training regime or lifestyle.
If something isn't working in your quest to be a better athlete, discuss with your coach or a professional who can help.

TRAIN SMART
1) How many hours do you have each day of the week and weekend, without life being negatively affected?
Factor in time to warm-up, cool down, change, commute to/from work, spend time with family, sleep, prepare food, eat, run errands, clean, pay bills, relax and fuel.

2) What have you been neglecting in life or in your training regime which can help you adapt better to training stress? 
The key to being an efficient athlete is to find the best way to improve performance with the least amount of training stress. Dynamic warm-ups, proper pre and post workout fueling and hydrating, fueling during long (75+ min workouts), strength training, interval training, meditation, mental strength skills, mobility work, sleep, stress management and meal planning are some of the many ways that you can improve your workouts without having to train any harder. 

3) Does your training plan and racing schedule make sense?
On a personal level, is your training plan ideal for your life, fitness level and goals? Are you making the necessary investments to be consistent with training? Are you committed to the work that you need to do to prepare yourself for your upcoming event? Are you trying to get by on your own or do you need help from a professional to help you in your journey?

4) How can you change/improve your daily eating, fueling and hydration regime to better adapt to training stress? The best physiological outcome that you can gain from training is an improvement in fitness. The easiest way to make the necessary improvements is to be consistent. You should be extremely focused on what you eat before, during and after your workouts to ensure that your body is adapting well to the training stimulus so you can continue to repeat the effort, day after day, workout after workout with minimal setbacks.

5) Are your current lifestyle habits, training plan, eating habits or thoughts on training, eating or life working for you?
If no, why can't you change or why won't you change?
In my experience as a coach and sport RD, it's very easy to get stuck on one way of eating, fueling and training.
Remember that the best strategy for you may not be what everyone else is doing.
Don't let life or your season slip by and one day you find yourself looking back, wishing you would have done something different or made a change when you knew you needed to change. 
Change is hard and it's scary.
If you can't make a change alone, reach out to a professional who can help. 

The point of diminishing returns: Part II

                              

Sports are not for everyone, especially endurance sports.

Successful age-group, elite or professional athletes and those who seek or crave endurance training carry specific traits and characteristics that are found in highly ambitious individuals.

If this speaks loudly to you, ironically, the same traits that help you stay dedicated, committed, consistent and goal-focused in your sport may also help you function at a high capacity in life, with your career, relationships and family.

As every endurance athlete and coach understands, there is a specific type of training stress that needs to be applied on the body to encourage physiological changes to improve athletic performance.
As a coach with a background in exercise physiology, I can't stress how important it is to place repeated stress on the body in the form of specific workout frequency, intensity and duration at the appropriate times and phases throughout the season in order to ensure smooth progression throughout the season.

However, a careful approach must be applied as every athlete handles training stress differently and this isn't specific to an athlete's fitness level (ex. newbie vs. veteran). Many top, elite or professional athletes prescribe to a training and eating plan that works for their body and individual goals.

It can be blatantly obvious or unbeknownst to the athlete that he/she is not adapting well to training. Sometimes, a plan or approach is risky before initiation whereas other times, it takes several weeks or months of repeated stress for an athlete to exhibit signs or symptoms that the lifestyle he/she is living or the training regime (or a combination of both) is causing too much stress on the body.

For the committed, dedicated, goal-focused, hard working, mentally tough and determined athlete, change is extremely (did I say extremely, I meant VERY extremely) hard, especially when you fear losing your identity as an athlete, which you feel also "makes you" who you are as a human being.

We all know how great it feels to have a great workout and even better, how awesome it feels to be consistent with training. But when/if you find yourself exhausted, injured, unhealthy, depressed, isolated and continuing down a path of diminishing returns, it's time for a serious conversation with yourself (or your coach) to determine a smarter training regime that will provide you with favorable results in fitness and health.

The following list describes some of the habits that may post a threat to your health and athletic development. The more risks that you take, the greater chance that you may experience a point of diminishing returns. 

Risky business
-Getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night, inconsistent sleeping schedule or restless sleeping
-Starting a workout within 20 minutes of waking and not properly warming up before a workout
-Not fueling or hydrating around most workouts
-Not fueling or hydrating during longer workouts
-Knowing that you are not eating enough
-Knowing that you are eating too much
-Struggling with an unhealthy relationship with food, the body and/or exercise
-Constantly feeling rushed - going from one thing to the next
-Never feeling caught-up in life
-Never feeling like you can follow (or keep up) with your workout load/training plan
-Feeling like life is passing by too quick yet you can never slow down

-Constantly feeling underfueled and/or dehydrated
-Obsessing about total miles completed, never feeling like you are doing enough
-Barely getting by during workouts (especially long or intense workouts)
-Constantly metric driven
-No/little strength training
-No/little mobility work
-No/little time to food prep and/or to eat on a schedule
-Unhealthy eating habits
-Obsessive eating habits
-Not flexible, strict to specific paces/watts to hold for most workouts
-Working out no matter how you feel (sleep deprived, sick, injured, etc.)
-Exhausted during the day, struggle to fall asleep at night
-Rewarding good, intense or long workouts with normally "off-limit" food (or restricting specific foods around "bad" workouts)
-Overly stressed from work/life
 -Bringing work/life stress to a workout
-Constantly skipping workouts, little structure or frequency for training
-Not following a plan, haphazard training

-Trying to make up training hours/workouts on the weekends
-Squeezing in too many workouts (or training hours) in one day
-No/little understanding how to fuel and hydrate before/during/after long workouts (or ignore practical advice)

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Sadly, many athletes won't admit or come forth when there is a problem (like the ones mentioned below) because athletes may feel it shows a sign of weakness, failure or giving up.

Something isn't working for you
-Chronically fatigued, exhausted or tired
-Constant achy or sore muscles
-Chronic sickness or upper respiratory infections
-Sever mood disturbances (anxiety, depression, irritability)
-Loss of appetite
-Uncontrollable appetite
-Unintentional weight loss or gain
-Hormonal issues
-Adrenal fatigue
-Anemia
-You are showing signs/symptoms of an eating disorder in order to control weight or to improve performance
-Stress fractures, tendon or ligament injuries
-Nausea/dizziness
-Cardiovascular issues - heart racing or altered normal heart rate during rest and exercise
-Painful joints
-Headaches
-Loss of energy, speed, stamina or power during workouts
-Gut issues
-Constipation, bloody stools, diarrhea, vomiting around workouts (or during the day)
-Loss of motivation/ambition
-Decrease/loss of sex drive
-No energy
-Metabolism changes
-Poor recovery
-Exhausted during the day, trouble falling asleep or sleeping well at night
-Your body can not match your drive/passion
-Loss of excitement for social activities
-You've made an extreme change in life with your job, family or friends and have become a "different" person in order to train more/harder
-You feel unhealthy or constantly run-down
-You've lost your joy, passion and love for training and/or racing
-You always feel injured
-You feel isolated

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Despite the body yelling at you to stop, get help and make a change, you ignore the signs and symptoms and try to get by.

Trying to get by
-Loading up on caffeine and/or energy drinks to get through the day

-Loading up on caffeine and/or energy drinks to get through workouts

-Restricting food to try to lose weight
-Using diet drinks, laxatives or pills to curb cravings or to lose weight
-Overexercising or pushing hard, intentionally, to try get fitter, faster
-Reaching for sugar for pick-me ups throughout the day
-Relying on sleep aids to try to sleep at night
-Excessively (more than 3 times a month) using NSAID's or other anti-inflammatory medications to heal aching muscles/joints
-Using alcohol or other drugs/medications to get through life (or to relax)

In part III of this blog post series, I will talk about how you can make changes to train smarter in order to train harder without compromising your health. 

The point of diminishing returns - part I

Training for an event can be very rewarding. Considering that you have to exercise to train yourself for an event, preparing for a race can actually be a healthy way to de-stress and to keep the body in good health. 

But when the body becomes overly stressed from training OR an overly stressed body tries to adapt to consistent training stress, there is a point of diminishing returns when an active lifestyle becomes unhealthy.

Much of our society has an obsession with productivity.
To-do lists are never ending and there is always something to do to keep busy.
Yet athletes still find 10-20+ hours to train, despite already living a very busy lifestyle.

Sadly, an overworked, always on the go, constantly connected, squeezing everything in athlete can become so accustomed to living a busy lifestyle that healthy habits become expendable all in an effort to get in a workout.

As an athlete, healthy lifestyle habits can enhance training. Whereas you may think that you have to get in x-miles or hours to improve performance, what you do when you aren't training can actually help your body improve fitness quicker than feeling the need to always train harder or longer.

If you are a triathlete training for an event this season, you are likely at the point in your training where the volume and/or intensity is increasing. This is exciting but also concerning.

Is your body ready to handle this increase in training stress?
What are you giving up in your life in order to add in more training hours and to be able to recover properly between added workouts or are you trying to add more training stress without adjusting your life?

Seeing that the body needs repeated stress to produce advantageous physiological gains, it's important to pay attention to the noticeable signs and symptoms that your body may not be adapting well to consistent or residual training stress.

Sometimes the training plan and recovery routine needs to be adjusted whereas other times, there is an issue with the daily diet, sport nutrition/fueling, sleep or other lifestyle habits.
It's important to be honest with yourself when something needs to change. Otherwise,
if an immediate change isn't made, it's only a matter of time before a more serious health issue and performance decline could arise. 

This is a hard subject to debate about because every athlete adapts to training stress differently.
It's difficult for dedicated, hard working athletes to understand when training stress is normal and needed or too much and unhealthy.

When I work athletes, I'm always considering the athlete and his/her lifestyle, personal life stressors and other life responsibilities when designing a training plan or discussing a nutrition strategy so that any plan or change is conducive to optimize performance and health.

I'm all about maximizing performance with a healthy body and mind.

Considering that athletes have the discipline and motivation to make sacrifices in life to get in a workout, I want you to understand that your love/desire to train, if not done in a smart way, may actually make you less fit and unhealthy. 

In part II of this blog post, I will discuss some of the signs and symptoms that your body is not handling life stress or training stress very well and how to train smarter to train harder.  

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Remember, performance gains are not linear. It takes time to develop your skills and fitness. When you think you aren't making progress, you may actually be doing exactly what you need to be doing. Give yourself time and be patient in your journey.

But if you are training for continuous fitness gains in order to complete or to compete in an event and you know that something is limiting your performance or health, consult with a professional to provide an objective expert opinion to ensure that your hard work will pay off by race day. 

Mobility tips for athletes

Tips for improving mobility

1)      Make dynamic stretching part of your DAILY routine. Dedicate up to 15-20 minutes before every swim, bike and run workout to warming up your body, before you “warm-up” and an additional mobility session before bed (or after long periods of sitting).
This means before you jump into the pool, get on your bike or start a run, you need to perform dynamic stretching. Do not neglect this important habit of being a mobile athlete.

With our coaching, we are always looking for ways to help our athletes train smarter with the least amount of training stress possible. Improving mobility can help!
Dynamically stretching moves your body through different movement patterns to actively stimulate muscles, tendons, ligaments, fibers, tissues and joints.
You will also notice that dynamic warm-ups increases blood flow to the working muscles which gives you energy before you start working out. This will help you improve your range of motion, which will improve your power and speed. And, you'll find yourself more motivated to work out.

2) Do not go long hours sitting. There are several work break timers which remind you to stand up and move when you are at work. Consider sitting on a stability ball, standing every 60 min for 10 minutes, sitting less and standing more, walking around or doing yoga poses each hour while at work. When you sit, shoulders should be relaxed, arms close to sides, elbows bent at 90 degrees, feet flat on the floor and your lower back should be supported.

3) Move your body. If you are only working out once a day, consider adding walking, riding your bike “for fun” or yoga to your daily routine. If you think about it, even if you work out for 2 hours a day, 92% of your day is likely spent sitting in a crunched, tight position.
Sadly, many athletes who engage in endurance training to become fitter actually become more sedentary because training becomes so exhausting that athletes actually sit more and move less than before they started training.
Regular movements are key to a healthy life, mind and body.

4) Stop the self-manipulating and visit a trained sport massage therapist. It’s very common that athletes will feel tight and with every niggle, will immediately resort to deep trigger point, foam rolling or excessive stretching. Many times, athletes increase inflammation and create more damage to already tight muscles.
By adding regular (1-3 times per month) massages into your training regime, you will find yourself more mobile when you train. A trained massage therapist can help you understand your body. However, he/she should not “spot” massage for more than 20 minutes as many times, your symptoms for pain/tightness are likely from a different source (ex. foot issues could be from tight calves). It’s best to get a massage before you need it and to stay up on massages at least 1-3 times per month. The best days to get a deep tissue massage are 24-48 hours after a hard workout. Allow up to 48 hours to recover from a massage and be sure to stay well hydrated.

5) If you are experiencing chronic issues with tightness, mobility issues, aches or pains, it’s important to connect with a trained PT who can assist in your athletic journey. Despite all the steps that many athletes take to prevent injuries from happening, some bodies are more fragile and/or weak than others.
Don’t let a weakness or mobility issue be an excuse and don't assume that "this is just the way I am" as if you are no treatable or fixable.

I come from 6 years of chronic hip and back issues which took me out of running for 1-3 months every year for those 6 years. I found myself rehabing before a race instead of training for a race.
I became so frustrated that I even told myself I would never be healed and this is just the way I am and convinced myself that I would never be a successful triathlete because of my body.
Well, I am now going on almost 3 years of no injuries. Although I do have to do a lot of extra work when I'm not training to keep my hips and back healthy and strong and I still get some niggles that remind me that I am not injury-proof, I was able to treat what I never thought was treatable.
(I did get a lot of help along the way - Thanks Gloria and Chris!)

If you are injured or recovering from an injury, don't give up!
Always focus on your individual needs for your body.  

Mobility for athletes

Good mobility and great performances are closely tied to one another.

As it relates to performance declines and/or injuries, lack of mobility can be a culprit.

I'm a huge proponent of mobility work and I often spend up to 15 minutes before a swim, bike or run workout slowly working my body through a range of dynamic and mobility exercises to warm-up, before I warm-up. Going on almost 3 years without an injury, routine mobility work (I never stretch, trigger point or foam roll) is one of a few key improvements that I have made in my training regime to help reduce the risk for injury.

Why is mobility important?
If you cannot move your muscles, limbs and joints through their full range of motion and you are limited to one plane of movement, your body is not being used to its full potential. When mobility suffers, performance suffers because you can no longer generate the power and speed that you are capable of producing.

What happens with poor mobility?
Aside from not being able to train to your full ability, when one part of your body (ex. hips, knee, ankles, shoulders) loose full mobility, those muscles, joints or ligaments can become weak or tight. To compensate, another part of the body has to pick up the slack. When your glutes are weak, the knees or lower back is forced to take over. Poor ankle mobility or tight calves can contribute to plantar fascia issues. A tight neck can cause back issues.
It’s much safer and healthier for your body to train when you can move through full range of motion when you train as this will reduce the stress on your entire body.

Why you need to improve mobility
The best way to improve mobility is to reduce the chance for immobility.
 How many times have you visited a massage therapist and said “my x is so tight or stiff!” with hopes that he/she will magically “release” and fix you in an hour.

 Many athletes neglect mobility for two reasons:
1) They don’t/have make the time for mobility work
2)
Ok, so there is really only one main reason.

Athletes love to prioritize cardio or strength training over mobility work because mobility work takes away valuable training minutes.

If you say "I don't have time for mobility, I only have x-minutes to train," I want you think about this.

Your ability to have a great workout is affected by many things - sleep, nutrition, motivation, economy, muscle strength, etc.
When considering the importance of spending 5-15 minutes to mobilize your body before you start your workout, if you could go into the workout with better range of motion and a more relaxed body, even if it means working out 5-15 minutes less if you are crunched for time, you wouldn't only enjoy the workout more because you felt better when training but you would actually improve performance because you could go a little harder and a little faster (perhaps even going a little further) with less work.

Great idea, right?!
That's what we call training smarter to train harder.

Every time you take a stroke and kick in the water, pedal on the bike and run forward, you are forcing key muscles, ligaments, joints, tendons and bones to work. When you go into a workout tight, your warm-up can only loosen you up to a certain degree. You may think that because you are time-crunched that you have to make every minute count for cardio (or strength training), but the main goal of training is to have quality workouts.
With poor mobility, economy decreases. And when economy decreases, it’s more difficult to be fast, strong or efficient when training.

Seeing that you work so hard to improve your cardio fitness, your strength and your stamina, it’s important that you can ensure full range of motion with every stroke, foot strike and movement forward.

It can be very frustrating to feel like performance is declining, despite you feeling like your cardiovascular system is very robust and your mind is completely committed.  But this is a common occurrence that athletes will train and train and train and get tighter and tighter and tighter. Eventually, you get an injury that may have been prevented from an improvement in mobility. 

In my next blog I will provide a few helpful tips for improving mobility. 

You must have motivation to build your foundation

(Source)

I love the first few months of working out as it relates to my periodized training plan. The intensity is fairy low which makes it easy to function well in life, socialize and partake in other non-sport activities, no workout seems to short or long, frequency training provides many opportunity to work on skills without sacrificing poor form and there is a heavy emphasis on strength. 

As I tell our athletes over and over, when a new season starts after the off-season, it's time to start building your foundation. And it turns out that the analogy "training is like building a house" could not be more true for athletes who seek consistency, great health and great performances within a season. 

If you were to start construction on a house, what would be the first thing that you would do? 

Would you hire an interior decorator to help you pick out window treatments and wall paint?

Even if designing the interior of a house is fun, if you spend most of your time and money on something that is not needed for 3, 6 or 8 months down the road, it would all be a waste of time as there are more important things to focus on.

It's easy to understand why athletes do not appreciate the foundation phase of training and often rush through phases or neglect the little things that make a huge difference later in the season. Building a proper foundation takes work and time. 

With a key race so far in the future and many workouts not providing the rush of endorphins that one would feel 6-8 weeks out from race day, many athletes actually skip this phase of training all together and advance into more intense training or haphazard high volume workouts or just exercise for a few months and then start an 8, 12 or 20 week race-specific training plan. 

 The foundation phase can be challenging for some athletes as they don't like addressing weaknesses or limiters and would rather train in a way that gives instant gratification, often repeatedly doing workouts that come easy and natural (and neglecting workouts that are difficult, uncomfortable or not fun).

And for any athlete who seeks quick results, it's likely that the foundation phase isn't even considered. 

How would you feel if the builders and contractors responsible for laying the foundation of your new home wanted quick results too?


(source)

The problem that many athletes face is that they don't realize that what they are doing is a problem....until it actually becomes a problem.

As a coach, I see it all too often that the athletes who skip steps in their athletic development eventually pay the price with burnout, overtraining, injuries, sickness and/or peaking too soon (or not being properly prepared) in the 4-12 weeks leading up to a key race.

 It's actually quite easy to train the body to get fast and fit very quickly but with (most) triathletes racing from spring to fall (at least twice over 4-6 months), there is a specific type of training that is needed in the beginning of a training season to ensure proper development and physiological preparation for peaking adequately for key races. 

A great way to appreciate this phase of training is to recognize that you are actually building the foundation from which you will work from as the training progresses. 

A strong, well hydrated, nourished and healthy body has a great opportunity to tolerate upcoming training stress as the season progresses.

Sadly, a weak, injured, nutrient-deficient, calorie-restricted, dehydrated or exhausted body can not tolerate intentional intense or high volume training stress very well, even if the training that is given is designed to properly prepare the body for race day. 

Athletes, recognize that your ability to improve fitness throughout the year is constantly dependent on your ability to tolerate, absorb and consistently train with variable training stressors.

If a foundation is not properly built with consistent, smart training in early season, there is a great risk for inconsistency in training as injuries and sickness are likely to occur and ultimately, you may find yourself taking risks and guessing your way through how to train for your upcoming races solely on how you feel each day.

 Because most athletes can not rush physical development and expect to maintain that fitness level and/or stay in good health throughout the entire season, in my next blog I will share some of my tips to help you maintain motivation for your foundation phase of training.

Remember, the longer your race distance and/or the more races on your schedule, it is critically important to develop your body in a very smart way, starting with a solid foundation and sport-specific training. 

If you need some guidance with building your foundation, let us help. 
Consider our 8-week Transition plan specifically designed to help you improve your skills, strength (with specific strength exercises and videos), form and fitness before advancing with a more specific training plan.

Also, all of our 20-week endurance training plans (Half and Full Ironman distance) include 8-weeks of transition phase training to help you properly build a solid foundation before you master more specific endurance training).

And for the month of January, you can join our Performance Team and receive 4 FREE detailed handouts on nutrition, sport nutrition, swim training and run training. And, with the purchase of any endurance Trimarni training plan, you will be eligible to win a FREE entry into a Rev3 Triathlon race. 

The consistent athlete: Part III, tips

CONSISTENT TRAINING TIPS

STAY FLEXIBLE
Don’t freak out if you oversleep, have to stay late at work, have an unexpected trip or event to attend or experience a niggle or ache in your body. Sure, it would be great if we could always plan for these things but we can’t. A chance for inconsistency in training (and possible injury, burnout, health issues) is trying to constantly make-up workouts,  push-through fatigue/exhaustion or squeezing too much on your daily plate. When things come up in life, adjust and be flexible. Do the best you can with the time that you do have to train or just start fresh tomorrow. Look at your week of training and remind yourself of how many key workouts you have each week that can build fitness – most of the time, missing a workout here or there will have no impact (negatively)  on your overall development in your season.
If you don't know how to adjust (or refuse to adjust), inconsistency in training can increase the risk for injuries and a plateau in fitness gains.
Be realistic with your available time so that you can experience consistency in training.

FUEL SMART
This is the most easy, yet most overlooked, component in helping your body perform well so that you can stay consistent with your training. You must make it a priority to fuel smart and to nourish your body. It is critical that you have a strong passion for healthy eating throughout the day and that you do not neglect proper sport nutrition and hydration before, during and after workouts. Plan ahead so that you are equipped to eat nourishing foods and you can snack smart throughout the day. And same goes for your gym bag or at home when it comes to sport nutrition/hydration -don’t let it be an afterthought to address the best sport nutrition for your body before, during and after workouts (to fuel, recover and to minimize GI distress). You will be surprised how much better you feel and how much better you will perform if you keep your body in good health, with the right fuels at the right time. Smart athletes focus on the daily diet AND sport nutrition regime and if they struggle, they reach out to an expert to help. 

FOLLOW THE PLAN
Time and time again we see athletes pushing too hard on an easy day or using an easy day to make up workouts. With too much adjustment in the weekly plan, athletes are unable to perform well on the days that call for hard efforts due to carrying around lingering, unplanned, fatigue. Trust your training plan as every workout counts – even the easy days. And when it comes to the important workouts, don’t let your mind call it quits just because you don't like the main set or you are getting bored. As a coach, I want to challenge my athletes with a variety of workouts so a smart training plan is key. But if my athletes are giving in mentally, every time the mind or body feels tired, the athlete may not improve. Training smart requires a special balance of intensity, volume and recovery/easy workouts. For the athlete, if you do not trust the training plan, you may find yourself struggling to keep up with the plan (or taking too many detours, delaying your fitness, by not following your plan). The road to fitness success is being able to tolerate planned fatigue with good form and a strong mindset and to use the recovery or easy days to recover and maintain fitness from the harder efforts.
And your training is only as good as your ability to prioritize good sleep, mobility and healthy eating on a daily basis. 

GOOD DAILY HABITS
In addition to supporting your training load with a healthy diet, great restful sleep and good stress management are critical to ensuring consistency in training. Working out with 10 things on your mind (like laundry, grocery shopping or what you are doing with your kids this weekend) will not help you focus on the workout you are doing. Learn how to turn your mind off from life (to the best of your ability) while you are working out. An easy strategy is to keep a to-do list by your side so that you are not thinking about what you need to do when you can’t do it, especially when you are working out. Additionally, quality sleep is the cheapest, easiest and most effective way to recover and get stronger. Rather than spending money on recovery modalities (ex. recovery boots, compression gear, trigger point/foam rolling sets, etc.), first work on your sleep habits. I suggest no less than 7 hours of restful sleep (that means not waking up throughout the night) on most days per week, with an additional 30-60 minutes of sleep on the weekends to catch up for the occasional super early morning workout or intense workouts.  

MOBILITY AND ACTIVE WARM-UPS
Many niggles turn to injuries simply because of the little time that athletes spend warming up and staying mobile throughout the day. Often times, athletes will increase the risk of injury between workouts as the body gets tight from sitting and commuting. Or, athletes will jump out of bed (early) and start working out with a tight and stiff body, hoping to warm-up before the main set. Take time every day to perform simple mobility exercises for your neck, back and hips which tend to take the biggest toll from a sedentary lifestyle (yes – even despite working out 10+ hours per week the body is still quite sedentary). Additionally, do not neglect a proper warm-up! It is critical that you make the time to perform dynamic warm-ups for at least 5-10 minutes before all of your workouts. Many times, you can turn an ok workouts into a great workouts, simply by warming up before you actually start your workout.
Also, every time you feel a niggle or ache, you do not need to rush out and get a massage, see the chiropracter or trigger point yourself until you turn black and blue. Just chill-out for 2-3 days and let the niggle/ache calm down. As an athlete, it is important to know what is a normal ache/niggle that can be healed through activity versus a niggle/ache that disrupts form and pacing and can turn into a potential injury.

Currently injured?
All of these tips, including a healthy diet, proper mobility, good sleep and effective sport nutrition fueling/hydrating are not limited to injury-free athletes. If you are injured, you must find a way to maintain fitness with activities that are pain-free as you spend extra time rehabbing and working on weaknesses that may have contributed to the injury. Yes, injured athletes must train smart even during the recovery and rehab process.

Next time you find yourself being a slave to your training plan, refusing to make modifications, feeling guilty when you miss a workout and simply going through the motions, stop and ask yourself if you are training smart.

Work with what life throws at you because if you are stubborn ,and fight with your life to-do’s just to get in a workout, you will find yourself losing enjoyment for your “hobby” which also helps to keep you in good health. 

What consistency tips will you focus on in 2016?

The consistent athlete: part II

Athletes are hardwired to want success. Athletes are not exercisers. Athletes want results that often result in an improvement in metrics, body composition or places and include crossing both a start and finish line.
Athletes don't just show-up to a workout, they use their body to perform.

The process of athletic development can be slow and this is hard for many athletes to accept.
I see it all the time in triathletes who are impatient in the off-season and either train too intensely in the first few months of training OR dedicate 6-8 weeks to training for a running race rather than focusing on their slow, consistent triathlon development.
Like many things in life, quick results often come with consequences.

The idea of instant gratification applies very well to athletes of all levels. 

It's natural to believe that if you put in the work, results will come so why not work out harder and longer for faster results? 

But in spite of sickness or injury, no matter how little sleep or poor fueling/eating or the fitness level of the athlete, it's far too easy for an athlete to work out hard (or long) just to "feel" the endorphin rush and/or to believe that he/she is making better athletic progress. 

Do you find yourself performing too many instant gratification workouts? You know you are doing too much or working out too hard, or you shouldn't be working out at all, but you just can't stop yourself from the workout?

 When an athlete performs too many of these haphazard workouts, this rarely brings success because there is little consistency. If you are victim to pushing too hard, going too long or working out at any cost, just to get in a workout in order to feel better, consistency will never be on your side. 

After reading my last blog, it's very easy to now understand why you, or athletes that you know, may always struggle to find consistency in training.

It's not because you are not working hard enough or because you are too busy.
Lack of consistency in training can simply result from the inability to create or follow a smart training plan that fits into your life.

For the typical athlete, the same reasons that make you so successful in your sport – driven, hard-working, the ability to push through fatigue, the focus to put in the work and the determination to make sacrifices to reach future season goals - are often the same reasons why you may get yourself in trouble when it comes to being flexible, adjusting and being realistic with your available time to train.

When I speak about consistency in training to my athletes, we do not find athletic success in just checking-off workouts or moving around workouts. I do not applaud an athlete for waking up a 4:30am every morning at the expense of performing badly at their job, not having energy to spend time with family or eating or performing poorly due to sleep deprivation.

The athletes who succeed the most on race day are those who accept their personal limitations and adjust workouts as needed to maintain some level of "normalcy" in life in order to make improvements. However, these athletes also maintain a high level of commitment and hard work in their sport, in order to reach personal goals.

Never did I say that the most successful athletes train hard all the time or never miss a workout.

It is my goal to help my athletes create a plan that works for them but it is the goal of the athlete to create a positive environment for training, to get great sleep most nights of the week, to properly nourish and fuel their body on a daily basis, to maintain a healthy dose of motivation for their hobby and then execute really, really well throughout the workout.

Pushing through a workout, in the face of injury, fatigue, sleep deprivation, stress or a jam-packed day, will not only hurt your quest for performance gains but can damage overall health as you risk a loss of enjoyment in your sport. 

If your goal is consistency in training AND the ability to adapt to training (as it should be if you are a competitive athlete), you need to learn how to train smarter in order to stay consistent.

By considering the questions that I posted in my last blog, you should learn how to train your body in a way that allows you to make progress. With a proper warm-up and cool down, good nutrition/hydration and a well-defined purpose for the workout, a quality workout can be achieved every day and progress will be made.

When there is consistency, there is progress and then fitness improves.

Consistently adapting to training will also help you improve skills, endurance, power and speed (depending on the specific purpose of each workout).
But, in the face of life (injuries, sickness, travel, work stress, family) you must learn how to adjust in order to train even smarter to handle your training stress.

Every athlete is different when it comes to available time to train but every athlete has the ability to use their available hours wisely. 

To help you better adapt to training and to stay consistent with your training plan, my next blog will list a few suggestions on how you can stay consistent with training with a "train smart" mentality. 

Kona countdown 34 days: Every choice matters

We have approached the "less than 5 week" countdown until Kona!!! 

After we returned from Boulder, I mentioned that I was overly exhausted after our 9-day train-cation in Boulder. After taking several days to recover, I was able to get back to my planned training but I did have to make some modifications. 

With so much climbing and hard efforts in Boulder, I came back with a body that was not very happy. Nothing new to me with many years of back issues but with less than 6 weeks left until Kona (at the time), I did not want to take any chances for a tight back to turn into a back injury to turn into a hip injury (which I have had much experience with in the past - 6+ years to be exact from 2007-2013).

My right scapula was so tight/inflamed that I was barely able to swim last week. Additionally, because of the tightness in my upper back, it was tugging on my lower back and hip area and my right leg felt very weak (again, nothing new to me from past hip issues). I also felt calf and ankle issues...all relating to my back. Pretty much - my right side was totally out of whack. 

Rather than trying to treat myself (I never use our foam roller or Trigger Point set- even though we have both), I made an appointment with the best massage therapist in Greenville (I saw him last year before IMWI - my last massage was September 2014!) and simply modified my training. 

I had to back off with the intensity and yards in the pool and I lowered the intensity on the run/bike.  With every workout, I was constantly aware of my back and listened to my body. 

Every day, I found myself feeling better and better and after my massage (last Thursday) I felt so much relief in my hips, neck, back, calf and ankle.
I have always had back issues (which came from years of swimming and then turned into hip issues) so this is just something that I have to constantly be aware of and be proactive with as an endurance triathlete. I do a lot of strength and mobility work to help with my back but I should get more massages than I do to help with all the tension I carry in my upper back. 

Both Karel and I had massages on Thursday evening and decided to take Friday completely off from working out. It was SO needed. 

This Saturday (1.5 weeks after we came home from Boulder), Karel and I rode together on a beautiful country-road route with lots of rolling hills for a very nice, 3 hour low-stress ride. We loved seeing so much wildlife on our ride too. 

After the ride, we went for a 4 mile run (with two walk breaks) and kept the run low stress.
Amazingly, we both felt so good and for the first time in over a week, my back felt almost normal again and I finally felt more comfortable running again. 

I'm so thankful that I was able to make smart decisions with my body since returning home from Boulder and throughout this season. My body is not perfect and I always have to stay on top of it. For the past two years I have remained injury free and it's all from listening to my body and being smart when it speaks to me. It's always hard when you are an athlete and you are nearing a race - accomplishing workouts is often the number one goal. But I want more than simply checking off workouts - I want to be consistent and have quality workouts that will better prepare me for race day. And if I can't have a quality workout, then I want to do whatever I can to help my body stay healthy so that I can have the best performance possible on race day with the fitness I have accumulated over the past season. 

These choices are often tough as athletes but we have to make them if we care about our race day performance. Sure, it feels great to workout and it sucks to miss a workout....but what sucks even more is being injured, sick or burn out. Then you can't do anything with your body in training......or on race day. And on race day, that is when you want to have your best performance - not in training. 

With 5 weeks left until Kona, I did my last long run before the race. But more than my last long run, I was able to properly execute in one of my most favorite Ironman race-prep workouts:

2 hour bike + 2 hour run

I have done this workout several times before when gearing up for an Ironman and I just love this workout. I love the specificity of the workout as well as an opportunity to test nutrition before and during (bike/run) and to work on pacing. It is a great confidence booster and I love the mental test of knowing that I will be running my longest run after a 2 hour bike. 

Here's how the workout went down:
(all pain free - yay for being smart last week!)

2 hour bike
40 minute warm-up spin
MS:
2 x 30 minutes (10 min IM effort, 10 min faster than IM effort, 10 min strong effort)
10 min EZ spin in between

EZ spin home

2 hour run
5 x 3 mile IM effort w/ 1 min walk in between each 3 mile segment
I was able to hold 7:45-8:10 min/mile for the entire run and for the first time, I felt steady and strong with this pace.
(extra stops to refill flasks - it was hot running from 11:30-1:30pm!)

Total workout: 

2 hour bike
2:10 run, 15 miles (my longest run since IMWI last September and this will be my longest run until Kona)

Average pace on run (with walks): 8:15 min/mile

So my question to you is, are you making good choices?

Since every choice matters......

Do you listen to your body or push through pain?
Do you fuel/hydrate before/during/after workouts or are you just getting by?
Do you give yourself time to warm-up before you start your workout or do you hope that you will loosen out when you get going?
Do you recognize that you gain fitness through consistency or do you just focus on getting-by?
Do you focus more on your body composition that you neglect proper fuel and nourishment or do you focus on performance and keeping your body in good health?
Do you make time for recovery or do you tell yourself that you will recover better tomorrow?
Do you prioritize restful sleep or do you feel like you can just get by with little sleep so long as you don't miss a workout?
Are you flexible with your workout or do you struggle to modify when needed?
Do you get stuck in the moment rather than thinking about the big picture? 

I've spent many years training for a 140.6 mile race and I have learned through many mistakes that every choice matters. When we make choices, we have to think about the best decision in the moment that will make for a better next-day workout.
 Performance gains are built from many, many training sessions. With every training session, we have to make smart choices. 

When it comes to your next training session - make a good choice when it comes to how you warm-up, how you fuel and hydrate, how you pace yourself, how you choose to execute and how you recover. 

If you keep making good choices, you will make good progress. And with good progress, THAT is when you experience performance gains to feel ready for your upcoming race. 

Less is more...42 days 'til Kona!

In 30 days, Karel and I will be boarding a plane to Kona, Hawaii.
Holy Moly.....we will be racing in the 2015 Ironman World Championship in 41 days!!

This upcoming Ironman is very special for three reasons.

1) I absolutely LOVE racing in Kona. The island, the competition, the energy, the elements, the race vibe...it all makes me so excited to race for 140.6 miles!

2) This will be my 10th Ironman and 4th Ironman World Championship! I can't believe I have been racing endurance triathlons for 9 years and my body has allowed me to qualify for Kona at 4 of my 6 Kona qualifier Ironman races. 

3) I will be sharing the race course with my best friend and hubby, Karel. This is his first Ironman World Championship and 4th Ironman that he will finish. We love racing together and sharing our personal race stories to one another, after the race. 

Around this time of the Ironman journey, I find that Ironman athletes can make a few mistakes as it relates to training. There is a lot of self-doubt, worry, anxiety and fear that the body and mind is not and will not be ready for race day. This uncertainty and lack of trust in the training process often leads to doing more than needed in preparation for the upcoming Ironman event. 

You know what's funny...I don't believe you you need to feel in the best shape of your life, to race  for 140.6 miles. There's no magic number of hours you need to train or miles to cover for each sport to feel "prepared". And certainly, there is no "look" as to what your body composition needs to look like to race well for 140.6 miles. 

 As athletes, we are constantly developing, learning, gaining skills and improving. Year after year, we get stronger, faster, more efficient or smarter. 

Therefore, I do believe that you can feel ready, confident and prepared for your upcoming race. And that readiness comes from trusting the plan that keeps you healthy, injury free and hungry to race. 

Around 3-6 weeks out from an Ironman race, I often see and hear of athletes doing way too much volume and/or intensity. Perhaps it's inappropriately scheduled in the training plan or at fault of the athlete who feels she/he needs to do more as a result of fear-based training. 

This is my favorite time of my Ironman journey because every workout completed is one day closer to the race. Rather than chasing certain watts, times or paces, I chase improvements. 

Just improvements. 

Some days it's perfecting my fueling whereas other days I feel stronger or faster. Some days I feel like I am more resilient whereas other days I feel better with my endurance.

But this is not the time for me get greedy - wanting every workout to be perfect or better than the previous day. 

For Ironman athletes, the 3-6 weeks out from race day bring a lot of baggage. There is the emotional stress where your mind wants to be "all in" but as an age-grouper, we still have to balance work, family and other to-do's. Then there is the residual fatigue that we bring to every workout simply because we have been training for at least 3 months....if not way longer. 

With this baggage, we have to be extremely careful as to listen to the body. We must be ok to do less, adjust the intensity/duration, modify the week or take an extra recovery day. 

Certainly, work needs to get done to prepare the body for race day. There should be great dedication to every workout, workouts shouldn't be skipped because "it doesn't matter" and motivation should be at an all time high as this is the time when we execute to the best of our ability to feel as prepared as possible come taper. 

Sure, I have a few big time/placing goals for race day that keep me excited to train but above all, my focus is on arriving to the start line in Kona with a very healthy and strong body.

For the next 6 weeks - all I need my body to do is to stay healthy and I will be ready to race! 

More is not better. 

I trust my plan. I trust my previous fitness and I trust what I have learned in this Ironman journey. 

For the next 6 weeks, my main focus is on being smart so that I can be as consistent as possible with every week of training.
And most of all, I want to keep having fun. 

If you are currently training for an Ironman, it is important that you have the strength to adjust.
There's no good in taking risks 3-6 weeks out from race day because many times, these risks don't pay off. The fear-based training doesn't make for better race day performances. Being "in the moment" to get a workout checked-off for self validation may give you confidence but it isn't necessary in the big picture.
Remember that you are bringing months of fitness to your upcoming Ironman race...not one or two epic completed, haphazard workouts. 

Save your BEST performance for race day. 

Trust me - your body and mind will know what to do on race day.
Stay focused, stay smart and keep having fun. 

Speedy interval run - feeling strong

This morning we had a great workout at the Caine Halter YMCA. I felt strong, healthy and super fast as I was running with Karel....well more like running with Karel's strong and fast body in my view on the treadmill in front of me.
It's total motivation to watch my hubby train!

Our workout included around 25-30 minutes of dynamic warm-ups, followed by strength training followed by plyometrics and then our interval treadmill run workout. We can easily spend 20-40 minutes before a workout to warm-up and do proper strength training for neuromuscular firing. 

MS:

3 x 5 min desc 1-3 to strong w/ 4 min EZ in between (jog/rest)

3 x 3.5 min desc 1-3 (starting from last strong effort from previous set) w/ 3 min EZ in between (jog/rest)

4 x 2 min best effort (starting from best effort of previous set and holding same effort) w/ 2 min rest in between (straddle treadmill)

Total for me:

10.1 miles, 77 minutes

After our workout, we headed to our favorite French Bakery  to get a loaf of fresh bread (we only buy/eat local fresh bread). I stayed in the car as Karel headed inside and I should have guessed that Karel would buy more than just a loaf of bread.

Sometimes Karel gets a serious case of croissantitis. It is so serious that if he does not get a croissant after his workout, he tells me he will suffer all day. :)

It's not breaking news but Karel loves his carbs!

I'm incredibly grateful to see where my body is at right now in the season. I am approaching two years of being 100% injury free. Karel has not been seriously injured since he started training for triathlons back in 2012. However, Karel did develop a little navicular tendonitis and bone spur on the top of his foot after training a few months in Newton run shoes so he will not wear those ever again. Now he wears Brooks. 

Many times, we don't know why injuries happen and they just come out of the blue. But for most athletes, there is a red flag somewhere in life/training to identify and that weakness can be focused on so that the same mistake does not happen twice. Typical red flags: The athlete may be increasing intensity too quickly, trying to develop too quickly (or skipping necessary steps), putting too much volume on the body than the body can handle (the body is not strong enough to adapt to training stress), not eating enough to support training, not getting good sleep, poor form/biomechanics, the daily diet does not properly nourish the body, the sport nutrition regime does not support the periodized training load/intensity and volume.

With almost 6 consecutive years of experiencing very painful hip/glute/lower back muscular-related issues which kept me from running for 1-3 months at a time (every single year!), I contribute my recent and current good health and strong body (over the past 2 years) to a few very important factors. Although I have been able to accomplish a lot in the past 9 years of endurance racing, there are a few things that I'd like to highlight, which I will discuss in my next blog post.

2 time-crunched workouts

Everything in moderation. You have probably heard this saying a lot when it comes to the diet but what about when applied to an athlete's workout regime?

Well, I don't want to be a moderate athlete. I want to be the best athlete I can be.

Because my season is focused on endurance racing, I know that there is a specific training regime that I need to follow and accomplish to be mentally and physically prepared for my races.

However, just because I have training plan for the week, this doesn't mean that it can never change. Understanding that life brings changes, stressful moments and days when free-time to train is extremely limited. 

I never sacrifice my diet, sleep or work to train. Work pays the bills and my diet and sleep contribute to performance gains. I have learned through making many mistakes in my endurance training and racing lifestyle over the past 9 years that the quality of workouts matter more than the quality.

Additionally, I constantly remind my athletes that what you do (or don't do) between your workouts (when they do occur) is how we get stronger, faster and more powerful as athletes. Just because you can check off a workout, it doesn't mean that it will bring performance gains if you are sacrificing other things in life that will assist in physical performance gains. 

This past week has been quite busy for us and the planned training routine was modified almost every day. For me and Karel, one week of training never matches the next week of training, even if we accomplish every workout in our training plan.

On Thursday evening, it was nearing 6:30pm and I had a key bike and EZ run on my schedule. Although we rode in the morning with our athlete Justine for almost 2 hours, that ride was all about  her. We would have been just fine not working out in the evening but we both felt like we needed our own personal workout. Karel did a 6 mile run (starting from my mom's house because we needed to help her with something from 4-6pm) and I got on the trainer.

My main set on the trainer was 25 minutes and my main set for the run was 4 minutes. Here's the workout:

(disclaimer, although I share my workouts please keep in mind that they specific to where I am in my periodized training plan. It is important to focus on your development as an athlete and build a strong foundation and powerful body prior to doing any speed work). 

Thursday PM workout:

Trainer Bike: 

10 min mobility/hip/glute work

20 min warm-up (Z1-Z2, increasing cadence and effort every 5 minutes)

MS 5x's:

3 minutes heavy gear at Z3 power

2 minutes high cadence, Z3 power

Repeat

10 min cool down

Brick Run: 

2 min run to the other side of my neighborhood

8 x 30 sec hill sprints w/ 90 sec walk/jog in between (down the hill)

2 min run back home

On Saturday morning, we needed to be in the car to head to Asheville for a meeting at 9:20am (meeting at 11am, 1:20 drive to Asheville) so without sacrificing sleep or fueling before the workout, we planned to head to the Y at 7am. Things would have been different in terms of our run and available time to train if it wasn't raining outside so the treadmill run was better than no run and thus, we made a quality workout out of it.

Karel did his own workout and I did as follows:

Saturday AM workout: 

10 min hip/glute/mobility work (I will never skip this before a run even if that means running 10-15 minutes less)

Warm-up: 

20 min EZ run with 1 min rest at 9 and 19 minutes. 

MS: 20 x 90 sec hill runs at 4% incline with 30 sec rest (straddle treadmill) in between. 

#1-10 @ 7.5 mph (steady)

#11-15 @ 7.8 mph (strong, felt the burn the last 30 sec)

#16-19 @ 8 mph (strong, felt the burn the last 60 sec)

#20 @ best effort, 8.6 mph (felt the burn at 15 sec)

3 min cool down

Total: 1:05, 7.75 miles

The wonderful part of focusing on quality workouts  and making the most out of your available time is knowing that you are still moving closer to your fitness goals but you are not skipping the valuable steps in your development. Plus, if you use your time wisely, you will recover faster, perform better and still enjoy the awesome things in life that will make you smile on race day.

Like Campy exploring the Asheville woods. 

A few take-aways for the time-crunched athlete:
-There are going to be times when you feel so rushed to get it all done. Never sacrifice sleep or healthy eating and proper fueling at the expense of getting in a longer workout  or more workouts.
-Make sure you have a few key workouts during the week dedicated to your development. It's great to workout  with friends but your workouts need to be focused on you and your progression in order for you to apply those workouts to your race day.
-Never underestimate the power of a shorter workout. I challenge anyone to tell me that a 5K all out effort is easier than a 10-mile steady long run. In order to focus on quality workouts you need to get your mind focused and stop telling yourself that more is always better. 

-Your fitness development is based on consistent workouts and frequent workouts. Use this advice to have a global perspective on your training. If you are able to only work out 3 times during the week, make sure they are quality workouts and don't overdo it on the weekends to make up for time-lost during the week. If you can get in 5 x 30 min workouts during the week that is much better than 1-2 ok workouts during the week and 1-2 epic workouts on the weekend.
-A haphazard training plan where you are just checking off workouts to get them done, just going through the motions with an underfueled, exhausted body, following someone else's training or using fear based training to make you feel more prepared for race day, comes with great risks and consequences. Be smart with your available time to train. 

Athletes: 4 mistakes that you keep making

You were born to make mistakes. No one is perfect. Some of your greatest achievements will grow out of the mistakes that you made in your past. 

As an athlete, I like to think of mistakes as learning opportunities. There are no bad decisions but instead opportunities to adjust, learn and to improve.

When Karel raced his first IM in Lake Placid in 2013, he told me he made a few rookie mistakes. He grabbed his wrong transition bag from the hanging rack of bag as he was entering the T2 changing tent so he had to run back to the rack to exchange his goggles and wetsuit for his run shoes and visor.
On the bike, he took a swig of his gel flask and put the flask upside down in his tri top pocket...opened. A few miles later, his leg felt incredibly sticky with every pedal stroke. It wasn't until he reached back for his flask that he noticed that his entire flask emptied out in his tri pocket and essentially onto the side of his body. 

Now I wouldn't call this rookie mistakes as I feel even a veteran athlete is vulnerable to these mistakes but as athletes we must be able to reflect on races to learn from them to hopefully prevent the same mistake happening more than once. 

Thankfully, Karel has made it a habit to repeat in his head as to what color bag to grab before entering the changing tent in an Ironman and he always remembers to tightly close his gel flask and put it in his pocket right side up. 

If there is one thing that I have learned in endurance racing over the past 8 years it's that there is always something new to learn on race day. 

As athletes, we know that race day comes with a variety of uncontrollables so when it comes to focusing on how we prepare our bodies for race day, we want to direct a lot of energy to how we train for races. Unfortunately, for many athletes, the season starts with a high level of motivation and energy as well as good intentions so on paper, you look perfect. But I find that for many athletes, it takes a few seasons to learn some valuable lessons as to how to train smarter, reduce risk for injury and to keep the body in good health. 

As an athlete, the best investment you can make on your future success as an athlete is to be able to identify your own weaknesses. If you find it easy to put blame on yourself for making the same mistakes over and over but do not hold yourself accountable to making the necessary changes, you are not learning anything from your mistakes. 

As you know, life passes by very quickly when you are in the peak of your season and it's very hard to fill in the gaps when you did not do what you should have done when it needed to be done. Far too often I hear athletes saying the following statements when they recognize their weaknesses and this usually happens when an athlete gets injured or a few weeks out from a key race. 

"I need to stretch more."
"I need to do more strength training."
"I need to eat better."
"I should have recovered better."

As we enter a New Year, you have the opportunity to start a new season of making good habits AND sticking with them. Admit that you did not stretch enough last season, you stopped strength training after a few months, your healthy eating habits got pushed aside when your training volume increased and you pushed too hard on your easy days which caused you to feel tired on the days when you were expected to perform hard. 

It's ok to admit that you made some mistakes but I am here to make sure that you do not make those same  mistakes again in 2015. 

So here are your lessons learned for 2015:

1) Stretching Make stretching part of your daily routine. This includes dynamic warm-ups before all workouts, foam rolling/trigger point therapy to identify "hot" spots and active stretching to loosen-out the body post workout and in the evenings before bed. You can find 5 minutes a few times during the day to make stretching happen. 

2) Strength training
All athletes should follow a periodized strength training routine that addresses functional strength exercises that will transfer fitness gains in your sport. There must be a smooth progression of how you incorporate strength training in your routine as you do not want to risk injury as you try to prevent injury.
In the Trimarni 8-week transition plan, I have your first 8 weeks of foundation strength all laid out for you with corresponding swim,bike, run workouts as well. This is an easy way to not only help you build good foundation strength before you start incorporating more dynamic/complex, intense strength exercises into your strength routine but it is also a no-excuse way to kick-start your strength training routine. If anything, you can at least tell yourself that in 2015 you followed a well-designed strength training routine for 2 months which may be longer than you lasted last year. 

3) Healthy eating
What's eating better? Perhaps you define it differently than my definition but the bottom line is that you likely have a few key areas that you'd like to focus on that you feel are preventing you from reaching your health, performance and/or body composition goals. This doesn't mean you need to be extreme, restrictive or obsessive about eating in order to "eat better." But perhaps you need to make more time for meal planning and cooking. Maybe you find yourself overeating in the evenings because of poor eating choices throughout the day. Maybe you aren't spending enough time understanding your sport nutrition before, during and after workouts. Maybe you are just trying to get more fruits and veggies into your diet or eat more real food. Whatever eating better means to you, focus on making only a few small changes at a time or else you are destined for failure as you can't expect to change everything all at once and keep those new habits for the next 10-12 months.
If I can give you one tip it would be to recognize that your eating habits will change throughout the season accordance to your training plan. Be mindful of how an increased training load will affect your cravings, appetite and macronutrient distribution. Don't let this scare you if you feel like you don't know how to eat in a periodized training plan. My tip for you is to not start the year eating a plant-strong diet made of real food and then find yourself skipping meals, eating ice cream for dinner and passing on your pre-workout snacks when your training load increases. Put a great amount of energy on your daily diet and fueling regime throughout all phases of your training plan to get the most out of every workout. 

4) Recover harder

Athletes are notorious for making easy days too hard and hard days too easy. You must understand the purpose of rest days for they have a place in every athletes' training plan. Whether you choose to take them or not is certainly up to you but I highly encourage you to take advantage of your intentional rest days before you find yourself taking too many unintentional rest days with a tired, burnout or injured body.  Your goal as an athlete is to adapt to training stress. Yes, you may look like a really great exerciser but more so, you want to be a really great athlete. And really great athletes rest their bodies hard. 

Athletes strive for improvements in fitness and this is often the reason why athletes are scared to take a day off. Or even worse, an athlete makes the excuse "it's my recovery day" so the alarm goes off at 5am for an easy swim bike or run. Hello...when did sleep stop being a form of recovery??
As a suggestion, I often find that my age group athletes do really well with a day off (or at least a morning off from working out) later in the week as the season progresses (around 4-6 weeks out from taper) whereas Monday off or a true active recovery day (following waking up rested) is best applied in the beginning part of the season when athletes are more fresh and motivated to start a training plan but also slowly adapting to training stress so that continued stress as the week progresses is very important mentally and physically. Because the entire point of training is to place intentional stress on the body AND adapt to it, there is certainly going to be more to balance as the season progresses so there really isn't a time in your plan when rest isn't allowed. My suggestion is to take advantage of all of your rest days and active recovery days when they come and this includes taking care of yourself emotionally, nutritionally and spiritually when you aren't training on those days. Pay attention to red flags that your body needs a rest day or a change in the routine to ensure that you are training hard but recoverying harder. 

 You know the mistakes that you made last year and perhaps one or more of the mistakes listed above are on your list. So should you once again go into next season being more focused, disciplined and serious? 

I believe that part of the reason why athletes make these mistakes is because they are so performance focused. There is such great passion to all things related to training that the athlete starts the season with very high expectations as to what he/she can focus on to be a better athlete but then life happens and it seems like all of a sudden, there is less time to get everything done. So training takes priority and everything else that can help make you a better athlete gets pushed aside. 

Remember that your season success relies on your consistency with training. Rather than spending all of your energy on training harder or training longer and getting in the workouts, focus on training smarter. Believe me when I tell you that your sleep, recovery tactics, fueling, daily diet and stretching/strength training routine unlocks great performances. These mistakes that you keep making are possibly the keys that you have been forgetting to make a high priority in your daily training routine. 

I'm sure there are other mistakes that we  have all made that are not on this list but I find that season after season, I hear athletes making these same four mistakes over and over as the season progresses. 

Everyone makes mistakes. That's life. But the key is acknowledging that with a little more effort in 2015, you may find yourself preventing these mistakes from happening and setting yourself up for a great season of training and racing

Did you stretch yet today? :)