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. 

Build confidence, skip the excuses

"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

-George Washington Carver

 

 

Saturday morning brick:

2:45 trainer ride

1 hour warm-up (including 20 min of 1 min single leg drills each leg, then both together, etc.)

Main set: 

3 x 15 min Z3 upper w/ 5 min EZ (cadence 90+ rpm)

10 min EZ

2 x 5 min Z4 low w/ 3 min EZ (cadence 90+rpm)

Cool down

 

30 min (3.5 miles) treadmill 'brick' run

15 min warm-up (last 5 minutes picked up the pace a little)

Rest/straddle treadmill for 1 minute

Main set:

5 x 2 minutes (90 sec at half IM race pace, 30 sec at olympic distance race pace) w/ 1 min rest/straddle treadmill

Cool down walk

 

Sunday long run (treadmill):

10.5 miles/1:25

Dynamic stretching warm-up
30 min warm-up (stretched out every 8-10 minutes)
Main set 3x's:
5 min @ half marathon race pace (+20 sec slower)
5 x 1 min @ Olympic distance race pace w/ 20 sec rest in between
1 min straddle treadmill, repeat 2 more times.
Cool down

 

 

It's too cold
I don't have time
I'm too slow
I'm too tired
It won't work
I can't do it
I am not strong enough
I am not smart enough

 

If there is one thing that motivates me every morning to train smart it would be my triathlon goals. My season is laid out well in advance so that I can prep and peak at appropriate times and minimize chances of burnout.

But if there was one thing that keeps me enjoying exercising when I'm not training for triathlons, it would be how great I feel when I workout (and after).

 

One thing that I encourage athletes and fitness enthusiasts to remember is that training for a race is not required to be healthy. You can be healthy and not be training for a triathlon, an Ironman, a bike race or a 5K. Although training may improve health, if not done carefully, training can be very damaging on the body, can interfere with balance in life (work/family/etc.), can increase risk for disease/illness and can increase risk for injury.

 

But no matter if you are training for a race or just exercising for health, it's important to understand the difference between building confidence and having a no excuses mentality when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. 

 

I find that it requires a lot of energy to make excuses. First, there's the thought of what you should be doing. Then there's the thought of why you can't do it, why you don't want to do it, why you don't have time to do it or why it can't be done. Then there's the energy to convince yourself that the reason for not doing whatever you should be doing is good enough to keep you from doing it. But then in the back of your mind, you feel guilty, upset or frustrated that you have convinced yourself that you can't do what you should do.

 

I've said "I can't" many times in my life. In career, education and in sport, I am not afraid of admitting that "I can't" is part of my vocabulary.

But when it comes to my goals, whether career, education of sport, I refuse to give up and I don't like to waste my energy on excuses.

Typically, my use of "I can't" out of my mouth comes from a lack of confidence at the task ahead. I have no problem putting in the work when the work needs to be done but often times, I doubt myself, my skills and my ability to succeed and that's when I need support to keep me positive.

Everyday we are faced with choices and for many, diet and exercise and other life choices are viewed as chores. Something that "has" to be done. But when it comes to making things happen because you have a goal for yourself, you have to make the choice to get it done. Sure, motivation may be higher at certain times than others but just think of all the energy you are making on excuses and perhaps it's time that you spend a little more energy on how you can make things happen.

 

One of the best ways to stop (or reduce) excuses is to work on confidence. Confidence that what you are doing is moving you closer to your goals. (even if you think that you should be doing more or something differently - if you are aiming for perfection you will not be able to recognize progress).

 

Confidence is the feeling that you are unstoppable, even if you have to change the plan at times (but never change the goal).

Confidence is knowing that you can still move closer to your goals as long as you try. And even if you think you could be doing more or better, you don't let that black or white mentality keep you from succeeding.

When you focus your energy on why you can't do something, your mind will give you plenty of reasons why you can't do it. But if are confident that something is better than nothing, you will be amazed how making a little effort, every day, will move you toward your goals. On the contrary, giving yourself reasons why you can't make things happen will not give you the results you want (even at crunch-time when you feel the pressure and motivation to make things happen that should have happened weeks or months prior)

 

Sit down with yourself and create a plan. Life, nutrition, exercise - whatever it is that you are struggling with when it comes to motivation, dedication, discipline or enthusiasm.

Create a plan that is realistic and practical and allows for progress. Your plan is YOUR plan and is helpful only for you and your goals at this time in your life.

If you feel you are too busy, too cold or too tired, close your eyes and visualize yourself reaching your goal.

Now put that vision into your life and dedicate passion, hard work and commitment to your life in order to create the momentum that will help you move closer to your goals.

 

No more excuses.

You CAN succeed.