Triathlon Research - Coaching Clinic Day #1

Hello again from the foothills of the Colorado Rockies!

I am back in Colorado for Triathlon Research's coaching certification clinic in Denver.  This program is an intensive six days of instruction; unheard of in the realm of sports certification and education.  Day one was yesterday (Monday) and this week is shaping up to be quite packed with information.  Having completed my USAT Level 1 certification course the Friday and Saturday prior, it is going to be a rather information packed week altogether.

We began Day #1 with breakfast at the Hampton Inn and then moved to the conference room for our morning session, Exercise Physiology and Athlete Monitoring.

The session was led by Bob Seebohar from the eNRG Performance Lab, who is an incredible presenter and very well versed exercise physiologist and sports dietitian.  He began by pulling us outdoors where we got a visual example of what coaching vs. writing training plans was.  He also put three coaches on the spot to put us through a warm up.  Great experience!

 Back inside, we went over 4 hours of exercise physiology and athlete monitoring including testing methods, when to test, what use testing has, what use monitoring your athlete plays in their progress and your business, and so much more.

For lunch, eNRG performance chef Adam (chef, sports dietitian, and culinary professor and Johnson & Wales) made us food specifically based on the Metabolic Efficiency principles

Our afternoon session was inside the eNRG performance lab and covered nutrition.  You can tell that Bob would go on for DAYS without getting bored.  His passion for the subject is incredible!

Dinner was back at the hotel.  Chef Adam grilled salmon on the back porch along with various salads; again based on the metabolic efficiency principles.

At the last moment, we were offered the opportunity to get in a local pool for open swim.  Five of us jumped on it.  The Foothills Park & Recreation District is an INCREDIBLE facility!  I am excited to get back in later this week for the swim portion of the week.

You also cannot be in this area without looking in awe at the beautiful Colorado Rockies!  What a beautiful back drop to the week.

Today is the run; a morning lecture and afternoon activity session.  I can't wait!

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Questions
1.  What certifications have you earned and how did they relate to six full days of instruction?

2.  Where would your ideal location be to have your next certification?  Would it be tropical, mountainous, or remote?
I love the mountain back drop!  ...not so much the altitude acclimation.


DREAM.  BELIEVE.  ACHIEVE. 

Running with the Iron Cowboy

If you don't know who the Iron Cowboy is or what he is doing, you should Google him.  Check out his 50.50.50 website HERE.

What's the 50.50.50?  

Good question.  James (the Iron Cowboy) is doing 50 Ironman distance triathlons in 50 days, one in each of the 50 states.  Take THAT Dean Karnazes!  But very much like Dean, James is doing an incredible physical feat for the purpose of raising awareness for a cause, childhood obesity including nutrition and of course exercise.

What is the Iron Cowboy doing every day?

He is swimming 2.4 miles either in open water or a pool (dependent on weather and conditions), biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles.  Then it's time to pack up and head to the next state.  To be honest, the exercise is the easy part.  It's the nutrition and recovery that is tricky.

Is 50 Ironmans in 50 days even physically possible?

When he started out, a number of us debated how probable it'd be.  As he went and hit speed bumps along the way, we continued to debate what might befall James.  However, once I met him, I was convinced that this guy could do 300 in a row and keep right on ticking.  Barring any accident or incident out of his control, James has got this thing wrapped up!  At the writing of this, James is on #45 in South Dakota and I am very much looking forward to him finishing.

Why is he doing all of this?

Great question!  I'll let James answer that for himself.

How did you run with the Iron Cowboy?

While in each state, the Iron Cowboy crew is asking local athletes to come out and run a 5k with James.  Heck, they're asking athletes to come out and do just about anything they want with him - come down and do an Ironman if you want!  He'd love the company for sure!  But even for just the 5k, it's a great way to give James something to look forward to every day, an opportunity for some camaraderie, and a way to get his message out.  On July 5th, James was in CT, so a number of triathletes and I from HEAT (our local tri club) headed down to check it out.  Here's my largely pictorial recap of the event.

Driving up to the Iron Cowboy caravan and locale at Swim Seventy in Norwalk, CT.  "There's his RV!"

The Iron Cowboy RV!  This is their home for 50 days.  And there are 4 of I think 7 bikes!

The setup outside of Swim Seventy.  Free bibs to run with and t-shirts, hats, bags for sale.  James' kids were running the majority of the setup.  They've had plenty of practice over the last 30 days!

The required pictures next to the Iron Cowboy RV!  Everyone took turns!

A local tradition of "Guess whose shoe!"

And selfies!

There they come!  James had gone out to get in an hour of his run before we started.  Apparently he was not alone. 

This is what I love about James.  The very first thing he does as he gets to home base is bend over and listens to his son tell him all about his airplane.  His patience is incredible.  Yes, he could be a grouch for 50 days, but instead he has such an appreciation for being able to be out there and do what he's doing along with appreciating what his family is doing in order to support him.  Kudos!

James then addressed the crowd and gave a little speech (inserted at the top) to tell us why he's doing what he's doing.  Then we took a group photo and were off.

And we're off!

No traffic stops for us.  We have to wait at lights!

Made it to a local track to make the rounds.

Running with triathlon history in the making.

James will stop for any opportunity to encourage the kids!

Lots of great photo ops!

Thanks Test Field for the use of your track.

HEAT representing!!

The final stretch before making it back to home base.  Once we got back, there were a lot of pictures!

If you live in a state that James hasn't yet traveled to, or you can make it to one (there were some ladies we met in CT that had traveled from NY to spend the day with James!), I highly encourage it.  It is very low key, but well worth the trip.  As I said before, James has this thing in the bag and it is incredible to see him in action.

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Questions
1.  How many Ironmans do you think you could do in a row?
If you've done one, you know what the morning after feels like.  Doing another is not my first thought!  

2.  If you could do an Ironman in any state (or location for that matter), where would it be?
James said that he gets asked what state he's looking forward to most.  His response was that he loves wherever he is at that moment.  He is incredibly 'In the Moment' and loves every second of this adventure.


DREAM.  BELIEVE.  ACHIEVE. 

Does IRONMAN's new Pilot Transfer Program Stack Up to the Competition?

Ironman announced recently that they are instituting a pilot program for transfers for their North American full iron distance events.  The general overview is below.  You can find the full details HERE. 

"IRONMAN is piloting a new program to give IRONMAN athletes an additional option to the standard refund policy. Instead of taking the standard refund, athletes registered for select North American IRONMAN events now have the option to transfer their entry to another IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 event in North America with general entry slots still available. Athletes may move to a race sooner or later in the calendar year (dependent upon availability) and may move to another IRONMAN event or to an IRONMAN 70.3 event."

The tricky part is that not many people know what the "standard refund policy" is, let alone what the details of this new pilot program means.  I admit I was one of many who initially thought "Hey, cool!  That'll be a nice option."  Unfortunately, as I'm sure we will find out very soon, this program does not change much. 

First, let me go over some basics of this new program.  Keep in mind this does not alter the standard withdrawal policy which I will go over later.

• The pilot program is limited to 140.6 events in North America (excluding Los Cabos & Cozumel)
• You may transfer into another North American 140.6 or a list of eligible North American 70.3s, but there is no program for transferring out of a 70.3 event at this time.
• This program is limited to the year in which your original event is scheduled.
• There is a $50 transfer fee.
• You must pay any difference in entry fees, but do not get a refund for a negative difference.  
• The race you transfer into must have open slots.
• The race you transfer into must have had public registration open for 10 days.  
• It must be at least 45 days prior to the event you are transferring out of AND into.  
• You may only transfer an entry once.  

Kelly, a good friend of mine over at Some Random Thursday, posted a very good analysis HERE of how useful the program might be.

Go read her analysis first. I'll wait.

Done?  Good!

She concluded that if you know early in the year that you will not be able to race, you have an approximate 50% chance of being able to transfer, however that is most likely into a 70.3 event.  If you wait or do not know until late, your chances drop very quickly as many of the desired races, or simply those within traveling distance, sell out. 

In the past, Kelly as well as a number of other friends have all "eaten" the registration and associated fees in the past due to WTC/Ironman's previous policies.  And as we all know Ironman is NOT CHEAP.  While the announcement of the pilot program will undoubtedly be greeted well at first, I think it is safe to say that once you dig into the details, and especially once people begin to use the program, we will find that it falls quite short of expectation.

Breaking away from Kelly's analysis, I want to help shed a light on what this new program does.  Kelly gave us a look at how useful it might be.  I'd like to look at how comparative it is.  How does WTC stack up to other major 140.6/70.3 distance companies?  I am going to compare the WTC's policies to Revolution 3, Challenge, and HITS. 

How does the Ironman Transfer/Withdrawal Policy stack up?

In order to do this systematically, let's review each of the three companies policies.

WTC / Ironman - Transfer Policy &  Withdrawal Policy

• All withdrawals or transfers must be done up to 45 days prior to the event (subject to availability). 
• You may withdraw from any race for a $75 (70.3) or $150 (140.6) refund; roughly a 27-37% or 21-24% refund depending on the event. 
• If it is an eligible North American140.6 event, you may transfer to another eligible North American 140.6 of 70.3 event for a $50 fee + entry fee difference. 

Revolution 3 - Transfer Policy & Defer Policy

• You may transfer your entry to another athlete up to 30 days prior to the event for FREE.
• You may defer your entry up to 60 days prior to the event and receive a 100% credit to the same event for the following year for FREE.
• With a medical reason and doctors note received 30 days prior to the event, you may withdraw your entry for a full refund of your registration fee.

Challenge - Refund Policy

• You may withdraw your entry up to 83 days (3 months, 5 days) prior to the event for a full refund minus a $75 admin fee (87% refund). 

HITS - Refund Policy

• Each athlete is allowed a one time free transfer up to 15 days prior to an event and must be credited to another open HITS race within a 12-month period.

Now that we've got all of the policies laid out, let's go through a scenario.  As we get closer and closer to race day, what are our options depending on which company the race is with?  And how do the companies compare?

4 - 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - $75/150 withdrawal refund or $50+ transfer
Rev3 - Defer to next year, transfer to another athlete, or full refund (Medical)
Challenge - Full refund minus $75 admin fee
HITS - Transfer to another race

2 - 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - $75/150 withdrawal refund or $50+ transfer
Rev3 - Defer to next year, transfer to another athlete, or full refund (Medical)
Challenge - NOTHING
HITS - Transfer to another race

45 - 59 DAYS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - $75/150 withdrawal refund or $50+ transfer
Rev3 - Transfer to another athlete, or full refund (Medical)
Challenge - NOTHING
HITS - Transfer to another race

30 - 44 DAYS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - NOTHING
Rev3 - Transfer to another athlete, or full refund (Medical)
Challenge - NOTHING
HITS - Transfer to another race

15 - 29 DAYS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - NOTHING
Rev3 - NOTHING
Challenge - NOTHING
HITS - Transfer to another race

0 - 14 DAYS PRIOR TO AN EVENT
Ironman - NOTHING
Rev3 - NOTHING
Challenge - NOTHING
HITS - NOTHING

The winner of this little scenario is ultimately up to you.  Your priorities, work schedule, and such may vary greatly from me, but I can't help but rank them for myself.

My order of most athlete-friendly policies...

HITS

Revolution 3

Challenge

WTC / Ironman

With our training volume and hectic lives, something is bound to eventually come up; injury, appointments, kids, family, mechanical breakdown, etc..  As athletes, we want to compete and we hate losing that opportunity, not to mention the money we spent to do it. 

HITS allows you to transfer your entry even 15 days prior to the event, no questions asked, but it's an up-and-coming race series, so not many people are participating.  My two cents is that they put on a great race!

Rev3, a triathlete's household name, restricts you to 30 days prior to the event, but offers a full refund for a medical issue and the option to transfer.  I have personally seen many friends take advantage of the transfer.  That option, however, is dependent on whether you can find someone to transfer to.  Living within 40 minutes of the Rev3 Quassy course, my chances for THAT race are pretty high.

Challenge may have the most time restricted option, but they offer a very sizable refund. 

WTC / Ironman is the ultimate loser in my mind, even despite the new program.  Yes, Ironman gives me roughly 1.5 months of more coverage than Challenge, but offers a significantly lower refund for a withdrawal.  And as Kelly pointed out, the likelihood of being able to find an available race to transfer to that is suitable for travel is low.  Most of us plan our yearly race schedule WELL ahead of time and there isn't a huge amount of room for changes.

What is the take home message?

The new WTC / Ironman pilot program for event transfer may seem useful, but when you get down to it, it A) is not going to be useful for the vast majority of racers and B) does not compare well to the programs offered by other rival companies.

I must say that I commend WTC / Ironman for initiating the program and hope that it will be altered in the years to come in order to be more useful to athletes (namely the ability to transfer to another race WITHIN A 12 MONTH PERIOD).  However, given the stamp that Ironman has made in this sport, I don't presume that this will happen unless given adequate pressure from athletes (aka. people stop signing up and races start dwindling in attendance).  The fact is, Ironman full-distance races sell out more often than not.  One highly probably motivation behind this program is to funnel athletes from the sold out 140.6 races into the 70.3 races that do not sell out.

If you are unable to do a specific full, all the other fulls within traveling distance are sold out, and the withdrawal fee is miniscule, then you will most likely opt for a close by 70.3 event.  Plain and simple.  That is unless you purchased your Allianz insurance.  If you did, then Ironman gets your money anyways!  

So...

What races are you doing this year?

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Questions
1.  Have you ever used one of the withdrawal, transfer, or deferral programs?
I've never needed to use any of these programs.  Until this post, I was unaware of what the details of the various policies were. 

2.  Have you purchased the Allianz Insurance during registration?
I have not yet, but am more intrigued by it now that I have gone through the details and scenarios.  It seems like a very fair offer and quite a useful policy when something comes up. 

3.  What is your take on the new Ironman pilot program for North American full distance transfers?
I think in a few months, once athletes begin to make use of it and the details come to light, it will not seem as useful as it does.  I applaud the initiative, but am highly weary of the motivation behind it. 

4.  Have you chosen a race (or counted one out) based at all on the withdrawal or similar policy?


DREAM.  BELIEVE.  ACHIEVE. 

I am a Two Time Ironman

11:52:53

I SURVIVED.  It wasn't a pretty race.  Some parts were great, some manageable, and others were just horrid.  And of course in hindsight, I'm looking ahead to which race I'll do next year (Boulder has unfortunately sold out), but throughout the race I kept asking myself one question which I never got a full answer to...

"Why do I do this?"

Sometimes you never really know.  ...you just do.

So while I'm in the midst of unpacking (yes, I'm still unpacking my gear), cleaning, getting life back in order, and recovery, I will work on the race report.  Don't you worry, it'll be up!

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Questions
1.  Why do you race? (and what do you race?)
I race to see how much I can do and what I can accomplish.

2.  Let's take bets!  How long until you think I'm back to training?
I give myself two weeks before being back to real training; a week until I'm back to recovery workouts.


Dream.  Believe.  Achieve. 

Ironman SwimSmart Initiative.

The way an Ironman swim is conducted is all about to change.  Andrew Messeck, WTC's CEO, recently described the changes as a way to curb the fear of the athletes.  I, on the other hand, think it comes out of the organizer's fear of having another swim death.  I can think of three incidents in the last year alone.  

Swim Deaths
- IM New York City
- IM South Africa 70.3
- Escape from Alcatraz

And that doesn't even touch on those that happen on the non-international level.  What about the local triathlons that you never hear about? 

There's no two ways about it, statistics show that the swim is the most deadly portion of a triathlon.  Between the adrenaline of race day, the anxiety of the race and the swim conditions, the shock at times of the water temperature, and the fact that more and more non-seasoned athletes are joining the sport causes for an increased risk of incidents in the swim.


WTC, the owner of Ironman, sat down and decided to try out a few new ideas for making the swim portion of their Ironman races more athlete friendly.  They call it the SwimSmart Initiative.   They are unveiling new swim course changes this year for five of their events; Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Lake Placid, Mont-Tremblant, Lake Tahoe, and Florida.  Here's the quick run down of the changes.

General Swim Course Changes

• Buoys will be numbered
• Anchored resting rafts will be strategically placed along the swim course to allow athletes to rest without disqualification

Swim Start Pilots

• Self-seeded, out-of-water, rolling start at Coeur d/Alene & Lake Placid
• Wave start based on age group at Mont-Tremblant
• Self-seeded mass start by corrals at Lake Tahoe & Florida

These changes are meant to be a test, to see what works, what doesn't, and how the athletes like them.  Andrew Messeck says that they'll take the opinions of the athletes (and I have to assume the statistics of how many people get pulled, use the rafts, etc) and make a decision at the end of the season as to how to change the swim more permanently. 

Ironman Mass Start

As a swimmer, I've never really feared the swim.  I've even said that my lack of fear in water is probably unsafe.  However, I will never argue for keeping my preference as a swimmer over the safety of those who are not as strong.  If they come back and say that you can swim with a buoy if you'd like, then I'll start speaking up.  But if you want to stop and rest on a raft, you should be able to.  If you feel safer starting amongst 2-300 people in your general area instead of 1500, then that's a smarter way to race.  Granted, those people should be at the fringe of a mass start to begin with, but again, I'm not going to argue it. 

I do hope that Ironman sees a positive result from the initiative and finds a much more athlete-friendly swim start that will also be accepted by the more competitive members of the group.  My vote is for the wave start.


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Questions
1.  What are your feelings about the swim start?  Does it scare you?  Do you get anxious with all the arms swinging and churning water?  Or is it just another day at the races?
As a swimmer, it's never bothered me.  Sure, I'd like to avoid the smack to the back of the head or the unintentional punch to my back side, but I just swim a little harder and get out of the tangle.

2.  Is anyone participating in one of the above Ironman races?  
I will be at Lake Placid and I know a number of people that will be at Coeur d'Alene and Mont Tremblant.  

3.  What are your thoughts on the SwimSmart Initiative?


Dream.  Believe.  Achieve.  

I Ask Myself, "Self, are you crazy?"

Have you ever had a moment where you step back, have a little out-of-body experience, look at yourself and think "Wow.  I never realized it, but you're a little insane"?

As a person training for an Ironman, I hear that type of response from a lot of people, but I've never really thought it about myself in that respect.  Then recently I joined a team for the NERelay, a 220 mile relay race across New England (Read about it HERE and HERE).  "Ok, maybe I'm getting a bit extreme."  Then I saw something recently that finally tipped the scale to "crazy."

The American Triple T

Has anyone heard of it?  I sure never had before.  I read somewhere (can't remember where) that it was considered a race harder than an Ironman.  Immediately I'm intrigued!!  You can find the official website for the event HERE.  The race is stretched over three days and as many might guess, the "T" stands for :"Triathlon."  The "Triple" to my best guess stands for the fact that there are three types of triathlons involved. 

Day 1:  Afternoon super sprint tri
Day 2:  Morning Olympic tri
Day 2:  Afternoon Olympic tri
Day 3:  Morning Half Ironman

Much like the Goofy Challenge (half marathon Day 1 and full marathon on Day 2), the American Triple T challenges your recovery rate as well as your endurance. 

Now obviously I'm no where near ready to do something like this, but it was immediately added to my bucket list.  I've even started debating if I can feasibly sign up for the North Carolina race in October.  It's at times like these that I realize how much I enjoy really testing my body's limits.  You may think I'm crazy and have the mentality of a 4 year old who thinks he's invincible, but I embrace it!

Questions

1.  Have you ever had a moment where you thought you might just be a little crazy?
I've had plenty and each one brings joy to my heart!  I thrive on my inner child and being the athletically "crazy" person

2.  Does anyone else consider you "crazy"?  If so, do you enjoy it, ignore it, or tone things down because of it?
If I hear "Kurt, you're crazy," I automatically want to do something even bigger.

Stay fit.  Stay healthy. 

Mixed Day

As I mentioned before, I've noticed I've been getting bored lately during the upper body workouts.  So today, instead of doing another upper body workout as planned, I did a mixed legs & arms day, which turned out to be really good.  When I focus on legs or upper body alone, I tend to rationalize taking breaks inbetween exercises.  However, when you alternate exercises, it was quite easy for me to stick to short intervals.

New Exercise(s):
1.  Bicep Bar Curl:  Much like the previously explained "bicep curl," this makes use of free weights loaded onto a bar as opposed to individual free weights in each hand.  Make sure to pause at the bottom of every curl.  Many people speed from the finish of one curl into the start of the next using their hips/core to bounce the bar back up.  This is cheating yourself. 

2.  Vertical Free Calf Ext:  The previously explained "Calf Ext" made use of a machine where you sat with your legs horizontal.  This exercise is "Vertical" because you do it from a standing position and "Free" because it makes use of dumbbell free weights for resistance as opposed to a restricting machine.  Much like the previous version, this still works the gastroc muscle.  The reason I've chosen to replace the calf extension with this version is an attempt to avoid excess stress in my foot/arch.

3.  Tricep Dip:  Starting from a vertical position where you are holding yourself up over the ground, you bend in the arms to allow your body to descent towards the floor.  Before the position of standing on the floor, push back up and return to the starting position.  As the title states, this works the tricep muscle.  


Reps & Weights:
Warm up: Elliptical; 1 mile forward, 0.2 mile backwards, 0.2 mile forward, 0.1 mile backwards (heart rate up to ~155/160)
1.  Bench Press Machine (3 sets of 10/10/6(1) reps with 90, 110, 120(110) lbs)
2.  Leg Press (3 sets of 10 reps with 210/230/250 lbs)
3.  Bicep Bar Curl  (3 sets of 10 with 35/45/45 [assuming bar weight of 25lb])
4.  Leg Curl  (3 sets of 10 with 90 lbs)
5.  Military Press  (3 sets of 10/10/9 with 60 lbs)
6.  Let Extension (3 sets of 10 with 100 lbs)
7.  Pec Fly  (3 sets of 10 with 90/110/130 lbs)
8.  Vertical Free Calf Ext  (3 sets of 40 reps with 60 lbs)
-  Cool-Down:  Treadmill; 0.5 miles at 4.0  (had to do this early to stretch out my calves)
9.  Stretching
10.  Crunch Up  (3 sets of 10/10)
11.  Side Plank Twist  (15 / side)
12.  Vertical Leg Tuck  (3 sets of 12 reps)
13.  Tricep vertical dip  (1 set of 10 reps)

Tomorrow is my day off.  I'll see if I can piece together a decent carbs-to-fat burning metablism piece, but no promisis.  I'm still doign a lof of reading on it. 

Ciao!!

Yoga!!!

Sorry about not posting last night.  It just got too late, so below is both yesterday's workout as well as today's.

YESTERDAY:

This was a day that would be a whole new experience.  I had previously signed up for a yoga class, but still didn't want to give up on my lifting since it wasn't my day off.  So I gambled and did both.  I went to the gym about 3pm and assumed I'd be out, showered, have eaten, and rested by 5:30, ready for my yoga class at 6pm.  Well, it turns out it was 5pm when I left the gym, so I hurried home, munched on some peanuts, changed clothes, and ran over to yoga thinking "Oh God, this is going to be bad!"  It turns out it wasn't as physically bad as I thought it would be.  It was a one hour class offered for free by a med student at school who recently completed her yoga training class and needed to fulfill so many classes before getting a position.  About 40 minutes into the one hour class, I was beginning to feel the burn.  My legs were getting a little shaky and I definitely couldn't hold the positions as well as some of the others.  I'll attribute that to having worked out beforehand.  Overall, though, I enjoyed the class and will definitely go again if it's offered in the future.  If I find a cheap yoga studio or place in the meantime I'll see about doing that too. 

Reps & Weights:
Warm up: Elliptical; 1 mile forward, 0.2 mile backwards, 0.2 mile forward, 0.1 mile backwards (heart rate up to ~155/160)
1.  Bench Press Machine (3 sets of 10/10/7 reps with 90, 110, 120 lbs)
2.  Leg Press (3 sets of 10 reps with 170/210/230 lbs)
3.  Sitting Leg Curl (3 sets of 10 reps with 90 lbs)
4.  Sitting Leg Extension (3 sets of 10 reps with 90 lbs)
5.  Sitting Calf Extentsion (3 sets of 40,40,30 reps with 80 lbs)
6.  Pectoral Fly Machine (3 sets of 10,10,8 reps with 100,120,140 lbs)
7.  Back Leg Extension (3 sets of 10 reps with 90,110,130 lbs)
8.  Adductor (3 sets of 10 reps with 150 lbs)
9.  Abductor (3 sets of 10 reps with 95,95,85 lbs)

** Stretching **

10. Crunch Ups (4 sets of 10 sit-ups and 10 crunches)
11. Side Plank Twists (15 reps on each side)
12. Military Press (3 sets of 10,10,9 reps with 60 lbs)
- Cool Down:  Treadmill; 1.0 mile run, 0.5 mile walk
- Yoga: 1 hour


THEN TODAY

Today I woke up and definitely felt some tension/soreness in my legs, which I didn't feel last night.  The lifting and yoga certainly did a good job of working my legs out!  Today thankfully was an upper body day, so my legs got a bit of a rest in that respect.

Reps & Weights:
Warm up: Elliptical; 1 mile forward, 0.2 mile backwards, 0.2 mile forward, 0.1 mile backwards (heart rate up to ~155/160)
1.  Dumbbell Press (10,10,9 reps with 55 lbs/arm)
2.  Bicep Curls (10/5&5/5(5) reps with 30,30,30(25) lbs)
.....** Repeat 1 & 2 for a full three sets

3.  Gravity Rower (10 reps with 50 lbs)
4.  Horizontal Overhead Lat (10 reps with 40 lbs)
5.  Trecip Bench Dips (30 reps)
.....** Repeat 3-5 for a full three sets

6.  Pull-Down Triceps (3 sets of 10,10,6 reps with 60 lbs)
7.  Vertical Overhead Lats (3 sets of 9,10,10 reps with 60,50,50 lbs)

**Stretching**

8.  Crunch Ups (4 sets of 10 situps & 10 crunches)
9.  Side Turns (16 reps)
10. Military Press (3 sets of 10,9,5 with 62.5 lbs)
11. Pectoral Fly (3 sets of 10 reps with 90, 110, 130 lbs)
Cool Down:  Treadmill; 1.0 mile run, 0.5 mile walk

I've been happy to add the treadmill into my workouts.  It's the first step to getting back out onto the road.  I won't push it any further than the warm up or cool down for now, but when I feel comfortable with it, I'll get on the road and start testing it out a mile at a time.  I haven't decided what to do for shoes just yet (go with a new pair of running shoes or dive into the Vibram Five Fingers), but I should at least go check out some shoes here soon since I've already stepped up onto the treadmill. 

I've also been doing some reading on how to transfer your metabolism from a high to low carb-to-fat ratio (teaching your body to prefer burning fat over carbs).  I got the idea from a video I watched from Tim Van'Orden, the guy that runs RunningRaw.com.  The benefit to this option is that while fat offers less energy punch per unit, it is essentially unlimited.  You could run for days on the fat on your body if your body is ready to burn it.  On the other hand, most people will "bonk" after 2 hours of carb burning because that's about as long as the reserves in your body last.  So naturally, as many of you would notice for yourself, switching over to fat burning is really only advantageous for endurance athletes; people who train or race for over two hours).  While it would make no sense for me to switch for the spring triathlons, it will certainly help for the marathon and half Ironman races next year.  I'm going to keep looking into it and hopefully come next spring start working on it in preparation for those races.  I must admit, it's fun learning how your body works and how to manipulate it to perfect what it is you want to do.  I'll keep you posted on what I find. 

Tomorrow will most likely be a mixed lifting day.  I got bored again today with the upper body workout, so I know I shouldn't do that one again.  Based on that fact alone, I may take it as a sign to take some time off of the upper body lifting focus; it's not like I really want to add bulk anyways.  We'll see.

Ciao!

Gym, Gym, Gyree!!

Back to the gym today.  My muscles felt great and I even went ahead an upped a couple weights.  My goal is to essentially keep in the gym while my feet are healing and avoid hurting myself.  One of the things I have to do in order to keep up with the latter is keep from upping weights too fast.  I'm not looking to put on 20lbs of muscle or look like a body builder.  I just want to increase my upper body endurance, maybe build a little muscle over time, but mainly keep my body used to the workout schedule.


New Exercise(s):
1.  Military Press:  This works much like a bench press where you are moving weights up and down vertically, but instead of your body at a horizontal position 90 degrees to the movement of the weights, a military press has you sitting vertically.  The weights begin at or just above shoulder height and move up over your head.  The change of body position switches the muscle target from your pectorals to your shoulders.  Be sure to keep your back straight while doing this exercise or it will become an incline bench press and the muscle target will shift to include upper pectorals.

Reps & Weights:
Warm up: 1 mile forward and 0.5 mile backwards on an elliptical (heart rate up to ~155/160)
1.  Dumbbell Press (10,10,10 reps with 50lbs/arm)
2.  Bicep Curls (10 reps with 30lbs)
.....** Repeat 1 & 2 for a full three sets

3.  Gravity Rower (10 reps with 45lbs)
4.  Horizontal Overhead Lat (10 reps with 40, 40, 45lbs)
5.  Trecip Bench Dips (30 reps)
.....** Repeat 3-5 for a full three sets

6.  Pull-Down Triceps (3 sets of 10 reps with 50, 60, 60lbs)
7.  Vertical Overhead Lats (3 sets of 10,10,9 reps with 60lbs)

8.  Crunch Ups (3 sets of 10 situps & 10 crunches)
9.  Side Turns (10 reps)
10. Pectoral Fly (3 sets of 10,10,6 reps with increasing weight [90, 110, 130 lbs])

Two things I noticed today.  First, as mentioned above, I was able to do a bit more in weights/reps which would be expected after a day off.  Second, my body didn't seem to tire as much throughout the workout.  Usually I get a dull pain in my pecs early on, then a tension in my forearms, my triceps begin to burn, and all of that carries on to a degree throughout the workout.  Today they all seemed to fade away after a few minutes.  That means one (or both) of two things (at my current understanding).  Either I should have increased the weights/reps more or my upper body is already getting used to the intensity of the workout and is recovering faster.  I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow morning and go from there.