Posts from — March 2009

See this article re: the risks of triathlon.  It just emphasis how important a good training program is.  This is why you are all in great shape/ or will be after the 8-week program!

http://www.myembarq.com/news/read. php?rip_id=%3CD9775UKO0%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=10 11&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL1_UNEWS

OK, so did you guys see the snow swall this afternoon- what’s up with that!?!?!?  I digress…

Today I did my second outside ride of the season ( the first was an 11 mile ride 3 days ago).  I rode 30 miles at a pretty slow pace, but did do some pick ups between stops.  I then ran 2 miles immediately after the ride.  All in all I’d have to say it went pretty well.  I think the trainer work was good.  I felt stronger than I did at the start of last year, so that is good.

It was pretty cold though.  I was chilled to the bone.  It seemed like it was warm when we started.  The sun was out it was quite lovely.  Then the wind picked up and the sun went behind the clouds and it got pretty cold, especially when we had to stop and wait for a few minutes.  The run was no problem, my legs felt fine. Despite the cold, I thoroughly enjoyed being outside for my ride.

I know I should say this as a coach but, we’re human too   I don’t know how I will get back on that trainer again if the weather doesn’t warm up again.  Although, I am training for RI 70.3, my main objective is doing training rides and runs for other people this year.  So I don’t really care what pace I’m riding and running at– and I love this feeling.  I just needed a year not to be so hung up on HR, timing, miles, food, nutrition, etc… Last year was so scheduled, it feels good to be lacksidasical!

So I did my first swim race yesterday as part of a relay at the Multisport expo.  What a trip.  I was soooooooo nervous.  I’ve never done a swim race and we had to dive off of the blocks- and I was trying to do flip turns- both things I started doing in practice over the past 6-8 weeks to try to get ready for this race.

The relays were 4×400.  I placed myself 2nd so I would be in one of the slower spots.  I’ve never swam so hard in my life. It was pretty funny.  I made all of the flip turns except for 2 – one where I misjudged the wall and was too close, and the other where I could not see what lap I was on so I had to kind of slow to a stop, look up and find the number– I was thrilled to see the bright orange blocks indicating that I was on my last lap.

In any event, it was very fun and I would definitely do it again next year. It is very different then when you swim in practice.  I just swam the 400 and felt like I had worked out HARD for an hour.  It was pretty funny.

Here is the info on the tri camp.  Contact Diane if you have any questions.  If you are ready to register, email Diane at dstokes@fitbricks.com for the registration form.

The camp is a series of four 3 hour session held from 9am to 3pm on the following days:

Friday July 10- Run Clinic-at 135 Field in Northboro- Cost $49

Friday July 17- Bike Clinic- at 135 Field in Northboro- Cost $49

Friday July 24- Swim Clinic- at Lake Chauncey in Westboro- Cost $59*

Friday Aug 21- Transitions and Mini Tri-at Lake Chauncey in Westboro- Cost $59*

*The additional cost is due to extra lifeguards, supervision and entrance fee for the swims.

Contact Diane for the registration form at dstokes@fitbricks.com

For those of you training for a 1/2 marathon or longer run should keep in mind that you should take in 30-60g of carbs on your run- depending on your weight.

This can be done in a number of ways, mostly depending on how your stomach absorbs nutrition.  Below are some suggestions with their carb numbers.  Trial and error is the name of the game!

Another great article on run form to help reinforce the basics.

Running Form: How Should You Run?

Coach Mark writes: A key component to successful distance running is efficiency or economy of movement. It is common to focus on training the heart, lungs and legs when preparing for an event but training form is less common.

Recently I was able watch some of the athletes I train complete the run portion of a Half Ironman Triathlon event and between the wind gusts, showers and hail, I had a chance to assess their run form. The athletes have all had plenty of swim technique training, in most cases bike technique training but only a handful had had any run technique training. Those that had, really stood out and in some cases their run times were very close to their run times in a straight Half Marathon which they completed a few months earlier. An increased level of fitness would account for some of this but also knowing how to run efficiently made a huge difference. The outcome of this observation was a Sunday afternoon technique and drill session for some of the athletes down at the local park.

Good running form involves a mix of your body movements so that you move with optimal mechanical efficiency. Good form can decrease discomfort when you run, help prevent injury, increase speed as well as lower the energy output at a given speed. Below are the main points I look at when assessing an athletes form and the advice I give them.

Head

Your head should remain in a neutral position on your shoulders. Keep your head tilted down slightly but avoid looking down at too much of an angle. Look forward at the ground in front of you, about 3-5 metres ahead, and concentrate on trying to run in a straight line. Your neck, jaw and face muscles should be relaxed. Try to feel your cheeks bouncing with each stride. When turning to the side, try to do this movement mostly from the neck to avoid twisting your body and making you unstable.

Shoulders

Your shoulders should also be very relaxed and loose to allow for a greater freedom of motion. Think of “running proud” with your shoulders back and square, but don’t try to actually pull them back as this would create muscle tension and is a waste of energy. “Hunching” or rounding your shoulders tends to restrict the breathing passage, allowing less oxygen to get to the working muscles.

Arms

Any excessive side-to-side motion, or swinging across your body is a waste of energy. Try to think of everything moving in a straight line and in one direction: forwards. Your arm movement should not cause your torso to rotate.

Keep your elbows in and held low. As you run, swing your arms in a relaxed manner, elbow angle will range from slightly less than 90° at its forward most point, to 90° as it passes the side of the body, to slightly more than 90° as it swings behind the body. The elbows effectively make a “smiley face” beside your rib cage when running. The faster you go, the larger the smile.

When running it can be beneficial to drop your arms and shake them from time to time to release any build up of muscle tension.

Hands

Your thumbs should gently touch the top half of your index fingers with your hands gently cupped. If you clench your hands together too tightly it could cause tightness in your arms.

Try and keep your wrists from moving throughout the arm swing. This prevents your hand from flicking when your arm swings backwards or from performing a pot stirring action when it swings forwards.

Don’t let your hands cross over the middle of your chest. Imagine a line drawn down your body separating you in half vertically. Your hands should not cross that line.

Torso

Bend slightly forward from the waist to create a bit of a forward lean. If you lean back, it creates pulling from the hips and is inefficient. Minimal rotation of the upper body is the goal, so a strong core is necessary.

Hips

This is the home of your centre of gravity. Try to run with your hips forward. They should be in line with your head and shoulders. Pretend as if you have a rope tied around your waist and someone is pulling you forward with it. Running with your hips too far back, as if you are sitting in a bucket, will decrease your stride length.

Knees

The knees do not have to come up very high for long distance runners. Much like the arm swing, the further you are running, and the slower you are running, the less knee lift you will need (Unless you are faced with a steep hill!).

A high knee lift increases vertical oscillation, or the amount we lift our centre of gravity up and down each step. This expends more energy than if we keep our centre of gravity moving forwards without any upward or downward movement.

Feet

Your body’s centre of gravity is in your midsection. Any force that is applied to the ground in front of this centre of gravity acts as a braking force to your forward movement. Imagine a runner with an exaggerated running stride. Every time they plant their heel in front of their body, they apply a braking force, slowing them down. In addition, before they are able to apply force to the ground and move their body forward for the next stride, they must wait until their body has moved directly over their foot. If you look at the form of most good runners, you will see that their feet strike the ground directly beneath their body.

Good long distance runners usually contact with the mid-foot. Slower runners contact between the mid-foot and the heel, faster runners a bit further forward. Contact on the mid-foot allows for better shock absorption, less stress on the calf muscle and Achilles tendon, and better rolling forward onto the next stride.

Try to run straight; land with your foot pointing forward. Running straight reduces the rotation or twisting of the ankles and knees, which helps to prevent a shortening of stride due to the turning of the foot. Keep the feet and legs moving directly forward, with minimal twisting motion. For feedback on your ability to run straight, or whether you have a straight foot-plant, run on a beach or on concrete with the wet soles. Your footprints should be straight and nearly in line with each other.

So to sum up, when running, stay relaxed, and try and make all movements cause you to move in one direction. Get feedback on your current form from training partners, a knowledgeable coach, a video or even a mirror and use this feedback to learn to run more efficiently. It could be a case of making significant performance gains for very little energy.

originally published October 2005

Great article to reinforce the basics on training.

How to Train Smarter and Run Faster

When you set yourself a goal to complete a particular event or do a particular time for a given distance, it is not just about getting yourself to peak physical fitness to compete in the event. There is another side to completing your goal.

Have you ever watched somebody doing a race? I have seen so many people miss their time goal because of poor pacing; aiming to break 25 minutes for 5km for example, by doing the first kilometer in 4:30, and then quickly fading because they spend their energy too early.

Then there are injuries. Injuries don’t just happen. They are generally a result of poor training technique or lack of recovery, stability and flexibility.

This article will hopefully give a head start to all beginning runners, and even answer some of those mysteries for the so called experienced runner.

Basic Training Principles
General coaching or training principles are divided into 5 basic rules. While these rules do not provide all the answers, they do provide a solid base
knowledge that will help all runners when applied correctly.

Principle of Overload – for any training adaptation to occur, the body must be stressed in some way. If you are just starting out running, then obviously you will need to overload your body by running in order to get better. If you are an experienced runner, you will need to do training periods that overload you by manipulating volume or intensity, if you are to improve. As a beginner runner you do not want to have excessive overload. As a general rule of thumb, don’t increase weekly training volume by more than 10% from one week to the next. The best method is to gradually apply overload by increasing training volume by 5-10% per week.

Principle of Reversibility – this is plain and simple. If you stop
training, then detraining (a decrease in fitness) will occur. This means that during a training period overload is required to improve fitness; maintenance training is required to hold current fitness levels; and a lack of training will result in a decreased performance. This does not mean that rest periods aren’t important – they are. You still need to allocate periods to have a break from training- this is important to allow both psychological and physical recovery. It is recommended that you have a full break from training for 2-4 weeks after a major competition or a long period of training. The good thing is that after your break you will get back to your previous fitness levels faster than it took you to get there originally.

Principle of Specificity – if you do not run, you will not become a better runner. Your training has to be specific to the demands of what you are trying to achieve. The best method of improving your running fitness is to run. There can definitely be value in cross training, but the majority of your training time should be spent on your principle sport, and if this is running, then run. The principle of specificity also refers to the energy system (or intensity) used during competition. For example, if you are training for a shorter event, you will need to do more intense training than if you are training for a marathon, for which longer endurance training is required.

Principle of Recovery – you need to allow recovery time so that your body can adapt to the training you have undertaken. If you train too much and recover too little, you will become run down and fatigued. Performance will deteriorate, not improve. This principle works in conjunction with the principle of overload. To get optimal results you will need to overload and recover. This needs to occur on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cycle. It is important to design your training to accommodate these important aspects of training. So try having at least 2-3 easy days per week, and a minimum of 1 easy week per month.

Principle of Individuality – perhaps the most important principle to remember, and the one that is most often overlooked. Have you ever wondered, if I did Steve Moneghetti’s training program, would I run like him? Well unfortunately not. The principle of individuality is the same reason why you and your training partner perform differently despite doing the same training program. Everybody adapts and responds to training differently; recovers at a different rate; experiences different work and family commitments; responds to environmental conditions differently; and the list goes on. Basically, you are an individual, and need to customise your training to suit you and your commitments.

Warming Up and Cooling Down
Preparing yourself adequately for training or racing is important if you wishto achieve your best performance and prevent injury. An adequate warm-up will increase heart rate, body temperature, blood flow, loosen up muscles, allow greater muscle contraction, greater economy of movement, and ready your aerobic energy system for further activity. This is just a few of the physiological benefits of warming up, there is also the psychological aspect of preparing yourself for the training session ahead.

A warm-up should be undertaken prior to any long, or intense training session. If you are just going for a short easy jog, then the warm-up is probably not required as the whole session is of low intensity.

A warm-up should begin with at least 5 minutes of light and easy jogging.

Some drills should then be completed to take your legs through a greater range of motion (dynamic stretching). Static stretching is not ideal during the warm-up but if you feel more comfortable doing a bit of stretching in the warm-up then after a period of easy jogging would be best. You should then complete a couple more minutes of easy jogging before doing a few short surges with an easy jog between each. All in all, the warm-up should take 10-20 minutes depending on your training background. If you are just starting running, then don’t do any more than 10 minutes, otherwise you may be too fatigued before the session actually starts.

Just as a warm-up is essential prior to a running session, a cool down is important at the end of a session to ensure recovery from the session. A light active cool down such as 10 minutes of easy jogging/walking will facilitate blood flow- preventing blood pooling, and flushing elevated levels of catecholamines and lactic acid, etc, allowing for improved recovery. The cool down should then be completed by having 10-20 minutes of static stretching. This helps to prevent muscle soreness, as well as aiding in improved flexibility.

Pacing
Pacing and the judging of running intensity is one aspect of running that takes a lot of time, practice and thinking. It is important to be able to associate your perception of intensity with a pace- ensuring that you don’t go out to hard, or too easy during intervals or a race. The difficult aspect of this is that as you get fitter, you will be able to run quicker at a given intensity, and essentially this is why it is so important to get a feel and understanding of the intensities you are running. This requires thought and association.

You need to think about how long you would be able to hold a given intensity, what sort of distance you could hold this for, to what extent you are fatiguing while running at this intensity. Then you need to associate this understanding of intensity with running speed. The reason for this is that at the start of a race you will generally be feeling fresh and ready to go.

Therefore it is easy to get carried away early and run faster than you should because it feels easy initially. However, this will catch up with you at some stage of the race, and the small amount of time that you save by going out too hard can quickly be lost when you start to struggle towards the end of the race.

The best race tactics for most sub-elite runners is to attempt to maintain a steady state, even pace throughout the event. While elite runners are racing to win, and thus surging and recovering, this will just cause excessive fatigue for the sub-elite runner trying to run their best time.

Recovery
As the principle of recovery highlights, recovery is as important as actually training in the overall enhancement of performance. Recovery can be either active or passive. Passive recovery is the type of recovery most people are happy to do; sleeping, resting, and general lounging around. However it is active recovery that really enhances the recovery process. Examples of active recover include stretching, massage, completing hot/cold water submersion, re-hydrating and replenishing glycogen stores. These activities should be undertaken during periods of heavy training to enhance recovery.

This will lead to a greater training response, and better preparation for the next training session.

Tapering
Tapering is the period of training before an important race, during which training is backed off allowing you to be in peak shape on race day. It is the icing on top of the hard training cake. It can often make or break a good performance.

Some simple rules to follow when tapering include:
· maintaining training intensity but reducing volume during the taper period so that you stay sharp, but freshen up
· there should be a gradual linear reduction in training load
· the duration of the taper is greater for those who are:
· training for a longer event;
· have less of a training background;
· have been doing a higher volume of training.

Although you have these general rules to follow when undertaking your taper, it is important to find the type of taper that suits you best. This often involves a lot of trial and error. So when something doesn’t work, refine and try again. Tapering will allow you to go into a race with no muscular fatigue, while being fresh and sharp.

Flexibility Training
Flexibility training or stretching is something that is generally overlooked by runners until they become injured, and stretching is recommended as one of the methods to overcome the injury and prevent future problems.

The truth is that stretching should be used an injury prevention tool, not as a means of cure and rehabilitation. Being proactive is always better than being reactive.

So what is the benefit of being more flexible? Well to mention just a few, improved flexibility will potentially reduce muscular fatigue, make movement more efficient, and economical, and reduce injury.
The best way to introduce flexibility training into your program is to firstly make it an essential part of weekly training, just like your running sessions are. By setting at least 3 twenty minute periods aside each week, as well as stretching after each running session, you will give yourself the best long term chance of improving flexibility. As with any form of training, it takes a while to see the improvements, so it is a matter of being patient. During each session complete at least 3 sets of each stretch on each side of the body, and include a wide range of stretches.

As muscular tightness varies between individuals, it is important that you try a wide range of stretches in order to find those stretches that give you the best stretch and the most benefit.

Some recommended areas to focus on include:
· hamstring
· ITB
· Calves (gastroc and soleus)
· Lower back
· Hip flexor
· Quadriceps
· Glutes

Hopefully by using this information to guide you through your running, you will have a more successful and enjoyable experience. The information provided is only a summary of some key issues, and will need to be adapted or further investigated on a case by case basis.

Originally published May 2003

Marie and I are certified Pink Ribbons Pilates and yoga instructors. See below for information on the program.  Stay tuned for more information  on when and where group sessions will be held.  We are available for private sessions as well.  Email me to join my Pink Ribbon mailing list  at dstokes@fitbricks.com.

Restore your inner and outer strength by doing Yoga and Pilates specifically designed for breast cancer patients and survivors.

The Pink Ribbon Program offering strength, self-esteem and quality of life to breast cancer survivors. Exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing after breast cancer surgery. You’re probably exhausted, your arm may be painful and swollen, and the adjuvant treatments can make you feel even worse. All you want to do is rest. In the past, that’s exactly what doctors recommended. However, recent studies indicate a link between moderate physical exercise and improved quality of life for breast cancer survivors.

Dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle and positive body image to all breast cancer survivors, the Pink Ribbon Program will help stretch and strengthen the shoulder, chest, back, and abdominal muscles, allowing women to regain full range of motion to those areas affected by breast cancer surgery. This program is suitable whether your surgery was recent or several years ago and accommodates all fitness levels.

BENEFITS OF THE PINK RIBBON PROGRAM

- Improves self confidence and control
- Helps regain strength and mobility in affected shoulder and arm
- Enhances energy levels and helps to control weight
- Improves sleep and alleviates fatigue
- Decreases stress and tension
- Enhances physical and mental well-being

www.pinkribbonprogram.com

Did you sign up for the Danskin/SheRox triathlon or the Max Performance sprint distance triathlon and don’t know where to begin?  Or, are you a seasoned athlete that needs a good 8-week training program and you want to train with other women?

If so, I am conducting an 8-week training program beginning the first week in June that will get you ready to go.  Last year I had over 30 women train in this group ranging from absolute beginners to experienced triathletes.  The kickoff meeting is May 16th.  Register now for the early bird special!

Regardless of where you are starting from, you will have fun with this group.  A lot of great friendships came out of this experience.

Click here to learn more and register for this program. Or email me at dstokes@fitbricks.com if you have any questions.   I hope to see you out there!

Don’t forget to register before April 30th for the early bird special.

http://www.heartzonescoaching.com/group-training-programs/diane-stokes/