Triathlon Training Log

Feeding Our Eyes!

We feed our hunger, our appetite and most of us feed our cravings, at least once in awhile. But how often do we feed ourselves to nourish and protect? Okay, in other words, how many times during this week, did we consider how our food choices are connected to the function, appearance and health of our body? Today, let's discuss "Feeding Our Eyes"

Bear Beware: In search of the Perfect Triathlon Bike(Part 1)

So I’m standing at the cash register the other day waiting to pay for my new bike when this short guy (wider than taller) gets off the same bike I’m about to buy (in a smaller size) and says I’ll take it. He had just spent a grand total of about 22 seconds test riding the bike. I had just spent three months of pain-staking work visiting every bike shop in Boulder and Denver plus countless hours on Google researching the perfect triathlon bike

Let's Gear Up!

Let's gear up for exercise, that is! It's almost fall, we're back to our routines, and we've got a bit of time before those eating holidays come around. Whether we continue to exercise outdoors or bring it into the gym, let's gear up, get the habit going again, and let's do it for our waistline and our health. How? Let's turn our attention to the pro's for a moment. Ever become mesmerized watching athletes perform? Ever wonder how athletes can train so hard for so many hours, or perform under such extreme pressure? Well, there are many variables to this of course, but let's start with a little Sports Psychology to gear us up!

Flexibility and Running - Misunderstanding and Falseness

Mr. Mick Wilkinson and Mr. Alun Williams’ article advocates the inverse relationship between flexibility and running economy. In layman terms, it means that we don’t need flexibility in running and even more, it is bad to have good flexibility. They support their conclusion with some research data suggesting that inflexibility of the ankle in dorsiflexion could reduce energy expenditure by enhancing of elastic energy storage and return in the Achilles tendon and calf muscles.

10 Steps to Improving Your Triathlon Swim

As technical as the sport of swimming can be, it is tough to narrow down the answer to the often-asked question, “what should I concentrate on?” So, I came up with a “top ten” list of steps to improving your swim for a triathlon. These aren’t necessarily in any order, but should go a long way in helping you achieve your goals, whether you are a beginner or trying to go pro.

Holiday Stress!

We can't eliminate stress from our lives and certainly the holiday season brings its own brand, even though the holidays are supposed to be joyous. Stress can negatively affect every aspect of our daily lives including  sleep, our moods, our ability to concentrate, and it can even make us more susceptible to catching a cold. Sometimes we may not even realize how stressed we are! So, do any of these common holiday stressors sound familiar?

O que é Fadiga Muscular ?

Nos últimos anos, o treinamento de um atleta de alto rendimento ganhou mais um aliado para a melhora de sua performance. A fisioterapia iniciou dentro do esporte com o objetivo de tratar lesões adquiridas pelos atletas durante os treinamentos e competições. Porém, com o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas e protocolos, a fisioterapia passou a ter um papel fundamental na prevenção dessas lesões. De acordo com a minha experiência na clínica Dr. Fisio com atletas de diferentes modalidades, a RPG (Reeducação Postural Global)

The A,B,C's of Planning Your Race Season

If you are a recreational athlete and your goal is simply to complete your events, then you only need to train one aspect of fitness; endurance. This entails planning enough time to slowly build your mileage to within about 10-15% of the distance of your goal race. Note that many overuse injuries are caused by too much mileage too quickly. Do not increase your duration more than 10% per week and take at least every fourth week as a rest and recovery week.

Maintaining Peak Performance in the Heat

As the triathlon season enters full bloom in the heat of the summer, many athletes will suffer the performance detriments associated with dehydration which makes determination of fluid and electrolyte needs an important part of your triathlon training program. In this article, I explore water’s role in human performance and also explain how you can maintain peak performance as the thermometer rises

Determining the Correct Bicycle Size

There is one type of bicycle that is extremely hard to fit-- a bicycle that is the wrong size for the athlete. I sometimes have cyclists coming from out of state for a bike fitting so I like to do my homework before they make the trip. This means ensuring they are on the correct frame size and it can be a little tricky. Stand-over height used to be a good method of frame sizing for a traditional diamond bike frame. About 0-1 inches of clearance between the top tube and crotch (bare foot) was a decent way to determine if the bike was the correct size.

Adjust Your Diet Daily For Weight Maintenance

We are all creatures of routine and our diets are no exception. Time-strapped athletes tend to gravitate towards the same foods and supplements that allow them to fuel their bodies quickly and effectively. But a proper training plan requires changes in training intensities and durations throughout the day, week, and season. This means variance correspondingly in energy expenditure daily, weekly, and seasonally. Nutrition periodization is a hot topic right now. The essence of this plan is to match your diet to the specific requirements of the training phase you are in on the macro level.

Swimming and Shoulder Injuries

Most sports come with injuries to accompany them. Although swimming is, by most standards, not a sport associated with high risk of injury, it does have it’s own problems. By far the biggest source of sidelining swimming injuries is the shoulder. I was a competitive swimmer for 14 years, sometimes doing double workouts and 15,000 meters per day. I swam mostly freestyle and backstroke. I never had a shoulder problem until my college years.

Multi-Sport Race Tactics

For the most part, multi-sport racing requires a steady, consistent pace from start to finish. Multi-sport racing is a balance between energy conservation and expenditure. With the exception of draft legal events, opponent strategy and tactics are largely not a consideration, whereas individual pacing is. There are, however, instances where tactics and strategy can help you defeat an opponent in a close race. First, you should be in contention for an age group of overall placement. Never waste time attacking an athlete that is not in your category. Secondly, the opponent must be within your performance grasp.

Core Strengthening Exercises for Triathlon

I’ve been speaking with some of the local pro triathletes here in Boulder, the Mecca of triathlon, and asking them about what’s the secret to their speed. I thought they’d say things like speed workouts, great nutrition, mental stamina or EPO (just kidding guys and gals). It turns out that they all rave about core strength…especially during base training.

Getting in Shape: Stretching is for Everyday!

Stretching is a vital component to an ironman, triathlon, exercise program and it is a component of fitness. Research reports that regular stretching may be more effective in preventing injuries than occasional stretching and a review of 7 out of 9 studies indicates that regular stretching improves sports performance.

Stay Motivated !

Stay motivated to exercise, that is! It's a new year and the gyms are crowded. But will they stay crowded? Why do some of us exercise all year long and why do some of us lose our motivation? I believe that there is no secret or magic will power but just habit and a few tools that help to keep us going. So, whether we've just started to exercise or we want to exercise more, here are some tools to help us to "just do it" as the popular ad states.

Planning a Week

Winter time is a time for most of us to start getting back into shape and getting our fitness revved up again for the season ahead. It’s very early in the training cycle and you are months away from your biggest race of the year. This time of year many athletes plan a schedule that is usually too intense with too much volume. Instead of getting fit, many athletes end up with inconsistent weeks and missing many workouts. What they should be doing is trying to maintain consistent week after week of training.

Make Running Injuries a Thing of the Past

Running injuries are not inevitable, as so many people believe them to be. The idea that running causes injury is a myth that I want to put to sleep – forever. Runner’s knee, shin splints, IT band syndrome, plantar faciitus – all the dreaded sideliners that put so many runners off their stride are, in most cases, preventable.

Our Top Ten (Helping Weight Loss)

Yes it's a new year, and we all want to be thinner, more fit, and healthier. One concrete step we can take is to eat foods that offer us the most overall benefit to accomplish our goals (notice, we're talking about what we can add to our diet, not take away!). So, this week's tip is a list of Our Top Ten favorite foods that is, which are healthy, contribute to disease prevention, aid our weight management efforts, and are delicious especially if we use some creativity!

Anabolizantes están ganando la guerra

La creatina, a pesar de necesitar de más estudios, es el más promisorio entre los suplementos, existiendo un cierto consenso entre los investigadores en lo que se refiere a las posibilidades de auxiliar en la hipertrofia muscular, aumento de la fuerza y capacidad anaeróbia en los ejercicios de alta intensidad. Sólo no está totalmente aprobada por existir todavía sospechas de efectos adversos tales como la retención hídrica y problemas asociados. Por eso, suplementos deben ser prescritos por nutricionistas o médicos especialistas.

Taming Our Appetite!

"Labor Day" is almost upon us and most of us will look forward to our last official Summer barbeque with lots of food. Since many of us are still concerned about overeating (even though we can pack away the bathing suits) while we want to enjoy ourselves, let's look at a few tools that might help us to tame our appetite. After all, there's always a holiday, event, and celebration we can overeat at!

Saiba como a RPG pode previnir lesões durante seus treinos

Nos últimos anos, o treinamento de um atleta de alto rendimento ganhou mais um aliado para a melhora de sua performance. A fisioterapia iniciou dentro do esporte com o objetivo de tratar lesões adquiridas pelos atletas durante os treinamentos e competições. Porém, com o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas e protocolos, a fisioterapia passou a ter um papel fundamental na prevenção dessas lesões. De acordo com a minha experiência na clínica Dr. Fisio com atletas de diferentes modalidades, a RPG (Reeducação Postural Global)

Staying Hydrated

Imagine the beautiful desert sun beating down your neck as you begin your training. In a rush, you have forgotten your camelback full of sports drink. As you continue, you start to notice a muscle cramp developing in your calf which soon turns into an annoying muscle twitch. At last, a water fountain arrives. You take a few sips and continue on. Unfortunately, the unpleasant cramp returns and suddenly, your breathing starts to act up almost as if you are having an asthma attack. Even though that potent sun continues to beat down your neck, you start to get the chills

Top Five Nutrition Strategies for Speeding Recovery Post-Wor

As you fight for survival on your last interval or final mile of long marathon training run, you may wonder if your body will ever fully recover from the beating of the workout. While muscular fatigue is inenvitable after an intense workout (this is why recovery training days are so important), the following five nutritional strategies will help rejuvenate your muscles, preparing them for peak performance at your next workout

El Entrenamiento de Altitud

En las competencias Internacionales, un asunto que siempre sale a relucir es el relacionado al entrenamiento de altitud, sin embargo cercado todavía de muchas dudas, discusiones y evoluciones. En las pruebas de resistencia, como maratón y triatlón, cuando el organismo utiliza la capa de lípidos como una de las fuentes de combustible, ellas tienen la ventaja. La cadera más ancha y los fémures convergentes las ayudan a dislocar, de forma más eficiente, su centro de gravedad.