A Few Things I’ve Learned Along the Way:

It all started sometime in 2005-2006 with a 9 mile run, in an old pair of New Balance, wearing an old college sweatshirt and carrying a yellow Sony Walkman.  My first real, outdoor run.  Up until then I had been running on the treadmill, working my way up from 5 minutes of running to well over an hour.  I don’t remember much about that first run, other than it was the most fun I’d had in a long time, and I couldn’t wait for more.  Many marathons and triathlons later, its 2012 and aside from proper shoes, gear, and form technique, there are few things I’ve learned along the way.

1)      Pay attention to imbalances.  Yes, there will be days when you are sore, or tired.  But if something is really nagging at you, continually over time, seek advice.  Its possible to train for months or even years with little nagging sore spots.  However, the likelihood that catching up to you someday is very real.  Notice your tendencies.  Do you get tight calves or a tight Achilles after speedwork, long runs, or races?  Ice, stretch, foam roll and strengthen now, consistently, to avoid it turning into something bigger, like plantar fasciitis.  Some knee pain here and there?  Roll you IT band and strengthen your quads now to avoid possible problems (such as torn meniscus or Runner’s Knee) later on.  Log everything.  Be diligent about proper form.  Work with your closely with your coach, who can assign specific stretching and strengthening exercises to get over any little aches and pains now and you will avoid heartache later on. 

2)       Training is not the time to “diet.”  Food is fuel, and proper nutrition is key to success.  If weight loss is a goal, talk to your coach, log your food intake and all your workouts.  As a result of training, you will likely gain muscle and lose fat…you are exercising and getting stronger every day.  Your body will become lean and strong as a result of proper training and nutrition.  Skipping meals, cutting back severely on calories, or relying on caffeine and/or quick sugar as an energy source is detrimental to your goals.  Your body is a fantastic machine.  Treat it with respect, fuel it properly, and you will see amazing results in both body and mind.

3)      You will gain muscle.  Healthy, strong bodies are a result of excellent nutrition and training.  Your body works hard to give you what you ask.  Enjoy the benefits and ignore the fads.  So what if your calves or quads don’t fit into skinny jeans?  Strong is beautiful.

4)      Strength train.  It doesn’t have to be every day, and it doesn’t have to be for hours on end.  Save the long endurance for biking, swimming, and running.  Your coach will assign appropriate exercises, and most sessions last under 60 minutes.  Strong muscles pay dividends on race day! 

5)      To women athletes:   5 minutes of proper Kegels daily.  Do it now, before its too late.  Muscles lost elasticity and strength if not used.   Your core routine should also focus on all the muscles of the abdominal region.  The Transversus  Abdominis (TA)  is often overlooked and can weaken with pregnancy.  Be sure to add TA exercises to your core routine.

6)      Log your workouts.  Your coach needs to know not just the numbers, but also how you are feeling on each particular day.  Add life events, etc.  Looking back on old logs can reveal patterns, which are both useful to you as an athlete and invaluable to your coach.

Be certain of yourself.   Share your passion of the sport with others.  Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun.

Surviving the taper

Tapering is a necessary element of racing.  To get ready for a race you must base build for endurance, strength train, and speed train.  You must run, swim and bike various distances at varying heart rate efforts for specific  amounts of time.  What you also must do…taper.  The length of the taper, as well as the length of the recovery depends on the length of the race.  Let’s use the marathon as an example.  A typical marathon taper is 2 weeks out from race day.  All the training has been done.  During the taper, it is time to scale back, rest up/store energy, and mentally prepare for the race.  There will still be intensity, but the duration of your workouts will decrease.  The week before the race you might do a 3 mile run, with speed  intervals of only 90 seconds (whereas during peak training you were doing repeats as long as a mile, long negative split runs or runs holding faster than goal pace).  After weeks and months of building speed, strength and endurance you become accustomed to long workouts.  You see progress, you’re having fun.  Your confidence is building.  You are feeling strong and ready to meet your goal. As race day approaches, you go over your race plan with your coach, begin mental preparations and prepare your gear.

After all the hard training, it can be hard to scale back.  Mentally and physically.  Physically it is common to feel a little tired, sluggish, and hungry.  Little aches and pain crop up here and there.   Mentally it is time to be patient.  The race is close, but not that close.  You may start to wonder if you trained hard enough.  You may doubt if you are ready. You may start to feel antsy or impatient.  Resist the urge to add in extra workouts. The taper can be one of the hardest times for an athlete.  You have extra time, but what to do with that time?  Expending extra energy, especially in the few days leading up the race, isn’t generally a good idea.  That leaves a lot of time to think.  Now is not the time to let negative thoughts creep in.  You did the work and it is time to trust in your training, trust in the process. 

After 11 marathons, I’ve learned a thing or two about handling the taper.  I can feel very anxious, and the need to fight the negative thoughts is great.   I tend to feel  sluggish and tired during the taper.  Having gone through it many times, I have learned that this is normal for me and not to worry.  Some ideas on how to get through the taper:

1)      Go through your logs.  Look at all the work you have done!  Look at mileage, look at intensity.  Read the logs and not just the ones where you felt really great.  Challenging workouts are just as meaningful.  Whether it was a long run, interval run, or a long trainer bike ride, these workouts  made you stronger mentally and physically.

2)      Watch inspirational movies.  There are lots of great sports movies.  Some of my favorites include “Prefontaine,” “Spirit of the Marathon,” “Vision Quest” and “Rocky.”  Also look on YouTube for Ironman montages and finish line videos.  There are great YouTube montages of sports movie scenes set to music, as well as quotes and inspirational moments.

3)      Fine tune your nutrition and hydration.  Make a plan for recovery.  Recovery is a great time to make dietary changes.  Research dairy-free or gluten-free recipes. 

4)      Think about your next goal.  This doesn’t have to be set in stone, but kick around some ideas.  Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.  Some people like to have races set up, or ideas for next season.  Goals can include setting a new PR, making dietary changes, weight loss, strength gains, or trying a new sport (triathlon for runners) or distance (go longer or shorter next time). 

5)      Visualize you race.  Visualize yourself performing your best, feeling strong  and having fun.   Racing is always a powerful experience in which we learn and grow as athletes.  Write down your thoughts in a race report so you have it to look back on for motivation, achievement and as a learning tool. 

Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun.

The importance of paying attention.

Injury is very hard on athletes.  Before I started running, my response to an injured runner would have been something like, “I’m sorry to hear that.  Enjoy the time off while you get better.”  Now that I am a runner and triathlete my response would be something like “I am so sorry.  Injury is the worst!  I hope you can cross-train and maintain your fitness while you are healing.”  My response to injury was different early in my running career than it is now.  I used to completely lose my mind, fearing that I would never run again.  Now I know the elements of proper recovery – rest, ice, compression, elevation, ibuprofen, stretching/foam rolling, proper nutrition, physical therapy exercises, returning to activity at the proper time.  Done correctly, you can minimize recovery time.  If allowed, cross-train to maintain cardiovascular fitness and sanity levels.   Listen to your body and your coach.   

Injuries are tricky little suckers.  You can be doing everything right on paper….proper form, following your training plan, enough sleep, good nutrition.  I was doing a great job at all this, or so I thought, when I came down with what I refer to as a snakebite on my heel.  It’s likely a combination of the onset of plantar fasciitis, some bruising (I whacked it pretty hard on a big rock one day swimming in the lake…my first thought was oh, no, this is not good), and subconsciously guarding my knee which had been  (but  currently is not) bothering me.   The thing that bothers me most is the possibility of plantar fasciitis.  I work hard to maintain really good form, and right now I’m putting in less running mileage than usual.  During marathon training, my mileage is much higher.   I transitioned from spring marathon to summer triathlon focus, and my running has never been better.  What on earth could have caused this? 

The more I thought about it, the answer was pretty clear.  This is hard to admit.  I wasn’t paying attention.  Life had become unbalanced.  Like most athletes, I put family first, then training.   I pride myself on balancing the two.  How could I have let the scales tip?  It wasn’t any one event, but rather a combination of little things.  At the end of the school year, I was volunteering a lot, spending a lot of time on my feet.  Any runner can tell you that a sure way to foot fatigue is standing around for hours with little movement.   What I did wrong: a long bike ride, followed by a quick shower, coffee, and off to help some family move.  What I should have done:  ice bath after the ride, proper nutrition and hydration, shower, foam rolling, then go help.  What I did wrong:  long tempo run, shower, coffee, pick up kids, off to not one but two consecutive end-of-school-year parties, where I was standing a lot.  What I should have done:  long tempo run, ice bath, nutrition and hydration, shower, foam roll, then party time, but sit down when I had the chance.  What I did wrong:  blowing off my PT exercises, telling myself “I’ll get to it later today.”  What I should have done:  Set aside time every morning for PT, no excuses.  I stopped paying attention to the details and a little of the magic was lost. 

I’m not blaming a busy life for injury.  Rather, losing focus can lead to poor training decisions.  There is a lesson to be learned here.  Running is full of lessons.  In the past, I sometimes wouldn’t listen.  I know better now.  I will be at the starting line healthy.  I refuse to make the same mistakes.  It will mean saying “no” to late nights during the taper, scheduling recovery time (ice bath, foam rolling) into the training day, and focusing on proper nutrition instead of relying on caffeine and energy bars.  Making and posting  a list of priorities has helped turn things around.  We all slip a little here and there.  The important thing is to pay attention and make changes when necessary.  The scales will stay balanced!

Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun.

Wear Sunscreen!

It was about the size of a pencil eraser, and about the same color pink.  At first I thought it was a little blemish.  I always thought pimples were for teenagers…unfortunately that is completely untrue.  At 29 I was still getting them occasionally, and I assumed this was one.  It was right on my upper cheek, beneath my eye but close enough to my nose to be considered in the t-zone.  Tried to treat it, but it wouldn’t heal.  Hmmm.  I was probably messing with it too much.  Weeks went by.  I tried to leave it alone, but that dang thing just wouldn’t go away.  Before my beloved Grandma passed away last year, we used to talk weekly on the phone.  I happened to mention the little blemish to her and she immediately said something which I still consider some of the best advice I have ever received…”if you have anything on your body that won’t heal, get it checked out right away.”  I was about to turn 30, and hadn’t had a physical since it was required for high school sports (oh yeah, badminton state champs, 1992!).  I also hadn’t been to the doctor for anything since my kids were born.  I was busy.  I was young.  I was healthy.  But something about turning 30 was nagging at me…I really should make an appointment.  Make sure everything is okay, be responsible and such.  But in the back of my mind I still had a teenage feeling of being indestructible.  Nothing could possibly be wrong, so with a certain amount of naivete, and to please my Grandma, I made an appointment with my GP.  Everything was fine…a bit of high cholesterol, but the ratios were good so no problem there.  A little low on iron, too, but nothing a good iron pill couldn’t fix.  The next appointment was for the dermatologist.  Went in, armed with my family history of ailments and personal history of laying outside under the summer sun at 15, with nothing but baby oil on my skin and a spray bottle of water to keep me cool.  My friends at I used to lay out and try to get sunburned.  Both so it would fade into a nice tan, and to keep our skin clear (how little did we know then???).  The dermatologist was interested in the little blemish and did a biopsy.  Don’t worry, he assured me.  Just wait for the results and we will go from there.   5 days later (the clock ticks slowly when you are waiting for any kind of test result) the results came back.  Basal cell carcinoma.  What????  Skin cancer?  Are you kidding me?  I was 29!  The dermatologist assured me that this wasn’t going to take one moment off my long life.  That if you are going to get skin cancer, this is the kind to get.  Treatable, slow-growing.   I was referred to a surgeon and a week later I was in his clinic, getting prepped by a very nice nurse, who kindly responded to each of my chatty, nervous questions.  My face was numbed up pretty good.  I wasn’t going to feel a thing.  The surgeon came in (I noticed he had the whitest skin imaginable...I guess that’s how dermatologists roll).  The procedure was simple.  Cut a big chunk out, look at the margins.   If they are clear, we’re done.  If not, cut some more.  Luckily, it only took one time to get clear margins.  He took a picture with a digital camera and showed me my face, just to give me an idea of how much flesh was missing.  Whoa.  I am not squeamish but it made me very queasy, looking at what amounted in my mind as a gaping hole in my cheek.  He sewed me up and sent me on my way.  I had a big bandage and sort of a black eye for the next few days.  Many weeks after it healed, I went back for some cortisone injections which smoothed out the scar.  Today, I can’t even tell where it was.

What did I learn from that?  1) None of us are indestructible.   Know your family history.  Check your skin monthly.  If you notice anything new, or a mole seems to be changing shape, get it checked out.  If something gets your spidey-sense tingling, listen!  Get anything suspicious checked out.  2) Wear your sunscreen.  Reapply as necessary.  Even in the winter.  I’ve gotten red on a sunny day in February.  Sunscreen is relatively cheap, sweatproof, and plentiful.  No excuses.  Wear it everywhere, and don’t forget the top of your head.  3) Get a mirror, or have your spouse/partner help you check your skin monthly.  Get to know your skin.  See your dermatologist if anything is changing shape, looks funny, doesn’t heal, or if you have any questions.  Better to be safe!  4) Sunscreen on the kids, and check them, too.  Our job as parents is to learn from our mistakes so our children don’t make the same ones.

Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun.

Running:  Form and Staying Injury Free

With great power comes great responsibility.  Not much in life can make an athlete feel as powerful as a solid, strong run. I believe running is a gift.  Steve Prefontaine said it best. “To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”  It doesn’t matter how long you run, how fast, how often.  If you have a passion for running, you have the gift.  For most runners, the fear of losing this gift can be great.  Its more than just the endorphins.  A relationship with running in many ways is like a relationship with another person.  There are highs, lows, great joy, and strong feelings.  Once running becomes part of your life, it makes a permanent impact, and you will never want to let go.  Running is there for you for as training, competition, racing.  Running is also there, like a good friend, when you need a mood lift, or to unwind.  Running adds so much joy to life!  You have been given this gift, and there is potential for great power and strength.  Now comes the responsibility.  Runners want to enjoy lifelong careers.  It doesn’t matter if it takes the form of racing and competition, or enjoying the feeling of getting out for a good run.   Remaining injury free is important in order to enjoy a healthy life full of training and running. 

Proper form is key to staying injury free.  There is a lot of information out there regarding form for both new and seasoned runners.   The conventional wisdom used to be for new runners:  go the local running store,  have someone watch you run around, pick a comfortable pair of shoes,  and you’re set.  I would like to see a new conventional wisdom….something  I have learned from both personal experience, research, and talking with other coaches.  The new conventional wisdom:  first to learn to run.  Much has been said recently about the importance of a midfoot/forefoot strike.  I think most of us can agree that a running form closer to what our body does naturally (barefoot) is the healthiest way to run.  Most of us didn’t grow up barefoot, however, so we need some foot protection.  Finding the right shoe can be very complicated!  As a new runner, what to choose?  Who do you trust? What is good form, anyway?  A veteran runner looking to avoid injuries might ask themselves how to make the switch without a training loss.  A runner currently in a heavy stability shoe with a heel strike pattern will likely take more time to transition than a runner in a lighter shoe who already has running form that is closer to ideal.  The runner who needs more time to transition doesn’t want to cut back severely on weekly mileage.  Taking the time to transition properly is worth it.  The off-season is a great time to work on form.  Use cross-training to your advantage.  Stay in cardiovascular shape, and as a bonus become a stronger swimmer and cyclist.  Make a running form video for your coach.  There are many drills runners can do to improve form.  Give your body time to adjust.  Your coach can plan for adding mileage accordingly.  Work with a knowledgeable running store, as well as your coach to find the right shoe for you.  It is important to also wear good shoes when you are not running.  Avoid heels, tight shoes, and flip-flops whenever possible.  A good, lightweight “barefoot” model shoe will help strengthen your feet over time.  If you are a new runner, now is a great time to learn to run with excellent form!  Talk with your coach about the right shoe.  Again, a knowledgeable running store is a great resource as well.  Do the drills your coach suggests.  Take the time to build up mileage at a slow and steady rate.   Proper running form puts less stress on the body, and allows for much more overall efficiency.  Taking the time to learn to run is time well invested.  Give your best to your gift!

Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun. 

Over-racing

Off season, pre-season, build, peak, taper, race.  Athletes train and work hard for months, sometimes years to prepare for a race.  Especially an “A” (most important) race.   Most athletes also have “B” and/or “C” races on their calendars.  These are generally considered less significant than the “A” race, and are sometimes used as “back-up” races.  Someone looking for a Boston qualifier, for example, might plan a spring and a fall marathon, in order to have 2 chances to achieve a qualifying time.  This can put less mental stress on the athlete, which can actually have a positive training effect.  “B” and “C” races are also helpful as training races for a longer event.  An early spring sprint tri, as a brush-up for a longer summer triathlon, a half-marathon a few months out from a marathon, for example.  Practicing racing strategy, nutrition, pacing, transitions (in triathlon) are all good ideas before an “A” race.  However, both the coach and the athlete need to make sure there aren’t too many races on the calendar.  Too many hard efforts, too close together, with too little recovery in between can leave the athlete mentally and physically fatigued, which will hinder further gains in training.  It is important in training and racing to make sure there is adequate recovery time between hard efforts.  Adequate recovery time could be weeks (for long distance races) or just  one or two days (after a hard training workout/ effort).  Heart rate (resting, during workouts, and post-workout), rate of perceived exertion of workouts, and mental and physical well-being should monitored and taken into account.  The importance of enough recovery between hard training efforts and races cannot be overemphasized.  When an athlete pushes too hard without giving their body time to heal and adjust to the stresses put on it, they are putting themselves at risk for overtraining, which can lead to injury.  Overtraining  is a serious problem.  Recovery from overtraining/overracing  takes time away from what should be valuable training.   Racing can be just as much mental as it is physical.  An athlete who competes too much is at risk not only of physical injury, but of mental race “burnout.”  Mental burnout feels different for everybody, but generally is a feeling of disinterest in racing, not caring about the outcome, or even can manifest in an over-interest in outcome.  Worrying too much can be a hindrance. 

Athletes work hard to be able to race, and they do it for a variety of reasons.  As training for a longer race (as mentioned above), for competition (relative to themselves, or competitors), for a specific distance or time goal, for a new experience, or just because they find racing to be enjoyable and exciting.  How do you find the balance between racing for PRs, racing for fun, and racing as training?  The athlete and the coach must have a good relationship (feel comfortable communicating) and the athlete must be willing to communicate how they are feeling both mentally and physically.   How many races an athlete can compete in depends on the distance of the race, the physical conditioning of the athlete, and the level of intensity of racing.   A runner may be able to intensely race a 5k once or twice a month, but racing hard (going for a specific time or PR) in a long distance such as a marathon is generally better left to twice a year.   A triathlete might be physically and mentally capable of racing multiple shorter distances throughout the year, but intensely racing full Iron distance is generally best left to once a season (or longer).   Whether or not you are at risk for overracing depends quite a bit on the intensity of the race.  Again, the coach and the athlete need to work together to avoid too many back to back hard efforts without proper rest in between.   Runners and triathletes tend to be a very committed group.  We enjoy training and competition.  Some of us even live for training and competition.  The key is to find balance so racing and training can be a lifelong endeavor.  Work with your closely with your coach.  Keep diligent training logs.  Take a step back and look at your previous race history in regards to injury and mental attitude.  What correlations do you see?  Look at your best races (PRs in particular).  How much were you training and racing?  Taking time to look at the past experience bigger picture will help avoid overracing in the future.  Being honest with yourself and your coach is key.   The goal is to stay healthy and happy so running and triathlon can be a lifelong journey.

Be Healthy.  Train Smart.  Have Fun.

Triathlon Inspiration: what got me started

My inspiration into the sport of triathlon came from my running coach.  After years of using various on-line marathon training programs, I decided to hire a coach to help me get to the next level – to help me over the hurdle of the plateau I had reached.  Coach is a runner and triathlete himself, knowledgeable and a strong athlete in all three disciplines.  I have always done plenty of spin bike as cross-training.  I swam as a kid, and picked it back up as an adult for cross-training , because I knew it would make me a better runner.  Once you learn proper technique (this requires time and patience), swimming is surprisingly fun and great for runners.  As summer approached, my coach suggested a sprint tri, to mix up my training and keep me mentally fresh for fall marathon training. I was game.  But a couple of falls and difficult training bike workouts later, I completely changed my mind.  Triathlon was not for me.  I wasn’t interested in becoming a cyclist.  I was a runner, and swimming was for cross-training purposes only.  I told my coach, who was understanding.  But it didn’t feel right.  It felt strange to type an email to my coach, admitting the bike had gotten the best of me in such a short time and I didn’t want to even try.  That isn’t me.  I believe its important in life to try new things…travel…meet new people…try things that scare you…experience life to the fullest.  Was I really going to let a couple of falls in the driveway when getting used to new pedals and a couple of frustrating rides getting used to shifting gears stop me from trying something new?  Thousands and thousands of people train for and enjoy the sport of triathlon.  They must be onto something.  Why shouldn’t I see what all the fun was about?  I decided that the bike was not going to get the best of me.  The bike wasn’t going to keep me from pursuing something new that seemed like so much fun for so many people. Not to mention that Coach had been right about a lot of things (the effectiveness of heart rate training, Newtons/natural running form, nutrition).  I trusted Coach completely and there a part of me that didn’t want to let him down.   I signed up for the sprint tri.  I was determined to learn how to cycle…how to clip in and out, how to change gears, how to climb hills.  Over time my confidence grew.  I was excited about the sprint tri, but not as nervous as before a marathon.  I knew the tri would be an adventure.  I ended up 3^rd in my age group.  It was thrilling hear my name called. I couldn’t wait to tell coach!  That summer I wouldn’t say I loved the bike, but I was getting better and that was enough.  A few months later I did an Olympic distance and won my age group.  It was meaningful to me because I worked so hard to overcome my issues on the bike.  Not to mention the sheer fun of it all!  Seeing competitors at various points along the course, encouraging and getting encouragement from others, crossing the finish line knowing you conquered something that scared you.  I was hooked on that feeling. 

Being part of a team and talking with other athletes kept me motivated all winter.  I worked on my bike throughout the off-season.  There were long days on the trainer and cold days when the roads were dry.  But come springtime, I felt stronger.  Its motivating to see yourself change.  Now that tri season is in full swing, swimming, running, and cycling with others, listening to race reports and talking about training has kept me inspired.  I am glad I tried something new.  I  glad I didn’t give up.  I’m glad I got right back on that bike and kept trying.  I will always be a marathoner at heart, but I know I will stay on the triathlon road.  Its so much fun, a challenge, and there are too many adventures to be had to even consider stopping.

Be Healthy.  Train Smart.  Have Fun.