It seems the most common pain conditions I see are caused by trying to catch-up on exercise. For a number of reasons people miss, or skip their scheduled exercise routine and then try to make it up as soon as they return to the routine. I just want to remind us all, a few missed days of exercise is not going to make a negative change in our fitness.
A la Dan, a few random thoughts:
-how to pick a great coach: go with the one who EXPLAINS things to you (even if you don’t really want to know). It’s not mysticism - there should be a reason for every workout you are assigned. The greatest coaches coach you so that you COULD coach yourself one day (even though you probably won’t want to because having a coach provides a lot of intrisic benefits). If they can explain it, then they understand it well enough to prescribe it…Janda was always expounding on the science of his choices and giving me links to resources because he valued an INFORMED athlete. That told me he wasn’t afraid to be challenged or questioned, and security is a sign of competence.
ok…I admit, I’ve been away awhile. Things have been busy in a good but hectic kind of way, so blogging fell along the wayside. I’m sure you managed to carry on without me.
But I’m back. And the things that have been tumbling around in my head during workouts (i.e. the thoughts that form the foundations for all my entries) need somewhere to go!
Randy Steuve is a compelling guy whose pursuit of excellence in Ironman distance triathlons has inspired us over this past year. We’re often moved by his eloquence in putting the mental journey of an elite athlete into writing, so we wanted to sit down and ask him some in-depth questions about his experience at Kona last month, which represented the culmination of an arduous and committed path towards this goal. This interview is in three parts… here’s the first installment. Enjoy the insight and get inspired:
Here in Northern California, the cold weather has arrived with winters breath, and the fall leaves are now dappling their color on the roads. With the rain and wind, the leaves have lost their last hold in the trees, and now wait to be frozen in place under the coming snows. Until then, they lay in wait to catch the unsuspecting cyclist or runner off guard with their ice-like slipperiness.
So, as I’ve declared already, my two big goals for right now are:
a) complete (not compete) the 200 fly and the 400 IM at the BU meet in december (in addition to my backstroke and IM events from last year). If I don’t get DQ’d I can earn big points for the team by virtue of the fact that nobody wants to do those events, so even if I’m last (which I will be) for my age group, I can probably get at least 10 points per event.
Today was one of those days where I was tired from lack of sleep the past couple of nights - and debated like a VP nomination on whether or not to get out for a ride. Sometimes you just need to buck up. And buck up I did. On the schedule - 10 x 3-5 minute tempo hill climbs. Something mellow, not a power climb, but a nice steady grinder. I headed into Ballard to 28th after a quick hot lap by Golden Gardens - and then started the insanity. The first 5 were easy - but then the little voice of doubt and reason came into my head. “Why continue? What are you doing this for? No one would know - your powertap isn’t working…” Blah. Blah blah.
Bring on the Keirin cut jeans - I could barely walk up the stairs to my house last night.
The first 30 minutes in tempo was agonizing. My head started playing tricks on me, “back off! You can just pull over and do this in two sets instead of one. Who’s going to know? You’re already half way there - only one more half to go. Every revolution is getting you closer to your goal - both immediate and long term. 99 bottles of beer on the wall…. oh crap! I lost count of which lap I’m on. If I can just make it to 60 laps - I’ll be solid. What? I’m only at 37? Sheebus.”
Lord help me.
On tap for today - 30 minutes in tempo. Immediately followed by 2 sets of Breaker intervals in my mass start bars, any gear of my choosing.
Then 1 effort in my pursuit bars. First 10 laps at 25 mph, then every two laps increase the pace by 3 mph for two laps and go until failure.
If you hear on the evening news, “Woman in Redmond passes out from exercise exhaustion…” you’ll know who it is.
I was reading Amanda’s friend Dawn’s blog yesterday - she is also doing IMMOO. And she had this great post about the roller coaster that is training…a subject near and dear to my own heart.
I think said roller coaster might be the best training for the actual race. The emotional highs and lows teach you that none of it is constant and that you need to be prepared to steady yourself to get through. When you are moving for such a long period of time, things are going to be ok sometimes, and not so ok other times.
