This time of year is all about change.
Summer is well and truly behind us and we are now deep into autumn with winter on the horizon. The racing season is pretty much done with the last one or two big races about to take place. I love this time of year as it signals a break from the demands of training and racing along with the excitement and planning for next year.
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Remember when your parents gave you chores & you totally slacked off on the quality you put forth on that chore, and then your parents made you do the chore again & again (& again for the tough-learners) until you did it with superior quality and at a level that they were satisfied with? Yeah, that’s not how your body works. There is a finite amount of quality movement before the movement pattern breaks down, eventually degrading enough that your body is at risk for a variety of issues, including injury, if it continues.
First, what is a movement pattern? It’s a classification of various movements that all humans should be able to do at any age regardless of size/gender, i.e. “push”, “pull”, “squat”, “carry”, etc. When I first meet a new potential client, I evaluate their movement patterns to determine what joints are moving well, which ones are not, and based on that, I know which muscles are either too short & tight or too long & weak – both of which need to be corrected in order for them to move optimally (example: you have bad posture at your desk job?…lots of pushups in your workout does not help you until you fix the icky-desk-posture; AND the pushups can, in fact, hurt you by further increasing the imbalance of the muscles attached to your shoulder, thereby angering everybody inside your shoulder joint). Continue reading
Introduction
For those of you who are new to ironguides, “The Method” refers to our training philosophy that comprises of at least one training session per day. We mix up Strength, Heart Rate, Tolerance, Neuromuscular and Endurance sessions to create hormonally-balanced training programs tailored to your weekly schedule.
When executed properly, The Method results in significant and sustainable gains in fitness over the mid to long term (months to years). No shortcuts to success here, just the best use of your limited training time.
Occasionally, and unfortunately, some athletes go off the deep end and enter into a vicious cycle of mild injury / sickness to partial recovery, followed by re- injury / sickness to worsening injury / sickness, on to partial recovery and then proceeding to chronic injury / sickness resulting in a long recovery period away from sport. Continue reading
Recently along the Front Range we had our first outdoor Triathlon of the season. Temperatures had been in the 80’s earlier in the week but Friday night the mercury plummeted and the wind started to blow hard from the North. This particular race is held in Longmont at Union Reservoir in open country. There is not much stopping the wind from the North to the South except the open prairie. Air Temperature was just above 50 degrees, and the wind chill, was in the low 40’s. The water temperature was a balmy 65 degrees.
I did a short warm up, but nothing nearly as long as I usually do and that was a mistake! The wind was howling and it was much too cold for anyone to warm up on the bike. What I usually recommend is a routine that I learned from Olympic Coach Bobby McGee. Unfortunately I made the mistake of not following this routine! Continue reading
Race performance is not only about the fitness you have gained through training but it is also about nutrition on the day. Nutrition plays a significant role—get it wrong and all the fitness in the world won’t result in a good race.
Nutrition seems to be a major stumbling block for many athletes come race day, yet is rarely a problem in training. Considering how much we train and how many of our sessions are race specific, it is crazy that nutritional problems are so common in races. Continue reading
We are hitting the start of ironman season now in the northern hemisphere and this is an important time for athletes looking at qualifying for Kona in the next season: not only does following the races provide a chance to see what sort of performance is required in your age group at the various events, the days – or even hours – immediately after can also be the only opportunity to enter them for the next year as registration comes online and sells out fast.
Continue reading
Resistance training has for the most part been linked to people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolf Lundgren. Some have linked it to rehabilitation of an injury yet a miniscule number link it to improved performance. Continue reading
Overuse injuries are very common but most athletes fail to pick up the early warning signs. It’s the little things that need to be addressed before you suddenly get to a point where the doctor or physio tells you, “sorry but you won’t be able to train for 2 weeks!”
That’s when the penny drops and you realize the seriousness of the situation. Continue reading
Hematuria, blood in the urine
“Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of livin’ is gone.” John Cougar Mellencamp
But Lew Hollander, yellow cap, would say you’re way wrong. At age 81, he finished his 22nd Ironman in Kona this year. He says it’s how he “tests” himself. Hard to have higher personal standards than Lew, a role model to us all. He also makes many older triathletes jealous as he’s basically able to do this with only a modicum of injuries, often the rate limiting step to continued performance, particularly as we age.
Ever stood astride the commode after your long run, and instead of the usual concentrated deep yellow urine, you see blood? Yep, it can be quite a shock. But, like most things, if you take the time to do a little research you can narrow the list of possibilities…and cancel the call to the funeral home. Continue reading