Category Archives: Swim

Two Ironman Stories by John Post, MD

I just returned from Kona on Monday and was thinking about this piece which I previously wrote. Since I stopped competing, I’ve worked for David Huerta and the Transition Team for the last several years transforming the Kailua-Kona pier into a transition area. It’s a good bit of work, but by noon on Friday, when the first athlete show up to rack his/her bike, the pier has come alive and it gives you goose bumps. Here then are Two Ironman Stories.

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Sometimes, in surprising ways, the human spirit of kindness saves the day. A triathlete I know, despite his best efforts, is tad forgetful at times. I worked the men’s changing tent in Hawaii in 2010 when this gent came in flying after a pretty good swim. As is custom, he dumped his bike transition bag on the floor, quickly changed in to his biking gear, and was out the door. In a matter of seconds he was back having forgotten an item. Continue reading →

When There’s Smoke, Don’t Fan The Fire

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 →

The Ironguides Method

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 →

The Importance of The Warm Up

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 →

Nailing race day nutrition

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 →

Why I Also Almost Died During the 2012 New York City Ironman Triathlon

The following is an article written by Andrea Himmel. Andrea almost died from a condition called swimming induced pulmonary edema (SIPE). It dose a good job of shinning some light on a condition that looks to be the reasons for deaths in the swim of triathlon. Here is Andreas story

I wanted to share something about the man who died during the latest Ironman US Championships in New York City, and my personal experience with the same medical condition he suffered from during the race.

After a year of training and focusing my life on this race, I had to pull out around mile 56 of the bike ride. I had developed what I learned was a swimming induced pulmonary edema (SIPE), a form of high output heart failure.

Now, we hear from people involved in the Ironman medical circles that the man who died after the swim likely died from SIPE. Luckily, mine didn’t get to that point because I pulled out. But, from what I understand, it doesn’t take much at all to get from where I was to it being fatal. He was a 2.5 hr marathoner and extremely fit. (I note to you there’s no way of knowing for sure how he died, but consensus among the medical folks is this is the most likely cause.)
Continue reading →

Road to Kona: Picking the Right Course

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.
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Resistance Training = SPEED!

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 →

Are Your Hips Causing Your Injury?

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 →

Frozen Shoulder by John Post, MD

Frozen Shoulder

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.”Groucho Marx

While donning my running shoes by my Jeeps interior lighting one recent morning I realized we only have 12 hours of daylight this time of year and it’s decreasing steadily. Since work takes up 8 of them, some of our training must be done in the dark. I have a friend who used start his training
day at 0230! Yes, he’s a mite intense. He’d get a majority of his training done in the dark.

You need to go the extra mile to absolutely ensure your safety-especially from motor vehicles. While running, attention to a possibly slippery road surface, choice of routes, bright clothing, reflector vests, even a red strobe light on your butt while always paying attention to your surroundings.

When cycling, riding single file is even more important than in summer daylight. Although we’ve all seen riders with hardly a reflector, I ride with 3 red lights behind: 2 solid on my belt and a strobe under my saddle. My friend has a suit with lights up and down the arms resembling Landing Signal Officer on an aircraft carrier. But, by gosh he’s visible. Careful, it’s a jungle out there.

Frozen Shoulder
In the office this is known as Adhesive Capsulitis. The patient is usually not aware of trauma (although a percentage of this group has has recent trauma or surgery to this shoulder) but notices an ever increasing loss of motion, a “capsulitis” or shrinking/tightening of the capsule around the shoulder joint. For some reason, it’s much more common in women than men, non-dominant shoulder, aged 35-55. Diabetes seems to increase the risk of developing FS. This is not arthritis or infection although its true cause is not known. Continue reading →