Crossfit Endurance and Paleo Diet

My new year started off great. Started my new job training at Health Bridge in Crystal Lake and I am doing great on the training front and have the results to show for it. I just recently retested for my VO2 Max and went from 32.8 last May to 42.3. Basically improved from very poor to good. My swimming stroke is SO much more efficient now than it was even two months ago. My endurance still is in great need of improvement but my speed is where I need it to be for now. I can beat my wife in a 25yd sprint and she was a competitive swimmer in high school. She has since started to swim regularly so I may not be able to say that for long. My biking hasn’t changed noticeably. The winter has been killing me because I can not stand doing stationary bicycling. It is tolerable but just barely. Luckily I found some good spin classes at work that have been keeping my interest. Running has improved drastically. My mile times are dropping like crazy for short runs form 11:00 to 10:00 and slightly lower. Endurance is still an issue but my mileage is going up now that training has started for my marathon during Memorial Day weekend. I am running in the Bayshore Bank Marathon in Traverse City, MI. My mom was born there so hopefully that alone will bring me a little luck. I am hoping to break 5:00:00. I will just have to average less than 11:00 the whole race. Doable? Yes, as long as I stick to my training plan. I have bastardized a Hal Higdon plan (Intermediate I) to fit my schedule and I am also going to try to implement Crossfit Endurance training into my schedule to strengthen my week ass body. Swim and bike are going to be scaled back due to the run load being raised but that should not be an issue once I have completed the marathon and resumed Tri training a week or two after. Hopefully the recovery can be that short.

I had been spinning on Saturdays with the Multisport Madness Triathletes for their two hour long class but now that my long runs are on Saturdays I am going to hold off on that until I am consistent in my efforts on the runs. I don’t need to be set back my over-training. The Masters swim classes are also on hold too because of the same reason but also because I really don’t like having to share a lane with anyone yet. I don’t mind if it is with some swimming recreationally but I just haven’t been able to keep up with the class yet. So I have been doing partial workouts from the board later in the day.

I got to meet Joe Friel last week at a dinner held in St. Charles for his Training Bible coaches. The highlight of the night was sitting next to and chatting with Bob Scott. Check out the link for part of his history. TRUE legend of Ironman. Didn’t even know it until I got home and Googled him. Truly an honor to meet and talk with such a humble and gracious man.

One of the other reasons I went to the dinner was to talk to Scott Iott, my soon to be tri-coach. Talked to him for a while and got a phone consult set up so we could go over my Annual Training Plan for the year. I am pretty sure that it is all in good shape now so I just have to stay injury free for the rest of my life and everything will be just fine! Scott also turned me onto The Paleo Diet for Athletes for nutritional information. So far a really good read. There will be a post of the list of recommended books for all beginners to read on the blog soon.

A new event I am putting on the calendar is the Triathlon Clinic being held at Centegra Health Bridge in Huntley on Jan. 30, 2011. Check it out if you at all interested in getting yourself tested to see your true potential.

Written on January 25th, 2011 , Coaching, Seminars, Training
Masters Swim Classes

I started to attend the Masters Swim Classes at my health club last week and I am sorry that I took so long to do it. I really could have improved a ton faster if I had just swallowed my pride and started months ago. You do need to be able to swim a little but I am much farther progressed than I thought I was. If you can swim 50 yds without stopping or hyperventilating you can attend masters swim. At least I think so but others may have different opinions. At least go in and talk to the masters coach and get an evaluation. It is almost always free and definitely helpful. I feel more confident about my abilities now than I did before so that is a tremendous boost in motivation. Anytime someone tells you that you have the ability to do Ironman distance with more training it elevates your spirits and provides a great kick in the ass.

Written on December 27th, 2010 , Coaching, Swimming, Training
Triathlon Seminar – Periodization

Went on Saturday to the second of three monthly Tri-seminars at the Geneva Outfitters running gear store in Geneva, IL. Scott Iott from TrainingBible Coaching was there giving the presentation. Another great seminar where I learned some new stuff. I also got some clarity on some of the concepts I had been struggling with in the Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joe Friel. It would be impossible for me to put into words the exact terminology that I was struggling with but it did have to do with the exercise intensity vs. volume matrix. I can’t believe how much I have learned over the last eight months in regards to fitness and training. It is so much fun that I am very addicted to the pursuit of more knowledge now.

I also have decided that I am going to use Scott as my coach for advancing my triathlon training. I need to get my Annual Training Plan revised and tweaked by him and also need to get a more solid baseline measurement done on my skills. This is where the Tri-Fitness Workshop next month comes in. TrainingBible is running a workshop at the Centegra Health Bridge Fitness Center in Huntley, IL on Jan. 20, 2011. They are going to be giving personal evaluations at this workshop and showing you how to start training the way you should for your current race season. Learn everything you need to evaluate your training/race readiness. Then make adjustments and get training right! No wasted time or waisted workouts. This Workshop offers Triathletes a one stop shopping opportunity to be evaluated in several physical aspects of the sport of triathlon. Attendees will be divided into small groups and rotate through stations to receive individual evaluation on Swim Stroke and underwater video analysis, Bike Fit, Run Gait, Triathlon Specific Functional Strength, Bio Mechanical Muscular Balance Evaluation, and Adam Zucco (Scott’s training partner) shares his Triathlon Secrets to Success.

So over the next few months I should be getting even more serious about my training and running/riding/swimming in much better form and with greater endurance. I already noticed a difference today during my swim in regards to my endurance and ability to maintain my proper stroke for a longer period of time without bonking. Good things to see.

Written on December 14th, 2010 , Coaching, Seminars, Testing
Swim Stroke Evaluation

I went to Delnor Health and Wellness Center in Geneva yesterday and had my swim stroke evaluated by TrainingBible Coach Carla Hastert. She is also one of the Masters Swim instructors there at Delnor.  I have been having trouble gaining any endurance and being able to keep from being exhausted after 75+ yds. This summer is really when I first learned how to swim laps. I have known how to “swim” since I was four or five but I have never done any laps for training or any other purpose for that matter. My learning this summer consisted of watching DVDs and reading the book on Total Immersion swimming by Terry Laughlin. I did the drills in the pool and they definitely helped get my stroke refined enough to get across the pool fast enough with the proper amount of strokes but I just don’t have any endurance yet. Once we met by the pool Carla had me do a few laps to gauge my level of weekness and check to see how bad I really was. Luckily my stroke isn’t too bad with the exception of my kicking. I need to get some fins to practice a few hundred yards of kicks. Hopefully that can help out my endurance a tad. I know my legs won’t drag as much as they are now and hopefully that will strengthen them up to give me a little more speed or endurance. Either one would be fine with me. I also need to do some zipper drills to keep my arm tighter to my body while I am bringing it forward. That should help to give my shoulder a little less work to do. Afterwards we spent quite a bit of time talking about my plans and goals for the coming year and how I was planning my year. She helped me out so much with clearing up the confusion in my head not just with swimming but also with the vast amount of knowledge and experience that she is willing to share. I think that all of TrainingBible coaches I have met are extremely qualified and the best part is that they are all local to the Chicago area and suburbs. They have all been very open with their experiences and more than willing to share their knowledge and I couldn’t have asked for nicer people to learn from. While we were there her coach, Adam Zucco, happened to show up to do some laps. Only a few thousand yards/meters. Yikes. But I can’t wait to be able to do that. I know some day I will be sick of doing them but right now I crave it. So I am off to the gym to get back to work.

You can read my previous post here regarding the seminar that I met Carla at where she spoke about the fundamentals of swimming and actually made me the offer coming down for the evaluation.

Written on December 3rd, 2010 , Coaching, Swimming, Testing
Webinar + Seminar results

Free webinar: Joe Friel from TrainingPeaks.com and the author of The Triathlete’s Training Bible

Really decent webinar on Wednesday that covered the use of TrainingPeaks.com for tracking your training and diet. Specifically it covered setting up your training plan for the next year. Which I do use and it is amazing the things that you can do on their site(you can see my recent workouts posted there below). Great info for newbies to that site and really shows what the site can do if you are interested in really analyzing your efforts in tri training. They also have a ton of training plans that you can buy for anything from a 5K to an ultramarathon. Here is a link to the recorded webinar so that you can see for your self what you missed.

Swim clinic in Glen Ellyn:

Very good clinic last night presented by TrainingBible Coach Carla Hastert. She is a USAT Level II Tri coach and really knows her stuff on the swimming aspect. You guys missed a good one tonight. I wish I could have caught the first two seminars in the three part series. She answered a ton of great questions that we had about swimming and even offered to do a free stroke/swim evaluation on anyone attending at the fitness center she works at in Geneva. I am definitely going to take advantage of it considering how bad my swimming stroke has been.

Written on November 19th, 2010 , Coaching, Seminars, Swimming, Training
Movember update and Tri Webinar/Seminars

So I had to end my Movember yesterday due to upcoming job interviews. I will do it again next year and hopefully be better prepared to make it through the entire month.

Also a note to anyone interested there is a webinar today Creating an Annual Training Plan with Joe Friel at 2:00pm CST today.

There are also a series of clinic being held at the Geneva Running Outfitters over the next few months. Here is the link for info on those:

http://www.trainingbible.com/documents/TrainingBibleClinicsGenevaRunningOutfitters.pdf

I would check with them on the dates because I know that at least one or maybe two are wrong. I want to say that they are all on Sat. which doesn’t jive with the dates they have on the flyer.

It looks like I will be shutting down the I am Going to TRI Meetup group and moving it over to this blog and also to the Facebook group I have created. It is free for one thing and it also it more convenient for those of us currently active in the group. If you are on Facebook and want to join the Facebook I am going to TRI group and get updates from there instead of here just message me on Facebook and I will add you to the group. If you would rather just watch this site for events and also get other info in regards to Tri’s just subscribe using the link provided(The link may not be up yet but I am working on it).

Written on November 17th, 2010 , Charity, Coaching, Education, Seminars, Training

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