You should have hard days and easy days. The easy days act as recovery so you can attack your hard days even better. There is nothing better to help flush the crud out of your legs from a hard bike or run like a nice, gentle bike ride.
Bike commuting to work or to run errands does a great job of this. The average commuter only rides about 12 mph because of all the traffic. You also slow your pace down so you don't arrive drenched in sweat.
If you go easy and enjoy yourself, you'll find that much of the soreness you previously had is gone. Coach Mike Ricci (and myself) recommended an easy bike ride for an hour at the end of hard training weeks to aid recovery. I did it and it works.
Most of us are hard-pressed for time and should always look for ways to improve time management. A great idea is to treat your commute as recovery, bike harder on your other rides, and spend your saved gas money on the stuff that matters - more tri gear!
We have a weekly time trial here in my hometown during the summers.
The course is 20k, which equates to 12.4 miles. These races are fast, all-out efforts for half an hour or more. Riders are fired off one at a time at one minute intervals. You want to catch the guy in front of you and you don't want to be caught be the guy behind you. A proper effort has you nearly collapsing after the finish line.
I've noticed that doing the race weekly leads to dramatic improvements in performance. Speed can vary due to wind and sometimes I'm pulling my 4 year-old on a trail-a-bike, so speed isn't a good indicator; Heartrate is.
Week after week, the max heart rate you can acheive keeps climbing. The muscle memory for fast and powerful turnover improves and allows you acheive a higher RPM. Miss the race for just a few weeks and the highest HR you can get is a good 5 to 10 BPM less than before.
The results also show up in your other workouts. Because you have a higher max HR, everything else seems easier. MUCH easier. Because it is.
If you're looking to increase your performance, give the weekly sprint a try, just for about 30 to 35 minutes. As the saying goes, "Start of going as fast as you can. Gradually increase speed."
I should write a book on how much listening to music you like improves your workout effort. Ever since I started listening to Pandora on my iPhone while biking and running, my whole world has changed for the better. I go harder and faster and enjoy the heck out of it.
Time to take it to the pool!
The SwiMP3 couldn't be easier to set up. I just plugged it into the USB port on my PC and it started charging and also shows up as an external drive. I made a playlist in iTunes and then just dragged and dropped the files onto the device. Done.
At the pool, I told my coach I was swimming on the other side without the swim team so I could try out this new device. The earphones clip to the goggles and they went on easily. Raised buttons on the side do all of the typical player functions, including shuffling.
Above the water, they sound pretty bad. But that's not the point. Go under and the transformation begins. They sound pretty good! Swim slow and deep and the sound is excellent. Go fast on the surface and the quality diminishes just a little with the water splashing in and out of your ears. But that's one of the cool things... You can still hear what's going on around you, which is vital in a pool. I'm a former lifeguard and you need swimmers to be able to hear you for their own safety.
I asked another swimmer that was in the lane next to me if my music was bothering him and he said he never heard it.
Now for the good stuff. Listening to music I liked made the workout fly by! I swam hard for over an hour and never looked at the time until I was almost done. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARS! I've been swimming competively since I was nine years old. I do math, plan out my day, sing to myself, whatever it takes to make lap time go by. Honestly, it's almost maddening. Music? Music makes it fun!
I finished my swim and told the head coach I was leaving. He asked how much I had done. I said, "500 warmup, 20x100s on a 1:30 interval, 500 cooldown." He looked at me and smiled. "20x100s on a 1:30, huh? Good job!" Heck yeah, it was!
So, first impression is a big thumbs up. The device works, is SIMPLE, and makes swimming hard so much more enjoyable than before. More details later as I keep using it.
I've noticed how JohnHirsch.org (badass pro) posts on his blog from his blackberry, so I'm doing the same. This fixes two problems - 1. I can blog more often, which I want to do because a stale blog is an unread blog and 2. I can get my thoughts down as I wind down for bed.
I'm excited because tomorrow I get to try out the SwiMP3 player sponsored to me through TriNowFitness.com and Finis. I've loaded it up with The Sword, Static-X, and Lamb of God. I've noticed I work out a lot better when listening to heavy metal, so this should be fun.
I also recorded a podcast while riding the Ride Of Truth last Sunday. It should be out soon. I had some new bike short lotion from Skin Sake on and it did great purposefully wore the most brutal shorts I own and sacrificed my own undercarriage to see how well it worked, that is how dedicated (stupid) I am.
Adding the pull ups to my daily routine has sent my metabolism into overdrive. I'm now at 183 lbs. and that's getting lean for 6'3". Push ups definitely give you muscle, but pull ups seem to literally burn the fat off of you like a blow torch. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.
Ok, my wet dog needs to be kicked out of my bed and I have to get up early. Out!
Morgan and I swam across to the far beach and back.ZenTri went to the West Coast to visit coaching client Morgan and tear up the triathlon mecca of San Diego. We had a blast swimming in the Pacific, mountain biking, and running around the famous Fiesta Island.
I recorded audio from the trip and put together a great show, even wedging in some new music! Check out the shownotes below for the details.
Adams Spices employs triathletes! Use them to make your healthy food taste even better.
Get ready for some FEAR.
Down in Ocean Beach with Morgan and Austin.
Ate the Ron Jeremy pizza.
Do they have beard nets?
At Morgan's house, getting ready to go mountain biking, looking at all his gear.
The Rule - If you stop while mountain biking, you gotta do a set of push ups.
Interview with a dead rat.
Cajuns eat anything.
Morgan haz hardcore mechanic skillz.
Why are we whispering?
Are we lost? In Encinitas?
I've got style.
Lots of push up punishments.
Back at the house, interview with Morgan's kid about thermodynamics, pachiderms, and laminar flow.
Day two of mountain biking.
"Sin! Sin! Sin!" by Empathica
Lanscape decimated by the Witch Creek Fire.
Morgan declares I'm awesome on the mountain bike.
Ready for some fake beer.
Open ocean swim sounds.
Wild parrots are loose in San Deigo.
Tons of sharks in the open ocean swim.
I should train with others as a service. Iron Sherpa!
Strategies for working out with somebody slower than you.
Running at Fiesta Island, Morgan tried to mow down a runner with his car.
The Interwebs is a series of tubes, see?
Angry Tacos, Cougars in Kayaks, and offensive Porta-Johns.
Can we yell at Longrunner without him killing us?
Using your turn signal is a sign of weakness.
Harder, Faster, better swimming with intervals.
Sylvia Bornstein on who owns the news and riding bikes.
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 11:12AM 