CF Update: 02/7/03

Sample Strides Workout:

This is something I developed on the fly during one of my runs last week. As I refine and build on the session I’ll update everyone. I have an excellent track exactly 2 miles from my house, but you could replicate this session anywhere. I ran to the track, did my form session there and ran back.

10’ warm up, just run comfortable. Then 10’ of 30” on, 1’ off. “On” = run with Pose form. My mental cues are:

• Feet land directly beneath my body, no sensation of overstride or pushoff.
• Very quick feet. I try to create the sensation that I begin to lift my foot off the ground before it actually touches the ground.
• I am moving forward because I am falling forward, not pushing my body forward. This is easy to do on a flat or slight downhill, but takes some mental discipline on a hill. There is a strong urge to muscle up the hill, rather than "fall up" the hill.

At the track: Strides on the straights, walk, recover and skips in the curves.

Strides
Odds: very quick feet, footstrike directly beneath your body. Imagine yourself running in a phone booth with no room to overstride or toe off. Pick your feet up as quickly as possible, lifting straight up the hamstring, no push off. I also try to imagine I am pulling my feet up before then even land on the ground.

Evens: Start the stride by running in place: lifting leg per guidance above. Intiate forward movement down the track by leaning forward. Increase lean, letting speed and foot speed increase naturally. Try to create the sensation of falling forward rather than running forward.

Do this as many times as you like. I lost count, but I probably did about 8 laps like this, or two miles. I then did a quick session of jumps in the sand pit: jump up about a foot, quickly bring heels up to butt and landing on your fore foot. Repeat jumps very rapidly. These are very stressful on your lower legs, so I did 2 x 25. I’ll increase a little bit each week and will probably settle at sets of 20.

2 mile run home, repeating the pattern of 30” on, 1’ off.

Lower Leg Strength:

I recognize that one of the biggest limiters with this style of running is lower leg strength and "springy-ness." So I work on this spring every chance I get:

• Barefoot strides, in the grass.
• Barefoot around the house, walking on my forefoot with heel lifted.
• Lift at the gym in your bare feet. Your shoes take away alot of the need to balance. At every opportunity, lift or carry weights around with your heel off the ground. In particular, try doing fron and side arm raises standing on one foot, on your forefoot. Having to balance on one foot while you move weights outside of the plane of your body is a great tool. Try it.

Coach’s training plan:
Per usual, I have started quite a discussion among the UF coaches about just how to train with power on the bike.  A lot of great ideas are going back and forth behind the scenes.  Specifically:

• How can we combine the benefits of both HR and training with power?
• What are appropriate quality training sessions for Ironman athletes?  What intensities and durations are appropriate? 

Jon and I have also been refining our ideas for quite some time.  I’m putting all of this together to form my own training plan and will share these ideas with you. 

California Half Ironman:
I told everyone last week that I registered for the race.  Many of you are also doing the race and have many questions about the bike course in particular.  I will write up a mile by mile (almost) description of the bike course.  I know this course VERY well.

Palm Springs Century:

Saturday was the first century (organized) of the year.  Here is a brief report I shared in an email with a training buddy:

I attacked up that first hill and got to the top with about 4 guys.  Then we picked up a tandem and the group began to grow.  We pulled into the aid station at 50 miles and I waited for Stan.  He got there about 7 minutes after I did.  Then we rolled out nice and easy and let another group catch us.  They had a tandem with them also, but the tandem guys were kind of cheesy.  We were cruising along at about 22.  I would take a pull at 24 but then when I waved off they would drop it back to 22.  I rested for a bit in the #6 spot, pulled out left and attacked at about 26-27.  The first 4 or 5 guys went with me.  I let them catch me so I could have a small group work with.  Just I as about to pop I let them take over long enough to catch my breath.  Then I attacked again, and again, and again. I probably attacked like this about 5-6 times until the whole group was shattered.  Pretty cool :) 

The funny thing was that the people that ended up with me were tri-geeks and only one or two roadies. About 3-4 guys and a woman that was the strongest woman I have ever seen, by far.  She was pulling at 25+.  Absolute freak.  So then I had my own very small group and the main pack was about 100 yds back.  I told everyone to settle in until that long gradual climb after the mile 70 aid station.  Then we turned it up and opened up a huge gap.  But on the downhill the main group still had that tandem with them so they caught us :-(   When it was all sorted out we had picked up two more strong women.  So the rest of the ride back, the only 6 people pulling were me, 3 women and two guys. For the last 20 miles I just kept pushing myself as hard as I could.

When we got back I was absolutely shattered.  I don't think I've ever suffered like that on a bike.  Completely cooked.  Joanne and I bolted right away to a restaurant that she knows.  Turns out it was about an hour away and then we waited another 30 min for the food.  I thought I was going to pass out at the table.

 So today I did Sierra Madre, GMR, back side, east fork and home.  I basically TT'd up GMR but my PowerTap wasn't working. I was probably 280-320 watts the whole climb.

 Body Composition:
One of my metrics I’m tracking this season is body composition.  I shared my plan with the team this week and generated a few questions:

Q: Why did you advise us to drink only water for rides less than three hours?

A: Whoa, I didn’t “tell” anybody anything.  I was sharing MY plan.  Let me first back up and start with the basics.  This is my plan, what works for me, based on some principles that I call the Team Crucible Six.  I’ll take each one:

1. Focus on achieving an optimal body composition that is a good balance between performance and recovery.  My experience before and during Wisconsin tells me that a race weight of 154-155 and 5-6% body fat works very well for me.  I certainly wouldn’t want to go any lower, as I am afraid I would begin to compromise my immune system and ability to recover properly from workouts.   My current numbers (Jan 28) are 165 lbs and 12.2%
2. Make good food choices rather than avoid foods.  After I reread the plan I shared with you, I saw that I probably said “don’t eat this, or avoid that” too much.  For me, I am simply choosing to eat different foods than I normally would.  Everyone who knows me can verify that my weaknesses are ice cream, breads, pasta, and red wine.  From a lifetime of endurance training I have a bad sweet tooth and zero food discipline.  I counter that by saying I can have as much as I want of certain foods: fruit, vegetables, etc.  In fact, you’ll notice I go pretty heavy on the smoothies, probably because this tricks my mind into believing I’m still knocking out a half gallon of ice cream like it’s cool.
3. Make a plan, and measure it with the Geekometer.  Do the best you can to follow your plan, not beating yourself if you stumble from time to time.  Per above, this is my plan, based on what I know about myself and my ability to follow through with a plan.  This plan works for me. I know I can stick to it.  A major part of this plan is timing: I know I can be disciplined for 8-10 weeks, so I want to do it now while my training volume is very high.  I want to take the weight off now and reap the performance benefits when I kick the intensity way up there.  I did not do this last year.  Lesson learned.  My other hope is that eating like this for 8 weeks helps me create better habits and that I continue to eat very healthily.   I did develop those habits last year for Wisconsin, but then my season ended and two pounds turned into ten.  Oh well, not a big deal.
4. Get the majority of your nutrition from whole fruits, lean protein and fresh veggies.   Again, all I want of these foods.  I am burning enough calories that I will easily create whatever calorie deficit I want.
5. Limit starch and sugar to during and after training.   Again, if I had my way I would be eating 600+ cal bagels loaded with PBnJ about 3 times a day.  #5 is my way of using high carb sources to fuel my recovery (see additional comments below).
6. Eliminate as much processed food as possible.   For me, this is a no brainer, since I am so freakin’ cheap.  30 cent bagels at Costco.  If you read the ingredients of training bars, gels, etc you’ll see they are basically expensive candy bars.  Also, my race day nutrition plan is already dialed in and I don’t need to rehearse it.  I will, however, train with convenience foods on very long rides, to save on weight and space.

 Ok, so why water only?  For my own training, I view Gatorade as an electrolyte replacement.  The chances of me suffering from hypnatremia on 3 hour ride in February are extremely unlikely.  Training with water cuts another 200-300 calories out of the day.  I will, however, carry a couple bagels with me and eat them if I feel I need to. 

 You have to keep in mind that I have been training exclusively for IM distance races for over 3 years.  My body has adapted and I now require much less nutritional planning or maintenance on my long rides and run than when I started.  Jon has noticed this change as well with his own body.  You guys, however, are not there yet.  In addition, most of you still need to work out the bugs in your race day nutrition plans.  Don’t change anything for you long rides or runs, but consider some of my other points above as additional tools to help you achieve an optimum body composition.

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Q: Comments on my daily nutrition plan?

A: This looks very good.  Comments:

1. I refer to Ellen for most of my nutrition knowledge and advice.  She says that the timing of meals is unimportant, regarding weight loss or maintenance.  The primary consideration is calories in vs. calories out.  Having said that she recommends eating small meals throughout the day to prevent you from becoming hungry in the evening and “backloading” calories: restricting yourself all day and then ruining it with a huge dinner.
2. You mentioned this below but I stay away from bars, gels, etc, even when I’m training.  Natural food choices are much better.  I will, however, train with bars and such for the sake of convenience (small size, very packable) and light.  My staple training food is bagels, water and Gatorade (read “cheap”).
3. I also pay very close attention to the composition and timing of my meals relative to specific workouts, specifically my post-workout meal:
   • I always have coffee within seconds of waking up J.
   • I always have a light breakfast before my morning BT sessions.  I feel this is critical to ensure a good, quality workout.
   • I always have a huge breakfast before a long ride.  If it is an “epic” session I’ll wake up very early and try to get in 1000-1500 calories.
   • For bikes longer than two hours or BT sessions, post workout meal = high carb, moderate protein, lots of water.
   • For runs longer than 1 hour or BT runs, post workout meal = moderate carbs, high protein, lots of water.
   • Strength training, post workout meal = light carbs, very high protein, water.
   • So when I looked at your schedule below I immediately wanted to know where your workouts occurred in there.
4. In general, I pay attention to how my legs and other muscles feel.  If I feel sore, I take that as a signal to eat more protein.  If my muscles feel tired or fatigued, I take that as a signal that my glycogen stores might be low (and that I’m just training, not a big deal) so I eat more carbs, usually fruit and veggies.
5. I very rarely get “total body” run down or fatigued, as I feel I am very, very good at managing my post and intra-workout recovery, as you can tell by the detail above.

 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you get stronger by what you do AFTER a workout, not during.  Use the tips above as a good guideline.