Posts Tagged Training Blogs I Read Regularly
Year in Review
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Goals, Life, Races on January 3, 2010
A year has past, and what a year has it been. I love these end of the year posts (last year’s post is here) because it gives me a time to reflect on things that went well in my life, things that didn’t go to well, things I want to change going into the new year, and that which is all good.
Entering last year, I wasn’t in the best place. I was in a struggling marriage, and this life struggle was disrupting the equilibrium with the other things in life. I was having trouble focusing on work, I had trouble focusing on my goals, and I had no idea what I wanted. I had trouble sleeping, and everything was cloudy. Was this what life was supposed to be like, I often questioned. I would often sit in front of my computer for hours, chatting, tweeting, stumbling (literally) endlessly with that awesome firefox plug in stumbleupon! I was distracting myself, constantly. If you want to see some of the dark places I reached and things I questioned, check out my posts on life (you can read here) for the first 3-4 months last year. Some of my most reflective/sad/interesting (heartbr8king, emotions – good or bad, alone, living with loss).
Once we decided to divorce, I started running. I ran a lot. It was my escape. I had run in my first marathon the previous year (2008), and I really enjoyed it despite the hellish pain of getting across 
the finish line. And yes, I never did a 5k, 10k, half marathon or any race for that matter…I jumped right into the marathon, and not just to finish, but to finish in under 4 hours (I finished SF, one of the harder marathons, in 3:52:42). It was a big accomplishment for me, and the feeling I got from overcoming those “impossible” barriers made me feel…made me feel, great!
So when I went through this struggle, I decided to run, and when I ran, I was at peace. I had a clear head. My buddy Matt suggested cycling, so I started riding too, but just for fun. When I was on that road though, I felt free. I could feel my body, my heart beat, my head sweat, my legs hurt. That feeling though was amazing, and for the first time in a while, I really felt alive.
So…I trained. I ran a lot. I started cycling a lot. I did a half marathon (OC)…I did a full marathon (SF). I picked up swimming and did my first triathlon…an Ol
ympic distance event in San Diego where I crushed my goal time by over 23 minutes (2:22 vs. a goal of 2:45). I started believing in myself. I started reading about running, about training, about pedaling, about cycling. I found a community on twitter that I learned so much from. I found something to be passionate about…again! It had been a while!
I also finished my MBA in June, and although I didn’t have the greatest experience in the classroom, I met some awesome friends along the way, and more importantly, I met a special someone the day before graduation. It was a random introduction from someone I just met, and that 5 minute intro turned into a facebook message, then a facebook conversation, then some text messages, then a few phone calls, text flirting for a week, a first date, a second date, and well…a great pick up to the second half of my year. It’s been an awesome six months now, and that is one of the things giving some positive momentum to this new year that I’m very excited about!
In June, I also got a new Abby kitten I named RED, which funny enough came from him being a pREDator, but also because he is a red abyssinian. I love animals (if you haven’t gathered), and if I 
had a bigger place, I’d probably have a full farm. J/K. Kind of. 
Red is awesome. I always believed in having two cats since I work full time, they can keep each other company during the day. I had Toby and Riley from the same litter nearly five years ago, and when I decided to give Riley to my ex-wife since he truly was always her cat, I wanted to find Toby a partner. Red was the perfect companion, being even more dog like than Toby. He follows me everywhere, fetches, growls at the door, and wants to go for walks (which I will avoid . Sadly enough, as I wrote about in this post, Riley passed on in October, which was also a down moment this year. This was hard for me to deal with even though Riley was now Jenn’s cat because of my attachment to animals. I keep telling myself he’s in a good place and it was his time, but I still get torn up when I think about him.
In December, I went on a sweet Hawaii vacation, my first week off since my honeymoon 3 years ago. Upon my return, the day of in fact, I got Kaila. Kaila is the first dog I’ve ever owned, and although she proved to be a handful at first, I’m really starting to love her. She is so damn cute, and although I’m still trying to find my groove with her between playing, training (training her, not triathlon training , and pure dominance training (yes I pin her and growl at her showing my teeth – must be the pack leader), I’m finally starting to see why dogs are so freakin awesome! Next August or so, she’ll be my new running partner. I can’t wait. I hope I can keep up with her!!!
So that is my year for you. I’ve been employed by the same company from start to finish, hired my first employee at this company, and made some big strides there developing the business analytics program. To be honest, 2010 will be the year that defines business analytics at my company. I’m excited to see what happens. But let’s get back to my hobby before departing. Below are two images that summarize my year:
This is a summary by sport of what I did in 2010. I started keeping track of the type of run, swim, and cycling ride in October, so that’s why you see somewhat of a sporadic summary. The totals are:
- Running: 1175 miles … this is funny, but in my post last year when I ran 666.4 miles, I said I don’t know if I’ll ever run this mileage again because I’m now swimming and cycling. And I nearly doubled that running mileage In 2010, I hope to get up to 1500 miles, which may be tough since I’ll do less run training than 2010
- Swimming: 22 hours … Difficult to get mileage here, but this isn’t very much. I’ll blow this away in 2010
- Cycling: 2017 miles … although this seems like a lot, it’s really not. I’m guessing I’ll at least double this amount this year.
This image is the the most interesting to me. This is a summary by month of all sports. The thing I find fascinating here is check out my total time and my heart rate. The number of hours has really gone up the last few months as I’ve taken training seriously. But what’s most fascinating is that my average heart rate has gone down over this period of time. There could be several factors at play here, but I think it represents two things 1) I’m getting in better shape and 2) I’m cycling more, which typically results in a lower heart rate. Either way, I’m really proud of the progression. The down month in October was the result of a taper for a peak marathon (MCM) as well as a slight taper for the triathlon I was in.
That’s my 2009. Here’s to a great 2010! Happy New Year everyone!
2010 Goals
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Goals on January 1, 2010
I’m trying to keep it simple this year. And not overdo it. Maybe that should be my only goal It’s the new year, so here’s my list for 2010:
Measurable Goals
- Date night with the girl, at least once a week
- Complete Ironman Arizona (and do it in less than 12 hours)
- Complete one Lynda training session per month
- Read one book per month
- Build out business analytics team and complete business metric framework for executive management
- Complete technical roadmap for data warehouse methodology
- House train my puppy
- Train Kaila to sit, come, lay down, stay, shake, roll over, run, and NOT JUMP on people
Subjective Goals
- Continue to develop my stronger voice. It’s there. Be brave enough to use it.
- Train because I love it, not because I have to
- Races are not the end. Everything is for the experience. Don’t get upset if I fail to meet my ambitious racing goals
- When you think you don’t have enough left in the tank, it’s still half full. Keep going
- Training is a hobby. Don’t let it get in the way of the most important things in life
I’ve been reflecting a lot on 2009 as well. That post to come soon! I hope everyone had a fantastic new year!
Sanity in Becoming Ironadam: Video Games
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Ironman Training, Life, Video Games on December 20, 2009
Training, working, life, family, pets – they all take up MOST of a fully employed triathletes time. In addition to thinking of my family and pets as fun time, I also need an escape from reality for my personal “me” time. That escape is video games.
And I’m not talking Wii video games. I own a PS3, 360, and Wii. Fortunately, I have a Mac, so I don’t get caught up in the PC game hype, and I consider myself lucky. I know, I know. It sounds foolish or crazy to own all three systems, but it allows me to have a system for both TVs in case others want to use a particular TV somewhere. Plus, there are a lot of exclusives to both systems that make a dual system worthwhile.
And let’s be real: I spent $3k per bike on two bikes, $1k on tri equipment I most likely don’t really need. For $1k, I could have all three systems and a new game for each. And that’s why I love video games. For dollar for dollar entertainment, there isn’t a better value. Plus, video games have really stepped it up with the next gen consoles. My girlfriend can attest – it’s really like being part of a movie. The games have actors, acting voices, storylines, often perfectly unravel a story into actual gameplay, and even have alternate endings based on decisions you make in the games.
Yes, I’m hooked. My “me” time is spent playing video games, and I will probably do this with my son when I’m 50. I’m into all genres, and I often get games just to appreciate the graphics and story lines, even if I don’t finish them.
With that introduction, I want to roll off my most anticipated games for 2010. There are so many good ones coming out, and it will take a lot of will power to resist buying all of these at once. I already have 5-6 games sitting on my shelves that I haven’t played that I could get for 50% less than I paid, but I’ll get to them, I promise.The basis for this is a PS3 magazine, so I may be missing some 360 exclusives (Crackdown included below). Check out IGN for more details on any of these games.
Shooters
- Mag – Huge multiplayer with huge strategy of trying to defend or attack
- Lost Planet 2 – giant monster/dinosaur things. Yup, that’s all I need
- Singularity – changing items right in front of you +/- 60 years. Yup, control of time. Another thing that is all I need.
- Max Payne 3 – slow motion shooting. So fun! matrix style
- Bioshock 2 – first one was one of the best games I’ve ever played. Great story, cool graphics. Underwater cities with a bunch of psychopaths. I’m in!
Action
- Crackdown 2 – if you ever played the original, you’d know why. Favorite 360 game to date
- God of War III – sequel to the best game series. It looks amazing
- Enslaved – only because it was by the people who did Heavenly Sword, which was an incredible early PS3 game
- Bayonnetta – already pre-ordered. Devil May Cry makers take action to another level. Witch with guns in shoes wearing a tight outfit. Sold!
- Dante’s Inferno – God of War’esque with dead things in hell. Sold!
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – finally, a Castlevania game to look forward to. One of my favorites on the original NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Shadow of Collossus’esque!
Adventure
- Heavy Rain – I love storylines, and this one is all about the storyline! Drama, detective work, serial killer – it’s gonna be INCREDIBLE! 4-5 years in the making
- Last Guardian – Next up in the ICO series (Shadow of Collosus). I’m a sucker for emotional video games! I hate when animals die, but I’m down
- Just Cause 2 – grapple gun and creative kills. Sold!
- Red Dead Redemption – open world in wild wild west from creators of Grand Theft Auto. I think I’m in here too.
- I Am Alive – giant earthquake destroys city and u are left to survive and water is the biggest commodity. SOLD!
RPG / Sports
Not a huge RPG fan, so it will have to be incredible to sell me. White Knight Chronicles may do the trick. For sports, since I bought the sports games this year, I’ll skip next year. Not enough improvement year to year to get me to purchase. Debating on FIFA 2010, and since I haven’t had Tiger Woods golf since last year, maybe next year’s. Split second does look like a game that is worth getting. A fun arcade style racing game like burnout.
Oh!!! And how could I forget ModNation Racers. Simple game like Little Big Planet, but you can design your own race tracks and share online. Seems like an advanced Mario Kart. I can’t wait for this one.
Maybes
- Army of Two: The 40th day – If the co-op is really that good, I’ll get it
- Aliens vs. Predators – I was hooked on predators when Arnold did the original. I’m always willing to try anything in the series since.
- Inversion – anti-gravity gun. That would be fun to use
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – will take a lot of good reviews to get me over the edge on this one. Too many other good games
- Darksiders – Cuz they say it’s gonna be bad ass. I’m doubtful
- Dark Void – they say the flying and killing is a fun combo. We’ll see
- Dead Rising 2 – only if it’s less dull than the original. But creatively killing zombies. Usually a sell for me!
Week 4: Hours are building
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Training Ruminations on November 29, 2009
Week 4 is over, and I’m exhausted. I was supposed to do 14.5 hours, and I got in 13.5. I wish I could do that extra hour, but my body was just too tired. It’s tough going from working out about 6-8 hours a week to a big jump up. My running mileage is down a bit, but I’m way up on bike mileage and swimming time. Here’s my weekly summary:
This is how I got there
Running: This week was a good running week except when you consider the calf/knee pain I feel from my blisters. I’ve never had blisters before, and I’ve had five that I had to pop this week. Although they felt fine after popping, I think I was sub consciously altering my stride and running more on the outside of my foot (blisters on big toe and inside part of forefoot). On my 12 mile run this weekend, I could barely walk when finished and the pain really comes when i angle my foot in (think duck feet). I’m hoping to stay off my feet for a bit. My shorter runs were ok, and I did a 5k turkey trot at my girlfriend’s pace in my vibrams. That was a lot of fun! She did awesome in the race too – hopefully I can get her to do more
Swimming: Two long swim workouts and starting to get the body rotation down. I really focused on clearing the hips as my hand pulled water away, and I also focused on angling my arm pulling the water back (more right angle) than straight arm. It was much easier to balance this way. I did a great drill – a variation of the catch up drill. I’d do this with and without swim paddles – as you pull your hand back, rotate the body completely out of the way and stay on your side for an extra second. Then stroke your hand forward to catch up to your other hand. Make sure you regain balance here and your hips don’t sink. Repeat with either the same hand (for one handed drills) or the other hand. Great for integrating drills into a real stroke. Another variation via @sandiegopj is instead of leaving your dead arm at front, leave it at your side. I didn’t try this but will do it this week.
Cycling: I’m over the 100 mile barrier. In a week that is. I’m still struggling to get my mileage up, but my endurance for 50 miles is pretty good, even on tired legs. When people pass me, I’m able to keep up and even outlast them, which is a good feeling and a big step up from a few months ago where I stood no chance. Although I have a vacation coming up, I hope to start getting these weekend rides to 60-75 miles and get 150-200 miles on the week. My biking legs are getting better and my pedaling more efficient, but I have a long way to go. I used my trainer for the first time this week and the one legged isolation drills really helped. I’m jerky on those, so I know I can get more out of my pedaling. I also need to continue to work on my balance.
Other: Another week of Pilates with Leah Stewart (that’s the other listed above). Great work and my biggest weakness in flexibility is my calf. I would of never guessed. And my upper calf. So I’ll be working on stretching and strengthening those over the next few months. I also continued to do some running drills, which I wrote about here this week.
That’s it for Week 4. This week I’m going to take it easy and do about 10 hours. I’m scheduled for 16 and I think I’m going to do some re-arranging. My body needs some rest and I’m going to focus on that instead of pushing myself and risking injury. I may even take the next few days off from running given the pain in my calf.
Here are my ruminations this week:
- One thing I’ve learned riding – probably 10% of people stop at stop signs. Everyone rolling stops. What the hell? STOP BEHIND THE LINE! Guess what’s in front of that line 80% of the time – that’s right, a BIKE LANE!
- I’m getting a new puppy in two weeks. YAY! A running partner. Here she is – she’s a beautiful Shiba Inu named Kaila (pronounced kI-La)
- My calf hurts, bad.
- Blisters really suck, but I must admit, I love popping them and watching the fluid drain.
- Since we have so many clothes for biking, why not make clothes for biking on a trainer that are so cool we don’t sweat EVERYWHERE.
- Why does some italian food not settle well and others do? This morning was painful before my ride, but other times, no issues and lots of energy. Maybe home made is better?
- I’m learning to ride/run without an ipod. I must admit, it is peaceful and I enjoy the time getting to know my own body.
- Isn’t it easier riding when you’re chasing someone? When someone is ahead, it’s so much easier to pace and push yourself.
- Should people ask for permission to draft off you if you’re riding solo? I kinda hate it when people get right up on me
- I think my cats are starting to like each other, well like each other 50% of the time. I wonder how Kaila will screw this up
- I want to be a coach – that would be awesome!
- VACATION in one week – WOOOO
Week 3: Entering my base training
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Ironman Training, Training Ruminations on November 22, 2009
I’ve now entered the base period of training. I’ve divided my base period into three separate periods of four weeks in length (each). Each base period will ramp the hours through the four week period. For example, base 1 training looks like this:
Week 1: 12 hours
Week 2: 14.5 hours
Week 3: 16 hours
Week 4: 8.5 hours
The goal of the base period is to build on endurance and work on technique. The build period, which follows the base (who thought of “slappin the bass” from I Love You, Man there) is to start improving speed and endure more race simulation to prepare for your event.
So this week was the ramp up. As I mentioned last week, I haven’t done more than 9.5 hours of training ever. EVER! I did 7.5 and 8.5 the last two weeks when I was supposed to do 10. Just think about 10 hours – it’s a LOT! One hour everyday during the week and 2.5 hours each day on the weekend. I always thought I worked out that much, but when I actually tracked it, I quickly realized how little I do. So to get up to 12 hours took a toll on my body, but I did get nearly there. 11 hours, 48 minutes. Here’s a summary:
This is how I got there
Running: I finally hit the road to do some serious forefoot running. I’ve been doing a lot of barefoot runs in my vibrams, and this week, I started to add the mileage. My proprioceptive cues were: lean forward, imagine a wall 2 inches in front of my face that my knees can’t hit, and slam my foot into the pavement. I felt like I had a very successful week doing this, and I got in 29 miles in 3:43. Pretty good pacing. I do feel a lot of calf pain still, but it’s getting better.
Swimming: I did one long swim workout. That’s it. I had a lot of trouble talking myself into doing early morning swims because it’s so COLD! But I made the most of my one workout. I’m very focused on balance in the water and I’m doing a number of drills to improve my kick and prevent my hips from sinking, known as dragging in swimming lingo. My drills this week were: 200M open, 200M kick with kickboard, 2 x 200M kicking with belly button facing wall – each side, 200M turning in the water, 2 x 200M on side with catch up stroke – 3 count,2 x 200 with paddles (including one handed), underwater freestyle, cooldown 200M. PS Ignore the mileage up there. When the Garmin 310xt is underwater, it sucks. That watch really is the same as the 305 with a few minor modifications and a re-design
Cycling: I’m finally ramping up the cycling miles. I did three rides this week (with the ride to/from work counting as 2 above). I can feel my force increasing. I’ve been doing a lot of hills, and i’m focusing on pushing the pedal not down but forward and down (think 45 degree angle) going up the hills, as well as picking up my heels at the bottom of the stroke on straight aways. I’m finding that I’m generating more power (feeling, not measuring this). I’m still having some issues getting into aero position, and I’m going to spend some time on the trainer to do this.
Other: This week I started Pilates with Leah Stewart (that’s the other listed above). I’m really excited to do this work. My goal is to improve my flexibility, reduce hip movement and transfer more movement to my core, and improve my mediation ability. I plan on doing this once a week, and this week was a good intro to working on my movement. I also did a little bit of strength training, but I’m going to stop doing this and focus more on strength drills and flexibility. I’ll be posting more about the routines I plan to follow each week!
That’s it for Week 3. This week is going to have a lot of biking, a 5k turkey trot, hopefully a little bit more swimming, a pilates class, and a whole lotta turkey. YUMMM!
Here are my ruminations this week:
- I wonder if I use my toilet paper now that I’m a triathlete
- Why don’t bikers wear reflective gear at night. I think they’re trying to get hit. So stupid. Do they realize that people walking and bike riding can’t see them either
- Cars – so you know, when we’re biking on the road, we also have “car classification”. I can’t believe how many people get annoyed when we’re cornering the right side taking up 10% of a lane. I had two people go around and quickly swerve to the right this weekend as if to show me who’s boss. Hello idiots. If you hit me, I will get really injured. I don’t have a giant metal box protecting me.
- I stepped on a rock on Saturday and hurt my calf. I couldn’t help but think that a stupid rock could potentially knock off time in my training schedule. Damn you rock! I’ll find you. I will find you
- Imagine if training was a job. And helping others improve their training was part of it. How cool would that be? Too bad this sport is ridiculously expensive so income matters. Supplemental income?
- In the morning, its cold.
- We pay $500 to do 140.6 miles in 8-17 hours. Are we stupid? Why don’t we start a business asking people to do incredibly mental and physically challenging things, and then ask them to pay a lot to do it. Genius
- I have an idea for a website. Why not have a product review site for triathletes that compiles blog info of all the people doing product reviews as well as the comments to those reviews. But it product reviews would have to be standardized. Then you would have your preferences, so you can tell whether someone reviewing a product likes similar things. In addition, there is an option to sell used equipment on there, or potentially barter. I know i know, there’s craigs list, trifuel, etc.. But remember, it’s all about design!
- I want a dog. And I want him to run with me. If he’s fast enough, I want him to run by my bike too.
- Umm, pilates is hard.
- My hips make pilates hard
- My activities make my hips inflexible
- Hmmm – if I stop doing all activites, will pilates be easier?
- I hate Ladell Betts – he screwed in fantasy this week. I hope Clinton Portis comes back soon so I’m not tempted to start him when I forget about his pathetic performance today
Training: Week 2
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Ironman Training, Training Ruminations on November 15, 2009
My second week of training has passed, and although I’m only in Week 2, I’m moving out of my prep period into my first 4 week base period. I wasn’t able to get in my full 10 hours this week. I totaled a little less than 9 hours. I missed out on my long weekend.
My workout summary for the week is below (plus two hours of weights, which I don’t keep track of in my profile). I ran 4 times, three barefoot in my Vibrams and the last one in the hills of Oakland. As you can see, the elevation gain was crazy. That was just one run. I have video of this below. My calves still hurt, but they hurt less. I was able to get through over an hour of running in the hills without wincing in calf pain, so I figure that’s a good thing. I’m feeling better about my running, but changing my stride (from overstriding) is definitely two steps back to take three steps forward. I just hope its the right move.
I did one long bike ride, and I’m disappointed that’s the only ride I got in. I setup my trainer this evening though, so I hope I can do rides in the comfort of my balcony or living room in the evenings/mornings. Even if I ride for 45 minutes to an hour, I can work on settling into aero position for longer duration and on my pedaling/force skills.
For swimming, I didn’t get in as much pool time as I would of liked. About 1:10 minutes. This was entirely kicking drills, and I’m now at the point where I feel comfortable staying balanced on my sides, stomach and back. I just have to start actually swimming. I almost instantly sink on one side when I bring my arms up. This is definitely a work in process, but I’m making progress.
Here are my ruminations for the week – not as many as my mind wandered a lot less. Things have been getting busy at work
- How does flexibility in my shoulders impact my swim? Because I’m not flexible, and my shoulders hurt after I swim
- When you look at the views below for an entire run, it’s so easy to forget you’re actually working out
- I trained for about 8 hours each of the last two weeks. This is my PREP period, meaning easy. I checked my running logs for this year, and the most I worked out in a week was 9.5 hours, which was peak week for marathon. This season is going to be gnarly. The next three weeks go 12 hours, 14.5 hours, 16 hours. That is some serious training!!
- I finished Brain Training for Runners this week – awesome read. I recommend it to everyone. Learned quite a few things, including that sitting for 8 hours a day is resulting in tight hip flexors and that slows me down. I need to supplement my running with core strength, flexibility, running drills, and power exercises. Proprioceptive cues ROCK – everyone should use these. Running injuries will occur more frequently if I overstride
- Now I’m moving on to Born to Run. Finally more of a story!
- I’ve decided to focus on five things: family/friends, Adrienne, work, training, video games. If I try to do more, I’ll go crazy! All my crazy desires to learn more things have to be set aside if I want to really be serious about those 4 things, with video games being my distraction.
- Others are running marathons this weekend. I wish them luck, and I’m so happy I’m not!
- I can see why people need time off at the end of the season! Training wears you down
That’s it for this week. Hope you’re training is going well!
Here are my videos from the weekend
This was surprisingly only about 3/4 up the hill
This was at the peak of the hills I climbed
Vlog: Week 2 Training – Mid Week Ride
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Cycling on November 11, 2009
Quick video before my morning ride today. Nothing special, but check out that sunrise! Some beautiful views this morning, and I’ll try to capture more of them! Absolutely gorgeous and peaceful when you’re out that early!
By the way, cycling style is certainly, ummm, interesting! Especially when you’re wearing glasses
Sponsorship – well not really
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Athletic Gear, Running on November 10, 2009
Last week, I was accepted to the 2010 Brooks I.D. program. This is essentially a community focused on running that makes you feel like you’re sponsored. To be honest, for a fully employed athlete, I think it’s the closest thing to be sponsored that you can get. Here are the benefits:
- 40% off Brooks products
- Access to the Brooks running community, which after just one day on Yahoo Groups, is a VERY active and supportive community
- Access to Brooks specific events as they come up
The price for these benefits: wearing Brooks products in races, talking about the brand/product, and possibly, wearing during training. We actually have an emailed contractual obligation to do this.
I’m pretty excited. I over pronate, and so I need a stability shoe to handle this (I’ve felt this over pronation quite a bit on big toes as I moved to more barefoot running). I’ve worn Asics Kayano’s for the past year, but I started out early in my running with Brooks Adrenaline’s. I’ll be going back to the Brooks Adrenaline or Trance, and optionally run with the Brooks ST-4 racer when I want to do short distances quickly. I’m going to load up on some head warmers and gloves too along with a few running shirts. Although this is a sort of sponsorship, we’re still paying for our gear, and to me, improving my form is top priority for this season. I will invest in a pair of Newton’s for this purpose so I can really make the move to forefoot running. The design of the shoe is really summed up well here, and I’m hoping the shoe will help me work on my stride.
I’ve checked the Brooks site for a comparable product, but I couldn’t find anything designed specifically to improve your form. I’m realizing that a lot of running companies are focused on creating products that compensate for our weaknesses as runners rather then getting us to improve those weaknesses. Of course, some weaknesses cannot be improved, but a lot of them can. But with the plethora of shoe designs out there for all sorts of running strides, why work on it
There have been a lot of posts in the Brooks Yahoo group regarding what being a sponsored athlete is and whether you should train in other gear. Most people are adamant that you should ONLY wear Brooks when training/racing. Here are my beliefs and we’ll see how it jives with the I.D. program:
This is close to a sponsorship, but I’m still paying for gear. Since I don’t get things for free and I’ve made quite an investment in my athletic gear thus far, I will continue to wear what I own (a mix of under armor, nike, asics, brooks, and race technical shirts). However, I will buy and wear the Brooks stuff since I know it’s top notch for running. I will also wear it in races and talk about the pros/cons of it. I plan to also purchase some trail running shoes to do running/hiking and get into that side of the sport. But I will also continue to wear my Zoots gear for triathlons, particularly the Zoots shoes for the running portion since Brooks does not have a comparable tri shoe. I also will use my vibrams for barefoot running simulation since that is how I’ll work on my form. I feel like Brooks can benefit from knowing about the other competitive products out there. Brooks is focused on running for running races, but there are running applications out there for far more than running (e.g. running leg of a triathlon where drainage, shoe weight, and quickness of entry are key components).
Wow, I didn’t realize how many brands I used until I wrote that last paragraph. Crazy!
If you’re wondering about the picture above, Caffe Strada is my FAVORITE coffee place in my college town of Berkeley. Every time I’m in the bay, I try to make it there. If I could have a sponsor, that would be one of my top choices
Training Ruminations: Week 1
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Ironman Training, Training Ruminations on November 8, 2009
I have a lot of thoughts that go through my head while I’m training and while I’m at work thinking about training. I figured instead of blogging about each of these, I’ll gather them in a weekly ruminations post where I can summarize my thoughts, what worked, what didn’t, and what I did.
This was my first week of training for my half ironman in March. My focus for this training season is to improve the limiters, and I’ve listed those at the end of this post. In order to this, I plan on setting up my races so I can spend much more time biking than running, and my training this week was a good example of this. I broke out my training into the typical joe friel training programs – preparation, base, build, peak, race, transition. I didn’t get much transition time after this past marathon because I want to get some good weight lifting in the prep/base period. This week was prep week. Next week is also prep before I enter Base 1.
This week, my stats were:
This leaves out the two hours or so I spent working in the weight room and on my core. I’m finding it tough to balance my time with the class I’m auditing at UCI, a busier work schedule, and normal life. And this is just the prep period…
Overall, a pretty good week, although I want to spend more time in the pool. It was hard getting back into training this week. My legs were still tired from the marathon, biking was really difficult since I had three weeks off from it. Swimming was ok , but shoulders felt even more inflexible. Running was more of a technique week, hence the speed. I did a lot of walking/slow jogging to get used to barefoot running (but i cheat and wear Vibrams). But as the week wore on, I started to feel stronger, and I guess that’s why this is the prep period.
Here are my ruminations for the week:
- Amazed at how sport/form specific fitness is. I’m working on my form for running, trying to switch from a heel strike to a midfoot/forefoot strike, and my heart rate is higher, my body is sore, and it’s just harder to run. I ran a marathon two weeks ago and 8 miles felt like hell yesterday.
- Three weeks off from biking and it’s like I never rode a bike. Three rides later, it’s like I’ve been riding for a year. Fitness can leave you quickly, but it can come back just as quick
- Breathing from my left side swimming is easy. My form is pretty solid, and I can move pretty quick.
- Breathing from my right side is like I am 5 years old and was thrown in the pool and told to figure it out. Seriously? It’s the same body right?
- Balance on my bike is pretty pathetic. I can’t ride without hands. I even have trouble riding with my right hand on, left off (no problem with left on, right off). Yeah, how did that happen?
- Proprioceptive cues RULE! That’s the technical term for mental thoughts that you use to work on your technique. This week, I ran light – I didn’t want to hear my feet, and I pedaled trying to scrape mud off my foot and drive my foot down and forward. I even tried lifting my feet on the back stroke, and I plan to do more of these on the bike. If you read brain training for runners, you’ll find 12 cues that he trains his runners with. I’ll use 2 per week, alternating miles with each thought. I’ll blog about it as I go.
- I’m not flexible
- Foam rollers freakin HURT! I never knew a ball of foam could make me cry.
- I got a kinetic road machine – I set it up, now I just need to use it
- Debating getting an iBike power meter
- Rode without an iPod and ran without an iPod for a majority of my miles this week. Surprised at how peaceful it was to simply listen to my body!
This week, my training will be cut short by a weekend trip to San Francisco. I hope to get one long run in there and maybe some weights, but I’ll miss out on my long ride. I may try to do it on Wednesday early AM before work and just work later that evening. We’ll see what the week brings. I’m also starting a weekly pilates routine with Leah Stewart (friend of Adrienne’s) – private sessions with Adrienne. I’m really looking forward to this as she’s a great instructor and very knowledgeable.
If you have any comments/feedback, I’d love to hear from you. Happy training everyone! I hope the offseason is treating you well!
Goal recap (reminder so I remain focused – will post each week):
- Generate more force on the bike
- Maintain force for longer periods of time on the bike
- Improve balance in the water – “get more slippery”
- Run on the midfoot-forefoot so I can avoid leg pain in late miles of a marathon
Pedaling – yes, even that has science to it
Posted by Adam Ainbinder in Cycling, Ironman Training, Training Tips on November 6, 2009
Physics does fall into the realm of science, right? For those of you who take cycling seriously, I don’t have to convince you that there is a lot you can do with your pedaling to improve your force, and therefore, speed. For those who do not cycle, I think you’d be surprised how much physics there is in pedaling. One of my themes for this winter is to get faster on the bike (along with endure the swim and run on the forefoot), and so I want to study the pieces to the biking puzzle. No better place to start with the simple motion we learned when we were three years old.
I came across this website, and they have this great article on pedaling. I knew there was something to pedaling – something more then getting into a fairly uncomfortable seat, bending in a strange position for several hours, and just pushing DOWN as hard as I can on these tiny little pedals. Well, striking down is exactly where I was doing wrong.
The article’s main point is that the additional leverage you get by striking forward and down (think 45 degree angle) is MUCH more powerful than striking down. It sounds confusing, but check out the diagrams in the article. Read it over a few times because I definitely had to study the diagrams to get a better understanding of what the author meant with additional distance / force from more leverage. You have a longer length to push when you use your pedals this way, which gives you more time to generate power. That’s why longer crank shafts give you more leverage and can generate more power.
The other key takeaway from the article was the pull up in the back half of the pedal (the part where you’re clipped in and the force of the pedal pulls your leg up – yeah, that’s NOT how it’s supposed to work). The article says your leg weighs about 15 pounds, and if you’re not pulling your leg up, then your other leg has to compensate for that on the push forward/down, meaning you have to overcome 15 pounds just to get to the zero power threshold. If you’ve heard of trying to make your leg feel weightless, this is what the article is talking about. You should at a minimum be pulling up your leg so that your other leg doesn’t have to work for that.
In addition, the area from 2 o clock to 7 o clock is a key area of power output. Here, the leg should almost be straight, and the feeling should be like wiping dirt/gum off the bottom of your shoe. Surprisingly, this swipe of the foot will account for about 25% of your power output. Crazy huh?
To summarize, here’s how your power breaks down:
- 65% on the downward push
- 25% on the swipe from the bottom to the beginning of the backswing
- 10% of the pull up (and mostly just to offset the weight of a free leg)
So how do you work on this? This is what I’m going to do
- One legged drills on an indoor trainer – get the feelings/leg positions right. The feeling should be smooth without jerkiness
- One legged drills while riding, but leave the other foot clipped in and just make it feel limp. In this position, don’t get jerky – it’s so easy to do
- Simulate the feeling in 2-3 mile intervals with both feet. In one interval, focus on the downward push with both feet. In another interval, focus on the scraping off gum feeling. In another interval, pull your leg up. The key is putting these all together, which is where the one legged riding comes in
If you know of any other good cycling articles, pass them on! I hope this one helps you get faster on the bike.
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