Transitioning Fast and Flawlessly at Your Next Triathlon
Many athletes overlook transitioning and leave it out of their training program. You are not going to win the race on the transition but you can definitely lose it. If you are looking to improve your time by minutes with very little effort then transitioning is where you will get the most bang for your buck.
First off, you have got to have a plan. Too many triathletes wait for race day to start thinking about what they are going to do at each transition point and this shows through in the time it takes them to pass through. You have got to start thinking about this and practicing it weeks before the race. First things first, if you are wearing a wet suit then you will want to have your biking clothes on underneath. That way when you come out of the water all you have to do is peel of your suit and you are ready to go.
At the swim to bike transition it is best to have your shoes already clipped to your bike. You also want to make sure the pedals are in the proper position so that when you go to run with your bike to the mounting area the pedals are not going to get caught on the ground. In addition, most triathletes prefer not to wear socks on the bike, this will save you a lot of valuable time if you can just peel of your wetsuit, put on your shades and helmet and be on your way.
The bike to run transition is also very important. Make sure you get off your bike in the appropriate area. If you are doing a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon you may decide to wear racing flats and so perhaps you won’t wear socks for this leg either. Whatever the case may be, make sure to tie your shoes up tight and grab any accessories you may need like hydration belts, visors, etc. If you practice your transitioning at least once a week you will undoubtedly shave a substantial amount off your overall time. Plus, you won’t run the risk of forgetting something or getting injured while trying to make the switch.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=D_Carroll |
Anaerobic Cycling Sessions to Improve Your Time Trial Times
I’ve found that a lot of cyclists have difficulties going anaerobic. Some of them can do it on an uphill gradient, others into a strong head wind, but on flat ground in decent conditions a lot of people just can’t seem to do it. Then they get into a race setting and there’s people going faster than them and they realize that it is possible to go anaerobic it just takes a hard sustained effort. In this post we’re going to discuss the importance and benefit of anaerobic sessions, as well as some ways to help you go anaerobic.
First off, anaerobic just means going into oxygen debt. When you go anaerobic you begin to produce lactic acid and your breathing greatly accelerates. This is easy to achieve in running, all you have to do is sprint for a few hundred meters and you’ll undoubtedly go anaerobic. In cycling it’s a little tougher, it’s based on the same principal but for some reason people have difficulties exerting themselves to this point on two wheels. But if you want to reach your maximum potential you’re going to have to learn how to do it.
The first method, which most people prefer, is to push a larger gear than normal. This will take some practice because a lot of cyclists have trouble generating enough power to turn the pedals at an adequate cadence while still maintaining proper form. Once you get it though it’s almost identical to riding uphill or into a strong headwind. Remember though, you don’t want to use too big of a gear, you still want to be in the 60-70 RPM range. Another point to keep in mind is to be conscious of the balls of your feet, and try to envision yourself pushing through the pedal and into the ground, this will ensure you’re using the proper muscle.
The other common method is pushing a small gear at a high cadence. This is sort of like what you see in the spin classes. This method is okay if done properly. What you have to keep in mind is that one of the greatest cyclists of all time, Lance Armstrong, was known for holding high cadences of 110-120 RPMs, whereas in a spin session you’ll see people getting up to 150 RPMs. You don’t want to go that high, if you’re going much over 120 RPMs you’re in too small of a gear. For most people a high cadence on the road will be in the 100-110 range. The key here is going lactic, you want to get to a point where you’re out of breath and feeling a burning sensation in your legs.
Whichever workout you choose, one of the most important points to keep in mind here is that it takes a lot of effort. In cycling I find people tend to think of it more as a low intensity exercise and rarely exert themselves to a point where they’re significantly out of breath. For these kinds of workouts your goal should be to get your heart rate up, get out of breath, and go lactic. You can do it, you just have to want it. I can assure you that if you do this sort of workout session twice a week, within a matter of weeks you’ll significantly improve your TT times, due to an increased lactic threshold.
Increasing Arm Efficiency in Swimming in a Triathlon
Swimming is said to be a technique sport, much like golf or tennis. Often times the biggest and strongest swimmer is not the one to win the race, it’s the person who has the best technique. With any stroke, but especially front crawl, if you can combine strength with proper form you will surely be a force to be reckoned with.
It may come as a surprise to hear that there are a few common errors that many athletes new to the sport, and even some who have been swimming for a long time, fall victim to. In this post we will discuss some errors people commonly make with their arms, and what you can do to correct them.
Overreaching
1. The most common error is overreaching. You see swimmers young and old bring their hands way out directly in front of their head, basically the 12 position on a clock. This is extremely inefficient and causes you to bob up and down in the water as well as puts you in an incorrect position to start the next as aspect of the stroke. The proper hand placement is at 1 and 11, or if you were to draw a line straight out from each of your shoulders your arms should enter somewhere on that.
Overextending
Very similar to overreaching, but no less common, is overextending. For some reason swimmers think that if they reach out as far as they can it will make them a faster swimmer. This is somewhat true but what people often forget is that you do not want to do all of the reaching in the air.
A proper entry position is about midway between your shoulder and your fully extended arm. From there your hand enters the water and then you extend the rest of the way about 5 inches under the surface. The reason you do not want to do all of the reaching above the water is because it causes your front half to drop and creates a lot of up and down motion, which is extremely inefficient.
These two techniques are a great place to start fine tuning your swim. If you consciously work on these each time you swim you will find your times getting faster but with less effort. Work on these for a few weeks and then check back here again for another set of pointers that will knock off even more time.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
Structuring Your Training Season for Runners
How to Structure a Training Season for Runners
Runners often have difficulty structuring a season because they do not really know where to start. It can be a foreboding task when you are six months out from a target race and looking to structure your season in order to meet your goals but as you will see it gets a whole lot easier when you divide the season into periods.
Many runners fail to reach their full potential because they waste much of their training time doing so called “junk miles.” Basically junk miles are runs where you are not really improving anything in your running repertoire. Running is dynamic; this means that if you are not improving then you must be declining in some aspect because your fitness is never static.
A successful training plan will insure that that you are improving ever day ever so slightly all the way up to the day of your target race. The best place to start structuring your season in this way is to use a concept called periodization. In the chart below you will find an example periodization for a four month training season with four weeks of racing.
Base Period 4-6 weeks
Build Period 4-6 weeks
Peak Period 4-6 weeks
Race Period 4 weeks
The base period is spent building your endurance and strength for your target race. So if you are training for a 10K then this will be spent progressively increasing your mileage each week until you feel very comfortable covering the distance or even double the distance.
In the build period you want to progressively replace your endurance mileage with progressively shorter but faster running. For the example listed above you might in the first week run 90% of your workouts at an easy pace and then 10% at or above race pace. Every week you will want to increase the fast running and decreasing the slow running.
In the peak period you will want to work on aspects of your running that are holding you back from achieving your goal. So you can run your target pace for the first 6 kilometers of a 10K but then with about 4 kilometers left you start to burn out. In the peak period you would want to concentrate on improving this aspect so perhaps you would structure a few workouts each week so that you fatigue yourself up to the point where you normally burn out and then from there begin repetition and interval training.
Finally, during the race period you are not going to improve too much and should concentrate more on resting and tapering for the target race. The key here is to keep your legs moving at a fast pace but not to stress them to the point where they are greatly fatigued. You are not going to lose much fitness over the course of three weeks to a month as long as you continue to do short bouts at or near race pace. It is better to rest up so that on race day you can run the fastest you have ever ran before.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
5 Ways to Prepare For Athletic Training Programs
Preparation for any athletic endeavor should include a good conditioning program. Stretching, strength training, elasticity exercises, endurance training, and nutrition are all components of good conditioning.
All athletes need to prepare themselves physically and mentally. The body needs proper nutrition, the right amount of hydration, and most importantly conditioning. Eating the right foods and creating the right diet consists of eating a balance of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, even fats. A balance nutritious diet is key for any athlete and has tremendous affects on performance. Some athletes think they can eat anything they want because of the high calories they expend during exercise. This is a misnomer, proper nutrition is very important.
Athletes also need the proper of hydration to perform at their best. Not too much and not to little. There is a perfect balance.
In order to stimulate an aerobic conditioning effect, research has indicated that yo u must keep your heart rate at approximately 70 to 85% of the MHR for ten to thirty minutes. Maximum Heart Rate = 220 – Your Age. If you train at a higher level you may experience lactic acid buildup which will cause you to stop and rest. Aerobic conditioning is defined as one’s ability to take in, deliver and use oxygen. Improvement in aerobic conditioning occurs when your body is exposed to a prolonged increase in oxygen uptake and metabolism. One must work at a certain level of effort in order to stimulate the body.
Lastly an athlete needs to be mentally prepared. It helps with getting you focused on what you want to accomplish. Though physical training and conditioning are obviously important to performance, mental-skills training can often help athletes improve their performance. It helps with getting you focused on what you want to accomplish. Athletes often use visualization, goal setting, and refocusing to help them mentally prepare for important events.
DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll
5 Wacky Ways to Spice Up Your Training For Your Next Marathon
Perhaps you are tired of waking up in the morning and going for just a boring old run. Maybe you are looking to spice up your training or get an edge on the competition. Well you are in luck because in this post we will be discussing some fun and exciting ways to spice up your training that likely are not found in a conventional training plan.
Sand Running
First off is sand running. There are a million different workouts you can do in the sand, one simple one is to mark of a short distance of about 200 meters and do a set number of repeats with a short break in between each. It is also wise to time yourself so that the next time you do the workout you can try and better your time.
Running Downhill
Another great workout to improve leg turnover is running on slight down hills. For this one it is best to have a distance of at least 100 meters. What your you want to do is gradually increase your pace until you are running at or even faster than your 100 meter race pace. This workout is great for getting you used to higher rotation speeds so that when someone starts to push in a race you will be able to answer back.
Ankle Weights and Bike Pulls
If you are looking to build strength two great workouts are running with ankle weights or pulling a bike. The ankle weights are pretty self explanatory. If you would like to try the bike pulling workout then you will need to find a friend who is willing to assist you with your training. What you do is tie a rope of about 6 feet to a bike and then tie it to a belt. Next you just put on the belt and run. In order for the workout to be of benefit though you want to make sure to never allow any slack in the rope. You can instruct your friend at the beginning to gently hit the brakes whenever there is too much slack in the line.
Tire Pulls
Lastly, another great workout is to attach a harness and run pulling a tire to simulate running in hilly areas. Typically, this is a great training for runners in flat areas. Start with a small tire and build up.
These are just a few examples of unconventional workouts that as a runner you can use to spice up your training and make you an all around better runner. Keep your eyes open and use your imagination because you never know when you are going to come across a new technique to incorporate into your training.
Most importantly, have fun.
Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll
Endurance Training for Your First Triathlon
The goal of all serious endurance athletes is to one day complete an ironman. It is a grueling 3.8K swim, 180K bike, and then a marathon. Completely just one of these legs is no eas
y feat and requires plenty of training, but how in the world can you train for and complete all three?
Well first off you have got to set your goals. If you are just looking to complete an ironman, and I use “just” here loosely, your training is going to look much different then say trying to win your age group or qualify for the world championship. Once you have your goals in mind you then have to determine which ironman you will be competing in. The amount of time you will need to train will vary person to person but for most it is somewhere in the 20 to 30 week range. If you have lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle up to this point then you may need a little more time because you are going to have to strengthen connective tissues that have likely had little use.
Now that you have determined which race you are going to attend you can begin writing up your training plan. The average training time for most amateur triathletes is somewhere in the 13-25 hours per week range. If you are looking to complete an ironman it will be somewhere in the 13 range and if you are looking to compete in your age group or even overall then it is going to be on the higher side.
In the first 10-15 weeks you are going to want to get comfortable with the distances, building muscular and cardiovascular endurance, strengthening connective tissues, and working on overall body strength in the weight room. It is good to plan it out so that each week you gradually increase your training by no more than 10% up until the point where you feel comfortable completing the individual distances.
During the next 5-15 weeks you will want to begin combing the three sports together and working on any weaknesses. So perhaps one day you can swim and then bike, another day you can bike and then run, and then at least one day a week you can do all three.
Finally, you want to begin to taper about 2-3 weeks out from your target race. Basically you want to reduce the mileage but still train each day at your target pace. The goal is to get rested up without losing any fitness.
Completing an ironman is a challenging feat but if you set your goals, write up a manageable training schedule and stick to it there is no reason why you cannot achieve what you have set out to do. There will be times during the season where you will not feel like going for that 20K run or 100K bike ride but you have got to do it in order to achieve the ironman designation.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
An Incredible Training Tool for Runners – Hills!
Many runners cringe when they hear the word hills, often coming up with a myriad of excuses why they can not or should not incorporate hills into their weekly routine. The truth is hills are a fabulous training tool and should have a spot in everyone’s training regimen, whether you are training for a 5K all the way up to a marathon.
Yes, hills are hard, very hard, but the reason they are hard is because they require a lot of strength in order to scale them successfully. If you cringe when you think about running hills then it is likely that you are lacking in the strength department. Unfortunately this is a necessity in any race, especially when the going gets tough, so you will definitely want to improve on this if you want to reach your full potential. In the beginning it is best to start off small, something like 3-5% of your weekly mileage. Once you start to get stronger though you will want to increase this to something like 10-15%. You definitely do not want to incorporate hills into your interval or repetition workouts because these are designed to be run fast and to increase your lactic threshold. Instead, it is best to save the hills for temp runs and longer easy runs.
If you are training for a race that has a hill in it and you already know the course layout you can design a workout that simulates the run. So for example, let’s say you are running a 5K and you know there is a hill at about the 3K mark. A good training workout would be to run at or above race pace for 15 minutes or so and then do a few hard laps up a local hill, and finish with another 15 minutes hard. Another great workout to improve your finish is to do short intervals that end up hill. A great workout for this would be to mark off a mile but make sure the finish is at the top of a hill.
There is a ton of different things you can do with hills to spice up your training and increase your strength. Running up hill is comparable to doing squats, lunges, and even leg presses, so if you do not have access to a gym or want to reach your full potential in running then hill running is just what the doctor ordered.
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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance. Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll |
Try Fartlek Training for a Twist in Your Running Speed Work
Running Fartlek
Many runners are looking for new ways to spice up their workouts. One great way to add a twist to your longer runs is with a technique called fartlek. Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning “speed play.” In this post we’ll discuss what it means to fartlek run as well as provide a few sample workouts you can use in practice.
Fartlek running is quite simple but very effective. Basically what you do is run at a normal tempo for a set duration of time and then increase the pace to a speed where you’re close to your lactic threshold or even above it. Generally fartlek runs are longer, usually 30 minutes or more in length, and incorporate 8+ accelerations. The beauty of the fartlek run is that you don’t have to map out any distances, you can either go by time or by feel. If you decide to go with time then a great workout to start with is 40 minutes long and after every four minutes you go hard for one minute. The workout will look something like this:
| Total duration: | 5 minutes | 10 minutes | 15 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 30 minutes | 35 minutes | 40 minutes |
| Intervals in minutes: | 4 light 1 hard | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light | 4 hard 1 light |
If you decide to go by feel then you can run a familiar route and count telephone poles. Fartlek ran in this fashion will look something like 10 telephone poles light, 3 poles hard, 10 poles light, 5 hard, etc. And you don’t have to stop there, there’s a million different ways you can run fartlek, use your imagination and see if you can come up with something new each week. Not only will it spice up your training but doing a totally new workout each week causes you to use different muscles and stress your systems in various ways making your chances of improving that much greater.
Share with us your favorite fartlek training.
Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
7 Top Tips For Running Your First Ironman
So you made the decision to race an ironman and you have been training hard for 20 weeks or so. Now its race day and you are waiting nervously at the start of the swim for the horn to go. Here are a few things to keep in mind throughout the race and to practice in training so that they are not a surprise when you finally get out there.
1. During the swim you are going to want to go as hard as you can for at least 400 meters so that you get a decent position to swim the remaining 3.5 kilometers. There is nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of the pack for the first couple kilometers because by the time you finally get in a rhythm the swim is basically over.
2. Look up every 20 strokes or so. Do not trust that the person in front of you is swimming a straight line. There have been pro triathletes who failed to look up and found themselves a few hundred off the lead pack because they were swimming such a inefficient path.
3. Wear your bike clothes under your wet suit and clip your shoes to your bike pedals. This will save you a couple of minutes in transition and will allow you to concentrate on more important things like putting on sun screen and making sure you have your sunglasses and nutrition.
4. Do not draft! If you are caught drafting it is a hefty penalty at first and if you do it again you are out. Make sure when you go for a pass you do it swiftly and never remain in another riders slipstream. If it is too close to tell then it is better to back off, you are not going to save any time drafting for a few seconds but you definitely will lose time if you get caught.
5. Make sure to hydrate and take calories and salt throughout the bike. Its obvious that you need to hydrate but many athletes often forget that they need sodium as well. Most collapses and end of race muscle cramps are due to a lack of sodium. So before you compete in the race make sure you have been supplementing with salt in your training rides and make sure you have plenty on race day.
6. Do not unlatch your helmet at any point during the ride. If you are caught with your helmet undone at any point on the bike leg its an automatic disqualification.
7. During the run you may want to walk through every other aid station so that you get a chance to thoroughly hydrate and take a few gels. You are almost done so the last thing you would want to do is run out of energy to burn.
Finishing an ironman will probably be one of the greatest achievements of your life. You should visualize the race as much as possible in training and come up with a strategy for every situation you can think of. With hard work and determination there is no doubt that you will complete the race and you will likely catch the triathlon bug in the process.
Biomedical Research Laboratories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
Patent pending EPO-BOOST ingredients have been shown to increase VO2 max and running economy in college athletes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DS_Carroll
EPO BOOST Blog- Transitioning Fast and Flawlessly at Your Next TriathlonMany athletes overlook transitioning and leave it out of their training program. You are not going to win the race on the transition but you can definitely lose it. If you are looking to improve your time by minutes with very little effort then transitioning is where you will get the most bang for your buck. […]
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- Structuring Your Training Season for RunnersHow to Structure a Training Season for Runners Runners often have difficulty structuring a season because they do not really know where to start. It can be a foreboding task when you are six months out from a target race and looking to structure your season in order to meet your goals but as you […]
- 5 Ways to Prepare For Athletic Training ProgramsPreparation for any athletic endeavor should include a good conditioning program. Stretching, strength training, elasticity exercises, endurance training, and nutrition are all components of good conditioning. All athletes need to prepare themselves physically and mentally. The body needs proper nutrition, the right amount of hydration, and most importantly […]
- 5 Wacky Ways to Spice Up Your Training For Your Next MarathonPerhaps you are tired of waking up in the morning and going for just a boring old run. Maybe you are looking to spice up your training or get an edge on the competition. Well you are in luck because in this post we will be discussing some fun and exciting ways to spice up your training that likely are not found in a conventional training plan. […]
- Transitioning Fast and Flawlessly at Your Next Triathlon
