Category: tips

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Yoga For Triathletes

This post is going to be a bit of a rave again. I’m going to talk about the Flexible Warrior Yoga for Triathletes DVD series.  I don’t get any compensation for this review, and I purchased these products myself.

You’re already having to fit in time to swim, bike and run. Then there are bricks to consider, and if you’re really good you have some strength cross-training in there. Maybe you even work in transition skills, or emergency bike repair practice (I haven’t done that last one). And now you’re supposed to fit in Yoga?!?!

Yes! And here’s why:

  1. Stretching. You have to do this anyway, you might as well do it through proven, Eastern, thousand year old techniques.
  2. Strength. Done right, a Yoga workout can be a strength workout only more functional than lifting weights or using machines. Holding a pose is more about muscular endurance than raw power and that’s very important to the endurance athlete.
  3. Balance and core. These can be a little weak in endurance athletes so it’s good to shore them up, especially for…
  4. Injury Prevention. When you get injured, you can’t train, so given that Yoga is a low impact form of cross-training, time spent doing it is like an insurance policy. When I get those little aches and pains, I find it really helps to do a little Yoga.
  5. Days off. It can be inclement weather, the aforementioned aches and pains (or even injury) or even just the chaos of everyday life that keeps you from getting outside and working out. When that happens, having a Yoga DVD handy and knowing it will do you some good can take the edge off the disappointment you feel at having to scrap the original workout.

This DVD series is created and hosted by Karen Dubs. Karen has a lot of familiarity with endurance athletes (stemming from, I believe, an affiliation with Spinnervals’ Troy Jacobsen) and it shows in the videos. The people demonstrating are triathletes of a variety of levels, the sequences are designed to address the issues that triathletes have, and she even forgives athlete’s for the tight calves, hamstrings and hips that might keep them from perfect technique. Karen’s instructions are clear in illustrating what’s important to the technique, while her laid-back attitude keeps you from getting frustrated by any mistakes you might make (e.g. “As long as you’re breathing, I’m happy”).

Volume 1 has 3 different workouts or sequences, each lasting 20-25 minutes. They are titled: Energy, Power, and Flexibility. They can be performed in that order if you have about an hour to devote to your Yoga workout, or you can do them separately.

Energy is a sequence that can be used as a full body warm up before the other sequences or even other workouts. It also includes some core work. The beauty of this one is that it can be performed when your muscles and joints are cold, i.e. first thing in the morning. You don’t need a warm up – it is the warm up! I can tell you that it does indeed energize you and makes it easier to start your day.

The Power sequence may be the most challenging; it certainly is for me, especially since I seem to get the least opportunities to practice it – which is a shame, as some of the poses involve technique and balance that need to improve through practice.  You need to be warmed up to perform it, but when you get through, you’ve broken a real sweat and know you’ve had a workout.

I like to use the Flexibility sequence as a post-workout stretch session when I have the time.  This is the reason Power is the least used: I can do Energy first thing in the morning, and Flexibility post-workout, but Power needs its own timeslot to be a workout unto itself.  The Flexibility sequences poses stretch all the important ones for triathletes, notably opening up the hips, elongating the hamstrings and calves.

I also own Volume 2 of the Flexible Warrior series.  I’ve spent less time with it, so I have less to say about it.  This one has shorter sequences, but more of them, with slightly tweaked goals.  Energy is similar to Volume 1’s version (warm-up).  I’ll make you guess which muscles the Core sequences is designed to address.  The Cross-train sequence is for “total body strength, stability, and endurance for upper and lower body”, while the  Balance and Recovery replaces the Volume 1 Flexibility routine, albeit with more technical poses that work on your balance.

If you’re looking for a small sample of how Yoga can help your triathlon training here’s a link to the article that orignally got my attention.  I have that sequence pretty much memorized, and use it as my bare minimum post run/ride stretch routine. There is even a Flexible Warrior YouTube channel. 

An honourable mention goes to Sage Rountree who also does Yoga for Endurance Athletes.

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Triathlon Training vs. Family or Triathlon Training WITH Family

Disclosure: I didn’t want this post to turn into a shill-fest of promotion, but I did want to give specific examples of things I use and link to them.  All products mentioned in this post were bought and paid for by me or a loved one.  I do not receive any compensation for presenting these.

Family is more important than anything, and certainly more-so than training. Still, you take better care of your family when you take better care of yourself. When you’re able to combine family time with training time, it’s not just good time management – it sets an example to the kids about living an active lifestyle. Some caveats:

  • First of all, I stick to sprint and Olympic distance triathlon; my biggest problem with half- and Iron distance is less about the overall volume of training time , but the uninterrupted stretches of time spent on long rides/runs. It’s simply too much to ask my wife to hold down the fort for that long (besides the time I spend at work). There are those that manage to do Iron distance and claim to balance work and family too (I hope to review David Mills’ “The Distance” soon), but I know what will and won’t work for my family.
  • Second of all, these tips and tricks can’t be *all* of your training regimen. You’ll still have to get out there on your own sometimes.

Endurance Training with Family

My biggest tool in balancing family and training is our Chariot Cougar 2.  Jogging strollers and bike trailers are popular with active families, but what I love about our Chariot is that it’s designed from the ground up to be modular.  If your bike trailer simply add a kit to become a jogging stroller (or vice-versa), the functionality and your experience (including that of your child) will suffer, in my opinion.

I take my son jogging, and sometimes ride on the bike; I’m lucky in that I have a second bike beyond my racing/tri bike that I use for commuting to work sometimes (another time saver/training tip).  The earliest I’d recommend putting them in one of these things is 6 months, but it depends on their neck strength and your individual judgement as to their safety.

We both wear helmets during the bike (he knows it’s time for fun when I break them out of storage in the basement) and the suspension system on the Chariot is adjustable according to his weight (I need to adjust mine soon, he keeps growing!).  I recommend helmets for biking as you are moving faster than while jogging; it’s the law where I live anyway.  The Chariot is designed to have enough room for the helmet as well as the child’s head, which is important to consider.  Finally, if I did take a spill, the hitch is a ball-joint, meaning the carrier would stay upright, guaranteeing safety.

The jogging kit is a little puzzling at first, since the front wheel actually prevents steering with the wheel locked straight ahead, but I’ve realized that keeping a straight line can actually be challenging when your body is jostling at a run.  Try jogging a regular stroller (preferably without the child in it) and watch it weave all over the road – any lateral motion in your upper body translates through the handle to the stroller.  I just pop the front wheel a few inches off the ground when I need to corner.

In addition to biking and jogging, we use our Chariot cross-country skiing, the benefits of which I’ve mentioned here.  That kit is my favourite, because I was shocked to find that skiing while towing the carrier feels so similar to skiing without it – my technique is the same, it’s just a little harder going uphill and a little faster going downhill.  I skied once with my son in a backpack carrier; it really affected my centre of gravity and made me extremely nervous.  The benefit of a backpack carrier is that the child gets some of your body heat, and it’s easier to monitor their temperature and well-being, so if you do take your child out in colder weather, please bundle them up adequately and take a break to check up on them periodically.

I spoke with a sales rep who takes their kids inline skating (there are kits for hiking, regular walking too), but without a hand-brake (other models have this, or you can install one separately, but it looked too complicated for me), and considering my lack of skill on skates, I’ve opted to leave this out.

Pushing/pulling your child’s extra weight requires extra strength, so I recommend using these workouts as a substitute for heavier workouts like speed or hill training.

I haven’t found a way to include swim training in family time, but I do want to recommend swimming lessons from an early age (ours started at 6 months).  It’s a great bonding experience, and giving kids a positive attitude toward the water is the first step in a) teaching them to swim, which may save their lives at some point and b) having a family that likes spending time near the water – important for triathletes!

Strength Training With Family

There’s a lot of back and forth discussion as to how beneficial strength-training is for endurance athletes (as compared to whether they put that time back into swim/bike/run), but if you’re like me, multi-sport appeals because it is multi-faceted, and you want multi-dimensional fitness, so you try to address things like strength, balance and flexibility when they don’t get addressed through swim/bike/run – so here’s some strength training tips for family-oriented athletes.

Immediately after my son’s birth, I used a book called Buff Dad to get back in shape.  Training at home was crucial, because I needed to be on hand/on call even when the baby was sleeping, so a gym or a run wasn’t a great option.  The workouts in the book can be done with a few dumbbells and a Swiss ball.  Though workouts are advertised as taking 30 minutes, I found them to be closer to 40 or 45 in practice; especially if you want to ensure good technique and stretch afterwards (you do).  Still they were strength circuits, which are quite fashionable these days since they save time, and since they also offer a simultaneous cardio challenge (in addition to the strength work) I found the workouts to be right up my alley as a triathlete.

During his waking hours I try to find ways to get extra exercise; chasing kids is exhausting, but it doesn’t burn as many calories as you might think.  If you’re just that tired, I’ve been advised to try and structure games with ball or other toys that have them running around, and you sitting still, but if you want to keep in shape reverse that structure.

There is a whole school of thought dedicated to natural movement and play-based exercise – so why not turn playtime into exercise?  It probably looks like I’m ‘helicopter parenting’ when I follow my boy up onto playground equipment rather than sit on the sidelines (or they just think I’m crazy) but since being a parent means being judged by strangers all the time anyway, I have nothing to lose but calories.

I have even used my son as a weight during squats, lunges and push-ups (with him on my back), or I will adopt a crab walk position

during horseplay (which comes with the occasional bump or bruise, so this is more of a toddler activity than an infant one) and see if he can ride on my torso.  Turning this into a structured workout isn’t necessarily possible since attention spans are even more limited than my endurance, but I do like to squeeze every ounce of potential exercise out of a given moment.

If you ever find time when the kids are in bed or somehow not underfoot, re-connecting with your partner is important for happy family life too.  If you can’t leave the house to go for a run together, for example, there is the Fit2Touch DVD which demonstrates how to get a workout at home using your partner for assistance/resistance; the physical contact involved build intimacy.  It’s a little sexy, so be sure to do it with your partner, not a sibling/buddy!

Integrating physical activity into the family routine is almost more of a mental exercise than a physical one; you need to flex your creativity and create flexibility in your routine but just as the effort goes beyond the physical, so do the rewards.

UPDATE: Here‘s an article about kids, playgrounds and parental activity.

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Motivation, Such an Aggravation

I recently participated in a #fitblog chat (check it out! They can be fun) where a question was asked: what is your daily inspiration?

I found answering it a little tough, as I had been recently in a downward spiral with motivation constantly decreasing.  This summer I had resolved to stick to Sprint triathlons; shorter distances would mean less time away from family, enabling me to help with house and home more.  Ideally, what I would be missing in terms of uninterrupted training time I’d be able to make up with more frequent yet shorter sessions.  Well, for a multitude of reasons, that didn’t happen.  What can I say? Real life (family, social, medical commitments) can get in the way; and they should since they really are more important.

So I’m feeling down about myself as I’m not getting in the training times I should, but I’m not completely out of the running.  Conventional wisdom about ways to stay motivated include:

  1. Train in groups/with buddies.  I rarely do this, as I find I need flexibility to be able to train and other people means scheduling appointments (and keeping them!).  When I train by myself, getting a 15-20 minute late start, but would you want to be kept waiting?
  2. Take inspiration from elites/pros/experts.  I follow a ton of triathletes on Twitter, which ought to be a way for me to feel part of a community, but all it did was make me feel inferior.  This person’s already done Umpteen kilometers today, and I’m not even out of pajamas.  Ho-hum.
The problem was that I was focused on performance based goals (achieving a time that was competitive with prior race performances) and the kind of training I “should” be doing: more frequent, more structured.  When that wasn’t happening, I began to worry, and get down on myself.  Fortunately, I have an angel who reminded me that I do this stuff for fun – and that is so important.  Here are my “new” motivation tips:
  1. Have fun.  Whatever you’re doing, make sure it’s fun for you.  This is your free time, you’re not going to spend it on self-torture.
  2. Anything is better than nothing.  Maybe a 7k tempo run is what would be prescribed for this juncture in time – but you can’t.  Not enough time, not enough energy, whatever… but 3k pushing the jogging stroller is still going to put strength in those legs that wouldn’t be there otherwise.

So that’s it: unless you’re overtraining (no danger of that here!), exercise makes you an alchemist: you are turning time into strength.

P.S. If you figure out how to turn fat into time, please contact me… we’re going to be rich!

      Posted on

      Lessons Learned from my Rookie Year

      I’ve heard of a few people now who want to get into triathlon as one of their first (or the first in a long time) athletic endeavours. Part of me thinks it’s more sensible to get some other kind of endurance event (or several) such as a 5k or 10k running race before diving into the complexities of multisport, but the other part of me wants to just have them get involved in this great sport as soon as possible; I mean, why wait?

      Looking back at my first season, I try to think what the bigger lessons and philosophies I took away were. Some were based on research I had done on my own, others are more rooted in my own choices and personality. They should apply to a rookie/newbie going into a try-a-tri, sprint or short (750m/30km/7.5km) event. Here are the top ten lessons I learned from my first year of doing triathlons.

      1.) Make sure your lane swimming training distance exceeds your race distance. Open water swimming is harder than pool swimming. Waves and wind slow you down (or interfere with your breathing), without the pool lines to keep you straight you end up swimming a zig-zag for extra distance, and of course the traffic of other racers makes for added difficulty too. Stopping at the end of the lane to turn around may not seem like much of a rest while training, but compared to simply stroking continuously through, it’s like a nano-vacation every 25m. Being able to exceed the required distance by about 10% or so ought to do it.

      2.) Train your race, race your training. I keep a very conservative pace while racing; I learned this while running. It doesn’t guarantee your best time or optimal performance, but it’s your best chance to finish and finish strong. Make sure your race pace is as close to your training pace as possible; don’t let the excitement of the race get to you. This is especially important in the swim. At my first event (the highly recommended Milton triathlon) my fiancée/ roadie observed a swimmer who made it as far as the first buoy (about 50m) before having to hang on to it and call for help. While it’s possible this guy simply had showed up to this event without proving to himself he could swim 2 lengths of a pool, I think it’s more likely he got so keyed up that he went like a wild man for 30 seconds and found himself completely gassed. I’d rather keep my head, and when the end is in (figurative) sight, I can use any extra energy (some of which might have been supplied by race-excitement-adrenaline) to sprint to the transition zone/finish line. A heart-rate monitor and/or GPS can help you know how hard you’re going during training and the race (I use the Garmin Forerunner 305 though I used to have the 301).

      3.) During the race, take the outside lane in the swim. I probably did more than 750m of swimming in my races thanks to widening the loop, but I was able to swim at the pace I wanted (see lesson #2) and got a lot less interference from other swimmers. I figure I made up the time I lost swimming extra distance by not having to get untangled from other people.

      4.) Have a roadie. You’ll be carrying a fair bit of gear: bike, helmet, towel, shoes, water bottles/gels, etc. It ought to be possible for one body to manage all that, but I sure appreciated the extra pair of hands. If you don’t have a significant other to rely on, ask a friend to help you as a favour. In a triathlon you get to watch the athletes go by at least 3 times (unlike other kinds of races), so it can be exciting for spectators. In that vein (though from a shallower perspective), a lot of the athletes have really good bodies.

      5.) Spend some time and mental effort on orientation and visualization. The race kit pickup for Milton was actually the day before the event at Kelso conservation area, so I had a good idea of where I’d be entering/exiting the water, how to get my bike in/out of the transition area, and that I’d be starting my run going uphill. When setting up in the transition area, visualize how you want to change your equipment; e.g. do you want to towel off before putting on shoes? Keep in mind that athletes get disqualified for taking their bike off the rack before putting on a helmet. I like to set it up so that putting on the helmet is one of the first things I do.

      6.) Take spinning classes. Getting geared up for bike rides is time consuming, and it’s hard to find the time to get long training rides in. When you do, you spend time at red lights or negotiating traffic that you wish you were devoting to turning the pedals and getting in shape. I was really worried about my cycling ability and endurance, and lasting for an hour in those classes without stopping, while simulating hills and other challenges made all the difference in having a successful season. It gave me bike training during the week, regardless of the weather, which isn’t easy in Canada. Having said all that, you need to get on your real bike sometimes to learn how to deal with the real life issues, and how to use the gears effectively.

      7.) Get speed laces. While there are special triathlon shoes which offer quick entry to minimize the transition time from bike to run, I found a product much like these can be attached to normal running shoes. Not only do you save time on race day, but once you’ve got them on your shoes for training, you’re never bothered about tying a really good knot that won’t come undone while running ever again.

      8.) Beginner/semi-out-of-shape triathletes have an advantage over the elites. More advance triathletes spend big bucks on wet suits to provide buoyancy and insulation against the cold water, then have to learn to get out of them in a hurry while wet, but in my first season I had a natural solution that the rest of them didn’t seem to have access to: body fat. I’m lucky in that I’m used to swimming in fresh (and open) water which isn’t always as warm as a pool, but I do think the body fat I was carrying helped me stay warm enough in the water for the May and June races. I think the water at Milton was 18 degrees Celsius or so, which is too cold for flopping around in the water, but considering I was swimming a race, I generated enough body heat to stay warm during the swim, and was able to transition to the bike without fussing around in a wetsuit. I am buying one this year as I’ve lost a little weight and I’m serious enough about the sport now to merit the expense, but last year was a different story.

      9.) Have water bottles and gels, but don’t bother carrying them on the run. From running half (and one full) marathons, I used to carry a water bottle on a belt so I could hydrate whenever I wanted, instead of the crowded water stations. While a short/sprint triathlon is comparable to a half-marathon in terms of overall endurance, the run is short enough that carrying the bottle was just extra weight, and the stations were more than adequate. I did like having water on the bike ride and I was using gel mid-way through the ride and at the bike-to-run transition.

      10.) Look forward to more. Body marking means everyone can see your age. The few times I’d pass someone, I’d feel proud until I got close enough to see that they were in their upper 40s, 50s or 60s and I was surprised every time, because not only were they performing as younger, they looked it. This sport is so incredibly healthy as it uses muscles throughout your whole body, increases your cardio-vascular endurance, and is quite safe.

      Posted on

      Lessons Learned from my Rookie Year

      I’ve heard of a few people now who want to get into triathlon as one of their first (or the first in a long time) athletic endeavours. Part of me thinks it’s more sensible to get some other kind of endurance event (or several) such as a 5k or 10k running race before diving into the complexities of multisport, but the other part of me wants to just have them get involved in this great sport as soon as possible; I mean, why wait?

      Looking back at my first season, I try to think what the bigger lessons and philosophies I took away were. Some were based on research I had done on my own, others are more rooted in my own choices and personality. They should apply to a rookie/newbie going into a try-a-tri, sprint or short (750m/30km/7.5km) event. Here are the top ten lessons I learned from my first year of doing triathlons.

      1.) Make sure your lane swimming training distance exceeds your race distance. Open water swimming is harder than pool swimming. Waves and wind slow you down (or interfere with your breathing), without the pool lines to keep you straight you end up swimming a zig-zag for extra distance, and of course the traffic of other racers makes for added difficulty too. Stopping at the end of the lane to turn around may not seem like much of a rest while training, but compared to simply stroking continuously through, it’s like a nano-vacation every 25m. Being able to exceed the required distance by about 10% or so ought to do it.

      2.) Train your race, race your training. I keep a very conservative pace while racing; I learned this while running. It doesn’t guarantee your best time or optimal performance, but it’s your best chance to finish and finish strong. Make sure your race pace is as close to your training pace as possible; don’t let the excitement of the race get to you. This is especially important in the swim. At my first event (the highly recommended Milton triathlon) my fiancée/ roadie observed a swimmer who made it as far as the first buoy (about 50m) before having to hang on to it and call for help. While it’s possible this guy simply had showed up to this event without proving to himself he could swim 2 lengths of a pool, I think it’s more likely he got so keyed up that he went like a wild man for 30 seconds and found himself completely gassed. I’d rather keep my head, and when the end is in (figurative) sight, I can use any extra energy (some of which might have been supplied by race-excitement-adrenaline) to sprint to the transition zone/finish line. A heart-rate monitor and/or GPS can help you know how hard you’re going during training and the race (I use the Garmin Forerunner 305 though I used to have the 301).

      3.) During the race, take the outside lane in the swim. I probably did more than 750m of swimming in my races thanks to widening the loop, but I was able to swim at the pace I wanted (see lesson #2) and got a lot less interference from other swimmers. I figure I made up the time I lost swimming extra distance by not having to get untangled from other people.

      4.) Have a roadie. You’ll be carrying a fair bit of gear: bike, helmet, towel, shoes, water bottles/gels, etc. It ought to be possible for one body to manage all that, but I sure appreciated the extra pair of hands. If you don’t have a significant other to rely on, ask a friend to help you as a favour. In a triathlon you get to watch the athletes go by at least 3 times (unlike other kinds of races), so it can be exciting for spectators. In that vein (though from a shallower perspective), a lot of the athletes have really good bodies.

      5.) Spend some time and mental effort on orientation and visualization. The race kit pickup for Milton was actually the day before the event at Kelso conservation area, so I had a good idea of where I’d be entering/exiting the water, how to get my bike in/out of the transition area, and that I’d be starting my run going uphill. When setting up in the transition area, visualize how you want to change your equipment; e.g. do you want to towel off before putting on shoes? Keep in mind that athletes get disqualified for taking their bike off the rack before putting on a helmet. I like to set it up so that putting on the helmet is one of the first things I do.

      6.) Take spinning classes. Getting geared up for bike rides is time consuming, and it’s hard to find the time to get long training rides in. When you do, you spend time at red lights or negotiating traffic that you wish you were devoting to turning the pedals and getting in shape. I was really worried about my cycling ability and endurance, and lasting for an hour in those classes without stopping, while simulating hills and other challenges made all the difference in having a successful season. It gave me bike training during the week, regardless of the weather, which isn’t easy in Canada. Having said all that, you need to get on your real bike sometimes to learn how to deal with the real life issues, and how to use the gears effectively.

      7.) Get speed laces. While there are special triathlon shoes which offer quick entry to minimize the transition time from bike to run, I found a product much like these can be attached to normal running shoes. Not only do you save time on race day, but once you’ve got them on your shoes for training, you’re never bothered about tying a really good knot that won’t come undone while running ever again.

      8.) Beginner/semi-out-of-shape triathletes have an advantage over the elites. More advance triathletes spend big bucks on wet suits to provide buoyancy and insulation against the cold water, then have to learn to get out of them in a hurry while wet, but in my first season I had a natural solution that the rest of them didn’t seem to have access to: body fat. I’m lucky in that I’m used to swimming in fresh (and open) water which isn’t always as warm as a pool, but I do think the body fat I was carrying helped me stay warm enough in the water for the May and June races. I think the water at Milton was 18 degrees Celsius or so, which is too cold for flopping around in the water, but considering I was swimming a race, I generated enough body heat to stay warm during the swim, and was able to transition to the bike without fussing around in a wetsuit. I am buying one this year as I’ve lost a little weight and I’m serious enough about the sport now to merit the expense, but last year was a different story.

      9.) Have water bottles and gels, but don’t bother carrying them on the run. From running half (and one full) marathons, I used to carry a water bottle on a belt so I could hydrate whenever I wanted, instead of the crowded water stations. While a short/sprint triathlon is comparable to a half-marathon in terms of overall endurance, the run is short enough that carrying the bottle was just extra weight, and the stations were more than adequate. I did like having water on the bike ride and I was using gel mid-way through the ride and at the bike-to-run transition.

      10.) Look forward to more. Body marking means everyone can see your age. The few times I’d pass someone, I’d feel proud until I got close enough to see that they were in their upper 40s, 50s or 60s and I was surprised every time, because not only were they performing as younger, they looked it. This sport is so incredibly healthy as it uses muscles throughout your whole body, increases your cardio-vascular endurance, and is quite safe.