Day 1 - Let the learning begin, I signed up for the other stroke clinic where we cover the butterfly, the breast and the back, the three b's. I love Triathlon, so doing things in 3's is the right amount of variety to keep me moving and learning. I was very happy with the clinic, it was for the coaches only. I was able to get into the pool with 12 - 14 other coaches. The butterfly had a gentle introduction and I have to say that the ease of which we moved into it made me realize that struggling was not going to happen today. The quiet progress was as successful as I predicted. I am not a multi stroked swimmer and have only attempted butterfly during masters swims a few times usually with fins and a lot of energy. I was enjoying the relaxed feel and the ease of executing to be sure.
Breast stroke was a function of streamline and timing to get the finesse, the back stroke to be continued tomorrow of course offered the sinus full of water I was expecting and some gravity shifting I would expect for a bi-lateral stroke. Doing the butterfly and breast offered the challenge of changing the focus to something completely different, where the backstroke brought you back to the shift of weight. I enjoyed being in the pool learning again rather than just teaching.
Maria showed up and was showing me her group on the ipad doing their first open water swim after 5 lessons. She is busy as we all are, and as excited about the progress of her athletes as she was in March, very nice to see her again. I got to put some faces to some names on the ticoach list and noticed we had a number of people ranging in experience from months to years, a great mix for a summit.
When we got into the summit it was all business, a little bit of an uphill grind trying to take it all in, but thankfully Shinji is very organized and has made this something we can look up and reflect on later. I was pleased to see that my career path to master coach was laid out, I no longer had to wonder how to get there, Shinji created a map. There is an enormous amount of new information to cover regarding the business side, I hope it is spaced out over the entire weekend.
Sitting in the summit with the coaches around the table made for an interesting introduction time. It makes you curious about everyones experiences, everyones philosophies and how they integrate Total Immersion into their jobs and futures.
This is an optomistic time for Total Immersion in a year where things are so difficult for so many, where success is not guaranteed to those who are willing to work hard at their jobs, learning that going with the flow may actually be the answer to many peoples problems with swimming, one only hopes they find that easy efficient transition into employment and financial security, it begins with balancing the budget, streamlining spending and moving forward. Let's hope this is something we can all learn.
Racing
breaking away....
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Postural Assessment and the Triathlete
Postural Assessment is to see how imperfections in your posture reveal muscle length imbalances. These imbalances can play a roll in injury during training. Most of these imbalances come from having bad postural habits, while sitting and standing while at work, driving and doing our every day activities. Many hours of bad posture can not be reversed by small exercises, they take a conscious effort to correct, you must focus on correct posture while sitting, driving, and doing our every day activities.
Your head should be centered over the shoulders, you have a cervical curve in your spine, a thoracic curve, and a lumbar curve. If any part of those curves is exaggerated or reduced there is a risk of injury. Sitting at our desk with shoulders rolled forward and head reaching forward is enhancing or exaggerating our thoracic (upper back) curve, it lengthens the muscles in the back, shortens the muscles in the back of the neck, lengthens the muscles in the front of the neck and shortens the chest muscles, just by having a forward reaching posture during your work day, you can create a pattern of movement which can lead to shoulder problems.
Keep your head over your shoulders, your shoulders back and down, a small lumbar curve with slight forward tilt of the pelvis and you are sitting correctly, at attention. This will take time to become less work as you have to actively pull your shoulders back if the back muscles have lengthened, now you need to strengthen them. If the pectoral muscles have shortened they need to be stretched, working the back will stretch the chest.
How does this affect the triathlete. Look at your posture during swimming. Freestyle swim is an internal rotation of the shoulder, this shortens the pecs or chest, as it is actively using those muscles. Basically swimming will accentuate bad posture by strengthening the short muscles and lengthening the long muscles. How do you correct this, add external shoulder rotation to your dryland training, add shoulder retraction, work through the middle and lower traps. If you add some back stroke to your workout you will also work at lengthening the muscles that you are shortening, it is a balancing act, it is something you need to focus on all the time, work the muscles in balance, the minute you work one and ignore the other you will see changes in joint mobility and movement patterns.
Rounded lower backs, as we slouch at our desk or hang over the steering wheel we are allowing our lumbar curve to round, constant sitting shortens our hip flexors and lengthens our glutes. The hip is the one area of the body that once it is no longer in balance can cause lower back, hip, knee and foot problems. By shortening one side of the supporting muscles of the hip socket you are creating a new movement pattern for the hip in the socket. When the hip is weak the body will compensate, it will try to use the lower back to do the work. Ever notice on a long ride that if you have one leg that feels powerless that the spinal errectors on that side are tight and get tighter as the ride gets longer. This is a sign you need to work those hips, you need them to do their job.
I have included a PDF of my abbreviated static assessment, it is just for information purposes, to help you see what some of the problems look like in a photo. It is another way to look at things and you may decide it is time to do something about it. Race Season is months away, what better time to make the change than now.
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gflint/GailFlintStaticassessment3.pdf
Your head should be centered over the shoulders, you have a cervical curve in your spine, a thoracic curve, and a lumbar curve. If any part of those curves is exaggerated or reduced there is a risk of injury. Sitting at our desk with shoulders rolled forward and head reaching forward is enhancing or exaggerating our thoracic (upper back) curve, it lengthens the muscles in the back, shortens the muscles in the back of the neck, lengthens the muscles in the front of the neck and shortens the chest muscles, just by having a forward reaching posture during your work day, you can create a pattern of movement which can lead to shoulder problems.Keep your head over your shoulders, your shoulders back and down, a small lumbar curve with slight forward tilt of the pelvis and you are sitting correctly, at attention. This will take time to become less work as you have to actively pull your shoulders back if the back muscles have lengthened, now you need to strengthen them. If the pectoral muscles have shortened they need to be stretched, working the back will stretch the chest.
How does this affect the triathlete. Look at your posture during swimming. Freestyle swim is an internal rotation of the shoulder, this shortens the pecs or chest, as it is actively using those muscles. Basically swimming will accentuate bad posture by strengthening the short muscles and lengthening the long muscles. How do you correct this, add external shoulder rotation to your dryland training, add shoulder retraction, work through the middle and lower traps. If you add some back stroke to your workout you will also work at lengthening the muscles that you are shortening, it is a balancing act, it is something you need to focus on all the time, work the muscles in balance, the minute you work one and ignore the other you will see changes in joint mobility and movement patterns.
Rounded lower backs, as we slouch at our desk or hang over the steering wheel we are allowing our lumbar curve to round, constant sitting shortens our hip flexors and lengthens our glutes. The hip is the one area of the body that once it is no longer in balance can cause lower back, hip, knee and foot problems. By shortening one side of the supporting muscles of the hip socket you are creating a new movement pattern for the hip in the socket. When the hip is weak the body will compensate, it will try to use the lower back to do the work. Ever notice on a long ride that if you have one leg that feels powerless that the spinal errectors on that side are tight and get tighter as the ride gets longer. This is a sign you need to work those hips, you need them to do their job.
I have included a PDF of my abbreviated static assessment, it is just for information purposes, to help you see what some of the problems look like in a photo. It is another way to look at things and you may decide it is time to do something about it. Race Season is months away, what better time to make the change than now.
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gflint/GailFlintStaticassessment3.pdf
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Day 1 Training for Ironman 2012 - Break the process into steps.
Inspiration is one thing you can say happens when you think of Ironman as an accomplishment. I had an email from a truly great mentor and the words rang so true, I have to use them a few times here. Let go of doubts, let go of perception, let go of personal definitions, just be all you can be, be an Ironman.
This Years Goals - injury proof, fastest swim, bike and run next year through focus and fine tuning. Goal on swim 1:47/100 m T1 5 min, Bike 31 km/hr av, T2 4 min, Run 4 hours 15 minutes, race weight 138, nutrition plan is to avoid sugar until end of the bike. Plan for more neutral food, rice and egg wraps, hammer bars, maybe try heed, have been using coconut milk, but finding this hasn't been easy, or cheap.
Step 1 - physical assessment, discover muscular imbalance and work the corrections into my regular workouts. Follow up every 3 months on progress.
Step 2 - Muscular Imbalance Correction - follow a more tailored approach to strength training to gain better function, and injury prevention.
Step 3- Swim/bike/run assessment - using video analysis to reveal any form problems early to have time to focus on correction.
Step 4 - Plan workouts around the corrections, be specific and test regularly to reveal if the plan is working.
Step 5 - Begin race weight plan and nutrition plan to provide the nutrition needed to train at a higher level and recover fully.
Step 6 - Implement plan - each phase of training has its own focus. These focuses are what you will be testing at the end of each phase. If you were to improve technique, has it worked. If so you are moving on to Base training focusing on maintaining your focus while building endurance. The same is true through each phase to maintain your focus under intensity in build and again during racing.
Step 7 - Test, test and test again. Re-assess your physical state, has the corrective work helped, are you moving on to more strength training or are you still working on balancing the muscles. Test your technique, have you been able to make the changes to your technique. Test your speed, are you getting the speed changes you were planning for. Test your nutrition,look over your nutritional diary and see if you are following a proper diet with appropriate recovery meals to allow adequate recovery.
Step 8 - Increase the intensity of everything as you get close to your target. Focused technique with speed sets and endurance sets, bricks of two together. Longer workouts to practice pacing and nutrition.
Step 9 - Write the race strategy you have been building, it includes your focus on technique, your nutrition plan, your pacing plan, your minute by minute focus for the entire race, so you are racing your plan every minute. Plan for adversity, put in what you will do if that happens, leave nothing to chance, if you are mentally rehearsed it will not be a mental blindside on your race, it will be a trained response to adversity. "Fail to plan, plan to fail".
Step 10 - Race your plan.
This Years Goals - injury proof, fastest swim, bike and run next year through focus and fine tuning. Goal on swim 1:47/100 m T1 5 min, Bike 31 km/hr av, T2 4 min, Run 4 hours 15 minutes, race weight 138, nutrition plan is to avoid sugar until end of the bike. Plan for more neutral food, rice and egg wraps, hammer bars, maybe try heed, have been using coconut milk, but finding this hasn't been easy, or cheap.
Step 1 - physical assessment, discover muscular imbalance and work the corrections into my regular workouts. Follow up every 3 months on progress.
Step 2 - Muscular Imbalance Correction - follow a more tailored approach to strength training to gain better function, and injury prevention.
Step 3- Swim/bike/run assessment - using video analysis to reveal any form problems early to have time to focus on correction.
Step 4 - Plan workouts around the corrections, be specific and test regularly to reveal if the plan is working.
Step 5 - Begin race weight plan and nutrition plan to provide the nutrition needed to train at a higher level and recover fully.
Step 6 - Implement plan - each phase of training has its own focus. These focuses are what you will be testing at the end of each phase. If you were to improve technique, has it worked. If so you are moving on to Base training focusing on maintaining your focus while building endurance. The same is true through each phase to maintain your focus under intensity in build and again during racing.
Step 7 - Test, test and test again. Re-assess your physical state, has the corrective work helped, are you moving on to more strength training or are you still working on balancing the muscles. Test your technique, have you been able to make the changes to your technique. Test your speed, are you getting the speed changes you were planning for. Test your nutrition,look over your nutritional diary and see if you are following a proper diet with appropriate recovery meals to allow adequate recovery.
Step 8 - Increase the intensity of everything as you get close to your target. Focused technique with speed sets and endurance sets, bricks of two together. Longer workouts to practice pacing and nutrition.
Step 9 - Write the race strategy you have been building, it includes your focus on technique, your nutrition plan, your pacing plan, your minute by minute focus for the entire race, so you are racing your plan every minute. Plan for adversity, put in what you will do if that happens, leave nothing to chance, if you are mentally rehearsed it will not be a mental blindside on your race, it will be a trained response to adversity. "Fail to plan, plan to fail".
Step 10 - Race your plan.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Ironman in one Year
Ironman is the biggest draw, the biggest dream and the biggest undertaking in Triathlon. I am surprised how quickly people jump onto the Ironman wagon once they have a try of their first Triathlon. I get to meet them, I know people who try an Ironman without ever having done a Triathlon, I guess when you don't know what you are in for, that could be the charm.
This year I have had many athletes training for 1/2 Ironmans as their goal for their first year of Triathlon and a few who chose both the 1/2 and Ironman for their first year. How do you even begin.
First - how fit are you?
In order to do the repetitious training of swim, bike and run without getting an injury, I am usually pushing these athletes to build their core, hips and shoulders. This is essentially the off season training we begin with, getting in some bootcamp style biking with weights and core all focusing on the sports they will be training in. We spend a few months here. The aerobic is not the focus, but it is present throughout the training, you never want to lose your run fitness, so we keep the distances shorter.
For the swim, I focus on Technique. This year the focus will be more specific on technique until Base Training. If I am completely intent on getting the stroke perfected then as we move closer to race day, the stress of the swim increases and the shift of focus becomes endurance and speed. These both work against hanging onto new technique changes. Why, just because the focus on the individual is no longer on what they are doing in the water, but how far and how fast, these are never good focuses when technique is the need.
Run training, over the last year the run intensity was brought up during base, I do hills and we did a few intervals. I may put this one off a little longer to avoid the injuries that come with it, and an early peak (pre-race). Athletes are insistent on training harder all the time, as a coach you are there to keep them on track. Peaking too soon is a problem of increasing intensity too soon. This year I see hill climbing as part of the program again. Other years I have done this, it is a great learning experience for form and using gravity to your advantage, it builds strength and foot and ankle strength. This workout also keeps training interesting when we get outside, it isn't road running, it isn't treadmill running.
Bike Training, this last year the workouts were not easy, we kept to the classroom and the midweek workouts were done on trainers. It is really hard to assess a bike fit and form when you are on a spin bike. I may need to run a few individual classes where we bring in the bikes and trainers and do a workout that way. Heart rate testing on the bike sounds like the ticket, we may be able to pull this one off.
Base Training - this is where we begin to build in the volume, there is a long bike, long run and a long swim. We progress slowly, so the longer away from you event you begin your base the slower you can afford to build, this allows for the best peak on race day. You need a really great base in order to sustain the build and peak. I keep the core, shoulder stability and hip mobility involved all the way through the base phase.
The midweek training is starting to look like triathlon training with strength. We are doing longer bootcamps to try to build the endurance in and keep the intensity high. The nutrition side of training is important, so this particular long highly intense day makes people learn what will work on race day and what won't. Lately I think we need to keep this day in all the way to race day. We are losing our hardness heading into the races that happen further away from Bootcamp. I have tried to write it in, but I think the intensity of a class based training is higher than individual training. This year I will be changing this. I will keep the Friday Class running through the summer when I can.
I may need to shorten some rides to encourage higher intensity practice on the bike, but this only works for people in their second or third year of Ironman training. That first year is spent mostly in volume and endurance building so that on race day it is no question they can finish and they have a set pace they can dial into.
Swim Training becomes more about holding good technique over longer sets. We are starting to do some base line timings to see where we are at in relationship to our goals. Technique is the focus, but we are having to hold it longer each time.
Build - this is where we are starting to reach maximum volumes, we are increasing the intensity of our midweek workouts and getting our continuous open water swims in. We practice tactics in the water and nutrition strategies on the bike, to see what will work for race day. The shorter runs are becoming threshold intervals held longer and longer,the long run is reaching peak volume, 2 times before race day. Build is usually done once we are outside for our training. So their is a shift that happens here where the whole biking changes, the will to do intervals is gone as people don't like to fight headwinds and hills. It becomes less inviting to do your hard bike in the rain, I think indoor training may help this coming year, or less rain.
Peak - when we are peaking we have achieved all of our maximum distances, all of our hardest workouts and we are beginning the recovery and sharpening phase. You will reduce your volume and start to hit your race pace as everything shortens up. You are making sure any injuries are fully tended to before race day. THis is your time to gather your energy for the race. Focus, Focus, Focus, write a race strategy, do not leave the race to chance, have checklists be prepared, you trained all year for this make sure you plan the day and have ways of dealing with adversity on the fly during your race.
Race Day - Ironman is for the first timer a trial to see if you have what it takes, it is realizing your potential, you will ask yourself many times during this event, "What was I thinking?" "I can't do this". That is negative thoughts, they can rule your day, so practice the rebuttal and understand that you have what it takes, any thought in your brain should be focused on executing your race.
During the swim, your focus is on technique, pace, sighting, stay focused and you will have your best swim, do not think about what others are doing, you can only control what you are doing, it is your race.
Transition, be brief and prepared, know what you are getting, get it and go. You can easily take 3 minutes off transition by being clear about why you are there, rehearsing how you will get dressed so that you get your jersey on before your helmet.
Biking, focus on pace and nutrition. The aid stations are a set time apart, this allows you to use each aid station as a reminder to take electrolytes, drink a bottle of water in between every 2 aid stations if they are an hour apart, remember to eat so many calories every 2 aid stations. Focus on cadence and perceived effort, remember you have to do a Marathon when you get off the bike.
The Marathon, you will meet so many people who want to talk to you on the run, this makes it enjoyable, you should focus on one mile at a time and walk while you drink at the aid station. If speed is your goal and you are new to this, this strategy works, your legs get a break and a stretch and you will actually catch up to anyone who didn't take the small walk break. Your legs will last longer and prevent cramping when you take those short walk breaks, plus you get to drink your fluid without tossing it into you lungs instead.
When you get to the finish chute, it was only 1 year ago you signed up, you asked yourself all year, can I do this? If you can do the training you can do the race. Raise your arms up with whatever little energy you have left and smile as big as you can, look for the camera keep the arms up keep smiling until you see the flash, at that point you have also heard those words "You are an Ironman!" Enjoy this moment and let it all sink in, let them take off your timing chip, if you bend down now, you might black out. Take time to walk it down until you feel okay and have a bite to eat. If you aren't feeling well, haven't peed in forever, get to the medic tent let them check you out. If they do IV here it is less trouble than heading into a hospital waiting room the following day.
If you are a repeating Ironman, never take those words for granted "You are an Ironman". You earn this every year, it is something you will understand that circumstances change and one day this may not be something you can accomplish, you will look back on every one you did as a great memory. We all get focused on always getting better, but honestly that we do it, is what is important. That you can do it, is what you need to cherish. Life is about the journey, this journey to Ironman is the road less travelled for sure. What you will know when you are done, is that when you put your mind to something and follow it through with hard work and planning, you can do it. If you can do Ironman, what else can you do, it becomes an instant feeling of freedom, we have gotten rid of our limits, we can achieve anything we put our minds to.
Post Race - now is the time to finally mow the lawn, visit the friends you haven't seen in the last year, eat the food you denied yourself and look at the finishers photos. It feels like so long ago already. Time to sign up again.
This year I have had many athletes training for 1/2 Ironmans as their goal for their first year of Triathlon and a few who chose both the 1/2 and Ironman for their first year. How do you even begin.
First - how fit are you?
In order to do the repetitious training of swim, bike and run without getting an injury, I am usually pushing these athletes to build their core, hips and shoulders. This is essentially the off season training we begin with, getting in some bootcamp style biking with weights and core all focusing on the sports they will be training in. We spend a few months here. The aerobic is not the focus, but it is present throughout the training, you never want to lose your run fitness, so we keep the distances shorter.
For the swim, I focus on Technique. This year the focus will be more specific on technique until Base Training. If I am completely intent on getting the stroke perfected then as we move closer to race day, the stress of the swim increases and the shift of focus becomes endurance and speed. These both work against hanging onto new technique changes. Why, just because the focus on the individual is no longer on what they are doing in the water, but how far and how fast, these are never good focuses when technique is the need.
Run training, over the last year the run intensity was brought up during base, I do hills and we did a few intervals. I may put this one off a little longer to avoid the injuries that come with it, and an early peak (pre-race). Athletes are insistent on training harder all the time, as a coach you are there to keep them on track. Peaking too soon is a problem of increasing intensity too soon. This year I see hill climbing as part of the program again. Other years I have done this, it is a great learning experience for form and using gravity to your advantage, it builds strength and foot and ankle strength. This workout also keeps training interesting when we get outside, it isn't road running, it isn't treadmill running.
Bike Training, this last year the workouts were not easy, we kept to the classroom and the midweek workouts were done on trainers. It is really hard to assess a bike fit and form when you are on a spin bike. I may need to run a few individual classes where we bring in the bikes and trainers and do a workout that way. Heart rate testing on the bike sounds like the ticket, we may be able to pull this one off.
Base Training - this is where we begin to build in the volume, there is a long bike, long run and a long swim. We progress slowly, so the longer away from you event you begin your base the slower you can afford to build, this allows for the best peak on race day. You need a really great base in order to sustain the build and peak. I keep the core, shoulder stability and hip mobility involved all the way through the base phase.
The midweek training is starting to look like triathlon training with strength. We are doing longer bootcamps to try to build the endurance in and keep the intensity high. The nutrition side of training is important, so this particular long highly intense day makes people learn what will work on race day and what won't. Lately I think we need to keep this day in all the way to race day. We are losing our hardness heading into the races that happen further away from Bootcamp. I have tried to write it in, but I think the intensity of a class based training is higher than individual training. This year I will be changing this. I will keep the Friday Class running through the summer when I can.
I may need to shorten some rides to encourage higher intensity practice on the bike, but this only works for people in their second or third year of Ironman training. That first year is spent mostly in volume and endurance building so that on race day it is no question they can finish and they have a set pace they can dial into.
Swim Training becomes more about holding good technique over longer sets. We are starting to do some base line timings to see where we are at in relationship to our goals. Technique is the focus, but we are having to hold it longer each time.
Build - this is where we are starting to reach maximum volumes, we are increasing the intensity of our midweek workouts and getting our continuous open water swims in. We practice tactics in the water and nutrition strategies on the bike, to see what will work for race day. The shorter runs are becoming threshold intervals held longer and longer,the long run is reaching peak volume, 2 times before race day. Build is usually done once we are outside for our training. So their is a shift that happens here where the whole biking changes, the will to do intervals is gone as people don't like to fight headwinds and hills. It becomes less inviting to do your hard bike in the rain, I think indoor training may help this coming year, or less rain.
Peak - when we are peaking we have achieved all of our maximum distances, all of our hardest workouts and we are beginning the recovery and sharpening phase. You will reduce your volume and start to hit your race pace as everything shortens up. You are making sure any injuries are fully tended to before race day. THis is your time to gather your energy for the race. Focus, Focus, Focus, write a race strategy, do not leave the race to chance, have checklists be prepared, you trained all year for this make sure you plan the day and have ways of dealing with adversity on the fly during your race.
Race Day - Ironman is for the first timer a trial to see if you have what it takes, it is realizing your potential, you will ask yourself many times during this event, "What was I thinking?" "I can't do this". That is negative thoughts, they can rule your day, so practice the rebuttal and understand that you have what it takes, any thought in your brain should be focused on executing your race.
During the swim, your focus is on technique, pace, sighting, stay focused and you will have your best swim, do not think about what others are doing, you can only control what you are doing, it is your race.
Transition, be brief and prepared, know what you are getting, get it and go. You can easily take 3 minutes off transition by being clear about why you are there, rehearsing how you will get dressed so that you get your jersey on before your helmet.
Biking, focus on pace and nutrition. The aid stations are a set time apart, this allows you to use each aid station as a reminder to take electrolytes, drink a bottle of water in between every 2 aid stations if they are an hour apart, remember to eat so many calories every 2 aid stations. Focus on cadence and perceived effort, remember you have to do a Marathon when you get off the bike.
The Marathon, you will meet so many people who want to talk to you on the run, this makes it enjoyable, you should focus on one mile at a time and walk while you drink at the aid station. If speed is your goal and you are new to this, this strategy works, your legs get a break and a stretch and you will actually catch up to anyone who didn't take the small walk break. Your legs will last longer and prevent cramping when you take those short walk breaks, plus you get to drink your fluid without tossing it into you lungs instead.
When you get to the finish chute, it was only 1 year ago you signed up, you asked yourself all year, can I do this? If you can do the training you can do the race. Raise your arms up with whatever little energy you have left and smile as big as you can, look for the camera keep the arms up keep smiling until you see the flash, at that point you have also heard those words "You are an Ironman!" Enjoy this moment and let it all sink in, let them take off your timing chip, if you bend down now, you might black out. Take time to walk it down until you feel okay and have a bite to eat. If you aren't feeling well, haven't peed in forever, get to the medic tent let them check you out. If they do IV here it is less trouble than heading into a hospital waiting room the following day.
If you are a repeating Ironman, never take those words for granted "You are an Ironman". You earn this every year, it is something you will understand that circumstances change and one day this may not be something you can accomplish, you will look back on every one you did as a great memory. We all get focused on always getting better, but honestly that we do it, is what is important. That you can do it, is what you need to cherish. Life is about the journey, this journey to Ironman is the road less travelled for sure. What you will know when you are done, is that when you put your mind to something and follow it through with hard work and planning, you can do it. If you can do Ironman, what else can you do, it becomes an instant feeling of freedom, we have gotten rid of our limits, we can achieve anything we put our minds to.
Post Race - now is the time to finally mow the lawn, visit the friends you haven't seen in the last year, eat the food you denied yourself and look at the finishers photos. It feels like so long ago already. Time to sign up again.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Running Injuries and Triathlon Racing
Triathlon training is the best form of training even if you are only doing running events. Most runners come to triathlon after injury to benefit from the crosstraining. In triathlon training, the biggest risk still comes from run training. I have suffered from plantar fasciitis, achilles tendinosis, partial tear of the achilles, stress fracture of the 5th metatarsal,muscle tears and tendon ruptures.
Some of the solutions to these problems are not as expensive as you think. For Plantar Fasciitis I began with the most expensive which was a $400.00 orthotics, that ended miserably. I ran a race in what was told to me to be a sports orthotic and ended up with an immense red bruise on the arch of my foot. I surrendered these to the back of my closet and purchased Sole's Heat Moldables for approximately 40 dollars. These helped me get over my issue and allowed me to continue running.
I looked back on my running history as I was a distance runner in high school. I remember every 3 years having to take a year off because of my feet being too sore to walk, I guess I have been battling this for my entire running life. I figured if I have always had to stop I must be doing something wrong. I purchased Chi Running and read that tried it and realized the writing was not to the degree where you could self teach, so I purchased Pose Running. This is a book you can learn from. I began to switch my running style, but did this slowly, the brain takes a lot of time to reprogram. I also introduced hip strength work into my regular running schedule. This is essential to allow your hips to be free and stable while running. I was starting to have success.
I decided to purchase Newton shoes and loved them, they were a little tricky as they had a negative angle from forefoot to heel, a slightly elevated forefoot is opposite to every shoe on the market, so you have to expect your body to not be totally happy with this. I enjoyed midfoot running and started to feel like I could train running again. I began training for longer ultra's, the Canadian Death Race was the goal.
I used mizunos runners for most of my training as it was trail and not road running, so the Newtons would have to wait. My first attempt to solo the Death Race had me coming down the back side of Leg 2 during the rain and on a slippery clay slope. I fell numerous times and landed on my feet with by body, crushing them many times. I made it out to leg 4 and pulled the plug. I had feet so swollen I couldn't walk without shoes due to the bruised bones. I still managed to do Ironman Canada 4 weeks later in my Newton's taking is really easy. I began teaching aerobics shortly after and ended up going for x-rays as stepping sideways was too painful. I had a stress fracture of the 5th Metatarsal.
I tried to keep teaching while injured and tore a tendon in my ankle from compensating and always rolling my weight inwards away from my little toe where the pain was. This is unfortunately how we all go downhill, we refuse to listen to our bodies and stop before we make things worse.
The Newton's hit the bin shortly after my next 1/2 Ironman. While running in a shoe that has lugs under the metatarsal you will always have something pushing up on your broken metatarsal, any other shoe, doesn't specifically put individual pressure evenly across your metatarsals, you can compensate to a degree. During that run, I suffered a lot more tendonitis issues than I care to say. I spent 21 km trying to avoid landing on my foot.
Due to fighting issues all the time I research a lot of solutions, after the fact. Blisters, I recommend Injinji socks, they are toe socks, they separate your toes so that the blisters from overlap do not occur, this was a fantastic discovery and I still put them on for 1/2 Ironman and full Ironman events, shorter events I go sockless.
Bigger shoes, so many of us try to find something that our toes reach the end of, this isn't smart is you want to save your toenails. You also blister and get foot pain from a shoe that binds the toes and keeps them from spreading out. I have found that my zoot zoonies with the carbon arch are like slippers, I do not feel them on my feet, they are light racer /trainers and have only the arch, no other stability in them. I have purchased Vibram toe shoes, but due to my inability to start over after a run break, I will put those into the plan for this year.
Proper treatment, I discovered graston technique from my Chiropractor. THis is a treatment where the scar tissue is broken up with a metal tool, he usually follows the treatment up with ultrasound. After the treatment I would train to restore range of motion to the area again. This has helped more than other treatments I have tried. I also use Magnesium Gluconate or Magnesium Citrate to help with reabsorbing the calcium from the scar tissue.
Essentially fatigue is one of the leading causes of injury along with footwear. We wear a shoe that determines how our foot will work. Essentially most shoes prevent your foot from working at all. So the muscles and bones and tendons are not being built up to sustain the impact as they are always cushioned. If you remove the shoes, build up the feet by building in foot exercises, barefoot walking in toe shoes, trail hiking is great for building ankle and foot strength. Build up slowly to allow your body to adapt and not get stressed to injury.
This is hard to do for people who are always doing long events, my suggestion is to do it now and pass on the long events for a year, build up your feet and legs, your mobility in your hips to allow your knees to be stable, build up your medial glutes to allow your leg to support the body with perfect alignment. Build up your core so that you can keep your posture while you do your events.
Fatigue is a sign that you have passed the point where you can hold your posture correctly to allow your body to function in the normal range. When your posture starts to go, the injuries start to mount, the tracking of the legs gets sloppy, the ability to stabilize your joints on impact becomes more difficult.
I give hip strength work to the athletes I train, it happens right after a run. I thought this was the answer. I now watch and realize if they are not in proper posture they are working the wrong muscles. To do a side leg raise to work on your medial glutes is a good idea, but it you point your toe up, you are moving into the hip flexor, you need to lead with the heal to ensure you are using the medial glute. There are so many small adjustments we make that we do not know, this is where we need help.
I am now writing more specific hip mobility work, it works like dynamic stretching with strength. I am putting people through many exercises that force them to always engage proper posture for each move. Mostly we do not use weight, but the results are looking up. It is an incredibly tough workout to execute properly, so I think this year I will be doing classes specifically on posture and mobility for strength work.
How does this translate into how this article began, the solution to preventing running injuries is to properly assess your current muscular balance, your mobility, and your posture. By correcting the posture problems we can then execute the exercises in the correct range that our body was built. By addressing our limited mobility we can begin to correct the chain reaction for injury. If your hip is meant to be mobile and you are stabilizing it (protecting it), then the mobility or movement will come from your lower back and your knee. Your lower back is not meant to be that flexible, so lower back issues become a problem. Your knees are meant to be stable, not mobile, so if you have no mobility in the hip it will force your knee to become more mobile. This is a recipe for knee issues, ankle and foot issues, the chain moves up and down the body.
If you can balance your body, correct the flaws, improve your daily posture to where you are running with perfect posture and form, there are fewer issues that can come up. If you read the research, injuries come from the footwear, try to build your body up to handle the stress of training, that includes your feet. Try to get rid of the cushioning shoes and allow your body to work the way it was meant to. Get up from your sitting position many times a day and do glute and posture activation exercises so that the fatigue of sitting doesn't cause a permanent posture problem. These are all things we can do to ensure we stay healthy.
Run training is enjoyable when it doesn't hurt. When it does hurt, you want to understand why, do not ignore it. Treat your body like your temple or hot sports car, treat it with TLC.
Some of the solutions to these problems are not as expensive as you think. For Plantar Fasciitis I began with the most expensive which was a $400.00 orthotics, that ended miserably. I ran a race in what was told to me to be a sports orthotic and ended up with an immense red bruise on the arch of my foot. I surrendered these to the back of my closet and purchased Sole's Heat Moldables for approximately 40 dollars. These helped me get over my issue and allowed me to continue running.
I looked back on my running history as I was a distance runner in high school. I remember every 3 years having to take a year off because of my feet being too sore to walk, I guess I have been battling this for my entire running life. I figured if I have always had to stop I must be doing something wrong. I purchased Chi Running and read that tried it and realized the writing was not to the degree where you could self teach, so I purchased Pose Running. This is a book you can learn from. I began to switch my running style, but did this slowly, the brain takes a lot of time to reprogram. I also introduced hip strength work into my regular running schedule. This is essential to allow your hips to be free and stable while running. I was starting to have success.
I decided to purchase Newton shoes and loved them, they were a little tricky as they had a negative angle from forefoot to heel, a slightly elevated forefoot is opposite to every shoe on the market, so you have to expect your body to not be totally happy with this. I enjoyed midfoot running and started to feel like I could train running again. I began training for longer ultra's, the Canadian Death Race was the goal.
I used mizunos runners for most of my training as it was trail and not road running, so the Newtons would have to wait. My first attempt to solo the Death Race had me coming down the back side of Leg 2 during the rain and on a slippery clay slope. I fell numerous times and landed on my feet with by body, crushing them many times. I made it out to leg 4 and pulled the plug. I had feet so swollen I couldn't walk without shoes due to the bruised bones. I still managed to do Ironman Canada 4 weeks later in my Newton's taking is really easy. I began teaching aerobics shortly after and ended up going for x-rays as stepping sideways was too painful. I had a stress fracture of the 5th Metatarsal.
I tried to keep teaching while injured and tore a tendon in my ankle from compensating and always rolling my weight inwards away from my little toe where the pain was. This is unfortunately how we all go downhill, we refuse to listen to our bodies and stop before we make things worse.
The Newton's hit the bin shortly after my next 1/2 Ironman. While running in a shoe that has lugs under the metatarsal you will always have something pushing up on your broken metatarsal, any other shoe, doesn't specifically put individual pressure evenly across your metatarsals, you can compensate to a degree. During that run, I suffered a lot more tendonitis issues than I care to say. I spent 21 km trying to avoid landing on my foot.
Due to fighting issues all the time I research a lot of solutions, after the fact. Blisters, I recommend Injinji socks, they are toe socks, they separate your toes so that the blisters from overlap do not occur, this was a fantastic discovery and I still put them on for 1/2 Ironman and full Ironman events, shorter events I go sockless.
Bigger shoes, so many of us try to find something that our toes reach the end of, this isn't smart is you want to save your toenails. You also blister and get foot pain from a shoe that binds the toes and keeps them from spreading out. I have found that my zoot zoonies with the carbon arch are like slippers, I do not feel them on my feet, they are light racer /trainers and have only the arch, no other stability in them. I have purchased Vibram toe shoes, but due to my inability to start over after a run break, I will put those into the plan for this year.
Proper treatment, I discovered graston technique from my Chiropractor. THis is a treatment where the scar tissue is broken up with a metal tool, he usually follows the treatment up with ultrasound. After the treatment I would train to restore range of motion to the area again. This has helped more than other treatments I have tried. I also use Magnesium Gluconate or Magnesium Citrate to help with reabsorbing the calcium from the scar tissue.
Essentially fatigue is one of the leading causes of injury along with footwear. We wear a shoe that determines how our foot will work. Essentially most shoes prevent your foot from working at all. So the muscles and bones and tendons are not being built up to sustain the impact as they are always cushioned. If you remove the shoes, build up the feet by building in foot exercises, barefoot walking in toe shoes, trail hiking is great for building ankle and foot strength. Build up slowly to allow your body to adapt and not get stressed to injury.
This is hard to do for people who are always doing long events, my suggestion is to do it now and pass on the long events for a year, build up your feet and legs, your mobility in your hips to allow your knees to be stable, build up your medial glutes to allow your leg to support the body with perfect alignment. Build up your core so that you can keep your posture while you do your events.
Fatigue is a sign that you have passed the point where you can hold your posture correctly to allow your body to function in the normal range. When your posture starts to go, the injuries start to mount, the tracking of the legs gets sloppy, the ability to stabilize your joints on impact becomes more difficult.
I give hip strength work to the athletes I train, it happens right after a run. I thought this was the answer. I now watch and realize if they are not in proper posture they are working the wrong muscles. To do a side leg raise to work on your medial glutes is a good idea, but it you point your toe up, you are moving into the hip flexor, you need to lead with the heal to ensure you are using the medial glute. There are so many small adjustments we make that we do not know, this is where we need help.
I am now writing more specific hip mobility work, it works like dynamic stretching with strength. I am putting people through many exercises that force them to always engage proper posture for each move. Mostly we do not use weight, but the results are looking up. It is an incredibly tough workout to execute properly, so I think this year I will be doing classes specifically on posture and mobility for strength work.
How does this translate into how this article began, the solution to preventing running injuries is to properly assess your current muscular balance, your mobility, and your posture. By correcting the posture problems we can then execute the exercises in the correct range that our body was built. By addressing our limited mobility we can begin to correct the chain reaction for injury. If your hip is meant to be mobile and you are stabilizing it (protecting it), then the mobility or movement will come from your lower back and your knee. Your lower back is not meant to be that flexible, so lower back issues become a problem. Your knees are meant to be stable, not mobile, so if you have no mobility in the hip it will force your knee to become more mobile. This is a recipe for knee issues, ankle and foot issues, the chain moves up and down the body.
If you can balance your body, correct the flaws, improve your daily posture to where you are running with perfect posture and form, there are fewer issues that can come up. If you read the research, injuries come from the footwear, try to build your body up to handle the stress of training, that includes your feet. Try to get rid of the cushioning shoes and allow your body to work the way it was meant to. Get up from your sitting position many times a day and do glute and posture activation exercises so that the fatigue of sitting doesn't cause a permanent posture problem. These are all things we can do to ensure we stay healthy.
Run training is enjoyable when it doesn't hurt. When it does hurt, you want to understand why, do not ignore it. Treat your body like your temple or hot sports car, treat it with TLC.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Success - better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all
Triathlon for the newbie is about a big adventure into something foreign and completely overwhelming with experiences. Mostly people are afraid to do the first things, they worry about not being successful. Eventually they build their courage and commit to do a race. No matter how that race turns out, it is a success when they cross the finish line, they are hooked. Their fears were overwhelming at first, they had adrenaline pumping through their veins and the euphoria that met them at the finish line was something they wanted more of.
Triathlon is a great sport, it has a ladder of race distances, this is great for success, if you have finished one distance you can now challenge yourself to go further next time. What a great idea to keep putting bigger options, allow them to start small and build.
Long time racers look at success as a personal best. There is a point in a persons racing where getting a personal best is pretty tough. This is probably the time they leave the sport as they no longer feel successful.
I want to reflect on the success I see as a coach. I took a group for a swim bike run this weekend. They were there before me, helping the race director clean up the course. I was so proud of them to see them enjoying each others company in the frigid cold wind and temperatures, trying to help a great guy with a great race. That was success, they came together and enjoyed a really cold time towards a greater good.
Next we went into the water, already some of us frozen from standing in the cold on the beach. We did a warm up swim and then set out for a couple laps to swim the 2 kms. I had a swimmer doing his first time in a wetsuit and had a pretty normal experience of tight chest, hard time breathing, hard to relax. He slowed himself, he calmed himself down, he kept up even though his goggles were solid fog, we made it around the buoys and on the last leg in he calmed into a regular swim rhythm. Completely overwhelmed, he didn't see the success. I am amazed that he got a wetsuit on, got into a dark cold body of water with not pleasant surroundings and expected himself to adapt so quickly. He did an amazing job and just looked at the others thinking he was not like them. Only the week before one of those swimmers took her first dip and had a similar unsettling experience. She swim the 2 kms on her second open water swim with no issues. They both had success, it is all small steps. Soon we get to the point where the challenge is gone and we get bored. Do we need more challenged, more adversity to keep us going?
Next we headed out on the bike, I gave them some suggestions on what to do with cadence and gearing into the headwind and back with the tailwind. It was one persons first time in an aero helmet. It was a hard headwind and success for some was being able to stay aero at times, for some it was trying to hold the suggested cadence because everything in their mind said do something else. One person found her success by not being last and was very proud of her achievement and worked hard for it.
During our ride we had reports coming through the cell phones of people racing that day, their successes.
Onto the brick run, we went out easy and came back at a race pace (1/2 Ironman race pace). For some it was okay, for some it was an experience where they finally felt like this race is theirs, they are going to be okay, they could do it. They achieved success by simply coming out and facing their fears.
As a coach you should set up situations where there are condiitons that need to be met, controlling cadence or output, some learning experience where when they finish they have learned something about themselves as a racer, they have had a successful training day, they didn't do junk miles.
My reminder to those searching for success, do not leave the sport to look for new challenges. Look for things that improve your own experience. Sometimes you may find in other peoples success you will find your own. You learn so much from all your years of training, when you share that with the new people who join in the group, you will see them take that knowledge and build on it. I am seeing some of the group rise up to some high levels right now. There is always something we can work on to make ourselves, better in the sport, more knowledgable about ourselves as racers, and a better mentor to those coming in.
I see success in everyone I coach, but the universal truth is that for those of us who set the bar high, whenever we get close enough to meet our definition of success, we quickly raise the bar up higher. I have people write goals down when they begin. The first year you get things like survive, finish, try a race. The second year, the expectation of success becomes a burden. They worry about whether they can match their new definition of success. If their goal was to be a better swimmer, biker, runner, injury free and healthy, that goal would be easy to attain, they would be improving every year and looking after their health as they did so. This is how I view them, always improving, always taking on new challenges, hopefully finding balance.
Not all goals allow for success. Try to see the success in all you do, be happy we have the freedom to do a sport. Support the races you love to do so that they will be their in the future. Be gracious to the volunteers who make the races possible so that we can go challenge ourselves on our annual goals. Look for the success in all you have achieved so far, and allow future goals to inspire you to reach further.
Keep up the swimming, biking and running.
Triathlon is a great sport, it has a ladder of race distances, this is great for success, if you have finished one distance you can now challenge yourself to go further next time. What a great idea to keep putting bigger options, allow them to start small and build.
Long time racers look at success as a personal best. There is a point in a persons racing where getting a personal best is pretty tough. This is probably the time they leave the sport as they no longer feel successful.
I want to reflect on the success I see as a coach. I took a group for a swim bike run this weekend. They were there before me, helping the race director clean up the course. I was so proud of them to see them enjoying each others company in the frigid cold wind and temperatures, trying to help a great guy with a great race. That was success, they came together and enjoyed a really cold time towards a greater good.
Next we went into the water, already some of us frozen from standing in the cold on the beach. We did a warm up swim and then set out for a couple laps to swim the 2 kms. I had a swimmer doing his first time in a wetsuit and had a pretty normal experience of tight chest, hard time breathing, hard to relax. He slowed himself, he calmed himself down, he kept up even though his goggles were solid fog, we made it around the buoys and on the last leg in he calmed into a regular swim rhythm. Completely overwhelmed, he didn't see the success. I am amazed that he got a wetsuit on, got into a dark cold body of water with not pleasant surroundings and expected himself to adapt so quickly. He did an amazing job and just looked at the others thinking he was not like them. Only the week before one of those swimmers took her first dip and had a similar unsettling experience. She swim the 2 kms on her second open water swim with no issues. They both had success, it is all small steps. Soon we get to the point where the challenge is gone and we get bored. Do we need more challenged, more adversity to keep us going?
Next we headed out on the bike, I gave them some suggestions on what to do with cadence and gearing into the headwind and back with the tailwind. It was one persons first time in an aero helmet. It was a hard headwind and success for some was being able to stay aero at times, for some it was trying to hold the suggested cadence because everything in their mind said do something else. One person found her success by not being last and was very proud of her achievement and worked hard for it.
During our ride we had reports coming through the cell phones of people racing that day, their successes.
Onto the brick run, we went out easy and came back at a race pace (1/2 Ironman race pace). For some it was okay, for some it was an experience where they finally felt like this race is theirs, they are going to be okay, they could do it. They achieved success by simply coming out and facing their fears.
As a coach you should set up situations where there are condiitons that need to be met, controlling cadence or output, some learning experience where when they finish they have learned something about themselves as a racer, they have had a successful training day, they didn't do junk miles.
My reminder to those searching for success, do not leave the sport to look for new challenges. Look for things that improve your own experience. Sometimes you may find in other peoples success you will find your own. You learn so much from all your years of training, when you share that with the new people who join in the group, you will see them take that knowledge and build on it. I am seeing some of the group rise up to some high levels right now. There is always something we can work on to make ourselves, better in the sport, more knowledgable about ourselves as racers, and a better mentor to those coming in.
I see success in everyone I coach, but the universal truth is that for those of us who set the bar high, whenever we get close enough to meet our definition of success, we quickly raise the bar up higher. I have people write goals down when they begin. The first year you get things like survive, finish, try a race. The second year, the expectation of success becomes a burden. They worry about whether they can match their new definition of success. If their goal was to be a better swimmer, biker, runner, injury free and healthy, that goal would be easy to attain, they would be improving every year and looking after their health as they did so. This is how I view them, always improving, always taking on new challenges, hopefully finding balance.
Not all goals allow for success. Try to see the success in all you do, be happy we have the freedom to do a sport. Support the races you love to do so that they will be their in the future. Be gracious to the volunteers who make the races possible so that we can go challenge ourselves on our annual goals. Look for the success in all you have achieved so far, and allow future goals to inspire you to reach further.
Keep up the swimming, biking and running.
Breathing Issues and Training
Breathing is the one thing never to be taken for granted, not everyone gets that feeling of a full breath of air, and as oxygen is required to create the intended speed of our race, some of us go in to every race handi-capped due to breathing issues. Allergies, asthma, colds and flu's affect a large number of us on race day.
Allergies and sports asthma can go undetected, but an athlete who eats something and goes to train and finds themselves coughing or phleming up, should write that food down on a list of do not eat before training or racing. The main culprits for me were wheat and dairy. I started teaching spin class and realized if I was going to be able to talk without clearing my throat and still teach a spin class these were foods I would have to eliminate. It became more imparitive when I swam to avoid these foods. They were 2 on a list of things I don't eat if I can avoid it, and something I may treat myself with after a race season and avoid all the way through.
Other things that were difficult to tolerate were sports drinks, considering these were made for the sport I was disappointed to say the least. The sugar created mucous which then gave me a coughing issue and reduced airflow during a race, I now use coconut water, natural sugar and electrolyte. I still use electrolyte tablets with it.
Swimming in cold water, biking into a cold wind also cause breathing issues for me. I usually take my puffer before a cold swim and slowly get in and warm up, I need to swim slower in cold water as everything tenses and the lungs go on high alert. One race day I had perfect water temperature and I tried something new, I took electrolyte tablets before the race. I had a bad swim, the worst case of asthma in the water yet, I quickly looked up why, salt can trigger an asthma attack, again more race nutrition to save for after the swim.
I have had to try to go as natural as possible while racing. I try not to do gels on the bike, I save those for the run, I try to do natural food, no gluten or dairy, there was a great recipe on the tour de france that had sushi rice, eggs, bacon, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with a little brown sugar or maple syrup. This wrapped in a rice wrap or seaweed wrap made a great snack bar on the bike, portable easy to eat and neutral on the stomach, it didn't create acid unless you overdo the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.
I take water of the course and keep coconut milk in my bottles, I mix the coconut milk in with the water for a little carbs, mostly the flavor and the bit of electrolytes, I still take my electrolyte tablets, but that is after the swim is done. I usually only need my puffer before the swim unless I get asthma in the swim.
The more I coach the more I realize that swimming in Chlorinated pools is not great for people with respiratory issues, yet that is where we train, I have skipped the pool for a year and minimized my exposure and just waited for outdoor swim. I had fewer sinus issues and better bike and run training throughout the winter doing this. I am not saying give up swim, but choose a salt water pool, less chlorine gas issues and easier on the lungs.
Where there is a will there is a way. Never stop what you are doing because of issues, try to establish what the issue is relating to and change the conditions. I have become healthier through training for triathlon. I learned the foods I was choosing were not good for me, before that I thought I just had breathing problems and would have to live with it. I manage it very well now. It isn't gone, but it is more manageable. My overall health is better.
My first suggestion to most people who start training is to get rid of Wheat, Dairy and sugar for 28 days or longer while training. It is a basic suggestion. The outcome is amazing. Most people are no longer bloated or uncomfortable after eating, most people also lose a quick 5 pounds without dieting. The longer they do it the better they feel, I had a few people who did it and got control of their breathing issues. They weren't the first to notice, but a family member commented on the "death rattle" being gone.
I am here to just put suggestions out, make note of things that have helped me or my athletes. I am not suggesting this is for everyone, it is just a simple to follow suggestion that can help, or won't hurt to try. Everyone worries about eliminating dairy, but if you are eating your healthy greens you will be getting calcium. By eliminating these 3 foods your ability to digest all of your foods will improve, so your absorption of your nutrients will also improve. If you are still concerned, take a balanced mineral supplement that has calcium citrate, magnesium citrate, and vitamin D. Consult your doctor before trying any diet suggestions that may affect a condition you have.
Keep on training.
Allergies and sports asthma can go undetected, but an athlete who eats something and goes to train and finds themselves coughing or phleming up, should write that food down on a list of do not eat before training or racing. The main culprits for me were wheat and dairy. I started teaching spin class and realized if I was going to be able to talk without clearing my throat and still teach a spin class these were foods I would have to eliminate. It became more imparitive when I swam to avoid these foods. They were 2 on a list of things I don't eat if I can avoid it, and something I may treat myself with after a race season and avoid all the way through.
Other things that were difficult to tolerate were sports drinks, considering these were made for the sport I was disappointed to say the least. The sugar created mucous which then gave me a coughing issue and reduced airflow during a race, I now use coconut water, natural sugar and electrolyte. I still use electrolyte tablets with it.
Swimming in cold water, biking into a cold wind also cause breathing issues for me. I usually take my puffer before a cold swim and slowly get in and warm up, I need to swim slower in cold water as everything tenses and the lungs go on high alert. One race day I had perfect water temperature and I tried something new, I took electrolyte tablets before the race. I had a bad swim, the worst case of asthma in the water yet, I quickly looked up why, salt can trigger an asthma attack, again more race nutrition to save for after the swim.
I have had to try to go as natural as possible while racing. I try not to do gels on the bike, I save those for the run, I try to do natural food, no gluten or dairy, there was a great recipe on the tour de france that had sushi rice, eggs, bacon, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with a little brown sugar or maple syrup. This wrapped in a rice wrap or seaweed wrap made a great snack bar on the bike, portable easy to eat and neutral on the stomach, it didn't create acid unless you overdo the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.
I take water of the course and keep coconut milk in my bottles, I mix the coconut milk in with the water for a little carbs, mostly the flavor and the bit of electrolytes, I still take my electrolyte tablets, but that is after the swim is done. I usually only need my puffer before the swim unless I get asthma in the swim.
The more I coach the more I realize that swimming in Chlorinated pools is not great for people with respiratory issues, yet that is where we train, I have skipped the pool for a year and minimized my exposure and just waited for outdoor swim. I had fewer sinus issues and better bike and run training throughout the winter doing this. I am not saying give up swim, but choose a salt water pool, less chlorine gas issues and easier on the lungs.
Where there is a will there is a way. Never stop what you are doing because of issues, try to establish what the issue is relating to and change the conditions. I have become healthier through training for triathlon. I learned the foods I was choosing were not good for me, before that I thought I just had breathing problems and would have to live with it. I manage it very well now. It isn't gone, but it is more manageable. My overall health is better.
My first suggestion to most people who start training is to get rid of Wheat, Dairy and sugar for 28 days or longer while training. It is a basic suggestion. The outcome is amazing. Most people are no longer bloated or uncomfortable after eating, most people also lose a quick 5 pounds without dieting. The longer they do it the better they feel, I had a few people who did it and got control of their breathing issues. They weren't the first to notice, but a family member commented on the "death rattle" being gone.
I am here to just put suggestions out, make note of things that have helped me or my athletes. I am not suggesting this is for everyone, it is just a simple to follow suggestion that can help, or won't hurt to try. Everyone worries about eliminating dairy, but if you are eating your healthy greens you will be getting calcium. By eliminating these 3 foods your ability to digest all of your foods will improve, so your absorption of your nutrients will also improve. If you are still concerned, take a balanced mineral supplement that has calcium citrate, magnesium citrate, and vitamin D. Consult your doctor before trying any diet suggestions that may affect a condition you have.
Keep on training.
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