Hills
As one of my client’s 5 year old has stated “think of the hills as rainbows, Mommy”. Truly, hills are your best opportunity at creating excellent fitness; no frills, no fanfare, no glory. Just you and the hill and the occasional wildlife to keep you company. In fact, it can be down right meditative; listening to your breathing, feeling your heartbeat, and calming your thoughts as you begin to doubt whether or not you should be doing this workout. That’s …
One of the things that concerns me about our country is the lack of movement among all age groups, men and women. It doesn’t take much, in fact you don’t even have to be an Ironman, to live a healthy and fulfilling life. However, you do have to move somewhat on a daily basis in some way, shape or fashion for a period of 60 minutes. It can be walking the dogs, swimming in a lake, playing horseshoes or badminton …
Nutrition – Nutrition is the biggest mystery in long endurance sports but it doesn’t have to be. I have seen people run the gamut on the food at an Ironman event from pancakes, oatmeal, Spam, PB &J, Big Mac’s, Ensure, raw meat and the usual gels and gummy blocks on the market today. And, there is no doubt that one needs to eat and receive calories during such a long athletic event as Ironman. Hopefully, the calories that one consumes …
Pacing – I remember a quote from Mark Allen, he said “At Ironman, the race begins at mile 18 of the run” Now, for us mere mortals the race is about pacing; when in doubt slow down. It is such a long day! If you are like most people and don’t have all day to train, eat, sleep, massage and then eat again; you have to make the training work for you and still have a work life, family life …
The swim…
By most peoples standards, I had a “good” swim at Lake Placid, 1:17 and change. By my standards and my competitors standards, it’s pathetic. However, I literally swam 4 times prior to the Ironman in Lake Placid and only one of those times was beyond a mile. I did this on purpose. Knowing that my swim would only be 10 to 13% of my overall time. I didn’t want to commit so much travel and training to a portion …
