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I am really looking forward to Treasure Island as this will be my first big time triathlon and I get butterflies just thinking of it. (San Francisco Triathlon)
- Brandon Erickson
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#2 Top Indoor Workouts To Improve Your Running This Winter
Courtesy Competitor Magazine
02/24/10 by Written by: Matt Fitzgerald and Brad Culp
There's nothing wrong with doing steady, moderate-intensity base runs on a treadmill, and in fact if you run indoors frequently over the winter, most of those runs should take this form. But you'll also want to mix in some more interesting workouts, such as these three.
Steep Uphill Walk
In an interesting study, researchers placed subjects on a treadmill and asked them to walk or run and then gradually increased the incline. They found that at very steep inclines, the biomechanics of walking and running become indistinguishable. Essentially, walking at high intensity on a steep gradient is running, except that the impact forces are much lower than they are in level-ground running. For this reason, steep uphill walking makes a great recovery run. By walking for 20 to 40 minutes at a comfortable intensity on a 12-15 percent treadmill gradient, you get neuromuscular running practice without much impact, so that your muscles and joins can recover from previous running. Try it.
Marathon-Pace Run
Runners and triathletes are often taught to obey the "hard-easy rule" in training. This rule stipulates that run workouts should either be very hard (say, 5 x 1000m at 5K race pace with 2:00 jog recoveries) or very easy (say, six miles at a pace that allows you to hold a normal conversation without getting winded). It's true that this rule is helpful to the many runners and triathletes who, without it, fall into the trap of monotonous gray-zone training, where they feel compelled to make every run count, so they never go easy—yet precisely because they never go easy, they are also never able to go very hard.
But there is a place for moderately hard workouts, and the marathon-pace run is a good one. Warm up with one mile of easy jogging and then run anywhere from four to 12 miles (depending on where you are in the training process) at your ideal marathon pace. Doing this workout on a treadmill enables you to lock right on to that pace and stay there.
VO2max Test
The workout format the exercise physiologists commonly use to determine VO2max is also useful as a powerful (if painful) fitness-boosting workout. Start by hopping on the treadmill and running easy for five to 10 minutes. Next, increase the belt speed by 0.5 mph and run for one minute at that speed. Now increase the belt speed by another 0.5 mph, hold the new speed for another minute, and continue in this fashion until you feel unable to run any faster. Reduce the belt speed and cool down. Note the maximum speed you attained and try to beat it when you repeat the workout in three or four weeks.
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#1 Top Indoor Workouts To Improve Your Cycling This Winter
Courtesy Competitor Magazine
02/24/10 by Written by: Matt Fitzgerald and Brad Culp
Sprinkle these three workouts throughout your indoor training program this winter to become a better cyclist come spring:
These workouts can be done on any indoor cycling set-up that works for you, be it your triathlon bike mounted on a fluid trainer, a spin bike or a high-end dedicated indoor bike trainer such as the CycleOps 300PT.
Tabata Intervals
Named after Japanese exercise physiologist Izumi Tabata, this brutal interval set is the most time-efficient cycling fitness builder ever created. Warm up with at least five minutes of easy spinning. Next, increase the tension or gear ratio and sprint for 20 seconds. Now stop and rest passively for 10 seconds. Complete eight all-out sprints of 20 seconds followed by 10-second passive rests. If you've done the workout right and held nothing back in those short intervals, you will find yourself breathing harder than you ever have in your entire life after the eighth and last sprint. A cool-down of easy spinning is optional.
In one study, a period of Tabata training increased the VO2max of trained athletes by 14 percent and their anaerobic capacity by a whopping 28 percent.
Lactate Threshold Test
The lactate threshold is the exercise intensity at which lactate, a secondary muscle fuel, begins to accumulate rapidly in the blood because it's being produced faster than it's being used. Exercise scientists argue constantly over the definition and meaning of the lactate threshold, but one thing is certain: It is a very powerful predictor of endurance performance.
In clinical environments, the lactate threshold is determined through a graded exercise test (a workout in which the intensity increases incrementally every few minutes) combined with blood draws. Typically, the intensity level at which the blood lactate concentration reaches 4 mmol/L is marked as the lactate threshold.
Troy Jacobson, national director of endurance sports training for Life Time Fitness, is among the top coaches who believe it's possible for athletes to find their lactate threshold on their own with a functional test requiring no needle pricks. According to Jacobson, in trained athletes, lactate threshold intensity is roughly the highest intensity that can be sustained for 60 minutes. Since going all-out for 60 minutes is one killer workout, Jacobson instead uses a 20-minute max effort that is then adjusted to estimate the result of a 60-minute effort.
Hop on your indoor bike trainer and begin with a gentle warm-up of 10-15 minutes. To determine your lactate threshold power, you will need to use a trainer with a built-in power meter, such as the CycleOps 300PT. If you want to know your lactate threshold heart rate, wear a heart rate monitor. After completing your warm-up, run or ride as fast as you can for 20 minutes. Be sure to pace yourself so that you aren't forced to slow down before 20 minutes due to fatigue. Finally, cool down for at least five minutes.
Note your average power output and/or heart rate for the 20-minute max effort. Adjust these numbers downward by 5 percent to determine your lactate threshold numbers. For example, if your average heart rate in the test was 179 bpm, your lactate threshold heart rate is approximately (179 x 0.95 =) 170 bpm.
"This is a repeatable benchmark test that any conditioned athlete can perform every six to eight weeks to assess changes in fitness," says Jacobson.
Wattage Hold
Most interval workouts feature intervals of a designated duration. This one doesn't. Instead, the wattage hold workout requires that you select a certain wattage number and hold it as long as you can, or at least longer than you did the last time you did the workout. As fitness improves, the capacity to sustain very high submaximal intensities increases more than the speed that can be sustained for any given period of time, so the wattage hold is a better way to observe your progress and gain the confidence boost that comes with evidence of progress. And because it always terminates with a cry of "Mercy!" the wattage hold is also a great way to build mental toughness.
To do this workout, select a wattage that you believe you could sustain for a maximum duration of approximately five minutes. Ride easy for 30 to 60 minutes and then increase your intensity to the designated level. Hold it until you are pretty sure you could not sustain it for another full minute and then stop at a round minute number. For example, if after sustaining your target wattage for five minutes you are pretty certain you could not reach six minutes, stop at five. Wait two to three weeks to do the workout again and aim for six minutes at the same wattage, and so forth.
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Open Water Training In the Pool
Liz Hichens | Courtesty Triathlete Magazine
08/26/09 by Written by: Sara McLarty
Professional triathlete Sara McLarty provides eight open-water swimming drills that can easily be practiced in a pool.
I live in Lake County, Fla. That's a dead giveaway for how easy it is for me to train in open water. I literally have a lake in my front yard, one in my backyard and one on each side of my house. I can find a friend, bring a kayak and pick a different lake to swim in each weekend.
However, most triathletes don't have such easy access to open water for training. It could be because of cold winter temperatures and frozen water, polluted or unsafe conditions, heavy motorboat traffic or just a lack of nearby options for open-water training.
Instead of settling for being ill-prepared for race season or endangering yourself by trying to train in unsuitable waters, try some of these training tips during your next swim. You can practice all of these open-water swimming drills at your neighborhood pool:
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