It's Okay to Run Hurt

NEW ADVICE Dr. James Weinstein says rest is counterproductive.
By GINA KOLATA

JUST before the end of last year, a prominent orthopedic surgeon was stretching to lift a heavy box and twisted his back. The pain was agonizing. He could not sit, and when he lay down he could barely get up.
So the surgeon, Dr. James Weinstein of Dartmouth College, decided to go out for a run.

“I took an anti-inflammatory, iced up, and off I went,” Dr. Weinstein recalled. When he returned, he said, he felt “pretty good.”

It sounds almost like heresy. The usual advice in treating injuries is to rest until the pain goes away. But Dr. Weinstein and a number of leading sports medicine specialists say that is outdated and counterproductive. In fact, Dr. Weinstein says, when active people consult him, he usually tells them to keep exercising.
The idea, these orthopedists and exercise specialists say, is to use common sense. If you’ve got tendinitis or sprained a muscle or tendon by doing too much, don’t go right back to exercising at the same level....READ MORE

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IT band problems?

Here's an article I found with stretches among other useful information: IT BAND.

btw... 216 days till Vineman.

Enjoy the last bit of a life you have until January 1st.

cheers.

Beating the Winter Blues:How to Stay Motivated During the Holiday Crunch

Her SportsNovember/December, 2004, p. 20-22
It’s late October and you’re heading into the holiday season with feelings of dread rather than cheer. You may have been pretty good about eating healthily and working out regularly, but you know that November and December are different. You’ll be busy with holiday parties which means eating more. To make matters worse, it’ll be cold and dark when you usually work out, so it’s much harder to get out and exercise. You’re afraid that your efforts to stay fit all year will go for naught. When January 1 comes, you’ll feel like a total blob and be wracked with guilt for allowing yourself to once again fall into the “holiday health blues.” You also know that you’ll be making lame New Year’s resolutions and starting from scratch trying regain your healthy lifestyle.
But don’t despair! This gloomy scenario doesn’t have to happen this year—or ever again. There are steps you can take to avoid this yearly winter trap and enter the new year having enjoyed the holiday season and still remain in fine shape.
Choose Fun Fitness
read more...

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More reasons to ride...

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SOME BASIC TIPS WHEN PLANNING YOUR TRAINING SESSIONS

-- Specificity: Ensure that all your training is specific to the event you are training for, don't run mile after mile for a sprint triathlon, ensure that each session has an aim, i.e. endurance run / speed track session.

-- Progression: The body is a marvelous piece of engineering design, as you train it becomes stronger. However if you maintain the same training level, your body will maintain the same level of improvement. In simple terms, avoid allowing your body to become use to its workouts.

-- Overload: This must be done carefully, to avoid causing stress on any of your body systems. Listen to your body, if it feels tired let it rest, remember fit bodies are not built in the gym, they are built whilst resting. (This is my excuse for sleeping every afternoon, and I'm sticking to it).

-- Reversibility: Keep your training regular, if you stop for two weeks, then a lot of the previous work will be lost, make time for training, but avoid letting it take over your life, triathlete's have a high divorce level.

-- Tedium: One of the reasons a lot of good triathlete's come from a different sporting background. Keep your training interesting and varied to keep motivation high. Train with new partners, do different runs i.e. track sessions, hill sprints, fartlek, off road, sand dunes, treadmill - try spin classes anything that will keep your mind and body working.

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The Quick Start Guide to Triathlon

by Brendon Downey of EnduranceCoach.com

Triathlon, it's a goal for many to complete a triathlon - fortunately they are not all as long as Ironman! Here is the quick start guide:

Swim

For a lot of people the swim is often the area that creates the most fear of triathlons. A 400m swim can be very off putting to non-swimmers. If you haven't swum for a few years/decades or never, start slowly (see the programme). Choose an event that caters for beginners, there are many that have swims in pools and others that have swims in shallow water, most mini triathlons aren't held in surf so you needn't worry.

Key Training: You only need to be able to swim the distance safely, speed is not important. So if that means alternating some sidestroke with some freestyle so be it.

I would recommend that you do at least one open water swim before your event, preferably at the venue of your triathlon. This will help you get comfortable with what will happen and that will take some of the apprehension out of the actual day. Obviously if you do this, make sure you have a swimming buddy or better yet someone in a kayak.

Things you need for the swim: Goggles, Swimsuit. Recommended: Wetsuit (They make you float!)

Bike

The easy part of the triathlon!

Key Training: This leg is short so you don't have to do a lot of training to get ready for a 10km cycle. If you don't like to go on the roads, another good option is to use the cycles at your local gym. But using the cycles at your local gym is not going to develop the skills needed to be able to ride safely on the road, at some point you do need to get out there. Start off on either pavement or grass (if it's dry enough) - your local school grounds are a good option. The key is to be comfortable on your bike, know how it works and be confident riding on the road.

Things you need for the bike: Helmet, Any road worthy bike.

Run

Yes it's called a run but you can actually walk. There's no rule that says that you must run the whole way - in fact many people will walk all or nearly all of the run section. Make sure that you have some energy at the end so that you can look good as you run across the finish line!

Key Training: Build up and do one run or walk over the event distance prior to the race. If you have never run before, start with a short walk of say 20 minutes and include a little running. The bottom line is that at the very least you can walk the whole way.

One of the hardest parts of the triathlon is the start of the run. When you get off the bike your muscles are tired from cycling and also your body is sending oxygen to your cycling muscles creating the 'jelly' legs feeling - the best way to get around this is to do a couple of "Brick Sessions" (because that's what your legs can feel like). These involve a short run off the bike on a couple of occasions prior to your event, even just 2min running after cycling will help.

Things you need for the Run: Running Shoes

Lastly don't forget to have some fun and enjoy the experience!

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Target pace training

By Matt Fitzgerald
source: Active.com
August 17, 2006

A target pace is an average running pace associated with an event time goal. If your event goal is to run a 3:45 marathon, your target pace is 8:35 per mile. If your goal is to run a 39:59 10K, your target pace is 6:26 per mile. And so forth.

Whenever you have an event time goal, your entire training program should be focused toward achieving the ability to sustain your target pace in that event. This doesn't mean you should always run at your target pace, of course. But it does mean you should include some target-pace running in your weekly training throughout your training program and do a fairly large amount of training at or near your target pace in the final weeks before your event.

In addition, the rest of your training -- that is, your workouts at slower and faster pace levels -- should support your objective of achieving the ability to sustain your target pace.

The reason target pace training is so important is that the body adapts very strictly to the specific exercise demands that are placed on it. One ramification of this principle of specificity is that your body will adapt well to running at your target pace if you regularly train at your target pace. It will achieve greater metabolic and neuromuscular efficiency and better fatigue resistance at this pace. And on a psychological level, you will also find it to be more comfortable.

Before you can train at your target pace you must, of course, choose a target pace, which means you must choose a goal time for your event... cont

Article about the Vineman

Vineman Half Ironman Triathlon

By Brandon S.
Pain shows us how strong we are. After last weekend I am convinced of this. After 151 training hours of swimming, biking, and running, I flew to Sonoma County, California for the race.

The Swim

I arrived at the transition area at 5 AM to set up my gear and prepare for the race. This is always the most stressful part of the race for me as I see for the first time the length of the swim course and begin to see my competition arriving in droves. The Vineman is one of the most competitive Triathlons in the country, so needless to say, there were some athletic people showing up....

continue reading HERE