Posted by: Joe Nuss in Triathlon, Swim, Run, Off Road, Lifestyle, Endurance Events, Elite, Duathlon, Cycling, Charity, Beginner on
Feb 04, 2010
Our 2010 Event Guide is your road map for the upcoming season. From walks to ultramarathons to iron-distance triathlons and open water swims, we have packed more than 800 events into the current 2010 Endurance Magazine event guide. We thank all of those race directors who were able to submit their events to SPORToften.com to be listed in this guide. Not all events for 2010 are listed, as many race dates were still to be determined when we went to press with the print issue. Remember to watch for newly added events as well as possible date or location changes in upcoming issues of Endurance Magazine and at our event registration site SPORToften.com - the premiere regional event community resource.
By Joe Nuss
Posted by: Joe Nuss in Training, Swim, runner, Run, Lifestyle on
Jan 06, 2010
By Dr. Joshua Stevens
Usually, this time of year my wife, Kara, is getting ready to celebrate another successful fall 5K season. Unfortunately, she was injured late this year and it derailed her racing. Begrudgingly, she settled into a three-month routine of pool running to maintain her fitness. In spite of her initial distaste for pool running she persevered and even convinced my sister and I to join her for many of these sessions. We all had a great time pool running together and were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed these tough workouts. Seeing the value in this training and adding it to our own routine my sister, Dr. Angelina Stevens, and I have recommended it to several patients.
Posted by: Joe Nuss in Training, Swim, Beginner on
Jul 24, 2009
Jason Harloff, PT, MSPT, LAT, ATC
Every year about this time, we start to see the effects of improper stroke mechanics in our multisport athletes and swimmers. Improper stroke mechanics can result from a variety of sources. Once such source stems from the fact that the human body is extremely efficient and finds ways to compensate for joint and soft tissue restrictions. Another factor occurs when we force our bodies to move through less than optimal movement patterns and is especially common in the sport of swimming. Each stroke has its own common compensations. For the benefit of multisport athletes this article will address freestyle and the common problems associated with it.
Posted by: Joe Nuss in Training, Swim, Beginner on
May 24, 2009
By Marty Gaal, CSCS
If you haven't yet tried your hand at swimming, you'll soon find out that it's technique intensive and your best bet is to join a coached group or find a good technique coach. For the uninitiated, the world of swimming can be intimidating. If you join a master's group or are planning to download workouts from the internet you're going to need to know the definitions of a few key terms and formats that are specific to swim workouts:
- Pull - Means swim with a pull buoy and hand paddles. Some coaches may want you to use just a buoy, or just paddles, so hopefully the workout will specify that.
- Build - Means start the swim easy and build your effort into fast by the end. For example: 10 x 100 build on :15 (or "15) means swim ten times 100 yards starting each 100 easy and finishing each 100 fast, on a total of 15 seconds rest in between each 100.
- Descend - This usually means you'll do consecutive swims at a harder effort. For example: 9 x 100 descend 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 on :15 (or "15) means the first 100 is easy, rest 15 seconds, next 100 is moderate, rest 15 seconds, third 100 is fast...then rest 15 seconds and repeat that series two more times.
- Negative split - The second half of the swim is faster than the first. Example: 3 x 400 negative split on :30 (or "30) means swim 400 yards with the first 200 yards moderate effort and the next 200 yards at a harder effort, then rest thirty seconds before starting again.
Let's look at a sample workout. The highlighted lines are what would be written.
If you're looking for your first wetsuit or just a good suit to get you through the early season cold water races, the Orca S2 is the wetsuit for you. Orca is probably better known for their high-end wetsuits, selling for well over $500. Based in New Zealand, Orca has traditionally focused sponsorship on ITU and Olympic triathletes, most of them Australians, Kiwis, or Europeans. It is not surprising then that in the U.S., Orca is not as much a household name as Blue Seventy or Quintana Roo. However, their experience in making wetsuits dates back to the mid-1990s, and they sponsor athletes like Craig Alexander, who won the world 70.3 distance title using an Orca wetsuit during the swim.
Orca actually hit the U.S. market more than 10 years a
go, with sleek looking black wetsuits with some white patterns that resembled those of the killer whale by the same name. The suits performed well, but sizing and fitting were an issue: they seemed to be made only for the lean athlete with 3% body fat. The average age-group athlete had a horrible time getting one of those suits on. Distribution was also a problem, as the suits came from Southeast Asia and the U.S distributor never seemed to be able to fulfill orders in a timely way. Better knowledge of the U.S. market and new relationships has changed all that. The current Orca wetsuit sizes now fit age-group athletes even better than some U.S. competitors, and a distribution partnership with Orbea bikes has ensured prompt availability in the U.S.
The S2 builds on the success of Orca's S1 wetsuit but uses a lighter, more flexible neoprene. It is a no-frills suit, but incredibly functional. It offers all the basic features that are necessary for a swimming wetsuit to work without the gimmicks that are often found in other wetsuits.
The material used is a water-resistant neoprene with a smoothskin outer layer that is durable and yet flexible. Orca uses varying thicknesses in different parts of the suit to achieve the perfect balance between buoyancy and flexibility. Generally, the thicker the material, the more buoyancy it will provide. In turn, the thinner the material, the more flexible it will be. The 5 mm "HydroLift" panels are strategically used on the front and back of the legs as well as front torso to provide outstanding buoyancy and warmth. The 3-mm back offers more flexibility and helps prevent overheating. The 3-mm "Flexiseal" Neck provides flexibility and comfort in an area that can be troublesome for a lot of athletes. Finally, the 3-mm Speed Transition Calf Panel ensures a fast wetsuit removal in transition. This is a nice touch for an entry-level suit. Anyone who has ever watched a triathlon transition knows that it is the novices that have most trouble getting off their wetsuits.
There's nothing that quite matches the sense of accomplishment I get when I finish planning my upcoming season's race calendar because truth be told, I'm lazy. Had a publisher of a coach-potato oriented magazine approached me to edit it rather than a fitness magazine, I could have very well been writing this from my sofa with a Coke and an open bag of potato chips sitting next to me on the coffee table. Instead, I'm writing this as clearly and concisely and quickly as I can so I can go out and run 9 miles in preparation for the Uwharrie Mountain Run, which hopefully I will have set a new PR on by the time you read this!
Seriously, as someone with a family history of diabetes and heart problems, I made a decision a long time ago to take charge of my health and lead an active life, but I never quite knew how to define it. Then I signed up for an Ironman. Having completed only a handful of triathlons prior, it wasn't the best decision I ever made, but it roused a need to call a plan into action. As I pieced together my training to accomplish this goal, I started formulating a race schedule so I could run a few triathlons and road races as benchmarks prior to my big race. With the volume of training required for an Ironman, I soon realized that in order to be successful, I would have to structure not only my training, but my life.
As I put together my daunting training and race schedule, I was forced to consider family vacations and work obligations prior to making any race commitment. Surprisingly, those needs opened the doors to include a few "destination" events on my schedule. Without that "limitation" I would never have run the beautiful Boulder Backroads Half Marathon in Colorado and meet up with an online training friend preparing for the same Ironman race. I was also fortunate enough to travel to explore other cool locations, like White Lake, which my wife and I knew nothing about except that there was a race there. To this day, one of my fondest memories of training for Ironman Florida is cooling off in White Lake on our semi-private beach as my family played in the sand and splashed in the crystal clear water beneath the sleepy cypress tress on a beautiful spring day.
I consider that year of Ironman training as one of the most fulfilling years of my life. The race schedule I put together incorporated my personal goal of adventure, my need for a healthy lifestyle and my family's desire to experience new and exciting places. A good race schedule, I learned, incorporates not just your personal fitness goals, but your overall lifestyle goals as well. A good schedule can help you develop realistic goals for your training which can help you manage stress. A poor schedule, consequently, includes unrealistic goals for training that only generates more stress and leads to both yours and your family's dissatisfaction with your fitness-oriented lifestyle.
By Jay Crooker, PhD
It's still not too late to sign up for that big race in 2009 or set a goal to set a new PR at your favorite distance. Here are some general guidelines for creating a successful workout plan that will see you through an exciting year of training and racing.
A few months ago I wrote about swimming an entire 60 minute workout without goggles - just opened my eyes in the pool and embraced the freedom of swimming without goggles - until I got out and realized the chlorine had melted away half of my contact lenses (not recommended as I had a headache for two days). Still, I was pretty impressed with myself for sucking it up and getting through the ‘adversity' of that particular workout.
I was reminded of this when I saw Michael Phelps win gold at this year's Olympics in his premier event - the 200 meter butterfly. He could not have looked less satisfied - tossing his cap and goggles onto the deck as if they were not worthy of being in the pool. Turns out, upon entering the pool his goggles filled up with water and stayed that way for the entire event. For just over 1 minute and 51 seconds he crushed all challengers - essentially with his eyes closed.
The average person would be quickly consumed by the negative vibe associated with something going wrong - especially at a time like this (an Olympic finals event). And I guess that is why people like Phelps are able to consistently perform at the level they do - they seem to have an uncanny ability to block out anything that is not moving them in a positive direction - they inherently, and seemingly proactively, eclipse any potential negative energy - at least for as long as they need to get to the finish.
I am sure this is the same type of positive consciousness that elite gymnasts dip into when they fall of the balance beam and then get up to continue executing severely complex techniques with perfection to complete their routine. It has always amazed me.
On August 24th we will kick off the 2008 Ramblin' Rose Women Only Triathlon Tour in Winston-Salem, NC. With over 50% of the participants being first timers, the value of embracing this positive mindset will be significant for all involved. And as anyone who has witnessed one of these events knows, there is plenty to go around as hundreds of mothers, daughters, sisters, and grandmothers cross the finish line beaming with pride and accomplishment. This too, consistently amazes me. www.endurancemag.com/ramblinrose
For our cover story, Charlie Engle, along with his partner Marshall Ulrich, is about to embark on a mission that is certain to test his positive consciousness as they strive to cross the US from San Francisco to New York City in 45 days - on foot. Imagine what your perspective would be after running across the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range only to find, once on the other side, that you see nothing but desert as you start into Nevada - with 80% of the country still left to cross. Is it:
"Holy crap, I just ran across the Sierras! - I am awesome!" or perhaps,
"I'll never make it across this miserably endless desert".
Which way would you see it? [Their run starts on September 13th.] www.runningamerica08.com
Some would argue there is a collective energy - a collective consciousness - that exists for us all to tap into - that affects all of us. The more positive energy we put out there, the more there will be for each of us. Our Endurance Magazine Citizen team will be looking for some of that energy at the Duke Half Ironman (especially on the run portion) this month. If you have a moment on September 14th, feel free to send some our way.
Inspire. Perform. Endure.
-Steve
PS - Rule #63: Never pass up an opportunity to compare yourself, no matter how far-reaching, to the most decorated Olympian of all time.
Posted by: Joe Nuss in Triathlon, Training, Swim on
Jul 24, 2008
Great minds think alike. I recently discovered one of our blog readers "invented" copying Hemingway's style for Endurance Sports Writing long before I did. In fact, he dooes it much better than I have... Check this link out and scroll down for "The Old Man and His Wetsuit."
http://triguyjt.blogspot.com/2008/03/hemingway-and-holly.html
