Benefits of Yoga

Yoga has definitely made its way into the workout routines of athletes. Athletes, as well as trainers, have become more open minded and are willing to try anything that can improve performance. Yoga can definitely accomplish this. It increases balance, strength, flexibility and muscle tone. It also teaches focus and relaxation, integrating mind and body. Endurance athletes know all too well the importance of mental and physical strength.

Endurance athletes use yoga as part of their strength training routine. This is key component to avoiding injury. Yoga also is a nice break from high impact training sessions. Yoga will help in loosening up tight muscles and joints.
Some athletes use short yoga sequences as warm-up and/or cool-down. As most of us have been told or read in the past, breathing exercises center the mind and steady the pulse. Stretching increases range of motion, which supports and stabilizes the skeletal system, further preventing injury. Quiet meditation allows the athlete to focus on the task at hand.

The yoga workout that is recommended and used by our athletes comes from the P90X at home workout series. It is 90 minutes of love it or hate it fun. It focuses and everything, strength, balance, core, flexibility and relaxation. This is definitely not an easy routine and will take some time to get use to, but the benefits are well worth it. Also, the workout is broken up so that if you don’t want to do all 90 minutes at once, you can do the first 45 and come back later for the last 45. There are plenty of take aways that can be used before a race as well. There are plenty of breathing, relaxation and flexibility exercises that would allow you to come up with your own pre and post race routines.

Go outside your comfort zone and reap the benefits that yoga can have on your performance.

Namaste.

Joe
joe@eeathlete.com
www.eeathlete.com

Plyometrics

Plyometrics, jump training, is a type of training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system. This is primarily done for the purpose of improving athletic performance. Plyometric movements use the strength, elasticity and innervation of muscle and surrounding tissues to jump higher, run faster, throw farther, or hit harder, depending on the your training goal. Plyometrics is used to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, providing explosiveness for a variety of sport-specific activities. Studies have shown that plyometrics can be beneficial for endurance athletes in becoming more efficient which can lead to faster times.

How do plyometrics work?

Plyometric exercises require that a muscle is:

1) Lengthened (eccentric action)
2) Shortened (concentric action)
3) Relaxed

One note. The second phase occurs immediately after pre-stretch and precedes the beginning of the concentric action. The shorter the phase (or time during the exercise), the more powerful the contraction of the muscle will be before the phase three. This teaches the muscle how to reach maximum force in the shortest amount of time.

How do they improve performance?
Plyometric drills/exercises excite the elastic component of the muscles so that the muscles are trained to react powerfully and explosively. By performing upper and body plyometrics (emphasizing the body parts which are most used during competition) several times per week, upper and lower body power has been shown to increase, in addition to improving performance. Together with weight/resistance training, plyometrics can dramatically improve power and performance. It is important to alternate upper and lower body plyometric exercises with weight lifting so that both the upper and lower body do not get overworked on a given day.

Safety
Plyometrics can be very effective to your training routine so long as the exercises are done properly, with safety and injury prevention as your primary concerns. Plyometrics are considered to be explosive and very high-intensity. Do not attempt plyometrics if you are injured, healing from an injury or believe to be overtrained. It is key to progress into plyometrics as improper progression can cause injury as muscles and tendons may not be ready for the demands placed on them. As the saying goes some times you need to go slow to go fast.

Tips:

-Always warm-up before doing plyometrics
-Land on a flat surface and as softly as possible
-Wear proper shoes, shock absorbant shoes
-Listen to your body. If you experience pain, stop.
-Start slowly. Increase in speed and difficulty.

Plyometrics has been an excellent tool in my off season training. My favorite plyometrics routine is Plyo X from the P90X series. It is a perfect combination of moves without going to crazy. It is a solid hour of several moves that will help improve performance. Since I started doing plyometrics, there has been a significant improvement in my times, as well as my overall performance.


In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com

Brick #1

This week has had some challenging workouts. Between the wind and heat, I have gotten a little of everything.

The Brick
My first of the year! I knew this workout was going to be tough once I hit the run portion with temps in the 80’s. This was the most comfortable I have been on the bike to date. I got into a smooth rhythm right from the start. The 30 miles flew by. Up next was the 4 mile run. I forgot how crappy your legs feel when you start the run. First couple miles were ok, after that it got hot. Luckily I had enough fluid to dump on my head as well as drink. Overall, not bad. I still have some work to do.

Swim(drills)

Same as usual. Hand paddles with the pull buoy, kick drills with the zoomer fins, 1-arm drills, fist drills and speed drills. I am slowly building up the length of my swim drill days. I do not want to risk shoulder injury. The ankle has me all paranoid. This is the first time in my triathlon career that I have swam more than once a week and I want to do it right.

4 mile run
Another hot one. I went at a nice pace. Right between 8:30-9 minute miles. The ankle felt good. Slowly making progress with the injury. I am still not going to push it. I am going to keep this pace for at least another week.

Swim 1.2 miles
This was straight laps. After about 5 laps, I fell into a nice pace. Nothing spectacular to talk about here.

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com

Here We Go Again

Ok, I have been out for a while dealing with another rolled ankle. I was not a happy camper. I am back, but running slower and giving the injury the time it needs.

Here is this week’s schedule

Sunday – Brick, 30 mile bike/4 mile run
Monday – 45 minute swim (drills)
Tuesday – 4 mile run
Wednesday – 1.2 mile swim/20 mile bike
Thursday – 20 mile bike
Friday – off
Saturday – 10 mile run (hills)

Hopefully I can stay the course. First triathlon of the year is 4 weeks away.

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com

Ok

30 mile bike
I had to keep this indoors on the trainer due to the weather. I worked my butt off. I averaged about 24 mph for the 30 miles. Yes, they are trainer miles, but they still produced a pool of sweat that leads me to believe that I burnt a ton of calories. Afterwards, I got a nice stretch in. My legs were a little sore from the previous days 5k, but nothing that didn’t loosen up after about 5 miles on the bike.

Strength Training
Well, this was my last strength training session until after race season. I think I have built up enough to get me through the next 3 months. The workout was all upper body and core, no legs involved. I worked semi-hard and moved fast from one set to the next. I am going to replace these workouts, with another day in the pool.

3 mile run
I have mentioned before that I am starting to feel a shin splint on my left calf. I am guessing this is from coming back to quickly from my ankle injury, as well as favoring the ankle when I first got back to running. The run was good. I mixed it up with some speed/hill intervals. I averaged 7:30 per mile. Unfortunately, I was forced to use the treadmill.

1 mile swim
Surprisingly, I felt strong in the pool. I thought it was going to be a so-so swim because I was still sore from my strength training session. This was the first time this year that I felt some gains in the pool. The mile was nonstop laps. Kind of boring, but the work needs to get done.

My midweek grade is a B-. I would have liked to been outside for my bike and run, but I can’t control the weather and it’s a little too cold for me to be running or biking in the rain so early in my training. This will change as the weather warms up.

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com

A New Season

5k went well. A total time of 22:35, a 7:17 pace. I was right where I wanted to be.

Here is this week’s schedule:

Sunday – 30 mile bike
Monday – Strength Training
Tuesday – 3 mile run
Wednesday – Swim 30 laps
Thursday – 20 mile bike
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Run 8 miles (hills)

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com

A New Start

Now that PT is all done, I am in full triathlon training mode. Starting this weekend I will begin posting my schedule.

I have been progressing slowly. I think I may have done too much, too soon. I feel some shin splint pain. I need to keep an eye on that.

I am running twice a week, biking 2-3 times a week, swimming once and strength training once. P90X has been put on hold for a while. My strength training is just an overall body workout lasting about 40 minutes.

I have my first race coming up in about 5 days. It’s just a 5k, but it will help in seeing where I am at.

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com