Yoga and Strength – Yoga For Triathletes

Written by on February 23, 2009 · 5 Comments

So when you think of yoga, you normally think of people with stick figure bodies who are able to take themselves into shapes that would injure a pretzel. Or you think it would be great to be more flexible and you think of yoga as a way to accomplish this. You may not see much difference in yoga and some of the stretches you’ve seen or read about. I know I didn’t until I’d done yoga for a few weeks. I’ll say it for the record. Yoga can be much more challenging than any other physical activity I’ve ever done.

One of the most notable differences between yoga and simple static stretches is the sequencing. Most good yoga classes follow a well thought out progression which moves the body deeper and deeper into similar but more challenging positions. In fact many of the common poses you may be familiar with such as Downward Dog, Crow Pose, or even a simple Forward Fold are actually “preparations” for deeper yoga poses. The same is also true of many static stretches people come to know and use regularly. These stretches are variations or simplified Yoga poses. Often what is going on in these variations is the pose is modified by taking several dimensional components out of it so that it becomes more accessible for someone new to using their bodies in an unfamiliar way. Static stretches (and most weight machines) often remove the coordinated muscle recruitment that relates to stability. The removal of these components, while making the stretch simple, has the undesirable side affect of doing less to actually strengthen the body. This is a very important distinction.

It is this distinction that has started me to look more closely into defining strength as it applies to what we wish to do with and get from our bodies. This is especially true for people who are requiring their bodies perform specific and highly specialized tasks. With this in mind, manifested strength for a powerlifter is going to appear very different from manifested strength for a dancer or the manifested strength for a runner. But what is similar is all of these athletes share the need for training movements that allow them greater access to integrated and coordinated muscle recruitment which will provide a more economical yet powerful response to performance related stimuli.

Recently I’ve spent some time watching a local core conditioning class. One of the things I noticed was how similar many of the exercises were to Yoga poses you would find in a movement based or Vinyasa class. However there was one subtle difference. When focusing only on the core as the class did there was very little, if any integration taking place involving the rest of the body as it related to the core. A simple example of this was the use of Plank Pose in the core class. While the class used several versions of Plank, they were all static which largely isolates the core from other muscles in the body by simply creating the tension necessary to remain in a flat plane. You will see Plank used a lot in Yoga classes as well. But with one difference. The pose is rarely held for long periods in static form. The Plank Pose is a transition into other dynamic movements. One such movement is to simply bring a knee up to the chest and hold it there. This movement engages the core in an active manner useful to runners and cyclists. In Yoga the movement teaches the recruitment necessary to move from Downward Dog to a Lunge (or Runner’s Pose) by bringing the body forward into Plank, while hovering the knee, and “placing” the foot in between the hands. Experienced Yogis are able to perform this movement silently but if you find yourself in a Yoga class listen when this move is performed and you may be amazed at how much noise is created by people dropping their feet to the floor by simply moving into a lunge.

This all brings me to a quote one of my favorite yoga teachers here in Austin, Sanieh (she is pictured at the top of this post), said in her class once, “We aren’t just strong, we are Yoga strong.” Her classes reflect this deep understanding of the importance of integrating strength with balance, coordination, and awareness. What she meant with her observation was that while yogis may not possess bulging muscles, they do possess a body awareness and muscular intelligence that allows them to perform incredible acts like handstands, countless arm balances, or the ability to simply walk up a flight of stairs without being heard. It isn’t that Yoga is the best or only way to achieve strength. But what Yoga does do is provide a framework for someone to discover hidden strength that can be found within the body by learning to look at an integrative, dynamic training program versus a static one.

Categories: Functional Strength, Marquee, Strength Training, Yoga, yoga for triathletes

Fueling By The Numbers

Written by on November 13, 2008 · 3 Comments

This is day 47 of eating according to caloric necessity. I must say, I’ve marvelled at the changes in my body composition from the simple mathematics involved in eating only as much as necessary to reach a fitness goal. As I mentioned in my other post about the calorie counting, I arrived at the conclusion to start doing this because there was really no other alternative that I could see to get the results I wanted. My food choices were already almost totally organic. I’d adopted and adapted a vegetarian paleo diet with a Warrior diet schedule. I was sleeping more, and more consistently. And my training was good, my intensity varied. I did P90X for Pete’s sake! But still my weight wasn’t dropping below 156 pounds. And this was about 14 pounds heavier than my prior racing weight.

The idea formed slowly. It came almost as a whisper.

“What if you are eating too much food?”

There was only one way to find out. That was to do the math and look at the numbers. Then I could compare the numbers with what I was actually eating by keeping a food diary. Needless to say the numbers were depressing. But the information was valuable because it was the truth. I think as human beings and as athletes we all can have an enormous potential for self deceit. It isn’t something to be ashamed of, but we need to be aware of it and face the consequences squarely if we are to grow both as human beings and as athletes. To me that is what the journey of triathlon is really all about. It is about coming to understand who we truly are in both success and failure.

So what did I find out about myself? I found that I was eating on average around 3500 to 4000 calories per day. This was way too much. For simple weight maintenance on with my normal workout volume 2500 should have been adequate. 3000 if my training became really intense. But not only did I need to reduce my caloric intake, I would also need to lose weight to get back to my ideal size to race well. The math basically says 3500 calories equals 1 pound. So in order to lose a pound a week, I could either work out more to burn an additional 3500 calories. This equates roughly into about an extra 7 hours of workout time per week. Or I could subtract 500 calories per day from my diet, also totalling 3500 calories. Naturally, I took the latter approach.

After 47 days, my results so far speak for themselves. I currently weigh 146.5 pounds. But what I was unprepared for was the incredible increase I’ve had in both stamina and energy. I’m actually sleeping about an hour less per day. I’ve also noticed increased flexibility without additional time spent practicing yoga. I noticed a similar increase in flexibility when I changed to a totally organic diet. I don’t really have a scientific reason for this but I think our bodies are more flexible and energetic when they aren’t burdened with the chore of having to digest the excess food we sometimes tend to consume. I’d also like to point out you don’t even really need to drop the additional 500 calories per day if you felt you wanted to lose a pound or two. All that might be necessary would be to find out what the difference is between your current/normal food intake and the suggested caloric intake for your body type, weight and activity level. Just eating the proper amount of calories if you find you are eating to much will have the effect of normalizing your weight. But I will also say, don’t do any of this without first consulting a dietitian or your health care provider.

Categories: diet, food, nutrition, training

Yoga For Triathletes – Pose Of The Week – Vajrasana

Written by on October 31, 2008 · 1 Comment

This week we are gonna show the cyclists out there some “Yoga Love” and focus on a pose that is primarily just for them. Though it isn’t a bad pose for swimmers or runners either. For runners this is an excellent quad stretch, but is also a good compression for the achilles tendon providing and a good counter for the lower legs. For swimmers, the pose promotes ankle flexibilty. Personally I’ve found it good for developing a stronger kick.

But I’ve found Thunderbolt brings the most noticeable relief when I’ve come in from a long, hard bike ride. This pose is just so good for tired, overworked cycling legs. This is the reason Thunderbolt Pose, or Vajrasana, is one of my all time favorite poses ever. Mostly because it is easy, can be done almost anywhere, and provides instant verifiable relief for tired quads.

To get into the pose all you need to do is sit on your heels with the tops of your feet pressing into the floor. You want your knees to touch so that your legs are straight out in front of you lined up with your hips. In Yoga your hips are a key alignment point, and seated poses like Thunderbolt are no exception. You want your shoulders lined up with your hips to insure an upright posture. You can rest your hands on the tops of your thighs or on your knees. This can also help you position your torso properly. Once you have a sense of being centered, you can lean back a little and rest your hands on the floor slightly behind you to deepen the stretch. If you find your knees begin to lift off the ground position your torso more toward being upright. Your knees should always remain straight in front of you and in contact with the floor.

I also like to lean forward in this pose with my hands on the floor in front of me and gently rock my body from side to side on my shins. I find this also is very relaxing. I will point out, like most seated poses Vajrasana can be very intense for those who have sensitive knees and inflexible ankles. If you find this is an issue for you, you may want to try folding a blanket and placing it behind your knees so that you rest on that versus your heels. Here is a short video of the pose.

Categories: triathlon, triathlon training, Yoga, yoga for triathletes

Yoga For Triathletes – Pose Of The Week – Kapotasana

Written by on September 13, 2008 · 3 Comments

This fall I’m going to start teaching Yoga. The class I’m envisioning will cater primarily to athletes — triathletes, runners, and cyclists. Since it will be starting in the off season, it will probably focus on recovery and integration at first, then build into strength and balance as the season approaches. I don’t have all of the details worked out just yet but I want to start thinking more about the poses I’ll primarily incorporate into my classes.

I think all told I’ve been doing Yoga for about 5 years now. The first 3 were just to some DVD’s I inherited. I remember the first time I did a 30 minute yoga session on one of those discs and thought “Man, this is pretty tough.” But I kept at it because I liked the way I felt when I was done. In the beginning I didn’t think I’d ever go to a yoga studio to take a class largely because I’m pretty highly self motivated when it comes to athletic stuff and don’t really mind doing it by myself. Fortunately I have a pesky friend named K who kept at me to take a REAL yoga class. Because of K’s persistence I finally gave REAL yoga a try. And I got hooked on that too. I now can honestly say for the most part they take it easy on you in those DVD’s. For one thing, most of the classes in studios are an hour to an hour and a half long. For another, there are more challenging poses, more of them and the poses all seem to be held forever.

What I will point out is that Yoga is not necessarily the same as static stretching which typically involves isolating and lengthening muscles. Yoga poses are as a general rule more dynamic in nature calling for stretching, relaxing, balancing and coordinating muscle groups to achieve a desired result. Because of Yoga I’ve been able to find and access muscles I didn’t realize I had. This has been most noticeable in my core. Enough said.

Anyway, the pose I’m studying today is called Eka Pada Kapotasana or One Legged Pigeon. Technically the pose I’ll describe here is a more common variation of the pose that is more effective for the typical issues faced by endurance athletes. I’ve found this pose to be really helpful for accessing and releasing a notoriously tight muscle in many of the runners and cyclists I know, the piriformis. This asana is also beneficial because the piriformis crosses over the sciatic nerve. The lengthening in this area can create a great deal of relief if you are experiencing some issues with the area. Working with this asana can also be beneficial if you have lower back pain that is isolated to one side of the body just above the hips which can be sourced to a tight piriformis.

Starting in a low lunge with both hands on the floor the right foot is in between the hands, the thigh and the shin are at a right angle. Press into the floor and lift the right foot and rotate it over toward the left hand. Gently lower down on the bent right leg, using your arms for support. You may find as you lower onto the right leg you need to allow the foot to move in toward the left hip. The more open your hips are, the closer you can get your right leg to a 90 degree angle. Your left leg should shoot straight back from your left hip. The top of your left foot will be on the floor. In the this pose you don’t want to just collapse. You want to keep isometric tension from both legs and radiate it up through your torso. At this point if it is available to your body you can begin to lower the torso forward over the front leg. For some simply bending forward slightly and keeping the support of the arms will be enough to engage and begin the release the piriformis. As you work with the pose you may eventually get to the point where the torso can come to rest over the front leg.

After you’ve found your body’s point of expression in the pose, you will hold that position for about 60 seconds. To come out of the pose, you can simply plant the palms into the floor, lean forward, tuck under the toes and move back into a lunge over the right leg. You will then repeat the same sequence with the left leg.

You can find a picture and additional notes/instructions for entering the pose here.

Categories: eka pada kapotasana, triathlon, Yoga, yoga for triathletes

The Tao of Training: Fourth Insight

Written by on June 30, 2008 · 1 Comment


“…People usually fail when they are on the verge of success. So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure…”

Of all the posts in this series, this has been the most difficult to write. Perhaps it is because this one hits so close to home for me personally.

I don’t think any of us have a hard time dreaming big because as triathletes we all have some mountain to climb whether it be a goal race, or a finishing time, or place on a podium. Triathlon with its times and schedules and rankings can be very, very goal oriented. It is easy to lose sight of what attracted you to the sport in the first place. In an environment like this the actual “process of triathlon” can get overlooked. And as fitness increases it is so easy to start to believe it will continue to increase with more effort and less attention. If you fall into this pattern of belief, your behavior will soon follow and you could wind up undoing all the quality work you have done. This can signal the beginning of the end. Check out Brandon’s post on a similar subject here.

The other day at the end of a solid three week block of training, feeling strong and satisfied, I picked up the phone and called a friend to see what he was up to. I hadn’t talked to him in a while so, he was very excited to hear from me. He started suggesting we get together to either ride or run. As he talked a feeling of absolute dread came over me. There was a reason I hadn’t talked to him in a while. Our life and training goals were very, very different. I experienced this first hand last year when I wound up on the verge of overtraining after agreeing to workout with him a few days a week. For him there was no “off” button. Sessions continued endlessly and without much purpose. It was easy to train too much and too hard when I was around him. Fortunately we both got busy and went our separate ways. And I eventually recovered.

What I have noticed in my own experience is the fitter and more confident I become, the more I think I can do both inside and outside triathlon. Ultimately time and time again this one small fallacy has wreaked havoc on my results. Calling my friend to see what was up is just one example of how a single act can have far reaching, entirely foreseeable consequences.

That experience made me sit down and consider the implications of my recent phone call. What was most troubling was the realization that I had done other things just as counterproductive before. There was the year I was tapering for a big race and had told my girlfriend I could not help her move and to either call her brother or hire movers. She did neither and I wound up spending two days, 12 hours each, lifting and moving furniture. I could feel myself actually using stores of energy and fitness in the process. I still raced but was sluggish the whole day. Needless to say my results that day were not what I was looking forward to.

The thing is decisions like this seem so small at the time. A phone call to a friend. Spending two days helping a girlfriend move. They don’t seem like the end of the world or the reasons some of your personal goals are no closer now than when you first conceived of them. But if you take some time and look at your own life and find there are some phone calls you could have left unmade, or emails left unreturned, or that “can’t miss” party that you could have skipped just to get a few extra hours of sleep, or taken more time to prepare better food versus grabbing something quick in a drive thru, or even just make a small adjustment to your training schedule because you sense a change is needed, then you might find that you are actually closer to realizing your goals than you think. It can be easy to forget that our goals matter to us and one of the ways we can remind ourselves is to acknowledge the larger picture in our lives and give it the attention it deserves. Of course becoming conscious of our patterns of limiting behavior and addressing them has implications that extend far outside the world of triathlon.

Categories: training, training philosophy, triathlon, triathlon training

Tao of Training: Third Insight

Written by on May 13, 2008 · 3 Comments

“Better to stop short than fill to the brim. Over sharpen the edge and the blade will soon blunt… Retire when work is done. This is the way of Heaven.”

Know when to quit. Respect your limits. Understand when a workout stops being beneficial to you and end it there. No advice could be so simple and yet so ignored. One day as I was running around the lake, I had done about 5 of my planned 8 miles. The run felt really good. My heart rate was right where it should be, but there was a cold front coming in and the temperature had already dropped by about 20 degrees since I’d started running. To complete my workout I’d have to run by my car and come back to it. I opted to stop running while I still felt good and my clothing was still adequate. The additional 3 or 4 miles was not going to mean much fitness-wise if I wound up sick because of another 10 or 20 degree drop in temperature that could have occurred in the interim.

This advice is especially relevant if I am contemplating a speed phase. Before I might have a 6 week block of speed work scheduled and I might try to extend it to 8 weeks to see if I could eek out more from myself. In retrospect, not understanding and respecting this one insight is probably the reason for each and every injury I have ever had. Now I’m satisfied to complete 5 good weeks and wrap things up. Sometimes, especially in triathlon, less has to be more.

Categories: Taoism, training, training philosophy, triathlon, triathlon training

Tao of Training: Second Insight

Written by on May 4, 2008 · 5 Comments

…Magnify the small and increase the few… Achieve greatness in little things

There are three ways I see this idea influencing my training. First is by doing more frequent, but shorter duration workouts that emphasize technique. There were times in the past where I ran into scheduling conflicts that left large time gaps in my training log or I stopped training altogether because I couldn’t find the large blocks of time I felt necessary to meet my goals. But five years away from doing something gives me a much different perspective. Instead of lamenting the 2, 3, or 4 hour blocks of time I don’t have on a given day, I try to focus on the 15, 30, or 60 minute blocks of time I do have an make better use of those. I like to use these “mini” workouts to do those things I normally wouldn’t because of my short attention span. 15 minutes in the pool working on my stroke/technique is way better than no time spent in the water at all. The same goes for 30 minute trainer sessions on the bike which emphasize pedal stroke and cadence, or my 15 minute treadmill runs which focus on leg turnover and speed at a low heart rate. They all count toward my goals and I do them to get me ready for those times when I can train in 4 or 5 hour blocks. I can also use these small blocks of time to do core work, mini yoga sessions targeting trouble spots, or body weight workouts. These are things which all contribute to my overall fitness and allow me to get and keep my body ready for the more time consuming work to come.

Second, I try to focus on the little things that get me ready to train. Now I spend time thinking about how I am going to eat and sleep leading up to key training sessions. I try to spend as much or more time planning my food and my recovery as I do my races and training. During my recovery days and weeks, I schedule massages, Rolfing, acupuncture, naturopathic and nutrition appointments to stay on top of my overall health and wellbeing. In one sense, I may not be a professional triathlete, but where ever possible, I really try to treat myself as if I were one. Where this is paying off is now I find myself better prepared to actually execute and achieve my goals. I am injured less, except for the bike wreck, and I’m generally pain free and rested prior to key workouts. This in turn sees me actually meeting more of my goals because now I am paying more attention to the things that actually make it possible for me to train and race well. And as a result I have a much more positive outlook.

Third, I try to remember to celebrate my small victories. Instead of focusing on race times, placings, or PR’s, I focus on smaller triumphs like having my run stride feel fluid and effortless, or taking ten perfect strokes in the water, or pedalling so as to take full advantage of “power points” and floating up climbs. I focus on the things I am learning and make note of even the smallest improvement. I know triathletes who get discouraged after all the training, the time, and the sacrifices they’ve made and see no reward or payback on raceday because they didn’t have the race they expected or didn’t beat someone. I like to keep my triumphs small and personal. This way I always see constant improvement. I am discovering when I take care of the small things, the big things really do take care of themselves which is exactly what “magnify the small, increase the few” means.

Categories: Taoism, training philosophy, triathlon, triathlon training

The Tao of Training: First Insight

Written by on April 20, 2008 · 1 Comment

Two years ago, as I recovered from a severely pulled hamstring, a very simple, yet profound, thought occurred to me. For the greater part of my adult life I have found wisdom within the pages of Tao Te Ching and used it to guide me personally and professionally. But it wasn’t until I had attempted to race again and failed because of the injury the thought, “Why not use the Tao to guide your training and racing?” came.

In training and in life in general, the “why” or reason for for doing something is usually, at least on some basic level, understood. But ironically the “Way” or how we choose to go about carrying out our chosen mission can be clouded in superstition and mystery and heresay. How we often go about our training is often shrouded in a series of complex equations with variables including things such as nutrition, heart rates, volume, power, recovery, duration, and motivation.

Loosely translated the word Tao simply means ” The Way.” But as with most of the wisdom in the Tao Te Ching, there is more too it. The mind we come to the words with usually provides a framework for any insights we are able to draw from the book. Just as the mind we come into each training session will say a great deal about what we ultimately take from it whether the transformation that results is physical, emotional, mental, or some combination of the three. Over the next few weeks I’ll share a few of the insights that I’ve taken and used to form the pillars of my training and return to racing. Here is the first insight:

“…A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet..”

In most translations it is probably more common to see this idea expressed this way: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Scholars routinely split hairs over which translation is in keeping with the spirit of the original sentiment, but I don’t really think it matters. They both say the same thing. Wherever you are, “begin at the beginning.” For me a couple of years ago it meant walking all winter to restore leg and tendon strength. At first walking 2 miles was a challenge. By spring walking 10 miles two to three times a week was routine. And by early summer I was able to run again. Sometimes we let the enormousness of the task at hand prevent us from even attempting to begin. As a result we don’t do anything and our goals and aspirations never come to fruition.

But now I’m also trying to follow a sequential pattern of training moving from recovery, to strength, to flexibility, to endurance, to race prep, to racing each year. In the past, I might have been tempted to skip some prep work thinking my past fitness made some portion of a current phase unnecessary. I might have also tried to jump into race prep type work just because people was I training with were working on speed or were just training haphazardly. In retrospect, in looking through the lens of The Tao, I understand the problem with this pattern of behavior. When dealing with fitness, especially race fitness, it is best to respect where you currently are. Not respecting where I was in my training is probably how I wound up with a pulled hamstring in the first place. No bit of wisdom could be more simple or more clear:

“Start wherever you are and build from there.”

Categories: Taoism, training philosophy, triathlon, triathlon training

How Are You Gonna Eat?

Written by on March 17, 2008 · 2 Comments

The other day I was hanging out at a Tri shop when a couple of the local pro’s came in after their day of working out which from their conversation was a brick consisting of a 4 or 5 hour long ride followed by a 10 mile run.

When asked by someone in the shop if they were going to eat something, one of the athletes said he was okay for another 30 minutes or so because he’d had a sports drink and a bar within the last hour or so. After hanging out for a bit the two then discussed what they would eat for dinner. Long story short, they were eating pizza. Yep. Pizza. The kind you get from Dominoes or Mr Gatti’s.

I think it was then I started thinking about the questions we ask ourselves in life. Basically, I’m coming to understand that it is far more important to ask the right questions than to know the “right” answer. When we finish our training, or race, or even when we wake up in the morning the question that comes to mind immediately is “What am I going to eat?” Seems like a logical question. And most of us will answer it with a mental inventory that is a mixture of what might be on hand, our learned eating habits, and our cravings. Because of the conversation the two in the tri shop had, I have decided to ask myself a different question, “How am I going to eat today?”

By asking myself “how” I am going to eat as opposed to “what” I am going to eat I find I am opening myself to other possibilities and choices. For instance, am I eating to fuel, or to recover, or to detox? Or some combination of the three? And once the “how” is answered then I can move to the “what.” The “what” at this point supports the “how” which in turn supports me and my goals.

I think it is common for most people to assume that because they exercise, they can eat as they wish. I know I once did. But now I’m beginning to feel that exercise should allow us to tune in to our bodies so that we come to refine our eating much as we refine our equipment based on race conditions.

Categories: diet, food, nutrition, triathlon

Best Pre Ironman Words Ever!

Written by on March 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Period.

I found this wisdom on Jonathan’s Blog:

“…but the state of the world is suffering. all we can do is seek enlightenment.

and when this is done…oh, will they sing songs of me in Valhalla….”

That is all….

Categories: inspiration, triathlon, triathlon racing

« Previous Page
Next Page »