A return to strength

Over the past several weeks, I’ve allowed myself to wallow in a bit of self-pity, which is at least part of the reason I haven’t blogged lately.

Here’s a sampling:

Oh poor me, I can’t run.

Oh poor me, I hurt my hamstring again.

Oh poor me, I didn’t get to run the Atlantic City Marathon.

Oh poor me, I’m losing fitness.

Am I serious with this attitude? I’ve had one of the most incredible years in terms of running and especially triathlon. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:  I ran 50 miles. I qualified for Boston (and am registered for 2011). I faced my fears on the bike and did not quit, resulting in the best day of my life at Ironman Lake Placid. I felt joy I’ve never felt before. I felt the strength of the human spirit like I’ve never felt before.

And, I’m going to sit here and feel bad about myself because I need some recovery time–during the offseason no less? That’s just not the person I want to be.

So, no more whining and wallowing.

I’ve got big goals for 2011–a 12-hour Ironman, a 3:30 marathon–and as I work toward these objectives, I need to make strength a key focus: mental and physical strength. Lately, I’ve been doing pretty well with working on my physical strength, even if my mental discipline has been lacking. I’ve been working on a consistent strength training plan for the past 5 weeks. And, I am starting to feel the benefits of this focus.

My strength training plan is cobbled together from my experience rowing crew in high school, as well as some research I’ve done more recently from a variety of sources including Joe Friel & Gordon Byrn’s book Going Long, as well as tips and tricks provided by my twitter friends, as well as sites such as active.com and coolrunning.com.

I’ve received some questions and requests on my blog, as well as via email, for some strength training information, so now seems as good a time as any to provide an overview of what I’ve been doing, and what I plan to do moving forward.

Identify your limiters

One of the key themes in Going Long is identifying your limiters . Especially during the offseason, it’s important to build up strength in those areas that require it most. For me, that’s a mix of areas, specific to the different sports. For swimming, it’s my triceps–I have a weak finish on the stroke. For biking & running, it’s my hamstrings, as well as my hip flexors. Additionally, Friel & Byrn note that many athletes tend to “favor the front of their bodies” (p. 188), and I can say from my experience this is quite true. For example, my quadriceps are definitely stronger than my hamstrings. My biceps are stronger than my triceps.

Periodize

Just as we have off-seasion, transition, base, build and peak periods for our running, swimming and biking, so too should strength training progress according to different “periods”. (I wrote about the basics of periodization in this post .) According to Friel & Byrn, there are five basic periods for strength training, each of which increases in intensity and lasts about 4 weeks. For each of these phases, you want to shoot for 2-3 sessions per week.

Anatomical adaptation 1

  • Includes a variety of total body exercises, which are done with low intensity, light weights and high reps (25) for 1-2 sets. The goal for this phase is not to increase strength so much as to prepare the body for the later phases where the intensity will increase. You should not be working to muscle failure in the sets, and this should not produce soreness. Easy does it 🙂

Anatomical adaptation 2

  • Includes more sport-specific upper and lower body and core exercises, including squats, leg presses, hamstring curls, knee extension, lat pulldowns, straight-arm pulldowns, calf raises, seated rows, tricep dips, tricep extension. In in addition to these exercises, to support my weaknesses, I include clamshells (what’s a clamshell? – watch the video here), lunges, shoulder presses, and front/lateral shoulder raises.
  • Other ideas to spice things up: Sometimes, I like to do the bicep curls, tricep extensions and shoulder presses/raises while standing on a bosu ball. This works my core and strengthens my angles.
  • During this phase, you should focus on doing 2 sets of each exercise, 15-20 reps a piece. Weights should be heavier than the previous phase, however, you should not work to complete muscle failure at the end of each set.
  • I am just now starting this phase.

Anatomical adaptation 3 (December/January)

  • At this point, the training shifts to sport-specific strength training exercises, as well as any that address your limiters. The weight increases so that the intensity is higher than the last phase, but again, you are not working toward muscle failure. Two sets of each exercise with 12-15 reps a piece.

Maximum strength (January/February)

  • By this phase, you are working to maximum strength for all exercises by doing 4 sets, 6-10 reps apiece, with very high intensity. Friel & Byrn recommend that the last 2 sets work to muscle failure. (Use a spotter if necessary!) The exercises to focus on include the following and in this order: Squats, leg press, lat pulldowns, knee extension, hamstring curl, straight-arm pulldown, calf raise, seated row and then core work.

Strength maintenance (March- through season)

  • By this point, the sport-specific training for running, swimming and biking is starting to increase, and so the strength training will necessarily take up less time. The primary goal here is to maintain the strength gains made previously. The recommendation is to do 1 warm up set, then 2 sets with 6-10 reps apiece. The intensity is low to moderate and dependent upon the intensity of other training. In other words, during those 20-hour training weeks, the intensity is on the low side.
  • In selecting exercises for this phase, you should concentrate primarily on your limiters. In others, no skimping on the hamstrings and clamshells for me!

If you don’t have access to a gym or equipment, that’s okay! Many of the exercises I mention here can be done without weights or modified with resistance bands. Additionally, power yoga is an excellent way to combine both strength training and flexibility. So, if you don’t go to a gym or have access to weight training equipment – no problem! Considering going to a yoga studio or doing some power yoga at home. Instructional DVD’s are plentiful.

A special note about core work

Our core includes abdominals, gluteals and hips.

You can skip anything–but don’t skip the core. Our core, from our abdominals to our hips, is our ENGINE. Without core strength, strength in any other area of our body means precious little. I have found a way to incorporate a considerable amount of core work into my strength training, while also make strength workouts a moderate aerobic workout. How? Very simple. Instead of resting between weight sets, I do a set of core. For example, I will do one set of squats and then immediately drop to a mat (which I place next to me) and do a set of bike pumps (or whatever…). In this manner, I wind up doing 2 sets of core for every weight-based exercise, which by the end of the workout amounts to considerably more than I might do if I saved my core work for the end, at which point I tend to skimp. Another benefit is that I keep my HR elevated which helps me burn fat. Double bonus.

From my perspective, the key with core work is variation and remember that your core includes more than the infamous six pack. Don’t forget your lower back and hips. It’s all part of the engine that will propel you to be a faster and stronger swimmer, cyclist and/or runner.

Flexibility

A key element to muscle strength includes flexibility. Increased power or force means precious little if our muscles are not also limber. There are many ways to incorporate flexibility into the training regimen. I’m learning that it may be wiser to cut a workout 10 minutes short to allow time for stretching, than it is to finish that workout and ignore stretching.

I’m 5 weeks into my strength plan, and I am already starting to notice a difference in the pool and on the bike. For example, I can push a heavier gear with a higher cadence for longer periods of time now than I could even during the height of my ironman training. And, I’m hoping that when I return to running (at the end of this week), my leg strength will be able to combat at least some of the running-specific fitness I may have lost. I’m confident, that in the long-term, as long as I give strength training the same level of importance as other elements of my training plan, my vulnerability to injury will be less.

As my physical strength improves, my mental strength does as well. Just yesterday, I rode the bike trainer while watching the NYC Marathon. As I watched those incredible athletes move along the course, I thought to myself, “I ain’t messing around this year. I will do this.

The wallowing period is officially over.

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