running flats...... yes or no???

One of the questions I am asked yearly is "Should I wear racing flats?". I am not a huge fan of them. One of my favorite things to giggle at during Ironman racing are the people walking the marathon in racing flats. Almost as much as I love to see a heart rate monitor strap out of the swim.........

One of my former sponsors is Fleet Feet of Rochester, so I asked Boots, former professional duathlete to give his opinion on flats. He's been running for about 354 years and knows his runners and shoes.

Click here for the article!

goals

Click here or see the right sidebar for the dryland swimming exercises.

I don't know about you but I am a goal oriented person. It keeps me on track. It gets me out of bed at early o'clock when I have a very full day to get my workouts done. It keeps me focused on the days when I get a little too riled up and on the days where I feel like a log.

One of my goals as a mother is to be there when my son gets off the bus. That keeps everything else in line. It forces me to work a few crazy shifts.... many times he doesn't know I am gone! It motivates me to work and train while he is at school and get my stuff done! After school time is Luc time.

One of my goals is to not put too much on my plate. (HA HA!). That's why I have a limit to the number of athletes I coach, a limit to the number of hours I work, etc.

But the goals of being an athlete are the most fun and are the ones that get me on the bike at a crazy early hour (not every day, just when necessary).

I know a lot of people who are almost afraid to set goals due to the fear they won't reach them. But part of like is failure.

Think of the artist, who has a passion and a commitment to painting. The artist isn't born with paintbrush in hand painting beautiful scenery. There have been many canvases scrapped, thrown out, cried over, ridiculed..... before that one perfect work piece is arrived at.

For most of us there are the races where we completely fall apart, fall down and get trampled on, before we reach that finish line at our goal time or on the podium or as the winner.

What matters is how we deal with not reaching the goal. My goal this season was to go sub eleven at Ironman Lake Placid. I ended up in an ambulance. Now what am I going to do with that? I will be back..... don't you think I am quitting Ironman racing. Hells no! Not quitting the Ironman, taking a step back from it. Yes, what happened was not in my control. Whatever. Of course it burns me that my goal was not met.

Absolutely. I can turn that disappointment into the fire for this season. As I return to the 70.3 distance and work on speed, getting leaner, getting stronger while stepping back from the long..... I am gathering what I need to return to Ironman to complete #5.

When too early o'clock comes around and I have a stacked day with a sick little 8 year old at home, then I get up if I want to get it done.

The why...... makes the how very easy.

So as you set up your goals for 2009 there are a thousand ways to do it. You can set big goals, medium goals, small goals. You can have your A list, your B list and your wish list. Whatever works for you, embrace it.

I like to write them down and place them where I can see them. I have one in the bathroom that I wake up to every single day. I don't over complicate things by placing quotes and such all over the place. I pick one to give me focus.

I often find that the athletic goal I set for myself..... I can apply it elsewhere as well.

By now we know sport is a metaphor for life. The lessons we learn now, the canvases we don't get right, the rides in the dark alone...... those are where the lessons happen. So let them.

dryland swim program

As a collegiate swimmer my life was ruled by swimming exercises on the pool deck, on the mats and on the Vasa Trainer. I have a Vasa Trainer and I would gift one to every swimmer in America if I could. I happen to have gotten mine through an incredible deal and I would not trade this thing for anything in the world.

If I had to point to one program for dryland training it would be this one. I incorporate the exercises that apply to me into my functional strength training program. In Fact, this is itself a good FTP itself as it incorporates all parts of the body. I FST 3-4 times a week right now for about 30 minutes.

I won't go into the argument on whether strength training is necessary or effective. Take this all for what it is work and if it helps you... wonderful.

Here is a good dry land training program using some of the things you might have at home:

stay in the game

I need to take my husband's temperature.

I think he has a fever.

Ironman Fever (Thanks Boon for that :-)

He called me yesterday and confessed. I want to do that again.... he said. I know I can go a 9:40 on that course. All I could do was smile and hold back from screaming. No, he doesn't regret turning down Hawaii. He hated that course. Ironman Florida.... it's made for the guy.

He admitted that he gets it. He gets why Ironman and I have had such a run together. despite our current breakup, Ironman and I I will have a reconciliation. In 2010. First things first however. 70.3 and I broke up bit ago and we need to make things right.

I have to admit that it excited me to pieces. Go for it. I told him.

This morning I woke up too early. I was supposed to be on the bike by 4am but I was sitting with a certain 8 year old who told me..... 8 isn't that much fun so far. I can't blame the kid, he's had a fever ever since he turned eight on Sunday. The poor kid has even been hurfing (his word for barfing). So the ride was cancelled and shifted when I found myself rocking his nausea away from his burning up little body.

I had one goal as I approached the pool this morning. Keep myself in the game. No matter what, even if the STUDS lapped me I would remain in the game. I would swim 90 minutes straight if I had to. Which is easy to do when you are swimming with Mark (96 Olympic trialist and last year swam a 1:46 for the 200 free. I know, I hurfed too.)

It was a light group in the STUD lane. No Grimm. Just Bill M, Dr Les, Rauni Mark and I. Bill and I shared lane 2 as we always do.

Bill M. is perhaps the nicest guy in the world. Actually, so are all my lane mates.

I know I am having a good swim when I can stay ahead of Dr. Les. Which I will dearly pay for when he cracks me tomorrow...... bastard's my chiropractor. So I carefully pulled myself ahead of him.

You know where you are in swimming. On one side of me I have the Boomers, on the other side of me I have my fellow Studs. Scott W. is a freaking great sandbagging BOOMER, he should be in with us. On our sets of 500's if we started at a similar time I could see him ahead of me, but by the second 200 I can always catch him. And on the other side I was staying ahead of Les.

Stay in the game Eggers.

I remember hitting the wall after the first one and gasping "Did I make it?"

Bill and Mark cheered me on.

Then I made the second one. And the third. I thought I was hallucinating as I saw Ken on the deck, man's recovering from a broken neck sustained at Longhorn. Did I not tell that story???? The guy walked around for 3 days with a fractured C1. He walked around for days with a nurse and 2 physicians telling him to HTFU.

L.U.C.K.Y.

We ground out 5,000 yards this morning. I stayed in the game. It was heaven. So heavenly that when I was pulling 8 X 100's at the end I touched the wall and heard Coach Lorie laugh.

"She's been turned and tanned on both sides. She's done."

Yeah I guess I was.

It was one of those mornings where I showed up at my internship at the law firm with my grownup clothes on and Starbuck's in hand.... feeling this quiet sense of pride for a little ride through the five corners of hell this morning.

It's not something you need to announce and pound your chest about (except when writing on your blog.....). But it's a feeling you quietly walk around with.

Knowing I took the reach, and the kick and the pull. And got outside of my comfort zone. Which, in swimming I spent my life in that area. The past few years within. It is only now that I am venturing back out......

primal eating

Inspired by the recent nutritional challenges of Elaine..... and my own history / shortcoming / obsession with nutrition issues and eating disorders..... accompanied by my health issues of 2008..... along with my break from Iron distance racing..... I decided that it has come time.

Nutrition can be tough, especially in our sport which demands that our bodies are fed properly and enough to perform at an optimal level. My history with an eating disorder plus some serious health issues this past season have really turned my attention to what I eat.

I am really fortunate to teach at a a yoga studio which also has a massive nutrition component. At Breathe I have been introduced to the concept of whole food nutrition, as Cyndi is one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met in the Nutrition industry.

My biggest off-season project has been to revamp my nutrition and get myself to a leaner short course weight. My priority has been to reinstate my health and make sure I set the foundation to preserve my health. I have been through a few frightening health experiences this past season which is where this revamping business all came about.

I think nutrition is a lot like training..... you have to weed through a lot of bullshit.... you have to look at things as they fit you..... the individual person and then make changes from there.

By nature I am not a good vegetable and fruit eater. My palate was restricted to bananas, grapes, broccoli, cauliflower, all kinds of lettuce and sprinklings of other things. At Breathe I was introduced to Mango and now I make a really good, what I call Mango yogurt. It's really nothing more than pureed Mango. Love it. Throw a little cinnamon on it and call me happy.

I could eat very bland things and be really content with life. I could also gravitate towards anything sweet and be happy with that as well.

My two year multisport plan doesn't allow for that however. It turns out however that my two year multisport plan is also my two year Masters program. And yes, that is on purpose. How am I to survive this degree and come out of it intact and healthy and functioning? To be as healthy as I can possibly be.

And that brings us back to nutrition. October was about giving up the sweets. Not much of an issue there. November became about adding five fruits and vegetables per day.... and I am doing well. Thanks Elaine for these kick starts, because they have been awesome.

I am gravitating towards a completely primal eating lifestyle, and this will likely take some time. I am learning to cook (I married an amazing cook so I just..... never did). I am adding a new fruit and vegetable to my diet each weer, sometimes with success and sometimes without. And I am watching the scale. I am very happy with the results so far.

As I share my training with you for this season, I will also share my nutritional metamorphosis. To begin that here are a few great websites that detail some good nutrition habits. remember that nutrition, just like training, just like life, is highly individual.

Mark's Daily Apple

Modern Forager (this site is about repairing your metabolism after an eating disorder).

Home of the Glycemic Index

Paleolithic Diet

desire

If you are looking for the stability ball workout, please see the menu on the right….. we created a link and we will save them as we post a new one weekly. Next week by request we will be posting favorite dry land exercises for swimming! Thanks you for the feedback, I am so glad it was beneficial for you!

I am entering week 3 of running camp. I don't feel like it is this huge undertaking as it sounds…… 30 runs in 30 days….. Coach T had me run so much that 30 days of running in a row….. is just another week.

I'm feeling good. Feeling great. Feeling strange because some of us are coming into our on season, some going into the off-season and then some like one of my athletes Sarah….. still has an Ironman coming up.

It's a bit weird not checking in with a coach. Who looks at my daily log? Who keeps their eye on me? I do. I log in as an athlete and I log in again at the end of the day as my coach. A few hours away from the workouts and I give it a look over just like I do everyone else.

I have also opened up my training log to the Train-This Team. 35 pairs of eyes. Some are new, many have been with me a few years, they are going to keep an eye on me. My way of seeing what they have learned through the years. And my way of keeping myself in check. It's one thing to do something stupid when I am the only one who sees it. It's another thing when my athletes get to see it.

I'm looking forward to 2009, it's a calm feeling of drive and a quiet feeling of hunger. As I lay out my plan for the season and my goals for racing I feel that everything is an opportunity. I look back on 2008 and I can't believe what I have been through. None of the stuff I endured was on the plan. But I overcame it with a lot of fight and I hope a bit of grace.

I watched Clearwater online yesterday. I was at the inaugural race in 2006 and I could tell that the drafting wasn't quite as bad but it still existed. I've done a lot of races with drafters cheating their way to the top. Ironman Florida and my age group last year saw a few. But one in particular.

When you do something like cheat, be it in sport or in life….. it has a way of coming around. Life is circular like that. Like the female professional at 2008 Ironman Florida last week….. she treated the volunteers in T1 horridly. That kind of stuff comes back around. You let it go, and let it work itself out.

I'm not afraid of the drafting at Clearwater 2009. I don't care. All I need to know is that I will be riding clean, just like I always do. When I set my goal for a race like this I set it for time. I don't aim for a podium because I can not control who shows up. Chrissie Wellington could decide to be an age grouper next year, come and rock the field. I can't control that. Nor would I change my training to combat that. I have to train my way for my race. Not her way for her race.

I can't control who shows up. I can control my pace and how I race these events. I can't control people who cheat by drafting. I can control how I react to it. I can allow my energy get sucked into their race. Or I can let that go, let karma take care of it, and focus on myself and my race.

Each race I do I race with integrity. I can't force someone else to do the same but at the end of the day I can feel good about what I have chosen whether or not I stand on a podium or not.

When I die no one is going to give a rats ass how many podiums I have stood on or how many medals I have won. But someone somewhere might have been touched in a positive way because I thanked them for handing me a water bottle. Someone might have been less inclined to snap at a volunteer because they heard me say thank you.

Does that mean I will stop aiming for the top?

Absolutely not.

Especially in 2009 I will aim for the top. I firmly believe, I always will, that one of these days the good guys will win. The drafters will all get DQ'd or maybe the race director will finally create a wave system on a hillier course that makes a difference. Maybe someday cheating will lose its appeal.

So I shall move forward with this hunger, with this drive, with this desire to tackle, to reach, to be the best that I can possibly be. To bury myself, to bury the pain, to unlock the passion, to meet my potential.

That's what I am taking aim for.

stability

With everything we have at our disposal in terms of balls, bands, straps, etc, it's almost a crime to pay money to belong to a gym these days. For the 15 minutes you drive there and then drive home you could get 30 minutes of strength training done right at home.

We know about the debate on whether strength training is a hindrance, helpful or makes no difference at all in Multisport training programs. Create your own viewpoint and move along please. You aren't going to change my mind. To swim bike and run faster you need to swim bike and run. No one is saying that strength training trumps specificity. But strength training is a valuable tool to have in the tool box.

I believe a stronger muscle is a healthier muscle, which means it can sustain more. And as you age you lose muscle mass.

Plus…. I think it is fun.

Here is a great stability ball workout thanks to the folks at PhysicalFitnet for introducing me to this great site and for the ability to post videos. Starting this week we will feature a different set of exercises with different equipment. So stay tuned. You just might enjoy this!