Last Week’s Links

Just checking in to share some of the better links I came across last week.

  • A Brick workout without a bike, courtesy of Trifreaks: http://trifreaks.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/brick-workout-to-consider-without-biking/
  • Healthy Tipping Point takes a good look at Obstacle Races (please don’t call them Adventure Races, that’s something else).  Very thoughtful analysis, as usual.  
  • Better with Veggies put up a great post about breaking into triathlon from starting as a runner.  It’s how I got involved; I was already using swim and bike as cross-training, I loved pushing the envelope endurance-wise, but it was just too much running all the time, until I found a way to make it all work for me.
  • Speaking of breaking into triathlon, I was thumbing through my wife’s Chatelaine magazine when I saw this article.  Yay for triathlon in the mainstream!




Have a great day!


EDIT: Fixed the link to Healthy Tipping Point.

When Your Partner Wants to Train

I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend! I was lucky to run into this blog post from Outside magazine, about how parents can train. Having a family makes training for running races or triathlons hard, but when your partner or spouse has their own goals, it can add yet another wrinkle.

My wife is training for her first race since the birth if the Lightning Kid, the Yonge Street 10k in April (maybe I can get her to guest write a race recap) followed by the Sporting Life 10k in May. Meanwhile, looking at the Race Calendar, I’ve got the 5 Peaks Rattlesnake Point trail run on the 28th.

Even though it’s my first trail run, this race doesn’t present an enormous challenge for me in terms of distance, while for her it’s really pushing the envelope for her current running ability.  Due to my longer legs I am the faster runner of the two of us, but in the years since we had kids, the difference in our running fitness has grown.  While parenting is tiring for dads, there’s no denying there’s a more direct physical toll on the moms.  So when we finally got a chance to run together like we used to, how did we handle it?


We did this run together; it is only a little over 4k – so it doesn’t represent a long run for her, nor me, really. Our paces would be much different considering distance alone. What we ended up doing is she kept up a pace suitable for a recovery run (or even over-distance/endurance pace) while I did a mixture of extras to spike my heart rate from time to time.  One trick was to stop for squats, push-ups or whatever Burbathlon-style.  The problem became that my wife wasn’t quite slow enough for me to do too many reps without her catching up to me even when I had sprinted ahead.  Which brings me to the other trick I used: Fartlek sprints, combined with either jogging back again or even backwards running, which uses opposing muscle groups to your run, and can be a way to cross-train and injury-proof your muscles.  So to sum up, sprint ahead, stop for strength exercises till she catches up.

To me, this run together was some of the most fun I’ve had on a run in a long time; I missed my running buddy, and I kept myself highly amused with the extra exercises.  To her, I bet it was a lot like taking a dog for a run… SQUIRREL!

Gear Corner: Forerunner 910XT Part 1 (Swim)


After losing my Forerunner 305, I was this close to buying a Bluetooth capable HR strap and using my Blackberry for tracking permanently, but darn it if those Garmin people didn’t hook me back in with the Forerunner 910XT.  After previous models that were called ‘waterproof’ (which in GPS language means “can get drops of water on it” unlike watch language where it means “submersible”), this one can really be used for swimming.  It is in fact, useful as a swim computer.

Once I got to the pool, the first thing I did was turn the watch on, and turn of the GPS.  They’ve made the menus more accessible than previously in my opinion, and GPS has its own menu so I can turn it off for indoor use quickly.  Then, I had to switch modes to ‘Swim’ (from ‘Run’) if I recall; this was found under the Training menu, rather than Settings where I expected it, but I still found that an improvement – it keeps any one menu from getting too dense with choices.  I programmed in a 25m pool, and started swimming.


I was a little pressed for time and stressed besides that, so I opted for a straight swim of 750m.  By the time I had done 100m, I checked the distance tracker and it reported only 50m and I was thinking:”This will never work.”  Still, by the time as I finished up my 30th length, sure enough, the readout showed 750m.


I was really interested to see what the data would show when I synched it, which it does wirelessly through a USB device the size of a thumb drive that you stick into your computer’s port.  The sync happens automatically when you turn the watch back on near the computer, but the small delay before it happens always makes me wonder if I’m doing it right before I notice the transfer has started.  The plugin software doesn’t have much in the way of dialog windows to let you know what’s happening.

Let me preface by saying I have no idea what happened toward the end there.  I do, however, love how it recorded my number of strokes for each length.  I always thought strokes should be counted with both arms but mechanically, it makes more sense for the watch to sense each time my left arm goes around.  The numbers add up, since I’d put my 25m stroke count around 25-26 (counting both left and right), and this workout shows an average of 13 (counting only the left).  It also shows my pace per 100m throughout the workout; might be very interesting during more structured workouts.


The last graph is about efficiency; there’s a metric called SWOLF which wasn’t easy to find the definition for (Google let me down for specifics), but ultimately, the connect.garmin.com websites help buttons defined it as stroke count+time to complete 25m.  I’m really interested in this one, as every time I’ve tried to reduced the number of strokes, I’ve used more power on each stroke to absolutely no effect; though I’m probably completing the 25m in less time.  Playing with SWOLF will let me optimize my swim for energy spent and how fast I can complete the distance.


So far so good for the Garmin Forerunner 910XT.  I should mention that the HR monitor (while waterproof) does not work in the water, which is a shame.  Though meaningful benchmarks for what heart-rate should be while swimming are hard to come by due to the difference the water pressure and cooling make on your cardiovascular system, I wouldn’t mind being able to compare workouts as the season progresses and knowing how my perceived exertion on a workout maps to the relative heart-rate actually produced.


I’ll be reviewing the 910XT’s features for biking and running in future posts.  Stay tuned!  Feel free to take a better look at the data by clicking the image below.

Cross-Training? Cross Posting!

I just wanted to highlight that I wrote an article for Heidi Murphy’s Balance Project Blog’s Canadian Blogger Series.  The series has had weekly articles from healthy living/fitness bloggers across our fair country, and yours truly signed up to represent Ontario (though not exclusively).  Check the series out, there’s some great posts about what other provinces are like for the active/healthy/outdoorsy types.

Also, if you haven`t checked out my other blog The Adventures of the Lightning Kid I`d love it if you gave it a read.  I don`t talk about it that much online, but I am a father to a baby born with Trisomy 21 also known as Down Syndrome.  In the blog I use a fairy tale setting to talk about the emotional truths of life with a child with Down Syndrome (DS for short), if not the literal truths.  As I’m fond of saying: the stories aren`t real, but they are true.

I’ll be back soon with regularly scheduled programming 😉

Burbathlon Thoughts

Last week I got a chance to do not one, but two Burbathlons, and I tried a few new things.

On Tuesday the weather was warm enough for shorts (in March! in Toronto!) so off I went.  I had a water-bottle belt packed, but I’d been missing the bottle itself and I figured I’d hydrated enough in the morning to not need anything along the way… WRONG!

I found my mouth parched fairly soon after starting.  I ended up doing a little extra hill work with a climb straight up the Centennial Park Ski hill and another going up the service road (in addition to the hill that takes me out of the Etobicoke Creek Valley to the park, and the berm near Eglinton road.  I mixed in some squats, single-leg squats, push-ups, spiderman crawls and sprints (not necessarily in that order) into the overall run.  I also took the opportunity to start to prepare for the Spartan Race by practicing some jiu-jitsu rolls.

Jiu-Jitsu practices a lot of break-falling to avoid being hurt when being thrown, but at higher levels you can use them to dive over obstacles and land in a roll.  Unfortunately I’m so rusty that I was mostly practicing them in the grass from a walk.  Still, if I keep up the practice, maybe I’ll pull one off on race day.

For Friday’s workout, I swore I’d be better hydrated.  Pulling off random jumps and strength exercises (never mind jiu-jitsu rolls) with a bottle in the small of my back didn’t seem too comfortable, but it gave me a chance to try out a piece of equipment I bought last season with this sort of thing in mind…

 Salomon hydration packs seem to get good reviews (and I’ll write up and post my own soon enough)… I liked the idea of this one not only for hydration, but as a good way to have extra pockets for gadgets like my phone, camera, iPod, whatever.  Pockets are always hard to find on running gear, don’t you think?  I decided not to do rolls while wearing it though, since the hydration bladder might burst.

Speaking of gadgets, this was the first outing with the new Garmin Forerunner 910XT.  I’d lost my Forerunner 305, and I think I bought the new one out of some kind of bout of self-pity/retail therapy.  After the workout I joked with someone that my dirty little secret is that I’m only into multi-sport fitness for the toys. Yet another gear review post for me to write, but I will say that I got up and running with it without having spent a lot of time to set it up beforehand.

The other bit of gear I stuffed into the vest pockets was a skipping rope.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m interested in some of the benefits barefoot/natural running has to offer without being willing to go ‘all-in’ on the craze.  This video really caught my attention:

What struck me is that he’s actually going pretty fast and his technique looks much closer to ‘normal’ running than most stuff I’ve seen.  I have real problems not heel striking even when I’m actively working on this sort of thing, but I loved the idea of using the jump-rope to implement the ‘natural’ stride, so I gave it a try for around 100m or so on this workout.

With the spring coming, I’m looking forward to doing more Burbathlon workouts, and maybe getting some of my own video to share.

Bunch of Links

Some Good Reads for Your Web-surfing (do we still call it that?) pleasure:

Over at Healthy Tipping Point, Caitlin witnessed a (Modern) Pentathlon and did a nice little write-up of this multi-sport anomaly.

This season has been lousy for snow and skiing, but still I enjoy reading about it from time to time.  Here’s an article about the Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in Wisconsin from Outside Magazine.  They even go over how you can prepare for the race (training, nutrition and general skiing guidelines).

I now realize I’m sourcing two articles from Outside (from the same author even!).  Here they talk about the benefits of triathlon to health and fitness in general, and why this is a great time for the sport.

Best Laid Plans

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”   – Woody Allen

After building this year’s Race Calendar, the next logical step was to build a training plan.  Obviously the way to attain goals is to stick to a plan that will build you up to the point where you can achieve them.  I wanted to write something up that was structured, and stand on the shoulders of giants by following or adapting something made by professionals.

I like the book Training Plans for Multisport Athletes by Gale Bernhardt.  Each chapter is a different training plan for a different scenario: they differ by athlete’s level of experience, the event type and length, and the athlete’s goals/expectations.  Looking into the book, I figured that my plan should resemble one of three plans:

  1. Faster Olympic Distance Performance.  This is basically what I want to achieve, but the plan involves 2 workouts in different disciplines a day, even in the General Preparation phase (where we basically prep the body for the training to come).  It just isn’t terribly realistic for my schedule and life, and most structured training plans look more or like this one.
  2. 6 Weeks to an Olympic Triathlon for Athletes with Limited Time.  This one is nice and simple and also geared not only to my race type/distance, but also my schedule.  I do have more than 6 weeks to play with, and the plan isn’t structured with regards to types of workout (speed, tempo, long distance/endurance).  I wanted to get a little better in regard to having more specific training sessions, so this one isn’t ideal.
  3. Multisport Fitness Plan.  This is my favourite as it is more of a lifestyle plan for athletes who like to do multisport, and allows for some cross-training (e.g. basketball, hockey, or jiu-jitsu in my case) in your schedule.  It isn’t geared for specific race goals, but it is 24 weeks long, which was just about right at the time I made my race calendar plan.

I struggled with trying to hybridize these plans as the structures got pretty complicated, but I liked the idea of a general preparation phase (of about 4 weeks) so I decided to focus on that.

Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Sat
Sun
Week #
DATE
27/02
28/02
29/02
01/03
02/03
03/03
04/03/
1
Main
Swim
Run
Spin
Rest
Spin
Run
Circuit
Backup
Spin
Circuit
Yoga
Pushups
Swim
Yoga
Bike Trainer
Sec. Backup
Jitsu
Body Blast
Circuit
Jitsu
Yoga
DATE
05/03
06/03
07/03
08/03
09/03
10/03
11/03
2
Main
Swim
Run
Spin
Rest
Spin
Run
XC Ski
Backup
Spin
Circuit
Yoga
Pushups
Swim
Yoga
Sec. Backup
Jitsu
Body Blast
Circuit
Jitsu

Knowing how chaotic my life was I tried to match each day to what might be available in terms of work schedule (meetings near lunch would eliminate lunchtime workouts), gym group exercise schedule (spin classes for bike workouts, spacing strength workout apart appropriately), and other extra-curricular considerations like when I would most need to be at home. Each day had not only a backup workout in case I missed my first shot (pool closures, bad weather, work related rescheduling), but a backup-backup workout. So every day had a primary, secondary and tertiary workout option. I included possible workouts like Yoga, the 100 pushups workouts, group exercise at the gym, and jiu-jistu. I tried not to plan rest days (the purple field is a tentative/possible rest day), because I knew they might happen unbidden (based on experience), but boy did I ever underestimate that!

Here’s what happened.

Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Sat
Sun
Week #
DATE
27/02
28/02
29/02
01/03
02/03
03/03
04/03/
1
Main
Swim 1500m
REST
Spin
Run
Backup
Sec. Backup
DATE
05/03
06/03
07/03
08/03
09/03
10/03
11/03
2
Main
Backup
Sec. Backup

I started off sticking to the plan, but by Wednesday, Shark Boy had gotten sick with a fever and throat infection which kept him miserable throughout the day and woke him up several times a night.  After waking up, he was generally inconsolable for almost an hour each time.  Through visits to 2 after-hours clinics and his pediatrician, we ruled out strep throat and ear infections.  The wake-ups continued when the fever was down through drugs, and when he had no fever at all anymore.  Without turning this into a family drama post, suffice it to say that sleep was hard to come by – to a degree I hadn’t experienced since he was a newborn.  The red in the table represents days I didn’t do any exercise at all – forced rest days.

I managed to get it together enough to attend a spin class on the Friday and on Saturday I decided I would use the scant time I had to do a tempo run.  My thinking was that since I couldn’t go long, I could at least go fast.  I had obviously contacted some kind of infection of my own; I was coughing throughout the day, but I had read that you can train with a cold, as long as it’s not in your chest.  Does having a cough count?  Apparently it does, because I was sick as a dog by Monday and took Tuesday off work.  I spent the rest of the week recovering and trying to help Shark Boy do the same.

I’m not sure when I felt physically up to training again, because mentally I had just about given up on the idea of committing to anything (even though I’ve paid for a couple of race registrations already – see the Race Calendar).  I was really down in the dumps, and I guess I needed the entire week to regroup.

The good news:

  • Shark Boy still wakes up a few times a night, but he’s much easier to get back to sleep again.  He’s feeling well and his disposition during the day is delightful; just like it used to be.
  • I lost about 3-4 pounds somehow during all this.
  • At the time of this writing I’ve gone for a run and a spin class this week already.

Getting back into training after a hiatus is an injury trap for me; I had to tell myself the following to make sure I eased back into it (yes, apparently I talk to myself on Twitter):

 I’m happy to be doing something physical again.  I don’t feel up to anything hardcore (or doing any strength work) yet, and I don’t have a structured plan, but I do have the desire again at least. 

Monday Swim

Though my training plan is not yet solidified (I need to do a little more research and work), I know I’ll need a base phase to prepare my body; up till now workouts have been not totally infrequent, but not regular enough for real training.  I need to get up to 6 days a week of workouts.  The weekend was a little tough on my knees, so I opted for a swim on Monday which is in keeping with what I had planned for that Monday (and most Mondays going forward).

I didn’t feel like following a prescribed program or doing much drill work, so here’s how it turned out.

  • Warm-up: 300m
  • 1st Drill: 2x 100m with a pull-buoy.  I held the pull-buoy between my shins on the first set, since I believe it’s there to teach me to use my core to stay level in the water, and carrying it higher simply makes it do the work for me.  It was a little hard (like holding a plank for 2 minutes) so I brought it closer to my knees on the second set.
  • 2nd Drill: 2x150m with hand-paddle gloves.  I was testing out my shoulders here since a little impingement issue flared up last week.  I honestly meant to do 2x100m, and accidentally kept going on the first set, so why not do 2x150m?
  • Main set: a pyramid with increasing intensity:
    • 100m in 2:07
    • 100m in 1:59
    • 100m in 1:52
    • 100m in 1:57
    • 100m in 2:17
  • Cool down: 100m breast-stroke and 100m back-crawl.

More Family Exercise

My main ‘go-to’ circuit/strength workout is the the Spartacus Workout from Men’s Health.  It doesn’t require much other than dumbbells, and I can get it done in around 40 minutes, though it gets me sweating and breathing heavily like anybody’s business.  Last time I did the workout at home, Shark Boy was having a nap, but the Lightning Kid (4 months) was ready to rock.  My wife went out for a run, so I was watching him. I managed to keep him somewhat entertained with the following modifications to the Spartacus Workout:

Mountain Climbers:

Push-up Position Row:

Lunge and Rotation:

He weighs 12 lbs… perfect!

And when I’m on the bike trainer, I let him watch me.  He seems to find the noise and motion of the spinning wheels fascinating.  The trouble is, if I find myself tiring, and the cadence backs off, he starts to squawk of boredom.  He’s like a little coach not letting me slack off!

The Lightning Kid is lying on the mat on the far side of the bike.

There hasn’t been much snow in Southern Ontario this year, but when we got some, we managed to take advantage with a visit to the Mansfield Outdoor Centre.  It was our first time out cross-country skiing since we grew to a family of four.  We didn’t get too much mileage in, as getting the gear and kids into the car, driving there, and still meeting somewhat of a sane nap schedule limits time a fair bit, but I’m proud that we’re still getting out to do one of my favourite activities as a family.

Shark Boy in the Chariot, the Lightning Kid in the backpack carrier.

A Rebuttal To Swim Bike Mom’s ‘Brain Bills Job Kids and Triathlon’ Post

So, the estimable Swim Bike Mom posted about how triathlon can come into conflict with one’s Brain, one’s Family, one’s Job, as well as Bills, Sleep and even the Body and Heart.  Go on and read it at the link above, then come back here.  Good, now allow me to rebut that post.  Yes, I know she’s a lawyer… but I am Without Fear.  Here goes…

BRAIN: Hello Triathlon, I just wanted to give thanks for the long training sessions.  They really help me get away from a lot of the hustle and bustle.  Sometimes I even get my best work done when it’s just me, body and the road or water.

HEART: Yo, I know what he means.  Right now I’m chilling at a low rate thanks to those little parties you throw all the time…

BODY: Sure, you guys don’t feel any of the pain involved… to you there’s no downside.  Still, I guess I like to be prepared for when the kids need me.  Speaking of pain…

KIDS:  Papa!  Carry me!  Upstairs! Downstairs! Through the mall!  Across the Parking Lot!  Can we go for a run or ride in the Chariot?

WIFE:  Thank goodness for you, Triathlon!  He’d be a corpse after all that if it wasn’t for you… I’m also a big fan of your work with BODY over there…

BODY: I like you too, lady…

JOB: Break it up you too.  Triathlon, thanks for keeping the man healthy and sane.  Our reports indicate a below average number of sick days taken.

TRIATHLON:  Thanks you guys… I couldn’t do it without you either…. wait, excuse me who are you?

SLEEP: I’m SLEEP… we don’t know each other very well….