Archive for March, 2007
Josh Shadle, CMT Massage can dramatically affect the body on the whole through various techniques and manipulations, improve recovery, and enhance performance. To best understand massage we must first go over a couple basic concepts before we talk about the physiological affects of massage. Most common types of massage used to help triathletes.
How often should you receive massage? Massage is most beneficial when receiving it on a regular basis, especially if you are a very active triathlete. The most common amount is once per week because any less its almost starting over every time you come back in for a massage, depending on the amount of training you participate in. The idea is to make a big difference and the problem with coming in any less is that it is very difficult to break down layers of the body or even the whole body when frequent visits aren’t made. Try to find an affordable massage therapist who meets your needs and stick with them, try not to jump around therapists. There are many physiological affects that happen under a therapist’s hands. By decreasing the damage done by heavy training, aiding in recovery, and reducing fatigue, massage allows you to train harder, longer, and more efficient thus giving you better performance while preventing injury. Keeping your body in tune is vital, whether you’re going sub-4 hours in a half ironman or doing your first sprint triathlon. Known benefits of massage therapy: - According to Elliot Greene of American Massage Therapy Association, when massage has been substituted for rest, massage has been recorded to show 20-75%, even 100% muscle recovery, that is why you usually see boxers getting massage between rounds instead of resting. - Break up metabolic wastes thus reducing that fatigue feeling when you shouldn’t be feeling fatigued, like at the beginning of a workout. Metabolic wastes build up either by vigorous activity or by inactivity. Massage works like a pump, like the heart pumps the blood, massage dramatically moves wastes and lymph though the lymphatic system, which does not have a pump. Metabolic wastes is composed of nitrogenous wastes from the breakdown of proteins, inorganic phosphorus, sodium chloride (salt), excess water, carbon dioxide from increased respiration, and urea (AMTA Elliot Greene & Human Anatomy & Physiology). Basically massage increases the body’s ability to make the necessary secretions and excretions. - The oxygen capacity of the blood can increase 10-15% after a massage (AMTA Elliot Greene). - Neuromuscular Massage can specifically help with balancing out muscles by loosening contracted (shortened) muscles and stimulating weakened/flaccid (stretched out) muscles. What does this mean to a triathlete? By releasing contracted muscles, it may make the weak ones stronger promoting more efficient training, which increases performance in the long run. Massage gently stretches out the muscle and connective tissue that surrounds the body by reducing tension without irritating the muscle. It is also vital to know which muscles need to be stretched out vs. stretching every single muscle when certain muscles may already be stretched out. A therapist should be able to show and prove this to you. - Lactic acid and carbonic acid build up after exercise begins. These waste products irritate nerve endings and muscles thus affecting performance. These waste products can lead to cramping if not flushed out. As you exercise, acids are formed when glycogen in the muscles and liver are burned to keep you going. Pain persists until these acids are stored again or flushed out via the lymph system. Once the lymphatic system is flushed out, muscle recovery rates increase. Aches and pains don’t always have to be part of your training; a good coach or a competitive athlete should tell you so. As your training increases for the upcoming season and your body gets in shape, wastes get backed up. Your body needs more oxygen and nutrients than ever before to keep it in tiptop shape. Make sure you listen to your body’s needs so it can lead you to your goals. After attending 3 years of undergraduate work, Josh Shadle focused his attention to the Boulder College of Massage. Josh is the owner of TRI-Massage and is a local Boulder elite triathlete. Inside triathlon named him an all-american in the 20-24 age group. He currently resides in Boulder and plans to turn professional in the next 2 years. You can find more information about TRI-Massage and appointments at www.TRI-Massage.com or www.joshuashadle.com to find out about his racing career. An outstanding local contact for Massage Therapy: Bodywork with Results - since 1989 Mark Dauenhauer H.H.P. - 208-365-3176
Getting back into the spirit of racing; this St. Patricks Day weekend sort of kicked off the interval training for me. Then on Sunday, I rode in the Slammer road race (30 miles). It was a windy day and going certain directions in our 2.5 looped course made the dynamics of the race interesting. I had a lot of fun and gained some speed and power from the race. There was a 15 to 20 person sprint at the end and I managed a 5th place finish but more importantly my legs are getting closer to being ready for the demands of the upcoming Tri season. Basic 5 results: http://www.spondoro.com/results/basic5/2007/results.pdf
Slammer results:
By Amanda McCracken and Mike Ricci March 24, 2007 — You know the part of the race when you feel you’ve hit the wall? Maybe you are on a hill or the flattest section of the course. Your mind is telling your legs and arms to drive, pump or fire like pistons, but your muscles are crying out for mercy. We are demanding them to perform at a rate at which they are not conditioned. Our body can not supply the blood and oxygen that our hip flexors, in particular, are requiring to meet the demands of the coach inside our heads. Well, at least you’ve done your mental homework. But have you neglected working regular hill drills into your routine? Perhaps you do them but don’t know why. Do you vary the type of workouts? How do you approach the hill? One of the most famous proponents of hill training is Olympic coach Arthur Lydiard. His hill circuit training required the athlete to bound (focus on horizontal motion), or leap (focus on vertical motion) up the hill. Lydiard concentrated a great deal on hill running form to promote efficiency. Driving the knees, for example, is one aspect on which to focus, as well as toeing-off and slapping the heel to the buttocks. When done at a slower pace, a runner can focus more on technique and may actually feel more soreness than he/she expects from drill like repeats. Consider a weight routine in which you are lifting and lowering the weight more slowly: It hurts more! Gravity is our resistance on the hills. According to Stacy Osborne, an avid runner and podiatrist in the Cincinnati area, many of us ignore the importance of fine tuning our biomechanics – one of the most controllable aspects of our training and keys to improvement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the leg on the ground that is primarily responsible for generating the power for forward velocity. Rather, it is the non-weight bearing leg (the one in the swing phase), which generates the momentum, by creating a tug on the runner’s center of gravity as it swings forward. The foot on the ground acts as a lever and the runner is thus propelled forward. Those muscles responsible for this “power stroke” are the hip flexors. These are also some of the most important muscles for cyclists, recruited during the pulling up phase. How well we run on hills depends on how we approach the hill – the mental factor. There are many of us that like to see hill repeats as an opportunity to practice conquering or attacking the hill. One tactic is to approach the hill as a friend rather than the enemy trying to defeat us. Look at it as an animate object providing a spring board to propel us forward – a friendly boost. Another helpful piece of imagery is to imagine strings attached to your hands and the string ends tied to a point at the top of the hill. As you pump your arms, thrusting your elbows behind you, imagine the strings providing you leverage to pull yourself up more easily. You don’t have to turn your mind off to escape negative, self-defeating talk. Instead, recruit your mind to help you! As runners, triathletes need to recognize the importance of strengthening our hip flexor muscles. Strong flexors help us maintain a grueling pace, attack a hill, kick with speed on the flats, and protect our bodies from injury. They are an integral piece of training year round that, with variation, can make us more efficient runners and cyclists. Go ahead, be king of the hill! Coach Mike Ricci and Coach Amanda McCracken are both USAT Certified Coaches and can be reached for personal coaching at www.D3Multisport.com
Having some good swims lately in the pool. Some highligted workouts straight from my log: March 13th (short course yards) Awesome swim work out…fast intervals after running hard! 6 x 100 on 1:10 –> avg 1:05’s 1st set avg 2:12’s for second set went 2x 2:17 then 2 x 2:13 (it was 1600 yards at race pace) 4 x 75’s (1st 25 underwater, 2nd easy, 3rd no breath) March 24 (Long course Meters) 700 warm up warm down I can tell I’m in much better shape becuase the LCM training did not make me as sore or tired as it usually does; considering 98% of the time I train SCY.
By Melanie McQuaid March 19, 2007 — The last few weeks have been an exercise in restraint for me. Depending on how I feel when I wake up in the morning it is either on – meaning it’s go time for the training plan or it’s off – which means a casual morning with the paper is in order. February and March always seem to be the time of year when an overly ambitious training plan can result in two weeks of antibiotics to kill some nasty bug. Given the number of people I have been in contact with over the past month with pneumonia, flu or some nasty cold, I know that I am right on the edge of getting sick nearly all of the time. There are a few things you can do that will help you ride on the right side of that edge. Usually, we know what the last workout that put you over was or whose hand we shook that we shouldn’t have. The following recovery and health maintenance tips might help avoid your next flu or at least cut the recovery time you may need to get over it. REST Obvious! I think in the winter and during flu time it is important to get enough sleep. Given that the winter is often viewed as the time of year to build volume, many of us are pushing our limits. I know that each winter I am setting new benchmarks for total volume completed. Part two of rest is making sure you take easy weeks to recover. If you don’t balance training weeks with rest weeks you will get run down and will probably catch a nasty bug. Be preemptive – rest before you get sick, not when you get sick.
WASH YOUR HANDS How many times per day do you shake someone’s hand? That person has probably touched ten other people, and inevitably, one of those people has a child at home with the flu. Now when you pick up a sandwich soon you will enjoy the flu as well. The other instance might be a doorknob at home that someone touched on their way in from school or work. Germs are everywhere so compulsive hand washing is a great idea if you don’t want to be ill. When I am gearing up for a big race I will avoid public places and quarantine myself at home to avoid as many potential germ spreaders as possible. This time of year I am much mellower and just wash my hands a lot. NUTRITION Often a crappy diet is the main reason why people get sick. I always suggest that everyone add as much color as possible to your diet. Instead of white pasta, choose brown. Choose purple, orange, red and bright green vegetables. Colorful means nutrient packed. Your diet is the strongest impact on your overall health, so take a good look at it. Although a glass of wine with dinner is good for your heart, if you have a sore throat and you add some alcohol you may end up ill. Alcohol will certainly depress your immune function. I like to take more antioxidants in the winter or when I think I am at risk for catching something, like when I am flying or during and after a hard training block. I take USANA vitamins, which are guaranteed to not be contaminated. By adding a bit more vitamin A, C and E, along with some Zinc and Selenium for immune system boosting, often I can avoid illness. There are also homeopathic products with Echinacea and reishi mushroom that can help if you already have something and want to get rid of it. Taking these products does not give you a free ticket to exercise; you still have to cut the training if you are sick. COMMON SENSE Most of us know when we are on the edge of illness, just as we can sense an injury before it actually happens. The key is to quit while you are still ahead. It is always true that a couple of days off while you are healthy will be better than a week off being sick. Although all of us make that mistake over and over, it is still good to think of it when you have the option to quit while you are still healthy. Good luck with happy, healthy training!
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On Saturday I ran in the Basic 5 and did the 5 miler in 29:07. I went out too fast (5:16 1st mile) and suffered to recover while still racing the last 4 miles. I told myself not to go out to fast before the race; but something about run races gets me going out too fast every time. You’d think I would learn my lesson. At least when I am racing in a triathlon; I don’t (or can’t) make this error. Good thing; cause racing is a lot more fun when you pace the race correctly. I learned this the hard way in swimming at a very early age; now if I can just take care of business in the running side of things….we’ll see, I don’t have another pure running race for a while.
