Dr. Kathy's Training Blog

GOOD FRIDAY WISHES to you! After an awesome day at the office (yes, I just love my job!) I raced over to Wakefield to do a tough but exhilarating swim/bike brick with Pierre: Swim was 10 x 100 sprints followed by a 500 race pace. I averaged 1:34 on the 100’s and did 8:30 on the 500. Then we went back to the car, got on the helmets, and rode to Accotink for a fabulous hour ride at a fun, steady, quick pace on twisty-turny beautiful trails. We got to see a large black snake that stopped us in our tracks and many beautiful deer. This workout was soon followed by a 10 minute shared iced caramel latte sitting in the sun, and then the best part, picking up my daughters and driving all the way home while singing songs and counting school buses and yellow cars! (Yellow cars get you the most points, just FYI!)

Have a super weekend everyone!

Spring has sprung (FOR GOOD I THINK!) and we just have to put on our running shoes and go for a long run/walk/hike/cycle with our faces in the sunshine (with a thick layer of sunscreen on), don’t you agree!!!

I am working with my fabulous coach (Melissa Dalio, exercise physiologist, endurance coach, and cool, calm and patient advisor to high maintenance athletes like myself!) on planning my last 2 build cycles to reach peak time for Richmond XTERRA on June 20th. So this is my week 1 of a 3 week build while still trying to recover from the crazy intensity of racing (aka turning myself inside out) last Saturday. My quadriceps and left calf still hurts, but no more dramatic limp!

Today was about the run, an easy 50 minute steady zone 2 (aerobic threshold) to prepare for a longer more intense run on Saturday. A build cycle means you increase your mileage, intensity, and endurance with each week. On the 4th week I taper pretty aggressively because, as my coach puts it, I am very sensitive!

So I want to tell you how important it is to have a good coach you can rely on for a solid schedule to read and follow for your training, whether you are working out for a race or to lose weight or to be able to climb kilamanjaro.

You may not have ever verbalized this to yourself, but when you set a physical goal, it implies not getting injured in the process. THAT is why I hired Melissa, because not only did I keep injuring myself in previous years, (which totally takes you out of your training for days or even weeks) but I would overtrain and get mental burn out. It is actually a medical diagnosis, “overtraining”, and this affects your entire life like a depression of sorts. My cardiologist told me that I specifically needed to “slow down and eat more salt”, isn’t that funny coming from a heart doctor?! So I did VO2 max tests on both the bike and run and have since followed a strict training schedule and VOILA I am feeling DREAMY!!! Two races so far this season and two overall wins to show for it, but equally important NO INJURIES or BURN OUT! And I am so loving training like this, following a well thought out plan that makes total sense and keeps me brimming with enthusiasm to keep at it every day (even swimming has become a hopeful adventure for me).

My advice for the day: Consult with a reputable coach/exercise physiologist to learn how you can train with purpose knowing you are under the guidance of a trusted professional. (Clearly I recommend my coach, Melissa Dalio!) Take the guess work out of it and enjoy your path to hitting your physical goals!!!

ENJOY BEING OUTSIDE FOLKS!!!

Post Race

Duathlon National Championships were held in Richmond VA this weekend, off-road on Saturday and on-road on Sunday.   I had the honor of racing (the off road) with my husband and good friends Eric, Franky, Chris, Titus… (many friends raced Sunday like Brett!)  and happily nobody injured anything terribly.   GREAT JOB FELLAS!

Race day dawns and you wake up feeling as good as you possibly can considering life and your taper and previous training and sleep, etc etc.  And you just never know what can happen to you ON race day nor DURING the race which has NOTHING to do with planning and good preparation.  For example, Pierre broke his chain early in the race on a short steep climb resulting in a crash, minor arm flesh wounds and a ruined race.   BUT he fixed his bike, got back on and had a TERRIFIC training day, crossing the finish line with a big smile!

Which takes me to my revelation from this race on Pierre’s behalf.  Enjoy your training, enjoy the journey to fitness and peaking for a race or event.  What happens on race day may be not what you envision, so if you put all your value on the results of this one day then you may set yourself up for dissapointment.  Don’t just kick *&^% on race day, train with that passion and that same intensity and focus during all those months before that one single day.  Take your fitness training as seriously as you do on your big day;  eat right, get enough rest before hand, be always hydrated, and remain focussed on quality of training, and enjoy every experience of gaining a healthier, stronger body!!!

The Big Four-Oh

The guy running the commentary on the microphone came right over to me at the finish line and asked me how I, a FORTY year old, could win the national championship duathlon, and I whispered in his ear “I’m STILL 39 DUDE!”

Podium!

Quality exercise is so vital to attain the results we all shoot for from our training.  Have you ever noticed that the harder you train and with the greater the intensity, the less ‘happy’ you feel during the hard parts, and yet the more fulfilled you feel at completion?  An easy zone 2 run for an hour does NOT give you the feeling of euphoria that a multiple stacked session of putting yourself on the line with your heart rate monitor zinging up there in the high 100’s will certainly leave you with.   That is FOR SURE.  But, it all serves a purpose, to stick to your heart rate zones with discipline.  These days I am finally entering some hard workouts and it is so exhilarating.  All those long “easy” runs and rides are slowly drifting away into the past with the snow and ice.

I have taken a nice LONG vacation from exercise. This all starting in early November when my entire family and I got the flu, which turned into bronchitis, and lasted weeks and weeks, aka became enforced time off training. Then prolonged time off with beloved Christmas visitors combined with my mom’s whipped everything delicious and decadent meals and desserts… But…I’m BACK ON TRACK! (5 lbs more of me.)

How are you doing? I hope you are healthy and have thought of your goals for this year, health and otherwise. If you don’t have a goal, you have nothing. Training on a treadmill is BLAH…UNLESS you have in your mind a specific goal to meet, such as a level of fitness that you know this run will bring you that much closer to attaining, a big spring time hike you plan on doing with friends or family, or a specific race that will be that much easier to conquer by running in this way. Riding 2 hours on an indoor trainer is fun and makes sense when you have a specific workout with for example 1 leg repeats and 30 second repeat all out spin cycles and so on, because it is a well thought out plan to hit a higher goal. It isn’t half as fun when training to “lose weight”. That philosophy never works. Goal orient to a fun event or challenge, and in the end you will hit all your goals while having fun!

Talking about having fun. I did my VO2 max test last Friday. I used the excuse that my calf started hurting when I wanted to stop, but the truth is, I am just plain out of shape! However, NOW I HAVE A PLAN, and I am so excited! I ran today for a steady hour at my zone 2, which is 147-155 beats per minute (using my new and awesome Polar heart rate monitor!) For the first 15 minutes, I found it a little hard to keep my heart rate at the upper end of that range, and the last 45 minutes I found it tough to keep it below 156. Very interesting. I will post my schedule on this blog as soon as I do my bike VO2 max test on Friday, so you can see my plan as I participate in a great schedule of fitness building. I hope you have a schedule of your own that adheres you to a fantastic, exciting, adventure-filled, FIT 2010!

My parting advice to you is this: Get a VO2 max test so that you can realize 2 things: How to train properly and efficiently so you can hit attainable goals injury free, and how good it feels when you stop. Naturally I refer to Melissa Dalio, she is nothing but patient and awesome.

Good day everyone, and good luck to all your wonderful goals I know you can hit. No more excuse, let’s do this once and for all!!!!