Coach TJ Tryon

I’ve been away from the PC a bit the last couple of weeks, so there have been no updates, due to a bit of bronchitis I gave myself trying to aspirate a bit of birthday cake.  Doctor thinks it should be gone in the next few days.

I got a email newsletter from Dr. Mirkin, and this short article, while stating the obvious, does break down the glycolysis process for you a bit. 

From Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health e-Zine October 21, 2007:

Bicycle racers in long events such as the Tour de France take sugar supplements while they ride to increase their endurance.  If you plan to exercise for more than two hours, you can help yourself last longer by taking a source of sugar after 30 minutes and several times more throughout your event.

When you exercise, you convert food to energy for your muscles by stripping off electrons and hydrogen from the foodstuffs.  This process manufactures a chemical called ATP that provides energy that does not require oxygen. A study from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada shows that taking sugar during prolonged exercise raises levels of ATP (American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, July 2007).  At exhaustion, ATP levels were at the same low levels in both the group taking sugar and those taking artificial sweeteners. However, prior to exhaustion, those taking sugar had higher levels to help them exercise longer.

You do not get this benefit from sugar eaten before you exercise because high blood sugar levels that result will cause your pancreas to release large amounts of insulin.  The extra insulin will deplete the sugar stored in your muscles faster and tire you earlier.  Thus if you want to exercise intensely for more than a couple of hours, you need to eat or drink a source of carbohydrates at frequent intervals during your activity.

So, you’ve competed for the last time for the year, taken your rest, and are getting ready to start your winter maintenance plan.  You have goals to build aerobic base this winter, but how does this work?  The basic answer for this is to live your training this winter in HR Zone 2 & 1, as this builds your best aerobic capacity, and lets you train with less of a risk of injury.

Some people will figure these zones based on a Max HR formula (220-age or a variation of others), but your best bet is a number based on your Lactate Threshold.  See http://www.coachtj.com/?page_id=72 for more information on this.

This weekend, both Rich and Moose went through the LT Field Test protocol, with some very positive successful results.  Congrats to Moose and Rich for getting through this.  Final results, Moose LT is 164, and Rich LT is 182.  I’ll try to find some time to post some technical info as to why the results are so diverse.

Yours truely will undergo the same testing after my 2 week rest, to update my numbers, and Moose and Rich are invited to, um, Coach me through that as well - they deserve to beat me up after their test session.

Congrats to the guys, including Coach TJ, Rich, Greg and Amanda, who headed up to Peru and Miami SRA at Mississinewa for the Second Annual Mighty Mississinewa Triathlon. It was a great race and a great venue, and everyone had a strong showing. Coach TJ bested his time by over 20 minutes, with a crushing swim and bike. Amanda broke the 2 hour barrier by a chunk of time, not bad for her second race. Rich had a fast ride on his new bike, and Greg has the battle wounds of a hard race and a great swim.

Results are found at: http://www.timingiseverything.com/Races/MMT07.HTM

Pictures are at: http://www.coachtj.com/?pp_album=main&pp_cat=20070908-mighty-mississinewa-triathlon

Rich and I got in a discussion this morning about training with a HR Monitor.  I am a firm believer that when used properly, a HRM is one of the most valuable tools in any athlete’s tool box.  Most people don’t know where to begin - hopefully this article will give someone a starting place (or a place where not to start…).

http://www.coachtj.com/?page_id=72

8 weeks until the Indianapolis Marathon, and the Coach is switching modes over to more running season training.  Coach has 1 more Sprint Tri to go on 9/8, which fits well within his run training schedule.  If you are looking for a good schedule for a Mid to Late October 1/2 Marathon, be sure to check out the plan Coach TJ is using. 

http://www.coachtj.com/wp-content/2007/08/tj-running-schedule.pdf  

Coach TJ just completed the Indy Sprint Series, with a extremely rainy race last Sunday. Coach started looking nervous when the lightening started rolling in 5 minutes before the swim start. Race took off, despite the weather, and Coach TJ had a great, though quite wet, race.  Despite the rain, lousy wet slick road conditions, and the most brutal mass swim chaos he’s seen in some time, to a finish of 1:17-ish. 

Time to pick up the pieces, heal the injuries and battle the sicknesses, and come out stronger for the final tri - Mississinewa in 2 weeks.

Race Results  -  Race Photos (soon to come)

USAT has FINALLY released the preliminary rankings for 2007.  If you are a USAT member (you have a full USAT license - you do not race on a 1 day license), your rankings are at: http://www.usatrankings.com 

Congratulations to Greg, Rich and Amanda on their efforts at the Cicero Triathlon this morning.  Rich and Amanda completed their first ever triathlons today, with a strong showing.  Greg had a very strong run with a sprint to the finish line.

Images are here: http://www.coachtj.com/?pp_album=main&pp_cat=20070811-cicero-triathlon

Results are here: http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=6096

All three have plans to compete in the Mississinewa Triathlon in September (along with your’s truely).

Good luck to Moose, Rich and Amanda and the other Swalkers out on Saturday:

Taken from the Indystar.com regarding the low water level at Cicero:

The low water is expected to affect Saturday’s Cicero Triathlon, the 24th one that Hamilton North Chamber of Commerce has sponsored to raise funds for scholarships. Jane Hunter, chamber executive director, said participants “will have to swalk” — a combination of swimming and walking — through the shallow water from the Waterfront Restaurant west to Red Bridge Park instead of swimming the 0.2 mile stretch.
Triathlon organizers considered canceling the swim portion of the swimming, biking and running race, she said. They did that in 2004,when high levels of algae were found in the reservoir, but this year decided that athleticism and the thought of winning the race meant more to those participating.
“They’re going to swim no matter what,” she said.

I know you guys have heard me say that to run efficiently, you need to control your bounce.  When you bounce, you are expending energy and effort that could be used to propel you forward, instead of up and down.  I ran across an interesting quote today that emphasized this point.

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/health/nutrition/17essa.html?em&ex=1184904000&en=445dd068a9c39626&ei=5087%0A

“The difference between cycling and running is like the difference between moving forward on a pogo stick and rolling along on wheels. And that is why Robert Fitts, an exercise physiologist at Marquette University who was a competitive runner, once said good runners run so smoothly they can almost balance an apple on their heads.“

So, your goal for the week is to work on trying to be aware of your “bounce” while running.  Imagine trying to run with an apple on your head.