CrossFit Endurance IronMan Canada.

6 months to Ironman?

Interesting read.

JG

Intro to CFE Programming video.

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Endurance_IntroToProgramming_PRE.mov

Race Week Prep.

Race week is finally here.  What to do, what not to do.

1. Taper.  Keep your work-outs short and sweet or at a low intensity this week.  High intensity is fine as long as it is early in the week and really short.  Anything over race pace would be considered high intensity this week.  Race pace runs and bikes and swims are fine, but keep them short.  No distance tests.  "I need to make sure I can do the distance..."  This line of thinking will not get you your best results on race day.  You are as fit as you are going to be for the race right now.  Accept that and do what you can to have your best race.  If you feel the need to go long this week.  Do it early and do it slow.  But my suggestion is you don't do it at all.  In my opinion good work-outs this week are short in nature, work up to race pace, and then are followed by good nutrition.

2. Eat "clean"  This week should be less active then your previous weeks.  See above.  Try to eat clean this week and monitor your intake.  You should not be as active this week so you should reduce your consumption.  Also this is not the week to decide to go "Paleo" or change your diet in any way.  Eat a clean version of how you have been eating. 

3. Hydrate.  Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate.  More water then usual this week if you are a poor water drinker. 

4. Recover.  Sleep, Nap, Rest.  Yes all those things.  Thursday night(or the night prior to the night before the race) go to bed early.  You will probably not get much sleep the night prior to the race, so get a good amount when you can.  Mobility should also be a focus this week.  Use the extra time you have from your reduced training load to work on your issues.  Shoulders, hips, and hamstrings!

5. Beware of the group.  Once at the race site you may feel pressure to do what your group is doing.  Don't. Know what works for you.  Going out to bike the course may work well for the stronger athletes.  It may spell disaster for the new or less strong athlete.  Know your body and what you need.

6. Mental prep.  Know why you are racing.  Make sure and spend sometime reminding yourself why you are out on the course.  Every one's reasons are different.  When the race gets tough or the weather is crap, you may well need to remind yourself of why you are doing this to yourself.    

7. Equipment Check.  Prior to Thursday go through all your equipment.  Make sure you have everything you need and it is in working order.  Go through your swim gear, put it on, make sure there are no surprises.  Check over your bike.  Are you using a race belt?  Hat? Sunglasses? Are you ready for rain?  A cheap poncho can make pre-race more comfortable.  This is also a good to time to lay out your transition area at home.  Make sure you have everything you need.   

8. Race day is here!  Set up your transition area.  The earlier you can get to the race site the better.  Sometimes you can do this the evening before.  Make sure and walk the transition areas and take note of where you will come in and go out of each transition area. Walking them 2 times will usually put them in your memory banks.

9. Warm up.  This is difficult for some as well.  Race day is exciting.  Make it a priority.  Take your bike for a quick spin if you can,  if you can not get to your bike go for jog.  Try to break a sweat.  Make sure and get in and swim if you can.  This will lesson the shock of the water and warm up your shoulders.  After you warm-up if your wave is still a while off make an effort to stay warm.  This is not usually difficult in the summer months but can be a challenge in the spring.   

10.  Finish Strong.  Never push to your limit until the run.  Always save some.  Especially on the bike.  If you destroy your legs on your bike you will bonk on your run.  Save it for the run!!  Finish Strong.

Thanks all.  Have a great race!

Coach JG

Jen G. finishing strong at Trinona 2010!

CrossFit Endurance Programming.

The Basics:

2 work-outs of each type each week.  2 runs, 2 bikes, 2 swims.  Minimum of 3 with a goal of 4 CrossFit sessions per week.  This goal will increase next year for returning athletes.    

Hit every work-out hard.  This is the only way it works.  Work on controlling your pace, especially in your swimming and running.  Always have a stopwatch on and running.  Know how fast your going.  If your watch has a lap function use it.   

3-4 hours between work-outs is suggested to maintain intensity.  Pay attention to your energy levels. Schedule complete rest days as you need them based on your performance levels and energy levels.

Feel free to move the work-outs around to better fit your schedule but your weekend workouts which are usually a longer Swim, Bike or Run should not be done on a CrossFit day!    

Work-out key:
SC = Short Course (<2hrs)
LC = Long Course (2-3hrs)
U = Ultra Distance (>3hrs)

Tapers for CFE type training are typically 7-10 days.  You may need less or more.  Let me know how you think the tapers I have programed work for you. 

Post Race or after a Long Run/Ride you should try to do the following:

Glute Ham Developer Sit-ups (make sure you are extending knees aggressively to come up… your quads should also burn on this) 3 x 15, Glute Ham Developer hip extensions (hamstrings and butt should burn), Kettlebell/Dumbbell swings 3 x 15, Bench Press, Pull-ups All exercises with light – medium weight. 3 sets! Reps are until you feel burn in target area or prescribed amount. This is not a timed WOD.

I have programmed you all 8-9 weeks out.  I am working on the next set of weeks and the programming will be changing and morphing as time progresses.  Expect this to hurt.  Pay attention to your body.  Do not do extra work-outs when you feel like you have more gas after a intense WOD.  You need to be able to hit every work-out hard.  So if you exhaust yourself on a Monday after a rest day because you feel good, and have nothing left for Tuesday this impact your results. 

Again if you have any questions feel free to let me know. 

Thanks all.

Coach JG

Greg at Race For Research-- photo by Alex Tubbs

RPE, HR and Why...

Hey Pack members!

Why Zone 1 and Zone 2 work-outs.  This is basically a prep period for your body to get ready for what is ahead of us.  We need to develop our systems so they can work for a longer period of time and still supply oxygen to our muscles.  We also need to prepare ourselves for the training that is coming as we move into the build and race periods of our training.  If you do not build a base you will be in great danger of burning out and or injuring yourself.

CrossFit teaches the body to handle high lactate levels very well.  It does not do a great job of creating an aerobic animal.  Don't get me wrong Anaerobic training will help your endurance events.  But only if you learn to pace yourself.     

HR issues.  So those of you who "can't" keep your heart rates down, due to medications, or just not being able to slow down.  I have a couple options.  I plan longer runs for you where you will eventually crash and burn... Or you switch to RPE(rate of perceived exertion) scaling.  Also for running I think the scale on TrainingPeaks is too low...  So I will be switching that up a bit as well.   

RPE scale... 

• 6 - 20% effort
• 7 - 30% effort - Very, very light (Rest)
• 8 - 40% effort
• 9 - 50% effort - Very light - gentle walking
• 10 - 55% effort
• 11 - 60% effort - Fairly light
• 12 - 65% effort
• 13 - 70% effort - Somewhat hard - steady pace
• 14 - 75% effort
• 15 - 80% effort - Hard
• 16 - 85% effort
• 17 - 90% effort - Very hard
• 18 - 95% effort
• 19 - 100% effort - Very, very hard
• 20 - Exhaustion

HR Zones for Running(Yours will be a little different of course...)

If Lactate Threshold at HR of 163.

Zone 1- Hr = 122-143 Recovery
Zone 2- Hr = 144-153 Aerobic Extensive easy/mod
Zone 3- Hr = 154-158 Aerobic Intensive Moderate
Zone 4- Hr = 159-165 Threshold Mod/hard
Zone 5- Hr = 166-170 Very Hard
Zone 6- Hr = 171-195 All out effort.

At the end of and during most build period work-outs you should feel like you have more to give.  You should feel like you could perhaps run at this pace forever...  You should feel like you are not being challenged.   This is a very different feeling then when you are crossfitting.  If you are feeling like you are working hard or you are struggling to finish the work-out you are at risk for frying yourself.  Most of you are at week 3-4 of a 12 week build.  That means you are at the lower end of your training volume.  You need to take it easy or you will not survive until week 12.

Questions?  Comments?

Thanks All

Coach JG

JG finishing Trinona Sprint on about 10 hours of total tri training...  CrossFit!

What and Why of Periodization.

Periodization on Wiki

Managing Training Volume:

A system of overloading and recovery.  Basically overloading the bodies systems, and then letting them recover and then overloading again.  For most triathletes this is done on a 3 week build 1 week recovery.  So for 3 weeks we gradually increase your training volume(time).  Then for 1 week we reduce your volume and let the body recover. 

The next week we start building again with at a slightly higher volume then before.  This has been shown to significantly increase performance over the long term as compared to not periodizing(Not sure if this is a word... But it should be if it isn't).  

“A” races are typically placed on the yearly plan first and the training plan is built around them.  This is why it is important to know your races as soon as possible for the year.  Typically before an "A" race your volume will decrease while intensity increases.  Allowing your body to rest and give you your best chance of performing to your potential on race day. 

It is important that as your coach I know how much time you actually completed during the week so I can adjust your plan accordingly.  I am an active coach and check your training logs frequently. 

I may also switch to a 2 week overload 1 week recovery for the 12 hour shift every third weekend people.  I suspect we will get better results doing this then trying to get 13-20 hours of training in a week where one works 2-3 12 hour shifts in a row. 

Thoughts on any and all of this? 

Coach JG  

Bond, Greg Bond

Prepare for Victory.