Training

Spring and summer in the pacific northwest offers a variety of great races and events.  Here is a list of my favorites:

• May 31, 2010 - 7 Hills of Kirkland bike ride (options include 37 mile classic loop with 7 hills, a 55 mile option with 11 hills and a full century with 14 hills) www.7hillsofkirkland.org
• June 5, 2010 - Issaquah Sprint Triathlon www.issaquahtri.com
• June 12, 2010 - Mosess Lake Family Olympic Triathlon and Sprint Triathlon - www.buduracing.com 
• June 19, 2010 - Five Mile Lake Sprint Triathlon - www.buduracing.com
• June 23, 2010 - BEAST Adventure Race (3 mile paddle, 4 mile run/hike, 10 mile mountain bike + navigating check points) www.beastrace.com
• June 26, 2010 - Padden Sprint Triathlon - www.trithecookie.com
• June 27, 2010 - Mountain to Sound Relay (18 mile mountain bike, 46 mile road bike, 12 mile kayak, 13.1 mile road run, 5.7 mile road run) www.mountaintosound.com
• July 10, 2010 - Hagg Lake Olympic Triathlon - http://racecenter.com/hagglake/
• July 17, 2010 - Chelanman Multisport Weekend (races include Sprint, Olympic and 1/2 Ironman distance) www.chelanman.com
• July 25, 2010 - Heart of the Sound Sprint Triathlon - www.hotstriathlon.org 
• July 29, 2010 - RAMROD (154 mile bike ride around Mt. Rainier with over 10,000 feet of climbing) www.redmondcyclingclub.org/RAMROD/RAMRODhtml 
• July 31, 2010 - 4th Dimension Racing 24 Adventure Race in Eastern Washington (mountain bike, trail run, kayak, navigation) www.4thdimensionracing.com/adventureraces
• August 1, 2010 - Whisky Dick Olympic Triathlon - www.buduracing.com
• August 7, 2010 - Whidbey Island Sprint Triathlon - www.active.com/triathlon/langley-wa/whidbey-island-triathlon-2010-rf565
• August 14, 2010 - Vasque Cougar Mountain Trail Run (13 mile trail run) - www.seattlerunningcompany.com 
• August 15, 2010 - Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens - www.lakestevens70.3.com
• August 18, 2010 - Swim for Life (swim 2.5 miles across Lake Washington) www.psbc.org/swimforlife 
• August 21, 2010 - Beaver Lake Sprint Triathlon - www.beaverlake.org/blt
• August 27, 2010 - Hood to Coast Relay (197 mile relay run from Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon) www.hoodtocoast.com 
• August 28, 2010 - Lake Sammamish Sprint Triathlon - www.buduracing.com
• August 29, 2010 - Ironman Canada - www.ironman.ca
• September 4, 2010 - Titanium Man Olympic Triathlon - www.3rrr.org
• September 5, 2010 - The Chase (5k trail run, 15 mile mountain bike, 5 mile kayak, 22 mile bike, 5k trail run) www.racecenter.com/thechase 
• September 11, 2010 - Lake Stevens Olympic and Sprint Triathlon - www.buduracing.com
• September 18, 2010 - Kirkland Sprint Triathlon - www.racecenter.com/kirklandtri
• October 17, 2010 - Great Northwest 50k Run - www.nwtrailruns.com
• November 21, 2010 - Fall BEAST Adventure Race (6-12 mile run, 15-25 mile mountain bike + navigation) www.beastrace.com

 
Happy racing. 

The secret is intensity training - which can make your workout more effective in far less time than normal exercise. Performance measurement tools like the RevMaster Pilot are great for interval training as they give you feedback as you pedal. Cycling with lower cadence levels (rpms) with more resistance and longer time periods is good for strength training - while adding more cadence can help endurance riding or developing short bursts of speed. This type of interval training can improve your athletic performance in less time and maximzie your effort. For more information on LeMond training programs, visit http://www.lemondfitness.com/training

You need the right fuel to train right and feel great. Every time we walk into a grocery store we make decisions that set us up for success or failure.  When you make the right decisions you are taking home food that will fuel your workouts, help with your recovery and keep you healthy.  Most of these foods will be found on the outside perimeter of the store.  Try to stay away from going up and down the grocery store aisles.  That is were most of the failure foods are located.

Here is my list of the 12 foods that you should buy the next time you visit the grocery store...........
 

See what makes our trainer great.  Watch the Lemond Fitness g-force UT video.

Did you know the average person burns 450 calories in 45 minutes during a group cycling class? So what are you waiting for?

Try a class today - on a LeMond RevMaster of course - at your local health club.

Hot Tip: Arrive five minutes early for your first class so your instructor can answer any questions and help you with bike adjustments. Make sure you let her know about any injuries that you have so she can help you modify some of the moves. During class, be sure to let your instructor know if you are having trouble with the resistance knob or the general technique. If the class is too intense, just pedal slower or take the tension down.

Energize and improve your indoor cycling with some winter running workouts. This is a great way to get in shape for spring training rides and to maximize your fitness level. Go for runs in parks, on trails, or in the snow. For some great places to run in your neighborhood, checkout www.mapmyrun.com.

Start slow if you are new at this. The goal with running is to build your volume and intensity and minimize your chance for injury.  Listen to your body.  Most running injuries happen when you run too long or too fast without the proper build and recovery.  One hard run per week is plenty.

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I include strength training throughout the triathlon training season.  However, during race season I cut back to two days a week.  Before lifting any weights I take time to turn on my core and go through some movement prep exercises.  I will change the sets, repetitions, tempo, recovery, resistance to keep my body from adapting to the workout.  Every two weeks I will add and delete exercises.

Training for triathlons is a long process that can become monotonous.  A way to avoid this is to add more fun to your training schedule.  This year I added mountain biking to my weekend cycle training.  I would do one high intensity workout on the Lemond g-Force UT and then the next day I would go out and ride my mountain bike on the trails of Washington State.  I also traded one of my weekly runs for a mountain conditioning class.  And I started to kayak outdoors in place of one of my swim workouts.  This infused fun into my training plan.

I find a spin on the Lemond g-Force UT always makes my legs feel better after a race.  On Monday I did the manual program for 60 min on the UT.