Sheila Runs » Training

Getting Ripped Abs

sheila — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:18:11 +0000

Six-pack abs. Or at least ripped abs. How to get them? Well, it’s really a combination of exercises–both cardio and strength training–plus diet. Eat lean. Burn calories. Build muscle. Peel the fat away. See the results. Here’s a very nice 2-part article on the topic, which not only discusses the above in more detail, but also suggests a number of good core exercises to target all 4 of your abdominal muscle areas, as you need to develop all four to see the results you want and crunches alone will NOT do it.

How to get a flat stomach like an Ironman Champ (part 1) – EverymanTri.com
How to get a flat stomach like an Ironman Champ (part 2) – EverymanTri.com

Training for Cold Water Swims

sheila — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:58:13 +0000

Not that I am training for any cold, open water swims at the moment. But saw this article on the FINIS Blog, with a number of tips on how to train for such an event, plus comments from other readers, and want to save this link. I suspect that I will do the La Jolla Rough Water Swim again next year. I did it this year. Water temps were in the low 60s and no wet suits permitted. Definitely bears some thinking on how to get prepared for it next year. Thankfully I was only in the water for 38 minutes this year, and hopefully next year even less, but the cold did take a toll on my body.

Training for Cold Water Swims – 9 Tips You Need to Know | The FINIS Blog

Follow the link above to see the article on the FINIS Blog.

Good Core Videos from Rocky’s Gym

sheila — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:58:17 +0000

So Rocky’s Gym in Santa Cruz has some nice Yelp reviews. Looks like a good place to check out if you’re from that area.

My friend posted one of his YouTube videos on Facebook. Looks like an excellent core exercise that I am going to have to try.

Guerilla Cardio – When You’re Short On Workout Time

sheila — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:49:04 +0000

So here’s a nice article on Active.com about fitting in some intense cardio in a short window of time when you don’t have time for a longer cardio workout. Looks like a good alternative to just skipping the cardio. I want to keep this in mind for days when I need to fit something in but don’t have much time.

Your 12-Minute Cardio Workout Plan | Active.com

Sufferfest Bike Trainer Videos

sheila — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:39:39 +0000

So my friend @TriBeccaTO reviewed these Sufferfest bike trainer videos. They sound like quite a workout! Something to keep in mind for this winter’s training for sure.

Warmup Exercises for Running

sheila — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:15:49 +0000

It’s a good idea to warmup and cool down before and after your runs. Can’t say I always do this…probably should. Also good to incorporate some stretching into your routine. I like yoga, actually. But even stretching immediately after the run is good. Sometimes I have periods where I’m really consistent and do this after all my runs for a while. Then I get away from it. I’m away from it right now, partly because my schedule is just so packed. I’m starting to notice IT band issues on the left again. I’m going to have to get the foam roller out and use it more. Ugg.

Anyhow, here’s a very nice warmup video from the StrengthRunning.com blog. You might want to view the whole blog post that goes with the video, as it has extra information and details.

The Standard Warm-Up: Video Demonstration

Goal Failure on Pullups

sheila — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:00:01 +0000

Well, so I had decided I wanted to be able to do pullups. Well, at least one to start. I made this decision in November. I knew it would take me a while to work up to it. But with all the swimming I had been doing, especially the Masters swimming that I started in June, my upper body was stronger than I ever remember it being. And I was also doing some upper body strength training. It really seemed like a good time to go for the pullup.

I got some ideas from the Fifty Pullups site and also from the article on Mistressing the Pullup. I couldn’t do even the Week 1 program on the Fifty Pullups site, but I decided to pick some exercises and just keep doing them and at least make some progress. And I picked a date. First day of spring 2011. March 20th 2011. By that day I wanted to be able to do at least 1 pullup unassisted.

So the exercises I picked to work on were: Assisted pullup machine. Pullup position max hang with slow negative pullup. Lat pull downs. Modified (Australian) pullups. Also I have the stretch resistance chords for practicing swim stroke, which uses lats (latissimus dorsi … the muscles used for good, hard swimming and in pullups), so I do that sometimes, too. When I’m at home I do dumbbell pullovers on my weight bench and dumbbell rows.

I have made progress. I can hold my pullup position hang longer now than I used to be able to, and do more reps. I can do more assisted pullups, more sets and more reps with lower weight, than before. More of the modified (Australian) pullups, too. It’s all progress. But, I still cannot do one unassisted pullup. Note that I’m also doing other strength training as well. I usually fit in one or two sessions per week for a total of something on the order of an hour and a half. This is in addition to all the triathlon training I’ve been doing for my half-ironman in 11 days.

About a week or two ago, I began to be pretty certain that I wasn’t going to be able to get my pullup goal. I tried doing one a couple weeks ago, and I just can’t get my arms more than about a 120 degree angle at the elbows. I pull myself up about that far and then…nada. Well, I guess if I really wanted to make it by March 20th I would have had to do the pullup preparation exercises more often (3 times per week?). I guess having it as a competing goal with my half-ironman training made it take a backseat in priority. The half-ironman is the real goal.

I did try on Saturday, March 19th, to do a pullup, and it just didn’t happen. Same results as described above. March 20th was L.A. Marathon day, and I was support for hubby who ran that race. There was no time to try that day, but I don’t think it would have been any different than the day before.

OK, I’m not giving up. I still want to do this. I will set June 1st as my new goal. And after my half-ironman in a couple weeks, I will start trying harder with the pullup training and see if I can get it. Dunno. Might be tight. We’ll see. Guess I have to decide how much I want it and how hard I’m willing to work for it. I guess the biggest issue is having to go to the gym to work on this. I don’t have a pullup bar at home and I don’t really want one. It would be convenient but I have no place I really want to put one, so…bleah. Guess I have to suck it up and go to the gym more often.

The Five Phases of Swim Training

sheila — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:00:25 +0000

So here is a good article from Competitor magazine, regarding swim training. It’s specifically for triathlon, but in general the 5 phases are:

Endurance, strength, speed, taper, recovery.

The link below takes you to the full article:

The Five Phases Of Swim Training – Triathlete.com

They have example workouts and detailed descriptions.

I swam 100 yards in 1:14!

sheila — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:59:33 +0000

Yes, it’s true. I really did swim 100 yards that fast. Last week on Thursday, September 30th. It was so unbelievable that neither the coach nor I actually believed at first that I did it. And I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it again, but I sure want to so much.

Normally I swim my 100s on about the order of 1:50 plus or minus a bit. Depends on how fatigued I am and how hard I’m trying. The week before my Malibu Triathlon during my taper week, I did swim some 100s on September 7th in 1:38, 1:37, 1:40 and 1:47. That 1:37 was my fastest ever until last week. I have gotten around 1:40-1:41 a number of times in the past month.

But last Thursday my coach told me to swim 100s on the 1:50s and he said depending on how fast I went, I may only get a few seconds rest. I had already done quite a bit of yardage in the workout, including a 1650 set, but I wasn’t feeling too tired. So I talked to myself and told myself, “OK, c’mon, let’s go.” I put my head down in the water and just tried really hard to go as fast as I could, because I knew 1:50 was going to be tough for me. Something really clicked on that first 100 that day. The water felt solid and I was grabbing onto it and just pulling myself through. It was amazing. I had felt something close to that on a few other occasions, most notably during my recent race at Malibu, but this time it was even better. It seemed I reached the end of the pool in no time, turned around, back to the other end in a blink. Repeat. When I finished my time on the clock was 1:14.

Now I’m a ditz about numbers when I’m in the middle of a hard workout. Somehow I didn’t feel like I’d done anything that amazing just then. I shouted at the coach, “Did you say to swim it on the 1:50s or the 1:15s?” He kind of laughed and asked if I’d really swum 100 or if I’d just swum 50. And due to my total lack of self-confidence in swimming, I immediately doubted myself and figured I’d screwed up. The rest of my 100s that day (about 4 more) were all on the order of 2 minutes. Much slower. And felt like flailing and frantic water-slapping. Ugg. It took some time at home that evening thinking about it until I really believed I’d actually done it. And later my coach agreed. So….

Now I have to try and repeat it. The peculiar thing, and this is true about both my 1:14 and also the swim at Malibu Tri, is that I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing. I was kind of on auto-pilot just saying something like, “Go, go, go!” over and over to myself. I was just automatically doing SOMETHING but I’m not sure exactly what. It seems when I don’t think about what I’m doing, I do it right.

I said to my coach this past Monday, that I don’t know when I’m going to be able to do this again. He said that it will start to happen more and more often. Boy, I sure hope so. My 100s this week so far have all been in the 1:42-1:56 range. Of course, I’ve been tired, so that may have something to do with it. But still, that’s nothing close to what I did last Thursday.

I’m really intrigued by this concept of “holding the water” as Sheila Toarmina describes it. I heard her interviewed on the TriSwimCoach podcast and I have ordered her book Call The Suit. The article linked below talks about some of her ideas in respect to stroke technique:

Hold The Water!

I’m so excited to get this book. I can hardly wait.

Spiderman Pushups!!!

sheila — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 04:20:04 +0000

Wow, these look tough! I will have to try these sometime. The link goes to a video on usaswimming.org with a demonstration of the exercise. Basically it’s a standard pushup but when you go down you also take one of your feet off the ground and move the knee of that leg towards the elbow of the arm on the same side while bending the leg.

Just watch the video at this link:

Exercise of the month: Spider-man push-ups