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From experience:
Triathlon is a long season, somewhere from March till November, and if you throw Ironman in there everything goes haywire. But what makes triathlon really long is the off season, the time you get to focus on all that training you missed out on during the season. Building a running base, joining a cycling team, becoming a swimmer. After about 2 weeks of off season we tend to lose our minds once people start to pinch our cheeks. So back to training, the days are shorter, it’s darker for longer, the weather may not be ideal for some of us (I don’t want to hear anything from you SoCal racers). So how can we be productive during the winter season, how can we positively affect our triathlon season by work we do during the winter?
Lets focus on winter running. If you are like me, then you rarely (or in my case never) make it through an entire season un-injured. So how do you prevent this, or how do you limit the injuries, especially when most of us want to build our ready to build our running base by December 1st.
I finished my 2006 triathlon season with a knee injury, nothing too bad, but I told myself I’d focus on rehab going into 2007. My focus changed quite a bit to building a lot of strength and a running base, my knee injury nagged on all throughout 2007, limiting my running mileage to 30miles a week max. It was a very frustrating season to say the least. A nagging injury, no matter how small can be detrimental to your season. You may still go fast, at times you may feel strong, but racing is just not fun when you’re not at 100%. And if racing’s not fun, then that is a whole lot of time and effort going into training, spending time away from your family and friends that is somewhat wasted.
My main goal for winter training, winter running, is simple, injury prevention. That is the foundation of all my training in the winter, it has to be, no matter how not-fun or tedious it may seem.
Injury prevention means creativity. I seriously become a gym rat in the winter, at least three times a week, doing lots of core work, building up those small stabilization muscles around the bigger ones you’ll stress during the season. Plenty of stretch chord work, plenty of BOSU work, free weights, a good strength program creates a solid foundation for volume. Outside of the weight room there are plenty of aerobic machines that can benefit your running. The elliptical machine is non-impact and a few minutes here and there backwards does wonders for strengthening or rehabbing knees. Pick the treadmill near the mirror. Use your time running time indoors to really focus on your form. Getting someone to asses your running form during the winter is an excellent investment. Keep your hips under you, make sure you exaggerate high heels up to your butt. Drop your shoulders and brush your hands against your hips, chest out, shoulders back…..there is plenty to think about while you are running. Keep the pace manageable so you can focus on all of these things and once you get outside you will be blown away by how fluid and efficient you feel.
Get in the pool, maybe after a swim workout you spend an extra 30-40min aqua jogging. It’s important to maintain good form. Again, find someone who has done it before or a physical therapy office who offers aqua jogging classes. The form you use on the treadmill should be the same form you use while aqua jogging. Engaging your core, supporting your lower back, hips under you, shoulders back. All the work is coming from your gluts and the big muscles in your upper legs. Supplementing your running 2-3 times a week with aqua jogging will do wonders for you. In 2000 I broke my ankle and spent an entire track season in the pool. With ½ a season of outdoor track left I jumped back into running and was running with the same girls w/in 2 weeks. Everyone was blown away, I spent just as much time in the pool aqua jogging as they did running and it proved to be quite comparable!
Winter running has to be a time to mix it up. The weather is not great, it’s dark, there are holiday foods everywhere, family should become important and so should building your body up and getting it healthy and strong. Do things that excite you, cross-country skiing, rock climbing, spinning classes, Pilates, yoga!! All of these are great and will benefit your running tremendously when it’s time to focus, hit the roads and pile on the miles.
To learn more about Lara, please visit http://www.larabrown.net/about.htm
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