Getting in shape for someone who’s overweight presents similar problems to those I face (a way oldster triathlete) in my daily training regimen; the problems run on parallel paths. Listening to a great interview on GTN (Global Triathlon Network), the ‘starting-to-run’ problems faced by Sam, who once weighed 364 pounds, and a woman who’s an osteopathic surgeon, Ilana, also … [Read more...]
WHAT IS MENTAL TOUGHNESS?
It's Probably Not What You Think. It’s a measure of your [unshakable] belief in being able to reach your true potential, despite obstacles and barriers. High levels of Mental Toughness means that despite everyday challenges, personal goals such as sales, race time, GPA or other goals and pursuits can be improved. As you might expect, higher … [Read more...]
THE BASICS: HOW TO SET A PR IN YOUR HALF MARATHON
Training for a PR for a half marathon showed up in the American College of Sports Medicine Journal, with concepts explained almost as bullet points. These ideas can be applied to almost any kind of endurance training, but I thought it was good; the old, standby ideas that always work (great picture, btw, by Larry Sillen). The three main ideas: 1) Increase … [Read more...]
DIETS DON’T WORK (actually, they do…)
It's not often I directly reference a diet article, but this was a simple and obvious: Why do weight-loss programs fail?...which they seem to do quite often. One client [of John Berardi, fitness and diet coach for several Olympic programs, in an ISSA article] tried low-carb, then low-fat, and finally, balanced macronutrient diets with the same result each time; he lost … [Read more...]
5 Keys for Successful Triathletes (How I do/don’t do on that list)
Being really good at something really tests whether I've got the stuff. It's never a walk in the park....and occasionally it's a bit like whistling past the graveyard. In coaching triathletes, I can honestly only expect from someone no more effort than I'm willing to exert myself. So this great article in Triathlon Magazine by Ben Griffin pretty well lays out the simple … [Read more...]
Dang it! Caught Me Walking!
You never see a guy "walking" for exercise, right? There's a solid reason for that; we're afraid someone will see us [not running]. It's especially true if you're a runner or some kind of endurance nut. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions and probably people will laugh at me about this but I'm coming clean. Today I had a run workout assigned but I had some sore … [Read more...]
Why Aren’t You Being You? Three Reasons You’re Stuck.
1) There are too many "next steps" and can't decide which one. 2) Part of you is afraid of doing it. 3) You haven't named the actual goal. Here's what I'm trying to get across: things that you WANT to do, or especially ACHIEVE, are the Real You. That's where the impulse starts. We get sidetracked (oh yeah, I do too, like everyone else, and have to find my way out) by … [Read more...]
Five Cardinal Mental Skills to Winning
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) advocates a mental skills model, the "emergence of mind-body practice .... into a holistic conceptualization of health and well-being". This approach to Sport Psychology is more than a mental construct, but rather an integrated approach to higher goals in everything from diet through exercise through greater achievement in sports … [Read more...]
Why We Watch Sports
There’s a connection to life here; I heard an NPR announcer say “We watch sports because it brings joy to life”. For me, I’m a triathlete probably because the challenge is a basic life force, which is a joy to experience. We no longer have to chase and kill animals to eat or to survive long hours in adverse conditions gathering food for survival, but that part of us in our … [Read more...]
The Winter Virus and Fitness Training
As the Old Guy age grouper I run into my various threshold/crossover/tipping points more quickly than if I was 29 years old. In a way this is good medicine; it’s like being a canary in a coal mine and I can relay my experiences to younger triathletes who might not have had the experience and it helps me to better train my athletes. The most recent is the famous Christmas … [Read more...]
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