January had its up and downs, mostly ups the only downs being a small three day cold and a 5k that blew up in my face after the first 2k’s. The long story short was don’t try to run all out the day after heavy deadlifts, squats and box jumps. That being said I am feeling great progress in the strength department and I think the long term positives are most definitely there. I did get to try out some fast, race style running in the crocs which got some great laughs and press, all while showing people to never take themselves too seriously.

The crocs felt fast and smooth on the first mile and I look forward to giving them a true test when I can hit all 5k hard and not feel like my legs are going to fall off after the first 2 kms. Oh well, the Renton Parkrun people loved the story and reasons for wearing them and were impressed with my time of 18:30, even if I was not ecstatic about it. The nice part is I can really only go up from here. I had another key workout this last Saturday the 3rd of Feb, which consisted of 12 mins hard uphill and down, then straight into the track at tempo/5k pace for some 1 km repeats. Those went very well with HR and effort being in the right ranges for sub 5k effort and knocking off sub 3:30km. Not too shabby after heavy lifting on the 2nd. Swim is coming along with the most important part being learned to be more balanced. I have been incorporating more frequency and less duration during this part of the season and will ramp up the efforts as it goes on. I am in the process of rebuilding the stroke to be comfortable breathing to either side and using less effort to go faster than I was. This is frustrating process as one lap will feel perfect, then I will try to replicate it, stroke for stroke and it does not feel the same. So far the though the results have been encouraging and I will probably be doing a time trial in the next couple weeks to gauge my progress. Bike is feeling strong as ever but this year is really not about building a huge bike but more about maintaining what I have and improving the run and swim as these are the areas that need the most work. The strength aspects of the training have really been what gets me the most excited during the week. Being able to life heavy things well and get that feeling that is so much different but at the same time similar to nailing an interval in the other three aspects of the sport is exhilarating. Being that I started so low on the weights my progress has been very fast, with significant gains being seen week to week. I love being able to feel my postiure chain being activated and feel stronger and healthier overall.

Here is a link to a strength program that I have been using so far with a few adjustments and then adding in my own core work and some Foundation training video that originally cured my IT problems last year, by Dr. Eric Goodman. I am finding that a 25% split across all four activities, swimming, running, biking, and weight training and mobility work leaves me feeling more balanced and ready for all aspects of life, rather than drained on a certain activity. Well that is a nice lengthy wrap up, and I am ready for this month of solid work. I am going to be trying to integrate some breathing principles that I have played with in the past but this time be diligent about them. The work of Brian MacKenzie has been all the rage in the podcast world lately so time to give it a go. Peace out.