I have decided to move to Posterous for this blog.

I have friends who are more fit and smarter than me.  They deserve an equal voice.

I still love Tumblr, but Posterous is better for this process.

Update your bookmarks - http://triathlonhacker.posterous.com/

Last night after doing some elliptical work, I decided to hit the weights and do some arms.  I really like doing preacher curls.

As I was doing my second set I noticed that I was really struggling.  Also, I noticed that there wasn’t anyone around to spot me.

Soo.. I had this idea to spot myself.  I simply used my other hand to slowly aid the other arm up to a full rep.  It worked really well and I finished the set.  Then, I had a crazy idea.  What if I doubled the weight?

I figured that since I would have the benefit of another arm, that I control fully able to help me, this wasn’t so crazy.  So I grabbed a 60 pound weight and gave it go.  It was really tough at first, but by using my other arm as a spot.  It worked really well!

I was dying when I was done, but I think it was one of the best bicep workouts I have ever done.

There is a good chance you have already figured this out yourself, but in case you haven’t… it’s an easy way to push your biceps to the max.

That’s it for now.

Kent

Hit the gym last night for a 12.6 K bike.  Did it in 22 minutes.  Still working up to the full distance.  I think I will do it on Monday.

I find that I hit the wall really quickly when I bike and then just as quickly, get a second wind.  It’s amazing.  By about 8 minutes in I was tanked…. then at 10 minutes I felt like I had just started.  By the 20th minute I felt even better.  Not sure how to explain.  Anyone have similiar experiences?

We are also trying to get up early and do the training in the morning since our nights have become crazy and the gym gets busier the later it gets.

When do you train?  Morning or night?

Have a great one!

That’s it for now.

Hey guys, me again.

Some more ironman tips, and this one’s a good one. Getting rid of cramps.

Nothing can ruin a good run like a stitch in your side, and at least for me (until now), I could always feel them coming on, and know that I was helpless to do anything about it short of stopping.

Here’s the trick. One reason for cramps starting up is a big shock to your diaphram. This can happen when you start to breathe out and simultaneously land on your foot at the beginning of your stride. Cramp in the right side of your chest? You’re probably landing on your right foot as you start to exhale. Try to change your breathing pattern when you feel that stitch coming on so that you’re landing on your left foot as you start to exhale. The opposite goes if the stitch is coming on your left side. It’s actually pretty tough to get the timing, but does it ever work! Saved myself a lot of pain using this trick. Hope it works for you.

This post was written by Alex Spring - Masters in Engineering.  Masters of Training.

Well it’s been  a while but we are still kicking.

Did a swim the other day and felt really good!  With only about a month left, time to accelerate the training a little bit.

Need to focus on nutrition and some more block training.  

Looking forward to it!

That’s it for now.

Hey everyone,

Wish us all luck in the Sporting Life 10K tomorrow.  It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Stay tuned to hear how it goes.

Hi Everyone.

First time blogger, long time listener.

For the last while, I’ve been doing a bit of training here and there, but I’ve have definitely stepped it up since I’ve been at home in Ottawa, where I have a resident Ironman (my sister’s boyfriend) at my disposal for motivation. I’ve been slowly but steadily increasing my run times so as to not blow my knee out this year, and I felt that it was time to give the full 10k a try. Also, I did nothing active all weekend, and so felt pretty sluggish, and was in the mood for a good hard workout. It felt great, although my calves are killing me already. They were definitely not ready for 10k. Every step for the last couple of k was torturous. I know it will just get worse over the next few days, too. I will definitely be hobbling around like an old man for the next couple of days, but at least I’ll be hobbling with a big sense of accomplishment.

I figured I’d share a few good pieces of running advice I’ve gotten from my sister’s boyfriend. The first is swinging your arms. Everyone tends to swing their arms across their body, but this is really bad for the shoulder joints. It causes a lot of movement between the different parts of the shoulder, and can lead to pain or injury. Instead, imagine that you are pulling on ropes (like on a nordictrak) so that your arms can only swing ahead and behind you, without going left or right. This will be much easier on your shoulders and neck, although it feels a bit unnatural. I feel like there would be other benefits as well, because there’s no energy being put into sideways movements, and so your body would stay straighter and better aligned, deviating less from forwards, but that’s just my gut feeling.

Also important is keeping your core tight. I would always get a sore lower back from running, and this was because I wasn’t keeping my core tight, and as a result, my butt would stick out, curving my lower spine, and causing lots of impact in a direction the spine isn’t good at absorbing. When you do this though, be sure not to hunch your shoulders.

Which leads into the next point. Lean way forwards, keeping your shoulders back, and not bending at the waist, but at the ankles. This moves your center of gravity forwards, and makes gravity do some of the work for you. Your forward motion now comes from falling forwards. Now you’ll use way less energy because you don’t have to propel yourself forwards with your hips, and only have to use energy to control the fall and turn it into running (if that makes sense). It will make you run faster and get tired quicker at first, but once you learn to control it, you will notice how much easier running becomes. It also takes a lot of impact off your heels, and causes ‘toe running’ that is apparently much better.

Lastly, and this is my own advice, a heart rate monitor is the greatest tool to stop you from slacking off in your workouts. I highly recommend it. It gives you a concrete number that tells you how hard you’re working, and whether you need to step it up, or back off a little. Best addition to my training since I bought proper running shoes.

And now I gotta go ice my calves. Happy running

- This post was submitted by Alex Spring, Mechanical Engineer and Iron Man in training.

I’m a fan of the open air run but have always found it difficult to plan routes in a way that challenges me but also takes me through good areas.  That was, until I found www.walkjogrun.net.  You can plan your route, track the route you have just gone, or find routes that people have submitted in your area.  I’ve found it to be a great resource when training for races.

Other people prefer www.mapmyrun.com which has similar functions, but I always feel overwhelmed by ads there.  

Keep up the great work Kent!  We’re all rooting for you.

- This post was contributed by Alex Hoevenaars, an electrical engineer and badass triathlete.

Christina and I hit the gym again tonight.

Both of us were bagged but decided to pick up our socks and do something active. Christina ran a solid 5K as did I.

The bike at the beginning was less than stellar.  Some dude was beside me cramping my style so I couldn’t get into a stride, but still managed to get 10 mins in before heading for the treadmill.

I think the key to transitioning from biking to running is to do it as fast as possible.  Your legs don’t have time to react and before they know it, they are running.  I waited a little too long today and even had some water in between.  Not a good idea.  Next time I need to hit the pool, been lacking there a little lately.

That’s it for now.

So Christina and I decided to run 10K on Good Friday.

We didn’t really plan on it, it just sort of happened, sort of like teenage pregnancy or childhood obesity.

Regardless, we both got nice blisters on the feet and were pretty tired for the rest of the weekend.

Even with that Run, we are hoping to do something quick tonight. I think I will swim.  My swimming stamina should improve if I want to give this Triathlon a go.  I will let you know how we do.

Wish us luck.

During the 7th commercial break of Dancing with the Stars, Christina turned off the TV and said “I’m going for a run”.

I thought this was a great idea and decided to hit the bike.

I did 10.4k in 20 minutes which is average I think.  I haven’t yet done a full 30k on the bike, so I will save that commentary for later.  What I really wanted to try was Brick training.

After the bike, I quickly wiped it off and headed straight for the treadmill.  My legs felt like a mix of rubber and cement, but I quickly was able to build up some steam.  I did a 5 minute run just to get the blood flowing and I felt really good when finished.  I will try and do a longer, maybe 3-5k run after my next bike.

That’s it for now.