Sunday, May 13, 2012

El Dorado Lake Triathlon


I'm thinking of doing this race again.

Last year, I didn't podium.

The year before that, I had fun!

This year, I have no intention of training. So I plan not to podium and to have fun!

Friday, May 11, 2012

My Capacity

I don't do much coaching, anymore. I have a few athletes, but mostly, I focus on personal training, yoga, and cycling classes. However, when I was coaching I had two athletes--one male, one female--who used to drive me nuts. They did not drive me nuts by doing too little and expecting too much; rather, they did (in my perception) WAY too much work, and not nearly enough recovery. I kept telling them that they needed to slow down, to do less, to recover more, or they might risk sickness or injury. Certainly, I thought, they wouldn't be able to achieve their potential.

Well I think I understand, now.

Over the past few months, I've gotten into rugby. I like it. It's tough. It's aggressive. It's different. It allows me to run side to side, as well as straight forward.

Trouble is, I'm finding it pretty difficult to achieve my definition of "training," which is working hard enough that I feel like I've been hit by a train. I've been lifting weights and doing aerobic endurance workouts and doing sprints and running agility drills and practicing my passing. Now that I think about it, I don't do a lot of tackling practice, and that might help with the whole "hit by a train" sensation.

But I understand now the urge to, say, run in the morning, swim at lunch, and finish the day off with bootcamp. When you are a ridiculously fit individual, it's hard to find the exercise--or, more probably, combination of exercises--that will make you sore. So you do lots.

Help me. I'm becoming an exercise junky.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

And Now For Something Completely Different

Namely, a different kind of workout. A High Intensity Interval Training kind of workout. This is a coaching session that I made for my own use, and I figured heck! I ought to share this with my loyal followers!


So here, loyal followers. Enjoy this HIIT session!


HIIT Progression 1
2 x 15 seconds hard, 45 seconds rest
Grass drills x 2
2 x 30 seconds hard, 45 seconds rest
Grass drills x 2
2 x 10 seconds hard, 50 seconds rest
Grass drills x 2


The whole workout takes all of 15 minutes, but give yourself a nice, long warm up beforehand. This workout was designed for rugby, but will be applicable to any field sport (soccer, football, field hockey, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee . . . whatever). CrossFit and boot camp enthusiasts will also enjoy it!