The Importance of Weight Training

Things have been really busy for me since I completed my first two half marathons early this year. I have worked a lot of overtime and there have been a lot of family things going on as well. Recently I have started marathon training too. Running with my friends and pushing my running during the week has been great for my running! I just finished the Toughest 10K Kemah which is four bridge repeats in 1:09:25, which I am really happy with. Since then I have also run a whole hour with no walk break, something I thought I would never do.

I have also bee eating about 80% on the Paleo Diet, dropped a pants size, and got under 200 lbs! Most days anyway.

BUT... I have not been lifting. I know from past experience this is not good for my body... and in my race photos from Kemah I could actually see the difference. Check this out.

Lucky Trails Half Marathon - March 2012

 

Toughest 10K Kemah - Sept 2012

Call me crazy, but I look better and fitter in the old picture where I was heavier. The difference? I was lifting before the older picture, but not before the newer one.

After seeing my race pictures, I headed back to the gym this week. First up: Squats of course! I started with 95 lbs... which I thought would be easy since my warmup weight back at the beginning of the year was 135, then I'd work up to 185. By the 4th set my hamstrings were cramping so much I had to call it a workout.

So, lesson learned! Don't quit lifting! Running is no substitute. Lifting is even MORE important during times of weight loss, not to lose muscle mass.

My plan is to keep running, training for the marathon but re-introduce lifting at least twice a week. Three times if I can fit it in. The added strength is only going to help carry my through the marathon!

Darren

Balance

Just a quick post on something I have found useful. For the last few years I have practiced balancing on one leg to do things such as get dressed and put on shoes and socks. I don't always do it for shoes, but enough that I can still get by. I should work on that more. I found that if you make it part of your daily routine, after a while you don't need to hold onto things to do it. I see several benefits in this:

• It build the stabilizer muscles in the legs, and the neural pathways to control them. This at least theoretically could help you to not fall in a tripping situation, etc.
• It allows you to get dressed at the gym without touching the benches, at least until you have your pants on. :)
• In a triathlon, you can transition without sitting down. Yankz on your run shows make this super easy.

To do it, just practice crossing the lifted leg across the knee of the other leg. Then you can bend and reach it. You'll probably need something to hold onto to start with, but not after a while.

It's part of hacking me by integrating something useful into your daily life. :)

Darren

Hacking Me: Bruce Lee Style!

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”- Bruce Lee

I think Bruce Lee would approve of my "Hacking Me" approach.To me, that is really what he is saying here... figure out what works for you.

Bruce didn't just find a great style martial art, master it, and stop there. He looked at other styles and incorporated elements to make a style all his own. His base style Wing Chun was pretty damn kick ass on its own to begin with!

Wing Chun has an interesting story you can go read at that link. Since it was designed for a woman to protect herself against a man, there are no high kicks... the women at the time wore long skirts. So Bruce Lee adapted his famous kicks from another style. 

So does this have anything to do with training for triathlon/running/cycling/whatever? Sure it does! You hear a lot of opinions on what the best way to train is... much of it is 'bro science' based on gym heresay. So I say follow Bruce Lee's advice... try it for yourself and then "adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own."

Darren

Hacking Me: Hell Yeah!

I'm a hacker by nature. I can look at just about anything and start thinking about how I could make it better, or use it for some other purpose. I guess it is natural that I turned out to be an engineer. Even though I am an electrical engineer and do software development now in my day job now, I still have an interest in the mechanical stuff too. I have lots of ideas for projects, though I rarely have time to apply the ideas.

Take my major project for example, I have a completely stripped 1970 Mach 1 in my garage that I am doing major rust repair on. Major being probably half the metal on the car unibody shell itself will be replaced before I am done. If I ever get done... no time... no money... etc!

Then there's my new bike Venom... can I just go out and buy a bike? Nooooo, I gotta buy a frame, parts, and put it all together myself! (update coming soon)

One of my favorite web sites is Lifehacker. Recently they had an article that I really liked about how we say 'yes' to things that we really don't want to do. I know I am really bad about that. Check out the article here. Basically we need to get better about not saying 'yes' unless we can say 'hell yeah!' This has really started me to rethink about my venture into triahtlon. I have never been able to definitely say why I want to do triathlon. Is the next race a 'hell yeah'? No, not usually. So why? Why do it?

Then I read Donna's view on the same article... maybe that hits it closer, I just have not been hungry for it.

Enter Lifehacker again with a post about mind mapping. Wait, what? Mind mapping? Now THAT got me thinking! Maybe the brain is hackable too. At least taking the time to see how something ticks is the first part of modifying it. :) I ended up not liking the software from the post, but it at least got me thinking and that is good. What are my goals? What are my reasons? What makes me tick?

Then something finally came to me... it isn't so much the race itself that flips the 'on' switch in my brain... it's things like seeing improvements in my body, feeling my clothes get looser, feeling that sense of accomplishment when I do finish a race, seeing my distances get longer in my training logs, and seeing my times drop for old distances. Maybe that is why I have not fully enjoyed most of the races I have entered, I always felt pressure that I wasn't quite 'ready'. Maybe I was just looking for the wrong feeling.

So, moving forward I need to focus on the things that give me the good feelings and avoid the negative pressure feelings about 'must get ready for race'. Life is the race, nothing else really matters. Don't laugh but this reminds me of one of my daughter's favorite Hannah Montana songs: The Climb.

Now I am thinking about the athlete I want to be... not just a runner, not just a triathlete, not just a weightlifter, not just a cyclist... but a hacked creation all my own. HELL YEAH! (a much more Darren-like song!)

What's your 'hell yeah'?

Darren