Where?

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Agenda:
8:45 AM Time Trial through the swamp.(show up by 8:30 at latest)

Course for time-trial.

11:00 AM Casual ride at various paces (depending on who shows up) leaving from Meyersville Grange.
1:00 PM Party/Expo/Swap meet begin. Food and drinks will be provided. Greenbrook Racing, Starting Line Sports and Marty’s Reliable Bicycles will all be on site. This year we will be accepting small donations($) to benefit the Raptor Trust, bird rescue right in the Great Swamp!!!

2:00 PM Change your tire speed challenge. Prizes to be awarded to fastest changer.

2:30 PM Aero positioning on a Time Trial bike and aerodynamics

5:00 PM Party and expo shut down.

Where: Meyersville Grange (near the Meyersville circle) on 623 Meyersville Road.

What to bring? You, kids, spouse, significant others…Old tri/running/biking/swimming gear for the swap meet.

Call with any questions or for more details: 908-790-9328.  So we have an idea of headcount (for food)  please email if you’re planning on attending: contact@start-tri.com

For many in the northern states, we’ve now entered the ‘off-season’.  This normally means that formal training is replaced with a recovery phase where both the physical and mental batteries are recharged.  This also, however, can result in a very unstructured training phase lacking any real goals or direction – training plans downloaded from internet sites or obtained from magazines or books don’t cover the ‘off-season’ so well.  So what should you be doing?

Firstly, you should be exercising – the off-season doesn’t mean ’stop’!  That said, you don’t need to necessarily be swimming, biking or running but you should be doing something.  Examples of common alternatives include mountain biking, hiking, trail running, ice skating / roller-blading, skiing – a couple of our clients have started mixed martial arts and kickboxing as a winter sport.

Secondly, we encourage athletes to partake in exercise or activities that involve a degree of lateral movement – swimming, biking and running are very much uni-directional.  A season focused on these can lead to imbalances in the supporting lateral muscle groups.  Do you currently have imbalances or nagging injuries that seem to stem from deep inside your shoulders, hips or core?  Here is a summary of tests and improvement exercises that we suggest all athletes should look at (adapted from October issue of Men’s Health article) – one comment – your desk job is probably how some of the imbalances have been created or reinforced yet you can do many of these exercises on-the-go or in your office:

Fix muscle imbalances with these exercises

Serratus Anterior: Located on the side of your chest along your ribs – plays a major role when you raise your shoulder to flex your arm and move it away from your body.  TEST: do a pushup and have someone look at your back – if you have a winged scapula your shoulder blade will stick out – a strong serratus sucks your scapula in during the movement eliminating the winged appearance.  IMPROVE: standard push-ups strengthen the muscle but doing variations is the quickest way to correct any weakness – perform incline push-ups on a barbell or other supporting structure (see fig 1) – start with your body at the lowest incline that doesn’t allow your shoulders to wing.  Do 3 sets of 10 reps.  As you become stronger and learn to control your scapular motion, work your way down until you can complete pushups with perfect form and body alignment.

Piriformis – Deep in your butt – helps with thigh rotation and tends to suffer from overuse.  Weak hamstrings and glutes force the piriformis to take on some of the work that the large muscles should be doing creating back and hip pain and limiting performance.  TEST: Sit on a chair and cross one leg over the other, with the crossing ankle of one leg resting on the bent knee of the other. If you can’t get your top leg parallel to the ground, your piriformis is probably tight.  IMPROVE: (Fig 2) Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet placed wider than shoulder-width apart on the ground.  Press your knees together and then return to the starting position – do 2 sets of 15.  Also do some soft tissue work – sit on a foam roller with weight shifted to your right butt and place right ankle on left knee.  Roll your right glute from top to bottom for ~60s.  Repeat daily.

Psoas – Runs through your hips to connect lower portion of back to top of thigh.  A main stabilizer and hip flexor.  If you sit all day, the psoas can become rounded and, when you stand, will pull your back leaving your prone to lower back injury and pain. Can lead to secondary knee pain and hip-flexor issues.  TEST: Lie on your back and pull one knee to your chest keeping the other one straight – if your leg sits above the floor your psoas is either stiff or shortened.  IMPROVE: (Fig 3) Sit with knees bent on a low box or bench (6-10 inches high) – maintaining good posture, keep abs tight and use your hips to raise one bent knee slightly higher than your hips (>90 degrees)- hold for 5 seconds and lower.  3 sets of 5reps each leg.

Tensor Fascia Latae: This muscle starts along the outer edge of your hip and affect lateral movement.  If tight you will be prone to lateral knee pain since it attaches to your iliotibial band tissue. TEST: Lie on your side with your legs straight and raise your top leg to about 40-degree angle then lower it.  You should be able to lift your leg in a straight line without hip or thigh moving forward (keep core and back straight during movement).  IMPROVE: (Fig 4) stretching is the secret – stand with left hip adjacent to a wall, cross your right foot in front of your left.  From here, contract your core and left glute and then push directly into your left hip.  Don’t let your hips move backward and instead, make sure your left hip pushes to the side – hold for 30seconds and then switch legs.  Repeat 3 times on each leg every day.

Supraspinatus and Subscapularis: Small muscles at the top of your shoulder that make up the rotator cuff.  Blame your desk job for weak shoulders.  Strengthening can greatly help your swimming.  TEST: bring your harms straight out in front of you at about 45 degree angle with thumbs pointed up like your about to hug someone.  Have a friend stand in front of you and push your arms downward with moderate pressure. If you feel soreness in the your shoulders or can’t resist the pressure, you probably need to strengthen the muscles. IMPROVE: (Fig 5) Stand holding a light pair of dumbbells in front of your thighs.  Keeping your thumbs pointed up, raise your arms up at a 30 degree angle to your torso until just above the shoulder height – hold for 1 second and lower.  2 sets of 10 reps.

The off-season is a great time to resolve muscle imbalances and ensure that you start next season’s training with a reduced chance of injury.  By keeping active and correcting any alignment issues, you’re setting a great foundation for next year.

Post comments if you have any other exercises or tips.

We’re currently looking at running 2-3 triathlon camps for 2010 in the Lake Placid region.

Camps will likely run June / July time-frame.  We will be posting dates soon so check back in order to reserve your spot if interested.

Last year the camps sold out quickly and we only have a limited number of spots for each camp.

Checkout the link here for more details of the accommodation and facilities.

Start-Tri plans on holding another ‘year-end’ PARTY event in conjunction with Paramount Adventure and a number of local sponsors.

The event will be in a similar format to last year.  Weather permitting we plan on running our ‘unofficial time-trial‘ course.  You can take a look at the course and practice on it beforehand.  We will be giving prizes for the fastest times.

We also plan on repeating the ‘bike-gear-swap’ – a great way to upgrade components for you existing bikes or even purchase a new bike altogether.

Last year we had Marty’s Reliable Cycle and Starting Line Sports stands providing new and sale gear also – we hope to have them back.

Where: Meyersville Grange (near the Meyersville circle) on Meyersville Road.

What to bring? Your self, kids, spouse, significant other…Old tri/running/biking/swimming gear for the swap meet.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION…

TREK Women Triathlon Series

New York Race Sunday, September 13, 2009

Who: All Women Age 14+ Looking for a Life-Changing Experience

What: The new TREK Women Triathlon Series will take place in 10 cities in 2009 including NY Metro.  The Series is aimed at breaking down barriers for women athletes and is the ONLY women’s triathlon Series CREATED BY WOMEN, RUN BY WOMEN, FOR WOMEN.

How:  Visit http://www.trekwomenstriathlonseries.com, select the NY Metro race, and one of our 7 official entry categories including Age Group, Mixed Age Group, Athena, Women in Uniform, Physically Challenged, Elite and Relay Team.

When: September 13, 2009 Start time: 7 AM

Where: Eisenhower Park

East Meadow, Merrick and Stewart avenues;

Centrally located between the north and south shores

(516) 572-0348

Cost: The entrance fee for the Trek WTS is $75.00.  7% (the current national unemployment rate) of each race’s entries will be allocated to women who have lost their jobs in the past six months.  (All participants must pay $10.00 for USAT one day insurance.)

Additional: Join Hall of Fame triathlete Sally Edwards, Spokeswoman/Chief Inspiration Officer for the Trek Women Triathlon Series in this life-changing triathlon where every participant is a winner!  Series Director Maggie Sullivan has been a major force in building participation opportunities within the sport of triathlon for women for over 19 years.

On the charity front, The Trek Women Triathlon Series is partnering with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The National Association of Team Survivor, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization for women who have a present or past diagnosis of cancer.  Team Survivor provides women with free group exercise, health education classes and support programs.  The Trek Women Triathlon Series and Team Survivor allow women in the program to train, receive complimentary race registration for their first triathlon and benefit from special race day support.

Start-tri.com would like to congratulate many first time and veteran finishers in a multitude of races this summer…Here are some recent finishes:

Bassman Sprint Triathlon in April-Scott Johnson, Tucker McKeever, Lawrence Writer, Steve Varley
Doc and Sok Sprint Triathlon in May-Steve Varley, Tucker McKeever, JT Thompson
Jerseyman 1/2 Ironman in May-Lawrence Writer
Black Bear 1/2 Ironman in May-John Bye
Philadelphia Olympic Distance Triathlon in June-Tucker McKeever
Ironman Germany in July-Lawrence Writer…you are an Ironman!!!
Randolph Sprint Triathlon in July-Gene Boyle, Steve Badian, Mark Gropler, Maryfaith Burke, Heather Lukeman, Pete Rouillard, Wendi Zimmerman, Jaclyn Sullivan, Suzanne Corbett, Robert Tallman, Mike Van Allen
NYC Olympic Triathlon in July-Tom Maney, JT Thompson
Ironman Lake Placid in July-Scott Johnson, Gene Boyle, Jason Norman, Mickey Cassu…you are Ironmen!

Also, with a strong showing at Ironman Lake Placid were all of our Start-tri.com campers-Walt Skrinski, Robyn Ritter, Mike Peretta, Scott Johnson, Gene Boyle and the coaches!

If looking for a great way to close out the season, September in the Metropolitan area always boasts a multitude of good season-ending races. Be sure to check the racing calendars at Raceforum.com or active.com

See you at the races!

You probably already keep a log of your training as a running record of how you’re progressing but do you keep one for races?  We tend to find that memory plays some funny tricks when it comes to racing – and the longer the race distance, the more susceptible you are to ’selective memory’.  It’s a similar process to the one that makes you want to sign up for a race the day after you said ‘never again’ as you crossed the finish line.

Q) When should you write your race-day log?
A) The sooner the better – details will begin to slip away the longer you leave it and this is an information based process where details really matter

Q) What should I record?
A) As much as you can.  The sort of information you want to include might be:

• Pre-race nutrition
• Weather conditions
• Specifics about the transition setup
• Positioning during the swim-start – did you see others in different locations at the start?
• Swim itself – a bumpy ride or a smooth one?  Any aches or pains?  Good draft or no-draft?
• T1 – any specifics that were good or bad
• The bike beginning – did you go out hard or hold back?  How was the mount?
• Nutrition on the bike – how much, how often and what?
• ‘Comfort stops’ how much and how frequent (sounds gross but key to hydration levels)
• Hills – how did they feel – did you spin up or mash larger gears?
• Incidents / observations on the course – any mechanical issues?
• T2 – same as T1 – any specifics – e.g. did you need to stretch, did you have all the gear you needed etc.?
• Run – transition phase – how did it feel?
• Mid-section of the run – good pace?  Able to hold it?
• Experience any stiffening during the run or any ailments or injuries beginning to present themselves?
• How was your run nutrition? Did you take anything on the course and if so what and when?
• Comfort stops on the run?
• Notable hills or other course features
• Finishing – how did you feel over last sections of the race?  Any issues with cramping or other ailments?

If you have a computer device that records your heart-rate then you should combine this with your notes – it can be a good reminder as to how steep those hills really were!

Q)What is the point of all this?
A) When you start to look over your times, you will inevitably begin to wonder where you might have saved some time.  As time progresses, your view will become less objective as you begin to forget the details.   With a set of race-day notes to look over, you won’t be suffering from selective memory syndrome and  you’ll know whether you really could have pushed that much harder on the hill or run 7:30’s when your notes said 8:00’s were killing you at the time.  It also serves as a good data source for where you want to concentrate your training efforts moving forward as well as providing excellent information for those race-reports that your friends are dying to read!

Train safe.

We received an email recently regarding the elevation at Ironman Lake Placid – more specifically, how much climbing is there?

The Ironman USA website has an interesting quote “The two loop bike course takes place on impeccably smooth roads.  There is a major 9km downhill (good for the average speed).  The rest of the bike is a mix of some rolling hills and some “small chainring climbs.  Overall, you can move on this course!”

We think that this is slightly misleading in that it doesn’t really address the level of climbing that you will actually be doing.  The figure below depicts a heart-rate file (Jason’s) during one of our Ironman training camps held earlier this year.  The heart rate profile gives an ascent of 3300ft for one loop.  Obviously this needs to be doubled giving you a climbing elevation of 6600ft.  That is some serious climbing if you’re used to riding on flat roads.

IMUSA course profile

One of the main comments from our camp attendees was that the first loop seemed ‘quite reasonable’.  However, the second loop is ‘a (insert expletive)’ and it’s mainly due to the fatigue that accumulates from the first loop.

Our advice?  Take it easy climbing out of Lake Placid initially – you can blow your race here right at the beginning.  Go fast on the downhill to Keene if you’re comfortable riding at speed.  The section from Keene thru Upper Jay and Jay is a fast road and you should take advantage of staying in aero and covering the ground quickly.  Take the climbs easy so as to keep the legs as fresh as possible.  Enjoy the crowd coming back into Lake Placid and once again, watch that climb out of town prior to the descent.  On the second loop, even though you’ll want to get off the bike as quickly as possible, hold back a little  and spin up the hills – your legs will thank you for it during the marathon!

Kids Triathlon Series

Marty’s Reliable Cycle, one of our sponsor’s, is running a triathlon series for the younger triathletes in the area.  They have five different age group ranges with three events – one in July, August and September.    The flyer has more details and you can register directly at their website: martysreliable.com Should be a fun time for all the family and who knows – you might just see a top-triathlete of the future….

Firstly, thanks to all who attended.

The weather was unpredictable but we managed to get cyclists off with the sun shining albeit on wet roads.  We changed the course a little from last year so the times are not directly comparable.  Also, the wet roads will obviously have affected the times a little.

Here are the results from those who braved the crazy weather:

Time-Trial Results

Congratulations to Lori and Arland for their great prize-winning times.

You will note that we’re opening this up to all and sundry – if you’d like to do the course and then email us your times, check out the time-trial page.

Many thanks to Lawrence Writer for helping out during the event.

Train and ride safe – Start-Tri.com