AnaerobicAndrew’s BodyBlog

My new article is up, in which I review the 2010 Ironman World Championship results from Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.  CLICK HERE to read. “Kona recap - the champs are back” is up live.

Don’t be a carbophobe; low carb lifestyles can be self-sabotage for athletes.  My new article is up HERE.  Before anybody gets upset about me badmouthing CHO rationing… please keep in mind that this is for endurance athletes, not bodybuilders!

Sexiest Bike Ever: the all new S-Works Shiv by Specialized.
Check out my new article!  My review of the fastest bike on the planet. Boise Triathlon Examiner Andrew Beck.

Off season training, finally!

I love this part of the year because I can get back into the weights and rekindle my first passion… smashing the weights!  Well, as much as I can these days anymore, that is.  Dropping from 195lbs to 165 lbs over the last few years has really taken a toll on my strength and lifting stats.  I’d be lucky to move a bar with two stacks of high society on them nowadays (225lbs.)…. but that’s okay.  The rational is that mass - whether that’s from muscle or fat - gets in the way of speed when it comes to triathlon.  Not so much the swim or the bike, but on the run, every single extra pound you carry impacts your performance.  And when you’re non elite, like me, you don’t have a whole lot of performance to sacrifice before you just start embarrassing yourself out there.

My off season consists of mid August to mid November, which means, yes, my season is actually 9-10 months long.  That’s one of the longest "seasons" of any sport.  Anyway, for the next few months, I’ve sworn away my volume intense brick workouts and instead will focus on core conditioning, speed work, and building some lean mass. Towards the end of this and into the beginning of the season I will attempt to rapidly reduce my fat composition to come in sitting at around 160 lbs for my first race.  Hopefully I can maintain that without putting myself into a nutritional deficit.

Numbering your split days is always much more optimal than going by a day of the week.  E.g. Day 1, 2, 3, etc, v. calling Monday "back day", Tuesday "Chest day", and so on.  A 5 day rotational split yields over 30% more training without over-training being an issue.

My basic splits begin like this for several weeks, to re-grease the neuromuscular groove:

I want to begin with some basic content that a few folks asked me to share right off the bat, mostly regarding motivation.  Triathlon is a sport that requires motivation in spades! It requires constant diligence and dedication, and dare I say slightly more optimism that many other sports.  Few other spots beat you up physically 15-20 hours per week, on both land and water. There are times during races when you feel like not only have you performed underneath yourself, but so poorly that you consider dropping the sport completely off your calendar.  This is a mental constant struggle for triathletes trying to become more competitive, and many of us have at least one race that marks the low water mark of our confidence, so to speak, that makes us want to throw in the towel.

Personal resilience is EVERYTHING.

Read my article on Examiner.com for free about a race last season that made me question my own motivation: CLICK HERE.

Once I get organized, I’m going to lay out my route to Ironman triathlon.  From training for strength and power in the off months, to the brutal 9 month race season that will begin in full force me in November, 2009, taking me to my goal of completing FOUR Ironman Triathlons in 2010, along with a handful of Olympic races.  I’ll do my best to link my articles in as they become available so they coincide with my training.

In the mean time, feel free to check out my articles at Examiner.com HERE.
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