NOTE:  If you want to learn more about what I talk about in the article below, try coming to one of my clinics at the Olympic Training Center.

Since I became a Total Immersion Coach in August of 2010, I have seen many forms of TI criticism. The number one concern I have heard is that TI teaches slow swimming. These comments are often from people that haven’t actually tried TI techniques or they have simply done a few drills and they feel it hasn’t helped them to get to the other end of the pool faster. My experience has been a very different one and so has most, if not all, of the people I have taught over the last 18 months.  My half mile open water time went from 23:30 in 2005 before TI to 10:55 on the same course in 2011 (and was in the top 30 of all 600 racers).  Anyway, I could spend a series of blog posts describing why I don’t believe TI teaches slow swimming (and maybe I will someday), but what I want to focus on heavily in this post is a criticism that I have heard a remarkable number of times over the past few months and I have a nagging itch to write about.  Here is the criticism in a nutshell: “TI puts too much emphasis on the glide”.

I want to spend some time talking about the “glide” in swimming and hopefully clear up what TI is teaching, what I teach as a TI coach, and why I think some people misunderstand glide.

What TI is Most Certainly NOT Teaching

First, I just want to be clear that Total Immersion has never taught and never will teach any swimmer to pause at the back end of the stroke at the hip/thigh in favor of prolonged gliding.  When we talk about gliding, we are not suggesting this type of pause in any way.  I fear that there are far too many people who envision gliding as exactly that.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so I put together a short video that shows more specifically what we are NOT teaching when we talk about glide.

Other notable things I will say about this type of gliding is that I HAVE seen a number of TI enthusiasts take the TI drills (which do start with pauses on purpose which are later worked out) to an extreme and end up with a hitch or pause in the stroke.  In addition, some TI enthusiasts have taken some teaching about stroke length and some workouts and posts about stroke counting to the extreme and have done anything possible to get their stroke count as low as some other swimmer even to the extreme of artificially lengthening their stroke with pauses to achieve some “magical” stroke count.

In either case, the end result is not being actively cultivated by Total Immersion but is rather an unfortunate effect of a misunderstanding of the principles behind what is actually trying to be conveyed.

What TI Most Certainly IS Teaching

So, what TI is teaching and what I as a TI coach am teaching is meant to hold on to your speed and maintain streamline until the right moment.  In the simplest terms, good gliding involves leaving the lead arm out front until the recovery arm is ready to strike forward for the next full extension.  It does not mean that you pause at the back end of the stroke but just that you leave the lead arm out until the right moment.  The propulsive and recovery arm follow a continuous path back to extension and the lead arm holds you in streamline until the right moment.

Now, the only question is, when is the “right moment” to begin the catch and pull with the lead arm?

For almost every swimmer, the answer is quite simple: Leave the lead arm out until three things are ready to happen almost simultaneously:

1) The recovery arm has moved far enough forward with an elbow lead that it is ready to strike and extend forward

2) The high hip and shoulder are ready to rotate down with a snap in conjunction with the strike and extension

3) The leg opposite the recovery arm is ready to give a tight and snappy kick to initiate 1) and 2).

When those three things are about to happen, the lead arm can begin it’s catch and pull…or, more appropriately, it’s catch and hold of the water. If you begin the catch and pull phase with the lead arm too early, you will NOT get the full benefit of the three things described above. Those three things, when timed properly and executed effectively, provide profound forward propulsion.  Check out this video to get a more visual description:

More on the other schools of thought or misunderstandings

There are a number of proponents on the web, especially in the triathlon industry, for pulling immediately after extension with no regard for where the recovery arm is (or, essentially without regard for stroke rate). Some have even tried to quantify the time in seconds between when a swimmer finishes one stroke at the back end and starts the next stroke at the front end and correlate that with swim speed.  The problem is that it does not take into account the stroke rate that the swimmer is swimming with or the distance the swimmer is swimming.  There is NO WAY to correlate stroke overlap or glide time without involving stroke rate…it simply doesn’t make any sense.  To say that someone that is swimming a 50m sprint has less time between stroke finishes and starts than someone who is swimming a 1500m event and is therefore a better swimmer because their swim speed was faster is simply absurd.  Also, it does not explain why Jason Lezak was able to beat Alain Bernard in the final leg of the 4 x 100 meter relay in the 2008 Olympics when he was down by 0.5 seconds going into the last leg.  Watch the video here and read the blog to see as Lezak has a far slower stroke rate but a longer stroke and thereby takes the gold from the French.  Notice that Lezak strokes at a rate of about 0.71 sec/stroke and Bernard strokes at a rate of 0.55 seconds/stroke.  At stroke rates that fast, I would expect the time between strokes to be very low but I challenge any of you to go into the pool and put a tempo trainer on and set it to 0.55 or even 0.71 and maintain that for even 100m with any form whatsoever.  This is all just more proof that you can’t correlate time between strokes without incorporating stroke rate.

I have also heard several very high level triathlon coaches (coaching elite level triathletes and pros), doing swim analysis and telling top level athletes to get rid of the glide in their stroke so that they can “get to the next propulsive phase quicker”.  This is, again, a misunderstanding of how propulsion in swimming works.  It is not a lot different than the advice one of my clients got from his previous “swim coach” at the YMCA where he lives: “Well, you just need to go to the gym and get stronger so you can pull harder and then you will get faster”.  This simply comes from the idea that the more you pull and the harder you pull, the faster you will go.  This is simply NOT true in swimming.  Pulling harder and earlier often comes at the expense of several things: Grip, balance, energy expenditure, and streamline/drag. At some point, the expense outweighs the gains in speed and all is lost.

So what really happens when you pull too early?

There are several things that happen when you prematurely release your glide (or eliminate it altogether):

1)  When you drop the lead hand into the catch and pull phase before the recovery arm is ready to strike, the hip is ready to rotate, and the opposite side kick is ready to initiate the strike, the pulling action causes the body to begin rotation too soon.  Understand, as I explained earlier, that those three motions work in concert and if you begin the rotation before they are ready, they will not have the same effect.  You will basically be wasting the potential energy of the high side shoulder, elbow, and hip by slowly rotating it too early.

2)  When you pull too early it is often a hurried pull that does not “grip” the water but rather slips through the water.  You want to think of your lead arm as anchoring in the water and holding it’s position rather than pulling back and any focus on “getting to your next propulsive phase quicker” will most likely cause you to move your hand through the water rather than holding your position in the water and moving past it.

3)  When you drop the lead hand into a catch and pull too early it affects balance and causes you to sink a bit in the water.  Most don’t notice this because they compensate with a strong kick to prevent it but it is very evident on those swimmers that drop their lead hand early only during breathing strokes…they often have an even harder time breathing because they are over-rotated and are lower in the water.

4)  When you drop your lead hand into the catch and pull too early, you introduce drag at the same time you are trying to introduce increased propulsion. If the increase in drag is greater than the added propulsion you are trying to get, then all you have done is add energy expenditure.

So what do you need to do (because you are thoroughly confused now, right)?

The quick and simple version of what you need to do:

1)  Make sure that you do not let your lead arm pull until the three keys in the good gliding section above are ready to go.  In other words, wait for the right moment to pull…don’t just pull when the arm reaches full extension so you can meet some unfounded number or so you can “get to the next propulsive phase quicker”.

2)  Work on making your stroke longer without artificially elongating it with a pause.  This involves working at lower stroke rates and working to lower your stroke count across the pool…but NEVER do that by pausing at the back end of the stroke.

3)  At the same time, work on taking this longer stroke into faster and faster stroke rates.  What you will find is that there comes a point as your stroke rate gets faster that you can’t maintain form and you start adding strokes to your stroke count very quickly.  Continue to work on holding form and stroke length at these faster stroke counts while maintaining the body glide stroke.

For items 2) and 3) a tempo trainer is an invaluable tool because you can lock yourself into a stroke rate and work on lowering stroke count (again, without pause) or lock yourself into a stroke count and work on increasing stroke rate (which you can do VERY slowly with a Tempo Trainer…in small increments as low at .01 seconds).  I cannot give you every method of using a tempo trainer for improving your swimming right here in this blog but I have written a few blogs here and here on it and Terry has written extensively on it on the TI site in the forums and his own blog here.

So, just to summarize, your glide is something that happens while the recovery arm is coming around for the next spear and NOT with a paused recovery arm. The amount of glide time in seconds is a function of stroke rate and is not something you need to measure, so don’t try to match a number on graph that doesn’t correlate to your goals.  You simply need to make sure that you are patient with the lead arm until the right moment and then work to hold that form and grip at the fastest stroke rate that is comfortable for the distance you are swimming (it will change with distance even with elite swimmers).

If that doesn’t make sense, shoot me an email or leave a comment and let’s talk!

NOTE:  If you want to learn more about what I talk about in the article, try coming to one of my clinics at the Olympic Training Center.

First big race of the year complete and I am going to call it an overall success! Unlike last year’s marathon breakdown, I came much closer to my goal this year and had a great race. I still have some nutrition issues at this distance that I think I have narrowed down to insufficient electrolyte intake due to heavy salt loss but I will get into that in more detail later in the report.

I chose the Eugene Marathon for an early-season marathon for a couple of reasons. First of all, I wanted to redeem myself from my NODM performance last year where I broke down at mile 18 or so and ended walking the last 3 miles while puking my guts out (nutrition issues as well as being sick the week leading into it). Also, a friend and co-worker of mine had qualified for Boston there last year and recommended the course. It is mostly flat and has some great scenery along the Willamette River in Eugene in addition to ending on the track in Hayward Field where Prefontaine and countless other Oregon track stars have toed the line. Also, it was about the right timeframe before my half iron in July to allow me to focus on a good performance in Eugene and still have time to prepare for the half iron. My wife also has family in Eugene and we have been there several times to visit and it is only a 5 hour drive away.

The Training

The training for Eugene started out fairly well, got REALLY rocky for a while, and then ended with some of the best training I have done in a long time.

Probably the first thing that made my training so much better this year was the overhaul of my nutrition halfway through last year. I stopped using things like Clif Shot Bloks and went to using Generation UCAN and Bob Seebohar’s Metabolic Efficiency techniques. In a nutshell, the metabolic efficiency principles involve using fueling and everyday eating protocols that don’t spike your blood sugar and induce insulin responses as well as training protocols that keep your body in the fat burning zone during the first part of the year. Over time, your body learns to burn fat for fuel and doesn’t rely on sugar calories for fuel as much. The concept works very well and I completed this marathon on a total of 140 calories 45 minutes before race start and another 140 during the race. So basically, I completed the marathon on 280 calories for 3.5 hours of exercise or about 80 calories per hour. This is WAY less than a lot of people are using and less than I used last year when I was using Shot Bloks.  I will go more into my metabolic efficiency results and some of my athlete’s results in another post but just know that this stuff works!

As far as training protocol, I spent almost all of my run time in lower heart rate zones and did little to no speed work from January through March. In mid March, I started adding a little bit of tempo work and speed interval work. Now, if this was my A race for the year and I was really trying to peak, I would have started speed work earlier than that but I specifically only did a little because I am really trying to build a base of fitness for Ironman Arizona in November and I don’t need to be starting speed work at this point in the season. So, I elected to do just a little bit of race pace and speed interval work starting about 6 weeks out from the race.
The run training started out great in January with my longer runs (which are pretty short really at the beginning) going nicely and hardly missing any workouts. Then, as the work hours started to ramp up, the training went awry. I was struggling to get any runs in at all but I did get some in. Several times I ran my long runs of the week late at night (one 16.5 mile run in particular I remember starting at 9pm). Not optimal…but it was a great way for me to relax after hard days at work. In March, the work ended (literally…I quit) and things got easier for training. Perfect timing because I was starting to get into my 20 mile runs on the weekends and those were going to be hard to get in with a tough work schedule. Throughout my training though, even when I could have, I never even hit 40 miles in a week. I think my highest volume run week was 36 miles. This is pretty typical with me as I am also swimming and biking as well as getting some fitness from P90X2. It is easier on the body this way and the results are actually better in my experience.

With my new nutrition protocol, my training runs were going amazingly well as far as pace and effort level but the one issue I was still having was feeling nauseous after the long runs. I worked with Dina Griffin at Elite Multisport Coaching to try to figure out what I was doing wrong and we decided that I needed to add more electrolytes and change my timing on fueling a little. We came up with a plan for Eugene (kind of too late to test out) and hoped it would work.

Anyway, with my new nutrition protocol (again) and the training I had under my belt, I was ready to crack 3:30 in Eugene! Then, I realized that they only had a pace group for 3:25 and one for 3:35…hmmm…which do I take. My friend had recommended going out hard at this marathon based on his experience so I decided to go with the 3:25 group and use the extra time if needed.

Race Nutrition Plan

5am – Chocolate Shakeology made with milk
6:15 am (45 min prior to race start) – 1 Cran Raz UCAN made with water, 2 scoops of BASE performance salt for electrolytes, and 1 scoop of First Endurance Prerace for Caffeine
Mile 8 of the run – ½ packet of UCAN, 2 scoops BASE salt, ¾ scoop of Prerace
Mile 18.5 of the run – ½ packet of UCAN, 2 scoops BASE salt, ¾ scoop of Prerace
1 cup of water at every aid station (or 2 if feeling thirsty) using my Geetah Straw (see below).

The Geetah Straw

Check this thing out! I made this straw from an aero bike bottle straw with a bite valve attached to the end. It is a version of a Geetah straw which is named after the screen name of the runner that is credited with inventing it and talking about it on Runner’s World Forums like this one.  Just carry it along, stick it in the cup at the aid station, squish the cup around the straw (optional), and suck!

Strengths Going into the Race

1) I knew I had built a pretty big aerobic engine with my training and could go for a long time at a steady pace and I knew the HR that corresponded to quite well. In other words, my training had been consistent enough and I had quantified it enough that I felt pretty comfortable with what I was capable of physically (nutrition aside).

2) I know that I do much better with flatter race courses where I don’t have to carry this overweight body up a bunch of hills or keep it from going out of control down the hills (see the weaknesses section for more on my weight). ;o)

3) My race nutrition plan was a ton better than it was last year and I had learned a lot about my nutritional needs over the course of the training. So, I knew that it was going to be better than last year even if it wasn’t perfect.

4) I had my wife supporting me on the course and didn’t have to carry nutrition with me at all…which I love.

5) Although, being overweight is one of the weaknesses below, I had lost about 12 pounds in the 4 weeks prior to the race. While excessive weight loss prior to an event is usually not wise, this was simply done by eating whole, healthy foods. I was still eating upwards of 2500 calories per day depending on exercise…it was just all good stuff! Amazing what a clean diet will do for you. It was all part of the 90/10 Nutrition Challenge group that I started. Anyway, being 12 pounds lighter than I was when I did most of my really long training runs was a plus going into this race.

Weaknesses Going into the Race

1) As I said above, I was overweight. I weighed in around 189 the day before the race, which is at least 20 pounds over what I should probably be racing at for optimal performance. It is better than racing at 201 like I was at the end of February but it is still certainly a weakness to be overweight like that going into a big race. The January and February work schedules and donuts took their toll more than I ever thought possible and now I had to dig myself out of the hole I created.  It just isn’t worth it people!

2) My nutrition plan was better than last year but the new changes to get rid of the post run nausea were mostly untested and since most of my runs were shorter than a full marathon (all of my training runs actually), there was no guarantee that the nausea wouldn’t come on before the finish.

The Trip to Eugene and the Day Before

I will try to keep this part short. My Dad and Mom flew in on Thursday of the week before the race and we all drove down to Eugene on Saturday morning early. We got to the race expo around 1pm on Saturday and went about the business of getting our race packets and buying some gear and checking out the expo. With twin girls in tow that just endured a 5 hour car ride, we didn’t hang around too long or make much of the expo.

After the expo, we went over to the hotel to check in and get things situated. Then we went for a ride in the car to check out the course. We only really drove the first half because there are a bunch of park trails on the second half that make it difficult to follow for portions, but it was a good scouting venture. I got a good view of the hill at mile 8 which was nothing compared to what I am used to in Kitsap county and we scouted out the locations where Paula would be meeting me with race fuel (miles 8 and 18.5).

Because of the 90/10 Nutrition Challenge that I had been doing for 4 weeks prior to the race, I was determined not to go too far outside of the rules of the challenge on the night before the race (or any night really). We ended up going to a Roadhouse Grill (Texas style steakhouse basically) and I did pretty darn well. I had chicken breast (good), some ribs (not so good), sweet potato (good), broccoli (good), and water. I snacked on a few of the peanuts they put out so you can throw the shells on the floor but I skipped the rolls with honey butter, the rice that was under my chicken (which was odd) and the beer. Not bad at all. Felt pretty good heading to bed that night with a good dinner with good protein, some of the better starchy carbs you can get (sweet potato), and some veggies.

That night, I made my concoctions of fuel and got everything I needed all laid out for the morning. That all went fine. I gave Paula the training on what fuel I needed at each stop and put it all in the fridge for the next morning.

The only issue we really had was that that the twins took short little naps in the car during the day while we were driving the race course. This, and the fact that they weren’t in their own beds, made for a difficult night getting them to sleep. So, while I went to bed pretty early (around 8 or 8:30), I didn’t actually get to sleep until 10pm or so. Not what I was going for but it was fine.

Race Morning

I got up at 4:45 to catch a race shuttle around 6am at the Hilton downtown. I started the morning with my standard Shakeology made with milk and then dressed myself and met my Dad in the hall around 5:30 or so and we jumped in his car and went down to the Hilton.

It was a bit chilly out and I didn’t want to wait around at the start line freezing so we stuck around the Hilton until the big rush for the shuttles. I had my First UCAN with me and took that in just as we were waiting in line for a shuttle at 6:15. We got down to the race start by 6:30am and starting looking around for our corrals. I stood and talked with my Dad for about 10 minutes and then went to find a porta-potty for one last stop before race start. Then I found the 3:25 pacer in the crowd and set the GPS. It’s go time!

The pacer informed us all that his plan was to run the first 10 miles or so, right about on pace and then gain about 4-5 seconds per mile from there to mile 22 so that we had something to play with at the end. That sounded just fine to me.

Meb Keflezighi was there to start the race and give a quick little pep talk before the race so that was pretty cool.

The Race

The gun went off and more runners than I had ever run with before were off. They had half and full marathon starting together so it was hard to stay with the pacer with such a big crowd. For the first 2 or 3 miles, I had to jut in and out of traffic as people would fall off pace or jump in front of me. I have never had to weave in and out of people that much so I can’t imagine how Boston or New York are…it must be nuts.

The first mile starts out slightly uphill as you go south from Hayward Field. Compared to most of the stuff I run in Kitsap it was hardly noticeable but it was indeed slightly uphill. My Dad trains in Miami most of the time so it may have made a bigger difference for him. It is all relative. We ended up running the first mile a little fast with the initial uphill and then overcompensating with the slight downhill after and ended up running a bit faster than we were intending.

Mile 1: 7:37 (all quoted splits are according to my GPS watch)

The first aid station, around 1.5 miles in, was a bit of a challenge. I knew it would be with the crowd, so I made my way up in front of the pace group and got over to the side early. I had my new Geetah straw in hand and ready to test out in race conditions. It worked flawlessly! I simply grabbed a cup, stuck the straw in and sucked all of the water out in one or two gulps. I never lost a stride. My intention was to keep the straw in a pocket in my shorts but it was kind of a pain to put it back in so I just held it for the race. It was not a big deal but I did find myself gripping it pretty hard when I was struggling so I had to remind myself to relax my arms.
The pace group fell back quite a bit at the aid station as the pack tried to thin out to grab water. It was not smooth for the pacer or the main pack. The pacer started trying to coach everyone on grabbing water and handing it across so that they didn’t have to thin out and change pace so much on the next one.

The second mile was a bit fast as well, but we settled out after that.

Mile 2: 7:35, Mile 3: 7:50

The third mile was about perfect and we crossed the 5K point at 23:47. After the 5K point, we hit another aid station and I used the same strategy…I got up in front of everyone in the pace group and go over early and made sure I didn’t lose them or go too fast. Again, the aid station was smooth for me but not so much for the pace group. In fact, I didn’t really speed up much but I totally lost them by 100 yds in the aid station mess. I think it was a combination of people not knowing how to run in large groups and aid stations that weren’t long enough for the number of runners in the first few miles.

Anyway, I went ahead and slowed down and relaxed for a while to let them catch up since I wasn’t sure if I was running too fast or if they had slowed at the aid station…turns out they had slowed AND I had sped up just a bit. With a little slowing down from me and some speeding up from them, we were back on track and still a bit ahead of pace overall coming into mile 4.

Mile 4: 8:01

With the exception of the little uphill at the beginning and the slight downhill right after that (all within the first mile or 2), it was extremely flat to this point and it continued to be very flat to mile 7.5 or 8. If you look at the profile it is actually uphill to mile 4 and then back downhill but in reality, it is so slight that it was essentially flat to a northwestern runner.

So, the next few miles up to mile 8 went perfectly. I was feeling fantastic and the pace was just right. I felt like I could go all day at that pace and our pacer (Chris) was awesome…he kept a light mood and started hitting the splits right on. He did a lot of coaching throughout the marathon and was just a great guy to run a marathon with.

At about mile 6, a guy in a pink tank top and a pink tutu ran by us. What? Yea, our pacer knew him and had a conversation with him for about ½ a mile before he went on ahead. Turns out it was Keith Straw, an ultra runner who was training for Badwater again. He often runs in full ball gowns, tutus, and other costumes. I guess you have to be pretty tough to get away with that. What do you say to a guy wearing a tutu if he is outrunning you in a marathon when he is 20 years your senior and it is barely a training run for him (he was talking about going trail running after it was over that day)? There isn’t a whole lot you can say other than, “Nice job, man”.

So, just before mile 8, the hill started and I would consider it the only hill in the whole race that can really be talked about as a hill. As I said, that could be argued and is relative to what you are used to but it was all pretty flat to me. Oh, there were a couple of foot bridges that had ramps that we had to go up but those were very short. The only one that felt hard was the one at mile 21 or so at the turnaround point on the river.

Mile 5: 7:54, Mile 6: 7:42, Mile 7: 7:42, Mile 8: 7:46

I had planned to meet Paula at mile 8 to get my first hit of UCAN and she was there on time and at the right spot. So, I grabbed my fuel from her, and then I waited until the top of the hill to catch my breath a bit before sucking it down. On the back side of the hill, there was a pretty significant downhill. It was shorter and steeper than the uphill but was still pretty easy to run. We made up some of the time we lost on the uphill but mile 8-9 was a bit slow because of the hill (not by much though).

At the bottom of the hill, you turn left to go back in front of Hayward Field where it started and it is once again pretty flat.

Mile 9: 7:52

At mile 10, you have the first of the footbridge ramps as you begin the first section of trail on the course and you leave the city streets. You cross the river and shortly after the river crossing, the half marathoners split off and head back to Hayward Field while the marathoners head out into Springfield and then along the river to finish. Unfortunately, as we had a pretty big group going, we did not get a lot of relief from half marathoners splitting off…I guess our group was mostly marathon runners so we pretty much stayed the same. The next mile or so was river path and then we hit the streets of Springfield as we neared the halfway point. We were nailing the splits at this point (with the exception of mile 11…don’t remember what happened there) within a second or two but still had about 40 seconds to play with due to the first few miles of faster splits.

Mile 10: 7:50, Mile 11: 8:02, Mile 12: 7:46, Mile 13: 7:41

We hit the halfway point at 1:41:40 which is actually a slight half marathon PR for me (by about 30 seconds)…which might seem like a bad thing but I have never run a half marathon that wasn’t either extremely hilly (Heartbreak Ridge Half, Toe Jam Hill half…the names say it all) or during the off-season when I was untrained…so, I didn’t consider it to be a big deal. I was still feeling like the pace was pretty easy and wasn’t having in pain or struggling at all.

From mile 13-17 we were still hitting the pace almost perfectly. However, at mile 17, I started to feel like it was taking more effort to keep pace. Throughout the race, my heart rate was in the 150-160 range (which is right where I expected it to be and wanted to keep it), but now it had hit 160s. This was a little worrisome but kept chugging.

Around mile 16 we were back off the streets and onto the river path again and the group was still quite large. I had fallen back about 30 feet behind the pacer before we got on the path (which wasn’t a problem out on the streets) and now I couldn’t find a good line to work my way back up to him…it was a solid 30 feet of runners behind him. So, I held tight to that 30 feet. I was not feeling good about running right next to this many people at this point in the race. I didn’t want to have to think about my path and my footing at this point so I didn’t trip over people…I just wanted to run.  It was at this point that I noticed that there was a race walker in our midst….that’s right, someone was race walking at a 7:50ish pace.  Crazy.

Mile 14: 7:46, Mile 15: 7:48, Mile 16: 7:48, Mile 17: 7:53

Anyway, the whole family was scheduled to meet me around mile 18.5 for my last UCAN before the finish. They were there as planned right off the parking lot of the mall on the river path. My Sister-in-law and her husband, my wife, my Mom, and my twin girls (with cowbells in hand) were all there to cheer me on.

At this point, I was still less than 100 yards behind my pacer (see the photo below…the pacer was holding balloons that you can see just to the left of a bush up ahead). I took what just seemed like a second to slow down and run backwards after grabbing the fuel to make sure that my girls saw me and could wave back. However, when I turned back around and started picking up the pace again, it seemed like he was so much further away (the mind plays some nasty tricks to try to get you to stop torturing the body I guess).

My goal now was to keep him in sight but it was tough to tell if he was pulling away or not for a while. I knew I didn’t have it in me to push the pace to catch him at this point so it was time to do some damage control and try not to give up anymore than the 5 minutes I had on my goal time of 3:30 (plus the little bit of extra that we had made on 3:25 as a group…I think it was about a minute at that point). I did some math in my head and with 7 miles to go or so, I could basically run about an 8:45 pace the rest of the way and still break 3:30…that seemed doable so I pushed on.  This may have been my mistake…maybe if I had the mental toughness to keep pushing at that pace I could have made it instead of doing the math and relaxing a bit.

Mile 18: 8:00, Mile 19: 8:04, Mile 20: 8:10

When I hit the footbridge ramp to cross the river just before mile 21, I could still see my pacer pretty well but the ramp took another big chunk out of the willpower to keep up with him. You can see that the pace is slowly degrading at this point and it is getting hard.

Mile 21: 8:44 (ouch)

From here it just starts to degrade more and my pacer is gone out of sight. I did some walking and worked on my brain a bit and then got back to it.  At about mile 24 a couple of people ran by me talking about keeping 7:45 pace until mile 25 and then pushing 7:30 so I decided to go with them for a while and see how that felt….lasted about 100 yds.

Mile 22: 9:06, Mile 23: 10:03, Mile 24: 9:36, Mile 25: 10:35, Mile 26: 11:36

Pretty much a slow degradation until the end and I did not hold on to my 3:30 goal despite pacing 5 minutes ahead of my goal all the way to mile 20.

Finish: 3:34:37

The Aftermath

I came across the finish feeling good overall and actually pretty hungry (which has not been the case given my stomach issues during training). Because of that, I felt like maybe I had really nailed the nutrition this time. I went ahead and took one of the chocolate milks that they were handing out at the finish line and took that in and then had some water and half of a cookie…still felt good.

Sweet!

I found my family outside of the athlete area and sat down for a minute or two. Then, when I got up, the puking started and it lasted until about 5pm that evening. So, I guess I didn’t nail the nutrition. More to learn.

Conclusions

1) Despite not making my goal and faltering in the end, I am EXTREMELY happy with the race results. Being only my second marathon, having some rocky training and tough work schedules, being overweight, and having to work out nutrition issues, I don’t think I really have too much room to complain about. 3:34 isn’t too bad for a fat, stay-at-home Dad/triathlon coach with too much to do. ;o)

2) My recovery was quick and moderately painless for a marathon, so I am happy about that. I wasn’t sore anymore by about Wednesday and was pretty much ready to run again (although I was still tired from travel and racing and all…but no pain).

3) I believe I need to increase my electrolyte intake in future races. That seems to be the nutritional missing link. My total intake was about 700mg per hour and I think I am going to increase that closer to 1000mg per hour and see how I do on that.

4) I wish I knew what I would have run if I was 20 pounds lighter. ;o)

On to Ocean Shores Half Iron and then Ironman Arizona.
What are the chances of having this same run split in Arizona after a 112 mile bike ride 6 months from now?  Is it possible? Comments from you seasoned Ironmen and women?

The video below explains how and why to add a Camelback bite valve to the straw on your Profile Design Aero Drink System.

Enjoy and happy training.

It is not terribly uncommon to see a swimmer’s speed increase year to year as they train.  Everyone hits points where they feel like they aren’t getting any faster and some do stay stagnant for a quite some time and don’t get faster, but in general a good portion of those that train on a regular basis do get a bit faster.  Especially in the first few years of swim training where there is a great deal of improvement to be had.  As form and experience increase, it gets more and more difficult to get faster but some still see minor increases year to year.

The one thing that IS uncommon though is for a swimmer to be able to tell you exactly how they got faster if they do indeed succeed at getting faster.  Do you know what variable in the speed equation you changed to make you faster?  Do you know how you changed it?

I have talked about the simple swim speed equation in other blog posts in the past and Terry Laughlin has talked about it extensively on his blog and on the Total Immersion site but I am going to go right back to it for a minute here.

Swimming Speed = stroke rate (time per stroke) x stroke length (strokes per unit of distance)

For example, if you swim at a stroke rate of 1.00 sec/stroke and take 17 strokes, it will take you 17 seconds.  Add in the distance you covered and you get a swim speed in sec/yd or whatever units you use.

So, basically, we have an equation with three variables.  The equation is not a complex one and it is easy to solve for any of the variables if you know the other two.  The problem is that most swimmers only measure one of the variables and the one they usually choose to measure is speed.  Just about any swimmer measures how long it takes them to complete 50 yds, 100 yds, 200 yds, 500 yds, 1000 yds, 1.2 miles, or whatever the distance is that they are swimming that day or in that interval.  So, they know how fast they swam those distances a month ago and they know how fast they swam them today.  If it was faster today than a month ago then that is considered a win.  Understandable, right?  Sure.

However, from the equation, there are two variables that you can change to affect your speed.  Do you know which one you changed to swim faster today than you did last month?  Did you stroke at a faster rate but at the same stroke length or did you increase your stroke length at the same stroke rate?  Maybe it was some combination of the two.  If you don’t know what changed to make you faster, how do you know what to work on to continue to improve?

These are extremely important questions if you want to improve your swimming in the most efficient way.  For instance, let’s say that all of your training over the last month has been sprint interval sets and it has really taught you how to increase your turnover rate.  Awesome…so now you are stroking faster and swimming faster (not always the case if you lose grip at the same time but let’s assume for now that it is true).  At some point, you won’t be able to continue to stroke faster and faster and see speed improvements…there will be a point when your faster stroke rate will just become an energy wasting churning of the water because the rate is too fast to hold proper form.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t still get faster though.  You can still change the other variable…stroke length.  Having a longer stroke at the same stroke rate makes you a faster swimmer too!  Unfortunately, the purpose of this blog post is not to explain the details of how to train for a longer stroke or a faster stroke…that is a whole different post or maybe a series.

OK, so with all that said, let me see if I can get to the point of this blog post.

Q:  What can you do to make sure you know how/why you got faster (or why you didn’t) in your swim training?

A: MAKE SURE YOU MEASURE AND RECORD 2 OF THE THREE VARIABLES IN YOUR MAIN SETS INSTEAD OF JUST 1.

The cheapest and lowest tech way to do this is to simply add stroke counting into your swimming on a regular basis.  If you time your swims (which you are likely already doing) and you take an average stroke count for either one length or one lap of the pool, you have two of the variables in the equation.  A great way to do this is to keep “swim golf” scores during some of your swims.  A swim golf score is the sum of the number of seconds it takes to swim a lap and the number of strokes taken.  For example, my golf score today hovered around 69 (30 total strokes, and 39 seconds in a 50 yd lap).  With this simple game, you can see what happens to your score as you increase or decrease your pace.  If you swim faster and take the same number of strokes as before, your stroke rate went up while stroke length stayed the same.  If your strokes go down, then you increased stroke length and so on.  You can focus on various elements of your stroke while playing swim golf and see how they affect your score and see what improves your swimming the most.

A more high tech and precise way of measuring a second variable is to invest in a Tempo Trainer.  Tempo Trainers can be set at a very wide range of stroke rates (in sec/stroke) and will give you a nice beep for every stroke to keep you on tempo.  With a tempo trainer on, your stroke rate is constant and takes the possibility of increasing or decreasing your stroke rate as you fatigue or lose focus almost completely out of the picture (obviously, you could ignore the beeps if you wanted to).  You can read about my progress from last season with a Tempo Trainer here.

As an example, last year, I swam my half ironman at a tempo of 1.05 sec/stroke on the tempo trainer.  I trained in the pool this way and in 300 yd timed swims before my race, I was swimming 4:20ish at a tempo of 1.05.  Today, I swam a 300 yd timed swim at the end of my workout with the tempo trainer set at 1.05 and finished in 4:07.  From this data, I know that I am now able to cover more distance per stroke at that tempo than I was able to cover last year.  This makes sense because most of my training this year so far has been working on increasing my stroke length with very little high intensity interval work or stroke rate work.  If I had done these timed swims without a tempo trainer or at least counting strokes, I would have no idea if I had increased tempo, increased stroke length, or some of each.  Now, with that data in hand, I can focus on being able to move that same stroke length into a slightly faster tempo using the tempo trainer.  I should see some speed gains there as well.

If you want more info on how to swim with a tempo trainer, there is a ton of info in the “favorite practices and sets” section of the Total Immersion forums or you can contact me via email at ryan@tribasetraining.com

Happy Swimming!

What is the Beachbody Ultimate Reset™?

The Beachbody Ultimate Reset is a comprehensive, no-starvation inner-body tune-up that offers much more than the typical cleanse and detox programs on the market. The Ultimate Reset not only helps you eliminate toxins and waste gently and naturally, but it also maximizes your cellular energy production, helping your body process food more efficiently and your systems run more smoothly. It is a complete three-phase 21-day mind and body program to restore your system to it’s maximum health.

You will learn to eat clean with the help of the nutrition guide. In week 1 you elimate red meat and most dairy. In week 2 you take out all meat, eggs and diary and will be eating mostly fruit, veggies and grains. In week 3, you reduce your grains and are primarily eating fruits and veggies. You also will be using six supplements during the reset.

• Alkalinize- helps maintain alkalinity.*
• Optimize- promotes a healthy metabolism and effective body functions.*
• Oxygenize- helps provide supplemental oxygen to the body.*
• Mineralize- adds natural minerals needed by the body.*
• Detox- helps remove toxins and waste in the colon.*
• Revitalize- helps revitalize flora in the digestive tract.*

To be successful you need proper planning and preparation and this is where the support group comes in.

The cost is $229 and includes online meal support along with the supplements and amazing nutrition guide and recipes.  You can also get on a monthly maintanence plan with the supplements.

I will be personally coaching a Challenge Team made up of five individuals that are willing to take this reset challenge for 21 days.  Are you ready to commit?  Register Below!

Check out www.ultimatereset.com for more details on how this cleanse works, complete with videos and success stories.

I am super excited about these 90/10 nutrition challenge groups!.  Here ar a couple of reasons why I am so excited:  1) I not only coached, but also participated in the first group that started on April 2nd of 2012 and I lost about 20 pounds in 60 days myself…so, I know this works.  2)  Nutrition is where most people struggle and is the reason most people don’t get the results they want.  Every time I do a nutrition-based challenge group, it seems to get better results that ones that focus solely on the workout program.  3)  Others in the groups that have already started have seen amazing results as well!

So, I wanted to share the 10 rules I wrote up for being a part of the 90/10 nutrition challenge group.  This will give you a better idea of what you are getting into if you decide to join one of these groups now or in the future.  We will primarily be using Ryan’s Ladder (a modified version of Michi’s Ladder) as our basis for nutrition as you will see.

The Rules

Rule 1:  There is no one way that is the best way to eat for everyone. Some things work well for some and not for others.  If the guidelines given by me aren’t specific enough or the methods don’t suit your needs (for good reasons…not just because you don’t want to), we can discuss another way of eating that will still match the intent of the challenge and will work better for you.  Ryan’s Ladder is an excellent guildeline that should work well for almost everyone and will get results the way this challenge is designed, but I do understand that some people have special needs.

Rule 2:  You must eat 90% of your daily, weekly, monthly and challenge intake from Tiers 1 and 2 of Ryan’s Ladder.  Percentage should be done by a total percentage of Calories.  In other words, for every 100 calories consumed, 90 calories should be from those Tiers.  Yes, this means that you need to count calories for this challenge.

Rule 3:  The remaining 10% of your daily, weekly, monthly, and challenge intake is ALLOWED to come (not SHOULD come) from Tiers 3 and 4.  Again, this is by total percentage of calories consumed.

Rule 4:  NONE of your intake should come from Tier 5 during this challenge.  If you choose to break this, it should be a conscious decision for a special occasion and you need to be willing to admit it to the group and prepare to be scolded for it.  ;o)

Rule 5:  Understand during this challenge that no one is going to be perfect.  However, everyone should be honest.  The group needs to hear when you messed up as well as when you did well.  Use the group page on Facebook to communicate with your fellow challengers, encourage, ask for advice, and support eachother.

Rule 6:  There will be some foods that are not clearly in a Tier or are not listed.  It is likely that if a food is not listed or there isn’t something close enough on the ladder then it is probably not a good food to eat.  However, this may not always be the case.  In those cases (which should be very few), you can either make the judgment call yourself or you can get in touch with me or the group to get an opinion.

Rule 7:  Have a plan for when you are going to have your Shakeology so you are sure to get it in every day.  I drink mine first thing in the morning but the important thing is to have a plan.

Rule 8:  Commit yourself fully to this challenge.  If you are not active on the FB group, I will be tagging you in posts and asking what you are up to.  This is only 60 days, so be active and be honest and be a part of this challenge.  You owe it to yourself as well as to your fellow challengers…they are depending on your support and are planning to support you.

Rule 9:  Get rid of the junk in your house before the challenge starts.  No, I don’t mean eat it all.  If you have to, throw it away!  Yes, just get rid of it.

Rule 10:  Talk to your spouse or significant other or even roommates about this challenge before it starts and let them know what you are doing (get them involved too maybe).  At least that way you will have a fighting chance of getting some support from them…or at least not sabotage.

Some other things to think about:

- Take before photos

- Post photos of your meals to the group

- Announce weight loss throughout

How to Get Involved

Want to get involved in this challenge group?  Simply CLICK HERE and fill out the registration form.  It’s time to get healthy.

What is a 90/10 Nutrition Challenge Group?

I will be personally coaching a Challenge Team made up of five individuals that are willing to take the challenge (for sixty days) of eating healthy and whole foods 90% of the time! This means no packaged and processed food, no junk food, no white flour, no white rice….nothing bad for 90% of what goes into your mouth. This is a lot harder than it sounds. This takes a change in mindset for most people. You must change from thinking about eating as something that you do when the clock tells you to eat to something that you do specifically to fuel your body in the most efficient way. This is a monster challenge but it is one that will give you better results than any workout program alone could ever do. Add a workout program of your choice to this challenge and your results will be off the charts. A wise man once said, “Abs are made in the kitchen”.

Check out the 10 Rules of the Nutrition Challenge Group HERE

Or, check out this video for a long overview of how the group works:

To participate in my Challenge Team you must commit to:

1) Eating whole healthy foods 90% of the time (See the 10 rules link above for details about how we determine what you can eat)
2) Drinking Shakeology on a daily basis (requires that you purchase Shakeology on monthly home direct from me)
3) Posting daily accountability in a private Facebook group viewable only by members of the Challenge Team
4) FINISHING! This isn’t about starting, it is about finishing!

In order to register for my 90/10 Nutrition challenge group, simply click the button below and fill out the form and get ready to get fit. After your registration form is complete, you will recieve an email (within 24 hours) with final instructions for being added to the group and getting your Shakeology ordered. Have questions before you register? Email me at ryan@tribasetraining.com

SEE MY TRIATHLON AND RUNNING CHALLENGE GROUPS HERE

NEXT CHALLENGE GROUP STARTS ON APRIL 2ND!

What is the Beachbody Challenge?

It’s a health and fitness transformation competition. You’ve heard of the Biggest Loser, right? Well, this is similar except that you do it from home and you can use any Beachbody program you choose! Here are some examples of programs that you can use to complete this challenge: P90X, Insanity, Power 90, TurboFire, and P90X2. Beachbody gives away daily, monthly, quarterly and grand prizes for the greatest transformations! Get fit and win money!!! Read more about the Beachbody Challenge HERE.

What is the TurboFire Challenge Team?

I will be personally coaching a Challenge Team made up of five individuals that are taking the Beachbody Challenge and we are all going to be using TurboFire!

To participate in my Challenge Team you must commit to:

1) Following the TurboFire workout program for 20 weeks (requires that you own a legitimate copy of TurboFire)
2) Drinking Shakeology on a daily basis (requires that you purchase Shakeology on monthly home direct from me)
3) Learning basic nutritional theory and eating to fuel your body for workouts and recovery
4) Posting daily accountability in a private Facebook group viewable only by members of the Challenge Team
5) FINISHING! This isn’t about starting, it is about finishing!

You do not need to be on a Challenge Team to participate in the Beachbody Challenge. The Challenge is open to everyone. What I am offering with the Challenge Team is an added measure of accountability and personal coaching. This will give you much better odds of success than taking the challenge alone or doing a diet and exercise program outside of the challenge altogether.

Here is a preview of TurboFire for your viewing pleasure:

In order to register for my TurboFire challenge team, simply click the button below and fill out the form and get ready to get fit. After your registration form is complete, you will recieve an email (within 24 hours) with final instructions for being added to the group and getting your TuroFire and Shakeology ordered and how you can win money in the Beachbody Challenge. Have questions before you register? Email me at ryan@tribasetraining.com

SEE MY TRIATHLON AND RUNNING CHALLENGE GROUPS HERE

This blog post is intended to give you some info on Beachbody’s latest workout supplement, Energy and Endurance (or “E&E”), and also compare the product with another preworkout supplement from First Endurance called PreRace.

So, first I want to give you the background and circumstances under which I am reviewing this product. There are probably quite a few other reviews on E&E out there on the web right now since there are quite a few Beachbody Coaches like myself who have tried it and have opinions. My review comes from a little bit of a different angle as I am an endurance athlete and am looking to see if E&E can be used as a supplement for long endurance events such as half and full marathons, half and full ironmans, or even just Olympic triathlons where you want a performance boost. I am not interested in using E&E on a regular basis for strength workouts like P90X or P90X2.

PreRace by First Endurance

Just prior to the release of Beachbody’s E&E formula, I had just started testing a product from First Endurance called PreRace. I decided to test it for two reasons: 1) I had read Bob Seebohar’s e-book on Caffeine loading protocol for endurance athletes (CLICK HERE). 2) In 2010, I cut out all caffeine from my diet. Because of that, I knew there was a possibility that preworkout supplements with caffeine would have a profound effect on me and possibly produce a huge performance effect as talked about in Bob’s book. Normally, I try to stay away from supplements like this but I think there is a benefit here that can be realized without compromising too much on a desire to stick with a more natural nutritional approach (as opposed to loading up on any chemical that might make you faster or stronger or whatever your goal may be).

My trials with PreRace, though there were only a few, went quite well. I did two or three long runs (10 or more miles) using 1 scoop of PreRace in my favorite race fuel (Generation UCAN) about 60 minutes prior to the training run. Those runs were some of the best runs I have had this year to be sure. I was alert and was able to keep pace throughout the run and even finished the runs with a faster pace in the last few miles than the rest of the run (which is unusual for me). I did not notice any difficulty with not being able to sleep at night (I only used it for runs in the morning specifically to keep from having that issue). However, I did notice that I had a jittery and shaking feeling right after drinking my prerun drink with PreRace in it. I don’t really like that feeling and consider it a downside to the product.

After a few long runs with PreRace, I did a half marathon. My nutrition protocol was 1 scoop of PreRace and Packet of Generation UCAN 60 minutes before the race and the same thing again at mile 6 which would have been about 100 minutes after the first drink (I carried it in a thick concentrated form on a fuel belt). The results were quite good. Despite a limited training schedule leading up to the race (I was considering it an off-season race and not really pushing for a time…or at least pretending that I wasn’t pushing for a time), I felt amazing and alert during the race and ran a personal best half marathon time. I have to say, I was quite impressed with the product.

Below is a picture of the PreRace Nutrition Facts directly from the First Endurance Website

Beachbody’s Energy and Endurance Formula

So, after Beachbody released E&E, being a Beachbody Coach (read as “someone who gets a 25% discount on the products”), I had to give E&E a try to see how it would fair against something like PreRace. When I read all of the pre-release info from Beachbody, it seemed quite promising and somewhat similar to PreRace but I was still unsure how it would really compare. After all, Beachbody does not make supplements or workouts specifically directed at the endurance athlete (although many of their products work quite nicely for it…more than I think they even realize), but PreRace is made specifically for endurance athletes.

So, as of the writing of this blog post, I have used E&E for three long training runs (no races yet). The runs were 10 miles, 13 miles, and 14 miles. The first thing I noticed while taking E&E was that I did not have that jittery, shaking feeling that I got with PreRace. This was a plus for me but I was worried that I would not get the same performance effect if I wasn’t getting that feeling. I was wrong. All three of the runs were amazing and again I was able to crank up the pace at the end of each of these runs. At this point in my training cycle, at my current weight, and with my limited training time, I would not expect to be having long runs this good.

Below is a the Nutrition Info for E&E directly from Beachbody

Some final words

You will notice from the nutrition facts that there are a lot more ingredients in E&E. This is both good and bad in my opinion. Good because some of the ingredients are good things to have in a preworkout supplement (some electrolytes, vitamins, etc). The reason there are more is partially because E&E is intended to be a drink mix, whereas PreRace is intended to be mixed with some other drink such as other First Endurance products. For this reason (this is the bad part in my opinion), E&E has some dextrose and stevia and some other things to make it taste like a drink on its own without adding anything to it or adding it to something else. While I would personally prefer that E&E be formulated more like PreRace so it is just added to another fuel (since that is how I intend to use it), it simply wasn’t intended for that. However, the 20 calories per scoop is hardly a major deterrent in my opinion and it mixes nicely with my UCAN.

In the end, I like both of these products a lot. However, I will be using Beachbody’s E&E for several reasons:

1) Cost: Beachbody’s E&E is $29.95 for 30 servings and is available with free shipping if you do a monthly autoship program (comes automatically every 30 days). PreRace is only 20 servings for $39.95 with no free shipping option. In addition, as a Beachbody Coach, I get an additional 25% off of the price of E&E. You can find out more about being a coach and getting 25% off HERE.

2) The Jitters: I simply don’t get that jittery, shaking feeling with E&E that I do with PreRace. E&E just feels like smooth, solid energy.

3) Performance: The performance effect is essentially the same if not better for E&E.

My Plan

As I go forward using E&E, my plan is to limit the use to once a week at the most (before very long workouts such as runs longer than 90 minutes or before races). I will not be using this before every workout just to get a boost and I recommend you take the same approach. Just like with any other stimulant, your body can likely build up a tolerance and then you will have to take more to get the effect. In fact, if I can get my long workout in on a day when I am well rested from work and other stresses (like during a day off or when I have had several days off) I will likely not take E&E. The less I can use it, the better it will work on race day…that is my opinion and my plan.
Happy training to you all.

NOTE: If you are using P90X2 and you really want to ramp up your training, you should join one of my challenge groups where you will join a small group of people to keep you accountable. The combination of training peaks and an accountability challenge group could be the answer to finally getting the results you are looking for! Plus, you can win money just for working out! SEE THE CHALLENGE GROUP OPTIONS HERE

When you buy a copy of P90X2, you get a nice workout calendar and a schedule that tells you what workouts to do on which day (although P90X2 is a lot less rigid in the schedule than P90X was - see my P90X plans in training peaks here). In addition, on the Team Beachbody website, you can download workout sheets so that you can track your progress with each workout. If you don’t have access to the Team Beachbody website, simply go to my website and click on the “join” button to get a free account (NOTE: after you hit the join button, look for the “try free membership” button. The club membership is nice as well and gives you access to the meal planner but if you want the free membership you have to look for the little gray button).

Anyway, that is all well and good, but what if there was a way to go through the P90X2 workout schedule in an online tracking program where you could enter your reps for each exercise, upload heart rate info for each workout, and add notes about each workout? Well, now there is. I have created three different workout schedule options for P90X2 in Training Peaks and they are available for download for free! I use Training Peaks to provide all of my triathlete clients with their workout plans each week and now I am starting to use it with my P90X clients.

Since the P90X2 guide book has ranges for each phase instead of a set schedule, I have created the following workout options for you.  If you want me to create a different option in training peaks with rest weeks in different places, just ask (ryan@tribasetraining.com).

Ver 1:

Phase 1 for 3 weeks
Rest week on week 4
Phase 2 for 3 weeks
Rest week on week 8
Phase 3 for 4 weeks
Rest week on week 13

Ver 2

Phase 1 for 4 weeks
Rest week on week 5
Phase 2 for 4 weeks
Rest week on week 10
Phase 3 for 3 weeks

Ver 3

Phase 1 for 4 weeks
Phase 2 for 3 weeks
Rest week on week 8
Phase 3 for 2 weeks
Rest week on week 11
Phase 3 for 2 weeks

As you can see, there are some nice options there depending on how much rest you need and how much time you need in each phase.  It all depends on your goals.  Need help deciding what it right for you?  That is what I am hear for and I am happy to help.

Here is an example of what a schedule looks like in Training Peaks:

What can you do with this workout schedule in training peaks?

1- Upload Heart Rate info from dozens of compatible heart rate monitors

2- Enter planned and actual reps on your resistance workouts.

3- Enter daily metrics such as weight, how much sleep you got that night, how you felt during the workout, and more.

4- Add additional workouts (e.g. if you are doing your own hybrid program and adding Insanity workouts).

5- I offer free coaching (as do all Beachbody Coaches), but with the Training Peaks schedule, you can attach your account to me as your coach and I will be able to watch your progress and keep you on track. Email me to find out how to attach your account to me as your coach. ryan@tribasetraining.com

How do you download and use these P90X2 workout schedules in Training Peaks?

1- Click on the link for the version you would like below:

P90X2 Ver 1

P90X2 Ver 2

P90X3 Ver 3

2-Click the “buy” button for whichever plan you are going to be using.  You will see that the plans are set at $19.99.  However, there are several ways to get this plan for free:

a) Make me your coach on www.teambeachbody.com This is a free service and a free account that you create and I will help you through the program. If you create a free account with me or move your current account to me, I will send you a discount code.  If you don’t have an account, CLICK HERE to sign up.

b) If you purchase your copy of P90X or P90X2 from me, I will give you this plan for free.

c) If you get on Shakeology home direct with me, I will give you this plan for free.

Contact me at ryan@tribasetraining.com for details on how to accomplish one of the options above and get your plan for free

3- If you already have a Training Peaks account, you can login on the next page. If not, you can input your info for a free account. There is also a premium account that costs money and has more features if you wish to go that route.

4- Once you have created your account and logged in, you can apply your plan and start it on any date by clicking on the Training Plans icon on the left side of the screen (it looks like a little note pad with a pen). This will bring up all of the plans you have access to. Click on the one that you want to apply and click the “apply” button. Select the date you want it to start or end and the plan will then appear in your calendar.

5- You can now click on any workout on the calendar to input data into that workout.

6- I also recommend that you go to my Training Peaks login page and bookmark it. That way you will always have an easy way to login to your Training Peaks account.

7- Don’t forget to log your workouts in Beachbody’s WOWY super gym as well. Why? Because you have a chance to win money on any day that you log your workout there. How do you log a workout in WOWY? Well, first you need a free account with Team Beachbody. You can get one of those by going here and clicking the “join” button as described at the beginning of this blog post. Then, once you are logged in to your account, go to the “Get Fit” tab and click on “WOWY Super Gym” and log your workout to be entered to win money.

I have also created a presentation with screen shots that will show you exactly how to download the schedules and input data. Download that presentation in PDF format here: Training Peaks P90X Presentation.

If you have any questions about how to use the schedules or if you find any errors in the schedules, please feel free to email me at ryan@tribasetraining.com and I will answer your questions or fix the schedules.

Enjoy!

Ryan Chapman