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Why I do Yoga in the Offseason

By Coach Shelly

There is something awesome about challenging myself on my yoga mat. I have found it to be a perfect complement to triathlon training in the off-season months. This is not the first year where I have been consumed by the balance that yoga provides in my training (and in my mind). If you have never tried yoga I suggest you try it out. You do not have to be an expert and pretty much every pose can be adjusted to a beginner or a more advanced level. I practice yoga at Down Dog Yoga in Virginia, www.downdogyoga.com. Here are some reasons I make yoga an important part of my off-season:

  1. Challenge. It keeps me interested in doing something active that is “different” than swim/bike/run. I am challenged by trying something new and seeing how I can improve each of the poses. When I do a pose much closer to correct (I’m not going to pretend that I do any perfectly) it’s a nice sense of accomplishment!
  2. Hip Flexibility. Yoga allows me to focus on hip flexibility and range of motion. This is a limiter, especially in my running. My hips are so tight. Yoga is a wonderful way to stretch and strengthen the hips. At Down Dog, we always end the practice with a few minutes in pigeon pose. Pigeon pose stretches the hip flexors and the hip rotators (glutes). It often feels great because I know how good it is for me, while at the same time feeling terrible, because it feels awkward. But afterwards my hips feel so much better.
  3. Focus. Hard poses require a lot of focus. This is an area that many of triathletes need to work on.. When something hurts and is not comfortable, it’s easy to stop the pose. Staying with it teaches good lessons in mental toughness.
  4. Core Strength. Core is the easy thing to forget to do during the triathlon season. It is also the thing that triathletes first drop from their training week. The off-season is a good time to reintroduce and recommit to core work. Yoga has been great to help work on my core, especially the lower back.
  5. Balance. I have a different amount of balance on each side of my body, that comes from a fall from 18 feet, which resulted in a leg break and a 1/2 inch leg length discrepancy. I am unable to properly fire the muscles in my left leg. This is the reason I manage to feel most of my aches/pains/injuries in my left leg. Yoga poses such as eagle and tree allow me to focus on firing my left leg muscles to allow staying upright during the pose. Hopefully focusing on this inequality will help to make my legs more symmetrical and end the feeling that I can run a marathon with my right leg while my left leg is done after 2 miles.
  6. Heat Acclimation. Down Dog yoga studios are heated to 90-95 degrees. There is also a nice humidifier. A 90 minute practice gets “juicy”. These classes will become more important for  acclimation for an early season warm weather race.
  7. Breath control. As a lifelong swimmer, I have a problem with holding my breath. In yoga I am much more aware of breathing as many of the poses are timed and controlled by the breath.
  8. Cleansing. Yoga just makes you feel better. If I have had a bad night sleep, or have a headache, I typically feel back to normal after class.
  9. Injury Prevention. The years I did yoga in the offseason I just felt better when the training got heavy. Less nagging injuries.

Of all the benefits I listed above, the most important, in my opinion, is how I just feel great after class. I have worked hard, had fun, worked on my limiters and did something active that is just different than the normal swim/bike/run.

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2017 Ironman World Championships Fiv3 Athlete Preview!

We are excited for our four Fiv3 Racing athletes racing in Kona at the 2017 Ironman World Championships! Here is a little preview of who they are and how they got to the Big Island!

First up in the qualifying year was Coach Kevin Wright! He raced at Ironman Wisconsin and finished 2nd OA, 1st AG with a 9:14 and a 2:51 run split that was the fastest of the day! Next Ironman up he raced the South American Ironman Championships at Ironman Brazil and again finished 1st AG with a 8:53 and the fastest run split of the day with a 2:49! In fact, Kevin has won his AG and had the fastest amateur run split in each of his 4 non-Kona Ironmans (IMChattanooga ’14, IMLP ’15, IMWisconsin ’16, IMBrazil ’17).  We look for big things this year on the Big Island for Kevin as he’s no longer a rookie in Kona (previously raced IMWC ’15)!

Next up was Colonel (ret) Robert Toth! Rob retired from the USAF one week and the next week raced at Ironman Louisville. He had just finished up his first World Championships at the 70.3 Worlds in Australia and was ready to race really well in Louisville. He finished in 2nd AG with a 9:41! A 1 hour and 50 minute PR! Rob had a bit more of a challenging year this year with knee surgery and a move to Fort Worth Texas. He also raced the 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga and we are excited to watch him race his first Kona!

Our next qualifier was Matt Gentile. Matt is an CEO Executive Challenge Athlete which has a different qualifying path than traditional Age Group qualification. His first Kona qualification was in 2016, Ironman Mont Tremblant with a quick turn around to Kona. This year he raced Ironman Lake Placid with a bit more time to get ready for Hawaii. This training year had its own set of challenges, with a bike crash and back injury prior to Lake Placid causing him to miss some key training and training camps. He raced really well at Lake Placid, winning his division and secured a slot for the second year in a row! There are 27 other XC athletes racing in Kona this year!

Our last Kona Qualifier for 2017 was Jason Davidson who qualified at Ironman Santa Rosa. He finished 3rd AG in a PR time of 9:43! He also had a PR marathon with a 3:15! This is Jason’s second Kona after qualifying in the crazy heat of IMCDA in 2015, where he ran himself from 20th or so place off the bike into 2nd place, including moving up 5 spots in the last 2 miles (never give up!!).  Jason has also qualified for the 70.3 Worlds a few times, racing in 2015 (Austria) and 2017 (Chattanooga).

We are really excited for our 4 athletes and can’t wait to track them from home and on the race course!

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Day to Day Nutrition Lessons from Jesse Kropelnicki Reviewed by Coach Kim Baumgartner

As we approach the end of the season many athletes reflect on their season and either worry about gaining too much weight in the off-season, or regret never getting down to their “race weight” during the season.  Most athletes who have problems reaching their race weight goals fall into one of two categories:

  • They workout to justify calories instead of fueling for performance – leading to less than ideal food choices and improper workout fueling
  • They are not eating enough which is actually lowering their metabolism and causing their bodies to hold onto those fat stores.

I recently attended an advanced Triathlon Nutrition seminar by Jesse Kropelnicki in September.  The seminar focused on two different aspects of nutrition – day-to day nutrition and fueling strategies.  I wanted to share with you some perspectives on day-to-day nutrition to help you develop healthy eating habits to not only stay healthy and lean, but to boost immunity and help you perform better and recover from workouts better.

Like other “diets” such as Paleo, Whole 30 etc, Kropelnicki recommends focusing on eating “CORE” foods that humans have evolved on for millions of years: “Core” Refers to foods that are all natural, with nothing chemically altered or processed.  This helps keep blood sugar stable while delivering enough vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to speed recovery and boost performance.

CORE foods include: lean means fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, lean meats, legumes, and lean dairy while avoiding processed foods with higher glycemic indexes such as breads, pasta and sweets.  Essentially foods with high nutrient density for recovery between workouts and are low glycemic to help keep blood sugar stability throughout the day while not exercising.  These foods also stimulate recovery with protein and provide plenty of vitamin and minerals as well as antioxidants to help protect your cells from free radicals.    A few other tips from Kropelnicki include: Eating very frequently throughout the day with a maximum of 2-3 hours between feedings to help keep blood sugar stable and provide a constant supply of nutrients available for muscle recovery.  Additionally he recommends reducing the fasting window at night by having a protein shake or some other source of lean protein immediately before bed and something the moment you wake up.

Kropelnicki’s strategy, however, is much less restrictive and focuses more on nutrient value rather than whole categories of foods.  You’ll notice that on his list are included legumes and lean dairy which are considered “off-limits” for several other plans.  The Core diet takes into consideration that sometimes life gets in the way and those natural foods aren’t readily available.  For those times when you must resort to “man-made” foods (foods with a label – generally the middle of the grocery store), use the core ratio to determine suitability.  Add total carbs (g) and total sugar (g) then subtract fiber (g).  Divide this by the sum of Fat and Protein.  If the result is less than 2, then it’s a core friendly food!  The only caveat is to ensure that the total Saturated Fat is less than 5g total.  It is however key to remember that this is a “backup” and should not be your first choice for food!

So to sum things up – for those time throughout the day (does not include 1 hour pre workout to the recovery period post workout) in between workouts or rest days:

  • Eat often (every 2-3 hours)
  • Minimize overnight fasting period by eating lean protein right before bed, and again the moment you wake up…. DON’T skip breakfast or routinely do “fasting” workouts. Get that metabolism going!
  • Focus on CORE foods and stay away from processed/man-made foods. Look at every bagel or piece of bread or cookie as a missed opportunity for nutrient dense fruits, veggies or lean meats!

Coach Kim’s take: Having had much success myself following Paleo for athletes, I’m happy to see some of the same principals applied but also accounting for those times when you are in a pinch without access to paleo friendly foods as that always stressed me out!  When following Paleo guidelines, I absolutely felt like I ate a lot more fruits and veggies, that I slept better, recovered much faster which helped me push harder during workouts.  Of course like any lifestyle change – its important to remember not to be too hard on yourself – striving for 100% perfection can be exhausting and everyone slips up now and then.  Those perfectionists tend to take those slip ups a lot harder.  Really striving for 80/20 or even 90/10 is a much better plan that will help you stay lean and fit, fuel recovery and regeneration and still allow you a few indulgences now and then!