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Running
Really, what is the deal. I try this every year and I always come back to the same thing. There is a reason God created bikes, wheels, whatever, can you say gears. So I rode the mountain bike for about 2 hours (I swear everybody was lost on the mountain today, wtf), then pulled on the running shoes and went for a stroll, 10k in 44 minutes, why do I do that to myself. Please somebody give me a reason I should run, please.

So with or without reason I signed up to do the Huntsville half marathon, I'm an idiot, plus I am thinking about running the Marathon in December, I must have damaged my brain when I was young. Mom did you drop me on my head?

Well between giving directions to every person on the mountain and showing a young rider around the mountain, the biking is great on Mount Sano, yea.


Rest and Recovery
The most important thing here is knowing: yourself, limitation, and listening to what your body was to say. There is a difference in pushing your body to the next level and pushing your body into a state of canibalism. There is a reason coaches build and cycle work outs, it is maximize your performance with the perfect blend of exercise and rest. Pushing the limits, without over reaching. As I write this I am recovering, seated in my comfy chair with my back in a nuetral position letting my body recover from a five mile run and some core exercises, Nice.

Rest, yes that is sleeping(hopefully 8 hours a night), but also can be rest or recovery between sets of exercise or intervals. There is a time and place for intervals and tempo work, let us focus on the rest between intervals not tempo work in this blog. Personally I like full recovery between sets to maximize performance, but certain situations call for very short rest periods, this will depend on your skill and training level. Rest between sets, are designed to work differnetly, speed, strength, recovery, HR variance, or other; This will be different for each individuals depending on skill level and goals. Other rest and recovery, could be a day off, yes even the pros take a day off here and there.

I am not going to go into signs of overtraining, you can look them up yourself. Lets talk about rest and recovery long before overtraining.

1.PAIN, this should go with out saying. I know some times just saying the word exercise hurts, that's a little different. I am talking about pain that persists, good indication you need to rest.

2.Can not hit your high end, this will be differnet for everybody, but when you push the pace, your body just will not go. If you have a heart rate (HR) monitor it will be easy to see, your HR just doesn't come up. There is allot more to this, but in a nut shell, may be an indictator you need rest.

A wide swept here, persistant something, that is scientific, ha, ha. Meaning, when something just doesn't feel right and does not go away, something is probably wrong, you may need rest or may need to see someone about the problem. You have nothing to prove, a healthy athlete is a fast ahtlete.

Take home lession, plan the proper rest and recovery into your work outs.

Mountain biking; A Different Beast
chem fat 40 last weekend, ouch, let's break it down party rockers in the house tonight.

Wait, this is about today, 3 hour Mountain bike ride remembering I am going back to the basics, ouch. I remember know why it is so easy to ride tempo. So today, at every chance I could, full gas flying by all the trees (you know they don't more, don't you), did 3 3 minute hill intervals seated smashing a huge gear and going to max, accelerated out of ever corner, and just swore my #*% out. I guess this is why ever picture I see of Mancedo in the off season, he is on the mountain bike. You get a great work out in half the time, perfect off season training, ha ha. High intensity, shorter duration, I sound like a coach, nice.

Why is this good, remember go fast or go home? Sometimes on the mountain bike you are going full gas up hill, unlike the road, there are roots and rocks, and if you do not want to put a foot down, you have to accelerate even if you are maxed, pushing you beyond what you think is your max, therefore that is your new max, that hurt just saying it. Well, you just got faster, yep that is human physiology my friend. Like the overload principal in weight training, you need to push the boundary. So push the boundary. Yep, that simple, go fast or go home. Any questions?

I know, there is allot more to it then that, but for simplicity sake I will leave it there today. Time for my second Guiness and time to think about dinner. Stay tuned for more wise words of wisdom. Stay fast my friend.

Reflect and back to the Basics
Today riding, well yesterday now, I was frustrated by allot of things. One: 2012 race season in review, I think to most, it would have been a great season: I won my first race as a pro, help my team make Paco #1, team #1, broke my shoulder, etc. I know the shoulder had an impact on performance, but for an over achiever, this doesn't matter, all that matters is going fast on my tt bike and winning races. I felt like I helped the team and was a good team mate, but something still fells like it is missing. I felt slow, especially on the tt bike.

I think my training had to do allot with it, imagine that. I was trying to be a better climber, standing, pushing a bigger gear, training more on the hills then in the past. Although I think I gain some in the mountains, my tt took a crap. Second, my schedule, I like to race into some speed, but the problem this year was the tempo pace the team and I were setting (dead zone of training). So, back to the basics, "go fast or go home."

I believe in two training zones, and for you young kids, veterans, and those just starting, here is the secret to my success. "Go fast or go Home", zone 1 and zone 5. Yep that's it, so today was just that, hammer on the climbs easy on the flats. I also need to get back to testing to see if I am improving or I am slow, simple stupid. Time will tell, back on the tt bike, back to pushing the pace. I look forward to 2013 and back crushing it.

It never hurts to look back and learn. You shouldn't live in the past, but you can learn from it.

Back to the basics, "Go fast or go Home."






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