Functional Realizations of a Triathlete

I've been participating in the sport of triathlon now long enough to come to a few realizations. When I   train for the longer distances (70.3 and beyond) a few things happen. And with each passing year, these deficiencies become more pronounced. As a orthopedic PT, I thought I would share some of my realizations and helpful tips! Enjoy!

1. I can no longer do a squat. My hip flexors and achilles become so tight and gritty that it's almost impossible to keep them supple with the long hours of swimming, biking, and running. I definitely could do a better job at preventing this. You want to laugh even harder? Watch Heidi try an overhead squat :)

2. I become skinny-fat. My muscle tone diminishes and although I get thinner overall- there is just this odd layer of skinny-fatness. Going along with that, my once perky glutes turn into a flat board which just adds protrusions. 

3. I end up with weird- itis's. Again poor job on my behalf. But once they start, I eventually start mobilizations after it's too late. Bring on the bandaid aka kinesio tape. 

4. I definitely can't do a push-up. Goodbye upper body strength and forget my core to stabilize the push-up. 

5. My core and glute strength are MIA. 

Yah so what? We all know these things. Amidst the heavy-long hours of training, common sense, solid core/glute strength, and general mobility are thrown out the window. As triathletes if it's not scheduled on Training Peaks or if it doesn't get your heart rate up- it doesn't happen.  Right????

So what is there to do about it?

1. Mobilize! Mobilize Mobilize! Take a few minutes before bed or while you are watching TV, and bust out a lacrosse ball, foam roller, or torture stick. Treat it like your own special little massage. (Ok maybe painful massage)-- but alll it takes is 10 quick minutes before bed time. Maybe focus on a different area every day. (Day 1 Shoulders Day 2 Quads/ITB Day 3 Thoracic Spine Mobility Day 4 Ankle Mobility) 

2. Equate mobility with speed. If your aren't achieving full and proper range of motion with your swim stroke, pedal stroke, or you stride-you are missing out on speed! Ready to get over that plateau?

3. Try incorporating an active warm up before your swim, bike, and run to focus on both strength deficiencies and mobility. This will help improve your form for the workouts to follow and again increase both speed and efficiency. 

4. Try doing core and glute work on your lunch break. Take that 1hr break in the day that just never seems long enough for a full blown workout to work on some small muscle groups like your core, glutes, or scapular stabilizers. Hey maybe even try some squats! This is especially crucial for you cubicle monkeys. Other quick and dirty exercises could include clam shells, bridges, planks, or maybe some pushups? Be creative! 

5. Stuck in the car or on a plane? Mobilize! There are lots of evil, evil things you can do with a lacrosse ball in the seated position. Sounds dirty right?



Good Luck! And you can thank me later :) More to come on specific triathlete mobility! 

Down for the Count: Injury Prevention 101

Over the past weekend I was fortunate enough to head to Pittsburgh to see the family and run one of my favorite road races: "the Great Race". With my mid-summer move, I backloaded my tri season like a champ and totally trained through it. I wasn't about to miss a workout for a "C" race. I thought maybe a hilly 10k would be a good training run.

And hello biggest mistake ever.... This is super embarrassing but I now have a grade II calf tear on my hands. I'm not sure how it happened but I think the hilly course just took it's toll on this flatlander :( I started experiencing sharp, stabbing pains at about mile 3 and somehow thought it would be ok to run through it and to run another 30 minutes post run to make sure I completed my scheduled workouts.

How does on go from heavy 70.3 training to tearing my calf at a silly 10k?

It happens.

(Even to those of us who should KNOW better)

Last week I was pretty much pain free with several hours of biking/swimming. I figured I would try to test it out Sunday for a long run and made it less than 2 miles before I started suffering sharp/stabbing pain. Again, still not the smartest idea.

With that said, here are some tips I thought I would share for dealing with an injury:


1. Rest with onset of a potential injury-One day off will not make you lose your entire years fitness.

2. When training for a long race 70.3 and beyond it is not worth it 6 weeks before to participate in any kind of C race.

3. Training through an injury does not make you tougher.

4. Let pain be your guide NOT your training schedule.

5. With a tear or severe strain, do not stretch it until pain free at rest. Why would you want to pull on healing tissues?

6. Graston/ASTYM and foam rolling work miracles to both involved and uninvolved areas.

7. Listen to your coach/PT/MD-as much as you think they are sabatoging you, they are ultimately the voice of reason.

8. Trying to be the stereotypical-type A over achiever triathlete will likely get you nowhere.

9. Be creative.... For me with a calf injury I'm spending extra time on core, upper body, swimming with a pull buoy. There are still ways to work out :)

10. And PTs still officially make the worst patients ever just as an FYI

Hope this doesn't happen to you!