Do You Have The Confidence To Rest?

“Finally! Rest. Aahhh.”

“Rest?? I don't want to lose fitness!!!”

Which voice rings true for you?

Well, I can appreciate both sides on this issue. Once we establish a training groove – and we're seeing results – it can be almost paradoxical to believe that rest will benefit us.

Do you train year-round? We believe by being consistent and faithfully putting in our time we will be rewarded with ever-improving fitness.

But is that how it really works?

I could send this post any number of directions, but I'm going to keep it 'big picture'.

Let's say you want to be a better athlete. You want to run longer distances. You want to lift more weight. You want to run faster. You want to be in better shape than last year, etc. Obviously, you will need to train consistently for this to happen.

In my personal and professional experience however, I have seen greater season-to-season improvement following a period of greatly reduced training or even, gasp, complete rest.

Someone once likened your body to a sponge. In order to soak up additional fitness gains, you need to lose a bit first.

The secret that many experienced athletes know is that you really don't lose much fitness when you take a month to recharge. There are so many different aspects of fitness – neuromuscular coordination, capillary density, aerobic ability, muscular strength and endurance, bone density, tendon/ligament integrity, etc. You'd have to completely shut down for MONTHS to lose the years of development you've accumulated.

What am I saying?

It's all in your head.

I'm saying that you have to get over your insecurities. Be confident that after 10 or 11 months of solid, consistent training, you deserve a recovery period. Don't let that OCD voice in your head tell you otherwise.

And yeah, I know. Sometimes rest is forced upon us. Work, travel, sickness, and injury can all significantly disrupt our training. Sometimes the timing is good and it's a blessing in disguise. Sometimes the timing sucks and we have to forfeit an important event. Either way the key is to listen to the body. You'll never regret it.

I want you to chew on this thought the next time you find yourself in the best shape of your life:

Take a little break and be confident that you're doing the right thing.  I dare you!

PS: Rest doesn't mean veg-out couch time. It means experience different forms of movement. Try dancing. Try climbing. Cut the intensity. Cut the amount or volume of training. Think of this time period as a opportunity to address underlying issues like a poor movement pattern or focus on yoga. Is there something (or someone?) you neglected while you were busy training?

PPS: And yeah, I know my timing isn't good either.  Everyone is ramping up their training after the holidays and this may not apply to you now that it's February.  But hey, file it and keep this perspective in your 'toolbox'. :-)

Do You Have A Flat Tire?

As I mentioned last week, I had the privilege of speaking to group of inspiring women who are nearing the end of their journey through Precision Nutrition's Lean Eating program. The program, although set up as a competition, aims to gradually and methodically transform one's lifestyle into one that supports good health, performance and body composition. This is no “diet plan”, trust me. It's WAY better than that.

These participants have been training all year and have achieved some incredible results, but my goal was to give them an opportunity to reach the next level. Understanding how you need a large base of mobility and stability to SUPPORT all of that necessary training was likely a new concept for these folks. It is for most people.

In today's instant gratification society, we want results NOW. We want a hard workout, perhaps someone to shout at us and get us fit. There is typically next to zero appreciation for actually taking the time to learn to move properly. Nah, we'd rather jump right into a Zumba class (did I just admit that?) and throw fitness smack on top of our dysfunctional movement patterns.

Thanks to a culture that promotes SITTING as a way of life we're acquiring dysfunction everyday. Sure, you can get fit. But, at some point you'll call me complaining about your knee or back problem while blaming your genetics!

People who score below a certain point on a movement screen are at a much greater risk for non-contact injuries. It's just a matter of time. The audience at the gathering had done a kick ass job of training, but to reach the next level of strength, leanness, endurance, performance, etc. they need to know what's holding them back the most.

The day following my talk I guided 13 individuals through a Functional Movement Screen. I found the results fascinating. Out of 13 people, 10 had the same weak link: an inability to perform the Trunk Stability Push-Up.

In other words, when I instructed them to perform a push-up from the floor, instead of pushing off the ground as a single unit, their upper body lifted and their hips sagged behind. This means that natural reflexive core stabilization has been lost. When your hands sense all that bodyweight pressure as you start to push off, a reflex should kick in and cause your core to tighten appropriately before lift-off can occur.

The consequence of losing this particular pattern is that you become inefficient and waste energy. It's like driving around with a flat tire! And if you have no idea this is going on you'll just keep training, not fully realizing your potential.

Think about it. You could be burning more calories during each workout. You could be running with less effort. If you play golf or tennis, your game may very well improve. I won't go so far as to guarantee a better sex life, but feel free to write a testimonial for me if it improves. :-)

Wanna find out if YOU have a flat tire? Wanna know where it is ...and how to fix it? Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement regarding a special movement screening offer!

PS: To gauge interest, please send me a quick note with the words “FMS Interested” in the subject line.

The Key To Marathon Success

If you're training for the Philly Marathon, then most likely you're in the midst of your heaviest training load right now. Putting the hay in the barn, as they say.

In only 2 weeks it really won't matter how much you train because the training window will have shut on your ability to build endurance for the race. At that point it's time to simply maintain intensity while cutting back on mileage and it's usually called “tapering” or “peaking”. This is one test you can't cram for!

Back to the present for a second, though. If you haven't already, it might be a good time to start thinking about your pacing strategy for the race. Most experienced marathoners will agree that this is usually the single biggest mistake made during a marathon. The consequences of poor pacing, which means running too fast in the early miles, include:

• Cramping
• Bonking (hitting the wall)
• Losing Good Running Form
• Definitely NOT hitting your goal time

Today we know not to blame the following factors on a lousy finish:

• Dehydration
• Electrolyte Imbalance (not enough salt)

It turns out dehydration and electrolyte imbalance are not the limiting factors they were once thought to be. As long as you drink to thirst you will most likely finish the race strong, given good pacing. Sure, you will finish the race LESS hydrated than when you started, but your performance will not decline because of it until you lose 2% or more of your bodyweight. So stop worrying about drinking at every single water station and start tuning in to your thirst mechanism. It's been refined for about a million years.

So it usually comes down to pacing and the question arises:

How do you know what pace to run?

The answer is that you will usually do well to base your pacing off of a recent race performance. A hard time trial or race within 6 weeks of your marathon will give you the most specific guidance when determining your optimal marathon race pace.

Plug your 5K to Half Marathon time into a running calculator to get the appropriate pace.

This is a pretty accurate way to figure out your pace, BUT... you must be specifically training hard for a marathon in order for this method to work. You can't just train 30 miles or run 5 hours per week and expect to run your best marathon.

Let me re-phrase that. Just because you ran a 5K last weekend in 22 minutes doesn't automatically mean you can go run a marathon in it's equivalent time of 3:34. Nope. 3:34 indicates your potential IF you are training optimally for the marathon.

In my experience, many people don't actually put in enough mileage to be optimally

trained. This is where the problem arises. People overestimate their fitness and go into the marathon with a bad pace strategy from the beginning.

In addition to an all-out race effort, one idea that's proved useful for my clients and I has been to run a 'race simulation'. This session, which tends to give you really valuable information and confidence, should be done about 3-4 weeks out from race day. About two easy days should precede the following session:

• Run Easy for 3 miles
• Run Marathon Goal Pace for 13 miles
• Run Easy for 2 miles

During and after the run you'll gain a sense for how strong you really are and if the pace seems reasonable.

Don't forget to take a gel every 35-40 minutes during the run. It is vital that you do ingest carbohydrate during the race – but that's a post for another day. Suffice it to say, you definitely want to practice this before race day as it appears that one can actually train the gut to absorb more calories than an 'untrained gut'.

So to summarize, the one thing you don't want to screw up is your pacing. Yes, it will take discipline and patience like I've said in the past. Expect it to feel easy – maybe even too easy – in the first 8-10 miles. That's perfect. You'll pass 'em all later!

PS: For those of you who have read this far and are running a marathon soon, you'll definitely want to check out coach Greg McMillan's marathon tips for pre- and post-race.

PPS: For a more comprehensive review on pacing, check out http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/01/fatigue-examined.html