New and Improved and Better Than Ever!

Nothing gets my hopes up so high as to read about a product or a routine that promises to make me run easier, make me bike faster, or make me swim stronger. I mean, we are inundated with product placement and ads that tell us if we just buy that or do this...then we will be signing up for Kona next week.

It's not just products, either. It's exercises or training tips or interval suggestions. Sometimes today's hint will totally contradict the one you read yesterday. That really plays with my head.

Within price and reason, I say, try everything you think isn't totally bogus (I am NOT going for that colon cleanser ad). It's fun to experiment. During your off season, that's the time to tweak things and change products to see what, if anything, makes you feel better or stronger. Sometimes the placebo effect may kick in--you try something new that doesn't really change anything, but your mind or body THINKS that it does. Well, I don't care if my mind gets totally tricked in order to go faster. Did ya read my post about mind tricks?

And of course, new things shouldn't be tried within a few weeks of a race. You don't want to change horses before post time. Stick with what's working so far.

This is my off season so I'm eager to try some new stuff out and see if anything makes my bell ring.

So far, I've found four things that have made an obvious difference. Three are products, and one is a recovery exercise.

Thing One: my areobar hydration pouch (Bontrager). I'm terrible about hydrating. I don't drink enough even on normal days, much less while working out like a fiend in the Texas heat. Consequently, I'm probably racing and training slightly dehydrated, which does not help my speed or energy, much less my health. Drinking from a cage mounted water bottle on my bike is something I have to force myself to do--I slow down, yank out the bottle, open the little lever with my teeth, close it, back in the cage -- and I just can't keep pedaling a steady rate while I do all this (some people can. These are the ones that can watch TV and talk on the phone at the same time. Not me). Putting on the hydration pouch between the bars has made it soooo easy to sip and never stop pedaling, plus I don't have to worry about dropping the dadgummed water bottle on the street.

Thing Two: my foam roller for my hamstring (these can be bought anywhere; I bought mine at Sports Authority). My hamstring is still not 100 percent happy, and may never be. Part of the problem is that I'm not flexible enough all over to prevent tightness and pain in my right hamstring. I do a lot of yoga, planks and stretching, but the foam roller really pushes me to work the hamstrings, quads and glutes. I use it twice a day. It's cheap. It helps. It's not painful.

Thing Three: Ice baths. Like my Danish ancestors knew for centuries, cold is good for ya. Especially for muscles and tendons that are stretched, inflamed and pounded by us older, less fit athletes. I've been reading about ice baths for several months. Basically, you immerse your lower body in an ice bath for 10 minutes post workout. I'm not so sure how this will work when I've finished a freezing bike ride in February, but in 102 degree Texas summer heat, it feels like manna from heaven to get into one (plus, it's a good way to clean out the automatic ice maker container). Run a cold bath and dump a LOT of ice in it, then submerge to the waist for 10 minutes and get out. It's really cut down on my muscle soreness post run and post bike to do this.

Thing Four: The Halo. Not the one I try to wear whem I'm 'splaining to the spouse why I am late coming in from my swim on Monday nights. This is a sweat wicking band that either ties or snugs around your forehead and eats up the sweat that would normally pour down into your contacts and nostrils. It also works well to keep errant hair out of your face. In a Texas summer, this thing is invaluable. Makes me look also like the original Karate Kid. This is again, an inexpensive gizmo.

Lots of "little things" may make a difference in your workouts or training. I'm experimenting now with new nutrition and hydration products to see if any of them make me feel like scaling tall buildings with a single bound (I'll let you know). My next big race isn't until May, so I've got time to get it wrong.

Saturday was a 1.45 hour bike in the awful, steamy 102 degree (108 heat index) afternoon ride where I just barely survived the weather. I hate July and August in Texas; you just have to survive it and pray for October. Sunday was a good run, a 77 minute long run and I went a bit faster even in the heat of 6:45 a.m. (yes it was already hot) than I've been running in the heat for my long runs (11:52 mile average), took 3 walk breaks at 22 minutes, 43 minutes and 64 minutes to slug some warm Gatorade from my fuel belt. I had more energy than I expected to have which was good.

Find some little things that make your efforts seem a bit less...it helps!