Making a case for going Easy!

I had a dream last night that I was on the Family Feud with Richard Dawson, I loved Richard Dawson, best Feud host ever! Anyways it was my turn at the toss up question and my team, The Lube, Chrissie Wellington, Mike Reilly and the lovely Jill Olausson, were all counting on my to come through. Richard shot out the question "a 100 tri coaches were surveyed on the following question... What is the biggest training mistake you see your athletes make??" I blurted out "Their Easy Workouts are too HARD!!"  Survey says 100! Going harder than you are suppose to during your scheduled easy days is a huge training error we see all the time!

Many athletes believe we coach types add easy days to their workout programs just to fill space. You know a way take up time between the hard workouts while we think of new ways to torture them. Then when they get to the aforementioned easy day he/she decides that since they actually made the effort of  doing the workout they are going to push it a little harder than prescribed and make it "worth" the effort. Then we silly coaches get back the report of our athletes weeks worth of workouts, let's say in a Garmin file download, and the efforts all look the same! HR's close to threshold and a bunch of steady efforts that are neither easy enough and then, consequently, not hard enough to get to achieve our goals.

Easy workouts fill the vital role of allowing giving us coaches a way of providing the athlete a gentler overload that we can apply in a higher volume without the inherent risk of injury that faster/harder workouts do. The Easy Workout keeps us introducing a stress your body, albeit a less harsh stress, to which must adapt. The formula to fitness remains the same, just gentler: Introduce stress in the form of a workout, allow the body to adapt to that stress, increased fitness, viola!

In the limitations of the space I have let me go into a few of the benefits of easy workouts. Let's start with muscle fiber recruitment. Basically there are 2 types of muscle fibers, slow twitch and fast twitch. A loose definition indicates that fast twitch muscle are the more powerful and explosive muscle fibers. While slow twitch one have a lower firing range or contraction then their fast twitch brothers. Going easy allows us to recriute more of the slow twitch fibers and build them up. This building up of slowtiwtch fibers will come in very handy during the later stages of an endurance event after Mr. fast twitch fibers have started to fatigue. Going hard all the time blocks this recruitment and stunts our endurance bulding efforts.

Secondly slow twitch fibers are more adapt at burning fat for fuel. Now we have wealth of calories stored in our body in the form of fat which can be used to supply us with energy as our event progresses. It will also help "save" carbohydrates allowing the fast twitchers to use that as energy. When you are working out at that lower end of the effort scale you are burning ruffly 70% fat and 30% carbs. Now you can teach your body to burn more fat. The body will produce more enzymes needed to burn fat, and use less carbs even as your effort increases, if you put the work in up front and go easy.

Lastly easier workouts stimulate changes on a celluar level. Once you start practicing the art of burning more fat the mitochondria in your cells, the cells power plants, will start to grow to meet the new demand. Bigger mitochondria = bigger power plants = more power (I given' her all I got Cap'n, the dilythium crystal can't take much more!)

Besides all the benefits above, increased cappilary growth, gradual adaptation of your tendons to more strenuous activity and a uptick in your hemoglobin production can all be linked to a solid foundation of easy workouts in your training plan. Not to mention the fact that going easy one day allows your hard to be HARDER the next day, because your body has adapted and is ready for it.

Well I could go one forever but hopefully you, with the help of a coach or mentor, have defined your workout zones and you have a good understanding of what "easy" means to you. The athlete then just needs to follow through and actually go easy one those days. Adhereing to this simple principle will net you big results come race day.

I don't want to rub you the wrong way...

As athletes we are always striving to improve our performance. Maybe we are searching for that elusive  "PR," trying to correct our form or even just finding a greater comfort level when we are working out. We do interval sets, try cross training and add in a sprinkle of better equipment seeking more speed. Unfortunately, we often neglect a fundamental aspect of training: a maintenance plan for our muscles! We demand so much of our muscular system, pushing that endurance envelope, and we need to care for it so the muscles can meet those increased needs. One of the best ways to care for it, and thereby directly improving our performance, is with regular deep tissue massage. I recently sat down with Red Performance Multisport massage therapist of choice, Kelli Robbins, in her Claremont office and we chatted it up about massage.

Coach Bobo: Thanks for having me over Kelli, how long have you been rubbing people the right way, what's you background, how did you become a massage therapist??

K-Cricket: Woah, Bob, did we had too many extra shots of expresso in our Soy Chai Latte today? Well I became a massage therapist 7 years ago, two in my current location in Claremont, after an injury cut short my very promising athletic career. I turned to massage to help others improve their athletic experience as well as helping them work through injuries of their own. I attended school in San Bernardino, CA which consisted of 720 hours of training that led to me getting my State of California license. 

Jiminy Cricket, Kelli's favorite cartoon character!

Bobo: Okay maybe 3 shots of expresso but back to you, what areas of massage do you specialize in  K_Cricket?

Kelli: Why do you calling me K-Cricket? (umm ...I heard it was your Jiminy Cricket was your favorite cartoon character) Anyways Deep tissue, Trigger Point and Myofascial Release are the areas I mostly find myself involved in. It's definitely the greatest areas of need in the athletes I see here at my practice.

Bobo: Lets get to the meat of the issue (snickering to myself..) why do I need a massage?

Kelli: You need a lot more than a massage but as far as that is concerned let me lay it out for you:

Having a deep tissue massage at least once a week will help the athlete keep their muscles healthy, improving flexibility and maintaining relaxation. Its like preventive maintenance on your vehicle. If once a week isn't always possible twice a month is a good place to start, ramping up to weekly as your event approaches. Now specifically massage helps increase joint flexibility, pumps oxygen into the muscles (helping them to recover completely), elongates muscle fibers (a longer muscle can generate more power than a shorter one!) reduces spasms and cramping as well as reducing fatigue. 

Bobo: Seems like a no brainer to me!

Kelli: That's why even you understand it

Bobo: ??? Anyways what kind of timing, massage wise, should the athlete consider pre/post event?

Kelli: Well pre-event, while you are tapering and recovering from all your training, its good to get a massage 3-5 days out. Now this massage will help enhance circulation thereby completing that post training recovery. It will also reduce muscle and metal tension, further relaxing and elongating the muscles and getting them competition ready. Post race it good to get a light massage within 72 hours of finishing your race. This massage is geared to toward reducing the metabolic build up that occurs in the muscle after vigorous exercise as well as helping to reduce spasms

Bobo: What about some interesting Massage Trivia?

Kelli: Bob did you ever notice you are not normal, and who is Bobo?? Anyways how this for you: Bob Hope had a massage everyday and lived to be older than dirt. But seriously Runners tend to show up with very tight Iliotibial bands and Hamstrings. They would benefit from stretching those areas post exercise. Bikers greatest complaints are their calves as well as their ITs. Swimmers are chill and usually require overall muscle work but present with far less specific injuries. 

Bobo: Here is Kelli's favorite calf stretch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1HzSAuB-Vw and my favorite IT band stretch  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0e8FPL787E

Kelli: Who are you kidding, your an athlete, you never have time to stretch. But seriously post workout stretching with a regular diet of massage is a great way to improve performance while preventing injuries!

Bobo: Thanks Kelli!! By the way Kelli is offering Red Performance Multisport athletes a discounted rate making it easier to get the massage you need. Just mention to her you are one of our athletes and you are good to go.  Here is Kelli's webpage so you can find her and make that appointment ASAP.

www.kellirobbins.massagetherapy.com

Note to reader: Although we actually did the interview and the facts Kelli gave on massage were true, I didn't actually call her K-Cricket (among other enhancements!).