Low Back Pain

If you’re hanging out with a group of “older” triathletes and you ask if anyone has ever had a problem with their back or currently suffers from low back pain, you’re likely to hear more than a few positive responses. Historically, low back pain has been associated with getting old, as people become weaker, less…

Relax and Go Faster

Propelling ourselves through water and over land requires our muscles to contract and relax, again and again and again. Without specific training our ability to do this is limited to our own natural ability, which can last minutes or days, depending on the intensity of the exercise. This is why we go out and train…

Why I Swim With a Masters Group

I’ve said it before and it was said last night by local coach Matt Trost at the SB Tri Club monthly meeting, if you want to become a faster swimmer you need to swim with the faster swimmers. I believe that in most cases this means swimming with a Masters Swim group. Improving your swim…

Bike Climbing Tips

Last week I published some tips on how to improve your downhill biking skills, which I hope people have or will go out and practice. Some of the feedback I got was that well yeah that helps with the “easy” part, coming downhill, but I still hate to climb! Luckily, while I was writing that…

Downhill Biking Tips

If you live in an area that has hills to climb, you already know that what goes up must come down. Unfortunately not everyone seems to embrace either aspect of this, struggling to pedal their way up the hills and then uncomfortable on the descents. I guess climbing hills on you bike is either something…

The Aging Triathlete

Getting old is a simple fact of life, yet each generation tries to postpone its more negative effects as long as possible. It’s a well-known fact that some level of exercise as we age is beneficial, so in a sport where every five years we get to “age-up” and become the young kids in the…

Triathlete’s #2 Training Mistake

A while back I published the Triathlete’s #1 Training Mistake, training too easy on hard days and too hard on easy days. Today I offer you the triathlete’s #2 training mistake, incorrectly dealing with our injuries. We’re famous for training through injuries, sometimes making them worse, but I think the bigger issue is that we…

Is Anyone Out There Doing Pull-Ups?

The latest issue of Swimmer magazine, from US Master Swimming, has an article on dry-land training and how to make friends with pull-ups, which made me wonder if anyone was actually doing them, I mean besides me. A friend of mine, Kyle, who’s then future wife Shannon had just become a personal trainer, had finished…

Masters Swimming Basics & Etiquette

The first time I heard this quote, “To be the best triathlete you can be, you have to swim with the best swimmers, ride with the best cyclists, and run with the best runners”, it was from a guest speaker at a SB Tri Club meeting some eight years ago. At the time is sounded self-evident,…

16 Weeks to a Half Ironman PR

When you see an article with a title like this, “16 Weeks to a Half Ironman PR”, for a moment don’t you think that this will be the answer to all your training questions? Then you dive in and start reading the article, you check out the accompanying chart, and if you’re like me, by…