Off Season Strength Training - Part One

If you’re in the northern hemisphere, chances are your triathlon season is done, or very close to being so.   Your weekly training volume should be decreasing as should the intensity of your workouts.    This lighter load in training volume is the perfect time to either increase your strength sessions, or, if you’re like the majority of triathletes I know, add it back into your routine.  

As I coach and personal trainer, I program strength work into all my athletes training plans.  I know when schedules get tight, it’s almost always the first thing to go but I cannot stress enough how important it is to maintain some kind of routine over the course of your entire season.  Done with proper technique, weight training will help keep you injury free, and will help improve strength, power and muscular endurance.  

Much like a triathlon training plan, strength work should also be periodized.  Off season is the time to start working on building strength for your following race season.  Once your build phase starts, your strength training plan should change again to allow for the additional training load.  And of course, during your race season, your plan should change again with a focus on maintenance.    I will delve into how to structure a periodized strength training plan in a future post.  For now, I’m going to focus on some of my favourite exercises.

LOWER BODY

Since running and cycling are essentially single leg exercises, it makes sense to do some of your off season training that way.    This way you work both of your legs individually and can focus on building strength equally.  When doing things like squats, you may think you’re working both your legs equally but I guarantee you that one of your legs will be working slightly harder than the other.  This is why single leg training is an integral part of a strength routine.   When I'm just getting back into the gym, I start with unilateral exercises to work on fixing any imbalances that I may have developed.  From there I will build into heavier lifting.

Form is SO important with all of these exercises.  As is mind muscle connection.   We often just go through the motion of the exercise without focusing on feeling the muscle work.   This is why I suggest doing all of these lower body exercises with body weight first so you understand the movement and can focus on feeling the muscles you are using.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to lifting weights but these exercises are my favourites for developing strength.  

Step up

These are a simple exercise that can be done on a box or a bench.    The surface should be stable and big enough for you to stand on.   You can do these laterally as well to change up your plane of movement.   I like these because they really help you focus on the push up / off.   I also like to add a knee drive on the opposite leg to mimic running stride.

Split Squat 

I used to do these with my foot elevated on a bench but was recently shown an alternate way that I find so much more effective and comfortable.  Instead of using a bench,  you use a Smith machine, lower the bar to just below knee height, grab the squat bar pad, wrap the bar and rest the top of your foot on that.  Doing that avoids the awkward twisting of your foot and toes that usually happens when you use a bench.  

Note:  Don't look at the ground when doing this, look ahead!

Lateral lunge  / Reverse lunge

Strength training provides the perfect opportunity to change up how we move.   I think it’s so important to include movement in alternate planes, especially in off season strength work, which is why I love lateral and reverse lunges.   Everything we do is done in the sagittal plane so moving in alternate planes challenges other muscles that we don't normally use.

Single leg deadlift (RDL’s) + traditional deadlift

The single leg RDL is a great exercise to work on balance and stability as well as targeting your posterior chain.  I do these without weight to start and gradually add weight as my form improves.  I would be remiss if I didn't include barbell deadlifts as well.  When done correctly, they are fantastic for working your entire posterior chain.

Single leg squat + barbell squat 

A quick search on You Tube will bring up a million different variations of single leg squats.  My suggestion is find one that you can do with proper form and do it.   The same goes for barbell squats.  Your ankle and hip mobility will dictate what you're able to do.

UPPER BODY

Swimming isn’t the only activity that requires upper body strength.  Think about how much time you’ll spend hunched over in your aerobars in an Ironman. What does your form look like at the 20 mile mark of a marathon? If you’re like the majority of the population, your shoulders are slumped over and your form has gone to shit.   This is why training your upper body is just as important as training your lower body.  

And just like your lower body, you will probably find that you have imbalances in your upper body as well so working on building strength with single arm exercises is a good way to start your strength training program.  

Again, proper form is crucial.   Always focus on good posture.   Keep your shoulders back and your chest lifted.   That way your core will also stay engaged.

Single Arm Row (cable or dumbbell)

Personally I prefer using a cable machine for these as I feel I have better control of the time under tension than with a dumbbell.

Single Arm pull down (cable)

This is a fantastic exercise for your lats.  If you do this correctly, it should mimic the pull phase of your swim stroke.  

Push Press

This is an explosive, compound movement that works both upper and lower body.  It's definitely one that should be perfected at a lighter weight before progressing to a heavier weight.   

Chest Press (single arm dumbbell) 

Doing a single arm dumbbell chest press really allows you to feel the engagement in your core because of the imbalance it creates.  It's as much about training your core as it is about training your chest.   The great thing about doing these unilaterally is that you end up working both sides of your body.   If you're pressing with your right arm, your left obliques will fire to help stabilize your torso.

Once you've managed to develop fairly equal amounts of strength on both sides of your body, you can progress to more traditional lifting like deadlifts, back / front squats & bench press.

If you're new to strength training, I would strongly suggest hiring a good personal trainer / strength and conditioning coach so you have someone watching and correcting your form.  Because if you're not doing these right, then you defeat the purpose of the exercise and, you may even get injured.

Now that you have some ideas as to what to do in the gym, stay tuned for my next post in the series:  Periodizing your strength plan.

Question:  Do you strength train throughout your race season?  If not, why?

Monday Musings: Back at it

Hola!

I know some of you enjoyed reading about my weekly workouts so I'm bringing Monday Musings back for my build up to my two 70.3 races this year.  It's definitely going to be an interesting year given that my two big races are 5 weeks apart.  We'll see how this old bod of mine holds up to that.

This past week was my first really solid week of training since the beginning of the year.  I'm feeling pretty good save for my low back, specifically my right side around my SI joint.   It seems to get stuck and irritated and I'm still trying to figure out why.  Some of it is core control for sure but I also feel that my lack of rotation in my T-spine doesn't help.  So I'm slowly working on fixing that.  Thankfully it's not preventing me from working out but there are days that I feel it and it bothers me.

This was my first week of experimenting with 10 day hard / easy format to see how I feel and how my body reacts.  After 10 days I'll probably take a rest day, just to play it "safe" even if I am feeling ok.  Sometimes I find taking a rest day a mental necessity vs a physical necessity.  I'm being much more "intuitive" with my training right now.  By intuitive, I mean if I feel good physically and mentally on my scheduled rest day, instead of taking the day off completely, I'll do an easy activity, usually a swim or yoga.  Something that isn't overly taxing.   I'm also using HRV4Training which monitors my heart rate variability to let me know whether or not I'm fully recovered and can proceed as planned or if I need to limit my intensity for the day.  It hasn't steered me wrong yet and I've been using it for a year now.

So, on to the fun stuff.  What did I get up to this week?

Monday:  Upper body strength workout

Tuesday:  13km long run

Wednesday:  2300m swim in the am, and a 1 hour endurance ride, short upper body workout in the p.m.

Thursday:  40 minute zone 2 run and a 1 hour mostly lower body workout - I actually did most of the workout I was teaching, which was a blast.

Friday:  1900m swim with sprints, 1 hour sweet spot ride.  My legs were feeling pretty sore from my strength class, ha ha.

Saturday:  2 hour mostly endurance based ride.  I had planned on doing lower body work afterwards but my body decided it needed a nap.  So I slept for about 40 minutes and then wasn't motivated to do anything else afterwards, ha ha.

Sunday:  2650m swim.  I had a 35 minute run on the schedule and put it off until after my Strength clinic.  Big mistake,  because once I got back from that, I had no desire to get my running stuff and go out for a run.  LOL.  So much for the Lululemon 40/80 challenge badge on Strava.

Totals for the week:

Swimming:  6,850m 
Cycling:  4h 13 minutes
Running:  20.6 km 

Total time:  10h 22 minutes 

That's slightly higher than normal volume for me this time of year but I'm building my time up for when I get to Florida.  I know I'll probably be between 12-14 hours / week of training if it's anything like last year.  When you have the opportunity to ride outside for two months in the winter, you take full advantage of it.

How was your week of training?  Who else is chasing some big goals this year?

~ Coach PK

Maintaining Fitness in the Off Season

For many beginner triathletes, the off season is a funny place. What does off season mean?  Do you stop training?  How much rest is too much?  How do I structure my training?  These are some of the questions I've gotten as a coach and I will do my best to tackle them in this post.

I know when I started out in triathlon, after my last race of the season, I stopped training completely for at least a month, probably longer.  I had no fall races planned and I thought because I was relatively fit, I could stop all activity and pick up where I left off.  HA.  Was I ever wrong.  You know that saying Use it or Lose it?  That's exactly what happened to me.  I didn't have a big fitness base at the time so taking over a month off resulted in some serious deconditioning.  I would stay that when I got back to regular activity that I was starting from square one but it was pretty close.  It usually takes about 7-14 days for endurance to start to decline so bear that in mind when taking time off.  The theory is the bigger the base of fitness you have, the longer it will take you to become deconditioned.   So seasoned athletes can afford to take a bit more time off without losing too much fitness.  Beginner athletes shouldn't take too much time off if they want to maintain a good measure of fitness.

How much time is enough? 

How much time "off" depends on the length and intensity of the last race of your season.  The shorter the race, generally the faster you recover.   If you've done a summer of sprint racing, then I'd suggest a week to 10 days off any structured swimming, biking or running for you to relax and regroup.  That may not be necessary for you to fully recover physically but you may need to mentally recharge as well.  If that means sitting on the couch for a week binge watching Game of Thrones, then so be it.  After that getting back to some kind of regular activity is key to maintaining your fitness over the winter.

For myself, I always like to take at least 5-7 days off completely after a major event like a marathon or a half ironman.  That doesn't mean I'm sitting around on the couch.  I still like to move my body so I will go for a walk or do some gentle yoga.  If I've run a marathon, I find one of the best things for my legs is swimming.  Recovery varies by individual.  Some people take longer to recover, others take less time.  Men tend to recover faster than women and the younger you are, the faster you recover.  So us old broads really need to learn to listen to our bodies, ha ha.

Structuring Your Training

As I mentioned in this post, this is the time of year where you focus on improving your weakest link in the sport.  A typical training week in season looks something like this:  Swim 3x a week, run 3x week bike 3x a week.  In off season for me, it looks more like this:  Swim 4x a week, bike 3-4x a week run 2x a week.  Running is hardest on my body so I prefer to do less of it.  That is just enough to maintain a decent amount of running specific fitness, especially if one of the runs is a long run.  Swimming is my weakest link so I'm adding a 4th swim that is all technique and drill focused vs. volume.   And it's now cyclocross season so I will be doing one ride a week like that and then ideally 2-3 more easy rides.

Off season isn't the time for high volume or a lot of high intensity.   My training volume in the off season is about 1/2 to 2/3 of what it would be during my race season.

Integrating Strength Training

This time of year is the best time of year to bring regular strength training back into your training as well.  You don't need to spend hours in the gym.  Two 30-45 minute sessions a week is great.  If you can do three times a week that's even better.  Start by working on muscular endurance with lighter weights and higher reps, and build to working on strength and power with heavier weights and lower reps or some plyometric work.  In the off season I like to do my weight workouts after a short run or ride.  The cardio element can be your warm up so you are ready to tackle your weight workout.  I have some weights in my basement along side my indoor trainer so when I'm done my ride, I can start my weight workout.  It's the most effective use of my time.

Staying Motivated

Over the years I've managed to become fairly self motivated in terms of my cycling and running.  Swimming is where I have a hard time.  Knowing that, I joined a Masters swim club.  If there is any sport that you have a tough time getting done on your own because you either 1) don't enjoy pushing yourself in that sport or 2) you're not sure what kind of workouts to do, then I'd highly recommend you join a training group.  The Toronto Triathlon Club offers coached swim sessions across the city and there are various Masters groups as well.  If the thought of spending solo hours on the trainer isn't appealing, there are plenty of places to ride inside with other people.  There's Watts Up in the West End, Dig Deep Cycling Fitness uptown and The X3 Lab in the east end.   If none of those are convenient, there's always ZWIFT. which is social in it's own way.

Alternatively, you could always hire a coach to help you take the guesswork out of your off season planning and to help you make the improvements you're looking for leading into your next season of racing.

On that note, I do have a couple of openings for coaching as of November 1st so if you're interested head on over to my coaching site and take a look around.  Shoot me a note if you have any questions!

Thanks to all the folks that responded to my IG stories question in regards to posts they'd like to see.  This was the first one and I'll be putting together more over the coming weeks!

Happy Friday!

~ Coach PK

A Weird Week & Some Good News

I don't know if there is enough coffee in the world to wake me up this morning.  This was a busy weekend.  I'm 99.9% sure I'm done my Christmas shopping.  We finally got our tree.  I started my Christmas baking and we had a family get together that sapped a lot of energy out of me.   Actually yesterday in general was just not a great day.  I am feeling pretty shitty about a lot of things right now.  Mainly my knee situation.  I am frustrated beyond belief and it's really wearing on me so yesterday I had a really good cry.  I'm trying not to go down the worst case scenario road (i.e that I won't have a race season next year).   I just want to feel better.   I have my third shockwave appointment tomorrow, I'm going to try to see my physio friend since things are a bit quieter this week at work and on Saturday I'm going to get my road bike properly fit.  I'm really hoping that things turn around soon.  I hardly did anything this week and I feel like I've gotten worse.  I had a really hard massage on Thursday and all he worked on was my right side.  My ankle mobility isn't great so we worked on releasing some of the muscles / fascia in my lower shin and my calves which was excruciating.  My right adductor is also really tight so he worked on that.  I have a wonderful purple streak down my leg as he had to go pretty deep to work out the tightness.  Things feel a lot looser, at least on my right, ha ha.

I had decided last week that I was going to take the rest of the month off.  When I saw my chiro on Tuesday and told him that, he said he didn't think that was necessary.  He said all I needed to do was moderate my activity and give myself more rest.  THAT made me really happy.  Even with that news, I didn't lace up my shoes and go for a run.  I took it easy for most of the week.  I had intended on swimming as much as possible but my Wednesday swim plans got derailed by a really weird fever that hit me on Tuesday night.  I got back from my shockwave appointment after lunch on Tuesday and about an hour later I started to feel warm, which wasn't unusual - I felt that way the first time I had shockwave.  This time though, it got worse and I started to feel achey and then I started to get chills.  By the time I left work I was running a fever.  I got home and checked my temp.  It was 39 degrees Celsius.  So I had a bit of a fever.  I ran a really hot bath, wrapped myself in my bathrobe and pj's, made some soup, ate that, got in the bath and almost fell asleep.  I got out and took a Benalyn cold and flu and went to bed at 8:00 pm.  I woke up a couple of times and drank some water.  At around 2 am I woke up again and I was soaked.  Completely drenched.  I changed my pj's and went back to bed.  I slept like a log until just after 6:00 am.  When I woke up I felt totally fine.  Whatever it was, I sweat it right out of my body.  Weird.  I missed my morning swim but I was at least able to go to my friend Jo-Anne's Bosu class at Pur Energy Wellness Lofts that night.  THAT was fun and really tough.

 So, things were a little quieter this past week and will probably be similar this week.  My work party is Wednesday night so that means I will not be getting up early on Thursday to do anything, ha ha.  So far I've been pretty good at navigating all the holiday treats and what not but I suspect that after this week, that will probably change.  "Tis the season!

Anyway, here's my pared down week of workouts!

Monday:  Slept in
Tuesday:  60 minute strength training session
Wednesday:  60 minute bosu class
Thursday:  OFF
Friday:  1800m swim
Saturday:  60 minute ride from the Watts Up Home Cycling program while watching U2's HBO Special from their concert in Paris.  HOLY AMAZING.  I wished I had a longer ride so I could have watched the entire thing.

Sunday:  2000m swim.  Then we decorated the tree and headed off to my parents.

Total time:  4h 20 minutes.  I had every intention of getting to yoga but once again, that didn't happen.  I've got all my stuff with me today so hopefully I'll get out of work on time and I'll make it.

Are you done your Christmas shopping?

Tri Talk Tuesday - OFF SEASON

 Welcome back Tri Talk Tuesday peeps!  We're now back to monthly posts since most of us are heading into our off season.  Which is why Courtney, Cynthia and I thought it would be great to chat about the Off Season.   So, that's what today's theme is!

The off season is different for everyone.  Some people take a few weeks off, some people take a few months off.  The length of time I take off depends on how much I've raced and when my first race of the following year is.  I haven't raced as much as normal this year and I have some things I need to work on before I start ramping things up for 2016 so, I'm going to walk you through my off season plans for this year.

I have one race left on the calendar this year and that is the Scotiabank Half Marathon.  Once that race is done, my off season officially starts.   Normally after a half marathon I'll take a week off running and then gradually ease back into regular running the week after.  This year, I plan on taking 3-4 weeks off running completely.  I had a lot of knee problems and other issues that I've been working through all year so I want to give my body a break from the pounding.

What am I going to do in it's place you may wonder?  This is what I've mapped out.

Week One Post Scotia:

Swimming, yoga, massage.   There will be some running on the Saturday after Scotia as I am a Mizuno Run bird at the Toronto Women's 8km.

Week Two Post Scotia:

Swimming, yoga, strength training & a re-introduction to my basement pain cave & computrainer.

Week Three Post Scotia:

Same as above with a focus on cycling drills.

Week Four Post Scotia:

Same as above with the re-introduction of running.  Short easy runs, focusing on form and drill work.  That will probably be what the majority of my off season looks like.  I'll start to build my volume up again in mid December but for a good two months, I'll be keeping things short, sweet and easy.

The off season is also a great time to reflect on your season and focus on things you would like to improve on for next season.   I have a few things I need to work on.

1) Improve my flexibility and my strength and really get that mind body connection when it comes to certain muscle groups that haven't been working the way they should be.  I've finally recruited my glutes for the most part but my hips still need a bit more stability.  My core is a lot stronger but I need loosen up my t-spine to help with my rotation when I'm swimming and I need to learn to engage my lats more.

2)  Find some more power on the bike.  I was catching glimpses of it this year so I know it's possible.   I think with a focus on some basic form and pedal stroke work, I can find that power.  I also need to tweak my bike fit a bit so that should help.

3) Work on my running form.  I did this at the start of the year and found it helpful.  Everything went sideways when I started training for Eagleman and my form work took a back seat.  This is the time of year to make that part of my routine.

4) Work on my mental game in the water.  I need to get comfortable being uncomfortable in open water.   A lot of it has to do with breathing and some of it has to do with the fact that I'm a bit of a headcase.  I think the two things kind of go hand in hand in terms of trying to fix.  I may actually enlist the help of a sports psychologist to start and go from there.

So that's what my 2015 Off Season looks like.  Head on over to the link up and check out all the other Off Season posts.  Next months topic will be cycling training.  I'll be talking about specific workouts you can do indoors to work building strength so come back for that on November 3rd!

Tell me what your off season looks like!

An InLinkz Link-up

Friday Five: 5 Gut Busting Indoor Workouts

TGIF Guys!  Only one more week till I'm outta here and sitting on a beach.  I'm telling you it can't come soon enough.  Southern Ontario is in a serious deep freeze right now and that means I'm not stepping foot outside to do any sort of workout.   It's times like this that I'm thankful I'm not training for a spring marathon, ha ha. 

Since it's Friday, I'm linking up with the DC Trifecta Ladies (Courtney, Cynthia and Mar) for a little Friday Five action.  Ironically today's topic is Indoor Workouts, ha.  Since I'm a triathlete, I'm going to share a few of my favourite swim, bike & run sessions as well as some other workouts I do indoors.

SWIMMING:

Living in the Great White North means that swimming is something that is done primarily indoors.  I only get to swim outside in the summer.   Getting into the pool in the middle of winter is always challenging for me.  There's something incredibly unpleasant about getting out of a warm bed, going out into the cold and then getting into a cool-ish pool.  However, once I'm in, I'm good.  Thankfully I swim with a Masters Club so that also keeps me motivated to go.  If I swam on my own, chances are I'd skip a lot of my workouts, ha ha.  Our swim coach usually has us on a 3 week build, 1 week recovery cycle and she tends to hammer us pretty hard in our build weeks.   Some of the workouts are absolute killers and this one is no exception.  I like it because it's 100's but it's a lot of them and it really teaches you about pacing.  It's all done on pace times so you need to watch the clock.  This would be the workout for the lane I swim in:

400 warm up:  MS:  5x100 on 1:55, 1 min RI, 5x100 on 1:50, 1 min RI, 5x100 on 1:45, 1 min RI, 5x100 on 1:40, 1 min RI, 200 cool down. 

When you see "on" a pace time that means you have that much time to complete the 100.  However, you also need to factor in rest so you want to swim at a faster pace to allow yourself to get some rest.  So for the 1:55's, we'd try to come in on 1:45 so we get 10 seconds rest.  The same for the other sets, although usually by the last set, I'm lucky if I get 5s rest.  This is a seriously tough workout. 

CYCLING:

The 3x3:  This a brutal workout that I honestly think is better off being done in an indoor trainer.  If you have a power meter then you're going to be working at above your FTP (functional threshold power).  If you're training with heart rate then this is going to be high zone 5 (anaerobic max).   It's a good one if you've just started doing anaerobic max work.   And it may make you barf. 

Warm up:  20-30 minutes.  Then 3x3 minutes in zone 5 with 3 minutes recovery after each one.  Cool down 10 minutes.  This will definitely get your heart rate up.  As your fitness progresses you can add another set or you can try to drop your recovery to 2 minutes. 

RUNNING:

I am not a fan of treadmill running.  Unfortunately I spent a lot of time on it last winter due to the sheer amounts of ice and snow we had last year but I tend to avoid it most of the time.  That being said, there are some good workouts that you can do on a treadmill that will break up the boredom.   These are two of my favourites:

Intervals:  Warm up 10-15 minutes, then 10x2:00 minutes hard, 2:00 easy.  The goal is to do about 20 minutes of hard work to get the heart rate up.  Cool down 10 minutes

Progressive Run:  These are tough no matter where you do them.   The goal of a progressive run is to end up at your goal race pace or maybe even a bit faster.  If you're racing a half marathon and your goal is 1:45, then you'd want to end up running 5:00 min km's or faster for your last km.  So, if you were going to do a 10km progressive run, you'd warm up for say 3km at a very nice easy pace.  Then you can build throughout the remaining 7km.  Try to drop 10 seconds off each km.  This is what a progressive run for a 1:45 half would look like:

Warm up 3km at an easy pace (5:45-5:50/km's).  1st km: 5:35, 2nd km:  5:25 3rd km: 5:15 4th km: 5:05  5th km: 4:55 km

Followed by a cool down of at least 10 minutes.  It could be walking or a really slow easy jog but you should definitely cool down.

STRENGTH WORK:

I usually go to the gym to do all my strength work because I like having the space to spread out and I like to incorporate free weights into my workouts.  However, if I don't feel like going to the gym, I can do most of my workout at home in the basement because it's all body weight work.  You only need a few pieces of equipment:  a mat, a stability ball, bench or chair and a bosu ball (which is optional).   This is a combination of some of my favourite at home exercises.

2x10-15 mountain climbers
2x10-15 push ups (option to do them on the bosu if you want to really challenge yourself)
2x10-15 jump squats
2x10-15 tricep dips off a bench or chair
2x10-15 side plank with rotation
2x10-15 single leg glute bridges
2x10-15 jackknifes on stability ball
2x10-15 burpees
2x10-15 oblique crunches on stability ball





Well there you have it.  Five sweat inducing indoor workouts that will get definitely get your heart rate up.   Check out the other blogs in the link up...there are some GOOD ones posted!! 

Making The Most of Your Off Season: Hit the Weights

Racing season has come to a close here in Canada.  That officially means it's OFF SEASON.  I don't know about you but I love the off season.  Some people dread it but I look at it as an opportunity to work on things that need improvement.  Not only is it a chance for your body to rest and recover but to re-build as well.

It's also a great time to work on strength and technique.  If you remove the physiological stress of racing, you should be able to add a third or even fourth weight workout into your training routine.  That's what I've done.  During racing season I lift twice a week, as basic maintenance.  I probably lift about 50% of my one rep max during my weight workouts because I'm also doing other hard workouts so I don't want to tax my system too much.

In the off season, you're generally in maintenance mode (i.e few hard workouts and no racing) you should be able to increase your weights to lift much heavier or add that third day of lifting in.  Why do this you may wonder?  How will it benefit me come race season?

Let me count the ways!   Here are my three favourites:

1.  Strength training will help make you faster.  Not to toot my own horn but, I am a good example of this.  I've been going to the gym for years but I never really did any sort of heavier lifting.  I avoided the squat rack like the plague and instead chose to do a lot of functional exercises with lighter weights.  Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for those but if you want to work on building speed, don't be afraid to make friends with the squat rack.  It wasn't until I started an actual lifting program in late 2010 that I actually began to see results both in the way my body looked and performed.   Fast forward 3 years and my times have continued to drop, despite getting older.  I'm chalking it up to the fact that I take advantage of my off season and lift heavy which in turn, has allowed me the strength to really push myself.  Strength training increases your leg strength and improves your bodies efficiency to use energy and oxygen.  According to Charles Polloquin "Increasing the body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently is a primary goal of endurance training, and it is measured by VO 2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake. Simply, if you can decrease the amount of oxygen needed to run at a certain speed, you’ll be able to sustain a fast pace for a longer time and likely be able to run faster overall."

2.  Strength training will make you leaner.  Contrary to popular belief, you WILL NOT GET BIG.  You'd have to be in the gym pretty much every day and eat nothing but chicken breast and spinach.  Oh and you'd have to cut out the endurance training....like THAT'S going to happen.  Strength training helps decrease body fat which will result in a leaner you.  And leaner = lighter and lighter = faster.  See a pattern here?

3.  Strength training can help prevent injuries.  This alone is probably the best reason to hit the gym.  I'm no doctor but I'm sure that many running injuries could be prevented with a good strength training routine.  Almost everyone has one side of their body that is stronger than the other.  If you incorporate single leg work into your strength training plan, you can work at building up strength in your weaker side, resulting in a more balanced, efficient stride.  

For even more reasons to hit the gym you can check out Charles Polloquin's 10 Reasons here as well as Running Competitor's reasons here.  The Running Competitor article also has several links to various exercise programs that are beneficial to runners.  Win / win!

Do you strength train?  If so, do you change things up in your off season or do you continue with your same routine?

#GoalGetter2013 - November Update

Well folks, here we are, only 31 days left in 2013.   The holiday fun is literally just around the corner and I can't wait.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's take a look at now November went shall we?

Main goal?  Work on my flexibility.  I won't say EPIC fail but I'd say pretty close to it.  I made it to yoga ONCE this month.  ONCE.  G has been 6 times in the last 10 days.  WTH?  Although, I have been making an effort to foam roll and stretch a bit more, even when I haven't done a work out.  I really need to keep on this as my PT seems to think that my knee issues are a result of my insanely tight calves and ankles.  Yes, everything is connected.  So moving forward this will be something that I HAVE to do on a regular basis.

I also said that I was going to get back to heavier lifting and strength training 3x a week.  Check - sort of.  I'm back in the gym and the squat rack and I have become friends again but instead of lifting 3x a week, I'm lifting twice a week and then I've added a TRX class as my third day of strength training.  Good LORD is that ever hard.   It works all the little muscles that the big lifts don't always get to.  I thought I was in pretty good shape until after my first class.  I was sore for 3 days.  3 freaking days.  But I loved every minute of it.  I'm going to make of point of doing it as much as I can in December.  Once training for Boston starts, I'll have to forgo it but for now, it's staying. 

Goal for December?  Maintenance baby.  That's it.  I've got a good thing going right now, my body is in a happy place and I'd like to keep it there for as long as possible. 

How did your November go? 

November Nuttiness + a Nutty Recipe

Here we are almost half way into November.  I feel like I haven't been doing much yet I've been insanely busy, thus my lack of blogging.  Weekends just seem to fly by.  Weeks have been rolling into one an another and I'm becoming all too aware that we are creeping closer and closer to Christmas.  I had my first red cup (Gingerbread Latte!) of the season on Saturday and, miracle of miracles, the barista got my name right.  When I told her my name, her response was "Oh, like the play?" My jaw dropped.  NOBODY ever knows that there was a play called Phaedra.   Turns out she studied latin for three years, ha ha.

One thing I have started to work on is getting back into heavier lifting.  I also decided that I wanted to add one more strength session a week but I wanted it to focus on the smaller stabilizing muscles that I don't always work.  So, I went to my first TRX class.  Holy moly.  It was a great workout.  I'm fairly strong so I was able to do pretty much all of the exercises.  Had I been smart, I probably would have backed it off a bit on some of them because it totally kicked my butt.  I went Saturday morning and by Saturday evening, I could feel the DOMS setting in.  Sunday morning I got up and I felt like I got hit by a truck.  Needless to say I skipped my Sunday morning swim.  I made it in this morning though and it wasn't pretty.  I'm still really sore.   But, I can't wait to go back and do it again!  I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks because next weekend is the MSC Triathlon series awards out in Orangeville.  Remember that goal I had at the beginning of the season?  The one where I wanted to get on the podium for the series in my age group?  Well, it's official.  I did it.  I actually won my age group.  G also managed to get third in his AG too so both of us will be getting awards.  YAY!  That's a really nice way to cap off my season of racing.

One thing I have NOT managed to do is get my butt to yoga.  My normal yoga studio closed a couple of weeks ago so now I'm trying to find a new place that is close to home / work and that has classes that fit in my schedule.  Ugh.  I really need to get on this because I'm having knee issues again.   The sports doc said it was patellar tendinitis.  I don't have a problem running, it's after the run that is the issue.  I've been to physio and have been given some exercises to do for my hips but I also need to work on my ankle mobility as well as my calf flexibility.  Apparently my calves are super tight.  So in lieu of yoga, my foam roller and I have been getting re-acquainted for the time being.   So. awesome.  At least I'm working on getting it sorted out now before I start ramping up my training for Boston.  I don't think it helps that I spend a large portion of my weekend standing around on tiled floors either.  I spend a fair bit of time in the kitchen cooking on the weekends so of course I'm standing, however, if happen to be just surfing the net or even blogging, I almost always stand and lean against the counter.  It drives G nuts.  I have to make a conscious effort to sit my sorry butt down every so often.

All that standing around paid off nicely this weekend though.  Those of you that follow me on instagram would have seen my post from a couple of weekends ago when I made my own cashew butter.  That's almost gone by the way.  I made another jar of awesomeness yesterday.  I had this idea early on last week and figured I'd try to execute it this weekend.  Now of course, I didn't actually write all the quantities down.  Like I said, I'm a freestyler in the kitchen.   Anyway, I made my own chocolate peanut butter.  I think it still needs a bit of tweaking but I'm happy to share the initial recipe.  Perhaps you folks out there can let me know what you'd add or do differently.

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter

1 454g bag of roasted unsalted peanuts
2 tbsp of peanut oil (approximate - I didn't measure)
1.5 tbsp of raw cocoa powder (this I actually measured!)
1 packet of stevia (by packet I mean like the packets like you'd find in a coffee shop)
salt to taste

Pour the bag of peanuts into a food processor.  Give the peanuts a good whizzing until they are ground down a fair bit.  Add the oil and the cocoa powder continue to process.   The mixture will start to get smooth.  At this point, add the stevia.  Process some more until it's mixed.  You can then add the salt if you like and process some more.  I like the combo of slightly salty and slightly sweet.   I haven't tried this on anything except a spoon and even then it was still pretty darn tasty.

 I do feel like it might still be missing a little sumpin' sumpin' but I haven't quite figured out what just yet.  More chocolate?  Maybe.  More sweetness.  Possibly.    If you decide to make this, let me know what adjustments you make, if any.

Happy Monday folks!

#GoalGetter2013 - October Edition

Happy Halloween Folks!

Who's dressed up in costume today?  Who's giving out candy tonight?  Who's been eating candy for the past week and had to go back to the grocery store to get more?  That would normally be me, however, this year, since Halloween happens to fall on a Thursday night and coincidentally my run group ALSO meets on Thursday nights I thought it might be fun to dress up in costume, do our workout and then go out for a pint and a bite to eat afterwards.

Fun?  FUN!!  Hopefully the rain stops by 6:30 tonight or I might be the only lunatic out there running around.  Or, I may be sitting in the dark inside my house, hoping it doesn't get egged because we're not handing out candy.

I didn't get too creative with my costume as I wanted something easy and comfortable to run in.  So a sparkly red devil it is.  I have enough red running gear so I should be able to pull this off.

We all know what Halloween means, right?  It means that Winter Is Coming.  I can't believe that November is pretty much here already.  That means I need to start thinking about Christmas and as much as I love it, I'm just not ready.  But I better get on that or else I will be that lady with the crazed look in her eyes tearing through the mall on Christmas Eve.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's look back at October shall we?

I had simple goals for this month leading up to my BIG goal.  All I had to do was keep getting my workouts in (check) and make sure I took care of myself (check).  Oh and I was supposed to put my beerstagrams on hold.  And I did.  Kind of.  But no matter, I still managed to check another big honkin' to do off my 2013 List and that was break 1:30 for a half so I'm quite happy with the way October panned out.

Now that my off season is here, I have two goals:

1.  Work on my flexibility

2.  Get back into a solid strength training routine that focuses on developing power.   Yes, the squat rack and I are going to get reacquainted and I can't wait.  

I'm going to dial back the intensity in my weekly runs as well.  Right now I run 3 times a week.  One long run, one tempo run and one interval run.  I'll keep doing the tempo runs to keep my speed up as I do have one last race left in December.   I'm going to replace my interval run with an easy / medium paced run just so I'm not killing myself twice a week.  There's no need for that session right now.  Once Boston training starts, I'll add that back in.  For now, I'll just enjoy putting one foot in front of the other without any worry about pace or distance. 

How was your October? 

What are your goals for November?

Not What I Kneed Right Now....

For the last couple of weeks, I've been feeling a lot creakier than normal, especially around my knees.  G said it's just because I'm getting old.  I'm sure that's probably a part of it but of course, I'm worried that it might be a bit more than that.  For the last 3 weeks my knees have been achy and I've found the going up and down the stairs seems to really bother them.  I am generally ok when I'm running however.  It's afterwards when they feel sore.  My left one especially.   I figured it was probably due to my incredibly tight muscles so I finally went it for a massage last Wednesday after taking the previous Thursday off from running.  My run group was scheduled to do hill repeats that day and I didn't think that sort of pounding would be good for my knees so I skipped it and spent some quality time with the ice pack and some advil.  I still felt a bit creaky when I started my long run that Saturday but I was fine by the end.  I had hoped that some good stretching would help so I foam rolled and stretched really well when I finished.  Walking was fine but the stairs were an issue once again.  Despite that, I went out to do my group tempo run last Tuesday and it wasn't pure misery but it was pretty close.  I took it really easy going up and down the hills (of course it was a hilly route).  I stretched and iced my knees when I got home and hoped that my massage would sort everything out.

My massage was 90 minutes of pain.  He did a lot of work on my upper body and then focused on the area around my right knee (which was the area that was most bothersome at the time).  He did some work on my hamstrings, quads and calves and just skimmed over my IT band because we ran out of time.   I had high hopes that my knee pain would be gone.  The stairs didn't really bother me when I went down them so I figured that was a plus.  I probably should have just taken Thursday off completely but no, I'm stubborn.  I figured speed work wasn't the best idea since my legs were still healing but an easy run should be fine.  So I went out and ran an easy 11km.  Of course my legs felt like crap.  My knees seemed to be somewhat ok.  There was a bit of creaking and tweaking but I thought that was just things getting "settled" so to speak.  I had hoped all would be fine by my run on Saturday but alas it was not to be.  As soon as I started running, my knees started creaking.  After about 15 minutes in, they settled down but then throughout the course of the run, I had all sorts of weird little tweaks and pains.  Then they just ached for the rest of the day.  However, I got on the Computrainer on Sunday and had a great ride, which was strange.  I figured it would probably suck.  But, my knee seemed to be settling down so I was happy.  I figured a swim on Monday would do me good.  Monday was fin work and by the end of that 2600m swim, my knees were bugging me again.  My 15 minutes on the treadmill yesterday was not good.  I had all sorts of weird pain going on.  So much so that at one point I actually had to change my gait.  Not. Good.  Needless to say I skipped last nights tempo run.  I got on the bike instead.  While my knees feel a lot better today, I am still a bit worried that something is up.  So, to cover my bases, I've got 2 appointments at 2 different sports medicine clinics.  Paranoid much?

It almost feels like my kneecaps aren't tracking properly.   To say that I am freaking out would be an understatement.  My physiotherapist made a comment about how quad dominant I was and when I look at my legs, especially when I am flexing or engaging my quad muscles, I have to agree.  Having stronger quads than hamstrings is not the best thing  if you're a runner.  Little did I know that most women are naturally more quad dominant than hamstring dominant (so I found out when reading the New Rules of Lifting for Women).  Having stronger quads than hamstrings can end up pulling your knee caps out of alignment, especially if the quads and IT band get really right.  If there is anything that I'm incredibly paranoid about it's knee issues.  In my mind muscle issues are generally an easier fix than joint issues.  A few massages or ART sessions and you're back to normal in a couple of weeks.  When it comes to your knees, well, if you start feeling constant ache or pain in them that can never be a good thing.   It's all bone and cartilage in there and that has to be treated right! 

I suspect some of it was due to running too long in my old shoes.  I also suspect that my quads are starting to overpower my hamstrings in terms of strength so I've decided to step away from the squat rack for a few weeks and focus on adding some more hamstring work into my routine (the only thing I currently do for them is dead lifts).  I'm not going to stop squatting altogether, I'm just going to do some variations so I can work on strengthening my vastus medialis.  That little bugger is the key to balancing out your quads and keeping your knee where it needs to be.  A nicely developed vastus medialis looks pretty sexy too. 

Source

Since I decided to part ways with the squat rack, I spent some time wandering around the big boys area in the gym checking out the variety of machines I could use to do leg work.  I settled on one leg press machine that had individual foot plates that swung independently of each other.  I checked the little icon to see what muscles it worked and sure enough it said, glutes, hamstrings and quads.  I loaded a couple of 35lb plates on and went to work.  Knee felt fine.  I think I need to take my hips out of the squatting equation and just isolate my legs.  I'm not going to get the same amount of muscle engagement since you don't really use your core to stabilize yourself too much when you're sitting down vs when you're balancing a barbell on your shoulders but, if it helps save my knees then I'll take it. 

I also re-introduced another old favourite of mine into my workout.  I call it the wall squat but I think it's also known as the ski squat.  The key is to make sure your legs are at 90 degrees so when I am at the gym, I always do this by a mirror so I can check my form.   This is a great isometric exercise that can be done anywhere. I have been known to do these at work from time to time just for the hell of it.  Why not?

source

When I got up this morning, my knees felt better.  Not 100%.  Probably about 80%.  There is still some discomfort going down the stairs, especially after I've been sitting for a while but, it's definitely better than it has been.  I think I'm going to take tomorrow off from running as well.  Another day of rest couldn't hurt.  Then we'll see what this musculoskeletal doctor I'm seeing on Friday has to say.  Fingers crossed it's nothing bad.

Have you ever had any knee issues?  If so, what was the outcome? 

Hitting the Books & The Empty Miles

It's officially off season.  At this current moment in time, I have no more races on the calendar.  G and I are talking about doing a 5km New Years Eve race but that's just talk at this stage of the game.  We'll see if that actually materializes into anything.   I'm sure if I pester him a bit, we'll end up toeing the start line of that race in December.  I think it would be a fun way to close out the year.  In the meantime, I'm slowly easing back into some semblance of a routine.  I am one of those people that can't function without some sort of routine.  I have a hard time just winging it.  I have a basic schedule that I follow in terms of what I do on what days.  My swim and run clubs dictate most of that schedule so I fill in the other days with either rest, weights or cycling.  Now that the off season is here, I think it's wise for me to back off the intensity in my running and log a few more empty miles vs. dedicated speed workouts.  I will probably drop my Tuesday tempo workouts in favour of an easier mid-paced run.  I also need to really work on sorting out my bio-mechanics.  My ankles and calves are in rough shape.  I'm hopeful that my weekly PT appointments will get me sorted out sooner rather than later.  There has been huge improvement in my ankle mobility on my left foot but now my right foot and calf are causing me some minor problems (mostly due to a massive calf cramp I got while trying to do a flip turn in the pool.  Note to self:  stop trying to do flip turns, you'll only continue to hurt yourself).  So frustrating. I guess that's just my body's way of saying "Slow the *bleep* down!".  

I'm working on addressing some of these issues in the gym.  This is one place where I really have no idea how to formulate a training plan.   I know I like to lift weights and I know the basic exercises that I should be doing as a runner but, there is so much more you can do in the gym and I think it's good to dice up your routine.  Your body needs that kick in the pants sometimes to get to that next level of strength or leanness.  So I turned to the man that many gym rats have turned to:  Alwyn Cosgrove.  He designed the workouts in a book by Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsythe called The New Rules of Lifting for Women.  I started reading this on Sunday and to my delight, it's funny and easy to understand.   There is a strong emphasis on functional weight training as well as working those lesser known muscles.  The workout program in here is a comprehensive one.  And best of all, stage one only had me doing 5 different exercises!  I was done my main workout in 30 minutes so I got in a good solid cool down with stretching and foam rolling.  I like!  Of course the first few stages are the easier ones.  As the program continues, the stages get a little more difficult.   There are 7 stages in total.  The first 5 stages are 4 weeks each.  Stage 6 focuses on strength building and it will be roughly 5 weeks (I only lift twice a week vs. 3 as they suggest).  Stage 7 is 6 weeks if you workout 2x a week.  Stage 7 is called the Final Cut. According to the description in the book, it's designed to be "one last assault on whatever body fat you still want to shed."  I'm not sure I'll even need to do stage 7 but it might be fun to give it a try.  It will all depend on where I'm at in my marathon training schedule.  The best part is that this will give me at least 6 months of weight workouts! YES.

I also picked up a couple of other books.  One is a guidebook to Paris, which I figured would be handy for our upcoming trip and, the other one that I'm SUPER excited about is the Run Less, Run Faster book that is based on the F.I.R.S.T training program.  This will probably be my in flight reading.  I'd like to get through it before I actually start training for Boston so I can effectively design my training plan and not wing it like I did with NYC (one more reason I'm grateful I didn't actually get to run it, I'm sure it would have been ugly).

Good thing it's off season.  Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do.

They had me at "Lift Like A Man, Look Like A Goddess" - how could I NOT buy it? ha ha.

Have you bought any fitness related books lately?  If so, what are they?

Give Me Strength!

Since my current strength training plan is coming to a close, I've been scouring the 'net for a strength training plan geared to runners.  I've found a few surprising and interesting things along the way.  And some pages I've bookmarked for future reference.  I'm surprised at the number of articles that recommend doing workouts on machines.  Really?  Don't get me wrong, machines are alright for some things but they don't engage ALL of your muscles because you're sitting or lying down.  You don't run sitting or lying down.  You are upright and you're using one leg at a time.   It makes more sense to do the work 1) standing up and 2) alternating legs (i.e doing single leg work).  This article by Eric Cressey had me laughing out loud.   It is probably one of the best things I've read on weight training for endurance athletes.  I agree with the man 110%.   Why?  Because I'm living proof of this.  I scaled back my miles and hit the gym.  I lifted heavier than I've ever lifted.  The miles I did were hard miles but my body could take it because of my strength training.

Now as my current program comes to a close (Krista's Next Level for Women from Precision Nutrition)  I am at feeling a bit at a loss, thus my online search.  I've found something that looks interesting.  It's designed by the legendary runner Alberto Salazar for Olympic hopeful, Kara Goucher.  It's got a few of my favourite moves in it:  single leg deadlifts and box step ups.  It also incorporates single leg squats into the mix which is something my massage therapist and ART guy are always telling me to do.   Given that my body is probably going to take even more of a beating this year than last year, I'm going to have to step up (single leg only!) to the plate and start doing them. 

Working Hard is Hard Work!

So I finally made it out to run with the West Toronto Pacers on Tuesday.  It's been at least 2 weeks since I've run with them as work has been completely insane.  We did one of our many 9+km routes at tempo pace.  Oh my god did I ever suffer at the beginning.   My legs felt like crap and my pace was slow.  It took me a while to actually get warmed up as well.  Once I did, I started to feel a bit better.  The route we ran was quite hilly as well.   Downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back.  Fun!  I found that once I warmed up, the uphills weren't that bad.  I actually managed to motor up them without too much bother.   Don't get me wrong, they were tough, I just seemed to be able to handle them a bit better than normal.   I'm wondering if that is down to the strength workout I've been doing.  I also noticed that I didn't feel too much lactic acid build up either.    I actually finished the run stronger than I started.  Hmmm....maybe there is something to all this strength training?!

I finished a hilly 9.75km run in 46:44 with an average heart rate of 165.  That put me at a 4:47/km avg.  The goal is to get down to 4:40's by the time I peak for Scotia (I need to maintain a 4:44 pace to run 1:40 but I'd like a bit of padding).   I've got 12 weeks to work on that.  It's going to be tough but if I'm consistent, I should get there.

Taking it to the Next Level

Now that I've got 4.5 months until my A race, it's time for me to get back into the gym and get back to some good solid strength training.

I have been a gym goer for the last 7 years but truthfully I don't really know much about strength training.  I am a relative newbie when it comes to weights.  I've always done relatively basic strength work, focusing on the larger muscle groups, which has definitely helped me out but I feel like it's time to up the ante.

Enter Krista Schaus' "Next Level Training". 

She is one of the PN exercise experts and she has developed a great program for folks that are looking to get stronger but are still perhaps some what new to the gym.  Many of the ladies on the PN Forum have done this program with great results and have had nothing but positive things to say about it.  Looking through it, I realize that I sure do have a lot to learn.  I think I'll be spending a LOT of time on You Tube this weekend looking up how to do half of these exercises properly.  Because if your form is not correct then you won't reap all the benefits of the exercise and even worse, you could end up injuring yourself. 

I have to say, I'm pretty excited about starting this program.  It's 12 weeks in length with 3 different phases.  It also means that I'll have to hit the gym 3 times a week, which might be tricky but I'm willing to give it a go.  I will probably have to ease up on the weights a few weeks out from Scotia but by that point I think I should have a solid enough strength base to really help me push through the pain that I'm sure I'll feel around the 18km mark. 

Who knows by the end of it all, I might actually have some nice muscles to show for it as well!

Food For Thought

After my marathon debacle last September I took a week or so to lick my wounds and then I started to think. How had I gotten so slow? What on earth happened to the girl who wasn't afraid to throw it down? The girl who ran like her life depended on it? Who wasn't afraid to mix things up workout wise?

She somehow got lost in long slow and easy. I had to find her again.

Finding her again meant taking a look at my current routine, from how I was training to how I was eating. I was already formulating a plan regarding my training but my eating, well, I thought I was already eating healthfully. Sure I weighed more than I had in years but I attributed that to 1) all the fertility drugs I had been on and 2) just plain getting older. I figured once I got back to the gym, the weight would start coming off.

It didn't.

It was time to take action. I just wasn't sure what to do. I've never been a dieter and I wasn't going to start now. Then one day on CP24, I happened to be watching Wylde On Health and he was interviewing a guy by the name of Dr. John Berardi. Dr. Berardi was talking about a program he designed called Precision Nutrition. The basic principle of it made complete sense to me. It was all about nutrient timing. What you ate was just as important as when you ate it. So I googled Precision Nutrition. My interest was piqued. This was something that made sense to me. Perhaps I was eating the wrong things at the wrong time? I ordered my binder (it was $100 and it included a cookbook + some more 5 minute meals in a separate section). I figured $100 was a small price to pay if this program was as good as it sounded. The binder came a couple of days later and I started reading. There was a LOT of info to take in. There were 10 key habits that he outlined. At first it all seemed incredibly overwhelming but Dr. Berardi suggests getting one habit under your belt before tackling another. Which is exactly what I did.

The big thing I noticed with this program was that starchy carbohydrates were limited to POST workout. Really? As an endurance athlete this was almost blasphemy to me. But I knew I needed a change so I figured I'd give it a go. I struggled a lot with what to eat for breakfast. Eggs and vegetables were the recommended things but they didn't always sit well before for a swim or a run. Luckily the PN package also came with a membership to their online forum where I found a whole bunch of incredibly helpful folks. Granted the majority of them are lifters vs. endurance athletes but there were a few folks who offered some great suggestions. I discovered a whole new way of eating. Simpler was better. Meals became easier to prepare and just a flavourful if not more. I also started using protein powder. I realized that my previous way of eating barely even covered my protein needs. I now made a conscious effort to get protein in at every meal, along with veggies.

An amazing thing happened. I no longer had those unpleasant afternoon crashes I used to have. My energy levels remained constant throughout the day.

And I started to lose inches. The weight came off as well but what started to change first was the shape of my body. I really started to notice it through my bust & mid-section, which was where I carried most of my weight.

At my heaviest last May I was 138lbs. Which at 5ft 5in is still within "normal" range. But that was not normal for me. I was normally around 130lbs. I managed to lose a few of those lbs during my marathon training. I think I got down to 134. After 7 months of following PN, I have gone down to 125lbs. The biggest change is not on the scale. It's in my body composition. I am the leanest I've ever been. I'm stronger than I've ever been. And, I think I've managed to coax that girl who ran like her life depended on it out of hiding.

I did vow that 40 was going to be the best year of my life so far. And so far, I'd have to say I'm right on track.