My First Ah-Ha's...

Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week by Eric Harr is the name of the book I mentioned in my first blog entry. The book is great and a good foundation for a beginner. I took yesterday off from training as I was and still am a little tired, but I intend on hitting the gym tonight.

As promised, I would share some of my ah-ha moments with all, so here is one. The book I am reading now is about strength training for triathletes (see second blog entry for title). It is great and has a number of different exercises all described along with great illustrations. One new twist I learned today on an age old exercise is on the incline bench press. In this exercise you generally start with your hands in front of you, above your head with your palms facing your feet (while lying on a bench at 45 degrees, feet flat and all that other good stuff of course). Instead, change your palms so they face each other (twist the weights) and start/fininsh in this position. The idea is that from this position you mimic your racing posture more closely as if you were leaning down on your bike. When riding, you would push off your handlebars using your arms and support yourself with your core while continuing to peddle. Changing the position of the weights mimics this push... I will let you know how it works... Next... for the last 2 weeks or so I have had this pain in my left hamstring. It is this dull, annoying pain. I figured I hurt it or strained it working out. I think I finally figured it out. It is my gym bag and brief case - they have me all out of wack when I walk. Before my commute, the gym bag stayed in the car and I walked a few yards with my briefcase only - very little strain. Now, I walk approximately 1 mile combined with all this stuff hanging from my body. So, I need to figure out how to downsize ASAP.

Last thing... Get a good feel for your 1 rep max weight. As you strength train, understanding and documenting this will make a real difference...