Excellent Swim Video

This video, produced by Total Immersion, shows a technique style that is great for triathletes to learn from. Many triathlon coaches use this approach because it is very efficient both in the pool and in open water. I use this video as a reference for athletes I coach during a video analysis session.

Minnesota Ranked Top Tri State

A recent stat touts Minnesota as ranking in the top 5 for several national-state rankings. Check out the report at usatriathlon.org. Also check out a special podcast produced by Tri Talk, giving the generalities of the research and rankings behind it all.

New Year's Resolutions...Do a Tri!

If your New Year's resolutions include 'getting in better shape,' 'losing X amount of pounds,' 'fitting into a wedding dress,' and/or 'completing/competing (in) your first multi-sport event' then you should sign up for my 7 week triathlon training course at the Downtown Minneapolis Y(MCA)!

Starting on Monday January 10th, I will be teaching a class that covers the basics for triathlon training and preparation. Although the class has a swim-focus to it, there will be comprehensive triathlon overview education. If you are a member of The Y or not, you are welcome to sign up for this great class which will cover swimming in open water principles, swim-to-bike transitions, open water spotting, video analysis, swim specific strength, technique drills, breathing technique, equipment involved, general training principles, and a mini-triathlon.

There are class offerings on Monday nights and Wednesday mornings. Sign up at the Downtown YMCA-30 South 9th Street, Minneapolis. Registration forms can be found on The Y's website: (click here).

Healthy Holiday Habits

My wife and I just returned from visiting her family in Indianapolis for a brief but needed Thanksgiving vacation. We had a marvelous time and managed to keep things sane. Her family is wonderful hospitality and her mother in particular is such a welcoming woman. One thing I appreciate about my mother-in-law's hospitality is her health-conscious cooking. She truly takes homemaking and mothering as a professional job, and it's one she has mastered. Stewarding fresh veggies and whole grains, she crafts excellent cuisine that is simple, fresh, and wholesome.

Although her approach to cooking includes adjectives that could-I should say ought to- be descriptors of our life in general I think life often isn't so. I wonder if many athletes and the sedative lot as a whole wish that Christmas season had a bit more love and joy and less havoc and mayhem.

The ladies (and a guy) that I work with at the Y are a joyful bunch to say the least. While they already incorporate many healthy lifestyle traits into their daily grind, I decided to submit a bit of a challenge to them. I made a charge for Healthy Holiday Habits (H3). Below is a description and outline for the process. If you are interested in joining the challenge-IT'S FREE, and you can email me to join.

Although the winter holiday season is one of the craziest times of year for many Americans, Paul McCartney coined it as "simply happy, wonderful time of year" in his Wonderful Christmastime song. Many people have a hard time seeing it as so.

In our goal to maintaining healthy 'Spirit, Mind and Body for all' at the Y, we are going to have a friendly competition. Healthy Holiday Habits (H3) is going to be our charge for the weeks of December 1st to January 1st.

Our goal is not quantitative per se, so don't go jumping on your scale or measuring your waist-line. Our goal is balanced life-filled with healthy eating, healthy exercise, and low-stress, energy producing activities!

On a weekly basis you will tabulate your points total using the list of included activities below, and submit them to me at A total points list will be kept in the aquatics area with everyone's running totals-names will be secret names! Have fun, be healthy, and enjoy the Season!

1. Attend Holidazzle Parade (7 points), if you bring a friend with (10 points)
2. Park at the back of the parking lot when grocery shopping (1 point)
3. Attend Water X! (5 points)
4. Attend a Group Fitness Class other than Water X (4 points)
5. Eat all 3-5 recommended servings of veggies in one day-points can be each day [1]you meet this goal (2 points)
6. Exercise for at least 1 hour (3 points)
7. Take the bus instead of driving (1 point)
8. Call a family member you don't talk to often, and have a meaningful conversation (3 points)
9. Abstain from alcohol for 2 consecutive days (1 point)
10. Abstain from eating sweets 2 consecutive days (2 points)
11. Drink 2 liters of water-each day counts as completion (2 points)
12. Get someone to exercise with you for 30 minutes or more (3 points)
13. Bring a homemade lunch to work instead of eating out (2 points)
14. Go XC skiing (8 points), if you bring a friend with you (12 points)
15. Attend a holiday concert with a friend or family member (5 points)
16. Exercise at the YMCA on a Saturday or Sunday (3 points)

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[1] Recommended servings per day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif

Fitness Appeal and Other Vain Pursuits

I admit there are days of a year gone by, that I sought to cultivate a sexy appearance in my fitness regime and I am glad to say those ideals are a thing of the past. I do hope that in my pursuit of being a great age-group triathlete that my physique is appealing to my (in the words of Ricky Bobby, 'smok'n hot wife') wife but, I hope that my primary ambitions of being fit, being healthy and being balanced in life it foremost.

I teach swim lessons, coach triathletes, and teach water aerobics at the local downtown health club. This health club has gotten local reviews for its reputation of being a top hook-up venue. While I won't make comment on this reputation, I was struck by a scene today that I should like to make reflection on.

At noon, a group of master's swimmers meet at the pool to endure an hour of grueling training that is prescribed by the national master's swimming association. Many of these guys are in their prime of fitness, while they are past their prime of, what most people would call prime of, age. In their late 30's, 40's and 50's, these guys are as buff as a physical specimen can come! They guys swim 5 days a week for 1 hour and they have every right to boast for their accomplishments athletically, but their fitness level and level of healthy lifestyle is unparalleled. It is a marvel to me that these guys are some of the least vain people I know! They are not the types to stand in front of the mirrors and check-out their muscular appeal, or strut about in pompous display of their physical superiority-no, these guys are down-to-earth real type guys that enjoy being athletically active and being good stewards of their bodies. While many an on-lookers there were admiring their appearance, that was not an ambition that they sought.

Thinking about my own ambitions for fitness, health and wellness, I was convicted in comparing myself to these guys. I think this is a pitfall of many endurance athletes-no all athletes. While we pursue 1st place, a top 10 finish, or just the completion of our first triathlon, we all have periphery aspirations of weight-loss, a trimmer mid-section, or a more 'cut' physique.

November and December can be two of the most fatty-food, high-calorie, sweet-infested months! Being of Scandinavian heritage, this is especially the case with foods like Rømmegrøt, Lefse, oyster stew, and pickled herring. Although I won't abstain from the indulgences of the norkse heritage, I will challenge myself and my athletes with this charge-moderation the admonition and not complete abstinence of good foods. Eating one piece of lefse, one bowl of rommegrot, or one bowl of oysters stew will not be the ticket to sure weight gain and poor base-season training effects, but too many of any will be.

I realize that for many fitness, a good race result or a personal best are not the goal...vanity, appearance and accolades of friends as being prettiest, skinniest, or fittest is the only acceptable reward for hard work, regimented training, and healthy diet...but each of those fleeting pursuits will be as a vapor, and the day will be gone. Seize the day. Live for a healthy and balanced life. Put fleeting vanity aside and enjoy good food, training, and family through the holidays!
~Coach K

Improvise

Im-pro-vise

1. to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation; extemporize: to improvise anacceptance speech.

2. to compose, play, recite, or sing (verse, music, etc.) on the spur of the moment.

3. to make, provide, or arrange from whatever materials are readily available: We improvised a dinner from yesterday's leftovers.
(see:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/improvise)

Using the third definition of Improvise, I adapted a work-out this morning. The materials that were available were: time, before Bambino would go down for her nap; stroller, mode of transportation for bringing Bambino with for the exercise duration; exercise resistance band, a way to modify what should have been a roller-ski effort to a modified run-strength ski exercise; amazingly beautiful day, what more could be ideal!

Although I had hoped to get a rollerski in today, I was forced to work with what I had. Unforunately we don't own a Chariot with a ski attachment yet-and well, there's no snow anyway!!!

Lessons learned: make plans-plans are good; realize plans must be changed at times; realize fun can be had and goals accomplished when the plan isn't executed exactly as designed!

See you on the trails, Coach K

A New Season and Some Changes

With fall colors on the trees (in some parts they're gone!) and the cool smell of winter lingering in the breeze, it's time to prepare for a changing of seasons-even as we are currently experiencing changes all around us. Last weekend my wife and I headed over to Theodore Wirth park to watch part of a cyclocross race with our little Bambino. The race was a blast to watch and we saw many a familiar face including folks from Freewheel Bike, and even a neighbor of ours that we'd only recently met. Trampsing through the leaves and kicking a bit of dirt up as we strove to our destination, I felt that race-atmosphere in the air. One of my co-workers came riding down a hill we were ascending, and didn't even notice us-his game face was on! All shapes and sizes of riders were present. Some had donned advertisment-laden duds and others had dirt-stained training outfits. A few riders had bikes that would likely pay double a down payment on my house, and others had make-shift cyclocross bikes, or better yet-mountain bikes. Cyclocross, for those that are not familiar with it, is a sort of off-road derby type bicycling style. Racers ride on a road bike style set-up with slightly knobby tires and more beefy brakes...riding on an off-road mountainbike couse and hopping off their bicycles to hop over 12 inch-hurdles that are set-up at various places throughout the course as obstacles. A hodge-podge of road racing, mountain bicycling, and duathlon-tendency could be a fair assessment of the discipline. All this to say, even our endurance sport community is in a changing of seasons and somewhat confused whether to cling to the few last days of warm or to embrace head-on the shivers of the pending cold. I am choosing to do a bit of both.

I have been approached by several athletes recently, asking about coaching services for the 2010-2011 triathlon season... I am delightfully surprised at how many people realize that now is the time to start making plans for next spring and summer. If it takes 30 days or some say 6 weeks to establish a habit, then now is a great time of year to start experimenting with what kinds of habits ones' life will accomodate, and which types of habits one needs to incorporate to shed pound, tone-up, or manage dietary proclivities. I recently started experimenting with some habits myself. I have started to exercise in a very systematic way.

Secrets aside, I am training for the Birkebiener ski race which is some time in late February. Although I trained and competed as an elite skier when I was in high school, I imagine there will be some things that might take a while to come back to me. Either way, I have rekindled my winter sport to try and look at the "off season" from a different vantage point. The way I have been getting back into ski shape is through 1 hour of training before noon, Monday-Friday. This typically takes the form of calisthenics 2-3 days a week and circuits and some lite endurance work 2-3 days a week. The endurance work includes running (road), trail running, trail hiking, nordic walking, cycling, spinning, swimming, and some rollerskiing. The calisthenics are somewhat complex and include TRX-style strength, pull-ups, dips, sit-ups, some xc ski dryland drills, and other related things. I have been able to stick with my new routine-roughly-for about a month now, and I have hopes that it's gonna stay.

The goal I have for this intermediate transition/dryland season is to keep the HR low, build a solid strength base, trim up my body to handle larger distance and intensity loads, and to work on ski-specific technique drills. I welcome all to join me on this new adventure through the autumn/winter months. I hope to start some group training sessions at Theo Wirth park sometime in the next month. For more info about group training or small group training sessions contact us at triathloncoachk (at) gmail .com