Spring is here!

Finally! What a long long long long long long winter. Did I mention it was a long winter? You knew that already. It was tough training this winter here in the Northeast. Dave and I broke down and bought a pair of running snow shoes. Holy tough! I look forward to buiding fitness with them through the trails next year but it is demoralizing to be "running" in them and only covering 3-4 miles per hour!
As the weather warms up, and we return to cycling outdoors, please be safe and practice "defensive biking" always assume the car drivers don't see you because 9 times out of ten they don't.
On the racing front there is plenty coming up!

• The Marcie Mazzola 5k Fellow TFMer Shannon Malone is very involved in this race, come on out and support the cause!
• The Long Island festival of races at Eisenhower: 10k, half marathon and marathon
• Hither Hills off road half marathon on May 1st: http://tiny.cc/cjorc
• Greenbelt trail 50k and 25k runs
• Carl Hart Mothers Day Du
• Long beach trophy run (10 miles)

There is something going on every weekend now, have fun training and racing, we'll be back in the lake soon!

Treadmill tips

Treadmill: bringing the running in place tactic to a whole new level this winter. If you are like me and you need to run a bit through the winter for your various spring/summer sports related quests, you are spending a lot of time on there throughout this cold/ice snap. According to the urban dictionary, the treadmill is a.k.a.

the dreadmill: The conveyor belt to nowhere that one has to walk upon to keep their body in shape, or in times of neglect becomes a place for clutter collection...



Damn, I have to get off the computer now and walk on the cursed dreadmill...

It was 40 these past few days, I hope you got outside to cycle or run.
 
Knowing that spring is a few more weeks around the corner and also realizing that the dark still comes on too quickly in the evening, I have some tips to help the treadmill running go a little smoother.
 
1. Progressive miles: Start at an easy pace and increase it slightly every quarter mile. I do it like this:
6.0 for a quarter, then 6.3, 6.5, 6.8
I repeat that starting at the next highest pce for the next set: 6.3, 6.5, 6.8, 70
then
6.5, 6.8, 7.0. 7.2
then
6.8. 7.0, 7.2, 7.5
then
warm down easy for a mile.
Adjust the speeds for your own current fitness level. If your peak marathon or half marathon pace is a little slower than mine, start at 5.0 mph or 5.5 mile sper hour and work your way up each quarter. If you are faster, than start a half mile per hour to a mile per hour faster.
 
2. 30 second accelerations:
This is a favorite workout of mine. The 30 sec accels at 5k - 10k pace help you increase the speed of leg turnover without completely breaking you down. Warm up 1-2 miles easy then run 10-15 x 30 sec faster with 1-2 minutes easy between each. Warm down for 1-2 miles.
 
3. Ipod intervals:
1 mile easy warm up then run a song faster, run a song easy. Alternate this pattern for the length of your run and then warm down for a mile.
 
4. 3/2/1's:
Warm up a mile then run at 10k to half marathon pace for 3 minutes (2 min recovery); 2 minutes (3 minute recovery) and 1 minute (4 minute recovery). Repeat this 2-4 times and warm down a mile.
 
Hopefully these four workouts will spice up your tread (dread) mill running for the next few weeks until the weather clears!
Happy Training!
Jen

Winter training

It's been a no joke winter here in the North East! With another snowstorm predicted for Tuesday next week, on top of the snow we already have, it will be awhile before you can get outside on the bike without completely gunking it up with slush and road grime. Trails are out too, unless you snowshoe or cross country ski. For those of you who are grinding it out in the gym or at home in the basement on the trainer and/or treadmill, try these workouts to break up the boredom:

1) The Pyramid:
Warm up 20 minutes easy. Ladder up to 4 minutes and back down in 5 minute increments like this:
4 minutes easy/1 minute faster
3 minutes easy/2 min faster
2 minutes easy/3 minutes faster
1 min easy/4 minutes faster

then reverse it and head back down. Tack on a warm down for 10-15 minutes and you have a really nice 60-75 minute workout that flies by.
"faster" can mean a multitude of things:

• faster run speed
• higher RPMs
• Bigger gear on the bike
• exchange speed for a hill on the treadmill

2) The circuit:
Warm up for 10 minutes.
Alternate 3-4 minutes fast on the treadmill or trainer with one minute worth of functional strength training. Here's my favorite combinations after the warm up:
3 min cardio
20 push ups
3 min cardio
double arm bent over row with barbell
3 min cardio
Squat with a front raise (dumbbells)
3 min cardio
Box jumps (I use the stairs in my basement, second from the bottom)
3 min cardio
Alternating lunges with a bicep curl
3 min cardio
Dips
Warm down 10-15 minutes
Finish with abdominal crunches

Your 3 minutes of cardio can be all on the same piece of equipment or you can switch it up between the bike, treadmill or jump rope! Strength training in the one minute off typically equals a set of 20-25 repetitions so you don't have to stare at the clock. The switch up between the cardio and the strength training allows for new pathways to be created from your brain to motor units and the time flies by!

Give them a try and leave me a comment to let me know how you made out.
Happy training!

Fall is here!

Hopefully you had a fantastic racing season so far! With the triathlon season beginning to wind down in the Northeast, it's time to start thinking about what other types of racing there is available here on the east end.
Congrats to all the Mighty Hamptons, S.O.S., Westchester Toughman, Hempstead Triathlon participants and to Wynn Aker completing his first Ironman at Wisconsin yesterday! If you aren't ready to give up triathlon just yet there are a few more local races going on:

• The Mightyman Sprint and the Mightyman Half Ironman are taking place the weekend of Oct 2nd and 3rd. For details head over to http://www.eventpowerli.com/
• October 12th is the fourth annual Cedar Beach Sprint Triathlon.
• The Carl Hart Fall duathlon is October 17th
• The Wantagh Duathlon is October 24th

Just feel like doing some fall running?

• Saturday September 25th is the Great Cow Harbor 10k run
• The Flying Point 8k is in Southampton on the 26th
• Saturday October 2nd is the Entenmann's Great South Bay Run. 5k, 10k, or Half marathon.

Happy training and racing! Hope to see you out there!
~jen

Happy Summer!

There is so much going on this summer its hard to pick and choose. Lake swimming by Wildwood is in full effect with a regular group swimming at 6:15 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays and there are plenty of others swimming on the weekends as well, so be sure to post on the forum if you are looking for swim partners!

These are a few of my favorite upcoming events:

Sunday July 4th: Southampton Firecracker 8k run

Sunday July 11th: 2010 Gold Coast Tour

Sunday July 18th: Montauk Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon this typically sells out in the winter, sign up next year! Triathlons take alot of planning but you can easily volunteer for any of the events and get some training in on the course at some point that day. Check out The NYC triathlon on July 18th and IM Lake Placid on July 25th.

Sunday August 1: ING NYC marathon long training run # 1 No matter what distance race you are training for, running the organized long training run is a great way to get a distance run in on a supported course. Last year I did 18 training for an October marathon and Central Park is a great place to run.

Hope to see you out there, happy training and racing!

The "season" is here!

After a long, very long winter.... the time has come for some outdoor riding (and according to the forum) outdoor swimming!?!

Lots of upcoming running events to take part in:

• May 2 is the LI festival of races from Eisenhower Park.
• The greenbelt trail 25k and 50k are May 8th.
• May 16th is the Healing Heart 5k off road trail race to benefit the American Heart Association in Mattituck. (it's at Marth Clara Vineyards, wine tasting anyone?)

Many more to choose from, check out the local running event calendar here.

On the multisport front:

May 9th: The Carl Hart Mother's Day Duathlon
May 30th: Ironclad Triathlon
June 6th: Great South Bay Triathlon
June 12th: Mighty Montauk Triathlon

With local races every weekend, there is always something to do and many people to meet up with. Looking to train with some people! Don't be shy... post on the forum!

Happy training (and racing!)
Jen

Cycling friends! Meet and greet and find out what is happening for cycling on the east end

Annual East End Cycling Meeting

Sunday, March 7th

2:00 – 4:00 pm

One Ocean Road Restaurant

Bridgehampton

(corner of Montauk Highway and Ocean Road)

Guest Speakers:

NYS Assemblyman Fred Thiele

SC Legislator Jay Schneiderman

Find out how Spokespeople has been improving cycling for YOU this past year.

Discover ways YOU can help make the East End a better place to ride.

Sign up for a Cycling Skills class.

Find out how to become a Certified Cycling instructor.

Help us establish a 2010 agenda.

Hang out with other cyclists you haven’t seen in a while.

Make 2010 the year you make a difference for Long Island cycling!

SPOKESPEOPLE’s MISSION: To enhance the quality of life on eastern Long Island by promoting and facilitating road and trail cycling among citizens of all ages and all physical abilities for both recreation and transportation.

www.spokespeopleli.org