Thursday, May 1, 2008

Prep week

I studied up on Mark Vestegen’s Core Performance Endurance last week and this week I have been going through the exercises in a dry run before starting training proper next week. The foundation of the program broken down into three elements; Power, Strength and Regeneration. Power days comprise three exercise; Movement Prep (think stretching) Prehab (think core workout) and Elasticity (think pylometrics) units along with Energy System Development (ESD, basically intervals dictated by heart rate zones). Strength days consist of Movement Prep which focuses on developing mobility and stability and ESD which builds cardio strength. The last element is Regeneration which is about active recovery and involves stretching and foam rollering and also has part specific areas; knees, hips, back etc.

I will be the first to admit the program is pretty confusing to start with and to be honest this is probably why I picked it up the book last year and put it back down again. This time I persevered and this week I have gone through the “floor exercises” and avoided the ESD, just to get a feel for them and figure out what is what. The nice thing is that they while they are prescribed you can push them to own limits, and already there are some things that I can do better than others; I can hold a Pillar Bridge Front for 2 x 1 minute, but struggle to hold a Lateral Pillar Bridge for 2 x 30 seconds. Some of the stretches I am familiar with and some of them are new along with the self massaging techniques both of which take a little time and effort to get correct. The nice thing is that there is a website where you can register and get a weeks free trial and have access to a library of videos showing you how to execute the move. I am still in the process of pulling together the training plan in terms of mileages etc and will have that complete in the next day or so. I need to incorporate 30 minutes of this Core Program into my total workout time per day, this already gives me 3 plus hours worth of training before I even put on my running shoes or get on my bike. The idea here is that I will work through the first 8 weeks and see how I feel before deciding on which race; Mt Disappointment or the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run.

On the shoe front, I might have made a breakthrough and have been walking about this week in a pair of Salomon XT Wings, (in sexy sorbet sherbet orange, that's my marketing genius at work!) and while they initially felt a little loose and the Kevlar lacing took some time to get used to, they seem to bedding in quite nicely. I’ll be taking them for a trail spin this weekend, failing that I did manage to score a pair of Montrail Continental Divides off the 'net for $40.00, that's a 65% discount, so fingers crossed that one of these will work; I really would like to get this shoe thing sorted out.

10 comments:

  1. Ill be interested to see how this works for you. I too bought the book about 6 months ago and never realy put it to use

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  2. Dude, just reading that fist paragraph had me confused. No wonder you put it down and then picked it back up LOL

    And of course you just HAD to throw in the deal of the week, huh? :P Dannnggg 65% off?!?

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  3. I have been looking for some good trail running shoes but am out of my element here. Discuss more.

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  4. Whoa, that sounds complicated. The title doesn't even make sense to me. Is this basically Core Performance for Endurance runners?

    Hope you finally have the right shoe. I know how maddening it can be.

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  5. I start vibrating like a tuning fork if I hold those bridges for more than 30 seconds. And I seem to be the only person in the gym to be doing them. The rest of the people go only for tummu crunches. A little variation wouldn't hurt.

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  6. Sounds like you have a lot of new things happening. you are such the book worm!!

    So you scored a pair of trail shoes for $40... you hit the lottery for sure.

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  7. hi! thanks again for your insight... i picked up the Nike Vomero 3's. It's more on the neutral side. I've only managed to have enough time for 2 treadmill runs since picking them up... and not sure i'll have a chance tomorrow before my 10k race sunday... so keeping my fingers crossed :) Hope your shoes work out well too!! wish i woulda gotten a good price like yours though lol -- have a great weekend

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  8. Thanks for the tip! I'm definitely going to have to check this book out! Hope the shoes treat you nice :)

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  9. My coach has me doing the lateral pillar bridge. Evil stuff, but effective. I feel getting stronger each week. Also intersting is that my coach sent me an e-mail to buy the same book. Off I go to Amazon.

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  10. I wonder if anything in the book would help me get my piriformis syndrome in control?....

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