Healthy Lifestyle Archives - Transitions Physical Therapy

Is “stretching” and “warming up” the same thing?…No!

with 854 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Wellness

Afraid of pulling a hamstring? Then warm up sufficiently to reduce your risk of muscle strains. This doesn’t mean stretch out. The purpose of warming up is to prepare your body for movement and reduce your risk of injury. Increasing blood flow, oxygen and nutrients to your muscles will elevate your heart rate, body temperature and make your muscles more extensible.

A warm up is usually 10-15 minutes long and it may be a low intensity version of that activity you are about to perform. A brisk walk turning into a light job with some calisthenics are appropriate before activity. Hold off on long slow static stretches and replace them with dynamic movements intended to reduced muscle tension and improve range of motion. Research demonstrates “stretching” before activity, at least the long slow kind used to improve flexibility may even reduce your athletic performance and reduce your power output. Save the long slow stuff, for after when you are nice and warm.

Building Fitness With Friends

with 4,305 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Wellness

As you can imagine, or know first hand, Ironman training is very time consuming. As I mentioned last week, the juggle of balancing time with family and friends while training is challenge at time. This week I was thankful to spend time with people I love while training. My husband quietly rode next to me on our indoor trainers while I suffered through a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test. For those of you who are unfamiliar, basically you ride your bike for 5 minutes then 20 minutes all out and not die. It’s not fun. Like all tests, I did have a few days of test anxiety leading up to it. I did pretty well. However John said I didn’t pass out, vomit or fall off the bike so I probably could have pushed myself harder. Humm.. I’m not sure about that.

This weekend was no exception to the juggling act. We had four birthdays parties to attend mixed in with training. No hangovers, No missed training, while having fun with friends was the goal. Mission Accomplished!

Mixing things up this weekend outside of my regular routine helped get the job done. I was able to visit with my friend Shannon and train in her pool. Let me tell you, If you are not a swimmer you might not understand how staring at the line at the bottom of the pool for a couple of hours each week can be maddening. Swimming in a beautiful outdoor pool makes your workout so much more enjoyable. However lightening did cut my swim short. I value my life more than more yards.

My favorite training session this weekend was my bike ride. My sweet friends were supportive of my bike assignment, keeping me company on my warm up and cool down and cheering me on between power blocks. The miles go by so much faster with great company.

Sunday I did my first double run session. I have never ran twice in one day before. One of those birthday parties was brunch. With brunch comes mimosas. Orange juice is good for you but probably not champagne when you have to run later. Lets just say I continued the juggle but this time with coffee and water. A few hours later the 30 minute run was not too bad. Let’s just say I did not add these details to my coach’s notes on Training Peaks.

Have a great week!

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“Manage your Sh#t!”

with 102 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Wellness

I am new to having a coach for triathlon and new to having someone, other than myself, to hold me accountable to my training program.

My coach is remote and we are just getting to know each other. Most of our weekly communication is through TrainingPeaks, email, and messenger. Preparing for my last race he gave me race day directions and told me to “manage my sh#t.” I laughed thinking about what he meant when he wrote those words. I find myself often repeating the expression since hearing it. Yesterday I think i found the perfect example of what he meant by those words “manage your sh#t.”

The weekend usually involves long bike rides and long runs or a combination of both riding and running. My bike workout was supposed to be 3 hour 30 minute to just get in some miles. I planned to join some friends riding in Clermont. If you are unfamiliar, Clermont is the only place to go to ride hills in Florida. The drive takes close to an hour to get there so I woke up very early to get all my stuff packed up for a long morning of riding hills.

When I pulled into the parking lot many riders were eagerly getting ready to start their day. I was excited to start the day as well. I pulled everything out of my Jeep, put on all my gear and jumped on my bike to quickly discover the battery was dead to my electronic shifting. I started to panic to think of how I am going to miss out on my much needed hill training and then have to drive an hour home to then go for a very long bike ride. I was so upset at myself and disappointed with how my day was turning out.

Prayers were answered. There was a solution. My fellow friend, the “Bearded Bike Doctor,” a mobile bike mechanic, was there and saved the day. His wife is my size and rides a bike pretty close to the same size I do. She had just finished up a morning ride herself. The bike doctor was quickly able to transform her bike into one I could ride. He took some quick measurements, moved a few things around, swapped out some pedals and boom…a bike ready for me.

Another lesson learned for me. Check your equipment the night before and the morning of your event to be sure you are ready to roll. I will not let that happen again. Thanks again to the Bearded Bike Doctor and his generous wife. I was able to get in my training and had a great day.

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Mission: Anything Is Possible! Brain Training

with 37 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Ironman Running

At about the age of 5 or 6, per the recommendation of my Physical Education Teacher, my parents enrolled me in gymnastics classes. I guess I was always full of energy and often swinging on the monkey bars, jumping and flipping around the gym mats at school that putting me in a organized gymnastics class seemed to be a good idea. I am thankful for Ms. Marvin’s recommendation as I continued doing gymnastics even into college.

From early on in my gymnastics career I was taught the power of mental imagery training. At a very young age I was taught that the thoughts we put into our head will affect our performance. If you wanted to have a perfect performance you need to practice perfect thoughts. Our coach would turn the lights down and we would have to lay still working on relaxation and breathing and imagine ourselves going through our routines with perfection. We would do this so many times before each event would be prepared to give a perfect performance.

Of course we still needed to practice and complete thousands of repetitions to perfect our skills but what I did learn is that all the practice in the world will not matter if your mind is not right. You have to include brain training to be good at sports (and life). If you can teach your mind to think positive thoughts your body can follow. If your mind is full of negative thoughts before, after or during the event, you will fall apart.

This weekend of triathlon training was a reminder of the importance of brain training. I had a few tough sessions that really tested me physically but more so mentally. We often confuse pain signals when we are fatigued. I am tired, this hurts, I need to slow down, quite, stop. Our mind can gives up before our body really needs to give up or slow down. Sometimes when I feel like I am dying I do a systems check. I will ask myself If I am really hurt or injured? Is my heart rate within expected range? Am I light headed? If the answer is no to my systems check, I often know my mind is getting the best of me. Then I ask myself what is the problem? Ok I am tired. Negative thoughts can start to enter our minds when we get fatigued. We can start to check out as our thoughts wander to the dark side.

Here is where brain training comes into play. I have already pictured myself performing well. In my mind I have actually pictured my bike splits, watts and pace, I have already envisioned what numbers I will see when I look down at my bike computer or watch. I want to see those numbers because I have practiced them in my head and in my training. I am capable of this. Negative thoughts try to creep in because it is hard. I move on to some of my mantras “finish line is waiting for you,” “pain is temporary,” “this is a gift, be grateful,” “one step closer,” “you got this.” If I am able to control my thoughts most often my body will respond favorably. I am thankful I realize the relationship and work hard on setting my mind straight. This takes time, practice and consistency.

Taking a “Staycation” for Relaxation

with 78 Comments Healthy Lifestyle

Ironman training can be a real buzz kill when it comes to weekend plans.

Getting up early for long training sessions over the weekend limits motivation to make plans for late night adventures. The weekends are usually not just full of training but catching up on laundry, housework, errands and everything else you have to do as an adult. However planning a “staycation” was the perfect way to have some fun, get some sleep and relax instead of chores.

This past weekend we stayed at the HardRock in Orlando. Porter even traveled with us as Lowes Properties are pet friendly. We took the day off work Friday to get in a 4 hour bike ride before our departure. Of course we couldn’t completely skip training but shifting some sessions around we felt like we had some time off. Friday night we met some friends for a concert at the House of Blues. Social Distortion was playing and is one of John’s favorite bands. We had a great time and we made it past 12 a.m. which was a first a while.

Saturday was a day off from training. We slept in and ate breakfast like many people do on Saturday mornings. The rest of day we spent at the pool with our friends. It was overcast most the day which was perfect for us as we get enough sun with all the training. We rented a cabana so we had a perfect place to lounge, eat, drink, play games and listen to music. We followed a great pool day up with an amazing dinner. Another night we made it pas 12!

Sleeping in again on Sunday felt great. We stuffed ourselves at a breakfast buffet before we checked out of the hotel. One of best things about a staycation is when it is time to leave, you know home is close. A quick drive home and boom back to reality. Off for my long run before on to my nap.

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Sitting Is The New Smoking

with 1,540 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Wellness

Sitting is the “new smoking” according to Dr. Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative. According to the World Health Organization, the fourth largest killer of preventable disease…sitting!

Sitting or Sedentary lifestyle does not exclude the runners and gym rats. Applaudable yes, but what are you doing the other 23 or so hours of the day? If the answer includes, sitting …while eating, driving to work, while at work, driving home…all the sitting may negate the benefits of your hard work and sweat.

Sitting or sedentary lifestyle, is detrimental to our health. Increasing your risk of serious illness such as heart disease, type II diabetes, depression, obesity and musculoskeletal issues to name a few. Our bodies are designed to move. If you are sitting, your not moving. When sitting, muscles tighten up and weaken, circulation slows, disc pressure increases. Stand up!

Ok so we can’t stand while we drive, at least not yet anyway but we can reduce optional sitting during the day. Stand up at work, if not all day, then get up and move 5 minutes of every hour. Movement improves neurocognitive function so your productivity might increase as a result.

Standing desks are a growing trend in the workplace. Can’t afford Varidesk, check out Pinterest for DIY ideas!

Check out these apps to help get you moving during your work day:

One Minute Mobility Clinic:

Standing Split Squat/Lunge: Hold your abdominals tight, engage or tighten your rear glut, move into a lunge position, focus on neutral alignment , don’t let your knee of your front leg pass over your toes.

Quad Stretch: Use your desk or chair back for balance, bend one knee , reach back to grab your leg above your ankle ligaments, pull your heel towards your buttock. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged and your alignment in neutral. Focus on breathing and relaxing into the stretch. Hold 30 seconds working up to one minute. 1-3 reps.

Arm Circles: Standing tall with your core engaged, reach over head with a locked elbow, thumb pointing behind you. Start your circle backwards, palm moving away from you. Repeat 10 each arm. Change directions.

Forearm stretch: Using your desktop or chair seat. Start palms down,fingers pointing toward you, with slight bend to your elbow. Slowly start to extend your elbows. Hold 30 seconds, repeat 1-3 reps.Repeat with palms up.

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Ironman Training: The CryoSpa Experience

with 215 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Ironman Running

This sport (sports) is so time consuming, especially training for distance events such as an Ironman. At times you feel like you could use a few more hours in each day to accomplish everything you had planned and to recover from one workout until the next.

This weekend was no exception. I had a weekend stacked with miles and hard miles. I am now less than three weeks out from 70.3 World Championships so my workouts have been building with power and my legs are feeling it.

This week I decided to add in some extra recovery to my plan to see how my legs would manage the weekend. If you have never heard of a “Cryospa” you need to check it out. It’s the coldest three minutes of your life but well worth the freeze. I am lucky we have one here locally inside CrossFit Lake Mary.

I like to call it the “cold chamber.” As you can see in the video attached to my post, you stand inside the chamber with your head exposed. I can be a little claustrophobic at times, like in my wetsuit, but this did not bother me that way at all. The cold is from Nitrogen. The temperature was actually -251 F, now that is cold! The first minute in there is not that bad, the second minute you are really starting to freeze, the third minute you stare at the clock waiting to get out. After you get out, you jump on the bike for five minutes to accelerate the blood rush back to the extremities.

When I first used the chamber this week I was having pain in my left calf muscle from a pretty intense bike trainer workout. The calf definitely felt better after the first session in the spa and gone by the second session. The second session was after my long bike ride Saturday to help my legs recover for Sunday’s long run. My run was great. Best I have felt in a long time. I look forward to heading back!

The purpose of the CryoSpa is to accelerate recovery (healing) but also has many other benefits. I was most interested in the accelerated healing benefit but CryoSpa is also useful for pain management, especially people with chronic pain. This would be worth trying for people that are trying to find an alternative to popping pills for pain control. So don’t be a chicken.

Check out the CryoSpa yourself and get your freeze on! http://crossfitlakemary.com/cryotherapy/

Ironman Journey: World Championships Race Experience Sep 25

with 1,693 Comments Healthy Lifestyle Ironman

Hard to believe we are in the last week of September. This month has been busy with work, training, racing and hurricane preparation and clean up. Before the month is over I wanted to share my experience racing at the World Championships in Chattanooga on Saturday September 9th.

The trip to Tennessee started off with a 14 hour car ride through the night as we were leaving the state with millions of evacuees as Hurricane Irma was heading towards Florida. Pulling into our hotel at 8am the morning before the race with no sleep, race and hurricane stress is not how I envisioned this trip to start. I was already sad as my husband was unable to make the trip due to work responsibilities with an approaching hurricane. I understood but was still sad he wouldn’t be there. I felt awful to think Florida was in a state of emergency as I head off to race a triathlon. I guess you can’t control these things. With the well wishes to race anyway, my two co-pilots made the trip possible and helped keep my nerves down.

With two hours of sleep, I got up and made my way to athlete and bike check in. The expo was large, athletes and spectators everywhere. I could tell I was getting ready for a unique race experience. The day was smooth, I think I was running on adrenaline. For dinner I met up with my teammates from Moxie. Everyone was excited and lots of chatter about the anticipated swim current (as the swim was upstream) and the crazy hard climb up Lookout Mountain. I had a glass of wine, was the best thing I did all day to calm my nerves.

Race morning! Since we had to check bikes and gear bags in the day before, there was not much to do before my 7:38 am swim start. I was able to sleep in until 5:30am. This is late for a race morning. I slept terrible anyway.

I went down to the team tent and was able to catch up with some teammates before the race. I had the earliest swim start for our team. I had some help getting my wetsuit on and made my way to the swim start. This race had a rolling start, ten athletes at a time, would jump off the dock into a cross current swim that would quickly turn to an up river swim. In the staging area I met up with another friend from my home team of Seminole County Triathletes. She was nervous too. We were packed into a large pack of women 40-44 years old. We ended up in the middle to the back of the pack as we had well over 200 women in our group. Positioning didn’t seem important so I was just trying to amp myself up before jumping into the water.

The swim was not as difficult as I had anticipated. I could feel the current but I was more focused on the fact I could not see the buoys as the sun was so bright. I made my way up river asking a few kayakers where the next buoy was. I swam head first into three of them. Well at least I was swimming fairly straight. When the swim was over I was so excited that I was running with my wetsuit and gear bag up the red carpet when I fell. Yup, total yard sale stuff everywhere! I laughed it off as I continued up the red carpet to Transition One (T1). Transition was different than most Half Ironmans but simple enough. I ran into my teammate again and we wished each other good luck for the course ahead.

Onto the bike! I was mentally prepared for what was supposed to be a crazy difficulty 25 miles of climbing of the 56 mile bike course. The warm up was short, only four miles before starting the climb up Lookout Mountain. Living in Florida I have never been able to climb such long and winding roads. I loved it! The course was extremely difficulty but it’s the World Championships and it should be! I exerted a lot more effort on the bike than I had reviewed with my coach. I was nervous I would not be able to run but I felt so good and was having so much fun. Not really the approach to take but I had nothing to lose. I wanted to give it my all.

Onto the run! Wow! Again, lots of climbing. The course was two loops. Lots of spectators and aid stations. My travel companions were everywhere cheering me on. That helped so much! I really focused on staying on top of my nutrition all day and using the wet sponges to cool me down. I had a strong run the first loop but started to die about mile ten on the second loop. I was able to pull it together for a strong run to the finish line. I did my Moxie dunk at the finish. I was happy to be done. The finish line is always a mix of emotions. Literally blood (from my earlier fall), sweat and tears. Sad John wasn’t there to catch up but my friends and teammates were there with cold beer and a place to relax as we cheered the rest of the day.

I am thankful to my husband for his continuous support, my family, friends and teammates from all three teams I belong too. Big shout out to my team sponsors and the support crew at Lake Mary CrossFit, D2 Cycling and the Bearded Bike Doctor. We have less than 6 weeks before the big one..Ironman Florida here we come!

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