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80/20 Stuff...
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Friday, 20 March 2015 01:10
YndeCam Photo - A great pic that has little or nothing to do with the story.
By Mackenzie Lobby Havey (triathlon.competitor.com)
Follow the 80/20 rule for new performance gains.
To get to the finish line the fastest you have to power through at your hardest effort, but when it comes to training, a growing body of research confirms that endurance athletes should be doing 80 percent of their training at a low intensity and the other 20 percent at a moderate or high intensity. Simply put, hammering your way through every workout is ill advised.
The latest of these studies, published in the Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, demonstrated this by rounding up a group of recreational runners who ran between 30 and 43 miles per week. Half of the participants followed the 80/20 rule, ...
The Strength to Back Off...
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Thursday, 19 March 2015 01:10
By Angie Anderson (usatriathlon.org)
“One of the most important keys to success is having the discipline to do what you know you should do, even when you don’t feel like doing it.” –Unknown
This quote is typically read as a motivator. Be inspired! Be great! To quote Nike, “Just Do It!”
For a highly driven, motivated athlete, getting the work done is seldom an issue. Photos of professional athletes training through sleet and snow, wind, hail, cold, hills and heat are everywhere. We are inundated with inspiration. The harder our session, the stronger we are. Athletes are defined by their last challenge.
The problem with this innate drive however, can be a resistance to stop when injury or illness hits. Athletes want to race. They want to train. They are terrified of losing fitness. They train because they love it. They have a goal, and there is work to be done to accomplish their goal! ...
Not Resenting Your Triathlete Husband...
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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 01:10
By Laura Radniecki (trueagagpe.net)
The word “triathlon” had very little meaning to me five years ago.
I knew what a triathlon was, and I knew a few friends who had taken the triathlon class offered back when we were in high school. But aside from knowing it included three different sports, and sometimes involved a big race called an Ironman, I didn’t know much.
Oh, how things change.
My husband Matt spent 2005-2009 as an Active Duty Marine, stationed on Oahu, Hawaii. During that time, he did two tours to Iraq. Matt’s time was spent either training up for a deployment, or readjusting back to normal life after returning stateside, leaving little time for hobbies.
In 2010, we had moved back home to Minnesota, and Matt was in an accelerated bachelors degree program at the local college. He was busy, but life looked very different from what it had the previous four years....
Chocoholic Animalitarian...
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Tuesday, 17 March 2015 07:10
WARNING - This post may contain silly embellishments.
Going Off Course - Forest Lake triathlete JEN WILSON is a Humanitarian. She has a huge heart and works tirelessly to raise funds and awareness for the American Heart Association.
She is also an "Animalitarian." A big part of her Texas-size heart is devoted to animal stuff and other than her husband, who looks kinda like a sandy-blond version of Tom Cruise (photo L), circa 1990, she loves animals more than anything, with the possible exception of chocolate.
It should come as no surprise that Jen is a Veterinary Technician, which is really a vague title, but we think that it means that she helps veterinarians take care of sick and/or injured animals.
With her Tom Cruisey husband, Mr. Wilson, she owns and lovingly cares for TEN animals, not including the squirrel monkies (photo L), which she named Rafiki (Swahili for "Friends") and Abu (a minor god of vegetation in Sumerian mythology), that she tried unsuccessfully to smuggle out of Mexico. Five of her personal pets are horses, which eat and poop a lot. We reckon the Wilson's are doing well financially and are thus able to afford to feed their animals. Even at Costco, bags of Purina Horse Chow aint cheap. And remember, Jen's got to feed her dogs, cats and rabbit, too. (FYI, rabbits don't really like carrots, not the orange carroty part, anyway. They prefer the leafy top.We thought you'd like to know that.)
Wow! That's a lot of expensive eating and stinky pooping! It's probably for the best that Jen and Mr. Wilson couldn't keep the monkies....
Guys of Yesteryear...
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Tuesday, 17 March 2015 01:10
Chatting with a longtime member of the MMA Selection Committee recently, we asked each other some "coulda" and shoulda" questions. Over boutique coffee, we talked about how difficult it is to make Team Minnesota, and how much more difficult it would be if athletes hadn't moved away, or retired, or gotten career-ending injuries. Since a significant percentage of Minnesota's multisport athetes had adopted the lifestyle after 2009, it is likely that they have never heard of some of the talented men and women of yesteryear.
Being totally into the history of our sport, we thought it would be cool to do some name-dropping. Here are some of the men who have made past editions of Team Minnesota but have not raced, locally at least, in the last five-plus years.
- DAN COHEN - Decorated tri coach last earned a spot on Team Minnesota in 2010. Dan has twelve career wins, was Rookie of the Year in 2000 and won the Most Improved award in 2006. Dan is a muscular guy who looks a lot like former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber. He was married not long ago to Kat Schlaefer (photo L), who has great legs and is an occasional HOOT!, and they have a new baby girl who is very, very cute and is doomed to being above average in every way....
