Equinox, the high-end fitness center chain popular in NYC and other major metropolitan areas is hosting an indoor triathlon competition in eight national regions including NYC February 13, 14 and 20 at its Columbus Circle, 63rd St and Greenwich Village locations respectively. The top 75 “qualifying members” will win a spot in the 2010 Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco. I’ve always been a fan of Equinox for the quality of the experience they provide their members, having coached a number of them to the finish line of their choosing over the years.

Indoor triathlon is a great way to break the boredom of winter triathlon training.  Asphalt Green and others have been doing it for years. Check out the Equinox Indoor Triathlon page here. For those members that do qualify, we hope you’re reading this and consider our triathlon coaching and sports nutrition services before you head out to California and the frigid waters of San Fran harbor and the infamous sand ladder…

Also worth checking out is the Equinox Lifestory Page of Trismarter.com Eat2Win client, AC Morgan. AC was featured in the media in 2008 for his performance at the 2008 Ironman World Championships, including the Wall Street Journal.

A recent study from the Journal of Applied Physiology demonstrates the importance of eating after exercise.  The results from this study, entitled “Energy deficit after exercise augments lipid mobilization but does not contribute to the exercise-induced increase in insulin sensitivity”, shows that consuming adequate carbohydrate and protein post training do more than prevent muscle fatigue and possible injuries.  Eating the right foods after training can increase insulin sensitivity and fight Type II diabetes.  Insulin sensitivity prevents individuals from becoming insulin resistant over time, which is the first sign of type II diabetes.  This study’s findings provide another reason why triathletes especially need to consume adequate nutrients in their post-training meals. Exercise has another benefit that could easily be lost if the correct diet is not consumed.

The bottom line: Pay attention to what you eat after a workout to get all of the added benefits of your workout.

Triathletes are always looking for the next best thing in terms of sports and general nutrition. A little sugar now and then never hurts though, right? 

Our very own Mary Ellen Bingham of the Trismarter.com Eat2Win Triathlon Nutrition team was called upon recently by Men’s Fitness for an article about the variety of sweeteners available. Say Mary Ellen, “Research is still so inconclusive. Pick your poison and limit it.” Read the entire article here.

Well said, Mary Ellen. 

Surprisingly, one of the sweeteners this article doesn’t mention is agave nectar. Here is an article making waves today on the safety of agave nectar. As Mary Ellen warned, the research is still inconclusive…

At the gym tonight I was forced to read Muscle and Performance Magazine…everything else worth reading (such as publications with factual information) was already taken.

In the article, entitled “TriHarder”, Lisa Palmer provides some tips for first-time triathletes on the swim, bike, run and, of course, in the gym (what else do you expect from a magazine called Muscle and Performance Magazine?). In the article, Ms. Palmer quotes experts in each of the disciplines and closes with the following:

 ”Triathlon training isn’t just about laps, pacing or intensity, it’s about improving your enjoyment of the multisport endurance event.”

OK. I’m not sure how one improves his or her “enjoyment of the multisport endurance event” without the aforementioned laps, pacing and intensity. Afterall, it is the training itself that should be enjoyable given the relatively few races the average athlete does each season in comparison to the overall training volume.

A Minnesota-based pro ironman triathlete quoted in the article states, “err on the side of volume” with respect to the bike. I suppose if there is any sport of the three that one could tolerate to “err”, it is the bike. However, given the fact that this article was written for novice triathletes, it’s not wise to spend more time than needed on the bike. Better to improve one’s weakness than to spend more time than needed on the bike. He goes on to say that prior to race day you can add “triathlon handlebars” to make the bike more aero. Once again we have to disagree. It’s never wise to make changes like this to equipment just before a race.

Bottom line, get your triathlon advice from expert sources, not from articles in muscle magazines that tout amino acid and protein powder concoctions 

Looking for some new triathlon running drills that are sure to increase power and efficiency? Check out Trismarter.com Triathlon Coach Lee Gardner’s recent article on USA Triathlon’s website, “Hill Drills: Running for Triathletes”. From the article:

 ”If you’ve ever been to the ballet, you’ve seen some incredibly gifted athletes (dancers) executing quite amazing movement: Leaping and bounding with precision and speed over distance, arguably not unlike great runners. Developing the ability of fast, powerful movement is something that we, as triathletes, are always striving for in our training, especially in running. One of the most proven ways to increase power, speed, and agility is to add specific exercises on hills to your running program. The following are three exercises that can be added to any running workout.”

 Read the entire article here.

Ever wonder what to eat after a workout to ensure adequate recovery? Feeling fatigued and without energy after your morning workout with an entire day of work ahead of you before getting to your evening session? Take a look at this informative article from our Eat2Win Triathlon Nutrition team:

“Your post-work out meal should consist of 300-500 calories within 1 hour of completion of activity, depending on your size, intensity of workout and your planned intake for the rest of the day. General recommendations suggest a 3:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio. More specific suggestions for endurance athletes indicate optimal post-workout intake should be approximately 0.8 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram (2.2lbs/kg) body weight and 0.2 to 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram body weight. This means a 154 lb man will need 56 to 84 grams of carbohydrate and 14 to 28 grams protein immediately after a workout. Including protein in the recovery diet may increase the insulin response to carbohydrate, thereby increasing the rate of glycogen synthesis.”

Read the entire article here. Contact us if you’d like to work with a sports nutritionist that specializes in triathlon nutrition.

From the Freakanomics blog over at nyt.com comes this interesting post regarding helmet laws and the intended and unintended consequences of those laws,

 ”There is also robust evidence for an unintended and previously undocumented mechanism: helmet laws produced modest but statistically significant reductions in youth bicycling participation of 4-5 percent.”

 And why might helmet laws lead to less people actually getting out there and riding their bike for commuting or pleasure purposes?

1. The cost of helmets, both monetary and social — i.e., Helmets are uncool, so if I’ve got to wear a helmet to ride my bike, I’ll find something else to do.

2. “There is evidence that youths have suboptimally high discount rates (Gruber 2001), such that some youths might place too little weight on the expected gain in future utility from the prevention of injury or death relative to the costs of wearing helmets today.”

3. Bike-helmet laws lower the price of activities similar to biking — skateboarding, rollerblading, etc. — that do not require a helmet.”

Movement is an important part of our total daily energy expenditure. Simple movement, such as walking, can contribute significantly to the number of calories we burn independent of our training sessions. Few appreciate just how many steps they take each day until those steps are quantified or measured. At Trismarter.com, we recommend that all of our Tri2Lose clients purchase and wear a pedometer. These are clients that are training for a triathlon to lose weight: they are already swimming, biking or running each day, yet we still encourage them to maintain or increase their non-exercise physical activity.

We know from the scientific literature that when people begin an exercise program they tend to compensated for that increased activity by moving less throughout the day. A pedometer can highlight these adaptations and choices. Historically, it has been recommended that Americans aim for 10,000 steps per day. Where this number comes from is not quite clear. What is clear, however, is that the higher the number the higher the activity level.

To use anecdotal evidence, I have been wearing a pedometer for the last two days. The first day involved no physical activity outside what is required to get to and from work, accomplish my work-related objectives throughout the day, move about the house, etc. The second day  was a weekend day and just about all I did was snowshoe up a mountain, go to the cafe, order take out (I walked to pick it up) and watch a DVD. The totals for the 2 days were 11,465 and 13,801 respectively. As you can see, my step count would have been tremendous had I combined my snowshoeing activities with those of my normal weekday daily living activities. This gets back to the point of “compensation”, either conscious or subconscious in terms of physical activity energy expenditure.

The point of all this is to highlight the importance of maintaining a high level of non-exercise physical activity when undergoing a weight loss program. Simple technology, like pedometers, make this possible. Similar to efficacy of food logs relative to dieting, pedometers make us acutely aware of just how much we move and help to encourage even more movement.

On Janurary 9, 2010 Trismarter.com Client Kelly Isfan (above), a hospital CEO from Ontario, Canada, traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to compete in the Mississippi Blues Marathon. Kelly is a Victory triathlon coaching client working with Trismarter.com Triathlon Coach Lee Gardner.

Via email from Kelly:

“The Mississippi Blues Marathon (also half marathon and marathon relay) is a fun and challenging race. The course is hilly for the first 9 miles, mostly flat in the middle miles, and the last 5 or 6 miles throw more hills at you which makes the run a real test at the end.

2010 was the third year for this race, and I have to say it is one of the best organized events I have ever seen. The volunteers were incredible – there were at least two volunteers at each intersection, along with a police traffic control. Every volunteer was smiling and most of them thanked me for running in Mississippi! There were aide stations at every other mile, well stocked with water, gatorade and Hammer Gel products. For a small marathon with less than 2000 participants, this race has all the amenities. First, the race swag was awesome. In addition to a cotton t-shirt with great graphics, each participant received an engraved harmonica! The race expo was a fair size, featuring performance wear as well as food, and Mississippi blues music cds – it ran for two full days so the expo vendor spaces weren’t overcrowded. The vibe at the expo was just like the race – friendly and welcoming. The race even had pace leaders, which was a really nice feature for a small event.

If you like the Blues, this is also the event for you. The expo and the race had some great music, and there was a blues music pub crawl organized for Saturday evening. Mississippi is/was home to many great blues artists – Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf and BB King to name just a few. A portion of the race proceeds goes to support the Mississippi blues Commission.”

Kelly not only crossed the finish line comfortably and confidently, but as the first Canadian of the day. Congrats Kelly!

I just couldn’t help posting this from the local Seven Days Staff Blog entitled, “Tri Harder- USA Triathlon Championships come to BTV”. Lauren Ober reports on the recent announcement (which we blogged on yesterday) that Burlington, Vermont (BTV) will play host to the 2011 and 2012 USA Triathlon Multisport Festival.

“For Burlington, this is a pretty big score. Triathlon is hugely popular and continues to draw more and more people into the fold. I’m not sure why. The idea of having to be proficient at more than one sport seems overwhelming. I’m barely good at one thing; I can’t imagine having to be good at three things. Plus, there’s that whole clothing issue — you have to bike and run in a swimsuit, essentially. And that’s pretty much like running in your undies. If I’m going running, which will be never, it’s going to be at night in my baggiest sweatsuit.”

Interesting.

Actually, Ms. Ober, you needn’t run around in neither your undies nor your baggiest sweatsuit as there is such a thing as a triathlon suit (tested in your very own Lake Champlain last year for another newspaper you may have heard of, The New York Times).

For more entertainment, read the entire post and the comments. Oh, and it’s Trismarter, not Tri Harder.