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Yamuna Body Rolling – Better than Foam Rolling?
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Workout Wednesday: Run Strength
Happy Hump Day! Workout Wednesday’s will consist of favorite workout of mine that I either have prescribed to my clients or have been assigned by MY Coach. It might also be a favorite of yours. Feel free to send me any workouts you like. There will be an objective for every workout for specificity.
Run Strength – Hill Repeats
I am not a huge fan of weights or being in the gym. As the summer wore on and Florida continued to increase in heat I found myself spending more and more time in the gym and on the treadmill, but I still prefer to be outside. This workout will work leg strength as a replacement for a gym resistance workout or a supplement to. It can be done either on the Treadmill or outside with a hill that takes 2-3 minutes to run up, or here in Florida we use parking garages.
WU (Warm-up): Run Drills & Dynamic Stretching
1-2 miles @ conversational pace
MS (Main Set):
Hill Bounders on uphill
Recover for 30 sec – 2 minutes
Speed over strides on Downhill
Repeat for up to 30 minutes
CD (Cool Down): 1-2 miles @ conversational pace
Lunges & Static Stretches
Objective: Leg strength, Aerobic capacity, Form Development & Confidence on Hills
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE): 5-7 on the uphills (Talking should be very difficult)
Description: Run a hilly course. Do not try to run fast on the uphills but rather concentrate on a good knee lift, strong arm swing, uplifted chest and full push-off extension in your back leg. Practice running efficiently on the downhills with high turnover and enough of a forward lean that your front leg lands directly under you.
Hill Bounders: go up the hill with a bouncy action and a good posture, concentrating on a good knee lift and arm swing with a “snap” with your ankle. You should be thinking Spring up the hill. Jog until recovered at the top.
Speed Over striders: Run down the hill with out breaking but increasing your cadence with the steepness of the hill. Instead of completely striding out elongating your stride, focus on increasing your cadence with a normal stride.
Biggest Mistakes: Running too fast up the hill rather than concentrating on form. Running too hard up the hill and getting into too much oxygen debt. This is not desirable in this phase .Putting more stress on the legs than they are ready for with too much bounding or downhill running and getting injured. Precipitating your peak with repeated speed bursts. Some people tend to develop speed very quickly once they start doing the hill circuit. If this is the case, go very easy with downhill striding and on the stride-outs. You’ll still have plenty of time to develop speed to maximum. Premature speed development would only lead to premature peaking and this should be avoided.
Warning: The first week of hill training is one of the times where injury is most likely to occur. This is a very demanding exercise, so be overly cautious and feel your way gradually. After about 2 weeks in this phase your legs could feel very tired and you may feel you’re actually slower. This is normal and will pass within a couple of weeks of consistently completing the workout.
I hope you enjoy this one. I know I do.
What kind of workout do you do for run strength?
Carpe Vitam!
Tribute Thursday – Matt “IronBeast” Dolitsky
There are a number of you that call me “crazy” for continuing to do Ironman Triathlons and keeping the training schedule I do during the season. At least it is the inspiring kind of “crazy” right? I enjoy training and obtaining results as a part of it, not to mention just maintaining my fitness level. There is one person out there that I call “crazy” in the inspiring kind of way. He puts all of my 100 mile bike rides, two-a-day workouts and mega brick training workouts to shame. He makes me look like a couch potato and he is more inspiring and motivating that any person I know. Let me introduce a guy who continues to motivate, inspire and just plain amazes me; Matthew “IronBeast” Dolitsky.
Imagine if you will, a 9 mile obstacle course, that includes swimming in cold water, then a rope climb over a wall to exit the lake. Imagine again doing this is in 30-40 degree temperatures. Of course that is only one obstacle there are 29 others as well. Now imagine doing that course as many times in 24 hours as possible. Does that sound crazy to you? This is “The World’s Toughest Mudder“(WTM), and Matt will be competing in that this coming weekend. What makes it even more amazing, is that he is competing in it for the second time!
Matt claims he is average, and when I was talking to him about doing this blog he said, and I quote, “I’m just an average dude too just an above average pain tolerance and insane determination!” All I can say is “Yeah, right!”
What does it take to compete in adventure obstacle challenges like this? Let me give you an example. I caught Matt training one day on Swann Drive flipping a huge tire for a mile. Does that sound crazy? How about a 75 mile bike ride on a mountain bike that didn’t start until 10pm? How about a 3 mile swim around Harbor Island here in Tampa? Matt incorporates these workouts as training on a regular basis and I think these are his easy workouts. During the Gasparilla Half Marathon I did, pass Matt, but there was a huge difference. I wasn’t carrying a tire on my half marathon, but Matt was.
Matt also inspires others constantly, and to a point where he is bringing a few people to the World’s Toughest Mudder with him.
Matt and I met at Fit2Run while I was coaching there. We were on a run together and I helped him (I think) relax a little on his run. This was at the very beginning of his journey into ultra obstacle racing. From there he was like a rocket ship. Last year, I received a message from him on FaceBook asking me if there was an Ironman he could get into. I laughed a little and told him after WTM and the Spartan Death Race, Ironman wouldn’t even challenge him, but I told him about Louisville. He set his sites on it and wouldn’t you know it, he completed it as expected. Needless to say Matt inspires me and a bunch of others every day.
Enough of my soap box about Matt. Let’s let him talk for a bit.
Name: Matthew Dolitsky
Age / Sign: 43 Years old, Gemini
Location: Tampa, FL
Place growing up: Long Island, NY
High School: Half Hollow Hills HS West
High School sports: Lacrosse & Hockey
College: University of South Florida
Location: Tampa, FL
Place growing up: Long Island, NY
High School: Half Hollow Hills HS West
High School sports: Lacrosse & Hockey
College: University of South Florida
Other Sports: Adventure Obstacle Racing, Triathlon
List your favorite races:
List your favorite races:
Ironman Louisville
Spartan Ultra Beast Marathon
World’s Toughest Mudder
Death Race
I refer to you as not just a beast but an UltraIronBeast, because of the challenges you compete in. What made you start doing these Ultra-Mud-Obstacle challenges? I stumbled upon my first obstacle race about 2 years ago. It was a basic 3 mile mud race but after finishing the race, I felt invigorated with a sense of accomplishment. Shortly thereafter, I “Finished” Tough Mudder and my passion for obstacle races and extreme challenges was born.
Now that you have competed in both mega Obstacles Races like the World’s Toughest Mudder and Ironman, how do you compare the two?
Comparing World’s Toughest Mudder or even the Death Race to IRONMAN is very difficult. The bottom line with any of the three is that simply making the commitment to get to the start line is scary enough and takes great fortitude! Once you make it to the start line, reality sets in and you now have to endure everything thrown at you or face a DNF. A 140.6 mile IRONMAN triathlon is never comfortable but there is comfort in knowing exactly what you are getting into. It’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. Barring variations in terrain and weather conditions, it’s pretty straight forward. Long and hard but straight forward. World’s Toughest Mudder and the Death Race are totally different beasts. They do not tell you what you will be doing PERIOD! Sure, you have an idea from previous races and intelligence gathering but you better get yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable really quickly and embrace every miserable moment of it. World’s Toughest Mudder in New Jersey is 24-26 hours of running a Tough Mudder course on steroids braving miserable cold temperatures while running in layers of neoprene. The Death Race was 70 hours of hiking gnarly terrain in the mountains of Pittsfield, Vermont while building stone stair cases up the mountain, doing countless burpees, chopping wood, endless manual labor, running, carrying 50+ lb. packs of supplies, etc. while not sleeping for 3 days! With all that being said, the one thing that all three races require is mental grit because everyone of them will expose your weaknesses and tell you to quit at some point. If you have the mental element coupled with proper training, your body will do whatever the mind tells it to do!
If you could give me one adjective to describe the feeling you get when you are working what would it be?
get when you are working what would it be? One word to describe how I feel when working out or training is HAPPY. Training makes me feel healthy and alive and that equals HAPPINESS. I love being outdoors. When I’m outdoors training, I’m in my element and the result is overall HAPPINESS. It makes any negative thought that creeps into my mind disappear.
What is going through you mind while you are competing during a course like the Spartan Death Race or WTM?
While I’m competing in races like World’s Toughest Mudder and the Death Race, I focus on micro movements while thinking of the race as a whole. If I take my mind off my next foothold or hand placement, I could get hurt. I must be focused on every series of movements the entire way through! I have to become like a machine and keep performing consistently, safely, efficiently, and patiently. I repeat this for the duration of the race until I am finished!
You have children that I know you love and adore. For all of the parents out there, how do you balance the amount of training you do with work and family?
Balancing kids, work, and training can be challenging. Essentially, I 
balance my training around work and kids. Sometimes I’m up early in the morning to train and other times I’m up late at night training. It’s not uncommon for me to finish training at 2am. It’s about committing to my goals! Reaching goals and finishing races happens long before race day. It’s about putting in the hard work and hours of training. My races are unorthodox and so is my training. I always try to train in conditions worse than I’ll experience on race day. This way, conditions for me will always seem ideal! I often take advantage of blocks of time I have available to train. I’m very spontaneous and flexible.
balance my training around work and kids. Sometimes I’m up early in the morning to train and other times I’m up late at night training. It’s not uncommon for me to finish training at 2am. It’s about committing to my goals! Reaching goals and finishing races happens long before race day. It’s about putting in the hard work and hours of training. My races are unorthodox and so is my training. I always try to train in conditions worse than I’ll experience on race day. This way, conditions for me will always seem ideal! I often take advantage of blocks of time I have available to train. I’m very spontaneous and flexible.What would you say is your greatest personal obstacle you ever overcame?
Everyday, I overcoming the greatest obstacle there is. Life. I’m trying to keep life as simple as I can make it. Living each day as it comes. Trying to be happy, make a positive impact, motivate and inspire others, and be a loving father to my two boys. I’m surrounding myself with positive people in the racing community, gaining some awesome sponsorships, and accomplishing things I never thought possible. I’m also learning from some mistakes along the way.
What is your greatest victory? While crossing the finish line at IRONMAN Louisville was pretty amazing, living a life of happiness will be my biggest victory. Something I’m trying to achieve everyday.
What are your future goal races?
Double Anvil IRONMAN, Fuego y Agua Survival Run in Nicaragua, Bill Floyds 8 mile swim from Clearwater to Tampa
What are you favorite quotes?
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” -Mark Twain
Shout outs from Matt “UltraIronBeast” Dolitstky : His sponsors VPX Team Xtreme OCR, Reload Fitness, Mud and Adventure, and AL1VE Magnetics.
Matt is pretty inspiring right? Check him out on FaceBook at Facebook.com/matthew.dolitsky
Carpe Viam!
Catching back up with the Goof
My intention for re-starting this blog was to write more often, but the more I want to write, the more I find I have less to write about. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately. I enjoy reading them when I have the time, the only problem I am having is I am having way too many “A-HA” moments. I read a great post and think to myself, “I should have written about that”, or “that was a great idea”, or the famous “I was going to write about that too.” The issue I am having is being original and unique. What does this mean exactly (as you may be scratching your head going, ok Goof, get on with it already)? It means I have two choices. As I peruse the new group I have been welcomed into, The Tampa Bay Bloggers, I notice two distinct kinds of blogs, the knowledge based, and the journal. While both can provide very interesting information, I find that the latter can become a little monotonous. Now for me, it doesn’t matter because I know, or am getting to know, most of the journal type bloggers and I enjoy reading those, but if I wasn’t associated with them, would I really want to read them? I am not quite sure.
My struggle is that I want my posts to be creatively amusing while being interesting in a way where one of three things comes out of each post for each reader. 1) You laugh (or at least smile), 2) learn something, or at least remember that you learned it, or 3) you are emotional moved to some sort of action. I don’t care if you end up being incredibly angry or even angry at me, if you are moved in some way I think I may have accomplished my goal. Now is this too much to ask?
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| Susan & friend at WHM 2012 |
Regressing back to the title of this blog “Catching back up with the Goof”, let me give you the latest chronological items.
I was ecstatic to see my friends run the Women’s Half Marathon the weekend before Thanksgiving. I had the opportunity to go out and cheer once again for a certain group of running and tri peeps and then being surprised to find even more women I knew that were running. Kudos go out to Kat from Sneakers n’ Fingerpaints, Beka from Rebecca Roams, Anderson, Sarah, Jessica from Jet City Espresso, Elisa, Caitlin from Live, Sweat, Sleep, Repeat, Susan, and all the others out there I am probably missing. It was a race that was a pleasure to watch and not just because there were a lot of fit and hot looking women in spandex(get your mind out of the gutter), but because the energy was higher than really a ton of races I have been a part of. Maybe there is something to this “Girl Power” thing. Can we harness it as a natural resource? Can we use it in our cars? (Hey – get your mind out of the gutter I said.)
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| At least my sister, Millie was happy to see me. I think. |
Thanksgiving was very uneventful. Thursday I worked out and hung out by myself for a while and then had dinner at Amy & Erik Eck’s home (my friend and coach). I had the honor of hanging with a lot of great people to include the little new Godsend, Bennett Erik Eck whom is now just a couple of weeks old. He is getting to be pretty adorable, if I do say so myself, and I am not being biased because I happened to (almost) be there at his birth. That may be a whole other post I may need to write. (Note to self – see paragraph 1.) There was plenty of delicious Paleo based food and a few dishes that were not so much, but everything was amazing. After a long walk to help the digestion process I headed home and to bed due to my departure from Tampa Bay International Airport on the 6am flight to Chicago and my family’s belated Thanksgiving. Needless to say Friday, family came over, there was conversation, there was food, there was more conversation, everyone went home, and I went to sleep. The End.
Sunday, I was privileged to hang out at Moretti’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant with a very good friend from my high school years whom my influence had/has steadily increased his appetite for triathlon(patting myself on the back). We have been continuing to keep in touch through email, phone and text, sharing information on races, plans and techniques. He started swimming last year at this time right after the Chicago Marathon and last March/April timeframe competed in his first indoor sprint triathlon, followed by a couple more and finishing with his first Olympic in September. Needless to say I was pretty proud of Big Guy last year. Yes, his nick name was, and still is “Big Guy”. Mine was “Bagelman”…go figure. (Pause for laughter) Anyway, it was great to hang out eat a little pizza, watch the Bears kick some royal Viking butt and talk triathlon.
That left getting up at 3:30am on Monday for a 6am flight home to be able to put in a full days work. I really didn’t think we had to leave as early as we did, but I was totally 100% wrong. I made to the gate with barely 5 minutes to grab some McDonald’s coffee and ascend the jetway before taking off. Security on Monday was brutal, but the flight was uneventful. Thank you Southwest Airlines.
That is all I have for today. I do have ideas vetted out for future posts and maybe some new developments in my coaching career that are starting to take shape. All that and more to come.
Carpe Viam!