Week 3 Base Training for 50K Trail Race

This is a long post, I hope you're ready for some serious details!

This has been a difficult week due to the poor air quality yet again, but we just have to make due for now. I'm just happy that the fires are finally starting to have some containment happening.   

Week 3 Training Plan: (24th-30th August 2020)

Monday: REST day, Mobility 30 minutes. 

Tuesday: Run 8 miles at easy pace with 2 elevated miles. Strength 60 minutes.

Wednesday: Run 5 miles easy pace. Core strength 30 minutes.

Thursday: Bike trainer 45 minutes, high cadence with a couple high intensity sprints. 

Friday: Run 6 miles at slightly faster than easy pace.

Saturday: Bike outside 3 hours with one 10 minute high intensity interval.

Sunday: Trail run 13 miles.

This week started off with an 8 mile run on Tuesday that I almost wasn't able to do. However thanks to purpleair.com, I was able to find a pocket of air that was safe and below AQI 50, I took a little drive out to Crystal Springs reservoir (and so did many other runners and cyclists) to get my run done. Because I was going to be more than 30 minutes from the time I finished my run till the time I got home and could make myself a post workout shake, I took it with me in a cooler in my car. I cannot tell you how nice that is to finish a hard run, do your cool down routine and have that chilled protein shake ready to suck down immediately. Yum!!!

Wednesday's run had to happen in the late afternoon right before the Core class that I teach/take. My intestines were not happy that day, and with a mile to go (luckily I was close to home) I made a quick pit stop to empty them. I'm pretty sure this had to do with the 2 greyhound drinks I had the night before. My body doesn't seem to like it when I have alcohol after a hard effort. In any case I was able to complete my run, and made it to class just in time. 

Because I'm spending so much more time running now, I really look forward to the bike workout days. Thursday's workout was the perfect way to break up the week, it had a couple super high intensity sprints, and 2 longer sustained moderately high intensity efforts. The focus however is to keep my cadence high during the bike workouts so I don't overload the muscles and take away from their ability to produce power for my run the next day.

Fridays run was supposed to be a simple 6 mile effort at a zone 2 heart rate. Unfortunately the air never went below 120 all day, nor was I able to find any clean air pockets in driving distance. So Friday was a missed workout day. 

Saturday was a long ride day, and got out for about 3 hours and kept it mostly zone 2 but with one 10 minute hard effort. For some weird reason I never really felt like I was relaxing into the ride. From start to finish I felt like my legs were working at 100% even though my heart rate was at 60-80% effort. Thank's to some awesome teammates we all finished our intended ride with a smile on our faces. By the time I got back to my car after the ride I was feeling okay enough to get a few run miles in. Off I went with my new handheld water bottle. I had no idea how many of the 6 miles I missed yesterday that I would be able to do today, so at every mile when I would take a sip of water and switch hands holding the bottle, I would do a little self check in. I'd ask myself how do I feel? How is your hear rate? Can you go one more mile easily? As long as all those were positive answers I kept running. Before I knew it my 6 miles were up and I was back at my car pulling out my recovery shake and another bottle of super cold water (all waiting in the ice cooler I keep in my trunk).

Having done those 2 workouts on Saturday I had burned 1800 calories. So now I needed to replace them, NOT all at once, but over the course of the rest of the day. Actually let me start with my breakfast...2 cups of Zoegas coffee with oat milk, 2 slices of cinnamon raisin bread with butter, and one of my own personal made energy bites (chocolate chip energy bites recipe). One the bike I had 2 more of my energy bites, 2 Clif shot blocks (Black Cherry flavor, plus caffeine), half of a peanut butter and apricot jelly sandwich, and 40 ounces/1180ml of water. During my run I had 2 more shot blocks and 200ml of water. Finally Post run I had my protein recovery shake, 20 more ounces of water and the other half of the PB&J sandwich. By this time in the day I have now consumed 1,424 calories and still needed 1,800 to not suffer on my run for Sunday.

The rest of the day went pretty well as far as nutrition and hydration. I had our leftover homemade turkey meatloaf with sauteed purple cabbage, of which I had a double serving of both for lunch. Then followed that up for dinner, feeling too tired to cook so had a charcuterie plate consisting of blue diamond pecan nut thin crackers, a serving of lite salami, and ounce or two of herbed goat cheese, turkey pepperoni, jicama sticks with hummus, cherry tomatoes, and an Omission Lager, plus another glass of water.  

Nutrition Facts for Saturday:

Breakfast: 418kcal, 59g Carbohydrates, 17g Fat, 11g Protein

Snack on Bike: 535kcal, 67g Carbs, 20g Fat, 11g Protein

Snack on Run: 67kcal, 16g Carbs

Post workout Nutrition: 404kcal, 39g Carbs, 13g Fat, 35g Protein

Lunch: 618kcal, 43g Carbs, 23g Fat, 55g Protein

Dinner: 657kcal, 49g Carbs, 28g Fat, 33 Protein

Snack: 200kcal, 44g Carbs, 4g Fat, 0g Protein

Total for Day: 2,899kcal, 317g Carbs (56%), 105g Fat(20%), 145g Protein(26%)

Looking back on that I actually see that I had too much in the way of simple carbohydrates and not enough healthy carbs. What do I mean by that? I ate too much plain bread and sweets, instead of enough veggies. If you look the only real veggies I had all day was a double serving of purple cabbage at lunch, and a small helping of jicama with dinner. I do normally have more veggies, and if I had cooked dinner there would have been more veggies mixed in that day.

It's finally Sunday and time for my long trail run and testing out my new trail running shoes. I've been using Brooks Mazama trail racing shoes, they are low profile with a 6mm drop from heel to toe and meant for short to medium distance trail races. To date they had just shy of 400 miles on them and the last couple runs of 10-12 miles were causing blisters on both feet at the outside edges of my big and small toes. I knew it was time to switch shoes and I decided to look into ones that had more of a foot shaped toe box. I did some research and even asked some seasoned Ultra trail runners what they use. To my surprise the brand Altra was what I had been thinking would work, and those shoes got many votes from the trail runners in my community. I purchased the Altra Lone Peak 4.5 trail shoe and took them out for my Sunday run. 

Thirteen miles in brand new shoes might scare some people but I knew the trail I was running and so this would be a great way to compare them with my old runners. At first I could feel the zero drop from heel to toe, I felt sluggish in my transition from landing to take off. Once I got on the trail however I didn't notice the sluggishness anymore, instead I felt the amazing traction they had. Keep in mind the trail I ran was hard pack and very dry, but with lots of small gravel and sand. At times the trail does have some rocks and roots, but it's mostly dirt and gravel. They felt great all the way to the top of the hill. Now the true test of these shoes, how will they feel coming back down the hill. Because I wanted to get a good feel for them I decided to haul it down, safely of course, but to really push the speed to test their grip, and their forefoot feel. They did not disappoint! There was no slipping on the ground surface, plus I had no hot spots on my feet nor did I get blisters on the outsides of my toes. Success, both in my run and for another week of hard training.

Next week is a rest week. Woot!

Week 2 Base Training for 50K Trail Race

Week two of training was much harder due to the poor air quality and having to be very flexible with the time of day doing my workouts. Most days luckily in my town the winds would shift late in the afternoon, sending the smoke and particles out and I was able to get my workouts in during a healthy range of AQI. 

Week two started with an 8 mile run and the perfect chance to try out my new Nathan handheld water bottle. The size turns out to be just enough water for my longer "short" runs and with the new flatter design and grippy side on the bottle, it was much easier to hold than the old styles. Success. Except the water got hot real quick. Temps here were in the high 80's low 90's. Well, me and my problem solving mind went into quick fix mode and decided to freeze some water in it before my next run. It took a few tries to figure out how much water was needed to stay frozen long enough to be enjoyable on my runs, but I did it. Oh and if you are wondering for me, I fill the bottle 2/3 full, then freeze, once frozen I top it off with water and head out on my run.

 Week 2 Training Plan: (17th-23rd August 2020)

Monday: REST day, 30 minutes FRC mobility.

Tuesday: Run 8 miles, Strength 1 hour, Mobility 15 min.

Wednesday: Bike trainer 45 minutes. Core strength 30 minutes.

Thursday: Run 8 miles, Strength 1 hour.

Friday: Run 2 miles, Core strength 30 minutes, Mobility 15 minutes.

Saturday: Bike 2.5-3 miles

Sunday: Trail run 12 miles.

My Nathan handheld water bottle, the Speedshot Plus 355mL.

Another issue that came up with the handheld is that it creates an off balance feel when swinging your arms. This is not a good idea to create imbalances in your run, especially since these imbalances can cause injuries. Again I had to think through the options. Did I want to buy another bottle and hold one in each hand? That will give me perfect balance, as long as I remember to drink evenly from both bottles. Nah, I didn't feel like plopping out another $35 for one of those especially since one was perfect for me for now. My other option was to swap hands throughout the run, and that's exactly what I did. Every mile I would take a big sip, then switch hands. Not a bad compromise for me, and easy to do since I set my Garmin 920XT watch to beep on every mile. Woot! Problem solved. 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's workouts went well. I was able to do them all and hit my numbers as far as times or power. Then for some unknown reason I was not able to sleep Thursday night, racking up only 2 hours which made Friday very difficult. Even after being able to take a short power nap in the middle of the day I still did not feel that I had the energy to do my 2 mile run, so I skipped it for the day and just accepted it as a needed rest day. Saturday is usually ride day but the air quality was poor and I actually had a hair appointment that morning. Turns out the air quality didn't change so at 3:30pm I finally got on the indoor trainer and did my alternative bike workout for the day. Trust me I would have rather be outside but with an AQI at 160 I wasn't going to chance it.  After I finished my bike workout I check the AQI again and it was at 65 so I went and did my 2 mile run from Friday. Normally I would just skip the missed workout all together, but with it being so short and my bike ride being shorter it was okay to slip in.

Planning Sunday's long run was going to be a bit of touch and go, the air quality was on the border of unhealthy at AQI 145. But I knew if I didn't get out in the morning though I would not be able to do it later. So off to the park, Rancho San Antonio park, one of the few parks here with good climbing, and wide trails. When I got to the parking lot I did another AQI check and it was at 99. Okay off we go, into the park up the hills and hopefully not into the smoke. The trail was clear, no smell of smoke in the air, though I could see it on the other side of the park, thick orange-brown smoke. At the 4.5 mile mark I still had another 1.5 miles to go up before I could turn around and head back down. Also at this point I knew I was getting closer to the smoke and very unhealthy air. But, onwards I went. At the point where I started rounding the hill to head toward the other side of the park (mile 5.3), I hit the wall of smoke. Quite literally. I went from being able to see with my glass and not smelling smoke, to having to take my glasses off to see, smelling a campfire, and my nose started burning. At that point I turned around immediately and headed down the hill. My only problem was, I going to be 1.4 miles short on my run. No problem as the lower part of the climb was clean and clear and I was just going to have to do a short hill repeat before truly heading down the hill and back to my car. 

Sunday morning view at Rancho looking across the park to the side where the smoke was taking up residence.

Final tally for week 2 of training, 30.7 miles running with 1,614 feet of climbing (4 hours and 18 minutes), and 4 hours and 16 minutes of cycling. During the week I also did 4 weight lifting sessions hitting all the major muscle groups with moderate amount of weight for 4 sets of about 10 reps each. Every one of my workouts, whether it was running, cycling or strength training was following immediately (that is VERY important) with 30g of protein. The reason I emphasize the immediately is that for women our physiology needs assistance in muscle repair and building post exercise, as it has been shown by leading women's Physiologist Dr. Stacy Sims, author of ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life. You can read an excerpt from an interview where she talks about the nutritional needs of women post exercise and mentions the 30 minute timing for 25-30 grams of protein intake (https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts105/). 

Week 1 Base Training for 50K Trail Race

Now that I have chosen a race and I know when, Saturday High Noon on 5 December 2020, there are 17 weeks till the race, it's time to train. The first block of training will be focusing on getting used to being on my feet many more miles per week than I have been. One thing to keep in mind is my training has been focused on sprint and olympic distance Duathlons for the past 4 years, so I have a decent base of fitness to get started with. 

Week 1 Training Plan (10th-16th August 2020) 

Monday: REST day, 30 minutes of mobility training using FRC principles. 

Tuesday: Bike trainer 65 minutes. Strength 60 minutes. Mobility 15 minutes.

Wednesday: 7 miles running with some speed work. Core strength 30 minutes.

Thursday: Easy pace 4 miles

Friday: Easy Pace 4 miles

Saturday: Bike ride 2.5-3 hours easy pace.

Sunday: Trail run 11 miles.

My first week consisted of 26 planned running miles with 2 days on the bike for cross training and overall cardiovascular fitness. The first week of my training went well, and I was able to hit all my workouts both in distance and effort. Then the weekend came along and a lightning storm hit the area early Sunday morning. It was a dry lightning storm which around here causes fires, and sure enough it set off several fires around the area. I was not able to get out for my long run on Sunday due to the lightning, and then the rest of my day was already booked. These type of things are going to happen all throughout my training, and I just need to remind myself everything will be okay. That first week I ended up putting in only 15 miles on foot, and 4 hours on the bike. It's important to  stay flexible!

View of the Fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains from the East Bay Hills (photo by Marc Canter)  

Planning ahead for week 2, I will be doing slightly longer "short" runs during the week. This is to be expected, but it also means I need something to do about my hydration. No longer will pre-hydrating be sufficient enough to carry me through, I will now have to carry water with me. No problem as I have a hydration pack for my long runs. But I was thinking that might be overkill for my 7, 8, 9 mile runs. What are the other options if you don't want to wear a hydration pack? Handheld and waist packs. Several years ago when I was training for an Ironman Triathlon someone gave me a waist pack to use for my long runs. Turns out they were not for me. At that time I was too bouncy of a runner and my bottles would go flying out of the holster, plus I didn't like to feeling of the pack bouncing on my hips. The only other option was handhelds. I had my leftover handheld but remembered it was too big for me to carry (I have small hands so wrapping my hand around it even with the strap was too bulky) and the spout on the thing made it near impossible to get water out of.  Time to go shopping.

Currently I use the Nathan Vapor Airess hydration pack used for my long runs, runs 10 miles and over.

After a quick bit of research I found that the handhelds were made much better now, and they come in several sizes. The size I decided to go with is the Nathan hydration 350 ml bottle with a handstrap and small pocket to store my keys. 

Week two of training I will be able to test this out. Stay tuned.

New Adventure: 50K Trail Race

 Uhm yeah I said it, 50K trail race! To be honest when my coach even suggested I do one I laughed inside. To date I've only done one Marathon and it was part of an Ironman distance triathlon. I've also done several half Marathon races. The half marathon is my favorite distance running race by far with 10K coming in a close second. So to even consider a 50K I must be crazy. 

I've always loved to try new things. Ever since I was a kid I loved experiencing new things, and that is still part of who I am today. However today there is a little bit of fear mixed in, you know that age thing reminds you you aren't invincible anymore, yeah that's me now. Good news though, this won't kill me but it surely will challenge me.  

So how far is 50K? It's approximately 31.1 miles. Yep that is LONGER than a marathon. I know you're thinking I'm crazy. I thought that too until I looked into this thing that's called Ultra racing. 50K is actually the shortest distance race, and I just found one that is a 240 mile race in Moab, Utah. YIKES!

After looking through the Ultra races my coach suggested, and chatting with some people who have done Ultra races, the thought of this new challenge started to create a feeling of excitement within me. This excitement started to create thoughts of how will I make this race happen. What is it like to do this distance? Is there anything I need equipment wise? What will my training be? Hey wait, I'll be able to go and train in new places, not to mention being able to race in a new place. My smile kept getting bigger and bigger, until finally I said yes! 

Next it came down to actually choosing a race. I went with the Capstone 50K in St. George, Utah because their events are still being held, and I can drive there from where I live. 

Now how do you train for this event? Lots of time spend on my feet, but also just as much time off my feet recovering. Not to mention better attention to my nutrition throughout the day and during my runs now. I'm going to have to learn to eat while running, whereas before my races were short enough that I could eat 3 hours before my race, then a snack 15 minutes before and I was set to go except for some water along the way. Now I will be on my feet racing for potentially up to 7 hours, and my body WILL need nutrition throughout.

The race in Utah is set up to be 5 laps of a 10K loop, with each lap having about 800 to 900 feet of vertical elevation. This also means I won't have to pack everything I need for the entire 50K in my pack, and they have a smorgosbord at the lap counter place. For now it's off the the planning table and off for my first couple weeks of training.   

Minimal Equipment for Shelter at Home

Here we are at day 2 of our mandated Shelter in Place for California and many other areas of the US and around the world. These are going to be some interesting times ahead of us, but there is no need to miss out on keeping yourself healthy while you are stuck at home.

Since the shutdown happened I've had the opportunity to start doing more online type training. This has included creating home programs for people to do on their own, hosting Zoom classes, and doing one on one training through Google Hangouts and FaceTime. All my people are doing a great job keeping up an active and healthy lifestyle which is what is needed more now than ever. If we want to get through this together we all need to keep our bodies healthy and our immune systems strong, and that is done through consistent exercise.

Some people are wondering what equipment they need to be able to do workouts at home. I'm going to share with you some ideas of simple to more integrated gym style equipment you can have to keep you moving and healthy.

First off you don't need much to get a good workout in. Many exercises can be done with just using your own body weight, AND you don't even need a yoga mat. All you need is a nice large beach towel for things you do on the ground. Sometimes when I'm outside on the cement I'll layer 2 beach towels on top of one another to give me a little more squish underneath me.

The basic equipment that is cheap and doesn't take up much space for your home gym are...

Starting with Bands:

Mini Bands - Perform Better brand is the one I use as they are just the right size. There are many other brands that make "mini" bands, but most of them have created a very long one and they won't work for many exercises. These mini bands come in 4 colors depending on the amount of resistance they provide. Yellow is light, Green is medium, Blue is heavy and Black is extra heavy. I would suggest getting one of each color to get you started.

All Purpose Exercise Bands with handles - also from Perform Better and stick with the regular size. I use both the regular and travel size and have found that the travel size though a bit shorter and less bulky to pack, does not create the same amount of resistance. In fact the resistance is much higher than their regular sized bands. The best use you will get is out of their level 4 and level 2 bands. For anyone who has shoulder issues a level 1 will be very handy as well. And for anyone who wants more resistance or are just a bit stronger than most the level 6 or 8 bands are a great addition to your home gym.

Super Bands -  Just when you thought you had enough bands, there's one more. The Super Band. This extra long band is great for a wide variety of exercises including squats, and overhead pressing. I have no preference on brand for these as most of the companies make them about the same length. The difference with these is how they create the resistance. With these bands it is based on both the width and the thickness. The narrower and thinner the band the lighter it is and vice versa. If you go with the Perform Better brand I would suggest starting with the 1/2 inch, and if you want more resistance also get the 1 inch.

That's about it for the bands that I would recommend for your own home gym. In total if you were to buy all 4 mini bands, 2 of the All Purpose bands, and 1 of the Super bands your total expense would be approximately $72 plus shipping. With that you can do many total body workouts without the big expense of machines, kettle bells or other weight equipment.

If dumbells are kettlebells are something you want, go with the hex shaped dumbbells (less chance of them rolling away when you set them down), and you can do exercises that require you to put your weight on them easier than the round ones. Keep in mind these have been out of stock and then back in stock due to so many people setting up their home gyms, you will have to check the sites often to see when things are in stock. I'd go with Perform Better kettlebells, or Power Systems kettlebells as they seem to be in stock more often than the other brands. If you have the ability to get dumbbells I'd start with 5#, 10# and 15# getting them in pairs, and then for the kettlebells I would suggest a 20#, a 30# and a 40# just singles to get you started.

Another type of equipment I regularly recommend for home gym use us a weighted non bouncing ball. These can be used in place of dumbbells and kettlebells for certain movements, and you can use them for dynamic and functional movements too. These come in many different types of materials (rubber, leather, blends) and weights. Some brands make the ball smaller for light weights and larger for heavier weights, other brands do not. I would suggest if you are like me and have small hands it is better to use a brand that has smaller balls options. That's just my preference though.

Now these are not a requirement by any means, but do add a bit of variety to your home workouts without taking up too much space. These do however cost significantly more that the bands I mentioned earlier. These medballs can run anywhere from $25 to over $100 a piece.

A few examples of medicine balls I have used.

No Bounce ball with a 9 inch diameter and rubber material.

No Bounce Ball with 10 inch diameter and leather like feel.

No Bounce 14 inch diameter leather like feel.

As I mentioned earlier you do not need to get this specific brand as they are a bit on the expensive side. However I have used them for years and do love their quality and longevity, not to mention the grip.

I do not get any kick back from this company so rest assured I am suggesting you these pieces of equipment because I use them and I trust their quality. If you have any questions about how you can make your simple home gym better please feel free to reach out. We love hearing from our readers.

USA Triathlon Coaching Certification

WOW, two in one week! I'm actually just making up for missing the last two months. As many of you know I took a few seminars in January. One of which was the FRC seminar that I just wrote about, but if you missed it you can read about it here. The other course I took was the USA Triathlon Level 1 Coaching Certification.

Okay okay I know many of you might not be into triathlons. That's okay. I'm not either. I prefer Duathlons (Run-Bike-Run). Unless it doesn't involve a swim with sharks, murky cold waters or rippling currents. Right that is possible just not that often here in California. I digress.

How did I get into triathlons you're probably wondering. It all started in 2011. My dad passed away suddenly. I then stopped racing bicycles and I was starting to lose my love of endurance sports. At that time I was coaching cycling both individuals and at Santa Clara University. I had a client who wanted to do a triathlon, and she asked me if I would do it with her. I thought this sounded like a great way for me to get back into something more regular, so I agreed. Little did I know she signed me up for an Ironman distance event. WHAT???? I had never even done a triathlon let alone have to do one that will require me to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a full marathon, all in one day. Oh right and I also didn't know how to swim at that time.

To not let me client down I learned how to swim (actually taught myself), I started riding LONG distances, and got back into running. Before I got to doing the Ironman event, I thought it would be fun to participate in one of each of the other distances that are offered in triathlons. That year, 2012, I participated in my first triathlon or each distance, and even won one of them.  The big event was in July and my Aunt from New York came out to support me. My client started the event but wasn't able to finish. I was able to not only finish the race but do it standing up but also in day light. Through all the training and racing I did that year, I met lots of amazing people. I met people who inspired me by their athleticism, dedication, and some who were 80+ years old and still competing.

Since that time I have loved being part of the triathlon/duathlon community for all the amazing people I have met, and for all the fun places it has allowed me to go. Through my adventures I have awakened my travel bug and now been to a few new places here in the US, and I even competed in the World Championships in Odense, Denmark in 2018 representing Team USA.

What I love on a more personal side is the time I get to spend trying to get faster as and "older" athlete. I love challenging myself to see how much I can still improve and compete against the younger crowd. In getting myself to those levels I really enjoy the time to myself when I am out there doing my long rides and runs. It becomes MY time. My time to be alone, escape from my pets, and also disconnect from all electronic devices and reconnect with myself. Through this time of reconnecting I have not only become more healthy due to my time spent training, but also grown in so many more ways. 

Because of my immense love of triathlon and the world of multisport, I really wanted to do something to give back to the community that helped me become who I am today. Coaching is something I have enjoyed in the past and look forward to enjoying it once again. 

In addition to now being a certified USA Triathlon coach, I can now not only prepare you for your next endurance event, but I can also help you do it and stay injury free with the added new mobility knowledge through my recent FRC training.

So to get the ball rolling I am offering a special 4 month training program FREE. This program will be specific to whatever sporting event you want to train for. It includes the specific training toward your sport with programs delivered through Training Peaks, and is valued at $600-800.

This program is for anyone from the serious multi-sport racer to the person who just wants to finish their first 5k or marathon without getting injured. To enter the drawing, all I need is a summary of the event you want to train for, and why you should be picked to receive the free program. Please keep it to 1000 words or less. 

If this sounds like something you or a friend might be interested in please send me your application summary no later than March 20th to velofit@gmail.com. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to send me your summary. 

FRC, what is it?

As many of you know, in January I decided to attend a couple clinics to further
my knowledge in the health and fitness field. Now that I have had some time to
let all that information settle and actually start putting some of it into practice,
I wanted to share with you what I have done.

The first conference I attended was called Functional Anatomy Seminars,
where I got certified as a Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist,
or FRCms for short. Okay so you're thinking so what do all those letters really
mean though. Great question!

Developed by Dr. Andreo Spina, is a system for joint health and mobility training
based on scientific principles and research. Mobility refers to the amount of usable
motion (or Range Of Motion) that one possesses across a particular articulation
(joint). The more mobile a person is, the more they are able to maximize their
movement safely, efficiently, and effectively. While improving mobility, the FRC
system also acts to safeguard your joints so that movement can be executed
safely while you are building strength, or participating in your preferred sport or
activity. Lastly, these training principles help improve the function of your nervous
system by training your body to accept loads through the entire range of motion
of a joint. This leads to a reduction of pain and injury, increased joint health and
longevity, as well as an increased ability to move freely and easily.

Still confused? Let me see if I can break it down more. First this course looks at the
difference between what we know and call flexibility and mobility and shows us the
true difference. We also learned what the difference between these two terms means,
and what happens when there is inequality between the two.

Let me start with flexibility. Flexibility is defined as how much your joints can BE
moved through a certain range of motion. Meaning for example laying on your
back, how far can you use a stretching strap or partner to stretch your hamstring
muscle. This does not equate to how far you can actively lift your leg while lying
on your back, that is mobility (more on that later). What Dr. Spina found that
the more flexibility people had compared to mobility, the more injuries and pain
they reported. In most training programs we were taught to stretch to increase
muscular length and that that would in effect allow people to participate in activities
with less pain or injury. This has actually been found to be false.
  
Here is an example of how using the FRS system can help you. Let's use the squat
as an example. In order to do a squat you have to be able to dorsiflex your ankles
(bring the top of your foot closer to your shin), and be able to flex your knees and hips.
Most of the time we can do a little bit of each of those motions enough to make the
squat look good. So you are going along adding more weight to your squat and you get
to a point where all of a sudden you start getting knee, or ankle or even back pain,
or you feel like you just can't get any deeper in your squat. Many times we just keep
pushing through thinking oh I'll get through this if I just push hard enough. Now by
implementing some FRC techniques we would step back and see first what type of
squatting you want to do. Then based on the squat you want to do, look at your mobility
and see if you have all the prerequisites for the movement, then start training the
movement(s).

The movements we would train are ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion and rotation, and
hip flexion and rotation. To do this we would start by assessing each of those joints
mobility through the use of CARs (Controlled Articular Rotations). After some time
practicing the CARs we would add in some resisted PAILS and RAILS (these
techniques will be discussed in a later blog), then finish with more CARs to see how
much the PAILs and Rails affected your mobility. Once the joints in question are
working in the correct capacity needed to perform your squat is achieved then you
can go back to your loaded squats and give it another try.

There is obviously a lot more to this as I simplified it a lot for the sake of this post. I hope
you found this blog post helpful, and I know some of you have already experienced a
few of these techniques with me. I will continue to implement these new techniques with
all those who need them. If you have any questions on this system, or are interested in
doing an entire hour of mobility training please feel free to reach out to me. I'm always
here for you.