Review of 2010:
2010 was a very mixed year. For the first half, I followed a steady program of crossfit and high intensity running to prepare for a half marathon. I saw lots of success and improvement with my workouts and successfully tried my own version of Crossfit Strength Bias, with pretty good results. I was getting stronger and faster, although my raw strength lifts were still unimpressive.
At the peak of training this summer for a fall marathon, I injured my hip flexor and spent the remainder of the year dealing with its effects. Going through numerous cycles of rehab and recovery, I was unable to train as usual had to halt my progress towards distance racing. In hindsight, however, I learned a lot from the experience:
- A few days or weeks off to let your body recover are always easier than months of dealing with a nagging injury that may become full blown. Take care of your body.
- Many issues can be self treated if you think critically and use common sense. While it may take time and experimentation, you can find ways to give slack to painful areas.
- Off/low intensity weeks are absolutely necessary. I think one of the reasons I came down with this injury was that I had been going hard for too long. Even if you feel fine, take an off week every 8 weeks or so. It can only help.
On more positive sides, the time off from training let me learn more about other aspects of training, especially flexibility and theory. With the start of the MWOD, myself and many others have learned of the importance of taking care of your tissues and realizing that constant attention is required to maintain proper mobility. Personally, I have realized how much I enjoy working through and solving these issues on myself, and how fascinating it is to analyze movement. In addition, I have learned more about the theory of big movements like squatting and deadlifting, and as a result feel like I have a much better handle on how to perform them now.
Looking to 2011:
For the upcoming year I plan to keep experimenting with programming, as I am always looking for ways to optimize and find that "perfect" mix that works for me.
Since I have always been lacking in the strength department I plan on trying out some periodization plans - working on strength cycles exclusively and then switching back to my normal training cycles.
Once I resume running, I plan on continuing to train for marathon+ events as I am still in pursuit of that goal. I am not so much interested in running hundreds of miles as I am in the mental challenges that accompany such races. I plan to sign up for a 50k this summer assuming all goes to plan.
In addition, I want to have a monthly or bi-monthly challenge for myself to have smaller goals to work towards in the short run. These will be mostly to shake things up and provide a mental challenge for myself between races. A few ideas:
- Long swims
- Crossfit challenges
- 24 hour efforts
- Other extended duration efforts
Some of these might involve just general fitness, while others (such as swims or rows) are more sport specific and might require some specific training. Mostly I want them to be ways to shake up training and test my overall commitment to a challenge.
I will update my other benchmark specific goals for the year soon.
