Did you hear the news? I officially earned my USA Triathlon Coaching certification!! I have a deal to share with you to celebrate – make sure you keep reading to the end.
After sitting in this little room on Friday and Saturday, my brain was about as full as it gets.
Most of the material this weekend was really interesting and the presenters were engaging and knowledgeable. At least for those who are tri geeks, like me! =)
We covered a lot of information in 16 hours, including my favorite three topics: Nutritional Periodization, Strength Training (Neuromuscular Activation & Dynamic Stretching), & Matveyev’s Model of Periodization.
My Favorite Sessions
I was very intrigued by the concepts discussed in the Nutritional Periodization session, presented by Bob Seebohar. He focused on eating to support metabolic efficiency, allowing your body to be more efficient both during training and non-training. He shared examples of 10 hour Ironman athletes thriving on 80 calories an hour by adjusting their nutrition to optimize their efficiency – simply amazing. I want to continue researching in this area as I think there’s something here. I’ll share with you as I learn more.
Although we didn’t get into as much of the tri specific strength details as I would have liked, Bob Seebohar convinced me to begin incorporating regular Neuromuscular Activation & Dynamic Stretching into my regular training sessions (and those of my athletes). Coincidentally, Training Peaks just published two blog posts providing good insight into this area.
Finally, Shelly O’Brien also shared about Matveyev’s Model of Periodization. I think most US-based triathletes are most familiar with Friel’s periodization model (The Triathlete’s Training Bible), but Matveyey’s model is the most popular method in the rest of the world.
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Talking about triathlon all weekend didn’t leave me much time to train, but it did leave me excited about getting back out on the road soon. I did manage to squeeze in an 8 mile run before church, and before spending the rest of the day on my exam.
I can’t wait to get back on my bike for an FTP test after work today. Okay, I’m not really looking forward to the test itself, but I’m ready to have fresh numbers to train from.
Special Offer!!
I’m so excited to start applying all the new things I learned and help you go farther and faster. SO….I think this is the perfect time to offer YOU a deal to celebrate my USAT certification!
From now until Sunday night at 11PM EST (5/6/12), take 20% off any race plan or 20% off the first 2 months of monthly coaching! Click here to learn about the coaching options we offer or email me with any questions. Only 9 monthly coaching spots available — first come, first serve. 🙂
I think you’ll find we already offer very competitive training rates, so this is not something I plan to do often. I hope you’ll take advantage and I look forward to helping your reach your training and racing goals!
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Questions for you:
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What is your favorite topic to learn about (bonus points if it’s a little dorky!)?
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What is the next event you’re training for?
Congrats!!! You need to make business cards that we can put on display at Big Peach!
Ooh – could I really? That would be awesome, I’ll email you about it. 🙂
I LOVE BOB!!! He is so smart! and congrats to you!
He really was awesome – can’t wait to read his book!
Congrats!!!
I’d love to hear more about eating to support metabolic efficiency. You know how food fascinates me. 🙂
Thank you!! I’m ordering his book and it will likely be on my Kindle for the trip this weekend. I’ll definitely be sharing more as I continue to learn. 🙂
Congrats on getting your USAT cert! Sounds like an awesome course. I took the RRCA cert course over the weekend and felt much like you in terms of information overload! I’ve yet to take the test (need some time to review my notes!) but am psyched to have learned so much, although sitting still for 18 hours was hard! Oh and my fave subject: nutrition!
That’s actually good to hear that you learned a lot in RRCA. I’m not sure I felt the same way about USATF, although I heard level 2 (when you can specialize in running) is WAY better.
This was a great post and so informative. The training sounds amazing, especially some of those sessions on metabolic efficiency. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Alex – love to hear that! =)
super duper congrats to you!!! i have been trying to decide if i want to get RRCA but I haven’t really seen that people are getting much from the training itself…so i guess it would just be about having a cert.
what are your thoughts?
Having the cert is a big plus, I think it shows you’re serious about it at least. I didn’t get too much out of USATF, honestly, but I’ve heard some good things about RRCA. I have heard the Level 2 for USATF is much better – the problem with Level 1 was it covered so much field it was less relevant to running. I plan on getting USATF Level 2 at some point, and Level 1 is required for at least a year before Level 2.
I hope that helps!!
Congrats! All that info is really interesting, and I’m not even a tri geek!
Great to hear, I was hoping not to bore anyone. You’ll have to tell me if you get tired of hearing about it. 😉
CONGRATULATIONS! That is awesome!! Maybe we can find a pool at Blend and you can straighten out my freestyle? JK! Blend is VACATION! 🙂
Thank you!! You’re not alone in that swimming attitude, so many people are nervous about that one. We can talk about tris all you’d like while we’re out there – I could babble on for days. 🙂
Congrats, Heather! I am so proud of and excited for you!
Thanks Christie!!
Holy cow! Congratulations, that is awesome 🙂
Thanks Kiri – pretty excited. 🙂
Congrats!! (Although I’m not surprised one bit!!) I have a 2-mile mud run this Saturday with my sis… It’s her first one!
Thanks girl! How cool that you’re doing a race with your sis this weekend – you’re a great role model! Can’t wait to hear how it goes. 🙂