By: Dawn Hinz What’s the weakest link for triathletes? … Most would say “Swimming”. Which is why Athletic Mentors encourages athletes to swim 3 times a week. But that isn’t always possible. Pools are not readily available. Plus if you work, travel or have children just finding the time to get to the pool is real work. Or perhaps your pool is closed for maintenance or… Let’s just cut to the chase; there’s a world wide pandemic forcing you to stay home for weeks on end. Long ago we figured out how to bike and run from home, lots of indoor and outdoor options there. But how can you keep your swim fitness up without a pool? I admit that I
By: JoAnn Cranson Disappointment, Discouragement and Depression. In these trying times, it’s pretty normal to be feeling the 3 D’s. Many of us are experiencing disappointment right now, whether its a canceled trip, all races stopped, graduation, weddings, parties, work layoffs, and get togethers halted. In my thoughts I think to myself it’s silly to be so disappointed over a race or my plans that have been changed, but we need to let ourselves feel the disappointment so we can get beyond it. Give someone a call that you know who understands how sad you are about a race canceled or another activity that you practiced for all year that isn’t going to happen, we need to express ourselves and let
By Jared Dunham Recovery between workouts is crucial for improving your ability to perform in endurance sports. Proper recovery helps in many ways, some of which are: Allowing your muscles to rebuild and recover from a hard workout. Preventing over-training or burnout. Managing consistent weight and body composition. There are many ways to receive the right amount of recovery between workouts, popular methods are: protein intake, stretching, foam rolling, and time spent away from the sport. While all of these are important factors to consider, one thing that can be overlooked or set as a lower priority is the amount and quality of sleep you’re receiving. Those restful night hours are crucial because it can directly affect how hard you perceive
By Jared Dunham As an endurance athlete you may be faced with many early morning or otherwise inconveniently timed workouts to your daily schedule. To fuel for one of said workouts it’s easy to reach for a protein bar, cereal or a similar product, however a better and more holistic option is oatmeal. Oatmeal is an empty canvas as far as food goes, it can be served in many ways and variations. Admittedly I’m an emerging oat addict myself, eating mostly oatmeal for a great deal of my past breakfasts. Nowadays I don’t eat oats nearly as much as I did in the past but still thoroughly enjoy the dish every now and again. With that being said, here are
By: Todd Anthes This race has been on my wish list for some time. 2019 was the year. The trip to Marquette is an event in and of itself. It is sufficient to say the we live in a great State. I went a few days early so as not to feel rushed. I traveled with a group of guys that I train with. They have been doing the race about a decade, so they knew all the ins and outs of the race. I did not request a preferred start but was in the first row of general population. And right before the start the rope comes down and I was right at the back of the preferred starters. The rollout on the
By: Todd Anthes This review is for the uninitiated. It is not an in-depth review of the product. It is a scant overview of someone using electronic shifting for the first time. It was time to replace my SRAM Eagle cassette (ouch), and in doing so, I was one of the first to purchase SRAM’s XX1 Eagle AXS Upgrade Kit. This is not the entire gruppo, simply the rear derailleur, shifter, battery, and battery charger. When SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS was released you could only purchase the entire gruppo. I was neither in the market, nor planning on switching to electronic, but nevertheless I decided to give it a go. Electronic shifting has been touted as a game changer. However,
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