What Is Your Method?

Most evenings, as a ritual to unwind and enter a sleep like state, I take ten minutes and peruse the multisport websites. Typically, Slowtwitch accurately reports on the latest race results and athlete interviews. Once in a blue moon nuggets of insight stick with me. They get filed away in my memory bank only to be retrieved when I need reminders from seasoned athletes or sport historians. This is, after all, highbrow literature only read by the gifted and educated few.

Of late, two articles resonated with me. One was an interview with Brian Lamar, an ITU Pro Triathlete newer on the racing scene. He lives in LA and balances his professional athletic career with a full time teaching career. Victor Plata, an Olympic triathlete and world champion with an outstanding athletic pedigree, coaches Lamar. In the interview, Lamar shares one of Victor’s analogies related to the cumulative effect of methodical training: 

Lamar says, “Victor has a great way putting things in perspective. He has this analogy that he uses when discussing training. He likens training to Aesop’s fable of “The Crow and the Pitcher.” In the fable a thirsty crow comes upon a pitcher that has water at the bottom, beyond its reach. The bird then drops pebbles in the pitcher until the water rises to the point where it is able to drink. Training, he says, is like dropping a pebble into the pitcher: the change is imperceptible. But gradually you are building strength and endurance, and one day you will reach down and the speed you’ve been looking for will be there. This mindset helps take some of the stress off of workouts. If I have an off day or I don’t think I quite nailed it like I’d hoped, he’ll say, “just another pebble in the jar.””

Calm thoughts float in to my mind after reading this analogy. My jar is filling up with pebbles thanks to all the purposeful training sessions invested in rebuilding fitness and athletic confidence since three bolts were screwed in to my right hip last fall after a bone fracture. The fable gives meaning to the regularity and consistency of daily training sessions. It underscores the truth behind the saying that “patience is a virtue.” It breeds gratitude for being able to spend time moving our bodies knowing strength and endurance are the eventual result after repeatedly practicing the movement patterns. And best of all, it makes the rewards from the journey so much sweeter.

The second article deals with the topic of “training as much as possible”. http://www.xtri.com/features/detail/284-itemId.511713556.html  The article mainly speaks to endurance athletes that are training for long distance events such as Ironman races. It highlights the difference between an athlete that can afford the luxury to nap, wear compression socks, seek regular recovery treatments, and follow near perfect fuel habits to an athlete that works full time with 2.5 kids and maxes out at 6 hours of sleep per day. The message in this article speaks volumes since I often find myself in conversation with workout enthusiasts pining for more time to train yet constantly complaining of fatigue and ongoing obligations that impinge on scheduled workouts. As noted by the author, the stresses of life are often more taxing on our bodies than any given training session. The unrelenting combination of the two is a recipe for a mental and physical burnout. Fortunately there is an easy solution.

 

The fable and the training dichotomy highlight answers to questions we athletes are constantly asking ourselves:

“Are we getting stronger, faster, more skilled?”

“Is the consistency of training paying off?”

“Are we recovering from our training sessions?”

“If we sleep in, will my (swim, run, bike) be stronger tomorrow?”

“Are we balancing our training with life responsibilities?”

“Is there a method to our madness?”

If the answer is categorically “yes” then you are in the drivers seat. Keep on steering the ship and go back to the fable analogy for perspective or skip a session if your kids concert ran late.

This leads me to some exciting and recent news. As of last week, I formally partnered with Method Personal Training founded and owned by Jamie Armstrong. Method is a one on one personal training studio in West Vancouver, British Columbia. A small team of dynamic, highly skilled and ultra energized athletic trainers dedicate themselves to bettering the lives of hundreds of clients through personalized fitness protocols. As I witness every time I step foot into the studio, Jamie and his crew are offering unrelenting support and motivation to each and every client aspiring for more health, fitness and strength. The subtle trust and mutual respect perulates evidently  between trainer and client.

For the past two years, I have been a regular participant of their infamous cycling specific sessions and earned the affectionate reputation of “The Girl That Does Back-to-Back Classes.” (No Tattoo). I often turn up after a swim session with plans for a short run or strength workout to follow. I am one of many doing the same thing and as luck would have it, many of us do it together.

Method attracts powerful-corporate-time-efficient executives, stay-at-home-fashion-forward mothers, ultra-fit endurance athletes and one-hour-a-day twice-a-week exercisers. Whatever the persona of those training at Method, one thing is consistent amongst the clients – they are all inspired, believing, committed and methodical in following Jamie’s approach and philosophy. Proudly, I consider myself on the top of that inspired, believing, committed and methodical heap.

The Method Team: Jamie, Arimo, Hayley, Sharon and Ashley have the “X” factor ongoing on. It’s difficult to put a finger on it, but there is a "something unique” factor that exudes from the Method studio. Better yet, everyone wants to be a part of it – group event participation, destination races, 15+ cycling classes per week, Gran Fondo training rides, triathlon camps, sweat for six workouts, one on one sessions, coffee at Crema and everything in-between. Very often it is the in-between that influences highly functioning people to loyally return for huge exertion and energy expenditure, day in day out, year after year.

Speaking from personal experience, Method has been and continues to be a very important ingredient to my training protocol. It contributes hard-wired cycling sessions in a social and structured environment with super skilled trainers overseeing my whereabouts. It gives me a place to join in and share experiences about life, goals, injury and recovery, adventures and new discoveries. Little does he may know, Jamie sheds new insights (aka: little nuggets) every time I show up for a session. He is innately wired to offer precise guidelines that when followed, practiced and embraced breed excellence.  And I want to be excellent, don’t you?

Jamie and I formalized my role as an ambassador for Method after my sharing with him how grateful I was for what his organization has brought to me as a professional athlete thriving in the Method environment. I am very proud to be onboard and share the Method story with as many people as would benefit. Slowly but surely, the vast majority of my active peers are accompanying me for a Method experience. If my consistent attendance encourages others in any small way, the return benefit is far greater than could be expressed.

On the race scene…

The snow continues to fall in the west coast of Canada. Whistler received over 4.5 feet of new snow last week. This climate phenomenon has influenced my training strategies, keeping me off the roads and onto the cross-country trails of Cypress Mountain and Whistler Olympic Park (Callaghan Country). Fortunately, the fitness gains and enjoyment factor share no competitors. As an attempt to fire up my competitive juices, I jumped into the Payak 30km Loppet at Callaghan (Feb 25th) as well as the Sovereign Lakes 30km Loppet (March 10th). Both welcomed top-notch athletes and challenged my ski skills and race fitness. Both factors benefited tremendously from the experiences only to best serve me for one last 30km Loppet on March 31st at Mount Washington, Comox, BC.

After all this skiing, my legs, lungs and mind will be ready to roll when my new Specialized bikes arrived for 2012!

What is your method? If unsure, please join us at Method Personal Training. We will make you excellent.

Christine