Transitions!

Transitions are important for ALL triathletes. Whether you are a beginner or an elite, just there to compete or to win, a good transition will help your race run smoothly.

Good Transition Setup:

Check out this photo for a good transition area setup (the key: organization!) and below for more details on transitions.

Note: You can rack your bike by the rear of the saddle or the front. This bike is racked by the rear, but if you rack it at the front, ensure that you can slide your bike under the rack without it getting stuck! And keep your gear bag along the fence of the transition area (or in the appropriate area) and not crowding someone else's bike.

Prior to the race start, walk through the transition area from the swim exit to your bike and then from your bike to the bike exit and the bike in to your bike and from your bike to the run exit. Note whether there is a grade at the bike mount line so you know whether your bike should be racked in the big or small ring (usually you always put the bike in the small ring in the front, middle cassette on the back). Take note of surrounding landmarks near your spot in transition (or mark it with a bright towel). When you come in from the bike, running shoes are a bit harder to spot than your bike (as in the first transition), so keep that in mind. You might want to put baby powder or vaseline in your socks or running shoes to prevent blistering.

Put Vaseline/Body Glide on your ankles and arms to make it easier to get your wetsuit on and off. If you plan to use sunscreen, apply it before the race start (so you don't need to do so in your first transition). Wipe any grease off your hands before touching your goggles.

Transition One: Swim to Bike

1. At the end of the swim, when you are about 200m away from the swim finish, start to pick up your kick to increase the blood flow to your legs. This will warm them up for the run or walk to your bike and the following early part of the ride. This is also a time to start visualizing your first transition.

2. Once the water gets shallow enough that you can actually touch it while you are swimming, start doing dolphin dives (jumping up off the bottom of the lake and diving forward), and once the water is about knee deep you can start running towards the exit.

3. Exit the water and lift your goggles up (but leave them on your head!). Unzip your wetsuit (or use a wetsuit stripper if it's going to be a long run to your bike). Take off the upper half of your wetsuit while you make your way to your bike. Once your wetsuit is half off, you can take off your cap and goggles and run/walk with them in your hand towards your bike.

4. When you get to the bike, put down your cap and goggles, take off your wetsuit (stepping out of it if you need to), then put on sunglasses and helmet, then bike shoes (if they aren't clipped into your pedals). Then take your bike by the stem or saddle and walk or run with it towards the mount line. Once PAST the mount line, you can get on your bike. Take your time clipping in, don’t rush! You should be in an easy enough gear so that you aren't grinding right from the start. If it's a muddy/slippery transition area, you may want to carry your shoes to the mount line and put them on there (keep in mind you will have to hold your bike while putting on your shoes).

Transition Two: Bike to Run

1. Unclip (or slip your feet out of your shoes) and slow down a couple hundred meters before the dismount line. Be sure to dismount BEFORE the line.

2. After dismounting, run/walk your bike towards your spot in transition (where your run shoes are). You can rack your bike by the handlebars or the saddle, whatever is easier. Then take off your helmet and bike shoes. Slip on your socks and running shoes (use speed laces for quicker T2, speed laces are elastic laces that expand and retract so you can easily slip your foot into your shoes during your second transition - and don't have to waste any time tying them up!). Apply sunscreen if necessary. Grab your race belt, hat and water bottle/gel flask and head for the run exit. Clip on your race belt while heading to the transition exit and then head out on the run!

Here is a video that can help you visualize the transition.

Weekend Recap: Training on the Muskoka Course

This past weekend WattsUp Cycling held a training camp for athletes in Huntsville. Adam, Kevin and I were the coaches that helped the athletes navigate one of the most difficult courses on the Ironman circuit. These athletes may not realize it yet, but they are significantly more prepared for this race (and any race) then they were before. Even if they might be a bit more scared then they were before!

The training camp was Friday to Sunday. We planned to swim the race course on Friday and Sunday, but water temps of 11C prevented that! 10 brave people still got in the water though (not me!). On Saturday, we got to ride part of the bike course by taking part in the Spin the Lakes, a fundraiser for the Canadian Mental Health Association, followed by a run off the bike. We practiced some open water swim skills in a warm pool later on Saturday afternoon. Sunday, some of us swam (not me!) then we rode the first 15km of the Muskoka bike course and back, then ran the run course. It was a full on weekend that is likely harder than the actual event itself!

The new Muskoka 70.3 course is very similar to the old Muskoka chase course. The swim course is identical. It is in a river which bends and twists. But having a good swim at Muskoka is not impossible. Taking steps that are within your control to prepare you will ensure that you do have a good swim. This includes familiarizing yourself with the course (swim the river the day before the race), sight often - don't keep you head down and swim blindly, defog your goggles prior to the race (use Aquasphere anti-fog or baby shampoo) and just follow the shoreline on your left. If you follow all these steps, the course is as easy as any other swim.

The bike course combines some of the old Muskoka Chase bike course with the old Ironman 70.3 route. It starts out along a relatively flat/rolling Brunel Rd, then you make a quick left turn onto Britannia - watch out for this turn as it comes up quick. Then you will face the hardest part of the course on Britannia - it's VERY important not to surge too much on these hills as those short and hard efforts will really tax your legs towards the end of the ride. Accelerate into the hills and keep a high cadence throughout the climb. You should be in your easiest gear at the steepest part of the climbs. Don't try to grind up in a hard gear or your heart rate and power will soar way too high. Try to keep the heart rate and power steady. If you know what your threshold heart rate/power is, then try to limit the time you spend above that number. As you near the end of Brittania you will descend a hill and then you make a very sharp left turn onto South Portage Road, which you will take north for awhile. There are quite a few climbs on this stretch, though there are some flat sections too. There is a steady climb before you turn right onto Dwight Beach Road. Dwight Beach Road is mostly downhill - yay!. Then you are out on the highways. If it's windy you will feel it here, but the climbs are far less steep. Try to ride this in aero position as much as possible. If you are on a grade, but can still feel the wind against your face and your cadence is above 70 then stay low in the aero position. Only get up out of aero if the cadence drops too low. The final stretch of the ride is along Brunel and this is not nearly as difficult as the beginning of the ride. Keep the cadence high and select an easier gear as you approach the finish of the course so as to not leave your legs feeling heavy for the run. If you paced the swim and bike properly and had patience early on in the ride then you will be just fine. Another note for the bike course is, if you can, use a compact crankset (I have a semi-compact and that seemed fine) with an 11/28 or bigger cassette - talk you your bike mechanic if you have questions about gearing. You want to have access to some easy gears on this course.

The good news is that the new run course is much flatter than the old run course. The best part - it's two loops! A lot better for spectators to cheer you on. There are still a few hills (one coming right out of transition), but otherwise the course is more rolling ups and downs than anything steep. If you pace the bike properly (if you think you rode slightly too easy that's a good sign!) and stayed on top of your nutrition, the run will not be overly difficult. However, there isn't too much tree cover on the course. If it's hot then keep your core temperature down by splashing water on your head, face, body and legs. Take in fluid at every aid station. Watch your heart rate, if it's slowly drifting up then you may be dehydrated so take in some extra fluid.

The Muskoka Chase (in 2004) was the second triathlon I ever did. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I had no one to give me advice or tell me what to expect. So, this training camp (and hopefully this blog) will give anyone who hasn't experienced the course a good idea of how to handle the event. Good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about the course.

Don't fear the swim!

Many triathletes find the swim portion of the triathlon to be the most daunting. The number of times I hear that the swim is an impediment to athletes trying a triathlon is too many to count. And the number of triathletes that lack confidence about their swim is just as many. So, I decided to write this post about a logical progression to get from being scared of the swim, to being able to conquer the swim! This post is relevant for the non-swimmer who wants to get into triathlon, or for the swimmer who has failed to progress in the sport since they started.

The steps to better swimming:

1. Get over your fear of triathlon swims
2. Learn to swim and/or improve your technique
3. Get faster

Read on for a more detailed explanation of the above and click on the links for videos.

1. Get over your fear of the triathlon swim

If you've never done a triathlon before, here are a few things you need to know about the triathlon swim that might make it seem a bit less scary:

- You can wear a wetsuit (unless the water/air temp is too hot that it would be dangerous to your health - very rare occurrence) and a wetsuit gives you a natural buoyancy. So, if your excuse is that you sink when you swim, well, that’s not going to happen because of the wetsuit. Not only that, but a wetsuit keeps you warm. so, the water temperature isn’t an excuse either!
- You don’t have to do front crawl the whole time. Yes, you can do backstroke, you can do breaststroke, you can run along the bottom of the lake if it’s shallow. You can even grab on to a lifeboat as long as the lifeboat is not moving forward and you don’t use it to propel yourself forward.
- You don’t have to start with a huge group if you don't want to. Usually a triathlon is broken into “waves” so you are in groups of people in your age group. You can choose to either start 30s or so after your age group is signalled to start their race or you can even sign up to start in the very last wave of the event.

2. Learn to swim and/or improve your technique

So, now that you've registered for your triathlon (maybe one of the many Multisport Canada Events :) - what do you do?

Join a Learn to Swim program offered by the City of Toronto
OR
Get private swim lessons
OR
Do it yourself!

Start with buoyancy drills! Basically, just practice floating! Float on your back, on your side, on your stomach. Always try to keep your feet, hips and head at the surface of the water. Practice treading water in the deep end. Practice vertical kicking.
Do this for the whole 30 minutes every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Next, work on breathing drills. Blow bubbles with your head in the water, kick with a board and blow bubbles with your face in the water. Next, practice some freestyle strokes with a board.
Add this (20mins) to your buoyancy drills (10mins) every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Next, master your kick: Kick on your back with your board over your knees, make little splashes with your toes when you kick, kick with a pull buoy/band between your thighs to prevent yourself from kicking with your knees, do some lower back stretches and hip openers to loosen those hips.
Add this (20mins) to your breathing (5mins) and buoyancy drills (5mins) every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Master your body position and streamline: Progress your kicking drills to the 6-kick switch drill progressing to 3 strokes of swimming between each 6 kicks (3-6-3-6 drill). Think about being as long as possible when you are moving through the water. Keep the top of your head pointed in the direction you area heading. Limit any side to side movementDrive the rotation with the hips.
Add this (20mins) to your other kicking drills (5mins) and buoyancy drills (5mins) every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Work on your feel for the water: Sculling on your front, sculling on your back head and feet first!
Add this (20mins) to your other kicking drills (5mins) and body position drills (5mins) every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Add the arms! (finally): Do some catch-up freestyle with a board for assistance with hand entry and front quadrant style swimming (more ideal for distance swimmers). Practice swimming 1 length of front crawl/freestyle at a time, each with a different focus: 1 length focused on heels and head position, 1 length thinking about being as long as possible, 1 length thinking about keeping the opposite arm out in front when you breath and 1 length thinking about arms entering shoulder width apart, 1 length thinking about keeping your hand below your elbow at all times - don’t slap the water with your elbow when you enter, 1 length thinking about pushing the water toward your feet.
Add this(20mins) to your other kicking drills (5mins) and other drills (5mins) every 2-3 days for 1-3 weeks.

Be as long as possible in the water

Keep your elbow high throughout the stroke, rotate

Push the water under your body to your feet

3. So, you've got near perfect technique, but now you want to get fast, so what do you do?

Join a Swim Team (Such as Masters or Triathlon swim teams with good and attentive coaches. This will help you get faster, no question)
OR
Train smart on your own

To elaborate on the "train smart on your own" I will remind you that:

- You need to continue to work on technique with the swim. As soon as you feel your technique fall apart, your practice is over or you need to take some extra rest before your next length/set.
- You need to vary your training. Speed work, critical swim speed work, endurance work, pull and paddles work, technique, and race simulation are crucial. You can't swim at the same speed all the time. You need to swim faster at times and slower at times. How much emphasis on faster or slower swimming depends on the race you are training for.
- Work on your weak spots. If your kick isn't very good then focus on improving your hip and ankle mobility. If you aren't strong, then do some swim chord work. If your elbow drops during your pull, then focus on that.
- You need to swim in the open water. Pool swimming is quite different from open water swimming, so if you want to be successful in the triathlon swim, you've got to practice it.

I've given you the tools for a good progression for a triathlete swimmer, now it's your choice to use them!

I coach Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday at Regent Park Pool year round for the Toronto Triathlon Club. I also coach open water swims in July and August for the Toronto Triathlon Club. Find out more information about the club and their swims here.

Is there still time to be my best?

As I've mentioned before, the days where I could spend my time training, eating, sleeping, recovery are well behind me. In 2011, I quit my full time job as a research associate at Sick Kids Hospital to pursue triathlon coaching and compete as a professional triathlete. I was lucky to be living with my parents at the time, and they were very happy to support my triathlon endeavours. I got to live a *relatively* low stress existence, with the bulk of my stress being the physical kind that comes with hard training. Winters were spent in the southwest US, springs and summers were spent racing in the northeastern US. And I was fast! I qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in 2013 as a Pro, finished Ironman in 9:38 and was among the top female triathletes in Canada.

Fast forward to now. It's 2017, I'm very happy, but life is more stressful. I'm post-knee surgery, working over 40 hours a week, a business owner, a part-time step mum of 3, dealing with the stress of ongoing legal issues and trying to keep up the same level of fitness. I'd like to think it can be done, I'd like to think that my best triathlon days are ahead of me, I'd like to think that a spot in Kona is mine for the taking. Is it? Are these realistic expectations? This, I don't know. But I won't give up that dream without a fight. I will train as hard, as smart and as effectively as I can. The next couple of years will determine whether I have it in me. The following elaborates a bit on my current training and my training for the rest of the season.

So far, 2017 seems promising. My swimming stays about the same from year to year. My CSS is between 1:21 to 1:23/100m and has been for the past 3 years. When I trained with the U of T swim team, my CSS was closer to 1:16 - but I'm quite content with where things are at right now. On the bike, I've seen some of the highest top end power ever, so I hope that means my long sustained power can also go up. On a recent 5hr ride I held ~150W NP (only 17W lower than Ironman in 2013) so that's a good sign. I continue to struggle with my running. Pre-surgery I could run a 4:30/km over 12 to 30km quite easily. Now, the pace for the same effort is closer to a 4:55/km. I keep telling myself that running is all about consistency...so, I will continue to just keep putting in the miles and hope for the best.

This trip to California has been a nice escape from the physical stress of daily life and has allowed me to up my training accordingly. The goal here is volume. A little bit of quality, too, as it's impossible to climb the Santa Monica mountains only in Zone 2 :) So far, things are going well. In the past 3 days I have completed 45 minutes of strength based work, 3 hours of swimming (8100m), 11.5 hours of biking (265km) and 2hrs (24km) of running. Tomorrow I will have a shorter day with a swim and then a short bike before travelling to San Francisco for the rest of the day and Sunday to visit a friend. The short break will allow me to adapt to the training I've done here so far and finish my solo camp off strong on Monday to Wednesday.

When I get back to Toronto, I will take a short rest to recover and absorb the training. The problem is that I will have to do this while catching up on all the work I've missed while being away! When I feel fresh again I will start another short and hard training block that will end at March break. Then it's Florida time with Adam and the kids and without my bike! So, I will use this time to build my run volume. (Special thanks in advance to my parents for helping out with the kids while Adam and I exercise :) ) Then, I will push hard on the bike in April with intensity, while I put in my biggest volume month on the run. May will see an increase in bike volume and a decrease in run volume, but an increase in run intensity. Then race season starts in June!

So, that is how this full time working pro-triathlete (who still believes her best performances can be ahead of her) is planning her upcoming training. Stay tuned - as nothing ever goes to plan. Or maybe it will this time?

Managing Sleep and Training

I often hear of athletes saying that they only get 4-6 hours of sleep in order to fit their workouts in. It never fails to surprise me: don't they know this is counterproductive? Then I remind myself that before I knew how important sleep was, I would do the same thing. So, I thought I would present a little background information on why sleep is so important, with the hopes that it will encourage you to find the right balance between sleep and training.

Sleep is an essential part of our daily routine, required to return our body to homeostasis and for us to maintain a healthy living. It is a time during which our body heals, both physically and mentally. It is when our bodies grow stronger from previous training as the muscles rebuild and our brain re-sets to handle the next workout.

There are two stages of sleep: Non-REM Sleep and REM Sleep. Non-REM sleep makes up most of our sleep time and is when our bodies are in a parasympathetic or "rest and digest" state, brain activity is low. REM sleep is a time when brain activity is high, yet our bodies remain paralyzed. This prevents us from acting out our dreams. The combination of both states allows us to store nutrients, promotes injury healing, restores cognitive function and gets us ready for the next day. Sleep is incredibly important for normal functioning and even more important for athletes, considering the mental and physical training we endure.

Sleep is cyclical. You move through non-REM sleep and then REM sleep over and over. When you first fall asleep, non-REM sleep is quite lengthly and REM sleep is quite short. As you repeat the cycle, non-REM sleep gets shorter and REM sleep gets longer. So, shortened sleeps often compromises REM sleep.

How much sleep do we need? The following is recommended:

Newborn: up to 18hours
1-12months: 14-18hours
1-3 years: 12-15hours
5-12 years: 9-11 hours
13-18 years: 9-10 hours
Adults: 7-8 hours or more
Pregnant women: 8 hours or more

Keep in mind, these are the requirements for the general population and athletes likely need a bit more.

How does lack of sleep effect athletes? Here are a few effects:

- Prevents muscles from healing and growing stronger, which can lead to lack of progress and injury
- Effects cognitive function, which may prevent you from mentally getting through either a high intensity or high volume workout
- Increased appetite - will lead us to consume excess calories and "junk foods" ... ever wonder why you are gaining weight while training for something that causes you to sacrifice sleep?
- Impatience and irritability - don't become an annoying training partner!
- Decreased performance
- More prone to illness. Athletes lower their immune system when they train, combine this with lack of sleep and it makes an athlete much more susceptible to sickness.
- Decreased reaction time. This is especially dangerous when riding out on the road.

What is my rule on sleep and training?

Let me preface this by saying that I have never needed a lot of sleep. This has been tried and tested as I've still been able to make gains in fitness with 7-8 hours of sleep per night (maybe with more I could get even stronger?). I have a very strong parasympathetic drive - my resting heart rate is 40-42bpm, which, I'm speculating allows me to "rest and digest" a lot easier than others. I actually have a hard time sleeping longer than 8 hours. So, my "rule" on sleep is that I need an average of 7.5 hours in 3 consecutive days in order to handle a big training load (TSS > 100) on a given day. So, if I have gotten 6-7-6 hours of sleep before a big training day I will need to modify.

How to improve your sleep? These are a few things that work for me:

- Write down all your worries on a piece of paper about 1hr before you go to bed, to help clear your mind and prevent worry at night
- No alcohol before bed (alcohol can initially help you fall asleep, but it can easily disrupt REM sleep later in the night as it becomes metabolized).
- Meditate to fall asleep
- Look at pictures of people sleeping before bed
- Don't nap longer than 30 minutes! While napping can make you feel better, it certainly disrupts your sleep cycle during the night, and prevents normal healing and sleep functions from occurring.
- Establish a sleeping routine. I go to bed and wake up at the same time almost every day.
- Medications can effect the sleep cycle, so try not to take sleep medication before bed
- Workout 3 hours or more before bed

Bike Training in the Off-season: Strength and VO2max

I've never been a strong cyclist (relative to other female professional triathletes). I have swum competitively since the age of 11, I have run since I was 7 years old (as a soccer player, then on school cross-country teams and then as a triathlete), but I didn't own a bike before the age of 19. I never even liked to ride a bike! It wasn't until 2008 that I actually started training on the bike. Then, in 2009, I started riding indoors in the winter and in the summer to compliment my outdoor riding. I saw a HUGE jump in my cycling fitness that year and, since then, I have been able to make small gains every year (thanks to WattsUp cycling and computrainer). However, I've never been quite satisfied with my progress. My highest FTP has never been higher than 205W (3.8W/kg). My best normalized power for the bike portion of a half-ironman is 192W (187W average power) or 3.45W/kg. While these numbers are strong, they lag behind other Pro females, who have an FTP of 4.0W/kg and are at or above 3.8W/kg for the half distance.

This year, Adam and I decided to do something a bit different with my bike training. We decided to place a huge emphasis on training me to be able to recruit my glutes while riding. Adam did a lot of research this summer on glute recruitment and how to specifically train these muscles - which is now heavily emphasized in the WattsUp program. My "butt training" started with me riding in running shoes or with my bare feet on top of my bike shoes (to isolate the glutes during the "push down on the pedal stroke"), a lot of glute activation work (bird-dogs, side-band walks, glute bridge, etc.). This training progressed to lots of hills and slow strength work in December and some short VO2max sets. Without doing much VO2max work at all, I had a personal best 5min TT in December of 259W in aero position - that's about 4.9W/kg. Then, I went on to do a 20K TT at The X3 Lab, where I held 218W avg power for ~36minutes (~4W/kg). My previous best 20min TT from last year wasn't much higher than that. Currently, I'm doing a lot of work with short intervals at 240W to 300W. That makes 205W feel super easy!

An example of a set I did:
5x(1:30 on - 10s off), 5x(1:30 on - 20s off, 5x (1:30 on - 30s off) when on = ~240W

In addition to on the bike work, I have included strength training. I have a glute activation routine that I complete 3-4 times/week before hard bike workouts. I also have a strength routine which I complete twice per week. Currently, my strength routine involves forward and reverse lunges with light weight, single leg deadlifts with light weight, single leg angled leg press with heavy weight and straight leg deadlifts with heavy weight.

It's all in the glutes!

As I move toward race season (my first race is June 11th) I will progress my 240W+ intervals to 2, 5, 10(?!) minutes. I will combine these workouts with FTP, tempo and endurance rides and continue strength training. The hope is to FINALLY hold 200W NP for a half-distance race!

Test Sets 2016 to 2017:

5min TT - Dec 23rd: 259W avg P (5min)

20K TT - Dec 30th: 218W avg P (36min)

5 minute TT - Feb 3rd
20 minute TT - March 24th
20 minute TT - May 4th
Half-ironman - June 11th, Sept 18th (Barrelman!)
Long course (56km) - June 25th (Welland) and Aug 6 (K-town)

Week #1 in Review

The first week back to training has officially come and gone. I'm quite happy to be back into structured training!

Unfortunately, I lost my heart rate monitor. After Miami, I recall putting it away somewhere for "safe-keeping." Of course, that special spot was long forgotten over 2 weeks. Other than that, training started off well.

The Swim = 12.2km

I did two 3.1km swims focused on strength using paddles (one day speed, one day endurance)
I did one recovery swim (IM and dolphin kick on back) **dolphin kick on your back is an excellent core workout to do if you don't want to skip your swim in favour of strength!
I did one quality 4km swim with Kim Lumsdon Swim Club

The Bike = 4hr15min

I have been focusing on improving my technique on the bike. I definitely have trained myself to rely too much on my hamstrings and quads while cycling, so I am following the October WattsUp program to improve glute recruitment on the bike. I've been biking with running shoes, focusing on squeezing the glutes with each downstroke, and, most important, ensuring my back is flat and not rounded. Flat back = glute recruitment = more Watts!

I have also been following current November WattsUp workouts for on the bike strengthening and neuromuscular development. Strength using slow cadence/high power and neuromuscular development (maximizing number of muscle fibers firing together) with max power/max cadence STOMPS!

I have almost all the athletes I coach follow similar types of workouts as described above in the early parts of the off season. When out on the road in the summer, or working hard all the time, it's easy to pick up bad habits. It's easy to ride with a rounded back. It's easy to start using compensatory muscles when the primary drivers are fatigued. Doing technique work early in the season ensures that subsequent FTP training is done utilizing the proper muscles. FTP work all the time will not get you stronger.

The Run = 40km

This is where I am trying to make the most gains in the off-season. The run is my main focus for November and December. My workouts during this time are primary designed to slowly progress my weekly run volume up to 60km/week. So that I can be running 60-70km/week in the spring. This past week I started at 40km with two hill repeat runs, 1 long run (12km - haha!) and a short brick run.

Strength = 80mins

Six days a week I include a 10 minute activation/injury prevention routine prior to a bike, run or swim workout. When you run, your feet are either on the ground or off the ground. Your glutes and balancing muscles are being used when your feet are on the ground and your core is being used when they are off the ground. Weakness in these muscles leads to compensation by other muscles and subsequent injury. So, my injury prevention routine is strength training for the core and glutes, as well as including a few balance exercises.

Two days a week I do straight leg deadlifts, lunges and squats. When WattsUp gets its new leg press I will use that, also, because it can be used to strengthen one leg at a time. These exercises strengthen the cycling and running driver muscles: glutes, quads and hamstrings. Repetitive activity often leads to improved strength/endurance in the muscles themselves, but does not strengthen tendons. Overuse injury often occurs in the tendon or musculotendonous junction, usually because the tendons aren't strong enough. Resistance training strengthens both the muscle AND the tendon.

I will look to post an update on my training as often as I can. Stay tuned!