Class Schedule starting 9/13/10

Des Moines 1/2 Marathon Training program

Stay fit, have fun, and run a fast 1/2 Marathon! IronWorks Fitness has a complete training program to get you ready for the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon to be held on October 17, 2010. Package includes; customized 8 week program, pace zones for all workouts, 1 year membership to www.trainingpeaks.com, unlimited access to Coach Loran for questions, and an IronWorks running singlet for race day. All this for $150! Contact Coach Loran at 515-707-7845 or via email at loran@myironworks.com. Hurry as the program starts on August 23rd.

IX is coming!

Strong & Skinny, Huh?

Summer is here, Fall is not to far away, which means the Cross Country season is on its way, Yippee Skippee! As a high school cross country coach I can not over-emphasize the need for doing General Strength work. By General Strength I do not mean squats in the weightroom, but rather activities that work the three planes of motion sagital, frontal, and transverse. One of my favorite coaches is Jay Johnson,

If you want to run faster then you'll need to run more or run harder, but you shouldn't lose all of your innate athleticism as you become a serious runner. I believe too many high school and collegiate distance runners are injured more than they should be (injuries happen, but many U. S. runners can't run more than eight weeks at "full volume" without injury) and that the primary reason for their injuries is that their running needs to be supported by other types of physical training.

Loran is recovering from Buffalo Springs 70.3 triathlon. Loading up the car at 6:30am on Friday I knew I was in the company of some fast triathletes (more to come on that later). TJ Tollakson, Mike Morrison, Micah Moore, and myself were ready to roll on the 15 hour car ride to Lubbock, TX. Several pitstops later we arrived in Lubbock on schedule at 9:30pm just in time to unpack and go to bed. Saturday morning included the normal pre-race routine with the rest of the day devoted to rest and mental prep work for what was ahead on Sunday. Lake temperatures dropped a "magical" 5 degrees overnight making the race wetsuit legal, insert huge sigh of relief here! Bang, gun goes off and it is racetime. Back to the part about my fast carmates, TJ leads a good part of the pro race, comes off the bike in 2nd to Chris Lieto, and runs well enough to go 4 hours flat to get 4th overall professional. Mike Morrison goes 4:20 good enough for 4th place in the toughest age-group (35-39 age group had 4 athletes in top 10, 5 athletes in top 13), and earns a trip to Kona, congrats Mike! Micah Moore competing in his 2nd ever 1/2 Ironman races a great race to go 4:24 and 6th place in age group! My race, OUCH. There is a saying that goes, "some days you have it and some days you don't". Well, I had the latter of the two but rest in the peace that I gave it what I had for that day, and stay thankful for the fact I have been given the ability to compete in a sport that I love. To end the story, we stayed around in Lubbock so Mike could "punch his ticket" to Kona, started for home at 8pm on Sunday night to drive 15 hours through a great rainstorm/lighting festival in Texas/Oklahoma, made a pitstop in Missouri to purchase some 4th of July festivity makers, and arrived home to the loving arms of our kids at Noon on Monday! All-in-all, I would call that a great weekend!

IronWorks Update

Summer is here! Watch for updated IronWorks class schedule to be announced on August 2nd with additional classes beginning in September.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

What's new this week....

Group workouts for the week;
Thursday group run at 11:45am starts with lunge matrix, 15 minute warm-up, 2 x 100 meter strides, main set is 1 x 1 mile, 1 x 2 mile, 1 x 1 mile at 10k pace, all with 3 minute jog recovery, barefoot grass strides, and finish with Myrtle.
Thursday open-water swim at 5:30pm at Raccoon River Park, starts, sighting, and wetsuit removal is the plan