Rotten to the Core...

Today I started some Core training. This is a marvelous buzzword these days that most people think means "working your abs", but in fact it's basically working the body's fulcrum - the abdominals, lower back, and hip flexors from which all other movement depends. The advantage from a triathlete's perspective to have core strength is that swimming and running in particular can significantly benefit from it, not just in overall strength but in injury prevention.

Specifically today, I started deep core training, which is the training of muscles that we've apparently evolved to forget. These are deep abdominal muscles that, as we've become more and more sedentary, our brains have actually forgotten how to connect with. That's fascinating. So these exercises aren't so much about "feeling the burn" as they are about slow and deliberate actions to redevelop that mental relationship. Crazy.

Also in the last week of O2 training - we had a "test" - 3 miles as fast as you can - our first week, and now we do it again. We shall see...