First off, writing posts is not something I usually do. I do a ton of reading and following of what others write.  I am the creepy guy watching what everyone is doing but not really interacting.  I did my complementary consult and was told it would be a good thing to introduce myself and share some stuff that I have experienced.

I am not going to go into a ton of depth, if you want to know more you can shoot me a message and I will be happy to elaborate.  The main thing that I want to share is get into the gym and do the strength training.  

I have always been hesitant to strength train because it wasn't something that was part of my life or routine so it was something I did because I knew I was supposed to.  The gym I am a member at is primarily a climbers gym, but works with all different athletes.  The guy that owns the gym, who I trained with for two years, said this to me, "Strength training is like a savings account you deposit a ton of it when you are healthy and young and when you get injured or get older you start pulling out what you put into it."  So I did the bare minimum and only did it when I didn't want to do other stuff.

I ended up getting injured.  2.5 years of achilles, on both, where I couldn't run and walking was painful everyday.  On top of that I had to have a hip labrum reconstruction.  It was after the hip reconstruction that I started doing my strength training with focus because it was about all I could do safely and without pain(hip was good achilles hurt like hell)  So for about 12 months I really focused on the strength.  The main lifts were elevated trapbar deadlift and and modified squats.  Still dealing with hip issues on the other hip trying to keep out of the surgery room to have that one fixed.    The goal was to lift heavy and get as strong as I possibly could.  

For those of you that like numbers I was able to lift 2.53 my body weight at the elevated trapbar deadlift. (Look up Ryan Flaherty the Savant of Speed)

Last year was my first year back after 3 years of not racing.  I basically was running 3x every 10 days. Recovery run, tempo run, longer slow run.  I was able to bike substantially faster and here was the great part I was running maybe 12 miles a week and I was as fast and got faster than when I was doing 20+ miles a week three years earlier.  

Yes, I did bike during that time and did some swimming, but it wasn't like I piled on a ton of miles or meters I just did what I would do when I felt like it, but I lifted consistently and I lifted very heavy.  

So when I read Matt's stuff about strength training I believe it.  I do work with a strength coach that is really big on form and strength and the big thing is Strength to Weight Ratio.  You will not get big doing strength training unless you eat like 4 chickens a day and strength train. The guy I train under is a rock climber and is as wirey as they come but at 155lbs he can deadlift over 400lbs and squat some ungodly number.  You will not get big you will become more resilient which means you can train harder longer.

I am glad to part of the squad and I am feeling out if it is right for me, but just wanted to share some success I had based around Matt's philosophy.