I am coaching a young triathlete with a lot of potential. He was hesitant to purchase a power meter, with the usual excuse of cost. I estimated this athlete had an FTP of about 400-410 watts. I was wrong, it was 448. He got the power meter finally and his first ride was a test for FTP. Here's where he stands now in his power profile in TrainingPeaks...
I think you can guess that when he saw this, from a single power file and test, that his confidence grew tremendously! He rates near a domestic professional cyclist, and his confidence will only grow as the numbers continue to grow.
If you're looking to get faster and better on the bike, consider a power meter. The data which comes from it can build confidence, and many times a belief in oneself is all that is missing from great performances.
This week I have a number of high school cross country athletes getting ready for the state meet, and a number of athletes competing at Ironman Cozumel this week. It's interesting how much similarity there is in the race week approach for high school cross country runners and Ironman triathletes.
This week is especially challenging, due to the holiday. Kids are out of school for the week, which means they tempted to change their sleep patterns, staying up late or sleeping in, and sitting around on the couch, munching on snacks they don't normally get to eat. Changes in sleep and diet patterns during a race week is NOT a formula for success, no matter what you're preparing to race. I hear athletes starting to carbo load, which is simply changing your diet, unnecessarily.
Try to keep things as routine as possible. Might be difficult with the holiday, and the normal diet change that happens with Thanksgiving dinner, as well as travel to your big race. But try to resist changing your diet dramatically, and keep the sleep patterns at night the same. Napping during the day is fine, and I encourage that, but stick to what the body is used to, as much as possible.
We are entering the final week or two for many Ironman athletes, with Arizona this Sunday, and Cozumel the following. Some athletes I consult with by reviewing the program they write themselves, and I give feedback on that. When it comes to tapering, it can be as much art as science. Many athletes struggle to find the balance of what is enough, what is too much.
Here's a tip for tapering for Ironman; if you are going to risk overdoing the volume, make sure it is more on the bike than the run. If you really want to do more, add more bike volume, do less run volume. Running in general poses more risk of injury, and requires more recovery time. For example, instead of doing a 90 min run 1 week out from the race, do 60 mins and then add some bike time, say 30-90 mins spin afterward.
"You must believe and adhere to the principle of UNENDING IMPROVEMENT and the setting and achieving of even higher goals." - Joe Vigil, San Diego USAT Arts & Sciences Symposium 2012
This quote from Joe's presentation in San Diego recently hit the spot with everything I agree and do. I am constantly using data from the athlete's workouts to determine the exact next step, so we can have "unending improvement," skipping over any performance plateaus.
With the increase of depth in the sport, more talented athletes in it, the difference between accomplishing goals and not is becoming a smaller and smaller margin. We can't afford to train poorly, or waste training days with too much recovery, too much training stress, or injury. Data will help you to do this. If you're not using data to do so, you do not believe and adhere to this principle.
We all need recovery, especially when training hard. A common approach is to install a "recovery week" in the training plan. Many do a 3 weeks hard or building intensity/volume, followed by 1 week recovery. Some do a 2:1, or even a 1:1.
But is that really what you need? And how do you define a recovery week? Sitting on your butt? How much recovery do you need? The answer is: it's complicated. It depends on a number of factors, not limited to:
- Amount of fatigue athlete is facing
- History of athlete's response to training
- Weather
- Stress outside of training
Most of my athletes never take a "recovery week". We do recovery "days", but never a week. Too much good work can be lost if given too much recovery. And if you need an entire week to recover, you likely are training too hard during the week.
I find if an athlete can't have great performances in training after 2 light days of training, 3 at most, then the load the athlete is under is too much.
If you're looking for a jump in performance, perhaps you simply need to reevaluate the recovery you're giving yourself, or the intensity and volume of the training you're doing.
In the following video, a few hours after Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian in history, and shortly after being upset in his signature event of the 200m Fly, he was asked by Bob Costas, "what went wrong?" (1:40 mark of the video). His response was incredibly honest, and one which most athletes can learn from. He admits that he got lazy in training, and it carried over to race day. All those lazy touches at the wall in training, and more, came back to bite him.
Bob Costas: “Let’s talk about that 200 butterfly. You had the lead much of the way. You were out-touched by Chad Le Clos of South Africa 5 one-hundredths of a second.It’s hard to say that when you win a silver medal that something has gone wrong but your standard is so high that I guess we can put it that way. What went wrong?
Michael Phelps: Um… It”s probably the finishes I’ve done in workout. It ended up coming out here. There are times I go slow into the wall or touch lazy and it showed. But at the same time I’ve had a great career. And that’s my fourth Olympic final in the 200 fly. And, sure I’d like to have been 6 one-hundredths faster but there’s nothing I can do about that right now, it’s time to move forward. And I have a couple of more events coming up and that’s what I’m preparing for.
How many athletes can admit that? How many athletes when they lose or don't have the result they want can look in the mirror and recognize the little things, the details they have ignored? Everyone trains and prepares, everyone cares about the result. But very few care enough to do the details, and the ones who do win the races.
Perhaps another telling part of the interview is that he is satisfied, and he seems ok with the result he got, especially given how he hasn't been as committed as he knows he could have been. This is not a criticism of him, as it is admirable. Many athletes struggle to find this balance, and even some athletes don't realize their commitment level is not up to par, yet hold an expectation of almost gold standard.
I think many athletes can learn a lot from his brief statement.
I have an athlete I've been coaching, and they have incredible core strength. Years of swimming, and lots of core work, 5 times per week, up to an hour per session.
This athlete though is not happy with where their performance is. The first thing I am doing as the coach is cutting back the core strength. This sounds like blasphemy to some, as core strength is the "in" thing. But if core strength translated to speed, this athlete would be one of the fastest around. But they're not.
Strengthen your core, sure, but there comes a point where the effort you put into getting the extra few percentage points of improved core is wasted, as you could be putting that effort toward things that actually make you faster.
"If you have a bad start, you've got 99 meters to be pissed." - Carl Lewis, sprinter, 9-time Olympic Gold Medalist in track and field
This past weekend I took my TriJuniors athletes to Des Moines, Iowa for a major Elite Cup, which is one of the toughest events on the Junior Elite Series, to get athletes qualified for Nationals. I had 2 girls race who it was their first major event. They told me, "That swim was really rough". Nevermind the fact I told them to expect this for months leading into the race, they didn't have good starts and they dealt with the consequences. If you want to have a good start, it is all about attitude in swimming, being aggressive. So you can either have a great start and enjoy it, or have a bad one and be pissed about it. Make the choice.
The attitude you have on the start-line will be the biggest determinant of the race result.
So what attitude do I want you to have on the start line? "Who's getting 2nd?"!!! That's the attitude I want. But you have to believe it for it to be effective. If you don't do the work, you won't believe it. If you've done the work, BRING THAT ATTITUDE!!!
I see a number of athletes not sure they believe they can improve to a high level of performance. Funny how I look thru the careers of every top level athlete, age-group to elite, and there took a period of improvement and increase in belief they could reach a high level of performance. No one ever heard of Peter Sagan in cycling, now he is the biggest name in the sport since probably Lance. Look at any athlete who we talk about today, and you'll find they improved beyond what most of us expect of ourselves. I wonder if they believed they would improve so much. And if they did believe it would happen, how many of us limit ourselves simply in what believe the limit is of our own improvement potential?
So where are you? Do you believe you can improve? How much? If you believe, then don't get in your way, take some risk and go after it.
