If you are tired of listening to the same old tunes during your workout, check out this podcast I did with Endurance Planet. We get into some gritty content here. Basically, the idea that you don’t need “more”, you need “better”. And then you need more of the “better.”
Skill first, dosage second. If you are looking for ideas on where to start your transformation next season – start here.
Does anyone else live in a bubble where time-zones tick by as fast as minutes? Last night I got back home from one trip, unpacked, repacked, and flew off again this morning….traveling can be tough on our routines, and unfortunately, wreak havoc on our athletic efforts. Let’s face it, on some trips we have hours on end to utilize the high end gym (that is likely nicer than the one you have at home!). But for most of the time, it’s a pulley machine, a swiss ball, and a treadmill stuck in a standard sized hotel room masquerading as a “gym”. Not really an ideal environment to push the limits. And on top of limited equipment, you likely only have about 30 min between answering emails from your “regular work” on top of everything else demanding time on your trip. So how do you maintain your benefits of your weight work while facing the demands of traveling?
Its easy to say – OK – no weights, I’ll just go for an easy run. No harm in this at all. But for those of you really dedicated to making gains while on the road, there is a will, and a way. Take a look again at the previous post on ways to improve your neuromuscular recruitment. If the weight room isn’t set up to help you kickstart those fast twitch fibers, hitting some local hills, or even doing sprints in the parking lot go a long way.
But remember, the goal of these is to go HARD. Really hard. As hard as you are working on the last few reps in the weight room. And to go that hard, it means you have to rest between intervals. For those of you who think that rest is only for the weak, let’s look at what sprinters do. People who run hard for a living (sprinters) take approximately 1 full minute easy for each 10 meters they run. So yes, a 30 meter sprint means 3 minutes rest before the next one. And keep the durations short. Intervals over 40 meters aren’t helpful. And while sprinting hills is really tough, the effort should still be quite high and be limited to less than 20 seconds of effort. Throw your shoes on, hit a short easy run, some dynamic warm-up moves, and then hit some intense hills or sprints. Jump in the shower, and get back to travel life……knowing you did something for yourself before the day even started.
Its not all blood, sweat, and grinding to the same ‘ol tune.
Lava magazine spoke to Linsey Corbin to discuss the innovative things we did together to rehab her injury and get her ready to run Kona. Yup, a 9 mile long run, plus some outside the box thinking = a 3:04 marathon at IM world championships.Check out the full article for the story by Lava.
Training the old way is boring. Training the new way is faster (and fun!)
Adam Craig gets his position optimized at the REP Lab prior to the season
Cyclists want two very simple things. They want to be comfortable on their bike, and they want to be fast. And anytime we “want” something, we must ask the question – how hard must I work to achieve it? Or in this golden age of cycling, a lot of cyclists ask a different question – can I buy more speed? Well, let’s stop asking questions, and start producing some answers.
As a physical therapist, I can tell you that cycling takes its toll on the body. You do a fairly limited range of motion over and over and over again for thousands of miles a year. If things are lined up properly on the bike, and you are careful and follow a smart training program, you’ll maximize efficiency and prevent injury. When things are “off”, we wind up with imbalances that manifest themselves as injury. Injury is a whole other topic for a latter time. The other problem we wind up with is poor efficiency. Proper knowledge and equipment go a long way towards accomplishing a goal of optimal fit.
I’d like to summarize a paper that was published in a peer-reviewed, independent journal. Asker Jeukendrup and James Martin wrote “Improving Cycling Performance: How Should We Spend Our Time and Money”. The authors wanted to quantify the effects of various cycling factors to see which was most beneficial from both a time and cost standpoint. In this study they use simulated “models” to arrive at their predictions. Since they aren’t comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges, the mathematical models allow them to base time gains on previously established research findings (from independent, peer-reviewed journals). Instead of just saying, “bike fit helps”, the authors sought to quantify exactly how much help a cyclist gets with a given alteration in their program. If you ride for Team Sky, you can skip the rest of this, as your cycling resources are unlimited. However, if you are a cyclist balancing riding, school, wife, kids, girlfriend, busted radiator, food, and time at the dog park – read along. They examined both Internal and External Factors as shown below:
| Factors Changed | Time Savings Observed in 40K TT |
| Internal Factors | |
| Training | 1-7 minutes |
| Caffeine | 55-84 seconds |
| Carbohydrate | 32-42 seconds |
| Altitude Training | 23-34 seconds |
| External Factors | |
| Body Position | 2-2.5 minutes |
| Aerodynamic Wheels | 60-82 seconds |
| Wheel Weight | 10-72 seconds (grade dependent) |
| Body Mass | 19-25 seconds (rolling TT course) |
| Bicycle Mass | 5-13 seconds (rolling TT course) |
You can see that the old adage holds true – there is no substitute for training. Period. Got it? Yes – you have to ride you bike. And you have to ride smart. Lots of base, properly periodized training plan, intervals, and a good taper all add up to good performance on race day. Aside from training, this article offers some interesting findings on where we should concentrate our efforts. Bike fit is key. It’s free speed. Faster with less effort and more biomechanically sound. It’s a win-win all around for the time and money you’ll invest and performance gained. Also – it’s a benefit that is there every time you get on your bike. You are always reaping the benefits of training in the most optimum position. It is very different then spending 1200 dollars on a pair of wheels you only get the benefit from 5 or 6 days a year.
At the REP Lab, we use a whole lot of technology, knowledge, first hand trial and error, experience, and common sense to achieve the most optimum fit for you – not a formula out of a book. A solid bike fit gets you a whole lot closer to achieving your optimum performance now.
I encourage you to check out the full article if you want more information:
Jeukendrup, A.E., and Martin, J. Improving Cycling Performance, How Should We Spend Our Time and Money? Sports Med; 31(7):559-569
Today, we’ve got a smattering of amazing educational opportunities to announce:
This Thursday in Bend, OR @ 7:30 at the Westside Clinic: Athletes – Please join Jay Dicharry PT (REP Biomechanics Lab Director) Matt Lieto (Pro Triathlete) and Keats McDougal (Ironman Canada & Tahoe Director) for a night of Mobility and Multi-sport discussion. Jay will provide the latest research on mobility and best practices for multisport athletes. We’ll answer the most common questions: What does stretching do for the body? When should you stretch? How long? What’s the difference between dynamic warm-up and stretching? And how does soft tissue work play into this whole discussion? Next, Matt will discuss his training plans and and upcoming race prep considerations. Matt will show you how the lessons he’s learned along the way can help you prepare better for your next event. Finally, Matt will lead a Q and A with Keats. They’ll provide an overview and considerations of these two challenging courses. It will help you prep for this year’s race, or feed your stoke for next year! Stick around after for a question and answer session with our panel. And yes, we’ll have beer. Cost: free. No brainer!
This weekend in Boulder Colorado (7/13-7/14): Calling all healthcare professionals – are you tired of getting your information on running mechanics from the mainstream media? Would you be interested in a immersive weekend of education that is based around hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, hands on clinical assessment, and gait cues? We’ll construct a framework of what we know about running mechanics and their effect on performance and economy. And more importantly, we’ll show you how this information applies not just to the masses, but to your individual patients. In short, this is all the stuff you wish they had told you in Med school, PT program, or ATC curriculum. There are still a few spots left. See here for details.
August 23-24th in San Jose: Tri-athletes and would-be coaches– are you looking to get your Level 1 certification? Then join us for the USA Triathlon coaching clinic. Two days packed full of essential knowledge to help you and your athletes succeed.
Sept 21st and 22nd in Bay Area: Running Coaches – this one is all for you. We are going to delve into the truth behind running mechanics, screening strategies for your team, the impact of strength training to improve performance, discuss the role of footwear, and more. Andrew Allden chairs this event – he’s brought in a knock out panel each and every time – Learn to think outside the box to take your team to the next level @ this USATF Level 3 Coaching Seminar. More info here
Yea, I know – blogging and tweeting is supposed to make us all smarter. But you know what really makes us smarter? talking face to face. See you soon!
Revolution, not evolution. The latest innovation for your feet is not from the behemoth with swoosh. Its not from the company who brought you “those funny toe shoes.” Instead, this latest venture was announced last night on prime time television.
Its innovative “dual-purpose outsole” has a unique feature to help you out of a certain situation that always seems to come on about 1 mile into your run. Run prepared! If you’d like learn more, check out the video below.
OK. Gut check time. a few weeks ago, I asked you to take a look at your past, and identify your performance limiters. While both “Type A” and “Type B” training plans can be incredibly successful, even the most open minded Type B person takes a step back to look at their needs. After all, you’ll never reach your goal without a road map to guide you along the way.
To help you organize your road map, I’d like you to keep in mind a general plan: “from general to specific.” What does this mean? Well, if you are a cyclist, the best, most specific way to train leading up to your competition season is to pedal your bike…..often! But if you are 4 months out from your season, there are about a million other things you could be doing besides biking, that will still help you pedal well come competition season.
There’s no substitute for working hard, but there’s also no reason to work hard at the same thing. I know some of you say, “sure – I do this. I lift weights in the offseason.” Well, if you know anything about modern training theory, weights, plyometrics, and drills aren’t just for the off season (another topic for another time). When I say general, I’m not talking about all this kind of stuff. I’m talking about other kinds of stuff.
When you are 4 months out from race day, your body doesn’t really care if you did 2 hours on the trainer, or 2 hours XC skiing out in the woods. But your brain just might be a whole lot happier shushing though the snow covered trees instead of watching another 15 yr old Spinervals video. If you feel like going to a rock gym – go for it. The balance, coordination, and muscle stabilization you gain from rock climbing will improve areas of your body you never existed. And so what if you aren’t good at it? You aren’t a professional rock climber, its just something fun to do while you’ve got time, and all-cycling-all-the-time isn’t the sole focus of your day.
Me? I’m tackling my nemesis…..trying to ride my unicycle. Previously, its been successful at tacking me instead. But this is all supposed to be fun right? We do this stuff for a challenge. Repeat after me: “It’s January.” You know your friend who is putting in 20 hr training weeks right about now? He’s in for a massive blow-up come about June, and will be spending the peak of race season burt out and destroyed. So expand your skills and expand your mind. This winter, what are you doing to work on your “general?”
Can Hanz and Franz help you out? The seemingly endless debate of weight training for endurance athletes will carry on for decades. I do not plan to solve this in a single super-human blog posting today, but lets take a stab at this form an injury stand point, and hopefully give you some food for thought to modify your training program.
As an endurance athlete, your muscles receive a LOTS of high volume loads
The way to increase cross sectional area is through strength training. “But wait- I am an endurance athlete – I am strong! – I train 25 hours a week on the roads, pools, and running paths!” No doubt you are ahead of the curve Mr./Ms Endurance Athlete, but there is a difference. Endurance training is primarily high volume low load training. This is not the specific stimulus to get increases in cross-sectional area within our muscles. The correct stimulus to increase the thickness of muscle and tendon tissue is to lift heavy. You are looking to lift a weight 5-7 times for 1-3 sets with a weight such that you can barely complete the number of reps in each set. Endurance athletes are frequently told to focus on lifting for muscular endurance (high reps, low weight) – this type of lifting program does not target increasing tissue thickness (called muscular hypertrophy).So what is our take home message from today? Is it that we should all begin lifting heavy starting today? Obviously not. The take home message is this. Increasing the thickness of your musculoskeletal system will help disperse the loads our body sees with chronic training volume. Younger athletes normally develop these characteristics. As we move into our 20’s and 30’s, some amount of true strength training is likely beneficial as part of your training throughout the season. As we move into our 40’s, soft tissue density decreases. This means we can’t deal as well with training stresses and may be more likely to develop strains and injury. That’s all for now – time to hit the gym.
Jay Dicharry's Website, An Athlete's Body 