Adaptive Endurance

The beginning of a new year is an exciting time for many reasons.  For many endurance athletes the new year is a time to hit the reset button and reevaluate your short & long term goals, plan your races, design your training plan or just get off the couch and start training again.  As an endurance athlete you constantly want to evaluate your input versus output.  By this I mean you want to make sure you are getting the type of results that you would expect to be getting after putting in your hard work.  More importantly, if things are not working out as planned you need to change something.  I can not tell you how many times I have seen athletes beating their heads against the wall doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same or worse results.  As humans we are predisposed to routine and these habits are very difficult to change.  This is the reason that people have a very difficult time getting off the couch and starting to exercise.  Initially the body may revolt but as the new routine is ingrained into our minds and then the body craves exercise.  The same difficulties arise in changing your pre-existing workout routine, but the time is now!

A good place to start is look at your past season goals and see how many of those you actually achieved.  If you achieved most of them you are probably on the correct path and you may not want to change all that much but just refine and tweak what you did this past year.  On the flip-side if you had poor results in comparison to your goals you need to change something.  One place to start is to talk with your coach and if you do not have one talk to someone on the outside that knows the type of training that you were doing.  Most often you are your own worst coach.  It is really difficult to see the overall picture when you are the one planning the training sessions, recording the outputs, and evaluation how you are doing.  For some self coaching works really well but utilizing outside resources is a must!  In fact this may be one of the best options even if you already have a coach.  After all you know your body best but others can also offer useful insight and offer differing opinions on training.  If your coach did not live up to your expectation you should shop around and see what is out there.  Even if you have been with the same coach for years and everything is good, sometimes a change can be very beneficial and might keep training fun and fresh.

A transition in triathlon is a very small part of the race, but competitors can lose precious seconds very easily.  Learning to transition quickly and efficiently is well worth the effort.  Small changes in your transition can gain you free time/speed.  Races can be won and lost by seconds so practicing transitions is an easy way to get faster.  Over the years I have refined my transitions but one coach had the greatest impact on my performances in transition.  Coach Chad Latino made it a priority for The University of Montana triathlon team to have the fastest transitions.  A key workout for learning fast transitions were our formula 1 brick workouts.  In these workouts we cycled and ran multiple times for short distances.  The workouts were great!  It worked on our top end speed and made us really fast at transitions.  The workout sounds easy but another unforeseeable element added to the difficulty of the workout.  Some may describe Coach Latino as an unconventional motivator but I would best describe him as one of the best hecklers in the triathlon world.  As we performed our formula 1 workout Coach Latino was in the designated transition area ready to scream insults, criticisms, outlandish comments and the occasional praise or compliment.  Regardless of his coaching strategies these workouts imbedded a competitiveness in our team unlike any other team on the collegiate circuit.  Our team probably did not have the most talent, but we had a hard work ethic and we were very hard and stubborn thanks to Coach Latino.  Transitions continue to only be a small part of triathlon but I guarantee every  former University of Montana triathlete remembers these workouts and partially contributes these to their initial success in triathlon.  The point is that every second does count! Lance Armstrong might have been a cheat but he used all of his resources to gain so called “free speed.”  With the exception of performance enhancing drugs, he used every possible element of training and racing to gain the most out of his efforts.  In racing you really need to consider all elements as equal and important.  Yes training might have a large impact on your performance in race, but many other elements can change your result.  Transitions are a small part and many other elements are very important.

Zoot triathlon shoes=fastest transitions

I will be posting a series of elements to consider when racing and training.  For now lets work on transitions.  Feel free to contact me with questions.

Often times athletes ask me, “How do you stay so lean?”  A short answer is my metabolism has not caught up with me quite yet, and I train 20+ hours/week.  A longer more appropriate answer is that I really make an attempt to eat healthy and have a generally healthy lifestyle.  What you put in your body has direct impact on what you get out of your body.  If you put junk in, you will get a less than ideal output.

My general philosophy with food is to eat a healthy, well balanced, fresh diet.  The best advice I can give individuals is to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store.  Avoiding the aisles in grocery stores allows you to eat fresh and miss out on the pre-packaged foods.  The perimeter of a grocery store typically has all the fresh vegetables, fruit, meats, poultry, and grains.  Unfortunately or fortunately for those that like to cook, these items often take more preparation than the pre-packaged foods.  I typically shoot to have a large salad with a wide variety of veggies at both lunch and dinner.  This is an easy way to get in some of those essential nutrients.  A portion of my meal is typically a protein and often times a carbohydrate source will be available.  The bottom line is that cooking can be fun and these types of food will be high quality and help both with your health and your workouts.

Fresh veggies!

The problem with diets, fads, and other trends is that they are often difficult to follow and they are short phases.  If you find a diet that works for you that is great but really stick to it.  Americans culture is plagued by diets that claim to solve Americas obesity crisis.  Switching to a gluten free diet, paleo diet, or a low carb diet can really benefit many individuals.  Like just about everything you need to try these out for yourself.  Once you find something that works stick to it!

Welcome to Adaptive Endurance!