tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66797956424974534262010-05-10T10:40:31.893-07:00Joe Friel's BlogJoe Friel's Blog is for the serious endurance athlete who wants to stay current on the science and art of training for sport. Here you will find Joe Friel's thoughts and ideas before they are published anywhere else. You may also visit www.TrainingBible.com for more detailed and free content.Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.comBlogger239125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-70886859936586741782010-03-22T08:37:00.003-07:002010-03-22T08:46:43.565-07:00Physiological Fitness - Economy<span style="font-family:arial;">It's been a long time since I lasted posted anything here. Putting on a camp in Majorca wih all of the travel and time zone changes has made things a bit challenging this past few days. And then a flu bug on top of all of that really did me in. But I'm much better today and managed to find time between camp activities to do some writing.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The last of the big three physiological fitness determiners is economy. Sport science understands less about this one than the other two, but it may be the most important. It has to do with how efficiently you use oxygen while exercising. Measuring oxygen used is just another way of measuring energy during exercise since in the human body how much oxygen you use also tells you how much energy you’re expending. Your economy is much like the economy rating for a car. – how many miles per gallon of gas. Only in the case of exercise it’s how many milliliters of oxygen per mile.<br /><br />The longer the race is the less important aerobic capacity becomes and the more important economy is. This is because at the longer distances you exercise at a lower percentage of your aerobic capacity. So having a big VO2max won’t be of great benefit. But wasting even a little energy per stroke or stride due to poor economy will add up to a lot of wasted energy – and a slow performance – in a long race.<br /><br />We know what can be done to boost your aerobic capacity. You can do lots of miles and mix in high-intensity intervals. Economy is a bit different. There are some things you have control over, but many you can do nothing about. For example, we know that for swimming being tall with long arms and legs and big feet improves economy. Unfortunately, you can’t change those. In the same way, for cycling having a long femur bone relative to your total leg length improves economy. For running being short and small are good for your economy. As an endurance athlete economy is improved by having a greater percentage of slow twitch muscle fibers. And there are other improvements to our physiology we would also make if we had control over them such as increasing the number of mitochondria we have (these are the little powerhouses in the muscle cell that produce energy). These are all things we have little or no control over.<br /><br />So what things can you control to improve your racing efficiency and use fewer milliliters of oxygen per mile? The most common technique. You must realize that if you decide to go this route and make changes to your current technique that there will be a period of time during which you become less efficient. This will show up as a higher than normal heart rate at any given speed or power. And it may take weeks if not months to make the new technique your normal. At that point you should be faster at the same heart rates as before.<br /><br />Others that are beneficial for the bike and run are reducing excess body weight and using lighter equipment. Then there are sport-specific efficiency improvers. The most notable is aerobars on the TT or tri bike along with other aerodynamic equipment such as wheels, helmet and bike frame. As a swimmer you can improve economy by improving the flexibility of your shoulders and feet, especially the ability to point your toes. Interestingly, the research shows that having less flexibility in the ankle joint makes for more economical running as this appears to improve the release of energy stored in your calf muscle with each footstrike.<br /><br />Training components that improve economy are intensity and frequency. Training at a high speed or power has been shown to make athletes more economical at all speed and power outputs including the lower range. But it doesn’t work both ways. Going very slowly doesn’t pay off with greater economy at the high end of speed and power.<br /><br />One of the best ways to improve your technique and therefore your efficiency is to do your sport frequently even if each session is very brief. For example, for a triathlete to become a more efficient swimmer with only two hours a week to devote to it, swim four times a week for 30 minutes each time. That will improve your efficiency sooner than doing two, one-hour swims each week.<br /><br />Plyometric exercises have also been shown to improve economy in both runners and cyclists. This involves doing explosive jumping, bounding and hopping drills. For the run brief, powerful hill repeats are much like plyometrics.<br /><br />There is still a great deal of debate about whether or not traditional strength training with weights improves economy. I believe it does as I have seen so many of the athletes I’ve coached over the years improve their performances remarkably after a winter of lifting weights – provided they did exercises which closely mimic the movements of the sport. Doing curls is unlikely to make you a better runner. But doing step ups may help.<br /><br />In summarizing the three physiological fitness determiners remember that aerobic capacity is largely the result of your genetics as optimized by steady training over many years. And the longer your race is the less significant this is to performance, even though it wouldn’t hurt to have a high VO2max. Lactate threshold is highly trainable and you should see a steady improvement in your speed or power when you reach this threshold. Economy may be the best determiner of performance of the three. But, as mentioned, we don’t know a whole lot about it and much of what is known to be important is out of your control. The things you do have some measure of control over often take a long time to accomplish (e.g., changing your technique), are difficult to achieve (e.g., lower body weight) or are expensive (e.g., lighter bike).</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-7088685993658674178?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-86292823862873899442010-03-14T19:16:00.005-07:002010-03-14T19:32:10.144-07:00Physiological Fitness - Lactate Threshold<span style="font-family:arial;">I apologize for the recent gap in posts. I'm preparing to go to Majorca for a camp next week and so have been up to my ears in work that needed to be done first. This post is a continution of the topic I started last week - the three determiners of physiological fitness. <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/03/physiological-fitness-aerobic-capacity.html">The last post discussed aerobic capacity</a>. This one has to do with lactate threshold.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">While aerobic capacity gets a lot of ink in endurance-sport magazines, for the competitive athlete the lactate threshold is what the bulk of the hard training should focus on. Your aerobic capacity isn’t going change a lot if you’ve been training and racing seriously for three or more years. But you may be able to bump your lactate threshold up a lot.<br /><br />So what is lactate threshold? We need to start with a little biochemistry to understand this measure of intensity.<br /><br />As your body uses carbohydrate to create energy it creates a by-product inside the working muscle cells called lactic acid. As the intensity of a workout increases this liquid begins to seep out of the muscle cell into the surrounding space and blood stream. In so doing it changes its composition by giving off hydrogen ions. It’s now called lactate. Despite its “bad boy” reputation, lactate is actually a beneficial substance for the body during exercise as it is used to create more energy so that exercise may continue. It’s the hydrogen that is the real bogey man. This is what causes the burning sensation in your muscles and the heavy breathing at high effort levels. Measuring lactate levels in the blood is a convenient way of estimating how much hydrogen is in the body. The more intense the workout, the greater the amount of lactate released into the blood — and the more hydrogen ions interfering with muscle contractions. (By the way, neither lactate or hydrogen ions cause the muscle soreness you may experience the day after a hard workout. That's another of the myths that refuses to die in sport. Some day I will do a post just on such old saws.)<br /><br />Lactate threshold is sometimes referred to as anaerobic threshold. While sports scientists may argue about the differences between these two terms, for athletes there is little reason for concern. Both are essentially the high intensity at which you begin to “red line.” On a perceived exertion scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) you redline at about 7 or 8. Whatever your heart rate, power or pace is at this moment is your lactate threshold intensity. The higher this is as a percentage of your aerobic capacity the faster you will race, especially in steady-state events such as triathlons or endurance running races. It’s common with fit athletes for their lactate thresholds to fall in the range of 80 to 85 percent of their aerobic capacities.<br /><br />Most well-conditioned athletes can sustain this level of intensity for about an hour. Because of this there is a new term created by Hunter Allen and Dr. Andrew Coggan, the authors of <em>Training and Racing With a Power Meter</em>, to describe this intensity – functional threshold. This is the average bike power (functional threshold power – FTPw) or running pace (functional threshold pace – FTPa) you can maintain for one hour. Simple.<br /><br />If you are using heart rate to determine your training zones, your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) is your average heart rate for a one-hour race effort. This is unique to the sport, so your rowing, cross-country skiing, swimming, cycling and running LTHRs are likely to be different. And therefore your heart rate zones will also be unique to each sport.<br /><br />The body has two ways of improving your lactate threshold as a result of training. It can come to better tolerate the acid and it can also become more effective at removing the acid. As with all aspects of fitness, the way to train your body to tolerate and remove hydrogen ions is by training at your lactate threshold. This, then, is the best marker of training intensity. That’s why I base heart rate zones on it rather than on maximum heart rate. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">I hope to get something posted on the last topic - economy - soon but expect this may be at least a week or more. We'll see.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-8629282386287389944?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-39528102656133535422010-03-07T14:42:00.002-07:002010-03-07T14:50:16.509-07:00Physiological Fitness - Aerobic Capacity<span style="font-family:arial;">Exercise physiologists generally agree that there are only three things you can improve to become physiologically more fit for endurance sports performance: aerobic capacity, lactate threshold and economy. Ultimately, these are the reasons you train. So what are they and how do you improve them? I'll discuss aerobic capacity now and come back to lactate threshold and economy in a few days.<br /><br />Also referred to as VO2 max, aerobic capacity is your ability to use oxygen to produce energy. The more oxygen your body can process the more energy you can produce and the greater your output (power or pace). It’s common to find that the fastest athletes in a race have the highest aerobic capacities of the entrants. The farther down the race results you go typically the lower the athletes’ aerobic capacities. But don’t take this to mean that knowing your VO2 max tells you how fast you will go or how well you will do compared with others in your race category. The two other physiological factors – lactate threshold and economy – also play a major role in race outcomes. One of these by itself does not constitute all of what it takes to race fast.<br /><br />Aerobic capacity is literally at the heart of success in endurance sport. Improvements in aerobic capacity have largely to do with how much blood (which contains oxygen) the heart pumps out to the working muscles with every beat. This is called “stroke volume” and has a lot to do with how much aerobic capacity you have. A purpose of training is to improve your stroke volume. There are basically two ways to do this. The first is to focus on the volume of your training. The heart responds to lots of time spent at higher-than-resting intensity (above about 50 percent of VO2 max) by becoming more efficient and effective which ultimately means pumping more blood per beat.<br /><br />The other way to improve aerobic capacity is by doing high-intensity intervals, especially those done at about the power or pace associated with your VO2 max. At that intensity your heart rate is approaching maximum, so these are very hard efforts. This method will produce a higher stroke volume sooner than by relying only on volume. Most experienced athletes employ both strategies.<br /><br />There are other physiological contributors to aerobic capacity such as aerobic enzymes found in the muscles, blood vessel diameter and ability to dilate, blood volume and related hematocrit (red blood cells). Many athletes seem to believe their lungs are the deciding factor when it comes to aerobic capacity. Training produces insignificant changes in lung volume.<br /><br />Body weight also has a lot to do with aerobic capacity. The formula for determining VO2 max is expressed in terms of milliliters of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute. What this means is that as you lose body weight, especially fat as opposed to sport-specific muscle, your VO2 max increases. And most of us have experienced this at both ends of the weight spectrum. When we have gained weight it’s harder to run or ride a bike uphill. Conversely, when body weight has been low the effort of exercise is decreased at any given power or pace. This is clearly the affect of body weight on aerobic capacity.<br /><br />Aerobic capacity is largely dependent on who your parents were. Research (Bouchard, 1986) has shown that identical twins have nearly identical aerobic capacities. While genetics probably sets the boundaries for the upper limit of your VO2 max, proper training can take you to near the upper limit. But also bear in mind that there are two other physiological factors that contribute to endurance performance. I'll come back to them soon (I hope).</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-3952810265613353542?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-24707186488657396972010-03-02T16:53:00.003-07:002010-03-07T12:48:14.213-07:00Core Strength<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>About a year ago I posted a </em><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/02/running-and-core-stability.html"><em>blog on this same topic</em></a><em>. It's a topic I have given lots of thought to recently and so decided to return to it again. I'm still learning what the impact of poor core strength on cycling and swimming may be and so would appreciate any insights from readers.</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We read a lot about core strength training any more, but I’ve found most people really don’t know what it means. Most seem to think it means strong stomach muscles. It goes well beyond that. Core strength could be called “torso” strength. It has to do with small and big muscles from your armpits to your groin. These core muscles stabilize the spine, support the shoulders and hips, drive the arms and legs and transfer force between the arms and legs. It’s very much akin to the foundation of a house.<br /><br />When a triathlete has poor core strength it may show up in several ways. It’s most obvious in running. Poor core strength is evident in a dropping hip on the side of the recovery leg with the support-leg knee collapsing inward regardless of what the foot may be doing. Especially in running, injury is common when core strength is inadequate.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/1.-pronated-foot-3-766948.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 74px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/1.-pronated-foot-3-766943.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/2.-pronated-foot--stable-pelvis-no-injuries-726577.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 74px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/2.-pronated-foot--stable-pelvis-no-injuries-726573.jpg" /></a>In the two sets of screen shots here you can see two athletes on treadmills running barefoot (click to expand the pictures). Notice first of all the waistline of the shorts of each runner. It indicates what the hips are doing. You’ll see that the woman’s left hip is dropping quite a bit while the man’s stays quite level to running surface. Also note the woman’s slightly collapsing right knee. The man’s is very stable. But the big surprise is their right feet. The woman’s foot has very little pronation and would be considered a stable foot. The man’s is excessively pronated (see the third screen shot).<br /><br />This is backwards from what we have always been taught to believe about the foot and what happens up the chain. Excessive pronation is supposed to cause unstable knees and hips. Stable feet should not result in hip drop and medial knee wobble. The difference is core strength. The woman’s is poor and so even her feet can’t help. The man’s core is strong and overcomes a foot that would normally cause all sorts of injury problems. And in this case the man is known to have no history of injuries and is an accomplished marathoner. The woman, despite her excellent foot stability, has experienced illiotibial band injuries. Core strength is the difference. The man has it; the woman doesn’t.<br /><br />For swimming and cycling it is less obvious. Poor core strength in swimming may result in “fishtailing” – the legs and hips wiggle from to side as the hand and arm “catch” is made. Sometimes this is due to faulty stroke mechanics, so it’s hard to differentiate. But poor stroke mechanics may even result from poor core strength in thi case.<br /><br />In cycling poor core strength can show up as a side-to-side rocking of the shoulders and spine when the pedal is pushed down, even when the saddle is the right height and the rider is not excessively mashing the pedals. This is generally most evident when climbing seated.<br /><br />There is little doubt, even if it’s not always obvious, that poor core strength results in a loss of power in all three sports.<br /><br />How do you know if your core strength is adequate? One way is to have a physical therapist do a physical assessment. Find one who works with endurance athletes and tell him or her that you would like a head-to-toe exam to pinpoint weaknesses and imbalances that could reduce performance or lead to injury. And also find out what is recommended to correct any problems found. These fixes may be strengthening exercises, flexibility exercises or postural improvement. This is perhaps the best way of finding out, but there is a cost. The exam generally takes about an hour. I have each of the athletes I coach do this every winter. It’s provides a great start on core strength training.<br /><br />While quite a bit less effective, another way is to have someone video tape you while running looking for the dropping recovery-side hip shown above. You’re likely to miss the details as for the untrained eye there appears to be little difference in techniques even when the movement faults are gross. Use a treadmill and shoot the video from the back. Tuck your shirt in so you can watch the waistband of your running shorts on the video to see if it dips when the recovery leg swings through. And check the knee of the support leg to see if it is buckling in slightly. You will probably have to view this in slow motion several times to see the unwanted movements if there are any.<br /><br />If you go the self-help route and determine that you need to improve core strength I’d recommend picking up <em>Core Performance Endurance</em> by Mark Verstegen. This is one of the best books I’ve found on core strength training for endurance athletes.<br /><br /><em>Special thanks to Mark Saunders, physiotherapist and Director of Physio4Life in Putney, UK, for the pictures and introduction to this concept.</em></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-2470718648865739697?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-41452106227252053782010-02-25T17:08:00.004-07:002010-02-25T17:30:43.646-07:00Easy Means Easy<span style="font-family:arial;">Sometimes the hardest part of training is going easy. I'm reminded of this from riding with two of my clients who were in town on Tuesday. Both they and I had recovery rides scheduled as we all had hard workouts planned for the following day. I could tell they were having a hard time 'going for a walk' on a bike. At one point I had to chase one of them down to get the effort low again. When we were done one of them told me he had never had such a low heart rate on a bike ride.<br /><br />Since they are both now starting their Build period, their training must be either hard or easy - never in between. 'Hard,' of course, is related to the event for which one is training. It doesn't mean maximum effort all the time. 'Easy' means zone 1. If one makes the easy days easy, the hard days can be hard. And race fitness improves. If, on the other hand, easy becomes moderate then hard also becomes moderate. And there is little progress.<br /><br />I learned this lesson from Gary Muhrcke, the winner of the first New York City Marathon in 1970. In 1982 Gary and I both owned running stores (I believe he stills owns his - Super Runner in NYC; I sold mine - Foot of the Rockies - in 1987). That year Tiger running shoes (now called ASICS) had a national sales promotion. The top-10, best-selling stores of their products would win a one-week, all-expenses-paid vacations for two to the Bahamas. Gary's and my store were winners. We met the first day and decided to run together every morning. The next day we met to run. After a few minutes we were running a much faster pace than I was ready for. I felt like I was in a race. I dreaded the next morning. But that day he took us out at such an easy pace that it was embarrassing. It must have been a 9-minute pace. Then the third morning it was a race again. And it went on like that the rest of the week. At the end of the week I was in much better shape, I could tell.<br /><br />That's when I learned about hard-easy and I've been doing it ever since. It works. But most athletes don't give it a chance. When they feel their fitness is slipping the first decision they make is to increase the intensity of their easy days. It should be just the opposite - make the easy days easier. That will ensure you are ready to go for the next hard workout. Give it a try.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-4145210622725205378?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-81973586202531555482010-02-23T09:48:00.002-07:002010-02-23T09:56:06.687-07:00Answers for an 8th grade student<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>Last week I received a letter from an 8th grade student in Los Angeles who had some questions about triathlon. With all of the talk about childhood obesity and too much time in front of electronic media it's great too see an interest in something as healthy as triathlon. The following is my reply.</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thanks for your recent letter, Camille. You asked some very good questions. Here are my answers.<br />Q: Which segment is the hardest, swimming, cycling, or running?<br /><br />A: It depends on who the athlete is. Whichever event one is weakest at is usually considered the hardest. If the athlete is equally strong in each sport then it often comes down to the one in which he or she believes offers the most opportunity for a good overall race performance. So they may work harder in this leg of the race to gain an advantage. That is often the bike since it makes up about half of a triathlon. But many other triathletes would say that the run is the hardest even if they are good runners simply because there is a lot of accumulated fatigue by the time it starts. So there really is no consensus on which is the hardest.<br /><br />Q: When did you first become interested in triathlons, and why?<br /><br />A: In 1983 I had surgery for an ankle I had sprained many times while running. Since I couldn’t run for a few weeks I started riding my bike. I had done this often when injured in the past and had become a fairly good cyclist. A couple of weeks or so after the surgery I was riding my bike in the mountains outside my home in Colorado when I crashed. I injured a shoulder pretty badly. My doctor suggested that swimming would help it to rehabilitate. A couple of weeks later I was swimming and it occurred to me that I was swimming, cycling and running, and I was aware of this new sport called “triathlon.” So I decided to enter one. I was hooked. Once again I found that the worst things often turn out to be the best.<br /><br />Q: What helps you get your energy up when you are at a rough part of the race?<br /><br />A: There are two things that you get you through the “hard patches.” The first is training. To do well in triathlon, as in any sport, you have to train for the hardest portions of the race. These often occur in the latter stages of the race when fatigue is setting in. Training should prepare you to minimize the feelings of fatigue. The second part of the answer has to do with mental preparation. We don’t always have races where everything goes to plan and we feel great all the way. In fact, that is rare even when we are well-trained. In such situations the athlete must be mentally prepared. Essentially, that means he or she has developed the mental strength to keep moving forward even if it isn’t their best effort. Something that helps with continuing ahead is knowing that these bad patches don’t always last the remainder of the race. They usually come and go as the race progresses. So at the end of the current bad patch there will be a good one. Be patient and things will get better.<br /><br />Q: What inspired you to get into triathlons?<br /><br />A: As far back as I can remember in grade school I was interested in sport. I have always loved the challenges of competition. Later in life I learned that competition is about becoming the best person you can be. I also learned that my competitors are the ones who do the most to make me a better person. I am competing with them, not against them. Without their efforts there would be no satisfaction and little gained in sport.<br /><br />Q: What is your favorite part of triathlons?<br /><br />A: This probably isn’t what you were getting at, but my favorite part is seeing the athletes I coach achieve – and even exceed – their performance goals. Having helped someone accomplish something that only a few weeks before was little more than a dream is very rewarding.<br /><br />Q: What was the best race that you have ever done, and why?<br /><br />A: I have had many races where first place in my category came down to me and one other athlete with whom I was racing shoulder-to-shoulder. There have been a half dozen or so of these for me. Some I won. Some I lost. But in either case the competition was intense and the lasting memory vivid. Races in which I have won my category easily are soon forgotten. And those in which I was not a contender faded quickly from memory. But for those that were tight and I was at my limit I can recall every detail of the experience. It’s remarkable how clear the memory is of such races.<br /><br />You said that your mother and you had an interest in triathlon but you didn’t mention if you are both doing them. If not, I hope you decide to take the plunge. It’s a great sport with a lot to offer for people of all ages and abilities. If you do, please let me know. I hope to see you at a race one day.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Joe Friel</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-8197358620253155548?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-9619360710371189552010-02-14T20:37:00.003-07:002010-02-14T20:46:44.991-07:00Specificity of Training<span style="font-family:arial;">I consider specificity the most important principle of training. And I tie specificity in with periodization to create training plans for the athletes I coach. So what is it? Basically, the specificity principle says that if you want to become good at something you need to do that thing. Sounds pretty simple, huh?<br /><br />According to the specificity principle to ultimately become good at bicycle racing you should ride a bike – not run. That seems fairly obvious, but it’s remarkable how many cyclists, when short of time, will resort to a run workout. That may be ok early in the Base period. But in the Build period (3-11 weeks before the A race) there is very limited value.<br /><br />So how about this one… If your goal is to run a 7-minute pace you need to do a lot of 7-minute-paced running. Not 8 minutes and not 6 minutes. There is this thing called “economy” which relates to the principle of specificity. If you spend a lot of time running 6- or 8-minute pace you will not be as economical at 7 minutes as you could have otherwise been. Economy has to do with how much energy you use (or waste) at a given pace.<br /><br />One I deal with a lot has to do with triathletes and bike races… Many multisport athletes believe that bike road racing is good training for triathlon. It’s not. Bike races are, indeed, aerobic events, as are triathlons. But that’s where the similarity ends. The outcomes of bike races are determined by two-minute episodes when all hell breaks loose. They are anything but steady state aerobic. Bike racing has a huge anaerobic component which is critical to success. No one in their right mind races a triathlon that way. Triathlons are steady and anaerobic intensity is avoided. A bike race done by a triathlete is largely a wasted workout day. It’s even worse than that because the recovery after one of these delays when the next, truly specific triathlon workout can be done.<br /><br />(A brief aside… I know many triathletes may be upset about what I just said. I’m sure I will get comments about pros who do this and how successful they are. But I think they’d be better if they stayed focused on triathlon. Some will comment on the “fun” factor of doing bike races. I have no problem with that. I used to do that myself and coach athletes who also participate in both sports. Everyone needs to decide what it is they want from sport. In other words, what is “fun” for you? You can be a generalist who is pretty good at a lot of different things, or you can be a specialist who is very good at one thing. I have no qualms about either. Either can be "fun." The purpose of this post, however, is to describe how to be very good at one sport. Now back to specificity.)<br /><br />Here’s an even less obvious example… If training for a criterium you need to spend a lot of time in the drops or hooks of your handlebars – not on the brake hoods or tops. Why? Because crit racing demands you be in that position almost all of the race and pedaling economy is different when in the drops versus being on the hoods. Slightly different muscles are used.<br /><br />You’re probably getting the idea now, but here’s a final one, similar to the above, that is often overlooked by road cyclists… If you want to race well in time trials you need to train on a TT bike. Again, different muscles are used in an extreme aero position than when on a road bike, even in the drops. In the Build period I have riders do muscular endurance intervals on their TT bike weekly.<br /><br />This specificity principle is applied to periodization by ensuring that your weekly key workouts become increasingly like your next A race the closer in time you get to that race. So let’s examine “key” workouts.<br /><br />A key workout is one that I have called a “breakthrough” workout in my Training Bible books. It’s a workout intended to push the limits of your fitness. I’ve recently started defining them with a “<a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/09/estimating-tss.html">Training Stress Score</a>” (TSS). I determine very early in the season what the approximate TSS of the A race will be. Then I design workouts based on that stress. I’ve mentioned this concept before <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/stress-based-training.html">here</a>. But I continue to refine it and will post something here in the near future when time allows.<br /><br />Essentially, a key workout is a hard session. Serious athletes typically do two to four of these in a week during the Build period. If you want to race faster, determining the details of these workouts, when to do them relative to each other, and the rate at which they become increasingly like the A race is what serious training is all about. Missing a key workout is bad but you can recover from it fairly easily. Missing a bunch of them is disastrous to performance.<br /><br />The bottom line is that these key workouts must be specific to the demands of the A race for which you are training. Specificity isn’t so critical for the non-key workouts in your week. But some is still required. How much is difficult to say. But I’d recommend that a cyclist do them on a bike. That’s probably beneficial, but hard to measure.<br /><br />It’s a little trickier for triathletes. They probably need to do each of the three sports at least three times a week. That means three key workouts and six “others” every week. Very competitive triathletes do far more than that. In fact, some would probably progress better if they cut back on some of the “filler” workouts.<br /><br />You can make some exceptions to the specificity principle when it comes to recovery workouts. Triathletes are probably better off recovering on a bike or in the pool rather than by doing an easy run. If you’re going to develop an overuse injury it’s most likely in running. Saving the legs for the key runs is generally a good idea. I still want the triathletes I coach to run at least three times a week. So one of those “other” runs may be to improve skills or as a short run after a key bike ride to prepare the body for the “unusual” stress of running after riding.<br /><br />At this point I should also get into recovery days in greater detail. That’s a post for another day, however.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-961936071037118955?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-75240261623896378152010-02-08T11:54:00.003-07:002010-02-14T20:35:37.556-07:00My Bike Fit and Wind Tunnel Testing<span style="font-family:arial;">I spent the morning in the A2 Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina doing one-minute intervals into a 30-mph headwind to get my new Blue Triad SL dialed in for this next season’s racing. While I had taken clients to wind tunnels before, this my first opportunity to get my own time trial bike and position tested.<br /><br />I’ve had many bike fits done and highly recommend that as a necessity regardless of whether or not your next step will be a wind tunnel. A bike fit will cost you from $100 to $300 depending on how much time it takes and the reputation of the fitter. I found the A2 tunnel to be rather inexpensive as wind tunnels go. I’m used to having my clients pay up to $800 per hour. A2 charges _only_ $390 for an hour. I spent the better part of two hours on the saddle in the tunnel. And that’s about how much time my clients have also needed. That’s still a fair chunk of change so you want to come away with positive results. “Buying” a minute for a 40k is very expensive.<br /><br />Again, I recommend that everyone has a bike fit done by a professional fitter. I go to a lot of races and see horrible bike positions that reduce power and increase drag – the worst possible combination. With a few small adjustments I could do wonders for nearly all of these riders (the others need bikes that fit – you can’t do much to correct that). It would take hours of weekly training for several months to build more power in order to reap the same benefit as a few basic adjustments of the bike set up would take.<br /><br />So here’s what led me to Mooresville… After the new Blue TT bike was built up I met with Chris Pulleyn at Bicycle Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona for a fit. Chris has done this for every athlete I’ve coached for the past three years. He is meticulous and determined to get an excellent position. Accompanying is a picture of Chris setting the position right at the end of the fit. I liked the position we came up with and felt both powerful and aerodynamic.<br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/ChrisPulleyn-786466.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/ChrisPulleyn-786087.JPG" /></a><br /><chris>But there is a big difference between pedaling easily in a fit studio and racing on the road. The wind tunnel showed me that. On the first of 15 runs (a “run” lasts about 90 seconds and includes about 30 seconds of both the rider and the fans coming up to speed followed by about a minute at functional threshold power while readings are captured) I felt a little high. Fourteen runs later we had the bike set for a position that fit my needs – which is mostly 20km time trials. Had I been training for a longer event, especially something like an Ironman triathlon, the position would have been altogether different. The biggest change is that we would have shifted the focus from aggressively aerodynamic toward being far more comfortable. <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Head-on-776550.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 245px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Head-on-776269.png" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/30deg-Yaw-754487.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 274px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/30deg-Yaw-753995.png" /></a><br /><a2><br /><br />The before-after pictures you see here show fairly well the changes that Mike Giraud at A2 made in my position. He started by lowering the handlebars. This was done four times for a total drop of 4.5cm. Each time I became a bit more aero, but power dropped off a bit also. By the fourth time the trade off wasn’t good and so he brought the bars back up 5mm. Then he began bringing the elbows in, about 3cm at a time for three tries. The last was too much and so I ended up with the elbow pads 3cm narrower than when we started. This made for a bit too much discomfort in trying t hold on to the S-bend aerobars and so he rotate them I so that the bar ends nearly touched.<br /><br />After a try at making my shoulders narrower by lifting them toward my ears, which didn’t achieve very much, he tried a different helmet. My Garneau Rocket Air helmet (blue in pictures) was replaced by a Giro Advantage 2 (black in pictures). The Giro helmet fit a bit closer to my back and also seemed better shaped for my head. I also liked the heavily padded ear covers, which quieted the 30mph wind. (Interestingly, this latter is suggested by John Cobb to reduce the sound of the air thus reducing one’s perceived exertion. Only he achieves it by using ear plugs.)<br /><br />The bottom line is that I wound up with my bars 4cm lower, my elbows 3cm narrower, my hands brought together by rotating the bar extensions, and different helmet. The power and drag numbers are not available as I write this. I will post them at another time.<br /><br />I’m now ready to race – except for the fitness part. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-7524026162389637815?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-43397256840399512392010-02-03T19:49:00.002-07:002010-02-03T20:19:47.989-07:00Read Any Good Books?<span style="font-family:arial;">I recently read a couple of books you may find enjoyable and informative:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><em>Racing Weight</em> by Matt Fitzgerald</strong>. Matt is a coaching colleague who I have always found to be level-headed with his training advice and have a firm foundation in research. Both qualities stand out in this book which hit the shelves in the last few months from Velo Press who also publishes many of my books. I never thought it possible to write an entire book on this topic. Writing a blog post on weight management for serious athletes seemed long when I did it <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/base-period-body-weight.html">some time ago</a>. I was expecting a lot of meaningless fill with a book on the topic, but it is anything but that. I found every page to be sprinkled with ideas on how to manage your weight for better performance. And the book is extremely well researched. He often presents both sides of an issue and then explains why he sides with one of them. I find that an enlightening way to deal with topics so burdened with old wives' tales and misinformation. Matt has done a great job. I'd highly recommend reading it even if you don't need to lose any excess poundage. You'll come away with a better understanding of your physiology and also of food.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong><em>Trizophrenia</em> by Jef Mallett</strong>. I don't usually read books like this but I have followed Jef's comic strips in our local paper (<em>The Arizona Republic</em>) and in <em>VeloNews</em>. In his comics he seems to frequently express something I've done or thought of myself while training. His book is no different. As a triathlete he has a good sense of what others in the sport are thinking. If you're a triathlete I'm sure you will enjoy the book<em>.</em> It's a quick read and will leave you contemplating what you do so seriously many hours a day while chuckling at the same time. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong>And a little bit of self-promotion...</strong> I'm currently working on a book which won't be out until next fall at the earliest (one chapter done!). I've received many questions from athletes over the years basically asking how to apply the principles described in my Training Bible books. This book does that. Based on a periodization model, you simply read the chapter related to the period you are just starting in your training and it will take you through all of the details including not only the period-specific workouts, but also testing, nutrition, mental challenges and common problems. And it will offer sample training plans for your race preparation. I think it's going to be a great book for helping you coach yourself more effectively. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-4339725684039951239?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-40750037317200157912010-01-29T08:24:00.002-07:002010-01-29T08:47:38.761-07:00Even More on Running Shoes<span style="font-family:arial;">I always enjoy reading the <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/">sportsscientists.com blog</a> written by Ross Tucker, PhD of Cape Town University and Jonathan Dugas, PhD of the University of Illinois in Chicago. They have a level-headed approach to training that I admire and they seem to be open to new ideas. Many in sport science (as in any science, I suppose) are deathly afraid of change because it means rethinking the area of suggested change and its overlapping areas. Acceptance of new ways also suggests that nothing is above re-examining and possibly changing. Change is scary. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But being open-minded to the possibility of change does not mean that every new idea that comes down the pike should be accepted at face value. That would lead to chaos in science as in any area of endeavor. New ways of seeing the world of training for endurance sport should be viewed with some degree of skepticism while taking a hard look at the concept from both a scientific and a real-world perspective. Tucker and Dugas seem to balance this very nicely.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I bring this up because </span><a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2010/01/running-barefoot-vs-shoes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FcJKs+%28The+Science+of+Sport%29&utm_content=Twitter"><span style="font-family:arial;">they have just posted to their blog</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> a piece on minimalist running shoes, barefoot running and normally shod running. It examines the science behind the website I </span><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/01/more-on-running-shoes.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">mentioned a couple of days ago</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> on this topic. If you're considering running in a less supportive shoe or even no shoe at all be sure to read the Tucker-Dugas post before making the switch.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-4075003731720015791?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-53087613951717363892010-01-27T21:21:00.003-07:002010-01-27T21:38:28.568-07:00More on Running Shoes<a href="http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's an interesting view on running shoes and footsrike</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> from a professor at Harvard University and colleagues (thanks for the heads up, Chad). The lead author, Daniel E. Lieberman, PhD, studies human bipedal movement from a paleolithic perspective. You may well find this interesting based on the comments that followed my previous posts on running shoes <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/01/running-shoes-part-1.html">here </a>and <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/01/running-shoes-part-2.html">here</a>. It seems there are some pretty strong opinions and even feelings on this topic among runners. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I should point out that the research leading to the website cited above was funded, in part, by Vibram FiveFingers, the makers of a minimalist foot cover (I hesitate to call it a 'shoe') for runners. While I always feel a bit of skepticism when I see that a study was funded by a business that may well benefit financially from the results, it doesn't necessarily mean that the conclusions are biased. You can read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-5308761395171736389?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-10136172975851966862010-01-24T06:02:00.003-07:002010-01-24T06:28:30.955-07:00More on Running Faster<span style="font-family:arial;">As mentioned in a </span><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/running-faster.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">previous post on running faster</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, I have the triathletes I coach do some form of the basic strides drill year round. As with swimming, it seems you can never devote too much time to improving your run technique. I once coached a pro triathlete who was an All-American runner in college and considered one of the fastest runners in triathlon. I still had him work on technique year round. You should too.<br /><br />The downhill strides workout described in the </span><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/running-faster.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">original running faster post</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> is very simple. All you do is run fast for 20 seconds several times on a soft surface such as a grassy park that has a very slight decline (such as 1%). If you do not have a history of calf, Achilles or plantar fascia injuries then I'd have you substitute “uphill strides” for the downhill strides workout after a few weeks. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This session will help you develop more running force. As explained earlier, there are only two things you can do to run faster - increase your stride length or increase your cadence. What you would really like to do is both. In that previous post I described how to improve your cadence. Let's now look at how to improve stride length which is just another way of saying improve force.<br /><br />Developing greater running force will make your stride longer without even trying. Combine that with the higher cadence you have been working on with downhill strides and your running is sure to improve. But it won’t happen overnight. Your aerobic system must also improve to allow you to maintain the combined higher cadence and longer stride. And the nervous system must also adapt to the changes. All of this will take some time as the aerobic and nervous systems change slowly. By the start of the Build period in a few weeks, if you’ve been diligent about both speed skills and force training, you will be running faster at the same effort as when you started Base training. You must be patient and persistent to realize the improvement. In the mean time, don't try to artificially increase your stride length while running. Let it happen naturally.<br /><br />Uphill strides workouts for force are done on either a short, very steep hill or on something like the stairs you find in a football stadium or basketball arena. If you have had some Achilles, calf or plantar fascia injuries then you are better off using the stairs - if you do this workout at all. The ankle flexion is significant when running up a steep hill and puts a tremendous load on those soft tissues. For this reason I prefer stairs for this workout for most runners but they are harder to find than hills.<br /><br />The uphill strides workout is simple. Warm-up well and then do three sets of three intervals up the hill or stairs. Run as hard as you can on each interval – but not so hard that your technique breaks down. If running stairs you may need to take two or even three steps with each stride depending on the width and rise of the stairs. Count 12, right-foot strikes stopping on the twelfth. Turn around and walk back down the hill or stairs. Do not run down. Jog easily for five minutes after each set.<br /><br />This is a very risky workout. Be cautious with its progression. Do this no more than twice a week with at least 96 hours between them. Once a week is better for most athletes. Start with one set and add another each week for three weeks. If you have “glass legs” you would be wise not to do it at all. In that case just continue doing the downhill strides for speed skill. Not all of the athletes I coach do the uphill strides workout. I’m very conservative when it comes to risky running workouts. You must avoid injury.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-1013617297585196686?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-28548941331810466392010-01-19T17:04:00.001-07:002010-01-19T17:07:57.584-07:00Indoor Intervals<span style="font-family:arial;">Someone asked me today what intervals could be done on an indoor trainer or treadmill to alleviate some of the boredom. Of course, what you do in training is more closely tied to your periodization, i.e., time until your first A-priority race of the season, than to your level of boredom. For example, some athletes, I know, are doing the Valley of the Sun bike stage race next month in Phoenix. If that’s an A race for you then higher intensity efforts are appropriate. But if your A race isn’t for a few months then lower intensity efforts are appropriate. Assuming you know what you should be working on in training right now, here are some workouts that may be done indoors – or outdoors for that matter, also. (If unsure of what you should be doing consult my Training Bible books – Chapter 6.)<br /><br />Before each of the sessions described below warm-up by gradually increasing the intensity. The more intense the intervals, the longer the warm-up. Cool down after each interval session.<br /><br />The intensity of these intervals is based on the following. Pick the one that suits you best…<br /><br />• Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale<br />• Heart Rate (HR) using the system found in my <em>Training Bible</em> books and Total <em>Heart Rate Training</em> book.<br />• Power zones are from Coggan’s system (<em>Training and Racing With a Power Meter</em>)<br />• Pace zones for running are found in my <em>Triathlete’s Training Bible</em> book<br /><br />Note that the number of intervals and the duration of the intervals is not carved in stone. These may be changed either way to accommodate an athlete who is highly experienced or a novice. They are a starting point for someone who is moderately fit for this time of year.<br /><br />WORKOUTS<br /><strong>Aerobic endurance intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve cardiovascular system<br />RPE: 4-5<br />HR Zone: 2<br />Power Zone: 2<br />Pace Zone: 2<br />Workout: 3 x 20 minutes with 5 minute easy recoveries<br />Comments: Keep cadence comfortably high<br /><br /><strong>Tempo intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve muscular endurance<br />RPE: 6<br />HR Zone: 3<br />Power Zone: 3<br />Pace Zone: 3<br />Workout: 3 x 10 minutes with 3 minute easy recoveries<br />Comments: Cadence slightly lower than normal or 2% uphill on a treadmill<br /><br /><strong>Threshold intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve ability to process and remove acid build up and lift lactate threshold as a percentage of aerobic capacity<br />RPE: 7<br />HR Zone: 4-5a<br />Power Zone: 4<br />Pace Zone: 4-5a<br />Workout: 3 x 6 minutes with 2 minute easy recoveries<br />Comments: Cadence at comfortable level. May be done on a ‘hill.’<br /><br /><strong>Anaerobic endurance intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve aerobic capacity<br />RPE: 8-9<br />HR Zone: 5b<br />Power Zone: 5-6<br />Pace Zone: 5b<br />Workout: 5 x3 minutes with 3 minute easy recoveries<br />Comments: Keep cadence comfortably high, focus on technique<br /><br /><strong>Speed skills intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve economy<br />RPE: 8-9<br />HR Zone: not applicable<br />Power Zone: not applicable<br />Pace Zone: not applicable<br />Workout: 6-8 x 20 seconds with 90 seconds of easy spin/walk recoveries between intervals<br />Comments: Focus is entirely on one single aspect of technique such as run foot strike or pedaling through 12 o’clock position. Movement is fast at high cadence.<br /><br /><strong>Anaerobic capacity intervals</strong><br />Purpose: Improve power<br />RPE: 10<br />HR Zone: not applicable<br />Power Zone: 7<br />Pace Zone: 5c<br />Workout: 3 sets of 3 x 12 revolutions (count right foot 12 times) with 3 minute easy recoveries between intervals and 6 minutes between sets<br />Comments: These are essentially sprints. Form must be perfect or injury is possible. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-2854894133181046639?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-74700742777928253822010-01-13T14:18:00.003-07:002010-01-19T17:10:04.325-07:00Running Shoes, Part 2<span style="font-family:arial;">I've got a layover in Denver on the way to Salt Lake City today so have a bit of time to expand on <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/01/running-shoes-part-1.html">my comments below on running shoes</a>. There have been a couple of comments posted by readers and I received a few emails on the subject also. So far these have overwhelmingly favored minimalism in running shoes selection with a few preferring barefoot and a couple the Vibram Five Fingers product (I hesitate to call it a shoe). </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When I owned the running store mentioned in the previous post I soon discovered there wasn't one shoe selection that would work best for all runners. But gradually I came to realize that runners are less likely to have injuries and to perform better if they use the least shoe possible <em>for them</em>. Note that 'for them' is quite a broad qualifier. A 115-pound woman with excellent running technique and years of training injury-free can generally get by quite nicely with the least shoe possible. Whereas a 220-pound runner with flat feet and awful run technique who is in his first year of serious running will need something far more supportive on his feet. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I wish it was so easy as to say that we should all just run barefoot. Had we grown up like Kenyan kids - barefoot and running to school every day - we wouldn't need heavy-duty shoes at all. Our feet and legs would be strong and our technique would be excellent. Unfortunately, that simply isn't the case. We grow up wearing shoes as soon as the parents can dress the baby. I'm afraid the feet of most of us are not well-conditioned. But we can do something about that.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think it might help if you got out of your shoes during the day whenever you can. I'm not talking about running shoes here, but rather your 'street' shoes. Taking them off around the house is a minimal but first step in strengthening your feet. Athletes who do this can progress to doing what I call 'barefoot strides' a couple of times a week. I start them off with doing 5-6 x 20 second sprints on a clean, grassy surface (with walk-back recoveries). If not ready for barefoot running try using a lightweight racing flat, Nike Frees, beach water shoes or Vibrams. The idea is to gradually do more walking and running with little or no footwear. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I doubt if you will ever want to do all of your training and racing barefoot, although some do. The real advantage to doing this is not necessarily to run with a minimal shoe but to strengthen your body so injury is less likely. If that eventually involves wearing a minimalist shoe that's okay. I don't happen to see that so much as a goal as a means to training injury-free and eventually racing faster.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-7470074277792825382?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-83453808398897905312010-01-12T07:11:00.003-07:002010-01-12T07:31:26.971-07:00Running Shoes, Part 1<span style="font-family:arial;">January has so far proven to be a very busy month and is only going to get busier due to upcoming travel. Hence the gap in posts here which is probably going to continue. But with a small break in the activities today I found an opportunity to post on something a few people have asked me about recently – running shoes. Specifically, the questions have been on the advantages (or disadvantages) of wearing minimal shoes or none at all by running barefoot.<br /><br />Let me provide a bit of background for this piece first by describing how I came to be a runner and the shoes I used back then. In Part 2 I will get into what I tell the runners and triathletes I coach now about their footwear.<br /><br />I was a track and field athlete starting at age 12 in junior high school and then on through college. I ran the low and high hurdles in junior high, high school and freshman year of college. In my sophomore year (1964) U.S. collegiate track and field began the introduction of the intermediate hurdles. These were at a height half-way between the lows (which were eliminated) and the high hurdles. Hence the name 'intermediate.' The distance of the intermediate race was longer – 300 meters (330 yards back then in the U.S.). The lows were run over 200 meters (220 yards) and the highs at 110 meters (120 yards). The 300-meter race eventually became the internationally common 400 meters which is the distance now run in all college track and field.<br /><br />Back then as a hurdler there was no difference between the shoes I trained in and those used by shot putters or milers. The shoe had a black canvas top with laces and a gum rubber sole. The sole was perhaps a centimeter thick from toe to heel. There was no built-in arch support. For competition we wore racing spikes that were leather uppers with a thin leather sole and five to seven replaceable spikes in the forefoot. The spikes were in the range of one to five centimeters long and were changed relative to the conditions of the track on a particular day. All of the tracks I ran on then were cinders over clay which made for a great running surface. But they were a hassle to maintain so were replaced by “all-weather” surfaces beginning in the 1970s.<br /><br />I took a break from serious running after graduation from college in 1966 as the government needed me to help win the war in Vietnam. While there I jogged a couple of times a week around the airbase (Phan Rang – “Happy Valley by the Sea”) wearing “Chuckies” – white, canvas, high-top basketball shoes. They offered minimal cushioning and had no significant support for the arch.<br /><br />After Vietnam I continued to jog occasionally but sporadically through the early ‘70s. By the middle of the decade I was still jogging but starting to get serious about running once again. By now I had morphed into a distance runner. I had a pair of Nike Cortez shoes with leather uppers and a wave-pattern, rubber outsole. <a href="http://store.nike.com/index.jsp?country=US&lang_locale=en_US&cp=usns_CSE_081109_Froogle&l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-193220/pgid-176444&CAWELAID=377772571#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-193220/pgid-176444">They are still made to this day and look much the same as back then</a>.<br /><br />By 1979 I was running a lot, so much that I decided to leave teaching and open a running store. That was a pretty radical idea back then as there were only a handful of them in the country. In 1980 I bought a local running store – Foot of the Rockies in Fort Collins, Colorado. The sale was completed in the spring and I took possession in July. We carried the major and popular brands of the day – Nike, New Balance, Tiger (now ASICS) and Brooks. The only major brand we didn’t have was Adidas.<br /><br />At the time I bought the store running shoe design had not progressed much beyond my Cortez. About the only big changes were the Nike Waffle sole and nylon uppers. In the early 1980s Brooks introduced the anti-pronation wedge in a shoe which proved to be popular. Soon other manufacturers were making changes in their shoes to control pronation. At my store we tended to shy away from “high-tech” shoes preferring instead to put runners in the older-style, more basic shoes. The Tiger “Montreal” was our best selling model. It was a thin-soled shoe with a nylon upper. I loved them, and probably still have a pair stashed away somewhere in the attic.<br /><br />As the technology of running shoes became more complex the price of shoes escalated. Our average shoe sell then was about $35, about $10 below the industry average, and the most expensive was a New Balance shoe at $79. It came in widths which made people with wide feet very happy and they were willing to pay for the comfort.<br /><br />In 1987 I sold the store to become a part-time coach (I had a day job as a fundraiser for a non-profit). By 1992 I was coaching full-time. During this time running shoes experienced continuing change as they became even more complex. I tried to keep up with the new shoe widgets but finally gave up by the late 1990s. Now when I go into a running store I’m amazed at how much stuff has been added to the shoe to “correct” a problem with the human foot and movements of running.<br /><br />This may give you some idea as to the direction I’m going with my advice to athletes when it comes to running shoes. But I’ll leave you to ponder that until I get an opportunity to write again in a few days. Now I’m off now to Lehi, UT (Wednesday) and then Ballwin, MO (Saturday) for clinics at which I’m speaking. If you’re in either neighborhood I hope you can attend (see my most recent posts below for the details).<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-8345380839889790531?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-81039851848857014882010-01-11T17:01:00.002-07:002010-01-11T17:06:01.685-07:00Louisville Clinic<span style="font-family:arial;">Click </span><a href="http://www.kencombsrunningstore.com/joe%20friel%20visit.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;">here </span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">for the website for that February 27 clinic mentioned below in Louisville, Kentucky. If you are nearby I hope you can make it. This will be a big day with a lot of training and racing ideas being shared.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-8103985184885701488?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-54638269506222159282010-01-08T22:06:00.003-07:002010-01-08T22:24:15.559-07:00Clinics and Camps<span style="font-family:arial;">I'll be speaking in the following places in the next few weeks. I hope one of these is near you and you can attend. If you do please introduce yourself. I enjoy meeting athletes who read my blog.<br /><br />Jan 13 Lehi, UT (</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/yg6mufx"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://tinyurl.com/yg6mufx</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">)<br /><br />Jan 16 Ballwin, MO (</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/yj59ohf"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://tinyurl.com/yj59ohf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">)<br /><br />Feb 13 USAT Seminar for triathlon coaches in Colorado Springs, CO<br /><br />Feb 20 Freehold, NJ (</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/yf68y43"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://tinyurl.com/yf68y43</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">)<br /><br />Feb 27 Louisville, KY (website TBA)<br /><br />Mar 20-26 Triathlon Camp in Mallorca, Spain - 2 spots left (</span><a href="http://bit.ly/5knYmw"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/5knYmw</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">)<br /><br />If your club or group would like to schedule an all-day seminar as a fundraiser and to boost membership </span><a href="mailto:joyce@peakperformancecorp.com"><span style="font-family:arial;">request info</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. The following dates are open on my calendar right now:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mar 13-14</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Apr 10-11</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Apr 17-18</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Apr 24-25</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-5463826950622215928?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-68418957623852661242010-01-02T06:29:00.004-07:002010-01-02T06:45:51.673-07:00Base Period Nutrition<span style="font-family:arial;">One of the common objectives of the Base period is to improve aerobic endurance. There are many physiological benefits your body realizes as your aerobic endurance improves, such as an increase in muscle capillaries, greater heart pumping capacity and more plentiful muscle enzymes for converting fat to energy. Related to this last benefit is your body’s greater preference for using fat for fuel while sparing glycogen as aerobic endurance improves. This is an important change because it means a greater reliance on a fuel source each of us has plenty of – fat. Regardless of how skinny you are you have enough body fat stored to fuel many days of continuous exercise. The problem is accessing it.<br /><br />If you were to stop training for a few weeks your body would begin to lose its taste for fat. It would, instead, gradually shift toward a preference for using carbohydrate, a sugar compound stored in the body as glycogen and glucose, to fuel exercise. So that after this time off, as you started exercising again, most of the energy used in your workouts would come from glycogen and glucose. And your body would not be very good at accessing its fat for fuel. That’s a problem. It means that you will need to continually feed your body sugar from sports drinks, bars, gels and other sources during workouts since you don't have much stored away. There’s a limit as to how much sugar your gut can process during exercise. So you face the double-headed problem of not being able to take in enough sugar to fuel your engine while beginning to slow your pace despite what feels like a high effort. This is an early stage of “bonking.”<br /><br />In the Base period, assuming it comes on the heels of having had a break from high volume training, it will take your body many weeks of long, aerobic endurance workouts to train it to once again preferentially use fat for fuel. It will have slowly shifted to a preference for sugar. And the more sugar you feed it, the more it will want. In a winter Base period, the holiday season, with all of its pastries and sweets, may have compounded this shift. You want – actually, you <em>need</em> – to speed up the fueling changes your body goes through as you begin to increase the duration of your workouts. What you eat now plays a role in this change.<br /><br />The body uses for fuel whatever it is given the most of. If you eat a diet high in carbohydrate, which at some times in the year is necessary (more on that at another time), it will prefer to use sugar for fuel. If you feed it more fat while reducing carbohydrate it will learn to use fat for fuel. That’s a good thing since it augments your aerobic endurance training.<br /><br />I know what you must be thinking now: Eating fat is bad for your health. That’s an idea which grew out of the 1950s and refuses to go away. Like many “old wives’ tales” there is an element of truth to it. Some types of fat are definitely bad for your health and should be avoided. The worst is hydrogenated fat, often referred to as “trans fat.” This is a fat that nutrition science gave us as a gift 60-some years ago to avoid what they saw as a problem – too much saturated fat in our diets in the form of butter and as an ingredient in many processed foods. As is often the case, the scientific solution was eventually discovered to be worse than the original problem. Trans fat proved to be a better way to cause heart disease than saturated fat. Avoid trans fat. The label of foods that contain it will list it in the ingredients as a “partially hydrogenated” oil. Keep these foods out of your body. You’ll find them in some breads and most snack foods. Read the labels before purchasing.<br /><br />The “good” fats are found in such foods as walnuts, macadamia nuts, avocado, fish, shellfish, flaxseed oil, olive oil, canola oil and the meats of range-fed animals and wild game. In the Base period slightly increase your consumption of these foods while slightly decreasing your intake of sugar and starchy foods. In this latter category are foods such as bread, bagels, cereal, corn, rice and potatoes. These are best eaten immediately following long workouts to speed recovery. Don’t make the mistake I often come across with some athletes who become so focused on avoiding starch and sugar that they shy away from them following exhaustive workouts. That’s a big mistake. We want to slightly shift your diet toward fat and away from carbohydrate during the Base period. Do not entirely avoid these foods.<br /><br />By the way, it’s alright to “cheat” on your diet. In fact, you should. Having a small dessert after a meal will not have negative consequences for performance and may do wonders for your peace of mind. My favorite is gourmet, double-chocolate cookies. On days that I workout I’ll have one or two of them for dessert after dinner. Having an occasional baked potato or infrequent pasta side dish is also OK. What we’re trying to avoid in the Base period is a diet dependent on moderate- to high-glycemic carbohydrate foods while emphasizing fat. This dietary shift will contribute to your aerobic endurance fitness.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-6841895762385266124?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-69070184363672081812009-12-29T05:42:00.003-07:002009-12-29T05:54:58.738-07:00Base Period Body Weight<span style="font-family:arial;">During the Transition period after your last race season you probably gained some weight. That is expected. And it’s probably a good thing - depending on how much weight you gained. Trying to stay at your optimal race weight year round is not good for your health. It’s also not good for your psyche. Staying focused on maintaining race weight 12 months of the year, regardless of your training load, requires a monk-like lifestyle of continual sacrifice and near suffering.<br /><br />So I hope you’ve enjoyed life a bit and gained some weight in the last few weeks. The Base period is the time to start trimming down any excess beyond your best training weight. Training weight is a bit heavier than race weight. Your training weight by the end of the Base period may be roughly three to five percent more than your race weight – the weight you will have on the day of your first A-priority race. The higher workload of the Build period should be enough to gradually bring your training weight down to your racing weight by race day.<br /><br />The extra calories you are burning as you move into the Base period may be enough to help you accomplish this initial weight loss. If not then you need to become more aware of your eating habits and modify them appropriately. Keeping a <a href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/personal-edition/log-meals-and-track-nutrition.aspx">food log</a> is a proven way of doing this.<br /><br />Athletes who have been through this weight-loss process before generally know what they need to do to shed the extra flab. What I have found works best with the athletes I’ve coached is to greatly reduce their intake of starch and sugar replacing these foods with non-starchy fruits and vegetables. Examples of starchy foods are pastries, cereal, bagels, bread, corn, rice and potatoes. Limit your intake of such foods to the first 30 minutes following your long aerobic endurance and higher-intensity muscular endurance workouts. This will compromise your recovery a bit, but it’s better to do that now than in the last few weeks before your A race when recovery is becoming increasingly important to race performance.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-6907018436367208181?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-11265326571831480252009-12-28T18:16:00.003-07:002009-12-28T18:28:17.875-07:00More Custom Midsole Cleats<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>Here's another picture of a reader's custom midsole cleat position. The athlete is Ramon Alarcon and the shoes are Specialized. His comments follow.</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/midsole_specialized-001-715949.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 266px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/midsole_specialized-001-715941.jpg" /></a>Attached are a couple of pictures of a pair of 2007 Specialized S-Works Road Shoes that I modified to work with the midsole cleat position. In one of the pictures, you can see that because of the shape of the sole, I had to build up the platform to provide a load bearing surface for the cleat. I used a slow setting epoxy to build up this platform below the cleat. So far, I've put about 5k miles on the shoes with no problems.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/midsole_specialized-002-755282.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 283px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/midsole_specialized-002-755277.jpg" /></a>The reason I chose to try the mid-sole position is due to a medical condition. In 2008, I was diagnosed with Exercise Induced Arterial Endofibrosis. For those who don't know about it, it's a narrowing of an artery located in the hip caused by repeated motion under load. The artery in question supplies blood to the leg. Basically, the millions of times your hip flexes while cycling can cause this condition under certain circumstances. This limitation in blood flow was not a problem during moderate training, but it was causing cramping in the quads and possibly calves during intense efforts during races. When I first read about the mid-sole position, I figured, hey, if my blood flow is limited, why would I direct any to supply the calves that aren't needed to move the bicycle forward. Since switching to the mid-sole position, I have had no cramping problems in races. I still notice a drop in power due to the blood flow limitation, but it seems like the mid-sole position has minimized this. I have been able to reach about 96% of the FTP I had before the diagnosis.<br /><br />One final note. I have my EIAE monitored through regular testing. It has been stable for a year. For the sake of further investigation, my doctor had me participate in a test to measure Popliteal Artery Entrapment. It turns out that, even though I'm not a runner, I have that too. A fairly large percentage of the population may have this. It seems to me that the mid-sole cleat position would provide a benefit to cyclists, especially those who also run, and are thus more prone to developing this condition.</span><br /><br /><div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"><em>If you use midsole cleats and wouldn't mind sharing a picture of them and any comments on how they've helped you (or not) please </em><a href="mailto:jfriel@trainingbible.com"><em>send it to me by way of email</em></a><em>. So far I've not heard from anyone who found this position to detract from performance. I'd like to see those comments also, especially if you have a sense of why. But there must be an accompanying picture of the shoes you used. Be sure to give me permission to use your picture, comments and name (it's ok if you prefer anonymous). Thanks!</em></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-1126532657183148025?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-33164870705961333982009-12-26T16:50:00.004-07:002009-12-26T16:59:43.680-07:00Another Midsole Cleat<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>A few days ago I suggested that if you use bike shoes with a midsole cleat you could send me a picture. I'll post some of them. Here is one from reader Jill Fry along with her comments (posted with her permission). The shoes appear to be Biomac with custom cleat placement. Biomac shoes are described <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2007/02/biomac-shoes.html">here</a>.</em> <em>Here are Jill's comments on her shoes:<br /></em><br /><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/shoes2-775690.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 259px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/shoes2-775279.jpg" /></a>I got these in Oct of this year. Riding in these shoes is NOTHING like riding with the cleats pushed back, completely different feel. My first ride out I was really worried about whether or not I was going to like them, they felt so different. I stuck with it , kept riding in them and after a while they felt 'normal' to me. One of the hardest things to get used to was clipping in! I notice a huge difference in the amount of work my calves are doing when I ride especially on the hills, I feel like they’re hardly working . An Achilles injury that I had been trying to get rid of for months went away within a couple weeks after I started wearing these shoes. I had taken a considerable amount of time off so I didn’t put my power meter on the bike when I first started riding. With all the time off I don’t think comparing with old data would have told me anything . I just started riding with the power meter again, it will be interesting to see the numbers once I get my fitness back and start racing again.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-3316487070596133398?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-25335984151314080402009-12-23T12:34:00.003-07:002009-12-24T04:59:35.514-07:00Custom Midsole Cleats<a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Custom-Midsole-756730.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Custom-Midsole-756727.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Jim Vance, a pro triathlete who uses midsole cleats, just got his new D2 custom-made shoes. I thought you might like to see what they look like. This is a Speedplay pedal system with a 4-bolt cleat. If you have midsole cleats please send me a picture like this one. I'll post some of them here. </span><a href="mailto:jfriel@trainingbible.com"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here is my email contact</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-2533598415131408040?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-26305771131034179022009-12-21T05:16:00.003-07:002009-12-21T11:05:21.797-07:00How to Modify Shoes for Midsole Cleat<span style="font-family:arial;">The first blog I ever posted nearly two years ago is still the most read. The subject was </span><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2007/01/cleat-position.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Cleat Position</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. That post has led to many questions on how to modify an old pair of cycling shoes in order to give it a try. I got another such query this week so it's probably time to explain how with a stand-alone post to save answering this question so frequently.<br /><br />And to answer another common question on this topic: Yes, I do still use midsole cleats and have seen many others try it with good results, also.<br /><br />If you decide to modify an old pair of your shoes you will more than likely need to use a mountain bike pedal with a two-bolt cleat as the arch area of most cycling shoes have a bit of a concave curve. That means there would be a gap between the middle of the cleat and the shoe if you used a three- or four-bolt cleat.<br /><br />Here's how to modify your shoes. The pictures are of an old pair of Shimanos I changed over several years ago.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/1-737083.JPG"></a><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-1-777564.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 243px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-1-777244.png" /></a>Step 1</strong>. Go to your local bike shop and in addition to mountain bike pedals and cleats get T-nuts and longer bolts than come with the cleats. Here is a picture of the parts you need. The T-nuts may be two, separate nuts instead of one, four-hole nut as shown here.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/2-704290.JPG"></a><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-2-720173.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 241px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-2-719882.png" /></a>Step 2</strong>. After removing the old cleat draw a straight line from the middle of the toe of the shoe through the middle of the heel as shown in the picture. Measure to find the midpoint of that line and draw a second line perpendicular to the first.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/3-774638.JPG"></a><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-3-776767.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 243px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-3-776514.png" /></a>Step 3</strong>. Drill two holes on the second line that are spaced appropriately for your cleat and centered on the shoe widthwise. This is the tricky part. It's a good idea to check your measurements again before drilling. The picture here shows those holes from the inside of the shoe with the insole removed. This shoe happens to be smooth on the inside. That makes it easy. My wife's shoes had a recessed pattern of reinforcing squares which had to trimmed in order to insert the T-nuts.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/4-762600.JPG"></a><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-4-721179.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 242px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-4-720933.png" /></a>Step 4</strong>. Insert the T-nuts as shown here from the shoe's inside.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/5-780303.JPG"></a><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-5-778319.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 241px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/uploaded_images/Step-5-778040.png" /></a>Step 5</strong>. Mount the cleats. Most of these two-hole cleats are adjustable for medial-lateral positioning as shown here. But I've seen some that aren't. If you can't slide it from side to side a bit then the position of the holes becomes even more critical. You could wind up with your feet too wide or too narrow once clipped in. So it's best to get cleats that are adjustable.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Be aware that with a midsole cleat you are likely to have a considerable overlap of the shoe with the front wheel. This makes slow turns a bit dangerous. If your shoe touches the wheel during a turn you may fall. You will eventually get used to this and learn to make slow turns with your outside foot out of the way of the wheel.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><div><br /><div><div><div><br /><div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">Also be aware that by drilling holes in the arch area you may well weaken the construction of the shoes to the point that they break under pressure when sprinting. The more massive the sole construction the less likely this is to be a problem. Thin-soled shoes should not be drilled. I'd suggest using the modified shoes with some caution as you gradually adapt to the new position. Ultimately, if you like what you find, you will want to get a pair of custom-built shoes with a midsole cleat. Perhaps some day a manufacturer will offer such a shoe so you can purchase them off the rack. But for now that is not an option.</span> </div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Your position on the bike will need adjusting for a midsole cleat. The saddle will need to be lowered and adjusted fore-aft depending on a number of variables such as how steep or relaxed the seat tube is and how big your feet are. You may also need to adjust the handlebars for height and reach after the saddle is set. I'd highly recommend seeing a professional bike fitter to get this done right.</span> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-2630577113103417902?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-74405201282383554952009-12-17T06:26:00.004-07:002009-12-17T07:04:17.172-07:00Force Training<span style="font-family:arial;"><em>In the last several posts I've described various aspects of Base-period training including </em><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/aerobic-base-ride.html"><em>aerobic endurance</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/pedaling-drills.html"><em>speed skills for cycling</em></a><em>, and </em><a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/running-faster.html"><em>speed skills for running</em></a><em>. Now I'd like to discuss a third Base-period ability - force.</em> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The main message here is this: Endurance athletes who are deficient in force will never fully realize their capacity to swim, bike or run fast because they lack power. You also need power to climb hills and plow through rough water. Having a good level of force, the ability to overcome resistance (such as gravity or drag), is a critical aspect of power. Let’s examine power from a physics perspective and then tie it into our world of endurance sport.<br /><br />In physics, power is defined as work divided by time. I’m sure you know what time is, but what is “work”? Work is force multiplied by the distance moved. Huh? Ok, let’s try to get a handle on this by thinking about riding your bike.<br /><br />If you choose a high gear, something such as 53t x 14t, the bike travels a relatively long distance on every, single revolution of the pedals. Had you chosen a lower gear such as 39t x 18t the bike would not go as far on one turn of the cranks. So a higher gear means a greater distance traveled. That’s the “distance moved” part of the power equation.<br /><br />If you are in that high gear it takes a lot of muscular force to drive the pedal down. That should be obvious. When you are in a 53t x 14t you have to push harder than when you’re in a 39t x 18t. (This, of course, assumes a lot of things such as you are on the same section of road with the same wind both times.) That’s a second part of the power equation – “force.”<br /><br />The last part is “time.” This is how long it takes you to turn the pedals through one, complete revolution – from the 12-o’clock position back to 12-o’clock. A high cadence means you are turning the cranks fast so the time of one revolution is brief. A low cadence means the revolution time is long.<br /><br />So the application of this equation is that the way to have great power on the bike is to have the capacity to drive a big gear at a high cadence. It’s the same for swimming and running only now we are talking about stroke or stride length instead of gear size. The bottom line is that you can go faster by increasing force or distance – or both. You can also go faster by decreasing time. This means a higher cadence, or higher stroke or stride rate. I explained stride rate in the <a href="http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/running-faster.html">last post on running speed skills</a>. Any of these three changes will make you faster. In the next post (when I get some time again - more travel on the way) I will introduce the process I use to improve force in order to help the athletes I coach become more powerful. The key to force is greater strength in the muscles that you use in your sport.<br /><br />Here's the short message for where I am going with this: There are two training routes to improving your muscles’ ability to produce force. The first is resistance training in the gym. The other is the sport-specific development of force while swimming, biking or running. I like to have athletes start with a short, resistance-training phase in the early Base period and then switch over to sport-specific training in the mid-Base period while maintaining the gains made in the weight room. While resistance training is not the same thing as swimming, biking and running, it gets your muscles ready for the sport-specific phase which is where the greatest gains are eventually made. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><em>I hope to follow up on this with details in a few days. Check back soon.</em></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-7440520128238355495?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6679795642497453426.post-24993041972448713572009-12-13T06:50:00.003-07:002009-12-13T07:05:59.794-07:00Running Faster<span style="font-family:arial;">There’s a good chance you can lower your running times by simply refining your running skills. Speed skill is so important to running that I have the athletes I coach do drills and other skill-enhancing workouts every week throughout the year. The skills that need mastering are simple and few.<br /><br />Biomechanically, there are only two things you can do to run faster. You can run with a faster cadence or you can run with a longer stride. The fastest runners in the world, such as the Kenyans, do both of these. The place for you to start in improving your running efficiency is with cadence. Let’s examine how you can do that.<br /><br />The next time you go to a race or watch one on TV check the cadence of a few select elite runners. To do this count every time a runner’s right foot strikes the road for 20 seconds and then multiply by three. The Kenyans are running at a cadence of 94 to 98 even late in a long race such as a marathon. The others generally have a cadence of 90 to 94. So the only way these lower-cadence runners can keep up with the Kenyans is to lengthen their strides. That’s inefficient because it produces a bit of vertical oscillation. They bounce up and down just a slight bit too much. And since the finish line is in a horizontal plane, energy expended vertically is mostly wasted.<br /><br />Count your cadence the next time you are out for a run. If you’re like most age group triathletes it will be in the range of 76 to 86. And the slower an age grouper runs the lower their cadence becomes. Elite runners tend to keep their cadence about the same even when running slowly. They’ve trained their nervous systems to fire at a set rate which isn’t appreciably altered by pace.<br /><br />Besides reducing vertical oscillation, running with a higher cadence means the foot spends less time in contact with the ground. That means running faster. Until your foot comes off the ground you aren’t going any place. It’s like an anchor.<br /><br />So let’s work the other direction now – from foot contact time back up the chain to cadence – to see how we can improve your running times. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">To minimize foot contact time you need to reduce the angle at which your foot comes in contact with the road surface. If you land on the heel with your toes pointing skyward at about a 30-degree angle, which is common for slower runners, it will take a relatively long time for the foot to be lowered to the pavement and then to rock forward and finally come off the ground at the toes. This will take only a few more milliseconds than had you put your foot down flat on the pavement and then toed off. But those extra milliseconds for each footstrike add up by the finish line.<br /><br />It’s alright to have a slight heel-first contact with the road. But it should be so slight that someone you’re running at would not be able to see the bottoms of your shoes. You can check this for yourself by having that person shoot a video of you running at the camera. Do you see black soles? If so, you have an exaggerated heel strike. Minimizing it will speed you up.<br /><br />How can you learn to minimize heel strike? Or, to put it another way, what causes you to land on your heel with your toes high off the ground? The answer to this latter question has to do with your knee. The only way to land on your heel is to lock, or nearly lock, your knee out straight. This is what you would do if you were running fast and trying to stop abruptly. You would straighten your knee and land on your heel. So running this way is like running with the brakes on. No wonder it slows you down.<br /><br />The fastest way to experience flat-footed running is to run with your shoes off. Shoes with their often thick, rubber heels seem to be saying to us, “land here.” As soon as you take them off you’re back to the way our ancient ancestors ran on the grassy plains of Africa. We’re also running the way the Kenyan kids learn to run – without shoes.<br /><br />I have the triathletes I coach do a drill called “strides” almost every week in the Base period. If they can do this without shoes, all the better. Often they can’t because snow and cold weather in a winter Base period make this impractical. But whenever they can they are encouraged to do this drill shoeless. This may be on a treadmill during the winter. Another option is to do this drill in “water walkers” – light, slipper-like shoes that fit snugly around the foot and are designed for the beach. (Be careful at first not to do a lot of barefoot running initially as you may well develop tender tendons as your feet and legs adapt.)<br /><br />The strides drill is simple. Go to a park or other grassy area that has a very slight downhill grade of about one percent for 150 yards or so. Warm-up for 10 to 15 minutes. Then take off your shoes (or put on the water walkers) and run down the hill for 20 seconds. Do this six to eight times in a session. This should be a fairly fast run, but you could go much faster. In other words, hold back just a little bit. Focus on a flat-footed landing with the knee slightly bent. Count every time your right foot strikes the ground. Your goal is 30 to 32. That’s a cadence of 90 to 96. Don’t try to go above 96. Note a landmark where you completed the 20-second stride. If you start at the same spot for each stride, during the workout, as you warm up even more, you’ll finish farther down the course indicating that your stride is also getting longer since cadence remains steady. You’re now running like a Kenyan.<br /><br />Now for the hard part of the drill – at least for most type-A triathletes: Turn and <em>walk</em> back to the start point. Fatigue is the enemy of skill development. Walking will make sure you aren’t fatiguing as the workout proceeds.<br /><br />As your fitness improves you can insert drills into the walking portions. Start by doing skips as you did when you were a kid. Do 50 total skips on the recovery. This will further ingrain the flat-foot, slightly knee-bent landing. Later in the Base period do these skips for height. How high can you skip? Skipping for height builds power in your legs which in turn increases stride length – without even trying.<br /><br />When out for your normal Base training runs occasionally check your cadence. Try to raise it by two or three RPM. This will feel awkward at first, as if you are running with baby steps. And your heart rate will probably rise even though you aren’t going any faster. It will take a while for your nervous system to adapt to a higher cadence. During this time you may seem to be going the wrong direction. That’s common and necessary if you are to eventually run faster as your body adapts. Hang in there. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6679795642497453426-2499304197244871357?l=www.trainingbible.com%2Fjoesblog%2Fblog.html' alt='' /></div>Joe Frielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06435040653614290227jfriel@trainingbible.com25