Successful Racing

Athletes that are just getting into endurance sports now are very lucky. There is so much great information out there and many great coaches that will help the athlete succeed faster in years before. See, we as coaches also learn fromour athletes and have not only the data and research guiding us but also the real world information from our successful athletes. But not every athlete is successful at every race and I could argue that we also learn more from the athletes who have tough races than the athletes whose races go swimmingly.

I believe there is one KEY area above all others that can yield the best results, pacing! Whether it is rowing, cycling, running or any endurance event, pacing is crucial to a successful race. Many times though athletes waste years not pacing effectively enough to see the resutls they want. Some athletes do not understand that if they are running a 5K and want to go under 24:00 they do not need to run the first mile in 6:00. Finding the right pace does take time and patience. As I mature as an athlete I find this is more true but it is not harder to be more patient. I see new athletes try to rush through there progress and get injured and frustrated and sometimes even quit the sport. These athletes expect too muh too soon and do not let themselves devlop physically or emotionally enough to see great results. Our high octane, full throttle society gives us so much so quickly with immediate gratification on so many levels. Multi sport is the opposite. Take triathlon for example. Three sports requiring developing three seperate sport specific systems plus the mental side need to be worked on. I can see one interesting aspect of triahtlon in this day and age; with so many races out there the odds of doing well even as a newbie are good. So you can get someone who is in there first year of the sport placing in there age group in the race and that makes them like the sport more then if they didn't do well. SO they will stick to the sport. This is one of the cycles of the sport that has made it grow so rapidly over the years. For this type of athlete it is also important to measure the depth of the field and numbers at the race so they can truly gauge what type of athlete they are.

But back to patience. This will come in Pt. 2.

The other side of triathlon racing

Ok I admit it, I am an ITU racing fan. It is funny when I talk to my friends who live in Europe and they tell me how much emphasis is put on ITU racing. Here in the US it seems all about IM. Either way I love tri's.

But, I remember when I was but a young tri buck in 1996 and I would read the British Triathlon magazine, 220 from cover to cover. They would cover all the great ITU and Short Course races around the globe. For readers who don't understand the difference, let me sum up. Professional ITU racing is always a 1.5K open water swim (typically with a two loop course where the racers get out and run about 100 meters before launching into the water again), a 40K DRAFT LEGAL bike and a 10K run. The courses are usually run on tight loops to allow great spectating. This IS THE FORMULA RACE CAR DRIVING OF triathlons. These guys are super fast, crazy quick with everything. The good one's swim 17:00 for 1500 meters and bike like crit style with breakaways and other teamates pulling and then it is off to the run race where they click off 30:00 10K's. That is sub 5:00 min/miles people. As Beijing approaches the ITU events will get more attention and I frequently check out the happenings at triathlon.org for rankings and videos. Sure, some people follow the grossly overpaid NFL but I like the grossly underpaid ITU.

Back in those days when I was reading 220 (still do) I was amazed by the feats of Brad Beven, Ben Bright and Simon Lessing. They were killing it all over the world. I also kept hearing about a guy named Andrew Johns. Fast forward 10 years and I manage him and more importantly he is a true good friend who is still podiuming at World Cup races. If you can, go check out an ITU race if your eyes can keep up with the speed!
-A Fan (LeeZee)

Inspriation and Design

So what do I say when people ask what I do for a living. Mostly I coach with other time spent as an agent and consultant. But coaching is what I like most and do most of. Right now I am writing this in the midst of some pretty bad turbulence 35,000 feet over Texas. I hate turbulence. Anyway I digress. The daily interactions with athletes whether it be via email or even better when looking into their eyes is a different take on the traditional coaching with the tools of a whistle and clipboard. Lately I have been viewing my job as a creator, artist, and designer of some nature. BUMP BUMP. Oh, that was a rough couple of bumps. I often say that the essence of what we do as multi sport coaches is program design. When I prepare to design a training schedule for an athlete I have to be in the right frame of mind. I find the preparation is like a painter’s preparation before putting brush to canvas. I have to be well fed for sure but this no different than anything else I do. I always have to be fed. Next is the music. My noise cancelling headphones go on to keep out extraneous sounds from distracting my concentration, which happens easily. Where was I? Oh yeah, the music. Hahahaha. I typically go with dance or trance music like Paul Oakenfold or The Crystal Method. I pump up the volume to 11 and head into programming mode. I look through race schedules, logs and emails to plan out a two week block for an athlete that will yield the highest QUALITY of fitness. Instead of having paints and brushes as tools of the trade I have workouts, information and strategy to use to yield the best results. Oy vey, I hate turbulence. The normal program design process also has me pulling from research articles and other journals we receive monthly. Once I hit upload then BOOM the athlete can pull up there new training block and get there fix. Being an athlete as well I know the importance of having the structure. It’s a grounding feeling for some and a calming feeling for others to have their schedule laid out for them. This is especially true after they start seeing great results. This is much like the satisfaction or appreciation someone has viewing a painting or sculpture.