Length Matters

Back in High School (a long, long, long time ago) I managed to win 3 awards in the Australian Mathematics Competition.  Maths I could do (Geography not so much).

So I often look at sporting challenges from a mathematical or physic perspective.

Consider these Maths.

The average good runner has a cadence of around 94rpm or 188 Steps per Minute (spm).  If it takes them 3hours and 10minutes to run a marathon then they take 190 x 188 steps or 35720 steps.

As a side point here can you see why a lighter shoe is better ?  A shoe that is 100g lighter means lifting 357 LESS kilograms in a marathon.

Back to the maths.

To take 35720 steps over 42.2 means each step takes 118 cm.  Press M+ to remember that number.

If, like most people, you want to run a sub 3 hour marathon (2:59:00) then we are taking 179 x 188 steps which is 33652 steps.  These 2000 odd less steps means our stride length is 125cm - a difference of 7 cm or 5%. Grab a ruler and look at 7cm - it aint that much.  In fact it's 3/4 of the length of the average soft drink can.

So to go from a 3:10:00 marathon to a 2:59:00 is a 5% increase in stride length.

If you wanted to go from a 3:10:00 marathon to a 2:59 marathon WITHOUT changing stride length it  would mean still taking 35720 steps but this time in 179 minutes which means your cadence would need to go up to 200 steps per minute.  This is a 6.3% increase in cadence (and a much higher energy consumption) and from my experience holding a cadence greater than 97 for a marathon duration is almost impossible.  Most World Record holders have broken the record using a cadence of 90-94.  If we look at the maths for that it means 182 steps x 123 minutes or 15129 steps which means a stride length of 278cm (wow)

When cadence starts to max out the only way to get faster is to increase stride length.  As you can see from the maths - even a relatively small (5%) increase can be the difference between languishing just above 3 hours and breaking that magical barrier.

Stride length can be increased in a number of ways.  Drills, stretching (PNF or Ballistic), Bounds/Strides etc  Of course care must be taken to avoid overstriding.

As in cycling and swimming cadence or turn over is extremely important but when you reach the max in cadence and seem to be languishing - look at stride length.

What's your (swim) number.

"You need to breath bilaterally - you need to breath every third stroke"



I hear this all the time from 'coaches' and 'arm chair experts'.

Being able to breath bilaterally (on both sides) is definitely a skill that needs to be developed.  Breathing bilaterally has benefits such as

Balance

People who only breath on one side tend to have an asymetrical body roll and position - typically rolling more on the breathing side.  This means than on the non breathing side they typically have less lat muscle and more deltoid engagement (using a smaller muscle).  They often mention feeling less strong on that side.  Balance (or lack of) makes it harder to swim in a straight line especially with no black line for reference.

Responding to conditions

Imagine you are swimming straight along a beach and you have trained only breathing on the 'ocean' side.  Any type of swell and you end up sucking a lot of water.  Being able to change sides means you breath where the conditions are easiest.

Sighting

Similar to above if you are swimming down a beach and always looking out to sea how will you know when you are near the turn buoy without constantly looking up (hint - look for land marks on any open water swims rather than relying on sighting the buoy.

Protection

If you swimming close to someone on your breathing side breathing on the other side turns your face away from them reducing the risk of being hit.

So if bilateral breathing has all these advantages then I should breath every third stroke ?

No.

Bilateral literally means both sides.  There is nothing that specifies every 3rd stroke (commonly called "breathing on the three").  Every person is different - everyone has different lung capacities, different hematocrits, different VO2, different stroke efficiencies, different turn over rates (cadence).  The need for air can also change during an event as your pace changes.

Bilateral means you CAN breath both sides.

Some people breath every second stroke.  For most of a race I will actually breath every four strokes.  I find that if I try and breath every second stroke it is borderline hyperventilating but everyone is different.  The key is though that even though breathing on an even number means you are always breathing on the same side that side will change based on conditions.  During a race I may switch sides (but still breath on the same count) based on conditions, seeing where people are, protection etc

If you have a look at this video of Kieran Perkins winning Gold at the 1996 Olympics you will note that he is breathing every 2nd stroke BUT he changes sides so he can see where his competition is in the pool.

Being able to breath on both sides is definitely a skill you should develop but do this based on a breathing rhythm you are comfortable with.  For example if you set is 10 x 100 do them alternating sides each interval - or even go up the pool breathing left, down the pool breathing right.  Develop the skill without forcing yourself to breath every third stroke.  Practise breathing both sides using drills - you will find that if you cant breath on one side it means there is an issue with your stroke on that side.  Have someone check out your stroke and see what's causing the issue

10 Tips to Training with an Injury

Four weeks ago it was a nice morning so I decided to go for a run.  It wasnt a tempo run or an interval run - just a nice run to enjoy the sunshine and the beach.  About 2km into the run BANG - a searing pain my  right foot.  By the end of the day I couldnt even put weight on the foot.

Surely my life was over, my fitness would evaporate and I would be morbidly obese by the end of the week (this seems to be the thinking whenever an athlete gets an injury..)

The next day I went to get it checked out - I went to see Astrid at Brighton Podiatry.  I like Astrid - if you want warm and fuzzy buy a kitten - if you want to know the facts go see Astrid.  A ultrasound scan revealed a 17mm tear and inflammation  in a tendon in my foot.

Tip 1.  Find out quickly from a professional what the problem is.  Dont go see a GP, dont see a physio, dont spend hours checking out Doctor Google - find out the real issue fast.

According to Astrid I couldnt run for 6 weeks.  Weight bearing was out - even swimming was to be avoided (due to plantar flexing)  Astrid's partner is a runner - she understands the mindset.  Rather than focussing on what I cant do I asked Astrid what I could do.  There is an important difference between pain and damage.  For example riding a bicycle in a carbon soled shoe was painful but, according to Astrid, wasnt going to cause further damage.  Riding up hills (additional stress on foot) was out but flat riding was fine.

Tip 2.  Find a professional you can work with.  Find out what you can do rather than just what is off limits.

For most of the day I wear an airboot.  One of the keys to healing is to make sure you dont create a situation that will cause you to re-injure ie healing in a shortened state.  This is an important one for things like Achilles etc.  Simply having a cortisone injection would mask the problem (pain) but would not allow for proper healing.  The boot keeps the foot flexed which means the tendon doesn't heal in a shortened state.  I also roll the foot on a hockey ball to facilitate blood flow.

Note I avoid Anti-inflammatories due to the direct link to gut issues (Cox-2 Inhibitors)

Tip 3.  Heal the injury - dont just mask the pain.  Would you just take pain killers for a broken arm or have it re-set in place ?

So far the first 3 tips have been fairly obvious - now we get lateral.

Nutrition

Most injuries cause inflammation.  If we are introducing other inflammation into our body we slow the healing processes.  My diet is pretty good but after the injury I decided to not work against my body and focussed on cutting out inflammatory foods even more.  Wheat (even hidden wheat in gravies, hamburgers, crumbs etc), refined sugars - I focussed on cutting these out completely.

Tip 4.  Dont work against your body.  Dont 'distract' the healing by creating other problems.  Be stricter on an anti-inflammatory diet.

There are several supplements that can aid with healing.  Colostrum and Lacto Ferrin are two I use to help the body heal faster.

Tip 5  Look at supplements that can help you body recover from injury.  Look specifically at the injury type eg tissue, bone etc.

Now for the fitness side (and read on for an interesting stat on the efficacy).

Fitness
Fitness can be simply broken down into two factors.  1.  Bloods ability to carry oxygen and
2. Strength.

1. Blood

The bloods ability to carry oxygen is measured by the red blood cell count (hematocrit).  Studies, such as this one here have shown that high intensity, anaerobic intervals causes an increase in red blood cell count (even more efficiently than long boring miles) but surely you need to run or ride to do intervals.  Enter the Krank Cycle.  This allows me to do high intensity intervals with zero impact on my foot.  My protocol was 30 sec HARD / 3 min recovery times 10.

I also kept on top of my iron intake so as to not 'waste' the intervals.  The net result is my red blood cell count has gone from 40 up to 44 in 4 weeks.  Pro cyclists aim for a count of 50 often using artificial means to get there.  In essence I have actually got fitter whilst injured.

Tip 6.  Use High Intensity Intervals to maintain/increase base fitness.

Tip 7.  Do what you can to get that heart pumping.  Krank Cycles, Single Leg Riding - whatever gets it done without loading the injured area.

2.  Strength
Obviously it is hard to do strength work for the legs without... well, using the legs.  Or is it.

Here's an interesting one.  In a number of studies such as this one here it was found that when working a single leg that growth was also shown in the other (unused leg).  It wasn't as much but your body does like to try and balance itself.  Single leg squats, leg extension, lunges etc can all be used to build and maintain strength

Tip 8.  Work the uninjured leg - you will still get an increase in strength in the other leg and also reduce atrophy.

The other tool I use is the Compex Electrostim.  These have some a long way since the old days of simply placing the electrodes on your chest and hitting a button.  Modern units have variable levels - even specific programs.  For example the unit I use has an endurance program which uses shorter duration 'shocks'.  I use this to build strength but also to fatigue my legs before a flat ride to solicit greater fiber recruitment.

BTW - It's also good justification to keep shaving my legs.  Pulling the electrodes off hairy legs is not a highlight of the day..

Tip 9.  Consider using alternate tools such as electrostim, aqua jogging to create muscle contractions without loading the injured area.

As you can see dealing with an injury is holistic.  You should look at diet, look at alternate 'tools', work with a professional etc.  Trying to do this on your own (from my martial arts days my injury list is long so have spent years looking at this :)) is difficult and time consuming especially with the amount of mis-information out there so this leads me to the final and most important point.

Tip 10.  TELL YOUR COACH.  They wont (or shouldn't) think you are soft but will work with you.

The Little Engine that could - A Scientific View

"I think I can, I think I can...".  We've all heard the story of the Little Engine believing it could puff

right over that hill. We've all heard Henry Fords famous quote "Whether you think you can or you think you cant - you're right".  But what if there was actually a scientific reason for why this works ?

Your brain's number one priority is self preservation.  If it doesnt function your body dies.  So above all else it prioritises it's own protection.  Your brain knows what it needs (and doesnt need).

1.  Oxygen
2.  Fuel
3.  Avoid Trauma

As you can see running a sub 3 hour marathon doesnt appear in this list.

The brain subconsciously uses a number of pathways to enforce these priorities.  Two that are of interest from an endurance and athletic performance are the Vagus and Golgi nerve Pathways.

Vagus Nerve

The Vagus nerve is part of our parasympathetic nervous system which controls all organs except for the adrenal glands (which are part of the sympathetic nervous system - fight or flight).  Specifically for us the vagus nerve lowers cardiac output.  Ever wondered what actually controls Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) - that's the Vagus Nerve.  When the brain senses (or more importantly 'believes') it is at risk it will decrease cardiac rate essentially slowing us down so that more oxygen and blood glucose is available to the brain rather than the muscles.  Essentially our brain slows us down whether we like it or not.

Interesting your brain will also produce seratonin when your body works hard.  The 'Runners High" isnt a reward - it is our brains way of trying to relax us so as not to work so hard.

Golgi Nerve

The golgi nerve controls the maximum contractional force of a muscle.  Every heard the stories of people who never went to the gym geting trapped under a car and suddenly lift an engine block off their chest ?  They tear muscles doing it.  In essence the brain is overriding the Golgi nerve.

As a personal trainer I used to see this a lot.  A client would struggle to do 8 bench press reps and then quit.  I'd say lets do 4 more - I'll lift the weight off you - you just lower it.  That's is exactly what we would do - 4 more reps.  Except I wasnt lifting it off them (sometimes I wouldnt even be touching the bar).  The brain was placated, it didnt think it was at risk due to a bar being dropped on its blood supply, so your muscles could do the work.  Ever tried standing in front of a bench -you really want to jump onto it but something stops you ?  You squat down a bit but physically cant jump ?  That's the brain stopping your muscles from contracting

It is pretty clear how this applies to endurance sports - in simple terms if our brain doesnt believe we can do something and thinks it is at risk it will slow us down and make us less powerful. Let me repeat that - in simple terms if our brain doesnt believe we can do something and thinks it is at risk it will slow us down and make us less powerful.

So how do you do this ?  Is it as simple as just being like the Little Engine and saying "I think I can".  No (although that doesn't hurt).  Saying something doesn't mean you believe it and frankly your brain has no reason to trust you :).  You need to convince your brain that it is 'safe'.

1.  Pushing the limit past failure in a safe environment.

Interval and Repetition pace reps, HARD anaerobic efforts all serve to convince the brain that it can safely allow the heart to operate at a higher level (Vagus Nerve) 

2.  Forced Reps.

Like the fake spotter forcing reps will also help placate the brain.  Negative reps, over-speed work on the bike, treadmill, pool all help convince the brain our muscles can work harder (Golgi Nerve).

3.  Belief.

Self belief is a hard thing to implement - so try trusting someone else.  One common fact I see in high performers in business and sports is not a belief that they 'can' but more a lack of belief that they cant.  They trust in the science - the PhD scholars for wattage, running pace etc and, as Nike says, "Just Do It".  Their belief is in the science and 'logic'.  What is interesting is that I see that high performers are the least likely to ask 'Why ?" for a particular set.  'Why' often indicates, either consciously or sub consciously, that doubt exists which is then used by the brain to validate protecting you.

I like the quote by the Spinervals guy (who also did a sub 9 ironman at Kona) - Troy Jacobsen when he says "You pass out before you die"

It is often said that endurance sports are 70% mentally.  As you can see this is medically true - training the parasympathetic nerve path ways can improve our performance more than hours and hours of comfort zone training

Dark Speed Bag Mount

One of the limitations of the current Specialized Shiv is the ability to mount bags on the top tube.  New bikes such as the Cervelo P5, Trek Speed Concept and BMC all now include bidon mounts on the top tube and a number of bag manufacturers are now making bags specifically for these mounts.

Whilst the Specialized Shiv doesn't contain such mounts and drilling into the frame would be dangerous the Fuelselage cover does create an opportunity to mount a bag.

The hard plastic fuelselage cover is held in place by a standard size M3 screw.  The first step was to drill another hole within the plastic cover.

Two holes were then drilled in the plastic former within the bag so that screws could be passed through that align with the standard and new cover holes.  A nylex nut was then used on the new bolt to secure the bag.

The cover was then replaced ensuring the tab fitted into the frame.  The screw without the nut simply screwed down into the existing thread within the frame.  Most of the velcro straps on the bag were now unnecessary and were cut off however for stability purposes the strap furtherest from the head stem was shortened and utilised.

Note this means the internal bladder cannot be used however I use seat mounted bottles so this is not a major concern versus carrying sufficient gels etc.

Pain? There is No Pain

A good article by one of my athletes who probably has one of the best race day brains I've worked with.  Chris McCormack got asked once if it ever stops hurting - he said No - You just get faster at the same level.

Pain...There is no Pain

I often get asked about my performances and running marathons. I mean given my physical ability I run pretty well and the longer the race the better I am in relative terms. But I often get accused of many things and one of those things is simply not true...enjoying Pain. I often get accused of being able to block out the pain or enjoying pain. Neither are true. No one enjoys pain, that's just stupid.

Can I block out the pain? No, I'm not super human, I hurt just like everyone else. But my reaction to the pain, now thats something I can control. What do you do when pain arrives? Most people I know start backing off. They start managing the pain by slowing down and trying to make it go away. I did that once and I didn’t run well. I kept slowing down and eventually walking. I was still in pain but the pain lingered as I looked up my race results several days later. Albert Einstein's definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. I live by this in my life, work and my sport. So next time I trained and the pain arrived I didn't back off. It was one of my first long runs at around 30km but I had planned to stay on a 5.30 per km pace. I figured I'm out here I might as well do what I set out to do. I stayed at the same pace and just gritted my teeth and pushed harder. I pushed harder but went no quicker. Seem liked very little reward at the time. But I finished that training run, I ran the times I set out and the pain...well it was the same but ended the moment I stopped my watch. This was different from slowing down because the pain didn't linger. The moment I knew I held pace - well the pain went away. It had a reward. It started me thinking...

I read a lot of running books and take in many quotes to see if they apply to me. Most don't. In fact I find most running quotes annoying and lame. But every now and then some make sense. One of these quotes was from Running Coach - Jack Daniels. It is simply “When Struggling...Speed Up!”. I didn't understand it at the time but thought to myself “now that is something different”. Insanity it ain't.  

So I arrive at my first marathon nervous, excited but enjoying the atmosphere. I wasn't scared which is a reaction I hear from many first timers. I had put in the training, what was there to be scared of? A work colleague at the time and later my coach gave me some rather valuable advice. He said “most races are lost in the first 5km”. His meaning was that it was dangerous to go out too hard and burn yourself up well before the race had even started. He also advised me that the half way point wasn't 21.1km, it was 32km. The effort to get to 32km was the same effort as the last 10km.

I had my three secret weapons. Don't burn out too early, half way is 32km and my new concept never tried before “When Struggling...Speed Up!”. So everything went to plan. I ran the pace I needed. A very slow 5.45 per km. I had no idea what lay ahead so I ran within myself. It was my first and I had no idea what was to come. I managed to get to 32km and thought oh my god, this hurts. It hurts unlike anything else you have felt. Not a pain from running out of oxygen, not an intense burn like you get at the top of the hill. A pain that every nerve in your body says stop. Every foot step is an effort to get it in the air. My legs were lead. It brings tears to your eyes. The fact that I had run within myself to this point meant that I had enough sense to recall all the things I had in my kit bag. Don't go out too hard...check. Half way is 32km...check. When Struggling...Speed Up. So I figured now is as good as any time to try this crazy (not insane) idea. So I sped up instantly. I ran the next km in 5 mins flat and figured it didn't hurt anymore than running slow. I ran hard again for the next km and managed another 5km flat. I even did the math and worked out that if I kept going like this I would finish earlier. Yes a simple concept, run faster and finish sooner, but at the time my mind wasn't overly functional. I felt the pain, like everyone else. I even knew it was coming. But I welcomed it. Not because I enjoyed it. Not because I can block it out. It was because I had a plan to do something when it did arrive. I kept going with this plan and ran the final 10km in 50 mins.

In that final 10km I passed hundreds of people including some runners that had told me before the race that they were “better” than me. They were right too. They were better runners than me. Much better. What they werent so good at was managing pain. When the pain arrived they slowed down. They tried to make the pain stop or they tried to block out the pain when it arrived. Pain management is never about blocking it out. You can make it stop by stopping yourself but “Did Not Finish” never looks good on your resume.

So next time you're out on the road and the pain arrives change your mindset from pretending it doesn't exists to acceptance. Accept the pain is there and its the same pain that everyone else feels. Even the professionals feel the same pain as you. What sets them apart is what they do when it arrives. Don't try and block it out. Don't try and make it stop. When Struggling...Speed Up!

Setting up your Garmin for Racing

Did you know it is possible to race (either Bicycle or Triathlon) with absolutely nothing displayed on your Garmin Computer ?  Within the Garmin menus (Under Training/Alerts) you can set up Alerts for Cadence ranges, Wattage Ranges, Heart Rate Ranges and more.  Whilst technically possible this may be a tad boring but the Alert feature is a very useful one that I will talk about later.

(BTW - Did you know the Garmins have a cool feature that allow you to take screen shots using the Power Key)

There are really only two values that need to be displayed when racing although the Garmin 800 has a minimum of 3 fields.  The two values are Energy Zone and Cadence.  Before you go looking for Energy Zone this is a term I use for the value to measure energy output.  For most people  this is Heart Rate but for people with a Power Meter this would be Wattage

Heart Rate.

It is far easier to use Zone than actually Heart Rate.  This is because trying to remember the actual numbers for your heart rate zone eg aerobic, threshold, lactate etc can be difficult.  By entering these as zones mean you just need to keep the range in that zone.  For me, I set Zone 4 as 159-166 BPM so as long as my Zone say 4.x I know I am working hard enough without overly tapping into Glycogen.

Cadence

For triathlon it is important to maintain an even cadence (so as not to grind) in a range similar to your expected run cadence.

Using these two numbers together is simple.  As mentioned I ride in Zone 4 and with a Cadence of 95. If, at that cadence, my HR starts rising I go to an easier gear - if it starts dropping I go to a harder gear.  Simple.

Wattage

On my bike I have a Power Meter.  The concept is the same in terms of adjusting gears etc.  I use the 10 second averaging as it is much easier to read (smoother)

Speed

I strongly recommend against having speed displayed.  Speed has too many variables that are outside of your control specifically wind and course profile. Using speed into a head wind can mean pushing yourself out of your optimum zone and 'burning out' your legs for the run.  Speed can also 'mess with the head' of some people as they feel they are riding slower than they should but are in fact riding better than expected relative to the rest of the field.  Similarly having time displayed can cause similar issues.

Alerts

I originally mentioned Alerts - this is a feature I use for my Nutrition Plan.  By setting a Time Alert for every 20 mins I am reminded when to take on fuel. (I use the Distance Alert on my 910 for the equivalent reminder on the run).  By using the Alert Feature it negates the need to have the mind-messing time displayed

As you can see the key is to keep it simple.  You have enough to focus on whilst racing without the need to be performing calculations, remembering times, zones etc.  By using the features of the Garmin you can focus on racing - and where the draft marshalls are.....