The myth of cross training

There is only one thing you have to do when you want to become a great cyclist: you have to ride your bike and you have to ride often. The same is true for anything else you want to do. To get good at something you have to practice it and you have to practice a lot. If you want to become a star swimmer you have to swim a lot; similarly if you want to become a world class guitar player, you need to practice playing the guitar.

Sure you can do other things in your life, but if you think these other things are going to help you get better at what you want to get better at, think again. You won't become a great guitar player by blowing the trumpet or playing ice hockey. Similarly you won't become a great biker by bouldering or learning to cook Thai food. And you won't become a great Thai cook by riding your bike in Thailand either.

Furthermore, if you think you need to practice in a special way or follow a special plan, think again. Although the magazines and books are full of secrets and secret recipes, the truth is there are no secrets. All you do is practice, practice, practice. That's the real secret.

Let me rephrase it a bit. To become good at cycling you need to ride your bike a lot. You need to ride a lot,  ride hard on a regular basis, and ride very hard from time to time. That's it. That is the whole plan. And the same applies to all other sports (except that you have to replace cycling by your favorite sport).

This rule is so simple that many people find it difficult to grasp. They become annoyed or suspicious. Surely, they think, there must be a catch. You can't simply become great by doing something over and over again? There has to be something we are overlooking? Some secret sauce? What do the pros do?

Let me state another obvious truth. Mimicking you favorite pro rider is not always a good thing to do. Pro riders get paid to ride. That is their job. They have plenty of time on their hands and while they ride a lot, there are many hours left during the day. And so, to keep these guys off the street, the coaches have to keep them busy in a non-harmful way.

Coaching, for those of you who don't remember is all about making training entertaining and less boring for athletes.

Non-harmful activities include anything that maintains cardiovascular fitness and does not build unnecessary muscle in other places. Unnecessary muscle is very harmful to endurance athletes because muscle is very heavy. Muscle is heavier than fat in case you did not know. So, no matter how you look at it, fabulous deltoids or pecs are not helpful in cycling. Not unless you ride a hand cycle that is.

What are we doing here?

Non-harmful activities also includes anything that is soothing, relaxing, and rest-inducing. Hence massage, yoga, meditation, etc.

Further beneficial activities include anything that fosters team building and working together. Once again these are good things to entertain people who have excess time. They are not going to make anyone a better practitioner of your favorite sport. Granted you may learn something that proves beneficial -you always do- but that is not the point here.

It does not make sense for amateurs or people who are aspiring to be pros but have limited time, to start mimicking these non-harmful pro activities in order to get better. Sure your favorite star may devote one day a week to yoga, pilates, or core workouts, but you as a time-constrained amateur should not waste your time here. You should ride and you should ride as often as you can. That is the only recipe for success.

Once someone offers you a pro contract, you can (and will have to) indulge in these activities in any case. So don't get impatient and stay focused on what really matters.

New Year's resolutions

2010 is coming to a close and this is as good a time to start thinking about your future as any. January 1 is when people want to start anew with a clean sheet. Many make firm resolutions to better the remainder of their existence. Most of these resolutions will not survive January and so the more experienced among us may not bother, but if you do, let me help you along by showing you how to save some time.

New Year

Whether you are aiming to lose some weight and get back into shape, or whether you are aspiring to become a top racer, here are some things you should know about. I want to warn you beforehand that these are not what you expect nor what you will see or read about elsewhere, especially not in trade journals. I would dare to say that these time-savers might be seen by some as crazy, inflammatory, irresponsible or just plain wrong.

So let me state the following in a way of disclaimer: these are my personal opinions only and in presenting these to you I speak as an individual from personal experience.

My favorite list of things that do not matter and that you should not worry about.

1. Nutrition. As our friend Bjarne Riis said, you can eat pasta and ketchup and train seven hours a day. In short, despite all the hoopla and talk, nutrition is one thing you need not worry about. As long as you don't get an upset stomach during the race -nearly always due to eating too much or eating stuff other than carbs- and as long as you don't gain too much weight, you will be fine. For more details check here.

During the race, eat candy bars, i.e. carbs (sugars), any sugar, it does not matter, but if the race is longer try eating normal food. Forget everything else, it will make things so much easier. For more on eating while racing, check this out.

Food

2. Drinks. Yes you read that right, drinks. You can drink anything you like during the race as long as you don't drink too much. You should also mind the calories. It is easy to get an extra 5-600 calories from drinking. Don't worry about complex or less complex sugars, or glycemic indices, or even electrolytes. If your race is longer than 3 hours try to ingest some salt as well.

3. Vitamins, minerals, supplements. These items are a waste of money for everyone, period. If anything they can be dangerous to your health and taking these is riskier than not taking any. If you live in the Western world and eat a normal diet and go outside for a few hours each day you will be OK. For my take on micronutrients and other scams, check here.

4. Anything performance-enhancing. The only performance enhancing drug that is legal is caffeine. Why that is so has to do with culture and social norms, not science or reason. Everything else either does not work or is on the prohibited list -which does not necessarily mean it works. Caffeine works well as long as you don't overdo it. Like most drugs it shows tolerance.

5. Weight loss pills. These either don't work or are illegal to use (see section 4).

6. Stretching. It is fun and may be entertaining to put your feet behind your head, but it won't make you a better racer. As a matter of fact, being stiff is beneficial for runners and bikers, but not swimmers, who need flexible ankles. Leave the stretching to ballerinas.

7. Massage. Also great fun -unless you are standing in line after the ironman, getting cold. Better in not-safe-for-work settings, massage is a feel-good form of entertainment that has no proven performance or recovery benefits. It does release endorphins and other signaling molecules, but that should not surprise you unless you believe in ghosts. You can only feel good if your brain is swamped in feel-good molecules.

8. Core exercises. Great fun to roll around on a ball but if you want to become a better runner or cyclist you should run or cycle instead.

9. Yoga. Another great way to spend the off-days and impress your friends. Yoga may be a great stress reducer and have tons of other (largely unproven) benefits, but it won't make you faster on the bike, regardless of what superstar so and so says.

10. Any mechanical fix, gadget, widget, wedge, or "technique." It does not matter how you pedal, how fast you pedal, whether you pedal in circles or in squares (like all the pros), or what crank length you use. It does not matter -for runners- whether you are a toe striker or a heel striker or whether your shoes are motion control, padded, or have wedges in them. You can run barefoot if you like but shoes protect you from sharp objects.

Chain ring shapes are irrelevant and so are pieces of padding under the ball of your foot. I would add bike fits to the list but that is sure to infuriate some of my friends who stand to gain financially from this activity. I can certainly add any mechanical fix to "correct" a perceived problem or any method, video or otherwise to diagnose such "problems."

Unless you have a real problem don't fix it.

BioPace anyone?

In conclusion:

What does help and what you need to focus on is training hard with adequate recovery. The only skill you need to learn is to listen to your body. That is easier if you don't have beeping heart rate monitors or distracting GPS voices, or erratic power meter displays to worry about. In this case, as in many others, less is more.

Pasta and mayonnaise

In a recent interview with Ekstra Bladet, former Tour de France winner and manager extra-ordinaire, Bjarne Riis contends that many young riders "are spoiled so rotten that they must be spoiled before they will be required to do something" (sic). Since my Danish is not that great I too was forced to read these comments in Cycling News. Clearly something got lost in the translation.

For example, Bjarne who ate spaghetti and ketchup in Luxembourg recommends that young riders should "get the right diet," and "settle themselves in a place where there is someone who can ride the motorcycle to pace [them]." I assume he means Luxembourg. No self-respecting Belgian would eat ketchup with anything. Mayonnaise perhaps, but not ketchup.

It is customary for the older generation to lament the good fortunes of youth and the downfall of values. Obviously Bjarne knows what he is talking about. After having spent some quality time on Fuerteventura (in the Canary islands) engaged in team building exercises, the manager of Saxo Bank claims young people "would rather have an expensive vacation."

Things to do after spaghetti and ketchup

Or a nice car perhaps, preferably with their name and logo on it?

I don't think the problem is that young people are "spoiled rotten." Undoubtedly they are, especially in the US where it is customary to find 13 year olds riding $5,000 carbon fiber frames with $3,000 Zipp wheels, a $3,000 SRM set, and a ton of GPS gadgets, heart rate monitors and the like.

Instead of sleeping in tiny apartments in Luxembourg, these California kids have their own bedroom and bathroom in a 5,000+ square foot McMansion. There they relax in their oxygen tents while playing the latest version of Call of Duty Black Ops on their XBox. And instead of eating pasta with ketchup they swallow vitamins, minerals, micronutrients and munch on the latest builder bar from Clif.

There is no lack of motorcycles to pace them. Or physiological tests to guide them. There are sweat tests, wind tunnels and gadgets galore.

The kids are spoiled and it probably would be better if they weren't. But how are we to change the fact that their parents have tons of disposable income? Or to turn back the clock and get rid of the iPhones, XBoxes, flat screen TVs and BluRay players?

The problem is not that they are spoiled. The problem is a loss of perspective. Everyone wants to go to Harvard at 5, climb Everest at 10, and win the Tour de France at 15. And it isn't just the kids. It is their overachieving parents and win-obsessed coaches.

Unlike what Bjarne wishes for, clubs and teams are not places where people "learn something," There is no time to learn. Everybody is too busy living. Teams turn into sweatshops where kids are driven to win to add kill stickers to the team van and please the sponsors.

Look how many wins I have.

The American mantra is, you can have your cake and eat it too. Furthermore, you don't have to wait, you can have it right now with some ice cream on top;  and then you can have it over and over again. No money? No problem, we got you covered. Just sign on the dotted line. We will take care of the rest.

You see the economy is already on the mend. People spent more money this Christmas than they have since 2007. Never mind that half of the country has zero net worth or that the foreclosure crisis has yet to get rolling.

Optimism is one thing, but delusional optimism is another. Just ask Sarah!

Bringing home the bear

No sweat (analysis)

The new new thing in training is sweat analysis. You read that right, and before you start laughing so hard that you fall off your chair, remember that this is offered by Lance Armstrong's coach and confidant and was developed in conjunction with Stanford University, home of Dr. Condoleezza Rice. If that does not give it street cred and WMD legitimacy I don't know what will. So off you go, start sweating for science and the goal of self-improvement beyond your wildest dreams.

getting ready for sweat analysis

One of the key lessons people learn in medical school is how limited our understanding of human physiology is, especially when it comes to practical applications. Another lesson they learn is that when we try to intervene, even when it seems smart and logical to do so, it either won't make a difference or it will make matters worse**

(**rarely and only very rarely do we find something that truly helps. And in all those cases, we found it by accident or serendipity and fitted the physiological reasoning post hoc.)

The medical school scenario works as follows: first, you spend a whole year learning about human physiology, a favorite subject among medical students. Physiology, unlike the dreaded human anatomy is not a test of learning by rote, but rather a sensible, meaningful insight into the workings of the human body. It is a confidence booster that has many students look forward to the clinic. As soon as they enter that clinic however, they start noticing that everything they learned in physiology is either wrong or needs heavy editing.

gross anatomy

Although as a young intern they will try hard to hang onto that shred of science, and although their favorite teachers will do what they can to support them there by asking post hoc questions to purportedly explain what was happening to patients, they'd have to be oblivious to reality -or true believers- not to notice that the practical value of what they learned in science class is extremely limited if not absent altogether.

A friend of mine put it this way: "First you spend a year to learn physiology and then you spend another one unlearning it all."

It is orders of magnitude easier to harm than to help

Apart from saying that medicine is largely heuristic and empirical, this also teaches us one other valuable lesson: that the human body is a very complex machine. A machine that has devised many ways around its own limitations and the limitations imposed by the data it can gather from the environment.

A very large part of our physiology evolved because it significantly reduced our susceptibility to the vagaries of the moment. For most parameters we adapt over very large ranges -usually orders of magnitude- with virtually no loss in performance. With sufficient training nearly all differences in initial conditions tend to zero.

We see true colors regardless of the spectral composition of the light. We can adjust to food choices from nearly 100% vegan to nearly 100% carnivorous. We can run barefoot or with crazy shoes. We can deliver the same power regardless of crank length. We can pedal squares on round chainrings. We can fit on bikes within a large size range and even get used to different fits at the same time.

It appears there is but one rule here and that is to practice, practice, practice,  and to make all changes incremental over time.

Happy training.

What else is happening?

I have been focused on racing in Belgium over the past month so you may wonder what else is happening? I no longer use this blog to keep track of my workouts because it was simply too complicated to keep all the different sites updated. I did not give up training though -except for swimming which I no longer do on a regular basis- and I am happy to announce that I am planning some major event in the near future.

I have my sights set on a 50 mile ultramarathon. Just recently I ran another 100k week, only the second time I have done so. Earlier I ran my 100 on a treadmill, but this time around I ran outside in the hills. That means a very hilly one hundred kilometers! I also ran it over six days at a rate of 10.5 miles a day. All went well and I suffered no injuries.

I had planned to run 12 hours in the San Francisco One Day event on October 23, but a severe weather warning kept me back. Turns out to have been a good call. The weather was miserable and the event was a slog for all participants. I would not have minded the rain, but I did not want to run my first ultra in the rain. Too many other variables to consider.

TeamCindy has also been doing well and BAF just announced they have several slots for key events in 2011. They have five for Escape from Alcatraz, five for IM Lake Placid, five for the Nation's triathlon and five for the London Tri. Quite a step up from our very first solo adventure at IM Arizona! Unfortunately I do not think I will participate in any of the events as I plan to spend much of the 2011 season in Belgium for racing. While there I hope to spend a bit more time exploring the bierkroegen.

I will continue my series on things to know about Belgium and racing in Belgium next week. Stay tuned. Also, if you have a minute give me some feedback on what topics you would like me to cover. Thanks for reading.

Sort of hard, all the time

Beginning racers who don't have a coach tend to make one of two basic mistakes. The first is to substitute distance for intensity. This is rather more common in the older age categories, where competitors prefer to abstain from hard efforts and indulge in distance rides instead. These athletes seem to believe that they can make up for going hard by going long. Alternatively, they may think that, because they are training for an endurance event they should avoid intensity and concentrate on distance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The second, equally devastating approach is to go hard all the time. This is more common in younger riders who think they need to go to their max every single day in order to get better. It is also common in triathletes, many of whom appear addicted to training. The result is a near constant state of fatigue that lulls some people into thinking they are doing all they can to improve. While some will become frustrated about their lack of improvement, most eventually resign to the status quo and believe they have reached their peak.

Here is a nice rule of thumb. Unless you have practiced an activity for 10,000 hours (see the 10,000 hour rule), you can always improve.

In addition to a lack of improvement, ineffective strategies also lead to overreaching, overtraining, and burnout. None of these are good and like so many things in life, it is easier to prevent these conditions than to remedy them.

The key to improvement in training is high intensity. Without it nothing else matters. However, it is important to realize that you cannot perform at high intensity unless you are both healthy and well-rested. Effective training programs will allow sufficient time to recuperate before key workouts.

Exactly how often and how much you should rest depends on your specific genetic makeup and training situation, but if you don't feel excited and enthusiastic before races and key workouts, chances are you are doing too much. Apart from periodic (one to two day) rest and recovery, you also need the occasional long (>1 week) recovery in order to do well and improve.

Yesterday (Wed 3/17), easy 25 mile ride;

Today 12 mile hilly run (the Strawberry Canyon trail loop).

Training

Training is a whole body experience, and since I am not a dualist, I include the mind in that as well. Most athletes seem to think that training is specific to muscles and the heart -some will say lungs because they are unclear about the role of the cardiovascular system in limiting performance. In any case, it isn't just your muscles and heart and whatever else you may think off that adjust to training.

Every single part of your body, at every level shows some adaptation to training. When people first start running long distances, they often experience chafing, redness and other skin irritation in sensitive areas. Vendors are quick to grab on to that and supply us with all kinds of ointments, bandaids, nipple covers, and what have you. Inexperienced people are often alarmed by such phenomena and go out of their way to buy solutions. But the simple truth is that most-if not all- of these problems will go away with more training. There are some exceptions but they are few and far between.

When I first started running, my nipples were often sore. One time they started bleeding creating two red spots on my top and lots of weird stares from the crowd. I was unaware of the condition and wondering why people were looking at me in horror. Friends immediately started recommending various cures such as nipguards and other remedies, but after running several more races, the problem took care of itself. The same applies to nearly every problem one experiences. Just like muscle, your skin and your sweat glands have to adapt to increased exercise loads.

One more example, on my very first run -I was over 30 at the time- my head hurt so bad I had to stop running after less than 2 miles. That too went away after a few weeks without any special measures.

Unfortunately, not only are humans very susceptible to snake oil salesmen, they are also very prone to making spurious correlations. It is not uncommon to have an upset stomach when you first start running, or when you do your first long race. It is very tempting to correlate that upset stomach with something you ate or drank beforehand. But the most likely cause of such upset is the higher intensity of exercise that causes a relative hypoxia (low oxygen level) in the gut.

When I first started running I could not eat, nor could I conceive of anyone eating while running. After a few ironman races however, I was able to eat almost anything and keep running. It is not that I recommend eating while running. It does affect performance after all. It is just that one needs to realize that adaptation is universal and that a body can get used to nearly anything we throw at it.

Despite its global scope, training is very specific. You adapt to what you train for in a very specific manner. If you train to run, you will be able to run. Your cycling will also improve a bit but not nearly as much as you might think. To improve your cycling, you need to cycle.

The specificity is even more detailed than that. If you train by running long distances slowly, you will be prepared to run long and slow. You won't be fast and you won't get much faster this way either, no matter how long you train for. To get faster you need to train by running faster.

Yesterday I ran 11 miles in the hills. I did the full Shepherd Canyon loop, including the dirt hill, and then some extras at the end.

Riding in the rain

It's one thing to ride in the rain in Belgium. If you didn't you wouldn't be able to ride very often. But in California, things are a bit different. First of all there are more dry days than rainy days so if you just sat out the rain, you would barely see the difference in your training. So therefore riding in the rain becomes a test of character. Every self-respecting California racer will post at least one comment on Facebook to show how brave they were (or are going to be) enduring rain.

Yesterday was one such test at the Early Bird Criterium in Fremont. It rained all morning long and then some. We decided to go late and arrived at noon. There was barely anyone there and if it hadn't been for Team Specialized, one of the co-promoters, there wouldn't have been anyone at all except maybe the San Jose BC Juniors who all left early, wet and hypothermic. The riders that were still there at noon, were invariably cold, wet, and muddy. They looked miserable. By the time the pro-1-2-3 race rolled around there were 13 die-hard souls left, more than half of them from Specialized. No pros, they knew better.

Although the afternoon races were dry, by that time nearly everyone was so soaked and cold, racing was no longer in the cards. Everyone looked like the pros did in last year's tour of California, dirty and numb. There is a reason why they moved the Tour to May.

Yesterday was the first day of rain in a while and we are told to brace for a whole week of nonstop rain that may bring mayhem and flooding to the area. This morning I experienced the first of it. One of our overflow drains was clogged and the patio flooded. I spent several hours out there bailing water. Not fun. Because California storms, unlike the steady drizzle to mild rain one sees in Belgium, are vicious water dumps accompanied by gale force winds that bring down trees and power lines. Belgium rain is not fun for sure, but it is quite a bit different from a Northern California soak. A water repellent jacket is usually enough over there, unlike here where nothing but plastic, held down with duck tape, can provide meaningful shelter.

Last week I spent most of my time at the JP Morgan healthcare investor meeting so my workouts were low key. On Monday I rested, on Tuesday I ran 5 mi on the treadmill before going to the meeting. On Wednesday I rode on rollers for an hour, and on Thursday, after the meeting ended, I finally went on a real 30 mi bike ride, testing out my new tubeless tires.

Friday I rode my mountain bike for 20 miles in Redwood Park and Saturday I rode another 40 mi on my tubeless road tires. I am sold. I have been riding tubeless on my mountain bike for over three years and I can't say enough good things about it. It appears road tubeless will be equally satisfying.

Sunday, when the rains started I ran for an hour on the treadmill before going to the Early Birds with Alistair.

(Photo credit: Jennifer Lanier)

Specificity

Training is highly specific. There is no such thing as "being in shape" as a general category. Usually what people mean when they say there are "in shape" is that they can walk or jog a certain distance without being out of breath. In essence that means their cardiovascular system is used to a certain amount of stress that exceeds lying around on the couch all day, or working in an office.

Those people would be surprised if they suddenly were asked to perform above average in a sport that they did not train for. Then they would say, "I don't know why I feel so trashed, or why I got dropped, or why I was out of breath, I thought I was in good shape." And the truth is they may well have been and be very fit.

This post was triggered by two events. First I read one of my favorite blogs and found out the author, who is an ironman athlete and distance runner/cyclist, reported he had trouble finishing a marathon, despite having run ultra marathons in summer. It turns out he did very little running since those ultra-events and has been cycling almost exclusively. So while his cardio was good, his run fitness was not.

Then, yesterday I was out on my regular 10.5 mile hilly run (the Shepherd loop) and I too was suffering despite just completing a super power test on the bike, that put me solidly in the Cat2 power range. I.e. my cycling fitness is near its high, but I suffered on a run that -until recently- I used to run on a weekly basis. And it wasn't because I was tired from biking. It was simply because I haven't run much for about a month.

In some sense, this situation is even worse than having no training. One is fit when it comes to cardiovascular output, but the mechanical system is not on par. At best that will mean a lot of suffering, at worst, an injury. So I will try to remedy this situation before it gets out of hand. I just installed a new treadmill and will do some running on that.

On Monday I rode 20 on my mountain bike. Redwood was very muddy and I looked pretty dirty when I got back. There must have been five pounds of mud on my bike too.

On Tuesday I rode on rollers for 1:20 and on Wednesday again for 1:10. Both pretty intense workouts with a power test to boot.

On Thursday I rode my roadbike for 30 miles. I broke my rear wheel on Tunnel and had to come back and switch it out. First I thought it was just a spoke, but it turns out the rim was cracked in several places. Not good. I think I need a new wheelset for Christmas.

On Friday I ran my 10.5 mile loop -and suffered.

Today a one hour run on the treadmill. More suffering and more evidence to the specificity of training. I had trouble holding my pace at 8 mph. Not too long ago I could run 8.25.

More 10,000 hour rule

Two days ago I wrote about the 10,000 hour rule. Then I read a blog post by masters track world champion Larry Nolan discussing the fact that it had taken him 10 years of hard core cycling to reach the top. QED.

It is interesting to note that the 10,000 hour rule appears to apply to any physiological endeavor, be it abstract reasoning, mathematics, computer programming, playing an instrument, or engaging in something purely physical such as cycling. At first it may seem counter-intuitive that such diverse pursuits, ranging from almost-exclusively "mental" to "part mental and part physical," to almost exclusively "physical" behave so similarly. But that is entirely to be expected. All these are in fact bodily adaptations.

The brain is as much part of the body as any other organ. Contrary to what you may think, brain activity ("the mind") is no different from other bodily activities ("running"). Both require a synergy between the actions of billions of cells. The fact that such "diverse" processes behave identically is in fact quite reassuring and to us. It is an indication that there might be some truth to the 10,000 hour rule.

Let's look at some other ways to formulate the 10,000 hour rule that may make it more intuitive. The formulation in the book "Outliers" has one big problem: it focuses on exceptional circumstances. It also has another big problem but more about that later.

It is obvious to us that while it may 10,000 hours for someone to become "world class," not everyone who spends 10,000 on a given activity will in fact become a world champion. It does take innate ability to become a champion, and most who would try to spend 10,000 hours on a random venture would never become world-class. So you may ask, what is the value of the 10,000 hour rule?

Here is another way to look at the rule. When you engage in an activity you can expect to improve for at least the first 10,000 hours that you spend on it. Does that make more sense? I.e. humans have a very long learning curve and they can keep improving for a very long time. We take about 10 years to learn a language for example. Or we could turn the rule around and say that once you diligently spent 10,000 hours on something you are very unlikely to improve any further. I.e. you are at the top of your game now.

Note that 10,000 is a convenient number. It is not to be taken literally of course. It gives us a range, a ball park figure. We can say it takes 10,000 hours give or take a few thousand. Or we can say that it takes more than a couple thousand, but far less than 50-100,000. And that is a good thing, given our lifespan.

Note that 10,000 is remarkably close to the time it takes humans to grow up and become adults. That too is not surprising because an adult is a person at the top of their game. Growing up is, after all, the quintessential physiological process.

It should therefore come as no surprise that they key theme of the book "Outliers" is flawed. What the author is trying to prove in that book is that genetic or inborn traits are not what determine our success as individuals.

And part of that is certainly true. It does make a difference where or when you are born. That is what evolution is all about. Changing traits continuously to adapt to the changing environment.

What is flawed is the idea that some sort of independent dedication and hard work are needed to cash in on genetics. As if such behaviors are unrelated to your genes. As if dedication and hard work are attributes of a person that exist in a vacuum. Maybe they are part of your "soul?"

That is nonsense of course. If anything is important in evolution and natural selection, it is precisely that, behavior. Much like physical traits such as a big brain, a big heart, or big lungs, a tendency to work hard, or be dedicated to achievement is a genetic trait.

And so are great interpersonal skills, another trait the author deems outside of genetics. Surely one has to learn to interact with others. But to say that there is no genetic basis to how well you will end up doing that is the same as saying there is no genetic basis to how well one will end up running.

8.75 mile run in the hills (same as last Wednesday) in ultralights.

Fractals

I saw a Nova program on fractals in biology last night. As with every popular science program it too was a bit simplistic. My other qualm was that the program jumped around from one topic to the next without ever explaining much or going into any reasonable depth anywhere. However it did enough to remind me of my previous encounters with fractals, chaos theory, and nonlinear dynamics.

Suffice it to say that many natural objects approximate fractals to a high degree. Natural objects also tend to be stochastically self similar and may even appear to be (almost) scale invariant. This fractal or quasi-fractal property of nature gives a nice explanation for such things as why small animals use more energy per weight than larger ones, or how brain sizes scale with body size.

Even our experiences are self-similar. I can read a race account from a pro race and it feels remarkably similar to my race experiences, although I perform at a much lower level of "fitness." Once I read an Ironman race report from a guy I did not know and it was so similar to my race experiences that I looked up who he was and what his finishing time was. Surprisingly enough he turned out to be quite young (20-24) and his finishing time was just below 9 hours.

Compare that to my age group (50-54) and my best finishing time at just above 11. Yet almost everything he described, including the remarks he made about competitors around him could have been written by me. Everything that is except the "absolute value" of the numbers. Is that self-similar or what?

Today I ran a 10K in the hills.

Much needed rest

Yesterday I took the day off. I haven't done that in a while but I really needed it. Last week was pretty hard. I worked late and did a lot of running and riding on top of it.

On Monday I ran 7 miles in the hills. On Tuesday I rode my mountain bike in Redwood Park. Since they closed the East trail I had to go West (longer) out and back. A total of 22.5 miles. I fell over on the steep climb out of of the meadow and wrecked my front brake. I was able to fix it and get back on but now I need new pads.

On Wednesday I rode 1.25 hrs on rollers and I inserted several intervals at 300W. The weather was great and I wanted to go for a ride, but I was too busy to take out time during the day so rollers were my only option.

On Thursday I ran 8.77 in the hills and on Friday I rode 41 mi to the golf course and back. I rode pretty hard and my normalized power (NP) was 251.

Then on Saturday I rode with Team Specialized for about 20 miles. We rode from Larry's house in Fremont up Palomares and back. I had to work pretty hard up the climb and I could feel that I was in need of a rest day.

Some kids rode down to Castro Valley but I decided to take it easy and turn around. That was just fine and I ended up getting a flat when we came out of Niles into Fremont.

Ironman OD

It's official. I need a new challenge. I am OD'd on Ironman. This year's poor results clearly show that it is time to find another fitness goal. All in all I am quite happy with my triathlon/Ironman experience. I (almost) reached all of my major goals and the differences are for all practical purposes, in the noise.

My first and most far-fetched goal was to qualify for Hawaii. I never seriously thought I could make it given how poor a swimmer (and runner) I was, but I nonetheless managed to get tantalizingly close. In Canada in 2006 I came to within 4 minutes or one slot, and if that isn't in the noise, what is? But in all fairness, someone who swims as slowly as I do is not really a top 5% performer in triathlon. So it is just as well. I probably would have been dropped in Kona.

Furthermore, while it used to be fairly easy to get in (in the nineties it was trivial), it is getting harder each year as more competitors enter and more races are competing for precious spots. So in essence I am losing ground when it comes to Hawaii. My best chance was probably Canada '06 and it seems unlikely another chance will materialize unless I dramatically reduce my swim time. And that is not something I want to concentrate on now.

My second, and perhaps more realistic goal was to improve in a significant way over time and hopefully reach a finishing time that read 10:something. I consider that goal met, even though my true best finishing time was 11:04:55. We'll call it a rounding error. What matters most here is that I performed consistently and got better over time.

I managed to solve nearly all my problems (and if you add in Canada of '09, even my swim eventually budged) and that is great. It shows my training work formulas work and I am on the right path. It also shows that improvement in the over-50 age group is possible. The fact that I set a PR in the Boston marathon this year further confirms that the trend is real and durable.

So now I want to concentrate on something I really like. Something that does not involve swimming and may not even involve much running. Something I would do if I had a chance to pick what I genuinely like best, i.e. cycling. I will find a endurance challenge in cycling and concentrate on that for 2010.

My "theoretically" best ironman. These are actual times:

Swim 1:18:33 (Canada 09)

T1 2:47 (Switzerland 06)

Bike 5:21:04 (Arizona 08)

T2 2:59 (Arizona 08)

Run 4:00:34 (Canada 07)

Total: 10:45:57

Ironically that would have been enough for a top 10 finish and a slot for Hawaii in Canada 09!

Rules and recipes

I think it is useful to explore this topic some more. It is surprising how many people don't know the basics of training. Maybe that is another reason why recipes are so enticing. People don't know where to start. Yet the rules are quite simple, and the shorter the race the easier it is to prepare for it. Speaking of short races, one key mistake beginners make is not to warm up adequately beforehand. Short races are high intensity from start to finish. Unless you are properly warmed up, you may find that you get dropped near the start. You may then conclude that your training was inadequate. That is a mistake. Good diagnosis is needed before treatment starts.

Before training you need to ask yourself, where am I? What kind of shape am I in? Have I been sitting around, watching TV, or am I able to run a 5K or maybe a 10K without much preparation? How is my weight? Do I need to lose some pounds or am I fine? Knowing where you are and where you need to be is key. No good training program can be designed unless you know those pieces of information. Since everyone is different, there are tons of potential recipes to choose from and chances are none will fit very well.

It is just as easy to design your own program from scratch as it is to try to fit a ready-to-wear recipe that you found in a magazine. Divide your training into two phases: building a base, and adding intensity. It is best not to confuse these periods.

During period one you need to get several things accomplished but getting comfortable with the distance and the duration is the main goal. It is also the time to get your weight corrected if necessary. During the second period you need to focus on intensity and work very hard to get your physiology up a few notches. You also need to leave enough time to recover. For a short race a few days is fine, for endurance events, you may need to taper for two weeks or more.

It is always easier to work backwards from race day. It is also best to stay flexible and be ready to adjust your plan should you progress slower or faster than anticipated. You need to review your plan periodically and see where you are. Are you on track to reach your goals? If not, adjustments may be needed. More about that later.

The lure of recipes

People love recipes. Detailed, step by step recipes. Recipes to cook, to lose weight, to gain muscle mass, to get faster, to get more endurance, you name it. Recipes and lists of recipes. The seven habits of successful people, 10 things that will make you run faster, swim faster. These are the headlines that sell books, magazines, CD's and the like.

The ostensible reason is to save time. It is said that modern humans have precious little time. They are busy creatures, too busy really. Busy working their jobs or raising their families. Too busy to take time out and learn something new. Unless it is fed to them in bite-size, ready-to-consume pieces. Preferably illustrated with pictures, photographs, and diagrams. Not too much reading material because we don't have time for all that. Can't slow down now. Yup, there goes my cellphone! Got to take this call!

Lazy is perhaps a better word. Not one we like to hear but probably one that is closer to reality. Too lazy to read, we need a shortcut. Someone who read it for us and now feeds it to us step by step. Too lazy to try something new. God forbid that we would waste our time on something and not get results. Too lazy for hard work and always looking for a shortcut. A secret formula. A magic potion.

We are eager to believe that those who make it have some secret sauce. They know something we don't. There must be some ritual, some incantation, some drug, some gadget that these guys know about that I don't. Maybe it is the power meter?

Coaches often take advantage of these trends. They shroud themselves in secrecy. They adopt ritualistic routines. They force athletes to do bizarre drills. Much like doctors who prescribe special diets for some people. The magic of placebo is not to be underestimated. Drink 10 glasses of water a day. Eat five servings of fruit. Do this seven times, not six, not eight, seven! You got to do it right otherwise the magic won't work!

Today's workout: a 3,000 m swim. All freestyle, non-stop.

Two miles

Another swim day. This time I did 2 miles, all freestyle, non-stop. I don't think I have gone this far non-stop freestyle ever. It was pretty hard, esp. towards to the end. By around 160 laps (out of 180) I could definitely feel that my legs and feet were close to cramping up. Why it is always my calves and my feet, I don't know but that seems to be the rule.

I have noticed a funny synergy between my arms and legs, and sometimes when I am close to cramping and I "pull" hard with my upper limb, I can feel the tension in my contra-lateral leg. No doubt this is some nervous system mechanism similar to swinging your arms when you walk and it must have its origins in four-legged locomotion.

In any case, I avoided the cramp and swam a good pace too. Probably close to 2:00 per 100m. OK, I know that is nothing to write home about, but for me it is. If I could do that in an Ironman and all else fell into place, I would get my long coveted Hawaii slot for sure.

Another interesting observation is that I lost 2 pounds while in the pool. I weighed in beforehand at 174 and after I was at 172. The swim took a little over an hour and the pool is pretty warm. I am sure most competitive swimmers would say it is too hot.

I am glad to say though that swimming is a lot easier now. The long swims really do help.

Magic potions and a sour economy

One thing that struck me about Ironman Arizona, is that the sour economy left its mark. I already mentioned that freebies were absent at the welcome dinner. The host hotel Mission Palms also had plenty of rooms available before the event. In years past there was a wait-list, and getting a room was hard. Not so this time around.

Although the race sold out and was oversubscribed as usual, there were many signs of trouble. The Ironman village had far fewer tents and some prominent vendors and sponsors were missing. While Ford seemed unaffected -maybe that is why they are in trouble- others like Timex and Powerbar that always make a strong showing now left a distinct vacuum.

There was no Endless Pool, no Tanita scales, no free Gatorade bike bottles, and there were no booths along the path to the swim start. The only noticeable "growth" was by newcomer shoe salesman Newton, now featuring a big display booth. Newton's claim to fame is a slightly altered shoe that improves performance. Skeptical? You should be.

Because what did not disappear despite the dismal economy, were the many snake-oil vendors. From nitrogen-balanced protein tablets that supposedly eliminate delayed onset soreness, to energized and concentrated water that gets absorbed more quickly, or special sea salt that replenishes electrolytes faster and more completely without being bad for you, the quack offerings keep coming. I wonder when the Vegas favorite, flavored oxygen will show.

I once read that athletes are more susceptible to nutrition and gadget scams than the average population, and if the presence of magic vendors is any indication that certainly seems to be the case. I have to admit that I too, once fell for such scams. Not the more outrageous ones like calorie-free energy drinks, or concentrated water, but scams nonetheless.

Things like recovery drinks, long-acting carbs, protein bars, energy bars, electrolytes, salt for cramps, and drinking as a precaution. Over the years I have learned that a normal diet is better for you. A normal diet that includes a fair amount of fat. It leaves you less hungry, it keeps the body fat off, and it allows you to compete harder. You drink when you get thirsty (no it is not too late then) and in general you don't overeat or over-drink. The end result will be less stomach trouble, less time spent on porta-potties, and faster finishing times.

What you do need is to train hard. There is no substitute for training. No "smart" training (although a lot of dumb training), no free lunches. Training enhances performance, prevents cramps, speeds up fluid and nutrient uptake, allows you to adjust to heat, cold, dehydration, and resets your sense of thirst and hunger appropriately.

You don't need special foods, or special drinks, or supplements, or vitamins. All current research shows that food supplements are ineffective at best and more often than not, harmful. What you need is a normal diet. One that isn't too sugary or salty and contains a variety of food items. And a training regimen that mimics your race conditions. The rest is all hogwash.

1.5 mile swim today. All freestyle.

35 Mile Ride

No rain today, but rather cold, with a chilly wind and lots of debris on the road. Yesterday's rain storm brought down rocks, dirt, branches and even some trees. There were crews everywhere working on power lines, phone lines, and cleaning roads. There were also a lot of "Sunday" drivers, out to go voting no doubt. Met a lot of people holding up "NO ON 8" signs, even in the suburbs.

I rode 35 miles, out Redwood into Moraga to Orinda and back over Wildcat and Grizzly. I think I saw Freddie but I am not sure. There was a rider wearing a Mapei outfit coming to Pinehurst when I rode out to Moraga. I did some hard climbs and took it easy on the descents and flats. Burned 1,695 calories according to Ergomo and had a normalized power reading over 250W with an average around 210W. So far so good. Took a little over 2 hours to finish.

Variety is the spice of life

All too many athletes go through the same routine day in and day out. Then they get bored, they burn out and they never improve. In the end a fair number of them give up. It is tempting to settle into a rut and think that the mere repetition of things will somehow work miracles.

Don't get me wrong. Practice does make perfect and repetition is as important in training as in other aspects of life. But that does not mean you have to do the same thing over and over again until you drop dead. You need to add variety to your workouts. You need to variety at all levels. On the smallest level you add variety by introducing "play."

You also need to alternate intensity with rest and long workouts. If you want to you can call these changes mesocycles, which by the way means nothing more than mid-length cycles. Short is mini, middle is meso, and long or big is macro. In that context, your season is macro, your month to month is meso and your daily is micro.

Enough labels for now. Just don't go overboard into the domain of pseudoscientific expertise. All you really need to remember is to change things often. Don't ride the same rides, don't run the same loops and don't always go hard in the same places or at the same times. Sometimes you need to climb hard and other times you need to attack the flats and the wind. Always focus on what you will need for your next race.

The most important thing to remember is that to get better you need to go hard. And to keep from getting injured you need to ramp up to hard. And to prevent over-training, you need to rest after you go hard. It is as simple as that.

Mesocycles, thresholds, and other hoopla

Just got a newsletter from USA cycling with some impressive graphics and discussions relating to mesocycles and periodization. The article is entitled, "Periodization Part 4, The Mesocycle and Training/Planning Platforms and Periods."

It has such wonderful scientific-sounding phrases as "The mesocycle may be the most important aspect of the periodization process." If that doesn't impress you, then I don't know what will. The mesocycle, it seems has a lot in common with lunar (and related cycles).

Surely, the six bar graphs showing the "Classic 28 Day," or the "14-7 Platform" will convince you. Never mind the 23-5 and the 16-5 platforms, or the 28 day Overload/Block Period. If you are thinking birth control, think again. I just can't shake the image of colored birth control pills in their neat 28 day packages. Must be my background.

Finally, there is the rather timely "Crash Period" graph, showing the 21 day mesocycle and looking somewhat like the Dow these days.

If the science label or the business-like powerpoint doesn't convince you, how about some religion?

The man behind all this turns out to be none other than Joe Friel, writer of many books on training, with such semi-religious titles as "The Cyclist's Training Bible", "Cycling Past 50", "The Triathlete's Training Bible", and the "Mountain Biker's Training Bible." It appears that Joe not only has the science in his pocket, he is big on religion as well, or bibles at least.

Ironically enough, it is not my only "encounter" with Joe's wisdom this week. The Cal Triathlon emailing just happens to have a reference to lactate threshold and Joe's training "zones." If you use this method you will always know if "you are in the right zone" If such talk reminds you of Timothy Leary or another long-ago movements, you are not alone.

I am afraid I am not a believer. I realize that my irreverent talk may incur the wrath of some very important people, but so be it. After having read all this stuff and looked at the graphs, I can only scratch my head. Macro-cycles, meso-cycles, micro-cycles, it is enough to make anyone dizzy. Horoscope anyone? A Copernican revolution is needed lest we drown in epicycles.

It also reminds me of my days in clinical practice when (usually elderly) patients would show up with elaborate pill organizers filled with a myriad of colorful pills, tablets, and capsules. "She takes one of these every other day doctor, with food, and then two of these in-between meals, and then one of these three times a day, except Sunday, and Monday, " etc. etc., the helpful companions would say. 

It was a logistics challenge without equal (except the mesocycles perhaps).

Ironically enough, what we usually found was that if we (carefully and slowly) took away all those pills, the patients enjoyed a remarkable recovery from whatever foggy state was clouding their brains. The other symptoms and lab abnormalities also improved rather dramatically in the process.

I am a minimalist. Things that look complicated do not impress me, quite to the contrary. I like simplicity and elegance. I found it works best.

You eat normal food, you train hard, engage in plenty of variety and play, and when you are tired you rest. It is not very commercially stimulating, but it works wonders.