I am a regular listener of the FastTalk podcast, a gold mine of information and advice on cycling, triathlon, and sport science. They set a high bar, but this week's show rises even above that.
Race Stress, Threshold Work, and Dealing with Health Setbacks.
For me, this year’s Great Aloha Run was a lot like the Makaha Time Trial I did last week. It was mostly for fun, and a chance to see what needs to be done. In one way they were very different. That was my first time trial (not counting the ones I do in training). By contrast, this was my eighth GAR. I did my first in 2012, back when I had just started running, then every year for five more years. I skipped four years, from 2018 to 2021, because I was more focused on triathlon, especially swimming.
Saturday, February 11th, was the Makaha Time Trial. Once again my heart clouds my race results. By that I mean my actual heart, the one beating in my chest. Or is it the one in my head?
Back in December I wrote here about the KISS principle. In that post I was focused on workout design. Lately, my podcast channels have been filled with dietary advice for endurance athletes. But there is a problem; an abundance of complexity and what seems like contradictions. Echos of my last post about training apps. Let's take a closer look.
InsideTracker is a service that analyzes your blood and makes detailed recommendations on ways to improve your health and fitness. It gets rave reviews from a number of high quality, athletic related sources, especially Selene Yeager’s Hit Play Not Pause. It sounded like something I might benefit from, given my heart condition, and since I had planned to make 2022 a big year culminating in Ironman Cozumel, I owed it to myself to give it a try.
This year we saw a return to racing as we knew it before COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill. As normal as things may feel, let’s not forget that the virus is still out there and too many people are affected by the suffering it brings. The best way to protect yourself is to keep up with the current vaccination protocol. After that, live a healthy lifestyle. Exercise, eat healthy, and get plenty of sleep. If you are one of the small minority who live this way you have probably noticed how rarely you are sick.
My year began with a quest to find out what was going on with my heart. I withdrew from the 2021 marathon at the 10k finish at Kapiolani Park with a crazy high heart rate and feeling dizzy. This was not new to me but I thought I had it under control with medication. Unfortunately I was not carrying my Kardia EKG and could not get a recording. In March I ran the 10k hard, in order to trigger the same response, and from that recording my cardiologist could determine I do not have A-fib.
“Keep it simple stupid.” This phrase has been around for a long time. Personally I am not a fan of the final word, but it does remind us that not everyone we communicate with has an advanced degree.
Any discussion about endurance training can quickly get lost in the weeds. “A deep dive,” and “down the rabbit hole” are phrases I often hear in discussions about training. A coach should learn as much as they can about sport science, while learning how to guide an athlete’s development without dazzling them with unfamiliar words and concepts.
There was a time when the race season would be over by now. The world has gotten smaller. There are races of all kinds year ‘round. What we still have are special races, markers that to some extent signify the end of the season. In cycling that would be the World Championships, many days of races in every conceivable format. In triathlon we have Kona, a race steeped in tradition and considered by most to be the pinnacle of triathlon achievement.
Coaching. It's not about me.
My goal is to help you clarify your athletic goals and why you want to pursue them, and then guide you on your path to success. Along the way you will encounter all of the reasons why you might fail, and, working together, we will do what it takes to overcome those challenges.