Image via Wikipedia

Great Britain’s triathlon world champion Alistair Brownlee has suffered a tear to his Achilles just six months before the Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old from Yorkshire must now wear a protective boot for a month.

“If I can get this boot off quite quickly and get training, I can get myself fit in time [for the Olympics],” Brownlee told the Metro newspaper. 

Brownlee is expected to compete next at the San Diego World Triathlon Series event in May.

Malcolm Brown, one of Brownlee’s personal coaches and British Triathlon’s Olympic performance group manager, said: “Alistair has a small tear in his left Achilles tendon and is wearing an air cast as a precaution.

Alistair Brownlee takes world title

“Obviously this isn’t an ideal situation, but I can say that this has been his best winter’s training, probably ever. We had scheduled a break from training at the end of the winter period anyway, so I am not overly concerned at this stage.

“He is swimming every day, and will train on a static bike today. He has been doing some light running, but now that he’s wearing the cast, we will allow the Achilles to repair before resuming light running again, hopefully within the next 10 days.

“Alistair’s first planned major race is the ITU World Triathlon San Diego in mid-May. We had never intended that he would race the World Triathlon Series event in Sydney in April, so he still has three months to prepare for that.”

Brownlee is the reigning world and European champion, having beaten younger brother Jonny into second place for the world title in Beijing last year.

From BBC news

Quotations

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. Theodore Roosevelt

The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do. Walter Bagehot

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” Muhammad Ali

“Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right.” Henry Ford

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington

“Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage” George Patton

Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I run because it’s so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can’t. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you’re capable of so much more than you thought.” Arthur Blank

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius

�A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.�

�Life’s battles don’t always go to the strongest or fastest man, But sooner or later the man who wins is the fellow who thinks he can.�

“Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best.” Michael Johnson

“pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity.” Michael Johnson

“Run hard, be strong, think big!” Percy Cerutty

“If you start to feel good during an ultra, dont’ worry you will get over it.” Gene Thibeault

“We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” Emil Zatopek

Pain is temporary, pride is forever!

Running is like mouthwash. if you can feel the burn, it’s working. Brian Tackett

“Running takes balls. Other sports just play with them.”

“Everything you ever wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles.”

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Jesse Owens

The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start. John Bingham, running speaker and writer

“To win without risk is to triumph without glory.” Pierre Cornielle

Attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holtz

Other people may not have high expectations of me, but I have high expectations for myself. Shannon Miller

�Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.�

�Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.�

“rest” is the runners four letter word.

Everyone who has run knows that its most important value is in removing tension and allowing a release from whatever other cares the day may bring. Jimmy Carter

Jogging is very beneficial. It’s good for your legs and your feet. It’s also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed. Charles Schulz Peanuts

The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again. Erma Bombeck

To a runner, a side stich is like a car alarm. It signifies something is wrong, but you ignore it until it goes away. Author Unknown

I don’t jog. If I die I want to be sick. Abe Lemmons

It’s unnatural for people to run around the city streets unless they are thieves or victims. It makes people nervous to see someone running. I know that when I see someone running on my street, my instincts tell me to let the dog go after him. Mike Royko

Only think of two things – the gun and the tape. When you hear the first one, just run like hell until you break the other. Sam Mussabini

The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass. Martin Mull

Finland has produced so many brilliant distance runners because back home it costs $2.50 a gallon for gas. Esa Tikkannen, 1979

Blink and you miss a sprint. The 10,000 meters is lap after lap of waiting. Theatrically, the mile is just the right length – beginning, middle, end: a story unfolding. Sebastian Coe

If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise. P.Z. Pearce

I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I’m damned if I’m going to use up mine running up and down a street. Neil Armstrong on jogging, in an interview with Walter Cronkite

I don’t think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging. If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups. Rita Rudner

Runners just do it – they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first. Author Unknown

�To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.�

�Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.�

�You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.�

�If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.�

Something inside of me just said ‘Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,’ and I just took off.

“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they�re capable of understanding.”

“A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I loose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself.”

“Man imposes his own limitations, don’t set any” Anthony Bailey

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. Japanese Proverb

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle
when the sun comes up you’d better be running.
(But, unless you’re a runner, you won’t understand.)

Real athletes run others just play games

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character. T. Alan Armstrong

My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy. John Bryant

Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once. Julius Ceaser

The nine inches right here; set it straight and you can beat anybody in the world. Sebastian Coe. (as he said this Coe held his fingers up to his head)

The great thing about athletics is that it’s like poker, sometimes you know what’s in your hand and it may be a load of rubbish, but you’ve got to keep up the front. Sebastian Coe

Tomorrow is another day, and there will be another battle! Sebastian Coe. (a few minutes after a 2nd place finish in the 800m Olympic Games final in Moscow 1980. He later won the 1500m . He had been favored to win the 800m)

All it takes is all you got. Marc Davis

Run like hell and get the agony over with. Clarence DeMar

The five S’s of sports training are: Stamina, Speed, Strength, Skill and Spirit. But the greatest of these is Spirit. Ken Doherty

The only tactics I admire are, do or die. Herb Elliott

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face. Gatorade

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers

You can fight without ever winning, but never ever, win without a fight. Rush (the Band)

“The thing about Pre is that he ran as hard as he could every race, and if you were going to beat him, you were going to have to run harder than he did.” Bob Kennedy

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can. Lowell Thomas

Good judgement is the result of experience, experience is the result of bad judgment. Mark Twain

Running is real and relatively simple, but it ain’t easy. Mark Will-Weber

Once you’re beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line. Todd Williams

“The will to win is worthless, without the will to prepare.”

“Running is a mental sport…and we’re all insane!”

Learn to run when feeling the pain: then push harder.

“If you want to win a race, you have to go a little berserk.”

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars. Les Brown

“No one ever drowned in sweat.”

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard to find alloy called guts.” Dan Gable

“It’s rude to count people as you pass them. Out loud.” Adidas ad

“Some people don’t have the guts for distance racing. The polite term for them is sprinters.”

“Cross Country philosophy…the faster you run the faster you’re done.”

“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” Steve Prefontaine

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.” Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

“Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.” Oprah Winfrey

“Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.” PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, “Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?” Peter Maher, Canadian marathon runner

“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, “You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.” The human spirit is indomitable. Sir Roger Bannister, first runner to run a sub 4 minute mile

Ask yourself “Can I give more?”. The answer is usually: Yes. Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner

“You also need to look back, not just at the people who are running behind you, but especially at those who don’t run and never will, those who run but don’t race, those who started training for a race but didn’t carry through, those who got to the starting line but didn’t get to the finish line, those who once raced better than you but no longer run at all. You’re still here. Take pride in wherever you finish. Look at all the people you’ve outlasted.” Joe Henderson

“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” William Faulkner

“Running long and hard is an ideal antidepressant, since it’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clearheadedness that follow a long run.” Monte Davis

“I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” Alberto Salazar, three-time winner of the NYC marathon

“What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the day gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate.” John Bingham, running writer and speaker

“We may train or peak for a certain race, but running is a lifetime sport.” Alberto Salazar

“Spend at least some of your training time, and other parts of your day, concentrating on what you are doing in training and visualizing your success.” Grete Waitz

“Anybody can be a runner. We were meant to move. We were meant to run. It’s the easiest sport.” Bill Rodgers

“Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.” Lynn Jennings

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” Bill Bowerman

“If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.” Priscilla Welch

“To get to the finish line, you’ll have to try lots of different paths.” Amby Burfoot

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” Edward Stanley

“Many people shy away from hills. They make it easy on themselves, but that limits their improvement. The more you repeat something, the stronger you get.” Joe Catalano

“Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow.” Henry David Thoreau

“Play not only keeps us young but also maintains our perspective about the relative seriousness of things. Running is play, for even if we try hard to do well at it, it is a relief from everyday cares.” Jim Fixx

“If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion.” Robert Pirsig

“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” John Bingham

“To know you are one with what you are doing, to know that you are a complete athlete, begins with believing you are a runner.” George Sheehan

“Running is not, as it so often seems, only about what you did in your last race or about how many miles you ran last week. It is, in a much more important way, about community, about appreciating all the miles run by other runners, too.” Richard O’Brien

“I’m going to work so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.” Steve Prefontaine

Billboards

The following have been seen on signs/billboards around marathon courses.

“There’s beer at the finish line.”

“Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit.”

“Your feet won’t fail you now!”

“This is your moment. Celebrate the pain.”

“One foot in front of the other. That’s all.”

“Trust your training.”

“If you walk, you’ll still be hurting.”

“In our minds, you’re all Kenyans.”

“Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much butt!”

“Your legs will forgive you…eventually.”

“Don’t stop — people are watching.”

“That’s not sweat, it’s your fat cells crying.”

“If it was easy, I would do it.”

“Run like you stole something.”

“This is easier than labor and delivery.”

“You’re not slow. You’re just enjoying the course.”

“Don’t worry, toenails are overrated.”

“Run like someone’s chasing you.”

“It’ll feel better when it stops hurting.”

“Mortuary ahead….look alive!”

“If I ran it, by God, you can, too.”

“You can throw in the towel or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.”
from Gatorade

“This mile marker is farther than most people will ever reach.”
Can be posted anywhere beyond mile 1.

“Forget everything you’ve done. It’s just a Sunday 10k left to do!”
Seen at mile 20 of the London Marathon

“All walls have doors.”
Seen at mile 22 of a marathon (when some runners hit the “wall”)

“Your place in history is almost secure.”
Adidas sign at mile 23 of the Boston Marathon

“You are no longer a runner, YOU are a marathoner.”
Seen at Mile 25 of the San Antonio marathon

“FINISH”
Seen at the end of every marath

Bike Fitting Guidelines – Rules of Thumb by bikedynamics

Knee Angle – Maximum

The ideal saddle height is best described by the angle of the knee at full extension. Typically, men will be close to 145° and women 150°. The difference is due to flexibility, with looser female hamstrings allowing the knee to extend further. Tight hamstrings will inhibit the extension of the knee, so many people find that being closer to 140° may suit them better. The key to finding the ideal saddle height is to use knee angles and hamstring flexibility to get close, then fine tune (up or down 1-2mm at a time) until in the ‘sweet spot’. Please note that these are dynamic measurements, i.e. whilst pedalling and that static measurements may be different.

Knee Angle Minimum

Once the maximum knee angle has been established, the minimum should be checked. Avoid an angle less than 70° as this can put high shear forces into the knee joint, exaggerates the ‘dead zone’ at the top of the pedal stroke and can cause discomfort in the hip and lower back. If too tight, you will need shorter crank arms.

Saddle set back

The simplest method for establishing saddle fore aft position is to hang a plumb line from the tibial tuberosity (the bony bump below your kneecap). This should pass straight through the pedal spindle when the crank arm is at three o’clock. This is called the Knee Over Pedal Spindle (KOPS) rule, but contrary to popular opinion there is absolutely no biomechanical justification for it. In fact, if the saddle height is incorrect the knee will be too far forwards or back and it will be wrong!
It can work very well though because it is a good predictor of the hip position relative to the seat tube axis. If the hip joint is along this axis, the rider will tend to be well balanced without too much weight on their hands and as the bike designer intended. Finding the precise point on the Greater Trochanter to signify the hip centre of rotation can be tricky though, which is why the KOPS technique is more popular.

Torso Angle – Fast

Torso angle is very dependent upon the cyclists choice of performance and comfort. A lower position is more aerodynamic as frontal surface area is reduced. 30° to 40° is a good compromise of performance and comfort but does rely on reasonably good flexibility to lower back and hamstrings.

Torso Angle – Touring

A more relaxed torso angle will take the pressure off the lower back, hamstrings and the neck and distribute loads from hands to seat. 40° to 50° is a suitable angle for longer distances where comfort is the priority over speed.

Minimum Hip Angle

Torso angles significantly less than 30° can only be achieved using specific Time Trial or Triathlon bikes. Although being much lower at the front will reduce aerodynamic drag, the minimum hip angle can tighten to a point where both comfort and power are compromised. Note how there is a difference between the ‘actual’ hip angle measured between the body reference points and the ‘real’ hip angle due to the curvature of the spine. The ideal ‘real’ hip angle will vary between individuals and is dependent upon their flexibility and duration of events.
The ‘actual ‘ hip angle is easier to measure and men of average flexibility should be able to sustain 45° to 50° for some time. Whereas very flexible women such as World Champion Duathlete Helen Russell shown here can hold angles of less than 40°.
The minimum hip angle can be affected by saddle height and fore-aft position, crank length and the position of the bar extensions and elbow pads. Moving forwards onto the tip of the saddle will open up the hip.

Upper arm and elbow

On a road bike, the upper arm should always be between 80° and 90° to the upper body. This puts the shoulder in a relatively stable position and distributes loads directly into your skeleton. If ever fitting a shorter stem, care should be taken to check that knees do not hit the bars when riding out of the saddle.A small bend in the elbows will help dissipate road induced shock load into your upper body. If you feel you need to ride with locked elbows, you are probably too far away from the bars.

Hand Position

Dropped handlebars are designed to offer a number of holds to facilitate both alternative torso angles and a variety of hand positions. This is to suit different road conditions and prevent discomfort due to staying in one position for too long. Once saddle height and set back has been established, stem length should be set such that the hands fall naturally to the hoods. This offers the alternatives of a more relaxed position up on the bars and a more aerodynamic position on the drops. If riders spend nearly all their time up on the bar tops, either their top tube or their stem is too long for them. The hoods should be adjusted such that the wrists are straight (as when shaking hands).

Cleat Position

The cleats should be positioned such that the ball of the foot is over the pedal spindle and to accommodate the natural toe in or out of the foot. The ball of the foot can be defined as the end of the first three metatarsals bones which can be found with a bit of light prodding. Alternatively just use the bony lump on the inside of the foot at the base of the big toe.
Filed under: cycling, triathlon Tagged: Crankset, cycling, Flexibility, Greater Trochanter, Hamstring, Hip, Knee, time trial ]]> http://christostriathlon1.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/bike-fitting-guidelines/feed/ 0 swimbikerun1 Maximum knee angle Minimum knee angle KOPS Knee over pedal spindle Torso Angle - Fast Torso Angle - Touring Minimum Hip Angle Upper arm to Torso Hand Position Cleat Fitting http://christostriathlon1.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/collection-of-cycling-instuctional-videos/ http://christostriathlon1.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/collection-of-cycling-instuctional-videos/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:14:29 +0000 swimbikerun1 http://christostriathlon1.wordpress.com/?p=256 ]]> Cycling: pedaling and technique drills on rollers -

Cornering Technique For Cyclists -

Sitting and Standing on Hills -

Q&A: cycling descending skill and technique -

First time on Rollers – DISASTER -

Maximum time allowed is 12 minutes, 30 seconds — but to be competitive, you should swim the distance in at least 8 to 9 minutes, utilizing only the Combat Swimmer Stroke, sidestroke, or breast stroke.

Push-ups

Minimum number is 42 in 2 minutes, but you should shoot for at least 100 for an average score. Do not pace yourself. Push as many push-ups out as fast as you can, but do not neglect proper form or the SEAL instructor will not count them. (Rest 2 minutes, then move on to the next exercise.)

Sit-ups

Minimum number is 52 in 2 minutes, but you should strive for at least 100 in 2 minutes for an average score. PACE yourself! (Rest 2 minutes.)

Pull-ups

The minimum is eight pull-ups with no time limit, but you cannot touch the ground or let go of the bar. You should be able to do 15 to 20 to be competitive.  (Rest 10 minutes).

1.5-mile run

Wearing boots and pants, the maximum time allowed for this one is 11 minutes, 30 seconds, but you should be able to cover the distance in 9 to 10 minutes to be competitive. Pace yourself: do not start off too fast on the first lap.

Image via Wikipedia

Reposted by Trifuel

The topic of strength training in endurance sports is always a controversial one, with some coaches avoiding it at all costs and others praising it as the key to success. ironguides coach Alun “Woody” Woodward explains why and how strength training can be an extremely effective tool for endurance athletes.

The topic of strength training in endurance sports is always a controversial one, with some coaches avoiding it at all costs and others praising it as the key to success. Over the past few years strength training has really started to make a big comeback; almost every magazine dedicated to endurance sports will have a section on strength training. Articles in this section always relay the same message: functional exercises are the only type of strength work that will benefit endurance athletes.

Functional exercises are essentially movements that follow the movement patterns used in sport—they don’t work muscles in isolation. These typical articles predominantly look at exercises that involve the legs such as dead lifts, squats, split squats, one legged squats, and so on.

While these exercises are great, they are also extremely demanding and require a lot of recovery, which can significantly impact our sport-specific work.

This approach, I believe, is looking at strength training in the wrong way. Yes, we need strong legs to perform our sport but we must consider what we, as endurance athletes, need exactly from strength training in order to improve our performance.

The key things I am looking for when designing a strength program are:

• Stressing the central nervous system to stimulate hormone release.
• Improving core strength.
• Recruiting muscle fibres.

These are the 3 main benefits of a strength program; I will go through each one in this article and show how it will bolster your training.

1 – STRESSING THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

When we perform strength training with heavy weights that force us to use a large amount of muscle mass and we also add an element of balance to activate our core, then we stress our central nervous system.

The load we have placed on the body is above normal, safe levels and the body does not like this. As a result, it tries to get stronger, which it does by releasing growth hormone and targeting strength in ALL the muscles activated.

This has numerous benefits for an endurance athlete, including that core strength is increased which I will go into more below.

The key, however, is the hormone release; our bodies are ruled by hormones. The more growth hormone we have circulating in our body, the more we can maintain or build muscle mass and burn fat. Reducing body fat is a great way to improve endurance performance.

Most athletes, though, will straight away fear lifting heavy weights, as we fear building muscle, and the associated weight gain. In reality, endurance athletes like us are never in such an anabolic (i.e. build-up) state that we’d be able to do this.

As endurance athletes, we use the increase in anabolic hormone production to counteract the negative catabolic (breakdown) effect of hard endurance training and to keep our bodies healthy and balanced.

Conventional wisdom tells us that endurance training will make us healthy and lean but the reality is that this alone is not the key. Watch any big-city marathon or major ironman event to see a fair proportion of athletes competing with excess body fat, despite extreme and hard endurance training.

The reason that larger endurance athletes remain heavy is almost always that the body is not balanced; adding some heavy conditioning training to their program would help them get leaner and improve body composition, and so performance.

Exercises

While leg exercises may be the most effective for stimulating hormone response, they are also very damaging and can affect our endurance training consistency, as I mentioned above. I prefer exercises that focus on the upper body and core. My favourite exercises are:

• Standing Military Press – Perform 3 x 5 reps at a weight you feel you would fail after 7 reps.
• Chin Ups – Perform 5 sets to one chin up before failure would occur.
• Bench Press – Perform 3x 5 reps at a weight you feel you would fail after 7 reps
• Renegade Rows – 5 x 5 slow and controlled repetitions.

Next time you’re feeling drained and are really suffering in training, go to the gym to perform a routine such as the above—you will be amazed at how energized you feel the next day.

2 – IMPROVING CORE STRENGTH

Core strength has been a major topic for a while now and we have seen many fitness inventions come to the market claiming to increase core strength. Many people believe that core strength is about doing 100s of sit ups, crunches and balancing on gym balls—while, in fact, the opposite is true.

True core strength is the ability of the core muscles to hold your body in a strong stance protecting your spine and allowing your major muscles to work more effectively in performing their task. If we have a strong core, we will move very efficiently and so save energy for any given activity—this is the key to performance in endurance events.

If we watch videos of the greats in our sport, such as Craig Alexander, we notice that their movement looks so easy and relaxed despite the speed and effort they are putting out. This is all due to a strong core and, essentially, movement efficiency.

As endurance athletes we look at the likes of Alexander, Chrissie Wellington, and the great runner Haile Gebrselassie, and we believe that their huge training volume is the key to their success. We may focus on Gebrselassie running 200km a week but we don’t recognize the other work he is doing—the time he spends in the gym to ensure he can maintain his great technique when tired.

Wellington has commented many times on the strength and core conditioning work she does in the gym with Dave Scott and how important it has been to her continued development.

So what exercises are core strength exercises? Well, they are the same exercises I outlined above. The military press is one of my absolute favourite exercises because you need your full abdominal muscles and glutes to be tight and activated to perform it. You will notice after a few reps that it’s not really the shoulders that are giving out, it’s your core that starts shaking first!

Push ups are a great core exercise, again as you need your full abdominals activated. Most athletes, on completing push ups after a layoff, will notice stomach pain the next day, rather than chest and shoulder soreness.

Pull ups also are an amazing core exercise. It has been said that 90% of the population, and also many top athletes, are unable to do these. That’s because you need good body position to be able to get into position for the correct muscles to work to lift up the body and the only way to get into this position is by having an extremely strong core.

I do not believe in separate core routines as I think they should be part of the strength program. As endurance athletes we do not have the time to be in the gym four or five times a week so we should get everything we need with two visits per week.

I suggest going through the above routine once a week, and once a week I like to throw in kettlebell work with some body weight exercises. I like a set which I call the 50’s challenge

• 50 pull ups – rest as needed to complete
• 50 kettlebell swings – start with double arm and progress to single arm
• 50 push up walk outs – from a push up position walk hands forwards and then back
• 50 kettlebell clean and press OR 50 kettlebell snatches
• 50 push ups

3- RECRUITING MUSCLE FIBRES

This is a key area where we can improve endurance performance. When we perform endurance exercise we tend to use a very, very small proportion of our muscle fibres. Typically we use as little as 20% of our quads, for example, when riding and we always use these same fibres every session. As a result, our other muscle fibres are not used to working and when our working fibres get fatigued, the body has nowhere to go and so we slow down.

One area of training that is coming to the fore now is working to improve muscle recruitment. Renato Canova, coach to top Kenyan runners, uses 100-metre max speed hill sprints at the end of easy runs in order to do this, In our ironguides programs we use ALL OUT sprints in the pool and on the bike regularly to do the same, i.e. using a larger proportion of our muscle fibres. By regularly training these muscles, the body has somewhere to go when our normal endurance-trained fibres start to fail.

While sport-specific work is good, I believe we can get an amazing training effect for these fibres in the gym by using isolated muscle machines! While most strength coaches try to avoid these machines at all costs, I think they do have their place in our training programs.

An example is the leg extension machine that isolates the quadriceps. This machine will have an endurance athlete in a lot of pain very quickly as the isolated movement and weight means all muscle fibres are activated straight away and after 8-10 repeats, your legs will be screaming! To get the most out of these exercises, it is important to make the weight heavy so that you can perform around 10-12 repeats before failure. Do not lift so much weight that you fail after 3-5 reps as this will place too much stress on your knee joint. The only machines I use for this work are the leg curl and leg extension.

Summary

Strength training can be an extremely effective tool in your endurance training. Just remember to lift heavy and be specific in what you’re looking to achieve, whether it be specific recovery work, core strength or muscle recruitment training.

Enjoy your training!

Exercise Reverses Aging In Human Skeletal Muscle
Buck Institute for Age Research study gives credence to the value of exercise, not only as a means of improving health, but of reversing the aging process itself.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070522210936.htm

Changes in Lipid and Lipoprotein Levels After Weight Training
Both men and women reduced their cholesterol and triglyceride levels by weightlifting for 16 weeks.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/252/4/504

Brief, Intense Exercise Can Benefit The Heart
McMaster University study found that six weeks of intense sprint interval exercise training improves the structure and function of arteries as much as traditional and longer endurance exercise with larger time commitment.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080604101529.htm

‘No Time To Exercise’ Is No Excuse
The Journal of Physiology article shows that short bursts of very intense exercise — equivalent to only a few minutes per day — can produce the same results as traditional endurance training.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060918142456.htm

For Insulin Sensitive Overweight Patients, One Session Of Exercise Improves Metabolic Health
This study shows that even a single bout of exercise helps obese individuals increase their body’s fat-burning rate and improve their metabolic health.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925072428.htm

Varying Weight Training Intensity Increases Growth Hormone In Women
Women need to have heavy loading cycle or workout in their resistance training routines, as it helps to build muscle and bone.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061201105951.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Articles highlighting multitude of exercise benefits, particularly in older adults.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/growing_stronger/why.htm

Best Bet For Boosting Brawn In Women Is Traditional Strength Training
Ohio University study of women shows the greater benefits of shorter, heavier workouts over longer, lighter workouts.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520210700.htm

Weight Training Reduces Fat And Improve Metabolism In Mice
Boston University researchers demonstrated that an increase in type II muscle mass can reduce body fat which in turn reduces overall body mass and improves metabolic parameters such as insulin resistance.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080205121740.htm

Journal of Applied Physiology – reference to studies of Morpurgo, Petow and Seibert
Muscle hypertrophy (enlargement) is caused by more work per unit of time, whereas total the total work done was without importance.
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/pdf_extract/71/1/372

Both Aerobic And Resistance Exercise Improved Blood Sugar Control In People With Diabetes
The group that did both kinds of exercise had about twice as much improvement as either other group alone.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070917173157.htm

Moderate Exercise Yields Big Benefits
Studies have shown that simply walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes or more on most days can lead to significant health improvements.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104123421.htm

Here is his comment with a link to the original atricle:

A drunk punk kid. He fell asleep, drunk at the wheel. I had to research the accident a little because if you noticed, there’s no brake lights on…meaning he didn’t even try to stop. Fortunately, only one man died from his injuries and in a crash that serious, that’s something to be thankful for… I still can’t figure out why the cyclists didn’t move out of the way…it sucks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24943229/ns/world_news-americas/t/dead-car-plows-mexican-bike-race/#.TzwIc1Gs8dU

Thanks Jim for that!