Your Sherpa

In order...

Let your spirit guide you
Let your body guide you
Let the moment guide you
Let yesterday guide you
Let the future guide you
Let your mind guide you

-CV

In Business to go out of Business

There are, in my estimation, about eight to ten elite-level triathlon coaches here in the United States. This ain't many, given the number of triathletes (elite or otherwise). I've asked other coaches and athletes as much, and they each reckon a comparable figure. For what it's worth, I consider an elite-level coach as one who coaches elite-level athletes to perform (and win) at the highest levels of triathlon. I do not necessarily consider myself one, although I've helped guide a few such athletes over the years. Coaching, to me, is more about working closely with an athlete, regardless of level, than it is simply producing victors (or, as most multisport coaches seem to think, building a bu$ine$$). A coach's ego should be inferior to the athlete's performance, even if the two go hand in hand.

Interestingly, as coaches, we are in many ways in the business of putting ourselves out of business---a sort of planned pursuit of obsolescence. At the very least we should endeavor to minimize the contribution needed to assure our athletes' performance. The better we perform our responsibilities, the more likely the athlete can move forward without us. We should strive to prepare the athlete to handle the demands and pressures of competition on their own. The best of the elites eventually figure this out: that they can continue to figure things out for themselves.

Two heads may be better than one (and are certainly better than none), but once two heads have meshed into one (not a pretty sight, I realize), that single unit is---or should be---able to proceed without interruption. Nevertheless, I think it wise that all athletes seek to find a (valued) second opinion when possible. Further opinions may even be prudent, but a point should be reached where the athlete's judgment and knowledge must override all others, or the athlete may never accomplish what he or she is truly capable of.

Nine Ways to Prevent Losing

Over the years I've steadily developed a vast array of specialized skills, skills I continue to expand upon, even as I close in on those pesky middle ages. I play a mean kazoo. I fart as loud as anyone I've ever met. I sleep-in longer than anyone I know (or have slept with). I can walk long distances in a single bound. I can out-think myself. I can find the laughter in manslaughter. I'm even quite proficient at sticking Pop-Tarts in the toaster, but this, I'll admit, depends entirely on the make and model of toaster.

In spite of all these skills and others like them, one of my most effective capacities is knowing how to PREVENT losing. Needless to say, this a very good skill to possess as a coach. It puts me in high demand and, because of it, I'm now able to charge ridiculous amounts of money to boss people around. We multisport coaches call this supercompensation and it's a weird phenomena, really. Most jobs pay you to be bossed around, whereas mine pays me to do the bossing. Life is good.

Anyway, the whole preventing losing thing is one area in which I'm most confident. You might even say it's my forte. (And I'm okay with you saying that.) But rather than horde all this arcane knowledge for myself I've decided to share nine of my most proven ways to prevent losing. Please, have pencil and paper at the ready. You will be quizzed later, as to which is the best way to prevent losing (and there is one best way). By the end, you should know.

#9) Don't enter. Remember: it's impossible to lose if you don't enter. Plus, this will save you tons of money, what with today's crazy entry fees (there's that supercompensation word again).

#8) Enter, but don't try. After all, trying is the first step to failure.

#7) Try to wreck the race. Think of ways to sabotage the event. Without a race you simply cannot lose!

#6) DNF. A 'Did Not Finish' not only enables you to avoid losing, but it also allows you to avoid that awkward finish-line embarrassment.

#5) De-emphasize the race. Enter to play, but downplay the whole experience. It's only a race, after all. Nobody cares where you finish, so why should you?

#4) Prearrange to have an excuse. If you're male you may already be an expert at this. Good thing too: excuses are always worthwhile and laudable.

#3) Keep others from winning. This is essentially just a corollary of wrecking the race, only instead of wrecking the entire event, you are to focus on the few others you'd like to see lose. You can't lose if no one else wins.

#2) Play the nice guy. Let others beat you to the line; they'll likely appreciate it, leaving you feeling like anything but a loser.

#1) Win.

Seek and Destroy

Lately I've been fortunate enough to act as a consultant of sorts to a few of the bigger name professional triathletes here in Boulder and abroad, including one hombre de las cavernas I pick to prevail in that Big Dance in Kona this October. You see a lot of this sort of behavior among pros, particularly with the faster folks: they seek counsel from multiple sources, only to filter out the crap (i.e., most of what I have to say) and stick with the good stuff (i.e., most of what Dave Scott has to say). They read what they can get their hands on; they talk with other pros; they talk with those who've walked the walk before them; they talk with other coaches; and they learn by way of themselves...the hard way. In a nutshell, they seek (to learn) and destroy (their competition). I do the same as a coach, although I don't really compete against other triathlon coaches.

While this conduct is precisely what I recommend to others (that is, learning from as many sources as you can, then filtering through it all and finding what works best for YOU), it's only a small part of what makes these fast mofos fast. Genes help, as does opportunity, but the truth is that those at the top have simply formed the habit of doing the shit that the losers don't like doing. Indeed, this is the most prevalent commonality I see among the sport's best, many of whom call Boulder home.

Excellence, of course, is predicated on acceptance of the most difficult challenges. If an athlete claims she wants to make her way to the top of the sport (or her age-group), she cannot afford to shy away from the toughest of tasks, be they physical or psychological. If she expects to perform on race day, then she will first need to perform daily, if not hourly. Hourly tasks help to fulfill daily tasks, daily tasks help to fulfill weekly ones, weekly ones help to fulfill monthly ones, monthly ones help to fulfill yearly ones, and yearly ones help carry out ultimate ones. Race day performances don't just happen. They happen every single day and for many, many, many days (read: months, years) in advance. An athlete should understand all this, if he or she desires to reach the top.

Desire, however, isn't always the issue. Plenty want what few have (or have done). But few will do what it takes to have earned it. (Thus, they don't have what it takes to have what they want!) In all sincerity, desire, or a dearth of it, isn't usually the reason an athlete fails to achieve what they've set out to do. It is more common that he or she…

• Lacks proper direction
• Sees no use in training well
• Has little or no incentive to train well
• Finds training more aversive than gratifying
• Gets easily distracted from his or her goals
• Is inattentive to the purpose in/of training

Years ago I would question an athlete's motivation if he or she appeared to lack desire. But the truth was it was usually one of these factors.

While I tend to think that the athlete is in control of his or her sporting destiny, some of these considerations aren't necessarily under the athlete's control. If, for example, an athlete lacks proper direction, it could easily be the coach who's providing poor direction. In triathlon, this is not all that uncommon, especially with the surplus of inexperienced coaches here in the US, those who pay good money to become certified by a governing body that has no real interest in developing athletes so much as developing the sport (ergo, their profit margins).

Now, if an athlete sees no use in training well, or he or she possesses no incentive to train well, well, this too is something the coach must help to instill. If the desired outcome of the entire process isn't worth shooting for, it's likely the process won't leave the athlete fulfilled, and the athlete will train in vain and soon leave the sport. Athletes, by their very nature, are goal-oriented people, and without targets, many of us start to lose interest (particularly after we lose races).

I often espouse, in an overly cliché-ish manner I'll confess, that the destination is the journey. But without a destination, there is no journey (especially if the journey is the destination!). Goals matter. And the athlete needs to see the point in daily ones, in order to fulfill longer term ones. A good coach can help with this, even when the athlete's motivation wanes. A coaching buddy of mine once wrote that he's not a "Rah, Rah!" sort of leader, and that if the athlete can't find the motivation to perform as they wish, perhaps he or she should find something else other than sport.

I don't quite concur.

Athletes are human (some, anyway) and humans are emotional, hormonal creatures. As such, we're prone to fall prey to emotions. We come complete with highs and lows and a plethora of points between. We are each an emotional roller-coaster of sorts, and it's important to accept and embrace the lows, but yet all the meanwhile continue to plow forward through them as you make your way back to the peaks. We train for the peaks, but it's the valleys that help lead us there.

A sport psychologist buddy of mine echoes these sentiments and claims that without the struggle, there can be no real gains. This is a corollary of my belief that "it's not really positivity if it occurs in positive environs."

"Strength does not come from winning," he says. "It's the struggles that develop your strengths. And when you go through hardships without surrendering, that is strength."

And that's exactly what it takes to fulfill your potential (meaningless as though potential is): a never say die attitude. That, and an unquenchable thirst for better understanding.

Of the sport.
Of your competition.
Of the science.
Of "what it takes."
Of yourself.

Seek and you shall destroy, but only if you grasp it first.

The Potential Pretense

In one of my last little write-ups/blog thingamajigs I touched on a few different topics, but launched the whole thing with some thoughts about potential, and the nobility in striving to reach our ultimate level of it. Nobility is of course way too strong a word, since true nobility lies outside ourselves (i.e., helping others, helping those who cannot help themselves [like the animals], or perhaps helping our planet [assuming it needs it], etc.) but that's not my primary purpose here, and I'd likely scare away the few readers I have if I were to drone on about anything other than triathlon, particularly important shit. No, my point here is about potential and reaching ours. Now pardon me for a minute, but I'd like to say a few things about potential.

Potential is absolutely meaningless. This, whether yours is (mislabeled) "limitless," or is noticeably lacking. No laboratory in the world (ours or anyone else's) can accurately calculate potential. Sure, we can gather a pretty good idea of what someone’s capacity might be, and we can identify his or her talent (greatness is often recognizable early), but we cannot determine his or her potential, especially his or her "ultimate" potential. Not unlike excellence, ultimate potential is an illusive target, one we can never be certain of. This is of course a good thing, as it leaves us filled with hope. If we knew we had capped out our potential, we'd be a lot less happy, as there'd be little to strive toward, and little to hope for. (Remember: the journey is the destination, but happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.)

Like a dark cloud, potential hangs over the heads of countless numbers of talented athletes. Plenty of people are filled with potential. We all have potential. We are potentially capable of anything. I'm a firm believer that anyone can go sub 9:30 in an Ironman, if they only spent the time to prepare themselves accordingly. But few do. I also believe anyone (possessing enough digits) can learn to play the piano. It might not sound all that good, but I'm sure we could all play the thing if we took the time to learn.

But here's the thing. We don't.

And so it is that potential means squat. Nada, nil, nothing. Zilch, zip, zero. We are what we do or, more precisely, what we have done, not what we hope to do or what we plan to do. That's right: you are what you are (hell, even those wise men Jesus and Popeye both came to this same conclusion years ago), and your potential is only measured by what you have accomplished, not what you wish to achieve. Coulda, woulda, shoulda are little more than excuses and like potential, they too mean nothing. You can lie all you want to those around you---"Man, I could've easily qualified to turn pro had I only finished those last five races"---but when you start to lie to yourself, you'll never find happiness or harmony. As Nike's advertising department coined: "Just do it."

The thing is, few of us actually attempt to "do it."

Why?

Because "doing it" takes dedication and discipline and diligence and enough desire to override and overcome all the hard work necessary. And yet we possess the wherewithal---the audacity---to complain that we have chosen not to do it. "Boy, but if I did make that choice…"

Potential outcome is not governed by physical potential, but by choosing to reach said outcome, then committing to it, then having actually reached it. That is how potential is measured, at the finish line. It is past tense, or it is all pretense.

You Got Chicked!

Guys: I'm not sure if you've received the memo concerning "getting chicked," but if the phrase "you got chicked!" (or any variant thereof) is something you've uttered or even thought about before, well, perhaps it is high-time you have...

1. Don't be so small-minded and chauvinistic; women are athletes too.
2. Swim enough and you'll be fully accustomed to being chicked.
3. Run against Chrissie or Caitlin or Mirinda or Melissa and trust me, you'll get chicked.
4. Play tennis against the Williams sisters and you'll be chicked, times two.
5. Ski against Lindsey Vonn and you'll end up chicked, if not in the emergency room.
6. Dance against Ellen DeGeneres and you'll be chicked. Then again, is it really being chicked if the chick in question is a lesbian?!
7. Pit yourself against Lynn Hill and climb a big rock, and your world will be rocked.
8. Drum beside Sheila E and you'll be chicked (not to mention booed off the stage).
9. Play a game of chess against Grandmaster Susan Polgar and you'll be chick-mated.
10. Race your piece of shit car against Danica Patrick and your car (as well as your ego) will burst into flames.
11. Break 2:15:25 in the marathon or Paula Radcliffe will have chicked your PR.
12. Go under 8:18 in an Ironman or Chrissie Wellington will have chicked you.
13. Host a talk show and become a billionaire or Oprah Winfrey will have chicked you.
14. Get married (or not) and you'll frequently be chicked.
15. Do anything against Jackie Joyner-Kersee and you'll be chicked. This, even in her "retirement."
16. Try earning a '10' against Nadia Comaneci in her heyday and you'd score useless.
17. Gina Carano would not only chick you; she'd likely kill you.
18. Try to ingest more food than Sonya Thomas and you'll be chicked (and sick).
19. Meet Jeannie Longo for a bike ride and get used to riding alone.
20. Try to outlive Julia Butterfly Hill in a tree-home and you'll be chicked. (It's doubtful your convictions are as strong, as ego doesn't allow for that.)
21. Diana Nyad is more of a man than you or I will ever be, and I mean that in the nicest of ways.
22. Only one thing is more fragile than the weakest of women: the male ego.

I'll leave it at that for now. Keep in mind however that this is but a drop in the bucket of women who can chick you. Merely reciting all these incredible women's names only sanitizes their greatness. Indeed, it proves ourselves unworthy as men, if not pathetic representation of human beings. Guys: we best get over ourselves.

Happiness, Ambition and Pursuit

Of all the goals an athlete might possess I believe the most noble is that of reaching our ultimate potential, or at least giving an honest attempt in reaching our ultimate potential. Basically, making the most of our capacity. By the way, capacity is what we're capable of; capability is what we actually accomplish.

Other goals can be worthwhile as well, but one I've never really understood is in trying to attain material goods (and yet so many spend their lives doing so; incidentally, the so-called American Dream is my worst nightmare). Another misguided goal to me is to aim for specific race placings, when we know all along that others---those we compete against---are beyond our control. Ultimately, we should endeavor to do our best, both while racing and while preparing to race others.

In working with age-group triathletes I've come to the realization that there will always be limitations involved: we're simply trying to see how good we can get, given the rest of our life's responsibilities...i.e., given the choices we have made. We want to see what we're made of, but without undertaking the sacrifices that may leave a void in the rest of our life. (It's not unusual here in Boulder for me to hear age-groupers, when talking about pros, proclaim something like, "but I like to have a life!" or that pros "lack balance," because they're fully committed to such a one-dimensional way of life.) (Please note that not many pros are actually fully committed, and this is generally what sets the truly professional apart from the lifestylers, the successful and the not-so-successful, the productive and the unproductive, the pros and the Joes.) Anyway, as an all-or-none kind of coach, this semi-committed approach is often a hard pill for me to swallow, age-group or pro. As I've written in the past, why go half-assing it, when you can full-ass it?!

Now this isn't to say I don't understand the half-ass approach. I was once an expert, in fact. As an athlete I never really pushed my boundaries. I accepted mediocrity because it was comfortable and familiar, not to mention that I was very successful at it! I relied heavily on a high capacity but did little to nothing to demonstrate capability. To borrow a thought from Nietzsche, I became who I was and not who I thought I was. Thankfully, I've long since come to accept my failures, yet it's hard for me to watch others repeat such mistakes, when I now know better: to actualize oneself, one must strive.

But sure enough, I see these same behavioral patterns oh-so-much in this day and age: that good enough is good enough. For example, so many pro triathletes coach not because they're good coaches (they are not), but because it enables them to continue to live the lifestyle (please note that it's tough to live a lifestyle when you are dead). They're no more committed to being a good coach than they are to being a good athlete. They are lifestylers. This, whether they're a good (i.e., performing) athlete or not. (Remember: some athletes are merely successful because they are lucky: they've chosen the right genealogy. Of course, at the top levels of sport, this is pretty much the case across the board, and it's the hardest working who win, not the most talented. A pro becomes a pro because he's talented; he wins because he outworks everyone else.)

Now there's really nothing wrong with being a lifestyler. Life, after everything is said and done (and, to be sure, more is generally said than done), is about trying new things and experiencing as much as we can during the short time we're here. But how quick are we to tear down the winners because of our "balance"! We criticize those on top because they're easy targets: simply aim high! We claim that our "balance" makes us winners, because we've tasted a wide variety of flavors, despite having never tasted victory. After all, variety, it's been said, is the spice of life. But to me the behavior of tearing down the successful (or anyone else) tastes of bitterness, not spice. Are we truly successful if we need to lash out at others? Are we successful because we possess good "balance" in our life? Or are we only kidding ourselves?

Maybe as humans we're meant to give 100% to a sole passion and abstain from dividing our attention; divided attention could be looked at as a lack of focus. Our primordial ancestors were focused, since their survival fully depended on it, whereas today...not so much. And indeed, the focused souls I know, those who pour 100% of their very being into a sole cause (i.e., a soul cause), seem to be happiest. (And happy is a good aim in life...maybe our only aim.) But then again, they wouldn't pour themselves into something if they weren't happy doing so.

Happiness is what drives our ambition and yet our ambition is happiness. We are happy when we're active in pursuit of choice---those worthwhile goals that we, in some measure, might achieve. But yet there is no happiness without contentment and inner peace, which essentially requires less or lessened ambition. Perhaps when all is said and done (and again, more is usually said than done) the pursuit ends up being the goal. It's just that at the time we don't see this with our success blinders on.

Greg LeMond, a neighbor of mine back in Sacramento many moons ago, and the guy who inspired me to take up this whole damn lifestyle, once said, "I fear that with success it is never enough." This, after winning the Tour de France three times. He found more success than most ever will but yet needed more, and he's been looking ever since.

Is that happy?

Maybe. Maybe not. One who longs for what is constantly out of reach will be constantly unhappy, eternally striving but never arriving. Not only shall he not attain that which he desires, he will fail to appreciate that which he has. And there's bound to be no happiness in that.

Strength or No Strength

My last blog included a lot of words that ultimately declared nothing. Like a dog barking aimlessly at the wind, I make a lot of noise sometimes. It's not because I like the sound of my own voice or anything (I do not, be it spoken or written or recorded while "singing" in my true-to-life rock band), but because it's more beneficial for me to think clearly when I do so aloud. Hell, even when I exercise alone at a conversational pace, the conversation rarely ceases.

Anyway, soon after writing and posting that last entry, I received some correspondence in which I was asked, somewhat predictably, whether I have those I guide lift weights. We triathletes like things broken down to a simple, "yes or no, should I stay or should I go?" The fellow who'd asked was obviously one such person. My answer ("it depends on the individual") was not precisely what he wanted to hear, since, I could only presume, he's an individual and yet doesn't know where he might fit in to the "it depends" part. (This, incidentally, is his responsibility, and no one else's; know thyself...or get to know thyself better, always).

Over the years, of those I've acted as an assistant coach for (note: they're each their own head coach), about half have lifted weights and half have not. Some are persuaded to steer clear of weights and some are pushed against their will into the gym. For the most part, here are those who do and those who do not lift…

• Skinny folks: yes
• Older folks: yes
• Nonworking pro athletes: yes, depending on gender, build, responsiveness & desire
• Working pros: generally no
• Working age-groupers: no, not typically
• Nonworking age-groupers: maybe
• High-injury types: yes, but exercises are geared toward eliminating injury
• Low-injury types: no
• Weaker types: yes
• Stronger types: no
• Big units: no
• Greyhounds/whippets: yes
• Bulldogs: no
• In-betweeners: maybe
• Chronic "aerobic overtrainers": yes
• Chronic "aerobic undertrainers": no
• Those who "bulk up": no
• Those who could afford to gain weight: yes, only after eating more first
  
• Those who could afford to lose weight: possibly
• Those who could afford to lose muscle mass: no, never
• Those who'd over-train aerobically if it weren't for the gym: yes
• Those in need of better "hormonal balance": maybe
• Whipper-snappers: no
  
• Those endowed with mostly fast-twitch fibers: no
• Those endowed with mostly slow-twitch fibers: maybe
• Those better off swimming, running or riding more: no
• Those better off swimming, running or riding less: yes
• Germ-a-phobes: no
• Vanity types: no
• Females: more often than men
• Men: less often than females
• Charles Atlas: yes
• Arnold Schwarzenegger: no
• Me: no
• You: maybe

The exercises prescribed generally run the gamut but are specific to the individual and his or her requirements, wishes and goals. If an athlete has a weak back, for example, we don't spend time doing biceps curls. No, they work their back instead (it's not too confusing now, is it?).

Most importantly perhaps is that everyone I've helped guide has done {and indeed does} sport-specific strength work (hill-work, big-gears, paddle work in the pool, etc), and this ALWAYS overrides the non-specific strength work. (Yep, the gym AIN'T specific to race day, you heard it here.) Specificity of preparation plays a major role in the specificity of performance and a triathlete should best work on that which limits his/her performances on race day before worrying about hoisting a bunch of iron. We're Ironmen, not men of iron. Prioritize and let your race results show you your best course of action (or inaction). Lifting weights (i.e., resistance training) is well down the scale of importance for competitions showcasing our aerobic capacity and/or economy/fuel efficiency or overall bad-ass-ish-ness. Weight-lifters may be bad assess, but they aren't triathletes. You can be both, but something's usually gotta give.

Measure, measure, measure (in the pool, on the bike or while running, not in the weight-room) if you're still not sure. As they say, the proof is in the putting out. Put out or get out.

Is Stronger Faster?

True or false? If you are stronger, you are faster.

Of the many topics that multisport coaches like to chatter on about, few stand out like "strength training." Indeed, the matter habitually provokes heated dialogue, with numerous coaches in favor of it and a seemingly equal number against it. Even the well-schooled scientists, those with all those abbreviations after their names, whose very job it is to prove that which works (or to disprove that which does not), stand divided. Because of this great divide amid coaches and scientists alike, who's to know where to stand? All told, it seems the whole notion of "strength training" is merely a matter of opinion, or choice. As a fairly dogmatic dude, I know where I stand. But, just the same, I understand where others stand, whether they stand in front of the weight room mirrors or not.

THOSE AGAINST the typical notion of strength training (i.e., the weight room) say that there's little specificity involved for the endurance athlete. They claim to be "with science on this one" and cite studies that back their claims and argue that the limiting factor in an endurance sport is aerobic capacity, not strength or lack thereof. Among other things, they cite that strength work dictates a consequential decline in sport specific stress, resulting in performance impairment.

THOSE FOR IT say that they "know" it helps, because they've seen it work with themselves or with those they coach, and they too claim to be "with science on this one," referring to studies that back their claims (as written about by Friel, et al). If all else fails, they might argue in favor of it as a preventative measure against injuries or to help correct muscular imbalances or to help release growth hormone (helping older athletes maintain muscle mass) or to increase bone density or to get the girl, further adding to their argument by showing that so many top professional endurance athletes also lift weights.

Here in Boulder, the self-titled Endurance Athlete Capital of the World, I know this last point to be pretty damn accurate. As I stroll through the local clubs or gyms or rec centers on my way to the ladies locker room (no comment), I have seen almost all of triathlon's biggest names (those living here, that is) hoisting weights. But are these pros any faster because they lift weights? Or are they fast in spite of the fact? It's a tough question and I know not the answer (despite having developed my own opinions on the matter).

(Incidentally, it's easy to look at the very best in any of life's microcosms and decide that what they're doing must be right, but this isn't, well…right. In fact, I personally know quite a few fast athletes who don't know what got them there! And even if you knew what got them there, I doubt it would get you there too.)

What's more, over the years, I have amassed a vast assortment of books written by some of the planet's leading exercise physiologists and/or coaches and/or endurance athletes. (This planet.) Most these books include pieces or paragraphs or pages on weight-lifting or other ancillary strength training, like that old, pervasive "core work." Few of the books argue in opposition to strength training, particularly the body-building ones. Wait! Who put these in my bathroom?! And what's with the Men's Health magazine? And the Playgirl one?

Of course, the very definitions of 'strength' and/or 'strength training' must first be fully understood in order to hold any real merit. For some reason, wording is valued in sport and sport science. But, like personal opinions, these definitions run the gamut. Each of the books adorning my reading room (i.e., bathroom) has its own definition it seems, and I'd need to possess some serious strength---of both character and of hand---to type them all here. I myself have called some of the skinniest endurance athletes in the world "strong," but this is a relative connotation, basically a euphemism for "frickin' fit." Example: "That skinny Andy Schleck dude is one strong motherf*cker..." Truth is, Schleck is a weakling.

One might argue that, in an endurance sport, the faster athlete is the stronger athlete, but this is not accurate. Hell, the fastest athlete may not even be the fittest athlete. Classifying the fastest athlete at a given race as anything but the fastest is simply erroneous. He or she was merely the fastest. Nothing more, nothing less. (Personally, I like it like that. Call me a purist if you will, but screw those lame judged "sports" like ice dancing, freestyle skiing, gymnastics, body-building, the snowboard half-pipe and synchronized swimming! I'll concede that those competing in these activities are all athletes, and perhaps I'm just being a poor sport, but I honestly couldn't care less about the winner of a judged sport. If I want a judge deciding my destiny I'll commit a crime, thank you very much.)

Remember, irrespective of distance or duration or course layout, racing is measured in terms of swiftness. Its simplicity is what makes it so alluring. It's about a starting line and a finish line and perhaps a clock, in an attempt to find out who gets there first. It's about competing and beating others…or about beating our previous best self. (Victory doesn't always end with the first person across the line.)

And so it is, with this in mind, I tend to simplify things by having those I guide train to become FASTER, not to become stronger or more powerful or fitter or more balanced or better at arguing about training methodology online or better looking (this would be tough anyhow, since I only guide good-looking people) or even more efficient at going fast. Their training is designed and executed so that they can each reach the finish line sooner, period.

Does "strength training" help with this?

You tell me.

I shan't let them tell you.

Now pardon me while I go squat. In the gym? Nah...in my, ahem, "reading room" once more. I have some books to finish up.

Routinely Training Routine

Perhaps it's a deeply rooted fear of monotony or ennui brought on by an itinerant childhood as a military brat, but I have never been one for routine in life. The square-jawed Colonel V (think The Great Santini) would move our family unit every year or so, and with the constant uprooting came the fear and distaste of stability. At least it did with me. Stability is too much a liability. I'll be ready for change by changing things first.

Cliché as though it may sound, I've always held steadfast to the notion that life should be an adventure, or the voyage is hardly worth living. Routine is the deathbed of the soul, I proclaimed. Of course, for the athlete, routine is anything but fatal. In fact, the repeated way is the only way to seek meaningful insight into ourselves, and seeking meaningful insight is an adventure of its own.

Ultimately, routine is the very foundation in determining success. Athletes who lack routine lack consistency, and consistency, despite what Oscar Wilde may have had to say, is the cornerstone of accomplishment. Few things of value are accomplished without prolonged, unwavering effort. I repeatedly tell the pros I guide to distrust the value of things that come easy. What I essentially mean is that value is only found in that which takes work: "Success might smell sweet, but it first smells like sweat." In other words, if it's worth having (i.e., achieving), it's worth working for. Over and over and over again.

If you're a triathlete intent on reaching some lofty goals, I advise elevating your intent from mere intent to being hell-bent. For I can tell you now: hell-bent intent is how the best train, and they do so consistently and indefinitely. In short, they commit. Their routine is a derivative of that commitment. It is not a routine based on comfort (i.e., many of us stick with routines to avoid being uncomfortable) but rather one based on control.

Here in Boulder I can tell you exactly where you can find Chrissie Wellington on any given training day (note: they're all training days), because the routine of her existence is more than evident; indeed, it borders on ritual. The simplicity/anti-intellectualism of her weekly training schedule would literally frighten most multi-sport "coaches" right out of a job (if their athletes didn't fire them first, knowing how uncomplicated it really all is). But Chrissie's routine works because she works, and continually so. She's cut out the extraneous crap in her life and honed her routine. After all, success has to be a habit in order to be.

Those who don't commit don't last long, and ours, by its very definition, is a sport of outlasting one another. When routine is constantly out of order, so too are dreams and goals.

But what disrupts routine?

I've broken it down into what I most commonly see as a coach, and what I frequently failed to observe as an athlete…

1) Lack of commitment
2) Life (Other people, appointments, errands and so on…)
3) Lack of motivation
4) Illness/ Injury

Obviously, the commitment one is the biggie. Without it, what's the point? You cannot be partially committed, or there is no commitment at all. Your routine needs to reflect your commitment.

Life is a poor excuse to disrupt your routine, as it is what provides the opportunity in the first place. When people claim that they're "too busy" or that "the time just isn't there," they're essentially just advertising their failure to commit, which is their choice. Sure, life can be disruptive, but nothing like death will be. So don't play the blame game; nobody wins.

Lack of motivation is a common cause for failed dreams. Without motivation, nothing gets accomplished, other than failure. If you're not motivated, you've quite simply chosen the wrong route. Sure, motivation will ebb and flow at times, but it should not be lastingly disruptive. More importantly, if your motivation is constantly disrupted, you need to question it…and your commitment.

Finally, injury and illness. I see these occurrences interrupting the training routine all the time, particularly in those who know not how to avoid them (often because they've chosen a regrettable routine). The routine needs to reflect the risks, period. Your training habits need to be constantly altered in response to your own personal responses and requirements and the requirements of your goals. Ultimately, a stubbornness to change confirms the athlete's lack of commitment.

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Commitment is the only real answer, as you can see. Your training routine is your commitment. It should spur consistency and growth both. Moreover, sustaining a routine doesn't mean that each training block has to be exactly like the last. While the basic skeleton may be similar or even identical, the day-to-day adjustments are what allow you to hone in on what works best for you and your goals. The bottom line is that your routine must not be so routine that it stunts your growth. Allow it to allow you to grow. Then repeat the process and the modifications, ad nauseum.

Before I go I wanted to touch on one last thing: if the training routine is so important and yet so simple, then who needs a coach?

This, you'll need to ask your coach. If he or she cannot provide a suitable answer, uproot yourself and move along.

A Matter of Principle

The following are some principles the sports scientists don't always mention (or know about)…

The principle of keeping it simple. This principle states that if it can be done, it can be done more simply. Simplicity is not the end-goal but rather a means to an end. Remember: for every detail-oriented, ANALytical athlete sitting at a computer staring at software and endless files and graphs, there is an athlete outside laying the foundation to greatness, learning in the lab. As is stands now at the zenith of our sport, few athletes use heart rate monitors or power meters! (Macca: no. Chrissie: no. Mirinda: no. Et cetera). If it works for them, it can work for you, assuming you do the work.)

The principle of keeping it fun. Competitive sport is only a job for a select few. And even those few need to understand that all sport is a game, not unlike life itself. You can be serious but don't go ruining mine or other people's fun!

The principle of variety. This is essentially a corollary of the above. Spice things up! For the athlete this is especially vital (as in life giving), since we tend to adapt and plateau to previous workloads somewhat rapidly. Vary the load and vary the mode.

The principle of ignoring your critics, even if at times your biggest critic is you. Focus on positive progression, not solely upon where you've gone wrong or where you suck. Ignore those who tell you it cannot be done or kick their ass, as the principle below states. Winners know better than losers, period.

This fits in with the above principle: The principle of ignoring those who, in theory, know better. (You know yourself better than anyone else, or at least you should. If you don't, well then, this is your biggest lesson in sport and in life. Get going, time is short and the lesson never ends.)

The principle of kicking ass. This principle states that you must do your best to kick your own ass when required, so that you may kick the asses of others when the appropriate time is reached: race day. Don't leave it all on the training table; leave it all on the line…the finish line. We train to compete, to fight, and ultimately to win (however that may be defined).

The principle of limiting your losses. This principle states that if nothing is going your way, you should know when to say when. In life and in sport, you're going to incur some losses and some setbacks. Learn to deal with them or when to cut them short. I've known many athletes to train themselves straight into the same old injuries, rather than limit their losses by cutting the workout short or altering it altogether. Don't be one of these types. (This leads us to the next principle.)

The principle of learning to read your body. Your body is not made up of numbers or thresholds or "systems," but yet numerical data may offer you a better understanding of what goes on inside you. (I'm not sure it does.) Still, the best athlete's in the world all know what's going on within themselves, even when batteries fail or the extraneous technology craps out on them. Use your head to read the rest of you. If your head needs work, uses someone else's to help guide yours, as the next principle states.

The principle of creating a network. Surround yourself with losers and you are bound to appear a winner. Surround yourself with winners and you are bound to win. Go with the victory and not the appearance façade. Create a team that believes in you as much as you do them. There may be no 'I' in 'team,' but there is a 'me.' Surround yourself with good me's and avoid the energy vampires.

The principle of open-mindedness. Don't disbelief everything you see or read or hear. Try it first, then you can decide whether to dismiss it. Belief is a powerful tool, especially when you've witnessed proof of what you believe in. And even if you have not, the placebo effect can be very, very real.

Are there any principles I've missed?

The HERE NOW Method of Coaching

"In preparing for battle I've always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." ~Dwight Eisenhower

"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification." ~Publilius Syrus

Lately there's been a nice development going on in the coaching world, thanks mainly to a recent article written by Wayne Goldsmith, and it's good to see other coaches (one of whom I respect greatly) bringing more attention to it, as it helps to reconfirm what I've believed and enacted all along.

Plans mean nothing! They serve only as an illustration of what might be. And lots of things might be. Case in point: you might be fat and lazy and dumb. But you're not. (After all, you're here reading this.) Plans are merely wishful intentions, holding no merit whatsoever, unless they're immediately replaced with hard, intelligent work.

For the past half-year or so, I've been working alongside a young, soon-to-be-speedy, semi-professional triathlete. Our rapport is rock solid and we get along in a copacetic, cordial kind of way, which could be considered of appreciable significance in a student/teacher (teacher/student) relationship. Naturally though, there have been a few ups and downs, as coach and athlete need not always be friends. Besides having to deal with my incessant thinking (and farting) aloud, the poor kid's got to deal with the matter that I don't draw up detailed long-range plans.

Yep, it be true. Sorry Joe Friel!

But isn't failing to plan planning to fail?! Say it ain't so, Joe!

The young buck's conversations have often centered themselves around this fact and I finally had to spell it out to him why plans don't always work. ("'Cause they just don't, man. Even God's plans don't; that's why He seems to have given up on them a couple thousand years ago...") (How's that for eloquence?!)

Sure, we have a long-term wish-list of objectives and whatnot, but what we don't have is a stupid moment-by-moment, week-by-week chart spelling out all the hoped-for occurrences of the next year or more. Sheesh, we don't even know what tomorrow will hold! (Though we can take a step in that direction today, as a shitty plan for now beats a perfect plan for tomorrow.)

Sorry Joe Friel! (Incidentally, while I'm this feisty mood, Your Best Triathlon = My Worst Purchase.)

Coaching isn't about laying down plans. It's about the daily dealings affecting the changes to those plans: the ol' proverbial Plan B. It's called ENGAGEMENT! Of course, you've got to be in constant contact for this to work, but then if you're truly a coach and not just a computer programmer or a "computer scanner," you already knew that, didn't you? On deck, not online!

As a self-coached athlete, the primary skill you'll need to succeed in sport (besides picking suitable parents) is learning how to adapt, adjust and proceed...not plan. To paraphrase John Lennon, "Potential training time is what happens while you're busy making plans."

It isn't just diet plans that fail. Any plan involving your body is susceptible to failure, and highly so. This, because your body doesn't respond to plans or desired outcomes. It responds to training and all other experiences it incurs (and even some of those it does not). As living beings, we operate on the day-to-day reality we call LIFE and, believe it or not, your body's stress levels are made up of far more than just the strain of training (i.e., everything is correlated in that everything you do affects everything else you do). We haven't evolved so that we can somehow sunder training stress and life stress. And natch, they both affect us. You just have to try to maximize the former while mitigating the latter, if it is sport you want to succeed in. But, as they say, "Shit happens," sometimes even when you thought you were just farting around. It's how we react and adapt to that shit that affects how we proceed.

Plans are overrated and as they pass before your eyes of curiosity they'll soon become little more than dust in the wind, not unlike you or me or anything else we'll ever see. Have no doubts about where you want to go (in life or in sport) and definitely have an idea of how you think you'll best get there, preferably written down or mapped out in your mind, but be HERE NOW. Don't be stuck on yesterday or tomorrow or anytime thereafter. Deal with right here right now and then proceed with all your heart (and a little less with your head, except to monitor those bodily signs). Have a mission, commit to the process, and e-x-e-c-u-t-e. Execution wins races, not carefully constructed hopes.

One other thing while I'm at it: Fuck caution! Unless injured or ill or insane, fuck it!

Caution:
Nothing great was ever achieved with caution!

Focus on goals, not on plans. Be positively proactive by being optimistically reactive. Enact then react then re-enact. Seize it, don't plan to seize it. The time is now, and it's doesn't stick around long. The future will soon be a thing of the past.

At the end of the day we all know it's nice to have a plan, as it appeases our neurotic athletic mindset, but plans almost always go awry, falling wide of the mark of that which actually transpires. When the shit inevitably hits the fan, use it as fertilizer, and figure out how to keep from standing in the way of it all. For in life, the fan is always running.

Now, pardon me while I rush off; I have big plans for the day. I'm planning to leave Tucson and head back to Boulder and I'm VERY excited about it.

IN-Tuning

The following comes to you by way of our Endurance Corner Forum, where -- get this -- forum members actually behave! And they behave nicely! I wrote it after the general trend of one of our threads (on tracking training) started to take too big a technological turn (in my opinion). Enjoy. Or not. Just behave!

++++++++++++++++++++

This is in regards to another thread here about tracking training stress (on software such as WKO+) and some of what Gordo mentioned within that thread...

(First off, I know nothing of WKO+ or any other training and tracking software, and am in no way knocking the product{s}. In fact, I'm currently attempting to learn how to use them and determine whether it will help me as a coach, or help those I sherpa for.)

I would, however, like to say that it's important to build a rapport with your body, a relationship that transcends numbers or graphs or plans. This is a greatly underrated consideration of training, since feelings have generally not been a part of any serious exercise discussion. We're taught to "suck it up" or "HTFU." But being able to precisely gauge one's effort over a specified amount of time is an ability that is the hallmark of all top athletes. These types can run (and ride and swim) the razor's edge, knowing exactly how to deliver their effort and energy to extract the best from their bodies on any given day.

Use WKO+ and whatnot, but be sure to hone in where it matters most, out there on the race course and on the roads and trails and in the water...not the computer screen.

In this vein I'll often prescribe what I call a "caveman day" or a feeling-based training bout, where the athlete is advised to get in tune with his or her inner frequencies, by ditching all electronic gadgetry and going "au naturel." The athlete can go as long as he or she'd like or as slow or fast as he or she might care to. And most the time, when I talk about the session afterward, all I hear is how great it was to run uninhibited. (Cavemen didn't have bikes, alas.)

Here's what the current Ironman World Champ, Chris McCormack, has to say about all this...

When I begin training for any distance in triathlon, the primary thing I am looking for is an ability to feel my way through the speed that I am focused on. I have never used a heart rate monitor and I never use power on the bike. I understand the science behind these tools and they are just that "tools," but I have always found that the key to incremental improvement in this sport is learning to trust your own pace and exertion across the three disciplines. If you ask me to go hard I know what hard is. Do I need to give you an exact number in power to justify that it was hard? No I don't. I can tell you by how it feels. What tends to happen with people who begin to become addicted to these gadgets and numbers is that they lose their ability to trust their own pace and perceived exertion and only trust what this "tool" tells them. As far as I am concerned this is a recipe for disaster. You lose your instinctive tunes that are your lifeline to racing. Training is about teaching yourself to understand your boundaries and then slowly pushing those boundaries up. You need to know how to feel those and where they are!

Now don't get me (or Macca) wrong here; I think tracking of effort and subsequent reaction is imperative and the tools we have today help us do this, no question about it. Moreover, we're no longer cavemen (or at least you aren't). But the most important analysis tool (and the one that will help you succeed the most) is the one between your ears, so long as it's engaged and in tune. And despite all our advances, plenty of scientists believe, as do I, that the cavemen used their brains more than we do today. Google is making us dumb!

Finally, recall that the reason we test our numbers is to update our "grades," to see where we're "at." So if you're comfortable using tests and software and other modern inventions to alter specific training "zones," then by all means use them, and often. These tools, of course, can be surprisingly simple or as complex as you care to make them. The Kenyon runners don't have personal computers, except those between their sunburned ears.

Keep in mind that ultimately we're on our own in competition, reliant on the clarity of communication between mind and body. This "inner coach" is the voice within that knows exactly what we need to do at any point in time to reach our potential. Whether it tells us to back off or pick it up, in retrospect it was always the right thing to do. As we learn to trust the inner coach over time, the clearer its voice will become.

The video below, featuring my main scientific go-to-guy, Dr. Allen Lim, touches on this important subject...

Caveman Guidelines

1) Eat lots of plants and animals
2) Drink plenty of water
3) Avoid toxic shit
4) Move at a conversational pace often (even when solo)
5) Sprint periodically
6) Lift heavy things; recruit as many muscles as possible
7) Get adequate sleep
8) Play often. Laugh. Smile.
9) Get adequate sunlight
10) Follow the sun's lead
11) Avoid mistakes
12) Engage your brain
13) Stand more often
14) Ask life's big mysteries
15) Digitally disconnect frequently
16) Find yourself in the forest
17) Carry a big stick

Yet More eBay

Please, will the winning bidder (and all others who bid) contact me about coaching. I currently have a "Kona Coaching eBay Special" going on RIGHT NOW and bidding starts at the low, low price of $2,500 per month* Protect your investment!!!

*Winning bidders are to pay ALL service fees, in full, in advance of any services rendered. Fees are for the time-frame between the time of your winning bid and the Hawaii Ironman but may extend beyond this period, as deemed necessary by my Nigerian bank accounts. Please note that no one loses their bidding war in this auction, as I will not refuse any offer above the opening bid amount! Phone calls, e-mails or any sort of person to person communication is not included as part of my normal coaching fees and will cost extra. Hand's-on training is also not provided. Nor is any sort of financial advice dispensed.

C Different

Just a couple weeks ago two of my already-Kona-qualified athletes asked if they could participate in Ironman Texas, which takes place tomorrow down in The Woodlands, near Houston---that hot, sticky place I had the fortune of visiting merely a month or so ago.

"Um, let me think about it for a sec-- NO. Besides, you'll never be able to enter this late. You two ought to know that! And I don't think they offer eBay slots!" (They didn't buy their way in to either this race or Kona, parenthetically.)

"You mean you want to go participate by watching, right?"

"No. We would like to guide a blind athlete and maybe bring a little more awareness to the C-different Foundation."

"Well then, of course."

Good luck to Patricia, Michelle and Sonja! Enjoy the experience.

(Patricia Walsh, race number 81)

An e-mail to a couple Young Guns I Guide

Below is a slightly modified/clarified e-mail I wrote yesterday morning to a couple young male pros I coach, before a hill repeat workout they were to do with one another. Each has been beset by illness a few times this year and each time sickness has struck we've taken a step back from our eventual summit attempt. It's important to learn and know how to balance the risk/benefit equation in life or any other endeavor, like for example, training. Take risks but be sure they'll be rewarding, whether they work out or not.

As evident by the photo (circa 1988) of my "cool guy" helmetless Olympic-level days, I too was once young and could rarely get the balance right. I only wish I knew the older, wiser version of myself back then! Nice hair, dude.

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...One of the hardest aspects in this sport is repeating workouts. Day in, day out. Week in, week out. Month in, month out. Year in, year out. Filling in all the future blank spots is the only truth that will have you closest to your ultimate potential. It ain't much more confusing than that. And the only way to speed the process is to remain consistent by removing the risks that might otherwise put even minor or temporary stops to such consistency. Too many inexperienced Ironman pros train too hard and then miss subsequent training due to illness and/or injury (i.e., their stupidity). Be calm and patient and wise. Enact, don't react. Take the edge off the hardest efforts (those above LT effort, and you should know exactly what this effort is, as it's the foundation of fitness, regardless of those who claim "there is no LT"...that matters not) and instead replace them with longer intervals or training bouts, rather than intensities that don't quite relate to Ironman competition. Specificity! The risks are way too high and the gains are minimal when compared to remaining just under this threshold intensity. So rope in any competitive craziness and then spend your time speeding recovery, not just speeding the workouts themselves.

Let me know how it goes. Be sure XXXX knows to ease into the first couple and measure the hill so he can use the same layout each time: the same start point, the same finish point. Power meters are great and all, but sometimes a clock and a predetermined distance work just as well. After all, time and competition (especially race day placing) are our ultimate measures, not output. And sometimes such simplicity is ideal.

The recovery between efforts is a light spin back down each time, with a minute of light spinning on the flatter terrain if the downhill doesn't enable you to move your legs while going down it. The first minute or two of each subsequent effort should feel like the worst of it, before your body gets the message again. That's okay; the goal isn't an hour straight at just below LT. It's an hour or so in all, with a total higher output by the end thanks to the rest between each effort. If you didn't rest you might sustain 350 watts for an hour of straight climbing. But by breaking this into interval format you can do a slightly higher output, say 360 watts. Ultimately, your body only remembers and responds to the work portion, not the amount of rest between. And that's why intervals work so well and why you're doing them, even though you have more available training time than the average Joe and could instead just pile in another tempo effort.

I'll tell you what...I've CC'd XXXX to simplify this, as all of it applies to the both of you. The way to rush your fitness isn't only to train harder; it's to hasten recovery. So rope this afternoon's efforts in enough to get through all ten or so in the same time/power/HR range and we'll then pile in another big day tomorrow, albeit more Ironman-like (huge ride, quick transition run, and the lake swim before or after it). We'll then use Thursday and Friday as recovery days before another big weekend.

Same as it ever was, ideally without interruption.

-Coach

Origins

It's been a long while since I've written anything here. Alas, the negative comments I tend to receive after doing so have left me wondering why I publish anything. The world is full of cynics and skeptics and unhappy people, but I never thought that the sport of triathlon was too. I have the utmost confidence in how---and why---I coach, more than most multisport coaches have in themselves I think, but it's hard to always feel like it's worth being on the defense. My skin is too thin for the Internet I fear, as I would never treat others how I'm often accosted, whether face-to-face or anonymously in electronic form. I can only imagine that those who direct such negativity and hatred at others are dissatisfied with their own circumstances and choices in life. I feel for them, if this is indeed the case.

I'm currently in Las Vegas, Nevada, having just watched the Leadman 250 Triathlon (and Angela and Jordan win convincingly). What an event! I'd venture to call it a race, but the only race I witnessed on Saturday was the one pitting each competitor against him or herself and the demons swirling inside each of their noggins. The course and the conditions were quite honestly the toughest I've ever seen in this sport, and it took me back to our sport's incredible origins. Somehow the sport has sadly evolved away from its roots, often opting for generic cookie-cutter courses plastered with rampant over-commercialization, multiple loops and slower and softer competitors. I miss when the hardest of athletes were the only ones crazy enough to enter or finish events, like the old Bakersfield Triathlon or the short-lived Redding (CA) Triathlon, where ropes were needed to assist participants on much of the "run" course. Thankfully, the Leadman 250 takes over where these types of events left off.

We shouldn't fear new or different events, or different ways of thinking, but as a society (and as a sport) it seems the trajectory we've decided to take. I find it depressing in a way, but thank goodness there will always be a few hardened folks to help incorporate some cross-fiber friction against the grain. And I'll be right there with them.

Ang: Distrust the value of things that come easily.

More eBay

I don't know what to say.

eBay

Do the Rest

This piece was originally boxed into a corner over at the Endurance Corner site. I've since added a few bits here and there but the overall gist hasn't changed one iota. All told, it's about the importance of true recovery in the training plan, a favorite topic in my coaching regimen. So relax and enjoy!

All work and no rest makes for an injury-prone and weakened weekend warrior.

Time and again the athletes I guide are forced to listen to me talk about "hastening recovery." "It's not enough to just wait until you're feeling better," I'll bark. "You need to do better. You gotsta puts the 'very' in recovery."

The gist I'm trying to get across is that instead of just waiting for recovery to occur, as many athletes tend to do, you're to grab the bull by the horns and actually do something to assist your cause. Incidentally, grabbing a bull by the horns will NOT assist your cause. I'd also advise not grabbing him anywhere else, particularly anything that dangles.

To be strong like bull you need to quit bull-shitting yourself and treat recovery as though it were training. It is, after all, and this is no BS. What you do when you're not training determines what you can do when you are. Quite simply, non-training time affects your training, and fatigue is a choice. So don't just do your best Sitting Bull impression…get moving! Take part in some intentional recovery.

Intentional or active recovery, it is well established, is a much more optimal way to enhance recovery than is inactive or passive recovery---that malevolent chronological assassin. Now you don't need to do anything drastic, you Raging Bull you, but simply get the blood pumping a smidge, to assist in removing all the inflammatory metabolites and damaged proteins, all the meanwhile delivering a fresh supply of carbohydrates and amino acids. The priority is to heal (much like a dog might), and not to "train" per se. You're basically trying to download, rather than strictly unload (or reload). And you certainly don't want to do anything that delays recovery. Go too hard and all you're doing is delaying your body's supercompensatory capacities, and thus its potential for growth and increased fitness. And that's what recovery is essentially for: to promote your adaptation to training, so you can improve your performance sooner. So go easy or go home.

Ultimately, movement is the best medicine we have (along with laughter and, for us old guys, Viagra), but it's not enough in and of itself. You need to do whatever it takes to enhance recovery, so long as 'whatever it takes' is deemed legal; thankfully, most recovery-boosting options are. And better yet, many of them are free. And though there's very little scientific research to show us which recovery strategies are proven to work, it's important not to disregard the accumulated experience of veteran athletes and coaches. Below is how I generally work recovery into the overall picture.

But first, I need to stress (but not too much, as stress kills) that after twenty-five years in sports, I've only ever known three or four to five athletes who have ever truly over-trained (I am one of them, having suffered from a severely tapped endocrine and immune system). Most of us have never reached this state and never will. We are never really over-trained but simply under-recovered or "over-reached" (i.e., we bit off more than we can chew, and certainly more than we can swallow). And so I preach the enormity of recovery, and why it should never be neglected.

Incidentally, the difference between over-training and under-recovering is straightforward: over-training is simply the imbalance between stress and recovery, regardless of scale (and regardless of the source of stress), whereas under-recovery is quite simply too little recovery. Keep in mind that under-recovery could have very little to do with training stress and may involve life's myriad other stressors.

Now, onto hastening recovery…

1) Planning. To understand the significance of recovery, you need to grasp the fundamental principles of progressive overload. It's important to draw up a training plan that incorporates not only higher degrees of stress/training stimulus (of which you can actually absorb…i.e., benefit from), but also consists of adequate bouts of recovery. And while you don't always know how you're going to respond to training (and therefore, when you might require additional rest), you'll have a pretty good idea that if you've planned a hard training block, you'll need to back it up with the appropriate amount of rest. But again: rest as needed, not as planned. Insert a "floating rest day" or "recovery on demand" as it's needed. But be sure to plan to rest as well. This is not a new concept here but so many athletes fail to embrace the "hard/easy" rule (which may very well be the "hard/easy/easier" rule or the "hard/harder/hardest/easy" rule and so forth). These overly compulsive types like to train themselves into the ground each day just so they can elevate their fragile confidence. Remember that fitness isn't suddenly erased because of a day without training; in fact, that's when it's built, assuming you did the work beforehand. Now do the rest.

Moreover, planning should not only incorporate a broader range outlook on progressive overload, but also a more immediate, pinpointed view. Essentially, what I mean here is that if you train with no regard for your recovery, or with little regard for tomorrow, you'll assure yourself of limiting what you can accomplish then. As I like to croon, "Your recovery begins the minute the workout does." (Unlike your workout, it doesn't end.) And it begins with hydration and nutrition, along with a close cross-examination of exercise intensity and duration, respecting ALL factors that may lead to impaired recovery (cadence choice, clothing choice, etc.). Call it recovery-based training if you will, but the point is to continually look ahead by looking at what you're doing now…and why you're doing it.

2) Sleeping. Thankfully, sleep is free of charge, yet can recharge your batteries. (Keep in mind that sleep is not free when staying at the No-Tell Motel.) Skimp here and you'll eventually be skimping on your best efforts elsewhere, in training. Sleeping includes napping, a learned skill but one that helps release more of that ever-important human growth hormone, your body's very own recovery drug.

3) Relaxing. Relaxing is also free, but it's truly amazing how few people know how to do it. (e.g., we run errands, when we could be walking them!) Sometimes in life it's important to spend some time doing nothing, and perhaps even less. I mean, how great is it to do nothing and then rest afterward! Ask yourself: are you capable of doing nothing today?

4) Hydration. It's crystal clear that rehydration is imperative when attempting to augment recovery. And while drinking can be very expensive---particularly when it's alcohol or bottled water---municipal sourced water (albeit overly chlorinated) remains gratis, and that's good.

5) Eating. Eating is not free, nor should it be. But we need to eat to survive, so there's really no point in looking at its cost. And anyway, skimping here will ensure that the cost will be much greater later. The key thing with recovery-related nutrition is to know that your immediate recuperation needs depend on what you shove down your gullet (and when you do so) and that your long-term wellness also greatly depends on it. Food is the only source where we humans get our energy. Take in nutrients, not just stimulants.

6) Elevating. The heart pumps blood through the body, but it takes work. (The soleus muscle almost acts as a second heart, while it fights gravity and pumps blood back up the body.) You can (and should) make this an easier task by laying down or elevating your legs whenever possible. Another cheesy Chuckie/Chuckie Cheese saying, "Elevate your performance by elevating your legs."

7) Bathing. Lots of reputable coaches like to dispute the benefits of cold-water soaks but I'm of the mindset that they help. And anyway, if you believe they do, they do. Contrast baths (hot then cold back to hot again) also fall into this same category. I do believe, however, that ice baths are not all that wise for those whose immune system is already on red alert (i.e., half-Ironman and Ironman finishers and overly skinny folks with a propensity to remain cold for hours afterward.)

8) Compressing. Triathletes adore trends and today's latest, greatest is to wear compression "gear". It's one trend I'm actually all for, except of course in the fashion sense, and, trust me, I know ALL about being fashionable. Lame attempt at humor aside, compression can help. Whether or not it does, doesn't matter. You should decide yourself, like with all things in life.

9) Massage. Massage is not cheap in this day and age, but self-massage can help hasten recovery. I typically advise "stripping" the lateral quads, site of much of our training abuse. If you cannot dig into your muscles without grimacing, you are not 100%. Use your hands or a high-density foam roller or perhaps a device like The Stick or one of those high-tech thumping electronic massage thingamajigs.

10) Warming-up and cooling-down. While I don't always emphasize the importance of these factors to those I guide, I absolutely have them do it. The only time I neglect including a warm-up or cool-down is when additional workouts precede or ensue. The first workout of the day ALWAYS involves a long enough warm-up (i.e., however long it takes), while the last workout of the day always incorporates a lengthy cool-down (and rarely do we finish the training day with a more abusive exercise bout like a run).

11) Stretching. I myself am not a fan of stretching (with the exception of my imagination) and typically do not recommend it. (I believe that a large range of motion plays a trivial role in endurance sports and can add to what I affectionately call muscle "slop".) But with enough caution applied, there is virtually no risk. Some studies show that stretching can speed recovery (by way of increased glycogen uptake) where others demonstrate absolutely nothing. If you believe it helps, keep doing it. If you'd rather not, keep doing that---or something else---instead!

12) Thinking. Without over-doing it (a tendency of so many triathletes), thinking can certainly facilitate your cause. Use your brain to look for ways to enhance your recovery. The brain is the most critical organ involved in training (and remember: training is everything, including recovery), but also the toughest to train. Unfortunately, some of us have limited potential in this regard. If you're one of these types (and I shan't name names), I advise copying smarter athletes. Hell, that big-toothed character Tony Robbins has amassed a substantial fortune by simply looking at the best performers in various walks of like and noting what their common traits were. He then copied it all, packaged it and pawned it off on those too afraid to copy one another.

13) Fun. Laughter. Delight. Smiling. Joy. Happiness. Pleasure. Bliss. Ecstasy. Hugs. Take part in these vital parts of being human as often as possible, and you WILL recover more quickly. Fun is free and 'free' is my second favorite four-lettered F word. (My absolute favorite four-lettered F word is also free of cost [sometimes, anyway], but involves another person. And one needs to be sure he or she is also having fun while doing it.)

In addition to thee methods there are plenty of others ways in which to speed recovery, including IVs (to speed rehydration, bypassing the gut and going straight into the bloodstream), NormaTec "Boots", medicine/drugs, and so on. Cost often ends up the biggest inhibitor to most these options, but if money is of no concern I typically advise doing everything (legal) in your power to speed recovery. As my old teammate Lance Armstrong likes to say, "Recovery is the name of the game…whoever recovers the fastest does the best." Here's a guy, incidentally, who needn't worry about money.

Ultimately, it's important to recognize that an athlete who repeatedly overloads his or her body without allowing adequate recovery time will eventually reach a state that requires a much longer period of rest. And this is no place to be if you want to be competitive or do YOUR best. Training isn't just about seeing who can hurt the most but who can gain the most. And so, as they say, "it's not how hard you train, it's how hard you recover."

In subsequent write-ups I hope to touch on the different types of fatigue (to which there are plenty) and talk about recognizing when to cut a workout or training block short, or to back off to an easier, more appropriate load, one that may not help you as much in the short-term as over the long haul. I may also talk some about quantifying and tracking your recovery (which I deem far more critical than keeping track of your training stress, since life outside of training can be equally as stressful, ergo affecting your recovery).

In the meantime, don't just stress. Do the rest.