Hello Everyone,                                                                                    February 22, 2007

In this Issue:

I thought I would share a recent experience I had which would certainly qualify as being in my "Discomfort Zone". For the past few months, I have decided to put my swimming and cycling training into maintenance mode and to try a run focus block. Focus blocks are a great way to mix up your multi-sport training program and stimulate a significant change in one aspect of your triathlon fitness. In my case, I felt that "becoming a runner" would help boost my leg speed for future triathlons.

After slowly building my volume and then adding speed-work with faster athletes and the local Track and University team, I entered February eager to test myself in a race. Of course, there aren't many races in Ontario in February, so I decided to try something completely different than anything I have ever done before. I entered an indoor track event. Now I never did track in school, and while my recent foray into road running and triathlon has involved training on the track, I have never raced on one. However there is a first time for everything, and mine was last Friday night in the 3000m event at the University of Toronto fieldhouse alongside a dozen or so collegiate and post-collegiate speedsters. Despite being the slowest guy in the bunch, I told myself that as long as I gave it my all, I was bound to learn something.

Here are my top 5 lessons learned.

1 - Track races hurt! I don't think I have ever hurt that bad in a triathlon, and this race was only 10 minutes long. 15 laps of a 200m track seems short on paper, but doing it feels like forever.

2 - How you run a track race is at least as important as your time or placing at the end. I had to decide whether to follow the pack or just do my own thing. Once the gun went off, there was only one choice. Try the impossible and face the consequences. If I wanted to do an individual time trial, I could just arrange one on my own.

3 - Everybody talks about even or negative-splitting track races, but nobody actually does it. I followed the "slow" group through the first 2 laps at sub-9-minute pace, thinking "this seems a bit quick". By the time I hit the 800m mark, all I could think was "uhh, ooh…". At that point I had 12 laps to go. Let the downward spiral begin!

4 - Unlike road races and triathlons, tracks are dead flat. While this might seem like a good thing, it offers no opportunity to let up for a bit to catch your breath. You know that guy from the gym who shows up at your local 5k ready to throw down, only to huff and puff his way through the race as if he's going to cough up a lung? That was me.

5 - One of the best parts of running in circles is the constant support. Hearing the University girls team I train with screaming at me definitely kept me going, and reminded me how important my own cheering and feedback is when they are racing. I also seemed to attract the cheers of people I didn't even know – being last has its privileges!

Those last 2 km were sheer and utter hell. I was lapped by almost everyone - twice by a few guys. The worst part was, my time of 10:22.58 was not indicative of the running fitness I know I have. However, as someone who has a habit of pacing road races conservatively, going out hard and taking a chance was a choice I can live with. All I need now is to find a slower race, or better yet, to keep working at it until I bridge the fitness gap and can take part in a race like that for more than a few laps!

Thanks to Mike Hay for encouraging me to give one of these things a crack and to Dick Moss, Track North and the Lady Vees X-C/Track team for all the great training and support.

Live your Dreams!

Mike

Most runners have more than a few pair of shoes in various states of wear just sitting around the basement waiting for the next run that will never come. You've moved on to something newer with more cushioning or stability or just plain fancier. Unfortunately a few pair of still usable shoes sit idle until somebody significant finally suggests you throw them out. What's a runner to do?... Donate of course! Sudbury Rocks!! member David West has made arrangements to distribute good used running shoes to kids in the Rainbow District School Board.

David explains:

I have contacted Rainbow District School Board and they would like used running shoes to distribute to kids without the means to buy their own. I had noticed at the City Track Meets that some kids were competing in skate board shoes etc. and I'm certain for some of them it was not by choice. I think it would be a big boost to their self esteem and performance to have proper footwear.

That being said, people with shoes can contact me at the number below or via email at David.West@police.sudbury.on.ca or westy@vianet.ca. It can be arranged to get the shoes. Any excess pairs I will get to Salvation Army or some other worthy cause.

Thanks
Dave

Sgt. D.S. West #5463
Greater Sudbury Police Service
190 Brady St., Sudbury, Ont.
P3E 1C7
705-675-9171 x 6618

Mind over Matter

Bicycling Australia June 2006 issue
By Jim Lehman and Jim Rutberg

forwarded by Tim Uuksulainen

(While the authors are writing on cycling, the information can equally apply to running or most sports.)

Hugh Cameron, National Distance Coach quote: "Racing successfully is 90% mental outlook
and preparation at the top level".

There is no question that it takes more than skill and conditioning to be
successful as an athlete, but sports scientists, coaches, and even athletes
have struggled to define the precise extra component that separates
champions from pack fodder. The clearest answer seems to lie with the mind' s power to either enhance or hinder your ability to perform at your best.

The Mind ' s Impact on Performance
Sports scientists tend to focus on performance tests that minimize the
variables between test subjects; in other words, they like the lab-based
lactate threshold or VO2 tests because they can control the temperature,
equipment calibration, etc. Yet, there are abundant examples of athletes who
test poorly in the lab and then go out and uncork phenomenal performances in
competition. Conversely, there are athletes who test wonderfully and then
fail to perform anywhere near their potential in competitions.
The lack of a good, scientifically-proven, physiological reason for the
discrepancies between test results and actual performance leads to the
conclusion that successful athletes possess mental and behavioral attributes
that enhance their ability to capitalize on their physical potential.
Athletes who have the engine and skills to be successful may not be able to
reach their potential if these mental and behavioral attributes are absent
or underdeveloped.
With the use of power meters, we can even see these discrepancies between
individual workouts in training. One of the most common situations is a drop
in wattage when a workout is moved from outdoors to indoors. Even after
taking into account variables like tire pressure and the pressure of the
flywheel on the tire, athletes consistently report difficulty reaching and
sustaining the same power output indoors that they can achieve outdoors. And
when they can reach the desire power output, their perceived exertion and
heart rate are both considerably higher than during the outdoor workout. For
instance, when an athlete is asked to perform 15-minute lactate threshold
intervals outdoors, he may be able to hold 285 watts, but only be able to
sustain 270 for the same workout on the indoor trainer

The Upside of Arousal
Among the biggest differences between training indoors and out, and
between training and racing, is the level of arousal you derive from your
surroundings. Greater arousal leads to heightened performance because there
are more stimuli; your brain is more engaged and your emotions are feeding
your motivation to perform. Emotional arousal also has a physical impact on
your parasympathetic nervous system (the one that triggers your
fight-or-flight response) which sets off a cascade of hormonal and metabolic
effects that lead to increased ability to focus, greater strength, and
heightened reflexes. When you strip away stimuli by removing the
competition, it becomes difficult to reach competition-level performance in
training. And when you remove the stimuli of the wind against your face and
the sensation of speed from watching telephone polls go whizzing by, it's
more difficult to achieve the same level of motivation, and hence put out
the same high-intensity effort, on an indoor trainer.

What You Can Do to Get Your Brain in Gear

The more time you spend around successful elite athletes, the more you understand the crucial
roles arousal and excitation play in performance. Take, for instance, a
young rider like Credit Agricole's Saul Raisin. Off the bike or on a
leisurely ride, he comes off as a goofy kid who's way too nice to be
anything but a pushover. Yet, when you put him in a race, the affable and
kind small town guy disappears and a fierce, calculating, and intense
competitor emerges. The same can be said of other pros I coach, including
road racer Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) and cyclocrosser Ryan Trebon
(Kona). While some athletes naturally develop the ability to tap into
their full physical potential, many more have to spend time learning and
adapting their mental approach to training and racing before they can
perform at their best. For every racer who automatically understands how to
deliver maximum performance, there are dozens more who are hindered by
self-doubt, lack of confidence, and fear.
The tips and techniques below can be very important for shifting your
attitudes about competition, and I've found that these simple changes in
the mind can elevate an anonymous mid-pack racer to a podium contender
within weeks, regardless of changes in fitness and conditioning.

Face Forward
When riders first start racing, or when they move up in category so they're racing more experienced and faster riders, the desire to reach the
finish line sometimes takes a higher priority than trying to win. When this
attitude persists for too long, however, racers fall into the habit of
racing against the back of the field instead of the front. If your brain is
at the back, that's where your bike's going to be as well. The race
is in front of you, and in order to win, you need to stay focused on what
you can do to compete against the riders at the front. Once you cross the
threshold of realizing that the risk of not finishing is either minimal or
less important than the risk of missing out on a chance to win, you can turn
your attention to improving your finishing position.

Stay Present
As an endurance event, cycling can involve hours of relative boredom
punctuated by moments of extreme effort, but it's important to stay
engaged at all times instead of settling into a mindless rhythm and letting
the kilometers just pass under your wheels. Apathy is a problem for
endurance athletes in both training and competition; you see it in the
racers who are just along for the ride in the first two hours of a four-hour
road race and the rider who just cruises through intervals in training
instead of committing to quality efforts. Use landmarks in races or specific
times in your training rides to quickly evaluate what you're doing in
comparison with your goals for the day. This can be a quick check at the end
of each lap of a road race to see if you're racing or just riding, or a
check an hour into your training ride to see if you're really
accomplishing what you set out to do today.

Lose your fear of losing
You race conservatively when you're worried about getting dropped.
This is the primary reason racers do not take the risk of initiating,
joining, or working in a breakaway group. The truth is, there's a chance
your breakaway won't make it, and a chance the break will make it, but
that you won't be able to keep up with it. There's also a chance
that making an effort off the front could mean that you get spit straight
out the back when the peloton catches you. Yet, there are some other
important results you may garner from trying anyway.
Some riders notice that riders they were intimidated by had to work very
hard to catch them, and when you realize you're powerful enough to make
them hurt, they suddenly become beatable. Riding aggressively and showing
that you're willing to commit to potentially winning moves also makes it
more likely that other like-minded racers will join you. The way you
approach races, and the way you ride, can help you generate a reputation
that helps you get into, and stay in, the right moves.

Clear your mind
Once you commit to the effort of a breakaway or a chase, clear your mind
and just go. There is a lot of strategy in bike racing, but the time for
considering the costs and benefits of a move came and went before you
committed to it. Once you're on your way, don't waste time and
attention on second-guessing and devising contingency plans in case this
move doesn't pan out. You made the decision, and you can't control
what the rest of the race is going to do in response. The only performance
you can truly control is your own, and throwing the full weight of your
effort and commitment behind your decisions increases the chances that you'll
actually be successful.

Turn Setbacks into Opportunities
Several of my athletes have returned from mid-season injuries to have the
best performances of their careers. Saul Raisin broke his pelvis when he was
run over by a motorcycle in the Three Days of Dunkirk, yet six weeks later
he finished ninth overall in the ProTour Tour of Germany. Ryan Trebon broke
his wrist in the Tour de Toona in the summer of 2005, then stormed through
the cyclocross season a few months later and eventually finished XX in the
USGP Series and second at the US National Championships. And then, of
course, there are the US Paralympic athletes I've worked with; men and
women who are blind, missing limbs, and living with brain injuries who are
nonetheless committed to competing and winning as elite athletes.
Setbacks in the form of illnesses and injuries can be a blessing in
disguise when they help you get more rest than you would have normally
afforded yourself. In the cases of Saul and Ryan, their injuries allowed
them to take time off during periods of the year when their fellow
competitors were racing and training full-bore. When they returned to
training and competition, they were hungrier for results, mentally refreshed
and physically recovered, and fired up to be back in the pack again.
At some point in your time as an athlete, you'll be sidelined by
illness or injury. Hopefully it's minor and you'll be back on your
feet quickly, but be careful about how you think about your recovery time.
If you focus on how much training you're missing out on, and how far
behind that's going to make you, you're going to return to training
frustrated and discouraged. Instead, focus your energy on doing everything
you can to enhance your recovery, from physical therapy to eating well and
staying hydrated, and use the time as a well-deserved recuperation period.
That way, when your body is ready to return to training, your mind will be
raring to go as well; your fitness will return faster and more completely,
and you'll be likely to outperform your own personal bests.

Jim Lehman is a Premier Coach and Jim Rutberg is a Pro Coach for
Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. (CTS). Lehman coaches several rising stars
of US cycling, including Saul Raisin, Phil Zajicek, Shawne Milne, Ryan
Trebon, and Tyler Wren.