O.k. here's part one of the follow-up to the last post.
Seb Coe has classicly good form, watch his arm carriage relative to his torso and his turnover. Also note his torso lift relative to his hips.
Granted, one way to get this form is do what Coe did, train hard at the track for many years. In fact up until about three years ago, I went to the track twice a week like clockwork, regardless of whether I was racing or not.
You do have to think about form unless you have been running frequently for at least a few years.
My advice is to visualize Coe.
Good arm carriage, light and strong movements, always moving forward with purpose.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A Prelude to a Discussion on Run Fitness, Cadence and Form in the Triathlon context
In the last year or so I've been asked to advised casually here and there about running.
It's because I'm skinny, still a relatively fast runner in both the world of runners and triathlon.
When I'm older and slower, I wonder how many people will query my thoughts?
Not that it matters much anymore, but I ran for the University in town, and I was lucky enough to be on a stacked team of highly motivated talented guys for a couple of years, we were ranked as high as third in the nation and beat many Division I schools at a few good sized meets.
I've been running competitively since I was nine years old, I actually ran the Butte to Butte 10k every Fourth of July in Eugene, Oregon; my first Butte to Butte 10k was '80 or '81.
I always ran the whole distance; I ran 58min and change at the age of nine.
I still have the shirt.. If I wore it, people might think I was some Emo rocker kid who bought it at Urban Outfitters.
If they smelled it, the stench of Grandma's attic would alert them of my un-coolness, or perhaps I would be even more cool due to some strange irony factor...
Anyhow, after college, I chased some qualifying times in vein, managed to get myself into a few big track meets in the Bay Area, even won a decent twilight mile at Hartnell College... That was fun, big field that went out slow. The field was so big that a couple of out of shape college kids were on their last lap and I actually lapped them, I was kicking pretty damn hard and fast.
Those were the days!
Well, that was then, and as they say, this is now. I got tired of competitive running. I knew I had years and years of hard workouts in front of me to get to track nationals, and that would be the pinnacle if I ever got there.
I love triathlon because I am inherently bad at two of the sports, but most of all because I think since I took it up five seasons back it has reduced wear and tear on my body.
The funny thing is that I am not injury prone, I thought about this the other day on a jog. Here I am going on basically ten years of consistent, hard training since college and no injuries have sidelined me.
I have tried to understand why (within the context of the subject of this blog) and it's because:
-I have good run form, but I haven't always.
-I know when to ignore my schedule and take a couple of days away from an activity that is causing an issue
-I'm a root cause analysis thinker with regard to injuries, I don't guess. I ask myself the obvious questions, has there been a change in volume or type of training, or a change in equipment?
-If anything, I err on the side of lower volume, and I rarely, if ever, try to combine a week of high mileage/yards/time on bike with very high intensity in any of sports I train
-I care for my body as if it were injured, that is I use downtime for things like icing, stretching and self-massage with the stick or the fancy balls devised to loosen muscles.
As it turns out, if you do any endurance sports (for more than a season or two) such as marathoning, ultra running, long-course, triathlon, or say, marathon xc mountain biking (something I'm very excited about) you have to be a mature athlete in your mental approach.
Sure, you can start anything gung-ho and even have decent results, (and even not wind up injured) but over the long haul a managed approach is what keeps an athlete injury free and training.
Since the run tends to be the sport that most people struggle with from an performance, fitness, and injury perspective I'll follow up in my next post with a dialogue on developing running fitness, and how to approach cadence and form, and ultimately try to tie together how the synthesis of the approach, over the long haul, keeps you injury free while producing effective results.
It's because I'm skinny, still a relatively fast runner in both the world of runners and triathlon.
When I'm older and slower, I wonder how many people will query my thoughts?
Not that it matters much anymore, but I ran for the University in town, and I was lucky enough to be on a stacked team of highly motivated talented guys for a couple of years, we were ranked as high as third in the nation and beat many Division I schools at a few good sized meets.
I've been running competitively since I was nine years old, I actually ran the Butte to Butte 10k every Fourth of July in Eugene, Oregon; my first Butte to Butte 10k was '80 or '81.
I always ran the whole distance; I ran 58min and change at the age of nine.
I still have the shirt.. If I wore it, people might think I was some Emo rocker kid who bought it at Urban Outfitters.
If they smelled it, the stench of Grandma's attic would alert them of my un-coolness, or perhaps I would be even more cool due to some strange irony factor...
Anyhow, after college, I chased some qualifying times in vein, managed to get myself into a few big track meets in the Bay Area, even won a decent twilight mile at Hartnell College... That was fun, big field that went out slow. The field was so big that a couple of out of shape college kids were on their last lap and I actually lapped them, I was kicking pretty damn hard and fast.
Those were the days!
Well, that was then, and as they say, this is now. I got tired of competitive running. I knew I had years and years of hard workouts in front of me to get to track nationals, and that would be the pinnacle if I ever got there.
I love triathlon because I am inherently bad at two of the sports, but most of all because I think since I took it up five seasons back it has reduced wear and tear on my body.
The funny thing is that I am not injury prone, I thought about this the other day on a jog. Here I am going on basically ten years of consistent, hard training since college and no injuries have sidelined me.
I have tried to understand why (within the context of the subject of this blog) and it's because:
-I have good run form, but I haven't always.
-I know when to ignore my schedule and take a couple of days away from an activity that is causing an issue
-I'm a root cause analysis thinker with regard to injuries, I don't guess. I ask myself the obvious questions, has there been a change in volume or type of training, or a change in equipment?
-If anything, I err on the side of lower volume, and I rarely, if ever, try to combine a week of high mileage/yards/time on bike with very high intensity in any of sports I train
-I care for my body as if it were injured, that is I use downtime for things like icing, stretching and self-massage with the stick or the fancy balls devised to loosen muscles.
As it turns out, if you do any endurance sports (for more than a season or two) such as marathoning, ultra running, long-course, triathlon, or say, marathon xc mountain biking (something I'm very excited about) you have to be a mature athlete in your mental approach.
Sure, you can start anything gung-ho and even have decent results, (and even not wind up injured) but over the long haul a managed approach is what keeps an athlete injury free and training.
Since the run tends to be the sport that most people struggle with from an performance, fitness, and injury perspective I'll follow up in my next post with a dialogue on developing running fitness, and how to approach cadence and form, and ultimately try to tie together how the synthesis of the approach, over the long haul, keeps you injury free while producing effective results.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Riding the Chilly Hilly
I had to be in Seattle all week due to work, decided to do the Chilly Hilly ride around Bainbridge Island for kicks..
I'd never been to the island before and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the scenery, good stuff..
Basically feels like you're riding in Forest Park (Portland, OR) most of the time, and get this..
No traffic..
The riding there is very, very hilly...
I started the ride a bit late somewhat purposely, it's an event that draws 3000 riders and crowds the roads on the island, as I was coming through the back end of the field toward middle/2/3rds folks were walking their bikes up the outrageously steep hills...
I don't blame them, for the most part only really fit, seasoned riders would ride those without a worry..
They were that steep that I think for the average person, speeds drop so low that their bikes start to swerve a bit, and fear that they'll dump the bike while clipped in is a factor.
All in all, it's a must do experience, even if you happen to ride the Chilly Hilly in a year when it's not nearly 60F..
I'd never been to the island before and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the scenery, good stuff..
Basically feels like you're riding in Forest Park (Portland, OR) most of the time, and get this..
No traffic..
The riding there is very, very hilly...
I started the ride a bit late somewhat purposely, it's an event that draws 3000 riders and crowds the roads on the island, as I was coming through the back end of the field toward middle/2/3rds folks were walking their bikes up the outrageously steep hills...
I don't blame them, for the most part only really fit, seasoned riders would ride those without a worry..
They were that steep that I think for the average person, speeds drop so low that their bikes start to swerve a bit, and fear that they'll dump the bike while clipped in is a factor.
All in all, it's a must do experience, even if you happen to ride the Chilly Hilly in a year when it's not nearly 60F..
Week of 2/24/08
Summary
Swim- 3 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 3 sessions
Another week w/mildly less frequency, but same or better volume in terms of total hours
Monday-
Run- Easy 30min jog on Waterfront
Swim- Main set= (not including warm up, cool down, drills) 3x400y: 6.13, 6.20, 6.25..
Not fun, I suppose I need to get used to this as an "Iron" workout.
Tuesday-
Run-
Late afternoon- 40min jog out and back
Bike- 1hr 16min total
5x1 min L5 watts 280-300w
4x10 min L3 watts holding 215-230w
Wed
Dealing w/some tight calves, which unfortunately also bother my feet, no run today to get well, loosen up..
Swim- Evening swim at Bellevue YMCA, Main set= 4x200 & 2x100, 10 sec rest... 200's ranged from 3.02 to 3.08.. 100's 1.30, 1.25
Thursday
Better safe than sorry, so taking another day off from running to loosen up calves
Bike- An hour and a half (90min) 25mi outdoors on the Burke Gilliman, just a nice steady cruise in great weather with the best bike partner ever.
Post-bike- Went into downtown Seattle to see "Spirit of the Marathon".. fun movie.
Friday
Run- Late Afternoon, nice out and back on BG, both of the footies feel fine. 52 min steady
Saturday
Swim- Main Set- 300 mod, 200 mod-hard, 2x100 hard.. Only got a watch on the 100's = 1.24, 1.28
Bike- 51 miles, Snohomish route w/Shan. 3hrs, 38min
We got a bit lost on the way, so we were out there for over 4hrs.
Sunday
Bike- 37 miles, 2hrs 48min
Rode the Chilly Hilly, a group ride around Bainbridge Island. It wasn't chilly at all, but beautiful and unseasonably warm. It was most definitely hilly, no question about that. Wattage not real important here, but I pushed a few longer hills for some intervals, etc. I hit my all time peak max wattage value yesterday, so that's interesting.
Swim- 3 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 3 sessions
Another week w/mildly less frequency, but same or better volume in terms of total hours
Monday-
Run- Easy 30min jog on Waterfront
Swim- Main set= (not including warm up, cool down, drills) 3x400y: 6.13, 6.20, 6.25..
Not fun, I suppose I need to get used to this as an "Iron" workout.
Tuesday-
Run-
Late afternoon- 40min jog out and back
Bike- 1hr 16min total
5x1 min L5 watts 280-300w
4x10 min L3 watts holding 215-230w
Wed
Dealing w/some tight calves, which unfortunately also bother my feet, no run today to get well, loosen up..
Swim- Evening swim at Bellevue YMCA, Main set= 4x200 & 2x100, 10 sec rest... 200's ranged from 3.02 to 3.08.. 100's 1.30, 1.25
Thursday
Better safe than sorry, so taking another day off from running to loosen up calves
Bike- An hour and a half (90min) 25mi outdoors on the Burke Gilliman, just a nice steady cruise in great weather with the best bike partner ever.
Post-bike- Went into downtown Seattle to see "Spirit of the Marathon".. fun movie.
Friday
Run- Late Afternoon, nice out and back on BG, both of the footies feel fine. 52 min steady
Saturday
Swim- Main Set- 300 mod, 200 mod-hard, 2x100 hard.. Only got a watch on the 100's = 1.24, 1.28
Bike- 51 miles, Snohomish route w/Shan. 3hrs, 38min
We got a bit lost on the way, so we were out there for over 4hrs.
Sunday
Bike- 37 miles, 2hrs 48min
Rode the Chilly Hilly, a group ride around Bainbridge Island. It wasn't chilly at all, but beautiful and unseasonably warm. It was most definitely hilly, no question about that. Wattage not real important here, but I pushed a few longer hills for some intervals, etc. I hit my all time peak max wattage value yesterday, so that's interesting.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Ok, serious question... Euro podium girls vs. American podium girls..
Here's a link to the recent Tour of California
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/feb08/california08/california083/mjc2008-02-20_15-27-06_1.jpg
And here's a link to last summer's Tour de France, and alot of pics..
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5088&status=True
The jury is out for me.. I just wish there podium girls in Track and Field and/or Triathlon.
I'd be motivated to train more frequently and probably alot harder.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/feb08/california08/california083/mjc2008-02-20_15-27-06_1.jpg
And here's a link to last summer's Tour de France, and alot of pics..
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5088&status=True
The jury is out for me.. I just wish there podium girls in Track and Field and/or Triathlon.
I'd be motivated to train more frequently and probably alot harder.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wow..
Not sure what to say about this.. how about more later.. it's pretty bad..
It's just the tip of the iceberg, there a couple of lawsuits now pending; both sides are getting nasty.
I'm not a big supplements guy, multivitamin and that's it.. I've given creatine a try with a mixed opinion on the outcome.
http://www.triathletemag.com/Departments/Features/2007_Features/Rebekah_Keat__Mike_Vine_suing_Hammer_Nutrition.htm
It's just the tip of the iceberg, there a couple of lawsuits now pending; both sides are getting nasty.
I'm not a big supplements guy, multivitamin and that's it.. I've given creatine a try with a mixed opinion on the outcome.
http://www.triathletemag.com/Departments/Features/2007_Features/Rebekah_Keat__Mike_Vine_suing_Hammer_Nutrition.htm
Managing expecations around relationships...
There were some take aways that I think are important when you're managing your single life
-An absence of disqualifiers is rare thing, so if you don't have any, don't acquire any!
-A man living alone is a king of sorts, unfortunately his kingdom is small with very few comforts
-Focus on simple pleasures and small blessings
-You can learn from the things your ex tells you in the heat of the moment
-Your home and surroundings are a key to your happiness
-Whatever you wind up sharing with a partner, for whatever period of time is real, treat it as such because there might not be another tommorow.
Hey, I realize this is excessively deep given the other content up here but it's a little difficult watching people I know wallow through.
-An absence of disqualifiers is rare thing, so if you don't have any, don't acquire any!
-A man living alone is a king of sorts, unfortunately his kingdom is small with very few comforts
-Focus on simple pleasures and small blessings
-You can learn from the things your ex tells you in the heat of the moment
-Your home and surroundings are a key to your happiness
-Whatever you wind up sharing with a partner, for whatever period of time is real, treat it as such because there might not be another tommorow.
Hey, I realize this is excessively deep given the other content up here but it's a little difficult watching people I know wallow through.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Dah !
Oh man.I don't know what to make of this..
I think that, uh.. Some different people do triathlon now..
Yeah, I mean it's all good. To each his own.
I personally don't drink that much Red Bull or other forms of amphetamine.
Weekending 2/17/08
Summary
A little short on the swim this week, but the quality and volume on the run and bike side were really there; and I climbed out of the hole, completed the workouts and I must have adapted a bit to the volume and intensity mix over the last couple of weeks.
Swim- 3
Bike- 4
Run-4
Monday 2/11
Wow.. pretty shelled today. Sort of a zombie doing work, but managed anyway.
Run- very easy jog in the afternoon to Duniway and back for about 32min total; it was sunny out so I felt good about things regardless of residual fatigue
Swim- Walked over to the Y since the weather was nice; it was a decent enough session w/some big paddles to work on balance, etc. I was fatigued enough that any intervals were really out of the question. Mainset was really just some solid, continous swimming at about 1.40 per 100m spilt up by kick sets.
Tuesday 2/12
I was still totally tired today.
I am idiot for putting myself in that hole, but I saved all of the work for evening so I'd have all day to rest, and work for da man.
Track- 4k of work at about 5.20 mile pace.. argh. Between 78s and 82s on each of the reps.
1 x 400 - 78 secs (200)rest1 x 600 - 2min (200)rest1 x 1000 3.10? (400)rest1 x 600 100m jog 600m basically a 1200m in 4.08 (300)rest1 x 600- 2.00 min 100m jog 400m 78secs 100m jog 600 2min
Not really all that bad.. There was guy about my speed jogging more briskly through the floats up ahead, too brisk for me in the floats and I go anaerobic regardless of run fitness.
I've always had a problem w/workouts like this, I don't do well with floats, still better than two weeks ago when I started to fade pretty hard core; this time no fading.
Swim-
Directly after.. lots of paddle work, some 100m reps, mostly continous swimming, kick sets as rest (which don't ever feel like rest to me)
Wed 2/13
Run- Easy, light recov run w/L Dawg.. We did my campus run, neither of us took a watch so it was roughly 35-40min
Angel pasta after at L's place.. I prolly needed a day off the bike and several large helpings of food that was actually cooked.
Thurs 2/14
Run- Late afternoon jog, same old Duniway-Campus jog... My foot feels pretty much fine again, hard left turns give it some issues. I guess like Zoolander, I can't turn left.
Bike- 55 min steady watts, basebuilder workout.. Holding 200watts
Fri 2/15
Bike- Big Gear strength dvd, holding 300w+ on 1min reps. 55min
Sat 2/16
Bike- Scholls Area ride, outdoors again.. 1hr 15min, hitting some of the hills hard in seated position. Pretty amazing the kind of watts you put up outdoors compared to indoors; not only that but those efforts are pretty darn brutal.
Swim- Post bike, (about 90min or so after..)
10x100y on 2min.. First 5 or so in 1.25, last 5 in 1.30-ish..
I actually had a leg cramp on the warm down, so a sign that I didn't hydrate properly during or post ride. and though the swim went fine, the last five reps I had to work to keep that speed, which is likely a function of some fatigue from the light ride, etc.
Sun 2/17
Bike- 2 hours steady.. Started at noon and what a perfect day. Did a longer ride out to Coleman & Maysara vineyards; awesome stuff. Pavement is pretty spotty in places, but the roads are essentially quiet. Was about 164watt avg.. I tried to keep a lid on it as a bunch of the ride was into the wind and up hills.. So it could have an awfully hard ride if I didn't watch it.. I felt tired at the end, but not shattered.
Run- Got home at 7pm after dropping the kids and did a nice 30min jog over to Duniway, first run in awhile w/just shorts and long-sleeve, we've had some nice weather lately.
A little short on the swim this week, but the quality and volume on the run and bike side were really there; and I climbed out of the hole, completed the workouts and I must have adapted a bit to the volume and intensity mix over the last couple of weeks.
Swim- 3
Bike- 4
Run-4
Monday 2/11
Wow.. pretty shelled today. Sort of a zombie doing work, but managed anyway.
Run- very easy jog in the afternoon to Duniway and back for about 32min total; it was sunny out so I felt good about things regardless of residual fatigue
Swim- Walked over to the Y since the weather was nice; it was a decent enough session w/some big paddles to work on balance, etc. I was fatigued enough that any intervals were really out of the question. Mainset was really just some solid, continous swimming at about 1.40 per 100m spilt up by kick sets.
Tuesday 2/12
I was still totally tired today.
I am idiot for putting myself in that hole, but I saved all of the work for evening so I'd have all day to rest, and work for da man.
Track- 4k of work at about 5.20 mile pace.. argh. Between 78s and 82s on each of the reps.
1 x 400 - 78 secs (200)rest1 x 600 - 2min (200)rest1 x 1000 3.10? (400)rest1 x 600 100m jog 600m basically a 1200m in 4.08 (300)rest1 x 600- 2.00 min 100m jog 400m 78secs 100m jog 600 2min
Not really all that bad.. There was guy about my speed jogging more briskly through the floats up ahead, too brisk for me in the floats and I go anaerobic regardless of run fitness.
I've always had a problem w/workouts like this, I don't do well with floats, still better than two weeks ago when I started to fade pretty hard core; this time no fading.
Swim-
Directly after.. lots of paddle work, some 100m reps, mostly continous swimming, kick sets as rest (which don't ever feel like rest to me)
Wed 2/13
Run- Easy, light recov run w/L Dawg.. We did my campus run, neither of us took a watch so it was roughly 35-40min
Angel pasta after at L's place.. I prolly needed a day off the bike and several large helpings of food that was actually cooked.
Thurs 2/14
Run- Late afternoon jog, same old Duniway-Campus jog... My foot feels pretty much fine again, hard left turns give it some issues. I guess like Zoolander, I can't turn left.
Bike- 55 min steady watts, basebuilder workout.. Holding 200watts
Fri 2/15
Bike- Big Gear strength dvd, holding 300w+ on 1min reps. 55min
Sat 2/16
Bike- Scholls Area ride, outdoors again.. 1hr 15min, hitting some of the hills hard in seated position. Pretty amazing the kind of watts you put up outdoors compared to indoors; not only that but those efforts are pretty darn brutal.
Swim- Post bike, (about 90min or so after..)
10x100y on 2min.. First 5 or so in 1.25, last 5 in 1.30-ish..
I actually had a leg cramp on the warm down, so a sign that I didn't hydrate properly during or post ride. and though the swim went fine, the last five reps I had to work to keep that speed, which is likely a function of some fatigue from the light ride, etc.
Sun 2/17
Bike- 2 hours steady.. Started at noon and what a perfect day. Did a longer ride out to Coleman & Maysara vineyards; awesome stuff. Pavement is pretty spotty in places, but the roads are essentially quiet. Was about 164watt avg.. I tried to keep a lid on it as a bunch of the ride was into the wind and up hills.. So it could have an awfully hard ride if I didn't watch it.. I felt tired at the end, but not shattered.
Run- Got home at 7pm after dropping the kids and did a nice 30min jog over to Duniway, first run in awhile w/just shorts and long-sleeve, we've had some nice weather lately.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Free speed vs. aerodynamic framesets
Awhile back Triathlon Magazine had a piece about the aeroness of bikes with aero tubes; the conclusion reached was that nearly all bikes have aspect ratios of less than 3:1 (regardless of tube shape) and the testing shows that an aspect ratio of 4:1 is actually required before a meaningful difference is derived from the aero shaped tubes.
All that begs the question: Why bother with an aero frameset? e.g. Time-Trial/Triathlon bike?
I posted the question to slowtwitch.com because there are industry bike reps posting there and I got some interesting responses, below are the snippets from the thread. I didn't substantially alter it:
Me:
The UCI has a framework for aspect ratios which manufacturers must adhere to and have UCI legal bikes; this ratio is apparently less what is required to receive any substantial benefit.
If this is the case, why not optimize position and wheel choice and call it good?
Random Guy:
Do you mean aero tubing? AFAIK, the legal aspect ratio is 3:1. Walser, Hooker and Cervelo are the closest to this at around 2.8:1 or so. Some of the "aero bikes" are actually bricks. The downtube on the Scott and a few others comes to mind. There's a chart on this somewhere on the ST forum.
Optimizing wheels and especially position (without compromising power) are a must any ways, but a good aero frame gives an extra minute or so over 40 kms.
Don't forget the aero helmet.
Industry Rep:
The DA, B2 Pro and B2 headtube/external steerer tube is around 5:1 at the leading edge of the frame
The seat tube at the seat stay junction is also around 4.2:1
There are rules that govern tube instersections that can be massaged into added tube depth. The Specialized and BT also make good use of the interpretation of those rules along with the aforementioned brands in your original post.
Basically there are a couple of conclusions here:
1. Forget about the tube shapes, optimize the postion, get wheels and aero helmet, you're done.
2. Perhaps get a bike and hope that the two or three places where the manufacturer has bent the rules provides some aero benefit.
Shocking isn't it? I mean that people are sold on needing such a piece of equipment.
Well, either way, I think it's cool to capitulate to the ego piece, let's face it; time-trial bikes look pretty nice. Heck, if you see me on one, I'll be the first to admit it's not any faster than my road bike.
So what about free-speed?
It's shockingly easy. Free-speed is the management of your strategy and process to acheive your goals. There aren't any silver bullets or special workouts you do once a week then skip all the others..
Net, once you have an acceptable swim stroke, you simply need to be in the water.. In some ways, the swim is like the run; frequency really helps. However, if you don't have an acceptable stroke, this is not good protocol to follow.
But hardwork is free isn't it? You may gain minutes via an improvement in swim, bike, or run fitness just through working smarter.
I could go on, but then it would seem like a lecture
All that begs the question: Why bother with an aero frameset? e.g. Time-Trial/Triathlon bike?
I posted the question to slowtwitch.com because there are industry bike reps posting there and I got some interesting responses, below are the snippets from the thread. I didn't substantially alter it:
Me:
The UCI has a framework for aspect ratios which manufacturers must adhere to and have UCI legal bikes; this ratio is apparently less what is required to receive any substantial benefit.
If this is the case, why not optimize position and wheel choice and call it good?
Random Guy:
Do you mean aero tubing? AFAIK, the legal aspect ratio is 3:1. Walser, Hooker and Cervelo are the closest to this at around 2.8:1 or so. Some of the "aero bikes" are actually bricks. The downtube on the Scott and a few others comes to mind. There's a chart on this somewhere on the ST forum.
Optimizing wheels and especially position (without compromising power) are a must any ways, but a good aero frame gives an extra minute or so over 40 kms.
Don't forget the aero helmet.
Industry Rep:
The DA, B2 Pro and B2 headtube/external steerer tube is around 5:1 at the leading edge of the frame
The seat tube at the seat stay junction is also around 4.2:1
There are rules that govern tube instersections that can be massaged into added tube depth. The Specialized and BT also make good use of the interpretation of those rules along with the aforementioned brands in your original post.
Basically there are a couple of conclusions here:
1. Forget about the tube shapes, optimize the postion, get wheels and aero helmet, you're done.
2. Perhaps get a bike and hope that the two or three places where the manufacturer has bent the rules provides some aero benefit.
Shocking isn't it? I mean that people are sold on needing such a piece of equipment.
Well, either way, I think it's cool to capitulate to the ego piece, let's face it; time-trial bikes look pretty nice. Heck, if you see me on one, I'll be the first to admit it's not any faster than my road bike.
So what about free-speed?
It's shockingly easy. Free-speed is the management of your strategy and process to acheive your goals. There aren't any silver bullets or special workouts you do once a week then skip all the others..
Net, once you have an acceptable swim stroke, you simply need to be in the water.. In some ways, the swim is like the run; frequency really helps. However, if you don't have an acceptable stroke, this is not good protocol to follow.
But hardwork is free isn't it? You may gain minutes via an improvement in swim, bike, or run fitness just through working smarter.
I could go on, but then it would seem like a lecture
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Week ending 2/10
Quick Summary:
Swim- 3 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 4 sessions
Mon 2/4
Afternoon run- quick little run to Duniway Track & back- 30-odd minutes
Eve Swim- This was again, a "whatever you look like" main set day. I've been in the pool every day since Friday, and by tommorow it will be five straight days in the water.
Whatever was 100m (not 100y, different pool tonight) on about 1.40-45 or 1.30-35 on 30 sec rest. This is good stuff, yesterday's set was the same and it's getting to be a pretty comfortable speed to punch in.
Tues 2/5
Early Evening Run, ran the Waterfront loop it was about 45min, nice night to run in the city.
Evening swim: Another "whatever set you like" night, which was mostly, drills, some paddle work w/big paddles which made me really work on putting the hands in the right spot, and plenty of kick boarding, which incidentally, I hate.
Wed 2/6
Afternoon Run; 53 minutes or so.. Just a nice steady run up Terwilliger.. My foot is feeling healed, I don't know what I did to tweak it, but it's feeling o.k. now
Eve bike- Came home, worked a bit more, had a sandwhich and rode the basebuilder Dvd.. Again, this is just a steady 55min ride w/very short breaks just pedaling a moderate to large-ish gear at about 190 - 200 watts..
Thursday 2/7
Run- Easy 32-33min run, Duniway as per the usual. Hit the soccer field on the way home, run a couple of laps.
Bike- Big Gear DVD; I cut out the squats and was not sore from it.. Lots of work in the 1 min power range, it's kinda old-school in approach but the big gears make it hard to generate the power easily; frankly, I think you could just find a cog in the middle of the cassette and work on 1min power alot more effectively, maybe I'm missing something?
Fri 2/8
Today I was thinking run & swim, but looked out the window, and never saw a clear moment, too rainy, even for me..
Swim- Early eve session.. Throat feels kinda weird, I think my kcals are bit low, plus, I think two Milwaukie's Best Ice at dinner may actually have a net negative effect, will cut back to one the next time I watch "Super Bad"
Main set was a couple 400m (not 400y).. so it's basically 40 seconds slower as compared to the 400 in yards.. 6.50, 6.55 or 6.10 and 6.15.. I think I can solo'd one at a hard fast pace well under 6min in yards..
I'm doing Beaver Freezer, and seeded myself at 7.10 for 500y so I should be fine.. For one thing, I'll share a lane with swimmers who I bet are sandbagging, real swimmers always do.. And I will just send off the wall right in the middle, get max draft.
Sat 2/9
Bike- Steady ride at Sauvie Island, 36.x miles.. 1hr 56min.. 185w avg. 19.5mph avg. Good ride today. Did this about a month ago and I was slower, put out less than normal avg. wattage for the ride and rode slower. Weather was clear-ish and about 50f-ish. I guess the other diff. is that I finished feeling good, not drained like last time.
I'm glad I could get outdoors!
Sunday 2/10
Bike Day
I went to the North American Handmade Bike Show "after party" last night w/some friends... It was not the industry party I expected, looks like every bike messenger in Pdx also knew about it. It was pretty cool though, I met a group of crazy Canadians who were fanatics about bikes who came all the way from some remote part of B.C. to salivate over the next ride they'd get..
Ended the evening on a calm, but late note.. I was a little wonky after being out past bed time, 1 am is a bit late for me, but kept it calm and had one drink only. Still, that's a tough combo for me to handle
I rounded up my friend L Dawg for a active recovery bike ride for me...
It was roughly hour and thirty min of steady pedaling.. Grabbed beer and burgers after to commisserate about future planning around seeking either a boyfriend (in her case) or a girlfriend (in my case)..
Truth be told, I don't ever seek them. I usually meet them through sports and I get to know someone beyond that shared context. So, there really is no strategy or plan here, at least on my end. I'm not sure there needs to be.
Had either a run or swim planned, but I got home, managed to get supremely relaxed and decided I was pretty satisfied with the hours I'd punched in this week.
Swim- 3 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 4 sessions
Mon 2/4
Afternoon run- quick little run to Duniway Track & back- 30-odd minutes
Eve Swim- This was again, a "whatever you look like" main set day. I've been in the pool every day since Friday, and by tommorow it will be five straight days in the water.
Whatever was 100m (not 100y, different pool tonight) on about 1.40-45 or 1.30-35 on 30 sec rest. This is good stuff, yesterday's set was the same and it's getting to be a pretty comfortable speed to punch in.
Tues 2/5
Early Evening Run, ran the Waterfront loop it was about 45min, nice night to run in the city.
Evening swim: Another "whatever set you like" night, which was mostly, drills, some paddle work w/big paddles which made me really work on putting the hands in the right spot, and plenty of kick boarding, which incidentally, I hate.
Wed 2/6
Afternoon Run; 53 minutes or so.. Just a nice steady run up Terwilliger.. My foot is feeling healed, I don't know what I did to tweak it, but it's feeling o.k. now
Eve bike- Came home, worked a bit more, had a sandwhich and rode the basebuilder Dvd.. Again, this is just a steady 55min ride w/very short breaks just pedaling a moderate to large-ish gear at about 190 - 200 watts..
Thursday 2/7
Run- Easy 32-33min run, Duniway as per the usual. Hit the soccer field on the way home, run a couple of laps.
Bike- Big Gear DVD; I cut out the squats and was not sore from it.. Lots of work in the 1 min power range, it's kinda old-school in approach but the big gears make it hard to generate the power easily; frankly, I think you could just find a cog in the middle of the cassette and work on 1min power alot more effectively, maybe I'm missing something?
Fri 2/8
Today I was thinking run & swim, but looked out the window, and never saw a clear moment, too rainy, even for me..
Swim- Early eve session.. Throat feels kinda weird, I think my kcals are bit low, plus, I think two Milwaukie's Best Ice at dinner may actually have a net negative effect, will cut back to one the next time I watch "Super Bad"
Main set was a couple 400m (not 400y).. so it's basically 40 seconds slower as compared to the 400 in yards.. 6.50, 6.55 or 6.10 and 6.15.. I think I can solo'd one at a hard fast pace well under 6min in yards..
I'm doing Beaver Freezer, and seeded myself at 7.10 for 500y so I should be fine.. For one thing, I'll share a lane with swimmers who I bet are sandbagging, real swimmers always do.. And I will just send off the wall right in the middle, get max draft.
Sat 2/9
Bike- Steady ride at Sauvie Island, 36.x miles.. 1hr 56min.. 185w avg. 19.5mph avg. Good ride today. Did this about a month ago and I was slower, put out less than normal avg. wattage for the ride and rode slower. Weather was clear-ish and about 50f-ish. I guess the other diff. is that I finished feeling good, not drained like last time.
I'm glad I could get outdoors!
Sunday 2/10
Bike Day
I went to the North American Handmade Bike Show "after party" last night w/some friends... It was not the industry party I expected, looks like every bike messenger in Pdx also knew about it. It was pretty cool though, I met a group of crazy Canadians who were fanatics about bikes who came all the way from some remote part of B.C. to salivate over the next ride they'd get..
Ended the evening on a calm, but late note.. I was a little wonky after being out past bed time, 1 am is a bit late for me, but kept it calm and had one drink only. Still, that's a tough combo for me to handle
I rounded up my friend L Dawg for a active recovery bike ride for me...
It was roughly hour and thirty min of steady pedaling.. Grabbed beer and burgers after to commisserate about future planning around seeking either a boyfriend (in her case) or a girlfriend (in my case)..
Truth be told, I don't ever seek them. I usually meet them through sports and I get to know someone beyond that shared context. So, there really is no strategy or plan here, at least on my end. I'm not sure there needs to be.
Had either a run or swim planned, but I got home, managed to get supremely relaxed and decided I was pretty satisfied with the hours I'd punched in this week.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Sunday night, checking in..
I'll have the week summary up tommorow.. Mildly less frequency on the swim side, mainly because I did 5 straight days of swimming as last calendar week merged with this week. But more total hours this week across the board, not that I'm totaling/tracking it but I was on the bike the last couple of days outside, so a couple of hours each day is like four sessions indoors!
On tap in the next week or so: I'm busy with weekend dad stuff this upcoming weekend so I will have to plug in an extra swim/bike on weekdays so I'm not ignoring the kiddos when they visit. We have Seb's b-day on tap, and that, not a crazy workout sked should take precedence.
I'm feeling tired for the most part today, two rides outdoors, two consecutive days really takes alot of me when I haven't been caloused to the experience. It's the main reason I skipped the swim after the bike.. Well, that and mostly a full tummy of burger and beer.
I was looking through my bike workouts from summer and noticed my frequency has picked up in the last 6 weeks, though I am quite sure my total volume in hours has to be about the same or lower as compared to then.
I'm feeling like what I outlined when I started the blog is still do-able, the key has been to try and do almost everything Z2 or mildly lower intensity, it's still hard because, let's face it, it's between an 1hr 45 and 2hr 30min a day of aerobic work.
Going forward I really have to block out competitive distractions, like bike racing, road racing, etc. I clearly am too competitive for my own good, and it takes very little goading to get off track, train for and race a single sport event.
In general it's good for me to do this once in awhile, it takes me out of my comfort zone, but it's pretty hard on my ego. Ah c'est la vie, the guys in my age-group at Ironman Canada don't screw around, a distraction for them is a sprint triathlon.. And, yes I will do a few of those!
In terms of future planning, I have always wanted to do Ironman Hawaii. Unless I get in via lottery, I have to qualify. I think I can, but it will be a hard road. So, I think this season sets me up nicely for a run at a chance qualifier this year, and another run at one in '09.
I don't have the sport specific palmares to back any of the talk up actually, in case anyone wondered, but I don't really care too much about that. If I honestly didn't think I was capable of giving qualifying a good go, I would be honest with myself about it and re-calibrate the goals.
The employment situation still really falls into the "consulting" category, that is, it's dependent on our (my) performance and the resource needs of the client. I'm mildly annoyed with some of the elements of the situation, and am working to correct that.
There are some things in the pipeline that I would like to discuss in more detail, but have to hold off until some details get hammered out. In essence, I'm fairly close to having a startup/concept get funded, for obvious reasons have to keep the deets a bit quiet.
At anyrate, hope my audience of three (?) readers are enjoying the updates. :)
On tap in the next week or so: I'm busy with weekend dad stuff this upcoming weekend so I will have to plug in an extra swim/bike on weekdays so I'm not ignoring the kiddos when they visit. We have Seb's b-day on tap, and that, not a crazy workout sked should take precedence.
I'm feeling tired for the most part today, two rides outdoors, two consecutive days really takes alot of me when I haven't been caloused to the experience. It's the main reason I skipped the swim after the bike.. Well, that and mostly a full tummy of burger and beer.
I was looking through my bike workouts from summer and noticed my frequency has picked up in the last 6 weeks, though I am quite sure my total volume in hours has to be about the same or lower as compared to then.
I'm feeling like what I outlined when I started the blog is still do-able, the key has been to try and do almost everything Z2 or mildly lower intensity, it's still hard because, let's face it, it's between an 1hr 45 and 2hr 30min a day of aerobic work.
Going forward I really have to block out competitive distractions, like bike racing, road racing, etc. I clearly am too competitive for my own good, and it takes very little goading to get off track, train for and race a single sport event.
In general it's good for me to do this once in awhile, it takes me out of my comfort zone, but it's pretty hard on my ego. Ah c'est la vie, the guys in my age-group at Ironman Canada don't screw around, a distraction for them is a sprint triathlon.. And, yes I will do a few of those!
In terms of future planning, I have always wanted to do Ironman Hawaii. Unless I get in via lottery, I have to qualify. I think I can, but it will be a hard road. So, I think this season sets me up nicely for a run at a chance qualifier this year, and another run at one in '09.
I don't have the sport specific palmares to back any of the talk up actually, in case anyone wondered, but I don't really care too much about that. If I honestly didn't think I was capable of giving qualifying a good go, I would be honest with myself about it and re-calibrate the goals.
The employment situation still really falls into the "consulting" category, that is, it's dependent on our (my) performance and the resource needs of the client. I'm mildly annoyed with some of the elements of the situation, and am working to correct that.
There are some things in the pipeline that I would like to discuss in more detail, but have to hold off until some details get hammered out. In essence, I'm fairly close to having a startup/concept get funded, for obvious reasons have to keep the deets a bit quiet.
At anyrate, hope my audience of three (?) readers are enjoying the updates. :)
Friday, February 8, 2008
ITU Style racing is pure athletics..
I stumbled onto this earlier this morning, lifted it off a friends site...
ITU style Triathlon is so athletic, you won't see a "prototypical" tri athlete carrying some extra weight slogging it slowly..
The guys run 29.5x's at the sharp end and the gals are 31.5x's.. The swim times are pretty incredible as well.
They are all gazelles, greyhounds whatever you want to call them..
If I didn't have Ironman on the sked this year, I would get back to focusing on going fast, fast, fast.. Olympic Distance, Half Ironman, Duathlons and Aquathlon. Frankly, it's less volume and more time focused on quality..
Enjoy the video, and have a good weekend!
ITU style Triathlon is so athletic, you won't see a "prototypical" tri athlete carrying some extra weight slogging it slowly..
The guys run 29.5x's at the sharp end and the gals are 31.5x's.. The swim times are pretty incredible as well.
They are all gazelles, greyhounds whatever you want to call them..
If I didn't have Ironman on the sked this year, I would get back to focusing on going fast, fast, fast.. Olympic Distance, Half Ironman, Duathlons and Aquathlon. Frankly, it's less volume and more time focused on quality..
Enjoy the video, and have a good weekend!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Information, Training Secrets and Intellectual Snobbery..
I read a couple of athlete blogs from time to time that I haven't linked to mine..Mainly because while I like reading them for the interesting, useful tidbits of info of high-performing endurance athletes I can't get over the author's self-aggrandizing tone and manners.
At anyrate, I've met a couple of these folks in person, and they have some traits in common that really turn me off. One of those traits is how much they focus on themselves when you actually converse with them and the second is how much they talk about their accomplishments.
I honestly don't need to hear a person validate themselves publicly, either in their blog or in person, it just rubs me the wrong way for reasons that I don't think I need to list.
Recently one of the bloggers had a chance encounter with Mark Allen of Ironman fame on a plane, they sat right next to each other and shared notes. I thought that was pretty cool, and I finally posted a comment to this person's blog (which I'd never done previously) and asked him if he wouldn't mind mentioning the details of Mark's run training since the blogger had discussed this subject with Allen.
He responded with this: (I bolded a chunk to focus on)
"We didnt discuss details. I gave him my brief marathon history before triathlons and some stuff I did in my first IM season at age 38when I ran a 3:08 marathon split, and since then havent come within 4minutes of that. He reiterated his consistent 55-60 mile run weeks with similar speedwork and long run training as you would do for a fast marathon.
Overall similar to what I was doing in my first season. And...what I am now building to as I end my season with IMAZ in April. I dont however recommend IM athletes go out and slug out 60 mile run weeks.
The type of training I am discussing is primarily for seasoned, sub 2:30open marathon type runners. Speed work 2 times per week, a sub threshold tempo, and long runs of 16-20 miles at a significant pace, up to 30-45 sec faster per mile than IM goal marathon pace. Dangerous stuff to get into for unexperienced marathon runners in my opinion. High risk of injury and over training."
My off-the-cuff reactions:
-First of all, uh... sorry I didn't post my palmares to my comment also, but wouldn't you assume that only seasoned endurance athletes read your blog?
-Geez, I didn't know that only 2.30 or better marathoners could best utilize Mark's info.. Do you think that folks at the 2.45, 3.05 or 3.30 mark aren't running at least this much and these kind or workouts?
-Do you think that you need a 2.30 open marathon to run a fast Ironman marathon? Weird.. Norman Stadler ran a 2.32 open marathon recently.. I guess he's better off ignoring this because, well, he's not fast enough to really make proper use of it.
So then, it gets better... the very next post in his blog revolves around complaining that some guy at a training camp doesn't realize his wife is "fast", which is obviously a blow to his ego since he essentially trains her.
Check it out:
"Ann rode up ahead with a newer pro, 10th overall at CDA in 2007. Couple of others behind us. That was about it by the final 90 minutes of riding, everyone else circled back earlier.
Funny Ann mentioned to the guy she was riding with she was aiming for a top 10 finish at IMAZ in March. He looked suprised and said something like "you mean top 10 age groupers?". Ann said, no, top 10 overall.
He then said something like, "I dont want to shatter anyone's goals but yeah, go for it". I guess he didnt realize that Ann placed in the top 12 overall in the past 2 IM races. Races that were highly competitive, full of pro women, IM Roth and IMWA.
In fact, her total time was in the top 10 female pro times at both races. So, yeah, this guy didnt realize he was biking with a girl that that finished high overal in her last 2 Ironmen. No big deal."
I mean, does he not get that one hand, he's like, "Nah, look unless you're like, really fast this doesn't apply to you" And doesn't know who I am at all...
And, then the next post is, "well, he doesn't know my wife is fast?"
Dude, please. Argh.
You know, whatever. I run into this alot, I always have; athletes can be the worst offenders. I really wanted to address the subjects in the title and thought the rant would be a good primer.
Regarding Training information and/or Secrets: I don't believe there are any secrets any more, and access to information and the efficacy of the application is widely available.
The delta between successful athletes and those who don't self-assess as successful is usually how training methods are applied to management of training.
Intellectual Snobbery is distasteful in athletics. It's one thing to not share training methods because you feel the content has some commercial value, it's another when you're like the blogger who thinks that he knows what the best application is.
At anyrate, I've met a couple of these folks in person, and they have some traits in common that really turn me off. One of those traits is how much they focus on themselves when you actually converse with them and the second is how much they talk about their accomplishments.
I honestly don't need to hear a person validate themselves publicly, either in their blog or in person, it just rubs me the wrong way for reasons that I don't think I need to list.
Recently one of the bloggers had a chance encounter with Mark Allen of Ironman fame on a plane, they sat right next to each other and shared notes. I thought that was pretty cool, and I finally posted a comment to this person's blog (which I'd never done previously) and asked him if he wouldn't mind mentioning the details of Mark's run training since the blogger had discussed this subject with Allen.
He responded with this: (I bolded a chunk to focus on)
"We didnt discuss details. I gave him my brief marathon history before triathlons and some stuff I did in my first IM season at age 38when I ran a 3:08 marathon split, and since then havent come within 4minutes of that. He reiterated his consistent 55-60 mile run weeks with similar speedwork and long run training as you would do for a fast marathon.
Overall similar to what I was doing in my first season. And...what I am now building to as I end my season with IMAZ in April. I dont however recommend IM athletes go out and slug out 60 mile run weeks.
The type of training I am discussing is primarily for seasoned, sub 2:30open marathon type runners. Speed work 2 times per week, a sub threshold tempo, and long runs of 16-20 miles at a significant pace, up to 30-45 sec faster per mile than IM goal marathon pace. Dangerous stuff to get into for unexperienced marathon runners in my opinion. High risk of injury and over training."
My off-the-cuff reactions:
-First of all, uh... sorry I didn't post my palmares to my comment also, but wouldn't you assume that only seasoned endurance athletes read your blog?
-Geez, I didn't know that only 2.30 or better marathoners could best utilize Mark's info.. Do you think that folks at the 2.45, 3.05 or 3.30 mark aren't running at least this much and these kind or workouts?
-Do you think that you need a 2.30 open marathon to run a fast Ironman marathon? Weird.. Norman Stadler ran a 2.32 open marathon recently.. I guess he's better off ignoring this because, well, he's not fast enough to really make proper use of it.
So then, it gets better... the very next post in his blog revolves around complaining that some guy at a training camp doesn't realize his wife is "fast", which is obviously a blow to his ego since he essentially trains her.
Check it out:
"Ann rode up ahead with a newer pro, 10th overall at CDA in 2007. Couple of others behind us. That was about it by the final 90 minutes of riding, everyone else circled back earlier.
Funny Ann mentioned to the guy she was riding with she was aiming for a top 10 finish at IMAZ in March. He looked suprised and said something like "you mean top 10 age groupers?". Ann said, no, top 10 overall.
He then said something like, "I dont want to shatter anyone's goals but yeah, go for it". I guess he didnt realize that Ann placed in the top 12 overall in the past 2 IM races. Races that were highly competitive, full of pro women, IM Roth and IMWA.
In fact, her total time was in the top 10 female pro times at both races. So, yeah, this guy didnt realize he was biking with a girl that that finished high overal in her last 2 Ironmen. No big deal."
I mean, does he not get that one hand, he's like, "Nah, look unless you're like, really fast this doesn't apply to you" And doesn't know who I am at all...
And, then the next post is, "well, he doesn't know my wife is fast?"
Dude, please. Argh.
You know, whatever. I run into this alot, I always have; athletes can be the worst offenders. I really wanted to address the subjects in the title and thought the rant would be a good primer.
Regarding Training information and/or Secrets: I don't believe there are any secrets any more, and access to information and the efficacy of the application is widely available.
The delta between successful athletes and those who don't self-assess as successful is usually how training methods are applied to management of training.
Intellectual Snobbery is distasteful in athletics. It's one thing to not share training methods because you feel the content has some commercial value, it's another when you're like the blogger who thinks that he knows what the best application is.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Haka
Kia Kaha, "Be Strong"...
This has been making the rounds for awhile in the Oz community, yeah I'm from Oz, no I don't sound like it..
I'm not even sure sometimes if I have an affinity for a country.
I do know I feel at home lately.
Either way, enjoy!
This has been making the rounds for awhile in the Oz community, yeah I'm from Oz, no I don't sound like it..
I'm not even sure sometimes if I have an affinity for a country.
I do know I feel at home lately.
Either way, enjoy!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Active.com, can they do better?
This piece may or may not have alot of direction..
In fact, I think some may wonder why there aren't clear conclusions or suggestions.. I've really decided that I'm not going to do Bain/McKinsey consulting-level work for free, but like every good blogger I'm gonna give some of my targets a good kick.
As an athlete I (along with countless others) use a variety of service providers to pay for events, the largest being Active.com.
The Active cash-cow (in the traditional business school sense) are the fees they charge to list events for race directors and subsequently charge customers to participate in events. That's all well and good, but there is a debateable amount of top-line growth left in there for them to reap, and if you figure it's a finite revenue stream that has been undercut by competitors one could make an argument it is time for them to leverage their considerable resources differently.
This is the part where I don't make in-depth suggestions. I'm not analyst, but I would like to play one for Merrill Lynch on a tv show if I could. I just don't think there are many roles for pretend actors on shows that don't exist for roles such as "Analyst with Merrill Lynch".. O.k. that's a bit that would probably come off better in person over a beer.
Anyhow, I do think that using the classic SWOT analysis (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) and using a NPV (Net Present Value) analysis to determine fiscal viability of a venture beyond the cash cow revenue stream is a worthy exercise. I know some who read the blog will have the "yeah but.." responses with regard to how Active is leveraging the user base and contact data but it's so Web 1.0 in approach. I will leave it there, with the suggestion that a SWOT approach thinking of how to leverage their user base under Web 2.0 platform is the way to be going forward.
I think it might be reasonable to refer back to my original piece on User Generated content, Active is a much better position to make use of their user base compared to say, Athlinks.com. Some of the issues with UCG currently is the level of page views and use don't line up with expected revenues (generated via advertisement on the site); Active needs to find a way to make use of that base w/a Web 2.0 approach while seeing if there is a "value add" opportunity to link with the sign up fees.
In fact, I think some may wonder why there aren't clear conclusions or suggestions.. I've really decided that I'm not going to do Bain/McKinsey consulting-level work for free, but like every good blogger I'm gonna give some of my targets a good kick.
As an athlete I (along with countless others) use a variety of service providers to pay for events, the largest being Active.com.
The Active cash-cow (in the traditional business school sense) are the fees they charge to list events for race directors and subsequently charge customers to participate in events. That's all well and good, but there is a debateable amount of top-line growth left in there for them to reap, and if you figure it's a finite revenue stream that has been undercut by competitors one could make an argument it is time for them to leverage their considerable resources differently.
This is the part where I don't make in-depth suggestions. I'm not analyst, but I would like to play one for Merrill Lynch on a tv show if I could. I just don't think there are many roles for pretend actors on shows that don't exist for roles such as "Analyst with Merrill Lynch".. O.k. that's a bit that would probably come off better in person over a beer.
Anyhow, I do think that using the classic SWOT analysis (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) and using a NPV (Net Present Value) analysis to determine fiscal viability of a venture beyond the cash cow revenue stream is a worthy exercise. I know some who read the blog will have the "yeah but.." responses with regard to how Active is leveraging the user base and contact data but it's so Web 1.0 in approach. I will leave it there, with the suggestion that a SWOT approach thinking of how to leverage their user base under Web 2.0 platform is the way to be going forward.
I think it might be reasonable to refer back to my original piece on User Generated content, Active is a much better position to make use of their user base compared to say, Athlinks.com. Some of the issues with UCG currently is the level of page views and use don't line up with expected revenues (generated via advertisement on the site); Active needs to find a way to make use of that base w/a Web 2.0 approach while seeing if there is a "value add" opportunity to link with the sign up fees.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Week of 2/3
Quick Summary:
Swim- 4 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 4 sessions
Mon
Evening run- easy 33min run w/L-Dawg
Bike- Bike strength dvd; 55min; main sets are 1min hard done in big gears, and standing reps.
Typically the 1min reps around between 310-330 watts.. that's do-able.
Tues
Swim only, not feeling like knocking out a track workout, legs are pretty sore/tight.
Main set- 4x200m on 45sec rest.. 3.20's... or 3min for 200y
Swim is going nicely
Wed 1/30
Run- Left foot kinda creaky, I'll have it looked at.. Ran to PSU and ran on Peter Stott field around the grass about 32min just steady- it was rainy
Bike-Aerobase builder- 55min holding 200w about 40min after run..
Thur 1/31
Run- quick in the middle of the between meetings, 43 min Terwilliger run to the park & back
Bike- 2nd half of aerobase builder; again working holding 200w steady
Post bike: Joined L Dawg for a movie..
Fri-2/1
Afternoon- Ran my 45min steady out & back in McMinnville (was down picking some things up for the weekend Dad'ing)
Evening- Took kiddos to the pool; I did a good mainset of 2x400m (bookended by w/up and cooldown); 45 sec rest, 6.15, 6.18 respectively
Sat- 2/2
Swim- Letting my sensitive left foot heal up; main set of 4x200m 3.05-3.10 on 40 sec rest
Sun- 2/3
Swim- Continous swim w/drills... No real mainset, but I finally grabbed a lane, and just decided to knock off 100y repeats for the last 15min of the session until they kicked me out on 30sec rest.. Shockingly I was just cruising, not pushing to 1.30.. that's a good sign. I need to be able to hang 1.20 or better in the near future, which should be no problem on somebody else's feet/wake.
Eve- Steady 55min on 200w
Swim- 4 sessions
Bike- 4 sessions
Run- 4 sessions
Mon
Evening run- easy 33min run w/L-Dawg
Bike- Bike strength dvd; 55min; main sets are 1min hard done in big gears, and standing reps.
Typically the 1min reps around between 310-330 watts.. that's do-able.
Tues
Swim only, not feeling like knocking out a track workout, legs are pretty sore/tight.
Main set- 4x200m on 45sec rest.. 3.20's... or 3min for 200y
Swim is going nicely
Wed 1/30
Run- Left foot kinda creaky, I'll have it looked at.. Ran to PSU and ran on Peter Stott field around the grass about 32min just steady- it was rainy
Bike-Aerobase builder- 55min holding 200w about 40min after run..
Thur 1/31
Run- quick in the middle of the between meetings, 43 min Terwilliger run to the park & back
Bike- 2nd half of aerobase builder; again working holding 200w steady
Post bike: Joined L Dawg for a movie..
Fri-2/1
Afternoon- Ran my 45min steady out & back in McMinnville (was down picking some things up for the weekend Dad'ing)
Evening- Took kiddos to the pool; I did a good mainset of 2x400m (bookended by w/up and cooldown); 45 sec rest, 6.15, 6.18 respectively
Sat- 2/2
Swim- Letting my sensitive left foot heal up; main set of 4x200m 3.05-3.10 on 40 sec rest
Sun- 2/3
Swim- Continous swim w/drills... No real mainset, but I finally grabbed a lane, and just decided to knock off 100y repeats for the last 15min of the session until they kicked me out on 30sec rest.. Shockingly I was just cruising, not pushing to 1.30.. that's a good sign. I need to be able to hang 1.20 or better in the near future, which should be no problem on somebody else's feet/wake.
Eve- Steady 55min on 200w
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