“When I try to swim, I sink like a rock.”  This is a standard resignation that can close the door to the possibility of effortless swimming for many people.  It simply does not have to be so.

First Secret: Balance

“Balance?  On the water?”  Well, no… Balance in the water.  We start with Superman Glide, so our clients can relax into the water.  Regardless of body composition (proportion of lean muscle to fat), no body balances on top of the water.

In order to walk on “solid” ground, we must first learn to balance.  As toddlers, when we “lost” balance, we fell to the ground.  In other words, we were relegated by gravity to a lower stratum.

In order to swim, we must first learn to balance in water – a shifting, viscous liquid medium.  If we are successful, we remain near the water’s surface.  If we are not successful, we are relegated by gravity to a lower stratum.

Second Secret:  Balance in Stillness

Our first response when we feel out of balance is to move around until we regain balance.  This isn’t just a response – it’s a reaction.  It’s imprinted through countless generations of human existence into the cells of our bodies.  However, it’s pretty easy to dissolve that imprinting.

The first empowering step towards swimming with ease and mastery is to discover balance in stillness.  We use balancing drills like Superman Glide and Skate Position to refine this balance in stillness and relaxation, and to strengthen an emotional sense of ease and confidence.  (I prefer to call Skate Position “The Hammock”.  In my workshops, you get extra credit if you fall asleep in your Hammock!)

Move through the water – without moving around in the water.  The less disturbance you make, the easier it is to move forward.  Be still.  Be balanced.

Third Secret: Tense Muscles are Dense

When you tense up your muscles, they contract.  As anything contracts, it becomes more dense.  More density equals less buoyancy.  Relax!  Maximize your “hammock time!”

In every movement, the less tension required, the less energy expended.  That’s an element of efficiency – using less energy to accomplish your goal.

Fourth Secret: Tension versus Toning

However, you cannot accomplish anything if your body is like a noodle.  You must develop the discernment between tension and toning.  In any sport, correct posture, alignment and biomechanics require muscle toning with judicious cycled patterns of tension and relaxation.

A tense elbow, forearm, wrist, hand and fingers are deterrents to efficient swimming – in all phases of the stroke.  However, tone and align the same parts and you will create less drag and less disturbance.

Fifth Secret: Vibration

This secret is one I’ve just now started to consider.  I’ve often pondered why a lean body with little fat can still maintain reasonable buoyancy, while a body with more buoyant fat seems to sink.  This is the reasoning I’ve conjured up to explain it:

When you “activate” (read: “tense up”) a muscle, the result is that the muscle vibrates (resonates) more that when it is relaxed (or even toned).  This resonation is on cellular level.

All vibrations/resonations radiate outward.  So your tense muscle vibration resonates into water around you.  This resonation disturbs the water, creating more voids – more empty space – between the water molecules.

Consequently your body falls into those empty spaces.  Your tense muscles continue to vibrate and continue to disturb the water.  You keep falling into the empty space, and keep creating more of it.

Relax!

When you minimize muscle vibration, you interface optimally with the water molecules around you.  The molecules maintain their optimal liquid structure, with fewer empty spaces.  You can enjoy more hammock time with each stroke!

And, as I say to the triathletes I work with, “In the swim, maximize hammock time, because when you get out of the water, hammock time is over.”

Shane Eversfield is Founder and Head Coach of Zendurance Cycling (and a Total Immersion Master Coach).  Visit his website: www.zendurancecycling.com.

The post Secrets of Buoyancy appeared first on Total Immersion.

Every endurance sport has its specific “dilemma” – or challenge – to solve if you want to maximize your efficiency.  And in each sport that dilemma involves your relationship with gravity.  In this discussion, I will address the specific gravitational challenge of swimming. 

To preface this discussion, I begin with a brief overall review of efficiency in endurance sports.  This review is almost identical – verbatim – to the review I included in “Cyclist’s Dilemma”.

Endurance Efficiency

Efficiency is the “Holy Grail” in every endurance sport: The quest is to use less energy to go faster and farther with less injury and faster recovery.  At the heart of athletic efficiency in every sport is the athlete’s alliance with gravity – the ability to use body weight to move forward.

Consider this: 90% of your brain’s neural activity is committed to maintaining your balance.  You have no control to divert that mental energy to anything else.  (Not even texting and driving!)  And yet, you probably are not thinking about your gravitational relationship with Earth – that is, your balance – at all in your daily activities.  Even when you swim/bike/run – earnestly striving to go faster and farther – your alliance with gravity doesn’t engage 90% of your conscious awareness. 

Ignore it or Honor it?

You can choose the popular “mind over matter” approach to athletic performance: Grit your teeth, tense every muscle in your face into your fiercest grimace.  Use sheer mental will, and desire for gold to “force” your body to higher levels of exertion.  Ignore all the feedback from your body.  At best, you have only 10% of the brain’s neural energy to work with in this mode of “mind over matter”, as you desperately coax your body: “Go harder!”

However, if you choose the “mind in matter” approach, you can tap into that other 90% of your brain’s neural activity – skillfully channeling and directing your body’s intelligence: the proprioceptive, visual and vestibular systems that govern your alliance with gravity.  Since you are already “hardwired” to maintain your balance, why ignore it or fight it?  Why not develop this foundation of “kinetic” intelligence?

It’s Personal  

Your alliance with gravity takes precedence in every moment of your embodied life.  And, if you are an avid endurance athlete, you strive to develop the most efficient movement patterns for your body.  Each of our bodies is unique: in size, weight, flexibility, proportion, and every physical factor that affects our alliance with gravity. 

(My unique challenge?  Working with these Euro size 50 feet!!)

That uniqueness extends to how our individual bodies and minds are wired together. We all use some combination of the three “balance systems” – proprioceptive, visual and vestibular – but the “mix” is unique to each of us.

Given our unique individual nature, the pursuit of “effortless power” for each of us is a personal one.  There is no absolute “one-size-fits-all” technique in any sport that will work for every body. 

And it is Collective

However, the universal laws of physics apply to every one of us in our personal alliance with gravity.  The pursuit is personal, but the challenge is collective.  When we can identify and define the specific universal laws at play in that collective challenge that is unique to a specific sport, we have a compass to guide our individual pursuit.  And this brings us to…

The Swimmer’s Dilemma

Our goal is to move “forward” – that is, horizontal to Earth’s surface (be it land or water) – and to do this sustainably.  To do this, we must transform the vertical pull of gravity into horizontal motion. 

This transformation – known as “precession” in physics – is an amazing process when we really pause to contemplate it: Orbiting is a form of precession.  In every instance – whether it is the moon orbiting Earth, or a runner leaning forward to run – precession requires dynamic balance.

In swimming the dilemma can be summed up with this question:  “How can I lay face-down in the water and use my body’s weight to move forward?”  Laying face down in the water is not something most of us do as frequently as, say, standing on dry land.  So let’s begin by looking at that simple land-based activity: running.

To run efficiently, you transform the vertical pull of gravity into forward movement by leaning forward at your ankles.  As you begin to fall forward, you simply move one foot forward and then the other – to avoid falling on your face.  When I use this illustration in Total Immersion Swim Workshops, I often joke: “Want to run a marathon?  It’s simple!  Just keep falling forward for 42 kilometers, without tipping over!”  

Obviously, there is far more to running than just falling forward.  The biomechanics of specific muscle engagement (emphasizing the use of the pelvic core), the precise placement of each foot, and minimizing vertical amplitude as you run are just three of the many aspects of efficient running. 

But it’s not hard to get a feel for running like this: Simply stand erect and lean forward far enough… You will move one of your feet forward to prevent a “face-plant” on the pavement.  It’s a natural instinct.

Back to Swimming

So, is it really possible to “fall” forward while laying face-down in the water?  And if so, how do you initiate that fall?

Some experts advise you to “press the buoy” – to press your head and chest down into the water to feel as if you are “swimming down hill”.  However, this is not efficient.  It requires that you constantly engage muscles in your neck and upper torso.  If you do this vigilantly for, say, 3.8 kilometers, you may end up with sore, stiff muscles. 

And, the muscles that you are constantly engaging in your thoracic to swim down that imaginary hill are the same muscles necessary for respiration.  If you commit them to pressing the Almighty Buoy, you compromise your respiration.  There’s gotta be a better way!

A Little Physics Lesson

When you swim, you swim in water.  That’s obvious, but… you also swim in air!   Your ability to lay face-down in the water and effectively translate the pull of gravity into forward movement is contingent on your ability to swim simultaneously in both of these mediums.

Specifically, you are striving to orchestrate the difference in density between water and air and how that affects your dynamic balance.  Water is far denser than air.  As swimmers, we are quite familiar with the challenge of trying to move through that dense medium.  (Have you ever tried to run in water?  The best you can do is a slow-motion slog.)

And then there is air.  You do swim through the air as well:  Every time you advance your recovery arm and prepare to extend it back into the water, you are swimming in air.  This recovery phase is a very powerful component of your swim technique.  It is the secret to solving the Swimmer’s Dilemma.

Density Differential

You float in the water, yes?  And more so in salt water than fresh water, because salt water is denser.  (Notice that I said you float in the water, not on the water.  If you want to float on the surface, try swimming in honey.  Good luck!)   You can float because your body is less dense than the water.  However, you don’t float in the air because your body is more dense than the air.  

Your body is less dense than water, but more dense than air.  So, when you swim, there is a significant density differential between your body in the water and your recovering arm in the air:  Given the density differential, you must imagine that your recovering arm is the weight of both of your legs! 

The Secret is in Your Recovery

Now, I can’t say for sure that your airborne arm is exactly the weight of both submerged legs, but there is a significant difference in density.  That recovery arm is heavy compared to the rest of your body.  Consequently, the movement and positioning of your recovering arm is a key element to solving the dilemma – your ability to lay face down in the water and translate the pull of gravity into forward motion.

Recovery Arm Mechanics

Let’s look first at the recovery movement:  When you lead with your elbow during the recovery phase of your stroke, you are advancing that heavy arm forward of your lungs quickly.  Keep in mind that your air-filled lungs are your balance fulcrum: Front quadrant swimming keeps more of your weight in front of that balance fulcrum – optimizing fore-aft balance.  And it takes a lot less effort than swimming down that imaginary hill.

When your recovery is relaxed, your forearm is almost hanging from your elbow.  (In TI, we call this the “marionette arm”.)  Lead with your elbow, as well as your shoulder (by releasing the muscles under your scapula).  Now you are moving this densest part of your body with minimal energy – and minimal disturbance to your body’s balance.

Re-entry

At the moment of re-entry into the water, your elbow is even with – or even slightly forward of – your ear.  This is only possible if you keep your elbow in front of your scapular plane as you swing it forward.  You must avoid pulling your elbow behind your torso during every phase of the recovery.

This forward position of the elbow at the moment of re-entry poises a significant amount of weight forward and above the body to optimize weight shift and extension as the primary means of propulsion.  It also allows for a clean entry into the water so that only the tips of the fingers create turbulence on entry and extension.  (In TI, this clean entry and extension – using the fingertips to “separate water molecules” – are components of active streamlining.)

Pause Drill

An effective way to fine-tune the recovery arm “poise of entry” is to practice Pause Drill:  This is whole stroke swimming with a pause just before you shift your weight through the “flick kick”, torso rotation and arm extension. 

Some tips for Pause Drill:

-          Use a very distinct pause

-          Allow your entire body to be still – including your legs

-          Feel your balance in the stillness of your pause

-          Your submerged/extended lead arm must remain in place

-          Focus on the “poise position” of your recovering arm at that moment

-          Feel the weight of that arm “cantilevered” out past your lungs and shoulder

-          Elbow of recovering arm is flexed at 90° to 110° at the pause moment

-          Fingertips of the recovery arm are just above the water surface

-          Visualize the exact path and “target” for your fingertips

-          Initiate the core rotation and weight shift with a “flick kick”

-          Use that rotation to “spear your target”

-          As you spear, tone the muscles of your forearm, wrist and hand, instead of tensing them

Unique Opportunity

In my experience as an endurance athlete, swimming is the only sport that will allow me to pause at the moment before weight shift.  (If you try that in running, you will end up on your face.)  Pause Drill allows your neural system to refine that moment of poise.

The effectiveness of propulsion in freestyle swimming is not determined by the strength of your pull, kick, or hip-driven spear.  It is in the synchronicity of these elements with your lateral (rotational) weight shift.  Pause Drill enables you to perfect that synchronicity.

This is Only a Drill

Just one caveat:  Remember that this is only a drill.  Whole stroke swimming does not include a pause.  Keep a clear distinction between drilling and swimming!

Shane Eversfield is Founder and Head Coach of Zendurance Cycling – the “TI approach” to cycling technique.  He is also a Total Immersion Master Coach.  Through his alliance with gravity in swimming, biking and running, he recently completed the 2012 Triple Ultra Challenge – 3 multi-day ultra triathlons in 30 days. 

Visit his website: www.zendurancecycling.com.

The post The Swimmer’s Dilemma appeared first on Total Immersion.

Introduction:

Every endurance sport has its specific “dilemma” – or challenge – to solve if you want to maximize your efficiency.  And in each sport that dilemma involves your relationship with gravity.  In this discussion, I will address the specific gravitational challenge of cycling.  However, I begin with a brief overall review of efficiency in endurance sports.

Endurance Efficiency:

Efficiency is the “Holy Grail” in every endurance sport: Use less energy to go faster and farther with less injury and faster recovery.  At the heart of athletic efficiency in every sport is the athlete’s alliance with gravity – the ability to use body weight to move forward.

Consider that 90% of your brain’s energy is committed to maintaining your balance.  You have no control to divert that mental energy to anything else (not even texting and driving).  And yet, you are probably not even aware of your balance in your daily activities.  Even when you are swimming/biking/running – earnestly striving to go faster and farther – your alliance with gravity probably doesn’t engage 90% of your conscious awareness. 

Most of that brain energy is devoted to monitoring your body’s proprioceptive, vestibular and visual systems.  This input adds up to millions of neural signals constantly assessing your balance.  A smaller amount of that brain energy is output – mechanical adjustments to maintain balance.

Ignore it or Honor it?

You can choose the popular “mind over matter” approach to athletic performance: Use sheer mental will and desire to “force” your body to higher levels of exertion, while ignoring all the feedback from the body.  At best, you have only 10% of the brain’s energy to work with in this mode of “mind over matter”, as you desperately coax your bodies: “Go harder!”

However, if you choose the “mind in matter” approach, you get to tap into that other 90% – skillfully channeling and directing the body’s intelligence: the proprioceptive, visual and vestibular systems that govern your alliance with gravity.  Since you are already “hardwired” to maintain your balance, why ignore it or fight it?  Why not develop this foundation of “kinetic” intelligence?

It’s Personal:   

Your alliance with gravity takes precedence in every moment of your embodied life.  And as an endurance athlete, you strive to develop the most efficient movement patterns for your body.  Each of our bodies is unique: in size, weight, density, proportion, and every physical factor that affects our alliance with gravity.  (My challenge?  Working with these size-15 feet!!)

That uniqueness extends to how our individual bodies and minds are wired together. We all use some combination of the three “balance systems” – proprioceptive, visual and vestibular – but the “mix” is unique to each of us.

Given our unique individual nature, the pursuit of “effortless power” for each of us is a personal one.  There is no absolute “one-size-fits-all” technique in any sport that will work for every body. 

However, the universal laws of physics apply to every one of us in our personal alliance with gravity.  The pursuit is personal, but the challenge is collective.  When we can identify and define that unique collective challenge in each sport, we have a compass to guide our individual pursuit.  And this brings us to…

The Cyclist’s Dilemma:

Our goal is to move “forward” – that is, horizontal to Earth’s surface.  To do this most efficiently, we transform the vertical pull of gravity into horizontal motion.  This transformation – known as “precession” in physics – is an amazing process when we really pause to ponder it: Orbiting is a form of precession.  In every instance, precession requires dynamic balance. 

 In cycling, you move (horizontally) forward by applying body weight (vertically) to the pedals.  The drive-train of your bike takes care of the precession for you – it transfers your pedaling motion into forward progress.  That makes cycling pretty easy, yes?  Just push down on the pedals and leave the rest to the bike!  What could be simpler?

Body Weight: Pedals vs. Saddle:

But here’s the “catch”: As you transfer your weight from one foot/pedal to the other foot/pedal, you also have to maintain a stable relationship with your bike so that you proceed in the direction you choose.  You do this primarily through your contact with the saddle.  So, by sitting on your bike’s saddle, you apply some of your body weight to the pedals and leave some in the saddle.

It would seem then that the more contact and weight you have in the saddle, the more stable you will be.  However, at the same time, the more weight you have in the saddle, the more uncomfortable the saddle is.  And the less weight you apply to the pedals, the slower you go.

So, how can you maximize weight in the pedals for power, minimize weight in the saddle for comfort, and still remain balanced, stable and efficient?

No Ground to Stand On:

And the real dilemma is this:  As you are applying your body weight to the pedal platform, it is falling away from you.  There are few, if any, other experiences in life where you apply your body weight to alternate platforms that fall away from your feet as you step on them.  No ground to stand on!!

And that’s not all:  The more weight you apply to those moving platforms the faster they fall away, and the less weight you have in the saddle for stability.  After all, when you shift your weight side-to-side, from one foot/pedal to the other, you also have to maintain lateral balance with your bike through your saddle connection so you don’t fall over, or swerve side-to-side too much.  Your hands on the bars provide some of this lateral stability, but most of it comes from your saddle contact. 

Party’s Over:

So the “quest” in cycling is this:  Maximize your weight on two platforms (pedals) that are in constant motion under your feet – so you can move forward.  At the same time, keep your pelvic core stable and relatively motionless – so you can navigate safely.  Bicycling isn’t so simple anymore, huh?  Gee, hope I didn’t ruin your party.

The Good News:

There are two items of good news.  First, those two platforms move through precisely the same circular path every single revolution.  Second, your saddle remains stationary relative to those two precise circular paths.  The more you ride, the more your neural system imprints the precise circular paths of your feet on those pedals and their precise relationship to your saddle.

There are many variables that can affect the relationship between your feet and your saddle:  Some of them are static, and some are dynamic. 

Most of the static variables have to do with your “bike fit” – the selection of components and the adjustments of those components.  Adjustments include saddle height and pedal cleat placement on the sole of your bike shoe.  These are just two of many (static) variables.

Dynamic variables include your pedal resistance and your cadence (both affected by your gear choice).  Again, these are just two of many (dynamic) variables.

Getting to the Core:

Efficient cycling starts with a great bike fit – so that the relationship between those moving pedals and that stable saddle is optimum for you.  Efficient cycling also requires constant attention to the dynamic variables – so that you keep that relationship optimum in each moment – as the terrain, speed, direction, etc. of your ride change.

But there is far more to cycling technique than a well-adjusted bike and the appropriate gear selection.  The focus on great technique in any sport is neural training.  The objective of neural training is to optimize your alliance with gravity, and to make your movements as smooth and graceful as possible.

To solve the Cyclist’s Dilemma, you can train your neural system to simultaneously maximize weight in the pedals, minimize weight in the saddle, and ride sustainably and gracefully.  As with swimming, this neural training is most effective through an optimum combination of appropriate drills with (to borrow a term from Total Immersion Swim) “whole-stroke” bicycling.

Yin/Yangs Drill:

The most effective neural training to address the Cyclist’s Dilemma is one I call “Yin/Yangs”.  Perform this drill with your bike mounted on a stationary stand – ideally one with a fluid resistance unit.  (I recommend a Kurt Kinetic “Road Machine” or “Rock and Roll”.)

To perform Yin/Yangs: Alternate between very low-resistance/high cadence (Yin) pedaling, and very high-resistance/low cadence (Yang) pedaling.  Alternate every minute or so.  

During the Yin phase, focus on “floating” the joints and muscles of your legs and feet through the pedal stroke.  The goal is to spin a cadence of at least 110 rpm without much effort – and without bouncing in the saddle.

During the Yang phase, focus on slowly shifting your weight from one foot to the other while minimizing your weight and contact in the saddle, and on the bars.  Keep your cadence very low – 35-45 rpm.

There are many, many other variables that affect your ability to perform Yin/Yangs well, and to solve the Cyclist’s Dilemma.  These include your posture, alignment, biomechanics and riding position. 

As with any process of mastery in life, we experience real progress as we challenge and improve our perceptual capacity.  Mastering cycling technique is a very subtle pursuit that requires patience and curiosity.

I developed the Zendurance Cycling Technique Self-Study Guide to serve you in your quest for “Velo Mastery”.  Through this integration of video, text and audio guides, you will awaken to the subtleties of great cycling technique to improve your:

 - Efficiency

 – Stability

 – Strength

 – Endurance

 – Speed

 – Comfort

 – Enjoyment

The Guide includes detailed instruction for the Yin/Yangs and other cycling drills, as well as clear guidance for your intensive investigation of posture, alignment, biomechanics and riding positions.  Use the link above to find out more about the Guide.

Shane Eversfield is Founder and Head Coach of Zendurance Cycling (and a Total Immersion Master Coach).  Visit www.zendurancecycling.com.

The post The Cyclist’s Dilemma appeared first on Total Immersion.

 Introduction:

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “One Running Shoe in the Grave” about the deleterious effects of high-exertion and/or high-mileage running.  While the article addressed running specifically, it can be interpreted to include any form of prolonged high-intensity exercise.

Candid Revelations

The triathlete community has been discussing this article extensively on social media.  My good friend John McGovern – who, in his prime, stood on the podium of a few World Championship Duathlons – posted this response to the article: 

“This is what I’ve always suspected and often said – exercise is healthy; racing is not.  Athletes often use the phrase "killing oneself" with regards to hard training and racing. It appears that’s not hyperbole.” 

“…for years I destroyed myself at that altar, but I’ve got my wife and daughters to think about.  For me, losing Chris Gleason was a real wake up call. Be well.” 

(Note:  At age 40, our friend Chris Gleason was on pace for a sub-3-hour marathon when he collapsed and died 400 meters from the finish line of the Philadelphia Marathon in 2011.  Enter his name in any search engine to find out more.)

 I responded to John’s Facebook posting: 

“I feel that intent has a tremendous bearing on how our training and racing affect the quality of our lives and those around us. If it’s done with the war cry of "me-against-you, winner-take-all", then it ain’t healthy.  However aerobic fitness is a powerful avenue towards spiritual fitness. This message was the true motivation of my 2012 Triple Ultra.” 

 John responded: 

“I agree with you Shane Eversfield. My intent, for many years, was to win, so I buried myself under endless high intensity workouts. My mantra was "If it’s hurting me, it’s killing my competition". 

There’s more than a touch of sadism in racing; a perverse pleasure exists in achieving the level of fitness where others must turn themselves inside out just trying to keep up. Not to mention the masochism required to put yourself through all the pain. 

I’m not indicting racing or its culture; it’s an excellent substitution for the competitions that our ancestors conducted not too many generations ago just to survive. I can only speak for myself when I say that I know my body, and I know I’ve been hurting it for years. For me, its time to strike a balance.” 

John has taken up the playing the bagpipes and brewing fine traditional beer.  His athletic training is now recreational (and his piping and brewing are admirable.)

What About Lance?

Another topic that has generated quite a bit of social media response is the Lance Armstrong debacle.  I am not going to debate his guilt or innocence.  Nor will I discuss the relevance and impact (positive or negative) of the investigation and prosecution to the current state of sport or to Lance’s altruistic endeavors through Livestrong.

However, there is an obvious connection between these two topics:  For me, it brings up the following questions:

Who is “The Winner”?

-          What is the true nature of “winning”?

-          Does winning justify compromising one’s health – be it through legal or illegal means?  If so, to what degree?

-          If winning at any cost isn’t all that glorious and healthy, is there still a positive element to racing?

Let’s start by considering this tidbit of irony:  After Lance Armstrong was stripped of his 7 Yellow Jerseys, UCI declined to recognize an alternative “winner” for any one of those 7 Tour de France races.  (With the prevalence of doping in pro cycling during that era, it might have been just too damn complicated to find a clean, legitimate winner.)  Let it be. 

So let me get this straight: After millions of dollars of investment, with more than a hundred of the finest male cyclists in the world each of those 7 years giving their all, no one is recognized as the winner?  Does that diminish the incredible feats of those athletes?  Does the absence of a declared Grand Champion for each of those years make the event lesser of a crown in the sport?

When I watch the coverage of TdF, I am swept up in the excitement of the speed, the beauty of the course, the exuberance of the spectators along that course, and the strategies of the teams and individuals.  The specific winner does not enhance or diminish the spectacle for me. 

The Tour de France as an entity is far greater than any single individual – be s/he an athlete, volunteer, race official, spectator or media personnel.  (I would miss commentators Phil Ligget and Bob Roll more than any single athlete.)

Healthy Racing?

Can we bring health assurance back into endurance sports?  Is it possible to eliminate doping, cheating and even the legal health risks from our love of endurance training and racing?

I feel that it is possible.  And the remedy is simple, profound… and yet profoundly difficult.

Competition

We must transform our globally-held notions of “competition” and create a new paradigm of what winning is.  It has always been (as I stated above) “me-against-you” and “winner-take-all”.  As long as this is what we hold to be true, some athletes will do anything to win.  And most serious athletes will go to some legal extreme – even if it diminishes the quality of their lives.  (Can anybody say "Overtrained?"

Let’s re-define “competition” as:  A petition for the empowerment of companionship.  It is in the presence of others that we are inspired to perform at our best, to demonstrate excellence.

What is athletic excellence for you?  Is it getting to the finish line as fast as possible – without ever noticing the scenery or enjoying the company of others?  Is it putting your head down, gritting your teeth and “beating” others? Is it war paint and weapons?

Lessons for Life

Racing can be a powerful and beneficial tool – when we embrace it as a metaphor for life:  Are we hell-bent to make it to the finish line (of life) as quickly as possible with more gold than anybody else?  Or, are we traversing that journey of life with grace and efficiency – embracing the challenge with humility, while supporting and encouraging all the other “competitors” and “spectators” we encounter along the way?  Are we beholding of the beauty of the landscape and grateful for the experience?

I Am No Saint

When I race, I genuinely appreciate and enjoy the empowering companionship and the celebration.   I love the empowerment and inspiration I experience in the presence of others.  And I absolutely love racing in beautiful places – Hawaii, the Alps in Europe, the mountainous US northeast, the Rockies, the prairies of the Midwest. 

I love to perform – to do my very best.  For me, that includes grace, efficiency and stealth.  (Maybe that comes from my background as a dancer.)

However, the desire to “win” (in the conventional sense) is also strong for me.  I confess that I am motivated by the podium and the recognition it brings.  I have trained hard enough to compromise my health – having experienced Chronic Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome three times.  (None of those times led to the podium.)

And I regularly use a performance enhancing drug when I race and sometimes when I train – one that is legal in every sport.  It’s called caffeine – and it can compromise my health.  It contributed to my chronic adrenal fatigue.   

I do seek many legal advantages – superior equipment, healthy nutrition, efficient technique, and effective training among them.  I am willing to sacrifice other activities in my life to maximize my athletic performance. 

I am also an aerobic junkie.  I want to get my chemical fix of dopamine and endorphins everyday.  That is a high priority for me.  Thankfully, I have learned (the hard way) how to make my addiction sustainable and pretty damn healthy.

The value our culture and our media place on winning in sports is intoxicating and very powerful.  While it may inspire some to rise up from the couch and get active, it is also a dangerous illusion that affects and deceives just about all of us to some degree.  Does that mean we should give up racing and striving to do our best?  

Returning to the metaphor of racing and life:  Living a full and satisfying life (with or without sport) that benefits others is always fraught with risks and danger.  So: “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”

And, as Jim Morrison said, “None of us gets out of here alive.”  If we are born, we also die.  Death is no reason not to live.  Life is the opportunity for growth, and the growth cycle must include stress.

Orchestrating the Growth/Fitness Cycle

In life – as in sport – we can only progress and grow through the cycle of stress-recovery-adaptation.  Too much stress can be fatal.  Too little stress can also be fatal.  And health is more than creating just the right amount of stress.

In life – as in sport – we can only progress and grow by orchestrating the cycle of stress-recovery-adaptation.  Obviously repeated doses of high stress can be fatal.  However, continuous low levels of stress – without any recovery or adaptation – can also be fatal.  

It’s not the degree of stress that is dangerous:  Appropriate bouts of high-intensity stress with well orchestrated recovery and adaptation can result in robust growth – in sport and in life.

As athletes, our endurance training provides us with the opportunity to hone our skills at the orchestration of stress-recovery-adaptation.  Here is one of the most significant elements of this: Choice.  We are clear about choosing the stress every time we train athletically.  We eagerly accept it with the knowledge that (with recovery and adaptation) we will gain fitness.  We “exercise” choice.

Here’s the clincher: Can we be just as clear about our choice in everyday life? 

When we encounter a stressful situation or relationship outside of training, are we more inclined to place blame and see ourselves as victims?  This victimization short-circuits the Fitness Cycle, so we never get to the recovery and adaptation.

We don’t have to “enjoy” the everyday stresses we encounter in the same way we enjoy the stress of a great run or swim session.  However, as aerobic athletes – and as spiritual athletes – we must stay centered enough in our daily lives to exercise choice and orchestrate the cycle of stress-recovery-adaptation in the most ordinary situations – even when they do not offer the glory of a finisher’s medal.

When we carry those skills of orchestration over into all areas of our life, we can really enjoy the benefits of training – beyond aerobic fitness.  Now we are transforming aerobic fitness into spiritual fitness or life fitness. 

Our approach to training and racing determines the success of this carry-over into life.  (Use the link to read more about approach.)

Conclusion:

Just getting out of bed in the morning can be dangerous.  Driving a car is fraught with danger – but the last time I checked, that does not seem to deter people from driving!!

Endurance training is not the source of the danger documented in the article – it’s our relationship with winning and our addiction to stress that can be lethal.  Our addiction to stress can extend beyond a simple chemical addiction satisfied through exercise.  Stress patterns in everyday life – even if they are unpleasant – can be addictive.

We all have the opportunity in every moment to become the Conductors of our individual Life Symphonies by orchestrating the cycle of stress-recovery-adaptation.  For each of us, its a symphony in three movements!

Shane is Founder and Head Coach of Zendurance Cycling – having developed a "TI-approach" and methodology to cycling technique.  For more information on Shane’s approach to training and racing, as well as Zendurance Cycling products, visit his website:  www.zendurancecycling.com.

The post Exercise: Lethal or Life-Enhancing? appeared first on Total Immersion.

 All of the Journal Entries for the 2012 Triple Ultra have now been compiled with the Event Recaps into a 167-page PDF e-Book, available for $4.99.  Ten percent of the profit from the sale of each book goes to Biketown Africa.

Use this link to purchase the PDF via Pay Pal:  https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?c=cart&i=1172402&cl=231908&ejc=2

To read a free sample of the book: https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?c=cart&i=1177324&cl=231908&ejc=2 

The post 2012 Triple Ultra 8 appeared first on Total Immersion.

Entry 1:  Introduction

Intention

My intention with this journal/blog is to offer aspiring athletes some insight into training and “racing” multi-day ultra-distance triathlons.  I put “racing” in quotes, because my primary objective is to finish gracefully, with minimal residual damage to my body.  I enjoy triathlon as a daily life practice, and I and want to resume the practice without injury-induced delays.

And the BIG Picture?  I want to live a long and full life, with a graceful finish.

Ah, The Big Question:

 “Well Shane, what ultra-madness do you plan on doing this fall?”

The Lofty Answer:

 I am looking at three multi-day events over a 30-day period.  The first two are “stage races”.  Each day has a fixed format.  The third event is continuous.  Needless to say, I do need to finish at least the first two events gracefully, with minimal damage to my body, if I am going to start the third.

The Line-up:

08-09 September: Shawangunk Double

 – Day 1: American Zofingen Long Course Duathlon:  84 miles of cycling with 8-9,000 feet of climbing, 20 miles of trail running with 2,400 feet of climbing.  I will do this event self–supported (not an official race) in the traditional format: 5M run, 84M bike, 15M run.

 - Day 2:  Survival of the Shawangunks:  30 miles of cycling, 19 miles of running, 2.1 miles of swimming.  This event is done as a bike/run/swim/run/swim/run/swim/run.

20-22 September: Trans Mass Ultra

(This will be an inaugural event – a prototype for an organized event in 2013.  I will do this with support and accompaniment as a “research project”.)  It follows a traditional Ultraman format, but is not an Ultraman branded event.

  - Day 1: 6.2 mile swim, 90 mile bike

 – Day 2: 171 mile bike

 – Day 3: 52.4 mile run 

05-07 October: Virginia Triple Iron

Days 1-3: 7.8 mile swim, 336 mile bike, 78.2 mile run.  This event is non-stop, with a 60-hour time limit.

I will offer more information on each event in future entries.  If you wish to read more right now:

 – Shawangunk Double 2011 Blog

 – Ultraman Hawaii 2006 Summary

 – Virginia Double 2007 Summary

 – Virginia Double 2010 Summary

Crazy, Stupid or Just Plain Arrogant?

At 55 years young, I am not so arrogant to state at this time that I will succeed at completing this goal.  I admit that this is, for me, a radical, daunting undertaking.  I am embracing lots of uncertainty personally and publically in setting this goal. 

I am however certain that this endeavor will succeed as an investigation into the effectiveness and refinement of zendurance training techniques and a zendurance approach to training, racing and living. 

It’s important to live in the question, and not rush to the shelter of answers.

We live in a culture that abhors uncertainty.  We invest ridiculous amounts of money and energy attempting to create security and certainty in our lives.  That’s an illusion.  Our capacity to embrace uncertainty and disengage from the fears we associate with uncertainty is vital to living functional, rich, rewarding lives – that are valuable and serve others as well.

Journal Parameters

This series of entries will cover my adaptation from Olympic and half-iron distance training to multi-day ultra preparation.  The shift from the first to the second began 19 August – the day after I competed in USAT’s Olympic Distance Age Group National Championship in Burlington, VT.

The first series of entries will describe:

 -          A brief discussion of zendurance as an approach to training and racing – one that focuses more on neuro-muscular training than energy system training.

-          A summary of my training and racing season so far this year

-          The principles and strategies I use in my training and racing day-to-day

-          My strategy for making the rapid transition from graceful short-course speed focused racing to graceful multi-day ultra-endurance focused “racing”.

-          Specifics on my goals and the events I have planned for the Sept-Oct 2012 autumn ultra season.

Subsequent entries will journal the specifics of my training and preparation.  These entries will provide clear illustrations of how zendurance training principles and kinetic intelligence play into my craft.

The remaining thirteen Journal Entries and the three Event Recaps.of the 2012 Triplle Ultra have now been compiled in a 162-page PDF e-Book.  For more info on the e-Book, use this link.

Keep Current!

To receive a notice each time I post a new blog at this site go to Zendurance Triathletes 1 on Facebook and send a request to join.

Shane Eversfield is Founder and Head Coach of Zendurance Cycling.  he has developed a methodology and products for learning cycling technique that uses a "TI-approach".  For more information: www.zendurancecycling.com.

Share It!

If you know others who might benefit from following this endeavor, please alert them to this journal.  Thanks!

 Contact!

You are welcome to contact me: ironzen@hotmail.com.  I will do my best to respond.

The post 2012 Triple Ultra 1 appeared first on Total Immersion.

These are challenging and exciting times.  We are experiencing many changes – economically and ecologically:  Domestically in the US: Mortgage meltdowns, government bail-outs, rising unemployment, and a gargantuan oil spill.   Internationally:  The long overdue Mid-East “emancipation”, with the absolute certainty of higher oil prices.  Perhaps our days of ridiculously cheap oil here in the US are coming to an end… for good.  Almost every other country pays well over twice as much for fuel.  This will result in higher prices for all consumer goods, including food.

The recent quakes in New Zealand and Japan, not to mention the tsunami, are also sobering.  The quake in Japan moved the main island 2.4 meters and shifted Earth’s axis by 10 centimeters.  Nuclear plant repercussions add to the bitterness, hardships and suffering.  In the March 21^st edition of Newsweek, Simon Winchester’s feature on the Japan quake is titled “The Scariest Quake Is Yet to Come.”  He claims, “The tsunami that struck Japan was the third in a series of events that now put California at risk.”

Change is inevitable.  Since I was a little boy, I have known with certainty that I will witness a great Earth transformation.  Many ancient calendars, including the Mayan, indicate that the “apex” of this transformation will occur 21 December 2012.  That’s just around the corner.  For a brief current assessment from Mayan Elders, please follow this link and consider the wisdom and vision of these Elders:  http://lettertorobin1.site.aplus.net/id435.html.

Can we refute what Carlos Barrios says in this summary? “…there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes."   Some of us choose to ignore the profound changes we are experiencing, so long as our daily lives are relatively undisturbed.  However, for those of us who feel in our hearts and in our guts that we do live in a time of profound transformation, what are we to do? 

How can we respond as athletes?  Most of us rely on our daily training regimen as a foundation of strength – not just physical, but emotional, mental and spiritual strength.  Through this daily commitment, we maintain a sense of balance, perseverance, and inner peace.  We train not just our bodies, but also our minds and our hearts to be strong and functional in the presence of stress.  After all, endurance training is a balance of stress, recovery and adaptation.

Each time we lace up our shoes for a run, each time we slip into the cold water for that early-morning swim, we deliberately choose, orchestrate and embrace the stress we experience during our practice.  We do so with the certainty that stress – when balanced with recovery and adaptation – leads to greater fitness and well-being.  Perhaps the most vital and relevant part of this daily practice is the clarity of our choice in this process of stress-recovery-adaptation.  We don’t blame anyone else for our discomfort or fatigue.  (OK, I’m known to belly-ache about cycling in the cold rain!)

The true test comes outside of our athletic training, when we experience stress in our daily activities and relationships.  Beyond the sanctity of our lives as athletes, it’s so easy to slip into a victim perspective – to place blame on others – or simply on circumstances – for our “misfortune”.  I know I slip into this disillusionment!  When we make ourselves the victim and no longer accept our responsibility (that is, our ability to respond), we are unable to move past stress into recovery and adaptation.  We short-circuit ourselves!

If the Mayan Elders are accurate – and I for one feel they are – all of us are being put to the test; all of us are starting the greatest, most epic race of our lives.  Let’s pace ourselves and progress patiently.  After all, the first priority is to make it to the finish line gracefully.  Let’s help each other out, just as we do in the transition area of a triathlon.

In your 2011 races, keep in mind – now more than ever – that competition is a petition for companionship.  Remember that swimming, biking and running are basic activities from our childhood.  They offer us tremendous opportunities for pursuing excellence, yes; however, let’s not lose sight of the BIG PICTURE.  Our lives as ordinary human beings offer rich, challenging and diverse opportunities for our pursuit of excellence.  Athletic training and racing is a privilege that enables us to strengthen our capacity to embrace the opportunities that arise in our everyday lives.  Let’s all strive a bit more this year to retain an element of joy and discovery in our athletic activities, and not take them too seriously.  (That’s a tall order, for me too.)  Laughter, joy, discovery and service – these are vital medicines for our times!!

The quality of our racing experiences does not require brand recognition, exotic locations, high tech gear or thousands of other athletes at the start line.  It does require health – both personal and ecological.  Eat healthy and support local organic food producers in your area.  Race and train locally, and “green”.  Check out Athletes For A Fit Planet for guidance in this endeavor.  Be aware of the impact your lifestyle and level of consumption have on the environment and other people on our planet. 

Live simply so that others can simply live.

When we experience difficulty and despair in our lives, or witness it in those around us, many of us turn to prayer.  We give voice to our heartfelt wishes for alleviation from suffering, for peace and for harmony.  Our vocal cords are equally centered between the mind and the heart.  As we pray, we “center” the voice, and engage the mind and heart in a cooperative partnership to express our sincerest desires.  Give voice to this cooperative partnership.  Refrain from speaking solely from the mind (cold logic) or solely from the heart (fiery passion).  Prayer is a beneficial practice that we can engage in every time we speak. 

Movement too can be a powerful form of prayer.  Prayerful movement requires grace and pure intent.  Grace comes from balance (alliance with gravity) and mindfulness.  Pure intent comes from a heartfelt clarity of purpose.  Again, we engage the intelligence of the heart, this time with the kinetic intelligence of the body.  Races that benefit noble and charitable causes offer a clear context and opportunity for movement as prayer.  We are able to choose and joyfully experience our suffering for the benefit of others who are suffering, as well as for our personal pursuit of excellence.

The Mayan Elders emphasize that in our global transformation, material possession and power will significantly diminish as a means for circulating and accounting for wealth.  Far more relevant and “tangible” will be something modern science refers to as “ether”.  The dictionary defines ether as a "hypothetical substance supposed to occupy all space, postulated to account for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through space."  It is regarded as “hypothetical” because it exists outside of the measurable electromagnetic spectrum and therefore evades detection. In spiritually-oriented cultures, it is recognized as life energy – referred to as mana, prana, chi, ki, kundalini, and host of other names, including, simply, “the force”.

Mindful kinetic activity is a highly effective way to cultivate and articulate your life energy.  As a form of prayer, your endurance training will serve as a daily practice in developing, articulating and circulating life energy.  If you want to focus more intensely on this development, in my personal experience, T’ai Chi is the most effective practice for creating an alliance with life energy.  T’ai Chi, as well as yoga and meditation, are mindful practices for developing life energy without the distracting projection of a future goal, like an upcoming race.

In previous articles, “Training by Feel, Part 1, and Part 2”, I discussed my fascination with the cellular dialogue that transpires between body and brain.  I respond to this concise cellular dialogue each day in choosing and designing my training practice – my mindful workouts.  The Mayan elders state that each of us is endowed with wise guidance in these times of change and upheaval.  They claim that the guidance is encoded in our DNA.  Engaging in the cellular dialogue that effectively guides athletic training connects us to this DNA encoding.

I offer two more previous articles for those who are compelled to embrace this issue of how to respond as an athlete to our times of Earth transformation:  “Tao of Triathlon” and “Can Racing Save the World?”.

Please, let’s be patient and gentle with our selves and with one another.  We are all o’hana.  Namaste!

Shane Eversfield is a Total Immersion Master Coach, author of “Zendurance, A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes”,  and producer of the DVD “T’ai Chi for Athletes” .  Contact him here or on Facebook.

The post Earth Changes and Athletic Life appeared first on Total Immersion.

Note:  The First installment of this series appeared here in late January. 

The Articulate Dialogue Between Body and Brain

Matt Fitzgerald has travelled the world seeking knowledge from sports physiologists, coaches and elite runners on training.  In his book "RUN, The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel"  he states that successful runners train and race most effectively when they rely on intuition and when they pursue confidence and enjoyment in their running – even at the elite level.  The most advanced and meticulously crafted training programs cannot provide guidance as accurate and appropriate as intuition and the pursuit of enjoyment and confidence.  Wow, this validates my gut instinct approach to training and vindicates my passionate love for “winging it” day by day in my pursuit of athletic excellence. 

My college degree is in Modern Dance.  Beyond the joy of artistic expression, this was an educational pursuit of kinetic intelligence.  Without question it advanced my capacity for problem-solving and developed my intellect far more than the math, science or other humanities courses did.  (I took plenty of math courses and fared pretty well… at least until calculus.) 

In the ensuing three decades, most rewarding, intriguing and enduring has been the continued development of a clear, concise cellular language – an articulate dialogue between body and brain.  I have used the neural and chemical matrices of my body-brain to “host” this articulate cellular dialogue.  It provides clear guidance in everything from auto mechanics, to efficient swim-bike-run technique, to harmonious human relationships.  I discern the universal principles and laws at play in a specific event and respond in a way that maintains balance and harmony. 

However, this cellular dialogue and spatial matrix modeling process are only functional when I suspend judgment and attachment to a desired outcome.  Judgment and attachment are impediments to this intelligence; indeed, they are impediments to intuitive, intelligent athletic training and racing.  That said, we must have specific aspirations and definable goals to measure success.  We must pursue these with clarity and pure intent, but without attachment to the outcome.

How real and “tangible” is this articulate cellular intelligence and language?  Consider this:  Heart transplant recipients often take on characteristics of their respective donors, even though anonymity is maintained.  Not convincing?  I’ve been admonished by a physician for citing this.  However that information comes from “The Heart’s Code” a book by Dr. Paul Pearsall, a psychoneuroimmunologist who survived stage IV lymphoma.  He is highly regarded by many Fortune 500 companies as well as medical schools and societies.

In his book, Dr Pearsall recounts a powerful true-life story:  While speaking to an international group of medical professionals, a psychiatrist related her experience with one of her patients during the question-and-answer session.  Her patient was an 8 year-old girl who had received a heart transplant.  Post-transplant, the young girl had recurring nightmares in which she saw the man who had murdered a 10 year-old girl – the donor of her heart.  The girl’s mother brought her to the psychiatrist in desperation.  With descriptions provided by this young heart recipient, the police found the murderer.  To quote the book, “The time, the weapon, the place, the clothes he wore, what the little girl he killed had said to him… everything the little heart transplant recipient reported was completely accurate.”  The murderer confessed.  I provide this not for shock value, but to present strong evidence of cellular intelligence and articulate language.

My experience of "mind" – of essential consciousness – arises as the union of body, heart and brain.  The language that actuates and articulates this union, that gives rise to my consciousness and being, is not linear or verbal.  Specifically, as an athlete, it is the dialogue between brain and body that provides wise and prudent guidance for effective training.  This language is spatial and tactile, proprioceptive and kinesthetic.  It is also chemical.  Yet, it is articulate – so articulate that many athletes (me included) get clear guidance as to what workouts are optimal each day.  Specifically, we get sound guidance on how to juggle stress, recovery and adaptation. 

How does one go about systematically affecting this dialogue?  It begins by disengaging from the linearity of logic.  For sure, logic has its place in athletic training and in living a balanced healthy life.  But blind logic – strictly following a carefully crafted training plan, disregarding all else – is a recipe for disaster.  The athlete must train the brain to listen intently to the body and heart, to refrain from judgment, attachment and incessant commentary.  The “active” process of disengaging from these distractions is called meditation, contemplation.

Here is a simple form of meditation.  Sit in a quiet space, with a long, straight (but not rigid) spine and breathe consciously.  As your energy settles, begin to direct and focus your breath though your three energetic centers of intelligence – your brain, your heart, and your gut.  Focus on one energy center for several breaths and then move to the next.  Let your inhaling breath pass through the specific energy center from front to back, your exhaling breath from back to front.  Start with the brain.  As you breathe, determine the precise location and energetic quality of each center.  Use your feeling awareness to locate the energetic resonance of each.

Finally, consider this:  The Hawaiian word for the gut is “na’au”.  The word for intelligence is “na’auao”, which translates to “daylight of the intestines”.  All thirty classes of neurotransmitters found in the brain are also present in the enteric nervous system.  Nine times more neural signals flow from the abdomen to the brain than brain to abdomen.  (Dr. Michael Gershon, “The Second Brain”)  Where is the guidance really coming from? 

Shane Eversfield is a Total Immersion Master Coach, author of “Zendurance, A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes”, and producer of the DVD “T’ai Chi for Athletes”.  Contact him: ironzen@hotmail.com or on Facebook.  His products are available through www.totalimmersion.net.

The post Training by Feel Part II appeared first on Total Immersion.

For those of us who live in the Great White North, cycling is often relegated to the indoor stationary trainer in the winter.  (And it’s been a great white winter in the northeast.  No complaints!)  While we may feel mentally engaged in the pool, as we pursue swimming excellence, it’s difficult to keep that kind of fresh awareness staring at a wall on nursing the surrogate TV monitor while putting in the miles on a stationary trainer.

Here’s a breakdown of a recent “long bike”, I did indoors, which seemed to go by rapidly without slipping into “auto-pilot”:  Other than the warm-up, I did most of this workout in aero position.

-        10:00 Warm-up:  Gentle spinning as I sip a little ginger tea and enjoy the view of winter out the window.

-        15:00 of “Yin/Yangs”:  (For a description of “Yin/Yangs”, use this link and go to page 54 to view my article “The Venerable Stationary Stand”.)

-        4:00 of Tabbatta Intervals (Wow!  “TI” for short!):  Pedal at very high output (high resistance/high cadence) for 20 seconds, then 10 seconds rest.  Repeat 8 times for a total of 4:00.  I use gear 6 or 7 on the rear cassette.  Then, I switch to big ring for the high output, small chainring for the recovery.  That way I switch quickly and do not spend my entire recovery shifting gears.  (Chainrings are not compact.)  Beware!  This is a valuable but very challenging exercise.

-        6:00-10:00 Recovery (Whew!)

-        10:00  Dismount bike and perform 2X(3X16 single leg squats) with a fitness ball.  Between each group of 3 sets, I do single leg calf raises.  Use this link and go to page 76 to view my article “No Bike? No Problem!” for a detailed description of this exercise series.  Start this with 6-8 reps per leg and build up.  Maintain good form if you want real value out of this.

-        Back to the bike

-        10:00  Sustain a cadence over 100 rpm, moderate intensity. (I use gear 3-4 with small chainring.) 

-        20:00  Maintain a cadence of 60-70 at moderate intensity.  (I use gear 6-7 with big chainring.) 

-        10:00 Dismount and repeat single leg squats with fitness ball and calf raises.

-        Back to bike

-        15:00  10X “Jumps” (0:30 high output/1:00 recovery)

-        5:00 Recovery spin and some single leg pedaling.  Single leg pedaling at light resistance for 30-60 revs per leg.

-        25:00 Transition run: 20:00 at threshold pace.

-        Return to bike

-        5:00  Sustain a cadence over 100 rpm, moderate intensity.  It takes a few minutes after the run to relax the legs enough for a fluid stroke that can spin high cadence – be patient.

-        10:00  Maintain cadence 88-94 rpm at very high aerobic (not anaerobic) intensity. 

-        5:00  Cool down spin.

I have a total of 130 minutes of cycling/strength work and 25 minutes of running.  With this kind of variety, I maintain quality.  I focus on technique, because I keep altering the task.  Sometimes, I skip rope for a few minutes when I am off-bike doing the single leg squats.  The times and specifics of this combination are unique to this particular workout.  They are not set in stone.  (That said, the interval times for the “TI’s” are prescribed, as are the jumps.)

So, if you are stuck in a rut with the indoor sessions, set specific tasks like this.  Be creative.  Alter your resistance and cadence.  Dismount and do leg strength work.  Run once or twice for short periods during the workout, but make the transitions quick. 

This is a far better quality session than 3 hours of gazing at the TV in “auto-pilot” just because your training program says “3-Hour Long Ride” and you are strapped to the venerable stationary stand.

Shane Eversfield is a Total Immersion Master Coach, author of “Zendurance, A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes”, and producer of the DVD “T’ai Chi for Athletes”.   He also loves to train and race triathlons, transitioning gracefully and seamlessly from one complex movement pattern to another.  (Yup, he’s a “tri geek”.)  Contact him: ironzen@hotmail.com or on Facebook.  His products are available through www.totalimmersion.net.

The post Tri 101: Riding Indoors appeared first on Total Immersion.

In the pursuit of athletic excellence, the most advanced and meticulously crafted training programs cannot provide guidance as accurate and appropriate as intuition and the pursuit of enjoyment and confidence.  

I just finished reading Matt Fitzgerald‘s "RUN, The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel".  Matt has written 17 books on running and writes extensively for Triathlete Magazine, as well as Runner’s World and a slew of other periodicals.  He has travelled the world seeking and gleaning information from sports physiologists, coaches and elite runners.  His conclusion, backed by science, is that consistently successful runners train and race most effectively when they rely on intuition and when they pursue confidence and enjoyment in their running.  Wow, this validates my gut instinct approach to training and vindicates my passionate love for “winging it” day by day in my pursuit of athletic excellence.

In this series, I offer some guidance on how to intuitively craft your optimal training program “on the fly”.  In this first part, we consider some ways that might help you to “listen” to your body when you get up in the morning to evaluate and assess your condition and athletic needs for the day.

Intuition?  In Athletics?

I’d like to preface this series with a brief definition of intuition in the context of pursuing athletic excellence: In my experience, athletic intuition is the clear, concise, cellularly-based communication between body and brain.  It is a dialogue about the athlete’s current status (fatigue versus recovery), balance (emotional, mental, chemical, hormonal), ability (realistic capacity versus idealistic wishes) and needs (areas of greatest opportunity for improvement – neurologically, metabolically, and muscularly).  I have more than a decade of experience crafting my training program “on the fly” – by engaging in this clear, concise cellularly-based dialogue – with some credible and satisfying results.  (USAT All-American 2008, 2010; USAT Honorable Mention 2009).  I have never been able to follow a training program and still remain true to what will provide me with the optimal training experience in this moment.  Hence, I refrain from “coaching” other athletes.

I must add a word of caution here:  Until you develop your athletic intuition – your articulate cellular dialogue between body and brain – a training program can be an invaluable guidance tool in your training – especially for a triathlon.  Balancing and training for three sports is not a linear endeavor.

But please, when in doubt, don’t work out!  Your training program – no matter who the coach is or how much you paid for it – is not gospel. 

 Stress – Recovery – Adaptation

 Effective training is a lot like juggling three balls.  Our “balls” are stress, recovery and adaptation.  Like juggling, this is an art as much as it is a science.  Even with the very best training plan, unless you can accurately perceive and evaluate your current state of readiness – your response to the daily stresses you experience – it is impossible to know what will constitute the most effective workouts for today.

We tend to identify athletic training exclusively as the workouts we perform – the long bike ride, the running intervals, the 100-yard swimming repeats.  However, our workouts provide only the stress component.  Without a balance of recovery and adaptation, we end up excavating a trench of overtraining, injury, illness and burnout.  When the trench gets really deep, it can be difficult to climb back out. 

I know this very well; I’ve been de-railed by chronic adrenal fatigue syndrome (CAFS) a few times.  Never again!  I’m a great juggler now!  I gracefully keep those three elements dancing together and enjoy my multisport lifestyle without interruption, thanks to my intuitive intelligence.  I’ve also learned a tremendous amount about nutrition and supplementation from my Hammer Nutrition “O’hana” – (that’s Hawaiian for “family”) – since those days of CAFS.  Hammer goes a long way in supporting me to enjoy a sustainable multisport lifestyle, but we need more than the best supplements and fuels.  Each of us also needs an honest and accurate protocol for evaluating our readiness state each day.

Resting Pulse Rate 

You can begin your daily readiness evaluation by measuring your resting pulse rate when you wake up.  There is no one perfect protocol for doing this – just make sure you are consistent in the way you measure it each day.  You can simply find your pulse on your wrist and count for 30 seconds.  Double that for “beats per minute” (BPM) figure.  Within a week or two, if you are training sensibly, you will determine a baseline figure.  Given adequate recovery, this is going to be a consistent value that is your lowest heart rate.  The morning after a hard day, if you are not fully recovered, you may find this value is 5 or more beats higher than your baseline.  That’s a clear indication that your most effective training for that day will focus on active recovery. 

Sleep Quality 

Quality and quantity of sleep can also be indicators of your stress-recovery-adaptation balance.  I may drag myself into bed exhausted after a stressful day (either from hard training or from other challenges in life), sleep for 1-2 hours, then wake up restless and sleep poorly for the rest of the night.  This is a clear indication that my cortisol levels are high, that I am struggling to recover and adapt.  However, there are nights where I go to bed exhausted after a challenging day, sleep soundly and wake up feeling great.  (I wish that happened more often!)

Zenman’s Morning Ritual

For me, everyday begins with the same ritual:  Grate fresh ginger, add it to the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil.  I let it simmer as I begin to awaken my body with a few minutes of T’ai Chi Hip Warm-ups.  This easy, gentle exercise increases blood flow and stimulates synovial fluid in all my joints.  As simple as Hip Warm-ups are, they is a profound way to train relaxed mobility.  The capacity to maintain mobility in a joint while it is weighted is a tremendous asset to every endurance athlete.  Yup!  Hip Warm-ups every day – for over 30 years!

Next I do a 20-minute T’ai Chi form, usually with my eyes closed.  “Blind T’ai Chi” stimulates my proprioceptive awareness, first thing every morning.  Proprioception is the most essential element in my craft as an endurance athlete.  Usually, in just the first 2-3 minutes of T’ai Chi, I feel a distinct gentle buzz throughout my neural system – a deep internal massage – that I know as the flow of chi energy.  If I am mentally distracted (agitated) or physically scattered (fatigued), I know the quality of my energy is diminished.  This is my intuition talking to me.  T’ai Chi provides an accurate evaluation of my state of readiness.  This daily 20-minute practice is the most valuable investment I have made in my life.

When I finish T‘ai Chi, I turn off the stove and pour a large cup of ginger tea.  While it is cooling, I do one more Taoist Chinese exercise called Compression Breathing.  This practice is not well-known in the world.  While it is a potent way of de-toxing the body, one should gain considerable experience with T’ai Chi first.  (For more on Compression Breathing and advanced Taoist practices, refer to books written by Mantak Chia.)  I’ve evolved my own system of compression breathing, focusing on nine distinct energy centers in my body.  I experience burning physical discomfort every time I do this practice – after all, it is a de-tox!  This practice takes 15-20 minutes and provides me with even greater evaluation of my state of readiness.  When I am finished, my body is very warm and my bowels are ready for a quick trip to the bathroom.  (Not once have I waited in the porta-potty line at a race.) 

I sit quietly for a few minutes, drink the ginger tea and listen to my body.  With this guidance and discernment, I make intelligent decisions in my workout choices. 

Conclusion

I don’t claim that my morning ritual is better than any other.  It is simply a consistent, patient process that enables me to simultaneously evaluate my readiness through the clear, concise cellularly-based dialogue between body and brain, as I warm-up.  It keeps me injury-free and healthy.  If you are consistent and patient in your approach to each day, if you listen to your body and avoid being headstrong about what you “should” do, you probably enjoy the art of juggling your training as much as I do!

In the next installment, we will examine the nature of athletic “intuition” that provides intelligent guidance in crafting the optimum training program “on the fly”.

Shane Eversfield is a Total Immersion Master Coach, author of “Zendurance, A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes”, and producer of the DVD “T’ai Chi for Athletes”.  He is also a contributing editor to Hammer Nutrition Endurance News.  Contact him here or on Facebook.

The post Training by Feel Part I appeared first on Total Immersion.