TECHNOLOGY- IT'S AMAZING!!!
An Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks
But Sometimes It’s Good To Have Old Tricks Too.
When I started racing triathlon…
AOL was still a major player in the internet game.
In Da Club by 50 cent was the hotness, in the club :)
Apple launched itunes
The Tampa Bay Bucs were the Super Bowl Champs(weird, huh?)
Michael Jordan Retired
Finding Nemo was first released
‘Back in the Day’, we thought we were at the pointy end of of technology in sports, but what every age group athlete has at his or her fingertips today is well beyond what even the top athletes had back then.
Nowadays, with power meters, running power meters, high-tech trackers, ZWIFT, Trainer Road and so much more, the possibilities are endless.
Do you know what has not changed?
Consistency and Repeatability always win the day.
When talking with athletes, I find that everyone is always looking for those ‘BIG DAYS’ or big gains. And while that can happen, do you know how you really get better. Just a little bit every day. By stacking up day after day and week after week, and year after year of consistent training, the gains are almost imperceptible but when you look back after a month or 6 months, the chasm between where you were and where you are can be huge.
The key is being consistent and being able to come out every day and put in solid work. It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t going to make your STRAVA fan club ‘ooh and aah’, but when you lay it down on race day; that is what will matter.
Specificity
The proliferation of all of the tech mentioned above has enabled folks to be more specific in their training and this is amazing. It has also lead to an over-analysis of training at times too and folks sometimes becoming too reliant on their tech. The watch, PM, or any other device you have isn’t going to do the work for you. I think of it as a great tool to ‘get to know yourself better’ because having ‘body awareness’ is a key for success. When we are at our AP RACING CAMPS(yes, you should come to one this year), I will have riders cover up their Power Meters or watches or whatever, and see how close they can guesstimate their power or pace. When I do it, I can typically be within 5 watts, :02-:05 seconds/mile or within 1-3bpm’s. Why- because when I execute workouts, I use my technology to understand the efffect of the trainign and the mind/body connection that is going on.
A smart athlete is a fast athlete, Period.
So, when you are using tech to dial in workouts, don’t do it blindly, pay attention. And this brings me to my last point because I get asked it all the time regarding our AP Racing Coaching Services-
Why don’t you build workouts for your athletes in workout builder?
The answer is actually a fairly straightforward calculation, so let me dive-
1- We want our athletes to be present and invested in their training:
If you want to build your workout- you can take the 5-10 minutes to understand it, think about the set and then pre-program it yourself. By doing this, you will internalize it and hopefully understand a little better ‘why’ we are doing it, instead of just executing it.
Similarly, if you don’t pre-program it, it will force you to be present during your workouts to execute them instead of just letting ‘the machine’ tell you what to do.
Most workouts are designed to elicit certain responses based on work to rest ratio’s, work loads and intensities. By ‘not just executing’, hopefully you will become a smarter athlete; which as we said, will make you a faster athlete.
2- We Don’t Train That Way:
Because of what we mentioned above, myself, Daniel, and the entire AP Racing Staff does not train with automated training modules. Even in Zwift, I control my power via my trainer when I am riding because I want complete control over my experience. We believe the most effective way to use the trainer and these tools is to manually control your power. This keeps you engaged and mentally engaged. It also gives you the instantaneous ability to manipulate the workout. You might have to adjust on the fly if the workout is not going as expected and understanding the ‘what and why’ and being able to completely control your experience allows you to do so. Maybe we are a bit 'old school'(yes that came out in 2003 too), but we find this works best.
When outside, I pick routes that allow me to execute a workout. This means two things-
I am thinking about my workout in advance so I can plan the optimal route (this lets me internalize and understand it)
I also plan my workouts based on routes and to take maximize advantage of it. For example, let’s say I had a 6x 12 minutes @ z3 and 3 minutes ‘off’ workout. Well, if I know I have a hill that takes 16 minutes to go up and 4 minutes to go down, I could use that hill because it preserves my work:rest ratio. It might be a little more ‘work’, but it preserves the integrity of the workout.
3- PR’s are Personal and Your Workouts Should Be Too.
Since the beginning, AP Racing has stood behind our core principle that we want to provide the best coaching at the best pricing. As such, between our 1:1 coached athletes to our Completely Custom Training Programs, we would have built out of 900k custom workouts since we started. I rather have our team spend time working with athletes, planning awesome adventures, or training themselves instead of trying to tackle this never-ending game of building workouts.
What’s the point of all of this…
Love technology, love and embrace all of the tools we now have at our disposal but don’t let it paralyze you. At the end of the day, you need to do the work, understand why you are doing the work, and get after it. #GETSOME