Getting Tempered with Stephen Stella

I am really impressed with a young athlete I am working with.  This athlete puts in some big miles on the roads on his bicycle but he is not a triathlete or a bicycle racer.  He runs and he has put in some brutal sessions with me pushing him hard in the weight room.  I even have him training in the pool and having coached national level swimmers, I am very impressed with his natural ability, coordination he has quickly learned good freestyle technique in the pool.  One day I will get him into a triathlon.  

Who is this athlete and what sport does he do?  His name is Stephen Stella and he is a professional motocross racer number 343.

I tell many of my friends who swim competitively, or road race on bicycles or do triathlons and they kid me and say, "you train this guy who races a motorcycle?"  The mountain bikers seem to understand.  But the others kid me and ask, "what do you do have him move his wrist a couple of times...?  Meaning they are under the gross misconception that all a motorcycle racer does is twist the throttle with their right hand.  They think, it's gotta be easy, there's a motor on the thing.  

If it's worth it, I set them straight and tell them, well there is a motor on these bikes but it's a hard sport.  In fact, Personally I ride a bicycle, swim workouts, run and the highest heart rate that I see on my heart rate monitor is when I ride my Yamaha YZ 250F (a motocross motorcycle) at the motocross track.  Somewhere around 180 beats which has to be near my max heart rate.  

Pro mx racers race for about 35 minutes usually with a heart rate of 180-190 beats per minute.  That is redline my people!  I love anything with two wheels and love the workout I get from my bikes.  

Back to Stephen.  This guy is getting tempered the way I like.  He is learning a great deal about training and he loves to work hard.  So all the ingredients are there for a great season but in pro motocross you need sponsorship to compete.  The top racers in the sport have an exponential advantage.  Nice schedules where their bikes are built, tuned and maintained.  They get a salary from their factory supported team so they don't have to work another job.  To boot, they are racing a bike that probably costs anywhere from 40-120K.  

My post here sounds all chummy up until now.  True we have everything going really well right now with fitness training, a good bike, and a great mechanic.  We are batting heads with the sports top racers like I described above, on a bike and budget that is nowhere near theirs.  

But here is the push, on our way back from the first Natioanl Pro at High Point Raceway in right outside of my old hometown of Morgantown, WV, Stephen's cell phone rang.  It was the owner of the shop that had basically lent him race bikes as a racer sponsorship deal.  The shop going out of business.  Ugh!  That means Stephen is loosing his bikes.  No ride!  Ugh again.  

Loosing your bikes is not a good thing!  You can't really hit the starting line with running shoes. Important piece of equipment there.  His next race is on the 4th of July weekend at Red Bud in Michigan.  Talk about having to hold things together.  

The optimist in me sees this as an opportunity.  I think, let's go talk to some big sponsors.  The realist in me says, we have some serious work to do to land a new sponsor and go compete with the guys at the top.  This is definitely going to be a challenge.  Amazing, all the right ingredients and no oven to bake them in... so to speak.  

Anyone want to sponsor a proven professional motocrosser with a tone of potential?

Keep posted!  Coach Dave

PS  To see Stephen in ripping some practice laps at the track, check this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKaok-RHF_0 

Nutrition for Real

I was having a nice conversation with an old friend of mine who is a nutritionist.  She has worked with people for years who desperately need to alter their nutritional intake.  Or should I just say they should start to eat well.  Or, said even another way, they need to cut out the junk food.  Those empty nutritionally void foods with lots of preservatives, additives, high sodium, high fat foods.

One small comment that she made really had a big impact on me.  Her comment was "... when you are up against the big food companies your going to loose...."  She was talking about her frustration with getting people to eat a well balanced nutritionally sound diet.  It's so easy to succumb to the temptation of buy one get one free ice cream or super convenient foods ready to go easy to eat.

Getting people to eat whole foods instead of highly processed foods is a tough go.  So many things that are on the shelves of the grocery store are to put it bluntly garbage.  (That is my opinion.) Food companies package their garbage food very nicely and market it heavily to unknowing people who allow themselves to take for granted the fact that they see a food sold in a store so it must be ok.  

We spoke further and she commented to me that many people I work with who are athletes are motivated to eat right.  I agreed but then thought about a different industry and that is the "nutritional supplement" industry.  This is a huge multi-million or maybe billion dollar industry.  I'm not against convenience in replenishing lost carbs and protein after a hard workout, but I see some athletes fall prey to the marketing of these products.  I will say now that there is absolutely no magic food.  No on food or supplement is going to make anyone have a superstar performance.  Sorry, that is the truth.  The good news is that it's all you if you do have a great performance.

So rather than just ranting about all this, I will just say what I believe.  Any time someone asks me about nutrition, I first recommend they talk to a registered dietician or a good nutritionist.  Then I tell them about a true eating formula that can do them wonders.  Here goes...  

Drink water and stay hydrated, eat foods in their, or close to their natural form instead of in a highly processed state.  Eat vegetables and fruits.  Eat lean meats if you eat meat.  Give yourself a day each week to eat anything within reason.  Eat something simple, carbs and protein within 20 minutes of finishing your hard workouts.  Go for a variety of natural foods in your dietary intake.

Keep it simple and keep it real!  Coach Dave

Speed Suits (Swimming)

I am disappointed in a huge way with the sport of competitive swimming.  Swimming is not, and should not be, in my opinion an "equipment" sport.  It's an athlete and water.  Aside from open water events the distance is set,  the course is consistent and up until these darns super swim suits, you could pretty much compare the swims of today with those of years ago.  

Sure there have been technical rule changes in the strokes, but that still leaves the athlete to master the technical part and train hard to achieve their goal time.  Now, you have super buoyant swim suits that cover the athlete, making a more streamlined figure through the water.  Darn, might as well let swimmers get on a surf board and just paddle.

Further, you now have times set in the new suits, from local to world records and it's pretty much aided not by better training or a mental breakthrough but because of some new material, trapped air inside the suit and the floatation properties of the suit.  All this translates into, "let's buy some speed."  There is a gray zone now.  Some records have been set and we'll see if they stick or if they have an asterisk in the record books or if they will just nullify them.  What a mess.

Now, you have a sport where the equipment is going to be a $1000 dollar commitment annually because these suits are not only super buoyant but also super expensive.  Being in the sport of triathlon since 1986 I have seen a whole explosion of products that give athletes more speed if they are willing to cough up some dollars.  Race wheels, 3 grand (yes, $3000 dollars without tires) aerobars for over 400 bucks, where does it end.  Well I can except that almost because it a technology sport.  The bike is a machine, a wonderful one, but by the nature of it it is outside the athlete which changes the whole dynamic.  It is a necessary piece of equipment so it's fair game.  

Swimming though, what a beautiful sport we had.  Nothing but you, the starting block, 25 or 50 meters of water and it's go time.  Now I hear kids say things like, well I was 2 tenths of my national cut but with the suit I think I can be there and make the time standard..."  How disappointing to rely on some new tech instead of your own guts, hard work and determination.

I wonder who is getting a big paycheck?  My feeling is that the people who make the rules at FINA and USA Swimming might be getting a sweet little stash of cash to create rules that allow the new suits.  Disappointing when you take a once pretty pure sport and throw the dynamic of an arguably unfair edge to the competitors whose hunger for improvement becomes clouded by an untrue assist.  More on this as we go...

Stay true!  Coach Dave

Feedback

This week was personally gratifying in a big way.  With all of the athletes I coach out competing in their respective venues they all resumed training this week and during our training sessions they told me about their races.  The common thread was in the feedback my athletes gave me.  In my last post on "racing to your potential" I shared something that my athletes hear constantly from me.  I call it "Coach Dave's rule of racing."  That is, don't evaluate your performance during your competition.  This seemed to help many athletes in holding their focus.  They have heard it many times from me and some even heard my voice in the back of their head... I got a nice kick out of that.   

So, feedback, it's what keeps athletes going and it gives coaches fuel and helps them determine the best training plan for you.  The opportunity to interact with a professional coach is going to make you better.  The old adage, two heads are better than one definitely applies here.  

Well that's the simple message for this afternoon.  I hope all of you are getting ready to push through a good event this weekend!  Come Monday, get ready to give me your evaluation.

Thank you to all of you for your dedication!  

 

Racing To Your Potential

Winding down an exciting weekend here in the Mid-Atlantic. I had athletes in a variety of venues.  From the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim (4.4miles) to the AMA Pro National Motocross race at High Point Raceway outside of Morgantown, WV and finally add in the Eagleman Ironamn 70.3.  Busy weekend for all the Training Tempered athletes.  I had the opportunity to attend the motocross race with a very talented young racer who I have the pleasure to coach.  

In spite of these vastly different venues comprising very different sports, all of the athletes I coach get one lesson in common from me. That is, during your event, I don't want any of my athletes to evaluate how they are doing. Sounds confusing maybe but when I explain further it should make sense.  

During any athletic event, I want my athletes to push through their entire event.  In some cases they are pushing their bodies to the that edge and if they push too hard, it may mean reduction of pace further into the event.  Evaluation comes later, after the event is finished.  I want them to focus on what will get them to the finish line. By race day, hopefully their thoughts will not be on a conscious level in regards to their form and technique. Rather they will be almost a feeling that has developed from the joining of mind and body through thoughtful training sessions. So no matter if an athlete is feeling great or lousy, they should maintain their focus on getting the job done.  This is the immediate task at hand. 

Let's look at some quick examples.  Half way into the bike leg of a 70.3 triathlon, an athlete finds herself ahead of the pace that she had anticipated. She leads her usual competitors who are often ahead of her.  Then, she starts questioning her performance.  She begins to question if her pace is too fast. This means that her focus shifts to evaluating her performance rather than clearing her mind and balancing the delicate line between fast and too fast. 

Cut to a swim where from the start of the day, the athlete doesn't feel like it's going to be an "on" day.  Sure enough, the gun goes off and the pace for the first few minutes seems to be too stressful.  Almost at the point of writing off the race and possibly pulling out of the competition all together, he pushes through, makes it to the first mile and somehow soon he starts to find a smoothness in this stroke and the good race pace begins to flow... 

I'm sure you can think of an event that turned out better than expected.  Sometimes when you remove all of those thoughts that are connected with evaluating performance and just letting your body and mind do what they are trained to do, your event has a positive outcome.

So lesson from Coach Dave, leave the evaluations until the end of the day and push through your event with a clear mind. 

Balance

Based at CORE Fitness in Timonium, Maryland for Personal Training, I incorporate balance and functional training moves when I train my clients. This can be as simple as standing on one foot while doing an exercise. But the effects are greater as it causes you to engage your core muscles while also providing an increase in the complexity of the exercise through requiring more concentration on balance. You may want to use a lighter weight than usual when doing this type of training. One example of where you can try this is to do a standing shoulder press standing on one foot. (This exercise is also called military press or overhead press.) Once your weights are in starting position at the shoulder height, lift one foot so that you are balanced on one foot for half your reps and then switch feet finishing the set balanced on the other foot.

Benefit from an Inconsistent Practice Schedule!

If you are like I am you probably have lapses in the consistency of your workouts. Unfortunately (maybe?) over the past 15 years or so, I have gotten into really good shape through a few solid months of consistent swimming only to be followed by a period of weeks out of the water.

Instead of getting down about loosing fitness when I get back on schedule, I like to turn things around and use my lack of fitness to push myself to be as efficient as possible. To me, as a coach and a swimmer, technique is so important but it seems to be ignored by so many swimmers and coaches. Heavy effort and slugging it through the water seems to be all too common at practices. Personally, I have a tough time standing on deck and not saying anything to a swimmer I am coaching if I think there is something they could be doing to improve their technique.

Swimmers need to educate themselves on proper technique. A fine place to start when you think about technique is to look at the movements or patterns of movements that you repeat during the stroke cycle. Ask yourself “am I creating drag from a particular way I am executing a movement?” For example, is my hand entry (where the hand enters the water) in the freestyle stroke entering clean or is my hand crashing into the water creating waves, turbulence and drag? Then ask yourself, “can I refine or alter this movement to create less drag?

There are plenty of areas of concentration in all the swimming strokes where you can exercise a little self-analysis with the goal of correcting flaws and thus becoming more efficient. It is quite possible that as you shift your focus to be aware of the way you are moving, instead of your level of exertion, that the result will be faster swimming. So next time you get in the water, especially if it is after being out for a while, focus your attention on the actual movements of the stroke pattern and how you can adjust or fine tune them to create less drag. Finally, see it also as an exercise in positive thinking as you will be focusing on what you want to make happen. This is way more productive than dwelling on how out of shape you think you are.