ProLine Sports, Nutrition Blog

Early Morning Suffering

Just a quick hello from a very dark place. Very early in the morning. What are you training today?

Trainer Road

Getting motivated in the winter months can be tough. Saving up to buy a power meter can also be quite a feat. Having a structured power workout is something that can bewilder people as well. When I started looking at what I could do as the weather gets cooler, the days get shorter and my training started to come indoors, I began looking for something new besides just watching movies and training videos. What could I do to really get the most out of my training? I mean, I already have the Garmin Edge 800 setup, so I'm getting quality speed, cadence and heart rate readings. I have nearly all of the Sufferfest training videos. But I don't quite want to fork over another thousand(s) dollars for a quality power meter. At least not yet. Enter Trainer Road, a desktop application with an online presence that blew me away with its capabilities.

When first getting on the homepage of their site, you can instantly figure out how the setup works with the "How Does It Work?" visual setup towards the bottom of the screen and the slide show of options showing as the feature bar along the top.

Now Trainer Road does some pretty cool stuff. I'll start with what I wanted most out of it. The power based structured workout. Before getting started, you simply load up your ANT+ stick into your laptop and ensure you pair your device setup with the free software download. Trainer Road also has a long list of nearly every power source out there. To the left you can see that I use the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. Trainer Road can then calibrate the readings it gets from my speed and cadence sensor as well as the weight that I enter to calculate my power output as I ride. Is it perfect? Probably not. But it's very close, and very reliable. If you look in the background, you can see that you can link up different sensors depending on what you use. You can use a power meter without having to have your on-bike computer setup. Along with that, you can use a HR monitor, speed and cadence sensor. So, while I'm riding, I don't even need to own the Garmin Edge 800 that I do to get the workout I'm looking for. All the software needs is the ANT+ Wahoo Speed/Cadence Sensor I have, the ANT+ stick plugged into my computer, and the HR monitor if you have one, too.

 

 

 

 

 

After pairing up your devices, now it's time to pick out your workout. Depending on what you're looking for, Trainer Road has a large variety of pre-loaded workouts in it's database. Including all of the Sufferfest videos, as well as some other training rides like riding Mount Baldy or Rouge Roubaix that you can purchase and train along with. Or if you just want to watch a movie and have a structured workout, simply boot up the movie and pedal. Trainer Road will pause the workout if your cadence drops off for a few seconds and restart once you start pedaling again. A pretty nice feature so you don't need to keep reaching for the computer every time you need to pause. When you know what workout you want to use, simply select the workout and a short description will pop up in the tab to give you an idea of what you're getting into. Then click on the 'Open Workout' and you can start your workout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the workout opens up, you're basically there. Ready to rock and roll. Start your movie and start pedaling, the workout will start itself after you pedal a few seconds. If you're using a training video they have in their database, you need simply to drop it in their player and it will all play together, paired up with the video itself. So when the video tells you to GO! the power level you're looking to reach will change as well. Pretty neat eh? I think so. As you can see above, this is for the newest Sufferfest video, 'There Is No Try'. It has all the segments broken up into power goals to reach. You can see the target power, and when you start the training, that section will turn into a bar that moves from side to side and when the bar is green, you're good. When it goes orange, red, yellow, you're either too low or too high. Your cadence will pop up in the lower right and heart rate right above it. So all your data is right there, right in front of you to get instant feedback from. Again, with no on-board bike computer.

Now, before you even get started doing videos, you need to establish your FTP (function training power). Which is essentially your maximum training effort you can hold for one hour. Not everyone can go out and train at that level for an hour, so they have two tests you can do to establish your starting FTP if you don't know it already. There is an 8 and 20 minute test. Both are hour long workouts, but they calculate your FTP based off of what you can do in either each of 2-8 minute stretches at full power or one 20-minute session. You can then save that to your career, and you now have a base to start from and the software will calibrate each workout for you and your FTP, as well as LTHR (lactate threshold). You wouldn't want to jump on with power estimates for that of a pro cyclist if you're not one, or the other way around!

From there, once you finish a workout, you get an online readout of your workout broken down into sections of intervals, telling you how you did compared to the target zones established from your FTP and LTHR base. Trainer Road wil save each workout you do over time and you can keep working on setting new personal records for power as you get stronger and stronger. Then when you think you've gained more power and need to up the workouts. Take another test when you're fully rested and get a new FTP and LTHR base to work from. Badass if you ask me.

I've been using Trainer Road for a couple weeks now and am absolutely in love with it. It keeps me honest with both working hard enough and not working too hard when I shouldn't be. I honestly feel this is a big new tool in my training kit that will help get my biking up to the next level. It's a small investment, but in the long run, I think it is totally worth it. Give it a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

-Dave

 

 

 

 

Running the Right Way

I bet you thought I was going to be writing this article about the way you should be running and giving you some rules and guidelines to follow. That there is an exact right way to be running. Well, I really don't think there is. At least not one right way for everyone. However, I do feel that each person has their own most economical and powerful way to run.

After reading a couple articles, one posted by my brother and another poster by Zoot Sports, I started to really broaden my mindset on how I look at running, and the advice that I give.

The first article, posted by Competitor in an article by Matt Fitzgerald interviewing Stephen McGregor, PhD, talks about just running how you run. I invite you to read the article, and really thinking about the science and math that has gone into the qualitative results found by Dr. McGregor. The triaxial accelerometer that the study used just blows my mind. As far as I know, this is the first study I've heard of studying not only front to back and side to side, but also up and down. Which, according to the study, the amount that athletes move up and down, really has no correlative effect on their running speed. But what does have a greater effect, especially in those 'non-elite' runners, is the acceleration and deceleration between each stride. The elite runners showed to have much less change in pace over such a short period, while the average, active people in the study showed to be more prone to the event.

What I really liked about this first article is that the author and those conducting the study seem to be in agreement about the idea that there is no ONE key factor you can point out between elites and non-elites. The elites just have been doing it for longer and have perfected their running style and honed in on making it the most economical for them. And what seems to be holding people back, is to consciously think about their running form, and changing it as they go along. This require even more effort, to consciously change your form, than that of simply running the way you do.

The second article, talks a little bit more about what running shoes are best for you and why. And this article does seem to get a little more concise about their conclusions. The article discusses the never-ending debate over minimal, barefoot, and heavy cushioned shoes. Myself, I am personally a firm believer in more minimal shoes. Not fully barefoot, but also not having an inch of pillow under your foot.

They also discuss the idea of mid, fore and heel striking. And have a very detailed video showcasing nationally ranked runners at the Olympic Trials. The conclusion here? Even at the national level, there is no decisive way to run that will get you to that level of running. There is plenty of each foot strike going by at 240 fps (frames per second) to show us that even if you heel strike, you can make it to the national ranks.

I think overall, I enjoyed reading both of these articles and getting some more scientific data to show that it really doesn't matter how you run (for the most part), but more-so, how much. The more you run, the better you'll get at it. However, there is a study I would like to see, and maybe one is going on right now and is in it's infancy. That is, I would like to see a study to show the long term effects of certain running forms on the body. The knees, ankles, back, hips, etc. What does being a life-long heel striker running in heavy cushioned heel shoes do to your body? My hypothesis is that those who develop a more 'natural' running form of mid or forefoot strike have the ability to have longer running careers. But, I could be wrong! Just looking at myself and having a predominately midfoot strike, I feel I will have a longer running career than I would had I stuck with my heavy cushioned shoes and striking my heels. I'll let you know how I end up in about 60 years.

 

-Dave

Building My Torture Chamber

It's been an up and down past couple of weeks. At least from a training standpoint. My wife and I have been all over the place. Renovating, buying new, throwing out old, moving more, organizing, working, then me trying to squeeze a little training in here and there. The time is spread pretty thin, and training almost always seems to take the very back seat. However, I have found precious time each day to get something done to remain consistent. Though the time may have been shorter than I'd like for each session, with my season dwindling down, I'm ok with that. For now. I mean, moving day was the same day as the Ironman World Championships. So getting my internet up and running and WiFi going was a pretty high priority for me. The day was spent moving and catching glimpses on my laptop of the live feed and updates running alongside the video.

But now that we're basically all moved in, it's time for me to start getting serious about my training again. The dust is settling, and we're just slowly working on getting things where they need to go. I have always wanted to have my own training area where I live, and now is finally the time for me to get moving on that. We have a partially finished basement, and I am loving the thoughts I'm having of designing the perfect torture chamber for myself (and anyone else who chooses to train down there).

The perfect storm of a training area for me is starting to take place. 1.) A somewhat dreary basement with concrete wall. 2.) Room for bike and treadmill, side by side. 3.) Minimal view of the outside world. 4.) Room for a free weight/plyo/stretching area. 5.) Holds in the smell of hard work.

Right now I don't have too much going on. But it's still making me drool to get it finished. I've got our two bikes down there, a table for my laptop to watch Sufferfest Videos, my trainer, and a decent fan. As you can see, I've got plenty of room to put a treadmill on the other side of the door. I can't wait to finish this area off with some fresh paint, more wall art, a treadmill, and some weights and training utensils.

Until next time. Happy training all.

-Dave

My Cross Training: Home Renovating

This year has been all over the place for me. It's been a lot about sacrificing, and asking others to sacrifice. I've changed jobs (somewhat), moved to a new state, had major knee surgery, oh, and had a baby. So a few things have changed. And now to add the ever-growing list of changes for the year 2012, my wife and I have bought a house. Finally!

We had been spending so much of our lives either living with our parents or living in dorms, apartments, and condos, we are so happy to finally have a place to call our own. But not quite yet. The house needs a bit of work...

We spent a lot of time researching the best schools and neighborhoods in the Madison area to decide where we wanted to live. We wanted the best opportunities for our daughter, as well as staying as close to the city as possible for my wife's work. But we also wanted to be able to have a yard for our two big dogs to romp around in. We saw a lot of houses, but nothing really seemed to fit our needs. Either too far away, not enough yard, or too expensive. And honestly, a lot of them just didn't feel like home.

After a few months of looking and getting near the point of giving up and waiting it out through winter, we found a 60 year old gem. Yea, it needed work. But I think once my wife and I walked in the front door, we new it felt like home, and had all of the potential we could ask for. Three decent sized bedrooms with the possibility of a fourth. A huge open living space with a wall of windows overlooking the whole backyard. The kitchen needed lots of updates from the start, but we knew it could get on par with what we were looking for. There's a full, partially finished basement that will be perfect for my training dungeon. The dogs will be happy with the oversized lot and forest-like trees running alongside the house. Finally, it takes nearly ten minutes off of my wife's commute to work. This is also not mentioning that our daughter (and possibly other children down the road) can walk to her schools just a few blocks away all the way until high school. And even then, it's just over a mile.

Now we get to the part of cross-training. I knew there would be a lot of sweat equity going into the house. The painting, the prepping, the yard cleaning, the house cleaning, and on and on. Every single part of the house, inside and out needs to be updated. Some of it is pricey, some of it is not.

All of the first floor of the house minus the master bedroom and standalone dining room are hardwood. The floors are in good shape, yet the color and consistency was off. So we hired a team to come in, sand them down and re-stain them in a color more suited to the 21st century and our lifestyle.

Before we had them come in, we wanted all the rooms adjoining the hardwood to be painted. That meant 3 bedrooms, a large living/family room combo and a dining room. The master bedroom needed to be sanded down since the walls are wood paneling in order to be painted. All the rest of the rooms needed to have the walls cleaned, prepped and taped. The nice thing about having the floors redone is the ability to not worry about dropping paint or putting down drop cloths. This made the painting go a bit quicker.

After spending 2 full days plus a couple nights after work painting, the house has a fresh new vibe about it. Mostly some soft earth tones and a nice neutral grey for the living area. Now it was time to move onto other big projects.

Outside, blocking our view of the backyard through the large set of windows was a large 30-40 foot pine tree. The tree was nice, but in a terrible location and took up a lot of real estate for the dogs to run around in. So between my father-in-law and I, we took at it, sawing off the lower limbs and eventually taking the whole thing down. To add to that list, we also took out about 50' of pine bushes running along he whole back of he house, taking up more valuable real estate as well. The hard part wasn't the taking them down so much, but moving all the leftover brush to the front of the house along the street for the city to pickup for us. Another added bonus.

Then along came more painting. The doors were that 70's style natural read oak light tone. A bit dated and definitely not matching the new color scheme and vibe we were looking for. So we took turns going at those.

We also need to update the kitchen. Like a complete overhaul. The lady who had the house before us is now in a nursing home, so the house and all of it's elements are in very good condition from very light use, but just out dated. Instead of ripping up the countertop and installing new cabinets, we decided to get some new products on the market from Rust-Oleum. Both their Cabinet and Countertop Transformations kits ended up saving us hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars on our kitchen reno. For now. Long term I envision us gutting most of the kitchen and reorganizing with some walls torn down and a breakfast nook built in. But this will more than do for now. So off came all the hardware on the cabinets, the faces went downstairs and got prepped, painted, and top coated with a nice fresh white. The hardware was sent to the garage for a nice matte black finish. The countertop was prepped and finished in a rich black onyx color. We haven't decided on a paint color in the kitchen yet, but it will be done to match the rest once we organize and realize the lighting situation we have going on. That needs an update as well. It never ends!

Overall, this has been a roller coaster experience for my wife and I. And I'm sure for our dogs too! We've had lots of help every weekend from our families coming up to help. We couldn't do what we're doing without them. We'd probably still be sanding the master bedroom. Training has taken a bit of a back seat, but I've been finding time in the early morning while my wife is still working her night shift and my daughter is still sleeping to get some time on the trainer. And I've spent some time on the road running, especially loving the run from my apartment to our new house. About 4 miles of flat, but beautiful running along lake Monona.

Next up in my mind is the basement. I can't wait to tackle it and turn it into my training dungeon from hell. I'm looking for a treadmill to go alongside my trainer, and add in some free weights, bands, balls, and all sorts of goodies to finish off my dream basement facility. Until then, keep training and have fun!

 

-Dave

That's Dope

I've been contemplating an in-depth, public opinion on the whole Lance Armstrong doping charges and what the ripple effect has been across not only the world of cycling, but triathlon and even the general public. Finally after reading a large amount of opinions, 'facts' and other random banter across endurance forums, I feel I have come to a greater sense of conclusion as to where I stand on the whole issue.

For the past few years, so it seems, Lance has been up against the wall fighting off USADA and other agencies in the world of cycling and keeping sports clean. For the longest time I honestly felt bad for the guy. How would you like the thought of at just about any time of day, all year round, some agent could show up at your door and ask you for samples for testing. What kind of world is that? Talk about feeling like big brother looking over your shoulder.

I watched the interview with Tyler Hamilton (Lance's former teammate) on ESPN a few weeks back and learned a lot about the psyche behind what they went through. The mental torture of constantly being tested, and you never know when. Man, that would be tough. I would really hate that.

Then I started thinking. These guys are pros. These guys are the best of the best. They are being backed by large companies shelling out large bags of cash for the cyclists to don their logos and colors. You know what, suck it up you pansy. Stop hiding in your closet and sneaking around doping up.

The fact that Lance passed hundreds of tests throughout his racing career doesn't really say that much. Like most illegal substances, when there is a governing body trying to control it, there's generally more money (albeit an inherently larger risk) to get those substances to those seeking it. Take the drug laws in the US, or during the times of prohibition. The governing body trying to stop the injustices or law-breaking generally don't have the same type of funding that goes into getting said substances to the law-breakers. The science and money that goes into finding the perfect training plan, nutrition and rest cycles for a professional cyclist is something of an art and perfect science existing in perfect harmony. The guys working on those plans are smart. Damn smart. They know things about the human body that some of us can't even fathom. So you know that 10 years ago, they were smarter than the governing body and knew how to beat their tests. And most likely had inside information to tip off possibilities.

The more I think about it, the less I care, however. But I will never sink to the phrase 'they all cheated, so how is he any different?' That's just a cowards cop-out. After reading Dan Empfield's article on slowtwitch, it made me realize even more how big of a deal the doping idea is.

He made it pretty simple. Break it down into breaking the rules in general. Let's say you have a two-loop course on a swim in a triathlon. You're one of the last waves, so who's going to know if you're skipping the second lap and just doing one and headed back to the timing pad. You sit back, take your time, make it inconspicuous by not having a mind-blowing time, but probably still near the top. I could easily have pulled this off at my last Olympic Distance race, especially since the sprint groups went after us and I could have just slid in with them and nobody would have known any better. Take my time going through 800m instead of 1500, coming out in 20min to do 800m. I think I could slow myself down plenty to do that. Now that's cheating. And that's not fair. Would I have won that day? Probably not. Shaving 6 minutes or so off my overall time wouldn't have helped me win. It would have put me in 1st in my age group instead of third. But not by much.

Here's the overall view I take on the doping issue as a whole. It's cheating. I don't care if 75% of the athletes are doing it. 75% of them are liars and cheaters. They have to look at themselves in the mirror everyday and know they cheated. I feel like I'm cheating myself when I cut a workout short. I can't imagine the self-ridicule I would place on myself if I were to cheat so bad in racing that I won the race, let alone the bags and bags of cash if I were wearing the yellow jersey in France, or taking the podium in Kona. I think I'd rather be in debt to the mob (maybe...), at least I'd know there's probably a way out of it.

And like Empfield says, it doesn't matter if you're at the front, middle or back of the pack. You're a cheater. It's simple as that.

Now, back to Lance. I've been seeing lots of posts over on Beginner Triathlete talking about racing with Lance or doing races that allow him to race and other things along those lines. I think the best quote I've read about this whole debacle has been along the lines of 'I will bow out now as this thread is so heavily opinionated that it feels like a debate on politics or religion'. Boy isn't that true. The amount of LA fans out there is amazing. And good for them. I am glad he has supporters who believe in him. But for those who 'don't care if he cheated, he had/has cancer!' Really? I mean really?? Those are two completely different categories to look at. If you want to be his fan boy and talk about him beating cancer and making his way back to the professional ranks of biking, now there is an inspiring story. I will not disagree whatsoever. But to negate the fact that he cheated because he came through some amazing adversity to get there isn't a strange story. Every athlete out there has some trials and tribulations in their lives to get to where they are now. Loss of loved ones, horrible crashes, etc. That's part of life. Lance's is just heavily documented. And he did beat the odds. It's truly an amazing story. His work with LIVESTRONG is amazing as well. The amount of money he has raised for the fight against cancer is truly epic.

But if he cheated. He's still a cheater. Your trials in life don't give you a free pass for later on in life. There's large numbers of cheaters out there in other professional sports that will never touch their sport again. 9 athletes were banned from the Olympics before they even started this year.

But let's face the facts. There will ALWAYS be cheaters. It's part of the human psyche. Everyone is seduced to cheating from time to time. It's the strongest who can cast the temptation aside and be stronger for it. And those who can beat cheating will have even greater glory in their accomplishments.

Armstrong, Contador, McGuire, Sosa. All incredibly amazing athletes. All stuck with the stigma of cheaters. Are they bad people? In my opinion, not even close. I'm sure every one of them are completely awesome dudes to talk to and genuinely nice. However, they will be forever tainted as cheaters in their sports.

But, I do really love LA's Honey Stingers. Those things are dynamite!

-Dave