Once Inspired

Archive for February, 2010

“Ironman World Championship runner-up Chris Lieto talked with VeloNews’ Neal Rogers about the twitter time trial, training as a cyclist and exactly how fast he thinks Armstrong can finish at the Ironman World Championships.

Those who follow Lance Armstrong’s Twitter updates may have noticed his first-ever “Twitter time trial” last week against Ironman triathlete Chris Lieto, held along Kona’s Queen K Highway — the windy stretch of coastal road that serves as the bike leg of the Hawaii Ironman world championships.

The impromptu competition between the two stars of endurance sports started as a tweet from Armstrong to Lieto on the afternoon of February 16, when the seven-time Tour champ wrote, “Just passed @chrislieto going the other way. He was hammerin. Hey Chris, a little TT showdown on the Queen K tomorrow? You, me, and whoever.”

One of the strongest cyclists in triathlon, Lieto promptly replied, “@lancearmstrong see u on the Queen-K! Will have to be after 8am cause I have to swim first. Flying out mid day. Give me a call.”

Later that day Armstrong issued a notice to his near 2.5 million Twitter followers: “Queen K Hwy TT Challenge. Tomorrow 9:30am. Start – Waikeloa Beach Dr to Kukio Nui Dr. 14 miles. Full gas. Take it easy on me @chrislieto.”

The event, which ended up being closer to 11 miles, drew a few dozen spectators and participants.

A video posted online quoted Armstrong saying Lieto had ridden 15 seconds slower than he had; Lieto later posted his time as 18:44; just nine seconds slower than Armstrong. Either way, it was an impressive ride for the triathlete, considering Armstrong has been one of the strongest cyclists against the clock of the past decade. And as Armstrong said, “Who knows, maybe we’ll be having a showdown out here [on the Queen K Highway] in a couple years, with the swim in the front and the run at the end.”

The biggest star of the new Trek/K-Swiss triathlon team, Lieto, who turns 38 this year, is famous for using his bike strength to begin the marathon run with a large advantage. That tactic has never taken him to victory on the sport’s biggest stage, but he’s won three Ironman-distance races, holding the bike-course record at Ironman Canada. He finished ninth in Kona in 2006 and sixth in 2007 (the top American), and last year Lieto posted the fastest bike split — 4:37:33, for an average of 24.22mph — before Australian Craig Alexander finally reeled him in at mile 22 of the run. Lieto finished second, 2:35 behind Alexander, a result that forced those who have questioned Lieto’s bike-heavy strategy to think again.

The Bay Area resident has also done his fair share of bike racing with the amateur team California Giant Berry Farms, playing the role of unknown wildcard at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, in 2006 and 2007, and at the Tour of Utah, in 2006 and 2008. At the 2006 Utah race Lieto made it into the day’s breakaway on the final stage, finishing fourth on the climb to Snowbird Resort, just nine seconds behind climbing sensation Phil Zajicek; he finished the race 11th overall, 5:32 behind overall winner Scott Moninger. At Mt. Hood in 2007 Lieto put in a strong performance, finishing fifth on the pivotal 18.5-mile time trial, ahead of two-time national time-trial champion Chris Baldwin. Lieto finished that race seventh overall, 3:08 behind overall winner Nathan O’Neill.

VeloNews managing editor Neal Rogers caught Lieto by phone to ask about how the recent “Twitter time trial” came about, how it felt to be less than 10 seconds slower than a rider who has stood on the Tour de France podium eight times and how Armstrong might fare against today’s Ironman men’s field.

VeloNews: So is there a Trek connection with Armstrong?

Chris Lieto: Yeah, I’ve known Lance a few years, through Trek, we’ve done some wind-tunnel stuff. He invited me out to his house last fall for the Mellow Johnny’s Classic, the mountain-bike race. I did that, and I hung out with him there. I knew he was in Hawaii and I connected with him. I saw him out riding one day, we rode a few times together, and then we passed each other one day — he saw me riding down a hill, and he was riding up — and he twittered right after that. We were planning on doing a good ride together, and then he twittered that. He emailed me, we had an arrival time, he was going first, and I was leaving behind him. We met at 9:30. He opened it up to anyone else that wanted to do the time trial. They just had to leave after us, and it was on the honor system, no cheating, you started your own clock at the start and at the finish. I think he was surprised by how much response he got, and how much banter there was, with the tri community getting in on it. It was pretty funny.

VN: What was the distance?

CL: I’d have to look at my computer. I think it ended up being 11 miles. I don’t remember exactly. The average speed was about 56kph, or about 35mph. We had a tailwind.

VN: And this was part of the Ironman triathlon course?

CL: Yep, it’s part of the Ironman course, probably from mile 85 to 95, or so, somewhere in there.

VN: Armstrong tweeted that you were only 15 seconds behind him.

CL: Yeah, I was actually nine seconds off. He quoted me at 15 seconds in a video that was shot right after we finished. But after I downloaded my computer, my time was a little bit quicker.

VN: That’s pretty fast — Armstrong won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the time trial, has won several Tour de France time trials, and was third at the Tour last year. Did you expect to be there? Are you pleased with that?

CL: Yeah, obviously I’m pleased to be that close to the best cyclist in the world. It’s great. I didn’t know what it was going to be like, or how I would perform. I didn’t think I would be that close. It was my first hard effort of the year, doing something like that. I haven’t done any max efforts yet, so it was a new experience for the year, to get going again. We’d both had hard weeks of training. The day before I think he rode five hours, I rode five hours, a lot of climbing, intervals, so it was just an unknown. But it was good to just hit it out. It helped with the tailwind, it made it a little bit easier to stay within striking range, or minimize the time gap. I think if it was a headwind maybe it would have been a little different. I think it also shows the bike quality of our new Trek Speed Concept. It equaled it out. We were on the same bike, in similar positions, on similar size frames.

VN: Was there one rider that brought more aerodynamic equipment — wheels, helmet, skinsuit, anything?

CL: No, it’s funny, we talked beforehand, I said okay, no aero helmets, because I didn’t bring mine and he had his. He said okay, and then he showed up and he was in his skinsuit, and I was in my regular jersey and bibs. And I was like “What’s up with the skinsuit?” and then he looked at my wheels and said that I had race wheels on. They’re four-year-old aluminum training wheels, but they have bladed spokes. But I had a 24-count spoke count wheel, and he had a 32-spoke count wheel. He had a skinsuit and I had a jersey and bibs, I had an aluminum rim with less spokes than he had, so it all balanced out.

VN: I’m pretty familiar with Armstrong’s race schedule, and where he should be with his fitness at this time of year. You said that was your first hard effort of the year; what’s your first race of 2010, and where did this sort of effort fit into your training?

CL: My first race of the year is March 15th. His first race was, what, last month? I’m a few months behind the cycling community. My first big race isn’t until June, and then Hawaii in October. I break my year into two halves. There are two half-Ironmans that I will be focusing on, but I haven’t confirmed which ones yet. For me my main focus is October. For Lance it’s the Tour de France in July. I try to get a first half of the season peak in June, and then I take a few weeks off and rebuild and start my focus for October. The big build will be for Kona.

VN: We’ve seen you race at national-level road races in the past, but not really last year. Will you do that again in 2010? Where are you with your side career as an amateur cyclist?

CL: I’m not really doing anything with the side career. I’m still with the (California Giant Berry Farms) team, I am still part of it. Last year was the first year I didn’t do any stage races, the year before I did Tour of Utah. Last year with my training schedule and my racing schedule, it didn’t fit in. I did a few small local road races. This year will probably be the same. I doubt I’ll show up to any stage races. I think the lead up for me is more specific, what I need to do leading up to a triathlon.

VN: So what’s changed? How has the lead up changed compared to years when you were racing stage races? Does that mean you need to work more on the run, and less on the bike?

CL: It’s the whole balance. Training for triathlon you have to balance all three sports. So going to do a stage race, like say the Tour of Utah, I may prepare differently on my bike leg leading up to it so I can be fit enough on the bike to maintain and to be part of that race. I’m also taking that five- or six-day block and just riding. In the past I would do little runs after the stage was over, just a short run to keep the legs moving. But you take a weeklong block to do a stage race and you’re not getting in the swimming and running. So you have to sacrifice those, and you have to figure out what is the grand effect, and how you manage recovery to make sure you’re still on plan for the ultimate race in your triathlon schedule.

VN: So out in Kona with Lance, training on the Queen K, you must have chatted with him about him returning to triathlon. What kinds of conversations have you had with him about it?

CL: We have chatted a little bit about it. Nothing is definite or set. It’s known that he has an interest in racing triathlon again. He’s made statements that he’ll come and race in the sport of triathlon at some point, in the next year or two, when he’s done with the Tour. I think we may see him at some Ironman events, or half-Ironman events, or something like that.

VN: From what you’ve seen in Armstrong’s comeback, and his rides on the Queen K, what sort of performance do you think he’s capable of in the Hawaii Ironman?

CL: Oh, I mean he’s one of the greatest athletes in the world. Looking at where he is now, after taking the time off, he has the ability to compete in any sport. He has the biking background, I think he has shown he can run and do marathons. He swam in high school, and he did triathlons early on, so he has the ability and the skill sets to do it. I think he’ll be competitive. I think it will be good for the sport.

VN: So what sort of performance is he capable of? I’m looking for a time. Can he go under nine hours?

CL: Oh yeah, he’ll go under nine, for sure. There’s no reason he couldn’t. It’s all about the engine. He’s a very smart guy, so he gets the part about balance, and nutrition … there’s so much more to a triathlon than pure raw power and speed. You’ve got to be patient, and you’ve got to be calculating in your nutrition plan and how you get the fluids in you, and as far as dosing your effort. He’ll know that if he does a 112-mile bike, he’ll need to be reserved to do the marathon. He’s not going to go and kill the bike leg. In the race we did on the Queen K, it was 18km, 10-11 miles, it was short, it’s different, it’s raw power, a different approach. He knows what he’s doing. I think he’ll go sub-nine. I think he’ll be in the mix a little bit. He’ll create some stir. He’ll get some people worried, stressed out about where he is. I think he even has the ability to get top-five.

VN: I would think your position as the strongest cyclist in triathlon, and as someone who can race against pros at national-level stage races, is of great interest to VeloNews.com readers, many of whom are probably stronger cyclists than runners.

CL: It’s all based on the balance of how you go at your race. For me, my strength is my cycling, so I use that to my advantage. I may not run as fast as I could if I just ran a marathon. I could probably go out and run a pretty fast one-off marathon. But trying to put it in after riding 112 miles by yourself, at the front, is much different than riding 112 miles in a group, or not riding at all and just running a fresh marathon. My running is good, it’s just not as good as the guy who won this year. But my cycling is that much better than his. It’s just finding that balance in your dose of effort.

VN: Does that mean, being the strong cyclist you are, and having gotten closer and closer to winning by using the bike as your strength, that you work even harder on the bike, to get out front even more, or do you have to work on the run more? Will you train one more or less than you did last year?

CL: It’s all about balancing the three. I don’t look at it as I need to ride more and get faster on the bike for that extra minute. I have to make sure the bike is as strong, if not stronger, than last year. And I also need to focus on the run, and make sure that it’s better than it was last year. I can’t neglect the cycling aspect and just focus on my running. I focus a lot on my biking and I focus a lot on my running. It seems like my biking is still going well, and it showed well last week with Lance. I think it also shows the cycling community the credibility of the sport of triathlon. It’s not just a bunch of guys out there that can’t make it as cyclists that are out there doing triathlon. There are a lot of guys out there that are really good on a bike. There are a handful of professional triathletes that could compete in the pro ranks on the bike, but they don’t, because we balance all three. And I think it shows with my TT ride against Lance. I won’t go out and beat him, but I’m not that far off.

VN: You might go out and beat him. Nine seconds is not a lot in 11 miles; that’s less than a second a mile. We all know the fallibility of the transitive properties in bike racing results — otherwise known as the virtual race resumé — but who knows, maybe you’re capable of going top-15 in a ProTour time trial.

CL: That would be pretty crazy.”

Taken from http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend? “If I could only see the world, I will marry you.”

One day,someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her: “‘Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?’

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn’t expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for  before they were yours, they were mine.”

What do you value most? How far are you willing to go for the one’s you love? It is easy to display affection. However undeserved privliages can cloud our vision. Love deeply and receive graciously.

Good day and welcome the final week of the second month of 2010. Thus far I have had much success with my new ventures which will be in full swing from 1 March 2010. If you’d like to know more about that read my previous post, Change and the Opportunities that Await.

Here is a little testimonial-ish piece from one of my clients, a masters swimmer who has made some drastic improvements. Please see below extracts from the emails which he updates me with following a gala.

This gentleman came to me with 1 major problem and several smaller ones. The major problem was that his one leg would give a huge thump of a kick every second stroke… and that was it as far his kicking went. So after 3 weeks this is how it goes:

Day 1 of 3 of WP Masters at UWC

50m Free (long course)

“Warmed up with lotza flutter kicking + then tried to keep focus on the kicking during the event.”

“Was in Heat 5 of 9 (pretty much in the middle of the range of all swimmers taking part) and was wanting to improve on my last gala time of 33.42 secs.(23.01.10)”

“Looks like I was able to take a second 1.05 secs off my last gala time and equal my PB of last year – 32.36 + 32.35 secs.”

Date	Course	Occasion	Time (secs)
24.01.09	Long	Paarl Gala	32.36
25.02.09	Long	UWC Gala	32.35
01.04.09	Short	Long Street Gala	33.39
05.12.09	Long	UWC Gala	32.44
23.01.10	Long	Paarl Gala	33.42
08.02.10	Short	NM Time Trial	33.60
16.02.10	Long	UWC Gala	32.37

And now for an even better part:

Day 3 of 3 of WP Masters at UWC

100m Free (long course)

“Did 4 X 50m length warm-up (in 2 X 100m slow sessions) and did manage OK to get the legs working in the warm-up.”

“Was in Heat 3 of 6 (pretty much in the middle of the range of all swimmers taking part) and was wanting to improve on my last gala time for the 100 m Free event this year of 1 : 17: 56 (23.01.10)”

“Looks like I was able to take 4.17 secs off my last gala time at Paarl-East last month (23.01.10) with a  1 : 13 : 39 and better my PB of 2009 by a bit.”

“During the event itself I could feel I was putting most of my energy into the upper bod and not as much as I should have into the legs.”

“Guess I just went back into the ‘old technique’ with the pressure of the competition itself.”

“The training we have been doing must have some influence on the time though – hence the new PB.”

“So am very happy with this.”

“The next frontier (with your help) on the 100m Free will be to break say 1 : 12 : 0 :”

Date	Course	Occasion	Time (secs)
24.01.09	Long	Paarl Gala	1 : 16 : 93
25.02.09	Long	UWC Gala	1 : 14 : 15
01.04.09	Short	Long Street Gala	1 : 14 : 51

05.12.09	Long	UWC Gala
23.01.10	Long	Paarl Gala	1 : 17 : 56
08.02.10	Short	NM Time Trial	1 : 16 : 00
21.02.10	Long	UWC Gala (Paarl)	1 : 13 : 39

So that’s how it goes. Many swimmers think that watching videos and trying to make improvements on their own will make the difference they’re looking for. Not so. And in other unfortunate news: If you have a bad technique you can train all you want, you will only be able to go so fast.

Get a technique coach. Learn the drills and don’t be afraid to substitute a hardcore session for “technique” session… especially when you’re tired.

Happy swimming. Oh and well done Pete. Proud to be of assistance.

They say that time changes things, but sometimes you have to change them yourself. For a long time I knew that being confined to a chair, a desk and a PC screen would not fulfil me. I admit that I was guilty of falling into the rut of mainstreamers who tend to find it necessary to conform to the demands of society and modern living.

Wake up, get dressed, go to work, ask yourself: “WHY?” Work some more. Go home. Arrive home irritated because the traffic was not to your liking, eat dinner, and relax for a short while. Sleep. And start over. Rinse and repeat.

Not being my idea of fun, I pursued a lifestyle change; one that would allow me to come and go as I please. Doing what I enjoy and being able to experience those beautiful summer days that always seem to occupy every Monday of December, January and February.

As of March 2010 I will be required to work 20 flexible hours per week as a marketing specialist. I love marketing. It’s dynamic and exciting however I cannot spend five sevenths of my life doing it. That may be slightly dramatised but it’s strange how 24%, which represents your 40 hour work week, can feel like five sevenths, or 71%.

So 20 hours would equate to 12% of my week. I will spend 12% of my week as a marketing specialist. But let’s look a little closer at what it means for me to be able to spread those 20 hours per week as I see fit?

Firstly I will not need to sit in traffic. That cuts out up to 1 hour per day. Secondly I can work all 20 hours into 2 or 3 days if necessary, saving the rest of my week for pursing the opportunities that will present themselves as I meet and interact with more people thanks to extra mobility.

Currently I am working 8.5 hours per day which includes my lunch break. So work time is therefore 7.5 hours.  However commuting is around an hour and therefore from home and back to home again I am unable to pursue anything within an 8.5 hour period. My estimated daily duration from March will be around 4.5 hours per day. Now that is slightly higher than half of what I am doing but since I am still confined to lunch within a given window, and include travelling in that I have a 9.5 hour day. Suddenly I’ve gone from 53% to 47%. That’s a 6% difference which means I gain 34 minutes and 12 seconds per day and earn 6% more per hour.

Suddenly I have more time and more money. It’s not a huge difference but the results speak for themselves. And all this happened within the space of a 10min conversation. Not so bad from a progress perspective.

Now most of you might be thinking, “Yes sure you’re working half day now but that means you are earning half of what you used too?” This is indeed true. However now I am able to apply these same principals to my new venture, Triathlon Coaching. I get to be outdoors, do what I love. Priceless? Not quite. My earning potential has increased by 150%.

“After all, mobility and time is the wealth of the new rich. Being mobile presents opportunities. Having time allows one to pursue those opportunities.” – Inspired by Tim Ferris, author of the 4 Hour Work Week

Here’s one last thought for you:

Now that you have identified what you don’t want to do, it’s time to define what it is you would like to do. Rather than broadly summarise your ambitions, define your goals!

As life would have it, people come together and they fall in love. Obviously they fall in love with the other person and accept them for who they are and so on, but they also occasionally, fall in love with the subconscious desires that that individual fulfills.

They will surely add value to each others’ lives in one way or another, but you’re probably thinking that of course they add value otherwise they wouldn’t be in love.

But surely you should still love someone even when they become a burden on you? Love is not a matter of convenience.

Love needs to have room to grow. Sometimes falling in love is a case of “You fit and therefore you will stay.” Now if something fits then there I no room for growth. Love is side by side, not one within the other and that is a big mistake that many people make.

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”

-          Kahil Gibran, author of The Prophit.

If something fits it will always just fit. If it grows it no longer fits and hence the significance of the second quote above.

What happens when the value added love is gone? All of sudden that which seemed to fit so well begins to loosen up.

The desire to be back at the stage of perfect fit leads the individual into thinking: “Maybe those feelings can come back. I’m going to continue to love like this just as did before and hopefully someway, somehow, someday soon we will be back to where we were 1 month ago.”

At this stage that person has fallen out of love since that value added love is no longer there. The desire to be back at the blissful love state is the only motivating factor for staying in the relationship. Still being in love with the idea of loving you they continue to act, do and say the nice things they always have. One such thing is telling you that they love you.

Falling out of love is not uncommon. Unfortunately though many people take the “How could you?” angle which only leads to resentment.

It’s not fair to blame someone for their feelings. Most of the time they can’t help the way they fell, and sometimes they even wish they could change the way they feel.

So next time you fall in love, make sure there’s room for growth. And do yourself a favour, read The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. Here’s once last quote from it.

“Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”

-          Kahil Gibran

Incase you were wondering…

“Every triathlete knows good technique is critical to swimming performance. But not everything you think you know about effective freestyle technique is true. There are many myths floating around. Here are some of the ones to watch out for:

1. Triathletes don’t need to kick much. While it’s true that triathletes need not rely on a hard kick for propulsion (that’s for pool sprinters), a good, steady kick will greatly enhance your body position and rotation. It will bring your hips closer to the surface of the water, allowing you to be more streamlined and enhancing your stroke efficiency.A“good, steady kick” is a noticeable kick (some would call it a four-beat kick, with four kicks for every stroke rotation) that provides some propulsion, enhances body position and doesn’t noticeably tire your legs. The key is to practice swimming with this kick so your muscles will develop to appropriately support this kick during a race.

2. A wetsuit minimizes the negative impact of stroke deficiencies. First of all, wetsuits are not even allowed in some races, including a little out-of-the-way event called the Hawaii Ironman World Championship. That’s reason enough alone not to depend too much on your wetsuit to make up for inefficiencies in your technique. But the bigger issue is the fact that a wetsuit can’t reallymake up for these inefficiencies. True, a wetsuit helps with buoyancy and body position for most swimmers, but it also helps efficient swimmers in the same way, so you don’t gain anything on them if you’re both suited up. And a wetsuit does nothing to ensure proper rotation, catching, pulling and recovery. It won’t swim for you.

3. You should breathe on both sides (breathe on every third stroke). Alternate breathing is a great way to train your stroke to become balanced, as it develops equal left-right muscular strength and reduces left-right technique asymmetries. However, in a long-distance swim, oxygen is very important, and you get more oxygen when you breathe on one side every second stroke. Over the course of a mile, 1.2 miles, and especially 2.4 miles, this will result in the uptake of significantly more oxygen than would occur if you were to breathe on every third stroke. And that’s more oxygen your body can use to power your working muscles. Analysis of the world’s best long-distance swimmers shows that 95 percent of them breathe on every stroke cycle for this reason. They can sustain a faster pace for a longer distance with more oxygen delivered to their muscles.

4. You should cup your hands to grab more water. Ironically, this results in grabbing less water. The surface area of your hand in a cupped position is much less than it is in a relaxed position. Try it: cup one hand and measure the area presented to the water and put the other hand in a relaxed position. In fact, research has shown that a hand in a relaxed position with fingers at their normal separation actually has a “webbing” effect and pushes more water than a flat hand with the fingers pressed together.

Colleen Kelley, PhD., a chemistry professor at the University of Arizona, is a long-time triathlete and an associate coach of Troy Jacobson’s Triathlon Academy.”

Taken from http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/