Are triathletes stupid customers?

The definition of a stupid customer is a person that buy everything in hope that it will solve a problem. A typical customer will buy some item that solve no problem, but it looked like a really good buy 3.30 at night on TV after too many beers, or even worse, anything from the Skymall catalog.

What about a fat burning creme.....



Then, what about triathletes. Are triathletes stupid customers? To use a line from the movie Singles, "Sometimes". How can I say that? I can say that after watching triathletes in action. But here you have some products that have been in the triathlon spotlight over the last years, compression socks, Vibram fivefingers, mid/front foot shoes, no gluten, no carbohydrates, ice baths, solid food on the bike, magic bracelets etc. These are just some of the fabs the last years.

But one thing is true about the sport of triathlon. It is a first adapter sport. Nothing gets untested. But not all things should be tested at all and that is my point.

For anything related to the body, trust science. If the product has claims, how can the claims be proven. Do not trust anyone saying; test it and find out. You can say that science does not know everything, and that is true. If science knew everything it could stop. But claims should be backed up by verifiable facts, not stories.

There are no shortcuts or secrets to success. No magic blue pill (doping is cheating, remember), no hidden secret that will make you to a speed machine. A good example is the result of the fictional book Born to run. Many got caught in the wave of minimalistic shoes and had to find out that they were not 10 years old, 80 pounds Kenyans running to schools. Sorry, the running without cushioning is just stupid.

But on thing actual can improve your training and make you go faster. It is also free. Get more sleep :-)



 

 

Post Olympic stress syndrom

The Olympic is over and now it is back no a normal day and night routine. It is hard to sleep when all of my favorite events starts around 2 AM. So how did my two countries Norway and the USA. Norway did OK, got a lot of medals but had problem with skis and the male cross country skiing team. The US did not have the games they had expected after a strong start of their up and coming cross country team. But luckily the sport is more than the Olympics.

A friend of mine from Drammen and my cross country days sent over some pictures. Those were the days.











This is my friend Anders who became Junior Norwegian Champion in relay, he was on the same team as Ole Einar Bjorndalen. That is cool :-)

And yes I am still training and it is going just fine. I am easy when I am suppose to be and now manage to push the intervals.



But I am trying to be fearless in my training (or at least in my choice of t-shirt)

The joy of the polarized training

I am starting to get into a good rhythm when it comes to training. My easy run and bike sessions are now easy, and I am more ready to push on the hard sessions. The most interesting thing is that it is harder to go easy then hard. I think it is grained into us age groupers that no pain is no gain. But I am getting better at just focus on effort and not speed.



My running is getting better and I am enjoying the long easy runs. Knowing that I can look around and enjoy the scenery without constantly looking at a GPS watch to hit a zone is nice. And even better, I know I get a better workout. Also, I now run my intervals faster so I maybe not have my running legs from my youth, but I will get some running legs before the summer.



Other than enjoying training I am also enjoying the Olympics. Norway is doing good according to American media, and is just horrible according to Norwegian media. I guess the truth is something in between.





And in was Valentin's day, I did not forget :-)



 

 

Training in January, back to the future

I kept moving the months after Norseman, but it was more to keep moving than to get fitter. Fall is also the busiest time at work for me combined with a diet full of cookies around Christmas, January could not come at a better time. And January has been good.

Since I am my own coach now I have the pleasure to find out how I will work out. Should I be the TSS and threshold king, a Strava master or a boring Norwegian. I will be a boring Norwegian and it is a reason for that, it is science. I am actually going back to the way of training that I did when I was young, had speed and hair. I am going to be polarized.

I will follow the structure of polarized training, easy on easy days and hard on long intervals days, two hard days a week. If you wonder how this model works check out this presentation from Stephen Seiler, you get it http://www.canal-insep.fr/fr/training-periodization-deep-root-cultural-heritage-and-innovative-paradigms-2013/ei_13_10_va_pr_stephen_seiler-mov

Also I will recommend the discussion on Slowtwich http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Polarized_Training_-_Interesting_Lecture_Video__P4931310



Trying to look smart on the treadmill.

With the polarized model it is important to keep the effort down on easy days, and up on hard days. I am now doing 4x8 both on the bike and running. It is hard, but I know it will work. So how did I do in January? Not bad according to this.



I have start using the training diary from Olympiatoppen. It fits this kind of training better than Trainingpeaks.

 

 

Google "Norseman triathlon", and there I am

I just googled Norseman triathlon and on the front page as number three is my blog. This just confirm that I am obsessed with this fabulous race and that I maybe should go back one day :-)



 

Running in Sammamish

Today was such a nice day, so I took my IPhone with me on my run. Sammamish has a lot of nice places.

Even before I started everything was just good. I got myself a new pair of running shoes, New Balance 890. They did a good job.



And then I started to run.















I am lucky to have all these nice places just outside my door.

Training and competing is FUN

I have taking part in a discussion about what role triathlon has for individuals. And guess what, not everybody agreed. For me, training and competing is fun. Being a triathlete is not what I am. I am a person who also competing in triathlon. But I am also a husband, a dad, an employee and a geek.



I have a feeling that many of the most serious age groupers newer competed in endurance sports when they were 12 – 20 years old and now are trying to catch up. This is of course just a guess. But I think that if you have trained on a high level before you can relax a little more since you put the sport in a bigger picture. The sport is not the picture.



I like to run in the rain, in the cold and in warm weather. Why? Because I like to run, it is enjoyable. If I did not like to swim I would have done duathlon.

 

In the end for me competing and training for triathlon is an activity, not my life. So I have fun doing it, I have fun when the pain sets in, I have fun when I pass someone on a race, and I try to get back to the fun zone when someone pass me. Triathlon is not a description of my life, how I live my life is.

 

[caption id="attachment_363" align="alignnone" width="640"] This is how I have been feeling the last two weeks, being in a fog.[/caption]