The Man Who Lived on His Bike

Thanks to Rachel McBride and Shane Savage for sending me the link to this great vid of cycling year-round in Montreal!

The Man Who Lived on His Bike by Guillaume Blanchet

6:15am on Mondays and Wednesdays: POW!

I’m very lucky in that I really love my job. On Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:15am, however, I have the privilege of coaching a group of cyclists that have repeatedly helped me better understand exactly why I enjoy coaching so much. They have offered me an indirect form of learning about the sport and roles that I can play in it. I like that form of learning. To paraphrase an (in)famous poet: A field is one thing for a painter who wants to give you his impression of it; but it’s something else for a farmer who plants things to watch them grow.

One of the things that is starting to take root in my approach to cycling is to better articulate it’s role within the multifaceted lives of my clients. To make this post short, this Mon/Wed group has “high-level banter” (!). Yes, they are all successful; they all train very hard; and they’re all good athletes…but they can also yap on and on…and on and on… about their families and all sorts of interests: music, art, architecture, politics, business, machines, electricity etc. And don’t bother getting into a teasing match or you’re going to come second without even realizing it. Importantly, the vibe is always relaxed and friendly. Cycling is a part of this broader openness to what life gives and takes. Performance-orientated coaching should account for this and thus how I think of group rides and dynamic group training must develop.

There is one topic, however, that Mitch, Jeff, Richard, George, Brahm and Billy talk about more than any other: skiing. When normal folks walk out the door and notice it is cold, they shiver. When this group notices it’s cold, it is a stimulus to imagine what the weather is like on various ski hills around the world. On Mondays their legs are often tired from skiing, and if not, they’re a touch resentful. In fact, on Fridays, they do some strength training with our strength coach, Richard Tardiff. If he makes their legs sore, they only talk about it in relation to how it affected their skiing.

That provides the perfect segway to the photo series and vids that follow. Check out the videos, especially the one starring their good friend Ricky Dubrovsky. You get a real sense of … just check it out!

A couple weeks ago, Richard, Mitch, Jeff and Billy were doing this:

Meanwhile, Brahm took some photos of similar activities that he, George, Ricky and some other friends were doing:

In the background of this photo, you can see strength coach Richard Tardiff taking a photo of the boys doing single-leg deadlifts:

And here’s a photo of the rest of the gang’s strength coach during the ski trip:

Now for the awesome vids shot by George. The first one of Ricky gives you a sense of the vistas in Blue River :

Here’s one of Brahm in powder. It starts with everyone trying to figure out what day it is–always a good sign on a trip!

To finish, here’s one of George loving every second of it:

Gotta love it!

Clara Hughes, Clarity, and “Mental Toughness”

Have you ever wondered about how a coach might assess mental toughness?

Toguri Training manages and coaches a developmental Cat 1 Men’s racing team. 2012 will be the second year of this project. A more formal announcement of the team and its members will be made soon, but on paper at least, Team Medique p/b Silber Investments is notably stronger than last year. Last Sunday, as I took the team through a workout, I was thinking about the challenge of converting new-found fitness into performance. Like many coaches, I’ve worked with athletes who had the engine and skills to perform at a high level but did not achieve their potential for a variety of reasons. It is too easy to say they lacked the mindset to make it happen. As a coach, it is also too easy for me to say the athlete lacked the mental toughness to succeed, as if the onus was entirely on them to “get their head into the game.” That said, I am NOT a sports psychologist, and I don’t want to provide psychoanalysis for the people I train (!), but coaching riders of all levels involves communicating on a variety of wave lengths, and it certainly involves the desire to create scenarios for the experience of excellence. I believe fitness involves the thrill of being able to excel, so how do I try to coach to bring that about?

The fact is that some athletes handle stress better than others, and that the development of psychological and motivational tools are a key element of success. When I coach computraining classes, I begin by outlining where a workout fits in a macro plan. I then describe the workout in detail. Then I try to make clear the main goal of the workout and how riders should organize their psychological approach to each exercise. For example, if riders are performing a set of power intervals, I can demand that they maintain their target watts until they blow up, or I can require that they make quick adjustments to ensure they do not blow up and prioritize getting the reps in. These are two very different ways to do the same exercise. Clarity of purpose can produce confidence and focus.

Earlier this week, I had two clients riding way above their watts during the second of three drills. I told them to ride even harder, readjusting their targets on the spot so that they could see what they were capable of on the day. They were told to leave nothing for the third set because I felt they needed to see that they could ride above their targets for sustained periods of time, and they needed to feel the kind of repeated muscular contractions required to raise their fitness. In other words, I was not simply coaching people through an exercise, but also trying to instill confidence–a key component of mental toughness. I prioritized the need for confidence over the workout for the day. I tried to make my goals clear to the riders, by letting them know I believed they had to empty the tank mid-workout for their own sake. A breakthrough moment was at hand and if they grabbed it, their next task would be to carry that achievement forward into subsequent workouts. Those kind of challenges are great to take on because they are the challenge of achieving your goals.

Lots of coaches are good at motivating those around them. I think that fundamentally, you have to care about the individual needs of those you coach. You also have to respect that people have carved time out of their day to work with you, and you have to appreciate that commitment and desire for fitness through cycling. Caring about cyclists and cycling provides the base of what goes on. Above that, a coach has to be specific in their assessment of what an athlete needs. Broadly put, everyone who trains with me works hard but some are more “mentally tough” than others. In fact, most people are mentally tough in some ways, and need support in other ways. My job is to establish modes of communication with athletes that produce clarity with regards to their mental toughness. They have to know their strengths and limiters, in the same way they have to know they need more foot speed or they are excellent climbers.

Look at Clara Hughes. If you’ve ever seen her compete you would never question her mental toughness! She’s also someone who can keep the big picture, including the beauty of sport itself, front and centre while performing on an Olympic or local stage. After the 1996 Olympics, she suffered more than post-Olympic let-down and spiraled into what she describes as a deep depression and a “very dark place.” Now, she is a spokesperson for Bell Canada’s “Let’s Talk” campaign aiming to raise awareness and help those suffering from depression.

Mental toughness is only required because we experience a variety of stresses during physiological work. I often see clients get emotional during workouts. They don’t necessarily cry, but complexes of emotions flash across their faces. And we’ve all seen people achieve great things and then burst into tears… or space out completely while stating that can’t even begin to comprehend what just happened. Though I don’t know her, I sometimes think that people like Hughes–people who are able to physiologically and intellectually articulate the beauty of sport (they literally “embody” beauty)–require so much work to express themselves that they are always fighting forms of exhaustion. It is a burden of glory, which is more than just renown, honor, and great achievement. Glory also has to do with splendour, the majestic, beauty and bliss. The expression of glory is perhaps an act of pure giving, an offering that expects no return and does not even engage with an economy of getting something back. The glory of sport is thus exhausting. Sadness and fragility thrive on exhaustion. Hughes says she found herself crying every day, but luckily was offered help.

Mental toughness arrives through a variety of complexes. When I was coaching the Cat 1 racing team last Sunday, I was making notes on each rider, thinking about the different ways that they were mentally tough. It was a way for me to start to imagine roles riders will play, and whether the team as a whole can do anything with their improved fitness in the hyper-competitive world of Quebec racing. What psychological strengths needed to be instilled in the team in order for it to develop?

Then I remembered it wasn’t just up to me to develop their confidence, competitiveness and love of the sport. It was really more my responsibility to provide them a vocabulary for the kinds of traits required to consistently and repeatedly perform challenging tasks on a bike–and to excel. If they could more precisely identify those traits, they would have a better sense of themselves, their abilities, what they had to work on, and what was required by the sport in general. I want to establish clarity of purpose, not self-indulgent judgemental attitudes.

To start, I want to be more precise about “mental toughness.” Sport Psychologist, Gary Mack, defines seven characteristics associated with mental toughness, and I have modified them for cyclists:

Competitive: A competitive cyclist does whatever it takes to achieve their goals within the parameters of their sporting context and the rules. Competitive cyclists go the extra mile for a team. Most importantly, competitive cyclists continue to compete even when they don’t achieve their goals. It is as if they know that today’s competition is related to the next. That is, they compete while focusing on both short and long term goals. Failure to reach short term goals becomes an opportunity to get better at one aspect of cycling so they can continue to strive for long term goals.

Competitive cyclists compete with the big picture in mind. They therefore are good at adapting quickly on the spot. They also thrive on having to take their effort to the next level. Adaptation and elevation are hallmarks of the competitive cyclist’s tenacity. As a coach, I observe whether athletes readjust their effort levels to continue riding hard after failing to reach target watts while indoor, or failing to bridge/hang-on outdoor. Do they figure out ways to continue to compete, or do they “sit-up”?

Confident: A confident athlete believes she can’t be stopped. Confident cyclists believe in their abilities. They do not let self-defeating thoughts take over. Many cyclists are competitive, but lack confidence. Typically, these riders will attempt to do too much at the beginning of workouts, rides or races, and then fade/disappear at crucial moments. They lack confidence in their ability to gradually improve within a coached process so they blindly compete in the moment with unrealistic expectations. Their lack of confidence gets projected into their competitiveness, as they ride erratically or begin to ignore the basic goals of the day. Consciously or sub-consciously, they will spend time during workouts or events creating excuses, or they will be verbally or silently self-deprecating.

Control: Mentally tough cyclists have control of their emotions and behaviors. They won’t allow other riders or events at work or school to get into their head. They use the warm-up to focus, and their main desire is to execute their goals properly, as opposed to just hammering as hard as possible. For example, confident athletes who can control their behavior and emotions do not chase other cyclists while doing hill reps at prescribed training zones. In races, they exhibit patience, and try to make a race plan work, as opposed to simply following every attack.

Committed: A cyclist who is highly motivated, has the organizational skills to coordinate their personal calendar with school, work and training, and does not get distracted from their short or long term goals. Commitment involves repeated actions, consistency and an awareness of the goals of others. It is as much a skill as a personality trait and reveals itself the most when a person is capable of helping all of those around them both share and achieve their goals.

Composure: Cyclists who can deal with adversity–crashes, flats, schedule changes, injuries, equipment problems, criticism, set backs of any sort… and still stay focused under pressure. Often, the least composed cyclists have the least amount of confidence in their abilities.

Courage: Cyclists who readily step out of their comfort zone display a belief in their ability or the plan for the day. The desire to execute a workout or race plan outside of their comfort zone is called “courage.”

Consistency: Some riders continue to perform in the most adverse conditions. Again and again they rise to the occasion. They rarely miss workouts and perform in ways that others can depend on. Consistency provides the spine for any team or group project.

These traits weave into each other, but it is easy to imagine an athlete who is, for example, courageous but inconsistent. They seem so mentally tough during training or during an event, but are really limited by their inconsistency. After a point in time, their acts of courage seem more desperate or their attacks or monumental efforts seem pointless.

It is almost impossible to bring all these traits forward every day. But isn’t the realm of the impossible something that drives the glory of sport, or isn’t it at least part of its gift?

 

Training with a Cold or Flu

This week I’ve noticed a few people sneezing or coughing during workouts at Toguri Training. While it’s been reported that many people sneeze when thinking about having sex or an orgasm, I suspect one or two of you also have a cold.

Cold and Flus

Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the start of a cold and a flu, but they are the result of two different viruses. In general, influenza is worse–even the name makes you feel like part of a history of pandemics, including the global Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 with estimates beginning at 20 million dead. The flu is serious. If your body aches and you’re dry coughing with a fever while feeling wiped out…you’ve probably got influenza. You need rest or these common symptoms might develop into bacterial infections within your lungs…or worse. Think dry cough turns to wet cough turns to blood in your mucous…

Colds tend to be much milder, and involve running noses and/or stuffed sinuses with the accompanying headache. You should feel anti-social, but you shouldn’t have to get out of bed by rolling over out of damp sheets until your clammy body slaps on the floor. That is, you should have energy.

When to Workout and When to Rest

Exercise can help a cold and runny nose. It is often said a workout can blast a cold out of your system. There is some truth to this as exercise promotes the release of white blood cells, which help fight disease, into your blood stream. If you are going to workout with mild cold symptoms, however, reduce the intensity. Recovery rides or shorter endurance workouts can be helpful “just to keep the blood moving”.

Do not workout when you have a fever, body aches or when you’re exhausted. When you have these symptoms, your body is screaming for rest. Also do not workout with a hacking cough or congested lungs. You probably have a fever if you have these symptoms, and training with a fever is not only counter-productive, it elevates stress on your heart. If you train with a fever you are really risking a major setback in your overall training schedule as it is quite common for athletes to go from a mild fever to severe exhaustion after a workout.

DO NOT COME TO THE GYM WITH A COLD OR INFLUENZA!! That would seem obvious, but it needs to be said. Cold and flu viruses are contagious!! If you insist on training, don’t do it at the gym out of courtesy for others.

At TTS, coaches have the right to ask you to leave and make-up a class later if you’re sneezing and dripping all over the handlebars. Recognizing and reducing bad training habits, and bad training environments, is part of what we do. But what can you do to reduce the likelihood of getting a cold or flu?

Reduce the Risk of Getting a Cold or Flu

Yes, you can try to boost your immune system by taking 1000 mg of Vitamin C four times a day. You can take echinacea tincture if you feel it helps, though the literature is mixed. There are many “immune-boosting” remedies out there but THE WAY TO REDUCE THE RISK OF GETTING A COLD OR FLU IS TO WASH YOUR HANDS REGULARLY AND PROPERLY!!

When you train in a gym, you are touching surfaces touched by people with colds. Guaranteed.

Seasonal viruses love the membranes around your noses and eyes. I’d guess that each of you touches your face AT LEAST 10 times during a workout, often rubbing your noses or wiping around your eyes. Use the provided towel to wipe your face of sweat!! Also, we provide a hand sanitizer!! Use it on your hands, and even a bit on the handlebars before you ride!!

Do I have to mention that sharing water bottles is a bad idea??

 Cold Buster Tea

I tend to avoid cold remedies, though I will take something for a headache if it persists. I stick with lots of fluids and sleep. My body also prefers fish or vegetarian dishes when it’s run down, and I’m a big fan of soup when sniffling. Most of you will have your own approach to colds but in general, they take a week or two to pass through your system. Here’s a recipe for a “Cold Buster Tea” that I love. I’m not extolling its medicinal virtues, but I like the taste and find it comforting. I’ve passed this recipe on to clients and in general got the “two thumbs up!”

There are a lot of different versions of this tea, but here’s what I make and to my surprise it showed up in a British cycling mag a few years back with notes about the medicinal qualities of each ingredient.

–Any herbal tea serves as a base: camomile or any “dream” tea at night. Some people use Green Tea because researchers at the University of Sherbrooke found it helped stop the replication of the adenovirus (a common cold virus), but green tea has caffeine so only use it during the day. Others use echinacea tea, and Tulsi tea is now all the rage…

Add the following. Measurements are for one large mug of comfort!

–the juice of 1/4  lemon

–tablespoon of grated fresh ginger

–honey to taste

–a dash of cayenne

Follow with a good night’s sleep with dreams of the big ring!

 

Computraining vs Spinning

TTS coach, Michelle Paiement, will be leading an advanced skills workshop for spin instructors at the Westmount YMCA. It is full, with a waitlist!! The growing demand for both Michelle’s coaching and the desire amongst spin instructors to take their classes to another level, led me to think about the main differences between computraining and spinning.

First of all, let’s put spinning in its place. One of our main goals at TTS is to contribute to the cycling culture of Montreal. It’s easy to forget that Quebec-based spinning instructors work in a cultural context infused with an appreciation of cycling. Here are some stats derived from Vélo Québec’s 2005 and 2010 reports:

:: Per capita, more people own bikes in Quebec than in the USA, Britain and France.

:: Riding a bike is the most popular leisure activity in the province.

:: The average cyclist spends 3.8 hours a week cycling between May and September!

:: While most cyclists ride for fun, exercise, or as part of family outings, one of every six adults uses their bike as a mode of transportation.

:: A further 62 000 participated in organized one-day events in 2005

:: The number of adult cyclists has increased by 500,000 since 2005

:: Between 1987 and 2010, the number of bicycles in Quebec more than doubled and the number of regular cyclists increased by 50%

:: In Montreal, cyclists can take advantage of the plethora of bike routes and paths that have helped the city be consistently ranked in the top 5 cities for cycling in North America.[1]