Category: Training
Training Technology: The Caveman eats his helmet.
After nearly 2 decades of being a pro triathlete, the Caveman finally stumbles out of his grotto, knuckles dragging, to discover the wonders of training technology!
I know I’ll get a lot of flack for this one. (Ga Von Twitt– give me the best you’ve got!) Especially after this blog post about how backward the Caveman really is about training technology.
I used to rely on roughly on Time, Heart rate and Feel. Using my trusty Suunto t6 for swim, bike and run.
Now things have changed radically: From now on, technology will play an integral part in my training. Does that mean my admitted “loafing” and fun days of being “self coached” is over? No, to me, using this amazing new invention (ha ha) is a new challenge to rise up to. For all you techno geeks, stay tuned if you like numbers, watts, repeats, resting heart rate, calories burned, power to weight ratio and all the things the Old School Caveman shunned before.
Here we go:
– Power
Barely 2 weeks after resuming “training,” I was subjected to a lab test by Ian “Numbers” Rodger– my new trainer.
I reached out to Ian via FaceBook in a panic 2 weeks before XTERRA Nationals 09. I somehow conned him into a bad situation of injury and under training, only 6 weeks before XTERRA Worlds. For such a clever guy, you’d think he’d know better. I met Ian where he lab tested me before the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. I was impressed by his extensive knowledge for Wattage numbers which, very importantly, he combined really well with the non scientific aspects of racing. (pacing strategy etc) Successfully combining the Science of Physiology and Art of Training is a rare gift and I look forward to exploring new frontiers of performance and cleverderness with Ian.
The good photos are by Gary Perkin. The bad ones are by me!
Champions’ training. Different strokes for different folks…
In search for the holy grail of sports performance, Irish National Team ITU member, Gavin Noble (Dublin Triathlon Champion this past weekend) cranks out the Watts in the lab. This kind of lab testing will give Gav and his coach all kinds of numbers they can play with in training. Tests will be repeated often, charts plotted and if all goes well, high fives given.
These delicious little numbers makes the guy in the sweater with the clip board’s toes curl. Race times can be projected, tactics formulated and athletes can be compared to each other even before the starters’ gun bangs.
Read more about Gavin and Aleksandar and my swim sets on Igor’s blog.
Our other TriathlonTeam.org team mate, Will Clarke (British ITU Triathlon member and National Champion) really winds it up on the track. Looks like fellow GB Team mate and Chicago Tri winner, Stuart Hayes hanging on for dear life.
Bigger than you can imagine group track sessions typically forms the mainstay of their training. (they train up to 40hrs a week) These are blood and guts sessions. Coaches needs to be impressed, fellow athletes intimidated, but most of all, the times they do around the carefully measured 400m serves as building blocks of confidence and self belief to be drawn upon at the next race.
Enter The Caveman.
Rest day fun activity- Caveman style
When it snows outside, you have to stay sane somehow!
For the past 11 years, Friday is my day off. Usually I’m quite broken by then and I’ll be dragging most of Friday- till energy slowly returns in the late afternoon. I try to use the rest day to catch up on admin, get a massage, run errands, work on my bike, dress normally (ie not lycra) and importantly- do something really fun. Like taking the new puppy (KTM 450 exc) for a spin in the snow!
Of course I justify it as “skills training…” I found the dirt bike makes you concentrate 110% all the time. If you dont- you’ll get really hurt, really quickly. I treat this thing with more respect than a loaded gun. With XTERRA racing, you only have to concentrate (even with lactate coming out of your ears) during parts of the race. Single track, technical run sections, turn buoys in the swim… The rest of the time you just take the hurt while your brain freewheels. Mine anyway.
Apart from the mental training it really makes me feel alive. My cousin Johan has a KTM 360 – a gnarly 2 stroke beast- and Johan is only 130lbs and cant reach the ground! He did his PhD on blood parasites on reptiles- (ie catching snakes all day) a hard job. When he gets frustrated, he takes his KTM out and thrashes it- even if its just up and down the track – and comes back with a big smile and pressing with his forefinger on his chest, say: “it feels like my “refresh button” has been pressed!”
Ice Head pressing his “refresh button…”
Stoltz Racing’s 1st XTERRA training camp…
“It was a dark and stormy night…”
No, just kidding!
“It was a bright and sparkly morning… Six of us – all friends and family- got together for a little informal XTERRA training camp on our farm near Lydenburg, Mpumalanga. Uh, thats South Africa.
These guys are all relative newbies to sport. Sorry Gustav- rugby (even provincial rugby) is still a “game”:) Over the past few months while I was in the US I have been peppered with training questions, equipment questions, diet questions, I instructed on converting tires to tubeless and I even ferreted some Suunto t6 watches out from the US. These guys had a thirst for knowledge even the Encyclopedia Britannica couldnt quench. So once I landed on the farm they were onto me, and we had this fun impromptu training camp. It went so well, we’ll have some more in the future. (MTB camp end of Feb 09) Check www.StoltzRacing.com shortly
L to R: Gert Stoltz (aka Tarzan)- also my dad. Werner van der Merwe, Johan Pieterse, me (aka Caveman), Shelly van der Nest, Gustav Klingbiel.
I did quick bike fits, suspension tune ups, lectured on tires (a dangerous topic!) and helped one person put their
Epic long ride over McKenzie pass, Oregon.
I did a 4 hr ride with a short hard run off the bike. I started in Sisters, just outside my home Bend, Oregon. I rode up and over the lava covered McKenzie pass and dropped down to the green lushiousness (its my blog, I can make up words if I like)- of the west side of the Cascades to almost sea level, (500m) before turning around and climbing back up and over the arid 1600m peak. Nothing but climbing or descending for 4 hrs- great training mixed in with soul riding. About as much fun as road riding gets…
