On the Road!

I'm on a work trip in SoCal, enjoying the weather and taking the opportunity to catch up with some old and new friends.  On Sunday, Morgan and I swung up to L.A. and recorded two short podcasts with Vinnie Tortorich and a long one with Rich Roll.  

Vinnie was a blast and Rich was deeeeeeeeeep - just like I hoped.  I also scored an interview with Rich's wife, Julie.  I have to say, she's intense.  Not intense in the way she talks to you, but intense in the way she makes your mind explode as you look inward and discover what makes you tick.  I don't know if Rich found her at a yoga studio or in a cave on top of a mountain under a sign that said, "Oracle."

Keep your eyes open and look for some incredible audio coming your way from all of us in our own ways soon.  My interview with Rich is already up.  Now, back to work.

"After enlightenment, chop wood."

ZenTri Podcast 530 - Fitness Confidential with Vinnie Tortorich

Click here to listen or download the show!

America's Angriest Trainer Vinnie Tortorich calls in to tell us about his new book, "Fitness Confidential." It's a great show!

We talk about how he got started as a trainer, his views on nutrition, and what people need to do to get healthy.  Join in for a listen and get a good dose of Vinnie.

What's the Right Cadence on the Bike?

I was recently asked about bike cadence.  How do you train and race while keeping it in mind?  Here are my thoughts from an email to a friend.  You just might find it useful - 

First off, it's important to remember that people are highly individual with cadence, so you'll need to test and find out on yourself.  Second, higher cadence takes muscle strain off your legs and puts it on your cardio system instead.

Where we live, it's best to do higher cadence with lighter torque when going uphill, but lower cadence with a little more torque on the flats and downhills.  And then that variability ends up being nice because you work the muscles differently the entire ride.  If you go down to the Brazos River bottom on HWY 159 where it's super flat, you'll notice that staying in the same gear with the same cadence for long periods gets very tiresome.  In that situation, it's best to actually purposefully alter your cadence every few minutes.  Let's say do 97 for a while, then 90 for a while, 94 for a while....  You'll come off the bike with fresher legs that way. (This guy has a naturally high cadence already)

 

Jordan Rapp would tell you to bike with whatever cadence during the race feels most natural and easiest.  That's going to give you the best run.  And I would add to that, that I've done higher cadence in races on purpose and burned through my fuel too fast and got off the bike already worn out. That leaves me with this rule -  The time to practice higher cadence is during intervals in training, and then that work will reflect a naturally higher cadence on race day without you having to work at it and wearing yourself out too soon for a good run.

 

So, I'd do bike rides with 10 to 20 minutes of higher than normal cadence, do rides where I purposefully mix cadence on super flat sections to get used to doing that, and I'd also do long segments of "letting go" and practicing letting myself do self-selected cadence to practice being able to do that on race day.  All of this will both get your natural cadence higher AND train you to execute the race without thinking about it.  Because if you think about it, you'll try too hard to have that higher cadence and then you'll blow up.

ZenTri Podcast 529 - Healthy Nutrition with Arshad Bahl

Click here to download or listen!

Arshad Bahl of Amrita sits down with me to talk about healthy nutrition for triathletes.  What makes a healthy energy bar?  What should you eat while training? While not training? Tune in to find out.

The Second Arrow

When people react poorly to a bad situation, they are both continuing and amplifying the problem in a new form. But think about it - getting hit with one arrow does not require you to turn around and fire off a second.

When somebody is having a bad day and then turns around and is rude to those around him, he is unnecessarily shooting that second arrow. And when you get injured and then fall into a funk, you just shot yourself. Just be injured. No need to be injured AND miserable.

Before you react to a bad situation, ask yourself if you can end it right here and right now with a simple change in attitude. Be an adult and spare the world from the extra drama.