The brain is a miraculously powerful organ.  It is capable of deep thought and incredible ingenuity that has brought civilization amazing literary works, the ability for humans to fly, the Pythagorean Theorem and the Snuggy.  Unfortunately, the brain can also be a powerful device for evil, too. It has lead to the destruction of many civilizations, hurtful words and the creation of Crystal Pepsi.

Over the past years, I have seen the power of the mind be nearly debilitating for many endurance athletes.  It has created sub standard results, levels of frustration and, for some, it even creates stress that is great enough to cause vomiting.

Why is this? In an age of cell phones, emails, TPS reports and board meetings, our “fight or flight” responses have taken a bit of a turn in what they respond to.  It no longer takes a saber tooth tiger lurking in the bushes to trigger our sympathetic response. It is now these new stressors that create our “fight or flight,” and, for athletes, a big race is the reason for the dump of norepinepherine and epinepherine getting both our bodies and minds jacked and ready to go for broke in an all out fight to the death.

Variables such as upbringing, personality, life experiences and even ethnicity and gender can change our reaction. The important thing is how can we counteract these high levels of anxiety and stress, and turn what would be a negative into a positive, performance enhancing result.  Here are several steps we recommend you try to start and then fine tune to your specific needs:

Acknowledge the Stress – Remember: this is your body’s way of preparing for battle! These chemicals that have been released are preparing you for your best performance yet and your interpretation of this stress has an impact on the final outcome.

Refocus the Stress – Your heart rate is elevated and you have a pit in your stomach, but you can still take control.  The key is to turn this negative impacting force into something positive and you can do that by:

• Positive self talk- It doesn’t have to be complex, something as simple as, “I am ready for this race and I will do great!” on repeat in your head, or even out loud, could be enough to recenter you and get you under control.
• Developing Self Confidence – Rely on your past experiences to solidify your confidence in your ability to compete/complete the event.  You can draw on previous positive race experiences or even amazing training workouts that drove home the fact you are physically prepared.
• Distraction – This can be a bit more difficult to accomplish because setting, people and scenarios change but if you have a person (spouse, significant other or friend) that you often travel with to events they can provided a nice added distraction.  Getting lost in music on your headphones can be a helpful options and with the right play list it can help to get you excited to race.
• Focus on the details within your control – There are many factors on event day that you have no ability to control.  Events starting on time, weather, traffic or other people’s actions are far from your control, but you can own so many other key variables.  These include things like the time you leave for the event, the food you eat, your clothing selection and the condition of your equipment. Some of these may take preparation leading up to the event, but you will know that you have your details under control.

Have a plan – For many athletes, battling pre-race anxiety it is not a one time occurrence.  It has happened over and over again. It reduces expected performance, causes a lack of confidence in ability and, in worst cases, it is event ending.  If this is you, it is important to create a plan prior to race day. You know what you are likely to experience on event day, so it is time to create a plan for your day.  Keep in mind things such as: Food, travel, equipment, clothing, meditation, warm-up and hydration. The plans for each person can be very different, much like training, but it is important to create and then fine tune a plan for yourself.

Are you struggling to find a way to conquer your pre-event anxiety?  Let one of our coaches help you build both the physical and mental strength you need to succeed.

For several years now, beet juice (beetroot juice if you are in Europe) has been an exciting topic of discussion in human endurance performance.  Our coaches have been utilizing beet juice — as well as a number of our athletes — and many of them have experienced and benefited from the increased blood nitric oxide boost that beet juice provides.  This nitric oxide has great effect on our bodies from both health and performance standpoints.

Let’s break down the benefits, and you can decide if you’d like to add this ingredient to your nutrition.

Physiological Changes

When it comes to health issues in the United States, the greatest benefit of beet juice has to be decreased blood pressure.  With one of the top 5 U.S. prescribed drugs of 2015 being a blood pressure regulator, this offers a great alternative.  By drinking as little as 8 ounces of juiced beets a day, you can see a nearly immediate decrease in blood pressure.  Healthy blood pressure is great for all, but what benefits will athletes be most drawn to? Consuming beet juice has also shown a reduction in oxygen cost of exercise in some subjects. This ultimately means that, per oxygen molecule your body is utilizing, you are now producing more work. Think of it like this: you are boosting your bodies miles per gallon! This increase in efficiency allows you to get more out of your workouts or performances for less energy.

Mental Benefits

A great amount of research has shown that beet juice supplementation has lead to an increased blood flow to the brain due to its associated vasodilation. (Vasodilation is the dilation of blood vessels, i.e. that decrease in blood pressure we talked about earlier!) We also found it interesting that it has even been shown that, when paired with exercise, consuming beet juice has resulted in an increase the neuroplasticity of the brain in older subjects. This means that functions are able to be “remapped” in the brain.  This definitely sparked our curiosity about a benefit to subjects with brain trauma.

Performance Benefits

Let’s be honest. Most of you who are reading this are more concerned about whether or not this is an ergogenic aid. (Scratching your head? An ergogenic aid is something that enhances performances or gives edge to an athlete.) While beet juice supplementation has shown some small benefits in sprint performance with the most significant area being in a reduced time of athletes reaching peak force generation, there is no significant evidence of beet juice being a major performance enhancer.  That is not to say that beet juice does not have performance benefits. In our opinion, the biggest benefit to our endurance athletes is the findings of increased endurance exercise capacity.  What that means to you is that you will be able to sustain your effort for a longer period of time before reaching failure. There is some potential of beet juice to also be an ergogenic aid at altitude. This may be of interest to many who live at sea level and go to altitude for events.

If this post sparked your interest, here’s how to add this into your diet.

Recommended dosing:

The amounts of

• 6/8 mMol which is roughly 1-2 shots a day
• 2-3 hours prior to competition (time it takes (approx.) for the body to process)
• Take 4-15 days prior to competition – (if not taking daily)

One thing to note if you are drinking beet juice: It can discolor your urine and fecal matter.  This is called beeturia.

As athletes first getting into a sport, there is a lot of room for improvement.  With each workout or activity, we become faster, stronger and more fit. PRs are set, breakthrough workouts occur and fitness continues to grow.  Eventually, we all reach a point where we either run out of knowledge on how to improve or the methods being utilized begin to show less and less in regards to the gains that are seen.

Training is much like an exponential growth curve.  Gains come easy early in our training experiences. Our bodies are amazing at adapting to stress.  VO2 max increases, more mitochondria form to provide energy for the muscles, increases in red blood cell count can increase to compensate for the increased demand in oxygen to the tissue, muscles become larger and/or stronger and even our heart adapts.  As we begin to increase fitness and these adaptations occur, there is a point where the same training doesn’t have the same results. When this happens, an athlete must become better educated and learn how to modify a training plan to become a better athlete.  

Often times, our coaches find that athletes do not realize this.  The subsequent result is a plateau. You might be doing the same ol’ two group workouts a week, one gray zone workout and that killer gym workout. They might still leave you wobbly legged. Yet, no improvement on a Strava KOM or you end up getting shelled from the group ride at the exact same spot.

A change must be made!  A change to improve, to hunt for those marginal gains, no matter how unachievable they may seem and to improve your fitness with new levels of thinking.  Break outside of your current box and let your fitness expand with one of these three changes!

Increase Intensity – It is easy to fall into a rut of what is comfortable and convenient.  Unfortunately this often means that we are not pushing our body to a point of adaptation. Try adding intervals into your training.  This doesn’t mean it has to be a structure interval workout, you can simply increases your pulls at the front of your group ride, or push yourself more on hills or into headwinds.  The ultimate goal is to increase your time at intensity.

Increase Volume – If the time is available you can always add on more volume in riding.  Remember that because you simply add on distance you still need to maintain a reasonable pace and not simply lollygag.

Increase Frequency – Add another day of exercising into your routine.  The added mileage will place additional stress on the body and will help elicit a physiologic response resulting in better performance.

Have you tried some of these on your own and are still seeing the same results? Consult with a Science of Speed Coach today to lead you to your greatest results yet!

Ride hardish. Group ride. Ride easy. Ride. Group ride. Ride longest. Recover.

Track workout. Run longish. Run fastish. Run easy. Run faster. Run longest. Recover.

No matter your sport, we see this pattern often.  Whether we are observing the athletes in our communities, reviewing athletes’ past schedules once they sign up for coaching or talking with our friends and training partners… It’s the same routine, week in and week out.  Spring, summer, fall and winter. For years!

Many of these athletes are fit, and they would have to be to withstand this type of abuse they put their body through.  Some of them are fast and competing at high levels! They have gained speed through attrition. Whether their immune system is stronger, biomechanics are more efficient, genetics are superior or they simply have good luck, they have succeeded.

At Science of Speed, we don’t believe an end justifies the means. The means are just as important, and your body deserves better. This spring we challenge you to ramp up your training with a bit more focus, purpose and detail to energy systems and periodization.  Here are 3 key areas to focus on as you plan out your training.

Periodization:

Let’s start with the most mentally taxing part first.  Logic! Training plan periodization is strategically planning your training in specific phases.  With this it is important to take into consideration time, intensity and volume in order to lay out a plan that creates optimal overload and then allows proper recovery for the next overload.

This is where the pen meets paper.  Put some serious thought into it. Does it really make sense for your to do speed work, threshold intervals and volume in the same week?  Are you creating enough overload to achieve your goal and is it the fastest way to get from A – B?

Purpose:

Have a purpose for each of your workouts and know what it is for.  Every workout has a place and there is a place for every workout. Why do you have a block of intervals when you do?  How many minutes of VO2 work is actually enough to elicit an overload (hint: 15+ is shown in research)? How many days can/should you do a set of intervals in a week or month?  And finally…do you have something fun in there? Just being honest here. You probably aren’t getting paid to train, so it is okay to sometimes have a workout in there “because friends will be there” or “to have have fun!”  If performance is important to you, that is wonderful! That said, one day of fun won’t be the end of the world and could help you six weeks down the line when you may have otherwise been burnt out.

Push:

Sure, you push your body on the group workouts and you push your body during your intervals.  As athletes, we push ourselves, but often we gravitate to the workouts we enjoy or more specifically the ones we are good at.  Find your weaknesses and push those. Whether it be endurance, threshold or power/top end speed, push your limit and you will find a whole new level.

Now, you have it all laid out. It’s the most beautiful training plan ever, but what good is it if you don’t stick to it?  Take it to heart and get the workouts in! As Thomas Edison said, “There is no substitute for hard work.”

Struggling with designing your own plan, sticking to a plan or motivation?  Contact us. We help athletes just like you achieve their goals daily and would love to be a part of your athletic journey!

It is that time of year.  Cold and Flu season!

We have seen it at SoS already.  Our staff and our families have all come down with something, as well as our athletes..  The holidays and togetherness are a wonderful thing — except for when we are sharing each other’s germs.

Over the coming weeks and months, here are several practices recommended by WebMD that you may want to stick with or adopt so that you can stay healthy and continue to see increases in your fitness:

Exercise – Yep, that thing you love has been proven to help boost immune function.  Here is the key though: light to moderate activity is what tends to boost immune function.  High volume or intensity workouts are considered a stressor and can actually decrease immune function.

Eat Healthy – A well balanced diet complete with foods that are high in vitamins and minerals can help to reduce the risk of illness

Sleep quality and quantity – During sleep your body produces cytokines, which help the body combat foreign invaders like viruses or bacteria.  Conveniently these same cytokines also help you sleep. Kind of a win-win.  Not to mention the other benefits of sleep such as mental clarity, lower blood pressure, decreased risk of heart disease and diabetes and improved mood.

Wash your hands – Dirt don’t hurt, but germs do!  Whether you are a germaphobe or not, let’s go with what your mom told you growing up. “Don’t touch that! You don’t know where it has been.”  Shopping carts, door knobs or any of the other common use items in this world are a quick way to spread germs. It is simple: just wash your hands.

Teach your kids – Getting back to school usually means kids are sharing more than just toys and pencils.  Teach your child the vampire cough/sneeze and teach them how to wash their hands properly.

Get the Flu Vaccine – Vaccination is controversial for so many, but take it for what you want.  It can be a benefit.

Clean to kill germs – Use disinfectants when cleaning and don’t keep the rags or sponges around too long.  They are bacteria breeding grounds.

Sick and unsure how you should alter your training? Our coaches are always ready to update your training plan based on your health. Reach out to us today and learn about all the benefits of customized coaching.

Athletes frequently gravitate towards fruits and vegetables.  They can be a healthy alternative to much of the prepackaged snacks that are readily available.  Packed full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, these are an amazing option to fill our stomachs, improve our health and provide the fuel that we need for our bodies to function.

In our quest to improve health, we do make some small oversights. We may even make large oversights.  We supplement foods with our favorite condiment to enhance the flavor, add a bit of protein to improve the texture and consistency of what we are eating.  Be cautious with this supplementation.  It is easy to add these on without realizing the astounding amount of calories that are added onto our daily caloric intake.  

Let’s consider several of the more common additions.  Peanut butter adds nearly 200 calories for just 2 tbsps. Dressings can quickly add 100 calories. An extra banana or scoop of protein in your smoothie can tack on an additional 100-150 calories.  Without even realizing, you can easily and quickly overindulge and increase your desired caloric intake by a significant amount.  An apple with some peanut butter seems like a perfectly healthy snack, but, as pointed out to me by a friend, it is even easier to increase your caloric intake once the apple runs out and you then begin eating peanut butter by the spoonful!

How do you battle this over indulgence?  Separate the amount that you intend on eating from the container.  Get your scoop of peanut butter in a bowl, get your dressing on the side or take the chips you plan on eating out of the bag and put the bag away.  It sounds simple and is not a fail proof but it adds an additional step into the overindulgence outcome.

Ultimately it comes down to making conscious decisions to make consuming the additional calories one step further from happening.

Curious about Smart Trainers? Coach Brady is here with the information you need before investing in this kind of technology.

Smart Trainers, like the Cycleops Hammer or Cycleops Magnus trainer, are nothing new to the training world.  The Computrainer has been around since 1986 and was the choice of so many athletes to utilize power for the first time or break monotony of long indoor winter training rides.  Personally, I have always disliked trainers.  It has never been about the trainer itself.  I began riding a bike because I like to be outside, to explore new roads, feel the wind on my face and the comradery of my fellow athletes.

This perspective has all changed in the past 6 months.  I have become a huge fan of trainers.  It is not due to safety. It is not the excitement and entertainment of the virtual courses.  I have fallen in love with smart trainers because of the results they help to produce due to the increased accuracy in training execution.  In the past 6 months, several SoS athletes have begun using smart trainers for their training and have noticed remarkable increases in power at threshold.

We have not seen significant improvements because there has been a drastic shift in training protocol, the amount of hours ridden or an increase in prescribed intensity.  We feel these improvements are a result of the increase in the specificity of training for the athlete.  Each coach prescribes their athlete’s workouts, but the smart trainers are holding each of these athletes to their own personalized ranges.  Making sure the intensity is consistent and that athletes are following exactly what is prescribed for interval workouts is making large impacts!

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If you are looking to increase your training results, it might be time to consider taking it indoors with a smart trainer.  Add a whole new level to that with SoS coaching or new interval workouts.  Email us at [email protected].

As athletes, we strive to make healthier decisions. We are very aware of the foods we eat, the amount of activity we have in our daily lives and, the amount of sleep we get every night and even when we purposefully conserve energy.  Over time, this focus creates a stress on us as athletes and can cause each and every person to lose focus and, as we progress later into our seasons and our training periods, we often need to refocus.

Many times, people view what we do as exercise. Exercise as defined by oxford online dictionary, “activity requiring physical effort, carried out especially to sustain or improve health and fitness.”  The department of Health and Human Services recommends that we get at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week for a healthy lifestyle. Yes, athletes are looking to maintain and improve health–but let’s be honest with ourselves.  Most of us are not solely looking at health or limiting ourselves to 150 minutes a week.  Athletes are looking to reach or maintain a higher level of physical fitness in preparation for a specific event.  Right?  Well, you just defined training.

So, it is official. With all of those hours, miles, workouts logged. you have now been training.  

Let me tell you a little secret.  Training can be monotonous!  Not a secret?  You already realize that?  You are struggling with the monotony right now?  Well, I have one thing for you to do.  Suck it up, buttercup!  

Training is focused and specific to help improve your weaknesses and turn them into strengths.  That monotony can often mean results.

I am reminded of basketball legend Larry Bird.  It is said that, even in high school, he was so dedicated to his craft that he would shoot 500 free throws every morning before he even went to class.  The same 15 foot shot, over and over again, lead to his 89% free throw career average.  It is time to refocus yourself and take your training fifteen feet at a time much like Larry Bird.  Your event, your goal and your performance improvements are at stake here!  Let’s get back on track with one or more of these four methods.

1. Relearn what your “why” is – There is a reason you originally decided to do this.  Have you lost sight of it or forgotten what it was all together?  If you take the advice of many of the great business leaders you will write this down.  Not once, but daily.  Constantly remind yourself why you do what you do and keep that goal fresh in your mind to motivate you when times get tough.
2. Rest – If you have been diligently focused for months and still have months until your event a transitionary period can often be rejuvenating.  At Science of Speed we frequently do this with our athletes who have goals that are at opposite ends of the season.  Ten days to two weeks unfocused can create new drive.  Maybe it is time you either ask your coach if it is needed for you.
3. Reach out to others – Find a training partner(s), that is of similar ability or better, and go out with them on select workouts to add some socialization and fun.
4. Re-assess training – Have you been doing the exact same thing month in and month out?  It is time to change things up.  Training is set up in cycles and, if you have been doing the same thing for months, it is time to hit the body with a different type of intensity for optimal performance improvements. (Ultra athletes can benefit from VO2 work and Sprinters can benefit from aerobic work.)

You have an amazing goal that you have chosen. Otherwise, you would not have picked it. You are on the path to success.  Keep up the amazing work and you will achieve your goals.

Have you not seen the results you expected or hoped for in your training?  Science of Speed can help you reach your goals!  Contact us today for a custom coaching plan.

It is that time of the year, our favorite time of the year! No, not hunting season… event selection season! You have come up with so many different ideas and narrowed it down to high A and B priority races and maybe a training event here and there. Your training is about to get into full swing, and that means it’s time to consider periodization. As athletes, you may have never heard of a periodized training plan.

Many times we hear about the more common phases of training.

Transition – During this time period, many athletes take time off of their main sport(s), shift focus or even take time completely off from exercising.  This break can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months but is helpful in regenerating excitement to train, pick the direction of the next training block and even allow many to catch up on the things that were neglected around the house while hours of training were being logged in the evenings and on weekends.

Build/Intensity – Dependent upon the time available from training inception to event date, this could be broken down into two separate categories or could be lumped into one portion.  This is where volume and/or intensity will increase to improve your fitness and strengthen your weak spots.

Taper – The taper period can be as few as several days or many weeks.  An athlete’s training load decreases during this time to allow for optimal freshness and peak performance come event day.

Race – It’s show time!  Need we say more?

The less often discussed phases are the cycles of training and they include the microcycle, macrocycle and mesocycle. These cycles break your training down into small portions to better specify and customize your goals.

A microcycle can be as short as a day or workout or as long as a week.  Each of these workouts or training weeks have their own specific goal or outcome that might change (within reason) from one day to the next.  

A macrocycle is created from multiple microcycles. Think weeks of training (micro) considered over the period of a month or the entirety of your training (macro). Each of the individual workouts might be different, but the accumulation of the microcycles is striving to meet one common goal.   

A mesocycle is the big, big picture. Mesocycle is the largest phase of training and is typically a minimum of a year.  These are comprised of many macrocycles and might lead up to one key event or have several events in the time period where the shift or focus of the Mesocycles changes.

This style of training can help you see beyond just one event, and consider how your training throughout the year will help you reach your goals in the year (or years) to come. Many of the training plans you might find from a quick Google search will show you just stock meso and macro cycles. Investing in coaching can help you make a truly custom plan that considers the mesocycle too, designed by a coach who wants to help you achieve your goals well into the future.

Skip printing out that freebie plan for that one event — have a free consultation with one of our coaches to learn how you can keep achieving for many events and mesocycles to come!

My wife and I have a little saying. We have always felt it is incredibly fitting in a relationship. “Love you always, like you sometimes.”

We believe it so much that we wanted it in our vows (that got nixed by her father, the officiant of our wedding, who said, “No.”) That aside, it is a very true statement. As partners, we are here to support each other and help one another grow. Sometimes that means what you are being told isn’t what you want to hear.  A recent interaction with an athlete made me think of this in a coaching capacity as well.

You don’t always have to like your coach. In fact, if they are doing their job, you probably won’t always like them.  A coach’s job is to take the facts of what you want to achieve, where you are currently at, and your personal physiology to decipher how to best plan out your training.  

Often times, this is followed by praise and motivation, but, at the right time, it is also accompanied with some critique, pushing you past what you think is possible as well as providing you with a bit of tough love.  The ultimate goal is not that you always like your coach, but that you are able to meet the goals that you set out to accomplish.  

As a coach, I love seeing my athletes reach their goals and hate to see them fall short due to something that could have been done differently or better.  

Next time your coach posts a workout you don’t enjoy, you get some tough love on something you didn’t do at 100% or you keep getting pushed beyond what you may feel is possible, remember that you don’t always have to like them but you will always love the results.