Tracking training data can drastically improve your performance.

Every endurance athlete knows that there is both an art and a science to training and competition, but not every athlete commits to working on both. I was invited to be a speaker at the Women’s Cycling Conference at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, CA. Bill Nicely, General Manager of Pinnacle p/b Argon 18 Cycling Team, organized the conference that brought together a solid group of speakers that covered everything from optimal nutrition and the physiology of training, to improving mental strength and learning how to balance cycling and life. Among the list of amazing speakers (yes – I just referred to myself as amazing) was Robin Farina, Judd Van Sickle, Stacy Sims, Felicia Gomez, and Shawn Heidgen.

After the conference a few of us went out to dinner and Robin, Shawn, and I got to talking about the current state of women’s cycling. During the course of the conversation one of the topics we covered was how some athletes are really intimidated and overwhelmed by gathering performance feedback and delving into the science of their training. Shawn works as an Education Specialist at TrainingPeaks and at the conference she was teaching participants about the TrainingPeaks software and how to train efficiently and measure training progress. She has been involved in the cycling world since 1992, as a regional racer, then later as a professional cyclist turned coach and entrepreneur (some of her career highlights include being the 2002 Illinois State Mountain Bike Champion, 2x finisher of the Giro d’Italia Femminile in 2003 & 2004, and 2x winner of 24 hours of E-rock Mountain Bike Race in 2009 & 2010). She also provides data analysis for the Tour de France, USAPC, and other races.

I brought Shawn here to share her thoughts on the science of sport performance and the importance of using that data to inform your training and racing decisions.

Shawn Heigen – Education Specialist at TrainingPeaks

Shawn: TrainingPeaks is the industry leader for endurance coaches and motivated individuals, to monitor, analyze and plan their fitness and nutrition for peak performance. We are compatible with over 90 devices (Garmin, PowerTap, SRM, Stages, Quark, Timex, etc). Athletes can upload their nutritional and workout data to their TrainingPeaks account for detailed analysis and also plan future training. We offer advanced metrics that will help athletes reach their goal event in peak form.

Carrie: How has using data helped you with your own performance?

Shawn: Now I am going to date myself…and this is going to get long. Before I raced professionally, I suffered what should’ve been a career ending hip fracture in 1997. The really funny thing is that when I broke my hip the first time (yes, I did it twice) I wasn’t even that good of a cyclist. Fast forward a few years and through the Chronic Pain Program at the Mayo Clinic, being on crutches for 6 months, and being told that I’d probably never ride again let alone race, I somehow made it back to bike (thanks to an amazingly supportive husband). I still remember being able to ride for only 15 minutes at first. Well, I may not have been a physically gifted athlete but I am stubborn and determined and that was enough.

Being in chronic pain, I was very limited to the type and amount of training I could do but my mental focus was better than ever. That was the one incredible thing that my broken hip and chronic pain gave me. You really do look at life, at racing, at pain differently. In so many mental ways, I became a better athlete than ever after breaking my hip. I could suffer like you cannot imagine on the bike and I no longer had a fear of failure. I just went for it, whatever it was and gave it everything I had because I was just lucky and happy to be out there and I knew that what ever time I had racing, it was borrowed time and I wasn’t going to waste any of it. So, with the help of some great coaches, we created a very specific and focused training plan. But, in order to make it all work, I had to measure, record, and analyze everything and that is exactly what I did.

I started training with power around 2000. There was an indoor trainer made by Cateye that measured power. Not exactly accurate but it was consistent and it worked. Then came my first Powertap, shortly after the Cateye. So, I was recording my watts, heart rate, gearing, time, cadence, speed, etc. Everything and anything I could measure I did and recorded it all. All hand written back then, but the knowledge I gained was priceless. I learned what I could handle, what was too much, and how to make every workout count. The data allowed me to come up with measurable and attainable goals. Eventually I was able to compete on a national and even international level despite only being able to do a fraction of the training that most of my competitors were doing.

Carrie: Why do you think some people are intimidated by the “science” of sport performance?

Shawn: In the past, scientific analysis was labor intensive and time consuming. The athlete or coach had to perform the calculations themselves (if they even had access to or knew how to), using complex formulas and algorithms. But, with programs like TrainingPeaks, all the number crunching is done for you. We take the raw data and perform the calculations translating it into easy to understand charts and graphs making it ready to be analyzed by the coach or athlete. I think it’s important to note that we don’t prescribe to a certain coaching or training philosophy and we are NOT a coaching company. We are a software company. So, the coach and athlete still applies their own methodology to training, we just report the data so that you can train as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Carrie: How does having this kind of feedback help people with their training and performance?

Shawn: It is truly amazing. Joe Friel likes to tell people that when you start tracking and analyzing your data, it is like getting glasses for the first time. Suddenly, everything is clear and in focus. So many athletes talk about “peaking” at the right time and how difficult it is to do. Using features like the Performance Management Chart, we literally take the guesswork out of peaking. The athlete knows exactly how taxing each workout is and also the cumulative effect it has over time and can then plan future workouts and know exactly how those workouts will affect fitness and fatigue. Pro Tour riders are now using and even depending on TrainingPeaks to track and plan their seasons, to monitor their fitness level and dial in their training and recovery precisely.

TrainingPeaks is just one example of the many tools available for gaining feedback. From using video analysis, to written daily training logs, working with a coach, and reflecting on your race – there are many different sources for feedback and you gain valuable information from each one. Decide right now what kind of feedback you need in order to improve your performance and and then figure out where can you get it.

Are you an artist or a scientist (or a little of both) when it comes to training? What kind of data do you keep track of and has it helped your performance? Let me know in the comments.

Photo Courtesy of rodeomilano used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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Ready for Race Day

In honor of my upcoming workshop at the Wipro San Francisco Marathon Expo, I decided to write a post for all of you amazing athletes out there with an upcoming race!

(If you’re going to be out at the expo the day before marathon, come check out my workshop at 9:30a the day before the race! The workshop is all about mentally preparing for the challenges of race day. I’ll be sharing the top 5 essential mental skills training tips for “enduring your endurance event” and accomplishing your race day goals!)

QUESTION:

“Do I have to have a race goal?”

ANSWER:

No. But you may decide that you want to after you read this post. Some athletes shy away from having race goals because they feel like it puts too much pressure on them to perform. For those athletes, just thinking about setting a race goal produces anxiety. If you find yourself in this category (and even if you don’t!) here are three specific benefits to convince you to reconsider the importance of having a race day goal:

 “Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.”- Gen. George S. Patton, Olympic Pentathlete

If you reach the end of your race and feel like you could have done better, there was a moment during your race when you held back. Having that specific goal helps you dig deep in those moments and overcome that psychological hurdle so you know that at the end of your race you gave everything you had to give.

Time to Set a Goal

If your heart starts racing, palms start sweating, and you feel a little nauseous when it comes to setting race goals, chances are that you’re only thinking about an outcome goal for your race. Think about an upcoming race and finish this sentence: “It would feel amazing if I could walk away and say that…”

If the end of that sentence is an outcome goal, then you need to set another goal that tells you what do you need to do during the race in order to accomplish that outcome goal. Setting a more task-related goal helps keep your focus where it needs to be and puts the control into your hands. Instead of feeling pressure to perform and keeping your focus in the future, it keeps you grounded in the moment and focused on what you need to do right now in order to set yourself up for success. Even if your goal for every competition is to win, you still have to have the goal that tells you how you’re going to do it.

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Credit: Free photos from acobox.com

The recent tragic deaths of two triathletes during the New York City Triathlon brings up the fears many novice triathletes have about the open water swim. If the thought of the open water swim gets your heart racing, you’re not alone. Many people feel butterflies when they think about all of the what-ifs that come with the swim:

• What if a water creature touches me?
• What if I get kicked in the face?
• What if I lose my goggles?
• What if I get tired and can’t make it?

Fear is a factor for many during open water swims. It is natural to feel nervous about the swim, especially if you are feeling that it is not your strongest discipline. That feeling of anxiety is meant to help you hone in your focus and prepare for the swim, however, for some the anxiety becomes overwhelming and keeps many people away from triathlon altogether. Here are some tips to get to the start of your triathlon mentally ready for the swim:

Work on your swim skills – The better you feel about your swim skills, the more confident you will be in the water. Get a swim coach. Go to open water swim clinics. Be deliberate about working on your skills and getting more comfortable in the water.

Practice in open water - You wouldn’t show up to your triathlon only having ridden your bike three times in your life – and if you did – you would be pretty nervous about the bike. Same goes for the swim! Take family vacations somewhere with access to open water. Find a kayaking friend to go out for an open water excursion. Find an open water swim group. The more practice you have swimming in the open water, the more confident you will be.

Practice the what-ifs - Take opportunities to practice the potential challenges you will face during the swim. If you are nervous about having people swim close to you – go out with some friends or teammates you trust and practice keeping your cool while they swim all around you. If you are nervous about swimming in choppy water – go out and swim in choppy water (of course – be sure you go with others and make sure the conditions are safe for swimming) or go to your local gym and swim laps during the water aerobics class. (You’d be surprised at how choppy the water gets when there are 20 people jumping around in it!) If you are nervous about losing your goggles, take your goggles off in the water and practice putting them back on. If you’re worried you’ll get tired during the swim, practice rolling onto your back and resting and then rolling back over and getting started again. Anxiety is natural in novel situations. If you take the opportunity to experience these situations before your race you remove the anxiety that comes from experiencing something for the first time.

Choose your focus - Planning for where you want your focus to be helps you to be successful on race day. You wouldn’t show to your race without having done any training and say “Let’s just see how it goes”! Your mental prep is just as important as your physical prep. Where does your focus need to be during the swim in order to feel calm, confident, and in control? What will your mantra be for the swim? Here are some examples:

“Relax and breathe.”

“My stroke is smooth and I’m in control.”

Your mantra can help remind you of where you want to focus and how you want to feel during the swim. It can also help to keep your focus in the moment. Take the time to work on your confidence and mentally prepare for your swim and you ‘ll be ready to sign up for your next race before you hit land!

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