The Roo

Ever get that feeling after a good ride, you catch you bike looking at you?

I swear, the Roo breathes...

New Van

Check out our new van... I love it.

And don't forget to sat Hi to Benson when you see him : )  

We'll hook you up with all your race day needs!  

ironguides @ Port Dickson, Malaysia 2010

Some pictures from Port Dickson International Triathlon, 2010, Malaysia.

A nervous morning

Good Times

Well Done Athletes

Top 10 : )

 

Prize Giving

Thank you Andy & Kat!

age group achievements

It's good was see our sport so healthy in Port Dickson, Malaysia. The atmosphere was laid back and festive, the food was great and smiles abounded everywhere you turned. All this despite the participant field being much larger ( and deeper!) than last year. Triathlon Malaysia sure know how to put on a great party. Kudos to Uncle Chan and his team.

ironguides had 3 athletes in the Age Group Top 10. Awesome performances and a positive affrimation that dedication to The Mehod pays off. On the same course, compared to last year, Elvia Suryardie, took 7, 5 and 1 min off her swim, bike and run respectively, while Coach Shem took 5 and 8 mins off his swim and bike. Given his relative "newness" to the sport, Olivier Monnard's Top 10 debut at this race was nothing short of spectacular.   

Of course we would not have had half the fun if not for Andy and Kat who organised the 20 car convoy, hotel accomodation and the after-party in Melaka for everyone. Thank you for your hard work and making it so memorable for everyone- You Rock!

'Till next year....

“ALL OUT” means “ALL OUT”

“ALL OUT” means (slightly more) “ALL OUT”

Shem Leong

One of my athletes asked me, “How can you do 20 x 1 min ALL OUT? It wouldn’t be ALL OUT if you could keep on repeating it over and over again.”

I recently had my eyes opened by Matt Fitzgerald’s article in Inside Triathlon- “You are a Quitter”. He references Marcora’s ground-breaking study that suggests that our decision to pull the plug on any strenuous endurance effort, weather in training or racing, is a voluntary decision that originates from an “off” signal in our mind, a psychological phenomenon, and not a function of any bio-physiological determinant of our potential maximum exertion effort.

Immediately after a high intensity endurance ride to exhaustion, Marcora’s research subjects were able to triple of their power output in short 5 seconds bursts. (Similar to having a sprint finish at the end of a marathon). According to the conventional model of endurance fatigue, that proposes an involuntary decline in performance when some physiological limit is encountered, this would not be possible.

In short, this new theory states that our mental tenacity to “hang tough” and endure discomfort, rather than our ability to clear lactic acid/ absorb and carry oxygen/ store glycogen is a more significant determinant of true maximum potential performance.

This information plays special significance when training by perceived effort, as ironguides athletes on The Method do. As we have experienced, our ALL OUT efforts are not defined by wattage or speed or even heart rate. Instead, our efforts are entirely determined by the intimate communication between mind and body and this is a powerful realisation to make. Here’s why:

An ALL OUT effort is just that- whether on your 1st 25m sprint of a swim strength session or a 10 min time trial effort at the end of a 4 hr ride, “ALL OUT” should describe your mind set and attitude more than a certain speed or lap split. It should imply a readiness to pull your body and mind to a slightly new level of discomfort. That place will be somewhere you have never been before, somewhere that requires the sprouting of new blood vessels and recruitment of dormant muscle groups, somewhere that forces gaseous exchange at new maximum levels. More importantly, that someplace will cause you to redefine your perception of effort. It is here that you learn to handle new levels of discomfort. It is here that you force yourself to hold perfect running form/ a powerful pull through on your swim stroke or a smooth, even and powerful pedal stroke.

The question is how you respond when you’re there- “in the moment”? When every ounce of energy you produce is begin channelled to forward propulsion and you’re tethering on the verge of blowing up. Mental attacks rain down in the form of split second thoughts to let up and catch your breath or to get off the front of the pack; thoughts that- once you give in to them- bring a flood of relief and comfort. I challenge you to override these signals- like carrying a bowl of hot soup- your fingers are burning, yet somehow you resign yourself to holding on until your broth is safe and sound on the dinner table. You flick your fingers to cool them down. They’re a bit red but everything is alright. Your body’s reflex to let go of the bowl is a feed forward safety mechanism that kicks in way before any real threat to your physical make up materialises.

In the same way, those invading signals to your brain telling you that holding this pace is too tough or that one more ALL OUT repeat is too much are just pre-emptive safety mechanism signals that, given the right practice, can be dealt with effectively and positively. So resign yourself to finishing that ALL OUT effort your coach may have set you, as best as you can.

In our quest to go even more ALL OUT, it helps to break it down into the smallest little portions. Here are some tips to help you out with this:

1. Break it down into even smaller bits. When you are in “ALL OUT” mode, dissect your pedal stroke- think and feel. Are you applying power all the way round through 360 degrees? Which part of the circle needs evening out? Play around and feel the difference between activating the different cycling muscles involved- your glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings. A tiny shift in your saddle can help awaken under-used muscle groups. It’s a great feeling to “find” and develop a new set of muscles that will eventually help you pedal more efficiently. Don’t doggedly sit in the same position mashing down over and over again, as hard as you can until your quads cramp. When you eventually develop a coordinated pedal stroke with all the involved muscle groups firing in the right sequence with the right timing, you’ll find yourself flying along in the big gear, with your HR sitting comfortably low and your legs churning out smooth, even circles.

 

2. When running, towards the end of a tough intervals/ hills set, you’re close to your limit- break it down. Don’t think, “How hard is this?” Or, “I’m dying...” Instead set your focus on just 1 thing- could be simply driving your elbows to maintain a high stride rate, or breathing that tiny bit deeper to get in more air, or reminding yourself to “Run tall... Run tall or focusing on picking up your heels quickly for a faster foot strike. Whatever proprioceptive cue you’ve called upon, bearing an ALL OUT effort when it’s unbearable, breadth by breadth, second by second, lifts the ceiling of what you had previously thought possible. The next time your body is under the same physical duress, your mental “ALL OUT” signal is only going kick in a little later, or at a slightly higher pace.

You can imagine my disappointment, on urging one of my athletes to “Think about how you want to run the next hill rep”, when I got the sarcastic and uninspired answer “Uphill.” : )

3. It’s the same with swimming- when your arms go cold and are filled with useless deoxygenated, lactic acid blood, when you want to stop in the middle of the pool and just cruise in- Dig Deep. ALL OUT means you’re reaching for more water at your fingertips, ALL OUT means your focusing on thrusting water back with your triceps because your Deltoids and Lats gave up 10meters ago, ALL OUT has you exhaling 3% more air so that you can inhale 3% more.

My advice is that you heed this subtle shift in endurance training paradigms that has us moving away from a pure numbers game, towards a “Brain Training” approach, and tune into what you’re thinking and feeling the next time you are ALL OUT. Always look to redefine perception of effort and go slightly more ALL OUT.

absolutely ALL OUT (kinda)

Hello AC Malaysia!

I was fortunate enough to have the oppurtunity to visit Athlete's Circle, Malaysia over the weekend. I was tempted to squeeze in a swim strength set but I had purposely left my swim gear behind. This was a work trip and I wouldn't have time. So I went exploring instead and found a nice catus garden- as you do.    

A sleepy plane and cab ride later, I stumbled upon the familiar black and orange signage that told me that I had arrived at my home awya form home. Tacx trainers lined the walls ready for Sat morning's big gear session. Everyone inside was busy perparing for that evening's talk and it was a bustle of positive energy.   

Super happy to see such a good turn out from the Malaysian athletes. They were warm, keen and best of all, full of interesting questions. It was a pleasure sharing the secrets of The Method with them; many nodding in enlightenment as I went into the 5 physiological systems and the importance of hormonal balance in endurance training.

Saturday Morning- Everyone was keen to try out ironguides staple big gear set after hearing about the benefits of a slow twitch bike vs. fast twitch run. We started off with some single legs drills before hitting the hard stuff. Once the crew got dialled into the right resistence and cadence, they really gave it their best. As pools of sweat started to form, you could tell that they were loving in - kind of : ) 

 

   

With enough time to squeeze in some fast strides, the atheletes got to experience one of my favourite  ironguides bike/run session. I told them to repeat this set every week for full neuromuscular recruitment and adaptation. It was cool!

        

The AC Malaysia crew showed the utmost professionalism, dedication and teamwork in putting this together. It was great working with you and getting to know you better. Thank you Lee Fong, Jolene and CG! Our athletes and I had an enriching and awesome experience beacuse of you.

We had an hour before we had to leave for the airport and the hotel pool beckoned so I bought some trunks and goggles and jumped in for a swim tolerance set. Got that swim in after all : ) Better than lazing around getting burnt!

Track Attack @ Oosters

Track Attack headed down to Oosters to celebrate a string of recent Half-Marathon & Triathlon personal bests and finishes.

Track Attack @ Oosters

This week, by the time we would normally have been finishing up our planks set, some of us had already polished off our 1st round of Belgian Beers.

The Usual Suspects

 Awards were presented to:

Most Improved

Most Hard-Working

Most Noisy Runner

Most People Brought to Track Attack

We had a fantastic time replenishing our athlete bodies with Mussels, Chips, Pork Knuckle, Beef Stew, Mousakka, Sausages, Waffles, Creme Brulee, Apple Crumble- Oh yeah!

The Aftermath 

Thanks, Stu, for the drinks, the hospitality and a perfect night!

A Handsome Bugger

'til, next time...See you at track!  

Vesak Day Long ride

The plan was to do the East Loop and then bridge over to the west side via Keppel Flyover. The longer ride would take it up to Raffles Marina and back via Clementi. Pleasanlty surprised to see that a sizeable group had showed up at 6.30am and delighted that Team Absolut were on board to keep the law.  

 Keeping in the spirit of Vesak Day, our long ride started very peacefully and went something like this:

1st hr  - easy
2nd hr - easy- mod
3rd hr - moderate - moderate hard
4th hr - 3 x (10 min Time Trial/ 10 mins easy recovery) 

A quailty ride with quality athletes- ironguides style.

1 Pit Stop

Big gear work @ the end

Absolutly Perfect

Drop me an email for information on future long rides:

shem.leong@ironguides.net

Enjoy Your Training!