Taking my own advice, on Monday I headed for downtown Calgary to hook up with Adam at Speed Matrix for a Retul fit on my 2010 S-Works Stumpjumper FSR. Speed Matrix has an area setup in the Speed Theory retail location just across from Mountain Equipment Coop.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Retul fit system it’s a three-dimensional computer analysis done as you are riding the bike you are being fit on. The resulting data is recorded and stored and can produce various end-user printouts. I’m a fan of cycling science and saw eye to eye with Adam on a number of subjects prior to and during the fit. I’ve experienced several fit systems over the years but I can confidently say this is the first fit system that provided the amount of recorded data that Retul does, no offense to any other fitters I’ve worked with in the past but Retul captures a LOT of data.

Upon arriving, Adam and his assistant Rory had me take off my shoes and socks then they got on with some range of motion tests to determine my cycling specific flexibility. Adam also watched my walking gait, checked my arches and looked at such things as my forefoot angle for signs of forefoot varus. I fall into the high percentage of cyclists who have a need for shimming but luckily my S-Works mtb shoes have a built in varus wedge that works extremely well in my case.

With the bike mounted on the Retul platform it was time to climb onboard.

If I remember correctly, the 3D measurements are accomplished by placing eight measurement points on each side of the body via a harness held in place by sticky velcro pads. The Retul device sits off to the side of the rider at approx 90 degrees and measures the harness points as you ride. The active LED lights on the harness points show things like knee angle, hip angle, ankle movement in space, how the knee is tracking, etc.

Putting things in place only took a couple of minutes, here is an example of a single side Retul measurement being taken, video courtesy of my iPhone. All I had to do during the Retul measurement was adopt my usual riding position and pedal at a medium intensity. I chose a low RPM pedal stroke so I could see what goes on at that cadence.

When one side is done the Retul platform is rotated 180 degrees and the other side is measured. After the first run the numbers are reviewed based on what the Retul ‘sees’ and any possible modifications to the bike setup are discussed.

In my case, the Retul indicated my bike setup was pretty much perfect but I could benefit from sliding the saddle forward approx 1-2 millimeters, which I had been thinking about doing anyway. The saddle had been feeling ‘a bit off’ ever since the 24hr Solo World Championships in Australia when myseatpost failed at the 21hr mark. Getting back to Canada and messing around with the new seatpost required a bunch of tweak time to get it perfect, something I didn’t do as I knew I was in the ballpark and just wanted to ride while the weather allowed for it.

Once the minor saddle adjustment had been made I knew it was a good call as soon as I got on the bike. I mentally kicked myself for not making the saddle tweak prior to the Retul fit – but my seat tweak laziness helped demonstrate the value of a proper fit.

Adam took a second round of Retul data as I pedaled on the Retul platform, I jumped off the bike once both sides were done and he ran the numbers to see how the saddle had changed things. It was obvious in the number details that the minor saddle change was a good decision. Here’s what the data looked like from one side.

Once Adam and I were happy with the saddle change it was time to record the final setup. Adam shot a Zin of the bike for the documented final setup, the results look like this.

What does the Zin process look like?

At the end of the fit I was happy to know that I had been solid before I showed up at Speed Matrix, Adam said it’s quite uncommon for someone to show up with such a dialed in setup. Knowing my fit was/is optimized for my body and the particular style of racing that I like is comforting. It took a few years to dial this fit in but I’m glad I took the time to experience a variety of fits and learn a few things along the way. I’m a fan of the Retul system, that’s for sure.

Spend the money, get a good bike fit. It’s a much smarter purchase than that carbon widget you want to put on your bike so you can shave another 10 grams off it. You’ll thank me years from now.

“Nutrition for recovery

In 24hr racing however, this method…”

To read the rest of the article go to the archived newsletter and scroll down towards the bottom:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs005/1102936960953/archive/1103566110802.html

Upon reflection post-event, I saw improvements this year as compared to racing the same event last year. I can account for this due to a tweak within my training calendar to more correctly address the demands of 3.5 – 4hr race days requiring redlined efforts every day. I managed the intense starts better and generally could stay on the rivet longer. I was pretty happy with my fitness and am looking forward to checking out how things are progressing towards the World 24hr Solo Championships in Oct with another race fitness test comprised of a 24hr solo race coming up in just over two weeks. Canmore is always a tough but fun course, I think it will be my 4th time racing there for a 24hr solo. I’m interested to see how things will pan out.

As promised, here’s part 2 of the racing nutrition advice for endurance racers, it went out in the WSC newsletter just over a week ago so I hope you weren’t holding your breath all that time. Hope you enjoy the advice, as always you can drop me a line with questions anytime.

“Hydration

How to estimate sweat losses during exercise…”

To read the rest of the article go to the archived newsletter and scroll down towards the bottom:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs005/1102936960953/archive/1103503869669.html

This is part one of a three part series and I’m including the relevant text from the newsletter as well as a link to read the rest of the article in the newsletter.

Enjoy!

“Carbohydrate Loading

A normal sized meal should be eaten 2-4 hours before the start of the race to allow sufficient time for digestion. Choose familiar foods that…”

To read the rest of the article go to the archived newsletter and scroll down towards the bottom:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs005/1102936960953/archive/1103188354292.html

This week I asked Jillian to write about her recent experience at a 12hr race, Jillian did her homework before she got on the line and it made a difference in her results. She had a solid plan, enough flexibility to adjust to the conditions and the right mindset. I’ve read other reports on the race and it sounded nasty, congratulations goes to Jillian on a solid performance under tough conditions!

Recently I competed in my second endurance event, the Dirty Dozen 12 hour solo race. The Dirty Dozen is held on a short, normally fast and fun course, a nice little loop that I was looking forward to riding for 12 hours. However, the days before the race brought a lot of rain to the area.
I arrived the night before the race, ready to camp before the 8 am start. It didn’t seem so bad, the ground in the camping area was dry. When I went to check in, they said the course wasn’t too bad but they were cutting out a big section of it just because it was wet. Ok, still no problem. Next morning, the race started uneventfully. I remember thinking during the LeMans start that the ground seemed a bit soggy. I got on the bike, no problems, the course stayed on high ground for a bit before going into a twisty, fast singletrack section. Right when I got into the singletrack, I thought to myself, oh no! The normally fast course was now a giant mud pit. It was sopping wet and the mud was deep. Many of the areas where you could allow your momentum to take you through with no effort were super slow and just hard to get through. Also, it was rather cold so each puddle was giving me a nice splash of cold water. Not to mention the creek crossing which is normally a very small amount of water was coming up to my bottom bracket. I thought the course would get drier as the day progressed, but that wasn’t the case. It seemed to get sloppier each lap. Racers were dropping like flies throughout the race but I managed to stick with it and get a nice 3rd place finish.

Shaun asked me to write about the three things I did to overcome the race conditions and finish strong, here they are.

First, and most importantly, I came into the race with a good plan. I knew exactly what I wanted to do in terms of pacing, nutrition, and just general racing strategy. I knew that as long as I raced intelligently, and didn’t pay attention to the people around me, I would be fine. I focused on conserving whatever energy I could for the first 6-9 hours, so that I would have something left in the tank for the end of the race. I had specific targets in my head, such as minimizing pit stops, with a goal of less than 1 minute in the pit for the first 6 hours, less than 5 minutes after that.

Secondly, I was able to take a look at the conditions during that first lap and quickly alter my whole plan. I think it is very important to be able to assess the situation and adapt your original plan. In perfect conditions, my original plan was great. But with the course in such bad shape, it was not feasible. The sections of the course that I should have been able to get through with almost no pedaling were very frustrating. I had a target wattage that I did not want to exceed for long stretches (greater than one minute or so) but I was at 120% of this wattage just to keep my bike upright and moving for most of the first half of the course. Most of the sections of the course that would be good for recovery were suddenly difficult just to get through. I stuck to my original pit plan for the first three laps, then changed it drastically. I found that if I took 10-15 minutes in the pit, my legs felt so much fresher when I went back out for a lap. So that is what I did. I took a few minutes to stretch and clean my drive train and cleats which got really muddied up each lap. Now this did take away a lot of racing time, but there was no way I could have finished strong, or at all without doing this. Mentally and physically, this little break really prepared me for the next lap. And as the race progressed, I noticed that I was passing the other racers in my category.

The third thing I did to finish strongly was to just keep pedaling. I knew that I had to win the battle of wills for this race. I made a point to pay absolutely no attention to what anyone else in my category was doing, until almost the end of the race. I knew I was going to keep going. My pit area was after the check in point, so I didn’t even think about stopping or leaving the course. Every time I finished a lap, I said yes I am starting another. I would then start the lap, and stop at my pit area about 1/3 mile down the trail, compose myself and hop right back on. Mentally, I was already on my next lap and I wasn’t going to give up without finishing the lap I started. This mindset was particularly helpful when all the racers pitted around me were giving up. I just told myself one more lap every time I crossed the start/finish line. I came through for the last time at 7 pm, the cutoff for heading out on the course was 7:59. This was a perfect time to come through, and also the first time I stopped at the desk to look at the standings. I knew that I could conceivably get two laps in, so I wanted to take a look to see what I needed to do. I found out I was two laps behind the women in 1st and 2nd and they were still on course fighting it out. So I was not going to overcome them. I also noticed I was a lap ahead of the woman in 4th. She would have to do 2 laps to beat me, but since I saw her in street clothes by the finish, I figured that was not going to happen so I didn’t go out again. There was no reason to subject my bike and myself to the muddy, dark course when I had locked in my finishing place already.

So basically, I think in any race, especially when conditions are brutal, the main thing is to have a solid plan. Then have the guts to absolutely throw that plan out the window if you need to and just keep pedaling no matter what.

I’ve been wearing one for over three years now and don’t leave for a ride without it strapped to my ankle.

If you take a look at their website you will see it makes a lot of sense, particularly for athletes who train long hours by themselves. It’s not just for road rides by the way, if I’m going out on a solo ride on the dirt I usually strap it to my ankle as well.

I like the Ankle ID, once it’s on over your sock and you’ve been riding a few minutes you forget it’s there. It’s really cheap piece of mind. If the Ankle ID isn’t your thing then look at the Shoe ID, my wife uses one for her long runs.

I like their product enough that I contacted Road ID and asked how I could help them spread the word, they just asked that I mention them in a blog post (done) and that they would offer up a little bit of schwag as a giveaway for folks reading the blog. The schwag = an eCard for a free Road ID. my choice on how I want to give it away. I thought about giving it to the first person who sent me a photo of a pineapple carved to look like a battleship but instead I’m going with the first person to send me an email gets the free Road ID offer.

Fire away…

At some point in a race it’s not uncommon to start feeling the cracks appear, the longer and harder the race the better the chance the cracks will start surfacing. If you don’t have good mental conditioning the cracks can start to manifest into something you might not have imagined and ultimately they can really turn your event on it’s head. The cracks usually start as inner dialogue, some of it might sound like some of these… it’s too cold, it’s too hot, I’m too thirsty, I’m so tired, I can’t do this, taking a nap would be good, I’ll never catch them, I shouldn’t have signed up… the cracks come in many forms. How you manage them is dependent on how well you prepared your mental conditioning game long before you toed the line.

In just under a year of coached endurance racing Iain has made huge strides in both his physical and mental game. Competing in some tough events, he has learned a ton and become a much better racer for it. In 2009 I had the pleasure of standing on the line next to Iain at the World Solo 24 Hour Championships, for me as a coach that was a really inspiring moment. Iain exceeded his personal goals in that event, on a VERY tough Solo course, it was strong mental conditioning that defined him on that day.

Here’s ‘Iain’s homework’ reply… thanks for your insight and personal clarity on this one Iain. Now get back to charging your lights as 24hrs of Old Pueblo is almost on the horizon.

Mental Conditioning

So coach gave me some written homework this week.

What!! Written homework?

I thought I was supposed to be out on the bike or in the gym – now I have to sit down and “think about an endurance racing topic that’s important to me”. What kind of training is this? Could it be some devious mental conditioning he’s sneaking into my day off?

Absolutely! And that’s exactly the point…

When I started training about 10 months ago, I was targeting my first 24 Hour Solo event. My primary objective was training on the bike, thinking that I needed a major dose of physical conditioning to be successful. I sensed that mental conditioning was part of the equation, but I had no idea how important it would become. After three 24 hour solo races and over 100 hours of racing under my chamois, I realize now that I’ve barely scratched the surface. The longer or harder the event, the more I learned about myself at a very deep level.

Of course, every event brings a better understanding of the tactics necessary to maximize physical conditioning. When to ride and when to walk. Maintaining momentum to minimize energy output. Monitoring power output to minimize the likelihood of “blowing up” after 18 hours on the bike. Nutritional intake. Pit stop strategies. Written race strategy. And the list goes on. All important tactics that will make a difference in race performance. That noted, in every major event my performance was ultimately constrained by mental outlook and not physical conditioning. As I continue to train my body, I have to toughen my mind even more. I feel I have so much more to learn about myself mentally than physically. We are all capable of far more than most of us can ever imagine, we just don’t believe it….

Now I have to continue getting mentally prepared for my next 24 Solo, just 5 weeks away. Bring it on!

I think most athletes have a good idea of why they race, until someone asks them to sit down and REALLY THINK ABOUT why they race. If you spend several days on this question you might find your initial answer turns out to different than the answer you end up with.

I want to thank Sarah for being so honest and insightful in her post, and I also want to thank her for allowing me to share this with all of you…

“Why do I race?”

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself for the better part of a year and the question Shaun asked me this week. It seems easy enough, right? Let’s pinpoint the question, shall we? He’s not asking me:

“Why do you ride?” (Sense of freedom and challenge).

“Why do you train?” (to feel fit and strong).

“Why do you sign up for races?” (Gives firm deadlines to my training).

Those are all easy. What’s he’s really asking is (my interpretation):

“Why, in the heat of competition, when your lungs hurt and your legs sear, do you choose to fight for victory instead of giving up?”

Ahhh…. That’s the toughie. I thought about this question for five whole days and nights. I rolled it over and over in my brain, let it simmer in my gut, and I don’t like the answer.

I didn’t race at all in 2009. Sure, I signed up for races, made half hearted attempts at getting in shape, pinned on a number, and lined up- ALOT. But, when the lungs hurt and the legs seared, I gave in.

2009 was a tough year for me. My personal life managed to fall into pieces and put itself back together, I stayed sick from stress, and my job is less than satisfying. In a lot of ways, I was desperate for a good season, but I couldn’t pull it together because I didn’t commit to the necessary work. 2009 gave me plenty of excuses:

“I’m heartbroken.”

“I’m tired.”

“I’m stressed.”

“I’m sick.” Again.

In August, I made a decision to make a coaching change, not because my coach wasn’t great, but he didn’t have the tools to help me put myself back together. Having met Shaun at the Ultracentric 48 hour mountain bike race in late 2008 and seen his energy, I knew he was the guy to help pull me through the abyss. Deep in my gut, I knew he would make me do the hard work, like this post.

Why do I race?

More than anything, I want to say that I race because I thrive on competition and crushing other competitors. In the past, I’ve raced to prove something. In 2008, I raced to prove that a female 20 something slightly overweight cancer survivor can do ridiculous things like riding her bike on the same terrible 7 mile singletrack course for 2 days straight or shed twenty pounds and see the podium a few times. In 2009, I tried to race on other’s expectations: my coach, my boss, my mechanic, my significant other, and my friends. That didn’t work so well.

“Why, in the heat of competition, when your lungs hurt and your legs sear, do you choose to fight for victory instead of giving up?”

A good friend told me “If you don’t sprint for the win, it’s because you don’t think you deserve it”. He’s right. I didn’t really plug in and do the work needed to form a foundation in 2009. When it came time to “race”- for position, the holeshot, the finish sprint – I didn’t feel like I deserved the win, so I gave up – without a fight.

By fits and starts, I’ve maintained some fitness, but I want to race in 2010. I want to know that in the heat of competition I will have sacrificed enough sweat and put in enough hours to do battle and deserve the victory. Let’s be honest – if I’m not fighting for victory, then it’s just an expensive training ride.

Complimentary training can produce a more rounded kind of athlete, by using the term rounded-athlete I’m not talking about CrossFit-rounded or any other specific branded training system. I’m talking about athletes that expose themselves to their weaknesses through complimentary training without losing sight of the need to maintain the specificity of their sport. As the weakness is addressed a new weakness is engaged through creative complimentary training, all this occurs as a secondary priority to the specificity of the athletes focused sport..

Lots of competitive athletes can put on impressive displays of their particular abilities, it’s typical that a competitive athlete trains and displays to their strengths. Take a skipping rope master as an example, the better someone gets at skipping, the more comfortable they become in their skipping world and the more they like to keep skipping. A skipping rope master can skip all day but can they do a plank for 90 seconds? Without realizing the circular reinforcing nature of a narrowly focused path an athlete can soon become oblivious to their glaring weaknesses. The weaknesses aren’t obvious to them because they are, after all, a skipping master.

I like to use the balance ball as a good introductory example of a training method that will expose weaknesses. Complimentary training doesn’t have to be all about strength or power or cardio, how about demonstrating an athletes short comings regarding their fast twitch balance and center of gravity recognition – huh, what’s that? Get on the balance ball, on your hands and knees, find your center of gravity and steady the balls movement with no body part touching the ground. When things are reasonably solid… close your eyes, how long did you last before you fell over? Nothing changed, except your eyelids, so how come you fell over right away? There are lots of reasons you fell over and there are benefits in training to improve these areas, some benefits are more obvious than others.

Why learn something like fast twitch balance and center of gravity recognition? Name a sport that doesn’t use it…

Why get involved in complimentary training methods? Name a sport that doesn’t use it…

And so I took the challenge of branding quite seriously.

I didn’t outsource the brand name problem, I didn’t mention to anyone I was looking for a brand name, I wanted to name it myself. So I sat and thought about it late at night, I thought about it driving the kids to school, I thought about it while on the trainer or while drinking a coffee. I gave it a lot of thought.

‘Forward Momentum Coaching’, why did I choose those three words as a brand name? Well to answer that question I would have to go back a couple of decades to a time when I was in a very demanding career path that was extreme on many levels. On nearly a daily basis I was tested, not in the written sense, it was in a physical, mental and emotional sense and sometimes things got so off the chart hard that I found myself falling back on a mantra that I didn’t know was a mantra at the time… ‘just keep going, just a few more steps, keep moving forward’. It was 20+ years ago and in those moments who I am today was being formed. As the years went by and when things got crazy hard I found myself falling into a familiar pattern of repeating ‘keep moving forward, keep the momentum’, somehow when the dust settled I would find myself unscathed and a little surprised that I was still standing. Along the way I started repeating the same thing to others that were in my charge, ‘just keep up the forward momentum’, or ‘as long as you are showing some forward momentum’.

Forward Momentum Coaching represents the lessons I’ve learned and the experience I’ve gained over a lot of years acting as a coach, teacher, mentor and willing participant across a wide range of events and challenges. The name means something to me and it acts as a guiding principle in everything I do as a coach. None of us know what we are going to be doing 10 years from now but I know with certainty whatever it is I will have kept my eye on maintaining the ‘Forward Momentum’.