Monday, November 24, 2014

Sensible training!


I know everybody thinks they do sensible training. What do I mean by 'sensible training'?

-          Does your current or planned training, have reasoning and well thought-out planning behind it? Also, is the training reinforcing correct and efficient movement patterns? Are you training your body to be economical?

Can you answer yes to all these questions? Really and honestly?

Let me break this down a little more, with some examples: I will be using swimming examples because these are the often right in front of me and so many people are in a small area. I have been working as the Swim Trainer for Tri Team Hochrhein for a year now. All the swimmers who come regularly have got better. I work on both technique and endurance. When I go to swimming pools I often see groups and individuals swimming. Due to working as an instructor I can’t help myself looking at the way people swim and thinking of where they could improve. So often I see athletes do the strangest stuff in the water! One time I saw this group bashing up and down the pool, training really hard! I mean really hard - they swam with motivation and determination, and getting it all wrong. They were doing drills and other sets, the hand paddles were on and off. Yet one thing became clear to me very quickly was that they didn't understand or know why they were doing it at all, and it was just stuff in the plan they had to do. After a while I couldn’t take any more!  I had to ask why they were doing a crazy looking drill, the answer was “this is what I was told to do”. Ok, so you were told why you should do it? “No…. We just do it”. I didn’t have a follow up question, I was little lost for words.

And herein lies the problem with so many sports. People have lost the understanding of why they do something. I have seen so many athletes (And I am the same), get into little habits that creep in and can affect the quality of your training and therefore performance. When I was bike racing I spent the early part of the season not only busting my arse training hard, I also always spent time working on my pedalling technique to make sure I set up the right muscle action right at the start of the year. Now when I get on my bike after years of not doing much my pedal action, it's a long way from where it was, yet it is still ok.

This needs to be done with all sports. There are so many people out there willing to teach (yes, not all instructors or trainers are equal) so try and get some help. I look at swimmers so much at the moment and while, at the beginning of the new season, everyone wants to swim fast this is the time to focus on technique. Get technique better and it will pay off in the long run!

Regards


Cameron

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Welcome back!

Welcome back.

Looking at the Eiger and think!
I know it has been a long time since I wrote a blog or made a podcast. For this I am sorry. There are lots of reasons and to put it simply life, study, clients, running and other pressures got in the way. I am trying to do better. In fact, I am about to start Summer school (well, it's winter school for me) and a requirement is to post at least one blog a week! So that will be interesting.

My big goal over this last summer here in Germanland was to qualify for UTMB (Ultra Trail Mont Blanc) which is a big deal. To enter you have to have 8 points in a year, in 3 qualifying races. This means that I ran 3 big races, as follows:   

Trail de La Vallee des Lacs (France), 85km 4500 vertical. (3 Points)



Eiger Ultra Trail (Switzerland), 101km 6700 vertical. (my Garmin said 6970 vertical) (3 Points)

Les Trails du Haut-Koenigsbourg (France), 84km 3284 veritcal. (2 Points)

I will do a bit of a race breakdown in later blogs.
These were 3 awesome races and I really enjoyed them. They were hard and long, yet I loved it. It is weird now not having races really planned for next year. I have to start looking, yet it is hard to plan on what to do when I hope to get my name drawn in the UTMB lottery.

This is during the Eiger ultra. Top of 1500 vert climb! Hard
I am also waiting to find out if I can work in Switzerland. I have a job offer from there and the endless waiting for the red tape to be cleared is driving me nuts. When everything is confirmed I will be telling everyone what it is.  I have to say it is exciting for me and will be a big challenge, yet a really positive one.

So all in all I am waiting to find out what is happening with a lot of things for next year. Still that is nice to have stuff to look forward to, and wondering what new opportunities will eventuate over the next weeks and months.

Also this year I went from part time Uni student to full time. As anyone that has studied knows this is a massive work load. Still it is really positive for me and I have learnt a lot that will make me a better coach with greater understanding of the body,  what it does and why. And there is so much more to learn.

I am also really lucky to be working with great clients! It makes my job harder and easier. Harder because I want to do everything I can to help them succeed and easier because when I ask them to do something I know it will be done. And here I have to mention an athlete of mine, Richard, who won his age group at the Lake Hood Sprint Triathlon! Awesome work Richard! And also Arnd who I coach for swimming - he was first out the water in his age group at Ironman Switzerland.

I am planning on making a podcast tomorrow focused on Altitude training. It is mainly from a recent university assignment. I found it really interesting researching the assignment and learnt so much from it. So I will go though it for you and give you all a clearer idea about the pros and cons of altitude training.

Questions?

Till soon,

Coach Cam.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cameron Vs. the B Licence



Back for just a normal blog post. A lot has happened over the last year! In fact, way more than I can believe sometimes. 

First of all, if anyone is looking for a coach, I have few places. If you are looking at performing better or going faster, contact me and we can talk over the options. info@cams-world.de

Most of all I want to tell you about getting my B Licence for Triathlon. This is a very high level trainers licence in Germany. It is equal to the Level 3 in the triathlon New Zealand listing. Any way there was so much detail on training and the amount of time for recovery and how to build a program! Plus of course a huge break down on all the individual parts of triathlon. 

The course itself was a lot more than I was expecting, so much information and we had all the top coaches in the high performance Triathlon program in Germany come and talk. As far as a course goes I have never seen so many big names presenting. Plus we had to do a huge group work together, my group worked on Strength training and it was amazing how much detail we got out of it. 

So in other words the course was hard….. Very hard, and now think about doing it in your second language. And that was what I was doing. Madness really. I passed, yet learning or better put relearning all the stuff you know in another language made it difficult.
Once I had passed it was really a massive weight off my shoulders, I am really looking forward to putting what I learned into practice. 
 
I also want to say Congratulations to an athlete I work with Richard! He had a great race at the Auckland 70.3 and smashed his PB by an hour and in doing so got under the 6 hour mark! Well done Richard!

Regards,

Cameron 



Saturday, January 4, 2014

Episode 11 The hour record plus links to you tube for pursuit Worlds.



Episode 11
Hello and welcome to the Cams-world podcast! I am pleased to announce we are now on stitcher! Download stitcher free today. Also if you like the podcast and would like it to continue please write me a review on Itunes, stitcher and tell your friends.

The Hour record,
One of the greatest ever records! This used to be a truly prestige’s  achievement, yet it has also seemed to have passes in to the dusty records and is only ever thought about by the few and the mad.
For those of you who haven’t heard of this record then I am sorry because you have missed some truly epic battles to lay claim to this record.
The idea of this is very simple. You ride a bike around a track from a standing start and cover as much distance as possible in 1 hour…. That’s right just 60 minutes, that is only 3600 seconds of riding. It just about sounds easy. This is my favourite record in cycling, it is so simple and yet so hard!
Now for a little history,
The first recorded record was in 1876 when the American Frank Dodds rode 26.508 km (16.471 mi) on a penny-farthing. 26.5 km isn’t that far until you think about doing it on a Penny-farthing!
And from there the record crept up till 1914 to a distance of 44.247 by Oscar Egg.
At this point HPV’s became involved. HPV stands for Human Powered Vehicles or recumbent bikes. These do have some big advantages over “normal” bikes, yet they do deserve to have their own record and a incredible fast once at that. I will do a podcast on HPV, their hour record and Battle Mountain.
Back to bikes, up until 1972, all the big names tried this record, it was a really important thing to have on your list of results. Here are some of the big names that held this record. Giuseppe Olmo, Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil.
Then in 1972 the Cannibal went for the record! On a standard track bike, spoked wheels and a huge motor…. Eddy Merckx made his record attempt in Mexico city (the track is at attitude) and rode himself once more into the history books setting the distance of 49.431 km. And I must say that is a dame long way in one hour on a normal steel track bike.
This record stood for 12 year! 12 years! Wow…. 12 years!
Merckx record was finally broken by the great Francesco Moser in 1984, yet this was also the start of the technogy war on the record. Moser rode 50.808 and then 4 days later 51.151km. All this was also done on the Mexico city track. Moser used a bike will bull horns and Disk wheels, this started to give him an aero dynamic advantage. It also started the talk about was technology racing or the rider!
Mosers record stood for 9 years! Moser and Merckx are 2 truly outstanding athletes and they did this at a time when everyone wanted this record.
Yet now comes what I believe is the most interesting few years of this Record. It all seems to start with Graeme Obree, (yes the last podcast got me thinking all about this record) A unique Scotsman, with a ingénues mind and a talent for riding.
Graeme was an unknown rider from Scotland and was very fast in local races. He also dreamed of the hour record. He didn’t have huge sponsors (or really any), His business a local bike shop was going under (from what I heard from Graeme because of a business partner doing the dirty on him). He also had a great idea on how to make a bike more aerodynamic, so he built it. It was famous that he used parts from a washing machine to build his bike. And it is true… well at least a bearing. He used the main bearing from a washing machine for the Bottom braket bearing, this was because he could build a bike with the pedals closer together.
Anyway, he was slowly getting ready for the record and the Famous British rider Chris Boardman announced he was going for it. On the wind tunnel tested carbon machine… The Lotus.
This made Graeme step up his effort and organised a track and go for the record. He rented the track for 24 hours and on 16th of July 1993 he made his attempt at the record and failed. Some of what follows I heard in a talk given by Graeme many years ago, so it is from the horses mouth and held in my memory, any part that is not exact I am sorry.
Graeme said that he would try again the following morning….. That’s right the following morning. Graeme had 2 choices for the night. 1 sleep well and wake up refreshed, yet stiff and the gas tank empty or 2. Wake up every couple of hours stretch, eat cornflakes and be a tired the next day. He chose option 2. And to make sure he got up he drank huge amounts of water because he knew the bladder is the best alarm clock in the world.
So he turned up at the track the next morning got on Old faithful (his self hand built bike) and rode himself to the world hour record. A distance of 51.596. In the talk I went to, When asked why he had got up and tried the record the next day Graeme replyed “Financal necessity. All his sponsors only paid out on success, and he was about to go under”!
Sadly this outstanding record only stood for 6 days and was beaten by just under 700m by Chris Boardman. Chris Boradman’s effort as huge and these 2 riders and rivals really set fire to the hour record.
Chris and Graeme raced each other in the Pursuit World Championships 1993 Graeme won, Chris in 1994 and Graeme again in 1995!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc24LVK_UH4

Graeme reclaimed the Hour record in April 1994 at a distance of 52.713 and later that year at the  world Pursuit Championships were where the UCI really started changing rules moment by moment and they all seemed to be targeted at Graeme Obree, First his seat didn’t meet requirements when a couple of days before it did, so he cut it down, so it fitted the rules, that didn’t pass. So in the end he used a BMX seat from a kids bike. Once into the finals they UCI said that the Praying mantis position that Graeme had was illegal and his hands couldn’t touch his hands. Graeme tried not hold to this rule, yet was disqualified in what I believe is one of the dark moments in the UCI’s history. A side note here Moser did set the Veteran hour record using Graeme Obree’s praying mantis position. So this was not just a one man thing.
So Graeme went away and come up with the Superman position! Now this position would change the world! Even though other riders were using Funny bikes (smaller front wheel) and flash carbon fibre machines, still Graeme’s superman was faster on his old faithful.
After this 1995 world title everyone started to use the superman. And with it broke records, Pursuit records and of course the Hour record.
Graeme never held the hour record for long, at least this time it was more than 6 days, Step in 5 time tour de France winner Miguel Indurain. In September 1994 he lifted Obree’s distance by 327 metres to a grand distance of 53.040 km.
A month and a half later Indurain’s greatest rival Tony Rominger stepped up and posted 53.832 km. Yet even with this massive distance he wasn’t happy and know he could do more so a month later he was at it again and smashed his own record! Rominger’s new record was 55.291 km.
So in the space of a year and a half the record was broken 6 times! And lifted from 51.151 to 55.291. that may only be 4 km’s yet riding at that sort of speed for an hour is amazing!
Now the record had to wait for 2 year, And Chris Broadman was back… and ready to do some damage. Using the superman and every bit of go fast stuff he could he rode once again into the history books, covering 56.375 km.
What he didn’t know was this ride and the distance he set may never change. The UCI then declared Boardman’s effort was going to be called the “Best Human effort” and bikes would have to conform to new standards (or old standards depends how you see it). These are your bike has to be like Eddy’s bike, steel frame and spoked wheels, and all sorts of other stuff. You are only allowed to use the technology Eddy had. This to me was the death nail for the record, suddenly no company really wants to be involved as they cannot show off the latest go fast stuff and you cannot push the limits of thinking and design. True the event becomes more pure, the athlete against the clock, yet why not both records?
Now with the record back at  Eddy Merckx’s 1972 distance 49.431 km. So in one sweep the UCI cleared away 25 years of amazing history! Good Guys UCI!
Now I had said early on at what an outstanding record this was! And Eddy Merckx to my mind is the best rider of all time, so to beat that record with no aerodynamic help would be massive. And in 2000 just such a person stepped on the track. A man that knows how to suffer and has held the hour record, that’s right Chris Boardman had another go and manages to break the record, yet only just…. In fact, it had to be worked out on count back and was by just 10 metres! Now the record was 49.441. so in 28 years we managed ten metres on Eddy. Wow…. Eddy you rock!
Now for me comes a very dark and sad event. On the 19th of July 2005 the record was broken by Ondřej Sosenka. I think it was great the record was broken, yet Sosenka had been suspected of doping, infact he was excluded from the 2001 peace race after failing a hematocrit test prior to the event. Then in 2008 testing positive, this calls into doubt (rightly or wrongly) his effort. The event also the breaking of the record went very much in noticed and it is a shame that such a super record has fallen away.
It is also an event you can’t just go a do, so riders who today could do it, have to choose between money and a record. What would you do?
Many people have announced they try for the record and some have tried and failed, other haven’t got that far. It is one I would love to try, yet the work and the pain involved is amazing, maybe one day…. Yet even the thought of riding at over 50km/h for an hour is madness and it will take away more talented rider than me to even come close. I think I could do the first record… But not on a Penny Farthing.
I have read that Fabian Cancellara is thinking about giving it a go, or some are saying he will do it after the spring classics. Man that would be great! There is even talk about Tony Martin going for it. And maybe just maybe one of these guys could break the record and reignite the spark of interest in the hour record. And just think of a back and forth like that of Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman! How fantastic would that be! It is an event so full of history and truly one of the hardest monuments in cycling.
I do have to ask why is it the UCI, seems hell bent on killing the ingenuity of man, and the evolution of the bicycle? So many of the awesome events seem to be slowly going. The hour record, the 100km team time trial, the 4km pursuit. Next cobble stones won’t be allowed. Yet for so long they turned a blind eye to so much.
I say let’s have both records, one for the guy that thinks he can and one for the guy with great legs and a lot of sport science behind him! Bring back the Lotus and the funny bikes and put the excitement back into something that is and should be so very awesome!

Ok and thank you for listening. Feedback, comments and whatever can be sent to info@cams-world.de. And remember please help the podcast by writing a 5 star review on Stitcher or Itunes.
I am going to start publishing my script (if you can call it that) it is more a first draft and the show notes at http://camsworldde.blogspot.com. Please note Cams world takes no responsibility for grammar and spelling mistakes. These notes are written and not always checked until recording. If you would like better notes or help the show, contact me and it will let you know how. info@cams-world.de

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