Triathlon and Cape Town World Cup

Readers of this blog come from all over the world, and Russians are in the top ten as well as Ukrainians.  For the last month we have not had readers from Russia.  My hunch is that we have been censured (we need help from Snowden).  Putin has been stopped without military threat, it happened just with economic sanctions.  He is not a man of this century, he knows little about economics and effects. We will point out economics and effects in triathlon analyzing Cape Town Triathlon to show you how it works:

"Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century,” Putin said in an address to the Russian people. “As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself."

This speech shows that nearly a decade ago, Putin was planting the seeds of his current actions in Ukraine by referencing Russians who he claims are stranded in former Soviet bloc states. Since the invasion of Ukraine, he has repeatedly said that he would protect the interest of Russians and Russians speaking people outside of the Soviet Union.

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-divulged-plot-reunify-ussr-101500515.html;_ylt=AwrTWVUur19TtS4AgCXQtDMD

In Cape Town most of the athletes worked together to their best of their cycling ability in the first pack.  Thanks to Brownlee, Gómez and his team mate Schoeman, who made sure everybody worked to their best of their cycling ability. Mola and Murray tried their best to make others work for them, but they stayed behind for more than a minute and fifteen seconds.  They played with the economy of the triathletes and at the end whoever had the best strategy won.   Because of the effort in the first pack just three were able to run and the rest fated to be passed by Mola and Murray.  Mola and Murray saved energy on the bike and Brownlee, Gómez and Shoeman made sure the members of the first pack used their energy according to their cycling ability. It was a fair share of the economic burden by the first pack members.  This is the first time I have seen it. 

16 sept. 2013

TRIATHLON LONDON CHAMPIONSHIPS

Triathlon has become more strategic than previous years after the Brownslees.  Simon Lessing started to lose after the new format of racing –drafting- started in the year 1999.  He was one of the best riding the bicycle but lost all his advantage when drafting format started.  His running form and ability was not at the level of continuing winning.  The game becomes what is called, A WET RUN.  In the peloton most of the riders on the second pack just want to reach the first one and everybody dies after reaching the first pack where the Brownlees and the Gomez are, except the ones that stayed sitting in the pack waiting for the wet run.  That was the case in this race.

Outside pressure is also playing a role to make triathletes work on the bike.  GOOD! This is the only way to improve triathlete’s performance.  In London (2012, circuit final), Allister Brownlee tried hard to make triathletes work on the bike, but he failed.  It seems that the triathletes have been educating themselves.  ECONOMIC SANCTIONS WORK IN THIS GLOBALIZED WORLD.  By the way, the NBA will be losing sponsors if they do not make Sterling sell the Clippers.  Guess what it would happen.

On April 25, 2014, TMZ Sports released what it said is an April 9, 2014, audio recording of a conversation between Sterling and V. Stiviano.^[27][28] According to TMZ, Sterling and Stiviano argued in regards to a photo Stiviano posted on Instagram in which she posed with Magic Johnson.^[28]

Donald Tokowitz Sterling (born Donald Tokowitz; April 26, 1934)^[2] is an American business magnate and former attorney. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Sterling acquired the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5 million, and as of 2014, the team is valued at $575 million by Forbes magazine,^[3]

The Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) cancelled its plans for the following month to award Sterling for a second time with its lifetime achievement award.^[31] President Barack Obama characterized the recording attributed to Sterling as "incredibly offensive racist statements". Obama then stated, “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.”^[32] Chumash Casino, the Clippers' most visible sponsor the prior four seasons, ended their relationship with the team, as did sponsors CarMax and Virgin America. Other sponsors and advertisers suspended their relationship with the Clippers while continuing to monitor the situation.^[33]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sterling

I will keep you posted and will relate this matter to triathlon.

Triathlon WITH Jack Daniels

The first time I heard about Jack Daniels I thought about whisky; but Jack Daniels is more important than whisky.  He is a scientist and coach who used to coach swimming and ended up teaching running when he says: “I was not good at running, but I won a silver and bronze medal at pentathlon in the Olympics game.”

Daniels won a team silver medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics and a team bronze medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics for his participation in the modern pentathlon.^[3]

Jack Tupper Daniels (born April 26, 1933) is a professor of physical education at A.T. Still University and a coach of Olympic athletes. On March 21, 2013, he was named the Head Coach of the Wells College men's and women's cross country programs.^[1] He received his doctoral degree in exercise physiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Named "The World's Best Coach" by Runner's World magazine,^[2] he led SUNY Cortland runners to eight NCAA Division III National Championships, 31 individual national titles, and more than 130 All-America awards.^[2]

I want to thank to the ones that place Daniels videos in Youtube.  This is what we should do if we want humans to continue evolving in whatever we do.  Daniels is a wealth of information about training and the evolution of training.

I want to make a point of running economy which Daniels puts next to VO2max.  Running economy has to do with technique and cadence.  We had had a female triathlete able to run 17 minutes flat for 5k during a triathlon when the VO2max was 60; the same athlete unable to run below 18:30 when running a sprint triathlon, same weight, different training and a VO2max of 67!  Her running economy decreased by changing the cadence and the technique for worse, even though her VO2max improved.

Salut, Jack! Salud, Jack! Cheers, Jack!  Thanks for showing us the way.

Triathlon and Regression Toward the Mean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean

This is a very tricky subject.  I have touched it several times but never went over.  It is the main reason why we have to choose our partners; we can become as the ones we critized if we interact with them for a long time:

In statistics, regression toward (or to) the mean is the phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement—and, paradoxically, if it is extreme on its second measurement, it will tend to have been closer to the average on its first.^[1][2][3] To avoid making wrong inferences, regression toward the mean must be considered when designing scientific experiments and interpreting data.

This concept has not a translation to Spanish.  IT IS SCARRY!  This is a basic concept when we think about things scientifically; it is a sin ne quo non in science.  It is very important what could happen due to luck or to what we consider a trend in science:

The concept of regression comes from genetics and was popularized by Sir Francis Galton during the late 19th century with the publication of Regression towards mediocrity in hereditary stature.^[6] Galton observed that extreme characteristics (e.g., height) in parents are not passed on completely to their offspring. Rather, the characteristics in the offspring regress towards a mediocre point (a point which has since been identified as the mean). By measuring the heights of hundreds of people, he was able to quantify regression to the mean, and estimate the size of the effect. Galton wrote that, “the average regression of the offspring is a constant fraction of their respective mid-parental deviations”.

How to influence the regression toward the mean so we can overcome mediocrity or continue on constant improvement? Gómez and the Brownlees are able to perform at the top, no matter if it is a wet run or a hilly course in triathlon.  They are always on the top, not allowing a regression toward the mean.  They do not play dice when performing in triathlon; every move have been visualized or done previously, nothing is left on the off chance.  If we left performance on the off chance a regression toward the mean is inevitable.  This phenomenon happens when the triathlete is not a good bicycle rider; he depends on the ones pulling the peloton to chase the first pack, or simply he sits on the pack on the off chance that he could have a good run (playing the wet run).  This sitting on the wheel of someone is taught to our triathletes, instead of helping them to improve their bike performance.

Historically, what is now called regression toward the mean has also been called reversion to the mean and reversion to mediocrity.

On the other side, some of the “good” results of our triathletes could be attributed to a REGRESSION TOWARD THE MEAN.  We need to reflect on what we do and what we need to work on.