Triathlon Advanced Coaching: Character and Timing

I have heard parents' concern about the lack of character in their kids.  They would like more character in what the kids do.  The “baby boomers” are facing this problem and Human Rights makes more difficult to redirect the boat.  I guess the parents have to live with it, paying for their own lack of character or ignorance/naiveté.  We have a problem of lack of character in our triathletes.  I have seen coaches working on character but they lack knowledge on how to do it; or simply, they do not know the basic stuff about the sport they coach (basic Physiology).

I have seen two films that I recommend to parents if they “want it bad” for their kids:

The Dutch film “Character” is extraordinary to teach where character come from; not what the players do. In the film, the father plays the Freudian game of the time.  In Mexico, we have a similar player with Maximilian (the only Mexican Emperor.  His last words were, "I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood which is about to be shed, be for the good of the country. Viva Mexico, viva la independencia!".^[37 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico :

“Killing the Father” by Sigmund Freud

http://g0spel0fj0hn.com/2011/01/06/killing-the-father-by-sigmund-freud/

Last year, a film to teach character was released:

Whiplash.

This film received many criticisms, including the one from the Newyorker:

The core of the movie is the emotional and physical brutality that Fletcher metes out to Andrew, in the interest (he claims) of driving him out of self-satisfaction and into hard work. Fletcher levels an ethnic slur at Andrew, who’s Jewish; he insults his father, smacks him in the face repeatedly to teach him rhythm, hazes him with petty rules that are meant to teach military-style obedience rather than musical intelligence.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/whiplash-getting-jazz-right-movies

Whoever has kids knows that taking decisions is unavoidable and we have all the examples in front of us if we want to see (most of time we do not want to see.  Jacques Lacan would say: “L’amour, l’amour... C'est pour ça qu’on inventé l’inconscient”).  It is said that after 18-years of age the character does not change and it is well known to the groups of Alcoholic Anonymous that try very hard to change the course of life/death using techniques similar to the ones in the film.  Do you "want it bad?"

Triathlon and the Swiss Bank

We all know what is happening to the world markets.  The Swiss franc was stabilizing the credits for many institutions but it was very costly for the country.  It is not just costly money-wise but many people was dependent on this stability.  Many countries have mortgages in Swiss francs and now they have to pay at a higher value; exportations are less competitive because of the cost of production.  This is something we lived in Mexico 22 years back, but the following market movement was the opposite; exportations were more competitive and the peso value was lower.  Most of the people were broke and never recovered.

What in the hell it has to do with triathlon?  If we bet to follow the wheel of a triathlete instead of practicing to be able to be in a brake away we are at the expenses of who is going to be the chaser.  We have known the average power needed by competitors in an ITU race first pack taking turns, 370 watts average.   

Frodeno´s values different races

We know from previous post on Docherty that the lactate threshold of an ITU Olympic distance triathlete (first pack) is two minutes slower than tour the France cycling riders for the 40k.   

Whoever is going to ride to catch the first peloton is going to be unable to run after the bike.  We are betting just like in the case of the Swiss franc or the Mexican government to keep artificially the currency value.  Freedom is the reason to train right; just as investing in the production of something useful instead waiting for the train to pull us or the market to sell our shares.

I am talking about triathlon as an Ecological entity.  Let us keep our sport free from remoras.  Too many remoras kill the sport and/or the big fishes.

Triathlon and Lying

We have heard much about Herbalife, Bill Ackman and how many companies are making money with the pyramid scheme that the infamous Bernie Madoff made it famous.  In a nutshell, people at the bottom of the pyramid is paying for something that is not worst the price but they believe they are going to make money by investing; due to ignorance or desperation.  Omnilife in Mexico was a branch of Herbalife that separated to make its own business.  Omnilife in Mexico owns the Soccer Club Guadalajara that according to Forbes is the wealthiest sport club in Mexico.  Omnilife is looking to sell the club to avoid paying with the club after a litigation.  Triathlon is not away from this kind of lies.  People wants miracles, and there are organization/coaches selling it. 

We have learned from elite athletes who tried to improve their running speed for the last 10,000k in an Olympic distance triathlon after the bike; they are able to improve less than a minute in four years.  Such is the case of Greg Bennett.  We have the stats of Bevan Docherty and his best times were around 30 high or 31 for the 10k during his entire career.  At the London Olympics, Nicola Spirig ran 33:41, a little more than 2 minutes faster since the time she competed as junior.  London was a very fast race for males and females compared to other Olympics.  If the athletes are not fast enough for 10,000 meters at the age of 17 (32 for males, 35 for females), the chances of getting fast later are very slim.  But remember!  They should be able to ride the bike 7:00 minutes for 5k on a flat surface.  We mentioned this on the previous post regarding Docherty. 

We need to work as the Kenyans or Ethiopians if we want to have fast runners the last 10k, faster than the Brownlees, starting at very early age and continue into adulthood with the same program.  Otherwise we become as Herbalife fraud.