TRIATHLON AND ECONOMY

There are many links between how good a country practices a sport and economy.  We posted related subjects: “How to think clearly to create champions.”  It has to do with the way of thinking attached to “somebody that produces something.” It is no so much about money in itself, which it is a by-product of thinking clearly and working hard most of the time (in Mexico we have the organized crime but that is something else, we speak about real people).

Just hours after Yale professor Robert Shiller won the Nobel prize for economics Monday he told the Associated Press: "The most important problem that we are facing today...is rising inequality in the United States and elsewhere in the world."… At first glance that sounds like good news for the wealthy in this country, but Reich disagrees. "The rich would do better with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy because [then] the middle class has more purchasing power and could help it grow," he says.

Related: "We have Become a Nation of Hamburger Flippers": Dan Alpert Breaks Down the Jobs Report

Inequality is also a political choice, according to another Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz. In a recent New York Times blog he blames the rise of American inequality on underinvestment in infrastructure, education, health care and social safety nets.

Reich offers his own prescription to reduce inequality:

• Invest in education and job training
• Upgrade the nation's infrastructure
• Reform the entire tax system, including sales & payroll taxes, to make it more progressive
• Constrain Wall Street's gambling behavior
• Increase the minimum wage and earned income tax credit to help move people out of poverty

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/income-inequality-enemy-economic-growth-robert-reich-142150436.html

We recently had the last games to classify to the Soccer World Cup. The USA gave another chance to the Mexican Team to classify by winning against Panama; the Mexicans will play two games against New Zealand for the pass to the World Cup because of the USA win on overtime.  This brought an unusual commentary from the TV announcer (Martinolli), who points out the attitude of the one that does not know how to produce something (the majority of the cases bring the problem of how to work and make a living from it).  The winning attitude is teachable and necessary to obtain goals but it is also in the culture; unfortunately, the culture can deceive us:

"It is because of the USA that we are being placed in the playoff ...BECAUSE OF THEM , NOT DUE TO YOU..NOT ANY OF YOU in the green shirts ....IT WAS THEM!!.NOT YOU!..THEY DID IT!!!!!NOT YOU! remember this forever..... KEEP THIS CLEARLY IN MIND FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES! You do NOTHING for the shirt, you do NOT put the effort, you have NOT placed us in the playoffs, you HAVE NOT placed us in the WORLD CUP ..YOU WOULD NOT HAVE KEPT US ALIVE....IT WAS ESTADOS UNIDOS, NOT YOU! NOT YOU AND YOUR ARROGANCE/CONCEIT.....NOT YOU AND YOUR INFAMY....NOT YOU AND YOUR MORONS/PUNKS....
....
"IT IS A FAILURE.....and UNDESERVED -to go through to the playoff- WE HAD NO ARGUMENTS to earn the playoffs, THE USA, WITH SUBS , WITH MANY SUBS as the visiting team shows us once again what the USA is all about ....how to play the game with dignity, how to approach the sport..MExico is a horror, just terrible....A FAILURE..........THE USA HAS SURPASSED US ..They are better than Mexico in SOCCER ....THEY EVEN HAVE THE LUXURY OF PLAYING THEIR SUBS and KEEPING US LIVE.... I hope our coach wears the pants and resigns. He has failed as coach...."

 http://www.businessinsider.com/mexico-soccer-announcer-translation-2013-10#ixzz2hwJEppUf

 

How to teach those “morons punks” that Martinolli points out is our task.  The problem is that Martinolli is the first one that speaks about it publicly, and most likely he will be put on the shadows for a while after what he made public and nobody wants to see/hear.  Thanks Martinolli!  It is not related to soccer exclusively.  It is related to our culture that permeates all our sports.  It is related to our poverty that is not only in our spirit but in our pocket (that hurts the most for sure).  I like the proposition made by Reich on how to fight inequality which it could be apply to sports:

Team Oaxaca offers his own prescription to reduce inequality in triathlon or any sport:

• Invest in education and technique training
• Upgrade the nation's infrastructure
• Reform the entire tax system, including sales & payroll taxes, to make it more progressive
• Constrain Wall Street's, Triathlon National Federations and ITU gambling behavior  
• Increase the PRICES FOR COMPETITION and give extra money based on results to help move athletes out of poverty

Triathlon Efficiency III

It is not prohibited being smart training triathlon.  We have some number given by Trainingpeaks.com.  These numbers are in relation to the latest Hawaii Ironman.  The latest winner Pete Jacobs (2012) gives some numbers related to his win then.  We have some numbers related to this year when he lost by much.

Total                                                                           

Total Time: 4:41:56

Moving Time: 4:41:17

Distance: 112.05 mi

Energy: 4318 kJ

TSS: 261 (0.75)

NP: 269

VI: 1.05

Gain: 3002 ft

Loss: - 2977 ft

Grade:0.0 %

VAM:195

W/Kg:3.7

Pwr. Bal.:% / 52%

	Min	Avg	Max
Power (Watts):	0	256	684
Speed (mph):	0	23.9	41.7
Pace (min/mi):	99:99	02:31	01:26
Cadence (rpm):	0	87	111
Elev (ft):	56	245	659
Temp (F):	<79	87	93

0:00:00 - 4:35:03 

Total Time: 4:35:03

Moving Time: 4:34:21

Distance: 111.54 mi

Energy: 4626 kJ

TSS: 285 (0.79)

NP: 292

VI: 1.04

Gain: 3054 ft

Loss: - 3035 ft

Grade:0.0 %

VAM:204

W/Kg:4.0

	Min	Avg	Max
Power (Watts):	0	281	645
Speed (mph):	0	24.4	47
Pace (min/mi):	99:99	02:28	01:17
Cadence (rpm):	9	91	128
Elev (ft):	-51	162	560
Temp (F):	<77	87	99

There are two things in these two tables:

1)   The cadence dropped from 91 to 87 average.  At the same time, the efficiency while pedaling dropped also: .79 to .75.  There is a correlation between cadence and efficiency while pedaling in these two tables.

2)   The average speed from 23.9 to 24.4 accordingly is not correlated to produced watts 256 to 281.  It is more accurate explained by the efficiency pedaling from .75 to .79. 

It is apparent that Jacobs practiced cadence with low gears, producing more power with less rpm; perhaps from 14 to 13 in the back wheel using 53 at the front.  These changes produced the dropped from 24.4 to 23.9.  In two years he can reach the 24.4 miles per hours practicing when changing gears from 91 to 87.  Hopefully he can have the time to recover his speed!  Then he will need to practice running when biking at a lower cadence; another two years.  In the year 2013, Jacobs ran the marathon in 3:30 after the bike; 2012, 2:48.  We can practice triathlon HEAD DOWN but it takes so many years to gain speed that it becomes worthless.  That is the reason of this post; to help you be smart training triathlon.  We have spoken about this matter:

We have spoken of Lance Amstrong in the past, and regardless of his doping problem which we do not approve, he is an example of improving efficiency during his time competing.

16 févr. 2012  ARMSTRONG, THE GREATEST PRODUCT OF OUR SCIENCE

Lance took seven years to develop his cycling economy, according to the study of Edward Coyle, 2% in seven years (Joyner, MJ and EF Coyle. Endurance exercise performance: the physiology of champions. Journal of Physiology 586:35-44, 2008).  The economy of movement has to do with technique, cadence and the quality of training in general. Greg Bennett mentioned in an interview that it took him four years to improve less than a minute in the 10k of triathlon before Athens, just by improving the economy of running; his VO2 max had a limit.  Macca is another example; he is unable to run below 31 minutes in Olympic triathlons even though he surely has a very high VO2max.  The 80´s are the limit in triathletes.

Accelerations is what wears out the competitors.  Points race is very similar to the peloton encounter in ITU triathlon except that triathlon´s peloton has less accelerations during the race; it is not a rocket science to determine that training should be similar TO TRACK TRAINING FOR A POINTS RACE.  Look at how speed goes up by increasing cadence and how the same goes down when cadence decreases, and the need of the cyclist to accelerate when his cadence drops.  If we teach cyclist to keep cadence up, the acceleration would exist, but not to the degree of increasing power to more than 2000 watts.  The question would always exist, is our athlete coachable or does he have the capacity to learn or to be taught?  This is the limit between the good and the exceptional: EDUCATION.

http://www.srm.de/us/srm-in-action/competition-with-srm/track/334-bahn

TRIATHLON AND THE ART OF COACHING

I heard a friend saying: “I do not know a coach who has crafted champions from scratch more than once.”  We went over several coaches, but we had difficulties finding coaches not just in triathlon but in any sport.  They do exist!  There are not as many as we would like to believe.  I thought about Javier Gómez’ coach and believed that he is a good advisor which Gómez needs at this time of his career.  Gómez was born in Switzerland and his family learned something there that helped at this point of his life.  I thought about the Brownlees. His father is a doctor and ran competitively when in College; his mother is a former competitive swimmer.  The Brownlees have several coaches depending on the different triathlon segments.  Bob Bowman grew old with Michael Phelps; he even had a house next to Michael’s.  Crafting a champion needs a coach, a family and a culture since they are born in order to be successful.  It is necessary to be at the right place at the right time when all those three ingredients are ready. Bowman worked pretty hard raising Michael from scratch, as he puts it: “Coaching Debbie (Michael’s mother) was even more difficult than coaching Michael.”  He has had a few others swimmers but none of them was really crafted by him.  The three ingredients mentioned above need the same level of education; meaning the same guidelines to follow in our thought process.

What is what we need to teach?  What makes this environment unique?  There is a good book that has a provocative name: “The Art of Thinking Clearly,” written by a Swiss, Rolf Dobelli. The book gives guidelines to learn in order to think clearly, guidelines needed if we want to be successful.  Several similar books have been written dealing with the issue of what to teach. 

George Vaillant has the Grant Study which deals with the longitudinal follow up of Harvard Graduates for decades and he mentions the Mature Defense Mechanism that make us to have some success in our lives: “Adaptation to life.”  

The Old Testament speaks about the Ten Commandments to have a “life according to divine laws;” “Divine Laws” that surely keep us out of trouble.

According to Judaism, the Aseret ha-Dibrot identify the following ten categories of mitzvot. Other religions divide this passage differently. See The "Ten Commandments" Controversy below. Please remember that these are categories of the 613 mitzvot, which according to Jewish tradition are binding only upon Jews. The only mitzvot binding upon gentiles are the seven Noahic commandments.

1. Belief in G-d

This category is derived from the declaration in Ex. 20:2 beginning, "I am the L-rd, your G-d..."

2. Prohibition of Improper Worship

This category is derived from Ex. 20:3-6, beginning, "You shall not have other gods..." It encompasses within it the prohibition against the worship of other gods as well as the prohibition of improper forms of worship of the one true G-d, such as worshiping G-d through an idol.

3. Prohibition of Oaths

This category is derived from Ex. 20:7, beginning, "You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain..." This includes prohibitions against perjury, breaking or delaying the performance of vows or promises, and speaking G-d's name or swearing unnecessarily.

4. Observance of Sacred Times

This category is derived from Ex. 20:8-11, beginning, "Remember the Sabbath day..." It encompasses all mitzvot related to Shabbat, holidays, or other sacred time.

5. Respect for Parents and Teachers

This category is derived from Ex. 20:12, beginning, "Honor your father and mother..."

6. Prohibition of Physically Harming a Person

This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not murder."

7. Prohibition of Sexual Immorality

This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not commit adultery."

8. Prohibition of Theft

This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not steal." It includes within it both outright robbery as well as various forms of theft by deception and unethical business practices. It also includes kidnapping, which is essentially "stealing" a person.

9. Prohibition of Harming a Person through Speech

This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." It includes all forms of lashon ha-ra (sins relating to speech).

10. Prohibition of Coveting

This category is derived from Ex. 20:14, beginning, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house..." 

Bowman had a plan to develop Michael since he started, if it was not his plan it existed in the club or someplace.  We need a plan (a map) which involves the family, the environment, the coach to have some success. “It is better a bad plan than no plan at all,” it is said.  Targeting the things needed to be successful according to our time it is the book written by Rolf Dobelli; how to think clearly in this era of over information and instant gratification.  How to think clearly is needed to have a champion in this era.  But we can still follow the Ten Commandments and have success as well, as long as we follow the plan to live the Ten Commandments.  Latin America is the land where the Vatican wanted to teach catholic religion again because the one practiced in these countries did not look like the catholic religion they wanted (this is called syncretism).  “The map is not only NOT the territory, but it does not look like.”  A coach is needed on site 24 hours for years to have some success with one or two athletes that he develops from scratch, so “the map can look like the territory.”