Frey Bird

Training Update: Week 2

2012-01-24T13:13:00.003-05:00

Hello Birdfans! Training has been going great. I was really nervous going into this, as my last few attempts at getting back to running have left me with debilitating calf cramps. So far, no cramps! Here's what I've done...

Tuesday -
AM: 1800m longcourse swim at aquacrest. That 50m pool fits my giangantic body better than a 25 yard pool, where I feel like I'm doing a flipturn every two seconds. Main set was 6x100m on 1:45.
PM: 1 hour 10 min ride in Central Park, rode the fixie.

Wednesday -
PM: 35 min run around central park with 8x30s fartlek bursts. Felt great!

Thursday -
AM: 1 hour, 10 min ride around central park on the fixie.
PM: 40 min run. Felt great again!

Friday -
AM: 1 hour bike around central park. Done in the dark in the morning. This was stupid, I should have done the bike in the afternoon, as Friday turned out to be a bright, blue day.
PM: 1800 yard swim in the 25 yard asphalt green pool. Main set was 6x100 done as 25hard/25easy.

Saturday -
AM: BRICK IN THE SNOW! One of my funnest workouts ever! 1 hour ride around central park, followed by a 30 min run around central park. The roads in the park were completely snow covered, slippery. It was a blast riding the mountain bike, I even jumped off the road and biked around the central park bridle path, which was completely unplowed. NYC got about 4 inches of snow. Here's a bike pic, as proof.

Sunday - I actually did these workouts on Monday of the next week, but who's counting.
AM: Long run, 50 mins. Felt awesome! It was a little tough to wakeup and get out the door for this one, but I sucked it up and ran.
PM: 1800 yard swim, with a 1200 yard straight swim as the main set.

Quote of the Week:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
-Teddy Roosevelt

Training Update: Week 1

2012-01-17T07:14:00.003-05:00

I started training on January 10 for a race that takes place June 24. I'm planning on training hard for the April 17 FAU Wellness triathlon in Boca Raton, FL. Then, if my body holds up from the training and practice race, I'll get ready for the Ironman 70.3 race in Syracuse. Here's what the first week's training looked like...

Tuesday:
AM: 1800m swim in the long course pool at Asphalt Green. Main set was 6X100m. This was my first time in the pool in a while, so I felt rusty.
PM: 1 hour bike ride in central park. Rode the fixie and pushed it on the uphills.

Wednesday:
PM: 30 min. run with 6x30s fartlek bursts. This was my first run since maybe September or October, and my first outdoor run since, maybe, June 2011. Felt ok!

Thursday:
PM: Brick in and around central park. 45min ride followed by 15min run. I came away from the run without any pain, so I consider that a success!

Friday:
AM: 1800 yard pool. The 25 yard pool felt short after swimming long course on Tuesday. Main set was 6x100yards again, but it was done as 25 hard/25 easy.
PM: 1 hour bike. Done around central park. Rode the fixie and it felt eeaassyy.

Saturday:
AM: 1 hour 45 min ride. Fixie around central park again... it was cold!
PM: 30 min run. Did this at night around central park. Felt ok again!

Sunday:
AM: 55 min run around central park. Isn't it cool that central park is my gym?
PM: 1800yard swim. Main set was a 1200yard straight swim... it was hard to keep my head looking at the bottom of the pool for the whole session, so I threw some backstroke in for a change of view.

Overall it was a good week! Nothing was long or hard, but it was nice to reestablish some structure in the training. The two-a-days were tough, but I powered through!

Tip of the Week:
When it gets cold and windy in the winter, put some duct tape on your bike helmet's vents. While there are expensive wind-proof covers you can purchase for your helmet, the duct tape gets the job down while also adding some stylish color.

2012 updates

2012-01-09T15:20:00.006-05:00

Hey bird fans,

I'm back. You know you missed me, and I've missed the blog. So let's get back together, try this relationship out again. We had some good times together. Remember Aquacrest, the best pool in South Florida? And, remember when I raced the Florida Ironman 70.3 back in 2009? Those are some fond memories for me, and I know you had a good time reading about those things. Or, maybe you just liked looking at me in my speedo?

You were just using me for my looks?

Or maybe it was reading about my health struggles that brought you to me? That post did get tons of hits, and still brings in occasional comments.

Regardless of why you first liked me, let's get back together. I'm posting again, so you better start reading again.

What are you up to now, Frey?

I'm living in New York City, teaching fourth grade, and I'm training again. It's been a tough stretch: DVT's, infections, and other stuff that I don't even mention. People have written to me and asked me how long it takes to come back to triathlon after some of this stuff. Realistically, I have no idea. I got my first DVT in 2009, and I think that I'm only now healthy (mentally and physically) to get back into triathlon.

I've gotten myself a SICK fleet of new bikes. A custom steel Gunnar fixie, a custom Zinn hardtail Ti mountain bike, and a custom Zinn ti road bike. I'll be posting more about those in some upcoming articles, so stay tuned!

I've found an incredible pool in Manhattan, at Asphalt Green. If you're a Manhattanite looking for a place to swim, this is it, and it'll also be the subject of upcoming articles.

I've biked my face off for the last few years, and I've done a medium amount of swimming. I've thrown in some occasional stretches of running (and you know this has always been my weakness!) One of my biggest challenges is that I'll occasionally get debilitating cramps in my calves while running, and these most likely are caused by vein damage I have in my legs. Will I be able to put in a solid block of run training as I prepare for the 2012 tri season?

Plans for 2012

I'm trying to train and race again. Even though I'm living in NYC these days, I'd like to try to get myself to the 2012 FAU Wellness Triathlon. I did this race in 2008 and in 2009. I'd like to go back in 2012, as this was a favorite local race of mine in S. Florida, and it took place right down the street from my former Delray Beach, FL home.

I will also be posting pics of hot triathlete women, as I know this is what you were really coming to my site for.

Mirina Carfrae, looking good on the bike.

It's good to be back.

Triathlon Shoe Fit

2011-07-29T19:33:00.003-04:00

What's up birdfans! I'm looking for some feedback here, so leave me your opinion in the 'comments' section on this one. I want to hear back from you...

You may know that I've had a lot of trouble with my feet and legs the last few years, particularly with finding a comfortable pair of shoes. Cycling and running shoes always seem to bother me in some way. Wearing one pair of shoes will make my knee or achilles tendon or calf start to bother me in some way, and changing out of the shoes will cure the problem instantly. I've even gone as far as to start wearing the Vibram Fivefingers just about fulltime... to work, school, running, and lifting.

Here's me running Brian's Run in West Chester, PA with the Vibrams on. I'm the guy in the middle, in case you couldn't pick me out of the crowd.

Barefoot or the vibrams pretty much cured all my woes. But, as any fivefinger wearer knows, you're still left with the problems that the vibrams are butt ugly, everybody states at them, asks you a million questions about them, and they stink like liquid poop after a few wearings.

So, I've tried buying some shoes recently. I think I've found my problem with shoes...

I think I've been wearing them MUCH too small!

I've been wearing size 14 running shoes (medium width), and I've been wearing size 14's for probably about 10 years now.

My toes are crammed right up against the end of the 14's. I thought this was how shoes were supposed to fit. Anything bigger and I felt like I was slipping all around on the inside.

On the advice of some family and after reading some various internet advice, I've tried sizing up. I am now wearing some size 15 basketball shoes and some 15 4e running shoes. Haven't had any leg pains yet!

I've got about a thumb's width between the end of my foot and the front of the shoe.

What do you all think? How do your running or cycling shoes fit?

By the way, here's another video of me dunking...

Looks like the size 15 basketball shoes (that I'm wearing in this video) are doing pretty well for me!

dunking

2011-07-21T16:26:00.003-04:00

Hey birdfans! Here's a video of me dunking a basketball!

I haven't been doing much biking lately - mostly just a lot of lifting. Augmented with some running and swimming. The biking takes a lot out of my legs, so here's what I can do without all that cycling training tiring out my legs.

By the way, I just got an iphone lately, and this makes taking and uploading videos really easy and fun! You can be on the lookout for a lot more videos of me!

Also, yes, that's a 10-foot hoop. I am just so tall that I make it look low.

Genetics and Athletics

2011-07-12T21:01:00.002-04:00

When discussing the opportunity for a given athlete to participate in a sport, the issue of an athlete's genetic limitations always arises. I am telling you now. Ignore genetics. They play such a small role in determining one's athletic abilities that it's not even an issue worth consideration.

I heard this argument from a friend on mine just the other day. "I wasn't cut out to be an athlete. My parents weren't athletes, and I just didn't have it in my blood. So, I never played any sports." This made me sick to my stomach. I can't stand this type of self-limiting, complacency, failed dreams, self-imposed dialogue.

It is true that genetics play a role in determining an athlete's athletic potential. This is, in part, because genetics determine the functional make-up of the musculoskeletal system. Things like bony make-up, muscle fiber type distribution, and tendinous insertion locations will all play a role in the athlete’s ability to develop comparatively high levels of force production/speed or endurance capacity.

But the point I am making is that most athletes never even come close to approaching their genetic potential in a sport. People just decide in their heads (for whatever reason) that their genes have limited them in some way, then go ahead living their lives based on this arbitrary decision.

Focused practice is what it takes to excel in any sport - not some genetic gift. Ask any successful athlete, and they will tell you that it's years and years of huge amounts of focused practices that has gotten them to where they are.

This is a foundational concept in one of my favorite books of all time: Bounce by Mathew Syed.

The underlying theme of the book is that EVERYONE can fulfill their dreams if they just keep at it, and find people to help them in the right direction. This is the case even in elite level performers that are considered “prodigies” in their sport or field. It always comes down to consistent, focused practice with the guidance of an experience mentor.

Don't believe me? Ask Wayne Gretzky...

“I wasn’t naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for. The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I worked hard every day….That’s how I came to know where the puck was going before it even got there.” -Wayne Gretzky (he played hockey)

The take home point is this: Suck it up. Work hard. Your only limitations exist in your mind. You have much more physical ability than you can even imagine.

Whitford Flowers Delivery Man Harasses Cyclists

2011-06-27T14:52:00.003-04:00

Whitford Flowers in Exton, PA, your delivery man tried to run me off the road while I was biking. I have the pictures to prove it. What's worst about this situation is that after I stopped my bike, he creeped his van right up to me and my bike and tapped it into me. This was clearly an act of aggression and assault. I hope you all go out of business.

I was riding East on E Boot Road, and I was hanging a right onto Wilson Drive. Right here:

View Larger Map

While I was biking down Boot, getting ready to turn right onto Wilson, your delivery man pulled his van right up onto my tail. He revved his engine and tooted his horn as I hung a right in the right turn lane (there is no berm or bike lane here). Not wanting to be harassed by this typed of jack*ss, I stopped right in the middle of the lane. I stopped my bike, got out my camera, and snapped these pictures. As I was snapping the pictures, he pulled his car right up, and bumped into me and my bike. This was a purposeful act meant to assault and intimidate me. What a tough guy.

Here he is bumping his hot-rod van into my leg and my bike

Deciding not to get out of the car when he realized he was assaulting a 6'7" man

I got pictures of your license plate, phone number, and your face.

This is Whitford Flowers in Exton, PA. The only explanation the driver offered was that he was a 30-year veteran of delivering flowers, and that he knew what he was doing. Way to never progress past delivery man for 30 years, you must be one awesome employee.

Best Triathlon Weightlifting Leg Exercise: One Leg RDL

2011-06-25T12:31:00.007-04:00

If I had to choose one weight room exercise to help boost the average triathlete's performance, reduce their risk of overuse injuries, and provide them with more strength and functionality in their everyday lives, I'd choose the deadlift.

Here's Franco Columbo (Arnold's training partner) picking up some heavy shit.

By deadlifting, you increase ankle range of motion, increase strength and stiffness in the hamstrings and glutes, teach the posterior chain to fire simultaneously, get a great co-contraction of the muscles of the core, strengthen the scapulae, among other benefits. Despite what those proponents of bosu balls, pink weights, and smith machines might tell you, there's no better (and safer!) way to improve power than picking up the heaviest barbell you can.

Plus, it just makes you feel like a boss to stand there holding 400+ pounds in your hands while everyone else at you gym runs for cover, stares in awe, and shields their children's eyes.

That being said, not many inexperienced lifters possess the proper hip strength and mobility, core strength, or skill to properly execute this lift. Even though the deadlift is a great exercise when properly executed, it can be dangerous when it's poorly done.

Deadlifts aren't inherently bad. But, badly done deadlifts (as shown above) can hurt.

My point here is that deadlifts are GREAT, but we need someway to teach the average gym noob the strength and skill to deadlift properly.

Enter the one-legged RDL.

I like this exercise for so many reasons. I like that it teaches you to "hip-hinge", to bend at the hips as opposed to rounded the lower back. I like that it improves one-leg strength and strength/balance at the hips. I like the it works the glutes and hamstrings, muscles that are sometimes relatively underdeveloped in triathletes.

Tony Gentilcore just throw up a great article on the one-legged RDL over at his blog (which you can find here), so most of what I say from here on out will mostly just be me rewording his ideas.

You know what, I'm not even gonna reword it, I'll just repost his video and coaching cues below...
Again the video and italicized text below are not mine, but reposted from Tony's website. He's a great blogger, check him out here!

1. Keep the neck packed. Many will view this as looking down, but in fact, you're just keeping the neck in a neutral position. Ideally, when performing this exercise, you want to think of your entire backside as making a straight line (said differently, arch your back) from your head all the way down to your toes. Resultantly, you can think of it as making your spine long.

Now, admittedly, I did bend my moving leg slightly - but, for the most part, you should get the general idea.

2. CRUSH the dumbbell with your grip. By doing so, you create a phenomenon called irradiation, which forces the rotator cuff to fire and essentially "packs" the shoulder nice and tight. This is important because you can't think of this movement as actively lowering the DB with your arm - many trainees make the mistake of trying to touch the DB all the way to the floor, resulting in a significant amount of flexion, which I don't agree with.

Instead, a better way to approach it is to think about pushing your hips back (again, keeping your back in a straight line throughout). So, instead of actively thinking about lowering the DB, all you need to do is think "hips back," until the DB reaches roughly mid-shin level. At that point, you shoulde feel some pretty significant tension in the hamstrings.

3. Also of note, with the standing (supporting) leg, I like to tell trainees to keep a "soft knee." It shouldn't be locked or stiff. Ideally, you want about 15-20 degrees of knee flexion.

4. Again, pigging back on the points above, grip the DB HARD, push your hips back, and think about driving your moving leg's heel up towards the ceiling. Like I noted, you want to try to keep your backside as straight as possible, and I've found that using the "heel towards the celing" cue works wonders in that regard.

Likewise, as you push back, you should feel the brunt of your weight shift back into your supporting leg's heel. if you feel your weight shifting more towards your toes, try taking your shoes off as the additional heel lift will shift your weight anteriorly (which you don't want).

5. To finish, try to "pull" yourself back through the heel and squeeze your glute to finish. Repeat. Don't tip over. Be awesome.

6. Lastly, I'll just add that it's perfectly okay to perform this exercise in your "usable" range of motion. In other words, if you're unable to do it using a full ROM, there's no rule stating that you can't shorten the distance. Again, this is a very valuable exercise, and there are a lot of things coming into play here. So, if you have to limit the ROM due to poor hip stablity (for instance), that's fine. As you grow more proficient, you'll undoubtedly be able to increase your ROM as you go.

Banana Molasses Recovery Smoothie

2011-06-23T19:53:00.004-04:00

Sweet Jesus! I am back!

Where have I been? How's the training? When are we going to get more smoking hot female triathlete pictures, shamelessly plugged into posts in a vain attempt to boost my traffic?

I love you, Pip Taylor. I also outsplit you on the bike leg of the 2010 Philly Tri.

Well, I'm back, so quit crying, and get your blender out, cause I gots a great recipe for some triathlon related nom noms.

This is a recipe for a Banana Molasses Recovery Smoothie.

Author's note: Sometimes, on triathlon blogs, you see writers talking about when you can eat a certain type of food. Delicious carbs are post-workout only according to some blogs. Let's be honest here, you can drink my recovery smoothie at any point in your life. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or 2am drunk snack when you get home from the bar. Anytime. This is because 1) it's delicious and 2) you're training upwards of 20 hours a week... eat some damn calories.

Without further delay, here's the recipe:

Banana Molasses Recovery Smoothie

1 cup milk
1 banana
2 tablespoons organic blackstrap molasses
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
handful of ice

Directions: Throw these mothers into a blender. Blend. Slobber while you watch the creamy, molassesy goodness twirl around. Drink. How's that for a complex set of directions?

How'd you like it? Leave a comment below to let me know!

Quote of the week:

Check out this link here for a great bruce lee quote

New Evidence Proves Lance Armstrong Doesn't Dope ... He's just that good

2011-04-09T10:13:00.004-04:00

I have preached this argument for a long time. Lance has never doped. Ever.

I won't spend a lot of time explaining why those people who argue that Lance HAS doped are money grabbers, jealous, or just plain stupid ... (or, in the case of Floyd Landis, all three).

You gotta believe Lance over this mud-slinger.

I am going to focus, instead, on some simple evidence that has come out lately. It shows, without a doubt, that Lance is just a freak athlete.

On April 3, 2011, Lance swam in Austin's Red Licorice Open Water, 2.4 mile swim, and came away with with a 49-minute time, good enough for third place overall. Complete Results Here.

That would be a screamingly fast time for a a dedicated, one-sport athlete swimmer, someone who's been doing swim-specific training for years. However, Lance is a dude who has spent all of his training time riding bikes for over a decade. As any non-swimming cyclist can tell you, being a fit cyclist does little to prepare you for swimming. Lance just jumped in and rocked a 49-minute, 2.4 mile swim at a charity event.

And, clearly, Lance didn't dope for a 38-person, charity swim event in Austin. This is his natural level of fitness, and it's just off-the-charts.

In my opinion, this is the best way Lance can defend his argument that he never doped ever. Just keep going out and showing how freakish he is at every endurance sport. I can't wait till he does an Ironman.

Still doing my thing

2011-04-04T13:29:00.006-04:00

What's up bird fans. I know it's been a while since I last blogged out a post, but I don't want you to take my lack of blog-production as a signal that I haven't been out there training. Really, it's the opposite ... I've just been hammering out that many miles that I haven't put the time in updating you all on my progress.

So what's been going on?

1. Bike Commuting from West Chester, PA to University of Pennsylvania everyday.

Yep, that's a 60 mile round trip. Here's a mapmyride.com route to show you what I've been doing:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/27950920"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;West Chester to Philly&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/?location=West Chester, PA"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Cycling Routes / Bike Rides in West Chester, PA&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Crazy, right? I agree. Actually I don't think it's that wacky. It's just that whenever I tell someone about my riding this substantial of a bike commute on the daily, they usually give me some sort of reactions like:

I don't understand...

or

Wait, West Chester to downtown Philly? I must have heard you wrong...

You heard me right. I really do commute that far.

In response to that consistent disbelief, I thought I'd clarify real quick: Yes.

2. Signed up for some local, upcoming tri's

I'm signed up for the Philly Tri on June 26, 2011. I am planning on dominating, or at least owning the bike leg. I'm signed up for the olympic distance, which is a 1500m swim, 40km bike, and 10km run, for the tri-newbie readers out there.

I am also considering doing the Upper Main Line YMCA UMLY triathlon on April 17, 2011. I did this thing last year, and I bike commuted 20 miles back and forth from this race. Just thought I'd drop that commuting-story in there.

3. Not doing much running or swimming.

You might remember that I dedicated a whole blog post to my new years resolution: to swim and run more in the 2011. Well, f-you. I haven't. I did make a strong attempt at running, and I made it a couple weeks into 2011. Then, I took a nasty achilles tendon strain, which even kept me from biking for a couple weeks. I don't have any excuse for not swimming ... except, I guess, that I am so great at it already, I really don't see much reason to stress out over not swimming.

So, stay tuned. I promise to keep you updated on my training, and, also lay out some interesting, informative, funny blog posts. I might even throw in some half naked female triathletes, just to boost the number of hits.

Crissie Wellington is smoking ... hot and fast

FAQ's about my bike commute

2011-01-17T08:24:00.007-05:00

Hey Birdfans! A friendly reader sent me a nice comment on my post titled, Willistown United Methodist Church Members Ignore Stranded Cyclist. If you don't remember this post, I wrote about how I blew out a tire in front of this church on a Sunday morning, while church was letting out, and nobody offered me help. This happened while I was bike commuting from West Chester, PA to Philadelphia, PA, a 60-mile round trip that I do about four times a week.

Anyway, in regards to the question: the reader seemed interested in finding out more about my bike commute. Here's what he/she asked:

You commute 60 miles a day and are on track for 10,000 miles for the year. I think you're capable of handling this problem on your own. It's no one else's responsibility to help you out! You should at least have a cell phone and some money with you, if worse comes to worst. And if there were so many churchgoers pulling in and out of the lot, I'm sure you could've walked approached one of them as they were getting or out of their car, and asked for help if you really needed it. Most of them probably just saw a cyclist fixing a flat and went about their business. It's really not a two-person operation. I doubt they looked closely enough to see that your tube itself had blown out - and even if they had, what did you want them to do? Give you and your bike a ride home? In conclusion, shame on you for a) thinking you were automatically owed help - without having to ask, even, and b) leaving your trash for someone else to pick up, just because because no one stopped to rescue the whiny entitled kid.

Thanks for the question, reader! It seems that this reader was really curious in finding out more about how I accomplish my commute, so I figured I'd show you all some of the gear I use.

Think about it, I commute 60 miles, often in the dark, on a bicycle, with weather that sometimes is below 30 degrees. Let's take a look at how I do it!

1. Tire Liners -

I use these Stop Flats 2 Bicycle Tire Liner / Tube Protector to help prevent flats. After my first few weeks of commuting, I found that, even though I was using some of the toughest tires out there (Continental Gatorskin Folding Bicycle Tire), I was still getting about two flats a week. Since I started riding with the tire liners and the Gatorskins, I'll get maybe one flat every two weeks.

2. Reflective Vest

I bought this baby at my local bike shop, and it's been great. It looks like a construction worker vest, it's mesh (so it doesn't catch much wind), and it's crazy reflective at night. The reflective vest is a must for night-time riding.

3. Disarmingly adorable bike horn

Inevitably, I run into drivers or other pedestrians who find it insulting that I would dare ride a bike on their road... WHO THE HELL DO I THINK I AM!? GET OFF THE ROAD YOU MORON!

To deal with this, I started using this cute baby toad bike horn. A couple honks from this bike horn, and I have turned anyone's frown right upside down.

4. Super-powerful bike lights

Pictures cannot really do these lights justice. I have a 400 lumen head light and a 400 lumen taillight from Dinotte Lighting. You can check out the website here. These things are so bright, I can't even look directly at them. They are 100% visible during the day, and, at nighttime, they make me look like a police motorcycle. Below is a picture of the taillight, which I have mounted on my rear rack. These lights are so bright, I once had an old lady roll down her car window and tell me that the lights blinded her and made it hard to drive. Take that, old lady!

5. Rear Rack and Panniers

The rack is a solid metal frame that attaches to the bike frame, over the rear wheel of the bike, and the panniers are little bags that attach to the rack and help me carry all my crap. I got the rack from Old Man Mountain (website here). Because I am using a Cannondale road bike frame, and not a frame designed for commuting, I got the Old Man Mountain rack that attaches through the quick release on the rear wheel. I got some Jandd Panniers from Trophy Bikes in Philly, which is an awesome bike shop if you're ever in the area. I've got some pictures below that show the rack, the quick-release attachment, and the panniers.

6. Custom, duct tape windproofing on the Helmet

Basically, I covered up the vents on my helmet with duct tape to keep the cold wind out. As shown above, I had been spending so much damn money on racks, panniers, adorable toad horns, etc., that I didn't feel like spending more cash on a helmet cover. The duct tape gets the job done.

7. Tools and repair gear

I couldn't really fit it all into one picture, so I just am showing a few of the repair tools that I carry. I carry about 4 CO2 cartridges, three tubes, a spare tire, a hand pump, assorted allen wrenches, plus and minus sign screw drivers, plyers, and a few extra, random sized nuts and bolts. The picture below shows one of the pannier bags, the spare tire, and the hand pump.

In addition to all this stuff I've pictured, I'll also always carry my cell phone and my Garmin edge 605 GPS unit. I'll wear some super warm clothing on the colder days, such as a GoreTex jacket, windproof bibs tights, gloves, windproof shoe covers, etc. Most of my ride is either right next to a train line, or on a road with a Septa bus line, so if I break down, I can always catch the public transportation.

I think that's it. Do you have any suggestions for anything else I could use for the commute?

I hope I've done a good job answering that reader's question!

New Years Resolutions: Start it now!

2010-12-21T18:40:00.002-05:00

It's resolution season, and that means it's time for people to make grand plans to lose 20 pounds, run that marathon, and, generally, clog up all the space in the weight room. Last year, one anonymous internet lurker even made a resolution to work out with me at my local health club (check it out in the comments here).

Ever since the baby Jesus made history's first resolution (let's keep the Christ in New Years!), pundits the world over have given advice on how to stick to your resolution. How can you be that guy who actually follows through?

Well, I'm here to cut through the crap and tell you how to do it, once and for all...

Start now.

As in today. This minute (actually, maybe a couple minutes from now, when you finish reading my post). It's December 21, and, if you want to accomplish your goal for the new year, start it today.

I was sitting around a couple days ago, thinking what I could do differently in 2011, and I resoluted to do more swimming and running.

Sure, I've biked my face off in 2010, and I even got a little bit of swimming/running in with the two triathlons I did (UMLY and the Philly Tri). If you're looking for some shameless bragging, I even hauled my Tight-End-Sized body to a 70th place bike-split at the philly tri, riding the 2005 cannondale, complete with 36-hole training wheels and 10 dollar bike shop horn to a 25mph split, out pacing some pros.

Sorry I just got excited about my awesomeness for a second. Here's a picture of Jessi Stensland, in case you were getting bored:

Looking good, Jessi!

The point is, here is how I went about planning to achieve my 2011 resolution. I went out on Sunday, December 19, 2010, and swam myself a mile.

That's how you get a resolution done. Start it now. Putting it off just gives you more excuses to expand your ass over the holidays.

Driver Mentality - What those crazy cars are thinking

2010-12-06T12:25:00.005-05:00

I saw this article on the Washington Post reporting on a incident in Italy where a car ran into a group of cyclists, killing EIGHT and injuring TWO of the cyclists. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/05/AR2010120501494.html The driver of the car was in the oncoming lane, passing a car, when he plowed into the cyclists. Events like this, coupled with my experience cycling 60 miles a day while commuting from West Chester, PA to the University of Pennsylvania and seeing some crazy car drivers, makes me wonder: What are those car drivers thinking?

Here's what I've figured out...

As a cyclist, you are following your passions, putting yourself out there in spandex, doing something different. In short, you are engaging in an activity that challenges the status quo (which is driving cars). And, whenever someone challenges the status quo, they get push back from others.

In general, you get push back for several possible reasons: Maybe your change in game plan rocks the boat, or changes a power dynamic, or conflicts with their worldview.

However, in regards to cycling, I believe this is why you get push back from drivers: Seeing you on your bike simply makes them uncomfortable because they wish they had the courage to truly act on their beliefs.

A driver, seeing you out there on your bike enjoying yourself, gets frustrated with his life situation. Maybe he wants to get to the gym more, lose a few pounds, but hasn't had the drive to get himself away from the TV and into the squat rack. He sees you, and it reminds him of his inadequacies.

Or, maybe, it's nothing related to exercise. Maybe he wants to start his own business, but he's lacked the courage to leave his cubicle-job and act on his passions. He sees you, the cyclist, as an example of people acting with courage and passion - a life he's been too scared to pursue.

It's what Mehdi over at stronglifts.com writes about when he talks about Crabs (not, not those kind of crabs). Whenever you try to do something different, better, there are those people who try to bring you down.

So, he swerves, swears, speeds.

Basically, he compensates. It's the same reason the 45 year-old guy gets himself a porsche, or cheats on his wife. He's got to prove something. Deep down he knows that he's a coward, but he has a chance to be a tough guy behind the wheel.

It all sounds kind of cute and pitiful when I write about it here, but the tragic part is that this mentality kills cyclists. I realize that some drivers out there will counter, arguing that cyclists are jerks and cause accidents, too. However, an Australian study has shown that when drivers and cyclists get in an accident, the driver is to blame in 87% of the incidents. Source.

So, take it easy out there drivers. Instead of trying to compensate for your inadequacies by acting like a big shot behind the wheel of a car... why not actually do something productive? Go to the gym, open that business, ask that girl out. Act with some passion - passion that doesn't result in the death of a cyclist.

Triathlon Juice: Homemade Sports Drink Recipe

2010-11-13T10:38:00.005-05:00

The prices of sports drinks aimed at triathletes are getting out of hand. For example, here's a 20-serving canister of Amino Vital for 42 bucks. That's two dollars for 16 oz. of fluid.

For a big (bird) triathlete like me, I try to drink at least 16 oz. of fluid every 5 miles, or about every 15-20 minutes. Right now, I am commuting about 60 miles a day. Doing some simple math (for all those non-retards out there), that's about 192 oz. of fluid per ride. If Amino Vital costs 2 dollar per 16 oz. swig, that comes out 24 dollars of Amino Vital per ride.

If you're keeping track so far, that's exactly $24 more than I have in my bank account. Clearly, I am in need of some other sports drink option, something other than the bank-busting (piece of crap) drinks that populate the market.

Here's my recipe for a homemade sports drink brew. I call it Triathlon Juice, in honor of Crunk Juice, the liquid-cocaine, rapper-invented, alcohol/caffeine drink that's making headlines for hospitalizing college students (who are otherwise innocent and well-meaning... yeah, right, blame it on the Crunk Juice). For the extra attuned pop-culture aficionados out there, Crunk Juice is also the name of a historically bad album by the easily spoofable Lil' John. hhhhhWWHHAAAT!!!?

Here's the recipe for Triathlon Juice:

16 oz. (2 cups) Orange Juice
Two Scoops of Country Time lemonade (about 1/3 cup) ... or any powered drink mix
A couple shakes of table salt
optional: two tablespoons protein powder
48 oz. (6 cups) water

Mix all the ingredients together in a big bottle. Shake shake shake. Makes 64 oz.

That's it. It's cheap, easy to make, and it has as much (or more) nutrition than any sports drink you're gonna buy in the store. It has all your electrolytes, calories, water, and, optionally, a little kick of protein, which is all the rage in those expensive drink mixes. Each 16 oz. has approximately 100 calories.

2010 Bike Mileage Update

2010-10-11T21:39:00.002-04:00

Hey Bird Fans!

Big news... I just updated my 2010 cumulative cycling miles at bikejournal.com, and I found out that I have 8,230 miles so far!

I am really excited about it. The most miles I've ever had in a year, before this year, was 2009's 7,228. So I am way ahead of that.

Plus, I am on track to hit 10,000 miles, which is a huge cycling landmark.

This is the first year since 2005 when I have not had some sort of injury/sickness. In all those other years, I've lost at least a few months. This year, it's been non-stop cycling since Jan. 1!

Not that there haven't been setbacks... such as the massive snow storms we had early in the year, and the ambiguous and nagging knee pain that sometimes haunts me (it hasn't for a while, tho.) Not to mention the TWO seperate Chris King hubs that I broke, because I am just that massive and powerful.

So, I am dominating.

By the way, if you're a cyclist, you should definitely check out bikejournal.com. Get site for logging your miles and comparing with your buddies.

Willistown United Methodist Church Members Ignore Stranded Cyclist

2010-10-06T10:57:00.005-04:00

Willistown United Methodist Church, you suck. Terrible, hypocritical, hell-worthy: these are all adjectives that I thought described you. My blog probably gets more traffic than your crap-ball website. I hope that when people google "willistown united methodist church" that my blog comes up first. That way, people can come here and find out what you're really about: sucking.

Let me explain... a few days ago, I was on my 60-mile round trip bike commute to Upenn, riding down West Chester Pike (route 3), when I blew out a tire. Oh, and it was Sunday.

This happened right in front of your church, so I stopped directly in the middle of the driveway to your parking lot. Cars were coming in out and of your parking lot. Perhaps service was just letting out? It was about 11am, Sunday morning, so there was a good crowd there.

So, let's picture this: me, blown out back tire, stranded, trying my best to patch up the huge cut in the rubber, sweating, alone, in need of help.

Not one car of your church members offered to help me out. ZERO. Nobody rolled down the window and said, "Are you ok?" Nobody even waved, or made eye-contact. You just kept driving. Church members, with a guy in need sitting right in front of their church, don't even offer to help. Way to go, bastards. You must have had some pretty tasty brunches that you needed to get to.

This is Willistown United Methodist Church, in case I didn't mention it (I know I did). Here's a google map in case you want to go hang out with these guys:

View Larger Map

So, basically I hope you rot in hell. I left my destroyed tire, tube, and used CO2 cartridge out front, right where I was stranded. Maybe next time you see someone who needs help, you can at least make eye contact with them.

Triathlete as Proactive Patient: Tips for your trips to the Doctor

2010-09-12T16:44:00.007-04:00

Whether it's a crash, overuse injury, or non-triathlon illness, most triathletes are going to end up seeking medical help for some reason. As an experienced patient, I can tell you this: Be a Proactive Patient.

By Proactive Patient, I don't mean that I want you to be someone who eats all your vegetables and takes a 30 minute walk 4 days a week (although these are all good things). I mean that once you become a patient, you need to be a confident, organized, out spoken, well-read, and demanding patient.

For example, you're out for a morning run, step on the curb the wrong way, and hear a loud crack as you roll your ankle. "Damnit, I've broken it" you think. So, you hobble your crippled leg into the orthopedists office, sit in a room for 30 minutes with no pants on, then finally see the doctor.

No pants allowed while you wait for the doctor

He tells you there's no need for an X-ray, it's just a simple sprain, and that you should rest for 4-6weeks. That'll be $150, thanks.

As a proactive patient, you don't take that shit. You tell him you want an X-ray, you tell him if he refuses, you aren't paying for the office visit, and then you go and get yourself a second opinion anyway. And you put your damn pants on unless he specifically needs to look underneath them.

Here's some specific steps for becoming a Proactive Patient:

1. Get Second Opinions

Always get a second opinion, no excuses. Here's a little story to illustrate their importance... I have been dealing with a pain in the medial area of my left knee for a while now. I decided to get it checked out by a sports chiropractor. He quickly diagnoses Plica Syndrome, an irritation around the knee usually caused by muscle imbalances. He can help me out by massage treatment and muscular physical therapy. Since I've had trouble with clots, I decide to see a vascular surgeon about the pain. He quickly diagnoses the same pain as Post Thrombotic Syndrome, a painful condition caused by scarring inside the veins. I go to the Orthopedic Surgeon for a third opinion. He gets an MRI and diagnoses a torn meniscus (although this doesn't show on the MRI). He recommends a cortisone shot, and exploratory surgery.

Three doctors, three different diagnoses. And, interestingly, each diagnoses corresponded perfectly to a treatment in that doctor's respective field.

What did I do? Nothing, and the knee feels great.

The moral is, get a second opinion. If I had ONLY gone to the orthopedic surgeon, and had I blindly followed his advice, I'd be recovering my meniscus reconstruction surgery right now. Instead, I am busy being awesome.

2. Ask what you can do

Assuming you get a definitive diagnosis, make sure you find out what exercise you can do to stay active, and even gain some fitness while you are out with your illness/injury. Say you've developed an overuse problem with your shoulder. Most likely you'll get set to a therapist who'll prescribe a series of shoulder rehab exercises. But you've also got two good legs, plenty of good core musculature, one good arm that can all use a good training effect. The proactive patient finds out what movements and exercises won't interfere with her recovery.

3. Leave a doctor you don't like/respect/trust

I hear people say things similar to this so often it makes me want to stick packing peanuts in my earholes, "Yeah, I went into the doctor, and he made me wait for an hour! Then, when he came in, he just refilled my prescriptions and didn't even listen to my concerns about the headaches. He just said I should relax."

Leave your doctor! Find a new one! Just because there's a lot of crappy doc's out there doesn't mean there aren't some really awesome ones, too. Dr. House, for example, can diagnose just about any disease.

I once had an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins University prescribe me an incorrect dosage for a medicine... 7 times the recommended dosage, just because she was not familiar with the prescription protocol. Good and bad Docs are everywhere... if yours sucks, go find a new one!

4. Pursue all of your concerns

Get any problem checked out, even if it seems insignificant. A small cough could be a sign of lung cancer, or a leg pain could indicate Deep Vein Thrombosis. In most cases, unless you are actively and obviously dying, doctors aren't going to go out of their way to treat a condition of yours.

Worried that your malaise could indicate hypothyroidism? Feeling occasionally lightheaded and worried that your have some anemia? Stop worrying about it, stop searching the internet trying to diagnose yourself. Get yourself to a doctor and find out for sure! (Then go get a second opinion!)

Closing Thoughts

I don't want to put a bad spin on the medical industry, for there are definitely some unbelievable people working there. However, just like any job, there are those health care professionals who are just there to punch the clock. It's up to you to clearly, confidently, and aggressively advocate for yourself. If you aren't satisfied with your care, go find a new doctor, go get a second opinion, and put some pants on!

Homemade Banana Ice Cream Recipe

2010-08-31T18:57:00.004-04:00

It's possible to make creamy, delicious homemade Ice Cream with only three HEALTHY ingredients, and you don't need an ice cream maker. You just wet your pants, didn't you? Jesus, go clean up, then come back and finish reading.

Rejoice ice cream-aholics! My name is Frey, and I have come to your salvation with a ridiculously delicious ice cream recipe.

That's right

I almost feel guilty tellin gyou about this recipe. See, I've been making and eating this ice cream for several months, but I haven't posted it on the blog. Not telling you about this awesome recipe earlier makes me a bad person. I apologize.

The secret is this: Frozen bananas. When you whirl them in the food processor, they get a delicious, creamy texture. You have to trust me on this little bit of kitchen magic; I was also doubtful about the quality of the recipe when I first heard about it. Give it a shot and you'll get a creamy, custard-style treat!

Here it is:

2 Bananas
1/3 cup plain yogurt
honey (optional)

Cut the bananas into 1/2" slices, and freeze for at least 4 hours. Throw them in the food processor, along with the yogurt, and, if desired, a few tablespoons of honey. Let the food processor go to town. Initially, you'll have a crumbly mixture, and pieces of banana will stick together in larger clumps. You'll have to stop the machine and scrape down the sides, and break up the larger chunks of banana a couple times with a spoon. Stick with it, and eventually the bananas will turn creamy. Stop the processor and eat your face off!

That's it.

There's an endless amount of variety you can add to this basic recipe. Try sprinkling some granola on top for a healthy breakfast treat. Mix in a couple tablespoons of peanut butter. Drop in a scoop of protein powder for a post workout muscle-building feast. Holy crap just go make it now and make sure you take some spare pants just in case you have another accident when you first taste it.

I've also heard this (but never tried it)... Apparently you can skip the yogurt, and use ONLY bananas. With this banana-only option, you can refreeze the ice cream right after you make it. When it refreezes, you have a banana ice cream that resembles hard-scoop style ice cream. Give it a shot and let me know if that works!

Designing a healthy triathlon diet

2010-08-25T17:06:00.011-04:00

I have found the path to triathlon nutrition nirvana. Eat what makes you happy. Let me tell you how I made this deceptively simple discovery.

At first, it didn't seem to me like it should be possible to find such a simple solution to sports nutrition, because today's triathlete hears different advice from everywhere regarding what to eat.

Dave Scott, 8-time Hawaii Ironman world champion, followed a strictly vegan diet during the years he was atop the triathlon world, while Michael Phelps famously ate dump-trucks full of pizza, energy drinks, and candy bars while training for his record breaking 2008 Olympic performance. Phelps also frequented the bong.

Phelps is not usually regarded as the gold medalist of nutrition

Paleo eating is the new hot triathlon diet, with well respected proponents such as exercise physiologist Loren Cordain, Ph.D. and and triathlon coach Joe Friel. It advocates "eating like a caveman", meaning more proteins, healthy fats, and elimination of modern carbohydrates, wheat, rice, corn, etc. On the other end of the spectrum, just about every endurance sports nutrition book published since modern man replaced the caveman has advocated eating around 50-75% of one's calorie's from carbs.

Did the caveman have a healthier diet than you?

There's plenty of examples of conflicting advice, but, most disconcerting is the fact that an athlete can't even trust major government agencies (such as the Food and Drug Administration) or highly trusted, medically approved organizations such as the American Heart Association. Most of these respected organizations have extensive ties to food and/or drug manufacturers, and, consequently, stand to benefit from endorsing certain nutrition hypotheses. In 2002, The American Heart Association earned over two million dollars from it's 'heart-check' logo, while endorsing supposedly heart healthy products such as:

Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp and Count Chocula
Healthy Choice Low Fat Ice Creams
Chocolate Moose Milk Chocolate Drinks
Malt-O-Meal Honey Graham Squares and Honey Nut Toasty O's
Pop-Secret 94% Fat Free Butter Microwave Premium Popcorn

Seems like highly-processed, nutrient-devoid, sugar bombs you say? The AHA endorses these products, and athletes like Michael Phelps have won gold medals while eating similar crap, so who are you to say this packaged crap is bad for you?

General Mills and the AHA sell a lot of shit

I've spent so much time detailing the confusion regarding sports nutrition (and healthy eating in general) to prove a point: No one knows what makes a healthy diet.

In face of this conclusion, what is an athlete to do? Eat what makes you happy!

The only caveat I place on my five-word nirvana is this: Eat what makes you truly happy. For some people, the Cold Stone sundae is truly enjoyable, while for others, they enjoy the moment then feel guilty afterwards.

For some people, eating a bowl of oatmeal with organic, fresh blueberries is delicious, while others see it as gruel fit for a horse. Whatever makes you feel truly good, eat it.

In regards to triathlon, "eat what makes you happy" includes eating foods beneficial to athletic performance. That is, if the Powerbars you eat during your long ride bring you increased energy, and if increased energy on a long ride makes you happy, then that Powerbar just made you happy. Eat it!

For me, some grass-fed beef, oatmeal, kefir, fresh fruit/vegetables, peanut butter, and bagels are among my favorite foods. In addition to the deliciousness I taste with each of these foods, I find "feel good" from knowing that I am nourishing myself with quality goodness. It makes me happy.

What about you? What food makes you happy and why?

First Post In a While

2010-08-24T16:17:00.010-04:00

Hey bird fans, it's been a while since I've posted on here. What have I been up to? Here's a little summary:

1) Getting ready for grad school

I'm starting up a masters program at Upenn this fall, and I'm pretty pumped for it. I don't know if you've noticed a decline in the writing quality of my posts over the last couple years, but I have definitely gotten dumber since I finished as an undergrad in 2007. Hopefully, the dedicated academic work will improve my vocabulary, sentence structure, focus, etc... all things that will make for better blog quality. It's a program for Language and Literacy in Education, and my guess is the professor's don't accept words like "n00b" when I'm talking about beginning readers. I've been spending too much time on the internet...

2) Going Barefoot

I've been wearing the Vibram Fivefingers for about a year. I really haven't worn shoes since I came back from my knee surgery last fall. I walk the dogs barefoot, and I've even built myself a barefoot cycling pedal. I was running a good 20 miles a week in the vibrams for a few weeks. Jump rope, walking around NYC, biking 40 miles, lifting... I've been doing it all either barefoot or wearing the Vibrams. If you're a triathlete or a runner and you haven't tried the Five Fingers, give it a shot:

The only downside is all the questions and stares you get.

Here's a quick FAQ section, should you, the reader, ever see someone wearing a pair of Vibrams and feel a sudden urge to ask a stupid question:

What do you do if you step on a nail? (I don't know, I haven't hit any yet)
Are they comfortable? (Yes, why the hell else would I be wearing these butt ugly shoes.)
What are those? (Shoes.)
Can you step on broken glass? (Yes. But, more importantly, why are you so concerned about dancing around on piles of broken glass?)

3) Drinking

I love to booze, but, I had quit for the last few years. I started to drink again, and it's been delicious. Don't worry, it hasn't been hurting my training. In fact, I put down a respectable 10 drinks, slept it off, woke up hung over, then biked 92 miles just this past Saturday. Cheers!

4. Philadelphia Triathlon

Did I mention I did the philly tri, and I outsplit a few of the pro's on the bike? I did the Olympic distance race, but it got turned into a duathlon, with a 3.1 mile run, then a 24 mile bike, followed by a 6.2 mile run.

It's hard to pick me out of a crowd at a triathlon...

I was just reading back over this post, and it seemed a little boring, unfunny, and self-centered, so, to keep you entertained, here's a picture of Desiree Ficker:

That's about it for now. Get off the 'net now and go biking!

What? You're still here? Well, if you insist on continuing to read my blog instead of train, here's a great new video by Cee-Lo. But, I'll only show it to you if you promise to log off after you watch it. Promise? Pinky Swear? Good. Here it is:

Wear Your Bicycle Helmet, Stupid.

2010-06-16T19:29:00.006-04:00

I've been seeing some guy riding around the roads of West Chester, PA, and this jerk is consistently not wearing a helmet. You know the type, the wannabe euro-racer type. The guy who thinks, "Hey, if I don't wear a helmet, I'll probably be as good of a rider as Marco Pantani circa 1998!"

Marco Pantini leading the climb, sans helmet

Here's a quick, free tip: Wear a helmet. I realize it might be tough to remember. So if you get to your next ride and you think to yourself, "Did frey say to wear a helmet or to not wear a helmet?" here is a graphic to help jog your memory:

In all seriousness, just wear your damn helmet. You don't look cool without the helmet, and you look even less cool when you crash and you're hemmorhaging on the side of the road. Finally, if your so bent on looking like a euro-racer, realize that you can't even ride in a UCI-certified race or a USA Triathlon certified race without a helmet.

If you need a reminder of how badly you can get hurt while cycling, check out this crash in yesterday's Tour de Suisse:

Can you imagine how dead Mark Cavendish would have been if he wasn't wearing a helmet? He would have been very dead. Check out the slow-motion replay of the crash at about 55 seconds into the video and you can see everyones' helmet-clad heads bouncing off the pavement.

Cycling Stretches: The Psoas and Hamstring Stretch

2010-05-11T14:17:00.006-04:00

I recently came upon a very effective stretch for cyclists and triathletes, and I want to share it with you. It's the Psoas/Hamstring stretch.

Here's why it's so important. We cyclists ride in a hunched over position. Consequently, cyclists have horrifically tight psoas muscles (the main hipflexor). Check out this picture to see what I mean... notice that the leg never fully extends during the pedal stroke:

We ride in a hunched over position, which is bad enough. But, for most recreational cyclists, you sit in a hunched over position all day, too. While you're working at your computer and sitting at your desk, you probably look like this:

Notice this poor skeleton worker man is all hunched over again, with his psoas in a tight position.

On a side note, if you're reading this article right now, and you are sitting in the position pictured above, stand up a take a quick walk around. My article is not that important that you can't take a quick break and loosen your legs up for a few minutes.

Tight psoas can lead to a whole host of problems, as dysfunction at the hips is likely to lead to some sort of overcompensation somewhere down your leg, be it at the hip, IT band, knee, or ankle/foot. A lot of times, clearing up tightness in the hips can clear up problems lower down the leg. Furthermore, loosening up those hips can help a cyclist recruit more muscles in his pedal stroke. Looser psoas can help you properly recruit your glutes, leading to a more powerful stroke.

The Psoas/Hamstring stretch is a perfect way to loosen up those tight hips.

Here's a picture:

Although a stretch, it’s a demanding position that’ll also work on your core stability and balance. Begin by kneeling on one knee and then straighten the other leg out in front of you. Ease into the stretch by sliding the heel of the straight leg further away from you.

Resist the temptation to open out your hips and actively twist towards the extended leg to prevent this. This really targets the hamstrings and the hip ﬂexors that are normally hideously tight in cyclists and often responsible for injuries and back pain.

Make sure you get a nice pad under that rear knee.

2010 Upper Main Line YMCA Triathlon

2010-04-25T17:56:00.004-04:00

Just a quick update:

I did the 2nd Annual UMLY triathlon today, April 25, 2010. It was my first triathlon since July, 2009, and it was the first time I've ever done a tri in Pennsylvania. It was cold and rainy! I started at 6:50am, and it was in the 40s then!

The race was fun and well run, and there was a crowd of enthusiastic, passionate, fun loving athletes there. The swim was in UMLY's beautiful, heated, outdoor 50m pool, and the bike meandered throughout the scenic (and ritzy) Main Line area.

Needless to say, I wore the pink speedo through the entire race, and I rocked the Cannondale and the turtle bike bell for the bike leg.

You can check out the results here: http://www.lin-mark.com/results/berwyntri2010.txt

Although I took my camera, I didn't take any pictures, as my hands were frozen solid. The official race pictures should be up in a few days.

Also, I bike commuted myself there, which was quite an adventure. I left my house at 5:15am and rode the 15 miles from West Chester, PA to Berwyn, PA in the dark and the rain. You start to question your sanity when your pedaling down Paoli Pike at 5:30am on a Sunday morning, with a 30 pound bookbag on your back when it's 40 and rainy out. It's an experience that sits right on that border between crazy and awesome.

Regardless, it was a good day, and a blessing to be able to race again!

Compression socks and gear for the triathlete

2010-04-20T15:26:00.017-04:00

Compression stockings are the hottest thing to his the triathlon scene since the aerobar, and I couldn't be angrier about it. They 1) look stupid 2) feel uncomfortable and 3) are useless.

See the thing is, maybe I am prejudiced, because I am very familiar with compression stockings. Dedicated bird fans know that I have taken two Deep Vein Thromboses (DVT), one in each of my giant legs (check out this post if you need to catch up on my health history). After you get a DVT, doctors recommend that you wear medical grade compression stockings for a minimum of 6 months in order to prevent a painful scarring of the affect vein, called Post Thrombotic Syndrome. Compression stockings keep the blood from pooling in the area of the clot, as blood clots often damage the valves in the area of the clot. The stockings literally squeeze the leg, pushing blood up towards the heart. The stockings need to have a minimum compression rating of 35mm Hg (blame your high school science teacher if you aren't familiar with units of pressure). While post-thrombotic patients should be careful to wear compression stockings as much as possible, the most important time is when the patient is inactive. This is because, during activity, the muscles of the leg contract powerfully, pushing blood towards the heart. The stockings are needed during inactivity, when the muscles aren't contracting, as muscle contraction is the main force that drives blood in the legs back to the heart.

The take home point from this paragraph is this: compression stockings are medical equipment used for a specific therapeutic purpose.

I said I am prejudiced, because having had two DVTs and plenty of experience wearing medical grade compression stockings, I can tell you that wearing these kind of compression stockings sucks. It's hot (especially if your living in Southern Florida), it's uncomfortable, and you look about as stylish as a senior citizen wearing Bermuda shorts, going mall walking on Saturday morning. I wore these guys on and off for the better part of two years, and never once enjoyed it.

Medical grade compression stockings

Triathlon-type compression stockings

Compression equipment for triathletes comes in all different styles, for different body parts, and companies producing this compression gear make all kinds of (non-specific, unproven) claims about the gear's benefits. 2XU, the industry leader in sports-specific compression gear, claims their stuff "improves recovery, reduces fatigue, improves circulation, heightens agility, and reduces muscle damage." They produce short sleeved, sleeveless, and longsleeve tops, short and long compression pants, and compression socks. Some of their gear is designed for wearing during activity, and they market some of it to wear after activity, "to aid in recovery". Check out their website here if your are interested in smelling a big pile of crap.

I claimed that triathlon style compression gear is stupid for three reasons, it looks stupid, is uncomfortable, and is useless. Let's look at each in detail:

1) Looks Stupid

Honestly, the only counterargument I can imagine to this statement, is this, "Hey Frey, I don't care what I look like, I just want to perform well, recover quickly, and feel strong, and compression gear helps me do that."

Really? If that is true, why not go all out? According to medical research, the most effective compression gear is 35 mm Hg, thigh high compression stockings. If you want the best for your finely tuned triathlete's body, this is what you'd wear:

I win that argument.

2) It is Uncomfortable.

Knee high blacks socks on a hot summer day. While running a marathon. Enough said.

Personally, I think that fact that a company can manage to convince thousands of triathletes that wearing knee high blacks socks in the middle of summer while swimming, biking, and running hundreds of miles is an incredible indication of how powerfully advertising can brainwash people.

They're not comfortable.

3) They are useless

Remember: compression socks are most useful when a person is not active. Muscle contraction is the main force that drives blood up, against gravity, from the legs to the heart. When you are biking and running, your leg muscles are contracting powerfully, and blood is returning to your heart. You DO NOT need to wear compression socks while you are active. If you had blood pooling in your legs while you were riding a bike, you would have MUCH more significant circulatory disfunction than you could treat with a crappy pair of 2XU socks.

They do not increase performance. Go ahead and find a study that 'proves' the socks increase an athletes performance in some way. I guarantee it's been funded by a company that sells the socks.

What about all those elite level athletes wearing the socks? They are sponsered by the sock companies... they get paid to wear them.

Finally, check out this guy I saw at the Brandywine Bicycle Club's Taxing Metric group bike ride last weekend.

I want you to notice two people. The first is the guy on the far left. He's got himself a hot new pair of triathlete-style compression socks. Looking good, stud. The other person you need to see is the guy in the white t-shirt. If you can't tell, he's wearing sneakers, khaki short, and a white t-shirt.

For a solid 15 miles, the guy in the white t-shirt was ahead of the compression sock guy. If those compression socks can improve recovery, reduce fatigue, improve circulation, heighten agility, and reduce muscle damage, shouldn't the guy in the fancy socks be faster than the dude in the sneakers? The socks are useless.

If you feel otherwise, leave a comment telling me why I am wrong. Tell me why the compression socks are so great. I will be happy to leave a follow up comment explaining why you're an idiot.

2010 Upper Main Line YMCA (UMLY) Triathlon

2010-04-19T18:36:00.004-04:00

I signed myself up for the UMLY tri. It's on Sunday, April 25th. This is my first tri since July 2009, so I am definitely excited.

Here's a link to the website: http://www.umly.org/Tri/default.asp?prmName=EventDetail&prmEventID=254

This is the first triathlon I will have done outside of Florida. I don't know if the Pennsylvania triathlon community is quite ready for my triathlon style:
I haven't been running or swimming much at all. I am going to try to get myself to the pool this week for the first time in months (I honestly can't remember when I last swam).

But that doesn't change the fact that I am going to own the bike leg. I am putting it out there now: I am going to win the bike split.

If you are at the UMLY tri this weekend, and you see a 6'8" dude in a pink speedo, riding a too small cannondale with a dinosaur style bike bell, that's me. And, don't be discouraged when I pass you, cause I am fast.

Bird Food ... some more, delicious, triathlon friendly recipes

2010-04-18T17:57:00.003-04:00

Training hard requires hard eating. With Ironmen training 10, 20, or 30 some hours a week, biking hundreds of miles, and spending much of their free time polishing their Zipp 1080 dish wheels, some athletes forget that nutrition is a big part of their success come race day. Here's two recipes, made with scratch and love, which will pack your skinny triathlete belly full of healthy calories, powerful antioxidants, and a ton of valuable nutrients.

The first recipe, a nutritional atom bomb from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, is Curried Spinach Pea Soup. It's got a long list of ingredients, but don't let that intimidate you. It's just onions, potatoes, spinach, and peas, along with a bunch of spices. Not only do you get the obvious health benefits from the four main ingredients, but the spices all have well-documented, therapeutic, wellness promoting qualities.

The second recipe is invented and perfected by ME. That's right, bitches. Not only do I blog, dominate triathlons, and use my Ninja skills to battle forces of evil, but I cook like a french chef. The recipe is Chocolate Cranberry Protein Bars.

Curried Spinach Pea Soup

5 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups diced potatoes
8 garlic cloves, whole
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 cups chopped onions
1.5 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
1.5 teaspoons turmeric
1.5 teaspoons cumin
1.5 teaspoons coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1.5 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups frozen green peas
4 cups packed fresh spinach
14 oz can low-fat coconut milk

Bring the water and salt to a boil in a large soup pot, then ease in the potatoes and garlics. Simmer for 15 minutes.
In a large saucepan, warm the oil, and saute the onions for 10 minutes, or until their tender and translucent. Stir in the ginger, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, and black pepper. Add the lemon juice and 1 cup of the potato water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Transfer the onions mixture into the potato pot. Stir in the peas and spinach, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk, then puree the whole mess in a blender. Reheat gently.

Chocolate Cranberry Protein Bars

3 cups rolled oats
8 scoops chocolate protein powder
1 egg
12 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
1.5 cups whole milk
1.5 cups dried cranberries
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan.
Combine the peanut butter, egg, and milk in a bowl. Mix very well (this is a little bit of a workout). Add the protein powder, and stir some more. Pour the oats, cranberries, baking power, and salt, and mix, mix, mix some more.
Spoon the batter into the pan. Bake, uncovered for 35 minutes. Makes 8-16 bars, depending on how big you want to cut them up.

Both of these recipes are great for leftovers and take-to-work meals. Just imagine how your coworkers will look at you like your crazy when you whip out your Curried Spinach Pea Soup, then have a Chocolate Cranberry Protein Bar for dessert, as they exclaim, "I could never eat that green soup!" all while they nibble their limp Lean Cuisine Meal, complaining about the fatness of their ass and how no diets will ever work for them. Or maybe that's just my job.

Song of the Week

I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel) by Lauryn Hill

Just a flat out awesome song and performance. I still have a crush on Lauryn Hill.

Triathlon Training Music: Deathcore Metal

2010-04-13T09:49:00.003-04:00

Looking for some music to get pumped up for your next run, ride, swim, or lift? Taylor Swift* just not doing it for ya? Check out some deathcore metal. This is some music that makes you want to beat up an old man. I'm talking about some Slayer, or Lamb of God, or The Red Chord. If listening to Somatically Incorrect by Whitechapel doesn't make you want to punch your mother, you got something wrong with you.

Check it out. If your times are slipping, and all your listening to is Justin Beiber* on your ipod, try some Deathcore instead. Making that simple switch almost guarentees a PR on your next run. Here's a link to a Pandora Radio station playing only Deathcore, if you need some ideas.

*I did not include a link to buy Taylor Swift or Justin Beiber music here because freybird.blogspot.com does not endorse either artist.

Variety in training... the key to big gains?

2010-04-02T09:27:00.004-04:00

When I think back on some of my funnest runs, rides, and swims, it's the new, atypical training days that stand out in my memory. I actively and eloquently remember the day I rode 116 miles on a Friday after work, for example. My lungs burn and my shoulders quiver when I think back to when former Aquacrest coach and all-around swimming master mind David Wright had me do his killer set of alternating sprint 50's and pushups.

David's book, which lays out his 100km/week olympic swimming program

But it's not just the Hyooge training days that stick out in my memory, it's the new experiences. I can remember the first time I ran barefoot on the Florida sand like it was yesterday, the hot, dry Florida sand squeezing between my toes, even though I probably ran less than 3 miles. Even though I biked less than 30 miles, I remember the day I rode my bike on Virginia's beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, curling through mountains passes and spotting spectacular wildlife, like this bear, Grrrrroowwl!

And it's not just me spouting about new experiences being big in regards to memory. Researchers have found two important points in regards to new experiences and memory formation:

People's long-term memory is activated by novely

New experiences can be pleasurable.

If you're not a science dork, you can skip the next paragraph, which provides the scientific support...

Researchers at University College London found that new experiences release beneficial neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, leading researchers to conclude that, “Seeking new and unfamiliar experiences is a fundamental behavioural tendency in humans and animals." (See more here) Also in the UK, researchers have found that the area of the brain responsible for encoding long term memories is activated when humans are exposed to novel experiences (See more here). Finally, researchers have found that the midbrain, which is responsible for motivation and reward processing, responds more to novelty than it does to familiarity (See more here).

So, new experiences make you feel good, and you remember them better than familiar, routine experiences. I hear you blinking, mouth agape, thinking, "pretty sweet, Frey, but what's this gotta do with my bike split at my next Ironman?"

I think we can make a big leap from memory to fitness. If new experiences make better, more pleasurable memories, I think new experiences lead to better training, and more pleasurable training. Better, funner training makes for stronger athletes! Let's look at each piece of this argument:

1) Novel training experiences leads to more pleasurable training...

The connection here is obvious. Novel training experiences are the same as any novel experience. Strike out on a new route on your next run, and your brain will enjoy it more!

2) Novel training leads to better training...

This is another pretty direct conclusion. Your brain will crave any source of pleasurable neurotransmitters, just ask any heroine addict. Presumably, if an athletes brain is craving new training, she will get out there and push for newer courses, more challenging routes. With her body getting hit with new stimuli on a frequent basis, she will develop some freakish strength and endurance.

I have argued above that pleasure from new training would cause athletes to train more, and more training would make stronger athletes. This is demonstrated in the diagram below:

New Training------> Pleasure------> train harder and with more variety------> stronger body

I am going to argue now that there's a third, unknown mechanism by which new experiences will lead to stronger athletes, which I will call the X-Factor.

3) The X-Factor

If new experiences elicit a stronger response from your brain, will new training experiences stimulate a stronger response from your body? New experiences make stronger memories, why shouldn't new training experiences make a stronger body?

What I am saying is demonstrated in the following experiment. Take two groups of athletes. Expose the first to a daily five mile run around a track. Have the second run a daily five miles on a new course. I am saying that group two will become fitter.

See, both groups would have the same training stimulus. I argued initially that pleasurable experiences make a stronger body because they cause an athlete to train harder and more frequently. These two groups would be training the same amount. The ONLY variable would be that group two got to run a new course.

I argue that group two would get fitter, because of the X-factor.

But, I have no proof, just guessing.

Motivation for your next workout

2010-03-15T19:07:00.002-04:00

Next time you need to get yourself amped up for a workout, think of this mouse:

He could probably use a little work on his form, however. Come on, mouse, feet on the ground, and get some arch in your back!

Trust your doctor?

2010-01-19T11:07:00.003-05:00

I was at the Chester County Hospital a few days ago to get a Stress Test. I was at the cardiovascular center, sitting in the lobby, and I saw an adverstisement in the hospital's "Stay Healthy" pamphlet. The advertisement warned against eating saturated fats, and specifically warned against using Coconut Oil (one of my favorite oils!) because of it's high saturated fats content.

Coconut oil is delicious and nutritious, no matter what your doctor says.

It was after seeing this bold claim at the cardiovascular center to avoid dietary saturated fats that I saw this article published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition...

Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease

The authors of the study found that, "A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD (coronary heart disease) or CVD (cardiovascular disease)."

There you have it, bird fans, saturated fat intake is not a factor for cardiovascular disease of coronary heart disease. I challenge you to tell this to your general practioner next time you are in her office and see if she is up to date on this article. I doubt it... she'll tell you to keep avoiding the butter.

Top Moments From my 2009 Cycling

2010-01-01T07:48:00.007-05:00

With 2009 officially in the books, I've logged my last cycling miles for the season. The grand total is...

7,228!

Thank you, thank you. Looking back at the mileage log, I am proud to say that this is the most mileage I've had in any single season! In past years, I had...

2008: 6,771

2007: 5,868

2006: 4,337

2005: 1,039 (partial mileage)

2005 was my first year of cycling, and I made it until about August before I finally purchased a speedometer/odometer. I biked for a whole summer in Santa Barbara, CA without even know how far or fast I was going... can you believe it? I even went out and biked a century without an odometer.

.
Here's my in Santa Barbara, back in 2005.

Looking back at 2009, there are some rides and experiences that stand out as my GREATEST cycling moments from 2009. They are:

1) The PowerCranks - These are the independent bike cranks, meaning that pushing down on the left arm of a crank does not make the right side come up. You have to turn each arm on it's own, and it's damn hard. Here's a picture of my bike with the PowerCranks:

I didn't track my exact mileage on the cranks, but I estimate that between 2008 and 2009, I rode near 4,000 miles on these cranks alone. This includes a 57 miles PowerCrank ride on New Years day, 2009, and an 88 mile ride on March 29, two days before my 25th birthday. Here's a review with some pictures from a 60+ mile long ride that I did on the cranks.

2) Comeback from a Staph Infection and a DVT - In January of 2009, I took a DVT in my right calf, the second time in my life I've developed a thrombosis in my leg. Later, in August 2009, I developed a Staph Infection in my left knee, and I don't really know why or how I got that one. Both sicknesses were challenging in their own ways, but, as always, I came out on top.

The reason these sicknesses made it to my list is because I faced them, and I still managed to ride more miles in 2009 than in any season before. 7,228 miles would make an impressive season on it's own, but I managed it while almost dying, twice.

3) Bike commuting 50 miles, round trip, to the Tradewinds Independence Day Triathlon - On July 4, I biked 25 miles to Coconut Creek, FL, then I raced a sprint distance triathlon in which I average about 25mph for the bike leg, then I packed up my gear bag and biked another 25 miles home. That's how you dominate. Here's my race report.

In addition, I dominated several other local sprint triathlons. I did the 2009 FAU Wellness Triathlon in Boca Raton, FL, and the June 21st edition of the Key Biscayne Triathlon Trialogy.

4) Biking in PA with Libby - I have done a good deal of cold weather biking in Pennsylvania in recent months. Here's a picture of me and my mom ready for a cold ride:

Lib has her own blog over here: http://bikerchickswc.blogspot.com/. She tends to do a lot of ranting. Biking in PA has been a nice change to the riding, as it's very scenic and hilly here. Below is a picture that shows me out in farm country!

Here's to another great year!

Typography. Nothing to do with Triathlon

2009-12-10T07:24:00.002-05:00

I love typography. Typography, defined by wikipedia, is:

Typography (Etymology: typos—type, graphos—written) is the art and technique of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). [1]

Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic designers, art directors, comic book artists, graffiti artists, and clerical workers. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of visual designers and lay users.

I have been surfing the internet a lot these days, and here are two really cool examples of typography, internet-style. The first is If by Rudyard Kipling...

Typography: IF by Rudyard Kipling from George O Horne on Vimeo.

The second one is a poem by Taylor Mali, but I can't find the title, like, you know?

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

2009 32nd Annual Brian's Run in West Chester, PA

2009-12-06T18:56:00.006-05:00

I ran the 5 mile race at the 32nd annual Brian's Run in West Chester, PA today. It was a great day, as I'd been sidelined for about two months with that staph infection. I ran the whole thing, although the longest run I've done since July is 3 miles, and that was on Tuesday of this week... The most noteable part of my race was my outfit. See, it was 32 degrees and snowy out there, but I wore a swimsuit and the Vibram FiveFinger shoes. Here's a picture incase you don't believe that:

It's hard to pick me out of the crowd.

I brought it in in 39 minutes, which I was pretty happy about. That finished me just ahead of some 49 year old dude, and just behind some 13 year old kid. Way to go me!

I'll be posting more about the Vibram shoes. Just briefly, I love them. And, in response to your questions... No, I haven't stepped on any nails and yes, they're comfortable.

The funnest part of the day was that the race went right by my (parents) house. My (parents) house was on the race course, and my mom and old man dad stood out front, cheering and taking pictures.

If you were out there at Brian's run today, and you saw a big giant running in a swimsuit, that was me!

I put together a picture collage of my running history. The first was a 3 year old Frey running Brian's run over 20 years ago... I think I was about 8 in the second picture, and again I was running in Brian's run. The third is me running at a Florida triathlon, and the last is clearly today's picture. Here it is:

Song of the Week: B.O.B. by Outkast. Deliciousness and funkiliciousness had a baby. They named it B.O.B.

Dave Tate is awesome

2009-12-03T17:46:00.005-05:00

I have a man crush on Dave Tate. If I weren't into triathlon, I'd want to be a powerlifter in the mold of Tate.

Dave Tate. Legitimate beast.

Dave is the man over at elitefts.com, where his athletic experience, coaching skill, and self-improvement advice draw millions of hits the website. I am reading his book, Under the Bar, right now, and it's one of the most insightful, down to earth things I have read.

While I should assume you know who Dave is, here's a quick bio from tmuscle.com:

Dave Tate, who's a NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS), has been in the strength field as a coach and consultant since 1986 and has been involved in the sport of powerlifting since 1982.

He's logged more than 10,000 hours of personal training and strength consulting sessions with novice to elite athletes, and he's published hundreds of articles on strength development. For all his work in the field, Dave has been presented with a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Weight Training Injury Specialists.

Dave is a world ranked powerlifter, his best lifts being a 935 squat, a 610 bench press, a 740 deadlift, and a 2205 total. For you mere mortals who don't have any idea how to interpret these lifts, let me put it to you this way, these lifts are insane.

Dave has a B.Sc. in Exercise Science from The University of Toledo with a minor in nutrition. (Yes, really.) And he does have subscriptions to the NSCA and ACSM journals as well as the International Journal of Sports Nutrition. So don't let him fool you; he's well read and does have some academic training in his background, despite all the science-bashing he does.

Dave's a successful businessman too. He's the co-owner and founder of Elite Fitness Systems, a world renowned provider of strength training products and services.

So, Dave Tate is a helluva guy. He's hilarious, educated, intense, committed, knows how to overcome obstacles, has a great family and circle of friends, and is a guy you want to turn to when you need a straight-shooting, no BS opinion.

I like two things most about Dave. First, he's smarter, more knowledgable, and more driven than anyone, but he's the most humble guy. And, not in some fake, pretentious, pretending to be humble way. Second, he can squat like an animal.

Dave's head nears explosion on this lift.

Here's a sample of his down to earth advice, this time in regards to the squat:

Let's put things in perspective.

First, it's an exercise that's part of a sport. The squat, bench press, deadlift, clean, jerk, and snatch all are part of sports and are pretty fucking important. I mean, they don't have a single-leg squat competition.

The squat was probably one of the first exercises ever done with a barbell. It's one of the few that has stood the test of time. How many other machines, products, or fads have come and gone?

If it were truly a bad exercise it would have faded out a long time ago.

You've got to have balls to do it.

I can't think of another exercise that builds more confidence. It takes persistence and straining to get better.

At what point did it become not functional?

We're going to sit down and pick up shit all our lives. Now all of a sudden these main lifts aren't functional? What's more functional than sitting down?

It's hard to sell a squat.

It just doesn't make you any money. Give me twenty bucks and I'll tell you the greatest exercise ever. You ready? The squat. No, you can't have your fucking money back.

From a powerlifting standpoint, it can be overused.

Anything can be over-trained. But if you've got a program that's producing a bunch of people who are squatting 275 pounds, your program sucks. We've got high school kids doing that after training for a month.

We don't use single-leg movements.

They just don't transfer over for powerlifters. If one leg is already stronger than the other, doing single-leg work doesn't balance anything out. It just makes it worse. We need our guys to be able to push evenly with both legs.

It all depends on what your goal is.

If it's to get bigger legs, break out a tape measure and calipers. If your legs are getting bigger, you're not getting fatter, and you're not squatting, then keep doing what you're doing.

The worst thing you can do is switch because someone told you to. If you're making progress with what you're doing, then stick to it.

The Angry Triathlete

2009-11-27T07:49:00.009-05:00

This post was inspired by:

1) Tony Gentilcore's Angry Trainer article, originally posted at tmuscle.com.

2) The Seinfeld episode with the "Airing of Grievances". If you don't know what I am talking about, click that link. You have a lot to learn about Festivus!

I don't know what it is about the world of triathlon, fitness, diet, and exercise that attracts so much bull, but, you see more crap in this sport than you do floating in Oprah's toilet on Black Friday morning. So, in the words of Frank Costanza, "I got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're gonna hear about it."

Triathletes who need to talk about all the training they're doing...
I am at the pool, and a guy dips into the lane next to me, with fins, a speedo jammer, a waterproof MP3 player, a pool buoy, and his Triathlete Training Diary. "Yeah, I do triathlons, mostly Olympic distance, but I'll do some half-ironmans, too." Jamming his pull buoy up his crotch, he explains that this is just his first workout of the day. "I have a zone 3 run on the treadmill when I finish in the pool. Then, I am going for a little spin this afternoon."

Cool.

He proceedes to suck in the pool for about 50 minutes, explaining, "the run is my best leg, I am still working on my swim fitness". Later, as I am leaving the gym, I see him sitting in the smoothie bar, sucking back a cup of sugar and yogurt, probably explaining his training to any open ear. Keep up the hard work, you pussy.

Heart Rate Monitors for Swimming...

These just look like bras. I have seen them a few times in person, most noteably when some college swim teams came for winter training at Aquacrest Pool in Delray Beach, FL. I couldn't find a picture online, so I drew a diagram on some random dude... enjoy:

See, the normal heart rate straps which just circle the torso don't stay put when you swim. So, some marketing genius decided to lace up some straps to go over your shoulders. I hate it... just take the damn strap off and concentrate on your swimming.

And in this spot right here, I was planning on apologizing to the random internet guy whose picture I used in this diagram. Then, I realized he posted a picture of himself in smiley face underwear, compression socks, showing off his torso which hasn't seen a steak in years. I have no sympathy for you, random dude.

People who blame genetics for training like wussies and sucking at their respective sports...

I first ran into this mentality back when I was playing basketball. So often you'd hear out of shape, uncoordinated, lazy, 6'2" guys saying, "Man, if I had your height, I'd be awesome at basketball! I'd be dunking all the time!" No. You'd still suck.

I hate it when people blame their genetics for why they suck. It's just excuse making and rationalizing. (For the best article on rationalizing your crapiness ever written, check out Chris Shugart at tmsucle.com here.) The problem I have is when people use the 'genetics' argument as a rationalization for why they suck, or why they train like a pansy. "Well, I'll just do some isolation curls today. I have shitty genetics, so no amount of ball-busting olympic lifting will make me a better athlete." That's my beef. You're just lazy, and you're looking for any reason to explain why other people are better triathletes than you are. The reason is because others train harder and smarter, and you sit around talking about how the genetic cards are stacked against you.

I see this in triathlon with fat people. It's not your genetics making you fat, it's your diet.

People tell me that because I am 6'7", I am never going to be a good long distance runner. The cards are stacked against me, I might as well surrender to being slow. Listen, I may never run a 2:05 marathon and win the olympics, but that doesn't mean I can't train my ass off and run a 2:40.

People assuming exercise is miserable, and that it is confined to gyms...

This one gets me as angry as anything: Assuming that exercise is only something you can do in an approved facility (which, often, you must drive to), under the qualified supervision of an “expert” (or the substitute, the minimum-waged salesperson at Big Fitness), and with the constant fear of hurting oneself.

This activity must be done – reluctantly – for the American Heart Association-approved time limit.

Also, it must not be fun.

Geez, that sounds totally motivating to me. Not.

People, get outside. Your body knows how to move – look at children, who already know how to squat. And oh yeah, they have fun too, don’t they?

Exercise is life – it’s everything your body does.

Compare these two things:

1. Cardio
2. Getting outside for some fresh air and sunshine

Which one sounds more appealing to you?

Or how about:

1. Plyometric shoulder rotation exercises combined with core training or...
2. Throwing a frisbee

There’s a whole world of joyful, practical, useful movement out there. Start looking for it.

That's it for this installment of the angry triathlete. But, trust that I am still very angry, and there are still plenty of things for me to rant about. Stay tuned.

Quote of the Week:

You only go around once, so you may as well make the best of your time here by living the life you really want to live. "Well, Dave, I'd like to but..." But what? Do what you gotta do! There are many people out there who live "but lives," "I shoulda lives," and "I coulda lives." These people are easy to find. They're the ones we call critics: those who've become masters of the "have not" and love to spend their time telling us what we can and can't do. They make up 90% of the people I've met. Avoid them! They love to pull you down.

-Dave Tate

Tips to Survive the Holidays from elitefts.com

2009-11-26T08:26:00.004-05:00

The internet is ripe with 'tips to survive the holidays' from notoriously crappy websites, such as shape.com, or oprah.com. Don't eat 20 pounds of shit, is basically what the advice boils down to. I hate it all.

Follow my advice, ladies, and you too can be a yo-yo dieter!

So, I was sceptical when I saw that elitefts.com, one of the most trusted powerlifting websites on the 'net, posted their holiday survival guide. However, they have some great advice for how to make it through the holidays:

How I became a fan of self-medication - by Jim Wendler

Tip of the Week:

Download yourself Six, by All That Remains. The link is below...

Healthy Cheap Foods for the Broke Triathlete

2009-11-23T19:42:00.002-05:00

It's a common misconception that you need to spend more money to eat nutritious, organic, quality food, as opposed to commerical, prepackaged, shitty food. The wise triathlete has long known that healthy staples such as sweet potatoes and oatmeal are cheaper and more nutrient dense than french fries or cookies.

Training hard means you need a lot of high quality food in your tank. For those of you who can't afford daily Ahi tuna steaks, you can still eat some damn good food at good prices. Here's a link to a list of the top 10 healthy 'poor man's" foods:

Top Ten Healthy "Poor Man's" Foods

Eat up!

Cycling Cue Sheet and GPS File from Baltimore, MD to West Chester, PA

2009-11-16T18:12:00.002-05:00

For the Garmin GPS junkies out there, I made a cue sheet from Baltimore, MD to West Chester, PA. It covers a good deal of east coast bicycle touring. Check it out here:

Baltimore, MD to West Chester, PA
Find more Bike Rides in West Chester, Pennsylvania

Upload it to your Garmin and take off on a big one-way ride!

Leg Exercises You've (probably) Never Heard Of: King Deadlift

2009-11-15T18:17:00.005-05:00

Today's leg exercise is courtesy of Ian King. If you're thinking to yourself, "who's Ian King?", you're an idiot. Furthermore, if you don't know who Ian King is, but you do know the name of every character on ABC's Lost, you should be shot.

Watching Lost is not going to help you're next bike split.

Ian King will help your triathlon times.

I admire someone who gets something named after them. You see this a lot in science, with units such as the Newton, named after Sir Isaac. Ian King is such a legend in the strength and condition world, he's put in so much hard work and earned the respect of athletes, coaches, and internet jerks like me, and he's invented a great exercise... so, we have the King Deadlift.

In King's own words, here's a description of the lift... This is a single-leg, bent-knee deadlift — one of my very own creations! Stand on one leg (starting with the weak side) and bend the other leg up until the lower leg is parallel to the ground. Place your hands on the hips or by your side. The aim is to bend the knee of the supporting leg until the knee of the non-supporting leg is brushing the ground.

Beginning of the King Deadlift

You're allowed to flex (bend) forward at the waist as much as you want, and doing so will increase the gluteal involvement. Keep the working knee aligned neutrally throughout the movement. Take three seconds to lower, a one-second pause at each end, and two seconds to lift. No warm-up set is needed.

Bottom Position

When you can do more than 15-20 reps full range, consider either or both of the following options — place dumbbells in each hand, or stand on the edge of a low block or box so that the working side range can be increased over that which is available when standing on the floor.

You know I am a huge fan of any posterior chain lift, and the King Deadlift definitely works your butt, hamstrings, etc. I particularly like this lift because it's a unilateral leg exercise. Since triathlon is predominantly a single-leg athletic event, you need to get used to generating unilateral force (as opposed to the double-leg stance of a squat).

Furthermore, the actions of the pelvic stabilizers (hip abductors/adductors) are different in a unilateral stance in comparison to the double leg stance. Unilateral work, such as the king deadlift will train you to recuit the hip adductors and abductors simulataneously, which will not only have a huge carryover to athletic events, but will also go a long way towards preventing many nagging lower body injuries.

If I lost you there, the key is this: Get off your ass, do some king deadlifts, and you'll be faster and healtier.

Leg Exercises You've (probably) Never Seen Before: Part 1

2009-11-14T10:59:00.004-05:00

Cutting right to the chase: If you want to use the weight room to improve your triathlon, cycling, swimming, or running, you need to get off the leg press, leg extension, and hamstring curl. But what's wrong with the leg curl, Frey? My triathlon coach said it's great for training the hammies, and I am paying him 300$ per month! Two reasons why...

1) Running, cycling, and the swim kick all involve the simultaneous coordination of the glutes and the hamstrings. You never "isolate" the hamstrings in any motion, anywhere, other than the hamstring curl machine. So you need to train with smarter movements that train both the glutes and both functions of the hamstrings (knee flexion/hip extension).

2) You're traithlon coach is overpriced.

Enough of my rant, here's some nice exercises to work into your weight program:

1) Glute Ham Raise (GHR) - The video here is courtesy of elitefts.com, one of the greatest websites in the history of the internet. The coaching cue is to squeze the glutes, fire the hips forward, and try not to cry like a girl.

2) Natural Glute Ham Raise - If you're gym doesn't have a GHR apparatus (few commercial gyms do), you have two options for the GHR. You can kneel on the ground and have a friend hold your ankles, you can wedge your ankles under a dumbbell rack (as seen below):

Or, you can follow the setup that Tony Gentilcore shows here on your Lat Pulldown machine:

On the natural version, it's ok to give a little push off the ground at the bottom. Only the strongest athletes can do a natural glute ham raise without falling to the ground and pushing back up.

Stay Tuned... In the coming posts, I'll be showing you some more exciting exercises!

Bird Food: Twice Baked Cottage Cheese Sweet Potato Recipes

2009-11-01T15:54:00.005-05:00

I have invented a tasty, healthy, nutritious recipe that I would like to share with all you triathlete friends. It involves the white sweet potato. In the United States, we usually eat two varieties of sweet potatoes: orange flesh or white flesh. The white flesh potato isn't nearly as sweet as the orange flesh potato with which most people are familiar. When cooked, it has a crumbly texture, similar to a regular baking potato.

The white sweet potatoes are on the right.

While both varieties are delicious, I use the white sweet potato for this recipe. This is because the white has less moisture.

I will offer you three alternatives with my recipe for a twice baked sweet potato. Each one uses the same basic method, but they vary what you mix into the potato. The three are, Apple Cheddar, Onion Cheddar, and Bacon Cheddar.

Apple Cheddar Sweet Potato
-1 large white sweet potato
-1/2 cup cottage cheese
-1 medium apple
-1/4 cup shredded white extra sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake the potato for one hour, or until soft. While baking, dice the apple and mix it with the cottage cheese in a large bowl. Remove the potato from the oven, and cut it in half length wise, leaving the bottom and outer skin in tact, for twice baking. Scoop out the hot potato and combine it with the cottage cheese/apple mixture. Gently combine, then fit all the potato, cheese, and apple back into the potato. Top with cheddar. Place back into oven for 20 minutes. Eat.

Onion Cheddar Sweet Potato
-1 large white sweet potato
-1/2 cup cottage cheese
-1/2 sweet onion
-2 tsp. olive oil
-1/4 cup shredded white extra sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake potato for one hour, or until soft. While baking, thinly slice the onion. Warm the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat, and then saute the onion until translucent. Combine sauteed onion with cottage cheese in a large bowl. Remove the potato from the oven, slice in half length wise, but leave the bottom and sides in tact. Scoop out the hot potato, and gently combine with cottage cheese/onion mixture. Put onion/cottage cheese/potato mixture back into the potato skin, and top with the cheddar cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, then eat.

Bacon Cheddar Sweet Potato
-1 large white sweet potato
-3 slices organic, nitrate-free bacon
-1/8 cup diced scallions
-1/4 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese
-1/4 cup shredded extra sharp white cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake potato for one hour, or until soft. While potato cooks, slice bacon into small, bite sized pieces. Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, then add the scallions. Cook for a few more minutes, until bacon is crumbly and scallions are lightly fried. Remove potato from the oven, slice in half length wise, being careful to leave bottom and sides in tact. Scoop potato into a large bowl, and combine with bacon, scallions, and shredded fat free cheddar. Scoop the whole mixture back into the potato, then top with the extra sharp cheddar. Bake for 20 more minutes, eat, enjoy.

Hydroworx Water Treadmill: An effective aquatic performance and rehab training tool

2009-10-29T09:01:00.005-04:00

I remember during my Sophomore year of college, while I was playing NCAA basketball, I took a nasty case of Achilles tendinitis. I lost half the season, and I had to wear one of those walking cast, boot-type things for about two months. The entire time, I was frustrated that I couldn't run or jump like I could when I was healthy. I imagine that you, too, have spent some time injured in one way or another, with a painful condition that prohibits you from training in the manner you like most.

Recently, I have discovered an incredible new training tool that is amazingly useful and effective for injured athletes looking to train for sports such as football, triathlon, etc. while injured or rehabbing. What's more, not only is this tool useful or rehab, it's a great tool for a healthy athlete to use in his or her regular training program.

It's the Hydroworx water treadmill, seen here: Water Treadmill

Hydroworx is useful in two important ways: it's an aquatic rehab tool, and it's an aquatic conditioning tool. It can be used by any person or athlete who is coming back from an injury, and it can be used by a healthy athlete as a nearly weightless environment for exercise and conditioning.

On the rehab front, I found a great video of triathlete Dave Cummings. Dave suffered several broken bones and lost over 65% of his blood when he was hit by a car while cycling. Searching for a way to train aerobically while recovering from the terrible injury, Dave turned to Hydroworx to train, recover, and have some fun! Check out the video here:

Triathlete on a Hydroworx water treadmill

For healthy athletes, the Hydroworx pools are used by recreationalists, amateur athletes, and elite athletes to supplement their land-based training. I know heavier athletes, such as NFL football players, have trouble maintaining their integrity and health of their joints while pounding out heavy sprints or distance runs. I found another cool video of NFL player Matt Spaeth, who is using the Hydroworx treadmill for some active recovery after a strenuous workout:

NFL Player on a water treadmill

For triathletes, runners, cyclists, and swimmers like you and me, the hydroworx treadmill looks like a killer tool for aquatic rehab, aquatic conditioning, and water exercising. But, the hydroworx treadmill can be used be a range of active people, from golfers, to NASA astronauts, and from baseball players to Biggest Loser contestants (for more info on how NASA and Biggest Loser are using hydroworx, click here).

I wish I knew about Hydroworx back when I was in my walking cast! Trust that in the future, when I inevitably face another injury, I will be enjoying myself on a Hydroworx, instead of sitting on the couch with a cast!

Check out the full line of Hydroworx Water treadmills here: water treadmill.

Advanced Ass Techniques

2009-10-27T11:35:00.002-04:00

T-nation.com, perhaps the greatest site on the internet, posted a great article, written by Brett Contreras, on glute training just today. Check it out here:

http://www.tmuscle.com/readArticle.do?id=3419279

Exercise for Anti-Depression Therapy: research proven techniques to increase seratonin without drugs

2009-10-26T07:50:00.002-04:00

Ever since I first started cycling, I was addicted to the calm, relaxed, positive feeling I experienced during and after the ride. No matter how stressed out I felt before the ride, once I settled into the pedaling, panting, and started to enjoy the scenery, my worries melted away and my mood improved. Biking makes me happier!

Now, research explains why. In a November 2007 article in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Mcgill University professor Simon N. Young suggests three ways to increase serotonin (the 'feel good' neurotransmitter) without the aid of drugs. Before exploring the three ways of increasing one's serotonin, Young makes an important point regarding one's mental health. He says that while happiness and positive mood are important in their own right, positive mood within the normal range is an important predictor of health and longevity. That is, one's mental health correlates with ones physical health, so, presumably, to reach your full physical potential as a triathlete, you must achieve sound mental condition, too.

First, to increase serotonin, Young says to experience a happy situation. Being happy releases serotonin and being sad inhibits it. Serotonin, in this way, acts as a mood reinforcer.

Second, exposure to bright light may increase serotonin. Young suggests that this may stem from earlier times when humans spent most of the day outdoors, farming or hunting.

Third, exercise has been clearly demonstrated to both improve mood and increase serotonin levels.

Triathlon training looks like the perfect way to increase your serotonin levels. Training makes you happy, it gets you outside, and it's exercise! Any one of these factors will make you feel better, that is, you don't need to have all three to feel better. Running on the treadmill will still get your exercising, even if your not outside.

Triathletes and exercise enthusiasts have known for years that doing what they love - running, swimming, biking - makes them feel great! Now, research is starting to understand why.

Staphylococcus aureus - A Staph Infection Directly in my Knee Joint

2009-09-11T19:40:00.006-04:00

Bird Fans, I was hospitalized on Saturday, September 5, 2009 with a severe, life threatening Staph Infection (Staphylococcus aureus) directly localized in my left knee. Doctors drained a huge amount of thick, orange/pink pussy fluid out of my knee, put me on heavy pain killers and antibiotics. Soon later, they were operating on my knee, cleaning out all of the infection.

Just like with my DVT, I am a reasonably healthy triathlete, swimmer, cyclist, and runner. To get a life threatening infection, out of the blue, is weird.

I now know that the infection, while very serious, avoided many serious complications. The infection stayed outside of the knee joint, maintaining the integrity of my knee. It stayed out of my blood stream, and it was a relatively treatable strain of Staph.

Here's a pre-surgery picture of my knee. Notice how swollen the left knee is.

I don't know how I got the infection. Was it a bump that I hadn't noticed? A cut that allowed the bacteria to get in? Did I pick it up at the gym, the pool, or school? Who knows.

I didn't notice any problems in my knee until the middle of the day on Friday, September 4. I felt a slight pain on the knee, as if I had bumped it, although I couldn't remember bumping my knee. As the day went on, the knee felt more sore, and it began to swell. When I went to bed Friday night, it was difficult to walk. I tossed and turned until early Saturday morning, as the increasing pain made it difficult to sleep. When I finally stood up around 4am, the pain was incredible. I drove directly to the emergency room, where my treatment began.

Here's the knee after surgery. It took a pretty long incision to clean it out.

The surgeon told me that my knee had been infected for a long time. He says I am lucky to have caught and treated the infection when I did.

I am recovering well. I can comfortably walk short distances already, and hopefully the knee should be full strength within a few weeks. I have one month worth of oral and IV antibiotics.

Any other athletes out there with experience having Staph infections? Has anyone had one directly in a joint, like I did? If you're an athlete, triathlete, gym rat, swimmer, runner, cyclist, or active person who picked up a staph infection, let me know. Leave a comment below!

South Florida's Best Masters Swimming Program

2009-09-10T19:58:00.002-04:00

Attention Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Boca Raton! Attention all South Florida Masters swimmers! USMS swimmers!

Aqua Crest pool in Delray Beach, Florida, is revamping it's long-running, extremely successful masters program. Heading by coaching mastermind David Wright, this is the program that has, for years, welcomed all swimmers. Snowbird recreationalists looking for a morning dip have found a home at Aqua Crest, as have triathletes training for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. Olympic medalists have training with David Wright and Aqua Crest's masters program, as have senior citizens who are swimming their first laps.

In every field there is greatness: The NBA has Shaq, science has Einstein, real estate has Donald Trump, and South Florida swimming has Aqua Crest's US Masters Swimming program.

Aqua Crest's masters program just launched a new governing board which is already making excited changes to the program:

1. The team is adding a website, which you can see here: http://aquacrest.org/. The website will update team members on practices, record times, and document all the fun training going on at Aqua Crest.

2. The team is expanding to a new pool facility. While the 5:30am practice at Aqua Crest has been a local training legend for years (attracting the best triathletes in South Florida), the program is expanding to accommodate afternoon swimmers. Stay tuned for details.

3. One of South Florida's most successful multisport coaches, Dara, is coming on board as a coach. See Coach Dara's website here: http://tricoachblog.com/

I know it is often hard for Masters swimmers to find a training HOME. That is, a place that makes you feel welcome, comfortable, yet challenges you to exceed your physical and mental limitations. Aqua Crest's Masters program, with Head Coach David Wright, is that place. Come on out to Aqua Crest and give it a try. I'll see you there!

The Most Effective Way To Treat Triathlon Overuse Injuries; Part 1

2009-08-18T20:02:00.005-04:00

The Most Effective Way To Treat Triathlon Overuse Injuries
Part 1 - How not to treat your injuries

In the sports of swimming, cycling, and running, collectively known as triathlon, overuse injuries are as common as tacos in Spanish Harlem. They're as frequent as fake boobs at the Boca Town Center mall. And, finally, they're as common as cute Florida females glancing at me and thinkin, "who's that guy!"

Before I get into the meat of this article series, The Most Effective Way To Treat Triathlon Overuse Injuries, I need to explain to you why other injury treatment protocols suck.

The Format of Most Advice Articles

I am going to introduce my article with a brief explanation and example of why the articles and books you read regarding overuse injuries in sports are TERRIBLE. This will then lead into why that 'expert' doctor also sucks. I'll use an example of a random coach posting advice onto his Blog:

Usually, when you read some pontificating blog author's advice on overuse injuries, he puts a little disclaimer on the beginning of the article, such as, "I am a fucking idiot, I have no training credentials, I am not a medical doctor, and I can't even finish a sprint race. However, I am going to make some recomendation for your injuries. I read Triathlete Magazine while taking a dump this morning, and I think I can cure your problems. Before trying any of my recommendations to treat your injuries, please consult an expert."

The typical preface then goes on to list several terrible rehab exercises that will leave athletes undertrained, weakened, and frustrated. Or, if the athlete does manage to get to an "expert", that jackass will profusely soliloquize* why the blogger chose incorrect exercises and why he, the expert, will select more appropriate exercises. These new, more appropriate exercises will leave athletes undertrained, weakened, and frustrated.

So you see, if you consult man on the street, fellow athlete, triathlete online/magazine article, expert doctor, you're screwed.

Dead Reckoning: How the advice givers end up hurting you

Everybody wants to give you advice on how to cure your injury, the problem is that none of that advice is based on anything. It's the old problem of Dead Reckoning.

I'll explain the dead reckoning thing. Dead Reckoning is trying to explain a peoples voyage by working back from their final destination. I will explain why the exercises your Dr. prescribes for your injury (final destination) are based on a rather questionable starting location and how that advice got messed up along the way.

Imagine some university wants to study how athletes suffering from achilles tendonosis (yes, it's tendonosis, not tendonitis) can be rehabbed and returned to the playing field effectively. After recruiting 7 athletes for the study, they run a study that shows athletes return to the field 5% faster if they gently stretch the soleus 3 times a day as opposed to doing nothing.

Although errors in university strength and conditioning studies are more common than overuse injuries in triathletes, those errors really aren't the point of the study. However, bonus points if you can point out the errors in the study. There's many. Leave them in the comments section.

Let's suppose that this data is reliable. Athletes return 5% faster if they gently stretch the soleus 3 times a day. That means there's a very small correlation between stretching that calf muscle and increasing healing time of the degenerated collagen fibers in the tendon. Here's where the Dead Reckoning comes in. Some athletes in the stretching group must have experience the quicker healing, but some wouldn't have. Basically, the study shows that stretching might slightly help some people.

Triathlon Magazine sees, "the study shows that stretching might slightly help some people." They print an article stating "Groundbreaking research shows stretching the calf CURES achilles tendonitis!" Notice that triathlon turned a correlation into a causation, and they didn't even get the injury right, and the didn't even get the muscle (soleus) right.

Your physical therapist, who majored in PT because, "dood, that's where the hot injured marathon chicks go" picks up a copy of Triathlon Magazine to do some "research" and "post graduate studies". He sees the achilles stretching headline.

You show up at that therapists office, and he has you stretching the shit out of that calf. Three times a day, from different angles, with people pushing on the calf for you. He says you can run lightly, but nothing major.

Three weeks later, your achilles hurts more (because you were ripping it apart) and your run training volume is down. You're weaker and less fit. This is just one example of how poor injury advice hurts you.

The Takehome Advice
Magazines, doctors, therapists, fellow athletes will all try to help you with advice about how you can treat your overuse injury. It's all wrong.

*Editors Note: Frey has noticed that people only use "profusely" when talking about bleeding or sweating. He's making an effort here to use "profusely" in more situations.

Usain Bolt Proves Tall People Are Great At Everything

2009-08-18T18:10:00.002-04:00

6'4" Usain Bolt ran a 9.58s 100m world record at the Track and Field World Championships in Berlin.

For all you cyclists out there who think your fast, doing your ride at that 18-20mph pace: Bolt ran 23mph in the sprint.

I think if I jumped out of a car at 10mph, my legs couldn't keep up. This guy is incredible!

Quote of the Week:

"First of all, is he or she making all of this too complicated? Like I said, I see stuff from coaches that makes me just shake my head. The trend among the wannabes seems to be to confuse complexity with knowledge. It's like they try to make all of this seem like quantum physics, so people go "Jesus, I can't figure all this out!" and hire them as a coach."

-An anonymous coach on training, nutrition, and steroid use in the sports of bodybuilding and figure competitions.

Weightlifting, my bread and butter bitches

2009-08-17T20:10:00.003-04:00

Sorry if I offended some of my readers with the b-word up there in the title. This article is on lifting, picking up heavy shit, busting ass, whatever you want to call it. See, the thing is, when it comes lifting time, the friendly, smiley, cuddly boy you know as "Frey" or "Jeffy" becomes a grizzled, angry, cursing animal. The 'bitches' in the title showed up when I started typing, because just thinking about the iron got my shoulders twitchin, my biceps buldging, and the little censor who sits on my shoulder and prohibits me from cursing in polite company got thrown into the pool with the little faggoty, spandex wearing triathletes. I hope that bitch drowns.

Weightlifting is my bread and butter, though, I wasn't lying. I kind of make up my training philosophies with endurance training, but I KNOW lifting. I once deadlifted 500lbs, and I am 6'7". Unless your a triathlete with a higher deadlift than 500lbs, shut up and listen.

Two big tips for lifting:

1) Don't do "sports specific lifts" EVER. Just get a weight bar, load it up, and then pick it up off the ground. You deadlifted, son, and you did more to grow that skinny back that all those lat pull downs and dumbbell rows could ever do. Load heavy, basic lifts with a lot of weight, move them explosively, and you will become a better athlete, no matter what the sport. Yes, even the "beautiful and unique" snowflakes of triathlon could use some heavy squats.

Here's a video to show you what to do:

2)Get a environment of awesomeness. Notice in the defranco video that there's a bunch of grizzled freaks all together, one awesome community pushing eachother to lift some heavy shit. Find a bunch of angry animals, jump in, and watch your formerly fat ass get kicked so hard that it becomes squating, deadlifting powerengine.

At one point in my lifting career, I had lost my community. One dud graduated, and another decided he would rather spend time with his woman (whipped). A dog without a pack, I came up with a solution. I invented an imaginary friend, Jerome. Jerome was 6 foot 250 black dude, built like a cage fighter. He was bald on his head, and he had a big, dirty beard. He only ever wore thermal underwear tops, he wore big black boots, and he wore jeans that barely covered his tree trunk legs. Jerome never lifted with me. He just sat in the corner and called me a punk when I would punk out of a lift. I had to get the lifts up or else Jerome would be dogging me all workout.

So that's it. Two slightly coherent tips.

Quote of the week:
"You may not be able to feel your legs when you’re done. TOUGH SH*T! Do them anyway! They work."
-Joe Defranco on his 50 'rhythm' squats

Forget Dara Torres and Michael Phelps... Keith Eloi is the most talented man in a pool.

2009-08-07T19:39:00.003-04:00

Ever since I was a young swimmer, no older than 3 or 4, I have dreamed of being able to jump straight out of the pool. No hands, just a powerful vertical jump right out of the water directly onto the pool deck. I have never seen these accomplished by anyone.

Phelps and Torres, talented swimmers no doubt, but I don't think they could do the vertical pool exit jump.

Watch the video below to see Keith Eloi, rookie wide receiver for the Redskins, jump backwards out of a 3 foot pool.

The Buildup!

2009-07-23T13:31:00.002-04:00

With the help of Aqua Crest's coaching mastermind, David Wright, I am jumping into a 10-week, aerobic buildup. Wright wrote me an elegant triathlon program, involving 200 miles of cycling, 20 miles of running, and 21km of swimming every week. I started the program on Monday, and I am feeling more fit already!

The program is based on a Lydiard style training program.

David is as good as they come, as a person and as a swim coach. He's coached Olympic medalists, Ironman Hawaii competitors, Florida youth champions, Masters World Champions, and me. He coached for many years in New Zealand. He's also a very accomplished running coach. He coached alongside Arthur Lydiard for many years. He coached his wife to a New Zealand 1000m running record over 20 years ago that still stands today!

Here's what Amazon.com says about Wright and his books:

For nearly a decade, Wright and Lydiard, collaborating every week, experimented with the conversion of long-distance aerobic endurance training, hill running, bounding and springing, steps running and sprint sharpening from the varied terrains that a runner encounters to the confines of a swimming pool's still, flat water. This volume presents the method they have developed, and is designed for all swimmers, beginners and advanced, who are looking for new ways in swimming training.

Anyway, I am doing the swim part of the program with Aqua Crest's swim team. This is a blast, as the team is talented, motivated, and FAST! The main reason I am jumping into this ten-week buildup is so that I can participate in the Aqua Crest program.

Here's what a weekly schedule looks like:

Monday - 40 mile bike
Tuesday - AM - 7km swim ... PM - 6 mile run
Wednesday - 40 mile bike
Thursday - AM - 7km swim ... PM - 6 mile run
Friday - 40 mile bike
Saturday - AM - 7km swim ... PM - 8 mile run
Sunday - 80 mile bike

The swims are the most structured part of the program. Each swim involves a 2km warm, a 5km main set, and a few laps to cool down.

Tuesday's swimming main set is 'short' intervals, such as 20 x 250 m. Thursday is a longer main set, such as 4 x 1250 m. Saturday is a bruiser, with the practice being written as 100 x 100 m. Hopefully, I'll survive 70 of them to hit my 7km goal.

Wright's program, for me, his swimmers, and his runners, is written to build a big aerobic base. After this 10 weeks, Wright's athletes do 4 weeks of anaerobic training. Then, for another 10 weeks, they do a 'trials and coordination' period, that involves racing, time trials, and focused technique work.

You'll notice that the main difference between Wright's program and most endurance training programs is that Wright's separates aerobic, anaerobic, and racing into three distinct periods. Most endurance programs combine them into one, season long program where athletes do aerobic, anaerobic, and time trials all within the same practice, day, or week.

I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Which Team has the best 2009 Tour de France Team Kit?

2009-07-12T16:41:00.005-04:00

2009's Le Tour de France is well underway, Fabian and Lance are set to battle in the Alps, USA has two riders in the top four, and the podium girls are looking hotter than ever.

At the Tour de France, the world's top cycling teams are sporting some colorful team kits. Viewers can trust that teams like Liquidas and Quick Step will come out with dependably awesome uniforms, and new uniforms from teams such as Garmin-Slipstream and Cervelo Test Team are spicing up the peloton.

Here's you chance to vote for your favorite team kit in the 2009 Tour de France! At the end of the post is a poll.

Make sure to cast your vote at the bottom!

1. Garmin-Slipstream - The kings of argyle continue to rock their trademark baby blue and orange outfits.

2. Cervelo Test Team - Made the vote because of their innovative white gear, made special for this year's tour. I am a sucker for a white kit.

3. Columbia Highroad - These guys are my personal favorite. Again, the white is great. Plus, they have big George Hincapie on the squad.

4. Lampre - The blue and pink has been in the peloton for years. It's a TdF classic, like the Notre Dame of cycling.

5. Other - I couldn't include every team in the vote, but there's a lot of other teams that deserve mention. Rabobank, Astana, Quickstep, the list goes on...

Cast your vote below!!!!

My secret training and nutritional device!

2009-07-07T20:08:00.006-04:00

I have discovered an unbelievable new training tool that will help you increase your endurance, avoid overtraining, and it tastes great! It's cheap and it's easy to carry, too.

The Tootsie Pop!

In case you didn't know what a Tootsie Pop looked like...

While you're undoubtedly familiar with the Tootsie Pop, let me explain how it can benefit your triathlon performance. Specifically, it'll help your cycling.

First, the Tootsie Pop helps you avoid overtraining by forcing you to keep you pace aerobic.

Try riding and sucking on a Tootsie Pop at the same time. It's physically impossible to eat the Tootsie Pop if you're panting. You have to keep the pace aerobic if you want to simultaneously cycle and enjoy the delicious treat.

When riding, it's tempting to push your tempo too high. While occasional, well planned burst of high intensity training are powerful supplements to a well balanced training program, all cyclists need many miles and hours of steady base training. Keeping the pace aerobic and fun is what I believe makes the best cyclists.

Throwing in too many anaerobic efforts on what should be aerobic rides is the downfall of many amatuer cyclists. This is especially true of the type A, time strapped triathlete, who believes that he'll make up for a lack of training hours by doing every ride at a redline intensity. Throw a Tootsie Pop in your mouth, and you avoid that temptation to ride too hard.

On top of all that, it'll provide you with some quick energy in the form of simple sugars to help fuel your long ride.

It builds your endurance, helps you avoid overtraining. Throw a few in your jersey pocket before your next ride. When you feel yourself gasping for air, tempted to ride to hard, back off the throttle and suck on a Tootsie Pop. It'll taste delicious, and it'll help you keep that ride aerobic.

Quote of the Week:

"The secret is to train, train, and train again."

-Phil Liggett on the success of Team Astana in the stage 4's team time trial.

Race Report: Tradewinds Independence Day Triathlon on July 4, 2009

2009-07-04T20:04:00.003-04:00

I raced the Independence Day Triathlon at Tradewinds park today, July 4. Just like the last race I did, I won the 25-29 swim! I took 3rd in the 25-29 bike leg, and I slogged my way through the run to a 5th place in the age group.

It was a fun day - but I have never not had a fun day at a race.

Here are the results:

http://www.multirace.com/AllResults.aspx?Race=347

Tradewinds Park was a nice venue, with a closed bike course and a lake swim. The park is in Coconut Creek, FL, about 25 miles away from my new apartment in Boynton Beach, FL, and I bike commuted myself to and from the race. That's right, I bike commuted over 50 miles in addition to kicking ass at the race.

Pictures from the Tradewinds race will be up in a few days, but they will look similar to this one:

me at the Key Biscayne triathlon

This is a picture from me at the Key Biscayne triathlon on June 21. I really like this picture, as it shows the anger in the guys' faces behind me, realizing that they just lost the swim to the big dude in the pink speedo.

I had a great time on the bike course, and I again raced the big blue cannondale commuter bike, with the turtle bike bell. Here's a picture of me from the Key Biscayne race on the cannondale. I love passing the douche bags on the carbon Cervelo's and Zipp wheels, it's my favorite part of the whole sport of triathlon.

And, while I am on the subject, you have to be border line retarded to race a Zipp disc wheel on a circuit style, two loop bike course. Here's a picture of the Tradewinds course:

I want you to notice how many sharp turns are on the course. Each lap is only 5 miles, so there's a good deal of turning. Disc wheels are made for straight away, aerodynamic type time trials. They're not made for accelerating in and out of sharp turns. Basically, if you're sitting on your aerobars and disc wheel and going 15mph through a turn, you need to take up golf.

I did neither.

2009-06-28T20:01:00.002-04:00

I didn't do either the Lauren Katzenstein memorial ride or the Freedom 5k. It was a tough decision to skip them, especially after the tremendous fan feedback on last post's vote (there were two votes, and one was me...)

I hit the snooze button several times on Saturday morning, and therefore missed the 5k in Deerfield.

Sunday, instead of doing the Katzenstein memorial ride, I just went riding myself and saved the registration fee. The Katzenstein ride was just a straight shot, out and back, 62 mile loop on the A1A, so it's not like I can't just bike that for free everyday.

I ended up doing 90 miles on Sunday! It was hot. I stopped by the house after mile 45 and changed into a fresh pair of clothes I was so sweat soaked.

What Should I Do This Weekend: Freedom 5k or the Lauren Katzenstein Memorial Ride

2009-06-25T18:41:00.003-04:00

Race Update: I've canceled my trip to North Carolina for the Blood Sweat and Gears timed century. It's disappointing for me to have to do this, because this was to be my big, peak race for the season. However, I never really thought the trip through when I first signed up. Because of my recent DVT's, I can't spend 2 days in the car traveling from FL to NC. Damnit.

That being said, there are some good local events this weekend that I am thinking of participating in. First, I need your advice.

There is the Lauren Katzenstein Memorial Ride on Sunday, June 28, in Lake Worth, FL. I am looking to do the 62 mile option. It's a charity ride for a good cause, with the rest stops, good company, jerks who try to race it, SAG support, etc.

There is also a Freedom 5k race in Deerfield, FL, put on by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Road Runners. I haven't done a stand alone 5k in a while, so I would like to see what I would get. I would probably bike commute to the race, too, since it's only about 20 miles away.

As an aside, I have run less than 10 times since January, and two of those times were in triathlons. Even though my 24 minute run split in this past weekends sprint triathlon was relatively slow, it's not too bad considering my lack of running miles.

My question is... what should I do? Should I do the 5k on Saturday, the 62 mile charity ride on Sunday? Should I do neither, and save the money, or should I do both? Cast your vote in the poll below!

Voting closes at 11:59pm on Friday, June 26. I'll do whatever option gets the most votes!

Video of the Week:
This youtube video comes from Walk the Line. I love the scene where Joaquin Phoenix sings Cocaine Blues in Folsom Prison. Here it is...

Shweet Deadlifting

2009-06-23T19:36:00.003-04:00

I showed up at my gym this morning, two days after dropping the bomb at the Key Bisacyne Triathlon, and did a 365lb. deadlift. I lift barefoot, and I tend to let out some grunts and screams.

I was really proud of myself. People looked at me, 6'7", holding 365lbs, barefoot, grunting, and gave me a look that said that they were halfway amazed and halfway scared and halfway thought I was crazy.

That's the biggest deadlift I've done in months.

I find that when people in a commercial gym look at you like you're crazy, you're probably on the right track. You generally want to do the opposite of what you see the pink dumbbell crowd doing.

Although I do make fun of the crapiness of training at my gym, I do appreciate that they let me lift barefoot. Here is a good article about the benefits of barefoot lifting.

Having people look at me like I was crazy while doing this deadlift made me wonder: 365lbs is a warmup for most strength athletes, and I bet there were Olympic female lifters who could clean 365... What would happen if Matt Kroczaleski, an actual strength athlete, showed up and did this...

Race Report from Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy: June 21, 2009

2009-06-22T20:14:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, I took my awesome self down to Miami for this race. What follows is my race report, titled, The Good, Bad, and Ugly from the Key Biscayne Triathlon on June 21, 2009...

The Good!

1. I won the swim for the 25-29 age group! Go me! I took 9th in the age group, and 80th overall, out of more than 1000 people. Here are the results to prove it.

2. The girls at this race were so hot it was unbelievable. When I first signed up for the race on Friday, I felt a little bad having to spend $80 for an entry. However, any situation I get in where I see hot girls, I end up having to pay (dates, bars, nudie magazines, etc.) These girls were hotter and cleaner than most, so it seems this was money well spent.

3. Coming out of the swim in first, you would think I would get passed on the bike. But, for the whole ten miles of biking, I didn't get passed once. I was just owning people. This was a great feeling, because I hate seeing triathletes who suck at biking, yet wear aero helmets, ride disc wheels, etc. I wore the pink speedo and rode the big blue cannondale, turtle bike horn included.

4. I met a 10 year old kid who did the whole race. That's fucking awesome.

5. Key Biscayne was BEAUTIFUL.

The Bad.

1. I am not making this up. I saw a guy riding a $1800 Zipp 900 Tubular Disc Rear Shimano Wheel. That's $1800 just for the rear wheel. No problem, right? The guy was also using toe clips and running shoes.

2. My bike time got messed up, and my T1 time was included in the bike. I would like to have seen what my bike split was.

The ugly...

Miguel Tellez, leading the race on the bike leg, was hit by a car while going 35mph down the Rickenbacker Causeway. Here's the Sun-Sentinel story. I started a few waves back from Tellez, so by the time I got there, there was just an ambulance and a pool of blood on the road. This is scary stuff. Cars, police officers, and spectators never realize just how fast a cyclist is approaching.

That's it for my report. You can see that there was WAY more good at the race than anything else, and I really enjoyed the whole thing. As always, it's a great blessing for me to participate in a race and socialize with like minded athletes.

Quote of the Week:
The following is a conversation between me and the 10-year-old kid I met at the race...

"How old are you?"
"I'm ten!"
"That's fucking awesome... Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"It's ok"

Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy: June 21, 2009

2009-06-20T09:36:00.002-04:00

A quick heads up to all the die hard Frey Bird fans out there. I am heading down to Miami for the Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy today. The race is on Sunday, June 21, 2009. Here's the race website:

http://www.trilogytri.com/

I signed up just yesterday, after deciding that I am incredibly fit.

I got the turtle bike bell and the pink Speedo all ready to go.

Frey Bird Redivivus

2009-06-07T10:46:00.005-04:00

Redivivus. I just wanted to show off that I knew what the word meant. It was the dictionary.com word of the day.

Thousands of my fans have been writing emails similar to this one:

Frey, where ya been? I know you've been through a lot, so I love you and I am concerned for your well being. Again, I love you, your blog means the world to me, and I'd love to see some more posts. So, where have you been?

In response to these fans, shut the fuck up. I'm still here; just haven't posted recently.

Here's a summary of what's been on my mind:

1. ZMotion Jerk - I hate ZMotion. Don't let the website's philanthropic front fool ya, ZMotion is all about riding a bike that's too fancy while looking like a jerk in your ZMotion team kit. I was with a ZMotion guy the other day when we saw a female cyclist stranded on the side of the A1A with a flat. We stopped, the woman said she had no spare tubes, and the ZMotion guy looked to me for a spare tube. I figured he didn't have one. He grabbed mine (without asking) and went to work fixing the flat. While fixing it, he told me and the woman that he had a tube, but he stopped giving his spares to random, stranded cyclists. He said it costs him too much money to give out tubes on the fly, and he said people who didn't know how to fix their tire didn't know what they were doing. Too much money to give a stranded cyclist a tube? He was riding $2100 Zipp 404's.

2. Nas vs. Jay Z - A while back, there was a battle between these two big name rappers. I don't know about you, but I think Nas dominated.

3. Two exercises you've never heard of - The first is the Overhead keg slideboard reverse lunge with a twist. Here's the video:

If you don't have a slideboard or a keg, you can make some easy substitutions. A Valslide works instead a slideboard. Second, you can use a barbell with a wide, snatch-width grip instead of the keg.

The second is the lying knee-to-knee stretch:

The Overhead lunge is a solid exercise that almost any cyclist or triathlete can use to improve single leg strength, and to improve shoulder/hip coordination, among other things. The stretch is more of a specialized exercise that should only be prescribed to athletes who would like to stretch their hip external rotators.

Both exercises are courtesy of the precocious geniuses at Cressey Performance in MA.

What's that you say? The meatheads at Cressey Performance don't how to train an endurance athlete such as you? Check out this video of Cressey trained triathlete Dede Griesbauer winning Ironman Brazil and setting the course record:

4. For office desk jockeys -
A cool video to encourage you to get out of work and go train! http://www.lowmorale.co.uk/creep/flash/lm_creep_(FLASH).swf

Quote of the Week:

I'm from the ghetto homie
I was raised on read and bologna.

-B.G., Move Around

MP3's that'll rock your pants off

2009-05-21T19:01:00.002-04:00

Hold onto your pants bird fan's, cause I have some great MP3's for your next ride, run, or lift. Purchase them through my amazon links, and you'll simultaneously support me and have fun.

By listening to these songs, you might not have as much fun as Kramer. But they're still cool songs.

1.The Moxy: Step Down

2.Method Man: Konichiwa Bi*ches [Explicit]

3. Disturbed - Down With The Sickness - I really just like the part "OOO Wa ah ah ah!" part at about 35 seconds, but the whole song is still pretty good.

4. I normally hate Marilyn Manson, but this song is hot. Plus, the cover art on this album is killer.

5.Helltrain - Route 666 - This song makes me wish I didn't have a shaved head - so I could get some headbanging going on.

6.' Cello Song - This is a slow song meant for cooldowns, yoga sessions, or times when you're making sweet, sweet lovin'.

If you make it through these six songs and your pants are still on your body, I will give you your money back.

Quote of the Week:
"You third grade girls are incredibly talented, humble, hardworking, and, on top of that, you're beautiful. If you are hanging out with a boy now, or at anytime in your future, and if that boy is giving you a hard time just because you are awesome, I want you to remember exactly what I am telling you now. You never have to take any crap from a boy who is being mean to you just because you are awesome. Just walk away from him."

-Me... I laid this on a class of kids where there had been growing bickering from the boys towards the girls. This stopped it on the spot. I was proud of this one, so I thought I'd post it here.

2009 Florida 70.3 Half Iroman Triathlon in Orlando, FL: A Call For Help

2009-05-11T18:34:00.002-04:00

Hey Readers,

This weekend, May 17, 2009, in Orlando is the Florida 70.3 Half Ironman race. I am looking for someone who has a race entry that they can't use. Injured, dead, overtrained, it doesn't matter; I am just looking to race with your entry number.

Race entry is full/closed. Do you know someone who can't race?

I am willing to pay you the full price. I'm not really sure how to work the transfer, but we could figure it out.

I never signed up. With my DVT problems, I couldn't be sure I'd be healthy for this race. With only a week to go, I am as strong, fast, and healthy as a greyhound.

Help a brotha out. Let me know. frey.maxim@gmail.com.

Observations from Months of PowerCranking

2009-05-05T14:57:00.001-04:00

For those of you who don't know, I publish the occasional article on the Powercranks blog. This article was originally published there...

I have been riding the Powercranks exclusively since around October of 2008. This means that I have only been training on the PC's - no locked out cranks. I have put in some big rides (over 90 miles), some 25 mph+ group rides, and some 250+ mile weeks on the cranks. I am telling you this partially just to brag, but, mostly, to qualify the advice that I am going to write in this post

I realize there's a ton of message board debate about the Powercranks. In my opinion, all internet debaters would be best served to get off the internet and get on the bike. Try biking consistent 250 mile weeks on the Powercranks before you pontificate on their effectiveness.

I normally like to provide a lot of details and reasons for my advice (see my blog at freybird.blogspot.com). However, in this post I will provide just a few reasons to support my mostly undocumented advice and experience on the Powercranks.

1) The PowerCranks will help you fine tune your bike fit.

The process of relearning the circular pedal stroke made me move my seat forward and down a few milimeters. I had a finely tuned fit before the cranks (I have a custom Spectrum road bike), the crank changed my pedal stroke for the better which made me alter the fit.

2) Powercranks will make your butt stronger than ever.

The PowerCranks force you to use you butt when you pedal. Even though I am down in weight and my waist is smaller than it was in October 2008, in May 2009 my pants are tighter. This is because my ass is visibly bigger.

3) Biking uphill on the Powercranks is easier than biking uphill on regular cranks.

I have no reason or data to support this claim. All I know is my Rate of Percieved Exertion on a climb is lower when I am riding the Powercranks than when I am riding regular cranks.

4) PowerCranks make you feel like a bigshot.

It is a great feeling to pass people when riding the cranks. They feel demoralized when they realize that you passed them while essential biking one-legged.

5) PowerCranks will improve your running.

I dropped 2 minutes between 2008 and 2009 on my 5K time. In 2008 I was running around 30 miles/week, and in 2009 I have been running about 5 miles/week. Based on pictures and based on my feel, I have a much higher kick with my heels now, and I also have better running posture/lean.

6) You need to hug the tup tubes with your knees

I see pros cycle this way all the time...

The only way for me to cycle effectively and pain-free with the powercranks is to hug the top tube with my knees.

7) It's All Tears by H.I.M is a frickin' awesome song.

This doesn't have anything to do with PowerCranks, but the song rocks.

Unilateral Leg Training Tips from figureathlete.com

2009-04-27T18:14:00.002-04:00

Before I delve into unilateral leg training, let me introduce you to figureathlete.com. The website is designed for female physique athletes who also train to develop asskickingly functional bodies. I love asskickingly functional females, so this is the website for me.

Outside of me being a pervert, the site posts solid, all-around training advice, ranging from nutrition to conditioning, strength training to supplements. It's designed for women, but men can bring in some knowledge nuggets by reading the articles, too.

Unilateral, asskicking hotness

Shameless plug aside, the website posted a great article on Unilateral Leg Training today, titled Sculpting The Perfect Pair of Legs: Unilateral Training. The Author, Alli McKee, included a lot of tips for athletes more interested in performance than asthetics. On the importance of unilateral training, she said,

Regardless of whether you're running, jumping, cutting, or decelerating, it's absolutely imperative to incorporate unilateral strength training techniques and movements into your program.

Not only will they teach your body to be comfortable and strong with action on a single leg, but they'll also serve to prevent injuries through helping you detect and correct any imbalances before injury has occurred.

In my opinion and experience, she's right on the money with this. Think about it, when's the last time you were simultaneously propelling yourself with both feet while training or racing? Wouldn't it make sense to train unilaterally since you race unilaterally?

I like this article, in particular, because she goes beyond the standard lunge, or, god forbid, the one-leg leg press. (tip: never do the one-leg leg press).

She does make the claim that, "I believe (deadlifts and squats) should come second to unilateral leg movements." I think this may place too much emphasis on the single leg movements. I do want to caution readers about over emphasizing "functional training". There is a lot of research and discussion out there about the whole functional training field being a big, steaming pile of shit. In particular, coaches argue that there is a sharp distinction between 'skill-training' and 'strength-training'. They argue that for an athlete to develop functional strength, they should first prioritize raw, weight room strength. Then, the athlete should focus on using this strength in a skill specific manner. These coaches argue that there is no weight room movement that carries directly over to everyday life or to sport. (See here, or here, or here)

Regardless of the amount of priority given to the unilateral leg exercises, there is no doubt that they are useful. Specifically, for the triathlete spending most of his time on the leg press, leg curl, and leg extension nautilus machines, single leg training will wake up your wussy, pencil legs.

Spiritual Training Day for Triathletes and Local Florida Race Results

2009-04-26T15:48:00.005-04:00

With Aerobic Training, Physical Training, and even Brain Training, the components of a well conditioned triathlete have been fairly well elucidated by many authors and coaches. Could the missing link of a well balanced endurance training program be spiritual training?

On Sunday, April 26, Aquacrest's swim team was in Tamiami at a swim meet, and my only other friend was waaay out of town. In search of something to do, I decided to combine several activities into one monster spiritual training session.

I had big plans to photodocument the entire session, but I forgot my camera in my pocket after I changed pants about an hour into the day.

I started off with an early wakeup call so that I could make sunrise service at St. Vincent's.

This is the only picture I managed to capture on the day. Notice the fresh head shave. Also, I am a little worried about how wrinkly my forehead looks here...

I don't know how often you get to a Floridian sunrise service, but there's not many 25 year old studs there. I stood out like a sore thumb (and the bald head only exacerbated my likeness to a thumb). Compared to the seniors, I was the tallest by 2 feet. After clearing out the eye crud and visiting with God, I came back home to get myself ready for Yoga.

I got to the Sunday Morning Live Music class at Keith Fox's Colony Yoga at the Colony Hotel in downtown Delray Beach, FL. It was a great class. With Keith's nonjudgmental, encouraging instruction, Richard Brockens' live music, and a herd of tight pants wearing, supermodel-looking young women, I had a good time.

Between church and yoga, my spirit was well-worked.

But, while church and yoga are two training modalities traditionally associated with spiritual wellbeing, for me, cycling is just as spiritually satisfying.

So finally, I got to the main course, a cool, 40 mile, 2 hour Powercrank easy ride. That's right: I am so dominant on the Powercranks these days that I can bang out a ride like this on an easy week. I wish I hadn't forgotten the camera for this one, because it was a clear, beautiful, blue day.

After a day like that, my spirit is more well-conditioned than ever!

Race Results

At the Nike Swim Miami 5k Open Water Swim, my friend Darcy LaFountain laid down a dominating 1:24. Although this sounds like I am joking (and, I am not) Darcy won her age group by over half an hour. Congratulations!

At St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg, FL, my friend Gregg Blow blew the field away. (With a killer pun like that, Sports Center better watch out!) I can't really understand the results, and I haven't spoken to Gregg, but it appears that the amatuers didn't have a swim. Maybe the water was too rough? Regardless, Gregg was 2 seconds away from a top-ten elite amateur finish. Congratulations!

Phony Triathletes Part II

2009-04-26T07:57:00.002-04:00

I think my Mom felt left out when I published my old man Dad's comments yesterday. She replied with a similarly thought-provoking view of the hightech dude. Here's what she had to say:

i feel kinda bad for that guy
phony or not, they are people
at least he is out there exercising
usually those guys are the ones that could not make any team in high school
so if they want a little recognition
he is not hurting anyone

Almost reads like a poem. Now I don't know what to think. But, there's no debate about the fact that I looked frickin' awesome.

Also, did anyone notice the Catcher in the Rye reference I dropped in that first post? I was proud.

Phony Triathletes

2009-04-25T19:17:00.002-04:00

I emailed my old man Dad about last weekend's FAU Wellness triathlon. Specifically, I joked with him comparing my funness uniform with the high tech getups some other triathletes were sporting.

My old man Dad was a solid college basketball player, and he fathered two D-1 recruited bball players. He knows a thing or two about actual athletics, so he tends to make fun of phony athletes.

Based on the pictures, he skewered the phony triathletes, and I decided to reprint his comments here:

I wonder if they realize how phony they look. I think most of those kind of guys never made a team in high school (and especially college) and now they're gonna show the world just what great athletes they are! I guess there is comparable behavior not only in triathlons, but in all phases of adult life...I can think of some professors during my career who rubbed me the wrong way with similar jerky behavior. Oh well, maybe some day they'll grow up (or become more personally secure).

Booyah!

2009 FAU Wellness Sprint Triathlon in Boca Raton, FL: Race Report

2009-04-20T09:44:00.002-04:00

The 2009 FAU Wellness Sprint Triathlon in Boca Raton, FL was a good time for all on Sunday morning, April 19, even for the few people I saw barfing up their GU at the finish line.

If you saw a giant man with a green speedo and "freybird.blogspot.com" written across his chest in sharpie, that was me!

The Palm Beach Post has a good photo slideshow online: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/slideshows/2009/04/0419fau_tri/

The complete results can be found at altavistasport's website:
http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2009results/fauwellnesstriathlon041909.html

As always, it's just a blessing to hang out with such fit people on a sunny, blue Sunday morning. The waves were rough, the bike wasn't too windy, and the run was flat and fast. The women's 20-40 wave started 2 mins back from me, so I was getting passed by a few fast and hot women during the run.

My swimming buddy, Gregg Blow, took a solid 3rd. Too bad Gregg can't swim, or else he would have cruised to a comfortable win.

I didn't win the swim. Damnit! Better luck next year on winning that swim, Frey.

There were some funny stories from the day:

1) I managed to write "freybird.blogspot.com" across my chest with a sharpie so that I could get some advertising in while I raced (my 6'7" body is some quality billboard space). A guy came up to me after the race and said, "Hey, I was just reading that website last night to find out about today's race... Are you Frey?" That was INCREDIBLE to me, and probably the biggest moment in my race. I thought it was just me and my mom (not that I don't love ya, mom) reading this blog, but it turns out I have a third reader!

2) I didn't get past by one person during the bike leg. All I did was pass people - an awesome feeling considering I was riding the Cannondale Commuter, with the mismatched wheels, the clunking shifting, the turtle bike bell, and I was wearing a pink helmet and a green, tropical, speedo brief. As a side note, the unpadded speedo is not recommended for bike rides. To a couple bums, I said, "nice aero wheels" as I blew by them. Punks.

3) A cute girl came up to me after the race and laughed (hopefully with me) about my green suit. She told me that a friend of hers managed to snap a picture of my butt, and that she'd email it to me. I haven't got the picture yet.

That's it from me. Pictures will be up in a few days!

2009 18th Annual FAU Wellness Triathlon in Boca Raton, FL: The Night Before

2009-04-18T19:48:00.004-04:00

On the eve of the 2009 18th annual FAU Wellness Triathlon at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton, FL, dedicated fans know that my pre-race preparations focus on one thing: Fun-Maximization. So far I've got:

1) A freshly shaved head
2) A blue turtle bike bell for my handlebars
3) A new, colorful race suit
4) Solid black, Chuck Taylor All-Stars for the run.
These are the most noteably awesome items in my fun uniform, however, I bring along a few courageously colorful accesories. There's the neglected Cannondale commuter bike that I'll ride - it doesn't shift without letting out several discouraged groans. Also, I'll wear the bright pink hand-me-down bike helmet from my mommy.

With a getup like this, an Aquacrest team mate of mine told me that I was the first wannabe gay guy she's ever met.

Oh yeah, I forgot. While that stuff makes me look like a joke, the other dudes won't be laughing when I straight up WIN THE SWIM. Mark my words on that one.

The Best Cycling Water Bottle: Biogreen BPA-Free Biodegradable Water Bottles

2009-04-09T19:04:00.005-04:00

Biogreen has revolutionized the seemingly un-revolutionizable water bottle market by releasing a biodegradable, BPA-free water bottle. They're dishwasher safe, the break down in landfills, and they don't pump you full of endocrine disrupting bisphenol A*.

Biogreen makes the bottle in many sizes, from 14 ounces through 32 ounces.

On a personal note, I enjoy the product for several reasons. It's a quality water bottle that, unlike some cheap water bottles, doesn't leak out the top while you drink. Also, I don't have a dishwasher, so my water bottles get stinky after a short while. This allows me to chuck the old water bottle without being too much of a litterer. Finally, the bottles are cheap. A reusable 32-ounce bottle is approximately the price of three 32 ounce gatorades.

Buy the bottle through the links here on my website! By doing this, you will pay the same price as if you bought it normally through Amazon.com. However, I will earn a small commission! Help support my race fees!

Click below to check out the 26oz. bottle

Click below to check out the 32oz. bottle

Click below to check out the 20oz. bottle

*editors note: Frey was one of the greatest chemistry students in the history of Swarthmore College, and he included the word 'bisphenol A', commonly abbreviate BPA, mainly to show off how smart he is.

Preview of Upcoming Posts

2009-04-05T20:35:00.003-04:00

I wonder if my neighbors realize that by encrypting their wireless network and cutting me off from stealing their internet is causing my blog, South Florida's Premier Triathlon Training Resource, to needlessly struggle.

Regardless, I blog on. I am at the Hampton Inn in Jacksonville, so I have a solid wireless connection. I am using this opportunity to get you all psyched about some exciting upcoming articles on freybird.blogspot.com. Stay Tuned!

Here's the upcoming articles...

1) How I am applying the lessons I learned from the Ironman Florida 70.3 training and racing experience to my new Blood, Sweat, and Gears training cycle.

2) My Complete 2009 Race Schedule

3) The Powercrank weight workout. Follow this weight program to accelerate your progress with the powercranks!

Blood Sweat and Gears Training Update: Weeks 4 and 5

2009-04-05T19:56:00.004-04:00

I steal wireless internet from my neighbors, and they've encrypted their network. That means that for the past week and a half, I've been without internet at my house. Damnit.

While this has hurt my blogging production, my training has been phenomenal!

Week 4

This was a recovery week. Mon-Thurs were very easy days, with no more than an hour or two of easy cycling and swimming. I begrudgingly skipped Aquacrest's Tuesday and Thursday anaerobic sessions, for, although I like the challenge of these Olympic-quality training sessions, I knew the rest would do me good in the long run. I came back for Saturday's 20 x 100m sprint session, and I did a 2-hour powercrank ride on Sunday.

Week 5

With the recovery week behind me, I was anxious to hit another week of solid training.

I did three anaerobic swims at Aquacrest. Tuesday was a 5 x 400m sprint session, and I averaged 5:39. Thursday was a 40 x 50m sprint session, and I average a 30.97. Saturday was a tough session, with 6 x 50m all out, from a dive, on a 1:00 interval. I averaged a 31.63, almost had a heart-attack, and the junior team's phenomal 12-year-old superstar threw down an unbelievable 31.21 average. I am thrilled with th eprogress of my swimming. I am only 4-weeks into my comeback, and I am swimming better than I ever have in my life.

Cycling is going well. During the week, I do three, easy, 1.5 hour cycle session before I go to work. I cycle the A1A from 5-6:30am, then get myself to work by 7:15, while others are complaining about being tired. I do two weekend rides. One is after Saturday morning's anaerobic swim. I'll cycle easily, as a cool down, for around an hour, mainly enjoying the beautiful coastal morning. Sunday in the money day for my bike training.

Today, at the end of week 5, I did a 66 mile, 20mph Powercrank ride in Jacksonville, FL. Check out the following link to see the course:

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/fl/jacksonville/354123897697359854"&amp;gt;04/05/2009 Route&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/fl/jacksonville"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Jacksonville, Florida&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

This was one of my most challenging rides ever. It took a big physical effort to make the distance. It was a nutritional challenge, too, as I needed to take in big amounts of water, calories, electrolytes to keep my big body from bonking.

It is my intention to progress to a powercrank century ride before I do to Blood Sweat and Gears.

Weight sessions are in Joe Friel's Maximum Strength phase, meaning that core lifts are in the 4-6 rep range with near-maximal weights.

Making Some Changes to the Website

2009-03-28T12:55:00.003-04:00

Fans,

I am making some changes to the layout of my blog. These changes will make the website much more functional and professional. Be patient, however, as I am not that proficient at HTML editing.

-Frey!

Proper Squat Form for Triathletes, Cyclists, and Runners

2009-03-26T13:58:00.003-04:00

Quick, answer the following question: A powerful squat depends mostly on what muscles?

You answered "quadriceps", right?

If you did, you're wrong.

Strong quadriceps are secondarily important to the squat. Good squatting depends mostly on the hips, hamstrings, spinal erectors, glutes (the posterior chain) and the abs.

A good posterior chain

Utilizing the muscles of the posterior chain while squatting depends on an athlete having proper squat form.

Squat incorrectly, and an athlete's knees will buckle in, his stance will be shoulder width, and he won't get anywhere close to having his thighs parallel to the ground. In this position, an athlete will stress his lower back, overly depend on the quadriceps (the vmo, specifically), won't be able to use much weight, stress his knees, and won't appreciably utilize his powerful posterior chain muscles. Watch the following video, and focus specifically on the athlete's knee action as he begins to ascend:

Notice how the athlete's knees cave towards his midline as he pushes the weight up.

Squat correctly, and an athlete will push his knees out, have his feet wider than his shoulders, push his glutes back (as if searching for a chair far behind him), and push out with both his knees and his feet.

Squatting properly is especially important for multisport athletes. Because of the repetitive nature of cycling and running, proper muscle balance and firing patterns helps prevent overuse injuries. Squatting properly will balance the strength ratio between the quads and the hamstrings. Not only will squatting properly produce healthier athletes, but it will build more powerful athletes, too.

Of the components of proper squat form that I listed above, I have found that pushing the knees out is the most important. If an athlete learns how to squat while pushing his knees out, he will take a major step towards perfecting his squat form. And, importantly, he will engage the muscles of his hips, hamstrings, glutes, abs, and spinal erectors.

To train your body to squat by pushing the knees out, you should do a few things. First, take some of the weight off the bar, because when you are working on a lift's form, you shouldn't be using a lot of weight. You can first try to simply use the cue "push your knees out", and see if you properly engage your hips. You'll know if you do it correctly; you'll feel it in your hips and butt. If this doesn't work, and you still cave in at the knees (most likely because of weak muscles somewhere in the hips, butt structure), you can practice squatting with a miniband around your knees.

Killer squat form. Notice that the athlete keeps her knees out. Notice also how she sits back, as if decending to the toilet when taking a crap. In my opinion, she should have her feet wider, but who am I to disagree with Mark Verstegen?

You can practice this lift unloaded, as in the above video, and progress to squatting with a barbell on your back. Remember that the miniband squat is a technique exercise. Once the athlete has mastered the cue of pushing the knees wide, the miniband should be removed and the athlete should squat normally. Bonus points if you look as hot when your squatting as that girl in the video does.

Finally, two bonus tips... 1) squat in flat shoes, such as Chuck Taylors and 2) Always keep your weight on your heels. #1 helps with #2.

Lance Armstrong Breaks Collarbone, Plans Surgery, and Questionable for 2009 Tour de France

2009-03-24T10:02:00.004-04:00

Lance Armstrong broke his collarbone in a crash during the first stage of the 2009 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon race in Spain. Armstrong, ever the warrior, quickly posted the following comment to his twitter site, ""I'm alive! Broken clavicle (right). Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days. Thanks for all the well wishes."

Armostrong has yet to comment on how the collarbone will effect his plans to race the 2009 Tour de France. However, the Associated Press is reporting that Astana manager Johan Bruyneel, is confident that Lance Armstrong's broken collarbone will not prevent him from taking part in either the Giro d'Italia (May 2009) or the Tour de France (July 2009) . For more information on Armstrong and the crash, please read the following ABC News article:

Lance Armstrong Faces Surgery After Crash: Armstrong Will See If Both Clavicle Surgery and Tour de France Are in His Cards

Blood Sweat and Gears Training Update: Week 3

2009-03-23T14:24:00.005-04:00

This was a HUGE, planned over-reaching week for me, meaning that I purposefully took myself way beyond my capacity, knowing that I'd have week 4 to rest and recover. Aquacrest's swim team began the 4-week, anaerobic training period this past week. That means on tuesday, thursday, and saturday, the swimmers did a damn hard set. Aquacrest head coach, David Wright, is as knowledgable and experienced of a coach as I've ever met. Although a longer read than my normal posts, here's how head coach David Wright describes the anaerobic training,

The way the anaerobic sets are swum is critical to their effectiveness. Most squads and coaches are aware of the principle at work - that the more arduous the exercise the more lactic acid accumulates in the muscles and diffuses into the blood stream. Performance declines once the amount of blood lactate reaches a certain level. “If that’s the case,” says the logic of many coaches,” the more arduous the training schedule, the more lactic acid accumulates, the better.” I’ve seen some amazing schedules written in the belief that harder is better. Toni Jeffs read an anaerobic schedule written on the white board at a national training camp once and walked out. I thought she was right, the schedule was horrendous, so was trying to explain where she had gone.

Lydiard’s program does not view anaerobic training this way. The swimmer’s metabolism has to be stressed in a sufficiently controlled manner that the very highest levels of lactic acid are accumulated throughout the body. Crashing into a flat out set of 100m will not do this. All that happens then is that large amounts of lactic acid build up in the muscles which seize up before the lactic acid has had time to diffuse in any significant way into the blood system. In our program each set is 2400m to 3000m long irrespective of the length of each repetition. This means the sets will take 25 to 30 minutes of actual swimming time to complete. This is important, very important. The swimmer must swim as strongly as he or she can but must last the full 2400m and the full 30 minutes. Go faster and lactic acid will seize up the muscles before diffusing fully into all parts of the blood stream, go slower and lactic acid will not accumulate sufficiently to provide the desired training benefit. In summary anaerobic sets must be swum at a speed that the swimmer can keep going for 30 minutes of actual swimming time. Completely stuffed, but only at the end of 30 minutes, is the instruction.

This is why Lydiard never worried whether anaerobic sets were run on a track or the road or a golf course. Lydiard got New Zealand’s 1974 Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion, Dick Taylor to do most of his anaerobic training by running the various length fairways at the local golf course as fast as he could for 30 minutes.

The other thing Lydiard never worried about was timing these sets. One of the real problems with swimming training is it always takes place between concrete walls an exact distance apart. The temptation to time everything is overwhelming. With an exact distance and an exact time and an exact heart rate and a pH monitor and a book of mathematical tables your average swimming coach can predict just about anything, including the exact time and location of the next space shuttle landing. I’m forever falling into the same trap. We all need to be more relaxed. As long as the swimmer is going as hard as possible for 30 minutes for about the number of repetitions planned the physiological adaptations expected will occur.

It is important the coach teaches the swimmer that an anaerobic session is all about achieving the required lactated state. If the swimmer starts off too fast and tires too soon then he or she should stop. Pushing on when the purpose of the session has already been accomplished is possibly doing damage. Similarly, if the swimmer reaches the end of the set in 30 minutes and is not fully fatigued the session should be extended until the swimmer feels the purpose of the session has been accomplished. How you feel, is as good a measure as any heart rate monitor, lactate test or (even) stop watch. In fact studies at the International Center For Aquatic Research determined that, “Training performance can be accounted for by using perceived exertion. Perceived exertion correlates well with established categories of work and can be an effective and accurate method of having swimmers train more specifically for their event requirements.” So there you have it, how you feel works.

When Wright says that the anaerobic training lasts 30 minutes, I need to clarify something. That DOES NOT mean the we start the watch, swim all out for 30 minutes, then stop the clock. It means the total swimming time is 30 minutes. For example, when we swam anaerobic 50s, we swam them on a 2min 15sec interval. That means that we swam for 25-40 seconds, depending on one's ability, then rested for the remaining time. And, then we repeated that 40 times.

Around rep 20, when my body wanted to quit and my mind wanted to cry, I looked down the lanes and saw some 12-year olds dominating the same set, and I had to continue. However, these are some of the strongest 12-year old swimmers in the world.

So, why did I jump into three hard anaerobic sets when I am still 3 months out from the Blood, Sweat, and Gears ride? The main reason was to stretch my mental barriers. I get so used to cruising along at the 120-140 bpm, aerobic pace, that when I kick it up to hard, race paced efforts, my brain tries to convince me that I'll die if I push that hard. These anaerobic sets teach my brain that I can work hard and not die, so when it comes time to ascend the 4200ft. Snake Mountian climb in North Carolina, my brain won't try to psych my body out.

In addition to these hard swims, my key bike on the week was a 63 miles powercranker on Sunday. See below for the pictures. I fit in some aerobic bikes during the week, and two weight sessions, as well.

Quote of the Week:

Ain't it funny how the factory doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper.

-Ashes in the Fall by Rage Against the Machine

Pictures of a Powercrank Long Ride

2009-03-22T19:54:00.007-04:00

I killed 63 miles on the powercranks today, and I took a few pictures to prove how awesome I am. Check out my ride:

Here's what I took with me to eat. Also, I carried two 32oz. gatorades. All told, I drank the gatorades, plus several waters, and I ate 1 powerbar, 4 gels, and 3 bananas. It's always good to carry extra food.

This is a stretch called the Warrior Lunge Stretch. I learned it from Eric Cressey in his book, Maximum Strength: Get Your Strongest Body in 16 Weeks with the Ultimate Weight-Training Program. I used it to get ready for the ride. It stretches out the hip flexors, which is particularly important when riding the powercranks.

I ran into this guy at the beginning of the ride, around 1:30pm, when the temperature was in the high 70s. This guy was rocking long tights, the kind you normally wear in the winter. Clearly, I passed him soon after I snapped this picture.

This is one of SE Florida's biggest hills, the Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach. My GPS gave me an elevation of 90ft. at the top.

I got this picture on one of my favorite stretches of A1A. It runs right through MacArthur Beach State Park at the north end of Singer Island. The long black sock you see is to keep my DVT blood pumpin'.

Look carefully, and you'll see me and smurf perched on two chairs that someone left as trash in front of their house. I thought it was nice of the people at this house to setup this nice, brief rest stop for me in the Palm Beach area. Maybe they'll get some drinks and snacks out for next weekend.

This stretch of South Flagler Drive, right through the heart of West Palm Beach, was closed to motorists so that someone could setup some big, fancy looking party. This was a jockpot for me, for it meant I could bike right through WPB without any cars!

Here's some more of Flagler Drive, but this is a little South of the closed section. Still, this is a beautiful stretch of road, just bordering the west side of the intracoastal waterway.

I ran into a couple of people walking a couple of basset hounds. The people and the doggies were kind enough to stop so that I could get their picture.

While riding, I tried to get an unprecidentedly awesome picture of myself in that bubble mirror you see in the middle of this picture, but that clearly didn't work out. I did, however, manage to get a picture of some guy taking a picture.

There was a reggae festival going on in Lake Worth, so I got a quick picture.

Stopped by my workplace to get a quick picture. The school looked beautiful in the afternoon sun, and there was around 15 kids playing on the field who yelled, "YO MR. MAXIM!"

This picture makes you appreciate how gigantic I am, for that is a full size door you see behind me. When I got home, I was pretty hungry, and ready for my postworkout meal, so I decided to eat the yellow cottage that I live in.

This is my Garmin computer when I finished up the ride. I was feeling pretty good about myself, seeing as I rode 63 Powercranking miles in 3.5 hours. Then, I got online and read about Mark Cavendish, who won the 185-mile Milan-San Remo cycling classic in 6 hours and 42 minutes. Unbelievable, although he did have George Hincapie pulling for him.

Cool weblinks

2009-03-20T19:13:00.002-04:00

Dedicated fans know that one of my favorite downtime activities is surfing the web. Call it what you want to call it, I'm a f-ing web-aholic.

Here are some web pages I've recently read and enjoyed. Hopefully, you'll get some enjoyment out of my links. That way, I can better rationalize all my time spent surfing the web as time invested in providing for your happiness.

Some links are triathlon related, most are not.

Literature Links

www.audible.com

I am a huge fan of audiobooks, and this is the definitive online site for them.

http://thenark.com/society/typography-if-by-rudyard-kipling/
Rudyard Kipling is one of my favorite poets, and If, which recently made headlines as my quote of the week, is one of his best poems. Here, the poem has a cool video to go along with it.

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/
This is Time Magazine's All-Time best english language novels from 1923-present. The internet is ripe with book lists, but I find Time's to be a nice combination of 1) the books you know and love and 2) some books you haven't heard of before.

Recipe Links

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=110939711
One of my favorite recipes of all-time is the banana bread recipe posted originally posted by Wannabemodel about 1/2 the way down this thread. The first two ingredients are yogurt and cottage cheese.

http://californiatraining.blogspot.com/2007/09/power-peanut-butter-pretzel-granola.html
This is a tasty and homemade granola recipe. Also, the girl who writes this blog makes me poop myself she's so hot.

*editors note: as you know, freybird doesn't do the artificial sweetners included in these recipes. Feel free to substitue actual sugars.

Training and Nutrition Links

http://brianstpierretraining.com/?p=452
Brian St. Pierre is a Strength and Conditioning Coach and the Nutrition Consultant at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA. In this post, he documents a side-effect of antibiotics that I never knew about.

http://bikerchickswc.blogspot.com/
My mom has got a group for female cyclists in the West Chester, PA area, and her website is quickly emerging as the web's definitive source of female cycling info.

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/training-montage.html
There's two links here, so be sure to check them both out. The above link is a video of big lifts, and the lifts come from Defranco's, a gym for serious athletes in New Jersey. Check out Defranco's website, as it's home to tons of good information. The video reminds us triathletes, who spend so much time training in our comfort zones, what can be accomplished when one trains with some serious intensity.

That's it for now, but trust that I'll be posting some new ones soon!

Blood, Sweat, and Gears training update: Week 2

2009-03-19T15:07:00.003-04:00

Since I am deeply into week 3, I figured it was due time to post about week 2. It was another productive training week, pretty much the same as week 1. Right now, I am reestablishing my training frequency, getting in a long ride on the weekends, and doing some aerobic swims and rides during the week.

My funnest workout on the week was Sunday's. I wanted to get in about 3.5 hours of cross training, so I swam for 1.5 at aquacrest, biked for about an hour, then rollerbladed around downtown Delray for an hour. The weather was gorgeous on Sunday, and everybody and their mother was hanging out around town.

The swim is coming along well. As I wrote about before, Aquacrest was closed until Sunday for maintenence, so I got to visit some other local pools.

All in all, I am feeling strong, healthy, and well-rested. The training is challenging without being overwhelming. The physical strength I built through last year's half-ironman training is definitely paying dividends this year, and I am using the lessons I learned with that training to inform this new training cycle.

Quote of the Week:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
...
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!

- If by Rudyard Kipling

South Florida Swimming Pool Review

2009-03-17T10:10:00.005-04:00

My home pool, Aquacrest Pool in Delray Beach, FL, was closed for maintenance this past week. To get in a few swims, I took a tour of some of the other local south Florida pools. For triathletes, recreational swimmers, and competitive swimmers training or vacationing in South Florida, finding a good swimming facility can make or break your swimming experience. Including Aquacrest, I got to five pools. What follows is my review of these pools, and I have listed them in my order of preference.

5) Pompey Park Pool
Pompey Park is a 6 lane, 25 yard pool with a 1m and 3m diving board. Located in Delray Beach, the pool is part of the Pompey Park complex, which includes baseball fields, basketball courts, batting cages, volleyball courts, and many other recreational facilities. The pool is pretty shallow, for I could have my head above water while kneeling. The pool has decent locker room facilities, and it has free parking. The pool hosted Aquacrest Pool's swim teams while that pool was closed for maintenence, so swimming at Pompey Park was included in my Aquacrest masters membership (Pompey is normally $2/visit).

PROS: Outdoors. Clean, clear water. Part of a beautiful recreation complex. Right in Delray.

CONS: Small. Shallow. No regular masters program.

4) Lake Lytal Pool

Overall, this is a beautiful facility, with a big, clear pool protected by friendly lifeguards accompanied by nice play areas for the kids. Located in West Palm Beach, FL, Lake Lytal is a 50m x 25yard. It is setup so that you swim laps in the yards direction, so that makes it a really wide 25 yard pool. In addition to the water, there is a big slide for the kiddies, 1m and 3m diving boards, ample locker room space, and plenty of parking. I arrived around 3pm, and I was the only swimmer in the pool. However, by 4:00pm the youth swim team arrived, and they filled up every lane. I did not see any masters swimmers. While the website promised lap swimming until 7pm, the youth team boxed me out at 4:15pm.

PROS: Big. Nice facilities. Not crowded (provided you don't go during youth practice). Clean, clear water. Outdoors! Not too expensive ($2.66 per visit).

CONS: No one to swim with. The youth team took over at 4pm and kicked me out. Only 25yards to swim. About a 25 min trip from Delray.

3) Lake Worth Municipal Pool

In terms of the actual structure and in terms of location, this is my favorite of the man-made pools on my list. Lake Worth Municipal pool is located on the beach as part of the Lake Worth Pier. A boardwalk with stores and restaurants is next to the pool, and Lake Worth has plans to put in a Casino on the pier. The pool has dimensions of 50m x 25yard, but this pool is setup with lap lanes in the 50m direction. I was there around 3pm, and there was no more than 4 people in the pool at any one time. There was no youth swim team or masters team that I saw. The building and the walls surrounding the pool were beautifully painted with pictures, in a mural style.

PROS: Absolutely stunning facility and location. 50m lap lanes. Ample parking. Not crowded. Plenty of nearby food and fun at the boardwalk. Beach is right nearby.

CONS: Expensive ($1/hour for parking plus $5 entry fee). No one to swim with.

2) Ocean

By far the most visually stunning of the pools, the ocean is a god-made training facility spanning the perimeter of every continent on the globe. In Delray Beach, there is several miles of guarded beaches, plus endless stretches of unguarded (and serenely uncrowded) beaches. There is no masters team that regularly trains at the ocean, but it is open 24 hours/day. By my count, Delray has four ocean parks (Anchor Park, Atlantic Dunes Park, Sandoway Park, and Sarah Gleason Park), and each has parking, bathrooms, water fountains, and outdoor showers. The ocean reaches south to Cape Horn and North to Santa's Workshop, so triathletes who can't do a flip turn will not run into trouble here.

PROS: Beautiful. Challenging currents and waves. Plenty of onlookers admiring how awesome you can swim. Long. Free. Great hours. Lots of hot girls (especially during spring break).

CONS: No masters team. Occasionally too choppy. Sometimes plagued by seapests (Man O' War, migrating sharks, fat italian guys with ginormous bellies that make them look pregnant).

1) Aquacrest Pool

You're wondering, how could a man-made facility beat God's handiwork at the Ocean? Simple. Aquacrest wins because of the people. Aquacrest has an awesome youth, senior, and Masters swimming program headed by a world class coaching squad. While all of the pools were beautiful, only Aquacrest is home to some of the most amazing people and athletes in the world. For me, no matter how visually stunning the facility, I get a little stale when swimming by myself. Plus, the teams have incredible hours, with 13 practices every week, and with some of the senior swimmers logging upwards of 100km per week. Read that last sentence again. Masters national champions, Ironman Triathletes, Olympic Gold Medalists, and me all have trained here.

The pool is 50m wide. It has a varying lap length, with one section being 25m long and the other 25 yards. Parking is free, and there is plenty of locker room space. The pool has a weightroom that visitors are free to use.

PROS: Beautiful facility. Cheap (45$ for 52 monthly masters practices). GREAT people. Setup for 25m laps. Clean bathrooms. Free parking. Tough competition.

CONS: I wouldn't mind if it were setup in the long course meters direction.

Craziness Part II: Frank McKinney drags a tire across Linton Bridge from 11pm - 5am

2009-03-12T19:27:00.005-04:00

So, I was out riding yesterday morning at 5am (you read that right), and I see this wild looking guy with rock star hair and no shirt walking up the Linton bridge. He had a rope strapped around his waist, and the rope was attached to a big SUV tire that he dragged about 10 feet behind him. You see some crazy stuff riding the bike at 5am, but this had to be one of the weirdest. I flashed him the peace sign, and he gave me a peace back, and we went on our ways.

I had remembered hearing from my podiatrist that there's a crazy, long haired Delray guy who trains for ultramarathons by dragging a tire across the Linton bridge, so I decided to google this whole incredulous situation.

Here's the first article I found:

His training included jogging on A1A and over the Intracoastal bridges in Delray, where he dragged an SUV tire; on Saturday nights, to prepare for Badwater’s sleep deprivation, he dragged it from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Source: http://www.southfloridaadventures.com/archives/running/delray-beach-ultramarathoner-frank-mckinney/

That's crazy personified. Dedicated freybird readers know that when I call someone crazy, I do it with admiration. Craziness is the highest calling in the world of endurance sports, and Frank Mckinney is crazy. Craziness is a simultaneously thorough and unnoticed rejection of conventions Craziness considers carrying a tire over the Linton Bridge at 2am standard, and crazy does not measure this notion of standard vs other notions of standard. To be crazy is to be a wild, uncaring, unabashed, spectacular singularity.

Then, I read some more about Frank Mckinney, still thinking that he's some local derilict. Well, he's not. His website shows you why... http://www.frank-mckinney.com/

This guy is awesome. You don't meet this kind of craziness everyday. I am hoping this blog attracts Frank to my blog, because the crazy Frank that I have built up in my head seems like the kind of Frank who would spend a lot of time googling himself.

So, if you're reading it Frank. You've got a BIG fan. Keep training for the Badwater!

Editors note: Frey kind of glossed over the details of McKinney's racing career. Frank raced the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon, which is a run from death valley, through some of the hottest, most inhabitable terrain in the world, and it summits an 8,000 foot mountain. To learn more about Badwater, follow this link: http://www.badwater.com/

Quote of the Week:
“I'm all for machines...once they come up with one that can really surpass free weights. They haven't. They probably never will. You'd be better off trying to lift the damn machine and carry it around the gym...God knows you'd get a better workout from it.”
- Vince Gironda, 1949

Blood, Sweat and Gears Training Update: Week 1

2009-03-09T20:05:00.002-04:00

I signed myself up to ride the 2009 Blood, Sweat, and Gears 100-mile ride/race in Boone, North Carolina. Boone is known to have some of the most challenging cycling terrain in the country. Lance made it famous by training there post-cancer, saying,

"It's a great area for riding, very hilly, but I'd say it's the best area for training in the whole of the United States." –– Lance Armstrong on Boone, NC Cycle Sport (June 1998)

The ride goes on portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I cycled this road when I moved by car from PA to FL. In describing the route, the BSG website says, "The route roughly circles Boone through the outskirts of Watauga County, the heart of North Carolina's High Country. The terrain is constantly changing with hills of all lengths and curves too numerous to count. The cumulative climbing elevation is 13,000+ feet, with the climb up to the gap at Snake Mountain, milepoint 63, reaching an 18-20% grade near the top."

Basically, it's hilly. How hilly? Well check out this picture of the terrain. That looks to me like it could be more challenging than my daily surmount of the 50ft. Linton bridge.

So am I intimidated?

But what most amatuer multisport compoetitors don't realize is that I an UNINTIMIDATEABLE, I teach one of the worst classes in the school, but I teach them hard, because I am unintimidatable. I once traveled to detroit with 11 black kids from chester and a coach known only by "rasheed" to play in a basketball tournament. I once dunked right on the head of a 6'8" guy in the middle of a packed, downtown philly gym, playing a Sonny Hill League basketball game. I once was ejected from a college basketball game for punting a ball off the court. I once biked 120miles on a friday after work.

I am unintimidateable. Throw me on Snake Mountain (The biggest climb at BSG) right now and I will kill it and eat snake sandwiches for dinner.

In regards to the training:

Key Sessions:

1. Key Bike - This was a 3-hour power crank ride on Sunday. I felt great. I have been having trouble with the speedplays recently (if your interested in more information about why, post a comment and I'll answer), so I got myself a pair of Keo Carbons off ebay for $144. These feel great, good float, but a nice, wide, stable pedal platform. The ride went well! Could have ridden three more hours.

2. Key Swims - I swam 5 times this past week, and each was a key swim, coming in at around 4000km. While I clearly won't be swimming up snake mountain (but I could), I am getting back to the pool for 1) some cross-training aerobic training 2) Some exercise induced psychotherapy. For the training, I am trying to rebuild the Florida 70.3 solid aerobic base, so I figure any addition distance training will help build a stronger engine to climb mt. snake. Second, as a therapist, the pool often helps me work out all those axieties and stresses that tend to build up over the course of the day. I get to the pool tired and stressed and I get out of the pool energized and relaxed. Petty good deal.

In summary:
1. I am signed up for Blood, Sweat and Gears
2. I am unintimidateable
3. I am back into structured training - long rides on the weekends, moderate rides during the week, and aerobic swims.

Quote of the Week

"Turn to your neighbor, shake his hand, and say, 'Penis!'"

-Me, trying to break the ice with the 6th grade boys to whom I am teaching sex-ed.

Lance Armstrong Rides with My Old Mechanic From Fastrack Bicycles in Santa Barbara

2009-03-07T12:55:00.005-05:00

Lance just posted this picture through his twitter account:

http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong/statuses/1293285246

The guy just to the left of Lance is Dave Lettieri, owner of Fastrack Bicycles in Santa Barbara, CA. Dave was Lance's mechanic in the 2000 Tour de France. When I lived with my brother in Santa Barbara for a summer, Fastrack was my local bike shop. Pretty cool! There's just one degree of seperation between me and Lance.

I imagine you're wondering, "Frey, why aren't you in Santa Barbara right now riding with Dave and Lance?" It's because my brother is an idiot. He decided to move from Santa Barbara, with year-round tropical weather, gorgeous UCSB women, great biking terrain, and general awesomeness, to Ann Arbor, MI, which has weather that rivals Dante's 9th circle of Hell. I still haven't forgiven him.

Tip of the Week:

Approach your long rides as you would a hike. Instead of going out there and trying to elevate your heart rate and put a training load on your biking legs, think about just taking your time, enjoying the scenery, and covering the distance. Keep that hike analogy in mind; don't race the long rides.

Functional Training for Triathletes part II: What good training looks like

2009-03-02T10:28:00.003-05:00

So I've recently spent more time than I'd like bashing the training mistakes committed by most amateur athletes. Specifically, I recently talked a lot about how crappy most "functional" training is. To balance this out, I've got a video today that demonstrates what quality, functional strength training looks like. The guy in the video is a beast. Next time you're in the gym, and you think you're training hard when you're doing that set of lat-pulldowns, think of this animal. Enjoy!

Triathlon Speedwork and High-Intensity Training: Part III

2009-02-15T18:03:00.004-05:00

This is Part III of a four part series. Each article will look at speedwork as it relates to triathlon training. In Part III, I will discuss some common mistakes that coaches and athletes make with speedwork.

In Part I of the triathlon speedwork and high intensity training series, I gave you a brief introduction to speedwork. To summarize part I, in the words of my Masters swimming coach, "Speedwork means f***ing go fast!" In Part II, I talked about how speedwork fits into a well-designed triathlon training program. I will use Part III to discuss how coaches and athletes mess up high intensity training and speedwork.

Here is a list of the most common mistakes I see:

1) Going hard too often

According to the experience of every elite level coach and athlete I've met, the maximum number of speedwork sessions an athlete should perform in one week is three. This number has been proven both in research and in practice. Athletes who try to do too much speedwork in a given week will either a) burnout/overtrain or b) perform with suboptimal intensity. This idea of suboptimal intensity leads me into number two...

2) Going Medium-Hard

Despite the fact that it's number two on my list, I see this as the number one problem plaguing amatuer triathletes. As an athlete and as a coach, I really only advocate two speeds: 1) long, steady distance or 2) Balls to the wall fast. The former, among other things, builds aerobic capacity, increases fat metabolism, increases mitochondrial density, while the latter increases the rate at which ones body can metabolize oxygen.

Somewhere in the middle, neither hard nor easy, is the medium-hard pace. I think I have a solid idea why amatuer triathletes make this mistake, and it has to do with the fact that most of them are what Charles Staley defines as 'exercisers' as opposed to 'athletes'. Regardless of the reason, however, trust that medium-hardness is neither hard enough to make you fast, nor easy enough to let you put in enough time to see significant aerobic improvements. It just makes you good at being sucking.

Before Arthur Lydiard came around and developed the idea of aerobic condition through periodized blocks of training, runners would often just run as hard as they could for as far as they could everyday. And, runners then were much slower than runners today.

3) Not going hard ever

I was hesitant to include number three, because, sometimes, not going hard ever can be good advice for an athlete. For athletes were aerobic endurance or muscular endurance is their limiter, a few seasons of nothing but solid, long, steady distance training will build a base for a career of succesful racing.

However, once that base is built, let the speedwork rip! Sometimes, athletes training for endurance events over two hours, such as marathons, ironmans, centuries, and open-water swims, forget that they need some well placed speedwork in their training programs.

Consider that you want to run your next marathon at an 8:30min/mile pace. You run your long runs at around 9:30min/mile, and you run a couple weekly runs at 8:30min/mile to see if you can run that marathon pace. Pretty soon, both your body and your mind learn that the 8:30 pace is as fast as you can go. Then, however, you do a few sessions of 10x400m all out sprints (or similar sessions), and maybe you can hold a 6:00min/mile pace throughout. Now your body and your mind have gone way beyond that 8:30 barrier. Now, when you go back to running your normal, comfortable 8:30 pace, it will feel significantly easier.

4) Over analyzing one's speedwork

Power meters, heart rate monitors, calorimeters, altimeters, cadence sensors, GPS monitors, computers in your shoes and your helmet and your ipod, graphing results on the computer and comparing data on the internet. It's all worthless, in my opinion. Just go out, train, then go home and live your life. Too much time analyzing your training, and you often forget to do the most important thing, TRAIN! It's what many authors and coaches have termed Paralysis by Analysis.

Don't spend too much time listening to your training computer, just go hard, go long, then recover.

That's it for part III. If you can think of any other ways that people mess up their high-intensity training and their speedwork, feel free to post in the comments section.

I have been looking forward to part IV for a while now. In the next installment, I will unleash my most revolutionary training idea, one which I think has the potential to turn endurance sports on it's head. Stay tuned!

Blessings of a DVT

2009-02-07T12:42:00.003-05:00

I understand how readers of my blog might think a DVT would be a seriously gloomy, painful experience. That's wrong, however, and I am here to set the record straight. Here are the top three reasons why my DVT has helped me out:

1) It makes me live in the moment

As macabre as it sounds, with a DVT hanging out in my leg, I can literally go from healthy to dead in a matter of seconds. That kind of prognosis quickly gives ya a new outlook on life.

2) My apartment has never been cleaner

It is my understanding that people with DVT's should take extra care to warmdown after training. This is because you don't want blood to pool in the legs. When I get home after riding, I do all of my house cleaning. I jump right off the bike and take care of the laundry, dishes, sweeping, etc. It keeps me moving, it lets the blood flow settle down, and it makes my house look happy!

3) It lets me stick it to the man

You may not know it from reading my triathlon themed blog, but I am one of the biggest conspiracy theorists you'll ever meet.

You have your head in the sand if you don't realize that the world's richest individuals control the world's media and government organizations.

Between all of my prescriptions and my doctor's appointments, I cost the insurance company millions of dollars per month. Granted I am still paying this insurance money directly back to big business (hospital, pharmaceutical companies). But, it makes me feel good to take some out of the insurance company's pocket.

Michael Phelps the Pot Head Part II

2009-02-05T13:10:00.003-05:00

Isn't it great that everyone is forgiving Michael Phelps for his (23-year old) youthful mistakes? Answer: No, it's not. Here's why...

We have a double standard in this country when it comes to punishing drug offenders. If you're white, then your drug use is a youthful experiment. If you're black, it's a crime. Don't believe me, do you? Then check out this clipping; it's directly from the Sports page of the Palm Beach Post:

Click on the image to see a big, full-sized version of the clipping.

The juxtaposition of the headlines exemplifies the double standard. The black wide receiver gets kicked off the team at FSU, but Phelps gets support from his peers.

I almost couldn't believe it when I saw these headlines, literally right next to each other in the paper. If people think Obama just went and solved the race problem, they're mistaken.

Michael Phelps The Pot Head

2009-02-01T19:38:00.004-05:00

Earlier today, I saw this story come out from News of the World:

What A Dope: 14-times Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps caught with cannabis pipe

My first reaction was that it was an untrue story. I mean, honestly, that picture could as easily be me as it could be Michael Phelps. Except, I don't have a diamond studded watch (I have a pink Timex that I stole from my mom).

However, later in the day, Phelps decided to make another stupid move by verifying the story on his facebook page. Here's a link to the CNN story about this:

Phelps admits 'bad judgement' after marijuana-pipe photo

It reminds me of an awesome documentary I watched called Bigger, Stronger, Faster

This is a non-judgemental inquiry into steroid use in sports. It shows how prevalent steroids and drugs are in sports, but it does not simply condemn the users or the drugs. It covers the issue from all angles, and it's very informative.

Finally, I think this story about Phelps simply confirms the fact that he is Superman. If a guy can eat the amount of shit that Phelps eats, drink like an Irishman on St. Patties day, outsmoke Snoop Dogg, and then win 14 Olympic golds, we should be harvesting his DNA and cloning him by the millions.

Snoop Dogg: A solid smoker, but could use some practice in the pool.

Honestly, if Phelps were caught doing some performance enhancing drugs, that would be one thing. But, he was caught doing performance detracting drugs, and he's still the most celebrated Olympian of all-time. I think anyone that can simultaneously dominate sport and dominate the party circuit should be admired.

Functional Training for Triathletes

2009-01-28T18:25:00.004-05:00

Functional training has become one of the most adulterated terms in the vocabulary of trainers and athletes. 99% of the functional training you see athletes doing is neither functional nor training.

If you disagree, answer this question for me: How is training on a bosu ball functional?

Consider that functional training is meant to help you function better. When (outside of a stupid training session) have you functioned on top of a bosu ball?

One of my favorite bloggers, Tony Gentilcore, wrote an awesome article about this today:

I’m Going to a Commercial Gym Today. EPIC Nervous Breakdown to Follow

Enjoy!

2008 Bike Mileage Synopsis

2009-01-16T17:47:00.004-05:00

2009 is two weeks old, and I have finally finished logging my bike mileage from 2008. And the grand mileage total is..... (drum roll)....

6771.08 miles!

Thank you, thank you. Here is a quick recap of some of my biking highlights from the year:

1) The 116 mile after work ride

This was and is the longest ride of my life. I put it down on a Friday, after work, just because I felt like it.

2) 2008 Ironman Florida 70.3 Bike Leg

This actually consists of two rides. The first was the 56 mile bike leg of the half-ironman. This was my first ever half-ironman, and I put down my most serious block of training ever for this race.

The second part of this ride was the Monday after the race. The race was on Sunday, and my family and I drove from Orlando back to Delray so that I could ge myself into work on Monday. My family, who had rented a car for the weekend, told me that they were too tired from having watched me race the 70.3 miles. They wanted to sleep in, so they made me, the guy who had actually raced a half-ironman just 24 hours earlier, bike commute to work. So, the second part of this ride was the 3 mile bike commuyte the next morning. Just to summarize: yes, I bike commuted to work the day after my first half-ironman, because my family was too tired from having watched me race. Thanks guys.

3) Libby (my mom) biked 100 miles at the 2008 Seagull Century

I couldn't be more proud of my mom for this one. She's 117 years old, and she biked 100 miles. That's awesome!

my mom biking 100 miles with some of her friends. she's in the middle, #2354.

It was a great year of biking. These are just a couple of the highlights, but I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed every single ride. That is the one and only reason I bike: I love it.

I look forward to the fun rides of 2009. I am already off to a dominant start. Despite the DVT, I am already at 340 miles for the year. This is over 20 miles per day, which puts me on pace for a 10,000 mile year. While I don't plan on hitting 10,000, I hope to get to 7,500, as this was my goal for 2008. Go me!

Deep Vein Thrombosis for Cyclist, Triathlete, Athlete

2009-01-11T18:50:00.004-05:00

I developed a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my right leg on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. This is the second DVT I've had in the past 6 months. For those of you that remember, my 2008 season was prematurely ended due to a DVT in July.

Around Friday, January 2, I started to notice a pain in my right calf. It felt like I had strained the calf, although I couldn't remember anytime when I could have injured it. I trained through the weekend, but, by Monday, the calf was sore enough that I had difficulty walking. Also, it was tremendously swollen. My calf was just as thick as my knee, and this swelling extended from my ankle to my knee.

Even though I had the blood clotting history, I still figured that this was a muscle strain, so I went into my chiropractor/sports medicine doctor on Tuesday. The chiro, aware of my DVT history. recommended that I get an ultrasound scan of the leg to check for clots. After a few hours in the ER, the diagnosis was in, blood clot in the right calf.

I developed this clot while on the Warfarin (generic for Coumadin) blood-thinning medication. This is not a good sign, as Warfarin is meant to prevent clotting. Now, I am on Lovenox shots, and I may have to take these shots for a long, long time.

You may notice that the title of this blogpost is somewhat awkward. That's because I am hoping to find other athletes, triathletes, cyclists, runners, etc. who've had DVT's. I've searched google, and I've found a few people talking about being an athlete with a DVT. I am interested in hearing from anyone out there who's an active person and who has had problems with blood clots. As the post below shows, I am a young, healthy dude. Anyone who has any ideas what may be causing this, feel free to leave a post in the comments section, or feel free to shoot me an email.

In regards to my training and racing, I am out of commision for the time being. I am going to have to scrap the Miami Half-Marathon at the end of the month, and I am ending my Maximum Strength Training Program 6 weeks early. I am doing some light biking, and I am heading back to Aquacrest pool to start floating around with the swim team there. Having put in a solid two and a half months of hard lifting on the Maximum Strength program, and having cycled for about 3 months on the powercranks (including a few 200 mile weeks), a few weeks of relative rest will probably only make me stronger, anyway.

Pictures of Me, Frey

2009-01-08T14:03:00.004-05:00

I swam the Delray Beach Ocean Mile Swim on Sunday, January 4, 2009. It was a fun swim, although I got dominated by just about every swimmer there. There were over 250 swimmers there, and most of them were from college teams that were in the Delray area on winter training trips. I came in 179th, and I think the only people I beat were the local senior citizens, and possibly some of the 100lb. freshman girls who got dominated by the ocean waves. Impressively, my friend, Darcy, beat a lot of the college swimmers, and she came in 79th.

I met a woman there who said she had seen me participating in the 2008 Lake Worth Tropical Triathlon. She took some pictures of me at the race, and she kindly emailed me copies of those pictures. Here they are:

Notice that awesome pink Speedo that I wore for the swim, bike, and run. I wanted to bike and run shirtless (who wouldn't want to go shirtless when you look as good as me). But, I forgot my race belt, so I needed to wear the jersey so that I could attach the number to myself.