QUEST FOR THE BEST

In any pursuit of excellence, athletic or otherwise, we search for the very best resources, opportunities and associates.  In triathlon, this pursuit includes equipment, training programs, training partners, coaches, nutrition, and race events.  Our quest never remains static for very long.  There is always something new and promising on the horizon – a new carbon bike frame, the latest training software, a breakthrough tool to monitor, meter or track performance, a new line of nutrition products.  All promise increased training and racing results, often backed up by scientific research.

Nutrition?  Settled!   My quest for the best nutrition is settled.  From sprint to ultra-distance, I fuel and supplement exclusively with Hammer Nutrition products.  At this point, it’s just a matter of constantly refining my protocol, based on my ever-changing training and racing goals, and my ever-changing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual condition.  Great products do not assure great performances – not without astute “inner listening” and adequate education.  Along with superior products, Hammer sets the precedent for nutrition education – all you need to do is read the Hammer literature, go the Hammer website, or give them a call.  You are holding in your hands another great educational source – Hammer Endurance News.

Brian Frank, Steve Born, and especially Dr. Bill Misner, the wizard behind Hammer’s Products, deserve the credit for envisioning and realizing the Hammer mission to empower athletes with the best nutritional products and education. Though my camaraderie with them has been brief, Brian and Steve are like brothers to me.  I look forward to meeting Dr. Bill someday.  That will be a true honor!

Technique – the Life-long Quest:   With the nutrition issue settled, I can shift my focus to other areas that offer consistent progress towards athletic excellence.  For me, the most promising and rewarding is the relentless pursuit of brilliant, graceful, efficient technique – swim, bike and run.    (Excuse my “tri-centric” perspective; this article addresses pursuit of any endurance-based technique.)  There may not be quite as much marketing hype around technique programs as there is around, say, aero wheels and bike frames; but it doesn’t diminish technique mastery as perhaps the most effective means of successfully pursuing athletic excellence. 

Big Questions:  What constitutes a great technique program?  How can we evaluate a particular athletic technique program and its capacity to serve our specific needs and circumstances before investing our precious time and money?

Starting line:  As athletes, what do we really desire in our pursuit of excellence?  Fame and fortune perhaps?  Do we measure success and satisfaction by podium position, media recognition and sponsorship contracts?  If so, the vast majority of us are going to be mighty disappointed throughout our athletic “careers”: Podium recognition usually reaches just 3 to 5 places deep, and not too many of us get paid to ride the bikes we have chosen.   Our pursuit of excellence is really measured by the satisfying experience of mastery: consistently improving, progressing, evolving and integrating.  These are the essential ingredients for passion and appetite - even for the pros.  These are the vital elements of our re-creation, our renewal.  (And remember, most of us train and race for exactly that – re-creation.)

We experience our greatest health, balance and enjoyment in those areas of our lives where we discover the most growth, integration and refinement.

Perception:  The greatest navigational tool we bring to this path of refinement, progress, growth, mastery – whatever you want to call it – is a constant sharpening of our perceptions.  If we cannot (or are simply unwilling to) discern between what is functional and dysfunctional in any specific area or pursuit in life, then the process of refinement is left to chance; it is unpredictable, sporadic, possibly regressive.  If we approach opportunities in life with a “been-there-done-that-got-the-t-shirt” attitude, then there is no possibility for further growth.

However, approach even the most mundane endeavor (like running, for example) with humility, curiosity and patience, and we are poised to develop sharper perceptive capacity.  Athletically, this means we approach each training session, no matter how trivial, as an opportunity for discovery.  In the broader expanse of our lives, we honor each relationship, each obligation and responsibility as an opportunity for growth.  This humble approach to each event in our lives “primes” our perceptive potential so that we learn and grow rapidly.  (For more on the importance of perception, see the blog “Athletic Excellence: Perception and Attitude” at www.zendurance.net.)

Bottom line:  Now we have identified a “bottom line” in any pursuit of excellence: improving perceptive ability.  This is absolutely essential in the pursuit to consistently refine athletic technique, and begins to answer the question:  How can an athlete evaluate a particular “brand” of technique?  Assess how effective the specific technique program is at challenging and improving the athlete’s perceptive capacity in that specific discipline.  There are two crucial areas of perception that must improve:  1) The first area of perceptive improvement is to recognize and explore the underlying principles and functional laws at work in the universe that pertain specifically to the area of our pursuit.  (As an example, efficient technique in any endurance sport is governed by the laws of gravity.  Efficiency is based on the ability to transform gravitational pull – what we experience as weight – into forward motion.)  2) The second area of perceptive improvement is sport-specific proprioception, something I write about frequently.  (Visit www.zendurance.net.)

Thinking Deep:  As profound and fundamental as they are, the functional laws and principles that govern athletic technique are often quite subtle.  Clear recognition and comprehension of these requires deep contemplation and philosophical curiosity, as well as practice, practice, practice.  Many of the world’s best endurance athletes are, by necessity, deep thinkers; it is not enough to be genetically gifted and to tirelessly drill the rudiments.

Navigation:  An effective technique program provides a structure for investigating 1) The subtle underlying laws and principles and 2) The proprioceptive capacities that enhance posture and alignment (including maximum use of pelvic core musculature), as well as biomechanics specific to that sport.  While there are certain universal standards of technique within a specific sport, the investigation is unique for each individual.  Therefore, an effective technique program must provide each athlete with navigational tools to conduct this personal investigation in an ongoing and sustained manner.

These navigational tools may include drills and exercises (both physical and mental), images and concepts, as well as measures for evaluating efficiency - how economically the athlete is able to transform energy into the specific activity for the chosen duration.  In endurance sports, these measures may include stroke/stride length (I.e., swimming strokes per lap) cadence, heart rate and power.  Regardless of the sport, one of the most essential tools for evaluating efficiency is rate of perceived exertion (RPE).  Learning to “quantify” RPE provides the most accurate evaluation of energy output for the body‘s current condition and capacity.  We don’t train and race in the lab.

Cut to the chase:  “OK, enough talk about “investigation, perception and all that.  I just want to know what’s the very best swim/bike/run technique on the market?”  In my experience, there is no single best technique in any discipline.  For illustration, consider cycling biomechanics:  The pedaling biomechanics that produce maximum power output are not necessarily the most sustainable biomechanics.  Applying power to the pedal between the 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock segment of the pedal stroke is considered (and measured) by many as the most powerful pedal technique.  However that does not make it the most sustainable, especially for long duration.  This pedal technique draws heavily on the muscles that extend and straighten the leg, to the exclusion of other muscle groups.  Granted these are the muscles that maximally apply body weight to the pedals; and technique excellence is based on efficiently transforming gravitational pull (weight) into forward motion.  However, for endurance, many cyclists find it beneficial to vary cadence, resistance and biomechanics (perhaps a small amount of emphasis on other parts of the pedal stroke, approaching a more circular technique.)  Variation is essential for maintaining proprioception, and proprioception is vital for technique and endurance.

Additionally, factors such as riding position (classic road vs. time trial), pelvic tilt, body proportions (especially the proportion of femur-to-tibia/fibula length for cycling), hip mobility, core strength, seat position (fore-aft, as well as height), crank length, cadence, gear selection, topography and wind conditions will affect your quest for the perfect pedal stroke.  Don’t forget about event duration either - shorter events may favor technique specificity for maximum power, while longer events may favor technique variation for endurance.

The classic road bike geometry, with a seat tube angle of 72-74 degrees, is considered to set the rider in the best position over the bottom bracket for maximum power production.  However, in windy, non-drafting conditions, there may be a distinct advantage to prioritizing aerodynamics over maximum power production.  These two distinct priorities will require different pedaling biomechanics, as they affect many variables, such as pelvic tilt and muscle recruitment.

The quest for athletic excellence often leads to a profound philosophical shift in how the athlete approaches the sport, and even life.  As an example, Total Immersion Swim embraces “kaizen“, the Japanese notion of continual growth and improvement, the perpetual pursuit of excellence.  Kaizen recognizes the potential “carry-over” phenomenon:  Devoting oneself to excellence in a particular practice leads to excellence in many elements of one’s life.  This carry-over of excellence from one area to another occurs through the cultivation of humility and curiosity - always priming our perceptive potential, even for the most seemingly mundane experiences.

Summary:  Rather than promoting and teaching a limited, narrowly defined technical parameter, a functional technique program should educate the athlete in a variety of technique options for a variety of specific conditions, all soundly based on the underlying laws and principles.  The program must enable the athlete to evaluate these options for the specific conditions and her/his current capacities, and empower the athlete to construct an optimal technique “package”.  It is not enough to learn specific motor skills; the proficient athlete must develop analytical kinetic intelligence.

There is no single perfect biomechanical technique; there is only the most efficient and economical technique for the present moment, given the present conditions (both external and internal).  Endurance often calls for variety - the capacity to change movement patterns and preserve proprioceptive neuromuscular function.

Sustainability:  As we age athletically, we can expect to lose aerobic capacity and muscle mass; but we can continue to refine our technique and our approach to sports.  “After 87 marathons over 16 years, I ran my fastest one ever in cool flat conditions at age 62. Whazzup with that? Totally unexpected.”  - My good friend Karl Kunz, a very mindful athlete, a true master of zendurance.  He lives in Thailand, does meditation retreats and ran a 3:14 PR at age 62.

 Wisdom certainly does have its place in endurance sports.  While the motivation and ambition is left to each athlete, a quality technique program should facilitate athletes in a long-term pursuit of excellence and wisdom.  As an example, Total Immersion Swim hosts a lively and active online discussion forum that has been instrumental in the growth and evolution of swim technique.

Humility:  Great technique programs honor and recognize the necessity and vitality of growth and evolution.  Like the athletes themselves, technique program administrators must preserve a sense of humility and curiosity.  They must passionately strive to refine and evolve, even if this temporarily tarnishes their image.  Not one of us knows all there is to know.

Applicability:  Obviously an effective technique program should improve the athlete’s performance - given that the athlete invests the necessary time, energy and attention.  Through a great technique program, the athlete discovers a passionate and lively approach that s/he implements in her/his life beyond the world of sport.  In my experience, there is tremendous liberation in the discovery that we don’t have to be grown-up or live “past tense” just because we’re beyond 21 years of age.

A significant element that fuels the current growth of triathlon is the discovery of this liberation from “I was“ to “I am“ and “I will be“.  I don’t think it’s coincidental that we discover this through the three most basic forms of childhood recreation - swimming, biking and running.  It’s amazing what a little humility and curiosity will do for us.  They sure worked miracles in childhood.

Copyright 2008 Shane Eversfield