Athlo Blog

Lance Armstrong announced on his website, LiveStrong.com, that he is in fact returning to professionally cycling in 2009. The reason, he said, was “to launch an international cancer strategy.” For him personally, it must also have something to with believing he can still compete at the professional level and win the Tour de France.

Velo News reported that Lance will compete in five road races, including the Tour de France, as a member of team Astana. His age will certainly be a question as he turns 37 this month. The oldest Tour winner ever was Firmin Lambot in 1922 at the age of 36. Seemingly insurmountable challenges have never stopped Lance in the past though. Plus, he has stayed incredibly active in his “retirement”.

Lance plans to announce more details about his cancer strategy and racing comeback on September 24th at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.

Triathlon popularity has grown tremendously over the past few years, especially the Ironman distance. If you are considering an Ironman next year, the most important thing to know is registration sells out fast! Ironman Wisconsin sold out in 10 minutes this year.

Race sizes are generally small. Wisconsin only allows 2,200 entries. Triathletes who registered for this year’s race were able to register for next year’s race a week before the general public. That doesn’t leave many spots for people doing their first Ironman.

Registration for the general public is usually the morning after the actual race. You have to be there in person and cannot register someone else. A photo ID is also required.

Most 2009 Ironman races I know of are already sold out. Ironman Louisville still has about 45 slots for the August 30th, 2009 race. Here are a couple more late season triathlons you still have a good chance of registering for:

• Ford Ironman Florida Registration - Sunday, November 2, 2008 9:00AM-11:00AM
• Ford Ironman Arizona Registration - Monday, November 24, 2008 7:00AM-9:00AM

If you have your heart set on a particular race but registration is sold out, research whether or not they offer charity spots. The cost is usually double the entry fee, with half of that amount going to charity, but still gets you in. A fundraiser or help from friends and family are a couple ways to reduce how much of the $1000 you’ll have to pay.

I plan to register soon for Ironman Louisville 2009. Look for more posts from me on triathlon training.

This is the first post of a new monthly series dedicated to reviewing athletic equipment. Some upcoming reviews are hockey sticks by John and the best chairs for endurance computer coding by Mark. We will also be starting a monthly race review so there should be something everyone will find interesting and helpful. This month I am focusing on running shoes.

The running shoes I have worn for the past two years are the Adidas Supernova Control 10. They retail online for about $70.  I bought the two pairs shown here at Sports Basement Presidio in San Francisco.

Overall, these shoes have been great and I will continue to buy Adidas running shoes.  My biggest compliment is the amount of cushioning provided while remaining fairly light.   I would highly recommend them to anyone training for a marathon.  For me, they took absolutely no time to break in. I ran 26 miles in the orange pair the first time I wore them and only came away with one small blister on the top of each little toe.  

I do have one complaint about these shoes.  I tend to mix trail and road routes into my running but the Adidas Supernova soles are definitely not made for trails with any loose rock or gravel.  You can see in this photo that the shoe on top has a number of large rocks stuck in the grooves of the sole, mostly in the heel area.  I picked the rocks out of the shoe on the bottom to show what it should look like.  Stopping to pick rocks out during a run can break your rhythm but not stopping can become uncomfortable and annoyingly noisy if the rocks and hitting the pavement.

Despite the trail running limitations, I would still highly recommend this shoe.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it an 8.  Although, I may have to break down and buy a pair of Adidas Supernova Riot, their trail running shoe, to go with my Control 10s.

The Athlo development team is hard at work improving the way you get feedback when you generate training plans.  We feel confident that the plans we are generating for you are good plans, but sometimes convincing you of that is harder than you might think.  To better communicate the output of our training algorithms, we’re trying to think of good, yet simple ways to let you know what we’re giving you.  For example, consider this new chart for marathon training plans:

There is a lot going on in a training plan: weekly cycles, multiple phases, rest plan consideration, workouts per week, etc.  We’ve taken a few shots at what we think works, but we’d love to know what’s important to you.  How do you look at a plan to tell if you like it?  Do you want all the details?  Are you looking for trends?  Do you compare to other data?  Let us know what you need when you look at our dynamic (and free) plans and we’ll do our best to accomidate.

In more subtle news, we’ve been busy tweaking the front end to give you a little more pleasant user experience.  MSIE 6 users should notice an incredibly better and more functional interface on the calendar page.  All users will find friend summaries now on their home page as well as quick links to see what’s hot on the blog.  Another simple but nice feature we’ve added is the ability to copy your friends calendar entries.  Simply view their calendar, click on an event, and one-click will add it to your calendar.

We’ve got a lot of momentum going right now on the development team.  We’re excited about what’s coming in the weeks ahead.  Keep hitting refresh and we’ll keep writing code!

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times titled better to be fat and fit than skinny and unfit.  Throwing obese (B.M.I. > 35) individuals out the window, The Journal of the American Medical Association’s study shows that death rates of ‘overweight’ (30 > B.M.I. > 25) 60 year olds were slightly lower than ‘normal’ (25 > B.M.I.) 60 year olds during a 12 year study.

I’m 28 years old, 6 ft tall and 180 lbs (B.M.I. 24.4 kg/m2) and consider myself at an above average fitness level; being near the overweight line this finding doesn’t surprise me.  What I was intrigued with is that ‘normal’ and ‘overweight’ individuals in this study who failed a simple 5-8 minute treadmill incline and pace increase test were 4 times more likely to die during the course of the study that those who passed.

The underlying premise here is maintaining fitness levels decreases your chances of heart disease as it helps maintain healthy levels of cholesteral, blood pressure, and blood sugars.  Because of this some public health officials are recommending doctors perscribe physical activity over dieting.  What a crazy idea - staying in shape improves life expectancy.

Although the 100 meter Olympic champion is often labeled as “the fastest man in the world”, it is the 200 meter sprinter who actually has the fastest average speed.  The record breaking performance by Usain Bolt of Jamaica last week was amazingly impressive, but not as impressive as Michael Johnson’s 200 meter performance at the 1996 Atlanta games. 

Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, giving him an average speed of 10.31 meters per second but Michael Johnson’s 200 meters in 19.32 seconds was an average speed of 10.35 meters per second.  Not a huge difference, but enough to question why the 100 meter champion gets an undeserving title.

As of now, the 100 meter female sprinter is the fastest woman in the world.  However, since Florence Griffith-Joyner set both the 100 and 200 meter world records in 1988, there isn’t much of an argument.  Her average speed for the 100 meters was 9.53 meters per second but her average speed for 200 meters was 9.37 meters per second.  A female sprinter would need to run a 20.96 second 200 meter, beating Flo-Jo’s record of 21.34 seconds, in order to have a faster average speed.  Usain Bolt would have to run an unbelievable 9.66 second 100 meter if he truly wants to be the fastest man in the world.  If he doesn’t start celebrating with 20 meters left like he did at the Olympics he can probably do it.

Since there are a lot of avid cyclists in the Athlo community, I thought this would be a great topic to write about. I recently came across a good article by Elizabeth Quinn that this post provides a summary of. The main cause of erectile dysfunction from bicycling is the amount of time and pressure placed on the tissues of the perineum which can eventually damage the blood vessels and nerves that allow men to have an erection. The perineum is the area of the groin between the male reproductive organ and the anus. Continually damaging this area with constant pressure can permanently affect erectile function in men. 

Factors that are associated with an increase of risk for erectile dysfunction in cyclists include the weight of the cyclist, saddle design, length of rides or a cyclist’s intensity, and skill of the cyclist. Obviously heavier riders will have an increased pressure on the perineum and certain saddle designs increase these risk factors.

Many cyclists have felt some type of symptom in that area consisting of numbness, tingling, pain, etc. There is some good news though. Most of these symptoms will be felt long before any serious problems do develop and well before erectile dysfunction would be diagnosed. 

So, what can you do to prevent erectile dysfunction and continue riding pain free? One of the most important things to do when you ride is to keep the weight of your body on the pedals through your feet instead of on the saddle to reduce the pressure on the perineum. Cyclists need to take breaks on long rides if pain or discomfort is felt in the area. Changes positions frequently during rides will decrease some of this pressure as well. Adjust the saddle height so the knees are slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke and avoid saddles with lots of padding because this will only cause you to sinker lower on the seat, putting more pressure on the perineum. You can also raise the handle bars causing the rider to sit a bit more upright. I also highly recommend wearing cycling shorts that have the proper padding in them. 

The last thing to consider is the type of saddle. Most studies show that wider saddles are better than narrow ones because it actually allows more blood flow throughout the groin area and more weight will be distributed to the ischial tuberosity (bottom of the butt). Newer saddles, like the Selle SMP, offer a larger cutout and downward facing nose. It is more advanced than the traditional saddles and allows more blood flow through the perineum. So, for those of you experiencing any types of symptoms, address the issue with some of these solutions and hopefully you will enjoy a new pain free ride.

I grew up playing multiple competitive team sports like hockey, soccer, baseball, and golf.  When I got out of college and didn’t have a year round busy sports schedule I started getting frustrated with beer league rec sports.  I wasn’t motivated to make time for the gym to stay in shape because I didn’t have something competitive to train for.

After two years of a mediocre fitness lifestyle I signed up for a marathon.  With a 4 mile longest run under my belt needless to say I was little nervous about 26.2 but I was desperate for athletic motivation.  The first few weeks of training was brutal, more mentally than physically, but eventually I gained a tremendous appreciation for running and more importantly for learning a new sport.  Since the marathon in ‘05 I’ve moved on to a variety of new races like 1/2 ironmans, 197 mi run relays, and adventure races.

Now my weeks are filled with runs, rides, rec league games still, and an occasional swim, circuit weight training, or round of golf.  I’m a cross trainer which has benefited me in staying motivated about fitness in a number of ways.  First and foremost cross training and being open to new sports has made me a constant learner. In a number of instances I’ve used aspects from one sport, like how to best warm up and stretch for a long run, and applied them to others.  Cross training has also kept my entire body in good enough shape to be able to do a sporadic activity like skiing or hiking and not experience extended soreness.  Other benefits of cross training include reducing the risk of injuries, improving overall athletic skills and balance, and being flexible enough to always get some kind of a workout in.

Athlo.com will start supporting more and more activity types so be sure to plan out your workouts on the training calendar, get workout ideas by viewing your friends calendars, and fill your weeks with activities that keep you motivated and exercising your entire body.

Most people have never heard of Dave Wiens, but they probably know who Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis are. Well, Dave Wiens is the guy who can beat them both on a mountain bike. Wiens beat Lance this past Saturday to capture his sixth straight win at the grueling Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race.  

Leadville is located in Colorado and the entire course is more than 9,000 ft above sea level. The race also happens to contain 14,000 ft of climbing. Dave Wiens beat the ex-Tour de France champion Floyd Landis last year and in doing so broke a course record that had stood for 10 years. This year, both Lance and Wiens each smashed that record by over 10 minutes, with Weins coming in two minutes ahead of Lance. The third place finisher was more than 30 minutes behind them. Lance’s performance is impressive given his training going into the race. However, it is somewhat comforting to know that he is human and capable of being beaten. He even has to get off his bike and push it sometimes, just like the rest of us.

Congratulations to Dave Wiens on his amazing streak. Will Alberto Contador or Carlos Sastre be the next guys to try and challenge him?

While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve met many people who commute by doing something other than driving alone.  A former employer actually paid us $4 each day we didn’t drive. If we were a carpool driver we received $2 per passenger each way.  It was a really nice benefit and definitely an incentive to be green.

Even if your company doesn’t provide a financial incentive to not drive, the money you save on gas is probably enough of a reason to take a bus, train or get there under your own power.  However, health is a reason that often goes overlooked.  Endurance commuter is a term my buddy Dave Penake introduced me to one morning on our 13-mile run from San Francisco to work.  We did this run once a week and although we occasionally saw some bikers on this route, we never saw anyone else running it with the exception of a group of Google employees making the 40-mile one-way trip to Mountain View about once a month.  Since my endurance commuting debut, I’ve become much more interested in how people get to work and an advocate for alternate commuting.

When talking to people about how they get to work and if they would be interested in running, biking or walking, I usually hear one of five excuses: it’s too far, the weather is bad, there is no shower at work, the roads are dangerous, my bike is old.  The “too far” excuse could very well be a valid one but depends on just how far away you live.  I didn’t just start out running to work the first day I showed up.  I had a good base of training but had to build up to that distance on a consistent basis.  Snow, ice and heavy rain are definitely reasons to use your car to get to work.   On light rain days I just throw on my rain jacket and just go.  The lack of a shower could be bad if you sweat easily, but check with your company’s facilities management group and see what you can do to persuade them into installing one.  Dangerous roads are an extremely serious matter so try to seek out anyone who may know the routes to work or check out the new Walk There feature on Google Maps.  Lastly, there are plenty of bike shops that can either tune up your bike or sell you a new one.  Don’t let that stop you from saving gas money, getting a good workout and helping save the environment.

What’s the most you’ve done with regards to endurance commuting?  Are you still doing it?  If not, why’d you stop?  If so, what motivates you?  If never, what’s your excuse?