heat training: your new secret weapon
ICYMI, Coach Alison recently did a deep dive into heat training for Triathlete Magazine. Turns out that the heat training we’ve been using to prepare for hot races also provides performance improvement. You’ll need to commit to five heat training sessions a week for five weeks, but if that’s not too steep a price to pay for an increase in VO2 Max then heat training is your new secreat weapon.
the upgrade you're ignoring is faster than your next bike
Coach Julie
You know what’s faster than a new aero frame? Tires. A bike fit. Two things that cost a fraction of the price and return more speed per dollar than anything else you can put on your bike.
I know. It’s not as satisfying as a new build. But the data doesn’t care about satisfying.
Here’s the thing about drag: above 18 mph, roughly 90% of the resistance you’re fighting is aerodynamic. And of that, 75% is coming from you — your body position, your shape on the bike. The frame? About 9%. You are spending thousands of dollars to solve 9% of the problem while ignoring the part you could actually fix for a few hundred bucks.
Read more here.
good news for multisport athletes, and athletes in general
Coach Alison
Two more fabulous reasons to keep doing what we’re doing!
1. A BMJ Medicine study following 70,000 women and 40,000 men for over three decades found that doing different types of exercise improves longevity better than doing just one type of exercise and that, in general, more exercise is better (to a point, which long-course triathletes likely exceed).
2. A comprehensive analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that aerobic exercise – like running, biking, and swimming – works as well as, if not better than, traditional treatments like medication and psychotherapy in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety.