I've always wondered about how today's athletes compare to yester-years. Sidney Crosby versus Wayne Gretzky, Peyton Manning versus Johnny Unitas, Craig Alexander versus Mark Allen/Dave Scott, the comparisons are endless. If you were to strip down both athletes while in their prime, today's athlete would be "ripped". If you had them do simple athletic tests, today's athlete would probably win. But if you were to put today's athlete in the situations that past athletes competed in, I feel that today's athlete would fail. From equipment, to nutrition, to "off-season", today's athlete is at such an immense advantage...but are they performing any better?
Today's athletes receive amazing feedback from video training, scientific testing, the latest/greatest/lightest equipment, training facilities, and proper nutrition. Imagine Gretzky with a composite stick, or the latest/lightest skates.Imagine Mark Allen on the Shiv with specialized on course nutrition fine tuned to his body's performance?
I've been thinking about all these factors for awhile, especially when I hear about an athlete today being questioned as "the best ever". Today's athletes have little to no worries. A professional athlete plays their last game, then goes to the gym to begin prepping for next season. Past athletes finished their last game, then had to go and find a job, or return to take care of their families.
Then, I watched Kona 1991 the other day while on the bike. I admittedly chuckled at the clothing, the equipment, basically their overall 'look'. But then I thought about how Craig Alexander just set the course record this year, and how the separation of times from the last 10 years to 20 years ago is not that different. If today's athlete is bigger, stronger, faster, with more specific engineering and focus for their race day, should they not be incredibly faster?
There's an ingredient missing, and I don't know what it is. I would never question an elite athlete's heart, unless they clearly had given up (see: Albert Haynesworth), but to proclaim any athlete today as "the best ever" is unacceptable, as today's athletic equipment/testing/coaching/nutrition is a rather large factor in why they are good. Past athletes didn't have any of those options...and that's what made them great.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
the difficulties of updating a blog and my training plans moving forward
When I started this blog, I was updating it after every race or good training session, expressing my feelings of how it went, how my training was proceeding, and how my first race season went. As I got more involved in triathlons and training and such, one would think that I would be blogging more often? But alas no, it is so hard to think of what to write when there isn't much new to write. "woke up, swam/biked/ran (pick 1 or 2 or 3) repeated". But really, the last few years have been pretty big in terms of my athletic development, and my involvement in the sport of triathlon.
My initial goal, as I stated in my first post, and re-posted last June, was to complete an Ironman in 2012. I'm well on my way to doing so. I know my physical disadvantages, and I'm working on improving them/making them strengths. The swim, I'm basically just going to survive. It's all I can do. All the time, energy, effort I've put into fixing my form and getting faster times hasn't paid off at all. I've tried different strategies, improved/modified my form, FELT like I'm faster, but the times ended up being the same this past year as they have been the two seasons prior. So basically, I'm just going to work on form and volume, get my endurance so that I can comfortably do the 3.8km swim and crack the bike/run.
This past year, I didn't work on my bike AT ALL. That being said, I was still a pretty darn strong cyclist. This winter I'm going to be spending hours on the bike. Not necessarily pounding out the Watts, but essentially working on comfortability and heart rate training for long periods in the saddle. Does that mean I plan on being slow? HELL NO! If you thought I was good before...look out. My bike is not my swim. The time and effort I put into it WILL pay off, and my fellow competitors better have toothpicks in their bento boxes so they can pick the asphalt out of their teeth when I go roaring past them after I "give" them their headstart in the water!
The reason I didn't bike so much is because a) it bored the hell out of me, and b) I was working on my swimming and running. I found out that I am a fast runner, and I plan on getting even faster. By the end of 2011, I was able to run under 4:00 for quality intervals at KevOs speed sessions. Next year, my goal is to continue that, and try to get my race pace intervals under 4:. I feel that I have it in me to break 20:00 for 5KM, and I plan on doing it! Will I do that in Tremblant? Hell no, that marathon will just be survival! But I do plan on putting the foundation on my 2017 goal: qualify for Boston! (hopefully I achieve this before 2017, but my goal is to make it to Boston by the time I turn 40!)
So some big things coming up! I plan on modifying how I post on this blog, so that it's not one long dialogue of my training/racing. I listen to a marathon podcast that has some fun little sections that I plan on "borrowing" for this blog, so make sure you bookmark it and keep coming back for my training Rant/Rave, Motivation Station, and I'll also be posting some specific workouts that I found effective, as well as some of my favorite recipes!
Cheers!
My initial goal, as I stated in my first post, and re-posted last June, was to complete an Ironman in 2012. I'm well on my way to doing so. I know my physical disadvantages, and I'm working on improving them/making them strengths. The swim, I'm basically just going to survive. It's all I can do. All the time, energy, effort I've put into fixing my form and getting faster times hasn't paid off at all. I've tried different strategies, improved/modified my form, FELT like I'm faster, but the times ended up being the same this past year as they have been the two seasons prior. So basically, I'm just going to work on form and volume, get my endurance so that I can comfortably do the 3.8km swim and crack the bike/run.
This past year, I didn't work on my bike AT ALL. That being said, I was still a pretty darn strong cyclist. This winter I'm going to be spending hours on the bike. Not necessarily pounding out the Watts, but essentially working on comfortability and heart rate training for long periods in the saddle. Does that mean I plan on being slow? HELL NO! If you thought I was good before...look out. My bike is not my swim. The time and effort I put into it WILL pay off, and my fellow competitors better have toothpicks in their bento boxes so they can pick the asphalt out of their teeth when I go roaring past them after I "give" them their headstart in the water!
The reason I didn't bike so much is because a) it bored the hell out of me, and b) I was working on my swimming and running. I found out that I am a fast runner, and I plan on getting even faster. By the end of 2011, I was able to run under 4:00 for quality intervals at KevOs speed sessions. Next year, my goal is to continue that, and try to get my race pace intervals under 4:. I feel that I have it in me to break 20:00 for 5KM, and I plan on doing it! Will I do that in Tremblant? Hell no, that marathon will just be survival! But I do plan on putting the foundation on my 2017 goal: qualify for Boston! (hopefully I achieve this before 2017, but my goal is to make it to Boston by the time I turn 40!)
So some big things coming up! I plan on modifying how I post on this blog, so that it's not one long dialogue of my training/racing. I listen to a marathon podcast that has some fun little sections that I plan on "borrowing" for this blog, so make sure you bookmark it and keep coming back for my training Rant/Rave, Motivation Station, and I'll also be posting some specific workouts that I found effective, as well as some of my favorite recipes!
Cheers!
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