Colle St Carlos

Woke up this morning with calf muscles debilitatingly sore and stiff from running “doms”. I’d stuck to only 5km (two days’ before) but significantly accelerated for the final two kilometres and that was enough to push me though this adaptation phase. That would have been fine, but not when the idea was to get up early to go on a monster bike ride (115km and 3100m (10,500ft) climbing ) over the Alps with someone fitter and faster than myself.

Only four days earlier I’d covered 120km cycling and went through various ups and downs in performance that were seemingly due to blood sugar levels. This time it would be prudent to try to learn something and do a better job of controlling the issues – otherwise the day would not be very enjoyable. The first climb of the day (1400m) was from Bourg St Maurice at 853m altitude to the Col de Petit St Bernard at 2245m – for which I unfortunately forgot to start logging on the Xperia. This isn’t a steep climb but it’s very hard work because the climb is non stop for 30km and the moderate gradient allows you to go relatively fast. With this being the “warm up” climb for the day Chris and I climbed it together, managing to hold sporadic conversations on the way up. We didn’t want to overdo it on this climb because the real target was the dramatic ascent of the Colle St Carlos – plus there would be 5hrs 36mins of aggressive cycling ahead so it was prudent to start off “relatively” easily.

Chris wore winter style clothing with full gloves and long leggings. I wore summer gear with a base layer and arms warmers to start with plus a wind breaker. It was only around 10°C at Bourg when we left and 8:30am and it would probably be near freezing at altitude but clear sky and sunshine were forecast. As it happened there appeared to be  a form of temperature inversion and it was warmer at altitude than in the valleys – especially over on the Italian side of the border.

Pushing hard up to la Rosière ski station I was already starting to feel a form of tiredness after about 90 minutes. Although this was not the hardest part of the day we were not hanging about and it was time to put recent lessons to the test. The last thing is the world I felt like doing at this moment was eating. It’s not that the desire to eat is absent, there is a positive desire NOT to eat. The body is working very hard and all the blood is pulled away from the stomach to the legs so it’s like the stomach and all it’s needs are switched off making the very idea of eating repulsive. This appears to be what has always in the past prevented me from reacting to fatigue by eating and always associating it with lactic acid instead. I made myself eat an almond bar and drink some electrolyte fluid. Within five minutes the sensation of encroaching tiredness had subsided and full energy levels returned. It’s the first time I’ve ever made it to the top of this 30km climb without flagging towards the end! The time of 1hr 50 mins is a reasonable time and in line with a good solid workout even it was the only climb of the day. We stopped to put on windbreakers for the very long descent into the Aosta valley and that’s when I spotted that the Xperia had not been switched on to logging.

Passing through la Thuille in Italy and dropping down the narrow valley towards the Aosta alley it became very cold. This was partly due to the valley being in the shade and partly due to the temperature inversion. Fortunately it warmed up again towards the bottom of the descent and it wasn’t too bad. My descending was slightly affected by the effect of the running “doms” in the legs and the resulting sub 100% feeling that this leaves you with. To descend strongly you have to be at 100% to have the necessary confidence. I was generally hanging back behind Chris all the time – not chomping at the bit at all to be pushing on the pedals. Everything seemed to be done with a slight reluctance but acceptance nonetheless. While traversing the Aosta valley towards the Colle St Carlos I ate another almond bar and Chris gave me a large dextrose tablet – which I’d wait until about 10 minutes into the climb before eating. Dextrose is identical to the sugar in the blood so it doesn’t need to be digested and goes straight into the blood stream. Meanwhile hopefully the recharge from the almond bar would be working it’s way into the system.

The Colle St Carlos is viciously steep – up to 18% for significant stretches and climbing 1000m in only 10km. Most of the steep climbing is concentrated in the first half, which seriously tires out the legs for the second half. The first time I ever climbed this my bike had a standard 38T front and 23T rear gear setup and I had to zigzag to make it to the top. Today I’d have a 34T front and 28T rear available so there were no worries there. Most of the steeps I managed to climb in either the 23T or 25T, only dropping down to 28T on the nastiest parts and trying hard not to remain there afterwards.  The Rotor oval chainwheel is actually the equivalent of a 37T during the power phase, dropping to about 31T through the dead spot. The climb took about 1hr 2mins and it was tough. Normally I’d expect to die about half way up this climb but for the final 30 minutes the opposite happened and my heart rate was even higher at around 160 bpm average. There was no sign of light headedness or headache or of the sensation of energy draining away. The sugar management was clearly working and “lactic acid” was evidently not the main issue after all. One new drawback surfaced however! There was now no excuse to ease off with the effort! The limitations were now simply power to weight ratio and fitness. Whenever I found the thighs or hips hurting too much then some relief could be found in standing up on the pedals and getting a better extension of the hips and contraction of the glutes – also taking some of the strain off the lower back. Whenever I remembered to work from  the core there would be a dramatic recovery of speed and ease of pedalling – as if the “pull up” happened without trying. For some odd reason I felt unable to focus on that consistently, but it came to the rescue frequently when the going got tough.

Something else happened that seems to be the mental equivalent of physical centring with the core muscles. Deprived of my normal “get out” and default “plodding” mode with my head completely zonked out, then a new strategy would be necessary for dealing with discomfort. For some reason enforced “plodding” limits the self inflicted discomfort you experience. The body defends itself and goes into fat burning mode, which you can maintain almost indefinitely. The discomfort levels associated with fat burning plodding are not so great – it’s just that it’s an enforced condition and the brain won’t permit you any other options once this happens. Recently I read a letter by Stephen Gough – famous as “The naked Rambler” who has just spent 6 years in solitary confinement in jail. He is a man with incredible integrity and courage. He discusses how people’s prejudices are mostly caused by their inability to question their own assumptions – in other words – to participate consciously in their thoughts and acts. He gave an example of a neighbour in prison who would complain of boredom. He responded to this other prisoner by asking him if he had ever questioned his assumption that he was bored. When his neighbour actually interrogated himself on the issue he realised that there was no boredom. Christiane, when she walks or runs likes to see the ground and scenery as if they were moving towards her, so that she can feel centred and focused more inside her own body instead of externally. During the discomfort of extreme effort in cycling I noticed the same issues arising. Looking ahead at the long steep road it could quickly become discouraging, so it was important to bring the focus internally. Bringing the focus internally also would mean avoiding “external” assumptions of discomfort or anxiety. It was necessary to question the assumption of discomfort – was it really that bad? When observing the body attentively and putting this to the question it became obvious that the discomfort was largely an illusion, an assumption – an “external” thought just as external as the long steep road ahead. Centring the mind meant focusing directly on the body and asking for accurate real-time feedback. 

The summit of the Colle St Carlos has a fantastic little cafe / restaurant which is always open even on Sundays. They serve REAL thick Italian hot chocolate, but today a coffee would be fine. The sun was out and it was warm enough to sit outdoors and try to dry out a bit. Removing my headband and wringing it created a large puddle of sweat on the ground. It took a good ten minutes to recover properly from the exertion. Drying out was important because there was a 500m vertical descent back to la Thuille before the final 700m climb of the day back to the Col de Petit St Bernard. We refilled the water bottles at the cafe from an outdoor tap and set off refreshed.

Arriving at la Thuille we bumped into two British cyclists preparing to set off up the same climb – Martin Row and Sam Pritchard. By now my legs felt weary and although I’d expected a relaxed final climb it was obvious that this wasn’t going to happen. Chris and I packed away the wind breaker jackets and set off on the climb at a good pace. Looking back we could see one of the other’s also attacking the climb at a good pace. I could stay with Chris at the start but found myself working at a level that was unsustainable so once we arrived at the steeper parts I let him go ahead. For my part I simply maintained a solid workload – most of the time in third gear or dropping to second when absolutely necessary and applying all the technique and psychology that I could muster. Once again my body was failing to default into plodding mode so there was no “get out” possible. The distance grew between me and the “competition” behind so that was quite satisfying considering the big workload from the day already in the legs. Chris waited in the Italian cafe at the top of the col and when I joined him it was difficult to walk into the cafe. My legs seemed to be seizing up mainly from the running “doms” and somehow this was now really catching up with me. Inside my thighs started to ache and throb – a fairly unpleasant sensation. This left little desire to pedal on 30km descent to Bourg – which can be greatly assisted by pedalling hard. I ate more sugar to help with tiredness and once again it did seem to help. However I WAS genuinely tired by now.

At home I was totally wasted and unable to even watch TV or a film, my powers of concentration were so seriously depleted. Sleeping was not an option either because of aches everywhere. The fantastic thing is that I had learned why the quality of long workouts had so often (but strangely not always) been so poor due to blood sugar management. Endless hours of plodding through an inner fog are just demoralising and discouraging. Short fast workouts are great but they don’t build enough stamina – or at least they don’t teach you how to cope with longer demanding rides and how to develop appropriate tactics and strategy.

Good Coaching - Focus, Useful Information and Perception.

I started watching a Horizon program about the brain which explained how only a tiny part of our mental activity is conscious. The next thing I remembered was the credits at the end because I fell asleep during the program. It must have been a very good program because it seemed to be correct.

Two Ways to Learn

Experience has shown me that there are basically two ways to learn - either through unconscious absorption and adaptation or through conscious focus. The second way is always best when there is a choice. Without conscious focus we, as an entire species, could manage to throw stones quite well but with it we could send men to the moon. Ski instruction notably is mostly still in the Stoneage. Race training in particular is completely controlled by Neanderthals and is to be avoided by any other species. Yes there are Neanderthals still surviving today and they are all hiding up on the glaciers where they have retreated to since the end of the last ice age.

Conscious Cornering

I find that my body has an excellent memory - but when it comes to facts and photos it's much better to use Google and a hard drive. When the body learns a skill properly it doesn't completely forget when inactive for a long time. It definitely gets a bit rusty but returns relatively quickly close to the level that had been mastered. I think that's the case for most people. Once you learn to ride a bicycle you have that skill for life - though you can always improve upon it. Same with playing a musical instrument. Last year I managed to improve my cornering skills on the road bicycle in a very unexpected way - through the use of a clever device called a Leanometer. It wasn't so much using the device that changed my cornering, but it was in understanding what the device was doing that made the difference. The Leanometer separates "System Lean" from "Frame Lean" - in other words it tells you the angle of your centre of mass to the ground and also the angle of your bike to the ground (This is only one option available). What surprised me was that due to poor tyre grip on a bike it's safer to have the centre of mass at a sharper angle to the ground than the bike itself. Ever since going over the handlebars a few times off-road on my mountain bike by moving my whole body into the turn just like when using dynamics on skis - I'd backed off from any type of action resembling this. However I hadn't been specifically separating the two things. I'd been inclining everything as one unit. Now on the racing bike with skinny tyres I feel a strange sensation of security at speed when cornering by leaning my upper body well into the turn and keeping the bike relatively upright.

The point here is that it was intelligent reflection that permitted progress plus there was no need to risk injury to find out. This allowed me to consciously separate the System angle from the Frame angle in a way that I would probably never have discovered for myself on a bicycle. Out of interest, my previous solution on the bicycle was to place all the weight on the outside pedal - taking it off the saddle and to tilt the bike before moving the body inwards. This also separates the System and Frame angle but in the opposite direction, putting the vertical component of force on the outside of the bike instead of the inside which compensates for any skidding to keep the bike upright - or at least this is what I imagine and appears to happen but I don't know the proper mechanics to prove it. Incidentally, skis generally (if done properly) grip better this way due to increased edge angle and pressure - so they are in some specific ways the opposite from bikes. Dynamics used in skiing are usually to specifically generate pressure - but when on slippery ground on a bike that isn't going to help. This is an interesting subject I might go into in greater depth some other time. (Interestingly in skiing - upper/lower body separation leads to an entry into a turn with the upper body - but there is not much grip needed at the start of the turn.)

No Free Lunch
The Horizon program (the brief bit I was awake for) wanted to show that nearly everything we do is unconscious and the impression that we have of being aware of most that is going on at any moment is an illusion. This almost certainly accounts for the way people often do things things from singing to skiing very badly but frequently remain under the false impression that they are good. Usually, seeing a short video clip is enough to lurch people some degree towards reality. All activities, even highly skilled ones, are carried out with only a superficial level of awareness. This is probably what easily leads to the common delusion of competence where there is none - and why when there is competence it is often attributed to some nebulous and equally delusional quality called "talent". Really successful people however often say that their success is 9/10th work and 1/10th talent - recognizing that there is no free lunch.

When discovering a new subject we learn the "rules" as quickly as possible and then just get on with the task. Usually this leads us to focus on external goals - like getting faster or stronger, finishing, winning etc. Whatever happens the superficial (lower) level of awareness tends to remain and we then wonder why there is no real progress or why we get injured. Ski racers train for many years and only a very few ever succeed with many abandoning skiing forever. This is an example of Neanderthal Coaching at its absolute worst. The learning (and lack of it) is almost purely unconscious adaptation and then there is brutal natural selection against the clock to generate a "team". The few who are left standing at the end then claim to have "talent" - and so feel absolved of any need to ever explain it - which they can't anyway. This is in sharp contrast to the 1/10th view of talent held by those succeeding in more widely competitive fields - such as music or track athletics. It's not that the racers don't train hard - it's just that they remain unconscious at every level.

Good Coaching - Focus, Useful Information and Perception
Consciousness is a bit like having a telescope pointing into the Milky Way. About 2500 stars are visible to the naked eye at night at any one moment - with between 200 to 400 billion in the galaxy. We know they are there but how many do we know by name? Other than "the sun" I know Polaris and Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation - but that's it even though I studied astronomy for a while at university and orientated a North Sea oil platform by sighting stars through a theodolite. Unconsciousness is a bit like thinking that we are the centre of the universe and that all there is out there is the few thousand stars we see and they are all moving around us. The more we penetrate the universe with the telescope the more reality is revealed and our perception changes. We only see a tiny part of the galaxy focused through the telescope but we see it much better and that helps us to interpret reality overall more accurately and objectively. Over time we construct a different perception of the universe. The reinterpretation requires more than the telescope unfortunately. A chimp looking at the stars through a telescope will not make a great deal out of it all - (despite it being a very smart animal in other ways). On the level of astronomy we need people like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton to change perception. Once the hard bit is done in establishing facts and useful information the rest can be communicated to everyone else through physics teachers, media and more telescopes. Consciousness seems to have three main parts - focus, useful information and perception (which includes "understanding"). Perception is personal and is always the last stage of the process - when awareness shifts to another level. It's usually sudden and very unexpected. You need both useful information and focus for it to happen. Good coaching provides both and changes perception.

Internal Universe
We cannot focus internally with a telescope but we can do through "body sensing". The telescope is just a powerful extension of our vision but we have other senses too. The more we focus on "feeling" the more we construct a different perception of our internal universe. This internal universe is probably just as vast as the external one and we can only see a small portion of it at any time. Focusing narrows that down even more - and allows us to work out what is really going on in specific areas. The "telescope" is more than just an analogy because we are similarly engaged in  "observation" in both cases.

Useful information may come in the form of a book, video or directly from a coach. The advantage of having a coach is that correction and feedback is more direct. Ideally over time you should become your own coach in many areas of life - though people often simply don't have the time to seek out "useful information" through experimentation and experience. They should prioritise it but they don't or can't so they can compromise by using a coach. I can usually fix my own car but mostly I prefer to pay a mechanic who has the right tools and experience because I have other things to do with my time.

Training consciously actually re-programs the unconscious behaviour - giving us not only different perceptions in the process, but allowing us to improve, protect and prolong any skill or capacity. "Skill" is really just a word referring to intentionally programmed unconscious ability. If we train consciously then we experience many benefits. The constant focusing and re-focusing of the mind builds better powers of concentration and at the same time, by shutting out all the internal dialogues and chatter, it relaxes the mind. The mind becomes better connected with the body and you feel more grounded and centered physically, emotionally and metaphysically. Your sense of identity and interconnection with the world changes. Your internal universe aligns more with the external one.

When you practice anything unconsciously over time then your form will degenerate. Not only do you have to build skill perception by perception for it to be sure and solid, but you have to maintain it with focused attention to remain at the same level.

Just as we can only hope to ever explore a tiny part of the real universe, we will only ever explore a tiny part of this internal universe - but the process of doing so remains captivating, revealing and amazingly enriching at all levels. Granted it's extremely hard to find a coach in any subject who can help. Most education is "Neanderthal" at best - even for academic subjects where rote learning and exams are all that count. "Personal Development" has become a cliché and is now associated with American "Self Help" books and diets that simply don't work. It has become very easy to dismiss anything that isn't "Neanderthal" as being not much better. Perhaps justifiably certain Oriental martial arts have avoided this stigma.

Resonance
I've come across concert pianists who don't even know that the musical scale they use - called "equal temperament" - is technically out of tune for every single note of any scale other than when octave intervals are sounded. The same applies to the guitar.  When the inner world cannot resonate with the outer world then there is always a disconnection. Unconscious skill, programmed only through adaptation, is empty skill, resembling the empty calories in refined sugar - all the nutrition has been removed.

Running, skiing, cycling, music - just breathing, are all potential acts that can lead to deeper connection - through conscious development. All are potential nutrition for the mind and the body.

The aim is to build up skill progressively though conscious re-programming. This requires a process of selective, narrow focus which moves sequentially from one department to another. We have to learn to do this because otherwise we automatically choose the Stoneage - it's our default setting because we evolved for that. We throw rocks unless we have rule of law and a police force to worry us. With most things being governed by the unconscious mind we have to program it well over time so that is responds in the way we would like it to. This response or skill is not controlled consciously - only the programming is. Our awareness is always limited even though it may function on different levels. With good programming at least you can be more confident that your responses are more in line with reality and your illusions will not be too deceptive. Perhaps the "ego" is really a measure of how far detached from reality our unconscious mind has been allowed to wander - and how much it remains the "centre of the universe".

Running for Healing (Foot Adaptability)

Just when I thought I'd be able to step up the running and really lose some weight - it's all gone pear shaped! The foot pain is persisting and has dragged me back down to a bare minimum of effort - plus I've started eating too much again so I'm going physically pear shaped too. I'm also having a bit of a rest from cycling due to feeling that I'd been overtraining a bit and getting much too grumpy along with it. Today - a full week after the La Bourgui the legs felt back to normal for the first time. It was depressing however to miss a race yesterday in glorious sunshine - but it felt more like withdrawal from some form of addiction!

Peronius Insertion Tendinitis

The foot injury appears to be "peronius insertion tendinitis" - that is the bony bump on the outside edge of the foot near the middle hurts if I step on it. (Isn't life so much easier without jargon?) It seemed to be sparked off by cycling - not running - though the running has now become an issue. Standard advice is to use anti inflamatories, rest, ice, orthotics (especially a wedge under the outside edge of the foot) and to immobilise the foot. There should be no barefoot walking.

Adaptation - over 100 muscles - per foot! (Can you name one?)

Going by feel alone I had done the opposite of those recommendations on the bike -  wedged the shoe so that there was more support on the inside edge - and it worked beyond expectations. For walking though, at first I thought the experts might be right because walking barefoot was painful and obviously not a good idea - or so it appeared. I'd tried running in soggy cushioned running shoes and it worked but this didn't seem to really address the issue. The cushioned shoes seemed to mask the issue instead. It occurred to me however that the foot has 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles - it must be pretty adaptable. 1/4 of all the bones in the body are in the feet. Perhaps trying to adapt the foot temporarily would be a better idea instead of locking it up in a concrete block and trying to forget about it as usual. This is the approach that I already take in skiing when I get people to lose their footbeds and learn how to use the feet - to make shapes with them and to feel how this then affects the leg muscles and posture - and also the feedback and function of the ski.

Walk This Way!

First experiment was to walk on the inside edge of the foot and this worked straight away. I could do this by extending the ball of the foot downwards and increasing the main arch of the foot - thus eliminating the need to stand on the outside edge of the foot and pronate inwards. This is something I use a lot in skiing to permit pressure on the ball of the foot without flexing the ankle and it resembles the "toe down" sensation in cycling that also strengthens the foot and transmits power more effectively. In skiing I sometimes stand on the outside edge of the foot too - but the inside edge of the ski! Walking should be simpler that and of course it is - so I was able to adapt and walk painlessly. Is it possible to remember to walk this way though even for a short while?

Consciousness
What I've realised after 25 years of teaching sport is that people do what they learn to do - and that instinctive natural responses are seldom appropriate. Sometimes the instinctive natural response is really bad - just throw someone who can't swim into a pool and watch the natural response - or stick them untrained in a boxing ring or on skis - all contexts which require learning.

For me "consciousness" is really simple. It's nothing more than a feedback loop that allows us to re-program unconscious behaviour. Most animals aren't very good at that but humans can be. (not all humans!) We can consciously re-program behaviour so that the new patterns or coordination are the new automatic unconscious response. I've been doing that for many years myself in very highly skilled sports (and violin playing - not so skilled!) so altering how to walk temporarily shouldn't be a big issue. The real issue is just realising that it should be done - when everywhere people are trying to stuff you into shoes, orthotics and plaster casts and de-responsibilising you (if there is such a word.)

Risking the Barefoot Run
Yesterday I decided to properly test out this theory of "foot adaptability" by seeing if I could run with the foot functioning so as to protect itself. To ensure the clearest possible feedback I decided to run properly barefoot on tarmac. (Also potentially the greatest risk.)

I ended up running 3km in the Vibram Five Fingers and then 3km  barefoot - about 30 mins altogether - all slowly and concentrating on form. I tried barefoot first but the foot hurt and switching to VFFs the discomfort disappeared. Once warmed up and focussed on good mechanics I went back to barefoot and it was fine after a minute or two to adapt.

I'd decided that if at any point there was a sharp pain I'd stop immediately. As expected the pain was more evident fully barefoot on the road - but what this did was give me clearer feedback and obliged me to correct the mechanics even better. I found that the natural "protective" response to pain in the foot is to actually land slightly more on the outside edge (where the injury is) - perhaps to generate more cushioning effect though greater pronation. This isn't felt clearly with the VFFs so I couldn't spot it until going barefoot. Another tendency I spotted was to bring the foot too far forwards - also some sort of protective measure (perhaps to avoid committing pressure to the foot) - and for this to cause the foot to land mid-sole  - exactly, once again, on the point that is hurting! I consciously stopped "over protecting", made sure that my foot landed underneath me so as to land properly on the forefoot and then everything was fine at a low speed. I used ice on returning home and next morning my foot actually felt better than before the run (no ibuprofen). Not planning on doing too much of this but if I can manage once or twice a week at the moment then perhaps this approach will be OK.

It's amusing that "sensible" advice is to not even walk barefoot and to immobilise the foot or to at least use orthotics in a shoe. If that was right I should be in a mess after yesterday but I'm not.

Skiing Therapy

The idea to oppose apparently sensible advice really comes from something that I have learned from ski teaching over the years. Most injuries involving joints, muscles, backs (sciatica) etc. can actually be helped by skiing despite doctors advising people not to ski. The docs would be correct if the people skied with a "normal" understanding of the activity - but with an accurate set of insights and perceptions as to how it really works skiing becomes incredibly safe and literally therapeutic for the body. Using accurate feedback and good mechanics everything is worked in an intelligent manner. This allows the body to protect itself and to heal - through good posture, getting reflexes to work for instead of against you, working with physics instead of against it and applying many counter-intuitive rules. Barefoot running is exactly the same in this respect. Skiing makes us work to find the appropriate set of natural actions to use in a modern context. Barefoot running makes us work to become aware of a natural set of rules to use in a natural context - the work being necessary to overcome a lifetime of being forced into the modern context of shoes.

Religious Education

Definitely reached saturation level last week. It's not only that the body feels tired but it becomes almost impossible to focus internally, to remain aware and keep good form.

During the past week it became clear that a good long rest was necessary - not just because of reaching the main goals for the summer - the Marmotte and two Etapes du Tour - but because of being drained. Performance level was not significantly improving, though endurance over very long distances had definitely improved. No more sore bum, sore neck, shoulders etc. and no doubts about going the distance.

The other sign of over-training is "injury". My left foot has started to have tendinitis in the "peroneus brevis" a tendon running down from the calves to the outside of the foot near the middle. It appears to be the cycling causing it but the barefoot running then aggravates it. Consequently I'm forced to wear low profile Mizumo running shoes with cushioning at the moment to help it to heal. I'd have been certain that the problem came from cycling if it wasn't for Christiane - who did three 10k barefoot runs in three days - developing exactly the same problem on the same foot! It's not a debilitating injury but it's slowing things down at the moment. 

On my normal 40k (1k climb) training ride early in the week I still had no enthusiasm, but nevertheless managed to reduce my best time by over a minute. That's definitely physical fitness improvement. Today however - after a few more days rest - I was able to attack the ride better and felt good - taking another 2 min 18 secs off the time. The difference was that this time it was possible to maintain a good level of focus and mental engagement throughout the workout. It's almost like the real limit isn't physical fatigue but mental fatigue. It's as if the tiredness is not either in the body or the brain but something to do with the connection between the two - a process instead of a condition. Today felt good and enjoyable, reigniting my enthusiasm for training - but somehow I'm more acutely aware of how the limits are more mental than physical. The unconscious mind is setting targets all the time - telling you the pace to go at- and it's annoying because who the heck gave it permission to do that? It's about as easy to override as it is to get someone to change their religion. That's probably not a coincidence because both reside in the unconscious mind. That does however indicate that hypnosis and visualisation might be useful here for squeezing out some improvement. I like the idea of training "religiously", educating my body not to ever get fat again. Perhaps this is why so many of the Tour de France Spanish and French (obviously catholic) riders visibly made the sign of the cross to protect themselves against vampires and the official blood sample collectors - or something like that.

Today was the first time this year that I was able to sustain a high force on the pedals and use a higher gear (4th) for most of the climbs. This is a deliberate effort to switch from endurance to strength, power and speed for a while. The feeling was good during the session but it left me wiped out and with aching quads later on - not a bad thing!

Went swimming to compensate for being in the saddle and all the leg work - though now that I focus on core muscle use there is a much greater cross-over between the sports. It was hard to focus on any effort in swimming - the unconscious brain was definitely playing its own game again. It's been a long time coming but I really feel the action is becoming natural with the crawl now. All the bits seem to add up and make sense whereas before it was all disjointed. It was the core muscles that brought it all together. Instead of thinking that something has to be done with the hands or arms - it's the core that dictates and the rest follows - it just doesn't work the other way around - and that's the same in running and cycling.

Here's a relevant quote from a "Total Immersion" forum...

Swimming's main propulsion is the pulling arm, assisted somewhat by kicking. As you said, spearing hands don't propel, hips don't propel, corkscrew torsos don't propel.

The thing is that the body ultimately moves forward by the laws of physics but the way to get your body to work the most effectively does not necessarily involve visualizing the physics correctlly.

When our brain thinks of using our arms obeying the laws of physics, we tend to use the small muscles of our arms. Arm muscles are small, weak, and tire quickly. We need to trick our minds into using the much stronger, high-endurance core muscles. So we come up with these frankly physics-violating visualizations of spearing, hip-drive, torso-twisting.

Those actions end up propelling the arm just the same, but different muscle groups are used. It is a trick of the mind, and many of us find it to be a rewarding challenge.

There can be some value to investigating the physics of the hands, body and feet and how they may move to generate better streamlining and more efficient leverage. But it is a completely different story than how to engage our brain to generate that movement.

__________________
John Carey
Madison, Wisconsin

 

La Plagne - Philosophical

Saturday 4th September 2010

Short high intensity workout today. Was a minute slower than personal best time - but not a surprise after only one full day of recovery since Colle St Carlos. What is interesting is that all the muscle pain from both during St Carlos and during the recovery was totally gone already and surprisingly did not return at all during this hard fast climb.

Getting more comfortable with the saddle height and the mechanics of pedalling differently. On the St Carlos there were moments when everything felt very "natural" both mechanically and bodily - but it was unconscious and not obvious why. Today the process became a bit clearer.

Learning

For me there is no mystery to "consciousness" despite the subject's almost taboo status in psychology and its primary role in silly New Age religions. Consciousness is just a feedback system that permits us to re-program our behaviour - to learn and adapt - nothing more. I've read books written by PhD Physicists linking the bizarre qualities of quantum mechanics to Eastern religion etc. but they are all based on wishful thinking. The authors seem to think that their qualifications and education are a good substitute for intelligence and ironically their writings are clearly not guided by consciousness.

In the book "The Rider" by Tim Krabbé he describes how during sustained intense effort the brain must function smoothly like a well oiled ball bearing - with no resistance. That's kind of what happens when you are done with the conscious learning and the whole thing slots into place unconsciously. There is more to it though. The "learning" is only assisted by the consciousness - it gets your actions into the ball park - but no further. Learning and performance in general stem from self-organisation. It's an automatic optimisation of a system that we do not control - the same way a 3D stereogram takes shape in front of our eyes surprising us. You cannot consciously will the 3D image into view, but you can prepare the conditions so that it will happen to you.

With physical training you work on the patterns of movement making sure they correspond as closely as possible to advice from more experienced athletes. This guarantees that your movements will be somewhat mechanical and artificial as you search for improved feelings - but it does get you in the ball park. Feedback through video is even more powerful than a coach at this point. People may listen to a coach but somehow they often don't register until they see it all on video. This "conscious" stage to training is really important if you need to change anything to develop - but it will never feel like a smooth well oiled ball bearing - neither in your brain nor in your body. It's after a certain level of conscious work, repetition, practise and persistence that the magic happens. The self-organisation - the real learning - sneaks up on you from behind and takes you by surprise. This magic happens to you as a gift - but not from "god" or the universe - it's from hard work. The Arabs say "Inshallah" - "God willing" - but the opposite is true. It's when "God" is not willing that things get interesting and creative. Steven Hawking is currently in the news for publishing a book challenging Newton's belief that gravity was due to "God". Science has thankfully moved on a long way since Newton in 1650!!! Spontaneous self organisation is now an observed and better understood phenomenon. Hawking is right to say that with the existence of gravity that there is no need to invoke a god to explain spontaneous creation. The religious world responds smugly that Mr Hawking doesn't understand. Unfortunately for them he does understand very well - but they don't have a clue. Not only are they shockingly ignorant but they are being rapidly replaced by very large screen TV sets everywhere that they are not banned by the Taliban.

Spontaneous Creation

What happens next is that the body starts to connect all the dots. The dots that seemed random reveal a picture that could not have been guessed at - another level of organisation. In this case, the pedalling - the way all the components of the legs and bike are used suddenly come into focus. The forward/down stroke with one leg connects to the backward/upstroke with the other leg - through the body's core - the lower abdomen. (All the positioning on the bike must be reasonably accurate to get this to happen). The upper abdomen, where the breathing muscles control the diaphragm, remain relaxed. The body settles into an effortless breathing rhythm, through the nose,  using the diaphragm in shallow breathing. The physical output may be near maximum - anaerobic - but the whole system works together smoothly, body and brain like a  well oiled ball bearing. It happens at first only when you are unconscious of the process - when you are focused on nothing that can distract or block the magic from working. That's the effect of training and practise taking over from consciousness and then letting the body take it all up to the next unexpected level. When breathing has settled into a natural rhythm there is a natural pause between breathes - where the breathing muscles are totally relaxed and inactive - resting - even at maximum physical output.

This isn't about cycling or endurance sport. The same thing happens in any physical activity - playing a musical instrument or skiing - just the same. It's why learning is interesting- and why anyone who isn't learning is dead.

One Last Thing
How do you know when something is "right"? Many years of teaching skiing and playing a fiddle (difficult!) have made this one clear to me. Something is right when eventually, instead of trying hard to do it, it starts happening to you - yes, "self organisation" again. In fact its only then that you really "understand" it. (whatever "understand" means). The other thing that indicates something to be basically "right" is that it then acts as a building block for the next levels - it opens doors.

Technical

Advantages of Reduced Breathing ("Siberian System of Self Suffocation" - as some Russian wag tagged it)

One surprising advantage is that increased CO2 levels in the blood reduce the perception of pain. Coffee tends to increase respiration but it also has a similar effect on pain. I don't find coffee having too big a  detrimental effect on my breathing (7 breathes per minute at rest) - so perhaps I am getting the advantage of both of them together.

Currently finding that rapidly increased physical efforts are hard to deal with in Reduced Breathing. The body needs a period of several minutes to adapt - for the breathing centre to get used to higher CO2 levels. This is most likely an accurate way to measure "warm up". Like many people I'm a bit too impatient to take 40 minutes to warm up so I often jump straight into the workout. It's during the first 20 minutes or so, when effort is rapidly increased, that you feel suffocated by nasal breathing. The solution I use is to back off a bit on the effort - not much - but enough to get reasonably comfortable. People who are in bad shape or health can react negatively to rapid increases in CO2 levels. It's clear that lung and blood CO2 levels rise rapidly with any sharp increase in physical output. The question is whether or not an improvement in breathing adaptation/health would deal with it - or whether the real issue is not having warmed up. My current "Control Pause (CP)" - that is -  a completely comfortable pause in breathing after an exhalation from a normal breath - is 43 seconds - which is good, but short of the 60 seconds recommended for optimum health. Some people can get this up to 180 seconds. This "CP"  is not just a test it is part of training for reduced breathing. I wasn't even aware of a natural pause in my own breathing between breathes until I started studying this. The length of time the Control Pause lasts is determined by how well your body is oxygenated - which is linked strongly to the level of CO2 in your body. Low CO2 levels though over-breathing means low Oxygen levels.

When an amateur diver wants to free swim underwater he will hyperventilate - over breathe - prior to diving. Professional divers will never do this because they know it can kill them - it's that powerful. The over breathing empties the CO2 out of the lungs and then the body can't extract oxygen out of the blood and the swimmer falls unconscious and drowns.

The trick with the most effective pedalling seems to be in coordinating both legs to work together through the centre - core/abdomen - instead of dealing with each pedal stroke as a separate event. Saddle height seems to play a critical role in this and even a few millimeters in height can throw it off - reducing the actions to disconnected components.

Analysis             Weight 67.5kg, Max hr 185bpm, Min hr 38bpm, Body fat 12.1%

Still a bit tired from previous outing - but very similar cardiac levels despite falling 1 minute behind last week's effort -bellow...