I’m going with the emotional stuff today. Trying to show you just how hard this Tour de France has been. It’s without a doubt the hardest tour I have ever watched. More scabs and injuries than I have seen in possibly all the Tours I have watched. I have nicked and edited some pictures from here as they are about the best I have seen.

For me, the Tour begins now. The last week is the hardest of the lot and about twice as hard as the other two weeks combined. After looking at these pictures, I am sure you would like to think, how much harder can it be? I am sure you are thinking perhaps these guys are not just skinny lycra clad weaklings. There are guys racing near the front with fractured elbows, cracked ribs and more tendinitis than left over lentils at a meat eaters retreat.

The evidence speaks for itself.

Fall on the descent, get back up, ride back into the pack. Finish with “that” wildness in the eyes. Rock star stuff..

Riding into yellow with a cracked elbow.

Breaking down completely after losing 10minutes. Cadel Evans, I salute you.

Just another day at the office, right?

Cav, what an emotional boy. All the tension, all the pressure released for all to see. Wearing his heart on his sleeve…

Sylvain has showed true grit and ballerness this Tour. He is my rider for the Tour so far. He will just NOT give up, at any stage. Thank you.

Make sure you watch today, it is going to be crazy. Andy has to attack today. He can’t let Menchov get another minute, never mind Sanchez. He may end up off the podium after the TT if he let’s them get a minute. Bert is either hiding something or hurting from something else. His spring is just not there for me. Either way, the Tour has been epic this year. The best part is that it has only just begun.

Continue Reading →

Original article here.

I’ve written in the past regarding the benefits of eccentric exercises for rehabilitation of a variety of overuse injuries. I also feel strongly that eccentric leg exercises are very valuable in strength training for runners who may have biomechanical limitations in regard to training volume.

I will commonly reduce training volumes in athletes with these concerns and replace some training with eccentric exercises to increase the durability in the muscles crucial for running. Note that most of these exercises were developed to fix chronic tendinopathy. In this use, returning the limb to neutral by the uninjured limbs is important. This isn’t the case in using the eccentric training for increasing run durability.

My routine includes strengthening the following muscles:

• Hip Abductors (Gluteals): The pelvic drop exercise is completed by standing on a step with the exercised leg, while holding onto a wall or stick if necessary for support. With both knees locked, the opposite, noninvolved pelvis was lowered towards the floor. Then, the suspended leg is lowered even further by bending the supporting leg. Finally, the suspended leg swivels and goes through the swing phase of gait by first swinging forward then backwards while the exercised leg stabilized the body by contracting the gluteus medius on that side.The reference used below describes a different exercise but supports eccentric strengthening for ITB syndrome.
• Knee Extensors (Quadriceps): Place your feet shoulder-width apart on an decline board. Lower yourself while standing on the knee intended for exercise (bend the knee approximately 60 degrees), then raise yourself while standing on the opposite knee. Build up to three sets of 15 repetitions, twice a day. You can add dumbells to increase weight as you progress.
• Calf Muscles (Gastrocsoleus): Stand with all your body weight on the exercised leg. From an upright position and standing with all body weight on the forefoot, with the heel extended off the back of a step, the calf muscle is loaded by having lowering the heel beneath the step. The foot is then brought back to neutral with either the use of both ankles. In rehabbing injured ankles, non-injured leg is used to return to the starting position.

The eccentric strengthening of the muscles allow them to be more resistant to the destruction we see during race efforts and hard running.

I hope you find these helpful.

---

References:
1. P Jonsson, H Alfredson. Superior results with eccentric compared to concentric quadriceps training in patients with jumper’s knee: a prospective randomised study. Br J Sports Med 2005;39:847 850 LINK: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1725058/pdf/v039p00847.pdf

2. M A Young, J L Cook, C R Purdam, Z S Kiss and H Alfredson Eccentric decline squat protocol offers superior results at 12 months compared with traditional eccentric protocol for patellar tendinopathy in volleyball players 2005;39;102-105 Br. J. Sports Med.

3. Alfredson, H., Pietila, T., Jonsson, P. & Lorentzon, R. Heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training for the treatment of chronic Achilles tendinosis. Am J Sports Med 1998 May-Jun;26(3):360-6

4. Alfredson, H. & Lorentzon, R. Chronic Achilles tendinosis: recommendations for treatment and prevention. Sports Med. 2000 Feb;29(2):135-46.

5. Fredericson M, Wolf C. Iliotibial band syndrome in runners: innovations in treatment. Sports Med. 2005;35:451–459. 21. Fredericson M, Yamamot

Continue Reading →

…have a plate of gnocchi or two, won’t you please?

The perils of power to weight ratio are showing here for the masses.

Would you want to look like this, to be the best in the world? I think his elbows freak me out more than his legs, or face.

Continue Reading →

image courtesy of Guy with Camera. I had the privilege of touching him on his studio last night. I am still glowing…

Change is the only constant in our lives. Managing the change and trying to form consistency in the world of change is one of the key factors to success. Many people are super scared of what they feel is change, but in reality, I believe the real thing they are scared of is the fear of failure which results from change.

The fear of failure is crippling. In a world where we are laughed at, pointed at and publicly humiliated for failure, its no wonder people are so scared of failure, yet completely uncomfortable in their current situations. The fear of failure is what keeps them from trying to improve their lives. A very scary thought.

We can all affect a positive on this by not laughing or talking badly or saying “I told you so” or “I knew it” when people fail. People will fail. Fact of life. Rather try to affect something positive from that failure for them. Try and find the positive in their experience and highlight that for them. That will lead to them possibly trying again, in spite of possibly failing again.

On that note, Zenhabits had a great post on the elements of change and how to go about change. The fear of failure is a highlight and Zenhabits have highlighted positive ways to clear this fear. Make the change possibly be using these very easy steps to successfully making the change.

The Elements of Change

So what’s the joyous path to making these changes and others? I’ve broken it down into six elements, many of which overlap and have very blurred lines. They’re useful, though, in considering how to make potential changes in your life.

1. Beating inertia. We all have inertia — that resistance to change, especially major change that disrupts our living patterns or way of thinking. Sometimes it’s not difficult to overcome — we can get excited to make a big change and want to overhaul a certain part of our lives. The joyous path, though, is in the middle ground between no change and drastic change. It’s in small changes — as small as possible. Small changes mean it’s not hard to get started, but also that the change is sustainable. If you make a drastic change, there is a great likelihood that it won’t stick very long.

If you’re feeling that inertia, set out to make as tiny a change as you can — just get out and walk for 5 minutes, or start writing or painting or playing your violin for 5 minutes. You can do anything for 5 minutes — it should seem ridiculously easy, but that’s the point.

2. Beating the resistance of others. This resistance can be even tougher to beat than your own inertia — very often people in our lives do not want change. They’ll be negative, or even actively try to stop us from changing. There are various strategies for beating this: ask for their help and get them on your side, or negotiate a way for you to make change without disrupting their lives too much, or if necessary, cut them out of your life for a little bit. Read more.

3. Finding the joy. Here is the key to it all. Forget the rest of these steps if you need to, but never forget this one. Doing something you hate is possible, for a little while, but you’ll never sustain it. If you hate running, you’ll never keep up the habit for long. You need to find the joy in doing the activity, and when you do, you’re golden. So either choose an activity that you love, or find something to love in the activity, and grab on to that.

4. Keeping the joy alive. Joy can be fleeting, and to keep it going, you need to nurture it. This is an art form, and I can’t give you step-by-step instructions here. If I could, I’d be a billionaire, as it would change the world. But some advice: be grateful for your joy, every day. Be in the moment with that activity, instead of having your mind drift elsewhere. Refresh your joy often, by starting over or approaching things from a new angle or doing something a bit differently. Find new people to share this joy with, people who love it as much as you.

5. Celebrating the little victories. We often get discouraged because we’re not as far along as we’d like: we don’t have those six-pack abs yet (after a month of exercise!) or we’re not a full-time blogger yet (after three months of blogging!). But we forget how far we’ve come. Every step along the path is a victory, not because we’ve accomplished a goal but simply because we made the step. Celebrate those steps — jump up and down in joy, scream Halelujah, brag about it on Facebook, post a victorious message in bold marker on your fridge. You rock.

6. Making it a part of your life. Whether a change stays with you forever or not, making a change has value, in the momentary joy you get from doing it, and in what you learn from it. But making a change stick can be a great thing. To integrate change into your life, it must become a part of your daily routine. If you want to meditate, you need to do it at a regular time: right after having your coffee and before showering for work, for example. Having the coffee becomes your trigger for this new habit, and as the coffee is already integrated into your life, it becomes an anchor upon which this new habit will be grounded. The more times you do the new habit after this trigger, and the more regularly you do it, the more firmly it will stick.

And lastly

One last note, to anyone making changes: you will fail. I don’t say that to discourage you, but to release you from the fear of failure … because if you already know it will happen, then there’s no pressure to avoid it. Failure is an inevitable part of change, and in fact it should be celebrated — without failure, we’d learn nothing. Fail, fail often, and learn. Then you’ll be better equipped for the next attempt. Find joy in every attempt, in every victory, in every failure, and the change will be a reward in itself.

‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ ~Samuel Beckett

That is all. Off you go. Be brilliant out there…

Continue Reading →

I believe I am going to be talking to my legs many a moment in the next few weeks as I absolutely do my best to obliterate them into being the strongest, leanest most economically endurance sports orientated pins in the world. Well, my world at least. The aim is to build a bit more strength for the purposes of going up the volcano in Maui on the mountain bike, but for me the greatest gain I wish to make is more economy at slightly faster speeds.

In true style, I am even going to tell you how I plan on doing it. Then you will sit back and watch and if it works, follow the rules, but if I crash and burn, laugh and point… right? You with me sunshine?

Swim:

I am going back to squad as of 1 August 2010. 8 weeks with squad should sort me out 1 shot in terms of open water swimming (by open water I mean in the sea with the turtles in Kona) for the Ironman swim. No wetsuits allowed, even if I will have an Orca RS1 Swimskin to help me along.

Last Kona I neglected my swim a little and I missed a key pack early on. 8 weeks of hopefully chasing the White Rabbit in the pool will make me a better man.

Bike:

So apart from having what will be the most tricked out Ceepo Katana in Kona, as well as the most tricked out Morewood Zula for Maui, I actually need to work on the bike, as I will have to do for the next 5-60 years of my life. Work on the bike never stops, contrary to popular belief.

Some of the key components to building a faster bike (Maui):

a. Threshold training (AT)
b. Weight Loss
c. Mental coaching (the pain means its good, right?)
d. Bike skills (learn to bomb down a volcano in the big ring like a Caveman or a Gollywog (when he doesn’t shave for 2 days))
e. More ME work (endurance power)

They key components for the Kona bike are different to the one in PE, by virtue that the course has about triple the climbing in. So here are my focus points:

a. ME work (sustained power) for the rollers, of which there are MANY in Kona.
b. Aero climbing, so staying aero over the rollers by teaching the body to remain aero and get the extra power to be as economical as possible.
c. Pack riding. I will more than likely be in a group of 40 guys in Kona, not on my own like PE, so I have to practise a bit of pace variance as the advantage of the pack is huge.
d. Economy. The run in Kona is freaking brutal. I need to bike as easy as possible, but want to ride under 5 hours again. This means I have to be stronger than in PE, but also that it has to be sustainable for 3 hours after the ride.

Run:

I have enrolled in a testing program at the Sport Science Institute here to learn a little more about my running. I outran best hopes in PE by 5 minutes, and almost outran it by 15minutes if I had just known a little more about my running. I am hoping the lactate testing, VO2max etc will give me a better insight into how I need to be training to achieve what I want to on the run in Kona. I will continue to use all the things which have taken me from 3:52 to 3:15 on the marathon at PE but I wanted to try something new, so according to the smartest people around, we are going to work on my ability to run more economically, not necessarily faster. The speed will come as a byproduct. More than anything, I want to be able to run stronger over the last 10km than I did in PE. Not by much, all I am looking for is a 10% extra at the end of the race. I faltered in PE due to a bloated stomach (too much sugar) and ill preparation (Sani2c and Cape Epic limited running in the last 8 weeks before Ironman) and this time around there are no excuses to NOT have that 10%.

Maui – realistically, I am going to be hanging on for dear life at that point, running a super tough 11km beach/rock/road/mud run 2 weeks after Kona, but I am going to try and remain calm and rip the legs off it.

In the middle, during this big block of training, however, my legs will come and go. Today, for instance, it hurts when I sit still (mean new gym set on Monday being the major culprit). I have hurt them this week already, but now need to manage the recovery process to the weekend where 10 hours of training await the poor pins. There is planned massage and floatation planned, so I should be ok. If I do blow up, you will be first to know, saying “I told you so”.

If I don’t push the limits out, I will never know how good I could possibly be. I am willing to risk the occasional blow out to know how far the rabbit hole goes, if you know what I mean?

Continue Reading →

We have now had enough time in Le Tour to make some serious opinions known. Being lucky enough to actually know a few guys racing has some advantages and having ridden behind Andy Shleck for a few hours around Stellenbosch I understand how fluent the man is. There is a very cool competition running at Fellow #BOOM Custodian Marc Perel’s Tour Blog. Win some Oakley Livestrong shades.

Back to the action we go:

Here is my personal opinion: Bert (Contador) has been stronger over the first 10 days. Now before you start throwing inanimate objects at me, please read the rest of the article to understand. Andy has profited from being well placed but is not the stronger rider man on man. To recap:

Progolgue: Bert is 44 seconds up on Andy over 10km. Does NOT bode well for a final 52km TT, where the difference is likely to be around 2min over Andy, by Bert.

Stage 3: Andy places himself perfectly and gains 1:13 over Bert by riding Spartacus (Cancellara) wheel through the cobbles. Bert loses an extra 20seconds by puncturing with 1km to go where there are no cars. Best tactical move of the entire race by Andy and surprised Bert missed it. Had he not punctured it would have been 53seconds.

Stage 9: Andy attacks but gets roughly 2 seconds until Dirty (Sanchez) comes by and takes the gap to 10seconds. Andy profits from another rider again. Lucky boy.

So if you take the 20seconds off for the puncture and the 10seconds he gained by following someone else`s attack (theoretically) their total accumulated time difference is 11seconds. All that on the FLAT parts of the ride, where Andy out rode Bert on the COBBLES nogal. On the climbs there was NO difference and every attack was covered. One on one, Bert is up 44 seconds in a 10km time trial. He has spared his legs by attacking as little as possible through the Alps, saving his team for the Massiv Central which the riders now pass through to get to the Pyrenees, which is Bert`s homeland. Last year Bert made all his gaps in the Pyrenees, which came first in the 2009 Tour. The climbs are totally different to the Alps, where last year Andy was possibly stronger than Bert.

Realistically, I still believe Bert has a 1:15 advantage in terms of what Andy needs to be in the run for the title, all while getting through his least favorite mountains and the cobbles and only losing time on the cobbles. I can’t see the “Andy is the clear favorite” mentality just yet, but my opinion is just that, mine.

What we do know is that these two guys are evenly matched throughout the Alps, in the mountains. Nothing to separate them in Andy’s favorite mountains, where he was stronger than Bert last year.

Here is what I am thinking so far:

Bert will gain time in the Pyrenees. At some point he is going to give one of his big attacks and Andy will not respond. Andy can attack at 2km to go, Bert can do it from 5km out. That is a vital difference between them. Around 1min30 to 2min over Andy I feel is what Bert is good for, as history has proven. His team will be more fresh and possibly he will be more fresh. He seems to be looking forward to the Pyrenees, where the locals speak his language, where he is earthed. He will ride the crud out of Andy as much as he can so that in the last time trial, he will gain his 2min over Andy. Andy will this Tour have profited from having ridden on the wheel of the best cobble rider on planet earth more than he would have profited in the mountains. That is my prediction.

My prediction is that it will be closer than last year. 2min in it, maybe less overall. That is astonishing if you think about it. Signs of a cleaner sport, of the pressure it takes to be reigning champion. Their bikes are even identical. S-Works with SRAM Red, Zipp 202′s. The fact that there is only 1 time trial this year also means a closer race and is maybe the perfect Tour for Andy. Next year there may be 2 time trials and no cobbles, so there is a 5min advantage vs 2min already for Bert.

We are seeing a really tough Tour this year. More crashes than I have ever seen. It’s been up to 40deg Celsius out there. The first hour each day has been more crazy than what Phil Liggett & Co can remember in recent history. Reading some of the blogs of the guys who ride in the back is interesting. The domestiques will ride to the cars 5 or 6 times a day, to collect about 10kg of stuff, then have to sprint through the bunch (going at 50km/h) to get bottles and food to everyone, only to have to do it again every 30min or so. It’s an insane job and must kill the legs. They are really heroes in my opinion.

Two stand-outs yesterday. One was this guy…

He rode with a cracked elbow. 4800m vertical ascent over 150km with a cracked elbow. Have you ever hit your “funny” bone? Now imagine its cracked and you have to ride a bike over bumpy terrain. The guy is a legend for even attempting that.

The other was Jens Voigt. He paced Andy for as long as he could and when he went #BOOM it was spectacular. He went from riding 30km/h to 3km/h in 3 pedal strokes. He was gasping for air like a skydiving guppy over the Namib Desert and had, as Sherwin would say “had a very deep dig into the pain suitcase”.

Viva le Tour. It is far from over…

Continue Reading →

Right, it’s cold out there. Our celeb chef has launched a new project called Aficionado with some other smart peeps and I wanted to do some homely, natural food this week. After getting through endless pages of great food on his old blog I got stuck at this one. No wheat, free range and yum yum yum! Enjoy

I had a good giraffe (laugh) the other night, watching TV. There’s a show on BBC Food which is all about how some people are scared of food. Like, properly terrified of it. The particular episode I watched had a dude who freaked out every time you brought fruit or vegetables anywhere near him. I’m not kidding. He started sweating, shut his eyes and blocked his ears. It was truly bizarre and I laughed unashamedly. As the programme went on I realised it wasn’t supposed to be funny. Not that this made me stop laughing. What was interesting to me was the reason the guy was so scared of the fruit and vegetables. You see..he didn’t know what they were. He was scared of the unknown. Once I had figured this out the show became a lot more interesting to me. I say this because I am constantly trying to explain to people not to be scared of food. You can’t learn unless you try things. Use ingredients you aren’t familiar with. Buy whole foods and unusual cuts of meat. Get inventive. You’ll find out soon enough the recipes you can come up with are limitless.

A good example of a strange looking ingredient is celeriac. I spotted some in Woolies the other day and used it to take a pretty standard dish to a level that made it interesting. Here’s how:

Stuff you’ll need to feed 2:

* 400g stewing beef, cut into chunks (I used free-range)
* 1 tin of tomatoes
* Half an onion, sliced
* A red chilli, roughly chopped
* A handful of mixed wild mushrooms, roughly chopped
* Half a cup of red wine (The Ninja would recommend Kleinhoekkloof 2007 Shiraz. Use whatever you like but I do like the way a shiraz has the spiciness to support this dish)
* Half a cup of water
* 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
* A handful of parsley, roughly chopped
* 1 celeriac bulb, skin removed and cut into cubes
* 1 butternut, skin removed and cut into cubes
* 2 teaspoons of paprika
* A pinch of cayenne pepper
* A handful of parsley, roughly chopped with extra for garnish

Okay, what to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 20o degrees celsius. In a deep pot fry your beef in olive oil until browned. Remove meat and set aside.

2. Add onion and the mushrooms to the pot along with the red wine. Cook for a minute and add the garlic and chilli. Cook for another minute and add the tomatoes and the water.

3. Return meat to pot, bring liquid to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook on a medium to low heat with the lid on for as long as you can. (3 hours or more is ideal. If you don’t have time make sure it is at least 1 hour. Anything less and the meat will be tough). About 45 minutes before serving remove lid to allow liquid to reduce and thicken. Add the parsley at this stage.

4. Place the butternut and celeriac in a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and add the paprika and cayenne pepper. Season with sea salt and black pepper and shake to make sure vegetables are covered. Cook for 20 minutes, remove and shake. Cook for 25 minutes more, remove and mash.

5. To serve spoon celeriac/butternut mash into deep bowls and pour over some of the stew. Garnish with parsley.

The celeriac is a funny-looking thing but it adds a great depth of flavour when combined with butternut. Together they work as a beautiful alternative to mashed potato and visually the dish is more attractive. How smooth you make the mash is up to you. Personally I like to leave it looking a bit rustic – I think the extra texture is a bonus. Of course, it’s also a lot healthier than mashed potatoes which is another plus.

There you have it. A nice little winter dish with an ingredient that you really have no right to be afraid to use. Give it a shot. What’s the worst that could happen?

Cheers,
Jamie Who

Continue Reading →

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jeffrey Tang of The Art of Great Things. I found the article on zenhabits

When we think about simplifying, we usually think about subtraction. Getting rid of excess stuff. Clearing away obligations. Deleting old emails.

We simplify by paring away the layers of something until we find the core. Too many books on the shelf? Give them away, one by one, until you’re left with a manageable number of the volumes you really enjoy.

But decluttering this way is hard. For example:

Do you really want to pull dozens of books off the shelf one by one, trying to decide whether to keep or sell each one?

Do you have the time to go through hundreds of backlogged emails, choosing which to save and which to delete?

And there’s another obstacle. When you’re forced to choose to keep or discard something, uncertainty rears its ugly head. “Can you really afford to throw this away?” it whispers. “Are you sure you won’t need it eventually? Sure, you’re on a simplification kick now – but will you regret it later?” Playing the willpower game with uncertainty gets exhausting.

Simplifying Backwards is Easier

If you’re having trouble deciding when to hold on to something and when to let it go, try doing things backward. Learn to add responsibly instead of subtracting.

I call it the clean-slate approach to simplifying. Here’s how it works, in three steps. (more…)

Continue Reading →

I was away from technology on purpose, even though I missed posting every single day. I feel fresh with content and fresh with ideas and ready for the next 13 week push to Hawaii and all the work that goes with that in terms of life, job, love, friendships, new bikes, new toys, new awesome stuff and all the trials and tribulations I am going to inevitably face. Here though, are the best articles from the week. Just click the numbers;

1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20.

That’s about the sum of it. Wine, Sports, Photography, Balance, Fun, Laughter, Sunsets and Inspiration. Have a great week ahead…

Continue Reading →

I’ll be back next week. Ready to rumble.

Continue Reading →