tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6820838355920800082012-01-31T17:59:52.065-07:00Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.comBlogger1281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-31301629721660512312012-01-09T12:57:00.001-07:002012-01-09T12:57:56.771-07:00

We've heard it before: Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. And for most people, this evokes images of a person doing something wrong over and over again to the point that the wrong skill is ingrained and it can't be changed. With this model for learning, unless you have perfected the movement beforehand, you cannot go on to repeat it. This means that event-specific endurance

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-19142744565188538082011-12-30T17:43:00.001-07:002011-12-30T17:45:55.021-07:00

These lists are always fun to make, so instead of complaining about other people's lists, I decided to write my own. Top-10 Women 1 - Helen Jenkins 2 - Andrea Hewitt 3 - Chrissie Wellington 4 - Leanda Cave 5 - Mirinda Carfrae 6 - Sarah Groff 7 - Melissa Rollinson 8 - Sarah Haskins 9 - Paula Findlay 10 - Rachel Joyce Top-10 Men 1 - Alistair Brownlee 2 - Craig Alexander 3 - Jonathan Brownlee

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-87388905156244884592011-12-19T16:55:00.001-07:002011-12-19T16:58:25.317-07:00

"I respect coaches who have the passion to pursue high performance and find a way to make it happen with or without any external support. The best find a way to do it, and do it for the right reasons. They don’t wait around for a job to be offered to them, but are out creating these environments and doing it their way, and show their work through the consistent performance of their athletes over

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-17611651623710294882011-12-07T10:54:00.001-07:002011-12-07T10:56:59.893-07:00

"There's not too many Americans out there running 2:08 so I'll take it." -- Ryan Hall."To be honest it's pretty sad that this kind of time was good enough to be the top Japanese man." -- Yuki Kawauchi

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-2886871984631541942011-10-31T08:57:00.004-06:002011-10-31T09:02:25.214-06:00

"One of the principles is trust. I trust that the athletes are fully committed to their goals and the work we do together. The athletes trust me to provide them with guidance to achieve their goals. The other core principle is belief. I believe in the work I am doing and in the ability of my athletes. The athletes believe that under my guidance they will be successful.All athletes in the Squad,

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-18947849373036426332011-10-19T17:19:00.005-06:002011-10-19T17:26:00.229-06:00

I have been receiving enquires about the Squad and thought it would be a good idea to answer publicly a few of the frequently asked questions. We're still more than 1 week from the deadline to turn in applications, so get to work! If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at pstriathlon@gmail.comWhat is The Triathlon Squad?A new-concept professional triathlon squad.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-27550213735128514392011-10-14T16:07:00.003-06:002011-10-14T16:22:49.414-06:00

I know a lot of you reading this have disdain for a professional sport like (american) football. But like with any sport, there are things to learn from football. I heard this story about Tony Dungy from Warren Sapp in some radio show. When Tony Dungy was coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they went to play an away game and they lost... by a lot. On the plane trip back, the players were rowdy,

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-9430894574339495382011-10-10T10:02:00.002-06:002011-10-10T10:06:08.854-06:00

Exactly one year ago, I launched a very ambitious project: an elite training squad operating in North America. The goal was to fill an important gap that existed in the US, the lack of a professional training squad that provided an environment for athletes to gradually, yet progressively, develop the skills required for world-class performances in triathlon. The Triathlon Squad has had a

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-10837430796736455252011-08-15T21:54:00.008-06:002011-08-16T06:57:48.077-06:00

In Greek mythology, sirens were bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. In endurance circles, we have our version of the sirens. Their song tells us there is an easier, faster way to be successful. You can train less, recover more and be more successful than your peers. You can have

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-4878307161666281192011-08-07T17:53:00.009-06:002011-08-08T10:34:59.356-06:00

This is a simple concept in coaching, but I see it being forgotten too often. Here it goes: As a coach, part of your job is to be ON THE ATHLETE'S SIDE! Many coaches are great at accepting accolades when things go well, but quickly try to shed their responsibility when things go wrong. They blame the athlete for the options they make. Guess what Mr, when an athlete decides something, it's your

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-74763498738320537992011-08-06T03:52:00.001-06:002011-08-06T03:53:59.397-06:00

I wrote the blog below in December 2009. Big congrats to Sarah Groff and her coach, Darren Smith. Well done, guys!"Doing the right thingBeing an observer of the sport, I follow what is going on with some/most of the top performers. I read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, it's part of the job. One of such athletes is Sarah Groff. I never met Ms. Groff or even talked to her on email, but I've

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-2488473445701455652011-08-05T13:20:00.000-06:002011-08-05T13:21:03.880-06:00

"I just want to be the best I can be. And I'll do whatever it takes to be that. I could have been really comfortable where I was in Teddington, nice house, family, friends, watching the Arsenal. But if you want to win medals, then you have to do whatever is necessary. Every second counts. One, two per cent could make a difference. I went to the US to find those percentages. People say don't

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-79456019901951941262011-07-18T09:16:00.002-06:002011-07-18T10:31:32.864-06:00

A lot of times in my work as a coach, I see athletes, both those that I coach and others that I observe, just settling. Just going with the safe, comfortable option. This translates into the decisions they make. It might be in the big decisions, like what races to race, where to live or who to pick as a coach. But also in the small decisions, like cramming workouts to free up an afternoon,

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-4943554445966913512011-07-11T16:47:00.003-06:002011-07-11T17:04:15.793-06:00

Underneath the amazing results in Ironman racing in the last few weeks, a trend is more and more noticeable: top athletes have "their" races and no other top athlete shows up to contest them. So you have races like the men's races at Roth, Austria or Switzerland, where besides the designated winner, there really wasn't any competition. On the women's side, it's been the case that top athletes

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-29687582794156366212011-05-10T14:54:00.002-06:002011-05-10T14:54:53.309-06:00

You need to WANT it!

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-32757367587275946982011-03-28T22:27:00.000-06:002011-03-28T22:28:21.529-06:00

"On Monday, I do a 90-minute run, an hour swim, an hour in the gym and two hours on the bike. On Tuesday I swim quite hard in the morning, do an easy run and an easy bike ride and finish with a track session in the evening. Wednesday starts with a long easy session in the pool, a 90-minute run and then three hours on my bike. On Thursday, I’ll swim in the morning and do one or two runs and then a

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-3067161592650848172011-03-21T16:21:00.004-06:002011-03-21T16:26:33.803-06:00

"Mr. STEWART: I had the dream that I would not have Bud Harrelson's body. I thought I would have, perhaps, I would grow into something. So I wanted to be an athlete. I didn't want to be in show business.It was a very different world, and I know a lot of people here are of that era. It was not - we were not in the world where everybody was special yet.(Soundbite of laughter)Mr. STEWART: We had not

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-69518911715001799232011-03-04T19:51:00.001-07:002011-03-04T19:52:51.155-07:00

"I think more and more in modern sport that athletes are a pawn in what is a modern corporate sports game. It is what it is. Athletes are both expected or hoped that we will simply be OK with a pat on the head and shut up and run. It is like a disease that almost all Olympic sports bureaucrats fall into this classic position: It does not matter how my guys do, so long as it appears that I did all

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-45067692185605718872010-10-31T00:59:00.000-06:002010-10-31T01:00:32.778-06:00

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. Sun Tzu

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-84404405154876909172010-10-25T09:00:00.001-06:002010-10-25T09:00:00.289-06:00

Saw this quote on the Team TBB website, the text is not signed, I wonder who wrote it..."Great efforts are needed to match great dreams. The girls have worked that out. The guys on the other hand, well they always seem to take a little longer to figure it out. The ‘don't train hard but smart’ brigade of conmen seem to resonate more on the boys. Women on the other hand tend to be able to see

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-91995604497587018722010-10-18T07:17:00.001-06:002011-03-04T12:56:08.376-07:00

It's been one week now that I publicly announced the squad formation and reception has been great. I've received inquires about the squad from more than 30 athletes, and around 10 have sent in complete applications. We're still 2 weeks from the deadline to turn in applications, so keep them coming!Since I've gotten many questions regarding the squad, I thought I would publish a FAQ. If you have

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-81498722731255573112010-10-11T09:00:00.000-06:002010-10-11T09:01:29.893-06:00

On my blog and in private conversations I have pointed to the need to form a strong elite training squad based in North America. Therefore I decided to do something about that and start a very ambitious project. A professional training squad that provides an environment for athletes to gradually, yet progressively, develop the skills required for world-class performances in triathlon. The squad

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-10548518378804661002010-10-04T09:13:00.000-06:002010-10-04T09:14:16.871-06:00

Jonnyo “invented” that expression: “Getting the work done”. And slowly but surely, the expression and the attitude behind it was adopted by everyone in the posse. I use the word attitude because there really is an attitude behind “getting the work done”.“Getting the work done" is about trusting what you are doing and focusing all your energy into execution, both in training and racing. The sport

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-9336028624978482072010-10-01T15:57:00.000-06:002010-10-01T15:58:50.020-06:00

“What it takes” is an expression everyone likes. The question “Do I have what it takes?” is in the mind of every athlete many times during their athletic career. The question “Do you have what it takes?” is in the mind of any coach whenever he or she starts coaching a new athlete. Yet, the answer to that question is not easy. “What it takes” is very hard to quantify and even hard to show to

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-15100566135029238832010-09-27T15:29:00.001-06:002010-09-27T15:31:00.858-06:00

Being close to home, I made the trip down south to watch USAT Nationals. And as Brendan Sexton, from Australia, passed Jarrod Shoemaker, the best US athlete, for the win, I saw that as a sign of the times in US triathlon. Not the performances at this race in itself, since this was a race that counted for little for most of the top athletes, but it was kind of an appropriate epilogue for the

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-43901607086495207812010-07-31T12:00:00.002-06:002010-07-31T12:03:49.146-06:00

Yet another excellent blog post by Wayne Goldsmith:The Accountability Myth – Why the current Leadership models in High Performance Sport are failing (badly)My favorite section:"Accountability is like being pregnant: you either are or you are not.If you accept a leadership role in a professional team then you are accountable: not half accountable, semi-accountable or fractionally accountable.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-18773158056622160642010-07-29T20:24:00.002-06:002010-07-29T20:27:20.788-06:00

According to the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, "Triathletes are sorely lacking in strength, speed, power, flexibility, accuracy, agility, and coordination."And... he is right. Because in order to be a proficient triathlete, you really don't need the above abilities in above average quantity. It's called... specificity.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-52123843801583407292010-06-07T14:45:00.001-06:002010-06-07T14:48:50.573-06:00

http://www.usatriathlon.org/blogs/london_calling/posts/1964-triathlon-trials

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-64579602435370532102010-05-22T20:42:00.001-06:002010-05-22T20:44:52.001-06:00

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-39404441835710407162010-04-28T14:48:00.000-06:002010-04-28T14:49:44.538-06:00

"The challenge for me is simple. I always want to do well, always want to win. I don't need anybody else to establish the challenge for me." - José Mourinho

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-50943097093309504972010-04-21T13:39:00.002-06:002010-04-21T13:42:29.678-06:00

A reminder by coach McMillan. Here's a great quote:"I guess what I'm trying to say is that running [triathlon] is not a straight line of improvement and happy times. It has periods that are dark and troubling. But, and here is the message, you have to live through it. It's part of the deal. You have to buckle down and do the things you need to do to get through it. Sometimes that means taking a

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-20875742172534840862010-04-05T09:00:00.000-06:002010-04-05T10:59:00.123-06:00

I don't know who this guy is, but I like what he writes:http://traintoplay.com/downloads/GURU-ISM%20AND%20THE%20DECLINE%20OF%20COACHING.pdfThanks to Coach Jesus Filliol for the link.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-81079886194655852922010-04-02T13:25:00.001-06:002010-04-02T13:27:25.582-06:00

"You should do a blog about how most of the good shit you post you get from me" - JF

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-18873282594027327312010-03-26T10:50:00.003-06:002010-03-27T07:18:30.566-06:00

Dear Mr Allen,I would like to thank you for the personal email you sent me. I was very excited when I saw that you sent me the "March Power Tip."Unfortunately, I have rather bad news for you. There really isn't such a thing as "Anaerobic Capacity repeatability." There is Anaerobic Power and Anaerobic Capacity. What you call "Anaerobic Capacity repeatability" is really... Anaerobic Capacity. What

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-10307573653593764402010-03-25T12:12:00.002-06:002010-03-25T12:16:06.776-06:00

"The principle of core stability has gained wide acceptance in training for the prevention of injury and as a treatment modality for rehabilitation of various musculoskeletal conditions in particular of the lower back. There has been surprisingly little criticism of this approach up to date. This article re-examines the original findings and the principles of core stability/spinal stabilisation

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-30530319456835062162010-03-01T10:18:00.003-07:002010-03-01T10:19:43.113-07:00

I still get weird looks when I tell people that I don't want my athletes to stretch and that I strongly dislike yoga...http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/Effects_of_Static_Stretching_on_Energy_Cost_and.99440.aspx

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-42326595296608063282010-02-24T14:06:00.004-07:002010-02-24T14:41:50.732-07:00

Some of you might remember a couple of blogs I wrote in May of 2008 regarding the use of O2 Metabolic Assessment tests and "metabolic efficiency." (if not, go back and read Mythbusters and Chewing the fat).In this last one, I started out by saying:"Apparently, the fat utilization myth is alive and well"Well folks, it seems that almost two years after those blogs, the fat utilization myth is still

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-89580260282230074492010-02-10T08:46:00.002-07:002010-02-10T08:51:17.075-07:00

I got this link from Josef, really good stuff. Here's a quote:"The thing that blew me away is that it was immediately apparent that he comes from a COMPLETELY different world than we do. He’s right, we aren’t even close. Nowhere near it.When guys like him talk about training it’s not about getting faster or making some team, it’s about 'winning world cups'."

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-80593059999179485482010-01-27T17:28:00.004-07:002010-01-27T17:32:19.292-07:00

As if all the fake research was not bad enough, Nature has now officially jumped the shark with this paperhttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/nature08723.htmlSimply sad.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-76071869701236209222010-01-11T23:17:00.003-07:002010-01-11T23:28:22.265-07:00

I'm a little late to the party, but I found really good quotes in this paper:'While arguments can be made that tradition, resistance to change and even superstition may negatively influence training methods of elite endurance athletes, sports history tells us that athletes are experimental and innovative. Observing the training methods of the world's best endurance athletes represent a more valid

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-58860829695859553442010-01-06T15:58:00.002-07:002010-01-06T16:02:25.059-07:00

I just read an outstanding blog post! High Performance Sports Systems – The Non System System

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-45739399577557742952009-12-27T11:05:00.007-07:002009-12-27T11:39:22.121-07:00

Being an observer of the sport, I follow what is going on with some/most of the top performers. I read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, it's part of the job. One of such athletes is Sarah Groff. I never met Ms. Groff or even talked to her on email, but I've been following her career for some years. It was quite puzzling to see her form crumble when it was crunch time to get the qualification

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-3880149303639408952009-12-23T15:46:00.005-07:002009-12-23T16:52:10.407-07:00

"George : Why did it all turn out like this for me? I had so much promise. I was personable, I was bright. Oh, maybe not academically speaking, but ... I was perceptive. I always know when someone's uncomfortable at a party. It became very clear to me sitting out there today, that every decision I've ever made, in my entire life, has been wrong. My life is the opposite of everything I want it to

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-57861411702333976382009-11-13T13:57:00.004-07:002009-11-13T16:00:23.189-07:00

I read this bit on Peter King's column on SI.com, I thought it was pretty good. About Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis:'1. Marvin Lewis is not kidding around. Not many things I see on video make me sit up and say, Whoa. But when HBO's "Hard Knocks'' captured Lewis ripping the tar out of his team after a sloppy preseason loss to St. Louis, I thought, Marvin's tired of getting pushed

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-82671685756894590812009-11-03T21:07:00.002-07:002009-11-04T08:06:19.818-07:00

After USC's surprising loss at Oregon, USC coach Pete Carroll responded to critics with the following:"We don't change our philosophies after something like this, because we believe in what we're doing, and we believe in the stuff we've done over the years. How we respond is to go back to the truth of who we are and demonstrating resiliency. It's not about changing -- it's about recapturing."I

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-91070524087902338772009-11-02T06:47:00.001-07:002009-11-02T06:49:38.241-07:00

Some months ago I was reading a piece in Runner’s World (!) and in it, Marty Liquori explained the reason why his training group lived in Gainesville, FL: It was a cheap place to live, with good weather year-round and decent places to run. And I immediately thought, how many pro triathletes would be caught dead in Gainesville, let alone live there?I coach athletes that live in Alabama and

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-20254004512566732722009-10-27T22:50:00.002-06:002009-10-27T23:04:13.829-06:00

I was just reading this, and came upon this section:"At the risk of dismissing its value, the coaches probably gained enormous value from other coaches' presentations - Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach) would have heard some valuable tips from Terrence Mahon (Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor, among others), and vice versa, but I dare say that the science would not have changed the way any of the

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-6156274383533498402009-10-11T13:08:00.004-06:002009-10-12T08:00:29.577-06:00

Reader "hal_jordan_1" posted this on the comments section of this blog:"ok, this is unrelated to your post but it's something that bugs me. You should seriously rip this guy appart, he is loosing it. Not only Wellington has shitty technique, now all the TBB's that have gotten FISTed by him got good results because of him, starting with Biscay.http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-36647972917838515462009-09-25T05:55:00.001-06:002009-09-25T05:56:48.235-06:00

Very good blog entry here.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-74466060181288627152009-09-23T09:38:00.006-06:002009-09-25T05:57:13.431-06:00

Back in January, I wrote some blogs regarding the USAT HP program, and it turned into a UK versus US competition. Not that I am keeping score, but I thought this article was a good follow-up.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-30820356880718242042009-08-19T16:40:00.001-06:002009-08-19T16:43:17.139-06:00

Run More, Think Less.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-38679890438316477242009-08-17T08:39:00.002-06:002009-08-17T08:46:37.838-06:00

I was reading this article, and I noticed the following quote from Shane Sutton, the British Cycling Head Coach:"Dave [Performance Director for British Cycling] always said if we’re not in the top three in our field we shouldn’t be in the building.”When looking for world-class results, it's not only up to the athletes to strive for excellence. The culture of excellence should be present from top

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-25109044131205493312009-08-11T11:51:00.007-06:002009-08-11T21:04:11.013-06:00

I sometimes hear the word "generous" to compliment this or that coach. Someone compliments this or that coach saying that he/she is generous with their knowledge. And I always find this funny, because the best coaches I know are not generous with their knowledge. In fact, when talking to people that are not their athletes, they hardly talk about training or coaching. Of course, some of them are

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-61332082867849706782009-08-06T12:38:00.002-06:002009-08-06T12:43:27.082-06:00

"When there is some sort of test that improves performance, I will do it. Most of those tests only serve to either be another service that you can charge athletes, or a way of justifying pseudo-scientific work and/or jobs. If I thought lactate tests were helpful, I would do them myself. I STOPPED doing lactate tests back in 2003. VO2max tests are interesting, but with little value to the training

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-17438154505606930402009-08-03T19:45:00.004-06:002009-08-03T19:49:10.116-06:00

From now on, every time someone asks me what is my coaching philosophy, I will express myself using this poster...

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-76546391680058693532009-07-31T09:01:00.002-06:002009-07-31T09:32:21.334-06:00

Reader Tom E from Penticton, BC asks:"Paulo, I know you are a smart guy and I want a serious answer. Have you ever read anything correlating athletes doing weights vs those that don't and the prevelance of injuries in each group? Trying to prevent injuries is the only reason I do them... and I think they do help keep the injuries to a minimum (for me). Absolutely nothing to prove it though so

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-30673294076434244122009-06-27T21:31:00.002-06:002009-06-27T21:32:28.372-06:00

"You play to win the game" - Herm Edwards

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-42574316307756278012009-06-23T13:01:00.006-06:002009-06-23T14:34:00.485-06:00

Since the ITU circuit was in my neck of the woods (sort of..), I made the trek down to our nation's capital to watch the third leg of the ITU World Championship Series (WCS). And it was well worth the trip because I got to watch two amazing races.The first thing you notice is the atmosphere that surrounds the event. Everything about it breathes elite racing. The start line is not composed of a

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-50780776151022924842009-06-12T11:07:00.002-06:002009-06-12T11:14:52.147-06:00

Blog reader DanO sent me an email with a question regarding running off the bike in training:"Hi Paulo, I just read this thread on slowtwitch and I was curious why you said what you did. Is it your belief that it is not effective to run after biking in training? Only at certain times in a training cycle? Never? I always thought it was part of the sport specificity in triathlon training. I'm

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-65959728518183324272009-03-06T17:31:00.003-07:002009-03-06T17:35:14.788-07:00

"The irony of commitment is that it is deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life".Anne Morriss, by way of my TGIF grande cappuccino.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-7511372394746596462009-02-22T19:29:00.002-07:002009-02-22T19:32:51.550-07:00

That means 'buyer beware' in Latin. To illustrate this concept, at least 3000 years old, I thought I would leave these two links for your consideration:http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2008/11/coaching-opening.htmlhttp://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/02/wind-tunnel-visit.html

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-51241595955820093772009-01-29T08:39:00.001-07:002009-01-29T08:41:34.455-07:00

"After a world wide search to find a leading international coach with a proven track record of success, Canadian Joel Filliol has been appointed as the new Head Coach and will provide support to athletes and coaches identified in the Olympic Podium and Academy Squads to convert them into medal winners."You can read the whole thing here.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-28167771311522062752009-01-19T22:54:00.000-07:002009-01-19T22:55:47.561-07:00

Mr. Schnitzspahn comments brought a lot to the discussion and I would like to thank him for that. There are some issues I would like to address, in order to clarify my position here.First off, maybe there is some kind of terminology misunderstanding here, but when I talk about the Head coach position, I don’t see it as a position that is primarily devoted to coaching athletes, but mentoring and

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-29611784703767559932009-01-16T13:43:00.002-07:002009-01-16T13:51:23.407-07:00

The Sport Performance Director for USAT, Scott Schnitzspahn, was kind enough to comment on two of my posts. I thought that since most of the readers of the blog don't follow the comments on the blog, it would be a good idea to publish Mr. Schnitzspahn's comments here. I will address his comments in my next post.In response to this post, this is what Mr. Schnitzspahn had to say:"Paulo- You've got

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-63174823364102688662008-12-18T09:59:00.001-07:002008-12-18T10:02:40.092-07:00

John Kuhlman over at The Outdoor Journey asked me what are my top five endurance reads, you can read them here. (I didn't pick the picture...)

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-18678046165570169542008-12-10T08:34:00.002-07:002008-12-10T08:38:31.063-07:00

Still on last week's subject, I was sent the ad that Triathlon New Zealand put up to fill the... you guessed it, Head Coach position (link). The ad itself is a pretty good definition of what the job entails.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-11666113159021518632008-12-01T00:09:00.001-07:002008-12-01T00:12:19.181-07:00

In this post I talked a bit about what I called the “real world of coaching”. Some comments to that post prompted me to expand a bit on that concept and what can be done here in the US to create and nurture real coaching.The usual American attitude regarding any commercial activity is that the free market will regulate itself. When it comes to triathlon coaching, the general thinking is that

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-48448148875858760232008-11-30T10:11:00.002-07:002008-11-30T10:15:13.169-07:00

Simon Whitfield on his latest blog post touches a subject with which I agree 100%. It's good to see an extremely successful athlete expressing this opinion, since when a coach does it, most people think that it's just the coach tooting his own horn.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-59686132629911948512008-11-20T22:33:00.004-07:002008-11-20T23:16:59.124-07:00

Today is the World Philosophy Day. I did not know this before I started reading the BBC News website tonight, it was just after reading about Copernicus' skeleton and a navel-less model. But let's go back to Philosophy. First a simple definition:Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity, mind, and language.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-69320199360945973582008-11-12T19:32:00.003-07:002008-11-12T19:49:13.429-07:00

The prize-money breakdown for the Hy-Vee ITU World Cup in Des Moines, IA just came out (here). The fact that it pays prize-money to the top 50 athletes (!) and the winners get $200,000 represent an enormous step forward in consolidating triathlon as a true professional sport.In comparison, the "Ironman World Championships" pays $110,000 to the winners, and 10-deep. As for the "70.3 World

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-92214665943091023492008-11-09T23:31:00.001-07:002008-11-09T23:36:34.551-07:00

Listening to John Cook’s interview (here) was an inspiration for me as a coach. John Cook is a real coach, he talks like a real coach and more importantly, he coaches like a real coach. On top of an impressive resume as a college track and field coach, he qualified 3 athletes for the Olympics and got one medal (Shalane Flanagan). You cannot get more real than this.There are several reasons why

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-82434823151818151162008-11-05T14:05:00.000-07:002008-11-05T14:06:39.615-07:00

This might not mean much for those outside the US, but I've just listened to Obama's speech and I am under the influence of the supreme confidence of the man.Mind you that I used the word confidence and not optimism. Optimism is an attitude that sees everything as good and beautiful, that in the end things will work out for the best. Optimism is wishful thinking, belief. In contrast, confidence

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-4182171781695121722008-10-29T17:05:00.000-06:002008-10-29T17:06:46.436-06:00

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-48816961511766600952008-10-26T23:40:00.001-06:002008-10-27T14:53:16.958-06:00

Interestingly, I wrote this piece last week, before Hillary Biscay, Belinda Granger and Chrissie Wellington announced they were leaving Team TBB and coach Brett Sutton, and even before I heard the rumor about it. Even if this piece is not about that situation specifically, I will let the readers decide if my thoughts also apply to that particular situation.As a general observer of the pro

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-53834008157157469772008-10-21T10:58:00.001-06:002008-10-21T11:00:42.729-06:00

“Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet, you can't win.” - Robert HeinleinThis is an interesting quote, since it represents the dilemma that drug-free Ironman athletes have before racing. They know there will be cheaters starting the race, but if they don’t race, they cannot have a shot at winning or placing.The truth of this matter is that if you toe the line to

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-81650717353109691482008-10-19T23:58:00.001-06:002008-10-20T00:01:42.262-06:00

One thing needs to be said about Ironman racing in the US: Cheating is allowed. Be it by having very few races with doping control or the non-consistent enforcement of drafting rules, many athletes are taking advantage of the huge holes in the system to win in a fraudulent way.The doping issue is particularly puzzling. From all the Ironman races this year in the US, only Hawaii had doping

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-20943388039182520352008-10-17T12:24:00.001-06:002008-10-17T12:24:33.437-06:00

It’s been one year now that I’ve started this blog. It’s been an amazing experience, since the blog allowed me to put in writing some of my coaching thoughts and concepts. It also served as motivation and reference not only to the athletes I coach, but to several readers too.During the last year I have also ruffled more than a few feathers. I’ve killed TSS and chewed a lot of fat. I busted some

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-43858860074291436472008-09-18T10:36:00.004-06:002008-09-18T10:45:30.523-06:00

Just a quick blog to call your attention to these (yet again) excellent posts from the guys over at the The Science of Sport blog:http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/09/coyle-and-armstrong-research-errors.htmlhttp://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/09/coyle-armstrong-research-installment-2.htmlThis situation reminded me something I wrote some weeks ago:"[Some people], besides being the Internet

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-78157161941221626112008-09-05T01:02:00.002-06:002008-09-05T01:05:35.068-06:00

I was glad to see that the absurd of my imaginary presentation was realized by most readers of the blog. For most, it doesn’t make much sense to religiously record your swim workout “data” and to analyze it using specific software. It is also absurd to say that until you’re doing this kind of analysis, your stopwatch is completely useless.So why do a lot of people out there feel a powermeter is

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-44654681255521994572008-09-02T11:34:00.003-06:002008-09-02T11:39:47.742-06:00

Today I am presenting SwimmingPeaks 1.0. This software package is the way to go if you want to apply scientific principles to your swimming training. In order to use SwimmingPeaks 1.0, all you need is a heart rate monitor with download capabilities. Then you need to use your HRM at every swim session, and record the time for each repeat/rest interval by pressing the split button every time you

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-76657912011291754382008-08-28T16:21:00.002-06:002008-08-28T16:23:42.169-06:00

client (plural clients) 1. A customer or receiver of services. 2. (computing) The role of a computer application or system that requests and/or consumes the services provided by another having the role of server. 3. Person who receives help or advice from a professional person (ex. a lawyer, an accountant, a social worker, a psychiatrist, etc).athlete (plural athletes) 1. A person who

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-69947146667478922002008-08-11T08:40:00.001-06:002008-08-11T17:16:06.654-06:00

It seems that when it comes to triathlon coaching, name dropping is not just a bad habit, it’s a whole way of doing business. I have gmail, and those that have gmail know that it picks up on the keywords of the emails you get. So because I get lots of emails with the words “triathlon” and “coaching”, I also get a lot of sponsored links about triathlon coaching. I usually follow some of those

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-64880256392880005652008-08-04T08:19:00.000-06:002008-08-04T08:20:37.426-06:00

After Chrissie Wellington’s spectacular win at Ironman Hawaii last October (Veni, vidi, vici, for all you Asterix fans out there), it seems that a lot of people in the triathlon community are scrambling to get on the newest bandwagon: the Brett Sutton bandwagon. This bandwagon has been around for a while now, but before it was basically composed of those that merely model themselves after the

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-25181683307589181522008-07-25T13:38:00.000-06:002008-07-25T13:40:06.396-06:00

In the last post, I presented P_TRIMP, a power-based version of TRIMP for durations larger than 1 hour. The fact that it is directly based on TRIMP makes it a considerable improvement over other approaches, since it is directly based on the scientific evidence on this subject.It is ironic that some people that have never done any studies on this subject, besides being the Internet champions of

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-10548296350026799722008-07-22T12:19:00.004-06:002008-07-22T12:23:13.760-06:00

Like I mentioned in this post, although TSS is inspired on Dr. Eric Bannister's heart rate-based training impulse (TRIMP), it has the downside that, unlike TRIMP, it has not been validated in any scientific studies. The biggest downside of TRIMP is that it is heart rate based, which means that in the context of quantifying training load in the impulse-response model of training adaptation, the

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-28982790535902564032008-07-16T11:28:00.003-06:002008-07-16T11:31:39.506-06:00

Those that work with Excel know that it’s not that hard to make a plot of a set of data points. So that was what I just did this morning with the world famous Endurance Nation set of “data”. I confess that I was a bit disappointed with it, since it only consists of about 20 data points, with 1/5th of it generated by one single athlete. Interestingly, this single athlete is also the person that

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-72038159548755965252008-07-14T23:14:00.007-06:002008-07-15T07:37:38.340-06:00

In the last post, through the use of two very simple examples, it was explained why TSS should not be used as an effort budget and it was shown the reason why TSS-constant curves appear to yield IF’s that translate into correctly paced Ironman bike legs.The post generated quite a bit of discussion, and I feel that some of it was useful. Among the useful bits was the evidence on the exact shape of

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-85826422198484074362008-07-08T12:27:00.007-06:002008-07-08T12:34:21.956-06:00

Training Stress Score (TSS), is a training load estimator for cycling invented by Dr. Andrew Coggan, and is modeled after Dr. Eric Bannister's heart rate-based training impulse (TRIMPS). It takes into account both the intensity (i.e., IF) and the duration of each training session, and according to the author, it “might be best viewed as a predictor of the amount of glycogen utilized in each

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-65038293017117137792008-06-27T21:36:00.002-06:002008-06-27T21:41:10.955-06:00

Jordan Rapp's latest blog entry is really, really good (and not just because he quotes me a few times). I urge you all to go read and think a bit about your individual approach to triathlon.As for the original entries on this blog, I promise they will be back next week. I just decided to join Team Silence for a few weeks.

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-69620552983354049342008-06-11T19:55:00.000-06:002008-06-11T19:58:26.525-06:00

I admit that I don’t follow professional cycling as much as I used to. I could get on a high horse and say that it’s because of all the doping scandals, but really it’s because I don’t have Eurosport anymore. Therefore, only today I realized that professional cycling team Lotto has a new sponsor for this season, a company called Silence.And I just thought to myself, what a great sponsor to have,

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-28531749398139371312008-06-02T14:07:00.003-06:002008-06-02T14:14:13.880-06:00

Apparently, the fat utilization myth is alive and well, thinking from the reactions I had to my previous post on the subject. I had several comments to the original post, as well as questions on email, so I thought I would write a mini-FAQ about the subject. Here are some questions I was asked:How do you explain the fact that some people burn a lot of fat and others don’t?Because some of the

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-70807716044022829152008-05-26T11:39:00.001-06:002008-05-26T11:40:53.858-06:00

"Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe" - Sumner RedstoneThat quote was on a friend’s blog. An athlete I coach copied it and posted it on her blog, she liked it. I don’t. I don’t like it at all.I thought maybe it was just me, so I asked a couple of friends of mine what they thought about it. They both didn’t agree

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-88089469941837034622008-05-22T15:21:00.004-06:002008-05-22T16:22:10.755-06:00

The other day I found that one of my posts here was linked on another blog and tagged as "mythbusters". That kind of sums up what some of the blogs I write are, since sometimes I try to deconstruct training myths that are – often wrongly –ingrained in the triathlon community.One myth that once in a while still surfaces is the fat-burning myth. Not the most particular representation of the myth

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-67613357515822736982008-05-20T22:03:00.002-06:002008-05-20T22:10:13.920-06:00

I was feeling particularly lazy today and did not have the energy to write a post about one of my favorite red herrings, the quest for improved fat burning. So I thought I would recycle an old post of mine on Slowtwitch, one that I feel is still very actual."You can divide coaches in many categories, according to age, level of experience, school of thought (if that exists in triathlon coaching at

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-24265521138308777542008-05-16T11:14:00.003-06:002008-05-16T16:23:28.074-06:00

One of the (many) criticisms I received regarding the blog was that it should have more content. By content, it was meant that the blog should have more direct instruction, more concrete examples. I am sure this opinion is shared by a lot of readers. Perhaps the more cynic among you will think that I don’t talk in more concrete terms because the blog is for free, and the direct instruction I save

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-70085889708292926602008-05-11T14:49:00.003-06:002008-05-11T15:01:41.637-06:00

Go read this. Next time you think you're better off by always training alone, by doing your own thing, think again. The workout that Paul Tichelaar was able to accomplish today would be impossible to do on his own. It's a good example that shows that nothing pushes you more than being challenged on a daily basis by those with a similar ability and goals than you. So you think triathlon is an

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-62921156784077901782008-05-06T15:56:00.006-06:002008-05-06T16:10:19.412-06:00

I thought the readers of the blog would be interested in taking a look at the schedule of a pro triathlete. Below is the toughest week for Jonathan Caron before his second place last year at Ironman Canada. Enjoy!Mon 30-Jul Swim SWIM!Bike Run 50min Zn2 Tue 31-Jul Swim SWIM!Bike 4:30h Zn2 with 1:30h Zn3 (divide this as you want)Run 50min Zn2Wed 1-Aug Swim Bike 1:30h Zn2Run AM: 2:15h Zn2 PM:

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-57905516362596206992008-05-02T08:23:00.003-06:002008-05-02T08:33:12.289-06:00

There's been a lot of talk during the last months about the many puzzling aspects surrounding the selection of the USA Triathlon Olympic team to compete in Beijing, and the team itself. Because I am on the outside looking in, I will definitely refrain from making public comments. However, the whole thing reminded me of a nice piece of dialogue from Oscar-winning film, No Country for Old Men:"

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-57737489440745932892008-04-28T20:30:00.001-06:002008-04-28T20:32:17.482-06:00

After watching the total domination of World Cup competition over the last two years by Vanessa Fernandes and Javier Gomez, we might be tempted to just call them up, give them the Gold medals and have races in Beijing for Silver and Bronze. The fact is that the races in Beijing are not done deals and there are plenty of contenders, both in the women’s and men’s races but especially in the men’s,

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-682083835592080008.post-45417549884350031762008-04-24T04:57:00.002-06:002008-04-26T07:22:32.039-06:00

In my last post, I ranted about how common misconceptions regarding heart rate are still in use in the triathlon community. Does that mean that you should throw away your heart rate monitor? The short answer to that is no. The longer answer follows.Even if heart rate is not an accurate means of defining exercise intensity, that does not mean that it is a useless control parameter. As long as

Paulo Sousahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01661280271310309495noreply@blogger.com7