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Fedofsky Friday: Is it time to can your coach?

Elizabeth Fedofsky, our resident tri-training guru and newly minted pro, is back to answer your questions. This week, she tackles the delicate subject of when to fire your coach and what to do with part of Uncle George's rebate check.

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Precision Nutrition Tip #5: The 10% factor

Every two weeks I feature a high performance nutrition tip by Dr. John Berardi. This week, John talks about the psychology of eating and that perfection should not be your nutritional goal.

Tidbits

• In my ongoing effort to make this online project as educational as possible, from time to time I will expose you to some new vocabulary. Of course, don't expect anything highbrow. Today's word is CBT. It's medical slang for Chronic Biscuit Toxicity or Chronic Burger Toxicity...i.e, the patient is really fat. Doctors seem to be inventing more and more of these unflattering terms as obesity becomes more prevalent in our society. Keep your ears open for Polydipose Dysfunction and BW (beached whale). #
• If you are dissatisfied with yourself at the back of the pack then you will have the same feelings in the middle of the pack. There are a lot of people chasing self-esteem at the races – I doubt you’ll find it in your racing (you could find it in on your athletic journey, though). - Gordo Byrn #
• I'm quickly becoming a fan of Scott Abel's monthly blog, Scott Able Blogs. If you want to learn how to ride a bike fast, seek advice from a cycling coach. If you want to learn how to lose fat and gain muscle, talk to a body builder. This month, Scott wrote a great, if somewhat dogmatic, piece about our relationship with food and diet. Science has a knack for breaking everything down into component parts (reductionism) to see what makes everything tick. Scott believes this same approach, when applied to our studies of nutrition, have caused more harm than good. As he writes, "Is it not ironic that modern man, the so called smartest creature on earth, is the only species on earth that needs professional guidance in deciding what he should eat, and how he should eat it?" You can read the rest by clicking here. #
• Lyle McDonald has been one of my favorite "smart" people I've enjoyed reading over the years...ever since I first discovered him on a weightlifting news group (remember those anyone?). His brain needs to be put in a jar when he croaks to see if the soft grey matter was actually a series of computer chips from the future. While I've been catching up on my reading the past few days, I came across this gem from Lyle's blog (Lyle McDonald Speaks) which perfectly explains how I used to train before I got serious about monitoring my HR: "Then there’s intensity. Proper ‘easy’ training should feel utterly easy, like there’s no effort at all. And the obsessive don’t like that, not at all. It doesn’t feel like it’s accomplishing anything (No pain, no gain, right) so the intensity starts to climb. Where it should be an easy 130 heart rate or lower, it’ll start climbing to the aerobic range or higher. Suddenly, what should have been easy days start becoming medium days.¶ But it’s even more insidious than that: these medium days end up being too easy to really stimulate fitness, but too hard to allow complete recovery. It’s this weird no-man’s land that doesn’t accomplish anything good. ¶ Which has another major consequence, without the ability to recover sufficiently, the hard days can’t be as hard. Because you can’t do a quality session when you’re tired. So the hard days start becoming medium days as well. And it all goes wrong. ¶ The hard days can’t be hard enough, the easy days are too hard and the whole week ends up being this weird sort of medium intensity across the board. #
• I finally got hold of some race pics and official times for the 2007 Rage in the Sage and have made the updates to the race report. Also, a big congrats to Eric "Sully" Sullivan for making the trip from Colorado to Vegas and taking 2nd on the half distance course. I missed seeing him because the half racers were just starting the swim by the time I showed up to get my gear set. Another big congrats to Lisa Goldsmith for taking 14th in Boston! Way to go! #