THREE on the athletic approaches to pushing past genetic limitations
THREE is a lifestyle community for triathletes, by triathletes. In this bi-weekly newsletter, we share training insights, curated articles and videos, new gear and tech. THREE's mission is to help triathletes thrive on and off the course. Will you join us?
Joe Maloy | 2016 U.S. Olympic Triathlete and Co-founder, THREE
• IMPROVING RUNNING PERFORMANCE When attempting to make strides on the run course, triathletes can often be a bit literal — either focusing on running to improve running or focusing on lower-body strength training because that has the most obvious correlation. But Canadian Running magazine points out that “working your upper body can make you a better runner.” A recent article identifies three key benefits of upper-body strength training for runners and shares seven specific exercises that may go a long way toward improving your arm swing, reducing risk of injury and making the muscles in your back and shoulders stronger, something that will help you maintain a good body position while you run, even as you get tired.
• DRYLAND SWIM WARM-UP Most experienced athletes recognize the importance of warming up regardless of the sport they’re participating in, but swimmers can find it challenging to get in a full-body warm-up, whether it’s because of limited pool time or the inability to get in the water ahead of a race. With that in mind, USA Triathlon’s Multisport Lab Blog is out with a primer on How to Swim on Land. USAT outlines a simple 8-minute land-based warm-up for swimmers that focuses on mobility, posture and stability.
Last summer, THREE’s Joe Maloy shared key tips for integrating a more effective dryland fitness into your overall plan, as part of our Triathlon Training by an Olympian series on YouTube. Check out Joe’s video below:
• STRENGTH TRAINING FOR CYCLISTS Like running and swimming, cyclists can benefit from a specific set of strength training exercises. VeloNews and Road.cc both recently published articles that featured workouts, as well as the rationale for weight training for cyclists.
Road.cc has a smart look at how sport-specific athletes often treat strength training — as something we only do in the off-season. If we approached our bike training the same way it would seem absurd.
The article features six YouTube videos to demonstrate key components of its approach to strength training for cyclists.
• DO BIRTHDAYS DETERMINE ATHLETIC SUCCESS? There’s a lot that goes into becoming a successful athlete, as Joe Maloy outlines in this week’s editor’s letter. And yet, could it be possible that the common denominator among pro athletes is their birthdays? FiveThirtyEight published an article titled Why Athletes’ Birthdays Affect Who Goes Pro — And Who Becomes A Star that digs into a phenomenon called the relative age effect. It has to do with the advantage young athletes may gain as a result of the cutoff date that determines which age-group teams are picked, which is normally the school year, according to FiveThirtyEight.
• SHOE TECHNOLOGY ARMS RACE Over the last five years nearly every endurance running record has been broken, according to sport and exercise university lecturer Jonathan Taylor in a report published this week in The Conversation. A key contributor to these shattered records — from the 5,000m to the marathon — could be major advancements in shoe technology. “This has divided opinion in the athletics world,” Taylor writes, “with some arguing the shoes are unfair while others argue they’re just like synthetic running tracks: an inevitable technological leap for endurance runners to capitalise upon.”
• RIDE LIKE THE WIND The climate in Fuerteventura, part of the Canary Islands in Spain, tends to be hospitable for triathlon training year around. It’s been described as “eternal springtime” and why triathletes gravitate to training centers like Club La Santa in Lanzarote or T3 in Tenerife. Fuerteventura is less-traveled but that’s exactly why Cyclist magazine has featured it this month and describes it as “the perfect cycling destination.”
Cyclist acknowledges there’s more wind to contend with on Fuerteventura when compared to “its cousins Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote,” but as this photo slideshow demonstrates, the sights are worth it.
THE GENETICS PARADOX
The THREE Letter by Joe Maloy
2016 U.S. Olympic Triathlete, THREE Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large
Have you given any thought to how your athletic ability is shaped by genetics? I’m betting most of you have, at some point, thought about what it would be like to have different gifts. It’s only natural to think: “If only I were taller…” or “If I didn’t put on weight so easily, then…” Successful endurance athletes are too busy working towards their goals to spend time thinking about limitations they cannot change. They’ve learned to shift their mindset to frame their unique genetic profile as something that helps them achieve their goals.
No amount of training will change your genetic profile. Since you’re stuck with it, you might as well change the way you think about it. Accepting one’s own limitations is an exceedingly difficult challenge in a culture that’s quick to say, “Have it your way” (Burger King) or that you can be “Everywhere you want to be” (Visa). These slogans glorify limitless options and possibility, but genetics do not work that way. You can’t just “Have it your way” and grow six inches! Any endurance athlete who wishes to improve greatly must begin with accepting his/her genetic limitations.
Once we stop dreaming about what we don’t have, we free mental space to employ the talents we possess. Chicago Bulls journalist Mark Vancil said of Michael Jordan, “His gift was not that he could jump high, run fast, shoot a basketball. His gift was that he was completely present, and that was the separator.” MJ learned to hone the gifts he did possess, and it allowed him to become the greatest basketball player of all time.
The self awareness that allowed MJ to excel on the basketball court is the same type of self awareness I’m encouraging you to learn. Beginner athletes and elites similarly confront limitations when they toe the starting line. Sport forces athletes to confront limitations at every level, and while the athletes who achieve the most often have genetic gifts, they're also the ones who are most curious about what they might accomplish. We should use limitations as guideposts, not stop signs.
Understanding one’s breakdown of fast twitch versus slow twitch muscle fiber is a good place for endurance athletes to begin learning about their genetic profile. Some of you may be familiar with the concept of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, but others may not. Lets begin with a quick overview. Both are muscle fibers that respond to our nervous system’s impulses (the brain and the spinal cord), but they are either fast or slow to respond to that electric impulse. That difference in response time has to do with a difference in how fast twitch and slow twitch muscles store their energy. Fast twitch muscle fibers store energy in the muscles themselves. This makes the energy easily accessible but also rapidly depleted. Slow twitch muscle fibers source energy from blood. Since oxygenated blood needs to constantly flow from the heart, slow twitch muscles are slower to respond to the nervous system’s impulses, but they are much harder to fatigue. One type is not better than the other—we need both—but it’s helpful to understand the strengths and limitations of each type.
An easy way to distinguish the two is by thinking about the light and dark meat in a chicken or turkey. Dark meat is the slow twitch muscle fiber that doesn't tire easily (the legs the bird stands on all day). The white meat in the bird’s chest is fast twitch muscle fiber—needed to quickly contract when the bird flaps its wings. Like these birds, each of us is a unique combination of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, but these muscles need to be trained differently and used in a way that plays to their strengths. Our next edition will explore how to understand or discover one’s individual profile (without paying for a genetic test!). We will also offer training advice based on that profile. Stay tuned, and as always, please share our message and help us grow the THREE community!
Joe Maloy 2016 U.S. Olympic Triathlete, Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
Spring is just about a week away and we hope that the season of rebirth brings with it new opportunities to return to racing. While IRONMAN’s CEO recently shared an update that most of its races would be moved to later this year, sparking renewed controversy about refunds, Super League Triathlon is planning an arena race in London later this month that combines real life and virtual racing. According to Reuters, “Olympic medal hopefuls such as Jonathan Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee are already confirmed for the London event.” Meanwhile, the other Brownlee brother, Alistair, has established his post-Olympics intention. In what’s described as an “insane endurance attempt,” Brownlee is looking to beat the current Ironman record held by Jan Frodeno by a full hour — aiming to complete the full race in less than seven hours. When asked if he believes it’s possible, Brownlee told EDGAR, “Of course it’s possible. … I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. It's going to be interesting to find out the limits of what’s possible.”
Regardless of whether you're attempting to go sub-7 or just looking for a race to keep your training on track, we look forward to seeing you on a starting line soon.
