There is a great passage in Running with the Kenyans describing a typical group fartlek session.
Adharanand Finn does a great job in relating the use of a stopwatch by the participants, where the alarm function setting is merely a signal to either speed up or slow down. Two minutes on, one minute off; a simple beep being the sole indicator of an even simpler training session, a noise that allows these athletes to simply go about their business without even a glance at the elapsed digital numbers on the wrist.
Are you a slave to the numbers?
Not to be judgemental but the more athletes I see, observe, talk to or even coach, the more that statement rings true. It appears that many athletes, particularly us part-timers, are bound to a narrow and linear bubble of mediocrity that such modern technology encourages, too afraid too go too hard or too long, yet too competitive to saunter along at a true recovery effort enjoying the scenery. A sort of constant middle ground, an ode to the clichéd everything in moderation.
What happened to occasionally testing our limits on occasion?
A power meter doesn't give you power, while a heart rate monitor doesn't improve your fitness. Just like an ultra-light expensive bicycle leaning against the wall, it various tools and equipment still require human power to function, provide biofeedback or move forward. I often joke to friends who download data for each and every training session about what they are actually going to do with those statistics: print them out and stick them on their lounge wall? A Bushman painting or a vintage Midnight Oil poster would be a far better option, but I digress.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend on this and related topics. I made reference to the indoor cycling class that coach and the difficulty I experience in reigning in the participants intensity levels to the appropriate effort. Aerobic recovery and strength are my speciality classes, both requiring lower heart rates and varying cadences. Strength work in particular requires an adequate warm down an I related how one athlete insisted on maintaining a strong effort in this end phase to maintain her "workout average." He smiled knowingly, offered his advice (censored) and proceeded to inform me of the sleep app that his company is developing as part of their biofeedback product range, how he has gone back to the Phil Maffetone Method of his elite athlete days and is enjoying his athletic pursuits more than ever as a result. He also emphasized that the sleep app is of little use for irregular sleeping patterns and less than eight hours of shut-eye per night.
Garbage in means garbage out, a beautiful analogy often used by land surveying lecturer during many a mathematical instruction. True understanding of specific training principles and the correct application of such can turn average into good and good into great.
Take a heart rate monitor (HRM) for example, perhaps the simplest and effective most biofeedback device. There are many who wear an HRM for both training and racing. While we all know what a maximum race effort feels like, perhaps the true value of such a tool is in holding the user back, particularly on easy days. Competing with an HRM is not necessary in my opinion and, while my personal preference is no HRM or even stopwatch, training with one in the lower intensity zones can and does provide massive benefits. Try staying below sixty percent effort for six months and see what happens, stated my friend whilst extolling the value of going slow for optimum health and fitness.
But what about training the mind and personal instinct?
My preferred measurement is that of training the mind as well as the body, free of any timing or performance related device. One particular benchmark for me is developing a perception of duration free of a clock. Borrowed from former multiple World Triathlon Champion Chris McCormack, this exercise entails going for a run or cycle with a predetermined duration in mind, checking a clock before leaving and seeing how close to this desired time one gets upon returning. The better his time judgement the better his fitness reasons the articulate Australian of an exercise in instinct development distinctly reminiscent of Einstein's theory of space and time.
While Macca only performs this test weekly, I prefer to apply this principle to all of my training sessions. In fact, taking this guessing practice a step further sees me not even bothering to check exact time duration upon return. For instance, no two hours of cycling are exactly the same owing to several non-bio-rhythmic factors, red robots (read: South African for red traffic lights) and wind strength being but two.
For me, sport is part of my lifestyle and a vehicle for self-testing. Developing both my body and mind is a continuing challenge as well as an education for life. Running free and riding loose is an essential piece of this puzzle, hence the lack of watch tan.
