On The Water

Yesterday, I came across this recent publication in the Association for Psychological Science, written by Hambrick and Meinz*. Quite successfully, the authors illustrate their arguments on the oh-so-debatable, "talent" vs "hard work" for success and performance. The first to introduce this debate scientifically was Dr. Ericsson from Florida State University in 1996. To remind you or inform you if you haven't heard, Ericsson's theory is based on the concept that one needs 10,000 hours in order to acquire expert performance in a field of science, music, art, sport or other complex domains. (more: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson.dp.html ) I will not overload you with technical terms and complicated graphs but I will just discuss a little how perplex this matter is. Based on their own research and on a series of experiments, Hambrick and Meinz, conclude that basic abilities (i.e., "talent") can predict success but acquired characteristics (i...

Let's first make something clear: Before you jump into an overload training phase, you need to have a coach who understands very well the concept behind the periodization training plan and who can apply it specifically to you and adjust it along the way depending on the circumstances and your unique, personal needs. You can read more about it in one of my previous posts here: The porgressive overload as part of a periodization training plan When it's time to enter the progressive overload period of my training plan, I have just come out from the base and transition periods. The former (base) requires lots of slow, long miles and the latter (transition) lots of sort, power exercises that make different muscle groups work one after the other. Before the overload period, I probably weigh 2 to 4 pounds more, I feel a little tired but not worn out, and I may (or may not!) get a week of easy workouts: every day I would do about 1 hour of easy spin or 20min of jogging or 45m...

Touching upon one of the most controversial topics on the training of the endurance athlete was not an easy decision but I thought I would do it anyway and share with you all my own experience. Weight lifting: some coaches believe it is necessary and key to success while some others avoid it at all costs. I am not a certified trainer or a coach or someone with education deep enough to explain the physiological benefits of weight lifting. However, I am a competitive athlete, who has experienced the tremendous impact that a well planned weight training program may have in my athletic career. Let me first be clear on a couple of things: Weight training for endurance athletes is not the same as for body-builders. It is not heavy-lifting (!) and it is not always targeting specific muscle groups isolated from the rest of the body. More importantly, it follows training cycles similar and in parallel to the main-sport training cycles. Here is an example in my case of training for tri...