Ramblings of an injured Athlete
Posted by fenner on July 30, 2011
It is a funny old game that of sports science and most written pieces and discussions are all basically going over the same discussions and areas of debate. We all try to come up with interesting articles in the magazines and unpack more complex science and bring it into layman’s terms so that everyone can understand and gain insight into the differences between the elite and the club cyclists. I was always let down by the information given in articles and written discussion when I was a lad and basically found that nothing was given no real advice with no gumption or substance and so I have strived to actually give in my written articles, give free knowledge and real substance. The most recent article was derived while watching the Tour this year and it was spontaneous and creative, there I was with the SRM data streaming live on the laptop and the Tour live on the TV. Wow how good was that, why did we not have live blow by blow data streamed live into a little box on the side of the screen???? I was Facebooking live data and info working out ascent rates live and had quite a discussion going with a fair few people it was great. I then got a private message from the editor of Cycling Weekly in England asking if I could do a piece on a topic relating to my Facebook discussion. Awesome I said I will work out what real-time cyclists would do compared to the pro’s up a climb I had fixed data on from that particular stage, where Geraint Thomas was away with Roy where I had copied blow-by-blow data on his power for the climbs. That was it then and I wrote the article which was published this week in CW.
I will of course in the future put the article for free download on this blog or the website and I am sure it will be used and adapted by other sports scientists out there for other articles and debates. I suppose this is as I sit here waiting for my back operation unfit and a little down about nothing is new, creativity and spontaneity is what will inevitability uncover new training ideas and new levels of performance. As sports scientists and coaches we should take time to get together as we do at www.ftptraining.com and increase the pool of knowledge with regular skype conferences and discussions on clients need and goals and have that pool of creativity and energy uncover new area to study and increase performance by doing so.
What are you waiting for coaches and sports scientists my contact details are on the website, lets start the process instead of reading and rewriting each others work lets start creating a new level of understanding by pooling knowledge and data for the good of increased performance and discovery.
These are ramblings of an injured athlete on lots of meds to stop the pain from ruptured disc resting on the sciatic nerve, I am hoping to have the surgery within the week and begin the journey of recovery and who knows new levels of performance ;o) I was really looking forward to doing the elite State ITT Champs this year, up until a month or so ago my FTP had been creeping up with very little (3 – 5 hours a week) training. I was focussing on ultra specific efforts at very high power outputs at or above race pace. FTP had come up to 340+ watts at just under 7okg’s which for winter was the best my weight had ever been and I was looking forward to doing a sub 60 min State ITT and we had a Torq team set up for the Tour of Gipps and then the Tour of . What a bugger, always next year eh 
)
Cheers
Fenz
