Synergy – every little thing is important

I often laugh when someone copies something we do in training. It rarely works as well for someone else as it does for us. There’s always someone looking for “the secret”.

The “secret” is, there is no secret. Don’t tell anyone. If there was any one factor which causes my athletes to outperform many of their competitors who are actually doing more training, it’s “synergy”.

Often athletes have trained with the squad for a season or two and then decided to move on and “do their own thing”. Very often these same athletes fail do equal the performances they had produced when they trained in the squad. Looking from the outside, they’re doing almost everything the same.

But that’s just it. “ALMOST THE SAME” is not the same. The plan we work on has been refined over many years and is still being refined. The success of this plan is a direct result of everything in the plan working together. Lots of little seemingly meaningless things complementing each other.

A good example of this is vitamin C. When nature makes vitamin C, it always packages it with bio-flavonoids. In an orange, the bio-flavonoids are in the white part just under the skin. Vitamin C without bio-flavonoids is far less effective, pure abscorbic acid (vitC) without bio-flavonoids is almost ineffective in boosting immune systems and speeding healing . Bio-flavonoids are the catalyst which causes vitC to do the magic it often does. So when I advise my athletes to get “bio-C”, that’s exactly what I want them to get. Google bio-flavonoids for all the benefits. 

When someone starts training with me, I ask them to provide a three day food diary. I want to know what fuel my “formular one racer” has in it’s tank. In eighty percent of cases some modification is necessary. I also want to know what supplements they take, if any. I then advise what I want taken. I don’t sell them, but I want my “formular one racers” on high octane fuel.

Usually what happens towards the end of the second month (as long as the athlete has followed the directions to the letter – and if ever in doubt, please ask) . The athlete comments on being able to train more consistantly than ever before. By the end of the third month, the athlete is performing better than ever before and excited about the future. This is partly because all of your blood cells are replaced with new ones over a three month period. If the new blood cells are being produced from better nutrition, they’re better blood cells. So after three months of good nutrition and balanced training, my athlete has a whole new blood supply.

This new blood is capable of carrying oxygen more efficiently. This new blood has no parasites feeding off it because the athlete has wormed himself at the start of each program. If anyone has ever had a “hemeview” blood test, you can see the blood cells under a micrscope. You can see malformed cells and you can see the activity level of your white blood cells (your immune system). It’s a very interesting study to have a “hemeview” test and have another after three months of good nutrition and balanced training.

Another simple little thing is the confidence level of the athlete. My workouts are structured to build confidence as much as to build fitness. Changing a program around, or leaving out a part you don’t like is like leaving out part of the jig-saw. I can tell what sort of feelings the athlete is experiencing by just reading their e-mails. This is why I get best results in the second season with newer athletes as I get to know them better.

Girls are better at doing everything “to the letter” than what guys often are. Maybe that’s why I have had twice as many girls stand on the stage in Hawaii than guys. Doing the little things like core strength work can make an enourmous difference in the last ten km of an Ironman marathon. There’s only one way to do core strength work. That’s properly. Even in our squad, I see athletes not taking core strength work seriously. Sloppy work produces sloppy results.

Visualisation is another really important part of training. Seeing yourself swimming like the best swimmers in the world, cycling like Lance Armstrong (we’ll never have Lance’s talent but we can be as technically good on the bike as him if we work at it). I have a picture of myself taken in the Forster Ironman in 97, half way through the marathon. It’s a front on photo showing perfect form. Last year when I was injured for months after a bike fall, as I worked my way back into running. I used that picture as the image of what I wanted to be running like. I refused to limp. I refused to practice poor technique. Every short treadmill run was perfect, I have that photo in my office to help my visualisation. It doesn’t have to be a photo of your self. As long as what you’re seeing is perfect.

This message is so important, I have many more examples of the importance of all of the little things contributing to an overall superb performance but if this article get’s any longer you’ll lose interest.

Triathlon fitness is as complex a state, as many of natures miracles. As in nature, every little part is important.