FEATURES

Ten Things Your Coach Wants You to Stop...

Saturday, 15 April 2017 00:10

By Carrie Barrett (active.com)

As triathletes, we do a lot of things right. We’re disciplined, driven and extremely passionate. We’re also rule followers and, for the most part, do as we’re told. Coaches love this about triathletes. However, sometimes that zest for the sport can lead us to do things in training and racing we shouldn’t, and we get a little overzealous in our quest for progress....

"Fit " & "Healthy" Are Not the Same Thing...

Friday, 14 April 2017 23:10

By Paul Laursen (triathlete.com)

We often use the words “fit” and “healthy” in our everyday language to mean the same thing. If you’re fit, then surely you must be healthy. The two terms go together in commonplace language. But in actual fact, as I’ve written recently with legendary coach and clinician Dr. Phil Maffetone, the terms have entirely separate meanings. Allow me to explain.

We can define fitness as simply the ability to perform a given exercise task. For example, an elite cyclist or triathlete might possess a maximal mean cycling power output of 5.5 W/kg over five minutes, which is indicative of a high VO2max power output. We can say that this athlete has incredible fitness. But that number actually doesn’t tells us much about the athlete’s health.

Health is defined distinctly as a person’s state of well-being, where physiological systems are working together in harmony to achieve a level of balance. While we typically view athletes as fit and healthy, more often than you think, they may not be....

Five Minnesotans Honored...Clarification...

Thursday, 13 April 2017 06:10

ED. MTN thanks Du MOY Thomas Woods for clarifying some information. MTN picked Lee Piercy as our DOY and MOY. It turns out that he is a British citizen, thus ineligible for inclusion here. So, that elevates MATTHEW PAYNE to DOY on our list, and Woods to MOY. (Thomas was first HM on our original list.)

The 2016 USA Triathlon Duathletes of the Year and honorable mention selections were posted on the USAT website yesterday. We are reposting the list here with our comments.

Men’s Elite Duathlete of the Year: PATRICK PARISH (Bloomington, Minn. - photo)

COMMENT: We're very happy that PP was selected. He's deserved this accolade in the past, but wasn't honored.

Women’s Elite Duathlete of the Year: Alycia Hill (Tacoma, Wash.)
Honorable Mention: Sarah Graves

COMMENT: We're totally cool with Hill's pick.

Men’s Age-Group Duathlete of the Year: Keith Jackson (Englewood, Colo.)
Honorable Mention: Jesse Dunn, Jason Karavidas, MATTHEW PAYNE ...

USAT's 2016 Athletes of the Year...

Wednesday, 12 April 2017 23:10

For more than two decades the MTN Guys have contributed to the selection of USAT Athletes of the Year. Our role is to provide bios of hundreds of triathletes and duathletes to the Selection Committee. This is where our input ends. We do not participate in the actual selection of AOYs and HMs,

USAT has been especially busy doing other stuff lately, thus it has taken until now for them to determine their AOYs and post their listings on their website.

We love the Federation's mission and respect their method. We especially appreciate the democratic method used to determine the winners and HMs. This means, of course, that we won't always get what we want, but that is cool. We may argue strongly, but understand that others have arguments that are just as valid, sometimes moreso. We change our minds often, and proudly. Sticking with decisions on principle, ones that we no longer agree with or believe in, isn't very smart, is it?

Today we reveal USAT's Triathletes of the Year and our comments.

MEN'S TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Christopher Douglas (Atlanta, Ga.)
Honorable Mention: Todd Buckingham, Ryan Giuliano, Tim Hola, Derek Jakobowski, Daniel Stubleski

COMMENT: Our list, which we determined last November, differs greatly from USAT's, though we concur that they selected worthy recipients. Our list: AOY - Ryan Giuliano (IL). HMs - 1. Christopher Douglas (GA), Kyle Hooker (FL), Clay Emge (TX), Tim Rea (OR), Brian Duffy (PA) ...