February 23, 2024 • 22 mins
As the indoor track season draws to a close, our athletes at XLR8 Performance Lab have left their marks on the record books. Join us for a recap of these monumental moments, including Addi Dorenkamp's record-smashing performance and Tommy Hensley's double victory. But it's not just about the wins; we're also peeling back the curtain on the transition our athletes make from our lab to their high school tracks, flourishing under the guidance of both our dedicated coaches and their school mentors.
Ever wondered how elite athletes like Caleb and Addison tailor their training to their unique metabolic data? Strap in as we reveal the results of an intriguing social media poll and how we use this information to fine-tune their event matching and training regimes. There's an art to balancing an athlete's innate talents with the need for a well-rounded skill set, and we're diving into the methods that lead to personal records and undeniable progress—without the burnout.
For those hungry for actionable insights, this episode is a goldmine. We're sharing the strategies that keep our athletes at the top of their game, drawing from top-tier coaching collaborations and data-driven improvements. And stay tuned; our upcoming episodes will be brimming with expert guest interviews, all presented in neat 20-minute packages for your listening pleasure. Whether you're an athlete, coach, or just someone who loves a good success story, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey everybody, you are listening to the Accelerate
Performance Lab podcast hostedby Accelerate Head Performance
Coach, ben Tillis.
You are about to hearstrategies that have helped
produce many elite middledistance and distance runners
over the last 15 years.
He shares why running successdoesn't have to be hard.
You just have to know a few keytools, from workout strategies
(00:30):
to important info on sleep andnutrition.
You are guaranteed to learnsomething that will help you in
your running journey.
Be prepared to get faster,stronger and better in your
racing and training.
So, as always, sit back, buckleup, enjoy the ride.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode
of the Accelerate PerformanceLab podcast.
I'm host Ben Tillis and it'sbeen great to get back with you
guys here so far in the year2024, as we're just getting
started with the spring schoolseason for track and field.
It was a really fun lastweekend here of the club season.
(01:11):
Before Iowa started theirschool season, we had the chance
to take a good number ofathletes to Northwest Missouri
State, the Bearcats.
They put on a great youthseries throughout the winter.
This was their third meet thatthey had there.
We've taken athletes to each ofthose meets.
This one we took probably ourlargest number Really had some
(01:32):
awesome, outstandingperformances throughout the
course of the meet with somegreat runs, like in our mile.
We had some great runs byAdidoren Camp setting the Iowa
indoor record for 1600 with 453,or teammate from Valley Cocoa
Cooker running 508, as well ason the boys side, tommy Hensley
(01:55):
winning the mile and the 800races that were about, I believe
, about 45 minutes apart in 419and 156.
So he had a nice day as well,including other teammates that
also lots of guys running somereally great performances in
those events as well.
Rice Reynolds 49, 25, I believe, in the 400.
(02:18):
Marie Day winning the 400 onthe girls side.
Chloe Judisch going 219 forrunner up in the 800 on the
girls side as well.
Jessica Kine dominating thesprints, as always, and just
across the board, some trulyamazing performances.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some ofeven our top ones, but really
(02:40):
just excited to have had theathletes out there training hard
with us all winter and gettingto see a lot of them Getting out
there for the first one of theoff season first and last before
they started in their schoolseason, and others just putting
a bow on some of the greatperformances you know they've
(03:01):
had throughout this winter.
It's just been really fun to seesome of these athletes really
develop and showcase theirskills with different athletes,
you know, putting on differentperformances across the country,
starting from we've been toArkansas, louisville.
There's been athletes up inMinnesota, kansas City,
maryville, chicago.
(03:23):
You know there's been athleteseverywhere and we've still got
some more fun places to go forthe championship meets and new
balance and adidas.
It's gonna be great just to seesome of our athletes just test
their medal against some of thebest in the US and Also it's
gonna be fun to see them nowtest their medal against their
fellow High schoolers.
(03:45):
In the school season there's somany amazing runners and I
always saw a lot of them at thatmeet at Northwest.
So just getting them back intheir school colors is gonna be
a lot of fun for us just to seehow they Bring all the tools
that they've gained throughoutthe winter.
It should be a lot of fun tosee them do that.
So I'm really proud of all ofour athletes, really excited by
that, grateful and thankful toall the coaches that helped us
(04:07):
out this winter.
We had some fun new coachesthat were in.
Several of them are formerathletes and Hayden Kuhn did a
great job with some athletes ofours this winter.
So did Riley Witt.
We've also added Shailin DYoung into our our group with
assisting athletes and some ofthe longer events and in her
Triathlon stuff as well alwaysgrateful.
(04:30):
Alan Davis helping withnutrition.
Austin O'Brien's, the sportsPsychology side of things, and
then the, the wonderful crew atengineered performance in Ankeny
, where our facility is Just andmainly our.
Our PT are the one that'sreally digging in with us.
Taylor we're super excited thatshe's joined us and just really
(04:52):
fired up for what's to come,that she can offer to our group
and Just so many awesome peoplethat have contributed and just
brought a lot of smiles To myface.
The kids face is just enjoyment, helping them achieve the goals
that they want to achieve andsome of them recovering and
getting back into it and andjust ultimately allowing them to
chase their dreams and theirgoals.
(05:13):
So we're excited to see themback with their schools.
You know it's always kind ofinteresting as the as athletes
return.
You know we like to showcase.
We had a lot of tests here inthe you know kind of the waning
weeks of the off-season when Ishould say kind of the indoor
season.
A lot of these athletes gocross indoor, outdoor Maybe
(05:34):
there's it's similar to probablycollege and pro anymore.
The off-season is a little bitvariable depending on the
athlete.
I'm just trying to make sureeverybody's getting some good
training but also gettingchances to race when it makes
sense for them as well.
And one of those things thatyou know we often are trying to
balance is giving them thoseopportunities at big meets to
(05:55):
see athletes that maybe theywon't get a chance to see,
always that exact caliber.
They see the same, you know,athlete from the same school at
seven meets in a row and so on.
So we're always trying to findways to give them more unique
opportunities To do so.
So it's fun to watch thathappen.
Definitely always kind of atransitional time is as a lot of
(06:17):
them work their way back intotheir schools, and we're
oftentimes working with schoolcoaches to talk through some of
the things that they're workingon in the winter what their data
showed from when they tested,both metabolically, some
different things that maybe wefound out, you know, again from
the psychology side, thenutrition side.
Just there's always differentthings that give these athletes
(06:39):
a chance to be successful.
So we're always looking intothat and trying to have fun with
how we showcase that on socialmedia, how we showcase that, you
know, with the families thatthat trust us and some of the
new families that are checkingus out.
We're always excited to havenew athletes.
We're definitely taking on somemore right now.
Now's that kind of time of year.
Sometimes we hear from a lot ofmiddle school kids that maybe
(07:00):
are finishing up basketball orsomething and getting ready for,
you know, their middle schooltrack season here coming up in a
month or so Just definitelyexcited by you know, their
excitement and their energy fortheir season as well, you know.
So if you've got athletes thathave come back to your school
and they're fired up and readyto compete, we hope that we put
(07:20):
them in a good position so thatthey can do some great things.
You know for the school as well, and we're going to be right
there alongside them.
So I know, you know there'sdefinitely you know some
challenges that you know we'verun into and we understand it
that there are some coaches thatmaybe see this as a challenge,
(07:41):
but really we're trying to justwe'll stay alongside of them,
working, trying to come up withthe best avenues for them to
have success.
And I think, as adults I'vebeen in the education system as
well and just trying to work tofigure out what's the best way
to create continuity for boththe individual as well, as you
know, your team and how to blendall that together.
(08:01):
So you know it's not alwaysgoing to be smooth, but the job
is on our end.
It's always been to give theathlete the best tools possible
and work with them to havesuccess.
So you know, if it's not the cupof tea, if you hear something
on here, you know that throwsyou off, or you see something on
our social media page and itjust really gets under your skin
(08:23):
.
You know, here's the easyanswer Just don't follow it.
You know, just leave us be.
It's all good you can.
We're not going to lose anysleep over it.
If you unfollow us, it's notthe end of the world.
We're here loving what we do.
Our athletes are loving what wedo, but if you're somebody
that's enjoying it, you knowshare with your friends as well.
See if there's more things thatmaybe there is something of
value.
(08:43):
That's all we're trying tobring here with the podcast and
with social media, and workingwith these athletes is bring
some things of value.
So certainly don't know it all.
Just got a lot of we've had alot of almost a thousand tests
now in the facility, so we gottons of data to go off of, you
know.
So if this isn't your cup of teaand all you plan to do with it
is just go.
(09:04):
You know, for lack of betterway, just go and talk crap about
it.
Then just move on to somethingelse.
That would be the probablymature thing to do You're
certainly welcome to be a matureand just continue to follow and
use it as a way to, you know,degrade the success of either
our athletes or the coaches thatwork with our athletes, but
(09:24):
otherwise, you know, have somefun with it.
That's what we're trying to do.
You know it's our athletes.
Have fun creating, you know,different accelerate meme
accounts and things, even topoke fun at ourselves, because
it shouldn't be that serious.
We're supposed to have some funwith it and just do our best to
spread some, some ways in whichwe see athletes having success
(09:45):
and getting better, and we hopethat you've been able to.
You know, see whether it'sathletes in your own school.
If they've come to us, man,it's just they want to get
better, they want to pushthemselves.
You know they're never comingsaying you know, what I have
isn't good, they're just sayingI want more.
And then sometimes obviouslythere's some challenges in
combining those things, but it'sonly because the kids desire
(10:06):
the opportunity to chase successat the highest levels and it's
been fun to see how Iowa hasprogressed the last few years
with that.
So you know you can get onboard and, and you know, push
yourselves, find your ownresources.
If we're not that one againthat challenges and builds you
up and builds your team up, andyou know, if again, if it's not
(10:26):
us, then, you know, be mature,just unfollow it and move on to
the next thing.
If it is us, you know I said welove to engage with you, we
love to, you know, come up withways to help provide more
resources.
We've heard more podcasting,more, you know, just getting
more info out.
There is something that'svaluable to everybody.
So I'm back in the seat tryingto make that happen.
And so, again, if you love thatgood, share it, pass it on.
(10:50):
If I'm not for you, it's reallyeasy to just not hit play on
our podcast.
So, but if you're here andthat's you and you're finding
yourself having a hard time inpause because you're just
looking for the, the thing tosay that that, you know Makes me
look bad or something, go forit.
You know, more, more time spentwith us working with athletes,
(11:12):
if that's what's tripping yourtrigger.
So we're just gonna keep movingon.
The best thing that I seemoving forward with all of these
athletes is just that they havesuch a passion to take
Everything to a new level, theexcitement that they have to
look for what makes each of themso unique and one of the ways
that Kind of jumping into thisweek's we talked about how, on
(11:35):
on Instagram, we put up a poll.
I happened to have two athletesin the facility doing a workout
doing different workouts, really, actually but I posted the poll
and happened to be CalebTempest and Addison Doran camp
to elite level Athletes in Iowaand, really, you know, have done
(11:58):
some things nationally as wellthroughout their careers.
And and the question was whichone would thrive more on More
aerobic based, longer, slowertype of training?
Pretty straightforward question.
I think we had believe it waslike 71% said adi and 29% Went
with Caleb, and so I think itshows that I think most of you
(12:21):
generally get it.
The correct answer, based onthe metabolic data that we have,
would be adi, you know, and sowhy is that?
Well, that's what we get intoand we work with the, the
information we get from thetests as well as what we can see
.
A lot of you don't have testinformation.
You can use your you know.
(12:41):
There's some common senseinformation that goes with it as
well.
Right, adi's gonna thrive onmore long-distance training.
Her events get better as thedistance goes up, right, and
Caleb is one of those that hasthe ability to go down to the
800, be competitive at the eightand the mile and then, as the
distance goes up, some of thatextra power that he brings from
(13:03):
the eight and the mile are gonnapresent more Challenges in the
longer races and vice versa.
The lack of the top-end poweris what's gonna be a challenge
for someone like adi Is theraces get faster, but it's also
it makes them amazing at theevents that they go where their
strengths are.
So, as much as we'd love toshort their weaknesses right, as
much as we'd love to go, let'stry to make them, you know, a
(13:24):
robot.
And okay, they're alreadystrong.
Okay, this person already hasgreater Robic ability, right,
all right, we look at somebodylike adi.
We go yes, she's got phenomenalRobic ability.
All we've got to do is addspeed and she'll be phenomenal.
Well, if we add anaerobic power,sure, maybe that event that has
been, you know, lagging behind,maybe on the opposite side, on
(13:47):
800 or something, shows someimprovement.
But what could that potentiallydo?
Then?
See, the 5k or the 3k, right?
Is that now too much?
Anaerobic power?
The, the VLA max, as we'vetalked about in some other ones,
is that too high?
So our production of lactate istoo high.
Now For events, she, their, hermain events, and all of a
sudden, you know she's not,she's producing too much and
(14:09):
struggling.
Those events, why are they hermain events?
Well, I mean, again, let's behonest, the data that she's
produced in her racing basicallytells us she probably has more
slow twitch fibers, percentagewise, than this Caleb.
He's probably gonna be a littlemore explosive as more
fast-switch fibers, right.
And so if they have that fibertype, each fiber type is going
(14:31):
to Improve and get stronger andmore productive when trained to
its strength.
Sure, you certainly can takefast-switch fibers.
There's plenty of data on that.
With threshold training and soon, there's certainly ways in
which we can take it and make itbehave more like slow twitch
fibers.
Okay, so that they don't haveall those.
(14:53):
You know, some of theproperties that they have are,
you know, more inclined to beSomething that's, you know,
likes to like a slow twitch, butwas still some of their
original fast twitch propertiesas well.
But when you put it togetherthen with the athlete that has
more fast twitch, well, slowtwitch fibers don't really find
(15:14):
ways to become, you know,suddenly behave more like fast
twitch, okay.
So if you take an athlete thathas a high preponderance of,
let's say, fast twitch fibersand you think I'm going to train
them for the two mile by simplyhaving them, you know, run a
bunch of longer running toimprove their aerobic, you know,
(15:36):
fitness or stamina.
The downside there is, if it'sthat slow, you're really only
training those slow twitchfibers.
But if there may be 50, 50 fastswitch and slow twitch and all
you're doing is training in thatslow twitch range to try to
make turn them into a crosscountry runner, or you need them
as a mile or two mile that yearand they're more of a 400
(15:58):
runner or something, you'releaving all of their natural
strength, those fast twitchfibers, untapped and undeveloped
.
You're going to have to find away really to help teach those
fibers to behave in a way asmuch like you want the race to
operate as possible.
That's why, really, it's allabout getting them in the right
event.
So then, the right event is theevent that's closest to what
(16:19):
their fiber type naturally canbe trained at, so that each
fiber is when the training isgoing on.
It's getting the right meshbetween how often we work this
type and that type, this system,that system, the crossover and
all of those things.
So, again, 71% of you were ableto process that as you were
looking at that and God, thatmakes sense, yeah, or whatever.
(16:42):
She's somebody again, if youknow her background, a little
stronger across country and soon, and so it doesn't always
require all the in-depth testing.
Now, if we want to, how do youget her to 453 for the mile and
four seconds under what?
The 5k, the 5k national champwe had last year and Peyton, no,
(17:03):
we ran at the same meat.
To take that 1600 record fromher for full seconds is a lot.
You got to have the data andthat's where you know we get
people that might say thatthreshold pace is not right.
There's no way that that's theright pace.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but we've got.
I probably take, you know, withsomeone like Addie, probably 50
(17:25):
samples a week of lactate whileshe's doing threshold type
workouts, and I hate to break itto you again.
If you're somebody doesn'tthink that's what it is, you're
welcome to come in anytime.
This is an open invitation toanybody that says you know, if
your coach says that that numberor something is inaccurate,
tell them they're welcome tocome in anytime.
Seriously, love it.
(17:46):
Usually it's fun.
Get to meet coaches and get toshow sort of how it all works
and how we're able to do it, andthen the data it's on, you know
, just the lactate pro.
You show them, there's the dataand we're able to see the paces
at which they can run and so um.
So someone like Addie can runmile repeats around that 540
(18:06):
range, while staying betweenthree to 3.5 millimoles.
Some days I've seen her down inthe two eight range.
Some days that gets up in thethree, seven, three eight range,
um, but always in that range.
If that's what her most recenttest data shows, it's what it is
.
We just adjust day by day alittle bit, but it's in that
range.
So we got hundreds of samples,even on one athlete, let alone
(18:27):
over the course of the winter.
I think we did several thousandsamples um on our top athletes
and each one of them PR'dsignificantly in each of their
events, every single person umrelative to their indoor
personal bests, and some of themtheir outdoor personal bests as
well were significantly betterthan they've been before.
Um, especially at this time ofthe season and yet feeling you
(18:49):
know, none of them asking forbig, significant time off.
We're ready Hopefully they'reready to really showcase that
for the school, but you've gotto find the best way to make it
fit for them.
So, if you have more explosivetype athlete, like a Caleb, you
know they can maybe run yourfour, your eight, your mile,
give you a two mile maybe, um,maybe your Tommy Hensley type
same thing really, 800 base, butcan give you that mile with a
(19:10):
kick and give it a two with akick, um, you know, 400, and so
on, um, you know, maybe thatathlete needs most of the
training, or a vast majority,but a good focus of the training
on more of that anaerobic, moreexplosive type work, because
that's what their fiber type isdesigned to do, that's where
they will thrive.
And athletes to have more ofthat longer, slower type, um,
(19:33):
you know, muscle response.
Don't be afraid of just livingin that world and training them
there, because that's wherethey're really going to thrive,
that's where all of their umsuccesses are really going to
lie.
So remember, most of what we'redoing here is all about concepts
where, uh, each athlete there'sa lot of variables between you
know, uh, the type of trainingthey're doing, who they are as
(19:54):
an athlete.
You know there's some overlap,but a lot of times we're we're
really just working withconcepts.
We've got some of the bestcoaches in the state that are
now partnering with us.
Um, and all they do.
They bring their athletes in,we test and we give concepts for
each athlete.
So this athlete needs this typeof anaerobic work and speed
work and a very limited dose ofsome tempo or whatever, or vice
(20:16):
versa.
This athlete can handle tempoover and over and over Um, but
they're going to struggle if yougive them too much anaerobic
work, and so you got to kind ofbalance that in because it's
still maybe needed for the race,um, so we're just, uh, you know
, having fun here with all ofthat data, getting to see these
athletes have success.
At the end of the day, you know,if we weren't having fun, if we
(20:38):
weren't seeing these athletesbeing successful, um, you know
we, we wouldn't exist, right, weonly exist by the nature of, of
, hopefully, the product thatwe've been able to put out there
.
We're always looking to make itbetter.
So if you've got thoughts orthings that are, you know are
going to be, you know,constructive in a way that
allows us to develop even better, to help these athletes be
(20:58):
successful, well, it means passthem on and, uh, look forward to
, you know, working through theseason and creating even more
content that hopefully suits uh,you know what you guys are
looking for.
Um, we're going to startgetting some guests on here
having some awesome interviewsas well, going to try to keep
these short, around that 20minute mark.
Uh, you know, if you watch yourhalf hour TV shows, you know in
(21:20):
the commercials what is it?
Around 20, 22, 24 minutes.
So we're going to try to keepit in that range when possible,
especially if it's just me, um,digging into data.
Um, so hopefully that made somesense to you today that uh,
again, try to find out whereyour athletes thrive and don't
be afraid of training them there.
They love training in their, youknow they're, they're they kind
of, naturally, you know, worktowards what those inclinations
(21:45):
are and, um, don't be afraid ofallowing them to really work in
the sandbox that is, uh, youknow, really in their backyard.
So, um, you know, small doses ofthe other things, but, uh, make
sure we take care of, uh, whatthey were designed to do as well
, allow them to shine in thatarea.
So, um, again, always feel free, you know, reach out, um, give
(22:05):
us, give us, uh, uh, shout outon social, follow us, subscribe
all of those things.
Uh, reach out to us directly atmy info is right there on the
website.
Uh, so if you got something tosay whether positive, negative
or anything in between uh,you've got access to us.
So just let us know.
And, um, you know, hopefullythis has been uh something that
(22:27):
you guys can benefit from.
And looking forward to morepodcasts here and go through uh
the next couple of months.
And best of luck to everybodyout there in their seasons and
can't wait to see you guys onthe track.
Hey everybody, you are listening to the Accelerate
Performance Lab podcast hostedby Accelerate Head Performance
Coach, ben Tillis.
You are about to hearstrategies that have helped
produce many elite middledistance and distance runners
over the last 15 years.
He shares why running successdoesn't have to be hard.
You just have to know a few keytools, from workout strategies
(00:30):
to important info on sleep andnutrition.
You are guaranteed to learnsomething that will help you in
your running journey.
Be prepared to get faster,stronger and better in your
racing and training.
So, as always, sit back, buckleup, enjoy the ride.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode
of the Accelerate PerformanceLab podcast.
I'm host Ben Tillis and it'sbeen great to get back with you
guys here so far in the year2024, as we're just getting
started with the spring schoolseason for track and field.
It was a really fun lastweekend here of the club season.
(01:11):
Before Iowa started theirschool season, we had the chance
to take a good number ofathletes to Northwest Missouri
State, the Bearcats.
They put on a great youthseries throughout the winter.
This was their third meet thatthey had there.
We've taken athletes to each ofthose meets.
This one we took probably ourlargest number Really had some
(01:32):
awesome, outstandingperformances throughout the
course of the meet with somegreat runs, like in our mile.
We had some great runs byAdidoren Camp setting the Iowa
indoor record for 1600 with 453,or teammate from Valley Cocoa
Cooker running 508, as well ason the boys side, tommy Hensley
(01:55):
winning the mile and the 800races that were about, I believe
, about 45 minutes apart in 419and 156.
So he had a nice day as well,including other teammates that
also lots of guys running somereally great performances in
those events as well.
Rice Reynolds 49, 25, I believe, in the 400.
(02:18):
Marie Day winning the 400 onthe girls side.
Chloe Judisch going 219 forrunner up in the 800 on the
girls side as well.
Jessica Kine dominating thesprints, as always, and just
across the board, some trulyamazing performances.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some ofeven our top ones, but really
(02:40):
just excited to have had theathletes out there training hard
with us all winter and gettingto see a lot of them Getting out
there for the first one of theoff season first and last before
they started in their schoolseason, and others just putting
a bow on some of the greatperformances you know they've
(03:01):
had throughout this winter.
It's just been really fun to seesome of these athletes really
develop and showcase theirskills with different athletes,
you know, putting on differentperformances across the country,
starting from we've been toArkansas, louisville.
There's been athletes up inMinnesota, kansas City,
maryville, chicago.
(03:23):
You know there's been athleteseverywhere and we've still got
some more fun places to go forthe championship meets and new
balance and adidas.
It's gonna be great just to seesome of our athletes just test
their medal against some of thebest in the US and Also it's
gonna be fun to see them nowtest their medal against their
fellow High schoolers.
(03:45):
In the school season there's somany amazing runners and I
always saw a lot of them at thatmeet at Northwest.
So just getting them back intheir school colors is gonna be
a lot of fun for us just to seehow they Bring all the tools
that they've gained throughoutthe winter.
It should be a lot of fun tosee them do that.
So I'm really proud of all ofour athletes, really excited by
that, grateful and thankful toall the coaches that helped us
(04:07):
out this winter.
We had some fun new coachesthat were in.
Several of them are formerathletes and Hayden Kuhn did a
great job with some athletes ofours this winter.
So did Riley Witt.
We've also added Shailin DYoung into our our group with
assisting athletes and some ofthe longer events and in her
Triathlon stuff as well alwaysgrateful.
(04:30):
Alan Davis helping withnutrition.
Austin O'Brien's, the sportsPsychology side of things, and
then the, the wonderful crew atengineered performance in Ankeny
, where our facility is Just andmainly our.
Our PT are the one that'sreally digging in with us.
Taylor we're super excited thatshe's joined us and just really
(04:52):
fired up for what's to come,that she can offer to our group
and Just so many awesome peoplethat have contributed and just
brought a lot of smiles To myface.
The kids face is just enjoyment, helping them achieve the goals
that they want to achieve andsome of them recovering and
getting back into it and andjust ultimately allowing them to
chase their dreams and theirgoals.
(05:13):
So we're excited to see themback with their schools.
You know it's always kind ofinteresting as the as athletes
return.
You know we like to showcase.
We had a lot of tests here inthe you know kind of the waning
weeks of the off-season when Ishould say kind of the indoor
season.
A lot of these athletes gocross indoor, outdoor Maybe
(05:34):
there's it's similar to probablycollege and pro anymore.
The off-season is a little bitvariable depending on the
athlete.
I'm just trying to make sureeverybody's getting some good
training but also gettingchances to race when it makes
sense for them as well.
And one of those things thatyou know we often are trying to
balance is giving them thoseopportunities at big meets to
(05:55):
see athletes that maybe theywon't get a chance to see,
always that exact caliber.
They see the same, you know,athlete from the same school at
seven meets in a row and so on.
So we're always trying to findways to give them more unique
opportunities To do so.
So it's fun to watch thathappen.
Definitely always kind of atransitional time is as a lot of
(06:17):
them work their way back intotheir schools, and we're
oftentimes working with schoolcoaches to talk through some of
the things that they're workingon in the winter what their data
showed from when they tested,both metabolically, some
different things that maybe wefound out, you know, again from
the psychology side, thenutrition side.
Just there's always differentthings that give these athletes
(06:39):
a chance to be successful.
So we're always looking intothat and trying to have fun with
how we showcase that on socialmedia, how we showcase that, you
know, with the families thatthat trust us and some of the
new families that are checkingus out.
We're always excited to havenew athletes.
We're definitely taking on somemore right now.
Now's that kind of time of year.
Sometimes we hear from a lot ofmiddle school kids that maybe
(07:00):
are finishing up basketball orsomething and getting ready for,
you know, their middle schooltrack season here coming up in a
month or so Just definitelyexcited by you know, their
excitement and their energy fortheir season as well, you know.
So if you've got athletes thathave come back to your school
and they're fired up and readyto compete, we hope that we put
(07:20):
them in a good position so thatthey can do some great things.
You know for the school as well, and we're going to be right
there alongside them.
So I know, you know there'sdefinitely you know some
challenges that you know we'verun into and we understand it
that there are some coaches thatmaybe see this as a challenge,
(07:41):
but really we're trying to justwe'll stay alongside of them,
working, trying to come up withthe best avenues for them to
have success.
And I think, as adults I'vebeen in the education system as
well and just trying to work tofigure out what's the best way
to create continuity for boththe individual as well, as you
know, your team and how to blendall that together.
(08:01):
So you know it's not alwaysgoing to be smooth, but the job
is on our end.
It's always been to give theathlete the best tools possible
and work with them to havesuccess.
So you know, if it's not the cupof tea, if you hear something
on here, you know that throwsyou off, or you see something on
our social media page and itjust really gets under your skin
(08:23):
.
You know, here's the easyanswer Just don't follow it.
You know, just leave us be.
It's all good you can.
We're not going to lose anysleep over it.
If you unfollow us, it's notthe end of the world.
We're here loving what we do.
Our athletes are loving what wedo, but if you're somebody
that's enjoying it, you knowshare with your friends as well.
See if there's more things thatmaybe there is something of
value.
(08:43):
That's all we're trying tobring here with the podcast and
with social media, and workingwith these athletes is bring
some things of value.
So certainly don't know it all.
Just got a lot of we've had alot of almost a thousand tests
now in the facility, so we gottons of data to go off of, you
know.
So if this isn't your cup of teaand all you plan to do with it
is just go.
(09:04):
You know, for lack of betterway, just go and talk crap about
it.
Then just move on to somethingelse.
That would be the probablymature thing to do You're
certainly welcome to be a matureand just continue to follow and
use it as a way to, you know,degrade the success of either
our athletes or the coaches thatwork with our athletes, but
(09:24):
otherwise, you know, have somefun with it.
That's what we're trying to do.
You know it's our athletes.
Have fun creating, you know,different accelerate meme
accounts and things, even topoke fun at ourselves, because
it shouldn't be that serious.
We're supposed to have some funwith it and just do our best to
spread some, some ways in whichwe see athletes having success
(09:45):
and getting better, and we hopethat you've been able to.
You know, see whether it'sathletes in your own school.
If they've come to us, man,it's just they want to get
better, they want to pushthemselves.
You know they're never comingsaying you know, what I have
isn't good, they're just sayingI want more.
And then sometimes obviouslythere's some challenges in
combining those things, but it'sonly because the kids desire
(10:06):
the opportunity to chase successat the highest levels and it's
been fun to see how Iowa hasprogressed the last few years
with that.
So you know you can get onboard and, and you know, push
yourselves, find your ownresources.
If we're not that one againthat challenges and builds you
up and builds your team up, andyou know, if again, if it's not
(10:26):
us, then, you know, be mature,just unfollow it and move on to
the next thing.
If it is us, you know I said welove to engage with you, we
love to, you know, come up withways to help provide more
resources.
We've heard more podcasting,more, you know, just getting
more info out.
There is something that'svaluable to everybody.
So I'm back in the seat tryingto make that happen.
And so, again, if you love thatgood, share it, pass it on.
(10:50):
If I'm not for you, it's reallyeasy to just not hit play on
our podcast.
So, but if you're here andthat's you and you're finding
yourself having a hard time inpause because you're just
looking for the, the thing tosay that that, you know Makes me
look bad or something, go forit.
You know, more, more time spentwith us working with athletes,
(11:12):
if that's what's tripping yourtrigger.
So we're just gonna keep movingon.
The best thing that I seemoving forward with all of these
athletes is just that they havesuch a passion to take
Everything to a new level, theexcitement that they have to
look for what makes each of themso unique and one of the ways
that Kind of jumping into thisweek's we talked about how, on
(11:35):
on Instagram, we put up a poll.
I happened to have two athletesin the facility doing a workout
doing different workouts, really, actually but I posted the poll
and happened to be CalebTempest and Addison Doran camp
to elite level Athletes in Iowaand, really, you know, have done
(11:58):
some things nationally as wellthroughout their careers.
And and the question was whichone would thrive more on More
aerobic based, longer, slowertype of training?
Pretty straightforward question.
I think we had believe it waslike 71% said adi and 29% Went
with Caleb, and so I think itshows that I think most of you
(12:21):
generally get it.
The correct answer, based onthe metabolic data that we have,
would be adi, you know, and sowhy is that?
Well, that's what we get intoand we work with the, the
information we get from thetests as well as what we can see
.
A lot of you don't have testinformation.
You can use your you know.
(12:41):
There's some common senseinformation that goes with it as
well.
Right, adi's gonna thrive onmore long-distance training.
Her events get better as thedistance goes up, right, and
Caleb is one of those that hasthe ability to go down to the
800, be competitive at the eightand the mile and then, as the
distance goes up, some of thatextra power that he brings from
(13:03):
the eight and the mile are gonnapresent more Challenges in the
longer races and vice versa.
The lack of the top-end poweris what's gonna be a challenge
for someone like adi Is theraces get faster, but it's also
it makes them amazing at theevents that they go where their
strengths are.
So, as much as we'd love toshort their weaknesses right, as
much as we'd love to go, let'stry to make them, you know, a
(13:24):
robot.
And okay, they're alreadystrong.
Okay, this person already hasgreater Robic ability, right,
all right, we look at somebodylike adi.
We go yes, she's got phenomenalRobic ability.
All we've got to do is addspeed and she'll be phenomenal.
Well, if we add anaerobic power,sure, maybe that event that has
been, you know, lagging behind,maybe on the opposite side, on
(13:47):
800 or something, shows someimprovement.
But what could that potentiallydo?
Then?
See, the 5k or the 3k, right?
Is that now too much?
Anaerobic power?
The, the VLA max, as we'vetalked about in some other ones,
is that too high?
So our production of lactate istoo high.
Now For events, she, their, hermain events, and all of a
sudden, you know she's not,she's producing too much and
(14:09):
struggling.
Those events, why are they hermain events?
Well, I mean, again, let's behonest, the data that she's
produced in her racing basicallytells us she probably has more
slow twitch fibers, percentagewise, than this Caleb.
He's probably gonna be a littlemore explosive as more
fast-switch fibers, right.
And so if they have that fibertype, each fiber type is going
(14:31):
to Improve and get stronger andmore productive when trained to
its strength.
Sure, you certainly can takefast-switch fibers.
There's plenty of data on that.
With threshold training and soon, there's certainly ways in
which we can take it and make itbehave more like slow twitch
fibers.
Okay, so that they don't haveall those.
(14:53):
You know, some of theproperties that they have are,
you know, more inclined to beSomething that's, you know,
likes to like a slow twitch, butwas still some of their
original fast twitch propertiesas well.
But when you put it togetherthen with the athlete that has
more fast twitch, well, slowtwitch fibers don't really find
(15:14):
ways to become, you know,suddenly behave more like fast
twitch, okay.
So if you take an athlete thathas a high preponderance of,
let's say, fast twitch fibersand you think I'm going to train
them for the two mile by simplyhaving them, you know, run a
bunch of longer running toimprove their aerobic, you know,
(15:36):
fitness or stamina.
The downside there is, if it'sthat slow, you're really only
training those slow twitchfibers.
But if there may be 50, 50 fastswitch and slow twitch and all
you're doing is training in thatslow twitch range to try to
make turn them into a crosscountry runner, or you need them
as a mile or two mile that yearand they're more of a 400
(15:58):
runner or something, you'releaving all of their natural
strength, those fast twitchfibers, untapped and undeveloped
.
You're going to have to find away really to help teach those
fibers to behave in a way asmuch like you want the race to
operate as possible.
That's why, really, it's allabout getting them in the right
event.
So then, the right event is theevent that's closest to what
(16:19):
their fiber type naturally canbe trained at, so that each
fiber is when the training isgoing on.
It's getting the right meshbetween how often we work this
type and that type, this system,that system, the crossover and
all of those things.
So, again, 71% of you were ableto process that as you were
looking at that and God, thatmakes sense, yeah, or whatever.
(16:42):
She's somebody again, if youknow her background, a little
stronger across country and soon, and so it doesn't always
require all the in-depth testing.
Now, if we want to, how do youget her to 453 for the mile and
four seconds under what?
The 5k, the 5k national champwe had last year and Peyton, no,
(17:03):
we ran at the same meat.
To take that 1600 record fromher for full seconds is a lot.
You got to have the data andthat's where you know we get
people that might say thatthreshold pace is not right.
There's no way that that's theright pace.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but we've got.
I probably take, you know, withsomeone like Addie, probably 50
(17:25):
samples a week of lactate whileshe's doing threshold type
workouts, and I hate to break itto you again.
If you're somebody doesn'tthink that's what it is, you're
welcome to come in anytime.
This is an open invitation toanybody that says you know, if
your coach says that that numberor something is inaccurate,
tell them they're welcome tocome in anytime.
Seriously, love it.
(17:46):
Usually it's fun.
Get to meet coaches and get toshow sort of how it all works
and how we're able to do it, andthen the data it's on, you know
, just the lactate pro.
You show them, there's the dataand we're able to see the paces
at which they can run and so um.
So someone like Addie can runmile repeats around that 540
(18:06):
range, while staying betweenthree to 3.5 millimoles.
Some days I've seen her down inthe two eight range.
Some days that gets up in thethree, seven, three eight range,
um, but always in that range.
If that's what her most recenttest data shows, it's what it is
.
We just adjust day by day alittle bit, but it's in that
range.
So we got hundreds of samples,even on one athlete, let alone
(18:27):
over the course of the winter.
I think we did several thousandsamples um on our top athletes
and each one of them PR'dsignificantly in each of their
events, every single person umrelative to their indoor
personal bests, and some of themtheir outdoor personal bests as
well were significantly betterthan they've been before.
Um, especially at this time ofthe season and yet feeling you
(18:49):
know, none of them asking forbig, significant time off.
We're ready Hopefully they'reready to really showcase that
for the school, but you've gotto find the best way to make it
fit for them.
So, if you have more explosivetype athlete, like a Caleb, you
know they can maybe run yourfour, your eight, your mile,
give you a two mile maybe, um,maybe your Tommy Hensley type
same thing really, 800 base, butcan give you that mile with a
(19:10):
kick and give it a two with akick, um, you know, 400, and so
on, um, you know, maybe thatathlete needs most of the
training, or a vast majority,but a good focus of the training
on more of that anaerobic, moreexplosive type work, because
that's what their fiber type isdesigned to do, that's where
they will thrive.
And athletes to have more ofthat longer, slower type, um,
(19:33):
you know, muscle response.
Don't be afraid of just livingin that world and training them
there, because that's wherethey're really going to thrive,
that's where all of their umsuccesses are really going to
lie.
So remember, most of what we'redoing here is all about concepts
where, uh, each athlete there'sa lot of variables between you
know, uh, the type of trainingthey're doing, who they are as
(19:54):
an athlete.
You know there's some overlap,but a lot of times we're we're
really just working withconcepts.
We've got some of the bestcoaches in the state that are
now partnering with us.
Um, and all they do.
They bring their athletes in,we test and we give concepts for
each athlete.
So this athlete needs this typeof anaerobic work and speed
work and a very limited dose ofsome tempo or whatever, or vice
(20:16):
versa.
This athlete can handle tempoover and over and over Um, but
they're going to struggle if yougive them too much anaerobic
work, and so you got to kind ofbalance that in because it's
still maybe needed for the race,um, so we're just, uh, you know
, having fun here with all ofthat data, getting to see these
athletes have success.
At the end of the day, you know,if we weren't having fun, if we
(20:38):
weren't seeing these athletesbeing successful, um, you know
we, we wouldn't exist, right, weonly exist by the nature of, of
, hopefully, the product thatwe've been able to put out there
.
We're always looking to make itbetter.
So if you've got thoughts orthings that are, you know are
going to be, you know,constructive in a way that
allows us to develop even better, to help these athletes be
(20:58):
successful, well, it means passthem on and, uh, look forward to
, you know, working through theseason and creating even more
content that hopefully suits uh,you know what you guys are
looking for.
Um, we're going to startgetting some guests on here
having some awesome interviewsas well, going to try to keep
these short, around that 20minute mark.
Uh, you know, if you watch yourhalf hour TV shows, you know in
(21:20):
the commercials what is it?
Around 20, 22, 24 minutes.
So we're going to try to keepit in that range when possible,
especially if it's just me, um,digging into data.
Um, so hopefully that made somesense to you today that uh,
again, try to find out whereyour athletes thrive and don't
be afraid of training them there.
They love training in their, youknow they're, they're they kind
of, naturally, you know, worktowards what those inclinations
(21:45):
are and, um, don't be afraid ofallowing them to really work in
the sandbox that is, uh, youknow, really in their backyard.
So, um, you know, small doses ofthe other things, but, uh, make
sure we take care of, uh, whatthey were designed to do as well
, allow them to shine in thatarea.
So, um, again, always feel free, you know, reach out, um, give
(22:05):
us, give us, uh, uh, shout outon social, follow us, subscribe
all of those things.
Uh, reach out to us directly atmy info is right there on the
website.
Uh, so if you got something tosay whether positive, negative
or anything in between uh,you've got access to us.
So just let us know.
And, um, you know, hopefullythis has been uh something that
(22:27):
you guys can benefit from.
And looking forward to morepodcasts here and go through uh
the next couple of months.
And best of luck to everybodyout there in their seasons and
can't wait to see you guys onthe track.
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