NYT: Lance's "secret" revealed --

[NashbarShorts]

New article releases a bombshell: The Secret of Elite Athletes

Apparently Lance just deals w/ pain better than the rest of us.

That, and he thought to ride Alpe d'Huez before actually racing over it.

Brilliant stuff!!

 

[flicker]

You have stirred up a wasp hive of hate here. The haters here will deploy their cynicism towards Armstrong.

If one read the books on how Armstrong keyed certain stages of the tour one would see how specific training for key stages can cause havoc in the plans of other riders. That is the key to the reason people call Armstrong a psycopath or sociopath.

By doing unbelievable action one can throw off athletic opponents. I saw Contador do that in the 2009 tour.

 

[Anonymous]

You have stirred up a wasp hive of hate here. The haters here will deploy their cynicism towards Armstrong.

If one read the books on how Armstrong keyed certain stages of the tour one would see how specific training for key stages can cause havoc in the plans of other riders. That is the key to the reason people call Armstrong a psycopath or sociopath.

By doing unbelievable action one can throw off athletic opponents. I saw Contador do that in the 2009 tour.

I think the tenacity and mental toughness displayed by Lance was amazing. He revolutionized the entire sport... what with his legendary recons and training techniques. Heck, even his TT position was remarkable.

He changed the sport, I tell you... changed the sport.

 

[lean mean &green]

i think the thread title is more than a little misleading. in fact, the article barely mentions LA at all. furthermore i'm not sure this even belongs in the clinic.

lastly, i think the ideas expressed are quite interesting and reflect my own experiences. inactive people i teach/coach generally underestimate their abilities and don't process the discomfort of intense exercise correctly. famaliarity with a course is an obvious benefit strategically as well as psychologically. the issue of focus is also an interesting idea. ie is intense focus better than disassociating? disassociating/oscillation leading to less efficiency is a very interesting idea too.

 

[NashbarShorts]

Back pats all around at Public Strategies this AM --

Armstrong aside, in an era where the top athletes across ALL endurance sports are "enhancing" and designer drugs are the norm and constantly evolving, an article like this has to be viewed as complete drivel, a bad joke. It seems conspicuously naive to me... does NYTimes really employ ppl this stupid??

It is currently the #3 "most emailed" story on their website. I get the funny feeling that there is smoke coming out of the server room at Public Strategies 'black ops' division this morning. The email engines are working overtime today.

 

[lean mean &green]

Armstrong aside, in an era where the top athletes across ALL endurance sports are "enhancing" and designer drugs are the norm and constantly evolving, an article like this has to be viewed as complete drivel, a bad joke. It seems conspicuously naive to me... does NYTimes really employ ppl this stupid??

It is currently the #3 "most emailed" story on their website. I get the funnty feeling that there is smoke coming out of the server room at Public Strategies 'black ops' division this morning. The email engines are working overtime today.

huh?

the following is the only mention of LA in a two page article:

That is why elite runners will examine a course, running it before they race it. That is why Lance Armstrong trained for the grueling Tour de France stage on l’Alpe d’Huez by riding up the mountain over and over again.

 

[scribe]

huh?

the following is the only mention of LA in a two page article:

We don't argue points with facts here.

 

[forty four]

i think the thread title is more than a little misleading. in fact, the article barely mentions LA at all. furthermore i'm not sure this even belongs in the clinic.

lastly, i think the ideas expressed are quite interesting and reflect my own experiences. inactive people i teach/coach generally underestimate their abilities and don't process the discomfort of intense exercise correctly. famaliarity with a course is an obvious benefit strategically as well as psychologically. the issue of focus is also an interesting idea. ie is intense focus better than dissassociating? dissassociating/oscillation leading to less efficiency is a very interesting idea too.

for peak power and speed pure focus is best zoning out is best for very long events imo.

 

[NashbarShorts]

inactive people i teach/coach generally underestimate their abilities and don't process the discomfort of intense exercise correctly...

Yeah, I agree. I've never understood ppl who view exercise as "work" and who have the "I hate exercise mentality". This article might be instructive to them. The takeaway is: "you can do it..keep going and you can achieve more than you thought possible". It is the whole premise for the "Biggest Loser" TV show...

However, sedentary couch potatoes is not who the article is focused on. The author is talking about the top 1% of 1% -- and her hypothesis is that these folks simply "push themselves harder". 'No pain, no gain' is what separates them from their competitors. This is their great "secret".

And yes, Armstrong is listed as the most famous example of these 'mind over matter' athletes . Why am I supposed to apologize for posting this??

Lean, Mean, Green, if you feel 'misled' into viewing this thread . Have you been over to the "Wada bomb" thread lately? Its the same 3 guys sniping at each other for the past 10 pages. 28,000 views for Fsake, on a thread that ought to be locked down b/c it has evolved into such stupidity.

I'd rather post a new thread and try to generate some interesting discussion, than read that crap!

 

[Hugh Januss]

I think the tenacity and mental toughness displayed by Lance was amazing. He revolutionized the entire sport... what with his legendary recons and training techniques. Heck, even his TT position was remarkable.

He changed the sport, I tell you... changed the sport.

That tenacity and mental toughness pales to near insignificance when compared to that shown by Flicker, Polish and Spart-rox in defense of their idol on this forum.

 

[hiero2]

Yeah, I agree. I've never understood ppl who view exercise as "work" and who have the "I hate exercise mentality". This article might be instructive to them. The takeaway is: "you can do it..keep going and you can achieve more than you thought possible". It is the whole premise for the "Biggest Loser" TV show...

However, sedentary couch potatoes is not who the article is focused on. The author is talking about the top 1% of 1% -- and her hypothesis is that these folks simply "push themselves harder". 'No pain, no gain' is what separates them from their competitors. This is their great "secret".

And yes, Armstrong is listed as the most famous example of these 'mind over matter' athletes . Why am I supposed to apologize for posting this??

Lean, Mean, Green, if you feel 'misled' into viewing this thread . Have you been over to the "Wada bomb" thread lately? Its the same 3 guys sniping at each other for the past 10 pages. 28,000 views for Fsake, on a thread that ought to be locked down b/c it has evolved into such stupidity.

I'd rather post a new thread and try to generate some interesting discussion, than read that crap!

I can agree with that last bit - typical of forum life, sometimes threads can get very - monotonous?

However, there is no bombshell here. There are no surprises. The reason this post opens you up to sniping, imho, is because these are some of the very lines used for years to explain Lance's wins. Because many people here believe that Lance doped, myself included, they respond as though you are trying to justify Lance's wins. Meh, the truth will all come out, soon enough.

"No pain, no gain" is not earth-shattering. Pre-race course study is not new, and is not revolutionary. On the other hand, I do think that Lance brought the single-minded focus so typical of triathletes more prominently into the pro peloton. And, he was probably better than most of the peloton at using his head in the race prep and during the races. Even in a juiced peloton, that much seems obvious to me. Was Lance better at this than Ulrich, etc? I think he was. Do I think this is what won him those races? It helped some, but no, it wasn't the winning difference.

 

[flicker]

That tenacity and mental toughness pales to near insignificance when compared to that shown by Flicker, Polish and Spart-rox in defense of their idol on this forum.

I can't speak for Polish and Spartacus Rox but for me its tenacity, mental toughness and a little bit extra. No hair folice tests here please!

 

[flicker]

I can agree with that last bit - typical of forum life, sometimes threads can get very - monotonous?

However, there is no bombshell here. There are no surprises. The reason this post opens you up to sniping, imho, is because these are some of the very lines used for years to explain Lance's wins. Because many people here believe that Lance doped, myself included, they respond as though you are trying to justify Lance's wins. Meh, the truth will all come out, soon enough.

"No pain, no gain" is not earth-shattering. Pre-race course study is not new, and is not revolutionary. On the other hand, I do think that Lance brought the single-minded focus so typical of triathletes more prominently into the pro peloton. And, he was probably better than most of the peloton at using his head in the race prep and during the races. Even in a juiced peloton, that much seems obvious to me. Was Lance better at this than Ulrich, etc? I think he was. Do I think this is what won him those races? It helped some, but no, it wasn't the winning difference.

Lance was better than Ulrich because he was smarter, more focused and had a more efficient pedaling style. It could have been his triathlete training also.

 

[lean mean &green]

Yeah, I agree. I've never understood ppl who view exercise as "work" and who have the "I hate exercise mentality". This article might be instructive to them. The takeaway is: "you can do it..keep going and you can achieve more than you thought possible". It is the whole premise for the "Biggest Loser" TV show...

However, sedentary couch potatoes is not who we are talking about here. The author is talking about the top 1% of 1%, and her hypothesis is that they simply "push themselves harder". 'No pain, no gain' is what separates them from their competitors. And this is their great "secret"??

the author is talking about elite athletes but the article's message, implied by it's location in the health/fitness advice section of the NYT, is directed at regular folks, weekend warriors, and maybe even "couch potatoes". i'd have to say that given its intended audience, she passed on a few worthwhile nuggets and that she did an ok job.

it is sad that LA is the default reference for americans in need of a recognizable endurance athlete tho.

 

[NashbarShorts]

..there is no bombshell here. There are no surprises...this post opens you up to sniping....you are trying to justify Lance's wins.

Noooooooooo
I used 'bombshell' facetiously. This article is a sham and I stated I can't believe the NYTimes would consider it worthy to publish in any form.

 

[The Hitch]

huh?

the following is the only mention of LA in a two page article:

The point is, they are talking about what it takes to win in endurance sports but dont include doping. Its not just about LA. They talk about how much faster you can go by fighting pain and checking out the courses beforehand, when we know full well that most endurance athletes have been winning through doping.

 

[JRTinMA]

Noooooooooo
I used 'bombshell' facetiously. This article is a sham and I stated I can't believe the NYTimes would consider it worthy to publish in any form.

What exactly is the sham? It seems appropriate to me to be in the health section of a online version of the NYT. Are you proposing that dopers feel no pain or was it the one sentence that mentions LA, yep that makes it a sham...

 

[indurain666]

Lance was better than Ulrich because he was smarter, more focused and had a more efficient pedaling style. It could have been his triathlete training also.

His triathlete training???

 

[cprior]

Hehe, an 68min half marathon is nice, I'd love to achieve that! But to make it into NYT with ~10min slower than world record pace is brilliant!

 

[Anonymous]

That tenacity and mental toughness pales to near insignificance when compared to that shown by Flicker, Polish and Spart-rox in defense of their idol on this forum.

Good point.

Everybody knows Lance hangs around this forum... I wonder if SR, Flicker and Polish are realy just..... naw, couldn't be.

 

[Darryl Webster]

The whole Idea that the best of the best are there simply because they resist pain better than the rest is utterly rediculous.
Route study, focusing on a specific event etc is absalutly nothing new and been going on for decades by many top athletes in many differant sports, the differance is that the great majority dont use it as an explanation for there achievements as they know full well it`s nothing extraordienery.

Re Lance, he "won" 7 TDF`s cus he and the team around him doped "better" than the rest. It`s that simple.
Oh, having Pat Mc Wallet Full O`Cash also helped.
That others also doped does not leval the playing field any more than differing nations having Nukes levals the playing field of war.
It merely makes the game more deadly.

 

[The Hitch]

Everybody knows Lance hangs around this forum.

What

 

[thehog]

The whole Idea that the best of the best are there simply because they resist pain better than the rest is utterly rediculous.
Route study, focusing on a specific event etc is absalutly nothing new and been going on for decades by many top athletes in many differant sports, the differance is that the great majority dont use it as an explanation for there achievements as they know full well it`s nothing extraordienery.

Re Lance, he "won" 7 TDF`s cus he and the team around him doped "better" than the rest. It`s that simple.
Oh, having Pat Mc Wallet Full O`Cash also helped.
That others also doped does not leval the playing field any more than differing nations having Nukes levals the playing field of war.
It merely makes the game more deadly.

Maaxing out on T and bulking on GH helps with the pain also. But I'm sure no one before or even after Lance has thought about riding up a mountain more than once!

Maybe the author should have mentioned the post training work conducted at the Yellow Rose? Bit of blow and dance helps a lot!

 

[Berzin]

If the moron who wrote this fluff piece had any idea about PED's, he'd know that athletes on a doping regimen don't feel any pain.

Don't believe me? Inject some HgH and go do some hill intervals.

You'll be at it again the next day with no problems. And the day after that, and the day after that.

People will comment on how hard you work and how dedicated you are to cycling-next thing you know you'll start believing that it's you and not the drugs.

Just like Lance.

 

[Escarabajo]

...
That others also doped does not leval the playing field any more than differing nations having Nukes levals the playing field of war.
It merely makes the game more deadly.

I like this thought.