Welcome to another edition of the Friday Footnotes – Cycling Sweat and the power of thinking. There is a cycling undertone to this week’s edition but, as always, there are plenty of other topics covered too. Enjoy your weekend!
TRIBEathlon Podcast
For the first week in a long time, we’ve had a week off doing a TRIBEathlon podcast. Dates and diaries conspired against us, however don’t be alarmed, it will be back next week. In the meantime, I suggest you take a listen to one of our favourite episodes if you have missed them. Whilst it’s difficult to narrow it down, the ones that really stand out for me are:
- Jeff Galloway on run/walk/run strategies
- John McAvoy’s story from armed robber to Ironman pro
- Nikki Spinks on fell running
- Matt Bottrill on improving cycling performance
- Tim Don, the ironman with the halo
- Dr Emma Ross on women’s health in sport
- Shane Benzie on running technique
- Dr Charlotte Edelston on sleep
- Mark Beaumont on cycling around the world in 80 days
- Crista Cullen on winning hockey gold.
Whilst every episode has been amazing, I really encourage you to go back and take a listen to these in particular, they really are fascinating.
What I’ve Been Reading
One of my favourite books is Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, so I decided to go back and read one of his older books, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. It presents research from psychology and behavioural economics on the adaptive unconscious: mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. It considers both the strengths of the adaptive unconscious (expert judgment for example), and its pitfalls, such as prejudice and stereotypes. As with his other books, there are brilliant learning points woven into brilliant story telling.
Cycling Performance
One of the podcast episodes I mentioned above was improving cycling performance with Matt Bottrill, and last week I finally got to visit him to help me. I spent an afternoon with him reshaping my position on the bike. Not only was it totally fascinating, but I am hoping it will significantly improve my performance. Well worth looking at here if you are into your cycling.
What I’ve Been Drinking
When I first started cycling someone told me that, on longer rides, electrolytes are as important, if not more so, than nutrition (food). I’d now say this even more the case with running. What I learned from interviewing Andy Blow is that we all sweat at different levels, and our salt loss also varies widely, so if you want to perform at your best, you need to be slightly more scientific than just adding a tablet to each bottle.
If you want to learn more, you can do a free online sweat test at www.precisionhydration.com and if you want to buy any of their products use the code TRIBEATHLON15 at the checkout for 15% off your first order.
Quote of the Week
”I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
Finance Theme I’ve Been Considering
Last week, Wayne Searle from ESP Business Solutions and I did a webinar about Building a Better Business. Wayne’s advice comes from an accounting background and mine a financial planning one, but both of us were discussing topics more diverse than just these core subjects. If you would like to watch the recording, it is available to view here.