From a training standpoint, coaches and self-coached athletes want the most objective power meter measurement possible. For several years, heart rate monitors were used but remained limited, especially for a short-term effort. Exercise labs possess stationary ergometers, but these aren’t usable for a casual group ride. In recent years, manufactures have stepped up their efforts to fill the expanding market of bicycle specific power meters; the following are different approaches complimented with their pros and cons. Power Tap was once owned by Tune, but is now property of Cyclops. The device has been improved considerably from its introductory days and remains as the only hub based measuring unit on the market. Power Tap uses the same strain gauge mechanics as
Program News, Team Athletic Mentors News
Michigan’s Premier Elite Multi-Sport Teams win OAM NOW Title Sponsorship
Watch for Team OAM NOW at multisport and endurance events throughout Michigan. Elite cyclists, runners, tri-athletes and Nordic ski athletes in West Michigan will be hitting the trails in 2014 sporting a new title sponsor from West Michigan health innovator OAM NOW. The team’s management company, Athletic Mentors LLC, announced the co-titling partnership with OAM NOW, a provider of Urgent Orthopaedic Care and supported by the OAM Sports Medicine Institute, both operated by Othopaedic Associates of Michigan. The multi-sport team program, formerly sponsored by Priority Health, has won national and international attention for the athletes it has developed in a variety of events. Two out of six American Tour de France cyclists are program alumni. The team’s athletes have made
Training time is valuable and athletes want to get the most out of their workouts. This can often lead to skipped warm ups, which may be more detrimental than trading the additional 10 minutes of workout time for properly prepping the body for activity. Just 10 minutes before every workout can go a long way in helping prevent injury. When many people think of warm up, they tend to envision a light jog or easy spin, but there are two other things that should happen before this “cardio” phase of a warm up. The first part of a warm up is designed to stimulate motor neurons, which send messages from the brain to the muscles. This is called neuromuscular activation
Many adult athletes can trace their sporting start to a younger, simpler time when life’s responsibilities had yet to compete and consume their schedule. Dominican-born triathlete Raquel Tavares-Torres was one such promising young athlete whose athletic achievements would be sidelined in her prime by study, marriage, and raising a family. Sixteen years later, with great coaching and a supportive family, Tavares-Torres has become the ultimate comeback kid. Tavares-Torres took up swimming at the age of 3, and competition by the age of 5. She started mountain bike riding and racing around the age of 12 and then combined these abilities with running when she started triathlons two years later. She continued to develop in multisport through a local club, and
Athletes enjoy year-to-year improvement, and constantly seek ways to achieve gains through changes to things like their training, nutrition, or tactics. But the closer an athlete gets to his or her full potential, the more challenging it becomes to continue the trajectory of improvement. Knowing that you “don’t know what you don’t know” and turning to an experienced coach can make a world of difference. Such was the case with Daniel Yankus, an Athletic Mentors athlete, Elite Team Priority Health cyclist and cross country skier. In his case, working with an experienced coach made for an outstanding season, with several podium finishes in Pro Mountain Bike events and Pro/1/2 road events. Yankus’ started racing when he was 13, but at
Most athletes will tell you the greatest gain from coaching is the guidance to do the right things, at the right time, in the right amounts. Even seasoned triathletes like Jay Lonsway can learn new tricks from a structured training plan. Lonsway called his quest to improve his 2012 Lake Placid Ironman time under the tutelage of coach Mark Olson “eye-opening.” But the proof was in his performance: this year, he shaved an hour off his 2012 performance. The key is having a best-laid plan and an enforcer on hand. Before hiring a coach, Lonsway would struggle with consistency. “I would have peaks and valleys in my training, where I was feeling great, then crash and burn for a month
Athletic Mentors