Announcements

The concept of a massive over-distance day is nothing new to endurance athletes and something many do during their overload block of training for their key race (Ironman, ultra-marathon run or ultra-distance bike race like The Dirty Kanza 200). Personally, as an athlete and as a coach I am a big fan of this for multiple reasons I’ll explain here. There’s both an equal part physical training stimulus and a mental fitness stimulus. If one has never done an extreme endurance activity it’s kind of its own rite of passage if you will – the endurance athlete’s rite of passage. 

Coach Tim Snow started out writing a blog post called The Butterfly Affect, which ended up turning into something much more complex, and lengthy. It turned into something that could not really be most effectively shared in a blog-type setting. But, we wanted to make sure that it was made available to you in the typical way that you access our written content. To that end, please see, below, three different links, all of which will allow you to access the writing, in three different forms.

QT2 Systems, LLC is very excited to make available a booklet of this past fall's Mental Fitness Webinar Series, hosted by Mental Fitness Coach and licensed therapist, Lori Ashworth. This booklet contains each of the recorded webinars, a brief description of what is covered in each of the webinars, as well as Lori's full presentation notes.

In order to swim, you must have the mental and physical capabilities to perform an elaborate physics experiment.  No other sport, requires such a high demand of physical suppleness and awareness to engage properly with the environment to propel ones self forward.  In cycling, you engage with the bike at 5 spots.  This physical engagement propels you forward.  In running, there are two points of contact with the solid earth, which through physical engagement will propel you forward.  In swimming, we have the challenge of being face down in the water, trying to grab this liquid substance with a hand, with the goal of moving the body forward.  What we often don’t realize is that the body moves past the hand and arm.  Upon entry the catch is initialized, at this moment the hand and arm are now stationary in the water.   The next process is what separates the efficient swimmer from the inefficient swimmer.

Heat training relates to the techniques directed to improve performance in warm climates, while heat acclimation is the process by which an athlete becomes accustomed to increased heat over a 4 to 14-day period. Putting these two things together, and you get acclimatization. Acclimatization, is the entire spectrum of heat training, including the initial acclimation period through the time frame, leading to race day. 

Curious about pracing the run portion of a triathlon and how that differs from pacing open run races?  Read what Coach Doug MacLean has to say on the topic!

Caffeine can be a great tool for athletes of all abilities used to enhance performance. However, when abused (or not used as a tool), it can be a detriment to your training and racing.

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to coach 116 athletes at the Austin half marathon. For these athletes their why is a concrete one. To find a cure for an illness they are all in one way or another impacted by. I had the honor and privilege to speak as the charities inspirational speaker the night before the race where I talked about the importance of having a why. Having an intention for our training and racing can mentally be that extra 1% that pushes us just a little harder. Our whys can change race to race and its important to go back to them on a regular basis. 

QT2 Systems, LLC (LLC) has announced a partnership with ZWIFT.

Under the new agreement, ZWIFT will be QT2 Systems, LLC’s preferred choice of multi-rider virtual cycling and/or running races, virtual cycling and/or running events, as well as individual and group training sessions.

Read about Coach Doug MacLean's journey from back surgery to 100K finish line.