Tuesday 17 February 2015

The weighty issue of triathlon and the war against the Ectomorphs

Whilst I am a true believer in that nothing should stop you achieving anyone of your goals in life, it is true that things can often be stacked against you in the quest to complete said goals.....


...none more so than the the goal of being competitive in sport without the right body shape.... 

Body shape I hear you say, what do i mean by this exactly? ... Well to be perfectly simple, all of us are not the same! shock news but people but weight on and off in different ways and in different locations on our bodies.
Take the Brownlee bothers for example, no doubt two of the best triathletes in the world and if you read their book (which I have and its a great read) you will no doubt realise that along with the endless training and handwork they owe a lot to there genes.

In a recent interview for the telegraph Jonny exclaims that he is lucky to have "a good endurance engine and a good endurance frame."

What exactly is this frame? 

Below is a the Britanna Encyclopaedia's explanation of what type of body shape suits endurance racing and indeed the type of "endurance frame" Jonny was talking about.

Ectomorph, a human physical type (somatotype) tending toward linearity, as determined by the physique-classification system developed by the American psychologist W.H. Sheldon. Although classification by the Sheldon system is not absolute, a person is classed as an ectomorph if ectomorphy predominates over endomorphy and mesomorphy in his body build. The extreme ectomorph has a thin face with high forehead and receding chin; narrow chest and abdomen; a narrow heart; rather long, thin arms and legs; little body fat and little muscle; but a large skin surface and a large nervous system. If well fed, he does not gain weight easily; if he becomes fat, he is still considered an ectomorph, only overweightCompare endomorphmesomorph.



This can be demonstrated by the Brownlees's them selves when they took part in the recent remake of the hit 80's TV show Super Stars on BBC1. Jonny and Alistair exceed in the running and cycling but struggled in the strength challenges such as body weight dips or chin-ups.

What does all this mean for the rest of us, the Endomorphs and Mesomorphs? 
Well all is not lost it does possibly mean that your not going to be a world champion anytime soon tho... but once you've managed to come to terms with this there are lots of things you can do and lots of ways you can maximise your strengths to which you can have some of your own success at your own level. 

The first thing you should do is stop racing the ectomorphs! 

Make your family and friends aware of these unfair super beings and get them to count the number of competitors ahead of you that suit your body shape! We already have age group classes that divide people up into more fair categories so what is the harm in dong this further? Although there will never be any official ruling on this, it is possibliy the most accurate way of getting your own performance measure and indeed any progression in the future. 

If you are insistent on wanting to race everyone then there are some things you can do....

Maximise your training to suit your body style, 
use the winter to try and lose as much of your mass as possible remember the lighter you are the faster you go simple! 
For a mesomorph this means cut down on the weight training as well as your body type is efficient at producing muscle and we all know muscle weighs more then fat! 
Although, swimming should not be an issue due to the fact that the water will make you buoyant and therefore level the playing field and it really is all to play for in the water so this should be one of your key focuses. 

For example if you lost 2 mins to an ectomorph in the swim during a hilly triathlon that becomes almost impossible to reel back in as they have there most suiting disciplines to come, if you gain two mins then it for them to chase and for you to maintain!  
Using the higher muscle and weight advantage to grind the bike leg and hopefully hold on during the run! 

Swimming is definitely the place to gain for another reason... Drafting! The draft from an ectomorph ids the same as anyone else, use their swimming ability to conserve your power. let them hit the water first slowing them and tiering them out before its advantage them. 

On the bike its all about having the correct fit, the frontal area of the bike (the front view) is cutting through he air and you need to be as small as possible, Tri bars, aggressive position, aero helmet and bike components allow you to regain some advantage. Power will also be your greatest advantage here.
With a greater bodymass a higher gear can be turned and the momentum increased, however any gradient over 3 % will see you lose almost 1 sec per kg of extra body weight in your time to the summit. You need to keep cool let them go keep your heart rate down and make it up somewhere else. 

Fight the course here and you will lose later on! 



The run is a case of holding on, knowing that the lighter framed gazelle like  ectomorph competition is on its way and hopefully you have done enough to stay in front. 

Again any hills on the course will see you lose the same advantage as on the bike but again its about conserving those beats per minute and trying to make it up on the flat! 



As a mesomorph my self I struggle everyday with my weight against my goal weight for competitive triathlons, one thing you should be aware of is the damage training can do to your body if your carrying to much weight (be that fat or muscle) 

Most training plans and magazine articles are written by ectomorphs for ectomorphs and should be treated with care, long runs and endurance sessions should be built up over time and should be integrated into greater rest periods to help your skeleton recover when carrying the extra weight. 
Diets should also be looked at carefully, supplements can be great ways of topping up nutrients and not adding excess calories, and protein supplements can be a way of making sure your body burns fat and and creates only lean muscle mass. 

Couple a good diet with gym sessions that focus on high reps low weight, strength and conditioning sessions and the endomorphs and mesomorphs can claw back some advantage.



My last point is not one that I truly believe 100% but if you ask your self the question 
"what do I want to get out of this season" 
and the answer is to be competitive with everyone, then you should think about races that suit your frame!

Strangely, and this is why I am unsure myself on this one. The two races endomorphs and mesomorphs are best at (age grouper wise) are both the shortest and the longest races? 
The reasoning is clear. High intensity, high power output racing in sprint triathlons means the advantage of weight is far less. A stronger more powerful mesomorph can gain advantage in a high power bike leg with only 20 mins of running to complete at the end, this is a distinct advantage of the olympic distance where runners reel in strong bikers over the 40 min run. 

Also in a non competitive way excess body mass (usually endomorphs with higher fat content) tend to be better long distance finishers, whilst it is obvious that at the sharp end it is essential that long distance ironman athletes have a sub 10% body fat mass, the challenge people that just want to finish are sometimes better to have more fat! in simple terms your carrying your own energy source and although you will feel pretty bad your body will convert the fat to energy and you will get round! 

This is of course a theory and the other points of joint and tendons carrying excess weight is pointed out in the paragraphs above! But it surely has to help! 
You should however look for flat races, power courses that will not benefit the lighter, leaner ectomorphs!

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