It is with great pleasure that Maria and I introduce the newest addition to the Dynamo Multisport family, coach Andrew Shanks.  Many of you have seen Andrew as one of our regular coaches in our PowerCycle indoor cycling classes this past year or shadowing Coach Maria on the pool deck.  We are thrilled to have his talent and his passion in a more formal role on the team as another one of our full-time coaches.

Growing the vision for Dynamo Multisport has always been something that Maria and I have been very careful about.  Our people – athletes and coaches – have developed a culture built on integrity, passion and respect for one another.  As it relates to growth, I have only wanted to expand with people who fit the way we do things.  Maria is such a special person and coach that the bar has been set really, really high.  Finding a coach like her doesn’t just happen, and harder yet, more than one coach of her caliber and character.  So for the last several years I have been patient with the process, keeping my eyes and ears open and allowing things like expansion to occur organically.  Be sure that the priority for Maria and me has been to preserve our culture above anything, including expanding the breadth of our reach of our vision.  We are thankful that Coach Shanks – a character person first and foremost and equally as talented coach – allows us to seamlessly preserve our culture and now expand the capabilities of reach.  In short, Coach Shanks “fits” with who we are and how we do things, and we, as a team, are all better for it.  Please join me in welcoming Andrew to our family.

Andrew can be reached directly via email.  In the meantime, nothing changes within our family.  We are a reflection of the great people you are and the great team that has grown the last 3 seasons.  We are passionate, caring athletes who respect one another while training and racing with integrity and enthusiasm.  WE ARE DYNAMO!

Yours in GREEN,

Matthew

We have had a fair amount of 2012 racing already with Ironman Florida, Ironman Arizona and Cozumel in the books this month.  Linda Anderson, Kathryn Honderd and John Marshall (Coached Athletes) as well as Kevin Millam and Mike Buteau hit the sands and flats of Panama City Beach, Florida.  Kevin, Mike and Kathryn all had impressive performances in their IM debuts.  Kathryn culminated a special season by placing 2nd in 25-29, securing the first Dynamo Kona slot for 2012.  Linda had a massive PR at Florida, shaving a full 2 hours off her IM-distance best while clocking in at a shade above 12 hours.  John, coming off a collapsed lung 2 weeks prior, had a fantastic race in context, showing grit and pride.  Carrying the momentum into Arizona, Coached Athletes Bill Otten and Greg Stivers continued the 2012 showcase.  Bill, like Linda, shaved 2 hours off of his personal best en route to a sub-12 finish.  Greg, in his IM debut, clocked under 11 hours even while flatting out on the bike.  Fantastic performances all around for all of our athletes.  Finally, Nate Pramik returned to the Gulf on behalf of THE GREEN, having another nice race in Mexico to cap off the 2011 racing season.  Well-done to these athletes and to our entire team.

DynaMafia at IMFL 2011

Welcome to the Family

We are thrilled to welcome Blue Competition Cycles on a formal basis to the Dynamo family.  Chance Regina and Blue have been in out GREEN family for quite some time now, but we have entered into a more formal partnership with our Atlanta-based brethren and manufacturer of some darn fast bicycles.  With the help of our friends at All3Sports, our Coached Athletes can now Ride Blue at a significant discount.  It’s with great pride that we enter into this relationship, as we support one of our own Atlanta companies who are doing great things on a global level in our sport.  Please contact Coach Maria and Coach Matthew for specifics.

Save the Date – 2011 Holiday Party!

Our annual Holiday Party (and Kona-viewing party) will be Saturday, December 10th from 4 to 7′00pm.  The party will be potluck with lighter food and beverages.  The location is at 711 Cosmopolitan Dr Atlanta, Ga 30324 which is off Sidney Marcus Blvd behind the old Home Depot at Brent Pease’s condo complex.  There should be ample street parking.  The concierge at the complex will know about the party, so please mention “Dynamo” or “Pease” to be assured admittance.  The Club Room is to right through the entrance where we will meet.  Please come celebrate a wonderful year passed and another forthcoming with all of us.

TO RSVP, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

* Coaching – If you are interested in coaching in 2012, please reach out to Coach Matthew as soon as possible, as 2012 roster spots for both Coach Maria and Coach Matthew are filling quickly.  We only have a limited number of slots, and we want to be able to find the right athlete-coach fit in a timely, sensitive manner.  If you are considering coaching in 2012 and would like more information, contact us!

* Swim Skills – The Transition Season is a great time to work on skills across all three disciplines.  If you are considering investing time and money in private skill work and swimming is on the docket, look no further than our own Maria Thrash.  Coach Maria’s coaching successes are well-documented, and she has the best set of “stroke eyes” in Atlanta, let alone the country.  To schedule a private skill session with Maria, please contact her directly at 404.374.3578.

* Lactate Testing – As we exit Transition Season into the base period for 2012, it’s an ideal time to establish accurate training zones during this critical platform period for the upcoming race season.  Consider scheduling a blood lactate test with us to establish bike (power & heart rate) and run (heart rate) parameters.  For more information, please contact Coach Matthew directly.  Also, be on the look out for a Case Study on blood lactate testing coming soon to Coach Matthew’s blog.  This piece will show specifically how test results are used in training and racing, illustrating the benefits of the blood lactate test process.

* PowerCycle Series 1 – Be on the lookout for registration announcements in the next 2 weeks regarding Series 1 of our indoor cycling classes.  We are now entering our 4th season of these classes, and Series 1 is always our most popular, filling quickly.  Come ride with us inside as our coaches take you through a season-specific and race-specific cycling program throughout the year.

Thank You to Our Partners

As always, we are incredibly thankful for our partners who support all of us in the pursuit of our passion.  Thank you All3Sports, TYR, GU, Blue Competition Cycles and Albopads.

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The DynaNation family continues to grow.  Coach Maria Thrash has built the best-in-class masters swimming program arguably in the entire world.  Two of our Masters Swimmers, Haley Chura and Rebecca Carpenter, exited the the waters off of Kailua-Kona last weekend in the Ironman World Championships, as the number one and number five female amateurs in the swim.  It’s safe to say no other program in the world can boast the same accomplishment.  The masters program has continued to nourish Dynamo Multisport and vice versa.  These two siblings grow our families and allow us to share the Dynamo Multisport culture with more athletes.

Umeke time in Kona

And speaking of that culture, the original mission of Dynamo Multisport, to build a community of passionate, considerate and respectful multisport athletes who thrive and care for one another and our sport, flourishes today.  Whether in the mountain passes of rural Norway, rolling hills of Knoxville, lava fields of the Big Island, on the streets of Augusta, Louisville or the state parks of Georgia, we travel and compete together, unconsciously spreading the original vision for Dynamo Multisport.  It is uncoscious because it is our culture, and above anything else, the PRs, the podiums the victories, it is our culture of which I am most proud.  We are a different group.  And Rather try to be everything to everyone, we are true to who we are, and as such, have a unique authenticity that distinguishes us.  I know that authenticity is based on a passion for sport and respect for each other.

Last Sunday night, as I sat with my wife at the Awards Ceremony for the Ironman World Championships, I was overcome by the sight of  our own Haley Chura, donned in her green Dynamo shirt, holding her 2nd place Umeke, the reward for a year of sacrifice and persevearance.  I couldn’t help but think that as she stood up on the stage at the peak of our sport, she did so for all of us, on the shoulders of all of us.  We, I said to myself, get here to this special moment in time together.  We get here because of one another, because of the support, care and respect we show each other in our GREEN family.

We are Dynamo

Happy Birthday, GREEN & Mahalo,

Matthew

Stacy Levy & Tyler Mast Toast a Fine Season in Augusta

Looking forward, we still have several big races on the board for 2011.  Rev3-Anderson awaits, as does Beach-to-Battleship.  On the WTC calendar, Ironman Florida, Arizona and Cozumel kick off 2012 in North America, and we have several athletes racing in these in November.  Haley Chura and I leave for Kona at the end of the week, marking the third consecutive year the GREEN will have a plurality of athletes at the Ironman World Championships.  There’s lots to be excited for, but of all the events that are upcoming, there’s one in particular that I’m asking all of you to rally around.

The Hilton Kort 5k – HK5K

On October 15th at 8am, the HK5K will take place at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church.  The event is in honor of Hilton Kort, one of our Dynamo Multisport brothers who passed away form bladder cancer this past May.  Hilton was one of the pre-eminent IVF physicicans in the entire world.  He was also a world-class triathlete, participating on several Team USAs at various distance World Championships as well as qualifying for and participating in Ironman Hawaii.  But more importantly, Hilton was a world-class human being.  He literally helped facilitate the conception of more than 10,000 children (yes, that figure has 4 zeros!), bringing the most precious gift(s) to parents from all over the world.  We are running the event in his memory and in hopes of raising enough money for a named fund that will exist in his honor at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center designated for cancer research.  You can read more about Hilton and what he meant to me in this blog post.  I am asking that you, the DynaMafia, come out and support this event for our teammate, his family and for cancer reasearch.  Volunteer, race, walk, it doesn’t matter, just come out and support the event.  For details, see below:

WHEN: Saturday, October 15th, 2011

WHERE: Mt. Vernon Baptist Church – 850 Mt. Vernon Highway.  For map & directions, please click HERE

REGISTERATION: Please click HERE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Please visit the event website: www.hk5k.net

The Loft

In case you haven’t seen or heard, we have a new indoor cycling space at the Chamblee facility.  The space is located immediately above the front entrance and features 14 power-based indoor trainers.  A group of our athletes spent the first two days of 2011 helping Coaches Maria & Matthew ready the space.  Complete with a flat screen, DVD and stereo system, we are proud of “The Loft”.  The space will allow us to offer more services and free up the weight room to add a strength & conditioning class this fall.  In the interim we have a full slate of our intrepid PowerCycle classes available buoyed by a talented roster of excellent instructors.  Come check out these classes that have helped first time triathletes, a USAT national champion and an Ironman Hawaii podium finisher in pursuit of their goals.

BEFORE - Queen B Takes on The Loft

Coach Maria the Artist

PowerCycle Class in the Loft

Welcome to the Family

We are incredibly excited to announce the latest addition to the Dynam Multisport family – TYR Sports.  The group at TYR has been working with our own Haley Chura for 2010 and while we were in Kona this past fall, we began discussions with TYR about a partnership.  Ryan, Kevin, Matt and the rest of the good people at TYR will be providing generous, wonderful support to our Coached Athletes this year.  As swimmers by background, Coach Maria and Matthew have been fans of TYR well before Dynamo Multisport existed.  We are extremely grateful to be working with them in a formal capacity and look forward to a great 2011 and years to come ahead.  With GU Energy Labs, TYR and All3Sports as our official partners for 2011, our athletes will be well equipped to take on all distances knowing they will have the best products to assist them in their training and racing.

Walking with K Peasey

We want to close out this update with an inspirational story that is at the beginning stages of its narrative.  One of our athletes, Brent Pease, along with his two brothers, Kyle and Evan are undergoing a series of athletic events this spring that are truly exceptional, inspirational challenges.  Kyle, diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy as young child, watched brother Brent compete at Ironman Louisville this past summer.  After the event Kyle wondered aloud if he could do an Ironman someday.  This kicked off a chain of events that now sees the three brothers beginning a journey towards perhaps someday fulfilling that wondering statement.  This March, Evan will be joining Kyle in the Publix Georgia Half Marathon.  Later in the spring, Brent and Kyle will be taking on the St. Anthony’s Olympic distance triathlon.  This an incredible unfolding story that’s worthy of everybody’s attention.  With the lead of Tri-Kids,  the additional support of Freedom Concepts and the generosity of individuals inspired by their journey, the brothers Pease are heading into these events with a cadre of backers.  For more information about their journey, please visit these sites:

Twitter: @kpeasey1, @evpease, and @bpeas9

Blog: http://kpeasey.blogspot.com/

Holiday Party 2010

Anticipating the end of the season, we’ve got a party planned.  GREEN Coached Athlete Dave Brautigan has made arrangements to host us at his joint, Rocky Mountain Pizza, for some food, drink, banter & an NBC Kona-viewing partay.   Details?  See below:

WHEN: Saturday, December 18, 2010 – 3′30pm-6′30pm (or later)

WHERE: Rocky Mountain Pizza / 1005 Hemphill Ave, Atlanta, Georgia 30318 (404-876-8600)

COST: $5 per Person/Family (just a little donation towards the food & drink pot – if you’re bringing family, just $5 for all of you)

RSVP: Please CLICK HERE

Helping our Partners

We have a soon-to-be-announced partner coming on board for 2011.  While it’s a little double-secret right now, what we can tell you is that the sponsor is in the GREEN family currently.  We would like to help out our secret friend with some market research.  If you’d be so inclined, please fill out this quick 3-minute survey by clicking HERE.

Speaking of Partners

We are thrilled to formally announce that All3Sports.com will continue to be a sponsor for the 2011 team.  Morgan, Alex and the crew at All3 have been a critical component of the team’s success, providing the best in expertise, products and service this entire season.  Over the course of the duration of 2010, we are looking to finalize our sponsors for the 2011 season.  We have some exciting opportunities brewing, and we look forward to announcing them in the next couple of weeks.

Time for Thanks

During this time of thanks, I am particularly thankful for all of our athletes and what they bring to our Dynamo “table” as individuals and ultimately, to our team as a whole.  Maria and I can see the vision we have of a community of a caring, passionate, respectful community of multisport athletes each day we step on deck or walk into the classroom.  It’s in the words each of you exchanges with each other, it’s in your actions towards one another, it’s in your eyes while training and racing.  Thank you for being you.  Thank you for being GREEN.  Thank you for being Dynamo Multisport.

Happy Thanksgiving…and as always…

GO GREEN!

This year, we not only competed as a team at races locally (e.g., TTP, Charles Harris), regionally (Rev3) and nationally (CA 70.3), but we, the DynaMafia, travelled to such exotic locales as Tuscaloosa and Louisville to watch and cheer for those of you competing in your events.  We even had the DynaNation vuvezalas show up in Kona last week to make our presence known to the spectators at Ironman Hawaii.  This is special stuff, indeed.

Our successes also have included results.  PRs abounded this year, the true performance metric in sport.  We’ve had people participating in multisport for the first time.  Athletes stepping up to distances never before travelled.  Podium finishes in local events.  Podium finishes in WTC-sanctioned events.  Our first National Champion was crowned last month.  And for the second year in a row, we had multiple athletes competing in the most hallowed stage of multisport, the Ironman World Championships in Kaileua-Kona, Hawaii.

Reflecting on the last 24 months, I continue to go back to our community of athletes and the support we show one another.  It’s the strength of our community that stirs my soul and inspires me.  We are young (only 2), as a community, and our vibrancy is as much a reflection of the novelty of our group as it is the people who compose it.

As we enter year 3 and our community moves along its life cycle towards a more mature state, I am confident that when the novelty of the GREEN begins to fade, and we each grow older with Dynamo Multisport, our bonds to one another and our team will continue to strengthen.  We care too much for one another and the ‘We’ in Dyanmo.  As I said last year, in this same birthday greeting, “we are a team above others, but above all, we are a team. “

We are Dynamo.

Mahalo & Happy Birthday Green –

Matthew

I wanted to address a recent swimming article published by a local coaching group that provides what I believe is erroneous counsel on swimming technique.  In the article, the author contends that the proper “finish” to the freestyle pull (pull defined as the underwater portion of the stroke) is “extending the arm back towards the feet”.  The author then explicitly advises not to finish at the hips.  By teaching the swimmer to “push back” all the way through to the feet, the author advocates for a linear pulling technique, and in doing so counsels athletes to pull extremely inefficiently, the cost being precious heart beats we can use for the bike and run.

The misconception of the “pull back” technique lies in its linear nature, the subsequent large fluctuation in power output with that technique and the excess muscle fatigue placed on the tricep at no material gain of speed.  If you were to plot out a power curve for a freestyle pull (using watts or distance per second on the “Y”-axis and time on the “X”-axis), what you would see on a “pull back” swimmer is two spikes.  The first, and most dramatic, would be at the beginning of the stroke, occurring after the “catch” phase of the pull when the swimmer “catches” the water in front of the body (and better so, as far in front as possible without sacrificing the structural integrity or rigidity of the swimmer’s core).  Assuming the swimmer maintains a high elbow position, the first several inches of the pull after the “catch” phase will create a spike in power.  As the hand pulls back past the chest (note: fingers ALWAYS pointed towards the bottom of the pool NOT toward the sides of the pool), power decelerates towards the hips.  And here is where the two philosophies, hip exit v. pull back, diverge.

In the “pull back” technique, the swimmer pushes all the way through past their hips until their finger tips extend towards their feet, palms facing up.  Again, referencing the power curve, by accelerating the finger tips towards the feet, we notice a spike in power after the deceleration coming off of the initial post-catch movement.  What is not necessarily quantifiable by a mere power graph, though, is that this speed is mitigated by the large surface area the swimmer reveals to the water surface as the hand AND forearm exit in the same parallel line as they begin the “recovery” phase of the stroke.  In simplest terms, the more surface area, the more drag.  The more drag, the more immediate loss of power.  Moreover, this technique creates a liner pull-recovery relationship.  When the hand is extended all the way back, creating a straight line between shoulder and finger tips, it requires much more energy by the swimmer to then “recover” the arm forward back out of the water towards the front of the body.  Indeed, it’s not recovery.

We know from cycling and running, lines are not efficient propulsive movements.  We don’t teach cyclists to push in lines up and down – commonly known as mashing.  The technique is more circular in nature, minimizing spikes in power, and in doing so, allowing more efficiency in power output as measured by speed and heart rate.  Likewise, in running, we don’t’ advocate for kicking back with the heels, effectively creating a line from hip to heel.  The linear nature of the movement, while powerful , is extremely inefficient and untenable for distances, especially after a preceding swim and bike.

The more efficient technique for the finish of the pull is to exit at the hip, elbow leading the vertical forearm out of the water.  On the power cruve, there is only one spike (after the catch).  However, the power that is retained on the finish of the “hip exit” is significantly more than that of the “pull back” technique.  By finishing the stroke at the hip, the swimmer lifts the elbow first out of the water to initiate the recovery (technically speaking, a shoulder shrug initiates the recovery).  The forearm and hand are effectively hidden UNDERNEATH the elbow/triceps thereby minimizing the surface area of the arm that will exit the water on the recovery.  Remember the surface area presented to the surface of during the “push back” technique?  Cut it in half during a hip exit.  Again, less surface area, less drag, less loss of power.  Most importantly, the hip exit is a circular motion.  It’s more efficient at holding on to the energy that is created during the pull and literally recycling as much of it as possible back to the front of the stroke until the post-catch phase can begin again to establish more power.  Additionally, because of its circular nature, it’s easier to manipulate cadence, critical to open water swimming and the variable forces at play in open water (currents, swells, chop, etc).  Ultimately, the metabolic costs of a “hip exit” are significantly less.  We can now allocate those heart beats saved towards the bike and the run where we need them most.

But what about the straight arm recoveries we sometimes see in elite level swimmers (i.e., Janet Evans)?  Look closely to their finishes.  They finish at their hips, hide the forearm and hand and THEN extend the line straight arm afterwards.  While I was coaching at Stanford in the late 90s, we experimented with straight-arm recovery techniques with our sprint freestylers, Jenny Thompson included, and found no discernible difference in speed.  The critical factor that linked the two recovery techniques, however, was the “hip exit”.

Unfortunately the “pull back” technique is commonly taught by coaches and swimmers who haven’t been involved in higher level coaching or swimming in 10-12 years.  It seems to make sense to these advocates, especially when you engage in this technique and can “feel the burn in the triceps” from extending back towards the feet.  If it burns, it must be right, no?  Think again.  I tend to go with circles over lines when it comes to propulsive actions and the only way to create a circle in the pull-recovery motion is through a hip exit.

**To see a PDF version of this article that includes Power Profile illustrations, CLICK HERE**

It’s been a while since our last NewsLink and lots and lots of news since then.  The race season has more than begun.  The Green have been to Oceanside, California, raced several times down in Florida (South Beach Nautica, St. Anthony’s, Florida 70.3)), kicked off our local scene (John Tanner, Peachtree City) and have more than represented in our larger regional races (Rev3 – Knoxville).  We’ve seen a multitude of PRs and have come home with hardware at almost all of these races.  Congrats to all of you on getting our season started off right and representing the DynaNation with such class.

New Service Offering – Lactate Testing

We are proud to announce that we are now offering blood lactate testing.  In partnership with Chris Hauth and Craig Upton of Performance Labs HC, we now have the ability to offer expert, elite-level testing to help athletes determine specific training zones, prescribe appropriate training, and provide longitudinal baselines to gauge fitness and training adaptations.  Craig and Chris are providing the analysis on the data Coach Matthew obtains from local athletes.  An ex-professional cyclist, Craig is a full-time coach in the Bay Area.  His athletes include Olympic Gold Medalist, Kristin Armstrong, as well as several Pro Tour cyclists and professional triathletes.  Chris is an ex-Olympic swimmer and professional triathlete whose roster of triathletes is equally as deep and impressive.  In partnership with these two elite level coaches, we are proud to offer area triathletes the best in expert analysis and training recommendations on an on-going basis.  Cost for Coached Athletes is $125 and $200 for all others.  To learn more about testing and to schedule a test, please contact Coach Matthew directly.

New Partner & Special Offer – Element Endurance Energy Bars

Coach Matthew has partnered with Element Bars and their Element Endurance products, the only customizable energy bar around!  Element Endurance bars empower endurance athletes with the ability to create fully custom energy bars based on their activity and nutritional needs.  Made with all natural ingredients, Element Endurance exemplifies the next generation of nutritional customization and athlete specificity, two critical attributes in training and race performance.  We are proud to be affiliated formally with Element Endurance and for a limited time Element has provided the DynaNation a special 15% discount code.  Type in coupon code: DYNAMO at checkout to get your 15% off.  Please feel free to pass this code along to family and friends and try out EE’s fantastic products and customization.

Race Reflection – Rev3

I wanted to quickly take a moment to reflect on our team race at Rev3 – Knoxville.  All-in-all we had 17 athletes wearing the green and competing at Rev3.  The vibe there was incredibly supportive, between athletes, family and friends (including a guest appearance by Super Fan, SpecialK, Kathryn Honderd), as well as uber-sponsors All3Sports (Morgan, Alex and Andrew), we were the loudest, most visible TEAM of athletes at the race.  While our uniforms may have questionable stylistic taste, there is no mistaking the yellow bands on our bright green shorts and the smiles of the athletes wearing them.  At one point during the HalfRev (in which I was racing), a competitor came by me on the bike and said, “man, there sure are a LOT of you out here!”  And from talking to other athletes who competed as well as family and friends there in support, there was quite the buzz around the transition area and finish chute about the GREEN.  And as if our participation and team camaraderie wasn’t impressive enough, the results were even more so.  13 athletes made it to the podium, including several Age Group wins – Mary Pick (W55-59), Hilton Kort (M60-64) in the Olympic; Matthew Rose (M35-39), Drew Marlar (M40-44) and Casey Hannan (M50-54) in the Half Rev; and Betty Janelle in the AquaBike (Female Overall).   In addition to these wins  and Podium finishes (Linda Anderson, HalfRev W50-54, Ernie Janelle and Micki Donegan, AquaBike), we had several race PRs and  inter-race PRs (fastest run personal swim and run splits).  For an incredibly challenging bike course, we had a lot of team speed in Knoxville.

Special Kudos

Speaking of Knoxville and Rev3, our own Haley Chura (“Frosh”) finished 3rd Overall in the amateur race in the featured Olympic distance at Rev3.  In doing so, Haley met one of six USAT professional application qualification standards.  Haley is now eligible to turn professional is she so chooses to apply to USAT for her professional license.  Congrats to Haley for becoming the first member of the GREEN to be pro eligible.  And not to be outdone, Kathryn Honderd (“Speacial K”) became Dynamo’s first Ironman 70.3 World Championship qualifier, via her 3rd place finish W25-29 at the New Orleans 70.3 in April.  Kathryn used a blazing 1′38 run split to literally tear through the field and secure her spot in Clearwater.   If you see either Haley or Kathryn on deck or in PowerCycle class, be sure to give them kudos.

Thanks to Our Partners

As always, we’d like to thank our partners who support the GREEN.  Many thanks to All3Sports.com, CycleOps Power, GU , Athletic Edge Sports Massage and Element Bars for their support.