From the top

The nose and the ear. Seemingly always in the back seat, while heart and lungs drive and navigate up front. I won't try to diminish the importance of the pilot and co-pilot, but as every successful crew knows, having mastery of the entire vehicle is what wins races. You need the mechanic and you need a communication guy.

Today we'll take a closer look at these unsung heroes, the importance and power in breathing, and the subtle skill-set of rhythm. The noise and the ear. Here, here.

Ten watts doesn't seem like a lot when judged in terms of overall power production that can reach 500 for our class of athlete. 8% has also been used to describe the gains possible with mastery of nose-only diaphragmatic breathing. Please allow me a one-word adjective of this 10 (free) watts or 8% increase: WOW. You mean all I have to do is breath deep into my belly, and I get 10 watts of additional power, or an 8% overall gain? Precisely.

I don't need at this point to overemphasize how big this is. Ten watts can mean the difference between winning and losing, podium and pub, Kona or Tacoma, first and last, or even (dare I say) a personal best and more mediocrity. The difference between all these polar extremes could be just one breath away. Get good at it. Practice it. Refine it. Put it into play. Take a deep nose-only breath right now, feel your belly expand to accept the life supporting clean air. Hold it. Count to five. Empty your lungs. Relax. Better? 10 free watts. All yours, once you get good at it and can keep it up for an hour.

OK, there is the mechanic. On to the radio-man. The ear. Your body loves rhythm. The groove. The heart-beat. Repetitive patterns of sound. Music. We are a dancing tribe. We love to move. Music makes us move faster, smoother and longer. Tests have proven that you will accept more pain (suffering) if you buy into a groove. As I am found of saying, our bodies are smarter (and hipper and cooler) than we are. As soon as you think about it, try to figure it out while doing it, you trip. Let it go. Hear, feel, flow. Let your body do what it loves to do. It's only Rock and Roll, but I REALLY like it. What is that worth in watts and or percentage of potential improvement? Tough to measure but some reports have put the number at 3-5%. Whatever it really is, it's free just like the air.

Listen to the music, find the beat, raise your intensity, breathe deep, relax and groove. 10-15 watts, 8-10%.

Repetitive fundamental patters of monitored structure.

Shall we take it from the top?