Suunto-blogg

Is the ultimate cross-training… breathing? Mike Maric teaches athletes to breath better

Is the ultimate cross-training… breathing? Mike Maric teaches athletes to breath better

Tell us a bit about your dive history. I was a free diver and still am a free diver. I was lucky enough to meet the legendary Umberto Pelizzari, and not long after joined his entourage for trainings, travels and world records. I began to free dive professionally myself in the early 2000s, and my career took me to underwater all over the world. But in 2005 tragedy struck when my best friend died during a dive. What happened next? After that, I stepped back from competitive diving and began to work more as a trainer and safety diver. I continued my studies in the medical field, and then eventually I began to put my medical competence to use as a free diver. Tell us more. I work very specifically with breathing and breathing technique, with the goals of improving performance and reducing recovery times. Essentially, we’re helping athletes increase their oxygen supply, and teaching their muscles to work better without oxygen. We work specifically with the diaphragm to have more oxygen. Then next is to be master of your breath. To be more conscious about have more air. Mike Maric working with Trek Segafredo pro cycling team (©Trek-Segafredo) To be more conscious? That sounds like a mind game… Absolutely. Science shows us it’s not physical, but mental – apnea technique is really important, but we also know mental is really important! My students really learn how to improve the mental conditions and discover new limits inside of themselves! And now your work includes lots of people who don’t dive and don’t intend to. Everyone in the world can benefit from better breathing techniques! Over the last few years I’ve been working with many athletes from different disciplines – beginning with triathletes, but now including martial arts masters, fencers, and more. I’ve even helped an oncologist who uses the techniques with his cancer patients. How do you help a world champion in fencing? The first goal in fencing or karate is to relax before the performance – reduce the stress and lower the heartbeat. The second is to reduce the recovery time. In fencing, for instance, world Paolo Pizzo is going full-speed for 30 seconds, then rest. During that rest time he moves his shoulders, breathes in a specific way, and recovers very quickly. The first time he did that, a lot of people wondered what he was doing – but it works. How do you use your Suunto? The Spartan is an extremely important tool for me – I use it to see breath frequency and heart rate. Medically educated forensic scientist Mike Maric has taken what he’s learned from free diving and applied it to a multitude of other sports. How can you help amateur athletes? There are for sure some simple exercises to be conscious about your breathing. When I ask people ‘how do you breath?’ they don’t know! They know about shoes and running, they know about eating, they know about supplements! But they don’t know how they breath! We need to breath not with the chest, but with the diaphragm! But you need to practice continuously – the basics, about eight minutes each day. That’s enough time to improve over six weeks – although it’s different for each athlete. No yoga. Ha! I don’t do yoga. I back up medically sound advice with scientific evidence. Better breathing can improve your mental condition, increase performance, and decrease stress. That’s science! For more info on Mike Maric's work visit mikemaric.com
SuuntoDive,SuuntoRide,SuuntoRunAugust 23 2017
What’s tougher: running the Barkley Marathons… or training for it?

What’s tougher: running the Barkley Marathons… or training for it?

But as we approach the Barkley’s off-season, let’s take a look not at the race – but the training. Soon Robbins will release a short film detailing his Barkley experience – in anticipation, he’s shared a short piece focused on an incredibly difficult full overnight session where the goal was to reach 20,000ft (6,100m) of climbing in around 11 hours. See how his session unfolds – then keep reading for some more insight into his ‘off-season’. Watch this advanced preview of Where Dreams Go To Die documentary now. If this video doesn’t make your legs hurt, then this will: Robbins just finished the Nolan’s Fourteeners, fourteen 14,000 peaks in 100 miles, with a 60-hour cut-off time. Less than 20 people have ever completed the route. A post shared by Gary Robbins (@garyrobbins) on Jul 31, 2017 at 10:24am PDT "Adventures were had, and we got it done. Nolan's 14 finishers in 56h39m, with the best adventure partner imaginable." –@garyrobbins We’ve collected some of Gary's thoughts and feelings on the recent adventures, what’s upcoming, and what’s not just worth the time (hint: hypoxic training). Read on. You didn’t have the easiest time on Nolan’s! After trudging through fourteen plus hours of fog, wind and rain we found ourselves hypothermic and in a bad state. We actually had some snow flurries on Oxford (8th peak going south to north) and we realized we couldn't safely continue. We made the hard call to drop off the mountain and to call it a day. We skipped Belford (maybe one mile away) because of the state we were in. We dropped about five miles down to a trailhead and had our families and crew meet us there. After warming up and being reminded by my lovely wife that we still had 31 hours left to get this done we made the call to get back in the game. We turned around and headed all the way back up to the saddle we'd dropped off maybe five hours earlier. Nolan’s Fourteeners are like a Barkley, with less vertical but way more altitude… Exactly. It’s only been done a handful of times. I’ll be coming straight from sea level into that! But we had access to our support crew – we can check in six or seven times over the course of the traverse. The altitude is the biggest issue. Yeah – I live at the coast. But my partner in the coaching business studies this stuff – he says I have to spend 12 hours a day in a hypoxic chamber if I want any benefit from it. No time for that! You have a few events of your own you’re organizing. I run a race series back home and I’ve got events before and after the Nolan’s attempt. The biggest is the Squamish 50 – it’s the biggest ultra in Canada, with 1200 participants from 20 countries. Do you compete in them yourself? I just don’t have the time. I want to make sure it’s a great event for everyone who comes. I don’t run in the events because I need to run the event – I congratulate every finisher who comes across the line. During the Squamish 50 I’ll get about 8 hours of sleep over three days. You’re an organizer with some epic terrain close by. Any chance we’ll see a race like the Barkley, in your backyard? You know, we have the terrain for it – it could rival the Barkley on paper. But it’s damn near impossible to get the permits, and I don’t feel the need to replicate something so unique that Laz has created. Take us back to your recent adventure on Nolan’s – how did you finish? It rained for another 10+ hours up high but eventually the weather broke, before it broke us, and we were rewarded with a clear night on our third to last peak (La Plata) and a beautiful sunrise while ascending our second to last peak, the highest point in Colorado, Mt. Elbert at 14,433. I shed a tear on our final peak, Mt. Massive because I really couldn't believe what we'd just accomplished. It wasn't what we'd set out to do time wise, and I'm pretty sure we just completed the least scenic version of Nolan's ever, but the sense of accomplishment that overwhelms me today is the absolute definition of euphoria. So there’s no question you’re doing Barkley again. I’m 100% returning for a third attempt in 2018. Main image and video by The Ginger Runner
SuuntoRunAugust 13 2017
Three ways to navigate with a Suunto Spartan GPS watch

Three ways to navigate with a Suunto Spartan GPS watch

Jeff Pelletier, a trail runner and filmmaker from Vancouver, BC, Canada put together this great video with some tips for navigating with the Suunto Spartan. He showcases how you can navigate in new surroundings or challenging terrain using these three different features of the Spartan. 1. Routes 2. Compass 3. Breadcrumb   Watch the video now!   You are not limited to these three ways to navigate. You can also use POI navigation (read how this is done here). In addition, as of the Spartan update in June (1.9.36) you can now also use find back navigation which plots your quickest route back to your starting point utilizing the compass to guide you.   Main image by @jpelletier   Learn more about Suunto Spartan GPS watches
SuuntoClimb,SuuntoRunJuly 26 2017
Meet the 21-year-old woman on a six-year running high

Meet the 21-year-old woman on a six-year running high

I ran my first 100km when I was 16 just one year after I started running Yep, I went from 0 to 100 in one year at age 16. It’s my dad’s fault. His name is Ashley. It was his second 100k. He’d been running marathons, and once realized he wouldn’t get faster, he decided to go longer. The race was the Surf Coast century. I’ve run six 100ks since. And more 50ks than I can even remember. I do them in training – I'll just head out for an afternoon 50. I did three weekends in a row of just 50k runs. I didn’t love running at the start. I thought it was hard! Then there I was running a 50k, back to back to back every weekend. It’s amazing what you can do. But now I’ve been running for six years non-stop. I started running, and I just did so many easy kilometers with my dad. I built this base very naturally, not forced. Now that I have the base I can do the harder training sessions. I have six years of non-stop running. That’s a big base no matter how old you are. What I love most is the places I go and the people I meet. If you didn’t have the people in this sport that were so raw and so organic, it would be a completely different sport. The places you go is really exciting but the people you meet keep you competing. I want to do the Hard Rock 100 Just because it’s so hard to get into. Transvulcania. And some of that are totally off the grid – ones I don’t even know about, in really cool locations. I always have a plan, and I never follow it. I’m pretty reactive and pretty in tune with my body. I’m totally OK with missing a training session or going day by day. I always have a plan but I very rarely follow it. My racing style is not aggressive – I would say I’m someone who eases into it. I start slow and finish strong. My toughest race? World Sky Running Champs 2016 It was a marathon in Catalonia. I had never seen terrain quite like it. A lot of scree and skiing down scree slopes. I really struggled with it. But I finished the race. I’m so glad I’m 21... So I was able to run my last big event: The Marathon du Mont Blanc, 80km of trail in Chamonix. It was the first time I could run the race – because I’m finally 21 years old. But the big goal of the year is the TDS as part of the UTMB weekend. …but I was a little terrified to start my last race! I’m a big fish in a small pond in Australia. Now it feels like I’m stepping up to the big leagues. It’s very leveling and I’m a small fish in a big pond – the talent and level is amazing. And more importantly, we just don’t have terrain like this in Australia. I was a bit terrified for my last race! I didn’t have enough time to run every section – only the first climb and last climb, and a few sections in between. It was 80km.. then 85km… then 92km The race is called the Marathon du Mont Blanc 80km. They told us the actual course was 85km. Then they modified it to get us more water – but that came with an extra 500m climb and seven more kilometers. I had a great start, a tough middle section, and strong finish I felt pretty tired coming into Chamonix, and almost didn’t start the race. The first three hours were great, the next four were terrible, then I hit the halfway point and started counting down the K’s and picking off ladies as I moved up field. I finished in 13h23m, twenty minutes behind 1st place, in a tight battle for 2nd place – I was only a minute ahead of 3rd! It’s an honor to be a young gun I know a lot of people are watching me and saying 'maybe it’s safe to start that early.' It’s really exciting to inspire other young runners. Images by Damien Rosso / Droz Photo
SuuntoRunJuly 05 2017
It’s not easy being Emelie! Get in the mind of one half of a mountain-sport power couple

It’s not easy being Emelie! Get in the mind of one half of a mountain-sport power couple

OK, we’ll go ahead and correct ourselves – or at least amend. Whether it’s easy or not, it’s certainly one thing: fun. Emelie Forsberg is a Swedish mountain runner and ski mountaineer, and the better half of Spanish superman Kilian Jornet . Over the last two years, the pair have been running  literally  around the world – and now, they’re running up it, by heading to the Himalayas for Emelie first high-altitude foray – and a record-setting ascent by Kilian. Here’s how it all went down. I’ve been to the Himalayas before, but not like this I’ve been running in the Himalayas plenty, but I’ve never done anything quite this: an attempt on Cho Oyu, an 8000m peak and the sixth tallest mountains in the world.   We did all the acclimatization at home I was there for less than two weeks – most people take two months to acclimatize. This is very much new-school, fast-and-light alpinism. We did all the acclimatization at home hooked up to a machine that simulated being up at 7500m.   People hear we did an expedition, and they think ‘sherpas’ But that’s not how we did it. That’s not how I want to go the mountains, and not how Kilian wants to go to the mountains.     There was no pressure This was a trip I did for myself, out of my own pocket – so there was very little pressure to ‘do it for the sponsors’. I wanted to explore for myself and see what was possible for myself.   At sea level Kilian is much faster But at altitude we start to even out a little bit more – although he will always be stronger and more technical. We were surprised at how fast we were moving at altitude – about 250m an hour at 7500m. That’s pretty fast.   I reach 7500m and 7800m on two different days The first time was a planned acclimatization. The second attempt was a summit bid – it was our last day, and there was a small weather window. But it got late, bad weather started rolling in, and I simply decided to turn around. Kilian and I discussed that he would go on. I had to wait a few hours for him to come down – during that time I regretted a bit the decision to split up.   Ueli’s death gave us a big scare We were in Cho Oyu we got the news about Ueli Steck. I didn’t know him personally well, but he was friends with Kilian. He was extreme but he was a hero. His life was an affirmation of everything that is possible. When he died it was hard.   Kilian never considered not following through There is a big difference between Ueli’s very technical route and Kilian’s Everest Route. I knew Kilian was in a really good shape and responding well to the altitude. I knew he would be fine on Everest in the right conditions. When he was taking  longer than expected I began to worry a bit, as Kilian is usually extremely good at predicting his times – but I was getting updates from Seb Montaz.   I don’t want to do Everest I want to go to some high altitude mountains. I really liked it. Mountains are the foundation, racing is just the topping. I love running and skiing, and I’m fascinated with alpinism, but I’m more concerned about the exposure. I don’t like that. I’m a big fan of life. I don’t see myself moving in the kind of terrain that Ueli did, in the way that he did. Even if I attained the technical skills, I don’t think I want to be here.   I would like to go back to Mt Blanc Ii have been running up and down many times, but I want to put a record on that one – there’s not so many women doing it. I would like to go back to Cho Oyu to ski, as the winter route looks amazing. Some other bigger peaks as well. But Cho Oyu on skis might be my next dream trip.   I am happy Kilian is done I want to keep his passport so that he can’t go anywhere for some time!     
SuuntoClimb,SuuntoRun,SuuntoSkiJune 20 2017
#howdoirun makes runners stronger

#howdoirun makes runners stronger

“I was surprised by how well people ran in general, I expected much worse,” says running coach Adam St. Pierre from CTS. Adam and Jason Koop, another CTS coach, have been commenting the running videos. What were the most common issues you saw in the videos? “I think the most common issues I saw related to posture. A few people leaned too far forward, bending at the waist, a few people were too straight up (or even leaning back). Proper running mechanics starts with posture. Without good posture it is very difficult to have an effective arm carriage or sufficient hip flexion and extension. If hip flexion is limited, it is very difficult for a runner not to overstride. If hip extension is limited, it puts strain on the lower back and limits the ability of the gluts to produce power,” Adam St. Pierre explains. Any tips on how to move forward? “Stand tall and run happy, that fixes most issues,” concludes coach Jason Koop. LEARN 8 ESSENTIAL RUNNING FORM DRILLS And the winners are… Three of the most inspiring #howdoirun videos won Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR watches. Here are the winners. Tim Larsson from Åre, Sweden One last run before China. So, @suunto, how is my form? #suuntorun #howdoirun #xtrailadventurerace #xtrail #älskaåre A post shared by Tim Larsson (@tmlarsson) on May 30, 2017 at 2:22am PDT Tim Larsson comes from Åre, the mountain capital of Sweden. Coach Adam gave Tim mostly positive feedback, but pointed out an issue Tim was already aware of. “Due to weak hips I have a slight inward rotation on my left foot. This is something I have been working on and it feels good to get a confirmation,” says Tim. “I have a small dream of running the entire Kungsleden (“The King’s Trail”), a 450-kilometer multiday trail run, here in Sweden in the end of the summer. So my focus now is simply on injury prevention so that I can go on for long periods. I am also trying to become a better, more efficient climber for the skimo season next winter.” Aaron Harwood from Sydney, Australia Filmed for the Suunto "How do I run" Contest on Sunday 11 June 2017. This was filmed by my awesome eight year old son. The time at the end is my finish time from the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon last month. I need some tips to run faster 😃. What a great morning. Thanks Suunto. #howdoirun #suunto #running #triathlon A post shared by Aaron Harwood 🏊🏻🚴🏻🏃🏻 (@aaronbharwood) on Jun 10, 2017 at 10:04pm PDT “Adam’s feedback has been really helpful. I was aware that I heel strike causing a deceleration at each stride. I was unaware of my posture and how that was making me overstride,” says Aaron Harwood from Sydney, Australia. “As I run now I’m constantly thinking about maintaining an upright posture. I’ve noticed in the last few days that I’m now working other muscles as I can feel a difference during recovery. By reducing the tendency to overstride, I’m also able to maintain a quicker cadence. I will be adding high knee drills into my routine and I’m sure I’ll be able to start seeing my speed increase.” To keep his motivation high, Aaron already has a goal in his mind “I’d like to run the New York marathon next year.” Sarah Brough from Seattle, WA, USA Posting this for the @suunto #howdoirun event ... I never really was an avid runner. Up until a year and a half ago, I couldn't even make it 1.5 miles. But, after having my second kid, I felt like I needed to improve my personal health and so, I started to run. Now, running has become an outlet for me, a way to challenge myself and see what my body can accomplish. There have been a lot of ups & downs, but through a lot of training, I've been able to accomplish goals that I never imagined I could, like running a full marathon & 2 half marathons. I've come to love the mental game, the runner's high and the sense of accomplishment I feel once I've beaten a PR. I want to keep improving which is why @suunto I'd love to know #howdoirun 🏃🏼 #suuntorun #suunto A post shared by Sarah Brough (@sarbrough) on Jun 8, 2017 at 9:48pm PDT “I've been able to work on coach Adam St. Pierre’s suggestions on a few runs already and honestly, it's been tough to change my stride. But, it feels a lot better when I do it. Also, I was able to go faster when I really focused on it, which is great because that's what I am most focused on right now in my training,” says Sarah Brough from Seattle, WA, USA Sarah has set herself a goal to run two half marathons, with one of them being under two hours. “I just finished my first half in May & got a time of 2:05. My second one is in the end of August & I'm hoping to shave off those last 5 minutes, so I can reach my goal.” Congratulations, Sarah, Tim and Aaron. And thank you everyone for submitting your videos Happy running! Main image by Matt Trappe READ AN INTRO TO DISTANCE RUNNING TECHNIQUE
SuuntoRunJune 16 2017