We at MarkAllenOnline just announced our new web site MarkAllenOnline.tv where you can see some fun videos and if you have a training plan you can also see some great training videos that we created for you. We have been trying to do this for a while and finally we managed to get over all the technical humps. In addition we will be doing some podcasts where you can listen to Mark and I discuss triathlon related topics.
It just so happened that this week the President elect of the US also announced his videos. He will be doing a video in Youtube every month I think. For years the US president had always done a radio address to the nation but Obama is the first one to do an internet video too. Very nice! Glad to have a new president that will be up with technology.
The internet has really changed the world. Information is now available to anyone at a moments notice. You can get live results from any triathlon, splits, placing etc. It can even be done better than it is already. But I'll take anything I can get I suppose. I am spoiled now. I get all bent out of shape when I look at a race web site and the race is already over yet no results are posted. What are they doing over there? Picking up cones, I know. Someone still has to do that.
Google has become such a powerful tool in our daily lives. I just had a friend over at the house who asked me if I knew what the Spanish name Lupe stood for. I had no idea. So I went to trusty Google. Sure enough it is short for Guadalupe which is a standard Spanish name. Google is a great tool for us at MarkAllenOnline. We appear in Google anytime someone enters searches related to triathlon, coaching, programs etc. That is great for us. Many businesses get a lot of business referrals from Google searches. I know I always search in Google when I need something.
But Google is a popularity contest and it may not be a positive thing all the time. Say for example you are a plumber and you hope that when everyone searches in Google for a plumber in your area your name and phone show up. One way to do this is by having as many web sites as possible mention your name as a plumber in your city. If you manage that then Google will think you are a popular plumber and will show your page or pages with your name on the search first. However, lets just say you managed to get in trouble or you are involved in an incident that gets national exposure and it does not make you look very good. That can be a bad thing because if the New York Times web site posts your bad news and mentions you as a plumber in your city. Guess what will be the first thing people read about you in Google about you. You got it. They read the bad news. This is because The New York Times web site is a very popular web site and Google figures that is big news and shows that first. Google can make you or break you.
Of course this is true about the internet in general. I just found out about this one guy that did not do all his swim training for Ironman Florida. But he wabted to swim fast so he he decided to wear fins during the swim to improve his time. Unfortunately for him he got busted by a volunteer after the first loop of the swim. Yet he managed to avoid an immediate DQ. That was until people on the beach with digital cameras showed pictures on the internet of him with the fins and the hunt for his identity started. Apparently he was identified and DQd from Ironman Florida later. The other wild part of this story is that this guy flew that night to New York and ran the NYC marathon with a sign on his back announcing that he had just finished an Ironman the day before. Now I would not be surprised if he took the subway to Central Park and crossed the finish line. What a character!
The internet is a great thing. But it is a double edge sword. But very entretaining at the very least.
The other entertaining internet tri news is how Hawaii Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington left her coach and will start being coached by the husband of one of her most feared rivals. Wow! This is stuff for a soap opera.
If I put my coaching hat on I am bummed for the coach. He coaches this girl to two Hawaii Ironman victories yet he losses her. That is sad but let me suffice to say that it appears that there are money and freedom issues involved.
But my other coaching hat says. Isn’t there an inherent conflict when a coach forms a team and one of the athletes is his wife. At the pro level tactics play a big role and all these girls on the team are trying to beat each other. Good luck to the coach.
Well I read somewhere that there are 31 billion searches in Google every month. In 2006 there was only about 3 billion. We started coaching online in 2001 and I knew we would grow but given the growth of the internet we better get ready for this new era.