Run, walk or crawl, but get to the finish....

By now most of you have heard of the tragedy at the NYC triathlon. Two fellow triathletes lost their lives while competing. While these types of events are always tragic, it should be noted that you are far more likely to die on the car trip to the race, than in the race itself. My condolences go out to the families and friends of these athletes, though I didn't know them personally, I know the apprehension we all face when we jump into an unfamiliar body of water; none of us are immune from these possibilities.

While many triathletes (and one Tri Unify member) were up north tackling the raging Hudson river, I opted to stay close to home and compete in a brand new race. The Du the 2 Duathlon had its inaugural running this weekend in Howard county. As it turns out I was talked into doing this race by my training buddy Miguel. I had finished my race program for the year, and initially when he suggested we do this race, I actually developed a training plan specifically for the race. But then malaise set in and I decided I had enough race fitness left over from my previous training to just wing it. Now I should know better. Actually I do know better. I should have just done the race as a long training day, but as the my wave start approached, the competitive juices started flowing and well, I'm sure you can guess the rest........

The Race

So the race starts and I tell myself, "Hold back a bit". I check my watch after 1 mile and I'm running 7 and 1/2 minute miles, WAY TOO FAST! I slow down and finish the first 2 mile run in a very respectable 15 minutes and 49 seconds, but not exactly holding back. Still, I didn't feel to bad and I zipped through T1 in 1 minute.

The Bike

So one of the reasons I agreed to do this race was because I train regularly on the course. Many of my training rides criss-cross the bike course so I was intimately familiar with every hill and turn and I figured this would work to my advantage. Since the bike course consisted of two laps, my plan was to take the first lap relatively easy and then pick up the pace for lap 2. The idea was to ride a negative split for the bike course, finish strong and still have a little in reserve for the last 4 miles of the run. Well I started fairly easily, and I got passed by numerous people in the first 2 miles. All the while I'm telling myself I will catch these folks later in the race. I also was aware of a very stiff climb that was coming up around mile 3.

I yelled some words of encouragement to folks struggling up the climb as I went past and then as I crested the hill my plan totally when out the window. I developed some sort of "bike racer tunnel vision" where every cyclist in front of you is merely someone to chase. While it was fun for the next 10 miles, I averaged 19 mph for the first lap, when I hit the first tough climb of lap 2 I immediately realized I was about to pay for my efforts. For the first time all year I felt tightness and pain in my lower back from all the climbing (1345 feet to be exact). Coupled with the pace I was trying to keep I was seriously beginning to doubt the whole negative split thing. I soldiered on, but my second lap was almost 2 minutes slower than the first.

The Dreaded 2nd Run

This is what makes the duathlon special. You get to run again. In a triathlon, you can spare your legs and generate power with your upper body, but since a duathlon starts with a run you've already used up some of your run energy by the time you get to run #2. I was in good position coming off the bike, probably top 10th in my age group when I started the second run. Then I felt the old heavy legs syndrome kick in. Now I fully expected this, after all, I had just hammered for a little over 26 miles, and by a 1/2 mile into the run my legs started to feel a little better. That lasted until I hit the first uphill on the run. Then the wheels (or perhaps my legs) fell off. I experienced what can only be called a full system shutdown. No power in the engine room. My legs felt like barrels of concrete. From this point (about 1 mile in) it was merely a matter of will whether I would get to the finish or not. At mile 3 I did something I hadn't done for many races. I walked. No shame there, you do what you must to reach the finish, and my training dictated I start walking. The walking actually helped, and about a minute later I started running again. It was short lived, however. I took another walk break and then I just decided I was going to run to the finish if it killed me. Be careful what you wish for, I got to the finish feeling more than a little spacey. I needed a full 15 minutes just to recover from that last 1/2 mile of running. Of course this should have been no real surprise since my training had been woefully short of long runs in preparation for this race. So much for winging it! I lost at least 7 places in my age group on the run and ended up finishing 17th.

Post Mortem

I still have a ways to go about being disciplined when racing. I had a plan, I just failed to execute it. Having a plan was good, not being disciplined enough to follow it, not so good. I also suffered a sore right knee (probably from lack of distance training) and a sore Achilles tendon. Now had I just ridden this race as a training ride, I probably would have finished unscathed. One more reason to race to the level of your training. So now I have some forced rest before I start working on my next race build up.

Coaches Corner

I was talking to some athletes this week about their opinions of their race performances. Many were unhappy with their performances, DESPITE having achieved personal bests! So why might this be? Well it seems lots of athletes THINK they can achieve times in racing, that they don't do in training. They go into races with unrealistic time goals. One athlete asked me how I determined my time goals. The answer was simple. I go back and review my training diary. If I didn't run 6 minute miles in training, it is pretty unlikely I'm going to run them in a race. On the other hand, if I have run 8 minute miles frequently in training, it's a good bet I can repeat that feat while racing. Keep your training journal accurately and you will know what to expect on race day.

Random Notes:

I raced this duathlon with a power meter which yielded a plethora of information. Power meters are fast becoming the preferred method of training intelligently. They are fast supplanting heart rate monitors as the "scientific" means of training. While heart rate monitors are still very useful, power meters give you unbiased information about your race. No excuses! I hope to use this data to race better in the future (such as knowing exactly what power output I can sustain for say 25 miles.) In a future post I will show you how to use a power meter to improve your performance.

Keep tri-ing out there and I hope to see you on the road/track/pool.

Peace

Coach Rob

Duathlon, the step-child of multi-sport

Duathlon, the name brings fear to triathletes everywhere, or so it would seem. Whenever I ask one of my fellow triathletes to join me in doing one I am greeted with answers like "I hate to run". This surprised me, since for most of the triathletes I know, the barrier to the sport was swimming and NOT running. Yet it seems that once triathletes come to grips with the whole "getting in the water" thing, then running becomes the dreaded sport (to date I have found only 1 triathlete that hates the bike portion, but I concluded that's because the bike is the only leg of the race where you can rest and still make forward progress). So I began to wonder, what is it about the duathlon that strikes fear in the legs of otherwise fit multi-sport athletes?

It could be confusion, the sport used to be called the biathlon (way back in the 80s), which made sense to me, but obviously confused the powers that be in the Olympic community, since they already have a biathlon, which is comprised of skiing and shooting (really, can you confuse these two sports?).

It could be that the really good runners show up to duathlons, since (for obvious reasons) they have a better chance to excel.

It could be that the uber bikers, for a change,have less of an advantage in the duathlon, since the running portion of the race now takes up a larger percentage.

Or it could be the fact that training for a duathlon necessarily means a change in one's training program, always a tough thing of the self coached athlete.

But there are some very good reasons to make a duathlon part of your racing (or training) program:

1. As a way to get new athletes into the multi-sport arena (just think, no anxiety about drowning).


2. As a means to improve your run, use a duathlon race to focus on your running for a few weeks as a means to improve your triathlons.


3. As race pace brick training, duathlons give you two bricks and two transition practices.


4. Much less stuff to bring to your race, no wetsuits, goggles, towels, swim cap etc.

I have traditionally used the duathlon as a way to get in shape for my A-race triathlons, since the duathlon helps improve my running. This running focus 4 to 8 weeks prior to an important triathlon, has helped me feel much stronger during the run portion of the race. Give it a try, you may find that your runs improve quite a bit.

Coaching Corner

Since I have finished the bulk of my own racing for the year , I have been hanging around a lot of new triathletes. I love their enthusiasm for the sport and I try to allay whatever fears they might. I have noticed these new entrants to the sport race a lot! I understand their desire to race and improve at their new found sport. I think, however, these new athletes miss the importance of training! When you are racing constantly, there is a great need to rest, i.e. recover from the stresses of racing. With such frequent racing, new athlete's bodies may not have the opportunity to adequately recover. In addition, I have noticed a lot of "cramming", trying to squeeze in more training, since the time between races is so short. This ultimately leads to fatigue and poor race performance. I love the enthusiasm, I just wish they would temper that with some patience. Their love of the sport would increase that much more.

Race Expectations:

I often hear athletes talking about how they would like to improve in races. This is normal, often the reason people compete to begin with is to improve. One thing that strikes me is the often unrealistic gains athletes expect to make from one race to another. When I ask them how they expect to make these gains, it often comes across that they do not have any metrics to confirm (or deny) their expectations. This is why a training journal is so crucial. Your training journal will tell you what you can expect in your next race. If you plan to run 10 minute miles after riding 25 miles on your bike, then your training journal should confirm that you have done something similar (or better yet, exactly). I can't tell you how many times I have had an athlete tell me they want to run "X minutes per mile" in a race and when I ask them how many times they have done it in training they tell me zero. If you want to excel in a race you must excel in training first. Your training tells you what your race will look like, so make sure you record your training accurately so you know what to expect.

In the month of Auguts I will be hosting 3 free coaching clinics aimed at beginners. The clinics will cover the following:

1. How to use a heart rate monitor.


2. Basic bike maintenance.


3. How to use your gears.

Clinics 1 and 3 will be accompanied by a brief ride. Dates and times will be posted on Facebook in the TriUnify group and on my website http://www.clarencecycling.com .

Random Notes

I started out as a bike racer, and although I haven't done a bike race in a while, I decided to have a go at the Greenbelt park training race series. It seems I had forgotten how brutal bike races are. It was very humbling, but not without value. I got my heart rate up above anything I ever see in a triathlon, which for better or worse, was interesting, if not painful. I also got some critical power data, so if I decide to go back and race again at least I'll know what power I need to compete. Speaking of power, I just got a new PowerTap laced to a Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL. The PowerTap works great (a review is coming soon) and when paired with my Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer, makes a nice system for gathering data. The wheel does feel a bit heavy though, which may be the result of riding mostly with the Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels which are over 1/2 a pound lighter. I know it may not sound like much, but when racing uphill every gram hurts. Being able to accurately train with power on the road is worth the sacrifice however.

Keep tri-ing out there and I hope to see you on the road/track/pool.

Peace

Coach Rob

Race Report - Tri 2 Win Sprint Triathlon

While most of my tri club (TriUnify) was down in Washington D.C. braving the Potomac's waters, I opted instead to head north to Westminster, Maryland and participate in the Tri 2 Win sprint triathlon. This race is special to me for a couple of reasons. It was my first triathlon and it also raises money for melanoma research which means by participating I can give back to those in need. This race has become a staple event on my race calendar and I usually bring a few friends along. This year I brought a couple of my old training partners, Mike and Melissa, plus two new participants. One was my boy, fellow Tri Unify member, and first time triathlete Dustun. The other friend, Sean, I met at a Tri Unify training event I led, and he caught the "fever" when he heard us talking about participating in the event. He was so excited he signed up on his iPhone as we spoke! Sean had been out of the tri game for a few years but after his great experience at the training event he decided to get back in the game. Welcome back Sean!

The Tri 2 Win triathlon is a lot of fun and a good event for those just starting out. The pool swim takes alot of the anxiety out of a new triathlete's first event, and for that reason I highly recommend it for those looking to get into the sport. The event has a wide range of fitness levels, so no one will feel intimidated by the field of athletes, while at the same time those looking for good competition will find that as well. Since the event is always on Father's day, there is a nice family aspect to the competition as there is a father/son and father/daughter competion in addition to the indiviual age groups.

I have been doing this event for about 5 years now and I have been steadily moving up in my age group, to the point I can now start looking to get on the podium. I had finished 5th and 6th the last 2 years and since I had limited training time this year I decided to make this my goal race for the year. After carefully studying my results and the results of the last couple of years I figured I would need to do about 1 hour and 17 minutes to make it on to the podium. After having a great outing at the "Flat as a pancake triathlon" 2 weeks prior, I thought I was ready. Although I should note that Tri 2 Win is definitely NOT flat as a pancake.

The Swim:

One of the victims of my reduced training schedule this year has been my swimming. Since I had less time to train early in the season (due to my future triathlete son crawling all over the place), my swimming, which is my weakness, probably suffered the most. I tried to rationalize that since the swim is only 400 meters in this race, its effect would not likely be the deciding factor. I would reassess this point of view during my post race analysis. So as you might have already guessed, I swam slower this year. Not a lot slower, just 18 seconds off last year's pace, but still, I hate to regress. I got out of the pool and hustled my way over to the transition area.

The Bike:

After a fast T1, I hopped on my bike ready to make up some of the time I was sure I lost during the swim. I had ridden the course the day before, so I knew where all the hard climbs were, and I was relying on all the hard work I had put in over the winter and spring. My cycling has seen a noticable bump in terms of power output and coupled with the new bike I worked all spring to get comfortable on, I was sure I could better last year's bike time. The question was, by how much? I averaged 19.3 mph over the 13.5 miles and while that was a nice bump from last year I knew I had my work cut out for myself on the run. I was going to have to run right around 21 and a half minutes for the 3 mile run to get me around the 1:17 time goal. I was trying to not think about that as I entered T2, because I know the last time I ran a 5k that fast I was about 10 years younger (if not more). I had my work cut out for me.

The Run:

I left T2 (after briefly running the wrong way trying to get out of the transition area) with an ominious feeling in my left quad. I've had this before, it's that feeling you get right before your muscle cramps. It's kind of like a warning signal, telling you to slow up or else! I ignored it. Quad be damned, if it was going to cramp so be it, I was going to run hard, until I couldn't run hard any longer. I was feeling pretty good until I hit the steady 1/4 mile uphill on the run. That and the "I'm gonna cramp, I mean it" feeling took a bit of wind out of my sails. I knew right then 1:17 was probably not going to happen, but I remained focused on maintaining my pace. As I hit the turn around, I heard heavy breathing coming up behind me. So far, no had had passed me the entire race, but I knew now someone was definitely trying. With about a mile to go in the run said heavy breather moved past me. I tried to pick up my pace and stay with him, that worked for about ohhhh 15 seconds, nope he was running WAY TOO FAST! I dropped back down to my original pace and held steady to line. A pretty good run, faster than last year and I didn't cramp, despite the warning.

Post Race:

I got some food, as well as some water, to ward off any impending cramps and try and replenish my energy stores. All in all, I felt pretty good. I knocked about a minute off last year's time, but I was about 3 minutes shy of 1:17. 6th place again. Not bad, but after looking at the times of those who beat me the biggest disparity was, you guessed it, the swimming. In fact, the 2rd place finisher in my age group and I had almost identical splits throughout the race but his swim time was over 3 minutes better than mine! I know where I will be spending a lot of time this winter! After a bit of recovery, I watched as my friends came in and cheered them on to the finish. When everyone was done we traveled over to Great Sage restaurant in Clarksville for a great nutritious post tri meal! Hopefully some of you will join us next year for this great race!

Coaches Corner:

I just want to give a shout out to one of my athlete's (and TriUnify member) Derrek Sanks, who broke the 3 hour mark at the Columbia Triathlon. Columbia is a challenging race and Derrek worked hard over the winter and spring to achieve this goal. I also want to wish him a safe return home as he prepares for a deployment in Afghanistan. My thoughts are with you and your family Derrek.

It's been a while......

It's been a while since I last wrote, over 9 months, which is an interesting observation since that is approximately the length of time it took my new son to arrive, but more on that later.

So what happened in the interim, well it went something like this.......

January

On the day of my last entry (January 4th, 2010 for those of you who forgot) I started the season by taking my first test, a 3 mile all out effort on the trainer. This is a test I use to get a general idea of my fitness. I was a little under the weather that day and turned in a pretty poor time (for me anyway). This was my first wake up call of the season. I knew I had a lot of work to do to get ready for my goal race in May, the Columbia Triathlon. Last year I did Columbia (a great race,you should try it!) in 3:02:29. I remember thinking after the race, that if I had known I was so close to breaking 3 hours I would have pushed a lot more on the run. So my goal for 2010 was to break 3 hours. Everything was going to be secondary to that until I found out my wife was pregnant!

When the good news arrived, I knew breaking 3 hours would be even more of a challenge. My goal was made even more challenging by the unseasonable cold weather we got this winter. I started January with a bit of a cold, but I managed to get in a fair amount of training. In particular, I added some strength training and yoga to my training regiment. After a few weeks I began to feel much stronger,particularly in the pool.

February

February arrived and so did huge amounts of snow and morning sickness! My wife was suffering through a bad bout of nausea and with the huge snow fall the trainer was my only sanctuary, until of course we lost power! This was a really challenge, no power, no way to leave home, and a wife swamped with nausea. Thank goodness for out next door neighbors who helped us through this tough time. Since the first week of February was lost to all the various impediments to training, I was looking forward to restarting my training when the roads were cleared. Once again I turned to my 3 mile time trial and knocked 16 seconds off my January time. More importantly I recorded a 7% increase in average power. This assured me that my training was progressing in the right direction. I spent most of February concentrating on swimming since it is definitely my weakness. I was looking for a swim coach but my work location made finding a convenient coach virtually impossible. I was resigned to getting better so I picked up a copy of "Total Immersion" and studied the book and tried to follow the suggestions as best I could.

One of the real challenges being a self trained swimmer, is that you can't see yourself! Unlike running or cycling where I can get on a trainer or treadmill to critique my technique and position, this is almost impossible to do while swimming. I did come across a pool once with mirrors on the bottom of the pool in one lane, but even then its hard to keep a good head position, while trying to see if you legs are dropping too much. Just one more reason to get a coach.

March

So March rolled around and it's time to take another test and get an idea of where my fitness is. I tackle my 3 mile TT test and knock another 21 seconds off my last test and my average power has increased another 9%! I also noticed my heart rate for the effort had dropped by 10 beats per minute, a sure sign that I was now more aerobically fit as well! Armed with these numbers I decide some racing was in order. When I first started cycling seriously, I used to race in the NYC Spring series, a series of cycling races in Brooklyn every weekend. So I signed up figuring this would push me. I had no intention of trying to win this race, I just wanted to hang with the field and get some tough miles in. I managed to hang on for about 1/2 the race before getting unceremoniously dropped on the only hill in the race. Still, the race provided a good hard effort much like I would need when doing the Columbia Triathlon (especially the last 10 miles of chasing alone! and no I didn't catch the field....).

April

April was my first big volume month as the weather was finally improving. I hadn't planned on doing any races this month, I just wanted to focus on training. One of my good friends, however, wanted to race a 13 hour mountain bike race but needed another team mate. Now I dabble in mountain biking, but strictly for fun. So when she approached me about racing off road, for 13 hours at that, I was a little apprehensive, especially since my mountain bike hadn't been off-road in the better part of 3 years. Not wanting to disappoint, I agreed to help out. This turned out to be the toughest workout all year. Almost 5 hours on a hard tail mountain bike over tough terrain was more than draining, but it a great experience, even if I never want to do it again..... The picture at the top is a look at my first (and last?) foray into competitive mountain biking. After taking a little bit of a recovery after the race, I decided now was a good time to re-test myself. My time dropped by 22 seconds and average power increased by a little over 11%! I am on a roll! At this point my power on the bike was about 5% above what it had been in 2009 right before I did the Columbia triathlon. I was feeling pretty good and I still had about a month of training left. So now it was time to fine tune my training.

May

With my goal race now in site, I started tapering, working on my transitions, and planning to ride the course, you know, all those little things that can screw up an otherwise good race. The one thing I didn't plan for was lack of parking and pouring rain the day of the race. When I arrived at the race site, traffic was backed up for a good mile and it was pouring. I dropped my buddy Mike at the entrance since he went off in an earlier wave then me, and then drove back to look for parking. I found a spot about a mile away and then made a mad dash to get to transition before it closed. The soggy conditions and bad weather just added to the mayhem that is race morning, and in a big race like Columbia it was compounded by all the people. I managed to get my transition area set up just as the transition area closed. Unfortunately in my rush, I forgot to use my Body glide to put on under my wetsuit. I was resigned to having a bad neck rash after the race, when I saw a woman spraying herself with Lemon PAM. I had always heard people used the stuff, but this was the first time I had ever witnessed it. I decided now was as good a time as ever to give it a shot, so I asked her if she could spare some. She gladly obliged and I was lemony fresh and relieved to not have to worry about having a sore neck for the next week. I ambled over to the swim start and waded into the water a few minutes before my wave was set to start. Getting into the water initially is always the worst part of a triathlon for me. It took me a good 3 minutes to get over the initial shock of the cold water and after exhaling under water a few times I started to feel better. The gun went off and I waited for most of the insanity that is a wave start to go out ahead of me and then I started my race. I remained cool and calm for most of the swimming, feeling OK, if not great. I just wanted to get out of the water and onto my bike. I went badly off course in the second part of the swim, which cost me some time, but I recovered and head for the swim exit. I had a brisk transition, and I was happy to notice the rain had stopped as I mounted my bike. Since, Columbia is a fairly hilly bike course, and the course was wet, I decided to forgo aero bars and just use my standard rode bike. I felt the extra comfort and better handling would make up for the lack of an aero advantage on certain parts of the course. I powered my way to a bike split that was 3 minutes better than the previous year. As I was leaving transition to start the run, I noted I had a little less than 1 hour if I wanted to break the 3 hour mark. I had fueled well on the bike and I planned to go with gels every 30 minutes on the run. I knew staying properly fueled would be a necessity if I was to break 3 hours. Columbia has a notoriously tough 10k run. I knew I would have to push a little in the first 5k to stay on my goal pace. At the 2 mile mark, I was concentrating hard when I heard a blood curdling scream! It was Shelly from my tri club at the water station cheering me on! I couldn't help but chuckle inside! That really bolstered my resolve to keep my pace up. I was well on my way to a good 10k time at the 4 mile mark which is where some of the toughest hills in the course come up. I managed to maintain a decent pace and when I hit the 5 mile mark I turned on the jets in the knowledge I had little more than 1 mile to go and a mostly downhill run to the finish. As I crossed the line I looked at my watch and thought Mission Accomplished! 2:58:06. My main goal of the year accomplished, I now decided to enjoy the good fitness that I had acquired over the previous 5 months.

June

In June I started my Thursday evening rides we call Thursday thunder! We try to hit just about every hill in Rock Creek Park. It a leg searing, gut busting hammer fest for most of the ride with breaks at the top of the tough climbs to let people catch back on. It's usually fun too and has most of the elements of a fast group ride. About this time my wife was finally starting to show, for the first 5 months, you could barely tell she was pregnant. So trips to the doctor were becoming more interesting, especially since we were adamant about not wanting to know the sex of the baby. I had but one race planned for June, my annual sprint triathlon, Tri to Win, which raises money for melanoma research. I hadn't trained specifically for this race, but I was confident since fitness had been sky high during the previous weeks. A number of my friends were also doing the race, and this made the event all the more fun. Since it was a sprint, my goal was to push as hard as I could for the duration of the race and see what I had in the tank. Who knows, maybe I could even snag an age group award. I pushed my way to a course PR and just missed an age group award coming in 5th. Oh well, maybe next year!

July

By the time July rolled around I was starting to feel pretty burnt out. My fitness was still high but I had come down noticeably from my peak. As a result, my training tapered off quite a bit from late June to early July. Some due to the impending birth of my child and some from lack of desire to train. Normally this would have been fine, except I had registered for the NYC Triathlon on July 18th! I was not really motivated to do this race but once I pay for a race I'm going to do it unless a meteor strikes. So I traveled to NYC, and was greeted by absolutely the worst humidity I had raced in in a while. One of the reasons I really wanted to do this race was the allure of swimming in the Hudson River (although allure might be the wrong term). Growing up as a kid in Brooklyn the Hudson was always maligned as too nasty, too dirty, too dangerous to swim in. I was also intrigued by the fact that the race director GUARANTEED everyone a swim PR! Well he could not have been more right. Watching the pros the morning of the race, it looked like they were hydroplaning in the water they were swimming so fast! I found out why when my wave started. The race director gave you the option of starting the race in the water, but he noted as soon as you jump in grab the rope attached to the dock. I jumped in and went under, immediately I could feel myself being pulled downstream! It felt like I had rocket propelled flippers on the current was so strong! A couple of guys who jumped in had to be grabbed before they were swept downstream by the current. Of course, the highlight of the race had to be the tire I spied floating by at the 600 meter mark! At least I didn't have to swim through it! Getting out of the water 15 minutes faster the usual was great! Then came the back course which was typical NYC, and by that I mean badly paved! It was so badly paved somewhere on the course I lost my trusty Garmin Forerunner, making this the most expensive triathlon I have ever done! By the time I got to the run it was blazing hot and the humidity was oppressive. I struggled through the run, but still posted my best ever triathlon time. Now I could schedule some down time for the season and get ready for the really tough stuff, having a child!

Hope to see all of you out there in the pool, on the road, and on the track......

Peace

Rob...

P.S. Part II of the season soon to follow.

Happy New Year! Now Let's Get Started!

Greetings to all! I hope the new year finds you happy, healthy and fit! I am looking forward to the upcoming season and I am hoping to make serious strides in each of the three disciplines we triathletes engage in. I also hope to re-acquire some skills in my first true love, basketball! More on that later.........

Improving each discipline

While I did well last year with my fastest ever Olympic distance race, a careful examination of my training, showed the need for improvement in each discipline. That's not all bad news however, since some of my necessary improvements just require missing fewer workouts. Taking a look at both your strong and weak disciplines can be very enlightening.

The Swim.

After last year's efforts I learned two things:

1. I'm a much faster swim
2. But not necessarily a much better swimmer.

How did I come to this conclusion? Well I posted a personal best of 35:45 at the Columbia triathlon knocking almost 6 minutes of my best swim time. Along with that however, I had quite a bit of shoulder and arm pain. After talking with my chiropractor it was determined to be due to my habit of only breathing on my left side. I was determined that by my next Olympic tri I would be a bilateral breather. It was so hard to change this habit that I learned some 30 years ago, I actually took 2 months off from swimming and when I went back to the pool I was determined to only swim by breathing on both sides. After about a month and many mouthfuls of water later I had become comfortable, if not proficient, at breathing every 3rd stroke. I should note that while I was making the transition I didn't focus on any other aspect of my swim. All I worked on was being able to breathe on both side comfortably. I didn't track my pace, worry particularly about body position (except how it affected rolling to my "other" side) or worry about stroke count. I was actually prepared to become a slower swimmer, with the idea that the better technique would suffice in the long run. When I was finally comfortable, I went back to one of my standard workouts, and lo and behold, I was actually faster! Without doing anything other than going to bilateral breathing, I had actually picked up between 10 and 15 seconds per 100! I attribute this to 2 things, I now breathe every third stroke which I believe enables me to keep a better body position throughout the course of my swim. Second, I believe my swim is more balanced, i.e. I swim on my side more as a consequence of having to roll to the other side to breathe. I have also noticed I swim straighter and I make fewer corrections to remain on a straight course. I was somewhat skeptical that bilateral breathing would have such a profound effect, but I never write anything off until I at least try it. In this case trying paid dividends, always a good feeling.

The Bike

In general I had a good year on the bike. While I did lament not having the opportunity to participate in any bike races, I felt I had a successful season. One area I found lacking was the amount of intervals I did over the course of the year. I was generally really good at the beginning of the year in preparation for early season races, but afterwards I was slacking a bit and allowing some fast group rides to substitute for interval sessions. This isn't always a bad idea but in general group rides don't always fit into the type of training you may need for an upcoming event. I resolve to be a bit more disciplined this year and hopefully I will be able to reap the benefits.

The Run

OK, let's be frank, I don't really like running all that much. Most workouts that I blow off are run workouts. I love cycling, I need swimming, but really I just tolerate the run. So this year I plan to make sure I don't miss any of those run workout (or at least not as many). I noticed that last year I really didn't do nearly enough speed work either. Speed work, for me anyway, is far more mentally taxing that physically taxing. Once I get out there I'm OK, but actually getting out there is the problem. I'm gonna work on that, but I think I need a partner (any takers????) .

Other stuff

I joined a tri club, Tri Unify which has been great. Meeting like minded people of color who also take an interest in a healthy life style is AWESOME! Check them out at Tri Unify.com

Among other things Tri Unify has open water swim practices, meet and greets, and a wealth of highly motivated people of all levels so no one has to feel intimidated or left out.

Every few months I get an uncontrollable urge to go back to the sport of my youth, namely basketball. One thing I like about triathlon is, no matter how hard the race it is essentially a non-contact sport. Not true of basketball! After just about every game, something is cut, scratched or bruised! The other thing about triathlon is essentially you are always going straight ahead, basketball is about going in 20 different directions, one right after the other, or even at the same time. This requires some specialized preparation since I rarely need to practice running backwards or side to side to prepare for a tri. Anyway, I have caught the bug again and I am about to play in a league or two this winter, I'll keep you posted and let you know how the body holds up.

The Season

I already have 3 races scheduled on my calendar and I am considering whether to step up to the half ironman distance in the second half of the year. A lot depends on how the first half goes, so I figured I would re-evaluate after my sprint triathlon on June 20th. Since we are being hit by unseasonable cold weather I see a lot of indoor training in my future (and yours too!). Don't let this ruin your season, hop on a bike trainer, treadmill or into a spin class somewhere. If this doesn't do it for you get in the pool more often and work on all those things you never work even though you know you should.

As some of you may know I am a personal trainer and I am applying for my USAT coaching license. I will be creating a 16 week training program for the Tri to Win sprint triathlon which is on June 20th. The program will include group training on the weekends and a training schedule for the entire 16 weeks leading up to the race. The training program will be aimed at first time triathletes and those with no experience following a training program. I will be hosting an information session later this month. The training program is schedule to start on March 1st. If you are interested please e-mail me at robert@clarencesoftware.com.

I hope to see all of you out there in the pool, on the road and on the track......

Peace

Rob

The Off-Season is here... Time to start training again????

The great thing about October, besides Halloween and Octoberfest, is it usually signals the start of the off-season. For athletes, this represents down time, or as some people refer to it non-specific training. Just go out there and have some fun, do whatever you want to do (or do nothing at all) , all with the goal of refreshing the mind , body and spirit for the the beginning of the next training cycle.

As I got older, however, I have seen my off-season get shorter and shorter mostly due to the increased amount of time it takes me to regain lost fitness. Once upon a time, in my younger days, I could easily take a month or a month and a half off, doing absolutely nothing and need only a short amount of time to get back into a reasonable amount of shape. Now a month of nothing would result in weight gain so large I would need Richard Simmons to have any possibility of being ready by spring. What I realized is I need to continue training almost year round, merely decreasing intensity during the off-season and increasing my base. I attribute my improvements in swimming last year as a result of just such a change.

The off-season is also the time to work on two important tasks for the season ahead:

1) Your race schedule (or goals if you are not competing) and

2) Your weaknesses.

I spent a fair amount of the last two off-seasons devoted to working on my swimming, which is my weakness, and managed to drop 10 minutes off my 1500 meter swim time. During the off-season there are generally no "A" races so there is less pressure to concentrate on speed and/or intensity and much more time to concentrate on form and technique, factors which will help in any sport. For instance, this off-season I am concentrating 100% on learning bilateral breathing for swimming. In the few session I have been working on it, I have already begun to see improvements in my swimming and have managed to avoid some of the neck and shoulder problems I encountered when I increased my pool time last season.

The off-season is also the time to commit to those races in which you want to do well. For some large races, you may only have a day to sign up (for some such as the NYC triathlon, you may only have an hour!). Making the commitment now, means your are committed to putting in the time and effort, but it also gives you the ability to accurately plan your season and the workouts necessary to make the season a success.

The off-season can also be a great time to experiment with new equipment and training techniques for the upcoming season. Want to adjust your bike position or try running barefoot? Well now is the time to try, if it works, great, you have a new tool for next year, if not, you gave it a try and can move on without jeopardizing race day.

One key to making the off-season enjoyable and rejuvenating is to not take it too seriously. Now is the time to make sacrifices for your friends and family that you may have abandoned during the season. Take the time to enjoy time with friends and family, enjoy the holidays, if you do any races make them more about camaraderie with your training partners than about PRs. Maybe even take up some alternative sports to break up the monotony. Enjoy the off-season, it will make the on-season that much more enjoyable.....

Peace and keep training (a little less tho)

Rob

The Race of Truth or The Truth Hurts!

In August I did a USCF 40k time trial. I hadn't done an officially sanctioned time trial in about 10 years. One reason, they are hard to find. Road races are hard enough to put on, imagine trying to manage a race where riders are starting at 1 minute intervals over the course of 4 or 5 hours.

I had been training fairly consistently since the start of the year for early season triathlons, and I felt I had enough miles on my legs to do a good ride. Since I had been primarily riding my road bike all year I opted to use that for the time trial. I have a nice pair of carbon aero bars which I use for flat to moderately hilly triathlons, and I decided these would be a definite plus for the time trial. Now 40k is not a lot for me to ride. I can pretty much do that in my sleep. However, how often do I actually ride 40k all out at 100%? Not very often. I now understand why guys who are great rode racers don't always make the best time trialists.

Time trialing is a mixture of great fitness, determination, incredible concentration, and an uncanny ability to suffer. I felt I possessed at least the first 2 qualities going into the race, and I figured the race itself would give me a good indication on where I stood on the last two.

The Race Itself

The course was pancake flat. That in and of itself was enough to make me want to compete. The road, for the most part, was in good condition and there were only 2 turns on the course. The one thing I had not taken into account was the wind! A strong headwind was waiting for me at about the 15k to go mark. I overheard an earlier rider advising a friend to save something for the last 10k. I should have listened!

The Start

The thing I always forget about is the "The HOLD". Unlike every other type of race where you just hop on your bike and go, the time trial starts with someone holding you clipped into your pedals. Needless to say, this can make for an embarrassing start if not executed correctly! Gear selection is critical for a good start, and I was careful to start in a reasonable gear to get up to speed quickly. Despite feeling like I was about to fall at any moment during "The HOLD", I managed to get away cleanly, settle in to the aero tuck, and get rolling without incident.

My goal was to finish in 1 hour 15 minutes. This works out to a 20 mph average. I knew I would need to be disciplined and not go out to fast. My first challenge came about 2 minutes in when another racer passed me going around 25 mph! Every instinct in my body tells me to go after him, but I know there is no way I can hold that kind of tempo for the remaining 38k. So I restrain myself and keep my pace at a nice steady 22 mph. It should have been obvious to me that if I wanted to make the 20 mph goal, that 22 mph was probably too fast of a start. Still, at the 10k mark, I felt pretty good. I still had my 1 minute man in my sights and I set a goal to catch him by the finish. 15k came and went and I started to get my first warning signs of impending trouble. The skin suit I had chosen was not doing a very good job protecting my nether regions and this was causing me to move around on the saddle. Normally I can compensate for this type of problem by sitting up occasionally, but by virtue of trying to stay in the aero position this was not to be an option. At the half way point I also noticed a numbness creeping up my left side, and down my arm. As I think about it, I realize I had never spent more than about 20 minutes straight in the areo tuck. I had, at the 20k mark, been in it for 45 minutes! After the 25k mark the numbness had gotten so bad I was forced out of the saddle every few minutes to relieve the tingling on the left side of my body. I was also starting to feel the effects of my effort, but I was still on pace for my 20 mph finish time.

I was encouraged by the fact my 1 minute man was still in my sights, albeit a bit further ahead in my sights. Right after the 25k mark is where I got my first taste of really rough road. Coupled with my bad skin suit problems I was really starting to suffer. I now noticed my minute man is getting smaller, i.e. farther away.... I also notice I am now slightly behind my goal pace, not by much, but just enough to force me out of the saddle to up my pace. Somewhere between the 25 and 30k mark you turn for home onto newly paved road (my nether regions sing the praises of the new pavement), unfortunately with the new pavement came a killer headwind! I was now all over my bike trying to maintain anything close to 20 mph. It was somewhere in the last 6k or so that I lost sight of my minute man and was passed by a few riders who had started after me. The real struggle at this point became staying focused on keeping my speed up. I would take mental breaks where my speed would dip and I would have to get out the saddle to accelerate back up to speed. When I finally saw the 1k to go sign I was so drained I couldn't lift my pace not one iota. I couldn't even muster a fake sprint when I got to the line. Final verdict 1:15:53.

Post Race

I may have neglected to mention that the start line of the race was about 5 miles from the registration and parking area. So I had a 5 mile cool down ride after the race. When I signed up the race I thought this was a great idea. In reality it turned out to be a death march back to my car. I could barely pedal and had absolutely no energy what so ever. I checked the result and was not surprised to see the guy who passed me 2 minutes or so into the race actually won the time trial! 58 minutes and change WOW! I was also pleased to see that my minute man finished only 30 seconds in front of me. I guess I hallucinated him out of sight. I'll be back next year, better skin suit, more time in the aero position and definitely more restraint in the first 20k. 20 mph here I come.........

Peace

Rob