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

Cascade Lake Duathlon Report

On May 31st I raced the Cascade Lake duathlon.  The race takes place in Hampstead, MD which is about 1.5 hours north of Washington D.C.  I was talked into this race by a couple of friends (although it rarely takes much to convince me to race) and I was using this race primarily as training for an upcoming triathlon.  The format of the race is a 1.86 mile run, a 15 mile bike and a 5k run.  There is also a triathlon that runs concurrently with the duathlon.  

The day started off poorly.  It was raining and quite a bit cooler than I had anticipated, and I didn't bring a sweatshirt to stay warm pre-race (one more reason not to trust the weather report and bring more than you need for a race).  The race starts in a private park which is normally a farm of some sort, as evidenced by the mounds of animal dung everywhere.  This I could handle, what was less than fun was the lack of bathroom facilities.  This race is definitely in need of some port-o-potties!  The start was a bit disorganized as the duathlon entrants had to move after we warmed up to make room for the parking of a few fire engines.  Once the race started everything pretty much went off without a hitch.  The first run is essentially flat with a tough climb to the transition/finish. 

The transition area could have used some work;  right outside of the transition area was a very rocky,  grassy, uneven surface where you mounted / dismounted your bike.  It wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't the best either.  The bike starts off with a fast decent for about a mile or so, after that the fun is over!  This is a very challenging 15 miles.  The hills are endless and challenging; while there are some fast descents, they were not nearly long enough to take the sting out of all that climbing.  If Hampstead wasn't so far away I would definitely consider going up there for more training rides. 

After the tough ride, you head back through the bumpy transition and then out onto the run for two loops of the run course.  The run finishes on a brutal uphill nicknamed Anaerobic ridge by the race organizer.  All in all not a bad race, but my plea is for the race organizer to add some bathrooms.

Miscellaneous race notes:

I finished 4th in my age group just missing out on a medal by about 5 minutes, that's still alot, so I won't let the near miss go to my head.  On a brighter note my good friend, Liz, whose idea this was anyway, won her age group which was very cool.  Congrats Liz!

A good friend of mine, who I encouraged to take up the sport of triathlon, chose Cascade Lake as his first triathlon.  This proved to be a questionable decision due to the severity of the bike course.  However, he managed to survive and finish his first race although he cramped badly near the end.  Congrats Cabha on completing your first race!  I hope you enjoy many more!

I have a 40K time trial and a sprint triathlon in the next two weeks and then I'm going to take a break before I start preparing for the end of the year.  I plan on switching over to a more run focused program including the Parks 1/2 marathon and the Baltimore marathon.  I'm looking forward to the challenge.  I hope to see you all there.

Peace and keep training..

Rob

Columbia Triathlon Results

If you read my last blog, I was proclaiming my return to the blogger sphere with increased fitness to boot. Well I can proudly say that after my first goal of the season, the Columbia triathlon, these were not mere words. Columbia was just my third Olympic distance triathlon, and by far the hardest. It also turned out to be my best performance by far. My swim time dropped from 41:36 at St. Anthony's last year, to 35:45. A reduction of almost 6 minutes and a better than 14% increase in performance! What a difference my 2009 swim focus made in my swimming progress! My race nutrition also improved as, despite the very hilly 10k run course, I did not bonk as happened last year during the St. Anthony triathlon. I also eclipsed my personal best at the Olympic distance by better than 4 minutes, despite a much more difficult bike course and crept with 2 minutes and 23 seconds of the elusive 3 hour mark.

The Race

Columbia is a superbly run race, the lake swim was a cool 70 degrees at the start. The swim is out and back,except the finish is actually at a different point than where you enter the water. It's a wet start, so you can get a short swim in before your wave gets underway.

Conditions for the race were good except for a light rain falling during the start of the bike leg. Luckily, the rain let up about half way into the bike course. The course starts out challenging with a number of tough climbs in the first 8 miles or so. Luckily I had ridden the course before hand so I knew what to expect. I took advantage of the very fast descents to overtake some of the more reluctant riders, who were cautious due to the wet roads. I also noticed a number of riders experienced flats and were forced to stop to repair them, luckily I avoided this fate. I pushed the pace on the bike until the last 2 miles or so when I geared down a bit and started to prepare my legs for the run. I had decided in training to trade some strength on the bike for greater run endurance. This decision paid huge dividends during the 10k run.

The run is one of the toughest 10Ks I have ever run. There are a number of hills that must be double digit grades. It made it very difficult to dial in your pace with the constant uphill / downhill changing of gears. I had prepared by running in my neighborhood which has quite a few hills, but I was truly not prepared for the severity of some of the hills. In the end, I ran just one second slower than the 10k I ran in my first Olympic distance triathlon 2 years ago. I consider this progress given the difficulty of the Columbia course.

This performance has given me enough confidence to try my first half Ironman next year. I may also do Columbia again, depending on life's demands. In the meantime I have 2 new goals on the horizon. My first USCF time trial in more than 10 years is on June 13th and the Tri-to-Win sprint triathlon is the following week. At Tri-to-Win, I am aiming for a new PR so I will spend the next few weeks ramping down the endurance rides and runs and adding doses of speed work. I'm looking forward to some of you guys joining me on those short, but painful days.

Til then.......

Keep training.....

Peace

Rob

I'm back..... and much fitter to boot!

I know..... I've been away. No excuses, but I do have REASONS! In February, I was abruptly transferred to a new project at work. My nice cushy, leave work at 5, became a , lucky to get home by 7:30! Despite this I have managed to stick very closely to my training schedule. The results have been, well, measurable. I started using my Real Axiom trainer pretty extensively earlier in the year when it was far too (fill in the blank with, cold, wet, cold & wet, you get the picture) crappy outside to ride. One of the real advantages of this trainer is the ability to get your power output. I created a couple of flat time trials of varying lengths late last year and used them as a baseline for comparison of my power output over those distances. About a week ago I took the tests again. My power was up a solid 5%! Not bad for 3 months of consistent solid training.

The constant training also brought with it one unexpected result, injury! Nothing serious, but for the first time in a long while I was experiencing pain directly related to the amount of training I was doing. The most exasperating, had to be the shoulder problems I began to experience with my increase in swimming. Since swimming is my weakest sport, I started my training with an increased focus in January. By March, I had a persistent soreness in my upper back, and a shooting pain down my back and arm when I tilted my head back. My arm would also go numb intermittently for no apparent reason. This made me realize I had some definite flaws in my stroke that needed some immediate attention. I started focusing on my arm NOT crossing over in front of my head during my entry and the pain has dissipated somewhat. I must also give credit to my excellent masseuse Chaye Wise and my chiropractor Dr. Roberson. Both have been instrumental in keeping me in one piece.

My singular focus to this point has been getting in enough training to be competitive at the Columbia triathlon . I rode the course a few weeks ago and it is tough. This makes Chris Lieto's course record of 56 minutes and change that much more amazing! Now that I feel I have enough fitness in the bank for Columbia, I have started to focus on the rest of the season. I am returning to the Tri-to-Win sprint triathlon again this year in an attempt at another PR. I am currently leading the fund raising for the event so if you want to donate to a great cause check out my fund raising page.

This also seems to be the year my training buddies have talked me into doing their races..... I have scheduled a duathlon, something I haven't done in at least 5 years, to support a friend, and my marathon crazed buddy Miquel, has finally talked me into doing a marathon (more on that in a future post).

On the purely cycling side of things I will undertake a USCF time trial for the first time in years in mid June. If memory servers me these are perhaps the hardest rides I have ever done, there really is no hiding in the race of truth.

Random thoughts....

I have put my rides, blogging, some resources etc., into one place, my website at www.clarencecycling.com. This lets people know what I'm up to, where I'm riding, and how to join me if they are so motivated. Take a look at the site and let me know what you think.

The Real Axion review.... it's coming after Columbia, I promise........

Mavic Tri Pro shoes... just got a pair..... review to follow.

Promotional note..... I have just met a triathlete from TriUnify, an organization dedicated to getting people and youth of color into the sport. Check out their website at www.triunify.com

Race season is upon us...... let's get fit out there....

Peace....

Rob

Weakness and how to get rid of it....

At the beginning of the year, I looked back through my training journal and tried to decide where I could coax a bit more speed out of my soon to be 44 year old body. Two areas jumped out at me immediately. My weaknesses...... swimming and transitions. In most of my races I was generally dead on in predicting my bike and run splits. My swim splits were ALWAYS slower than I would have anticipated. I also noticed, when comparing my times to those around me, my transitions were generally slower. Last year I made a small step in the right direction to lower my transition time by investing in speed laces. Still, I realized there was definitely some room for improvement. I plan to actually PRACTICE transitions this year. I may also invest in a pair of triathlon cycling shoes to speed up the lengthy, but necessary, process of tightening of my road shoes.

With the goal in mind of knocking a few more minutes of my times, it became evident I could really get some bang for my training time buck in the pool. I began a diligent training plan by reviewing my training for last year's St. Anthony's triathlon. I had projected a swim time of around 38 minutes for the 1500 meter swim, I actually finished in about 41 1/2 minutes. While the current was a factor, a bigger factor was lack of significant preparation with longer swims. I had only done 3 continuous swims longer than 1000 meters. This left me with less confidence for the distance than I would have liked. So this year after six weeks of short, hard interval work I plan on doing, at the MINIMUM, 1 longer swim every week up until race week when I will taper.

I am also engaging in an early swim focused training plan. Meaning more swimming early in my preparation when the weather is colder and less amenable to running / riding outside. So far the plan appears to be paying dividends. I swam a 200 yard PR this week smashing my best swim time for the distance by a whopping 19 seconds! My 100 repeats have also been consistently faster. Right now I am keeping the workouts to around 1200 yards, but I plan on increasing them in the coming weeks.

One of the things I like least about winter is running on the treadmill, ughhhhh. As luck would have it, I am always engaged in a search for a better gym and I happened to find one close to my job that has, *GASP*, an indoor track (it actually has 2). Now at least once a week I take my lunch break by running in circles for 30 minutes or so. This has proved to be a great incentive to get out there and run!

Other stuff.....

About a year ago I purchased an Elite Real Axiom trainer for the bike. I have been using it diligently since it got cold and next blog will feature a full review.....

I hope the new (and cold, BRRRRR) year finds everyone happy and in shape.

Peace and keep training.....

Rob

Happy New Year, yada yada yada

I'm back from a long holiday induced daze. The holidays provided their usual ups and downs. On the upside, being in Florida with 75 degree weather everyday made for a wonderful experience. On the downside, having to return to the low 30's and freezing wind and rain was not so great. On the upside, I did manage to get in some quality runs in the nice weather, on the downside, I managed to sabotage most of it by eating like a starving man. But enough about last year 2009 is underway! I am committed to working on my weakness, and that means a lot more SWIMMING!

I have already started that process by hitting the pool and establishing some benchmarks for this season. I also went back to last years data and was pleasantly surprised to note that I am swimming faster this year if only marginally. One bright spot was my fastest swims, while not consistent, were noticeably faster than last year. If I can just combine that top end speed with some endurance it will be an altogether better swimming experience this year.

From a spectating standpoint, this looks to be one of the most exciting years to watch cycling as well. With the rise of the Schlecks, Basso, Sastre, Cunego and the return of Armstrong, not to mention the removal of many chemically assisted riders, the racing should be wide open. I for one can't wait to watch the Giro, as it could be one of the most exciting of all time.

Speaking of excitement, if you need some video adrenaline, check out the helmet cam video of two mountain bikers on steephill.tv . If you want to know what real downhill excitement looks like this video will give you a good idea. The Stella Artois commercial is pretty funny too.

Since I'm not important enough to hold a press conference, I just announce my major objects of the year to whoever happens to be reading. I encourage you all to join me in training and, if you feel so moved, join me in some of these races as well.

Columbia Olympic Distance triathlon May 17th,2009
Goal: Sub 40 minute swim
This is a hilly race so I think cracking the 3 hour mark probably won't happen in this race. I'll look for something flatter later in the year to achieve that goal.

Tri-to-Win Sprint Triathlon June 21st, 2009
Goal: PR
I need to go sub 1:27:29. My best chance to improve will be my swim and transition times. I plan on devoting a fair amount of time to each. With luck my bike will be a bit better and my run at least as good.

Wednesday night training race series.
I NEED to get into the top ten this season. My best was twelth last year. I'll take a short break after the Tri-to -Win to focus on the bike. Hopefully this pushes me into form.

End of season: 1/2 marathon and century
I will try to improve on last years 1st ever 1/2 marathon by doing the Parks 1/2 again. On a lighter note I will train with my wife for the Seagull century, just for fun.

Misc...
I usually do some early season racing just to get an idea of my form prior to my first big race (this year it's Columbia) so don't be surprised to see a duathlon or a bike race pop onto the schedule in March or April.

Random thoughts:

I'm going to Vegas at the end of March, is there anywhere to ride a bike out there?

I hope the new year has started off well for everyone, now get out there and get in shape!

Peace and keep training

Rob