consultations coming in!

Our Amp program is growing every day, its so exciting to see athletes really starting to take advantage of the included resources!

Here is an example of one of the athletes and what types of questions and feedback we help them with, included in the 59.00 a month price -

TBC,

I'm 36, I've been "dabbling" in triathlon since 2007. My overall goal is continuous improvement with my focus being on the general fitness the training provides. 

I completed IM CDA with a 16:19 time, IM Florida with a 16:18 time. I competed in the Rev3 Cedar Point in but had to pull out after 70 miles on the bike due to a knee injury. I ran IM AZ, finishing in 15:20. 

I ran IM UK but had not been training well and missed the time cutoff at mile 90 on the bike. This year I ran IM France, my training was improved but still not adequate, especially for the challenging bike route and I missed the time cut off at mile 80. 

I've signed up for IM France again next year (June 5th) and I'm considering IM Wales or IM Dublin 70.3 as well but I need to get my training on track before making that call. My goal for IM France is to break 14 hours.

As you can tell from my results I'm a mediocre age group athlete. This is primarily due to inconsistency in my training. I've been listening to the TBC podcast for a while now to help with my motivation and decided to join the AMP to get a little more guidance, motivation and accountability in my training in order to achieve that consistency.

I currently live in England and my work schedule is quite hectic with changing hours week to week and frequent trips. I can train an hour each week day and 3-4 hours most Saturdays and Sundays. 

I have a small indoor pool to swim in, not big enough for laps so I have a tether to hook myself to the wall. I have a treadmill and Computrainer as well. Necessities as the English winter sets in.

So that's a little bit about me. 

Thanks again for the help,

AMP member

Are you working hard at hardly working?

As triathletes we are used to working hard and overcoming problems. It’s usually an object of pride. If our FTP needs work, we work hard to get it up. If we need to get our pace down on the run or swim, not a problem, we work hard and try to make it happen.

When it comes to the weight room, we either skip that workout all together but if we do go, we want to win at that too. The issue is we start to incorporate muscles to help us keep up with what we think we should be able to do and in our defense, our bodies try to do it without our even knowing most of the time.

When our bodies try to help us by over compensating, this is how injuries start to creep in. This is what I have been learning over the past year.

I have had to recently get PRP in both my Achilles tendons. This stems from having calcification in both my Achilles tendons. The reason I have the calcification is because I have bone spurs on the back of my heel which rubs against my Achilles. The reason I have that… tight calves.

I’m sorry if that seemed confusing, but the point is just like the song says: “the thigh bone really IS connected to the shin bone.” When we get caught trying to do the best we can sometimes we can accidentally or on purpose avoid the process that needs to take place to make us better.  

Here is another example. My Achilles hurt for several years off and on. I would spend time getting them worked on so they would not hurt as bad. I eventually figured out that the calves being tight were what put added strain on the Achilles tendons. What I was not aware of was why my CALVES were tight! I was not using my glutes to run. I had become a calf runner. I was compensating with other muscles, over working them like my back, hip flexors, etc. All these issues were making my calves do more work than they are made to do.

I am lucky enough this past year to meet Gina, she owns Achieve Athletics, and Garrett who owns Champion Sports Advantage. As I rehab my PRP we are using this as an opportunity to work on areas that I need to get to fire. It isn’t even so much of a strength issue. I simply haven’t been activating the right muscles in the right sequence.

Below are some videos at how terrible I am doing this work with proper form. The task was to be able to activate my glute only to raise my foot towards the ceiling. I could do all I could do to just activate my glute! In a world where a lot of endurance athletes run to things like “Crossfit” because they want to work hard to get fit hoping they will get faster from the fitness, trying to talk them into this is a hard sale! This is why I have hired Garrett to work with all my athletes this year. Everyone can benefit from this.

Thankfully Garrett was able to demonstrate the proper form.

If you are interested in learning what you need to work on to get faster and avoid injury, contact us today. We will try to get you sorted out. 

Never too old to learn

This year I turned 40 which unless you are my friends who like to tease me, really isn’t that old. However, I have been doing triathlon in some way shape or form since late 1980’s. So in that respect I am getting pretty long in the tooth with endurance sports.

This year has been one of my toughest years I have had, I have been battling injuries in my lower legs for several years, and this year they have really come to a head. I have calcification in both achillies tendons and something called Haglund’s deformity. It’s like a bone spur on the back of your heel that then rubs and irritates the achillies so much in defense the achillies build up calcium (bone) in the tendon and it hurts. BTW it’s really brought on from tight calves so as a side note, keep stretching!

I have had an amazing team around me trying to help keep me in the game but there just hasn’t been the opportunities to train at the level I usually do on the run in regards to intensity at all this year and it’s showed. I kept telling myself that it didn’t matter so much because at IM I didn’t need to run fast, I needed to run strong. That’s true in the race but I think my economy and motivation were really impacted. I think this was for several reasons.

At first I was pretty disappointed on how my season was unfolding. Last year I was ranked #1 in the World for the AWA rankings for 70.3 (although I would argue I was top 5 actually) I was at the top. This year, it was a battle all year. You race long enough, everyone will have an off time. This was my time. That being said, I really tried to take inventory of WHY and learn what I could so I could learn as a coach. I learned a few very important lessons this year.

First, I walked a lot in my marathons this year. A lot. I have often told my athletes who plan for this you have to plan for the walk, but I now fully feel the impact of having to walk. You HAVE to build walk fitness if you think you are going to walk. You have to. The muscles you use are very different. The only thing I could relate it to is it was like trying to ride a bike with a new fit on race day. Even if it’s a better fit, you aren’t going to be used to it and are going to be quite sore.

My father is a 14+ hour finisher. I would have him cut grass, work around the house, and then go start his run training for the day. I wanted him to practice being active all day. I still think that is a good way to get ready but please build some walking into your training. If nothing else if you are fit to walk you can walk 2-4 min faster per mile then someone who hasn’t! it doesn’t seem like a big deal but if you are going to walk 10+ miles its almost an hour faster.

The second thing I think I really learned is I have been too focused on Ironman for too long and the distance while very hard, isn’t providing the stimulus I need to keep getting better. It’s hard to go backwards in distance which is why short course guys coming across our way have it better, but I think I am getting to the point I need to rebuild shorter fitness (even if I do an ironman next year I want to explore that. I also think that why my body is breaking down. I have done 10 Ironman races in the past 5 years and that doesn’t even include all the training I have done.

In general, you tend to work a program until it doesn’t, then you have to make a change. That is the power of having an attentive coach. I have always been low maintenance, I don’t ask for a lot from people who are helping me, but I will now for a while. I want to look into how I respond to different things and what changes I need to make and trust some new processes.

Leadville

I’ve always wanted to the Leadville 100 MTB race. I’d wondered if the race would suit my skill set. It’s a long course, it includes a lot of sustained climbs and it isn’t very technical relative to other MTB races. These factors would play to my strengths and to the type of training I usually do.

An opportunity to do Leadville presented itself. I was invited to enter this past weekend’s event with a several clients and friends. I jumped at the chance to go! But I wouldn’t be racing at Leadville; I wouldn’t even being riding my own ride. Instead, I was hired to help these five friends through the grueling course.

My instructions for the day were to keep all five of them together and feeling relatively good until the base of Power Line, where they would walk their bikes up or ride at their own pace. Upon the return, I would get them back to Powerline, where each would descend at his own pace. Due to the variability in their skill sets, both athletically and technically, everyone would take the last 15 miles (mainly downhill) at his own pace and we would all regroup at the finish line.

This event was a first for me in more ways than one. I had never before served such a diverse group of athletes and on a course where I was unsure of my own abilities. I understood the demands of the Leadville course; I have coached athletes through great Leadville finishes in the past. While I was confident I knew what had to be done, I personally had never really mountain biked longer than 50 miles in my life – and those rides were all on bike paths.

As it turned out, I could have ridden much harder at Leadville had I been on my own. But I wasn’t there to race. Instead, I was there to help five guys get through most of the course and, according their wish, to get through as much of the course together. This was a difficult task, given the diversity in the group. Most of the guys had “coached themselves” and it showed in how quickly they fatigued. Even the one guy in the group that I usually coach, a small business owner who just didn’t have the time this year to put in the preparation, was struggling.

The struggle up Columbine was real for them. While most people walk the incline, with my Achilles injury, walking was gong to be an issue for me. So, I asked the guys if it would be okay for me to ride up and then meet them at the aid station on the descent. With their approval, I took off. For the first time in that day, I was working REALLY hard, working at my level.

I must have passed 400 people in the two miles up Columbine, and I found myself riding up stuff that I would have believed was impossible to do – but I was doing it! I hit the turn-around at the top and was bombing down before I knew it. I had been descending almost seven minutes before I saw the guys still on their way up. Despite a crash, I still managed to put 35 minutes on them over a very short amount of course. That was a rush!

After they showed up to the aid station and refueled, I paced them on to the next aid station. It took them about 80 minutes to get there and they were pretty wrecked when they did. They were struggling big time. So, we came up with our next plan: I was to pace them to the bottom of Power Line climb, which they thought they would end up walking, and then my job would be done.

 

All the way to the bottom of Power Line, they were doing the math to see whether they could finish in the 12 hour “belt buckle” time limit. When we reached the bottom of Power Line, we were about 80 miles into the course, and at 8:27 of total ride time. It could be cutting it close for some, but from here on out, it would be every man for himself.

My job done, I took off like a shot out of a cannon! “On your left!” “Center line!” “Can I have the line please?!” I was shouting left and right as I rode as much of the climb as I could. I heard, “Rider coming! Rider Coming Through!” as spectators yelled at the participants walking their bikes to try to get them out of my way. It was so motivating to hear their cheers. Even though I felt like I was going to die, I dug deep into a level even I wasn’t sure I had and rode most of that climb.

I had to get off a few times as there was simply no way around the walkers, but I pushed the bike as fast as I could around them and got right back on. I was having a blast! Halfway up power line, I decided to catch the two guys in our group who had ridden ahead. Now I had my own race going!

At the top of the climb, when I thought I had about 15 miles left (In reality, I had 19, because the course is actually 104 miles!), I started to think of what I might accomplish How awesome would it be if I made the jump from the breaking-12-hours finisher group time to the breaking-10-hours group – and within only 20 miles of the finish! Game ON!

After Power Line, there is one more climb. I knew I was going to have to reach the top of that climb at 9:30 or under if I had any chance of breaking 10-hours. I hit the top in 9:34, so knew that breaking 10 hours was not going to happen, but I was okay with that. 10:15 became the new goal and I was just as excited!

It turns out that I did break 10:15 for 100 miles, but it turns out that the Leadville 100 MTB race actually covers 104 miles. I finished that in 10:21. It was so fun to FLY past all the people who had passed me so early on in the day. And I did end up catching our entire group; I caught the last guy just 2 miles from the finish.

Our whole group did fantastic. All five guys – six, if you include me – finished under the 12-hour “belt buckle” time limit. The two guys who went ahead finished in about 10:30 and 10:55, and the two guys I stuck with most of the day went 11:27. (Later, they told me that they couldn’t have finished without my help. Giving them food, letting them drink from my bottles and pacing them into the wind helped them to finish – and finish under 12 hours.) Then, our final guy ended up being the third to last official finisher. He did an awesome job getting in just seconds before the clock struck 12! Celebrating that victory was the highlight of our day.

Going into the race, the guys said that they just wanted to have fun. For them, sticking together for as much of the race as they could was integral in that. They insisted that they didn’t care about their finishing time, but were in it more for the experience, the views and eventually reaching the finish line. Sitting around breakfast the morning after the race, with everyone rehashing the day and their experiences, it became clear to me that each man had given his all out there. It was also clear just how much fun they had. Their mission was a success.

 

 

What is possible? My best races

Last weekend I had a chance to race Leadville 100 MTB race with clients. As I was hired to ride the crew I was with to the base of Power Line climb inbound, I was forced to go out at a very conservative pace for the first 80 miles to include even waiting at an aide station for 40 min while the crew regrouped after the Columbine descent.

At 8:27 into the race I was free to ride the last 25 miles on my own. I was RIPPING past people. My first instinct was can I still break 10 hours which would be tough considering I was pacing a group of 4 to just break 12 hours until so late in the game.

I was FLYING past people. I didn’t break 10 hours in part because I started to go too late, and I didn’t realize it was actually 104 miles. I finished in 10:21 but more importantly I finished very strong and it left me wondering what actually IS possible?

In contrast I think of races I have started too fast and instead have finished thinking WHY am I doing this at all? I have paced friends for the first part of marathons, and have had the same result. The first break through I have had at an Ironman was in Kona, and it was because I started very conservatively and built a head a steam throughout the day.

My first marathon I ever ran was a day before decision and while I had been training to run and do triathlons, I had not been doing ANY marathon training. I made the choice the night before I would just go easy and see how far I could go before I had to walk. I ran 3:30 on a tough Kansas City course, and am happy to report I didn’t walk one time! I tried to “PR” the following month at Dallas White Rock Marathon and blew up impressively.

Now, none of these event are any of my standing “PR” races except Leadville I guess as it was my only attempt. However, ALL of these experiences had left me wondering “WHAT WAS POSSIBLE?” They were some of my best race experiences. They left me excited to take on the next challenge.
Science will tell you most if not all PR’s over a sprint are set with a negative or even split. You have to decide how you want to race though. Speaking with Pros such as Crowie about how he ran Alii Dr. worked more on the mental impact it had on competitors vs. his ability to run the fasted overall split he could.

My point is this. Take inventory of your goals, and what you want your experience to be. No coach can answer that for you, in fact very good ones will not even try. That’s for you to decide and commit to. I will say though, it’s worth noting how each approach can possibly leave you feeling.  I’m pretty excited to go back to Leadville someday and have a legit crack at it. I suspect there is a perfect balance in the two for everyone.
 

My first Ironman breakthrough

I was thinking about this on the trip I was just on while I was running on the treadmill on a cruise ship. I was thinking about this because I was thinking about all the times I had sacrificed and done work in hotels, or on vacations, cruise ships, etc. this time I was running staring at a treadmill. No music, no TV and when you are staring out the ocean it’s pretty boring. I didn’t have an I pod so I was just left with my thoughts.

I had so many years when I had experienced such subpar performances for my long course racing and despite trying so many things I could never get the results I felt I had always sacrificed for. It was so frustrating. I knew in my heart though that I had another level in me I could achieve. I would have been totally content if my potential was where I was, but I always was left with a feeling of being robbed on race day.

I really don’t really keep trophies or medals. I have very few. I had a chance to go to Hawaii Ironman though on a sponsorship entry someone had gifted me and I was ready and excited as always. I remember sitting at the pre-race ceremony and they were doing all the typical build up, etc. They went into a long explanation of the first Ironman trophy that was ever given and it was literally a few pieces of metal that someone had constructed and was to signify an “Ironman”. I of course had known about this being the big tri “Geek” but it was cool to hear about it again on the island. What I wasn’t prepared for was that if you finished the race that year – YOU GOT ONE! I remember sitting there thinking to myself no matter what, I was going to go home with the trophy.

I bring this up because I wanted to explain to people that this in large part was the changing of A LOT of my race results. Here is why:

All my bad races seemed to come down to bad G.I. Issues. I was never really able to simulate this in training because it would seem to really happen much after the 7 hour mark in racing. Once I would start to throw up it was a massive downward spiral. I have since figure out that problem with the help of a lot of people and combining a lot of different nutritionists and techniques which I can discuss my experiences with this later.

I didn’t have time to figure that out 1-2 days out from Kona but what I did have the ability to do was make the choice that no matter what I was going to do that day I would remain in control of my race. This meant I would plan to do it easier then I had ever done before. I told myself if I always felt good, there should never be any issues.

I hadn’t qualified to be there so I didn’t feel any pressure to perform and I wasn’t sure, just like I am never sure even now on my 9^th trip that I would ever get the chance to be there again, so I wanted to enjoy the day. I told myself (I had no power meter or even HR that day) that if I even had to ask myself if I was going too hard, I would back off. My friend who had got me into the race was there volunteering and said he would be at the finish line until 11:00 (on the race clock) and he hoped to see me then. I told him that would be nice but I had never been baster then 11:50 and I wasn’t going to put the pressure on myself to break the 11 hour mark because that would obviously be counterproductive to the plan.

We started the swim. I stayed back from the front line and slowly got into my own tempo. I made it a point to stay relaxed and smooth. It was pretty uneventful and actually looking back I think I swam right at 1:00 which really isn’t that darn bad. I even came out of the water with triathlon legend Julie Moss, so that was pretty cool.

We got to the bike and I looked forward to one thing, I wanted to see all the professionals coming back from Hawi that I would always have to wait until magazines or NBC coverage would show me something months later. Today, I was going to get to see the race (at least in part) live and I was as much a fan that day as a participant.

I got off my bike 3 times to stretch and rub my feet. I often had foot issues so I decided since I was going to go as easy as Ai felt I needed to, I would take an extra few min throughout the bike and get off take my feet out o the shoes and give them a quick stretch. I rode a road bike with bar extensions, and while it may seem like blasphemy now, no aero helmet. J

I ended up riding 5:45 give or take which again, really isn’t a bad split at all. I felt like I was in a college crash course on how to effectively pace an ironman and I was acing the class. It became fun to see how easy I could go and still hit times I had previously worked so hard to hit. I remember riding back into town the last few miles, I saw people I knew and the only thing I wanted to let them know is I DID’NT FEEL BAD! To me that was more important than feeling good because in previous racing the wheels had already shown signs of falling off, not today. Today I was about to be 26.2 miles away from the first trophy I ever REALLY wanted.

I started the run and was grinning ear to ear. I had just tried to do IM Wisconsin a short 5-6 weeks prior and once again despite trying new stuff, was forced to drop out again from stomach issues. Today seemed like if all went well, I could avoid said issues. I remember I had made a choice to run with a fuel belt so I could carry my version of salt tabs in my drink solution. I had done testing at the Gatorade labs and they had given me “gatorlytes” which at the time were not available to the public and I was trying to use them to add about 1000mg of sodium every 60-90 min to my nutrition. To this point they had made me feel pretty bloated, but all in all I felt pretty good so made the decision to take the belt with me on the run.

Learning from the swim and the bike I quickly made a bet with myself. I wanted to see if I could instead of survive the run, would I actually be able to pull off a negative split??? It didn’t have to be an impressive one, just a negative split. I of course bet on myself and hedged the bet with telling myself to go out as easy as I could to help ensure the goal. I think I went through the half way point in about 2 hours. While it wasn’t the running I had always hoped I would be doing, I was in fact still running and feeling good. The bloat feeling had become quite annoying so I had decided to stop drinking so much sodium which I think actually helped me a lot. At half way I started to pick it up and actually found a good rhythm. I ran all the way to mile 15-16 where you turn into the energy lab and I thought to myself, that as I was going so well at this point I should take in a bunch of the sodium that I had been carrying. So I did and about 30 second later puked it up all over myself!

I remember feeling like I had done it to myself and that if I hadn’t just drank that I would probably had been fine. Considering it was now all over my shoes, I decide, let’s not do that again and I just started to run. I ran, I walked aid stations, always doing the math in my head if I was going to be able to negative split. I remember vividly telling myself that if I could only just keep running miles I had so often used as warm up and cool downs I would actually be able to pull it off.

Once I was within a mile of the finish I knew I had it! The finish line was awesome and I ran a sub 4 hour marathon, yes negative split, for the first time in my life and Was able to see my friend as I had finished in like 10:56! It was almost an hour PR! To make it better, I got that damn trophy and to this day it remains one of my only triathlon or any sport recognitions I keep. Ironically, It is one that everyone got that day. I have won awards that I guess seem harder to achieve but to me, that was the hardest. Nobody would understand the years of hard work and problem solving I had to do in order to get that damn piece of metal on a block of wood, but I did, and I still do.

The reason I bring this up is because I think everyone needs to find the thing that is going to motivate them to take a leap of faith and try something new. While it seems simplistic to look back on and read now it was a lot of pressure to decide I wasn’t going to keep up with my friends, or try to do something crazy that I had never done before time wise, or take any outside pressure in from external influences and trust my own internal voice which told me to: relax, stay controlled, slow down and you’ll actually go faster.

I have since struggled to break 10 hours since then, then finally broke through to low 9:00’s several times and have had other obstacles and struggles come up that I have had to work to overcome. I wouldn’t have been able to do those however if I had never gotten this particular trophy and earned it with reasoning behind it I rarely express to anyone.

I love trying to help athletes now figure out what leaps they can take to get the most out of their next evolution of training. If you had to think of something you could try, what types of things could we help you with?

Racine 70.3 Swim thoughts

When I have raced Racine 70.3 I have found a few things to look for that may help you. In general it is a pretty straight forward course. It’s labeled a “flat” race, but that’s not entirely accurate it relatively is, however the wind can play a big role as can the water temp and the weather. I have raced there in 60’s and rain as well at 105 degrees and brutally hot, which for me that day resulted in a DNF. I learned a lot that day though.

I thought I would put down some of my race tips in our Athlete Membership Program for athletes to use.

Pre swim- you have to be prepared to walk a mile down to the start of the race in the sand. There is a sidewalk up on the road or even the beach walk path I would recommend using as it’s a more stable surface, and a lot less crowded for a while. So you can get their quicker and save yourself some time. Its also a good thing to wear some disposable shoes for the walk you can throw out in a trash bin when you get there.

If the water temp is very cold wait till the last few min to get warmed up. Otherwise you’ll be standing around cold waiting for your wave to start. If the water is very cold, I have raced there with the water temps in the very low 50’s I would notice that it was very hard to hold my face and head in the water for the first fee min of the event. This process is going to really slow you down if you haven’t figured out a way to deal with this. Here are my suggestions on how to deal with very cold water.

-        You can wear the neopreame head cap if you want. That isn’t a big deal. If the water is a bit warmer it’s not like you’ll hate having it on. Just make sure you are OK with the strap under your neck. If not, you’ll be in cold water and have the new sensation of the neck strap.

-        I would really encourage you to NOT wear the booties. I really think it will slow you down. Take some old running shoes to the pool and try to swim with em on. It’s a terrible feeling.

-        I try to warm up on dryland. Gt blood going to the muscles without getting cold.

-        You’re face, hands and feet WILL ADJUST after about 5 min. then they will just go numb. Try to get that feeling over with 2-3 waves in front of yours. So I usually go knee deep and bend down and just put my hands face and feet in and try to keep the rest of my wetsuit dry. That keeps me feeling warm but also allows me to feet my bare skin used to the cold water.

-        Once the race starts line up wide if you are unsure of where you stack up. If you line up deeper into the wave you may find people reluctant to start swimming who haven’t done a proper warm up as you have.

-        Once you get in the water keep our head down, control your breathing and stay under control.

Swim – the swim course is pretty strait forward but you want to watch the previous waves to see how far they can run out. That can vary greatly. You may not be able to feel your feet great so watch your step.

The first turn buoy comes about 150-200 meters out so it can still be quite thick through the turn so start to set up your turn before you get to the buoy. Once around I usually like to head back to shore slightly and swim just inside the buoys as it tends to be a lot less congested. Just be aware the swimmers you do run into there will usually be a lot less experienced.

I site off four things on this course. Most of them are the same as every course but I look first for the people in front of me, then for the buoys. If I cannot see them very quick, there has traditionally been a tower that lines up nicely with the last turn buoy. The last things I can use on some years are the sand patterns. The waves leave ripples in the sand and I try to maintain the same angle on those ripples once I know I going straight. That will at least let me skip a few breath cycles which can help your overall swim time.

When swimming in I look for the archway. You can usually catch a few waves coming in which is nice but in preparation for the long run with some of my last strokes Ill reach towards my neck and pull down on it allowing water to come into my suit which lets the suit slip off much easier. The run is so long in the last foot of water I will usually take my suit off there and run with it.

Swim Tips

As we get closer to race season most of us will have to venture from the pool to the open water. For a lot of people this can be scary, intimidating, confusing, and a source of worrying about underperformance based on pool times, as well as other things. In racing now for over 20 year I feel I have found a few things that have helped me, as well as the athletes I work with, transition to the open water.

Getting ready in the pool for the open water:

Sets- This is the first place I like to address the open water, often times before my athletes even know we are working on this skill. Before we even get into the specifics of sets however let’s take an honest inventory of how many people themselves, or see others setting PR’s during the warm up session? I see this so often. We swim in a pool that has lane designations based on ability. While I warm up with athletes I have swam with for years I often notice in lanes next to mine or in my lane with swimmers trying to make the leap to our lane they warm up faster than my race pace! They of course deny it but if you notice that half way through a set you start the move towards the back of the lane order, maybe consider how well you warm up. Learning to keep those emotions in check is critical practice for higher stress environments such as race day.

I find a lot of athletes like to do sets that are primarily focused on the classic 10 x 100 (n 10 sec rest). While this has value and surely can be used for a marker set, it is not in my opinion a good race prep set (depending on interval speed). I would suggest on most sets that are working on sustained speed and race effort keeping your rest interval to 5% or less of the total work is a good practice. So for a 1:45 T pace interval, you should be leaving on the 1:50, no slower. While the math isn’t perfect I would say up to 2:00 5 seconds is a good sustained interval send off.

I also like to lean more towards longer sets. So I think 4 x 300 is a better muscular endurance (ME) set then 12 x 100 on 5 sec. using close to the math above I would use the 10 sec interval here. I think for Olympic up to Half Iron this an example of a good base set. Feel free to modify these 300s too. I like to do variations especially when in a pool that doesn’t have a clock, or I am not motivated where I do 75 hard, 75 aerobic, 50,50, 25, 25. I don’t worry so much about pace and time, just the feel of changing the pace which is also critical for open water. You will need to change pace often to catch a draft, or lose someone, or just have a higher HR while getting bumped around turn buoys.

Another great thing to do is use tools. Things like paddles only for some of these so long as you don’t have shoulder issues will help build strength for rougher open water. You can progress to bands around feet, fly sets, and all types of fun stuff. We have several swim workouts in our AMP (Athlete Membership Program listed here)

Drills – Drills can be very helpful in the pool for getting ready to race open water.

Head up swimming will help build shoulder strength. It will also help you learn to refine and hold good body position. This has been called head up swimming, or Tarzan swimming. I like to also have athletes see what happens to their times when they take an average of 4 sights per length. Remember this for later in the article.

Strokes – While most triathletes fight the need to do anything other than freestyle I think it is a good idea to learn at least 1, if not 2 other strokes. Back stroke is valuable because it offers you a chance to work muscles that are different then freestyle, but also forces you to work on body position as well and remain balanced in the water. Fly is awesome for building strength and while it is short axis swimming (bend at the waist) the arm movement is very similar to freestyle. The only difference is that both arms are involved in each stroke so they get half the rest. This is one of the reasons it can be so effective for building open water fitness and has the added benefit of getting your run in and outs a bit smoother.

Once in the open water there are several things you can do help you capitalize on the work you have done in the pool

Landmarks- this is the first and easiest thing to do. Note landmarks if and when possible from all the directions you can while swimming. Make sure they are as tall as possible. A spot on a tree line, or a hotel, even a flagpole works well. You would think the buoys and the finish line arch would serve as good markers but they don’t until you are only a few hundred meters out. On course that I swim along the shoreline I have often paid attention to the distance I seem to be from shore and use that as a reference point. Just make sure it isn’t the sun, a boat, or any other type of moving object. Also if you are going to be swimming on sunny days, consider this during goggle selection.

Sighting – while sighting the landmarks you must trust your swimming, even if it is in the wrong direction. Remember the sets we swam in the pool with the heads up drill? Well if you sight all the time that is what your open water times will look like! I like to count between 10 (when I am the least sure, and 30 strokes, when I am the most sure or have feet to follow). If I look and I notice I have gone off course let’s say to the right, then I just try to adjust on race day and make myself swim off to the left (or at least feel like I am). If you really are confused as to which direction you are going then do a few breast strokes (good thing you used other strokes in the pool). As well, you don’t have to always see the landmarks, just the swimmers in front of you. Just like Days of Thunder “steer right at em Cole”

Breathing while navigating can be a bit of a tricky thing to get the hang of but my main suggestion would be to practice incorporating the breath and sight forward in unison. You’ll have to learn to trust that you do not have to lift your head as high which will only take energy and compromise optimal body position. Personally I lift my eyes forward just high enough to see where I am going. I don’t need to read the city in which the swim buoy was made printed on it, just a general sense of the direction everyone is going then immediately turn my head to the side to finish the normal breath cycle. I think it is better to do 2-3 sights in a row if you missed a sight then to sight longer one time. Try to maintain body position.

Positioning can be the last tricky situation to deal with. A lot of people will tell you to seat yourself in an aggressive position and hang on for dear life. If you think about the starting line as an X’Y axis 0,0 would be the fasted spot. As you move further out, away from the origin on the “X” you get theoretically to slower ranks as well as if you move back deeper down the “Y” axis. I think it is good to be as aggressive as you can be that you can still maintain calm and order. If you are freaking out and over extending yourself from the beginning, you will miss the draft and you will swim slower than if you had just stayed smooth and in your rhythm.

So much of open water swimming and execution is between the ears. This is a great topic to talk to one of our coaches about which is why we have included this service in the AMP membership. Contact us today to set up your consultation.

Head Games

We did St. Anthony’s triathlon last weekend and it was fun to go do as it was one for the first major triathlons I ever did back in the 90’s. In fact, it was the first triathlon I ever took a plan e to lane to go do. So to get the chance to get that race in was a lot of fun.

The only trouble with the racing part of the trip were my achillies. I have haglunds deformity on both heels and some calcium in both tendons. I have been told that they will require surgery, and the might. I have also been told to try to put off the surgery as long as possible. All I know is when I have been running lately I have been in a lot of pain. I am not sure if it is in my head more than before because I have been researching or if they are legitimately worse.

One of the things that I believe you need to do with the any situation with this is to get a clear path in your head of what you want to do. I know that when I have things like this, or injuries, or whatever, I need to get resolution through a plan.

For the race my plan was to run in trainer shoes. After doing a lot of research I need to find a shoe with a high heel toe drop and something without too much cushion because instability will add to the stress of the tendon. That’s going to be a little bit of an issue because I have a separate issue with my fore foot which will require a bit more cushion. Of course this couldn’t be easy. J

So armed with my training shoes, which I even took time to tie in transition I came off the bike in what I thought was first in my age group. When I started to run my legs were feeling worse then I feel in a 70.3! I’m sure it was a combination of things such as I didn’t really focus on the race and was trying to vacation while there. It was very hot and humid. Lower 90’s which is a lot different than Chicago. I knew my shoes were 2x heavier than the shoes I race in normally. To make matters worse I looked down at my Garmin hoping to see between 6-6:15 and saw a lot of 7 min miles and slower! OMG, I was dying and the feedback I was getting from everything was making it worse.

Trying not to panic I told myself that to think about the basics: quick feet, form, positive thoughts, not over thinking, not concentrating on the negatives. I hit the first mile in 6:05, WHEW! That helped but the garmin was still off the entire race. I had to mentally fight all the feedback I was getting the entire race. I held it together to run a 40 min 10k which isn’t lighting the world on fire but good enough to won the AG by 9 min, and 5^th overall.

My point in telling you this is not to say that I did well, but that I did well DESPITE dealing with all the negative opportunities. We are all going to have days ahead us that will present opportunities to take negative mental paths which I promise you will lead to worse results. It’s HARD to not fall into that trap.  Try to find mental practices to fall back on.

In my experience, I need to focus more on process then results. It doesn’t do me any good in those times to visualize having won the race. That’s clearly not what is happening then. What I do try to practice is paying attention to physical cues in training when everything is feeling good and then telling myself I can do these things even when things are going badly. For example, if your cadence is up while having a good run, I try to tell myself that even if my legs are too tired to push hard, I can still turn them over quickly. Or relax shoulders, or forward lean. All these things are metal tools you can use to help you in tough situations.

More than likely you’re not going to have the day you had hoped, but if you hold it together, you can avoid have a bad day, and actually do a lot better then you think.

Self-Evaluation

I think one of the aspects I do well is self-evaluation. I may have had different perspectives on this as I have moved through life, but the willingness to look inside yourself with honesty and integrity I think is an important characteristic to success. That doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers, but you need to at least know when you don’t, and possess the willingness to seek out and listen to criticism.

It infiltrates so many aspects of what we do. Such as:

-        The person who is just “big boned” but unwilling to look seriously at their snacking habits

-        The unwillingness to recognize you don’t like one sport, so just don’t train it

-        The ability to recognize when you’re hurt and when it is time to maybe chill for a bit

-        When you have done all the right things in training, and then not executing correctly on race day

-        The ability to select races that truly reflect your goals for the season (I’m just going to do an IM for fun)

-        Your ability to really train at intensity zones you should on the days you need to

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I have used this tool in so many ways. I used to be told long course racing was just not my thing. I knew inside me though this was not the case. I knew at a minimum I had not reached my potential yet. I figured out pacing, nutrition, training zones, race strategies, recovery, etc. All things I had to be willing to take a long look at in order to go from several DNFs to several sub 9:30 IM finishes to include 9:16 at Kona.

I find myself in the same position every year and my goal from this post is to tell you some of the things I run through every year on my own to see what I believe I need to change. These are things that even when I am coached, I need to figure out internally and then use a coach at times for objective feedback to maybe help me game plan a strategy to fix the issue.    

Here is my latest example of having to do this. This year I know I am dealing with a heel issue. I know the time is upon me that I need to figure out at least what is going on, and how to address it. I set up an appointment to see a respected ortho and he helped me diagnose what the issue is. It may require surgery on both heels, but at least now I know and I can come up with ways to try to get past this.

I know that I need to stay on top of my training zones. I went to see Gina Pongetti and her crew this year and had a complete metabolic profile done. What I learned was very informative. I need to be training harder than I have been training. The years of training at my old zones have made me very efficient at those zones so in order to take another step forward I need to drastically change some slower intensities.

Structurally I need to address why my heels are in the shape they are in. Could I have avoided it, or should I address a root cause. I believe through the help of Dr. Turner I was able to identify a huge deficiency in glute activation. My hip flexors are actually currently stronger by a significant amount from my glutes and hamstrings which is completely backwards from how it should be. If I am not using my glutes then my calves are having to carry the burden of my running which is going to keep them very tight. Even if I had surgery I would have the problem come back unless I address this cause.

Nutritionally this year while I am not fat, I have a lot of trouble shaving the last 5-10 lbs. that I like to drop for actual race weight. I am hiring Bob Seebohar but actually now that Tanya is certified through him, she will be changing my nutritional profile based on the read outs of my metabolic tests. This will be another article all onto itself. Again though if I am honest I know I could clean up several aspects of what I eat to get the low hanging fruit cleaned up. I speak to friends about this though and the key is finding the life balance you want to achieve though. There is no right or wrong, it just requires honestly and awareness to say this is what I want, and this is what I can expect from what I am putting into it.