it's okay to say no

No, I'm not talking about saying no to drugs or sex. I'm talking about saying no to racing and or training when your body is telling you not to. This is perhaps the hardest skill, especially for age group triathletes, to master. Far to often amateur endurance athletes attempt to train through injuries to the point where they may end their season prematurely. In addition, many self coached athletes don't allow themselves ample recovery time between intense or long efforts. This can lead to injury also.

Our human physiology is like a rubber band, somewhat. We can only stretch and push ourselves so far before something snaps. The idea behind proper training is to stretch ourselves to just before that point, with out going over, and then let ourselves recover so that we addapt to the new limit that we just set. If we go to far though, beyond our previously established limits to quickly, then we are setting ourselves up for a lot of time in the ice bath nursing injuries.

There's a phrase floating around out there that I bleive is getting a lot of people in trouble. You've probaby heard it - HTFU, wich stands for: Harden The F#$* Up. You know, suck it up, tough it out, don't be such a wussy! This is all fine and well, unti you end up with your leg propped up on an ice bag, and aren't able to train for weeks or even months.

I'm a firm beleiver that there is a time and a place for HTFU, and for the most part that's pretty much racing. Training needs to be more calculated than just gritting your teeth and pushing as hard as you can every day. Our bodies adapt better to slow and incremental additon of resistance.

This past week I was tested. I developed an inflamed achilles tendon the week before I was supposed to run the Thrills in the Hills half marathon at Fort Yargo State Park. I could have run and HTFU'ed my way through the entire thing. Chances are I would have been out for 2-3 weeks of training trying to rehab my achilles afterwards. Instead I took the hardest pill there is to swallow and opted not to race in an event I had signed up for. It was a bitter pill to swallow but I knew it was the right thing to do. Instead I gave the race entry to my friend Patrick, and I spent the day spectating (and icing my achilles) as Naomi and him ran. I really didn't feel 100% good about the decision until the day after the race. After only a day of rest and rehab, my achilles was already feeling better. When this is all said and done I will probably only miss 2-3 days of training, as opposed to the 2-3 weeks I may have missed had I run a hard trail half.

So the lesson is learned. Always listen to your body and don't be affraid to rest it when it's telling you. I will look back on this season and see the decision I made not to race as probaby a pivotal point in my year of racing. Although I missed a few workouts, this was probably my smartest and most productive week of training yet.

now my front hurts...

Whiny warning: 99.9% of the time I'm a pretty tough triathlete, but after 3 months of grinding it out in the name of swim, bike, and run - I need to whine!

Every once in a while I'll see something that really sum's up how I'm feeling. Video below:



The past 4 or 5 days have included some just really tough training. On the surface the workouts that my coach planned didn't seem that lengthily or taxing, but I think it was the combination of them that really got me. Up until now this season I've pretty much been able to recover pretty well between one workout to the next. Like I said, up until now.

It all started with the Tundra TT this past Saturday. Then Monday a long run/bike/run brick at aerobic threshold pace. Then I followed that up with a 62 mile ride in gusty conditions on Tuesday. My legs now have this deep tissue tiredness to them, an almost dead feeling. The kind of tired you can feel just standing there. Luckily my coach has the foresight to know that these workouts were going to be a tough combination, so the 3 days following that combination are pretty easy days. Saturday I'm running a trail half marathon - it will be tough because I'm sure I will still have some level of fatigue, but It will make a great training run non the less.

Tundra Time Trial - Race Report

This was my 4th year in a row racing in the Tundra TT. It was sunny and 60′s out by the time my start time rolled around, I could not have asked for better conditions. I always look forward to this race to see how my early season fitness stacks up against other area triathletes and also to see how I fair against a pure cyclist.

I brought along my dad so he could enjoy the Silver Comet and check out the race. It was nice to have someone there to help out carry things, hold my bike while I pee, and not to mention pick up the lunch tab after :) Thanks dad!

After a lengthy warm up on the trainer I was ready to go. I got my HR up a towards LT a few times during warm up, and I think that was the first time I had hit that kind of intensity on the bike this season. I knew this was going to be painful with out any kind of TT work or intervals on the bike coming in, but my fitness has really felt great lately so I was pretty optimistic that I could improve my time from last year.

I built into the first 3 or 4 minutes, then I hit the gas to see how deep into the pain cave I could get. It didn’t take long before my lungs were burning like crazy from the cool air and my legs were on fire. I hit the turn around in just over 14 flat and had visions of breaking 28 minutes this year. It always get’s me pumped up when I know I have a chance to hit a PR, so I turned for home and let it rip again. The 2nd half of this race was an absolute suffer fest but I just kept pressing and holding HR right around LT. I hit the line in 28:14, about 45 seconds faster than last year. This was my first time over a 25mph avg for a significant length of time, so that is encouraging – especially knowing that I have yet to add in any kind of speed work on the bike. I took home the W in the Cat V race that was a very competitive field of about 100, many of which are triathletes. My previous 3 years I was 14th, 4th, and 3rd – so it felt good to be moving in the right direction once again.

the psyche of endurance

I often find myself wondering what is the key to developing oneself into a fast endurance athlete. What really gives one person an advantage of the other? Is it physiology that gives one person the edge over the other? I do think that this is a big part of it. For instance one person may be born with a naturually larger capacity to process oxygen into the blood stream, and therefor to their muscles to delay the onset of lactate build up.

Then on the other hand, maybe we are not that physiologically different at all. Perhaps the advantage that one athlete has over another is more psychological than anything. There are plenty of triathletes out there that share my same build, 6'0" and 165 pounds. Our body fat percentage, BMI, muscle mass, and lung capacity may very well all be the same. What I find most intriguing is the thing that separates one endurance athlete from another may very well be, in simple terms, the way we are wired.

To put this idea in perspective, you can have two Ford Mustangs of identical year and build. You can race them down the track and they would probably tie or come close to it. Both of these Mustangs engines are controlled by a computer chip. Next consider if one of these had an upgraded chip, allowing it to optimize it's timing and fuel intake - therefor creating more horsepower. In the athlete what it if is the same idea, with the brain being the "chip". While the naturally gifted athlete may have a better "chip" that allows there body to perform better and to push themselves further, is it possible to upgrade your "chip" by training it?

Over a long period of time it is scientifically proven that our bodies can adapt physiologically as we gradually increase training load, intensity, etc. over time. Looking back on my time as a swimmer, runner, rower, and triathlete, I believe that over a period of time your "chip" matures and learns how to operate your physiological gifts closer and closer to their maximum capacity. Those athletes who excel early and eventually to the highest level are gifted in that their "chip" started at a higher level. I can only imagine if I had the mental capacity to push myself that I have now back in my high school swimming days. There's a chance my swimming career would have ended much differently.

On the other hand, this is the beauty of endurance sports. Physiologically men and women seem to be hitting their peak well into their 30's. Combine this with a highly developed mental capacity that has upgraded over time, it's no surprise that more and more of your top endurance athletes are pushing 40. This certainly drives me and many other triathletes, that at 28, I'm not even close to my prime in the sport of triathlon. It also helps that this years Ironman World Champ, Chris McCormack, was only 37 years old. Here's to the fountain of youth....triathlon and endurance sports!

Tybee Island Half Marathon - Race Report

I was looking forward to a fast and flat course down on Tybee Island, what I got was a battle with the elements.

I woke up to a drizzly and balmy morning with temps in the 50′s. I went through my warm up routine and toed the start toward the front with the runners and a few other triathletes. A few of the skinny runner dudes were shivering and convulsing due to the “cold”. Me and the other triathletes we’re quite warm and comfortable.

With in 5 minutes of the start it began to downpour. So off we went into the torrential rain. The water doesn’t drain very well when your at sea level, so the course was flooded with many deep puddles. The first few miles I had the wind at my back, then we would make a turn and I would get blasted in the face with a big gust. Between the wind and charging though the puddles my HR was all over the place, but I was feeling strong and for the most part the conditions weren’t getting to me mentally.

About mile 7 I had a guy right on my heels as we ran down the main drag that runs through the island into a strong wind. I moved a bit left and so did he, I moved right and so did he. He clipped the back of my shoe once and I had enough! I’m certainly not giving anyone a free ride out of the wind on this day. I didn’t have the breath to say anything so I just decided it was a sign to make my move and shift it to another gear. It took about a half mile but I finally dropped him and held steady 5-7 beats under my LT for the next 3 miles and it felt oddly comfortable.

I hit 3 miles to go and had 4 guys strung out 400m ahead of me. I let it rip and ran the rest at LT, passing all of them by the end. This was probably the hardest I’ve ever pushed myself at the end of a race, but for some reason I was just really able to embrace it this time. The course measured .15 miles long according to Garmin and I confirmed it when I mapped it out online. My time according to when I hit 13.1 on the Garmin was a PR by 15 seconds. More importantly I was happy with the way I handled the conditions and attacked with no fear at the end. Can’t wait to stick a swim and bike in front of an finish like that!

lost in the miles

It's been nearly 2 months since I last wrote in the blog, so I figured I would give a good recap on how things have been going.

My training for this season began on November 29th, and since then I've trained around 80 hours between swimming, biking, running, and strength training. I've biked 610 miles, run 200 miles, and swam 23.5 miles. On top of that I have put in a solid 14 strength workouts. December was a little tough as I got back into a training rhythm, but once I hit January I seemed to find my stride. Most importantly, I do not feel tired at all. Thanks to my coach, I am doing the right type of workouts at the right time and not over doing it to early in the year. My fitness feels about as good as it's ever been....and it's only the end of January! That's pretty exciting stuff and I'm just chomping at the bit to get to race in some triathlons and duathlons.

I have been focusing a lot on my running and laying off the cycling and swimming a little. I did a few 5k's back in December and they were rough! The 5k distance is just a hard and painful distance to race. No time to relax and get into a rhythm, just all out and legs full of lactate. I ran about 19:30ish in both of them - not bad for no 5k specific prep and only a few weeks into the training year. My next test would be the Hogpen Hill Climb, but it was rescheduled for the 29th due to the winter storm we had. So I signed up for a half marathon in Warner Robins. Much to my surprise I ran a PR, 1:25:26, taking nearly a minute off my previous best. Details here:
Team Sport Factory - Museum of Aviation Half Marathon

Next up is the Tybee Half Marathon on the February 5th. This course is flat and fast so I'm hoping to bust a big PR at this one. After that I'll have my first test on the bike on February 19th at the Tundra Time Trial, out in Hiram GA at the Silver Comet Trail.

I also have been able to fit in two backpacking trips that served as some great cross training, and also helped to not make the daily grind of being a triathlete not so monotonous. To me this is one of the greatest advantages of being coached. If there's something I want to go do my coach can plan around it and make sure I still get the work done. Being self coached I usually would panic and try to do to much before and after to try and make up for lost time. It took me a while fully feel comfortable letting someone else take the reigns, but now that I am I think it's really going to pay off this year.

It's also been amazing being on the Sport Factory elite team. I've been taking advantage of the strength classes, grinds, and bike fittings that are afforded to me. A few years ago I would have given anything to be a part of a team like this and receive these kind of benefits, so I feel very fortunate and thankful for the opportunity and can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings for Team SF and myself! Such a great facility, coaches, and teammates!

back into the cold...or not.

Not long ago I was suffering through a brutal winter while training for Ironman. I recall a ride sometime in February when I got to the lake around 16 miles into a ride and stopped to pull my gloves off to eat and drink. I opened a package of shot blocks and put them in my mouth, they were near frozen solid and it felt like chewing on a chunk of rubber. I got them chewed up and reached down for a swig of water, turned the bottle up and....nothing. The bottle was frozen solid! It had to have been under 30 degrees and blowing wind terribly.

Today I took off for a short ride in calm winds and 45 degrees. A few layers and some gloves- I was fairly comfortable. I know there will be days when I will be taken out of my comfort zone, but I also know that after last winter I can handle just about anything. Today was just the beginning of even starting to approach what I consider unsavory temperatures for outdoor training, but with any luck I won't have to endure as many brutal days as I did last year.

This year though, I have a secret weapon. I have the option to hit up a session at The Sport Factory called "The Grind". It's essentially an indoor torture fest on bikes that leads to well, nowhere. It strangely parallels my time with the UGA Rowing team where I spent countless hours on the erg (rowing machine). At "The Grind" a large number of semi-psychotic triathletes such as myself subject themselves to up to 2 hours of pedal mashing on a trainer. I attended my first Grind this past Tuesday night and I was not disappointed....there's nothing quite like doing body squats after working up a decent amount of lactate in your legs. Based on the video below though from a previous grind, I suspect it get's much tougher than what I experienced this week. So here's to a warmer winter and The Grind to get me through those days when frozen water bottles just don't seem like something I want to deal with.