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.

get off the couch.....

And start training again. That's what I did this week, after a month long hiatus from any real physical activity. In the past 10 days I've gotten together with my coach, Jen Henry of The Sport Factory, and planned out one heck of an exciting tri season.

Monday was my first day and coming off a cold and a month off, I'm definitely feeling a little lethargic out there. At the same time I feel better than I did towards the end of my off season. So what's on tap for this year? No full Ironman, that's for sure! I'll be focusing on a combination of the olympic distance and the half iron distance.

What excites me most about this year is having a coach from start to finish. Last year I blindly threw myself into Ironman training for nearly 5 months before I started working with Jen, and I paid for it dearly in the end. Looking back I did way to much to early, which may have helped me have a great day for Ironman - but left me with nothing left as far as training mojo after that. I felt lucky to have the results I did the last few months of the season. With that being said I'm looking forward to a more metered approach this year.

Here is my planned schedule for this year, the light gray races are the ones I'm still not sure about and depending on how I'm feeling I may or may not do them.

Dec 11^th Jingle Jog 5k Dunwoody, GA

Dec 18^th Virginia Highliands X-mas 5k Atlanta, GA

Jan 9^th Lakeview 10k Gainesville, GA

Feb 5^th Tybee Island Half Marathon Tybee Island, GA

Feb 19^th Tundra Time Trial Hiram, GA

March 27^th Powerman Alabama Duathlon (long course Duathlon Nationals) Birmingham, AL

April 17^th PT Solutions Cartersville Duathlon Cartersville, GA

April 30^th TryCharleston Half Charleston, SC

May 14^th Peachtree International Tri PTC, GA

June 12^th West Point Lake Lagrange, GA

July 10^th Chattanooga Waterfront Chattanooga, TN

July 24^th Tri the Mountains (Sprint) Blue Ridge, GA

August 13^th Mountain Lakes Tri (Sprint) Guntersville, AL

September 11^th 5150 Series race Gainesville, GA

September 25^th, 2011 Augusta 70.3 Augusta, GA

October 2^nd Lake Lanier Islands Triathlon (sprint) Buford, GA

October 16^th Hickery Knob Olympic Hickery Knob SP, SC

November 12^th, 2011 Beach2Battleship Half Wilmington, NC

Why I Train (the real reason)

I often ask myself when I'm exhausted from a hard workout, or in the middle of a hard workout, why I'm doing what I'm doing. During hard training and during hard workouts, the answer is usually something macho like "so I can kick everyone's ass at that race in a few weeks" or "I can get closer to my ultimate goal of a pro license".

It is in the off season though, that I realize the true reason for all the madness- I just feel better when I'm training. I feel better mentally, physically, and most importantly I'm more emotionally stable.

Training for a sport like triathlon has a list of benefits to long to list on this blog. The obvious benefits are a more healthy cardiovascular system. It helps me avoid things such as coronary artery disease - which if I were to lead a more sedentary lifestyle, I'd be at risk for. Vigorous exercise has been shown to improve and maintain brain function in adults. In other words if keep at it as I age, I have a better shot at being one of those old dudes you talk to and think "man he's pretty sharp for and old fart".

For me, the endorphins released from training is the greatest benefit. It acts as a natural pain reliever and anti-depressant in the body. This is somewhat counter intuitive in that one would expect to be sore and tired while training. While this is somewhat true I certainly sleep better and feel better when I get out of bed when I'm training. Right now since I've been taking it easy, I feel stiff and achy when I wake up. This means during training I'm probably more tired and able to reach REM (rapid eye movement) sleep easier and for a longer period of time. Training keeps my anxiety under control and allows me to truly relax.

I often have heard of those who have completed events such as Ironman and marathons talk of being addicted. It's not that these folks and myself like torturing ourselves, it's that we are addicted to how training for and competing in these events makes us feel. How often do you here of person who was serious marathoner or triathlete being over-weight? Not every often. How often do you see former football, baseball, basketball ect. ("popular sports") who are out of shape and over weight? Very often. This shows me that endurance sports are lifetime sports and create quite a unique addiction. Once you know what it feels like to train and compete in sport like longer distance triathlons - it's a hard habit to break. Triathlon is my drug - what is yours?

Mile 130 of Ironman Couer D'Alene - no words to describe how it feels.

TryCharleston Half Iron: new and affordable

I enjoy things that are new and affordable. I also like things that are a great value. Who doesn't?

I've been plotting and planning my racing schedule for 2011 and am pretty certain come April/May I want to get another half iron under my belt. The past two years I've gone down to Panama City Beach for the Gulf Coast Triathlon. This race has has treated me well, but the thought of going and doing the same course again for the 3rd year in a row is not as appealing as I'd like it to be. So what could be wrong with taking a year away from the redneck riviera?

I found out about a race that is going into it's 2nd year in existance. The TryCharleston half, which takes place in Charleston, SC on April 30th. Last year this race had around 400 entries so hopefully it will go up this year (they cap it at 600). It's about 3 hours closer than PCB, and the entry fee is about 70 bucks less...only $130, which really isn't to bad. I've never been to Charleston and a change in scenery would be nice. The course appears to be flat and fast, although all courses are described as flat and fast according to race directors.

So a change in scenery is feeling like the right thing to do this year - gotta keep it fresh and exciting! Other potential new races for me are looking like the Augusta 70.3 in September, possibly the Rev3 half iron in October, and the Beach2Battleship Half in November. Another plus is that I can drive to all these races and lodging should be relatively cheap.

So if your trying to figure out what races to do this year, try something new with me @ TryCharleston - and save some serous cash over WTC races also!