Triathlon Life: Arizona

NEW Gary Fisher Superfly 29er

2009-08-02T12:37:00.005-07:00

The Cannondale Scalpel is on its way out the door.

Say "hello" to my new Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. YES, I am still training...hard. Ogden/Xterra USA Championships is my single focus. Mixed bag of "results" this year shall be resolved come the end of September.

So...how's the bike? I picked it up Friday night. Thanks to Focus Cyclery for super quick turn. Ordered it Wednesday from Fisher and picked it up from Focus Friday. How 'bout that?? This is a "fun" experiment, so I am limiting how much upgrading I do right now. I will probably put on some race wheels, but that's it for now. I was toying with crank upgrades, but I will wait for the new SRAM XX double. I don't know how much it weighs.

I did 42 miles / 5k ft of climbing on it yesterday. Easyish zone 2 stuff. I was timid on it for sure. A 29er hardtail w/a standard fork felt WAY different than my 26" full suspension lefty scalpel. No duh huh? BUT...today was fun. I did some long brickervals (35min bike/1.5mile sets). The thing goes fast of bumpy rocky stuff and gets up steep stuff with easy. My upper body got worked though. It required quite a bit a man-handling as it turns out . The bontrager race x lite wheels that come with it are respectably light compared to what's out there, but the bike is spec'd with tubed tires which SUCK on the terrain out here compared to what I use to running . These XDXs made certain sections WAY sketchy. I also got two flats today. I NEVER get flats. I ride pretty conservatively, try to be smooth...and weigh 150lbs. I ended up finishing my last running interval running my bike back to a semi-smooth part of trail that I could ride the rear flat home on. Suck...and can't wait to get the tubeless conversion and good tires rolling SOON!

Check this slick puppy out! I am toying with getting their new Cronus road bike too. Man, it's been a while since I updated everyone out there, but I also picked up a Scott Addict road bike w/SRAM Force. Not a bad machine. Sick handling and extremely comfortable. It climbs ok too, btw. The addict is the R3 from '08. I wanted the all black w/yellow and a non-integrated seatpost. So that's what I got. Easily in the 15lb range with ok wheels like Ksyriums.

Super quick training update so you know where I'm out.

Swim - doing 4x/week with longer stuff like 500-1000 sets paired with some short hard stuff represented by this main set from two days ago 2x {400ez, 2x200med (15"), 4x100fast (15"), 2x50all out (30:)}

Bike - wednesday's workout was: 10min at FTP, 7x3min at FTP+, 10min at FTP

Run - kicking my butt....30x30sec sub-5k pace stuff last week, this week was 5x1,000 sub-5k pace

Base 3 Xterra Triathlon Run Workouts

2009-06-25T08:19:00.004-07:00

After taking a mid-season transition week 1.5 weeks ago, I hit a pretty big week last week with 6 days of riding and 20% more swimming than normal. I was definitely sluggish and it took some time to really get into the swing again. By the end of the week I felt pretty good. Since then "life" has been kicking my butt. Work stress and hours galore. I've been playing it by ear as the type of fatigue caused by stress is real bugger. It debilitates me. As such, this week has been tough.

Here is Tuesday's run. Graphed is my HR. 6x1:30 intervals at 5:00min mile pace.

Here is today's run. Mellow for the first 2/3 then 6:00 miles for the last three. Again HR is graphed. The last 3 miles had 500ft of climbing and my NGP (normal graded pace) was 6:02, so I hit my target.

MBAA #8 Flagstaff Finale Results & Transition Week

2009-06-14T08:13:00.002-07:00

MBAA #8 Flagstaff Finale Results here:
http://redrockco.com/files/MBAA%208%20Results.pdf

Sure the St Championship up in Flag was a blast. Too bad I had to miss it.

I've been in mid-year transition week mode all week. This means no scheduled workouts. Two full days off. Workout however I'd like, whenever I'd like for the most part. Today I did, get ready, a whopping 17 mile road bike spin and an 800m swim. Sunday mornings in NE Mesa are nice. No traffic. No one at the pool. Perfect. Layer on top a gorgeous, warm sunny day. Great.

I have about 15 weeks to get ready for Ogden - Xterra Nationals. My training thus far has been on point, but I will be putting in a big, hard, diverse run-up to this years' show. No Worlds in Maui for me this year, so Ogden will be it.

Xterra Four Corners Results and Deuces Wild Xterra Pictures

2009-06-08T13:49:00.002-07:00

Xterra Four Corners results posted here. A number of friends did this race. Maybe I will do this next year. Sounds fun.

If you are looking for race pictures from Deuces Wild Xterra in Show Low, AZ last weekend, go here and enter your info.

Xterra Northwest Cup Race Report

2009-06-07T09:31:00.001-07:00

Bad day. 4th AG. 9th OA. Way off the comparative times of my comp.

Swim: Two laps with a short beach run inbetween. Not sure how long the laps were, but they felt long. The water was cold, but wasn't a factor for me after a couple 100 warmup. The water on the lake was rough. Fortunately the longest stretch of each lap was with the strong current. The final stretch of each lap was a battle with the water as the angle brought us back slighty against the current. Fortunately the water tasted good because I drank a lot. We started in waves 1min back from the pros. I had what felt like a great start. I focused on fast turnover and quick strong hips to the first buoy before looking where I was. Half of the long middle section I was on a guys hip and the went around him up to the next guy. I felt like I was swimming good. Just before the second buoy before heading for the beach/lap 1, a guy from the wave behind me went by. I hopped on his hip, but didn't like that at all. This hip swimming thing is new and I need to get use to the variations. This guy knew what he was doing and took me dead on into the buoy. - could see his plan is his eyes, but wasn't sure what I could do. I should have pushed back. Once we rounded the buoy we were onto the toughest roughest stretch where he got away. Coming up to the beach I felt pretty worked, but not fatigued. Out for the second lap I was solo the entire time. Looking at my time which was 6min off of the top pros who I am usually 3min behind and 2min behind pros who I am typically with or slightly ahead, I guess my swim wasn't so good. Damn, I thought it would be one good thing for the day. I guess not. One thing is for sure is that in tough water the better swimmers swim that much better. Also I bet I lost time on the second lap not having a group or someone to push me. Good lesson. I felt fine in the rough stuff, so I don't think I need to work on that. My start was good, so more of the same there....but something was lacking, maybe figuring out what to do when there's no one around...which equates to a) not letting people push me off their hip and b) focus.

After a kinda tough steep run up to transition I was on the bike chasing Zyrski who was my target (beat me in the overall by 1min in vegas) and was about :30 ahead. I need to understand that chasing and catching a world champ doesn't come easy. Realistically it could have taken the entire bike to bridge just :30. I was I no way prepared at the time for that type of pursuit....mentally that is. Had not thought through that scenario. Hind-sight is great. "Are you mentally prepared to ride all out for 1:30 with only a :30 gap being closed as a reward??". I felt fine on the first flat section then some slight uphills hit and my legs didn't do what the have been doing...which is going uphill fast. I think I must have not realized that it takes some time sometimes to get warmed up/into the bike....which is not ideal, but totally ok. I am a student of the stats and know everyone's relative strengths and where everyone stacks up. I was expecting to race at least as good as Vegas if not way better. When some pros passed me on the bike early at a seemingly speedy pace, I had no response and had an "it's ok" attitude. What the heck man!! a little less than 1/2 way through the first lap a guy in my AG came flying by. Yee-haw, I stuck with him. Miraculous, my legs didn't fall off...of course they didn't!! Rising behind this guy was great. He showed me how fast and hard the course could / should be ridden. Realistically, I would never had ridden that course that fast solo. Onlookers would probably say we were out of control skidding around corners, fishtailing, stand up and cranking hard all over the place. It was fun. After a while we chatted. There were two age groupers ahead. He asked me to share work. I lost focus and on the next seried of descents followed by a long flat, he dropped me. He was faster on the descents, but I was always able to pull him back. Crap. Just as the gap opened another guy in my AG passed me on the flat. No repsonse. They Xterra gods threw me a line and I didn't take it. I road most of the second lap with Danielle Kabush. I knew it wasn't the pace I needed to go, but it wasn't a bad pace / I still worked hard and wrote off the bike and geared up for the run.

Game on. I knew the run was the only way to salvage my race. The single loop 6.5 mile course was sweet. Up, down, flat with some tech (which I never point out but others seem to have trouble navigating, so I guess I'll give it some cred). I set off just as I had hoped. Fast turnover, solid pace, cruising hard. I was concerned about my nutrition, but knew I was down the hole already and would crack if my body wanted to crack, so I didn't worry about it. I was looking for people ahead but there weren't many. Again, I need to get use to not getting instant gratification. I started running out of juice or focus, not sure which. I think my sights were set on catching people vs just going as fast as possible for the entire run. After a tough climb the course flattened out and had some downhill. Out of no where the jostelling on a downhill caused my stomach/abs cramped bad. I had to stop and then walk. I kept trying to get rolling again, but no dice. I knew my bike sucked and that I needed every second....this wasn't helping. Finally I figuered out a way to breath and to shuffle/speed walk to minimize the cramping and get moving. Typically, I belly breath which has kept my inside-muscles happy and stretched, but that didn't work at all. I did this hunched over, chest deep only breathing. The course was so sweet and the second half had my name written all over it, but to no avail. I ended up catching back one guy via my turbo shuffle.

If I had put together a killer run I might have been ok age group wise, but the guy who was 1min ahead at Vegas beat me by 16min. Wow.

So....where from here. Back to base for a while, have some fun and regroup for Ogden. Training plans are intricately woven things and with the travel over the past coupke of weeks, I didn't follow my plan. Not massive errors, but nonetheless. This coupled with what I think amounts to the need for a midseason break. I've been hiting it for 6mths. I noticed a decrease in performance and desire over the past couple of weeks that I figure I could push through.....but maybe not. Not a good combo with travel and not following the training plan.

Up In Bayview Idaho for Xterra Northwest

2009-06-05T09:32:00.003-07:00

I've been up in Bayview / Farragut Park Idaho since Wednesday afternoon. Nice, quiet place. It reminds me of Flagstaff from a look and climate perspective. Lots of pine trees and fairly dry. Cody, Jason and I hit the MTB course yesterday. Just cruising it took 1hr24min. So, it will be super fast come race day. It is basically flat. There is one ~1:30min hill and that's about it. Flat doesn't mean easy though. There are tons of areas to loose time. Not jamming through the single track, not stomping it on the flat stuff etc. Happy with my Scalpel full suspension. Much of the course is hardtail friendly, but there are some long, bumpy, fire road stretches that the Scalpel just eats up. I typically ride the Fox RP23 on its stiffest propedal setting, but flip it open/more suspension for the choppy sections. NICE! I was able to comfortably stay seated and pedal my big ring hard. It will hurt...different than a climbing race, but power is power.

The run course is over trails similar to the bike. Really great and true trail running. Twisty single track. It will be fast. There is some uphill to, but its fairly isolated. Focus, jam, up you go, back to stretching out the fast cadence on the flat stuff. With a flatter course, although it's hard to tell, time gaps will be a premium without big climbs, so for me the run becomes more important.

After biking yesterday I hit the water. Chilly! Its hard to say if its colder than Tahoe, but certainly equal at least. I double capped it, but still got a pretty massive could headache! Ouch. My hands and feet both got really cold, stiff and nearly numb. After a while I felt better and was able to enjoy the crisp, fresh lake. Dan Hugo was in the water and invited me to do some 20 stroke on 20 stroke off pickups. Fun, hard and fast. I need to step up my race swimming. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Don't think, just GO!

Jumping back in the water today and maybe doing one of the bike loops real easy too.

Deuces Wild Xterra Triathlon Results

2009-06-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

For all the weekend's events: http://results.active.com/pages/resultsCalendar.jsp?&orgID=218713

For the Xterra: http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=218713&rsID=79174

A great sloppy weekend up in the pines of Show Low, AZ for Deuces Wild Xterra. I was able to repeat as the overall winner!

This was our 4th time doing this event and we have made it a habit of doing a short, 24hr trip. As I always seem to do just before a race, I had bike dilemmas Saturday morning prior to leaving Phoenix. I was out getting in 3 easy hours on the MTB and decided to crash. No real harm to the body, but I did end up busting my rear der hanger. Bummer! Fortunately, as they always do, Focus Cyclery hooked me up big time, had an extra Cannondale Scalpel hanger in stock and made the swap immediately. Thanks Focus!

After a very scenic 3hr drive up to 6,300ft elevation race venue, we were greeted with cool temps and thunderstorms. Hadn't really considered rain in my race planning. More specifically, I've never raced with any sort of MTB tire other than a low-knob, desert, hard-pack friendly design (Maxxis Larsens & Crossmarks or Specialized SWorks Fasttrack LKs). Well...whatever...I had no other options, so bring on the mud! After some of the storms passed, I hopped in the water for two laps of the 800m course. Man, I love my Zoot Zenith 2.0 wetsuit.

The swim was short and sweet. My goal was to execute my newly acquired "sit on the hip" strategy, but I need to practice and/or focus a bit more. I did do well with the one guy who I knew was a faster swimmer than me, but I lost him going around a buoy. All in all a good swim at altitude....where I have traditionally had near "blow-up" experiences in the past.

T1 was ok. I've been trying to only think about the thing I am supposed to be doing. For example, when getting off my wetsuit it's not important to think about how dizzy I am. Or when I'm putting on my MTB shoes it's not important to think about where my sunglasses are. So from this perspective I did much better.

On the bike, I started in my big ring and charged it. Garrett Ford and I moved into 1st and 2nd and stayed together for quite a while. I crashed once I hit the first muddy section. Not hard, just kind of made me a bit more cautious. After some sloppy fire service roads, we hit the main climb of the course, which is pretty rocky kinda like Maui at places, the mud really piled on. It was kind of comical. We went from totally loosing all traction and spinning out to not even being able to move. Crazy mud. We'd ride, slip, stop, de-gunk and then repeat. Eventually, knowing the climb only got steeper, I just decided to run up the hill. By this point Steven Beeler, a cool Swiss racer living in Tucson, had caught up to us and started to play in the mess. The three of us rolled along the ridge of the climb where our bikes de-mudded themselves and then on the descent I let a small gap open. Bad move! I quickly headed off course and plowed into another mud pie. I tracked back carrying my bike as it wouldn't roll but couldn't find the trail. Crap. Then I spotted 4th place rolling through the scrubby, low growth forest and re-found the trail. After de-mud my bike again, I went as hard and as risky as I could the rest of the course. I finally moved back into 3rd then 2nd by T2, but wasn't able to catch Steven. I did however see him starting the run as I was coming in on my bike. My deficit was around 2min. Kind of a lot over a flat-ish 5 mile course.

T2 was good enough for the fastest of the day and I was off on the hunt. Heading out of T2, Grasky Endurance Coach Bill Daniell was passing our water and gave me a big boost of confidence. Before the race I had committed to going fast no matter what from the get go. At Vegas and and other races I've had trouble getting into a groove during the first half of the run. Knowing the course, the first mile had the majority of the challenge with a couple of steep hills then it flattened out. So, I focused on nothing but cadence (actually "cadence with a push" is what I call it) for the first mile. "Cadence with a push" is 1) ensuring a quick turnover and 2) employing effort on top of the quick turnover - an anti-sandbagging technique I've learned. It's not good enough to move your feet quickly. You have to move them quickly and forcefully. This was this first time during the race that I really felt the altitude, but so it goes. After about 1.5 miles I still hadn't made eye contact with 1st place and was starting to get worried. There was a long straight stretch of trail where I knew I needed to see him...I did....still a ways ahead, but eye contact was magical for motivation. At the turnaround, mile 2.5, I caught up and took over 1st place and then committed to charging hard to the finish. On the way back on an out-and-back section I spotted another guy, Benjamin DeWitt, running really fast. He actually had the fastest run of the day, beating me by :03/mile. I don't know what I look like coming down the trail, but he looked fast and I knew if I didn't push that he would catch me. Two water crossings and a couple of miles later, the finish line was in site. I did it.

Heading to Idaho for the Xterra Northwest Championships Wednesday. Excited to race some more.

San Diego a blast; Looking toward Deuces Wild and Idaho

2009-05-29T15:49:00.001-07:00

For the last week I've been in San Diego. Got in some great training with James Walsh and Trevor Glavin. With James, I got in a nice hilly 1:40 trail run and a sweet road bike ride with 7,000ft of climbing. The route had some Tour of California climbs like Palomar and Cole Grade. Nothing like hitting some of the epic climbs. Palomar took a little over an hour and lived up to it's reputation having over 4,000ft of climbing. The grade was steeper than Mt Lemmon in Tucson, but is was much shorter. Not that a 12 mile climb is short, but Lemmon takes over 2hrs and is 26 miles long. My power meter is man down, but working backwards from James' power stats, I am pretty sure I surpassed all prior sustained power readings. For reference, on Palomar I held an avg wattage for over an hour that was higher than my 20min max from last season. Nice! Trevor hit a couple Mission Bay open water swims with me. He is a better swimmer than me and always teaches me a lot. We worked on swimming on the hip. Feet suck. I'll say it again. Feet suck. Practice swimming on the hip and it'll change your life....or just your swim time. I did some other solo workouts while in San Diego. Nice place. Not as convenient to train as my little slice of training paradise in Mesa, but not bad.

Now back in Phoenix, I have a couple of workouts tonight (swim) and tomorrow (3hr zone 2 ride) prior to heading up to Show Low in the afternoon. I will get a short swim at the race venue (6,500ft elevation) and then head to a buddy's cabin just up the road from the race course. Sunday is the race. Super looking forward to it. Then on Wednesday, I head of to Idaho for the Xterra Northwest Championship race where I have some Vegas make-up to take care of. I checked out the course profile today (http://www.adventuresportsweek.com/userfiles//XTERRA%20Bike%20Profile(1).jpg) and I have to say I am a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a lot more climbing...like 2x-3x as much. I know climbs do exist there, but for whatever reason the route just doesn't hit them. I am certain the course will have plenty of challenges, but there's big time to be had on big climbs! The run looks like it might have some steep stuff on it, so that's good. I'll be pre-riding etc in a couple of days, so the truth will be known.

Photos from 2009 Xterra West Championship

2009-05-11T20:18:00.010-07:00

If you are looking for all the race photos go here: http://www.brightroom.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=50424 and enter your last name or bib number.

And we're off - nice crisp water

Zoot Zenith 2.0 in effect

Cranking on in the 29/little ring??? No wonder no win. Welcome to the Moon part I - bikers are the little specs

Out on the run trying to actually run at race pace

Welcome to the Moon part II - run course with gnarly climbs

Looking strong - finally

That's that - the guy getting his ankle chip removed was 1st by ~:30

Moon escapade + little ring + learning how to run = 2nd place

MTB Race in Flagstaff this Weekend Plus a Whole Lot More

2009-05-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

The next couple of weeks will be real busy and fun.

This weekend I will be racing in the local AZ MTB series up in Flagstaff. I hope there is a bunch of climbing. My goal is to move up to Cat 1 after this race.

Then for Memorial Day weekend and the following week we will be over in San Diego taking a half play/half working vacation. I am excited to get some training in with James Walsh and Trevor Glavin.

Sunday after San Diego, we will hit the local Deuces Wild Xterra Triathlon. Coach Grasky has the course record and I will gun to take it.

...and last but not least, Wednesday after Deuces I am heading to Idaho for the Xterra Northwest Championship.

I also found a training jewel this morning, the Monday morning group ride. I usually hit the Wednesday and Friday 5am group ride that rolls through NE Mesa and was under the impression that Wednesday was the toughest option. Not so much. I was told to try Monday, so I did this morning. Yee-Ouch! 1hr 40min. 275w norm power. It's on the sched now. I can't tell you how valuable this type of training is for me come Xterra race day.

Final 2008 USAT Rankings

2009-05-06T13:51:00.002-07:00

Find the comprehensive list here

I was honored with All-American in the off-road, 25-29 age group. Wow, road tri is crazy big compared to off-road. 90, 25-29 All-Americans for road and only 4 for off-road.

I've never heard an off-road guy talk about points or honors from USAT....maybe the roadies do.

2009 Xterra West Cup Results

2009-05-04T09:43:00.001-07:00

2nd place age group. 4th place overall amateur. Results are posted here.

>>the following was written prior to seeing my splits<<

I am mostly satisfied, but there is still lots of work to do. I needed ~:30 to win my age group and ~1:00 to win the overall.

Without seeing my time yet, I think the swim was ok. The water was crisp at the start, but was an ideal wetsuit swimming temp. My Zoot Zenith 2.0 wetsuit was great and flowed effortlessly with my stroke. There were four waves which is untraditional for Xterra. Pros went first. My group went second 3min back. I am not sure which I prefer; mass or waves. I did the entire point to point swim solo / no group or drafting which is my preference although potentially not the fastest or easiest. After about 200m and leaving the little beach cove at the Lowes Lake Las Vegas hotel, the start melee was over and it was smooth sailing. We had a nice tailwind which kicked up some small waves for the longest straight stretch. It felt real fast and kind of like riding a wave into shore while at the beach, sometimes. Following the fast section we doubled back and had to fight the waves for a couple 100m. I switched up my stroke a little to get over the waves and stuck to breathing from my right side as the waves were coming slightly from the left (about 11 o'clock). Nearing the end of the swim I started getting my mind right for the bike. T1 was real slow for whatever reason. I need to practice. Again, look back to the top of this post...I only needed 60 seconds or so.

I got into the bike quickly and started passing people right away. I didn't know where I was in relation to the comp, but I wanted to be first, so I had to pass everyone. The first half of the course had most of the longer steeper climbing and felt slow going at parts (had to hike-a-bike twice). After cresting the high point of the course there were a couple of flat/loose/big ring sections and steep descents. The 2nd half of the first lap was more flat with some loose/sand areas and a number of short hills that were ideal for standing and jamming (that's how I ride at least). My Cannondale Scalpel was a good choice for the course. I had the rear nearly locked out/on its stiffest setting and locked out my front fork on-and-off throughout the race. Due to some pre-race crank issues, I swapped from a triple to a double (thanks Focus Cyclery) and the gearing seemed to be fine even for the steep stuff. I got passed on one of the flat sections on the first lap by a guy in my age group. I wasn't prepared to battle with him...bummer....at he road away. After rolling through a twisting/beach-ish section along the lake's shoreline one more guy in my age group caught up to me. I didn't let him go though. We completed lap 1 of the bike together and tackled much of lap 2 together. We climbed mostly together. I think I took too much comfort in riding with him and should have gone a little harder. It's a fine line though. Once back onto the 2nd half of the lap again, he road away from me on the same flat section as the other guy. No excuse. Totally mental. Can't and won't happen again...if I want to win. Talking to a number of guys at the end of the race, they all commented on how the back/flat/easy section was tough mentally. Going into T2 I knew I was in at least 3rd and had no idea how the guys ahead could run. T2 was a bit quicker/not bad.

I felt ok/fine going into the run, but knew I was dehydrated and low on calories as I only drank about 25oz of First Endurance EFS and two servings of First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot. Right as I started the run Conrad and Josiah were coming by starting there second lap (yeah, they were a whole lap ahead of me) battling it out shoulder to shoulder. I hopped on their heels and settled into their pace for a little. They were hitting the climbs faster than I was and I couldn't hang. About 1/2 way through each lap of the run course there was a section that doubled-back where you could see the comp.....crap.....there were more age groupers ahead of me than I thought. I felt bad for myself for a second then decided to see what I could do....one problem....I was starting to crack. I knew I was hurting when I couldn't run downhill or the on the flat fast...a strength. Cruising the long downhill into the start/finish to start my second lap, Lesley Paterson came flying by me (and Shonny) and I though my day was done. Little did I know that she thought the run was only one lap. I ran with Shonny and Lesley for a while....and then ....poof...I started feeling good. I put my head down and decided to stop feeling bad for myself. I saw my comp ahead of me and knew I could catch them...although I didn't spot the guy who won my age group by :30. I only got a drop of water at the 3/4 point due to water station backlog, but knew what was ahead and figured I would be fine. Between the water and the last climb I picked up it quite a bit...enough to catch who I thought was 1st. Looking back I should have let if fly 110% there. Once I caught who I thought was 1st place at the top of the last climb it was all downhill and I blasted it. I saw a couple more people a ways ahead and caught them just in case for good measure. As soon as I crossed the line I saw a guy with age group number on his calf being congratulated by his wife....crap!! I didn't win. Come to find out a 40yr old that started a wave behind us beat us both by a little.

I will dig into my splits once they are posted, but here is where I need to work before the next race:

1. Keep making incremental improvements on the swim. Endurance and speed were ok/fine, but everyone will be getting faster as the season moves on and so must I.

2. Transitions have to be faster. I need to simply work on them. Not rocket science here. Seconds count.

3. Keep pushing the bike. I raced aggressively mostly, but showed signs of passiveness on a couple of occasions. I need to keep focusing on increasing sustained climbing power while working on that "race" mindset by continuing to do mountain bike race series and lots of group rides on the road. The Colorado competition has barely come out of hibernation and will come on strong as the season wears on. I have to keep pushing. The bike is still the area of most potential for me.

4. Not quite sure what to do on the run. My speed and power seemed good, but the time to enlist these things took too long. Not sure what is mental and what is physical. Endurance was fine, so probably do more of the same mileage. I did lots of race-paced bricks after tough bikes in training too. Perhaps I need more...or something slightly different. Something that teases my brain to engage / beat the potential mental hump of getting the run going. The run is clearly my strength, but I can't wait until the last 30% of the run to charge it. I need to go for it from the start.

I have a local Xterra in Arizona next followed by the Northwest Championships in Idaho. I can't wait.

Zoot Zenith 2.0 Triathlon Wetsuit

2009-04-28T14:45:00.002-07:00

Today I tested my new Zoot Zenith 2.0 wetsuit at the pool. I wore the suit for the main set of 3x1,000m and boy, was it sweet. As I've become accustomed to, the week prior to a wetsuit race, I'll break out the suit and get adapted to it. As was true with both of my last two suits (a Zoot Zenith 1.0 and a Blue Seventy), I had to modify my stroke a bit and had to get adjusted to the increased power needed to "muscle" the suit through the stroke. Totally and pleasantly surprised how great the new 2.0 is. I am of course glad that I am "pre-swimming" the suit, but I would have been fine come race day had I not....stroke was totally normal and no noticeable fatigue to speak of. Sweet!

Zoot made some noticeable changes with the 2.0 vs the 1.0. First, the used a much thinner and perforated neoprene on the tops of the shoulders that also wraps around the upper back. This significantly improves range of motion. Second, the collar has been made of a thinner material and is cut a bit lower thus making it much more comfortable and makes breathing easier. Third, the "catch" pads on the forearms are made of a similar perforated materials as on the shoulders. I can't say if my catch is any better 2.0 vs 1.0, but it seems to grab water. Fourth, the materials around both the wrists and ankles was thinned out similar to the neck material. In my prelim trials this made getting the suit off quickly much easier. Fifth, they've molded the pieces together differently and integrated the flotation pads differently. I can't quite nail down exactly what they did, but the suit fits better, moves better and feels less bulky. And....finally....it is fast. I love the feeling doing a set with a wetsuit on, then taking it off for some additional swimming....you really notice the benefit the wetsuit provided in both speed and buoyancy.

I will train in the suit a couple more times before Saturday's race.

Gearing Up for Xterra West Championships, Lake Las Vegas

2009-04-27T14:36:00.001-07:00

This weekend is the first Xterra Cup Series race at Lake Las Vegas. I'm pumped and ready to race. I've been doing a whole mixed bag of different training this season and I feel the mix will produce a big smile. We will be driving up to Vegas from Phoenix on Thursday to get in some pre-riding and to preview the venue. The course looks to have plenty of climbing on the bike and the run. That's what I've been training, so it will be fun. I am not doing a full taper for this race, but am changing up the typical training plan a bit to ensure a solid performance. I am making final prep to gear tonight which includes breaking out my new Zoot Zenith wetsuit and putting some new Specialized SWorks Fasttrack tires (which I'm finding extremely difficult to get onto my Stan's Notubes ZTR Race wheels). See you in the desert.

Grasky Endurance Triathlon Camps - The Best

2009-04-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

Grasky Endurance puts on the best triathlon training camps around. I tagged along during one of their recent camps down in Tucson and it was great. Excellent locations with epic swims/bikes/runs. Of course the camp had plenty of strategically staged volume as most do, but the details are where this camp and other Grasky Endurance camps excel. If you have never considered a camp or are out searching for a camp I recommend thinking through these things. Personal attention - How much will you get from the top/headlining coach? Will this personal attention include getting to know you personally, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, listening to your race ambitions and actually formulating a plan to immediately improve your success during the camp? Added value sessions - In addition to just training, what additional events are part of the camp's itinerary? It is common to have a nutrition talk and maybe a race strategy talk, but what about bike fits, stroke analysis, gait analysis, physiological testing and in-session, real-time discussion and commentary? Support - Having a SAG vehicle might not seem like a big deal to you...until one day you need it. You are never alone at a Grasky Endurance camp. Through a committed and thoughtful staff and great product supplier partners your needs as an athlete are taken care of so you can focus on training. Need a gel or tube? Covered. How about an entire tire or PowerTap loaner? Yeah, covered too. What about a ride back to the hotel when your legs give out on a ride after a 30hr training week. Of course Grasky Endurance has your back! Also, don't underestimate the value of camaraderie amongst campers. Grasky Endurance camps builds social events into the camp schedule to foster an exceptional atmosphere and experience You will not only meet great people, but you will make great friends.

So, if you missed the Tucson camp don't worry. You have a couple of Grasky Endurance camp options on the horizon that will be sure to be awesome. First is the Grasky Endurance High Altitude camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. Starting May 17 the 7,000ft elevation camp will boost your fitness to the next level. Plus, the scenery is hard to beat...ever seen the Grand Canyon? Well, you will get to ride there and check it out. Get more details here: http://graskyendurance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=14. Another exciting camp to check out is the Grasky Endurance Wine Country camp in Santa Rosa, California. This camp is the week after Vineman and starts July 20. Start the second half of your season off right with an unbeatable mixture of training, resort accommodations and vineyard tours and wine tastings. Learn more about this one here: http://graskyendurance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=16

Prescott Punisher Result - NO DNF!

2009-04-06T19:51:00.003-07:00

3rd time's a charm. I finally finished my first MTB race of the season. My goal was to be Cat 1 by this race, but that didn't quite work out. I did end up winning the Cat 2 race though. I'll take it.

The Prescott Punisher took about 1.5hrs and had, maybe, 2k worth of climbing. The temp was cool in the high-40s, but fresh at 6k ft elevation in the pines. I heard plenty of details about the course beforehand, but nothing beats a pre-ride. Fortunately, I did squeeze in one lap prior to the race. Great move! The course had a couple of medium-ish climbs and lots of little pops. I'd say it was an exercise in cadence and shifting. As in, high cadence and lots of proper shifting. The course was loose and dry.

I got to the trail head in 3rd position, waited for the first 3min, then surged to the lead. I got a pretty good gap going into the first downhill section...then took a crappy line and had a super subtle crash. Fortunately no injuries or bike issues! 2nd place passed me, but I was right on his wheel. Coming up to some traffic from other waves of racers, I took advantage and surged again. That was that. I road the second lap faster than the first, but had some mechanical issues on the third lap. Coming through the feed zone prior to the final lap, I noticed my front fork air was getting low. Typically if this happens it goes dead flat. I decided to go for it anyway. Charge the climbs and keep it upright on the descents. Fortunately, the shock held enough air & firmness to finish off the race. Phew. I would have been mucho pissed with another DNF.

I am really loving the bike right now. Road. Mountain. Whichever. Let's race. I want to move up to Cat 1 on the MTB to test my luck, but the next race is on the same weekend as the first big Xterra of the year. Vegas....which is what I am training for after all. So, yeehaw. Let's do some Vegas off road triathlon. I hear there is some serious climbing on the bike and the run. Uphill is my friend

Recovery is So Nice

2009-03-25T20:57:00.002-07:00

Last week was a recovery week. Phew! This week I am back at and my body is ready to roll. I use to get freaked out during recovery weeks because I was afraid of loosing fitness. Not anymore! Even last season, I remember thinking I appreciated recovery to its fullest. Not like I do now. All I have to say is fresh legs are nice. My mind has been sharp and motivated. This early in the season, that usually isn't a problem.

Went out on the group ride this morning and had a good showing. Not that there is a prize or anything, but I do monitor my power and how I stack up to track progress. Thank you recovery week. Blasting away in the morning made my lunchtime 3750 swim tough, but I got it down. I can't keep enough food or water in me these days. Such is life.

I picked up a new desktop computer today. I've been working from a laptop exclusively at work and home for 5yrs. Boy is this big honking HD monitor nice. Not like blogger pumps out 1080i or anything.

Going to stuff in some more nutrition before bed and get some much needed sleep. Big'ol gnarly brick tomorrow. But...just one workout/day is a piece of cake.

Lake Havasu Triathlon Results; 1st AG, 2nd OA

2009-03-21T20:13:00.002-07:00

Should be posted here shortly: http://www.tucsonracing.com/LHTinf.htm

I did the olympic distance today and finished #1 in my age group and #2 overall. I haven't seen my splits yet, so I can't quantitatively tell how I did. But, here is what I do know.

Swim - water was a cool 62 degrees and made for perfect wetsuit open water racing temp. This past week I did all my swims in my Zoot Zenith wetsuit (THANKS ZOOT!) while at the pool so I felt accustomed to my suit. I started off pretty fast, but smooth. I have also been working at relaxing and finding easy speed while going hard. Worked pretty good. I "let" three leaders get away at the first buoy. Good lesson and something I've forgotten. How important it is to stay focused at critical moments of the race. Just a little discomfort pays back dividends later. Point taken. After that I hopped on a guys feet for about 200 then went around him and set my own pace. This is training after all. Myself and two other guys formed the chase. I have not been doing a lot of swimming, but I felt totally fine/strong enough and held a reasonable pace. We'll see when the splits come in, but the time will be fair.

T1 - SUCKED! Another reminder that practice is critical when every second counts. I didn't run out of the water hard/fast enough, fumbled around with my zipper etc etc. I got my wetsuit all hung up on the timing chip around my ankle. Tick tock. Next calamity was with my shoes. I am not a roadie, but an Xterra guy...and I've never played around with leaving my shoes clipped in...but today I tried. What a mess. I probably lost at least 30sec screwing around trying to get my feet into my shoes. I even went off the road twice. So, don't try new stuff on race day. Again, point taken.

Once on the bike I felt good and was ready to fly on my new Kuota Kween K (THANKS TRISPORTS.COM!) I had a nice set of 56mm, Easton EC90 Aero tubular wheels compliments of Focus Cyclery (THANKS FOCUS!). The course had some fairly long stretches of flat road a couple of 1:30min climbs, tons of corners, rollers and 2 or 3 really really steep, little ring, stand up style short climbs. I road ok, but three things would make for a much better performance next time.

Get accustomed to my bike. Riding aero fast is much different that riding hard on my road bike or mtb. Duh. I had only done one ride with any effort on the bike ever prior to the race.
Get accustomed to road tri biking. Honestly, the bikes at road tris I've done are boring. I mean c'mon, how could they ever compare to racing flat out on twisty single track on a mtb in Ogden or blasting along the flume trail above Lake Tahoe? But, if I want to actually do well at a road tri, I ought to consider modifying my training to get use to the mindless ahead.
Get my shifting working correctly. Not sure what the deal was today, but I was only solidly in a gear a couple of times throughout the race. Major bummer as this race required tons of shifting to do it right.

The last final stretch of ~4 miles was pretty straight and flat for the most part, but into a pretty dead on headwind of about 15-20mph. Some guy who I passed at the start of the section decided to jump on my wheel and draft. It took a while to drop him particularly since the only gears that weren't skipping were my two biggest. No horsepower for those. After the race while talking about the drafting incident, I was enlightened about how drafting at some races has been a big problem. It makes me not want to race on the road. Period.

My plan on the run was to go until I pucked. That didn't happen, but I ran fair. I focused on high turnover right from the start and before long I was in run mode. The course was basically flat out and back road the whole way except for a 1/5 mile of sand and a ~40 step staircase. I pushed, but not too hard like I had wanted, but I was starting getting way dehydrated and felt on the verge of multi-muscle cramping although nothing that hampered my pace.

On the bike there were many places to spot the competition and the same held true on the run. I didn't see the guy ahead of me at any point. Not saying I could have caught him, but had I seen him, I can guarantee I would have buried myself trying to chase him down on the run.

There you have it. I lost ~1:15 on the swim, another :30 in T1, ~:30 messing with my shoes and, most likely, the majority of the rest on the bike. I lost the overall by 3min.

Considering the last three races this season I DNF'd, I'll take today's race as a success.

Great Time Trial Intervals

2009-03-03T21:31:00.005-07:00

Today was a solid day of quality on the run and on the bike.

During my lunch time run the main set was 4x6min @ zone 4. My legs have been sluggish for a while and were again today. I don't go by HR as much as go by both pace (Garmin Forerunner 305) and perceived effort.

This evening I hit a great set that I know will pay dividends as it builds. It went like this:

-warm up

-5x5min intervals at 105% of FTP power w/2min rest between each

-1omin spin

-5x1min intervals at at 160% of FTP power w/4min rest between each

This set will certainly grow. Longer. Less rest. More power. Not all at once though.

I also debuted my new road shoe/pedal set up. Not quite dialed in, but close.

Shoes: Shimano SH-R220 Custom Fit Road Shoe

Pedals: Speedplay Zero Titanium (in yellow)

Solid Week and NO RACING

2009-03-01T20:29:00.002-07:00

After last weekend's race debacle, I was looking forward to a nice week of simply training. This week didn't disappoint one bit. Due to my lip stitches I didn't get into the water until Friday. This made room for lots'o riding. All road bike. 4x group rides and 1x quality solo session.

I hit the M/W/F 5am group rides and a 70 mile group ride on Saturday. More and more people have been coming out of the woodwork as the race season is upon us....plus the weather is killer. It actually felt hot this week with temps creeping into the upper 80s. Not that group ride power numbers are what I am after, but I did set some all-time high marks this week. By time Saturday's ride came around I was pretty tired and I had to earn every pedal stroke. By the end of the ride I was bonking pretty good. Then...to add insult to injury I bonked again on my run later in the day. Nice day! In hindsight it was 90% poor nutrition. I can't believe I still make poor food decisions, but it happens.

Tonight I just wrapped up a nice 3500y swim. Pretty basic main set of 8x300 at a "moderate" pace with :20 rest in between each. By the end of the set I was going :07/100 faster than when I had started. Swimming is such a form thing it's sick. Plus, I am learning that I need quite a warm-up...particularly after a long week.

Also today I was supposed to do another 10k race. Well I didn't do it. I just wasn't feeling up to the whole race-day thing. It's long and tiring and in this case not that big of a pay-off. I did however go to the job on one of my favorite trails. I did a 10min warm-up with 1 moderate and 1 race-pace acceleration. Again, back to the warm-up thing, not quite enough. I need like 20min with 3-4 accels. Whatever, I did the thing hard. Not fast, but hard. The course is 95% on trails and has 1,000ft of climbing.

I am kind of moving from a run phase to more of a bike/swim phase. Will be fun. At the end of this week I will be down in Tucson helping out with a Grasky Endurance Camp and with Trifest.

A Weekend of Records

2009-02-22T20:23:00.002-07:00

Not good ones though.

After Saturday's MTB race and getting stitched up, I had a bunch of work to do to get my TT bike ready for today's Desert Duathlon. I had some shifter issues, some tire pressure issues, some new wheel issues etc etc....oh yeah, and of course, I had to run by Focus Cyclery and pick up some new cleats & 3-hole cleat adapters for my Crank Brothers pedals (if you haven't read my last post, my cleats broke, again).

Finally, I got to bed...sort of. After a fast and hard MTB crash your body will be wrecked in all sorts of ways. Mine was/is no different. Getting up at 5am for today's race came way too quickly.

I'll cut to the chase. The race. I mustered the needed energy at the start line. Within the first 1/2 mile I was in the front with a couple of followers (30-39 age group started together...yes, I am 30 now). Sweet. Once the false flat hit, I picked it up. Less noise behind me. After about 1 mile I was solo catching all the 20-29 yr olds. I felt great.

Into transition I came totally pumped to hop on the bike and crush it. I really wanted to see how I faired against the elites. Well, that feeling faded within about 3 pedal strokes on my bike.

BROKEN CLEAT AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN (3x now). No, this wasn't an Xterra. No, this wasn't a MTB race. The race was on the road. I don't know what the deal is. I put on all NEW hardware last night. It's not me. Needless to say....new shoes and pedals are in my VERY NEAR future.

Two of my early season goals were to 1) get upgraded to Cat 1 on the MTB by now and 2) win my Age Group at today's Desert Duathlon. Both, failed due to broken cleats. I am realistic though. Yeah anything can happen and you don't win until you win, but I know where my fitness is, how I felt during the races, my position and know that I would have achieved both of these goals.

Next. PLEASE!

MBAA Hedghog Hustle Results - I CRASHED

2009-02-22T05:13:00.003-07:00

Check the results here.

Argh. Got the hole-shot, traded off 1st once, then regained the lead for the back, technical half of the first lap and kept it until the technical half of the second and final lap.

Then I decided to go over my bars and face plant. Aside from a smashed lip that required couple of stitches and a bruised and scratched cheek, I was totally hopping back on to finish what I had started....then....I realized I rip the cleat off my shoe again! AGAIN!

If any one's wondering what my peddle set-up is, I ride Crank Brothers. BUT, this has not been a Crank Brothers thing at all! I love their peddles. Have then on the MTB and road bikes. It's a ME thing. I've been racing in road shoes. I like the way they feel and they work just fine for Xterra. But, I've learned twice now that they just aren't cut out for legit MTB racing. No Duh, right?

I'm in the market for some new MTB shoes. I don't like the ones I have, obviously.

We're off to the Desert Duathlon now. The bike is pretty much dialed (never know with TT bikes I've found) and I am pretty confident about being able to go fast.

Payback for yesterday.

MBAA Hedgehog Hustle & Desert Duathlon

2009-02-19T13:16:00.003-07:00

I have two races coming up this weekend. I am VERY excited and pumped to do both.

Saturday is the MBAA Hedgehog Hustle MTB race. This is the 3^rd race of the series. The 1^st race I DNS’d due to some family stuff. The 2^nd race I DNF’d due to clipping a rock and ripping the cleat off my shoe. My goal for this race is to a) show up on the start line, b) finish the race and c) go really fast.

Sunday is the Desert Classic Duathlon. This will be my 3^rd time doing this race and it’s a blast. 3.5mile trail run / 40k road bike TT / 2mile trail run. Trisports is hooking me up with a pair of Zipp wheels. Zipp 404 on the front and a Zipp Sub-9 Disc w/PowerTap on the rear. My goal is to do 1:30...or better.

Morning Group Rides in Mesa

2009-02-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason I love where I live are the morning group rides. 6 days a week, year round there is a group that goes out on the road bikes at 5am. So far this year I have been doing the Wednesday and Friday rides. The routes vary a little and the W/F rides are typically the faster rides with the most climbing. They offer a lot of intensity, more Wednesdays than Fridays, so I have to be "careful" how they impact my overall training plan, but the motivation is great. On a day like today, with two races coming up this weekend, I opted for the 1:20 version of the ride vs. the 1:50 version of the ride that I typically do. Today I missed out on an additional 8min/350w climb and two 1.5min/500w climbs. Trust me, I got enough intensity. The 1:20 version has 2x1.5min/500w effort climbs and a 4mile/15min/300w effort climb In between the short and long climbs is a fairly flat stretch of road that typically has some wind and ends up being strung-out after everyone having been softened up by the short climbs.

Yeah it's cold and dark, but LONG LIVE THE MORNING RIDE!

Lost Dutchman 10k Results

2009-02-15T12:21:00.006-07:00

36:00 according to my Garmin. 5:45 avg pace. Good enough for 2nd overall. The course was pretty much flat with a couple of rollers. It was about 38 degrees at the start. I am not a hardcore road racer, so I didn't rock the singlet top and shorts. I wore a beanie hat, two shirts, fleece-lined pants and gloves. The first place guy led the entire time and I was in second the entire time. In hindsight, I should have jumped on his shoulder right away. I forget that running races are not like bike races. Gaps are tough to close. Little by little, he got away. Who knows if I could have stayed with him or not. I love trail running/racing, but road races do teach pacing and mind control due to the long, boring stretches of road. Results posted here. Will be hitting the pool for 3500m later today.

5.5% Improvement in 20 Days

2009-02-14T14:15:00.003-07:00

Just got back from a 4hr, 70mile road ride with 5,500ft of climbing. I rolled the whole time with Travis who consistently crushes me. Part of the ride we were accompanied by a couple of pros from Four Unity Racing. The regularly get on the pro podium irrespective of discipline, MTB, cross, road.

Prior to the turnaround there is a ~20min climb. My avg power today was 5.5% better than 20 days ago up the same climb (where I felt super strong). Then, unlike 20 days ago, we turned around after descending from the climb and hit it again. Avg power once again bested the results from 20 days ago. Not quite as fast, but good regardless.

My hips/butt are really baked. I've been doing hard runs and hitting the strength training with quality and today's ride was the icing on the cake....legs are DONE!

Tomorrow should be interesting. I am doing a road race 10k.

Recovery drink - check.
Recovery tights - check.
Recovery meal - check.
Recovery nap - check.

Something(s) New is Coming - Kuota

2009-02-13T20:38:00.004-07:00

1st Hard Run and New Easton Bars

2009-01-29T20:50:00.004-07:00

Today was one of those days you want to bottle up and save for a rainy day. At lunch I did an 1:20 run in 70 degree, perfectly sunny weather. 90% of it was on this extensive greenbelt system near my office in Scottsdale. Sweet. I hat paved anything. At home, I run exclusively on the trails. At work, the greenbelt.

The end of the run kind of took some of the fun out of the day, but it was good training nonetheless. I did 1hr mellow / easy with the final 20min at LT/race pace. Seemed easy enough before the set, but it was hard. I hadn't gone that hard running since....well....Maui/October.

I crashed my MTB a couple of weeks back, as I do on occasion, and scored my carbon handlebars. Not bad or anything and probably ok to ride, but I am totally not even close to wanting to test it. So, having wanted to try some riser bars for some time now, I got the Easton Monkeylite SL Riser Bars. I slapped on a new pair of my favorite grips, green ESI grips and did one ride thus far. Pretty nice. It opens up my grip quite a bit which might help with breathing and the position is more relaxed / not as aggressive as the bars sweep and rise up.

I am pre-riding McDowell this weekend and doing a double-bypass in the middle. I will get a good feel for the new setup on next weekend's race course along with on some good, long climbs and steep, techie descents.

What I Learned This Week

2009-01-25T21:27:00.002-07:00

Very insightful stuff...

I ride better when I don't run a ton of miles.

I swim better when I don't eat a Taco Bell bean burrito right before a workout (hey...less than once a year kind of splurge).

Good weekend overall. I got in 6.5hrs of riding, an hour run and 3k of swimming. As I mentioned above, I ride better when I don't run too much. Unlike prior weeks, I had only run 2x prior to Saturday's group ride. Maybe it was the beautiful, 70 degree day or fresh legs, but I climbed very well. Part of the fun was seeing nice power numbers, but the main thing was how I felt while climbing....really great. I know, it's January...so who cares??

If you recall, I mentioned a couple of days ago that I've been doing quite a bit of bike intensity via lots of group rides and not that I don't want to be getting faster, but there is a strategic growth and balance of fitness that must occur over the course of a season. Just as I was getting "worried" about too much too soon...I looked at my plan for the upcoming week. Balance has been restored. Less bikes with the only intensity coming on the weekend. Plenty of rest.

Xterra Triathlon Northwest Cup

2009-01-22T11:49:00.003-07:00

I've refined my race schedule and now have Idaho on my mind. My tentative schedule is over on the right hand side a little ways down. As you will see, there are two Idaho races in June. #1 is the Xterra Northwest Cup in Farragut, ID. The following week is the Idaho 70.3. I want to do both. We've never been to Idaho, so it warrants a decent trip and of course some racing. I am pretty excited with Xterra's new expanded "Cup" series. Lots of new courses with plenty of exploring to do. Until these venue etc changes I was disenchanted with possibility of going back to the same old places, again...

Although the course for the Xterra Northwest Cup hasn't been posted, Idid a little research and will make a guess that it is at/around Lake Pend Orielle. Check out this map with pics and route of what the bike course could entail. 20 miles and 5,000ft of climbing. Sounds about right for Xterra. As you can see from this pic, the area has two classic Xterra elements....a sweet alpine-ish lake and elevation. Nice.

Another thing to discuss a little bit more in detail is my venturing into the 70.3 world. We'll see if this trip materializes, but I hope it does. To support the longer events, I really need to alter my training very little...I think. I certainly swim and ride enough in frequency, duration and intensity. My running right now is probably pretty close, but I will likely need to change a few things up to ensure I can race 13.1 miles. I regularly go close to this far at least once a week as is. You'll also notice that to support my road-tri itch, I have built in two additional, semi-local Olympic distance road tris to help me get the feel for road. I've done them before and typically don't like them, particularly the run, but I am looking to branch out, so let the branching proceed.

Now all I need is a road tri bike. Hmmm....

New 2009 Triathlon Sponsors

2009-01-21T20:25:00.003-07:00

Quite a lot of support. Wow. Here are the first two (more to follow...check the pics/links on the left hand side >>)

Headlining is Trisports. They have it all. Best products. Best service. The true one-stop-shop. Go online, shop using this code BBAR-S and save 10% on your order. Last time I was at Trisports incredible shop in Tucson, they spent 2hrs fitting me to the perfect wetsuit using their expertise and their endless pool.

Next is Zoot. I've already boasted about their Zenith wetsuit (that I raced in during '08) and now I will get to race in their newest Zenith, race clothing and their new 2009 Ultra Race 2.0 Running Shoes. (HINT: follow the link to Trisports.com, use the code above and get these sweet shoes before anyone else at 10% off) I will be reviewing all of this new, sweet gear soon.

Triathlon is a Process

2009-01-20T16:43:00.002-07:00

Thank goodness! If Triathlon were a point-in-time sort of thing, it wouldn't be nearly as appealing....and....life would probably get in the way. What am I talking about? Well, life outside of triathlon has been very consuming over the past couple of weeks. I know I've argued that my life and triathlon are interconnected, and they are, but at different times of the year there are different levels of importance placed on things. Just as in my training right now I am emphasizing my run and bike training, in life, I am emphasizing family and work over tri.

The interesting thing on the tri-front is that I am still able to get in my prescribed workouts and manage stress quite well. I think it has to do with me having gained experience. I still have a long way to go, but I am moving into my 4th full season of active racing and have focused on learning and retaining knowledge along the way. One thing that I have been not able to avoid is the drain that non-tri related stress puts on training. This stress is real, impactful and flat-out detrimental to performance. But, I know what it is, how it feels and how to manage it...even it if means re-shuffling the training plan deck etc.

So what have I been doing training wise? Well, I am not focusing on the swim. I am only swimming 2x/week, 3000m each time. One day is a mellow drill day with two longer sets at the end. One day has a mix of middle distance stuff with increased intensity, but still fairly easy. I was starting to get fairly fast towards the end of last season and it sucks not ramping right back to where I left off, but I know that my time in the pool will come. No worries....and....not to bask in my current state, but even if I didn't get any faster, I would still be fine competing in the amateur ranks. Who wants to stay put though? Not me. Mental gymnastics are in effect though.

I've been riding with groups more frequently. I've deemed my solo, zone 2 rides my hardest rides. After group rides with a constant incentive to ride hard, fast, long or all of the above, riding "slow" without motivation beyond an ipod is tough. I set out to hit all the Arizona MTB race series this year, but had to miss the first one (last weekend) due to some out of town family stuff. No worries, my "race" intensity is being trained into my system and my MTB mind gets freshened with regular rides with people who are all faster than me. This year I am putting a lot of intensity early-on into my bike. Part of this is to do well at the MTB races, par is to have fun and another part is basically because my body seems to handle it ok. But...."don't try this at home".....my coach prescribed this after working for years with me and this bike intensity is orchestrated within the context of easy, low volume swimming and the right run balance.

Lots of running these days. It leads to tired legs when biking, but the increased volume is something I haven't done before, so the change should lead to something good. My cardio engine is responding well through monitoring my HR at various paces...basically, I can go a lot faster at a lot lower heart rate week-over-week-over-week. I've got some run-specific races coming up which will be fun. I've almost doubled my volume over previous years.

All in all, I feel I'm becoming more efficient with how I spend my time which is great. I am not stuck on volume for the sake of volume. I'll do my time where applicable for sure though. I can't really take all the credit. Coach Grasky has something to do with it too.

BB

Kicking Off '09 Right - Triple Bypass

2009-01-02T09:02:00.004-07:00

What a day 1/1/09 was here in AZ. Backtracking a bit, we had a simple New Year's Eve by grabbing some dinner and hitting a moving. We didn't bother staying up late to ring in the new year which was totally fine by me! In the morning of 1/1/09 we went to IHOP and had way too big of a breakfast, but boy was it good. Just the kind of calories I needed for the day ahead.

At 11am, I met with Dan and Travis (both on the Focus Cyclery MTB team) in North Scottsdale on the west side base of the McDowell mountains. Tough MTB climbing was on tap. The weather was sunny and 70....even though the Phoenix air quality was crappy as usual.

We set out for a triple-bypass, which meant, up-and-over the mountains 3x.....or 27 miles and 5,500ft of vertical ascent...over 4hrs...yeah, its slow going. Riding in the McDowells presents some of the most taxing riding I've ever done. The climbs are steep and long, but the rocks....oh the rocks....make it very hard. It is a total body workout and requires total concentration. I was on my Cannondale Taurine (hardtail) the last time I did this ride and was pretty beat up afterwards. This time I was on my Cannondale Scalpel (full suspension) and was not nearly as "rocked." I usually ride the Scalpel with the rear shock in its most locked out position. However, for this ride, I had the rear shock fully open for about 2/3s of the ride. It made a huge difference by improving my descending and by softening the blows of the constant rocky terrain.

Great way to welcome 2009.

I am really digging First Endurance's products more and more. I put three scoops of First Endurance EFS into my 100oz Camelbak and carried an EFS Liquid Shot flask for my other nutritional needs. Worked perfectly.

I forgot to mention that I found a new trail while running out at Hawes. I had heard there was a new trail, but I haven't been able to find it on my MTB...even though I've been trying. But, thanks to a mellow, long trail run, I found it! As a kid, I played a lot of Nintendo / Super Mario Bros and the like. The feeling I got when finding this new trail, was similar the excitement I use to get when finding a hidden room or moving onto a new level in a video game. What fun! I can't wait to integrate the new trail into my training. Sweet.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-28T12:14:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone.

I just got back from visiting family in El Paso. The weather was really nice there compared to the cold, wet weather I missed in Phoenix. Good stuff. I've really turned into enjoy the Phoenix winter. In El Paso, I was able to get in a couple of rides, runs and strength/core workouts. I really wanted to hook up with some of El Paso's groups, but holiday training schedules and our travel schedule did jive.

After 450 miles in the car yesterday driving home, I hopped in the pool for 3000m of swimming followed by about an hour of strength/core work. It felt really good to get my body moving. I've really grown to like my neighborhood pool. It is one of those combo lap lane/play pools with two roped-off swim lanes. It is a slow, 25m pool, but the convenience and temperature make it a winner. I never have to wait for a lane, it is always open, it is outdoors and the heaters make swimming in any weather manageable. My other swimming option is just down the street from work. It too is outdoors, is heated and has a Masters group option. They just put in new heaters in the "work" pool, so it'll be nice all winter.

I am recovering from our El Paso trip today, but am about to head out for a MTB ride and then a run. Tomorrow I will get in a longer road ride, a swim and hit my strength/core program again. I am already seeing progress with my strength program in the form of being able to do more reps and more weight. Instead of one medium cord, I am using one light cord + one medium cord. Instead of 3x12 reps, I am able to do 3x14 reps of most things.

In just two weeks the AZ MTB race season starts. I will be doing all of the races except where there is a conflict with Xterra. I am excited to get out there and put in some quality suffering.

First Endurance - A New Sponsor

2008-12-17T16:07:00.003-07:00

I've been using First Endurance products for about one year now with great success. I started with Optygen HP. This supplement claims to do everything from increasing endurance to reducing lactic acid. I don't have a team of scientists looking over my training and administering my nutrition, but what I can say are these two things, 1) I achieved my highest power outputs over all durations when I used Optygen HP as suggested and 2) I was able to train with significantly more intensity and recover more quickly when I used Optygen HP as suggested. So, I say the stuff works and I will continue to use it. Next, I began using MultiV vitamin on a daily basis. Again, as with all of their products, First Endurance claims numerous performance enhancing benefits and supports the claims with fairly detailed and robust research. While I know there are numerous factors that go into getting and staying fit, the MultiV seemed to aide in keeping healthy and recovering quickly from high intensity and volume. Another win in my book.

Now, First Endurance is a new sponsor! I take sponsorship from the perspective of partnership. I am not a full time athlete and would still compete irrespective of outside support, so I only seek sponsorship from those companies whose business practices and products I have successfully used and I have had an exceptional experience with. I understand and appreciate the challenges that all businesses face related to maintaining and growing their market share and I truly want to make their commitment to me worth their while. Thank you First Endurance for your support. I will endorse and happily use your products as I feel they aide my success.

I have now branched out into other First Endurance's product lines including their Ultragen recovery mix, EFS Liquid Shot and EFS Sports Drink. While I haven't cracked open Ultragen yet, I have used the EFS products successfully on numerous types of workouts and have had both the proper energy and no digestion issues. Good stuff.

Week 2 Almost Done & Sore Legs

2008-12-13T17:17:00.002-07:00

I really like my training plan so far. It is a nice mix of group bike rides, lots of short runs, a couple of swims and strength training. A nice, fun balance. I am really liking the bike. I know I need to focus on it, but I am not even really concerned with tri-specific stuff in the least right now. I am riding for fun, which is fun. I am following my plan, for the most part, but for the first time since I've been structured, I find myself easily exceeding my plan instead of doing the minimum/prescribed amount. I am not riding a lot in the first place, but I've been given the bandwidth to pretty much do what I want intensity wise. Last year, my intensity boundaries basically kept me riding on my own all the time. Not a fun or motivating atmosphere. There are plenty of fast guys and groups to hook up with and I am trying to take advantage of it. My lack of form makes it tough to hang on, but it'll come around.

I am running 5 days a week. Not a lot of volume, but consistent. My instructions most of the time are to JFR (Just Freaking Run). My last two 40min runs felt pretty good. I am not even concerned with speed in the least....JFR. I have some plantar faciatis in my left foot that I need to start looking after, but massage and stretching will sort it out soon.

Swims are the least of my concerns right now. Maintenance is the focus. I will be hooking up with Bill Daniell for some lessons soon. He was first overall out of the water in two Ironmans this year. He swims like 47min or something sick like that. My plan is to get a couple of sessions now, a couple in a couple months and then another set mid season. I want to see how fast I can get on pure form. Lots of free speed to be had.

I can already tell my strength training program is going to produce results. I previously said I was going to do a plan from Hagerman’s “Strength Training for Triathletes” book….but instead I am/will do a Coach Grasky Special. Grasky basically took the best of what’s out there and distilled it down to the best-of-the-best. Plus, I can do it all at home in about 40min. Sweet. I could barely function during the Friday morning group ride due to really sore hip/butt muscles from the strength program. Yeeeooouch.

D2D Race Report & Strength Training

2008-12-08T09:22:00.001-07:00

The Dawn to Dusk 10hr MTB race was a blast. Our Focus Cyclery, 4-man team took 2nd place on the day by completing 10x16 miles laps in roughly 9hrs 30min. I was the slow guy on the team, which sucked, but fortunately my speediness didn't keep our team from winning. Phew. Big props to Lane, Travis and Dan, my teammates, for pushing hard and picking up the slack! Our first two guys, Lane and Travis, did 3 laps each while Dan and I did 2 laps each. For context, my teammates turned laps in the 54min - 57min range while I turned in 2x1:01 laps. For only my 2nd day of riding with any intensity in the last month, I'll take it. My lungs were searing from start to finish because of the effort and my cold, but the goal for the day was to have fun and I definitely did.

One of my early season objectives is to really focus on the bike and nothing gets the body and, even more importantly, the mind ready like sport-specific racing. I never, ever go as hard on the MTB portion of an Xterra as I did during this race. There's no excuse why I shouldn't go just as hard in an Xterra. It's not a matter of needing to pace during an Xterra to save energy for the run, it's simply a matter of me not pushing hard enough. I am working on it now though! Good things to come.

I want to send a shout-out to Coach Grasky for his fantastic solo effort at the race. He did 128 miles on a mountain bike in one sitting over 9hrs. Wow. I can't imagine. Great work!

I started a formal strength training program today. It is modeled after Patrick Hagerman's book, Strength Training for Triathletes. I am focused on spending roughly 3-4hrs/week on strength for 12 weeks. This does include flexibility and core work. I anticipate having to slim this down a bit as my training hours ramp up. Only so many hours in a day.

Swim Test Update

2008-12-05T16:47:00.001-07:00

**read below entry for full update**
Slow as suspected in the water this morning. Since the last time I did the same exact 3x300 test 2mths ago, I am 8% slower. Seeing as I've swam only 6k in the last month, I'm not suprised nor am I unconfident that my times will easily come down fast. I have some abitious swim goals this year and althought I'm not doing any big swim blocks for a while, I confident that a significant focus on form and engine development form heavy bike and run will get me fast and on track to do well. I've been consdering opening up my training stats and some details to the public. It's not like my competition would use the info to race me differently. So what if someone knows my bike ftp is, say 315 watts? If you're there or beyond, good for you. Not like you couldn't figure out where you stacked up by looking at race results anyhow.

First Swim Test of the New Triathlon Season

2008-12-05T05:43:00.003-07:00

My standard swim test is 3x300 and I get to do the first one of the season today, as soon as I finish this cup of coffee here. I get nervous about tests for some reason, probably b/c it's pretty black and white as to exactly where my fitness is for the sport being tested. I did peek at my watch the other day in the pool and I was pretty slow. It really doesn't matter, at all, how fast (or slow) I am today on Dec-5 when my first serious race of the year isn't for another 5mths. So, I will do the test and probably say "DOH!!" and then simply laugh, get out of the water and get into a warm shower.

I still have this cold hanging around, but I still don't feel all that bad. I am listening to it carefully and it should be just fine for Saturday's MTB race. I will likely only do 2, 1hr laps....not too taxing, although they will be all-out efforts course. Just like today's swim test is about to prove and like Wednesday's group road ride proved, my fitness is going to take a little time to return after my month-long, post-season hibernation, so I am not expecting to set any course records. Actually, I will probably be the slowest guy on my team.

Coach Grasky and one of my riding buds Clint Hosman are both doing the thing solo. 10hrs +/- on a MTB doesn't really sound that fun! I'll be content with nice long trainer warm-ups, a couple of fast-ish laps, nice long trainer cool-downs, lounging around in my Zoot compression pants and soaking in the 75 degree, sunny weather. Oh...and...maybe having a beer in there somewhere. The Focus Cyclery trailer has been outfitted with a couple of beer taps and will be stocked with Four Peaks Brewery kegs. Nice.

Day 1 of a New Triathlon Season

2008-12-02T20:51:00.002-07:00

I am officially back at it as of today. Nothing major. An hour in the water and 40min of easy running. It feels good. In years past it seemed to be a big deal, but not this year. I think this feeling is positive. There is nothing to stress about and only good things to come. I've gotten out of the swing of training, but my routine will be fixed soon. I am getting about a 3wk later start at the season compared to last year....due to doing Xterra Worlds this year vs. not having done it last year.

I will be doing more group rides on the bike starting with tomorrow morning at 5am. Which reminds about how important the little things are like going to bed early in like...oops...5 minutes, get coffee and clothes ready the night before etc etc.

I am a little surprised how my fitness feels to have fallen off quite a bit over the last month, but I know it will come back. A couple weeks ago I was in the best tri-shape ever, so a drop should be expected. Good news is that my shoulder is feeling better. I still feel it, but it isn't a problem in the water as long as I don't yank on it and I haven't put it through anything close to a masters practice.

I am nursing a cold I picked up over the holiday weekend, but the symptoms aren't all that bad apart from keeping me awake all night last night. I expect to be better for the weekend's MTB race, Dawn to Dusk, where I will race the ~10hr race as a quad team. With 16 mile laps, pretty flat terrain and roughly 3hrs between efforts, I should be fine. I did the race last year as a duo in some of the worst weather ever, so I am looking forward to having a much different experience this year.

Options Define the Season

2008-11-26T15:46:00.001-07:00

For many triathletes, this time of year presents a mixed bag of options. There is an inevitable combination of returning to a more “normal” pattern of life, some exercise and time spent planning for 2009.

I really want to focus on the options surrounding 2009 planning, but as I write this, I question why so many think the off-season is the time to resort back to a normal way of life. I feel more lost now, in the off season, than ever. My current pattern, that includes not sleeping well, is not normal. Not watching my diet is not normal. Not training regularly on a schedule is not normal. Not holding myself accountable for the demands of training is not normal. My life right now is not normal.

What is off-season anyways? When does it start? What exactly does it constitute? I think there needs to be a re-definition of the term…or perhaps a new term created altogether. I don’t really ever feel “off” as I always feel like a triathlete. I prefer it. So, for now, I’m going with a new term to define my status as a triathlete: I am in “seasonal transition”….

Seasonal – describes the time period between seasons, a period that I am clearly in

Transition – describes the action of passing from one place to another, an action that I am clearly, ever so impatiently doing

Let it be known that a) my normal life is the one I lead as a triathlete and b) until further notice from my coach, I am in the seasonal transition phase.

…oh yeah…the discussion on 2009 planning…I’ll save that for later.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm Officially Off for the Season

2008-11-22T18:31:00.002-07:00

It took a while to get into the mode of off-season...but I've arrived. I've stayed up late, ate bad food on numerous, back-to-back occasions, had plenty of -0- workout days, done a 10-min ride just to turn around b/c I "didn't feel like riding".....the list goes on. I've arrived. It's good to be here. We all have to get "here" so that we can successfully "there"....

In addition to these uncharacteristic activities, I've been riding for fun with no agenda, running for fun with no agenda, not swimming at all, doing some core/strength/flexibility stuff, and turbo hiking with my wife. Mandy is training for a 1/2 marathon and her motor is getting nicely tuned, so there is nothing leisurely about our hikes...they are "turbo." On swimming, while body surfing in Maui post-Xterra Worlds, the oh-so-powerful ocean smashed me shoulder first into the beach. Sprained it. What better time to get it back to 100% than right now.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be diving into some more formal strength training, training in general and really start setting up the fun stuff....goals and the plan to achieve them.

Hard to Let Go

2008-11-08T08:07:00.002-07:00

I am finding it very hard to let go of the 2008 Xterra season. I put everything into it and didn't end on a high note. I want a mulligan, a re-do, another shot...but, I have to wait for an entire year. Apart from the feeling, the mental side of things, it is hard to let off the pedal on my fitness.

I have to give my mind a break from both the intensity and focus needed to be successful and from the...wow...51 on-calendar weeks training in 2008.

The triathlon press is definitely NOT short of articles and recommendations on what to during the off-season. One recommendation is to spend time on other interests....well....I think my "other interests" don't stray to far from swimming, biking and running. No....I'm not shallow, am I? Another thing about me is that I love routine and needless to say my routine is jacked.

I need to be shaken.

Understanding all of these recovery-related off season things, I have been doing what I can to unplug.

I been swim/bike/running barely and kicked off a strength/core/flexibility program modeled by the Core Performance folks. This program will evolve a bit of the upcoming weeks, but it's a good start.

Xterra Worlds Quick Race Report

2008-10-26T17:19:00.003-07:00

The race didn't go as planned. Tough to say, but I got 12th in my age group. Ouch. 3hrs 20mins. My goal was 3hrs flat (or better).

Swim was good. 22:05....that was about it. From peddle stroke one, I didn't have any mojo on the bike. The only place I passed people was on the descents. Other than that, I was the one getting passed. It sucked. The run was a formality I suppose, although I pushed to the end. 7:54 miles. What's that about? The course was tough. The season is done. I am in Hawaii for the rest of the week with my family....and stoked about it.

I had a great season and this tough result won't ruin it.

Major props to James Walsh...I won't steal his thunder. Read about it here.

Peak Mind - Peak Body

2008-10-22T20:44:00.002-07:00

I am ready to race. My mind is calm, focused and confident. My body is rested and full of potential energy. I am ready to race.

Today I had an easy 2k swim with a little, short intensity and an easy 30min trail run. Tomorrow I have a 40min MTB/20min run brick, both with a couple of short, race pace pickups. Friday is a travel day with an easy, afternoon swim at the race course. Saturday will be a little of each sport at the race course. Sunday = show time.

I will be wearing Zoot's new CompressRx tights and short sleeved shirt for most of the travel. I've been a fan of compression gear all season and this is by far the best. I wish I could have all Zoot's CompressRx gear because it flat out works.

All my gear is ready roll.

What else is there to say?

Cannondale Scalpel for Xterra Worlds

2008-10-18T13:20:00.005-07:00

Once again the crew at Focus Cyclery has come up big!

The Xterra Worlds bike course is rocky, real rocky. To climb faster over rocky terrain, descend faster over rocky terrain and to be more fresh for the run, a full suspension bike would be an optimal solution, for me. One problem, I only have a hardtail. It's a very nice, 19lb Cannondale Taurine, but not the right tool for the job. Here is the Taurine looking pretty on one of my favorite trails here in NE Mesa, AZ.

This is where Focus Cyclery comes in....they hooked me up with this, a new, full XTR 2008 Cannondale Scalpel...SWEET!

I've personalized it a bit with some neon green ESI Grips, Stan's ZTR Race wheels and Maxxis Larsen TT tubeless tires. I've been riding the bike now for over a week with two really solid workouts on some very Maui-like terrain. Wow. The bike is great. I was concerned about loosing some climbing pace not using my hardtail, but totally not the case. The Scalpel has made me faster all-around over very rocky terrain. Goodie. The new bike has tons of variability with both front and rear shocks to dial in the perfect speed-to-handling ratio. I found the sweet spot today.

On a workout note, for the most part, the hard stuff is done. Let me say it another way, 11mths of focused working out is done. All that remains is to rest up and to then go nuts and leave it all on the course next Sunday. Being "done" is pretty motivating in and of itself. I feel extremely well prepared.

Swim - I did 6x300s and 6x100s earlier in the week...fastest splits ever for both distances.

Bike - I did 2x30min race pace efforts up a gnarly, rocky climb today...set a :30 PR on the first one and held the second one within 1:00 of the first. So, pace and endurance are where they need to be. (The PR I broke today had been set last week where I took 3:30 off of my pre-Tahoe/Xterra USA Championships PR).

Run - I hit the track for some 400s earlier in the week and was easily able to hit my target pace, a pace that took everything I had only a couple of weeks ago. Also in recent brick runs, I have been able to engage race-pace running speed much more quickly (unlike at Tahoe/Xterra USA Championships).

All systems GO.

Peak Workouts Gearing Up for Worlds

2008-10-14T20:43:00.003-07:00

Not much time left until the big show. At first, I thought having Nationals and Worlds so close together was going tough on a number a levels. However, I am finding the alternate for two reasons...1) My body and mind are in full on race mode. Nothing gets both ready to race big like a big race and 2) I have a great coach. I have complete confidence in my plan and my fitness....talk about a mental load off and an enormous confidence boost!

To highlight both, over the weekend Coach Grasky was in Phoenix to get himself back into race-mode by doing some mountain bike and cyclocross racing. Although I didn't do the races with him even though they sounded like fun, after the races, I was sharing with him how I felt kind of crappy during a super tough mtb workout with 4.5k+ ft of climbing with 3x30min race pace intervals. He actually laughed at me and said that a) my fitness was/is "there" and b) I am pushing myself harder than I have all season because of my "big race mode" mentality, so the intervals will naturally feel harder. Yeah...nice positive talk, but I want to hard numbers/data. I looked back and he was right...the same interval took me 3.5min longer only a couple of weeks ago. Ok, he was right!

Training is tough to classify without spelling out each workout. What I can easily say is that volume has come way down, intensity is race pace or greater and after this Saturday I will be in full on taper mode. Rest is my best friend and I am stoked to see what I am capable of with it.

Hard to believe that the season, all this crazy hard work, is almost over. The best part about it is that the end is most exciting part with Worlds....and....I am super ready to crush it. Gives me chills even thinking about it.

Xterra USA Championship Race Report

2008-10-07T18:14:00.008-07:00

2nd place 25-29 age group

8th place overall amateur

17min 43sec faster than 2007

I am satisfied with my year-over-year improvement. However, I didn't put a complete race together....definitely not down on myself....but certainly more fuel for the fire to keep me going until the Xterra World Championships in a couple of weeks. I am extremely motivated to get the most out of training between now and then and to work on a couple of deficiencies. I will not leave fitness on the table. No mas.

Modeling after my travel schedule from the Xterra Mountain Championship, we flew into Reno on Saturday, the day before the race, to limit my time at altitude. After grabbing lunch at Whole Foods and stocking up on some essentials to eat quality home cooked meals, we cruised up and over the mountains to Incline Village just in time to get my packet. #111. Nice. It was cold and wet and the Lake looked quite rough. Not exactly perfect triathlon weather.

Race morning was a little better. No rain and the water was calm. After setting up shop in transition, we headed to Starbucks and then back to the condo to stay warm and out of the pre-race buzz as long as possible. About 1hr before race time, I headed back to the venue to start my warm-up. After finalizing transition I headed out on my bike for about 15min. My legs felt great although I definitely felt the altitude. Nature of the Tahoe beast. Game face on, I suited up in my new buddy that I spent the past two week , my Zoot Zenith, and headed to 1/4+ miles down to the lake. In route, I positioned my running shoes just off the beach so I could comfortably and quickly run back to transition post-swim. I love swimming in Lake Tahoe and was really looking forward to having an exceptional swim as my training would suggest. After a 10ish minute warm-up in the water, I was feeling great and was ready to rock.

Boom! At the gun, unlike other races, I ran in the water for quite a while and then porpoised some prior to settling into my stroke. Wow. What a difference this made. Much less spastic of a start. Somewhere between the start and the 1st buoy I forgot that I had to work hard to swim fast. I lost a bunch of time and it took until the 2nd lap of the 1500m course to find my groove. Once I did, I felt great and swam pretty fast, I think. Looking at my time...it was well below my target. Regardless, exiting the water and making the run to T1 was enough time to get my head ready for the bike.

T1 was a bit more complicated than normal this time around and it all had to do with staying warm. The additions to my normal set-up were 1) socks, 2) toe covers (already installed), 3) a jacket and 4) full finger gloves. I practiced plenty with these things, but it still made T1 complicated. Finally on the bike I knew I had some work to do.

On the road leading up to the first climb, Cody Waite came screaming by me. What better way to get into the bike than to hammer along with Cody, so I stuck with him as long as I could. With my legs and head now warmed up, I found a really solid cadence and began picking people off. I felt good and worked my way up into 3rd overall amateur and had a head full of steam....then....the trail flattened out and my head fell out of the game. Major bummer. I gave up some ground on the Flume Trail and the stretch around Marlette Lake. Not a fitness thing at all. I had worked specifically on keeping the power going on terrain like this leading up to the race, but didn't put it together. Finally at the top of the course, it was time to bomb the descent. I definitely went faster than in years past, but could have used a full suspension and would have benefited from pre-riding.

Let's run. It took too long for me to get into to my stride...about 1.75 miles. It took Branden Rakita (finished 5th overall - Pro) to blast by me/lap me to get me moving. I stuck on his heels for the remainder of the 1st lap and then kept the pace going for the final 3 miles. I averaged 6:28 miles, but really needed to get rolling much more quickly and flat out just push harder.

Two words: Turbo Maui

Triathlon Race Simulations

2008-09-29T17:14:00.002-07:00

Nothing gets me ready for a race like a race simulation. No duh, right? As much as I don't like to drive the 2:30min round trip to Bartlett Lake in Cave Creek, AZ, the location is ideal for Xterra triathlon race simulations. The Xterra race courses this time of year are pretty basic....do a 2-lap, 1500m lake swim, go uphill on a bike for 3,000ft and then run a 10k as fast as the trail permits.

At Bartlett, the climb is a road bike climb which was all the better as I could use my Power Tap, capture some good data and get the right feel for the right watts. "Right watts???" Yes, "right watts"....race adrenaline will naturally enable me (and you) to push beyond the norm, but I need to be able to keep this pace going for the duration which requires some checks and balances. I've got the "feel" dialed.

Beyond the obvious fitness benefits to performing race simulations, I reap large mental gains when doing these workouts. Visualization is a necessary and great tool, but re-creating the physical demands and figuring out how to keep putting the watts down on the bike when I am mid-way through a climb and suffering like a dog is a whole different animal. The good news is that, as always, once I submit to the treatment, I emerge a stronger and faster triathlete.

I knocked out two really tough simulations this past weekend. Both included my standard pre-race warm-ups (20min bike/10-12min swim) followed by a 1500m open water/wetsuit swim, 2.5hrs of riding where 1hr was race pace and all out, slightly shorter than race distance, runs. You will notice the heavier weight on the bike and the lighter weight on the run. Bottom line, comparatively I am a better runner and need to squeeze every bit of riding gains from my training.

The rest of the week is all about Xterra Nationals at Lake Tahoe. I am doing a partial taper for this race as to not jeopardize to greatly my training for Worlds in just 4wks. Bring it.

All Hail the Triathlete's Wetsuit

2008-09-23T17:09:00.003-07:00

Not really. I don't like swimming in a wetsuit even if it makes me :07/100m faster. This year of racing has actually worked out pretty well in favor of my distaste. Kind of ironic, but the only two races that I wore a wetsuit in were both in Arizona...yeah the state where it is over 100 degrees right now as we talk.

Why the fuss? Well, Xterra Nationals at Lake Tahoe is next weekend and it is requires a wetsuit. For today's swim and for pretty much every swim between now and Tahoe, I will for some % of each workout be in my wetsuit. Don't get me wrong, my Zoot Zenith is very nice and was the best one for me when I spent hours trying tons of them on months ago at Trisports' endless pool.

I wore my Zenith for about 2000m today. At first, I felt like I could barely move. Once through some basic warm up sets and drills, the suit started to feel better/I started getting more use to it. The only saving grace for the wetsuit today was that it helped me post my fastest 100m splits ever. Yes, I know a wetsuit inherently is faster, but I am not sure I have actually swam enough in a suit to really take advantage of it. Whatever the "speed" case is, come Tahoe, I will not be surprised by how the suit feels or by how the suit impacts my stroke.

One thing I will look forward to over the next number of days in the pool will be the wonderful sensation of taking the suit off and hopping back into the pool for some more laps. Wow. Talk about turbo arm speed and unreal range of motion! You know the feeling of wearing those ankle weights for a while and then taking them off? Same deal here. The great liberating feeling aside, I swam significantly slower (:07 sec/100m) without the suit on. However, I did set new, non-wetsuit PRs on some 50s later in the set. Yee-haw.

I will take the suit out to Saguaro Lake this weekend for some 1500m TT action. Basically, I will swim the AZ Xtreme Xterra course.

Off for a mellow trail run.

Rest; A Triathletes Best Friend

2008-09-20T18:29:00.002-07:00

The Xterra triathlon season is long and hard. Now, with Nationals and Worlds on the line, is not the time to compromise training. The length and intensity of the season is no excuse. If anything, this is the time to bring-it with a greater level of focus, grit and power than at any other time.

So, here is exactly where I am at with my season. I am tired. Not exhausted. Not over trained. Not unmotivated. Not unable to complete extremely challenging workouts. Just tired....and....it's OK. I've been hitting it hard for the better part of 10 months with the next 6 weeks in mind. I am getting faster. I've broken out of a plateau on my swim. My form, speed and focus are good in the water. Open water has become my partner in crime. I've never produced more watts on the bike over any duration or terrain - short, middle, long distance - hills, rollers, flats - road bike, mountain bike. I relish the thought of racing up to the top of Lake Tahoe. I've never run faster as a triathlete. My ability to transition into the run post-bike is becoming second nature. My track workouts are paying off with higher top end speed and the confidence to run hard and fast.

Tired, fast and focused. Weird combo? Not sure. All I do know is that it only works with a focus on getting quality rest and eating quality food. Rest I break down into going to bed early, taking naps when possible and scheduling workouts so that I am as fresh as possible for key workouts. The workout jiggering are the responsibility of Coach Brian Grasky of Grasky Endurance who, by the way, is so totally to thank for...well...much of the good stuff to come. On the eating end of things, it is pretty simple. Eat a lot of good food. Sounds simple, right? Maybe I will share a food diary of what I eat one of these days.

Tahoe is two weeks away. I am eager to keep up the good work between now and then. Today, I hit Mt Lemmon in Tucson...my favorite climb. For the first 14 miles of the climb I focused on maintaining a high tempo wattage. From miles 14 to 26, where there are some "rollers" from 6,000ft elevation to 8,500ft elevation, I pushed the uphills at a LT+ wattage. Good stuff to get this type of work at altitude. Totaled about 4hrs of riding and around 6,500ft of climbing. Tomorrow, I have some 8min mtb intervals followed by a transition run where I am basically going to go as fast as I can for as long as I can.

Satisifed With Managing Life and Triathlon

2008-09-07T19:42:00.002-07:00

When life gets very busy, outside of triathlon, maintaining forward and positive training becomes paramount. This time of year when training matters most (Xterra Nationals and Worlds on the horizon), it is not good enough to simple get through a workout, but to seek quality and flat out make big gains. Just as I have been training my body all season, I have also been training my mind to deal with not only managing triathlon related things like pushing through a hard workout or focusing when it really counts during a race, but dealing with how to get dialed-in to do what it takes when it comes to training, irrespective of what is going on at work.

As I sit here reflecting on the past couple of weeks, I have to say I am satisfied with my forward progress with training....actually, I haven't sacrificed a single thing amidst a very busy work schedule. I am right on track with where I should be and a continuing to push the envelope on every area of training. Sweet.

On the swim I hit a bit of a plateau, but I am actively employing a strategy to push through. When training gets "easy" and times stop coming down...its is time to change it up. The goal of my new plan, which is one week in, should buy me another minute, or so, on race day. It matters and I'll take it.

On the bike, I wrapped up the 6hr/long ride stuff two weekends back and have been really working on very specific areas where I was deficient on at Ogden. I love it...some things are so very easy to remedy, while others are more difficult. In particular, while keeping my vertical training assault on full bore, I've been working both on the road and on the MTB with maintaining power over rolling terrain. Get it. Got it. Done. This will help on the middle section of the Tahoe / Xterra Nationals course. What a shame to hit the pure climbs well only to loose time on the easy stuff. No mas. Another big addition to my bike has been to include a couple days of MTB training with a super fast training partner who really pushes me. We did 4hrs with 5500ft on the MTB on Saturday on terrain that was much rockier and more difficult than Maui. Just what I need...although I seem to have to take my poor Cannondale Taurine into the shop after every time I do this ride. Rocky is an understatement.

Apart from track workouts, running hasn't been much of a focus of late....not anymore. Last week started a nice block of balanced run focus. The track stuff persists and I really dread the workouts because I do them solo...and...they are hard. Every workout seems to take all I've got. The frequency, duration and speed of bricks are picking up in addition to the addition of some duathlon-like workouts that are oh-so-deceiving. By this I mean, in a run-bike-run scenario, the first run typically feels real good and lures your in...then...the bike feels abnormally hard...and the final fun is as you'd expect...hard. Today I did such a brick and was able to turn a pace above my normal race pace pretty "easily."

I haven't fully absorbed what this week has in store, but it looks like about 12k in the water, 5 bikes and 4 runs, 3 of which are transition runs.

Let the Run-Up to Xterra USA Championships Begin!

2008-08-26T17:45:00.004-07:00

Well, it actually begun quite a while ago, but now with Ogden out of the way, I have the next challenge to focus on, Xterra USA Championships. See, Ogden, the Xterra Mountain Championships, was a designed to be not only be a guide to my current level of fitness, but to test the various types of training, tapering, racing strategies etc I've been exploring. A lot can be learned over the course a triathlon season and I encourage everyone to never stop building, learning, evaluating, testing and improving. To be more accurate, I will be employing the growth over the past three Xterra seasons towards the remaining two races of the year, Nationals and Worlds. This is always true, the employing learning part, but I feel like significant growth has occured of late.

After Ogden's race two weekends back, I jetted over to Colorado Springs to catch a friend's wedding and to hang with my sister for the week. Great times. I use to live in Colorado Springs and was super happy to be back. For this trip I only had my mountain bike with me, but that was all I needed. I didn't exactly follow my prescribed training plan and erred on the side of biking more, which was ok. One thing that I had forgotten about Colorado Springs was that every ride has lots of fairly steep uphill....and lots of pretty sick downhill. I mean I get my fair share of climbing here in AZ, but it is not really comparable, not even close. From a power perspective I am able to accomplish my workouts and get "enough" climbing where I live now, but.....not the same level of climbing quality as if I were to live in Colorado. Needless to say, I miss the place.

I wasn't able to fully diagnose my altitude experiment with flying into the race last minute and racing within 18hrs of being at altitude immediately post-race. But after spending time in Colorado Springs at altitude, I definitely noticed the elevation and its impact on my performance 3, 4, 5 etc days after being "up there." So...I will re-create the fly-in last minute for Tahoe. I thiking it works(ed).

While being in Colorado was nice, I did realize how mechanical I've become with life here in AZ and how good I have it. All my training needs are easily met and I have settled into a nice schedule. I now exactly where to complete each and every workout that coach Grasky can throw at me. I highly recommend checking out AZ if your are a multi-sport athlete. Maybe I'll formalize an early season Xterra camp or two....hmmm.

On training this week, the most noteworthy tough workouts are in the pool. I mean everything looks pretty tough, but, since I struggled a bit in the pool today, the remainder of the swims seem hard. It's in my head, of course. I did get to do a good workout with Tom Obrien this morning on the Hawes trails near Red Mountain (Northeast Mesa). We did a short ride with 4x10min at race pace with 2min recoveries followed by a 30min transition run at 10k race pace. If you recall, I lost some time on some of the rolling and techie sections at Ogden. Well, today Tom taught me a simple thing how to improve my mountain bike riding. He was riding behind me during the intervals above and noticed (and corrected) a couple of shifting/pedalling inefficiencies. Tom is a great mountain biker and some of the stuff he showed me today should help my performance significantly on certain parts of Xterra courses...and even more at mountain bike races.

Xterra Mountain Championship Results

2008-08-16T15:31:00.002-07:00

2nd place age group
5th place overall amateur

One word summary of results: Pleased
One word summary of how I feel: Wrecked

To set the table for the race replay, it's important to let you know my travel schedule. Initially, I was set to arrive in Ogden on Thursday in order to have plenty of time to pre-ride, register etc. As I am in experimentation mode, I decided to sample a "racing at altitude" recommendation made by Trevor Glavin . Basically it goes like this: Fly in as close as possible to the race time. Get the race done within 18hrs of arrival. So, I switched my ticket and did this. It has been a whirlwind, let me tell you.
5:30 - I flew out of Phoenix
8:00 - Landed in Utah around 8:00 (lost an hour in transit)
8:30 - Rented my car and got my bags
8:45 - Stopped by Subway for a super nutritious pre-race meal (yeah right)
9:15 - Arrived in Ogden
9:30 - Put my bike together by 9:30 (turbo) in the hotel parking lot.
9:45 - Realized I was at the wrong hotel and then went to the correct hotel.
9:50 - Met up with the crew from Cody Waite's EPC Multisport team
10:00 - Watched Dara Torres smoke the 50m prelims at the Olympics
11:00pm - Head in the fold out bed
5:00am - Head out of bed
5:30 - IHOP for another healthy meal
6:30 - Race venue for packet pick-up

Wow. I am tired just writing/reading this. So....how did the altitude thing work?? I will say that I didn't necessarily notice altitude all that much, but I am raced much differently this go around. I knew there was a glass ceiling that if exceeded would blow my race. I know, no explicit answer, I think it worked. Will I do it for Nationals at Tahoe? I don't know. It is all about the value equation, right?

Slightly better performance - stress from frantic travel - not being able to pre-ride the course = ?

Alright, onto the race. The 1500m, 2 lap swim was at Pineview Reservoir at the base of Snow Basin Ski Resort. Water temp was 71 degrees. Wetsuits were "optional" for amateurs. Pros were in "no wetsuit" mode. The pro water temp cut-off is 68. Not sure where this rule came from. I opted to NOT wear a wetsuit. Am I crazy? Well, I hate to drop another equation on you, but check this out.

My 2XU Super Elite Endurance race suit, although not really a true speed suit, in my opinion, is pretty fast. Is it faster than my Zoot Zenith wetsuit? All else being equal the wetsuit is "faster." But, I have not swam in my wetsuit since June. The wetsuit, although it's as good as it gets, is still not as flexible as speed suit and leads to muscle fatigue. Also, at altitude, breathing comes at a premium and a tight wetsuit might hinder freedom of the inhale/exhale action. So, I love open water swimming and had my mind made up to not wear a wetsuit before I showed up. After a quick survey of the shoreline pre-race, I was probably the one of the only amateurs without a wetsuit on.

The gun sounding set the flurry in motion. My strategy was to "chill" and ease into the swim. I've been working on some specific aspects of my stroke (and brain) to make this work. Right away, I noticed I was not executing my strategy, but was quickly able to adjust. My brain power during a race is getting much better. All-in-all, the first 300m or so was brutal. there were over 300 athletes in this race all charging full steam for one lone buoy in the middle of the lake's cove. Bedlam. I typically don't get beat down during swim starts, but today was different. I can't remember the sequence, but I definitely got a swift blow to my throat followed by my goggles being ripped off my face from the other side. I had to stop for a second. Super dangerous as one could get malled. I quickly fixed the problem and, actually, the incident enhanced my focus. It didn't piss me off or get my adrenaline going, I kind of laughed and thought to myself, "this sport is supposed to hard." I settled into a nice pace early on and not once found feet to draft off of. I was constantly looking ahead to the next person or next group to catch up to. I certainly negative split the thing and finished roughly 3min faster than last year.

Key takeaways: My swim training is dialed. 4x swims per week, longer distance intervals and more open water swimming paid big dividends. Looking towards Tahoe, I will keep similar training in motion while spending more time in my wetsuit (Lake Tahoe is pretty much always 56 degrees).

Once on the bike, I used the first stretch of road to get de-funked from the water before hitting the trails for the upcoming 3500ft of climbing. With the exception of two very fast pros (both top-10 at worlds last year), I was doing all of the passing. I would settle in, check-in with my body, then pick it up some more. I more or less eased into the bike too. My goal was to get in a good spot prior to a long stretch of single track where passing would be difficult. The middle section of the course was twisty single track that trended upwards. While I didn't loose focus in this section, I think I was not very efficient and lost time. I kept passing people, but I did get passed by one other pro and....my biggest competition in my age group, Luke Jay. I stayed with Luke for a while, but slowly but surely lost ground. A big no-no on a course where you can't see too far ahead; out of sight out of mind. I kept riding my own pace thinking I would run him down. Looking at the times, I wasn't close. Luke had a great day. Congrats to him.

The bike course was different from the 2007 edition and lost a bit of climbing that once took us way up near the top of Snow Basin. This year, the supplement was a serious of serious steep, loose climbs followed by some really fun, twisty, rocky single track that was a little up and a little down. On the steep stuff, I was in my smallest chain ring combination and just tried to spin up the climbs without grinding to a stop or blowing up my legs. The other fun stuff was a bit concerning (along with other downhill sections of the course) because I had -0- rear brake the entire race. Bummer, but not the end of the world. I had to be a little more cautious than normal. Some disc brake issue...not sure what yet though.

Key takeaways: My long gradual hill climbing power was solid, but my ability to pace on varied terrain left a bit to be desired. My muscle endurance and endurance in general were good and I appreciated the long Mt Lemon days. Tahoe has a number of good climbs, but does have some sections in the middle where I need to be able to switch from "climb" mode to "roller/technical" mode while maintaining pace. Training will need to be modified, not in intensity or duration, to include more hard stuff on varied terrain.

Onto the run. Uphill grind to start with. My strategy was to ease into this too (see a theme?). Once topping out, I opened up my legs and started to put down a good pace. Not blistering as I would have liked, but fairly fast. The course has a bunch of different sections from tree covered single track to rocky trail exposed on the side of the mountain that required fast feet. Fun. I passed a couple of people, but no one of consequence. Looking back, I had more in the tank and should have really hammered more.

Key takeaways: I will have to look at race times before really knowing how I performed, but I need to be fully aware and confident that I can run people down. There are three legs to this sport of triathlon, all of which can be significant factors to determining the winner. Tahoe is basically a flat run course with a number of little twists, creek crossings etc. Leg turnover and a high top end speed will be critical. I have already been hitting the track for top end speed and I feel it is working to this end, but I think my training will need to include some longer really fast runs.

Value of a Great Bike Shop: Focus Cyclery

2008-08-07T17:38:00.002-07:00

There are so many moving pieces and parts to being a triathlete that it's a wonder to me how everything gets accomplished. It seems like it's "enough" for me to simply eat, sleep, go to work, get in workouts...and...barely hang out with my wife. So, what happens when something gets out of sync or something pops up that wasn't planned? Chaos is not an answer. This is were a solid support team steps in. No, I don't mean like a crew similar to the one that roles around with the Garmin/Chipotle boys , but in reality, they serve the same purpose; to keep you going strong towards your goals.

Today, in particular, I would like to pay special tribute to Mike, Jessie, Cale and Jack at Focus Cyclery located in Gilbert, Arizona. Focus Cyclery plays a big role in my support crew network. Case in point: I showed up to the shop a couple of days ago after a mtb ride with a leaky fork that wouldn't lock-out. Within a couple of hours, after Focus moved my issue to the front of the line without me asking, as I never would ask, I learned that, for lack of the technical part name, my fork's insides were blown. Big problemo considering 1) I have a big race in next weekend, 2) Cannondale's Lefty SL fork ain't cheap to fix or replace and 3) sometimes parts take a while to find there way to the local bike store. So, what now? Mike, Focus' owner, said no problem we'll get you rolling ASAP. I didn't really know what this meant until I actually saw the bike today. Was I going to get an older or different version of a Lefty as a loaner? Not so much. I rolled into the shop to find a brand spanking new Lefty SL on my bike. Word up! I'll say that again. Word up!

I mean, without Focus Cyclery having my back in a huge way, where would I be? Apart from being mountain bike less, I would not be able to race next weekend at the Xterra Mountain Championships in Ogden, a critical step in my approach towards Xterra Nationals and Worlds. I'll say this, if you live in Phoenix Metro or are ever in Phoenix Metro and are looking for a bike shop, please stop by Focus Cyclery and check them out. They even sell triathlon gear too. If you don't live in Phoenix, please cruise down to your local shop and buy the guys behind the counter a round of coffees and don't ask them for a single thing, not a deal, not a freebie...nothing....just be cool. You never now when you will need your support crew.

After the thoughts above, training updates seem tiny, but...here we go...post crash week I am not feeling 100% in both mind and body, but still able to put down some seriously intense workouts without cracking. I have been in "crush every record mode" for a little while and have been fairly successful, so it is hard to feel good with just maintaining status quo. As if cranking out 15%-20% more wattage on the bike than earlier in the season is no good. Gimmie a break! Graksy, my Xterra triathlon coach, knows what he is doing. I have been more of a head case over the last 5 days than I have ever been. Not in a bad way, but I am questioning and evaluating everything because my plan is non-standard and the stakes are high. The positive thing is that I feel in no one over trained. I know exactly what that feels like and I am not there. Actually knowing that I am not there gives me motivation and confidence to keep on chugging.

One critical element of my plan that has kept me healthy is that I brought my volume down to accommodate the increase in intensity. Sounds simple right? Well, not so fast. Apart from overcoming the mental hurdle I call the "volume" dilemma that many endurance athletes face (more is better), I am in the process of striking a balance between keeping up enough volume for this phase of training (still 2.5mths away from Worlds) and nailing the intensity in a way that actually pushes me to the limit, but not over. Do you know exactly where that point is with yourself? I don't but I am finding it. Another little piece to this whole equation is a "what works for you" unknown variable. What my coach wisely deduced is that I literally need an above average amount of intense workouts. What works for you?

Keep On Pushing

2008-08-02T20:40:00.002-07:00

I have taken a new interest in seeing how my body responds to being pushed. It is funny, in hind-sight, that I use to take every single race so seriously and truly expected to be in top form for every single one. Inexperience I suppose. Now, I genuinely relish the opportunity to try new things with not only specific workouts, but with larger blocks of training, race day strategy etc. The whole enchilada.....everything is fair game. What this really means, with respect to being in top form for race day, is that you kind of have to be willing to accept the results of a failed experiment...or be prepared to reap the rewards of the increased risk. Enough with being vague!

What all this specifically means today is that I am trying some new workouts that push me well beyond my typical comfort zone, or ordinary intense training. For example, today's workout consisted of roughly 2hr mtb ride of which 40mins where intervals going up some gnarly climbs at a threshold pace followed by a transition treadmill run where I set the pace for 6:15 miles and simply held on for as long as I could. No warm-up or easing-in, just set it and went. I lasted for 30 minutes. This might not sound considerable to you, but with the fatigue that has set in as the result of the cumulative effects of intense training over the past number of weeks....this was tough. I physically cracked after about 20mins and then put the brain on cruise control for the last 10mins. I will keep forging ahead tomorrow with a 3.5hr road bike ride and a 2500m open water swim to stay true to my "crash" week. Not big, but, trust me, enough at this point. Looking back, pretty much all of my intensity workouts in each sport are not the "norm" that you typically see or that I hear others doing. This is great and might be the answer to how to not leave potential fitness on the table come race day.

Triathlon Crash Week and Mt Lemmon Intervals

2008-07-28T20:13:00.003-07:00

No. I didn't crash; knock on wood. It's time to further dial-in exactly how I best peak. With the big races on the horizon, I have a great opportunity to test out/simulate what my coach, Brian Grasky, and I think to be the best lead-up with Ogden, the Xterra Mountain Championships, as a guinea pig. I am roughly three weeks away from the race and am embarking on a "crash" week. The bottom line on crash weeks is to push harder than normal (volume and intensity are levers to pull to encourage this) so that significant fitness gains are recognized a couple of weeks down the road. The simulation will extend beyond this week and will actually run all the way up to Ogden. With a careful eye to what has/has not worked all season thus far and this new/soon-to-come info, I should have a pretty decent picture of how best to get my body firing on all cylinders for Tahoe, the Xterra USA Championships. The trick for the next week get all things focused on training. Everything has been streamlined. Pantry and fridge are packed with good food. Clothes for work and workouts are all clean and ready. Equipment is organized and functional....and....the training plan is locked-in. So, here we go.

Coming off of super solid training since my mid-season break has me so excited and ready to race. Today, for the first time ever, I had a rush of adrenaline thinking about the swim. I was picturing myself at Ogden launching out from the start and settling into a crushing swim pace. This was followed by an "ease" of getting into a similarly crushing bike tempo headed on up the long climb. Weird, but good.

I've blogged about Mt Lemon before, but it is so great I have to talk about it again. I did Mt Lemon with Tom O'brien, a fellow AZ Xterra triathlete, yesterday, Sunday. After grabbing a breakfast consisting of two super sugary treats from Starbucks and a grande Americano, we met up with the Phoenix Tri Club a couple of miles away from the base of the climb and cruised with them for a nice warm-up. I had a gnarly set of intervals lined-up for the day and knew that I would be pretty much solo for the entire climb, with the exception of Tom rolling along. We did the following set up Lemon:

Do this entire set 2x:
3x5min @ CP 6 @ 80-90rpm; 3min recovery b/w reps
10min rest
3x5min @ CP 6 @ 50-60rpm; 3min recovery b/w reps
10min rest
3x3min @ CP12 standing; 3min recovery b/w reps

Actually, the set was so long, we ran out of mountain to climb....and....there was 26 miles of mountain. It was hard to push less than Zone 2 on the recovery, so this set really added up.

I love climbing.

A quick follow-up on the other sports. On swimming, I have comfortably increase volume slightly and have been seeing some notable increases in both speed and muscle endurance (as noticed by the ability to maintain speed over longer stretches). Positive. On the run, I and still banging heads with the track. It'll come around and this past week was better than the week before. I was actually able to push a little bit towards the end of the 8x800s vs. falling of the face of the earth. My recovery post-track workout was an issue two weeks ago, but I think I solved the dilemma by shifting some training around. The track is still way hard and I have to breath deep when I see the workouts, but it's worth it.

Soild Tough Week Complete

2008-07-20T20:47:00.002-07:00

Ahhh....A tough week is in the books. This week had its' challenges fueled by not only increased workout intensity and breakthrough workouts, but work stress. Work stress, or stress in general, is a sneaky little bugger. I've found myself able to operate at nearly 100% irrespective of work stress during pretty much all base periods of training, but once the intensity hits...forget it. This go around, I decided to really listen to my body much more closely than I have in the past. To achieve my goals there is no way that sub-par training will do. When it's time to train hard and hit it, I have to really hit it. In hind-sight, now that the week is done, I really didn't deviate too much from my plan, I just moved some things around based on how I was feeling. Listen to your body! I've already built my learning into next weeks plan and am looking forward to crushing it once again.

On to training....I wrapped the weekend up with some big rides and some light swimming and running. I logged around 10,000ft of climbing split between the road and mountain bikes. One modification to my standard bike intervals was to build one of my interval days into my long Saturday ride. Typically, I do intervals on the bike on Tuesday and Thursday and focus on endurance and tempo on the weekends. Moving one of the interval days to the weekend really frees-up the week to add in some increased intensity on the swim and run while taking some recovery on the bike. Plus, it has added some variation to my workouts.

Scheduling Workouts is an Art

2008-07-16T21:06:00.003-07:00

Scheduling workouts is an art that I have yet to master. I view this as a positive and a negative.

Positive: I want to produce different/improved racing results. To do so, I have to train differently than I have in the past. Feeling like I am out of my comfort zone and needing to re-think the scheduling of my workouts is an indication that I am in fact pushing and moving into uncharted territory.

Negative: To get the most out of every workout, I need to be fresh and charge each and every workout appropriately (hard stuff real hard and easy stuff real easy). With new workouts on my plan that I didn't do in the first half of the season coupled with simply moving into a more difficult phase of training my workouts haven't been balance appropriately and I have not been able to complete some workouts as spec'd. No bueno.

No biggee. Eyes wide open. I will get it fixed.

Two main reasons I got to this point:
1) I typically swim 3-4x/wk. To fit everything in this week, I have done three days in a row of swimming that have left my arms/shoulders noticeably fatigued. Form, gone. Ability to hold moderate/prescribed pace, gone. I started to fall apart during a set of 800s at race pace yesterday. Today during a set of 10x200s, I fell apart 1/2 way through the workout. Some of this "melt down" had to do with muscle fatigue and some had to do with #2 below....

2) This morning, I did my first track workout of the year. Crazy, huh? Well, refer back to my comment about doing things differently....I have to get faster. I did a main set of 5x1200 at 5k race pace. Yuck, ouch, puke and some other four-letter words. I simply have not done any real speed work in so long and my body and mind just had no idea what to do. The first three intervals were on target although very uncomfortable (to me there is a difference between very hard and uncomfortable), but the final two were significantly off pace :09 and :13 seconds off respectively. This workout left me tired for hours...I usually recover pretty quickly, but even 5 hrs later, I was still feeling it.

Bottom line....anaerobic endurance set on the track followed by a tough muscle endurance set in the pool on fatigued upper body = the need to take a look at how my workouts are scheduled.

Doing 2-3 sports a day doesn't leave much room to wiggle.

Recovery Complete. Cool.

2008-07-14T20:27:00.002-07:00

The scheduling of workouts for the remainder of my year will be a balancing act. This past week I took a recovery week. I didn't necessarily need a recovery week because 1) my body was holding up well, 2) my motivation was at an all-time high and 3) my ATP (Friel's annual training plan) was necessarily indicating that I needed one.

So, why did I take the rest? First, I trust my coach Brian Grasky. Second, to set up the rest of the year, schedule wise, I had to take the week "off." On a coaching note, if you are a coached athlete or considering being coached, I strongly recommend engaging in robust dialogue with your coach. Over time, your coach will learn quite a bit about you as an athlete, but I am a firm believer that you will always know yourself better. You might not know how to articulate the way you are feeling or how a training session went - in words per se, but if your gut presents a discomfort about a particular piece of your plan....don't dismiss it. Address it.

Back to my recovery week. I really rested for 5 days and hit the weekend fairly hard. It worked out ok because I had a two day business trip in the middle of the week that really only limited me to short, moderately productive runs. I got in a test in each sport where my swim test went well and my bike and run tests netted little improvements. Not worries at all. In general, I am seriously re-evaluating what my recovery weeks look like and how my mind and body respond to them. On the "mind" side of things, I need to find a way to keep riding the positive momentum from putting in solid/hard weeks. I kind of get "down" mentally during a recovery week. On the body" side of things, I need to keep feeling fresh while still recovering. I know I don't really "lose" fitness and that recovery is extremely good for my body, but often times I feel like certain parts of my fitness regress....not sure how to quantify this, but things centering around how my body responds to regularly scheduled workouts and discomfort from difficult sessions.

This week I am entering a build phase with slightly less volume with slightly increased intensity. I am keeping up a decent swim volume w/4x/wk , hitting the most intensity on the bike and easing up the volume on the run while adding in my 1st track workout of the season....watch out!

Is More Swim Training Worth It?

2008-07-08T19:42:00.003-07:00

I've wrestled with this question often and assume that other triathletes have similar thoughts. Earlier in the season, I decided that my swim was "fast enough" and that my time would be better spent on other sports, particularly on bike. So, I simply maintained my swim. Was this the best decision? Is it the best decision going forward?

In talking with many other triathletes about the swim and this question, this comment also comes up, "I would have to put in 50%-100% more time in the pool to simply save :45 seconds on the swim in a race. Where as, if I only increase my bike training by 10% I would save 3:00 on the bike in a race." This makes sense and this is usually where the conversation stops.

However, I think there is more to this equation. It isn't simply a one-to-one relationship where more swim work equals a faster swim time. For me, I think the equation goes like this:

More swim work = more pre-race confidence + a faster swim time + a faster bike time + a faster run time

Let me explain....

More pre-race confidence: The swim is always the first leg of a triathlon and is likely the place that many of the pre-race jitters are dealt with. Knowing you have trained well for the swim should not only alleviate negative doubt that could seep into more of the race well past the swim, but should promote a positive outlook, which we all know positively impacts performance.

A faster swim time: Assuming you aren't just doing more swim work in vain and know what you personally need to improve, this is fairly self explanatory. Putting more productive effort towards swimming should result in a faster swim time.

A faster bike/run time: If no more time is spent on either the bike nor the run in training and only an increased productive effort is devoted towards swimming, it is likely that you will hit the bike with more energy purely from improved swim fitness in addition to reaping the benefits of the positive outlook referred to above. Same goes for the run; increasing fitness in a preceding sport should lead to improved performance in a subsequently performed sport.

I buy into the longer, more complicated equation and have implemented the resulting outcome; increased productive effort devoted towards swimming. Yes, I might only save :45 seconds off of my swim time, but will likely pick up significantly more in the long run.

On caveat...I have not made this change without considering its' impact on primary bike and run training. I have gone through a similar "equation exploration" with each sport and have adjusted my training appropriately.

Any data to support this you might ask? Well, this is test week, again, and my swim times have improved :04/100 to a season's best. Bike and run tests to follow later this week....I am confident that I will PR those as well.

Getting dialed in.

Long Live Long Rides

2008-07-05T16:58:00.002-07:00

Today, I was supposed to do either a group road ride or a group mtb ride, per my guru-esque coach, Brian Grasky. Two problems with this:

1) I would have had to drive to the group ride, a big no-no in my book.....driving to a ride and...
2) my preferred MTB buddy, Tom Obrien, was out of town.

These things coupled with the having to get up at 4:30 to beat the heat and the challenge to somehow out-do Cody Waite's 55,000 ft of climbing in two weeks in preparation for Ogden - Xterra Mountain Championship left me challenged of what ride to do.....not sure why this became so complicated. I rolled out solo from my house on my road bike to find as much climbing as I could. 84 miles and 4:45hrs later, I accumulated exactly 6,000 ft ascentby heading out East of Phoenix passed Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flat. Not bad. The longest sustained climbs of the day were around 4 miles long. I felt like I really had to work for these vertical feet. I would have much rather done a long climb like Mt Lemmon. For whatever reason, because none of the climbs were independently very long, I felt like I had to go harder than a high zone 2/low zone 3 power. Long story short...I went hard and it felt good.

As I neared my house I headed up/down Usery Pass, a popular loop that many locals ride, to find a couple of things:

1) A cycling dude chillin' under a tree who "over did it a little and was cooling off" (it was around 100 degrees by this time; time for me to go home)
2) A 50+ yr old cycling dude who jumped on my wheel up a climb who then pulled around with some decent speed (note to self and others reading....don't try to throw down when you've already shut it down for the day)

Anyway, I opted to hang with this guy who was putting down some pretty serious power. I road side-by-side with him, then resorted to hanging on his wheel...then...he pulled up with a cramp and that was that...the final sign that it was time to go home. After another couple of minutes above threshold on the climb (my motor was going...couldn't turn it off) I, finally, headed for home. Joyous. Just a couple symptoms of heat exhaustion (no more sweat, chills etc) and a couple miles...boom...done deal.

A couple of worthwhile notes on the ride today were that I ate more than normal on the ride, about 250 calories per hour and I drank a lot (stopped everywhere I could to re-fill often). This helped....no duh.

Base 3 Progress, Daily

2008-07-02T15:48:00.004-07:00

I am always a little nervous about losing fitness coming off of a race and subsequent transition periods. Yes, in fact, I've lost fitness, but the benefits were 1) I got rested up enough to race fast and 2) my body and mind have had a chance to breath and have found a way to re-muster the courage to have at it again.

Now in the middle of my 2nd week back at training, Base 3, all sluggishness from taking time off is virtually gone and all systems are "GO." I am still adapting to the general "tiredness" associated with training with a decent amount of intensity and volume. I love learning about my body and how it responds to training. At this stage in the game I can discern between "tiredness" and over training.

I've done a number of key workouts this week that have included 5x6min hill repeats just under LT on the bike, a run with 24mins at zone 3/tempo with some powerful, quick footed strides for 20sec x 7 up hills mixed in and some race-paced 100s and some longer sets of 800s in the pool. Fortunately, I've been able to get everything done in the mornings before work or at lunch.

A big workout weekend is on the horizon and, quite frankly, it scares me. Not the duration or intensity, but the heat/weather. Even starting at 5am, I will get my fair share of 100+ temps. I have a couple of things to confront this. First are insulated water bottles. I fill these the night before and put one in the fridge and one in the freezer. Next, my "personal cooling system" consists of filling my 50oz Camelbak with water, freezing it and popping it on my back for long rides. It gradually melts, keeping me cool in the process and leaves me a nice reservoir of reserve water. Finally, I just got De Soto Arm Coolers from TriSports. Supposedly, these arm coolers "are guaranteed to keep your arms cooler in training and racing than if you had nothing on your arms at all." We'll see....

Mt Lemmon

2008-06-29T19:32:00.002-07:00

This week wrapped my first full week back training after my mid-season break. All in all, a great week. I am gradually falling into a nice routine and am refining some scheduling things that make training more convenient. Simple things like going to bed / waking up at the same time, dialing in pre-workout nutrition and...one of the most important things here in the desert....finding a way to get workouts done early in the morning/day. Little things add up.

The highlights of the week were riding Mt Lemmon and achieving one of my bike power goals during a mid-week test. I love climbing on the road bike and Lemmon has roughly 26 miles and (6,600 ft of elevation gain) of it. My goal for the day was to maintain a high zone 2/low zone 3 the whole way up while pushing up past threshold towards the top. It was a hard earned 70 miles (in total). Mission accomplished. I can't wait to go back. On the bike power goal, unaware to me at the time, during a mid-week TT/test on the road bike, I exceeded my 30minute power goal. My coach let me know...glad to see he is keeping tabs on me and looking at my power files.

This week is a big one. Probably the biggest ones for the rest of the season (sounds weird to say). My run saw some good progress early in the season, but has since regressed back to '07 speed/plateaued a bit. So....time to hit the run hard. Actually I have a lot of work to do in all three sports. Being a triathlete is fun...never short of work to do, progress to make, races to get better at.

1/2 a Watt

2008-06-25T21:17:00.004-07:00

With all the "free" time I had last week while not formally training, I was able to pick up a few new bike pieces and parts. Two of which were installed tonight. A new Selle Italia XP saddle (160g) and new Specialized Rib Cage MTB bottle cages (66g for the pair). These two changes netted a 108g reduction in my Cannondale Taurine's weight. After some late night math skills, these savings will spare me exactly 1/2 of 1 watt at my FTP (functional threshold power). Nice...right?

I love routine and I am getting back into a big way...well...I better be! After my swim test (3x300s) today, I have some work to do. I've lost a couple of seconds/100 over the past couple of months. I must say though that after the Temecula race in May, I did intentionally cut back my swimming to make room for more bikes and runs. I'm back to 4x swims/week one of which will be open water.

Test Time

2008-06-24T20:50:00.003-07:00

Being back into training feels great. No kidding. Three weeks of racing plus one week off plus a clear vision of what needs to be done to take it to the next level equals a super happy camper. Pumped. I wish there was a way to bottle this feeling and pull it out at will. Maybe I can.

This week is filled with some pretty tough training and testing. In my head I was going to ease back into training...not so much. Yeah, nothing race-prep intensity, but still mucho volume and pretty tough stuff...including one tough test in each sport. I knocked out a 40min time trial on the road bike today, have a swim test tomorrow and a run test in two days. Testing will be a big part of my plan for this remainder of the season. Dial it in.

You will hear me talking about climbing on the bike a lot over the next couple of months. It's a must. Ogden, Tahoe and Maui all have a lot of it. So, I will be doing a lot of it. Starting this weekend I will join my coach, Brian Grasky, in Tucson for some suffering on Mt Lemmon. Speaking of Grasky, he just told me he will be doing an the Snow Valley Xterra and that he was running some serious run splits at a local race a week or so back. Awesome! I am so stoked for him to be back in the game. For those of you who don't know, Brian broke his leg badly about 14mths ago, had a bunch of complications, but has persevered and emerged a champion...as he always does. Training with him this weekend (and many more over the next couple of months) will be great.

I've got to recognize a pretty special moment. During the Xterra East Championships, my parents were able to see me win my very first, 1st place at a regional race. Super special....on Father's Day and all. So...here's to my Mom and Dad. Thanks for cheering like crazy!

1st Half Wrap

2008-06-23T07:02:00.002-07:00

I just wrapped up the 1st half of my season and am officially back to structured training.

With many lessons learned and some decent results, I am super focused and very excited for the remainder of the season which culminates with the Xterra World Championships in Maui, HI on October 26.

2008 Results so far:
Arizona Xtreme Xterra:
1st AG, 5th Overall

Xterra West Championships:
3rd AG, 11th Overall

Deuces Wild Xterra:
1st AG, 1st Overall

Xterra Southeast Championships:
2nd AG, 6th Overall

Xterra East Championships:
1st AG, 7th Overall

*Qualified for Maui (had to get top-2 at an Xterra Championship race)
*Secured 1st place in the Southwest Xterra Points Series (had to accumulate 3 AG wins with one being a Championship race to get max points)

I just wrapped a transition week where I trained very little and at a lot (gained 5lbs!). My mind and body are rearing to go to say the least. Just where I need to be. Prior to this transition week I had three races in three weekends. With all the travel and a race prep training schedule, I am due for some solid and consistent volume. I am diving into some testing this week with a normal Base 3 workout mix. Pumped. 5 bikes, 4 swims and 3 runs. Focuses over the upcoming weeks will be force/climbing on the bike, race-paced/open water swimming on the swim and speed/track work on the run.

Deuces Wild Xterra

2008-06-06T05:34:00.006-07:00

The Deuces Wild Xterra in Show Low, Arizona has become a standard stop on my race schedule. Show Low is about a 3hr drive from Phoenix, is usually a couple of degrees cooler, set among the pines and is at 6,500 feet elevation. What's not to love? A great break from the desert. The Xterra that was on Sunday was just one part of a triathlon weekend filled with a half ironman, olympic distance race and a huge raffle ($30,000 worth of schwag) that were all put on by Trisports.

The timing of this race couldn't have been better as it fit nicely into my peak/race phase of training, one week prior to the upcoming South East Championship in Birmingham, Alabama (where I am right now) and the East Championship in Richmond, Virginia the following week. More on training later.

We cruised up to Show Low on Saturday morning and headed straight for the race course for a pre-ride. I headed out for an hour spin and Mandy headed out for trail run. Finishers of the the road tri's were still coming in and the tri-atmosphere made for an exciting time (read this as "I think its' cool to ride around a road tri on a mountain bike...oh, the looks!). The big feature of the bike course was a 4.5 mile climb with the last portion being over some loose, baby-doll head sized rocks. I only pre-rode up to this section then turned around and headed for home. No need to do anything more. The weeks training was brutal and I wanted/needed to go easy.

Back at the parking lot, I caught up with my coach, Brian Grasky and talked over the course, how I was feeling and some race strategies. He still has the course record, so he knew what to say. After a quick swim in the 60 degree lake and registering, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R.

For dinner, we headed up to Pinetop, a short 15min drive away, for a sweet home cooked dinner with a Phoenix Xterra bud, Jonathan Sellwood (thanks Man!). It was hard to beat the killer grub and sitting on the back porch at a killer lakeside house. Perfect scenario the night before a race.

I've been riding for ~15min and swimming for ~10min as my warm-up this year. The short bike seems to help my legs get engaged when the bike leg hits. So, I road to the race course early in AM to set up transition and get ready for a 7AM start. I'll beat the heat any day, so earlier the better for me. I've feel I've finally figured out how to relax leading up to a race and am now really enjoying the entire triathlon race process, race morning being part of this. Familiar faces, good short conversations and the ability to focus on performance vs focus on the competition.

An 800m swim should be easy, right? Well, it kind of was, but it sure felt a lot harder at 6,500 ft with a cold wetsuit (cold = more stiff = more tired muscles). Not much else to say other than the swim went ok and I was glad when it was over. I came in out of the water in 12th but was able to leave transition in around 7th.

This race, and actually the past year, has been about the bike. It finally clicked. These things were pulsing through my mind, "ride the bike like a bike race", "make me legs shake" and "don't even think about the run, it will take care of itself." This is what I did and started to pick off riders one-by-one. I moved into the race lead at the top of the and never looked back. I knew I was doing the bike right and it felt good. Finally...all the hard training actually being used in the race. About time.

I came into T2 with 2nd place about 45 seconds behind me, but didn't stop to see who it was. I knew the run course was fast and that I was feeling ok. It took me a little while to get my legs going, but after a mile or so, I was on cruise control. The course had a couple of long stretches and an out-and-back that served as good places to see how the competition was doing...no one in site. I knew I was going to win. 1st overall win at an Xterra with an ok swim, a good bike and an ok run. I'll take it! I am not really sharing exactly how much of a breakthrough race this was for me, but let's just say, "HUGE!"

Now, on to the East Coast for some serious racing. Alabama and Virginia for Xterra Regionals. It's peak time, what I've been training for the past 6mths. Only one result will be acceptable.

Xterra West Championships

2008-05-21T06:46:00.003-07:00

Quick summary:

3rd 25-29 Age Group
11th overall amateur
11min improvement or 2007

Swim:

Non-wetsuit, 74 degree water - I really prefer non-wetsuit swims
My 2xU Super Elite suit from Focus Cyclery worked and felt super slick and fast
Got off to a smooth start and was with the lead age groupers the entire swim
Came out of the feeling fresh and confident

Bike:

Temperature started heating up for the two-lap course that had plenty of climbing
Found bike legs pretty quickly (been working on swim/bike bricks and used silicone ear plugs to fend off balance issues)
Kept leaders in site on first climbs, but started to loose ground once they got out of site as the descent started
Maintained an ok pace while keeping focused and positive even though the top places had gotten away
Nutrition and hydration was spot-on; 6 Cliff shot blocks, 2 GUs, 1 bottle of water, 1 bottle filled with PowerBar endurance mix and 1 bottle of Hammer Perpetuum

Run:

Super hot by now and had to tackle one long grind that required a little walking followed by a two lap section with some steep rollers and fast descents
Didn't feel like I could push until 3/4 of the way through
Legs held up good on the step stuff by monitoring how high I picked my legs up and how hard I pushed
Stopped at every aide station for a water and a splash of cold water on the head

What's next:

My peak is on the way over the next couple of weeks
I will leave it all on the bike the next races, the top spots are very close
This weekend I will be taking some family time in Destin, FL
Following weekend is a local race in Show Low, AZ, Deuces Wild
Two weekends from now will start the East Coast adventure with the SE Championships in Alabama followed by the East Championships in Virginia

Bring the Intensity; It's Race Time

2008-04-20T08:56:00.002-07:00

While there are a couple of months and numerous training sessions between now and my first peak, race intensity workouts have become common place. With my first Xterra race this weekend, I am starting to get into the race mindset and tough workouts really help accomplish this. All of this hard work has been to make sure that I'm prepared to go super hard and hopefully fast during the race. There is no reason to conserve. There are no second chances. The implication of this is severe suffering. Flat out. No way around it. It is going to hurt, but this is why I've been training. My body can take it. The faster I go, the sooner it is over....ha. I am ready.

This week is a recovery week. I am typically VERY ready for recovery weeks when they come. I am reminding myself that I will feel better and better each day between now and Saturday's race. Today I did a 2hr mtb ride with a couple of short LT efforts followed by a short LT run brick. I usually push past LT particularly on brick runs, but I now the purpose of these workouts this week and understand that every little bit I push over LT will prohibit my recovery. So..I listened to my HR monitor and that was that. The rest of the week leading up to the race has a number of easy workouts with short bouts of high intensity. Just enough to keep my body sharp without hindering recovery. Since this race is not of high priority and I have to keep on plugging away at my training plan, I will put in a long endurance ride on Sunday post race. I am off to practice some transitions in my garage. Every second counts.

Building with Perspective

2008-04-15T20:55:00.003-07:00

This is the time when hanging tough is tough, but essential. Turning all this hard work into race speed is what I am working on during this build phase. Feeling fast is not really the goal right now although it would be nice. Unfortunately, most of what I "feel" is tired. Focusing on recovery and really listening to my body is super crucial right now. Case in point; yesterday at lunch I did a super hard anaerobic set in the pool where I basically went all out with a much faster (than me) masters' group. This morning before work I hopped on the trainer for one of my key bike trainer workouts which was to be followed by a key run brick. After the prescribed warm-up, I noticed I not only lacked the motivation to complete the workout(s) (which is a lot to do it correctly), but my energy level was nill. I bagged it, went to work and re-convened with the workout(s) later in the day. Mental and physical had been restored and I knocked it out. I enjoy learning about my body and now know that I need roughly 24hrs between "break through" workouts if I want to do them right.

Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to help my coach, Brian Grasky, with an Xterra mini-camp at Saguaro Lake, the site of the upcoming AZ Xtreme Xterra. I still feel like I have so much to learn about triathlon, so I went into the mini-camp a little uncertain about what value I could add as one of the leaders. Well, let's just say I've learned a lot and got tons of satisfaction out of working out with a bunch of motivated athletes that were basically in the same boat that I was in just a couple of years ago. I look forward to seeing this bunch on race day and wish them the best of luck. Pre-riding is so valuable for both the seasoned and new triathlete. Particularly related to the value of pre-riding; in the water, we identified numerous sighting points along the route, on the bike, we figured out where the best places to fuel and how to navigate the hike-and-bike sections and deep sand sections and on the run, apart from figuring out that I've been going the wrong way for two years, we pointed out aide station locations and figured out the best places to "recover" after hammering the hills. Worth it!

Looking to the next couple of weeks I am deviating from the traditional 3 weeks on 1 week off routine in order to make the most of the upcoming races which include the Xterra West Championships in about a month while carefully juggling key training sessions and recovery. I have confidence in this direction. A solid base, good milestone testing and a thoughtful plan put together by an experienced coach help, to say the least.

2.4 Miles is Far

2008-04-06T18:24:00.002-07:00

Today I did the 2.4 mile open water swim at Tempe Town Lake. It started kind of late, 10:30, which presented a minor nutrition challenge and meant that I would be doing my long ride during the heat of the day (almost 90). These early season, sport specific races are great for testing not only fitness, but pre-race stuff.

Today I focused on nutrition and being super chill, but focused. On nutrition, which seems to get easier with experience, I did my typical cereal breakfast (Kashi mixed with granola and soy milk). 1hr out from the race I ate a power bar. 30min out from the race I had a small bottle of PowerBar Endurance (check the link...it goes to the best price out there...if you aren't already sponsored). I sipped on some water here-and-there. That was it. It seemed to work just fine. I probably won't do anything much different for Xterra.

On the "being chill" side of things, never underestimate the value of getting your gear ready the night before. You will sleep better and won't be as stressed out on race day....and....you are less likely to forget things like goggles, your helmet etc. I am terrible at pre-registering, but I have committed, thanks primarily to my wife, to pre-registering for every race. 1 for 1. So, what all this amounts to is that I was able to focus on the task at hand. For me, physically walking slowly to-and-from the car, start/finish, body marking etc really does the trick. I am also finding that thinking more about execution vs. fitness and what-if scenarios is supremely better for my mindset. I have to have faith in my training and understand that I have been lining up for competitions of some sort for nearly 25 years.

Forgive me if I don't give a big race report. I swam a big rectangle for 58:10 minutes (1:22/100y) for 8th AG, 34 overall. I am ok with this I suppose, but I think it's slow particularly comparing to others' times who I regularly swim with. I left about 4:00 - 6:00 minutes on the table. My first 1.2miles (roughly) was 27:24 (1:17/100y). Oh goodie, Xterra races are only 1500m. I recently read a quote that said something about how Pros don't make excuses for their performance, they just fix it for next time. So, next time I won't crash my mountain bike the day before a 2.4 mile open water swim that has left me barely able to even lift my bike off of my hitch mounted bike rack. : )

I followed up the swim with a tough, 4hr road bike ride. I cruised out on the IMAZ course with a nice tailwind. Spun through Fountain Hills, where they always seem to have a festival that messes up traffic. Bypassed the coffee place that has killer coffee cakes....I was only about 1.25hrs into my ride, so I couldn't justify the coffee cake nor my standard 2x espresso. NORBA was in town this weekend at McDowell Mountain, so I road over to the park to check out the racing. The pros were getting ready to go off and all those dudes looked super fast. Pro mtb racers are kind of intimidating to me for some reason...more so that roadies. I ran into to Dan DeMos who rides for Focus Cyclery. He won his age group in Expert. Congrats. He also told me that Tom Obrien crushed the field and won the entire Expert class. Since Tom is an Xterra guy, I really hope I put like 10 min on him on the swim (which ain't going to happen). GO TOM!!! He really needs to give full-time mtb racing a shot. He would be pro in a season. From there, I headed through Rio Verde and up 9-mile hill. Yeah...it really is exactly 9 miles to the top. After topping out in Cave Creek, I headed straight back to Tempe as fast as I could...it was brutally hot. Summer is (almost) here.

Tick-Tock, Back @ It

2008-04-04T22:02:00.005-07:00

There are so many things to stress about that it is often easy to loose site of simple things that make fun...fun. I do triathlon for fun. Yes, I want to get better and put up some good results, but I get a kick out of it...the entire process. There, I said it. I often hear people say that "when you aren't having fun training, then you might need to take a break." I don't subscribe to this. As the number of workouts per month, per week, per day increase, the probability of having a workout that I simply don't feel like doing or don't have fun while doing is highly likely. The trick, for me at least, is to call a spade a spade and simply manage through what the cause of my dissatisfaction is. Interestingly enough, the more dissatisfaction I have (read: stress), the more opportunity to manage this dissatisfaction comes along...and...thus the ability to get better at managing it. Where does this leave me....1) at the tail end of a recovery week 2) nearly relieved of stress after a super mellow 2k drill swim / 1hr sunset mtb and 3) completely stoked for the weekend full of somewhat epic training. Epic to me = a) long brick day where b) I have to drive to the training spot...don't ask me why. Maybe it has something to do with packing up the Subaru with a bunch of stuff. Before I get into what is on tap for the weekend, I need to recap a somewhat troubling unresolved situation with my bike. The situation is this, I have to get faster on the bike and have been putting in significantly more time on it. Higher focus = higher expectations. I did a bike test on Thursday and did not get the results I wanted. I will spare you the excuses. Once I got home and downloaded my Powertap data, I kind of freaked out and embarked on a mission to truly understand all the data the cycling software, WKO+ presents. I started to comb the Internet for answers and delved, yet again, into Hunter Allen's and Andrew Coggan's book call Training and Racing with a Power Meter (a must have for those who train with power). Well, needless to say, I now know that I really have a lot to learn. Part of me wishes I could just pay Hunter Allen $2000/mth to solve my mental issues via a robotic like, mathematical masterpiece of a training plan that, in the end, might or might not be better than what I am doing now. Not so fast. Neither Rome, nor my fitness was, or will be, built in a day...or an evening going cross-eyed looking through forums about training with power. Looking back through my data file from the bike test it really wasn't bad. I like doing tests on a long steady hill. This course was rolling with some pretty decently long stretches of downhill. Maybe I just suck because "power is power", but trying to hold 330+ watts going downhill made me prematurely blow up....then fight the rest of the effort to find the pieces. Enough!

My first Xterra race this season kicks of in just a couple of weeks with the DCB Adventures Arizona Xtreme Desert Triathlon at Saguaro Lake, AZ. Last weekend, Tom Obrien, who will likely win the Expert division at this weekend's NORBA National here in AZ, did some training on the course. We did about 2800 of open water swimming in the lake followed by 2x laps of the mtb course and capped off the day by running the 5 mile run course. Tomorrow, I will be solo, but will start the day with an easy run of the running course at zone 1/2, 2x laps of the bike course at zone 2 and then another full lap of the running course at zone 2/3. Pre-riding the course is super important and I am happy I can do it so frequently. The bike course does have two hike-and-bike hills on it, one of which tore the sole off of one of my mtb shoes. These are the replacements, pretty sweet. I opt for the three-strap vs. the buckle to not only save time in transition, but buckles + sand/dirt = NO OPEN. Sunday has another sweet training day on tap. In prep for Ironman Arizona DCB Adventures puts on a 2.4 mile swim in Tempe Town Lake over the actual IM course. After seeing what doing 2.4 miles in a wetsuit is like and what the suit does to the back of my neck (pretty sure it will move well past just chaffing), I will hop on my road bike and do a 4hr+ ride on part of the IMAZ course and then head into North Scottsdale to find a couple thousand feet of climbing.

You Can't PR Every Day

2008-03-21T21:55:00.004-07:00

...no matter how cool that would be! On Wednesday, I hooked up with a Masters' group that swims out of Scottsdale, AZ (near my work) for a lunchtime swim. After a standard warm-up...BAM...the coach says "1500 for time"....yuck! A 1500 is something that I kind of have to mentally prepare for. Within 30 seconds of the coach saying this, I was off on my swim. I had no expectations other than to complete the swim without falling apart. To my left was Lewis Elliot a local pro triathlete who was/is faster than me (100 over 1500 to be exact) and another life-long swimmer-type on my right (a couple of lengths faster than me over 1500). Great pacers to say the least. 19:40 later I was done. PR. 1:18/100y. Just two weeks back I did a 22:40, which I was satisfied with. I am trying to figure out how this happened. 1) I did not have anyone to pace off of two weeks ago, 2) The pool I swam at two weeks ago is more of a rec pool with lap lanes vs the pool I swam in a couple of days ago which is a pure lap pool, 3) My new stroke (catch and work the water back) is coming around. Whatever the case, a new bar has been set. The great thing is that it is only March and I know I can and will get faster. When I compare this swim to the swim I did with a different Masters' group in Mesa, AZ this morning (lots of 200s), I've come to the following conclusions: A) You can't PR every day. I felt sloppy and just flat out slow in the water today. This might be gross to some, but I was working so hard to over-compensate for my lack of form that I threw-up in my mouth after one of the 200s. This display leads me to B) Go to Masters with a plan. We've all been done it. You show up at Masters looking to get a "good swim", but end up throwing down just because. I did this same thing last year over and over again and it ended up leaving me too toasted to get anything else with quality done. Lesson learned!

On tap this weekend I'll be heading out early for a 80+ miles of hilly road riding with one of my local tri buddies, Mike Wares, who just qualified for Kona at IM New Zealand! He rocks. On Saturday I have a full day with a long trail run with zone 4/5+ intervals, a zone 2/3 MTB and a nice swim set with plenty of drills and a little variable speed work, nothing above tempo. Rock and roll.

The Wheel Turns

2008-03-17T20:57:00.002-07:00

Cruise control has officially been engaged because workouts are getting harder, work never lets up...and....there are still only 24hrs in a day. The good thing is that I never seem to get bored with pushing my body...especially when the positive results continue to roll. The first week of tough Base 3 workouts were tough and have left me pretty tired. Not too tired though to take on another couple of weeks. This week will increase the volume a bit and has me wondering where it is going to fit, but I am confident it will get done. I've found a nice balance doing 4 swims/week. I have been doing 1 short/drill swim solo and then hook up with masters for the other 3 sets. It is prime lake swimming time here in AZ, so I might round up some tri-buds and head to do some open water swimming this weekend. My new Zoot Xenith is screaming at me to be used. I can't wait. On the bike, I am looking at 2 super hard trainer workouts, 2 super easy short/recovery rides, 1 long zone 2/3 road ride with plenty of climbing and 1 fun day w/a couple of hours on the mtb. I have been really pushing the envelope on the trails (Hawes/Red Mountain) near my house. I am getting super comfortable on my Cannondale Taurine and think I have found a nearly ideal tire pressure for desert riding. 25psi front and rear. What good is all this hard training if I waste it all making up for poor handling? The run is progressing well and I pretty much feel more comfortable and faster with each and every run. 1hr on the trails seems par for the course and is readily becoming "fun." I am thinking of throwing in some more run-only races, but we'll see. Time to set up the torture rack (trainer) for tomorrow mornings ride.

Heading in the Right Direction

2008-03-13T04:46:00.003-07:00

I have crested the hurdle of how to positively manage higher volume and intensity. This is a great feeling because I no longer freak out about how I am going to fit everything into a day and, more importantly, I am physically and mentally ready for each workout....easy or hard. So, three cheers for a having put in extra long early base training. Fully into base 3 now, all tests indicate that I am not only heading in the right direction, but am ahead of schedule. The first true test will come on April 26 at the Arizona Xtreme Desert Xterra. I'll be out of the lab soon and into race season mode. Key training highlights for the swim are that I've added 1-2 extra easy/drill set swims per week. These are really helping my times consistently come down and are great for all around recovery. Biking is going as planned and, similar to the swim, I have added some additional easy miles. On the run I've integrated higher intensity bricks off the bike. These never feel "good", but really get my mind and body into race mode. I will be throwing in some more race specific workouts as the April 26 race draws closer like lake swims, swim start simulation sets, short interval bricks (swim-bike-swim-bike) and, fortunately, lots of pre-riding the course....it is 15min from my house. All in stride for now. Onto a trainer workout this AM, an easy jog around beautiful Paradise Valley at lunch followed up by a nice easy spin tonight after work..maybe even a night mtb ride instead.

R&R In Full Swing

2008-03-08T06:20:00.003-07:00

I am now on the tail end of a well executed recovery week. I say "well executed" because I think it takes just about as much discipline to follow a lower volume and intensity schedule as it does to follow the alternative. This being said, I can't say I didn't have the urge to get out an train a little extra here or have thoughts about like "my competition is out training while I am getting slow." Bottom line: I am rested and ready to put some serious focus and energy on my next phase of training. Base 3.

This week the final USA Triathlon rankings were published an I finished 2007 ranked 7th in the 25-29 age group with "Honorable Mention" status. This is an improvement over 2006 where I finished being ranked 12th. I was also super excited to see my XTERRA buds to receive high ranks with Trevor Glavin getting 1st (25-29), James Walsh getting 2nd (25-29) and Tom Obrien getting 6th (30-34). Great job All Americans!

During rest weeks I typically conduct some tests. Nothing too taxing in duration. I still question testing during rest week. The workouts are inherently hard and are kinds of tough to get up for mentally. I did set power PRs for the 30sec, 1min and 5min bike tests. Good. I will be doing a couple 300s at the pool tomorrow the check progress there also. Should be good.

Stay tuned for a full explanation of my upcoming East Coast XTERRA trip. My travel crew have all bought plane tickets, so it's on!

A Full Weekend of Fun

2008-03-02T19:08:00.007-07:00

The work / life / training balance has been restored post my week long Arizona training camp. I must say that the time off work has renewed my ability to be more productive at the office, which has allowed me more time and more motivation to train and has added some positive perspective as to what I am capable of with respect to training, which is a lot. Although I am actively pushing through later base training phases with an ever increase in intensity, with the blessing of my coach Brian Grasky, I will add on some smart volume. By "smart" all I really mean is inserting easy/recovery volume, most likely on the bike. My intensity won't change at all. It is where it needs to be. To get the most out of my training and to optimize my time at home, I have committed to get the majority of my working out done in the morning prior to work and at lunch. Biking and running are easy to fit in, and fortunately, I can get to masters swimming at lunch with Sun Devil Masters or in the mornings or evenings with Mesa Aquatics. All bases are covered.

I had a good swim test this weekend. I did 1500m in 22:40 (1:22.5/100y or 1:30.7/100m). Without having done anything this long all season, I'll take it. Looking at my splits, I actually got faster after about 800m, or more accurately, negative split the thing by 3 seconds/100. This means that I need to warm up good when race season rolls around and that I probably need to practice going harder for longer and explore my upper limits. Pacing for 1500m is tough, so this exploration will probably be painful, but time well spent. To aide in my venture, I got a sweet new drag suit (hey, don't judge, it was on sale), some new paddles (red ones) and stretch cordz from Swim Outlet. I am super aware now, that my new stroke will require some significant muscle endurance enhancement.

Swim Drills and Accomplished Goals

2008-02-26T19:13:00.003-07:00

Somehow amidst a 32hr training week last week, I only swam about 5k. Well, the remedy for that is 5x swims this week starting with today. You know, maintaining motivation for three sports is tough, so with the lighter week of swimming last week, I am all re-jazzed for some serious swimming now. Plus, with help from Trevor Glavin (Training Bible Coaching's newest coach), I identified some big areas for improvement in my swim stroke with my "catch" and "finish". I feel a plateau break through on the horizon once I improve on these things.

With the end in mind, check out the stroke of this world champ:

Here are a couple of drills that help with both, compliments of Crucible Fitness and Endurance Nation:

PROBLEM: Dropping Elbow on Catch

DRILL: Fist Drill

Swim regular freestyle with a closed fist for a half length, then open your hand and feel the increase in power.

Use normal to fast arm speed and do not use fins. Concentrate on pulling with the forearms.

PROBLEM: Short Finish

DRILL: Flicker Drill

Aggressively accelerate the hand at the end of the stroke, brushing your thumb against your thigh. Hand exits explosively and "flicks" water behind you. Do half lap of Flicker, half lap swim.

Keep the acceleration and thumb-to-thigh, lose the flicker.

Finishing your stroke, every stroke is critical. When swimming, always brush your thumb against you thigh. This is adds 3-4 inches to every pull, but requires more tricep endurance.

Sculling:

I had mentioned numerous "mental toughness" achievements that I experienced during the Desert Classic Duathlon. While these are super important, at the end of the day, the finish clock is what counts. With the results from the race officially posted, I was able to definitively say that I not only improved in all areas year-over-year, but more importantly exceeded my targets, or goal times that I set out at the beginning of the year for each leg of the event, except on Run #2. Having only done three transition runs all season, all of which were last week, I am cool with not having crushed the run off the bike. It is extremely satisfying and motivating to achieve goals. If you have questions about setting goals, check this a simple explanation of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Icing on the Cake: Desert Classic Duathlon

2008-02-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

I officially completed my training camp week by racing the Trisports.com Desert Classic Duathlon. I finished top-3 in my age group, 25-29, top-10 overall amateur and knocked off a number of pros. The placings aside, my biggest victory of the day was in the "mental toughness" category, a category that I believe I have the most to improve in. Well, I also got some 3rd place schwag in the form a this very nice Phoenix Triathlon Club cow bell and a bottle of Windhawk anti-inflammatory pills:

The morning greeted racers with a fresh, overcast 50 degree morning and welcomed everyone with this beautiful Arizona sunrise that overlooked Four Peaks:

The first 3.5 miles on a nice smooth desert trail and was fast and furious. My goal was to stick on the feet of the fastest guy out there. I did this well and was in the 3-person lead group (2 in my age group and 1 in the 30-34 age group). After about 1.5 miles one guy from Tribe Multisport came cruising around all of us. Fast. This disruption broke up the group and I fell into fourth with about a 5 second gap behind 3rd place. I made a conscious decision to not pursue and to hold steady. By transition I had made up the ground on 3rd place. I must have had a slow transition as I never saw 1st or 2nd place guys in my age group the rest of the race. I passed the 30-34 age grouper later on the bike. In the past, I would have typically backed off earlier and would have started to obsess about the pending bike prematurely. Not this time. Mental toughness victory #1. Here is me at the start in the second row with the blue and orange top. One of my good Xterra buds, Tom Obrien is 2nd from the left in a red Phoenix Tri Club top (this was his first race on a road bike).

Once on the 21 mile out-and-back bike course, I tried settling in with a big enough gear to go fast, but a comfortable enough gear to warm up my heavy legs (24hrs of riding & 6hrs of running the week leading up to the race). Right out of the gate a 2.5 mile climb awaited. Nothing steep, but enough to know right away that my upper limit was going to be, just guessing, 20-40 watts off of my standard. A 3 mile descent followed where I realized that my 2hrs in the saddle on my Cannondale TT bike was not enough to get comfortable. The rest of the course had a mix of wind and numerous rollers that had me out of the saddle jamming away. I stayed positive and focused on moving the bike forward as fast as I could with the juice I had, no lapses. Mental toughness victory #2. Here is my Cannondale TT bike, compliments of Focus Cyclery:

The final 2.7 mile trail run was pretty straight forward. I worked through the run/bike transition stiffness by picking up my cadence on the twisty desert trails. 3/4th of the way through this leg another 25-29 age grouper passed me. I didn't panic or lack confidence to stay on his heels. So the pace picked up a tick. Mental toughness victory #3. Another 35yr old joined us and as we approached the one and only short climb. We all took a 2 second wrong turn and then headed up the climb. The 35yr old was the fastest of our group and I stayed with him down the back side of the hill and put some distance on the other 25-29 age grouper (thanks Xterra running!). I stayed on his heels and finished off the race strong. Mental toughness victory #4. All in all, my run was pretty good and my bike was fair, but good enough all things considered. A podium is a podium:

The Anatomy of a Big Week

2008-02-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Over the past seven days, I've been doing nothing but training. Not a bad life. Here is the Anatomy of a Big Week.

1st: Take off work. I am an 8am-5pm employee of a large home builder (not a good industry right now, I know), so the first thing I did was to take off from work the entire week. This meant turning off the phone, setting the 'out of office' message on the email etc. I needed plenty of time to train, recover and focus.

2nd: Round up training buddies. Fortunately Trevor Glavin was able to join me for the majority of the week and Tom Obrien and James Walsh hooked up with us for a number of workouts. The motivation of this crew was a critical piece of meeting the week's demands.

3rd: Find a great home base. It's February and cold in most places, but not here in Arizona. With plenty of sunshine, mountain biking, road biking, trail running and lakes to swim in, AZ is the ideal spot for an early season triathlon training camp.

4th: Train. The week started off with 24hrs of Old Pueblo where we started out blazing, but fell victim to a tough crash that left one our teammates needing stitches. Fortunately, our team mate was OK and we were better off in the long run as we were super under-prepared for the cold, snowy conditions...yes....snow in Tucson, AZ. After pulling the plug on the race, thawing out our bodies and washing up our wet, muddy gear, we headed out for a long road ride through Cave Creek, AZ and down to Bartlett Lake. We wrapped up the 5hr ride with a 1hr transition run through McDowell Mountains the last 25mins of which was pretty close to race pace and left me way tired, but excited that I could push myself that hard after a long day. Only by getting lots of food and rest, the big week will officially and successfully end for me tomorrow with the Desert Classic Duathlon.

5th: Savor and Carry the Momentum. I am satisfied with the 32+hrs of training (17+hrs of road biking, 6+hrs of mountain biking, 6+hrs of trail running and 2hrs of swimming). Now, my plan is to recover appropriately and carry this fitness and mental "high" through the upcoming weeks of training.

First Things First: 2008 Xterra Season

2008-02-22T22:03:00.001-07:00

I am pumped about the upcoming 2008 Xterra triathlon season for three reasons:

1. This will be my 3rd and final season racing in the 25-29 age group and I've learned a ton, all of which will be executed at races this season.

2. My coach, Brian Grasky of Grasky Endurance has my training dialed-in even if it is only February.

3. I will be doing all five of the Xterra US Points Series races with a crew of great guys including Trevor Glavin, James Walsh and Tom Obrien.

As a testament to my pumped-ness, I will keep this running document of my training, racing and other tri-related things.