EC Tucson Camp - Day 3 & 4

Its been a couple of days since I blogged, crazy how time can slip by you with a bit of a fatigue “on board.” Motivation to do the small things like blogging quickly goes out the door. Thankfully, today is a re-group day with just a swim and run this morning.

Wednesday was also a bit of a re-group day. We rode out and back over Gates Pass, but the morning started out with a hefty 1.5hr swim session that concluded with 5K. Afterwards, we popped out for a run/drill session which was nice. We got video of it so we’ll once we get it edited, we’ll try and post it and I’ll put the link up here as well. Doing the drills allows you to get into your run session much quicker than just running as a warm up and you actually get more run quality time for that session. Really good info.

Day 3 Totals
Swim: 1:30
Bike: 1:40
Run: :30

Yesterday was a tough ride up Mount Lemmon. We “commuted” to the base of the climb. The climb is 20.5 miles up. We all started as a group, but as you can imagine, it splits quickly. My personal goal was to ride sustainable steady up to the 10 mile marker, then once at 10 miles, raise my effort by ~5% and be able to hold it to the top. Climbing is something that I don’t really enjoy and usually I am a “head case” with sustained climbs. Over the last 2 seasons, I have tried to embrace climbing since it is quite a weakness of mine, I think I'm getting better. To overcome my "issues," I ride most long climbs on my own where I can dictate pace and effort. So yesterday, I did just that and as it has in the past, it worked well for me. I rode strong the whole way raising my effort the entire 2 hour climb. Good start to the year for climbing. Ride took us a bit under 5 hours.

Later that afternoon, Chris, Jeff, Tom and I went to the University of Arizona rec pool for a nice hour session. Given the days earlier session up Mt Lemmon, the main set was kept short, multiple 50’s.

Day 4 Totals
Bike: 4:40
Swim: :60
Run: :00

All in all, I’m feeling ok this late in camp. Legs are sore, but to be expected. I have been using recovery pumps daily which has been helpful. If there is one, simple, easy thing that aids in recovery, pneumatic legs pumps are well worth the investment. Nearly as important as a nice pair of race wheels.

Additionally, camps seem to revitalize my motivation to begin capturing my “numbers” again. I tend to get lazy downloading my devices to training peaks, especially after I start getting error messages attempting to download my device. After talks by Alan, it doesn’t make sense not to keep logs. Having the ability to track TSS (training stress score) which is a composite number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single estimate of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that training session, gives you the visualization and capability to appropriately predict necessary recovery periods in a training block. A long story short, I’ll be using a more of a number approach this season, should be interesting.

Off to the morning swim and 1.5hr run this AM.

JFT’in,
Crazy J

EC - Tucson Day 2

As always at the Endurance Corner camps, early AM coffee is fresh in Gordo's room. And in typical fashion, it was this morning as well. It seems to be quite a popular routine during camps.

agggggggghhhh...man it was a tough day, probably mostly self inflicted. Started the day off with a 10K run around 'A' Mountain from the hotel. The proper name is Sentinel Peak but features a large, painted, man-made rock formation in the shape of the letter "A" that was built by University of Arizona students.
Awesome run route. The route circumnavigates the "hill." If ever in Tucson, it is a must do run route.

After a small break, it was "go time" for the first long ride of camp. We had Madera Canyon which is a ride south of Tucson to the Coronado National Forest.
We broke up into 2 groups - Friendly and....Not so friendly! I was delegated to the "Not So Friendly" ride group and we rolled at 10:30. The pace was moderate until we hit the base of the climb which is about 10 miles to the base of the REAL climb which is 2.3 miles long. At the "first" base, the tempo became quite high leading into the base of the 2.3 mile climb whittling the gruop to 3. This might have been my first mistake. I haven't ridden that hard in quite sometime, maybe in a criterium bike race once. So, just before the start of the steep 2.3 mile climb, I stopped in for a rest and quick refuel, very much needed. I nabbed a Coke. After recovering, started the short climb. Took me 18:23 to get to the top, whipped it around and regrouped at the bottom.

Now by this point, we were literally at the half way point of a 96 mile ride and doubt began to creep in if I was going to be able to stay with the "Not So Friendly" group, unfortunately not by choice. So back at the rest stop, I drank another Coke and 2 gels with caffeine. We hit the road and I was feeling ok, but constantly wiery of when the bonk was gonna hit. Starting my 11th season in triathlon, I've learned a few things about bonking, mostly through personal experience. I was nearing toward survival mode and I realized as long as I kept Coke and gels in me, I'd be ok. So thats exactly what I did. We had another rest stop about 15 miles or so after climbing Madera and as you can guess, I went for my 3rd coke of the ride, and really my 3rd in the last 75 minutes. That with another gel and I was set for the last hour ride home. On our way out, Tom grabbed another Coke for the road and about 15 minutes later, rolled up next to me with a half filled Coke and offered the rest to me.....and you know what!?!?!....I drank that too!!!

By this time, we had finished most of the climbing and we where on the home stretch. Ya know, it was kinda wierd and all the sudden, the pace began to get a bit faster and I found myself at the front with Tom, hammering away. Funny how easy it is to go hard when you have a mate. :) Next thing you know, we are running full on paceline, single file, back to the hotel for the last 45'ish minutes. To be honest, I had tons of fun given'er everything I had. I haven't done that in quite a while. To be honest, I did have some permission to go hard, my coach Marilyn told me it was ok to get a little tired this week, so I'm workin' on it. We'll see how tomorrow goes, those long, hard efforts can be tough...we'll see how tomorrow's ride goes!

Day 4 Totals:
Run: :50
BIke: 5:05
Swim: 0:00

Our speaker this evening was a local legend here in Tucson, Paul Thomas. He is 43y.o. and it quite the endurance athlete. He is still riding with the Pro, Cat 1 riders here. The dude can crush it! He went 7:13 at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and took 23rd overall, pretty impressive for a guy that has never ridden a mountain bike.

Tomorrow is an easier day, we open with 1.5 hour swim set followed by another 10k run. I think we only have a 2 hour ride of which I have a feeling that I won't have a choice in the matter but to keep it easy. Stil have a lot of riding left in camp.

Until tomorrow,
Crazy J

Endurance Corner Camp Tucson Day 1

The first day of camp was mild, which was good. It gave everyone an oppurtunity to get their bikes sorted, the mechanic to take a look and get everyone warmed up for the "road" ahead. Started out with a 8AM swim at Oro Valley which is a pretty nice pool. Had 7 lanes to ourselves.

Notice the flags, super windy

For today's swim, Justin had implanted a 1K time trial for time. I ended up helping with timing and then afterwards, JD and I did ours together...kinda together....well, we started at the same time anyways. I have spent most of the winter and the last 2 months keeping my swim consistency high, swimming most weeks 6 times/week, nothing less than 5. That being said, I haven't worked on any high end fitness and it showed today. I swam 12:28 for the 1,000yd TT. I would have liked to swim a bit faster, however I am happy with it for now. Its early season. My mid season best last year was 11:45.

After the swim, we had a small snack and headed out on a nice, quick 7.2K run with Heath and Justin. It was pretty uneventful, but always good to get to socialize with other campers.

Headed back to hotel and took a 2 hour nap, well that would probably be considered a "sleep." After a little lunch, got our kits on, were briefed and out the door for our ride.

On the docket, was a 2 hour ride with a 5.5 mile individual time trial half way out. The course is a false flat up the entire way, probably 1-2% grade the whole way.

Today, the wind was quite mighty and was "whippin" pretty good. Justin said he was about 3-4 minutes slower than normal. IT-WAS-WINDY!!! All in all, its always good to test and this was going to be a perfect CP20(all out effort for 20 minutes measuring avg power over that time to calculate functional threshold power FTP) test to see where my fitness CURRENTLY is. I ended sliding in a bit under 24 minutes, averaging 290 watts. Again, considering its early season and I haven't done much high end training, not too shabby, was hoping to average over 300. One of the campers Tom, had the fastest time of 21:30. Tom is from Salt Lake City and quite a good triathlete.

So overall, a good day at EC Tucson Camp.

Day 3 Totals
Swim: 45 min
Run: 35 min
Bike: 2 hrs

After dinner, Alan Couzens gave a brief talk on intepreting training test and how to use them functionally in your current training. If you ever get a chance to read Alan's blog, you will learn alot. Super intelligent guy with a lot of good information on how to guide your training and understanding "the numbers."

Tomorrow is the first big ride. We are riding to Madera Canyon which I think will be around 80 miles round trip. Madera Canyon is a 10 mile climb, should be a good one. 2600 feet of climbing in the last 10 miles. But before that, we are heading out for a nice 10K run. I'll try and swim after our ride to keep my swimming streak alive, but no promises.

Still bronzin'
Crazy J

Endurance Corner Camp & "Bronzin' " in the dirty "T"

So my plan of writing a daily blog was kiboshed from day one. After 5.5 hours of training the first day, I was in bed by 7:30PM!! I flew into Tucson, late Friday PM and got to bed by midnight. I tried to sleep in, but my typical 4:30 internal clock tends to get in the way, but I managed to get a little extra sleep and was up at 6:15. I laid there and did actually get back to sleep until 7:45. First workout was a ride with Chris and we rolled out a bit after 9AM. 4 hours was on the docket and we ended up with 3:45. (I guess that is what happens when you ride with a sub 4:30 Ironman bike split)
This is the norm here in Tucson, there are alot of open ranges

I have to say, after being on the trainer all winter, man it was a treat to be out on the road. For some reason, I had better power numbers on the road that I have had all winter on the trainer. Now this could be from a number of things, rested, excited to be outside, or riding with the "big man." All in all, it was a good ride and ended up the back side of Gates Pass (GP). If you haven't ridden GP, it is fairly short climb, about 10 mins, but man does it kick up at the end.

The beginning of Gates Pass

So the "REAL" reason I came to Tucson is to get a good tan. I mean, heck, there isn't much better of place to get to train and have awesome weather. Just kidding, but really, I am working on it. I forgot to put some suntan lotion on before the ride and this is what I got. I guess I need to work on those lines throughout the week.

After the ride, Chris and I headed out for a nice little 40 min jog. Shortly after, Marilyn, Chris and I headed to the University of Arizona pool for an hour session. Needless to say, it was a pull bouy and paddles day. My legs to say the least weren't cooperating. Its been a long time since I have had my legs cramp kicking off the wall. That being said, it is hands down one of the best pools I have swam in.

Dinner shortly followed and then an early bedtime. One thing here in Tucson that you notice right away is how dry it is. My throat and lungs were burning by days end of the workouts. The other thing, is you can get dehydrated quickly. My lips are a feeling quite chapped.

Day 1 Totals
Bike: 3:45
Run: :40
Swim: :60
Total: 5:25

Today wasn't much different. This time Marilyn and I rolled out for 2:15 ride. However, this time I learnt my lesson and applied the "red head" sun block...SPF 55!!!

Once again, we ended up the back side of GP and.... IT DIDN't GET ANY EASIER!!! After a short break, I ran down to Jeff's hotel and Gordo, Jeff and I took off for a 45 min stroll on the river path. Keeping the theme of "Bronzin'," I of course ran in just shorts, I'm gonna have that tan evened out before I leave!!! At the last minute, G, Jeff and I eneded up swimming 2K in the hotel pool which happen to be 25m long, a nice little treat.

As a part of the training week, I will be help with the Endurance Corner training camp that Gordo and Justin Daerr put on. We had dinner this evening with all the campers. As always with triathlon, one of the reason it is such a great sport is all the people you get to meet from across the country, camp will be no different. There are athletes from coast to coast, all different abilities, all different backgrounds, coalesced in the dirty "T" for one week of training. Its gonna be a fun week.

Day 2 Totals
Bike: 2:15
Run: :45
Swim: :30
Total: 3:30
Tomorrow, camp starts off with a 1000 meter time trial in the pool, followed by a run and then a couple hour ride with a 5 mile all out effort time trial again.

Livin' the dream!
Crazy J

Tucson Training Camp

It's that time of year when fitness is beginning to peak its little rearing head out and inside training sessions begin to get a little old. For me in Boise, going outside for a ride at this time really isn’t an option in my “playbook.” The trick for me during this part of the year is increasing my riding consistency as opposed to my ride single session volume. Consistent riding isn’t necessarily a choice because the sad truth is that I just can’t sit my arse on the saddle in front of the TV for more than about 2.5 hours at any one time. So my early season fitness is dependent on getting consistent training sessions on the bike 4-5 days per week between 1.5-2.5 hours per session.

However, this year I am heading to Tucson for a week to play in the sun. I haven’t done many big training camps as a triathlete over the past 11 years, so I am looking forward to this time. My first big training camp that I ever attended was Epic Camp with Gordo Byrn and Scott Molina in Australia, that was in 2005. That camp was defined by ignorance…..ignorance in the sense that I just really didn’t know how much one could train, but I found out afterwards the body has the ability to train a lot, more than you think. I don’t remember the numbers exactly, but I think we in the range of 45 hrs in a week, it could have been more. It was pretty crazy, nearly excessive, but I learned a lot…..a lot about BONKING and a lot about recovery!!!! Oh and that drink in a red aluminum can called Coke. I had never trained with coke, nor caffeine for that matter. I learned the benefits during that camp. I’ll have to save that story for another time. Molina introduced me to Coke on a training ride one day and man was that a funny day. But in any case, I don’t think I will be hitting those volume numbers this week and I hope that I won’t be bonking as much neither.

My second camp was in 2007 and my brother and I headed to Tucson with some buddies. This was the last “bigger” camp that did. We definitely had a much more moderate schedule, but never less good in terms of boosting fitness. As I head back to Tucson in 2012, I am excited to get back to living like a “pro” for a week. With Oceanside 70.3 in 5 weeks, it was almost a necessity so that I could get some road riding in. This weeks camp maybe the only rode riding I will get in prior to the race, so I’ll be taking advantage of it. I’ll be posting through out the week, it should be a good time.

Did I mention the weather is supposed to be in mid 70’s the whole week. Stoked!!

Livin’ the dream,
Crazy J

Thoughts on Swimming & Rockin' the "W" in 2012

2012 has started with a bang. Training has become more consistent and I am finally beginning to see some fitness in at least one of the 3 sports. I swam this morning with the masters group here in Boise and for the first time in 2012, started seeing some fitness return. It also marks the first time this year I have swam 6 days in a week. Over the last two years as I have seen my swimming elevate, this appears to be one consistent measure that I can count on. Early season swimming consistency over the last two years has proven to bode well for me during the season. Hitting the 6 day/week swimming early has been key for me.

Along with the consistency in swimming that has started in 2012, I was lucky enough to be chosen to the Wattie Ink Elite Team. It has been a long time waiting for me. This has been a hidden goal of mine, to be part of an elite team the since starting triathlon in 2000. Growing up in high school, I participated in team sports and I really enjoyed that aspect. As I caught the triathlon bug in 2000, I transferred to a sport that was reliant on individual effort, but my desire to be a part of a team never waivered. After 11 years in the sport, I am back to “THE” team and looking forward to it. The best part of this national team is the opportunity to meet new friends and for the most part show up to any race nationally and there likely will be a fellow “mate” racing next to me. So for 2012, you can keep trackin of me “Rocking the W” by following my racing on our Wattie Ink Elite Team on Facebook or go to www.wattieink.com .

Along with the new team, I met a fellow local triathlete here in Boise who likes to get up as early as I do and train. Lance has been a trooper over the last few weeks, getting up early for 5AM swim sessions followed by a 2nd workout before work. Lance has taken the past few years off from participating in sport since he competed in high school, but began training for triathlon last year. He came from a swimming background as an age-group swimmer for 15 years.

His swimming experience is much different than mine. I picked up swimming 11 years ago when I started triathlon. I still remember that day, my brother and I headed down to the pool in Nashville, TN and took our splash. A splash it was, I promise you!!! I swam to the other side of the pool and nearly drowned, I remember thinking, I don’t know how the hell I am going to get back.

Over the last decade, my swimming has blossomed as a 1:15:59 first Ironman swim to a 52:51 Ironman swimmer. As Lance and I have swam consistently over the last few weeks, it got me thinking about what lessons I have learned along the way as a “Non-swimmer, swimmer triathlete.” Here are a few thoughts:

1.)Train bilateral breathing – In 2007, I had the opportunity to move to Boulder for the summer and train with Gordo et al. I learned quickly during that year that most of the time I was swimming way too hard. BB taught me effort levels and “tightened” up my stroke mechanics. Its tough to BB, but it ensures that you will be swimming aerobically, not anaerobically, which I was most of the time.
2.)Learn and train all strokes – During that same time, we did a lot of IM work. I learned quickly how weak I was from a swimming standpoint. At that time, I had swam under an hour for Ironman, but barely. Learning and training IM provided a different freestyle strength that I never had before. Later that year at IM Canada I swam a PR in Ironman.
3.)Train with paddles – in 2010 Chris and Marilyn (my coach) came and trained in Boise for the summer. We trained more than I ever had with paddles. I typically would train maybe one session for a few hundred with paddles previously. It was amazing how quickly my shoulders “blew up” with just 500 of paddles. Through out the summer, I swam one session per week with the majority of session with paddles and pull buoy, sometime with band and sometimes without. By the end of the summer, my feel for moving water was much better. Later that year, I went on to swim 53:00 for an Ironman.
4.)Swim at least one session/week in your wetsuit (even if a pool is all you have) – I started this doing this last year as a suggestion from Guy. It never really dawned on me that swimming only in a “wetty” on race day likely didn’t give you the best chance to swim your best. If your gonna be racing in a wetsuit, training in it often is probably a good idea. My pool swimming and race day wetsuit swims never matched up. After a summer staying consistent and swimming in my wetty, I was able to drop that wetsuit race day swim down a 2 more minutes.
5.)Train with Band only - This is my latest obsession. One of my summer training partners, Kate, does this quite often in our training sessions and I have never taken to it, but so far this year, I have began doing small sets weekly with band only. WOW!!! I have a feeling that this will be another small lessoned learned that will elevate my swimming again. I tried swimming a 150 the other day and if there was dirt on the bottom of the pool, I would have been drudging the bottom with my feet. It really exaggerates any poor body position that you may have. I think Kate can swim near here normal 100 aerboic pace with no issues, I gotta a long way to go.

For those out there reading this, I am in no way an expert in swimming, nor claim to be. These tips are solely my experience and have worked for me. One thing I have learned over the years with swimming is that there are as many opinions about swimming as there are people with a#$holes. Choose what makes sense to you and be consistent. As Malcom Gladwell points out in his book Outliers, it takes along time to become good at something. He calls it the "10,000-Hour Rule", based on a study by Anders Ericsson. Gladwell claims that greatness requires enormous time and swimming is no different. At the end of the day, if you want to improve at swimming, do it a lot!!

Rockin’ the “W”
J

2011 IM Arizona Recap

WOW! 2011 triathlon season has finally come to end. Really looking forward to some time off and have a proper winter here in Boise. Will be on the slopes boarding this year and a bit more skate skiing this year. A quick recap of the race......

Overall, I couldn't be more excited to finally have a good run. It has been quite a journey on the run for me over the last 9 IM's. At IM Coz last year, I ran 4:17, DNF'd St. George, ran 3:48 in IM Lou and capped off a 3:33 run at IM Arizona.

My swim was ok, didn't hurt nor help me, was a bit slower than expected. I still struggle a bit to find my stroke in a wetsuit. It is my fastest swim to date in a wetsuit, but a bit slower than I think I am capable of swimming. I'll keep working on that one, all in all a decent swim.



Onto the bike, early on I knew it wasn't going to be a stellar day. My swim was good enough that I knew there would be opportunity to jump on a few "trains" that would come rolling by which was the game plan. I really wanted to run well in Arizona. There were a few singles that came by early on and I just couldn't stay with them. I was pushing big watts for me, but they must have been drilling it! This was an odd situation for me to be in as typically I ride well in comparison to most of the field, but I didn't have a choice but to let them go. The first group of 4-5 guys came rolling by around mile 14 and this was the group I really wanted to roll with. I hopped on the back and I struggled to stay up as well. A few miles later, I was dropped again off the backside of this group. As we were nearing the first turn around on the highway, I decided I would bridge to "the group" one more time and see if I could hang. Maybe the legs were a bit stuffed and I was hoping they would come around. I gave'er one last try. I caught back up after rolling 33 mph to catch back up. Once again, I stayed there for a few miles and you guessed, spit out the back. The watts were there, but to no avail, I just wasn't able to stay up with them.

I immediately went to plan B for the bike. I put put my power/HR/time away in my pocket and was going to ride off feel for the rest of the day. For whatever reason, it just wasn't going to be my day on the bike. I rode quite a bit slower during the second loop. I have to admit, I was losing my head a bit. Coming into the 3rd loop, I had decided to quite after the bike, save my legs, and race in 2 weeks at the inaugural HITS race in Palm Springs, CA. Well, as this crazy sport of triathlon would have it, things came around with a lil help of caffeine. I got back to riding the way that I felt I should be riding on the 3rd lap and I mentally "got back in the game." I told myself that all I had to do was ride 5:15 and I would be ok. As luck would have it, I buzzed in just before that.



Out onto the run, I was super stoked to get off that freakin' bike. The worst was behind me now and I could focus on what I had come to do which was continue to improve my run. After all, it is the place where I have the most to gain. I pulled my watch back out and closely monitored my pace for the first 2 miles to make sure I didn't get too crazy on my pacing which has been an issue in the past. I opened up the first mile in 7:36, a bit fast for my liking, but I'll take it. 7:45 for the second, again, a bit "spicy," but again I'll take it. By this time, I felt my running legs were with me. I put my watch away again until mile 25 and ran completely off feel. There were two things that I kept telling myself. 1.) FEED THE MONSTER 2.) BE THE MASTER OF MY FATE and BE THE MASTER OF MY SOUL. (From the poem Invictus, see previous post). Through mile 17, I ran between 7:39 and 7:59. I had my first stopping cramp at 18. I managed this cramp for the next 3 miles and my paced slowed during those miles to 8:45-9:18. At mile 22, I slowly returned to pace and finished my last 1.2 miles at 7:33 pace. I finished the run in 3:33 and change, a huge PR for me.

There was so much more accomplished for me than the physical feats. Most importunely, I struggled back mentally to "stay in the game" even though I wasn't having the day that I typically would have on the bike. This has been a big step forward personally as I have not done well in the past when things weren't going the way as planned. If there is any piece of information that I could pass along, it would be, "Stay in the game." Ironman is a long day and it isn't going be easy. If you hang around long enough, your "machine" will eventually come around, it has proven itself in training.

I'll leave you with the second poem that Jeff had written on my other bottle. Now off for some recovery for the next 4 weeks and then slowly get back into things. IM Hawaii has continued to elude me, but I will one day wrestle with the "Lava Gods." They can't stay away much longer. In IM Coz and IM Lou, I had good swim/bikes and at IM Arizona I had the run I needed. Now just gotta get them together, just a matter of when!!!!

My first race of 2012 is Oceanside 70.3 in March and I'll be heading to Ironman Couer d'Alene in June. Until then.......

Stayin' in the game!
J

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!