Spring is approaching!

Some of us remember last spring - the spring that taunted us with nice weather during the week and blistered us with rain, wind and frozen precipitation into April.  We finally got fed up with the weather in mid-April and decided to go for a nice little 60 mile ride on the Musselman course in 38 degree temperatures, 40 mph winds, and heavy rain.  I knew I was in trouble when my left foot was frozen before mile 3.

The wind tore this flag from its perch at the
Geneva Chamber of Commerce!!!

Actually, I'd rather not talk about that anymore.


This year, we've also been trying to get out to do our 60 minute power tests on the road.  There's really not much point in doing this test on the trainer.  You really need to have some cooling airflow in order to have a meaningful test, and a 20 minute test on the trainer just doesn't cut it.  We've found that the 20 minute number is not a good picture of the power you'll be able to hold for rides over an hour since it tends to favor athletes with a high anaerobic capacity.  


We've not yet been able to get a weekend with dry roads and temperatures in the 30's, but we know we'll get it in eventually!


It's really been enjoyable to see how much everyone is improving.  We've had several athletes reporting PR's in their swims at distances from 100's to 1600's not only through fitness improvements, but also by correcting deficiencies in stroke mechanics and body position errors.  


We've also seen some extremely solid run performances surprisingly early in the year.  The miles and miles of steady state aerobic base work is paying dividends in run performances.  Joe Tally is one of our training plan athletes who has been participating in the Fleet Feet winter run series, and can't seem to keep from getting a PR at nearly every event.  The coolest part of his PR's is that he hasn't done any fast run training yet this year and has had super slippery footing at several races!  This further proves our point about consistency in running being the most important ingredient to success.  


I absolutely love watching the athletes improve their performances throughout the training season, and it's been very interesting to have done our run and bike performance testing with blood lactate sampling throughout the base period.  We've been able to tailor workouts to the individual's physiology, and then conduct a retest to make sure we're achieving the desired result.  

Ryan Cameron has had a great year of improvement on the
bike and has improved his watts at Max_LaSS over 30%!
Ryan will be competing in Ironman Lake Placid this summer.

Several athletes have actually had to slow down their training (or more accurately "reduce their intensity") to get faster on the bike, and we've found how difficult it can be to conduct threshold intervals with just a heart rate monitor.  In every athlete that we've tested that has done threshold intervals without a power meter, their aerobic capacity has actually decreased while their anaerobic capacity has increased!  Without lactate testing, we might wonder why the athlete's functional threshold power has stagnated or regressed.  We can now actually peer into the actual physiology within the athlete in a way that was not possible previously, and can see that this athlete was turning into a "sports car" instead of a "diesel engine".


Very exciting stuff for 2012!  Nice Tri has been blessed with a full quiver of dedicated and talented athletes, and we even have four triathletes that are hoping to acquire their pro cards this year.  The coolest part about the athletes on our team is their friendly and approachable demeanor, so if you see someone in a Nice Tri jersey this year, stop and say "hi"!  I'm sure they'd love to tell you about how their year is going, what races they'll be doing, their favorite gel flavor, the most comfortable type of chamois butter....

Understanding why...

What purpose does this workout serve for me?  What is this workout trying to help me accomplish?  Does this workout display my current level of fitness?


You should be able to answer these questions at any time as you progress through your training year.  If you can't - ask!  Understanding why a given workout is on your plan can help improve your motivation to follow through with the training set as it's written, and it can also be motivational to track fitness improvements throughout the year.  Not every workout serves as a fitness marker, but generally each workout serves one of these three following purposes:

1. To recover from previous workouts
2. To improve your level of fitness
3. To maintain your level of fitness

Recovery is as important as the level of training stress that you place on your body.  Without adequate recovery, you are constantly breaking the body down and not allowing it to build itself back up (also known as "supercompensation").  Eventually, you will have over-reached your body's limits to build itself back up adequately and may become demotivated, slower, or sick.  This is a great article on overreaching: Overreaching in Training.

Each individual requires a different amount of recovery.  Your individual amount of recovery needed may be influenced by the amount of sleep you get, hydration and nutritional habits, genetic ability to recover, etc.  Each week we will place a measured training load on our bodies, and we always want to perform a given run or bike a little faster than the week before, but is this reasonable?  Let's look at the second purpose of a workout - To improve our fitness.

The purpose of a group of workouts (also known as "Training Stress") is to break the body down slightly, allow it to recover, and to build itself up stronger than it was when we started.  As we mentioned previously, this is known as "supercompensation".  However, if we're in the middle of a build cycle with a high level of training stress (or even a base cycle for that matter), should we expect to see levels of supercompensation?  If so, when?  How much?  At what distance, time or intensity level?

As is the case with many issues in exercise physiology - it depends!

It is possible that if we're building up an athlete's aerobic capacity, that they can expect to see a decrease in their anaerobic capacity.  In other words, an athlete might be faster at longer rides or runs than they were 6 months ago, but are actually slower at shorter rides and runs.  This is to be expected and is precisely why we talk about goal races and distances.  You won't find an athlete that's a gifted marathon runner and also a gifted 400 meter sprinter.  In the Olympics, you won't see an athlete run a world record marathon and also run a world record sprint race.  It just doesn't happen!  Pick your distance, train that distance, and expect to see improvement at that distance.  However, you should also expect to see performance levels drop at other distances.  This is all part of tailoring the anaerobic capacity to the athlete for the distance at which they hope to succeed.

For example, you might find that after a 12 week block of aerobic capacity training (2-3 hour rides in your aerobic zone) that your CP20 (Critical Power for 20 minutes) has actually decreased.  Does this mean that you're slower on the bike now?  If your races are 20 minutes long, the answer is yes!  However, the reason that you were prescribed a block of 2-3 hour aerobic capacity rides is probably because your goal race is longer than 20 minutes.  This is one example of a fitness test not being a good representation of race fitness.  Another example would be doing 200 and 400 meter sprint workouts as a measure of your Ironman marathon fitness.  Reality check - not many Ironman athletes need to improve their 400 meter kick at the finish line!

In other words, the "test" that you're using should measure the goal of the training.  

During the training block, we do have days that are considered "performance markers".  Sometimes these markers are physiological tests (such as lactate tests), but they may also be individual races.  It is important that if we are looking at a performance marker mid-build that we don't compare that marker with one that we'd see after a recovery week or taper.  Our number one goal is to race as fast as possible, not to train as fast as possible.  I don't care how fast you did your "10 x 800 meter repeats at Ludicrous Pace" mid-build if you can't hold  pace at the half marathon on race day.  Workout stats are usually for impressing your friends on Facebook, but remember that there's a difference between training and racing.  A workout is not a race.  A race is a race!

I recommend physiological testing every 6-8 weeks for my athletes.  This is the ONLY way to measure adaptations within the body.  The tests are not subjective and the blood does not lie. You're either improving, staying the same, or regressing.

It is also possible to prescribe a series of workouts to maintain one's level of fitness.  For example, if an athlete needs to improve their swim, they may elect to go into a maintenance protocol on the bike or run.  Don't believe me?  Look at TJ Tollakson's training logs and see how much cycling and running he did during the months of November and December.  He was swimming about 45,000 yards per week, and cycling and running just enough to minimize his fitness loss during this period.

There you have it!  When you're working out, you're either recovering, improving or maintaining your fitness.  If you don't know which of these goals an individual workout serves, ask your coach to tell you.  After all, that's why we're here!  Finally, the true measure of your fitness is on race day.  Learn to look at each workout as another building block in your foundation to faster finishing times on race day, and this will help you stay within the prescribed intent of your workout session.

What's with all the data, coach?

FAA Part 25 aircraft certification refers to performance standards for airliners and business jets.  Every time you or a loved one purchases a ticket with either an airline or a business jet charter company, the management team, pilots, and aircraft manufacturers are guaranteeing that if an engine quits while on takeoff roll, the aircraft can stop safely on the remaining runway.  If the engine quits shortly after takeoff, they guarantee the paying public that the aircraft can climb to a safe altitude.


That's kind of a nice feature to have in my opinion...clearing terrain is always a good thing!


There have been many airlines and charter companies that have been forced to cease operations because they didn't meet these performance standards, so they do their best to review performance data to ensure your safety.  Money is made and lost with performance data in aviation, and lives have literally been lost because it was disregarded.


Perhaps it's my background in aviation, the fact that I love to chart an athlete's progress, or maybe it's my propensity to give into the dark side of obsessive/compulsive disorder and try to chart, analyze and forecast everything to the "nth" degree.  However, I think it's far more captivating to chase a number on a powermeter during a four hour trainer ride than just to pedal into oblivion not knowing whether I'm making progress.  I also think it's more encouraging to see that Athlete "A" has improved their threshold pace from a 8:10 mile to a 7:15 instead of waiting for that "one big race" to see if they've improved.  Besides, the finishing position is always dependent on who shows up for the race, but the measurement of lactate, heart rate, and wattage are not subjective.  They're black and white.


Recently, Bill Robertson completed an eleven month training cycle that culminated in a 9:36 finish time in his first Ironman event.  Bill trained with a power meter, GPS pace watch and heart rate monitor all year, and had tons of data from all of the files that he has collected and uploaded during the course of those eleven months.


One of the neat things about all that data is our ability to forecast a finish time for a race.  Since Bill had completed 99.9% of his intended training, we knew that he could swim "X" pace, ride at "Y" watts, and run at "Z" pace as long as he executed his nutrition plan according to schedule (which he did).


We predicted that Bill would swim under one hour, and were hoping for a 58 minute swim.  He actually swam 59:50 due to some congestion.


Deviation:  00:01:50


We predicted that Bill would come in under five hours for the bike, and were hoping for a 4:58:00.  Bill actually rode a 4:57:59.


Deviation:  00:00:01.


We were shooting for a run time under 3:30:00.  Bill's running has come a long way, and he was able to hang tough and finish in 3:33:32.


Deviation:  00:03:32


After over nine hours of racing, Bill finished within 5 minutes of what we had predicted.  Bill's ability to stay on his nutrition and pacing plan allowed us to forecast this so precisely, but we would never have been able to be so accurate if he hadn't used a power meter and GPS watch during his build.


While data does help make your training more precise and effective, it doesn't mean you always have to hit a certain goal wattage or nail a certain pace.  We certainly need to listen to our bodies when it comes to rest and recovery, and on those days it's sometimes a good idea to just use the device to collect the data but not let it direct our effort.  In other words, sometimes we need to chill out!


However, there are other days when (in the words of Jens Voigt) we need to tell our legs to "shut up" and stay on pace and wattage.  This is something that comes with practice!


In summary, the next time you're hesitating uploading your files for later review, remember that it really does help your coach to determine your progress, write an effective plan, and forecast a race performance if they have the data to analyze.  Although we're not trying to clear obstacles at the end of the runway, we can certainly use technology to our advantage during our training sessions.

Super Spooky Pumpkin Ride Report

This weekend the team got together to raise money for a great cause and to enjoy some muddy trails together.  We were well-stocked with cider, donuts, beer and even a few mountain bikes!


The festivities started with a tour of the trails and we began to realize that the riding might get a little gooey.  "The trails would surely improve as the night wears on", we all thought.  However, they actually got a bit sloppier as more people passed over them which made for some very technical riding in a few sections while others were absolutely perfect.


Our intent was to have a "Hot Lap" competition, but it seemed that merely completing a lap was deemed a "hot lap" and we simply enjoyed each other's company whilst riding.  We do think that Chris Reel deserves a special award for pulling a buggy behind his bike with his son Sammy onboard.  Sammy could be heard laughing and chatting along happily as the buggy bounced and ricocheted off trees.


After completing numerous daylight and several night laps, the group gathered around the bonfires to warm up and enjoy chili, cookies and the cool fall air.


The event was a great success and 100% of the money brought in by the team went to Matt Field's nephew's cause - The Cured Foundation.  One of the reasons Matt is racing Ironman Wisconsin is to generate money for eosinophilic esophagitis research.  We'll certainly be putting on several more fundraisers throughout the year and hope to help him meet his goal for a great cause!


If you have any fun ideas for future fundraisers that involve running, biking, sledding, snowshoeing, etc., please let us know.  We'd like to have even more athletes from the area get involved next time to help Nice Tri help others!

One of the trails at the Super Spooky Ride - Pine Lane!

Pumpkins, Trails and Fundraisers at Nice Tri

As a corporate pilot and manager, I spent most of my time directing a flight operation and ensuring that required documents met or exceeded FAA standards.  When I wasn't flying a trip somewhere or fulfilling my administrative obligations, I enjoyed learning as much as I could about human physiology, performance and training.  I also started cycling and running as much as I was able and enjoyed performing well in local races, until one day I had an epiphany.


One day I will die.


That's not meant to sound morbid, but the last time I checked, there's a 100% chance that at some point, you will die.  The question then becomes:  "What are you doing with your life while you're alive?"  Is your goal to accumulate money, race wins, Ironman finishes, or do you long to do something more lasting and fulfilling?


In the Christian-based belief system, the Bible teaches that this life is not all about us.  It's not about what type of airplane we flew, how much money we made that we will leave to our heirs, but it's about relationships.


Human relationships.


That's precisely the reason that I formed Nice Tri and moved away from the "get all you can while you're alive" mentality.  I decided since this life is finite, I'd rather invest my energy into something that has lasting value.  My goal with my business was not to proselytize the world, but to get involved in other people's lives and use the business to help others.  I have been blessed with a successful business in a short period of time, and want to leverage that success for those who are less fortunate.  


It's time to put that belief into practice!


Sunday, October 23rd marks Nice Tri's first fundraiser event.  We'll be opening the trails around our 33 acres of land to runners and riders to benefit the Cured Foundation.  This is an excerpt from their website (curedfoundation.org): CURED is a not for profit foundation dedicated to those suffering from eosinophilic enteropathy, which includes eosinophlic esophagitis, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, eosinophilic colitis and other eosinophilic disorders.  It is the hope of CURED to raise substantial funding to aid in research and public awareness for this complex disease. Although the disease is being diagnosed at an alarming rate, very little is known about Eosinophilic Disorder. It is our heartfelt belief and mission that CURED can make a difference for the individuals and their families who are touched by this disorder.


Please come and join us for some trails, food and invest your time into something worth more than your 401k: Helping others!


We will be starting the ride at 5:30 until 9:00pm, and riders are required to have a headlamp, helmet and eye protection.  This ride isn't a "race", but we will have a special prize for the rider with the fastest "Hot Lap" around the course.  Come with your friends, enjoy some of the best cider, donuts, chili and trails in Ontario County.  Donations are not required, but are appreciated, and 100% of the money taken in will go to the Cured Foundation.


We'll look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Why do we do it?

My last post talked about Ironman Louisville and how the race went in 2011.  As I was typing up my race report, I started waxing nostalgic about the year in review, and how far the gang has come.  We've had a great year of firsts, PR's, successes, and accomplishments interspersed with the occasional setback or niggle.  2011 wasn't all smiles and giggles, but I can honestly say that it was one of the best years athletically both for me and many of the athletes on the team.


While training throughout the year, I remember receiving several pointed questions from people that I've bumped into.  


From an older lady at Kershaw:  "You cyclists don't look healthy.  You're too skinny.  Are you sick?"


"Why thank you ma'am!  I appreciate your thoughtful insights regarding my physical appearance!"  I responded.


From a well-intentioned athlete after a training session:  "Why do you ride the bike so hard?  You really should throttle back a bit so you can run better".  I reminded them that intensity is relative, and my "easy" might be your "hard" (or vice versa).  I suggested that offering fitness advice using your own FTP as a reference point is not objective, and that you should always measure improvement against your own performance, not someone else's.


But quite possible the most probing question of 2011 is "Why do you do it?"  "Why do you do Ironman?"


Some things are easy to understand internally, but more difficult to convey in a concise response that doesn't cause the listeners eyes to glaze over and their head to bob up and down as they nod off into a deep slumber.


Trying to explain the reason why we swim, bike and run as many as 40 hours per week to a non-athlete is like trying to explain atomic physics to my 8 year old nephew.  It just doesn't sink in!


Endurance Nation teaches that part of preparing for long course triathlon is to figure out your "ONE THING".  Why are you here pushing your body this way?  If you don't have your reason to push through pain and discomfort during your Ironman marathon, you probably won't push yourself very hard and you may actually quit!


To some readers, my explanation of my "one thing" might elicit some glazed eyes, a few head bobs, or a statement like "I just don't get it".  However, there are those of you right now that have either completed an Ironman or are training for that one, and this is for you.


I hope you will GET IT.


Ironman mirrors life.  I think the journey of completing an Ironman is like a lifetime all crammed into one day.  Let's look back on a life well-lived in Louisville Kentucky on August 28th, 2011.


The  Early Years - Ironman starts with a clean slate.  Two weeks of reduced training stress have left you feeling like a new person and ready to tackle anything!  The soreness in the knees and the fatigue of the long training hours are all gone, and you start your journey with a bit of trepidation, excitement and uncertainty.  It's like being a kid on your first day of school all over again!  However, your childlike enthusiasm starts to feel more like a cramp in the arch of your foot, but you try rub it out while you hold onto each kayak and buoy you pass.  Real-life forces you to grow up fast and conclude the swim with a time that is not what you were hoping for, but not enough to make you throw a temper tantrum.  


Out of the water and on to the bike, your youth and enthusiasm quickly pass as you reach the mid-point of the bicycle, and you enter your first mid-life crisis.


Middle Age - You've reached a point of stability in your "career" that consists of eating, drinking and pedaling your bike but start to ask the question "Why?  Why am I out here doing this?  Maybe I should consider another line of work that has less pedaling and more eating.  Did anyone just notice that stream of pee running down my leg?"  


These are the types of questions that make Ironman so exciting and interesting.  For most of us, Ironman will not reward us financially (quite the opposite) or land us a professional racing career.  I think the reason that most of us do this distance is to find out what we're truly made of.  What will we do when something goes wrong?  Will I crack?  Will I persist?


It's enjoyable to come face-to-face with these issues and deal with them as they come.  Like I said, it's just like life!  Our 10:30:00 finish time quickly slips into the eleven and then the twelve hour mark.  Do we give up, or make the best of the circumstances with which we're faced?


The Golden Years (Finishing Well) - Twelve hours after we have started, we have become elderly.  We find it difficult to walk, even more difficult to run and almost impossible to eat anything solid.  We wonder if our farts really should have lumps, and we witness others on the course [of life] who have expired or given up.  We want to make it back to where we started...to see our family and friends again and to celebrate our journey.  


Ironman Louisville 2011 was different than 2010 for several reasons.  For starters, it was cooler.  This should have made the marathon easier.


It didn't.


I rode the bike on the easiest ride of 2011 which should have made the marathon easier.


It didn't.


The thing which made the marathon a success in 2011 wasn't just the training, or the nutrition, or the support that I received while racing that day.  Although all of those things played a part, the thing that made the difference was one thing.


MY one thing.


I remembered how precious life is...how much of a gift good health is.  The memories of watching the bodies of people I've loved grow weak with cancer and stop working...the battles they fought to try to live with a disease that was taking their lives.


My Ironman Louisville 2011 swim started 45 minutes later than my 2010 swim.  I wanted to let the end of the line come to me and just waited until 2500 athletes walked by me to start their day.  After about 10 minutes, the swim line stopped because an athlete had experienced a heart attack and died.  They would remove his body from the water and try to revive it to no avail, and this day of celebration would become a day of mourning for one family and remind us of how brief life is.


But the most memorable experience of the day was coming into the finish.  Due to the late start, it was dark outside during my finish, and the lights that illuminated the finish chute were blinding.  I was startled by the outpouring of love and support that I was receiving from the onlookers - people that I had never met were screaming for me so loudly I couldn't hear the loudspeakers that must have been blaring at 110db.  I was quite literally running into a bright white light at the finish!


I couldn't help but think of my loved ones at the end of life's finish line cheering for me and offering encouragement.


Family members and the true friends that made the journey to Ironman with me.


That's my "One Thing".


So to answer the question of "Why do you do it?"


For me, it boils down to that "One Thing".


And to those of you on your journey to Ironman or who have completed it, I'll bet you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Ironman Louisville Race Report (Short version)

Ironman is not easy.  I don't care if you race the "toughest" course or the "easiest" course, 140.6 miles is a long day in the saddle for even the most fit and gifted athletes.  A century ride is tough, but there's something about those last 12 miles...


Ironman Louisville 2011 was a great experience both as an athlete and a coach.  My client and close friend Alvah Aldrich would make this his first Ironman attempt.  Alvah has run several marathons and numerous 70.3 events, but has never swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 and run a marathon all in one day.


If you don't know Alvah, his motto or catch phrase is "Is that all you got?".  We could have done 2 hours worth of Bopple hill repeats and no matter how badly Alvah is hurting, he would still utter this phrase at the end of the session.  I like that attitude - "Bring it on".  "Make it hurt".  "I can take anything you throw at me".


That attitude is a great way to approach life and a great way to approach Ironman.


This year the temperatures at Louisville were at least ten degrees cooler throughout the day with a fairly strong wind out of the north.  We even had some cloud cover to make the run a bit more bearable.


Our plan for the start of the swim was to hop in the back of the line and start the race dead last.  This actually set a great tone for the day and allowed us to just sit back and let the race come to us.  Unfortunately, the swim line stopped for about five minutes when one of the athletes dove in the water and experience cardiac arrest and died.  Our hearts go out to the family and friends that came to cheer him on today, and really makes us reflect on how fragile and precious life is.  Rest in peace, Ironman.


My swim started with leaky goggles, but once I got that fixed we were under way.  I settled into a strong pace and was really enjoying myself until about 1 mile into the swim.  My left arch started cramping up something fierce, and I had to stop every five minutes or so to try to rub it out.  I found that if I stopped kicking I could keep the cramp at bay, so it was good to get out of the water and onto the bike.  I occasionally get those cramps in my feet at night too, and will disturb my saintly wife by jumping out of bed and putting weight on the arch (which is the quickest way to cure it).  

After a smooth transition, I settled into a Zone 1 ride (Active Recovery Zone) which keeps my heart rate and wattage very low, even on the hills.  I found that my calorie and hydration intake were right on the money and felt great the entire ride.  The best part of the ride was coming up on Alvah at mile 80 and finishing the ride together.  That was AWESOME!


Alvah and I hit T2 together, but took a bit longer than we had hoped after his fuel belt broke as soon as he pulled it out of his bag.  Alvah would now be getting his nutrition on the course!  We ran the first several miles together, but I lost touch with him after mile 2 since I had trouble getting my heart rate down.  We met again at mile 6 after Alvah made a porta-potty stop and ran together again for a bit.  We both seemed to hit a bit of a wall at mile 12, but after walking for 1/2 mile we both got our wind back and started chugging away.  Alvah looked great as I saw him go by on the out and back, and my mission at that point was to stay running as long as possible.

My goal for this year was to have a better Ironman marathon than 2011 where I walked most of the run.  This year was better, but started bloating around mile 12 and had to slow the intensity down to allow my nutrition to get out of my stomach and into my system.  I still ran 80% of the run, but found it once again to be extremely difficult and very rewarding at the finish.


Truly the best part of Ironman is the family and friends that support your effort.  I have had the pleasure of developing some of the greatest friendships through triathlon, and wouldn't trade it for the world.  My business "Nice Tri" has also opened up the doors to meet new people and get to train and race with them and I'm very thankful for what a great year we've had in 2011.  I want to thank every friend, family member or curious onlooker that tracked our progress through the day.


Lastly (but most importantly), I wanted to publicly thank my wonderful wife for all she has done.  The support and encouragement, the travel to races and providing wisdom and advice are a just a few ways that she truly stands by me and defines the phrase "better half".  Training and racing would not be nearly as fun or rewarding without your support.


In conclusion:  Ironman Louisville 2011 was a terrific success and a wonderful experience we'll treasure for a lifetime!