Triathlon Race Simulations

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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?