“Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.’ It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative……A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.”  –Steve Prefontaine

I just got off the phone with one of my best friends and training partners.  He raced in the USAT World Championships this past weekend and what he told me about the race is what inspired this post. 

The venue for the World Championships this year in Vancouver featured the best of the best in the Olympic distance of racing.  Unfortunately the weather was bad and the swim had to be cancelled.  Instead the athletes raced a 3km run in place of the swim followed by the 40k bike and the final 10k run.  My buddy is one of the best runners I have ever seen.  His strategy was simple……get in front and out of sight and stay in front. 

After the 3k run his plan was right on track.  His running prowess put him in the front and he blasted out on the bike.  For 3 laps of the 4 lap bike course his strategy was working perfectly.  He had the lead and was holding it.  On the 4^th lap a train of athletes in his group caught him and went by wheel to wheel, heads on a swivel looking for the motorcycles.  My friends cycling ability is possibly even better than his running, but the train went by like he was standing still.  He could have hooked on to them, but he didn’t.  The race was not draft legal. 

On the 10k my buddy ran his heart out and closed the gap on the leaders that had passed him on the bike, but by 2k the wheels came off.  His incredible effort on the bike was taking a toll.  He held on and came in 2^nd in his age group and top 10 overall.  Top 10 in the world!

A few years from now I won’t remember what place he came in, but what I will always remember is the class and dignity he raced with.  I will remember the gutsy performance he put in by pushing himself to absolutely breaking down.  He raced like Pre. 

Here’s to my friend and all of those who race to see how far they can push themselves……too see how gutsy they can be…….to create a beautiful masterpiece of art with the race…..and to race with class and dignity.

Until next time, visit the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, shop at Trisports.com using my discount code chowi-s, eat more Powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.

In your time as an endurance athlete, have you had an experience that is uniquely unusual, funny or unbelievable?  I have had a few of these stories myself over the years.  I have been wanting to put together a compilation of stories of these experiences for years now. Here’s one of my stories…(One draw back to wearing an I-Pod while training)

My Side of the Story…

It was one of those early morning runs.  I mean early, like 4:30 am.  I headed out for my run on my normal course with my iPod blasting heavy metal in my ears, knowing that there were a few construction sites along the route with port-a-potties.  You all know how the digestive system of an endurance athlete is…volatile.  So I have to go, and go bad, but I know that there is a port-a-potty up ahead.  You know how once your body knows that a toilet is near you kind of have a timer clocking down the seconds until you can take care of business.  So I finally get there and it is locked!  Are you @#%$ kidding me!  I have to go.  I start to pound on the door dropping curse words that would make a sailor blush.  Who the hell locked the door before they left last night, don’t they know I need to use it.  So I decide I am going to break in…what else can I do?  I grab a large stick, or small branch and start to try to jimmy the door…

The Other Guy’s Side of the Story…

So I head out for my early run, I don’t normally get up this early, but I am committed to getting healthy and I know exercise is important.   I was surprised when I felt the urge to “go”.  Thank goodness there was a port-a-potty at a construction site up ahead.  I was even more pleased when I found it unlocked.  I sit down to take care of business.  Not a few seconds later I hear someone come up to the john.  Whoever it is tries to open the door and I say “Just a minute, I’ll be right out”.  This assurance doesn’t seem to make much difference.  They just continue banging on the door, ripping on the handle and cursing like a madman.  I’m now shouting…”Give me a minute damn it, I am almost done”.  By the way, I am not almost done, I am trying to finish taking care of business, practically giving myself a hernia trying to get it out.  Next thing I know I hear whoever it is breaking a tree limb and I’m thinking, this guy is going to try to kill me.  It is clearly time to get out of this port-a-potty and run as hard as I can back home, hoping that I can run faster than whoever it is.  So, I attempt to make a quick exit while pulling my pants up, hoping to not get clubbed by the branch by this crazy person.  I catch a glimpse of the crazy &$%# as I scream past him on my way to safety.  He has black tights and long sleeved shirt on with a black stocking cap on his head.  What looks like a fanny pack with a water bottle holster on it and ear phones in his ear.  He is a clearly demented person, red faced, and violent.  “It’s all yours!” I yell, and then I ran my ass off back home, now rethinking my desire to become healthy and fit.  Maybe the Stair Master is for me from now on…

Back to my side…

My attempted break in isn’t working even though the Metallica blasting in my ears is driving me on.  Suddenly the door flies open and another runner runs out like a grizzly is chasing him.  As he sprinted away I hear him yell “it’s all yours man!”

I know this is a crazy long shot, but on the off chance this poor guy is reading my blog, I just have to say I’m so sorry dude. 

Until next time, visit the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowi-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.

EPO, Nandrolone, Testosterone, and all of the other new super drugs that they can’t test for yet all have one thing in common…They all help you recover faster than humanly possible.  But I believe we can recover almost as well without cheating if we do it perfectly.  The catch is that it takes a lot of time and effort that most of us don’t have.  Even the best pros in our sport often work full time jobs on the side.  But what if we did have all the time we needed?  What’s the ultimate recovery strategy?  As usual I’m wide open to everyone’s thoughts on this.  Here is what I’m thinking so far…..If I had all the time and resources in the world my recovery to do list after a big workout would be:     

1. Nutrition #1 - After a workout there is a 15 minute window of time when your body will absorb and replace carbohydrates the best.  Contrary to popular belief this is the best time to take in simple carbohydrates with a high glycemic index.  Personally, I feel the best when I combine these simple carbohydrates with a little of fat and protein as well.  My perfect nutrition here is chocolate milk.  This is also when I take an amino acid supplement.
2. Stretching - Right after you finish your 15 minute nutrition this is the best time to stretch because your muscles are still warm. 
3. Ice Baths - As soon as you finish stretching it is straight to the ice bath.  The colder the better and if you can do it in a Jacuzzi bath that moves the water it is even better.  Be sure your wife isn’t home to see you emerge from the bath guys…one word, shrinkage! 
4. Nutrition #2 - After the ice bath and having gone into hypothermia, your body has probably already soaked up your 15 minute window nutrition and this is the time to put in a relatively good sized meal.  Personally, after a very hard day, red meat is a must for me. 
5. Arnica - After eating I cover myself in this natural anti- inflammatory gel called Arnica.  Being sure to really hit the spots that are talking to me the most. 
6. Udder Cream - I can’t remember a huge workout where I didn’t end up with some kind of chafing.  Udder cream, which was originally designed to sooth chafed udders is perfect for this.  Nuff said…
7. Compression Tights - Okay, so I’m lathered in arnica and udder cream and somehow I manage to squeeze into my compression tights.  Ever see the Friends where Ross is trying to get his leather pants back on?  Lotion, baby powder and a cell phone…
8. Elevation - Finally I get my legs elevated
9. Massage - This topic could be its own blog entry.  It helps me as much, if not more than all of the above.  Get it as often as you possibly can from Jessica Gumkowski. 
10. Sleep - Our bodies produce growth hormones similar to the nandrolone and testosterone that dopers might use.  While sleeping, our bodies go into overdrive producing these human growth hormones (HGH).  So the more sleep the more legal steroids.  The best rule I’ve heard on the sleep topic came from Mark Allen.  For every 60 minutes of intense exercise (that’s z3 or above for my HEP crew) you want to get an additional 20 minutes of sleep beyond your normal amount.  Feel free to sleep in your udder cream encrusted tights…

Recovery On The Fly

I have to admit that I very rarely can pull off the above recovery.  Usually I’m screeching in from a run or bike and simply worried about showering so I don’t stink for the meeting I’m already late for.  In times like these I still do my best to recover.  It goes something like this……

I usually have the chocolate milk already made and waiting for me in the fridge so I chug that down as I’m elevating my legs.  Even 5 minutes of elevation can help.  Then I hustle off to the shower and as soon as I get out and dry off I slather on the Arnica and udder cream and throw on the tights under my work clothes.  After this I grab some food….usually last night’s left over amazing food from my killer chef of a wife….. and eat as I drive to my meeting.  Finally, if it’s not too awkward, I stretch at work or during my meeting.  I’m already used to the funny looks so……..Last, but not least I try as hard as I can to turn in early for bed that night. 

One Last Thought on Recovery   

My mentors and coaches at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine have recently helped me to understand that recovery from a workout actually starts before you do the workout, and continues during the workout.  Making sure you are hydrated and fueled up well before the workout, and then staying hydrated and fueling properly during the workout is absolutely essential to speeding up recovery after the workout.

Okay everyone……please feel free to send along your recovery tricks.  I’m all ears!

Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowi-s, eat more powerbar, visit the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and tell your endurance family you love them.

Since last weeks posting on mental training I have had a ton of comments, conversations, and e-mails on the topic.  My knowledge has definitely grown on the topic.  Thanks everybody!  I thought I would summarize what I have learned from everyone so far and also share an amazing experience I had on the topic today.

Resting The Mind

We all know that a huge part of training is recovery, and I posed the question of how do we rest our minds.  What I have learned so far is that resting the mind doesn’t necessarily mean turning it off.  Instead, it means changing it’s focus to something else.  The best suggestion I have been given on how to do this is to read a book that has absolutely nothing to do with training or triathlon or even athletics for that matter.  I have also found that playing my guitar is perfect for this recovery time.

Goal Setting

One of the best suggestions I have been given on this topic is to set realistic goals.  This makes so much sense to me because I can remember times when I went into a race or training session with goals that didn’t seem realistic to me and it was a mental nightmare!  I wasted so much time and energy worrying about achieving these out of sight goals that it really hurt my performance.  On the flip side I can think of times when I have been confident and comfortable with my goals going into a race or training session and it made all the difference.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think it’s important to set goals that are a little bit out of reach, but not so completely out of sight that they end up causing anxiety.

Focus On The Process and Stay In The Moment

This was by far the most common suggestion I have heard.  It came in many different forms.

Don’t concern yourself with others around you.  You have enough to worry about…….. When it starts to hurt I pretend I am in a bubble, and try to keep anything and everything from entering that bubble……..Focus on the present.  Right here, right now……Focus on your performance alone…….Focus on the process.  It’s very simply swimming, turning the pedals over and putting one foot in front of the other.  Nothing else…….Keep your head in the boat.

I love this last one.  It came from a very close friend of mine that was a rower in high school.  Her coach would urge them to not look over at the competition, but focus only on what is going on right there in the boat.  Every thought about the other boats, every glance over, only takes energy away from the power you are putting into your strokes.

A Big Slice of Humble Pie 

I had an experience today in training where I had to tell myself over and over again to “keep my head in the boat.”  I was doing a supplemental oxygen workout on the treadmill at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and I felt really good.  I was really excited and confident about the workout.  I was almost done with the warm up and getting ready to do the main set when this guy got on the treadmill right beside me and proceeded to show me what running is really all about.  I could tell he was super fit, but I couldn’t believe how fast he was running!  Here I was feeling like I was going to tear it up with my intervals, and this guy was making me look like I was jogging.  Needless to say, I had a very hard time keeping my focus on my workout.  In fact, I started to let negative thoughts creep in my mind and the confidence I started with was now doubt.  I fought it off and did my best on the intervals.  I think I even told myself out loud at one point to keep my head in the boat.  I finished the workout with some of the best numbers I have ever put up.  As I was cooling down, Paul and I were chatting and  I said, “man that guy was ripping my legs off!”  Paul told me he was running at 12.8mi/hr!!!!!  Holy #@$%!  “Who the heck was that?” I asked.  Paul informed me that I had just run shoulder to shoulder with Bevan Docherty, the 2004 Olympic Silver medalist in triathlon!  I have watched that race so many times on an old VHS tape I have.  Bevan just barely got edged out of the Gold by 7seconds by his training mate Hamish Carter.  I was elated!  Now I can always say I ran a ripping 10k workout side by side with Bevan Docherty!  I might leave out the part that we were on treadmills!

Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowi-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.

 I’ve always been very apprehensive about diving into the mental aspect of endurance athletics.  Every time I think about it I picture myself lying on a couch in a psychologists’ office delving deeper and deeper into my mind and trying to find out what draws me towards Ironman.  Frankly, the idea of finding out scares the hell out of me!  I’m afraid of letting Pandora out of the box.  I know I love this sport with all my heart and I have some deep reserve of motivation to be the best.  Why should I question this? Recently I’ve had a paradigm shift on this topic.  I’m finally realizing, I can go ahead and leave Pandora in the box, but still use my mind to improve my abilities in this sport.  It’s not about analyzing what’s going on in my head, it’s about building my mind like a muscle.  It’s training, not analyzing.  My coach, Neal Henderson, opened my eyes to this fact by explaining that my body alone can only take me so far.  I can’t just train my body to perfection and expect everything to automatically fall into place on race day just because I’m physically fit.  It’s like trying to run a high performance Indy car with the battery out of a go-cart. 

Okay…….so how in the heck do you train the mind?  I definitely don’t have the perfect answer to this question, but I’m finally starting to work on it.  I figured this blog would be a perfect place to start my stream of thoughts on the matter.  I apologize in advance if the following seems to be rambling and disconnected.  PLEASE feel free to send along your comments and ideas as I am basically starting from scratch here and welcome all the input I can get.

What does a fit mind look like?…..Here is what I have learned so far.

• 1. Attitude absolutely controls the way the body feels.A perfect example…….one of my very close friends raced her tail off on Saturday in a Duathlon and then turned right around and nailed a 23mile long run on Sunday because she decided in her mind that she would feel good and it would go well. This same friend taught me one of my favorite sayings…..”Negative thoughts will not help a negative situation”
• 2. Humans have the ability to get into an almost trance like state during times of peak performance. Many refer to this place as “The Zone.” I always think of Michael Jordan here. He would find this zone and it was impossible for him to miss. He would just look up at the crowd and shrug as if to say “I have no idea where this is coming from????”
• 3. Confidence is a huge part of the minds ability to produce peak performance. My dad used to always tell me that success breeds success. It’s so true! Just look at the Rockies last season. It was all about momentum and confidence.
• 4. Game day routine is very important.I read a story about Jerry Rice’s pre game rituals. They were insanely precise, but they seemed to be the trigger that put him in his zone.
• 5. Visualization plays a huge part in performance. This topic was my very first blog entry. I truly believe that if a person can visualize something well enough, the mind will not know the difference between the thoughts and actually doing the action.
• 6. The mind responds dramatically to cues given by the senses. A U2 song, the smell of a wetsuit, the sight of the Flat Irons, a mantra I say to myself, the taste of a power gel, the feel of the water……these all cause huge reactions in my mind and thus cause another huge reaction in my body. These cues can be controlled and used to our advantage.
• 7. A relaxed and calm mind seems to be the best. Every account I have read about a person finding “The Zone” mentions something about being very relaxed or calm or in a trance. Mark Allen often speaks of getting his mind to be completely quiet. No thoughts.

Periodization of the mind?????   

My first instinct when thinking of actually training my mind is to train it exactly as I would train my body.  I spend countless hours on setting up very precise periodization for my physical training, so why not do the same for mental training.  But what would that look like?  I’m picturing an athlete saying, “I’m in the base phase of my mental training.”  What would the taper phase look like?

My basic definition of periodization is to play volume and intensity against each other in a very precise way in order to cause peak fitness at a certain time.  Very generally, this means gradually building volume and intensity together and then at some point dropping the volume off while the intensity continues to climb.

How would volume and intensity be measured when training the mind?  Maybe volume is as simple as measuring the amount of time you spend doing mental training.  For intensity, maybe it’s a measure of how specific you are.  For example, maybe low intensity mental training is just thinking generally about a race, where as very intense mental training is being able to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell every little last detail as you visualize a race. 

Mental Recovery

We have recovery days and rest days in our plans.  What does this mean on the mental side of things?  Sleeping is my first thought for resting the mind, but what about during the day?  Personally, I feel like every day for my mind right now is a 20mile track workout with a main set of 60×400m in Z5 with 5 seconds rest!  Okay…..that’s an exaggeration, but I don’t feel like I let my mind “rest” enough.  So how do I sit my mind on the couch?

I have a feeling this is going to be a huge can of worms.  I’m wide open for suggestions!  Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family

When I did my first big triathlon back in the summer of 1997 I think only 6 people close to me knew about it, including my parents.  This was the beginning of my amazing support system in the sport of triathlon.  This past weekend as I competed in the Half Ironman in St Croix, I was blown away by how much this support system has grown.  I’m truly blessed, and I know this endurance family is the reason for all the success I have had so far.  Those same 6 people are still the core of my support, but now the family has grown beyond my wildest imagination.  Here is a small glimpse into the family from my perspective followed by a recap of the race.

On Monday before the race, Dean called me up to have Jen and Bull and I over for dinner.  We have a tradition going now that he always has us over before the big races for dinner followed by his amazing Banana’s Foster!  Just the beginning of my Carb Load I guess.  Thanks Man!

Another absolute must before a big race for me is to see Jess for a massage.  Even though I screwed up and scheduled one with her for Wednesday, (the day we were leaving), she totally rearranged her schedule to get me in on Tuesday AM.  Jess is so good that most people have to book with her a month in advance, but she knew how important it was to me.  Thanks Jess!

BJ sent me one of the best quotes ever a couple days before the race.  We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.  - Aristotle  Perfect!  I needed that bad.  Thanks man!

Two weeks before the race I was just finishing a treadmill workout at the Boulder Center for Sports medicine, and Sean, the bike fitting expert there, came over.  He had a cancellation that day and spent the next hour with me doing a full on 3D bike fit totally on the house.  The same week Paul did a bike LT test for me and Neal spent a huge chunk of his time talking race strategy with me.  Thanks guys!

My parents, who haven’t missed a big race since that first one back in 1997, came down Tuesday night to go to the race with us.  What blows me away about them coming to this race was that they had a big competition with their students in Cheyenne on Tuesday morning.  This meant that when we finally made it back to Denver on Monday morning around 1:00AM they had to jump right in the car and drive to Cheyenne.  I could write a book on everything they do on race week for me, but this shows the great lengths they go to. 

My amazing wife Jen handled all of the travel arrangements.  She packed for all of us.  She made all the special meals that keep me running at my best.  She was my councilor as always through the tension of race week…….she put up with this building tension.  I can’t possibly say enough here.  This is just a snowflake falling on the tip of the iceberg.  Thanks babe!

Lisa always makes sure that we get together somehow before the big races.  We met at Colorado multisport the night before we left.  Lisa was picking up her sweet new Kuota!  I talked her into an aero helmet too, but she insisted that I take the new hard case for the helmet with me for my helmet and she gave the coolest card.  Thanks Lisa!

I had endless e-mails and phone calls and text messages and cards from team HEP.  Mike, and Kristina, and Ryan, and Prinzel, and Leanne, and Amy, and……..it’s a never ending list…….thanks so much guys!

Barry Siff was at the race to cover the action for 4 different tri magazines.  He was out there cheering for me all day and as soon as I finished he was instantly in the med tent to congratulate me and take pictures.  Later that night he had already sent me the pictures.  Thanks Barry! 

Okay, I know I probably went overboard here, but I’m so grateful for my support system.  I love my endurance family!  Now about the race…….

The wind was blowing at about 20 knots at the beginning of the swim.  To say the water was rough is a definite under statement.  Many times I could hardly spot the buoys because the waves were so high.  Luckily I found some good feet to follow and held on to a high Z3 to low Z4 feel.  All engines were firing well and I came out with a good group.  Heading into T1 the bike racks were still pretty full.  That’s what I like to see!  I fumbled a bit getting my arm coolers on there, but I think they definitely paid off in the end. 

The bike course in St Croix is by far the hardest course I have ever done.  It was even harder this time as the rain clouds moved in.  By 8 miles as we zipped through the very skinny streets of St. Croix the road had become very slick.  My back wheel slid out and I have no idea how I didn’t go down!  I definitely learned my lesson there.  Finally we exited town and started hitting some of the big hills.  All of the riders around me were attacking like we were doing a sprint triathlon!  I went with them the best I could.  Just before we hit the Beast, we had covered 30km in 48 minutes!  Whoa!!!!!  We are going way too hard here.  Finally on the beast, which was brutal, I let them go.  I knew I was riding too hard and I didn’t want to risk too much on the descent.  Instantly they put about 2 miles on me and I was suddenly riding all alone.  Then came the down pour.  The skies opened up and I was riding through puddles deeper than my 1080 rim.  ”Stay calm…..stay calm……ease up…….good pedal form”  I talked to myself out load.  Finally the rain died down and I reached the last 30km of the course.  This is where you really earn it in St. Croix.  There isn’t a single stretch of road in this last section that doesn’t have crazy hills or winding descents.  Holding a rhythm is incredibly hard.  Finally about mile 50 or so, the riders that got away from me came back into sight and I managed to get by them.  I have to admit though, as I went into T2 I was very scared about how hard I had just gone on the bike.  It was by far the biggest effort I have ever given in a half Ironman.  Come on running legs!

When I through on my shoes I glanced down my age group rack and only saw one bike.  Okay……I’ve got one to catch!  Following Neal’s strategy that has paid off so many time in the past I really held back for the first 5k.  “Patience…..patience…….patience”  I worked really hard to get my nutrition in and find a groove.  At 5k I was finding a good rhythm.  At mile 4 I finally passed someone, and I was pretty sure he had a 30 on his leg!  “Okay……I’m in the lead!  Stay calm….hold pace……not too hard yet!”  Finally, I hit the turn around back in town and headed out for the second loop.  About one minute after the turn around I saw the 2nd and 3rd place guys in my age group heading toward the turn around and they looked pretty good.  Without even thinking I raised my pace.  It actually kind of caught me by surprise!  “Okay….this is the pace now.  Hold on!”  My family is hugely important at this point in a race.  My Dad always makes sure he get’s to the 1mile left point.  My Mom heads out about a quarter mile from the finish and Jen and Gray are right at the finish.  Finally!……I see my day at 1 to go.  My form is totally breaking down and the pedal is on the floor.  I started counting steps here.  300 steps at a time and then start over.  There was Jen and Gray at the finish, but cruelly there is  one last turn through town.  At this point I was looking behind me every 10 steps.  There was my mom!  The streets were packed with locals all giving me high fives and the sound of the crowd was amazing!  An extra big high five to mom, a quick point to the sky for Rocky, and then the line and Jen and Gray. 

Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.

I spent the morning at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine today to be with a new athlete joining the team as she did her running lactate threshold test.  She did a great job and reminded me of a very important strategy on pacing for endurance athletes.  I call it the boiling frog approach.  Here’s a little background……    I’ve noticed over the past few years of my training that I have some of my best workouts after putting in a different training session first followed by a small break.  For example, I often do one of my training runs early in the morning followed by a very short break to get a small bite to eat and then head to the pool for a swim set.  These have always been some of my absolute best swim workouts.  I’ve seen the same results with other combos as well……swim, small break, ride……etc.  When I first noticed this phenomenon, I remembered some research a coach brought up to me in college.  I can’t remember all the exact details but this track coach had a shortage of athletes at a track meet so, cruelly, he had a few of his throwing athletes, (Javelin, Shot…..), compete in the morning running races.  All of the athletes suffered through the runs and then went back to the hotel for a quick break.  About a half an hour later they came back to do their real events of discus, Javelin, and shot put.  Every single athlete broke their personal bests that day by huge amounts.  This of course caught the coaches attention and he traced it back to the running they did just before their events.  He was definitely on to something.  I still feel sorry for the shot putter out there trying to compete in a 400m dash!   Yet another example came to me when working with my coach, Neal Henderson, on pacing the marathon in an Ironman.  He instructed me to really hold back on the first 10km of the marathon.  “run as slow as you have to in order to feel relaxed and calm,” he told me.  Then at 10km very slowly raise the pace and hold it.  If possible very slowly raise it again at 20km.  I used his advice and broke my Ironman marathon record by almost 40minutes.  I have to mention here that my buddy and I used this same pacing technique on his mental breakthrough workout last week and he absolutely killed it!  The workout consisted of 3×10km done back to back with the first 10k in Z2, the second in mid Z3, and the 3^rd in high Z3 to low Z4.  He negative split each 10k, and ran the 3^rd 10k at a 3:05 marathon pace! Nice man!  So what the heck is going on here?…….The test with my athlete this morning kind of brought it all together for me.  Paul and I started her with her warm up at a relatively slow pace, but it was still clipping along.  After 20min we checked the lactate in her blood and noticed it was pretty high…..almost 3mmol.  Paul being the seasoned pro he is, brought her down to a walk for a few minutes and then started her back up again at a little bit slower pace.  After 4min her lactate had already dropped quite a bit.  Now she was just above 2mmol.  He decided he wanted to slow down just a little more.  Another 4 minutes and she was down to 1mmol and change.  At that point he started the test we all know and love with progressively faster paces and finger sticks.  After about 5 stages we were well passed the speed we originally started her at for her warm up, but the cool thing is that her lactate was still way below 3mmol.  If Paul wouldn’t have slowed her down and started again her body would have never caught up with the lactate production and she would have spiked her lactate way sooner than her true Lactate Threshold.    Okay…..I think I get it.  Basically there are two lessons here:  1. “if we start at a pace that is relatively too hard, we will never reach our true best pace later in the workout/race.”   Or another way to look at it is “slowly building lactate from a nice low amount will allow us to reach a much faster pace than spiking lactate and then trying to catch up.”    2.  “If we can rev up our bodies a bit and then back way off for long enough to let our bodies catch up with the lactate, when we go back to the hard pace we will usually start with a lower lactate and therefore be able to progress higher up the pace ladder before we reach threshold.”  Man…..that’s hard to put into words!  I hope that makes sense???????  Anyway, back to the boiling frog.  Legend has it that if you throw a frog into boiling water it will jump right out and you will go hungry.  But if you put the frog in cold water and let it get at home and then slowly crank up the heat it will be boiling before the frog realizes and jumps out……frog legs for you!  Thus, I now think of this as the boiling frog pacing strategy.                                                                                                                                      Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.                                                                                                                                                                                  

The Trap:I just finished another bike LT test at the center this AM and once again I have been reminded of a lesson I swore I wouldn’t have to learn again……GRRRR!  The lesson goes like this:  Make your easy training easy and make your hard training hard!  Avoid gravitation to the middle!  The trap I run into is that I crave improvement so badly that I end up focusing on pace way too much instead of focusing on heart rate and or power.  For example, my Zone 2 on the bike is from 102bpm to 122bpm or in power, from 140watts to 200watts.  I head out for my long Z2 sets and I try to sit right at 112bpm and 170watts, but I keep glancing at my pace.  “Wow!,” I think to myself, “I’m really rolling today in Z2!  Man!…..I’m holding 36km/hr!  No wait!…….37km/hr!”  Then the dreaming starts.  If I hold this pace in Z2 for an Ironman I will go this fast…..etc…..etc.  BAM! my mind has shifted completely over to pace and I end up “cheating” a bit on heart rate and power to hold my hopeful pace.  When I finish the ride and look at the data I realize I actually spent the majority of the time in low or even middle Z3.  Sure, I will rationalize it by telling myself it “felt” like Z2, and sometimes this is valid, but even in this case, I was probably on the high end of Z2. Lesson Time:So there I sit with my very patient coach, Neal Henderson at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, and we look at the results of my LT test. While we both agree they are good, they could be even better if I can get better at polarizing my effort.  He pulled out some recent training done by one of the best runners the USA has seen in a long while.  (no names….sorry).  Just keep in mind that this guy runs low 28 for a 10k and recently ran a 2:10 marathon.  Holy #$%@!   We looked over a week he put in during a hard phase of training.  He basically had two hard days in the week…..Wed. and Fri.  One of the days he did a set of 10×1km repeats.  The other day he did a long drawn out Z4 set.  The other five days of the week were all low intensity with some small bouts of endurance work spread out over all of the Z2 runs and a few small VO2 max/Z5 efforts on one of the runs.  All together he put in about 110miles for the week.  Those two hard efforts amounted to about 14miles of hard running which is only about 12% of his total volume.  The really hard and short Z5 bouts he did amounted to about 2% of his total volume.  The Z3 work was only about 20% of his total volume.  This means 66% of his running was done in Z1 or Z2!!!!!   Eye Opener:Okay that makes sense.  I coach my athletes and myself with very similar percentages to the above athlete in the hard phases.  But here’s the eye opener for me………We looked in more detail at his easy running, (66% remember!), and he kept the effort no higher than the middle of Z2.  In fact, a huge amount of it was right on the line between Z1 and Z2!  Okay, his easy is definitely easy.  Then we looked at the hard days.  His 10km PR is right around 28:15.  This brakes down to 2:49 per kilometer.  Those 10×1k repeats he did……he ran them right at 2:50 per kilometer!  HARD! HARD! HARD!  His lactate threshold is right around 4:45 per mile.  The long drawn out Z4 set he did was right around 4:55 per mile.  Just barely under threshold!  And what do you know……this works out to right around 2:10 pace for a marathon!  His hard is definitely hard.  I so hope that writing this blog entry will help me to avoid having to learn this lesson again in the future.  It’s all about Polarization of the effort.  Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.

I am absolutely 100% attached to my Finis Tempo Timer in my swimming sets lately.  There are so many things you can use it for.  The down side is that I use it so much I swear I can still hear the beeping in my sleep!  “No, it’s not a bomb.  It’s the TT beep that has been ingrained in your head!”  I figure the insanity is a small price to pay for the benefits of this little sucker though.  We are all crazy anyway right?  Here are a few ways I have been using it……………

TEMPO TIMER PROFILE:  For the bike and the run our whole team uses blood lactate profile tests performed at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine to mark and measure fitness.  I’ve always wanted to do the same test in swimming, but the logistics are a real pain.  I’ve come up with a pretty good substitute though using the Tempo Timer.  I just did this test recently so I will use myself as a model. The test consists of 20×100yds performed at a constant leave interval.  Each 100 is done at a progressively faster cadence dictated by the Tempo Timer.  I decided to use 1:45 for my leave time.  I chose this interval in hopes of getting somewhere from 20 to 30 seconds rest after each 100.  For the cadence setting I started at 1.09 and dropped down by .01 every 100 so that my last/20th 100 was done at a setting of 0.90.  I chose this range because I know I am pretty comfortable right around 1.00 so I tried to make that the middle of the range.  To keep precise splits I used a stop watch and here are the results:                             So this data and graph serves as a nice baseline.  I can follow the same protocol in the future and put the results right on top of each other to hopefully see improvement.  Just like the lactate curve in the blood lactate tests; my hope is to see the black line shift down.                                                                                                                                                                                                PUSHING THE CEILING: I try to spend at least a small piece of each swimming session pushing on my cadence ceiling.  In the test above I was really starting to lose my stroke as the cadence approached 0.90.  I’ve learned to embrace this though.  My swimming coach has taught me to go ahead and struggle with the higher cadences even though the stroke starts to break down.  The idea is to keep pushing the limit where you feel comfortable and that comfort range will get bigger.  One of my favorite tricks is to push the ceiling right before a big main set.  If 1.00 is feeling really comfortable, but I want to try to do the main set at 0.95, then I’ll put in some small 25s or 50s at 0.90.  Then when I go back to the 0.95 it feels much easier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            PERFECT PRACTICE: The low end of your comfort range with the TT is really important too.  I think of it like learning a complicated piece of music.  My guitar teacher back in the day would set the metronome extremely slow for a complicated riff and have me play it over and over and over at this painfully slow click….click…..click…..The result was that the slow pace allowed me to play it perfectly and really groove it.  It’s the exact same deal with the swimming stroke.  I set it as low as 1.35 and methodically flow through the stroke trying to make every catch perfect right down to the last detail.  Then when I speed back up I feel much more sharp.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   KICK IT OUT:I hold the unpopular opinion that a good efficient kick is important even for triathletes.  So I use the TT to strengthen my kick.  I just use all of the same tricks mentioned above while using fins……stretching out the ceiling……working on perfect form……etc.  I’ve found that it really helps me to link up my kick with the rest of my stroke because doing it on the beep makes it very steady and rhythmic.  It’s just like doing the waltz……3 kicks per beep.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     BAND WORK: I do a lot of work with a gigantic rubber band made by a company called Stretch Cordz.  Basically this band attaches with a belt around your waist and you tie the other end to the blocks.  Then you swim against it.  It’s surprisingly difficult.  Not only does it provide strength work, but it helps you find “holes” in your stroke.  As the band stretches out and you get to the point that you are basically swimming in place, you have to hold constant pressure with each stroke or the band will snatch you back towards the wall and you end up bobbing back and forth.  I use the Tempo Timer with the Band to give me instant feedback on my stroke.  I set it at my comfortable cadence and swim out to the static point.  Then as I breathe, I take a glance at the some kind of marker, (life guard chair….tile on the wall…..etc), on the side of the pool to see how far I have made it.  The idea is to keep the cadence the same, but be able to stretch the chord out farther and farther before you hit the static point.  This definitely means you are catching the water better and better and eliminating dead spots/holes in your stroke because the Tempo Timer is keeping you from cheating by speed up your cadence.                                                                                                                                                                                                      Okay……I seriously rambled on this one.  Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.   

Okay blog readers.  Prepare yourself because I’m about to get a little philosophical on you with this posting…….     

Last week I had a talk with one of my coaches, Neal Henderson, as I was warming up on a treadmill at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and he said something to me that really hung on.  I haven’t been able to get it out of mind and it has really helped me since then in my training………  I had just finished a really hard bike interval set with one of my buddies in the centers fables “Pain Cave”, and I was warming up for another tough set on the treadmill.  To be honest I was really anxious about the set.  I was worked from the ride and struggling to keep my thoughts positive for the suffering ahead.  

Neal came over and I congratulated him on his recent success with Taylor Phinney.  Taylor, one of Neal’s athletes just earned a spot to Bejing in track cycling!  Awesome!!!!!  And he did it at the incredibly young age of 17!  What a high for both of them.  Then our conversation turned

to another one of Neal’s athletes, Jamie Whitmore.  I don’t want to betray the confidence of our discussion about Jamie so I won’t go into too much detail.  The bottom line is that Jamie, the amazing Xterra World Champion, is really struggling right now because of a recent surgery to remove a large tumor from her hip.  Talk about a roller coaster of emotions!     Neal is arguably one of the best endurance coaches this world has ever seen, and in my opinion the number one thing that makes him great is how much he cares for his athletes personally.  I tried to imagine myself dealing with the two completely opposite emotions of extreme elation and deep sadness at the same time with two of my athletes.  “How do you do it?”  I asked him.  He said, ”you put up a huge sail and you put down a very deep rudder.”     It didn’t sink in at first, but I had a long treadmill run in solitude to think it over.  My take on it…….you keep moving forward no matter what.  You keep striving for greatness.  You keep clawing for improvement.  When success comes, put up that big sail and ride it.  When setbacks come you depend on that deep rudder to stay right on course.  Thanks Neal.   If anyone reading wants to help Jamie out, you can find all the info at jamiewhitmore.com.  Huge congrats to Taylor! Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.