The Dutch do it on bikes

I thought this might become a travel log for a bit, but maybe I can keep it triathlon themed. Anyways. The Dutch are huge fans of bicycles. There seem to be more bikes here than cars. In fact, the bike lanes are wider than the streets in most places. And it seems even courtship occurs on bicycles 

New Kicks

Pretty pumped for these. 6.3 oz with some stability, perfect for me. Closest thing to a racing flat I've ever had. No excuses for slow turnover now! 

Race Report Omission - Nutrition

Left something important out of my race report - nutrition! This was my first olympic distance race, so it was actually a bit of a question mark going in.

Pre-race breakfast was pretty typical: bagel with peanut butter and a banana, 2.5 hours before the race. Had just a tiny bit of coffee before leaving the hotel. Very careful with this as it sometimes upsets my stomach.

On the bike I had one bottle with 60:40 gatorade:water, with a saltstick tablet dissolved inside, and two Gu's, both with extra sodium and 50 mg caffeine. I had the gu's at the start of the first and second loops on the bike. Drank about 60% of the bottle (would have need all of it and maybe a little more if it had been sunny and hot). Took nothing on the run.

This worked out great. No stomach issues at all, felt energized the entire time. Only thing to change is maybe take another Gu within the first two miles of the run. Mostly a mental thing, might be a good pick me up.

2015 USAT Collegiate Nationals - Race Recap

Intro

A couple weeks ago I was reading the blog of pro triathlete Matt Lieto*, and he wrote something that resonated with me a little bit. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like, "I don't like writing race reports because often it reads like a list of excuses, woulda, coulda, shouldas. I believe that what you do on race day speaks for itself, and you have to stand by that." That said, Matt still writes race reports. And I'm going to as well. But for the purpose of keeping track of what I felt during the race in order to prepare for the next one, not to talk about what might have happened but didn't.

*Matt is an all around awesome guy. He came to Oceanside during our winter tri camp to speak to us and train with us for a few days. Super friendly, super funny, and very talented. If you ever see him out on the IM circuit, cheer him on!

Pre-Race Positives

Everything felt great leading up to race day. Lots of rest, good taper (check out what you did for next year and repeat!!), smooth legs. I was ready. I think the warm up I did on Friday was great too, except for the bike. Between riding back from bike pick up and doing another 20 minutes later, it was too much.

Splits

Overall - 2:26:57
Swim - 30:46
T1 - 2:00
Bike - 1:09:56
T2 - 1:38
Run - 42:39



Walk Through

The swim was pretty standard for me. I found my own space, swam solo, felt like I sighted pretty well but took conservative lines, and kept myself working hard but never red-lining. Still haven't figured out how to find a good group and swim on feet in open water. Something I'd like to work on next year.

T1 was great. Got out of the water, up the hill, and got the wetsuit off about as quickly as possible. Did my flying mount and was off on the bike.

It was really raining when I started the bike. Hard to tell whether this had a subconscious effect on me, but I felt like I stayed focused, aggressive, and kept the pace I would have in any weather. The course was as expected - rollers. No real climbs, but rolling hills that kept things interesting. Didn't play to my strengths on the bike. I like to get my speed up, find my threshold, and cruise there all day. With rollers, you've gotta be able to put in those 2-4 minute hard efforts and get back to cruising. Something to train and be prepared for next year. Like the swim, I was happy with the bike, but not thrilled.

T2 was typical. Cramped hard in the right calf trying to get my shoe on. Stood there for five seconds waiting for it to release. Everything else was great. Things to do differently: somehow loosen up as you run into T2 with your bike, put your left shoe on first (could it be that simple?), sit down to put your shoes on.

Got off into the run and felt pretty good initially. Was expecting something pretty flat, and in reality, the elevation gain over 10k was not bad, but it was always steady up or down. No flat stretches to really settle in. On the way back in (first of four times) I realized the hill in that direction was gonna be killer every time. The mindset became: push it on the downhills, hang on for dear life as you go back up. About halfway through, my legs really were not doing well. The pounding on the downhill was taking a toll and I was running out of gas. But this is when I got focused and latched onto a runner who seemed to be just a little stronger. Coincidentally, he was a Spartan. I stayed on his hip for the last 2k as we dropped the pace. Came up towards the finish and he seemed to ease off a little bit. I hesitated - should I try to put some space between us here and hold or stay right behind him and out sprint him to the line? I went with the latter, but it turned out to be a mistake. He had about 3 inches of height on me, and when he turned the corner and kicked with that stride, I didn't have much of a chance. I was disappointed with the numbers on the run - I wanted to go sub-40 and I really thought I was fit to do that. But I know I gave it all I had on that day, and it just wasn't there.

Final Thoughts

What an amazing event!! The atmosphere is really something special. I hope to race here as many years as possible. And the draft legal and mixed team relays were a blast to watch. Those formats really feel like racing. If I ever have the chance (if I ever get fast enough), I'd love to compete in those races.

Already thinking about next year! Had a great meeting with Coach Seth and have some initial plans in mind. That's for a later post.

Can't end this without a huge shoutout to Ryan Karr. It was a blast to see him in Clemson. And he had an awesome race. I really really really wanted to be neck and neck with him, but he got the minutes on me I figured he would on the swim and then just absolutely smashed the run. Gotta work hard to keep up with Ry - anytime we show up at a start line together, I want us to both be thinking, "I'm gonna have to throw down to stay ahead of this guy."

To Clemson and back

She made it. Race report coming soon! 

The scene at the airport

Cal Tri about to go wheels up SFO -> ATL. Super pumped!! Nationals here we come! 

Shiny legs

Tonight I made maybe the biggest commitment to the sport since buying a carbon bike - I shaved my legs. Immediate thoughts: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Taper is Working

Feeling fresh and even restless today. The taper is definitely working. Still some soreness in my left calf, but stretching and rolling in the next few days should take care of that. At this point, all the hard work is done! Here's what the week looks like:

Tuesday and Wednesday: little bit of all three sports each day, shake out, get loose, a couple speed efforts. Just to stay sharp.

Thursday: travel and rest day

Friday: put bike together and ride in Clemson, swim at the race venue, and some running strides 

Saturday: RACE DAY

All week: stretch, roll, practice transitions, visualize, in bed by 10.

This is gonna be fun! And I got a new toy, just in time: 

It's been a while...

I've been away from the blog for a while. Two of the hardest weeks of training I can remember, with a lot of real life stress on top. But I made it to taper time and that's feeling great. Rode 1:30 today with 3x10 at race pace. Got home and felt like I had just warmed up. Makes me feel really good about my fitness. Time to just take care of the body and keep things lose for next week.

Been so lucky to be part of this team this year. Can't wait to race alongside these guys in Clemson next week!

Big shoutout to Kevin Karr - running Boston on Monday. No doubt he's gonna have a great marathon. This guy is a killer athlete AND knows how to run smart. Have fun out there!

 

Pain Train

Usually don't go to the team workout on Tuesday - it's a team trainer. Hard to justify leaving work early to drive my bike and trainer down to a parking lot and ride there. Lot of effort for something I can do on my own before/after work.

But yesterday was a workout called Pain Train - basically Brick repeats. 10 minutes at 40k TT pace on the trainer, transition, run up the hill to the track, and do a mile at 10k pace. Repeat 3x. Definitely a hard workout, but a fun one, and a great one for getting the legs ready to run off the bike. I gotta say, even the portions on the trainer were a lot of fun. 

Feeling it in the legs today, but in a good way. Working hard to stay on top of nutrition too. Volume and intensity have both been high recently and trying to make sure I'm giving my body enough to keep going. 

3.5 weeks to Clemson....

Just to clear the air....

It seems like the entire world of triathlon has been in a stir this week following a comment I made in my Thursday blog post. I'm talking about referring to Kevin Karr as a "rival." I just wanted to publicly address this issue and hopefully put it to rest.

I'd like to point out that it was, in fact, Mr. K. who threw down the gauntlet with this comment on March 20th:

"You get in early on the bike at the local tri when you ride 260 watts ;-).  Just sayin...youth is not everything boys. #smack"

#itson

Right back in the zone

Really proud of the work I did getting right back at it this week. If all goes to plan tomorrow, it'll be 12+ hours of training - 5 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs. Biggest accomplishment in my mind was three double days in a row (Wednesday-Friday). The key there was introducing a Thursday "shake out" swim. Wednesday and Friday are big swim workouts and I normally feel like it's important for me to stay out of the pool on Thursday. But this week I tried a really easy 1500, almost all drills, focusing on really feeling my stroke, enjoying the feeling of the water, and keeping perceived effort at 3 out of 10 and below. Seriously, that low. Not only did I love that workout, but I felt even better on Friday! It's going to be tough to keep this kind of training load up during busier weeks, but definitely something I'm going to aim for.

I've also been reading some pro-triathlete blogs and following coverage of Ironman races (70.3 in Oceanside and full IM African Championships this weekend). That's been a lot of fun and keeping me motivated and excited to be out there working every day. 

Tough ride today. Big shout out to my buddy Andrew - setting PRs on all three major climbs of the day and dropping me like a ton of bricks. Was really exciting to see him feeling so good. Normally we ride handlebars to handlebars. It was a little discouraging to see how much I got set back by being sick...but also I know I'm coming off a lot more volume this week than Andrew. And he's not getting up and running 11 with me tomorrow morning :P In all seriousness. The thought I had while suffering up the last hill today was: my goal is to be the best triathlete I can be on April 24th. Not the best cyclist today. That means putting in a good effort on the bike today, but making sure not to run the tank too empty. Tomorrow's run and swim are just as important. 

Which brings me to two big lessons from the year so far:

1) The importance of lower intensity workouts. You can't have 11 workouts a week and feel gassed after every single one. Each workout has to have a purpose. Can't overstate how big of a difference it's made for me to focus on this. 

2) The importance of actively focusing on recovery. Related to the last point - you don't gain fitness by running yourself down day after day. You gain fitness by letting your body rebuild after each workout. Setting aside time to foam roll, put the legs up, eat right, SLEEP. SLEEP!!! Makes such a huge difference.

This post was a little all over the place. My mind was wandering a lot on the bike today and I'm trying to get all those thoughts out here.

Take home message: good week. Time to recover and get ready for two hard weeks before starting to taper for nationals. 

Morning track

Because Cal is technically on spring break (not observed by grad students), no coached track workout today. Since I was on my own, I decided to do it in the morning instead of at 5:30 pm. Overall a good workout, 3 x 1 miles at race pace, but definitely some pros and cons vs. the standard Thursday track.

Pros

- Not fatigued from working all day

- Felt good to start the day with a run

- Leaves evening open for a "shake out" swim

- Forces me to be responsible for my own pace 

Cons

- Harder to hold race pace without using others on the track for mental pull

- Splits weren't as consistent 

- Was pretty hot out 

And in modeling my coach, mentor, friend, and rival, Kevin Karr, I got myself an espresso on the way from track to work. Maybe next time we're at the same race, I'll come across the finish line first and he'll have to start copying my habits. 

Back at it

Swam on Monday, got a nice easy run in yesterday, and halfway through a double day today. Here's the view from the trainer this morning:

Feels really good to be back at it. Healthy and rested and feeling fresh. Now it's five weeks of sticking to the plan, eating well, and no late nights. Gonna be ready for Nationals.

Speaking of. Received an awesome picture from Ryan of the Michigan race kits - big block M and "Karr" written across the chest. So cool. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want one. Can't wait to see it in April, hopefully not flying by me. 

Sick

This is what getting sick looks like. Pretty bummed to miss an entire week of training, especially when last week was low volume due to travelling. Even more bummed to miss the collegiate regional championship race this weekend. Was really looking forward to my first race at the olympic distance and the first team competition of the year.

But. You can't race when you aren't healthy. The good news is I'm feeling a lot better. And watching the live coverage of Ironman Asia-Pacific championships today has me really pumped to get back at it. Looking forward to a bike and a run tomorrow. 5 weeks until nationals, eyes on the prize.

Shot of the week

Three things I like about this photo:

1) pretty happy with that aero tuck 

2) not even phased by the blood on my hands

3) but mostly, that kid's facial expression is the bomb 

Race Recap: Stanford Treeathlon

There's no such thing as a perfect race, but this one was pretty darn close! Let's start with the numbers:

Swim: 13:02*
T1: 1:13
Bike: 31:34 (22.6 mph)
T2: 0:47
Run: 19:11 (6:09/mile)
Overall: 1:05:49

*This swim split includes a 0.6 mile run from the end of the swim to the timing mat at the entrance of transition. According to my garmin, I was out of the water in 10:57, swimming 1:34/100 yds

This was a PR for me at the sprint distance by 4.5 minutes, a pretty amazing amount of time. However, because the distances of each split tend to vary a bit in sprint races, what's more important to me is that my pacing was faster than ever in each of the three sports and transitions were nearly perfect.

Swim split: chaotic. The course was a narrow lane between boats in a marina, which kept things crowded throughout. One of my own teammates swam over me! At some point I ended up with a pretty solid battle wound (see below), which I didn't discover until I noticed the blood on my handlebars halfway through the bike. (Let's be honest, this made me feel like a badass and may have caused me to go faster.) Even with all the contact, I had no problem staying calm through the scrum and pulled off my fastest swim ever. This is definitely where I feel experience in the sport is paying off. It made a huge difference that getting knocked around didn't make my heart rate or breathing spike.

Bike split: FAST. As I planned since last week, I decided to really go for it. The course was three laps, so it was pretty crowded. This meant there was unavoidable drafting that probably upped my speed. More importantly, I came out of T1 with the same teammate who swam over me (and is probably a faster cyclist) - so I decided I was going to stay with him. We went back and forth with each other and that really helped me keep the pace up. I love having a rabbit to chase.

Run split: suffer session. I definitely felt the difference in my legs on this run after giving so much on the bike. I went out fast, faded a little on the second mile, but was able to kick it in and hang on for the third. We had a lot of teammates come out and having them cheering near the finish was a lot of fun.

Overall thoughts:
- Team atmosphere was amazing - I think I'll dedicate a separate post to this later in the week
- Finding space in the swim is always key for me, but don't be afraid to be a little aggressive
- Suffer on the bike, you've got the legs to hang on in the run
- Forget the numbers and just run strong

Final note, on rankings. After being the 13th male to cross the line at Davis, it was a little discouraging to place 40th this weekend. But the field here was so much deeper. In my mind, if this were a draft legal race, I'm at the front of the second group of guys. Where I rank will always depend on how many of the first groupers show up. The key is this - I'm working harder than ever before and the results are reflecting that. Minutes have come off my splits in all three legs since last year. Consistent hard work over time. It's not gonna happen overnight, but if I keep it up, I might be able to hang with those top guys next year. At least, it's fun to think about....

Two other photos of the day: ready to go pre-swim with buddies Marc and Andrew (hey Xterra, let us know how much you'll pay to use this in an ad), and post-race celebration at In N Out 

Big news.....

IT'S HAPPENING!!

Race Recap: UC Davis Aggieathlon

What a great day!!!!!

Started with an early wake-up (4:20 am), a bowl of oatmeal, picking up teammates, and a 90 minute drive to Sacramento. I'd been mentally prepared for cold water temps at the race, but I was not ready for cold air! When we arrived at the race site, it was low 50s, with the mostly Californian-born spectators wearing winter coats with hats and gloves. At this point, I was much more worried about freezing on the bike than during the swim. 

Didn't have as much time as I'd like to mentally prepare and visualize on my own before the race. And no warm up. Got there plenty early but registration took forever. This is probably the biggest thing I'm hoping to do differently next week.

Getting into the water wasn't as bad as expected. Tough on my hands, feet, and face, but the wetsuit definitely did it's job keeping everything else warm. I felt pretty good about my swim. I felt like I got into a nice rhythm, had plenty of space, and sighted well. My split turned out to be pretty average for me - disappointing since I've improved so much (and spent so much time) in the pool. I know we were swimming against the current for most of the swim, hopefully that's the difference. 

The bike course was an absolute dream. Completely flat. Felt like going downhill in both directions. Not much to say here other than I think I could have gone a bit faster. This is always a part of the race I struggle with mentally/strategically in the sprint distance. Over 70.3, the goal is clear - go as fast as possible while staying comfortable. In sprints I want to really push but am afraid of spiking my heart rate before the run. Something to play with next weekend.

The run was really fun for me. Didn't look at my watch once. For about the first 1200 meters I was just trying to keep my legs moving and get into a rhythm, get the legs switched over from biking to running. Wasn't totally in the race mentally. Then I ran past one of our coaches and he pointed at two guys ahead of me and yelled, "stay relaxed, pick those guys off slowly, one at a time!" And that was all I needed to get locked in. At the turnaround I realized my buddy Andrew was within catching distance and made a big push to get up with him. We ended up finishing 13th, 14th (3rd and 4th on the team) which was really fun.

Full results: http://results.active.com/events/uc-davis-aggieathlon

Overall thoughts on the day:

- It was incredible to be at a race as part of a team. To have teammates and coaches cheering us on. To have people yell "go Cal" as we went by. Really exhilarating.

- The sportsmanship between teams was great. I was expecting a little bit of anomosity (especially from Stanford), but it was like any other race I've been at - everyone cheered for everyone. This is something I think is unique and really special about the triathlon community. There's so much mutual respect and support. 

- Cannot wait to race again next week! 

Finally, a big thanks to Kevin Karr for shoutouts on his premier blog and twitter feed this week. If you haven't already, check this guy out at boston2boulder2015.blogspot.com

Racing in 2 Days!!!

Pre-race jitters started today. Cannot wait to get out there! Having to tell myself it's too early to start packing gear and visualizing (read: obsessing) the race, gotta save that for tomorrow. So far though, prep has included:

- Making sure to bring three swim caps, including my thick rubber one, for the 55 degree water. Will probably only wear two. 

- Telling all my friends and housemates that I HAVE to be in bed by 10 tomorrow

- Periodically pulling my new Cal race kit out of the closet and getting pumped about wearing it and racing not just for myself for the first time

- Getting 9 hours of sleep the past two nights and spending 30 minutes a day on the foam roller 

On the bike today

Doesn't get any better 

Brrrrrr

Just found out I'm in for a cold swim this weekend...55 degrees!!! How can the American River in Sacramento be colder than the Bay?!

Practicing my juggling

The last week has been an exercise in remembering priorities and maintaining balance. Hosting students interviewing for the BioE program at Berkeley/UCSF Saturday-Tuesday while having a ton of work to get done to wrap up my second rotation has really limited the time I've been able to spend training. Initially this caused a lot of anxiety for me. Losing the rhythm and routine that I've developed over the past 4 months just two weeks out from race day was really unsettling. But it's impossible to do any kind of good work with that type of stress, so I've kept myself focused on the following:

1) Trust the training - the Type A perfectionist in me says "you must do every workout you schedule or you're wasting all the effort from previous workouts." I've gotta trust that four months of fitness isn't going to go away with 6 workouts a week instead of 10. In fact, some extra recovery time is probably good. But my default is to push push push. 

2) Enjoy it! - when things are really busy, it's especially important to remember that I do this because it's what I love to do. Working out can't just be another thing on the schedule or the to do list. It's gotta be my time to relax and reset mentally. 

So for today, I'm making sure to savor the sunshine and enjoy the view from the pool before heading back to work.

Happy President's Day!

Took advantage of the holiday to do my Monday recovery ride outside instead of on the trainer. This was awesome. Beautiful morning to be out on the road.

But the most important part of the day (in terms of training) was 30 minutes on the foam roller. Definitely needed this after the weekend. I think that's Ed Sheeran providing some nice background tunage on the laptop.

Now it's time for some fun in SF! Going exploring with friends today. Activities involve some combination of: Lands End hike in the Presidio, bison in Golden Gate Park, Trouble Coffee Co., hunting for bakeries, and a healthy dose of spontaneity. 

I remember when Sundays were rest days....

...Now it's the toughest double of the week. With racing season upon us, rather than Sunday long runs, Coach Dean is holding track workouts at 9 am. And he calls it his favorite workout - cruise intervals. The idea is to run 4-5 1-milers at 30-40 seconds slower than 5k pace, with only 1 minute rest in between. Primary goal is consistency - splits should be within 5 seconds of target. Dean really likes this one because it's a great tempo workout, but doesn't leave you feeling totally spent (which means no excuse to skip swim at noon :P) Anyways, I gotta say I really liked this workout. Felt like exactly what I needed after a tough ride yesterday. A really solid run, but no overexertion. Ran 4 1-milers at 6:25 with 2 miles warm up and 2 miles cool down for volume. 

With about 2 hours to kill before swim, something pretty exciting happened - I had my first trip to a Cal dining hall. Marc swiped Anna and me into the brand new Crawford Dining Center. Pretty gorgeous, reminded me a lot of MoJo. (Shoutout here to post-swim meals with Ryan Karr - gotta say, I really missed those croissant egg sandwhiches). It took a lot of discipline to not go back for seconds and thirds. This is the hardest part of doubles days for me - waiting to refuel (read: binge eat) until after the second workout. 

Swim was as brutal as I thought it was going to be. Another 3800 yd set (I swam that on Friday too), and this time with Coach Rob keeping us on the clock. And he bumped me up a lane. This was both encouraging and intimidating. I'd leave right on the feet of the guy in front of me, and by the end of our intervals I'd be a good 10-15 yds back. Catching 5 seconds of rest if I was lucky. They ended up doing a third broken 1000 interval set, but I grabbed my paddles and headed to an empty lane to pull at my own pace. Had a really long, hard week of workouts and wanted to make sure I didn't push myself too far.

Speaking of - I think this might be the most yards I've ever recorded in a week. 11,800 in all. I'll have to go back and check. Definitely seeing huge improvements in the pool. Will be interesting to see how that translates on race day.

My treat for the day (and I was thinking about it the whooooole time I was swimming): caramel bubble milk tea from PurpleCow. Mmmmm. Oh. And I have to give some love to Lady Liberty (my Jeep). It was pretty awesome to be able to just drive home after working out this afternoon. Big thanks to mom and dad for sending it out here!

A pretty great Saturday

FHit the road at 7 am with Cal Tri buddies Marc and Andrew for a big 60+ miler. Rode this route 25 minutes faster than when I do it on my own. Awesome having people to take turns setting pace. Stopped at a fruit stand halfway through to refuel.

Early start meant I had time to get to lab and get some extra work done. Felt good to be productive on a Saturday. Had the place to myself...

Wrapped the afternoon up with some pretty excellent iced coffee. Now home to celebrate Valentines Day with three other dudes....

2015 Race Calendar

Here's what's on the schedule so far:

March 1st - UC Davis Aggieathlon - Sprint

March 8th - Stanford Treeathlon - Sprint

March 22nd - West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference Regionals - Olympic

*April 25th - USAT Collegiate Nationals - Olympic 

September 20th - Ironman 70.3 Tahoe 

And some thoughts: 

• Obviously collegiate nats is the race of the year
• Big gap between the collegiate season and 70.3 Tahoe (btw - not registered yet, but probably will be by the end of the month), but that's good because I'll be in Europe from May 13 - June 13 and going to take that month to totally rest from training 
• Really wanted to do Wildflower this year, but our bikes won't be back from nats yet

Better late than never...

Starting a training blog is something I've been debating for a while now. With less than a month before my first race of the collegiate season, it seems a little late to be starting now....But more and more I keep wanting to have a place to jot down all my pre/post-workout feelings and the numerous triathlon-related thoughts that strike me throughout the day. So here goes!

I want this to be a day-to-day blog, but since I'm already so far into training I need at least three more posts to get everyone up to speed. The first will be my race calendar for the upcoming season, the second will be a summary of the month of January (it was an epic one), and the third will be past/present benchmarks along with goals.

This should be fun!