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