5:15 AM
Throughout my high school club swimming career, this was a sight I rarely saw. I hated waking up. I hated jumping into cold pools. So I for the most part didn't go to morning workouts.
This morning, when I found myself sitting here, all I could think about was jumping in and getting into the workout.
It's been a while since I've posted, and my excuses are as follows
1) I've been taking 3 business classes to learn how to manage myself as a business.
-This means a lot of homework; reading, writing, etc.
2) I've been working full time to save money for the 2012 season
3) There hasn't been a lot of significant training sessions yet, and I've been enjoying some time off.
So now that I'm getting back into regular training, finalizing next year's race schedule, and purchasing fill-in bits of winter riding gear, I thought I'd post some pictures of my recent ride. We rode out to Crown Point from my house in Gresham, spending a decent amount of time on next year's Rev3 Portland bike route, pretty cool :)
I have a new training partner, Danny Recordan, who works at Athletes Lounge as a mechanic. Danny and I actually go all the way back to 10&under swim team when we were rivals in the freestyle events. Danny has since finished college, and found cycling, so we'll be putting in some good miles on the bike together. We've already logged a few hundred miles on our mountain bikes as some fun base training, and now we're transitioning to the road to prepare for 2012.
Here's the link to a blog that I've been following, it has nothing to do with triathlon, I just love the clothing that these two Engineers design, and they have the coolest blog I've ever seen, check it out!
I've been running and mountain biking.
Which means a lot of heart rate spiking.
Shortest poem of my life.
This is base building season, so my break time has come and gone, and it's time to start laying foundation for next year's tri season. As usual, this means cross country racing, and this year some cyclocross! (this is knobby-tire, muddy bike racing on fields, for those who don't know) I haven't raced yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so to in the weeks to come.
The objective is to get in mostly aerobic mileage with some short bursts of intensity, while trying to stay positive in the lovely Oregon weather. This means mountain biking for me, which is tons of fun, and a great workout at the same time. Trails are good for the soul, too :)
I'm also taking some business classes to explore the process of starting a race company. Watch out for some unique, super high quality races in the years to come, I've got some cool ideas :)
Rode on the road for the first time in three weeks. I've got a few minutes before I head off to my first college class in a year. So I guess it's a "first time since___" kind of day.
It was a blast being on the road after having been riding the mountain bike for all my rides recently. So fast! The bike felt crazy nimble and super comfortable and I had to try really hard not to constantly gas it.
First class is "Intro to business", tomorrow is "Bulding a small business". I'm pretty psyched for these, because the more I think about it, the more I realize I really want to start a small business. Also, being a professional triathlete basically is a business of 1 person, so these classes should really help my run my career a little more efficiently.
I've just finished up a couple of rest weeks,the purpose of which was to let my body completely reset from a year of straight training and racing. It is the time of year when triathlon season is winding down and the winter months bring with them cross country, cyclocross, and never ending wet weather.
I was talking with Denny Burnett and Danny Recordan on our mountain bike ride, and later with Tom Ernst the other day, and a theme that kept coming up was the concept of having fun while training. We thought about how many people we know, and how we ourselves often fall into the grind of training and loose sight of why we all started in sport. Fun. It is so important to never get too far from the pure sense of joy that brought us all into endurance sports. Day to day it can be a struggle, lactate threshold sets really aren't fun in the traditional sense of the word, and near the end of the season, cumulative fatigue can really wipe a smile off one's face.
So, with this in mind, I've been thinking about ways to integrate things in to my training that not only make me stronger, but leave me smiling. Normally this is relatively easy for me (I truly love racing and training for tris), but when the weather turns dark and grey, it becomes more of a struggle.
Fun thing #1: camping at Timothy Lake
I had a great time tent camping with one of my dogs, Bonnie. We just walked around the lake, played in the water, and I read books while she took naps. I'm hoping to do more of this in the future, Timothy lake in particular is great for running and cycling as well.
Fun thing #2 Mountain Bike
This has allowed me to ride with some different people and I've had multiple experiences already where I couldn't stop smiling for 10 minutes of singletrack at a time. I also look forward to doing some cyclocross racing on the new bike, as well as hopefully an Xterra race next year
Fun thing #3 Minibike
I pulled out my minibike from several years ago, and Danny has helped me make it rideable. We are planning to make it into a side hack as a fun project. A sidehack is a sidecar of sorts for a second rider.
Having a bit of tea on this slow Sunday morning, and my mug brings home the message. Don't get so caught up in how many miles you're riding, how many watts you're pushing, what your heart rate is, how many calories you need to eat to recover, etc. Sometimes it's good to just get out for a ride or a run and just play. Go PLAY bike riding, go PLAY running, or go play whatever. Just have a good time.
This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I competed in the Eugene Celebration Stage Race. It was my first race as a Cat3, because I recently upgraded from Cat5, and it was also my first ever stage race. A stage race, for those who don't follow cycling, consists of multiple races over a period of time ranging from 3 days to a month, depending on the level of race. The competitors are timed for each "stage" and a cumulative time is kept as the days go on. At the end of the entire event, the racer with the lowest cumulative time is declared the winner.
This style of racing presents an interesting and fun set of strategies and tactics, especially when racing with teammates. Since each stage is different, it is never a guarantee who will emerge the victor, as each stage favors a different type of rider, and the rest of the field tries to minimize their time losses.
The Eugene race went as follows:
Friday- 3 mile uphill TT (solo effort)
Saturday- 57 mile road race (the entire field rides together)
Sunday- 15 mile flat TT,
45 minute criterium (whole field together, on a 1km loop till time is up)
I was in third place after the first stage on Friday. Climbing is not my strongest discipline, so I was 50 seconds behind the leader and .5 seconds behind second place. I feel I could have ridden faster, but my energy was not great, and my warmup process could have been better.
On the second stage, I attacked twice, but the field was highly motivated, and the teammates of the second place rider (Portland Velo) worked hard to bring me back on the first attack.
On my second attack, with 15 miles to go, the second place rider went with me, and since his team would not chase him down, we managed to get clear, and finished with a 10 second advantage over the rest of the field, including the leader of the race.
The time trial on Sunday proved to be the defining moment of the race. I started third to last, with second place behind me, and first following him. The time in-between our starts was 30 seconds. I knew this would be my only chance to take over leadership of the race. I had an excellent race, recording my best speed ever for 15 miles (27.8mph), but it wasn't quite enough, and second place caught me, and moved up 50 seconds on me overall. The previous leader lost 1:10 to me, and 1:50 to second place, and fell to third overall, behind myself.
This pretty much sealed up the final results, because it is practically impossible to gain any time in the criterium stage, try as I might. My three attacks were covered by Portland Velo, who I give a total hats-off to for their work this weekend, they were on top of it! It made for a very fun race.
2nd place overall, behind Jeffrey pollock, who is an absolute beast!
I'm pretty darn happy with this result for my first stage race and first Cat3 race. I got enough points from the weekend to get me 3/4 of the way to Cat2!
Congratulations to everyone who raced, and thanks to OBRA and the volunteers for a great event!
This brick was intense. It's a good thing I didn't think about it too much beforehand.
3x(10min race pace swim, 30 min bike at 90% of FTP)
The setting----
Set my watch to beep every 2:30 on the swim for turnarounds. Basically four laps that way..
Run up a boat ramp for about 125 meters to the car for transition.
I switched from wet track shorts to bibs and jersey, on the bike in under 2 minutes with the run-out.
Bike course was pretty hilly for first 2.5 miles, and I tried to peg it up the big hill right out of transition. Good race simulation. Then out and back on the highway, which was long rollers and windy.
The work---
I managed to hold about 5 watts high on all three bike segments, but the second half of the second rep was painful, and the third rep was a struggle from the start. I was able to get faster on the swim from one rep to the next, which I assume was mostly the result of my body being warmed up better for the second two reps. I tried warming up solely with stretch bands prior to the first block. This is a good simulation for ITU racing, where you rarely get an in-water warmup.
Yesterday was an adventure, as far as training goes. Nothing went quite to plan, and I was beginning to wonder if my karma was off. It's very easy to get into a bad space when workouts have gone awry, especially if you are tired. But when it comes down to it, I was outside, playing triathlon, my favorite game in the world, which is a blessing.
To go back to the beginning of the day, I went for an open water swim, which I hadn't really packed for. (see video)
The water was insanely choppy, almost oceanic. But it was beautiful, and crystal clear, so I went for it. I could totally see the bottom while swimming, that was a new experience, pretty sweet.
It took me 30 minutes in the car with the heater and seat warmers on full blast, plus 20 minutes in the hot tub to get my body temperature up again. I won't lie, I kind of enjoy the warm-up process after a cold swim :)
THE RIDE.
Fast forward past lunch and a nap, and I headed out the door for a 2.5 hour ride with hard intervals. The wind was insane on the highway, and I struggled to hold 36kph one direction, and was flying at 49kph after the turn-around. I hit my target watts though, and finished up the intervals after an hour. I got back to the campground, and joined up with my Dad, so we could finish up the ride together. He had gotten info on some "great 30 mile ride" from one of the campground employees, who was a cyclist. From what I can tell, this person is much more hardcore than me ;)
We missed our most important turn on the way out, which added on an extra 10 miles or so. I thought we were doing a loop, and by the time we realized we must have missed the turn, I figured it wasn't a big deal, since the road we were on connected anyway. It turns out it was actually an out and back ride, and we were now 25 miles out. Owell, these things happen.
I figured in order to keep the ride from going 5 hours, it would be best to find the road we missed, and take that on the way back to cut off the extra 10 miles. When we found it, it was no wonder we had missed it on the way out. Thankfully I can laugh about this now that it's in the past :)
This picture represents the nicest part of the road. The rough part was entirely comprised of plum-sized rocks that I suppose could be defined as "gravel". I honestly wouldn't have ridden my mountain bike on this section, but I wasn't about to turn around. I knew what was behind me, but up ahead it must get better, right?
Luckily it did get better, and we were able to make decent time, but I'm going to have to give my bike a lot of love to salvage our relationship. haha
I spent the rest of the ride feeling pretty bonked, and muttering to myself, "someone is going to pay" and "who could possibly think you would ride a bike on that", and "Wow, I really do not give Paris-Roubaix riders enough credit." I was getting to the point of just staring blankly at my handlebars, so it was fortunate we only had a few miles to go.
After dinner had begun to digest and make it to my muscles and brain, it slowly dawned on me that I would look back on that ride and laugh. Even writing about it now, I'm smiling just running it through in my head. It was a great experience that I shared with my father, and I know plenty of guys my age who would kill to have sport that would allow them to have such a wacky adventure with their Dad.
So that's how my 2.5 hour bike ride with intervals turned into that, plus another 1.5 hours; making it my longest of the year, first ride on a gravel road, and most memorable ride ever.
Good times.
So my weekend was pretty jammed pack with training, work, housework, and more training.
I'm not complaining, but rather stating that I'm pretty proud of the accomplishments, and it feels good to be tired when it is well-deserved.
I worked Friday and Sunday, and I will actually work tomorrow as well, but what I'm more happy with is the list of things I knocked out around the house. I mowed the lawn, trimmed a tree, cleaned my room, did laundry, cleaned our trailer, and posted my excess bikes on craigslist. Craigslist is an ongoing fight with the more-often than-not bottom feeders of society. "Hi, would you take $100 for the $1200 bike you posted? And could you deliver it to me?" It is so refreshing to get someone who is just trying to find a good deal, rather than rip you off as much as possible.
Anyway, that could be a whole weekend consuming project in itself, but my second favorite task was the trailer. My Dad and I are going to Bend this week, so the trailer needed to be cleaned. That is, after the back end had been completely rebuilt to combat rot destruction. I'll post some pictures of the trip as well as the remodel process later. It was pretty epic. There's something therapeutic about building things with your hands. I love seeing things take shape and being able to see something you constructed finally come together is one of the most rewarding experiences there is. I wish I could have helped even more with the trailer, but unfortunately I spend an inordinate amount of time tired and trying to recover from workouts rather than swinging hammers..
To summarize the weekends athletic endeavors:
FRIDAY 60 min open water swim fartlek
70 min run w/accelerations
SATURDAY 10k road race---33:17 1st place (I was hoping for a super-strong lead pack to try and hang with, but local races are totally hit-and miss)
3hr bike ride----relatively relaxed, but right after the race, and through lunch time. o boy.
Bryant threw in some tough hill repeats too.
SUNDAY 40k bike TT effort--55:04 (I'm pumped about this, it's 3:30 faster than last year, and I total ride-- 2:45min had no race wheels or aero gear at all)
As all the working folks out there know, it's tough to recover from training while you are working either at the office or around the house. But stuff just needs to get done, money needs to be made.. So I'm off to bed for hopefully a 10 hour night of sleep :)
So the OTC Collegiate Development Camp wrapped up yesterday and I took the shuttle from COS to DIA, where one of my best friends, and training partner, Nathan Ansbaugh (check out his blog, he's a cool cat) picked me up.
Side note.. he's making up some magical recovery mix out of blueberries and soy chocolate milk right now. What a guy! We just finished up a quick 45 minute trail run at 8500 feet, which was just as crazy as it sounds. Here is the creek we took our ice bath in.------->
Anyway, to wrap up the camp, we finished with a couple of days of bricks. We did a run-bike brick session with 3x (10k bike, 2k run) at race intensity one day, and the next we did 3x (400meter swim, 10 minute bike w/accelerations). We also did our 90 minute trail run after the swim/bike brick, and there two other workouts on the bike/run brick day. Lots of work, lots of good skills learned.
Ok this blueberry soy chocolate milk thing is seriously rocking my world.
Time is flying here in Colorado Springs. We've been learning all sorts of helpful things and getting measured doses of intensity.
Today was one of those doses of intensity. We had high-speed work in all three sports. We started off the day at 6:30 with a swim workout that was mostly made up of 50 meter sprints. Keep in mind that any sprinting at altitude is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to recover from.
After a quick breakfast, we jumped on our bikes and headed to the Cappy crit course. Once there, we did a whole bunch of race simulation (breakaways, etc.) in our smallest gear! This forced us to go completely anaerobic while maintaining pedaling efficiciency, and it also kept the group from spreading out too much.
Lunchtime, quick nap, and it was time for some form drills, sprinting, and hill bounds on the run. After the third session of high-intensity, short-burst work, we were all feeling pretty flat, and we headed back to campus for some strength work.
Finally it was dinner time and the only thing remaining was a presentation from USADA.
Yesterday we rode to the garden of the gods, which was amazing, but we spent the entire time trying to keep from getting hit by what the locals call "torans" (tourist-morons). These individuals would drive 10 miles and hour around the scenic loop, and pull off into the bike lane at random moments for photo-ops. It made for a hair-raising ride and luckily we all made it home in one piece.
Today consisted of some focused work on our running technique through drills and running gate analysis. Bobby equipped us each with some specific tools to use for sharpening our running skills.
The things I was given to work on were:
higher arm carriage (my arms are too open at the elbow)
faster turnover (90+rpm)
lighter foot contacts because I'm powering too much. I need more finesse.
For the most part, these are things that Bryant has been telling me to do already but this is definitely a great opportunity to refocus and make sure I constantly work on my technique during every session.
I took a couple quick pictures on my bike ride today, Bryant and I headed out for some exploring.
Next up is a trigger point session, then an evening off! Sweetness.
Just a quick update before we have to head to our third session of the day, with running mechanics specialist Bobby McGee. Actually I ran out of time, so it's now after 9 and I need to wrap up quick for bed.
So far today we have done a couple hours of transition practice/demonstration, as well as a bike handling skills assesment. There are varying levels of experience with cycling and triathlon for that matter, at the camp.
After a lot of standing in the sun, weaving through cones, and a couple of hot laps on the warmup track of the velodrome, we grabbed some lunch, and Jeff Helmer, (my roomate) and I crashed out for a quick nap.
Then it was on to swim workout where we did a pretty tough, but not too long workout. Kalen Darling, Sean (can't remember last name right now), and I did 3x4x200 on 2:30. Which was long course meters. At 6,000 feet. Ouch.
Then on to swimming specialist Dr. G, who picked our strokes apart and gave us all a LOT of things that we can do better. This was a pretty cool session that utilized cutting edge swim analyses technology.
Dinner.
Run 45min aerobic, pretty sweet trails, I was the only "swimmer" to head out with the "runners", but to my enjoyment, I kept up fine.
Dinner phase 2.
Chatted with Mark Fretta for a bit. (once ranked #1 in the world for ITU)
Bedtime. I've resorted to bullets cause I'm getting quite tired.
I'm sure the super-intense looking ladies that me and Damian stopped to help with their bikes today wouldn't have appreciated me calling them "damsels in distress", but hopefully I have your attention now. These ladies sure got OUR attention :)
It's not every day you get the opportunity to help out a fellow cyclist, and it's certainly even rarer that that cyclist happens to be an attractive member of the opposite sex. Or in this case, two such cyclists. So when Damian and I spotted these lovely ladies, sporting Ironclad team gear, I put away the GoPro, we slammed on the breaks and crossed our fingers that our help was required. (at least I was hoping... Damian is happily married)
Wish granted! One of them had dropped their chain off the cassette and into the spokes. Actually, the chain was solidly jammed between the cassette and the hub, with the spokes blocking any attempts at freeing it. The damsels were hopelessly prying at it with a tire lever, and were in serious need of a multitool.
Yep I had mine. score.
10 minutes later, Damian and I prying at the chain, yanking on it with two hands, quiet cursing from all parties, and a rising level of desperation (this bike was unrideable obviously, and we were 10 miles from any town, and at least 20 from any bike shop) and I finally managed to get just the right angle on just the right pin.
PING! chain popped off, instant hero.
introductions all around, "thank you!" and "no problem at all, haaaapy to help"
I felt pretty darn important for the rest of the ride :) typical day turned awesome
It's become increasingly clear to me the role that attitude plays in professional athletics. I have yet to qualify for my professional triathlete license, but I feel fairly confident that I have the ability to do so, and on top of that to make money at some point in the sport. Personally, I don't see why you would embark on the road of poverty and endless training hours if you didn't feel it could pay the bills at some point. It just isn't practical otherwise.
I spent some time talking about attitude with Nate Ansbaugh, one of my best friends, and training partner, on our long ride/run workout today. We discussed the difference in attitude between people we've trained with over the years and how it related to their success, or otherwise. It seemed that the people with the best attitudes, the ones you could simply sense their intensity and will to win or excel in whatever the task laid ahead of them, were inevitably the ones that realized their dreams. I've trained with athletes who simply didn't believe they were talented and before races had already decided who was going to beat them. I've also trained with people who didn't outwardly admit they were prepared to loose, but that tried to muster so much bravado and trash-talk that it was clear they would rather talk about what COULD happen than to go out and put the chips on the table.
I'm not really going anywhere special with this, but I think we should all take time to look inwardly at ourselves and ask; "What are my goals? What is my attitude like? Do the two align?" It's fine to have a "whatever happens" attitude if you want to get in shape, but if you want to truly push boundaries, and find out what your body is capable of, whether it's qualify for Kona, USAT Nationals, or get a 5k PR, attitude makes all the difference. And not just on the day of the race, keeping a positive attitude in training is critical to building the confidence needed to maintain a positive attitude in races.
I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes. You've probably heard it before, but I've heard it hundreds of times. My youth swim coach would read it to us at least once a week and it was one of the pillars of his coaching philosophy. Only just recently have I realized its full power and meaning as I see its lines played out in my life. I hope you get something out of it.
On Sunday I competed in the Hagg Lake open water swim. I raced the 800 meter event followed immediately by the 2000 meter event. There was also a 4000 meter event, but I had to drive back to work at noon, so I was unable to compete in that.
The race went well for me, I felt strong throughout, and it was a great opportunity to get a in a race with my new wetsuit from Orca, the Alpha. I can't say enough good things about this suit, and you really have to try one on to realize just how much of a leap forward Orca has taken relative to the rest of the wetsuit world.
In both of the events I edged out my nearest competitor by about 30 seconds. It was an interesting race in that there were two waves for each event. One wave was the US Masters wave and the other wave was everyone else. I was in the "everyone else" wave, which made the race difficult because I had no idea where I was relative to my main competitors in the Masters wave. I had to stay on the gas the whole time because there could be someone halfway around the course from me that was technically swimming the exact same time. This made for more of a time trial type of effort rather than a tactical swim race, which I was anticipating. At any rate, It was good practice for my upcoming triathlons, which are typically also sent off in waves.
I'll be racing the Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon this upcoming weekend as preparation for the Victoria International Triathlon in Victoria the following weekend. If you happen to be at Blue Lake on Sunday, maybe we'll run into each other. Thanks for following.
In the big box of gear that I got from Orca as my first shipment of sponsorship product, I got something that I was not expecting, but that ultimately turned out to be one of the most exciting items I received. It was a high-capacity, single-compartment, waterproof, roll-top bag! A lot of hyphenation, but it is what it is!
I was going to make my first Orca gear post about my Alpha wetsuit, but I've gotten so many compliments and questions about the bag, that I decided that it definitely warranted a post of it's own. It seems that many triathletes like the sleek styling, but bike-messenger/utilitarian feel of the bag, as demonstrated by the massive amount of bag-lust it's causing. So! On to the good stuff. Aside from it's sexy lines, why is it so awesome?
I can seriously put everything I need for a full day of training in the bag, and I don't have to take time to evenly disperse things through 5 different compartments, which ultimately become black holes, swallowing up different pieces of apparel throughout the week. With this bag, I can stuff everything I need for my long ride in the bottom, then on top of that, put the stuff for my run, and then my swim, or any variation on that order depending on the order of my workouts for the day.
Packing List:(this all fit in this crazy bag!)
Cycling shoes base layer heavy gloves running shorts wallet
leg warmers arm warmers light gloves tech-T shirt gels
bibs jersey warm shoe covers water bottles shot bloks
knickers vest rain shoe covers swim brief odwalla bar
socks rain shell cycling cap drag suit Helmet (on outside)
All of this gear used to be spread out through 2-3 other bags which made walking anywhere an extreme pain, and I was always bumping in to people and dropping the various bags at inopportune moments.
The nice thing about the bag, is it doesn't appear obscenely large, as many transition bags do, especially when measuring side-to-side. This makes it great for wearing while cycling, and it has a waist strap to keep it in place and distribute some of the load to your hips. The roll top also makes the bag considerably smaller when you don't have it completely chock full, so it's almost like getting two bags in one. The water-proof nature of the PVC is definitely a plus as well for outdoor carrying in Portland.
Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with the bag, it's nice and simple, but incredibly functional. Perfect for the time crunched, but style conscious athlete. If you want one, talk to Scott or myself at the Lounge, maybe we can order some up :)
So I've been sick the last few days with some sort of stomach flu or food poisoning, and luckily it was mild enough that I only missed one day of training. However, it made me think about a lot of the times in the past that I have made silly mistakes when I was sick, especially because I was very tempted to cut corners to get back to workout this time around.
I thought I would break down into some quick bullet points my experience with sickness and training in case anyone hasn't experienced all of them first hand. And even though you may pick up something new, most likely you're a very driven, hard-working endurance athlete and you'll have to actually experience these things for yourself. That's how it was for me anyway :)
1)REST... It can't be emphasized enough, if you feel terrible, just stop. You really won't perform as well even though you're putting in the effort, and what's more, you won't be able to recover from the sub-par work you did. I figure every day you push through probably adds 2-3 days on to your sick time because of the added stress you put on your body. More sick=less workouts overall.
2)Sick days don't count as rest days... This is one I actually slightly blew this time around. I missed my run on Sunday, so I thought I would swap my 30 minute swim for a 30 minute run on Monday and call Sunday my rest day. Luckily, I had alterior motives besides just getting in a missed workout, I needed to see how a foot support from my chiropractor worked on very short run, and I wanted a quick test of my digestive health before our speed workout. These helped distractme and I didn't just add my 2 hour run in,(even though I was tempted) and kept the total minutes the same.
3)hydrate...When you're sick it's very easy to get hydrated because your body is burning up water trying to fight off your illness, especially if you have a fever. Vommitting also dehydrated you at an alarming rate, and you are less likely to drink if your stomach is upset. Coming into workouts after getting dehydrated over several days of sickness is a sure way to have a disappointing performance.
4)do NOT go to work!... Especially if you work with a bunch of athletes. This also applies to workouts.. Being sick around people who don't want to be sick is a sure fire way to kill friendship, plus if anyone else happens to have a bug, you are very likely to get it, as your immune system is highly compromised. This is difficult for ultra motivated type-A's because we want to be productive and strong, but I assure you, when you are sick, you are neither productive or strong.
That's all I've got for now, I know this is all easier said than done, so don't sweat it if you mess up one part, but the more of it you get right, the quicker you'll be healthy, so it's in your hands!
I'm going to live by my advice to rest, and go log some hours in bed. Not until after I hydrate though :)
Saturday was the OBRA state championship road race in Silverton, Or.
It was a 53 mile bike race with 4500 vertical feet of climbing, so definitely on the hillier side for a road race.
My objective of the day was not just to win, but to win in a certain way, by breaking away late in the race after saving energy riding in the peloton (main group), and practicing bike handling skills.
I accomplished half of my objective by winning, but I got too excited and broke away after only 14 miles, and rode for the remaining 40 with only one other rider, also named Eric. It was an interesting breakaway, because neither of us really attacked, we just happened to open up a gap on a climb when a weaker rider ran out of energy and the riders behind him were slow to react. We quickly realized what had happened, and Eric shouted "lets go!" Eric turned out to be an awesome guy, strong on the bike, and it was a pleasure to work with him. I also noticed he was riding for Soraz racing team, which has a relationship with Athletes Lounge, my main sponsor, so we stuck together as long as our legs would allow, on to fight the good, but often losing fight of those in a breakaway.
At first, the group gave chase, and it looked like we would stay away for only a short time, but after a few miles of a very strong effort on our part, their intensity lessened, and we began to pull further and further away. By mile 30 we had 1:40sec gap and there was only a group of 6 riders chasing. The rest of the field had broken apart due to the fast pace, and it looked like we had the top of the podium in the bag.
As much as I was suffering, Eric had it worse, due to aggressive riding prior to our breakaway, (this guy was a beast!) and around mile 43, he was unable to hold the pace any longer and it was up to me to take all of our hard work to the finish line. I hoped that he would be able to hold on to his second place position, but the 2 minute gap we had built up would prove to be about 10 seconds short of what was needed, and he was caught at the line by the two remaining riders behind us. I ended up crossing the line 4 minutes ahead of them, after increasing my lead by 2 minutes in the last 10 miles.
I'm extremely happy with my result, winning is always fun, but as I said earlier, the goal of the race was to experience the large group of riders for as long as possible before making my move. So for next time, I will have to be more patient and attack with maybe 10 miles to go, which will make for a more exciting race, as well as a better simulation of the draft-legal triathlon format. I had a blast meeting and riding with Eric, as well as several other guys I talked to during and after the race. Thanks to OBRA for putting on quality events such as this.
7:30 Using my pulse oximeter to measure my heart rate and the oxygen levels in my blood. This data, along with some subjective "how do you feel" type questions, are put into restwise.com, which gives me a recovery score for the day, indicating my ability to benefit from training.
7:45 I love this poster. Always puts my head in the right space. I've got quotes on my mirror too. I like the constant reminders that I'm trying to do accomplish some pretty lofty goals and I need to stay sharp/positive/ etc. My favorite right now: "Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy." -Mike Ditka
8:00
Inputing restwise data, checking facebook, working on the Pro Team running video. Breakfast is a big bowl of cereal, toast with peanut butter, and a banana.
8:45
Food for the day until I make it home sometime in the afternoon. Two PB&J's, trail mix, shot bloks and gels for workout, odwalla bars, fruit, V8. All my food is weighed/ measured in some way so I know exactly how many grams of carbohydrate, fat, protein I have, and when. Timing and volume is critical in endurance sports so that you can get the maximum benefit from the food you eat, and also to make sure you get enough so that the second and third workouts of the day go well.
9:00
Picking out the bike for the day. I have a draft-legal race coming up in June, so I have to make sure I split time evenly between my road bike and my time trial bike which isn't allowed in draft-legal racing.
9:15
This is where I spend a lot of my time unfortunately, and my gas bill will confirm. It's a 35 minute drive to get in to Portland for training every day, but it's well worth it to train with professional athletes. I stay out the entire day, like any job, and consolidate my appointments so that I only make the trip once.
11:00
Reed College 800 meter loop with the team. Tahir and I just finished up 2 x 2 mile @ 5:25 pace, 15min jog, 2x 1 mile @ 4:57, 4:36. Hard day, but a strong finish and good times!
11:30
It's important to have some fun, and we all love coffee, so we checked out this new coffee shop on the way to the pool, which turned out to be pretty cool, and they had some great beans. What more could you want.
11:35
Partaking. Ladies and gentlemen.. the one and only Chris Boudreaux.
12:00
Swim was just 3k (about 2 miles). Main set: 4x400 (200 race pace, 200 cruise). We jumped in the sauna afterwards for some deep conversation and heat acclimation.
1:15
Finishing off my lunch at the shop. I like to hang out and talk to the mechanics because they have some funny conversations and are the secret behind Portland's triathlon bikes running smoothly. Show your mechanics some love!
2:30
Ready to ride from Athletes Lounge with Chris Boudreaux. So much carbon fiber goodness it's tough to even think straight. It's like walking into a Ferrari Dealership that has every single top-end car in every color and every option.
3:00
90 minutes aerobic. Plenty of time to have some fun! First sunny day we've had in a week!
4:00
My view for most of the ride. Boudreaux leading the way. The man is racing Florida 70.3 in 5 days!
5:30
Going to get put back together. This place has kept me from falling apart for the last 2 years. Not an easy feat. If you have any issues, really do check it out. Dr. Kreger is a great guy, and he knows his stuff like you wouldn't believe.
Finally back home for the day. Time to unload all the gear.
6:30
Measuring out the home-made-in-the-crockpot-out-of-this-world sloppy joe mix my Mom made. If I had to cook all my own dinners.. well its best not to think about. Thanks Mom! Again, measuring everything out keeps my nutritional intake high enough, and in the right macro-nutrient ratios.
8:00
All showered, getting in some foam rolling and stretching while watching TV. Foam roller is critical when a massage is not available. Today was too busy to fit one in, so foam rolling can accomplish some of the same objectives. Finishing off some pita bread and hummus, and of course hydrating!
9:15
Back where we started. Got to get the 9 hours of sleep :)
This is some footage I shot while the team was running easy on Wildwood trail in Forest Park. It's the most beautiful place I have ever run, and as the video shows, we started in the city at our training facility, and within 10 minutes, we were on miles of beautiful single track trail.
The camera died about halfway through the run, but we saw a bald eagle in a tree on the way back, which was amazing! I really wish I had been able to get it on the camera to show everyone, but now you'll just have to go try and see one for yourself I guess :)
I did a bike workout the other day that I really enjoyed. I think it's really more focused towards 70.3 racing, but it does have some cross-over for the Olympic distance, and who knows, I could very well end up doing a 70.3 at some point in my life :)
3 hour ride
3x20k @ 85% of FTP
we do the 20k efforts around Sauvie Island here in Portland, because the island road is exactly 20k around, and can be done without stopping at a single stop sign. Pretty awesome!!
My power output should be in the 285-290 range for this workout, but I was feeling good and let it slide up a bit. The important thing was that I was pushing hard, but not into the red zone, remaining somewhat comfortable.
I was able to do the 60k of work in just under 97 minutes, which is close to my pace for my best 40k. This is good news for my bike split this season :)
The work---
The rough part was entirely comprised of plum-sized rocks that I suppose could be defined as "gravel". I honestly wouldn't have ridden my mountain bike on this section, but I wasn't about to turn around. I knew what was behind me, but up ahead it must get better, right? 
So the OTC Collegiate Development Camp wrapped up yesterday and I took the shuttle from COS to DIA, where one of my best friends, and training partner, Nathan Ansbaugh (check out his blog, he's a cool cat) picked me up.
For the most part, these are things that Bryant has been telling me to do already but this is definitely a great opportunity to refocus and make sure I constantly work on my technique during every session.
On Sunday I competed in the Hagg Lake open water swim. I raced the 800 meter event followed immediately by the 2000 meter event. There was also a 4000 meter event, but I had to drive back to work at noon, so I was unable to compete in that.
In the big box of gear that I got from Orca as my first shipment of sponsorship product, I got something that I was not expecting, but that ultimately turned out to be one of the most exciting items I received. It was a high-capacity, single-compartment, waterproof, roll-top bag! A lot of hyphenation, but it is what it is!
