OTC Camp Over, On To Boulder

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.

OTC Camp Day 4.. I think

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.

Bobby McGee (day 3)

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.

Mountains everywhere :)

OTC Camp Days 1&2

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.

PICTURES!

The pool





                                                          Dr. G with the                                                                equipment



The cell..

Damsels In Distress

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