Racing ... Consider FAST before FAR

        Over my years in California I have witnessed some trends when it comes to performance of endurance athletes, weighted mostly toward triathletes, and in general they look like the following:

- Good to great fitness early in the year (Quarter 1) ... but have peak races in quarter 3 or 4

- A trail off of fitness, or at best a leveling of fitness, by June 1 - July 1

- Carrying too much fatigue early in the year to truly peak perform in second half of the year

- Targeting long races early in the year, every year, YET the key longer races that really mean the most to them are in mid summer, or later.

This theme has rung true for a few of the self guided athletes within our team over the last couple years. When I had the discussion with them, let them know I have seen the pattern(s), and proposed a solution, their responses were something like "hallelujah"!  

Why Do We See These Trends?

-Race calendars overloaded with longer races that are overshadowing shorter races that could / SHOULD be an integral part of an athletes build to peak racing

-We can have really good winter weather at times here in NorCal (not as I write this ironically) that drives athletes outside to do too much long training (especially cycling) when it is not necessary (yeah sure it's fun, but poor performance later in the year doesn't feel so good)

-The tendency for athletes to think that if they are not training for a 70.3 or Ironman race then t's not "epic" or "important" enough.

-Using early season 70.3 OR Ironman races to get ready for later season 70.3 or Ironman races

-Athletes not racing enough shorter races because they feel pressured to get their longer training in.

What is the solution? 

My exact words to an athlete were: "Just because there are early season 70.3 races does not mean you should do them. Because athletes start obsessing over getting their long training in they skip too much of the proper training progression to get properly fit over time and have their best races when it matters ... essentially, too much long stuff early in the year and not paced OR placed on the calendar appropriately."  

Granted every athlete is different, but, IF you truly want to peak at a 70.3 OR Ironman race in quarter 3 or 4 of the year I don't see a lot of value in a long distance race (for an age grouper) in quarter 1 or early in quarter 2. The main reason is most athletes do the same training year round if they are consistently training for the same type of racing. After a period of time the body will not respond to getting the same key stimulus it has gotten all year, or for a majority of the year. In return you just get tired and race specific fitness fades.

What Do You Advise Coach?

Here is an example of what I would propose for an athlete doing a mid July 70.3 (Say, Vineman?):

- February or March ... 5k or 10k running race (establish some baseline pace numbers)

- Early to Mid April ... duathlon / sprint triathlon if available

- Mid May ... Olympic Distance Race ... NOW you are approximately 8 weeks to your 70.3 and can focus on training specifically for that race.

- Mid July ... 70.3 peak race ... FOLLOWED by a break!

- This leaves the back end of the season to adapt in whatever direction you want to take your racing.

The key is train specifically for the NEXT race ... not the race that is 4 months away. YES, by training for the next race you are also training for your longer race while NOT getting sucked in to doing the wrong training too soon.

There is so much to be gained by going through a variety of training phases. (physically, mentally, metabolically, physiologically) When you get the training progressions right, you'll be surprised how well your races go.

It's not too late in the year to re-think your schedule and re-shuffle the deck ... 

Swimming ... On a Monday

As I was driving to my sunrise swim this morning I thought about the majority of the swim sessions that I give my athletes on a typical Monday and why I script them the way I do. I knew my legs were a little heavy from the weekend as a combo of getting back to a good training routine (longer ride and runs from what I’ve been doing, plus some strength training on the lower body). So, I scripted my session in my head based on what I thought MY needs were and then went and knocked it out … it was as follows:

NOTE: I am a believer that one should swim strong/solid OR fast every session, even if it’s briefly, AND that long warm ups are necessary. 

Here goes:

-        -500 easy based on how I feel (just wake up)

-       - 8 x 50 w/ small paddles building the last 25 @ 10sec (start to force the system awake and use good technique with paddles)

-       - 4 x 100 w/ fins as 25 kick / 75 cruise swim (kicking was to help recovery from the weekend AND drive HR up a little)

-       - 4 x 50 cruise w/ small paddles (technique)

THAT WAS ALL WARM UP … most athletes think a warm up 500 easy is the warm up ... not so fast!  When athletes are carrying any kind of fatigue it usually takes at least 20min to get all systems warmed up. So you can see that this particular warm up checked a lot of boxes for me

-        MAIN SET of 1500 meters just rolling from one block to the next on the rest interval indicated – focus is on small bits of pace change BUT ALWAYS holding form.

-        250 pull, done as 25 strong / 100 cruise @ 15sec rest

-        200 pull, done as first and last 25 strong @ 15sec rest

-        150 pull, done as 25 strong / 50 cruise @ 10sec rest

-        100 pull, done as first and last 25’s strong @ 10sec rest

-        50 pull, easy @ 20sec rest

-        5 x 50 paddles – strong @ 10sec rest

-        200 pull w/ paddles - cruise

-        3 x 50 paddles – strong @ 10sec rest

-        100 pull w/ paddles – cruise @ 10sec rest

-        50 strong w/ paddles

-        WD = 4 x 50 easy mixed

  

In the end I checked all the boxes that I wanted … technical swimming, small bits of harder / faster swimming, a little work to aid my heavy legs, a solid warm up and controlled main set and some pulling to take a bit of work off my tired, and sinking, legs.

When I script athletes swim sessions these are some of the things I think about when deciding how to place their swim workouts across the week. I hope that you’ll do the same for yourself, or for the coaches out there, you start doing that or your athletes.

Always thinking … and today writing!

Planning Ironman Vineman? ... or Vineman 70.3? ... or any race

Since the turn of the year there seems to be more buzz about the former Full Vineman, now Ironman Vineman, and the same could be said for Ironman 70.3 Vineman. Along with the “buzz” I see a lot of what athletes are doing from a training standpoint and see opposite ends of the spectrum .... too much or nothing!  So whether you are training for either Vineman race (26 & 23 weeks away respectively) or any race for that matter, I hope the following information will help you evaluate or re-evaluate the path you are taking to get there.

Some things to consider from a training standpoint if you are racing at Ironman Vineman, Vineman 70.3 ... or any other race this season.

1)     Get Healthy – Stay Healthy … If you are not 100% healthy and are battling frequent illness or carrying around any sort of injury, FIX IT NOW, and back off what you are currently doing.  If you never get healthy you’ll never be able to train properly

2)     Get Strong – Stay Strong … this can mean different things to different folks. For some it includes the weight room, or strength classes, or specific workouts. Regardless of exactly what it is for you, as athletes we need to be creating a stable platform that we can work off of when the training REALLY matters for your key event. (Which is starting 8-12 weeks from race day)

3)     Be Consistent … before making major changes or increases in training load find a pattern or schedule that is molded around points 1 & 2 that you know you can OR have maintained for 6-8 weeks CONSISTENTLY.

Before you start worrying about how long your training sessions are, find a pattern of consistency for at least 6 weeks so you can establish the three levels above.

All my athletes are different and have different demands and I guide them like that, individually. So it’s difficult for me to say exactly what a person should be doing “now” when they ask online or in casual conversation. BUT, if you / they have established the above criteria I am way closer to being able to answer that question. If you have not established #1 - #3 you already know the answer to your question.

One other question has come up in conversation as well: 

“What About A Training Camp Coach?” 

ANSWER: 

Part a.) I start with items 1-3 above (but 8 weeks not 6) … if you haven’t done that then it’s non-negotiable. Without a foundation the camp is likely do-able but the potential for too much rest needed post camp OR the increased injury risk especially makes any value of the camp worthless. 

Part b.) The reality is I like camps but they should be placed appropriately. If you are more than 8 weeks out from the key race then just getting in the extra volume and stimulus of a camp is plenty. If you are 2-8 weeks out and training has consistently been on track you can consider specific “pace work” into the training camp. In the end, if the camp is an overload of training for you, then you and most people will get good benefit just from training overload alone.

When considering your training, where you are in it, and where you are going … it is important that you can do your best and most specific training when it matters (Go back to #2 if you don't remember the answer ;-)

More Vineman and race planning thoughts to come soon.

Best,

DL  

Trust & Execution

As a year of coaching comes to an end (the reality is, next “season” has started for many) I find myself taking time to reflect on my coaching. That is, the impact I’ve had on my athletes, and the impact they have made on me in terms what I will change, and what I won’t, as I move in to the future.

Most athletes come to me, or stay with me, because they realize I will ask them to do things or guide them in a way they won’t do themselves. I have had athletes choose other coaches because those coaches don’t hold them accountable for their actions or simply give them sessions or plans that they want, not what they NEED. Though it can be frustrating for me on the front end because I always speculate to what I did wrong or what I could have said differently to make them choose me over someone else, or sometimes over choosing nothing. In the end I want athletes that buy in to what we are doing and why we are doing it. The ones that do that have the most success, and continue to have that success. Some buy in slowly because they are effected by too much noise around them and it takes time to shut that old noise out. Quite often that noise is simply based on what they did before … and what THAT is, is a distraction. Some are immediately invested and realize what the process is and what it takes. When I look deeper it is common that these people have had good coaches in the past, be it in a single sport or team sport. Bottom line is it takes trust! Trust in the relationship, trust in the process, and trust in the investment you are making into your sport to get the most out of what you put in.

As the back end of this season was closing out for me it seemed to be a roller coaster of performances and coinciding results: Podium or a DNF, AG / Race Win or an Execution Disaster, State or World Champion or a Head Scratching Result … not always the pattern of results you look for as a coach but it is the reality when athletes are reaching for their best (If coaches tell you they don’t have set backs with their athlete’s …. HA!)  

Some of these lesser (not always poor) performances left me looking for something more positive to hang my hat on transitioning into 2016. (NOTE: one of my shortcomings is that I put pressure on myself when athletes have “poor” performances, yet I rarely give myself a chance to get excited about the good performances) The form of this “hat-hanging” came with a newer athlete for me in 2015. A hard working police officer who often gets called in on special duty so sometimes we needed to be incredibly selective with which workouts to keep / eliminate. This situation created a demand for trust in what we were doing, and he managed to value that trust throughout the entire process. I often find this extended value in trusting a program is where athletes start to diverge from the plan because THEY think it should be done different or how they did it in the past. ( I could go into examples but I had athletes who ended up injured or “smoked” by race day because of their divergence from the proper process.) The second part of the process into this athletes key race to end 2016 was having the belief that our race day plan was going to work … and the plan was simple:

Swim: Conservative, steady, let the clock read what it does when you exit the water and move on

Bike: Broken in 1/3’s … no power / pace fade, focus on an effort that allows you to fuel well / consistently

Run: Broken into 4 non-equal pieces with a goal for each … put a high value in focus on miles 13-20 … limit pace fade across the run

…. looks pretty simple, but if you screw up hours 2-5 your plan is out the window.  As race day moved along I kept checking in almost expecting speed to drop, pace to fall off, finish time to keep creeping outwards. (it often does, right?) On the contrary it was one of the most flawlessly executed races I have seen, and it was done based out of 100% TRUST in the relationship, the process, and the plan. The text message the came across to me not long after his finish: “Coach, BEST Damn race of my life – stuck to the plan and reaped the rewards - couldn’t be happier”

I hope as you start shaping up your upcoming seasons you find a coach, a plan, a team, a process that you can trust in and execute with limited questioning. (Hey, some questions are good!) Without trust you’ll never have the right process, and without the right process you won’t have the results that are possible. Speaking of trust, I need to remember to trust myself and what I am doing is correct (for the most part ;-) and that I will have valleys with my athletes before we get to the peak. The realization is, it’s my job to question myself to make me AND my athletes better so they can do their job … Trust & Execute.

Best,

DL   

Ironman 70.3 Vineman - Part 3 - Bike

56 Miles / Approx 1750 Feet of Climbing

The Vineman bike course is one I describe as challenging, but fair, and those that are well rounded cyclists, on all types of terrain, will be rewarded nicely.

The first 5+ miles of the course is 100% flat before turning off River Rd with a technical turn on to Sunset followed by a right hand turn on to Westside.

Mile 6 - 18 (Westside Rd & Kinley-- aid station on Kinley Rd)) is a mix of everything but the majority of Westside Rd. contains a series of sweeping turns (especially early) and continuous rollers. If you have never seen the course it is a good idea to drive Westside Rd and hav a strategy for riding that terrain. There are no big climbs but it is a very dynamic section of the course that can make or break your race

Mile 18-28 is predominantly flat finishing with a two mile very gradual uphill on Canyon Rd. Once you crest Canyon Rd you will have very fast descent into the Alexander Valley followed by a 90 degree right hand turn on to hwy 128  (aid station 1 mile after the turn)

Mile 29-40 ... this will be predominantly flat, and fast but depending on time of day you could face a light headwind out of the southwest. Near the end of 128 approaching Chalk Hill Rd you will have a series of three rollers hat will slow your pace.

Miles 40 - 48 (Chalk Hill Rd & Faught Rd) ... up until this point you have been on good to very good pavement. Unfortunately Chalk Hill Rd & Faught Rd is a mix of everything form good to very bad pavement so ride safe and be aware. The terrain is also a mix of everything but it is constantly changing ... up, down, right. left and of course it will have the one signature climb on the bike that isn't overly hard on its own, its just comes when your legs are already beat down. (Those with proper gearing and pacing don't find this climb daunting)

The remainder of the course is flat and fast (and good pavement) as you roll through the outskirts of Santa Rosa before heading back into Windsor.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of some construction at Windsor High School, the the run form bike dismount to T2 will be a long one so be sure to scope it out the day before and decide the best way to tackle it.

Overall this bike course is beautiful, dynamic and it goes by very quickly. Be sure to not get sucked in to riding this course too hard (like many have before) as the run will kick your ass if you do!

Cheers,
DL

Ironman 70.3 Vineman - Part 2 - Swim

VINEMAN - T1 & LOGISTICS

I have always believed the swim at the Vineman events is one of the most uniuqe and easiest to navigate anywhere on the circuit. It was (and is) one of the things I love most about the race. BUT, before we talk swim we should talk sorting out your T1.

T1 is located in the parking lot at Johnson.s Beach on very hard pack dirt, which is a massive upgrade to the way it was up until about 3 or 4 years ago. You will have carpet up from the swim and on either side of the bike racks (entrance from swim & exit to bike). For some finer points:

1) Since this is a split transition you'll only be bringing your swim and bike gear. It's advisable that if you are coming solo to the race to bring as little as possible to T1 with you as all your gear (including wetsuit) has to go in a plastic gear transfer bag that the staff brings back to T2 for you. If you have family / friends with you I'd strongly advise passing off all your gear to them so that all you  have to do is put your wetsuit, cap, and goggles into the plastic bag. Remember rack your bike by your saddle!

2) Be sure you are aware of time in the morning. Vineman always starts on time and you'll want to be lined up and and ready to process trough the swim corral with the rest of your swim wave.

3) Warm up ... if you want more than 3-4 minutes of warm up time you would need to do so BELOW the dam at the Johnson's Beach. Please don't warm up up behind the start line unless your swim wave is in the water

NOTE: T1 is set up appropriately so that late starting waves can arrive late AND still get into the area for set up without disrupting early starting athletes.

THE SWIM
- For the start you can line up anywhere behind the flagging across the river but you must keep the buoys on your left after swimming as you are not allowed to swim in the small neutral channel, It is a deep water start unless you choose to start way off to the side

- River depth varies from start to finish and yes there are spots where you can stand. That said the entire course is 100% swim-able despite what some may say. It is very shallow at the turn and its tempting to walk for some. (After the turn if you get too far off to the right you will have to walk) The shallowest area is no more than 50 meters, it is legal to dolphin dive and for those skilled at it, it can be advantageous.

NOTE: If you do feel the need to stand please move off to the right side as far as possible as to not disrupt those behind you trying to swim. In the end swimming is faster than walking ;-)

- Because of the drought, water temperatures are trending slightly higher and water clarity less than usual. At the time of writing this race week air temperatures appear to be very cool so we are looking at race morning water temperatures in the low 70's

- Overall the course is very easy to site because of the large redwoods on either side of the river AND the multitude of buoys Vineman Inc. uses for their set up.

- One final note ... you are able to mount your bike once crossing the timing mat and hitting the pavement BUT you will encounter a short, sharp hill to start. Therefore you'll need to be properly geared, and skilled at clipping in to your pedals smoothly.

Part 3, the bike, is next ...

Ironman 70.3 Vineman - Part 1 Logisitics

Just a little under two weeks to the Ironman 70.3 Vineman I figured it was time to spread some wisdom to help make everyone's race experience smoother. In this post. for those that aren't as familiar with the event, I figured I'd start with some key logistical points.

After spending every year since 1997 around the event (racing, working, coaching, announcing) I think this information will help many!

LOGISTICS
1) Travel ... always give yourself extra time to travel in to / out of Sonoma County. Travel from the south through Marin County can have have its share of slow traffic moments. (if you are flying in FRI late afternoon expect heavy traffic on 101 North at some point.

2) Remember you need to attend a pre race meeting (it's short and painless) before you register. Once you register you can enter T2 and drop run gear.

3) On the note above, remember this is a split transition area race. Be sure to bring your run gear on Saturday to set out in the transition area so you don't need to make two trips. Of note, all athletes have to travel the same distance through T2 so there is no single spot that is faster than another.

4) WEATHER ... mornings are cool (often with marine layer) and days are warm to very hot. The forecast currently is for warmer than normal conditions BUT our forecasts don't always hold 10 days out. OH, and the sun is strong & UV index high.

5) On race morning if you do not have a sherpa with you, you will need to park your car in Guerneville (use Vinemans instructions for parking) for the swim start. After the race you'll take a shuttle back, If you have a Sherpa it is much easier as they will have the car back in Windsor already. Be aware that you will not be able to get dropped off near the swim start so it's advisable to simply park OR if one wanted to get dropped off you can do so in the Safeway parking lot. BUT - DO NOT park in that lot if you want to see see your car when you return ;-)

6) A segway to my next post regarding the swim .... water levels are fine, but the river is flowing at a slower release rate. Therefore water temperatures are trending higher and of the air temps stay warm the water will be far from chilly. Be prepared for temps over 70 degrees and if we have a number of hot days up to the mid 70's

NEXT UP .... The Swim!