Training Update: The Run

My run training has taken a little swerve since I’ve written my last post.

The weekend after I wrote my last post, I did a 2 hour tempo run. Post workout, I started to feel some pain in my big toe. Because a long career in triathlon depends upon a healthy body, I don’t mess around with this stuff, EVER, even if it feels like a little issue. From my own experience, I know that if I wait to deal with an oncoming injury, sometimes for only one more workout, my entire season can be put in jeopardy. I immediately started my injury recovery protocol which involves: 1.) immediately texting my coach about what I’m feeling and what happened; 2.) using ibuprofen to decrease any swelling in the area; 3.) foam rolling 4.) keeping my legs up even more than normal; 5.) making an appointment with Dr. AJ, my chiro who specializes in sports injury; 6.) not running until I’m completely confident that I can run injury free and not re-injure the issue. The rest of the afternoon involved the couch.  

Back to Running... in the Heat of Venice, FL!

The next day, I walked into Dr. AJ’s office. Before I continue, I should say that I’ve been working with Dr. AJ for over a year on injury prevention and, when I need it, injury rehabilitation. Over this time, he’s learned to know my body like a great jockey knows his race horse. AJ has an instinctual way of knowing when my training is easy and I’m working hard, when my body is ready to race and when it needs some work. Physically, he keeps me tuned up and ready to work hard. Mentally, he reminds me that training is hard and that I’m constantly breaking down and building up my muscles. He reminds me that I’m not a God and that my body needs continual maintenance in order for me to perform at my best. The relationship we’ve developed has been invaluable and proved to be again with this issue.  

As always, AJ listened attentively to my story about training, the emerging foot pain, and my concern that it might be a stress fracture. He explained to me that a lot of foot problems, especially when the pain is on the top of the foot, are often routed in tight calf’s. It never ceases to amaze me how often pain in one area is caused by a different area in the body. He ran some tests to check if that was the case. We found that my calf’s were tighter than normal and AJ reassured me that we could really improve the issue. He went to work. After a couple of sessions of Active Release Technique on my calf and Graston technique on my foot, the issue dissolved away.

At the same time I was working out the injury with AJ, I kept Cliff up to date so that he could make the proper modifications to my training schedule. He reassured me that I was doing all the right things and he backed off my run training for the following week. This, I think, is what great coaches do.  They know when and how to divert from the original plan. They also know how to keep an extremely motivated athlete at bay until the time is right to unleash him once again. As that extremely motivated athlete, I can say that it helps to have someone confirm that it is the right time to back off. I’m always removing myself from the pain involved with training hard and it’s often a mental challenge to back off, especially when I’m in a great rhythm and feel like I’m making big gains in training every single day. There may be a few circumstance where you push through an injury for a little while, but these cases are far and few between. This was certainly not the time in my season to push the limits. We backed off and took it one step at a time.  

More Running near the Condo in FL

For my first run back after about a week of no run training, Cliff suggested that I do a 5 minute warm up walk followed by 4x (5 minute jog, 2 minute walk). I got through the second 5 minute jog portion and felt good, but my confidence in my calf began to wane. I cut the workout there, believing that I’d rather play it safe and cut the workout when I was feeling good. This was a hard decision for me to make. In the past I would have just pushed on to avoid the guilt that comes with not completing a given workout, despite the knowledge that I could possibly re-injure myself. After that workout I had no pain, but I’m confident I made the right decision to cut that initial run short.

Lower Run Vol = Increased Swim Work!

Cliff began to build the run training up slowly over the course of two weeks and I’m almost back to my normal run volume again. I’m really happy with the way I took control of the situation and skirted the issue before it became a much bigger deal. 

I spent the last week in Davenport, FL with Amber's family, training, going to the beach, and visiting the parks. I’m looking forward to some longer runs in the next two weeks in Tuscan, AZ as I train at Cliff’s CEC pro camp!      

Training Update

Looking back over my winter season so far, my training has gone quite well. I’m swimming faster for longer than I ever have before. I’m riding less, but riding indoors more (mainly on the computrainers at the CT Cycle Center) and have already hit my cycling fitness that I ended with last year. In addition, I’m feeling stronger and more centered on my run. Here’s an update specifically about the work I have done in the pool thus far…

Team C3 always helps me out when I need some stroke video!

For me, swimming provides the opportunity to think like an engineer. Each year, I look at my body as a machine. I observe how everything is working together, break down the engine's moving parts and the frame, make some adjustments, and then reassemble it into a new, faster, more efficient model. More specifically, I take a ton of videos of myself to observe my balance, head position, body rotation, catch, pull, arm extension, recovery, and foot position. From there I try to figure out ways to make myself more streamlined (first) and more powerful (second).Then, I try to apply those ideas in the water. 

Last year I was less focused on traditional technique and more focused on learning how to keep a higher turnover. I spent a lot of my time in the pool with a Finis Tempo Trainer set between 80-90 rpm. This helped me get faster in so many ways, but the two things that stand out the most were how it helped me eliminate the dead spots in my catch and learn to relax my muscles in the water. I dropped about 6-8 seconds/100 just because of those two factors.   

The Delightful Finis Tempo Trainer Wetronome

As usual, my swimming sessions this season started out very technique oriented. Cliff and I both noticed that I was sacrificing my stroke length for that higher turnover. I decided to focus less on the higher turnover and more on the stroke length for a few weeks. I wanted my pulling hand well extended past my hip before I brought it into the recovery stage of my stroke. The work lead me to feel more connected to the water and to swim faster with less energy. At first I noticed that my shoulders got tired more quickly, but I felt this less and less as I gained more and more strength in my shoulders, latts, and triceps.

After I gained confidence with the longer stroke technique, I attempted to increase the turnover. When I did this, however, I felt like something was preventing me from rotating side to side. I again reached out to Cliff for some guidance and he pointed out a slight scissor kick in my legs when I rotate. I started to focus in on my legs, attempting to keep my toes closer together. I also attempted to point my toes towards the back of the pool rather than allowing my ankles to flap loosely and my toes to go where ever they liked.  When I do this, I can feel myself slipping side to side rather than using energy by forcing the rotation with my kick and my pull. This results in a much smoother, more efficient rotation that helps me increase my turnover. I still have some work to do with my stroke length and turnover. That said, when I put it together, it results in about a 3-4 second increase in my average 100 times compared to the same effort last year.


You can see my technique in the video below. I'm moving at about 1:04/100 yard pace which feels comfortable right off the wall. 

Since I made these changes, I feel unbelievably connected to the water. In addition, as I go faster, it’s become astoundingly clear where the resistance of the water is hitting my body. I use this instant feedback to figure out additional ways of moving that allow me to be more streamlined and more efficient.

I’m looking forward to putting this hard work to the test at St. Anthony’s at the end of April! 

Coaching Change

As some of you already know, I made a huge change at the end of last season. After Ironman Chattanooga in September, Coach Holden Comeau and I ended our coaching relationship. This was coming for a long time as Holden was investing more and more time into his career at Silverline Global Inc. and I was investing more and more time into my pro career. We decided that I needed more attention than he could give me and he helped me look for a new coach, one that could give me his full attention and support as I continued on as a professional triathlete.

Running at IM Chattanooga

Before I move on, I need to explain that Holden coached me for 7 years and really laid the foundation for who I am, both physically and mentally, as an athlete. He coached me through my first Ironman in 2007—when I was 18 years old. He helped me qualify for Kona as an amateur and see out my Kona dream in 2009. He helped me believe that I could be a pro athlete and helped me achieve that goal in April 2014. And he guided me through the struggles that come with the first year of being a professional triathlete. Needless to say, Holden is one of the two or three people that I think about when I consider who has impacted my life the most over the past decade. I could not thank him enough.  

Coach Holden and his son

After interviewing 10 really great coaches, Holden and I discussed who would be the best coach based on my personality, lifestyle, strengths, and weaknesses. We decided that the best fit would be Cliff English. Cliff is well known in the triathlon community for helping his athletes achieve the height of their own abilities in a controlled, but consistent manner (for more on Cliff, click here). I called up Cliff, he graciously accepted me onto his roster, and we have been working together since December 1st.

So far, the transition from Holden’s to Cliff’s program has been quite fluid. There haven’t been any huge changes in my training, but there have been a few minor changes. The first is that I’m training at a slightly lower volume with a slightly higher intensity load compared to what I did in previous winter training blocks. A second change is that my long runs are a little bit longer, but I run less frequently. And a final change is that I have two swim only days where I only use to have one…this time allows my run and bike legs to recover a bit more from workout to workout. I’m sure there will be many more comparisons to make as I get further into my season.

Coach Cliff

With all this said, I’m now really comfortable with the big change. I’m gaining more and more confidence in my ability to go fast and I’m looking forward to a great 2015 season! 

An Unfortunate Mishap

Want to hear a funny story about my last tri as an amateur? It's kind of exclusive...I've only told one or two people...

It was race day morning at the South Beach Triathlon. I just finished setting up in transition and was about to walk the long walk out of the transition area, then jog the .9 miles up the beach to the swim start. The thing about this particular transition area was that it was long, quite narrow, and, as always, crowded with thousands of frantic triathletes trying to get their gear in order. The pro's and elites were at the north end of the transition area and had to walk through the crowds to the the south end, then, finally, backtrack north towards the beach start once we exited transition.  

As I start making my way through the crowds, I see Leanda Cave. For those who don't know, Leanda Cave is an accomplished triathlete with an Ironman World Title to her name. In other words, I trust that she knows what she's doing. Cave tells another female pro that it's ridiculous to walk all the way out of transition and then backtrack towards the swim start. Transition is surrounded by one of those plasticy weaved fences that isn't great at keeping people from going under it. Cave pulls up the fence, slips under, and holds it up for the other pro.

Now you know why I'm wearing tri shorts over my Trisuit. 

The other pro looks at me and says 'if it's good enough for Leanda, it's good enough for me.' She slips under and holds up the fence for me. I think to myself, 'if it's good enough for these two, then it's definitively good enough for me.' So, I crouch down and start to go under the fence. It was at that moment that I heard something rip. It was my trisuit. I look down to see everything just hanging out--yes, everything was just hanging there.... The pro holding the fence was oblivious to what just went down; so, I thanked her and told her I forgot something in transition. 

Luckily, my parents were on the other side of transition.  I walked gingerly, but not without celerity, over to them and told them I needed the extra pair of tri bottoms in my tri bag--Thank God I packed an extra pair! When they asked why, I told them the story. As I told them, there was a lady standing next to them, listening in. Her eyes bulged wider and wider as she realized that I was barely covered.

I was reminded of two things from this experience... 

1.) Things don't always go as planned and I always need to have an extra pair of tri-shorts on hand. 

2.) Don't always do what Leanda Cave does (even though she's a World Champion).       

First Pro Race!

The Timeline

Eleven years ago, I raced my first triathlon. Eight years ago, I made the commitment to myself that I would be a professional triathlete someday. One year ago, I finished up my masters, started supporting myself through coaching, and went all in. And finally, I reached my goal. This year, at St. Anthony’s, I became a professional triathlete!   

The Race

I chose to make my debut as a Pro at St. Anthony’s for three reasons. The first is that I love the race’s history. The race has been going on for over 30 years and was once a qualifier for the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Second, the race always has a stacked field. This year, the race had big names such as Timothy O’Donnell, Matt Reed, Greg Bennett and Cam Dye. I’ve looked up to these guys for years and have been eager to toe the line with them.  Third, my Olympic distance 10k run PR was set on this course. I have been looking forward for the chance to break it.    

Race morning beated to its normal rhythm—I stick to the same race day morning routine so I don’t have to think about anything if I don’t want to. 4:15 wake up, breakfast, drive to the race start, set up transition, warm up jog to the beach start, warm up swim with a few pickups, get to the line. It’s quick, fast, and mindless.

The race began with a bang and we went out faster than I’ve ever started a race before. I chose to line up on Tim O’Donnell’s feet to ensure that I got a great, fast draft. That first surge was manageable and I was glad to see a few guys pop off the back. Around 400 meters, the pack relaxed for about a minute. Not realizing that they eased off of the pace, I swam right into O’Donnell’s legs. I relaxed my effort just a little to readjust my position. In hindsight, this was a huge mistake. At that moment, there was another surge from the front and I lost contact with O’Donnell’s draft. Knowing that losing the draft for only a second could end my chance at staying with the group. I surged. The burning in my lungs started to build and my form started to break. I didn’t catch the draft in those crucial moments and never made contact again.

 

In Olympic distance (.9 mile swim, 40k bike, 10k run) racing, it’s crucial to stay with the main pack through the swim and the bike if you want any chance at placing. A swim pack almost always moves faster than an individual. The bike pack, even though this was a non-draft legal race, works in a similar way. And, the race is won within seconds, so every bit of energy you save when your in the pack counts. Prior to the race, I had mentally prepared for the possibility of losing the pack. I knew that I had to readjust my mindset to plan B and continue to make the most of the day.

I regained control over my breath, evened out my stroke, and swam through the course. I quickly transitioned and jumped on my bike. I road with a controlled effort, picking off a few male pro’s who got dropped by the bike pack later on in the race. I transitioned and then started to chase my run PR. By the first 2 miles, I knew it wasn’t coming. I stuck with the same effort and finished out my day as the 26^th male Pro.

The Reflection

I think that when we break through an invisible boundary and find ourselves in a new world, whether it is our first days of college, a job promotion, or moving up a level in competition, there are new rules and new skills to be learned. Once those rules are understood, and skills mastered, the possibility of success is unlocked and we go on to do extraordinary things.

Although I’m a highly skilled athlete, right now I feel like I'm a freshman just learning how to function in his first semesters of college. There are rules and skills I need to learn--especially in regards to moving in and around the pack-- in order to get myself up to speed with some of the fastest triathletes in the world. It's going to take time, but I’m confident that I will eventually be able to stick with them. The final step will be figuring out how to win.

As for my experience at ST. Anthony’s, it was absolutely amazing. Crossing the finish line allowed me to celebrate my entire triathlon career and left me with real sense of satisfaction with my life. Looking forward, I know that I will never have to regret not committing to this goal. I am ecstatic to have accomplished my dream of becoming a professional athlete.  

**A special thanks to Zane's Cycles, CT Cycle Center, Southern CT Muscle and Joint Chiropractic, Silverline Athletic's Coach Holden Comeau, Amber Hackeman, my parents, and all of the athletes that I ever coached. I couldn't have done it without all your help and support!

 

 

 

 

  

 

Welcome!

Welcome to my website! This is the place where I will write about my life as a professional triathlete!