Endurance Corner Radio chatted with two-time National TT champion Chris Baldwin. You can check it out here.

jd

On Friday, I set out with Chris and Mat to do another long ride. After almost a decade of endurance training these long rides begin to sort of blend together. In other words, the need to remember some of them is wasted space in my brain (assuming space is limited). However, every now and then you get frazzled a bit in the midst of another common day and then, all of sudden, you no longer have a ride. Instead, you have a story.

One of my best friends from Texas and I used to always say “do it for the story” whenever one of us was hesitant to go forward. I don’t know if that was the best strategy for 16 year old kids to have, but it did manifest itself into the idea that all we are ultimately left with are our stories.

Back to Friday.

Mat, Chris and I were enjoying the Indian summer weather and opted to ride a loop into the mountains via Glenhaven and Estes Park (for those outside CO its a 90-100 mile loop topping out around 8500-9000 feet). I actually thought to myself that this was likely the last day I would do a five hour ride in the mountains until next season.

We’re riding along enjoying the tailwind up the canyon and I cannot help but notice a few dark clouds hanging out amidst the peaks.

Riding in the mountains requires equal parts of luck and preparedness. On Friday I found myself lacking both.

We began to encounter some light rain. Then the rain was heavy enough that our tires started streaming water into air and our feet were getting soaked. Soon enough it was raining kinda hard. Then it was raining really hard. Then it was raining really hard and it was hailing. Then it was raining and hailing so hard that ice was piling up on our handlebars, arms and anything else that was running perpendicular to the path of the said precipitation.

Why didn’t we turn back?

Well, we were sort of in a tough spot. We had to basically get to Estes Park to try to warm up (it was below 50 degrees at this point and we are soaking wet) instead of trying to descend back to civilization because going downhill doesn’t allow us to generate any heat from pedaling hard (probably 30 minutes of descending would have been required).

Every time I get s**t on in the mountains I have essentially two thoughts running through my head:

1. This is funny.

2. This could be bad.

I say that because being uncomfortable is initially sort of humorous, but once you become miserable things aren’t so funny any more.

Fortunately when we hit the peak of the climb we rode out of the gnarly storm and quickly ran into Safeway seeking shelter and something warm. Mat chose to warm his hands on the rotisserie chicken heater while I grabbed newspaper and started stuffing it into my jersey (traps heat). I’ve had my fair share of rough days in the mountains and I’ve found that nothing rivals the effectiveness like stuffing your jersey with newspaper.

We were pretty certain that we only had a few minutes to make it down and out of Estes Park and fortunately we got out of there just in time. I was particularly fortunate because I told Chris that if I encounter another storm like that on the ride that I was going to retire from triathlon (or at least move to the beach). I guess I have to stick around a little longer.

Mat had a particularly interesting time because he has never had the pleasure of getting hammered by mother nature in the mountains (since moving here last summer). Its a particularly amazing statistic to have ridden in Colorado for so long without getting a dose of mountain-induced humility.

And now he has a story.

Its always good to regain respect for going high. I’ll probably take a little more than arm warmers a wind vest next time I go up.

I heard the mountains are supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow tonight.

Think I’ll ride east next week.

jd

Endurance Corner Radio sat down with one of the world’s greatest running coaches, Bobby McGee, yesterday. You can download this week’s podcast here.

jd

First off, I am going to be doing a podcast with Bobby McGee (the coach, not the song) next Monday. Bobby has helped many of the world’s best runners to… …run their best. If you have any quetions that you would like to have answered feel free to email me (through the “Contact” link above) and I will do my best to incorporate your questions into our discussion.

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Many people ask me how I approach training for my key races. First off, all my key races are Long Course (3.8K swim, 180K bike, 42.2K run) races and I have only tackled a couple (at most) each year. My point in saying that is that I don’t simply train to do a series of racing, but rather, I train specifically for one event, and one event only.

The first IM I did this season was Ironman Canada and the second is Ironman Arizona taking place in a little over 8 weeks in Tempe, AZ. The two races are the same distance, but the demands of the courses themselves are what force change in my training.

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Canada has these specific demands to keep in mind:

Standing/water start for the swim. One loop course.

A bike course consisting of 40 miles flat, climb a pass, a series of rollers and flat terrain, another climb and a finish with a 15K descent before 4 miles of flat into town.

A run course with flat 1/3, a hilly 1/3, and a flat 1/3 (all relative of course).

The temperature is usually temperate (but can be hot), the air is dry, and wind can play a real factor in shaping the day.

Ironman Arizona has these challenges:

A one loop swim with a water (treading) start. Harsh sun glare in the opening half.

A flat bike course with direction changes and the potential for lots of wind (at any rate there will be some wind).

A run course very similar to the bike course as far as a description is concerned

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While training for IMC I focused my long rides on having the ability to do some climbing at a slightly higher intensity than what I was putting out in the flats. I did this knowing that the descents on the course would allow me to back way off and recover. For a course like AZ I need to be able to stay on top of big gear riding in the aero positition at a constant intensity. Ironman Canada had much more diversification, both in terms of the intensity I planned to ride, as well as riding the bike in the aero position, sitting up, and standing. IMAZ is all about aero riding with a solid, constant output of power.

The run training won’t differ too greatly with the exception that my long runs won’t incorporate as many hills in the middle of the session. Instead, I will be working at improving my steady state stamina in the flats.

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When I finish a race I sit back and try to think about what parts of the race I found overly challenging or under-prepared (even the races that go very well). In the case of IMC I found that I faded a bit in the final 1000 meters of the swim and got boxed into a position that I did not care for. This likely cost me 30-60 seconds when the group split in the home stretch.

Secondly, I felt that I just didn’t feel quite right for the first 60-90 minutes of the ride. I kept telling myself that I would come right (and I did), but I felt I lost another 60-120 seconds in here from not being able to crank early on.

Therefore I am doing sessions in the water that train for the demands of the last K of the 3800 meter swim as well as doing sessions that help me transfer from the swim to bike more smoothly.

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Finally, I like to look back on the key training weeks that I had for my last race and try to assess when I was the most tired and whether it was “worth it.” What I mean by that is: could I have placed the stress causing the fatigue in a better place. I don’t necessarily look for ways to train ‘more’, but I do look for ways to train ‘better.’ Can I raise the quality of the week by taking a different recovery approach? A different weekly schedule? etc.

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After four moderate weeks of training I am starting to feel more like Summer jd and my training is starting to get a bit more serious. The weather is Boulder is great and I’m looking forward to trying to achieve something new in 8+ weeks time.

cheers,

jd

This past weekend Brooke Davison won Age Group Nationals (Short Course) in Portland, Oregon by four minutes. She has been the top overall Female Age Grouper in every race she has entered this year. She does all of it while still looking after three kids (ages 2-7). Yesterday Gordo and I sat down to talk with her about her success and how she gets it done.

Check it out here.

She even brought the kids along to keep it real,

JD

Chris McDonald recently placed 2nd at Ironman Louisville and 1st (with a new course record) at Ironman Wisconsin. 

These two races were one week apart.

Today I sat down and chatted with Chris about his double on Endurance Corner Radio. You can download the podcast here.

My hometown (Houston) was hit by Hurricane Ike over the weekend. Some of my family voluntarily evacuated before the storm hit, but the majority of my friends and family stayed to ride the storm out (the local govt did not order an evacuation for central Houston). The storm seems to have knocked down a lot of trees, blown out windows, and left nearly everyone without power. Everyone I have spoken with is OK.

My buddy emailed me and told me his entire neighborhood was outside all day working together to clean up the area. Houstonians are compassionate people and I suspect they will work together to get everything back to the status quo as quickly as possible.

I wish you all the best,

jd