Gordo’s last blog talked about doing small acts that can collectively make a difference. His difference-making act comes from picking up five pieces of trash/day.

Since I was in first grade I have always turned off the water while brushing my teeth (and while shaving, but only since I was in high school). It might not seem like a big deal, but that’s a lot of water conserved when you look back over the last twenty years. I imagine Gordo has a similar big-impact-by-a-little-act idea in mind. I encourage you all to do the same. Your actions are important and will not go unnoticed.

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Less than three weeks remain before Ironman Florida and its probably for the best as the seasonal weather changes are trying to force me indoors. I had to laugh when I went out for a ride yesterday. I put a number of layers of clothing on in order to generate lots of heat to simulate_potential_conditions in Florida. Well, I got out riding and realized that I had actually put on the appropriate amount of clothes and that anything less would have me feeling a little chilly!

Nevertheless, I’ll be continuing my Bennett-training until race day.

Huh?

I saw Greg Bennett running all summer long in his sweats, gloves, and beanie (even when it was damn toasty out). I don’t know if that gave him the edge on his way to earning nearly 500,000 U.S. dollars this summer, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

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Another sign of the season ending is the lack of training partners available. Most triathletes are finished with racing and all the cyclists have switched to the their cyclocross gear. I already exploited all my buddies who were training for Hawaii. Fortunately I still have some ITU ladies that will happily hand it to me for the few remaining days of my season.

I’m pretty pleased with all my training since Canada. I don’t think there is much more I could have done with these 10 weeks and I can confidently say that I’m as fit as I’m going to get in 2007. Just need a little more tweaking and resting to bring it all together.

Until next week,

jd

Last week Marion Jones admitted that she lied to federal investigators about taking PEDs in her lead up to the 2000 Olympics were she won five medals (three gold). She has since stated that she made a mistake when she unknowingly took PEDs which she believed to be flax seed oil.

I always find this to be such a dubious argument.

Here’s the thing. An athlete knows what he or she can do on the field; in the pool; in the gym; on the road; etc. Someone who sporadically exercises might toe the line at a race with absolutely no clue as to what is going to happen, but that does not happen to those of us who train every single day for hours and hours for years and years. Progression is noted and (hopefully) expected, but every inch of it is earned and observed along the way.

I don’t doubt that some athletes have no idea what is pumped into them. However, I KNOW that anyone that receives an instantaneous jolt in fitness, speed and/or strength one day, week or month has got to know that it did not arrive from their own good-doings.

So yeah, I suppose someone can honestly say (not that I know that MJ is honestly saying….) that they did not know he/she were taking something, but they certainly had to know that they were improving beyond a reasonable rate.

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This recent news story about MJ has sparked a lot of conversations amongst the folks that I train alongside. Most of my training partners are in a similar place to myself. Some are elite AGers and others are neo pros like me. The only professionals that I regularly train with (swimming excluded) who are making ends meet entirely through racing are Chris and Marilyn McDonald. I only mention this because I do not know how the conversations differ amongst the “made its.”

I think everyone that regularly surrounds me believes they can achieve success through their hard work and dedication. I don’t really know the goals of everyone around me, but I doubt it does not involve beating your competition. We all want self-improvement, but this is racing isn’t it? You have to want to win. I don’t know of anything that is more motivating than the thought of being the last one standing (or first I suppose).

I imagine this is the danger that tempts the most noble of athletes to compromise their constitutions. I assume that most drugged athletes entered sport without any intention of taking PEDs. Then one day they find themselves not even being able to pronounce the juice that makes them fire all day long. I really cannot fill in the grey area between those two psyches, but clearly they stand on opposite sides of the spectrum and yet they apply to the same person.

I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that almost any athlete that dopes likely believes that they cannot succeed otherwise. I also imagine that they believe that the only thing separating them from the top tier is the drugs the top tier is taking. This leads to making that crucial life compromise. What would YOU do if you felt that you did everything you could (for nearly your entire life) to succeed and you still were not on top? Did you ever notice that some of the most successful students were always the ones that had a cheat sheet? They had invested the most time and coming up short was not an option to them (and ironically they needed the cheat sheets the least).

This might explain bad choices, but it does not make those choices the right ones.

We all have to live with the choices that we make. I grew up watching my father stand his ground on ethical matters in the corporate world and it separated him amongst his peers. That separation made his life hard at times, but he knows that when forced to make a decision he made the right one(s). Today his former colleagues can look at his house perched upon one of the best spots in Crested Butte and know that it was built upon an honest foundation.

There are daily opportunities to compromise yourself. Don’t let the ease of others to make the wrongs decisions persuade your ability to make the right ones.

To clean sports,

jd

People often ask me howI can like college football so much more than the NFL. Last Saturday (and Friday) West Virginia, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Florida and Texas were all undefeated top ten teams that lost. If that Oregon receiver had not fumbled the ball for a touchback we might have added Cal to the list.

The NFL will never be able to offer the same kind of action_during_the_regular_season.

South Florida (6) and Kentucky(8) are in the AP Top Ten.

Dude.

DUDE.

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Ok now to talk about real sports. (My passive stab at American Sports Journalists).

My buddy asked me the other day if I thought that an athlete can absorb fitness from an Ironman. Plenty of other athletes use shorter races as training events so why not apply the same concept to an Ironman.

I used to automatically write it off as I could not imagine how any athlete could benefit from such damage. I really think that it depends on the athlete and simply extrapolating my own experiences with IMs won’t cut it. However, I cannot say that an athlete benefits more from the race they just did so much as they benefitted from the rest they placed before and after the event itseld. Some people taper as much as four weeks for a key Ironman, but I have_rarely_met anyone that doesn’t taper for at least 10-14 days out. Following the event, even the most OCD of folks take a few easy days.

My own personal experience has been that Ironmans beat me up pretty badly and any post race training needs to be approached with caution. If my post-race discomfort was limited to muscle soreness then I might concede that the I could absorb any fitness from this event quickly. The problem is that my discomfort extends to my joints (especially knees) and I feel as though I am acutally nursing a “minor injury.”

I lack deep development in any other three disciplines that make up triathlon. Therefore, my progression in each sport has grown alongside the other. I don’t know if it applies to others, but this has allowed me to run closer to my open run fitness when racing triathlons than some of my colleagues. As a result, I think I end up beating myself up quite a bit.

My buddies that grew up running seem to bounce back much more quickly because any Ironman running (not the same with short course) does not even come close to what their ligaments, tendons and muscles can handle. I have suffered from dehydration/overheating in some triathlons and I end up running slower than I do in training. As a result I walk away with very little (or no) muscle soreness. This is the best I can do to parallel what they experience after an ultra race like an IM.

Its similar to the swim start for athletes that grew up as swimmer kids. They can handle an aggressive start without compromising the rest of their swim and/or race. Once again, even the fastest of swim starts (in an Ironman) probably doesn’t compare to the hardest of hard main sets they did growing up.

Alright, I’m running around a bit with this so let me redirect you back.

Can an Ironman be absorbed for fitness?

I seriously doubt that your fitness can gain more from such a day than it would have gained from two-to-four weeks of solid training (instead of your taper). If you could actually go into the event on short rest and bounce back then I think it would certainly work. Heather Gollnick was getting ready for IM Arizona this spring when she decided she was so fit that she should race Ironman NZ (five weeks prior to AZ). She placed second there and found herself to be recovered within a few days. She went on to win IMAZ. I cannot say that IMNZ helped her win IMAZ, but it certainly didn’t compromise her goals.

I see people successfully race IMs back-to-back (and beyond), but I find no evidence to suggest that their second or third race was not compromised by the previous one (even if they win like Heather). Sometimes an athlete is so good that he or she does not need to be their best to win or achieve their goals, but making a living in such a sport does not always require you to be your best. You just need to be better than everyone else.

Keep figuring it out,

JD