Training in Boulder

Someone on the Endurance Corner Forum asked about the pros and cons of training in Boulder. Here is what I repsonded with: Boulder:

Pros Cycling: *Cycling terrain includes steep climbs, long climbs, rolling terrain, big shoulders on most cycling roads. *Plenty of bike shops with deep inventory for short term needs. Though I am not partial to any of them in regards to customer service; all on the same level IMO-->mediocre. *Summer Time Trial series, numerous hill climb races, criteriums and LOTS of cyclocross races. There are a fair amount of road races, but not as much as the above.

Pros Running: *Lots of trail options around the city and good dirt road system north of the city (around the reservoir); i run north for all my long sessions. *Classic "high" runs with Magnolia Road, Switzerland Trail, etc. *Two high quality tracks in the city (Boulder and Fairview High); two more tracks in the surrounding area with Niwot and Silver Creek. All are open to public use. U of Colorado's track has public hours, but very few so I'm not keen on including that one on the list.

Pros Swimming: *Three city year round city pools with the North, South, and East BoCO rec centers. All Short course yards. *Two outdoor city pools open in the summer months; one Long Course and one Short course yards *Two more private club pools with Rally Sport (yards outdoors) and Flatirons (Meters outdoors). *Boulder Aquatic Masters programs works with the city pools and has 3-4 daily session. Flatiron and Rally have their own programs as well (Flatiron is better IMO and I have swam both).

Cons Cycling: *I wish there were some roads that are as flat as the roads I trained on in South Texas. Most flat riding near Boulder still has a bit of a roll to it. I know pancake flat sounds boring, but I like long flat rides as part of my training.

Cons Running: *I don't really have a lot of complaints about the running. I think the variety, surfaces, and terrain meets all the needs of a triathlete's run training.

Cons Swimming: *The masters programs are a bit too crowded IMO. *Long Course pool is not open enough during the year (Summer Only).

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It can be cold in the winter, but there is not a lot of snow and there is a lot of sunshine. I would concede that you might be better off training down south if you want to race in Feb-April, but if not there is plenty of good weather to train year round. Besides, the winter cross training in the mountains is a lot of fun.

All in all, way more pros to cons here; and in reality my cons are some people's 'pros' (particularly with the swimming; some people love the masters situation and couldn't care less about flat riding:)).

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One point I did not include is probably the most important one of all: People to train with. There are many fulltime athletes training here so it makes it easy to have training partners during "working hours." I found many great people to train with in other locations, but their schedules often did not work so well with my own.

jd

Article from Xtri

This is will be posted on xtri.com soon: Bad Racin'

Joe Friel recently posted a statement on his twitter page: “The only difference between a good race and a bad race is that you learn something from a bad race.” I cannot say the tweet was written directly to me, but I do think our conversation from the day before was likely what reminded him of that statement. We had recently sat down so that I could vent about one of my own ‘bad races’ and he recited that statement to me.

I probably would have preferred to have learned nothing on the previous weekend, but his words were choice ones and it did make me think about all the lessons I have learned over the years. I am always impressed by athletes that perform consistently well because it always seems as if my best performances have been coupled by some rather dismal ones. I have to pay my dues before I can withdraw a solid result.

It is never easy to deal with a bad race, but I can confidently say that it is not the end of the world. No matter what you believe within that moment, trust that things can, and will, get better. I seriously doubt that every training day or work day goes well for everyone reading this and the same can be said for racing.

Ok, so a bad race happens. Then what? What can be learned from the day?

There are a lot of variables that go into a race, whether good or bad, and isolating the one instance that caused a poor performance can be difficult. Some common pitfalls include: poor pre-race or race day nutrition, improper pacing strategy, too much training leading into the race, too little training, too short of a taper, too much of a taper, too much travel, bad equipment choice(s), inclement weather, cramps, etc. In other words, you might never know all the variables.

The one bright side to having a poor race is that you might get to check one of those off the list! After the race passes, take the time to really sit down and think about what might have led you to underperforming. The best athletes are the ones that take the time to understand where their shortcomings were so that the same mistakes will be avoided in future races.

Many athletes have come to me to confide in their disappointment from a poor race and it certainly is unfortunate to see anyone fall short of their goals when their commitment and work ethic are in tact. I often tell these folks the same thing: No one can take away the fitness and experience that you have gained from all the days leading to this one. The difference from this race to your next is that your next race is going to be the day that you show the world what you are capable of.

Get back in the saddle!

Loveland Lake to Lake

I got back into Boulder last Sunday and decided to go back out and race this past weekend (Saturday) in Loveland, Colorado. I did this race (Loveland Lake to Lake) in its inaugural year in 2002, but have not returned since. It has the standard distances of an Olympic distance race (1.5/40K/10K), except the bike is about 5 miles longer (30 total). I managed to feel much better than last weekend in Boise. I spent much of the day in 2nd place, but in the last mile of the run I took the lead and won the race by a small margin.

There was an article in the Loveland paper that gave us some nice local press. You can check it out here.

Cheers,

jd

Boise Report

I traveled out to Boise last week to race the 70.3 on Saturday. Unfortunately the day wasn't really what I had in mind. For whatever reason, I simply had a lot of stomache problems which affected me rather adversely on both the bike and run. I enjoyed the venue and the course, but it just wasn't meant to be for me on the day. Having a poor race never goes down easily no matter how many years I have been doing this sport. I considered dropping out from about mile 5 of the bike to the end of the run, but I just decided to take what the day had given me. I don't think I have enough race experience to justify dropping out when the day is not going well. Every bad race seems to happen for a different reason and I want to see it through so that I can look back and learn from it. If I drop out; I'll never know if the day gets any better (it really never has so far!).

I'm bummed things didn't go my way, but I've been through this enough times that I know its just part of the deal. I'll be back out there soon enough.

Until next time,

jd

Long Course Pacing

I sat in on an Endurance Corner webinar yesterday and discussed Long Course Pacing. I will post the link once its ready, but for the time being I'll add my notes from the discussion. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Long Course Pacing

PACING SESSIONS

1. Long Ride: 8 Miles easy; 112 Mile TT; 10 miles Bonus • Session should not last longer than 6 hours • Water breaks should be brief

2. Long Run • Get to steady pace and hold; Brief Warm Up • Too many sessions are too easy early (or throughout) • Maintaining strong pace on the flats • Session should be capped at 2.5 hours (option of double run day for experienced)

3. Long Swim • Pick an interval distance and hold pace on tight rest (10 sec) • Main Set should build up to 75 minutes or 5K; whichever is first • Don’t use 100s.

REALITIES of RACE DAY

1. Swim harder than you planned 2. Bike is harder than you planned 3. Went out too fast on Run

All of these things will likely happen in some capacity no matter what. When it does happen, simply calm down and get back on the wagon.

Most fit athletes can recover from a hard start of each leg of the race (less the run), but it will cost you time.

People take entirely too long in transition; particularly T2. Recover while walking; not sitting

There is no such thing as a perfect race. The fastest athletes succeeded IN SPITE of everything that went wrong that day; and NOT because everything went right that day.

Heading to Memphis

I'm heading to Memphis tomorrow to race Memphis in May. I've always wanted to do this race so I'm pretty excited to check it out. I'll be posting updates on twitter over the weekend so follow along....

www.twitter.com/justindaerr

jd

Weekend Racing

I know I haven't updated my race calendar in some time, but I am actually racing this year. It all starts in a couple weeks with Memphis in May and then it will lead into some longer stuff later in the year. Short course racing really isn't my thing, but I wanted something to do in the month of May and MIM has always been on the 'to do' list. I also think that a tri with a time trial format will be a nice way to ease back into racing again. While Memphis will be a nice way to ease back into triathlons, I needed something to ease back into the 'easing back', so I did a few local events over the past couple weekends. Last week I did a small 10K (on dirt) on Saturday and a 28K (bike) Time Trial on Sunday. The double-race weekend went pretty well, but I felt much better racing on Saturday than I did on Sunday (big surprise). I actually recovered pretty well from the 10K, but I clearly struggled at the front end of my time trial on Sunday. My legs were flat until 15 minutes or so had passed when I began to ride with a much better rhythm to the finish (36 minutes total).

Yesterday I decided to do another Time Trial; the Rabbit Mtn TT. Its a 11K course that is essentially flat for 5K; then climbs 180 meters (little over 500 feet) for 5K; descends 500 meters; then 500 meters @ 16% or something like that (whatever it is, its steep and requires complete anaerobic commitment).

I headed over to the race site early in the morning (I started at 7:45) and proceeded to go out for a warm up ride prior to my start time. The roads were all wet (rain all night beforehand) and I intentionally went down a certain road to avoid crossing train tracks. I didn't realize that this road had tracks too, but I crossed them carefully and proceeded to do my warm up. As I headed to the start line I had to cross the tracks again so I slowly rode over them and then WHAM. I hit the ground hard as my back wheel completely slid out from under me (which was exactly what I was trying to avoid).

The thing is, I have actually crashed on train tracks in the rain before (seven years ago!) and I was being extremely careful not to repeat that act. And, as it goes, when I was mindful of something happening... ...it happened.

Anyways, I crashed going very slowly which wasn't so great because I slammed my full weight down on my knee, hip, and ankle. I had less than ten minutes to my start so I gathered myself up and headed to the start. Fortunately, this happened close enough to the start that I didn't really have time to stiffen up. After drilling myself for 17+ minutes the race was done and I began to feel the crash. The combo of road rash and a 16% climb left me feeling pretty crappy. I spun back to the car and went home to clean my wounds and ice up.

Its been a while since I last crashed so it was a nice reminder of why we want to keep the rubbber side down when riding. I was pretty sore yesterday, but I'm starting to feel much better today and should be back to the normal training plan by Wednesday.

Good times,

jd

Dirk Friel Podcast

EC Radio did a podcast with Dirk Friel today. Dirk is the co-founder of Peaksware LLC (trainingpeaks.com, WKO+, etc) as well as a coach, dad, and fast cyclist (even after 27 years!). He shared his insight on training with power, professional bike racing, and the history and future of Training Peaks.

Have a listen:

http://endurancecorner.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=458443

http://endurancecorner.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=458443

Various

I think Boulder is experiencing the Bizzaro (sp?) Winter. We had a pretty mellow February followed by a warm three weeks in March that allowed me to ride my bike almost anywhere. Then the days of winter returned with that 18" dump on the last week of March and now they are calling for 10-24 inches tomorrow. I want the moisture (droughts are much, much worse), but rain might be more welcomed at this point. For anyone racing the Haystack TT on Saturday... ...they said it would be a go if there wasn't snow on the road. Good Luck with that.

I went for a run this morning north of town on my usual secret route. I was chugging along doing my run/walk thing when I happened upon a few Kenyans that were out laying it down on this damp morning. I got a chuckle as I cut one my walk breaks short when I saw them round the corner. I proceeded to PB a 400 as they went by just so it looked like I was doing a long run at their pace (I still fell short). But I digress...

Mr AC has written a fantastic blog this week following his two week trip. Its funny because I was intending to ask him to write an article specifically aimed at the "science of recovery." In other words, what does it actually mean to recover. We might know what it feels like to be recovered, but most of us without Ex Phys degrees probably don't actually know the specifics of what happens in our bodies after we stress it repeatedly.

You can read the blog here. (But be polite and finish reading my blog first).

Recovery is a tricky thing. We all need it to improve, but where do you draw the line on when you want to push through fatigue instead of rest? To be honest, I'm always tinkering with that line. I am an experiment of one and I always want to know how much I can tolerate so that I can maximize my fitness. Unfortunately, I occassionally have to get more tired than I would like to know that I need to cut a bit out on the next round.

What I had not done enough of, until recent years, is proactively help my body recover. Its not enough to hammer away and then sit around and wait to bounce back. Ultimately, I was selling myself short on what I was capable of doing. What really got me working more effectively to promote recovery was moving to Boulder full time. I have been coming to Boulder (and altitude) since 2002, but I only moved here full time in the Spring of 2007.

I know that living at 5500 feet affects my recovery and the amount of work that I can do. Living at sea level seemed to allow me to be slightly more aggressive with my training, but doing the same here left me FLAT. This made me more conscious of how (and when) I placed my key sessions in a week and what would be required of me to bounce back. If I overdid a session, a day, or a week, I had to pay for it.

Learn how to listen to your body and then help it to recover quickly. I like playing Uno and throwing cards, but that's just me.

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I'm now part of the twittering world like many of you. If you follow along you can find out fun things like what I had for dinner or whether I got final jeopardy right that day (or both!).

www.twitter.com/justindaerr

-jd

EC Tucson Camp Recap

Here is how the week broke down for all of us in Tucson: Sunday: Campers arrive throughout the day. No organized training, but some folks snuck out for a run or spin before dinner.

Monday:

Half the camp woke up early to get in a swim before the day's ride. The other half organized themselves for a 7:45 a.m. roll out (the early swim group rolled at 9:00 a.m.). The Monday route was an out-and-back to Madera Canyon. It begins with a false flat on Mission Road for the first 50K, then meanders through Green Valley, AZ before turning towards the Madera Canyon Park. From there the ride begins to climb gradually for 7 miles before hitting a a steep 5K climb to the turnaround. Then you go back the same way you came.

I was not along for this ride as I had some work to do at the Camp HQ, but it seemed as though everyone had a good ride. I took a group of athletes, that rolled out at 7:45, to the pool for an easy 2-3K recovery swim in the late afternoon.

Tuesday:

Mt Lemmon Day. We all piled in the vans and drove across town to Udall Park for Day Two (Udall Park sits about 5-6 miles from the Mile ZERO marker of MT Lemmon). We had a neutral roll out to the base of the climb, regrouped for photos and drinks, and then embarked on an epic 21-mile climb topping out just over 8000 feet. The time to the top varied for each athlete, but everyone made their way up there (this is a serious climb whether you are from Colorado or the Gulf Coast flatlands).

From there the athletes descended back down to Udall park for a quick transition run. We had lunch in the park following the T run and then headed to Catalina pool for a 2-3K recovery swim.

Wednesday:

The last two days were clearly felt by everyone attending the camp. We purposely designed the camp to begin with two big days to allow folks to get a challenging overload early on. I think one of the greatest lessons learned with this combo is that nearly everyone looks back to day one and concludes that they might have ridden a little two hard. Its only natural to see this within a group setting where everyone is fresh/rested, highly motivated, and (mostly) unaware of each other's strengths.

At any rate;

We started today with an early morning swim at Archer Pool. My lane had a main set of 20 x 100 with varying pace changes (written for DiMarco). We finished up around 3.5K total then headed down for breakfast before our 9:30 roll out.

Wednesday offered two ride options: One of 40K and one of 40+ miles. The 40K route went up and over both side of Gates Pass (not exactly 'easy' but not long). The longer route went over the east side of Gates Pass, headed North on Sandoria Road, East on Twin Peaks, and South to our starting point on Silverbell Rd.

The 40-mile crew practiced some team time trialing tactics after summiting Gates Pass and regrouping on the west side. I divided the campers into two groups with a mixture of ability levels. The first group went off with a one-minute gap on the second group. The object here was to hold off Group 2 until the end of the road, but neither group was allowed to drop any of its members. This forces everyone to think and to use their stronger riders appropriately without overworking the less-powerful riders.

Afer regrouping we headed back to the Hotel at a friendly pace. Some folks opted for a run off the bike while others opted for a nap.

Thursday:

Today began early with a Sunrise run on the Star Pass trail on the west side of town. Most campers ran an easy 40-50 minutes before heading back to the Hotel for breakfast. Following breakfast we piled in the vans and headed to the Oro Valley Pool; North of Tucson. The campers were faced with a challenging swim set of:

5 x 500 (mixture of paddles and swimming) 4 x 400 descending 3 x 300 mix 2 x 200 (first easy, 2nd IM) 1 x 100 choice

5500 total

After the swim everyone had a quick lunch and got their bikes ready for the 50-mile trek home. This ride was primarily flat for the first 35 miles. It then moved to some rolling terrain before finishing with a summit over the west side of Gates Pass. The purpose of today is to give people a clear insight into how swim fatigue can affect your cycling ability (especially in the first hour).

Friday:

Today was the Long run day. We headed to the far east side of town to run on the Cactus Forest trail in the Saquaro East Park of Tucson. The route climbs gently for about 5.5 miles with some rolling terrain on the far end. Since this was a cycling-focused camp, most campers opted for running in the vicinity of 75-90 minutes with varying intensity levels depending on each person's ability level.

Following the swim we headed back to the Oro Valley pool for a 3K+ swim. Then it was back to hotel to rest up for the last day.

Saturday:

Today was the biggest, and most challenging, day of the entire camp. The route broke down as: 40-miles flat to false flat, 12 mile climb @ 8%, descend 12 miles, then ride the 40 miles back to the starting point.

We had a pretty significant headwind to start the day so most people worked together in two distinct groups to shield the wind and keep the pace rolling. Once we arrived at the base of the climb we refueled and went out on one of the best climbs in Arizona. Kitt Peak does not see heavy cycling volume because of its distance from town, but its definitely worth the journey from time to time. After summiting and descending we headed back at a very fast clip. We split 2:15 to the base of the climb on the way out and 1:34 on the return. What a difference the wind direction can make.

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We tried to arrange a week of training that challenged everyone in different ways each day. Most importantly, we hoped to provide a fun atmosphere that allowed everyone to simultaneously bump up their fitness levels as we head into the North American season.

Until next year,

jd

Back In Boulder

Just rolled in from the Tucson-to-Boulder drive. We had a GREAT camp this year: lots of fun campers and perfect desert weather conditions. I'll give a recap in the next 24 hours, but I need to get settled a bit here first. Thanks to Hotel Arizona, Wheels on Wheels, and Sherry Daerr for supporting us each day

Thanks the EC coaches: Gordo, Kevin, Alan, and Dr J.

Thanks to all the campers: Josh, Tony, Michelle, Chuck, Celina, David, Tatiana, Dan-O, Kevin, Tim, Flip, Laura, Richard, Larry, and Craig.

More later,

JD

Spring Crash Training

article crossposted from www.xtri.com... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Last month I wrote an article outlining a fairly simplistic, moderate workout schedule for indoor cycling. It was motivated by the sight of snow falling outside my window and the realization that my training was fairly limited. Since then, the daylight hours have increased, daylight savings has added an hour of afternoon daylight in North America, and Boulder (and much of the U.S.) has been experiencing exceptionally warm temperatures. It appears as if it’s time to ride again.

March is a popular time for cycling/triathlon training camps. Folks are headed all over the country (and even world) in search of opportunities to grind out some miles and get the feeling of being fit again. However, in reality, you do not need a fancy location to ride lots; all you need is time. If you have time, you can put in the big miles right out of your front door.

Here are some tips to help you successfully insert a cycling overload into your plan.

First of all, don’t get overly concerned with the actual structure of each day aside from making a decision on what days are designed for recovery. If you are using one seven-day cycle (commonly referred to as a ‘week’) then I like to do: two days on, one day off; three days on, one day off. If you have more time to train I suggest using the 2/1 approach throughout the cycle. It might be tempting to do more, but you will keep the quality of your riding up by allowing periodic rest days.

Here in Boulder we have a nice mixture of flat terrain to the east and mountains to the west. When I do 2/1 cycles, I start with a flat steady-state ride on day one and follow it up with long extended climbs on day two. This allows the terrain to challenge me on day two (when I’m starting get tired) without having to think too much about it. However, you do not need to live near the mountains to have similar challenges. It just means that you will have to focus your efforts on day two so that you do not fall into aimlessly spinning out miles (what I call “touring” as opposed to “training”).

What about swimming and running?

I personally believe that you should maintain your normal frequency with both sports, but allow your volume and intensity to be focused on the bike. I tend to almost always swim and run before I do any riding so that I avoid skipping sessions because of late-day fatigue. I finish my easy frequency sessions first, then ride to my heart’s content for the rest of the day.

How much recovery do I need afterwards?

That is going to vary depending on what awaits you when you finish your training camp. If you have a lot of obligations following the training camp (particularly with work) then I would be very flexible for the entire week that follows. If you can be proactive with your recovery needs, then allowing 3-5 days should be sufficient. One of the reasons I suggest using the 2/1 cycle is to avoid extended recovery following the camp. You want this cycling overload to build you up; not break you down.

Now get out the door and ride.

Airline Fees

I recently compiled a list of airline fees for flying with bikes when I was sending an email out today. I thought I would repost here for anyone that doesn't regularly travel. UNITED AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 175.00 for bike case 125.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

AMERICAN AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 150.00 for bike case 50.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

NORTHWEST AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 175.00 for bike case 90.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

DELTA AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 175.00 for bike case 90.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 100.00 for bike case 100.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

US AIRWAYS

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 100.00 for bike case 50.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

FRONTIER AIRLINES

15.00 for first bag 25.00 for second bag 75.00 for bike case 75.00 (additional) for each bag over 50 lbs

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

no fee for first and second bag 50.00 for bike case 25.00 (additional) for bags weighing 50-70 lbs 50.00 (additional) for bags over 70 lbs

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If it seems like Southwest is substantially cheaper than everyone else, its because they are.

Happy travels,

jd