EC Training Weekend

This past weekend was the first of a series of weekend training camps that Endurance Corner will be offering over the following dates...

June 8-7

July 12-13

August 2-3

(read below to see how the weekend went)

These camps are the perfect opportunity to put together a solid weekend of Ironman specific training. These weekends are the perfect opportunity to practice your race day preps under the guidance of the EC coaching crew.

Camp will begin on Saturday morning with a solid swim. After the swim athletes will depart on their long ride where race day pacing and nutrition will be practiced (sag will be provided). After the bike, athletes will run off the bike for 30-45 minutes as a "self check". Could you run a marathon?

That evening, athletes will have the chance to sit down with the EC coaching team for a Q&A dinner.

On Sunday, athletes will perform a long run in the morning followed by an instructional swim session. Depending on departure times, we will have an optional spin.

We are limiting the camp to five athletes.

Cost for the camp will be $650 and does not include accommodations. There will also be a testing option (bike fuel) on Friday for $200 ($40 discount).

For more information view the forum on the Endurance Corner site or shoot me an email.

To secure your spot, please send a non-refundable deposit of $250(email for address)

mat 'at' endurance corner dot com

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This past weekend Endurance Corner had three guests come into town for a nice relaxing vacation. This may not be the type of vacation most seek out when looking to get some R&R, but for adventure seeking athlete's like Toby, Dee, and Rooter this was it.

Toby and Dee departed Tulsa Thursday morning arriving in Boulder that night. They made a quick pit stop at the Denver airport to pick up Rooter, who was in no mood to make the drive from Texas.

We had a busy weekend planned which had to be rearranged a bit due to the sporadic weather we have been getting in Boulder.

The goal was to allow Toby, Dee, and Rooter the opportunity to get some big training in, while enjoying the beautiful scenery of Boulder.

Friday morning started out with some physiological testing so that each athlete knew precisely where their individual training zones lie and the energy cost for the particular zones.

Toby and Dee seemed to be pretty excited by their test results!

After the testing we had planned to do bike fits, but the weather was great and we didn't want to spend all day inside. So, we headed out for a 2 hour ride with a little bit of climbing. On the way back into town Dave Scott passed us and then a bit later Matty Reed went cruising by. After the ride, we went for an EZ trail run.

Day two started out with a very windy long run around the Boulder Res. and the Eagle Trail loop. After the run, we headed over to the Elk's pool where Alan took everyone through some swim technique drills while critiquing our strokes making changes where necessary. Alan has worked with elite AUS national swim coaches and knows what he's doing. This was my first time attending one of his sessions and it was very useful.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon down in the lab where I performed bike fittings on them. We had Dan Empfield FIST certify our team a few months back and this was put to good use. This was also a very entertaining time because I got to listen to Toby and Dee work out a few compromises so they could each get some new equipment. I was told to keep quiet a few times or Toby's pocket book was going to take a big hit.

Sunday morning started out with a team breakfast at Turley's so we all could load up before the day's long ride in the mountains. I went for a smaller portion since I would be spending the day in a vehicle providing sag for our guests. I did have some extra coffee though--needed to make sure I was alert. I didn't want to subject the team to Jan Ullrich training, where if you slow down you get ran over :-)


Alan wanted to try and sludge through it but JD talked him out of it.

We took the crew all the way up to about 10,000 ft until they could go no further because the road was covered with snow. I found it funny that we intentionally headed up to where it was cold when we have been waiting for warm weather all winter. However, if you come to Boulder, you need to get up into the mountains so you can experience the attraction.

The picture above is of Rooter climbing the Rockies. Before the ride, Rooter told me that he hates to climb and I jokingly told him that I can take him on an very scenic ride out to Wiggins. He opted for the mountains.

On the last night we all headed out for pizza at The Sink which is the pizza joint in the book "Running With the Buffaloes." This was a great week and we all became very close. Toby, Dee, and Rooter all did an exceptional job and were a pleasure to be around.

Cheers from Boulder

Mat

You Are What You Eat

We had a very successful final camp in Tucson, Arizona. I hope everyone had a great experience and made some new friends along the way.

These camps are a ton of work and wouldn't be possible without the efforts of our wonderful support crew.

We hired Wheels on Wheels (Mike and Tom pictured above) to handle bike maintenance and support. I love seeing the look on the campers faces when they find out that they get to hop off their bikes each day and hand it to these guys and that's all she wrote. They come back the next day to a fully cleaned and tuned machine. It also is comforting knowing that you have an actual bike mechanic rolling behind you on your 100 mile ride in case something goes wrong.


Sure JD and I are some suave sag boys, but we are pretty amateur compared to these guys.


We also had 3 wonderful people that prepared all the meals and snacks for the campers. Brooke and Russ did such a wonderful job with the March camp that we were a little worried when they wouldn't be able to attend in April. Gordo kept mentioning Toby and Alex. We had no clue who these two were or if they knew what they were getting themselves in to. Sure there are a lot of people out there that can cook, but we are talking 20+ athletes that eat a lot. Can they handle this? Kelly was the other support person and I knew she would do a great job, but she definitely couldn't pick up the slack if these two turned out to be duds.


Turns out, Toby and Alex definitely knew what they were doing. They do this as a career. Check out http://www.toby-massage.com/ for more information. During the Australian summer, they live with Laura and Greg Bennett where they provide nutrition and massage to triathlons most successful couple.


It felt pretty cool when you sat down after a long ride to one of Greg and Laura's favourite meals. As athletes, you are only as good as your recovery and they made sure that the nutrition end was covered.

I had a few emails from campers asking me what was on the menu each night. I got the sense that they were implying how healthy their diets normally are and were wondering if their needs were to be met. With our camps, you can be assured that you will have the opportunity to have possibly the healthiest week of your life. You of course still need to make good choices, but they are available--You can drink Coke and eat Clif Bars all week if you so desired.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sure the entire camp has hit up Toby and Alex for their secret recipes and I made sure Kelly came home with some new dishes. We look forward to working with them in the future.

Thanks to everyone for their help and to the campers for their hard work and great attitudes

See you next year!

Mat

April EC Camp

I finished up this blog yesterday afternoon only to have blogger take a nose dive leaving my writing lost in cyber space somewhere. I've did my best to give it a do over.

The picture above is the console of the van JD and I drove during sag support. We like to make sure we are chipper during any situation.

Our April Endurance Corner Camp is underway and things are going great. We kicked the camp off with a nice 100 mile ride up to Madera Canyon. Every camper managed to make it back safely which is impressive considering that it was probably one of the first outdoor rides of the year for many.

For me, it always takes a while for duration of these longer rides to work in conjunction with the distance. Early in the year, a 3 hour ride seems like it takes forever after spending the winter on the trainer. Once you get used to being back on your bike again, that same 3 hour ride flies by. Yesterdays ride must have seemed like an all day thing for some of our campers. I'm sure they weren't too upset to be outside in the sun "Living the Dream."

For those of you that followed or attended the March camp. We are following the same basic schedule as before.

Head over to JD's blog for a breakdown of the last few days.

As before, each night we have been gathering around after dinner to give the campers the chance to pick the brains of the EC coaches. As you can expect, Gordo gets most of the questions. However, I'm not always sure the campers get the answers they were looking for. I can sense the anticipation for some ground breaking secret that the pros kept hidden from us age-groupers and then the deflation when they don't get it.

They don't get it, not because of selfishness or the unwillingness to share, but because there isn't one.

"The most important thing about your training, is your training."

Until you can get out the door every day, even the Holly Grail of training plans is just a piece of paper.

We hope that our Endurance Corner camps allow athletes the chance to see what is possible when everything else is eliminated from their lives other than training and recovery. We also hope to convey the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and incorporating triathlon into their busy lives.

For most, maintaining the same training routine as during the camp would only be possible if they quit their jobs, divorced their spouses, and neglected their kids.

This is a very important message that we wish to convey. All of our athletes have lofty goals and are very capable of achieving them. However, they all have great lives which may be greatly compromised in order to achieve them. We stress that all things must work in harmony for athletes to achieve their athletic goals while fulfilling their duties as a spouse, parent, and contributor to society.

That's all for now.

Mat

I Take Back...

...All the bad things I said about the crappy weather in Boulder. I still had a lot of clothes on, but got in almost 4 hours of riding in the warm sun. Maybe winter is over :-)

Mat

Confidence

Above is a picture of KP and I that JD posted on the Endurance Corner community site. The caption he wrote to go with the photo read..."Big Dog schooling Little Dog." I thought it was pretty funny even though I was most likely the butt of the joke.

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We just finished up with our first of two spring Endurance Corner camps in Tucson. It was a relief when all the hard work paid off and a successful camp was run. We hope to keep improving and learning from our camp experiences to make each one better.

I'm now back in Boulder for a few weeks before heading out for our April camp. It wasn't very exciting to be driving home and then run into snow as soon as you reached Denver. I keep telling myself that winter is over every time we are returning from a warm weather trip, but my positive thinking hasn't prevailed just yet.

The running weather is great, but I'm still laid up with the plantar fasciitis that I can't seem to shake. I'm going to try the rest method and not run for a few weeks and see how that goes. Good thing is that I can still bike and swim, but after leaving Tucson where the weather was great, throwing on everything you own to roll out in the cold isn't as motivating.

To be honest, I've had a hard time dealing with my injury and at times feel a bit hopeless. I've had this for over 4 months now. The good thing is that I have a very experienced and positive team surrounding me that I can rely on for help.

Scott Molina, who dealt with PF for 3 years has been giving me a bunch of tips. KP, who has always had to deal with some sort of rubbing, breaking, cracked bones...I can't even start to name all of his foot problems, there are so many. Kevin has never raced on healthy feet and I felt a bit silly when I was complaining to him about how hard it is to deal with not being able to run. Gordo, has also been on me about rehabbing the injury and taking complete responsibility for getting better. He has also done a good job of helping me remain positive with comments such as, "sitting around getting pissed off isn't going to heal the injury any quicker."

This brings me to the topic of this weeks blog, confidence. I'm starting to figure out the athletic hierarchy when it comes to confidence. I feel that most all people are capable of giving fairly good advice to others when attempting to calm their fears or worries, but how does that same individual react when the tables are turned. I think this is the true meaning of having confidence in yourself.

I'll use myself as an example this time. If I had a client who was suffering from PF, I would advise them to just focus on what they can do rather than what they can't and try and remain positive. I would go on to say that it is a long season and that a little time off won't hurt because you can still do other things.

Depending on my mood, I would come back with, "If taking some time off because of an injury is good, then why aren't you doing it?"

In reality, the advice that was given was the best advice. Sitting around getting upset and feeling sorry for yourself is only going to prolong recovery.

Most athletes feel as though they have something to prove and don't deal well with set-backs. I would put myself in this category. Being new to the sport, as long as I continue to train smart and consistent, I will continue to be on the upswing.

Seeing this rapid improvement is a good thing, but can also lead to problems. When your improving, you always want to do more because you are seeing results. However, as in my case, the body might not be ready to handle the fitness gains because of your freshness or pure lack of time in the sport. Over time, your body becomes more durable and is able to cope with the demands of the training.

I had the chance to spend some time with Gordo and Jonas Colting during the camp. These are two guys that have been there and done that. They have a great deal of confidence, prior experience and fitness as a fall back in case of bad performances or set-backs.

Before this camp, Jonas hadn't been on his bike since he won Ultraman Hawaii and was using this time to get back in the swing of things. Instead of jumping right in and showing everyone who's boss, Jonas was in the van, getting dropped, or turning around early because he has the confidence in himself to do so. Where others, like myself are burying themselves to prove that they are strong.

Everything is a learning experience and how you handle adversity is when your true color's shine. I doubt there is an elite athlete out there that hasn't had to deal with injury. It's just part of the game.

Mat

EC March Tucson Camp--Day 3

We've had two campers that have had to leave early do to circumstances that are out of their control. Robert Eubanks and Jody Sanderson, both Endurance Corner athletes have had to make the tough decision to pull the plug mid-camp.

Jody, a very strong athlete (9:38--IM Lake Placid) showed up not feeling so well and couldn't seem to shake it. Not being able to put done calories during a camp like this makes it impossible to put yourself back together day after day especially when sick. I think he made the best choice to head back to Toronto. I wouldn't want to hang out with a bunch of training athletes if I'm laid up.

Robert, who was having one heck of a camp received some bad news. The family was having to put down the dog who was suffering from a tumor. The dog had basically been a member of the family for the past 15 years. Robert is a very intense athlete and has been looking forward to this camp all winter. It must have been difficult for him to leave, but we will being seeing him again very soon. Robert will be joining us again for our camp in April.

Today was supposed to be a "put yourself back together day", but I'm not sure we all got the memo.

The day started out with a 6 a.m. swim...

Warm-Up
500 steady
5x100
400 steady
4x100
300 steady
3x100
200 steady
2x100
100 steady
1x100
Warm-down

The ride for the day had two options

1. 40+ mile steady ride
2. 20+ mile ez/steady ride

I opted for option one and it ended up being a pretty tough ride. We rode fairly easy out of town and then it some short climbs and rollers and then Gordo started putting a hurtin on the entire group.

Early efforts at a higher intensity don't feel especially good to me, but once I've sat out the storm I usually feel really good. It's almost like my body wakes up and knows it is ready to do some work.

I wouldn't recommend this to be a standard staple before every training ride because it is a good way to burn through a lot of glycogen. However, I'm pretty efficient and knew this ride wasn't going to be long enough to leave me bonked and stranded out in the middle of the desert.

The remainder of the ride was steady to upper steady depending on if you were at the front and the grouped worked on sticking together. Sticking together is something I learned a lot about during camp in Solvang. Most triathletes are not accustomed to riding in a group and usually try and avoid it all together.

When I first started riding about 2 years ago, I'd never draft. I'd be riding either next to or several meters behind other riders. I've since changed my opinion on group riding. I don't think that your key race simulation rides should be done on a wheel, but done properly, group riding can be beneficial.

It is important the athletes you are riding with know how to ride in a group. I prefer to roll with a maximum of 4-6 athletes, where the pace is kept high so that the man at the front is riding mod-hard to hard with the riders in the group riding steady.

This is an ideal situation for group riding, but usually things aren't "ideal." Stay flexible, patient, and teach the athletes around you how to ride in a group instead of getting upset with them. They probably aren't purposely trying to scare the hell out of you, but just don't know. We've all been the ignorant one at some point.

More tomorrow,

Mat

EC March Tuson Camp

I've been behind on updating my blog the past few weeks. As I've mentioned before, Endurance Corner is putting on two camps this Spring and the majority of my free time had been spent training rather than writing.

The camp has been going great. This is the first of many camps for Endurance Corner and I'm proud of the product that we've produced. We have been able to accommodate a wide range of abilities allowing athletes to stick together in their perspective groups maintaining the team atmosphere of the camp.

We just finished climbing Mt. Lemon yesterday (Monday) which was a great steady climb. Having never ridden the climb before and kept waiting for some steeper sections or any other surprises that such a long climb (20+ miles) had to offer. However, it remained fairly constant allowing all athletes to settle into a nice rhythm.

I'm very happy to say that every athlete made it to the top using the Team for motivation. Getting to the top wasn't the impressive part, but the fact that the day before everyone had ridden a tough 100 miles and most athletes have been stuck on their trainers all winter. I was very impressed.

Another area where I think we are providing value to our campers is on the nutritional side of things. We have two exceptional cooks shopping ever day for the highest quality ingredients to provide to our campers. The food has been great and hopefully those athletes that typically don't concentrate or put emphasis on the quality of their nutrition are seeing a benefit or the boost you receive from eating well.

Each evening we've all been gathering at the house we've rented for the week to eat and converse. This is a great time to relax and get to know one another. All coaches are available for discussion and so far each dinner has been full of valuable tips on racing and training.

This has been a great experience so far and hopefully things continue to operate as smoothly as the first few days.

I'll keep you posted,

Mat