Mat Steinmetz

Head Scratching Moments

2008-07-14T14:09:00.001-07:00

This week I want to talk about how you can manipulate/change your diet in order to improve your body's ability to use fat for fuel during exercise and at rest.

Before I get started there are a few issues that I'd like to address before I get into the "how" in order to help people grasp this concept a bit better.

First off, I'm not a nutritional expert. I'm not comfortable telling you what supplements, vitamins and minerals, or what % of this or that to eat. I can tell you what I do based on my 10 years of experience on the subject.

I believe people have a good idea of what is and what isn't a healthy food choice, but struggle with the timing, possibly making a healthy choice not so healthy. Gaining this knowledge could be the key to enhancing your body's ability to burn fat during exercise and at rest.

I first started getting into the impact of diet on performance when I was 17 and hooping it up with some big boys. I've always been the type of athlete that needs to do everything within my control to keep moving forward. I'm not one of those gifted athletes that can get by on just talent alone. I've always needed to work--diet, technique, strength, sport specific training, etc.

I knew that growing a foot taller and playing in the NBA was out of my control, but what I could control was my ability to work on other areas of the sport. This included my attempt at putting on lean muscle mass and becoming stronger so I wasn't getting thrown all over the court.

Alright, enough of the old glory days and back to the point of this piece.

When we first started talking about how to improve your fat burning there were a number of things I read from athletes and coaches saying that fat burning doesn't matter or is a myth and is just a sign of fitness.

I agree and disagree. I think that fat burning is a component of fitness and that you need to have the complete package to be at your best or reach your desired level of fitness.

-What is the use of a huge VO2 max if you aren't strong enough to push the pedals?

-What is the use of being a fast runner if you aren't durable and constantly injured?

-What is the use of a high functional threshold when anything over Zone 1 has you burning through all your glycogen stores?

So, in my opinion, burning fat could be the answer to those head scratching moments that many athletes face race after race. They might be able to get through days, weeks, or months of training, but they can't put it all together in a single day because they are racing at an intensity where they burn through glycogen faster than they can process and absorb it.

There are also the claims that fat burning is bogus because your body burns what you eat. While I don't believe this is entirely true, increasing your dietary fat intake has been shown to increase your fat burning. I find it funny that folks try to use this as a reason why fat burning is a myth. Claims such as "Ah, they just manipulated their diet to improve this function of their metabolism." In my opinion, they just proved our point. Why wouldn't you manipulate something that is going to make you a better athlete. Could I say? "Ah, they just rode their bike more to improve their functional threshold."

Then there are the many athletes that boast how they eat whatever they want and still are at the top of their game. This might be true, but as I've said before, you can't always assume they couldn't be better.

I very much believe there is a genetic component to fat burning and athletes that can eat however they want use their own experiences and conclude that diet and fat burning are insignificant. I understand their reasoning because they haven't the issue, but I still think that the diet can be changed to optimize one's self.

OK, I've already written the above and meant for this blog to be about ways to change your diet in order to be a better fat burner, but I've realized that the "why" needed to be explained first. The "how" will be my next entry.

To continue on...

Athlete One

Athlete Two

The two graphs above represent two different athletes. These athlete's zones or critical physiological markers are almost exactly the same. They look a bit different because of the scale and the starting watts. However, both athletes would be considered to be of the same strength.

The grey part of the chart is carbohydrate usage for a give intensity. The black is fat usage for a given intensity. Most athletes can sustain an intensity at which the carbohydrate is being burned at a rate of 10 kcals/min. For example, if an athlete is burning a total of 13 kcals/min--4 kcals/min are coming from fat and 9 kcals/min coming from CHO, the athlete should be able to sustain this intensity if all other "components" are present.

Athlete One, is a professional triathlete and trains roughly 30 hours per week. Athlete Two is an age group triathlete that trains 12-17 hours per week.

Athlete Two, even though they have a very good substrate profile, isn't breaking any records in the age-group ranks. Bringing me back to my "component of fitness" point. There is probably another limiter this athlete faces. Endurance?

Athlete One, even though they've gotten stronger and more fit has a poor substrate profile. The above substrate profile hasn't prevented this athlete from becoming fast, but has them at a stand still where they can't quite figure out what's prohibiting them from taking it to the next level.

For the past few years, the results haven't gone according to plan even though the training has been increased and completed. This athlete is racing within an appropriate percentage of FT so one wouldn't think pacing to be the issue. Their coach would be puzzled because they are pretty sure they have the training zones right.

So what is it? I think I know.

Without a progressive fuel test, how could you?

You can keep getting stronger and stronger, but is your racing leaving you on the side of the road scratching your head?

For some more reading, check out these recent articles by the team...

http://alancouzens.blogspot.com/2008/06/mummy-returns.html (practical recommendations)

http://alancouzens.blogspot.com/2008/05/improving-fat-oxidation.html (scientific theory)

http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2008/05/thoughts-for-female-athletes.html

http://www.justindaerr.com/blog/index.php/recovery/

Stayed tuned for dietary strategies focused on improving your fat burning.

Mat

Back Home Again

2008-06-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Home (IN)

Kelly and I got the chance to head back to Indiana over this past weekend. It had been a while since either of us had been back. I love Boulder, but IN always feels like home. I think it has more to do with family than it does with the state. Kelly wanted me to mention that she didn't care much for the humidity and would rather run up at 5,500 ft.

Actually, I know that it has more to do with family because I'm highly annoyed most of the time when I go back home because it seems like I spend most of my time in the car. In Boulder, we'll complain about having to drive 10 minutes across town to go to the store, pool, or out to eat. Back home, that drive would be 45-60 minutes both ways. I think I'll choose Boulder. I just need to convince a few family members to make the same choice.

The main reason for the trip back was for a wedding, but we also were there to see friends and family. The picture above is our "prom" picture that my parents made us take before leaving for the wedding.

Lab

The EC lab has made it's way out of the basement and into an office located in the Body Dynamics studio. I'll write more about this in my next blog, but this is a very good move for us and we now have many new resources.

I was forced to take our metabolic cart completely apart for transport and made sure to take pictures of it so that I could reassemble it. It was nerve racking, but I managed to have it working properly. Clients now have an attractive view of the mountains when they are ripping the watts on the bike or pounding out miles on the treadmill.

Foot

My foot is still injured (6 months now) and it's starting to get harder to deal with now that the meat of the triathlon season is here. Everyone seems to be traveling to this race or that and talking about living the dream or reaching their potential. I just want to be able to train.

I'll keep searching for the cause of this and continue doing everything in my power to rehab this issue. I call it an issue, because no one seems to agree on what the injury actually is.

Racing

My buddy, Dave Ripley, told me that I need to get out and race. He said that it would make me feel better. I would love to get out there and do some racing, but I don't feel I'm to the point where that is a smart decision for me. If I race, I want to be ready and make sure that the race isn't going to set me back even further with my injury.

Thinking back, I've only raced one time in the past two years. I would definitely like to race more, but for some reason this doesn't bother me all that much. I have had a tremendous response to my training during the winter and spring and would love to see how I race relative to my peers.

I live in an area where your athletic ability and race results are sometimes more important than what type of person you are. Your ability as an athlete brings instant respect and competence. It is hard for me to be sitting on this increase in fitness and not be able to show it. I'm still the 11 hour guy who ran close to 4 hours at Ironman Louisville and until I get the chance to race, that's not going to change.

Mat

One Year Down

2008-05-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially been in Boulder for one year now. I'm going to briefly go over a few of my experiences from this past year. I feel that my learning curve has been very steep due to the caliber of coaches and athletes that I get to be around.

I'm also getting to know my body better and on the path of figuring out what works for me. I think this is very important, but it is more important to understand that this is how "I" work and not everyone else I come into contact with. It is very important to understand our individual biased when giving advice. We will all have our own style and philosophy, but must keep an opened mind.

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Altitude

I'm starting to come around and acclimate to Boulder's altitude. Arriving in late May last year and trying to peak for a race in August, probably wasn't the most ideal situation for an athlete new to the elevation. However, every athlete has to go through this at some point and I'm happy to have gotten it out of the way.

I haven't noticed it much lately and actually respond very well to altitude training. I can tell a pretty big difference when going back down lower elevations. I've also noticed that the more I go back and forth from low to high altitude the less time it takes me to get re-adjusted.

Swim

I'm sure my swimming is improving, but seem to be all over the place. I'll be fast one day and slow the next. I think this is just the name of the game when you're new to swimming. I also typically perform better in the open water compared to my swimming in the pool and have yet to race this year to see how I compare to the rest of the field.

I still need to be very careful with my swim volume. My technique is good and I can hold water, but just can't do it over and over again. This will come with simply more swimming, but my shoulders are not used to a high volume swim program. What I mean by high is over 20k. Although, I may want to swim more and my fitness will allow me to swim more, I'm best to stay within myself until my shoulders are more durable.

Bike

I wasn't very impressed with my biking last year. The year before, my first year in the sport, the bike was my strength. I'm not really sure what my issue was, but I'm sure the altitude had something to do with it. Also, the caliber of cyclist that I was riding with was also higher than I've experienced, but I definitely was not riding like my normal self.

I've gotten back to riding my bike with a steep seat angle and lower in the front. I'm pretty flexible and this position feels great to me. My fitness is coming around fast on the bike. At this point, I'm able to handle a good dose of bike race training, but still need to work on the longer grind. I'm sure this will come with time.

Run

My run fitness was just about like everything else last year. I just felt dead with no snap in my stride. This winter and spring my run fitness started to come in line with where I would expect it to be. I feel that running will be my bread and butter at some point down the road so it was nice to see this aspect of my training coming around as well. The Ironman marathon is all about strength and running a good amount of hills will benefit me over time.

Lab

The lab is up and running and we are doing some really good things. Many scientist that live in the literature may turn their nose to some of the areas we are looking into. However, the literature is usually a good 5-10 years behind and usually only proves what we already know. There are areas of interest where so many variables are involved that a scientist with an ego won't waste his/her time trying to study something that can't be conclusive--think stretching (hasn't been proven).

Nutrition

From my personal lab tests, I've discovered that I'm metabolically efficient at utilizing fat for fuel and also don't generate a lot of total calories. I'm going to experiment with taking in less calories during racing as I'd previously attempted. I've had most every long course race I've participated in, ruined by trying to slam down a huge amount of carbohydrate (and going to fast).

I might not need to be aiming for the top end of the scale. I will try this in training before sludging through an Ironman under fed.

Injury

I have had plantar fasciitis since December and have pretty much forgotten what it feels like to be healthy. I didn't do anything different that usual. Volume was around 5-6 hours/week which I've been doing for over a year now. The one issue that I think caused this was that a lot of these runs where done on snow covered trails with horrible footing. I won't be making this mistake again.

Now, I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to get rid of it. I'm exploring all possibilities. Who knows, it may just be one of those things where I just need to wait out the storm.

So year one is in the bank and I'm looking forward to what the future holds.

I'm making it a point to always keep and open mind and to consider things before I knock them on the basis of it sounding strange, wrong, or due to my inexperience on the subject.

Mat

EC Training Weekend

2008-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-04-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

...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

2008-04-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

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

Back to 5,430

2008-03-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Fast Forward Sports

Endurance Corner has teamed up with Scott Fliegelman and his Fast Forward Ironman training group to assist with their preparations for Ironman Wisconsin. Scott is coaching them and EC is being used as a tool for looking at each athlete's individual physiology. On Wednesday, March 19th we will be giving a presentation to the F4 group answering athletes questions based from their test results, pointing out strengths and limiters, explaining how to use this knowledge to their advantage for training and come race day.

Tucson Spring Camps

We've hired Wheels On Wheels to help assist in a support role for our Endurance Corner Spring Camps in Tucson, AZ. This company, started by Dan Plummer ran support for Robbie Ventura's VQ Solvang Camp and it was a nice addition to the experience. After each day, all you do is drop your bike off in the transition area and Wheels On Wheels cleans and tunes your bike and has it ready to go for the next days training ride. Dan and his crew also run the sag support. It is very comforting to know you have a mechanic right behind you if something goes wrong. If you flat, you won't lose or hold up the group up. You will get a new wheel and your old wheel will be fixed and back on your bike the next day. You get treated just like a professional cyclist.

Altitude

This week was another good learning experience for me. Following my 30+ hour training week in Solvang which was full of threshold work I was feeling great. The camp ended on Saturday and JD and I were to take off Sunday morning. Even though I was feeling a bit banged up from my wreck, we headed out for a run before taking off on our venture back to Boulder. I felt fine on this run and was pretty sure I was becoming used the the fatigue.

We arrived back in Boulder on Monday night and I took the next few days pretty easy. I could definitely feel the altitude, but figured I'd feel back to normal in a few days.

On Saturday I headed out for a longish ride with some roadies. The ride was very tame heading out and I still didn't feel especially well. Small little rollers were making me winded. We got to the first climb and I was ready to show my buddies my new form. The climb started and I could tell right from the start that I was struggling as they slowly pulled away. I made no attempt to try and catch back up with them to preventing any further damage to my body.

I ended up having a hack the rest of the day, mostly when I would take a deep breath. This got me thinking about the altitude. Ever since I came back to Boulder, I feel like I am struggling. This was the first time that I had left altitude once acclimated (depending on who you talk to) and then returned within a training cycle. I'm no expert when it comes to altitude training, but all I know is that I felt great down in Solvang, but feel very sluggish back in Boulder. It reminds me of a few periods this summer where I felt very flat.

During my ride today with JD (Flagstaff--pictured above and Sunshine Canyon), I had asked him if he has ever experienced this sort of thing. He went on to say that he thinks that there are always periods where things just don't feel right when training at altitude. Everyone is different, but you can't always train the same way up here as you do down low.

After the ride we went on easy 30 minute brick run. I looked over at him and said, "we aren't running very fast, are we?" I felt like I was about to have an asthma attack at 8:30 min/mile pace. I've been feeling better after about 40 minutes of running, but this has been the theme over the past week.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I was only gone for about 10 days and a few of those days where at altitude. I'm going to have faith that things will soon come around and try not to psych myself out about it.

I will learn more about how I respond to altitude training over the next few years as I continue to go back and forth from sea level back to Boulder. I'm sure I'll come around over the next few days. I'll report back next week to let everyone know how it goes.

Mat

Vision Quest 2008

2008-03-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

I'm currently lying on my stomach in a hotel room in St. George Utah. On the last day of the Vision Quest Camp in Solvang I had a little spill. Every time, I start to get upset about the discomfort I'm in, I tell myself I'm happy to be alive.

I crashed on a hair-pin turn ripping down a decent at speeds upwards to 30-40 mph. I was the last man of a group of 4 and couldn't see the turn’s exit and had to lay the bike down or risk flying off the mountain.

My shorts were shredded and I had some serious road rash on my bum, but I didn't come to this camp to give in. I laid there for a few minutes to catch my breath and then hopped up and got back on my bike. We were in the middle of a 28 mile race and I decided to finish what I started. I ended up feeling ok probably due to the adrenaline rush and ended up riding a few minutes slower than the lead group.

This was a huge mental achievement for me as was this entire camp.

I felt pretty fit going into this camp, but was a bit nervous because I hadn't been on the bike as much as I would've liked heading into a bike camp. I had asked JD how he felt I should approach the week and his instructions were this. Look at the camp as a way to test your limits and see what you got. Look at each day as if it were the only day of the camp--Don’t hold back!

Gordo added that I should base my performance off the other athletes at the camp. This isn't advice for everyone, but in the past, I think I've set mental limiters on my performance.

Here are a few of my sporadic observations from the camp.

Limits, Heart Rate, and Power Meter--My thoughts on this subject are still very open. What I'm about to write is what helped me push through during this camp.

This wasn't the sort of camp that tested your ability to absorb huge amounts of volume, such as an Epic Camp. This camp was moderate in volume, but high in intensity and stress. We weren't pinned the whole time, but the sporadic periods of high intensity is something that we triathletes aren't accustomed to.

When going hard, go hard, take risks--I didn't use my HRM during this camp. Partly because it is broke, but mostly because I knew my objective and didn't care what it said. It is great to get a HR or power numbers from an effort that you thought was unachievable, but for most efforts at this camp, pacing was not an issue in regards to my personal strategy.

Outside of this camp, if I were doing specific intervals, I would be tracking numbers making sure I'm training at my desired intensity.

On day two, there was a climb that we were racing up (Mt. Fig). I heard other athletes talking about seeing this power number or heart rate and based on those numbers had slowed down to follow their pacing strategy. In my circumstance, I went as hard as I could the entire time. If I blew, I blew. This was a training ride where I wanted to test my limits. Had this been a 5-6 hour time trial, you can be assured that I would be monitoring my power and heart rate data.

On the last day, after my crash, I was riding back through the field and came up on Alan. He decided to go with me and hopped on my wheel. When we got to the finish line he was still in one piece. I asked him if he thought he could do what he had just done and his answer was "no".

Just to be clear, there is a time and a place for these sorts of efforts. Racing a half or full Ironman is generally not the time and one's efforts should be monitored throughout the day to give the athlete the best chance for success.

Climbing vs. Power on the flats--I never knew I could climb like I did at this camp. Every time the road went vertical I felt at ease and seemed very strong. I weighed about 15-20 lbs less than most of the athletes that I was riding with, which is a significant advantage on my end. Being lighter is an advantage, but the power to weight still has to be there. You need to be able to put out the power. If you lose 20 lbs and lose your power, you won't be any faster. The guy's that were heavier than me all put out greater power numbers. Basically, what I'm saying, is if you have good body composition, you need to focus on the power not weight.

On the longer climbs, I figured out that I can recover by changing my style of riding along the way. This may be a common trend in cycling, but was new to me. I would use torque for power while standing and RPM's while sitting.

When seated I would be spinning 90+ and then shift up to a harder gear and stand to accelerate or to just change the muscle firing pattern. Later into the climb when my legs were toast. I would stand in an easier gear with a higher cadence, which seemed to allow me to recover.

When the flats and rollers would come. I'd have to hang on for dear life when the bigger, stronger athletes pushed the pace. Normally, I could just tuck in behind a rider and sit in the draft if there was one available. One day in particular, Mark "The Wolf" Pietrofesa was riding 350-400 watts with a tailwind diminishing the effects of the draft. Needless to say, I was out the back in a hurry because I currently don't have that kind of power in the flats.

I feel that having a good aero position, minimizing what I'm throwing into the wind and having good power numbers will allow me to ride with the bigger, stronger athletes. If I can ride at relatively the same speed as another athlete on 40 less watts I will be happy.

Diet--During this camp I also realized how important it is to give your body enough fuel to operate successfully. I was constantly eating, trying to consume as much carbohydrate as possible. My metabolism was so ramped that I could eat whatever I wanted, foods that I would normally stay away from during normal training. I want to stress that I still ate very well and stayed away from chips, pizza, ice cream and other foods that come to mind when I say "whatever" I want. I would eat a lot of oatmeal, potatoes, pancakes, French toast, Infinit Recovery, and eggs--foods that are all easily digested.

A camp like this isn’t the time to try and lose weight. In my circumstance, I need to be cautious of getting too light during periods of intense training. I naturally lose weight when training this way and in order to train well I need to do my best to combat this. I focus on eating the best quality ingredients that I can afford and the frequency of my meals. I try to never sit down and stuff myself, but focus on a steady flow of carbohydrates throughout the day.

Roadies--One night, JD and I showed up to dinner about 15 minutes late and there were only two seats left. They just happened to be right next to Floyd Landis. I always make it a point when I'm in contact with high profile athletes to talk to them about something other than their sport. I assume that they are sick of talking about it and that I get a better response talking to them like a normal person. Floyd was no different and before you know it we were sitting there laughing it up.

I guess that I haven't been in the sport long enough to understand the roadie vs. triathlete relationship, but road racing sure is fun. I learned a lot about tactics, team work, different riding formations, drafting, and that a group is much stronger than one.

This was a great break from the constant grind of Ironman training. With road racing, you can't just shut your brain off and turn the pedals. You need to be totally focused, aware of your surroundings and what is going on in the group. This made cycling very stimulating for me and I enjoyed the constant anticipation. Also, roadies tend to train either at the low or top end of the training spectrum leaving out a lot of the middle where we Ironman athletes spend the majority of our time. This was a great place to get some of the intensity that I was looking for.

Positive thoughts--If you read Gordo's blog, he mentions a few of the athletes that really made an impression on others at the camp. The VQ squad is filled with some of the most positive people that I have ever been around. I want to incorporate their attitudes within my own personality. Making everyone around you confident by being motivating and encouraging creates an atmosphere ready for success. In cycling, business, and life, those who are most successful surround themselves with a great team.

This is starting to get a bit long. I had a great time at this camp and met some really great people. I'm looking forward to going back next year.

Mat

Vision Quest Solvang Camp

2008-02-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I am currently in Solvang, California participating in a training camp put on by Robbie Ventura at Vision Quest Coaching.

I will be writing a blog once I get back on the camp. JD is doing his best to log "day by day" updates, so be sure to check out his blog as well.

Here is a link to the camp's community network http://www.vqsolvang.ning.com/

Mat

Fast ?

2008-02-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from a few weeks ago when my friend Josh came into town. He had never seen the mountains before and kept commenting how everything looked fake. Josh developed a little altitude sickness as well, but I don't think that will stop him from taking another trip out to the sunshine city.

On the training front, I just put down a balanced week with another 20k+ training week. All the swimming has been done outside. If you look closely at the pic above you can see white marks around my eyes from my goggles. I'm going to start being more careful out in the sun. Being tan in February is a bit too early for my liking. I want to make sure I don't have leather skin in 10 years.

####

I seem to notice myself getting annoyed when coaches and athletes start talking training protocols and use professionals and elite age-group athletes as examples. Yes, most of these athletes are probably training, but these folks are the minority at an Ironman. Notice, I used the word training because I think that is one of the most important qualities that most elite age-groupers and professionals have in common. They all will not take the same approach, but they will all be doing the work that they feel is required to be successful.

Most coaches will not be working with this sort of athlete and will be coaching/advising one of the other 2,000+ athletes that make up the majority of the starting list.

As coaches and athletes, we tend to get obsessed with the “ideal” protocol that will lead to success. However, like most, we turn to the elites for answers. There is nothing wrong with this, but a lot of elites don't face the same challenges of the majority. I can go compare and contrast the two for you, but I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself.

There is constantly talk about what is the best way to get speedy over the Ironman distance. The one method that seems to strike the biggest cord with me is the athlete and coach that feel they need to go out and rip every workout because you have to get fast before you can go long.

I think this bothers me because in a way, I think these folks are trying to take shortcuts or show biased to their strengths or preferences while training.

At first, I was very defensive about these sorts of ideas. In previous blog posts, I've made comments such as, “If I were to pull you aside during your IM marathon. I can guarantee that you wouldn’t tell me you wish you had done more speed work."

I’ve begun thinking about the word “fast” and think it is a poor choice of a word. When I think of fast, I think of 30 minute 10k’s and such. Instead, I think that you should think of it in the terms of individual effort or intensity rather than speed.

I’ve always viewed training philosophies in two different categories. To be vague, moderate volume, intensity based and high volume, endurance based.

Endurance Based--An athlete needs to build superior endurance, strength, and durability to have the ability to cover the Ironman distance. They need to be able to complete the distance before the worry about how fast they cover the distance.

Intensity Based--An athlete needs short intense efforts in attempt to increase their functional threshold HR and power. This athlete supplements aerobic volume for intensity most likely do to time constraints in attempt to make up for lack of time by adding harder sessions.

I feel I could provide valid points to argue both styles of training.

If I were to think of an ideal situation, it would look something like this...

Find a swimmer kid, and have them join the track and cross country team. They would run the 800m in middle school, the mile in high school, 5k and 10k in college while continuing to swim train. This may not be exactly how it would work, but you get my point.

So what do we do with the 35-40 year old weekend warrior that has decided that they want to race an Ironman in one year’s time?

This individual isn’t going to have the 10-15 years of athlete development that would make things “ideal”. They may also have all sorts of other limitations, such as biomechanical , work, family, location, etc.

This is where you can think the two philosophies tend to collide. One coach may have this athlete using the endurance based protocols where the athlete focuses on having the ability to cover the distance no matter how long or slow they may train. The other coach may take this athlete and say, “Hey, you have to be fast before you go long”.

Again, this is where I think the word “fast” is used incorrectly.

If using the intensity based protocol, the athlete should first do a series of shorter test to determine their current training zones. This could be done by field testing or physiological testing in a lab. This is where the word “fast” gets replaced by the word effort/intensity. I would like to see an athlete be able to hold a given effort over a certain duration before increasing the distance.

For example, if we determine that an athlete has a functional threshold heart rate of 180 bpm, but they can’t hold that effort for a 5k, then we need to decrease the distance until the athlete has built enough fitness to achieve this. It doesn’t matter how “fast” this athlete run’s the distance. The only thing that matters is if they are able to maintain a certain effort or intensity over that distance. As the distance increases the effort the athlete would be required to hold will obviously decrease within the acceptable ranges for the given distance.

What if this athlete never gets to the point where they are going to be able to hold a certain effort for their long run or ride? This is where balanced training comes in and a combination of the two protocols should be used. I would not focus solely on long endurance training or effort/intensity based training, but a combination of the two.

I really tend to shy away from saying this protocol is superior to the other and once again I’m sticking to this method. As I continue to learn there are many ways to be successful, more than I just mentioned. Even by vaguely describing two different strategies, there are several different ways to explain those as well.

The only thing I can say with confidence, is that it’s a long season. Be strong when it counts and take the necessary steps to show up to your race healthy, fit and rested.

Doing something is better than nothing. Consistently training, whether “ideal” or not will make you better than sitting on your computer searching for answers.

Mat

Regroup and Adjust

2008-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

The above picture is me cleaning house during the ski ball competition this weekend. It was JD's birthday and none of us were in the mood to paint the town, so we took part in some friendly competition. This place also had a speed bag (see below) that you could hit has hard as you could and it would give you a max power number. I was winning until Mayor Meeker told me that taking three steps and a crow hop didn't count. He called it a sucker punch. After Denny gave us some regulations on how we were to throw our hay makers, I lost.

####

I just finished a very solid week of training. I managed 21.5k of swimming this week. JD has been drawing up the workouts and all I have to do is show up and swim.

My plan was to swim 4k per/day Monday-Friday, take Saturday off and a 1.5k loosen on Sunday. Our goal is not a huge over-load, but just to swim a bit more than normal.

After week one, we got right back into things with today's set (below).

WARM UP
2 x 200 as 75 free/25bk/25br/75 free
4 x 75 Fly/bk/br
200 kick
4 x 25 build
200 easy paddles
MAIN SET
5 x 300 on 5:00, 4:55,45,40,35
5 x 200 on 3:30,25,20,15,10
5 x 100 on 1:50,45,40,35,30
100 kick
400 bbp
100 easy

4600 total

The idea of this set was for there to be no extra rest between the 300s, 200s, and 100s. The set is to be swam straight.

Normally, this set would be challenging, but do-able for me. However, I noticed right from the start that I wasn't feeling too peppy in the water. I started the main set figuring to get about 30 seconds rest after the first 300. I was surprised when I came in around 2:45.

I thought, no big deal, I'll just swim the next one a little harder. I came in again on the 2:45 and thought I must not be warmed up yet and took off again swimming what I thought was faster. Well, no luck, the third one was even slower than the previous two.

I stopped to regroup for a moment and figured I had two options.

1. I'm too fatigued to get anything out of this and should get out.
2. I should not focus on hitting splits and just put the time in.

I ended up choosing option two and took the slowest send-off for each 300,200,100 and just swam steady.

Was this the best decision for me?

Here is how I look at it. Sure, I was fatigued. I was actually so fatigued that I wasn't even able to swim hard enough to get much above threshold/VT1. However, being new to swimming and having descent technique, I decided that just being in the water and putting a low level of stress on my cardiovascular system that I was actually making myself stronger. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be recovered, but by swimming steady and focusing on proper mechanics I was getting a benefit from this.

If this session was a key workout during my specific preparation phase, I probably would have chosen option number one. If the goal of the session is a longer continuous set at a mod-hard/threshold intensity, I would not have gotten the benefits that I was aiming for during the workout and would essentially be making myself more tired rather than fit.

I think it is important to consider where you are at in your season when figuring out if you are doing more harm than good within a workout session. Are you getting out of your body what the session requires? Are you making yourself more tired than more fit?

There is a reason why you are going hard during certain training session. You are looking for physiological adaptations from going hard. If you are unable to complete the session, either decrease the duration of the interval or increase the rest between them because all the matters is the adaptation.

I got a little off track there, but I just wanted to point out that there is a reason for going hard and whether or not you attempt to half the session depends on where you are at in your season. If you are unable to go as hard as required for the adaptations, then pull the plug. If you are in the early part of your season, stop, regroup, and figure out how to get the work done. From personal experience, hoping out of a session when your volume is already low, doesn't sit well on the motivation side of things.

Until next week,

Mat

February Update

2008-02-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

This past week started out with a special delivery fromPlanet X . Gordo , Alan , and myself each recieved a road and time trial bike that we will be using for 2008. Stay tuned, once I've finished my fit, I'll post a pic.

####

Speaking of bike fitting. We had Dan Empfield over to the Endurance Corner lab for a personal workshop with the team. For me, the bike fit part was easy to pick up on. If you have a good eye, you can usually tell if something is off or not. Dan has done so many bike fits that he was able to eyeball us during our fits and guess the angle within a few degrees (we measured to check).

The most useful peice of information that I walked away with was being able to advise an athlete which bike will fit him based on our fit session. Before the workshop, all I could do was put someone in an aero and powerful position, but unless I went to several bike shops to check out each brand with a tape measure, all you had was a nice position on our Positioncycle

Here at EC, we can now take measurements from your fit session and in a matter of minutes tell you what bikes will work for you, using Dan's database.

####

This week was a recovery/testing week for me. I'm still battling the plantar fasciitis, but my PT says that we have a handle on it. I had planned on performing a series of bike and run test, but since my foot is still sore, I just tested on the bike.

I didn't see a shift in my power output, but my heart rate has decreased for a given workload. I also saw an increase in my substrate utilization and was able to make it further into the test before I tapped out.

As I've noted in previous posts, I'm very interested in substrate utilization during exercise. I'm attempting to test at the same time and eat the same thing (oatmeal, peanut butter, coffee, and soy milk) to try and control what variables I can.

Overall, training is going great and I am very motivated and have everything in order to start working towards my goals. Having looked at my calendar, I'm breaking my season into two phases.

Phase One

The first phase revolves around staying consistent with training and work. We have a bunch of cleints signing up for personal testing and training weekends here in Boulder. My goal is to give these athletes an experience where they can walk away feeling fully satisfied. The same goes with our Spring Tucson camps. We want to provide the best camps possible not only with the training but with the support as well.

On the training front, I want to stay consistent and get in good enough shape where I can win Wildflower (kidding) and perform well at the Triple T.

Phase Two

We have the first half of the season booked for personal weekends and tests, but still have a few weekends open in phase two (June-December). Phase two is primarily centered around building up for Ironman Louisville and Ironman Arizona in November. I will work my training program around work obligations while I try and give Ironman another shot to see if I can improve upon my 2007 result.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at...

mat "at" endurance corner "dot" com

Keep it rollin,
Mat

Rambo

2008-01-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to see the new Rambo last Friday--the day it came out.

Above is a picture of Slyvester Stalone and the man who inspired the story's plot line, Derek Melton. Melton has been assisting the resistance fighters in Burma. He and Sly were introduced while doing research for the upcoming film "John Rambo." Click here to learn more.

I grew up a Sylvester Stallone fan and was curious how different this film would look with all the special effects of today's modern technology. To my surprise, it was a classic Rambo film that used the enhancements in technology to make the film better. All I can say is the modern weaponry is very destructive and ugly. I think it is sad what is going on in other parts of the world. There are many things I feel need fixing in the states as well, but watching this film makes any of my problems seem silly.

I realize the film is very violent and that Sylvester Stallone has received some bad press by going on record claiming that he uses HGH. I really don't feel like getting into my opinions on this sort of thing, but since he is not competing in sport, he can do as he pleases. Neither am I claiming that he is a good role model for children, even though I doubt the number of today's kids idolizing a 60+ year old action hero are limited.

There were probably only a few sentences of dialogue in the movie and the majority of that had to be read at the bottom of the screen because it was in a language that I hadn't quite mastered yet. However, of the few remarks made by Stallone in the film, this quote stood out in my mind...

"Live for nothing or die for something"

I don't think of it in the terms of violence, but think of it as an inspiring quote that can be used to enhance and give meaning within our normal everyday lives. Do I want to sit here and grow old for nothing or take action and live a life that has value and provides internal and external satisfaction.

To be honest, this is a very broad statement and can mean a number of things for different people. For some, this can be helping less fortunate individuals or societies. By helping others, these folks feel good about themselves.

For others, this could be helping themselves by improving upon old habits, patterns, or choices they made early in life that don't mesh with their current aspirations. A few that come to mind: Get in shape, improve diet, lose weight, change careers, spend more time with family, move, quit using drugs, get a new hobby, meet new friends.

I'm going to stop here and can't believe I just managed to turn this seemingly mindless and violent film into a note of positive self enhancement.

Even though I'm not truly irritated, I have a tendency to point out things that are not congruent and I feel as though I'm complaining. With this, I've been working on trying to be more positive, maybe it is working!

or

Maybe I just wanted to write about Rambo.

Mat

Health and Longevity

2008-01-21T05:50:00.000-08:00

The above picture is of Scott Molina winning the Ironman World Championships in 1988. Scott has had a great impact on many of the people within my circle. It seems as though every one of my mentors or training partners has been coached, advised or trained with Scott. He is very willing to help teach others about the great sport of triathlon.

Before I had ever met Gordo (my biggest connection to Scott) I remember finding Scott's email address and sending him a message about who knows what. Probably something like, "do you use regular shoe laces in your shoes or those elastic one's?" That was a joke, but to my surprise, he replied. I had no idea that a guy like this was so accessible.

I'm sure I hit him up with a few more questions and was very impressed with his willingness to help out a young triathlete that was wanting to learn. I've gotten a bit off track here and this has nothing to do with my notes for the week, but the moral of the story is this...

There is no limit to the knowledge we can gather. However, there is also no limit to the people willing to share their knowledge (good or bad?).

With this, make sure to seek out the best information from quality sources. Most people are willing to help. All you need to do is ask.

####

Listen to Scott and Gordo talk about this year's EPIC New Zealand on Endurance Corner radio . Gordo will continue to give updates on EC radio and in his blog .

####

I managed to get my 18k of swimming in this week. Justin Daerr and I joined Rally Sports so we could swim with Sherpa, Denny Meeker. Denny won't swim inside and I was starting to feel the effects of the dark indoor pool, so I made a change.

We have been doing all of our swimming outdoors in a heated pool. This is the first time that I had ever been in a pool while it was snowing outside--pretty cool!

I first thought that swimming 18k was going to be a real challenge. I had been swimming 2k/workout for the past few months just to keep my feel for the water. I knew this was ok because this was what Chris Legh told me he was doing :-)

The training week went great, but I've seem to develop a case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I have never had this problem before and am a bit baffled by what could have caused this.

I've got a few ideas such as: running in the snow, footwear, foot strike, or tight calves. Whatever it is, I'm going to go see Bob Cranny today to get it checked out before it gets out of control. Bob is one of the injury treatment gurus here in Boulder.

My friend and training partner, Brandon Del Campo (his website is currently down), has been struggling with plantar fasciitis for years and advised me to STOP RUNNING until I have seen Bob.

This brings me to the issue that I wanted to talk about this week and back to Scott Molina. I feel like I'm name dropping like crazy in this blog, but I'm very intrigued by the Big 4 (Scott Molina, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and Scott Tinley). Through reading and talking with others, I get a since of what sort of punishment these guys put on their body's. They were the pioneers of this sport and just about everything these guys did had never been attempted before.

I personally feel like we have a pretty nice longitudinal study here. I'm very curious on the health effects of Ironman training and for personal reason wanting to learn as much as I can to protect myself against any long term health implications due to excessive training.

I haven't really developed an opinion on this yet, but listening to these guys talk about current injuries, surgeries, and the painful nuances they've sustained from their days as rock stars, makes me think twice about training through injuries.

I think it is important to be proactive in treating little minor injuries before those injuries turn major and you are forced to stop. I'm nowhere near the point where I start to think, "do I want to put my body through this for another season?" However, I'm sure the point will come, but hopefully I've taken the rights steps to maximize my ability while preserving my longevity.

Mat

Early Season Training

2008-01-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

Jan 7 marked the beginning of my balanced Swim, Bike, Run (SBR) training program. Up until this point, I've been training everyday, but just flying by the seat of my pants.

I have a few short term goals that are the catalyst for my early season training.

-Solvang Camp. For me, having an event that you must get into descent shape for forces you to get your act together. Not hitting this goal has many negative consequences: I won't have fun, encounter unnecessary suffering, or plain embarrassment. These consequences give me all the motivation I need. I suggest that everyone find what works for them. Even though you might love triathlon and the training it requires, there will always be obstacles we need to overcome. Most of the time these obstacles are ourselves.

-Basic Week. I also want to get back to the point where hitting my basic week on the volume end doesn't leave me feeling wrecked. I'm doing this rather slowly to avoid injury or burnout, but I'd really like to shoot for a normal swim week (18-20k)

I've kept my run training rolling all winter long and I'm biking in a way that won't make me hate everything on two wheels, but the swimming is taking me longer to adjust to. I'm aiming my sights on 18k this week. I'll let you know how that goes.

Early Season Training

I was recently tested in our Endurance Corner Lab, to get some baseline values for my early season training. Coming out of the off season, athletes are always in a hurry to get right back to where they left off the previous year. The same power numbers, swim volume, and run speed. I'm well aware that if I attempt to hit those targets in January, I'll be flat on my back by February.

With my bike test in hand, I now have my appropriate zones and power ranges to safely train from as I work towards the goal of being strong in the end.

The data from my test allows me to train at my current fitness level, not a fitness level from the end of last year or the level I wish I were at.

As from my test, I'm in pretty good shape, but do have a weakness on the bike. The way our progressive bike fuel test is designed, an athlete must either be out of shape or very strong to hit their Functional Threshold Power (FTP) on the bike. (I will write more about our testing in a future article.)

I was unable to reach my FTP and need to get stronger on the bike. I'm efficient on a substrate level, but need to work on my strength. Since it is winter here in Boulder. I'm doing a few key bike sessions that Gordo has designed for me to work on this limiter. Many may think that Gordo would have me doing 3,4,5 hour trainer sessions on a regular basis, but this is not the case. I'm keeping the indoor sessions enjoyable and at a length where I don't look at the trainer as my enemy. There is no point putting myself through that this early in the season.

With these sessions, I'm not getting on the trainer and hitting the gas. Most people think that in the winter, since they are on the trainer, and hate it, that drilling it for 30-45 minutes is the way to go. Reverse periodization may work for some, but could be risky for the majority. I've said this before, but most endurance athlete needs to focus on strength, durability and steady state endurance. You can work on strength without having your HR in the 170's.

During your early season training, it can only take one session of getting a bit carried away to put you over the edge, leaving you beat up for the rest of the week. I was reminded of this last Saturday when a "normally" routine run left me pretty beat up. This run consisted of a lot of up hill and down hill running, which is normal for my training, but I went too hard based on where my body is currently at.
Luckily, this was towards the end of my week (Saturday) and I could take Sunday easy to recover.

I'm positive that this run was beneficial for me and the next time I use this session it won't leave me feeling the same. However, this got me thinking about all the time limited athletes that are either drilling it, thinking that every session must count or an athlete in a hurry to get back to last year's fitness.

I think either scenario can be risky and gradually put an athlete in a hole before the season even starts.

I'll leave you with a conversation I had with a friend last week. My friend had called to tell me how out of shape they were. He said he went out for a few rides and felt weak and out of shape. My friend sounded very discouraged.

I asked him what he expected to feel like once he resumed training. You don't hop on your bike after a long off season and start ripping the teeth off your chain ring. You should expect to be out of shape for a while. The early season is one of the best parts of training. You can go from feeling worthless to feeling great in a few months. I really enjoy this transition and am not in a hurry to rush through it.

I feel that rushing through this phase will show itself again in August.

It's a long season,
Mat

Holidays

2008-01-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

It's been way too long since I've last wrote. I'm going to try and do a better job at writing once per week. This is one of my goals for 2008.

Christmas

The above picture is of my brother Kyle and I sitting on my parents couch Christmas day. For any you ladies reading out there--he is single.

The past few weeks have been very busy, just as everyone elses I'm sure. I flew home to Indiana the week before Christmas to spend some time with my family. It was nice to be home and I enjoyed running at sea level vs. the altitude here in Boulder. I visited some friends that I hadn't seen in a while, but other than that, everything was pretty standard.

The Move

Probably the most exciting thing for me was that this was the last time I had to say good bye to my girlfriend Kelly. I didn't dump here or anything, but she decided to move out to Boulder with me. We had been doing the long distance thing for over 7 months.

A few days before New Year's, we loaded up "The Big Rig" with all of Kelly's knick knacks. I have always thought people were crazy for trying to move in the middle of the winter, but here we were doing the same.

Above is a picture of the one hour that I let Kelly drive. I've always been the type that is horrible in the car for long periods of time. Put me behind the wheel and I fall asleep immediately. I remember being good for about two hours on my many trips south for Spring Break.

This was a big breakthrough for me--17 hours.

New Years

Two days after our arrival in Boulder, we threw a New Year's bash at our place. Here is a picture of me and my roommates. We had planned on this being a formal mustache party for the host, but after we all saw how good of a mustache JD had, we all shaved. My 13 year old trash stache looked horrible compared to his Prefontaine look.

The party was a good time, but the cleaning the next morning, I could have done without.

I've made it through the chaos that surrounds this time of year. It is now time to get a bit more consistent with things (work, training, diet, living).

Here's to a productive 2008

Mat

Redemption

2007-12-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

I've signed up for the Ironman Arizona that is to be held on November 23, 2008. I attempted IMAZ back in 2006 and the outcome wasn't as I had expected. The picture above is me walking about half way into the marathon.

IMAZ was my 2nd triathlon and I went into it as an uber biker, in my mind at least. I drilled the swim and as much of the bike as I could until my stomach shut down. I ended the bike in my little ring on a pretty flat course with my stomach feeling like it was about to burst. Once I got into the transition area, my stomach had calmed down and surprisingly I could run, so I hit that pretty hard as well.

I had been struggling with some foot pain leading into the race and it was hurting something fierce. My ultimate decision came down to the foot pain, but it would have been brutal either way. It hurt worse to walk than it did to run, but I had swam and bike so hard that running wasn't much of an option.

I'm looking forward to giving AZ another crack. I don't have everything figured out but the amount that I've learned in the past year is priceless.

####

Below is my 2008 schedule...

Vision Quest, Solvang Camp
Endurance Corner, Tucson Camp (March)
Endurance Corner, Tucson Camp (April)
Wildflower
Triple T
Boulder Peak
5430 Half IM (relay)
Ironman Louisville
Ironman Arizona

With my last race being on November 23, this makes for a long season. In my opinion, this is exactly what I need. There could be some sketchy weather leading into the race, but once that race is over, I can enter the holiday season not trying to hold my training together. Instead of dealing with the stress of trying to get started in the midst of winter, I can sit back, recover, and watch the snow fall.

Currently, I'm watching the snow fall in Boulder and the training is rolling along.

Mat