My New Playground

It isn't too often that I brag about places to train. Living in Atlanta for over five years, I really grew fond of 3 different places--Stone Mountain (for a while), the Silver Comet Trail and Columns. IMO, Columns is a special place that will be hard to replicate in any new city. The Comet was unique only in the amount of mileage you could travel. And Stone Mountain had good diversity but it grew old quick.

You know a place is special when the parking lot is full at 6 am in late October. In my short time living in Nashville, I have fallen in love with Percy Warner Park. This is truly a gem to the city and a place that I would HIGHLY recommend to any athlete. It has something for everyone.

The park encompasses over 2,600 acres. On my first visit, Jessica and I simply drove through the park and were in awe of its size and beauty. That was just the tip of the iceberg. On my second visit, I was introduced to the trails that are intertwined throughout the mountainous terrain. 3 trail systems cover distances for all abilities with a 2.5, 5 and 8 mile loop that are all connected. This in addition to 10 miles of horse trails that are available for running too.

The cycling is even more breathtaking, but is not for the faint at heart. The whole park encompasses 11.2 miles of road that is open for cycling. I rode the loop last week and found it plenty challenging. The climbs varied from a gentle roll to a steep pitch. The descents were very technical. What I like best about it was that it isn't an up-down course. You might come down quick and go into another climb so you had to remain sharp.

Finally, there are the stairs. The entrance to the park demonstrates is grandeur and beauty. Awaiting you is a quarter mile uphill climb that involves nearly 150 stairs. The view from the top is breaktaking, that is if you can breathe. The climb is about 350 feet over the final half of the climb. And I can contest that the pitch toward the end is steep enough that running is barely possible. Move over stadium running.

So my workout this morning consisted of a 2 mile warmup run on the road entering the park which is flat, then I stormed the steps and returned. I took a 2 minute break, did the steps again and 2 more miles at a faster pace. My goal is to build this to about 4-5 repeats max.

Take a look at the climb:

Stress and Adaptation

The human body is an amazing thing. I really regret that people aren't in awe of the body the way they should be. I don't think the world's greatest engineers or scientists could ever design something as complex yet simple as the human body.

One of its most amazing features is its ability to adapt. I have blogged before about how you can basically stress the body in a number of ways and it will nearly always respond and adapt. It is really easy to demonstrate this in athletic achievements. Whether it is imprinting certain movements to muscle memory, like a golf swing, or increasing you speed or mileage running, the body absorbs the stress and given practice and the right amount of recovery it bounces right back. What once seemed like a struggle becomes a practical part of your training.

Over the past two weeks, I have experienced this in two ways--sleeping patterns and the ability to get moving in the morning. First, the triathlon coaching business has a standard 5 am alarm clock. Moving from the eastern to central time zone has made this adjustment much easier. While I will admit that the first few days were a struggle, the body as responded quite well. In fact, it has adapted too well. My body knows exactly when it is 4:50-4:55.

The sleeping pattern doesn't surprise me as much as my ability to get out the door in 15 minutes. In the past, I covet time in the morning. I enjoy the slow pace of the early hours. And in many instances (prior to masters) often find myself wallowing in misery about getting out the door. But that seems to be changing.

Most of it is mental because I KNOW I must get moving. There are people that depend on me. But now I hop out of bed, pop in my contacts, get changed and move straight out the door. It really is the simple. The body is adapting to my new set of demands. It doesn't stand in my way.

The flip side of all this is that the body has yet to adapt on the back end of things. I often spend the middle part of the day feeling like a zombie. I am working on figuring out the right amount of small napping that I need to catch my second wind for the evening sessions. And I don't even want to admit what time I go to bed at night. Let's just say that I get a standard 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

And Away We Go....

Life it is a changin...

Things are moving quickly in life right now. I am unofficially a resident of Tennessee. I say unofficially because I haven't moved over all the legal paperwork or finished moving to Nashville. However, it appears that I am hear as full-time as one is going to be. About 10 days ago, I packed as much stuff into my car as humanly possible and made the trek. The rest of the stuff will make it on a return trip.

I am extremely fortunate that my full-time job provides me with some solid flexibility in that I can work from Nashville. The majority of my job is response and research so it is a bit difficult to go make a bunch of new work for myself. Most often I wait for it to come to me. So we have agreed to develop a bit of a transition out that will last until the end of the year.

At the same time, our coaching business is ramping up. Jessica and I have been given a tremendous opportunity to take over a competing business. The coach was looking to leave town and needed to hand off his clientele to a willing and knowledgeable group. Looks like we were in the right place at the right time. So as I am transitioning out of one job, I am taking on another.

I will admit that it is a bit scary--quitting my full-time salaried job in place of a customer driven, semi-seasonal, entrepreneurial opportunity in amidst of an economic downturn. And we will know in a few months if it was the right decision. I am very optimistic that this endeavor will turnout to be a fruitful decision.

For now, it is working long hours. I am up coaching 3-4 days a week from 5:30-7:30 am, then I find myself a nook or travel back home to log hours finishing up a few research projects and then I am back at it from 5:30-8:00 pm. Not quite the glamorous life but it is entertaining. There remain a few last obstacles from making this a seamless transition but for the most part things are running really smooth.

Plus, I hope that all this light, easy volume work will payoff next season.

Busy, Busy, Busy Day

As an athlete, I have been known to workout a bit obsessively from time to time. I remember when I first started training. I felt like everyday I was in an out of the gym working on my fitness. If I only knew then what I know now. Yesterday was one of those days where I maximized (or overdid) my fitness.

It started with a light run in the park. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for the day but it was too nice to spend indoors, especially since I was a lazy bum all weekend. I did a 10 minute warmup followed by 10-15 minutes of running drills and a brief jog back.

In the early afternoon, I went for a bike ride. I intended to ride for 90-120 minutes but my cycling legs are somewhere in transit. I cut it short right at 60 minutes.

Then I went to coach the group at Music City Runners. I didn't plan on running but the final few people wanted some additional company. The slow pace was much appreciated. I didn't need the additional stress on the body.

Finally, I wrapped up the night co-coaching a strength class. I spent the first 30 minutes just doing some of the exercises but not vigorously. But I did hit the core and stretching routine.

So the day culminated with four different workouts. Guess it is time to come up with a better offseason plan.

When September Ends

This song was made popular a number of years ago by the band Green Day. And for the most part, I found myself singing the chorus all month long.

The month of September was absolutely brutal on me and the body. In those 30 days I did all of the following:

--Traveled to SC to see a good friend and a football game
--Was a groomsman in a wedding
--Traveled to Orlando and visited the Magic Kingdom
--Traveled to Tuscaloosa to race
--Raced an Oly and Sprint
--Traveled to Macon for 2 day meetings
--Traveled to Nashville twice for business

I dare you to find a consistent pattern in which you can train or even eat for some regularity. My diet plummeted. I somehow found the time and energy (when I wasn't driving) to train.

September's totals:
Bike: 13h 39m 12s - 272.1 Mi
Run: 8h 53m 17s - 67.15 Mi
Swim: 7h 24m 21s - 19965.31 Yd

For entertainment value, I sat down last week and developed a color-coded calendar of what my month looked like.



So when September ends was the mantra. Now I hope to resume my regularly scheduled life. Well...sorta. There is moving to another state, quitting my day job and taking over another business. Details, details, details.

(rolls eyes)

Not all Transitions are Created Equally

Saturday morning at Age Group Nationals, I overheard a conversation between an athlete and a referee. The athlete was complaining about the flow of transition. He was arguing that where he was racked (near me) provided a 10-15 second disadvantage over those racked closer to the transition entry/exit. I shrugged it off as nothing more than a disgruntled athlete who didn't like his position.

But after racing both days and having two distinctly different racking positions, I think he was onto something. I was thinking back on various transitions throughout my triathlon career. There seem to be two types.

The first is the long, narrow rectangle in which the entry points are on each end. In this case, the people on the outside are disadvantaged by maybe a few feet. And by that, I mean they have to turn and run to the outside rather than making a straight shot through transition.

The second, and slightly more common. It a more square-like transition. Often the entry and exit are on opposite corners (bottom left; top right). Race officials will direct traffic in such a way to minimize any advantage. That way everyone is forced to run both the length and width of the entire area.

Age Group Nationals was designed differently. This was primarily due to the fact that they also had an ITU race. You see in the ITU race, the transitions are just a straight shot because of the low number of participants and racing style. This meant that for the age group races, the transition ended up being a box with the entry and exit on the same side (bottom left, top left). Now you had a distinct advantage for some athletes over others. This is what the competitor was complaining about.

While I will admit that it isn't exactly apples to apples, let's compare my times from the two races. Same transition, just different racked positions:

T1
Day 1: 1:43
Day 2: 1:28

T2
Day 1: 1:12
Day 2: 0:50

Again, I am not going to say that it is the best comparison. I was probably a bit more focused, less winded on day two from the short distance. And that likely makes up for a few seconds. But, the difference between the days was 37 seconds. That is a HUGE time difference. And I DO attribute most of it to the transition layout.

In most of these situations, there isn't anything you can do about it. In this case, the athlete complained, and probably for all the right reasons. In a short race 37 seconds can often be the difference in a number of places--or slots. But don't remain silent on the issue. Talk to the race director afterwards and encourage them to rethink the layout to ensure competitive fairness.

AG Nats - Day 2

Despite racing the day before and dealing with a few stressful car issues, I was ready for the second day of racing. I gambled a bit on the race by racing the day before but I was fairly certain that given the small number of entries in the M30-34 age group that I could beat out a few people and secure a worlds slot. I basically just needed to finish the race.

I felt good when I got up that morning. On my drive to the race sight I worked hard on mentally dialing into the race. I was definitely in the zone. I made a few remarks to friends but I stuck to myself. I took the bike out for 15 minutes spin and the hamstrings were tired. I hoped it was just the body working out the kinks.

I racked my stuff and despite the rain, found myself ready to race. It has been a while since I have felt like that. This race was likely the last of the year and I was determined to go out on a high note. I walked through transition, not looking to make friends but to size up the competition and think to myself how I am going to destroy them all.

Swim: 750m

Different swim course than the day before. Only 4 waves of about 100 people. I didn't really find good feet to draft from. I did my best to remain aggressive. However, I had the same problem as the day before. Halfway through the swim, I felt beat. The swim was just taking it out of me in a way that I have never experienced. I popped out the water in the middle of the pack, checked my time and prepared for the long run up the hill

Swim Time: 14:09

T1 1:28

Same transition as the day before but a better racking position. Transition gave a HUGE advantage to some competitors over others. Need to write a blog about this.

Bike: 12.4 miles

Boy were the hammies tight. I pushed from the beginning and tried to hold on. The legs were pushing back. I was determined to not get worked over on the bike and was only passed a few times. I did my thing spinning up the hills and pushing it back down. I definitely was not as strong as the day before. With the wet roads, I decided to hold back a bit and not kill myself.

Time: 33:21 (22.4 mph)

Run: 3.1

I was ready to run when I got off the bike. Most of the time I dread it. Not today. And I was on a mission. Run my ass off. And for the first time in a while, I did. I was passed 3 times and probably caught 6-7 people. I was actually running. It started pouring around mile two and I barely noticed. I even had a guy on my tail and I out kicked him for the final 4-600m. I crossed the finish line trying to heave.

Time: 21:21 (6:52)

Total Time: 1:11:08

That was good enough for 7th in my age group. Secured my slot for worlds. And made me feel like I actually raced.

Now onto the off season