Central Vermont athletes rejoice!! We have a new gym in town. The Confluence is a Vermont nonprofit organization bringing affordable, high quality sports and physical fitness opportunities to people in Central Vermont. Think of a Confluence between not only all levels of athletes but all levels of people who simply want to get in shape. It's an alternative to a typical gym setting check it out.
Confluence Gym
Also check out QT2 systems-- QT2 Launches Mission Plans!!
QT2 Mission Plans
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Execution
"The difference between a mediocre performance and a remarkable one is usually the difference between what you know and what you do with what you know." (Mark Sanborn
I really could not be happier with how my season unfolded this year. It was a blessing in disguise to forego Ironman Cour D Alene this year. In doing so I lifted all of my fitness my markers and set PRs at many distances and even won a few races. I did this all the while healing/learning my nagging back issues that affect my long bike rides.
The quote above sums up why I was able to set PRs and win some races this year. As an athlete we spend a huge amount of time training and preparing physically for our races but that is really only half the battle. Once you’re fit you can still perform badly if you don’t execute well. What do I mean by execute? Well this is a backbone of the QT2 systems protocol and I believe it was missing in me before I came to QT2 and I see it missing in many athletes. Execution = informed and disciplined pacing, informed and intelligent fueling /hydration, intelligent nutrition decisions, and simply thinking clearly on race day while not letting emotions control you.
For me it took a while---this year the turning point for me was the Hyannis half marathon in February. I had all the numbers and information to make an informed pacing decision but I still let my emotions get the better of me because many of my friends/competitors were there and I wanted to stay with them. I knew what I was supposed to do but I didn’t do it. I proceeded to run 5:40 pace for the first few miles only to completely explode and run under potential (1:21 finish time). It was after that race that I made a conscious decision to never botch my pacing again (to the best of my ability). Thanks also goes out to Tim Snow for the “come to Jesus” meeting. At every race after that I executed as best I could and subsequently exceeded my goals.
I have wanted to break 1:20 in the half marathon for years and I didn’t do it until I learned how to execute properly. Recently I went 1:18 on a certified course-- big PR!!!!
I never had been first out of the water at a triathlon period. This year I won an open water swim race and also was first out of the water at a Shelburne sprint tri. This was from pacing properly. I used to waste a great deal of energy in the first 200 yards.
Coming back to the quote—my point of this post is that it is not always about fitness but what you do with it (execution). I’ve seen less fit athletes outperform fitter athletes because they executed better.
Now hopefully you’ll be asking yourself how can I “out execute” my competitors?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Updates
Season update
Doing only local races this year has been really fun and a great way to save some money. Next season I'll be back in the MDOT scene racing Ironman Cour D Alene in Idaho (June 2010). We close on our house in a week (as long as the seller doesn't terminate the contract---again).
I raced the "Race to to the top of Vermont" 2 weeks ago. This was a mountain run up Mt Mansfield- Vermont's highest mountain. They also had a mtn bike option. It went straight up the toll road (dirt) and finished at the top. 4.3 miles and around 2500 ft (maybe 2200 I can't remember)of vertical ascent. There was a very deep field there with Eric Morse one of the best mountain runners in the country along with some other very studly runners like Eli Enman and Scott Loomis. I tried to stay super calm at the start and just conserve as much energy as possible.I alsmost half asleep at the start--very mellow. Gun goes off---I just eased into it. The first half mile was the steepest on the whole course so I knew if you blew up there--you are going get dropped big time. I just tried conserve but stay near the front. Next thing I knew I was running in 3rd/4th and feeling great!!! Somehow I was ahead of Eli Enman (arguably one of the best runners in Vermont). We pulled back Scott Loomis (another very studly athlete and I believe Olympian nordic skier) and by that point we had about a mile to go. We were passing lots of mtn bikers who had started about 10 min earlier--that was pretty fun. I hung on for 4th only 8 seconds out of 3rd place overall. My time was within 15 seconds of last years winning time by Dave Dunham --very elite mtn runner. Anyhow this was probably one of the best run races of my career. I performed at a much higher level than I do on flat road races. I definitely am going to try and get some more mountain run races next year!
By the way the fastest time up the mountain was from a runner this year not mountain biker!! Jim Johnson from NH crushed the course record and beat the first biker by roundabout a minute or so.
Doing only local races this year has been really fun and a great way to save some money. Next season I'll be back in the MDOT scene racing Ironman Cour D Alene in Idaho (June 2010). We close on our house in a week (as long as the seller doesn't terminate the contract---again).
I raced the "Race to to the top of Vermont" 2 weeks ago. This was a mountain run up Mt Mansfield- Vermont's highest mountain. They also had a mtn bike option. It went straight up the toll road (dirt) and finished at the top. 4.3 miles and around 2500 ft (maybe 2200 I can't remember)of vertical ascent. There was a very deep field there with Eric Morse one of the best mountain runners in the country along with some other very studly runners like Eli Enman and Scott Loomis. I tried to stay super calm at the start and just conserve as much energy as possible.I alsmost half asleep at the start--very mellow. Gun goes off---I just eased into it. The first half mile was the steepest on the whole course so I knew if you blew up there--you are going get dropped big time. I just tried conserve but stay near the front. Next thing I knew I was running in 3rd/4th and feeling great!!! Somehow I was ahead of Eli Enman (arguably one of the best runners in Vermont). We pulled back Scott Loomis (another very studly athlete and I believe Olympian nordic skier) and by that point we had about a mile to go. We were passing lots of mtn bikers who had started about 10 min earlier--that was pretty fun. I hung on for 4th only 8 seconds out of 3rd place overall. My time was within 15 seconds of last years winning time by Dave Dunham --very elite mtn runner. Anyhow this was probably one of the best run races of my career. I performed at a much higher level than I do on flat road races. I definitely am going to try and get some more mountain run races next year!
By the way the fastest time up the mountain was from a runner this year not mountain biker!! Jim Johnson from NH crushed the course record and beat the first biker by roundabout a minute or so.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Stream of Endurance Consciousness
One of the reasons I haven’t been posting a lot here (other than not having enough time) is that I don’t think people want to read just another race report and quite honestly this sport is selfish enough so the last thing I need to do is talk more about myself. So basically the reason I haven’t been posting boils down to a lack of creativity on my part. I can’t seem to put together a post that I think people will enjoy. At any rate here’s my attempt at something different.
First off you’ve got to check out my buddy I ran x-c with in college. It’s Tellman Knudson and he is a total bad ass. He’s running across the country…barefoot!!! He’s raising money for homeless youth. Runtellmanrun
Anyhow I’ve been doing a lot of local races and fitness has been progressing quite well. The key principals we use at QT2 systems continue to pay off with PRs and either overall wins or high overall finishes. I’ve been writing “Whitfield” on my hand for all races lately. Check this video out and you’ll know why. If you saw triathlon at the Beijing Olympics you saw how Whitfield was running in a select lead group on the run. He proceeded to get dropped and then mentally pulled himself back up to the group. This happened several times. The last time he made it back into the group he then stuck it to them with an amazing sprint and got the silver medal. Well if you saw that race and liked it—you’ve really got to see this one. The same things happened at the Des Moines ITU world cup with $200k on the line. The lead group on the run had almost the same players but with an even better outcome than Beijing. The mental toughness it took for Simon to pull it together like that amidst extreme suffering is truly inspirational to me.
Whitfield-Des Moines ITU
Here’s the video –it’s pretty short. You have to click Hy Vee and then click the video at the top. It doesn’t show how Simon got dropped and pulled himself back in but the long sprint finish at the end is amazing.
Simon is also Canadian and I happen to be married to a Canadian (and a very proud one at that—read-she has the Canadian flag tattooed on her quad). Simon is a true hero of our sport and an inspiration to everyone. You know what he said when he won $200k at that Des Moines race? Now I can buy my daughter that fancy doll house she wants!! He’s the man!!
That’s all I have for you today—Take care, train smart, recover well and repeat
First off you’ve got to check out my buddy I ran x-c with in college. It’s Tellman Knudson and he is a total bad ass. He’s running across the country…barefoot!!! He’s raising money for homeless youth. Runtellmanrun
Anyhow I’ve been doing a lot of local races and fitness has been progressing quite well. The key principals we use at QT2 systems continue to pay off with PRs and either overall wins or high overall finishes. I’ve been writing “Whitfield” on my hand for all races lately. Check this video out and you’ll know why. If you saw triathlon at the Beijing Olympics you saw how Whitfield was running in a select lead group on the run. He proceeded to get dropped and then mentally pulled himself back up to the group. This happened several times. The last time he made it back into the group he then stuck it to them with an amazing sprint and got the silver medal. Well if you saw that race and liked it—you’ve really got to see this one. The same things happened at the Des Moines ITU world cup with $200k on the line. The lead group on the run had almost the same players but with an even better outcome than Beijing. The mental toughness it took for Simon to pull it together like that amidst extreme suffering is truly inspirational to me.
Whitfield-Des Moines ITU
Here’s the video –it’s pretty short. You have to click Hy Vee and then click the video at the top. It doesn’t show how Simon got dropped and pulled himself back in but the long sprint finish at the end is amazing.
Simon is also Canadian and I happen to be married to a Canadian (and a very proud one at that—read-she has the Canadian flag tattooed on her quad). Simon is a true hero of our sport and an inspiration to everyone. You know what he said when he won $200k at that Des Moines race? Now I can buy my daughter that fancy doll house she wants!! He’s the man!!
That’s all I have for you today—Take care, train smart, recover well and repeat
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
July 12th VT Sun Triathlon "Smackdown"
Last year it was laser focus on trying to get to Hawaii while I fed my overuse injuries a steady diet of mega mileage. This year it's all about beer and local bragging rights (and getting rid of injuries so I can come back stronger next year). We have a "July 12th smackdown" email thread going around---slowtwitch style. Thank you Dev Paul (slowtwitch forum stud) for teaching me the art of triathlon smack talk before IM Montreal in 2007. Triathlon smack talk is all about complete respect for your competitor while at the same time letting them know they are going to have to turn themselves inside out to beat you... and if they beat you on the day--you're buying beers!!
So who's coming to the July 12th smackdown?
Justin Ryea
Gary Snow
Luke Moore
Chris Coffey
Dave Connery
Me
We're hoping Kevin Bouchard Hall can make it but I think he's already got other plans.
Maybe I'll do a tale of the tape UFC style as we get closer to race day.
So who's coming to the July 12th smackdown?
Justin Ryea
Gary Snow
Luke Moore
Chris Coffey
Dave Connery
Me
We're hoping Kevin Bouchard Hall can make it but I think he's already got other plans.
Maybe I'll do a tale of the tape UFC style as we get closer to race day.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Getting (the) back on track
6-4-09
Getting (the) back on Track
I’ve been way off the blogosphere over the last month +. Lots of things happening. First off I decided to pull the plug on Ironman racing for this season. I’ve have had a chronic back injury (since my mogul skiing days circa late 1990s) that has progressively got worse on the bike over the last 5-6 months especially. It really affects my ability to ride at race effort over about an hour. At that point I get excruciating lower back pain that I was trying to just “deal with”. It was kind of like hitting my head against a wall. Once the pain sets in I just can’t access my fitness which was frustrating to no end. I have to sit up stretch and sometimes stop if it’s really bad. It happened at Cali 70.3 this year and also at Jerseyman (dropped out because of it). Jerseyman was really the final test to determine whether I would psuh through for Ironman Cour d alene. So anyhow after Jersey my focus has changed completely. The focus now is going to be on short course and get healthy. The short hard rides don’t aggravate and running also feels great. Long periods of being hunched over is where I need to be careful.
I’m also going to stay local and try to save some $ (we just went to contract on a house!!!!!). My work with QT2 systems continues to grow and I am just so happy to be learning from the one of the best coaches in the sport (Jesse Kropelnicki). Also my mentor and pro triathlete Tim Snow with QT2 has taught me a great deal. So here’s my plan forward—
June 9th catamount 5k (tentative)
June 11th Elmore practice tri (tentative)
June 20 Shelburne Sprint tri
June 28th VT Sun Tri
July 4th Clarence demar 5k – GMAA or shelburne sprint (tentative)
July 12th Vt Sun sprinr or black fly tri
Aug 9th VT sun Oly
http://www.qt2systems.com/Coaches/coaches.htm
Getting (the) back on Track
I’ve been way off the blogosphere over the last month +. Lots of things happening. First off I decided to pull the plug on Ironman racing for this season. I’ve have had a chronic back injury (since my mogul skiing days circa late 1990s) that has progressively got worse on the bike over the last 5-6 months especially. It really affects my ability to ride at race effort over about an hour. At that point I get excruciating lower back pain that I was trying to just “deal with”. It was kind of like hitting my head against a wall. Once the pain sets in I just can’t access my fitness which was frustrating to no end. I have to sit up stretch and sometimes stop if it’s really bad. It happened at Cali 70.3 this year and also at Jerseyman (dropped out because of it). Jerseyman was really the final test to determine whether I would psuh through for Ironman Cour d alene. So anyhow after Jersey my focus has changed completely. The focus now is going to be on short course and get healthy. The short hard rides don’t aggravate and running also feels great. Long periods of being hunched over is where I need to be careful.
I’m also going to stay local and try to save some $ (we just went to contract on a house!!!!!). My work with QT2 systems continues to grow and I am just so happy to be learning from the one of the best coaches in the sport (Jesse Kropelnicki). Also my mentor and pro triathlete Tim Snow with QT2 has taught me a great deal. So here’s my plan forward—
June 9th catamount 5k (tentative)
June 11th Elmore practice tri (tentative)
June 20 Shelburne Sprint tri
June 28th VT Sun Tri
July 4th Clarence demar 5k – GMAA or shelburne sprint (tentative)
July 12th Vt Sun sprinr or black fly tri
Aug 9th VT sun Oly
http://www.qt2systems.com/Coaches/coaches.htm
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Motivation
A lot of people ask me how I stay motivated to train the way I do. I thought I’d share some thoughts on this. I think there are a few layers to this for me. There are a few things that are like the internal fire for the motivation and then there are layers that feed themselves.
For this first layer of what motivates it goes pretty deep into what my overall goals and dreams are. It comes down to some pretty core concepts for me which serve to feed the fire to keep me going day in and day out. Here they are:
1. I want to qualify for Ironman Hawaii.
2. I want to win races, whether it’s an age group win at a big M-dot race or overall wins at smaller New England races.
3. I want to be the fastest athlete I can be at the Ironman distance.
4. I want to execute races like a pro.
5. I want to be at a pro level for Ironman distance.
In order to get to Hawaii in my age group (30-34) I need to be at a very elite level. Most Kona bound guys in my age group are well under 10 hours for ironman. This basically means I need to train as close as I can to what is typical of a pro. With my work schedule my sustainable volume is only around 20 hours a week whereas many pros are hitting 35 + hours a week. My training plan is designed to get me as close to critical volumes as possible in a safe manner.
So back to motivation- how do I get myself to get out of bed for 5am workouts? Or figure out a way to get my workout in during times of really crazy logistics with work or family. The above principles are the internal part and then there are other layers—
I have found that simply turning off emotions (very hard for me) and thinking clearly with a focus on simply “getting the work done” is very helpful. If I want to meet my goals I need to get the work done plain and simple. I also have a very very supportive wife and family who understand and support “getting the work done.” Yes I am extremely lucky and not a day goes by that I do not give thanks for this.
So then there are other things that serve to feed the motivation and it falls into this concept of “training is testing, testing is training” that Dr. Andrew Coggan made famous.
Basically every workout I do I know where my fitness is. I always know whether I’m improving or not and this is hugely motivating for me. For example my zone 1 pace (aerobic threshold) was 7:45 in Dec and it’s now 7:06. Same exact HR but much faster paces with zero tempo or speed. I hit the 7:06 level the week that my base phase ended and am now in a build phase so I am doing some tempo and hill bounding. Just seeing the fruits of my hard work translate to faster paces or power is really motivating.
Overall training update-
Threshold swim pace is around 1:20 / 100yds
20 min power on the bike is 330 watts
FTP is 315 which puts me at 4.5 watts/kg
Run zone 1 pace top (aerobic threshold) is 7:06 (this is roughly 20 beats below Lactate threshold)
For this first layer of what motivates it goes pretty deep into what my overall goals and dreams are. It comes down to some pretty core concepts for me which serve to feed the fire to keep me going day in and day out. Here they are:
1. I want to qualify for Ironman Hawaii.
2. I want to win races, whether it’s an age group win at a big M-dot race or overall wins at smaller New England races.
3. I want to be the fastest athlete I can be at the Ironman distance.
4. I want to execute races like a pro.
5. I want to be at a pro level for Ironman distance.
In order to get to Hawaii in my age group (30-34) I need to be at a very elite level. Most Kona bound guys in my age group are well under 10 hours for ironman. This basically means I need to train as close as I can to what is typical of a pro. With my work schedule my sustainable volume is only around 20 hours a week whereas many pros are hitting 35 + hours a week. My training plan is designed to get me as close to critical volumes as possible in a safe manner.
So back to motivation- how do I get myself to get out of bed for 5am workouts? Or figure out a way to get my workout in during times of really crazy logistics with work or family. The above principles are the internal part and then there are other layers—
I have found that simply turning off emotions (very hard for me) and thinking clearly with a focus on simply “getting the work done” is very helpful. If I want to meet my goals I need to get the work done plain and simple. I also have a very very supportive wife and family who understand and support “getting the work done.” Yes I am extremely lucky and not a day goes by that I do not give thanks for this.
So then there are other things that serve to feed the motivation and it falls into this concept of “training is testing, testing is training” that Dr. Andrew Coggan made famous.
Basically every workout I do I know where my fitness is. I always know whether I’m improving or not and this is hugely motivating for me. For example my zone 1 pace (aerobic threshold) was 7:45 in Dec and it’s now 7:06. Same exact HR but much faster paces with zero tempo or speed. I hit the 7:06 level the week that my base phase ended and am now in a build phase so I am doing some tempo and hill bounding. Just seeing the fruits of my hard work translate to faster paces or power is really motivating.
Overall training update-
Threshold swim pace is around 1:20 / 100yds
20 min power on the bike is 330 watts
FTP is 315 which puts me at 4.5 watts/kg
Run zone 1 pace top (aerobic threshold) is 7:06 (this is roughly 20 beats below Lactate threshold)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Hyannis Half marathon 2-22-09
This was the first real race of my season. One of my goals this year is to come into every race injury free. Well I’m happy to report that the nagging issues that have bugged me over the last year were non-existent on race day!! This is in large part from the great work of Dr Travis Hart over at VT Chiropractic and Sports Therapy. Thanks Travis!!! Today I'm a little tender but things are looking good on the injury front (knock on wood).
I drove down with Lindsay and my training partner Justin Ryea. Man the weather down on the Cape was beautiful. Sat was dry, sunny and 40+ degrees. Race morning was around 40 degrees and dry. Perfect. I couldn’t believe how big this race was. Much bigger than I thought. There were 4000+ runners between a full marathon, half and 10k.
Overall I’m happy with my performance. The fitness is obviously there but I did make some significant pacing mistakes that slowed me down 1- 2 minutes overall. This is an area for me that I have really struggled with, for most of my endurance sports career. If I‘m going to be good at Ironman as an athlete and as a coach I need to tame this pacing beast. As Lindsay said, I have too much heart on race day and not enough brain. I get so competitive that I don’t use my head and stick to my plan.
My plan was to run 6-6:05 first and second miles and then just hold that as long as possible and lift it in the last 3 miles if I felt good. Well I ended up running the first mile in 5:47. Deep down I knew I was not doing the right thing but I didn’t listen to it—big mistake. This season—I’m going to focus 100% on race day execution (nutrition, pacing, sticking to the plan, trusting it). The pacing part is really the missing link for me as I’ve made a lot of gains with fueling. My QT2 team mates / fellow coaches totally killed it today. They were all perfect examples of how proper pacing equates to running very fast. Tim Snow ended up winning the whole thing in 1:15, Jesse was 4th in 1:16, Cait Snow won for the women in 1:19 and Pat Wheeler went 1:19 as well. My buddy Justin also had a great day coming in 7th with a 1:17.
I cracked the top 20 with a 1:21:04 (2044 athletes in the half).
Here are my mile splits-
Mile 1 – 5:47
Mile 2- 5:45
Mile 3- 6:00
Mile 4- 6:07
Mile 5- 6:07
Mile 6- 6:05
Mile 7- 6:10
Mile 8- 6:20
Mile 9- 6:20
Mile 10- 6:20
Mile 11- 6:22
Mile 12- 6:20
Mile 13- 6:20
Link to results-
Results
I drove down with Lindsay and my training partner Justin Ryea. Man the weather down on the Cape was beautiful. Sat was dry, sunny and 40+ degrees. Race morning was around 40 degrees and dry. Perfect. I couldn’t believe how big this race was. Much bigger than I thought. There were 4000+ runners between a full marathon, half and 10k.
Overall I’m happy with my performance. The fitness is obviously there but I did make some significant pacing mistakes that slowed me down 1- 2 minutes overall. This is an area for me that I have really struggled with, for most of my endurance sports career. If I‘m going to be good at Ironman as an athlete and as a coach I need to tame this pacing beast. As Lindsay said, I have too much heart on race day and not enough brain. I get so competitive that I don’t use my head and stick to my plan.
My plan was to run 6-6:05 first and second miles and then just hold that as long as possible and lift it in the last 3 miles if I felt good. Well I ended up running the first mile in 5:47. Deep down I knew I was not doing the right thing but I didn’t listen to it—big mistake. This season—I’m going to focus 100% on race day execution (nutrition, pacing, sticking to the plan, trusting it). The pacing part is really the missing link for me as I’ve made a lot of gains with fueling. My QT2 team mates / fellow coaches totally killed it today. They were all perfect examples of how proper pacing equates to running very fast. Tim Snow ended up winning the whole thing in 1:15, Jesse was 4th in 1:16, Cait Snow won for the women in 1:19 and Pat Wheeler went 1:19 as well. My buddy Justin also had a great day coming in 7th with a 1:17.
I cracked the top 20 with a 1:21:04 (2044 athletes in the half).
Here are my mile splits-
Mile 1 – 5:47
Mile 2- 5:45
Mile 3- 6:00
Mile 4- 6:07
Mile 5- 6:07
Mile 6- 6:05
Mile 7- 6:10
Mile 8- 6:20
Mile 9- 6:20
Mile 10- 6:20
Mile 11- 6:22
Mile 12- 6:20
Mile 13- 6:20
Link to results-
Results
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
2009 races (Updated)
2009 races
Team Psycho indoor TT, Boston 2/1/09
Hyannis Half Marathon, Mass 2-22-09
Ironman California 70.3 (near San Diego) 4-4-09
The Jerseyman half iron (New Jersey Multisport) 5-9-09
King Pine Tri (sprint) NH 5-31-09
Ironman Cour D’ Alene, Idaho 6-21-09 (Ironman Hawaii qualifier)
Marlborough triathlon (sprint) or Massachusetts state triathlon (sprint or Olympic) 7-26-09
VT Sun Olympic distance August 9th
Pumpkinman half iron 9-13-09
Team Psycho indoor TT, Boston 2/1/09
Hyannis Half Marathon, Mass 2-22-09
Ironman California 70.3 (near San Diego) 4-4-09
The Jerseyman half iron (New Jersey Multisport) 5-9-09
King Pine Tri (sprint) NH 5-31-09
Ironman Cour D’ Alene, Idaho 6-21-09 (Ironman Hawaii qualifier)
Marlborough triathlon (sprint) or Massachusetts state triathlon (sprint or Olympic) 7-26-09
VT Sun Olympic distance August 9th
Pumpkinman half iron 9-13-09
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Skiing Trapps
My friend and pro triathlete John Hirsch was up this weekend from NYC. I took him for his first nordic skate skiing endeavor at Trapps. Check out his recollection of the experience. Great read!!!
http://www.johnhirsch.org/?p=1354
http://www.johnhirsch.org/?p=1354
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