Know what kind of tired you are.

I feel tired.

Not fatigued- yes……. a definite difference.

This warm “buzz” I feel in my fingers and the heaviness of my lids is not due to stupid training.  It’s the volume of last week----and it’s good.  Putting close to 28 hours on the body in Vegas and Death Valley I knew I’d have to fight the urge when I returned home to “keep going”.  I've learned the hard way with over training that I could blow last weeks progress with too much, or  little this week.  So, I’m alert to the cues I’m getting-just letting it absorb. Patience is tough for us when we desire results

Fast results.

Now results.

Yesterday results.

I encourage those I talk with about training-watch sugar cravings, sleep patterns, mood swings, and clumsiness with big volume weeks.  More on this later.

Few other thoughts before I get to my TBC camp conclusion. I have a lot of things brewing.

1.     Researching  a camp for next year (It’s going to happen) and, the best place to have it.  I’m talking to people right now about guest speaking and have people who expressed an interest.  Such a blessing.  It will be exciting and I promise those who attend will be fulfilled.

2.      Coaching….Yes, I am also researching this.  I’ve been asked by a few people over the past months if I would consider coaching them.  I’m doing homework and think this will happen soon.  My plan is to take FIVE athletes at a very, very reasonable rate.  I know when people research finding a coach one aspect is the amount of time you can spend with a coach-with only five athletes I plan to focus on each athlete a lot.  I won’t take anyone until I am set up and know I can serve the athlete 100%.  If you are interested let me know and I’ll start a list and contact you.

I have some new sponsor news I’m still waiting to share- just need to wait until the final details are done and 'ill let you all know-It’s awesome.

Living Water International and I have been working out the details for this season-so happy to be running for them this year. Joshua has been awesome to work with and I think if you check out what they are doing around the world you’ll see why I’m honored to be a part of it.

Also so stoked to be teaming up with Chris Lieto and MoreThan Sport.  Not only is Chris one of the best Athletes in the world-what he is doing with his organization is amazing.  I'm excited to be supported by and support MTS.

Please check out Living Water International and More Than Sport for more details

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OK…Camp…where was I?

Oh yeah…Dante’s View….A -300 to 5500+ 26 mile climb. It was awesome.

My focus and approach to finishing this first full day of camp was to make sure my Watts & HR were cool—which they were. Hydrate, which I did, and-listen to my body.  Doing the bulk majority of my training up till this week has been inside on a trainer.  I loved the idea of getting the feel of the road under me again-making sure I’m not a total idiot with my bike handling skills & also feel how the rest of me was feeling.  Spending time on the trainer leads to keying in on how your legs and butt feel-On the road it’s more than that. I learned this training for the Epic 5 last year-long hours in the “lab”-were different than the road. Altogether-Good.

 

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday all consisted of the same format in Death Valley. Swim in the morning-Drills, form, technique.

Eat.

Ride—long.

Eat.

Run.

Eat.

I found my body responded well to the riding.  On Thursday we climbed “Artist Loop” another leg melter of a ride-but, my climbing was solid-Power was stable and I felt good. I got crap from a few guys because I was the only one with long sleeves and leg warms on in the mornings-but, I prefer starting rides warm-even on warm days.  It forces me to “be slow from the go til you know you can roll”-just be wise. Some Olympic runners do this intentionally to ensure they don’t go to fast.  If they begin to sweat-they SLOW down.  I think one of the major reasons why I had such encouraging results from this camp is for months leading up to the start I did 80-90%+ S-L-O-W.  Developing a solid level of aerobic fitness. 

“Fast follows fit”-Gordo

Mark Allen has talked about pacing your season like your race.  It makes sense. Again-I can focus on these thoughts later, but-- if you are ever unsure of a workout’s type or approach-choose base, not build.  (This would bring to light another issue - if you are going into a workout without a plan--not a good idea)

Vuelta has taken such good care of me and I'm very impressed with the wheels. SO- so proud to be with them.  Solid, dependable, and fast.

Technique-another focus - I have flaws in my swim that appear as I fatigue. Again-slowing down helps. The pool is a trap for crap technique and bad habits that swallow athletes.  I spent the 4^th year “unlearning bad habits”-and I still fight them. Trevor-an  Xterra Pro triathlete that was at the camp discussed my left hand placement in the water and what I need to do to fix it. Answer-Drills. 

Swim workouts should consist of drills throughout the season-like changing oil, keep tune up’s in the schedule.

The running throughout the camp was extremely encouraging.  My runs in Z1/2 were faster this year than last year at this time. The last day we ran in Vegas on the 70.3 IMWC course and I decided at mile 3 I would do some pickups throughout and see how I felt and how my legs were feeling after a solid week of climbing. For me - not bad 1:34+, and I felt good.  I’ve fully adapted to my Newtons and was excited to talk with them about how happy I was finishing the camp with my new favorite pair of shoes. They have been awesome to me.

This is a very quick summary—If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.  I'll get better at this blogging thing-promise!!!!  

Next post I’ll include some helpful tips on swimming sets and what I’m eating. Also-more news on coaching and camp.