Fun Swims

In an attempt to start blogging again i have shared 5 of my favorite swim workouts that i have pulled out of my log for the past month or so. It was tough narrowing it down but i picked some good ones to help you work on getting out fast at the start and then settling into race pace when you feel like your world is coming crashing down. These swims are always best done with a swim training partner to really help you get the best out of yourself. For some race season has already started and for others it is starting soon so now is the time to get “race ready”. 

Hope you enjoy!

1.

400 choice wu

4x50 buiild on 50s

3x ( 50 start speed heads up into 50kick max/ into 300 as 75 threshold/ 25 max) ri 3 min active recovery

100 bk

2x( 6x 75 on 55send off. hold best pace)

ri- 100 bk

200 cd

2.

500 choice

3x( 50k/ 50 bk/ 50 free) ri 10s

3x( 100k hard into 4x 100 threshold on 1:20)

10x 50 w paddles on 45s

200 cd

3.

500 choice

4x 100 smp ri 15s ( stroke max paddles or fist drill) 

10x 50 w ankle band ri on 50s

4x 500 as 100 start speed/ 300 cruise/ 100 build ri 1 min ( do ez 50 bk)

10x50 w paddles ( string kick) on 45s

200 cd.

4.

600 choice wu

4x (3x 200 on 2:30 send off/ 50 bk/ 50 k)

300 cd

hold best avg on 200's

5. 

600 wu 150 swim/ 50k

3 rounds of:

(4x25 fly ( fins optional) 40s

300 pull 1:20 base

2x50 max on 55s

200 pull on 2:50

100 fast on 2:00

600 pull w band buoy and paddles)

200 cd

EnduroPacks Review

EnduroPacks Review- Brent Poulsen

Vitamins are like an insurance policy; we anticipate the utmost benefits/standards. As a professional athlete who eats healthy and trains hard, I am also aware that I need a multivitamin supplement to ensure I am energized, and feeling well throughout my daily workouts. When I first heard about Enduropacks I was in frantic search for a good multivitamin that would leave me feeling more energized and ward off winter sickness. I had tried numerous other brands that left me feeling tired and some that even upset my stomach. I also wanted a multivitamin with “normal” percentages of daily recommended intakes. As soon as I tried the Enduropack liquid multivitamin I knew it was for me. I only need 1 tablespoon in the morning before training and it tastes excellent.  The ease and absorption of a liquid maximizes all vitamins and minerals. It also contains a brown rice protein stabilizing agent for maximum bioavailability. I feel energized all day long, and have not missed any winter training due to sickness. And now as oppose to taking 4-8 pills in a day, I simply take 1 tablespoon of liquid (and an Iron pill) and my daily needs are met. 

The next item in the pack was a Concentrated Electrolyte Spray. It is simple to use, just add 5 sprays into my water bottle and I was set. During the early winter months when metabolic efficiency is important it is great to get your electrolytes separate from your training nutrition. I was able to get in all of the electrolytes I needed without adding the normal 200-400 calories of beverages I would normally use. This allowed me to keep my blood sugar stable and improve my metabolic efficiency during the base phase of my training. When the intensity picks up in my training I will add the sprays to my carbohydrate solution drink (PowerBar). 

The next item in the Endropack is an Essential Amino Recovery Patch.  Clinical studies show that essential amino acids help replenish muscles, increase lung function and boost immune system performance.  The best part of this was all I had to do was apply a patch on dry clean skin for 4-8hours after training. When I forget to apply one, I really notice, that’s how well they work.

Lastly is a glutamine tablet to take before going to sleep. High levels of training and racing will deplete the glutamine levels in your skeletal muscles increasing fatigue and the chance of injury. I found that this supplement really reduces my soreness the following day. This supplement works. Most major recovery drinks will provide glutamine in the drinks but I found an extra bonus of taking it at night before bed. 

So to test these supplements I started using the 1 month supply when first building up my training in the offseason. I started taking them right after being hospitalized for Salmonella blood poisoning in October, when I was weak and out of shape.  I started the pack, then ran a 10k Turkey Trot and 2 crit races in the same weekend. I was not speedy but I noticed that I recovered very quickly and was able to get right back into training.  I then started increasing my milage both in the pool and bike and remained energized and recovered throughout. I truly believe that the  quality of the composition and the timing/mode of ingestion of all the athlete specific nutrients in the Enduropack maximize the absorption and benefit to all athletes. Because of this I feel energized, recovered and ready to train everyday. 

Brent Poulsen 

Professional Triathlete 

Just my luck!

Since Galveston I have not been feeling 100%. At first jokingly I blamed it on the pizza I ate the night before the race, thinking I had some sort of food poisoning or something.  The morning of the race and for a few days post bike/run race I had the runs (or as I like to call it “The RRHEA”). It seemed to clear up, I kept training....Fast forward seven days.

This past Sunday, I woke up ran 10 miles went back to bed by 9am (not normal). The rest of the day I couldn’t seem to keep my body temp regulated. I was wearing a touque one minute in 100 degree heat, the next minute turning down the AC in the house to 64 degrees. I blamed it on my ice bath and smoothie and carried on.Monday at work I was texting Carley saying I don’t really feel well I and told her I was just going to sleep on the couch at work so she wouldn’t make me do chores when I got home (damn chores). By the time I got home my face was beat red, Carley immediately took my temp and it was 104.8. Wow, popped some Ibuprofen’s went to bed. Middle of the night put on a light grey jogging suit, woke up it was dark grey and could be wrung out with sweat in the morning. Trained Monday temp spikes twice, it was rough but carried on. Tuesday woke up rode two hours, ran at the track that afternoon and later temp spikes again to 104. Consult Dr. brother in law  who tells me to start alternating Ibuprofen and Tylenols every 2-3 hours like the summer/winter Olympics. Tuesday night sweat the bed so bad soak the down comforter, and it is currently still at the dry cleaners. Wednesday am swim, then temp spikes again Carley forces me to go to CareNow. At CareNow I have no temp, Dr. runs some blood, urine and swabs for strep which all comes back negative. She tells me if I didn’t sound so intelligent she would tell me I don’t know how to use a thermometer. Wednesday pm I was told rest as per coach and Dr rules.

Thursday am soak the bed, and am lethargic. Carley takes my temp its 103.7 and I can’t get out of bed. Carley gets me dressed cause I can’t and takes me directly to the ER. We are there for 7 hours, they run more tests take X-rays nothing, and again I have no fever during most of it. They do however take blood cultures, the results take at least 24 hours for preliminary reports and send me home. Thursday no training.

Friday morning temp is only 102.1, yes! So what do I do? I swim and run and head to work. By 9am ER calls me to tell me my blood cultures are positive and to report back to the ER immediately to be admitted to the hospital. I ask if I can come in about two hours so I can ride first, they advise me not to. I call Carley at work, she freaks out and I drive myself to the ER and meet her there.

I get to the ER, wait about 10 minutes until all the Docs get wind of my situation and i’m immediately admitted and seen by ER Dr, Infectious disease Dr, Hospitalist Dr, and another ER Dr. Three nurses also swarm me and start an IV and take about another pint of blood. I think they thought I may have had some sort of contagious deadly disease. They all asked me at least three times “have you been outside of the country in the last three months?”. They aren’t sure what’s poisoning my blood but they order a CT scan of my abdomen to make sure my organs aren’t infected as well. CT is clear....except for my colon which is really full actually.

The next three days I live in the hospital waiting for my blood cultures to grow the bacteria in order for the Doc to treat it correctly.   More blood tests reveal my liver enzymes are off and my WBC count is non existent.

Living in a hospital is rough, if Carley hadn’t have brought me every meal I would have starved to death. And sleeping, well I don’t think I slept more than 4 hours a night being checked for a fever every hour, and blood draws at 430am.
Sunday afternoon the infectious disease Dr informed me I have a strain of salmonella bacteria in my blood. Weird thing is that salmonella is usually just a GI tract disease that doesn’t normally infect your blood. The Dr’s are still trying to convince me that I travelled outside the country in the last three months, however I blame an unpasteurized yogurt I bought at Central Market three weeks ago that was in a really cool jar. I guess we will never know!

I don’t quite have a clean bill of health yet. I have to follow the infectious disease Dr on an outpatient basis for the next month and take some oral antibiotics for 12 days. Definitely not my way of spending a weekend!

BP

The Good, the Bad and the Nyquil!

The past two weekends I have raced Olympic Distance races. One was good and one was as Carley would say a race that you need to bike home along the freeway. I guess she’s right, if you were my wife watching it was embarrassing. 

The first race was a small pro race in Possum Kingdom, Texas called Trifecta. It was an incredible venue with a small prize purse but it showcased just how big the triathlon community was in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I couldn’t believe how much fun everyone was having and how big some of the area tri clubs around here are. 

Off the start I took an early lead and never looked back. Don’t let this little race confuse you with easy. The swim was nice and easy but the ride felt like it was up hill the entire way out. It didn’t help that i lost my aero bottle within the YMCA so I rode the course without much liquid. I had to really watch the effort to make sure I didn’t get too dehydrated. 

Getting off the bike it was a very first challenging 3miles of off road trails. It looked more like hiking trails and the volunteers were not ready for me. Apparently I went off course in the first mile but I did follow the directions of the volunteers, and even ran back to T2 to ask the volunteer which way to go next. Next year i will make sure to put out a much stronger effort as I know the fast guys from San Antonio will be hunting for me. 

After returning to DFW after Trifecta it took two nights of not sleeping and suddenly I was sick. Great, with Gavleston 5150 the following Sunday I knew I had to recover quickly. Carley ended up sick and I feel like we just spread it back and forth and i was actually taking cold medicine leading up till the race. Not ideal but when you haven’t raced in 2 years you take any race you can get. 

After driving through a near tsunami to get to Galveston on Friday it continued to rain all Saturday. I ended up doing some training on the course in pouring rain and probably not the brightest.

The race turned into a bike/run with a TT format. When your feeling sick and almost up to 80% the last thing you want to hear is that the swim is cancelled. The race plays out much differently when you take the swim out. I was very looking forward to trying to swim with a couple of fast swimmers that were there. The water was choppy but it was a  professional “Tri”athlon.  When it rains and is storming in the PGA tour they don’t say okay guys were going to the putting green to putt for the win. 

Regardless I was still fired up to race. I gave it a good strong effort and without my back cramping about 40mins into the ride i probably would have had a great split. I was still pretty angry about the swim being cancelled as i felt the swim conditions were no different then an ocean swim.  The last 15mins I lost some time and a guy that started a couple of spots back caught me. I had to stretch out the back a few times and get ready to roll for a run. I claim I was running but i was having a difficult time getting my race suit zipper down and i was cramping.  In all honesty i was finishing it up for some points for Hyvee next year. The worst part was you had to run by the water each loop and see that the swim could have easily happened. I think that for all professional races they need to delay every hour till the race can happen. Most of the time it seems like 2hours later it would be easily been able to happen. However i understand all of the crazy logistics that race directors need to go through to make the race happen. The quickest transition of the day was my bike out of T2 and on the way home with a Dairy Queen stop. Carley had already climbed through the bars of the gate in T1 and had my bike out when she saw me running more like jogging around Moody Gardens. 

I am feeling much better than i was over last week but i have decided to spend some time and get ready for Austin 70.3 later in August instead of trying to get another race in next weekend at the US OPEN.  I have included my power file here and i am hoping we can make some big aero changes before next year to make sure my power is moving me forward. 

Thanks for reading, 

BP

Galveston Power File 

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/OGHUPGL2QFWK3AHSPI5OLWJ7NU

Rev3 Wisconsin Dells

Well better late then never. Last weekend I raced a rainy cold Rev3 Triathlon in Wisconsin Dells. It was my first time racing at a Rev3 event and I can’t wait to race another event again. I can’t believe how organized and professional it was.  Race morning came and it was another cold day that lead to pouring rain. My swim was good exiting with a group that had Kaleb VanOrt, Drew Scott, Chris Foster and a few others. The first few miles of the bike i was riding very well and then I nearly crashed going out on the first turn. It was raining and it made me very nervous and once i almost hit the deck I ended up taking it too easy on most sections of the race. My wattage was a lot lower than I wanted and I often was soft pedaling down descends and slowing way down for cornering.   My run was good even with a few insole issues that had me stopping trying to get the bunched up insole to flatten out in my shoe. All in all the swim and run was probably a pretty good estimation of where I am at right now. I look forward to the next 4 weeks of training to get ready for a couple more Olympic races. 

Athlete Country Finish
Pro Men:
Dye, Cameron US 1:50:55
Collins, Ben UM 1:51:48
VanOrt, Kaleb US 1:52:34
Cowan, Brooks US 1:53:08
Limkemann, Eric US 1:53:23
Leto, Kyle US 1:53:28
Thompson, David US 1:53:35
Scott, Drew US 1:54:29
Leiferman, Chris US 1:55:34
Starykowicz, Andrew US 1:56:00
Poulsen, Brent  US 1:59:20

Giant Eagle 5150

Giant Eagle 5150

This past Sunday I raced Giant Eagle 5150 in Colombus, OH. I ended up 9th in the Pro race.  I knew I would be rusty but I didn’t know to what extent. My Homestays Kelly and Dave made my trip very enjoyable and it was very exciting as we all raced. My coach and I are very confident that in the next few races we will iron out all of the little things and be closer to the front soon. 

After analyzing the race and reviewing results i realize i made a few key mistakes that cost me a lot of time. No matter how pro you think you are there are many details that can’t be forgotten. 

Don’t settle in the Swim. I had a great start and was right with the leaders the first loop of 2. It was a typical beach start and I hate beach starts. Mostly because I suffer from "Short Man, Tripping Over Water" syndrome. Nothing too crazy but i did feel like a pregnant elephant mid-way through the swim. I am not sure if it was the lack of racing or the shivering in 50degree weather we had prior to the start. Being a non-wetsuit swim i was sort of excited but standing waiting for the start I could have used that rubber layer keeping me warm. WIthout turning this into a novel I settled behind a slower swimmer and we lost 20seconds from the lead pack. The second place finisher came blowing by us on the final stretches of the swim and I couldn't get around to exit with him and we came out just behind. Glad that was over. 

   

Eat more calories when racing in the cold. I ate no gels and had 6ounces of Power Bar Perform. I had my Power Bar gels with me I just didn’t take one on the bike and i missed my Gel in my T2 bag. I definitely used up that 90mins of glycogen fairly fast shivering. There was no excuses on this one. I just kept telling myself that it was all good and you can have that other gel you have in T2. Then i started entering bonk city population 1 and lost some power the last 5 miles.

Transition time matters. I lost close to 10seconds on the first transition and  30-40seconds on T2. Yes i couldn’t get out of my speed suit or find my T2bag. This obviously can’t happen in an Olympic distance race.

I need to practice my cornering and have confidence riding around traffic circles. I lost time riding slow through intersections and around circles. I know this and I will work on my technical skills a bit more. I also nearly stopped at two intersections because there were police on both corners and cones on both corners and I couldn't figure out where to turn. In the end the course kept going straight. I did drive the course but i started second guessing my course knowledge when looking at pylons and motor cycles. My watts per KG where closer to a half Ironman ride but with an elevation drop on the last miles and some fading energy it wasn't that far off. Maybe 10-15watts. 

The funny thing about racing is it is in fact “racing”. There is no second chances and it doesn’t matter what you should of or could have done. It is just on to the next one. 

http://premierraces.com/content/files/Giant%20Eagle/Olympic%20Tri%20Overall.txt

It’s great to be back. I am still smiling even with the mediocre result and I cant’ wait for the next one. I have had a great year and a half with my new coach Tim Crowley and everything is in place. The great thing about the high paced Olympic distance racing is I am sure it will give me some great form for some 70.3 races later in the season. I figure if you can adapt and race with the fastest short course athletes then stepping back to the 70.3 distance should be much easier after 2 years off from racing. That is why I am headed to Wisconsin Dells this week for the REV 3 Olympic Triathlon. Lots of amazing talent will be racing and I am excited to throw myself in and get some quality race miles. Temperatures should be similar so I will plan on some cold racing and proper fueling as well as quick transitions. 

Thanks for reading,

Brent 
@brentapoulsen 

Road to Vegas Week 6

Welcome to Week 6, only a few weeks left! Sorry for the late post had some computer issues to get past this week. Hope you enjoy the video footage from my visit to Canada to visit family. It was so nice to get out of the heat for a few days!
See you next week,
BP