Calgary 70.3

Off to Calgary on Friday for the Vittera Calgary 70.3. It has been a great 3 weeks of training and i am looking forward to a few easier days this week. Crashes happen but i am recovered and excited for Sunday. Check out coverage at www.ironmanlive.com.  I am even more excited for some cooler temperatures.

Domestique Diaries- Recovery, Never Again!

During big training blocks I rarely see  Brent unless he is laying on the carpet asking for water, a recovery drink or I’m trying to force him into the shower.  Recently he has been inviting me to join him on some of his light recovery training. In my head I think wow he must think i’m getting fast so of course I decide to tag along during some of his “active recovery workouts” and here is what unfolded on two such occasions.

Recovery Ride: One day last weekend after one of Brent’s long runs he asked me to join him on his recovery ride. I thought to myself, well i’m getting good on the bike I can definitely handle a recovery ride. So after watching a stage of the Tour we suited up in matching K-Swiss cycling gear and off we went.  

To get to the trail from our house we have to go through  4 quick stop lights followed by a steep down hill to a sharp corner and across a bridge onto the trail. It sounds technical because it is. So we leave from the underground, Brent in the lead,  the first two lights he waves me through i’m 10 ft behind, and make it through the lights easily. Next light he waves me through however i’m already 20ft behind and there is a car coming, I try to blast through the intersection, the car has to slam on it’s brakes but I survive. I look up and Brent is doing the “don’t go hand symbol”. I yell up ahead “yah thanks for that”.

Next the descend past Radio Shack headquarters (where we always look for Lance twittering and cheer him on), Brent flies down while I ride my brakes, he heckles and tells me it takes me to longer to go down the hill than up it. He’s already across the bridge while i’m still trying to get down the hill. He slows up by about 1 Watt,  just enough time to look back and make sure i’m on the trail and off he’s gone.  

For the next 3 minutes i’m trying to hold his wheel and somehow manage to be within talking distance, which doesn’t last long. Next two corners i’m off the back too far to even yell at him. I see Brent look back twice and then he’s long gone.  Now i’m in time trial mode on the trail trying to catch him. It feels like i’m playing Mario Cart on N64 where you see your opponent on the top right hand corner of the screen. However, the gap keeps getting bigger and soon he’s out of sight. I ride for at least another 40 minutes by myself with no Brent in site getting more bitter and shattered as the minutes roll by.  

Finally my phone rings and I stop and check it, it’s Brent, I knew it. He says “You should just turn around now so we can ride together a bit on the way home”.  So I do as I'm told and turn around and start hammering the way home.  Well I get all the way back up the Radio Shack hill and through two lights before Brent appears. So much for that recovery ride.  Later that day Brent uploads his data and says I think I pushed negative Watts on our ride. If only had that PowerTap. And so much for a recovery ride, I’m spent the rest of the afternoon.

Recovery Run:Once again in our matching K-Swiss Keahou’s we set off for a recovery run. We take a different route to the trail, which is all downhill (which while running I can handle) and I manage to stick with Brent to the trail!

Now we’ve ran about 15 minutes together (i’m impressed) the conversation is going well for Brent but I can no longer speak cause i’m too winded. Brent keeps asking if it’s too fast I try to cover it up by saying no and nothing else. Another 10 minutes roll by and I’m starting to fall behind and about to pop just as we get to a looped trail.  Brilliantly I tell Brent to take the looped trail while I stay on the straightaway and we will meet up shortly. I slow down to catch my breath while still trying to keep a decent pace. Of course Brent beats me to the main trail though I was on it all the time. He looks back gives the wave and keeps going ahead of me. Silently, I turn around and head home. I”m home when he gets home and he says “you were shattered weren’t you?” So much for a recovery run!

You know you’re living with a triathlete when:

-There is no point of joining them on a recovery ride as it will leave you feeling like you are a character in Mario Cart while time trialing the whole time and shattered by the end of it.

-If they are going for a run, no matter what the pace, ride your bike beside them never go run for run.

Interview with Larry!

http://larryofteamrunningfree.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Larry Bradley for the interview last week. He is a great duathlete and a super nice guy from Ontario. Just starting a big 3 weeks of training as well as we will be doing alot of work on my position. As you can see from this photo above i have some issues with my aero position. I will do a separate post on this in a week or so but i have some free speed coming that i am excited about:)

Buffalosprings 70.3

Yesterday I raced Buffalosprings 70.3 in Lubbock, Texas. A world class field and hot conditions, therefore i knew it was not going to be an easy day.
Off the start I found myself getting beaten up before we got to the first buoy. I was easily swimming where I needed to be but I had one guy on my left and one on my right that thought it would be necessary to hit me in the face each stroke. By the time I made it to the first turn I was spit out the back and swimming with a slower pack that I shouldn't have been in. I felt like i was doing "fist drill" for half of the duration trying to get these guys off me. Today I feel like a UFC fighter with annoying cut knuckles that burn and re-open every time I bend my fingers.

I decided to remain calm and focus on getting myself back into striking distance by the time we got to the run. Coming off the bike I immediately started getting after it as I knew I was in 10th place. By the time 7 miles came on the hilly hot course I was in 6th place and starting to feel the early run effort. Half way through the energy lab I wanted to make an attempt at catching 5th before the finish. Unfortunately a couple of hard miles and I was starting to cramp. With two miles to go I was passed by 6th(Tim Reed, Aus);and 7th(Mario de Elias, Arg),place and i had moved back into 8th place. I had the second fastest run on the day in 1:20:20 and had another consistent top 10 finish. I want to congratulate all of the finishers yesterday (especially Bo on his first 70.3, amazing!) on fighting through that challenging course.

Congrats to Mags for taking the woman's title and Chris Lieto for winning the men's.
Thanks to K-SWISS, Powerbar and Colonels bikes for all of your support. And of course to Carley for putting up with through all the long car rides. Next up I will be putting in a big block of training to get ready for Calgary 70.3!
Tomorrow is Carley's Birthday (we've had a countdown calendar posted on the fridge for the past 30 days) so I better get ready.

Thanks for reading,
Brent

Domestique Diaries- Triathlete’s Race Season and Update!

It’s been a while since the last edition of Domestique diaries, and for that I apologize, we have been crazy busy with race season now in full force! Race season while living a triathlete is very hectic, and consists of loads of laundry and nutrition, long road trips, nervous attitudes and early bedtimes!! Below are some highlights of the past 1.5 months in the life of a domestique!

PACKING FOR A ROADY--- Packing for Brent starts the week before the race. He starts to empty out all of this training drawers while sorting through the stuff he needs. Then he piles all the stuff he needs for the race on the floor in the corner of the living room and throws everything else back into any drawer or even the laundry (although it’s all clean). The night before we leave he starts to line things up on the counter. One day I came home and even his racing flats were on the counter, nasty!!

Road trips with a triathlete- TO THE RACE- The trip down is filled with nervous air, and the conversation is usually difficult to maintain mainly because Lil’ Wayne is blaring the entire way. We also make more than frequent restroom stops (like every hour or less) because Brent is attempting to stay hydrated and likes to get out of the car to stretch frequently. Brent does all the driving stating that I will have to more than likely drive home. We eat routine snacks the entire way from the cooler, and we play road trip games in an attempt to keep his mind off the race.

--HOME FROM THE RACE-- The way home is the opposite. One way to describe this is to “Hammer it out”. I have to beg Brent to stop for the restroom, he drives the entire way, and I usually am starving to death. The conversation is always about the race or training and it never stops even when I try to sleep, we analyze and over analyze everything for the last month of training and the race in extreme detail. We just drove home 8 hours from Kansas I think I got to stop twice, even my legs were cramped, and Brent spent most of the drive in the TT position. I offer to drive all the time, but he just can’t sit in the passenger seat for more than 5 minutes, even if he just raced for 4 hours while I sat around!

TRAINING-- Training is intense during this time and recovery is key. I run many, many ice baths, hook Brent up to electrical stimulation most nights, and don’t mind too much when he lays on the carpet with his legs elevated while I finish the chores.

I also bought a new road bike. Getting used the clips was quite an ordeal. The first ride Brent takes me on is an easy spin for him, and I fall twice. Little did I know, Brent was taking me on a 2 hours 45 minutes ride, in which I think I saw Brent twice the whole ride. I’m getting better and wiser on the bike now. I only go with Brent when he’s running. I’m now the motor pacing, lead bike, water carrier and have even mastered riding a road bike on a dirt path while taking pictures. I also like to go on frequent tanning rides.

CHALLENGES--- When you live with a triathlete the word challenge takes on a whole new meaning. Just say the word and it’s on! In May I mentioned a Dine In Challenge with friends, co-workers and training partners. We were not allowed to eat anything from a restaurant the entire month. Give a challenge to a triathlete that has the potential to improve performance and let me tell you he will not cheat. I had to cheat once while my mom was in town, Brent came and sat with us until our meal came and then he left to go home and eat dinner on his own! That’s determination! Now we have monthly challenges in our household because Brent was immediately hooked. Also, shout out to Cam for nailing the Dine In Challenge!!

I got to pick June’s Challenge and it’s the Core Challenge. We have to do core everyday no matter what. We (Brent) drove 8 hours home from Kansas and got home just in time to complete our core exercises before midnight.

MISC-- Over the month Brent won a fish at swim race, we named him Lance. We went out and bought a tank and a friend (Floyd). Lance ate Floyd. We went away for the weekend and left a food block for Lance. When we got home his tank was filthy. I cleaned it and Lance died. No more fish for us!

Summer is here and it is hot!

Next up is Buffalo Springs 70.3 in none other than Lubbock TX. At least we don’t have to drive North two states!

Happy Training,

Carley

small update

Sunday I raced the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence, KS and came 6th. The race went well considering a bug I encountered earlier on in the week. I seemed to get my appetite back by Saturday but still felt a bit weak during the swim/bike portions of the race.

The swim was good I lost contact of Yoder and Lieto around the last buoy when we were turning back into shore. I knew Potts and Hackett would be off the front; i exited the water in 5th place going out on the bike 20seconds or so behind Chris. Next race i will make sure i don't lose touch. Out on the bike is where i really felt drained but i tried to keep focused and eventually i was passed by a few stronger cyclists. Going into the run i was back in 8th place but i was able to catch 2 athlete's and was ready to catch another (5th)but just ran out of time. I was happy with my run split on the day because to be honest I really had some rough patches on the last lap. I really enjoyed the hilly hot Kansas course but the drive home was insane. After the race Carley and I drove 7.5 hours back to Texas and that was the hardest part of the day.
Congrats to all of the athlete's that raced on Sunday! Next up is Buffalosprings 70.3 June 27th:)

June

It's amazing how fast a month goes. Off to Kansas tonight for the KSWISS Kansas 70.3 triathlon. May went really well, a few up's and downs and i am now just getting over some sort of food poisoning that occured on the lovely holiday weekend. I have started working with a new coach and things have been going great, more on that later. In June i will be racing Kansas and Buffalo springs 70.3 so stay tuned for fun stories and extreme adventures. The posts will be picking up steadily with news and race reports. Thanks for checking in! Brent