momentum

I speak with my coach about once a week and I love that. Jesse is a terrific teacher and I love to learn. The nutritional side of my training is going very well. Sometimes people will tell me that Jesse's core diet is a lot of work. That it's time consuming to plan out, etc etc.

Well..... so is training. You do all this work to swim bike and run. You download this, analyze that, you schedule races..... why not add int he nutrition component to seal the deal? In all honesty this is not a diet, it's not an invention, it's been around since the caveman. Jesse has really honed it to fit the athlete. It fits me great. I am leaner and more importantly I am healthier than I have been in years.

Now about the coffee..... with this plan we use coffee wisely. We use it for a purpose. So I didn't give it up.... I merely change the time of when I drink it to enhance my workouts.

The biggest difference I have noticed is the nutrition I use during training. I will admit, and I don't coach this but I tend to eat nothing during training. I'm cheap, I can be lazy, I want to burn calories.

Now.... I don't go over 40 minutes without taking in carbohydrates. We speak in terms of carbohydrates and not calories. The difference is that my workouts are more productive, I am recovering better, I am making gains.

I took off my Garmin a few weeks ago to force myself to relearn my heart rate again. I didn't want to look at pace. For a few years I trained strictly by pace and my E Pace was 9 minute miles. Loved it. Felt great and ran a lot.

In six weeks time, my E pace has dropped to..... well 8:13 on one run and 8:18 on the second run at a heart rate of zone I (which in the Friel world would be zone 2..... aerobic). Before I even write that down I should see how my workouts go tomorrow..... I am a bit superstitious.

I am excited. I am ready. I am feeling better than ever. I get to race in three weeks.

For a long time after I won that first Musselman in 2004 (4:48) I got very hung up in the concept that despite being under 5 hours for years...... since then I have not broken that barrier. It bothered me a great deal until last Sept when I made the decision to just let it go.

And I let it go.

That slate got wiped clean. We will be under 5 hours very soon. We've set a goal for the Musselman, and I will let you know what that is after I finish.

I am trying new things. New coach, new nutrition, new system, new everything and it feels so good.

Right now this is what I call fun. Tracking, measuring, caloric management. Call me sick but right now this is so much fun. I am chomping at the bit to get on that starting line and put all this to use. We have a race plan in more ways than one and I can't wait to take that exam.

My posts on sports bras and gi issues are coming! I promise!

Happy 4th of July!

the ironman long run

As we approach the Lake Placid Ironman I get questions from athletes about how long should my longest run be for the Ironman?When I hear someone is doing three hour long runs, it usually means one of a few things:

1. They are trying to cram their training in..... maybe rather than putting in a good 6-8 months of solid consistent training, they "got serious" 4 months out. They are nervous. But the Ironman..... he weeds these kids out. He knows who has done the work and who has not.

2. They have not been able to be consistent within their plan (their plan might call for it but they dont' execute it....) so they feel that by doing the mega run, that it will best prepare them for the marathon.


Now a lot of this is my opinion which I have formed through my experience coaching Ironman athletes (over 50 people, which is not as many as the coaches I look up to have certainly!), the reading I have done by people I consider to be the experts in our sport and through the coaches I have worked under (three of them).


I am going to extrapolate some points from an article by Coach Patrick, the other half of Rich Straus and Endurance Nation. I love the way these guys approach training. I use these guys a lot as references because they just simply have a way of saying what I want to say, but they strip it down and get right to the point.


In the Ironman I believe that running over 2:30.... even 2:15 is a risk not worth taking. I believe if you are following the standard 6 hour ride / 3 hour run you are doing nothing more than exhausting yourself, putting yourself at risk and just plain not confident in the training you have put in over the past 6-9 months. Remember that it is the cumulative work you have done throughout the past YEAR that makes this Ironman. NOT the number of long bikes and long runs you have done.


Longer is not better.


In my opinion..... longer is stoopid. I have changed my thinking over the years but I hope that shows that I am learning more and more each year that I do this.

Using the words of Coach Patrick I have added in some of my own thoughts on why running 3 hour long runs to prepare for an Ironman is not effective:

1: This is from my opinion: you train for an Ironman very differently than how you train for a marathon. To run a marathon, you strictly run, to complete an Ironman you swim bike and run. A 3 hour run might exist in a marathon plan. But in a marathon plan you are not biking 5 + hours as a long ride or per week. You are not swimming, you are running. Therefore you are not going to train the Ironman marathon as you would a straight up marathon. An Ironman isn't putting together long distance swim training + century ride training + marathon training. Ironman

2. This is from Coach Patrick and this article:

Overall IM Fitness is Built Across all Three Disciplines.True IM fitness isn't about one run (or ride or swim), it's about connecting all three via a plan that allows you to training effectively and consistently. Sure, we build up to some pretty significant distance benchmarks, but the fitness here is all about the "journey" -- not the "destination." Focus too much on a single discipline and you not only run the risk of injury, but you will also be taking time and energy away from something else.

Try thinking of a basic week of fitness instead of any one workout or discipline (. At Endurance Nation we think in a "weekly view" as all of our workouts are connected. And not a week as in Monday -- Sunday (or however you look at it), but as a rolling seven-day window. For example, looking at this Thursday's long run, we consider have you done over the last seven days to get here. There is not magical "reset" that happens every Monday. Run too hard or too long on Thursday and you'll mess up your weekend of riding; or worse yet, you'll fake it through the weekend but blow up somewhere else down the line

My input: Agree 100% on this one. I can't tell you how many stories I hear about athletes getting in their six hour rides, their three hour runs, then being injured / sick / exhausted and then being off the bike for 2 weeks. Believe me that the 1.5 weeks you are off the bike will hinder your performance more than that 3 hour run will help your performance. Over the course of the winter the athletes on the Train-This Team, Ironman or not complete a very balanced basic week. We may cycle through big bike or big run weeks but every single workout is designed to build off the previous. The consistency of the training means much more than the length of a long ride or run. In fact if I had it my way we would ride nothing over 5 hours.

3. IM Run Fitness has nothing to do with your longest run.This is a hold over from open marathon training, where folks are training to run hard for the whole event; in this case it makes sense to build that solid pace up to a long run of 20-21 miles. In an IM, however, we are training to not slow down on the run.

Let me repeat that: Marathon training = go fast on run; IM training = don't slow down.

Instead of being a marathon runner aiming for a pace (8:00 per mile, who cares about HR zones!), you are a triathlete who aims for an HR, not a pace. Race day is a great equalizer; most people end up running an IM at their easy long run pace (roughly 20 beats below LTHR). So instead of looking at a magical distance marker, we look at time. In the case of an IM training cycle. the peak run that a person can do during the typical race preparation week is 2.5 hours in Zone Two. Anything longer (or harder) starts to become a problem regarding recovery and overall running health. Can you run 24 miles in training for an IM? Yes. But when you are out there on the course, no one is saying, "Sure am glad I did that 24-mile run @ week 18, it's really helping me now!!!"

3. IM Run Fitness is about Frequency, Durability, and Consistency

If you have grasped the concept that your total aerobic engine, developed across three disciplines, is what drives your run, we have almost converted you. While the longest run peaks out at 2.5 hours, that doesn't mean you aren't running a lot; in your biggest run weeks, you'll do 5+ hours of running -- that's a lot, especially when you add it on top of swim and bike time. With the EN model of Iron-distance training, we work first to build durability by increasing run volume deliberately. Then we add "speed" in the form of strides and fartlek work. Once this is accomplished, we back off the intensity and start to increase the distance. When we move to the race preparation phase, "tempo" workouts move from being closer to 10k Pace and instead move to Half Marathon Pace

My input: Again, I can't agree more. Now Coach Patrick and Coach Rich build their programs a very specific way, I suppose mine might be similar or different. What I aim to do is match the program to the ability of the athlete, their schedule, etc. Not to say that these guys don't.

But I think we all have the same goal in mind. The goal: to build a very durable athlete.

Running 3 hour long runs is not building a durable age group Ironman Athlete.

The next time you hear your neighbor whose doing the Ironman brag about their 7 hour rides and 3 hour runs....... pray for them. Because their day will be a lot harder than they want to admit.

true

This morning we (my Masters Team) swam long course outdoor meters at Genesse Valley Pool. The air was cool but the water was warm. The sun was shining and the pool is right in line with the airport. Every few minutes a plane comes by so close.

"That never gets old." I told Dr. Les. I've overcome my fear of flying so much that I love to watch airplanes do airplane things. Like land. Take off. Go fast. Soar.

To say that my swim felt G.R.E.A.T. today would be a gross understatement. It felt effin G.R.E.A.T. . I stopped at the wall at one point and looked around at the lanes I swim with. With Mark and Kim and Ken and Travis. Grimm and his cycling tan, Dr. Les and his go fast ass whooping go go juice. Bill with his granny shawl on. Maureen and her go fast-ness, and Rauni. I looked over at the other lanes too and I just felt so damn appreciative of every single person I get to swim with whether they are in my lane or not. Whether we ever talk, we share eye contact every now and then and we share a bond.

I looked at my amazing swim Coach, Lorie standing on the deck and I thought..... life is good. And man are we lucky.

After swim practice Luc and I had breakfast with a friend and I again felt so grateful and appreciative of every single person I get to call my friend. What strikes me about this community is the trueness of the people.

In all honesty I have had some unfortunate experiences with some people as of late who don't bring about the trueness and passion of the sport that I love so much. for the first time in my 12+ years of being a triathlete they brought a dimension that I didn't understand and felt so darn toxic.

The experience of being manipulative, malicious and darn right cruel.

Of all places that does not belong in the community to which I belong and it took me a very long time to wrap myself around the understanding that.... that's what it was. It was no fault of their own, through the experiences of their lives the only way they knew how to be was controlling, manipulating..... through the circumstances they found themselves in being guarded, secretive, and undercutting is truly the only way they knew how to be.

I don't understand that at all. So I had to leave it behind. Does that make me a better person? No, I just need to stick with the community and the atmosphere that I love so much. It's free of all of that.

Like this morning when Grimm showed up with the most outrageous cycling tan I have ever seen. Think white tri suit kind of cycling tan. It's hilarious. We laughed with him. Or when we decide the order of our lane..... no one takes it personally if they want to go first or last.... we just accept each person as they are. There is no hidden agenda. Or when none of us can add 5 X 100's to be 2 lengths in long course (or maybe it's just me)...... it's not personal..... we just find the fun in everything we do.

Is it good? Is it bad? I don't know. It's the way we roll and it's the energy I love to bask in.

As I was swimming this morning and the sun was shining, the airplanes were soaring overhead, I just couldn't help but smile.

Last night I was pouring over training log entries of my athletes and I had the exact same feeling. WOW. Each year I think..... holy CATS I have the most talented group of athletes.... and each year I think..... man, does it get any better than this current team? I should not say that each year the team is better...... what I really mean is that each year we all seem to come together in the most amazing way. It makes each season so special.

I get to be in the best seat of all. Over the course of a year for some, three years for others..... I get to watch them do things and achieve things that during our first meetings they wonder.... can I do this? It might be a 5K, a Sprint tri or the Ironman. Whatever that goal is it's so amazing and such an honor to watch what they do. They are the ones who execute the plan. They are the ones who fit all of it in.

It's a group of athletes who are so much more like a family. If I was stranded on an island with these 30 athletes I would be okay. I know we'd have some struggles on that island but I know there would be no voting anyone off the island antics. There would be a ton of laughter. Hell there might be so much laughter we'd never get rescued because we were having too much fun to try.

I count my lucky stars every single day that I get to do what I do and experience the people and the life that I get to. I worked hard to build this business, yet the right group of people seems to find each other every single year.

What an honor.

As seven o'clock rolled around this morning I didn't want to get out of the pool. I wanted to hang out and laugh some more. I felt grateful to my swim coach Lorie, the greatest swim coach I have ever had. I felt grateful for a friend I used to have named Ellen.... who bridged the gap between swimmers and triathletes when the morning sessions began. And I felt grateful for Rauni who is our organizer, planner, caretaker, she's our freaking MOM.

And that's what makes a community, as my father taught me throughout my life. It isn't the house you live in, the size of your assets. It's the size of your heart that matters. I have found a bunch of people with great big hearts and a lot of love to give and receive. To have found that at home, and to have found that in the community to which I belong to....... that's the lottery right there.

report card

The other day when I embarked on my long run I was not positive that my legs would even work. Sleep deprivation + 2 days of walking around in Hershey had left both Curt and pretty trashed. How do people who are not in shape do this???? So I began the run thinking that I wouldn't be surprised if this turned into hell. But I need hell so give me hell then.

As I am learning to rely more on HR rather than pace I looped my Garmin around my Fuel Belt and I set off. I ran entirely by HR and I never looked at pace. I felt good. I felt so good I had tears in my eyes. It's been a long time since I have had a long run like this. Upon later analysis of my paces..... oh boy, I thought. It's been a while since I have run this.

It was a continuation from 3 days before, this feeling of being back. Back in my body, back on my feet, back in my health. I set out for 2 X 30 min efforts with Curt. And I dropped him. Upon returning to the house a bit later he said..... Um.... eeeks.... it's been a while since I have seen that bike form. To hear that from Curt is like him dropping down on one knee again. It makes my heart race to zone 3 all on it's own.

Musselman 1/2 Ironman is in 2 weeks. For this race we are aiming for a sub 5:08, even though I won the inaugural Musselman in a 4:48. I have let that go as the focus is here on this race and this season with this new coach.

Which brings me to the report card to answer the question I have been asked the most.....

How are things going with Coach Jesse?

My grade is an A+. And I have not even raced yet.

There are many things I really like about Jesse and his system. The first is that's it's a system. There are goals and parameters to meet each week. Meet the parameter and move up a notch.

Jesse is an excellent teacher and has proven to me that you can in fact teach an old dog new tricks. Through HR, pace and power I am learning to push myself beyond what I thought I could achieve in training. Through proper rep, during and post race fueling I am able to do the same.

The nutrition makes sense and it is real food. It's such a massive component of the training and I feel the healthiest I have felt in ages.

I like that he checks in by phone weekly or bi weekly. I like that he treats you like you are the most important athlete in his stable. I like that his methods are proven, I like that everything is measurable, I like that everything makes sense.

I like the way he puts together a week. I like that I can see where we are going. I like that we have short term goals for B races like the Musselman, longer term goals like Clearwater, and those goals that are stepping stones along the way.

I love that we've set an Ironman goal for 2010. Did I just say Ironman????? I did. More on that much later on, we have a 2009 season to focus on first.

I can't wait to race. I am feeling good, I am feeling ready to go get it and I am ready to step up a rung on this ladder.

Like I said...... A PLUS.

the privelage of the period

It's not easy being a girl. We've got stuff and issues and..... hormones. Any parent of a pre teen or teenage daughter knows this all too well. Those of us who have the ability to look back on our teenage years with the same reaction as fingernails scratching a chalkboard...... wish to god the same fate does not await us. I was horrible. I don't know how my parents survived. I really don't. Not only did they survive 2 teenage daughters but one with an eating disorder and a son..... well we don't need to even talk about him and his antics. At least not until Halloween.

Early on I had a swim coach who taught me to never allow anything to prevent me from doing what I dreamt of doing. She told me that when I first got my period at age 12. Yeah, 12. Not only that but I was already 5'10" in 6th grade and the first girl in a bra. More on that one Friday.

Lucky me, early bloomer, no one around me was going through the same thing. It was awkward, teenage years are awkward. At that age I was 2 full years into my EDO career so you can imagine I was .... oh just a little bit..... insane.

I remember standing on the pool deck and I was afraid to get into the water. What if I bled in the pool? I can't swim with my period! Oh my gawd! I was too mortified to ask my mother, and I actually wonder what she would have told me to do.

My swim coach ( a girl) told me that having my period was something I needed to learn to deal with. It's part of being a woman, that I should consider it a privilege and it is not something to be ashamed of. Now get in the water and swim.

So I did. And of all the things I took to heart, I took her advice.

Menstruation is different for every girl. My sister would be on the floor for days with cramps so bad she couldn't walk. Me, pretty easy. Heavy flow.... three days. Cramping? No.

Thank you god for giving me something that was easy. Fertility? not easy. The books? Not easy. College? Not easy? Being a triathlete? Not easy.

Marriage = easy. Period = easy. I will take those.

So I learned to deal with having my period. I danced with it, I swam with it, I swim and I bike and I run with it.

Last year I took on a wonderful new athlete who was doing the Ironman. One of her first questions to me was...... I don't want to have my period on the day of the Ironman.

Um..... God..... I might need some help on this one, I thought...... I can't control the period.

A few years ago when I visited my OB / GYN she informed me that women need to only have three periods a year, that by skipping the placebo row with your BCP's that you could have control over when you actually had your period.

As wonderful as that sounded, I was horrified. Tell a girl who has fertility issues to mess around with her body...... nice advice sister.

I did confirm with a few other physicians that this was a plausible idea.

I completely disagree with this practice. And that's just my opinion. I am not in favor of anything that messes around with the body like that. Especially especially if you plan on having children in the future.

If that's something that interests you... speak to your OB / GYN/. Maybe your period is so horrible that an option as that is like gold. TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR. I just plainly think there are better ways to deal with it than that.

According to several sources there is evidence to demonstrate that periods either slow down or stop when you are in water. Each and every person is different however and I am positive someone out there could tell me a horror story about how they bleed in water. Many athletes use tampons while swimming, just be sure to change it when you get out.

Know that I have seen 4 cases of Toxic Shock Syndrome. It is frightening. So change and change often. I know the box says every 6-8 hours, but I say change it sooner. These super absorbent ones...... be careful. Change it often. Bottom line.

So what do you do when training racing? Be prepared and know your body. In all honesty I seem to pretty well miss race day with my period. I recall one or two races where I had it.

In an Ironman I would honestly just wear nothing. As gross as that sounds the things your body goes through during that day..... I certainly wouldn't pop one in at 6am and take it out at 6pm. I wouldn't think to change it during the race either. But that's me, I have it easy.

If you do need to wear one in an Ironman I would change it post swim, and post bike. It takes 30 total seconds and if it's your comfort, if you know yourself then I think it is worth it.

Along with bleeding comes bloating, cramping and moodiness. There are medications like Midol out there which can help. However you know me..... I like au natural. In many cases manipulating your diet..... or cleaning it up...... can alleviate those symptoms better than a medication will, and minus the side effects.

By sticking to 4-5 nutrient dense fruit and vegetables per day you can give your body what it needs to self regulate. In many cases we use medications as band aids and we don't fix the underlying problem. It's like giving someone with high cholesterol a pill to bring it down and then they go eat bacon.

Now..... in my sister's case I don't think nutritional manipulation would have helped her. I don't know her that well and I don't know if she still has those problems, we live in different countries.
I just remember her crying on the floor of the bathroom. Because I am an asshole I will say she was just a wimp, although she probably was not :-).

So there are certainly cases where medications like ibuprofen, midol, or what have you will help. I'd still recommend doing what you can nutritionally to help take care of the root cause of the bloating and the cramping and the moodiness.

I would also recommend tracking your period and tracking your symptoms. If you have an iPhone there's a great tracking application called iPeriod. It's tremendously helpful in tracking patterns, predicting when your next period will come, and if you are trying to conceive it helps you plan your fertile days.

Tracking your period and what goes with it can then help you plan for it. If you know this week you have your period, with brings with it a 3 pound weight gain, and moodiness, plan for it. Maybe adjust your workouts, know that when you step on the scale you are just retaining water this week, the more you plan the better you can use that as an opportunity.

Like my swim coach told me years ago..... do not let your period stop you from doing anything. Anything. It takes understanding your body, knowing your body and it takes planning. I would never be in favor of changing the natural rhythm of your body, but I am for not looking at it as the enemy.

Look at it as a privilege. You get to have children. What better privilege in the world?

home sweet home

There are a few things I love about traveling other than traveling itself.... coming home, time in the car with people I love.... and seeing new places..... okay and old places.

I am convinced that the two greatest methods of seeing a new place are on foot and by bike. In Germany I saw the best parts on bike. This morning, I met Hershey on foot. It's a small town, not overdone (it seemed) by the chocolate, but just enough of it to make it sweeter. Sweet is the word everyone associated with Hershey seems to use.

Have a sweet day! Exclaimed all the park employees! I loved it!

This morning I had a short run through chocolate town and yes, it does smell like chocolate. Not strong enough to nauseate you but enough to make you smile. The street lights are in the shape of kisses. There's the Hershey museum, and a few other novelties. Aside from that, it's a small town with pretty landscaping and nice people. What a gift in itself!

We toured Chocolate World, got our Masters Degree from Hershey University, rode more rides and had more fun. We drove home smiling, worn, sun burnt and giggling. I swear the best times I have are in the car with my guys.

I feel like my biggest gift in life is the ability to soak up every single moment. People will try to tell me to live it now... meaning my son's youth.... because before I know it he will be off to college. Trust me I soak up every single minute of him. Every single day. That is my gift. I can't think of a single second in the past 8 years that I missed. I get to see it all and I hold onto all of it.

Today Luc rode his first upside down roller coaster. Since Curt shaved his head the two of them refer to themselves as the "Bald Brothers". The bald brothers took on some of the scarier rides and I got to spectate and photograph the moments shared by a father and son. Those pictures.... those are for us. But there are lots of good shots on Face Book.

Those moments make me fall in love with Curt even deeper (sappy moment!) and allow me to rest in the warmest moments of happiness. Life is so full and rich..... and damn.... so sweet.

This is the life.... I told them as we rode the Sky View last night. This is the life.

Back home we are full of great memories, ready for a summer of many more to come. We've got adventures planned all summer. I can't freaking wait.

And to give you an exciting preview of some blog topics for next week...... you either might want to skip a week of me, or tune in because next week I will tackle three questions I am repeatedly asked:

1. Monday:

Menstruation and the competitive athlete. (for the boys who don't know.... that means your period).

2. Wednesday:

Dropping the monkey...... meaning GI distress during races. Charting yourself, runner's trots, why it happens and what to do about it.

3. Friday:

Breasts, boobs...... how to find the right support for those who have to wear a sports bra while they race. I am the expert on this one, I am a bra tester for 2 companies!

Exciting stuff gang. Stay tuned.

the sweetest place on earth

At promptly 0500 Thursday morning we rolled Luc out of bed and into the car. We announced that there would be no attending the last day of school..... we were instead heading to Hershey Park (don't worry, his teach was in the know)..... and off we headed to Hershey Park, about a 5 hr drive form Rochester.

When we arrived at 1000 it was game on, until about 10 pm last night. Waterslides, roller coasters, laughing and a ton of sun!!!! Luc was out of his mind!

We are a little bit sunburnt, well rested, and gearing up for day two. Today we are sending Curt on the Fahrenheit, a roller coaster I wont even think of going on... and I rode 2 yesterday!!!!!

We will head home tonight, but first there is a chocolate factory to tour and waterslides to ride!