The Custom Coach Speaks

Living in the south for the last 12 years has thinned my blood! I grew up in the midwest, Cape Girardeau, MO to be exact. The temperatures there would routinely drop below 20 degrees and may even hit single digits for a couple weeks. I spent several years working outside, I did not enjoy the extreme cold but I did learn to deal with it.

For the last few weeks its been 17-25 degrees in the mornings the highs have only risen to the upper 30’s. Not ideal but tolerable. So how to tolerate it? Simply said if you are cold when your outside…You are not wearing enough clothes! Stop dressing like it’s in the 40’s and put on some warm clothes!

Tips

Cover your skin, the less exposed the warmer you’ll be.

1 Coat, tights, gloves, hat.

2 Layer,

When biking its very important to stop the wind.

1 Face mask (Balaclava)

2 wind proof gloves or ski gloves.

3 Thin tights under thermal tights.

4 Thermal cycling coat,and wind vest or rain coat.

I rode last Saturday in 17 degree weather, I was chilly to start but warmed up quickly. I actually got too hot, not a problem just peeled off one layer rolled it up and stuck it under my coat. Don’t wait for warm weather , make your own and go run and ride.

Remember if your cold, your not wearing enough clothes!

Being a triathlon coach does not prevent me from becoming sluggish or unmotivated. I am like everyone else struggling to get out the door on cold days and dark evenings. Even the most dedicated athletes have let downs after the competition is over. Olympians are acutely aware of this phenomena and refer to it as post competition depression.

As we train through out the year our bodies go through many changes, we lay on more muscle and increase our endurance. In order for these fitness changes to take place, our training must trigger greater hormone production. By the end of the year if we have planned it properly we are at a physical peak. The only problem with that is…we only have one direction to go and that’s down!

It is important to rest after a hard race and or season. Vigorous training can build up deep fatigue and leave us at risk for over training and injury. While resting our brain slows hormone production and thus slows our metabolism stealing motivation and forcing us into a state of chemical educed hibernation.

So how can we combat this? Train…not at peak volume but at at an amount appropriate for the current conditions. I set a goal to put in 3 weeks of consistent training. By the end of this 3 week period things usually start looking up. My energy increases my motivation returns and my metabolism increases.

This is how I do it. December 50% of peak volume, January 60%, and February 70% (most of this work is completed at modest intensity). In March it’s game on, I transition into a full triathlon training schedule.

Fortunately being a Triathlon Coach in NC, allows me to train year round.

NOW GO TRAIN!

Last year I went to watch Beaches to Battleship and watch some friends race. It was my first trip to Wilmington. I really enjoyed the race and the venue so I planned a return trip this year.

Over the spring a had a call from one of my high school buddies Craig Clemens, we caught up on the last 20 years that had passed. During our conversation Craig learned of my occupation and he passed along that his brother Chris was now racing Triathlons and Chris had a couple of Half Ironmans planned for this year. So, I was not surprised when Chris dropped me an email but very glad he did. Chris and I also caught up and then our thoughts turned to Triathlon…Ironman in particular. Chris was looking for a race but, with M-dot races filling a year in advance his choices were limited. I suggested B2B and offered to be his personal sherpa if he made the trip. Chris liked the idea, signed up and over the next several months we exchanged emails on training fueling etc.

I grew up in the small town of Cape Girardeau Mo, population 30,000…when the college was in session. I played football and wrestled. Coach Clemens (Chris and Craig’s dad) was my offensive line coach and head wrestling coach. Needless to say I spent a lot of time with the whole Clemens family. In 1985 Chris and I found a summer job at a sawmill in Southern Illinois about 60miles from Cape. Our job was to compact shaving into plastic bags and then seal and stack them. The shaving are a byproduct from the plainer. when boards are plained smooth the resulting shavings were blown across the mill into an over head bin, our bin. We would run the compactor and bail them into bags. The only stoppage of our progress was when the overhead shavings became compacted in the bin. The result would be that after all the loose shavings fell into our machine there would form a void where all of the shavings above that level were clinging to each other and would not fall down. The fix was for Chris or I to climb into the bin with a long 3×3 (board) and stir the pile until it collapsed. We would then return to the main level and start again.

Chris picked me up at my house and we headed to the mill. The day was no different from any other day and after arriving we got to work . An hour or so in, the shavings quit flowing so we climbed into the bin to give them a stir. The bin is shaped like a 10×10 square funnel. Once entering the bin I noticed that the shaving were piled very high along one wall and that the bin was full. Chris had the board to stir and we walked in. As we stepped onto the shavings I felt them shift, It made me nervous so I cautioned Chris as I stepped onto the lip of the wall, a small 4 inch strip of metal where the sides were folded into the top. Chris seemed confident and started to stir. At that moment a large hole in the shavings opened and before either of us could move Chris was engulfed. He slid directly under the large mound and was gone. The only thing left was the board he used to stir. I quickly grabbed the board, through it across the last place I saw Chris and straddled it incase the hole opened again. I figured it would act like a big snow shoe. As I dug I could hear muffled screams for help and to “get me out of here!” With in seconds I found his hand and we locked wrists. I started to pull with every fiber of my being but he did not budge. I was loosing all concept of time but after what i’m guessing was just a minute or so he stopped yelling. I heard one last moan as if to say he had given up. To this day that was the most awful sound I have heard. At that moment I was hoping for superhuman strength to kick in but nothing! I still could not move him, his grip went limp and his hand turned blue. I knew there was not much time left so I decided to run for help. Before I left I placed my hat over Chris’s hand so I could find the spot when I returned. I was afraid the shavings would shift while I was gone, covering his hand again, this did happen. I’m not sure how long it took but I found the mill foreman and franticly explained that Chris had been buried. The foreman was on the phone at the time and passed the message along to who ever he was talking to. He grabbed a shovel and we ran to the bin. By the time we got there (1min?) men were heading to us from every direction. We climbed into the bin and the foreman and another man started digging for all they were worth. With in another minute or so they had uncovered Chris to his shoulders. I heard them say “he has a pulse!” they strapped an oxygen mask on Chris and by the time he was carried out an ambulance was waiting. We loaded him in, it screamed off and everyone left. Except me. I stood there totally perplexed at what to do next. Should I go back to work? Should I go home? To say I was in shock would be an understatement. I got in Chris’s car and decided to go home. Not a good Idea for me to be driving but luckily I made it without getting myself in a wreck. I had gotten a message to Kay, Chris’s mom but in the pre-cellphone era no one else had a clue what had happen. Upon arriving home I was pacing like a caged animal, I called a friend of my family and she drove me to the hospital to check on Chris. When I arrived he was in surgery. While buried he had inhaled chips of wood into his lungs and the surgeons were in the process of removing them. By this point everything was starting to sink in and I was rattled…big time! I refused to leave until they let me see him, I needed to see him breathing and I needed to see with my own eyes that he was alive! They did and a calmness came over me.

With in a few days Chris was back at home and resting, I went by to see him and he looked good, just extremely tired. I felt relieved and thought well that’s that but little did anyone know the real struggle was yet to come. I don’t have a medical degree but my understanding about what happened next is; due to the stress of the accident, all the protective coating around the nerves in Chris’s spine had been burned off and they started shorting out against each other. I may be way off with this description but the result was the same as a stroke. Chris after seeming fine for a week lost his ability to walk on his own and he lost his fine motor skills.

At 17 years old your not supposed to face your own mortality, up until then we were both bullet proof or so we thought. Immediately after the accident I was getting a lot of attention. People calling me hero and saying I had saved Chris’s life. To this day I am uncomfortable with either of those monikers. I would like to think that any one who saw their friend get buried would act the same way as I did. All I knew was, I was glad he was alive and I did not want to talk about it any more. I just wanted to go back to life as normal so, that is what I did. I never spoke of what happened again. As I was dealing with what happened by not dealing, Chris was learning to walk and as I checked out I never gave a thought to how this would effect the rest of his life. Over the next year Chris seemed to recover fast and the only lasting physical effect I could see was a trimer in his hand when he wrote. I have kept up with his brother Craig and the family but we all went on to live ours lives in different States. That’s when I got an email from Chris.

It explained what he was up to, now a teacher married with 2 kids living in TN and doing triathlons but there was something else. The accident. Chris wrote how he had been presenting his story since college for special ed students suffering from head injuries. Only in his story I am the one who falls in the shavings and it is he who has to watch all the events that unfold. By the end of the story he makes an admission that it was really he who was in the accident and flips the characters back. As I read his email Amanda asked, “what is he talking about.” and that is the first time I realized that I had not told this story to anyone and it struck me that this had impacted us both.

Friday November 6, 2009 I drove to Wilmington Nc to see a friend. I met Chris and his family at the Hilton. We grabbed our bikes and went for a spin and we talked, for the first time in 25 years we talked about what happened at the mill. It was interesting to understand how that day had effected each of us and to get the other persons point of view.

The following morning I picked Chris up dropped him at the swim and watched his day unfold. It is always inspiring to watch athletes struggle both physically and mentally and to over come pain and extreme fatigue to finish a race, that I believe changes your life. It was even more rewarding to see my friend and someone I will always be tied to through a chain of events that changed our lives so many years ago. Now we share a new experience.

Congratulation Chris Clemens You are an Ironman!

This years trip to Kona would be my second but the first time that I knew I would be going a year out, giving me ample time to train for it.

Last year I qualified for Kona 2008, at Ironman CDA. I had been trying to get there for a few years but this is an elusive sport and things just never seem to go in my favor. I had been so confident in 2007 that I actually booked a hotel room…Ouch! Never touch the money until all bets are in. After learning my lesson not to count my chickens… I decide to schedule two races in 08, Ironman CDA, as well as Ironman Arizona, giving myself two shots at hawaii. As luck would have it. I qualified at CDA then scrambled to rest and retrain for both Hawaii and Arizona.

Since simply getting to Kona was the goal, the actual race was secondary. I showed up in good shape but unprepared for the elements. Wrong helmet, wheels and fuel… I literally melted down. Oh well…it was just good to be there and finish.

Fast forward 4 weeks and who knew? I qualified at Arizona for the following year! For the first time, the pressure was off! I could plan a year in advance.

By the time I got home I was done, in more ways than one. All I wanted to do was nothing! I was tired physically as well as tired of the restrictive lifestyle. So for the first time in 4 years I stopped…I mean dead still!

By the time spring rolled around I was way out of shape and fooling myself into thinking I could get back fast. I got lazy did not detail my base, layered on too much intensity and by July I was cooked. So cooked that I was forced to take a month off.

August came very fast and before I knew it Kona was lurking. I was no where near, where I wanted to be but the reality was I needed to start over. So I rebased, rededicated and by race day I was better than I had been all year.

I was starting to gain some confidence and went to Hawaii wanting to do more than just finish…I was setting my sights on 10:20 as a conservative goal. This year I had expectations.

Swim: 1:13:54
I swam 1:12 last year and reckoned I was in the same shape. My swim plan is always the same; line up on the front row go out hard and hang on to every set of feet that comes by until finally I find a pair i can hold. Every thing went as planned so when I exited I was just 2min back on last years time and wrote it off to some big swells at the halfway point going out and coming back.

T1
nothing to tell went through grabbed my gear but stopped at my bike to empty my bladder and literally “pissed off the german next to me! I still cant do it on the bike so whats a couple of minutes in a long race.

Bike: 5:22:35
This was the beginning of the end last year so this year I decided to actually start off conservatively and ride by feel. Not my normal plan. Usually I go for it on the bike but, this race spooked me so much last year…that this time, easy does it.

In 08 I rode a 5:17: through the worst wind I’ve ever experienced, including a 4 min stop in Hawi; where I thought I might die. From there I bonked my way home and had to be pulled off my bike at T2.

For this year I thought as long as I could keep my gut moving, a 5:10: would be easy. No such luck! At Hawi I was on pace to hit that number and over the next 20 miles my avg. speed was still increasing. That would be the end of the good stuff! With 20 miles to go my watts fell by 40w and my stomach was working but at half capacity. I gave back all my gains on the way home.

T2
Times goals were gone now but I figured maybe I could still manage this race to a respectable time. I took a long time in T2 making sure to drink and rub down with cold towels. The temp had risen to over 95 degrees and I knew the run would be tough. I stopped to pee again the first time in 5.5 hours and it was very concentrated. I was very dehydrated.

Run: 4:21:32

I figured if I could get cooled off and take time at aide stations to drink well maybe I could get things back on track.

I started running easy but at least I was moving. At mile 3 I saw Amanda, said hey and that I was ok. As we talked she jogged along side and I could tell by her face I was moving very slow. 1 mile latter some clouds rolled over and I felt great. “Finally” I thought. I’m going to get this thing going yet. For the next few miles my pace was very good and I felt the best I had all day but by the time I reaches Palani the clouds were gone and so was I. I shuffled my way from aide station to aide station trying to at least salvage a sub 11 hour finish.

When I hit the Queen K Chrissie was heading in and setting a course record…as she said in an interview “I can’t imagine the people who are just going out while I’m coming in”

Ouch! That would be me!!

By the time I got to mile 23 I could barley walk. My stomach was off, I was dehydrated and my quads were locked.

I walked more the last 3 miles than the previous 23. Oh well, what can I do? With a mile to go I dug deep and finished hard but extremely disappointed.

The after math:
Just after the race I told Amanda, “I was done with this race for a while!” My body just does not respond well to hot races!

We had planned to hang out on Maui for several days, so I quickly put the race behind me and had a great time with Amanda. So much so that we are longing to go back ASAP! But do I have to race?

It’s been 2 weeks now and I have had plenty of time to think things over and this is where I’m at…

1) I am finally in good shape and I need to stay here.
2) I have to come into next season at a good weight and fitness level.
3) I am very frustrated with this whole year and a little depressed.
4) I have big goals for IM CDA 2010
5) I am dedicated to taking 5min off my IM swim and 10min off my IM run.
6) If amanda wants to and the Tri Gods are favorable I want another shot at that miserable, hot lava! God help me!

I am 9 days out from Kona and I feel great. That is I am very alert and motivated. The reason I mention this is…usually I am trying to stay awake during my taper.

My typical training regimen is to progressively build both volume and intensity to with in three weeks of my race (Ironman) then gradually step down to race day. The step down looks something like; Taper week 1 70% of max volume, Taper week 2, 60% of max volume and Race week 30-40% of Max. Typically I am in serious need of some recovery and the first week goes by without much thought. I dread week 2 because my body will shut way down leaving me feeling like I’m on downers! Even the reduced schedule can seem epic. By week 3 I start to come out of the fog and by race day I feel like a Super Hero!

So why do I feel different this trip and is that good or bad? Looking back over my schedule from this fall, I made a few changes to my weekly sequence during “Big volume weeks” (25-30 hours). After a big week finished I continually took the first 3 days as recovery days, i.e. kept my volume up but kept my heart rate down. In some cases heart rate at LT -35. By paying closer attention to my recovery with in the builds I believe that it is took less time to bounce back and less of a need for my body to shut way down. Not sure how all this will translate on race day but I do believe that this is the way to go. Work is important but recovery is equal to that some, so in order to really do well it is in our best interest to pay close attention to both.

This year has been a tremendous learning experience. By having only one “A” race it has allowed me to experiment more with my training. I have tried different sequences, intensities and volumes. I think all of this will translate in to me being a better Triathlon Coach for my clients.

Since my July break I have been on the gas. So much so that I rode the most miles for a 2 month period that I have ever ridden. I have averaged 1,215 miles a month for the last 2 months; 400 of those miles coming in the mountains. (Every hundred in the mountains is equivalent to 150 miles at home, holding race day watts). During this period I also averaged 31 miles running a week and 5.5k in the pool (a little weak in the swim but oh well).

Long story short I am fit…very fit! But I am not writing about my training. More so my training log ( www.athleticore.com ). The reason being is more often than not the numbers I think I’ve hit are not the same as actuality. Without logging my workouts I would have no way to actually know for sure what I did week to week, month to month, year to year and race to race. By logging every thing for a few years now I can go back and see exactly what worked during my training, taper etc. That is exactly what I did on Sunday. I pulled up the month leading into Ironman Arizona 2008 and Ironman CDA 2008. Arizona was my best race last year so I really wanted to parse the numbers. What I found was much simpler. I was rested, very rested. With out tracking my workouts I would have tried to pull from memory what I did last year to get ready for my races; and trust me my mind is not always reliable during the taper!

I find that high level endurance athletes are not very good at rest but the numbers don’t lie. I am health and the only way to get faster from this point on is to get fresh. So that is exactly what I plan to do for Kona…get some rest. T-3 and counting.

I love traveling to Ironman races and watching. There is no other atmosphere like it. The energy is electric, that and 3000 fit bodies really motivates me to train. It’s like being at a fitness cult!

I recently traveled to Ironman Louisville to watch training partners and clients compete. I went to cheer and hopefully encourage these athletes when the race got tough but came away inspired myself; every one more than exceeded my expectations. There were a range of abilities but every one of them came in under 12 hours a few under 11 and one sub 10. The most impressive part was watching them run. what I mean to say is…they all ran! Not one of them melted down, and if you have ever raced this distance you know just how difficult that is.

With Kona looming in the distance I’ve felt good about my bike and swim but very worried about my run. Running is not my strong point. I was starting to settle on the fact that I just was not going to be in the run shape I wanted. Then I went to Louisville…after watching everyone lay it out there for 26.2, I was inspired. “I want to have a good run!” Kona is not the place to P.R. but it does help to be in the right frame of mind.

My training since Louisville has gone very well. I have gotten my self in good shape, my weight is where it needs to be and I have set some good bench marks both on my bike and run. I am confident about where I am now and am looking forward to race day. Don’t get me wrong Kona scares the crap out of me, I have a very large amount of respect for that Island but at least I have done my part. A big thank you to all my training partners and clients for doing your part to get me ready.

I spent the Labor Day weekend holding a self-imposed training camp on myself and Nick Frank. The plan was to ride 100 miles a day and run off the bike at least once. We would ride a course that Nick and I have developed over the last year; we cheery picked all the 11 climbs with in a 30 mile radius of Banner Elk NC, and linked them together for a 105 mile trip we term The Loop of Truth. My plan was to ride easy between climbs and cap my Heart Rate while climbing at 150bpm. If I felt good at the end of the day I would push 1 or 2 climbs to LT. Basically I wanted to focus on muscle endurance first but push the pace just enough so that coming home I would get a jump in fitness 5 weeks out from my A race Kona.

Climbs:
George’s Gap 1(front side) 1.85 mi (7.91 ave grade)
George’s Gap 2: (back side) 1.92 mi (8.09)
Rominger: 1.98 mi (8.6)
Clarke’s Creek: 1.25 mi (13.3)
Shulls Mill: 4.82 mi (7.28)
Parkway: 5.76 mi (3.23)
Hickory Nut Gap: 4.39 mi t (3.86)
Beech: 2.84 mi (9.82)
Pinnacle Ridge: 1.93 mi (14.01)
Pinnacle Add On: 1.07 mi (9.08)
Back of Beech: 5.83 mi (7.21)

Valley of Death (between Beech and Pinnacle) total 11.67 mi (9.14 ave grade)
Pinnacle + Add On combined: 3.0 miles (12.25 ave grade)
Total Ascent 18,500 feet and the toughest course on the East Coast (that I know of)

Going into this weekend I was finishing up one of my larger weeks volume wise but felt good about my strength. I am in a race specific interval phase and have been holding some good numbers for these sets (2×1 hour @ 235 watts on 1hours rest). That is what I would like to avg for Kona. If I can hold that number I believe that I can ride a 5:10 no matter the conditions.

Nick and I did exactly as we set out on day one. We rode under control but even riding “easy” that much ascent takes a toll. We averaged approximately 14mph; total ride time was 7.5 hours.

I must say I was not looking forward to day 2 but surprisingly my legs felt good and again we stayed under control for the first 80miles. Beech Mountain comes at mile 80 and that is really where this course starts. The last 22 miles take almost 2 hours to ride and are the toughest climbs off the day. Just before Beech I told Nick I felt the same as I do 10min before the gun on race day! I was nervous about what lay ahead because on steep climbs it’s easy to become very exposed. Nick had bonked slightly on Beech the day before so he was looking for a little redemption. I on the other hand was just trying to keep him in sight. We both rode at LT -5 to LT (Lactate Threshold) and we both set a P.R. for that climb this year (3rd trip). After finishing the ride we had a quick transition and ran 52min. Total work out time for day two, 8:20:00. I felt good all day and gained some much needed confidence going forward.

Dave Hornak (Spider Monkey) joined us for day 3. Nick and I spent most of the evening before trying to scare him with details of the course but it should have been us who were scared! The demands of that much work are tremendous not only muscularly but nutritionally as well and Day 3 would prove to be a roller coaster. One minute was up the next I would struggle to just keep pedaling. It took some work but I was able to right the ship some what but never really felt great. Dave was the man on day 3…note to self, people with fresh legs will make you look weak…very weak! Good work Dave! Nick and I both looked cooked at the end of it all but felt feel very good about the accomplishment. That is the first time we were able to finish that course multiple times without a major mechanical and a ride out.

To sum it all up, I’m the strongest I’ve been since last year. I’m a little concerned about my run speed but feel confident that if my stomach works on race day I should be able to keep running at the least. I’m not looking to crush it at Hawaii but I would like to have a much better day than last year.

I plan to actively recover for three days and then start the final phase of my Kona plan. That plan is to roll down the volume slightly but start holding half Ironman and full Ironman specific speed more and more during my work outs. If all goes well I should be ready by race day.

This year has been a long strange trip. It started like most years gearing up in the off season, by laying out my upcoming goals and based off those designing a training program. I made one mistake I did not design it based on past history I was going to try something new…I got greedy!

Coming of my most successful season in Triathlon, Ironman in particular, I was a little lost. I had reached all the goals that I had set for my self and was not sure where to go next. I qualified for the Kona twice in the same year and had set a P.R. in every phase of my racing. Maybe that should have been my goal? Just try to hold tight, but like every type A maniac I thought I should improve.

I set in my mind that I would have a breakthrough in my Cycling and running…wait a minute didn’t I just do that? Oh well logic need not apply. I decided that in order to go faster I would need more speed…that makes sense doesn’t it? So what better way to layer on speed? Look at someone fast and emulate them. Wow some times my thought process is so clean focused! Hmmm who to copy? Nick of course! The similarities are obvious I’m 42 he is 32…I’m an age grouper, he’s a Pro…I’m short and stocky, he’s tall and thin. Perfect, I’ll just do what he does. That should work right?

Fast forward 6 months, by June I was smoked! I had successfully shut down my immune system and could barley get out of bed. What went wrong? After 3 weeks rest and another 3 weeks at very low heart rates I think I have the answer. I’m a 42 year old short stocky age grouper! I was lacks in building my base and progressed right into intensity. Once I was overdone I did not back off but rather tried to push through. Part of progressing as an athlete is identifying who you are. Everyone’s response to training (stress) is different. That means what works for you may not work for me and vise versa.

What I learned;

As I age, recovery is harder to come by. I don’t bounce back as fast. This means that I must be very diligent to lay down a large base. The better optimized my base the better my ability to absorb training. Once my base is in place I need to pick my spots for intensity, basically I have to place intensity into my schedule with recovery surrounding the hard days. I can’t just through training at the wall and see what sticks. Methodical scheduling is what I do for others but for some reason I like being the Crash Test Dummy! Actually I think what happened this year is; after 4years of planning every detail I just got lazy with my own schedule. I wanted a break for myself.

The Good;

Not all is negative, I learned a lot about myself and I think going forward there is a lot of value in trying new things. By doing speed work on both the bike and run I was able to move my lactic Threshold (LT) 5 beats on both. My LT is the highest it has been in years. Speed is definitely a component I need in my work but it is something that will take much planning. For example; I do not come from a running background so the traditional interval progression at times is too aggressive for me. In the future I will try to double the length of my initial phase so that I have plenty of time to adapt i.e. do 200m repeats for a few weeks before increasing distance or reducing rest.

Where I’m at;

I’m 8 weeks out from Kona and not at the place I wanted to be but not in a bad place either. After years of training, I am fit if not at my fittest. I have taken a midseason break and I feel healthy. I am on a bit of a tight rope in respect to my training, I have decide to base big all the way to mid September this should get me close to where I want to be but it has some risks. The amount of volume I will be carrying can leave me stale and the chances to over reach are high but I feel at this point it is my best option. Ideally I would do this phase in the spring and that would allow for more focused work now but that will have to be next year. I had a fitness test last Saturday and faired better than expected. I rode the Blue Ridge Brutal and place 11th over all not bad considering I’m about 6lbs over race weight. That means both my power and endurance is good. I was also able to run 10 miles the following day with out much residual fatigue. These things combined give me a much needed boost in confidence.

Now let’s see if I can just stay the course to October and Kona.

The reason catch all coaching (on line, impersonal) is not what we do is simple…well really it’s very complex but the governing principles are simple. Online coaches don’t know you!

The dictionary defines a coach as; verb, teach and supervise (someone); act as a trainer or coach (to), as in sports;

I like this definition especially “teach and supervise.” I and fellow coaches Nick and Jen are ardent in the fact that to truly coach we must know the person we are coaching. There is just no way around it. Simply said If I don’t know you how can I advise you?

I have had several people over the years approach me and ask “can you just write something out for a race?” “I don’t need all the rest of it.” My answer is always the same, “that’s not what I do.”

Everyone needs somebody to hold them accountable. I am no exception. When I get deep into a training secession, fatigue can creep in so slowly, at close range the effects of over training can be missed. The result can be catastrophic. How do I combat this? I rely on “my coach” and training partners. They are the ones who know me best and the people who I have the most Face to face time with. They will let me know when I’m starting to get that far away look. We rely on each other to help identify personality changes or anything that might send up a red flag to the state of our well being. Once detected we start the process of climbing out of the hole and identifying what that dug the hole in the first place.

Below is an actual email between Nick and I about a recent decline in performance I was having (overtraining). This is the same processwe go through for everyone.

Hey Steve,

I’ve been looking over your data a bit and I think I found an area of your training that probably cooked you. From April 6th – April 26th you increased the run intensity big time because you asked me to give you some workouts to get you cranking by White Lake. At the same time we went to the mountains two weekends in a row and crushed it. There is A LOT of intensity mixed with volume there. Could be another reason why you were a bit stale at White Lake. After WL we started to do the 80 mile bike w/ tempo + 20-30 min run @ tempo off the bike. I think you were still in a hole and these workouts that mixed “long” with “hard” are probably not a good idea. The weekend after that we went back to the mountains and tried to do the loop of truth twice in a row and again we mixed long with hard. During this period you were also trying to cut weight and I think you may have missed something in the fueling chain before your workouts. I think you were on the road to over trained when we were in the mountains in May. After you took a bit of down time you were back in action. Here are some things that I noticed:

* “Trying” to cut weight while training big and intensely is NOT recommended. This is the fast track to cooking yourself within 3 weeks. If you can’t be precise and do an amazing job of fueling for your workouts then you should just go with your current weight and be strong…..turn the fat into muscle. It doesn’t do you any good to lose the weight and then be weak. Your workouts suffer and your attitude suffers. Lose it in the off-season instead of gaining it in the off-season.

* Mixing endurance with intensity in the same workout is a risky idea. I think it takes too much of a recovery toll. You’ve been saying it all throughout the tour that those guys aren’t working but 20 mins or so a day. When we go to the mountains we push nearly every climb and then come back the next day and try it all over again. I’m starting to rethink this. When going hard on the bike……keep the duration shorter (~under 40 miles)…….when going long (~over 60 miles) keep the intensity to base levels. When going long and hard in the same workout you lose too much fluid and too many calories and put your muscles under too much stress because of those two factors.

* You are stronger now on the bike than you have been over the past two months. I’m weaker now than I have been. I need a break and then a re-base period. You just need to keep yourself from smoking yourself.

* Your weekly sequence doesn’t have enough recovery in mind. Your Mondays and Fridays are your only recovery days. That means you are either putting in big volume or intensity or both on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday coupled with a big weekend.

Be very careful in this heat not to train on low fluids and/or low glycogen stores your likelihood of overtraining is higher because you are putting undo stress on the body.
After just 3 weeks of rest you are already in a good spot. Keep your heart rate low (base) for a few more weeks and you should be ready to rip it up at Kona.

Okay, that’s it for now.

-Nick

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