A Plan Coming Together

So, for the first time ever in my career, I have established a yearly training plan. In years past, I would schedule, haphazardly, the 2 or 3 weeks leading up to my most important race of the year, but that's it. This year is different. I have done my research and created a structured, purposeful plan to tackle the 2013 season. I have 3 big races I am focusing on with many others along the way. The first race of the season is March 10th with the first major race being in late April. The last race isn't until late September. It's going to be a long season.

As mentioned previously, the first half of the season will focus solely on cycling events with a gradual transition to triathlons in the summer. How am I going to integrate the two other sports and make everything work? No clue yet. I am really excited about the cycling though. I am using my new power meter to guide my training as I progress through the different training cycles. This weekend I completed my baseline power profile testing. It was a rainy few days and I didn't quite get the numbers I was expecting: timing, weather, big week as possible causes. Just means more room for improvement and I'll try again in 4 weeks.

I will be cycling more per week than I ever have as part of this cycling focused training. Come race time I should find out what my true potential is. I have the tools, I have the plan, and I have the perfect city to do it in. Time to execute.

The famous river gorge

The scenic city: a great place to train

Views from power testing

Another nice view from a long day of testing

May 2013 Be Better Than 2012

From broken wheels, broken shoes, a broken Garmin, and broken dreams to the "one lap to go" finish at Johnson City and the amazing crash finish for 2nd at Moab. From being hit by a car to surgery and 6 weeks of NWB crutch ambulation. It's been pretty obvious that 2012 was not my year. Most of the goals I set for 2012 were not achieved. They must roll forward to 2013 where they have snowballed into even bigger aspirations; because as a friend once told me, a champion lives on to race another day.

In 2013, I am chasing jerseys. I have 6 in mind listed in order of difficulty.

1. TORBRA Cat 1 BAR Champion
2. TBRA Cat 4 BAR Champion
3. Xterra Southeast Regional Champion
4. TBRA Cat 4 Crit State Champion
5. TORBRA Cat 1 XC State Champion
6. Xterra USA National Champion

The thing that will make this complicated and hard to accomplish is scheduling. I'm assuming a lot of these races will fall on the same weekends and I'll have to chose which to do. I already know one of our mandatory Saturday guest lectures for school will occur on a Saturday race day in April. Skip class? I think so. Other goals include:

7. Continue to succeed in school by learning all I need to know
8. Maintain my GA position by staying on top of my hours
9. Train methodically and scientifically for better performance
10. Fully adapt and incorporate my new, less stressful running stride
11. Travel more, for races and to visit friends
12. Ride 5,000 miles

The miles should come pretty easily if I follow my training program required for success in earning all the jerseys. Merely a task I would like to concur that was listed as a goal last year and didn't achieve. Even with being off the bike for about 5 months, I was able to ride 3,516 miles in 2012, about 400 more miles than I rode in 2011. The front half of the coming season will be loaded heavy with cycling events with a mid summer transition to heavy triathlon racing and training. This should help me accomplish the cycling goals since for the first time ever, training will have a sole cycling focus. Delaying triathlons will also give my knee more time to recover so that I can get back to running form. Currently, I haven't been able to run more than a mile without knee pain, and that mile was on the treadmill.

I have my work cut out for me now. Time to get serious and put in all the training necessary for success. Time management will be key to balancing all the workouts with all the school. Time to go to work.

Down Time

I have been meaning to write an update about how surgery went and the rehab was coming for some time now, but just never got motivated to do it. I could always find a reason to put it off. It's amazing how inefficient my life is currently. I am doing very little outside of school which is only half a day Monday through Friday, but I still can't find down time to write a post or study the training book I'm trying to read. Staying busy with training, school, and social life really pushed me to fine tune my time management skills and make the most of my days. Last spring I was in class from 8-5 four days of the week and putting in around 12 hours of training a week. I stayed on top of everything. Where did that motivation, determination, and work ethic go? Down the drain with my activity level I have to assume.

Anyway, surgery went well and recovery is taking an eternity. Not exactly, but being on crutches for 45 days was a long time. I watched as my calf and quads shriveled away as my hands and armpits became calloused. It was so liberating when I could finally walk and be free from my crutches. Then walking made me sore. And I loved it. I am now back in therapy trying to regain my strength. It is a slow process. I have yet to feel any soreness in my thighs because my calf and foot intrinsic muscles are so weak and atrophied that they limit my abilities for higher function. My lower leg and foot tremble after walking long distances or in single leg stance. I like the sense of improvement, but I want more progress in more areas.

In addition to not having the motivation to write, I also was never really sure how much I wanted to divulge when I finally did write something. I definitely struggled there for a while, but I now feel close to the home stretch of being able to resume normal life again. The strength will have to come over the next several months. I cannot expect to just jump back into the form I had. It had taken 5 solid months to get there coming from an able body. It will take a lot longer now. I'm getting excited about buying new equipment, my new bike, and planning for the next race season. I have a lot of unaccomplished goals from this year that will get carried over with a new vengeance. I feel like I got robbed: my bike, my fitness, my strength, my power, my races, my season, my standings, my championships, my jerseys, my glory. And that will have to drive me early in this rehab process to regain my form. I'm just waiting for my foot strength to catch up with the rest of my body in order to proceed to the next level.

ITU Cross Tri World Championship

I did not DNF. That's the first thing that I was able to say to people. It still bothers and upsets to write this because it means I have to go back and relive the race; walk through it step by step which brings on so many emotions and frustrations. So far I've just been trying to not think about it, because if I do, then I get too distraught and emotional with what could have been, what should have been. That being said, here's what I recall from race day.

The days leading up to the race were good. I had a good "taper" with some short efforts, my legs were feeling good, and my nutrition and sleep were great. Friday I skipped school and drove down to Pelham for packet pick-up, pre-race briefing, one last look at the course (which got changed the day before), and the opening ceremonies. The course change shortened the bike course by a few miles which was to my disadvantage because I knew if I was going to beat these guys, I was going to do it on the bike. More distance on the bike gave me more time to make up time. Anyway, I scouted it out and heading back to the hotel to relax and take an ice bath.

I fell asleep relatively easily and was set to get almost 8 hours of sleep. Everything went accordingly race morning: breakfast, coffee, transition setup, body marked, timing chip in place, and swim warm-up. I was ready to rock. I couldn't wait to get the swim over so I could rocket the amazing trails of Oak Mountain. Not only was it going to be a blast, but it should feel emotional to pick people off one by one on the trail.

It was one of my better swims coming into T1 in under 25 minutes. It was the most congested swim I've ever done: getting hit in the head, ankles grabbed, pushed aside, and at one point I kissed someone's big toe. I guess that's what you get when you swim faster and stay with a bigger pack. Running into T1, my mom informed me I was in 4th position. Not what I was looking for, but hey, my part of the race was just starting. I spent the short time on the road tightening my shoes and putting my gloves on so I'd be ready to hit the trail as soon as I got there. Fifteen feet after diving into the trail, my chain dropped and got wrapped around the crank and jammed up against the frame. I stood on the side of the trail pulling and yanking on it trying to free the chain so I could continue. After about 2 minutes, it came free and I could start riding again. My time on the side of the trail put me further down in the race which means I have to pass more riders on the bike. Not an issue for a road tri, but here in the single track, it was going to take time and slow me down even more trying to finagle pass people. I took some dangerous and really aggressive lines to pass people, but methodically I was making my way up the field. I passed one guy in my age group who I'm pretty sure must have passed me when I was on the side of the trail, so back to fourth position. A little bit later I passed Ian King who was repairing a flat on the side of the trail he sustained from crashing into some briers. 3rd position. As I exited the single track to start the climb to the top of the mountain, I passed the Mexican, Bobadillo. 2nd position. I hammered on the climb. The riders behind me disappeared. I kept pushing and didn't realize when I had made it to the top; I was still looking for one more steep incline. I had completely zoned out and destroyed it. I knew I had been climbing better on the road which I accredited to my new supplements from Biomedical Research Laboratories (http://www.brlscience.com/SERVICES.html) and was thrilled to see it carry over for this race. I rolled along the top of the mountain for a bit before I saw him. I was catching Seavey. My heart jumped, increased its rate, my body released a massive amount of adrenaline and my emotions soared. I almost teared up. Passing him this early on meant I was killing it on the bike and no one was going to be able to touch me, let alone catch me. I still had several miles to build up a substantial time gap. The rest of the trail was more technical which favored me immensely. I was on my way to a World Championship victory. I passed him with force to discourage him from jumping on my wheel. I continued to hammer and dropped back into the trail towards Blood Rock blazing. I rolled through Blood Rock like a champ taking the perfect line. Now it was time for fun on the wicked descent. I had just caught another rider and told him he better be ready to rocket it if I was going to be behind him, to which he responded with a go ahead as he pulled to the side. I let it loose. Launched over the first set of rocks and continued on. I think it was the third set that I didn't come down on too well at which all my fears became reality. I heard the hissing of my rear wheel pouring air. I tried to deny it and say it was just the freehub clicking and spinning. Bump, bump. I was flat. Dead flat. It was the feeling you get when you just finished a 12 pack and the blue lights start flashing behind you, when you're 6 weeks in and she's 3 weeks late, when the phone rings in the middle of the night and your child still hasn't made it home, when the doctor himself calls to give you the bad news. I wanted to cry, I wanted to throw my bike down the side of the mountain, I wanted to bang the wheel on a rock until it was properly broken, but most of all, I wanted another chance. I pulled the valve stem and put in my spare tube. I could see the rim was bent in a few places which made me question how long I would make it on this tube. I didn't even look for the hole in the tire. For all I know it could have been a big gash in a sidewall which the tube would poke out waiting to get punctured. I fiddled with my canister of CO2 and finally got it to work. Enough air in the tube and I packed everything up to get back in the saddle. While I was on the side of the trail, Seavey and Bobadillo passed me. I started back down the mountain and made it probably 3 miles passing Bobadillo again and moving back into 2nd position. Then my fears became reality again: another flat. I was SOL for this one and just started walking and running it out, having to stop and move off the trail every time a rider still on his bike came pass me. I was devastated. I never imagined this race would go like this. I was not going to DNF though. I'm not sure how many miles I had to walk and run in my carbon mtb shoes pushing my bike, but I'm guessing it was around 4 costing me close to 25 minutes on the bike leg. Another guy in my age group passed me about a half a mile before T2, 5th position. I continued running my bike in and the officials at the dismount line jokingly said there was no need for me to dismount. I'm glad they found some humor in my misfortune. As I changed shoes, my Dad told me I was over 18 minutes behind Seavey and almost 3 behind 4th place. I was running mostly to finish at this point and just wanted to complete my two laps and be done. My legs didn't feel great, but not bad either. Coming around for my first lap my Dad told me 4th place was only a 1:30 ahead now. I wanted to catch him, but I wasn't going to kill myself to do it. It was only racing for 4th place after all. I kept progressing and was actually passing people, something I rarely do late in the run portion of a race. With about a 1.25 miles left, I spotted the 4th place guy. I was feeling good and running pretty well actually so I knew I was going to take it from him. At first I couldn't decide if I wanted to sit on his heels and wait til the end to jump or just storm on past him. He wasn't looking so hot and I sure wasn't going to slow down, so I flew on past him and some other racers. I took a glance back to see if he tried to pick it up to stay in contention with me, but he was gone. I came around the lake and finished strong for a sub 46 minute 10K. Not great, but given the circumstances I'll take it. So, probably my best chance at a world championship ended like that. This race is in the Netherlands next year and Xterra Worlds is always in Maui; terrains that aren't my backyard and suited for my strengths. There will probably never be a world championship in the Southeast again in my lifetime. A chance well wasted.

I can't forget about this race because there is plenty to learn from it and take with me, but there is a lot I'm trying to put behind me. I have to let it go and focus on what's next. This Saturday is the TN state time trial championships and then Sunday is the first crit of the year. Really would like to bring home a win, especially after the disaster of last weekend.

Coming out of the swim strong

Beaten and broken, doing all I can to not give up

Found something in the legs to pull back 4th

The future of Xterra elite men

With my biggest supporters 

Race Report: Berry Peddler

Last week I finally decided on a cycling team to join. I am the newest member of HUB Endurance Chattanooga. So this past weekend was going to be my debut in the team colors at the Berry Peddler road race and time trial. I wanted to do well as my first team showing but also for myself as usual. I recently found out about the BAR point series that TBRA does which basically allocates points to riders based upon finishes in sanctioned TN races. BAR stands for best area rider and the rider with the most points at the end of the year in each category gets awarded the state championship jersey for best rider. Well, I am currently in first place for the cat 4 racers so the places and points at each event I enter just became that much more important to me now that I know what is at stake.

I knew the RR would be hard since there was a Cat 2 climb 7 miles into the 32 mile race, but I wasn't sure the tactics that would be employed since the climb was so far out from the finish. I raced based on the assumption that there would be a rough regrouping of the top riders after the climb so I didn't go completely all out in the climb. I didn't hold back a whole lot either though. As soon as we hit it, one BPC rider went solo up the road. I wasn't too worried because the wheels I was watching were still close by. Climbing continued and people fell off from behind. With about a mile left in the climb, the group of five I had been climbing with started pulling away, 3 of which were on the same team. I didn't want to explode, so I just continued on in a steady fashion. The gap only grew. I finished the climb and could still see them up the road a bit. I tried to close in, but it just wasn't going to happen with who was in that break group. So I rode 17 miles alone. It was a hard, lonely 17 miles, but I kept pushing on especially once I began to see some riders up the road after being in no man's land for 14 miles. I was able to spot two riders who seemed to have popped from the 6 man break. If I could catch them, then I would be back in the running for 5th place. New goal. Well, I kept struggling to bridge the gap, and I could see a line of four riders approaching from the rear that were making up ground. Edging closer and closer, I finally put in a big effort to bridge the gap to the two riders up the road. Mentally, I knew it would be better for me to get to the front group before the back group bridged the gap and I definitely didn't want to sit up, wait for the 4 man group, and have them fly by me without me being to latch on. Once we were all together, things seemed calm. We were under 10K to go and I was rotating down the line. Once I saw that the two lead riders were on the same team and not rotating, I made my way back up to them and sat in third wheel. The pace lifted as we edged closer to the finish. When I saw the 500 meter sign, I jumped. I didn't notice an immediate reaction in my periphery, but it was hard to tell. When I saw the 200 meter sign, I stood to launch my sprint. A few revolutions in, I took a quick glance around to see if I was going to have to fight it out. Nope, I was clear. I sat up and cruised through the finish line for 5th place.

I cruised back to my car and began switching wheels to my TT bike for the time trial later in the afternoon. I was set to go at 1:40: five minutes after the women and the first cat 4 racer. I went out hard and quickly found my acceptable pain level to sustain for the 7 mile TT. Going into the turn around, I didn't quite slow down enough and missed the cones. My rear wheel eventually locked up and skidded out as I tried to correct. A little scary, but once I was up and rolling again, it seemed to be fine. I buried myself and enjoyed having the wind mostly at my back now. I really dug deep over the last 500 meters because I knew how close the race in Sparta had been. I didn't want it to be that close again, or if it was, I wanted to be on the winning side and knew that I left it all out there on the course. I came across the line in 16:24 which was a 25.7 mph average: a lot faster than I was at Sparta. Once the results were calculated, it was only good enough for 3rd place here. I was 10 seconds behind first and 7 behind second.

So, overall not my best showing, but I guess I shouldn't have been expecting too much. I've been overtrained and taking time off. I'm tapering and trying to prepare and focus all my energy and time on ITU Cross Worlds. Three days and counting. The big race is this Saturday. I've done everything I can and can only hope I have recovered and tapered properly. I will go out and race my best. The top 2 from last year's national championship will be there along with a few others. It is pretty much a preview of what nationals will be like this year except it is on my home turf and not at altitude. If I can't beat them here, then I don't belong on the start line in Utah.

Bar Standings: Cat 4

I See Cardinals

I really didn’t want to admit it, but I think I have to face the facts and accept it. I am overtrained and my peak workouts for ITU Worlds are getting thrown completely out the window. Recently, I’ve been getting fatigued a little too early in my workouts, I’ve noticed lactic acid building up earlier in my efforts, and my heart rate has been about 15 bpm lower than normal during my intervals. This is one of the things all athletes fear, especially right before their biggest race of the year. This news sits right alongside stress fractures and, for me, ACL tears. I had this week off school too, so I had the extra time to put in the extra efforts. Well, now those efforts would only hurt me and set me back even more. My body needs to recover and rebuild. My progress and fitness for Worlds is already determined and I can’t gain any more. I just have to hope that I’ve put in enough, I fully recuperate for the race, and everything goes as well as possible.

However, some hope hangs on previous articles I’ve read about people experiencing injuries or different travel complications that required them to take off a complete week before marathons or other big races. Surprisingly, some of them set PR’s and raced extremely well. Often we forget how important and beneficial rest is. I can only hope that the results for me will be similar and my legs show up ready to race in Alabama on May 19^th. Until then I guess I just have to design a 16 day taper for an Olympic distance off-road triathlon. If it doesn’t go well at least it will be an experience of a lifetime. And I’ll have the Time Trial State Championship to race in the following week. Man that will be an hour of hell: 40 kilometers to push yourself into the pain and sustain it all alone on an out and back course. Should be fun.

Even when I combine this with all the previous bad luck I had with my bike and equipment, I still have faith in what I’m doing. I still believe in my training and my racing. Either the southeast TN region has the highest population of beautiful male cardinals I have ever lived in, or God is definitely on my side telling me everything is going to work out and be all right. I couldn’t imagine trying to count all the cardinals I’ve seen over this semester on my rides and runs. I’ve used them as a sign from God ever since my old Pastor preached about it one Sunday many years ago. It seems to still be working, so why question it.

Also, I won the Sparta time trial and took second in the road race with only biking twice a week. School takes up a ton of time and then multisport training limits me even more. It scares me to think what I could accomplish if I devoted all my focus to road racing. I’m also in the search for a cycling team. I’m trying to decide between two different teams: one local and one in Knoxville. It’s a tough decision because both offer great, but very different benefits. This will be the first team I’m really a part of too. Furthermore, once I looked back at the Xterra Ft. Yargo results, I should try to not be too tough on myself. The times say I ran a 7:17 average mile for the 5 mile run at the end of the race. That’s great for me especially compared to last year. Those results would satisfy my goals and aspirations for Worlds. Maybe everything will work out.

On another note, if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on recovering and tapering for the upcoming race now that I’m 14 days out, I’d be thrilled to hear from you.