Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Not so Mighty Rio Grande

Here is a shot of where we park out cars to start our tempo runs in Las Cruces. This is the Rio Grande. A couple days ago a family was picnicing out in the sand. I am sure it flows during late spring, but this thing is not too impressive right now.

GU Powered Swimming

We are here in Las Cruces, NM, training at NMSU and Coach Paulo Sousa has been working us in the pool. One of my tricks to finishing workouts strong has been taking a Pineapple Roctane GU right at the 4000 yard mark of the practice. This is about when we hop out of the water during an IM and I would take my first GU, so this fueling strategy makes sense for me.

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Land of Enchantment

The Triathlon squad just finished up our second full day of the Las Cruces, NM camp. We've done some swimming, we've done some riding, and we've done some running. I'll let Coach Paulo Sousa (@pstriathlon) give out the details of workouts, but let's just say, every training session has a purpose. Nothing junk here.
Swims have all been at the NMSU pool here in town. The complex was built a few years back, with a full Olympic pool outside and a six lane 25 yard pool inside. Our training sessions have all been in the outdoor pool; the girls team had a monopoly on the warmer indoor pool. Sessions have been very focused on specificity. I race IMs and 70.3s so I need to be ready for those distances and at those intesities. See, a purpose.
The rides have been fun as well. Yesterday was a bit more of getting to know each other, but today's put us in the pain cave a few times. The roads here are surprisingly smooth for how many big trucks and tractors I expected. Plus, you get many types of roads. Most of the races we do are rolling at worst. Very rarely do we have races where a climb is more than 10 min. Las Cruces' roads are mostly rolling. You can stick by the Rio Grande for a false flat either direction, or you can head to the hills for some short, moderate climbs.
Of the three disciplines of triathlon, running has been my (and Coach Paulo's) focus for the last 9 weeks and the trend is continuing here at camp. Runs by the river and up the hills by town have been great. Zn2 is where we butter our bread, so I need to know my pace and I stick it there. When it's time to ramp it up, Coach says go, and we go.
Finally, Las Cruces is right at 4000 ft. altitude. It is not painfully high, but I am sure we will benefit from it. I'll let you know in two weeks when I return to sea level.

Friday, January 14, 2011

"The Wildest RIde in the Wilderness"

Too flat for a Continental Divide?

Welcome to Las Cruces


Just rolled into Las Cruces, NM. Dad and I made the long trek from Fremont, CA seem easy. Thursday, 7am, we rolled out, grabbed a Pete's and headed south. We reached LA in time to have lunch with Kelly before her class. The plan was to try the new Freebird's that was having a grand opening by campus, but the line was around the corner. My Plan B was La Taquiza. A few Mulitas later, and we headed west. I10 was going to be our home for the next 12 hours of drive time.
Our original plan was to find a hotel in Pheonix, but after a tasty dinner at a Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives taco shop south of Tempe I had energy to make it to Tuscon. This was a good move because it made today much easier. So after a night at the Holiday Inn Express I felt much smarter and we found our way back onto I10 for a tour of southern AZ and NM. It all looked the same, until we dipped down toward the "Rio Grande" and saw the great view above.
Las Cruces looks to be a great place for a 2 week camp. Good roads (a few great roads and a lot of dirt roads) for riding and running, as well as NMSU's pool for some training. Add in some tasty Mexican food and I look to be fit and fast as can be in a couple weeks.
I'll let you know how we get on, feel free to follow many of the athletes on twitter and facebook. I will post here every few days.

Monday, January 10, 2011

How to be ready for more each day, Extreme Endurance

Here is the plan for 2011:
Wake
Eat
Train
Eat
Train
Eat
Sleep
Repeat
Seems simple, doesn't it? To be able to do this day in and day out I need to stay healthy and be able to wake each morning to both physically and mentally meet and exceed expectations on each training session planned every day. Nutritional supplementation is a great way to enhance recovery and health so that each day of training can be as productive as possible.

Since my goals for 2011 and beyond are extreme, Extreme Endurance was a natural choice to explore. After hearing Sandy on an IMTalk podcast during a training ride I put in an order for a trial month. I am happy I did so because at that time I was embarking on my first week of full-time training under coach Paulo Souza as a member of his Pro Triathlon Squad.
The three products I use on a daily basis are the Extreme Vital 40 daily multi-vitamin +, the Extreme Omega 3 daily essential oil, and their signature lactic acid buffering supplement, Extreme Endurance.

Let's take a look at each:

Extreme Vital 40 helps me be sure that I am keeping all of my vital minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients above minimum levels. With the quantity and quality of my daily training I deplete levels of vital nutrients regularly and being confident that I am able to top off each on a daily basis is vital. Of course eating a balanced and healthful diet is important, but using Vital 40 to cover anything I miss is reassuring.

Extreme Omega 3 is a daily essential oil supplement which helps reduce inflammation from intense training. And that is just the direct training benefit. Other studied benefits of Omega 3 oils include improving brain function, joint function, and promotes health skin and eyes. This last point is quite important for someone in the sun as often as I am.

Finally, the key supplement of the company is Extreme Endurance. Some of the benefits I and other athletes have enjoyed include: buffered exercise-induced acid, quicker recovery times, and reduced muscle pain.

Since beginning my Extreme Endurance regimen I have had 6 of my 7 highest run mileage weeks in a 9 week period, with each week being more effective than the last. In the coming weeks I will be at a 2 week, intense training camp with 15 other pros training hard each day. This will be yet another test for Extreme Endurance. I am confident I will come out of the camp healthy, fitter, and faster.
Chris

Monday, January 3, 2011

MSJA Swimmers ROC Winter Sectionals

Triathletes have always been known as early adapters and nutrition is
no different. Since GU launched their first product back in 1991,
triathletes have been using GUs (and now Roctane Ultra Endurance
Energy Gels, Chomps Energy Chews, GU Brew and GU Recovery Brew) to
fuel training and racing. But take a look at the three sports that
comprise a triathlon: swim, bike, and run. Each sport is decades
behind triathlon. Let's take a quick look at each sport's nutrition
and a swimming example of how GU can enhance performance.
Run:
If you search different running websites about nutrition they mostly
speak about general nutrition. All of these articles about eating more
vegetables and whole wheat bagels are good information, but rarely
speak about fueling during runs and races. Shoot, even when you read
about the nutrition of the great Kenyan runners you they talk about
corn mush as all these great athletes need to run dozens of sub 2:10
marathons. This discussion is not about economic conditions of
sub-Saharan Africa, but can you imagine how much faster they could run
(or at least how many more sub 2:10s could be produced each year)?
Cycling:
This sport is the closest to triathlon in terms of nutritional
acceptance. Bars, gels, and sports drinks have been in the sport for
years. But if you see what the Tour de France riders are eating on
epic stages you can't help but think that a ham and cheese croissant
sandwich is not the most efficient fuel. Tradition rules in this
sport. They seem to end each stage with a Coca-Cola. I'll skip the
doping debate.
Swimming:
This is one of the most interesting to take a look at. I trained 30+
hours a week when in college and during this time there may have been
some Gatorade on deck but I rarely drank much. Two or three hour swim
practices are often done on zero calories. This is preposterous to a
triathlete. Plus swimming is the one sport where weight is the lowest
concern. Why are they not eating? MSJA has added a new requirement for
the senior and national groups where a minimum of 100 calories must be
consumed per hour per workout. My choice of fuel is Pineapple Roctane.

2010 Winter Sectionals
All of this brings me to how MSJA (Mission San Jose Aquatics)
discovered GU and GU Roctane as a racing fuel. The winter focus meet
for the team was held down in Long Beach, CA at Belmont Olympic Plaza,
an old but fast pool. I now train about 6-7 hours a week in the pool
(plus the other 15-20 I do on the bike and run) but was happy to head
down and swim a meet with the team's national squad and see how close
I could come to my old USC times. Even since my college days I have
used GU as a kick start to my race. It tops off my blood sugar right
before the race, adds a tad of caffeine for a boost, and gives me a
routine that tells my brain that it is time for a race. All three of
these are very valuable for a swim. My first race was the 200 fly, one
of my specialties from my USC days. I did not expect to be even close
to my old time, but having that pre-race GU got me out at the 100 with
great speed. The fact that I don't train for the event or even 1/3 of
the hours in the pool that got me to my lifetime bests left me short
of a making finals, but it was clear that I was there to race.
Also on the first day of the meet was the women's 100 free, a good
event for one of MSJA's top women. The problem for her in prelims was
she took the first 50 (25.4) out too slow. She was clearly on as she
came back in 26 flat. But she needed that boost to tell her it was
time to race. For finals, she popped a GU Roctane Island Nectar and
took the race out in 24.8 and finished strong for a lifetime best of
50 point.
By the end of the meet all 10 swimmers were utilizing GUs or GU
Roctanes to get them ready to race. After the meet Coach Debbie Potts
calculated the results from the meet at ~85% lifetime bests (with most
of that ~15% attributed to me, but then again they were "decade
bests").
My Results:
200 Fly 1:55
400 IM 4:08
200 IM 1:56
100 Fly :52
The team had a great meet and a great time down in Long Beach. Look
for more GU fueled results at high school championships in May and
Summer Sectionals and Nationals.
Keep fuelling,
Chris