Post Olympic Blues

Regardless of what you thought about NBC's coverage, the summer Olympics are done for another four years, and I, sure as hell, am going to miss them. I am such a fan of the games and I certainly get caught up in the emotion and passion they represent.

Of course there was the Phelps and Bolt phenomenon. Usain Bolt's 100 meter run was one of the most amazing athletic, physiologic, ultrasonic performances that I have ever seen. Sure he's a cocky SOB. Most 100 meter runners are - look back in history. Don't let that cloud how superior he was in a 10 second event against the best in the world. I was amazed by many performances though and at the same time, felt many went down without nearly enough praise and recognition.

Kenenisa Bekele was simply outstanding. His double in the 5000 and 10,000 didn't get a fraction of the attention it should have. The way he won was first class, taking the lead early on, setting the pace, and then running such a fast last 400 that no one stood a chance. It still gives me the goosebumps to think about it. Try this during this one week: run a 5K twice as hard as you could, going for pr's, on two different days. Oh, and then also try running two 10K's as hard as possible, again, going for pr's.

Watching these events made all my training the past two weeks just that much more focused and better.

In case you missed it, which was easy, since again, there was hardly any coverage, the USA's Brian Clay won the decathlon. That's that event that is actually a compiling of 10 hard ass events in case you didn't know which is easy to do since it didn't get covered much.

It's not just the victories that are interesting and inspiring though. I really felt for LoLo Jones, who all but had the victory secured before stumbling over one of the hurdles in the 110 hurdle event. She was poised and controlled during her post race interview, only to be filmed a bit later crying in the hallway. Man, I still think about all the blood, sweat and tears she poured into the last four years for this one event, only to have this misfortune - something that'll haunt her for the rest of her life I'm sure.

Anyway, I soaked it all in from the stunning opening ceremonies to the equally stunning closing ceremonies, from the swimming and track and field that I favor, to the gymnastics, rowing, volleyball, and even badminton. Synchronized diving I can do without. Yes, they are incredible athletes, but come on!

Summer Vacation

I just returned from a very nice, somewhat relaxing, low tech for the most part, family vacation. I say low tech because we went to a place where my cell phone didn't work, I couldn't receive emails, and i didn't take my computer, and you know what? It was great for a week! Think about how often you stop at your computer throughout the day or check your pda while driving, at dinner, or trying to relax. Believe me, I'm not anti-tech. In fact, I rely on technology for my coaching business. However, everyone deserves a week off from the gadgets, and should take it, whether they feel they need to or not!

I maintained my fitness by running on the treadmill daily early in the morning, doing some strength work, and actually swimming 1000 meters a day in the two lane 25 meter outdoor pool which was amazing. I also body surfed, tossed my kids into the water a bunch, and played catch in the water with Ryan for like six hours each day which has to count for something. I also ate quite a bit for breakfast and lunch. I'm not a big lunch person - it get's in the way of too many fun things to do during the day. However I ate a nice sized omlette and three pieces of coconut french toast every day this past week for breakfast! Good thing I stayed somewhat active.

Back to reality.

Lot's of thoughts to post on this week including some Olympic thoughts.

Cheers,

EH

The Vermont Ride 2008

I'm a bit spent at the moment. Actually, I'm really spent. I have that dehydrated, nauseous post IM feeling. Nice! I wrote about the history of the Vermont ride last year and at the moment, I'm too lazy to dig through the archives and bookmark it, but if you are interested, it's there somewhere. For a cliff notes version, Farber and I started the ride in 97' while I was training for Hawaii and I wanted to do a destination ride and Farber right away suggested McNiels Pub in Brattleboro, VT, so we packed some backpacks and rode up on a Saturday, then rode home the next day, making it a 280 mile round trip from my old house. From my house in Monroe on the current route, it's now a 298 mile round trip. I've done the ride every year since 97'. It's a tradition now, an annual. Baker has been with me on every ride since 98'. We've had big groups do the ride but the past two years, we have kept it really small and made it a spontaneous thing for when we both had two open back-to-back days.

We decided to do Wednesday to Thursday this year, because Baker has the summer off, and I had a lot of clients away this week. Jeff Molson, who has done this ride twice before was joining us. He did a write up that will be posted on my home page - definitely check it out for his view.

The weather was perfect, and I felt really solid Wednesday riding up to Brattleboro. Even with a headwind the whole way, I held one of my highest average speeds ever for this ride, just over 22 mph. Granted we did take two long breaks, one at the Starbucks in Simsbury 62 miles into the ride and another in North Hampton at the 102 mile mark. I rolled through the 112 mile mark in 5 hours 8 minutes. Jeff and I did a 30 minute transition run then the three of us headed out for some great food - yes, I know that's an oxymoron with Brattleboro, but we found a brand new restaurant that was super. We chased down dinner with some beer at the Flat Street Brew House before catching a cab back to the hotel.

We were all a bit dazed and confused rolling out this morning at 7am, but that's par for the course on day two of the VT ride. I found myself alone 5 minutes into the ride and put on my ipod with a bunch of new music downloaded. The wind stayed the same as the previous day meaning we had a nice little tailwind and I got in a great groove again. Day two, I stop quickly just to refill bottles and then it's right back to riding. I'm always anxious for some reason on day two just to get home. With the tailwind, I was holding 25 mph through most of Mass. I went through 112 miles today in 4:49 - definitely my fastest return trip to date on the VT ride. It was a bizarre ride though. My legs felt great but I felt nauseous the whole trip. I had a decent size breakfast before leaving of a Cliff Bar, a bagel with peanut butter, a bowl of cheerios and some OJ. I drank gatorade and water all day and had two snickers with almonds and two cokes along the ride - nothing that should make me feel queasy like I did.

I wasn't paying attention in Thomaston and took a little three mile detour making the ride 152 miles today. I covered it in 6 hrs 44 minutes. I was 30 years old when I started this ride and I rode my fastest/best this year, eleven years later which is very cool.

Funny, as nauseous as I felt, it didn't stop me from getting a big cheeseburger, french fries and shake for dinner!

The funny thing about this ride is that the course isn't anything great. In fact, there are some really shitty sections that we have to ride through. And we may ride alone most of the time. But we always have fun, and traditions are important. So I can check the VT ride off my list for 2008 which feels good. But man, the years certainly fly by and before you know it, we'll be back on rt. 10 in 2009.

Track My Ride

I took the day off and Baker, Molson and I are doing a long ride. If you are really bored in your cubicle, you can track us at:

www.myathlete.biz or www.myathlete.biz/mobile

username: Vermont
password: Vermont123

The Olympics have been great fun thus far, although they show the good stuff too late in prime time. Michael Phelps is amazing. His 200 free was absolutely incredible - he'd put another 1/2 a body length into everyone on the turns alone. I wanted to see Art Vandelay take the silver for a one two American punch there. Obviously the moment of the Olympics thus far was the mens 4 X 100 relay. What's there to say? That's pure emotion - what the olympics are all about. Viewing Equestrian is like watching paint dry.

Cheers,

EH

turning self pity into productive anger

I took the family out for a bike ride last weekend. Ryan is learning to ride with clipless pedals meaning that a few spills are a definite. Kate was on the trail-a-bike attached to my mountain bike. We were 6 miles into our 16 mile excursion when Ryan went down. We were on the Trumbull bike path and he was flying around a corner coming up on Kate and I way to fast. He couldn't pass because there were riders coming the opposite way, and because of the speed he was carrying, he couldn't slow up enough, so he slammed into Kate's rear wheel and went down.

He was crying as I jumped off the bike, but he was standing now and just had some scrapes on his knees and elbows. I did my best to calm him down as he cried and told me he wanted to go home. "Ryan, you are OK. That's very scary, what happened to you. But you are OK. We will head home, but you need to ride.", were my words to him. Lisa said to me "Maybe you should ride home and get the car and we'll wait here.", to which I replied "no, he's OK, he's just scared which is OK, but he can ride."

He got back on his bike feeling sorry for himself. As a father of a young boy, I wanted him to be tough and was angry at his self pity, yet I was also concerned for him and wanted to comfort him. Looking for pity and taking his frustration out on us, and mainly me, he rode pathetically slow, dropping way back as we made the six mile trek home. He stopped at one point saying "I don't think I can ride." I replied "Ryan, I know what it feels like to crash like you did. It's scary that's for sure. But you are fine." He said "no, my elbow is bleeding!" to which I responded "your legs are fine. You can ride." Lisa came up to me and said "Eric, he's only seven. Maybe you should go get the car." I knew he could ride and I felt it was important for him to. I have done everything I could to not put outside pressure on Ryan. He feels it anyways from me because he's very observant, and sees what I do. But I go out of my way to not pressure him. Yet, in this situation, I felt it was important for him to ride. Freudian or not, I believe that many of the habits we do have as adults are derived from experiences we encountered as children. This forms our character, and kids nowadays are getting soft because we are so over-protective. It's easy to do - any parent realizes there ultimate job in life is making sure their kids are safe and taken care of.

With 3 miles to go, the sulking was over, and now, it was turning to anger. For the last two miles, I let Ryan sit 50 feet or so off the back, riding his pathetically slow "I'll make you pay" pace, while Kate lectured me non-stop; "Daddy, he fell on the concrete you know. It wasn't grass, it was cement. You should go get the car. He's bleeding blood you know. That's not very nice. How would you like it if you fell and were bleeding and mommy didn't go get the car?"... Then, a blur came by on the left side, and I accelerated to follow. Ryan was now riding like a boy possessed and honestly it was hard staying with him. In fact, cyclists on the other side of the road were stopping to get a glance. He kept this up the whole way back to our house. I yelled out "Ryan, that was awesome! I can't believe how good you rode - I'm proud of you buddy!" I went on to try and explain to him one of life's lessons - that you can't give up when dealing with adversity, that there are going to be many times in life when he falls, blah, blah, blah. He was smiling now, proud of himself, although trying to hide it from Lisa, Kate and I.

It made me think about how anger can bring on some really interesting experiences when channeled correctly. Funny, I went through the same emotions as Ryan did when I raced Ironman Lake Placid in 2000. My shifter snapped off my bike with 70 miles left to ride, leaving me stuck in a very hard gear. At first I sulked asking "why me?", and then came the anger to which I used to my favor. Anger can be a good thing when used constructively - meaning in a positive, beneficial, and non-harmful way. That's the point of this post. Kids don't know any better and there emotions are so honest. If we, as adults can be this honest with ourselves, it can open up the door to some great things, and at the very least, allow us to toss out the rationalizing and justifying that exists so prevalently in our society.

I apologize for talking about my kids again in a post, and it won't become a habit. I just continue to learn from them which is humorous to me.

Cheers,

EH

Phelps's 400 IM World Record

The situation that Michael Phelps has created for himself is a tough one. Everytime he swims, the millions spectating expect a world record. He's diminished the awe factor of a world record. Think about the significance of a world record. Stating the obvious here but come on, that's the fastest anyone has ever, in the history of the world, covered that distance that fast in that event. Lisa and I were watching him in the 400 IM last night and man is he unbelievable, making things look easy. I don't care what else he does this Olympics, he took 1.5 seconds off his own world record and that's huge. From now on with world records in swimming and track and field, they should immediately have horns, bells and whistles sound. Maybe a bunch of confetti should drop as well and some fireworks. Yeah, definitely fireworks. By the way, the 400 IM is the most difficult and challenging swim event. Don't believe me? Go try and swim one today. Make sure there's a lifeguard at your pool. And I'm already sick of Rowdy Gaines.

OK, I'm inspired. Time to go run. I have a 2 hour one scheduled for this morning. Maybe I'll get back in the pool this week?

Opening Ceremonies

I thought the opening ceremonies were really amazing. Really colorful and artistic. The stadium looked special, as well as the shots of the city. They did a nice job of covering up the smog, pollution and heat that the media has been discussing incessantly. I thought it was cool that they cheered when Iran came in. But the coolest thing was that Lopez Lomong carried the flag for America into the stadium. If you don't know who he is, Google him. His story is really incredible and trust me, you will be cheering your ass off for him this Olympics after learning about him.

Todays Brick and Sarcastic thoughts

I had 30 minutes left to ride today, and the clouds came rolling in quickly. It was very cool to see - the sky went from bright blue to black in minutes as the clouds rolled over the sun. I had my ipod on and I could still hear the loud thunder roaring. As I finished my ride, the drops just began to fall. I was parked at the gym I belong to and because I wanted a quick transition, I did the towel trick and changed out of my cycling shorts and into my running shorts. I’m sure the gym ownership appreciates me doing this in their parking lot. My legs surprisingly felt good as I headed out on my brick. The last two days were a very hard bike session and mile repeats at the track, so I wasn’t expecting much and in fact, was just riding and running an easy brick since I had no time today to break up the sessions. Ten minutes into my run, it was downpouring. The lightning was coming down all over the place and the thunder grew even louder. It was incredible out! I ran for 50 minutes and enjoyed every second of it. Running in the rain in the summer time is a treat. Today with the storm was bonus. Upon finishing, I learned at the gym that we were target central for a tornado hitting the area!!! This is Connecticut! Turned out to be a great training session and one that I’ll remember this year. As I was out there, I was running through some sarcasm in my mind:

*If you miss a day of training, then your whole season is shot. Three missed days in a row means you are starting from square one. Your lifetime fitness and training is gone.

*If you eat a pizza one night, or even better, some ice cream, you’ll gain 5 pounds.

*All courses are accurately measured.

*All eyes are on you on race day!

*If you were on a specific training plan and it trained you right into the ground, once you finally recovered, try the same thing again!

Please feel free to add to these (Straz, Baker).

Cheers,

EH

Coaches, Coaching, Everywhere

Between magazines and the Internet, there is a ton of information on endurance training to digest out there. Some of it is very beneficial. Most of it causes confusion, mistrust in your present "way", and controversy where controversy may not be ideal.

I have seen many different trends in the sport come and go. Right now we are in the "coaching phase". Everyone is either a coach or has a coach or is their own coach. I know, it's confusing.

USAT came out with a certification process that is supposed to add credibility to the sport, but in my opinion actually diminishes the credibility. It's become more of a bureaucratic bs certification system similar to personal training certifications, putting out lot's of "certified" people who aren't really qualified. This drags the whole field down. I've dealt with it for a long time with personal training - tell most doctors that you are working with a personal trainer and they cringe. Now, I'm witnessing this same effect in endurance sport coaching.

The best is the triathlete that's in their local club (i.e. they have a network to reach to) and trained themselves to some halfway decent results and the next thing you know, they have a website and some clients. Then there are the athletes who have one coach they have worked with for a month, and they read about some great results that some other athletes working with another coach are getting and they jump ship, thinking that besides hard work, there must be some secret training scheme that will get them to take 4 hours off their IM pr in the next two months. I was contacted recently by a guy who was interested in my coaching services. He mentioned that he's been working with a coach for a few months. I asked how his progress was going, to which he said "great". I then responded "so you have been working with a coach for just a few months and you are making progress and you want to switch?!"

I also love seeing certain coaches that prescribe to one way of training. No matter who you are, you must train this way if you want results.

There are lots of great coaches out there - those that have studied hard and built up knowledge through years of experience and working with athletes, not being an athlete. It does seem though that for every great coach right now, there are four posers. I know some incredible coaches who aren't great athletes themselves, and I know some great athletes who attempt to coach and aren't so great, to be nice, at coaching.

Many age groupers look at what pros are doing and what the pros coaches are prescribing and want to emulate this. Keep in mind that A. most of the pros were very fast before working with a coach and B. these same pros have much more time to train - it's their job, so what works for them isn't necessarily the approach an age grouper should take.

The bottom line is that great results come from hard, consistent work. From trusting a plan and staying the course. From being patient. from paying your dues.

If you are in the market for a coach (I'm not promoting my business, and I currently am full anyways) do your research, make sure they have some solid experience, and trust who you choose. Give them at least a year. Remember, it's important to establish a relationship.

Above all, make sure that they are aware of your goals and that the two of you set up a realistic plan that fits into your lifestyle and challenges you.

LP 08'

This is late, but so what. It's something to read. You can only read so much of slowtwitch.com or xtri.com or tmz.com (that's right Molson, I know how you roll). So even though this may be dribble, it can't be much worse than the alternatives. Can it?

I don't know what it is about Lake Placid. I absolutely love the place. I love the drive from 87 up to LP. I love the small town and the lakes. And I absolutely love the surrounding wilderness. The swimming, riding, running, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, is superb. Yet, at the same time, when it's time for me to leave, I'm ready to get the hell out of there. There have only been a few places that while at the end of the trip, I wished that I had a few more days there. Mostly island places. I love to travel, but I guess I am a bit of a homebody and I do miss and love to come home, especially when I travel without the family.

Monday morning at 5:45am, I was on the road traveling east to 87 and anxious to get home. I did however have a great four days in Lake Placid. Baker came up there with me and I don't think we have ever not had a great time on any excursion we have done. I was definitely laughed out by Sunday evening.

We got there Thursday around noon and our hotel room wasn't ready, so we changed into cycling clothes in our cars and headed out to ride the bike course in reverse. The big downhill, when riding it in reverse can feel like a bitch of an uphill, but it's not so bad. It's just long, but the grades not bad. Ride Whiteface and this climb on 73 will seem easy. We managed to squeeze an hour run in before dinner as well - I hit the secret trails off of Mirror Lake drive.


Tri-geeks were everywhere. This place is inundated with triathletes. Many racing and many spectating and hoping to register on Monday for next years race. I ran into a lot of familiar faces during my run back to the hotel on Mirror Lake Drive. Then it was dinner at Nicolas which consisted of a few beers, a couple of salads and the #5 pizzas. This meal is hard to beat.


The next morning, Baker headed out on his ride at 6am, I left at 6:15. We were riding down 86 and up Whiteface. This climb is a son of a bitch, and it's great. You start climbing as soon as you turn left off of 86 and it's a straight climb, meaning you don't need to steer for the first 3.5 miles up to the tollbooth. It's a constant, steady grind. I caught Baker at around the 2.5 mile mark and forged onward. The Whiteface road rules state that you must be off the road by 8:30am, when the toll booth opens and permits cars to make the 8.5 mile drive up to the peak. A truck with some workers came up on me around the 5 mile mark reminding me of this. It was drizzling rain, but not so bad. Around the 5.5 mile mark, I flatted my rear wheel. Reminder that when riding up in altitude, underinflate a bit. 100psi would have been fine. A defective co2 had me waiting and hoping Baker had an extra, which he did. I was back on track. Another flat would have made for a long walk down the mountain. When you hit the 7 mile mark, you get some switchbacks. The last 1/2 mile was directly into a nasty headwind and was brutal. I hit the summit in 58 minutes and put on some warm clothes then began the descent. After two cold miles of descending, the hale began. Fun. Then the downpours came. The descent took all of 20 minutes and it was hard to see a thing. The rain wasnt so bad though. I often say that once you are wet, you're wet, so why bitch? Hope that Sundays racers had the same attitude.

Baker and I regrouped and rode the course in reverse again. I needed to be at the top of the big downhill on rt 73 for downhill practice. I pulled into this parking area where we were to meet at 9:58 and was the first one there. I had a great turnout for the practice though. the roads were damp, making it all that much more valuable. I host this each year, the idea being that those who are racing can practice this six mile descent a few times (we have friends and spouses meet at the bottom and drive us back up) to learn it and build confidence for raceday. Everyone says that this only helps their race day. Many brake too much on the corners, only to hammer like hell on the straights to make up for it. You know who you are. This is wasted energy. This downhill, when done correctly, regardless of conditions, requires no braking. That's right, no braking! Jeff M. drove Baker and I back from the downhill, stopping at a great lunch spot (thanks for lunch Jeff!). I can't say where it's at. They are doing plenty of business already and this place doesn't need to be anymore busy, especially when I'm up there. Call me selfish but it is what it is.

I met with some athletes, hit the expo and My Athlete tent, and then headed out for a run which turned into quite an adventure. I hit the trails again and I ran one trail straight uphill for quite awhile. The trail ended at the foot of a huge rock ledge. The top of the ledge looked like an incredible view, so I began climbing. My zoot running shoes weren't great on traction, but I made it about 2/3rds of the way up. The rock was really slick at this point and about 90 degrees. There weren't many hand grabs, so after sitting there irritated for a few minutes, I decided to descend. The problem is that the descent was really steep! I didn't realize how much I climbed and how vertical it was until I turned around. Ascending is easier then descending in this terrain, believe it or not. After getting religious for a moment and saying a few hail mary's, I made my way down, including a not so stylish slide on my back the last 1/3rd. I returned to the hotel fired up to tell Baker about this experience - funny, he did the same exact thing maybe 10 minutes after me!

Jeff Molson and his wife and kids had us and some of my athletes over for a cookout that evening. Jeff rented a key house on Mirror Lake. The house itself is great and the location makes it unbelievable. We had an exceptional steak and salmon dinner which was unbelievably generous of the Molsons.

Saturday, we headed out to ride a loop of the bike course and there were easily 200+ people out there training on the course. Even with all these people, I pretty much rode alone. I took advantage of this trip to get in some training. I didn't commit to any group rides or to meeting up with people, and even though it may have been selfish, it was nice. It was sunny and the wind was howling. That afternoon, Baker and I picked up John Hirsch and blindfolded him and took him over to an unbelievable trail run. I don't know what Baker did to him on the drive over. John wasn't complaining though.

Another solid day completed with a great dinner at Milano's where we were able to watch the Tour, then John Brennan, the bad influence, kept us out drinking a bit to long.

Sunday, race day: We all know now that the rain never let up. Funny thing is, it actually made for a fast day to race LP. Temps were in the 60's. My wife was driving back from my inlaws and called me while passing through NYC - she said it was 102 degrees there! The rain kept the wind down. 86 is actually nice with no wind. We hung out and cheered from the My Athlete tent during the day. I remind my athletes that by race week, they are ready and it's up to them. They all stepped up and did amazingly well. Everyone of them! Hopefully, we'll get some race journals soon to post. I was really proud of not only the way everyone performed, but also the fact that everyone seemed to really be making the most of the day.

Maybe you were looking for more of a writeup on the race. Well, we already know about the day and about how everyone did, so why beat a horse?

Many of you signed up for next year and I have to say that I almost did as well. I do want to race an IM next year and if it isn't going to be Hawaii, then LP would be my next choice.

Cheers,

EH

"Change The Focus"

As much as i try to teach my kids each day, I learn quite a bit from them. My son is in a soccer camp this week. Monday, it was 90+ degrees out and humid and he was in his cleats, shin guards and socks for four hours. He developed some major blisters on both heels. They were about the size of a nickel and the skin was flapping. We put some band aids on them the next morning, then he put on his cleats, shin guards and socks. According to my wife, he was walking out to the car very gingerly. She didn't know how he was going to run at practice. When I came home on Tuesday, I asked how the camp went to which he replied "great! We won the scrimmage, I played center mid-field." I then asked how his blisters were doing. He said "Oh... I think they are OK." I looked at them and the skin had fallen off and they were both bleeding.

Everything we do on a daily basis has a mind body connection. How we direct our mental focus determines how well we do physically. I wondered how many adult athletes that I knew would have blown off their training that day had they had the same blisters. I'm not claiming that my son is tougher than most. In fact, he's a sensitive 7 year old. But kids don't over think things and don't over focus on small issues. All that he knew was that he wanted to go "play" that day. His focus was on playing.

I've discussed before the 70 year old psychiatrist that I personal train. He's an avid tennis player who had a major surgery performed on his wrist two years ago - a surgery that was botched. He was told that playing tennis again would be difficult and to never attempt doing push-ups again, yet he currently plays an hour or more of daily singles and when I see him, I can get three sets of 12 to 15 push-ups out of him. The funny thing is that if I tell him just before he attempts a set of push-ups to really focus on his wrist, he can't do one. Instead, I tell him to visualize he's on the tennis court and in a great rally and to feel the power coming from his lower body. He puts himself there mentally and bangs out the push-ups. He changes the focus.

Just some food for thought next time you think about skipping a training session, or cutting something short, because of a minor nagging pain or ache. Don't be stupid and really injure yourself, yet at the same time, if you shift the focus correctly, things usually correct themselves and even better, our performance improves. Maybe the real lesson is to not take things so seriously and "play" more? And to change the focus.

Download This:

• "I will possess your heart" by Death Cab For Cutie. I hate the name of this band. So much so that it actually for some stupid reason makes me not want to listen to them. Yet, they are really good and this song has a great rhythm for training, and it's over eight minutes long.
• "I'm not over" by Carolina Liar.
• "Let it die" by The Foo Fighters - these guys continually put out one good song/album after another.

Cheers,

EH

Happy 40th Baker

I've known Baker since 1989, when we first met in college. I became a resident advisor for one of the dormitory floors and he was my co-RA. First time I met him, I told him to grab some shoes, we were going running, and took him up West Rock. He should have head for the hills then. He and I share an identical sense of humour which can drive some nuts, but we don't care - we can usually make some fun out of any situation. Be it a last minute road trip, a destination training ride, or one of my camps, it's always an adventure and a great time.

There are countless stories of how he got his nickname Baker. Most, including my kids, don't even know him as John Morris anymore. Lisa once called him John when he was here and Ryan and Kate both asked "who's John?". He's just Baker, like Cher, or McGuyver, or Mclovin.

We have done many road trips, beginning with college spring break, where we both decided the day before that we needed to do something, rented a car and drove down to Daytona Beach with no place to stay. We were so fired up that we made the drive from CT in under 17 hours, including the five loops we did around our dorm at 4:30am with the horn pinned as we departed.

Baker has accompanied me on just about every Vermont Ride. In fact, because of our friendship, he's been dragged out on many of my training adventures, even when it was the absolute last thing he was interested in doing. We shared an apartment out of college until I got married, and there were countless times when I'd get home and say "get changed, were heading out for a ride.". I brought him up to see me race IMLP back in 2000 and could tell that the event stirred up something in him. A few years later just after he came up to LP to train with me and spectate the event, I signed him up for it. He had never done a triathlon before but was dragged all over the place accompanying me on training adventures that I thought it was time for him to do one. In fact, IMLP was his first triathlon ever.

He's helped me out tremendously with my training camps and has become infamous at the CT one for his Saturday night video. Baker is a talented guy with a very artful eye. When most see us two together, they usually think were up to something. Well, I guess, most of the time, we are.

When Lisa and I were married, Baker was my best man. He's my son Ryan's godfather. Whether he likes it or not, he's family now.

So thanks for all the great times my man - I know there will be plenty more. Lisa will often ask the two of us when we are going to grow up, and based on this recent trip to LP, I can tell it's not going to be anytime soon.

Happy birthday Baker - have a great day!

Cheers,

EH

LP quick update

I know, I know - I was supposed to blog while in LP. Unfortunately I had no patience for the hotels wireless service and I had no time to go elsewhere. I plan on doing a writeup this week about the trip. It was a memorable one, to say the least! One thing that's a given when Baker and I do trip, it's always memorable.

II wanted to post something quickly though to pay accolades to all my athletes that raced this past weekend. It was a great weekend for all. At LP, everyone not only finished under some interesting conditions, but most pr'd. Congratulations to Alan and Margit for another IM well done. It's hard enough to have one person in a family racing an IM. Think about it with two. Mike Biehl and Dan Mastella both did their first IM and both were under 12 hrs! Jeff Molson finished yet another IM. To make it that much more of a challenge, he thought he'd go through a major low back surgery last November - just to add a bit to the challenge. Don Henry finished another and did a pr as well, finishing under 12 hours. And then there's Megan Searfoss. Megan had an amazing race, capping it with a 3:46 marathon. She's not only going to Hawaii, she qualified for the Boston marathon! Many of angela's crew raced well out there also. It was great seeing the Cleveland contingent.

On the other coast, Margaret Coffey pr'd at the Vineman 70.3 and qualified for the world championships in Clearwater, Fl.

In the heat and humidity of NY, Greg Pelican and Kenn Vohls raced hard and well. Greg finished second in his age group even after swimming with a wetsuit not zipped up due to a broken zipper. I also saw plenty of Greg's crew from Bethel Cyle's multisport club performing well at LP.

OK, I'll put another more descriptive update on the LP trip this week.

Cheers,

EH

Stage 10

Wow, what a stage today in the tour! Anyone who thinks that cycling is dead, or that this year's tour is boring should go to the emergency room right now and see if they have a pulse. Either that or they need to pull their head out of their ass.

I picked Valverde to win this year, so looks as though I'm out of it. Ryan picked Evans.

Seeing Jens Voight drive the pace at the front up the Tourmalet and blow the pack to pieces was just awesome. CSC was certainly strong today and came out to this years tour not concerned so much in winning stages, but more concerned in winning the gc.

Saunier Duval - man can those bastards climb!

Cadel Evans has such strange form on the bike showing that when you are fit and strong, there is no one "right" way to get it done.

Every time I watch a stage, I'm fired up to go out and ride! I awoke early on Saturday morning to roll out at 6am and ride for an hour before meeting the Bethel Cycle group to ride. just before rolling out, I raised my saddle on my road bike. As I tightened the seatpost binder bolt, I heard a "snap!". The bolt cracked in two, leaving a piece in an impossible location to get at inside the clamp. I have a bunch of bikes in my garage and basement and not one has the same seat clamp diameter as my road bike seat clamp. After tinkering around for 45 minutes, I gave up and headed out on my Slice tri frame. I missed the Bethel ride and told my family I'd be back by 9:30, so after a 20 minute warm-up, I did 3 X 30 min TT's at 350 watts w/ 10 min easy in between each. This bike is a bullet. I have been riding only three times per week this year but it's all been quality and I feel like I'm riding stronger than I have in a long time. I have preached for awhile the value of cumulative base and how specific quality, when you have this cumulative base, not only saves time, but is far more effective.

I'm heading up to LP on Thursday - I have quite a few athletes racing, so I'll be coaching and helping John B. out with My Athlete. I'll try and blog daily from up there. It should be a great time.

Lot's of good new music out lately. I haven't posted a "download this" in awhile - I'll get back into that.

Cheers,

EH

Best ride ever?

For those that may be reading this, what's your best ride ever? Seriously, I'd be interested in hearing about it, so please comment if you feel up to it. Your best ride may be one in a race or in training. It may be one where you felt amazing from the start or one that you built into. It may be one that was incredibly scenic or surreal. Many have asked which is my favorite discipline of triathlon. I love all three of them for their own unique offerings. Swimming may easily get the shaft, although swimming in Kailua Bay is one of my favorite things. Running is pure and simple and nothing can match the mental and physical benefits one receives bang for the buck from running. Cycling is probably the most amazing though. the territory covered leaves the other two disciplines dwarfed. The exhilaration of a huge climb or a fast descent is hard to match.



The tour has obviously started. One year ago, I was getting ready for my birthday trip to France, the most amazing gift that has ever been given in my opinion. I have been fortunate to do some amazing rides. I have raced the infamous lava fields on the Big Island many times. I have ridden up famous climbs in the US like Mt Lemmon, Whiteface, and Kitts Peak. I have raced with broken parts through 70 of 112 miles and persevered. My best day on a bike though is an easy choice, a clear cut memory. It was my ride last year from Luchon, up the Col D'Peyressoude, then the Col D'Aspin, then finally the Tourmalet. Why was this my best day on a bike? I rolled out of Luchon all alone at 6am with my ipod on a clear, mild day. You start climbing the Peyressoude almost right away. There were trailers and tents everywhere from the stage the previous day, yet everyone was still asleep, making it peaceful. There wasn't a bit of litter anywhere from the day before. My legs felt stiff from the big climbs I had done the two preceding days. Looking up the mountain at the switchbacks jutting through the light clouds was an incredible site - one that could feel daunting, yet exciting at the same time. The first descent was long and chilly and I was still all alone. I rolled through some picturesque towns and soon found myself ascending the Co D'Aspin. This climb isn't that tough compared to the others I experienced on the trip. It's long, especially compared with anything we have in the states, but my legs were coming around and seeing faded paint spelling "Indurain" or "go Lance!" certainly upped the adrenalin. I had to skirt my way around roaming cattle and goats on this climb, then another long, fun descent before starting the monster - the Tourmalet. I pulled over to take some pictures and was joined by two guides from the trip I was on, one being George Alteri. I climbed with them up to the ski town La Mongie, then stopped to refill my empty bottles and take some photos. In hindsight, I wanted to finish this surreal day the way I started, all by myself. This was my day. The switchbacks and wind from La Mongie to the Tourmalet summit was incredibly challenging, especially with beat up legs from the six huge climbs I had done in the 48 hours leading up to this moment. But not once did I question what I was doing. I sat at the cafe on the top of the mountain downing double espressos and really trying to take in the coolness of what I just did and was doing. As I did, hundreds of cyclists appeared, out capturing there own memories on one of Frances most famous climbs. The excitement of the morning stays with me to this day. I'll do this same ride again some day. It won't omit the raw emotion from the newness of the adventure that it did on that day last summer. But I'll be doing it with my son Ryan and it'll bring on a whole different meaning I'm sure. I just hope I can stay with him. It's rides like these that remind why I do this in the first place, and that ground me, allowing me to feel unbelievably fortunate.

Cheers,

EH

Happy 4th

Our US Olympic trials selection is lame. I realize the importance of being able to step up on a specific day. Tyson Gay had an unbelievable cramp in the 200 quarter final - a cramp so bad that it caused him to take a dive to the track. He won the 100 and 200 in the world championships recently, and has been pretty much unbeatable in the 200 and he won't be representing us in the Olympics?!

However, Dara Torres will! As a 41 year old, how cool is that!

I don't know if we have the triathlon team to medal at the Olympics. All three are outstanding athletes who are capable of medaling, but it appears that many other countries are selecting their team as just that - a team. They have two athletes that are there to sacrifice themselves to set up their fastest runner. We have three guys that I'm sure all want the glory.

It's been a fun long weekend thus far. No traveling for us which is definitely cool. I took the family to the track yesterday morning. I had planned to do 12 X 400's although I awoke feeling wiped out. I had a great week of training but on Wednesday, I did something that I'd never have one of the athletes I coach do. I was feeling tired Wednesday, yet had two hard sessions on the agenda. I know very well that you can feel good through these two sessions but if you are fatigued, it'll bite you in the ass a day or two later. Well, I had great sessions Wednesday, and bailed on my track session half way through due to fatigue and feeling like shit. I feel much better today though, so it was smart not to force it yesterday. Plus, the kids had fun doing the long jump.

Cheers,

EH

I love this time of year. Early summer when the days are hot and sunny. There's lots of cool sporting events on television between baseball games, Wimbeldon, and the Tour De France of course. This year we have/had the added bonus of the Euro Cup, track and field olympic trials, and swimming olympic trials. Watching these events get's me fired up to get out there and train. Well, I enjoy following baseball and Wmbledon but they don't get me fired up to train. The swimming trials motvated me to the point that I actually went to the pool yesterday and swam 3000 yards!

This time of year is when, if you trained properly, your fitness feels strong and you are anxious to race. I'm beginning to increase my running volume a bit in preparation for the NYC marathon this fall. I'm running pretty good at the moment so I'm enjoying it. When you are running poorly, training can really blow. I'm aiming to run 7 times a week over 6 to 7 days. I'm building up my volume gradually, but more importantly relative to my current fitness, I'm building up my speed. I'm a strength and endurance guy, so I need to address my limiters which is my speed. Running from the deer flys in the trails is a good way to work on this.

Yesterday I celebrated a birthday. It certainly wasnt a monumental one like last year, so it's not a big deal. After the age of 10, you have monumental birthdays like 16, 21, 30, 40, ... The birthdays in between these should serve some purpose in motivating us to reach a bit, and remind us to live the life we want, but otherwise, they're not that big a deal. I worked with a bunch of PT clients, sneaking in a great 9 mile run including 5 miles of tempo done at 5:30 to 5:40/mile pace, and also the 3000 yd swim. Lisa and my kids took me out to a nice dinner - I had a great seared sesame tuna and a couple glasses of red wine, then we went home and watched the swimming trials. Michael Phelps's turns are absolutely amazing! He puts a 1/2 a body length into his rivals off the wall. What's interesting is that most swimmers start kicking immediately upon leaving the wall, yet Phelps glides a bit, then dolphin kicks. I was telling Lisa how my high school swim coach would yell at me constantly to kick off the turns. He looked like popeye and was probably in his late 60's or early 70's at the time and would yell "god damn it Hodskiii, kick off the god damn wall in the turns!!!" He'd stand there at the end of the lane with his bull whip. He was old school and coaches and teachers got away with quite a bit more back then! Lisa was hysterically laughing. I was also telling her how I went out for the high school swim team the day before the schools first meet. I probably told this story before but it's a good one. The coach told me to get in and swim a length of the pool (25 yards). After following his orders, he said, "you'll do". I had never swam competitively before. The next day, we swam Foran High School and coach through me in the longest event, the 500, because no one ever wants to swim this event. Foran had a senior, Rich Enders who was all-american. He kept lapping me - I remember thinking "how the hell is doing that - swimming so fast? I still had two laps left and I remember going to take a breath and seeing Enders sitting on his team bench fully dressed in his sweats. I think he was eating a sandwich. I finished in 8 minutes 46 seconds.

Back to the present; it's going to be a fun summer! some sprint races are coming up quickly, Lake Placid IM will be here in a couple of weeks (I have a bunch of athletes racing there and I'll be heading up to train, coach, spectate, and drink some beers with Baker and Brennan), some family trips. How can you not like the summer?!

Cheers,

EH

Happy 1/2 Year

2008 is 1/2 over! I can't believe how fast it went by. Did you do some memorable things that will make this year stand out? This is the question I often ask myself. I was out riding a few days ago and I had a short amount of time so I rode a standard route that takes me 90 minutes. As I was riding, I went past a right hand turn that I have never taken before and fought the hard urge to deviate from my planned ride. I was being pulled that way though, the curiosity of an adventure teasing me. This week, on a ride where I have a bit more time, I will take that right turn and see what happens.

We can easily become creatures of habits. Remember that your athletic side is just a more open view of your true personality. I work with many who ride and run the same exact routes on a weekly basis. I understand doing this for a good portion of the training sessions - you have more control of your situation this way and in our busy lives, we all need structure and control to a certain degree. But to do the same routes all the time is just boring and playing it very safe. It's no fun and doesn't leave any lasting impact to live status quo. Most of our vivid and entertaining memories are from when we "ventured off course" and tried something new and different.

Last year on my France trip, the plan for the next day was either the A ride which was to ride 20K out to the Port D' Bales climb, ascend, descend, then do the Plateau D' Beille climb, then descend into the finishing town, or the B ride which was just to ascend the Plateau D' Beille then descend into town. There was a sign-up sheet in the hotel lobby where you were to select which ride you'd be doing. I was the last to sign-up, and out of the twelve of us, 10 had chosen the easier B ride. Now granted, the B ride wasn't easy by any means and it was a smart move probably for most to take that option since there was still a lot of trip left. The only one on the A ride list was Erika, an Australian woman. Gil, the guide, came out to where we were eating that evening and announced that Michelle, one of the guides, would ride with Eric (me) and Erika, and the other guides would assist the B ride. Erika became very nervous and was going to switch to the B ride. I went over to her and told her she'd be fine. She was still very tentative, not believing me at first until I said that tomorrow night at dinner, after we had ridden that day, while we were sitting around semidazed from a combination of a great ride earlier that day and great wine, it will be very cool to personally reflect back on what you did and those emotions will be far superior if you take the chance and go for it. The Port D'Bales climb was the toughest climb I have ever been on. It was also one of the coolest. I was alone on the climb but I remember as I crested the summit being concerned for Erika. Later in the day when we were at the finish line, Erika was beaming. She did the ride, said it was a bitch, and was so fired up about doing it.

There is still a 1/2 a year left in 2008. The goal is to get out there and do some things that may make you a bit nervous but that also may bring some great satisfaction and cool memories. That's what it's all about.

On another note, I ran on the treadmill yesterday. I prefer running outdoors 10 out of 10 times, but I try to do one quality session per week on the treadmill because I can gage the effort and pace well. The session I did yesterday is a great on: Treadmill was at a .5% grade for the session. 10 min warm-up at 8.6 mph, then 5 X (2 min at 11.3 mph, 2 min at 10.3 mph, 2 min at 9.3 mph), then 10 min cooldown at 8.6 mph. This session is hard but goes by quick. The main set of 30 minutes is all tempo. The 11.3 is challenging and near my LT, the 9.3 is at my aerobic ceiling, so it's a great mix. I recommend this one for those looking to bump up their run speed. Adjust the speeds forward or backward according to your ability.

Cheers,

EH

Warmaug Sprint

I had a Ferris Bueller weekend beginning Friday evening with the Warmaug Triathlon put on by by Mandy Braverman and Endureit Multisports. I had been battling a head cold all week and had a very busy weekend ahead so I wasnt to motivated about racing on Friday morning. But I committed to the race and I also had a fun little rivalry going on with John Hirsch ( http://www.johnhirsch.org/ ), so I packed up my car and headed up to the venue. I had never done the old Warmaug course, and hadn't raced a sprint since Griskus in 2005 or 2006 - it's been awhile. The new course began about 2 miles uphill from Lake Warmaug at a pond/lake that sits on top of the small mountain range just north. I arrived early to preride the course and try and blow some congestion out of my head.

The two mile descent from T1 to Lake Warmaug was exhilarating. The road was steep and fast and I had to remind myself the whole time to stay focused since it's so easy to become distracted by the spectacular views of Warmaug sitting below in between the hills. I cruised along part of the course around Warmaug and did a few pick-ups to test the legs. I felt sluggish from the lack of activity that week but didn't put too much weight into it. I came off of Warmaug and climbed the 2 miles beginning up Strawberry Hill and back to T2 and knew that I was going to love this course.

I went through all the prerace junk but mostly caught up with a lot of familiar faces. It was great seeing a bunch of the same guys I had been racing with for a long time now, as well as some athletes I coach.

We lined up at the foot of the pond for the countdown. It was a competitive field, yet the countdown was so mellow! I'm used to edging in during the countdown from ten and usually, by five, someone leans forward slightly and I'm off. But here everyone was civil and counted down right to one. I glanced to my right then my left quickly and jumped. I had an awesome start, getting out really quick. My plan was to take the first 200 meters out really hard. I have swam four times since last November, so needless to say, my swim fitness was lacking. I knew that I couldn't give up too much time in the swim in a sprint if I wanted to win, so my plan was go out fast and then try to get on some fast feet and just suffer for the remaining eight minutes or so in the water. This plan worked well. There were only maybe eight or so out of the water ahead of me. I had a relatively quick T1 and began the two mile descent. I passed a few guys during these early miles by staying aero and not touching the brakes. Once we got on the rolling course around Warmaug, I figured I'd just lock in on the next athlete up the road and hunt them down. The problem is that when racing this road, you realize it's a bit twisty and you can't see anyone up the road. I also had to be a bit cautious on the corners since I knew I had a slow leak in my rear tubular. I found this out the day before but wanted to race on the new sub 9 Zipp disc and didn't feel like changing the tubular, so I came up with the foolish plan of just pumping it up to a very high psi and hoping for the best. Yes, Greg P. chastised me with good reason for this!

I caught John at about the five mile mark and asked him who was up the road. He mentioned one guy who was riding well. I hammered on, yet I didn't feel any snap or form. Funny thing is, by around the nine mile mark near the camp ground, my legs started to come around. We've all heard the expression of "blowing out the cobwebs" and this was certainly the case here. I made the left onto Strawberry Hill and saw the leader just up ahead. He was out of the saddle and appeared to be really working it. I knew that this was the early part of a 2 mile climb, so instead of feeding my ego and driving by him on the ride, I just sat about 20 feet off the back and rode a steady tempo. I thought that I could save my legs a bit and nail him on the run.

I had a pretty quick T2, but not compared to this guy who was in and out like lightning. The first mile of the 5K run began along the pond on grass and then you ran up a steep hill onto a field which we were to circumnavigate. For some reason, I came up the hill and ran to the left, only to look across after five seconds and see the lead runner following the "leader" cyclist the opposite way around the field. Hindsight, I could have continued and done the loop the opposite way since we exited this field where we came in, but I turned and drove up the pace a bit to make up the lost 10 seconds. This first mile continued on grass and went up some really steep short hills that were quad killers. On one of the out and back sections, I could see John really working a downhill chasing in third - he had me running scared. After mile one, we popped out onto the main road where we ran downhill for one mile to a turn around and then back uphill to the finish. I took the lead early in the second mile and opened up a gap by the two mile mark. As I made the turn and was ascending towards the finish, I could see that John was going to overpass this guy for second, but also knew I had the race, so I eased a bit, saving some energy for the rest of the hectic weekend.


I have raced a bunch of sprints in my time and I can easily say that this was the best one I've ever raced. the venue is second to none, and the course is scenic and challenging. Mandy did an exceptional job with the directing and organizing.

I razzed John a bit at the finish which was necessary. He is definitely fit though and is going to have a great day next week at the 1/2 IM in West Virginia.

Matt C. had a great race as did Bill K. from Cannondale (by the way, I rode the slice for the first time in a race - I am doing a review of this bike for the site, it's definitely a fast ride!). Greg Pelican from Bethel Cycle showed that he is very versatile. He has an incredible running, cycling, and duathlon resume and is learning to swim now and is already competitive in triathlon, winning his age group here. Kenn Vohls had a great day, finishing as he said "early enough to see most of the racers finish".

Greg had a Bethel Bike/Cannondale tent set up and since one of his title sponsors is Heineken, I thought I should stick around a bit and enjoy a few.

It was great to be racing again, and to renew myself with the hurt, go balls to the wall from the gun of sprints.

I made it home sometime after 10pm, unpacked, showered and was in bed around midnight, only to be up at 3:30am to meet John Brennan to head to NYC early. I was representing MyAthlete for quick piece on the CBS morning show. It was quick, but still cool. John mentioned to me on the ride home that he hoped I enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame. I said that I think I still have 14 minutes, 50 seconds left.

I got home in time to shower and head off to catch my sons last soccer game of the season. The rest of the day was jam packed, but I won't bore you anymore.

Cheers,

EH

Schools Out

Was out on the bike yesterday, getting a good ride in during a mid-day break from work. A white OJ like SUV pulls up along side me with five boys in the car and they proceed to blast me with water guns. Pissed, I sit up and start yelling at them. Being a tough guy I bark at them to pull over, but they just drive off. I hammer a bit thinking they may get caught up at a light and see that they don't. Not even 10 minutes later, while still brewing over the drive by, I'm back in my rhythm, clipping along when I could feel the pressure of a vehicle very close to me. In the next second, I feel a full hand bitch slap smack on my ass, then a cabriolet full of girls speeds off. Now I'm outraged and startled, and I sputter obscenities to myself as I pedal on. Later that day, I'm rehashing the two incidents with rage to my wife as she laughs hysterically at me. She forces me to catch myself and I begin to laugh as well. Granted, the ass smack could have made me crash, but for the most part, the two situations were innocent enough and just kids being kids. Man, I must be getting old.

Cheers,

EH

Tim Russert and Tiger Woods

I always liked Tim Russert. Some people who we think we know from viewing them on television - we can easily tell that their on air persona is nothing more than the person they truly are. That there is actually no on air persona and that what you see is what you get. He was extremely likable regardless of your political party choice. He was a great interviewer and always had a smile on and always was positive. These obviously extremely admirable traits are something we should all try to emulate. He was also a jolly person, cherubic in stature and carrying some unhealthy extra weight. It's a shame to see great people go so early in life, especially when you can't help but think that maybe their lives could have been prolonged had they paid more attention to their health. Regardless of this, Mr. Russert died at an early unexpected age showing us once again that life is very short and that we should NEVER put things off and wait until the future for "bigger and better" goals. It shows that we should spend as much time as possible with family and close friends and to not sweat the small stuff including stupid squabbles and issues with others that could cause future regret. Rest in peace Tim.

Regarding Tiger - what an unbelievable display of skill this past weekend. I couldn't help but think about his mental toughness and drive. I feel that most golfers, tennis players, and professional athletes in general don't retire because they physically can't keep up, but because they mentally lose the edge. I think that tennis players in their 30's can be just as physical as tennis players in their early 20's but they have been at it for so long that they lose the edge mentally. Golfers - please! Why wouldn't a 50 year old be able to compete with a 30 year old in golf? I mean come on, it's not a physical game. Yes, it requires a tremendous amount of skill - a tremendous amount! But physicalness - don't kid yourself. They lose their mental edge. I realize Tiger is still very young but he has also achieved so much already. I bet that he mentally holds up longer than most as well. He obviously has it. That mental drive and tenacity that tells him that he can't lose. I've never witnessed someone so clutch. Now, regarding his leg injuries; I completely understand the ACL issues. Watch him swing and you can see the torque he places on that left knee. However, the stress fractures??? This is golf! Stress fractures?! That I don't get.

Cheers,

EH

Cycle Training DVD

I coach this guy Sean. Sean and I actually went to college together. We lost touch after college until probably 2004 or so. I was at IMLP viewing the race and Sean was in it. We kept in touch after that and I began coaching him. He was working for the Discovery Channel at the time as a producer and eventually became the senior VP there. Sean was the brains behind many of the Discovery Channels popular shows including Orange County Choppers. Sean has a gift for reading people and spotting potential. With lots of my persuasion (I can be convincing), he left Discovery and started his own production company called Half Yard Productions a bit over a year ago and he's currently thriving, which is so cool.

Sean and I have long discussed making a cycle training dvd, and this past Monday, we finally did it! Sean and another producer who works for him, Greg Smith, first came up to my LP camp a few weeks ago to shoot some outdoor footage which I wrote about during the LP camp blogs. They then came out Sunday night to shoot the indoor footage on Monday. These guys are the real deal and they had two camera men that also had some amazing credentials. All in all, the day was really cool. We did some very innovative things - I don't want to give too much away. We plan on shooting a bunch more, however it was great to finally get this ball officially rolling after talking about it for so long.

The LP camp was hectic leading into an even more busy week upon my return home. I did a ton of preparation in the days leading up to the shoot and the combination of all this and the lack of sleep left me with a head cold that I'm currently battling. I was able to ignore it during the shoot and was also hyped up on adrenalin. I definitely have some great friends that donated their valuable time to help me with this first shoot. Everyone appeared to have a lot of fun as well.

The workout is a killer! stay tuned for the release!!!

Xtri.com

John Hirsch interviewed yours truly for Xtri.com. You can read it at http://xtri.com/

LP Camp Wrap up

The last day of camp is always bittersweet. You are physically at a point where you need a break from the overload of training. It's hard to imagine dragging yourself through a long run and even worse to think about the long drive or flight home. Usually, you are at a point where exhaustion plays with your emotions and you become homesick, anxious and guilt ridden to see the family that you selfishly left to go play for a few days. The funny thing is, most return home with a deeper family connection, appreciative for their time away and rejuvenated with motivation towards life in general. Taking a brief hiatus to find out more about yourself and to relight the kindles is actually a pretty cool thing. But enough of the camp sales pitch and back to the bittersweetness. At the same time, you don't want camp to end because you were able to do what you love to do, and you develop a bond with a new group of friends that you know will remain in contact somehow to some degree.

We met at 6:15am in the hotel parking lot on Sunday to make the short drive over to the trails that we started this adventure in. The previous night, I gave everyone the option of trails or roads (the IM course) and everyone, well except for one, chose trails. The idea was to run out 1 hr, starting on the dirt road and then the horse trail to the damn, and then to turn. As we all started out, Ed pointed out the trail head going left that read Mt Von Hogenburg (sp?). He had never done it, but I said what the hell, let's be adventurous. The trail began as a single track trail with quite a few roots but also some great pine needle sections. You could easily run your natural gate here so long as you lifted your feet and avoided tripping on the roots. I love this type of running - it's fun and it's great for developing and strengthening lateral stability as well.

We came upon a swamp or bog. It was actually a river I think and had a bunch of stones and logs to get across, yet we all got a bit muddy. Then we started climbing. It was so steep at many points that we were walking hand and foot basically. There are a few that don't like this type of adventure - they are so regimented in their training that they feel this isn't running or productive. If you look where your heart rate is during these sections, you can easily see that you are getting a great cardiovascular workout. Plus this build a lot of strength and most triathlon runs become all about strength. Ed and I were up front and after all this climbing, we came upon a rocky ledge near the peak. It was simply amazing. We had views of an amazing valley way down below and of the mountain range that includes Mt Marcy (the highest peak in NY for those that don't know this). To the left far in the distance, you could see the two ski jumps popping out of the woods like cranes in a swamp, and just beyond that, the town of Lake Placid. The cliff we were standing on was certainly not a great place to be for those scared of heights, but the views were outstanding. This trail, and look out, was a gem of a find, especially on the last day and last session of this camp. Ed and I waited for everyone else to arrive and we all hung out and took it in for a moment. I think many were taking in what they accomplished at this camp. I pointed out that trails like this may take us out of our natural stride and gate, but soon enough, we'd be back beating ourselves up on our same old familiar home courses.

We ran in the trail a bit more then headed back to the dirt road, arriving there with about 20 minutes still left to run. I lined a group I was with up in a pace line and had them run Indian sprints, before cooling down. We finished this camp the same way we started, with a memorable amazing run.

As I left LP that morning for the long drive home (not as long as you poor Cleveland saps!), I stopped at a recommended quiet breakfast/lunch spot and had the best ham, egg, and cheese on sourdough sandwich I've ever had. the food was amazing and therefore, I'll selfishly keep this place top secret.

It's been a few days now and I have some very fond memories:

• The calm before the storm or training hard and laughing hard with Molson the two days before the campers arrived. Jeff has attended 8 camps now and to be honest, he adds so much that the camps wouldn't be the same without him there. He's become a very good friend (even if he feels otherwise and even though we are both stubborn about certain points in training).
• Avalanche Lake.
• chilly swimming in mirror lake.
• pacelining along rt. 9 on day 1.
• pulling the group back on 86 on day 1.
• climbing to the tollbooth.
• Brad and Jay - the dynamic duo and their mechanicals.
• eaves dropping on Pam and Margit.
• a great dinner at Ed's - probably the best in all my camps!
• Greg P. setting up a computer lab outdoors for analyzing bike fits.
• sun, heat and wind on Saturday.
• The Half Yard guys with cameras everywhere.
• pulling Jeff back up 86 on his second loop after he bonked badly.
• headless beavers.
• Lots of Ben and Jerry's.
• assless chaps.
• Mt. Von Hogenburg trail run and lookout.

Great stuff. Thanks to my cohost and dear friend Angela, and to my crack crew Big Rocks and Kenny! You guys were more help than you may realize.

Cheers,

EH

Windy, hot and humid

That was today's forecast. A beautiful sunny day although very strong wind and very humid. If IMLP were today, there would have been a lot of carnage. The issue with the strong wind, especially blowing down 86 in your face on the return trip to LP, is that you are working hard and don't realize the humidity.

We all rolled out on our bikes between 6 and 7am. Those racing LP (Pam, Margit, Jay) were doing the 112 mile course. Most of the others were doing the course minus the out and back loops (84 miles) and the remaining athletes were covering a full loop of the course plus a bit more.

I rolled out with Brad and Mike Mariano (3 Mikes here) and the camera crew. We are filming for my dvd/download series and it's a bit bizarre. Mike was feeling tired and on the third hard, big day of camp, it's important to stay within yourself early on and loosen up, so he dropped back. Brad and I rode down 73 together and when we turned left on 9, the film crew wanted to get some head on shots so I rode behind the minivan with a camera man in the back - what great motorpacing! I rode the rt 9 section at 35 mph.

I hooked up with Ange, Trephina and Mary on the out and back and rode a bit with them before finding Margit, Kenny and Pam. We rode up 86 to LP and I did some more footage riding on the run course along the river, then headed back down 86, where I ran into Jay and rode with him for a bit, then headed back down 86 and rode Juergens back into LP. I put in a solid 5 hrs 30 min on the bike and surprisingly felt really solid! I say surprisingly because I've worked really hard this week on little sleep and was feeling spent when I awoke this morning.

We did a transition run, grabbed a few slices of pizza, and then headed down 86 via car to soak our tired legs in the gorge. We then sat in the shade and I reminded everyone of what they accomplished thus far at this camp. I mentioned how in our minds, we are only as good as our present training session, yet you need to take into account everything that we did over the past three days.

Today was a great day. We all hung out there in the shade in that glazed over hazy dumbness that proceeds a big training day. Later, we had a great dinner next door to our hotel at Nicoli's and Ange and I passed out some more mvp awards (Cat, Jay, Jason, Jeff), then hit Ben and Jerrys.

Sorry I haven't been that interesting with the blogs this week - I'm spent and trying to keep everyone updated on what we are doing here. We've done so much more than I've mentioned thus far in terms of personal accomplishments and I'll write a summary in a few days when I've had some time to decompress and get some sleep but for right now, this is what I've got.

Cheers,

EH

Rain, rain, go away...

3am this morning I awoke to the sound of hard rain pounding the pavement outside my hotel room. The plan for the morning was to leave at 6am and ride down 86 and climb to the summit of Whiteface Mountain. I tossed and turned over whether to send this group up, and finally decided around 5:30am to play it safe. So instead, we went running on the course along the river. It was a cool, yet humid morning and everyone started the run very gingerly, feeling the effects of yesterdays hard effort still in their legs. The plan after running was to be ready to ride by 10am. From 8am until 9:45am, it didn't rain much, but, guess what, it then started pouring. So I altered once again and we went swimming in Mirror Lake. I'm not against riding in the rain by any means. We have all day to train here and with people tired why take a chance? The lake is frigid upon first entering, but 5 minutes later, all is good. We swam the entire length of the lake which was cool, then regrouped and I jumped on Kenny's toes and let him pull me back. I actually felt decent in the water, considering that the only times that I have swum this year were at camps. I then set the ride time for noon. It was raining, but it was time to go. We rode down 86 and climbed to the toll booth on Whiteface. Ed S. climbed very well. Actually, everyone did considering they all looked wasted and a bit grumpy when we headed out. We descended and regrouped and the rain was gone and it was getting more hot. I sent some of the group on the out and back and then back up 86 to LP, and took the rest on a reverse loop of the course. If you have never ridden this course in reverse before, you need to try it - it's a blast. Brad and Jay both flatted when we rolled off of 86 onto rt 9, and after fixing this, we realized that Brads rear brake was frozen, so I hammered Ed back to his house to grab some tools, and then continued on my way up the big hill that is the descent during the race on 73. I caught Pam and Margit and pulled them back to LP - they did great. Everyone was really hungry and lots of food was flying around while Greg P. did computerized bike fits. We made quite a few adjustments. By the way, I sent Greg out at 6am to do the Whiteface climb. He's a very experienced rider and I wanted him to experience this ride. He loved it.

We just had a great dinner at the Adirondack Steak house and then some Ben and Jerry's. I'm fortunate to be able to put on these camps - I always end up with great people. I know this sounds cliche but this group has been terrific. No attitudes, no egos, and lots of support for each other.

Tomorrow is a huge day and it's supposed to be sunny and HOT! Most will be riding the 112 miles and they will be using My Athlete devices ( www.myathlete.biz password Ironman, Ironman 123) so you can track them out there. Besides that, Sean G. and his film crew are here shooting footage for our training dvd. And there are a ton of triathletes in town, so the course should be crowded tomorrow which is always fun.

Cheers,

EH

LP Day 1

Man, after a day like today, there's not much to say. Actually, there's a lot to say but I'm really spent right now and I also have a couple of beers and a glass of wine in me and the bed is looking mighty good. But I feel this obligation to post something and I owe it to the campers who put it out there today.

We started with an early 6:30am trail run up to Avalanche Lake. Most come here to train and just stay on the IM course. The course is great and it's important to learn it and experience it, but there is also so much more to see up here. I staggered all the campers to get us all to Avalanche Lake around the same time. The run starts on a horse trail for a few miles where you reach a beautiful lake and a damn. Then we continue on single track trail for a few miles until the last mile which is up hill and on log crossings, boulder leaping, and rock scaling. It's adventurous and the reward of Avalanche Lake and the views here are well worth it. I ran back and forth trying to run with each camper during this 2+ hour run.

After munching on some graham cracker bagels and peanut butter, we suited up to ride. The ride started very civil with the goal of riding one loop of the course, stopping at key places and discussing how to best approach this course. After the big downhill, I had everyone form a pace line on rt 9 from 73 until 86. I had them taking 30 second pulls at the front. This is always interesting since most triathletes train alone and don't have very good technical skills. Many were timid riding close to the wheel in front of them, but by the end of rt. 9, we were working well together and cruising along at a good clip. Trephina was a champ - she had never ridden a pace line and fell off early but was determined to get back on. Ed and I were able to get her there and she took a good pull at the front even.

When we turned onto 86 for the beginning of some climbing, I stopped to converse with big rocks in the sag wagon and a group of 7 hammered off the front. This reminded me of an old Farber tactic. Etiquette would say that when someone stops, the rest ride easy until the stopper regroups. Farber would always hammer away whenever I stopped for something. It always made me laugh, and then I'd bust my ass to catch him. This is what happened with these guys. I finally caught them on the out and back section of the course and then set a good clip on the final 11 miles back to LP up 86. When we arrived back, everyone looked wasted. That's the sign of a solid day!

Greg Pelican then did computerized bike fitting on the group as we hung around and ate. Eating is a popular thing at these camps when not training. Then, a few of the guys and Margit went for an easy swim. Not a bad day 1.

To top it off, Ed S. who has a house up here had us all over for a delicious dinner with grilled salmon, chicken, asparagus and potatoes. It was perfect - great food, relaxing, and fun conversation. I told a bunch of stories - many including Baker. Who knows, they were probably bored but all seemed entertained.

Ed S. got the mvp today. He helped out many on the run and he worked hard on the ride helping Trephina bridge up and taking long pulls when the group of 8 were trying to lose me.

The campers should either sleep really well tonight or sleep restless because their metabolisms are ramped up from all the training.

Stay tuned...

Lots of pictures will be coming.

Cheers,

EH

LP Camp

The campers arrive this afternoon. Camp officially begins this evening with an easy run at 5pm. Jeff and I however had a very busy day planned.

What is it about swimming, biking or running that is fulfilling? Sure, going fast on race day is fulfilling but what about the day to day grind of training is fulfilling? I'm sure there are many different answers here but I know that Jeff and I both had that deep sense of satisfaction after a day like today. It was cool to have a calmer day before the hecticness begins. Don't get me wrong - I love the camps but there is a lot of behind the scenes to pull these things off and the days are busy and long.

Jeff and I headed out at 6:30am to run some trails Jeff was familiar with that were close to town. They were very, very cool, taking us around parts of Lake Placid - not the village but the actual Lake. We then had some breakfast, caught up on some emails, and headed out for a ride. We rode down 86 and began the Whiteface climb. It was after 8:30am so we could only go as far as the toll booth which is a steady 3 mile grind. It was big time foggy - so much that you couldn't see that far ahead. It was dry though. I wanted to work this ride today. I hit the hill hard and felt good, averaging 385 watts for the 3.5 miles. What took 20 minutes to climb, took less than 5 minutes to descend. I then told Jeff I wanted him to work it the 11 miles back on 86 to LP. He's riding very well - all that 90+ rpm work he did this winter is paying off. For this section along 86 back to LP, I rode 2 minutes on, 1 min off. It's a great hard session and I felt it as I rolled back along Mirror Lake back to our hotel. It was one of those good, tired, hazy feelings that you get after hitting a solid strong effort.

We ran a few more errands and searched for a decent smoothie. That's the one thing this place is missing is a good smoothie shop. Kenny arrived and he, Jeff and I went for a swim in Mirror Lake. That's right, I began my swim training. This was my first swim since AZ camp. the water was COLD!!! But after 10 minutes, we were fine and moving along. Open water swimming leaves you feeling great afterwards.

A quick change and it was time to meet the campers for a run around mirror lake and off mirror lake drive onto some secret trails. A great introduction to camp run although the real fun begins tomorrow.

I usually don't hand out the agenda up front for camp. It's easy to limit yourself when you see a schedule in front of you that can look daunting. If it's Thursday morning and we're running, I want everyone focused on running, not that we still have a bike and swim to do that day and that we are riding 112 miles in a couple of days. I want them focused on the task at hand. The whole idea of camp is to free your limitations. However, I did pass out agendas because we have so much jammed into the next four days and I want people to plan with nutrition accordingly.

OK, that's enough for today. I'll make these more entertaining (hopefully) in the next couple of days but it's late and I need a few hours of sleep.

Cheers,

EH

Feels great to be back

Even though there were occasional showers and cool air today, getting off route 87 and heading west on 73 still puts a cheesy grin on my face. One like a young kid going to an amusement park. Sun, clouds, whatever, the drive in is still spectacular.

I'm up in Lake Placid a day early to scout out a few courses that I want to take the campers on. Jeff Molson came up early to join me and rack up even more points on his Hodska Frequent Camper Card. First things first, we needed lunch and had a great one at a new restaurant here (can't remember the name), then hit the grocery store for some necessities. Then a quick change and a nice ride, followed up by a great new run (top secret), then dinner at the cottage. They sat us at a small table overlooking Mirror Lake that made Jeff want to order the cheese platter for two and a bottle of chardonnay. We settled for a couple of beers and burritos.

If this place doesn't do something to you, then you need to check your pulse. The outdoors are where its at and the air feels good to breathe, unlike Fairfield County air.

We have a great group for this camp. I'll be filling you in on the players as the week goes on so stay tuned.

Sprint For Dare 5K

Today could have been quite possibly one of my best race experiences. I ran the Sprint For Dare 5K in my hometown Monroe.

It was a perfect race morning. Pure runners will say it was too hot and too sunny, but it was gorgeous out. The gun went off setting forward the burst of energy from the 400+ runners. Approaching the first mile marker, I was concerned the pace was a bit aggressive. Isn't that always the case in a 5K? A glance at my watch showed 8:01. Yup, definitely a bit overzealous, especially with the gradual uphills in the second mile. The pace slowed a bit, and settled into a steadier rhythm. Some friendly familiar faces and not so familiar faces came by tossing out words of encouragement. The final mile starts uphill, then you turn right onto Cutlers and it's a gradual downhill 1/2 mile to the finish. The pace increased here and I spoke out; "stay relaxed, but bring it home. You can see the finish line, kick it in with all you've got!!!" The clock read 28 minutes flat. My 7 year old son just ran his first road race and I proudly ran every step right next to him.

Paul M., the race director came by and told me the winning time was 17:09, saying I could have taken it. Perhaps. I had actually planned on racing a duathlon in Fairfield this morning. These two things were quite irrelevant considering the experience I had.

Ryan dumped some water on his head while eating a chocolate donut, feeling proud for a moment of his recent accomplishment. Then, it was time to focus on his upcoming soccer practice at 1pm. Ahh, to be young... Thanks for your patience in reading this boastful post.

Cheers,

EH