Tucson Afterthoughts

Man, what's there to say?!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had reservations about going out this year. I had a very large group signed up for this camp. Part of the problem of offering multiple camps is that it gives the attendees lots of options. This is great for the attendees, but not great for those running a camp. In the last month before hosting this camp, seven athletes had to bow out due to legitimate conflicts. Many rolled their spot into one of the later camps I offer. So with a diminutive group, I pondered the worth of putting the Arizona camp on this year. I decided that even though from a business standpoint this camp would not make much sense, the group that I still had that wanted to attend would make it a plus. I have some very loyal, hard working, and extremely fun clients who have become close friends on this trip. They, along with the amazing area, made this such a worthwhile experience and one of the best camps to date. I know I say that about all of the camps, but honestly, they do just keep getting better.

When I put on my first camp back in May of 2000, I thought long and hard about what the athletes would truly want. First, there are a lot out there to choose from. I wanted to offer up what most would expect from a triathlon camp and then add the unexpected. Second, many of the attendees, if not all, are busy with families and careers, and for them to take vacation time and use it for themselves and put the cost into this is something that requires an extreme amount of thought and commitment. Most will at some point feel selfish about using funds and signing up for a triathlon camp. I wanted to make sure that at the end of the camp, they not only would never question the worth, but would carry a lot of energy and lessons with them back into their family and career lives. I wanted to be sure the accommodations are more than adequate, the courses are stunning, the training is precise so that they benefit and not get torn apart, that they are educated, that they get a lot of one on one time, and that they laugh. Laughter is a great sign of a successful venture. I'm not saying it's THE sign, but it is a great sign.

One night we ate dinner at our favorite Mexican place. There are quite a few camps and clinics going on in this hot area, and one of the more popular other camps came in to dine also. I witnessed our table laugh all through the meal, and even enjoy a beer or two after the hard days training, and their table sit quietly as though it were all business. Very different scenarios in which both can excel, but I love the fact that the attendees at my camp relax and have fun along with all the hard work.

I have been fortunate to train in some great areas around the country and Tucson is definitely one of my favorite spots. The city itself can be quite busy and crowded, but it is extremely bike friendly, and once you get just on the outskirts, the roads and trails are incredible. In particular, the Kitts Peak climb (that's with an "s" for you Jill), the Lemmon climb, the telephone line and the trails in Saguaro National Park East are now some of my absolute favorite places to train and should go on all endurance athletes must do lists.

The agenda we followed worked out perfect - it was the right volume and intensity to build your fitness and motivate you for the cold month ahead once you return home, yet not to much to fry you for the upcoming month(s). This camp is an excellent opportunity to test where you are with your winter build and to gain a lot of fitness quickly. Most importantly though, it's an opportunity to spend a week with great friends doing something that we all are passionate about and that's a rare opportunity that should be snatched when possible.

I'm more than glad I didn't cancel this camp and I will certainly be back in Tucson next March.

Thanks Brian and Jill - you two were a huge help and a lot of fun. I look forward to doing more tricamps with you in the future.

Thanks to the boys who attended - you guys made this trip more than fun and very memorable, even though Jeff and Gus may not have liked me to much after Kitt Peak. I hope to see you join me again next year.

To anyone that may be reading, think about attending a tricamp in the future (whether it's one of mine or some other). If you go into the right one with the right attitude, it could be an opportunity for you to learn more about yourself in one week than you may in a year.

Cheers,

EH

Day 6 in Tucson

Hope the video didn't make anyone motion sick.

I decided that we would do our last run of this camp the same we started the first run of this camp – in Sabino Canyon traversing the telephone line trail. I described this trail in an earlier post, and how we’d run up the mountain and along the route until we descended and ended up at the trail end on a road approximately one hour later. From here, we would run the 40 minutes back to the start area on the road. Today, I turned everyone around and we ran back up the mountain and did the trail in reverse, making it a two hour run. The rain earlier in the week, combined with the sun later this week made the desert absolutely beautiful. There were blossoming flowers in yellow and purple all over the place. Bruce was especially excited for some reason about the beauty here. I swear I thought he was going to break into “The Sound of Music”. The views on the way out are amazing, however, the return trip was more spectacular. You could see the thin trail snake along the mountains edge, overlooking the canyon and river that were far, far below. Way off in the distance, you could see the city of Tucson in the valley.

My legs felt good and I was moving along at a good clip. The trail is rocky and you could easily become distracted with the views, not paying attention to the footing. The drop offs are more spectacular running this way as well, since you are seeing them directly in front of you on a descending grade. At one point, I stumbled just a bit catching my toe on a rock, but was able to secure my footing quickly. I realized that if I were to truly trip, I’d drop right off the cliff! So I backed off the pace a bit and made sure to pay attention to where my foot landed besides just the scenery.

The last few days of this camp, the weather could not have been better. The mornings were cool in the high 50’s to low 60’s and by 10am, it would be in the high 70’s to low 80’s. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was ideal for training.

I was soaking my ankle in the ice cold flowing water in the bottom of the canyon as the rest of the boys rolled in. They had just run six days straight, with the shortest run being an hour, yet the trails, the good weather and the scenery had them feeling good.

We drove back to our breakfast spot, and then went to suit up to ride – our last cycling session of the trip. Since we did the two huge back to back rides on Wed and Thu and since we just ran two hours, I planned an easy spin over to Saguaro National Park and back. This is the park that we often ran in this week as well. There is a freshly paved road that circumnavigates the park, you view part of the ride in the video above. In the first mile of the ride is a steep descent with an extremely sharp right hand turn. You take this one too quick and you’ll be picking cactus needles out of your ass. Jill descends like a demon and took this risky corner with ease. Even though everyone had ridden for six days straight with some huge ascents in there, they still opened it up a bit in the park. It’s hard not to on this road – this road is begging to be ridden hard. Everyone really paid attention at this camp. They started out the week easier, staying aerobic and in their B zones for most of the training. Because of this, everyone finished the week riding and running better than they were at the beginning. Typically people get a bit anxious early on and blow themselves up, struggling to keep it together the last few days.

We packed up the bikes after our ride to ship them home and later in the afternoon, went to the pool for a swim. There are a lot of professional athletes training here at the moment. At the pool was Spencer Smith. We also ran into Peter Reid, Samantha McGlone, TJ Tollackson, amongst others at some point during the week. After training here, you can understand why so many top pros gravitate to this area in the winter.

I don’t need to post how many miles we covered or hours we trained this week. I’ll leave that for the machoman camps that like to boast on such things. Instead I’ll comment by saying that we trained the right amount this week, given the time of year, the capabilities of the athletes, and the amount of time we had to train and recover. The athletes were tired, yet still doing well in their training sessions. They were laughing and having fun still. That’s how you know if it’s the right amount.

If you prefer to ride indoors on your trainer in March, run in tons of layers on frozen roads, and swim in an indoor dungeon… If you lack a sense of adventure, don’t like challenges, are turned off by nature… And if you don’t like laughing, or having great meals with likeminded people, and like the monotony of your typical training routes, then you wouldn’t want to come to this camp.

I’ll be back next year – and I’m making sure to bring Big Rocks and Baker. They need to experience this. You hear that Baker? Start formulating your sick day excuses now my man!

Cheers,

EH

Day 5 - Mt. Lemmon

Once again, the day started with a run, this time in Saguaro National Park. Once again, we were running as the sun came up over the mountains. It's hard to have a bad day when you start it this way.

Everyone here is hooked on Jamba Juice which, combined with some Brueggers bagels, has become our standard breakfast.

After this, it was back to the hotel and change for the big part of the day - Lemmon. To ride Mt. Lemmon is a great accomplishment. To ride it the day after Kitt Peak, with more riding plus two 90 minute runs first thing in the morning is huge.

The spin over from the hotel took about 30 minutes and soon we were at mile marker zero. Only 27 uphill miles in front of us. I gave the advice to keep a steady tempo and not overwork it, at least until theres 10K left. These guys have put in some great volume and it's important to not fry yourself from this camp, but instead make sure you absorb the training. They are all listening which is odd. I always have a few who's egos get the best of them and they blast the first part of the week only to be spent midway through camp. These guys are getting stronger as the week goes by.

I was alone a few minutes into the ride - I wanted the guys to ride their ride today since everyone is feeling the fatigue from a full week and the last thing they want is their coach looming over them for a 27 mile climb. It was a perfect day and I settled into a comfortable tempo. I'll admit my legs didn't feel that snappy today, but they felt good enough. Afterall, it is very early and before this week, I hadn't ridden more than 1 hr at a time in a few months.

The weather was perfect - sunny, warm, and low winds. the views were spectacular and I stopped a few times to snap some pictures. There were some other riders going up that I came across, and quite a few heading down. Near the top, it was getting cooler so I put on a long sleeve jersey. There was snow at the top and many of the sightseers were out of their cars in their t-shirts, having snowball fights. From mile 0 to mile 20 is a steady grind, then it rolls until mile 25. Most stop here at the mountain top little town where there is this dirty little pie shop that we hit last year and that people rave about. The true ride though finishes at the ski area which is a right hand turn and two more steep uphill miles. In fact, these two miles are the steepest of the day. I made it to the top and gave John Brennan a call to see how the tracking went with MyAthlete. Gus came rolling up caked in salt and dazed! He did great though and said that he felt strong for the most part.

We rolled back down to the pie shop and waited in a very slow line, only to find out that they were pretty much out of pie. The pie might be good, but the place is pretty gross, so we shot a few blocks up the road to the Cookie Shack for a huge cookie and some fluids.

This descent is great. There is the climb back out from the small town, then you begin and the turns are big sweeping s turns with just stunning views. At one point, I was trapped behind two harleys and two cars, and when I found the opportunity, I shot around them. I had a blast although 20 miles of descending in the drops tightened up my back a bit, but the spin back to the hotel loosened things up. I reminded the boys that Mt. Lemmon is one of the most famous cycling climbs in the US, and that they just did it. Some of them have done it twice now since they were here last year. That's pretty cool.

Another amazing day - when you get the opportunity to do the things you love with like-minded people all day, how can it go wrong?

Cheers,

EH

Day four in Tucson

We once again began the day with a run. We went back over to Sabino Canyon, but this time to run the Seven Falls trail. It was a cool morning - perfect for running. The sun here is strong and as soon as it pops up over the mountains, you can feel the warmth. It would later heat up towards 80 degrees by the afternoon.

The Seven Falls trail is an out and back trail that heads right up the middle of a canyon, leapfrogging a flowing river. It's a bit rocky, and mostly uphill on the way out, and your feet will get wet at some point, but it's absolutely stunning. Because of the terrain, you aren't running at a fast pace although your heart rate is elevated the whole time. We put in 90 minutes, and finished near a flowing river gorge. When I fell on Sunday, I did a number on my right ankle. I didn't sprain it or twist it, but I banged it hard against a rock and cut it open. The wound doesn't hurt but there is a lot of swelling. I have the cankle working on my lower right leg. So at the end of this run, I took off my shoe and soaked my foot and ankle in the ice cold water. It felt great, and as I sat there waiting for the other campers to roll in, I couldn't help but think about how fortunate I am to have the opportunities to explore and see some of the places I've seen. I thought about how many run the same routes all the time, not venturing out or trying some different things, and about how they are truly missing out on a lot.

I picked up a pair of the new Zoot running shoes and I absolutely love them. I ran today with no socks for the 90 minute runs and had no blister issues whatsoever. They are responsive like the Newtons, but offer a bit more cushioning. Plus the drain holes really work, as I tested this out by putting my wet foot back into the shoe after soaking it and ran the last mile back to the car. They are better than the Newtons, in my view.

After some breakfast, we made the drive out to Kitt Peak. The road out is a straight shot right through the desert for 45 miles. There's nothing out there. Kitt Peak is a 12 mile climb up to around 7000 feet where there is an observatory. It's a great climb with an average grade somewhere between 8 and 9%. The weather was perfect - sunny and in the 70's! everyone did great, keeping a steady effort the whole way. After 5 miles, I suggested to stay seated for 3 min then get out of the saddle for 1 min and repeat this the rest of the way up. The great weather conditions made it perfect for bombing the descent, and after that, we rode back to Tucson and through the city. We arrived back just before dinner time making it a nice long day in the saddle.

At dinner, that fourth day of camp haze was prevalent. Campers get more quiet, yet they seem relaxed. There's a tiredness there that endurance athletes actually enjoy feeling - It's evidence that they have been working hard.

Tomorrow is Mt. Lemmon. We'll be sporting the myathlete devices again if anyone wants to check out how we're doing. Sign on to:

MY ATHLETE Tracking www.myathlete.biz/track ironman ironman123

Cheers,

EH

Tucson 08' Day Tres

Today was a big day. I am in the process of turning Jeff into a Starbuck's addict. He placed his own order there today. This can be quite intimidating, but he handled it well. He was a bit nervous at first. I could see the beads of sweat accumulating as he rehearsed his order while in line. But he focused and came through, which was quite empowering for him.

The other big happening was that Bruce was the MVP. He's supposed to do a write up so I'll let him fill you in on the dirty details that earned him the coveted mvp spot. In the best interest of the campers, I won't reveal certain information without there consent. To be honest, I still don't know what the hell went on, but the imagined images are haunting.

We also trained quite a bit. We started with a run once again in Saguaro National Park. The sun was out and bright early on and it was absolutely amazing in the park. We ran on single track trail through the rolling desert surrounded by cacti with jack rabbits scurrying everywhere. Some mountain range was our backdrop. We covered a little over an hour of running, before hitting Jamba Juice and Brueggers. We did a great ride out to Colossal Caves on a rolling course. The weather was perfect today - sunny and right around 70. Returning from this, we hit the pool and swam. I videod the group in the water although they are not allowing me to post these videos on here.

It was another great day of training. Tomorrow we hit Kitt peak - an 11 mile climb that is a grinder. I'll be wearing a myathlete tracking device if anyone is interested in tracking me - so will one of the group. I need to get some sleep - the days are getting very busy and I'm beat. By the way, jeff had his garmin on for the ride yesterday where I mentioned in that blog that we did a climb that I guessed was 18%. Turns out it was 22.5%!!!

Cheers,

EH

Tucson - Day Two

I'll post some more pictures and maybe some more video later today. We're in full training camp mode now and free time is scarce. We're having a blast here, even though it's been cold, but today it's going to be sunny and 70, and tomorrow through Friday it's going to be 80.

I'm still on eastern time and was up at 3:45am on Day two. We did a deja vu, heading over to Starbucks and then back to Sabino Canyon to run the telephone line trail. Jeff Molson didn't get here until Sunday, and I wanted him to start out the camp like the rest of us. Besides, I don't think I could ever get bored with this run. There's a road that winds through the bottom of Sabino Canyon which is beautiful and where you see most runners. Two days running the telephone line trail and we saw a few hikers, but no other runners. Maybe the mountain lion scare is the real deal? I'll take my chances - the trails are far more appealing to me then the roads. The run was just as exhilarating as the day before, and 1 hr 37 min later, we were done.

After some breakfast, we headed over to Trisports to do some shopping, then we got some more food and headed out for a ride. I want to keep things on the easier side since we will be riding Kitts Peak on Wed and Lemmon on Thu. We did find a nice steep climb though - probably an 18% grade. It was a short one though and the rest of the ride was rolling hills. Everyone is doing great at staying controlled and not cooking themselves for the next day thus far.

We changed quick and headed over to the pool for an easy swim. The pool is big and outdoors which is the best! They have a high dive board there and I gave the guys an option; they could do a double flip off the high dive and get out of swimming, since they weren't overenthusiastic about getting in the water. The air temp was cold, in the 50's, so I think they seriously considered the option, but no one bit.

I gave Jeff M. the mvp award. Besides the fact that he brown nosed all day, he really deserved it. He had a major low back operation in November. They surgically cleaned up a lot of fragmentation of his discs. His comeback is extremely impressive, even though he can get frustrated thinking back on what he was doing a year ago. I reminded him at dinner that he needs to focus on what he's doing and not what he isn't.

We found a great gelato place after dinner which I think we'll be frequenting each day for the remainder of this camp.

There is a lot of laughing going on at this camp, and even though we are training quite a bit, everyone seems relaxed. Bizarre how strenuous physical activity can be relaxing to some?! This makes it obvious that we are here doing something we love.

Cheers,

EH

Tucson Day 1

Many times you'll hear people comment that it takes them a few days to relax and adjust when traveling. For me, it takes one workout.

I was up this morning at 3:45am. My internal clock, although never quite right, was reading 6:45am. I did some computer work, adjusted my bike for the 40th time since being here, and soon enough it was 6:15 - time to round up the troops and head to Starbucks, then to Sabino Canyon.

It was a cool morning, yet the sun was coming up over the mountains when we started the run. There were some big signs at the Canyon warning about Mountain Lions. I told Gus not to worry - that I hid a big raw steak in the back pocket of Bruce's vest, so we were fine. We headed for the telephone line trail, a single track trail that snakes around 30 minutes uphill, then traverses along cliff sides following the ridge of the mountain range. We did this run last year but the upper part of the trail was closed at the time. Even still, I commented how this run was definitely one of the best runs I've ever been on, in terms of scenery, adventure, and challenge. This year the full trail was open and it reconfirmed that this really is one of the best run courses that I have ever done. With the sun peaking over the jagged mountain tops, it was really beautiful, and 10 minutes in, I was relaxed from the travels of the prior day.

Your footing has to be sure since you are basically running on the edge of a cliff. We kept the pace easy and chatted and enjoyed the surroundings. For a big guy, I'm pretty light on my feet. However, I was telling Bruce a story while bounding over boulders and I turned to see if he was behind me and my foot caught a rock. Down hard I went. I was carrying a small video camera in my hand that almost went over the cliff - I guess better the camera then me. Man, I wished I caught the fall on tape, it would have made for a good laugh I'm sure. Bruce took the camera and got the shot of me in the above video. Anyway, we ran on and the 1 hr 45 min later, we finished our first session of this camp. Sam Mcglone, second place woman at Hawaii this year, was just beginning her run on the road at Sabino Canyon as we finished up. There are a ton of athletes out here, many world class. This run was the perfect way to kick off the week, and it certainly allowed us all to relax and adjust and know that we were in for a great week.

After breakfast, we did a nice three hour ride out to Colossal Cave and kept the pace relaxed. I wanted today to be an easier day to adjust to the time change and travels. It was cold here today!!! It probably never went out of the 50's and it actually rained on us a few times. Must be one of my camps. The weather is supposed to get better each day though, so hopefully by Wed, we'll get some of that upper 70 to 80 degree weather. The good thing about the weather here is that these fronts move through so quickly. Last year I mentioned how I never rode longer than 90 minutes on the computrainer when preparing for this camp. this year, I never road over an hour. I did do a lot of strength work over the winter though and some great quality on the bike, even though I rode only two to three times per week, but I think it payed off. I felt absolutely comfortable on the ride today. The true test though will come on Tue or Wed when we ascend Mt. Lemmon. It wasn't bad enough that I crashed while running, so Bruce went down in the first 1/2 mile of the ride. He was wearing so many clothes that something got caught or tangled in the drivetrain and boom, down he went right on his hip. He was fine though. Amazing, first two groups of teenage boys that were walking by stopped to see if he was ok, then a car that saw it happen turned around and came back to check on him! This is a friendly bike town!

We went back out for Mexican food tonight and had a lot of laughs at dinner, and now it's time for an early bed. Gus is living up to his reputation for eating a ton of everything in site. I'm going to see if we can actually make him gain weight this week. Considering all the training ahead, this should be a fun task.

Cheers,

EH

I'm in Tucson!

Tell the average person that you are paying money to go to a location where you will be pushed hard, where you will run countless strides, pedal for hours on end and swim back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, ... I'm sure many that have attended a training camp have done so with their friends and family. They've tried to explain what they were about to participate in only to get the typical responses of "Are you nuts???" and "You're paying for that???" No worries - these people will never get it. And let's be honest, most of us like when people react that way.

I awoke at 3:15am today so that I could get to Laguardia on time for my flight out here to Tucson. My daughter was really upset about me leaving which makes me question whether this small part of my business is worth it. It also made the flight out here seem longer than it should have. As my plane was coming into Tucson, it flew directly to the south of Mt. Lemmon, giving me a great view of the one road that snakes it's way up this famous climb. Then, my mood started to switch. I was excited thinking that we would be riding up and down that road over the next week quite a bit. There's something about pushing ourselves through the simplicity of these three exercises that makes us feel more alive.

We checked into out hotel which is close to Mt. Lemmon, Sabino Canyon, a Starbucks, a Jamba Juice, a Trader Joes, and great mexican food. Now I'm trying to remember why I wouldn't want to be here.

This week, we'll train 6 to 8 hours per day, go out to great dinners, drink a few beers, tell some great stories, have a bunch of laughs and create some great memories. I'll offer out as much information as the campers can handle before duct taping my mouth shut. I'll go home reenergized and feeling fit and motivated and I'll feed a lot of that back into my family and business. Remember, this sport we do is just a metaphor of who we really are. Right now, who I really am is one tired sob who can't wait to hit the telephone line in Sabino Canyon tomorrow morning for a 90 min run.

Peace - and good night!

EH

I got nothin.

I started my blog out of the suggestion of some clients. I found it kind of odd that people would want to hear about my happenings. It seemed like a very self-absorbed thing. I try to post at least one blog a week, in the odd chance that there are some people out there tuning in - for all I know it may be one person, but I have been getting some responses as of lately which is cool. But regardless of who reads this, I kind of enjoy it. It's become a personal journal of my past. Just keeping a personal journal on my computer may be the more modest, less self absorbed approach, but I know that I'd get lazy. The thought that maybe even one person out there may be checking this out holds me accountable to try and put something down here. Most of my posts are about experiences or thoughts that I come across, usually while training. I try not to force anything, which leads me to this post. This week, I've got nothing. I could make something up for the sake of staying on top of this weekly commitment, and try to inject some humor, wit, or something poignant, but I'm just not feeling it. So instead of laying out an opinion that I have to dig deep into finding, I'm just tossing out nothing instead. Sorry. I head out to Tucson next week, so I'll try to make up for it.

Stating The Obvious

When you are riding in cold, wet weather, it sucks. No need to mention it to your riding partner.

Train slow and you’ll race slow.

Air travel sucks.

You won’t lose fitness by missing a day or two of training, especially if you are sick.

Speaking of being sick, if you are then stay home! You aren’t being a trooper by coming to work, you are infecting everyone else.

If you want to lose weight, don’t eat so much.

Television is a waste of time and productivity. But it’s entertaining.

Without set goals, it’s hard to move forward.

Many of us try to convince ourselves that we are stepping outside our comfort zones when we know we truly are playing it safe.

At the end of a long, hot ride, there’s not much better than an ice cold coke. Except for an ice cold beer.

Winter will end.

tech hiatus

My kids had their winter school break this week, so we headed way south. We were able to escape the northeast to 85 degree sun with a slight breeze every day which was just what the doctor ordered.

Besides the warm sun and crystal clear ocean, the next best thing was that I committed to turning off my cell phone, and not using my computer while I was there. I had my laptop with me and did write a few things during the flights but I didn't open it at the hotel.

You know what - for a week, it was great! I even stayed clear of current events. I've been caught up in this political race yet I didn't open a newspaper or turn on the news. The only TV I watched was Phinneas and Ferb on the Disney Channel, I think with my kids.

A week was the perfect amount of time. I have some friends that are real tech geeks - I mean they are slaves to their gadgets. It's an easy trap to fall into nowadays. Escaping it for a week is actually really nice. It makes you think about how tied we are to our stuff, and maybe simplifying is actually a good thing. I do realize though that this technology allows me to run a business. However, again, unless you are the president, one week won't kill you. It was actually quite annoying to see a lot of guys on their crackberry's and cell phones while on the beach.

Me, I was playing endless rounds of diving catch in the ocean with my son, and it doesn't get much better than that.

Cheers,

EH

Derby Biathlon

My parents read my last "20 years ago" post and sent me this picture. It was from the Derby Biathlon in 1991. Scooter, that's a steel Specialized Allez. I may have even had Suntour components on it!

Cheers,

EH

20 years ago

1988 and I was a lost college kid, searching for some direction. I was a business economics major although I wasn't really into it. As I was walking to one of my classes, I noticed an advertisement for the Southern Triathlon on a bulletin board in Engleman Hall. Sign-up for the race was in the Exercise Physiology lab in Moore Field House. I remember thinking "Exercise Physiology? That sounds pretty cool!" That day, I signed up for my first triathlon and switched my major.

The Southern Triathlon was a .5 mile pool swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 5 mile run including a killer hill at the 3 mile mark. I had three months to prepare. I had some decent swim ability from swimming in high school and a season in college, so I figured I wouldn't have to swim much. Man, thinking back now, I have always had the terrible habit of blowing off my swim training, relying on my limited youth swim experience. I began running in the field house on the indoor 200 meter track. I'd run 3 miles, 3 times per week. I was also hitting the weight room hard. I went through high school a small, insecure kid weighing only 145 lbs at 5'9" my senior year. The ironic cruelty of this was that I began growing the summer after my senior year! By the end of my freshman year in college, I was 6'1", 185 lbs. At the beginning of my training for this triathlon, I had bulked up to 210 lbs and I was able to bench press 315 lbs a few times. Man, how times have changed.

I began riding twice per week, riding the 10 mile bike course. It was a rolling course through the westwoods section of New Haven into Hamden. I kept this routine rolling until the week before the race. That week, I went out and ran the run course to make sure I could do it. Then, the day before the race, I rode the bike course twice! Yes, that's right, I did 20 miles, my longest ride ever at the time.

Race morning, I was nervous but excited. There were maybe 100 people racing, and we started in waves with about five per lane. I led my lane and came out of the water in 5th place behind some swim team members and my friend Tim Sweigart who I trained for this event with. I rinsed off in the shower, through on my running shoes, a heavy cotton sweatshirt, my Vaurnet sunglasses and my skid lid, and took off on the course. Pat Duggan, an All American swimmer and very good triathlete had a big lead, but I reeled in everyone else, and Tim and I came into t2 together in second place.

I experienced my first dead-leg run feeling in this race. At the top of the big hill, Tom Hromas, another experienced triathlete, came by Tim and I, but we managed to hang tough and place third together. We celebrated that afternoon by drinking a few to many beers back in the dorm.

I had seen the Hawaii Ironman on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and like so many others out there, I was intrigued. The thought of doing a triathlon stayed with me, especially considering my father was also a nut and began training towards something. At the time, he didn't know what. At a time in college when I was acting quite irresponsibly and immature and enjoying the social aspects that an undergraduate program offers, the training for and racing in this small triathlon really turned my focus around. To say this event came along in a timely fashion would be a significant understatement.

I continued to train after this race, but found that without a worm dangling out there I'd become complacent. I'd still train but I'd do the same things instead of reaching. This showed to be quite a metaphor. I next raced the Milford Triathlon with my father. They had cancelled the swim because of the weather and made it a biathlon. I raced fairly well, placing in my age group and then went on to race the Southern Triathlon again the next year and won it.

Then in the early 90's, I started racing more frequently, competing in the CT series sprint races and some olympic distance races. This was a time in my life where I certainly enjoyed the training, but I was all about competing. How I raced and placed was my primary focus. I guess this is quite reminiscent of youth and athletics.

20 years later and I'm still racing and still driven to excel, yet my focus certainly has changed. Well, maybe it's only changed just a bit.

Cheers,

EH

Someone got a new toy!

Sunday - Cleveland Winterfest Camp

What most people don't realize is that their personality and energy directly and indirectly affects any group situation they are involved in. Regardless of how many people are in the group, if you are a negetive person, it will drag the group down. If you are a positive person, it will lift the group. This is just a fact. Most of us are to caught up in our own being that we don't take a look to see how we may be affecting our surroundings. The group we had at this camp was very positive. they were encouraging and supportive to others and even those who were more shy were laughing and smiling quite a bit. This is what creates a memorable and positive experience and one that you really want to be around.



We finished dinner after a very long Saturday and then I posted my previous blog and caught up on some emails before heading down to work on Scooter and Angela's bike positions, finishing after 10pm.



Sunday, we headed out at 7am to a great pool that Ange, with the help of Aimee, nailed down for us to use. Everyone did a group swim session while Baker and I videotaped each individuals swim form. I filmed them from underwater with a camera in a waterproof bag for filming, while Baker shot them from above. After everyone was videotaped, Ange and I worked on swim form with the campers and put them through some more fun intervals. Then, we ended the pool session with relays. The last relay, each person had to swim 25 yds underwater. If they came up for a breath, they had to wait 3 seconds before resuming. There was certainly some interesting underwater form! Henk, the Belgian, found the loophole and swam freestyle without taking a breath. It came down to Jeff and Liz, the two fish of the group. Liz had a slight lead going into it, and although Jeff might have her beat in regular swimming, I think her dolphin kick would have been hard to match if they were neck and neck. Her speed 4 feet down from the surface was quite impressive!



We rinsed off quickly, put on some running attire, and made the short drive over to the trail system in the metroparks. We headed out on this great singletrack for a long run. It was a hilly, scenic, out and back course that I really enjoyed. Many had a difficult time with the ice. What's interesting is that the previous day while videotaping run form of each camper, I noticed that many were striking down very hard. I left comments on their dvd to listen to their running and try to run quitely, landing softly as though running on glass or ice. Now you have to use a bit of caution when running on ice and safety and injury prevention is most important, however, it's a great running drill and opportunityt to learn to land more flat footed and softly. I headed out with J, Jim, Brad and Baker. They all did great - Baker is such a sandbagger. I always tell him that he's a good runner but until he believes it himself, his talent won't come through as often. On the return trip, I took off to try and catch some of the others and spend time running with them. I saw Ben in the zone listening to his tunes. This guy is a trooper - he had a 101 degree fever and still plowed through the weekend, not wanting to miss anything. Same for Eric and Aimee who were both quite sick and still did a hell of a lot. I'm not advocating training while sick, but these three signed up for this camp and didn't want to miss out and they partricipated with no complaints! I then ran with Mike for a bit who seemed to be really enjoying the day and the experience. That attitude is infectuous. Next, there is a great series of switchbacks where you can see across in the winter and see who may be ahead or behind you. Henk, Doug and Jeff were up ahead and I yelled that I was coming for them. I ran a bit with Hank and Doug and they also seemed to really be enjoying the moment. Jeff picked it up, but I caught up and ran in with him.

Ange took the ladies out on the road because of the ice, but I hope they come back when it's thawed a bit and run in this great singletrack section. There were some great climbs and descents, some river crossings, and a very cool pine forest to run through. I preached the benefits of trail running upon everyones return. When I was training for my first IM in 96', I did most of my run training on the roads. I then found the trails in Trumbull and started doing most of my runs, especially my long runs, in there. I was amazed ho much better I felt the days following my longer runs. The quality of all my runs certainly increased. I give credit not only to the more forgiving surface, but also the more enjoyable surroundings. There is something much more mentally uplifting about running in trails versus roads.

From here, we said our goodbyes to the campers. They all seemd to have a great time. If they didn't, they certainly faked it well. Hopefully, they all also learned something, and will carry some of this energy with them into the next month of training. Winter can be a dreary time but this camp showed that it doesn't have to hold you back. We drove back to Scott and Ange's, showered quickly and finished packing, and then headed to the airport.

My trip home was my own version of "The Amazing Race", trying to make it back to my home in time for the kick off. I was able to get the very first seat on the plane, meaning I was the first one off the plane. I took carry on bags and I was through Westchester Airport and in my car within 5 minutes. I made it home just in time. After watching the game, maybe I should have taken my time.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Winterfest Camp and a special thanks to Ange and Scooter for hosting this event. I know their basement will probably never smell the same way again.

Cheers,

EH

Cleveland Winter Camp

I told one of my PT clients earlier in the week that I wasn't going to be available on Friday due to the fact that I was heading out to put on a winter camp/clinic. He responded "very cool, some warm weather will be nice. Where are you heading?" "Cleveland!" I brought Baker out with me who bitched and moaned something to the fact of "you have Tucson, Palm Springs, and I get to go to Cleveland!"

Baker flew from Bradley and I flew from Westchester but we both arrived in Cleveland around 8:30am. Angela picked us up, along with the Aussie doctor out of Atlanta, Trephina. We grabbed a coffee and before doing anything else, we had trephina change clothes in a public restroom, and I had Ange, Trephina, and Tina do a short warm-up run before some heart rate testing out on the damp, cold roads. We then made our way back to Ange's to try and get some bike testing done on the computrainer with some of the athletes attending. This made for a very busy day, although it would save us some time for Saturday, which would be even busier.

After a quick lunch, I worked on Ange's, Trephina's, Tina's, Mike's, Mary's, Brad's and Jeff's bike positions. I made some radical changes, including removing a 3 cm spacer from under Ange's stem! Then we did HR testing on the ct which is always a bitch but for some reason very satisfying upon completion. We actually didn't finish up with this until after 7pm, which made for quite a long day considering we were up at 3:30am.

We have, once again, another very cool group of people attending this year. Besides Scooter and Ange, we have 16 other campers ranging from newbies training for their first 1/2 to more experienced athletes looking to qualify for Hawaii. They are all extremely nice, and most importantly, they are showing signs of good senses of humour which is necessary when dealing with myself and Baker. We tormented the campers right out of the gate and I was sure they'd hate us by now, but they seem to want more?!

It's always great coming out to see Ange and Scooter. They started as clients of mine, but have turned into very dear friends. I still need to convince them to move closer to CT.

Saturday started with 6:30am coffee and bagels and introductions, followed by more bike fitting and then more bike testing. We then did a 2 hr 15 min indoor bike session on the trainers where I led them through drills, cadence work, steady state intervals, climbing intervals, star intervals (I call out one name and they have to maintain 105+ rpm's solo and jam for 1 min), ... One of the campers, Jay, had so much sweat pooled under his bike that he must have lost 10 lbs!

We followed up the ride with a brick run outdoors and then Baker video taped run form. We took a quick lunch break and then I ran them through a specific strength and core routine that Baker videod as well. All the campers will go home with a dvd of their swim, bike and run form as well as video of the strength and core routine. Following the strength routine, we had a meditation class led by this guy Todd that Ange and Scooter use here which was great and well needed. The campers were whooped and I even heard some snoring during the meditation session.

We just finished dinner after another very busy day. The campers really put it out there today, especially during the tesing.

I'll try to get more into the blog tomorrow instead of just listing the agenda and what was done, but honestly I'm pretty beat. Tomorrow looks to be another busy day before I catch a flight home and race out of the airport to make the kickoff and watch my Patriots (I've been a life long Patriot fan in a household of Giant fans so lay off) kick some ass.

Cheers,

EH

Lisa and I threw a small engagement party for our friends Gus and Laura on saturday night. Turns out we actually like the two of them (Laura anyways), so when we heard that they got engaged, we thought it would be a cool thing to do. We had a really fun time and hopefully, Gus and laura did as well although that could be questionable. We had a sit down dinner in our dining room which gets used twice per year. Baker was at one end of the table and I was at the other, and those that know the two of us well know that we can key off each other pretty well when together. In fact, Baker had a girlfriend in college who was a very good friend of mine, yet hated Baker and I together. Pretty soon the engagement party turned more into a roast. Everyone was laughing quite a bit - in fact, I think Kenny is still laughing. Well, Gus and Laura may not be laughing now, but they certainly were that night, even though most of it was at their expense. We even had Gus's mom rolling. After having a bit of time to come down, I'm sure she hates us - or at the very least, thinks a bit different about her sons choice of friends. I'm also amazed how much a bunch of fit, athletic people can drink! The Cleanse must certainly be over.

Lisa and I finished cleaning up about 1 am'ish and after 4 hours of broken sleep, I awoke to meet whoever showed (Ken) for my Sunday am run. Ray showed as well and we did a nice 1 hr 45 min run through the trails and single track.

Turns out it was a fun weekend with a bunch of good, close friends laughing hard and having fun - something to be very appreciative of.

Have a great week everyone! I'm heading to Cleveland on Friday to host a winter tri camp with Ange. I'll post again before there hopefully, but definitely from there.

Cheers,

EH

Spirit of the Marathon

Spirit of the Marathon

Being the endurance geek that I am, I jumped at the opportunity to see a film devoted towards marathon running last night. I went to see Spirit Of The Marathon at the Stratford Cinemas, a documentary that was being shown in selected theaters throughout the country for one night in January (last night) and another night in February.

Big Rocks and my sister Laura accompanied me to the theater, amusingly along with 100 or so familiar faces from the area running community. I commented to Marty Schiavone as we entered the stadium seating theater that this had to be the fittest viewing audience in movie history.

The movie followed six people preparing for the 2005 Chicago marathon. Two elites, Deena Kastor (the women’s American record holder in the marathon and Olympic bronze medalist), Daniel Njenga (a Kenyan residing in Tokyo who is a 2:06 marathoner), a husband and wife, a divorced woman training for her first, another young woman training for her first, and a 70+ year old guy who has run many and is doing this one with his daughter – her first. I have to admit that my expectations were low, and had flashbacks of the disappointing triathlon movie “What It Takes” that documented more about a whining Peter Reid than it did about what it takes. Having 12 hours now to reflect on the movie, it was decent, I’d give it 2.5 out of 4 stars.

I enjoyed the coverage they did of Deena. They showed her training, mostly with other young guys, and she always looks as though she’s hammering. They talked about her 140 mile training weeks, and showed her drive. They also showed her dealing with a small stress fracture in her foot. She mentioned how she was out on a training run and something just didn’t feel right and she just stopped right there. The doc told her that if she had ran a few more steps, more than likely she would have done quite a bit of damage. They showed her running on an underwater treadmill and doing quite a bit of strength training. She’s an extremely hard worker and her personality was likable.

The coverage of the average Joes who were training was ok. Basically, one woman was a solitary runner, the divorcee used the camaraderie of her training group to cope, the guy in the couple situation appeared to be a bit of a whiner, but he and his wife both met their goal the following year of running Boston. The old guy was humorous and displayed in a nonconventional way how running marathons has become part of him, even though he commented often in the film that he was done after this next one.

The Kenyan runner really caught my interest. There are so many talented Kenyan runners and they all appear to just be personalityless machines, however, that’s not the case. The problem is that we just don’t have many opportunities to learn about them. No one really follows marathoning because not only is it a participant sport, but there is also very little known about the Kenyans and Ethiopians that seem to win all the races. This guy they followed, they briefly showed his life in Tokyo and it appeared that he held down a real job besides running. I wished they showed us more of that. They also followed him back to Kenya where he’d return often to visit family and to train. Running is your out as a Kenyan. If you are a good runner, you can make some cash that in Kenya, where the average annual income must be sub $100, puts you in the upper echelon. They showed how rampant crime is there and how this poor guy Daniel’s brother was attacked by thieves at his home where they killed his wife and child and burned down his house, and he didn’t even receive money yet from Daniel! I instantly found myself routing for this guy when they eventually got to coverage of the race.

Finally, they portrayed the Chicago marathon in a light that makes me want to try this one, regardless of the fiasco that occurred there this past year. As I watched there race coverage and how they showed the families of these runners waiting for them at certain points on the course as spectators, I couldn’t help but think of how valuable My Athlete is going to be. Once again, while observing the race, there are two very common similiaraties amongst the fastest runners, both male and female. They were all very lean, and they all had a very quick leg turnover. The quick leg turnover is not to be confused with stride length. In fact, sometimes stride length is shortened initially to achieve a quick turnover. Watch a video of elite runners and you'll understand more why I prescribe those turnover/strike down drills of 90+/minute. It's a pretty easy formula. If you want to run fast, get skinny and turn over those legs 90 times per minute.

I arrived back home around 9:30pm to find Lisa sound asleep on the sofa. I took a comfy seat next to her and surfed the channels, looking for something entertaining and allowing me to decompress from the adrenalin that hits every endurance athlete when they view a film on endurance training and racing, no matter how good it may be. I surfed no further than Cinemax. The channel was only 15 minutes into Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a 4 out of 4 star film.

Cheers,

EH

2008 Polar Plunge

Thanks everyone who participated in or donated to the 2008 Plunge. Kathleen and Jacob were extremely thankful - Kathleen easily showed her gratitude through her emotion all morning. This years Plunge was bizarre. The air temperature was cold at 28 degrees, but not as bad as it's been in other years, yet the water was definitely the coldest I have witnessed yet. I ran down to the water and dove in head first, full of energy and adrenaline. Yet, that frigidness hits you like a brick wall and turns your energy into slow motion. My brain was still racing, yet my body was not responding quickly. Channel 12 News showed up AFTER we were already out of the water!

Once again, I'm truly grateful for all of your support and dedication towards my charitable events. Even though we are raising awareness and funds for a very tough situation, the morning was still lots of fun. Last night at The Bar in New Haven with a bunch of you was also certainly lots of fun! I'm curious as to whether Dangle took home that box of gummis from the bachlorette party.

Thank you.

Cheers,

EH

One year ago, ...

One year ago, I was doing heavy squats on a very early morning and my lower back gave out and went into such bad spasms that I didn’t get out of bed for five days. I still remember it very vividly, and if I ever forget about it (which I won’t), I have this blog here to remind me of it. I have worked with quite a few people going through back issues and thought I had a very good understanding of exactly what they were feeling. Until you have experienced this pain yourself, you cannot fathom it. In hindsight, I’m glad I went through this. It gave me a much better understanding of what many of my clients with back issues go through, and some better ideas on how to work with them. It also taught me that no matter how fit we think we may be, there are always some vulnerable spots to work on. This injury affected me to the point that I give it a bit of thought every single day. I constantly think about my posture, and if what I’m presently doing may create further issues with my lower back and SI joint. I have not slept on my stomach since I had this back spasm occurrence last year. After 39.5 years of sleeping on my stomach, that’s certainly a tough habit to break. I’m finally getting to the point where I’m comfortable sleeping on my side. I have worked hard on my core strength and found new torturous exercises with Swiss balls, medicine balls, bosu balls, and kettle balls. The one area where I have been lazy is working on my flexibility. I have made some efforts, yet considering the focus I put into all other areas, I would rate my effort towards flexibility as lame. So I have said it before and I’m announcing it again because I feel more obligated to get it done when I write about it that I will give a serious effort to improve my posterior flexibility in 2008.

Yesterday morning, I did one of my favorite new sessions. I put on my 28 layers of clothing and headed out on my MTB early with a headlamp on. I ride the Monroe trails down into Trumbull, hit some of the single track in Trumbull, then ride back home at a higher cadence with a bit of tempo mixed in. I did go down hard though while riding over some steel sheets that were placed over a huge hole where they are repairing a small bridge. The steel was frosted over and my wheels slid right out from under me similar to how I went down on my ride to VT in September. In fact, this right hip has literally taken a beating! I’m fine though and was just a bit more cautious for the remaining part of the ride. It seems to hurt a lot more when you fall at 40 then when you fall at 20.

This past week in CT was incredible! January, and I was able to ride outside one day in shorts! On one of my rides, I ran into Steve Badger, a friend and talented cyclist, who was out for a ride. He said he’s been logging some decent mileage and that “it’s go time now!” How true in that now is the time to lay that foundation for the year. Greg Welch once commented in an interview that the year he won Hawaii in October, it was because of the training he id between January and March. Training should be mostly in the B zone or aerobic and with lots of focus on technique, but in my opinion, there’s no such thing as junk miles during this pre-season phase.

Many of my clients have been on my Cleanse two week nutrition plan, including myself and Lisa. I have everyone do this at the beginning of the year to rid themselves of some bad nutritional habits they may have or may have picked up through the holiday season, and to establish new ones. The Cleanse is certainly not easy, but man it works – and it really makes you aware of what you are putting in your body, and what makes you feel healthy. I am down about 9 lbs and I just feel so much better. I am excited about pizza and beer though next Saturday night, after the Plunge. Usually I catch a lot of bitching from my clients while they are on The Cleanse. The typical “I’m starving, or this is too hard, or I feel weak, blah, blah, blah.” This year, it hasn’t been that bad?! Either it’s getting easier for most or they have learned that I’m not very sympathetic during The Cleanse.

I go this Tuesday to meet a new general practitioner and get a physical. I was seeing my pediatrician as my gp until he retired about 10 years ago. I haven’t had a doctor since, which is stupid, so I finally researched and found someone. I haven’t had a physical since I was maybe 18, so this could be interesting.

Cheers,

EH