How competitive swimmers can maximize their time in the pool
Running Biomechanics with Bobby McGee (video)
How competitive swimmers can maximize their time in the pool
Running Biomechanics with Bobby McGee (video)
This year I completed my 55th year around the sun and I am grateful for that. Many times in the past, I have had some fun, fitness challenges on or near my birthday. This year I decided to try a new kind of 1/2 Ironman. I looked at my last 1/2 IM in 2016 at the Boulder 70.3 and the times for each event: Swim 29+, Bike 2:13 and run 1:44. The challenge this year was to see what distance I could cover, or power I could sustain in the same amount of time, while having very relaxed transition times to enjoy some yummy food and conversation with my wife, Sharon.
The day started off with some warm up exercises using Crossover Symmetry bands to prep for my swim. December in Colorado = no open water swimming but I planned to hop on my Vasa Ergometer and knockout 30 minutes.
A good start to the morning and now it was time for some coffee and birthday cake. Sharon makes my favorite cake every birthday...carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. A couple cups of coffee and yummy cake as we chatted away the morning until I was ready to ride.
The roads and air temperature were not ideal so it was time for the trainer. 2 hours and 14 minutes was the goal. Since I could not measure distance on my resistance trainer, I looked at my average and normalized power in watts (W) from 2016: 181 and 187 respectively. So the goal would be a short 5 minute ramp up then try to dial in a solid zone 3 power effort in the 80-85% of current Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Current FTP is 246W so that would have me targeting between 187-223W. I quickly found myself hovering around 195-200W and decided this would be a good attempt to hold for the duration. Fueled by the earlier coffee and carrot cake the time just flew by. I did have some music piped in through my AirPods (thanks mom for the birthday present). Given this was a new way to approach a 1/2 IM along with my leisurely transitions, what better fuel than water and a few more little pieces of...you guessed it, carrot cake!
Bike stats for those interested in the details: 2 hours 14 minutes, average power 201W, normalized power 202W, 91% of ride in zone 3 with IF at .82 Some HR data as well avg. HR 123, Max 136
With the bike done and feeling really great about the effort it was time for a shower! Yes, another benefit to this new kind of 1/2 IM, you get to shower after the ride, have a light brunch, stretch and take a short nap before the run.
Run GO time and I am heading outside to one of my favorite local running spots at Rivers Edge Natural Area which was restored after the Big Thompson Flood in 2013. The gray morning turned to mostly sunny skies so if I timed it right, 1 hour and 44 minutes of running would finish up as the sun was setting behind the Rocky Mountains. I took off from the house and the first mile or so was on city streets until I made it to Rivers Edge; from there, I ran on frozen dirt and snowpack on twisting paths around the ponds.
I found a good rhythm and used a run/walk strategy similar to when I race. I have found that short walk breaks at aid stations allow me to get more of what I need in my body than on my body. Plus the short walk break is a nice reset. I took short walk breaks at 3, 6, 8.5 and 11 mile mark and topped off the brunch fuel tank with some water and a caffeinated gel. Don't get too caught up in the numbers. My heart rate monitor took 6 minutes to sort itself out hence the 187 HR reading. I don't think I ever saw my heart rate that high even in my 20's.
I really enjoyed my birthday workout, I needed a new kind of challenge during a challenging year. But to tell you the truth, I believe that just moving everyday is what's most important!
Some days it might be a walk and light stretching. Other days like today might focus on mental and physical endurance. Our bodies respond well to daily movement and in Colorado we have so many beautiful places to move while enjoying nature. It's never too late to start moving and sometimes the hardest part can quite often be getting started. To borrow a quote from Cris Dobrosielski at Monumental Results: "Small consistent change, over a significant period of time, leads to Monumental Results." The consistency in movement and daily choices are the most important pieces to long term physical and mental health.
As I head into my 31st year of coaching, I truly appreciate my mentors, coaches and athletes. In 2021, I hope to continue learning, questioning and challenging how we train...so I can help YOU Train Smart and Race Fast!
Please reach out if you would like to schedule a FREE 20 minute consultation.
Coach Eric
Training for triathlon or any sport for that matter requires an athlete to balance training with work, family, social, etc… At times this can be overwhelming trying to fit in the necessary training to reach your goals. For starters, one of the first things to do is make a plan for you. Those that fail to plan, plan to fail. This is where self coached athletes often get in trouble as they end up doing whatever workout suits them for the day or other peoples workouts that are not specific to address their strengths and weaknesses. Whether you are self coached athlete or have a coach, make sure you have a plan!
How competitive swimmers can maximize their time in the pool
Running Biomechanics with Bobby McGee (video)
Video on Thoracic spin mobility exercise:
High Cholesterol, Saturated Fats and Low-Carb Diets: What You Need to Know
Books:
The Talent Code
How Bad do you Want it
Primal Endurance
Advanced Marathoning
Daniels Running Formula
With some great Spring weather this past weekend the roads were full of cyclists getting off the trainers and outside again.
Here are some things that may help you stay a bit safer:
1. Ride even more defensively. Motorists have been used to not seeing a lot of bike traffic during winter and need to adjust to you again.
2. Make yourself visible!!! Flashing lights on the back of bike are helpful along with your awesome cycling kit.
3. Take it easy in the corners. There is still quite a bit of sand and other debris on the road from winter.
4. Ride with Aloha and use some common sense. When overtaking a cyclist or group of cyclists say hello, on your left, good morning/afternoon, etc... It can be startling when getting passed and may help prevent the cyclist(s) your are passing from crashing into you.
5. Staying as far to the right side of the road as you feel comfortable and conditions allow for. When 2 abreast, please make frequent checks behind and single up when in doubt. While it is legal to ride 2 abreast, doing so when conditions are not safe (lots of traffic, no bike lane, narrow to no shoulder) puts you at more risk!
6. Make sure to check your bike for any loose bolts, working breaks, lube up the chain and good tires before hitting the roads.
7. In addition to #3 above, when turning or changing lanes, use hand signals so those behind and traffic ahead understands the path you are going to take.
There are plenty more things to add, but this is a good start to getting you rolling on the roads again. 16 days until Spring is officially here!
Train Smart Race Fast - Coach Eric
It is always good to get the first race of the season done. Let's you know how your training has been going so far both good and not so good and often times can be a great motivator for the remaining part of the year.
This year I kicked things off at the Colorado Triathlon at Boulder Rez and hosted by the folks from Without Limits. I decided this year was a good time to take a break from the longer races so doing the sprint here was a perfect way to start.
THE SWIM - Just going to say it... one of my worst ever in 31 years in terms of how I felt in the water. Bottom line, I could NOT get enough air and felt like I was gasping for it within 3 minutes after starting. From talking to a few other athletes and coaches I think I may have it figured out due to the late allergies we have been having here. Race week was filled with lots of sneezing and runny noses. I think combining that with the compression of my race kit and wetsuit was enough to create that very uncomfortable feeling of not getting air. So, I went into damage control on the swim and thought to myself, "what would I tell my clients to do"? Roll over on your back and do some backstroke. I did this for a while and it helped a bit, but I was still not feeling 100%. At one point I even stopped when nobody was behind me and made some adjustments to my wetsuit and tried to calm my breathing down. I decided to just relax as best I could the remainder of the swim and alternated freestyle and backstroke most of the second half of the swim. Eventually I was happy to hit the beach and start running up to T1.
THE BIKE- After a quick change it was time to roll. It took me until Jay Rd for my breathing to finally settle down and I found a good, strong and steady rhythm on the ride. Turning off Hwy 36 onto Neva Rd you can really let things rip all the way down to 63rd. St. Last year racing on this section of course during IM Boulder 70.3 a couple of cars were not playing nice. Today, no problems as we flew along. Quick right turn onto 63rd, back to Diagonal and The Rez. It was really fun to be riding for less than 45 minutes and roll into T2 knowing it was only a 5K run.
THE RUN - Started off trying to get some leg turnover and after about 1/4 mile found my rhythm. With an out-and-back course you get to see who is running fast behind you and shortly after the turn I noticed a couple guys that were moving quicker than I was. So the goal was not to let them catch me. Good intentions here but with about 200 yards to go, sure enough I got passed by these two. I glanced down and one of them had a "51" on his calf.... CRAP... I had to dig even deeper. I picked up my turnover and got in behind them for about 10 seconds. The last right turn into the finish was up ahead about 30 yards and I told myself go now...beat those guys into the corner. I was able to get around them both just before the corner and did not look back as we made our way to the finish line. I was able to hang on and stay ahead of both of them by a couple of seconds. After catching my breath I congratulated them both and thanked them for the push. Come to find out as results were posted that we were racing for 1st and 2nd in the 50-54 age group without knowing it at the time!
POST RACE - I had a chance to catch up with some friends I coach at FAST Masters, and some other athletes I have gotten to know over the past 5 years and we discussed our day out on the course. A couple things I was reminded of:
1. If you are not having a good swim, try not to panic and find a way to get yourself settled down.
2. Never give up & always give your best for the day!
Big thanks to Patrick Ray at Rocky Mountain Multisport for keeping my bike dialed in, Vasa Inc for turning me on to the Vasa Ergometer (my swimming secret weapon)
and all the competitors who raced on a beautiful Colorado morning.
As we prepare to set our clocks back this weekend, fall is always a great reminder to slow down a bit and take inventory of the past year. I find myself reading more and seeking out quite time to just think... or not. A good friend of mine had forwarded along some quotes he liked and I thought, why keep those to myself.
Below are some that have been around and others you may find new to you along with an original from yours truly. I hope 1 or 2 of these resonate with you and be just what you needed at this moment in time.
"We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create our dream" - Robert Coles
"The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." - Ann Wigmore
"Your attitude determines your altitude. The better the attitude, the higher you will soar in all things you choose to pursue with a passion" - Coach Eric Neilsen
"Simplicity and harmony are the ultimate conditions to be attained in all things". - Horace Fletcher
"Draw a circle around yourself - invite people in or keep them out. We are the creators of our social geometry. Calculate your volume". - Rachel Wolchin
"Don't limit your challenges, challenge your limits". - unknown
"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others". - Ayn Rand
"The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence". - Confucius
"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it". - Charles R. Swindoll
Mother nature is in control of the weather.
You are in control of your attitude and the choices you make.
Prone to being cold in the water, here are a couple tips that may help your next swimming experience be a little less chilly.
1. Exercise before getting in - A few lunges, squats, arm circles, rotator cuff exercises, bouncing on toes, etc... with clothes on. Then quick entry to pool.
2. Warm beverages before, during and after swimming. Coffee, Tea, water & lemon.
3. Wear 2 caps
4. Break out the neoprene - tops, bottoms, or both. Added insulation a good thing.
5. KICK MORE - Bigger muscles, bigger energy use = more heat generated. Added bonus, you may even go faster and who doesn't want to do that.
This should get you started and I am happy to expand more just drop me a note at eric@coachneilsen.com
Make it a great day!
Coach Eric
I am writing this post to help keep our wonderful roads in Colorado safer for cyclists and motorists. I would like to thank Bryan VanMeveren of VanMeveren Law Group for meeting with me to discuss this. He recently completed a comprehensive book focusing on Colorado bike law this is now available for free download on his website: http://www.vanmeverenlaw.com
A little background on myself, I have been riding a bike as long as I can remember and hope to stay in the saddle as long as possible. The past couple months I have had 3 incidents on the road that have put my life at risk more than I am comfortable with. The number 3 being the main focus point of this article.
3 feet = 1 yard, 36 inches, metric 91.44 centimeters, .91 meters. Motorists by law are required to give cyclists a minimum of 3 feet from the widest part of their vehicle, trailer, etc. when passing a cyclists on the road. This can be a challenge on roads without a designated bike lane, but with a little planning, one can minimize the stress for both motorist and cyclists.
Motorists, 3 simple things you can do when passing a cyclist:
If you like more technical reading that supports the above:
Cyclists, 3 simple things you can do to help stay safer on the road:
Cars and cyclists can continue to get along if both parties use some basic common sense and obey the rules of the road. When I lived in Hawaii, we would say... "Ride with Aloha".
Ironman 70.3 Boulder 2016
Pre-race: Got up about 4am and had some bullet proof coffee for my pre-race meal. About 300 calories in all. Then just sipped water the rest of the morning. Filled up 2 water bottles with Infinit and did a few core exercises to help wake my body up. After a couple visits to the bathroom, it was time for the beautiful sunrise drive down to Boulder Reservoir.
The Swim: After taking on the FAST Masters coaching position last fall, I needed to make some adjustments to my own swim training. First, I increased my Vasa Ergometer training sessions to help save time and create a very specific training stimulus for the race. Second, I incorporated more 25's "crazy 8" style into longer pulling workouts. Crazy 8's are 8 strokes as fast as you can go, then easy to the wall on :40 or :45. This helped remind my body how to move fast. Lastly, I swam more with snorkel, buoy, paddles and ankle strap in pull sets along with sets of 20 x 25 @:30 just snorkel and ankle strap. I really like the latter for training to sustain a higher stroke rate.
As we lined up for the swim start, my buddy Dean "The Diesel" Davis suggested we work together (me follow him out) then settle into our rhythm and that's what we did. The two of us and another swimmer spent our 29 minutes working our way forward on the course, navigating the swimmers ahead from earlier waves and just like that, we were headed for T1.
T1: Ouch!!! Running a fair amount on concrete I managed to nail a couple of rocks right in the same spot on my forefoot. I remember thinking, "this is going to hurt later," but race day adrenaline took care of the discomfort. Quick wetsuit strip, shoes on, helmet and off I went.
The Bike: After 7 years it was time to upgrade. The training combined with some improvements in technology (P5 and race wheels) made for a fast ride. Patrick Ray at Rocky Mountain Multisport dialed my ride in -- I'm a pain in the butt when it comes to making sure my brakes are in good working order (not rubbing the rim). Patrick also made another suggestion regarding cleat placement on my shoes to help minimize the amount of stress/fatigue that the calf muscles experience during the ride.
Heading out of T1, I hear Patrick yelling "Go Get It Neilsen" and that was the plan once the body settled down out on Diagonal Hwy. Starting in the second to last wave of men, there was a lot of bike traffic on the road ahead. Fortunately, they had a wider section of road for us to ride on during some of the earlier miles to make passing a little bit easier, but you still had to watch out for the "orange road cones" as those can hurt at 30mph.
Trying to dial in power between 200-215 watts, I zoomed up towards Airport road, flipped a u-turn and back down Diagonal to Jay Road which is part of the old course. Then heading north on 36 out of Boulder and right onto Neva Road for a really fast section down to 63rd St. This was a bit sketchy as 2 cars had myself and others grabbing the brakes.
Car #1: Decided to turn off 36 onto Neva the same time as myself and a couple other riders. Cars are part of the course at times, I get that, but why turn off onto Neva then proceed to go SLOWER than the cyclists. For those that know this part of Neva, the right, left, right turns before it straightens out were a bit nerve-racking. Once we got straight on the road again all was well until...
Car #2: My heart skipped a beat as two other riders were even closer to the potential accident. Three of us were rolling along close to 30mph when Car #2 passed us and braked hard to SLOWLY turn right onto a dirt road. The two riders ahead of me braked even harder, swerved left into potential oncoming traffic (fortunately none), and resumed their route. I was lucky and only had to sit up and hit the brakes hard. The three of us arrived at the left turn onto 63rd just shaking our heads thankful that nobody had T-boned the car.
Heading up 63rd I knew that half of the bike course was done and made sure to stay on top of hydration as the day was quickly warming up. Left turn on Nelson and back up to 36. This was a key section of the ride as I knew from training on the course that if I could keep my power around 230 watts going back up to 36 I could ride a strong and steady pace to the finish. Mission accomplished! I picked up a water bottle before making the turn onto 36. Another 2-3 minutes before things leveled out a bit before the downhill rollers into Lyons, right onto 66 to 75th and into Hygiene, by far the fastest section of the course of the day.
After going through Lyons and over the train tracks (thank you race officials for laying protection down there) I was feeling good but backed off the power just a touch to start prepping the legs for the run. The last miles went by quickly and I was able to get out of the saddle a few times to stretch the legs and back. Rolling into Boulder Rez, I felt confident the ride went well and I caught up to the only guy that had passed me during the ride.
T2 After bike dismount, run in and proper bike racking, I sat down to get my socks and shoes on because I find trying to put them on standing up I wobble all over the place. Once the feet were ready, I grabbed my hat, watch, race number and sunglasses and starting running towards the exit while getting all that stuff in order.
Transition Tip: Save time and do things in motion whenever you can.
Upon exiting T2, once again I see Patrick Ray (now wearing a chicken hat) cheering along with a whole bunch of NoCoTri Teammates. What a great way to start the run with a smile on my face.
The Run: No surprises here, 2 laps, no cloud cover and the temp was going up. The Plan: Keep it simple, control the first mile or 2, ice in the hat immediately, settle into pace for the day with the mantra "I am a Runner." Hydration strategy every aid station was Gatorade/Water to start, then shift to Coke/water, Gatorade/Water. About 5 miles in, take a bit extra walk time to get more fluids in, more ice and adjust pace down with heat rising (after living, training and racing in Kona for 8 years, I've learned how to manage heat well and make adjustments early enough to avoid the "death march" of lap 2). I learned this the hard way a couple times for sure, but I knew that it would pay off today.
Just before the 5 mile aid station the two leading women were going by me on their 2nd lap and it was race on for sure. I still had Lap 2 on the run to go and after passing my cheering friends at "Tent City" again it was time to increase the mental focus and hold pace. Around 8-8 1/2 miles I once again took a bit longer at the aid station. This ensured enough fluid in the body and ice in the hat. Past mile 11 I took one last hydration load as I knew after that, there would be no stopping until the finish. Those last 2 miles across the dams were tough and I needed to really dig to hold onto pace.
With a new finish area this year the last 1/4 mile took us through the boat storage area, around transition and into the grassy finishing straight which was a welcome site for sure. Crossing the line I was spent and it took a couple of minutes to stop having tunnel vision. Finish line staff kept us moving along and hydrated. I got a couple bags of ice to put on my neck and tuck into my jersey top to start cooling off.
Summary: I'm always grateful to have the opportunity to do the things I love. Racing here in Northern Colorado with teammates and friends makes it that much better and helps bring the best out of me. A BIG THANK YOU to my crew that keeps me going. Sharon Cook, Dylan Schubert, Patrick Ray @Rocky Mountain Multisport, Scott Barrow Massage, Craig Depperschmidt @Rebound Physical Therapy, Infinit Nutrition, FAST Masters and... "The Diesel" 🙂