Athletes must find ways to be bigger them themselves!

I ran on the roads the other day and was disgusted by the amount of  ”athletic trash” I saw on the roadsides. Now with about 13 miles to go it gave me time to think and ponder my next blog, hence…

Let’s face it we all train hard, push our limits and are extremely competitive come race day. It’s who we are! But we are a tad of smug at times. It isn’t there everyday but it does show up now and again, we are triathletes, marathoners, ironmen! We sometimes look at those who aren’t with a slight (and sometimes NOT so slight) air of superiority. No couch potatoeing, nascar watching person here. But we must realize we are part of a bigger society and we must do better to act in a manner for the betterment of all. Those same abilities that help us succeed in athletic theater; drive, tenacity and fearlessness, should be brought to the table when it comes to the greater good. Let me throw some ideas out at you.

First, and this is the easiest one, is caring for the environment. When I first started riding, running, etc. I used to have a saying “the litter on the side of the road is mostly fast food wrappers and beer cans, us athletes treat the environment like we treat our bodies by not putting junk in it.” What happened!! Good golly I can’t doing anything anymore without seeing a gu packet, or a power bard wrapper laying a the side of the ride! you can’t tell me that non-athletes are using the stuff and throwing out there car windows, it doesn’t taste that good. Dang people step up! You are not racing every day, if you accidentally drop something, go back and get it. Be more thoughtful on race day as well, do you ever see the course after a tri? It looks like a windstorm hit the area and blew everything into the streets. You wouldn’t tolerate such sloppiness when it comes to your training, be better.  You are already Misses neat freak? Well start demanding those with you are better, write blogs about it even. This isn’t hard to do.

Second idea takes a little more initiative but really isn’t that much harder. I started as a roadie but the long hours needed to become proficient  as well as the attitude other roadies had to the neewbies, non-teamates and other riders in general (you can always tell a roadie he’s the one riding the opposite way who doesn’t wave back at you!)  quickly moved me to tri’s. The commradorie was noticeably different. But we have seen to lost some of that welcoming spirit. Certainly it can be found in some local tri clubs, like mine the Triathlon Connection, but it seems to be missing within our group in general. We are less helpful, not so willing to offer advice out give a tip, lest we loose precious seconds to a fellow athlete. You can doubt me if you will be go do an xterra or and trail ultramarathon and you will see and feel a palpable difference. You can notice that ‘one for all and all for one” attitude. The “great if I  do well and even better if we all do well” vibe is a pleasant difference from the A-1 feeling commonly found at you road tri.  Lend a good word, give a tip, and point out something that could help out. Be there at the finish line after you finished, cheering and helping. You will get more than you will ever give.

Lastly, and an area I particularly need to work on, using our drive to race for the betterment of those outside our athletic circle. Fundraise for your next race using the money for a local charity. Involve younger athletes in your training and bring them with you to the race. Almost every race has a charity they donate some of the proceeds to, find out what is and work towards getting them some funds or bring attention to them in your blogs or discussion on line. Facebook or Twitter about them. 

I am sure many of us have ideas on ways we can couple our great lifestyles with a greater purpose and make someone’s day a little brighter. What have you done that we can emulate? Can we start some kind of movement and keep it in the spotlight for the rest of our season. Help me out and put send in some ideas and let’s get people involved!

A Wedding, oooo how exciting!!

Father Daughter dance

On Sept 24 our family added a new member, Dana Levitt, and oh what a time we had! Great party, good friends and loving family made for one of the best days ever!! It was a joyous occasion for sure and hard to leave and head home from : (. Thanks to all that helped and were part of the big day, a day not to be forgotten for sure!!

Beautiful Ceremony

Party time!

The Seaman's

Brother of the bride

Sister's

Vegan Mexican Posole Soup

OK I came from northern New England, where we are as white as wonder bread, so I don’t know me no Posole soup. But once I was transplanted to Cali I learned of this tasty and easy to make soup. I tried to reproduce the complex broth that is created when you simmer meat in your broth for hours  :( . I did this by roasting the veggies and the processing them to release all their flavors. You could try different peppers combinations depending on your level of courage. Good quality organic vegetable broth is essential to making this a successful soup. So go ahead and arrest me and handcuff me to the bed…..I cheated a little by using processed “fake” chicken but I have read elsewhere that other have tried shiitake mushrooms. Prep time is about 20 min. and you should have it on the table in an hour. That being said it is better the next day, so maybe make it after an evening run and have the next day after you get back from your brick!

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 onion, quartered
• 3 roasted Anaheim peppers, chopped
• 1 Jalapeño
• 2 tbs fresh oregano
• 3 carrots, sliced or grated
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 15 ounce can hominy, rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1  tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp pepper, or to taste
• 2 tsp chili powder
• fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)
• “fake” chicken

Preparation:

I used the fake chicken tenders from Quorn but Trader Joes has some good vegan chicken strips too. Fry and brown those up and set aside.

Take the garlic, onion, anaheims, and jalapeño and roast them under your broiler. I set my broiler to high and just rotate the pepper and shuffle around the garlic and onions. With the peppers you want to get their skins nice and black. In the time it takes that to happen, your onions and garlic will be done. Once done place the peppers in a bowl with plastic wrap over the top and let them cool. When cool peel off the blackened skin leaving the tender “meaty” part of the pepper. With the jalapeños the seed are the heat the more you leave the spicier the soup, ditch all the Anaheim seeds. Place onions, garlic, peppers and oregano and 2 cups of broth in a blender or processor and blend till smooth.

In a large pot place the oil and sauté the carrots for 5min. Turn the onion mixture into a pot with the rest of the broth, hominy, tomatoes and add the spices to taste. Allow simmer for at least 20 minutes. Garnish with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and lime, if desired. Arriba!!

High Altitude Challenge 2011

Well another High altitude challenge is in the books. This is such an awesome off road duathlon held right here in our backyard and put on by Coates Cyclery, Mt Baldy and Redhook Ale. There are no timing chips, no 10 pages of rules, no bouncy house start and finish line, just a bunch of hard core athletes looking to tough it out and finish at the top. Times are with a stopwatch and order of finish is the old bib number tag threaded with twine method, ah its beauty is in its simplicity.

Sporting the Coach Tony gear at the start of the race

The format of the race goes something like this: Racers gather at the parking lot of Mt Baldy ski area, rolling start on your  Mountain bike down to the Falls Fire Road. Then the climbing starts, a total of 3400 feet in just under 7 miles up and around the ski area itself. After that hop off the bike and its a 3 mile trail run, straight up and then back down with a rolling sprint to the finish. But one complication... the race starts at 6000 feet and goes up!

Race day weather was perfect, although Claremont was socked in the clouds as my wife Jill and I left the house, it was clear and blue at the Mountain. My major problem with short and intense races like the Challenge is I need time to warm-up and settle in to my race pace. There is no such opportunity at the HAC, after the riders parade through the lot and hit the Falls road its uphill climbing for the first 30 min. That first sharp climb saw my HR shoot up to 145, my legs started burning and I felt like I was going to puke, I knew right then it was going to be a rough morning! Unfortunately I lost the 3 leaders at the top of the second steep section (I can't say second climb because you are always climbing!) and wound up playing catch up the rest of the way.

Jill sprinting for the finish line.

The ride contained a couple of downhill sections that were technically pretty tame but when you HR has risen to 158 and you hands are tingling from breathing to hard they are a little rough. Now mountain biking is something I do for fun, I am not a really a good fat tire rider, so other racers always make time up on me on downhills. That being said I felt if could maintain a solid forth during the ride I was hopeful I could jump a spot or two on the run. I was able to finish the ride strong, trying to maintaining a high cadence and saving a little leg for the run.

Jill lookin for some 02 at 8000 feet!

My transition was quick and easy, our bags had gotten a chairlift ride up to T-1 and the fine volunteers had everything laid out by bib number at the bike racks. In years passed the run course meandered around the ski area before heading uphill, but a course change this year took us staight up the "Chute " trail. It was a rough ticket getting off that bike and heading UP such a steep section on foot. About halfway up the trail I had to break out the power walk, the combination of the incline and low oxygen was too much to continue to run. Later I found out most of the competitiors had to walk a least a section of the "chute."

Coates Dudes taking home some hardware!

The run course was little shorter but steeper than the previous two years. Whether here or at a an Xterra I can move the puppies pretty fast on the trail runs, I do tend to run the trails quite a bit. With this in mind I pushed the pace hoping to move up to third overall. I was succesful in closing the gap on the runner ahead of me but to my chagrin a hard charging youngster, (re: someone about 25) was closing the gap on me. The youngin and I reached the summit at about the same time but he was a bit faster on the downhill than I and slipped ahead of me as with both closed in on #3.

Relaxing in the Elite Tribe uni

The final sprint saw the kid make the catch and finish third, I did not close fast enough and ended the day 5 overall and 1st in my AG (40-49). It was a great time but I again have learned I need to be committed to a solid warm-up before shorter races. I will have to bring the old windtainer along and get those juices flowing before the start, making everything just a little easier. Again thanks to Corey and his crew, Mt Baldy and Redhook for putting on the race. We are going to try and grow it a little next year, but hopefully keep the stopwatch timing in effect!

Our Sponsor, Corey from Coates Cyclery with Jill during the raffle.

Enjoying some post race brews!

Less is best for Winter Swimming.

After spending 25 years in the frozen tundra (or New Hampshire as some people call it) I moved to Southern California during the winter of 2009.

People back east seem to always refer to winters as the year they happen in "yeah I remba the winter of 2005, the snow was wicked" but you never hear people in SoCal talk about the winters that way. No out here the refer to highways in a  similar manner "the 405 was jammed this morning, dude" I guess when something has a major bearing on your lifestyle you always put "the" before it.

Anyways as I was saying.. Since there are more UFO sightings than pools in New Hampshire and all the lakes have 8 feet of ice on them, I never really swam much in the winter. So when I arrived here and moved within a 1/2 mile of a 50 meter outdoor pool I thought "boy now that I can swim all winter my times going to drop now!" With that in mind I sent up a schedule of a 100 swims in a 100 days during my off season at the end of 2009. Now I fell a little short of my goal, only made 97 swims in 100 days, but its my results and the conclusion I (and others) have drawn from my little experiment.

The steely look of determination  "I will swim faster!" but at what cost?

My races the following season met with mixed results. My swim times were indeed better but my overall times were the same if not a tad slower! Swimming has always been the slowest part of any tri I do, being a decent cyclist and runner, I have always made up time in these two areas to finish well. But in my swimming giddiness I lost sight of the theory of maximizing my strengths while minimizing my weakness. In other words I spent so much time swimming my strengths had lost some of there, well, strength. I hadn't spent enough time building my aerobic base, not enough time in the saddle. My conclusion was less swimming in the off season, more running and biking base, is the way to go.

Now unbeknownst to me an excellent triathlon coach here in California, Rich Strauss of Endurance Nation, had fully developed the principle of a Swimming Vacation as early as 2007.  He theorizes, among other things, that since swimming is the shortest of the three disciplines that time gains there will not match gains made in the other two disciplines, therefore one should minimize swimming and maximize time on the run and the bike during the offseason. Now he has spent a great deal of time and effort developing his swim vacation theory. You can read more about here:

http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/training/triathlon-coaching-psa-132-no-winter-swimming/

Following my big winter of swimming I concur whole heartedly in what Rich is saying. Get your rest, spend you time building your aerobic base, and as you get closer to the season get back into the pool. How much faster a swimmer are you really going to become? But even small improvements in miles per minute on your bike or run, multiplied over the time you spend doing each of those in a race, can provide better overall results.

Has anyone tried either a swim vacation, or a swim training overload? What type of results have you seen?

Local boy makes Good!

I got two big incidents of national exposure of the past 6 months and this seems as good a time as any to share them with you !

winning by a nose

First at the Orrs Island Olympics my partner, David Robertson, and I came in first in the wheel barrel event. It was a photo finish but as you can see in the photo my nose was definitely over the line, even though I lost my hat!

World famous now!

Second I made it on Google Maps, street view!! While riding my mountain bike on Mt Baldy road in Claremont I noticed a car with a very large antenna coming towards me. Well in fact it was not an antenna it was a 360 degree camera. Closer inspection revealed it was google maps (it said it on the side of the car!). I know they blurred out my face but that's my gorky helmet for sure!

Cheers!

Moving On Up….. Your Age Group Standings.

Last year at an inaugural edition of a local off road tri I placed first in my division and eighth overall. While recuperating from my final sprint, one of the other younger competitors who finished a bit after me asked how I did. When I told him he seemed a little stunned and inquired just how did an old guy like me go that fast! I then gave him a thumbnail sketch of and told him I wasn’t genetically gifted, just a hard worker who didn’t mind the pain. 

There are 2 routes to the top of your age group and neither is particularly hard to decipher, no GPS needed here. Route 1 is a highway, one paved with your genes. It’s simple really; you were just born with a better set of athletic tools than the rest of us. Everything athletic comes easy to you. Most likely you were a three star athlete in high school (and wore one of those sweater tied around your neck). Training for you is consistent but you don’t need to go overboard, i.e. you have a life. 

But for the rest of us we must take the “other” Route, my roadway, is a meandering country road. It’s full of pot holes and little detours but paved with hard work. Maybe a decent high school athlete, we have to work hard for everything we get. Nothing is handed to us. We must practice and train and practice some more just to keep up with the Route Oner’s. We bust our butts for our victories (while hopefully passing one of those pretty boys with all the talent). Now since those AG hotshots are already are winning everything, they have long ago moved onto another blog. Probably one describing the best way to display your medals, but those of you still reading..   you must be one of us! The hard working, and good looking, trainaholics!

Now I am no perennial favorite nor am I an overall winner. But I consistently finish at the top of my age group and somewhere near the top of the overall standings. So what do I do to get where I am? I will give you a little run down on my training concepts but first let me go over something I said in the beginning. Going fast is more painful than going slow. If you intend on pushing your limits you must come to grips with this early on. It’s gonna hurt but let me tell you its sooooo worth! Without any further literary torture let me pass on some of my ideas:

•   I try to do something every day. Some of those days are recovery runs or swims but I shoot for zero days of zero training.
• 2 hours a day is my minimum time spent training. You must push yourself to go longer and faster, this can’t be done on an hour or two several times a week.
• 3 swims, 4 rides, 4 runs is my base level in each discipline. I try to do two workouts a day except for my long run and recovery days. Long rides are always followed immediately with a run. Inertia is hard to stop.
• To go faster you must go faster. I seek out younger and/or faster people to train with. I look for every opportunity to go fast (except for recovery days). You just can’t expect to race at a speed your body has never seen before. 
•  I am almost totally vegan. It has morphed into ‘it’s the right thing to do” but it started out as a way to keep weight off and recover faster. I recover from hard workouts quicker than anyone I know and I firmly believe it is because of my diet.

The specifics of run length and time in the saddle will differ depending on the distance you plan on racing. But developing a training plan with a foundation similar to the one I have laid out here will make you fast and someone to be reckoned with every time you toe it up at the starting line.

Southwestern Corn Pudding Recipe

Hey its time for another recipe. This one always gets great reviews and its a combination of recipes I have seen in some Vegan Cookbooks. It is excellent for as a side dish in a Mexican meal or easy to make and bring to a potluck.

Now it isn't too difficult a recipe so don't try any of that shortcut funny business and use frozen corn! And for gosh sakes don't be lookin to cut a few calories by using light coconut milk, get off you butt and run a few extra miles it will be well worth. Arriba!

 Southwestern Corn Pudding

2 Tablespoons corn oil

4 cups fresh corn (about 6 ears)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped (less seeds = less spiciness, more seeds = more heat)

1 cup coconut milk     

¼ cup cornstarch

½ cup cornmeal

2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (leave that Mrs Butterworth's shit on the shelf!)

1 cup finely chopped scallions (or as some can them green onions, why I don't know)

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease an 8 inch square baking or casserole dish. Double the recipe if you want a lot and use a 13 x 9 in pan.

Stand the ears of corn up in the pan and cut off the kernels. If you do it in the pan you won't loose any of that precious corn milk. There will be some wayward kernels but a few must be sacrificed for the good of the of us all.

Sauté the corn, bell pepper and jalapenos in a large skillet (in the corn oil) for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally; the corn should be very lightly browned. 
Meanwhile, stir together the cornstarch and the coconut milk until the cornstarch is mostly dissolved. If you are male you can do this before you saute, we are terrible multi-taskers!

When the corn and peppers are ready, transfer 2 cups of them to a blender or food processor. Add the coconut milk and cornstarch mixture and pulse about 20 times (OK I don't really count but some people do!), or until the mixture is mostly pureed but not completely smooth.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl and mix with the remaining corn, cornmeal, maple syrup, scallions, cilantro, salt and cayenne.

Pour batter into a baking dish and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Viola!!

Racing the way you Train

Sometimes it takes a long time (or in my case a very, very long time) to master the idea of "race pace." But it has finally started to sink in and with it my times and overall finishes have improved!

Let me describe for you my typical triathlon, marathon or bike race experience: Out fast with the leaders, start feeling a little sluggish mid way through the event, rally to regain form for a little while, hanging on but fading into the finish. Now let me describe my normal training experience (swiming, biking or running no difference really). Warm up, chatting with fellow athletes, a few intervals of speed followed by some recovery, then an increasing effort to the end. Notice a difference? Yeah I finally did too. I train the exact opposite way from how I race!

It took the help of my triathlon coach, Tony Troccoli, to finally drove the message home for me. You can't ask you body to train a certain way then demand it to race in a totally different manner. It is a recipe for failure. He planned my workouts with the overall theme of building speed. Then it was simply a matter of executing the plan come race day.

Lets take a look at the swim. I so often see swimmers either never warming up or just getting in the water a few seconds before their wave start. Then the horn goes off and they are being fished out within 200 yards of shore or doing the breast stroke gasping for air. The race should reflect how you train: a few hundred yards of warm-up stroke followed by as many as ten hard efforts with equal recoveries in between before the race. Then at the start, no need for the fastest 100 you have ever swam, start out smooth and build into it, you will be amazed at the number of athletes you will pass!

The bike and run are very similar. You just can't come out of the water and hammer the bike! You need to transiton the muscles, reserve the power and slowly increase the effort. Again as you progress along the course the riders who are fading (and you are passing!) will far out number those who pass you.
I find I am always very eager when it comes to the run portion of a tri. I want to get off that bike and start moving up the ladder! This part of the "train as you race" theory has been the hardest for me. First few miles go at about 75%, then ramp it up to 85% with the finishing miles at top end. Boy do I now see all those other athletes who are cramping and slowing done to a shuffle (like I used to!) as I am building up momentum, it really re-enforces my pacing strategy.

So take some time before your next race and map out a negative pacing strategy, with your trainignstyle in mind. When race day arrives, remain calm and excute the plan. I think you will be pleased with the results!