Everybody Needs a Little Time Away
[Photo – California Triathlon Coach Marek Skoczen]
By Thom Richmond, Founder, California Triathlon & USA Triathlon Coach
This is not only a chance to discuss the benefit of rest but also an amazing opportunity to include a video from Chicago. Enjoy. Truly, everybody needs a little time away.
Rest can mean to relax, take a rest, ease up/off, let up, slow down, have/take a break, unbend, unwind, recharge one’s batteries, be at leisure, take it easy, put one’s feet up; lie down, go to bed, have/take a nap, catnap, doze, sleep, chill (out) and chillax. It is as important to get quality rest as it is to complete quality training sessions.
Triathlon is both physical and mental so it figures we need to get rest for both the body and mind. In addition, endurance sports are supposed to be stress relieving and not stress inducing. If your upcoming race is stressing you out unnecessarily it would be a good time to reassess your goals. Here are a few tips to get that much needed rest.
- Full rest for the mind & body at least 1-2 days each week.. Full rest doesn’t mean a slow run. It means complete rest. I make exceptions for stretching, yoga, a visit to the chiropractor or massage.
- It takes a pro to go slow. Make your hard days hard and your easy days easy. 80% of your trainings should be “low and slow”. Train with friends that are slower than you on your LSD – Long, Slow Distance days. Avoid those same friends on tempo days.
- Get copious amounts of sleep. Be proud to say you had a PR sleep day, etc.
- Be in the moment. Each training session should have a purpose, warm-up, main set and cool down. Don’t short change today’s training because you are concerned about tomorrow’s workout. You should always know why you are doing a particular training session.
- Avoid stressors whenever possible. Ask yourself the question whether something adds or decreases from your stress level. If the answer is adds to your stress level than avoid it as much as possible. Stressors are counterproductive to your mental rest.
- Limit social media. Take back countless hours and avoid the mental stress of expectations; yours and others, by limiting social media. Unplug and unwind without having to feel like you are falling behind to the social media peacocks who share their training files for everyone to marvel at. Put a “gone fishing” note on your computer.
- Pick a local race whenever possible. This avoids the added stress of driving long distances or flying and carting your bike around the country. Logistics can have you so stressed out you are shot before you get to the start line.
- If your “A race” is 3 months away plan ahead. File those taxes early, apply for vacation time at work, book that hotel room [if necessary], schedule a tune-up for the family roadster and get that birthday present for your significant other. Is your 1 year old staying in the same room with you the night before the race?
- You might have a problem. Make sure you become familiar with the phrases overreaching and overtraining. Overtraining can be a real problem with symptoms that include: lack of ability to sleep, irritability, excessive soreness, perpetual fatigue and a loss of enjoyment while training. If you find yourself overtrained take a couple days off and dramatically reduce your training amount and intensity until these signs start going away.
2016 National Race Series – Race #1 – Oceanside
Saturday is the first race in California Triathlon’s National Race Series. The team is taking 101 athletes to Oceanside. The team dinner is Friday night at 5pm and the cheer station will be on the run course. Now to the important part of getting dialed in to race.
- EARLY SEASON. It is early season and Christmas went into New Years which went into Valentine’s Day and so forth. And of course there is that nagging injury from that off-season marathon you thought you would squeeze in. A nice percentage of athletes I am hearing from feel under-prepared and that is perfectly fine. At a minimum you are getting an early season data point that you can use later in the 2016 National Race Series calendar.
- HEAD LAMP. You are going to get there early and it helps to have a head lamp when you layout your gear.
- WEAR LAYERS. It can get cold and damp in the morning so wear some layers. You can always take them off but you don’t want to start off your day chilled.
- SWIM COURSE. Bring a small bottle of water with you to the start so you can continue to hydrate until the horn. This is definitely a wetsuit race so make sure you bring your favorite XTERRA Wetsuit to the start line. The swim is a “dog leg left” loop in Oceanside Harbor and the Boat Basin. It is a protected swim and typically only has a few rollers. On the return you can sight off the pier on your right hand side. It is also advisable to wear a pair of tinted swim goggles if it is a sunny morning.
- BIKE COURSE. The bike course can be broken into three parts. The first 25 miles are flat and fast and after a few minutes on the bike you should start warming up from the swim. Then you will hit a series of rollers and hills. Remember to use constant output on the hills. There is one particularly sharp descent that has a 25 mph max speed. You have to make sure you are under 25 mph or you will be DQd from the race. The second half of the bike course typically has some strong head and side winds. Don’t get sucked into hammering your legs in an attempt o maintain your speed. Get aero and use constant power. As for drafting, yes, you will see packs of cyclists drafting at Oceanside. They are weighing the risk/reward of a faster time versus a penalty. You will want to avoid drafting so that the time you get is the time you earn.
- RUN COURSE. Flat and fast although it can get hot the second half of the run. The Cal Tri cheer station will be on the run course and so will our photographers looking for the Cal Tri kit. Here are the photos from 2015. The run is a double out and back. At the half way point you will experience the sensation of the finishing line crowd getting noisier and then quieter after you flip the run. It can be a bit disheartening unless you are prepared. Take the first mile at about 30 seconds slower than your race pace and decide somewhere on the second half of the run if you want to increase your race pace to negative split. Again, constant effort here too.
- CAL TRI – EARLY & OFTEN!
2016 California Triathlon Member Survey – RESULTS
- Epic Rides
- Cal Tri USAT Coaching Clinics
- VOGO – Volunteer One, Get One
- National & Regional Race Series Support
- Trick or Tri Triathlon
- SPRINT 90 Day Program Powered By Performance Bicycle
It is important to note that there is a correlation between how long the activity has been around and its popularity. Epic Rides are on their 5th year while Trick or Tri & the SPRINT 90 Day Program Powered By Performance Bicycle were new in 2015.
- The 3.6% [6 respondents] who selected “Too Much” were directed to edit their membership form to control how much information they receive. Excluding the weekly team note, everything at Cal Tri is opt-in so that is an easy adjustment.
- 4.1% [7 respondents] who selected “Too Little”. If you are looking for more information we encourage you to peruse additional sources of information about Cal Tri including: Monthly Team Meeting, Weekly Chapter Updates, Coaching Clinics, Team Race and Training Events, Website, Forum, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Strava and our new YouTube Channel.
- 58.6% – Messages From Team Leaders
- 15.4% – Facebook Page [National]
- 10.1% – Website – CaliforniaTriathlon.org
- 8.3% – Other
- 5.9% – Facebook Groups [Chapters]
It is fair to say that our membership relies heavily on the messages from the team leaders with the Facebook page and website taking a distant second and third place relative to being primary information sources. From a social media POV, we have 4,090 Facebook, 1,768 Instagram and 550 Twitter followers. We are forecasting a large increase in Instagram and Twitter activity in 2016.
- Bike MS: Bay To Bay – Oct 22-23, 2016. Ride or make a small donation to support Marcos Kou who leads our Epic Ride Series
- Trick or Tri – Oct 29, 2016. Race 2016 Trick or Tri and raise money for City of Hope or Shriner’s Hospital at the same time
- Rose Bowl, Angels Stadium or Carson Center Fundraisers. In SoCal we participate in fundraisers to raise money for Chapter activities.
- Cal TRI101 Clinics – Apr 18-24. Lead a Cal TRI101 Clinic at a local Performance Bike Shop the week of April 18-24. We provide a great presentation and you get a chance to talk about triathlon. It isn’t hard to encourage people to talk about triathlon.
- Chapter Leadership. Our Chapter leads do a great job and there are always ways that they can use your help and lighten their load. Many hands makes the work easy.
Select Responses To Specific Questions
ADD ROSE BOWL VOLUNTEERING OPTIONS.
- For 2016, there are 14 events starting on May 14.
ADD NO DROP TRAINING [Typically this is a reference to group bike rides].
- NO DROP OPTIONS. Each of Performance Bike’s 107 stores has two no drop bike rides weekly. The beginner is 60 minutes and the intermediate is 75 minutes.
- MEMBER LED RIDES. Our members are encouraged to organize group rides, put them on their Chapter Calendar and ask the Chapter leads to promote them. They can chose whether to make them drop or no drop.
- COACH LED RIDES. If you are unsure, plan ahead and check with our coaches to see if a particular ride is suitable for your current level of skill and fitness. Unless it specifically says, “no drop” assume it is a drop ride.
- EPIC RIDES. The name says it all. These rides are challenging. While they are SAG supported they are not a “no drop” ride. Typically cyclists informally cluster in groups. This would be in line with other big rides like Bike MS or Grand Fondo.
ADD TRAINING TIPS IN WEEKLY EMAIL BLAST
- We agree. Look for articles like “Baseline Technique For Bike/Run Pacing” at What’s New on the website. Join the discussion at the NEW California Triathlon Forum
ADD NEW EPIC RIDES
- The 2016 schedule is a great mix of old and new. 5 of the 11 Epic Rides this year are new.
- Apr 9 – OC Hills to Sea
- May 15 – Tour of California Stage 1 – San Diego
- Jun 11 – Bearrowhead Century
- Oct 22-23 – Bike MS (Bay to Bay)
- Nov 26 – Piuma Panorama
CHANGE THE KIT DESIGN & COLORS
- This goes under the category, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. We have a great design that is used in everything from our kits to our team vehicle, Cal Tr1.
- This also ties into our mission of keeping the sport more accessible and affordable. Members from 2010 – 2016 can stand in a team photos and looks cohesive.
ADD A BUDDY SYSTEM FOR NEW MEMBERS
- Our advice is to go to local training events and make friends.
ADD CROSS CHAPTER COMPETITIONS
- Suggest that to your Chapter lead
ADD MASTER’S SWIMMING [LA Area Comment]
- If you live in LA, we recommend you look into SCAQ for Master’s Swimming. They have more swim resources than we could ever hope or want.
ADVERTISE CAL TRI’S SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS. Facebook, Twitter, Instragram and Strava Icons are located at the top of our website.
ADD MORE RACES/EVENTS/TRAINING
- 25 RACES. We have a 13 race National Race Series and a 12 race Featured Race Series – SoCal due to our membership there. Each of the Chapter Leads can support races as they see fit.
- 13 COACHES. Each of our 13 coaches leads Chapter training and race simulations.
- SPECIAL EVENTS. Keep a look out for special events like open water swim instruction, bike handling skills and run form clinics.
ADD MORE SOCIALS
- Please contact your Chapter Lead if you have a social opportunity you would like to lead.
ADD A DEDICATED RUNNING STORE SPONSOR
- We went from Sport Chalet and their 40+ stores in 2015 to Performance Bike and their 107 stores in 2016. It will take all of 2016 to invest in that partnership. Assuming we do that right we will look to add a national running store partner in 2017.
ADD A “NEW TO CAL TRI PAGE”
- Great idea. Expect one to be up in April
ADD TRI 101/NEW TO CAL TRI
- We will be conducting those April 18-24 in partnership with Performance Bike at most of their stores around the country.
ADD A SAN FERNANDO CHAPTER
- We recognize that our membership is growing in the San Fernando Valley. Our Los Angeles chapter covers a large territory and we try our best to offer activities on our calendar that serve all of the different areas. We’ve recently started weekend rides from Performance Bicycle in Woodland Hills, and we will have a season kickoff meeting there next month. Additionally, USAT-certified Cal Tri coach Caitlin Nicholas is based in the Valley. Last summer, she led weekday evening trail runs and brick workouts from Balboa Park; we may offer something like this again if there’s sufficient interest. If you have suggestions and would be willing to support additional activities in and around the San Fernando Valley, please contact LA chapter lead Anthony Grey at anthony@californiatriathlon.org.
San Diego International Triathlon : Picture Perfect Race for All Levels
In June 2015, I completed my first triathlon at Spanish Landing Park by San Diego Airport. This event, Father Joe’s Village San Diego International Triathlon, is a great local race that attracts beginners and pros alike. The entire course is situated on prime San Diego oceanfront.
The swim is in a calm marina and features a floating start. The race provides ‘swim buddies’ who will swim alongside you, if you so desire. My swim buddy got me through the 500m swim, which was only my 3rd OWS ever. The 20K bike is an amazing trip out to Cabrillo National Monument, at the tip of Point Loma with ocean and city views on either side. The bike course features some nice rollers and is closed to traffic. The flat 6K run course takes past the USS Midway along the waterfront to a lively finish at the Embarcadero in downtown. A great finish festival awaits you and a shuttle will take you back to the start.
I started doing triathlon in March and so I went into this race with pretty minimal training. Turned out, this was a perfect race for me. It has a small local feel, but is expertly executed and organized. I highly recommend it!
This race is on the 2016 Feature Race Series – SoCal. Cal Tri will be there in force. Use the 10% CALTRI discount code
2016 Rock N Roll Dallas Wrap Up
2016 Rock N Roll Dallas went off yesterday with 12,000 participants in the 13.1. Dallas based California Triathlon coach Sergio Arias led 11 cyclists at our 2nd cyclist supported event of the year. The course featured running through Deep Ellum, past Dealey Plaza and across the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge with a loop through West Dallas’ Bishop Arts District and a return downtown via the Houston Street Bridge.
Our next RNR supported event is San Francisco on Sunday, April 3 with 12 Cal Tri cyclists from our San Francisco Chapter. If you live close to one of these races please check out our VOGO Calendar.
2016 RNR Calendar
Mar 12 – RNR Washington DC
Mar 20 – RNR Dallas
Apr 03 – RNR San Francisco
Jun 18 – RNR Seattle
Jul 17 – RNR Chicago
Sep 18 – RNR Philadelphia
Oct 02 – RNR San Jose
Oct 08 – RNR Brooklyn
Oct 16 – RNR Denver
Oct 30 – RNR Los Angeles
BASELINE TECHNIQUE FOR BIKE/RUN PACING
What is a good method to determine how hard to pace the bike/run?
by Thom Richmond
That is a great question and one I get all the time. Typically this question arises after a race where the athlete has had a good bike but a bad run or their legs locked up out of T2. To answer this question we need to perform a baseline test to determine the best pacing strategy.
5-10 PERCENT. For the purposes of this exercise, we will look at an Olympic Triathlon gold medalist Alistair Brownlee. Alistair and his brother Jonathan are absolute freaks. Alistair is a crossover athlete and raced on the track at the 10,000 meter distance. He ran a 28:32 at Stanford in 2013. As a comparison, he ran a 29:30 at the San Diego World Triathlon Series as part of a 1:47.16 Olympic distance triathlon and this included a lot of high fives down the finishing shoot. There is a 3% difference when comparing his standalone 10K time and his 10K time as part of an Olympic distance triathlon. The assumption is that this is as good as it gets and for us mere mortals we would target a 5-10% decrease in our run time as part of a triathlon.
TESTING IT OUT.
- Run a 10K at race pace and record that time.
- Race a 40K distance and run the same 10K and record the 10K run time.
- Step 3. Compare the results from Step 1 and Step 2.
ANALYSIS. For the purposes of this example, lets assume Step 1 [10K Only] is 50 minutes. You should expect that Step 2 [40K bike + 10K run] is 52.30 – 55:00 minutes or a 5 – 10% increase. If your 10K time as part of the 40K + 10K test is 60 minutes or 20% more than your standalone 10K time, you should look at easing up a bit on the bike to leave more for the run. The opposite is true. If you see no change in your run time than you would want to work a bit harder on the bike you sandbagger.
FINAL TIP. It takes our muscles a bit of time to transition from the bike to the run. I typically recommend adding 30 seconds to your run pace for the first mile to allow the body to get rid of that brick feeling. Better to give up 30 seconds than to have your legs lockup a couple miles down the road.
2016 Rock N Roll DC Wrap Up
2016 Rock N Roll DC went off yesterday with 24,000 participants in the 26.2, 13.1 and 5K. It was our 1st cyclist supported event of the year with 15 bikes on course leading out the elite runners, wheelchairs and hand cyclists. The course featured running by the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument & Smithsonian Museum. Alfredo Arevalo Reyes and Martha Nelson were the male and female winners of the marathon. Our favorite moments were watching a hand cyclist put everything he had into ascending Calvert Hill and the Wear Blue: Run To Remember Mile.
Our next RNR supported event is Dallas next Sunday, March 20 with 10 Cal Tri cyclists from all over the DFW area followed up by an April 3 race in San Francisco. If you live close to one of these races please check out our VOGO Calendar.
Mar 12 – RNR Washington DC
Mar 20 – RNR Dallas
Apr 03 – RNR San Francisco
Jun 18 – RNR Seattle
Jul 17 – RNR Chicago
Sep 18 – RNR Philadelphia
Oct 02 – RNR San Jose
Oct 08 – RNR Brooklyn
Oct 16 – RNR Denver
Oct 30 – RNR Los Angeles
CAL TRI – SAN DIEGO – 2016 SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
CALIFORNIA TRIATHLON – SAN DIEGO. California Triathlon would like to welcome athletes in San Diego to join 3,000 others from around the U.S. who enjoy a premium no-fee membership. Founded in 2010, California Triathlon’s mission is to make the sport of triathlon more affordable & accessible by providing the resources, coaching and support needed for athletes to accomplish their goals. California Triathlon is a 501c3 charity.
California Triathlon’s San Diego Chapter has an active 2016 calendar and some great resources to support our athletes.
EPIC RIDES. Enjoy SAG supported rides previewing the Tour of California Stage 1 on May 15 or ascend Palomar up both East and South grades on Aug 13. The Mar 12 Epic Ride – Angels & Demons – from Anaheim to Solana Beach is already sold out.
RACE SUPPORT. If the SD Tri Series is your thing, our volunteer USAT certified coaches will be leading simulations for all 5 of the SD Tri Series races including the Chula Vista Challenge on August 14 which features a half distance. Find a 10% discount code on our calendar.
GEAR. Performance Bike is California Triathlon’s national bike shop with 107 locations in 19 states. The San Diego Chapter has 6 locations in Bonita, Kearny Mesa, La Mesa, Oceanside, San Diego & Sorrento Valley. California Triathlon members get free Performance Bike 25 Point Inspections which includes derailleur and brake adjustments. We also benefit from a steep discount on select Fuji & Kestrel road and triathlon bikes.
Finally, we would like to thank XTERRA Wetsuits for their partnership. Since our founding, Xterra Wetsuits has been our exclusive wetsuit partner.
2016 California Triathlon – San Diego Chapter Featured Events [Races in Bold]
Mar 12 Epic Ride #3 – Angels & Demons
Apr 01 Oceanside PreRace Dinner & San Diego Chapter Social
Apr 02 Oceanside – 100 Cal Tri Athletes On Course
Apr 24 SD Tri Series – Spring Sprint Triathlon & Duathlon – Simulation
May 01 SD Tri Series – Spring Sprint Triathlon & Duathlon
May 15 Epic Ride #5 – Tour of California
Jun 19 SD Tri Series – San Diego International Triathlon – Simulation
Jun 26 SD Tri Series – San Diego International Triathlon
Jul 17 SD Tri Series – Solana Beach Triathlon & Duathlon – Simulation
Jul 31 SD Tri Series – Solana Beach Triathlon & Duathlon
Aug 13 Epic Ride #8 – Palomar Perfection
Aug 7 SD Tri Series – Chula Vista Challenge – Simulation
Aug 14 SD Tri Series – Chula Vista Challenge
Sep 25 La Jolla Cove 10 Mile Relay
Sep 18 SD Tri Series – Mission Bay Triathlon – Simulation
Oct 2 SD Tri Series – Mission Bay Triathlon
Oct 22 Epic Ride #10 – Bike MS: Bay to Bay 2016
Oct 29 Trick or Tri