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TriCoachGeorgia

Augusta 70.3 Camp Recap

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July 13-14, 2013

We held our annual Augusta Ironman 70.3 camp about two months before this year’s race to help inform, educate and train many of the race’s athletes. Despite heavy rain that made it impossible to swim in the Savannah River, we had a great turnout with about 60 athletes at this year’s event.

We’d like to thank all of those who participated, especially the many enthusiastic and welcoming members of the Augusta Triathlon Club, and give another shout-out to the event’s many sponsors; including the Augusta Sports Council, Peak Rehabilitation, Fitness and Performance Center, All3Sports, Generation UCAN, Outspokin’ Bicycles, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Fusion Sports USA. For those who attended, don’t forget to visit our sponsors for some great deals.

Here are a few recaps of the weekend.
“A dream training weekend!” – Virginia at Swim Bike Kid
“Just what everyone needed!” –  Devon at TriDevil_DK  
“It was a great weekend. Thank you guys so much for the hospitality. It was great!” – Mark Nelson, Orange Park, Florida – via Facebook

We look forward to seeing a new crop of attendees next year!

Below is a recap of the weekend camp agenda.

SATURDAY:

REGISTRATION/LECTURES

  • WHAT: Camp Registration followed by lectures on training, race prep, course tips, nutrition, lab testing, injury prevention and rehab. In addition to course prep talks from TriCoachGeorgia.com coaches, we’ll have representatives from All3Sports, Peak Performance, the Augusta Sports Council and Outspokin’ Bicycles on hand to speak with camp attendees and answer questions. We will also be distributing participant swag bags and raffle tickets for a variety of giveaways throughout the weekend.
  • WHEN: 8 am
  • WHERE: Peak Rehabilitation, Fitness and Performance Center.
    1305 D’Antignac St, Augusta, GA 30901
  • FOOD:A light breakfast (bagels, fruit, juice, coffee) will be provided
  • PARKING: At the Peak Performance Lab, located 2.4 miles from the Augusta Boathouse transition area.

BIKE COURSE PREVIEW RIDE (SAG provided by All3Sports)

  • WHAT: We’ll have 3 different Pace Groups and 2 ride-length options (56 miles and 45 miles).
  • PACE GROUPS: Led by TriCoachGeorgia.com coaches and TriAugusta team members.
  • FULL-COURSE options:
    15-16 mph or below (3:30 +)
    17-18 mph (3:15 – 3:30)
    19-20 mph. +  (2:45 – 3:00)
  • 45-MILE option (We will have a TriCoachGeorgia coach or a local TriAugusta team member available to help lead this shorter route at whatever pace you want. There will only be ONE group for this option.)
  • WHEN: 11 am start
  • WHERE: 101 Riverfront Drive Augusta, GA 30901
    Start at Augusta boathouse/Transition area (You can ride to the boathouse from Peak offices or drive your car over and park in the lot.)
    *NOTE: The ride will be supported by an All3Sports van, staffed by store employees. We are grateful to have them along!

BRICK RUN:

After the bike ride, we will have an optional brick run. It will be HOT. Water will be supplied for all runners by All3Sports. We also hope to have other hydration choices. If you have a specific beverage of choice, plan to bring your own hydration.

DINNER/SOCIAL MEET & GREET (presented by Augusta Wells Fargo Home Mortgage)
If you have selected to join the group for dinner/drinks.

  • WHAT: Dinner with TriCoachGeorgia coaches and TriAugusta team members. WHEN: 6:00 PM
  • WHERE: Crums on Central
    http://crumsoncentral.com
    1855 Central Ave, Augusta, GA 30904
  • DETAILS: We will have a private room with a fixed-price menu.
  • PARKING: On street or in the rear of restaurant. (You have to drive between two buildings to access the rear parking lot.) If possible, please carpool.
  • MENU: (This is the REALLY GOOD part!)
  • APPETIZERS AND DRINKS (provided by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and TriCoachGeorgia)
    Lemon Hummus, Olive Tapenade, Small Herb Salad, Wood Fired Pizza, Domestic beer and wine
  • ENTREES (paid for by attendee) $20, not including tax or gratuity.
    Pork Pasta – In house smoked pulled pork in a rustic garlic cream sauce. With smoked tomatoes, carmalized onions and arugula.
    12 oz Ribeye – Served with garlic whipped mashed potatoes and asparagus
    Organic Chicken Breast – pan roasted and served with wild rice and sauteed seasonal veggies.

SUNDAY:

OPEN WATER SWIM:

  • SAVANNAH RIVER SWIM  HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO DANGEROUS CONDITIONS
    WHAT: Open water swim in Augusta area. Details to follow.
    WHEN: 8 AM start with full kayak support.
    WHERE: Directions to follow

RUN COURSE PREVIEW:

  • WHAT: Run workouts (1 loop or 2 loops) with 3 pace groups led by TriCoachGeorgia.com coaches and TriAugusta team members.
  • PACE GROUPS:
    2:45-3:00+  (12-15 min/mile+)
    2:30 (11 min/mile)
    2:00 (9 min/mile)
  • WHEN: 9 am start after swim
  • WHERE: Augusta Boathouse Transition area
    101 Riverfront Drive
    Augusta, GA 30901Get ready to Do Your Job!
    – The TriCoachGeorgia Team
TriCoachGeorgia

The TRUTH (maybe): A Never Ending List

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Some of what I learned from Triathlon in 2012 and beyond:

 

Charleston SC 70.3

Don’t let this happen to you!

  1. Taking performance enhancing drugs makes you a twat and a cheat
  2. Racing lighter is better
  3. Eating lean keeps you light
  4. Training heavier makes your faster if your race weight goes down
  5. Burn fat as much as possible
  6. Go easy on sugar and get your carbs from healthy sources
  7. Ucan generation is a game changer for race day nutrition
  8. Listen to your coach unless you like being injured
  9. Don’t listen to your coach on race day if you feel really good
  10. Tackle your weaknesses
  11. Make lots of friends in lots of places
  12. Do fun races
  13. Don’t take yourself too serious
  14. Give back to others
  15. Youth triathlon is better than adult triathlon
  16. Flip turns are hard to do.
  17. Test yourself in training but not daily
  18. Recovery is more important the older you get
  19. It is ok to have rivals if it is healthy competition
  20. Have the best race you can on the day
  21. Try not to set a time goal
  22. Use glide heavily in areas that chafe
  23. Figure out what shoes feel best and run in them
  24. Blisters suck, really suck
  25. Train with people that help you remain centered
  26. Get out of your comfort zone on occasion
  27. Coaching is a lot like therapy
  28. Indoor training is much better than people give it credit
  29. Try to have one big race per year
  30. Try not to let your self-worth ride on that big race
  31. Have strong opinions about training but be willing to listen to other ones
  32. Affiliate with good shops, clubs, and teams
  33. Fit over everything else when buying a bike
  34. Aero = faster
  35. Comfortable stiff bike shoes are very important too
  36. Dig deep on race day
  37. Over train for the distance your racing
  38. Ironman is not the promised land but its close to it
  39. 70.3 is the best distance for me and most of us who have busy lives
  40. Make sure your family is on board with things
  41. If it hurts, don’t keep doing whatever your doing until you get it checked
  42. Have great support people on your team including PTs, masseuses, strength trainers, etc.
  43. Stretching and rolling are stupid although Thai massage seemed to help so maybe that’s not fully true
  44. The mental game is more important than you think
  45. More miles works for me to go faster but not for others
  46. Less miles = need to be harder miles.
  47. More swim yards does not mean you will go faster
  48. In the water, quality > quantity
  49. It’s never too cold to swim until its too cold to swim
  50. Closer races are easier to do than further races
  51. The best race directors are ones that get you out of there asap
  52. Rev3 races are better than WTC races but you can’t qualify for Vegas and Kona there
  53. You are a scumbag if you cheat (yes I repeated that one) but this is geared toward the bike drafter and the course cutter
  54. Family and friends present at races makes them more enjoyable
  55. Yelling and cheering at someone during a race does in fact make them go faster
  56. Racing a lot is tough due to the sleep disruptions and logistics
  57. Triathlon can be expensive but it’s a worthy investment
  58. Short course races are painful but fun and over quick
  59. Find ways to have the quickest transitions of your AG
  60. Always carry Benadryl
  61. Just because they are selling something doesn’t mean you have to buy it
  62. Have answers to questions you will ask yourself prepared ahead
  63. Environmental conditions like heat/humidity, cold, wind, etc are things you have to learn to tolerate
  64. L.A. Woman by the Doors is the best triathlon song ever (MOJO RISIN!!!)
  65. You are not faster if you have a cool nickname, but it can’t hurt
TriCoachGeorgia

Have you done it to do it?

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I’ve mentored and coached a lot of folks to their first triathlon. Some checked off the swim, bike, run from their bucket list and moved on to other adventures while some have kept racing and improving. Those that found triathlon was their sport are doing well and some are talking about longer races such as olys, halves and even the pinnacle of triathlon, a full 140.6.

I recently posted a comment in a Facebook group about getting to the finish line and the common denominator in all race distances being Commitment. In my post I mentioned how an ultradistance triathlon, 140.6, requires a huge commitment of time and resources from the athlete, but I didn’t discuss the Commitment that the athlete’s spouse, children, friends, parents, employer, their inner circle, would have to make as well. And, I’m not talking for a 140.6. This Commitment is required for any distance given the athletes experience, level of fitness and motivation.

The coaches at www.tricoachgeorgia.com have taken couch potatoes from the family room to their first sprint distance tri and beyond, and for these folks, the Commitment was the same as a veteran training for a full 140.6 because these newbies had not been active or away from the house except to work. Imagine the Commitment these couch potatoes and their families had to make when it was decided they were going to go for a swim after work instead of watching Dr. Oz. Plus, there was the financial Commitment of joining a pool and or gym. Life changes when that kind of decision is made and not just for the one making the decision.

Do you have what it takes? Is your Foundation solid? And, I’m not talking about your fitness Foundation. This quarter’s issue of USA Triathlon from USAT references the parable of the house that was built on rock and another on sand. Is your house on a Foundation of rock so when you come in tired from a long build week and have to make decisions that don’t favor your inner circle you aren’t met with a sortie of poisonous darts fired your way? Some of us have used tri training as a way to escape the unpleasantness of life only to create more unpleasantness in other parts that were okay. Making the Commitment requires your inner circle to be in this with you 100%, and doing so, will give you that rock solid Foundation that will aid in supporting your house when in blow the storms of build, peak and taper weeks.

To ensure your Foundation is solid, having a Balance will aid you to survive the storm. It’s important to remember that for most of us this is only a hobby and should be fun. For others, it’s a way to get and stay healthy and health can’t be achieved if one’s focus is solely on training. A lack of Balance will bring down the house. Schedule your training around your inner circle. Include your inner circle in your training. And sometimes, skip training to nurture that inner circle.

Your Foundation will remain solid with the right Balance of base, build, intensity, peak, recovery and quality time with your inner circle and this will help you keep your COMMITMENT! Your coaches at www.tricoachgeorgia.com know a solid Foundation coupled with Balance will help you keep that Commitment!

Coach Spartacus

TriCoachGeorgia

70.3 is the Distance for Me Now

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Some folks don’t know that I went to over 180 Grateful Dead shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I was a deadhead with a bushy curly afro and even took my wife to her first show at Wembley Arena (Werewolves of London!)! I love to travel and see new places and learn different cultures. You never knew when that magical show would hit so you would keep going back for a bunch of good but not stupendous shows.

Similarly I loved to chase the magical Ironman day for a brief spat. I figured you could race one every six months or so and train hard and smart and you were bound to have that magical race day where it all came together. That would be the Mecca of triathlon for me and many others regardless if you qualified for Kona.

The Big Shift

Truth be told I haven’t had my magical day, but my IMFL in 2010 was close to a big hit for me. I think I may even have a better one in me. Unfortunately, my IMCDA in 2011 told me results at the IM distance were not going to get progressively better until a magical crescendo hit. They were shockingly different dependent on so many variables it wasn’t even funny. You do what you can to control the ones you can control and hope for the best on the variables you can’t control. Subsequently, of late, I stopped thinking about Kona and started thinking about the bigger picture which included the massive toll that pursuit was taking on my family, my work, and me.

Except maybe one time, Ironman 140.6 on a semi-annual basis is not really sensible for most ordinary people, especially ones with tough jobs, families that depend on them, and who have other demands on them outside of sport. However, 70.3 is totally doable within the context of a well rounded and balanced lifestyle. Consequently, I started shifting over to 70.3 as my favored distance. It may not be the Dead show where they break out the Dark Star or St. Stephen that they haven’t played in a decade,
but it’s definitely the Phish, Disco Biscuits, or local fave Dank Sinatra show where they play some great tunes, you reach some level of nirvana, and you can totally jam out.

As opposed to very long days in the saddle training for 140.6, longest bikes for 70.3 are 3-4 hours which gets you home in time for lunch on the weekend. You can run a 15 mile maximum long run and your swims are no longer than an hour! This creates much more family, work, friend time than Ironman training. You are not as beat down mentally or physically so you can focus and get around better. Not to mention, it saves you a lot of money on sports nutrition that I have touched on in prior blogs, but will discuss more at length in a later blog.

If you lean towards long course, you will probably want at least one M-dot Ironman or independent long distance course like Setup Events’ Beach2Battleship or Bone Island to your name. You may even want the tattoo! However, don’t get sucked into believing that 70.3 isn’t a great distance to race and hone your long course prowess. There are so many more options at 70.3 including the largest in the world in our backyard of Augusta and there is less of a demand so you don’t have to commit a year in advance. Vegas 70.3 world championship, if you can qualify, seems to be every bit the magical destination at this point as Kona. At least to me it is.

Also, I should mention that short course distances are fun and tough in their own right too. Like my training buddy Ghost sometimes says, “it’s like a fork in the thigh vs. a toothache”. One way or the other you will have to endure some pain. Of course, we try to prepare you in a way where the pain is bearable.

Why is 70.3 our distance of preference now? Because, like a lot of our athletes at www.TriCoachGeorgia.com, 70.3 allows for balance. Balance is more important than the strife a 140.6 mile race can engender to even the most well-intentioned. Coach Brian and I will help you get you ready wherever and whatever distance you choose to race. Just don’t undersell the value of 70.3 or shorter course or overvalue the 140.6. Mix it up and keep your feet on the ground!