Whew!

The 2013 edition of Spring Training camp has come and gone.

Scheduled immediately after the Sea Otter Classic in beautiful Monterey, the camp was a short 4 day training block that took riders up and down the central coast.  We enjoyed some beautiful scenery, the weather was perfect, and the climbing was tough!  All great elements of a good camp.

I’ll let the pictures and course profiles speak for themselves.  Click on the days for a detailed breakdown in Training Peaks

Day 1. “Recovery Ride”

30 miles.  1,700 feet of climbing.

Ride around history 17 mile Drive.  Being that the riders also raced today in the cross country mountain bike course at the Sea Otter, day 1 was an “easy” recovery day ride.  Being mostly flat, the ride goes along side Monterey’s coast, before going into 17mile drive and a decent climb out of pebble beach.

Day 2. “Testing Day”

47 miles.  5000 feet of climbing with 1 x 11 mile / 3k ft climb.

Not sure how much testing could be had today, but today’s ride included an 11 mile climb, that takes riders up 3,000 ft to the top of Fremont Peak.  It was painful!  But the descent was well worth it.

Day 3. “Queen Stage”

86 miles.  6,000 feet of climbing.

Today’s day started off mainly flat, with 40 miles off flat to rolling terrain through the Salinas Valley where riders enjoyed the smell of strawberry fields and the view of several vineyards.  After heading southeast, we turned back towards the coast this time up through Carmel valley where several climbs awaited us.  While we were all looking forward to the descents, we were faced with a strong headwind the entire way down which combined with some rolling hills proved to be a tough day.  After 75 miles, we had one last 3.2 mile, 10% grade climb before the final descent to the car.

Day 4. “Recovery”

Today’s day was an easy hour to spin out the legs while riding along the coast hearing the waves and sea lions along the coast.

Enjoy the pictures and get ready for the 2014 edition!

TrainingCamp video from Tony Zamora on Vimeo.

Being that this race was about 3 weeks ago, this post is long overdue!  I starting typing it up, then just got sidetracked and busy with everything else that I completely forgot to circle around and finish this one up!

I forgot my Garmin at home too, so can’t share a course profile!  Rookie mistake!

Barry-Roubaix is one of those races that I’ve been hearing about the last few years.  This last year it had grown to a total of almost 3,000 riders!  Three distances to choose from; a 23, 36 and 62 mile course in central Michigan, in March, can be a challenge!  There’s also fat bike, single speed, and tandem categories in each distance.

The start line was insane!

Being that one of my bigger races of the year is the Sea Otter Classic, I thought I would take advantage of it this year as a good tune up just a month before.  It’s rare to find a race before Sea Otter, at least out here in the mid-west, so to come across this one was great.  My fear of course was the cold – I hate riding in the cold – and with it being about 22 degrees at the start, I wasn’t  too happy…

I chose to do the 36 miler race based on time.  I figured it would take me 2 – 2:10 hours to finish, the sea otter is usually 1:40, so it would have been a good comparison.

Being 2 hours long, I figured it would start off fairly neutral which it did.  I sat in the top 5, just watching if any group was going to attack or someone start pulling.  It starts on a false flat, somewhat downhill paved road so nothing was going on.  Once we turned onto the dirt, the speed picked up a bit.  It was a bit bumpier then I expected on the gravel, but I was on my new Niner (my 2^nd ride ever on it!) so other then it being a hard tail the larger wheels absorbed quite a bit.  I started to notice guys on the cross bikes getting dropped and having a harder time keeping up.  Like I said, it was bumpy and pretty icy at times so while the cross bikes were solid on the road, they were a bit sketchy off road.

Being that a good portion of the ride was on pavement, I wanted to take advantage of the rough spots and went to the front to do some pulling.  There was about 130-140 in my age group, so the line started to get long!  At about mile 12 there were 3 rollers, each one getting steeper and longer.  I looked back, saw the groups breaking up so attacked!

That’s me on the attack! Look at it strung out back there!

I ended up with only 2 other guys mid climb, and towards the top I was off the front.  The flats and roads are my strength as a triathlete, so decided to keep the pressure on and hopefully keep that gap until the end.  Then, somewhere around mile 15 I ended up catching the stragglers from the wave in front of me.  Someone ended up slipping on ice and tried to recover by taking a bad line right into my front wheel!  I ended up going down pretty hard on my left knee (3 weeks later it’s still hurting and bruised!).

I rolled up pretty quick not wanting to get run over, but stood there for a few minutes in some serious pain.  Standing there, I saw the front pack just roll on past.  That was the end of it for me!  After making sure the bike was OK, I was ok, and realizing there was no sag anywhere, I jumped on my bike and figured I would just soft pedal until I found a ride home.  After about 10 min I started feeling better and just decided to hit it hard again until the finish.

I ended up with a time of 1:53, way faster than my goal time of 2 hours, and in 8/ 124 finishes in my group.  Not bad given the crash!  I think I would have been top 3 for sure if not for that…

Oh well, there’s always next year!

The best investment you can make in your cycling experience is to get a bike fit.  You can have all the aero equipment in the world, but if you can’t get the most power out of your fit or even worse are restricting your breathing, that expensive equipment and hard training won’t mean much.

The goal of our bike fitting procedure is to improve the transmission between the motor, and the bike.

Taking into account that each athlete has a different history, we will never try to fit you into a pre-determined range of some of the fit systems out there.  We’ll take a look at your flexibility, fitness history and you’re racing goals to adapt your bike to better suit you.

Because we believe that the bike should be adjusted to fit your abilities, we’ll also work to adjust existing equipment without trying to see you on something you may not need.  Naturally, there may be times where equipment upgrades are necessary.  In those cases we’ll give you the specs you need so you can smartly do some comparison shopping and purchase what you need based on cost and preferences.

Bike Fit:  $150

Bike Fit Includes:

• Bike fit takes on average 1-2 hours.
• Before / After Measurements
• Before / After Pics
• After fit analysis printed or e-mailed to athlete

Bike fits are done by appointment only.  Contact us today so we can discuss your needs!

Here are some cost comparisons of some of the aero-equipment out there, and how a bike fit is the best bang for your aero and comfort buck!

Winter official hits Chicago!

Today was the first day that it actually felt like winter.  Temperatures stayed single digits most of the day, and with the notorious wind that Chicago has it was below 0 for the better part of the day.  To say it sucked, is an understatement.

So as an endurance athlete what’s the best thing to do when the temps get too cold?  You have a couple of options:

• Layer up, and get outside!

If you choose this, it’s best to do a slower activity such as mountain biking or trail running where you’ll be sheltered a bit from the wind and be moving slower which will minimize the wind chill.  You’ll want to dress in multiple layers to be comfortable and more importantly cover your feet, hands and head!

• Stick to some focused work indoors.

Although I love to be out in the fresh air, if the temps dip too much (like below 30), I just can’t enjoy it.  If your like me, its best just to turn your focus to the indoors.

• Lift some weights!
• Spend the extra time on your swim.
• Run on the treadmill.  Having a pre-established focused training plan for the day will make it go by faster!
• Ride on the trainer.  If you have a trainer at home (if you live anywhere that gets this cold you should have a trainer!) then get on it.  Yes, it sucks.  But the good thing is that you don’t have to spend as much time on the trainer to get the benefit!

It’s been said that you a 60 min workout on the trainer would take 75min to produce on the road.  Because of having to stop at red lights, watch traffic, etc., riding on the road doesn’t allow you to get the consistent work in.  Jump on the trainer, warm up, get your intervals in, cool down and your done!

One of my favorite 2 hour winter trainer workouts is:

10 min easy spin to warm up

10 min single leg spinning – 1 min on each side alternating sides.

2 x 40 min at 80% threshold with 10 min recovery spin

During the 40 min, stand every 5 min for 30-60 seconds.  No increase in effort.

And there you go!  Short, simple to the point workout that should make you feel pretty good afterward!

When it comes to endurance athletes and weight lifting, there’s usually 3 frames of thought:

• Hmmm, NO.  Endurance athletes should be training for their sport (swim / bike / run).
• Yes, but only light weights – little pink dumbbells – and high reps.
• Yes, lift heavy stuff.

Personally, I find myself in the last train of thought for my clients and myself.  Now, let me explain each.

1)       Althought I can appreciate that to make an endurance athlete faster you need specificity training, that is, ride your bike more if you want to be a better cyclists; run more if you want to run faster etc.  For the elite marathon runner looking to break 2 hrs, or a Tour de France rider I can see how this can work (note even many of them lift weights), but for the average endurance athlete this woudn’t work.

I’ve seen and heard it from many middle-age (30-50) year olds who decide to get the endurance bug and get into sport.  They work all day long, usually sitting at a desk, and start to swim/bike/run as much as possible for their next ironman which they decided to sign up for in 6 months!  Inevitably, what I always see happen is injury.  In this case, having a history of strength train would more then likely helped prevent this person from an injury.

2)      Light weights don’t do much; that simple.  Ladies, an average 2 year old weighs what, 25-30lbs?  Your mega-monstrosity you call a purse weighs 10lbs?  You walk around, pick up the kid, purse, groceries; walk with the kid and bags to/from the car, etc. etc.  But you think going to the gym for an hour and twirling around a little pink 5lb dumbbell will do much good?  No.  Enough.

If you didn’t catch it in the news, here’s an article that talks about Gwyneth Paltrow getting bone disease at the age of 37!   What’s worse is that they blame it mainly on the diet! (Urghh, that’s a whole different story).  But when you look at her “workout” routine; “6 days a week using stretchy bands and light weights”. WTF.

3)      Yes.  Lift heavy things, make yourself stronger, prevent injuries, train more.

Again, I’m in the camp that you should be lifting heavy things.  People’s bone density reach their maximum at around 30 years old, then they begin to lose bone mass, roughly around 2% per year.  So those younger then 30, doing as much as you can to build up that bone density before then, will mean you have a higher bar set and those 30 and over will help slow down that degradation.  So it’s pretty simple!  The thing is, you need to strain the muscle and add weight to make a difference!

Tips on Starting a Weight Program

• Determine what your weaknesses / greatest areas of improvement are
• Write down (or get one from a coach) what your weight lifting program will look like
• Begin with light weights (yes, heard me right) for the first 2-3 weeks with higher reps.  The purpose of this is to grove PROPER movement patterns and prepare your body for the heavier weights.
• Focus on form
• Lift heavy, 6-8 reps is good and you should feel spent!
• Focus on form
• Give your body 2-3 days between workouts
• Focus on form
• Compound movements get more bang for your buck.  Tricep extensions or bicep curls won’t cut it!
• Focus on form
• Periodize your weight lifting.  Just like you do with your endurance training, do the same with weightlifting to allow for greater gains.

Stay focused, have fun, and you’ll be a strong, less risk adverse and healthier endurance athlete!

As I’ve been talking about recently, I’ve been seeing a physical therapist for a few weeks now to take care of some old back issues I had about 10 years ago while in the Navy.  The pain comes and goes, some days better then others but this last flare it it REALLY bothered me and basically limited the training I could do.  I’m putting together my notes to give you the full picture of whats going on since many people suffer from back issues, so stay tuned for that.

So, after an MRI it was suggested I go to PT.  To say I was EXTREMELY reluctant is an understatement.  Like I said, I’ve been dealing with this issues for the past decade, and haven seen the Navy’s and VA (Veteran Administration) doctors the entire time, I was NOT about to go see someone else.  All I’ve ever gotten from docs is a crap load of medication, some stretching routines (like I don’t do those already) and a pat on the back saying good luck.

Never the less, I decided to go to the doc and give it a try.  I figured what the heck, at worst I waste a day or 2 before I figure out that they are going to waste my time and go on my merry way.  I have to admit, I’ve been pleasantly surprised!  As I’ve written about before, docs try to pump you up full of meds which only give you tons of other symptoms, and for the most part don’t solve the root cause of your problems.

This doc is definitely an out of box thinker which I enjoy.  I’m kind of the same way, always looking at things from tons of different perspectives to figure out a best solution.

It’s about perspective – do you see an old lady looking down or young lady looking back?

This doc not only looked at my back issue, but after a few weeks we’ve determined that the most likely culprit of my back pain (the pain, not the underlying condition that was caused in the military – important to note the distinction) is some problems with a pelvic tilt most likely associated with a shorter leg & even some intestinal issues.  WHAT THE WHAT?!  Yes, back pain caused by things other than the back.  OK, like I said I’ll go into details in a longer post.

The reason I bring this up is I was recently surfing around a forum for endurance athletes.  There was a post on there about someone stating they had plantar fasciitis and flat feet who was getting blisters and was asking for suggestions.  My 2 cents – talk to a coach or PT and assess whether you have any other issues upstream: bad ankles, bad knees, tight IT band, weak glutes, pelvic tilt that is causing that flat foot.   Most of everyone else’s suggestion – get some arch supports, wear different socks / shoes, rub Vaseline or duct tape blisters.  Seriously, duct tape?!  WTF.

Look how the valgus collapse can cause the foot to be “flat”

All I want to get across in this post is that it’s OK to think outside the box.  In fact, I think it’s necessary!  Doctors and medicine have an important purpose, but it’s not to solve every single little issue you have, especially if you spend your commute home drinking a trenta!  Seriously, do yourself a favor, make healthier choices, move more, and when all else fails, THEN see a doc.

In part 1 of this mini 2 part series, I talked about how this first week of January you see people coming out of the wood-works into the gym to get their sexification on for the new year, BUT, unfortunately these same people you’ll start to see fade away after about a month or so.

Why is that?  Simple, THEY DON’T HAVE A PLAN!  I’ve written about goals and coming up with a plan before.  Don’t feel like taking the time to write a plan, that’s OK; that’s what Coaches are for!  A good coach should help you write the plan based on your goals, and best of all hold you accountable to that plan.

Now, I won’t get into any specifics just yet as to how to structure a workout or individual training session.  Those can vary A LOT based on what your goals are.  Planning on racing crits / 5ks, your going to spend a lot of time outside your comfort zone.  Racing an Ironman, plan on never seeing your family again.  See my point?

The thing is, having a plan is better than no plan.  Winging doesn’t get anyone anywhere.

Being an endurance athlete & coach, I use Training Peaks Annual Training Plan to plan out my year, every year.  So in December, I’ll sit back and think about what I want to accomplish in the following year.  My ATP is pictured below.  You can see the red lines are the big weeks, the A races for the year.  I’m going to once again focus on Xterra, with the goal of qualifying for Worlds in Maui this time.  You can also see how the entire season is based around those races; with the base period happening now in the winter, then we start to build into the racing season.

So what happens when life gets in the way?  Well, for the most part that’s when people throw in the towel, make up ANY excuse not to workout or train again, and go back to their old habits until Jan 1 the following year.  But, since you’re here reading this you are sure to have more common sense than most, so you won’t fall into that trap!

Now, look back at my ATP.  You see the black bars towards the left.  Those are my actual training hours I’ve done every week.  Yep, I pretty much have been a ball of fail since November.  When my off-season training started, my back decided to give up, and not cooperate so I had to take a step back.  But that doesn’t mean give up!  As my good friend Coach Chris Burnham just wrote about, make your goals stick!  To do so, simplify your options, focus on quality vs. quantity, and make some sort of progress.  In my case, I have been doing a lot of physical therapy, mobility work and foam rolling like a champ.  What do you need to work on?

So, to summarize:

• Think about what your goals are for the year, and WRITE THEM DOWN.
• Look at your past; what kept you from your goals before and how will that challenge your new goals.
• Create a plan on how you can get to your goals, working backwards for your event date.
• Work in small manageable chunks.  I focus my ATP in 4 week segments, always working on something different.
• Come up with a Plan B, should you need to use that card.
• Be realistic and honest, but don’t give up!

We see if every year and I’ve written about it in the past. Most people start of the year with a resolution, and for many that resolution is to lose weight / workout more.

Congrats!  It’s good to have a goal in mind and who am I to knock anyone for trying to be healthy or lose some pounds.  What I don’t agree with though is the attack of the gym zombie we see every January!

If you’ve ever been to a commercial gym in January, you know who these people are.  They are the people you’ve NEVER seen for the other 11 months out of the year, the people who come in by the floods the first week of January, and slowly start to die off as if Rick from The Walking Dead busts through the door and starts shooting them in the head because the gym is the last save haven in town…

If I were a guessing man, I’ll bet that these same people never developed a long term plan on how they were going to accomplish their goals, and didn’t have a contingency plan if something were to not go their way.  OK, great, you’re in the gym – but now what?  And in case you’re wondering, texting while walking on the treadmill DOESN’T count as a workout.  Seriously, there are very few reasons someone should have their phone with them in the gym.  Leave it in the locker for 45 min and focus on your workout, you’ll feel MUCH better about yourself and get things done!

So to summarize and put things in a bulleted list since you probably scrolled down and skipped everything above anyway:

1. Congrats on making the decision to get in shape!
2. Now WRITE down your goals. I use this  2013 Race calendar for my athletes along with TrainingPeaks Annual Training Plan.
3. Figure out HOW you will get to those goals.  Get unbiased opinions from friends or a coach.
4. LEAVE THE CELL PHONE IN YOUR LOCKER
5. Have a Plan B.  If someone is using the equipment you need, and you only have 45 min, what can you do instead?
6. WORK.  Yes, that means you need to sweat and be sore.  Oh well, deal with it.  When summer comes and your swim suit ready, you’ll thank yourself.
7. Stay focused.  Yes, we all have bad days and will skip a day at the gym or have a bad meal.  Don’t let that be an excuse to give up!  Get back at it the next day and keep reminding yourself of your long term goals.

Stay tune for part 2 for some help on how to structure a workout and not get bitten by the gym zombies!

Happy New Year’s!  I can’t believe 2012 has come to a close, time flew by!  It was a great year, with tons of great accomplishments, stories and time with the family.

January 1^st is also the day in which everyone will “transform” themselves and become a different person the next year.  Tons of resolutions are put out there, but few are ever accomplished.  Sad fact, I know.  A good way to overcome this, as I’ve mentioned time and time again is to WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS, share them with people, and hold yourself accountable to them.

I’m no different.  Last year I put out my 12 goals for 2012, and so without further adieu I hold myself accountable here in public.  Some I’ve accomplished, some I’ve failed at.

Accomplishments

• Volunteer more.  I started the year off pretty good volunteering with different organizations including GLASA (Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association); a great organization that helps those with disabilities get into sports.  It was a great experience being able to jump into the pool and help / teach people how to swim.  Everyone was amazing, and the energy you got from that was just great!  While admittedly I didn’t volunteer as much as I wanted to, it was a great experience I hope to continue in 2013.

• Spend more time with the wife and family.  While I did spend TONS of time away from the family, I think I did a better job with this this year.  I actually was there for birthdays, holidays and even just random days babysitting!

• Get my learn on / read books / network more.  Lumping these 3 into the same category.  I should have done more in each, but am happy to say I at least touched on them all this year which was a big improvement over previous years.

This year I finally invested the cash to head out to USA Cycling’s coaching summit which they do every 2 years at their headquarters in Colorado.  I had the opportunity to spend 3 days getting my learn on in anything from sports nutrition, physiology, masters racing, and more!  During this time I also had the chance to network with coaches from across the country and share ideas.  Overall it was a good experience; I may look into it again in a couple years!

As far as reading books; as much as I hate doing do I did read a few books this year.  Yes, ONLY a few, which I think it more then I’ve read like my entire life combined.  So, I’m leaving this on my list of accomplishments, with plenty of room to grow.

•  Write down my short term business goals.  Been coaching for a few years now and have always planned on opening up a shop where I can do semi-private and group training focused on endurance athletes.  Taking this year to really plan to accomplish this within 3 years.

• Continue to grow and develop the business.  I’m thankful and grateful for all my clients this past year.  Not only have they all stuck with me this year, I’ll be working with everyone going into 2013 as well!  My original plan was to grow the business and market myself more, but really thanks to my clients and referrals I’ve been growing organically, which although not the quickest way to grow, I think it adds to the value and loyalty of clients.  Thank you everyone!

FAILS

• Unplug.  This was a big bag of fail.  I think I’m more connected now than ever with a laptop, smartphone while I’m on the go, and now my wife bought me a new tablet for my birthday!  Its constant communication and constant digital access.  It’s so addicting!  OK, this year, I NEED to unplug.

• Enjoy my time training.  Of course I ENJOY training, but this year I probably was more committed and focused then previous years!  I said I was going to take it easy and do “fun” races instead of races I had to do.  FAIL!  I ended up doing most of the Xterra series in the Midwest; I think I even raced all 4 weekends in June! It was a TOUGH season, but someday I’ll get to sit back and add some destination races in.

• Sleep more.  It feels like I napped a bit more this year.  Not that I remember, but when your family is constantly surprised when they see you and “not napping”, it’s probably a good sign that you sleep too much.  But honestly I didn’t feel like I did THAT much, and something I should work on.  Recovery is a good thing.

• Blog more.  I blogged more in 2012 then 2011, WOO HOOO!  Still a big bag of fail.  My goal was to get in at least 100 articles this past year, I did less than half that.  FAIL!

• Write an e-book.  I didn’t do much writing this year, either with the blog and didn’t even touch this book.  I have been thinking about it a lot this year, which is giving me a clearer idea of what I want to do.  I just need to harden up and start working on it!  It will be my first product ever, so the task is daunting, but I just need to get at it!

Almost a 50/50 split of being sucky, and getting things done.  Nothing to be proud of, but I think I prioritized OK and tackled some of the bigger ticket items on my list so overall I’m pretty content.  I definitely have some things to work on this year!

Start writing down your goals and hold yourself accountable!  Take advantage of our great offer – sign up for a year in advance anytime in January and only pay for 11months!  Great way to commit and work towards your long term goals and be held accountable for your training & racing goals this year!  Contact me for details.