The Ultimate Top Eight Gifts for the Triathlete Who Has Everything
by Campfire Endurance Coaching Athlete Amy VT
Triathletes are pretty particular about their gear, if not certifiably exacting. The latest models, lightest material, freshest colors, and most inventive bells and whistles are overwhelming, and personal preference and style can make gift-giving seem nearly impossible. So what do you get the triathlete who has everything? Here are some sure-fire bets of various costs that any triathlete would thank Santa for, no doubt.
#1 CAMP CAMP CAMP CAMP!
Dream gift! If you purchase a slot in a triathlon training camp, you’re giving the gift of training, camaraderie, coaching, and an ultimately memorable experience. There are tons and tons of camps of different styles, durations, and foci all throughout the year, and all over the world. Check out our 2022 Annual Spring Training Camp in Bend, Oregon for the ultimate gift. If you’re purchasing for a partner, perhaps you’ll get to lobby for your own retreat sometime in 2021 for a quid-pro-quo. If you’re thinking YOU would be the best recipient for the ultimate dream gift of Camp, just forward this list to your friends and fam.
For the next two weeks, during the Black Friday holiday period, you can get $200 off Bend camp with the code BEND22BLACK or a free month of one-to-one coaching (a $400 value) for the month leading into camp (current Campfire Endurance Coaching athletes, sadly, cannot take advantage of this second offer). If you’d like the free month of coaching, simply don’t enter the coupon code at checkout but DO select the option for the free month when you fill out the form.
Camp 2018 in Bend, Oregon
#2 Zealios Skincare Products
Sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, anti-chafe creams, recovery salves, and body lotion all specifically designed for the rare physiological traits of the species triathlete. You really can’t go wrong, here, and there’s more. Zealios is an awesome company run by rad peeps out of Bend, Oregon; they offer the cutest little bundles (cuter than baby Yoda) to make for perfect holiday gifts. Be careful, though, anyone who uses Zealios who is not a triathlete might turn into one.
#3 INSCYD test or WKO5 cycling consultation
What gets measured gets managed, goes an old business maxim, and the same can be said about your training. Although we tend to focus first on the subjective side of an athlete, once that is taken care of we love to dive into the numbers. By purchasing an INSCYD test, you get physiological testing without having to head to a lab. You’ll learn about your anaerobic threshold (we usually call that FTP), but you’ll also learn about VLamax (sometimes called “the secret weapon” of elite coaches) and FatMax, the fastest speed you can move at your most efficient mix of fats and carbohydrates.
We can also sit down with you and look at your cycling through the lens of WKO5, TrainingPeaks’ excellent cycling analysis software. Get a much more accurate sense of your functional threshold power (FTP), and what you should focus on to improve your cycling. If you hire us for a cycling consultation using WKO5, you get:
An initial phone call to run through your current WKO5 results
A series of tests to perform to properly “feed the model”
A second phone call to analyze the results of the test and to prescribe training interventions for the most efficient improvement
#4 Swim Camp
Nothing boosts your swim more than an intensive, dedicated stretch of time in the pool with coaches and lanemates. In addition to two amazing days of training at the Juniper pool in Bend, Oregon. Our 2022 Swim Camp runs from January 21-23, and is jam-packed with workouts, individualized sessions, video analysis, classroom time, and fun time.
From the first out of the water at Kona, to those who just learned to swim and are worried about cut-off times, everyone needs a personalized analysis by an expert coach. Campers will also receive state-of-the-art video analyses that provide:
Personalized analysis of your strengths and weaknesses
Drills intended to correct or limit the stroke dysfunctions
Suggestions as to how to best train to achieve your goals, given the framework of your current abilities
#5 Travel Torque Wrench
You’ll have to check to ensure your giftee doesn’t already have one. If not, drop everything and get a travel-sized torque wrench right now. Don’t even read the rest of this list. Torque wrenches are crucial to triathlon and TT bike maintenance, since carbon frames, seat tubes, and complex headsets require a specific application of force while tightening. As triathletes travel all over the world for races, it can be dangerous guesswork to make adjustments without a torque wrench, or a hassle to find a mechanic at the race site.
Any brand that looks relatively like the below pic is ideal, so long as it’s sold by a reputable cycling retailer, is relatively lightweight and compact, and has at least eight attachments. Borrow a paint pen or label gun (my mom has both) because everyone will want to swipe your athlete’s new prize possession. We won’t offer a special link because we obvi recommend you try your neighborhood bike store and #shoplocal.
#6 MarcPro Recovery System
We guarantee you that every triathlete who doesn’t have a set of MarcPro wants one. This contraption is an EMS device that delivers the most effective muscle recovery available. Essentially, it gives off these crazy vibes that are adjustable and science-based, creating non-fatiguing muscle activation. Marc Pro makes it easy to recover faster, so your triathlete can perform at her or his best, which is an ideal gift, right?
#7 Blueseventy Gear
There are just a handful of world class wetsuits and swim skins out there, and we stand by BlueSeventy. Their entire website is on sale for the rest of November 2021, so you really should load up now. The best part about this gift, apart from the discount, is that you have options: wetsuits, swim skins, bags, or even goggles for a budget-friendlier gift. Sizing is essential for the suits, but you can always exchange them. If you’re unsure what a swim skin is and if your athlete needs one, all you need to know is that races in tropical locations require them, so you might want to start dreaming of vacay 2022.
Conversely, we recommend avoiding these items: hydration systems (too many options), helmets (unless you know exactly what they want), bike travel cases (unless you really know exactly what they want), magazine subscriptions (the quality varies), and bumper stickers (if you have to ask...). Gift cards are also always a winner, in which case we recommend your local bike shop or local manual therapist, like a massage therapist or acupuncturist.
The above list, however, should give you some much more exciting ideas for your giftee, or maybe you, yourself, in which case you should just forward this message to your whole family. If that’s too blatantly hinty, send us their email and we’ll forward it for you.
Happy Holidays from the team at Campfire!
Sweat Equity
It was hot a Coeur d’Alene this year, and more hot races are bound to occur in the future—are you prepared?
How Knowing your Sodium Losses can Improve your Energy Budget
Races heat up more and more each summer, with several endurance events over the past decade seeing triple-digit temperatures on race day. Dehydration, an eternal issue for endurance athletes, has intensified along with the rise in temperature, shrinking your margin for error during competition and training. Today we’re going to talk about two ways to improve your chances to avoid the dreaded forced slowdown that comes with dehydration, lack of electrolytes, and too much core temperature.
We’re stoked on this right now because the two owners of CBCG headed to Endurance PDX to get tested by Jacob Rathe, recovering professional road cyclist and perspiration specialist. Jacob is the local Precision Hydration sweat tester, and he clued Chris and Molly in to their individual sodium loss rates. If this sounds interesting, look for a future group sweat test purchase here in Portland.
What’s the Problem?
When you exercise, your core temperature rises. Your body, ever aiming to maintain its homeostasis (your physical status quo), responds by sweating. Sweat should bead on the surface of your skin, evaporating and slightly cooling the blood just under your skin. That blood returns to your core at a lower temperature, keeping your internal heat in check (if we didn’t have this mechanism, we would overheat in the same way a car with an empty coolant reservoir does; in a human context this is called heat stroke and it can kill you).
But the problem is that as you sweat, you dehydrate, losing water and electrolytes in the process. If we stick with the car analogy (why always the car analogies?), it would be as if you lost a substantial amount of coolant every time you drove anywhere. If you didn’t replace the coolant every trip or two, we’d be back to the problem we cited above. Sadly, we haven’t figured out a way to keep our human coolant onboard permanently yet, so we need to replace it constantly. This replacing is called...hydrating, or just drinking.
We’ve known for ages that reducing fluid loss during competition maintains performance, aiming for keeping our water losses below 2% of body weight during events, but until recently we’ve only know that we should replace our lost electrolytes without having a number to aim for. That technology has arrived outside of high performance centers, and it should be the next piece of knowledge you add to your racing and training library.
Electrolytes—and in particular sodium—play a huge role in regulating endurance performance. From cramping to nervous system maintenance to hydration assistance, they help fix many issues athletes experience on the race course. But what if you could stay ahead of your electrolyte losses, knowing what you will lose and replacing them proactively? That’s the information a Precision Hydration’s sweat test provides you: your exact sodium loss rate per liter of sweat, so you can write a salt-perfect race plan for your next event, regardless of the temperature.
Athlete #1
Athlete #2
Everyone is Different
The biggest advantage of sweat testing is that it is specific to you. At Campfire, we write race plans that will work for 90-95% of athletes, and we do that by overestimating your sweat losses and aiming for more salt intake than you probably need. This approach works, if crudely so, and a better approach can get you the few extra percentage points you need, whether your goal is qualifying for Kona or simply finishing your next event. Above you’ll see two very different results from two athletes, which will result in two very different plans. Athlete #1 is a “low salt sweater,” losing only about 600mg of sodium per each liter of fluid they lose. Athlete #2 loses almost twice that amount! Prescribing the same electrolyte replacement strategy for both of these athletes will result in a “fine” outcome, but you don’t come to us for “fine,” do you?
Sodium Losses are Static, but Fluid Losses Fluctuate
The sodium content of your sweat is largely genetic, and won’t go up or down much at all. Your fluid losses, however, will change due to the conditions around your, your level of fitness, your training, and your acclimation work. In other words, the fluid losses per hour can change quite a bit! As you approach your key races of the season, lifting your sweat rate should be one of your goals. That may seem counter-intuitive (more sweat = more fluid loss = more dehydration, right?), but remember that sweating is your body’s cooling mechanism. If you sweat more, you’ll cool more. We just need to know how much you’ll lose in a range of circumstances. So it’s time for another test, this one free and that you can accomplish on your own: a sweat rate rest. You’ll simply weigh yourself before a hard workout in conditions similar to your goal event, weigh yourself after, and then subtract the fluid that you drank during the workout. The end result will look like this:
Athlete B’s Sweat Loss Calculator
Athlete B loses about 1.1 liters of fluid per hour. If we go back to Athlete B’s sodium loss per liter, we can see that they lose 1262mg of sodium each hour! Generally an athlete can replace about 70-75% of that sodium loss effectively, so this athlete needs to consume at least 1-1.5 liters (that’s 32-48 fluid oz. for you Imperial types) of fluid, making sure that they get in ~900mg of sodium per hour. Let’s say that this athlete will aim for 1.25-1.5 standard sports bottles per hour, which will get them 32-36 fluid oz or 1-1.125 liters. If their bottles have 7-800mg of sodium in each of them, they’ll be replacing their sodium needs. What’s 7-800mg of sodium in real-world sports drink products?
3 scoops PowerBar Isoactive
2 scoops Skratch Labs Hydration Mix
3 tbsp. Gatorade Endurance (roughly 3 heaping scoops)
3 scoops Clif Bar Hydration
1 package Precision Hydration 1500
We can’t really imagine adding three scoops of PowerBar, Gatorade Endurance, or Clif Hydration to each of our bottles, so for this athlete we would suggest going with two scoops and then a salt tablet that has an additional 2-300mg of sodium to get them where they need to be.
Let’s imagine, now, that Athlete A loses the same 1.1 liters per hour. At 635mg lost per liter, they only lose 700mg of sodium per hour! This athlete needs far less in their bottles as they compete or train. They still need to get in 1.25-1.5 bottles per hour (assuming the sweat rate is the same, which we’re assuming to just keep math, like, simpler), but they’ll only need around 500mg per bottle. That’s:
2 scoops PowerBar Isoactive
1 1/3 scoop Skratch Labs
2 tbsp. Gatorade Endurance
2 scoops Clif Bar Hydration
1 package Precision Hydration 1000
At hot, windy races such as Galveston 70.3, getting your hydration right means success or failure
The Plan Writes Itself
Now that you know your sweat rate, and how much sodium you lose per liter of sweat lost, and you know you can replace about 70% of your sodium, your hydration plan writes itself. Your goal is to avoid losing more than 2% of your bodyweight, as losses more than that are correlated with less-than-ideal performances. Don’t forget about carbohydrates in your fluid, though! We are living in a carb-phobic period, and we can’t tell you the number of athletes who tell us “we’ll just put this non-caloric effervescent sodium product in our bottles.” NO! First of all, carbohydrates improve absorption of fluid, so you’re already working against the beautiful replacement strategy we just worked out. Second, you’re an endurance athlete, for god’s sake! You run on carbohydrates. Skimping on carbohydrates during your workouts will simply rob your workout of quality.
CONCLUSION
Sodium content testing, up until recently, remained out of reach for everyday athletes, which is a shame, because your race shouldn’t be compromised by the conditions around you. Get sodium-loss tested, work out your sweat rate, and prepare to be impressed by how much better you feel in training and during racing next season!
Good Endurance Training Habits
Always have a bottle on deck during your swims!
It’s late fall, and only a few months remain in the 2021 racing season (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, of course). Some athletes have started their end-of-season break, while others are closing in on their final races. Those who finished up their races in September and October are looking for coaches right now or planning out the 2022 season, dreaming of the successes they’ll experience next year. We just had several new athletes sign up, and it made us realize something: there are a set of habits we consistently attempt to ingrain in each of our athletes—why not make it official and give you a listicle, that highest of journalistic forms?
Fuel Before, During, and After
We can’t think of something that athletes get more wrong, more often. Endurance training requires effective fueling, no matter what you think your body composition goals might be. Even if you and your coach have decided, with the help of a nutrition professional, that losing some weight might help your performance on the race course, you should never, ever, ever skimp on calories before, during, and after sessions. If you fuel your workouts and then recover from them effectively, your training will just be better. If your training is better, you’ll get faster or more economical. Once you’re training better, body composition goals will be more realistic. If you starve yourself, though, you won’t accomplish any of your goals. Set up your life so there are ample calories around to support your training.
Update Your Training App, and Communicate with Your Coach
Why hire a coach if you’re not going to talk to them? All of the legitimate training apps (TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, Today’s Plan) provide easy ways to communicate with your coach. USE them. Your coach WANTS to hear from you. If they don’t hear from you, they’ll wonder what’s going on, and might even doubt that you’re invested in the process. Any good relationship succeeds on regular, open, and honest communication. Leave your coach a comment and schedule a call regularly. What kinds of comments? Three or four sentences is usually enough to give an update on the workout just completed—your coach hates silence, but also can’t read a novel for every workout.
Stretch Cords Before Every Swim
Just five minutes of stretch cord work before you swim will make a HUGE difference in your swimming. You will move better, you’ll be warmed up, and you’ll have worked on a little strength before diving in. Just try it once and see how much better you feel as you start your next session. What should you do? Really anything that looks like swimming, but we’ve always liked double-arm pulls and single-arm pulls in sets of 30-60 seconds. PRO TIP: if you do this regularly and take your swim cords to races, you will have a way to warm up when you aren’t allowed into the water before race start.
Set Up Your Devices for Your Desired Information
It’s never fun to start a workout and realize that you’re looking at all the wrong data. OR to upload your workout and discover that you’ve handed your coach a bird’s nest of almost unusable information. Talk to your coach and find out what data they would like to see. Here at CBCG we don’t like auto-lap (turn if off! Unless you’re racing—then you can turn it on), but we do like heart rate and cadence. Agree upon a set of shared metrics and then make sure to keep supplying that information to your coach.
Learn How to Use a Pace Clock
We really don’t like it when athletes use their smart watches in the pool—it alienates swimmers from the experience of swimming, and there’s all this button pressing. Even worse, most smart watches subtract the rest from the session, stringing together your intervals as if you did them continuously. That’s like doing a bike session and not recording the recoveries between intervals and then trying to convince your coach you rode continuously at 120% of FTP for 18 minutes. The pace clock is a great training device, because it associates you and your brain with the workout at hand, and it doesn’t let you off the hook. Here’s how to use it. You may see workouts written something like this:
10x50 on :50
5x100 on 1:35
OK, what does that mean? That means that, for the 50s, you leave every 50 seconds. Swim a 50 in :40 seconds? Awesome, you get ten seconds rest. Swim it in :49 seconds? Well, you get one second rest. You’ll quickly learn what intervals are “makeable” for you and which ones are stretches. Usually intervals that constrain your rest stimulate your aerobic system, and those that allow you lots of rest help develop speed. That triathlete who says she’s working on “speed” because she just did 50x50 on a tight send-off? That wasn’t a speed workout.
Please, please do your strength work
Make Strength a Habit
In the words of a giant multinational brand, just do it, OK? Find a way to make strength training fit into your life and get it done. A weak muscle will eventually be a tight muscle, and even if your tight muscles don’t end up injuring you, they may constrain your mobility and affect your performance. Also, few coaches will dispute the benefits of core work, and if you’re over 35 you’re already beginning to lose muscle mass (this counts double for female athletes). Remember that this sport is for life, so figure out how to incorporate this sometimes tedious discipline into your existence.
A clean bike is a fast bike, but it also means a committed athlete
Clean Your Bike, and Learn Some Basic Maintenance
When budding Euro-pros start riding at age five, no one cleans their bikes for them. They learn to keep their machine clean, and in doing so they discover all sorts of things they’d miss otherwise: a fraying brake cable, a missing bar end, a cracked shifter. In some cases they discover issues that might become catastrophic. If you work on your own bike (even for just the basics) and clean it, rather than outsourcing it, you’ll be a more self-reliant athlete, able to fix your bike when something odd happens.
Conclusion
These seven tips are only a small smattering of good habits for endurance athletes, and you and your coach will probably agree upon several more. But since improvement at this type of sport relies upon consistent training, you will want to attach good habits to those training routines. This life-structure offers one of the best benefits of endurance sport, and you probably didn’t pick up the sport simply because you loved exercising so much. Use the training structure to improve your habits, and you may find yourself enjoying the sport more, achieving more, and just generally feeling better, which fits with that whole Happier, Faster, and Healthier thing.
Open Water Swimming: 201 Level
Five tips (and one workout) to literally take your open water skills to the next level
It’s race season! It may have been a bit since you’ve competed, so we’re running an open water swim clinic this Sunday at 12pm at Vancouver Lake Park in Vancouver, Washington. If you’re ready to sign up now, without reading all the awesome info below, you can do that! We’re going to cover all of this information at the clinic, so just join us!
What did your last open water swim workout look like? We’re guessing it went something like this:
Drag self to lake, ocean, or ditch suitable for OWS
Struggle into wetsuit, getting sweaty and/or exhausted in the process
Resolve to “just swim the distance” in your workout
Dutifully do just that, enjoying yourself (we hope) but not gaining any skills or improving your race day readiness
While that isn’t bad in any way (and kudos to you for going to the open water in the first place), you’re leaving new abilities on the table. With just a few tweaks, drills, and changes to your open water swim sessions, you’ll arrive on race feeling ready for the swim, instead of showing up to a trail run after only training on the track (which, to be honest, is pretty much what you’re doing if you only train in the pool).
What’s the BIG change we’re asking you to make? Well, the answer here is specificity. While in many other places we’ll tell you not to make workouts rehearsals, open water swimming (or any skill-based sport) provides a counter-argument. It’s rare that your triathlon will feature a relaxed, steady effort, uncrowded swim. You need to experience the wild changes in pace, proximity, and direction of your goal effort, so let’s graduate from 101 to 201!
Vary your effort in open water
Part of being race ready for an open water swim is practicing how your body responds to varying intensity in the water. Too many athletes treat their open water swims as long steady state efforts that aim to cover a certain distance. We highly recommend treating at least some of your open water swims as workouts. While you don’t have the helpful walls and lane lines of the concrete box, you can still find ways to include high intensity intervals. Count your strokes or use fixed points on shore as a guide. Practice swimming at a higher intensity and then settling into your race pace so you’re ready for the nervous energy of the swim start.
Get used to swimming in a group
Triathletes are told to draft off the swimmer in front of them to capitalize on the forward momentum that they are creating. When done correctly, drafting can result in a faster swim at a lower effort. The reality, however, is that many swimmers are uncomfortable in groups in open water. We get it: contact can feel aggressive even when it is unintentional and space can be difficult to navigate. Add to this the fact that many of us are reserving our own solo lanes right now and you get a situation where swimmers are acclimated to an environment in which they have plenty of room to swim. This just isn’t the case with races. Whether you’re passing or being passed, it is important to practice swimming with other people so you know how to safely make and interpret contact. Since you shouldn’t be swimming alone in the open water in the first place (right? RIGHT?), you’ve got a ready made contact dummy at your next workout—it’s OK, you get to be their dummy, too. Add in 5-10 minutes of literally leaning in to make contact with each other while swimming. Rub shoulders, hips, mid-section, and thighs and see that it’s really not all bad!
Bring your pool toys
CBCG athletes are well acquainted with the FINIS tempo trainer. In the pool, we use the gentle beep in your head to keep you on your prescribed pace during intervals. In the open water, try using the tempo trainer to keep your cadence up when you fatigue. Set it to mode 3, enter your normal stroke rate, and go for a swim! How long can you maintain that stroke rate? How far do you get before it starts to fall off? Can you get through your goal distance without sacrificing your turnover? Not using the FINIS tempo trainer? Follow this affiliate link for a 20% discount, courtesy of The Endurance School.
Practice starts and exits
Part of your course recon should be identifying what the swim entrance/exit protocol is at your next race. Is it an in-water start or do you run from shore? How many people start at once? What is the terrain like? There is no substitute for swimming in the body of water you’ll be racing in, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. Do the best you can to identify a safe and similar alternative and practice the skills that you’ll need on race day. Dolphin starts can help get you out ahead of the pack, but they also cause an acute escalation of your heart rate. Try them before race day to make sure that you can recover to a sustainable effort. If that isn’t in your wheelhouse right now, you’re probably better walking or running in. Practice your exits as well - far too many people stand up as soon as their feet can touch the bottom. You’re better off swimming as long as you can before you have to stand. Walking is much easier in shallow water!
Know when to hold, know when to go
Understanding your level of effort while racing in the open water (whether in a triathlon or a open-water swim race) is crucial, since you don’t have any reliable way of determining your current pace. One problem many swimmers face these days, in rolling starts for triathlon, is that they end up in a group of swimmers either slower or faster than their ability level. To fix this issue, you need to be able to recognize quickly that you’re in the “wrong” group. To build that ability, regularly perform drafting work either in a pool or in your open water practice sessions (see below). Proper pacing is very often about your ability to feel the correct effort, and that ability only comes with practice. Often you’ll find yourself swimming on another athlete’s feet, thinking “this feels too easy,” only to discover, upon trying to pass, that the pace was good, and leaving that athlete behind will cost too much effort. We’d say that if the effort feels very easy, or only two-to-three out of ten, you should experiment by trying to swim past the leading athlete. Remember the points above that contact is expected in open water swimming, and you aren’t committing a faux pas by passing! Try to be quick and clean with your pass.
If you are swimming on an athlete’s feet and the effort feels “very hard” (we would call that eight out of ten effort), we would suggest backing off, as you are likely in a group that is a bit too fast. If you try to stay there and blow up in the second half of the swim, you’ll lose even more time.
Your effort, whether drafting or not, should always be around the following for different race distances. While doing your practice sessions, try to really associate your effort with how your body feels, so you know what sensations to expect on race day. Not sure what your threshold pace is? Contact us for a consultation and we can help!
Sprint distance/Olympic distance: 7-8/10 effort or “hard to almost-very-hard”
70.3/half-iron distance: 6-7/10 effort or “moderate-hard to hard”
Iron-distance: 4-6/10 effort or “moderate to moderate-hard,” very dependent on ability and experience!
One session to rule them all
This workout is a classic, but we’d like to credit Gerry Rodrigues at Tower26 for the general shape of this workout. Workouts aren’t rehearsals...unless you rehearse the race several times within one session! We can’t mimic the exact physiological conditions of your body during an event, but we can provide a stimulus so your body changes to accommodate the race. By performing the circuit below four times, you’ll get four “reps” of a swim leg, making for a very efficient workout.
Necessary materials
A partner (or two)! You really shouldn’t hit the open water alone, anyway, so if you’ve got a swim buddy, preferably close to your own speed, this workout will be more productive AND safer
An open-water course with three water legs and one beach leg (ideally, this is a long-sided rectangle with one long edge being the beach, the other in the water, and the two short edges of around 100 yards/meters. If you don’t have a course that has some markers or buoys already in the water, agree upon some landmarks for the corners of the course—don’t let perfect be the enemy of good!
The session
Warmup: swim the box once or twice, tossing in the following ladder at some point in the warmup (this is a great routine, by the way, to include on race day as your warmup…it’s like we planned that or something):
30 strokes hard, 30 strokes easy
25 strokes hard, 25 strokes easy
20 strokes hard, 25 strokes easy
15 strokes hard, 15 strokes easy
10 strokes hard, 10 strokes easy
5 strokes hard, 5 strokes easy
Main set: flip a coin between you and your partner. Whoever calls it gets to pick whether they start on the inside on the beach, or on the outside. The goal on each lap is to beat your partner to the inside corner of the buoy. No, it’s not always faster at the inside due to traffic, but the goal today is to incite contact, so get to that inside corner.
First short leg (beach to first corner): swim HARD but not all-out—if you sprint to the buoy and then are gassed for the next leg, your partner will probably pass you right back. Be strong but not 10/10 effort.
First long leg (first corner to second corner): settle in to a solid 6-7/10 effort, or moderate-hard to hard. Your pace (if you have a reliable manner of tracking it) should be 2-3” slower than your threshold pace (your rested 1500m pace). If you made it to the corner first and you’re in the lead, your goal is to hold off your partner and get to the second corner holding your lead. If you were second to the first corner, try to get on your partner’s feet or hip and then get around them to claim the points to the second corner.
Second short leg (back to beach): swim HARD back to the beach—the goal here is to be the first standing up with your wetsuit zipped down (don’t take the whole thing off, but this is a nice first step of wetsuit stripping to practice)
Second long leg (back along beach): jog EASY back to the start, zipping your wetsuit back up as you go. This is your RECOVERY, so take it easy, but note how high your heart rate is as your body goes from horizontal to vertical.
SCORING! Gamification is a tried and true method of making boring and repetitive tasks fun. Here is how you score each round:
First to each corner or buoy = one point
First to beach = one point
First with wetsuit zipped down = one point
Figure out who won the round and keep track of points. Whoever lost the previous round gets to pick their starting position for the next round.
Repeat the circuit at least one more time, and up to five more times, depending on goal race distance, length of the circuit, your available energy, goals, and level of continued fun.
Wrapping up
Go out for ice cream! Every open water swim session should have some kind of treat, to suggest to your unconscious that open water swimming, although it requires some effort, results in a tangible, immediate reward. Here in the Pacific Northwest, open water swim sessions end with a trip to Burgerville for a milkshake.
We hope this was an informative post. If you’re ready to practice some of these techniques, be sure to come to our OPEN WATER SWIM CLINIC this coming weekend where you can practice these skills AND take part in this very session (plus others!)
Early Season Swim Development: Go LONGER, Not Faster
by Chris Bagg and Molly Balfe, Head Coaches
If you’re a triathlete but swim with a Masters-style swim team, you may find the following set familiar, as your coach narrates it from the deck: “OK, everybody! Great warmup. Next up we’re gonna do a set of 10x100, followed by 10x50s. Lanes one and two, that’s on a 1:30 send-off base. Lanes three and four, you guys are on a 1:40 base. Five and six, swim those on a 2:00 base.” Setting aside all the “send-off” talk, this main set looks a lot like what the coach (and the swimmers next to you) experienced when they swam in high school: short intervals, usually swum as fast as possible, with the limiting factor traffic rather than any of the athletes’ abilities (if you start deploying intervals longer than 200s, for instance, the swimmers at the front of the group often start to catch the tail of the group, and then no one is happy).
You’re a triathlete, though, or a longer-distance open water swimmer, and the set above, while perfectly fine as a pool swimmer’s set, isn’t specific to your needs as an athlete. The shortest triathlon swim leg is still a “distance” event, in swimming terms, and your preparation should mirror the demands of the event. Swim Smooth, of course, has been tackling this problem for years, with their “Red Mist” workouts: longer intervals (in some cases up to 1000 yards or meters per interval) with relatively short rest. To make an analogy with running or cycling training, these are “sweet spot” style intervals, or a little bit below threshold effort/pace/power/HR, and they build a base that allows you to place speed on top of it.
Speaking of speed, the usual Swim Smooth system for developing it comes from establishing your swim threshold (critical swimming speed or “CSS”) and then slightly increasing the speed every week over a ten week period. To continue the cycling or running analogy, you would find your threshold power or pace and then—each week—aim for slightly higher or faster intervals each progressive week. Take the bike, for example. Maybe one week your coach assigns you 4x8’ intervals at your threshold of 250w. The following week you’d do 4x8’ at 255w, and then 260, and so on. For running you’d slowly creep up your interval paces, and after a training block (10-12 weeks, for Swim Smooth’s Ten-Week CSS Challenge), ostensibly you’d have a new, higher threshold.
Unfortunately, the physiology doesn’t quite hold up. Doing any kind of work at threshold is a very aerobic affair—in fact, threshold is often defined as “an athlete’s fastest sustainable aerobic pace or effort.” Developing the aerobic system takes time, because you need to build new capillaries to exchange more oxygen, create new mitochondria in your cells to power more respiration, and teach your system to oxidize more fat. If you simply try to speed up, you’ll actually be working above your threshold, missing the intensity that will improve your aerobic abilities. At CBCG, we’ve shifted our approach on the bike and run to one where athletes try to extend their time at threshold (lengthening) before entering an intensive (raising) period. We’ve come up with a system for the pool, and we’re going to share it with you today.
Firstly, though, we’d like to say that we’re firm believers in the Swim Smooth method, and this approach wouldn’t even be possible without their thinking and their established framework. We hope you (and they!) see it as a sensible addition to their program—not a swerve away from it.
OK, disclaimers and caveats aside, here’s what we often hear from athletes after they complete their CSS test and find their threshold pace: “I’m happy with that number, but there’s no way I could hold that number for 1500 meters.” Swim Smooth knows this, and has pointed out that knowing your threshold pace isn’t a perfect predictor, but it gives us a number from which to build training. Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is similar on the bike—on any given day, due to fatigue, fueling, sleep, or any other factor, you may see your FTP swing up or down 20 watts! So the testing system isn’t perfect, and it never will be. These numbers simply give us a way to prescribe training, but we believed that we could improve athletes’ fitness by first improving their ability to swim longer at CSS, rather than instantly jumping into swimming faster. Here’s how it works.
Test your CSS: no real changes on this step. Just as you would with our normal swim test (Swim Smooth’s classic test) you’re going to warm up well and then perform two time trials: a 400 as fast as you can go (ideally without slowing down or blowing up), about five-to-eight minutes of easy swimming, and then a 200 as fast as you can go. Once you’ve got those numbers, enter them into this calculator here to find your threshold pace. Remember, this is a decoupling test, so it measures how much you slow down from the shorter distance (200) to the longer (400) and then extrapolates. So if your 200 is much faster than your 400 in terms of pace per 100, the test figures you don’t have much endurance, and adjusts your CSS down. Let’s say you end up with a CSS of 1:40/100.
Then, after you’ve given yourself a few days, you’re going to see just how long you can hold 1:40/100 for. Ideally you’d use a Tempo Trainer for this set, but if you don’t have one you can also simply eyeball your local pace clock. The magic of the tempo trainer is that you’ll know exactly when you fall off the pace. We tell our athletes that they can fight back to try and get back up to the beep of the tempo trainer, but once they’re falling behind it’s time to call it. Let’s say that you hold 1:40 for 700 yards, but then have to slow down. Your Distance to Exhaustion (or DTE) is 700 yards.
Now you’ll figure out where to pick up weekly extensive progression, finding the main set that is just slightly beyond your DTE. For all of these sessions, we suggest about 800-1500 of warmup and drills before tackling the main set, and then some cooling down afterward. All of these sets should be done with minimal rest, probably ten seconds in between intervals for the shorter ones (200 and below) and 15-20 seconds for the longer ones (300 and up)
Week one: 6x100
Week two: 5x150
Week three: 4x200
Week four: 6x150
Week five: 3x300
Week six: 5x200
Week seven: 2x500 (this is a tough one—you can change it to 4x250 if 500 still feels too long at CSS, although it shouldn’t by now…)
Week eight: 3x400
Week nine: 9x150
Week ten: 4x350
Week eleven: 3x500
Week twelve: 2x750
Week thirteen: 1x1500
Whew! Congratulations. That’s a big swim in week 13! If you’ve been doing these sessions each week (or twice a week, which is an acceptable adjustment of the plan) the 1500 should actually feel pretty doable, however. Your body needs fewer adaptations to support longer than it does to support faster.
Now that you can swim your CSS for 1500, though, now is the time to go faster. We suggest you pick up with the Swim Smooth Ten Week CSS Challenge, since you’ve built a robust and enduring aerobic system. You’ve baked your cake, and now it’s time to frost it!
Our Front Line Triathletes: heroes above all
by CBCG athlete Amy VT
“I may be late tonight. I am either going to swim or cut off a toe.” Dr. John Seddon kisses his wife Kyla before embarking upon another heroic day full of training, working, changing the world, and almost always: surprises.
Harbingers of hope, our CBCG Athletes who are front line heroes have all received their second round of Covid-19 vaccinations. We have always marveled at their dedication, dashing from the Operating Room to the pool, or driving home an hour after a race to begin Emergency Room rounds, but this past year places them on a special sort of podium: one that makes a difference.
Here are a few snapshots of a few of our remarkable CBCG athletes who serve their communities, our country, and the whole world while somehow managing to train as triathletes. Their days-in-the-life will make you grateful for those extra minutes in the shower after a swim sesh, and their dedication will inspire you, fo sho.
John Seddon, M.D.
Orthopaedic Surgeon, UC Health Orthopedics Clinic
Colorado Springs, Colorado
THE QUOTE
“I’m honored to continue to serve our community the best we know how. Now that we’re vaccinated, I cautiously predict a light at the end of the tunnel.”
THE HERO
John is a fixer of bones and joints. He specializes in foot and ankle surgery, lower extremity trauma, and deformity correction, which is more than most of us can fathom, let alone understand, but it’s clear that he literally gets people back on their feet, and changes patients’ lives for the better.
At the onset of the pandemic, Dr. Seddon’s elective surgical volume decreased substantially as resources and equipment were reallocated to assist with Covid-19 units. Trauma volume has remained steady, however, which at times meant doing double-duty caring for Covid-positive patients.
THE TRIATHLETE
John could easily compete as a pro. You wouldn’t necessarily know by hanging out with him (unless you challenge him to a bike ride), since his nature is so kind, humble, and chill. Don’t be fooled. He’s a ferocious competitor, standing on the podium after nearly every race, and handily winning local events. He’s out of the water in a half-iron distance in 25 minutes, and basically presents no weaknesses.
No slave to his athletic ego, however, Dr. Seddon chooses a lifestyle that prioritizes his medical work and his family. His amazing wife Kyla supports him and their kiddos: their toddler daughter Ellie, baby son Cameron, and chocolate lab Kona.
DAY IN THE LIFE
4:30 - wake up
5am - hour trainer ride
6:10am - 30’ run off bike
6:40am - shower
7:00am - breakfast - coffee, protein shake with cereal
7:30am - arrive at hospital, see a few patients
8am - headed to clinic, saw around 20 patients
11:15am - left for pool
11:30pm - lunchtime swim
1pm - headed back to the clinic and saw another 20 patients
1:30pm - squeezed in lunch between patients - sandwich and fruit
3:30pm - second cup of coffee
5:45pm - left for home
6pm - arrived home, had a quick dinner with the fam, and to put the kids to bed
8pm - left for hospital
8:15pm - arrived back at the hospital to fix a hip fracture on a Covid-positive patient, then a washout and external fixation of an open tibia fracture
1:45am - left for home
2am - arrive back home, lights out, then do it again the next day!
Andrew Langfield, M.D.
Hospitalist, Highland Hospital
Oakland, California
(Oh, and Professional Triathlete)
THE QUOTE
“I mostly feel extremely fortunate to have a job I love that is useful right now. I don’t consider myself a ‘front line hero,’ though; this is why I became a doc.”
THE HERO
What’s a “Hospitalist?” Glad you asked. Andrew is an internist, an inpatient physician who coordinates care for admitted patients. That flavor of doctor is certainly an intense and impressive one as it is, but Andrew has the added layer of working in a “Safety Net Hospital” (one that is federally supported to care for uninsured patients), in an infamously underprivileged county. “Highland has been hit by this pandemic in all the ways you might expect. We’ve been at capacity for weeks on end; we’ve seen patients improve miraculously, and lost them unexpectedly; we’ve sat with families in their grief - virtually, because they rarely are allowed to visit (truly the worst thing about this pandemic). The best moments are those where you get to be a part of or witness genuine human connection.”
THE TRIATHLETE
When the world was normal(er), you likely saw Andrew running through the pro field at a major race. He’s placed in the top ten at full- and half-iron events, and in the top 15 at countless major pro races. Most significantly, he never once whined about balancing it all. In fact, word to the wise, here are few things you should never say to a professional triathlete:
“Well, it must be easy for you since you don’t have kids.”
“Well, it must be easy for you since you’re so skinny.”
"Well, it must be easy for you since you don't have a normal 9-5 job."
Not only are those futile questions in a chicken-and-egg capacity, but many pros hold down “real jobs,” and some, like Andrew, hold down immeasurably taxing and impressive ones. Here is a classic day from the before times. I just love how he puts his meals in all-caps.
THE DAY IN THE LIFE
5:10am - alarm goes off, snooze too many times
5:25am - finally out the door on the commuter bike
5:35am - late to the pool for Masters, miss most of warm-up
6:20am - out of the pool 10 minutes early (45' is better than nothing!), finish the commute in to work
6:40am - hit the door of the hospital, put on scrubs, first cup of coffee
6:50am - get sign-out from the night team on my patients (any overnight events, new admissions, etc.)
7am - pre-rounding on the computer (vital signs, morning labs, imaging studies, specialist recs, etc.)
8am - start seeing patients
8:30am - BREAKFAST! best part of the morning, usually an omelette +/- a big ol' pancake, second cup of coffee, banana for later
8:50am - finish seeing patients
9:30am - formal rounds begin (meet with rest of team, go see the entire census starting with the sickest)
12:15pm - LUNCH! and noon conference, chow on a sandwich + yogurt + fruit + cookie + milk while getting some knowledge, third cup of coffee
1pm - finish rounds, start working on all the to-do's (phone calls, orders, consult questions, discharges, procedures, etc.)
5pm - SNACK! usually bowl of cereal + granola bar
6:30pm - ride home, 6:30 is always the goal but of course some days this doesn't happen, other days done earlier but stay to catch up/work ahead
6:50pm - home, decompress
7:15pm - evening session, usually 45-60' run, or trainer session, or strengthening (kettlebells and plyos)
8:30pm - DINNER! I'm lucky that my wife loves to cook, but she's arguably busier than I am, so we usually try to cook a big meal for the week
9:30 - DESSERT!, or beer, or both
10pm - bedtime
Becky Matro, MD
Gastroenterologist, Scripps Health
San Diego, California
THE QUOTE
“Basically, I'm proud of being able to provide safe care and reassurance, and to encourage patients to prioritize their health, even during a pandemic.”
THE HERO
Becky does a true hero’s work of specializing in inflammatory bowel disease. Both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease fall under this category, proving that the world is a better place because of Dr. Matro’s work. She performs procedures like endoscopies and colonoscopies for outpatients, and every 7-8 weeks, she hits the hospital for rounds, consulting for patients who may’ve been admitted with a primary GI problem, or something else such as a heart attack, or Covid-19. Like Andrew, she humbly doesn’t consider herself a true “front-liner,” but we do, since she’s right there in the hospitals during these dangerous times, doing hero things.
THE TRIATHLETE
In the past four years, Becky has achieved major PR’s in four disciplines! Through hard work and dedication to her program, she shaved hours off of her iron-distance split, posting an 11:32 at Challenge Roth, and qualified for the Boston Marathon and Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Not enough? She posted a successful Everest attempt on her bike last year, spending over eighteen hours on the bike.
Becky was elected to the Wattie Ink. Elite Team, a few years ago, and has recently been able to race for them despite the pandemic via their weekly online Zwift races including team time trials. Her coach says, “Becky’s determination to improve is remarkable, and she puts her money where her mouth is, steadily improving and setting new personal bests each year. She is a coach’s dream come true.”
THE DAY IN THE LIFE
5am - wake up
5:15am - on trainer for 90’ sesh
6:45am - shower
6am - walk my dog, Koha breakfast/coffee
7:10am - breakfast and plenty of coffee
7:30am - work
5pm - hopefully left by now for my swim reservation!
5:15pm - 45’ swim, due to restrictions
6:30pm - take Koha out again
7pm - dinner, unwind with some Netflix or a book
9pm - bed
Cameron Wynhnof
Volunteer Firefighter, Banks Fire District
Banks, Oregon
(Oh, and also Engineering Manager at Intel)
THE QUOTE
“Emergencies always happen, and the community will always need help. I am just thankful I can be there with the time I have.”
THE HERO
“Cam Bam the Tri Dad” manages a team that works on semiconductor equipment that produces CPUs (Computer Processing Units) also called chips. Wait. What’s that got to do with fighting fires? Oh! That’s his career at Intel. He is also an ERT (Emergency Response Team) leader responding to emergencies at a moment’s notice.
At Banks Fire, an hour west of Portland, Oregon, he is part of the TOD (Tour of Duty) Firefighter/EMT program, attending weekly training sessions, and serving weekly 12-hour shifts at the station from 7pm-7am, also responding to incidents at a moments notice. The pandemic introduced a boat load of changes at both Intel and at Banks Fire, the most significant of which being the PPE such as respirators and suits required when responding to calls. How he does it all and still spends tons of quality time with his totes adorbs toddler, is a wonder, and he’s often seen dashing out of the pool to pick her up in a matter of minutes.
THE TRIATHLETE
If you’re spectating a race and swimmers are coming in, watch out for Cam! His high school swimming days have stayed with him, despite a four year diversion playing soccer for Westminster College. He’s nailed both the half- and full-iron distances, as well as XTerra, and is a recent recruit to the CBCG athlete roster This year his eyes are set on at least Ironman 70.3 St. George, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, and Maple Valley 70.3, “at least.”
THE DAY IN THE LIFE
6am - wake up
6:45am - at Intel...grab a coffee
7am - it all starts
11:30am - lunch
1pm - meetings including interviews for 2 hours
3pm - emergency call (asERT leader) to evacuate an entire factory building
3:10pm - run out to rush to the building, assemble teams, and search buildings occupied by people on SCBAs (self-contained breathing apparatus), coordinating with electrical teams and other Life Safety teams
4pm - all searches come back with no injuries,
6pm - everything is back to order, and running fine
8pm - back home
8:15pm - ZWIFT ride of 4x10" FTP/Z3
9:30pm - hip strengthening, mobility band work, weights for the arms
10pm - shower
10:15pm - bed
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Doctor Alison Siepker, LCSW, BCD
2nd Marine Division
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
QUOTE
“When the pandemic hit, my OSCAR team and I knew we needed to keep our services obtainable, and managed to launch entirely new procedures really quickly, despite limited resources. In the military we often take pride in doing more with less.”
THE HERO
Apparently her friends call her Ali. Phew! That moniker is much simpler than the letters, accolades, decorations, and titles that formally accompany her name, all of which are very, very well-deserved. LCDR Siepker is Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy currently assigned to the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune. She serves as an Operational Stress Control and Resilience (OSCAR) Provider, which is pretty cool, as is her background. Read on, it’s worth it!
Born in Newcastle, England, Ali’s family moved to Dubai when she was eight-years-old (her dad was a chemical engineer), and she graduated from Dubai College. She then began her military career in the U.S. Marine Corps. “After I got out, I used my GI Bill to graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa while my husband (also a marine) was stationed there with an infantry battalion. I subsequently pursued my degree as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, empowering me to serve as a psychotherapist for active duty Marines and Sailors, as well as to advise Commanders on anything mental health related that may impact their Marines, Sailors, or their units, in general.”
THE TRIATHLETE
Fortunately, the U.S. Navy promotes fitness, so if Ali goes for a run in the afternoon, it’s pretty much considered part of her job. A few years ago she tacked-on the extraneous community of the Wattie Ink. Hit Squad, and recently joined the Gravel Collective. She qualified for Ironman 70.3 World Champions at the Japan 70.3, and began gravel riding in earnest after racing Haute Route Rockies. This year she’s got some serious events on the calendar: Unbound 100, Gravel Worlds, and Leadville. ”I like riding the Tank Trails on Camp Lejeune, which you sometimes have to share with tactical vehicles, but it beats riding in regular traffic.”
Check out her typical day below, “...unless it's a Tuesday when I'll be racing the Zwift WTRL race series, with Wattie Ink., which is a highlight of my week!”
THE DAY IN THE LIFE
0630 - wake up
0700 - shower, eat breakfast and put my uniform on
0800 - arrive in office
0830 - patients until noon
1200 - lunch
1300 - work on notes, or meetings with commands
1500 - leave for training
1530 - swim, run, and/or ride!
1730 - shower
1800 - dinner, then chill watching TV or hanging out with husband Geoff
2130 - bed
Dr. Adam Goulet DC, CSCS, CCSP
Sports Chiropractor, Evolution Healthcare and Fitness
Portland, Oregon
THE QUOTE
“We are fortunate to have been able to continue providing world class care throughout the pandemic, so hopefully we have made people’s body’s just a little more resilient through the Coronaverse.”
THE HERO
Adam specializes in sports rehabilitation, using soft tissue manipulation, fasciae manipulation, and rehabilitation exercises to treat everything from shin splints, to torn knee meniscus, to spinal disc herniations. Yowza! On a great day he can utilize the crazy, fancy method of Blood Flow Restriction therapy to advance and improve the healing and rehab process. Google it!
Evolution Healthcare & Fitness is where he spends most of his days, bouncing from side to side (healthcare and fitness, get it?), seeing patients on one end, training them on the other, and squeezing in his own workouts with an extraordinary poundage of weights on either end of the bar.
THE TRIATHLETE
A member of the Wattie Ink. Elite Team, Adam is no slouch at swimming, cycling, or running - especially the Olympic Distance. He began as a collegiate All-American in Track and Field at Eastern Oregon University. He’s an internationally-ranked athlete in triathlon and duathlon, winning his AG at ITU Age Group World Championships: the ultimate podium. His quads are extraordinarily large.
DAY IN THE LIFE
6am - wake up
6:10 - breaky
7:50am - leave for pool
8:30 - jump in for an hour swimmy
9:45am - quick rinse
9:50am - quick fuel
10am - 75’ track sesh
11:30am - drive back to work, snack before first patient
12pm - first patient
5:30 - leave for home
6pm - home and snack or early dinner
7:30pm - begin paperwork on the computer
9pm - bedtime
10pm - lights OUT!
Nathan Killam
(Oh, and Professional Triathlete)
QUOTE
“I've been in structure fires where ceilings are coming down around you, fire is everywhere, and you can't see anything because of the thick smoke, and you're like, ‘Oh, it's getting pretty hot in here, eh?’”
THE HERO
Okay, Killam is not technically a CBCG Athlete, but he’s been part of our family for over a decade. And he is definitely, irrefutably a front line hero. A career firefighter in Vancouver, British Columbia, Killam has seen it all. He quips, “It’s not like Backdraft. We don’t just go running through the wall of an inferno.” Nonetheless, he has countless, harrowing stories of combatting conflagrations.
Bravery is only a component of what makes Killam’s career astonishing. Juggling life as a husbo, dad, and successful professional triathlete is a circus act to say the least, featuring a four-day-on and four-day-off cycle (is that a week?) including two 14-hour night shifts. His day in the life below will leave you wondering if he is really human, after all. (NB: I’ve often decided that he is not.)
THE ATHLETE
Google him.
THE DAY IN THE LIFE
7am - drove home from 14-hour night shift
7:30am - devoured coffee and some fuel
8am - rode my bike halfway to Whistler and back
3pm - quick run off the bike
4pm - quick shower, recovery smoothie, and kiss to the family
4:30pm - jumped in my car to head back to work
5pm - family meal at the station, and thus begins my next 14-hour night shift
Incidentally, Nathan’s first born child, Aiden, was born the next day. So next time you’re leaisurely sipping your recovery protein smoothie in your Normatech Recovery Legs, raise your cup to the above heroes, who augmented their contributions to society this past year, and will always serve as paragons of balancing it all.
No Arm Warmers, No Regrets: dress perfectly to train in any weather with your own personal guides
by CBCG athlete, Amy VT
You’ve got to get out the door for a ten mile run, but you have an inner chill. A glance out the window revealing a gray drizzle is uninviting, to say the least. So you bundle up in layers and a shell, a hat and gloves, and thermal tights only to be cooking yourself five minutes into the sesh. You didn’t need the gloves or shell at all, and now you’re stuck carrying them awkwardly.
Rosanne Kelley knows when it’s time for tights and an earband
It’s the first sunny day in weeks and you’re stoked to get out and ride. You surely only need a basic kit with a simple base layer, right? Rounding the corner from your house, though, you wish you had full-finger gloves. Hitting 20-mph on the open road, you wish you had your arm warmers. Descending a steepie in the shade, you wish you had all the above, and a wind vest.
Jeff Lam is glad he wore his neck gaiter
Hej! You’re all waxed up and you just got a new Swix® ear band for Christmas. Nordic skiing sounded like a rad idea, but staying in to watch The Godfather trilogy under a blanket sounds much better right now. Yeah, it’s sunny, but it’s negative 13-degrees Celsius out there! You decide to psych yourself up with a few burpees, and sport a full parka, tights, wind pants, your impossibly huge gloves, and a pom-pom beanie. Sho ‘nuff, five minutes into your skate ski (you know, the sport that utilizes every muscle and spikes your heart rate?) you realize you don’t need your hat or jacket.
CBCG athlete Annick Chalier found the perfect conditions for a Wattie Ink. Thermal Jacket
It’s impossible to judge precisely what to wear to train outside when you’re sitting around inside. An inner chill can be deceptive, as can a glance out to the sunny street glimpsing scantily clad passers-by.
Thus, I created my own formulae to help me dress for any sport in any weather and avoid regrets. My guides are super-specific to me (I run cold), as well as super-specific to conditions and types of workouts. They can be hard to trust when I'm bracing myself for those first steps in the cold wind, but I’ve continued to refine each guide to precision, and now I simply cross-reference them with my weather app and workout type, and have faith.
Here’s my running guide. Would you believe it took me over a year to refine? I kept tweaking and adjusting as I observed when I shed my gloves, or stripped down to a sports bra. Note that one key variable is workout intensity, since I dress differently for sprinting on the track versus jogging an easy reco run.
And, voila, my cycling guide. So many variables here, especially when it comes to whether I’m riding in the sun or not. There’s a ton of wiggle room with cycling, too, as shells are easily stuffed in burrito bags, and arm warmers are designed to come off while you’re in the saddle. I don’t get into the different genres - MTB, gravel, TT, easy group ride, etc. - but I am familiar enough with my own personal guides that I can extrapolate.
Skiing is my latest addition to my lists, since I believe it can be the hardest apparel to judge. Sun exposure and wind are crucial variables, especially since I often ski high in the sky in Colorado. Last year I spectated my coach, Chris Bagg in the Birkebeiner, the largest and most famous Nordic ski race in the world. I was shivering on the sidelines in a parka as I watched racers skate by in tank tops and no hat! I mostly need my guide to convince me to not add that extra layer since I’ll regret it when I get going, but it’s also useful for the most important wardrobe choice any skier faces: beanie, earband, buff, or no hat at all.
You should make your own! My personal ones actually reside in the notes app on my phone, so I’ve always got ‘em. I contemplated printing these prettier ones to post on the fridge, but that would be selfish as someone else in my household runs hot, so our layering standards are totally different. I recommend being patient as you create, change, and refine yours for specific conditions, and you should totally extend to other sports. I’d love to see what you draw up for paddling, snowboarding, golfing, or cornhole. Next up for me: rollerblading.
My coach, Chris Bagg and I love to ski in our neck gaiters and Wattie Ink. Thermal Jackets
The Magic of Analog, Part Two: Session RPE
If you came to this last Saturday’s Endurance Spin, you know that at the moment we're pretty stoked on Rate of Perceived Exertion, or RPE. This is actually something we've been into for a while, but we're starting to play more and more with it, and we think it's a cool step in continuing to help develop your mastery around training and racing. No, we're never going to completely ditch the devices, since they have a real place in learning what certain efforts "mean" to your body, but learning how to deploy RPE will make you (we believe) a more confident and more competent athlete.
Recently we made it mandatory to leave us an RPE rating and a “subjective feeling” rating when logging workout on TrainingPeaks. Not sure what that even means? When you finish a workout and leave the information for your coach, you have a chance to leave both of those pieces of information on a screen that looks like this:
You have five options of smiley (or, we guess, three options of smiley faces, one frowny face and one…dead face?) faces for how you felt, and then a 1-10 for what the whole workout felt like in terms of exertion. We’re proud that our athletes REALLY responded to this request, with almost 80% of workouts logged in the first week coming with a RPE rating. We’re going to admit that the request was a bit two-faced. Yes, we really believe that ranking your effort after a workout is a great way to internalize the workout and reflect upon it, but we were also doing some data mining. We’ve started using something called “Session RPE” in working with our athletes, which has actually been around for ages—it has just fallen out of style with the rise in training devices. Many of you will be familiar with CTL, ATL, and TSB from TrainingPeaks, even if you’re not sure what they even mean. If you are familiar, you know they should be taken with a grain of salt. And if you're using your watch in the pool, then they have to be taken with a salt mine. FTP not set correctly? All those numbers will be off. Threshold pace not right? Off again. The Performance Manager Chart in TrainingPeaks is a clever tool, but there is so much possible error in it that many times I only refer to it as a passing curiosity.
Enter Session RPE (sRPE). It's simple. You give a workout a rating from 1-10. The software multiples that number by the minutes of the workout. Done. Do a 60-minute run that feels moderate, or 5 out 10? 300 sRPE points. After a few weeks of training, you get a chart in WKO5 that looks like this:
The Session RPE chart in WKO5
Ignore the "monotony" and "strain" columns for now. You can see that in the last week of this year's training for this athlete, he put in about ten hours of training (595 minutes) and total sRPE was around 2800. Then he took about two weeks off—you can see by the big drop in sRPE over the next two weeks. And now, over the last two weeks, things have been building again: a 2835-point week, and then this as-yet-unfinished week and about 3125 points. Want this in visual? Here you go:
The Session RPE Performance Manager Chart
Astute users of the TrainingPeaks PMC will notice the same colors and terms! CTL, ATL, and TSB. We've gone into this elsewhere, but CTL basically stands in for the accumulated work over a long period of time (CHRONIC Training Load), ATL over a short period of time (ACUTE Training Load), and TSB (Training Stress Balance) is the difference between the two. You can see that, as this athlete has picked training back up, the pink line (ATL) is rising quickly, while the blue line (CTL) is rising at a lower rate. The yellow bars (TSB) fall below the 0 line as the athlete’s freshness drops due to training again. Duh, you're thinking. Your fitness is going back up after a break. Big whoop. You're right. Not revolutionary. But here's the thing that is: sRPE takes into account your whole existence as an athlete, which is why we're so excited about it at CBCG. When you upload a workout to TrainingPeaks and it generates a Training Stress Score (TSS) from your power meter, neither your power meter nor Training Peaks knows what was going on for you that day physically, emotionally, or intellectually. Those three states have a HUGE impact on the perceived exertion of a workout, and what feels like a 2 today could feel like a 6 next week, depending on fatigue, stress, diet, mood, sleep, cycle, and the thousands of other factors that make you, well, you.
Finally, sRPE allows us to check an athlete's workload for appropriate loading rates and adjust accordingly. There is robust evidence that an ATL that's more than 1.3x the athlete's current CTL puts him or her at increased risk for injury, and below 0.8 is a sign of undertraining. Of course individual athletes will expose differences, but the evidence is pretty strong: 89% of injuries occurred less than ten days after a spike in "strain," which is the standard deviation of the weekly training load multiplied by the weekly training load. If that last sentence made your head spin, here's the takeaway: increase training load by more than 15% from week to week and you are headed for an injury. sRPE also allows us to paint a true picture of an individual athlete's build towards a race. Having set aside the somewhat arbitrary metrics that training devices give us, we can look back at an athlete's build for clues to the concluding performance, and we know that the data reflects the athlete, rather than a predictive model.
Want to give SessionRPE a whirl? You can drop us a line, or schedule a free coaching consultation with us here.
The Magic of Analog, Part One
I did something I haven’t done in years yesterday: I purchased a pen-and-paper planner for 2021. No, I’m not staging a digital rebellion (at least not a complete one): I couldn’t live without Google Calendar at this point. The reason I did it is because I want to feel a little more connected with my training. 2020 has been a hard year, with little to aim for in terms of events, and most training has had the same dusty taste that “virtue is its own reward” carries. Most of us have dutifully soldiered on with our work, knowing that events will return at some point, and we should maintain the fitness we’ve spent years building, yadda yadda yadda…
It’s late October, and I am fed up with virtue. I have been luckier than most, and have been able to toe the line a few times this year: the American Birkebeiner in February, and then Bear Lake Brawl in September and Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City in October. But all of them, other than the Birkie (which took place a scant three weeks before everything really shut down for the the year), have savored of “at least I just get to do something!” instead of the feeling that most athletes search for, which is “I feel sharp and ready to perform at my best.” Yes, we are lucky to get to do these events, but if participation was good enough for the people reading and writing this blog, we probably wouldn’t be reading and writing this blog. As athletes, we really do hunger for improvement, and then the chance to put that improvement on the line.
Where is all this going, and what does a planner have to do with it? Well, I start my season-end break on Monday, after another virtual half-marathon. I plan to take ten glorious days off of all training, and then begin to ease back in to a winter of cross-country ski preparation. The Birkie is tentatively on in a slightly shortened format, and I plan to be ready on February 27th to ski my face off. The planner is part of that plan. By this point in my training life, I do my workouts and then my watch or my bike computer magically whisks them away to the cloud, where they people my TrainingPeaks account, turning workouts green (or orange or yellow or red). I don’t have to do anything, the result of which is that I’m completely alienated from my reflecting upon my workouts—my relationship with them has become another victim of the convenience economy.
I’ve noticed, over the years, that a few of the athletes I’ve had the privilege of training with keep detailed written journals of their workouts, color-coding them and noting how they felt in each session. “You can call it workout logging,” says Linsey Corbin, “But really it’s just scrapbooking.” Whatever you call it, I’ve noticed a clear correlation between athlete that take the time to reflect on their sessions and the degree of their achievement. I believe (and this is just a hypothesis) that by taking the time to write down their workouts, they connect themselves more deeply to the experience, teaching themselves what certain intensities feel like, until they become very fine sensory organs. That delicate control becomes an asset to them on race day, as they intuitively know how hard or how easy to go at different moments of the race.
To some degree, I’ve developed this kind of feel myself, mostly due to simply doing the sport for a long time, but that’s the nice thing about picking up a newish sport—you get a chance to be all excited about your training all over again, and the desire to engage with it is fresh and new. So yeah, I’m trading on the enthusiasm of nordic skiing in order to jumpstart my enthusiasm about endurance training in general, but I think that’s a fairly normal thing to do for endurance athletes.
Why do we think this is a good thing for you, even if you’re not picking up a new sport? We see athletes mindlessly logging workouts all the time, foregoing workout comments, and trudging towards events as if their training is a conveyance to a better place. The training is the better place, and every way you can acknowledge that, luxuriate in it, and spend time with it you’ll make everything you do in endurance sports better. Give it a shot. We’re going to be writing a series on this subject (training by feel), and we hope you join us for all of them.
You can, too! How to Race Online with Zwift®
by CBCG coach Molly Balfe
Travel might not be possible right now, but I’m happily rolling through my big gear intervals in the countryside around Yorkshire. A local cyclist is giving everyone cool historical facts about his town, which I’m only slightly distracted from by the exclamations of “ojisjsdjlsdjoijiosdjsdfljlsdjkljsdfjlsfidnzfnssd” from another nearby rider. Thankfully, a third cyclist jumps with a mildly annoyed, “DUDE. You’re sweating on your phone!” Like many of you, my experience with social distancing has been punctuated by a LOT of indoor training. There was a time when my trainer gathered dust for most of the year; now it has a near-permanent setup in my small apartment’s living room.
Thanks to a fortuitous Christmas present from my little brother, I’ve been lucky enough to explore the virtual worlds of Zwift® while suffering through my indoor workouts. The platform’s graphics and achievements are pretty motivating, but the real benefit for me was the feeling that I was meeting up with friends for a group ride. It was a lot like my NYC training days of riding loops of Prospect Park - even the random dudes who hang on your wheel were there! In the early weeks of the pandemic, I signed on to train with thousands of people from all over the world. I started to recognize names, I made virtual friends, and I chatted with my real friends through the Zwift® Companion App.
Regular training led to some fitness increases right at the same time as races started to get cancelled. I’m not sure what came over me - perhaps a touch of perceived scarcity syndrome wherein people panic when they fear something might not be available, like toilet paper - but I was suddenly yearning for racing more than ever. I wanted to get out and suffer with friends and strangers and get an idea of where I was after a long winter of indoor rides. I had seen Zwift races through promotional emails, but I wasn’t sure what it entailed or if it was something that was within my reach. Without giving it too much thought, I decided to dive right in and sign up for something. Here is a recap of what I learned after making a whole lot of mistakes:
1) Connect your account
Anyone can sign up for a Zwift race, but if you want your results listed you need to sign up for and verify an account with Zwift Power. You can find good instructions here, make sure to read them carefully to ensure your results get posted.
2) Pick an event
Before you settle on a specific event, select a category in which you want to race:
A: 4.0 w/kg FTP or higher
B: 3.2 w/kg to 4.0 w/kg FTP
C: 2.5 w/kg to 3.2 w/kg FTP
D: Under 2.5 w/kg FTP
Once you’ve determined your category, head on over to the Zwift Companion App and click on “events” to find a list of upcoming races. Make sure you check out the race descriptions to see what the rules are and learn a bit more about what to expect. For additional information and more filters, check out the event listings on Zwift Power.
3) Know the course
There is a lot of variation in terrain on Zwift. Tempus Fugit is flat and fast, but the climb in Innsbruck features over 1300 feet of vertical gain in less than 5 miles! You don’t want to be surprised by the fact that your 16k race is straight up a hill, so go ahead and check out the course description before your race starts.
4) Set up your gear
Because all of this racing fun is virtual, it relies pretty heavily on technology. I recommend signing in early so you can get a good warm up and make sure everything is working properly. Plug in your laptop, ensure your heart rate monitor and smart trainer are connected, and open up the Companion App so you can chat with your fellow racers. Remember your real-world setup as well! Get a towel (seriously, get a towel), fill your water bottles, and establish and memorize your pacing plan of attack. Just like any race, it is crucial to have some idea of where your effort level and wattage should be.
As for my first Zwift racing experience? I made pretty much every mistake I just outlined. I chose a race by mileage alone, thinking it would last me about an hour (it was much longer). Midway through the race I had to get off my bike to plug in my dying laptop (thereby losing the group I was riding with). I started much too hard and pushed a few tougher sections thinking that the race would end with a downhill (it ended with a 4-mile climb). Luckily, no one can see the result of all this, because I failed to connect my account to Zwift Power. I hope you can benefit from my learning curve and avoid all of the above. My most salient takeaways, however, is that online racing is both an ideal outlet for some of that untapped race energy, and a gateway for a whole lot of sweaty fun. It can also be relatively anonymous fun, so go ahead and make some mistakes in the name of racing!
Coach disclaimer: think very carefully about how this type of racing integrates into your training schedule and your bigger goals. Online racing is very tough and could impact your next few days of training. Check in with your coach about how to structure a plan that includes this type of training stimulus.
Not interested in racing, but miss riding with friends? Think about joining an online group ride! The Endurance School offers a weekly ride on Thursdays at 6:30am PT. Zwift allows us to keep the group together so no one gets left behind. We write a structured workout for each session (more info on the CBCG Facebook page), but you can also do your own workout. Chat with us live on Twitch, just make sure to stash your phone somewhere dry!
You Can Do It, Too! Twelve steps to setting up an above ground pool for swim training
by CBCG athlete Amy VT
Enid Waller Flynn has been training in her backyard for months!
Above ground pools aren’t just for kids anymore. When travel restrictions and sheltering frothed up to its panicky height in March, I was in Mexico at the “Last Race on Earth:” Campeche 70.3. I succumbed to the panic, considering rerouting my flight to go live with a friend who has a pool. Back home, I avoided soc media posts of peeps in warmer climates bragging about open water swimming, or better yet, their backyard pools. I know at least five other pro women who have a private two-laner, and my envy ran deep.
Because: we can’t afford a pool, even an above-ground one, right? Wrong. In a fit of masochism, I checked out the app that rhymes with wamazon. A big guy, like, 13 feet (to accommodate my husbo’s preternatural wingspan) was only $330.00! The necessary trappings (why do we need a filter?) put it just above $400, and a colossal box showed up on our doorstep in a week. If you have any inkling to get your own, here are my steps to setting it up for swim training, rife with some mistakes to avoid unless you want to get on AFV (America’s Funniest Videos, duh).
My first swim, doing it wrong (no buoy, pipe insulation to protect the pool, or lube for my waist)
1. Buy a big enough pool. You need to ensure it’s deep enough for your downstroke with a paddle, which is well over two feet deep. It must be long enough for your outstretched body, arms up, and then some. We went with a 13’ x 7’ x 32” rectangular variety, and unfortunately, it’s a bit too shallow for gorilla man.
2. Buy a bunch of other shit. You definitely need both a corresponding filter, and a sterilizing mechanism. We went with a bobber that dispenses chlorine tablets, and hopefully zaps out pee when our friends’ kids visit. You might also need a pool cover, an extra tarp for ground cover, and an anchor-bungee system, unless you gots the stuff to DIY the latter like we did. Here’s everything you need:
pool
filter
sanitizing system
anchor-bungee-tether-belt system
ground tarp
pool cover
thermometer
paddles and buoy
pipe insulation (or something to protect your pool if your tether rubs it)
lube or a surfing rash guard (which doubles as sun protection) to prevent terrific waist chaffing
The essentials [not shown: filter, swimsuit (optional) pool]
3. Clear out a space. It has to be, like, totally level. Haven’t you seen all the AFV clips of collapsing above ground pools? Albeit entertaining, collapse is inevitable if your pool is even slightly listing. We’re fortunate to have a cement area slightly larger than our pool, but we still laid down a yoga mat on a crack, and a tarp to protect the pool bottom from abrasion.
4. Call your water co. Just dial up the main number on your water bill, and they’ll take it from there - not their first rodeo, especially during the pandemic. Tell them your projected day of filling, and how many gallons you predict. In turn, they’ll predict the cost, and even let you know if there are any tricks like your local fire department offering free fills from hydrants.
5. Erect it. Read the directions first, dude. Have you ever tried to assemble an IKEA anything without following the directions? How far didjya get? There are straps to lay down first, and then an iambic pentameter of poles to connect and wriggle through little condoms of the pool edges. If you cut a corner, that last pole won’t shimmy in anywhere. The good news is that it’s not a huge athletic feat, and I actually did it all on my own.
6. ATTACH THE FILTER FIRST. Um, trust me, do this before you fill the pool. “OHHHHHH SHIT!” I collapsed to my knees as I read this little part of the instructions after the pool was full. We decided to try to attach it anyway, dramatically orchestrating a four-handed maneuver on the count of three (wait, 1-2-3-go, or 1-2-go?). Hoses snaked and spewed water like errant fire hoses, and water rushed out the valves as we tried to attach and clamp. We did it, but lost a lot of water and ended up drenched. I wish we captured on vid, since we’d surely make AVF.
7. Fill. We thought we were so clever, rigging up a circuitous hose from our washing machine’s hot water faucet head all the way to our back yard. Uh, the hot water ran out in a half hour, which equals ankle-deep in pool speak. Moreover, your pool will go through menopausal changes of temp, heated by the sun during the day, and dropping at night, so its starting temp is insignificant. It doesn’t take that long to fill! Ours only took five hours, um...the first time....😬
8. Check the level. You can’t use a level on the rails since they’re all independent, so unless you have a 13’-long level, the best way to gauge is by eyeballing the vertical posts and buttresses. After we filled, we faced a singularly anticlimactic frustration. Everything was listing. I thought we could just lift and shimmy all the poles to straight, when husbo reminded me that we were dealing with several thousand pounds of weight and pressure. We had to drain it. Boo. But, we totally fixed the prob by using flagstones to prop up the sinking poles and buttresses.
9. Add your sanitizer. Again, we went with this cute little bobber that dispenses little chlorine tablets. Bonus: it also reads the temp. There are myriad systems available, of course, and I’m personally curious about switching to a saline option.
10. Rig your anchor-bungee-tether-belt system. I just have to brag. I banked on at least five tries before I rigged a perfect length and tension, but I got it right the first time. One classic size bungee + one small exercise band + the belt and tether from our parachute pool resistance trainer = parfait system.
Enid Waller Flynn uses a tree for an anchor
11. Protect against strap friction. If your anchor is so low that it rubs the rail of the pool, you’ll need to protect it. I tried tapes, which all rubbed off, and settled on pipe insulation secured to the rails.
12. Swim. You’re ready to roll! Well, I’m guessing you’ll need to play around with length and bungee tension, but once you’re there, you can swim anytime you damn well please. A pull buoy will keep you from fighting the drag, which is intensified when you’re attached to a tree, although you’ll get a wicked leg workout if you don’t use one. Paddles are clutch for maintaining key swim strength.
If you have access to a small in-ground pool, man are you lucky! You can simply fix your anchor-bungee-tether-belt system to a ladder. Many condo or private neighborhoods feat. these pools, as do hotels, thereby changing the way we swim train when we travel. When we travel again, I’ll be toting by tether.
CBCG athlete Becky Matro can actually get a workout in her neighborhood tiny pool!
Bonus features: your friends with kids are more apt to visit, you have an outstanding cooling arena to drink some margaritas on hot nights, and you need not even wear a swim suit if that’s the way you want to roll. Pretty much every hot evening, this guy can be spotted cooling off, splashing around, and talking to his new friend:
Chris Bagg and his Merduck
Most importantly, please set up a constant video recording of the setup process, and pretty much everything you do in the pool from then on. The chances are so high that someone will slip and fall, or a pump hose will go wildly animated, or the whole pool will collapse, and don’t we all dream of ending up on AFV?
We're All Olympians Now: How to Raise Your Eyes to the Horizon
Olympian and 2008 Olympic Trials champion Matty Reed
by Chris Bagg and Amy VanTassel
“The time I really focused on my training was exactly one year out from the Olympic Trials. That was the hardest and most focused I have ever been: it was training, nutrition, recovery, massages…every aspect had to be planned and executed. I set goals to run under 30 minutes for 10k, ride 53 minutes for 40k, and swim 16:30-16:45 for 1500m. By the time I toed the line at the trials, I had reached all those goals. I went on to win the race. I was in the shape of my life after that year of work.”
—Matty Reed, 2008 Olympian, 2008 Olympic Trials champion
We already know what you’re saying: “It must be nice to focus 100% on your training—even during quarantine that’s not possible for me.” You’re right that few of us will ever be able to do so, nor would it necessarily be enjoyable, but Big Matty Reed’s keen sense of focus is what we hope you take away from the quote above. Beginning a year out from the trials, which took place almost five months before the Olympic Games, Reed set aside short-term goals and focused on preparation. You’ll notice that he didn’t target a certain time at the trials—he trained to hit certain benchmarks, which put him in a place where victory drifted into reach.
All of us have that opportunity right now.
No, again, not to put 100% of our focus on training, but to put 100% of our training focus on improvement, rather than achievement. Recently, CBCG athletes made up for cancelled races by putting on their own 70.3’s, both conventional and the shortened “metric” versions (for those of you that use the metric system and are currently scratching your heads, a metric 70.3 replaces the imperial distance numbers with the same values, but metric: so 1200m swim, 56k bike, and a 13.1k run, resulting in a 3/4-mile swim, 35-mile bike, and 8.1-mile run), or participated in the virtual events which have popped up all over. Unsurprisingly, many of these athletes PR’d the distance or posted performances that outstripped their normal racing performances. Why?
First of all, many of us perform better in training than we do in racing. This is normal, if regrettable. Lacking a focus on mental strategies leads to events where we let competition get in our way. Competitive sport is nothing more than putting your ego on the line in a public setting bounded by shared rules (as good a definition of competition as I’ve ever heard), and that ego threat tends to get the better of most of us. We forget that racing is simply an expression of current fitness, and we worry, worry, worry. That worry leads to mistakes made on course, and mistakes cost you time. In the comfort of our training routines, or isolated from other competitors, we usually just “press play,” hitting our numbers or moving effectively on feel. As a result, we make fewer mistakes and rise to the level of our training.
We reached out to some other Olympians we have the honor of knowing, Kikkan Randall and Gwen Jorgensen, to get their perspective, and we hope that their experience provides some context and perspective about your own goals. Randall is an American, Olympic gold medalist cross-country skier. She has won 17 US National titles, made 29 podiums on the World Cup, made five trips to the Winter Olympic Games including the United States' first ever cross-country skiing gold medal at the Winter Olympics in women's team sprint at Pyeongchang in 2018.
Randall, at one of her MANY gold medal-winning races
“As a young ski racer I dreamt of winning an Olympic medal in women’s cross country skiing, but at the time no American woman had even cracked the Top-10 and my coaches were estimating it could take over a decade to build up the capacity and experience to be competitive at the world’s highest level. With such a daunting road ahead and no clear path to follow it could have been discouraging to pursue that lofty goal so far in the distance. But I was inspired and motivated by the possibility and the challenge! With the help of my coaches, I took the goal and broke it down into smaller and smaller goals until I had something to chase everyday and a way to measure my progress. The motivation was the dream but what kept me going was the small successes every day. As I ticked-off one goal at a time, I progressed, I learned, I built. Suddenly, ten years passed and I had become one of the best skiers in the world. It still took another six years to make the Gold Medal happen, but along the way I had an incredible, enriching, rewarding and satisfying journey that made me strong on and off the ski tracks.
“Right now we aren’t able to go after the goals we had planned. It may feel hard to stay motivated and measure progress. But keep doing what you CAN every day. Little goals build small successes, small successes build the pyramid. When you can get back to racing and chasing your goals, your foundation will be stronger than ever! You will probably even surprise yourself because you’ve not only built fitness, you’ve built grit, resilience and gratitude. Get out there, the best is yet to come!”
If you’re not ready to get out and focus on process after reading Randall’s thoughts, here’s more: she’s also a cancer survivor. Having battled through a rare blood-clotting disorder in 2008, she survived a breast cancer diagnosis in 2018. This past year at the American Birkebeiner, injured and coming back from chemotherapy, she placed 12th overall in the women’s field.
Randall, booted up but still ready for action
Finally, we also chatted with Gwen Jorgensen, often known as the G.O.A.T. in triathlon. A gold-medalist in the sport and two-time world champion, Jorgensen simply dominated the sport during her time in it, just running away from everyone time and time again. She presently focuses on running, aiming for the 2021 Tokyo Games in the marathon, and here is what she had to say about process versus outcome.
Are Olympians better at focusing on process instead of outcome?
“I'm not sure that's correct. I think many athletes focus on the outcome, and that can be OK. We focus and want the outcome to be good, but in order to be successful we fail. In those moments of failure having the process and bigger picture to focus on is what gets me through the tough times. I know if I am doing the process right then the outcomes will eventually come.” Jorgensen echoes the findings of Stoeber et al who found that striving for perfection is positively associated with goal attainment (outcomes), but negative reactions to imperfection is negatively associated with mastery-attainment goals. In short, Jorgensen aimed for an outcome goal, but didn’t let it bother her when she fell short in training, knowing that failure is a part of the process.
Do you feel you were able to set aside short term goals in favor of long term?
“I think focusing on the long term is important, but we also need short term goals along the way to help keep us accountable and to help give gratification that we are on the right track. I keep a daily journal where I write three things I've done daily that are process based that were good, and that I could improve upon. For instance, today I wrote: ‘I hydrated early, I counted my cadence when fatigued, Kept shoulders back.’ For the things to improve I wrote: ‘Need to activate glutes pre-run, stand tall, let arms come through when fatigued instead of crossing over.’ Having these daily goals that are process based has allowed me to keep engaged in the short term in order to succeed in the long term.”
For many of us, we’re going through a period without racing or competition that is longer than many of our off-seasons. We’re fidgety, spoiling for any kind of race. At CBCG, though, we see this moment as an opportunity to improve, to put in huge consistent blocks of training, unfazed by the sharpen/recovery/build cycle that a competitive season brings. High level athletes know that their real work is done in the offseason and early season, and once the competitive season starts you can really only sharpen a little bit (recovering from races is nothing more than coming back from a self-inflicted injury, and injury interrupts consistency). Well, welcome to the eternal offseason. Here are some ways to make it work for you.
Focus on strength and mobility. Yup, that old chestnut. But honestly, that work is the first to go in a busy triathlete’s life, and now you’ve got the time. Follow our Strength at Home program, or start attending on the of the seven weekly Endurance School strength and mobility classes. See a PT and get an assessment of how you move and how you could move better.
Set benchmark goals, and move confidently in that direction. You don’t have any races, so instead of saying “I want to win my AG at blankety blank race in Sacramento,” set a process goal, such as running faster over a repeated training loop at a lower heart rate over a three month period. Set goals to improve your power at different durations, knowing that by attending to these benchmarks, you’re becoming faster and more complete over all. Figure out your weakest
Figure out your WHY. Our friends at Why Racing Events always ask “what’s your WHY?” celebrating the broad spectrum of reasons that motivate athletes to race. If you’ve only been racing because you like to beat strangers and gather dust-trap trophies, then 2020 will be particularly brutal on you. Take some time and return to your original enthusiasms for the sport, the things that made you so excited about this in the first place.
Go exploring! As an endurance athlete, your whole thing is about moving as quickly and efficiently over large outdoor spaces. Get out a map, dial up Our Mother the Mountain, plan a long point-to-point river swim, or run longer than you’ve ever run before. You’ve got the fitness, so spend it! But guess what? By spending fitness, you only get MORE fit. It’s the classic Obi Wan Kenobi paradox, but you’re the beneficiary.
Get better at resisting the marshmallow. Say what? Astute readers will recognize the allusion to the famous Stanford psychology experiment (no, not THAT one) in which children were offered a small immediate reward, or a bigger award if they could wait for a longer period of time. Compounding the kids’ stress, the researchers left the room during the testing period. In follow-up studies, the children who could delay gratification tended to display better life outcomes across a series of measures (SAT scores, BMI, educational attainment, among others). What the hell does this have to do about racing and training? Well, if you can hold off on chasing Strava segments (a short term but utterly meaningless treat) and focus instead on the boring work of long achievement, you may discover (a year from now!) that you are a different athlete than the marshmallow-crazed person you left behind.
Don’t get lost in minutiae. Great athletes know that perfect is the enemy of good, and that if you hold onto something too tightly, you just end up killing it. Rather than demanding your workouts be perfect, focus on the spirit of the session instead, and you may find that the session went better than you could have hoped for.
So what does this really have to do with being an Olympian? In our experience of knowing a few of them, they are all remarkably chill people. They tend to move slowly, until pressed into motion, and then they move faster than anyone we’ve ever seen. But they never have trouble resisting the marshmallow, they focus on their ancillary strength work, they have their WHY nailed, they focus on benchmark goals as Reed, Randall, and Jorgensen all did, and they always always always seem to love the actual act of swimming, cycling, or running. They’re down to run, ride, or swim somewhere new, placing the experience effect first and the training effect second. As a result they experience less burnout and more joy in their training and racing, and who doesn’t want that?
CBCG athlete Kris Ullman, after finishing the “Mocktoria” 70.3 race organized by CBCG coach Juliet Hochman. Ullman PR’d her 70.3 distance.
CBCGer Aly Wilson, another “Mocktoria 70.3” finisher (with a run PR)
Virtual Camp: the light at the end of this short tunnel
“I’m having a great race, but I’m not gonna push it because I think I’m pregnant!” Joann ran over to hug her coach, Chris, during Ironman Cozumel, smiling and sharing this time-sensitive news. She’s always smiling, which is funny since she’s always succeeding. You’d think an athlete would be one way or the other - either incessantly cheery but not so concerned with outcomes, or laser-focused on ambitious results. Joann first became a CBCG in 2011 (!), and has only gotten faster and happier.
There are essentially two types of triathletes during the current pandemic, with races canceled or postponed, and training compromised. Some will incur such a blow to their identity that they will crumble under the uncertainty of it all. Others will espouse the opposite approach, solidifying their identities as those who truly enjoy training for the right reasons. Joann is obvi the latter. She’s unstoppable these days, despite her A Race being canceled, as well as having to run a wild house with two totes adorbs toddlers. Here, the intrepid Panamanian shares with us how the CBCG first ever Virtual Camp will be ideal for an athlete like her.
A day in the life of CBCG athlete extraordinaire Joann Symonette
Virtual Camp: light at the end of this short tunnel
By CBCG athlete Joann Symonette
A day in the Symonette household these days starts pretty early, around 5:30am (yep, weekends too!). Both Joe, my hubby and I still work pretty intensely during the stay-at-home order, now with the not-so-insignificant difference of having to juggle our two toddlers, AKA “my Crazy Chickens,” Valentina, 2, and Christopher, 4! Miraculously, I still manage to get in most of my workouts early morning, which I prioritize before work or anything else so I don’t get “kid sabotaged.” Days go by fast, so if I don’t stick to the plan, then most likely the day happens, and nothing happens! Getting it done early can be grueling, but it sets my mood for the day, feeling accomplished from the start.
The adorable, unstoppable Valentina
Virtual Camp!!! When I saw the news on social media I immediately got super pumped! I love Camp!!! As nerdy as it sounds, I always have, and I think I forever will - LOL! I remember feeling a little down last week… tired... unmotivated... dejected by races getting cancelled again, and again… uncertain about so much. Once I saw Virtual Camp was happening I immediately signed up without thinking twice. I texted a few friends to join me, and my mood immediately improved!
The OG Crazy Chicken: Christopher!
Camp is like the light at the end of this short tunnel. It serendipitously appeared, proving to be the one thing I need to motivate me again, focussing on something new and fun. I’m hopeful to see old friends, learn new things and re-learn forgotten things, and reserve and entire long weekend for triathlon - just like we would at real camp! Perhaps I’ll forget about the world for a bit as I geek out on what makes me happy - swim, bike, and run stuff.
First step: warn the hubby. After my recruitment texts to friends, I warned Joe that I will be busy with Camp for the better part of the weekend. I’m lucky to have a super-supportive hubby that rolls with whatever passion I have, and who’s also expertly hands-on with parenting duties. Having my mom here with us is an extra bonus. I’ll probably have a printed schedule of the times I’ll be “unavailable” during Camp, and fill in the spaces in between with lots of kiddo activities so they get their share of mommy time. That stated, I can also foresee Joe and my Crazy Chickens quasi-joining me, if not heckling in some of the workouts as they usually like to do.
JoJo always gets it done!
While Virtual Camp is the light at the end of this short tunnel, I cannot ignore the long one. The cancellation of IMCA set me on more of a rollercoaster of feelings than ever during this pandemic. Part of me knew it was inevitable, but once I saw the news, there was a feeling of disappointment, and at the same time relief. Another race cancelled - bummer, but at the same time - more flexibility to keep training (potentially not as hard), and to re-balance life again. My fall agenda still has O-side 70.3 rescheduled for October, and IMAZ in November. They are not cancelled as of yet, so they’ll replace my motivation after Camp this weekend.
The beautiful Symonette familia
I have appreciated Camps in the past as an invaluable opportunity to gain fitness, but I can not deny their biggest benefit: the social part of it all. I thrive on sharing workout experiences with new and old friends, learning together, suffering together, and just hanging out with likeminded people. We’re likeminded in the sense that we share the same athletic passions, but another key factor to the social part of Camp is training and “living” with people from all over...all ages...and trust me, all personalities! Camp adventures are The Best, and I’m counting the hours to the very first Virtual Camp, which will definitely be one to remember!
XOXOX, J
VT’s Rainbow Pancakes: a crazy easy way to transform veggies during sheltering
by CBCG Athlete Amy VT
Repeat after me: “two eggs” (repeat out loud) “one cup grain” (repeat out loud) “half cup dairy” (repeat out loud) “one veg” (repeat out loud). Congrats! You just memorized the easiest, healthiest, yummiest, and prettiest recipe of your culinary life. You’ve never met a formula that’s more adaptable to your preferences, as well as sheltering-friendly since I’m pozzy you have all the ingredients in the larder. Bust out your griddle and spatula, and proceed as follows:
INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1 C grain (oats, flour, quinoa)
1/2 C dairy (yogurt, milk, dairy alternative, ricotta)
1 fruit/veg (large banana, sweet potato, 2-3 beets, avocado, 2 handfuls of spinach)
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the above in a blender or processor. Obvi you should shred a veggie like carrot, or slice a fruit like apple. Add sweetener, salt, and spices to taste. If you’re using a watery ingredient like frozen spinach or citrus, add more grain and one egg yolk. Pulse until totally smooth. Add butter or oil to a griddle on medium-high, and make pancakes like a boss! Tip: flip the nanosecond you see bubbles to retain your pretty color.
EASY!
You’re a magical alchemist! During sheltering, we’ve all made creative strides in the kitchen to avoid going to the store. Chances are you already have the above ingredients, especially since there are countless substitutions. But the hands-down easiest part about this recipe is that you’ve already memorized it. Here’s a variation with high-falutin’ ingredients, as easy as cake:
VT’S PINK PARISIAN PANCAKES
2 quail eggs (OK fine, if you’re out, use regular)
1 C cooked quinoa
1/2 C crème fraîche
1 C shredded beets
1 T kosher salt
1 t nutmeg
1 t clove
3 T agave
Sauce idea: crème fraîche whipped with nutmeg
HEALTHY!
I love tricking children. Specifically, I love tricking children into eating their veggies by hiding them in something that looks cool. I am also vegetable-averse, and can only be coaxed into eating broccoli with accompanying vats of cheese. This recipe craftily engineers every food group in a gestalt that looks and tastes like a carb!
If you have a dietary restriction, making pancakes out of oats, or replacing milk with an alternative is so simple it’s like you’re not even high-maintenance anymore. If you’re vegan, maybe you want to try with a flax egg or whatever you use as an egg sub, and oat milk? Let me know how it goes, you no-longer-high-maintenance vegan, you.
VT’S GF GREEN DINNER PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C oats
1/2 C sour cream + handful of shredded cheese or parmigiana
Several handfuls of spinach + handful of parsley or basil
2 T kosher salt
1 T pepper
1 t nutmeg
Sauce idea: yoghurt-tahini
YUMMY!
Another clutch benny of this recipe is that you can deftly cater to your taste. For savory recipes, salt and spice will be your tools. For the sweet ones, play around with sugars and sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, and stevia. If there are fussy kids or adults you need to lure to the table, why not add sprinkles? Here’s an old standby that’s gluten-free, sweet, and all-dressed-up:
VT’S GF BANANA DESSERT PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C oats
1/2 C whole milk
1 large banana
1/4 C nut butter
1 T kosher salt
1 T cinnamon
3 T maple syrup
Toppings idea: chocolate chips, coconut flakes, whipped cream, sprinkles
PRETTY!
I’m obsessed with strikingly bright baked goods that are tinctured with natural color. Beets, turmeric, carrots, and greens are as potent as food coloring, impressing food stylists and children at once. Imagine making a rainbow stack of pancakes, pigmenting the spectrum with raspberries, carrots, turmeric, kale, blueberries, and purple potatoes. Here’s a variation with so much natural yellow that it glows, not to mention naturally reducing muscle inflammation:
VT’S SAVORY THAI PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C coconut flour
1/2 C cashew milk
1 cooked sweet potato
3 T salt
1 T chili or Sriracha®
2 T turmeric
Sauce idea: peanut sauce with crunchy PB, soy sauce, fish oil, and hoisin
Can you recite the ingredients? Repeat “two eggs...one cup grain...half cup dairy...one veg” until you’ve memorized it, and you’re on your way to hiding vegetables into a rainbow of fruit flavors that are super easy, healthy, yummy, and pretty.
Mental Training in the Time of Social Distancing
by Brian Baxter
If you are like me, social distancing is not coming easily. I do enjoy my downtime, but for the most part, as an athlete and a coach, I thrive on my interactions with others. My time spent training, coaching, being coached, and competing with others informs my identity and fuels everything I do, and I imagine most people reading this feel the same way.
But, here we are. And the best thing to do is use this time wisely, so it is coincidentally a perfect time to work on your mental game. In my experience, most athletes and coaches know the importance of confidence, focus, and a strong mindset. Even though they are cognizant that it’s crucial for high level performance, however, dedicating time to mental training often falls down the priority list. Well, now there’s a lot of extra time on most people’s hands, making it the perfect time to take a deeper dive into mental training.
Before I go into some ways to train during this shutdown, I’d like to offer a little background about my field. Sport psychology was “invented” when an Indiana psychologist named Norman Triplett noticed people seemed to cycle faster in groups than when alone. In 1898, he took these ideas into the lab and found that in general, athletes do, in fact, perform better and faster with other people.
CBCG athlete Bindhu Isaac Newell’s impressive meditation skills
In the study’s conclusion he wrote: “We infer that the bodily presence of another contestant participating simultaneously in the race serves to liberate latent energy not ordinarily available.” Here is a copy of his research paper. If you are into that type of thing.
In 1924, another psychologist, Floyd Allport, furthered this research and termed this phenomenon “Social Facilitation.” It basically means that people perform better in the presence of others.*
Okay, that’s all good and sensible, but now what? What do we do with this info when, at the moment, we must focus on not being around other people. Social Distancing is enforcing a mutually exclusive ability for Social Facilitation. There’s a reason we workout with friends and teammates: it’s more motivating, more fun, and to quote the research, “...serves to liberate latent energy not ordinarily available.”
Chiefly, athletes will have to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions. The simplest is to find an accountability partner. Find someone with whom you can share your goals and workouts, and check in frequently. You can take this a step further and set up virtual workouts through FaceTime, Facebook or Instagram, all of which have video calling. Maybe the most effective thing you can do is find an online group to work with (Believe me there are tons of them out there! Check out this live online Soccer Workout for example, and also all the CBCG programming of The Endurance School found on our Twitch channel.
But more importantly, it would be invaluable to use this gift of extra time to train your mind. While it’s great to use the benefits of Social Facilitation, one of the goals of sport psychology is to build that motivation and gain skills to be able to push yourself without the help of outside factors. Perhaps capitalizing on this time to learn and practice skills like visualization and goal setting. Here are three practical ways you can develop a better mindset:
Take a Sports Mindset Inventory - Take this downtime to reflect who you are as an athlete, especially how it relates to your mindset. Answer questions like: What are my distractions? What things build and break down my confidence? How do I handle adversity? What can I do to get better? What things motivate and de-motivate me? Knowing the answers to these questions are important for the next tip.
CBCG Partner and Coach Molly Balfe is halfway through her current journal!
Set New Goals - During an unknown time like this, one thing that is known: the goals you had previously are going to change. Maybe not much, but they will change. The amount of training, the time period for which you want to achieve certain goals, and more. Setting goals around mental training and improving on your confidence, focus, mindset and motivation can now move into the forefront.
Practice Visualization - Visualization is an amazing, but under-utilzed tool in an athlete's arsenal. Visualization is basically a controlled daydream in which you imagine yourself performing a task, skill or event. Beyond just vision, it incorporates all five senses. Visualization is such a powerful tool, track and field athlete Marylin King came in 2nd in the Olympic trials in her event after being hospitalized from a car accident.
Undertaking these three techniques can help you mentally train while you can’t train physically. And, of course we don’t know when, but the Coronavirus will run its course, so we are back to normal training and competitions, where will you be, mentally?
Remember finally to take care of yourself on a mental and emotional level. These times are unprecedented, and so many are suffering for so many reasons. Keeping up your exercise is essential even more so these days. And definitely don’t do it alone! We are all in this together. Do not hesitate to reach out to your coach for advice or inspiration. To have them help you with the goal setting piece, and to point you in the right direction.
Want to amplify your mental game while sheltering? Check out the online AMPlify Your Game six-level program. Are you mentally strong enough to graduate? And, of course, you can contact Brian himself for options for one-to-one coaching. Stay healthy, happy, and strong, and we’ll see you on Twitch for The Endurance School!
Welcome to The Endurance School, CBCG's Virtual Training Community!
What is The Endurance School?
The Endurance School is an online triathlon portal for live and on-demand virtual training sessions. Sessions are broadcast through Twitch (a subsidiary of Amazon) and coached by your CBCG coaches. We offer spin, yoga, and strength training as well as informational Q&A sessions and interviews. Our aim is to build on the virtual triathlon community and to provide high quality training sessions to our athletes in their own homes.
How can I participate?
Follow us on Twitch! You can either download the app, or create an account at: www.twitch.tv For the desktop site, you have logged in, navigate to: https://www.twitch.tv/theenduranceschool Click on the heart icon in the upper right corner to follow our twitch channel. This is where our virtual events will live - make sure you bookmark this page so you can find it later. For the ap, download the following Twitch icon, create your profile, and tap the video to view the heart and follow us.
How much does it cost?
That’s really up to you! We know that this is a tough financial time for everyone and our first priority is providing our community with some training structure during this chaotic time. For now, we are leaving all of our live and archived training sessions available at no cost to anyone who needs them. That said, like most small businesses, we’re facing a difficult road ahead. If you want to and are able to contribute, there are a few ways to do so:
Subscribe to our channel – Twitch has three subscription tiers ($4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 per month) to help viewers support the channels they follow. You can subscribe by going to www.twitch.tv/theenduranceschool and clicking on the purple “Subscribe” button in the upper right corner. **Important Note** If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you can register for a free Twitch Prime account. This allows you to subscribe to one channel FOR FREE every month. Your subscription will expire every 30 days, but you can re-subscribe as many times as you want. To register for your free Twitch Prime account, just go to www.twitchprime.com. You can then subscribe for free on our page.
Cheer with Bits – Twitch has a unique system for making donations. If you want to donate for a class you took or cheer for a moment you enjoyed, you can do so by cheering with bits. Every bit is worth 1 cent, so 1000 bits would be $10. There are two ways to donate this way:
Select the Bits icon in the chat entry window (it looks like a gem and is right next to the smiley emoji). Select the amount you want to donate and hit enter.
You can also simply type “cheer” into chat and the number of bits that you want to donate. For example, typing “cheer1000” would donate 1000 bits (or $10).
What type of training do you offer?
So glad you asked! We are really excited about the training sessions we’ve cooked up. Here is our weekly schedule:
And here is a guide to the different classes:
Morning Routine – This class was designed with the whole athlete in mind. Focus on your physical and mental wellbeing with 40 minutes of the basic strength you never do, 10 minutes of meditation, and 10 minutes of journaling about goals and gratitude. necessary equipment – a tennis ball and journal or something to write on
Sufferfest® Spin – We are partnering with Sufferfest® to offer 60-minute weekday sessions focused on high-intensity intervals. These classes are fun and social, but will give you the challenge you need to help you get faster and stronger on the bike. necessary equipment – a bike and a trainer
Endurance Spin – Our 90-minute weekend sessions will focus on improving your sport-specific endurance. necessary equipment – a bike and a trainer
Endurance School Master Class - One of our goals at The Endurance School is to equip athletes with the tools they need to master their own training and performance. In our Master Class we dive into essential topics we believe athletes should know to help you train and race smarter.
Community Spotlight - Come learn about how people and companies are innovating during this difficult time. Endurance athletes are resilient and inspirational; each week we’ll feature the best things they’re doing to stay stronger, faster, and happier.
Swim Fit – Our pools are closed and open water is still chilly in most of north America. Join us for a 30 minute strength and flexibility session focused on retaining your swim-specific fitness and making sure you’re ready to dive back in. necessary equipment – stretch cords or bands
Yoga – Take some time to focus on functional movement and flexibility with our yoga session for endurance athletes. Come unwind the work you’ve done so you’re ready to crush your next workout. necessary equipment – none
Thank you so much for your interest in The Endurance School! We hope to see you at an online session soon.
Racing in the Time of Coronavirus: How to Deal with Cancellations and Postponements
As last week wore on, and the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic settled over the world, the steady stream of event cancellations seemed like an afterthought—a necessary consequence of a quickly worsening situation. Today, though, with the first weekend of action behind us, and the inevitable reshaping of lives for the near future, many athletes have a moment to pause and consider what the alteration of their seasons means to them. For many of us, racing and training provide an essential buttress to our identities—if you subtract the competitions, you’re taking away something as integral as our souls. So how do we cope in this new environment, with uncertainty as our only training partner? We’ve got some ideas ourselves, and we polled a few people in the know, too. Sarah Max, one of the Wattie Ink. professionals on the Gravel Collective Project, reminds us “I think that it’s possible to find the positives. A month or two ago, headlines talked about managing time and our hectic schedules. We were all looking to put a gallon of obligations into a pint of time. Now, for many of us, we have some extra time with events, classes, and races canceled. We’re painting bedrooms, learning how to bake bread better, getting our lives organized and reading epic books.” With that sense of perspective restored, let’s see how we can use this opportunity to become better athletes and people.
CBCG athlete Alyssa Hagen Marchington copes with social distancing
What is it that you like about competition? Many of us don’t even think about this, so caught up in the routine of registering for races and then executing them. But take a minute, right now, and think about the qualities of competition you enjoy. We asked one of the athletes we coached this the other day, as the announcement about Oceanside 70.3’s postponement finally filtered through Ironman’s website, and she said that races are “fun.” I pressed her a little bit more, and asked if she could define that fun a bit. “Racing makes me feel like an athlete,” she replied. There we go, I thought. That’s something I can work with. For other athletes, I’m sure there is the thrill of measuring and improving, of seeing where one was last year, and how far one has come. For others, there is the sheer simple joy of competition—of getting to the other side of the playground fastest. The list goes on, beyond what my limited imagination can muster, but take a few moments and define what you love about the events that comprise your yearly program.
Feel the loss. Yeah, this is where things get kinda touchy-feely, but grief is an important step in any process where you experience change. Go for a ride, go for a run (you’re probably not going to a pool), watch a movie, get out for a walk, have a good cry—any of these are good options, but take some time and really feel the loss. Stiff-upper-lipping it works in the short term, but generates all sorts of sub-optimal outcomes later, as the emotions come out in other places.
Find the qualities you love in competition in your training, or inject those qualities into your training. When I asked the athlete above what she liked about racing, and heard that it “made her feel like an athlete,” I dug a little deeper and asked for some more detail. “Executing a plan and going to the edge of my abilities,” she told me. OK, I thought. Let’s shift the focus of her workouts to reflect that. For one of her runs this weekend, I’d given her a run in which she wasn’t allowed to go above a certain heart rate. “How can this reflect what you like about racing, even though it doesn’t push you to the edge of your abilities?” “Simple,” she replied. “That’s the executing a plan part.” That first element established, we looked at the rest of her training for the weekend. She had a relatively easy ride, but then a longer session with almost an hour of sweet spot work, broken in to five- and fifteen-minute intervals. “That’s a pretty hard session,” I offered. “Can that be part of your ‘pushed to the edge of your abilities?’ The workout ends with 20 minutes of higher cadence work, which has always been hard for you.” My athlete assented, and we headed into the weekend with a plan for ways she can scratch her “event itch.” Got something different, like the love of competition or the thrill of improvement? Strava and Zwift are probably your best bets, there. Just remember to compete in good faith, make sure your Zwift weight is accurate, and be gracious in virtual victory and defeat.
Amy VT, at #lastraceonearth this past weekend at Campeche 70.3, grateful and smiling
Amy VanTassel, one of the CBCG professionals (and our chief marketing officer), has the following to add: "All of my typical pre-race anxiety was replaced with gratitude. Only eight of us professional women made it to the #lastraceonearth in Campeche, and it’s like we were all just this family, marveling at how fortunate we were, and struck by a sense of perspective. I’ve never felt like that at any race.”
About a month ago, Brian Baxter, MA visited us at the CBCGym to talk about mental training, and we think that his words then speak just as strongly now: you can only control your effort, your attitude, and your response to the situation at hand. At CBCG, we firmly believe in the concept of added adversity—your life, busy as it is, probably doesn’t require the additional stress of six to ten to fifteen to twenty-five hours of endurance and strength training every week, but you went ahead and added it anyway. You added it because you like the obstacle that training presents, not in spite of that difficulty. Rising to the occasion week after week, month after month, year after year is what makes you an athlete—not going to races and assembling results. Trophies, as E.B. White once said, only carry the stale smell of success. But putting your best foot forward, whether you’re facing mile 19 of an Ironman run or handling your response to a life tossed into chaos? That is the great reward, here. So use this strange new time to hang out with your family; learn a new game; finish that house project; spend some more time on your trainer; focus on mental skills; read a book. To steal one more famous writer’s words: “A person should know how to do many different things—specialization is for insects.”
Sports Psychologist Brian Baxter, MA imparting wisdom about mental toughness
Four Common Triathlete Injuries: what you're really lookin' at
by CBCG athlete, Amy VT
Have you ever wished there were Injury Gods? Like, so you could know if it’s OK to run with pain, so long as you’re not making it worse? Or so you could rest assured that not training is totally necessary? Unfortunately, the injuries that triathletes tend to incur are nuanced, variable, and impossible to diagnose with pinpoint certainty. They’re more metaphysical than physical, in a sense, so even the best practitioners cannot predict when you can be back in your running shoes.
Let’s take a looky at what we can control, what to expect, and how we might prevent four common triathlete-prone injuries. I sought the expert advice of three world-class practitioners who unpacked what to do (clamshells) and what not to do (download the app that rhymes with ebemdee) to prevent getting benched, and how to comply while we’re sitting on it.
CBCG athlete Elsa Hume diligently foam-rolling at the CBCGym
1. Plantar Fasciitis
WHAT IT IS
No, it is not a draconian, anti-social peanut brand. It feels that sinister to me, however, since I am currently grappling with PF. The Harvard Medical School explains that “the cause of the pain is inflammation of the plantar fascia, a band of tendon-like tissue that extends along the bottom of the foot (the plantar surface) from the heel bone to the ball of the foot, where it fans out to attach to the toe bones.” Ergo, when you run a lot in a wrong way or in the wrong shoes (see below) you can totally damage the fascia in your heel, or even tear it. Owee!
Our good friend and extremely adept Sports Physician Dr. Brad Farra, D.C., CCSP, CSCS tells us what’s really up with this common prob, “Plantar fasciitis is actually a misnomer. Often misconstrued as an inflammatory problem, it’s a chronic, repetitive issue which would be more aptly named plantar fasciosis.” Brad regularly treats athletes with said fasciosis at Evolution Healthcare and Fitness in Portland, and is all-too familiar with its cause. “It is often a condition of poor footwear choices and a weak kinetic chain. Narrow toe boxes and too much heal lift, followed closely by the unneeded arch support are the culprits in most problematic running shoes. Footwear issues are compounded by weakness anywhere from the foot to the core, causing a perfect storm setting for injury.”
One of the best practitioners in the world, Brad Farra D.C., CCSP, CSCS
WHAT TO DO
Get new shoes, and do these exercises. Actually, for all injuries, the first thing to do is tell your coach immediately, which will result in making a first-avail appointment with your physical therapist or related doc. So, let’s call that implicit for the below three injuries. For shoes, PF’s biggest culprit is old running shoes that lose their cushion or drop with wear. That was my prob. I know I shouldn’t run in zero-drop shoes because of my over-pronation, but I was obstinate about getting new running kicks. Hours this winter on the treadmill in my very old locker standbys was the surefire cause of my PF.
New kicks in da house, you might also need special inserts, heel cups, or cushions to re-introduce running. Only in extreme cases might you need injections or surgery, so most likely you’ll just be facing the specter doing these exercises indefinitely: toe curls, ankle circles, and plantar-specific massage and rolling. Or perhaps you’ll be confined to the beautiful “plantar fasciitis boot,” forcing your foot to stay flexed in bed. Our feet tend to point while we sleep, which ain’t good. The boot forces a flex in addition to looking so sexy.
THE HIT ON YOUR TRAINING
no hit whatsoever - 12 months
Most PF sufferers can still run if their cleared by their doc. If your pain is too acute, you’re looking at 6-12 weeks before you can run outside, but behold the “blessing of the triathlete!” You can still ride and swim, and even if you can’t run outside you might be able to watch the presidential debates from the convinces of the treadmill or elliptical. There’s always, always, aqua-jogging, too. Your coach will help! So, after procuring new kicks, adjusting your sched with your coach and getting treated by your doc, just thank the Injury Gods you don’t have Achilles Tendonitis - d’oh!
CBCG coach Molly Balfe rocking her calf exercises
2. Achilles Tendonitis
WHAT IT IS
Ever wonder why your autocorrect always capitalizes “Achilles?” This exasperating injury gets its name from the Greek mythological figure. (Ed. note: I’m pretty sure Brad Pitt played Achilles in Troy - not sure why I’d remember that imagery.) The tendon is named after him because it’s only part of his body that was still vulnerable after his mother Thetis had dipped him into the River Styx. Darnnit - why didn’t she hold him by his pinky?
The Achilles tendon is the thickest and most powerful tendon in the body. What Thetis didn’t consider was that because of its size, it’s also singularly susceptible to tearing or rupturing. It’s also just plain susceptible to agitation from tweaking or over-using, presenting as Achilles Tendonitis.
Über pain with heel strike, when running up hills or stairs, or with a sudden change of direction is how you know if you’ve got it. And since our calf muscles are (see also: Plantar Fasciitis) shortened as we point our toes in bed, the pain is often more prominent in the morning.
Again to Brad Farra’s expertise to explain this gnarly injury, “Achilles tendinitis is also a misnomer; achilles tendinopathy is a more appropriate name. Also a repetitive use condition, it’s possible to have five different people with achilles tendinopathy, and five different causes. The problem lies somewhere in the kinetic chain, commonly in the foot and/or the hip, which can incite inappropriate repetitive stress at the achilles tendon.”
Training errors are the worst culprits, which should be a null issue if you have a coach. AT can be caused by increasing intensity or mileage too quickly, transitioning from the treadmill to the streets or trails to soon, or excessive or steep hill climbing. So don’t do that stuff. Biomechanics are also a huge factor, as poor form, incorrect shoe type, or worn shoes can incite this injury.
WHAT TO DO
Implicit is telling your coach and seeing your doc straight away, of course. It’s possible to heal AT with PT, acupuncture, massage, other treatments, and exercises. You’re looking at calf stretches galore, and possible gear adjustments in the way of arch supports or insoles. If your tendon is totally torn or ruptured, sorry but you’re looking at total immobilization and/or surgery. Incidentally, to prevent AT, get your running and cycling (!) biomechanics analyzed by an expert who will, in turn, prescribe the optimal insoles, gear, and corrections for you.
THE HIT ON YOUR TRAINING
four weeks - six months
In most cases, you must wait until your totally pain-free, then wait another day, and then you can run outside again. Your doc might prescribe reintroducing running on a treadmill at an incline. Fortunately, there’s aqua-jogging - hooray! - so you can still race if your next one is a month or more out.
If the tendon is ruptured or torn, though, you will at least be immobilized for several weeks. If you need surgery, it might take up to three months before you can run again, so you’ll obvi be re-mapping your race sched with your coach. Go ahead and cry...they’re there for you, buddy...there, there.
CBCG athlete Becky Bader facing indefinite time off with a smile
3. Piriformis Syndrome
WHAT IT IS
Got butt pain? Our friend and world-class acupuncture therapist Ian Wilkinson, LAc, is the first to tell you “It’s not your piriformis, it’s your back.” Thus the “syndrome” in PS, since it’s a complex and typically chronic condition that is often misinterpreted. The sciatic nerve connects the lowermost vertebrae with the leg via the "sciatic notch.” If it’s irritated or compressed, pain can radiate anywhere from the back to the glutes to the hips to the legs. For cyclists and triathletes, it seems to especially haunt our hips and butt.
Ian treats (and heals) tons of athletes presenting this issue. “Lumbar instability is found in 90% of my patients complaining of ‘piriformis,’ or ‘strange hip or sciatic pain.’ One may say, ‘I have a tight low back, how can it be unstable?’ when in actuality those are the superficial muscles and fascia locking up trying to stabilize everything, creating tons of neural tension at the nerve roots of your lumbar. These nerves come back together deeper in the hip, which can feel like the piriformis when irritated. Once we stabilize the deeper low back muscles and loosen up the mid back, the pain goes away. Needling piriformis alone almost never works. The problem is always upstream.”
Miracle worker Ian Wilkinson, LAc at work on an elite athlete
WHAT TO DO
Welp, first go see Ian, of course. No, first tell your coach, then go to your doc who’ll assess your complex and unique injury to prescribe your treatment. As Ian stated, one visit or one approach rarely solve the issue, and unfortunately, it is often chronic. According to Ian, you’re likely in for daily, indefinite, repetitive hip exercises focussing on thoracic rotation, which is essential to improve flexion and your biomechanics in general to both address your injury and prevent its recurrence.
THE HIT ON YOUR TRAINING
no hit whatsoever - one month
Of the four injuries, PS is probably the least likely to keep you from training, and only in extreme cases or in case of surgery will it keep you from cycling or swimming. The prognosis is wildly variable dependent, as is each athlete’s response to treatment.
That stated, of the four injuries, PS is probably the one that will haunt you the most long-term. If you’ve got it, you’re facing clamshells for life. Let’s look at the case of CBCG coach and professional triathlete, Chris Bagg. Chris was plagued with such acute glute pain that it rendered him unable to run at several races. Not one to DNF, Chris decided to take extreme action and devote one full year to recovering is injury!
Every single morning Chris performs an involved and choreographed exercise routine while the coffee is brewing. He also sees all the practitioners whom I quoted, receiving constant treatment and updated prognoses. He’s assiduously followed this recovery program for well over a year, and you’ll see him back on the long-distance triathlon scene in 2020! #clamshellsforlife
Coach Chris Bagg practicing self-care aprés run
4. Shoulder Issues
WHAT IT IS
The confluence of muscles that meet at our shoulders is as complex as a subway system map. I, personally, have had every level of shoulder prob, from needing immediate surgery, to maybe needing surgery to it not being clear and ending up getting it, to healing it on my own. I will always have a “relatively f’d up shoulder,” according to my docs, since all my injuries have led to chronic tendonosis, read: an ornery shoulder for life.
Many shoulder issues stem from one-time events, like a crash or sudden move, but triathletes are at risk with overuse or misuse. Brad Farra explains, “There are a myriad of potential shoulder problems with triathletes, primarily due to the swimming, although the aero position on the bike has also caused problems for some with poor fits. Technique issues can lead to greater problems, i.e. allowing the arm to cross over the midline, or having a thumbs-down position upon entry, both of which can cause repetitive type injury on the shoulder.”
So, poor swim technique, mega swim volume without fitness, and certainly a crash can cause a pull or tear. Your poor web of muscles around your shoulder don’t like being jerked or jerked around, and can relatively easily get pulled or torn. Your biceps tendon and labrum are the most vulnerable. In my original case, my surgeon went in to patch up the former and found a bonus tear in the latter. Yeah, I got BOGO surgery.
CBCG athlete Jenny Greeve is ready for surgery
WHAT TO DO
Always with the tell your coach and see your doc directive, it’s also clutch to stop swimming (or pitching or serving or climbing or swinging kettle bells). If pain decreases to nil in a week or so, you can re-introduce swimming. If it doesn’t, your doc will likely a good guess at what’s going on in there, but won’t pinpoint the deets. In that case, I’m sorry to inform you only an MRI (so expensive and hard to schedule) can reveal your sitch and inform your treatment.
THE HIT ON YOUR TRAINING
no hit whatsoever - four months
You can still run and ride! If you have a short-term minor pull or tear that you can heal yourself, you’ll be back in the pool when your pain ceases and your coach clears you. Maybe as short as two weeks.
If you have a major tear that’s chronic, but you can still heal it yourself, your marching orders will vary tremendously, and you might constantly be adjusting or omitting swimming. I, personally, spent many meters one arm swimming, and kick-boarding.
If you need surgery, it’s possible you’ll be back in the pool using both arms within a month! You’ll also be able to run and ride as soon as you’re recovered from the operation. I, personally, ran a full training schedule in a sling after one of my shoulder surgeries, fielding surprised looks during a 20-mile trail run. The treadmill is a safer bet to avoid falling, of course, and you’re restricted to indoor riding, of course, but at least your training will be largely uninterrupted, save for the days around the procedure.
For general best practices for all of the above injuries and more, I sought the advice of my friend Kurt Marion, LMT, accomplished cyclist and legendary therapist out of P.A.C.E, Portland. Kurt avers that he’s constantly witnessing athletes doing the wrong things, including but not limited to the following.
KURT MARION’S LIST OF CLASSIC BAD BEHAVIOR:
minimize the significance of their injury, at least at first, especially if it is “not too bad”or comes and goes
due to the above attitude, wait too long to tell their coach and see a practitioner
adopt the cycle of rest-it > better use it > sore > pain...rest-it > better use it > sore > pain
over-stretch or over-roll, i.e. stretching or foam rolling the sheeeeit out of something when that is just continuing to irritate already irritated tissues. Much like picking a scab, you should let the tissue settle down before aggressive self-treatment
either fail to ice or wait too long to ice. It should be in that first few hours after you work out or feel sore. N.B.: there is much contradictory evidence on icing. My philosophy is unless you give yourself frostbite, it is unlikely icing will hurt you.
On the other hand, most people don't think about heat. If you have an injury that feels much better once you're warmed up, try heat before training (if approved by your doc, and not swollen or agitated), since a bit of blood-flow to the area can be good.
go to the app that rhymes with ememdee or Google their symptoms and then assume they have “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” which they probably don't. The sky is not always falling.
Role reversal! Kurt Marion, LMT getting a little work from his favorite client
Brad Farra sums-up these four pesky injuries and more, “All of the above are repetitive-use injury, which are certainly the most common amongst triathletes. Generally speaking, when you start to have pain the problem has already been going on for a while, so never let these problems linger before seeking help - see a good Sports Chiropractor or PT before you dig the hole too deep! Think preventively, too, since those same professionals can look at the way you move and do some screening to help you develop a plan to prevent injury. Strength training is one of the best ways to create less vulnerability to injury as well as increasing performance. Don’t fall victim to the untrue myth that ‘you’ll build too much bulk’ if you strength train. Expert coaches will know how to properly build your strength training program to allow for increases specific to your training and racing goals.”
Until the Gods of Injury rear their heads, we have Jon, Kurt, and Brad. Of all the above lessons the most salient takeaway should be ironclad: tell your coach immediately. Much to your chagrin, your coach won’t be able to diagnose you over the phone. In fact, she won’t be able to diagnose you even in person unless she’s also a physical or medical professional. She will, however, have a general familiarity with the injury, adjust your training accordingly, and send you straight to your physical therapist. Your in their hands, then, but in the meantime, keep on clam-shelling so you don’t have to see Jon, Kurt, or Brad unless they invite you to dinner. Bring your foam roller.
Phuket List: CBCG athlete Matt Evans conquers Africa and Asia, and still identiFies as #triathlete
by CBCG athlete Amy VT
I was noticing an unusual uptick in amazing pics posted by Matthew Evans, globe-trotter and CBCG athlete. Matt has steadily been the darling of CBCG social media, not only because he pursues escapades all over the planet, but also because when you put out an APB for “pancake pics,” for instance, he delivers this:
When I glimpsed his latest Instagram post - Matt atop Kilimanjaro, bedecked in 2020 CBCG custom gear that he had expedited from the Wattie Ink. factory to Africa via his mother - I asked him about his upcoming travel sched. Here’s how he responded, “My travel schedule for the year requires a spread sheet, push pins, and yarn. But I added a couple adjustments but to our Chinese New Year vacation for you. Happy new year! [rat emoji]
1/17 Depart China
1/18 Arrive Tanzania
1/19 Rest Day Arusha
1/20 Start Climb
1/21 Climb
1/22 Climb
1/23 Climb
1/24 Summit
1/25 Descent
1/26 Rest Day Arusha
1/27 Rest Day Karatu
1/28 Safari Ngorongoro Crater
1/29 Safari Tarangire National Park
1/30 Depart Tanzania
1/31 Arrive Bangkok, Thailand
2/1 Bangkok
2/2 Bangkok
2/3 Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand
2/4 Chiang Mai CBCG photo shoot for VT
2/5 Chiang Mai
2/6 Chiang Mai to Phuket, Thailand
2/7 Phuket
2/8 Phuket
2/9 Phuket
2/10 Phuket to Siem Reap, Cambodia
2/11 Siem Reap
2/12 Siem Reap
2/13 Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia
2/14 Kuala Lumpor to Shanghai and Home
2/15 Report to [CBCG coach] Donna for crushing 2020”
Portland, Oregon didn’t prove wild enough for Matt and his wife Emily. Heeding a calling to live abroad, they flipped a coin among Hanoi, Dubai, and Shanghai. They settled on the latter, as Asia was “exploding with offers,” and Emily easily found a position as counselor at a private school. School is out for a month (!) in Shanghai for the Chinese New Year, Year of the Rat, so they designed to tick-off some bucket list dreams, introducing a new level to the term “adventure travel.”
Many triathletes claim that such skylarking is not available to them. Perhaps their travel budget or vacation time is usurped by races. Perhaps training would take too big a hit by pursuing something else. I, for one, aim to see the world through racing, but I rarely get to hike, mountain climb, surf, ski, or even camp, even though those are my fave endeavors. Matt, however, is an inspiration. He takes life by the elephant tusks, refusing to sacrifice family time, adventure travel, or triathlon training, which he tackles concurrently.
It’s a principal maxim of the Chris Bagg Coaching Group to balance triathlon with family, life events, and alternative sports. CBCG coaches love to adjust plans and goals to accommodate other stuff. During his travels, Matt relies heavily on his coach Donna Phelan. “My coach has been phenomenal. She kept me level-headed and positive. I keep her in the loop with what gear I’m taking on trips, i.e. swim bungees, spin shoes, bike, running or trail shoes. Sometimes I find myself swimming in a natural hot spring-lap pool in Borgarnes, Iceland, or the Z-shaped 44-meter pool outside Reno. Sometimes I show up to a gym in Brussels, and the pool is more like a bath house soaking tub. Donna always reminds me to control the controllable. Things happen when you travel and given that it’s a vacation; they should.”
Emily jumping in her Wattie Ink. custom swimmy @ Nui Beach, Phuket
Here’s something interesting. Matt’s been pen-paling me generously and regularly, and at one point he divulged, “These are common conversation between expats, but Emily has actually gotten messages telling her to dial it down from people who feel she’s ‘rubbing it there face.’ But for every person that’s said that, ten others have said that they’re vicariously living through us. We know we are blessed and that our adventures bring joy to our Ohana.”
Ed. note: I’ve fielded similar critique, countless times. “Must be nice to not have a real job.” “Well, you don’t have children, so it’s easy for you to compete.” “Yeah, well, you’re lucky you can afford to...” A few of my besties are top-notch pro triathletes, and they get this $*&! all the time. The answers are: it’s not easy, everyone make choices, and if you have a dream, you can realize it.
I asked Matt if traveling so significantly has altered his identity as a triathlete. “Yes and no. Last year I was booking hotels with pools, and investigating beach access so I can swim in the Andaman Sea at sunrise. I traveled with my bike just to get a recovery ride in the Alps. This year things are a little more mellow now that I’ve earned my Legacy spot [to Ironman World Championships], and have gained perspective. I’m always going to be a triathlete. I’ll always see some exotic water and want to swim in it. I’ll always see a road with a monster climb and want to attack it. Even when I was on Kilimanjaro I asked my guide if I could run up it.”
Matt and Emily on public transit to Angkor Wat (Wat means temple), Siem Reap, Cambodia
My fave anecdote from Matt’s travels is when they hung out at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Many of the elephants are rescues from logging companies, or circus act-type places, and they enforce a strict no-riding policy, which can be harmful especially to the calves. “We were rushed in specially that morning because the sanctuary had just delivered a baby! Yes, we got to see a one day old elephant. The elephant that I’m closest to in the picture, just moments before had wrapped its trunk around my waist, searching my pockets for treats.”
CBCG athletes are MD students, and new mothers, and firefighters, and equestrians, and mountain bikers, and mountain climbers. Athletes perform well only when they are happy and healthy, so CBCG coaches embrace complimentary activities, and all of life’s trappings. Matt and Emily are moving to Seoul for a better opportunity, so he says. Now that I know him so well, I believe it’s mostly because of their intrepid wanderlust. I presume they’ll pack their Wattie Ink. CBCG custom gear, as well as their custom pancake machine.
How to Travel with your Bike for Cycling and Triathlon
CBCG Athlete Matt Evans at one of his travel destinations in 2019
by CBCG Athlete Amy VT
Venit diebus nostris - our time has come.
This past summer, one airline radically changed its policy, effecting a watershed of competitive matching. Now we cyclists and triathletes can relish more affordable options than ever. This blog provides a breakdown of several airlines’ policies, including their fine print because we’ve all rolled up to the counter and been surprised by, if not thrown a tantrum for the neatly-uniformed agents who’ve smugly told us our bike will be an extra hundo.
Slowtwitch® and Triathlete Magazine® and Bicycling Magazine® reported on the recent changes, the latter especially providing killer breakdowns and helpful caveats. I’d like to add a few more airlines, highlight some loopholes, provide some updates, and feature a cute little graph.
Until this summer, the only way to fly affordably with a bike, and only domestically, was with Alaska Airlines®, which already held a special place in my heart because: Portland Timbers. With wicked awesome awards, their signature companion fare, cheap one-way deals, and competitive pricing to Kona, Alaska clinched Amy VT’s enthusiastic thumps up.
There was also Southwest Airlines®, and with the amazing Rüster Sports® bags that enable you to break apart your bike into two soft bags that fit within the size restrictions (let’s not broach the brief, utopian period where Frontier Airlines®, then spearheaded by a serious cyclist, offered all bikes free no matter what). Since two “Bags Fly Free” on Southwest, that M.O. is still a great option. Even if you don’t have Rüster bags, bikes are just $75 on top of their already low prices, which is why I give Southwest an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Now onto the major airline that incited what I hope will be a trend. On May 21, 2019 American Airlines® announced “Based on feedback from our customers and American team members, American is eliminating the charge for common oversize sports and music equipment....customers traveling within the United States, who used to pay $150 to check one oversize item such as a surfboard, will now pay $30 — the cost of a standard first bag — if the weight is less than 50 lbs.”† Our time has come as cyclists, alongside snowboarders, drummers, and bass oboists (sorry, antlers continue to incur the $150 fee).
It had been $150 to check bikes before, and in an effort to at once be cruel and infuriate my husband to the point of near-detainment, they typically charged singly or doubly for Rüster Sports® bags despite their size. $150 or more on top of ticket prices rendered American a no-go. Now, not only are bikes only $30, but they frequently offer the most competitive prices (with OK rewards programming).
Delta Airlines® followed suit swiftly thereafter, changing my life since they’re my fave for flight experiences and rewards. Maybe it’s because they feature the entire catalog of the Fast and Furious films, or Rápido y Furioso if you’re off to southerly races, but honestly, IMHO, they’re the best for customer service, comfort, reliability, and rewards. Thumbs-up for Alaska, American, and Delta.
CBCG Athlete Aly Wilson headed to the 2019 Superfrog 70.3
You do have to ensure your bike is under 50-pounds, however, which ain’t easy. Gone are the days when I tossed in my pump, all my gear, tools, helmets, Normatech® recovery pumps (just kidding), and several jars of peanut butter (not kidding) into my bike bag. In fact, here’s what it takes for me to get down to size in a Bikind® roller bag:
1. bike frame
2. wheels
3. one helmet
4. three bottles
5. wetsuit
6. swim gear
That’s it. Getting under 50-pounds means no tools, shoes, pump, or anything else, so you must also exercise constraint with your second checked bag. It must weigh-in under 50#, too, ironically costing more than your bike at $40 big ones for both American and Delta.
Pro Tip #1 - stage a packable bag on top so if you have to remove items at the desk you can rapidly create a carry-on. You don’t want to be that person splayed out on the sidelines re-packing everything and swearing, potentially buying an over-priced Samsonite® at Hudson News®, or throwing away your torque wrench. If you’re in PDX, you might as well go to Pendleton® and buy an $800 Aztec print wool duffel.
Sorting your Kayak® or Travelocity® results by lowest price takes-on a different strategy when you’re flying with a bike. Perhaps you’d like to use my graph below to cross-reference with ticket prices. When you don’t have much of an option, at least you’ll know what you’re in for, heeding the notes, loopholes, and caveats.
As for said loopholes, the biggest one of all is the variability in international travel. Agents in Kraichgau, Zell am See, Desaru, or Dubai might not give two shits about my graph. You could show them their airlines’ policies for proof, but they might laugh in your face or at least make you feel foolish for not being a native speaker. Part of traveling abroad is expecting the unexpected, which often appears in the form of setbacks. Buyer beware abroad, where the only advice I have is to remember that it’s never benefited any travel to antagonize a desk agent.
Pro Tip # 2 - don’t pre-pay for your bike or any bags. You’ll have to stand in line for service anyway because: oversized. If you wait to pay at the desk, you’ll interact more with an agent, and it’s possible you get an someone who turns a blind eye to some policy. Maybe a Delta agent will float you your second bag. Maybe a Southwest agent will consider your bike bag under dimension and not charge you at all. The latter just happened to me when I asked if she was “feeling the holiday spirit?”
Our time has come, we cyclists who fly with our most prized possessions. I guess some people have little things called children, which are also quite valuable and also fly free up to a certain age. Bikes are far less likely to cry or throw pretzels, though, nor do they demand pressurized space in the fuselage, so thanks to Alaska, American, and Delta, venit diebus nostris.