The ripple affect of a Pandemic reaches every aspect of our lives. Work, play, and health are all put in jeopardy as we navigate through these uncharted times. I think the health and fitness sector took a harder hit than expected. As a year-round athlete, I struggled in the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak with how to cope. Race cancellations filled my inbox and social media feeds. With that comes a lack of motivation to train and workout. The gyms in NC remained closed. Group rides/runs were not encouraged. My 2020 races season was crumbling around me right along with my desire to train and stay fit. I really needed a little hope for the future and a little external motivation. Enter Motus Off-Road. The word “motus” means: movement, motion. What a perfect name for an event series that was born during a time (pre-pandemic) when the XTERRA brand was evolving and dropping races. Motus was created late 2019 by a group of race directors dedicated to bringing races to off-road endurance enthusiasts. By early 2020 they had 12 triathlons and almost as many trail runs on the schedule. But as we all know, the Pandemic rolled in and changed everything. Many of the events had to be cancelled due to local regulations and safety concerns. The Motus spirit was not broken though. The good news is, small off-road events like triathlons and trail runs fit well into Social Distancing Guidelines that were put in place by the CDC, USAT, local and federal officials. It was an incredible undertaking, but the race directors worked through all the bureaucracy and red tape to get the green light to hold 5 events. With safety as the primary focus, each race director put together guidelines for volunteers, athletes, and spectators. The race series had life… Motus Panther Creek, Motus Green River Lake, Motus Knoxville, Motus DINO Southern Indiana, and Motus Nat Greene’s Revenge. My original 2020 race plan was to race 4 triathlons in the Motus series and qualify for the race series points. As the Pandemic grew and races started to cancel, I was unsure if I’d be able to race at all. Ultimately, I locked into 3 Motus Triathlons; Panther Creek, Green River Lake, and Knoxville. With 5 races available, the race series points eligibility was adjusted to 3. My motivation was back, and I finally had a training and race schedule. It was not going to be ideal with a total of 4 races in 5 weeks, (1 on-road sprint followed by 3 Motus off-road) but being able to race again, it would be worth it. Motus Panther Creek, 7/26/20 It probably would have been a good idea to have ridden my mountain bike at least once before arriving at Panther Creek State Park. To be honest, I was a little scared. I crashed on the MTB in early spring 2019 and separated a few ribs. Between the ribs taking a long time to heal and moving to Asheville in August 2019, I just didn’t have the time to ride much. I spent most of the Winter on the road bike on the trainer (occasionally outside on warmer weekend days). So, my pre-ride on Saturday was literally the first MTB’ing I had done in over a year. It went surprising well and gave me some confidence going into Sunday’s race. I camped at Panther Creek State Park Saturday night. It is a very nice Campground and is convenient to the race start/transition. Got up early Sunday morning, overnight oats for breakfast, light stretching, loaded up my tri-bag, and biked the 1 mile to transition area as my warm-up. Social distancing protocols in place: face coverings before and after race, more bike racks so we could be spread out in transition area, no body marking unless you did it yourself. Once I had my transition setup, I did a quick dry-land swim warm-up then headed down to the swim start. My race strategy was simple; relax on the swim (like MTB’ing, it had been over a year since my last open water swim), push the MTB, hang on for the run. We all started from the water in a mass start, but we spread ourselves out. I had a good swim coming out of the water in 19th. The MTB course isn’t overly technical, but it is challenging with several long steep climbs and lots of roots. My hardtail XC bike isn’t the ideal setup for that type of terrain, but I had a good ride with the 19th fastest split. The run isn’t technical but like the MTB is still very challenging. My legs were not used to having to go “all out” for this long and fatigue was really setting in. I was able to pass 2 people on the run and had the 18th fastest split. Over-all finished 16th and 3rd in my age group, 2:16:41. Not bad for my first off-road tri in over a year. I think the race directors did a remarkable job. Information was presented on multiple online outlets and email leading up to the race. The course was well marked with ample volunteers. And from a Covid-19 perspective I thought it went well and never felt like I was putting myself or anyone else at risk. Motus Green River Lake, 8/2/20 Hoping to build on the successful race at Panther Creek, I made the 5-hour drive to Green River Lake State Park near Campbellsville KY on Saturday. I was able to check in early at the campground and get my campsite/van setup. The Campground sits adjacent to the lake and is nice. Quick change of clothes and time for a pre-ride. First thing to explain about Motus Green River Lake is the amount of work the Race Director, Mike, had to do to make this race happen. Date changes and venue changes did not deter him. He worked tirelessly to put it together. The second thing to say is that Mike created a tough course. About halfway through my pre-ride it became apparent to me that I had made the correct decision when I asked Mike to switch me from the “Full Send” to the “Short Shred’. The MTB course was unrelenting. Not overly technical but a wide variety of terrain. Constantly throwing something new at you. 2 laps on race day would be painful but 4 would have been a DNF for me. Thankfully the trails drain well as we had afternoon/evening showers. Woke up early race morning, overnight oats for breakfast, light stretching, packed up my tri-bag, and rode to the transition area. This race venue created a unique experience because of how spread out everything was. Transition was in a grass field with no race pinning, in/out arches, or even bike racks. Just an open cross-country style feel. Race strategy: relax on the swim (build on last race success), pace the MTB (tough course so can’t go all-out), run hard, try to finish under 3hours. We all spread out for the swim start and I had a clean start. Swim course was a simple out and back. I had a good swim and made the short run to transition and my bike. The MTB course starts and ends with a 1-mile section of road. The MTB was as challenging as I expected and was very glad I had pre-rode the day before. The run course took us back up the road then into the trail system. There was one place where the trail was marked wrong and it took me a minute to figure out which way to go. The trail had a few muddy places, but I was able to navigate them and power through. Once back on the road and headed to the finish line I was caught and passed (which I found out later was for 2nd place). I had a great race and finished 3rd over-all at 2:59:20. I really enjoyed the unique layout of this race. I didn’t mind the short section of road to get to the MTB course but felt there was too much road running for the run. My only other suggestion would be to have more timing mats so we could see the individual splits. Covid-19 protocols went well and other than the one spot on the run, trail marking was great. Volunteers were helpful and encouraging. Great race and I’ll be back next year. Motus Knoxville, 8/16/20 Third time is the charm? I was hoping anyway. Motus Knoxville participant list was full of very strong athletes, so I knew this race was going to be more challenging. Then Mother Nature decided to take it up another notch and had it rain for 2 days before the race. Ijams Nature Center, where the race is held, is only a few miles from downtown Knoxville, so Teresa decided to come with me for this race. We headed to Knoxville on Saturday and had a hotel reservation downtown, but since check in wasn’t until 3 we stopped at Ijams first so I could pre-ride the bike course. The trails don’t drain well and with the amount of rain they had I decided not to risk a pre-ride on slick muddy trails. Instead, Teresa and I hiked the final mile of the run course between rain showers. Very glad I was able to see this part of the course prior to racing it. After our hike we headed to the hotel and got checked in. Thankfully the rained stopped and we were able to walk to the Market Square area of downtown and get dinner at one of the few restaurants that serve vegan options. Knoxville is an interesting town and I look forward to returning to do more exploring. Woke up early race morning, overnight oats for breakfast, then headed to Ijams. Parking was easy and right at the transition area. I setup transition, did my dry-land swim warmup, and then waited for my swim wave. Ijams asked the race director to change from the typical mass start to a wave start, so the field was split into 3 waves and I was wave 2. Once the first was started, wave 2 athletes made our way down to the quarry. There was a layer of fog on the water which would make sighting the buoys a challenge. Race strategy: relax on the swim but push yourself harder than last race, survive the MTB (the trails were going to be slick), run hard but save a little for the final mile climb and decent. I had a great swim. Probably one of my best in a race. I was out of the water 3rd in our wave and 14th overall. I can honestly say that the MTB was the hardest and most challenging ride I’ve ever had. The trails were so slick it felt impossible to stay upright at times. The trail would be considered technical on a dry day, but after 2 days of rain it was almost impassible in places. I pushed and/or carried my bike more times than I care to remember. About ¾ of the way through the bike course I came up on an ambulance and rescue crew. They stopped me and wouldn’t let me continue racing. Apparently, a trail hiker fell, and was injured, and needed to be carried out of the trail. As other racers started piling up at the stoppage, we made sure to stay in the same order. I was 4th in line with at least 10-15 riders behind me. Once the paramedics removed the injured hiker, a race volunteer restarted us one by one every 15 seconds. It ended up being a 12-minute stoppage for me. Officially I had the 23rd fastest bike split, but not sure where I would have placed if there wasn’t a 12-minute break and the racers ahead of us didn’t get stopped. I was very glad to finally make it back to transition and start the run. I had a good run considering how beat up I felt from the bike. 17th fastest run split. Final time was officially 3:07:42, 18th overall and 3rd in age group. I had a good race considering the challenges that we had. I’m looking forward to this race again next year when weather and trail conditions might be more favorable. Race director and volunteers did another amazing job. I would like to thank the Motus group of race directors for their hard work and dedication to produce off-road endurance events. Race directing is a tough job in the best of times, but during a Pandemic it’s a whole new level of challenging. We as athletes need to support the race directors that are working so hard to create options for us. If there is a race in your area, I encourage you to sign up and race. As more races are successfully held in this Pandemic it will open the door for continued growth. As we navigate through Covid-19, things may never return to our view of normal, but small grass root races will help pave the way to our “new normal”. Motus, how appropriate it means movement, because it helped get me motivated and back to moving again.
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Race Report by Athlete Rose S. IMNC 70.3 10/21/2017 The weather was perfect; the start was 52 and high was 74. Swim: I was in wave 12 so I had a lot of time before I started. 1.2 miles in the channel seem daunting. I usually get really nervous and the swim is the hardest part for me. The current is strong this year. The water temperature is 70 degrees so I was excited about wearing a wetsuit and having salt water. My friend, Carmen, found me and we talked which relaxed me. No warm-up time was allowed. So I started to play with my watch and accidentally pushed the start button with 2 minutes to go. I tried to stop it. Then, it went into transition mode. I quickly try to get it restarted. The horn blows so I just went. I never made it to the far section of the water like I usually do. So I just started swimming. I had practiced breathing every 2 strokes. So I felt relaxed. I was concentrating staying near the buoys to get the best pull from current. I was drafting and bumped others. But It's like I was in a trance because I was not getting overwhelmed. I started seeing some white caps, the prior wave, which I am pink. So I just kept swimming. It went by fast. Swim: 29:46. Transition 1: It is long but I just kept moving. Awesome .25 mile run and I felt great to be able breathe. I thought I needed arm warmers but now I felt warm and just ditch them. T1: 7:22. (There is major time to improve here.) Bike: The bike is my strongest part. I felt good even though it was hard to hold back in the beginning. I really wanted to follow the race plan even though everyone was passing me now. I held back in zone 2&3 and concentrated on eating and drinking. There are 3 metal bridges which some people walked. There was no way I was getting off my bike. So I ignored the volunteers along with a few men. Someone had an accident. I was eating a full Larabar and Scratch bottle every hour. I only practiced with half a bar but I was hungry like I predicted. At mile 40, I started picking it up zone 4 and felt great even though there was some wind. It was time for me to have fun, and start passing people. I saw my coach and friends and the last descend and a zealous feeling came over me. Bike 3:06:48 Transition 2: I was pumped up but I needed to concentrate which is not good for my ADHD. So I tried to go slow down. I put on my shoes without my calve socks. So I had to take off my shoes and redo it. Then I need a bathroom stop I forgot to take off my gloves so I threw them away. T2: 5:26 Run: I was stoked because this is the first half marathon I have run in 7 years. It is a answered prayer so I have to slow myself down. My plan was to hold a 9:30 pace and go faster. The first mile was 9:38. I saw my hubby and I was so excited. I walked the water breaks to actually drink gatorade, and soda. Mile 4, Kieth rode his bike and talked to me for a while. Eight butterflies flew right near me while running. The run was idyllic through running in the woods. Mile 8, the fatigue sets in.. I tell my self to stay on pace. Mile 13: It felt great. I sped up to 8:56 pace and can't wait to stop running. The last .20 was glorious with the energy and the crowd. Run: 2:07:57 Total time 5:57:19 I did not dream of breaking 6 hours. I enjoyed the race and stayed present. I felt God's presence through the race and I was so grateful for my ability to do this. I can honestly say, it was a blast! Coaches Notes:
I really wanted to be there when Rose completed her first 70.3 Triathlon. There were also other local athletes competing in the race so Heather, Teresa, and I made the short 1:15 hour drive to Wilmington to cheer for everyone. It was a beautiful day and so much fun being the spectator (and not the athlete for once). Here are a few Coaches Notes from Rose's race: Positives: There are a lot of positives about this race. From a coaching and athletes perspective. Rose did amazing. She trained hard and she trained smart. She trusted me when my style of training differed from what she was accustomed to. She followed the Race plan and had a successful first Half Ironman. We kept the goals simple for this race... get to race day healthy and complete the race. I'd say we nailed both of those goals! Things that need to be addressed: Not much to say here. If/when Rose decides to do another 70.3 there are a few areas we can work on. If she wants to be more competitive (she will) then we'll work on getting her in/out of transition faster. We will continue to work on long course pacing and endurance. It was an honor and privilege to coach Rose to her first 70.3 finish. I'm looking forward to next year and to see what she's capable of. Coach Jay Welcome to the Fifth and final installment of a 5 part Beginners Series. In case you’ve missed the other posts, so far I’ve covered: Is Triathlon for me?, Picking Your First Race, Training for your First Triathlon, and Race Day! You’ve just completed your first Triathlon. Congratulations! Completing a Triathlon is a huge accomplishment. Make sure to take time to reflect and enjoy that accomplishment. Then when you’re ready, it’s time to review your race experience. When reviewing a race, I find it helpful to first review areas that you feel were successful. You can write out a list if that helps. Then look at areas that you need to improve in or require more training in. Review everything starting with “did I get enough sleep the night before” to “did I finish the run strong”. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember, every race is an opportunity to learn. About yourself, about each sport, and about triathlon racing. Once you’ve reviewed the individual parts, then review the experience as a whole. Did you have fun? Did you gain fitness while training? Do you want to do another Triathlon? Hopefully the answer to that last question is YES. If it was then you’ll have a few more decisions to make. So now that’s you’ve finished your first, what do you want to do for your second one? Like I covered in the previous post (Picking your First Triathlon) there are so many different types and lengths of Triathlon to choose from. Remember to keep challenging yourself and try to get out of your comfort zone. You might try a longer distance Triathlon or maybe you will decide to train harder and be more competitive. Another consideration is to add or upgrade your triathlon equipment. You don’t have to want to be competitive to benefit from better equipment. Triathlon specific equipment is usually more comfortable, easier to use and easier in transition. Tri suit, better/newer bike, Tri specific running shoes (elastic laces), run belt, and/or aero helmet are just a few ideas of equipment upgrades. Whether or not you decide to be more competitive in your next Triathlon, hiring a coach is always a good idea. A Triathlon coach will be able to help you become a better over-all triathlete. The coach will help identify areas where you can make the biggest improvements and then help you achieve them. A swim coach, cycling coach, and/or run coach are also an option if you just want help in one specific sport.
I hope you enjoyed this 5 part Beginners Series. If you have any specific questions please use the Contact Page and reach out to us. Triathlon can be a fun and rewarding sport. Even if you decide Triathlon is not for you, make sure to put a race on your calendar to stay motivated and keep moving. Exercise is so important for a healthy happy life. Find a sport or activity that interests you and stick with it. Happy Training! Coach Jay Welcome to the Fourth installment of a 5 part Beginners Series. In case you’ve missed the other posts, so far I’ve covered: Is Triathlon for me, Picking Your First Race, and Training for your First Triathlon. Next, I’ll cover Race Day! Being new to Triathlon you will more than likely be overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” you need for Race Day. Swim stuff, bike stuff, run stuff. I always recommend to my Athletes to make a Packing List. As the Race Day nears your nervousness will probably grow. A great way to help counter the nervousness is to create a list of everything you will need on Race Day. Each time you review the list you’ll probably think of something else to add. This is a great way to get it out of your mind and onto paper. Then the night before the race you’ll have a great list to check off as you pack things up. There is another list that I recommend you create. It’s your Race Morning Itinerary & Transition Check List. This is a list and itinerary for the morning of your Race because there is a lot to do. Included on this list is what time you’ll get up, eat, leave for race, arrive at race, packet pickup, body marking, transition setup, transition walk through, put on wetsuit (if applicable), get to start area, Race Start. Also on this list is what you need to setup in transition. Examples could be: rack bike, hydration on bike, race number on bike/helmet, bike shoes, socks, running shoes, race belt w/ bib number, timing chip/strap, etc. I find that lists are a great way to calm the nerves on race morning. You can focus on checking things off the list instead of trying to remember everything. Make sure to buy one of those cheap headlamps that you can pick up at a home improvement store. Most Triathlons start very early in the morning and it will be dark. The headlamp will allow you to have both hands available while setting your transition area up. Triathlon Races are just like most Running Races as there will be a Packet Pickup. The Packet will generally contain your Race numbers, promotional T-shirt, swim cap (color usually corresponds to swim wave start), Timing Chip, and other freebie stuff. Many times there is Packet Pickup available the day before the race. I recommend picking up your Packet the day before if you can. If the early pickup is at the race venue then it will give you an opportunity to see the transition setup in the daylight and make race morning easier as there will be one less thing to do on your list.
Make sure you have the exact address for the race venue. Enter it into whatever GPS app/device the day before the race to be sure it finds the address correctly. Give yourself plenty of time to drive to the race. The bigger the race, the longer it will take to get parked and make your way to the transition area. You should have practiced your transitions during your training, so you should know about how long it will take for you to setup. Make sure to leave time for Body Marking and one last stop to the Porta-John. Once you have your transition area setup, take the time to walk/jog through the transitions IN’s and OUT’s. Start by walking from the swim exit to your transition area. Make sure you count which isle and how many rows it is to your bike. Then visualize your transition to bike. Then walk to the Bike exit and find the Mount Line. You’ll have to be on the other side of this line when you mount and dismount your bike. Next walk back to your transition area (again counting isles and rows) and visualize transitioning to run. Now walk to the Run Start to familiarize yourself with it. Walk through this sequence again if you have the time and/or had any trouble visualizing any part of the transition. You’ve done a lot of work to get to Race Day, so Race Day should be about celebrating all of that hard work. Make sure to Have Fun! Remember to smile. Enjoy your accomplishment. It’s your first triathlon and there’s a chance that it won’t go perfectly. But that’s ok because every race is an opportunity to learn. Embrace the successes and learn from any mistakes. I’ll cover this and more in “What’s Next?”, the final installment in this 5 part series. Coach Jay Welcome to the Third installment of a 5 part Beginners Series. You’ve decided you want to do a Triathlon and you’ve picked out your first race. So now it’s time to start training. Just like all the variables in picking out a race, there are just as many variables in setting up a training plan for your race. What is your athletic background? Do you have a cardio base already? What distance race are you training for? How many weeks until your race? How many hours a week do you have available to train? These are just a few of the questions that a qualified Triathlon Coach will ask. Obviously, I recommend you get a coach. There are so many things to learn about in the sport of triathlon. A coach will help teach you just the things you need to learn to get you trained for your first race. Then as you are ready, your coach will help you progress in the sport. A good coach will help keep you motivated, accountable, healthy, and get you prepared physically and mentally for your race. Having a plan is one of the most important components of successfully training for your first Triathlon. By plan, I’m referring to a schedule of workouts written out for each week of your training. Do not expect to “make it up as you go along” and then have a successful race. A proper training schedule will include a Base, a Build, and a Taper phase. It will include workouts for swimming, biking, and running. Ideally, you’ll be working with a coach that will supply you with a weekly schedule that is designed specifically for you. It will take into account your current fitness level, work schedule, available hour to work out, etc. If you have chosen to train without a coach, you can find generic training plans online for various distance triathlons. Try to find a plan that best fits your life and triathlon goals.
Whether you decide to hire a coach or not, look around for a local Triathlon Club. Many clubs will offer group training for members. Clubs are generally very helpful to new triathletes. Club members can offer helpful insights into training and racing. If there are no local Triathlon Clubs available then reach out to friends or co-workers that have experience in Triathlon. Remember you don’t need a bunch of new equipment for your first race. Many athletes get caught up in wanting new gear that they lose sight of the goal… which should be to have fun and complete their first Triathlon. So, make sure keep it simple for your first race. Concentrate on the training and not so much on the gear. That being said, try to train with what you plan on using for race day. Make sure to train your weakness. Triathlon is 3 sports and many new (and veteran) triathletes make the mistake of neglecting the sport they like the least or aren’t the best at. Sure, if you’re a runner it’s easy to spend more time training for the run. But you will be better served by training for the sport that you are the weakest in. Most (not all) runners aren’t good swimmers and most (not all) swimmers aren’t good runners. Point is, it’s really hard to be great at swimming, biking, and running. So spend more time training for the sport you can make the most gains in. Practice transitions. This is often over-looked in generic training plans. It doesn’t matter if you are competitive or not, transitions are an important part of Triathlons. Poorly executed transitions are a waste of time, energy, and can be stressful. Having to transition from swim to bike and then bike to run will be something completely new to the beginner triathlete. You can practice transitions just by setting up in your driveway, out of your car in a parking lot, or just about anywhere with a little open space.
I also recommend to all triathletes to train on the race course when possible. But new triathletes especially can gain a lot of confidence by swimming, biking, and/or running on the race course during training. While training for any race isn’t (and shouldn’t be) easy, you should make sure to have some enjoyment and fun. Triathlon can be a very rewarding endeavor. Embrace the challenge and the journey. Good luck with your training! Stay tuned for the next installment, “First Triathlon - Race Day”, post 4 of this 5 part series. Coach Jay Welcome to the Second installment of a 5 part Beginners Series. So, you’ve decided you want to do a Triathlon? I recommend picking a race as the next step. As I discussed in the previous post in this series, there are a lot of options to consider when deciding on a race. But once you decide to do it, pick the race, add it to the calendar, then it will give you the motivation to start training for it. With so many variables in picking your best “First” Triathlon, it will really come down to individual choices. I’ll cover some of these variables in no particular order because only you can decide which of these are most important to you. Are you ready to take on all 3 sports? If not, there is nothing wrong with joining a relay team and just doing one leg of the race: swim, bike, or run. Doing so will allow you to experience the race without having to train for all 3 disciplines. Not all races have the relay option so make sure to research that. Some races have Facebook pages and people will post that they’re looking for another member for their team. Or form your own team with friends or co-workers. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad! If you aren’t ready for all 3 sports then consider doing a Duathlon, Aquabike, or Aquathon. Not all races offer these options so there might be fewer races to choose from, but these are a great alternative to doing the full Triathlon. Duathlon is run-bike-run. Aquabike is swim-bike. Aquathon is swim-run. There are many different lengths and combinations available so do your research and find one that fits your needs. Swimming is probably the biggest reason many athletes don’t get into the sport of Triathlon. It can be intimidating and scary for cyclists and runners. The reality is, swimming is probably the best cross-training sport a cyclist and runner can do. The low impact nature and buoyancy in the water make swimming the perfect rehab and active recovery exercise we can do. But swimming is also the most technical and hardest sport to master of the 3 disciplines….. unless you grew up swimming. In which case, you can skip this paragraph LOL. There are 2 options when choosing a race with regards to the swim leg of a Triathlon, Pool Swim or Open Water Swim. Both have their pros and cons. Pool swim races offer a clean, clear environment and lane lines to keep you swimming straight. But pool swim Triathlons can be crowded and often result in waiting in long lines to start the race. Open water swim (OWS) races are more challenging when you have a fear of water or what lives in the water. But there are also different types of open water swims available, like rivers, lakes, ponds, waterways, and ocean. Many of the OWS races have wave starts that reduce the amount of people starting at once, hence reducing the amount of bumping and melee. Have a mountain bike? Great! There are Off-Road Triathlons available. XTERRA is the best known off-road triathlon organizer. They offer races all over the world. And like Ironman, XTERRA offers a chance to qualify for the World Championship held in Hawaii. All XTERRA races are open water swims but many are in quiet rivers and lakes. Another option is riding the mountain bike for a regular on-road Triathlon. Some smaller local races offer a “fat tire or mountain bike” division. Pick the distance of the Triathlon based on your strengths and previous athletic accomplishments. Many Triathletes do start with the shorter Sprint distance, then over time try doing the longer Olympic/International distance. But there is no rule that says you “have to” do it that way. I know several athletes that did an Ironman distance as their first Triathlon. I don’t necessarily recommend doing that, but my point is that you should pick the distance race that you feel motivated to train for and complete. Another thing to think about when choosing your first race is the location. I generally recommend picking a race that is close to where you live. There are several reasons for this. First, it’s best if the terrain you will be training on matches the terrain of the race. Training in the flat and racing in hills can make for a rough first triathlon experience. Secondly, traveling to your first race adds other logistics that can make your first race experience more stressful. If you choose to (or have to, due to race availability) travel to your first race then book accommodations early and as close to the venue as possible. Consider picking a race in a town where you have family or friends that will come out and cheer you on.
If you are lucky enough to live in or close to an area with a Triathlon Club, many times the club may sponsor a local race. Typically, these races are very beginner friendly as most Triathlon Clubs love to help foster the sport and encourage new athletes to the sport. Here are a few websites to help you find available races. www.active.com www.trifind.com www.triathlete.com www.setupevents.com (North and South Carolina Races) www.xterraplanet.com Whichever race you choose, make sure to have fun going into this new challenge. Stay tuned for the next installment, “Training for your first Triathlon”, post 3 of this 5 part series. Coach Jay Welcome to the first installment of a 5 part Beginners Series. Before you can decide if you want to do a Triathlon, you need to know what a Triathlon is. Dictionary.com defines Triathlon as “an athletic contest comprising three consecutive events, usually swimming, bicycling, and distance running”. While that is the definition of a Triathlon, I think there is more to the sport than just that. There are many other aspects of Triathlon that make it a unique and exciting sport. Even though you are racing with other Triathletes, it is an “individual” sport. In other words, during the race, you can’t receive any outside help. The only people you can accept help from during the race are the official volunteers. No pacers on the run, no drafting on the bike, and no items can be passed to you from family, friends or coach. The longer the Triathlon is, the more important your preparation becomes. Pre-planning is key because once the race starts you are on your own. Because Triathlon is such an individual sport I think it can create less pressure to compete. Sure, there are many athletes that race to compete, including myself. But there are just as many athletes that race just to complete. I’ve found that the longer the race is, the more that is true. There is something very rewarding about getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. Great satisfaction can be had by signing up, training for, and completing a Triathlon. For many athletes new to Triathlon, it is a true challenge to train for 3 different sports. It’s what makes Triathlon so unique and also what makes it so fun. Many athletes find themselves cross-training due to injury, rehab, or a need to change things up. So they find themselves biking or swimming or running in addition to their “main” sport. Then the next logical step is to put it all together and do a Triathlon. Another great thing about Triathlon is that there are different ways to be competitive. You can be great in one discipline and just ok in the others or just good in all 3. Whether you want to be competitive or not, the over-all stress on the body is less than training for just 1 discipline. Your training workload gets spread out over 3 different sports and overuse injuries tend to be fewer. Another unique thing about Triathlon is the importance of nutrition, especially in the Half-Iron and Iron distance Triathlons. According to Running USA the average Male Marathon finishing time in 2015 was 4:20:13 while the average Half-Iron distance triathlon finish time is around 6:00:00 and Full Iron is around 12:35:00. Doing any type of physical activity for 6 hours or more requires careful nutrition planning. Long course triathlons bring nutrition challenges that need to be experimented with, trained with, and properly executed on race day. Just like most single sport races, there are various distances in Triathlon races. Most common distances for Triathlon are: Sprint Distance (750 yrd swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run), Olympic or International Distance (1500 yrd swim, 28 mile bike, 10k run), Half-Iron Distance (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), and Iron Distance (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). Each distance provides its own challenges and rewards. Besides distances, other differences can be Open Water Swim or Pool Swim, Mountain Bike or Road Bike, Trail Run or Road Run, draft legal or non-draft legal. With so many options it’s easy to find a Triathlon that excites you.
But wait… there’s more. More options? Yes, more options. Do you want to experience Triathlon but you can only do one or 2 of the disciplines? No problem. Create a Team and sign up for a Relay. That’s right, you can be a member of a team and just do the discipline that you’re best at. This is a great way to learn about Triathlons without having to do all 3 sports. Many races offer other choices like Duathlon (run-bike-run), Aquathon (swim-run), and Aquabike (swim-bike). With so many options available it’s easy to see why Multisports and Triathlons have grown in popularity in recent years. So now you have an idea of what the sport of Triathlon is all about. Interested? Stay tuned for the next installment, “Picking Your First Triathlon”, post 2 of this 5-part series. Coach Jay Training plans and Coaches will often call for Recovery Days and/or Rest Days. Do you really know what Recovery means or why you need to do it? The first thing you need to understand is that, in simple terms, exercise is the process of tearing down and recovery is the process of building back. So technically you make athletic gains during recovery not exercise. So now you begin to understand why recovery is so important. Let’s explore the different types of recovery… Sure, we know we need to eat after a hard workout, but why and what? Most nutritionists agree that there is a window of opportunity to re-fuel your body post workout. The 30 to 60 minutes after a workout is when your body is most efficient at replenishing your glycogen stores. In my opinion, post workout is the worst time to eat high calorie “junk” food. You just put your body through stressors that broke the body down, so foods dense in micro and macro nutrients should be consumed to give the body everything it need to begin the rebuilding process. You should re-fuel with whole, unprocessed foods (preferably plant based). In fact, a whole food plant based diet is optimal for everyone but I’ll save that discussion for another blog post. The bottom line is, Food is an important component in the recovery process. So, choose your post workout meals wisely and remember “you are what you eat”. Active recovery is a work out designed to move the body to help facilitate recovery without further stressing the body. Think, slow and easy. These workouts are designed to help bring fresh blood and nutrients to the muscles and joints to aid the recovery process. This is also the concept behind hard days followed by easy days. I hate the term junk miles. Every workout has a purpose. Intervals, sprints, hill repeats, are your hard, body stressing days and recovery, easy pace, high RPM spin are your easy “help your body recover” days. It is very important to make sure to make easy days easy. They are strategically placed in training plans for recovery. Sleep is often overlooked as a recovery tool. The body does most of its repairing while you sleep. Cutting back on your sleep will cut back on the amount of time your body has to repair itself. Continue to deprive your body of enough sleep and performance gains will suffer. How much sleep do we need? The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours (adults 26-64). According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. An Athlete with a heavy training schedule will need more than 9 hours to be at peak performance at every training session. I think sleep is so important that I’ll recommend an athlete to skip a morning workout if they have missed too much sleep. What about things like foam rollers, massage, and Norma Tec? I think these items can have a place in the recovery process. However, I don’t think they can replace healthy food and rest/sleep. A healthy diet and the proper amount of sleep need to be the corner stone of your recovery, then these other modalities can be added to further aid the process.
Proper recovery is essential if you want to get the most out of your training. A fully recovered body will be able to execute hard workouts better. If you base recovery on healthy food and proper sleep you will be setting yourself up for success. Happy Training! Coach Jay Summer is upon us and if you’re training then you are probably feeling the heat (and humidity). Heat related concerns like Heat Exhaustion and Dehydration are not as common in training sessions that are less than 1 hour in length. Here are a few tips on how to get through your summer training. Before we can talk about hydration for 1 hour + training sessions, we need to talk about Sweat Rate. It’s a good idea to perform a sweat test for each of the sports you are training in (and yes, you actually do sweat while swimming). What is a sweat test you ask? It’s a simple test to determine how much you sweat in one hour in a given activity. Knowing this will allow you to formulate a plan to stay hydrated during training. The test consists of weighing yourself (preferably naked) before your activity, training for 1 hour, recording the amount of fluid intake if you consume any during activity, then toweling dry and weighing yourself again (naked). Your pre-activity weight minus post activity weight plus any fluid consumed is your 1 hour sweat rate for that activity (record temperature, humidity, and effort level for reference). Example: Pre-Activity Weight: 152.2 Bike Ride 1 hour (warm up, intervals, cool down) Consumed 8 ounces of water during activity Post Activity Weight: 151.2 152.2 – 151.2 = 1 pound or 16 ounces 16 ounces + 8 ounces = 24 ounce sweat rate So now you know for that temperature, humidity, and specific activity that you sweat out 24 ounces every hour. In this example, you now know you would need to consume 24 ounces of fluid per hour to keep properly hydrated in a similar training session.
A great way to beat the heat is to start your training early in the morning. Once the sun comes up temperatures climb quickly. It’s not always fun or easy to get up early, but being able to get a couple of hours done before the sun rises might help you get that 3-4 hour ride/run completed. If you decide to take advantage of those pre-sun hours make sure to make yourself visible with reflective clothing and/or lighting. Late evening runs are another way to avoid the sun. However, it sometimes takes temperatures well into the late evening to fall. So while the sun isn’t blazing down on you, it might still be hot out. Early or Late is still better than mid-day runs and rides.
If a mid-day training session can’t be avoided then try to pick training routes that are shady. Trail runs are a great way to help get out of the direct sunlight and heat of the day. Another idea is to drive out into the country and start your bike ride on 2 lane country roads that tend to have more tree coverage. If these options aren’t available then consider moving indoors to the bike trainer or treadmill on those extremely hot days. Proper clothing can go a long way to help keep you cooler in the heat of summer. Try to wear light colored sweat wicking materials. Hats, visors, and arm sleeves can also be considered. Dictionary.com’s definition of Heat Exhaustion is; a condition characterized by faintness, rapid pulse, nausea, profuse sweating, cool skin, and collapse, caused by prolonged exposure to heat accompanied by loss of adequate fluid and salt from the body. When training in hot conditions you should be aware of the warning signs of heat exhaustion. If you start to experience any of the signs, you need to stop your training session and get your body re-hydrated and cooled down. If you try to push through, you could end up with Heatstroke which is defined as; a condition marked by fever and often by unconsciousness, caused by failure of the body's temperature-regulating mechanism when exposed to excessively high temperatures. Heatstroke is extremely dangerous and will usually involve a trip to the Emergency Room. Your post training cool down and recovery priority should be re-hydrating. Don’t try to guzzle a bottle of water and think you’re re-hydrated. It’s better to re-hydrate slowly and consistently for several hours after your workout. Taking a cool (not cold) shower is a great way to help lower your body’s core temperature after a hot weather training session. You definitely need to respect the evil twins Heat and Humidity. But you can successfully train through the summer heat if you take precautions. Yes, your pace will be and needs to be slower. But when the first cool weather of Fall comes you will be a stronger athlete after battling through the summer heat! Coach Jay |
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