Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Workout Wednesday

I'm going to steal an idea from several websites and start posting some of my favorite workouts every Wednesday. Whether it is a workout that I like to do during a certain training phase, or it is a workout video that I have borrowed from other websites, there will be some kind of workout posted.

I'm going to start today with one of my favorite workout videos from www.flotrack.org. I love this website and they always have great coverage of whatever big meet is going on. The link says the video was posted April 11th, but I believe it was originally posted last fall when this workout was recorded. The OSU Cowboys (the better of the 3 OSU's) ran this workout as a tune up workout before going into the National XC meet in November. It is 6 x 1 mile repeats on the xc course. The goal was to decend every repeat. If an athlete ran any single repeat slower than the previous, they were done with the workout, no matter what number they were on. The ultimate goal was to run all 6 repeats. Enjoy

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/635-german-fernandez/78340-oklahoma-state-workout-with-the-cowboys-episode-7



Tony

Monday, August 24, 2009

Elite Nationals Aquathlon

So... I did my 2nd ever ITU race and it just so happened to be the US National Championships. And needless to say, it didn't go well. A lot of my training this summer has been more focused on longer racing, and this race was a shock to the system. And the month of August is never a great month to expect to have good swimming fitness because the LAC is closed for its annual cleaning.

Anyways, myself, my brother, and many others from Lexington all headed down to Tuscaloosa, AL on Thursday. I ate at Olive Garden Thursday night, and then called it a night early. Friday, we woke up and went down to the race site to workout a little. I got in a great warmup swim in the river. The water was a little warm, but there was almost no current at all thanks to the dams. We rode the amateur bike course, then jogged a little before we grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel to chill out. We ended up eating Mellow Mushroom that evening and went to bed. Saturday was a early day for Eric, Beth, Ben, Jeff, Sean, George, Sam, Allison and Kevin (and I believe there were still some more from Lexington). I woke up around 7 am and grabbed some breakfast considering my race didn't start until 2:15. I drove down to the race site to watch everybody on the run and everybody did amazing. My bro finished 25th in the extremely competitive 20 - 24 AG while Kevin finished 17th. Eric finished 5th and Jeff finished 8th in the 30 - 34 AG while Beth finished 4th on the women's side of the 30 - 34 AG. George also got 8th in his AG, Allison got 10th in her AG, and Sam got 24th in his AG. Overall, I think Lexington had a great showing at the National Championship.

I got down to the race site around 12:30 and started getting everything ready for my race. Word got around that the dam was opened up because of flooding so the current was extremely strong today. The fastest AG swimmer swam in the mid - 22 minutes, which is extremely slow. Hayley Piersol swam over 20 minutes in the elite women's race when she has been swimming in the low 17's for that same distance in many of her races previous to this one. So I knew it was going to be a swimmer's race, which did not play into my favor. I just stayed positive, got in a great swim warmup, and hoped to find some fast feet for me to sit on.

The horn went off and we dove in. I was stuck in the middle of the pontoon and ended up between the 2 swim groups. The faster swimmers either got on the far left or the far right side of the pontoon, and thanks to my draw, I was one of the last ones to pick my spot. I felt great for the first 200 or so. It was pretty open, and I didn't get beat up like I did in Austin. I tried to come over on some feet and ended up battling with someone for those feet. I backed off and tried to get on his feet and ending up fighting with someone else. This is where it all went wrong. I need to work on my swimming tactics. I lost a lot of time in the next 100 - 200 yards because I spent too much energy looking for some feet instead of just putting my head down and focusing on going fast. I eventually found feet, but it was too late. I was the last person in the pack and I soon realized that our pack was only made up of about 5 guys and we were pretty far back from everyone else. I still had to work extremely hard to stay in that pack and I came out of the water in 22:40 (ugh!!!!) and was 3rd from last (embarassing). My HR felt like it was above 200 and I was breathing extremely hard. I had a dismal T1 and made it almost impossible to catch the few guys I came out of the water with. On the first hill on the bike, I caught 2 of the 4 guys just in front of me, but the other 2 guys pulled away and really worked hard. Unfortunately, myself and the other 2 guys didn't have the organization to get together and work to catch the people up the road. I ended up riding away from those guys and I rode 5 of the 6 laps all by myself. I was lapped by the leaders on that 5th lap so I was pulled from the course and thus embarassed once more.

I know that I hit both my max HR and my max VO2 during that race. That style of racing is so much different than anything that I've ever done. I am usually breathing really hard right after the swim and I use the first few miles on the bike to get going. You can't do that in this race. It is 100% all out, all of the time. I made the mistake of assuming I could use my bike as a strength later in the bike. I needed to recover from the swim in the first 2 - 3 miles of the bike and this is where I should have bridged up to the 2 guys who really worked well together to catch the big pack up the road. They only had about 10 seconds on me out of T1 and I just didn't "man" up to close the gap.

But I know I need to really work on my swim and my open water swimming tactics. I'm sorry to everyone who really supports me and roots for me. I wish I did better and I'm going to do everything in my power this off season to become a better triathlete. I have the Susan Bradley Cox Tri for Sight in a few weeks here in Lexington, KY which is going to be a great race. This is always a great event and they are giving away better awards than they ever have thanks to Kiwami, John's Run/Walk Shop, and a few other sponsors who have made generous donations. Then I'm racing in Augusta 70.3 towards the end of September.

Tony

Monday, August 17, 2009

Cycling Safety

Just a quick note. I have had several people ask me about where to ride, how to ride, how I fight with traffic, etc. The more you ride, the more comfortable you will become on the road. But here are just a few quick tips for cycling safety.

I always try to stay over on my side of the road, and I always obey the rules of the road, like stopping at all stop signs and red lights. If you are riding with a group, ride single file when cars are around. Do not react to a car that honks or does something to you first. They will always have the upper hand since they are in a motorized vehicle and you are on a bike. Just wave with a smile on your face (as hard is that is) and hopefully it will make them feel like an a@$. In extreme situations, you can always call the police and report the driver (which my buddy has done several times since he is a policeman). And I usually try to find roads that tend to have lower amounts of traffic. What happened at the Tom Sawyer triathlon is something that cannot be prepared for. It was an anamoly that rarely happens. The few deaths that occured during the year of 2008 in triathlons in the USA all happened during the swim portion of the race. When someone gets behind the wheel after drinking, it is dangerous for everyone on the road around them. And this time this driver just so happened to be intoxicated at 8 am and was driving in the wrong place at the wrong time, while also making some absolutely horrible decisions after hitting the cyclist.

Being aware of your surroundings and riding defensively will help you stay out of harms way.

Hope that helped.

Tony

Monday

I know it's been over a week since my last post but I have been at the beach having a great time. I went to Destin, Fl for my annual family vacation. My brother and I got in some great training in Florida. I know that vacation is usually a rest week, but we both have a big race this coming weekend in Alabama. We are both competing at Nationals, which will be Ben's first National Championship race. Almost everyday, we would wake up and get a workout over with early, then later in the day head to the pool to swim. It was so hot there, so we had to run or bike in the morning when it wasn't as hot. We always swam in the afternoon. We got to hang out on the beach in between workouts, eat some really good seafood every evening, and hang out with the entire family which doesn't happen that often.

Some of the workouts we did while in Florida felt epic, even though they were not that hard (in normal conditions). The first full day I did my second longest run of the year, and in the heat there, it was an epic run. I managed to hold under 7:10 pace (which is about my normal long run pace), but I just felt like I melted on the run. I laid out 4 bottles of Gatorade endurance to make sure that I stayed hydrated, which did help. We did a harder bike ride on Tuesday, and then a harder run on Wednesday which was equally as hard as that long run.

With my second ITU race in my life coming up this weekend, I have been on my new Mercury road bike more than ever, and I have missed having a road bike. I have had so much fun on it. Sure, I have loved my tri bike, but this road bike is just a little different and it is fantastic.

And this week is great for tv viewing. The Track and Field World Championships started on Saturday and will continue until this coming Sunday. Versus and NBC has live and replay coverage everyday. It is really exciting to watch the best in the World, do what it is that they are good at. For example, the 100 m dash was last night, and Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt went head-to-head for the first time in a while. Bolt ran a WR by over a tenth of a second and Gay ran a new AR of 9.71. It was crazy to watch. www.letsrun.com has complete coverage and tv viewing schedules for the Championships.

That's about it for now.

T-Bird

Friday, August 7, 2009

Confidence

So I usually will pass some extra time by watching tv, reading a book, or surfing the world wide web (which I do most of the time). Well I love the website www.flotrack.org. I am a track nerd (not as bad as I used to be) and they have some great videos and blogs on this site. I came across an article about Lindsay Allen and a blogpost that she wrote back in April. She discusses how she used to battle with self confidence going into races and how it always hurt her performance. Here is her complete blog post:

"I've always lacked a certain confidence when I toe the line of a race. But it wasn’t until this year that I fully understand how this negative thinking hurt my performance.While in college, I failed to live up to my own expectations which propelled me to pursue post-collegiate running. I knew my body was capable of much more. While I'm often found to be my own worst enemy, those insecurities stemmed from many factors- doubts about my training, incompatible coaching styles, and the craziness of college life, just to name a few. And until now, I never had anyone telling me I could be great.Reflecting on my recent personal bests since joining McMillan, I think the most significant contributing factor has been my new outlook on the sport. This positive outlook has been driven by the mindset of my teammates, the unparalleled coaching support, knowing adidas has taken a chance on me, and most importantly, the fact that I have removed any limitations I once set on myself.

In pursuing post-collegiate running I vowed that I'd stop making excuses, doubting myself, or accepting mediocrity. I am a professional runner and I will act like it. I will keep my expectations high and put healthy pressure on myself to perform. I enter each race with this refreshing mentality and enjoy the rewards.I have since toed the line of a race knowing anything less than a win would be a disappointment. I have also stuck with a rabbit running a pace equivalent to a 30 second PR in the 5k…why not? It all paid off.

For all of you out there who find themselves in similar states of doubt, just know that if you love something, remove any self-set limitations. Do it whole-heartedly. There's no time like the present."

Here is a link to her blog: http://www.mcmillanelite.com/lindsayallen.htm

I love what she says about acting like a professional. I need to keep my expectations high when I enter races because I am a professional triathlete and I need to act like it. I need to remove the self-set limitations that I have put upon myself this year because there is no time like the present. Why wait to get better next year when I can do it now.

Just a thought.

Tony

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Vacation Time

After returning from Michigan on Sunday, I went straight to Corbin to enjoy a birthday dinner for my dad. I returned to Lexington on Monday and have had a great week of training. We had some nasty storms on Tuesday which flooded Louisville, so I was stuck on the trainer for an easy ride. I was fortunate enough to head out the door for an easy run that evening after the storms passed. I woke up yesterday morning to swim with a couple of friends at an outdoor pool. It was 62 degrees outside and raining. It had rained for several hours so the water temperature was really cold. I was freezing. This is probably the coldest I've ever been during a swim workout. I came home, took a hot shower, put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, then made a big cup of coffee. Yesterday evening, me and 7 others, yes I said 7 others, took off for a bike ride. It was nice to ride with a bigger group. We rode to the hill up from the Ferry on Tates Creek hill and did three repeats, one of which was insanely hard. And by some miracle, I woke up this morning to run with the early morning run group at 5:30 am. We did 8 miles this morning at a nice little clip.

So, training is going really well and I feel pretty good considering I did a 70.3 just last Saturday. I guess I didn't go hard enough, ha. But I'm excited about Saturday because it is time for our annual family vacation. This year we are headed to Destin, Fl. We will be there for a week and it will be nice to hang out on the beach and have nothing to worry about (not that I really have much to worry about here in Lexington). Next on the schedule is Elite Nationals ITU in Tuscaloosa, AL on the 22nd.

I have just been so blessed with my friends and family that have given me the opportunities that I have and I'm looking forward to everything in the near future. Whether it is my training partners who help get me out the door, my family who always give me encouraging words no matter what the situation, or somebody who has never met me but keeps up with me through my blog/twitter; I thank you all for this and giving me this opportunity. I love doing what I'm doing.

Tony

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Steelhead 70.3 RR

So I raced in Benton Harbor, MI yesterday and it was one of my most disappointing races this year. It was just one of those days that I didn't have anything in the tank. I got on the wrong feet in the swim and didn't make the first swim pack. I came into T1 a little behind, and took off on the bike really not feeling well. It took me about 20 miles to loosen the legs up, and to get going. I hammered the bike from 20 to about 40 miles and then we made the turn home into the head wind. That really took a lot of energy fighting that wind for the last 16 miles. I backed off a little, hoping to save some energy for the run, but that didn't work out well. I ran 6 min. miles for the first 4 miles, 6:25 min. miles for the next 4 miles, and then about 6:50 pace for the last 5 miles. I just didn't have anything for the run. I started the run in 7th place. I passed 2 people in the first 2 miles, putting me into 5th place. I stayed there for about 5 seconds before one guy passed me. I ended up getting passed by 3 guys on the run and finishing 8th. This race was my slowest 70.3 ever, but it was a tough day. Nobody in the field really had a super fast run split (excluding Potts who raced really strong), and the wind made the bike splits a little slow as well. I expected to be several minutes faster than Kansas 70.3 and it was actually several minutes slower.

But I finished in the top 10 and am glad to have the race behind me. Thank you so much to my homestay Ann and her father for opening up their home for me. It was a beautiful home that was really close to the race sight. And thanks to my fans who drove up to support me; my coach Beth, Gram, and Gramps.

More details to follow soon...

And I want to wish my Dad a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Tony