Today was a solid day of camp as we started off the day with a bigger swim and then an easy bike with the key session being the 60-70 minute strength run at the end.
We have really started to enjoy how lovely this hotel is. We begin our mornings with coffee in a lovely setting by a fireplace with homemade organic breads and fruit. It is intimate and we get some time first thing in the morning to really have nice conversations about a myriad of topics. Because a few of us are navy bubbas, the conversation can typically migrate back to what we feel most comfortable talking about- ourselves. With the tragedy in Japan, we are all feeling the heaviness of their grief and we talk about it quite a bit. Three of us navy types have lived in Japan and love both the country and its people, so our hearts are heavy. We also spend time talking about training and the inside baseball of mitochondrial mass, capillary density…and chicks. So we have it all covered I think.
We kicked off the morning by getting to the pool a touch early and getting wet while it was still a little on the chilly side. Everybody brought arms and lungs today and we got it done. Yardage varied among the campers, but all of it good stuff. Zach and I continued our week of trying to get in a bit more swimming than normal. We kicked out 6100 yards in about an hour and 40 or so. Our workout this morning was 4 x 250 free, 4 x 125 on short RI, 1000 continuous every 4th 25 IMO, 800 free, 800 as 4 x(150 free, 50 kick), 400 pull, 1 x 200 IM, 2 x 500 as 250 pull, 100 hard odd 25's, cruise evens, 3 x 50's steady, and then 300 easy with pull buoy with a 100 c/d.
After the swim we ate the Panera bread restaurant out of all of their eggs, seriously. Everyone was famished and we moved through their chow proper. We got ourselves on our bikes with little downtime and cruised out an easy 2 hour ride to help absorb some of the work so far. I especially enjoyed this ride as I got a chance to visit more with everyone here. It is a funny thing when you coach someone via the internet. I am immersed in their daily training lives via emails, texts, phone calls, etc. but there is just so much I don’t know about these folks with whom I communicate on a weekly basis. I love it when my athletes attend these camps because I get to know them so much better.
When it comes to triathlon coaching, I think there are a lot better exercise physiologists out there, and certainly better specialized dudes in various areas, but I think I score pretty high on the GASF (Give a Shit Factor), as I totally give a shit about my athletes and where they are vs. where they want to be. I love the interaction I have with each and every one of them. One of the luxuries of having a coaching business that is not your primary means of income is everybody I coach – I choose to coach. I don’t have to coach any of them if I don’t want to. I like and genuinely respect all of my athletes and I learn as much from them as they probably do from me. How rewarding is that? Huge.
So after the 2 hour ride, we powered down for an hour and then embarked on our key run. The rain started to come down as we were heading out and it got wet and muddy out there pretty quickly. Because I have athletes peaking for different events soon, I had the athletes all on different runs with different objectives. Zach was laying down 5 x 8 minute harder efforts with 1 minute recovery after a longer warmup as he prepares for draft legal Olympic stuff. Rosie was on something similar with a touch longer recovery. Stu is getting ready for Ironman South Africa so he was doing a steady longer effort to work the muscular endurance side of things and live a portion of his afternoon riding a 154 beats per minute heart rate. Michelle was working longer intervals, as was Sal, as they peak for Oceanside. T and I were doing our own thing and I decided to spend my run with Stu. I try to spend every workout with someone different. Stu and I ran steady for an hour. The rain was hammering us at this point and as good friends, we don’t feel the pressure to talk. Sometimes when I train with my folks, I just want to train with them and no talking is required. So we legged it down the levy at a respectable clip shoulder to shoulder, no words being passed. I was rocking a little Underworld in my itunes and was in my happy place.
It is an honor and a miracle to train with my good friend Stu Gibson. Stu and I met in 2003 and became fast friends. He flew over to Kona in both 2004 and 2005 just to be there to support and cheer me on in my first two Konas. Stu is one of those guys who is not only hugely intelligent, as in brilliant, but he can apply it instantaneously. As a navy dude, I have worked with more than a few 50 pound brains, but not all of them can use that brain. A submarine dude best described it as being smart, but not being able to think. This is not the case with Stu. Stu just…well, the damn guy just knows everything. I love talking with him on any subject ranging from enhanced ground proximity warning systems in airplanes to why the overproduction of corn is a government subsidization of McDonald’s and how that is killing Americans through obesity and diabetes. We get it all covered on a long ride!
Stu had a real life scare a couple of years ago. Stu was diagnosed with a fast growing brain tumor. We in his friend network tried to keep things light and fun, as fun as something that scary can be, and we referred to it as a Stumor. Well, Stu survived open brain surgery and the removal of the Stumor and returned to our sport. He has returned to good health and we continue to enjoy our friendship in sport. God’s blessing for sure.
So we got in another 5 hour day or so and are ready to attack again tomorrow. Rain has become the issue as we march forward. We are in a wait and see mode for tomorrow. It will either be a 6 hour flame thrower of a ride, or a long run and longer swim. We will see how the rain gods treat us in the morning.
My quote for this blog came from the famous world champion triathlete, John Hellemens, when he stated “You need to worry about the training that is appropriate for you, not worry about what others are doing”. I really like this quote. It kind of feathers in nicely with my quote I write in here often, “It ain’t about being better than anybody else, it’s about me being better than I used to be".
There you go!
Later,
Jonser
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