Endurance Ranch: Week Two

Here is a delayed summary on our second week at the Austin Endurance Ranch.  We are so busy being awesome that it was hard to find time to finish this blog post.  But here goes…

Monday 18 Jan: A few drop-offs at the airport – sad to see the guys go but happy to meet the new folks. AM swim at Stacy Pool including some weight belt work and push-ups! Former pro Rip Esselstyn was at the pool and joined us for the push-up set. Morning ride to S MoPac, including a stop at TacoDeli where they hooked us up with free breakfast tacos!  Evening “fun ride” with a subset of the group on Old San Antonio Rd.  Chris/Nick/John got a bit excitable at times and the pace was quicker than it needed to be!

Tuesday 19 Jan: Longhorn Day. AM swim at Stacy Pool, then French toast and scrambled eggs and bacon at the house. Longhorn 70.3 bike course plus a little out-and-back that took us on a fabulous dirt road.  Ask Kate and Victoria how fabulous the road was!!  Okay, so maybe it was a bit rough, but at least we got to ride with a horse and some goats and a bunch of other animals.  Brick run on the Longhorn run course.

Dinner at the house including pork, rice, kale, salad and cookies.

Wednesday 20 Jan: Long ride to Enchanted Rock State Park.  Almost exactly 100 miles.  One wet creek crossing, a few inches deep.  We were again accompanied by our awesome Endurance Ranch van with its forward-facing speakers.  Sadly this was our last ride with Chris’s van before she started having some issues.  Luckily John’s van was also available and very capable at filling in.

We had dinner at Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ, a no-frills establishment where you order everything by the pound, you might get mocked by the staff, and you can wash your hands in a state-of-the-art sanitizer.

Amy’s Ice Cream for dessert!

Thursday 21 Jan: Omelets for breakfast, then swim-run multi-bricks at Stacy Pool and Stacy Parks. Each camper did swim & run distances that were appropriate for their goals, like (600-yard swim + 1.5-mile run) six times through.  John Kenny was the big winner with 12k of swimming and 12 miles of running.  I did about 8k of swimming and 14 miles of running.  I also got a bit of chafing from running in my speedo.  Somehow I traveled to Texas for three weeks’ worth of tri camps and didn’t bring any tri shorts. Ooops. 

Thursday evening we went to the Alamo Drafthouse and watched the "Old School Quote-Along.” There was a keg in the theater, a chugging contest beforehand, kegstands afterwards and a bit of gunpowder-powered pyrotechnics during the movie. A good time was had by all. The Alamo Action pack guys added subtitles for their favorite lines so that everybody in the theater could quote along.

Friday 22 Jan: Gingerbread pancakes and scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. One lap of the Couer d’Alene bike course on the CompuTrainers at Austin Tri-Cyclist, plus a brick run.  Movie night at the house: Superbad.

Saturday 23 Jan: A few of us did the Austin Tri-Cyclist shop ride in the morning. Then we all went for a swim at Stacy Pool and did a very hilly evening ride in northwest Austin.  We climbed up Courtyard, Jester, Adirondack and Mt Bonnell. It was a bit of the cold side, but sunny.  Dinner of ground turkey and greens and rice and all that.

Sunday 24 Jan: Morning long ride around Town Lake. Migas for breakfast. Optional afternoon “chill” ride on Old San Antonio Rd while some folks went souvenir shopping.  Visits to Austin Tri-Cyclist, Mellow Johnny’s and Whole Foods.

Monday 25 Jan: AM swim at Stacy Pool, then breakfast tacos from Torchy’s.  Staff outing to the Alamo Drafthouse for Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash.

Endurance Ranch: Week One Summary

Our first week at the Endurance Ranch is now over, and it has certainly been a memorable week. Ben Greenfield took a bunch of video clips at many of our activities, so you can check out this awesome video summary below:

For those of you who are more into “thousands of words” than pictures, here is a summary of what we did all week:

Monday: camper arrival, “chill” 30-mile ride including Shepherd Mountain climb, Turkey Dinner at the house

Tuesday: Longhorn 70.3 Day – morning swim at Stacy Pool, breakfast tacos at the house, ride the Longhorn bike course with support from the Endurance Ranch van, run one loop of the Longhorn run course, soak the legs in Lake Walter E Long – a chilly 50-something degrees.  Of course John Kenny tried to swim some laps:

Tremonte Family red sauce for dinner:

Wednesday: swim at Deep Eddy, run on the Ladybird Lake trail and a bit of the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Chill afternoon ride south of town on Old San Antonio Rd.  Homemade pizza for dinner.

Don’t be deceived by the color of the pool right now – there is a bit of grime on the walls but the spring water in the pool gets refreshed every other day:

Thursday: long ride, accompanied by our sweet Endurance Ranch van – Marble Falls and Cedar Park, 115 miles, lots of hills! Snack at the house afterwards, then off to the Alamo Drafthouse for dinner & a movie.  You really have to see the van to believe it.  We temporarily removed the grill in order to mount the speakers, but we’re working on a fancier approach to mounting them:

Friday: run to Barton Springs, open-water swim practice at Barton Springs, run home from Barton Springs. Brunch at the house – vanilla cinnamon raisin French toast, scrambled eggs, plenty of bacon. Evening swim at Stacy Pool.  “Pre-race Dinner” at the house – catfish, yams, kale, spinach.

Saturday: Austin Tri-Cyclist Saturday morning group ride (30- and 50-mile options), brick run.  Tacos from Izzos for lunch. Drive out to Hamilton Pool for a quick, cold splash and a look around.  Dinner at the Salt Lick.

Sunday: 2-hour run on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Amazing omelets at the house. Afternoon activity – Chicken**** Sundays at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon. Evening technique swim at Stacy Pool.  Dinner at the house – two types of chicken breast, two green salads, sauteed peppers & onions, brown rice, …

Here is somebody else’s video from Ginny’s.  We took a few that should be posted soon.

Monday: morning swim at Stacy Pool, 30-mile ride, camper departure

A Few Endurance Ranch Pictures

I haven’t been able to find a replacement cable for my camera and I’ve been super-busy with Endurance Ranch activities, but here a few quick pictures that I took with my cell phone this evening.  Camp has been *fantastic* so far and everyone seems to be having a great time.  Yesterday we did an epic 115-mile ride to Marble Falls and Cedar Park.  Our Endurance Ranch van has exterior speakers mounted in front, so the riders get to listen to music while they ride.  I’ll have some pictures of that to post in the next few days.

First up, here is the sign on our front door.  It is one of the Phil Liggett quotes that decorate the Phil Liggett Bedroom and a few other places in the house:

 

Next up, here are a few shots of our Endurance Ranch van.  I forgot to snap one of the rear or one of the speakers, but here is a taste:

We’ve been going through a lot of delicious and nutritious food here at the house.  Here is my shopping cart halfway through tonight’s trip:

Our ride yesterday (115 miles, 8 riders) used up every water bottle we could find, plus a few gallon jugs and a ton of bars and gels and sandwiches and bananas and … afterwards we needed two loads in the dishwasher to wash everything:

If you happen to get bored at the Ranch, we have a selection of biking- and running-themed books.  You can’t see “Born to Run” on the table right now because somebody is reading it at the moment.  But in general the books haven’t been used as we’ve been busy training, eating and learning from one another.

Finally, a reminder of pacing yourself that each athlete sees when they exit our front door.  Again, this quote is courtesy of Phil Liggett:

Much more to come, once I get my camera cable.  You can see a bit of running commentary about this week’s camp on Twitter here.

Austin Endurance Ranch: Day One!

I can’t seem to find the right cable to upload my pictures, but here is a quick update on how things are going so far at the Austin Endurance Ranch.  Everybody is resting peacefully right now (except for yours truly) after a satisfying first day.  Those of us who were in town early enjoyed a swim at Stacy Pool and a run around Ladybird Lake this morning.  Then once the rest of our campers arrived the whole gang (except tonight’s chef) went for a 25-30 mile ride to check out the view from atop Shepherd Mountain in northwest Austin.

Tonight’s chef was the talented and gracious John Kenny.  He stayed home during our ride in order to prepare a fabulous turkey dinner for the group – turkey with a brown rice stuffing, cranberry sauce, a mix of sauteed peppers… it was all fantastic!  He also made soup from the leftovers.

We picked up our campers from the airport in our super-sweet Endurance Ranch van.  I took a bunch of pictures today and I will upload them as soon as I can find the right connector cable.

The house looks great right now and I’d like to upload some pictures of our themed bedrooms.

The weather has also been fantastic so far.  Our swim was under party-sunny skies and then it was mostly sunny for our ride with temperatures in the sixties.  The forecast for the rest of this week looks very nice, too, with highs in the 70s most days.  In fact, as I write this at midnight the air outside is still 60 degrees.  Awesome.

I hope to post a bit more tomorrow, including some photos and some video from our handlebar-mounted camera.

Ten days in

I “officially” started my 2010 season on January 1st.  What a creative choice of a day to start!  I am trying to “ease into things” a little but I can be a bit excitable … so there have been days of totally overdoing it intermixed with days of remarkable sanity.  Here is what I’ve been up to:

Fri 1 Jan: ez hour on the trainer; some light core & strength

Sat 2 Jan: 3hr bike ride with Recycled Cycles team; 70-minute brick run with Andrew at Redmond Watershed. This felt like a bit much.  About 40 minutes into the run I really ran out of gas.  Afterwards I ate a burrito and tried to take a nap … I slept for 15 hours!

Sun 3 Jan: 14-mile run with Shelby’s group at Redmond Watershed; 10,000-yard swim with Stephanie at UW.  The “10k” swim is a bit silly, especially when I’d only been in the pool *once* in the last 7 weeks… but this “10k” workout is one of my new ideas for 2010 and I figured as long as I go easy I should be okay.  I started out a bit too strong and slowed down quite a bit … but I survived!

Mon 4 Jan: ez 5–mile recovery run with Andrew in Bridle Trails

Tue 5 Jan: AM shakeout ride on trainer: 15x1min targeting 290-300W on the trainer w/ 1min rest; brick run with Andrew in Bridle Trails – about 7.5 miles.

Wed 6 Jan: nothing. My Wednesday schedule will eventually include a long AM swim w/ Dave and a hard PM run on the track … but I felt like I might be starting to fight off a bit of a cold … and I knew that the weekend was a bit much … so I took ‘er easy today.

Thu 7 Jan: early meetings at work … so after work I did an hour pf ez biking on the trainer and an hour of easy running alone in Bridle Trails

Fri 8 Jan: rest day. I would have liked to get a swim in over lunch or after work … but work was rather busy and by the time I wrapped up there I was rather tired.  Is this the type of game-time decision that I should be making?  I could be convinced that I’m better off skipping workouts when tired than just pushing through like I’ve always done in the past.  Hrmmm…

Sat 9 Jan: another RCR team ride – 4 hours this time.  I felt strong for 3 hours then faded a *lot* after Snohomish.  I ate a decent amount early on, then ate a lot more in Snohomish but my legs just started saying “no” as we climbed up Broadway.  Y’arrrr…  I took maybe 60-90 minutes between workouts – snack, clean-up, errands … then went to the gym to run on the ‘mill and watch football.  I wanted to run an hour but got into the game and ran like 12.5 miles at an EZ pace – about an hour & forty minutes.  A bit much?

Sun 10 Jan: 14-miles run with Shelby’s group at the Watershed, then another “10k” swim workout, this time solo at the Pro Club.  The first 2000 yards were pretty tough.  My body was shot from the run, and from yesterday’s work. But I just tried to stay smooth and relaxed and eventually I found a bit of a groove.

In total:

• Swim: 2 sessions, 20200 yards, 5.5 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 5.1/5.8/3.9 hours.
• Bike: 5 sessions, 180 miles, 10.25 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 9.0/10.0/11.2 hours.
• Run: 7 sessions, 69 miles, 8.5 hours. Avg 10-day period in 2007/2008/2009 was 4.4/4.8/3.5 hours.

So my swim and bike volume are reasonable but I should try to get in the pool a bit more often.  I am running a lot more than I typically have for long stretches of time … but those yearly averages are a bit misleading as they include tapers and rest periods.

So I had two Saturdays and two Sundays where I went NUTS, then two rather mature “unplanned rest” days during the week.  As I get into the meaty part of the season I will move to more of a focus on intensity and less of a focus on volume … but as I break out of my offseason, I figure volume is a good thing … at least it would be if I could do it within reason.  Reason is not yet my strong point this year, but the body is holding up pretty well so far.

Next Thursday I head to Austin to set up for the Ranch.  Sweet!!!

Get fit in the new year!

For those of you in the Redmond area who would like to add some core strength and conditioning to your fitness routine – my friend Melissa is now teaching Boot Camp classes in the Redmond area.  She has a few years’ worth of background in fitness and nutrition coaching.  Here is a bit more about what she’s doing:

Join us in Redmond every Thursday night and Saturday morning to help you build your endurance base, shed some winter pounds, and show you how to get the most out of your training!  We combine core and plyometric exercises to work on key muscle areas that are crucial to an effective triathlon/running season or just looking good in a swimsuit this summer.  The circuit stations in our class are designed take you from your current fitness level and help you reach your goals for 2010, all in a supportive, non-intimidating environment.  Unable to attend one of our classes? Then sign-up for a personal, one-on-one Boot Camp designed just for you!  For more information please contact Melissa at melissa@onlinefitnesscoach.net or call 714-329-0520.

Our New Year class includes a full nutrition and fitness package:

• nutrition tracking log with healthy recipes
• DVD exercise program to use at home to supplement the classes
• your choice of a nutritional protein shake (with fiber!)
• group exercise class every week (Thursday night 7pm and Sat mornings 10am) plus the option of one personal training one-on one session! 

A GREAT WAY TO START A HEALTHY NEW YEAR!

I may help out a bit with some of the triathlon-specific skills once I get back from Austin.

Back in Action! Sort of…

I officially start my 2010 training on 1/1.  How appropriate.  But this week I am starting to get moving again and ease into things, and I can barely contain my excitement!  I am limiting myself to one workout a day, more or less. 14-mile run at the Watershed on Sunday, 10 mile run in Bridle Trails on Monday, 1-hour masters swim yesterday, 2hrs on the trainer today … hour-ish run tomorrow morning, maybe hit the pool Thu or Fri … then a Recycled Cycles team ride on Saturday and a long run on Sunday!  It begins!!!

My swim yesterday was rather rough.  I had been out of the water for 46 days (not counting the ocean in Costa Rica) and my form and fitness felt ROUGH.  But it was kind of pleasant, really… I mean, I haven’t allowed myself to get this out-of-shape in at least five years, and I truly believe that this is a necessary form of letting the body recover.  I think that in the past I haven’t periodized my training enough … I’ve been so afraid of losing fitness that I’ve never let my body recover enough to truly peak at the big races.  This year will be different.  I hope.

To 2010!!